Chapter Twenty Eight.

Chapter Twenty Eight.The End of the Quest.It was hard work to be dull and low-spirited in the midst of the beautiful scene which greeted Rob as he stepped out and followed Shaddy down to the fire. The clearing was one mass of glorious colour, the sky gorgeous with the sunrise tints, and the river flushed with orange, blue and gold. Birds sang, piped, and shrieked loudly, butterflies were beginning to flutter about, and a loud chattering from the nearest tree roused Rob to the fact that the puma had been following him, for it suddenly made three or four leaps in the direction of the sounds, and then crouched down to gaze at a party of monkeys, which were leaping about, scolding, shrieking and chattering angrily at the enemy watching their movements. Directly after, though, the puma returned to Rob’s side, uttering a sound strongly suggestive of the domestic cat.“Going to have a dip, Mr Rob, sir?” said Shaddy. And then—“I’d be very careful, sir; you know how full of biting varmin the river is. Look sharp; breakfast’s ready, and as soon as we’ve done we’ll go and find Mr Brazier.”“Try to,” cried the boy sadly.“Find him, Mr Rob, sir. Bah! who’s going to say die on a lovely morning in a lovely place like this?”Rob thought of his companion’s words as he turned down to the edge of the water and bathed, with the puma sitting near watching him, apparently with wonder. Then, refreshed and invigorated, he hastened back to where there was the appetising odour of roasting meat, while the puma returned to the remains of its last night’s feast.Half an hour after, armed with rough spear, bow and arrows, and a big package of roasted meat, consisting of deer legs, and the best parts of the iguana which Shaddy had taken out and begun cooking while Rob still slept, they were threading their way amongst the trees once more, with the puma somewhere behind them, for they could hear it utter a curious cry from time to time, though they never once caught sight of it in the dense growth.“Feel as if I was right, don’t you, my lad?” said Shaddy, as they tramped on. “Couldn’t have got through the trees like this without rest and food.”“You were quite right,” replied Rob. “Where are you making for?”“The place I showed you last night. I think we’ll start from there.”It was a long time before they reached the spot, and examined it carefully, to find more traces of Mr Brazier having been there and stopping. So they shouted and whistled again and again, but there was no response, and trying to pick up the trail they started again—now utterly baffled and ready to return, now gathering fresh hope on suddenly coming upon a scrap of orchid or a bunch of woodland flowers, which had been carefully gathered and thrown down, apparently by some one wearied out. Then Rob uttered a cry of excitement, for he stumbled suddenly upon a spot which was comparatively open, so that the sunshine penetrated. It was no doubt the work of a hurricane, for great trees lay prostrate, decaying fast, and fresh flowery growths had sprung up. Birds and insects were plentiful, and the spot looked lovely after the gloom of the forest shades. Here was the crushed-down growth where he they sought had lain down to sleep, unless it was the resting-place of an Indian.Rob suggested it and Shaddy replied angrily:“Look here, youngster, if ever you want a nickname call yourself Wet Blanket. What a fellow you are for making the worst of everything! Some one lay down to rest here, didn’t he?”“Yes, I think so.”“And I’m sure. Now look at the places where the flowers have been snapped off. I know what you’re saying to yourself: ‘wild beast or Indian!’ Now, I ask you, sir, as a young English gent who has been to school and can read and write, do wild beasts and Indians go about picking flowers or collecting anything that isn’t good to eat?”“Ah, Shaddy,” said Rob sadly, “you beat me at arguing. I’m afraid to hope that we shall find him alive, but you’re quite right, and I will try and believe.”“Bravo, Mr Rob, sir! Three cheers for that! Never fear, we’ll find him alive yet; weak and done up, but keeping himself going. He has found bits of fruit and nuts, and when he couldn’t find them there’s something in the tops of tender grasses. Cheer up, sir! Now then, let’s give a big shout here.”Shaddy set the example, and at the tremendous yell he sent forth there was a rush of wings from one of the trees a short distance away, where all had been perfectly still the moment before; and as a flock of birds hidden by the leaves dashed off, quite a little shower of fruit was dropped by them among the leaves.“There, sir—that was food,” cried Shaddy; “and a gentleman who knows all about such things, as Mr Brazier does, would find them and keep himself going. Now it’s your turn. Shout, sir.”Rob uttered as loud a cry as he could, and then twice over imitated the Australian “cooee,” following it up with a shrill piercing note from a little silver whistle; but the only response was the cry of anara, one of the great scarlet and blue long-tailed macaws, whose harsh shriek came softened from the distance.“Not right yet, Mr Rob, sir,” said Shaddy, quietly; “but we’re not going to despair, boy. I aren’t a religious man your way, but after my fashion I trust in God and take the rough with the smooth. What is to be will be, so don’t let’s kick against it. We’ve got our duty to do, my lad, and that’s to keep on trying. Now then, what do you say to a bit of a snack?”“No, no—not yet, Shaddy; let’s go on.”“Right, my lad.”They started again, and pressed on through the breathless heat of the woods, but without finding further sign of any one having passed that way; and at last Shaddy stopped short on the banks of a running stream, which impeded farther progress, and whose waters offered refreshing draughts to those who were getting in sore need.“We’re off his track, Mr Rob. He’s not likely to have crossed a river like this; but welcome it is, for it shows us the way back just when I was getting a bit muddled.”“How does it?” said Rob, wonderingly.“Because it must flow into the big river somewhere below our camp.”“Then you have seen no traces of him lately?”“Nothing, my lad, since we left that open patch where the birds flew out of the trees.”“Then we must go back at once, Shaddy.”“Not until we’ve trimmed the lamps again, my lad. Sit down on that old trunk— No, don’t; I daresay it’s full of stinging ants and things, and perhaps there’s a snake or two. We’ll sit on this root and have a good feed, and then take up our track again.”Rob seated himself sadly down, while the guide unpacked his store of meat wrapped in green leaves; and the boy felt annoyed with himself for his want of forethought on seeing how carefully his companion put back and bound up some of the best, nodding, as he caught Rob’s eyes fixed upon him.“For Mr Brazier,” he said. “He’ll be glad enough of a bit o’ meat when we find him.”They began eating directly, washing down the savoury roast with handfuls of clear water scooped up from the stream which bubbled and foamed by in its rocky bed.“Well, now look at that!” cried Shaddy the next minute, as with one tremendous bound the puma alighted just before them, and stood looking at Rob and lashing its tail. “Why, he must have come after us all the time. Trust an animal for smelling meat.”Rob shared his portion with the great cat, which also crunched up the bones. Then once more they began their search, taking up their own trail backward, and with no little difficulty following it to the opening, from whence they kept on making casts, till night was once more approaching. They tramped back to the hut just in time to save their fire; but they had nothing to cook, the remains of the iguana being too far gone, and their meal consisted of nuts and water; though the puma feasted well.The next morning they were off again soon after daylight, after breakfasting off fish secured by Shaddy as soon as it was light, while a couple more were roasted and taken with them.This time they tried a fresh direction, trusting more to chance; and as they toiled on Shaddy grew more and more serious while forcing his way through the trees, and his manner was softer and gentler to his companion, who rarely spoke now save to the puma, which grew hourly more confident, and kept close at Rob’s heels, giving his leg a rub whenever he stopped short to glance about him through the solemn shadows of the forest.For this was the third day of their search, and it was impossible to help feeling that it was the very last upon which they could cling to hope.It passed as the others had done—in one weary tramp and struggle, but without a single sign of the lost one to give them encouragement to proceed; and at last, when they were bound to return if they intended to sleep again in camp, Shaddy said suddenly:“God help him, my lad: we’ve done all we can. Let’s get back now. I may think out something fresh by to-morrow morning. I can’t do anything to-night, for my head’s like my legs—dead beat out.”Rob answered with a sigh, for his heart was very heavy now; and as his companion stood calculating for a few minutes which way they should go, he waited, and then followed behind him without a word.They were a little earlier this time, but the sun had gone down before they got out of the forest at the extreme corner on the right of their hut; and as they trudged back the puma made two dashes at prey unseen by the travellers, but without success, returning after each cautious crawl and final bound to walk quietly along behind Rob, who, in a dull, heavy, unthinking way, reached back to touch the beast, which responded with a friendly pressure and rub of its head against the extended hand.And as they crept slowly on, with the trees crowding round them as if to hinder their progress, and the darkness of the umbrageous foliage seeming to press down upon their heads, their journey was made with greater difficulty than ever; for the spirit or energy had gone out of Shaddy, who tramped on as if he were asleep.It struck Rob once that this was the case, and he increased his own rate so as to try and get ahead of his companion, but as soon as he drew close up his comrade stopped.“Like to go first, my lad?”“No, no,” said Rob hurriedly. “Are you sure of the road?”“No, my lad, because there isn’t one. I’m only pretty sure that we are in the right direction.”It proved that he was correct when in due time they stood out in the clearing, with the darkness falling fast; and then Shaddy said suddenly, and as if with an effort:“Come, Mr Rob, sir, we mustn’t give up. Let’s have some food, or we shall be done. No deer meat to-night, no iguana. Get the fire going while I go and try for a fish; there’ll just be time.”Rob tramped heavily to the fire, and the guide went to the tree where he had hung the line, baited it from the remains of the food, and strode down to his favourite spot for fishing; while Rob busied himself raking the fire together with a half-burned branch, and then, as it began to smoke, piled on it the partly-burned brands, and upon them the pieces industriously heaped together.The blaze began to creep up and lick the twigs and branches as the blue smoke rose. Then the fire increased to a ruddy glow; and feeling chilly after the heat to which he had been exposed, Rob sat listlessly down gazing at the increasing flames, which lit up his sun-browned face as he thought and thought of his boyish comrade, then of Mr Brazier, and at last of himself.They were sad thoughts, for he felt that he should never see home again, that he would be the next to be struck down by some savage beast, bitten by a poisonous snake, or lost in the forest, where he would be too weak to find his way back. And as he thought he wondered what Shaddy would do when he was gone—whether he would be picked up by some passing boat, or live on in a kind of Robinson Crusoe life to a good old age.Rob started involuntarily as he reached this point, for something touched him; and turning sharply, he found that the puma was rubbing its head against his shoulder, the beautiful creature uttering its peculiar purring sound as Rob threw an arm round its neck and began to caress it, ready as he was out there to cling to anything in his weariness and desolation.He was thus occupied when the puma started away, for there was a step behind him.“Tired, my lad? Only got one, but he’s a fine fellow,” said Shaddy, who rapidly chopped off the head and a good-sized piece of the tail of a fine dorado.“Not so very; only low-spirited.”“Not you, my lad: hungry’s the word. That’s what’s the matter with me. Here, I say, squire, if you’re anything of a cat you’ll like fish,” he continued, as he threw the head, tail, and other portions of the fish toward the puma, which hesitated for a few moments and then secured and bore them off.Meanwhile, to help his companion more than from any desire for food, Rob had risen and cut some big palm leaves, laid them down, and then raked a hole in the heap of embers ready for the fish.“That’s better,” said Shaddy, as he lifted the great parcel he had made of the fish; and depositing his load in the embers, he took the rough branch they used for a rake and poker in one, and covered the packet deeply.“There, Mr Rob, sir; that’s the best thing for our low spirits. We shall be better after that physic.”“Hush!” cried Rob excitedly.“Eh! What? Did you hear something?”“Yes: a faint cry.”“No!”“But I did. And look at the puma: he heard it too. Didn’t you see it start and leave the fish?”“Yes, but I thought I startled it. He’s very suspicious of me, and I don’t suppose we shall ever be good friends.”“No, it was not that,” whispered Rob, whose voice trembled as if he were alarmed.“Then it was some beast in the forest. There they are, any number of them. Frog perhaps, or an owl: they make very queer sounds.”Rob shook his head.“I say, don’t look so scared, my lad, just as if you were going to be ill. I tell you what it was: one of those howling spider monkeys at a distance.”“There again!” cried Rob, starting up,—an example followed by the guide, who was impressed by the peculiar faint cry; and as Rob seized his companion’s arm, thelatter said, with a slight suggestion of nervousness in his tone:“Now, what beast could that be? But there, one never gets used to all the cries in the forest. Here, what’s the matter? Where are you going, my lad?”“To see—to see,” gasped Rob.“Not alone, Mr Rob, sir. I don’t think it is, but it may be some dangerous creature, and I don’t want you to come to trouble. Got enough without. Hah! there it goes again.”For there was the same peculiar smothered cry, apparently from the edge of the forest, close to where they had raised their hut.“Come along quickly,” whispered Rob, in a faint, panting voice.“Yes, but steady, my lad. Let’s try and see, our way. We don’t want to be taken by surprise. Get ready an arrow, and I may as well have my knife.”“No: come on; don’t you know what it was? It was close here somewhere. Can’t you tell?”“No, my lad, nor you neither. I’ve been a little longer in the woods than you.”“How can you be so dull?” cried Rob. “Now, quick: it must have been somewhere here. I heard ‘Help’ as plainly as could be.”“What?”Just then the cry arose again, not fifty yards away; and unmistakably that word was uttered in a faint, piteous tone:“Help!”—and again, “Help!”The pair sprang forward together, crashing recklessly among the branches in the direction of the sound; but as they reached the place from whence it seemed to have come all was still, and there was no response to their cries.“All a mistake, my lad,” said Shaddy. “We’re done up, and fancied it.”“Fancied? No, it was Mr Brazier,” cried Rob excitedly. “I’m sure of it; and— Yes, yes, quick; this way. Here he lies!”

