Chapter Thirteen.

Chapter Thirteen.A Sight of the Enemy.Brace hesitated for a few moments before making any move to go on deck. Then, seeing Briscoe go to the arms rack and return with rifle and ammunition, he followed his example and went on deck, to find the brig swinging gently by its cable and the crew all lying about on the deck to shelter themselves from the sun as well as from the Indians, two of whose arrows were just as they had fallen, sticking upright in the white boards, between the seams of which the pitch was beginning to ooze out, looking bright and sticky in the sun.“Lie down, sir, lie down!” shouted Dan, and Briscoe dropped flat upon the deck at once, his rifle clattering against the boards; but before Brace was down, a couple of arrows cameping, ping, to stick in the deck, while a third pierced and hung in one of the sails, a fourth dropping with a hiss a little short of the brig and into the water.“This is nice, Mr Brace,” cried Lynton, laughing. “It’s as the circus clown said, too dangerous to be safe.”“Yes,” said Dellow, who was crawling towards the starboard bulwark on hands and knees, dragging two rifles after him. “Come and lay hold of one, Jem. Mind you don’t shoot yourself. It’s the wooden end of the rifle that you have to put up against your shoulder, and the hole in the iron barrel which you are supposed to point at the enemy.”“Is it now?” said the second mate sarcastically. “I’m much obliged and thankye for telling me. You put the bullet in at that end of the gun too, don’t you, and push it through with the ramrod like a popgun, eh?”“Yes, that’s right,” said Dellow, chuckling; “but hit the poor fellows soft the first time so as not to hurt ’em much. If they get saucy afterwards, why then you must hit hard.”“All right; I’ll mind,” said Lynton, looking at Brace and smiling; “but this ought to be stopped, for the niggers are wonderfully clever at hitting the brig. They shoot right up into the air and guess at their aim, so that the arrows seem to come down out of the sky.”“Yes,” said Brace, who was now gradually beginning to take an excited interest in the encounter with the natives; “it’s the way they shoot the floating turtles, so that their arrows pierce the shell instead of glancing off.”“There’s another,” said Dellow. “Well, I wish they’d keep to their turtles. I don’t like them practising on me. What’s that one like, Mr Brace? Is the point broken?”“No,” said Brace, who had crept sidewise along the deck so as to reach the last arrow that had come on board, and carefully drawn it out, to sit examining the head.“Poisoned?” asked the mate.“I’m afraid so,” replied Brace. “Look at this stuff lying in the groove,” and he pointed to what appeared to be some kind of gum, adhering to the roughly-made head.“Ah! looks nasty,” said Briscoe; “but it isn’t obliged to be dangerous to human beings. You see, they use their arrows principally for small game. I don’t believe, mind you, that your brother’s going to be much the worse for his trouble.”“I sincerely hope not,” said Brace, with a sigh.“So does everybody, sir,” said the mate. “But come: it’s our turn now. Let’s see if we can’t stop this game before some of us are hit.”“Yes,” said Briscoe, who had taken up, examined, and then smelt the arrow-head, ending by moistening a paper which he drew from his pocket and rubbing the arrow-point thereon, with the result that the paper received a brownish smear and the soft iron became clear.After a few moments he said:“There is no doubt about the arrows having been dipped in something, and we must not run any more risks.”Brace experienced a chilly feeling as he thought of his brother, but he made an effort to master the nervous dread by devoting himself to the task they had in hand.“The arrows seem to come from the foot of that great tree,” he said, pointing to where a giant rose high above the heads of its neighbours and sent forth huge boughs, the lowermost of which swept the surface of the river.“I fancy they come from some twenty feet up,” said Briscoe thoughtfully.“You’re right, sir,” said his servant. “Look at that,” and he drew his master’s attention to a shaft which just at that moment rose from out of the densest part of the tree, described an arch, and fell upon the deck.“I can’t see him,” cried Lynton, who was crouching in the shelter of the bulwark; “but I fancy I can make out where he is.”“Try,” said the mate, and the next minute Lynton fired, his bullet cutting the leaves of the pyramid of verdure, and the report startling a flock of bright green birds, which flew screaming across to the opposite bank of the river.“A miss,” said the mate. “Now you try, sir. It’s random work though.”Brace felt a shrinking sensation, but he knew that the time had come for action, and rested his rifle upon the bulwark and sent the bullet hurtling through the densest part of the tree.“Bravo! Well done!” cried Briscoe.“What is it?” said Brace eagerly. “I couldn’t see for the smoke.”“I could,” said the mate. “There was somebody there, and, hit or no, your shot startled him, for I saw something go crashing down through the boughs. I believe you’ve finished him, and we shall have no more arrows from there.”“Think there was only one of them then?” said Lynton.“Oh, no, my lad; there’s no knowing how many there are of the beauties, but I fancy there’s one the less.”The mate had hardly spoken before another arrow stuck in the deck, its inclination showing that it had come from an entirely fresh direction. But it had hardly touched the deck with a dull rap before the American’s rifle uttered its sharp crack, and the bullet sent the leaves of a tree some distance farther to the left pattering down.“That looks as though there were some more of them about,” said the mate gruffly, and he knelt in shelter, keenly watching for his opportunity of delivering a shot.Just then the captain came on deck, and Brace hurried to meet him. He did not speak, but looked at the captain with questioning eyes.“Sound asleep, squire,” said Captain Banes, in answer to Brace’s mute enquiry. “Well, how many have you brought down?” Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued: “I don’t suppose there are above half a dozen of them. Just a hunting party in a canoe. Look here, Dellow, we shall have to try to scare them away before they do any more mischief.”“Well, we are scaring them,” said the mate gruffly. “I believe we’ve brought down two.”“But they keep on shooting,” said the captain, as another arrow came on board not far from the spot where they were sheltering, “and I can’t say I want to have one of those things sticking into me.”“What shall we do then?” said the mate.“Here, you,” cried the captain to one of the men, “go and tell the cook to stick the poker in the galley fire.”The man went on all fours along the deck nearly as actively as a dog, and his fellows laughingly cheered him, even the captain smiling grimly before turning once more to the mate.“Get one of those little flannel bags of powder and load the brass gun. You can point her towards where the blackguards are, and she’ll go off with such a roar that it may startle them and send them paddling for their lives.”“Maybe it will,” said the mate gruffly; “but I doubt it.”“Never mind your doubts, my lad. It won’t cost much to try. I don’t suppose they ever heard a cannon fired in their lives, and they’ll think we’ve got the thunder to help us. We’ll run a double charge in: the brass gun will stand it.”“Suppose she bursts?” said the mate rather sourly.“Suppose?” said the captain sharply. “There, you do what I tell you. If she does burst I shall have fired her, and she’ll kill me, and you’ll be skipper, so you’re all right.”“No, I shan’t,” said the mate gruffly, “for she’ll kill me. I’m going to fire her myself.”“Load her then,” said the captain, chuckling, “and don’t go on setting a mutinous example to the men. Squire Brace looks quite startled.”The mate smiled grimly and went below, to return with a couple of little flannel bags and crawl with them to where the little signal cannon was lashed to the deck.Brace followed, preferring to assist in the preparation of this experiment to firing in the direction of naked savages.“Here, I shall be having all the skin rubbed off my knees,” said the mate, nodding at Brace. “Nature never meant me to go along like a four-footed beast.”“It is awkward,” said Brace, smiling.“Awkward isn’t the word for it,” grumbled the mate. “Got your knife handy?”Brace nodded, and drew it from his pocket, and the mate slit open one of the bags so as to pour about half its contents into the mouth of the little cannon.“It’s all very fine of the skipper to talk,” he said, placing the whole cartridge now in its place, “but I’m very fond of the first mate of the ‘Jason’ brig, and I should be sorry to do him any mischief. I should look well, I should, if I had to go back home as a ghost to tell my wife all my bits had been eaten by the savage fish in this river. I know her ideas well, and she wouldn’t like it, I can tell you. There you are; down it goes,” he continued, taking the little rammer from where it was strapped to the carriage and driving the bag home on to the top of the loose charge. “Is the powder up, sir?”“Yes,” said Brace; “the touch-hole’s full.”“That’s right, then. Avast there; be smart with that red-hot poker.”The man who had taken it to the galley trotted away again in his dog-like fashion, disappeared, and then came into sight again directly, to shout out to the mate:“Cook says it aren’t half hot enough, sir.”“Bring the poker,” roared the mate. “Told you to fetch it, didn’t I? What do I want with what the cook says?”The man darted into the galley again and reappeared directly with the poker. The other men commenced roaring with laughter when they saw him, for he limped aft like a lame dog now, one hand being occupied with the poker.“Ahoy there!” shouted the captain; “be smart with that gun. Look out.”For just then the prow of a good-sized canoe appeared from beneath the overhanging boughs of the trees, and was paddled out quickly by four men, while two more stood in the stern fitting arrows to their bows.“Steady!” growled the mate, as he slewed the mouth of the cannon round in the direction of the coming boat. “Now then, pass me that poker. Here, Mr Brace, you’d better get into shelter away from the pieces. That’s right, my lad. Be off.”The man trotted back and settled himself down under the bulwark, and just then Brace laid hold of the poker.“Let me fire,” he said.“What, aren’t you skeart, sir?” said the mate, with a grin, as he relaxed his hold.“Not very much,” said Brace quietly; “only that the poker isn’t hot enough.”“She’ll do it, my lad. One moment; there’s nothing except the wad inside, but I may as well sight the gun at the enemy and let ’em have the benefit of the blast.”Brace stood back from the gun for a moment or two while the mate ran his eye along the little barrel, and then as the canoe was within forty yards the latter cried:“Now then, sir; let ’em have it.”Brace applied the end of the poker to the loose grains lying in the little rounded depression about the touch-hole of the cannon; but the cook was right: the poker was far from hot, and the end failed to ignite the powder.“Have you a match?” said Brace, impatiently throwing the implement down.“No,” was the reply. “A match over here, someone.”Men began fumbling; but at sea men chew their tobacco instead of smoking, and no box was forthcoming. At that moment Brace tried again, for, though wanting in the power to ignite the priming at the end, the poker was fairly hot a few inches from the point, and he noted that it was making the pitch bubble in the seam it lay across.“Sight the gun again,” cried Brace hurriedly, and the mate sprang to obey his order, exposing his head and shoulders in doing so, and very nearly paying the penalty, for a couple of arrows whizzed by pretty closely.Directly after, in response to another touch from the middle of the poker, there was a flash, a puff of white smoke, and a roar like thunder. The gun-carriage in its recoil leaped from the deck and fell with a loud bang upon its side, while the crew burst into a hearty cheer.The effect of the shot had been beyond the captain’s expectation. In their utter astonishment and dread the Indians had to a man sprung out of the canoe, overturning it in the act, and were swimming and diving their best to reach the shelter of the hanging boughs, while their frail vessel was floating bottom upward rapidly down the stream.“Good aim, Dellow,” cried the captain. “Well fired, squire.”Brace glanced at the result of the shot, and then darted to the companion-ladder, to hurry down into the cabin so as to see what the consequences of the heavy report had been there, for in the hurry and excitement of the preparations he had for the moment forgotten his brother.To his surprise and satisfaction, however, Sir Humphrey lay back sleeping heavily, with a soft dew beading his face, and evidently perfectly free from suffering.Brace laid his hand upon his brother’s forehead, to feel that it was comparatively cool, and upon touching his wrist it was to find the pulse beating steadily and well.The next minute he was stepping gently back, and ascended once more to the deck.“Oh, here he is,” said the captain. “Look sharp, squire, if you want a shot at the blackguards before they get into shelter.”“Not I,” said Brace half-angrily. “Ah, look, look!”There was no need for him to shout, for a wild cry drew the attention of all to one of the swimmers, who suddenly threw up his arms and then began to beat the surface wildly, but only for a second or two, before with a couple of sharp jerks he was dragged under water, while another cry from the savage nearest to the shore gave warning that his was to be a similar fate, one jerk, however, sufficing to drag him under, just as his companions reached the shelter of the trees.“Horrid,” growled the captain, as, evidently satisfied that there were no others to shoot, he stood close to the bulwark.“What was it drew them under?” said Brace hoarsely.“Can’t say, squire,” replied the captain. “Might be alligators, snakes, or a shoal of the savage fish that swarm along these rivers. Lesson to us not to try bathing.”“Could nothing be done for them? Can we launch a boat?” faltered Brace.The captain shook his head slowly, frowning the while.“Impossible, my lad; but we don’t know that we’re safe here. There may be scores more in hiding under the trees by the bank yonder; so keep down, everyone.”The order was obeyed, but no more arrows came on board, while from behind the deckhouse Brace stood with Briscoe watching the upturned canoe growing smaller and smaller in the distance, Brace expecting to see some daring swimmer appear from the shore, trying to get on board.He said something of the kind to Lynton, who joined them just before the canoe disappeared round a curve of the river, but the latter smiled before he made a reply.“You forget what sort of a shore it is,” he said. “Those fellows could not get along through that jungle a quarter so fast as the canoe drifted with the stream, if they could get along at all. Well, it’s been a bad time for them: they’ve lost their boat and two of their crew.”“And serve ’em right,” said Dellow, who had overheard the conversation. “They should have left us alone. It isn’t their fault that Sir Humphrey isn’t lying below there dead and cold instead of getting better fast.”“Ah! you have seen him, then?” cried Brace anxiously.“Been below with the skipper, sir, and there won’t be much the matter by this time to-morrow if the savages leave us alone.”

