n; but now they were in despair. Poyor spoke so
positively that there could be no doubt the journey to the coast would
be a long one, in case they ever succeeded in making it, and the
thoughts of the loved ones at home who were probably mourning them as
dead caused them to be more gloomy than on the night of the flight, when
it did not seem possible any of the party would escape alive.

Cummings, who had no care as to when he reached the coast, and Jake, to
whom time was no particular object, received the news calmly. A week
more or less made but little difference to them, and after a short pause
Cummings said:

"If you will stay on guard, Jake, I'll find out if it is possible to
catch any fish. The food supply is an important matter which should be
settled at once, for we must not depend upon what can be gotten in the
forest, since no one can say how soon we may be besieged."

Poyor lay down to sleep as if perfectly indifferent to the experiment,
and the boys followed Cummings. To watch him fish was better than
remaining quiet thinking over their troubles.

The reflection of the sun from the outside had so far dispelled the
gloom that it was possible to distinguish surrounding objects with
reasonable distinctness, and Cummings stood by the bank of the stream as
he tied one end of Teddy's line to the pole Poyor had used for drinking
purposes, while, with the last remaining fragments of roasted toh, began
the work.

In the most perfect silence the boys watched him for ten minutes, and
Teddy said:

"I guess you'll have to give it up as a bad job. There's nothing but
alligators in the stream, and what they most want is another chance to
get hold of Neal's trousers."

"It was lucky for me that they didn't get hold of my ankle as well. I
don't understand how I escaped so easily, for----"

"Here's the first one," Cummings said triumphantly, as he swung on shore
a fish weighing about three pounds. "If we find many such there won't be
any danger of suffering from hunger."

The boys seized the flapping evidence of Cummings' skill as an angler,
and hurried to the entrance in order to examine it more closely.

In shape it was similar to a brook trout; but instead of being spotted
had black scales as large as one's thumb nail, and not until it had been
scrutinized carefully was anything seen to betoken the presence of
organs of sight. Then Jake pointed out two slight depressions near the
end of the upper jaw, which were