"Why, he's going to run her head right into the bank," cried Rob, though the said bank was rendered invisible by the curtain of pendent boughs and vines which hung right down to the water.

"How beautiful!" exclaimed Brazier, as he gazed at clusters of snowy blossoms draping one of the trees. "We must have some of those, Rob."

"I say," cried Joe, "what makes the boat keep on going?"

"Impetus given by the sail," replied Brazier. "But it couldn't have kept on all this time," cried the lad, "and we're going faster."

"We do seem to be," said Brazier; "but it is only that we are in an eddy. There always is one close in by the banks of a swift stream."

"But that goes upward while the stream goes down," cried Joe. "This is going straight in toward the trees."

"Better sit down, every one," shouted Shaddy. "Lower that spar, my lads," he added, in the patois the men used.

Down went the mast in a sloping position, so that it rested against the canvas cabin. But Rob hardly noticed this in the excitement of their position. For there was no doubt about it: some invisible force had apparently seized the boat, and was carrying it swiftly forward to dash it upon the shore.

But that was not Brazier's view of the question. "The river is flooded here and overrunning the bank," he cried. "Hi! Naylor! Do you see where you're going?"

"Right, sir. Sit down."

But Brazier, who had risen, did not sit down, for he was quite startled, expecting that the next moment the boat would be capsized, and that they would all be left to the mercy of the reptiles and fish which haunted the rapid waters.

"Hi!" he shouted again. "Naylor, are you mad?"

"No, sir, not yet," was the reply. "Better sit down. Mind your hat!"

For all through this the boat was gliding slowly but straight for the curtain of leaves and flowers which hid the bank of the western side of the river; and as the position seemed perilous to Rob, he saw with astonishment that the four Indian boatmen lay calmly back furling up the sail as if nothing was the matter, or else showing that they had perfect faith in their leader and steersman, who was not likely to lead them into danger.

What followed only took moments. They were out in the dazzling sunshine, were rapidly, as it seemed, approaching the bank, and directly after plunged right into the lovely curtain of leaves and flowers which swept over them as they glided on over the surface of the swiftly running clear black water, the sun entirely screened and all around them a delicious twilight, with densely planted, tall, columnar trees apparently rising out of the flood on either hand, while a rush and splash here and there told that they were disturbing some of the dwellers in these shades.

"What does this mean?" said Brazier, stooping to recover his hat which had been swept off on to the canvas awning, and which he only just recovered before it slipped into the stream.

There was no answer to the question as they watched, and then they saw light before them, which rapidly brightened till they glided into sunshine and found that they had passed through a second curtain of leaves, and were in a little river of some hundred yards wide, with lovely verdure on either side rising like some gigantic hedge to shut them in; in fact, a miniature reproduction of the grand stream they had so lately left.

"Why, Naylor," cried Brazier, "I thought you were going to run us ashore or capsize us."

"Yes, sir, I know you did," was the reply.

"But where are we? What place is this?"

"This here's the river I wanted to bring you to, sir."

"But it does not run into the Paraguay, it runs out."

"Yes, sir, it do. It's a way it has. It's a curious place, as you'll say before we've done."

"But it seems impossible. How can it run like this?"

"Dunno, sir. Natur' made it, not me. I've never been up it very far, but it strikes me it's something to do with the big waterworks higher up the big river."

"Waterworks! Why, surely—"

"Natur's waterworks, sir, not man's; the big falls many miles to the north."

Rob and Joe exchanged glances.

"Strikes me as the river being very full here the bank give way once upon a time, and this stream winds about till it gets close up to where the falls come down."

"But water can't go up hill, man."

"No, sir, course not; but I thought that if it goes along some valley up to the mountains where the falls come down, it would be an easy way of getting to the foot of the high ground and striking the big river again."

"Stop a moment: I have heard some talk of a great cascade up north."

"Yes, sir, where nobody's never been yet. Seemed to me as it was rather in your way, and you might find some orchids up there as well as here."

"Of course, of course!" cried Brazier; the idea of being first in the field with a great discovery making his pulses throb. "Tell me all about it."

"Right, sir, when we've had something to eat. It's 'bout twelve o'clock, and here's a shady place, so if you give the word we'll land and cook a bit. Place looks noo, don't it, sir?"

"New, Naylor! I can never thank you enough."

"Don't try then, sir," said Shaddy, steering the boat in, and with the help of the boatmen laying it ashore close to some huge trees. "Now we shall have to make her fast, for if our boat gets loose the stream will carry her where nobody will ever find her again."

"I can't understand it," said Brazier impatiently, as the Indians leaped ashore, one to make a rope fast, the others to light a fire; "this stream running out of the main river is contrary to nature, unless where it divides at its mouths."

"Not it, sir; it's right enough. Right down south in the Parana the river does it lots of times, for the waters there are like a big net all over the land, and—I say, Mr Rob, sir, where's your gun? There's a carpincho just yonder among them reeds. Try for it, sir; we can manage with it for a bit o' roast and boiled."

Rob seized the piece, and Shaddy pointed out the spot where he was to fire and hit the beast in the shoulder, but just then they were interrupted by a hideous yell.



CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE FIRST "TIGER."

The cry, which thrilled Rob and made Brazier and the young Italian seize their weapons, came from one of the Indians, who, axe in hand, had been about to cut up a dead bough he had seized for the fire, when something dark struck him in the chest, sending him backward amongst the low growth, and a magnificent cat-like animal bounded into the middle of the opening, driving the boatmen among the trees and taking up its position in the bright sunshine, with its coat glistening and the brown spots on its tawny hide shining with almost metallic lustre.

And there it stood, with its ears lowered and eyes blazing, looking from one to another of the occupants of the boat, and from them to Shaddy, who leaped ashore knife in hand, while the brute's tail writhed and twisted as if it were a serpent.

"Hadn't one of you better shoot?" said Shaddy calmly. "He's, too much for me with only a knife."

Just then the Indian who had been knocked down began to crawl cautiously toward the trees.

The movement was enough for the jaguar. It was the cat again that has stricken down a mouse standing perfectly careless till the unfortunate little animal begins to stir. The fierce beast turned, gathered itself together, and was about to launch itself upon the boatman in one tremendous bound, when simultaneously there was a sharp click from Brazier's gun, but with no further result, for he had drawn the trigger of his rifled barrel in which there was no cartridge, and a sharp stab on the loins as Shaddy hurled his knife with unerring aim at the savage beast.

The jaguar turned with a fierce snarl and struck the knife from where it stuck in its back. Then, seeing in Shaddy its assailant, it crouched again to bound upon the guide.

Once again its aim was spoiled; for with fingers trembling Rob had cocked his piece and taken aim, being about to fire when the knife was thrown; but the rapid movement of the animal checked him till it crouched and he saw it about to spring upon Shaddy.

This time he pressed the stock firmly to his shoulder, and, taking aim at the jaguar's head, fired twice, the first charge taking effect full in the creature's back, and, as it sprang up, the second in its flank.

With a fierce howl it twisted itself round and bit at the side, tearing out the glossy fur in its rage and pain. Then turning sharply it looked round for its assailant, when Joe's piece rang out, the bad powder with which it was heavily loaded making a cloud of dense smoke which prevented Rob from seeing for a few moments, and when it rose the jaguar had gone.

They all busied themselves reloading now, but there was no animal to shoot, and Shaddy picked up his knife, wiping its point carefully on his trousers as he straightened himself.

"Which way did it go?" cried Brazier.

"Yonder, sir, through the trees. But it's of no use for you to follow."

"It must be dangerously wounded."

"Not it, sir; only a bit tickled. That was only bird shot you fired, was it, my lads?"

"Number 5," said Rob promptly.

"Thought so. Best keep a bullet always in your guns, gentlemen, out here, for you never know what's going to turn up next."

The Indians were back now, going about picking wood for the fire as if nothing whatever had happened.

"But that man," whispered Rob; "isn't he hurt—clawed?"

"No, sir," replied Shaddy calmly; and he asked a question of the man in the mixed Indian tongue. Then turning to Brazier, "Only got the wind knocked, out of him a bit, sir. No clawing. He don't mind."

"But the brute may come back," said Rob.

"Well, Mr Rob, sir, if he do he's a bigger fool than I take him to be. No, there'll be no coming back about him. Just while he was up he was ready to fly at anything, but every one of them little shot will make a sore place which it will take him a fortnight to lick quite well again. I daresay they're all lying just under his skin."

"And what a skin!" cried Rob. "You could have got it off and cured it for me, couldn't you?"

"Oh yes, or these chaps here, sir; but if you wants tiger jackets you mustn't try to kill them as wears 'em with Number 5 shot.—Now, lads, more wood," and a good fire was soon burning, over which the kettle was hung.

A meal was quickly prepared, but Shaddy indulged in a bit of a growl over it.

"And me 'specting pork chops frizzled over that fire on the iron sheet," he said. "Why it wouldn't have been no good, my lad, going about with a pinch of lead snuff in your gun. You want something like small marbles out here, I can tell you, or good buck shot. You'll mind that next time."

"But I want to get some of the birds we see," said Rob, in tones of remonstrance.

"That's right, sir; but keep one barrel always for play and one for work. I don't want to make too much of it, but in a country like this it must be dangerous sometimes."

"He is quite right, Rob," said Brazier. "He is giving you a lesson, but he means some of it for me. Don't you, Naylor?"

"Well, sir," said Shaddy grimly, "I s'pose you'd like the honest truth?"

"Of course."

"Then I'll tell you what I said to myself. How a gentleman at his time o' life could leave his weepun, as ought to be ready for action, without a good bullet for wild beast or Indian, I can't think."

"I have learned my lesson, Naylor," said Brazier, "and you shall not have an opportunity for reproaching me again."

"And you ain't offended, sir? In course I'm only like your servant."

"Give me credit for more sense, my man.—You take it to heart, too, both of you, and keep a bullet in your left-hand barrel."

"For food or enemy," said Shaddy in his deep growl.

"But that's what I meant to do. I thought I had loaded that way," said Rob.

"Hah—hoo!" ejaculated one of the Indians who was standing with his arms full of wood close to the spot where the jaguar had disappeared.

"What's the matter, my lad?" said Shaddy, joining him with the others, when an eager burst of conversation ensued.

"They say as the tiger's lying wounded not far in among the trees. Bring your guns, gentlemen."

The pieces were eagerly raised and cartridges examined, so that there should be no further mistake, and then, with the Indian who was knocked down as a guide, Brazier next with Shaddy, who contented himself with his knife, and then Rob and Joe and the rest of the Indians, the party entered the forest, which was so dense that they soon had to take to Indian file.