Brace hesitated for a few moments before making any move to go on deck. Then, seeing Briscoe go to the arms rack and return with rifle and ammunition, he followed his example and went on deck, to find the brig swinging gently by its cable and the crew all lying about on the deck to shelter themselves from the sun as well as from the Indians, two of whose arrows were just as they had fallen, sticking upright in the white boards, between the seams of which the pitch was beginning to ooze out, looking bright and sticky in the sun.

“Lie down, sir, lie down!” shouted Dan, and Briscoe dropped flat upon the deck at once, his rifle clattering against the boards; but before Brace was down, a couple of arrows cameping, ping, to stick in the deck, while a third pierced and hung in one of the sails, a fourth dropping with a hiss a little short of the brig and into the water.

“This is nice, Mr Brace,” cried Lynton, laughing. “It’s as the circus clown said, too dangerous to be safe.”

“Yes,” said Dellow, who was crawling towards the starboard bulwark on hands and knees, dragging two rifles after him. “Come and lay hold of one, Jem. Mind you don’t shoot yourself. It’s the wooden end of the rifle that you have to put up against your shoulder, and the hole in the iron barrel which you are supposed to point at the enemy.”

“Is it now?” said the second mate sarcastically. “I’m much obliged and thankye for telling me. You put the bullet in at that end of the gun too, don’t you, and push it through with the ramrod like a popgun, eh?”

“Yes, that’s right,” said Dellow, chuckling; “but hit the poor fellows soft the first time so as not to hurt ’em much. If they get saucy afterwards, why then you must hit hard.”

“All right; I’ll mind,” said Lynton, looking at Brace and smiling; “but this ought to be stopped, for the niggers are wonderfully clever at hitting the brig. They shoot right up into the air and guess at their aim, so that the arrows seem to come down out of the sky.”

“Yes,” said Brace, who was now gradually beginning to take an excited interest in the encounter with the natives; “it’s the way they shoot the floating turtles, so that their arrows pierce the shell instead of glancing off.”

“There’s another,” said Dellow. “Well, I wish they’d keep to their turtles. I don’t like them practising on me. What’s that one like, Mr Brace? Is the point broken?”

“No,” said Brace, who had crept sidewise along the deck so as to reach the last arrow that had come on board, and carefully drawn it out, to sit examining the head.

“Poisoned?” asked the mate.

“I’m afraid so,” replied Brace. “Look at this stuff lying in the groove,” and he pointed to what appeared to be some kind of gum, adhering to the roughly-made head.

“Ah! looks nasty,” said Briscoe; “but it isn’t obliged to be dangerous to human beings. You see, they use their arrows principally for small game. I don’t believe, mind you, that your brother’s going to be much the worse for his trouble.”

“I sincerely hope not,” said Brace, with a sigh.

“So does everybody, sir,” said the mate. “But come: it’s our turn now. Let’s see if we can’t stop this game before some of us are hit.”

“Yes,” said Briscoe, who had taken up, examined, and then smelt the arrow-head, ending by moistening a paper which he drew from his pocket and rubbing the arrow-point thereon, with the result that the paper received a brownish smear and the soft iron became clear.

After a few moments he said:

“There is no doubt about the arrows having been dipped in something, and we must not run any more risks.”

Brace experienced a chilly feeling as he thought of his brother, but he made an effort to master the nervous dread by devoting himself to the task they had in hand.

“The arrows seem to come from the foot of that great tree,” he said, pointing to where a giant rose high above the heads of its neighbours and sent forth huge boughs, the lowermost of which swept the surface of the river.

“I fancy they come from some twenty feet up,” said Briscoe thoughtfully.

“You’re right, sir,” said his servant. “Look at that,” and he drew his master’s attention to a shaft which just at that moment rose from out of the densest part of the tree, described an arch, and fell upon the deck.

“I can’t see him,” cried Lynton, who was crouching in the shelter of the bulwark; “but I fancy I can make out where he is.”

“Try,” said the mate, and the next minute Lynton fired, his bullet cutting the leaves of the pyramid of verdure, and the report startling a flock of bright green birds, which flew screaming across to the opposite bank of the river.

“A miss,” said the mate. “Now you try, sir. It’s random work though.”

Brace felt a shrinking sensation, but he knew that the time had come for action, and rested his rifle upon the bulwark and sent the bullet hurtling through the densest part of the tree.

“Bravo! Well done!” cried Briscoe.

“What is it?” said Brace eagerly. “I couldn’t see for the smoke.”

“I could,” said the mate. “There was somebody there, and, hit or no, your shot startled him, for I saw something go crashing down through the boughs. I believe you’ve finished him, and we shall have no more arrows from there.”

“Think there was only one of them then?” said Lynton.

“Oh, no, my lad; there’s no knowing how many there are of the beauties, but I fancy there’s one the less.”

The mate had hardly spoken before another arrow stuck in the deck, its inclination showing that it had come from an entirely fresh direction. But it had hardly touched the deck with a dull rap before the American’s rifle uttered its sharp crack, and the bullet sent the leaves of a tree some distance farther to the left pattering down.

“That looks as though there were some more of them about,” said the mate gruffly, and he knelt in shelter, keenly watching for his opportunity of delivering a shot.

Just then the captain came on deck, and Brace hurried to meet him. He did not speak, but looked at the captain with questioning eyes.

“Sound asleep, squire,” said Captain Banes, in answer to Brace’s mute enquiry. “Well, how many have you brought down?” Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued: “I don’t suppose there are above half a dozen of them. Just a hunting party in a canoe. Look here, Dellow, we shall have to try to scare them away before they do any more mischief.”

“Well, we are scaring them,” said the mate gruffly. “I believe we’ve brought down two.”

“But they keep on shooting,” said the captain, as another arrow came on board not far from the spot where they were sheltering, “and I can’t say I want to have one of those things sticking into me.”

“What shall we do then?” said the mate.

“Here, you,” cried the captain to one of the men, “go and tell the cook to stick the poker in the galley fire.”

The man went on all fours along the deck nearly as actively as a dog, and his fellows laughingly cheered him, even the captain smiling grimly before turning once more to the mate.

“Get one of those little flannel bags of powder and load the brass gun. You can point her towards where the blackguards are, and she’ll go off with such a roar that it may startle them and send them paddling for their lives.”

“Maybe it will,” said the mate gruffly; “but I doubt it.”

“Never mind your doubts, my lad. It won’t cost much to try. I don’t suppose they ever heard a cannon fired in their lives, and they’ll think we’ve got the thunder to help us. We’ll run a double charge in: the brass gun will stand it.”

“Suppose she bursts?” said the mate rather sourly.

“Suppose?” said the captain sharply. “There, you do what I tell you. If she does burst I shall have fired her, and she’ll kill me, and you’ll be skipper, so you’re all right.”

“No, I shan’t,” said the mate gruffly, “for she’ll kill me. I’m going to fire her myself.”

“Load her then,” said the captain, chuckling, “and don’t go on setting a mutinous example to the men. Squire Brace looks quite startled.”

The mate smiled grimly and went below, to return with a couple of little flannel bags and crawl with them to where the little signal cannon was lashed to the deck.

Brace followed, preferring to assist in the preparation of this experiment to firing in the direction of naked savages.

“Here, I shall be having all the skin rubbed off my knees,” said the mate, nodding at Brace. “Nature never meant me to go along like a four-footed beast.”

“It is awkward,” said Brace, smiling.

“Awkward isn’t the word for it,” grumbled the mate. “Got your knife handy?”

Brace nodded, and drew it from his pocket, and the mate slit open one of the bags so as to pour about half its contents into the mouth of the little cannon.

“It’s all very fine of the skipper to talk,” he said, placing the whole cartridge now in its place, “but I’m very fond of the first mate of the ‘Jason’ brig, and I should be sorry to do him any mischief. I should look well, I should, if I had to go back home as a ghost to tell my wife all my bits had been eaten by the savage fish in this river. I know her ideas well, and she wouldn’t like it, I can tell you. There you are; down it goes,” he continued, taking the little rammer from where it was strapped to the carriage and driving the bag home on to the top of the loose charge. “Is the powder up, sir?”

“Yes,” said Brace; “the touch-hole’s full.”

“That’s right, then. Avast there; be smart with that red-hot poker.”

