It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could

aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked

and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to

Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were

that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far

I wandered?

The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet

with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills.

Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living

thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world.

I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit

of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty

little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a

laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent

sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or

five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to

size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas.

As I watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they

suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface

to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange,

scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.

It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved

to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that is what Perry

calls them--and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded

fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of

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