The next minute Shaddy was beside them, knife in hand, with which he rapidly killed, cleaned, and scaled the fish, finding the tough hook broken in two before chopping off a couple of great palm-like leaves, in which he wrapped his prize as he trotted toward the fire. Then with a half-burned branch, he raked a hole in the glowing embers, laid down the fish, raked the embers over again, and said,—

"Not to be touched for half an hour. Who'll come and try for more solid fruit?"

If Rob's spirits had not been so low he would have been amused by the boyish manner of their companion as he led them here and there. At the edge of the forest he mounted and climbed about a tree till he was well out on a great branch, from which he shook down a shower of great fruit that looked like cricket-balls, but which on examination proved to be the hard husks of some kind of nut.

"What are these?" cried Rob.

"Don't you know 'em?" said Shaddy as soon as he had descended.

"No."

"Yes, you do, my lad. You've seen 'em in London lots of times," and hammering a couple together, he broke open one and showed the contents: to wit, so many Brazil nuts packed together in a round form like the carpels of an orange.

"I never knew they grew like that," cried Rob eagerly.

"And I must confess my ignorance, too," said Brazier.

"Ah, there's lots to learn in this world, gen'lemen," said Shaddy quietly. "Not a very good kind o' nut, but better than nothing. Bit too oily for me, but they'll serve as bread for our fish if we get a couple of big stones for nutcrackers. They're precious hard."

"Then we shan't starve yet," cried Rob as he loaded himself with the cannon-ball-like fruit—pockets, cap, and as many as he could hold in his arms.

"Starve? I should think not," cried Shaddy, "and these here outsides'll have to serve for teacups."

"Without tea, Shaddy?"

"Who says so, my lad? You wait, and we'll find cocoa and mate, and who knows but what we may hit upon coffee and chocolate? Why, I won't swear as we don't find sugar-cane. 'T all events, we're going to try."

"Well, Naylor, you are putting a different complexion on our prospects," said Brazier, who had joined them.

"Yes, sir, white one instead of a black one. Next thing is to get a roof over our heads ready for the heavy rains, and then we've got to save all the feathers of the birds we catch or shoot for feather beds. We shall have a splendid place before we've done, and you can mark out as big an estate as you like. But come along; I'm thinking that fish must be done."

Upon Shaddy sweeping its envelope clean of the embers, he found it was quite done, and soon served it out brown and juicy upon a great banana-like leaf.

"Now, gentlemen, grace! and fall to," said their cook merrily. "Nuts afterwards when I've found two big stones."

There was not much of the delicious fish left when a quarter of an hour had passed, and then Rob uttered a grumble.

It was very good, he said, only they had no salt.

"If you'd only spoken a bit sooner, Master Rob, I could have got you some pepper," said Shaddy, "but salt? Ah, there you beat me altogether. It's too far to send down to the sea."



CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

BRAVE EFFORTS.

That same afternoon after a quiet discussion of their position, the result of which was to convince Brazier and Rob of the utter hopelessness of any attempt to escape, they joined with Shaddy in the most sensible thing they could do, namely, an attempt to forget their sorrow and misery in hard work.

"If we want to be healthy," Shadrach had said, "we must first thing get a shelter over our heads where we can sleep at nights, clear of the heavy dews, and which we can have ready next time it comes on to rain."

A suitable position was soon found high up where no flood was likely to reach, and presenting several attractions.

First, it was at the head of the clearing exactly facing the river, so that a passing boat could be seen. Secondly, it was between two great trees, apparently twins, whose smooth columnar trunks ran up some twenty feet without a branch; after that they were one mass of dense foliage, which drooped down nearly to the ground and looked thick enough to throw off, as the leafage lay bough above bough, any fall of rain short of a waterspout.

The trees were about twelve feet apart, and from a distance the boughs had so intermingled that they looked like one.

"That's the spot, sir!" Shaddy exclaimed. "Now then, the first thing is to find a branch that will do for a ridge pole."

That first thing proved to be the most difficult they could have undertaken, for a long search showed nothing portable at all likely to answer the purpose; and though palm after palm was found, all were too substantial to be attacked by pocket-knives. They were getting in despair, when Rob hit upon one close down to the river, which the united strength of all three, after Rob had climbed it and by his weight dragged the top down within reach, sufficed to lever out of the saturated ground.

As soon as the young palm was down, Shaddy set Brazier and Rob to cut off the roots and leaves, which latter they were told to stack ready for use, from where they hung six or eight feet long, while he—Shaddy— knife in hand, busied himself in cutting long lianas and canes to act as ropes.

An hour later they had the young palm bound tightly to the trees about six feet from the ground, after which branches were cut and carried, so that they could be laid with the thick ends against the ridge pole and the leaves resting upon the ground from end to end.

This done, others were laid on in the same way, the leaves and twigs fitting in so accurately that after a busy two hours they had a strong shed of branches ready for stopping up at one end with thorns and more boughs, while Rob had to climb up the slope and thatch the place with the palm leaves, forming a roof impervious to any ordinary rain.

"That will do for sleeping, eh, gen'lemen?" said Shaddy. "We'll finish it another time. We can rest in shelter. Now then for getting our wages—I mean a decent supper."

Rob had been conscious for some time past of sundry faint sensations; now he knew that they meant hunger, and as they left the hut they had made he did not look forward with any great feelings of appetite to a meal of nuts.

But it soon became evident that Shaddy had other ideas, for he went to the fire again to obtain a hardened piece of wood for fashioning into a hook, when an idea struck Rob, and he turned to their guide eagerly.

"Did you ever sniggle eels?" he said.

"Did I ever what, sir?"

"Sniggle eels."

Shaddy shook his head.

"No. I've bobbed for 'em, and set night lines, and caught 'em in baskets and eel traps after storms. Is either of them sniggling?"

"No," cried Rob eagerly, "and you might catch fish perhaps that way. I'll show you; I mean, I'll tell you. You take a big needle, and tie a piece of strong thin silk to it right in the middle."

"Ay, I see," said Shaddy.

"Then you push the needle right into a big worm, and stick the point of the needle into a long thin pole, and push the worm into a hole in a bank where eels are."

"Yes, I see."

"Then one of the eels swallows the worm, and you pull the line."

"And the worm comes out."

"No, it does not," said Rob. "As it's tied in the middle, it is pulled right across the eel's throat, and you can catch it without being obliged to use a hook."

"That's noo and good," said Shaddy eagerly. "I could fish for doradoes that way, but I've got no needle."

"Wouldn't this do, Shaddy?" said the lad, and he took a steel needle-like toothpick out of the handle of his pocket-knife.

"The very thing!" cried Shaddy, slapping his leg, and, after tying his newly made line to the little steel implement in the way described, he bound over it with a silken thread a portion of the refuse of the fish they had previously caught. Going to his former place, he cast in his line, and in five minutes it was fast to a good-sized fish, which after a struggle was landed safely, while before long another was caught as well.

"Man never knows what he can do till he tries," cried Shaddy merrily. "Why, we can live like princes, gentlemen. No fear of starving! Fish as often as we like to catch 'em, and then there's birds and other things to come. You don't feel dumpy now, Mr Rob, do you?"

"I don't know, Shaddy. I'm very hungry and tired."

"Wait till we've had supper, my lad, and then we'll see what we can do about making a bow and arrows."

As he spoke he rapidly cleaned the fish, treated them as before, and placed them in the embers, which were glowing still.

While the fish cooked Shaddy busied himself in crushing some of the nuts by using one stone as a hammer, another as an anvil, and some of them he set to roast by way of a change.

By the time the fish were ready the sun was rapidly going down, and when the meal was at an end—a meal so delicious, in spite of the surroundings, that it was eaten with the greatest of enjoyment—it was too dark to see about bows and arrows, and the disposition of all three was for sleep.

So the boughs collected on the previous night were carried in beneath the shelter and made into beds, upon which, after well making up the fire, all stretched themselves, and, utterly wearied out by the arduous toil of the day, fell asleep at once, in spite of the chorus of nocturnal creatures around, among which a couple of cicadas settled in their rudely made roof and kept up a harsh chirping loud enough to have kept awake any one who had not gone through as much work as two ordinary men.

"But it can't be morning," thought Rob as he was awakened by Shaddy touching him on the shoulder, and then he uttered his thought aloud.

"Well, if it ain't, my lad, the sun's made a mistake, for he'll be up directly. Coming out?"

"Yes; wait till I wake Mr Brazier."

"Nay; let him be till we've got breakfast ready, my lad. He looked regularly done up last night. He can't bear it all like young chaps such as we."

Rob laughed, and then a cloud came over him as he stepped out into the soft grey morning, for he had caught sight of the hurrying river, and this brought up the boat and the loss of his companion and friend.

"Look here, Mr Rob," said Shaddy, changing the current of the boy's thoughts directly, "I've been thinking out that bow and arrow business."

"Yes, Shaddy."

"And I've found out some splendid tackle for making arrows."

"What! this morning? Then you have been out and about!"

"Yes, soon as I could see my way. I found a bed of reeds which will make capital arrows with a point of hard wood a bit burned, and there's no end of 'em, so there's our shot all straight as—well, as arrows. Now you and I are going to get a fish and put him to cook, and after that we'll try and find a bit of wood good enough for a bow."

"And where's your string, Shaddy?"

"Round your neck, sir. You don't think you're going to indulge in such luxuries as silk han'kerchers at a time like this, do you? Because, if you do, I don't; so you'll have to pull out all the threads and wind 'em up, like Mr Brazier did. His han'kercher will do for fishing-lines. Yours shall be bow-strings. Why, who knows but what we may get a deer? Anyhow we may get one of them carpinchos, and not bad eating, either."

