, scanned the water for the approach of new foes. As for Grom,
he was entranced. This, at last, was what he had really come in search
of, the stuff for arrows being merely his excuse to himself. This was
the utterly new experience, the new achievement. He was traveling by
water, not in it, but upon it--upborne, dry and without discomfort,
upon its surface.

For a little while he did not ask whither he was being borne. To his
surprise the crocodiles and other formidable water-dwellers, which
were quite unknown to him, paid them no attention whatever; and he
concluded that they looked upon the raft as nothing more than a mass
of floating driftwood containing nothing for them to eat. He could see
them everywhere about, swimming with brute snouts half above water or
basking on sandy spits of shore. Then he observed that the current was
bearing them gradually towards that further shore which he so longed
to visit, and he thrilled with new anticipation. But when, after
perhaps an hour, the capricious tide blew them again to mid-stream, a
new idea took possession of him. He must find some way of influencing
the direction of their voyage. He could not long relinquish himself to
the blind whim and chance of the current.

Just as he was beginning to grapple with this problem, A-ya
anticipated his thought--as he had noticed that she often did. Looking
up at him through her tossed hair, she enquired where they were
going.

"I am just trying to think," he answered, "how to make this thing take
us where we want to go."

"If the water is not too deep, couldn't you push with your long
spear?" suggested the girl.

Acting at once on the suggestion, Grom leaned over the edge and thrust
the spear straight downwards. But he could find no bottom.

"It is too deep," said he, "but I'll find a way."

As he stood near the forward end of the raft he began sweeping the
spear in a wide arc through the water, as if it were a paddle, but
with the idea merely of testing the resistance of the water. Poor
substitute as the spear was for a paddle or an oar, his great strength
made up for its inefficiency, and after a few sweeps he was astonished
and delighted to notice that the head of the raft had swung away from
him, so that it was heading for the shore from which they had come.

He pondered this in silence for a little, then stepped over to the
other side and repeated the experiment. After several vigorous efforts
the unwieldy craft yielded.