The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 216: what you’re looking at

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212 be softer woods, such as palms, that would do as well. I will accompany you this afternoon and see what there is.” He did so, and in another portion of the forest discovered trees that came down with half the effort. This was in a measure squared by the extra work of getting the wood to the place where we wanted to build. But that afternoon we felled some trees and lopped off the branches. Then Ross grew disgusted and declared he was going to hunt kaybees. “Funny where old Difficulty went,” said I*oster. “You mean Good Luck,” put in Ross. “He has probably gone back to his ancestral halls,” I suggested. “ He hasn’t been away so long as to forget.” It was no great trial to any of us to cease chopping for that dav. We re- turned to the camp and got the profes- sor and our guns. “Better obtain some definite direc- tions from Donaldson,” said Ross. “ Go ask him, Bayne, where the kavbees dwell.” I went to the hut and preferred my request. “It would be impossible to mistake the place,” said Donaldson. “It is also impossible to reach it. Those birds . have their nests or houses, or whatever they are, on a rocky bluff facing the ocean. I-have tried many times to make the ascent, but it is impossible for man to do so. : “ With a boat you could go round the island and see them from the ocean side. But from the land side all you will see will be a mass of rock rising abruptly, and no foothold for you to climb.” I thanked him and joined the others. T did not tell them all that Donaldson had said. I wanted to see their discom- fiture when they reached the place. It was a walk of about a mile, and we enjoyed every foot of it. The island was certainly a strange one, as Donaldson had said. It had within 1ts few mil@s of coast line every kind of plant or tree known by the professor to belong to the tropics. _ Beautiful flowering~ trees that gave out splendid perfume rose majestically here and there: ebony and mahogany THE ARGOSY. I have already said were abundant, as well as palms of several varieties. Berries that were large and fine eat- ing grew on vines. The custard apple was found. In fact, to tell all that we saw in that walk would be like the in- dex of a school-book on tropical botany. There were several species of animals we had never seen, some apparently large cnough to be dangerous, but not showing the least desire to fight. They scurried away when they saw us. There were also monkeys, and they chattered incessantly as we passed under the cocoanut palms in which they were holding their political conven- tions. It was a ramble of unalloyed delight. Ross kept us laughing with his droll speeches, and the professor had us in- terested in his instructive remarks on the various animals and trees. There were a number of springs from which came pure water, and from these little rivulets ran to the sea. Their banks were bordered with flowers. But we finally came to the end of the delightful part. The forest abruptly ceased. There were no longer flowers and running vines. “Sol” said the professor. “ We have at last reached the rocks.” It was all rocks. Great boulders piled on each other, rough stones of various sizes scattered on the ground, and a steady rise until they terminated in a gigantic promontory that held toward the land a high and smooth facade. No man could ascend that scarp. And up its very summit we saw either Difficulty, or another kaybee like him, flapping his great wings and uttering his discordant cry. “Shall I shoot him?” asked Ross wickedly, winking at me. “No, no,” said the professor. “ That may be the last one. He will fall into the sea and we shall lose him. Wait. Let me have a little while to think. Ill get him.” CHAPTER VIII. A DISAPPOINTMENT. WE had great difficulty in making our wav even over the rocks to the base of the cliff. And. after a half hour of “EOMMICOOOIK CO awa