But they had not far to go, and in spite of the danger that might be ahead the leading Indian proved that Shaddy's selection was a good one, for he went straight on, cutting right and left with his heavy knife to divide the growth that was in their way, and so on for about fifty yards, when he stopped short and said a few words to Shaddy.

"Yes. Get back," said the latter, after listening. "Now two guns forward; but I think he has had enough as it is?"

"Be careful, man!" said Brazier anxiously; "you are unarmed."

"Not quite, sir!" said Shaddy, showing his big knife. "If he jumps on me he'll jump right on to that point, and if he does, though he may claw me, it will be his last leap. Silence!"

They all listened, Rob hearing the shriek of some great parrot and the dull heavy throb of his heart, but from out of the dense growth a little way ahead he could make out a gurgling moan.

Shaddy gave him a look and a nod.

"No, my lad," he said, "that isn't a frog, nor anything else, but some animal as has got his death. It's either that tiger, or else it's a deer he has pulled down on his way. I'll go and see."

"Let me," said Brazier; "and if it is only wounded I can fire again."

"Powder and shot's valuable out here, sir," said Shaddy, "and we mustn't waste a single charge. Stand fast, and if I want help come and give it to me; but I shan't."

He parted the bushes and creepers with his left hand holding his knife well before him with the right; but before he had gone six yards with great caution there was a horrible cry, and a sound as of a struggle going on—a sound which made Rob press forward and thrust the barrel of his gun in front of Brazier.

"Has he got hold of Shaddy?" he panted, with a chill of horror running through him.

"No, my lad; I'm all right—it's all over," cried the guide, as the sound ceased. "Ah! I can see him plain now: quite dead."

"A deer?" said Brazier, eagerly.

"Deer don't make a noise like that, sir," said Joe from behind.

"Nay, it's no deer," said Shaddy; "I'll let you see what it is. Hi!" he called; and the Indians crowded past through the dense growth, went boldly right to the front, and Shaddy reappeared smiling.

"Back again," he said; "they'll bring him along."

Rob turned back unwillingly, for he was eager to see what the dead animal might be, Shaddy's mysterious manner suggesting the possibility of its being something extraordinary. But he followed the others out, the guide seeming to drive them all before him back into the open spot by the fire, while almost directly after the Indian boatmen appeared, half carrying, half dragging—each holding a paw—with his white under fur stained with blood—the great jaguar, perfectly dead.

"There," cried Shaddy, "now you can have your skin, sir; and you deserve it for those two shots."

"But I couldn't have—" began Rob.

"But you did, sir," said Shaddy, who was down on his knees by the beautiful animal. "Here you are: face and head all full of small shot, and down here right in the loins—yes: back regularly broken by a bullet. Your piece was loaded proper after all."

"A splendid shot, Rob," cried Brazier, and Joe patted his back.

"But it was quite an accident," said Rob, excitedly.

"Accident?" growled Shaddy. "If you shot at a man in England and killed him, do you think the judge would say it was an accident?"

"Well, no," said Rob, laughing.

"'Course not. Splendid shot, as the captain says. So now let's finish our bit of eating and have a nap while my chaps here takes off the skin."



CHAPTER EIGHT.

HIDDEN DANGERS.

It did not take the lads long to finish the interrupted meal, seated in the shade of a magnificent tree, one side of which sent out branches and pensile boughs laden with leaf and flower from the summit almost to the ground, while the other side was comparatively bare, so closely was it placed to the dense crowd of its fellows whose limbs were matted together and enlaced with creepers of endless variety, out from which the sheltering tree stood like a huge, green, smoothly rounded buttress, formed by nature to support the green wall which surrounded her forest fastness.

As soon as they had eaten their meal the two lads hurried off to where the boatmen were deftly skinning the great cat-like creature,—rather a disgusting operation, but one full of interest, as limb after limb was cut down right to the toes and the skin stripped away, to show the tremendous muscles and sinews which enabled the animal to bound like lightning upon its prey.

"Seems a pity to waste so much good, fresh meat when a bit would be welcome, eh?" said Shaddy, with a grim smile.

"Would you like to eat some of it?" asked Joe.

Shaddy shook his head.

"No," he said, "I should as soon think of roasting a tom-cat at home and calling it hare. Rum thing it seems, though, that those creatures which live upon one another should be rank and nasty, while those which eat fruit and green-stuff should be good. Keep your guns ready, my lads. It's very quiet here, and you may get a shot at something good for the supper to-night: some big pigeons, or a turkey, or—I'll tell you, though; I can hear 'em rustling about in the trees now. They'll be easy, too, for a shot."

"What? Parrots?"

"Nay, better than them. A nice, plump young monkey or two."

"What?" roared Rob.

"A nice young monkey or two; and don't shout, my lad. If you make that noise, we shan't be able to hear anything coming."

"Bah!" cried Joe. "I should feel like a cannibal if I even thought of it. I say, look at Mr Brazier!"

Rob turned and smiled as he saw his leader eagerly making up for lost time, and, after climbing about twenty feet up a tree with a hatchet in his belt, holding on with one hand while he cut off a great bunch of flowers hanging from the bough upon which, like so much large mistletoe, it had taken root.

Shaddy saw him almost at the same moment, and turned to the tree, followed by the lads.

"I say, sir, don't do that!" he said, respectfully.

"Why not, my man? We are not trespassing, and damaging anybody's property here."

Shaddy laughed.

"No, sir, you won't do much trespassing here," he said.

"Then why do you interfere? This is a magnificent orchid, different from any that I have ever seen. I thought you understood that I have come on purpose to collect these."

"Oh yes, I understand, sir; but you're captain, and have got to order. We'll get 'em for you. My four chaps'll climb the trees better, and be handier with the axe; and as they'll have scarcely anything to do, we'll set 'em to work at that sort of thing."

"They will have the rowing to do."

"Precious little, sir, now. The rowing's done. All we've got to do is to float along the stream."

"Ah, well, I'll finish this time, and they shall do it another."

"Better come down now, sir," whispered Shaddy. "You see they're a dull, stupid lot, who look up to white people as their natural masters; and, without being a brute to 'em, the more you stands off and treats 'em as if they were servants the more they look up to you. If you don't, and they see you doing work that they're paid to do, they'll look down on you, think you're afraid of 'em, and grow saucy."

"Ah!" ejaculated Brazier, giving a start, and nearly losing his hold of the branch.

"What's the matter, sir?"

For answer Brazier cut frantically with his axe at something invisible to those below, but evidently without avail, till he struck a small bough so violently that they saw the object dropping down, and Rob had only time to leap aside to avoid a small snake, of a vivid green with red markings, which fell just where he had been standing, and then began to twine in and out rapidly, and quite unhurt, ending by making its escape into the dense forest, where it was impossible to follow.

"Did you kill it?" cried Brazier from up in the tree.

"No," said Rob; "it's gone!"

"Ah," said Shaddy, thoughtfully, "I never thought to warn you against them. That's a poisonous one, I think, and they climb up the trees and among the flowers to get the young birds and eggs and beetles and things. Better always rattle a stick in amongst the leaves, sir, before you get handling them. Try again, now, with the handle of the hatchet."

Brazier obeyed, and snatched his hand back directly, as he held on with his left, after violently striking the branch close to the plant he tried to secure.

"There's another here," he said.

"Better come away, sir!" cried Rob.

"No; I must have this bunch. I have nearly cut the boughs clear from it, and a stroke or two then will divide the stem, and it will drop clear on to those bushes."

"Shall I come, sir?"

"No; I'll keep away from where the thing lies. It is coiled-up, and I only saw its head."

"Better mind, sir: they're rum things. Only got one inch o' neck one moment, and the next they're holding on by their tails, and seem to have three foot."

"I'll take care," said Brazier. "Stand from below; I shall cut the stem at once."

There was the sharp sound of the hatchet, as he gave a well-directed cut, and then a rustling, and the gorgeous bunch of flowers dropped, with all its bulbous stems and curious fleshy elongated leaves, right on the top of the clump of bushes beneath the great bough.

"All right!" cried Rob: "not hurt a bit. Oh, how beautiful!"

"Mind, will you!" cried Shaddy, savagely: "do you hear?"

He whipped out his knife as he stepped forward, and made a rapid cut horizontally above the bunch of orchids. For as Rob approached, with outstretched hand, to lift off this, the first-fruits of their exploration, a little spade-shaped head suddenly shot up with two brilliant eyes sparkling in the sun, was drawn back to strike, and darted forward.

But not to strike Rob's defenceless hand, for Shaddy's keen knife-blade met it a couple of inches below the gaping jaws, cut clean through its scale-armed skin, and the head dropped among the lovely petals of the orchis, while the body, twisting and twining upon itself in a knot, went down through the bush and could be heard rustling and beating the leaves out of sight.

There was a peculiar grey look on Rob's face as he looked at Shaddy.

"Only just in time, master," said the latter. "It'll be a lesson to you both in taking care."

Rob shuddered; but, making an effort, he said, laughing dismally, "I don't suppose it was a venomous snake, after all."

"Praps not," said Shaddy drily. "There, lift the bunch down with the bar'l of your gun. Shove the muzzle right in."

"You do it, Joe," whispered Rob; "I feel a bit sick. It's the sun, I think."

Just then Mr Brazier, who had been scrambling down the trunk of the huge tree by means of the parasites, which gave endless places for hold, dropped to the ground, and stood beating and shaking himself, to get rid of the ants and other insects he had gathered in his trip up to the branch.

"Ah! that's right, Giovanni," he said; "no, I must call you Joe, as Rob does."

"Do, please, sir; it's ever so much shorter. Here it is," he continued, as he lifted the bunch of lovely blossoms off the bush on to the clear space where they stood.

"Oh, if I could only show that in London, just as it is!" cried Brazier. "Why, that bunch alone almost repays me for my journey: it is so beautiful and new."

"Give it a shake, Mr Joe, sir!" said Shaddy.

"Ah, yes, let's make sure."

"Can't be anything else in it," said Rob boisterously, in his desire to hide the fact that he had been terribly frightened.

"Never you mind whether there is or whether there ain't, sir," said Shaddy; "I want that there bunch shook."

Joe gave a few jerks, and at the last something fell with a light plip in amongst the leaves at their feet.

"Ah!" ejaculated their guide; and, bending down, he pressed the leaves aside with the point of his knife till he saw the object which had fallen, and carefully took it up with his left finger and thumb to hold out before the others the head and about an inch or so of the little snake—one much thinner, but otherwise about the size of an English adder.