The fish was soon caught in the swift clear water, but all attempts to take another failed. It was, however, ample for their meal, and after it had been placed in the fire, which had never been allowed to go out since first lit, Rob's companion pointed out more footprints of a puma, and soon after those of a deer, both animals having evidently been in the opening within the last few hours, from the freshness of the prints.

The reeds for the arrows were cut, and proved to be firm, strong, and light, but the selection of a branch for the bow proved to be more of a task. One was, however, decided upon at last, roughly trimmed, and thrown on the fire for a few minutes to harden, and it was while the pair were busy over this task, watching the tough wood carefully, that Brazier found them, apologising for his so-called idleness and eagerly asking what he should do to help.

"Nothing, sir, at present, but have your breakfast. Would you mind picking a few plates and a dish, Mr Rob? Let's have the green pattern again."

Rob smiled as he went to the arum-like plant which had supplied him before, and returned to the fire just as Shaddy was apologising seriously for its being fish again for breakfast and promising a change before night.

The apology was uncalled for, the freshly caught, newly roasted fish proving to be delicious; and roasted nuts, though they were not chestnuts and were often flavoured with burned oil, were anything but a bad substitute for bread.

"There, gen'lemen," said Shaddy as they finished, "next thing seems to be to go down to the waterside and have a good drink of nature's own tea and coffee. Worse things than water, I can tell you. I always think to myself when I've nothing else that what was good enough for Adam and Eve ought to be good enough for me."

"Water's delicious," cried Rob as they reached a convenient place and lay down to scoop up the cool clear fluid with their hands and drink heartily.

"So it is, Mr Rob, sir, 'llcious," said Shaddy; "but wait a bit, and you shall have something to put in the water, if it's only fruit juice to flavour it. But what I want to find is some of those leaves they make into South American tea."

Just then Shaddy smiled and rose to his knees, watching Brazier, who had moved off thirty or forty yards away.

"What are you laughing at?" asked Rob.

"Mr Brazier's want of good manners, sir. Don't seem the thing for a gen'leman like him to go washing his face and hands in his tea and coffee-cup; now do it?"

"Plenty of room, Shaddy!" said Rob. "I'm going to follow his example."

He stretched out over the water from the bank, reached down his hands, and began to bathe his face, the water feeling deliciously cool to his brow and eyes as he scooped up handsful, and he was just revelling in an extra good quantity, when he uttered an ejaculation of alarm, for he felt himself seized by the collar as if he were about to be hurled into the river, but it proved only to be Shaddy snatching him away.

"Why did you do that?" cried Rob angrily, as he pressed the water out of his eyes and darted a resentful look at the big rough fellow, who stood looking at him coolly.

"'Cause we wanted you to be useful, my lad, and because you didn't want to go below yonder and feed the fishes," replied Shaddy, laughing. "Didn't you see that 'gator?"

"No. Where? Was it near me?"

"Pretty near, sir. I happened to look, and saw him coming slowly nearer and nearer, ready for making a dash at you, and as I'd neither gun nor spear to tackle him, I had to pull you out of the way."

"Was it big?" said Rob, with a shudder.

"No, sir, only a little one, about six foot long, but quite strong enough to have hung on and overbalanced you into the water, where there would have been plenty more to help him. Now I tell you what, sir, Mr Brazier had better be told to be careful," continued Shaddy. "Ah, he sees danger; so it's all right."

For Brazier suddenly shrank away from the edge of the river, rose, and called to them.

"Take care, Rob!" he shouted; "the water here swarms with alligators. One little wretch was coming at me just now."

"Yes, sir, better mind!" cried Shaddy. "We've just had one here." Then turning to Rob,—

"Now, Master Rob, sir, what do you say to our spending the day making bows and arrows?"

"I'm ready."

"And perhaps, Mr Brazier, sir, you wouldn't mind trying for another fish for dinner, in case we don't get our shooting tackle ready."

Brazier nodded, and soon after prepared to fish, but even in their peculiar strait he could not refrain from looking longingly at plant, insect, and bird, especially at a great bunch of orchids which were pendent from a bough.

He did not seem likely to have much success in the pool or eddy where the other fish had been caught, and soon after moved off to another place, but meanwhile Rob and Shaddy were busy in the extreme, the latter making some half-charred pieces of wood from the fire into little hardened points ready for Rob to fix into the cleft he split in the end of each reed and then binding them tightly in, making a notch for the bow-string at the other end, and laying them down one by one finished for the sheaf he had set himself to prepare.

These done, Rob began upon the silken bow-string, pulling out the threads from his neckerchief and tying them together till he had wound up what promised to be enough, afterwards doubling and twisting them tightly, while Shaddy was whistling softly and using his pocket-knife as if it were a spoke-shave to fine down the thick end of the piece of wood intended for the bow.

"Strikes me, Mr Rob," he said, "that we shall have to use this very gingerly, or it will soon break. I know what I wish I had."

"What?" asked Rob.

"Rib of an old buffalo or a dead horse."

"What for?"

"To make a bow, my lad. It would only be a short one, but wonderfully strong. You'd have to use short arrows, and it would be hard to pull, but with a bow like that you could send an arrow through a deer. But as we haven't got one, nor any chance of finding one, we must do the best with this."

Rob watched with the greatest of interest the progress of the bow, busying himself the while with the string, which was finished first; and as it displayed a disposition to unwind and grow slack, it was thoroughly wetted and stretched between two boughs to dry.

"Shall you succeed in getting a bow made?" said Brazier, coming up.

"Oh yes, sir, I think so," said the guide; "better bow than archer, I'm thinking, without Mr Rob here surprises us all by proving himself a clever shot."

"Don't depend upon me," said Rob mournfully, for his thoughts were upon Joe and his sad end, and when by an effort he got rid of these depressing ideas, his mind filled with those of the Indians turning against them in so cowardly a way, leaving them to live or die, just as it might happen, while they escaped with the plunder in the boat.

"What are you thinking about, Rob?" said Brazier, after speaking to him twice without eliciting an answer.

"Of the men stealing our boat. It was so cruel."

"Don't you fret about it, Mr Rob! They'll soon get their doo of punishment for it. Worst day's work they ever did in their lives. You'd think that chaps like they would have known better, but they're just like children. They see something pretty, and they'll do anything to get hold of it, and when they've got it they find it's of no use to 'em and are tired of it in an hour. I'll be bound to say they're wishing they hadn't gone and were back along of us."

"Then they may repent and come?" said Brazier.

Shaddy uttered a low chuckling sound.

"And I shall save my collection after all."

"Don't you think it, sir!" said Shaddy seriously. "They couldn't get back, as I said; and if they could they daren't, on account of you and me. They've got a wholesome kind of respect for an Englishman, and no more dare face us now than fly."

Brazier sighed.

"Oh, never mind, sir!" said Shaddy cheerily. "Things might be worse than they are. We're alive, and can find means to live. We don't know but what we may get away all right after all. If I might give you my advice—"

"Give it, by all means," said Brazier.

"Well then, sir, seeing that you came out to collect your flowers and plants, I should say, 'Go on collecting just as you did before, and wait in hopes of a boat coming along.'"

"But it might be years first."

"Very well, sir; wait years for it. You'd have made a fine collection by that time."

Brazier smiled sadly as he thought of his dried-up specimens.

"Me and Mr Rob here will find plenty of some sort or another for the kitchen, so as you needn't trouble about that. What do you say?"

"That you teach good philosophy, and I'll take your advice. Not much virtue in it, Rob," he said, smiling, "for we cannot help ourselves. There, I will do as you suggest as soon as we have made a few more arrangements for our stay."

"You leave them to us, sir," said Shaddy. "Mr Rob and I are quite strong enough crew for the job, and I saw some wonderful fine plants right at the edge of the forest yonder. I'd go and try for 'em now, sir."

"Shaddy's afraid that some one will come along and pick them first," cried Rob, laughing.

"No fear, sir, unless it's some big, saucy monkey doing it out of imitation and mischief. What do you say?"

"I say yes," replied Brazier. "It would be wrong to despair and foolish to neglect my chance now that I am thrown by accident among the natural history objects I came so many thousand miles to find."

As he spoke he moved off in the direction pointed out by their guide, while Shaddy chuckled directly they were alone.

"That's the way, Mr Rob," he said; "give him something to think about and make him busy. 'A merry heart goes all the day; a sad one tires in a mile,' so the old song says. Mind, I don't mean he's merry, but he'll be busy, and that's next door to it. Now then, I'm ready. Let's get the string on and bend our bow."



CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

A SUDDEN ALARM.

The silken string Rob had twisted was found to be quite dry, and pretty well kept its shape as it was formed into a loop and passed over the end of the bow nicked for its reception, and after bending secured with a couple of hitches over the other.

"Now, Mr Rob, sir, try it, and send one of your arrows as far as you can. Never mind losing it; we can soon make plenty more. That's the way! Steady! Easy and well, sir! Now then, off it goes!"

Twang! went the bow-string, and away flew the arrow high up toward the river, describing its curve and falling at last without the slightest splash into the water.

"Well done!" cried Shaddy, who had watched the flight of the arrow, shading his eyes with his hand. "That's good enough for anything. A little practice, and you'll hit famously."

"Oh, I don't know, Shaddy."

"Well, but I do, sir. If Indians can kill birds, beasts, and fish with their bows and arrows, surely a young Englishman can."

"I shall try, Shaddy."

"Of course you will, and try means win, and win means making ourselves comfortable till we are taken off."

"Then you think we shall be some day?"

"Please God, my lad!" said Shaddy calmly. "Look! Yonder goes Mr Brazier. He's forgetting his troubles in work, and that's what we've got to do, eh?"

