Chapter Fifteen.Foe or Friend?It was still dark when Rob awoke, and lay listening to the heavy breathing of the other occupants of the boat. Then, turning over, he settled himself down for another hour’s sleep.But the attempt was vain. He had had his night’s rest—all for which nature craved—and he now found that he might lie and twist and turn as long as he liked without any effect whatever.Under these circumstances he crept softly out and looked at the cool, dark water lying beneath the huge leaves, some of which kept on moving in a silent, secretive manner, as if the occupants of the lake were trying to see what manner of thing the boat was, which lay so silent and dark on the surface.It had been terribly hot and stuffy under the awning, and the water looked deliciously cool and tempting. There was a fascination about the great, black leaves floating there, which seemed to invite the lad to strip off the light flannels in which he had slept, to lower himself gently over the side, and lie in and on and amongst them, with the cool water bracing and invigorating him ready for the heat and toil of the coming day.It would be good, thought Rob. Just one plunge and a few strokes, and then out and a brisk rub.But there were the alligators and fish innumerable, nearly all of which had been provided by nature with the sharpest of teeth.He shuddered at the thought of how, as soon as his white body was seen in the water, scores of voracious creatures might make a rush for him and drag him down among the lily stems for a feast.“Won’t do,” he muttered; “but what a pity it does seem!”He sat watching the surface, and, as he saw how calm and still it was, the longing for a bathe increased. It would, he felt, be so refreshing—so delicious after the hot night and the sensations of prickly heat. Surely he could get a quick plunge and back before anything could attack him; and as he thought this the longing increased tenfold, and plenty of arguments arose in favour of the attempt. There were numbers of great fish and alligators, he knew, but they were not obliged to be there now. Fish swam in shoals, and might be half a mile away one hour though swarming at another.“I’ve a good mind to,” he thought, and as that thought came he softly unfastened the collar of his flannel shirt.But he went no farther, for common sense came to the front and pointed out the folly of such a proceeding, after the warnings he had had of the dangers of the river teeming as it did with fierce occupants.“It will not do, I suppose,” he muttered. “I should like to try it, though.”He glanced around, but no one was stirring. The men forward were silent beneath their blankets, and the occupants of the canvas cabin were all sleeping heavily, as their breathing told plainly enough, so there was no fear of interruption.“I’ll try it,” said the lad, in an eager whisper.“No. There is no one to help me if I wanted any. And yet is there likely to be any danger? Most likely the alligators would swim away if they saw me, and would be more frightened of me than I should be of them. While as to the fish— Bah! I’m a coward, and nothing else. Dare say the water’s as cool as can be, while I’m as hot as any one could get without being in a fever.”He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt above the elbow, and, leaning over the side, thrust it down between the curves of two lily leaves which overlapped.“It is delightfully cool,” he said to himself, and he thrust his arm down farther, when his fingers came in contact with something rough, which started away, making the water swirl in a tremendous eddy, and caused the sudden abstraction of the lad’s arm, but not so quickly that he did not feel a sharp pang, and a tiny fish dropped from the skin on to the bottom of the boat.“The little wretch!” muttered Rob; and the lesson was sufficient. He did not feel the slightest desire to tempt the cool water more, but applied his lips to the little bite, which was bleeding freely, thinking the while that if one of those savage little fish could produce such an effect, what would be the result of an attack by a thousand.Day was near at hand as Rob sat there, though it was still dark, and a cold mist hung over the water; but the nocturnal creatures had gone to rest, and here and there came a chirrup or long-drawn whistle to tell that the birds were beginning to stir, instinctively knowing that before long the sun would be up, sending light and heat to chase away the mists of night. Now and then, too, there was a splash or a wallowing sound, as of some great creature moving in the shallows, close up beneath where the trees overhung the water, and the boy turned his head from place to place, half in awe, half in eagerness to know what had made the sound.But he could make out nothing that was more than twenty or thirty yards from where the boat swung to her moorings; and, turning his head more round, he sat thinking of the adventures of the previous day, and wondered where the puma might be.“It was a stupid thing to do to run right before that gun,” he said to himself; “but I hadn’t time to think that Mr Brazier would fire, and I didn’t want the poor beast to be killed.”Rob sat thinking of how gentle and tame the great cat-like creature seemed, and a curious sensation of sorrow came over him as he thought of it crawling away into some shelter to die in agony from the effects of the deadly wounds inflicted by Brazier’s gun.“And if I had not tumbled down,” he said to himself, “it would have been me instead;” and now he shuddered, for the full truth of his narrow escape dawned upon him.“It would have been horrid,” he thought; “I never felt before how near it was.”He leaned back and looked around at the misty darkness and then up at the sky, where all at once a tiny patch began to glow and rapidly become warmer, till it was of a vivid orange.“Morning,” said Rob half aloud; and feeling quite light-hearted at the prospect of daylight and breakfast, he sat up and looked round him at the positions, now dimly seen, of his companions, and was just thinking of rousing up the men to see to the fire, when the latter took his attention, and he turned to see if it was still glowing.For some minutes he could not make out the exact spot where it had been made. It was in a little natural clearing about twenty yards from the bank, but the early morning was still too dark for him to make out either bank or clearing, till all at once a faint puff of air swept over the lake, and as it passed the boat, going toward the forest, there was a faint glow, as of phosphorescence, trembling in one particular spot, and he knew that it must be caused by the fanning of the embers.That faint light was only visible for a few moments, then all was dark again, but it was a transparent darkness, gradually growing clearer. Then a tree seemed to start up on the scene, and a clump of bushes nearer the fire. Soon after he could make out a great patch of feathery green, and this had hardly grown clear enough for him to be certain what it was, when something misty and undefined appeared to be moving along the bank close to the tree to which the boat was tethered. The next moment it melted away into the soft darkness.“Fancy!” said Rob to himself. But directly after he knew it was not fancy, for he could hear a peculiar scratching, rending sound, which put him in mind of a cat tearing with its claws at the leg of a table.And now as if by magic there was a soft warm glow diffused around, and, to his surprise and delight, he saw again the object he had before noticed, but no longer undefined. It was grey, and looked transparent, but it was a warm-grey, and grew moment by moment less transparent, gradually assuming the shape of his friend of the previous day, alive and to all appearances uninjured, as, with its soft, elastic, cat-like step and undulating body and tail, it walked slowly down to the edge of the bank, and stood staring at Rob as if waiting for him to speak.For a few moments the lad was silent and motionless, as he strove hard to detect signs of injury upon the soft, coat of the puma, but nothing was visible, and the animal remained as motionless as he, save that the long tail writhed and curled about as a snake might if gently held by its head.The next minute Rob had decided what to do.Creeping silently astern, he unfastened and paid out a good deal of the line which held the boat to the grapnel. Then refastening it, he went silently forward, and began to haul upon the other line, which was secured to the tree ashore, thus bringing the boat’s head close up to the bank and within half a dozen yards of the puma, which stood watching him till the boat touched the bank, when, without hesitation or fear of consequences, Rob stepped ashore.“Fine chance for him if he does mean to eat me!” thought Rob, with a laugh. But the next moment he did feel startled, for the animal suddenly crouched, gathered its hind legs beneath it, and he could see them working as the agile creature prepared to spring.Rob’s heart beat heavily, and a cry rose to his lips, but was not uttered, for he felt paralysed, and he would have proved to be an unresisting victim had the puma’s intentions been inimical. But the lad soon knew that they were friendly, for the great bound the creature gave landed it at his feet, where it immediately rolled over on to its side, then turned upon its back, and with touches soft as those of a kitten pulled at the boy’s legs and feet, looking playfully up at him the while.“Why, you are a tame one,” said Rob, with a sigh of relief. “There’s no danger in you whatever,” and sinking on one knee, he patted and rubbed the great soft head which was gently moved about in his hand.So satisfactory was this to the puma that it rolled itself about on the ground, pressed its head against Rob’s knee, and finally turned over once more, couched, laid its head against him, and gazed up in his eyes as he placed his hand upon the soft browny-grey head.“Well, there’s no mistake about this,” said Rob aloud; “you and I are good friends, and you must be a tame one. The thing is, where is your master?”Rob had hardly uttered the word “tame” before the puma’s eyes dilated, and it uttered a low, deep growl, staring fiercely the while at the boat.Rob followed the direction of the animal’s eyes, and saw that it was watching Brazier, who had just stepped out from the canvas cabin, holding a gun in his hand.“Don’t! don’t do that!” cried Rob excitedly. “It’s quite tame, Mr Brazier. Look!”He was about to bend down and caress the puma again; but as he turned it was only to see its soft, tawny skin and outstretched tail as it made one bound into the thick, low growth of bush and feathery grass, and it was gone.“Why, Rob,” cried his leader, “how could you be so foolish as to go near that savage beast?”“But it isn’t savage,” said the lad eagerly; “it’s as tame as any cat. It must belong to some one near.”By this time Shaddy had heard the talking and risen, rather apologetic for sleeping so long, and as soon as he had called up his men and sent them ashore to see to the fire the case was laid before him.“Nay, Master Rob,” he said, “there’s no one about here to tame lions. It’s a wild one sure enough. Dessayhe never saw a man or boy before, and he’s a young one perhaps, and a bit kittenish. Wants to make friends.”“Friends with a dangerous beast like that, man?” cried Brazier. “Absurd!”“Oh, they’re not dangerous, sir; that is, not to man. I never heard of a lion touching a man unless the man had shot at and hurt him. Then they’ll fight savagely for their lives. Dangerous to monkeys, or dogs, or deer; but I’m not surprised at its taking to Master Rob here, and don’t see no call to fear.”“Well, of course your experience is greater than mine, Naylor,” said Brazier; “but I should have thought that at any moment the beast might turn and rend him.”“No, sir; no, sir; no fear of that! I daresay the crittur would follow him anywhere and be as friendly as a cat. The Indians never take any notice of lions. It’s the tigers they’re a bit scared about. Lions hate tigers too; and I’ve known ’em fight till they were both dying.”“Ah well, we need not discuss the matter, for the puma has gone.”“Thought you were going to shoot at it again, sir,” said Rob in rather an ill-used tone, for he was disappointed at the sudden interruption to his friendly intercourse with the beautiful beast.By this time Giovanni was out of the boat, and stared rather at the account of the morning’s adventure; but the announcement soon after that the coffee was boiling changed the conversation, and for the time being the puma was forgotten.The great natural clearing at the edge of the lake and the opening out of the river itself gave so much opportunity for Brazier to prosecute his collecting that he at once decided upon staying in the neighbourhood—certainly for that day, if not for one or two more, and in consequence the fire was left smouldering, while the boat was forced along close in shore, which was no easy task, on account of the dense growth of lilies.The heat was great, but forgotten in the excitement of collecting, and, with the help of his young companions, Brazier kept on making additions to his specimens, while Rob’s great regret was that they were not seeking birds and insects as well.“Seems such a pity,” he confided to Joe. “The orchids are very beautiful when they are hanging down from the trees, with their petals looking like the wings of insects and their colour all of such lovely yellows and blues, but we shall only have the dried, bulb-like stems to take back with us, and how do we know that they will ever flower again?”“If properly dried, a great many of them will,” said Brazier at that moment.Rob started.“I didn’t know you were listening, sir,” he said.“I was not listening, Rob, but you spoke so loudly, I could not help hearing your words. I can quite understand your preference for the brilliant-coloured and metallic-plumaged birds, and also for the lovely insects which we keep seeing, but specimens of most of these have been taken to Europe again and again, while I have already discovered at least four orchids which I am sure are new.”“But if they do not revive,” said Rob, “we shall have had all our journey for nothing.”“But they will revive, my boy, you may depend upon that—at least, some of them; and to my mind we shall have done a far greater thing in carrying to England specimens of these gorgeous flowers to live and be perpetuated in our hothouses, than in taking the dried mummies of bird and insect, which, however beautiful, can never by any possibility live again.”“I didn’t think of that,” said Rob apologetically.“I suppose not. But there, be content to help me in my collecting; you are getting plenty of adventure, and to my mind, even if we take back nothing, we shall carry with us recollections of natural wonders that will remain imprinted on our brains till the end of our days.”“He’s quite right,” thought Rob as he sat alone some time after; “but I wish he wouldn’t speak to me as if he were delivering a lecture. Of course I shall help him and work hard, but I do get tired of the flowers. They’re beautiful enough on the trees, but as soon as they are picked they begin to fade and wither away.”The conversation took place at the end of the lake, just where the river issued in a narrow stream, walled in on either side by the trees as before, and the intention was to cross this exit and go back by the other side, round to the wide clearing where they had passed the previous night.Plans in unknown waters are more easily made than carried out.They had halted for a short time at the foot of a majestic tree, one evidently of great age, and draped from where its lower boughs almost touched the water right to the crown with parasitic growth, much of which consisted of the particular family of flowers Brazier had made his expedition to collect.Here several splendid specimens were cut from a huge drooping bough which was held down by the men while the collector operated with a handy little axe, bringing down as well insects innumerable, many of which were of a stinging nature, and, to the dismay of both boys, first one and then another brilliantly marked snake of some three feet long and exceedingly slender.These active little tree-climbers set to at once to find a hiding-place, and at once it became the task of all the band to prevent this unsatisfactory proceeding, no one present looking forward with satisfaction to the prospect of having snakes as fellow-travellers, especially poisonous ones. But they were soon hunted out and thrown by means of a stick right away into the water, but not to drown, for they took to it, swimming as actively and well as an eel.“Why, that last fellow will reach one of those boughs and get back into a tree again,” cried Joe.“If a fish does not treat him like a worm,” said Rob; and he did not feel at all hopeful about the little reptile’s fate.But the next minute he had to think of his own.One minute the boat was being propelled gently through the still waters amongst the great lily leaves; the next they were in sight of the exit, and something appeared to give the boat a sudden jerk.“Alligator?” asked Rob excitedly.“Stream!” growled Shaddy, seizing an oar and rowing with all his might just as they were being swept rapidly down the lower river, the trees gliding by them and the men appearing to have no power whatever to check the boat’s way as it glided on faster and faster, leaving the open lake the next minute quite out of sight.
