anks where
unknown peril might lurk and high enough above the sluggish, yellow
river to discourage the designing crocodiles that swarmed below. In the
open, and in a fair fight these repulsive reptiles were easy victims of
her power and cunning; but, taken unawares, she would find them
formidable adversaries. For this reason she drank only of the shallowest
pools, and refrained from swimming, reaching her abiding place over a
series of conveniently-placed boulders that served as stepping stones.

All through the torrid day the disquieting impulse warned her to be up
and on her way--just as the birds feel the urge of an irresistible voice
to desert the land of their birth and to seek a foreign clime as the
change of the season draws near, and, heeding it, run the gauntlet of
long migrations through uncharted space.

But, Suma was loath to give up the life of ease and plenty on the
sandbanks for the sterner existence in the forested country. Not until
she was driven from them would she undertake the long, fatiguing journey
to the more elevated regions.

The river was at its lowest stage. Vast islands and low, flat bars
dotted its winding course. The latter extended far as the eye could see
on both sides of the now narrow channel. Young turtles in legion were
emerging from the hot, sun-baked sand and making for the water the
instant they breathed the outer air as if their very lives depended on
it, and they did--for during the hours of daylight there were herons, an
ever-present host of hawks, and other predaceous birds waiting for the
eggs to hatch and eager to feast on the defenseless horde the instant
the little creatures pushed their heads through the crumbling sand and
while they scrambled frantically toward the water and safety. At night
the four-footed animals from miles around gathered on the bars to growl
and to snarl at one another and to feast on the manna so bountifully
spread by heaven for the delectation of all. Fights were almost unknown
for full stomachs were not conducive to quarrelsomeness. Nor must it be
thought that Nature was cruel to the turtles only to be generous to the
other creatures. This very emergency had been amply provided for by the
fact that each adult turtle during her annual visit to land deposited as
many as one hundred eggs in the hole she carefully scooped in the sand,
and had all her offspring survived the rivers would soon be overstocked,
constituting a real menace to the perpetuat