Now, I propose that our
friend in the bows be asked to shin up the cliff and prospect a bit.
He ought to know how to crawl through this undergrowth. Fifty feet
higher he will be able to see some distance."
Elsie agreed miserably. She was crushed by the immensity of the
difficulties confronting them. Expedients which looked simple
beforehand were found lamentably deficient to cope with wild nature on
the stupendous scale of this gloomy land. Suarez, too, was very
reluctant to leave the boat, but the American adopted a short cut in
the argument, offering him the alternative of climbing ashore or of
being thrown overboard.
So the Argentine adopted the less hazardous method, and climbed to the
bank. A splash, and a scramble, and a slight exclamation from Elsie
told that the dog had followed. Soon the swish of leaves and the
crackling of rotten wood ceased. Suarez might be out of earshot or
merely hiding for a time, intending to return with news of an
impassable precipice. There was a crumb of comfort in the absence of
the terrier. Joey would either go on or come back to them at once.
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