28o DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. of the travellers, rose with flapping wings, and circied round thcîr heads. The youth*s heart sank with secret dismay lest Mrs. Weldon should divine the meaning of thîs ghastly scenCi and appcal to him for cxplanatîon, but fortunately shehad . again insisted on carryîng her little patient, and althou^ the child was fast asleep, he absorbed her whole attentîo*^ Nan was by her sîde, almost equally engrossed. Old T<^^ alone was fully alive to the sîgnificance of hîs surroundînfi^» and with downcast eyes he mournfully pursued his maï'^'^' Full of amazement, the other negroes looked right and 1^ upon what might appcar to them as the upheaval of so ^^ vast ccmetcry, but they uttered no wordof inquiryorsurpt^-* . Mcantime the bed of the stream had increased both^- J breadth and depth, and the rivulet had in a degree lost: J^ character of a rushing torrent. This was a change wlm ^^ Dick Sands obscrvcd hopefully, interpreting it as an dication that it might itself become navigable, or wo empty itself into somc more important tributary of Atlantic. His résolve was fixcd : he would follow course at ail hazards. As soon, therefore, as he found tL the éléphants track was quitting the water's edge, he ma-^^ up his mind to abandon it, and had no hésitation in agî resorting to the use of the axe. Once more, then, coi menccd the labour of cutting a way through the entangl ment of bushcs and crecpcrs that wcrc thick upon the s< It was no longer forcst through which thcy wcre wcndii their arduous path ; trccs wcre comparativcly rare ; on. tall clumps of bamboos rose above the grass, so high, hoN"^ evcr, that cvcn Hercules could not sce above them, and tl'^^ passage of the little troop could only hâve becn discovera^ by the rustling in the stalks. In the course of the afternoon, the soil bccame soft an^ marshy. It was évident that the travellers were crossing plains that in a long rainy seasonmustbeinundated. The ground was carpcted with luxuriant mosses and graceful ferns, and the continuai appearance of brown hématite wherever there was a rise in the soil, betokcned the exis- tence of a rich vein of métal beneath.