Rob shook his head.

"Ah, you're thinking about poor young Jovanni, sir," said Shaddy sadly, "and you mustn't. It won't do him no good, nor you neither. Bring that bow and arrows along with us. I'm going to try and get a bamboo to make a spear thing, with a bit of hard wood for a point, and it may be useful by-and-by."

Rob took up the bow and arrows, but laid the larger part of his sheaf down again, contenting himself with half a dozen, and following Shaddy along the edge of the forest to what looked like a clump of reeds, but which proved to be a fringe of bamboos fully fourteen feet high.

Shaddy soon selected a couple of these suitable for his purpose, and had before long trimmed them down to spear shafts nine feet in length.

"There, sir," he said, "we'll get a couple of heads fitted into these to-night. First thing is to get something else to eat, so let's try for fruit or a bird. Now, if we could only come upon a deer!"

"Not likely, as we want one," responded Rob, who was looking round in search of Mr Brazier, and now caught sight of him right at the far end of the clearing, evidently engaged in cutting down some of his favourite plants.

"Mr Brazier is busy," said Rob; "but isn't it a pity to let him waste time in getting what can never be wanted?"

"How do we know that?" replied Shaddy. "Even if they're not, I did it for the best."

"But is it safe to leave him alone?"

"Safe as it is for us to go out here alone into the forest."

"Are we going into the forest?"

"Must, my lad—a little way."

"But are there likely to be any Indians about?"

"I should say not, Mr Rob, so come along."

Shaddy led the way to where the clearing ceased and the dense growth of the primeval forest began, and after hesitating a little and making a few observations as to the position of the sun—observations absolutely necessary if a traveller wished to find his way back—the guide plunged in amongst the dense growth, threading his way in through the trees, which grew more and more thickly for a short distance and then opened out a little, whereupon Shaddy halted and began to reconnoitre carefully, holding up his band to enforce silence and at the end of a few minutes saying eagerly to Rob,—

"Here you are, my lad! Now's our chance. There's nearly a dozen in that big tree to the right yonder, playing about among the branches, good big ones, too. Now you steal forward a bit, keeping under cover, then lay all your arrows down but one, take a good long aim, and let it go. Bring one down if you can."

"What birds are they?" whispered Rob.

"Who said anything about birds?" replied Shaddy sourly; "I said monkeys."

"No."

"Well, I meant to, my lad. There: on you go."

"Monkey—a little man," said Rob, shaking his head. "No, I couldn't shoot one of them."

"Here, give us hold of the bow and arrow, then, my lad," cried the old sailor. "'Tisn't a time for being nice. Better shoot a monkey and eat it than for me and Mr Brazier to have to kill and eat you."

Rob handed the newly made weapons, and Shaddy took them grumblingly.

"Not the sort of tackle I'm used to," he said. "Bound to say I could do far better with a gun."

He fitted the notch of the arrow to the string and drew the bow a little as if to try it; then moving off a few yards under cover of the trees, Rob was about to follow him, but he turned back directly.

"Don't you come," he said; "better let me try alone. Two of us might scare 'em."

But Shaddy did not have any occasion to go further, for all at once, as if in obedience to a signal, the party of monkeys in the forest a short distance before them came leaping from tree to tree till they were in the one beneath which the two travellers were waiting, stopped short, and began to stare down wonderingly at them, one largish fellow holding back the bough above his head in a singularly human way, while his face looked puzzled as well as annoyed.

"Like a young savage Indian more than an animal," said Shaddy softly, as he prepared to shoot. "Now I wonder whether I can bring him down."

"Don't shoot at it, Shaddy!" said Rob, laying his hand upon his guide's arm.

"Must, my lad. Can't afford to be particular. There, don't you look if you don't like it! Now then!"

He raised the bow, and, after the fashion off our forefathers, drew the arrow right to the head, and was about to let it fly after a long and careful aim; but being, as he had intimated, not used to that sort of tackle, he kept his forefinger over the reed arrow till he had drawn it to the head, when, just as he had taken aim and was about to launch it at the unfortunate monkey, the reed bent and snapped in two.

Probably it was the sharp snap made by the arrow which took the monkey's attention, for it suddenly set up a peculiarly loud chattering, which acted as a lead to its companions, for the most part hidden among the boughs, and it required very little stretch of the imagination to believe it to be a burst of derisive laughter at the contemptible nature of the weapons raised against their leader's life.

"Oh, that's the way you take it, is it, my fine fellow?" cried Shaddy, shaking the bow at the monkey. "Here, give us another arrow, Mr Rob, sir; I'll teach him to laugh better than that. I feel as if I can hit him now."

Rob made no attempt to hand the arrow, but Shaddy took one from him, fitted it to the string, raised it to the required height, and was about to draw the reed to its full length, but eased it back directly and left go to rub his head.

"See him now, Mr Rob, sir?"

"No," said Rob, looking carefully upward among the branches; and, to his great satisfaction, not one of the curious little four-handed animals was visible.

"Right!" said Shaddy. "He has saved his skin this time. Here, take the bow again. It may be a bird we see next."

"Hadn't we better go back to the river?" said Rob. "Perhaps I should be able to shoot a duck if I saw one swimming about."

"Daresay you would, my lad," said the old sailor drily, "send the arrow right through one; but what I say is, if the 'gators want a duck killed they'd better kill it themselves."

"I don't understand you," said Rob.

"Understand, my lad? Why, suppose you shoot a duck, it will be on the water, won't it?"

"Of course!"

"Then how are you going to get it off?"

"I forgot that," said Rob. "Impossible, of course."

"Come on, then, and don't let's waste time. We'll keep along here and get some fruit, perhaps, and find birds at the same time."

Their journey through the forest was very short before they were startled by a sudden rush and bound through the undergrowth. So sudden was it that both stopped short listening, but the sound ceased in a few moments.

"What's that?" whispered Rob.

"Deer, I thought at first, my lad; but it could not have been, because a deer would have gone on racing through the forest, and one would have heard the sounds dying away, not end suddenly like those did. You see, there was a sudden rustle, and then it stopped, as if whatever it was had been started up by our coming and then settled down again to hide and watch us."

"Indian?" whispered Rob uneasily.

"Nay, more like some great cat. Strikes me it was one of the spotted tigers, and a hardened arrow's not much good against one of those beasts. I say, let's strike off in the other direction, and try if we can find something there. Cats are awkward beasts to deal with even when they're small. When it comes to one as strong as a horse, the best way to fight 'em is to get out of their way."

Shaddy took a few steps forward so as to be able to peer up through a green shaft among the trees to the sunshine and satisfy himself as to their position, and then led off again.

"Can't be too particular, Mr Rob, sir," he said; "stitch in time saves nine. Bit of observation now may save us hours of walking and fighting our way through the tangle."

Rob noted his companion's careful management, and that whenever they had to pass round a tree which stood right in their way Shaddy was very exact about starting afresh exactly straight, and after a time in making off again to their left, so as to hit the river near the clearing. But for some time they found nothing to take their attention.

"And that's the way of it," said Shaddy in reply to an observation of Rob's. "You generally find what you are not looking for. Now, if we wanted plenty of fine hardwood timber, here it is, and worth fortunes in London town, and worth nothing here. I'd give the lot, Mr Rob, for one of our fine old Devonshire apple-trees, well loaded down with yellow-faced, red-cheeked pippins, though even then we've no flour to make a dumpling."

"And no saucepan to cook it in."

"Oh, we could do without that, my lad. Worse things than baked dumplings."

"Are we going right, Shaddy?" said Rob suddenly.

The old sailor took an observation, as he called it, before he answered, so as to make sure.

"Yes," he said thoughtfully, "and if we keep straight on we shall hit the clearing. Strikes me that if we go pretty straight we shall come upon Mr Brazier loaded down to sinking point with plants, and glad of a bit of help to carry 'em. Don't you be down-hearted, sir! This is a bit of experience; and here we are! something at last."

As he spoke he pointed to a tree where the sun penetrated a little, and they could see that it was swarming with small birds evidently busy over the fruit it bore. Shaddy was pressing forward, but Rob caught his arm.

"What is it, lad?"

"Look!" whispered Rob. "What's that?"

"Eh? Where? See a tiger?"

"No, that horrible-looking thing walking along the branch. It has gone now."

"Ugly monkey?"

"Oh no," whispered Rob, "a curious creature. Alligators don't climb trees, do they?"

"Never saw one," said Shaddy. "Might if they were taught, but it wouldn't be a pleasant job to teach one. Well, where is it?"

"Gone," whispered Rob. "No; there it is on that branch where it is so dark."

"I see him," said Shaddy in a subdued tone. "Ought to have known. Now then, your bow and arrows! That's a skinful of good meat for us. You won't mind shooting that?"

"No," said Rob, quickly fitting an arrow to the string, "I don't mind shooting that. But not to eat, thank you."

"You will not be so particular soon. That's iguana, and as good as chicken. Ready?"

Rob nodded.

"Keep behind the trees, then, and creep slowly forward till you are pretty close—I daresay you'll be able to—and then aim at his shoulder, and send the arrow right through."

"I will," said Rob drily, "if I can."

"Make up your mind to it, my lad. We want that sort of food."

"You may," thought Rob as he began to stalk the curious old-world, dragon-like beast, which was running about the boughs of a great tree in complete ignorance of the neighbourhood of human beings, probably even of their existence.

