The Washington times., 1912-07-17
CHAPTER VII.
a Tourney of Exploration.

TT was nnd-morning before Blake re-
appeared. He came from the man
grove swamp where It ran down into
the sea. His legs were smeared to
the thigh with slimp mud, but as he
approached the dropping brim Of his
palm-leaf hat failed to hide his ex-
ultant look
Come onr' he yelled. "rve struck
1t. Wen be over in half an hour"
"How's that?" asked Winthrope.
Bar" answered Blake, hurrying for
ward. ''Slng on your hats and get
into my coat again, Miss Jenny. The
nuts?"
Here they are-three strings-all that
l fancied we could carry" explained
Ali right. The big one is mine, I
suppose. I'll take two. Wen leave
, the other. Lean on me II your ankle
is still weak"
Thanks; I can make 1t alone. But
must We go through mud like that?"
Not on this side, at least. Come on!
! We don't want to miss the ebb."
,nsiil, Blake.s inpaaienee discouraged further
and the othess followed him, walking
close together
! The pace was sharp for winthrope,
! ana his ankle soon began to twinge
/ he was compelled to accept Miss Les
lies invitation to take her arm. Win
her help he ma5laged to keep within a
reW yards OF Blake.
Instead Of plunging into the man.
grove wood, which here was under
/ grown with thicket Of giant ferns,
Blake skirted around In the open until
they came to the seashore.
The tide was at its lowest and he
waved his club toward a long eand--
spit which curved out around the sea-
, ward edge of the mangroves..
whether this was part of the rivers
/ bar or had been heaped up by the cy-
clone was beyond Wintl.rope's krowl-
edge. The question did not even occur
to him. 1t was enough for him that the
sand was smooth and hard as a race
track.
Presently the party came to the end
OF the spit, where the river water rip
pied over the sand with. the last feeble
outsuck OF the ebb. On their right they
had u sweeping view of the river,
around the flank of the mangrove
screen.
Blake halted at the edge of the water
, CLOSE up" he said IT'S shallow
enough-but do YOU see those logs over
on the mudbank? Those are alligators, /"
! Mercy! And you expect me to wade
= across among such creatures?" cried
} Leslie.
Il went almost across an hour ago,
: and they didn't bother me any. Come
| on! There's wind. in that cloud out
! seaward. Inside half an hour the
surf'll be rolling up on this bar like
I Niagara"
! ''If we must. we must, Miss Gene
[ We've" urged Winthrope. step be-
! hind me and gather up your skirts
the tropics"
The girl blushed and retained his
arm.
II prefer to help you" she replied.
Come on!" repeated Blake, and he
splashed out into the water.
The others followed within arms
length, painfully conscious Of the rows
Of motionless reptiles on the fiat, not
100 yards distant
In the center of the bar, where thy
water was trtfe over knee deep, some
large creature came darting down
stream beneath the surface, and passed
with violent swirl between Blake and
his companions.
about and jabbed with his club at the
supposed alligator
"Where's the brute? Has h got
you?" he shouted.
mo, no, he went by!" gasped Win
thrope. There he is"'
A long bony snout. fringed on either
side by row of lateral teeth, was
flung UP into view.
"Sawf3hI" said Blake, and he wont
on across the bar without further COM
ment.
Miss Leslie had been on the point of
rainting rdta9 30, Ihe me, tone OF Blake's voice
There were no more scares. A few
minutes later they waded out upon a
clean stretch of sand on thu south side
Of the river.
Before them :he, beach lay in fat
tened curve, which at the far end
hooked sharply to the left, and ap-
peared to terminate at the foot of the
towering limestone cliffs OF the head
land.
A mile or more inland the river jun
gle eded IN close to the cliffs; but from
arated from the wall of rock by a little
sandy plain, covered with creeping
plants and small palms The greatest
width of the open space was more than
Blake paused for a moment at high.
tide mark. and Winthrope instantly
sq%aatted d9Mn to nurse his ankle;
snd so. say RIa6e% RInG - he sran said, cant you
few yards around those trees"
Good Lord YOU haven't been fool
enough to overstrain that ankle? Yes
yoE haye. Why couldn't you tell me
1t, 1T did not feel SO painful in the
posed 81 hf1Rss ass The hsse best fSHS sSns inter-
could get Mr.. Winthrope a crutch--"
"Crutchi" growled Blake. How long
fSrSy DO you think I'M, it would take me to wade
cloud! We're in for a squall. Herev'
He handed the girl the smaller string
Of SfocG cGcoan9ts. flung the other, up the
mount his back. He then started of
along the beach at sharp trot.
Miss Leslie followed as best she could.
the heavy cocOanuts swinging about
with every step and bruising her tender
body.
The wind was coming faster than
Blake had calculated.
Before they had run 200 PAGES they
heard the roar Of rain-lashed water
and the squall struck them with a force
that almost overthrow Miss Leslie,
With the wind came torrents of rain
that drove through their garments and
drenched them to the skin within the
first half minute.
Blake slackened his pace to a walk
and plodded sullenly along beneath the
driving downpour. He kept to the low
er edge of the beach, for the force Of
the falling deluge beat down the waves
end held In check the breakers, which
the wind sought to roll up the shore.
The rain storm was at its height
when they reached the foot of the
cliff. The gray rock lowered above
them, thirty or forty feet high
Blake deposited Winthrope upon wet
ledge and Strengthened up to scan the
headland. Here and there ledges ran
more than half way up the rocky wall;
IN other places the crest was noticed
by deep clefts, but nowhere within
sight did either offer continuous path
20 the summit. Blake grunted with
disguSt