JUNGLE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS
The heavy dew lay thick on leaf and strand, and the sky in the east
was still grey, as the little party met at the landing-place, where
the men were on the look-out and ready for the start; while when they
pushed off and four oars sent the boat well up against the stream,
past the house-boats clustered against the farther shore, nothing
could have looked more peaceful and still.
The men eagerly worked at their oars in their peculiar Venetian,
thrusting fashion, standing to their work; and it was a satisfaction
to see that, in spite of its size and load, the boat was wonderfully
light, and rode over the water like a duck.
The calmness and peace of everything was most striking as it grew
lighter; and when the eastern sky began to glow, and the tips of the
towers and spires of the different temples became gilded by the coming
sun, both Mr. Kenyon and the doctor expressed their admiration,
declaring the King's city to be after all, in spite of its lying in a
flat plain, beautiful in the extreme.
Then the sun rose, shedding its glorious light around and giving
everything a beauty it did not really possess. For sordid-looking
boats, with nothing but a few mats hung from bamboo poles, looked as
if they were made of refined gold; while the trees which fringed the
water, and hung their pendent boughs from the banks, shed a wondrous
lustre, as if flashing gems from every dewy leaf.
The river too, in spite of its muddy waters, seemed more beautiful
than ever, and the boys were revelling in the new delight of their
journey up stream, when sundry preparations being made by Mike in the
extreme after part of the boat changed the bent of Harry's thoughts to
quite a different direction from that of admiring the beauty of the
scene through which they were passing.
It was just as his father exclaimed,--
"Are you noticing how beautiful all this is, Hal?"
"Oh yes, father, I've been looking at it ever so long. But when are we
going to have breakfast?"
The doctor burst into a hearty fit of laughter, in which Phra joined,
and the boy seemed puzzled.
"What is it?" he said, looking from one to the other. "Have I said
something queer?"
"Very, Hal," said his father. "Getting hungry?"
"I was--terribly," replied Harry uneasily; "but I don't feel so now. I
don't like to be laughed at."
"It will not hurt you, my boy. As to breakfast, you will have to wait
an hour or so, till we turn out of the main stream. Then we must land
at the first opening, and have a fire made ashore."
Harry nodded, and wondered how he should get over the time.
There proved to be so much to take his attention, however, that he was
ready to wonder when the boat was run in between two magnificent
clumps of trees soon after they had turned off into the lesser river
and entered the jungle by one of its water highways.
The men sprang out, and one made the prow fast by a rope, while others
scattered, parang in hand, to collect and cut up dead or resinous
wood, of which a heap was soon made and set alight, the air being so
still that the blue smoke rose up quite straight, to filter, as it
were, through the boughs overhead, the men feeding the flames
carefully till a good mass of glowing embers was produced.
Over this sylvan fireplace Mike, with a cloth tied about his waist,
apron fashion, presided, and in a very short time had prepared the
coffee and taken it aboard.
There had been no preparations--no hunting for provisions, to add to
the toothsomeness of the breakfast; but eaten out there in the open
boat, under the shade of the majestic trees, with the river gliding
by, the strange cries from the jungle heard from time to time, and the
attention of the lads constantly attracted to bird, insect, or
reptile, they were ready to declare that they had never enjoyed such a
breakfast before.
"How grand it would be to live always like this!" cried Harry.
"Beautiful," said the doctor; "especially in the rainy seasons, when
you could keep nothing dry and find no wood that would burn."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "rain does damp one's enthusiasm."
"Oh, of course it would not be so pleasant then," said Harry; "but
generally it would be glorious, wouldn't it, Phra?"
"I should get tired of it after a time, I think," was the reply.
"Pooh! I shouldn't. Look how the men are enjoying it."
Harry nodded towards their people, who had all landed to take their
meal on shore, leaving the boat free to their superiors, and certainly
the party looked very happy, squatted round the fire, in spite of the
heat; while the smoke curled up in great wreaths in company with the
suffocating carbonic acid gas evolved by the burning wood.
