The Monticellonian., 1894-09-21
A TIMELY SHOT.
A Boys Adventure in the Wilds
 of Africa.

] beyond description when, on awaken ing one morning in his quarters an 1 African hut OF a bank of the Senegal river, up which he had been sent d long distance on government business he discovered that his little brother, Frank, was missing.
 Frank was bright, clever boy of twelve, who had accompanied his 1 brother from the ship, which was anchored outside the bar sle was the captains nephew, and was a general pet and favorite aboard the vessel, where he had been receiving instruc- tions to fit him for naval duties.
 Ralph, who now had all his cutters crew looking for the lost lad, worried much over the periIs to which the lit tie fellow might be exposed from venomous serpents and wild beasts.
 At length, while searching in the thick shrubbery on the rivers bank, the youth reached cove where, on the night before, he had left a small canoe which he had bought of one of the natives
 He had intended to use it for qavi- gating some of the shallow creeks further up the river, as the cutter he had charge of was too deep and wide for that purr ose. Startled to perceive that the canoe was missing, suspi- cion of the truth broke all at once upon his mind.
 lie 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 f so. what had become of him2 Ralph, shuddering, thought of the hid cons 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 small, loaded swivel ready for use, fixed in the bow, but it's weight would not interfere with the speed of the craft.
 The young officer was soon vigor- ously seulling the vessel on it's way, going with the tide, as he thought that Frank would have been apt to take this course Past lofty elevations GOV cred with shrubbery and flowers gided the cutter, often shadowed by the far extending branches of huge bnobab trees that formed broad green arches above 1t.
 It 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,
 It had been partly crushed most likely, he thought, by the teeth of crocodil :.
 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 mind.
 The lad had been pursued by the monster that had destroyed the canoe.
 Had he already met his fate2 The young officer tried to shake off his des- pondency to hope, in spite of appear ances, that his brother might, in some way, have escaped and still be alive.
 He looked toward the peninsula from which the canoe seemed to have drifted. This peninsula, consisting of two high projecting banks composed of soft rock and earth, opposite each other, about fifteen feet apart, was roofed by the branches of slender trees that tlourished in wild luxuriance on both banks.
 The trunks of these trees slanted SO that their houghs interminglcd and were SO thicklv interwoven with vines that they formed a dense canopy of leaves and blossoms over the open space beneath which thus resemhled 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 d large crocodile, with it's head raised and thrown back and its horrible jaws wide open, while it's eyes were strained, as If turned up toward some elevated point
 Gazing in the same direction, Ralph was startled to see, about ten feet above those hideous jaws the form of his little brother, lying, with pale face and closed eyes, on the narrow shelf of a rock The rock was under the branches of slender trees, which rose on each side of it from low banks on the right and left, about two yards from the elevation. One of the over hanging branches, broken off, ex- plained the boys situation.
 He had evidently climbed the tree to escape the crocodile, had crept out on the slender branch, it had given way, and he had fallen on the rock, his head striking it with force enough to render him unconscious. There he now lay, so perilously near the edge of the roek-shelf that the slightest movement on his part would cause him to roll off and fall into the jaws of the monster below. As he was proba by but temporarily stunned, he was liable to moYe at any moment IL was, therefore, of the utmost importance, in order to insure his safety, that he should be speedily conveyed from his dangerous position.
 Ralnh .eared that a discharge of the