meeting herds of deer and
buffalo, from which they obtained an ample supply of food. Smaller
game, such as monkeys and parrots, were in abundance in the woods, while
there were plenty of streams and lakelets of pure water, in which they
often took a refreshing bath.

Billy, whose spirits had risen with the expectation of reaching the
coast, insisted to the last that the water they had seen from the height
was the sea. Casey and the black agreed with him. At last they got
close to it. They all hurried forward. Fortunately the bank they
reached was hard, and they without difficulty got down to the water.
Billy dipped in his hand.

"It's fresh!" he exclaimed, as he tasted it.

"I was sure of that," said Tom. "It's a lake, and a good big one too.
We are a couple of hundred miles yet from the coast."

They continued their course along the western shore of the lake, and as
they spent fully four days before they reached the southern end,
calculating by the rate at which they travelled it must have been
between seventy and eighty miles long.

After this they had another range of mountains to pass, which, though
wild and rugged in the extreme, were of less elevation than those to the
north. Once more they were on a level country, covered with tall grass.
They crossed several streams, in wading through one of which a huge
crocodile made a dash at them and very nearly caught poor Billy.

Nick and Pipes now began to examine the country with more curious eyes
than before, and at last led them into a native path.

"Friends there!" said Pipes, pointing ahead, and they saw through an
opening in the trees several huts.

The two Papuans hurried on, begging their friends to sit down in the
shade. In a short time they returned with a large party of natives,
who, ugly as they were, had smiling faces. One of them who seemed to be
the chief, advanced to Tom and made him a speech, which Pipes, who had
accompanied him, interpreted as an invitation to the strangers to come
to his village.

"Good mans!" said Pipes. "Plenty food!" The invitation was, of course,
accepted. The chief, taking Tom by the hand and signing to the rest to
follow, led him towards the village, which consisted of a number of
large huts composed of wooden frames covered with mats, with which the
floor was also spread. The chief begged his visitors to sit down, and
ordered food to be brought in. A number of yellow-skinned damsels in a
short time appea