"Well, gen'lemen, those fellows have gone off with the boat and all in
it. The guns and things was too much for 'em, and they've gone to feast
for a bit and then die off like flies. They'll never work enough by
themselves to row that boat back to Paraguay river, for one won't obey
the other. They'll be like a watch without a key."
"Then they have gone down the river?" said Rob.
"Yes, sir, wherever it takes them, and they'll shoot a bit and fish a
bit till they've used all the powder and lost their lines. So much for
them. Let's talk about ourselves. Well, gentlemen, we might make a
sort of raft thing of wood and bundles of rushes,--can't make a boat for
want of an axe,--and we might float down the stream, but I'm afraid it
would only be to drown ourselves, or be pulled off by the critters in
the water."
"But the land, Shaddy!" cried Rob. "Can't we really walk along the bank
back to where we started?"
"You saw yesterday, sir," said Shaddy grimly.
"But couldn't we find a way across the forest to some point on the great
river, Naylor?" said Brazier.
"No, sir, and we've got to face what's before us. No man can get
through that great forest without chopping his way with an axe, and he'd
want two or three lifetimes to do it in, if he could find food as he
went. I'm talking as one who has tried all this sort o' thing for many
years, and I'm telling you the simple truth when I say that, situated as
we are, we've either got to stop here till help comes, or go down the
river on some kind of raft."
"Then why not do that and risk the dangers?" cried Rob.
"Yes," said Brazier. "Why not do that? No help can possibly come here
unless Indians pass by in a canoe."
"Which they won't, sir, and if they did they'd kill us as they would
wild beasts. I don't believe there's an Indian for a hundred miles."
"Then what do you propose doing first?" asked Brazier.
"Trying to kill the wolf, sir."
"What! hunger?"
"Yes, sir. He's a-gnawing away at me awful. Let's see what berries and
fruit we can find, and then try whether we can't get hold of a fish."
"But we are forgetting all about poor Joe," said Rob in agonised tones.
"That we ain't, sir. I know you're not, and if you'll show me what I
can do more than I did last evening and afternoon to find the poor boy,
here's Shadrach Naylor ready to risk his life any way to save him. But
set me to do it, for I can't see no way myself. Can you?"
Rob was silent, and Brazier shook his head.
"You see, it's like this, sir," continued Shaddy: "people as have never
been in these woods can't understand what it means, when it's just this:
Shut your eyes and go a dozen yards, turn round, and you're lost.
There's nothing to guide you but your own footsteps, and you can't see
them. You may live for a few days by chewing leaves, and then it's lie
down and die, wishing you were a monkey or a bird. That's the truth,
gentlemen."
"Then you give up in despair, Naylor?" said Brazier angrily.
"Not I, sir--not the sort o' man. What I say is, we can't do no good by
wasting our strength in looking for Mr Joe. We've got to try and save
our own lives by stopping where we are."
"And what shall we do first?"
"Use our brains, sir, and find something to eat, as I said afore.
There's fruit to find, fish, birds, and monkeys to catch. Snakes ain't
bad eating. There's plenty of water, and--Oh, we're not going to die
yet. Two big men and a small one, and all got knives; so come along,
and let's see what we can do."
Shaddy turned to the fire, taking out his knife and trying the edge.
"First thing I want, Mr Rob, is a bit of hard half-burnt wood--forked
bit, out of which I can make a big fish-hook, a long shank and a short
one. It must be hard and tough, and--Why, hullo! I didn't see these
here before."
"What?" asked Rob and Brazier in a breath, and their companion pointed
down at the earth.
"Fresh footmarks, gen'lemen," said Shaddy.
"Joe's?" cried Rob.
"Nay, my lad; it's a lion's, and he has been prowling round about our
fire in the night."
Rob started, and thought of his realistic dream, but he was faint,
confused in intellect, and could not fit the puzzle together then.
"Well, he hasn't eaten either of us," said Shaddy, with a grim smile,
"and he'd better mind what he's about, or we'll eat him. Ah, here we
are!" he exclaimed, pouncing upon a piece of burning wood. "Now you
take your cap, Mr Rob, and hunt all round for any fruit you can find.
Don't be wasteful and pick any that ain't ripe. Leave that for another
day. We shall want it. And don't go in the forest. There's more to be
found at the edge than inside, because you can't get to the tops of the
trees; and don't eat a thing till I've seen it, because there's plenty
poisonous as can be."
"All right!" said Rob, and he turned to go.
