“This lake was not here when I passed this way before,” said Koree, “so that it cannot be deep. Let us, therefore, go through it, for we can easily wade.”
He thereupon marched in, leading the way for the hosts of mankind to follow. He was soon, however, beyond his depth, and ordered a retreat.
“We have not struck the right path,” he said; “let us cross farther away from the Swamp.”
He accordingly made a second attempt, but with no better result. The water was everywhere too deep to ford.
“I think,” said another, “that we had better go round. If the lake is a new one it cannot be large.”
“If the water is so deep,” replied a third, “it must extend far into the country. I think we had better go through the Swamp.”
“There appears,” said still another, “to be more water in the Swamp than anywhere else. I wonder where all this water comes from.”
“To settle the matter,” said Cocoanut-scooper, “I will climb this palm tree. From its top I can see the end of the lake if it is small.”
Suiting his action to his words he bounded up the tree, which was an easy matter for one who had climbed so many in prospecting for fruit.