d fellow
with contempt and disgust. How he is slaving there to send the great,
heavy boat along!"

Nic watched till his eyes ached; and once more his heart began to sink,
for the truth was rapidly being forced upon him that, in spite of Pete's
efforts, the boat remained nearly motionless--the poor fellow was
exhausting himself in his efforts to achieve the impossible.

What to do?

Nic was not long in making up his mind. He knew that Pete would try
till he dropped back in the boat, and it would have been all in vain.
The pair of them could hardly have rowed that heavy boat up-stream, and
they were as yet far above the reach of the tide, or Pete might have
waited and then come up. There was only one thing to do--go down to
him.

A minute or two's trial proved to Nic that he could not tear his way
through the dense growth on the bank till he was opposite his companion
and could hail him to come ashore. There was only one thing to be
done--swim down, and that he dared not do without help.

But the help was near, and he set to work.

He still had his keen knife, and the next moment he was hewing away at a
patch of stout canes growing in the water, and as he attacked them he
shuddered, for there was a wallowing rush, and he caught a glimpse of a
small alligator's tail.

He did not stop, though. He knew that he had frightened the reptile,
and this knowledge that the creatures did fear men gave him
encouragement, making him work hard till he had cut a great bundle,
ample to sustain him in the water. This he firmly bound with cane, and
when this was done he once more gazed at the distant boat, which did not
seem to have moved an inch.

How to make Pete grasp the fact that he was coming to join him? For
even if he saw something floating down he would never think that it was
his companion.

This task too was easy.

Cutting the longest cane he could reach, he cut off the leafy top, made
a notch in what was left, and then inserting the point of his knife in
the remaining sleeve of his shirt, he tore it off, ripped up the seam,
and after dragging one end down through the knot and slit in the cane,
he bound up the end with a strip of cotton, stuck the base firmly in the
bundle or truss he had bound together, and so formed a little white
flag.

"If he sees that he'll know," said Nic triumphantly; and without a
moment's hesitation he thrust off from the bank with his cane bundle
under one arm, and struck out with