"Evening, sir," said Lynton. "Growing too dark to see much with a
glass, isn't it?"
"Yes; I was just going to shut it up and put it in the case," replied
Brace. "I say, don't you go and sham dead to upset us all again."
"There you go!" cried the mate angrily. "I did think it was going to
drop now. Nobody seems to believe my word."
"Don't say nobody, for I will," said Brace quietly. "I was only joking
you a bit. But tell me: that coast-line I could see before it grew so
dark was all forest, I suppose?"
"A lot of it," replied the mate, with a sigh or relief; "great thick
dense forest with dwarfish trees growing out of the mud, and if you
could see now, you'd find all the leaves sparkling with fireflies up the
creeks and streams."
"Then the sooner we reach our river and begin to sail up, the better I
shall like it. How soon it grows dark out here!"
"It does in these latitudes," replied the mate.
"But I say, Mr Leigh, don't you go thinking that I went ashore carrying
on and drinking, because I didn't."
"I promise you I will not."
"Thankye," said the mate, as he stood looking along the darkened deck,
with the lanthorns now swinging aloft. Beneath a rough awning the
captain had made the men rig up over the cabin, that gentleman was
seated chatting with Sir Humphrey, while the first mate stood by them,
listening to their conversation, and occasionally putting in a word.
Three or four folding-chairs had been placed aft for the benefit of the
passengers, one of which Brace had marked down for his own use, and he
was thinking of fetching it along to where they stood, as he talked to
the second and fastened the strap of his binocular case.
"Ah," said the mate, "you'll find that little glass handy when you begin
shooting for picking out the birds and serpents and things, and--"
He took off his straw hat to wipe his forehead, for the air was hot,
moist, and sultry. He did not, however, apply his handkerchief, but
stood with it in his right hand, his straw hat in his left, gazing down
at it.
"Puzzles me," he said, changing the subject suddenly.
"What: how to find the birds and reptiles among the leaves of the great
trees?"
"No, no," said the mate impatiently. "I mean, how it was this straw hat
of mine came on board."