The Falls City tribune., 1909-01-22

"Snakes?-oh,' cried Miss Leslie,
and she stood %shuddering at the dan
ger she had already incurred,
The fire had burnt itself out on a
bare ledge of rock between them and
the baobab, and the elumps of dry
brush left standing in this end of the
cleft were very suggestive of snakes.
now that Blake had called attention
to the possibility of their presence.
He laughed at his h|esitating com.
panions. Go on, go on! Don't squeal
till you're bit. Most snakes hike out,
if you give them half a chance. Take
a stick each of YOU, and pound the
bushes"
Thus urged. both started to work.
But neither yentured into the thicker
clumps. When they returned, with
large armfuls of sticks and twigs,
they found that Blake had used his
glass to light a handful of dry bark,
out in the sun, and was nursing 1t in
to a small fire at the base of the tree,
on the side next the cliff.
Now, Miss Jenny" he directed,
you're to keep this going-not too big
a fire-understand9 Same time you
can keep on fetching brush to fumi-
gate your cat hole. 1t needs 1t, all
right"
viii not that be rather too much
for Miss Leslie?" asked Winthrope.
We'll, If she'd rather come and rub
brains on the ins,-Indian tan, you
knoW,-or-"
How can you mention such things
before a lady?' protested Winthrope.
Beg your pardon, Miss Leslie! you
see, I'm not much used 10 ladies' com
pany. Anyway, you've got to see and
hear about these things. And now I'll
have to get the strings for Wins
bamboo bows. Come on, Win. We've
got hat old tabby to peel, and a lot
more besides"
Miss Leslie's first impulse was to
protest against being left alone. when
at any moment some awful venom
Gus serpent might come darling at her
out of the brush or the crevices in
the rocks. But her half-parted lips
drew firmly together, and after a mo-
ment's ~hesitancy. she forced herself
to the task which had been assigned
her. The fire, once started, required
little attention. She could give most
of her time TO gathering brush for the
fumigation of the leopard den.
She had collected quite a heap of
fuel at the entrance of the hollow.
when she remembered that the place
would first have to be cleared of its
accumulation of bones. A glance at
her companions showed that they
were in the midst of tasks even more
revolving. 1t was certainly disagree
able TO do such things; yet, as Mr..
Blake had said, others had to do them.
1t was now her time to learn. She
could see him smile at her hesitation.
Stung by the thought of his half
contemptuous pity, she caught up a
forked stick, and forced herself TO en-
ter the tree-cave. The stencil met her
like a blow. 1t nauseated and all but
' Nv oAooh " =
eral moments in The center of the cav
ity. sick and faint. Had it been even
the previous day, she would have run
out into the open air.
Presently she grew a little more ac-
customed TO the stencil, and began
to rake over the soft. dry mold of
the den floor with her forked stick.
Bonesi-who had yer dreamed of
such a mess of bones?- big bones
and little bones and skulls: old bones,
dry and almost buried: moldy bones;
bones still ~half-coVered with bits of
flesh and gristle-the remnants of the
leopard family's last meal.
AT last all were scraped out and
flung in a heap, three or four yards
away from the entrance. Miss Les
lie looked al the result of her labor
with a satisfied glance, followed by a
sigh of relief. Between the heat and
her unwonted exercise, she was great
ly fatigued. She stepped around TO a
shadier spot to rest.
With a start she remembered the
fire.
When she reached it there were
only a few dying embers left. She
gathered dead leaves and shreds of
fbrous inner bark. and knelt beside
the dull Goals TO blow them into life.
She could not bear the thought of hav-
ing to confess her carelessness to
Blake.
The hot ashes flew up in her face
and powdered her hair with their gray
dust; yet she persisted, blowing stead
lily until a shred of bark caught the
sparks and fared up in a tiny fame,
A little more, and she had a strong
fire blazing against the tree trunk.
She rested a short time. relaxing
both mentally and physically in the
satisfying consciousness that Blake
never should know how neal She had
come to failing in her trust.
Soon she became aware of a keen
feeling OF thirst and hunger. She
rose, piled a fresh supply of sticks on
the fire, and fastened back through