"You wanted a guide for coming up here, young man. If we did what you
say we shouldn't all be ready to go on again in the morning."
"What, because of the wild beasts?" said Rodd eagerly.
The Spaniard nodded.
"He is quite right, Rodd," said the doctor. "And I suppose we might
catch fever here?" he continued.
"Bad," said the Spaniard laconically. "Keep to the boat."
The night came down dark and beautiful; the great purple velvet arch
that spread from side to side of the river was gloriously spangled with
stars, for in the day's ascent the little party seemed to have left the
river mists behind, and as they sat together the doctor and his young
companions revelled in the loveliness of the scene, while they listened
to the strange sounds from forest and river which constantly smote upon
their ears and now seemed wondrously near.
"It seems very different," whispered Rodd to Morny, for something preyed
upon his spirits and stayed him from speaking aloud.
"Yes," said Morny, in the same subdued tone; "it is very different from
being aboard the vessels. I shan't go to sleep to-night; shall you?"
"No. Who could go to sleep? Why, as soon as one lay down I should
expect to see the great slimy snout of a crocodile thrust over the
boat's gunwale, and then--"
"I say," said Morny, "don't!"
But nothing worse than sounds troubled the party that night, as not long
after this conversation the two lads obeyed the doctor's suggestion that
they should creep under the awning, whose canvas sides were tightly
belayed to the gunwale; and though both declared that they would never
close their eyes, they and the watches into which the little crew was
divided followed the Spanish skipper's example, and in turn slept
heavily till sunrise, the great orange globe slowly rolling up over the
edge of the forest and shining brilliantly down upon the glittering
river, for as over-night there was not a sign of mist.
About half the day passed with plenty of favouring gales to help the
boat along, and spare the men's arms, and Rodd commented on this to
their guide.
"Wait a bit," he said. "A little farther on, and we shall turn into one
of the little rivers where the high trees are close together at the
sides. There won't be much wind there, and the men will have to row."
Everything was as he said, for as they passed out of the main stream the
banks were but a little way apart, and in place of the full flow of the
great river the stream grew sluggish; but everything being so close at
hand the beauties of the forest became far enhanced.
"You said rivers," said the doctor suddenly. "Are there more than this
one?"
"Plenty," replied the man, and he made himself a fresh cigarette as he
sat back in the boat, to go on smoking. "Not so many crocodiles here,"
he said, "and they are smaller. More birds too. Look!" And as the men
dipped their oars to row slowly up the winding stream, which often
seemed to turn back upon itself, the Spaniard pointed now to tiny
bee-like sunbirds with their dazzling metallic casques and gorgets--the
brilliant little creatures that take the place of the humming-birds of
the New World.
At another time, though the two lads, eagerly observant and with the
doctor to back them, needed no showing, their guide pointed to the many
brilliantly-tinted birds of the thrush family, at the barbets and
trogons, not so brilliant as those of the Western world, but each lovely
in itself, while as they went on and on along their meandering river
path, the birds that struck them as being most novel and at the same
time tame in the way in which they came down the overhanging branches of
the great forest trees, as if their curiosity had been excited by the
strangers, were the many-tinted plantain eaters, with their crested
heads, and the lovely green and crimson touracoos, which, while their
violet and crimson relatives wore, as it were, a feather casque,
displayed on their part a vivid green ornamentation that passed from
beak to nape, which when they were excited looked more like a plume.