"And cheer up, both of you," said their companion. "We won't starve
while there's traps to be made, and bows and arrows, and fishing tackle.
Now, Mr Brazier, please, you'll sit down on that dead tree, take off
that silk handkercher from your neck, and pull out threads from it one
by one, tie 'em together, and wind 'em up round a bit of stick. Soon as
I've made this big rough wooden hook, I'll lay the silk up into a line."
"But you've no bait," said Brazier, who was already taking off his
necktie.
"No bait, sir? Mr Rob's going to find some wild oranges or sour sops,
or something, and if he don't I still mean to have a fish. Why, if I
can't find nothing else I'll have a bait if I come down to cutting off
one of my toes--perhaps one o' Mr Rob's would be tenderer or more
tempting--or my tongue p'r'aps, for I do talk too much. Work, both of
you; I'll soon have a bait, for I want my breakfast like mad."
Rob hurried off, but did not reach the great trees which surrounded the
open spot, for at the third clump of bushes he came upon an
orange-coloured fruit growing upon a vine-like plant in abundance. It
seemed to be some kind of passion-flower, and, in spite of Shaddy's
warning, he tasted one, to find it of a pleasant, sweetish, acid
flavour.
Gathering a capful, he returned at once to where his companions in
misfortune were hard at work.
"Hullo!" growled Shaddy. "Soon back! What have you got, my lad? Kind
o' granadillas, eh? Well, they're good to eat, but not much to make a
breakfast of. Better wait till I've done a bit o' conjuring and turned
some of 'em into a fish. There, what do you say to that for a hook?"
He held up his piece of wood carving, which was about four inches long
and two across, something in this shape:--
"Not much of a hook, Mr Rob, sir, but tough enough to hold a fish if we
can coax him to swallow it by covering it with the fruit. We can get
three of them juicy things on the shank and point. So now for the line!
How are you getting on, Mr Brazier, sir?"
"Very slowly, Naylor," said Brazier, with a sigh.
"All the more surer, sir. You help, Mr Rob, sir, and I'll lay up some
of my cotton handkercher for the snood. No; second thoughts is best.
I'll make a loose hank of it, so that the fish's teeth may go through if
he tries to bite the line, which of course he will."
The result was that in an hour or so a silk line of about twenty yards
in length was twisted up and attached to the loose cotton bottom secured
to the hook. This was baited, and, after selecting a suitable spot,
Shaddy climbed out upon a half-fallen tree whose trunk projected over
the river, and dropped his line into a deep eddying pool, where the
water ran round and round in a way which made Rob feel giddy.
There was a steep slope just here, so that the bank was not flooded, and
hence the angler was able to drop his line at once into deep water,
where the action of the whirling current sufficed to suck the bait right
down, while Brazier and Rob looked on with the interest of those who
depended upon success to give them the food from the want of which they
were suffering keenly.
"Now then," said Shaddy cheerfully, "if the bait don't come off, if a
fish takes it, if there are any here, if the hook don't break and the
line give way, I may catch our breakfast. Plenty of ifs, Mr Rob, sir!
Remember the big doradoes we caught up yonder?"
"Oh, if you could catch one now!" replied the lad.
"Ah, if I could, sir! Perhaps I shall, but I don't want a big one. Now
for it!"
A quarter of an hour passed away, during which time Shaddy pulled up and
examined his bait twice, to see if it was safe, but there was no sign of
fish there, though out in mid-stream and toward the farther shore there
was evidently abundance, the water being disturbed and some big fellow
springing out every now and then, to come down with a mighty splash,
scattering the sparkling drops in all directions.
"I shall have to come down to a toe, Mr Rob, sir," said Shaddy grimly.
"The fish don't seem to care for fruit so early in the morning. It's
all very well for dessert, but they like a substantial meal first. Now
then, get your knife ready. Whose is it to be? Shall we pull straws
for the lot?"
"Try a little farther this way, Shaddy," said Rob, ignoring the remark.
"Right, sir! I will," said Shaddy, shifting the position of his bait,
"but it strikes me we've got into a 'gator hole, and consequently
there's no fish."
"Do you think they can see you?"
"No, sir. Water's too thick. Look yonder."
"What at?"
"Monkeys in that tree watching us. Now if you'd got a bow and arrows
you might bring one or two down."
"What for?"
"What for, my lad?" cried the guide in astonishment. "And he asks what
for, when we're all starving. Why, to eat, of course."
"Ugh! I'm not so hungry as that!" cried Rob, with a shudder.
