Page:Off For Hawaii.djvu/180

164 the slit in the tree. The lizard was a bloodsucker and had been preparing to make a meal off of me.

Slowly the sun mounted into the heavens, until the rays penetrated into the hollow. It was now fearfully hot once more, and I fairly panted for breath. At that moment I would have given all I possessed for a drink of cold water.

"This is ten times worse than my adventures in Cuba," I mused. "It looks as if I would never get out alive."

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when the sun was darkened, and I made out a number of heavy clouds looming up from the southward. I felt it was going to storm and hoped that the rain would come quickly, that I might get some of it upon my parched tongue.

Pat, pat, pat came the drops at last, and I held up my face to receive the downpour, but more water seemed to strike my eyelids than my mouth. Then came a rush of wind, and I heard the tree branches above me, old and rotten, creak ominously.

As the wind increased a fresh danger presented itself to my mind. What if the tree should be wrecked? More than likely my life would be crushed out of me. With fear and trembling I awaited each fresh gust.

Cra-ck! The sound came from above, and in