Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/100

 "And what could we do with the birds?" asked Baxter.

"Birds or quadrupeds, Baxter, I don't think much of your chance."

"Nor I" added Cross, always ready to support his cousin. "You might as well wait until he has tried them before you condemn them," said Gordon. "l am sure he will do something good. When our ammunition gives out, the lasso and the bolas will not fail us."

"But the birds will," said Donagan.

"We will see," said Gordon, " and now let us lunch."

But the preparations took some time, as Service wanted his bustard cooked to a turn. The one bird was enough for the meal; it was a good-sized one, and these bustards weigh about thirty pounds, and measure nearly three feet from beak to tail, being among the largest specimens of the gallinaceous tribe. This one was eaten to the last mouthful, and even to the last bone, for Fan, to whom the carcase fell, left as little as her masters.

Lunch being over, the boys started off inter the unknown part of Trap Woods traversed by Stop River on its way to the ocean. The map showed that it curved towards the north-west to get round the cliff, and that its mouth was beyond False Point; and, therefore, Gordon resolved to leave the river, which would take him in the opposite direction to French Den, his object being to take the shortest road to Auckland Hill, and then strike northwards along its base.

Compass in hand Gordon led the way to the west. The trees, wider apart than in the more southerly district, offered no obstacle, and the ground was fairly clear of bushes and underwood.

Among the birches and beeches little clearings opened now and then into which the sun-rays penetrated. Wild flowers mingled their fresh colours with the green of the foliage and the carpet of grass. In places, superb senecios bore their blooms on stems two or