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with the action of pursuit had come the optimistic conviction that we should

succeed. As a matter of fact, we had to succeed. The very thought of remaining

in this utter wilderness for the rest of our lives was impossible.

We arrived at nothing very definite in the matter of Snider's punishment, since

Taylor was for shooting him, Delcarte insisting that he should be hanged, while I,

although fully conscious of the gravity of his offense, could not bring myself to

give the death penalty.

I fell to wondering what charm Victory had found in such a man as Snider, and

why I insisted upon finding excuses for her and trying to defend her indefensible

act. She was nothing to me. Aside from the natural gratitude I felt for her since

she had saved my life, I owed her nothing. She was a half-naked little savage--I,

a gentleman, and an officer in the world's greatest navy. There could be no close

bonds of interest between us.

This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as the former, but, though I

tried to turn my mind to other things, it persisted in returning to the vision of an

oval face, sun-tanned; of smiling lips, revealing white and even teeth; of brave

eyes that harbored no shadow of guile; and of a tumbling mass of wavy hair that

crowned the loveliest picture on which my eyes had ever rested.

Every time this vision presented itself I felt myself turn cold with rage and hate

against Snider. I could forgive the launch, but if he had wronged her he should

die--he should die at my own hands; in this I was determined.

For two days we followed the river northward, cutting off where we could, but

confined for the most part to the game trails that paralleled the stream. One

afternoon, we cut across a narrow neck of land that saved us many miles, where

the river wound to the west and back again.

Here we decided to halt, for we had had a hard day of it, and, if the truth were

known, I think that we had all given up hope of overtaking the launch other than

by the merest accident.

We had shot a deer just before our halt, and, as Taylor and Delcarte were

preparing it, I walked down to the water to fill our canteens. I had just finished,

and was straightening up, when something floating around a bend above me

caught my eye. For a moment I could not believe the testimony of my own

senses. It was a boat.

I shouted to Delcarte and Taylor, who came running to my side.

The Lost Continent