It was still dark when Rob awoke, and lay listening to the heavy breathing of the other occupants of the boat. Then, turning over, he settled himself down for another hour’s sleep.
But the attempt was vain. He had had his night’s rest—all for which nature craved—and he now found that he might lie and twist and turn as long as he liked without any effect whatever.
Under these circumstances he crept softly out and looked at the cool, dark water lying beneath the huge leaves, some of which kept on moving in a silent, secretive manner, as if the occupants of the lake were trying to see what manner of thing the boat was, which lay so silent and dark on the surface.
It had been terribly hot and stuffy under the awning, and the water looked deliciously cool and tempting. There was a fascination about the great, black leaves floating there, which seemed to invite the lad to strip off the light flannels in which he had slept, to lower himself gently over the side, and lie in and on and amongst them, with the cool water bracing and invigorating him ready for the heat and toil of the coming day.
It would be good, thought Rob. Just one plunge and a few strokes, and then out and a brisk rub.
But there were the alligators and fish innumerable, nearly all of which had been provided by nature with the sharpest of teeth.
He shuddered at the thought of how, as soon as his white body was seen in the water, scores of voracious creatures might make a rush for him and drag him down among the lily stems for a feast.
“Won’t do,” he muttered; “but what a pity it does seem!”
He sat watching the surface, and, as he saw how calm and still it was, the longing for a bathe increased. It would, he felt, be so refreshing—so delicious after the hot night and the sensations of prickly heat. Surely he could get a quick plunge and back before anything could attack him; and as he thought this the longing increased tenfold, and plenty of arguments arose in favour of the attempt. There were numbers of great fish and alligators, he knew, but they were not obliged to be there now. Fish swam in shoals, and might be half a mile away one hour though swarming at another.
“I’ve a good mind to,” he thought, and as that thought came he softly unfastened the collar of his flannel shirt.
But he went no farther, for common sense came to the front and pointed out the folly of such a proceeding, after the warnings he had had of the dangers of the river teeming as it did with fierce occupants.
“It will not do, I suppose,” he muttered. “I should like to try it, though.”
He glanced around, but no one was stirring. The men forward were silent beneath their blankets, and the occupants of the canvas cabin were all sleeping heavily, as their breathing told plainly enough, so there was no fear of interruption.
“I’ll try it,” said the lad, in an eager whisper.
“No. There is no one to help me if I wanted any. And yet is there likely to be any danger? Most likely the alligators would swim away if they saw me, and would be more frightened of me than I should be of them. While as to the fish— Bah! I’m a coward, and nothing else. Dare say the water’s as cool as can be, while I’m as hot as any one could get without being in a fever.”
He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt above the elbow, and, leaning over the side, thrust it down between the curves of two lily leaves which overlapped.
“It is delightfully cool,” he said to himself, and he thrust his arm down farther, when his fingers came in contact with something rough, which started away, making the water swirl in a tremendous eddy, and caused the sudden abstraction of the lad’s arm, but not so quickly that he did not feel a sharp pang, and a tiny fish dropped from the skin on to the bottom of the boat.
“The little wretch!” muttered Rob; and the lesson was sufficient. He did not feel the slightest desire to tempt the cool water more, but applied his lips to the little bite, which was bleeding freely, thinking the while that if one of those savage little fish could produce such an effect, what would be the result of an attack by a thousand.
Day was near at hand as Rob sat there, though it was still dark, and a cold mist hung over the water; but the nocturnal creatures had gone to rest, and here and there came a chirrup or long-drawn whistle to tell that the birds were beginning to stir, instinctively knowing that before long the sun would be up, sending light and heat to chase away the mists of night. Now and then, too, there was a splash or a wallowing sound, as of some great creature moving in the shallows, close up beneath where the trees overhung the water, and the boy turned his head from place to place, half in awe, half in eagerness to know what had made the sound.
But he could make out nothing that was more than twenty or thirty yards from where the boat swung to her moorings; and, turning his head more round, he sat thinking of the adventures of the previous day, and wondered where the puma might be.
“It was a stupid thing to do to run right before that gun,” he said to himself; “but I hadn’t time to think that Mr Brazier would fire, and I didn’t want the poor beast to be killed.”
Rob sat thinking of how gentle and tame the great cat-like creature seemed, and a curious sensation of sorrow came over him as he thought of it crawling away into some shelter to die in agony from the effects of the deadly wounds inflicted by Brazier’s gun.
“And if I had not tumbled down,” he said to himself, “it would have been me instead;” and now he shuddered, for the full truth of his narrow escape dawned upon him.
“It would have been horrid,” he thought; “I never felt before how near it was.”
He leaned back and looked around at the misty darkness and then up at the sky, where all at once a tiny patch began to glow and rapidly become warmer, till it was of a vivid orange.
“Morning,” said Rob half aloud; and feeling quite light-hearted at the prospect of daylight and breakfast, he sat up and looked round him at the positions, now dimly seen, of his companions, and was just thinking of rousing up the men to see to the fire, when the latter took his attention, and he turned to see if it was still glowing.
For some minutes he could not make out the exact spot where it had been made. It was in a little natural clearing about twenty yards from the bank, but the early morning was still too dark for him to make out either bank or clearing, till all at once a faint puff of air swept over the lake, and as it passed the boat, going toward the forest, there was a faint glow, as of phosphorescence, trembling in one particular spot, and he knew that it must be caused by the fanning of the embers.
That faint light was only visible for a few moments, then all was dark again, but it was a transparent darkness, gradually growing clearer. Then a tree seemed to start up on the scene, and a clump of bushes nearer the fire. Soon after he could make out a great patch of feathery green, and this had hardly grown clear enough for him to be certain what it was, when something misty and undefined appeared to be moving along the bank close to the tree to which the boat was tethered. The next moment it melted away into the soft darkness.
“Fancy!” said Rob to himself. But directly after he knew it was not fancy, for he could hear a peculiar scratching, rending sound, which put him in mind of a cat tearing with its claws at the leg of a table.
And now as if by magic there was a soft warm glow diffused around, and, to his surprise and delight, he saw again the object he had before noticed, but no longer undefined. It was grey, and looked transparent, but it was a warm-grey, and grew moment by moment less transparent, gradually assuming the shape of his friend of the previous day, alive and to all appearances uninjured, as, with its soft, elastic, cat-like step and undulating body and tail, it walked slowly down to the edge of the bank, and stood staring at Rob as if waiting for him to speak.
For a few moments the lad was silent and motionless, as he strove hard to detect signs of injury upon the soft, coat of the puma, but nothing was visible, and the animal remained as motionless as he, save that the long tail writhed and curled about as a snake might if gently held by its head.
The next minute Rob had decided what to do.
Creeping silently astern, he unfastened and paid out a good deal of the line which held the boat to the grapnel. Then refastening it, he went silently forward, and began to haul upon the other line, which was secured to the tree ashore, thus bringing the boat’s head close up to the bank and within half a dozen yards of the puma, which stood watching him till the boat touched the bank, when, without hesitation or fear of consequences, Rob stepped ashore.
“Fine chance for him if he does mean to eat me!” thought Rob, with a laugh. But the next moment he did feel startled, for the animal suddenly crouched, gathered its hind legs beneath it, and he could see them working as the agile creature prepared to spring.
Rob’s heart beat heavily, and a cry rose to his lips, but was not uttered, for he felt paralysed, and he would have proved to be an unresisting victim had the puma’s intentions been inimical. But the lad soon knew that they were friendly, for the great bound the creature gave landed it at his feet, where it immediately rolled over on to its side, then turned upon its back, and with touches soft as those of a kitten pulled at the boy’s legs and feet, looking playfully up at him the while.
“Why, you are a tame one,” said Rob, with a sigh of relief. “There’s no danger in you whatever,” and sinking on one knee, he patted and rubbed the great soft head which was gently moved about in his hand.
So satisfactory was this to the puma that it rolled itself about on the ground, pressed its head against Rob’s knee, and finally turned over once more, couched, laid its head against him, and gazed up in his eyes as he placed his hand upon the soft browny-grey head.
“Well, there’s no mistake about this,” said Rob aloud; “you and I are good friends, and you must be a tame one. The thing is, where is your master?”
Rob had hardly uttered the word “tame” before the puma’s eyes dilated, and it uttered a low, deep growl, staring fiercely the while at the boat.
Rob followed the direction of the animal’s eyes, and saw that it was watching Brazier, who had just stepped out from the canvas cabin, holding a gun in his hand.
“Don’t! don’t do that!” cried Rob excitedly. “It’s quite tame, Mr Brazier. Look!”
He was about to bend down and caress the puma again; but as he turned it was only to see its soft, tawny skin and outstretched tail as it made one bound into the thick, low growth of bush and feathery grass, and it was gone.
“Why, Rob,” cried his leader, “how could you be so foolish as to go near that savage beast?”
“But it isn’t savage,” said the lad eagerly; “it’s as tame as any cat. It must belong to some one near.”
By this time Shaddy had heard the talking and risen, rather apologetic for sleeping so long, and as soon as he had called up his men and sent them ashore to see to the fire the case was laid before him.
“Nay, Master Rob,” he said, “there’s no one about here to tame lions. It’s a wild one sure enough. Dessayhe never saw a man or boy before, and he’s a young one perhaps, and a bit kittenish. Wants to make friends.”
“Friends with a dangerous beast like that, man?” cried Brazier. “Absurd!”
“Oh, they’re not dangerous, sir; that is, not to man. I never heard of a lion touching a man unless the man had shot at and hurt him. Then they’ll fight savagely for their lives. Dangerous to monkeys, or dogs, or deer; but I’m not surprised at its taking to Master Rob here, and don’t see no call to fear.”
“Well, of course your experience is greater than mine, Naylor,” said Brazier; “but I should have thought that at any moment the beast might turn and rend him.”
“No, sir; no, sir; no fear of that! I daresay the crittur would follow him anywhere and be as friendly as a cat. The Indians never take any notice of lions. It’s the tigers they’re a bit scared about. Lions hate tigers too; and I’ve known ’em fight till they were both dying.”
“Ah well, we need not discuss the matter, for the puma has gone.”
“Thought you were going to shoot at it again, sir,” said Rob in rather an ill-used tone, for he was disappointed at the sudden interruption to his friendly intercourse with the beautiful beast.
By this time Giovanni was out of the boat, and stared rather at the account of the morning’s adventure; but the announcement soon after that the coffee was boiling changed the conversation, and for the time being the puma was forgotten.
The great natural clearing at the edge of the lake and the opening out of the river itself gave so much opportunity for Brazier to prosecute his collecting that he at once decided upon staying in the neighbourhood—certainly for that day, if not for one or two more, and in consequence the fire was left smouldering, while the boat was forced along close in shore, which was no easy task, on account of the dense growth of lilies.