"Yes, they look happy enough, Hal," said the doctor. "They don't
trouble themselves much about tablecloths or knives and forks."
In fact, the party formed quite a picture, one that it seemed a pity
to disturb.
But it was disturbed, for at a word from Mike, Sree rose to dip some
fresh, clear water to fill up the coffee-pot, and this done, Mike took
a piece of half-burned bamboo, stirred the embers and parted them so
as to make a steady place for the big coffee-pot, when there was a
whirl of flame, sparks, and smoke rushing up among the boughs in a
spiral, for the fire was now at its hottest.
There was no warning.
Sree had squatted down again, and Mike had seated himself, supporting
himself upon one hand, leaving the other to snatch off the coffee-pot
directly the brown froth began to rise with the boiling up, when
_bang--rush--scatter!_ Something fell suddenly from high up among the
boughs overhead right into the fire, and as the men turned and rolled
themselves away in every direction, they were bombarded as it were, by
showers of red-hot embers and half-burned sticks, which were driven
after them by the object which had fallen from the tree, and was now
writhing, twining, and beating the burning wood and ashes till the
fire was scattered over a surface some yards across.
The matter needed no explanation; it was all plain enough. After the
manner of such reptiles, a good-sized boa had tied itself up in a
bundle of curves, knots, and loops on a convenient bough, after a
liberal meal probably of monkey, and had been fast asleep exactly over
the spot where the fire was made. It had borne heat and smoke without
moving until the last stir up of the embers delivered by Mike, but
this had sent so stifling a flame that the sleeping serpent had been
aroused, started into wakefulness, and in the heat and suffocation
fallen into the flames, to writhe in agony, turning over and over in
knotty convolutions, in one spot a yard or two square.
The doctor was the quickest to grasp the position. Rising from his
seat, he took down one of the ready-charged guns, and waited for a few
moments till from out of the writhing knot the reptile's tail rose
quivering and thrashing the ashy ground. Directly after the head
appeared, some feet above the folds, dimly seen through the smoke, as
it was darted angrily in different directions, the jaws opening and
the creature snapping at the horrible enemy which was causing it so
much agony.
It was for this the doctor had been waiting, and as the head rose a
little higher and was nearly motionless for a moment, both barrels
flashed out their contents; and as the concussion made the leaves
overhead quiver violently, the serpent writhed and struggled
frantically over and over in a knot that seemed to be always tying and
untying itself, was hidden amongst the thick, reedy growth close to
the river, splashed and wallowed a little in the shallow from which
the reeds sprung, and then with a loud splash went clear of the growth
into the dark, deep water overhung by the boughs of the trees.
Then there was an eddying and quivering where the stream glided along,
and a few bubbles ascended to the surface, but though attentive watch
was kept, no more was seen, the swift current having undoubtedly swept
the reptile away.
"I had a good sight of its head when I fired," said the doctor. "Would
you like to have snake for breakfast every morning when you lived out
in the open, Harry?"
"Ugh!" ejaculated the boys together.
"Well, I'm very glad we were having our breakfast on board," said Mr.
Kenyon, laughing. "Here, Michael, you need not stand staring up into
the tree; there are no more snakes up there."
"Wouldn't its mate be there, sir?" said the man.
"Oh no, it isn't likely. Where is the coffee-pot?"
"Don't know, sir; but I don't want any more breakfast, thank you."
"Nonsense, man," said his master; "find the coffee-pot, and the men
will rake the fire together again. There is nothing to mind now."
Mike looked anything but satisfied, going about his task unwillingly;
but the men came back from where they had scattered, laughing with one
another now that the scare was at an end.
"He's making a poor beginning," said Harry, on seeing their man go
peering about slowly in different directions amongst the tall grass
and bushes.
"Mike doesn't like snakes," replied Phra, laughing.
