The Argosy, Vol. XXIV No. 2 — page 72: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

264 THE TRACK OF MIDNIGHT. them during the next two hours. Then the day broke and revealed to them the fact that the water had touched its highest point and was rapidly falling. To Douglas the appearance of the sun was doubly welcome, as it overcame the coldness he had experienced from his saturated clothing. “The humpy will be out of the water in six hours,’ he said encourag- ingly. “Tf we could only have a fire,’’ Mary answered, as she shivered. ‘“And something to eat,’’ Douglas added. ‘‘Can you swim?’ he asked suddenly. ‘A little,’’ Mary replied. ‘‘ Narli taught me.’’ ‘‘ 'There’s a way to get out of this, if you care to try it,’’ he said. ‘‘ It’s a bit risky, but we shall have to wait for hours before we can get the horses over.’’ ‘“ There is a ford lower down, I think,’’ she answered. ‘“‘ It was the way we caine, as far as Narli and I can remember.’’ ‘“‘ But the stream is too strong for it to be passable for hours yet,’’ he said. ‘“ If we could get some of this bark off we could fix up floats.’’ “And swim over? Through that current?’’ Mary asked, pointing to where the stream was visible through the trees. ‘It’s better than waiting,’’ he answered. ‘‘No good,’’ Narliexclaimed. ‘‘ By um by flood all gone.’’ ‘Tt will take a long time going,’’ Douglas said. ‘‘ No, no,’’ Narli persisted. ‘‘ Soon flood all gone; look! ’’ She pointed to the nearest tree stem, the flood mark on which was already some two feet above the water. Douglas remained sceptical, but in half the time that he had given for the water to leave the humpy, they were able to climb down through the hole the women had made when they effected their escape on to the roof. Narli hunted round until she found some of the small parcels of flour she had tied up in pieces of blanket. The water had soaked through the cover- ing and had saturated the flour on the outside, but inside it was dry and there was enough in each parcel to serve for bread. It was quickly kneaded and made into hasty cakes, and with appetites keen edged by their) fasting vigil of the night before the three devoured them as soon as they weré cooked. Refreshed and reinvigorated by the meal, Doug- las went outside the hut and found that the water was receding rapidly and that already sufficient ground had become exposed for him to walk within easy hailing distance of Johnson. He called out that there was a ford lower down, and Johnson replied that he would ride along the bank of the stream and see whether he could get the horses over. A mile or so below the humpy he found that the stream spread out and was comparatively shallow. to what it was in the more confined course above. The water was still flowing at a great rate and he decided to wait an hour or so before attempting to get over. After acouple of hours he decided to make the attempt. He drove the horses in as high up as possible. The water reached to the a| 000) =) (E(0) Ss) (efe)