The heat was great, but forgotten in the excitement of collecting, and, with the help of his young companions, Brazier kept on making additions to his specimens, while Rob’s great regret was that they were not seeking birds and insects as well.
“Seems such a pity,” he confided to Joe. “The orchids are very beautiful when they are hanging down from the trees, with their petals looking like the wings of insects and their colour all of such lovely yellows and blues, but we shall only have the dried, bulb-like stems to take back with us, and how do we know that they will ever flower again?”
“If properly dried, a great many of them will,” said Brazier at that moment.
Rob started.
“I didn’t know you were listening, sir,” he said.
“I was not listening, Rob, but you spoke so loudly, I could not help hearing your words. I can quite understand your preference for the brilliant-coloured and metallic-plumaged birds, and also for the lovely insects which we keep seeing, but specimens of most of these have been taken to Europe again and again, while I have already discovered at least four orchids which I am sure are new.”
“But if they do not revive,” said Rob, “we shall have had all our journey for nothing.”
“But they will revive, my boy, you may depend upon that—at least, some of them; and to my mind we shall have done a far greater thing in carrying to England specimens of these gorgeous flowers to live and be perpetuated in our hothouses, than in taking the dried mummies of bird and insect, which, however beautiful, can never by any possibility live again.”
“I didn’t think of that,” said Rob apologetically.
“I suppose not. But there, be content to help me in my collecting; you are getting plenty of adventure, and to my mind, even if we take back nothing, we shall carry with us recollections of natural wonders that will remain imprinted on our brains till the end of our days.”
“He’s quite right,” thought Rob as he sat alone some time after; “but I wish he wouldn’t speak to me as if he were delivering a lecture. Of course I shall help him and work hard, but I do get tired of the flowers. They’re beautiful enough on the trees, but as soon as they are picked they begin to fade and wither away.”
The conversation took place at the end of the lake, just where the river issued in a narrow stream, walled in on either side by the trees as before, and the intention was to cross this exit and go back by the other side, round to the wide clearing where they had passed the previous night.
Plans in unknown waters are more easily made than carried out.
They had halted for a short time at the foot of a majestic tree, one evidently of great age, and draped from where its lower boughs almost touched the water right to the crown with parasitic growth, much of which consisted of the particular family of flowers Brazier had made his expedition to collect.
Here several splendid specimens were cut from a huge drooping bough which was held down by the men while the collector operated with a handy little axe, bringing down as well insects innumerable, many of which were of a stinging nature, and, to the dismay of both boys, first one and then another brilliantly marked snake of some three feet long and exceedingly slender.
These active little tree-climbers set to at once to find a hiding-place, and at once it became the task of all the band to prevent this unsatisfactory proceeding, no one present looking forward with satisfaction to the prospect of having snakes as fellow-travellers, especially poisonous ones. But they were soon hunted out and thrown by means of a stick right away into the water, but not to drown, for they took to it, swimming as actively and well as an eel.
“Why, that last fellow will reach one of those boughs and get back into a tree again,” cried Joe.
“If a fish does not treat him like a worm,” said Rob; and he did not feel at all hopeful about the little reptile’s fate.
But the next minute he had to think of his own.
One minute the boat was being propelled gently through the still waters amongst the great lily leaves; the next they were in sight of the exit, and something appeared to give the boat a sudden jerk.
“Alligator?” asked Rob excitedly.
“Stream!” growled Shaddy, seizing an oar and rowing with all his might just as they were being swept rapidly down the lower river, the trees gliding by them and the men appearing to have no power whatever to check the boat’s way as it glided on faster and faster, leaving the open lake the next minute quite out of sight.
Chapter Sixteen.In a Tropic Storm.Rob and Joe looked at each other quite aghast as the boat was literally snatched away out of the boatmen’s control and went tearing down the river. For, beside the alteration in their plans, there was the fire waiting, all glowing embers, that would cook to perfection; there were wild fruits which the two lads had noted from the boat; and there was the puma, whose society Rob felt a strong desire to cultivate.Then, too, there was something startling in being suddenly robbed of all power to act and being swept at a headlong speed along a rapid, for aught they knew, toward some terrible waterfall, over which they would be hurled. So that it was with no little satisfaction that they saw Shaddy seize the boat-hook and, after urging the crew to do their best to pull the boat toward the trees, stand up in the bows and wait his turn.The crew worked hard, and kept the boat’s head up stream, and by degrees they contrived to get it closer to the side, while Shaddy made three attempts to catch hold of a branch. In each case the bough snapped off, but at the fourth try the bough bent and held, though so great was the shock that when the hook caught, the strong-armed man was nearly drawn over the bows into the river, and would have been but for one of the boatmen’s help.It was a sharp tussle for a few moments, and then two of the men caught hold of hanging branches as the boat swung within reach. The next minute a rope was passed round a branch, and the boat was safely moored.“Mind looking to see whether I’ve got any arms, Mr Rob?” said Shaddy. “Feels as if they were both jerked out of their sockets.”“Are you hurt much?” asked the boys in a breath.“Pootty tidy, young gents; but I ain’t going to holler about it. There’s no time. I don’t mind going fast, you know, either in a boat or on horseback, but I do hate for the boat or the horse to take the bit in its teeth and bolt as this did just now.”“What do you propose doing, Naylor?” said Brazier. “It is impossible to get back, and yet I should have liked a few hours more at that clearing.”“And them you shall have, sir, somehow. I’m not the man to be beaten by a boat without making a bit of a fight for it first. Let’s get my breath and my arms—ah! they’re coming back now. I can begin to feel ’em a bit.”He sat rubbing his biceps, laughing at the boys, Brazier looking up and down-stream uneasily the while.“Do you know exactly where this river runs, Naylor?” he said at last.“Well, not exactly, sir. I know it goes right through the sort of country you want to see, and that was enough for me; but I’ve a notion that it goes up to the nor’-west, winding and twisting about till it runs in one spot pootty nigh to the big river we left, so that we can perhaps go up some side stream, drag the boat across a portage, and launch her for our back journey over the same ground or water as we came up.”“But we shall never get back to the lake,” said Rob, as he glanced at the running stream which glided rapidly by, making the boat drag at its tethering rope as if at any moment it would snatch itself free.“Never’s a long time, Mr Rob. We’ll see.”He turned to his men, gave them a few instructions in a low tone of voice, and three seated themselves on the port side, while Shaddy and the fourth, a herculean fellow with muscles which bulged out like huge ropes from his bronzed arms, stood in the bows, the latter with the boat-hook and Shaddy with the rope.“Praps you young gentlemen wouldn’t mind putting a hand to the branches when you get a chance,” said Shaddy; “every pound of help gives us a pound of strength.”Then, renewing his orders, he seized the light rope, hauled upon it, the man beside him making good use of his hook, and between them they dragged the boat a few feet and made fast the rope, hauled again, cast off the rope, and made fast again—all helping wherever a bough could be caught.And so they slowly fought their way back against the gigantic strength of the rapid stream, but not without risks. Rob was hauling away at a bough with all his might, when it suddenly snapped, and he would have gone overboard had not Joe thrown himself upon him and held on just as he was toppling down without power to recover his balance.“That was near,” said Rob as he gazed on the young Italian’s ghastly face. “I say, don’t look scared like that.”Joe shuddered and resumed his work, while Rob put a little less energy into his next movements for a few minutes, but forgot his escape directly after, and worked away with the rest.It was toil which required constant effort, and they won their way upward very slowly. Twice over they lost ground by the giving way of the branch to which the rope had been attached, and once the boat-hook slipped from the Indian’s hand and floated down-stream past the boat, the heavy iron end causing it to keep nearly upright. For a few moments it disappeared, but came gently to the surface again just as it was passing the stern, when the boys gave a ringing cheer, for, leaning out as far as he could, Brazier secured it and passed it back to the man.Of minor troubles there were plenty. At one moment they would be covered with insects which were rudely shaken from the boughs; at another some branch beneath which they were passing would threaten to sweep the canvas cabin out of the boat; and once it was Joe, whose flannel was caught by a snaggy end and hung there with the boat passing from under him till a chorus of cries made the stalwart boatman cease his efforts and look back at the mischief he was causing as he hauled.But, in spite of all difficulties, the boat was slowly drawn over the ground lost in the wild race downward, till at last the lake was reached, and a few sturdy efforts sufficed to drag it once more into still water.“Once is enough for a job like that, Master Rob,” said Shaddy, as he wiped his dripping brow with the back of his hand.“It was hard work,” replied Rob.“Ay, ’twas; and if you wouldn’t mind saying you were so hungry you didn’t know what to do, it would be doing us all a kindness, and make Mr Brazier think about meat instead of vegetables.”He gave his head a nod sidewise at Brazier’s back, for as the men rested under the shade of a tree the naturalist was busy hauling down some lovely clusters of blossoms from overhead.“You mean you want some dinner, Shaddy?”“That’s it, sir. This here engine will soon stop working if you don’t put on more coal.”“I’ll give him a hint,” said Rob, laughing; and he did, the result being that Brazier gave the word for the men to row right across toward the clearing—a task they eagerly commenced in spite of the heat and the sturdy effort required to force a way through the dense covering of broad green leaves. They had the river to cross on their way, and as the clear stream was neared a long way above its exit from the lake the men, as if moved by one impulse, ceased rowing, and paused to take their breath before making a sturdy effort to cross it without losing ground.It was a necessary precaution, for the moment the bows of the boat issued from among the dense growth the stem was pressed heavily downward, and the opposite side of the stream was reached after quite a sharp fight. Then the long, steady pull was commenced again, and, with the leaves brushing against the side, they forced their way onward till the clearing came in view.The faint curl of bluish smoke encouraged the men to fresh efforts, all thinking of broiled deer meat and a fragrant cup of coffee, both of which afforded grateful refreshment soon after they touched the shore.“Will it be safe to attempt to continue our journey down that part of the river?” Brazier asked as they were seated afterward in the shade.“Oh yes, sir, safe enough,” replied Shaddy.“But suppose we have to come back the same way?”“Well, sir, we can do it, only it will take time.”“You will not mind, Mr Brazier?” said Joe, smiling.“Indeed I shall, for the work is terrible. Why did you say that?”“Because you will have such a chance to collect, sir. I saw hundreds of beautiful blossoms which I thought you would like to get, and you could gather them while the men rested.”“Ay, to be sure, sir. Don’t you mind about that river being swift! Only wants contriving, and for you to know what’s coming, so as to be prepared. Now I know what to expect, I can manage. I shall just set two of the fellows to pull gently, and go down starn first, and always sit there ready with the boat-hook to hitch on to a tree if we are going too fast. You trust me, sir, spite of all that’s gone before, and I’ll do my best for you and the young gents till your journey’s done, though I don’t see any coming back this way.”“Of course I shall trust you,” said Brazier. “What’s the matter?”“Trust me now then, sir,” cried Shaddy, who had leaped up, and was looking sharply round. “Get aboard, all of you. Now, boys!” he roared to his men, and he pointed to the sky.Shaddy’s orders were obeyed, and though there seemed to be no reason for the preparations made, the guide was so confident of the coming of a heavy storm that the waterproof sheet brought for such an emergency was quickly drawn over the canvas roof of their little cabin and made fast; the boat was moored head and stern close up to the bank and beneath a huge, sheltering tree, the balers were laid ready for use in the fore-part and the stern; and when this was all done, and the greatest care taken to keep powder and bedding dry, Brazier turned and looked at Shaddy.“Well,” he said, “is not this a false alarm?”“No, sir; there’s a storm coming. We shall have it soon. Good job we’d got the cooking done.”“But I can’t see a cloud,” said Rob.“Don’t matter,” replied Joe, who was also looking keenly round. “I’ve seen the heavy rain come streaming down when the sky has been quite clear, and the water has felt quite warm. Look at those fellows; they know the storm’s coming, or they would not do that.”He pointed toward the boatmen, who were throwing a tarpaulin across the bows, ready for them to creep under as soon as the rain came.“False alarm, boys!” said Brazier.Shaddy overheard him, and wrinkled up his face in a curious grin as he looked hard at Rob. It was as much as to say, “All right! Just you wait a bit and see who’s right and who’s wrong.”“My word, how hot!” cried Rob the next minute, for the sun appeared to be shining down through a kind of transparent haze so dense that it acted like a burning glass.“Yes, this is fierce,” said Joe, drawing back into the shade afforded by the great tree.“It would give one sunstroke, wouldn’t it, if we stopped in the full blaze?”“I suppose so. But I say, Shaddy’s right. We are going to have a storm.”“How do you know?”“By the sun gleaming out like that.”“Oh, I don’t think that’s anything,” said Rob. “Here, let’s get up into this tree and collect some orchids for Mr Brazier.”He looked up into the large forest monarch as he spoke—a tree which on three sides was wonderfully laden with great drooping boughs. Consequent upon its position at the western corner of the clearing where the boat was moored, the boughs formed a magnificent shelter for their boat down almost to the water, while on the side of the opening they pretty well touched the ground.But Rob paid little heed to this, his attention being taken up by the fact that, though there was perfect silence, the tree was alive with birds and monkeys, which were huddled together in groups, as if their instinct had taught them that a terrible convulsion of nature was at hand. As a rule they would have taken flight or scampered about through the branches as soon as human beings had come to the tree, but now, as if aware of some great danger, they were content to share the shelter and run all risks.“See them, Master Rob?” said Shaddy, with a grin. “No mistake this time! Look out; I daresay there’ll be snakes dropping down there by-and-by, but so long as you don’t touch ’em I don’t s’pose they’ll touch us. Shouldn’t wonder if we get something else.”Just then Brazier called him to draw his attention to some of the covering, and they heard him say,—“Don’t see as we can do any more, sir. Things are sure to get wet; you can’t stop it. All we can do is to keep ’em from getting wetter than we can help.”The sun still shone brilliantly, streaming down, as it were, through the leaves of the great tree like a shower of silver rain, but the silence now was painful, and Rob strained his ears to catch the peculiar modulation of one of the cricket-like insects which were generally so common around. But not one made a sound, and at last, as if troubled by the silence, the boy cried half jeeringly, “All this trouble for nothing! I say, Joe, where’s the storm?”