"Well, who does?" cried Harry. "I hate them; and it was enough to
scare anybody. I know I should have jumped away fast enough. I say,
look there."
"What at?"
"There's the pot, in amongst those young bamboos. No, no; there, half
in the water.--Found it?"
"No, sir. It's gone," replied the man.
"Nonsense; here it is. You didn't look in the right place."
Mike came towards them, looking very sour and disgusted, as he picked
up the tin vessel.
"Reg'lar spoiled," he said, examining the pot and holding it out to
show that there was a big dent on one side. "Won't hold water now."
"How do you know till you try? Dip it in and see."
The pot was dipped, filled, and proved to be quite sound in spite of
the hollow in its side, a fact which disappointed Mike, who prepared
to make some fresh coffee by getting into the boat again, while the
men laughingly collected the scattered brands and restarted the fire.
"I say, Mike," said Harry, as the man came back, "you shouldn't make a
fuss about a little thing like this; it's nothing to what you will
have to put up with."
Mike looked at him aghast, his face screwed up into such an aspect of
dismay that the boys burst out laughing.
"Ah, it's all very well to laugh, Master Harry," grumbled the man;
"but if there's going to be any more of this sort of thing, I know--"
"Know what?"
"I'm going back home."
"How?" said Harry, laughing.
"Don't ask stupid questions," said Phra, with a perfectly serious
face. "He's either going to swim back with the stream, among the
crocodiles, or to walk through the jungle. There are not so very many
tigers there now."
"What!" gasped Mike.
"Make haste, Michael, my lad," said Mr. Kenyon. "Get the fresh coffee
made and the men's breakfast over; we want to go on."
"Yes, sir; of course, sir--oh dear, oh dear!--Ah, it's all very well
to laugh, Master Harry."
"Laugh! Well, it's enough to make any one laugh to see you make such a
fuss over a baby snake. Wait till we come to the hundred foot long
ones."
Mike gave him another look, and then hurried back to the blazing fire.
"You've spoiled his breakfast," said Phra.
"Serve him right for being a great coward. I want him to get used to
such things."
Phra laughed.
"Who's to get used to such things as that? I say, look; there's one of
our old friends watching us."
He pointed up to where a little grey-whiskered monkey was holding back
the leaves, so as to peer wonderingly down at the party.
"I believe one could soon coax these monkeys down to be fed."
"If you put a few bananas on the top of the cabin there, they wouldn't
want any coaxing; they'd come and take them."
"Yes, when we were not looking; but I mean, coax them into being tame
enough to feed from one's hand."
"Might perhaps, but they're treacherous. They like to spring on any
one's shoulders to bite the back of the neck. Look, look! Parrots!"
A little flock of brightly coloured, long-tailed lories flew over the
river, but before a gun could be seized they had disappeared.
"Not very good ones," said Harry. "Only green."
"And sour," said the doctor.
"Sour?" cried Harry wonderingly.
"Yes, sour grapes, Hal. Why, they were lovely specimens, my boy. Look
at those butterflies flitting about the flowers growing there in
wreaths. Now, if this were a hard road we might get a few of them."
"We could get one of those sun-birds," said Harry, pointing to some
half-dozen fluttering about the cluster of flowers dependent from a
bough overhanging the stream.
"Yes, but we must wait till we have got some dry sand to use instead
of shot. Mind we scrape some up from the first shallow place we
reach."
The fact of the boat being motionless there by the side of the river,
and all on board sitting quietly watching the abundant beautiful
objects around, made the various inhabitants of the jungle on either
side come out of their hiding-places and take no further heed of their
presence; consequently until the men had finished their breakfast
there was ample opportunity for a quiet, observant natural history
study, and Mr. Kenyon remarked,--
"It is, after all, better to be content with watching nature in a
place like this than shooting specimens and preserving them in a
miserable imitation of the natural shape. For how poor and pitiful
they are at the best."
