THE CAMP IN THE FOREST.
The lads hastened through the forest with what speed may be imagined.
All the time the yells grew louder, showing them that they were
proceeding in the right direction.
“Himmel! Ach donnerblitzen! Ouch!” they could hear as they raced along,
tumbling over roots and getting entangled in long, serpent-like lianas.
“What do you suppose can have happened?” panted Tom as they ran.
“Don’t know. The professor must have been attacked by some kind of
venomous beast or other,” declared Jack. “Hurry up, boys!”
“Better get your rifles ready,” warned Dick, seeing that his weapon was
in order as best he could in his haste.
Suddenly they dashed into a small open space at the foot of a big
tree. Half way up this tree was an odd sight. The professor, who had
evidently climbed up by the aid of some small branches which grew
almost down to the ground, was clinging to the trunk with one arm while
the other appeared to be thrust into a hole in the tree.
As the boys came to a momentary halt his yells redoubled, and from the
interlacing boughs above, a gorgeous bird swooped down and flew at the
professor’s head, screeching and flapping its wings and snapping its
big beak in a very menacing manner.
“It’s a macaw! A giant macaw!” cried Jack, as he noticed its gaudy,
red, green and blue plumage.
“Ach! Take der bird avay! He bite me pretty soon alretty!” shouted the
professor.
“Does that mean that he’s bitten him already, or that he’s going to?”
asked Dick, laughing at the odd figure the professor cut.
Jack raised his rifle and took careful aim as the macaw hovered about
the professor’s head. The next minute his weapon flashed and cracked
sharply. There was a shout from the professor and a screech from the
bird and it fell dead almost at their feet.
“Good shooting!” approved Tom, picking it up.
“You’re all right now, professor,” hailed Jack; “I’ve killed the bird.”
“Himmel! I vish you could kill its mate!” cried the Teuton piercingly.
“Why? What’s the trouble? Why don’t you come down?” demanded Jack, who
noticed that the professor’s arm was still thrust within the tree.
“I can’t. Annuder macaw in der nest inside der tree has mein fingers
be-grabbed.”
What was the matter now became plain enough. The professor must have
wandered off in search of specimens while supper was getting ready.
Seeing a macaw fly into a nest he had climbed the tree and imprudently
thrust in his hand to obtain some eggs. Instantly his fingers had
been gripped by the bird’s powerful beak, and he was held prisoner.
To add to his troubles, the big bird that Jack had just shot had been
harassing the disturber of its home in the tree trunk.
Jack felt more inclined to laugh than anything else at the little
naturalist’s plight. But he stifled his mirth and hailed the spectacled
German again.
“Hold on, professor. We’ll climb up there and kill it.”
“Blitzen, nein! Not for de vurld vould I haf you kill idt!” was the
excited response.
“But it’s holding your hand! It will hurt you! You may get blood
poisoning!”
“Nein, I haf on a gluff. Idt cannot hurdt me. Idt is a fine spezimen.
Can’t you preak indo der tree midt your axes undt dig him out?”
“We might try,” said Jack rather dubiously, “but I should think it
would be better to pull your hand out of your glove.”
But by no persuasion would the professor consent to do this. He
declared that he was willing to stand on the tree all night if the
boys would only do him a favor and dig through the bark and give him a
chance to seize the macaw within. Jack clambered up to the professor’s
side and tapping the wood with his axe soon saw that it was a mere
shell.
“I’ll soon chop you out of that,” he said, giving the wood a hard whack.
“Chently! chently! I peg off you,” urged the professor; “he is a fine
spezimen. Nodt for vurlds vould I haf him ge-hurt.”
“The bird isn’t as considerate toward you,” thought Jack as the
professor broke off with a cry of pain caused by an extra hard tweak
that the bird had given his imprisoned hand.