The man who had taken it to the galley trotted away again in his dog-like fashion, disappeared, and then came into sight again directly, to shout out to the mate:

“Cook says it aren’t half hot enough, sir.”

“Bring the poker,” roared the mate. “Told you to fetch it, didn’t I? What do I want with what the cook says?”

The man darted into the galley again and reappeared directly with the poker. The other men commenced roaring with laughter when they saw him, for he limped aft like a lame dog now, one hand being occupied with the poker.

“Ahoy there!” shouted the captain; “be smart with that gun. Look out.”

For just then the prow of a good-sized canoe appeared from beneath the overhanging boughs of the trees, and was paddled out quickly by four men, while two more stood in the stern fitting arrows to their bows.

“Steady!” growled the mate, as he slewed the mouth of the cannon round in the direction of the coming boat. “Now then, pass me that poker. Here, Mr Brace, you’d better get into shelter away from the pieces. That’s right, my lad. Be off.”

The man trotted back and settled himself down under the bulwark, and just then Brace laid hold of the poker.

“Let me fire,” he said.

“What, aren’t you skeart, sir?” said the mate, with a grin, as he relaxed his hold.

“Not very much,” said Brace quietly; “only that the poker isn’t hot enough.”

“She’ll do it, my lad. One moment; there’s nothing except the wad inside, but I may as well sight the gun at the enemy and let ’em have the benefit of the blast.”

Brace stood back from the gun for a moment or two while the mate ran his eye along the little barrel, and then as the canoe was within forty yards the latter cried:

“Now then, sir; let ’em have it.”

Brace applied the end of the poker to the loose grains lying in the little rounded depression about the touch-hole of the cannon; but the cook was right: the poker was far from hot, and the end failed to ignite the powder.

“Have you a match?” said Brace, impatiently throwing the implement down.

“No,” was the reply. “A match over here, someone.”

Men began fumbling; but at sea men chew their tobacco instead of smoking, and no box was forthcoming. At that moment Brace tried again, for, though wanting in the power to ignite the priming at the end, the poker was fairly hot a few inches from the point, and he noted that it was making the pitch bubble in the seam it lay across.

“Sight the gun again,” cried Brace hurriedly, and the mate sprang to obey his order, exposing his head and shoulders in doing so, and very nearly paying the penalty, for a couple of arrows whizzed by pretty closely.

Directly after, in response to another touch from the middle of the poker, there was a flash, a puff of white smoke, and a roar like thunder. The gun-carriage in its recoil leaped from the deck and fell with a loud bang upon its side, while the crew burst into a hearty cheer.

The effect of the shot had been beyond the captain’s expectation. In their utter astonishment and dread the Indians had to a man sprung out of the canoe, overturning it in the act, and were swimming and diving their best to reach the shelter of the hanging boughs, while their frail vessel was floating bottom upward rapidly down the stream.

“Good aim, Dellow,” cried the captain. “Well fired, squire.”

Brace glanced at the result of the shot, and then darted to the companion-ladder, to hurry down into the cabin so as to see what the consequences of the heavy report had been there, for in the hurry and excitement of the preparations he had for the moment forgotten his brother.

To his surprise and satisfaction, however, Sir Humphrey lay back sleeping heavily, with a soft dew beading his face, and evidently perfectly free from suffering.

Brace laid his hand upon his brother’s forehead, to feel that it was comparatively cool, and upon touching his wrist it was to find the pulse beating steadily and well.

The next minute he was stepping gently back, and ascended once more to the deck.

“Oh, here he is,” said the captain. “Look sharp, squire, if you want a shot at the blackguards before they get into shelter.”

“Not I,” said Brace half-angrily. “Ah, look, look!”

There was no need for him to shout, for a wild cry drew the attention of all to one of the swimmers, who suddenly threw up his arms and then began to beat the surface wildly, but only for a second or two, before with a couple of sharp jerks he was dragged under water, while another cry from the savage nearest to the shore gave warning that his was to be a similar fate, one jerk, however, sufficing to drag him under, just as his companions reached the shelter of the trees.

“Horrid,” growled the captain, as, evidently satisfied that there were no others to shoot, he stood close to the bulwark.

“What was it drew them under?” said Brace hoarsely.

“Can’t say, squire,” replied the captain. “Might be alligators, snakes, or a shoal of the savage fish that swarm along these rivers. Lesson to us not to try bathing.”

“Could nothing be done for them? Can we launch a boat?” faltered Brace.

The captain shook his head slowly, frowning the while.

“Impossible, my lad; but we don’t know that we’re safe here. There may be scores more in hiding under the trees by the bank yonder; so keep down, everyone.”

The order was obeyed, but no more arrows came on board, while from behind the deckhouse Brace stood with Briscoe watching the upturned canoe growing smaller and smaller in the distance, Brace expecting to see some daring swimmer appear from the shore, trying to get on board.

He said something of the kind to Lynton, who joined them just before the canoe disappeared round a curve of the river, but the latter smiled before he made a reply.

“You forget what sort of a shore it is,” he said. “Those fellows could not get along through that jungle a quarter so fast as the canoe drifted with the stream, if they could get along at all. Well, it’s been a bad time for them: they’ve lost their boat and two of their crew.”

“And serve ’em right,” said Dellow, who had overheard the conversation. “They should have left us alone. It isn’t their fault that Sir Humphrey isn’t lying below there dead and cold instead of getting better fast.”

“Ah! you have seen him, then?” cried Brace anxiously.

“Been below with the skipper, sir, and there won’t be much the matter by this time to-morrow if the savages leave us alone.”

Chapter Fourteen.A False Alarm.“It’s my opinion,” said Captain Banes, “that when the sun goes down a breeze will spring up; and I mean to get as far up as I can before it is too dark to see, for the sooner we’re out of this neighbourhood the better.”“Do you think there’s a village of these people near?” asked Brace.“Oh, no; there may be a few huts with the wives and children close at hand, but so far as I know there are only a few of them here and there up the rivers leading a hunting and fishing life.”But the captain’s prophecy was not fulfilled. There was a little ripple on the water for a few minutes after sundown, but not enough breeze to fill out a sail, and the darkness came on with the brig swinging easily by the creaking cable, which ground and fretted in the hawse-holes.“Now, squire,” said the captain, turning to Brace, “how’s it going to be? Shall we be all right here at anchor, or will those chaps who got ashore hunt up all their friends and come off in canoes when it’s dark, to kill us and sack the brig?”“I’m not experienced enough to say,” replied Brace, smiling. “What do you think?”“I think I don’t know, my lad: it’s as likely to be one way as the other. What do you say to dividing the crew and passengers into two watches, all well armed and ready for the worst? One watch on deck, the other below, just lying down in our clothes with a rifle for a bedfellow, ready to run up at the first call.”“I should say it would be very wise,” said Brace, “and I think we had better do it.”“But there’s another way, my lad: suppose we up anchor and drop down with the stream for a few miles before letting go again.”“I don’t like going backward,” said Brace, “and we might be getting into a worse place.”“Out of the frying-pan into the fire, eh? Right: so we’ll stop here and be fried.”The division was made, and soon after dark Brace found himself keeping a sharp look-out on deck in company with Briscoe and part of the crew, the captain taking the first watch, while the first and second mates were below with half the men, ready to rush up at the first summons.This plan was quite in accordance with Brace’s wishes, for it enabled him to keep stealing down to his brother’s berth, and after these visits he would return on deck better satisfied, for the patient was still sleeping heavily, and there was not a symptom visible that could cause alarm.The captain was also of this opinion, he informed Brace, as the young man took a turn or two with him up and down the deck.“You’ve nothing to fidget about, squire. That arrow was poisoned, sure enough; but what you did, and the bleeding, washed all the bad stuff away, and the wound will begin to heal up at once. There, you go and use your eyes in all directions, my lad. I want to think.”The dismissal was imperative, and after sweeping the edge of the forest and gazing for a long time up and down the river again and again with his glass, Brace stopped beside the American, who was seated on the bulwark with one arm holding on by the shrouds and his rifle across his knees, silent and watchful in the extreme.“Seen anything?” whispered Brace.“A few fireflies; and I’ve heard a splash or two: that’s all,” was the reply.“Think we shall be attacked to-night?”“Likely enough. If we are it will be by canoes dropping down from that projecting part of the bank yonder. The enemy will come upon us quietly in the darkness, and we shall only know they are here when they begin swarming over the side.”“And then?” said Brace, as he stood with his eyes fixed upon the dimly-seen point a hundred yards above, where a faint spark of light glimmered out from time to time as if a party of savages were gathered there, and were passing the time in smoking before the attack was made.“Well, then,” said Briscoe coolly, “we shall have to shoot some, and knock the rest back into their canoes or the river, I suppose.”“That sounds pleasant,” said Brace.“Yes, but we must take the rough with the smooth. One can’t expect everything to go right. But don’t let’s meet trouble half-way. Just as likely as not we may go on for a month now and see no more of the enemy. I wonder whether this river leads up to the old golden city.”“Which old golden city are you speaking of?” asked Brace wonderingly.“The old one the Spaniards and the early English voyagers were always seeking.”“But that was only an old fable.”“I don’t know,” said Briscoe thoughtfully. “They had it, I suppose, from native reports, and they never found it.”“Of course not. Itwasonly a travellers’ tale.”“Perhaps so, but the wealth of Mexico and of Peru did not turn out to be a travellers’ tale.”“Well, no,” said Brace slowly.“And there is plenty of room out here in the mountains or beyond the forest for such a golden city.”“Oh, yes, plenty of room,” said Brace.“There is gold in the upper waters of the rivers, for I have found it. We shall find some in this, I’ll be bound—some day when we’ve sailed up as far as we can, and then pushed on up the shallows in a boat right away towards the mountains.”“What mountains?” asked Brace.“The unexplored mountains from which these great rivers spring.”“Unexplored?”“Certainly. Travellers have been pretty well everywhere in other countries, but there are vast tracts here in Central South America that have never been tapped as yet by explorers. Who knows what we may find?”“Ah, who knows? Well, we shall see.”“If only our health holds out and the winds favour us till we have sailed up into the higher regions. What would help us most are floods to give us plenty of deep water.”“Are we likely to get floods?”“Plenty. Every storm in the mountains swells these rivers, and if the wind will blow well from the sea we can get up a tremendous distance, for we shall have plenty of deep water.”“But you want, like us, to try and collect plenty of fresh natural-history objects, don’t you?”“Of course.”“You don’t dream of discovering any old golden city, as you call it?”“Not in the least; but if we do come upon traces of any old civilisation during our voyage we shall not pass it by without examining it as far as we can. What’s the matter?”Brace had suddenly gripped his companion’s arm whilst he was speaking, and in response to Briscoe’s question he thrust his right hand over the side of the brig and pointed up the river.Briscoe shaded his eyes and gazed in the indicated direction for some moments.“I see nothing,” he whispered at last.“Look again, a little way out from the point.”There was another pause in the darkness, and then the American spoke.“Your eyes are better than mine. Yes, I see it now. What do you make of it?”“Three canoes following one another and coming slowly with the stream.”“Full of men?” said Briscoe.“It is too dark to see.”“Pst! Captain!” whispered Briscoe, and that gentleman crossed to where they stood.“See anything?”For answer Brace pointed up stream, and after a sharp glance the captain sent one of the men below, and the whole party were upon thequi vive, with hardly a word being uttered, for every man was prepared for the alarm. That which had been fully expected had occurred, and, rifles in hand, officers, passengers, and crew took the places to which they had been appointed.Brace’s heart beat fast as he stood gazing at the long low shadowy objects gliding slowly nearer and nearer to the brig, thinking the while that if he were captain he would give the order at once for fire to be opened with buckshot, so that it might scatter and wound as many of the Indians as possible without causing death.But he was not in command, and he started with surprise, for the captain’s voice suddenly rang out with an order, though not the one he anticipated.“Stand by, a couple of you,” he said, “and be handy there, Mr Dellow, to let go the port anchor. I expect they’ll foul the cable and send us adrift.”There was a pattering of feet upon the deck, and the next moment Captain Banes’s hand was upon Brace’s shoulder.“Your eyes are a little out of focus, squire,” he said quietly. “They magnify too much, and see more than there is.”“Why—what—surely—” stammered Brace.“It’s all right, my lad,” said the captain quietly. “Better than seeing nothing when there’s real danger coming on board.”“They deceived me, captain,” said Briscoe.“So they did me, sir, at the first squint. I thought we were in for a scrimmage, and that before long I should be cutting up sticking-plaster and putting it on. Two fine old sticks of timber those, squire, and they must have come down some fierce falls to be stripped of their boughs like that. Now, then, are they going to foul our cable and send us adrift or will they slip quietly by?”Brace felt so annoyed and disgusted that he could find no words for the moment, and he stood there watching the two old tree-trunks coming closer and closer, till the foremost just missed the cable, and directly after touched the brig’s bows with a slow, dull, heavy impact which made her jar from end to end.“Bah!” ejaculated the lad, in his disgust, and, turning away, he left the deck, glad of the excuse of going down into the cabin to see after his brother.But the second mate was waiting for him when he came up, ready with a bantering laugh.“I say, sir,” he whispered, “aren’t you a bit too eager for a fight?”Brace said nothing, but, mortified by his mistake, walked right aft, to stand leaning over the stern, gazing down into the black waters as they came rushing and whispering from beneath the vessel, eddying about the rudder, and suggesting wonders of the mysterious monsters that might even then be gazing up at him with glassy eyes, meditating a spring and a snatch to seize and drag him down to their lair, as he had seen the two savages snatched from life not many hours before.“Horrible!” he muttered, half-aloud, as he shrank away with a shudder.“What’s horrible?” said the familiar voice of the American behind him; “being chaffed by the skipper? Don’t be so thin-skinned.”“Oh, it wasn’t that,” said Brace frankly. “I was slightly annoyed for the moment, but it was only a mistake.”“Of course, and it’s better to be too particular than not particular enough. We should look well if we were taken by surprise. What was horrible, then?”“I was thinking about those two Indians being seized and dragged down as I looked over the side, and of the possibility of a huge snake making a snatch at one, and then—ugh!”“Were you?” said Briscoe, with a faint laugh. “Why, I was leaning over the side yonder, and I turned quite nervous with fancying something of the same kind. A bit cowardly, I suppose, but it would be an awful death.”“Don’t talk about it,” said Brace. “If you’re cowardly in that way, I am. I never thought of these rivers being infested with such horrible creatures.”“The worst being the crocodiles,” said Briscoe; “but they wouldn’t be out here in the swift stream. I should say that the place to beware of the serpents would be the shallow, still creeks in sunny parts of the forest, or in the pools of the swamps, where they lie half-torpid till some animal comes in to bathe or drink.”“Hadn’t we better change the conversation?” said Brace, laughing. “What about the Indians? I don’t feel disposed to keep watch any more.”“Why? The danger is as great as ever.”“So is that of being laughed at for my false alarm.”“Oh, you should not notice that. Let’s go forward again.”As the pair walked to the bows it was to pass the men of the watch, the rest having gone quietly below again; and no one spoke or made allusion to what had taken place, so that Brace resumed his vigil in peace, till it was time for the relief to come on deck, when he descended, to find his brother sleeping so peacefully that, in spite of all efforts to the contrary, he could not finish the night by watching at Sir Humphrey’s side, for his head slowly sank sidewise as he sat upon the cabin locker, and then all was blank till there was a creaking noise in the adjacent cabin—a noise which made him start to his feet and look wonderingly around.

