Page:Neuroomia.djvu/24

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CHAPTER II.

CAPTAIN PERIWINKLE REACHES A NEW CONTINENT.

I felt despondent and annoyed for some little time. However, I consoled myself with the idea that there was no use reflecting, so I took up my knife and "billy" (we had abandoned the guns, etc., some time previously), and having filled and lit my pipe, began to descend. I soon managed to reach the river, but the difficulty now was how to get across, for it was very wide and deep, and far too rapid to swim; so I wandered up and down the bank in the hope of finding trees on the opposite sides whose branches met above the water. In this, however, I was disappointed; the nearest branches I could see were from ten to fifteen feet apart. I now scarcely knew what to do, so I sat down to consider the situation and examine the trees more closely. It was not long, however, before I heard a chattering noise behind me, and on looking round was surprised to see a whole host of monkeys com-

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