Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-24


- wall between the yacht and the tim
bers, and the shock that the boys
had expected did not come.
Had the Midget been fixed upon rocks, or
even bank that was deeper under water
than the one upon which she was stranded
nothing could have prevented her from being
dashed to pieces when the heavy timbers
struck her; but, as it was. there was no per-
ceptible jar as the sand was raised around
her, and she was literally forced out of the
water upon the logs as easily as if some giant
hand had lifted her.
The long-boat had not been handled so
carefully, however. When the yacht was
forced up on to the raft, the boat was made
fast astern, and was thus swamped by being
ground into the sand by the logs. The rope
and a piece of the bow that hung at the
yachts stern were the only things to tell
where the long g-boat had been.
The Midget was uninjured, and safe, if a
yacht that is high and dry on a raft in the
rapid current of a wide river can be said to
be safe; and the boys began to understand
that they had simply escaped from one dan
ger to be confronted by another.
As yet the yacht was in as good a condi-
ton as when she was ahoat; but how she
could be launched from the timbers was what
no one knew. In case one end Of the raft
struck against the bank of the river the
yacht would stand a good chance of being
crushed as the heavy logs rolled over upon
each other; and, even if that catastrophe did
not occur, she would be carried out upon the
broad waters Of the Amazon, to drift about
until help could be had from the shore.
Arthur Fowler paid but little attention to
the position of the yacht at first. 1t was
enough for him to know that she was high
and dry, and he drew his fire, even at the
risk Of cooling the tubes too suddenly; for
to make steam when the pump could not feed
the boiler was more dangerous than anything
else could be.
When this was DONE the engineer came out
on the raft and joined the others. who were
examining the situation of the yacht.
She lay diagonally across the logs about
three-quarters of her keel resting in the sand
that had been thrown up, as if in a cradle
Her weight had forced the heavy timbers
partially under water, but not so deep but
that the blades of the screw were almost
wholly in the air. She had been lifted out
of the water as neatly as could have been
done by the crew of the North Star, and
very much more easily.
As a matter of course, the raft had con-
tinued on its way after taking the Midget
ready out of sight by the time Arthur left
the engine-room. If the hunting party re-
turned. they would find the tents as tbev
had left them, unless some of the natives
passed that way and carried everything off.
but they would find no trace either Of the
Midget or her crew.
"Now. when your father comes back he
will think we have disobeyed him. and left
the camp" said Fred as he looked in a helm
less sort of way at the worse than stranded
yacht.
saThere's no use to think of that renred
Val. eve can explain all that when we see
him: but what we must do now is to get fbe
Yacht off these logs before the raft breaks
up"
off-she is so small" said Arthur.
And the boys acted upon this suggestion ar
once; but they might as wen have tried 70
row the raft with one oar. Small as tbe
Yacht was, she was far too heavy to he han
died in that manner, as was learned after
they had strained every muscle for fifteen
minutes without having moved her ia the
least. Had she been resting upon the bare
logs. the attempt might have succeeded; but