"That's true enough," said the doctor, smiling; "but you would not
make a museum of our memories."
"Why not?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"Because memory is weak, and our description of what we have seen to
other people who could never by any possibility see the beautiful
creatures we have encountered, would come very far short. I think that
the sight of the poorest skin that we have preserved would make ten
times the impression on another's mind that a month's talking could."
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and nature is so abundant."
By this time the men had resumed their oars, and the boat was gliding
rapidly up the river, the boys being ready to point out where they had
shot the birds they had taken back, and seen the monkey which had
watched them on their way.
So far they had met no crocodiles, but as they went higher it seemed
as if, though they kept themselves out of sight, several were in the
narrow river and were retiring before them, till the water growing
more shallow they began to show from time to time.
The boys seized their guns upon catching sight of the two prominences
which contained the reptile's eyes appearing above the surface some
thirty yards ahead, but Mr. Kenyon checked them.
"Don't shoot," he said, "it is of no use to kill a few among so many."
"But suppose they attack us," said Harry.
"They will not unless driven to bay. Steer in closer to the side,
Sree," continued Mr. Kenyon, "so as to give them room to retreat down
the river."
The order was obeyed, the boat being kept to the left, so close in
that the oars touched the tips of the hanging boughs, with the
consequence that every now and then there was a loud splashing and
wallowing in the water close beneath the bank, the part hidden by the
pendent boughs.
"Why, they swarm under there," said the doctor.
"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and this shows how little the shooting of one
or two has to do with thinning them down. By the way, boys, where was
it that you had your adventure with the big crocodile and the monkey?"
Phra rose and pointed forward.
"A little farther there, on the right," he said, "where those bigger
trees are hanging over the water."
The whole scene came vividly back to the pair as the boat glided on,
and after a glance upward at the trees, Harry's eyes fell to scanning
the water, half expecting to see the ugly muzzle of one of the great
crocodiles shoot out.
This he did not see, but first one and then another made a tremendous
eddy in the stream, their lurking-places being churned up by the men's
oars.
"The brutes are extremely thick up here," said the doctor: "a pretty
good warning that we must not attempt any bathing."
"They seem to swarm," replied Mr. Kenyon. "It is a pity they are of no
use; but perhaps some day one will be found for them,--possibly their
skins may be utilised."
"Skins of young ones, perhaps. These big fellows would be too horny."
As he spoke, a huge reptile rushed from a mud bank into the river with
a tremendous splash, sending a wave along the surface, which made the
boat rise and fall.
This time guns were seized by the boys' elders, upon the strength of
the possibility of an attack; but the huge creature must have sunk at
once to the bottom, for no further sign appeared.
Meantime the great, green bank of trees on either side seemed to grow
more beautiful from the brilliancy of the flowers with which some of
the trees were covered; while, wherever a flock of parroquets flew
out, it was pretty well always a sign of fruit.
Here, too, at intervals, where there were breaks in the banks of the
great timber trees, huge tufts of bamboo shot up spear-like, and
showed their delicate foliage, looking at a distance so light and
feathery that often enough the straight stems, which rose in places as
much as sixty feet, seemed as if surrounded by a delicate haze.
It was now decided that due attention should be given to collecting
and providing for the meals of so large a party; and as nothing in the
shape of deer or pig had been seen, and mid-day was long passed, it
was suggested that, as soon as a suitable spot was reached, the boat
should be moored to some overhanging bough and the boys should try
their fortune at fishing.
As soon as Sree heard this he busied himself with the basket which
contained the lines, and kept a look-out for a likely pitch.
Suddenly there was a rushing of wings, and a big bird appeared--a
signal for two guns to be raised, but only to be laid down again.
"Ugh! vulture," said Harry in disgust.
"Pity not to have shot it," said Phra; "it would have done to cut up
for bait."
Harry's lip curled up and his nostrils dilated.
