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 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.