"You ain't? Well, my lad, I am, and so I tell you. They're capital
eating. Why, I remember once when I was up the river with a party we
all had--A fish! a fish!" he cried as upon raising his line, to see if
the bait were all right, he suddenly felt a fierce tug; and the next
minute the pool began to be agitated in a peculiar way.
"Here, Mr Rob, I'm going to hand you the line, and you've got to run
him out at once upon the bank. If I try to play him he's sure to go.
There, I'll ease him down, and he'll think it's all right and be quiet.
Then you draw in gently, and as soon as he feels the hook run him right
out, and you, Mr Brazier, sir, stand ready at the water's edge to mind
he don't get back. Mind, I don't say it ain't a small 'gator all the
same."
He passed the end of the line to Rob as the captive, whatever it was,
now lay quiet, but as soon as the lad began to draw the line ashore
there was another heavy tug.
"Run him out, sir, not hand over hand; run and turn your back," shouted
Shaddy, and as fast as he could get over the tangled growth amongst the
trees Rob obeyed, with the result that he drew a large golden-scaled
fish right out of the river and up the bank a couple of yards, when
something parted, and Shaddy uttered a yell as he saw the captive
flapping back toward the pool.
"Gone! gone!" cried Rob in dismay. "I knew--"
He said no more for the moment, and then uttered a shout of delight as
he saw the efficacy of their guide's arrangements, for before the fish
reached the edge Brazier had thrown himself upon it, and paying no heed
to slime, spines, or sharp teeth, he thrust his hands beneath, and flung
it far up toward where Rob in turn carried on the attack.
The next minute Shaddy was beside them, knife in hand, with which he
rapidly killed, cleaned, and scaled the fish, finding the tough hook
broken in two before chopping off a couple of great palm-like leaves, in
which he wrapped his prize as he trotted toward the fire. Then with a
half-burned branch, he raked a hole in the glowing embers, laid down the
fish, raked the embers over again, and said,--
"Not to be touched for half an hour. Who'll come and try for more solid
fruit?"
If Rob's spirits had not been so low he would have been amused by the
boyish manner of their companion as he led them here and there. At the
edge of the forest he mounted and climbed about a tree till he was well
out on a great branch, from which he shook down a shower of great fruit
that looked like cricket-balls, but which on examination proved to be
the hard husks of some kind of nut.
"What are these?" cried Rob.
"Don't you know 'em?" said Shaddy as soon as he had descended.
"No."
"Yes, you do, my lad. You've seen 'em in London lots of times," and
hammering a couple together, he broke open one and showed the contents:
to wit, so many Brazil nuts packed together in a round form like the
carpels of an orange.
"I never knew they grew like that," cried Rob eagerly.
"And I must confess my ignorance, too," said Brazier.
"Ah, there's lots to learn in this world, gen'lemen," said Shaddy
quietly. "Not a very good kind o' nut, but better than nothing. Bit
too oily for me, but they'll serve as bread for our fish if we get a
couple of big stones for nutcrackers. They're precious hard."
"Then we shan't starve yet," cried Rob as he loaded himself with the
cannon-ball-like fruit--pockets, cap, and as many as he could hold in
his arms.
"Starve? I should think not," cried Shaddy, "and these here outsides'll
have to serve for teacups."
"Without tea, Shaddy?"
"Who says so, my lad? You wait, and we'll find cocoa and mate, and who
knows but what we may hit upon coffee and chocolate? Why, I won't swear
as we don't find sugar-cane. 'T all events, we're going to try."
"Well, Naylor, you are putting a different complexion on our prospects,"
said Brazier, who had joined them.
"Yes, sir, white one instead of a black one. Next thing is to get a
roof over our heads ready for the heavy rains, and then we've got to
save all the feathers of the birds we catch or shoot for feather beds.
We shall have a splendid place before we've done, and you can mark out
as big an estate as you like. But come along; I'm thinking that fish
must be done."
Upon Shaddy sweeping its envelope clean of the embers, he found it was
quite done, and soon served it out brown and juicy upon a great
banana-like leaf.
"Now, gentlemen, grace! and fall to," said their cook merrily. "Nuts
afterwards when I've found two big stones."
There was not much of the delicious fish left when a quarter of an hour
had passed, and then Rob uttered a grumble.
It was very good, he said, only they had no salt.
"If you'd only spoken a bit sooner, Master Rob, I could have got you
some pepper," said Shaddy, "but salt? Ah, there you beat me altogether.
It's too far to send down to the sea."