"Do you know we mean to eat the fish we catch?"
"Oh, of course," said Phra hurriedly; "I hadn't thought of that. But
would it make any difference, Doctor Cameron?" he added.
The doctor laughed.
"No," he said, "I don't think we should have found the fish any the
worse for it. All the same, though, I should prefer my fish not to
have been fed upon the flesh of an unclean bird."
"Exactly so," said Harry's father; "but perhaps it is just as well
that we should not study the food of the fish we eat. They are not
very particular as to their diet.--What about that quiet, still eddy
yonder, Sree?"
"Where the great tree-trunk lies in the water?" said the doctor. "No,
that won't do. There must be scores of half-rotten boughs among which
the fish would run and tangle up the lines."
"It would be an excellent place, Sahib," said Sree humbly. "We could
tie up the boat there, and fish below it, where the stream runs in."
"To be sure," said Mr. Kenyon; "I had not noticed that little rivulet.
You are wrong, Doctor; it will be a capital place."
"Perhaps," said the gentleman addressed, "but I don't like the look of
it. I feel pretty sure that we shall find a great crocodile has his
lurking-place under that large tree-trunk."
"Yes, Sahib; there is one there," said Sree; "but he will go as soon
as he sees the boat."
He spoke to the man in the bows to be ready to make the line fast to
one of the dead boughs, which stuck up dry and swept clear of bark,
showing, like its fellows, how high the flood water had raised the
level of the river, for above a certain height the bark was still
clinging to the branches.
It proved to be just as the old hunter had said, for as the boat was
forced up to the great trunk lying in the water, there was a sudden
rush, the surface was turned into a series of eddies, and a wave
rolled along towards the other side of the river, indicating the
direction in which the reptile disturbed had gone.
All the same the boat was made fast, and floated down stream to the
full length of the rope, the men's oars were laid in, and those astern
joined their companions forward, to squat together talking in a low
tone and chewing betel, while Mr. Kenyon and the doctor settled
themselves comfortably in the open cabin.
"Won't you fish, father?" asked Harry.
"No, my boy," he replied; "you shall fish for me."
"But you will fish, Doctor Cameron?" said Phra politely.
"No, I would rather see you," replied the doctor, and he started and
caught up his gun, but laid it down once more, for the birds which had
caught his eye were only crows, some half-dozen of which came up
stream as if they had followed the boat, and now they had found it,
settled down in one of the highest trees apparently to have a quiet
chat about its object in coming up there.
Sree had been busy the while, preparing bait for the lines, which were
to be used ledger fashion without rods.
Sree's bait was some very stiff paste, which he was working up out of
a couple of handfuls of flour; and he made haste to explain that if
the fish did not take this well, he should soon change the lure.
"But we must catch one first."
The lines were strong and the hooks tied on gimp, such as would have
been used for pike-fishing at home, for the fish of the Siamese rivers
had not been tried for till they were as shy as ours at home, and
before many minutes had elapsed the boys each had his baited hook
thrown out from the opposite side of the boat six or eight yards away,
the leads sinking some six feet in the fairly clear water, and with
fingers just feeling the pierced lead, they waited.
It was not the first by many times that the boys had fished together
in the river, and they pretty well knew what they were likely to
catch; but they were not prepared to sit beneath the hot sunshine for
so long without a sign of there being fish about.
"Come, be sharp," cried the doctor banteringly. "I thought we were
going to have a good fry for dinner. How soon shall I send the men
ashore to make a fire?"
"Fishermen always have patience," said Harry.
"But people who want their dinner do not," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing.
"I say, Sree," whispered Harry, "they will not bite at paste."
"Pull up your line, Sahib," said the hunter.
Harry did as he was told, and Sree smiled.
"Something has eaten the bait," he said. "Didn't you feel a pull?"
"No, not the slightest."