It was hard work to be dull and low-spirited in the midst of the beautiful scene which greeted Rob as he stepped out and followed Shaddy down to the fire. The clearing was one mass of glorious colour, the sky gorgeous with the sunrise tints, and the river flushed with orange, blue and gold. Birds sang, piped, and shrieked loudly, butterflies were beginning to flutter about, and a loud chattering from the nearest tree roused Rob to the fact that the puma had been following him, for it suddenly made three or four leaps in the direction of the sounds, and then crouched down to gaze at a party of monkeys, which were leaping about, scolding, shrieking and chattering angrily at the enemy watching their movements. Directly after, though, the puma returned to Rob’s side, uttering a sound strongly suggestive of the domestic cat.

“Going to have a dip, Mr Rob, sir?” said Shaddy. And then—“I’d be very careful, sir; you know how full of biting varmin the river is. Look sharp; breakfast’s ready, and as soon as we’ve done we’ll go and find Mr Brazier.”

“Try to,” cried the boy sadly.

“Find him, Mr Rob, sir. Bah! who’s going to say die on a lovely morning in a lovely place like this?”

Rob thought of his companion’s words as he turned down to the edge of the water and bathed, with the puma sitting near watching him, apparently with wonder. Then, refreshed and invigorated, he hastened back to where there was the appetising odour of roasting meat, while the puma returned to the remains of its last night’s feast.

Half an hour after, armed with rough spear, bow and arrows, and a big package of roasted meat, consisting of deer legs, and the best parts of the iguana which Shaddy had taken out and begun cooking while Rob still slept, they were threading their way amongst the trees once more, with the puma somewhere behind them, for they could hear it utter a curious cry from time to time, though they never once caught sight of it in the dense growth.

“Feel as if I was right, don’t you, my lad?” said Shaddy, as they tramped on. “Couldn’t have got through the trees like this without rest and food.”

“You were quite right,” replied Rob. “Where are you making for?”

“The place I showed you last night. I think we’ll start from there.”

It was a long time before they reached the spot, and examined it carefully, to find more traces of Mr Brazier having been there and stopping. So they shouted and whistled again and again, but there was no response, and trying to pick up the trail they started again—now utterly baffled and ready to return, now gathering fresh hope on suddenly coming upon a scrap of orchid or a bunch of woodland flowers, which had been carefully gathered and thrown down, apparently by some one wearied out. Then Rob uttered a cry of excitement, for he stumbled suddenly upon a spot which was comparatively open, so that the sunshine penetrated. It was no doubt the work of a hurricane, for great trees lay prostrate, decaying fast, and fresh flowery growths had sprung up. Birds and insects were plentiful, and the spot looked lovely after the gloom of the forest shades. Here was the crushed-down growth where he they sought had lain down to sleep, unless it was the resting-place of an Indian.

Rob suggested it and Shaddy replied angrily:

“Look here, youngster, if ever you want a nickname call yourself Wet Blanket. What a fellow you are for making the worst of everything! Some one lay down to rest here, didn’t he?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“And I’m sure. Now look at the places where the flowers have been snapped off. I know what you’re saying to yourself: ‘wild beast or Indian!’ Now, I ask you, sir, as a young English gent who has been to school and can read and write, do wild beasts and Indians go about picking flowers or collecting anything that isn’t good to eat?”

“Ah, Shaddy,” said Rob sadly, “you beat me at arguing. I’m afraid to hope that we shall find him alive, but you’re quite right, and I will try and believe.”

“Bravo, Mr Rob, sir! Three cheers for that! Never fear, we’ll find him alive yet; weak and done up, but keeping himself going. He has found bits of fruit and nuts, and when he couldn’t find them there’s something in the tops of tender grasses. Cheer up, sir! Now then, let’s give a big shout here.”

Shaddy set the example, and at the tremendous yell he sent forth there was a rush of wings from one of the trees a short distance away, where all had been perfectly still the moment before; and as a flock of birds hidden by the leaves dashed off, quite a little shower of fruit was dropped by them among the leaves.

“There, sir—that was food,” cried Shaddy; “and a gentleman who knows all about such things, as Mr Brazier does, would find them and keep himself going. Now it’s your turn. Shout, sir.”

Rob uttered as loud a cry as he could, and then twice over imitated the Australian “cooee,” following it up with a shrill piercing note from a little silver whistle; but the only response was the cry of anara, one of the great scarlet and blue long-tailed macaws, whose harsh shriek came softened from the distance.

“Not right yet, Mr Rob, sir,” said Shaddy, quietly; “but we’re not going to despair, boy. I aren’t a religious man your way, but after my fashion I trust in God and take the rough with the smooth. What is to be will be, so don’t let’s kick against it. We’ve got our duty to do, my lad, and that’s to keep on trying. Now then, what do you say to a bit of a snack?”

“No, no—not yet, Shaddy; let’s go on.”

“Right, my lad.”

They started again, and pressed on through the breathless heat of the woods, but without finding further sign of any one having passed that way; and at last Shaddy stopped short on the banks of a running stream, which impeded farther progress, and whose waters offered refreshing draughts to those who were getting in sore need.

“We’re off his track, Mr Rob. He’s not likely to have crossed a river like this; but welcome it is, for it shows us the way back just when I was getting a bit muddled.”

“How does it?” said Rob, wonderingly.

“Because it must flow into the big river somewhere below our camp.”

“Then you have seen no traces of him lately?”

“Nothing, my lad, since we left that open patch where the birds flew out of the trees.”

“Then we must go back at once, Shaddy.”

“Not until we’ve trimmed the lamps again, my lad. Sit down on that old trunk— No, don’t; I daresay it’s full of stinging ants and things, and perhaps there’s a snake or two. We’ll sit on this root and have a good feed, and then take up our track again.”

Rob seated himself sadly down, while the guide unpacked his store of meat wrapped in green leaves; and the boy felt annoyed with himself for his want of forethought on seeing how carefully his companion put back and bound up some of the best, nodding, as he caught Rob’s eyes fixed upon him.

“For Mr Brazier,” he said. “He’ll be glad enough of a bit o’ meat when we find him.”

They began eating directly, washing down the savoury roast with handfuls of clear water scooped up from the stream which bubbled and foamed by in its rocky bed.

“Well, now look at that!” cried Shaddy the next minute, as with one tremendous bound the puma alighted just before them, and stood looking at Rob and lashing its tail. “Why, he must have come after us all the time. Trust an animal for smelling meat.”

Rob shared his portion with the great cat, which also crunched up the bones. Then once more they began their search, taking up their own trail backward, and with no little difficulty following it to the opening, from whence they kept on making casts, till night was once more approaching. They tramped back to the hut just in time to save their fire; but they had nothing to cook, the remains of the iguana being too far gone, and their meal consisted of nuts and water; though the puma feasted well.

The next morning they were off again soon after daylight, after breakfasting off fish secured by Shaddy as soon as it was light, while a couple more were roasted and taken with them.

This time they tried a fresh direction, trusting more to chance; and as they toiled on Shaddy grew more and more serious while forcing his way through the trees, and his manner was softer and gentler to his companion, who rarely spoke now save to the puma, which grew hourly more confident, and kept close at Rob’s heels, giving his leg a rub whenever he stopped short to glance about him through the solemn shadows of the forest.

For this was the third day of their search, and it was impossible to help feeling that it was the very last upon which they could cling to hope.

It passed as the others had done—in one weary tramp and struggle, but without a single sign of the lost one to give them encouragement to proceed; and at last, when they were bound to return if they intended to sleep again in camp, Shaddy said suddenly:

“God help him, my lad: we’ve done all we can. Let’s get back now. I may think out something fresh by to-morrow morning. I can’t do anything to-night, for my head’s like my legs—dead beat out.”

Rob answered with a sigh, for his heart was very heavy now; and as his companion stood calculating for a few minutes which way they should go, he waited, and then followed behind him without a word.

They were a little earlier this time, but the sun had gone down before they got out of the forest at the extreme corner on the right of their hut; and as they trudged back the puma made two dashes at prey unseen by the travellers, but without success, returning after each cautious crawl and final bound to walk quietly along behind Rob, who, in a dull, heavy, unthinking way, reached back to touch the beast, which responded with a friendly pressure and rub of its head against the extended hand.

And as they crept slowly on, with the trees crowding round them as if to hinder their progress, and the darkness of the umbrageous foliage seeming to press down upon their heads, their journey was made with greater difficulty than ever; for the spirit or energy had gone out of Shaddy, who tramped on as if he were asleep.

It struck Rob once that this was the case, and he increased his own rate so as to try and get ahead of his companion, but as soon as he drew close up his comrade stopped.

“Like to go first, my lad?”

“No, no,” said Rob hurriedly. “Are you sure of the road?”

“No, my lad, because there isn’t one. I’m only pretty sure that we are in the right direction.”

It proved that he was correct when in due time they stood out in the clearing, with the darkness falling fast; and then Shaddy said suddenly, and as if with an effort:

“Come, Mr Rob, sir, we mustn’t give up. Let’s have some food, or we shall be done. No deer meat to-night, no iguana. Get the fire going while I go and try for a fish; there’ll just be time.”

Rob tramped heavily to the fire, and the guide went to the tree where he had hung the line, baited it from the remains of the food, and strode down to his favourite spot for fishing; while Rob busied himself raking the fire together with a half-burned branch, and then, as it began to smoke, piled on it the partly-burned brands, and upon them the pieces industriously heaped together.

The blaze began to creep up and lick the twigs and branches as the blue smoke rose. Then the fire increased to a ruddy glow; and feeling chilly after the heat to which he had been exposed, Rob sat listlessly down gazing at the increasing flames, which lit up his sun-browned face as he thought and thought of his boyish comrade, then of Mr Brazier, and at last of himself.

They were sad thoughts, for he felt that he should never see home again, that he would be the next to be struck down by some savage beast, bitten by a poisonous snake, or lost in the forest, where he would be too weak to find his way back. And as he thought he wondered what Shaddy would do when he was gone—whether he would be picked up by some passing boat, or live on in a kind of Robinson Crusoe life to a good old age.

Rob started involuntarily as he reached this point, for something touched him; and turning sharply, he found that the puma was rubbing its head against his shoulder, the beautiful creature uttering its peculiar purring sound as Rob threw an arm round its neck and began to caress it, ready as he was out there to cling to anything in his weariness and desolation.

He was thus occupied when the puma started away, for there was a step behind him.

