Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/254

226 DICK SAXDS, THE BOY CAPTAIX. came to a spot whîch was marked very distinctiy by the vestiges of some enonnous animais, which must hâve passed quitc reccntly. As Dick looked carefully about him, he observed that the branches were ail torn oflf or broken to a considérable hcight, and that the foot-tracks in the trampled grass were much too large to be those either of jaguars or panthers. Evcn if it were possible that the prînts on the ground had been made by aïs or other tardigrades, this would fail to account in the least for the trees being broken to such a height Eléphants alone were capable of working such destruction in the undenvood, but éléphants were unknown in America. Dick was puzzled, but controlled himself so that he would not apply to Harris for any enlightenment ; his intuition made him aware that a man who had once tried to make him bclieve that giraffes were ostriches, would not hesitatc a second time to impose upon his credulity. More than ever was Dick becoming convinced that Harris was a traiter, and he was sccrctly prompted to tax him with his treachery. Still hc was obligcd to own that he could not assign any motive for the man acting in such a manner with the sur'ivors of the " Pilgrîm," and conse- qucntly hesitated before he actually condemned him for conduct so base and heartless. What could bc done ? he repeatedly asked himself. On board ship the boy captain might perchance hâve been able to devise some plan for the safcty of those so strangely committed to his charge, but hère on an unknown shore, he could only suffer from the burdcn of this responsibility the more, because he was so utterly powerless to act. Hc made up his mind on one point. He determincd not to alarm the poor anxious mother a moment before he was actually compelled. It was his carrying out this déter- mination that explaîned why on subsequently arriving at a considérable stream, where he saw some hugc heads, swollen muzzles, long tusks and unwieldy bodies rising from amidst the rank wet grass, he uttered no word and gave no gesture of surprise ; but only too well he knew, at a glance^ that he must bc looking at a herd of hippopotamuses.