“It’s my opinion,” said Captain Banes, “that when the sun goes down a breeze will spring up; and I mean to get as far up as I can before it is too dark to see, for the sooner we’re out of this neighbourhood the better.”

“Do you think there’s a village of these people near?” asked Brace.

“Oh, no; there may be a few huts with the wives and children close at hand, but so far as I know there are only a few of them here and there up the rivers leading a hunting and fishing life.”

But the captain’s prophecy was not fulfilled. There was a little ripple on the water for a few minutes after sundown, but not enough breeze to fill out a sail, and the darkness came on with the brig swinging easily by the creaking cable, which ground and fretted in the hawse-holes.

“Now, squire,” said the captain, turning to Brace, “how’s it going to be? Shall we be all right here at anchor, or will those chaps who got ashore hunt up all their friends and come off in canoes when it’s dark, to kill us and sack the brig?”

“I’m not experienced enough to say,” replied Brace, smiling. “What do you think?”

“I think I don’t know, my lad: it’s as likely to be one way as the other. What do you say to dividing the crew and passengers into two watches, all well armed and ready for the worst? One watch on deck, the other below, just lying down in our clothes with a rifle for a bedfellow, ready to run up at the first call.”

“I should say it would be very wise,” said Brace, “and I think we had better do it.”

“But there’s another way, my lad: suppose we up anchor and drop down with the stream for a few miles before letting go again.”

“I don’t like going backward,” said Brace, “and we might be getting into a worse place.”

“Out of the frying-pan into the fire, eh? Right: so we’ll stop here and be fried.”

The division was made, and soon after dark Brace found himself keeping a sharp look-out on deck in company with Briscoe and part of the crew, the captain taking the first watch, while the first and second mates were below with half the men, ready to rush up at the first summons.

This plan was quite in accordance with Brace’s wishes, for it enabled him to keep stealing down to his brother’s berth, and after these visits he would return on deck better satisfied, for the patient was still sleeping heavily, and there was not a symptom visible that could cause alarm.

The captain was also of this opinion, he informed Brace, as the young man took a turn or two with him up and down the deck.

“You’ve nothing to fidget about, squire. That arrow was poisoned, sure enough; but what you did, and the bleeding, washed all the bad stuff away, and the wound will begin to heal up at once. There, you go and use your eyes in all directions, my lad. I want to think.”

The dismissal was imperative, and after sweeping the edge of the forest and gazing for a long time up and down the river again and again with his glass, Brace stopped beside the American, who was seated on the bulwark with one arm holding on by the shrouds and his rifle across his knees, silent and watchful in the extreme.

“Seen anything?” whispered Brace.

“A few fireflies; and I’ve heard a splash or two: that’s all,” was the reply.

“Think we shall be attacked to-night?”

“Likely enough. If we are it will be by canoes dropping down from that projecting part of the bank yonder. The enemy will come upon us quietly in the darkness, and we shall only know they are here when they begin swarming over the side.”

“And then?” said Brace, as he stood with his eyes fixed upon the dimly-seen point a hundred yards above, where a faint spark of light glimmered out from time to time as if a party of savages were gathered there, and were passing the time in smoking before the attack was made.

“Well, then,” said Briscoe coolly, “we shall have to shoot some, and knock the rest back into their canoes or the river, I suppose.”

“That sounds pleasant,” said Brace.

“Yes, but we must take the rough with the smooth. One can’t expect everything to go right. But don’t let’s meet trouble half-way. Just as likely as not we may go on for a month now and see no more of the enemy. I wonder whether this river leads up to the old golden city.”

“Which old golden city are you speaking of?” asked Brace wonderingly.

“The old one the Spaniards and the early English voyagers were always seeking.”

“But that was only an old fable.”

“I don’t know,” said Briscoe thoughtfully. “They had it, I suppose, from native reports, and they never found it.”

“Of course not. Itwasonly a travellers’ tale.”

“Perhaps so, but the wealth of Mexico and of Peru did not turn out to be a travellers’ tale.”

“Well, no,” said Brace slowly.

“And there is plenty of room out here in the mountains or beyond the forest for such a golden city.”

“Oh, yes, plenty of room,” said Brace.

“There is gold in the upper waters of the rivers, for I have found it. We shall find some in this, I’ll be bound—some day when we’ve sailed up as far as we can, and then pushed on up the shallows in a boat right away towards the mountains.”

“What mountains?” asked Brace.

“The unexplored mountains from which these great rivers spring.”

“Unexplored?”

“Certainly. Travellers have been pretty well everywhere in other countries, but there are vast tracts here in Central South America that have never been tapped as yet by explorers. Who knows what we may find?”

“Ah, who knows? Well, we shall see.”

“If only our health holds out and the winds favour us till we have sailed up into the higher regions. What would help us most are floods to give us plenty of deep water.”

“Are we likely to get floods?”

“Plenty. Every storm in the mountains swells these rivers, and if the wind will blow well from the sea we can get up a tremendous distance, for we shall have plenty of deep water.”

“But you want, like us, to try and collect plenty of fresh natural-history objects, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“You don’t dream of discovering any old golden city, as you call it?”

“Not in the least; but if we do come upon traces of any old civilisation during our voyage we shall not pass it by without examining it as far as we can. What’s the matter?”

Brace had suddenly gripped his companion’s arm whilst he was speaking, and in response to Briscoe’s question he thrust his right hand over the side of the brig and pointed up the river.

Briscoe shaded his eyes and gazed in the indicated direction for some moments.

“I see nothing,” he whispered at last.

“Look again, a little way out from the point.”

There was another pause in the darkness, and then the American spoke.

“Your eyes are better than mine. Yes, I see it now. What do you make of it?”

“Three canoes following one another and coming slowly with the stream.”

“Full of men?” said Briscoe.

“It is too dark to see.”

“Pst! Captain!” whispered Briscoe, and that gentleman crossed to where they stood.

“See anything?”

For answer Brace pointed up stream, and after a sharp glance the captain sent one of the men below, and the whole party were upon thequi vive, with hardly a word being uttered, for every man was prepared for the alarm. That which had been fully expected had occurred, and, rifles in hand, officers, passengers, and crew took the places to which they had been appointed.

Brace’s heart beat fast as he stood gazing at the long low shadowy objects gliding slowly nearer and nearer to the brig, thinking the while that if he were captain he would give the order at once for fire to be opened with buckshot, so that it might scatter and wound as many of the Indians as possible without causing death.