“Tired, my lad? Only got one, but he’s a fine fellow,” said Shaddy, who rapidly chopped off the head and a good-sized piece of the tail of a fine dorado.

“Not so very; only low-spirited.”

“Not you, my lad: hungry’s the word. That’s what’s the matter with me. Here, I say, squire, if you’re anything of a cat you’ll like fish,” he continued, as he threw the head, tail, and other portions of the fish toward the puma, which hesitated for a few moments and then secured and bore them off.

Meanwhile, to help his companion more than from any desire for food, Rob had risen and cut some big palm leaves, laid them down, and then raked a hole in the heap of embers ready for the fish.

“That’s better,” said Shaddy, as he lifted the great parcel he had made of the fish; and depositing his load in the embers, he took the rough branch they used for a rake and poker in one, and covered the packet deeply.

“There, Mr Rob, sir; that’s the best thing for our low spirits. We shall be better after that physic.”

“Hush!” cried Rob excitedly.

“Eh! What? Did you hear something?”

“Yes: a faint cry.”

“No!”

“But I did. And look at the puma: he heard it too. Didn’t you see it start and leave the fish?”

“Yes, but I thought I startled it. He’s very suspicious of me, and I don’t suppose we shall ever be good friends.”

“No, it was not that,” whispered Rob, whose voice trembled as if he were alarmed.

“Then it was some beast in the forest. There they are, any number of them. Frog perhaps, or an owl: they make very queer sounds.”

Rob shook his head.

“I say, don’t look so scared, my lad, just as if you were going to be ill. I tell you what it was: one of those howling spider monkeys at a distance.”

“There again!” cried Rob, starting up,—an example followed by the guide, who was impressed by the peculiar faint cry; and as Rob seized his companion’s arm, thelatter said, with a slight suggestion of nervousness in his tone:

“Now, what beast could that be? But there, one never gets used to all the cries in the forest. Here, what’s the matter? Where are you going, my lad?”

“To see—to see,” gasped Rob.

“Not alone, Mr Rob, sir. I don’t think it is, but it may be some dangerous creature, and I don’t want you to come to trouble. Got enough without. Hah! there it goes again.”

For there was the same peculiar smothered cry, apparently from the edge of the forest, close to where they had raised their hut.

“Come along quickly,” whispered Rob, in a faint, panting voice.

“Yes, but steady, my lad. Let’s try and see, our way. We don’t want to be taken by surprise. Get ready an arrow, and I may as well have my knife.”

“No: come on; don’t you know what it was? It was close here somewhere. Can’t you tell?”

“No, my lad, nor you neither. I’ve been a little longer in the woods than you.”

“How can you be so dull?” cried Rob. “Now, quick: it must have been somewhere here. I heard ‘Help’ as plainly as could be.”

“What?”

Just then the cry arose again, not fifty yards away; and unmistakably that word was uttered in a faint, piteous tone:

“Help!”—and again, “Help!”

The pair sprang forward together, crashing recklessly among the branches in the direction of the sound; but as they reached the place from whence it seemed to have come all was still, and there was no response to their cries.

“All a mistake, my lad,” said Shaddy. “We’re done up, and fancied it.”

“Fancied? No, it was Mr Brazier,” cried Rob excitedly. “I’m sure of it; and— Yes, yes, quick; this way. Here he lies!”

Chapter Twenty Nine.Friend and Patient.They had sought in vain for the lost man; and when in utter despair they had been on the point of giving up the search, he had struggled back to them, his last steps guided by the fire when he had felt that he must lie down utterly exhausted, to die.“Mr Brazier! At last!” cried Rob; and he went down upon his knee and grasped his leader’s hand, but there was no response, and the fingers he held were cold as ice.“Here, lend a hand, Mr Rob, sir,” cried Shaddy roughly, “and help me to get him on my back.”“Let me help carry him.”“No, sir; my way’s easiest—quickest, and will hurt him least. He’s half dead of starvation, and cold as cold. Quick, sir! let’s get him down by the fire. It will be too dark in the hovel to do anything.”Rob helped to raise the wanderer, Shaddy swung him on his back lightly and easily, and stepping quickly toward the fire, soon had the poor fellow lying with his feet exposed to the blaze, while water was given to him a little at a time, and soon after a few morsels of the tender fish, which he swallowed with difficulty.They had no rest that night, but, with the strange cries and noises of the forest around them, mingled with the splashings and danger-threatening sounds of the river, they tended and cared for the insensible man, giving him food and water from time to time, but in quantities suggestive of homoeopathic treatment. Still they felt no fatigue for the great joy in both their hearts, for neither of them had the faintest hope of ever seeing their leader again.Once or twice during the night Mr Brazier had seemed so cold and rigid that Rob had glanced wildly at the guide, who replied by feeling the insensible man’s feet.“Only sleep, my lad!” he said softly. “I daresay he will not come to for a couple of days. A man can’t pass through the horror of being lost without going off his head more or less.”“Do you think he’ll be delirious, then?”“Off his head, my lad? Yes. It will be almost like a fever, I should say, and we shall have to nurse him a long time till he comes round.”The guide was quite right. The strong man was utterly brought down by the terrible struggle of the past three days, and as they looked at his hollow eyes and sunken cheeks it was plain to see what he had suffered bodily from hunger, while his wanderings told of how great the shock must have been to his brain.The mystery of the blood was explained simply enough by his roughly bandaged left arm, on which as they examined it, while he lay perfectly weak and insensible, they found a severe wound cleanly cut by a knife.“He must have been attacked, then,” cried Rob as he looked at the wound in horror, while in a quiet, methodical way Shaddy proceeded to sew it together by the simple process of thrusting a couple of pins through the skin and then winding a thread of silk round them in turn from head to point, after which he firmly bandaged the wound before making a reply to Rob’s words.“Yes, my lad,” he said; “right arm attacked his left. He must have been making a chop at some of the plants on a branch, and the tool slipped. You take out his knife and open it, and see if it ain’t marked.”Shaddy was quite right, for there on the handle were some dried-up traces of how the wound must have bled.It was a week before the patient began to show tokens of amendment, during which time Rob and Shaddy had been hard pressed for ways to supply his wants. There were endless things necessary for the invalid which they could not supply, but, from old forest lore and knowledge picked up during his adventurous life, the guide was able to find the leaves of a shrub, which leaves he beat into a pulp between two pebbles, put the bruised stems into the cup of a water flask, added water, and gave it to the patient to drink.“It is of no use to ask me what it is, Mr Rob, sir,” said the guide; “all I know is that the Indians use it, and that there isn’t anything better to keep down fever and get up strength.”“Then it must be quinine,” said Rob.“No, my lad; it isn’t that, but it’s very good. These wild sort of people seem to have picked up the knack of doctoring themselves and of finding out poisons to put on their arrows somehow or another, and there’s no nonsense about them.”The prisoners in the vast forest—for they were as much prisoners as if shut up in some huge building—had to scheme hard to obtain their supplies so as to make them suitable to their patient. Fish they caught, as a rule, abundantly enough; birds they trapped and shot with arrows; and fruit was to be had after much searching; but their great want was some kind of vessel in which to cook, till after several failures Rob built up a very rough pot of clay from the river bed by making long thin rolls and laying one upon the other and rubbing them together. This pot he built up on a piece of thin shaley stone, dried it in the sun, and ended by baking it in the embers—covering it over with the hot ashes, and leaving it all one night.Shaddy watched him with a grim smile, and kept on giving him words of encouragement, as he worked, tending Mr Brazier the while, brushing the flies away and arranging green boughs over him to keep him in the shade, declaring that he would be better out there in the open than in the forest.“Well done, my lad!” said the old sailor as Rob held up the finished pot before placing it in the fire; “’tis a rough ’un, but I daresay there has been worse ones made. What I’m scared about is the firing. Strikes me it will crack all to shivers.”To Rob’s great delight, the pot came out of the wood ashes perfectly sound, and their next experiment was the careful stewing down of an iguana and the production of a quantity of broth, which Shaddy pronounced to be finer than any chicken soup ever made; Rob, after trying hard to conquer his repugnance to food prepared from such a hideous-looking creature, said it was not bad; and their patient drank with avidity.“There,” said Shaddy, “we shall go on swimmingly in the kitchen now; and as we can have hot water I don’t see why we shouldn’t have some tea.”“You’d better go to the grocer’s, then, for a pound,” said Rob, with a laugh.“Oh no, I shan’t,” said Shaddy; “here’s plenty of leaves to dry in the sun such as people out here use, and you’ll say it ain’t such bad tea, neither; but strikes me, Mr Rob, that the sooner you make another pot the better.”Rob set to at once, and failed in the baking, but succeeded admirably with his next attempt, the new pot being better baked than the old, and that night he partook of some of Shad’s infusion of leaves, which was confessed to be only wanting in sugar and cream to be very palatable.That day they found a deer lying among the bushes, with the neck and breast eaten, evidently the puma’s work, and, after what Shaddy called a fair division, the legs and loins were carried off to roast and stew, giving the party, with the fruit and fish, a delightful change.The next day was one to be marked with a red letter, for towards evening Mr Brazier’s eyes had in them the look of returned consciousness.Rob saw it first as he knelt down beside his friend, who smiled at him faintly, and spoke in quite a whisper.From that hour he began to amend fast, and a week after he related how, in his ardour to secure new plants, he had lost his bearings, and gone on wandering here and there in the most helpless way, sustaining life on such berries and other fruits as he could find, till the horror of his situation was more than his brain could bear. Face to face with the fact that he might go on wandering there till forced by weakness to lie down and die, he said the horror mastered him all at once, and the rest was like some terrible dream of going on and on, with intervals that were full of delight, and in which he seemed to be amongst glorious flowers, which he was always collecting, till the heaps crushed him down, and all was horror, agony, and wild imagination. Then he awoke lying beneath the bower of leaves, shaded from the sunshine, listening to the birds, the rushing sound of the river, and, best of all, the voices of his two companions.

They had sought in vain for the lost man; and when in utter despair they had been on the point of giving up the search, he had struggled back to them, his last steps guided by the fire when he had felt that he must lie down utterly exhausted, to die.

“Mr Brazier! At last!” cried Rob; and he went down upon his knee and grasped his leader’s hand, but there was no response, and the fingers he held were cold as ice.

“Here, lend a hand, Mr Rob, sir,” cried Shaddy roughly, “and help me to get him on my back.”

“Let me help carry him.”

“No, sir; my way’s easiest—quickest, and will hurt him least. He’s half dead of starvation, and cold as cold. Quick, sir! let’s get him down by the fire. It will be too dark in the hovel to do anything.”

Rob helped to raise the wanderer, Shaddy swung him on his back lightly and easily, and stepping quickly toward the fire, soon had the poor fellow lying with his feet exposed to the blaze, while water was given to him a little at a time, and soon after a few morsels of the tender fish, which he swallowed with difficulty.

They had no rest that night, but, with the strange cries and noises of the forest around them, mingled with the splashings and danger-threatening sounds of the river, they tended and cared for the insensible man, giving him food and water from time to time, but in quantities suggestive of homoeopathic treatment. Still they felt no fatigue for the great joy in both their hearts, for neither of them had the faintest hope of ever seeing their leader again.

Once or twice during the night Mr Brazier had seemed so cold and rigid that Rob had glanced wildly at the guide, who replied by feeling the insensible man’s feet.

“Only sleep, my lad!” he said softly. “I daresay he will not come to for a couple of days. A man can’t pass through the horror of being lost without going off his head more or less.”

“Do you think he’ll be delirious, then?”

“Off his head, my lad? Yes. It will be almost like a fever, I should say, and we shall have to nurse him a long time till he comes round.”

The guide was quite right. The strong man was utterly brought down by the terrible struggle of the past three days, and as they looked at his hollow eyes and sunken cheeks it was plain to see what he had suffered bodily from hunger, while his wanderings told of how great the shock must have been to his brain.

The mystery of the blood was explained simply enough by his roughly bandaged left arm, on which as they examined it, while he lay perfectly weak and insensible, they found a severe wound cleanly cut by a knife.