“Here!” was the reply in a whisper, as all at once out of the clear sky great drops of rain came pattering down, then great splashes; and directly after, with a hissing rush, there were sheets of rushing water streaming through the branches and splashing upon the tarpaulin coverings of the boat.“I say, I never saw it rain like this before,” cried Rob as he sheltered himself beneath the tarpaulin and canvas. “Will it thunder—”He was going to say, “too,” but the word remained unspoken, and he shrank back appalled by a blinding flash of vivid blue lightning, which seemed to dash through beneath their shelter and make every face look of a ghastly bluish-grey.Almost simultaneously there was a deafening peal of thunder, and, as if by an instantaneous change—probably by some icy current of air on high—the moisture-laden atmosphere was darkened by dense mists whirling and looking like foam, clouds of slaty black shut out the sun, and the rain came down in a perfect deluge, streaming through the tree and pouring into the lake with one incessant roaring splash.One moment beneath the awning it was black as night, the next it was all one dazzling glare, while in peal after peal the mighty thunder came, one clap succeeding another before it had had time to die away in its long metallic reverberations, that sounded as if the thunder rolled away through some vast iron tunnel.No one attempted to speak, but all crowded together listening awe-stricken to the deafening elemental war, one thought dominating others in their minds, and it was this: “Suppose one of these terrible flashes of lightning strikes the tree!”Reason and experience said, “Why shelter beneath a tree at a time like this?” but the instinct of self-preservation drove them there to escape the terrible battering of the rain and the rushing wind.For they had ample knowledge of the state of the lake, though, save in momentary glances, it was invisible beneath the black pall of cloud and rain, for waves came surging in, making the boat rise and fall, while from time to time quite a billow rushed beneath the drooping boughs, which partially broke its force ere it struck against the side of the boat with a heavy slap and sent its crest over the covering and into the unprotected parts.There was something confusing as well as appalling in the storm, which was gigantic as compared to anything Rob had seen at home, and as he crouched there listening in the brief intervals of the thunder-claps, the rain poured down on the tarpaulin roof with one continuous rush and roar as heavily as if the boat had been backed in beneath some waterfall.All at once from out of the darkness a curious startling sound was heard, which puzzled both lads for some minutes, till they suddenly recollected that Shaddy had placed tin balers fore and aft, and any doubt as to their being the cause of the peculiar noise was set at rest by Shaddy, who suddenly thrust in his head at the end of a deafening roar and shouted,—“How are you getting on, gentlemen? Water got in there yet?”“No, no,” was shouted back, “not yet.”“That’s right. We’re pumping it out here as quick as we can. Comes in fast enough to most sink us.”Shaddy then went on working away out in the pelting rain, and a minute later they made out that his chief man was hard at work forward.And still the rain came down, and the lightning kept on flashing through the dark shelter; while, if there was any change at all in the thunder, it was louder, clearer, and more rapid in following the electric discharge.“I say, Joe,” whispered Rob at last, with his lips close to his companion’s ear, “how do you feel?”“Don’t know: so curious—as if tiny pins and needles were running through me. What’s that curious singing noise?”“That’s just what I want to know. I can feel it all through me, and my ears are as if I had caught a bad cold. Like bells ringing; singing you call it.”Just then Shaddy’s voice was heard in an interval between two peals of thunder shouting to his men in a tone of voice which indicated that something was wrong, and Brazier thrust out his head from the opening at one end of the awning to ask what was the matter.“Matter, sir? Why, if we don’t get all hands at the pumps the ship’ll sink.”“Is it so bad as that? We’ll all come at once.”“Nay, nay. I’ve got a strong enough crew, only we must use buckets instead of balers.”“But—”“Go inside, sir, please, out of the wet, and see to your things being kept dry. I was ’zaggerating, being a bit excited; that’s all. I don’t want you, and I daresay the storm’s nearly over now.”The sound of dipping water and pouring it over the side went on merrily in the darkness and brilliant light alternately, for, in spite of the guide’s words, there seemed to be no sign of the storm abating, and while the men were busy outside Brazier and the two boys set to work piling the various objects they wished to keep dry upon the barrels which had been utilised for their stores, for the water had invaded the covered-in part of the boat to a serious extent, and threatened more damage every moment.A few minutes later, though, the efforts of the men began to show, and Shaddy appeared again for one moment, his face being visible in the glare of light, but was hidden the next.“Getting the water down fast now, sir,” he said. “Hope you haven’t much mischief done.”“A great many things soaked.”“That don’t matter, sir, so long as your stores are right. Sun’ll dry everything in an hour or two.”“But when is it coming, Shaddy?”“’Fore long, sir.”They did not see him go, but knew from the sound of his voice the next minute that he was in the fore-part of the boat, ordering his men to take up some of the boards.Ten minutes later the rain ceased as suddenly as it had begun. There was a vivid flash of lightning, a long pause, and then a deep-toned roar, while all at once the interior of the little cabin became visible, and a little later the sun came out to shine brilliantly on what looked like a lake of thick mist.“Will one of you young gents unfasten the stern rope?” cried Shaddy, “and we’ll get out from under this dripping tree.”“All right!” cried Rob, and he turned to throw open the stern end of the awning, while Brazier and Joe went in the other direction to where the men were still baling, but scraping the bottom hard at every scoop of the tins they were using.The stern end of the canvas was secured by a couple of straps, similar to those used in small tents, and these were so wet that it was not easy to get them out of the buckles, but with a little exertion this was done, and Rob parted the ends like the curtains of a bed, peered out at the dripping foliage, and shut them to again, startled by what he saw.After a few moments’ hesitation, he was roused to action by a shout from Shaddy.“Can’t you get it undone, sir?”“Yes, I think so. Wait a moment,” cried Rob huskily, and opening the canvas curtain once more, he stepped out boldly and faced that which had startled him before, this being nothing less than the puma. For it had either leaped from the shore into the boat or crept out along one of the great horizontal boughs of the tree and then dropped lightly down to take its place right in the stern, where it was sitting up licking its drenched coat as contentedly as some huge cat.It looked so different in its soaked state that for the moment Rob was disposed to think it another of the occupants of the forest, but his doubts were immediately set aside by the animal ceasing its occupation and giving its head a rub against him as, hardly knowing what to do, the boy unfastened the rope in obedience to orders, set the boat free, and then wished he had not done so till the puma had been driven ashore.“All right, sir?” shouted Shaddy, who was hidden, like the rest, by the intervening cabin-like structure.“Yes,” cried Rob, as the puma set up its ears and looked angrily in the direction from which the voices came, while the boat began to glide out through the dripping boughs, and the next minute was steaming in the hot sunshine.“What shall I do?” thought Rob, who was now in an agony of perplexity, longing to call to his companions and yet in his confusion dreading to utter a word, for the fear was upon him that the moment the puma caught sight of Brazier it would fly at him. And again he mentally asked the question, “What shall I do?”Meanwhile the puma had continued contentedly enough to lick its coat, sitting up on the narrow thwart at the end once more exactly like a cat, and in such a position that Rob felt how easy it would be to give the creature a sharp thrust and send it overboard, when it would be sure to swim ashore and relieve him of his perplexity.While he was hesitating, the word “Oh!” was uttered close behind him, and looking sharply round, there was the wondering face of Joe thrust out between the canvas hangings, which he held tightly round his neck, being evidently too much startled to speak or move.“It came on board, Joe, during the storm,” whispered Rob; “whatever shall we do?”The lad made no answer for a few moments, and then in a hurried whisper—“Call Mr Brazier to shoot it.”This roused Rob.“What for?” he said angrily; “the poor thing’s as tame as can be. Look!”He took a step toward the great cat-like creature, and it ceased licking itself and leaned sideways as if to be caressed.At that moment Joe popped back his head, and Brazier’s voice was heard:—“They want the grapnel lowered, Rob, my lad. Can you— Why, whatever is this?”The aspect of the puma changed in an instant. Its ears went down nearly flat upon its head, and it started upon all-fours, tossing its tail about and uttering a menacing growl.Brazier started back, and Rob knew for what.“No, no, Mr Brazier,” he cried; “don’t do that. The poor thing came on board during the storm. It’s quite tame. Look here, sir, look.”As he spoke in quite a fit of desperation, he began patting and soothing the animal, and when Brazier peered out again, in company with a loaded gun, the puma was responding to Rob’s caresses in the most friendly way.“Anything the matter, sir?” said Shaddy from beyond the cabin. “Can’t you get the grapnel overboard?”“Come and look here,” whispered Brazier; and their guide crept into the cabin and peered out behind, his face puckering up into a grin.“What is to be done?” whispered Brazier; “I can’t fire without hitting the boy.”“Then I wouldn’t fire, sir,” replied Shaddy. “’Sides, there ain’t no need. The thing’s quite a cub, I think, and tame enough. I don’t suppose it’ll show fight if we let it alone.”“Stop, man! What are you going to do?”“Go to ’em,” replied Shaddy coolly.“But it will spring at you. It turned threateningly on me just now.”“Don’t seem to on Master Rob, sir, and I don’t think it will. What do you say to going first, Mr Jovanni?”“No,” said the lad shortly. “I don’t like animals.”“Well, then, here goes,” said Shaddy coolly. “Don’t shoot, sir, unless the crittur turns very savage, and then not till I say, ‘Now!’”He thrust the two canvas curtains apart quietly and stepped into the little open space astern, when once more the puma’s aspect changed and it turned upon the new-comer menacingly.“Pat him again, Master Rob,” said Shaddy quietly. “I want to make friends too. Here, old chap,” he continued, sitting down, as Rob hurriedly patted and stroked the animal’s head, “let’s have a look at you. Come, may I pat you too?”He stretched out his hand, but the puma drew back suspiciously, and, with the others watching the scene, he remained quiet while Rob redoubled his caresses, and the puma began to utter its low, rumbling, purring sound.“Only wants time, Mr Brazier, sir,” said Shaddy quietly. “I don’t think the brute’s a bit savage. Only thinks we mean mischief and is ready to fight for himself. I could be friends with him in an hour or two. What’s best to be done—get him ashore?”“Yes, as soon as possible.”“All right, sir; you go and tell the men to back the boat in to where we landed before.”The canvas hangings dropped to, and Shaddy sat perfectly still, watching the actions of their strange visitor and talking in a low voice to Rob, while a low creaking began as two of the men forward thrust out their oars and backed water.Slight as the sound was, that and the motion of the boat startled the animal, which began to look about uneasily, but a touch or two from Rob calmed it directly, and after responding to his caresses it turned to look curiously at Shaddy, taking a step forward and then stopping.“Well, what do you think of me, puss, eh?” said Shaddy quietly. “I say, Mr Rob, you and I had better keep him and set up as lion-tamers.”The rough voice had its effect upon the animal, which ceased its purring sound and backed away close to Rob, against whom it stood, and began watching the bank toward which the boat was being thrust.“How are we to get it ashore?” said Rob at last.“You want it to go, then?”“No,” replied Rob, “I don’t. It is so very tame, I should like to keep it, but it does not care for anybody else.”“Don’t mind me seemingly,” said Shaddy. “Well, the best thing will be for you to jump ashore as soon as we’re close in, and then it strikes me he’ll come after you, and if you kept on petting him he’d follow you anywhere.”“You think so, Shaddy?”“Feel sure of it, sir, but it ain’t like a dog. You can’t make a companion of a scratching thing like that.”“Why not? A dog’s a biting thing,” said Rob shortly.“Well, yes, sir, but here we are. Better get him ashore. There ain’t room for him aboard here. There might be a row, for he ain’t ready to make friends with everybody.”Rob stepped on to the gunwale rather unwillingly, for, in a misty way, he was beginning to wonder whether it was possible for him to retain the puma as a companion, though all the time he could see the difficulties in the way.He leaped ashore, and, as Shaddy had suggested, the puma immediately made a light effortless bound and landed beside him, pressing close up to the lad’s side and rubbing one ear against his hand, while the occupants of the boat looked wonderingly on.“What am I to do next?” asked Rob. “If I jump back on board, he’ll come too.”“Safe,” said Shaddy; “and there’s no more room for passengers. Here, stop a moment; I have it.”“What are you going to do?” said Brazier, who was watching the movements of the puma with anxiety on Rob’s behalf, but with keen interest all the same, as he saw the active creature suddenly throw itself down by the boy’s feet and, playful as a kitten, begin to pat at first one boot and then the other, ending by rubbing its head upon them, watching their owner all the time.“I’m going to get Mr Rob aboard without that great cat, sir, and this seems best way.”He drew his knife, raised the tarpaulin, and cut off a good-sized piece of the deer meat; then, bidding the men to take their oars and be ready to row at the first command, he turned to Rob.“Look here, sir,” he said, “I’ll pitch you the piece of dried meat. You catch it and then carry it a few yards, and let the lion smell it. Give it him behind one of those bushes, and as soon as he is busy eating it dodge round the bush and come aboard. We’ll soon have the boat too far for him to jump.”He threw the piece of dry meat to the boy, who caught it and walked as directed, the puma following him eagerly and sniffing at the food.The next minute those in the boat saw Rob disappear behind a clump of low growth, and directly after he reappeared running toward them just as, uneasy at his being out of sight with the fierce creature, Brazier had called upon Giovanni to bring his gun and accompany him ashore.But Rob’s reappearance of course stopped this, and the next minute he was on board and being rowed away from the shore.“It seems too bad,” cried Rob, “just as if one was cheating the poor thing. Look, there it is.”For just then the puma stalked out from behind the bushes and stood tossing its tail and looking round as if in search of Rob, ending by walking quickly down to the edge of the lake and standing there gazing after the boat, which was now being rowed slowly down once more toward the scene of their adventure with the swift current, Brazier having decided to stay one more day at the lower part of the lake before descending the river farther; and the object now in view was the discovery of a fresh halting-place for the night.