The lad's heart beat heavily as he crept from tree to tree in full want of faith as to his ability to draw a bow-string with effect; for his experience only extended to watching ladies shooting at targets in an archery meeting; and as he drew nearer, stepping very softly from shelter to shelter and then peering out to watch the reptile, he had an admirable opportunity for noting its shape and peculiarities, none of which created an appetite for trying its chicken-like flesh. He gazed at a formidable-looking animal with wide mouth, a hideous pouch beneath its jaw, and a ridge of sharp-looking, teeth-like spines along its back ending in a long, fine, bony tail. These, with its fierce eye and scaly skin, and a habit of inflating itself, made it appear an object which might turn and attack an aggressor.

This struck Rob very strongly as he stopped at last peering round the bole of a huge tree. He was about thirty yards from the lizard now, and in a position which commanded its side as it stood gazing straight before it at some object, bird or insect, in front.

It was just the position for resting the bow-arm against the tree for steadiness of aim, and feeling that he could do no better, but doubtful of his skill and quite as doubtful of the likelihood of the wooden arrow-head piercing the glistening skin of the iguana, Rob took a careful aim, as he drew his arrow to his ear in good old archer style, and let his missile fly.

Roughly made, unfeathered, and sent by a tyro, it was no wonder that it flew far wide of the mark, striking a bough away to the left and then dropping from twig to twig till it reached the undergrowth below.

Where it struck was some distance from the lizard, and the sound and the falling of the reed gave it the idea that the danger point was there, so that it directed its attention in that quarter, stood very erect, and swelled itself out fiercely.

This gave Rob ample time to fit another arrow to his string, correct his aim, and loosen the shaft after drawing it to the head. This one whizzed by the iguana, making it flinch slightly; but treating it as if it had been a bird which had suddenly flashed by, the lizard fixed its eyes on the spot where this second arrow struck.

"I shall never hit the thing," thought Rob as he fitted another arrow and corrected his aim still more, but this time too much, for the arrow flew off to the lizard's right.

"Three arrows gone!" muttered the lad as he prepared for another try, took a long aim, and, to his great delight, saw the missile strike the bough just below where the iguana stood, but only for it to make a rush forward out of his sight.

"But I should have hit it if I had only aimed a little higher," he thought.

The lizard being invisible, he was about to return to Shaddy, thinking of his companion's disappointment, when, to his surprise, he suddenly saw the reptile reappear upon a lower branch, where it stood watchful and eager, and once more presenting a splendid opportunity for a skilled archer.

"It's of no good," thought Rob. "I must practise every day at a mark," and once more taking aim without exercising much care, but more with an idea of satisfying his companion if he were watching his actions than of hitting his mark, he drew the arrow quickly to the head, gave one glance along the slight reed at the iguana, the bow-string twanged, and the next moment the reptile was gone.

"That settles it," said Rob as he listened to the rustling of the leaves and twigs; "but I must have gone pretty near for it to have leaped off the bough in such a hurry. I'll be bound to say poor old Joe would have made a better shot. Italian! Genoese archers!" he continued thoughtfully. "No, they were cross-bow-men. Poor old Joe, though! Oh, how shocking it does seem for a bright handsome lad like he was to—"

"Here! hi! T'other way, my lad! He dropped down like a stone."

"No, no; leaped like a deer off the branch. I saw him."

"Well, so did I," cried Shaddy, hurrying up. "The arrow went clean through him."

"Nonsense!"

"Nonsense, sir? What do you mean?"

"I did not go near him."

"What? Why, you shot him right through the shoulder. I haven't got much to boast about except my eye, and I'll back that against some people's spy-glasses. That iguana's lying down there at the bottom of the tree dead as a last year's butterfly, and I can put my foot right on the place. Come along."

Rob smiled, raised his eyebrows a little, and followed.

"Better let him convince himself," he thought; and as Shaddy forced back the low boughs and held them apart for his companion to follow, he went on talking.

"I knew you could do it by the way you handled your bow and arrow. Your eyes are as straight as mine is, and I watched you as you sent an arrow first one side and then another till you got the exact range, and then it was like kissing your hand: just a pull of the string, off goes the arrow, and down drops the lizard, and a fine one, too. Round that trunk, my lad! There you are, and there he lies, just down in that tuft of grass."

"Where?" said Rob banteringly. "Why, Shaddy, I thought your eye was better than spy-glasses."

Shaddy made a dash at the tuft of thick growth beneath the bough where the iguana had stood, searched about, and then rose and took off his cap to give his head a scratch.

"Well, I never!" he said in a tone full of disappointment; "I was as sure as sure that you hit that thing right through."

He looked round about, and then all at once made a rush at a spot whence came a faint rustling; and the next minute he returned dragging the iguana by the tail, with the half of the arrow through its shoulder.

"Now then," he cried, "was I right, or was I wrong? He made a big scramble to get away, and hid himself in that bush all but his tail. My word, Mr Rob, sir, what a shot you will make!"

"Nonsense, Shaddy!" said the lad, looking down with a mingling of compunction and pride at his prize.

"Ah, you may call it nonsense, Mr Rob. I calls it skill."

"Why, it was a mere accident."

"Hark at him!" cried Shaddy, looking round at the trees as if to call their attention to the lad's words. "Says it was an accident when I told him to aim straight at the thing's shoulder, and there's the arrow right through it from one side to the other, and the poor brute dead as dead."

"But I hardly aimed at it, Shaddy," protested Rob.

"Of course you didn't. A good shot just makes up his mind to hit a thing, and he hits it same as you did that lizard. Well, sir, that's one trouble off my mind; and I can say thankfully we shan't starve. There'll be times when the river's so flooded that we can't fish, and then we might have come worst off; but you can shoot us birds and beasts. Then we can find eggs, and lay traps, and search for fruit. Why, Mr Rob, sir, we're going to have our bread buttered on both sides, and we can keep Mr Brazier going while he collects. It looked very black indeed time back, but the sun's shining in on us now. We shall be a bit like prisoners, but where are you going to find a more beautiful prison for people who want to study natural history? Hooray I look here, too—mushrooms."

"What, those great funguses?"

"To be sure: they're good eating. I know 'em, sir. Found 'em before, and learnt to eat 'em off the Indians. Here, wait a moment; let's take enough of 'em for supper, and then get back to the kitchen and have a turn at cooking. That's enough," he continued, picking up from the mouldering stump of a huge decaying tree a great cluster of fungi; "those others'll do for another time."

"I hope you will not be disappointed in my shooting next time," said Rob, taking the cluster of mushroom growth and thrusting an arrow through it like a skewer. "I have very little faith in it myself, Shaddy."

"More likely to do good, and I believe in you all the more, Mr Rob," said the man, seizing the lizard, tying its legs together with a band of twisted twigs, thrusting his bamboos through, and swinging the prize over his shoulder. "If you went puffing and blowing about and saying you was going to shoot this, and hit that, I should begin to wonder how ever we were to get our next dinner. Never you mind about feeling afraid for yourself. 'Modesty's the best policy,' as the old saying goes, or something like it. Now then, best foot foremost! Tread in my steps, and I think I can lead you straight for the head of the clearing, pretty close to home, sweet home. D'yer mind what I say?" he continued, with a queer smile. "Think. I ain't quite sure, my lad, but I'll try."

Shaddy took a fresh observation, and then gave a satisfied nod of the head.

"Forrard!" he said; and he made off as if full of confidence, while Rob followed behind, taking care of his mushrooms and watching the nodding head of the iguana low down at Shaddy's back in a curiously grim fashion, and thinking that it looked anything but attractive as an object for the cook's art.

They had been walking nearly an hour, very slowly—for it was difficult work to avoid the tangled growth which hemmed them in—when Shaddy, who had been chatting away pleasantly about the trees and their ill-luck in not finding more fruit out in the forest, warning his companion, too, every now and then about ant-hills and thorns, suddenly exclaimed, "Wonder what luck Mr Brazier's had?" and almost directly after as they entered an open place where orchids were growing, some of which had suggested the man's last speech, he cried, "Why, hullo! Look here, Mr Rob; look here," and as he pointed down at the dead leaves beneath their feet, Rob started back with a shudder of horror, and looked wildly round for the cause of that which he saw.



CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

A GAP IN THE RANKS.

That which Shaddy pointed out was startling enough to cause Rob a shudder; for, plainly seen upon a broad leaf, trampled-down amongst others that were dead and dry, were a few spots of blood.

But after the momentary feeling of dread caused by the discovery there came a reaction, and Rob exclaimed eagerly, "Some wild beasts have been fighting;" and then as his companion shook his head, the boy uttered a forced laugh, and, to carry off the excitement, said:

"I know what it is, Shaddy: two monkeys coming home from school have had a fight, and one made the other's nose bleed."

"Wish I could laugh and joke about it like you do, squire," said Shaddy sadly, as he peered about. "It's serious, my lad. Something very wrong, I'm afraid."

"Don't say that, Shaddy," cried Rob huskily. "I only tried to turn it off because I felt afraid and didn't want to show it. Do you really think there's something very serious?"

"I do, my lad."

"Not that Mr Brazier has been here?"

"That's just what I do think, my lad; and I feel as if it was my fault for sending him hunting and collecting by himself, instead of us waiting on him and watching him."

"Shaddy, don't say anything has happened to him!" cried Rob in horror.

"I don't say as there is," said Shaddy; "I don't say as there ain't, my lad: but you see that," he said, pointing down, "and you know that Mr Brazier's a fine brave English gentleman, but, like all the natural history people I ever see, so full of what he's doing that he forgets all about himself and runs into all kinds of danger."

"But what kind of danger could he have run into here?"

"Don't know, my lad—don't know. All I do know is that he has been here and got into trouble."

"But you don't know that he has been here," cried Rob passionately.

"What's this, then?" said Shaddy, holding out a piece of string, which he had picked up unnoticed by his companion. "Mr Brazier had got one of his pockets stuffed full of bits o' spun yarn and band, like that as we used to tie up his plants with, and it looks to me as if he'd dropped this."

