THE GIANT SLOTH.
The night passed without incident. It was true that Tom, and the
others, too, when their turns came to go on watch, did receive a slight
start as an occasional loud scream or cry rang through the forest. But
they knew that the outcry was that of some small animal seized by a
night-prowling beast, and did not worry about their personal safety
so long as nothing approached the camp fire, which was kept brightly
blazing.
In the morning, as soon as it began to grow light, Captain Sprowl and
Jack, who were on sentry duty, went down to the sandy beach where they
expected to find the turtles’ eggs. The captain’s previous experiences
in the tropics had instructed him how to look for these delicacies.
Nothing about the smooth sand showed where the eggs had been buried;
that is, at first glance, but after a close scrutiny the captain found
various places where the beach appeared to have been freshly disturbed.
Digging into these areas with sharpened sticks, he and Jack soon
uncovered numerous deposits of eggs; for the turtles of Brazil lay
their eggs in big holes,—each one common to several of them,—filling
them to within a short space of the top. The sand is carefully pushed
back and the eggs left to hatch by the heat of the beach.
Returning to camp, they awakened the others. The boys would have
liked to indulge in a swim in the river, but the captain warned them
against doing any such thing as most of the Brazilian streams swarm
with alligators and a kind of leech, that when once affixed to the skin
is very difficult to remove. So they all contented themselves with
a good wash in the not over-clear water. The turtles’ eggs did not
prove quite such a treat as the boys had been looking forward to. From
reading books of adventure they had the idea that the eggs were great
delicacies; but after trying them, they came to the conclusion that the
authors who wrote of them with such enthusiasm could never have tasted
them. They were strong, fishy-tasting and oily, although, no doubt, in
a pinch they would have tasted well enough. Captain Sprowl told them
that the natives did not eat them but utilized them in another way.
At certain times a whole tribe would repair to an island known to be
used by the turtles for egg-depositing. The caches of eggs were then
robbed and the entire mess dumped into a canoe. The mass was then
trampled upon, and after a while an oil arose to the surface, which was
skimmed off and placed in jars and used for cooking and other purposes.
After the morning meal they naturally fell to discussing plans. Judkins
declared himself better; but it was still painful for him to move
about. Captain Sprowl could not take an observation till noon, but by a
rough calculation he reckoned that they were cast away on the Brazilian
coast some five hundred miles to the south of civilization.
It was in the midst of the discussion of ways and means that the
professor electrified them all by a sudden proposition. He had been
silent for a long time, buried, apparently, in deep thought. Mr.
Chadwick had been asking Jack about how long it would be possible for
them to fly on the gas-making supply they had on hand. The boy had
replied that he figured they had enough on hand to carry them at least
two weeks, allowing for evaporation and occasional intervals of land or
water travel. Then it was that the professor spoke.
“For how much vill you charter me your machine?” he asked.
They stared at him for a moment. The question appeared so utterly
irrelevant to what they had been discussing.
“Ach! I mean vat I say,” repeated the savant. “Are you villing to hire
your machine oudt for a trip of say ten days?”
“Why, I—I beg your pardon, but I don’t exactly understand,” said Jack,
acting as spokesman for the rest.
“Zo! Perhaps I should ought to haf madt meinself more clear, hein?”
“Well, you did give us a bit of a jump,” declared Jack. “The idea of
chartering a machine in the midst of a Brazilian jungle is rather
startling when you spring it as quickly as all that.”
“Dot is mein vay,” said the professor quietly, “budt ledt me make
meinself plain. You know der object off mein trip down here?”
“In a general way you have already explained it,” said Mr. Chadwick.
“You are to collect specimens for a zoölogical society of Germany,
and also to bring home a complete account of your exploration of the
country.”
“Dot is righdt. Idt vos for dot I vos hoping to gedt you to make me
some sordt of a ship dot vould navigate dese vaters. Budt now dings haf
fallen oudt differently. Dose foolish mens on der yacht dink dot I come
after treasure. Budt neverdeless dey bring der ship chust aboudt vere I
vant to go pefore she is ge-wrecked. I suppose dot dey think dot after
a vile dey make me tell vere der treasure iss,—hein?”
