For some time the Pilot and the four young men passed the night in a
tent erected about midway between Rockhouse and the Jackal River. The
apparent reason for this modification of their plans was the greater
facility it afforded for their all meeting at daybreak, breakfasting
together, and setting out for Falcon's Nest before the temperature
reached ninety degrees in the shade, which junction could not be so
easily effected with one party encamped at Rockhouse and the other
bivouacked on Shark's Island, with an arm of the sea between them.
The real motive, however, was that all might be within hail of each
other, and prepared for every emergency, in the event of the stranger
appearing in a more palpable shape, and assuming a hostile attitude.
We say the stranger, because, judging from the indications, there was
only one--still that did not prove that there might not be several.
One night, as Fritz was lying with one eye open, he observed Mary's
little black terrier suddenly prick up the fragments of its ears, and
begin sniffing at the edge of the tent. This shaggy little cur was
called Toby; it had accompanied the Wolstons on their voyage, and was
Mary's exclusive property; but Fritz had found the way to the animal's
heart as usual through its stomach, and Mary was in no way jealous of
his attentions to her favorite, but rather the reverse.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128