"But couldn't—Oh no, of course not—it's impossible," cried Rob; "no one else could have been here?"

"No, sir; no one else could have been here."

"Yes, they could," cried Rob excitedly: "enemies!"

Shaddy shook his head as he peered about, stooping and examining the trampled-down growth.

"Wish I could track like an Indian does, Mr Rob, sir. He has been here sure enough, but I can't make out which way he has gone. There's our footmarks pressing down the twigs and moss and stuff; and there's his, I fancy."

"And Indians?"

"Can't see none, sir; but that means nothing: they tread so softly with their bare feet that a dozen may have been here and gone, and we not know it."

"Then you do think he has been attacked by Indians, Shaddy?" cried Rob reproachfully.

"Well, sir, I do, and I don't. There's no sign."

"Then what could it have been,—a jaguar?"

"Maybe, Mr Rob."

"Or a puma!"

"Maybe that, sir; or he may have come suddenly upon a deer as gave him a dig with its horns. Here, let's get on back to camp as quickly as we can."

"But he may not be there," cried Rob excitedly, as he looked round among the densely packed trees. "Let's try and find some track by which he has gone."

"That's what I've been trying to do, and couldn't find one, sir. If he's been wounded, somehow he'd nat'rally make back for the hut, so as to find us and get help. Come along."

"Oh, Shaddy, we oughtn't to have left him. We ought to have kept together."

"No good to tell me that, Mr Rob, sir; I feel it now, but I did it all for the best. There, sir, it's of no use to stay here no longer. Come on, and we may hit upon his backward trail."

Rob gave another wild look round, and then joined Shaddy, who was carefully studying the position of the sun, where a gleam came through the dense foliage high above their heads, and lightened the deep green twilight.

"That's about the course," he muttered, as he gave the iguana a hitch over to his right shoulder. "Now then, Mr Rob, sir, let's make a swift passage if we can, and hope for the best. Pah! Look at the flies already after the meat. No keeping anything long here."

The remark struck Rob as being out of place at such a time, but he was fain to recall how he had made speeches quite as incongruous, so he followed his companion in silence, trusting to him implicitly, and wondering at the confidence with which he pressed on in one direction, with apparently nothing to guide him. In fact, all looked so strange and undisturbed that Rob at last could not contain himself.

"Mr Brazier cannot have been anywhere here, Shaddy," he cried excitedly. "Two wild beasts must have been fighting."

"For that there bit o' string, sir?" said the man, drily. "What do you call that, then, and that?"

He pointed up to a bough about nine feet above him, where a cluster of orchids grew, for the most part of a sickly, pallid hue, save in one spot, where a shaft of sunlight came through the dense leafy canopy and dyed the strangely-formed petals of one bunch with orange, purple and gold, while the huge mossy tree trunk, half covered with parasitic creepers, whose stems knotted it with their huge cordage, showed traces of some one having climbed to reach the great horizontal bough.

"That looks like Mr Brazier, his mark, sir, eh?"

"Yes, yes," cried Rob eagerly.

"Come on then, sir: we're right."

"But did he make those marks coming or returning?"

"Can't say, sir," said Shaddy, gruffly; and then, to himself, "That ain't true, for he made 'em coming, or I'm a Dutchman."

He made another careful calculation of their position, and was about to start again, when he caught sight of something about Rob, or rather its absence, and exclaimed,—

"Why, where's them mushrooms?"

"Mushrooms, Shaddy! I—I don't know."

"But, Master Rob!"

"Oh, who's to think about eating at a time like this? Go on, pray; I shall not feel happy till I see Mr Brazier again."

Shaddy uttered a low grunt, gazed up at the shaft of light which shone upon the cluster of flowers, and then shifted the iguana again, and tramped on sturdily for about an hour, till there was a broad glare of light before them, and he suddenly stepped out from the greenish twilight into sunshine and day.

"Not so bad, Mr Rob, sir, without a compass!" he said, with a smile of triumph.

But Rob, as he stepped out, was already looking round for their fellow-prisoner in the forest, but looking in vain. There was no sign of human being in the solitude; and a chilly feeling of despair ran through the lad as he forgot his weariness and made a move for the hut, about a hundred yards away.

It was hard work to get through the low tangled growth out there in the sunlight; and before he was half-way there he stumbled and nearly fell, but gathered himself up with a faint cry of fear, for there was a low growl and a rush, as something bounded out, and he just caught a glimpse of the long lithe tawny body of a puma as it sprang into a fresh tangle of bush and reed, while Rob stood fast, and then turned to look at Shaddy.

The man's face was wrinkled up, and for the moment he evidently shared the boy's thoughts. Stepping close to him, he began to peer about amongst the thick growth from which the animal had sprung, while Rob felt sick as his imagination figured in the puma's lair the torn and bleeding body of his friend; and as Shaddy suddenly exclaimed, "Here's the place, sir!" he dared not look, but stood with averted eyes, till the man exclaimed:

"Had his nest here, sir, and he was asleep. Bah! I ought to have known. I never heard of a puma meddling with a man."

"Then Mr Brazier is not there?" said Rob faintly.

"Why, of course he ain't," replied the man sourly. "Come along, sir, and let's see if he's in the hut."

They rushed to their newly thatched-in shelter, and Rob seized the side and peered in, where all was black darkness to him, coming as he did from the brilliant sunshine.

"Mr Brazier," he cried huskily; but there was no reply. "Mr Brazier," he shouted, "why don't you answer?"

"'Cause he ain't there, my lad," said Shaddy gruffly. "Here, wait till I've doctored this iguana thing and hung it up. No, I'll cover it with grass here in the cool, and then we must make back tracks and find Mr Brazier before night."

"Oh, Shaddy!" cried Rob in an anguished tone, "then he has been horribly hurt—perhaps killed!"

The man made no reply, but hurriedly cut open and cleaned the lizard at some distance from the hut, then buried it beneath quite a pile of grass, dead leaves and twigs, before stepping back to his companion in misfortune.

"Oh, why did you stop to do that," cried Rob, "when Mr Brazier may be lying dying somewhere in the forest?"

"Because when we find him, we must have food to eat, lad, and something for him too. That thing may save all our lives. Don't you think I don't want to get to him, because I do. Now then, sir, we've got to go straight back the way we came, and find him."

"You'll go right back to where the spots—I mean, where we found the piece of string?" whispered Rob, whose feeling of weariness seemed to disappear at once.

"Yes, sir, straight back as an arrow, and it's of no use to hide facts; you must take your place as a man now, and act like one, having the hard with the soft, so I shall speak plainly."

"You need not, Shaddy," said Rob sadly. "You are afraid he has been badly hurt and carried off by Indians—perhaps killed."

"Nay, my lad; that's making worse of it than I thought. My ideas was bad enough, but not so bad as yours, and I think mine's right."

"Then what do you think?" said Rob, as after a sharp glance round they made for the spot where they had re-entered the clearing from the forest.

"Tell you what I don't think first, my lad," replied Shaddy: "I don't think it's Indians, because I haven't seen a sign of 'em, and if I had I fancy they'd be peaceable, stupid sort of folk. No: he's got into trouble with some beast or another."

"Killed?"

"Nay, nay; that's the very worst of all. There's hundreds of ways in which he might be hurt; and what I think is, that he has started to come back, and turned faint and laid down, and perhaps gone to sleep, so that we passed him; or perhaps he has lost his way."

"Lost his way?" cried Rob, with a shiver of dread.

"Yes, my lad. It's of no use to hide facts now."

"Then we shall never find him again, and he will wander about till he lies down and dies."

"Ah! now you're making the worst of it again, sir. He might find the way out again by himself, but we've got to help him. Maybe we shall be able to follow his tracks; you and me has got to try that: an Indian or a dog would do it easily. Well, you and me ought to have more stuff in us than Indians or dogs, and if we make up our minds to do it, why, we shall. So, come along, and let's see if we can't muster up plenty of British pluck, say a bit of a prayer like men, and with God's help we'll find him before we've done."

He held out his hand to Rob, who made a snatch at it and caught it between his, to cling to it tightly as he gazed in the rough, sun-blackened face before him, too much oppressed by emotions to utter a word.

But words were not needed in the solemn silence of that grand forest. Their prayer for help rose in the midst of Nature's grandest cathedral, with its arching roof of boughs, through which in one spot came a ray of brilliant light, that seemed to penetrate to Rob's heart and lighten him with hope; and then once more they swung round and plunged into the forest depths.



CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

THE WOODLAND FOES.

They took the same path without much difficulty, Shaddy tracing it carefully step by step; and for a time Rob eagerly joined in the tracing, every now and then pointing out a place where they had broken a twig or displaced a bough; but after a time the gloom of the forest began to oppress him, and a strange sensation of shrinking from penetrating farther forced him to make a call upon himself and think of the words uttered before they recommenced their search.

For there was always the feeling upon him that at any moment danger might be lurking thus in their way, and that the next moment they might be face to face with death.

"But that's all selfishness," he forced himself to think. "We have to find Mr Brazier."

This fresh loss to a certain extent obliterated the other trouble, and there were times when poor Giovanni was completely forgotten, though at others Rob found himself muttering,—

"Poor Joe! and now poor Mr Brazier! Whose turn will it be next? And those at home will never know of our fate."

But it generally happened that at these most depressing times something happened to make a fresh call upon his energies. Now it would be a fault in the tracking, their way seeming to be quite obliterated. Now Shaddy would point out marks certainly not made by them; for flowers of the dull colourless kind, which flourished so sickly here in these shades, had been broken-off, as if they had been examined, and then been thrown aside: convincing proofs that Brazier had been botanising there, collecting, and casting away objects unworthy of his care.