But he was not in command, and he started with surprise, for the captain’s voice suddenly rang out with an order, though not the one he anticipated.

“Stand by, a couple of you,” he said, “and be handy there, Mr Dellow, to let go the port anchor. I expect they’ll foul the cable and send us adrift.”

There was a pattering of feet upon the deck, and the next moment Captain Banes’s hand was upon Brace’s shoulder.

“Your eyes are a little out of focus, squire,” he said quietly. “They magnify too much, and see more than there is.”

“Why—what—surely—” stammered Brace.

“It’s all right, my lad,” said the captain quietly. “Better than seeing nothing when there’s real danger coming on board.”

“They deceived me, captain,” said Briscoe.

“So they did me, sir, at the first squint. I thought we were in for a scrimmage, and that before long I should be cutting up sticking-plaster and putting it on. Two fine old sticks of timber those, squire, and they must have come down some fierce falls to be stripped of their boughs like that. Now, then, are they going to foul our cable and send us adrift or will they slip quietly by?”

Brace felt so annoyed and disgusted that he could find no words for the moment, and he stood there watching the two old tree-trunks coming closer and closer, till the foremost just missed the cable, and directly after touched the brig’s bows with a slow, dull, heavy impact which made her jar from end to end.

“Bah!” ejaculated the lad, in his disgust, and, turning away, he left the deck, glad of the excuse of going down into the cabin to see after his brother.

But the second mate was waiting for him when he came up, ready with a bantering laugh.

“I say, sir,” he whispered, “aren’t you a bit too eager for a fight?”

Brace said nothing, but, mortified by his mistake, walked right aft, to stand leaning over the stern, gazing down into the black waters as they came rushing and whispering from beneath the vessel, eddying about the rudder, and suggesting wonders of the mysterious monsters that might even then be gazing up at him with glassy eyes, meditating a spring and a snatch to seize and drag him down to their lair, as he had seen the two savages snatched from life not many hours before.

“Horrible!” he muttered, half-aloud, as he shrank away with a shudder.

“What’s horrible?” said the familiar voice of the American behind him; “being chaffed by the skipper? Don’t be so thin-skinned.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that,” said Brace frankly. “I was slightly annoyed for the moment, but it was only a mistake.”

“Of course, and it’s better to be too particular than not particular enough. We should look well if we were taken by surprise. What was horrible, then?”

“I was thinking about those two Indians being seized and dragged down as I looked over the side, and of the possibility of a huge snake making a snatch at one, and then—ugh!”

“Were you?” said Briscoe, with a faint laugh. “Why, I was leaning over the side yonder, and I turned quite nervous with fancying something of the same kind. A bit cowardly, I suppose, but it would be an awful death.”

“Don’t talk about it,” said Brace. “If you’re cowardly in that way, I am. I never thought of these rivers being infested with such horrible creatures.”

“The worst being the crocodiles,” said Briscoe; “but they wouldn’t be out here in the swift stream. I should say that the place to beware of the serpents would be the shallow, still creeks in sunny parts of the forest, or in the pools of the swamps, where they lie half-torpid till some animal comes in to bathe or drink.”

“Hadn’t we better change the conversation?” said Brace, laughing. “What about the Indians? I don’t feel disposed to keep watch any more.”

“Why? The danger is as great as ever.”

“So is that of being laughed at for my false alarm.”

“Oh, you should not notice that. Let’s go forward again.”

As the pair walked to the bows it was to pass the men of the watch, the rest having gone quietly below again; and no one spoke or made allusion to what had taken place, so that Brace resumed his vigil in peace, till it was time for the relief to come on deck, when he descended, to find his brother sleeping so peacefully that, in spite of all efforts to the contrary, he could not finish the night by watching at Sir Humphrey’s side, for his head slowly sank sidewise as he sat upon the cabin locker, and then all was blank till there was a creaking noise in the adjacent cabin—a noise which made him start to his feet and look wonderingly around.

Chapter Fifteen.From Shadow to Sunshine.Brace Leigh was half-asleep still as he looked down at his sleeping brother, and had hard work to collect his thoughts before making out that it was a brilliant sunny morning, that Dan was busily preparing the breakfast, and the brig careening over to port as the water rippled by her bows.Then everything was plain: there had been no attack in the night, the breeze had sprung up with the sun, and the brig was gliding at a fair rate up the river.But best all and most welcome was the appearance of Sir Humphrey when Brace descended after going on deck for a refreshing morning bath, the toilet equipment consisting of a rough towel and a bucket of water dipped out of the river by one of the men.For as Brace went to the side of the berth to gaze anxiously in his brother’s face, Sir Humphrey’s eyes opened and he stared wonderingly up into those bent upon him.“What a horrible dream!” he said slowly. “I dreamed I—Why, it was all true: I was shot with a poisoned arrow.”“Yes, Free, it’s all true enough,” said Brace, laying a hand upon the other’s forehead, to find it burning hot.“Yes, I remember everything now. I felt that I was going to die.”“We were afraid so too.”“But I’m not dead, Brace.”“Not a bit, old fellow. Does your arm hurt much?”“When I move it. Then it stings. I say, that must be a good, healthy sign!”“I should think so.”“But my head aches terribly—it is burning and throbbing.”“Aha! good morning, Sir Humphrey,” cried the captain cheerily. “Come, that’s better. Why, you frightened us all last night.”“I am very sorry.”“And I am very glad,” said the captain. “Did I hear you say just now that your head was aching very badly?”“Yes, terribly.”“Well, don’t be uneasy about that. I gave you a strong dose of opium yesterday, and you’ve only just slept it off. Never mind about the head. Let your doctors see your arm.”This was carefully unbandaged, the captain displaying no mean skill.“Swollen a bit,” he said; “the bandages have been drawn too tight. A nasty hurt; but you’re a healthy man, and the wound looks the same. There’s no poison here.”“Do you feel sure?” asked Sir Humphrey, while Brace looked anxiously on.“Certain, sir. Look for yourself. A bit hot and inflamed, and very tender to the touch, but quite natural. A poisoned wound would look very different from that. Here, squire, we’ll give it a good bath and a new bandage and it will be quite easy. We’re not going to turn back from our voyage because our leader has been hurt.”“Your words do me good, captain,” said Sir Humphrey, smiling. “A man cannot help feeling just a bit nervous when he has received such a wound, can he?”“Of course not, sir. He wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t. I don’t suppose a marble image minds much about a chip or its head being knocked off. But I know I should.”“Should you, captain?” said Brace drily.“Of course I—No, I shouldn’t,” cried the captain. “I suppose a fellow wouldn’t think much without his head. But let’s talk sense. I’m not a doctor, Sir Humphrey, but I’ve had a lot of queer jobs to tackle in my time, and only lost one patient. He was too much for me. Fell from the main-top cross-trees and broke his neck. I couldn’t set that. But I did set a broken arm and a broken leg. Made ’em stronger than they were before. Then I had a chap nipped between a water-cask and the side of the hold. Broke two of his ribs. I mended him too.”“How did you manage to set the ribs?” said Brace, noting that the captain’s decisive way influenced his brother.“Made ’em set themselves, squire. I gave him as much as he could eat, and then made him draw in as much air as he could and hold it while I put a great broad bandage round him. I had a piece of canvas pierced with eye-holes, and laced it up tight about his chest with a bit o’ yarn. He came right again in no time. So will you, sir. All you want for this arm is rest, plenty of cold bathing, and clean bandages. Nature will soon heal that up. How does the sponging feel?”“Delightful!” said the patient.“And what about your head?”“Very bad.”“Cup of tea will soon set that right, sir; but I meant your thinking apparatus—let’s have some more water, squire. There, I’ll hold his arm over the basin, and you trickle it on from the spout of the can gently. That’ll make the muscles contract healthily and help the swelling to go down.”“Most comforting!” said Sir Humphrey, with a sigh of relief. “But what did you mean about my thinking apparatus?”“Not going to fancy your wound’s poisoned, are you?”“N–no,” said the patient, hesitating. “I suppose I need not fidget about that?”“Not a bit, sir,” said the captain gruffly, as he went on busying himself about the wound. “I daresay there was something on the arrow-head, but squire here cleansed the wound beautifully, and you can see for yourself that this side is all right, and take our word for it that the other looks just the same. Now, squire, we’ll have some of that lint on, and a light bandage to keep it clean and cool. He’ll have the arm in a sling and hold it still, so that there’s no fear of any more bleeding, and it will heal up again in a very short time.”Sir Humphrey unconsciously sighed again, but it was a sigh of relief and a few minutes after Dan brought him a cup of tea, of which he partook, and once more dropped asleep when everything had been done.“Bit weak,” said the captain softly. “Best thing he can do. Sleep’s a fine thing, and it seems the best thing in the world when you’ve got the watch and your eyelids keep on sticking together and making you feel as if you must break up a couple of sticks to turn into props. Now come and have some breakfast, my lad. I want mine. Eh? what do you say? We’re sailing up?”“Yes; we’re going fast.”“Ever since sunrise, my lad, and we’re miles away from where we anchored, and likely to get miles more ahead by night, so that we may hope for better anchorage and better sport than we had yesterday. Hungry?”“Well, yes,” said Brace. “I feel more at ease about my brother.”“That’s right,” said the captain, sniffing. “I say! ham smells good. Coffee too. That skinny chap of Briscoe’s makes a splendid steward. You’ll feel in better heart still when you’ve had your breakfast. Sun’s out again.”“Yes,” said Brace; “I saw it was a bright morning.”“I didn’t mean that: I meant your sun, squire—the one inside a man which gets clouded over sometimes, and means dumps till it comes out again and lights him up. Sun’s in: a man can’t eat. Sun’s out: he can. See?”“Yes,” said Brace, laughing; “I think I shall have an appetite to-day.”The next minute he was proving his words; but his efforts did not bring him abreast of the captain and the others, though the captain said afterwards in confidence:“The passengers did not play such a very bad knife and fork.”

Brace Leigh was half-asleep still as he looked down at his sleeping brother, and had hard work to collect his thoughts before making out that it was a brilliant sunny morning, that Dan was busily preparing the breakfast, and the brig careening over to port as the water rippled by her bows.

Then everything was plain: there had been no attack in the night, the breeze had sprung up with the sun, and the brig was gliding at a fair rate up the river.

But best all and most welcome was the appearance of Sir Humphrey when Brace descended after going on deck for a refreshing morning bath, the toilet equipment consisting of a rough towel and a bucket of water dipped out of the river by one of the men.

For as Brace went to the side of the berth to gaze anxiously in his brother’s face, Sir Humphrey’s eyes opened and he stared wonderingly up into those bent upon him.

“What a horrible dream!” he said slowly. “I dreamed I—Why, it was all true: I was shot with a poisoned arrow.”

“Yes, Free, it’s all true enough,” said Brace, laying a hand upon the other’s forehead, to find it burning hot.

