The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-09-29
A TIMELY SHOT.
A Boys Adventure in the Wilds
Of Africa.


The anxiety and distress of Ralph
Campbell, a youthful masters mate
from the survey gun ship Pctrel, were
beyond description when, on awaken
ing one morning in his quarters-an
African hut on n bank of the Senegal
river, up which he had been sent a
long distance on government business
he discovered that his little brother,
Frank, was missing.
Frank was a bright. clever boy OF
twelve, who had accompanied his
brother from the ship, which was
anchored outside the bar. He was the
captains nephew, and was a general
pet and favorite aboard the vessel.
where he had been receiving instruc-
lions to fit him for naval duties.
Ralph, who now had all his cutters
crew looking for the lost lad, worried
much over the perils to which the lit
tie fellow might be exposed from
venomou serpents and wild beasts.
At length, while searching in the
thick shrubbery on the rivers bank,
the youth reached a cove where, on
the night before, he bad left n small
canoe which he had bought of one of
the natives.
He had intended to use it for navi-
eating some of the shallow creeks
further up the river, IS the cutter he
had charge of vas too deep and wide
for that purpose. Startled to perceive
that the canoe was missing, a suspi-
cion of the truth broke all at once
upon his mind.
He remembered having remarked to
a sailor, in Franks hearing, that the
little craft must be brought up and
made fast to the latter the first thing
in the morning. The boy, eager to
please his brother, had probably risen
and gone, before any of the rest of the
party were awake, to fetch the canoe,
but if so, what had become of him?
Ralph, shuddering, thought Of the hid
eous crocodiles that infested this river,
while he vainly scanned it for some
sign of the lad.
Then, having resolved not to wait
for the return of his men, but to take
the cutter and go off alone in search
of his lost brother, he hurried back to
the bank in front of the hut, along
side of which the boat lay.
This boat was a light, swift one
which could be easily sculled by an
oar. There was n small, loaded swivel
ready for use, fixed in the bow, but its
weight would not interfere with the
speed of the craft.
The young officer was soon vigor-
ously sculling the vessel On its way,
going with the tide, as he thought
that Frank would have been apt to take
this course. Past lofty elevations COW
cred with shrubbery and flowers glided
the cutter, often shadowed by the far
extending branches of huge baobab
trees that formed broad green arches
above it.
1t had rounded a peninsula full of
bloom and foliage, when the watchful
youth saw ahead of him an over
turned, broken canoe. He soon reached
it. and, by the peculiar carving on
the bow, he recognized it as the miss
ing canoe.
1t had been partly crushed-most
he thought, by the teeth of a
crocodile.
In dismay. he pulled Franks little
cap from a jagged projection Of the
broken wood on which it was caught.
The dreadful truth forced itself on his
The lad had been pursued by the
that had destroyed the canoe.
Had he already met his fate? The
young officer tried to shake off his des-
pondency-to hope, in spite of appear
ances, that his brother might, in some
wav, have escaped and still be alive.
He looked toward the peninsula
from which the canoe seemed to have
drifted. This peninsula, consisting of
high, projecting banks composed
of soft rock and earth, opposite each
other, about fifteen feet apart, was
by the branches of slender
that fourished in wild Iuxuriance
on both banks.
The trunks Of these trees slanted so
that their boughs intermingled and
SO thickly interviewer with vines
that they formed q dense canopy of
leaves and blossoms over the open
space beneath, which thus resembled a
sort Of long water cavern.
Ralph directed the cutter to this
cavern, and, looking through the green
archway into the partial obscurity be-
yond. he beheld a sight well calculated
to arouse apprehension.
In the back part of the cavern, lying
in a shallow, among sandbanks that
partially concealed it, was a large
crocodile, with it's head raised and
back and it's horrible jaws wide
open, while its eyes were strained, as
4 turned up toward some elevated
point.
Gazing in the same direction, Ralph
vas startled to see, about ten feet
.bove those hideous jaws, the form of
lis little brother, lying, with pale face
Ind closed eyes, on the narrow shelf
If a rock. The rock was under the