Page:Under Dewey at Manila.djvu/195

Rh coarse," responded Striker. "Take that grass we've just come through, for instance. I don't believe a horse or a cow would touch it any more than it would a lot of old chair canings."

"And just look at the bugs, and beetles, and ants, and lizards!" went on the boy, pointing to the ground and the rocks about them. "I don't believe a fellow could pass a night here very comfortably."

"Not unless he slept in a tree, Larry—although I allow as it wouldn't be no wuss nor some sailors' boarding-houses I have put up at," and Striker laughed heartily. "Come." And on they went again.

Before the top of the hill was gained they had to pass over a rocky stretch of lava formation. Here Striker pointed out the different strata of the flow.

"This island is of volcanic origin, as the parson would put it," he said, "but I reckon the last eruption was a long while ago, judgin' by the trees. Perhaps we'll run across the volcano crater somewhere up there at the top."

The top of the hill was not as regular as that upon the other island visited, and in order to get a view of their surroundings they were compelled to climb a palm tree. From here they could get a fair