such a course. The march was
therefore resumed, after about an hour's delay, Earle consoling himself
with the hope that one specimen of the unknown monster having been found
in the swamp, others might also exist there, and they might be fortunate
enough to encounter one or more of them.

Naturally, the party's rate of travelling was slow; for not only was
Earle now constantly engaged in searching the ground for further "sign"
of creatures possibly peculiar to the swamp, but halts were frequently
being called while suspicious indications were carefully investigated;
consequently when the mid-day halt was at length called, it was
estimated that the party had not penetrated the swamp to a distance of
more than some six or seven miles as the crow flies, though, of course,
they had actually traversed a distance nearly half as much again. But,
even so, Earle was quite satisfied with what had been done so far; while
there was still no sign of a break in the continuity of the firm soil
upon which they had been travelling.

The camp was pitched at a point where it widened out until there was
fully a hundred yards of it between the two stretches of water to right
and left, while on the right hand, or northern side of this wide space,
the canal-like watercourse had given place to a sort of lagoon, nearly a
mile long by about half that width. The water in this lagoon was much
cleaner and more wholesome-looking than that in the canals, yet Earle
considered that it would be unwise to use it for drinking purposes; he
therefore selected a spot and set a couple of Indians to work to dig a
pit in search of water, which he expected to find at a depth of two or
three feet, such water to be first filtered and then boiled before use.
And while the digging was proceeding, Earle and Dick took up a position
on the summit of a low knoll a few yards away, and examined their
surroundings through their prismatic glasses.

Suddenly Dick turned to his companion and pointed.

"I say, Earle," he exclaimed, "what sort of an anima is that? Surely it
is not a wild boar, though it looks a bit like the pictures I have seen
of them."

"Where?" demanded Earle, who had been looking in another direction.
"Oh! I see," he continued, catching sight of the creature at which Dick
was pointing, and which was standing at the edge of a little strip of
beach, about a quarter of a mile away, on the opposite side of the
water.

The two raised their glasses to