There had been some doubt on the part of Hollybush citizens whether they ought to come, for "play-actin' war a sin and a delight to the followers of Mammon." But the teacher had assured them that this was not really play-acting, only some tableaux out of the history-book. Satisfied that they were not giving themselves up to a temptation of Satan, old and young enjoyed the entertainment thoroughly. It was a double bill, a movie following the play. As at Christmas-time, Hollybush showed childlike delight over this second glimpse of the outside world. But when the curtain showed white and the lights were lighted, no one made a move to go. Instead, more crowded in. "What are they waiting for?" thought Sairy Ann. "I reckon the teacher'll have to tell them that it's over."

Then to her surprise, Mark Gayheart got up, went to the front of the room, and rapped on the desk for attention. "I done asked teacher," he began, "if we couldn't raise a leetle money for the basket-ball team tonight, and she 'lowed we could. We-all aim to have some new baskets, and ef we're going over tew play Slone's Creek, we sure'll have to have some suits. So some of us decided we would put on a prettiest-gal contest." He fetched a pasteboard box from the entry. "You see this here box?" he asked as he lifted it to the top of the desk. It was tied around with blue ribbon, and the lid was adorned with the picture of a very blue-eyed and very pink-cheeked girl. "Hit's plum full o' candy, and hit goes to the gal that gits the most votes at ten cents a vote. I reckon thar's prettier gals in Hollybush than this gal on the kiver here. So jest step up and buy a vote fer the one you think oughter hev the candy."

Sairy Ann saw Dan give Israel a nudge. The latter jumped up as if operated by a spring and put down two dollars on the desk. Lije and the rest of Dan's confederates followed his example. At the same time there was equally brisk activity across the aisle among those surrounding Jim Reynolds. The line between Sairy Ann's gray-blue eyes deepened. She felt tension in the air. It was as though forces were arming against each other. The aisle was a "no man's land," across which one side or the other would suddenly leap. Then her eyes grew big. What was Mark writing on the blackboard? Her own name! "Sairy Ann Hall60 votes," and under it "Holly Reynolds-57 votes."

So that was the plan. That was the reason for Dan's winks and nudges and for his swaggering air.

He came back and whispered in her ear, "Don't you be feared that Holly'll git hit. I've got forty more votes promised for you fer sartain."

She grabbed his arm, "Dan, I don't want it. I don't truly," she whispered. But he did not even hear her, and before she had finished he was back marshaling his forces. What should she do? She was just being used to work off an ancient grudge. But the voting went on, while black looks and triumphant, mocking grins were exchanged between the sides. More and more people came crowding in. Men and women who were seldom seen on the Creek were on hand. Noah Boleyn, who lived away up Long Branch, was there, and Dan Prater from the last house up Reynolds' Fork. Were they out to see some excitement? The line between Sairy Ann's brows deepened.

The two contestants for the prettiest gal prize offered strong contrasts. Sairy Ann, fine of feature, slender of build, with smooth, brown hair, gray-blue eyes, and pink and white skin. Holly, full-lipped, redcheeked, and black haired. The one was an anemone, the other a poppy. The voting went on fast and furiously, first one side gaining, then the other. For a few minutes the figures stood:

.75 .80

Sairy Ann... Holly Reynolds. At this point Dan came back and whispered to his sister, "Don't you be a mite worried, Sairy Ann. You're goin' to git that prize fer sartain. I've got fifty more votes promised, but I told the boys to hold off a little and put them in at the last minute."

But the words did not produce the effect Dan was expecting. "Oh, Dan," she whispered, "please don't go on with it. I don't want to win. It's just a-going to start trouble with Jim again.'

But her brother was unmoved. "I'll take keer of Jim," he whispered and was off.

At five minutes to ten, Mark Gayheart took his watch out of his pocket and held it in his hand. "I done promised the teacher that thishere voting would stop at ten o'clock sharp." The votes stood:

ticked off by Mark Gayheart's watch, and Mark was keeping his eyes fixed upon its hands. When he called "Time's up," Jim Reynolds and his friends were still adding their change. Instantly Jim dashed forward with all the coins he could lay hold of, shouting "Twelve more votes for Holly."

Dan was on his feet as quickly. "Mark done called 'Time's up.' The polls is closed," he yelled excitedly, waving his arms as if to push Jim back into his seat.

