The Columbus journal., 1909-07-21

over and pressed down on his ankles
with all her strength.
The loose end of the creeper had
fallen to the ground when Blake lifted
her upon the branch and WINTHROP
was already slipping into the loop.
Blake ordered him to take it off and
send up the club. AS the creeper was
again flung down black shadow
swept over the jungle.
| Hello! Sunset" called Blake
Look sharp, there"
All ready" responded Winthrope
Blake drew in a full breath, and be
gan to hoist. The position was an
awkward one. and Winthrope weighed
80 or 40 pounds more than Miss Les
lie. But as the Englishman came
within reach of the descending loop
he grasped it and did what he could
to ease Blake's efforts. 4 few mo
mer-s found him as high above the
| ground as Blake could raise him.
| Without waiting for orders, he swung
! himself upon the upper part of the
creeper and climbed the last few feet
unaided. Blake grunted with satisfac-
ton as he pulled him in upon the
, branch.
You may do, after ALL" he said
| AT any rate. we're all aboard for the
| night: and none too soon. Hear that?
WHAT"
Lion. l guess Not that yelping.
Listen"
The brief twilight was already fading
into the darkness of a moonless night.
and as the three crouched together in
| their shallow nest they We're soon
made audibly aware of the savage ma
| ture of their surroundings. With the
gathering night the jungle Weakened
into full life From all sides came the
| harsh squawking of birds, the weird
cries of monkeys and other small crea-
lures, the crash of heavy animals
moving through the jungle. and above
| all the yelp and howl and roar of
beasts of prey.
! After some contention with Win
| thrope, Blake conceded that the roarS
of his lion might be nothing worse
as they came out to browse for the
night. In this, however. there was
small comfort. since Winthrope pres
| emily reasserted his belief in the
climbing ability of leopards. and eX-
pressed his opinion that. whether or
not there were lions in the neighbor-
hood. certain of the barking roars they
could hear came from the threats of
the spotted climbers. Even Blake's
hair bristled as his imagination pic
tured one of the great cats creeping
upon them in the darkness from the
far end of their nest limb. or leaping
down out of the upper branches.
The nerves of all three were at their
highest tension when dark form
swept past through the air within
yard of their faces. Miss Leslie ut
tered a stifled scream and Blake
brandished his club. But Winthrope,
who had caught a glimpse of the crea-
lures shape, broke into a nervous
laugh.
It's only fruit bat" he explained.
They feed on the banyan figs, you
know"
In the reaction from this false alarm.
both men relaxed and began to yield
TO the effects of the tramp across the
mud-fiats. Arranging the reeds as
best they could they stretched out on
either side of Miss Leslie and fell
asleep in the middle of an argument
on how the prospective leopard was
mostly likely to attack
Miss Leslie remained awake for
two or three hours longer. Naturally
she was more nervous than her COM
panions, and she had been refreshed
by her afternoons nap. Her nervous
ness was not entirely due TO the wild
beasts. Though Blake had taken pains
to secure himself and his companions
in loops of the creeper. fastened to
the branch above. Winthrope moved
about so restlessly in his sleep that