“He must have been attacked, then,” cried Rob as he looked at the wound in horror, while in a quiet, methodical way Shaddy proceeded to sew it together by the simple process of thrusting a couple of pins through the skin and then winding a thread of silk round them in turn from head to point, after which he firmly bandaged the wound before making a reply to Rob’s words.

“Yes, my lad,” he said; “right arm attacked his left. He must have been making a chop at some of the plants on a branch, and the tool slipped. You take out his knife and open it, and see if it ain’t marked.”

Shaddy was quite right, for there on the handle were some dried-up traces of how the wound must have bled.

It was a week before the patient began to show tokens of amendment, during which time Rob and Shaddy had been hard pressed for ways to supply his wants. There were endless things necessary for the invalid which they could not supply, but, from old forest lore and knowledge picked up during his adventurous life, the guide was able to find the leaves of a shrub, which leaves he beat into a pulp between two pebbles, put the bruised stems into the cup of a water flask, added water, and gave it to the patient to drink.

“It is of no use to ask me what it is, Mr Rob, sir,” said the guide; “all I know is that the Indians use it, and that there isn’t anything better to keep down fever and get up strength.”

“Then it must be quinine,” said Rob.

“No, my lad; it isn’t that, but it’s very good. These wild sort of people seem to have picked up the knack of doctoring themselves and of finding out poisons to put on their arrows somehow or another, and there’s no nonsense about them.”

The prisoners in the vast forest—for they were as much prisoners as if shut up in some huge building—had to scheme hard to obtain their supplies so as to make them suitable to their patient. Fish they caught, as a rule, abundantly enough; birds they trapped and shot with arrows; and fruit was to be had after much searching; but their great want was some kind of vessel in which to cook, till after several failures Rob built up a very rough pot of clay from the river bed by making long thin rolls and laying one upon the other and rubbing them together. This pot he built up on a piece of thin shaley stone, dried it in the sun, and ended by baking it in the embers—covering it over with the hot ashes, and leaving it all one night.

Shaddy watched him with a grim smile, and kept on giving him words of encouragement, as he worked, tending Mr Brazier the while, brushing the flies away and arranging green boughs over him to keep him in the shade, declaring that he would be better out there in the open than in the forest.

“Well done, my lad!” said the old sailor as Rob held up the finished pot before placing it in the fire; “’tis a rough ’un, but I daresay there has been worse ones made. What I’m scared about is the firing. Strikes me it will crack all to shivers.”

To Rob’s great delight, the pot came out of the wood ashes perfectly sound, and their next experiment was the careful stewing down of an iguana and the production of a quantity of broth, which Shaddy pronounced to be finer than any chicken soup ever made; Rob, after trying hard to conquer his repugnance to food prepared from such a hideous-looking creature, said it was not bad; and their patient drank with avidity.

“There,” said Shaddy, “we shall go on swimmingly in the kitchen now; and as we can have hot water I don’t see why we shouldn’t have some tea.”

“You’d better go to the grocer’s, then, for a pound,” said Rob, with a laugh.

“Oh no, I shan’t,” said Shaddy; “here’s plenty of leaves to dry in the sun such as people out here use, and you’ll say it ain’t such bad tea, neither; but strikes me, Mr Rob, that the sooner you make another pot the better.”

Rob set to at once, and failed in the baking, but succeeded admirably with his next attempt, the new pot being better baked than the old, and that night he partook of some of Shad’s infusion of leaves, which was confessed to be only wanting in sugar and cream to be very palatable.

That day they found a deer lying among the bushes, with the neck and breast eaten, evidently the puma’s work, and, after what Shaddy called a fair division, the legs and loins were carried off to roast and stew, giving the party, with the fruit and fish, a delightful change.

The next day was one to be marked with a red letter, for towards evening Mr Brazier’s eyes had in them the look of returned consciousness.

Rob saw it first as he knelt down beside his friend, who smiled at him faintly, and spoke in quite a whisper.

From that hour he began to amend fast, and a week after he related how, in his ardour to secure new plants, he had lost his bearings, and gone on wandering here and there in the most helpless way, sustaining life on such berries and other fruits as he could find, till the horror of his situation was more than his brain could bear. Face to face with the fact that he might go on wandering there till forced by weakness to lie down and die, he said the horror mastered him all at once, and the rest was like some terrible dream of going on and on, with intervals that were full of delight, and in which he seemed to be amongst glorious flowers, which he was always collecting, till the heaps crushed him down, and all was horror, agony, and wild imagination. Then he awoke lying beneath the bower of leaves, shaded from the sunshine, listening to the birds, the rushing sound of the river, and, best of all, the voices of his two companions.

Chapter Thirty.An Unexpected Enemy.Mr Brazier’s recovery took a month from the day of his regaining the balance of his reason, and even then he was weak; but he was about again, and, though easily fatigued, took his part in the many little duties they had to fulfil to sustain life in their forest prison. All thought of escape by their own efforts had been given up, and they had all taken the good course, roughly put by Shaddy as “making the best of things.”In fact, the horror and shock of their position had grown fainter, the loss of poor Giovanni a softened memory, and the cowardly desertion of the Indians with the boat a matter over which it was useless to murmur. For the human mind is very plastic, and, if fully employed, soon finds satisfaction in its tasks.It was so here. Every day brought its work, for the most part in glorious sunshine, and scarcely a night arrived without one of the three having something to announce in the way of discovery or invention for the amelioration of their lot.“There is always the possibility of our being sought out and escaping,” Mr Brazier said; “and in that hope I shall go on collecting, for the plants here are wonderful; and if I can get specimens home to England some day there will be nothing to regret.”In this spirit he went on as he grew stronger; and as for some distance inland in the triangle of miles, two of whose sides were the greater river and its tributary, they had formed so many faint trails in their hunting and fruit-seeking expeditions, the chances of being “bushed,” as the Australians call it, grew fewer, plenty of collecting expeditions were made, at first in company with Shaddy and Rob, afterwards alone.One evening a tremendous storm of wind and rain, with the accompaniments of thunder and lightning of the most awe-inspiring nature, gave them a lesson in the weakness of their shelter-place, for the water swept through in a deluge, and after a terrible night they gazed in dismay at the river, which was running swiftly nearly up to the place where they kept their fire going. That the flood was increasing they had not the slightest doubt, and it promised before long to be right over where they stood, fortunately now in the brilliant sunshine, which rapidly dried their clothes and gave them hope as well.“We shall have to go inland and seek higher ground,” Mr Brazier said at last.“And where are you going to find it, sir?” said Shaddy rather gruffly. “There’s high land away back on the far side of the river, but we can’t get there, and all out as far as I’ve been on this is one dead level. Look yonder; there’s a lesson for us what to do if it gets much worse,” he continued, pointing toward a great tree at the edge of the forest.“Yes,” said Rob as he watched a little flock of green-and-scarlet parrots circling round and perching in the upper branches, “but we have no wings, Shaddy.”“No, my lad, and never will have; but I didn’t mean that. Look a bit lower.”“Oh, you mean in that next tree. Ugh! how horrible!” cried Rob, with a shudder. “Has that been driven here by the water?”“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I mean that tree I pointed to. Look there in the fork.”“Yes; I can see it, Rob,” said Mr Brazier. “It’s comfortably asleep. We must do as it does. Not the first time an animal has given men a lesson.”Rob stared from one to the other as if wondering why they did not see with his eyes.“Can’t you see it, Rob—your puma?”“Eh? Oh yes, I see him now, but I meant in the other tree. Look! the great brute is all in motion. Why, it’s a perfect monster!”“Phew!” whistled Shad; “I didn’t see it. Look, Mr Brazier, sir. That is something like a snake.”He pointed now to where a huge serpent was worming its way about the boughs of one of the trees in a slow, sluggish way, as if trying to find a spot where it could curl up and be at rest till the water, which had driven it from its customary haunts, had subsided.“What shall we do, Shaddy?” whispered Rob. “Why, that must be nearly sixty feet long.”“It’s nearer two foot long, Mr Rob, sir. My word! how people’s eyes do magnify when they’re a bit scared.”“But it is a monstrously huge serpent,” said Brazier, shading his eyes, as he watched the reptile.“Yes, sir, and as nigh as one can judge, going round his loops and rings, a good five-and-twenty foot, and as big round as my thigh.”“We can’t stay here, then!” cried Rob excitedly.“Don’t see why not, sir. He hasn’t come after us, only to take care of himself; and I’m beginning to think it’s a bad sign.”“That it does mean to attack us?” said Brazier.“Not it, sir. I mean a bad sign about the flood, for somehow, stupid as animals seem, they have a sort of idea of when danger’s coming, and try to get out of its way. I should say that before long the waters will be all up over where we are, and that it’s our duty to get up a bit, too, and take enough food to last till the flood’s gone down.”“And how long will that be?” Rob asked.“Ah! that’s what I can’t say, sir. Let’s get together all we can, and I’m sorry to say it ain’t very much, for we punished the provisions terribly last night.”“Yes, we are low,” said Brazier thoughtfully.“There’s some nuts on that tree where the lion is, so we’ll take to that,” said the old sailor thoughtfully. “He’ll have to turn out and take to another, or behave himself. Now what’s to be done beside? We can’t get any fire if the flood rises much, and for certain we can’t catch any fish with the river like this. What do you say to trying to shoot the big boa with your bow and arrows?”“What?” cried Rob, with a look of disgust.“Oh! he’s not bad eating, my lad. The Indians feast on ’em sometimes, cutting them up into good stout lumps, and it isn’t so much unlike eel.”“What, have you tasted it?”“Oh yes, sir; there’s precious few things used for food when men are hungry that I haven’t had a taste of in my time.”Just then Mr Brazier pointed to the place where they kept their fire, and over which the water was now lapping and bearing off the soft grey ashes, which began to eddy and swim round the little whirlpools formed by the swift current, before the light deposit from the fire was swept right away.By this time, as Rob kept his eyes upon it, the great serpent had gradually settled itself down upon one of the far-spreading horizontal boughs of the huge monarch, which, growing upon the edge of the forest, found ample space for its spreading branches, instead of being kept back on all sides by fellow-trees, and so directing all its efforts in the way of growth upward toward the sun.Brazier noticed Rob’s looks, and laid his hand upon the lad’s shoulder.“I don’t think we need fear any attack from that, Rob,” he said, “for the water, if it goes on rising like this, will soon be between us, and I don’t suppose the serpent will leave one tree to get up into another.”“Not it, sir,” interposed Shaddy; “and, excuse me, let’s be sharp, for the water’s coming down from miles away on the high ground, and it will be over here before long. Look at that!”They were already looking at a great wave sweeping down the furious river, which was covered with boughs and trees, the latter rolling over and over in the swift current, now showing their rugged earth and stone-filled roots, now their boughs, from which the foliage and twigs were rapidly being stripped.“Why, it’s right over our kitchen now.”“And will carry away my pots!” cried Rob, running away to save the treasures which had caused him so much trouble to make.“Look sharp, sir!” cried Shaddy; “here’s quite a torrent coming. We’ll make for the tree at once, or we shall be lost once more.”“All right!” cried Rob, as he ran to the far edge of their fireplace, where the boughs and pieces of wood collected for fuel were beginning to sail away, and he had just time to seize one great rough pot as it began to float, when a wave curled over toward the other and covered the lad’s feet.But he snatched up the vessel and hurried toward the tree in which the puma was curled up, Brazier and Shaddy following, with the little food they had left, and none too soon. They handed Rob’s two pieces of earthenware up to him, and then joined him in the fork of the tree.The water was by now lapping softly about its foot, but from time to time a wave came sweeping down the river as if sudden influxes of water kept on rushing in higher up to increase the flood, and in consequence ring after ring or curve of water swept over the land, gliding now up amongst the trees of the forest, penetrating farther and farther each time, and threatening that the whole of the country through which the river passed would be flooded for miles.The puma snarled and looked fierce as the two men followed Rob, but it contented itself with a fresh position, higher up in a secondary fork of the tree, where it crouched, glaring down at those below, but hardly noticed, for, after recovering their belongings, the attention of those on the fork was divided between the rising of the water and the uneasy movements of the great occupant of the next tree.“I suppose we may confess to being afraid of a reptile like that,” said Brazier, measuring the distance between the trees with his eyes and looking up to see if the branches of either approached near enough to enable the reptile to make its way across.“No fear, sir!” said Shaddy, with a smile, as he read his companion’s thoughts. “We’ve only the water to trouble us now.”“But it will never get up so high as this?” cried Rob in alarm, as he thought of the trees which he had seen swept down the river, forest chiefs, some of them, which had been washed out by floods.“I hope not, sir; but we have to be ready for everything in this country, as you’ve found out already.”This set Rob thinking as he watched the waves coming down the river, each sweeping before it a mass of verdure, pieces at times taking the form of floating islands, with the low growth upon them keeping its position just as the patches had broken away from undermined banks.“Don’t you wonder where it all goes, Mr Rob?” said Shaddy suddenly.“Yes; does it get swept out to sea?”“Not it, sir. Gets dammed up together in bends and corners of the river, and makes it cut itself a fresh bed to right or left. This country gets flooded sometimes for hundreds upon hundreds of miles, so that you can row about among the trees just where you like. Ah! it would be a fine time for Mr Brazier when the flood’s at its height, for we could row about just where we liked—if we had a boat,” he added after a pause.Just then the puma gave a savage growl.“Here, what’s the matter with you?” cried the guide sharply.The puma snarled again and showed its teeth, but they saw that it was staring away from the tree.“He can see the serpent,” said Rob eagerly; and they now saw the reason, for, evidently aware of their proximity, and from a desire to escape, the great reptile was all in motion, its fore-part beginning slowly to descend the tree, the head and neck clinging wonderfully to the inequalities of the bark for a part of the way, and then the creature fitted itself in the deep groove between two of the buttress-like portions, which ran down right away from the main trunk.They all watched the reptile with curiosity, for its actions were singular, and it was exciting to see the way in which the whole length of the animal was in action as the head, neck, and part of the body glided down in a deliberate way, with the tongue darting out and flickering about the hard, metallic-looking mouth, while the eyes glistened in the sunshine, which threw up the rich colours and pattern of the scaly coat.“He don’t like it, and is going to swim off,” said Shaddy suddenly, as the head of the serpent was now approaching the surface of the water. “I never saw one of this kind take to the water before. Say, Mr Rob!”Rob turned to him.“You had better get your cat down here, in case he means coming across to this tree.—No: there won’t be any need. I don’t think he could swim against this current: it might sweep him away.”Rob drew a breath full of relief as he glanced at Brazier, whose face, pallid with his late illness, certainly looked paler, and his eyes were contracted by his feeling of horror. But their companion’s last words relieved him from his dread, and he sat there upon the huge branch that was his resting-place watching the actions of the serpent, which still glided on, and moved with its head close to the groove in the trunk till it was close to the water slowly rising to meet it, and a length of quite twelve feet reached down from the fork, like the stem of some mighty climbing fig which held the tree in its embrace.“Yes, he’s going to swim for it,” said Shaddy eagerly. “Fancy meeting a thing like that on the river! I thought it was only the anacondas which took to the water, and— Well, look at that!”The man’s exclamation was caused by the action of the serpent, for just as its head reached the surface of the flood one of the waves came rushing inland from the river, leaped up the tree three or four feet, deluging the head and neck of the serpent and sinking down again almost as quickly as it had risen. The reptile contracted itself as rapidly, drawing back, and, evidently satisfied with the result of its efforts to escape, began to climb again, holding on by its ring-like scales as it crept up and up till its head was back in the great fork of the tree, and the anterior part of the body hung down in a huge loop, which was gradually lessened as the great creature resumed its place.There was nothing to fear from the serpent, to the great relief of those who watched; but it had begun to be questionable how long their present position would be safe, for the water was rising now with wonderful rapidity, great waves tearing down the river from time to time, bearing enormous masses of tangled tree and bush and sending out masses of foam, sweeping over the clearing with an angry rush, which changed into a fierce hiss as of thousands of serpents when the wave reached the edge of the forest and ran an among the trees with a curious wail till it died away in the distance.When the waves struck the tree amongst whose branches the party were ensconced, the puma growled at the heavy vibrations, and began to tear at the bark with its claws. As one, however, worse than usual struck the trunk, it gathered itself together, uttered a harsh growl, and was about to spring off and swim, as if it feared being crushed down by the branches of the washed-out tree; but a few words from Rob pacified it, and it settled down once more, half hanging, as it were, across the fork, where it was swinging its tail to and fro and gazing down at the human companion it had chosen.