"Who's boss of this-here show?" Jim's tone had suddenly changed. It was pitched low like an ominous warning of thunder before a shower breaks, and his dark eyes flashed from under his shaggy eyebrows as if the lightning might send forth a bolt at any moment. There was an answering flash in the eyes of Dan.

Sairy Ann, sitting at her desk, saw the quick tightening of muscles on both sides. They were two powerful animals making ready to leap at each other. Quick as she saw them crouch and gather forces, she threw herself down the aisle. As they leaped, her slim figure slid between them. did not hear her call "Stop! Stop!" She grabbed Dan's arm as it shot out, but the force of its swing carried her down crashing against the corner of the desk.

They

For a second there was a frightened hush, a hush that the girl herself was the first to break. "I declare this contest a draw," she announced, steadying herself by holding to the desk with one hand and holding with the other the side of her head that struck the desk. "I refuse to be prettiest gal just because Dan handed his votes in one minute ahead of Jim. If Holly is willing, she and I will now draw lots for the candy."

"Set down, Sairy Ann, set down," said Dan trying to pull her into a chair, but she would not be stopped.

"Shall we draw for the prize?" she asked the question directly of Holly.

"That's only a square deal." Jim was answering for his sister and pushing her forward.

"The yellow strip wins," said the teacher as she held above the two girls' heads a cap containing two slips of paper. Holly drew first. It was the yellow strip.

Sairy Ann tried to congratulate her, but suddenly she realized that her head was feeling exactly as though it were splitting open, and that something warm was running down her temple, and that everything was getting dark. When she came to, she was lying on a school bench. The teacher was putting adhesive tape on (Continued on page 333)

10 long as all goes well when traveling through the great forests of the Amazon basin, interest and excitement abound at every turn; but to the man who is so unfortunate as to fall ill or be abandoned by his men, these same forests become a nightmare of the worst kind, which in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of a thousand has but one ending-death in its most terrible form. I never supposed that it would be my misfortune to find myself in such a predicament, but the unexpected usually occurs, and on one of my journeys not only was I left alone to die in these vast solitudes, but I had the still more extraordinary good luck of getting out alive and being able to record my experiences.

I had traveled up the Amazon to such a point that it was impossible to push my fragile dugout canoe any farther against the seething current. Approximately I was 2700

Illustrations from photographs by the author

food, arms, or ammunition, and no suggestion of a pathway through the leafy solitudes which might lead me

miles from the mouth of this gigantic IF YOU WANT TO GO FISHING IN THE river; and as my objective, the Pacific Coast, lay to the westward on the other side of the Andes, I had set out through the forest on foot accompanied by some savages, who were acting as guides and incidentally carrying my packs. Now it happened that a month previously my equipment had been greatly reduced owing to being wrecked in a large whirlpool; so when I was abandoned to my fate after only two days' tramping through the jungle, I hadn't a rifle or any other means by which food could be procured.

My half-caste companion and the Indians who accompanied me left when I least expected treachery; but once gone there was no finding them again, and I had to face all the horrors of jungle life single-handed. The position would have been difficult enough at the best of times, but was rendered more so on this particular occasion because the few Indians that roamed about the forests were known to be hostile to the whites, who wisely gave the district a wide

berth.

So the story begins in the heart of nowhere with myself sitting under a crude shelter of palm leaves without

to safety. There was not the remotest possibility of following the invisible route we had come by, so my only hope of salvation lay in striking a compass course northward, cutting the river somewhere in its course, and then scrambling along its banks till I reached the spot which I had left two days previously. It sounded simple enough, but to force my way through the dense forest-growth without knife or ax to clear a pathway was a Herculean task, especially if I was to maintain a definite northerly direction. Fallen tree-trunks and other obstacles that lay in my way could not be circumnavigated, but had to be climbed over or else crawled under. Innumerable creeping vines trailed around my feet, tripping me up at every turn, and when I grabbed a branch to keep myself from falling, I would find it covered with thorns

which tore fresh ver

mercifully. Ants seemed to run over every bough, and in my efforts to push branches aside I frequently disturbed wasps' nests, with disastrous results to myself. For one night I slept in the forest under an improvised shelter of large palm leaves cut with my penknife, and about five o'clock the next day I dragged myself out onto the bank of the river thoroughly exhausted as the result of my extraordinary exertions and the complete lack of food. Once more I made a shelter, only this time near the margin of the water on an open gravel bar. Somewhat refreshed after a good sleep, I started out along the banks on the hoped-for road to safety; but, alas! within two

hours the river narrowed down between high walls of rock, along the base of which further progress was impossible. In despair, I made my way back to the place I had started from, more dead than alive; and as in my weakened state I could not possibly face another march through the gloomy forest, I was forced to remain where I was on the off chance that some Indians in the woods might find my tracks and come to my rescue, or that one might come down the river in his canoe. In any case, madness and exhaustion at the end of two days faced me if I ventured back again into the forest, whereas if I sat quietly on the gravel bar without exertion of any kind I could keep alive for a full fortnight.

