[Illustration: TROPICAL GROWTH NEAR RATNAPOORA.] "'There were two of us who made the ascent, accompanied by four local guides and servants to help us along. When we came back to Ratnapoora our men said we could return to the sea by the way of Caltura, by descending the Kalu River, as the current was swift and the journey would take only a short time. They procured us a boat which consisted of two hollow logs a few feet apart, and connected by a platform; on this platform we had a comfortable place to sit, while a couple of boatmen stood at bow and stern and managed the craft. We had several narrow escapes from being overturned in the rapids; but all went well, and we arrived safely at the great road where we took the coach for Colombo.'" The letter was finished at a late hour in the evening, and soon after the closing words had been written the boys were snug in bed. The next morning they started for the return journey to Colombo; while descending one of the long hills between Newera-Ellia and the railway-station a part of the harness of their team gave way, and the coach was overturned on the very edge of a ravine where a brook rattled along a couple of hundred feet below. Had they gone two yards farther they would have tumbled down the whole distance and been dashed to pieces, and it is fair to believe the entire trio felt that they had had a very narrow escape. The driver told them that accidents were of rare occurrence, but he admitted that once in a while they had something of the sort. Of late years the road has been considerably improved by the authorities, but it is yet far from being complete. They reached Colombo on the evening after leaving Newera-Ellia, and returned to their old quarters in the hotel. In the morning, while the Doctor was busy with plans for their departure, the boys read and corrected their letter, and at the suggestion of Frank a postscript was added, giving a brief account of the return journey, and closing with a description of the visitors that were just then calling on them. [Illustration: A MORNING CALLER.] "Our visitors are very numerous," said the letter, "and their names are crows. They are all through the room, and they stand on the blinds and the window-sills, and watch their chances when we are breakfasting to steal something from our plates. One of them just now came down and took away a cracker from a plate that was on the table where we are writing, and it is not unusual for them to seize the bread you have in your fingers. They are a little shy of strangers, but not much; and as for the waiters in the hotel, they don't mind them at all. They are never harmed by anybody, and consequently it is not surprising that they are so tame.