At one spot, unnoticed on their return, quite a bunch of curious growths lay at the foot of a huge buttressed tree, where there were indications of some one having lain down for a time as if to rest. Farther on, at the side of a tree, also unnoticed before, a great liana had been torn away from a tree trunk, so that it looked as if it had been done by one who climbed; and Shaddy said, with a satisfied smile,—

"He's been along here, Mr Rob, sure enough. Keep a good heart, sir; we're getting cleverer at tracking."

On they went in silence, forcing their way between the trees, with the forest appearing darker than ever, save here and there, where, so sure as a little light penetrated, with it came sound. Now it was the hum of insect life in the sunshine far above their heads; now it was the shrieking or twittering of birds busy feasting on fruit, and twice over an angry chattering told them that they had monkeys for their companions high overhead; but insect, bird, and the strangely agile creatures which leaped and swung among the boughs, were for the most part invisible, and they toiled on.

All at once Rob raised the bow he carried, and touched Shaddy sharply on the shoulder.

"Eh? what's the matter, my lad?" cried the man, turning quickly.

"Look! Don't you see?" whispered Rob. "There, by that patch of green light? Some one must have climbed up that green liana which hangs from the bough. It is swinging still. Do you think a monkey has just been up it, or is it some kind of wild cat?"

Shaddy uttered his low chuckling laugh as he stood still leaning upon his bamboo staves.

"If it had been a cat we should have seen a desperate fight, my lad," he replied. "If it was a monkey I'm sorry for him. He must have gone up outside and come down in. Why, can't you see what it is?"

"A great liana, one of those tough creeper things. Look how curiously it moves still! Some one's dragging at the end. No, it isn't. Oh, Shaddy, it's a great serpent hanging from the bough!"

"That's more like it, my lad. Look! You can see its head now."

In effect the long, hideous-looking creature raised its head from where it had been hidden by the growth below, twisted and undulated about for a few moments, and then lifted it more and more till it could reach the lower part of the bough from which it hung, and then, gradually contracting its body into curves and loops, gathered itself together till it hung in a mass from the branch.

"Not nice-looking things, Mr Rob, sir. Puts me in mind of those we saw down by the water, but this looks like a different kind to them."

"Will—will it attack us?" said Rob in a hoarse whisper.

"Nay, not it. More likely to hurry away and hide, unless it is very hungry or can't get out of the road. Then it might."

"But we can't pass under that."

"Well, no, Mr Rob, sir; it don't look like a sensible sort of thing to do, though it seems cowardly to sneak away from a big land-eel sort of a thing. What do you say? Shall we risk it and let go at my gentleman with our sticks if he takes any notice of us, or go round like cowards?"

"Go round like cowards," said Rob decisively.

"Right!" said Shaddy, who carefully took his bearings again, and, in order to have something at which he could gaze back so as to start again in the direction by which they had come, he broke a bough short off with a loud crack.

The effect was instantaneous on the serpent.

The moment before the whole body had hung in heavy loops from the bough, but at the first snap every part of it appeared to be in motion, and, as dimly seen, one fold glided slowly over another, with a curious rustling sound.

Rob made a start as if to dash off, but checked himself, and glanced at Shaddy, who was watching him; and the boy felt the colour flush into his cheeks, and a curious sense of annoyance came over him at the thought that his companion was looking upon him as a coward.

"It's all right, my lad," said the guide quietly; "you needn't mind me. You're a bit scared, and nat'rally. Who wouldn't be if he wasn't used to these things? I was horribly afraid of the one I first saw, and, for the matter of that, so I was about the next; but I've seen so many big snakes that, so long as I can keep at a little distance, they don't trouble me much. You see, they're not very dangerous to man, and always get out of his way if they have a chance. There's been a lot said about their 'tacking folk; and if you were to rouse that gentleman I daresay he'd seize you, and, if he got a hold for his tail, twist round and squeeze you to death; but you leave him alone and give him anything of a chance, he'll show you the tip of his tail much sooner than he'll show you his head. Look here!"

Shaddy looked round and picked up a short piece of a branch, which he was about to throw, but the boy caught his arm.

"Don't make it angry," he said in a whisper. "The horrible thing may come at us."

"I'm not going to make it angry," said Shaddy; "I'm going to make it afraid," and he hurled the piece of mouldering wood with so good an aim that it struck the branch near where the serpent was coiling itself more closely and flew to pieces.

The serpent threw itself down with a crashing sound amongst the dense undergrowth beneath, and disappeared from their sight.

"There," said Shaddy, "that's the way, you see. Gone?"

"No, no. Look out, Shaddy; it's coming this way," cried Rob excitedly, as a rustling was heard, and directly after there was a low hiss; and the movement among the twigs and dried leaves told that the creature was coming toward them.

Whether it was coming straight for where they stood neither of them stopped to see, but hurried off onward in the direction of the spot where they had seen the marks upon the leaf, and in a very short time the forest was silent again.

"Was not that a very narrow escape, Shaddy?" said Rob at last.

"No, my lad, I think not. Some people would say it was, and be ready to tell no end of cock-and-bull stories about what that serpent was going to do; but I've never known them play any games except once, and then the creature only acted according to its nature. It was in a sort of lake place, half pool, half river, and pretty close to the sea. It was near a gentleman's plantation, and the black folk used to go down every day to bathe. This they did pretty regularly till one day while they were romping about in the shallow water, which only came up to their middles, one of them shouted for help, saying that a 'gator had got hold of her, and then laughed. The others took no notice, because it was a 'sterical sort of laugh, as they call it, and thought she was playing tricks; but all at once they saw that she was struggling hard and being drawn backwards. That was enough. They all made a rush and caught hold of her arms just as she was being slowly drawn down lower, and when they dragged her nearer the shore, whatever it was that held her yielded a little, though it still hung on to the poor girl; while as they got her nearer a shriek rose, and every one nearly let go, for the head of a big snake was drawn right out of the water, but at the next snatch it loosed its hold and dropped back with a splash."

They were by this time approaching the spot where they had seen the marks, and Shaddy advanced more cautiously, scanning every leaf and twig before he stepped forward for signs of him they sought. Here and there he was able to point out marks such as Mr Brazier might have made— marks that had been passed over during their journey in the other direction. For there were places where he had evidently torn down leaves, mosses, and curious shade-loving growths, some of which he had carelessly tossed aside, and in one case the fragment thrown down was about half of the bulb of an orchid, whose home had been upon the mossy limb of a great tree overhead.

"He has been by here, sure enough, Mr Rob," said Shaddy in a subdued voice; "and, between ourselves, it was quite a bit of madness for him to come right out here alone. Now then, sir, keep a sharp look-out, and let's see if we can't find the spots straight off. They were pretty nigh, I think."

"Just there, I think," said Rob, looking excitedly round and pointing to a darker patch of the great forest where they were.

"Nay, it wasn't dark like that, my lad," replied Shaddy. "It was more hereabouts."

"Are you sure, Shaddy?"

"Pretty tidy, sir. No, I'm not. Seems to me that you are right, and yet it was this side of that great tree. I remember it now, the one with the great branch hanging right to the ground."

"I don't remember it, Shaddy," said Rob. "But I do, sir. It had a bunch of those greeny-white, sickly-looking plants growing underneath it, and we shall know it by them."

"Then it isn't the right one, Shaddy; we must try again."

"But it is the right one, my lad. It's bad enough work to find a tree in this great dark place. Don't say it isn't right when I've found it. Come now, look. Ain't I right?"

"Yes, Shaddy, right," said Rob as he looked up and saw the faded orchids hanging beneath the branch. "Then the place is close here somewhere."

"You're almost standing upon it, Mr Rob," said Shaddy. "You see, I have hit the spot," he continued, with a look of triumph. "There, I will not be proud of it, for it comes very easy to find your way like this after a bit of practice. There you are, you see; so now where to go next?"

"I don't know," cried Rob despondently. "Can't you see any fresh traces for us to follow?"

Shaddy set off, with his face as near to the ground as he could manage, and searched all round the spot where the stained leaf lay, but without effect; and after a few moments' examination he started off again, making a wider circle, but with no better result.

"Can't have been anything to do with a wild beast, my lad," he said in a low, awe-stricken voice, "or some signs must have been left. It's a puzzler. He was here—there's no doubt about that—and we've got to find him. I'll make a bigger cast round, and see what that will do."

"Can you find your way back here?" asked Rob anxiously.

"I must," replied Shaddy, with quiet confidence in his tones. "It won't do to lose you as well."

He started again, walking straight on for a couple of hundred yards through the trees and then striking off to his left to form a fresh circle right outside the first, and at the end of five minutes Rob, who stood by the great tree listening for every sound and wondering whether his companion would find his way back, and if he did not what he would do, heard a cry.

For the moment he thought it was for help, but it was repeated, and realising that it was an animal's, he started forward in the direction of the sound, though only to halt the moment after in alarm and look back. At the end of a few seconds he set it down to fancy and went on again, but only to stop once more, for there was a rustling sound behind him; and he awoke at once to the fact that the noise could only have been made by some wild beast stealing softly after him, stalking him, in fact, and preparing to make a spring and bring him down.

Rob felt the perspiration ooze out of every pore as he stood looking back in the direction of the sound, which ceased as soon as he halted. He would have given anything to have held a gun in his hands and been able to discharge it amongst the low growth where the animal was hidden, but he was as good as helpless with only the bow and an arrow or two; and he stood waiting till he started, for he heard Shaddy's cry again, and in a fit of desperation he shouted aloud in answer, and sprang forward to try and reach his side.

