It reminded Courtenay of a visit he paid to the
crocodile tank at Karachi when he was a midshipman on the _Boadicea_.
He noticed that some of the huge saurians, eighteen feet in length and
covered with scale armor off which a bullet would glance, were
squirming uneasily, and the Hindu attendant told him that they had been
bitten by mosquitoes!
He laughed quietly, but his mirth had a curious ring in it which boded
ill for certain unknown members of the Alaculof tribe when the
threatened tussle came to close quarters. Elsie heard him. Leaning
over the rails of the spar deck, she asked cheerfully:
"What is the joke, Captain Courtenay? And why don't the Indians come
nearer? Are they timid? They don't look it."
He glanced up at her. If aught were needed to complete the contrast
between civilization and savagery it was given by the comparison which
the girl offered to the women in the canoe. The hot sun and the
absence of wind had changed the temperature from winter to summer.
After breakfast, Elsie had donned a muslin dress, and a broad-brimmed
straw hat. Exposure to the weather had bronzed her skin to a
delightful tint.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213