The hook was rebaited and sent down stream again, and Phra's hook
proving to be in the same unattractive state, received the same
treatment; but for fully half an hour nothing was done but rebaiting
and throwing in.
"We had better make a move," said Mr. Kenyon. "It is very beautiful
here, but the crocodiles seem to have scared the fish away. Let's go
half a mile higher."
"No, no, not yet, father," said Harry. "It seems such a capital place,
and--I've got him!"
For as he spoke he felt a slight twitch at the line he held, and then
all was still for a few moments. Next there was a steady draw, and the
line began to pass through his fingers, while upon checking it the
drag became a heavy one, and he found that he was fast in a good fish.
It was evident that a shoal had come up towards the boat, for hardly
had Harry begun to haul upon his line before Phra felt the premonitory
twitch, and directly after the draw upon his line.
"Now, father, had we better go higher?" cried Harry. "Oh, my word! it
is a big one; the line regularly cuts my hands."
There was nothing to see but the lines cutting the water in different
directions, for it was evident that the baits had been seized by
bottom-loving fish, which went on fighting to keep down as low as they
could.
By this time Sree had taken up a short bamboo to which a large hook
was firmly bound, and bidding Harry now draw hard, he stood ready,
while the lad raised the heavy, struggling fish to the surface, and,
in spite of its efforts, brought it close up to the side of the boat,
when with one well-aimed stroke the old hunter thrust the hook beneath
it and lifted it over the side.
The next moment, leaving the fish flapping and beating the bamboo
bottom, Sree stepped beside Phra, where the same business was gone
through, and the second fish dragged in.
They proved to be very similar in appearance to a fish but little
known in England, though lingering still in some few sluggish
rivers--the burbot--a fish that is best described as being something
like a short, thick eel. These were together over twenty pounds in
weight, and welcome from their delicate quality as food.
"Enough is as good as a feast," said Mr. Kenyon, smiling; and the
order being given, the boat was once more sent gliding up stream,
look-out being kept for a suitable place for landing and making a
fire.
This was reached at last, and the fish, spitted on the ever-present,
ever-useful bamboo, set down to roast, so that they might make a
welcome addition to the next _al fresco_ meal.
After another few miles a suitable mooring-place was found beneath an
enormous tree, and a fire once more lit; this was to act as a scare to
keep away noxious creatures, but, as Harry said, for some things they
might have been better without.
For they soon found that the glare of the burning wood woke up and
attracted the birds, which came circling round it in a strangely weird
way, their dimly seen forms coming and going out of the darkness into
the dome of light ribbed with the branches of the trees.
Moths and flies innumerable buzzed about through the glare, and, worst
of all, the light and heat attracted the smaller reptiles, snakes and
lizards creeping towards the flame for the sake of the warmth of what
must have seemed to them like a new, strange sun, and many of them
getting burned.
"It's very horrid, father," said Harry. "Mike says that he saw
hundreds of wriggling snakes and lizards creeping up when he helped
the men make up the fire as you advised, for they would have set the
forest ablaze if it had been done their way."
"Hundreds, eh?" said Mr. Kenyon. "Then I suppose we may set it down as
being about a dozen, Hal?"
"He is an awful fibster, father," said Harry, laughing.
"I don't think the man really means to lie wilfully," said Mr. Kenyon;
"but his imagination and his tongue run wild."
"Perhaps it's his eyes," said the doctor, smiling; "a natural failing.
The lenses are too round, and they magnify."
"Let's be charitable, and set it down as that," said Mr. Kenyon; "but
it does not matter to us. It is not as if we were going to sleep
ashore, and this is a novel experience."
"Novel, indeed. What a collection of moths and beetles we might make
now!"
"Awkward work," replied Mr. Kenyon. "I think we might be content with
enjoying the strange scene."
