lake.

"He won't come back, will he?" thought Murray, and he obeyed the natural
instinct which prompted him to drag himself up amongst the evergreen
boughs of the tree, which slowly rocked to and fro with his weight.

But the water beneath him gradually settled down, the cypress in which
he clung ceased to bend, as he got his feet settled better to support
his weight, where he could look along a dark green verdant tunnel to a
spot of golden light where the subdued sunshine fell upon a glistening
level of amber-hued water so beautiful that for a time the lad could not
withdraw his eyes.

"It's no river," he said, "but the edge of a lagoon, and it would be
madness to go any farther. Let's have a rest. Might have been worse
off after all, and it's no use to get despairing and tiring oneself out.
I should have liked this adventure if my two lads had been with me,
and--and--Yes, that's it," he groaned--"if I hadn't been sent on such a
tremendous task! There, it's of no use to despair. I've done my duty,
and no matter what happens now I can say that. Who knows what may come
next? I mustn't think I can hang here till it grows dark. I could
climb up higher, but this is a swamp, and though I might save myself
from alligators and snakes--Ugh!" he shuddered. "This is the sort of
place where they live!--I couldn't escape from fever. There, I must
hail now till some one hears me and answers, even if it's the enemy.
But it may be one of my fellows, or if not it's sure to be one of the
slaves, for there must be plenty about here."

But Frank Murray did not shout for help. Perhaps it was due to
exhaustion, that the place seemed to have a strange restful fascination,
as he hung there in the thick growth of the cypress, gazing along the
soft green tunnel at the little glistening lake, which he now saw was
full of living things, for every now and then the surface was stirred by
creatures which he made out to be tiny terrapins--water tortoise-like
creatures which just thrust out their heads and drew them beneath again.
Then water beetles skimmed about, forming glistening geometric figures
for a time before they disappeared.

Then the lad shuddered, for from the side of the bright verdure-framed
lagoon a snake writhed itself in horizontal waves across the surface and
began to climb up the foliage, to glisten as it reached where the light
fell strongest and the burnished scales flashed with bronze, silver grey
and gold.

"I