Rob and Joe looked at each other quite aghast as the boat was literally snatched away out of the boatmen’s control and went tearing down the river. For, beside the alteration in their plans, there was the fire waiting, all glowing embers, that would cook to perfection; there were wild fruits which the two lads had noted from the boat; and there was the puma, whose society Rob felt a strong desire to cultivate.
Then, too, there was something startling in being suddenly robbed of all power to act and being swept at a headlong speed along a rapid, for aught they knew, toward some terrible waterfall, over which they would be hurled. So that it was with no little satisfaction that they saw Shaddy seize the boat-hook and, after urging the crew to do their best to pull the boat toward the trees, stand up in the bows and wait his turn.
The crew worked hard, and kept the boat’s head up stream, and by degrees they contrived to get it closer to the side, while Shaddy made three attempts to catch hold of a branch. In each case the bough snapped off, but at the fourth try the bough bent and held, though so great was the shock that when the hook caught, the strong-armed man was nearly drawn over the bows into the river, and would have been but for one of the boatmen’s help.
It was a sharp tussle for a few moments, and then two of the men caught hold of hanging branches as the boat swung within reach. The next minute a rope was passed round a branch, and the boat was safely moored.
“Mind looking to see whether I’ve got any arms, Mr Rob?” said Shaddy. “Feels as if they were both jerked out of their sockets.”
“Are you hurt much?” asked the boys in a breath.
“Pootty tidy, young gents; but I ain’t going to holler about it. There’s no time. I don’t mind going fast, you know, either in a boat or on horseback, but I do hate for the boat or the horse to take the bit in its teeth and bolt as this did just now.”
“What do you propose doing, Naylor?” said Brazier. “It is impossible to get back, and yet I should have liked a few hours more at that clearing.”
“And them you shall have, sir, somehow. I’m not the man to be beaten by a boat without making a bit of a fight for it first. Let’s get my breath and my arms—ah! they’re coming back now. I can begin to feel ’em a bit.”
He sat rubbing his biceps, laughing at the boys, Brazier looking up and down-stream uneasily the while.
“Do you know exactly where this river runs, Naylor?” he said at last.
“Well, not exactly, sir. I know it goes right through the sort of country you want to see, and that was enough for me; but I’ve a notion that it goes up to the nor’-west, winding and twisting about till it runs in one spot pootty nigh to the big river we left, so that we can perhaps go up some side stream, drag the boat across a portage, and launch her for our back journey over the same ground or water as we came up.”
“But we shall never get back to the lake,” said Rob, as he glanced at the running stream which glided rapidly by, making the boat drag at its tethering rope as if at any moment it would snatch itself free.
“Never’s a long time, Mr Rob. We’ll see.”
He turned to his men, gave them a few instructions in a low tone of voice, and three seated themselves on the port side, while Shaddy and the fourth, a herculean fellow with muscles which bulged out like huge ropes from his bronzed arms, stood in the bows, the latter with the boat-hook and Shaddy with the rope.
“Praps you young gentlemen wouldn’t mind putting a hand to the branches when you get a chance,” said Shaddy; “every pound of help gives us a pound of strength.”
Then, renewing his orders, he seized the light rope, hauled upon it, the man beside him making good use of his hook, and between them they dragged the boat a few feet and made fast the rope, hauled again, cast off the rope, and made fast again—all helping wherever a bough could be caught.
And so they slowly fought their way back against the gigantic strength of the rapid stream, but not without risks. Rob was hauling away at a bough with all his might, when it suddenly snapped, and he would have gone overboard had not Joe thrown himself upon him and held on just as he was toppling down without power to recover his balance.
“That was near,” said Rob as he gazed on the young Italian’s ghastly face. “I say, don’t look scared like that.”
Joe shuddered and resumed his work, while Rob put a little less energy into his next movements for a few minutes, but forgot his escape directly after, and worked away with the rest.
It was toil which required constant effort, and they won their way upward very slowly. Twice over they lost ground by the giving way of the branch to which the rope had been attached, and once the boat-hook slipped from the Indian’s hand and floated down-stream past the boat, the heavy iron end causing it to keep nearly upright. For a few moments it disappeared, but came gently to the surface again just as it was passing the stern, when the boys gave a ringing cheer, for, leaning out as far as he could, Brazier secured it and passed it back to the man.
Of minor troubles there were plenty. At one moment they would be covered with insects which were rudely shaken from the boughs; at another some branch beneath which they were passing would threaten to sweep the canvas cabin out of the boat; and once it was Joe, whose flannel was caught by a snaggy end and hung there with the boat passing from under him till a chorus of cries made the stalwart boatman cease his efforts and look back at the mischief he was causing as he hauled.
But, in spite of all difficulties, the boat was slowly drawn over the ground lost in the wild race downward, till at last the lake was reached, and a few sturdy efforts sufficed to drag it once more into still water.
“Once is enough for a job like that, Master Rob,” said Shaddy, as he wiped his dripping brow with the back of his hand.
“It was hard work,” replied Rob.
“Ay, ’twas; and if you wouldn’t mind saying you were so hungry you didn’t know what to do, it would be doing us all a kindness, and make Mr Brazier think about meat instead of vegetables.”
He gave his head a nod sidewise at Brazier’s back, for as the men rested under the shade of a tree the naturalist was busy hauling down some lovely clusters of blossoms from overhead.
“You mean you want some dinner, Shaddy?”
“That’s it, sir. This here engine will soon stop working if you don’t put on more coal.”
“I’ll give him a hint,” said Rob, laughing; and he did, the result being that Brazier gave the word for the men to row right across toward the clearing—a task they eagerly commenced in spite of the heat and the sturdy effort required to force a way through the dense covering of broad green leaves. They had the river to cross on their way, and as the clear stream was neared a long way above its exit from the lake the men, as if moved by one impulse, ceased rowing, and paused to take their breath before making a sturdy effort to cross it without losing ground.
It was a necessary precaution, for the moment the bows of the boat issued from among the dense growth the stem was pressed heavily downward, and the opposite side of the stream was reached after quite a sharp fight. Then the long, steady pull was commenced again, and, with the leaves brushing against the side, they forced their way onward till the clearing came in view.
The faint curl of bluish smoke encouraged the men to fresh efforts, all thinking of broiled deer meat and a fragrant cup of coffee, both of which afforded grateful refreshment soon after they touched the shore.
“Will it be safe to attempt to continue our journey down that part of the river?” Brazier asked as they were seated afterward in the shade.
“Oh yes, sir, safe enough,” replied Shaddy.
“But suppose we have to come back the same way?”
“Well, sir, we can do it, only it will take time.”
“You will not mind, Mr Brazier?” said Joe, smiling.
“Indeed I shall, for the work is terrible. Why did you say that?”
“Because you will have such a chance to collect, sir. I saw hundreds of beautiful blossoms which I thought you would like to get, and you could gather them while the men rested.”
“Ay, to be sure, sir. Don’t you mind about that river being swift! Only wants contriving, and for you to know what’s coming, so as to be prepared. Now I know what to expect, I can manage. I shall just set two of the fellows to pull gently, and go down starn first, and always sit there ready with the boat-hook to hitch on to a tree if we are going too fast. You trust me, sir, spite of all that’s gone before, and I’ll do my best for you and the young gents till your journey’s done, though I don’t see any coming back this way.”
“Of course I shall trust you,” said Brazier. “What’s the matter?”
“Trust me now then, sir,” cried Shaddy, who had leaped up, and was looking sharply round. “Get aboard, all of you. Now, boys!” he roared to his men, and he pointed to the sky.
Shaddy’s orders were obeyed, and though there seemed to be no reason for the preparations made, the guide was so confident of the coming of a heavy storm that the waterproof sheet brought for such an emergency was quickly drawn over the canvas roof of their little cabin and made fast; the boat was moored head and stern close up to the bank and beneath a huge, sheltering tree, the balers were laid ready for use in the fore-part and the stern; and when this was all done, and the greatest care taken to keep powder and bedding dry, Brazier turned and looked at Shaddy.
“Well,” he said, “is not this a false alarm?”
“No, sir; there’s a storm coming. We shall have it soon. Good job we’d got the cooking done.”
“But I can’t see a cloud,” said Rob.
“Don’t matter,” replied Joe, who was also looking keenly round. “I’ve seen the heavy rain come streaming down when the sky has been quite clear, and the water has felt quite warm. Look at those fellows; they know the storm’s coming, or they would not do that.”
He pointed toward the boatmen, who were throwing a tarpaulin across the bows, ready for them to creep under as soon as the rain came.
“False alarm, boys!” said Brazier.
Shaddy overheard him, and wrinkled up his face in a curious grin as he looked hard at Rob. It was as much as to say, “All right! Just you wait a bit and see who’s right and who’s wrong.”
“My word, how hot!” cried Rob the next minute, for the sun appeared to be shining down through a kind of transparent haze so dense that it acted like a burning glass.
“Yes, this is fierce,” said Joe, drawing back into the shade afforded by the great tree.
“It would give one sunstroke, wouldn’t it, if we stopped in the full blaze?”