Mr Brazier’s recovery took a month from the day of his regaining the balance of his reason, and even then he was weak; but he was about again, and, though easily fatigued, took his part in the many little duties they had to fulfil to sustain life in their forest prison. All thought of escape by their own efforts had been given up, and they had all taken the good course, roughly put by Shaddy as “making the best of things.”

In fact, the horror and shock of their position had grown fainter, the loss of poor Giovanni a softened memory, and the cowardly desertion of the Indians with the boat a matter over which it was useless to murmur. For the human mind is very plastic, and, if fully employed, soon finds satisfaction in its tasks.

It was so here. Every day brought its work, for the most part in glorious sunshine, and scarcely a night arrived without one of the three having something to announce in the way of discovery or invention for the amelioration of their lot.

“There is always the possibility of our being sought out and escaping,” Mr Brazier said; “and in that hope I shall go on collecting, for the plants here are wonderful; and if I can get specimens home to England some day there will be nothing to regret.”

In this spirit he went on as he grew stronger; and as for some distance inland in the triangle of miles, two of whose sides were the greater river and its tributary, they had formed so many faint trails in their hunting and fruit-seeking expeditions, the chances of being “bushed,” as the Australians call it, grew fewer, plenty of collecting expeditions were made, at first in company with Shaddy and Rob, afterwards alone.

One evening a tremendous storm of wind and rain, with the accompaniments of thunder and lightning of the most awe-inspiring nature, gave them a lesson in the weakness of their shelter-place, for the water swept through in a deluge, and after a terrible night they gazed in dismay at the river, which was running swiftly nearly up to the place where they kept their fire going. That the flood was increasing they had not the slightest doubt, and it promised before long to be right over where they stood, fortunately now in the brilliant sunshine, which rapidly dried their clothes and gave them hope as well.

“We shall have to go inland and seek higher ground,” Mr Brazier said at last.

“And where are you going to find it, sir?” said Shaddy rather gruffly. “There’s high land away back on the far side of the river, but we can’t get there, and all out as far as I’ve been on this is one dead level. Look yonder; there’s a lesson for us what to do if it gets much worse,” he continued, pointing toward a great tree at the edge of the forest.

“Yes,” said Rob as he watched a little flock of green-and-scarlet parrots circling round and perching in the upper branches, “but we have no wings, Shaddy.”

“No, my lad, and never will have; but I didn’t mean that. Look a bit lower.”

“Oh, you mean in that next tree. Ugh! how horrible!” cried Rob, with a shudder. “Has that been driven here by the water?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. I mean that tree I pointed to. Look there in the fork.”

“Yes; I can see it, Rob,” said Mr Brazier. “It’s comfortably asleep. We must do as it does. Not the first time an animal has given men a lesson.”

Rob stared from one to the other as if wondering why they did not see with his eyes.

“Can’t you see it, Rob—your puma?”

“Eh? Oh yes, I see him now, but I meant in the other tree. Look! the great brute is all in motion. Why, it’s a perfect monster!”

“Phew!” whistled Shad; “I didn’t see it. Look, Mr Brazier, sir. That is something like a snake.”

He pointed now to where a huge serpent was worming its way about the boughs of one of the trees in a slow, sluggish way, as if trying to find a spot where it could curl up and be at rest till the water, which had driven it from its customary haunts, had subsided.

“What shall we do, Shaddy?” whispered Rob. “Why, that must be nearly sixty feet long.”

“It’s nearer two foot long, Mr Rob, sir. My word! how people’s eyes do magnify when they’re a bit scared.”

“But it is a monstrously huge serpent,” said Brazier, shading his eyes, as he watched the reptile.

“Yes, sir, and as nigh as one can judge, going round his loops and rings, a good five-and-twenty foot, and as big round as my thigh.”

“We can’t stay here, then!” cried Rob excitedly.

“Don’t see why not, sir. He hasn’t come after us, only to take care of himself; and I’m beginning to think it’s a bad sign.”

“That it does mean to attack us?” said Brazier.

“Not it, sir. I mean a bad sign about the flood, for somehow, stupid as animals seem, they have a sort of idea of when danger’s coming, and try to get out of its way. I should say that before long the waters will be all up over where we are, and that it’s our duty to get up a bit, too, and take enough food to last till the flood’s gone down.”

“And how long will that be?” Rob asked.

“Ah! that’s what I can’t say, sir. Let’s get together all we can, and I’m sorry to say it ain’t very much, for we punished the provisions terribly last night.”

“Yes, we are low,” said Brazier thoughtfully.

“There’s some nuts on that tree where the lion is, so we’ll take to that,” said the old sailor thoughtfully. “He’ll have to turn out and take to another, or behave himself. Now what’s to be done beside? We can’t get any fire if the flood rises much, and for certain we can’t catch any fish with the river like this. What do you say to trying to shoot the big boa with your bow and arrows?”

“What?” cried Rob, with a look of disgust.

“Oh! he’s not bad eating, my lad. The Indians feast on ’em sometimes, cutting them up into good stout lumps, and it isn’t so much unlike eel.”

“What, have you tasted it?”

“Oh yes, sir; there’s precious few things used for food when men are hungry that I haven’t had a taste of in my time.”

Just then Mr Brazier pointed to the place where they kept their fire, and over which the water was now lapping and bearing off the soft grey ashes, which began to eddy and swim round the little whirlpools formed by the swift current, before the light deposit from the fire was swept right away.

By this time, as Rob kept his eyes upon it, the great serpent had gradually settled itself down upon one of the far-spreading horizontal boughs of the huge monarch, which, growing upon the edge of the forest, found ample space for its spreading branches, instead of being kept back on all sides by fellow-trees, and so directing all its efforts in the way of growth upward toward the sun.

Brazier noticed Rob’s looks, and laid his hand upon the lad’s shoulder.

“I don’t think we need fear any attack from that, Rob,” he said, “for the water, if it goes on rising like this, will soon be between us, and I don’t suppose the serpent will leave one tree to get up into another.”

“Not it, sir,” interposed Shaddy; “and, excuse me, let’s be sharp, for the water’s coming down from miles away on the high ground, and it will be over here before long. Look at that!”

They were already looking at a great wave sweeping down the furious river, which was covered with boughs and trees, the latter rolling over and over in the swift current, now showing their rugged earth and stone-filled roots, now their boughs, from which the foliage and twigs were rapidly being stripped.

“Why, it’s right over our kitchen now.”

“And will carry away my pots!” cried Rob, running away to save the treasures which had caused him so much trouble to make.

“Look sharp, sir!” cried Shaddy; “here’s quite a torrent coming. We’ll make for the tree at once, or we shall be lost once more.”

“All right!” cried Rob, as he ran to the far edge of their fireplace, where the boughs and pieces of wood collected for fuel were beginning to sail away, and he had just time to seize one great rough pot as it began to float, when a wave curled over toward the other and covered the lad’s feet.

But he snatched up the vessel and hurried toward the tree in which the puma was curled up, Brazier and Shaddy following, with the little food they had left, and none too soon. They handed Rob’s two pieces of earthenware up to him, and then joined him in the fork of the tree.

The water was by now lapping softly about its foot, but from time to time a wave came sweeping down the river as if sudden influxes of water kept on rushing in higher up to increase the flood, and in consequence ring after ring or curve of water swept over the land, gliding now up amongst the trees of the forest, penetrating farther and farther each time, and threatening that the whole of the country through which the river passed would be flooded for miles.

