Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/310

 282 DICK SANDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. upon wcaving some bamboos into a litter, upon which, after much reluctance to become such a burden, she was induced, with Jack beside her, to take her place. Ailer the delay thus caused, the procession agaîn started on its perilous route. Dick Sands continued to walk at the head, in order to test the stabîlity of the footing ; Actaeon followed, holding Cousin Benedict firmly by the arm ; Tom took charge of old Nan, who without his support would certaînly hâve fallen into the quagmire ; and the three othcr negroes carried the litter in the rear. It was a mat- ter of the greatest difficulty to find a path that was sufficiently firm ; the method they adopted was to pîck their way as much as possible on the long rank g^rass that on the margin of the swamps was tolerably tough ; but in spite of the greatest précaution, there was not one of them who cscaped occasionally sinking up to his knees in slush. At about fivc o*clock they wcre relîeved by findîng them- selves on ground of a more clayey character ; it was stîll soft and porous below, but its surface was hard enough to giv^e a secure foothold. There wcre watery pores that per- colatcd the subsoil, and thèse gave évident witness to the proximity of a river-district. The heat would hâve bccn întolcrably oppressive îf ît had not becn tempered by somc heavy storm-clouds which obstructed the direct influence of the sun*s rays. Light- ning was observed to be playing faîntly about the sky, and there was now and agaîn the low growl of distant thunder. The indications of a gathering storm were too manifcst to be disregarded, and Dick could not hclp being vcry uneasy. He had hcard of the extrême violence of African storms, and kncw that torrents of raîn, hurricanes that no trec could resist, and thundcrbolt after thunderbolt were the usual accompaniment of thèse tempcsts. And hère in this lowland désert, which too surely would be completely inun- dated, there would not be a tree to which they could resort for shelter, while it would Hkewise be utterly vain to hope to obtain a refuge by excavation, as water would be found only two feet below the surface.