“Yes, I remember everything now. I felt that I was going to die.”

“We were afraid so too.”

“But I’m not dead, Brace.”

“Not a bit, old fellow. Does your arm hurt much?”

“When I move it. Then it stings. I say, that must be a good, healthy sign!”

“I should think so.”

“But my head aches terribly—it is burning and throbbing.”

“Aha! good morning, Sir Humphrey,” cried the captain cheerily. “Come, that’s better. Why, you frightened us all last night.”

“I am very sorry.”

“And I am very glad,” said the captain. “Did I hear you say just now that your head was aching very badly?”

“Yes, terribly.”

“Well, don’t be uneasy about that. I gave you a strong dose of opium yesterday, and you’ve only just slept it off. Never mind about the head. Let your doctors see your arm.”

This was carefully unbandaged, the captain displaying no mean skill.

“Swollen a bit,” he said; “the bandages have been drawn too tight. A nasty hurt; but you’re a healthy man, and the wound looks the same. There’s no poison here.”

“Do you feel sure?” asked Sir Humphrey, while Brace looked anxiously on.

“Certain, sir. Look for yourself. A bit hot and inflamed, and very tender to the touch, but quite natural. A poisoned wound would look very different from that. Here, squire, we’ll give it a good bath and a new bandage and it will be quite easy. We’re not going to turn back from our voyage because our leader has been hurt.”

“Your words do me good, captain,” said Sir Humphrey, smiling. “A man cannot help feeling just a bit nervous when he has received such a wound, can he?”

“Of course not, sir. He wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t. I don’t suppose a marble image minds much about a chip or its head being knocked off. But I know I should.”

“Should you, captain?” said Brace drily.

“Of course I—No, I shouldn’t,” cried the captain. “I suppose a fellow wouldn’t think much without his head. But let’s talk sense. I’m not a doctor, Sir Humphrey, but I’ve had a lot of queer jobs to tackle in my time, and only lost one patient. He was too much for me. Fell from the main-top cross-trees and broke his neck. I couldn’t set that. But I did set a broken arm and a broken leg. Made ’em stronger than they were before. Then I had a chap nipped between a water-cask and the side of the hold. Broke two of his ribs. I mended him too.”

“How did you manage to set the ribs?” said Brace, noting that the captain’s decisive way influenced his brother.

“Made ’em set themselves, squire. I gave him as much as he could eat, and then made him draw in as much air as he could and hold it while I put a great broad bandage round him. I had a piece of canvas pierced with eye-holes, and laced it up tight about his chest with a bit o’ yarn. He came right again in no time. So will you, sir. All you want for this arm is rest, plenty of cold bathing, and clean bandages. Nature will soon heal that up. How does the sponging feel?”

“Delightful!” said the patient.

“And what about your head?”

“Very bad.”

“Cup of tea will soon set that right, sir; but I meant your thinking apparatus—let’s have some more water, squire. There, I’ll hold his arm over the basin, and you trickle it on from the spout of the can gently. That’ll make the muscles contract healthily and help the swelling to go down.”

“Most comforting!” said Sir Humphrey, with a sigh of relief. “But what did you mean about my thinking apparatus?”

“Not going to fancy your wound’s poisoned, are you?”

“N–no,” said the patient, hesitating. “I suppose I need not fidget about that?”

“Not a bit, sir,” said the captain gruffly, as he went on busying himself about the wound. “I daresay there was something on the arrow-head, but squire here cleansed the wound beautifully, and you can see for yourself that this side is all right, and take our word for it that the other looks just the same. Now, squire, we’ll have some of that lint on, and a light bandage to keep it clean and cool. He’ll have the arm in a sling and hold it still, so that there’s no fear of any more bleeding, and it will heal up again in a very short time.”

Sir Humphrey unconsciously sighed again, but it was a sigh of relief and a few minutes after Dan brought him a cup of tea, of which he partook, and once more dropped asleep when everything had been done.

“Bit weak,” said the captain softly. “Best thing he can do. Sleep’s a fine thing, and it seems the best thing in the world when you’ve got the watch and your eyelids keep on sticking together and making you feel as if you must break up a couple of sticks to turn into props. Now come and have some breakfast, my lad. I want mine. Eh? what do you say? We’re sailing up?”

“Yes; we’re going fast.”

“Ever since sunrise, my lad, and we’re miles away from where we anchored, and likely to get miles more ahead by night, so that we may hope for better anchorage and better sport than we had yesterday. Hungry?”

“Well, yes,” said Brace. “I feel more at ease about my brother.”

“That’s right,” said the captain, sniffing. “I say! ham smells good. Coffee too. That skinny chap of Briscoe’s makes a splendid steward. You’ll feel in better heart still when you’ve had your breakfast. Sun’s out again.”

“Yes,” said Brace; “I saw it was a bright morning.”

“I didn’t mean that: I meant your sun, squire—the one inside a man which gets clouded over sometimes, and means dumps till it comes out again and lights him up. Sun’s in: a man can’t eat. Sun’s out: he can. See?”

“Yes,” said Brace, laughing; “I think I shall have an appetite to-day.”

The next minute he was proving his words; but his efforts did not bring him abreast of the captain and the others, though the captain said afterwards in confidence:

“The passengers did not play such a very bad knife and fork.”

Chapter Sixteen.Rapid Progress.A favourable breeze sent the brig higher and higher up the river all that day, the captain taking advantage of the many broad reaches to spread ample canvas.There was only one drawback to their full enjoyment, and that was the absence of the wounded man.Brace had the satisfaction of seeing his brother asleep again and again, sinking into pleasant restful slumbers, from which he awoke sensibly refreshed and freed from fever. In fact, all cause for anxiety seemed to have disappeared, and all on board became more cheerful.The banks of the river were for the most part densely wooded, but twice over open park-like patches were passed where the trees were grand in the extreme, having ample room to grow in the rich soil unfettered by the parasites and vines which wove their brethren of the dense jungle into an impassable wall of verdure.No landing was attempted, the experience they had gained making the travellers disposed to wait until more open country was reached and they could feel more secure.The captain asked Briscoe what more he could wish for.“If you take a boat it will only be to go up a small stream and look for curiosities. You can do that as well here on board the brig without fagging the men with rowing along under the trees, where there is not a breath of air. Look yonder now: I don’t suppose you’d see such a thing as that if you were rowing. The noise of the oars would make it dive and keep out of sight.”“What is it?” said Brace: “it looks like a buffalo bathing.”“Not it, sir. Look again.”“A dugong,” said Briscoe, cocking and raising his double rifle.“Dugong or manatee. Sea-cows, we call ’em. Going to shoot it, sir?”The American hesitated.“It seems tempting,” he said; “but I don’t know. It’s too big for a specimen.”“And not very good to eat; at least, I don’t suppose we should like it.”“I’ve got it now,” said Brace, who had hurriedly adjusted his glass and was watching the huge creature, which kept on showing itself in a muddy bend of the river a few yards from the bank. “It looks like a monstrous seal.”“Something like a seal, squire, but I should say it was more like a walrus. It hasn’t got the great tusks of the walrus, though. You can see it well, eh?”“Capitally,” replied Brace. “Not dangerous, are they?”“Not that I ever heard of, squire. They’re great stupid innocents, as far as I know. That one wouldn’t wait for a boat to get anywhere near it; but if it did I daresay in its fright it might upset the craft. I fancy all they want is to be let alone. Pretty good size, eh?”“Yes,” said Brace; “I wish my brother were here to see it.”“Very tempting for a shot,” said Briscoe, fingering his gun.“Very,” said the captain sarcastically. “Couldn’t well miss it, sir, eh?”“Oh, I daresay I could,” said the American; “I’m very clever that way, skipper, sometimes. But there, I don’t want to kill the poor thing. Would you like to shoot, Brace Leigh?”“No,” said the young man. “It seems such a stupid, inoffensive-looking beast. I should like a shot at a jaguar or a leopard, and I could not resist having a shot at one of those loathsome old alligators if I saw one.”“There you are then,” said Briscoe softly, as he pointed to what seemed to be a trunk of an old tree floating along not very far away from the brig between the verdant bank of the river and the side of the vessel.Brace looked at it hard before he fully grasped what the object was, and then cocked the left-hand barrel of his gun.“Don’t shoot,” said Briscoe. “It is only waste of powder and bullet.”“I could hit the brute without any trouble,” said Brace.“I don’t doubt that,” said the American; “but the bullet will most likely glance off, while if it gets home the reptile will only sink.”“So I suppose; but it will be one fewer of the savage beasts.”“One out of millions,” said Briscoe. “Besides, you’ll scare away that water-elephant, and we may as well watch it for a bit.”“Gone—both of them,” said Brace, laughing, as he lowered the hammer of his piece, for the sea-cow suddenly gave a wallow and went down with a loud splash as if it had been alarmed by the sight of something approaching, while its disturbance of the water acted upon the great alligator, which sank at once, startling another, of whose presence the watchers were not aware till they caught a glimpse of the reptile’s tail as it disappeared.

A favourable breeze sent the brig higher and higher up the river all that day, the captain taking advantage of the many broad reaches to spread ample canvas.

There was only one drawback to their full enjoyment, and that was the absence of the wounded man.

Brace had the satisfaction of seeing his brother asleep again and again, sinking into pleasant restful slumbers, from which he awoke sensibly refreshed and freed from fever. In fact, all cause for anxiety seemed to have disappeared, and all on board became more cheerful.

The banks of the river were for the most part densely wooded, but twice over open park-like patches were passed where the trees were grand in the extreme, having ample room to grow in the rich soil unfettered by the parasites and vines which wove their brethren of the dense jungle into an impassable wall of verdure.

No landing was attempted, the experience they had gained making the travellers disposed to wait until more open country was reached and they could feel more secure.

The captain asked Briscoe what more he could wish for.

“If you take a boat it will only be to go up a small stream and look for curiosities. You can do that as well here on board the brig without fagging the men with rowing along under the trees, where there is not a breath of air. Look yonder now: I don’t suppose you’d see such a thing as that if you were rowing. The noise of the oars would make it dive and keep out of sight.”

“What is it?” said Brace: “it looks like a buffalo bathing.”

“Not it, sir. Look again.”

“A dugong,” said Briscoe, cocking and raising his double rifle.

“Dugong or manatee. Sea-cows, we call ’em. Going to shoot it, sir?”

The American hesitated.

“It seems tempting,” he said; “but I don’t know. It’s too big for a specimen.”

“And not very good to eat; at least, I don’t suppose we should like it.”

“I’ve got it now,” said Brace, who had hurriedly adjusted his glass and was watching the huge creature, which kept on showing itself in a muddy bend of the river a few yards from the bank. “It looks like a monstrous seal.”

“Something like a seal, squire, but I should say it was more like a walrus. It hasn’t got the great tusks of the walrus, though. You can see it well, eh?”

“Capitally,” replied Brace. “Not dangerous, are they?”