“I suppose so. But I say, Shaddy’s right. We are going to have a storm.”
“How do you know?”
“By the sun gleaming out like that.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s anything,” said Rob. “Here, let’s get up into this tree and collect some orchids for Mr Brazier.”
He looked up into the large forest monarch as he spoke—a tree which on three sides was wonderfully laden with great drooping boughs. Consequent upon its position at the western corner of the clearing where the boat was moored, the boughs formed a magnificent shelter for their boat down almost to the water, while on the side of the opening they pretty well touched the ground.
But Rob paid little heed to this, his attention being taken up by the fact that, though there was perfect silence, the tree was alive with birds and monkeys, which were huddled together in groups, as if their instinct had taught them that a terrible convulsion of nature was at hand. As a rule they would have taken flight or scampered about through the branches as soon as human beings had come to the tree, but now, as if aware of some great danger, they were content to share the shelter and run all risks.
“See them, Master Rob?” said Shaddy, with a grin. “No mistake this time! Look out; I daresay there’ll be snakes dropping down there by-and-by, but so long as you don’t touch ’em I don’t s’pose they’ll touch us. Shouldn’t wonder if we get something else.”
Just then Brazier called him to draw his attention to some of the covering, and they heard him say,—
“Don’t see as we can do any more, sir. Things are sure to get wet; you can’t stop it. All we can do is to keep ’em from getting wetter than we can help.”
The sun still shone brilliantly, streaming down, as it were, through the leaves of the great tree like a shower of silver rain, but the silence now was painful, and Rob strained his ears to catch the peculiar modulation of one of the cricket-like insects which were generally so common around. But not one made a sound, and at last, as if troubled by the silence, the boy cried half jeeringly, “All this trouble for nothing! I say, Joe, where’s the storm?”
“Here!” was the reply in a whisper, as all at once out of the clear sky great drops of rain came pattering down, then great splashes; and directly after, with a hissing rush, there were sheets of rushing water streaming through the branches and splashing upon the tarpaulin coverings of the boat.
“I say, I never saw it rain like this before,” cried Rob as he sheltered himself beneath the tarpaulin and canvas. “Will it thunder—”
He was going to say, “too,” but the word remained unspoken, and he shrank back appalled by a blinding flash of vivid blue lightning, which seemed to dash through beneath their shelter and make every face look of a ghastly bluish-grey.
Almost simultaneously there was a deafening peal of thunder, and, as if by an instantaneous change—probably by some icy current of air on high—the moisture-laden atmosphere was darkened by dense mists whirling and looking like foam, clouds of slaty black shut out the sun, and the rain came down in a perfect deluge, streaming through the tree and pouring into the lake with one incessant roaring splash.
One moment beneath the awning it was black as night, the next it was all one dazzling glare, while in peal after peal the mighty thunder came, one clap succeeding another before it had had time to die away in its long metallic reverberations, that sounded as if the thunder rolled away through some vast iron tunnel.
No one attempted to speak, but all crowded together listening awe-stricken to the deafening elemental war, one thought dominating others in their minds, and it was this: “Suppose one of these terrible flashes of lightning strikes the tree!”
Reason and experience said, “Why shelter beneath a tree at a time like this?” but the instinct of self-preservation drove them there to escape the terrible battering of the rain and the rushing wind.
For they had ample knowledge of the state of the lake, though, save in momentary glances, it was invisible beneath the black pall of cloud and rain, for waves came surging in, making the boat rise and fall, while from time to time quite a billow rushed beneath the drooping boughs, which partially broke its force ere it struck against the side of the boat with a heavy slap and sent its crest over the covering and into the unprotected parts.
There was something confusing as well as appalling in the storm, which was gigantic as compared to anything Rob had seen at home, and as he crouched there listening in the brief intervals of the thunder-claps, the rain poured down on the tarpaulin roof with one continuous rush and roar as heavily as if the boat had been backed in beneath some waterfall.
All at once from out of the darkness a curious startling sound was heard, which puzzled both lads for some minutes, till they suddenly recollected that Shaddy had placed tin balers fore and aft, and any doubt as to their being the cause of the peculiar noise was set at rest by Shaddy, who suddenly thrust in his head at the end of a deafening roar and shouted,—
“How are you getting on, gentlemen? Water got in there yet?”
“No, no,” was shouted back, “not yet.”
“That’s right. We’re pumping it out here as quick as we can. Comes in fast enough to most sink us.”
Shaddy then went on working away out in the pelting rain, and a minute later they made out that his chief man was hard at work forward.
And still the rain came down, and the lightning kept on flashing through the dark shelter; while, if there was any change at all in the thunder, it was louder, clearer, and more rapid in following the electric discharge.
“I say, Joe,” whispered Rob at last, with his lips close to his companion’s ear, “how do you feel?”
“Don’t know: so curious—as if tiny pins and needles were running through me. What’s that curious singing noise?”
“That’s just what I want to know. I can feel it all through me, and my ears are as if I had caught a bad cold. Like bells ringing; singing you call it.”
Just then Shaddy’s voice was heard in an interval between two peals of thunder shouting to his men in a tone of voice which indicated that something was wrong, and Brazier thrust out his head from the opening at one end of the awning to ask what was the matter.
“Matter, sir? Why, if we don’t get all hands at the pumps the ship’ll sink.”
“Is it so bad as that? We’ll all come at once.”
“Nay, nay. I’ve got a strong enough crew, only we must use buckets instead of balers.”
“But—”
“Go inside, sir, please, out of the wet, and see to your things being kept dry. I was ’zaggerating, being a bit excited; that’s all. I don’t want you, and I daresay the storm’s nearly over now.”
The sound of dipping water and pouring it over the side went on merrily in the darkness and brilliant light alternately, for, in spite of the guide’s words, there seemed to be no sign of the storm abating, and while the men were busy outside Brazier and the two boys set to work piling the various objects they wished to keep dry upon the barrels which had been utilised for their stores, for the water had invaded the covered-in part of the boat to a serious extent, and threatened more damage every moment.
A few minutes later, though, the efforts of the men began to show, and Shaddy appeared again for one moment, his face being visible in the glare of light, but was hidden the next.
“Getting the water down fast now, sir,” he said. “Hope you haven’t much mischief done.”
“A great many things soaked.”
“That don’t matter, sir, so long as your stores are right. Sun’ll dry everything in an hour or two.”
“But when is it coming, Shaddy?”
“’Fore long, sir.”
They did not see him go, but knew from the sound of his voice the next minute that he was in the fore-part of the boat, ordering his men to take up some of the boards.
Ten minutes later the rain ceased as suddenly as it had begun. There was a vivid flash of lightning, a long pause, and then a deep-toned roar, while all at once the interior of the little cabin became visible, and a little later the sun came out to shine brilliantly on what looked like a lake of thick mist.
“Will one of you young gents unfasten the stern rope?” cried Shaddy, “and we’ll get out from under this dripping tree.”
“All right!” cried Rob, and he turned to throw open the stern end of the awning, while Brazier and Joe went in the other direction to where the men were still baling, but scraping the bottom hard at every scoop of the tins they were using.
The stern end of the canvas was secured by a couple of straps, similar to those used in small tents, and these were so wet that it was not easy to get them out of the buckles, but with a little exertion this was done, and Rob parted the ends like the curtains of a bed, peered out at the dripping foliage, and shut them to again, startled by what he saw.
After a few moments’ hesitation, he was roused to action by a shout from Shaddy.
“Can’t you get it undone, sir?”
“Yes, I think so. Wait a moment,” cried Rob huskily, and opening the canvas curtain once more, he stepped out boldly and faced that which had startled him before, this being nothing less than the puma. For it had either leaped from the shore into the boat or crept out along one of the great horizontal boughs of the tree and then dropped lightly down to take its place right in the stern, where it was sitting up licking its drenched coat as contentedly as some huge cat.
It looked so different in its soaked state that for the moment Rob was disposed to think it another of the occupants of the forest, but his doubts were immediately set aside by the animal ceasing its occupation and giving its head a rub against him as, hardly knowing what to do, the boy unfastened the rope in obedience to orders, set the boat free, and then wished he had not done so till the puma had been driven ashore.
“All right, sir?” shouted Shaddy, who was hidden, like the rest, by the intervening cabin-like structure.
“Yes,” cried Rob, as the puma set up its ears and looked angrily in the direction from which the voices came, while the boat began to glide out through the dripping boughs, and the next minute was steaming in the hot sunshine.
“What shall I do?” thought Rob, who was now in an agony of perplexity, longing to call to his companions and yet in his confusion dreading to utter a word, for the fear was upon him that the moment the puma caught sight of Brazier it would fly at him. And again he mentally asked the question, “What shall I do?”
Meanwhile the puma had continued contentedly enough to lick its coat, sitting up on the narrow thwart at the end once more exactly like a cat, and in such a position that Rob felt how easy it would be to give the creature a sharp thrust and send it overboard, when it would be sure to swim ashore and relieve him of his perplexity.
While he was hesitating, the word “Oh!” was uttered close behind him, and looking sharply round, there was the wondering face of Joe thrust out between the canvas hangings, which he held tightly round his neck, being evidently too much startled to speak or move.
“It came on board, Joe, during the storm,” whispered Rob; “whatever shall we do?”
The lad made no answer for a few moments, and then in a hurried whisper—
“Call Mr Brazier to shoot it.”
This roused Rob.
“What for?” he said angrily; “the poor thing’s as tame as can be. Look!”
He took a step toward the great cat-like creature, and it ceased licking itself and leaned sideways as if to be caressed.
At that moment Joe popped back his head, and Brazier’s voice was heard:—
“They want the grapnel lowered, Rob, my lad. Can you— Why, whatever is this?”
The aspect of the puma changed in an instant. Its ears went down nearly flat upon its head, and it started upon all-fours, tossing its tail about and uttering a menacing growl.
Brazier started back, and Rob knew for what.
“No, no, Mr Brazier,” he cried; “don’t do that. The poor thing came on board during the storm. It’s quite tame. Look here, sir, look.”
As he spoke in quite a fit of desperation, he began patting and soothing the animal, and when Brazier peered out again, in company with a loaded gun, the puma was responding to Rob’s caresses in the most friendly way.
“Anything the matter, sir?” said Shaddy from beyond the cabin. “Can’t you get the grapnel overboard?”
“Come and look here,” whispered Brazier; and their guide crept into the cabin and peered out behind, his face puckering up into a grin.
“What is to be done?” whispered Brazier; “I can’t fire without hitting the boy.”
“Then I wouldn’t fire, sir,” replied Shaddy. “’Sides, there ain’t no need. The thing’s quite a cub, I think, and tame enough. I don’t suppose it’ll show fight if we let it alone.”
“Stop, man! What are you going to do?”
“Go to ’em,” replied Shaddy coolly.
“But it will spring at you. It turned threateningly on me just now.”
“Don’t seem to on Master Rob, sir, and I don’t think it will. What do you say to going first, Mr Jovanni?”
“No,” said the lad shortly. “I don’t like animals.”
“Well, then, here goes,” said Shaddy coolly. “Don’t shoot, sir, unless the crittur turns very savage, and then not till I say, ‘Now!’”
He thrust the two canvas curtains apart quietly and stepped into the little open space astern, when once more the puma’s aspect changed and it turned upon the new-comer menacingly.
“Pat him again, Master Rob,” said Shaddy quietly. “I want to make friends too. Here, old chap,” he continued, sitting down, as Rob hurriedly patted and stroked the animal’s head, “let’s have a look at you. Come, may I pat you too?”
He stretched out his hand, but the puma drew back suspiciously, and, with the others watching the scene, he remained quiet while Rob redoubled his caresses, and the puma began to utter its low, rumbling, purring sound.
“Only wants time, Mr Brazier, sir,” said Shaddy quietly. “I don’t think the brute’s a bit savage. Only thinks we mean mischief and is ready to fight for himself. I could be friends with him in an hour or two. What’s best to be done—get him ashore?”
“Yes, as soon as possible.”
“All right, sir; you go and tell the men to back the boat in to where we landed before.”
The canvas hangings dropped to, and Shaddy sat perfectly still, watching the actions of their strange visitor and talking in a low voice to Rob, while a low creaking began as two of the men forward thrust out their oars and backed water.
Slight as the sound was, that and the motion of the boat startled the animal, which began to look about uneasily, but a touch or two from Rob calmed it directly, and after responding to his caresses it turned to look curiously at Shaddy, taking a step forward and then stopping.
