Part 34 (1/2)

”I can stay in the game You call yourself a philosopher I won't quarrel about it, but the world would call you a quitter Whichever it is, it's not forto find Desiree if I can, and, by the Lord, so to cock my feet up on the fender at the Midlothian and make 'em open their mouths and call me a liar!”

”A worthy ambition”

”My own And, Paul, you can't--you're not a quitter”

”Personally, yes If I were here alone, Hal”--I picked up one of the spears and passed my palm over its sharp point--”I would quit cold

But not--not with you I can't share your enthusias the fender--e see it”

”That's the talk, old man I knew you would”

”But understandIt's all rot If by any wild chance we should pull out in the end I'll adht for you You're the leader unless you ask rin ”First, to get Desiree What about it?”

We discussed plans all the way from the i only we decided--that before we tried to find our way back to the great cavern and the royal apart the boulders and ledges where we then were For if ever a place were designed for a successful defense by two ainst thousands it was that one And we had the spears

Still no one had appeared in the cavern, and we decided to wait no longer We carried the raft back to the ledge It was fairly light, being ers of bone, but was exceedingly clu nearly toppled over into the lake with hiht his arm just in ti was ready We launched the raft aardly, nearly shi+pping it beneath; but finally got it afloat with ourselves aboard We had fastened the loose ends of the spear-thongs about our waists

I think that raft was the craziest thing that ever touched water It was a norance of the first principle of the art of floating

After a quarter of an hour of experi exactly in a certain position, one on each side and paddling with one hand, it was possible to keep fairly level If either of us shi+fted his foot a fraction of an inch the thing ducked like a stone

We finally got out a hundred feet or so and ceased paddling Then, exchanging our oars for the spears, aited

The surface of the lake was perfectly still, save for a barely perceptible ripple, caused no doubt by the undercurrent which was fed by the streaht was very dim; no better than half darkness The silence was broken by the sound of the rushi+ng strea of the water not a foot away toward the front, and then--well, the ensuing events happened so quickly that their order is uncertain

A black for and landed squarely on the raft, which proceeded to perform its favorite dive It would have done so with much less persuasion, for the fish was a monster--it appeared to

On the instant, as the raft capsized, Harry and I lunged with our spears, tu on each other and on top of the fish I feltinto the soft fish almost without resistance

The raft slipped fro in the water

I have said the spear-thongs were fastened about our waists

Otherwise, ould have let the fish go; but we could hardly allow hi That is, we didn't want to allow it; but we soon found that we had nothing to say in the matter Before we had tih we had been corks toward the opposite shore

But it was soon over, handicapped as he was by four feet of spears in his body We felt the pull lessen and twisted ourselves about, and in another -stroke and were holding our own Soon we hs a thousand tons,” panted Harry, and I nodded

Pulling and puffing side by side, we gradually neared the center of the lake, passed it, and approached the ledge We ell-nigh exhausted e finally touched botto the fish onto the ledge, we no longer wondered at his strength

He could not have been an ounce under four hundred pounds, and was fully seven feet long One of the spears ran through the gills; the other was in his ot theh and dry