"Horrid-looking little thing," said Rob carelessly; "but I don't think it's poisonous."

Shaddy gave a grunt, and holding the neck tightly, he thrust the point of his knife in between the reptile's jaws, opened them, and then shifting his fingers to the angle, he held the snake's head upside down, and with the point of the blade raised from where they lay back on the roof of the mouth, close to the nose, two tiny glass-like teeth, the creature's fangs, which could be held back or erected at its pleasure.

"Not much doubt about them, sir," said Shaddy.

"Not the slightest," replied Brazier, frowning. "We've both had narrow escapes, Rob."

"You have, sir, and all for want of knowing better, if you'll excuse me. What you've got to do is to look upon everything as dangerous till you've found out as it's safe. And that you must do, please, for I can't help you here. If it's a clawing from a lion or tiger, or a dig from a deer's horn, or a bite of 'gator, or a broken limb, or spear wound, or even a bullet-hole, I'm all there. I'll undertake to pull you through a bit of fever too, or any or'nary complaint, and all without pretending to be a doctor. But as to fighting against snake poison, I'm just like a baby. I couldn't help you a bit, so don't get running your hands among the things anywhere. They'll get out of your way fast enough if you give them a chance; so just help me by minding that."

One of the boatmen came up and said something in a sour way to the speaker, who added,—

"They've skinned the tiger, and want to know what to do with the carkidge, sir. Come along with me, and I'll show you something else."

"No, no: stop a moment. Look here!" cried Joe.

They all turned to where he stood holding the bunch on his gun-barrel, and saw his eyes fixed upon something playing about—a great humble-bee apparently—which paused before one of the orchid blossoms.

The little thing was dull-looking, and they saw directly after that it was probing the flowers with a long curved beak.

"Humming bird," cried Rob; "but I thought that they were bright-coloured."

In an instant, as if it had heard his words, the tiny creature changed its position to such an angle with the sun that for a few seconds its breast glowed with gorgeous green and flame-coloured scales, which looked as if they had been cut out of some wonderful metal to protect the bird's breast. Its wings moved so rapidly that they were invisible, and the beautiful little object seemed to be surrounded by a filmy haze of a little more than the diameter of a cricket-ball.

Again there was a sharp motion, such as is noted in one kind of fly in an English summer, when it can be seen poised for a few moments apparently immovable, but with its wings beating at lightning speed. And as the humming bird changed its position the breast feathers looked dark and dull, while its head displayed a crest of dazzling golden green.

It appeared to have no dread of the group of human beings close to it, but probed blossom after blossom as calmly as a bee would at home; and it was from no movement they made that it suddenly made a dart and was gone.

"Pretty creatures!" said Shaddy, smiling, and looking the last man in the world likely to admire a bird; "you've come to the right place for them, gentlemen. Those lads of mine would soon make blowpipes and arrows, and knock you a few down, or I could if you wanted 'em, with one of your guns."

"The shots would cut them to pieces," said Brazier.

"To be sure they would, sir, and I shouldn't use none. I've knocked one down with a charge of powder, shot off pretty close, and other times with half a teaspoonful of sand in the gun. But I tell you what acts best, only you can't do it with a breechloader. It must be an old muzzle gun, and after you've rammed down your powder very tight with a strong wad, you pour in a little water, and fire soon as you can. You get a shower then as brings 'em down without damaging your bird."

"Let's look at the jaguar skin," said Rob; and stepping aside to where the boatmen stood in the broad sunshine, instead of gazing upon the tawny fur, with its rich spots of dark brown along back and flanks, shading off into soft white, he found, stretched out tightly by pegs, a sheet of unpleasant-looking fleshy skin, hardening in the ardent sunshine, which drove out its moisture at a rapid rate.

"Do it no end of good to stop like that till to-morrow," said Shaddy. "It would be pretty nigh stiff and hard by then."

"But I don't want it stiff and hard," cried Rob. "I want it soft, like a leather rug."

"Yes, sir, I know," replied the guide. "Let's get it dry first; I can soon make it soft afterwards."

Brazier was looking round the open patch of slightly sloping ground, about half an acre in extent, forming quite a nook in the forest through which the river ran.

"There is plenty of work here for a day or two," he said; "and it is a suitable place for our halt."

"Couldn't be better, sir. We shan't find another so good."

"Then we'll stop for one day, certain."

"'Cording to that, then," said Shaddy thoughtfully, "we'd better take the carkidge somewhere else."

"Of course—get rid of it or bury it. Before long in this sun it will be offensive. Why not throw it in the river?"

"That's what I meant to do, sir; but I was a bit scared about drawing the 'gators about us. Don't want their company. If they see that came from here they'll be waiting about for more. I dunno, though; perhaps the stream'll carry it down half a mile before they pull it under or it sinks."

He made a sign to the boatmen, who seized the carcass of the jaguar, bore it just below where the boat was moored, and the two lads followed to see it consigned to the swift river.

Here the men stood close to the edge, and acting in concert under Shaddy's direction, they swung the carcass to and fro two or three times, gathering impetus at every sway, and then with one tremendous effort and a loud expiration of the breath they sent it flying several yards, for it to fall with a tremendous splash and sink slowly, the lighter-coloured portions being quite plain in the clear water as it settled down, sending great rings to each shore. Then the carcass rose slowly to the surface and began to float down-stream.

"Look," cried Rob the next instant, as the smooth water suddenly became agitated, and dark shadows appeared to be moving beneath the surface. Then the jaguar moved suddenly to one side, as if it were alive, then back, to alter its course directly straight away from them, and again to begin travelling up stream; while the water boiled all round about it, and several silvery fish flashed out of the water and fell back; then heads and tails appeared as the fierce occupants of the river fought for morsels which they bit out of the flanks and limbs of the dead animal.

"Makes 'em mad to get at it," said Shaddy, as the water grew more disturbed; "they're coming up the river in shoals. You see there's no skin to get through and fill their teeth with hair. Say, youngsters, talk about ground bait, don't you wish you'd got your tackle ready? Might catch some good ones for supper."

"And eat them after they've been feeding on that animal?"

"Better have them after feeding on that, Rob," said Brazier, "than after a feast of I don't know what. Why not try, Naylor?"

"No meat for a bait, sir. Let's wait till they've done, and then I'll fish for a dorado. We've got some oranges left."

He ceased speaking, and they stood watching the carcass, which still floated, from the simple fact that a shoal of fish were attacking it from below, while so many came swarming, up from lower down the stream, attracted by the odour of the pieces of the jaguar, and the many fragments which ascended and floated away, that the carcass not only could not sink but was driven higher and higher toward the main river.

"Hah!" ejaculated Shaddy suddenly, "I thought that was coming."

For suddenly there were dozens of silvery fish leaping in the air to fall back into the water, which ceased to boil, and a wave formed by the shoal swept down-stream.

"What's that mean?" cried Rob. "Why, they've left it."

"Yes, sir, they have," said Shaddy, emphasising the personal pronoun. "Look!"

A fresh splash about twenty yards from them had already taken Rob's attention, and then there was another caused by a peculiar dark-looking object, which rose above the surface.

"'Gator's tail," said Shaddy, grimly. "It's their turn now, and the hungry fishes have to make room."

Just then a long black, muddy-looking snout glided out of the water, followed by the head, shoulders and back of a hideous lizard-like creature, which glided over the carcass of the jaguar and disappeared, followed directly by a head twice as large, and as it rose clear of the water the jaws opened wide and closed with a loud snap. Directly after this head sank down out of sight there was a tremendous swirl in the water, and then it began to settle down, but only to be disturbed once more about opposite to where the party stood, and again some twenty yards lower down, after which the river ran swiftly and smoothly once more.

"That was an old bull 'gator," said Shaddy. "The small ones, three or four, came first and scared off all the fish that didn't want to be eaten, and then the old chap came and soon sent them to the right-about, and he has carried off the carkidge to enjoy all to himself down in some hole under the bank."

"Plenty of natural history for you here, boys," said Brazier, "eh?"

"Yes; but how horrid!" cried Rob. "And yet how beautiful it all is to compensate!" said Brazier, thoughtfully. "But what about something fresh to eat, Naylor? We must shoot something, or you must fish. There, Rob, you said how horrid just now; and yet we are as bad. The alligators and fish only sought for their daily food. We are going to do worse than they did with our guns and tackle. Well, Naylor, what are we to do?"

"I'm thinking, sir, that if the young gents here, or one of them, will try a fishing-line with an orange or half an orange bait, you might sit quiet at your corner and watch for something—bush turkey, or parrots even, for they're good eating."

"But suppose I shoot a bird, and it falls in the river, what then?"

"Why, we must go after it with the boat; but I expect that something or another would take it down before we could get to it. This river swarms, sir, with big fish and 'gators."

"Why not go a few hundred yards into the forest? We might put up a deer."

"Dessay you would, sir, if you could get in. Why, you couldn't get in a dozen yards without men to hack a way for you; and if you went in alone, even so far, it's a chance if you could find your way out again. You'll have to be careful about that."

"Why?" said Rob, eagerly. "The wild beasts?"

"They're the least trouble, sir," replied Shaddy. "It's the getting lost. A man who is lost in these forests may almost as well lie down and die at once out of his misery, for there's no chance of his getting back again."

"I'm afraid you try to make the worst of things, Naylor," said Brazier, smiling. "Well, I'll take my position at the corner yonder while you lads fish."

Rob felt as if he would far rather try his luck with a gun, for he wanted to practise shooting; and Shaddy read the disappointment in his face.

"It'll be all right, my lad," he said, as Brazier went to the boat to get some different cartridges; "you'll have plenty of chances of shooting for the pot by-and-by. Why, you haven't done so very bad to-day—bagging a whole tiger. Here, I'll help you rig up a line."

"And suppose I hook one of those alligators?"

"Hardly likely, my lad; but if you do it will be bad for the 'gator or bad for your line. One'll have to come, or the other'll have to go."

Just then Brazier returned from the boat with the cartridge-pouch and examining the breech of his gun, after which he walked slowly to the corner of the green opening and took his place close to the edge of the river, where he was partly hidden by some pendent boughs, while Rob, Joe, and Shaddy got on board the boat again, and were soon fitting up a line with an orange bait.

"May as well fish from the boat, my lads," said Shaddy; "it's peaceabler and comfortabler. What do you say?"

"No," said Joe, "but one from the boat, and one from the other corner there. If we fish together we shall get our lines tangled."