“Well, what do you think of me, puss, eh?” said Shaddy quietly. “I say, Mr Rob, you and I had better keep him and set up as lion-tamers.”
The rough voice had its effect upon the animal, which ceased its purring sound and backed away close to Rob, against whom it stood, and began watching the bank toward which the boat was being thrust.
“How are we to get it ashore?” said Rob at last.
“You want it to go, then?”
“No,” replied Rob, “I don’t. It is so very tame, I should like to keep it, but it does not care for anybody else.”
“Don’t mind me seemingly,” said Shaddy. “Well, the best thing will be for you to jump ashore as soon as we’re close in, and then it strikes me he’ll come after you, and if you kept on petting him he’d follow you anywhere.”
“You think so, Shaddy?”
“Feel sure of it, sir, but it ain’t like a dog. You can’t make a companion of a scratching thing like that.”
“Why not? A dog’s a biting thing,” said Rob shortly.
“Well, yes, sir, but here we are. Better get him ashore. There ain’t room for him aboard here. There might be a row, for he ain’t ready to make friends with everybody.”
Rob stepped on to the gunwale rather unwillingly, for, in a misty way, he was beginning to wonder whether it was possible for him to retain the puma as a companion, though all the time he could see the difficulties in the way.
He leaped ashore, and, as Shaddy had suggested, the puma immediately made a light effortless bound and landed beside him, pressing close up to the lad’s side and rubbing one ear against his hand, while the occupants of the boat looked wonderingly on.
“What am I to do next?” asked Rob. “If I jump back on board, he’ll come too.”
“Safe,” said Shaddy; “and there’s no more room for passengers. Here, stop a moment; I have it.”
“What are you going to do?” said Brazier, who was watching the movements of the puma with anxiety on Rob’s behalf, but with keen interest all the same, as he saw the active creature suddenly throw itself down by the boy’s feet and, playful as a kitten, begin to pat at first one boot and then the other, ending by rubbing its head upon them, watching their owner all the time.
“I’m going to get Mr Rob aboard without that great cat, sir, and this seems best way.”
He drew his knife, raised the tarpaulin, and cut off a good-sized piece of the deer meat; then, bidding the men to take their oars and be ready to row at the first command, he turned to Rob.
“Look here, sir,” he said, “I’ll pitch you the piece of dried meat. You catch it and then carry it a few yards, and let the lion smell it. Give it him behind one of those bushes, and as soon as he is busy eating it dodge round the bush and come aboard. We’ll soon have the boat too far for him to jump.”
He threw the piece of dry meat to the boy, who caught it and walked as directed, the puma following him eagerly and sniffing at the food.
The next minute those in the boat saw Rob disappear behind a clump of low growth, and directly after he reappeared running toward them just as, uneasy at his being out of sight with the fierce creature, Brazier had called upon Giovanni to bring his gun and accompany him ashore.
But Rob’s reappearance of course stopped this, and the next minute he was on board and being rowed away from the shore.
“It seems too bad,” cried Rob, “just as if one was cheating the poor thing. Look, there it is.”
For just then the puma stalked out from behind the bushes and stood tossing its tail and looking round as if in search of Rob, ending by walking quickly down to the edge of the lake and standing there gazing after the boat, which was now being rowed slowly down once more toward the scene of their adventure with the swift current, Brazier having decided to stay one more day at the lower part of the lake before descending the river farther; and the object now in view was the discovery of a fresh halting-place for the night.
Chapter Seventeen.An International Quarrel.“What’s the matter, Rob?” said Brazier, as he turned suddenly from where he had been laying various articles of clothing out in the warm sunshine to dry and found the two lads seated together in silence, Rob with his elbows on the side of the boat and his chin in his, hands, gazing back ashore.“I can’t get a word out of him, sir,” said Joe. “I think it’s because the lion was left behind.”“Nonsense! Rob is not so childish as to fret after a toy he cannot have. Come, my lad, there is plenty to do. We must make use of the evening sun to get everything possible dry. Come and help. Wet clothes and wet sleeping-places may mean fever.”Rob looked reproachfully at Joe, and began to hurry himself directly, his movement bringing him in contact with Shaddy, who was dividing his time between keeping a sharp look-out along the shore for a good halting-place suitable for making a fire, giving instructions to his men, and using a sponge with which to sop up every trace of moisture he could find within the boat.“There, Mr Rob, sir,” he said as he gave the sponge a final squeeze over the side, “I think that’ll about do. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. That storm has done one thing—given the boat a good wash-out—and if we make a big fire to-night and dry everything that got wet, we shall be all the better for it. Don’t see storms like that in England, eh?”“No,” said Rob shortly, and he took down and began rubbing the moisture from his gun.“Ah, that’s right, my lad; always come down sharp on the rust, and stop it from going any further. Why, hullo! not going to be ill, are you?”Rob shook his head.“You look as dumps as dumps, Mr Rob, sir. I know you’re put out about that great cat being left behind.”Rob was silent.“That’s it. Why, never mind that, my lad. You can get plenty of things to tame and pet, if you want ’em, though I say as we eight folks is quite enough in one boat without turning it into a wild beast show.”Rob went on rubbing the barrel of his gun.“What do you say to a nice young pet snake, sir?” said Shaddy, with his eyes twinkling, till Rob darted an angry glance at him, when he changed his tone and manner.“Tell you what, sir, I’ll get one of my boys to climb a tree first time I see an old one with some good holes in. He shall get you a nice young parrot to bring up. You’ll like them; they’re full of tricks, and as tame as can be. Why, one of them would live on the top of the cabin, and climb about in a way as would amoose you for hours.”Rob darted another angry look at him.“And do you think I want a parrot to amuse me for hours?” he said bitterly.“Have a monkey,” said Joe, who had heard the last words. “Shaddy will get you a young one, and you can pet that and teach it to play tricks without any risk to anybody, if you must have a plaything.”He accompanied this with so taunting a look that it fired Rob’s temper, just at a time when he was bitterly disappointed at the result of his adventure. Joe’s words, too, conveyed the boy’s feeling, which was something akin to jealousy of the new object which took so much of the young Englishman’s thoughts.Stung then by his companion’s words and look, Rob turned upon him and said sarcastically,—“Thank you: one monkey’s enough on board at a time.”The young Italian’s eyes flashed, as, quick as lightning, he took the allusion to mean himself, and he turned sharply away without a word, and went right aft to sit gazing back over the water.“Well, you’ve been and done it now, Mr Rob, and no mistake,” whispered Shaddy. “You’ve made Master Jovanni’s pot boil over on to the fire, and it ain’t water, but oil.”“Oh, I am sorry, Shaddy,” said Rob in a low tone, for all his own anger had evaporated the moment he saw the effect of his words on the hot-blooded young Southerner.“Sorry, lad? I should think you are. Why, if I said such a thing as that to an Italian man, I should think the best thing I could do would be to go and live in old England again, where there would be plenty of policemen to take care of me.”“But I was not serious.”“Ay, but you were, my lad, and that’s the worst of it. You said it in a passion on purpose to sting him, and he’s as thin-skinned as a silkworm. He has gone yonder thinking you despise him and consider he’s no better than a monkey, and if you’d set to for six hundred years trying to think out the nastiest thing you could invent to hurt his feelings you couldn’t have hit on a worse.”“But it was a mere nothing—the thought of the moment, Shaddy,” whispered Rob.“O’ course it was, dear lad, but, you see, that thought of the moment, as you call it, has put his back up. For long enough now English folk have said nasty things to Italians, comparing ’em to monkeys, because of some of ’em going over to England playing organs and showing a monkey at the end of a string. You see, they’re so proud and easily affronted that such a word feels like a wapps’s sting and worries ’em for days.”“I’ll go and beg his pardon. I am sorry.”“Won’t be no good now, sir. Better wait till he has cooled down.”“I wish I hadn’t said it, Shaddy.”“Ay, that’s what lots of us feels, sir, sometimes in our lives. I hit a man on the nose aboard a river schooner once, and knocked him through the gangway afterwards into the water, and as soon as I’d done it I wished I hadn’t, but that didn’t make him dry.”“I wish he had turned round sharply and hit me,” said Rob.“Ah, it’s a pity he didn’t, isn’t it?” said Shaddy drily. “You wouldn’t have hit him again, of course. You’re just the sort o’ young chap to let a lad hit you, and put your fists in your pockets to keep ’em quiet, and say, ‘Thanky,’ ain’t you?”“What do you mean—that I should have hit him again?”“Why, of course I do, and the next moment you two would have been punching and wrestling and knocking one another all over the boat, till Mr Brazier had got hold of one and I’d got hold of the other, and bumped you both down and sat upon you. I don’t know much, but I do know what boys is when they’ve got their monkeys up.”“Don’t talk about monkeys,” whispered Rob hotly; “I wish there wasn’t a monkey on the face of the earth.”“Wish again, Mr Rob, sir, as hard as ever you can, and it won’t do a bit o’ good.”“Don’t talk nonsense, Shaddy,” said Rob angrily.“That’s right, sir; pitch into me now. Call me something; it’ll do you good. Call me a rhinoceros, if you like. It won’t hurt me. I’ve got a skin just as thick as one of them lovely animals. Go it.”“I do wish you would talk sense,” cried Rob, in a low, earnest whisper. “You know I’ve no one to go and talk to about anything when I want advice.”“No, I don’t,” said Shaddy gruffly. “There’s Muster Brazier.”“Just as if he would want to be bothered when his head’s full of his specimens and he’s thinking about nothing else but classifying and numbering and labelling! He’d laugh, and call it a silly trifle, and tell us to shake hands.”“Good advice, too, my lad, but not now. Wait a bit.”“I can’t wait, knowing I’ve upset poor old Joe like that. I want to be friends at once.”“That’s good talk, my lad, only it won’t work at present.”“Ah, now you’re talking sensibly and like a friend,” said Rob. “But why will it not do now?”“’Cause Mr Jovanni ain’t English. He’s nursing that all up, and it isn’t his natur’ to shake hands yet. Give the fire time to burn out, and then try him, my lad; he’ll be a different sort then to deal with.”Rob was silent for a few minutes.“That’s good advice, Mr Rob, sir, and so I tell you; but I mustn’t stop here talking. It’ll soon be sundown, and then, you know, it’s dark directly, and ’fore then we must be landed and the lads making a good fire. I wish Mr Brazier would come and give more orders about our halting-place to-night.”“He’s too busy with his plants, Shaddy; and I ought to be helping him.”“Then why don’t you go, my lad?”“How can I, with Joe sitting there looking as if I had offended him for life? I’ll go and shake hands at once.”“No, you won’t, lad.”“But I will.”“He won’t let you.”“Won’t he?” said Rob firmly. “I’m in the wrong, and I’ll tell him so frankly, and ask him to forgive me.”“And then he won’t; and, what’s worse, he’ll think you’re afraid of him, because it is his natur’ to.”“We’ll see,” said Rob; and going round outside the canvas awning by holding on to the iron stretchers and ropes, he reached the spot where Joe sat staring fixedly astern, perfectly conscious of Rob’s presence, but frowning and determined upon a feud.Rob glanced back, and could see Brazier through the opening in the canvas busily examining his specimens, so as to see if any had grown damp through the rain. Then, feeling that, if he whispered, their conversation would not be heard, Rob began.“Joe!”There was no reply.“Joe, old chap, I’m so sorry.” Still the young Italian gazed over the lake. “I say, Joe, it’s like being alone almost, you here and I out there. We can’t afford to quarrel. Shake hands, old fellow.”Joe frowned more deeply.“Oh, come, you shall,” whispered Rob. “I say, here, give me your hand like a man. I was put out about losing the puma, because I was sure I could tame it; and it would have made such a jolly pet to go travelling with. It could have lived on the shore and only been on board when we were going down the river. It put me out, and I said that stupid thing about the monkey.”Joe started round with his eyes flashing.“Do you want me to strike you a blow?” he hissed angrily.“No; I want you to put your fist in mine and to say we’re good friends again. I apologise. I’m very sorry.”“Keep your apologies. You are a mean coward to call me a name like that. If we were ashore instead of on a boat, I should strike you.”“No, you wouldn’t,” said Rob sturdily.“What! you think I am afraid?”“No; but you would be a coward if you did, because I tell you that I should not hit you again.”“Because you dare not,” said the young Italian, with a sneer.Rob flushed up angrily, and his words belied his feelings, which prompted him, to use his own expression, to punch the Italian’s head, for he said,—“Perhaps I am afraid, but never mind if I am. You and I are not going to quarrel about such a trifle as all this.”“A trifle? To insult me as you did?”“Don’t be so touchy, Joe,” cried Rob. “Come, shake hands.”But the lad folded his arms across his breast, and at that moment there was the sharp report of Brazier’s gun and a heavy splashing in the water among the lily leaves close up to the drooping trees which hid the cause of the turmoil.There was a little excitement among the men as the boat was rowed close in under the trees, and there, half in the water, lay one of the curious animals known as a water-pig, or carpincho.A rope was immediately made fast to tow the dead animal to the halting-place to cut up for the evening meal, but before they had rowed far Shaddy shouted to the men to stop.“That won’t do,” he cried.“What’s the matter, Shaddy?”“Matter?” growled the guide; “why, can’t you see, sir? There won’t be a bit left by the time we’ve gone a mile. Look at ’em tearing away at it. Well, I never shall have any sense in my head. To think of me not knowing any better than that!”He unfastened the rope hanging astern, and hauled the dead animal along the side to the bows of the boat, with fish large and small dashing at it and tugging away by hundreds, making the water boil, as it were, with, their rapid movement.“Tchah! I’m growing stoopid, I think,” growled Shaddy as he hauled the water-pig in over the bows, the fish hanging on and leaping up at it till it was out of reach; and then their journey was continued till a suitable halting-place was reached, where by a roaring fire objects that required drying were spread out, while the meat was cooked and the coffee made, so that by the time they lay down to rest in the boat there was not much cause for fear of fever.