The puma snarled and looked fierce as the two men followed Rob, but it contented itself with a fresh position, higher up in a secondary fork of the tree, where it crouched, glaring down at those below, but hardly noticed, for, after recovering their belongings, the attention of those on the fork was divided between the rising of the water and the uneasy movements of the great occupant of the next tree.

“I suppose we may confess to being afraid of a reptile like that,” said Brazier, measuring the distance between the trees with his eyes and looking up to see if the branches of either approached near enough to enable the reptile to make its way across.

“No fear, sir!” said Shaddy, with a smile, as he read his companion’s thoughts. “We’ve only the water to trouble us now.”

“But it will never get up so high as this?” cried Rob in alarm, as he thought of the trees which he had seen swept down the river, forest chiefs, some of them, which had been washed out by floods.

“I hope not, sir; but we have to be ready for everything in this country, as you’ve found out already.”

This set Rob thinking as he watched the waves coming down the river, each sweeping before it a mass of verdure, pieces at times taking the form of floating islands, with the low growth upon them keeping its position just as the patches had broken away from undermined banks.

“Don’t you wonder where it all goes, Mr Rob?” said Shaddy suddenly.

“Yes; does it get swept out to sea?”

“Not it, sir. Gets dammed up together in bends and corners of the river, and makes it cut itself a fresh bed to right or left. This country gets flooded sometimes for hundreds upon hundreds of miles, so that you can row about among the trees just where you like. Ah! it would be a fine time for Mr Brazier when the flood’s at its height, for we could row about just where we liked—if we had a boat,” he added after a pause.

Just then the puma gave a savage growl.

“Here, what’s the matter with you?” cried the guide sharply.

The puma snarled again and showed its teeth, but they saw that it was staring away from the tree.

“He can see the serpent,” said Rob eagerly; and they now saw the reason, for, evidently aware of their proximity, and from a desire to escape, the great reptile was all in motion, its fore-part beginning slowly to descend the tree, the head and neck clinging wonderfully to the inequalities of the bark for a part of the way, and then the creature fitted itself in the deep groove between two of the buttress-like portions, which ran down right away from the main trunk.

They all watched the reptile with curiosity, for its actions were singular, and it was exciting to see the way in which the whole length of the animal was in action as the head, neck, and part of the body glided down in a deliberate way, with the tongue darting out and flickering about the hard, metallic-looking mouth, while the eyes glistened in the sunshine, which threw up the rich colours and pattern of the scaly coat.

“He don’t like it, and is going to swim off,” said Shaddy suddenly, as the head of the serpent was now approaching the surface of the water. “I never saw one of this kind take to the water before. Say, Mr Rob!”

Rob turned to him.

“You had better get your cat down here, in case he means coming across to this tree.—No: there won’t be any need. I don’t think he could swim against this current: it might sweep him away.”

Rob drew a breath full of relief as he glanced at Brazier, whose face, pallid with his late illness, certainly looked paler, and his eyes were contracted by his feeling of horror. But their companion’s last words relieved him from his dread, and he sat there upon the huge branch that was his resting-place watching the actions of the serpent, which still glided on, and moved with its head close to the groove in the trunk till it was close to the water slowly rising to meet it, and a length of quite twelve feet reached down from the fork, like the stem of some mighty climbing fig which held the tree in its embrace.

“Yes, he’s going to swim for it,” said Shaddy eagerly. “Fancy meeting a thing like that on the river! I thought it was only the anacondas which took to the water, and— Well, look at that!”

The man’s exclamation was caused by the action of the serpent, for just as its head reached the surface of the flood one of the waves came rushing inland from the river, leaped up the tree three or four feet, deluging the head and neck of the serpent and sinking down again almost as quickly as it had risen. The reptile contracted itself as rapidly, drawing back, and, evidently satisfied with the result of its efforts to escape, began to climb again, holding on by its ring-like scales as it crept up and up till its head was back in the great fork of the tree, and the anterior part of the body hung down in a huge loop, which was gradually lessened as the great creature resumed its place.

There was nothing to fear from the serpent, to the great relief of those who watched; but it had begun to be questionable how long their present position would be safe, for the water was rising now with wonderful rapidity, great waves tearing down the river from time to time, bearing enormous masses of tangled tree and bush and sending out masses of foam, sweeping over the clearing with an angry rush, which changed into a fierce hiss as of thousands of serpents when the wave reached the edge of the forest and ran an among the trees with a curious wail till it died away in the distance.

When the waves struck the tree amongst whose branches the party were ensconced, the puma growled at the heavy vibrations, and began to tear at the bark with its claws. As one, however, worse than usual struck the trunk, it gathered itself together, uttered a harsh growl, and was about to spring off and swim, as if it feared being crushed down by the branches of the washed-out tree; but a few words from Rob pacified it, and it settled down once more, half hanging, as it were, across the fork, where it was swinging its tail to and fro and gazing down at the human companion it had chosen.

