oth
horses. It was rough going, but both were young and hard. Suddenly the
trooper exclaimed--

"Look there, Dickinson!"

He was pointing to the other side. Something like a strip of clothing
was fluttering from a bush hardly above water level. When the river was
higher it would have been beneath it.

Now a strip of clothing in that position, amid the wildest part of the
very wild Makanya forest, was a thing to attract attention. The natives
frequently wore clothes, it was true; still, under the circumstances
Sergeant Dickinson thought it worthy of note. And just as he had so
decided, something else caught his attention.

"Symes," he said quickly, "I'm going to swim across. I fancy there's
something worth finding on the other side."

"Swim across?" said Symes, with an expletive. "I wouldn't. The river's
full of blooming crocs."

"I know. But we'll give 'em a holy scare first."

"Why not ride round by the blanked drift and come down the bank?" said
Trooper Symes. "This is a plaguy rotten deep hole."

"Because of that krantz. It comes right down to the water, and to dodge
it means the devil's own delay getting here. And if what I see is what
I think, why, every minute is important."

He had thrown off his tunic--he knew better than to throw off all his
clothes to swim a crocodile-infested river, for with this obnoxious
saurian, as with the wily shark, experience goes to show that a clothed
man is safer than an unclothed one; possibly there is something alarming
in the artificiality of his clothes--or is it the bad fit of his tailor?
Now he drew his revolver and so did the trooper. Both fired several
shots into the water at various points.

"But what in blazes d'you think you do see?" said Symes.

"I'll tell you when I get to the other side," and Sergeant Dickinson
took the water with a mighty splash.

It was not very wide there, though smooth and deep. A few long, strong
strokes and the swimmer was on the other side, holding his revolver
holster high above water in one hand, for he of all people did not care
to be unarmed in that locality.

Eagerly, excitedly, he climbed up the bank. An exclamation of
satisfaction mingled with utter disgust escaped him.

"Symes," he called out. "You've got to go back to camp as hard as you
can push your horse; hitch mine up to the bush yonder, but firmly. Get
my kodak--see it's not been used since I filled it yesterday--and then
get back here as hard as