The sharp report was from Brazier's piece, and as all looked round it
was to see a large turkey-like bird beating and flapping the ground with
its strong pinions, evidently being badly wounded.
"Ah!" cried Shaddy, "that'll be better meat than our fish;" and dropping
the line, he trotted towards the spot where the bird lay close to the
edge of the forest, just as Brazier started on the same mission from his
end of the opening; while quite a flock of small birds and a troop of
monkeys came flying and bounding through the trees, as if to see what
was the meaning of the strange noise, and filling the air with their
chatterings and cries, but hardly displaying the slightest dread.
"I happened to look round," cried Brazier, "and saw it come out from
among the trees."
This was just as he and Shaddy neared the bird, where it lay half a
dozen yards from the dense mass of interwoven foliage, when, to the
disgust of both, the bird suddenly rose to its feet, made a bound, and,
with its wings whistling loudly, flew right in through an opening, while
its would-be captors were brought up short by the to them impenetrable
forest.
"How vexatious!" cried Brazier, stamping his foot.
"There goes our supper!" grumbled Shaddy; "and that's about the joociest
bird I know."
"I wish I'd given it the other barrel," said Brazier.
"Better load, sir," said Shaddy. "Never mind. You'll get another
chance soon. Eh? Oh, very well then, have a try."
This was to one of the boatmen, who, roused by the shot, came up smiling
with his sword-like knife in his hand, evidently with the intention of
cutting his way in and trying to retrieve the bird.
"I don't think it is of any use," said Brazier.
"Dunno, sir. Perhaps it is. The bird was hard hit, and maybe hasn't
gone far. Let him try. He may just as well do that as lie and sleep."
They both stopped for a few minutes watching the man, who bent down, and
going on all-fours, passed in between the interlacing growth. They saw
his feet for a few moments, and then he disappeared altogether, while
Brazier and Shaddy both returned to their stations.
"What a pity!" grumbled the latter. "'Bout the nicest birds I know--
when you're hungry. There'll be another shot for him soon, though, for
they go in flocks in open bits of land near water."
"What bird was it?" said Rob--"a turkey?"
"Nay, not so big as a turkey, lad; I dunno what they call 'em. I call
'em Argentine larks."
"What?" cried Rob, with a laugh.
"Ah, you may grin, my lad, but it ain't such a bad name; and if you'd
seen 'em do what I have, you'd say so too."
"What do you mean?" said Rob; "do they make their nests on the ground?"
"I don't know nothing about their nests, but I'll tell you what they do:
they rise off the ground and fly up in the air higher and higher, and
sail round and round singing just like a lark does, only lots of times
as loud."
Rob looked keenly in the man's face.
"Oh, I ain't a-stuffing of you with nonsense, my lad; that 'ere's a
nat'ral history fact. They flies up singing away till they're out of
sight, and the music comes down so soft and sweet then that it makes you
want more and more, as you get thinking of when you was away in the
country at home."
"But that bird was so big," cried Rob.
"All the better, my lad. Holds more music and sings all the longer."
"Caught anything?" asked Joe from the boat, for both lines had been cast
now, and the lads were patiently holding the ends.
"No; haven't had a bite," replied Rob; and the words had hardly left his
lips when Brazier's gun raised an echo across the river, which ran to
and fro, reflected by the wall of trees in zigzag course till it died
out.
But no one listened to the echo, for all attention was taken by a large
duck, one of about a dozen which had come skimming along over the
surface of the water till its course had been stopped by Brazier's
accurate shot, when it fell flapping heavily and raising quite a spray
around it as it began to float rapidly down-stream.
"Come, we mustn't lose that," cried Shaddy, running to unfasten the rope
which moored the boat. "We'll go together. Mr Joe, sir, haul in your
line."
But before the boy could obey there was a cry of annoyance from Brazier
as, with a slight splash, something seized the duck and drew it under.
"'Nother supper gone!" growled Shaddy.
"What was it?" cried Brazier.
"Didn't see, sir. Either a 'gator or a big fish. Look sharp, Mr Joe,
sir. Now, if you could catch that there fish with the duck in his jaws
too, it would be something like."
But Joe did not have the chance to catch a fish with the duck or
without, and Rob fervently hoped that he might not catch the captor of
the duck, for he felt certain that he had seen the jaws of a small
alligator close upon the unfortunate bird as he held the end of his line
tightly and waited for the bite which would not come.
But in the midst of that lovely solitude there was no room for
disappointment. Though they could not obtain exactly what they sought,
Rob felt that nature was offering them endless treasures, and his eye
was being constantly attracted by the flowers high up on the trees
across the river and the still more beautiful butterflies and birds
constantly passing here and there. Now it was some lovely object whose
large flat wings flashed with steely or purply blue, according to the
angle in which it was viewed, then butterflies of velvety black dashed
with orange and vermilion. Parrots of vivid green with scarlet heads
flew to and fro across the stream; and twice over a great _ara_ or
macaw, with its large, hooked beak and scarlet-and-blue feathering, a
very soldier in uniform among birds, flew over them, watching them
keenly as it uttered its harsh, discordant cry. Then, too, there were
the humming-birds darting here and there with bee-like flight, emitting
a flash every now and then as their metallic, scale-like feathers caught
the sun on their burnished surface.