“Not that I ever heard of, squire. They’re great stupid innocents, as far as I know. That one wouldn’t wait for a boat to get anywhere near it; but if it did I daresay in its fright it might upset the craft. I fancy all they want is to be let alone. Pretty good size, eh?”

“Yes,” said Brace; “I wish my brother were here to see it.”

“Very tempting for a shot,” said Briscoe, fingering his gun.

“Very,” said the captain sarcastically. “Couldn’t well miss it, sir, eh?”

“Oh, I daresay I could,” said the American; “I’m very clever that way, skipper, sometimes. But there, I don’t want to kill the poor thing. Would you like to shoot, Brace Leigh?”

“No,” said the young man. “It seems such a stupid, inoffensive-looking beast. I should like a shot at a jaguar or a leopard, and I could not resist having a shot at one of those loathsome old alligators if I saw one.”

“There you are then,” said Briscoe softly, as he pointed to what seemed to be a trunk of an old tree floating along not very far away from the brig between the verdant bank of the river and the side of the vessel.

Brace looked at it hard before he fully grasped what the object was, and then cocked the left-hand barrel of his gun.

“Don’t shoot,” said Briscoe. “It is only waste of powder and bullet.”

“I could hit the brute without any trouble,” said Brace.

“I don’t doubt that,” said the American; “but the bullet will most likely glance off, while if it gets home the reptile will only sink.”

“So I suppose; but it will be one fewer of the savage beasts.”

“One out of millions,” said Briscoe. “Besides, you’ll scare away that water-elephant, and we may as well watch it for a bit.”

“Gone—both of them,” said Brace, laughing, as he lowered the hammer of his piece, for the sea-cow suddenly gave a wallow and went down with a loud splash as if it had been alarmed by the sight of something approaching, while its disturbance of the water acted upon the great alligator, which sank at once, startling another, of whose presence the watchers were not aware till they caught a glimpse of the reptile’s tail as it disappeared.

Chapter Seventeen.The Enemies in the Stream.In the days which followed Captain Banes navigated his brig so skilfully that the adventurers progressed far up into what seemed to be perfectly virgin country. Before a week had passed Sir Humphrey was able to be up on deck, looking a good deal pulled down, but mending fast.A good-sized awning had been stretched aft for his benefit, and here he sat back during the greater part of the day with a glass to his eye, watching the many changes of the river as the brig tacked to and fro in some reaches or ran blithely before the wind in others, for the river wound about and sometimes even completely reversed its course.And now, as the distance between the shores gradually became narrower, the travellers saw the value of the long tapering spars the captain ran up, to bear each a couple of square-sails—sky-scrapers he called them. These were spread so high above the deck that they caught the breeze when the lower pieces of canvas were either quite becalmed or shivered slightly and refused to urge the vessel against the steadily-flowing stream.The river was still a goodly stream, and its muddy waters ran deep and showed no sign of rock on either shore.Day after day the same kind of thickly-wooded forest was seen on both shores, until it became almost monotonous.Now and then they saw a bare trunk, high up whose jagged, splintered branches were marks—dried, muddy weeds and seeds—which still clung and showed to what a marvellous height the river must rise at times, turning the surrounding country for miles into one vast marsh.“Fine river this, mister,” said the captain one day, as they were gliding slowly on, the pressure of the wind being just sufficient to make the brig master the stream. “Plenty of water; no rocks. I think it would be a bit different if it was up yonder where you come from.”“Yes,” said Briscoe, smiling. “There’d be plenty of towns on the banks, well-cultivated farms everywhere, and all kinds of plantations; and instead of crawling along like this we should be travelling up in a steamer.”“With plenty of niggers along the banks to cut down the forests for burning in the engine fires, eh?” the captain asked.“Yes; these forests would soon be put to some purpose, captain.”“Yes,” said Sir Humphrey; “it must seem strange to you to sail on for hundreds of miles through wild land and find it quite in a state of nature. How much farther do you think we shall be able to sail up here?”The captain did not answer immediately, but smiled in a curiously grim fashion. Then he said:“If you’ll tell me how long these favourable winds will last, sir: how long we shall be without a storm in the mountains: and how long it will be before we encounter rocks and falls, perhaps I can answer you; but this is all as new to me as it is to you, and I cannot tell you anything about what’s going to happen to-morrow. But I suppose it don’t matter for a few weeks. You don’t want to do any boat work till you get better.”“That’s true,” said Sir Humphrey; “and it is very pleasant sailing up between these wonderful banks of trees.”“Yes, very pleasant, sir; but it makes my crew so idle that I’m afraid they won’t understand the meaning of the word work, much less be able to spell it when I want it done.”“Never mind, captain,” said Brace. “Sail away: it’s all so gloriously new.”So they sailed on and on through what seemed to be eternal summer.Now and then a shot was obtained, and some beautiful bird was collected, or a loathsome reptile’s career was brought to an end, the monster sinking down in the muddy water.On one occasion a great serpent was seen hanging in folds across the bough of a tree which dipped lower towards the river with its weight.It was Brace’s charge of buckshot which tumbled it off with a tremendous splash into the river, where it writhed and lashed the water up into foam before making for the shore, swimming with ease, much to their surprise.The spot where it landed was fairly open, and in the excitement caused by the adventure the boat, which was always kept towing behind the brig, was manned.Brace, the American, Dan, the second mate, and four men followed to get a good opportunity for putting the reptile out of its misery when it had about half-crawled out among the bushes.A well-placed shot in the head effected this, and the body lay heaving gently while the party landed. The question was then eagerly discussed what should be done.“We ought to have that skin,” said Brace. “It is an enormous brute. Why, judging from what we can see, it must be thirty feet long.”“Say forty,” cried Briscoe, laughing. “But who’s to skin it?”The question was received in dead silence, everyone gazing down at the slowly-heaving monster, about ten feet of the fore part of its body lying where it had crawled, and it was easy enough to believe that another twenty or thirty feet of the creature lay out of sight in the muddy water.“I wouldn’t do that job for a crown,” whispered one of the men to another, and a chorus of grunts followed.“Well,” said Lynton, “who is going to volunteer? Mr Brace wants that skin taken off. We must have a rope round the beggar’s neck, throw one end over one of the branches of a tree, and then we can haul him up higher and higher as we peel him down from the head.”“And suppose he begins to twissen himself up in a knot and lash out with his tail?” growled one of the men.“Bah!” cried Lynton. “Here, a couple of you row back to the brig and get a coil of rope. I’ll skin the brute myself if someone will help me to do the job.”“I’ll volunteer, Mr Lynton,” cried Brace; while Dan smiled and took off his coat before rolling up his shirt-sleeves.“Will you, sir?” cried the mate; “then we’ll soon do the job; but it’s a bit nasty and slimy, you know, and I expect it will make us smell of snake for some days.”“Never mind,” said Brace. “I’d do anything rather than lose that skin.”There was a low growling among the men as they laid their heads together before pushing off to the ship.“Now then,” cried the mate, “what is it? Why don’t you be off?”“It’s all right, sir,” said the man who had first protested; “we can’t stand by and let you and Mr Brace do the job by yourselves. We four’ll help Dan peel the beggar as soon as they’ve fetched the rope from the brig.”The boat pushed off, and the matter was discussed, the American suggesting that the best plan would be to make an incision just below where the skull was joined to the vertebrae, dislocate these so as to put a stop to all writhing, get a noose round the neck, and then it would be easy to divide the skin from throat to tail, and draw it off.“Oh, yes, sir,” said one of the men, just as the boat reached the side of the brig; “we’ll soon manage that.”“I say, Mr Briscoe,” said Brace, “I suppose the ants won’t be long in picking the reptile’s bones quite clean.”“Oh, no; they and the flies would soon finish anything that was left in the way of flesh, but I was thinking of dragging the body afterwards into the river. It’s a five-and-twenty footer, though, without doubt.”“Yes,” said Brace, “but I hope they’re not going to be long with that rope. I say, any fear of Indians about here?”“Hi! look out!” cried one of the sailors, calling to Brace and the others from where they were dividing the thick growth and peering about trying to see what was beyond.Three guns sent forth a clicking sound on the instant, as those who bore them turned to face the expected danger.Brace’s nerves quivered with excitement as he listened for the whizz of the arrows he expected to hear rush by.“Give him another shot in the head, sir,” cried one of the men; “he’s trying to wriggle himself back into the water.”Brace raised his gun to fire a charge into the serpent’s head again, for sure enough the monster was gliding slowly back through the undergrowth into the stream.But the men did not wait for him to fire. Following Dan’s example and setting aside all their horror and repugnance as they saw the reptile gliding back slowly into the river, they acted as if moved by the same set of muscles, and threw themselves upon the long lithe creature.“Now then, lads, take a good grip of him,” cried Dan, “and we’ll run him up the bank as far as we can. Ugh!”His mates backed him up well, seizing the serpent just behind the wounded head with powerful hands; but just as they had taken a firm hold and were about to put their plan into action, a tremendous thrill seemed to run from tail to head of the reptile as an eddy whirled up the water, and they let go and sprang away.“Ah, catch hold again,” cried Brace, dropping his gun and darting at the serpent, but before he could reach it the movement had become quicker, and they had the mortification of seeing their prize pass steadily backward under the bushes, and in spite of the renewed efforts of the men the half-crushed head reached the water, gliding down out of sight, and staining the surface with blood.“Yah!” yelled the man nearest to the water, and he flung himself back against his mates, who could not for a moment tell what had terrified him.On approaching the water’s edge where it flowed along dark and deep beneath the pendent boughs they heard a wallow and a splash, and the lookers-on had a startled glance at a great horny, muddied head and a pair of tooth-serrated gaping jaws, which rose above the surface and were plunged again into the bloodstained water, to disappear, but to be followed by a great gnarled-bark back and a long tail which lashed the water before it passed out of sight.Before another word could be uttered the water beneath the boughs seemed to boil up in eddies as if it were being churned from below, and during a brief space the horrified lookers-on had a glimpse or two of the slowly twining and writhing body of the serpent, as it rose to the surface from time to time, while over and under enemies were dragging at it from all directions.“Well, if that isn’t a rum un, I’m a Dutchman,” cried the second mate, as they watched the tremendous struggle going on. It gradually receded farther from the bank and the combatants were carried down stream by the current. “I never saw anything like that but once before.”“Well, I never saw it once,” said the American; while Brace was silent, standing peering through the dipping boughs so as not to lose an atom of what was going on. “Where was yours?”“At home in our river,” said the mate. “I was lying on my chest with my hand over the side of the camp-shedding, as we called the boards put to keep up the river-bank by the weir. I was looking down through the clear water at a shoal of little perch playing about, waiting for anything that might be swept over the weir, when a big earth-worm came down and the perch all went for it together, some at the head, some at the tail, or the middle, or anywhere they could get hold, and it was just like this till they all went out of sight as this has done. For it’s gone now, hasn’t it?”“Yes, quite out of sight,” said Brace, drawing a deep, sighing breath. “Why, the river seems to be alive with alligators.”“Hungry ones too,” said Lynton, “and they’ve got a fine big full-flavoured worm for breakfast. Fancy their laying hold of his tail and pulling him away from us like that!”“Say, Jemmy,” said one of the sailors, speaking to another who was standing near him, “if at any time I’m ashore and want to come aboard, you’ll have to send the boat, for I’m blessed if I’m going to try a swim.”“That’s a downright fine specimen gone, Mr Brace,” said Briscoe drily; “and I’m real sorry we lost him. What do you say about its length? I think we might make it fifty feet?”“Do you think it was fifty feet long?” cried Brace, laughing.“Well, yes, and I call that a pretty modest estimate, when we might easily have made it a hundred feet.”Dan opened his mouth, showed his teeth, and laughed with a sound like a watchman’s rattle that had lain in the water.

