in it circled,
anxiously, now, as if the time for alighting were short.

It seemed to hesitate in mid-air, and dived, and circled up-stream and
came down the valley again. It sank, and sank, lower and lower, until
the white of its upper wings was hidden by the tall trees on either
side.

A _jabiru_ stork saw it from downstream, solemnly squatting on four
eggs which eventually would perpetuate the race. The _jabiru_ was
about forty feet above the water and had a clear view of the stream.
The stork squatted meditatively, with its long, naked neck projecting
above the edge of its nest.

* * * * *

The plane dipped ever lower, its reflection vivid and complete upon
the waveless stream below it. Ten feet above the water. Five--and
swift ripples from the rush of air disturbed the unbroken reflections
behind. It was almost a silhouette against the mirrored appearance of
the sunset sky. And then a clumsy-seeming boat body touched water with
a vast hissing sound, and settled more and more heavily, while the
speed of the plane checked markedly and its motors roared on
senselessly.

Then, abruptly, the plane checked and partly swung around. The
_jabiru_ half-rose from its eggs. The motors were bellowing wildly
again. As if tearing itself free, the plane sheered off from some
invisible obstacle, one of its wing tip floats splashed water wildly,
and, with the motors thundering at their fullest speed, it went toward
the shore with a dragging wing, like some wounded bird.

It beached, and the _jabiru_ heard a sudden dense silence fall. A man
climbed out of the boatlike body. He walked to the bow and dropped to
the shore. He peered under the upward slanting nose of the boat-thing.
The _jabiru_, listening intently, heard words.

Then, quite suddenly and quite abruptly, and generally with the
unostentatious efficiency with which Nature manages such things in the
tropics, night fell. It was dark within minutes.

* * * * *

The noise of Bell's scrambling back onto the deck of the amphibian's
hull could be heard inside the cabin. He opened the door and slipped
down inside.

"There ought to be some lights," he said curtly. "Ribiera did himself
rather well, as a rule."

He struck a match. Paula's eyes shone in the match-flame, fixed upon
his face. He looked about, frowning. He found a switch and pressed it,
and a dome-light came into being. The cabin of the plane, fr