Chapter Thirty One.A Forest Feud.The little party sat there waiting patiently for the next event, their eyes being mostly directed across the waste of water toward the well-marked course of the stream, with its rush, swirl and eddy; and before long there was another heaving up, as if a liquid bank descended the river, spread across the opening, and directly after struck the tree with a blow which made it quiver from root to summit.“Will it hold fast, Naylor?” said Brazier, rather excitedly.“Hope so, sir. I think it’s safe, but it’s growing in such soft soil, all river mud, sand, and rotten wood, that the roots are loose, and it feels as if it would give way at last. I daresay this was a bend of the river once.”“But if it does give way, what are we to do?” cried Rob excitedly.“Swim for the next tree, sir.”“But that has a great snake in it.”“Can’t help that, Mr Rob. Rather have a snake for a mate than be drowned. He’s too much frightened to meddle with us. Look out, every one, and try to keep clear of the boughs, so as not to be beaten under.”This was consequent upon the rushing up in succession of three great waves, which struck the tree at intervals of a few seconds, the last sending the water splashing up to where they sat, and at the same time deluging the serpent in the next tree, making it begin to climb higher, and exciting the puma so that Rob could hardly keep it from leaping off.“The roots must be undermined,” cried Brazier. “Look—look!”He pointed at the effect of the waves on the forest, for from where they sat the whole side was a ridge of foam, while the tree-tops were waving to and fro and undulating like a verdant sea as the water rushed on among their trunks.“Can’t get much worse than this, I think,” said Shaddy, when the water calmed down again to its steady swift flow; “only it’s spoiling our estate, which will be a bed of mud when the flood goes down.”“But will it go down?” asked Rob excitedly.“Some time, certain,” replied Shaddy. “The rivers have a way in this country of wetting it all over, and I daresay it does good. At all events, it makes the trees grow.”“Yes, but will it sweep them away?” said Rob, looking round nervously.“It does some, Mr Rob, sir, as you’ve seen to-day, but I think we’re all right here.”Rob glanced at Brazier, whose face was very stern and pale; and, consequent upon his weakness, he looked ghastly as another wave came down the river, and swept over the deeply inundated clearing, washing right up to the fork of the tree, and hissing onward through the closely-packed forest.Another followed, and then another, each apparently caused by the bursting of some dam of trees anddébrisof the shores; but they were less than those which had preceded them, and an hour later the water was perfectly calm and motionless, save in the course of the river, where it rushed onward at a rapid rate.“We’ve passed the worst,” said Shaddy; and after glancing at him quickly, to see if he meant it or was only speaking to give him encouragement, Rob sat looking round at the watery waste, for as far as his eyes could penetrate there was no sight of dry land. Everywhere the trees stood deep in water, that was still as the surface of a lake through which a swift river ran, with its course tracked by rapid and eddy, and dotted still with the vegetation torn out from the banks.As the boy turned to the great tree beside him he could not keep back a shudder, for the monstrous serpent was in restless motion, seeking for some means of escape; and though there was no probability of its reaching their resting-place, the idea would come that if the writhing creature did drop from the tree, overbalancing itself in its efforts to escape, it might make a frantic struggle and reach theirs.As he thought this he caught sight of the guide watching him.“What is it, my lad?” he whispered; and the lad, after a little hesitation, confided in the old sailor, who chuckled softly. “You needn’t be alarmed about that,” he said. “If such a thing did happen your lion would be upon his head in a moment, and in a few minutes there’d be no lion and no snake, only the mud stirred up in the water to show which way they’d gone.”“The water is sinking, Naylor,” cried Brazier just then, in an excited tone.“Yes, sir, but very slowly.”“How long will it take to go down?”“Days, sir. This place will not be dry for a week.”“Then what about food and a place to rest?”“We’ve got enough to last us two days with great care,” said the man slowly, “and we shan’t want for water nor shelter from the sun. Rest we must get as we can up here, and thankfully too, sir, for our lives are safe. As to what’s to come after two days I don’t know. There is, I say, no knowing what may happen out here in two days.”“No,” said Brazier sadly. “In one hour we lost our young companion and my first collection; in one minute I was hopelessly lost; and now this morning all my second collection has been swept away. As you say, Naylor, we do not know what a couple of days may bring forth.”“No, sir,” replied the old sailor; “and there’s plenty of time yet. Every day brings its own trouble.”“Yes,” said Brazier solemnly; “and every morning brings with it fresh hope.”“Hope!” thought Rob; “hope, shut up here in the middle of this waste of water—in this tree, with a little food, a wild beast, and that horrible serpent looking as if it is waiting to snatch us all away one by one. How can a fellow hope?”It was a time to think about home and the chances of ever getting back in safety, and Rob found it impossible to help wishing himself on board the great river boat as the evening drew near. At last, after standing up to talk to the puma, which accepted his caresses as if they were comforting in such a time of peril, the question arose as to how they would settle themselves for the night.“I needn’t say one of us must keep watch,” said Brazier sadly, “for I suppose that no one will wish to sleep.”“Couldn’t if we wanted to,” said Rob, in rather an ill-used tone; and Shaddy chuckled.“Oh, I don’t know, Mr Rob, sir. Nice elevated sort o’ bedroom, with a good view. Plenty o’ room for swinging hammocks if we’d got any to swing. There, cheer up, my lad,—there’s worse disasters at sea; and our worst troubles have come right at last.”Rob looked at him reproachfully, for he was thinking of Giovanni being snatched away from them, and then of the loss of the boat.Brazier read his face, and held out his hand, which Rob eagerly grasped.“Cheer up, my lad,” said Shaddy, following suit. “One never knows what’s going to happen; so let’s look at the best side of things. There, gen’lemen, it’s going to be a fine warm time, and we know it might have been a drowning storm like it was last night; so that’s better for us. It will be very tiring, but we must change our position now and then, and spend the night listening to the calls in the forest and trying to make out what they are.”So as not to be left longer than they could help without food, they partook of a very small portion that night, and then settled themselves down; the puma became more watchful as the darkness approached, and whined and snuffled and grew uneasy. Now it was making its way from one bough to another, and staring hard at the tops of the trees away from the river; now its attention was fixed upon the great coiled-up serpent, which lay with fold heaped over fold and its head invisible, perfectly still, and apparently sleeping till the flood had subsided.But Rob thought with horror of the darkness, and the possibility of the great reptile rousing up and making an effort to reach them, though he was fain to confess that unless the creature swam it was impossible.Then the stars began to appear and the noises of the forest commenced; and, as far as Rob could make out, they were as loud as ever.“One would have thought that nearly everything had been drowned,” he said in an awe-stricken whisper to his companions.Brazier was silent, so after waiting for a few moments Shaddy replied:“We’re used to floods out here, Mr Rob, sir; and the things which make noises live in the water as well as in the trees. I don’t suppose many of ’em get drowned in a flood like this. Deer and things of that sort make for higher ground when there’s a chance of the water rising; the cats get on the trees, and the monkeys are already there, with the insects and birds sheltered under the big leaves; and the snakes crawl up too, so that there isn’t much left to drown, is there?”Rob made no reply, but changed his position, for he was stiff and weary from sitting so long.“Take care, Mr Rob, sir, or you may slip down. No fear of your being swept away, but it’s as well not to get a wetting. Warm as it is, you might feel cold, and that would bring on fever.”“I’ll take care,” said Rob quietly; and in spite of hunger only half appeased, weariness, and doubt as to their future and the length of their imprisonment, he could not help enjoying the beauty of the scene. For the water around was now one smooth mirror-like lake, save where the river rushed along with a peculiar hissing, rushing sound, augmented by a crash as some tree was dashed down and struck against those at the edge of the forest which rose above the water. In the smooth surface the stars were reflected, forming a second hemisphere; but every now and then the lad saw something which raised his hopes, and he was after a silence about to speak, when Brazier began.“What is it keeps making little splashes in the water, Naylor?”His voice sounded strange in the midst of the croaking, chirping, and crying going on, but it started conversation directly.“I was just going to speak about it, sir, to Mr Rob here. Fish—that’s what it is. They’re come up out of the deep holes and eddies where they lie when the river’s in flood, and spread all about to feed on the worms and insects which have been driven out by the water. If we only had the fishing-line there’d be no fear of getting a meal. Oh, there is no fear of that. We shall be all right till the water goes down, and be able to provide for the cupboard somehow.”“Hush! what’s that?” whispered Rob, as a terrible and mournful cry rang out from somewhere among the trees—a cry which made the puma move uneasily.“Monkey,” said Shaddy. “One of those long spider-like howlers. I daresay it was very pleasant to its friends—yes, hark: there’s another answering him.”“And another, and another,” whispered Rob, as cries came from a distance. “But it does not sound so horrible, now that you know what it is.”Then came the peculiar trumpet-like cry of a kind of crane, dominating the chirping, whistling, and croaking, while the shrieking sounds over the open lake-like flood and beneath the trees grew more frequent.There was plenty to take their attention and help to counteract the tedium of the night; but it was a terribly weary time, and not passed without startling episodes. Once there was the loud snorting of some animal swimming from the river over the clearing toward the forest. It was too dark to make it out, but Shaddy pronounced it to be a hog-like tapir. At another time their attention was drawn to something else swimming, by the peculiar sound made by the puma, which suddenly grew uneasy; but the creature, whatever it was, passed on toward the trees.Several times over Rob listened to and spoke of the splashings and heavy plunges about the surface.“’Gators,” said Shaddy, without waiting to be questioned. “Fish ain’t allowed to have it all their own way. They came over the flooded land to feed, and the ’gators came after them.”It was with a wonderful feeling of relief that Rob heard Brazier say, “Morning can’t be far distant,” and the guide’s reply:“Daylight in less than an hour, sir. Croakers and squeakers are all going to sleep fast till darkness comes again.”“Hist! listen!” whispered Rob excitedly.“Yes, I hear it, sir. Something moving towards us.”“What is it?”“Don’t know, sir. May be a deer. If it is, so much the better for us, even if it has to be eaten raw. But it’s more likely some kind of cat making for the trees. Hark at your lion there; he’s getting uneasy. Mate coming to keep him company, perhaps.”They could see the reflections of the stars blurred by the movements of the swimming animal, and that it was going on past them; but it was too dark for them to distinguish the creature, which apparently was making for the forest, but altered its course and began to swim for the tree where the party had taken refuge.“Oh, come: that will not do,” cried Shaddy; “we’re full here. That’s right: drive him away.”This last was to the puma, which suddenly sprang up with an angry snarl, and stood, dimly seen against the stars, with its back arched, tail curved, and teeth bared, uttering fiercely savage sounds at the swimming creature approaching.“Some kind of cat,” said Shaddy in a low voice. “Can’t be a mate, or it would be more friendly. Hi! look out,” he said sharply, his voice full of the excitement he felt. “It’s a tiger as sure as I’m here. Out with your knives: we mustn’t let him get into the tree. No, no, Mr Brazier; you’re too weak yet. I’ll tackle him. There’s plenty of room in the other trees. We can’t have the savage brute here.”As the man spoke, he whipped out and opened his keen-bladed Spanish knife, and, getting flat down on his chest to have his arms at liberty, he reached out the point of his knife like a bayonet.“Take care, Shaddy,” cried Rob hoarsely, as, knife in hand and holding on by the nearest bough, he peered forward too.“Trust me, sir. Perhaps if I can get first dig at him before he claws me, he may sheer off. Ah, mind, sir! you’ll have me off. Oh! it’s you, is it?”The first was a fierce shout of warning, but the second was in a tone of satisfaction.“I thought it was you come down on my back,” growled Shaddy; “but this is as it should be. You never know who’s going to help you at a pinch.”For without warning the puma had silently made one bound from its perch, and alighted upon the flattish surface presented by the old sailor’s back. Then planting itself with outstretched paws firmly on his shoulders, and lowering its head, it opened its jaws and uttered a savage yell, which was answered from the golden-spangled water where the new-comer was swimming.“It is a tiger, and no mistake,” said Shaddy in a low voice; “and we’d better let our lion do the fighting, so long as they don’t claw me. Mind, old fellow! That’s right. I’ve got fast hold now.”As he was speaking he took a firm grip of a bough by his side, and with breathless suspense Rob and Brazier waited for the next phase in the exciting episode, for they were in momentary expectation of the jaguar, if such it was, reaching the tree, climbing up, and a fierce battle between the two savage creatures ensuing, with a result fatal to their companion, unless in the darkness, while they were engaged in a deadly struggle, he could contrive to direct a fatal blow at the bigger and fiercer beast.They could now dimly make out its shape as it swam to and fro, hesitating about coming up; for the puma, generally so quiet, gentle and docile, had now suddenly become a furious snarling and hissing creature, with its ears flat to its head and paw raised ready to strike.“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said Shaddy in a low voice, “for this is something new to me. I did think I’d gone through pretty well everything; but being made into a platform for a lion and a tiger to fight out a battle’s quite fresh. Suppose you gentlemen get your knives out over my head, so as to try and guard it a bit. Never mind the lion; he won’t touch you while that thing’s in front of him. He can’t think of anything else. I can’t do anything but hold on. That’s right, messmate,” he cried, as the puma made a stroke downward with one paw. “You’ll do the business better than I shall.”“It will be light soon,” whispered Brazier, as he leaned forward as far as he could, knife in hand.“Look out, gentlemen; he’s going to land now!”For the jaguar made a dash forward, after drawing back a bit, and came close up, so that they could see the gleaming of its eyes in its flattened, cruel-looking head.The puma struck at it again with a savage yell, but it was beyond the reach of its powerful paw, and the jaguar swam to and fro again in front of their defender, evidently feeling itself at a disadvantage and warily waiting for an opportunity to climb up the tree.This, however, it could not find, and it continued its tactics, swimming as easily and well as an eastern tiger of the Straits, while the puma shifted its position from time to time on Shaddy’s back, making that gentleman grunt softly:“That’s right: never mind me, messmate. Glad you’ve got so much confidence in me. Keep him off, and give him one of those licks on the side of the head if he does come within reach. You’ll be too much for him, of course. Steady!”By this time Rob had shifted his position, and was crawling down on the other side of the puma, ready to make a thrust with his knife.Still the jaguar did not come on, but swam warily to and fro, as a faint light began to dawn upon the strange scene; and the change came rapidly, till there before them was the fierce creature, which paused at last and seemed to float out slowly, raising its paws, while its long tail waved softly behind it on the surface of the water like a snake.“Now,” cried Rob, “he’s going to spring.”He was quite right, for the jaguar gathered itself together, and made a dash which shot it forward; but there was water beneath its powerful hindquarters instead of solid earth, and instead of its alighting from its bound right upon the puma it only forced itself within reach of the tawny animal’s claws, which struck at it right and left with the rapidity of lightning on either side of its neck, and drove it under water.It rose to the surface to utter a deafening roar, which was answered with savage defiance by the puma from its post of vantage upon Shaddy; but the jaguar was satisfied of its powerless position, and turned and slowly swam toward the huge tree upon their left.“Why, it’s going to climb up there by the serpent!” cried Rob, in a voice husky with excitement.At that moment the puma leaped from Shaddy’s back up one of the great branches nearest to the next tree, whence he poured down a fierce torrent of feline defiance upon his more powerful enemy; while Shaddy rose and shook himself just as the rising sun sent a glow of light in the heavens, and illuminated the savage drama commencing in the neighbouring tree.

The little party sat there waiting patiently for the next event, their eyes being mostly directed across the waste of water toward the well-marked course of the stream, with its rush, swirl and eddy; and before long there was another heaving up, as if a liquid bank descended the river, spread across the opening, and directly after struck the tree with a blow which made it quiver from root to summit.

“Will it hold fast, Naylor?” said Brazier, rather excitedly.

“Hope so, sir. I think it’s safe, but it’s growing in such soft soil, all river mud, sand, and rotten wood, that the roots are loose, and it feels as if it would give way at last. I daresay this was a bend of the river once.”

“But if it does give way, what are we to do?” cried Rob excitedly.

“Swim for the next tree, sir.”

“But that has a great snake in it.”

“Can’t help that, Mr Rob. Rather have a snake for a mate than be drowned. He’s too much frightened to meddle with us. Look out, every one, and try to keep clear of the boughs, so as not to be beaten under.”

This was consequent upon the rushing up in succession of three great waves, which struck the tree at intervals of a few seconds, the last sending the water splashing up to where they sat, and at the same time deluging the serpent in the next tree, making it begin to climb higher, and exciting the puma so that Rob could hardly keep it from leaping off.

“The roots must be undermined,” cried Brazier. “Look—look!”

He pointed at the effect of the waves on the forest, for from where they sat the whole side was a ridge of foam, while the tree-tops were waving to and fro and undulating like a verdant sea as the water rushed on among their trunks.

“Can’t get much worse than this, I think,” said Shaddy, when the water calmed down again to its steady swift flow; “only it’s spoiling our estate, which will be a bed of mud when the flood goes down.”

“But will it go down?” asked Rob excitedly.

“Some time, certain,” replied Shaddy. “The rivers have a way in this country of wetting it all over, and I daresay it does good. At all events, it makes the trees grow.”

“Yes, but will it sweep them away?” said Rob, looking round nervously.

“It does some, Mr Rob, sir, as you’ve seen to-day, but I think we’re all right here.”

Rob glanced at Brazier, whose face was very stern and pale; and, consequent upon his weakness, he looked ghastly as another wave came down the river, and swept over the deeply inundated clearing, washing right up to the fork of the tree, and hissing onward through the closely-packed forest.

Another followed, and then another, each apparently caused by the bursting of some dam of trees anddébrisof the shores; but they were less than those which had preceded them, and an hour later the water was perfectly calm and motionless, save in the course of the river, where it rushed onward at a rapid rate.

“We’ve passed the worst,” said Shaddy; and after glancing at him quickly, to see if he meant it or was only speaking to give him encouragement, Rob sat looking round at the watery waste, for as far as his eyes could penetrate there was no sight of dry land. Everywhere the trees stood deep in water, that was still as the surface of a lake through which a swift river ran, with its course tracked by rapid and eddy, and dotted still with the vegetation torn out from the banks.

As the boy turned to the great tree beside him he could not keep back a shudder, for the monstrous serpent was in restless motion, seeking for some means of escape; and though there was no probability of its reaching their resting-place, the idea would come that if the writhing creature did drop from the tree, overbalancing itself in its efforts to escape, it might make a frantic struggle and reach theirs.

As he thought this he caught sight of the guide watching him.

“What is it, my lad?” he whispered; and the lad, after a little hesitation, confided in the old sailor, who chuckled softly. “You needn’t be alarmed about that,” he said. “If such a thing did happen your lion would be upon his head in a moment, and in a few minutes there’d be no lion and no snake, only the mud stirred up in the water to show which way they’d gone.”

“The water is sinking, Naylor,” cried Brazier just then, in an excited tone.

“Yes, sir, but very slowly.”

“How long will it take to go down?”

