"
"Give me the temperate climate, too," said Paul, "but we've come on a
great errand, Jim, and we've come a long way. It's good, too, to see new
things."
"So it is, but I don't like to set here waitin' in this swamp. Think I'll
stretch my legs a little on the bank thar, ef it's firm enough to hold me
up, though I do have an abidin' distrust uv most uv the land hereabouts."
Jim leaped upon the bank which upheld him, and stretched his long legs
with obvious relief.
"A boat's mighty easy," he said, "but now an' then walkin's good."
He strode up and down two or three times and then he stopped. He had heard
a sound, faint, it is true, but enough to arrest the attention of Long
Jim. Then he went on with a look of disgust. It was surely one of those
snakes again!
He was about to pass a great cypress when a pair of long, brown arms
reached out and grasped him by the throat. Long Jim was a strong man and,
despite his early advantage, it would have gone hard with the owner of the
arms, none other than The Cat himself, but three or four men, springing
from the covert, threw themselves upon him.
Paul heard the first sounds of the contest and sprang up. He saw Long Jim
struggling in the grasp of many hands, and snatching at the first weapon
that lay near, he sprang to the bank, rushing to the assistance of his
comrade.
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