QUEST OF THE FIREBIRDS 263 



examined the entire 360 degrees of the lake's rim; everywhere 

 was emptiness, miles of whitecaps and long streamers of foam. 

 There was no sign of flamingos. Once again I circled, stand- 

 ing on tiptoe to gain added height, stopping now and then to 

 recover balance, for the binoculars upset my equilibrium. I 

 was about to give it up when far in the north I imagined I 

 saw a faint reddish haze. Strain as I might, I could make noth- 

 ing further out of it. At times it disappeared entirely and I 

 wondered if I had actually seen it. The haze was so vague 

 that I was tempted to disregard it, and was almost on the 

 point of returning to the settlement when I decided it might 

 be the flamingos after all. Truthfully, I was so discouraged 

 and tired that I did not particularly care if it was. 



Nevertheless I loaded the boat and set out into the waste 

 of water once more. To my dismay the bottom dropped away 

 again until I was neck deep, and worse, it became rough and 

 jagged. The wind meanwhile was blowing at least thirty miles 

 an hour and my head was under water as much as on top of 

 it. Finally I could stand the buffeting no longer and I did the 

 only possible thing. I lightened the boat of all unnecessary 

 equipment, dumped all the food overboard, about twenty 

 pounds of it, threw a canvas cot away, though I recovered 

 this several days later on the far end of the lake where it 

 drifted, and retained only my camera and films, a gallon of 

 water and the tent which was very Hght. This raised the free- 

 board enough to accommodate my weight so I crawled in and 

 lay panting on the bottom. The wind meanwhile swept me 

 rapidly down the lake farther and farther from the spot where 

 I had seen the pink mist. Unless I got busy I would lose in 

 a short while all the miles I had gained the first day I set out. 

 Scrambling to my knees and balancing carefully, I seized a 

 tent pole and began battling the waves. Progress was almost 

 nil, and I realized that unless I could stand up and push with 