“Days, sir. This place will not be dry for a week.”

“Then what about food and a place to rest?”

“We’ve got enough to last us two days with great care,” said the man slowly, “and we shan’t want for water nor shelter from the sun. Rest we must get as we can up here, and thankfully too, sir, for our lives are safe. As to what’s to come after two days I don’t know. There is, I say, no knowing what may happen out here in two days.”

“No,” said Brazier sadly. “In one hour we lost our young companion and my first collection; in one minute I was hopelessly lost; and now this morning all my second collection has been swept away. As you say, Naylor, we do not know what a couple of days may bring forth.”

“No, sir,” replied the old sailor; “and there’s plenty of time yet. Every day brings its own trouble.”

“Yes,” said Brazier solemnly; “and every morning brings with it fresh hope.”

“Hope!” thought Rob; “hope, shut up here in the middle of this waste of water—in this tree, with a little food, a wild beast, and that horrible serpent looking as if it is waiting to snatch us all away one by one. How can a fellow hope?”

It was a time to think about home and the chances of ever getting back in safety, and Rob found it impossible to help wishing himself on board the great river boat as the evening drew near. At last, after standing up to talk to the puma, which accepted his caresses as if they were comforting in such a time of peril, the question arose as to how they would settle themselves for the night.

“I needn’t say one of us must keep watch,” said Brazier sadly, “for I suppose that no one will wish to sleep.”

“Couldn’t if we wanted to,” said Rob, in rather an ill-used tone; and Shaddy chuckled.

“Oh, I don’t know, Mr Rob, sir. Nice elevated sort o’ bedroom, with a good view. Plenty o’ room for swinging hammocks if we’d got any to swing. There, cheer up, my lad,—there’s worse disasters at sea; and our worst troubles have come right at last.”

Rob looked at him reproachfully, for he was thinking of Giovanni being snatched away from them, and then of the loss of the boat.

Brazier read his face, and held out his hand, which Rob eagerly grasped.

“Cheer up, my lad,” said Shaddy, following suit. “One never knows what’s going to happen; so let’s look at the best side of things. There, gen’lemen, it’s going to be a fine warm time, and we know it might have been a drowning storm like it was last night; so that’s better for us. It will be very tiring, but we must change our position now and then, and spend the night listening to the calls in the forest and trying to make out what they are.”

So as not to be left longer than they could help without food, they partook of a very small portion that night, and then settled themselves down; the puma became more watchful as the darkness approached, and whined and snuffled and grew uneasy. Now it was making its way from one bough to another, and staring hard at the tops of the trees away from the river; now its attention was fixed upon the great coiled-up serpent, which lay with fold heaped over fold and its head invisible, perfectly still, and apparently sleeping till the flood had subsided.

But Rob thought with horror of the darkness, and the possibility of the great reptile rousing up and making an effort to reach them, though he was fain to confess that unless the creature swam it was impossible.

Then the stars began to appear and the noises of the forest commenced; and, as far as Rob could make out, they were as loud as ever.

“One would have thought that nearly everything had been drowned,” he said in an awe-stricken whisper to his companions.

Brazier was silent, so after waiting for a few moments Shaddy replied:

“We’re used to floods out here, Mr Rob, sir; and the things which make noises live in the water as well as in the trees. I don’t suppose many of ’em get drowned in a flood like this. Deer and things of that sort make for higher ground when there’s a chance of the water rising; the cats get on the trees, and the monkeys are already there, with the insects and birds sheltered under the big leaves; and the snakes crawl up too, so that there isn’t much left to drown, is there?”

Rob made no reply, but changed his position, for he was stiff and weary from sitting so long.

“Take care, Mr Rob, sir, or you may slip down. No fear of your being swept away, but it’s as well not to get a wetting. Warm as it is, you might feel cold, and that would bring on fever.”

“I’ll take care,” said Rob quietly; and in spite of hunger only half appeased, weariness, and doubt as to their future and the length of their imprisonment, he could not help enjoying the beauty of the scene. For the water around was now one smooth mirror-like lake, save where the river rushed along with a peculiar hissing, rushing sound, augmented by a crash as some tree was dashed down and struck against those at the edge of the forest which rose above the water. In the smooth surface the stars were reflected, forming a second hemisphere; but every now and then the lad saw something which raised his hopes, and he was after a silence about to speak, when Brazier began.

“What is it keeps making little splashes in the water, Naylor?”

His voice sounded strange in the midst of the croaking, chirping, and crying going on, but it started conversation directly.

“I was just going to speak about it, sir, to Mr Rob here. Fish—that’s what it is. They’re come up out of the deep holes and eddies where they lie when the river’s in flood, and spread all about to feed on the worms and insects which have been driven out by the water. If we only had the fishing-line there’d be no fear of getting a meal. Oh, there is no fear of that. We shall be all right till the water goes down, and be able to provide for the cupboard somehow.”

“Hush! what’s that?” whispered Rob, as a terrible and mournful cry rang out from somewhere among the trees—a cry which made the puma move uneasily.

“Monkey,” said Shaddy. “One of those long spider-like howlers. I daresay it was very pleasant to its friends—yes, hark: there’s another answering him.”

“And another, and another,” whispered Rob, as cries came from a distance. “But it does not sound so horrible, now that you know what it is.”

Then came the peculiar trumpet-like cry of a kind of crane, dominating the chirping, whistling, and croaking, while the shrieking sounds over the open lake-like flood and beneath the trees grew more frequent.

There was plenty to take their attention and help to counteract the tedium of the night; but it was a terribly weary time, and not passed without startling episodes. Once there was the loud snorting of some animal swimming from the river over the clearing toward the forest. It was too dark to make it out, but Shaddy pronounced it to be a hog-like tapir. At another time their attention was drawn to something else swimming, by the peculiar sound made by the puma, which suddenly grew uneasy; but the creature, whatever it was, passed on toward the trees.

Several times over Rob listened to and spoke of the splashings and heavy plunges about the surface.

“’Gators,” said Shaddy, without waiting to be questioned. “Fish ain’t allowed to have it all their own way. They came over the flooded land to feed, and the ’gators came after them.”

It was with a wonderful feeling of relief that Rob heard Brazier say, “Morning can’t be far distant,” and the guide’s reply:

“Daylight in less than an hour, sir. Croakers and squeakers are all going to sleep fast till darkness comes again.”

“Hist! listen!” whispered Rob excitedly.

“Yes, I hear it, sir. Something moving towards us.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t know, sir. May be a deer. If it is, so much the better for us, even if it has to be eaten raw. But it’s more likely some kind of cat making for the trees. Hark at your lion there; he’s getting uneasy. Mate coming to keep him company, perhaps.”

They could see the reflections of the stars blurred by the movements of the swimming animal, and that it was going on past them; but it was too dark for them to distinguish the creature, which apparently was making for the forest, but altered its course and began to swim for the tree where the party had taken refuge.

“Oh, come: that will not do,” cried Shaddy; “we’re full here. That’s right: drive him away.”

This last was to the puma, which suddenly sprang up with an angry snarl, and stood, dimly seen against the stars, with its back arched, tail curved, and teeth bared, uttering fiercely savage sounds at the swimming creature approaching.

“Some kind of cat,” said Shaddy in a low voice. “Can’t be a mate, or it would be more friendly. Hi! look out,” he said sharply, his voice full of the excitement he felt. “It’s a tiger as sure as I’m here. Out with your knives: we mustn’t let him get into the tree. No, no, Mr Brazier; you’re too weak yet. I’ll tackle him. There’s plenty of room in the other trees. We can’t have the savage brute here.”

As the man spoke, he whipped out and opened his keen-bladed Spanish knife, and, getting flat down on his chest to have his arms at liberty, he reached out the point of his knife like a bayonet.

“Take care, Shaddy,” cried Rob hoarsely, as, knife in hand and holding on by the nearest bough, he peered forward too.

“Trust me, sir. Perhaps if I can get first dig at him before he claws me, he may sheer off. Ah, mind, sir! you’ll have me off. Oh! it’s you, is it?”

The first was a fierce shout of warning, but the second was in a tone of satisfaction.

“I thought it was you come down on my back,” growled Shaddy; “but this is as it should be. You never know who’s going to help you at a pinch.”

For without warning the puma had silently made one bound from its perch, and alighted upon the flattish surface presented by the old sailor’s back. Then planting itself with outstretched paws firmly on his shoulders, and lowering its head, it opened its jaws and uttered a savage yell, which was answered from the golden-spangled water where the new-comer was swimming.

“It is a tiger, and no mistake,” said Shaddy in a low voice; “and we’d better let our lion do the fighting, so long as they don’t claw me. Mind, old fellow! That’s right. I’ve got fast hold now.”

As he was speaking he took a firm grip of a bough by his side, and with breathless suspense Rob and Brazier waited for the next phase in the exciting episode, for they were in momentary expectation of the jaguar, if such it was, reaching the tree, climbing up, and a fierce battle between the two savage creatures ensuing, with a result fatal to their companion, unless in the darkness, while they were engaged in a deadly struggle, he could contrive to direct a fatal blow at the bigger and fiercer beast.

They could now dimly make out its shape as it swam to and fro, hesitating about coming up; for the puma, generally so quiet, gentle and docile, had now suddenly become a furious snarling and hissing creature, with its ears flat to its head and paw raised ready to strike.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” said Shaddy in a low voice, “for this is something new to me. I did think I’d gone through pretty well everything; but being made into a platform for a lion and a tiger to fight out a battle’s quite fresh. Suppose you gentlemen get your knives out over my head, so as to try and guard it a bit. Never mind the lion; he won’t touch you while that thing’s in front of him. He can’t think of anything else. I can’t do anything but hold on. That’s right, messmate,” he cried, as the puma made a stroke downward with one paw. “You’ll do the business better than I shall.”

“It will be light soon,” whispered Brazier, as he leaned forward as far as he could, knife in hand.

“Look out, gentlemen; he’s going to land now!”

For the jaguar made a dash forward, after drawing back a bit, and came close up, so that they could see the gleaming of its eyes in its flattened, cruel-looking head.

The puma struck at it again with a savage yell, but it was beyond the reach of its powerful paw, and the jaguar swam to and fro again in front of their defender, evidently feeling itself at a disadvantage and warily waiting for an opportunity to climb up the tree.

This, however, it could not find, and it continued its tactics, swimming as easily and well as an eastern tiger of the Straits, while the puma shifted its position from time to time on Shaddy’s back, making that gentleman grunt softly:

“That’s right: never mind me, messmate. Glad you’ve got so much confidence in me. Keep him off, and give him one of those licks on the side of the head if he does come within reach. You’ll be too much for him, of course. Steady!”

By this time Rob had shifted his position, and was crawling down on the other side of the puma, ready to make a thrust with his knife.

Still the jaguar did not come on, but swam warily to and fro, as a faint light began to dawn upon the strange scene; and the change came rapidly, till there before them was the fierce creature, which paused at last and seemed to float out slowly, raising its paws, while its long tail waved softly behind it on the surface of the water like a snake.

“Now,” cried Rob, “he’s going to spring.”

He was quite right, for the jaguar gathered itself together, and made a dash which shot it forward; but there was water beneath its powerful hindquarters instead of solid earth, and instead of its alighting from its bound right upon the puma it only forced itself within reach of the tawny animal’s claws, which struck at it right and left with the rapidity of lightning on either side of its neck, and drove it under water.

It rose to the surface to utter a deafening roar, which was answered with savage defiance by the puma from its post of vantage upon Shaddy; but the jaguar was satisfied of its powerless position, and turned and slowly swam toward the huge tree upon their left.

“Why, it’s going to climb up there by the serpent!” cried Rob, in a voice husky with excitement.

At that moment the puma leaped from Shaddy’s back up one of the great branches nearest to the next tree, whence he poured down a fierce torrent of feline defiance upon his more powerful enemy; while Shaddy rose and shook himself just as the rising sun sent a glow of light in the heavens, and illuminated the savage drama commencing in the neighbouring tree.

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