It would have been impossible for even a stork to walk
through this forest, but as there was no way of getting around it
Bartholemy determined to go through it, even if he could not walk. No
athlete of the present day, no matter if he should be a most
accomplished circus-man, could reasonably expect to perform the feat
which this bold pirate successfully accomplished. For five or six
leagues he went through that mangrove forest, never once setting his
foot upon the ground,--by which is meant mud, water, and roots,--but
swinging himself by his hands and arms, from branch to branch, as if he
had been a great ape, only resting occasionally, drawing himself upon a
stout limb where he might sit for a while and get his breath. If he had
slipped while he was swinging from one limb to another and had gone down
into the mire and roots beneath him, it is likely that he would never
have been able to get out alive. But he made no slips. He might not have
had the agility and grace of a trapeze performer, but his grasp was
powerful and his arms were strong, and so he swung and clutched, and
clutched and swung, until he had gone entirely through the forest and
had come out on the open coast.
Chapter VIII
How Bartholemy rested Himself
It was full two weeks from the time that Bartholemy began his most
adventurous and difficult journey before he reached the little town of
Golpho Triste, where, as he had hoped, he found some of his buccaneer
friends.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65