Both being tired with the day's exertions, the boys thought so too,
and for long enough they watched the illuminated trees of the jungle,
which were always changing their aspect as the fire rose and fell,
emitting flashes of light, and sending up myriads of sparks or wreaths
of smoke to form clouds overhead, which reflected back the light and
turned the water into gold, while strange, dark shadows seemed to
dance and waltz among the great trunks.
It was all so wild and beautiful that even after the men had finally
replenished the fire and settled themselves down for the night under
their matting shelter, spread over the fore part of the boat, no one
aft felt the slightest desire to lie down and sleep.
"I couldn't sleep, could you?" said Harry, in a low tone, to Phra, as
they sat in the half-closed-in cabin, now watching the surroundings of
the fire, now, attracted by some sound, turning to look up or down the
river.
"Sleep? No," replied Phra; "it all seems so strange and different.
We've heard all these noises of a night when we've been at home, but
they were far off."
"And now one is right amongst them," said Harry. "I say, are you sure
your gun's loaded?"
"Yes, quite; I looked at it just now."
"So did I at mine. I don't think I'm at all afraid; are you?"
"I don't think so; but after what we saw this morning I can't help
fancying that there might be a great snake somewhere in the boughs
overhead, coming down lower and lower till it thrust in its head here.
I say, fancy it taking one of us out and up into the tree."
"Shan't," said Harry. "I don't believe there are any in the jungle big
enough to do such a thing."
"Oh, there are some monsters," said Phra quietly.
"Yes, so people like our Mike say. He told me once that some of your
father's men said they had seen a croc fifty feet long. Hark at that!"
The sound was startling, and it came from off the water lower down the
river.
"It's your fifty feet crocodile slapping the water with his tail to
stun the fish," said Phra grimly.
"I don't know about fifty, but it sounds as if the great wretch might
be thirty feet long. Ugh! What's to prevent a monster coming up close
to the boat and helping himself to one of us? I couldn't go to sleep
for thinking such a thing possible."
"I don't think there's any fear of such a thing happening. You never
heard of anything of the kind among the thousands of boats down the
river and canals."
"No, but one can't help thinking of such creepy notions. We never
thought of them before we came."
"Are you boys going to sleep?" said Mr. Kenyon.
"Yes, father, directly," said Harry; "I mean, going to try."
"Off with you, then, so as to be ready for a good day's work
to-morrow. Did you see how beautiful the fire-flies are, right away up
and down the river?"
"Yes, sir," said Phra. "I've been watching them; it looks sometimes as
if the bushes and boughs were full of flying stars. Hear that?"
"Yes; a tiger," said Mr. Kenyon quietly. "Hear the king of stripes,
Doctor?"
The gentleman addressed grunted, and then breathed hard.
"The brute does not trouble him," said Mr. Kenyon; "and it need not
trouble us."
"No fear of its swimming out to the boat?" said Phra.
"Not the slightest," replied Mr. Kenyon. "Let down that mat to screen
you from the night air and mists, and go to sleep."
"Let the mat down?" said Harry, in a tone full of protest; "but if we
do we can't see the fire-flies."
"Take another look, and then let it down and go to sleep."
"But we don't feel as if we could go, father."
"Of course not, if you sit up talking. There, let down the matting,
for our sake as well as yours. Good-night, my boys."
"Good-night, sir."
"Good-night, father," said Harry, as he let fall the mat, and thus
completely closed in the cabin-like place.--"But there's no sleep for
us, Phra, I'm afraid."
"Let's try," said Phra.
"Oh, I'll try," replied Harry.
It needed no trying, for in five minutes there was no one awake in the
boat, though there were wild cries far away in the jungle, strange
splashings, coughings and barkings from the river, and every now and
then loud cracklings and sputterings from the fire, whose rays gleamed
in through the matting hung round.
But though every one slept, there was an advance about to be made upon
the occupants of the boat, some forty or fifty fierce creatures making
their way in through the matting to attack first one and then the
other, the attack going on till the savage enemies were satiated with
blood, their victims being all the while deeply plunged in sleep.