"No," said Rob to himself, "one can't feel disappointed here," and soon
after, as he drew a long, deep breath full of satisfaction, "Oh, how
gloriously beautiful it all is! What would they say at home?"
Now he gazed down into the deep, clear, swiftly flowing water, where,
brilliantly illuminated by the sun, just beyond where he sat shaded by a
tree, he could see fish of all sizes floating motionless, apparently at
different depths, while farther out there were more and more, larger it
seemed, and as the depth and density of the water increased looking more
shadowy and strange.
"There are plenty of them, even if they don't bite," thought Rob; "and
if it were not that we must have them to eat, I don't know that I want
to catch them. Ugh!"
He involuntarily shrank away, but resumed his position at the edge of
the river, gazing down at where, with its four legs outstretched and its
tail waving softly, an alligator swam by some five feet below the
surface. It was only a small one, between three and four feet in
length, but showing all the ugly configuration of its kind; and it
fascinated Rob as he gazed at it till it slowly grew more shadowy and
shortened in length and disappeared.
"Wonder how Joe's getting on!" he thought; and then his mind dwelt again
upon their surroundings, and as his eyes wandered from spot to spot he
felt that they ought to go no farther, but make a temporary stay there.
Just then he looked to his right, to find that Mr Brazier had given up
his task of watching for birds and was busy with Shaddy arranging the
bunch of orchids on a branch in the full sunshine, to dry as much as was
possible before being transferred to their destination--the bottom of
one of the tubs.
"Slow work!" muttered Rob, drawing in his line now, to find the biscuit
softened, but still held tightly enough to the hook. Then, dropping it
in again, he watched it as it was carried out by the eddy, and ended by
tying the line fast to one of the overhanging branches and walking to
where the boat was moored.
"How are you getting on, Joe?" he said; but there was no answer. "Not
here?" he muttered as he stepped on board, to find the young Italian
lying back fast asleep, while the end of the line was secured to one of
the thwarts.
"Oh, I say!" muttered Rob, "you lazy beggar!" Then stooping down, so
that his lips were near the sleeper's ear, he said loudly, "Ready for
supper?"
Joe leaped up in confusion.
"Have I been asleep?" he said hastily.
"Looks like it. Where's the dorado?"
"I--that is--I grew so drowsy, I--yes, I fastened the end of the line
for fear it should go overboard, and--here, look out!" he cried sharply,
"I have him!"
"Not you," said Rob; "the hook caught it."
For the line had been drawn tight while Joe slept, and as he took hold
of it he found that it was fast in something heavy, which now sent a
quiver along the line, as if it were shaking its head angrily at being
disturbed.
"Why, it's a big one," said Rob excitedly.
"It's a monster," panted Joe. "Oh, I wish I had not been asleep."
"Caught anything?" came from behind them, and Brazier and Shaddy drew
near.
"Yes; Joe has hooked a very big one," cried Rob eagerly. "Get your hook
ready, Shaddy."
"All right, sir," said the guide grimly, "but you won't want it just
yet. You'll have to play that chap before you get him up to the boat."
So it seemed, for the captive lay sulky for a few moments, resenting the
strain on the line, till Joe gave it a jerk, when there was a rush away
to the left, the line suddenly slackened, and Rob exclaimed in a tone of
disappointment,--
"Gone!"
"No," growled Shaddy. "Pull in a bit, my lad. Steady!"
Joe began to haul in the line, drawing in yard after yard, which fell in
rings to the bottom of the boat, till half the fishing cord must have
been recovered.
"He has gone, Shaddy," said Joe.
"Beginning to think you're right, my lad. Fancied at first he'd swum up
to the side, for there's no telling what a fish may do when--Look out;
he's on still," roared Shaddy. "Hold the line, my lad. Don't let him
haul it quite out, or he'll snap it when he gets to the end."
Joe seized the line and let it slip through his fingers, but the
friction was so painful that he would have let go again had not Shaddy
stepped to his help and taken hold behind him.
"Won't hurt my fingers," he growled; "they're a deal too hard," and he
kept hold so that he did not interfere with Joe's work in playing the
fish, but relieved him of the strain and friction as the line cut the
water here and there.
Brazier looked on with plenty of interest in the proceedings, for the
capture of a fish of goodly size was a matter of some consequence to the
leader of an expedition with eight hungry people to cater for day after
day.
"Think it's a dorado, Shaddy?" asked Rob.
"Ought to be, my lad, from its taking an orange, and if it is it's 'bout
the heaviest one I've knowed. My word, but he does pull! Can't say as
ever I felt one shake his head like that before. Shall I play him now,
my lad?"
"No," cried Joe through his set teeth as he held on, "not yet. I will
ask you if I want help. No: Rob will help me."
The struggle went on so fiercely that it increased Brazier's interest,
and but for the clever way in which the two lads in turn played the
fish, the cord, strong as it was, must have been broken. But they were
fortunate enough to get a good deal of the long line in hand, and were
thus enabled to let their captive run from time to time, merely keeping
up a steady strain till the rush was over and then hauling in again.
"Why, boys," said Brazier at last as he stood on the bank resting upon
his double gun, "it will be supper-time before you catch your prize, and
in this climate fish will be bad to-morrow. Better let him go."
"What!" cried Rob, whose face was streaming with perspiration. "Let him
go? Do you hear, Joe?"