ON Till-: ui.M oi- nil': DKsEirr i4i 



Dill' ctii.k and caiitt'cii. A\ c iiilialiiicil the llr.-i lloor, and 

 (iiir (liiiiitT had 111 (•(line lliroiiuh llu' trap-ddni' and down 

 the I'ickclN ladder, wlilch was I'ai lior critical inv the soii]!. 

 ()iir l\\(» Aral) iiiiiiirr.- cainiMMl on ihc iJi'uund lloor. and 

 made a u,ood life in ihc middle of it. As the luilht- 



]il-(ioffd tili'd (liior> wrvr \ r|-\ cold to tllc feet. We spcnl a 

 o-ood deal ot' Imic l»\' llicir lii'c an*! waldictl ihcni plailin"- 

 tlic <//f''f i»Tass and wcaN'in"' llif nlail into samlals. Thcv 

 turned out a 'j^nod workini:,- [lair in alioul twcnlx nnnutes. 

 'Idns toULjli Lirass constitutes (jne ol the chief sources of 

 wealth to Alucria. l)einu- used for many purposes, and 

 exported as the raw material of paper. 



From wliat I have described alreadv, it niiuhl he 

 thouuht that the <ii-(nii ahouiid to sueli an extent that 

 you could hanlly tlii'ow a stone witiiout hitting one, hut, 

 though one or other of us saw some almost dail\. it was 

 no! till ihc sixth da\- that an\- ol' us o-ot a chance. That 

 eYeiiiiei. oil lii> return to eamii. (lerald irot a \er\' loiio- 

 shot m the du-k and se\'eiel\' wounded a good one. The 

 poor beast la\' down three times in Iwd hundred yards, hut 

 fiiialK' got into sui-li hnikeii roclvs tliat . darkness eomin'j on. 

 the seareli hatl to he ahaiidoued. We scoured those elitlV 

 nearlv all the next daw hut the maze of roidvs ami hirshes 

 defeated us. That he lie> dea<l there somewhere I do ik.i 

 doubt. The truth was, as we di.scovercd too late, the little 

 ■3GU ritle which (Jerald cariaed was not jiowiiTuI eiionnh 

 for so large and tough a beast. for a week we had 

 worked hard and li\"ed hard, and hei'e was a crowning 

 misfortune. 



r)Ut our luck turned at last. ll was in what we called 

 the " Big I'orrie'to the west of the tower that (Jerald, 