“What’s the matter, Rob?” said Brazier, as he turned suddenly from where he had been laying various articles of clothing out in the warm sunshine to dry and found the two lads seated together in silence, Rob with his elbows on the side of the boat and his chin in his, hands, gazing back ashore.
“I can’t get a word out of him, sir,” said Joe. “I think it’s because the lion was left behind.”
“Nonsense! Rob is not so childish as to fret after a toy he cannot have. Come, my lad, there is plenty to do. We must make use of the evening sun to get everything possible dry. Come and help. Wet clothes and wet sleeping-places may mean fever.”
Rob looked reproachfully at Joe, and began to hurry himself directly, his movement bringing him in contact with Shaddy, who was dividing his time between keeping a sharp look-out along the shore for a good halting-place suitable for making a fire, giving instructions to his men, and using a sponge with which to sop up every trace of moisture he could find within the boat.
“There, Mr Rob, sir,” he said as he gave the sponge a final squeeze over the side, “I think that’ll about do. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. That storm has done one thing—given the boat a good wash-out—and if we make a big fire to-night and dry everything that got wet, we shall be all the better for it. Don’t see storms like that in England, eh?”
“No,” said Rob shortly, and he took down and began rubbing the moisture from his gun.
“Ah, that’s right, my lad; always come down sharp on the rust, and stop it from going any further. Why, hullo! not going to be ill, are you?”
Rob shook his head.
“You look as dumps as dumps, Mr Rob, sir. I know you’re put out about that great cat being left behind.”
Rob was silent.
“That’s it. Why, never mind that, my lad. You can get plenty of things to tame and pet, if you want ’em, though I say as we eight folks is quite enough in one boat without turning it into a wild beast show.”
Rob went on rubbing the barrel of his gun.
“What do you say to a nice young pet snake, sir?” said Shaddy, with his eyes twinkling, till Rob darted an angry glance at him, when he changed his tone and manner.
“Tell you what, sir, I’ll get one of my boys to climb a tree first time I see an old one with some good holes in. He shall get you a nice young parrot to bring up. You’ll like them; they’re full of tricks, and as tame as can be. Why, one of them would live on the top of the cabin, and climb about in a way as would amoose you for hours.”
Rob darted another angry look at him.
“And do you think I want a parrot to amuse me for hours?” he said bitterly.
“Have a monkey,” said Joe, who had heard the last words. “Shaddy will get you a young one, and you can pet that and teach it to play tricks without any risk to anybody, if you must have a plaything.”
He accompanied this with so taunting a look that it fired Rob’s temper, just at a time when he was bitterly disappointed at the result of his adventure. Joe’s words, too, conveyed the boy’s feeling, which was something akin to jealousy of the new object which took so much of the young Englishman’s thoughts.
Stung then by his companion’s words and look, Rob turned upon him and said sarcastically,—
“Thank you: one monkey’s enough on board at a time.”
The young Italian’s eyes flashed, as, quick as lightning, he took the allusion to mean himself, and he turned sharply away without a word, and went right aft to sit gazing back over the water.
“Well, you’ve been and done it now, Mr Rob, and no mistake,” whispered Shaddy. “You’ve made Master Jovanni’s pot boil over on to the fire, and it ain’t water, but oil.”
“Oh, I am sorry, Shaddy,” said Rob in a low tone, for all his own anger had evaporated the moment he saw the effect of his words on the hot-blooded young Southerner.
“Sorry, lad? I should think you are. Why, if I said such a thing as that to an Italian man, I should think the best thing I could do would be to go and live in old England again, where there would be plenty of policemen to take care of me.”
“But I was not serious.”
“Ay, but you were, my lad, and that’s the worst of it. You said it in a passion on purpose to sting him, and he’s as thin-skinned as a silkworm. He has gone yonder thinking you despise him and consider he’s no better than a monkey, and if you’d set to for six hundred years trying to think out the nastiest thing you could invent to hurt his feelings you couldn’t have hit on a worse.”
“But it was a mere nothing—the thought of the moment, Shaddy,” whispered Rob.
“O’ course it was, dear lad, but, you see, that thought of the moment, as you call it, has put his back up. For long enough now English folk have said nasty things to Italians, comparing ’em to monkeys, because of some of ’em going over to England playing organs and showing a monkey at the end of a string. You see, they’re so proud and easily affronted that such a word feels like a wapps’s sting and worries ’em for days.”
“I’ll go and beg his pardon. I am sorry.”
“Won’t be no good now, sir. Better wait till he has cooled down.”
“I wish I hadn’t said it, Shaddy.”
“Ay, that’s what lots of us feels, sir, sometimes in our lives. I hit a man on the nose aboard a river schooner once, and knocked him through the gangway afterwards into the water, and as soon as I’d done it I wished I hadn’t, but that didn’t make him dry.”
“I wish he had turned round sharply and hit me,” said Rob.
“Ah, it’s a pity he didn’t, isn’t it?” said Shaddy drily. “You wouldn’t have hit him again, of course. You’re just the sort o’ young chap to let a lad hit you, and put your fists in your pockets to keep ’em quiet, and say, ‘Thanky,’ ain’t you?”
“What do you mean—that I should have hit him again?”
“Why, of course I do, and the next moment you two would have been punching and wrestling and knocking one another all over the boat, till Mr Brazier had got hold of one and I’d got hold of the other, and bumped you both down and sat upon you. I don’t know much, but I do know what boys is when they’ve got their monkeys up.”
“Don’t talk about monkeys,” whispered Rob hotly; “I wish there wasn’t a monkey on the face of the earth.”
“Wish again, Mr Rob, sir, as hard as ever you can, and it won’t do a bit o’ good.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Shaddy,” said Rob angrily.
“That’s right, sir; pitch into me now. Call me something; it’ll do you good. Call me a rhinoceros, if you like. It won’t hurt me. I’ve got a skin just as thick as one of them lovely animals. Go it.”
“I do wish you would talk sense,” cried Rob, in a low, earnest whisper. “You know I’ve no one to go and talk to about anything when I want advice.”
“No, I don’t,” said Shaddy gruffly. “There’s Muster Brazier.”
“Just as if he would want to be bothered when his head’s full of his specimens and he’s thinking about nothing else but classifying and numbering and labelling! He’d laugh, and call it a silly trifle, and tell us to shake hands.”
“Good advice, too, my lad, but not now. Wait a bit.”
“I can’t wait, knowing I’ve upset poor old Joe like that. I want to be friends at once.”
“That’s good talk, my lad, only it won’t work at present.”
“Ah, now you’re talking sensibly and like a friend,” said Rob. “But why will it not do now?”
“’Cause Mr Jovanni ain’t English. He’s nursing that all up, and it isn’t his natur’ to shake hands yet. Give the fire time to burn out, and then try him, my lad; he’ll be a different sort then to deal with.”
Rob was silent for a few minutes.
“That’s good advice, Mr Rob, sir, and so I tell you; but I mustn’t stop here talking. It’ll soon be sundown, and then, you know, it’s dark directly, and ’fore then we must be landed and the lads making a good fire. I wish Mr Brazier would come and give more orders about our halting-place to-night.”
“He’s too busy with his plants, Shaddy; and I ought to be helping him.”
“Then why don’t you go, my lad?”
“How can I, with Joe sitting there looking as if I had offended him for life? I’ll go and shake hands at once.”
“No, you won’t, lad.”
“But I will.”
“He won’t let you.”
“Won’t he?” said Rob firmly. “I’m in the wrong, and I’ll tell him so frankly, and ask him to forgive me.”
“And then he won’t; and, what’s worse, he’ll think you’re afraid of him, because it is his natur’ to.”
“We’ll see,” said Rob; and going round outside the canvas awning by holding on to the iron stretchers and ropes, he reached the spot where Joe sat staring fixedly astern, perfectly conscious of Rob’s presence, but frowning and determined upon a feud.
Rob glanced back, and could see Brazier through the opening in the canvas busily examining his specimens, so as to see if any had grown damp through the rain. Then, feeling that, if he whispered, their conversation would not be heard, Rob began.
“Joe!”
There was no reply.
“Joe, old chap, I’m so sorry.” Still the young Italian gazed over the lake. “I say, Joe, it’s like being alone almost, you here and I out there. We can’t afford to quarrel. Shake hands, old fellow.”
Joe frowned more deeply.
“Oh, come, you shall,” whispered Rob. “I say, here, give me your hand like a man. I was put out about losing the puma, because I was sure I could tame it; and it would have made such a jolly pet to go travelling with. It could have lived on the shore and only been on board when we were going down the river. It put me out, and I said that stupid thing about the monkey.”
Joe started round with his eyes flashing.
“Do you want me to strike you a blow?” he hissed angrily.
“No; I want you to put your fist in mine and to say we’re good friends again. I apologise. I’m very sorry.”
“Keep your apologies. You are a mean coward to call me a name like that. If we were ashore instead of on a boat, I should strike you.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” said Rob sturdily.
“What! you think I am afraid?”
“No; but you would be a coward if you did, because I tell you that I should not hit you again.”
“Because you dare not,” said the young Italian, with a sneer.
Rob flushed up angrily, and his words belied his feelings, which prompted him, to use his own expression, to punch the Italian’s head, for he said,—
“Perhaps I am afraid, but never mind if I am. You and I are not going to quarrel about such a trifle as all this.”
“A trifle? To insult me as you did?”
“Don’t be so touchy, Joe,” cried Rob. “Come, shake hands.”
But the lad folded his arms across his breast, and at that moment there was the sharp report of Brazier’s gun and a heavy splashing in the water among the lily leaves close up to the drooping trees which hid the cause of the turmoil.
There was a little excitement among the men as the boat was rowed close in under the trees, and there, half in the water, lay one of the curious animals known as a water-pig, or carpincho.
A rope was immediately made fast to tow the dead animal to the halting-place to cut up for the evening meal, but before they had rowed far Shaddy shouted to the men to stop.
“That won’t do,” he cried.
“What’s the matter, Shaddy?”
“Matter?” growled the guide; “why, can’t you see, sir? There won’t be a bit left by the time we’ve gone a mile. Look at ’em tearing away at it. Well, I never shall have any sense in my head. To think of me not knowing any better than that!”
He unfastened the rope hanging astern, and hauled the dead animal along the side to the bows of the boat, with fish large and small dashing at it and tugging away by hundreds, making the water boil, as it were, with, their rapid movement.
“Tchah! I’m growing stoopid, I think,” growled Shaddy as he hauled the water-pig in over the bows, the fish hanging on and leaping up at it till it was out of reach; and then their journey was continued till a suitable halting-place was reached, where by a roaring fire objects that required drying were spread out, while the meat was cooked and the coffee made, so that by the time they lay down to rest in the boat there was not much cause for fear of fever.