They were to go
down the Serapiqui along with the post, which would overtake them on
its banks. But if the post should pass them before they got there,
it could not wait; and then they would be deprived of the best canoe
on the water. Then also it was possible, if they encountered
further delay, that the steamer might sail from Greytown without
them, and a month's residence at that frightful place be thus made
necessary.
The day's rest apparently did little to relieve Mrs. Arkwright's
sufferings. On the following day she allowed herself to be put upon
the mule, but after the first hour the beasts were stopped and she
was taken off it. During that hour they had travelled hardly over
half a league. At that time she so sobbed and moaned that Arkwright
absolutely feared that she would perish in the forest, and he
implored the guides to use the poles which they had prepared. She
had declared to him over and over again that she felt sure that she
should die, and, half-delirious with weariness and suffering, had
begged him to leave her at the last hut.
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