"Right, my Hightalian man o' wisdom," said Shaddy. "There you are, then," he continued, as he fixed the half of an orange as securely as he could; "you begin there, and Mr Rob will try up yonder, while I'll go to and fro with the gaff hook ready to help whichever of you wants a hand."

"Hi! you chaps," he shouted to the men in their own tongue, as they were settling themselves down for a long sleep, "make that fire up again; we're going to stop here to-night."

"I wish I could speak their language, Shaddy," said Rob, as the men deliberately began to pile some of the wood they had collected on the embers.

"You'll soon pick it up, my lad. It's soft and easy enough. Not as I speak it, you know, because I'm so rough and keep chopping in broken English. They're not bad fellows. But now look here," he continued, as they reached their corner where the stream flowed very deep and made quite an eddy; "it strikes me that the best thing we can do is to try a different bait, one as will tempt the fish that don't care so much for flesh. What do you say to a quarter of a biscuit?"

"Too hard, and will not stick on."

"Get soft in the water; and it will stick on, for I shall tie it with some thin string, making quite a net round it."

"That will do then," said Rob, who felt some compunction at trying for fish which had been lunching off a large cat; and in due time the bait was carefully bound on.

"This place will suit," said Shaddy, "because the water will carry the hook out softly right toward the middle in this eddy, and we shan't have to throw and knock off our bait. Ready?"

Bang!



CHAPTER NINE.

THE DOUBLE CATCH.

The sharp report was from Brazier's piece, and as all looked round it was to see a large turkey-like bird beating and flapping the ground with its strong pinions, evidently being badly wounded.

"Ah!" cried Shaddy, "that'll be better meat than our fish;" and dropping the line, he trotted towards the spot where the bird lay close to the edge of the forest, just as Brazier started on the same mission from his end of the opening; while quite a flock of small birds and a troop of monkeys came flying and bounding through the trees, as if to see what was the meaning of the strange noise, and filling the air with their chatterings and cries, but hardly displaying the slightest dread.

"I happened to look round," cried Brazier, "and saw it come out from among the trees."

This was just as he and Shaddy neared the bird, where it lay half a dozen yards from the dense mass of interwoven foliage, when, to the disgust of both, the bird suddenly rose to its feet, made a bound, and, with its wings whistling loudly, flew right in through an opening, while its would-be captors were brought up short by the to them impenetrable forest.

"How vexatious!" cried Brazier, stamping his foot.

"There goes our supper!" grumbled Shaddy; "and that's about the joociest bird I know."

"I wish I'd given it the other barrel," said Brazier.

"Better load, sir," said Shaddy. "Never mind. You'll get another chance soon. Eh? Oh, very well then, have a try."

This was to one of the boatmen, who, roused by the shot, came up smiling with his sword-like knife in his hand, evidently with the intention of cutting his way in and trying to retrieve the bird.

"I don't think it is of any use," said Brazier.

"Dunno, sir. Perhaps it is. The bird was hard hit, and maybe hasn't gone far. Let him try. He may just as well do that as lie and sleep."

They both stopped for a few minutes watching the man, who bent down, and going on all-fours, passed in between the interlacing growth. They saw his feet for a few moments, and then he disappeared altogether, while Brazier and Shaddy both returned to their stations.

"What a pity!" grumbled the latter. "'Bout the nicest birds I know— when you're hungry. There'll be another shot for him soon, though, for they go in flocks in open bits of land near water."

"What bird was it?" said Rob—"a turkey?"

"Nay, not so big as a turkey, lad; I dunno what they call 'em. I call 'em Argentine larks."

"What?" cried Rob, with a laugh.

"Ah, you may grin, my lad, but it ain't such a bad name; and if you'd seen 'em do what I have, you'd say so too."

"What do you mean?" said Rob; "do they make their nests on the ground?"

"I don't know nothing about their nests, but I'll tell you what they do: they rise off the ground and fly up in the air higher and higher, and sail round and round singing just like a lark does, only lots of times as loud."

Rob looked keenly in the man's face.

"Oh, I ain't a-stuffing of you with nonsense, my lad; that 'ere's a nat'ral history fact. They flies up singing away till they're out of sight, and the music comes down so soft and sweet then that it makes you want more and more, as you get thinking of when you was away in the country at home."

"But that bird was so big," cried Rob.

"All the better, my lad. Holds more music and sings all the longer."

"Caught anything?" asked Joe from the boat, for both lines had been cast now, and the lads were patiently holding the ends.

"No; haven't had a bite," replied Rob; and the words had hardly left his lips when Brazier's gun raised an echo across the river, which ran to and fro, reflected by the wall of trees in zigzag course till it died out.

But no one listened to the echo, for all attention was taken by a large duck, one of about a dozen which had come skimming along over the surface of the water till its course had been stopped by Brazier's accurate shot, when it fell flapping heavily and raising quite a spray around it as it began to float rapidly down-stream.

"Come, we mustn't lose that," cried Shaddy, running to unfasten the rope which moored the boat. "We'll go together. Mr Joe, sir, haul in your line."

But before the boy could obey there was a cry of annoyance from Brazier as, with a slight splash, something seized the duck and drew it under.

"'Nother supper gone!" growled Shaddy.

"What was it?" cried Brazier.

"Didn't see, sir. Either a 'gator or a big fish. Look sharp, Mr Joe, sir. Now, if you could catch that there fish with the duck in his jaws too, it would be something like."

But Joe did not have the chance to catch a fish with the duck or without, and Rob fervently hoped that he might not catch the captor of the duck, for he felt certain that he had seen the jaws of a small alligator close upon the unfortunate bird as he held the end of his line tightly and waited for the bite which would not come.

But in the midst of that lovely solitude there was no room for disappointment. Though they could not obtain exactly what they sought, Rob felt that nature was offering them endless treasures, and his eye was being constantly attracted by the flowers high up on the trees across the river and the still more beautiful butterflies and birds constantly passing here and there. Now it was some lovely object whose large flat wings flashed with steely or purply blue, according to the angle in which it was viewed, then butterflies of velvety black dashed with orange and vermilion. Parrots of vivid green with scarlet heads flew to and fro across the stream; and twice over a great ara or macaw, with its large, hooked beak and scarlet-and-blue feathering, a very soldier in uniform among birds, flew over them, watching them keenly as it uttered its harsh, discordant cry. Then, too, there were the humming-birds darting here and there with bee-like flight, emitting a flash every now and then as their metallic, scale-like feathers caught the sun on their burnished surface.

"No," said Rob to himself, "one can't feel disappointed here," and soon after, as he drew a long, deep breath full of satisfaction, "Oh, how gloriously beautiful it all is! What would they say at home?"

Now he gazed down into the deep, clear, swiftly flowing water, where, brilliantly illuminated by the sun, just beyond where he sat shaded by a tree, he could see fish of all sizes floating motionless, apparently at different depths, while farther out there were more and more, larger it seemed, and as the depth and density of the water increased looking more shadowy and strange.

"There are plenty of them, even if they don't bite," thought Rob; "and if it were not that we must have them to eat, I don't know that I want to catch them. Ugh!"

He involuntarily shrank away, but resumed his position at the edge of the river, gazing down at where, with its four legs outstretched and its tail waving softly, an alligator swam by some five feet below the surface. It was only a small one, between three and four feet in length, but showing all the ugly configuration of its kind; and it fascinated Rob as he gazed at it till it slowly grew more shadowy and shortened in length and disappeared.

"Wonder how Joe's getting on!" he thought; and then his mind dwelt again upon their surroundings, and as his eyes wandered from spot to spot he felt that they ought to go no farther, but make a temporary stay there.

Just then he looked to his right, to find that Mr Brazier had given up his task of watching for birds and was busy with Shaddy arranging the bunch of orchids on a branch in the full sunshine, to dry as much as was possible before being transferred to their destination—the bottom of one of the tubs.

"Slow work!" muttered Rob, drawing in his line now, to find the biscuit softened, but still held tightly enough to the hook. Then, dropping it in again, he watched it as it was carried out by the eddy, and ended by tying the line fast to one of the overhanging branches and walking to where the boat was moored.

"How are you getting on, Joe?" he said; but there was no answer. "Not here?" he muttered as he stepped on board, to find the young Italian lying back fast asleep, while the end of the line was secured to one of the thwarts.

"Oh, I say!" muttered Rob, "you lazy beggar!" Then stooping down, so that his lips were near the sleeper's ear, he said loudly, "Ready for supper?"

Joe leaped up in confusion.

"Have I been asleep?" he said hastily.

"Looks like it. Where's the dorado?"

"I—that is—I grew so drowsy, I—yes, I fastened the end of the line for fear it should go overboard, and—here, look out!" he cried sharply, "I have him!"

"Not you," said Rob; "the hook caught it."

For the line had been drawn tight while Joe slept, and as he took hold of it he found that it was fast in something heavy, which now sent a quiver along the line, as if it were shaking its head angrily at being disturbed.

"Why, it's a big one," said Rob excitedly.

"It's a monster," panted Joe. "Oh, I wish I had not been asleep."

"Caught anything?" came from behind them, and Brazier and Shaddy drew near.

"Yes; Joe has hooked a very big one," cried Rob eagerly. "Get your hook ready, Shaddy."

"All right, sir," said the guide grimly, "but you won't want it just yet. You'll have to play that chap before you get him up to the boat."

So it seemed, for the captive lay sulky for a few moments, resenting the strain on the line, till Joe gave it a jerk, when there was a rush away to the left, the line suddenly slackened, and Rob exclaimed in a tone of disappointment,—

"Gone!"

"No," growled Shaddy. "Pull in a bit, my lad. Steady!"

Joe began to haul in the line, drawing in yard after yard, which fell in rings to the bottom of the boat, till half the fishing cord must have been recovered.

"He has gone, Shaddy," said Joe.

"Beginning to think you're right, my lad. Fancied at first he'd swum up to the side, for there's no telling what a fish may do when—Look out; he's on still," roared Shaddy. "Hold the line, my lad. Don't let him haul it quite out, or he'll snap it when he gets to the end."

Joe seized the line and let it slip through his fingers, but the friction was so painful that he would have let go again had not Shaddy stepped to his help and taken hold behind him.

"Won't hurt my fingers," he growled; "they're a deal too hard," and he kept hold so that he did not interfere with Joe's work in playing the fish, but relieved him of the strain and friction as the line cut the water here and there.

Brazier looked on with plenty of interest in the proceedings, for the capture of a fish of goodly size was a matter of some consequence to the leader of an expedition with eight hungry people to cater for day after day.

"Think it's a dorado, Shaddy?" asked Rob.