But as he made his way onward there again was the soft stealing along of his pursuer, whatever it was, for though he tried hard to pierce the low growth, the gloom was so deep that he never once obtained a glimpse of the animal.

Again Shaddy shouted, and he answered, the cry sounding not a hundred yards away; and in the hope that their voices might have the power of scaring the enemy, he shouted again, and was answered loudly and far nearer, making him give a rush forward in his desperation, and following it up with a gasp of agony, for there was a fierce roar through the forest on his left.

It seemed as if the animal, in dread of losing him by his forming a junction with his friend, had bounded on to get between them and crouch ready to spring upon him; but Rob could not hold back now, and pressed forward.

"Shaddy," he shouted—"Shaddy, there is some wild beast close here."

"Wait a bit, my lad," was shouted back; and the crushing and rustling of boughs told of Shaddy's coming, while Rob faced round now, staring wildly at a dark part among the trees where he thought he saw the undergrowth move but not daring to stir, from the feeling that if he did turn his back the beast would spring upon him and bring him down.

Thought after thought flashed like lightning through his brain, and in imagination he saw himself seized and bleeding, just as Mr Brazier must have been, for he felt sure now that this had been his fate.

It was a nightmare-like sensation which paralysed him, so that, though he heard Shaddy approaching and then calling to him, he could neither move nor answer, only stand crouching there by a huge tree, with the bow held before him and an arrow fitted ready to fly, fascinated by the danger in front.

He could not see it, but there was no doubt of its presence, and that it was hiding, crouched, ready to bound out, every movement suggesting that it was some huge cat-like creature, in all probability a jaguar, nearly as fierce and strong as a tiger. For at every rustle and crash through the wood made by Shaddy there was a low muttering growl and a sound as if the creature's legs were scratching and being gathered together for a spring.

Rob felt this, and stood motionless, thinking that his only chance of safety lay in gazing straight at the creature's hiding-place and believing that as long as he remained motionless the animal would not spring.

"Hi! where are you, my lad?" said Shaddy, from close at hand; but Rob's lips uttered no sound. He felt a slight exhilaration at the proximity of his companion, but he could not say, "Here!" and the next minute Shaddy spoke again, depressing the lad's spirits now, for the voice came from farther away. Again he shouted, "Hi! why don't you answer? Where are you, lad?" but Rob heard the earth being torn up by the fierce animal's claws, and now even heard its breathing, and his voice died away again as a choking sensation attacked his throat.

And there he crouched, hearing the help for which he had called come close to him, pass him, and go right away till Shaddy's anxious cries died out in the solemn distance of the forest, leaving him alone to face death in one of its most terrible forms.

He knew he could launch the arrow at the beast, and that at such close quarters he ought to, and probably would hit it, but a frail reed arrow was not likely to do more than spur the creature into fierce anger.

He could see it all in advance. A jaguar was only a huge cat, and he would be like a rat in its claws, quite as helpless; and he shuddered and felt faint for a few moments. But now that he was entirely alone, far from help, and self-dependent, a change came over him. He knew that he must fight for life; he felt as if he could defend himself; and, with his nerve returning, his lips parted to utter a shout.

But he did not cry, for he knew that Shaddy was too far off to hear him, and with a feeling of desperation now as he recalled that he had his keen knife in his pocket, he loosened his hold of his arrow and thrust in his hand to withdraw the weapon, seized the blade in his teeth, and dragged it open.

"He shall not kill me for nothing," he thought, and he stood on his guard, for his movements excited the animal to action, and with a roar and a rush it sprang right out from the undergrowth to within three yards of him, but, instead of crouching and springing again, it stood up before him, with its back slightly arched, lashing its sides gently with its long tail.

It was no spotted jaguar, with teeth bared, but, as dimly seen there in the semi-darkness of the forest, a noble-looking specimen of the puma family, and, to Rob's astonishment, it made no sign of menace, but remained in the spot to which it had sprung, watching him.

And here for quite a minute they stood face to face, till, with a faint cry of wonder, the lad exclaimed,—

"Why, it must be my puma! And it has followed us all along by the banks to here."

Then came thought after thought, suggesting that it must have been the footprints of this beast which they had seen over and over again by the side of their fire; that it was this animal which had crept to him when he was asleep; that it kept in hiding when he was with his companions, but that it had been tracking him till he was alone, and that after all he had nothing to fear.

But still he was afraid and uncertain, so that some time elapsed during which the puma stood writhing its tail, watching him before he could summon up courage enough to take a step forward.

He made that step at last, knowing that if he were mistaken the animal would at once draw back and make for a spring; but, instead of moving, the puma raised its tail erect, making the three or four inches at the end twine a little, and the next minute Rob was talking to it softly, with his hand upon its head, when the animal began to give forth a curious sound somewhat resembling a purr and pressed up against him.

"Poor old chap, then!" cried Rob; "and I was frightened of you, when all you wanted to do was to make friends. Why, you are a fine fellow, then."

His words were accompanied by caresses, and these were evidently approved of, the puma crouching down and finally lying on its side, while Rob knelt beside it and found that he might make free with it to any extent.

Then, suddenly recollecting how Shaddy was hunting for him and their object, he sprang to his feet, and placing his hands to his mouth, sent forth as loud a shout as he could give.

As he sprang up the puma also leaped to its feet, watching him in a startled way.

Rob shouted again, and as a reply came from not far distant a low growl arose from the animal by his side.

But he shouted again, and an answer came from much nearer, when with one bound the animal sprang out of sight amongst the trees, and though Rob called to it again and again in the intervals of answering Shaddy's cries, there was not a sound to suggest the creature's presence.

"It's afraid of Shaddy," Rob concluded, and feeling bound to continue his signals, he kept on till his companion joined him.

"Why, my lad," cried the latter, "I thought I'd lost you too," and as soon as Rob had explained the reason for his silence, "Enough to make you, lad. But that's right enough. He's took a fancy to you. Only hope he won't show fight at me, because if he does I shall have to hit hard for the sake of Shadrach Naylor; but if he's for giving the friendly hand, why so am I. But come along; we mustn't be belated here. I've found fresh signs of Mr Brazier while I was hunting you."

"You have?" cried Rob joyfully.

"Yes, my lad, not much; but I came upon a spot where he had been breaking down green-stuff."

"Since he—met with that accident?" said Rob hesitatingly.

"Ah, that's what I can't say, Mr Rob, sir. Let's get to it, and try and follow up his trail. No; we can't do it to-day. We must get back to the hut to-night, and all we can do is to take the spot I came to on the way. We shall only get there before dark as it is."

"Oh, but we can't leave him alone in the forest—perhaps wounded and unable to find his way out."

"But we must, my lad," said the guide firmly. "We can do him no more good by sleeping here than by sleeping there under cover."

"Who can think of sleeping, Shaddy, at a time like this?"

"Natur' says we must sleep, Mr Rob, and eat too, or we shall soon break down. Come along, my lad; there's always the hope that we may find him back at camp after all."

"But he must be wanting our help, Shaddy," said Rob sadly.

"Yes, my lad, and if he can, camp's the place where he'll go to look for it, isn't it?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then we ought to be there to-night in case he comes to it. So now then let's start at once. Sun goes down pretty soon, and I've got to take you by a round to where he broke down those flowers. Ready?"

"Yes," said Rob sadly; and they made a fresh start.



CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

IN PAINFUL QUEST.

At the end of a few minutes Shaddy turned his head and spoke over his shoulder.

"Hear anything of your puss, Mr Rob?"

"I have fancied I heard him twice."

"Then he's after us, safe—depend upon it. These sort of things go along on velvet, and can get under the trees and branches for hours without your knowing anything about their being so near. Let's be friends with him, my lad. We're lonely enough out here, and he'll get his own living, you may depend upon that."

Shaddy pressed on as rapidly as he could, for the evening was drawing nigh, and, as he said, it would be black night in there directly the sun went down; but it was a long way, and Rob was growing weary of seeing his companion keep on halting in doubt, before, with a look of triumph, he stopped short and pointed to a broken-down creeper, a kind of passion-flower, which had been dragged at till a mass of leafage and flower had been drawn down from high up in the tree it climbed, to lie in a heap.

"There you are, Mr Rob, sir."

"No, no, Shaddy; that might have been dragged down by a puma or jaguar," said Rob sadly.

"Then he must have carried a good sharp knife in his pocket, my lad," replied the old hunter. "Look at this."

He held up the end of the stem, for Rob to see that it had been divided by one clean chop with a big knife.

"Yes, of course. He must have been here," cried Rob joyfully. "Now then, we must find his trail and follow it on."

"We must make straight for camp, Mr Rob, sir," replied Shaddy, "hoping to find him there, for in less than an hour's time we shall have to feel our way."

"Oh, Shaddy!"

"Must, sir, and you know it. We must try all we know to get back, and I tell you it's as much as I can do to find the way there. I'm sure I can't follow Mr Brazier's trail."

Rob looked at him sternly.

"Fact, sir. You know I'm doing my best."

"Yes," said Rob, reproach sounding in his tones; but he could not help feeling that he was a little unjust, as he tramped steadily on behind his companion, who was very silent for some time, working hard to make his way as near as possible along the track by which they had come.

Rob was just thinking that from the tone of the gloom around him the sun must be very low, when Shaddy turned his head for a moment.

"Don't think you could find your way, do you, Mr Rob?"

"I'm sure I couldn't," was the reply.

"So am I, my lad."

"But you have it all right?"

"Sometimes, my lad; and sometimes I keep on losing it, and have to make a bit of a cast about to pick it up again. We're going right, my lad, so don't be down-hearted. Let's hope Mr Brazier is precious anxious and hungry, waiting for us to come to him."