“I suppose they had some such plan,” rejoined Mr. Chadwick. “You told
us that your papers had been ransacked soon after leaving Madeira
and that in that way the men discovered your destination. After the
mutiny, I suppose they decided to navigate the yacht to her original
destination and then, by some means, make you guide them to the
treasure. But of course the wreck changed all that.”
“Egzacly, mein friends. Now der point iss dis: I am here, chust aboudt
vere I vant to be. I may neffer haf such a chance again to obtain vot I
am in search of.”
“Treasure?” asked Dick, his eyes wide open.
The professor gave a sort of laugh, with a note of scorn in it.
“Nodt your idea of treasure,” he said; and then, becoming very serious,
he pushed back his spectacles and poised a finger.
“You haf heardt of der mammoths,” he asked, “of der huge beasts dot
roamed der earth when it vos young?”
They nodded and looked at him with interest. What could be coming next?
That the professor was in deadly earnest, there was no doubt. His
leathery cheeks were flushed with enthusiasm.
“Undt you dink dot de mammoths is all perished from der face of der
eardt?” he went on catechisingly.
“Well, such is the general opinion of scientific men,” rejoined Mr.
Chadwick.
“Den dey are wrong. Dot is, I hope to prove dot dey are wrong,”
declared the professor. “I pelieve, undt der are many dot agree mit
me, dot in parts of de globe der mammoth still exists. Dot is, certain
forms of him. You haf ever heard of der Spanish naturalist Moreno?”
They shook their heads.
“Vell, Moreno heldt der same pelifs dot I undt many savants do. He
fitted oudt an expedition in 1900 undt sought der mammoth in Patagonia.”
“Did he find it?” asked Jack breathlessly, prepared for anything.
“Nein. Budt he did findt, in a cave, a skull undt der skin off a
mammoth. Der hair on dot skull vos fresh undt dere vos bloodt und skin
on idt, showing dot idt hadt been freshly killed.”
They fairly gasped as they looked at the little German. There was no
questioning the fact that he was quoting scientific facts. In his
precise mind imagination had no place.
“Undt dot skin hadt been removed py human handts, not more dan a day
pefore he foundt idt,” went on the professor. “How did he know? _Dot
skin vos turned insidt oudt undt rolled up!_”
“Well?” said Mr. Chadwick.
“Vell, chentlemen, dot skin vos der skin of der chiant sloth, der
Megatherium. In past ages dey roamed the South American continent from
end to end. Dey vos like der small sloths dot abound here; budt dey vos
as big as elefants! Undt,” he paused impressively, “_such creatures
still exist_.”
“Impossible!” declared Mr. Chadwick.
“Nodt at all, mein friendt. To show you how impossible der savants
of Europe dink such a ding mighdt be, dey haf sendt me to find such
a creature or proof positive dot dey still are living members of der
animal kingdom. Dot vos de treasure I vos sendt to findt! A treasure
dot dwarfs into insicnificance any mere tiamonts or goldt!”
“And you think that in some remote part of Brazil a living specimen
of such an animal may be found?” demanded Mr. Chadwick, the only one
of the party able to find words at the moment in the face of the
professor’s astounding statements.
“I do not _dink idt_, I know idt,” declared the little man earnestly.
“I do nodt know if I can secure a specimen. Even proof vill be pedder
dan nuddings. But dot der Megatherium still lives undt roams der
forest, I pelief as I pelief dot vee are here.”
“And where do you expect to find such an animal?” inquired Mr. Chadwick.
“Anyvere towardt der headvaters of der Amazon among der foothills off
der Andes. If idt exists idt exists somevere in dot locality.”
“But the specimen you spoke of was found in Patagonia,” objected Jack.
“Egzacly. Undt following Moreno’s death a secredt expedition vos sendt
to obtain, if possible, a living specimen or proof dot der Megatherium
existed. Dey were absent two years. Dere fundts hadt giffen oudt. Budt
dey brought back data undt accounts giffen by Indians dot showed dot if
der Megatherium existed, idt vos somevere in der solitudes of der upper
Amazon. Undt now you know my mission undt vy I vant to charter your
ship. Vot do you say?”