The Crusoes of Guian

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XII. FIRST EXPERIENCEs. ITERALLY buried in the thick foliage, the fugitive and the old negro awaited the moment of their deliverance. Here they remained for nearly a month, breathing with difficulty in the thick, noxious air which alone could penetrate the vault of foliage. At the end of each two...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XII. FIRST EXPERIENCEs. ITERALLY buried in the thick foliage, the fugitive and the old negro awaited the moment of their deliverance. Here they remained for nearly a month, breathing with difficulty in the thick, noxious air which alone could penetrate the vault of foliage. At the end of each two days Robin went out to fetch provisions, and brought from the clearing ignamas, potatoes, maize, and bananas, and every vegetable. The two hermits had awaited vainly from hour to hour the signal for their leaving, when one fine morning, Robin, who for the fifteenth time followed the course of the rivulet, started as if at the sight of a reptile. A light canoe, provided with four paddles, floated before him, fastened to a large root. There must be no longer any doubt. It was indeed the canoe constructed by him and Cassimir, which he had named the Hope, and which so singularly disappeared. By what mysterious concourse of circumstances was it at every point ready to start ? A large heap of bananas just ripe filled it in the centre; some ignamas and potatoes cooked on the cinders, and, most surprising of all, a dozen biscuits, with a flask of hollands, completed the provisiomnent . The boat must have been submerged from the day of its disappearance, for damp patches still covered it in places. Feeling sure that this was the work of Gondet, and that it was a hint that he should leave at once, the fugitive hurried back to the da up refuge, Cassimir, we are off Are we, niassa ? Are we ? The canoe is found. It is there already. Without doubt the creek is free, and we can quit this harbour and embark down the Maroni. The preparations were speedily made. Their store of provisions was carried on board, and the two, taking their places in the canoe, pushed o...