"I hope so, Shaddy."

"But you don't think so, my lad."

Rob shook his head.

"Heard your cat, sir?"

"No."

"More have I. Scared of me, I suppose. Rec'lects first meeting."

They went on again in silence, with the gloom deepening; but the forest was a little more open, and all at once Shaddy stopped short, and holding one hand behind him signed to Rob to come close up.

"Look!" he whispered: "just over my shoulder, lad. I'd say try your bow and arrow, only we've got plenty of food in camp, and had better leave it for next time."

"What is it, Shaddy? I can't see. Yes, I can. Why it's a deer. Watching us too."

The graceful little creature was evidently startled at the sight of human beings, and stood gazing ready to spring away at the slightest motion on their part. The next instant there was a sudden movement just before them, as a shadow seemed to dart out from their right; and as the deer made a frantic bound it was struck down, for a puma had alighted upon its back, and the two animals lay before them motionless, the puma's teeth fast in the deer's neck, and the former animal so flattened down that it looked as if it were one with the unfortunate creature it had made its prey, and whose death appeared to have been almost instantaneous.

"Why, it must be my puma!" cried Rob.

"That's so, my lad, for sartain," replied Shaddy. "Now, if we could get part, say the hind-quarter of that deer, for our share, it would be worth having. What do you say?"

Rob said nothing, and Shaddy approached; but a low, ominous growling arose, and the great cat's tail writhed and twined about in the air.

"He'll be at me if I go any nearer," said Shaddy. "What do you say to trying, Mr Rob, sir?"

"I don't think I would," said the lad; and he stepped forward, with the result that the puma's tone changed to a peculiar whining, remonstrant growl, as it shifted itself off the dead deer, but kept its teeth buried in its neck, and began to back away, dragging the body toward the spot from which it had made its bound.

"Let it be, Mr Rob, sir. The thing's sure to be savage if you meddle with its food. We can do without it, and there's no time to spare. Come along."

There was a fierce growl as Shaddy went on, and Rob followed him; but on looking back he saw that the puma was following, dragging the little deer, and after a few steps it took a fresh hold, flung it over its back, followed them for a few minutes, and then disappeared.

They had enough to do to find their way now, for darkness was coming on fast, and before long Shaddy stopped short.

"It's of no use, my lad," he said. "I'm very sorry, but we've drove it too late. The more we try the farther we shall get in the wood."

"What do you mean to do, then?" said Rob, wearily.

"Light a fire, and get some boughs together for a bed."

"Oh, Shaddy, don't you think we might reach camp if we went on?" cried Rob, despairingly.

"Well, we'll try, Mr Rob, sir; but I'm afraid not. Now, if your friend there would be a good comrade and bring in our supper, we could roast it, and be all right here, but he won't, so we'll try to get along. We shall be no worse off farther on, only we may be cutting ourselves out more work when it's day. Shall we try?"

"Yes, try," said Rob; and he now took the lead, on the chance of finding the way. A quarter of an hour later, just as he was about to turn and give up, ready for lighting a fire to cook nothing, but only too glad of the chance of throwing himself down to rest, Shaddy uttered a cheery cry.

"Well done, Mr Rob, sir!" he said. "You're right. Camp's just ahead."

"What! How do you know?"

"By that big, flop-branched tree, with the great supports like stays. I remember it as well as can be. Off to the right, sir, and in a quarter of an hour we shall be in the clearing."

"Unless that's one of thousands of trees that grow like it," said Rob sadly, as he pressed on.

"Nay, sir, I could swear to that one, sir, dark as it is. Now, you look up in five minutes, and see if you can't make out stars."

Rob said nothing, but tramped on, forcing his way among trees which he only avoided now by extending his bow and striking to right and left.

Five minutes or so afterwards he cast up his eyes, but without expecting to see anything, when a flash of hope ran through him, and he shouted joyfully,—

"Stars, Shaddy, stars!" and as a grunt of satisfaction came from behind, he raised his voice to the highest pitch he could command, and roared out, "Mr Brazier I Mr Brazier! Ahoy!"

Shaddy took up the cry in stentorian tones—

"Ahoy! Ahoy! Ahoy!" and the shout was answered.

"There he is!" cried Rob, joyfully. "Hurrah!"

Shaddy was silent.

"Didn't you hear, Shaddy? Mr Brazier answered. You are right: he did get back, after all."

Still Shaddy remained silent, only increasing his pace in the darkness, lightened now by the stars which overarched them, so as to keep up with Rob's eager strides.

"Why don't you speak, man? Let's shout again: Mr Brazier! Ahoy!"

"Mr Brazier! Ahoy!" came back faintly.

"I don't like to damp you, Mr Rob, sir," said Shaddy, sadly, "but you don't see as we're out in the clearing again. That's only the echo from the trees across the river. He isn't here."

"No," said Rob, with a groan; "he isn't here."

Just then there was a rustling sound behind them, and a low growl, followed by a strange sound which Rob understood at once.



CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

THE FOUR-FOOTED FRIEND.

The lad said nothing, so great was the change from hope to despondency; and he hardly noticed the sound close beside him, as Shaddy said gruffly—

"Well, if any one had told me that, I wouldn't have believed it!"

"Is it any use to shout again, Shaddy?" said Rob, as he looked down at the indistinctly-seen shape of the dull tawny-coated puma, which had carried its captive after them to the clearing, and had now quietly lain down to its feast.

"No, Mr Rob, sir; if he's here, it's in the shelter-place we made, utterly done up with tramping. Let's go and see."

It was no easy task to get even there in the darkness, but they soon after stood at the end, and Rob convinced himself in a few moments that they were alone.

"Oh, Shaddy!" he cried piteously, "he hasn't come back. What can we do to find him?"

"I'll show you, sir," said the man, quietly. "First thing is to make up the fire."

"For him to see? Yes; that's right."

"Man couldn't see the fire many yards away in the wood, Mr Rob, sir. I meant for us, so as to roast a bit of that deer, if the lion'll let us have it."

"I must do something to help Mr Brazier!" said Rob, angrily.

"That's helping him, my lad—having a good meal to make us strong. After that we'll have a good sleep to make us rested."

"Oh, no! no!" cried Rob, angrily.

"But I say yes, yes, yes, sir!" said Shaddy, firmly. "I know what you feel, my lad, and it's quite nat'ral; but just hark ye here a moment. Can we do anything to find him in that black darkness to-night?"

"No," said Rob, in despair; "it is, I know, impossible."

"Quite right, my lad. Then as soon as it's daylight oughtn't we to be ready to go and help him?"

"Of course, Shaddy."

"Then how can we do most good,—as half-starved, worn-out fellows, without an ounce of pluck between us, or well-fed, strong, and refreshed, ready to tramp any number of hours, and able to carry him if it came to the worst? Answer me that."

"Come and light the fire, Shaddy," said Rob, quietly.

"Ah!" ejaculated the old sailor, and he led the way to where the embers lay, warm still, and with plenty of dry wood about. Five minutes after the fire was blazing merrily and illumining the scene.

"Now," cried Shaddy, "if your Tom would play fair, and let us have the hind-quarters of that deer, we might have it instead of the lizard. He'll only eat the neck, I daresay. Shall we try him? I don't think he'd show fight at you, sir."

"Let's try," said Rob, quietly. "I don't think I'm afraid of him now."

"Not you, Mr Rob, sir," said Shaddy; and they went together to where they had left the puma feasting upon the deer, but, to the surprise of both, there lay the carcass partly eaten about the throat and breast, and the puma had gone.

"He can't have had enough yet," growled Shaddy, dropping upon his knees, knife in hand; and, seizing hold of the deer, he drove his blade in just across the loins, separating the vertebrae at the first thrust, but started back directly, as a low and fierce growl came from the edge of the forest, where they could see a pair of fiery eyes lit up by the blaze they had left behind.

"I know," cried Shaddy; "he was scared off by our fire, but he don't want to lose his supper. What shall we do, Mr Rob? Two more cuts, and I could draw the hind-quarters away. I'll try it."

The puma was silent, and Shaddy slowly approached his hand, thrust in his knife, and made one bold cut which swept through the deer's flank; but another growl arose, and there was a bound made by the puma—which, however, turned and crept slowly back to cover, where it stood watching them, with the fire again reflected in its eyes.

"He don't mean mischief, Mr Rob, sir," said Shaddy. "I'll have another try. I may get through it this time."

"No, no, don't try; it's dangerous."

"But you don't fancy that lizard thing, my lad; and I want you strong to-morrow. Now, look here: I'll get close again, and risk it; and if, just as I say 'Now,' you'd speak to the beast quiet like, as you would to a dog, it might take his attention, and so we'd get the hind part clear off."

"Yes," said Rob, quietly. "Shall I walk to it?"

"No, I wouldn't do that, but go a little way off sidewise, just keeping your distance, talking all the while, and he'd follow you with his eyes."

Rob nodded, and turned off, as Shaddy crept close once more and stretched out his hand.

"Now!" he said; and Rob began to call the beast, fervently hoping that it would not come, but to his horror it did; and he could just dimly make out its shape, looking misty and dim in the firelight, with its eyes glowing and its tail writhing, as it slowly approached, while Rob walked farther away from his companion still.

All at once the puma stopped short, swung itself round, and, to Rob's horror, crouched, bounded back toward where the carcass lay, leaping right to it, and burying its jaws in the deer's neck with a savage snarl.

"Run, Shaddy," shouted Rob.

"It's all right, my lad," came from a little distance: "I did. I've got our half, and he's got his. Speak to him gently, and leave him to his supper. We won't be very long before we have ours."