he terrible tedium and beguile their
thoughts from the peril in which they were placed. The lapse of time
was discussed, and the possibility of the slackening of the furious flow
of the falling river so that a boat might come down in search of the
unfortunates, but to a man all came to the conclusion that nothing could
be expected until daylight, and that they must bear their fate as best
they might.

The most cheerful thing that fell to their lot during the weary hours
was the announcement made from time to time by Joe Cross, that the water
was sinking a little lower and a little lower, so that he had room to
hope that after a while he too would be able to, as he put it, drip
himself dry.

But the monotony was terrible, and the morning seemed as if it would
never come. For it was far different from being in the temperate region
of the world, where in the summer months the darkness was slow to come
and was succeeded by a very early dawn. There in that tropical southern
land they were where the twenty-four-hours day was pretty equally
divided into light and darkness, with scarcely any twilight to soften
down the division.

But still as everything comes to those who wait, so it was there, and
Joe Cross announced at last that he was sitting quite clear of the
water, and therefore, as he judged it, they had not very much longer to
wait before it would be day.

But he was wrong. What seemed to be an interminable time elapsed before
the watchers could see for certain that a faint light seemed to be
piercing the dense grey mist that covered the river. But this did at
last become a certainty.

Before long, on one side, grey and grim-looking beneath a heavy mist,
the great river could be seen gliding steadily along, while away to
their right rose the primeval forest, rising as it were out of a sea of
shadow.

The change came quickly then through a rapid twilight to the bright rays
of the sunshine, which seemed to attack the river mist, piercing it
through and through, routing it, and sending it in clouds rolling along
the stream, while, now glistening and muddy, the banks showed out beyond
the trees amidst which the huge monarch in which they had taken refuge
stood towering almost alone.

"Why, we must have come inshore for some distance last night," cried
Rodd, in wonder.

"Ay, my lad. Banks flooded. High tide perhaps," said Joe bluffly.
"Well, the sooner we gets down into this mud and stretches our legs the