"Stop! I must have some of those plants."
Shaddy did not stir.
"Do you hear, man? Stop! I want to collect some of those epiphytic
plants."
By this time they were nearly a hundred yards past, and Shaddy looked at
the enthusiastic collector with a comical expression on his face.
"Always glad to obey orders, sir," he said drily; "but how can I stop
the boat now? Look at the water."
"But you should have caught hold of one of the boughs, man."
"When we were fifty yards away, sir?"
"Then pull back to the tree."
Shaddy smiled again.
"It ain't to be done, sir, no, not if I'd eight oars going instead of
four. There's no making head against the river now it's running like
this."
"Then we've made a mistake in coming to-day," cried Brazier anxiously.
"Well, no, sir, because before night we shall have made a big run right
into the country you want to see, without tiring my lads, and I want to
save them up. But there's no stopping to-day for collecting."
"But shall we be able to land somewhere?"
"Hope so, sir. If we can't we shall have to go on. But you leave it to
me, sir, and I'll do my best. Don't talk to me now, because I've got to
steer and look out against an upset, and, as you know, bathing ain't
pleasant in these waters."
Brazier looked uneasy, and went and sat down in the stern, to become
absorbed soon after in the beauty of the scene as they raced down the
silvery flashing river, while Joe, who was near him, appeared to be
looking at the birds and wondrous butterflies which flapped across from
shore to shore, but really seeing nothing but one of a company of
monkeys, which, after the fashion of their kind, were trying to keep
pace with the boat by bounding and swinging themselves from tree to tree
along the shore.
That seemed to the young Italian's disordered imagination, blurred, as
it were, by rankling anger, like the monkey to which his companion had
compared him, and his annoyance grew hotter, not only against Rob, but
against himself for refusing to shake hands and once more be friends.
Meanwhile Rob stayed in the fore-part of the boat talking to Shaddy, who
stood on one of the thwarts, so as to get a better view of the river
ahead over the cabin roof, and kept on making an observation to the boy
from time to time.
"Easy travelling this, my lad, only a bit too fast."
"Oh, I don't know; it's very delightful," said Rob.
"Glad you like it, my lad; but I wish Mr Jovanni wouldn't sit on the
starn like that. He ought to know better. Least touch, and over he'd
go."
"Look: what's that, Shaddy?" cried Rob, pointing to a black-looking
animal standing knee-deep in water staring at them as they passed.
Shaddy screwed his eye round for a moment, but did not turn his head.
"Don't you get taking my 'tention off my work!" he growled. "That's a--
that's a--well, I shall forget my own name directly!--a
what-you-may-call-it--name like a candle."
"Tapir," cried Rob.
"That's him, my lad. Any one would think you had been born on 'Merican
rivers. Rum pig-like crittur, with a snout like a little elephant's
trunk, to ketch hold of grass and branches and nick 'em into his mouth.
I say--"
"Well, what, Shaddy?" said Rob. The man had stopped to bear hard upon
his oar.
"Pull, my lads," he growled to his men. "Hold tight, every one. I
didn't see it soon enough. Tree trunk!"
Rob seized one of the supports of the cabin roofing and gazed over it at
what seemed like a piece of bark just before them, and the next moment
there was a smart shock, a tremendous swirl in the water, and a shower
of spray poured over them like drops of silver in the bright sunshine,
as something black, which Rob took for a denuded branch, waved in the
air, and Joe plumped down into the bottom of the boat.
Shaddy chuckled and wiped the water out of his eye.
"I'm thinking so much about trees washed from the bank that I can't see
anything else."
"But it was only a small tree, Shaddy, and did us no harm."
"Warn't a tree at all, lad, only a 'gator fast asleep on the top of the
water going west and warming his back in the sun same time."
"An alligator?"
"Yes, my lad. Didn't you see what a flap he gave with his tail! But
now just look there at Mr Jovanni. I call it rank obstinit. Just as
if there was no other place where he could sit but right on the starn!
There, you're friends, and he'll take it better from you. Go through
the cabin and ask him to get off. I don't want him to go overboard."
"Neither do I, Shaddy, but we are not friends, and if I ask him he will
stop there all the more."
"Then I must," said Shaddy. "Hi, Mr Jovanni, sir! Don't sit there; it
ain't safe."
"Oh yes, I'm quite safe," cried the boy sharply. "Never mind me."
"Hark at him! Don't mind him! What'll his father say to me if I go
back without him? Pull, lads, pull!"
Shaddy's order was necessary, for a huge tree--unmistakably a tree this
time--lay right across their way just where the river made a sudden bend
round to their left.
The better way would have been to have gone to the right, where there
was more room, but, the curve of the river being of course on that side
greater, there would not have been time to get round before the boat was
swept in amongst the branches, so perforce their steersman made for the
left.
This took them close in to where the bank should have been, but which
was now submerged, and the boat floated close in to the great wall of
trees marking the edge of the stream, and so little room was there that,
to avoid the floating tree-top, the boat was forced close in shore,
where the stream at the bend ran furiously.
"Look out!" roared Shaddy. "Heads down!" and Rob, who had been watching
the obstacle in their way, only just had time to duck down as, with a
tremendous rushing and crackling sound, they passed right through a mass
of pendent boughs which threatened to sweep the boat clear of cabin and
crew as well, as the stream urged it on.
The trouble only lasted a few seconds, though, and then they were
through and floating swiftly round the inner curve toward an open patch
of the shore which rose all clear of water and tree.
"Anybody hurt?" cried Brazier from inside the cabin; "I thought the
place was going to be swept away after I had dived in here."
"No, sir; we're all right," cried Rob. "I nearly lost my cap, though,
and--Oh! where's Joe?"
"Eh?" cried Shaddy, looking forward. "Why, he was--gone!"
All faced round to look back just in time to catch an indistinct glimpse
of their companion apparently clinging to a bough overhanging the
stream; but the next moment the intervening branches hid him from their
sight, and a look of horror filled every face.
"Did--did you see him, Shaddy?" panted Rob.
"Thought I did, sir, but couldn't be sure," growled Shaddy, and then
furiously to his men, "Row--row with all your might!"
The men obeyed, making their oars bend as they tugged away with such
effect that they advanced a few yards. But that was all. The current
was too sharp, and they lost ground again. Then, in spite of all their
efforts, the most they could do was to hold their own for a minute
before having to give way, pull in shore, and seize the overhanging
boughs to which Shaddy and Brazier now clung to keep the boat from
drifting.
"Better land, sir," cried Shaddy. "We can't reach him this way."
"Reach him?" cried Rob piteously, and then to himself, "Oh! Joe, Joe,
why didn't you shake hands?"