"Ought to be, my lad, from its taking an orange, and if it is it's 'bout the heaviest one I've knowed. My word, but he does pull! Can't say as ever I felt one shake his head like that before. Shall I play him now, my lad?"

"No," cried Joe through his set teeth as he held on, "not yet. I will ask you if I want help. No: Rob will help me."

The struggle went on so fiercely that it increased Brazier's interest, and but for the clever way in which the two lads in turn played the fish, the cord, strong as it was, must have been broken. But they were fortunate enough to get a good deal of the long line in hand, and were thus enabled to let their captive run from time to time, merely keeping up a steady strain till the rush was over and then hauling in again.

"Why, boys," said Brazier at last as he stood on the bank resting upon his double gun, "it will be supper-time before you catch your prize, and in this climate fish will be bad to-morrow. Better let him go."

"What!" cried Rob, whose face was streaming with perspiration. "Let him go? Do you hear, Joe?"

Joe nodded and tightened his lips, his face seeming to say,—

"Let him go? Not while I can hold him."

So the fight went on till the fish grew less fierce in its rushes, but none the weaker, keeping on as it did a heavy, stubborn drag, and though frequently brought pretty near to the boat, keeping down close to the bottom, so that they never once obtained a glimpse of it.

"It ain't a dorado," said Shaddy at last. "I never see one fight like that."

"It must be a very grand one," said Joe, wiping his face, for he had resigned the line for a time.

"It pulls like a mule," said Rob, as the captive now made off toward the middle of the river.

"What sort of a hook have you got on, Mr Jovanni?" cried Shaddy.

"One of those big ones, with the wire bound round for about two feet above it."

"Then I tell you what, my lad: I don't believe that strong new cord'll break. S'pose both of you get hold after he's had this run, haul him right up, and let's have a look at him! Strikes me you've got hold of one of them big eely mud-fish by the way he hugs the bottom."

"Shall we try, Joe?"

"I—I'm afraid of losing it," was the reply. "It would be so dreadful now. Perhaps it will be tired soon."

"Don't seem like it, my lad!" said Brazier. "It is not worth so long and exhausting a fight."

"Right, sir, and they've been too easy with him. You get his head up, Mr Rob, as soon as he gives a bit, and then both of you show him you don't mean to stand any more nonsense. That'll make him give in."

"Very well," said Joe, with a sigh. "We have been a long time. Wait till he has had this run."

The line was running out more and more through Rob's fingers as he spoke, and the fish seemed bent on making for the farther shore; but the lad made it hard work for the prisoner, and about two-thirds of the way it began to slacken its pace, almost stopped, quite stopped, and sulked, like a salmon, at the bottom.

"Now both of you give a gentle, steady pull," said Brazier; and Joe took hold of the line and joined Rob in keeping up a continuous strain.

For a few minutes it was like pulling at a log of wood, and Rob declared the line must be caught. But almost as he spoke the fish gave a vicious shake at the hook, its head seemed to be pulled round, the strain was kept up, and the captive yielded, and was drawn nearer and nearer very slowly, but none the less surely, the line falling in rings to the bottom of the boat.

"Bravo!" cried Brazier.

"That's right, both of you!" shouted Shaddy excitedly. "He's dead beat, and I shall have the big hook in his gills before he knows where he is. Haul away!"

"Are these mud-fish you talk about good eating, Naylor?" asked Brazier.

"Oh yes, sir. Bit eely-like in their way; not half bad. Come, that's winning, gents. Well done. Give me a shout when you want me. I won't come yet so as to get in your way."

"Sha'n't be ready yet," panted Rob. "He is strong. I think you ought to have a harpoon.—I say."

"Yes, sir."

"Do these mud-fish bite?"

"Well, yes, sir," replied Shaddy; "pretty nigh all the fish hereabouts are handy with their teeth."

"Ah, he's off again!" cried Joe; and they had to let the prisoner run. But it was a much weaker effort, and a couple of minutes later they had hauled in all the line given, and got in so much more that the fish was at the bottom of the river only four or five yards from the boat.

"Now then, both together; that line will hold!" cried Shaddy excitedly; "get him right up and see what he is, and if he begins to fight fierce let him have one more run to finish his flurry, as the whalers call the last fight."

"Ready, Joe?"

"Yes."

"Both together, then."

There were a few short steady pulls, hand over hand, and the prisoner was drawn nearer and nearer, and raised from the bottom slowly and surely, while, as full of excitement now as the lads, Brazier and Shaddy stood close to the edge watching.

"Hurrah!" cried Rob, who was nearest to the gunwale. "I can see him now!"

"Well, what is it—a mud-fish?" asked Brazier.

"No," said Joe, straining his neck to get a glimpse through the clear water, the disturbed mud raised by the struggles of the fish being rapidly swept away. "It's a dorado: I can see his golden scales!"

"Then he's a regular whopper, my lads. Steady, don't lose him!" cried Shaddy. "Shall I come on board?"

"No, not yet," said Joe excitedly. "He may make another rush."

"Why, I say, it isn't a very big one," said Rob.

"No," cried Joe, in a disappointed tone; "but he's coming up backwards, which shows how strong he is."

"Ha, ha!" shouted Rob; "we've caught him by the tail."

"Got the line twisted round it, perhaps," said Brazier. "That's what makes the fish seem so strong."

"Ugh!" yelled Rob, letting go of the line, with the result that it was drawn back rapidly through Joe's fingers, till at a cry from his lips Rob took hold again as the fish ran off and nearly reached its former quarters.

"What's the matter?" said Brazier. "Did the line cut your fingers?"

"No. We've caught a horrid great thing. It isn't a dorado. I saw it well, and it's nearly as long as the boat."

"Gammon!" growled Shaddy. "Here, what's it like, Master Joe?"

"I don't know. I never saw a fish like it before: its tail was all golden scales, and then it was dark at the top and bottom, and went off dark right toward the head."

"Then it must be a mud-fish, I should say, though I never knowed of one with a tail like that. Haul him in again, and I'll get aboard now ready with the hook."

He stepped into the boat, and lay down in the bottom with his arms over the side and his landing-hook, securely bound to a short, stout piece of bamboo, held ready.

"Shan't be in your way, shall I?" he asked.

"No, not at all," replied Joe. "Now, Rob, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"I say, don't let go again."

"I'll try not," replied Rob, and the hauling began once more, with almost as much effort necessary. But at the end of a minute it began to be evident that the fish was tired, for it yielded more and more as the line was drawn in, but kept to its old tactics of hugging the bottom till it was close up to the boat, where, after pausing a moment or two, Rob cried,—

"Now then, both together! Don't miss him, Shaddy! Mind, he's a hideous great thing."

"All right, my lads; haul away!"

They hauled, but instead of the fish suffering itself to be dragged like a lump of lead close in to the boat, it now commenced different tactics, and rose till the gilded tail appeared above the surface quite clear of the line, and beat and churned up the water so that it was too much disturbed for them to see the head, the creature seeming to be fighting hard to dive down again straight to the bottom.

"That's right, my lads: he's coming. 'Nother fathom, and I'll get the hook into him. Haul steady. He's, done. He's—Well, I'm blessed!"

Shaddy roared out this last exclamation, for all at once, as the boys hauled persistently at the line, the tail half of a large dorado was thrust above the surface, agitated violently, and directly after there followed the hideous head of an alligator with its jaws tightly closed upon the fore half of the fish. It was shaking its head savagely to break the line, and began giving violent plunges while it made the water foam with its struggles, and in another moment would no doubt have broken away; but just at the crisis, on seeing what was the state of affairs, Brazier raised his gun, took a quick aim, and discharged rapidly one after the other both barrels of his piece.

The result was magical. As the smoke rose, and quite a cloud of brilliantly tinted birds flew here and there from side to side of the river, whose trees on both banks seemed to have grown alive with monkeys, the alligator made one leap half out of the water, fell back with a heavy splash, and then lay motionless save for a quivering of its tail as it was drawn nearer, when Shaddy managed to get his hook inside the jaws, which were distended by the dorado, and then, stepping ashore, he hauled the reptile right out on to the grass.

"Is he dead?" said Brazier, who was reloading.

"Not yet, sir; but you've shattered the back of his head, and he'll soon be quite. No wonder you didn't land him quicker, Master Joe."

"But what does it mean?" cried Rob. "Oh, I see! Joe hooked a dorado, and this fellow tried to swallow it head first, and couldn't get it right down."

"That's it, my lad," replied Shaddy. "He'd half managed it when Mr Jovanny here gave a pull, and has got the hook in him somewhere. I thought so. Here's the pynte sticking right through outside his neck, and he couldn't bite because of the fish stuck in his jaws just like a great gag."

"Well, what's to be done?" said Rob; "we can't eat the dorado now. Wonder whether I've got a bite yet."

He went slowly and wearily up to the tree where he had fastened the end of his line, and to his delight saw that the branch was rising and falling as a fish on the hook tugged to get away.

"Hi! Joe! Got one!" he shouted; but before the lad could reach him he had the line in his hand and was hauling, sore as his fingers were, a heavy fish toward the shore. Then with a cry of disappointment he pulled in the line easily enough, for the fish was gone.

They returned to the spot where Brazier and Shaddy stood, near the captured alligator.

"Good six feet long, Rob," said Brazier, who had measured it by taking two long paces. "Something like a catch, Giovanni. Can you get the fish out of its jaws, Naylor?"

"Oh yes, I think so, sir."

"Mind, for these creatures are very retentive of life."

"Oh yes, I know 'em, sir. I'll get the chopper and take his head off first."

"But we are not going to eat that fish now, Mr Brazier, are we?"

"Well, I don't know, Rob. If it is well washed and skinned, it cannot be any the worse, and we have nothing else in the way of fish or meat."

"Wrong, sir," said Shaddy, making a very wide smile; "look at that."

He pointed toward the top of the little clearing where the boatman had forced his way in amongst the tangled growth, and gone on hewing his way through bush, thorn, vine, and parasitical growth, to reappear just in the nick of time with the bustard-looking bird hanging from his left hand, dead.

"Says he had to go in a long way," said Shaddy, after a short conversation with the man, who, weary though he was with his exertions, immediately set to work by the fire picking the bird and burning its feathers, with the result that the Europeans of the little expedition confined themselves to the windward side of the fire till the man had done.

"Never had such a delicious supper before in my life," said Rob two hours later, as they sat in the boat eating oranges and watching the gorgeous colours of the sky.

"Think this place 'll do, sir?" said Shaddy, after washing down his repast with copious draughts of mate made by his men.

"Excellently, Naylor."