In the days which followed Captain Banes navigated his brig so skilfully that the adventurers progressed far up into what seemed to be perfectly virgin country. Before a week had passed Sir Humphrey was able to be up on deck, looking a good deal pulled down, but mending fast.

A good-sized awning had been stretched aft for his benefit, and here he sat back during the greater part of the day with a glass to his eye, watching the many changes of the river as the brig tacked to and fro in some reaches or ran blithely before the wind in others, for the river wound about and sometimes even completely reversed its course.

And now, as the distance between the shores gradually became narrower, the travellers saw the value of the long tapering spars the captain ran up, to bear each a couple of square-sails—sky-scrapers he called them. These were spread so high above the deck that they caught the breeze when the lower pieces of canvas were either quite becalmed or shivered slightly and refused to urge the vessel against the steadily-flowing stream.

The river was still a goodly stream, and its muddy waters ran deep and showed no sign of rock on either shore.

Day after day the same kind of thickly-wooded forest was seen on both shores, until it became almost monotonous.

Now and then they saw a bare trunk, high up whose jagged, splintered branches were marks—dried, muddy weeds and seeds—which still clung and showed to what a marvellous height the river must rise at times, turning the surrounding country for miles into one vast marsh.

“Fine river this, mister,” said the captain one day, as they were gliding slowly on, the pressure of the wind being just sufficient to make the brig master the stream. “Plenty of water; no rocks. I think it would be a bit different if it was up yonder where you come from.”

“Yes,” said Briscoe, smiling. “There’d be plenty of towns on the banks, well-cultivated farms everywhere, and all kinds of plantations; and instead of crawling along like this we should be travelling up in a steamer.”

“With plenty of niggers along the banks to cut down the forests for burning in the engine fires, eh?” the captain asked.

“Yes; these forests would soon be put to some purpose, captain.”

“Yes,” said Sir Humphrey; “it must seem strange to you to sail on for hundreds of miles through wild land and find it quite in a state of nature. How much farther do you think we shall be able to sail up here?”

The captain did not answer immediately, but smiled in a curiously grim fashion. Then he said:

“If you’ll tell me how long these favourable winds will last, sir: how long we shall be without a storm in the mountains: and how long it will be before we encounter rocks and falls, perhaps I can answer you; but this is all as new to me as it is to you, and I cannot tell you anything about what’s going to happen to-morrow. But I suppose it don’t matter for a few weeks. You don’t want to do any boat work till you get better.”

“That’s true,” said Sir Humphrey; “and it is very pleasant sailing up between these wonderful banks of trees.”

“Yes, very pleasant, sir; but it makes my crew so idle that I’m afraid they won’t understand the meaning of the word work, much less be able to spell it when I want it done.”

“Never mind, captain,” said Brace. “Sail away: it’s all so gloriously new.”

So they sailed on and on through what seemed to be eternal summer.

Now and then a shot was obtained, and some beautiful bird was collected, or a loathsome reptile’s career was brought to an end, the monster sinking down in the muddy water.

On one occasion a great serpent was seen hanging in folds across the bough of a tree which dipped lower towards the river with its weight.

It was Brace’s charge of buckshot which tumbled it off with a tremendous splash into the river, where it writhed and lashed the water up into foam before making for the shore, swimming with ease, much to their surprise.

The spot where it landed was fairly open, and in the excitement caused by the adventure the boat, which was always kept towing behind the brig, was manned.

Brace, the American, Dan, the second mate, and four men followed to get a good opportunity for putting the reptile out of its misery when it had about half-crawled out among the bushes.

A well-placed shot in the head effected this, and the body lay heaving gently while the party landed. The question was then eagerly discussed what should be done.

“We ought to have that skin,” said Brace. “It is an enormous brute. Why, judging from what we can see, it must be thirty feet long.”

“Say forty,” cried Briscoe, laughing. “But who’s to skin it?”

The question was received in dead silence, everyone gazing down at the slowly-heaving monster, about ten feet of the fore part of its body lying where it had crawled, and it was easy enough to believe that another twenty or thirty feet of the creature lay out of sight in the muddy water.

“I wouldn’t do that job for a crown,” whispered one of the men to another, and a chorus of grunts followed.

“Well,” said Lynton, “who is going to volunteer? Mr Brace wants that skin taken off. We must have a rope round the beggar’s neck, throw one end over one of the branches of a tree, and then we can haul him up higher and higher as we peel him down from the head.”

“And suppose he begins to twissen himself up in a knot and lash out with his tail?” growled one of the men.

“Bah!” cried Lynton. “Here, a couple of you row back to the brig and get a coil of rope. I’ll skin the brute myself if someone will help me to do the job.”

“I’ll volunteer, Mr Lynton,” cried Brace; while Dan smiled and took off his coat before rolling up his shirt-sleeves.

“Will you, sir?” cried the mate; “then we’ll soon do the job; but it’s a bit nasty and slimy, you know, and I expect it will make us smell of snake for some days.”

“Never mind,” said Brace. “I’d do anything rather than lose that skin.”

There was a low growling among the men as they laid their heads together before pushing off to the ship.

“Now then,” cried the mate, “what is it? Why don’t you be off?”

“It’s all right, sir,” said the man who had first protested; “we can’t stand by and let you and Mr Brace do the job by yourselves. We four’ll help Dan peel the beggar as soon as they’ve fetched the rope from the brig.”

The boat pushed off, and the matter was discussed, the American suggesting that the best plan would be to make an incision just below where the skull was joined to the vertebrae, dislocate these so as to put a stop to all writhing, get a noose round the neck, and then it would be easy to divide the skin from throat to tail, and draw it off.

“Oh, yes, sir,” said one of the men, just as the boat reached the side of the brig; “we’ll soon manage that.”

“I say, Mr Briscoe,” said Brace, “I suppose the ants won’t be long in picking the reptile’s bones quite clean.”

“Oh, no; they and the flies would soon finish anything that was left in the way of flesh, but I was thinking of dragging the body afterwards into the river. It’s a five-and-twenty footer, though, without doubt.”

“Yes,” said Brace, “but I hope they’re not going to be long with that rope. I say, any fear of Indians about here?”

“Hi! look out!” cried one of the sailors, calling to Brace and the others from where they were dividing the thick growth and peering about trying to see what was beyond.

Three guns sent forth a clicking sound on the instant, as those who bore them turned to face the expected danger.

Brace’s nerves quivered with excitement as he listened for the whizz of the arrows he expected to hear rush by.

“Give him another shot in the head, sir,” cried one of the men; “he’s trying to wriggle himself back into the water.”

Brace raised his gun to fire a charge into the serpent’s head again, for sure enough the monster was gliding slowly back through the undergrowth into the stream.

But the men did not wait for him to fire. Following Dan’s example and setting aside all their horror and repugnance as they saw the reptile gliding back slowly into the river, they acted as if moved by the same set of muscles, and threw themselves upon the long lithe creature.

“Now then, lads, take a good grip of him,” cried Dan, “and we’ll run him up the bank as far as we can. Ugh!”

His mates backed him up well, seizing the serpent just behind the wounded head with powerful hands; but just as they had taken a firm hold and were about to put their plan into action, a tremendous thrill seemed to run from tail to head of the reptile as an eddy whirled up the water, and they let go and sprang away.

“Ah, catch hold again,” cried Brace, dropping his gun and darting at the serpent, but before he could reach it the movement had become quicker, and they had the mortification of seeing their prize pass steadily backward under the bushes, and in spite of the renewed efforts of the men the half-crushed head reached the water, gliding down out of sight, and staining the surface with blood.

“Yah!” yelled the man nearest to the water, and he flung himself back against his mates, who could not for a moment tell what had terrified him.

On approaching the water’s edge where it flowed along dark and deep beneath the pendent boughs they heard a wallow and a splash, and the lookers-on had a startled glance at a great horny, muddied head and a pair of tooth-serrated gaping jaws, which rose above the surface and were plunged again into the bloodstained water, to disappear, but to be followed by a great gnarled-bark back and a long tail which lashed the water before it passed out of sight.

Before another word could be uttered the water beneath the boughs seemed to boil up in eddies as if it were being churned from below, and during a brief space the horrified lookers-on had a glimpse or two of the slowly twining and writhing body of the serpent, as it rose to the surface from time to time, while over and under enemies were dragging at it from all directions.

“Well, if that isn’t a rum un, I’m a Dutchman,” cried the second mate, as they watched the tremendous struggle going on. It gradually receded farther from the bank and the combatants were carried down stream by the current. “I never saw anything like that but once before.”

“Well, I never saw it once,” said the American; while Brace was silent, standing peering through the dipping boughs so as not to lose an atom of what was going on. “Where was yours?”

“At home in our river,” said the mate. “I was lying on my chest with my hand over the side of the camp-shedding, as we called the boards put to keep up the river-bank by the weir. I was looking down through the clear water at a shoal of little perch playing about, waiting for anything that might be swept over the weir, when a big earth-worm came down and the perch all went for it together, some at the head, some at the tail, or the middle, or anywhere they could get hold, and it was just like this till they all went out of sight as this has done. For it’s gone now, hasn’t it?”

“Yes, quite out of sight,” said Brace, drawing a deep, sighing breath. “Why, the river seems to be alive with alligators.”

“Hungry ones too,” said Lynton, “and they’ve got a fine big full-flavoured worm for breakfast. Fancy their laying hold of his tail and pulling him away from us like that!”

“Say, Jemmy,” said one of the sailors, speaking to another who was standing near him, “if at any time I’m ashore and want to come aboard, you’ll have to send the boat, for I’m blessed if I’m going to try a swim.”

“That’s a downright fine specimen gone, Mr Brace,” said Briscoe drily; “and I’m real sorry we lost him. What do you say about its length? I think we might make it fifty feet?”

“Do you think it was fifty feet long?” cried Brace, laughing.

“Well, yes, and I call that a pretty modest estimate, when we might easily have made it a hundred feet.”

Dan opened his mouth, showed his teeth, and laughed with a sound like a watchman’s rattle that had lain in the water.

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