Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/498

 TlIE canoë inclined to the wcst readily enough ; the fall in the rivcr-bed was so sudden that the current remained quite iinafTected by the cataract at a distance of three hundred yards. On the bank were woods so dense that sunlight could not penetrate the shade. Dick was conscious of a sad mî^ivîng when he looked at the charactcr of ^he territory through which they must necessarily pass. It did not seem practicable by any mcans to convey the canoë below the falls. As they neared the shore, Dingo became intensely agîtated. At first Dick suspected that a wild beast or a native mîght be lurking in the papyrus, but it soon became obvious that the dog was excited by grief rather than by rage. " Dingo îs crying," saîd Jack ; " poor Dingo ! " and the child laid his arms over the créatures neck. The dog, however, was too impatient to be caressed ; bounding away, he sprang into the water, swam across the twenty feet that intcrvened between the shore, and dis- appeared in the grass. In a few moments the beat had glided on to a carpet of confervs and other aquatic plants, startîng a few king- fishers and some snow-white hérons. Hercules moored it to the stump of a tree, and the travellers went ashore. There was no pathway through the forest, only the