Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/494

 466 DICl!; SANDS, TUE BOV CAPTAIN. wlicn daylight dawncd no vestige of an inhabitant was to bc secn. Ncvcrthcless Dick thought it prudent for a whilc to titeer close undcr the shclter of tlic left-hand shorc. ïiy thc ciid of thc next four days the aspect of thc country h;id undcrgone a remarkable change, thc jungle haviiig givcn place to a désert as dreary as the Kalahari itsclf, Thc river appcared Interminable, and it became a niattcr of serious considération how to get a sufiiciency of food. Fish was scarcc, or at least hard to catch, and the arid soil provided no means of sustenance for antclopes, so ihat nothingwas to begained fromthe chase, Carnivorous animais also had quite dîsappearcd, and the silence of the night was broken, not by the roarofwîld bcasts, but by the croakingof frogs in a discordant chorus, which Cameron lias comparcd to the clankîng of hammcrs and thc grating of files in a ship-builder's yard. Far away both to the east and west the outUn^s of hills could be faintly discerned, but the shores on either hand were perfcctly flat and devoid of trees. Euphorbias, it is truc, grew in considérable numbers, but as they were only of thc oil-producing specics, and not the kind from which cassava or manioc is procurcd, they were useless in an alimcntary point of view. Dick was becomîng more and more perplexcd, when Hercules happened to mention that the natives often eat young fern-fronds and the pith of the papyrus, and that before now he had hîmself been reduced to the necessity of subsisting on nothing better. " We must try them," said Dick. Eoth fcrns and papyrus abounded on the banks, and a meal was prepared, the sweet soft pith of the papyrus being found very palatable. Jack in particular appeared to enjoy it extremcly, but it was not in any way asatisfyiog diet. Thanks to Cousin Benedict, a fresh varîety in the matter of food was found on the following day. Sînce the discovery of the " Hexapodes Benedictus " he had recovered bîs spirits, and, having fastened his prize safely inside his hat, he wandercd siboul, &s ctx^u %â Vt tA!i %. chajice, in his