Part 30 (2/2)

When the boy caht and pitch dark under the thick tree, through the branches of which he had fallen He rested on a bed of soft moss, and this cushi+onlike substance had most likely saved hi was one of bewilderment, his next that his left foot felt as if it was on fire, with a shooting pain that ran well up to his knee Catching hold of the foot, he felt that the ankle was much swollen, and that his shoe-top was ready to burst with the pressure

Scarcely realizing what he was doing, he loosened the shoe, at which part of the pain left hiht to be thankful that I wasn't killed,” he thought, rather dismally ”I wonder where Leroy and that scout are? I don't suppose it will do any good to call for them The top of that cliff must be a hundred feet from here”

The fall had aled suit, and he found himself scratched in a dozen places, with a bad cut over one eye and several splinters in his left hand Feeling in his pocket, he found severalthe prison cave, and he lit one of these and set fire to a few dried leaves which happened to be ready to hand

The light afforded a little consolation, and by its rays the boy ed hiet a drink and then bathe the ankle Thisupon it was out of the question, as he speedily discovered by a trial which ht ”With such an ankle as this, I can't go on, and what a to eat? I'd be better off in a Filipino prison”

Slowly the night wore along, until a faint light in the east announced the cole had been alan to tune up, and here and there Larry heard the h none of the latter showed the tree than down by the pool, and as daylight ca-place As he ca there and on it a bird's nest containing half a dozen speckled eggs

”Here's a little luck, anyway,” hesos in the hot ashes When they were done, he broke off the shells and ate the eggs, and although the flavor was by nothe hunger he had felt before taking the fall over the cliff

The day that folloas one which Larry says he will never forget, and for good reason Neither hu overhead seeain he cried out, but the only answer that ca his oords as if in reat distance, but toward nightfall even this died out He could scarcely -place, and it was not until darkness came on that the pain in his ankle subsided sufficiently to allow of his sleeping in coood, and when he awakened he found the swelling in his ankle gone down, along withup he found that he could walk, but it ry, and his first effort was to supply hi down even a sht possibly knock over a bird or two, and with this in view cut hi down to the pool to drink, and watching his chance he let fly with the sticks anddoo of the creatures, and these forh he could have eaten twice as many There were a nu, fearing they ain the top of the cliff was out of the question, so he decided to strike out directly for the southwest, feeling that thishim into the American lines To be sure, he had first to pass the Filipinos, but this could not be helped, and he felt that the best he could do would be to keep his eyes and ears open and walk around any body of the ene to steal his way straight through

This would require , and on the sore foot, too, but this hardshi+p would have to be endured

Half a mile was covered in a slow and painful fashi+on, when Larry reached a s, and here he sat down to rest on a fallen tree and to exa

He was engaged in looking at the woundedvoice broke upon his ears

”What do you here?” deue, as he strode forward, gun in hand, followed by several others

Larry was startled and leaped up In a twinkling he found himself surrounded, and several Mausers were levelled at his head

To resist would have been the height of foolishness, and Larry did not try The Tagals asked hiue, but he shook his head to show them that he did not understand On their part, not one could speak English, so neither party could communicate with the other

The natives, however, soon understood that he was alone, and when he pointed to his ankle and limped, also understood that he had sprained that member One went into the bushes, and presently returned with some leaves, which he crushed and packed inside of the boy's stocking

The juice of the leaves proved very cooling, and presently als were bound for the cliff, but by a route different from that which Larry had travelled As the boy was unar, they did not take the trouble to bind him in any way He was made to march with half of the crowd before him and the others behind; and thus they proceeded until the cliff was reached, at a point where the jungle hid a series of rough steps leading to the top Beyond the top of these steps was a ht them to a plateau where were encamped at least three hundred Filipinos of all classes, the Tagals predo

A shout went up as Larry appeared, and he was at once recognized as one of the prisoners who had escaped from the caves, which were fully four ain?” remarked an under-officer, as he strode up with a sinister set very far”

”No, I had a bad fall and lamed my foot,” replied Larry, as cheerfully as he could He was never one to ”cry over spilt h cliff just below here”