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