The region hereabout was obviously the final retreat of many beasts,
both timid and bold. Grenville found signs of at least one Malay bear
and of many wild hogs in the thickets. He fancied he saw one flash of
moving orange, where either his tiger or another of his ilk moved
silently through the growth behind him. Of the monkeys there appeared
to be no end; and the snakes were amply represented.
He was glad for every clearing that he came upon and crossed, and felt
a decided sense of relief on achieving his hill at last. This worn old
eminence of rock and substances volcanic was far more steep and rugged
than the one where he had left Elaine. It possessed no caves, and no
particular flatness at the summit.
Grenville explored it rapidly, considerably disappointed to find
nothing of special utility upon its broken surface. He had hoped for
some hard and useful stone at least, if not for actual flints.
Completing its round in a haste that the rapidly increasing heat of the
day considerably accelerated, he presently came upon an unusual ledge
protruding from the slope's unpromising surface.
Here he halted in idle curiosity. The ledge was of sulphur--a blow-out
from the hill's once molten interior, lying untouched and useless in
the sun for the elements to wear away and sluice at last to the sea.
With no particular purpose in view, he broke away a fragment, dropped
it carelessly into his pocket, and continued on his way.
His gaze returned with a certain steadfast eagerness to the hill and
camp beyond. He was not precisely disappointed on failing to discover
Elaine, who might have been waiting to wave him a signal from the
heights; he was somewhat concerned to know if all was well upon her
rock. She was not to be seen at all about the place. He clambered to
the top of a broken bowlder for a view more comprehensive.
This, too, appeared a wasted effort, at least as concerned Elaine. The
island map, however, was laid out before him in a manner to complete
his former survey of the place. There were several clearings thus
revealed that could never be seen from the farther point of vantage.
Acknowledging each of these in turn, Grenville was once more about to
direct his footsteps homeward when one of the smaller, near-by breaks
in the jungle, quite at the top of a species of rift in the island's
ruggedness, down upon his left, attracted a second glance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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