14 EDGE OF THE JUNGLE 



development and relinquishment of a great gold 

 mine. 



For a time we arranged and adjusted and 

 shifted our equipment, — tables, books, vials, 

 guns, nets, cameras and microscopes, — as a dog 

 turns round and round before it composes itself 

 to rest. And then one day I drew a long breath 

 and looked about, and realized that I was at 

 home. The newness began to pass from my 

 little shelves and niches and blotters ; in the dark- 

 ness I could put my hand on flash or watch or 

 gun; and in the morning I settled snugly into 

 my woolen shirt, khakis, and sneakers, as if they 

 were merely accessory skin. 



In the beginning we were three white men and 

 four servants — the latter all young, all individ- 

 ual, all picked up by instinct, except Sam, who 

 was as inevitable as the tides. Our cook was too 

 good-looking and too athletic to last. He had 

 the reputation of being the fastest sprinter in 

 Guiana, with a record, so we were solemnly told, 

 of 9% seconds for the hundred — a veritable Mer- 

 cury, as the last world's record of which I knew 

 was 9%. His stay with us was like the orbit of 

 some comets, which make a single lap around the 