"And you ain't hardly begun yet," said Shaddy, smiling. "Wait till you get higher up, where it's wilder and wonderfler: this is nothing. Suit you, Master Rob? Never had such fishing as that before, did you?"

"Never, Shaddy; but what did you do with the alligator and the fish?"

"My lads cut all off as the 'gator hadn't had down his throat, and tumbled the other into the stream. Ain't much of him left by this time."

The night came on almost directly after, with the remarkable tropical absence of twilight; and, as if all had been waiting for the darkness, the chorus of the forest began. Then, well making up the fire with an abundance of wood, the boatmen came on board, and immediately settled themselves down to sleep.



CHAPTER TEN.

THE WONDERS OF THE WILDS.

It was a weird hour that next which was passed with the fire sending up volumes of smoke, followed by glittering sparks which rose rapidly and looked like specks of gold-leaf floating away over the river, red now as blood, now orange and gold, as the fire blazed higher and cast its reflections on the rapid stream.

The bright light had a singular attraction for the birds, which came skimming round and swooping through the dark smoke, small birds with bright wings, and large-headed owls with soft silent pinions; these latter every now and then adding their mournful cries to the harsh screeching, whirring, drumming, throbbing, and piping of bird, insect, and reptile which mingled with the fine, thin, humming ping of the mosquitoes and the mournful fluting of the frogs.

No one spoke for a time, the attention of three of the party being taken up by the novelty of their position and the noises of the forest, for though they had passed many nights on the river and listened to the cries on the farther shore, this was their first experience of being right in among these musicians of the night as they kept up their incessant din.

"Can you tell what every sound is that we hear, Shaddy?" whispered Rob at last.

"Nay, hardly; some on 'em of course," said their guide. "You know many of them too already, though they get so mixed up it's hard to pick out one from the other."

"But that?" whispered Rob, as if he dared not raise his voice, and he started violently, for there was a splash close at hand.

"Didn't mean that fish, did you, sir? That won't hurt you here so long as you don't walk overboard in your sleep."

"No, no, I didn't mean that; I meant that bellowing noise. You heard it, didn't you, Mr Brazier?"

There was no reply.

"Sleep," said Shaddy gruffly.

"Joe, you heard that bellowing down the river there?" whispered Rob.

Again there was no reply.

"Sleep too," growled Shaddy. "Well, don't you know what that was?"

"No."

"'Gator. Don't suppose he thinks it's bellowing. Dessay he'd call it a song. There it goes again. Comes along the river as if it was close to us. But there, don't you think you've done enough for one day, and had better do as the rest are doing? We're the only two awake."

"But what about keeping watch?" said Rob, rather excitedly.

"Oh, I don't know as there's any need to keep watch here, my lad," said Shaddy coolly.

"What, not with all kinds of wild and savage beasts about us, and monstrous reptiles and fishes in the very water where we float! Why, it seems madness to go to sleep among such dangers."

"Nay, not it, my lad. Why, if you come to that, the world's full of dangers wherever you are. No more danger here than on board a big ship sailing or steaming over water miles deep."

"But the wild beasts—lions and tigers, as you call them?"

"Lions won't hurt you so long as you don't meddle with them, and the tigers won't pass that fire."

"Then the Indians?"

"No Indians about here, my lad, or I should have that fire out pretty soon and be on the watch. You leave all that to me, and don't you get worrying yourself about danger because you hear a noise in the forest! Noise is a noosance, but it don't hurt. There was five thousand times as much danger in the fangs of that little sarpint I chopped to-day as in all the noise you're listening to now."

Rob was silent.

"So just you take my advice, my lad: when night comes you say your bit o' prayers and tuck your head under your wing till it's near daylight. That's the way to get a good night's rest and be ready for the morning."

Rob started again, for a great, soft-winged thing swept silently by, so near that he felt the wind of its pinion as it glided on, its outline nearly invisible, but magnified by the darkness into a marvellous size.

"On'y a bat, my lad!" said Shaddy, yawning.

"Is that one of the blood-sucking ones?"

"Very likely."

"And you talk about there being no danger out here!"

"Nay, not I. There's plenty of dangers, my lad, but we're not going to be afraid of a thing that you could knock down with one of your hands so that it would never fly again. It ought to feel scared, not you."

"Is that a firefly?" said Rob, after a few minutes' silence, and he pointed to a soft, golden glow coming up the river five or six feet above the stream, and larger and more powerful than the twinkling lights appearing and disappearing among the foliage at the river's edge.

"Yes, that's a firefly; come to light you to bed, if you like. There, my lad, it's sleep-time. Get under shelter out of the night damp. You'll soon be used to all the buzzing and howling and—"

"That was a tiger, wasn't it?" said Rob excitedly, as a shrill cry rang out somewhere in the forest and sent a thrill through him.

"No. Once more, that's a lion, and he's after monkeys, not after you, so good-night."

Shaddy drew the sail over him as he stretched himself in the bottom of the roomy boat, and Rob crept in under the awning. The heavy breathing enabled him to make out exactly where his companions lay asleep, and settling himself down forward, he rested his head on his hand, convinced that sleep would be impossible, and preparing to listen to the faint rustling noise of the mooring rope on the gunwale of the boat, a sound which often suggested something coming on board.

Then he made sure what it was, and watched the faint glow thrown by the fire on the canvas till it seemed to grow dull—seemed, for the boatmen had arranged the wood so that from time to time it fell in, and hence it kept on burning up more brightly. But it looked dull to Rob and then black, for in spite of yells and screams and bellowings, the piping and fluting of frogs, the fiddling of crickets, and the drumming of some great toad, which apparently had a big tom-tom all to itself, Rob's eyes had closed, and fatigue made him sleep as soundly as if he had been at home.

The sun was up when he awoke with a start to find Joe having his wash in a freshly dipped bucket of clean water, and upon joining him and looking ashore, it was to see Brazier bringing his botanic treasures on board to hang up against the awning to dry; while Shaddy had taken the skin of the jaguar, pegs and all, rolling it up and throwing it forward. The boatmen kept the kettle boiling and some cake-bread baking in the hot ashes. At the same time a pleasant odour of frizzling bacon told that breakfast would not be long.

"You are going to stay here for a day or two?" said Rob to Mr Brazier as he rubbed his face dry in the warm sunshine.

"No. Naylor says we shall do better farther on, and keep on collecting as we go, beside getting a supply of ducks or other fowl for our wants. The farther we are from the big river the easier it will be to keep our wants supplied."

"Gun, sir!" said Shaddy just then; "big ducks coming up the river. Take it coolly, sir, and don't shoot till you can get two or three."

Brazier waited and waited, but the birds, which were feeding, came no farther.

"Hadn't Mr Rob better try too, sir?" whispered Shaddy; "he wants to learn to shoot."

Rob glanced at Brazier, who did not take his eyes from the ducks he was watching, and the boy hurriedly fetched his gun.

"What yer got in?" whispered Shaddy.

"Shot in one barrel, bullet in the other."

"Bah!" growled the guide. "You don't want bullet now. Yes, you do," he continued. "Look straight across the water in between the trees, and tell me if you see anything."

"No. Whereabouts?"

"Just opposite us. Now look again close to the water's edge, where there's that bit of an opening. Come, lad, where's your eyes?"

"I don't see anything but flowers and drooping boughs."

"And a deer just come down for a drink of fresh-water, ready to be shot and keep us in food for days."

"Yes, I can see it now," said Rob eagerly. "What a beautiful creature!"

"Yes, beautiful meat that we can cut up in strips and dry in the sun, so as to have a little supply in hand."

"But it seems—" began Rob.

"It's necessary, lad, and it's a chance. Sit down, rest your piece on the gunwale, and aim straight with your left barrel at the centre of its head. If you miss that you're sure to send the bullet through its shoulder and bring it down."

Feeling a great deal of compunction, Rob sank into the position advised, cocked his piece, and took careful aim.

"Make sure of him, my lad," whispered Shaddy. "It's a fine bit o' practice for you. Now then, hold the butt tight to your shoulder and pull the trigger gently; squeeze it more than pull. Covered him?"

"Yes."

"Then fire."

Bang! bang! Two shots in rapid succession, and the deer was gone, but a monkey unseen till then dropped head over heels into the water from one of the trees over the trembling deer, scared from its hold by the loud reports, and after a few moments' splashing succeeded in reaching a branch which dipped in the stream. In another moment or two it was in safety, chattering away fiercely as an ugly snout was protruded from the water where it fell.

"Got them this time!" said Brazier in a tone of satisfaction, as five ducks lay on the water waiting to be picked up. "You should have fired too, Rob. We want fresh provisions."

"What I told him, sir, but he took such a long aim that the deer said, 'Good-morning; come and be shot another time.'"

"Deer? What deer?"

"One t'other side, sir," said Shaddy, who had got out to unmoor the boat.

"I wish I had seen it; the meat would have been so valuable to-day."

"What I telled him, sir."

"And you didn't shoot!"

"I was just going to when you fired, and the deer darted away."

"Naturally," said Brazier, smiling; and by this time the boat was gliding down the river in the wake of the ducks. These were secured, all but one, which, being wounded, flapped and swam toward the shore, where it was suddenly sucked down by a reptile or fish. Those they secured dropped silvery little arrows, apparently, back into the water in the shape of the tiny voracious fish that had forced their way already between their feathers to reach the skin.

The birds secured, Rob sat gazing with delight at the fresh beauties of the river where it wound off to the right. Birds innumerable were flitting about, chirping and singing; noisy parrots were climbing and hanging head downwards as they hunted out a berry-like fruit from a tall tree; and toucans, with orange-and-scarlet breasts and huge bills, hopped about, uttering their discordant cries. Everything looked so beautiful and peaceful that for the moment he forgot the dangerous occupants of the river, and his eyes grew dim with the strange sense of joy that came over him that glorious morning. But the next moment he became aware of the fact that to all this beauty and brightness there was a terrible reverse side. For suddenly a great falcon dashed with swift wing high up along the course of the river, and cries of fear, warning, and alarm rang out from the small birds, the minute before happy and contentedly seeking their food.

The change was magical. At the first cry, all dropped down helter-skelter beneath the boughs and leaves, seeking shelter; and as the falcon gave a harsh scream it was over groves that had suddenly become deserted, not a tenant being visible, except some half-dozen humming-birds, whose safety lay in their tiny size and wonderful powers of flight. Three of these, instead of showing fear, became immediately aggressive, and, darting like great flies at the falcon, flashed about it in different directions, apparently acting in concert and pestering the great bird, so that it winged its way over the great wall of trees and was gone.

