Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/159



", there are only two ways of getting back," remarked the mate of the Columbia, after a long pause. "One is to climb the hill, and the other is to skirt either the east or the west shore. It's a close mile across, and I reckon it's three miles around, one way or the other."

"Yes, I reckon it is three miles by way of the shore," answered Hobson. "But there is a beach most of the way, if not all of the way, and it will be easier walking on that than it will be a-climbing the rocks."

"I say let us try the shore," put in Vincent, who was as scared as any one. "We won't be worried about snakes, and we'll see more than if we went back by the way we came. The question is, which shore, east or west?"

The question was debated for a few minutes, and it was decided that, according to the view