A few blows smashed the rotten wood away and as it crashed inward,
releasing the professor, he lost his balance and slid down the trunk
to the ground, landing with a hard bump. The macaw, on the other hand,
let go of his fingers the instant Jack smashed the tree open, and with
a loud shriek, as if in contempt of the fallen scientist, it flew off
through the wood. Nothing about the professor had suffered any injury
but his feelings, and he was soon up. But to his disappointment, no
eggs were found in the nest within the tree. Apparently it was only
used for a roosting place, or else it was not the season for the birds
to mate.
They made their way back to camp, laughing heartily over this
adventure, and stopping by the way to pick up the wood they had
chopped. They found Captain Sprowl all ready for them and a bit alarmed
over the shot he had heard, but matters were soon explained. Mr.
Chadwick had bandaged and dressed the injured engineer’s foot while
they were gone, and he declared that it felt better already.
Not long after their return the call to supper was given, a summons for
which all hands were quite ready. It was a novel experience this, of
eating in the depths of the dense tropical forest on the banks of an
unknown river. The fire blazed up brightly and cheerfully, however, and
spread a ruddy glow about the little clearing that chased the dreary
forest shadows into the background. After all, their position might
have been much worse than it was.
Captain Sprowl was a good rough-and-ready cook, and he had concocted a
supper that, while rather mixed as to courses, was heartily enjoyed by
them all.
“Well, we won’t starve, anyhow,” declared Dick Donovan, leaning back
against a tree trunk after partaking of pea soup and hot crackers, hot
pork and beans, jam and two cups of steaming hot coffee.
“No, and to-morrow if we’re lucky, we’ll have turtle eggs for
breakfast,” declared Captain Sprowl.
“Turtle eggs,” cried Tom.
“Yes. I saw some turtles crawling out of the water on to that sandy
beach above us a while back. I guess they’ll lay their eggs to-night,
and in the morning we’ll make a round of the nests.”
“Wonder how some broiled macaw would go?” said Jack, mischievously
eying the German savant who was busy skinning the specimen the boy had
shot.
“There are many mac-causes why it wouldn’t be good,” quoth Dick
solemnly, for which offense he was threatened by the boys with a
ducking in the river if it was repeated.
“A macaw,—have you heard this before?—
At a German professor got sore;
It grabbed at his finger,
The prof he did linger,
And now he won’t do so no more,”
chanted Dick, who had a weakness for making up limericks.
“Stow that,” growled Captain Sprowl with mock indignation. “Now then,”
he went on, “when you young fellers have quite digested your supper,
we’ll set about fixin’ up for the night. You said there was a tent in
the ship, Jack?”
“Yes, a light one of balloon silk. It’s seven by nine feet. Is it big
enough?”
“Crullers, yes! Big enough for the crew of a down-east whaler, boy. We
won’t all sleep in it at once, anyhow. I’ve been thinking that as we’re
in a strange place and don’t know just what may be lurking about, we’d
better keep watch two and two.”
“An excellent idea,” said Mr. Chadwick.
“Why can’t we sleep in the open?” asked Dick. “It’s plenty warm enough.”
“It’s warm enough, all right,” agreed the skipper, “but if you’d
ever had black water fever, you’d know better than to sleep without
protection alongside a tropical river.”
“Yes,” agreed Mr. Chadwick, “there is nothing more unhealthy than
sleeping out of doors in the tropics,—that is, without any protection.
We would better keep up the fire all night, too,” he added.
By the time the tent was up and their scant supply of bedding spread,
the boys were quite ready to turn in. But Captain Sprowl had divided
the night off into watches, each watch to be taken by one boy and one
adult. The first watch from nine to twelve was to be taken by Dick and
Mr. Chadwick. The second fell to the lot of Tom and the professor, and
lasted from midnight till three a. m. The third watch from that hour
until six was to be that of Jack and Captain Sprowl. These matters
being adjusted, some green wood was piled on the fire for back logs and
in half an hour, with the exception of those on watch, the occupants of
the camp were sound asleep.