But almost at the same moment a vulture appeared, with its hideous naked head and neck outstretched, making the humming-birds ruffle up again and resume their attack till they literally drove the great intruder away.

"What daring little things they are!" said Rob, who was watching the tiny bird gems with keen delight, while Brazier's admiration was as much taken up by the clusters of blossoms hanging from a branch over the water.

"I shall be obliged to have those, Rob," he said, pointing to the orchids. "Do you think you could get out along that bough if the boat were run in to the bank?"

"Yes," said the boy; "but suppose I drop into the river! What then?"

"We would keep the boat under you."

"Can't be done," growled Shaddy, who had been trying to force the boat back to their little camp by paddling with one oar over the stern. "'Bliged to ask you, gentlemen, to take an oar apiece. Stream runs mighty fast here."

Rob seized an oar, and Brazier followed suit, at the same time glancing toward their last night's halting-place to see if their men were within reach to come and row and enable him to make an effort to obtain some of the green, bulbous-looking stems and flowers of the lovely parasite which had taken his attention. But they were as unobtainable as if they were a hundred miles away, for it would have taken them days to cut a way to opposite where the boat was now being held against the swift stream, and even when they had reached the spot it would have been impossible to force her in through the tangled growth to the shore.

"Now together, gentlemen!" growled Shaddy. "Keep stroke, please. Pull hard."

They were already tugging so hard that the perspiration was starting out upon Rob's brow, and in that short row, with Shaddy supplementing their efforts by paddling with all his might, they had a fair sample of the tremendous power of the stream.

"At last!" said Shaddy as they regained their old quarters, where Joe and the four men had stood watching them. "It will give my chaps a pretty good warming if we come back this way. Strikes me that we four had better practise pulling together, so as to be able to give them a rest now and then when the stream's very much against us."

"By all means," said Brazier.

"You see, men ain't steam-engines, sir, and we might be where there was no place for landing. O' course we could always hitch on to the trees, but that makes poor mooring, and we should be better able to make our way. There's hardly a chance of getting into slack water in a river like this: it all goes along with a rush."

"But I must get that plant, Naylor," said Brazier. "If you'll believe me, sir," was the reply, "you needn't worry about that one. I'm going to take you where you'll find thousands."

"Like that?"

"Ay, and other sorts too. Seems to me, sir, we want to catch a monkey and teach him how to use a knife. He'd be the sort of chap to run up the trees." Rob laughed at the idea, and said it was not possible. "Well, sir," said Shaddy, "you may believe it or no, but an old friend of mine 'sured me that the Malay chaps do teach a big monkey they've got out there to slip up the cocoa-nut trees and twist the big nuts round and round till they drop off. He said it was a fact, and I don't see why not."

"We'll try and dispense with the monkey," said Brazier; and trusting to finding more easily accessible specimens of the orchid, he gave that up, and a couple of hours after they were gliding swiftly along the stream, rapt in contemplation of the wonders on either hand, Shaddy being called upon from time to time to seize hold of some overhanging bough and check the progress of the boat, so that its occupants might watch the gambols of the inquisitive monkeys which kept pace with them along the bank by bounding and swinging from branch to branch.

The birds, too, appeared to be infinite in variety; and Rob was never weary of watching the tiny humming-birds as they poised themselves before the trumpet blossoms of some of the pendent vines to probe their depths for honey, or capture tiny insects with their beaks.

Their journey was prolonged from their inability to find a suitable place for a halt, and it was easy work for the boatmen, who smiled with content as they found that only one was required to handle the oars, so as to keep the boat's head straight.

It was nearly night, when a narrow place was found where by the fall of a huge tree several others had been torn up by their roots, and lay with their water-worn branches in the river.

The place offered just room to run the boat between two of the trees, but it could be easily moored, and there was the clear sky overhead. Moreover, they had an ample supply of dead wood to make a fire, and by the time this was blazing merrily and lighting up the wall of trees and the river night had fallen intensely dark.

The lads were for leaping out directly and climbing about amongst the fallen trunks which nearly filled the opening, but Shaddy checked them.

"Wait a while, my lads, till the fire's been burning a bit. I don't quite like our quarters."

"But that fire will scare away any wild beasts that may be near," said Rob.

"Yes, but the place looks snaky, Mr Rob; and I daresay there's lots o' them big spiders about."

"What big spiders?"

"Them as bites so bad that you remember it for months. Why, there's one sort out in these parts as'll run after you and attack you—fierce."

"No, no, Shaddy, not spiders," said Rob, laughing.

"Look ye here, Mr Rob, sir," said Shaddy solemnly, "when I tell you a story of the good old traveller sort—I mean a bouncer—you'll see the corners of my lips screwed up. When I'm telling you what's true as true, you'll see I look solid as mahogany; and that's how I'm looking now."

"Yes, it's true, Rob," said Joe. "There are plenty of spiders out on the pampas—great fellows that will come at you and bite horribly."

"I should like to see one," said Rob.

"Wait a bit, my lad, and you shall," said Shaddy.—"Humph! don't like this place at all," he growled. "Look there!" he continued, pointing at where three big trees lay close together, with their branches worn sharp by the action of the water. "If there ain't 'gators under all them sharp snags my name ain't Shadrach Naylor! Water's quite still, too, there. I hope there ain't anything worse."

"Do you think we had better go on?" said Brazier.

"Nay, we'll risk it, sir. Let's wait till the fire burns up big and strong. We'll have a roarer to-night, and that'll scare away most of the trash. Worst of it is, I'm 'fraid it 'tracts the 'gators and fish."



CHAPTER ELEVEN.

AN EVENTFUL NIGHT.

"I do like a good fire, Joe," said Rob, as he gazed at the ruddy flames rushing up.

"Why, you're not cold?"

"No, I'm hot, and this fire brings in a breeze and makes it cooler—on one side. But what I like in a fire of this kind is that you can burn as much wood as you like, and nobody can say it's waste, because it's doing good—clearing the ground for the trees around to grow. I say, look at the birds."

"After supper," said Joe, as he watched the actions of the principal boatman, who was head cook, busily preparing the ducks and two good-sized fish which they had caught by trailing a bait behind the boat as they came.

"Yes, I'm hungry," said Rob. "What's that?"

"It was Shaddy."

"What! tumbled in?" said Rob excitedly.

"No; he took hold of a thick piece of branch and threw it into the water. What did you do that for?"

"Scare them 'gators, my lad. There's a whole school of 'em out there, and I think they mean coming to supper. And fish too," he added, as there was another splash and then another.

By this time he was close alongside of the boat, under whose tent Mr Brazier was busy by the light of a lanthorn making notes and lists of the flowers and orchid bulbs which he had secured that day.

"Hadn't we better put out a line, Shaddy? If we caught a fish or two the men would be glad of them in the morning."

"No, Mr Rob, sir; I don't suppose they'd bite now, and even if they did, so sure as you hooked one a smiler would get hold of it, and you don't want another fight of that sort. I'm beginning to think that we'd best get our bit o' food, and then drop slowly down the river again."

"What's that?" said Brazier, looking up from his work. "That will not do, Naylor; we should miss no end of good plants."

"Well, sir, better do that than get into a row with any of the natives here," growled Shaddy.

"Why, you said there were no Indians near."

"Tchah! I mean the other natives—'sects and rept'les and what not. But there, if we put a rope to the end of that largest tree and anchor ourselves yonder I don't suppose we shall hurt. Eh? All right," he cried, in answer to a hint from the men; "supper's ready, gentlemen."

"And so are we," said Rob with alacrity; and he leaped off the gunwale on to the tree trunk by whose side it was moored.

To all appearance it was a solid-looking stem of tons in weight, but covered with mosses, creepers, and orchids, which pretty well hid its bark.

Rob's intention was to run along it to the root end, which stood up close to the fire; but, to his intense astonishment, he crashed through what was a mere outer shell of bark into so much dust and touchwood right up to the armpits, where he stuck, with a hedge of plants half-covering his face.

Joe burst out into a fit of laughing, in which Rob joined as soon as the first startled sensation was over.

"Who'd have thought of that?" he cried. "But, I say, I'm fast. Come and lend me a hand. I thought it was a great solid trunk, and all inside here you can see it looks as if it were on fire. Oh! oh! Ah! Help!"

"What's the matter?" cried Brazier excitedly, as Shaddy and he stepped cautiously to the boy's side, Joe having already mounted on the tree trunk. "Not on fire, are you?"

"No, no," gasped Rob in agonised tones; and, speaking in a frightened whisper, "There's something alive in here."

"Nippers o' some kind, eh?"

"No, no," cried Rob faintly; "I can feel it moving. Oh! help! It's a snake."

As he spoke there was a curious scuffling noise inside, as if something was struggling to extricate itself, and Shaddy lost no time. Bending down, he seized Rob by the chest under the armpits, stooped lower, gave one heave, and lifted him right out; when, following close upon his legs, the head of a great serpent was thrust up, to look threateningly round for a moment. The next, the creature was gliding down through the dense coating of parasitical growth, and before gun could be fetched from the cabin, or weapon raised, the rustling and movement on the side of the trunk had ceased, and Joe in turn gave a bound to one side.

"It's coming along by here," he cried, as, in full belief that he would the next moment be enveloped in the monster's coils, he made for the fire.

"Where is it now?" cried Shaddy, knife in hand.

"The grass is moving there," said Brazier, pointing a little to the right, where the tree trunks cast a deep shadow.

"Can't see—so plaguey dark," growled the guide; "and it's no good if I could. Yes, I can see the stuff moving now. He's making for the water. Now, sir, send a charge o' shot where the grass is waving."

But before Brazier could get a sight of the reptile it had glided into the river, down among the branches of the fallen tree, as if quite used to the intricate tangle of pointed wood beneath the bank, and accustomed to use it for a home of refuge, or lurking place from which to strike at prey.

"Did it seize you?" said Brazier excitedly.

"No, I only felt it strike against my leg and then press it to the side. I think I trod upon it."

"Made its home, I suppose, in the hollow tree. But you are sure you are not hurt, my boy—only frightened?"

"I couldn't help being frightened," said Rob, in rather an ill-used tone.

"Nobody says you could," said Brazier, laughing. "Master Giovanni seems to have been frightened too. Why, Rob, my lad, it would have almost frightened me into fits: I have such a horror of serpents. There, I believe after all these things are not so very dangerous."

"Don't know so much about that, sir," said Shaddy. "I've know'd 'em coil round and squeeze a deer to death, and then swallow it."

"Yes, a small deer perhaps; but the old travellers used to tell us about mighty boas and monstrous anacondas which could swallow buffaloes."

