I30 TROPIC DAYS 



cheerless camp, where his companions, with smoke- 

 dried eyes, lamented his absence. 



Was he searching for a tree which might provide 

 bark for yet another canoe — his last work, a paragon ? 

 A few days passed and it became known that Cassowary 

 was missing. His shrunken body disordered a patch 

 of buff sand just above high water. 



Had the desolate old man, in his fanc}', made the best 

 of all canoes, and for once ventured out to sea ? 



