Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/193

Rh top of this place and git our bearings, so to speak, same as we did at that other island we were on."

"And supposing we strike another snake?" and Larry could scarcely repress a shiver.

"We'll have to chance it. But I don't believe we will. Come, we'll cut ourselves a couple of good clubs, and then mount the cliff and the hill back of it. What I am worried about more than snakes is our chance of picking up the next meal. Fish ain't layin' around all over, ye see."

"Let us run along shore then and pick up what we can," answered Larry, "or I can do so while you are cutting the clubs;" and so it was arranged.

The beach was strewn with seaweed and shells, but, as Striker had intimated, fish were scarce, and Larry picked up but one small creature of an unknown variety, and not weighing over a pound and a half. It was full of spines which stuck his fingers until they bled, and he carried the fish back very gingerly.

"Humph, not much, but better nor nuthin'," was Striker's comment. "I'll wrap it in wet seaweed and sling it over my back. Here is your club, lad, and use it as best you can, if anything attacks you, be it snake, wild animal, or a blood-thirsty savage."