The days that followed were not such as I would care to repeat; no food was to be found in any shape or form, yet after I had become reconciled to its absence a drowsy feeling overcame me, and death from starvation seemed to be largely robbed of the terrors associated with it. One night I woke suddenly and to my horror saw the slim form of a jaguar walking toward me across the open.

I was petrified with fear, and unable to move a muscle. My feelings can well be imagined as this fierce animal stepped over my prostrate form and sat down near by, as if wondering when he should start his meal. I supposed that it must have been a dream of a particularly terrifying nature, so I endeavored to shut my eyes and sleep off the impression which was haunting me. In the morning the marks made by my visitor in the sandy spot where he had rested showed only too clearly that it was no dream that I had been indulging in, but a very tangible reality. Why he never touched me I hardly know, unless it was that he had fed pretty well before coming across

me.

After a week I ceased to be concerned whether I was alive or dead, and, furthermore, was quite prepared to face the inevitable, which seemed close at hand. On the ninth day, when seated as usual in the center of the bar, scanning the river mechanically in the hope that some canoe might come to my rescue, I was startled out of my senses by violent shouting from behind. Turning round, I saw a party of Indians emerge from the forest, armed with spears and blow-guns, which they waved over their heads, yelling meanwhile as if daring me to come on and fight. Their attitude was unmistakably hostile, but after nine days with nothing to eat there was no fight left in me, so I sat still to see what would happen. As they came nearer I thought it might be just as well to run away and try to escape, but had I done that they would have shot a poisoned dart into my flank. On the other hand, had I gone up to them in a friendly manner, holding out a hand, it would have been looked upon as some new method of attack, and all that I would have got would have been a spear between my ribs. Taking all things into consideration, my best policy was therefore to sit still.

then to where my stomach had been, hanging my head at the same time so as to show that I was tired and hungry. The Indians had never seen an animal act like that before, so withdrew to the forest, only to come out again a few minutes later. Then out again a few minutes later. Then one of the party came forward very

AN AGUARUNA BOY

When the enemy drew closer, and I was almost within range of their weapons, I pointed to my mouth and

timidly and handed me a banana; I in return gave him an old khaki handkerchief, which he accepted, and so hostilities were avoided, and friendly relations established instead.

It is a peculiarity of these primitive savages that they never give anything away; one is often inclined to think they do, but this is not the case. When an article is handed over without any bargaining, it means over without any bargaining, it means that anything will be accepted in exchange for it, but the donor expects something, and leaves it to you to say what that something shall be. Thus my action in presenting the

handkerchief showed them that I understood their customs and wished to be friendly.

With signs to indicate that they would return the next day, the whole band of men, who a few moments previously had been threatening my life, withdrew peacefully into the

forest, leaving me once more alone on the gravel bar, every inch of which was now familiar to me. It proved to be my last night, for the Indians, true to their word, appeared next day with a more bountiful food supply, and after a light repast motioned me to follow them through the forest. Up an interminable slope we worked our way, winding in and out amongst the trees till I had lost all sense of direction. It was with the greatest difficulty that I dragged my tired body. along behind them, but my joy at reaching a clearing in the forest on the other side of the ridge, where stood a large oval hut, more than compensated for the difficulties of getting there. No matter what was in store for me, I would have a good roof to sleep under in the future-an agreeable change after lying out in the open, subject to the continual downpours that had been soaking me to the skin every day for more than a week past.

After a thorough rest and a moderate supply of food my strength soon returned, and I was able to take stock of my surroundings and begin laying plans for the future.

What impressed me more than anything else about the house which was to be my resting place for some time to come, was its extreme neatness and the geometrical precision with which it was built in the form of a perfect oval. The roof was heavily thatched with palm leaves, and the walls were formed of straight poles driven vertically into the ground and lashed together in a thoroughly workmanlike manner. The interior was cool and dark, with a narrow door at each end; there were plenty of cracks, however, and the outside air circulated freely. Quarters in the hut were inclined to be crowded.