The excitement and gush of daring with which they had plunged in was by that time expended, and the slow motion of the logs gave them time for reflection. O'Rook's lively fancy troubled him much. "If the baists would only attack a man in front," he muttered, "it's little I'd mind 'em, but to come up behind, sneakin' like hooroo!"

"Have you got the tinder-box, Larry?" inquired Will, as they were about to start. "Ay, an' the powder an' shot too, not to mintion the bowie-knife. Bad luck to the wild baists as comes to close quarters wid me, anyhow." He displayed an enormous and glittering knife as he spoke, with which he made two or three savage cuts and thrusts at imaginary tigers before returning it to its sheath.

Wan o' the poor baists wi' the packs has gone clane over the cliffs an' bin smashed to smithereens more be token it's the wan that carried the kittle an' the salt beef, but the wan wi' the biscuit an' the fryin'-pan is safe, an' that's a comfort, anyhow."