"Ah! they don't grow so big as that now, sir. I've seen some pretty big ones, too, in my time, specially on the side of the river and up the Amazons."

"Well, how big—how long have you ever seen one, Naylor?"

"Never see one a hundred foot long," said Shaddy drily.

"No, I suppose not. Come, what was the largest?"

"Largest I ever see, sir, was only the skin, as I telled Mr Rob about. Some half-caste chaps had got it pegged out, and I dessay skinning had stretched it a bit."

"Well, how long was that, Naylor?"

"That one was twenty-six foot long, sir, and nine foot across; and you may take my word for it as a thing like that, all muscles like iron—say six-and-twenty foot long and bigger round than a man—would be an awkward customer to tackle. Big enough for anything."

"Quite, Naylor."

"But how big was this one, do you think?" said Rob, who was getting over the perturbation caused by his adventure.

"Well, my lad, seeing what a bit of a squint I had of it, I should say it were thirteen or fourteen foot—p'raps fifteen."

"I thought it was nearer fifty," said Rob.

"Yes, you would then, my lad. But, never mind, it didn't seize you. I dessay you scared it as much as it did you."

"You will not be able to eat any supper, Rob, I suppose?" said Brazier rather maliciously.

Rob looked doubtful, but he smiled; and they went to the clearest place they could find, but not without sundry misgivings, for another tree sheltered them from the fire, which now sent forth a tremendous heat, and a cloud of golden sparks rose eddying and circling up to a dense cloud of smoke which glowed as if red-hot where it reflected the flames. This huge trunk, like the one through which Rob had slipped, was coated with parasitical growth, and though apparently solid, might, for all they knew, be hollow, and the nesting-place of half a dozen serpents larger than the one they had seen.

"Hadn't we better shift our quarters?" said Brazier.

"Yes, do," said Joe eagerly; "I hate snakes."

"Nobody's going to jump through that tree and 'sturb 'em, so I don't s'pose they'll 'sturb us. You see, they're a curious kind o' beast, which is all alive and twine for a day or two till they get a good meal, and then they go to sleep for a month before they're hungry again. It's wonderful how stupid and sleepy they are when they're like this. It takes some one to jump on 'em to rouse 'em up, like Mr Rob did."

"Well, we must chance it," said Brazier; and they seated themselves to their al fresco supper, over which Rob forgot his fright—his appetite returning, and the novelty of the position making everything delightful, in spite of the discomfort of their seat. For all around was so new, and there was a creepy kind of pleasure in sitting there by that crackling fire eating the delicious, hot, juicy birds, and all the while listening to the weird chorus of the forest, now in full swing.

Rob paused in the picking of a tasty leg, deliciously cooked, and sat in a very unpolished way listening to the curious cries, when, raising his eyes, they encountered Brazier's, who was similarly occupied.

"We've come to a wild enough place, Rob, my lad," he said; "but I don't think we wish to change."

"Oh! no," said Rob, in a whisper. "One can't help being a bit frightened sometimes, but it is grand even if we see nothing more."

Shaddy uttered a low, jerky sound, which was meant for a laugh.

"See nothing more, lad!" he cried. "Why, look here, you may go hundreds of miles to the south, the west and the north, and it's all savage land that man has hardly ever crossed. Don't you think there's something more to be seen there? Why, who knows but what we may come upon strange wild beasts such as nobody has ever set eyes on before, and—Why, what's the matter with our young skipper?"

Joe was opposite to him, staring wildly, his eyelids so drawn back that he showed a circle of white around the irises, and his lips were apart from his teeth.

"Why, what's the matter, lad? They haven't put any poison stuff in your victuals, have they?"

Joe made no reply, but sat staring wildly still, not at Shaddy, but in the direction of the river beyond.

"What's the matter, my lad?" said Brazier.

"I know!" cried Shaddy; "where's your guns? It's them 'gators coming up out of the water, and it's what I expected."

"No, no," whispered the boy excitedly: "look lower!"

All followed his pointing finger, but for the moment they could see nothing, one of the men having thrown some fresh fuel upon the fire, which was emitting more smoke than blaze.

"Hi! one of you!" cried Shaddy, "stir that fire."

One of the men seized the end of a burning limb, shook it about a little, and a roar of flame ascended skyward, lighting up the river and the trees beyond, but above all, striking just upon the rotten trunk through which Rob fell. There they saw a something glistening and horrible, as it swayed and undulated and rose and fell, with its neck all waves and its eyes sparkling in the golden blaze of the fire. Now it sank down till it was almost hidden among the parasitic plants; now it slowly rose, arching its neck, and apparently watching the party near the fire; while moment by moment its aspect was so menacing that Joe thought it would launch itself upon them and seize one to appease its rage.

"It's—it's come back!" he whispered faintly.

"Not it," growled Shaddy; "this one's twice as big as t'other. It's its father or mother, p'r'aps. Better have a shot at it, sir."

"Yes," said Brazier, slowly raising his gun, "but this light is so deceptive I am not at all sure that I can hit."

"Oh, you'll hit him full enough," said Shaddy. "You must hit it, sir. Why, if you missed, the beast would come down upon us as savage as a tiger. Take a good, quiet aim down low so as to hit his neck, if you don't his head. Are you cocked?"

"Tut! tut!" muttered Brazier, who in his excitement had forgotten this necessary preliminary, and making up for the omission.

"Come, Mr Rob, sir, don't miss your chance of having a shot at a 'conda. 'Tain't everybody who gets such a shot as that."

Rob mechanically picked up his piece, examined the breech, and then waited for Mr Brazier to fire, feeling sure the while that if it depended upon him the creature would go off scathless.

"Now's your time, sir!" whispered Shaddy. "He is put out, and means mischief. I'd let him have the small shot just beneath the jaws, if I could. Wait a moment, till he's quiet. Rather too much waving about him yet. Look out, sir! he's getting ready to make a dart at us, I do believe!"

But still Brazier did not fire, for the peculiar undulatory motion kept up by the serpent, as seen by the light of the fire, was singularly deceptive, and again and again the leader of the little expedition felt that if he fired it would be to miss.

Shaddy drew in a long breath, and gazed impatiently at Brazier, who was only moved by one idea—that of making a dead shot, to rid their little camp of a horrible-looking enemy.

Then the chance seemed to be gone, for by one quick movement of the lithe body and neck the head dropped down amongst the plants which clothed the tree trunk.

"Gone!" gasped Rob, with a sigh of satisfaction.

"Eyes right!" cried Shaddy; "he hasn't gone. He'll rise close in somewhere. Look out, gentlemen—look out!"

He was excited, and drew his knife, as if expecting danger. And it was not without cause, for almost directly after the keen steel blade had flashed in the light of the fire, the hideous head of the serpent rose up not ten feet away, with its eyes glittering, the scales burnished like bright, many-shaded bronze, and the quick, forked tongue darting in and out from its formidable jaws.

The head kept on rising till it was fully six feet above the growth, when it was rapidly drawn back, as if to be darted forward; but at that moment both Rob and Brazier fired together, and as the smoke cleared away another cloud of something seemed to be playing about on the ground, but a solid cloud, before which everything gave way, while some great flail-like object rapidly beat down plant and shrub.

All shrank away, and, as if moved by one impulse, took refuge behind the roaring fire, feeling, as they did, that their dangerous visitor would not attempt to pass that in making an attack upon those sheltered by so menacing an outwork.

There was something terribly appalling in the struggles of the silent monster, as it writhed and twisted itself into knots; then unfolded with the rapidity of lightning, and waving its tail in the air, again beat down the bushes and luxuriant growth around.

That it was fearfully wounded was evident, for after a few moments all could plainly see that it was actuated by a blind fury, and in its agony vented its rage upon everything around. And as it continued its struggles, moment by moment it approached nearer to the blazing fire, till all stood waiting in horror for the moment when one of its folds would touch the burning embers and the struggles come to a frightful end.

But all at once the writhings ceased, and the reptile lay undulating and heaving gently among the dense beaten-down growth.

"Stop!" said Brazier sharply, as the guide moved; "what are you going to do?"

"Put him out of his misery," replied Shaddy, quietly. "Hi! you there: give me the axe."

"No," said Brazier, firmly, "it is too risky a task; you shall not attempt it."

Shaddy uttered a low growl, like some thwarted animal, and said, in an ill-used tone,—

"Why, I could fetch his head off with one good chop, and—"

"Look, look!" cried Joe. "Mind! Take care!"

"Yes," shouted Rob; "it's coming round this way."

Neither could see the reptile; but the swaying herbage and the rustling, crackling sound showed that it was in rapid motion.

"Nay," growled Shaddy, "he ain't coming this way—only right-about-facing. It is his nature to; he's going to make for the water. That's what those things do: get down to the bottom and lie there, to be out o' danger. Look, Mr Rob, sir; you can see now what a length he is. One part's going one way, and the t'other part t'other way. Now he's turned the corner, and going straight for the river."

With Shaddy's words to guide them, they could easily make out what was taking place, as the reptile now made for the place of refuge already sought by its companion.

Just then Brazier cocked his piece—click, click—and took a few steps forward to try and get a sight of the creature before it reached the river bank.

"May as well save your shot, sir," said Shaddy gruffly. "He's going into the water bleeding pretty free, I know; and there's them waiting below as will be at him as soon as they smell blood."

"How horrible!" cried Rob.

"Ay, 'tis, sir, or seems so to us; but it's nature's way of clearing off all the sickly and wounded things from the face of the earth."

"But what will dare to attack such a terrible beast?"

Shaddy chuckled.

"Anything—everything, sir; little and big. Why, them little pirani fishes will be at him in thousands, and there's 'gators enough within fifty yards to make a supper of him as if he was spitchcocked eel. Ah! there he goes—part of him's in the water already; but I should have liked the master to have his skin."

Invisible though the serpent was, its course was evident by the rustling and movement of the growth, and some idea too was gained of the reptile's length.

"There! what did I say?" shouted Shaddy excitedly, as all at once there was the sound of splashing and agitation in the water down beneath the submerged trees; and directly after the serpent's tail rose above the trunk of one of those lying prone, and gleamed and glistened in the blaze as it undulated and bent and twined about. Then it fell with a splash, and beat the water, rose again quivering seven or eight feet in the air, while the water all around seemed terribly agitated. There was a snapping sound, too, horribly ominous in its nature, and the rushing and splashing went on as the tail of the serpent fell suddenly, rose once more as if the rest of the long lithe body were held below, and finally disappeared, while the splashing continued for a few minutes longer before all was silent.