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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Afloat in the Forest, by Mayne Reid
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Afloat in the Forest
+       A Voyage among the Tree-Tops
+
+Author: Mayne Reid
+
+Release Date: February 8, 2011 [EBook #35213]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFLOAT IN THE FOREST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Afloat in the Forest
+A Voyage among the Tree-Tops
+By Captain Mayne Reid
+Published by Ticknor and Fields, Boston.
+This edition dated 1867.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+THE BROTHERS AT HOME.
+
+Twenty years ago, not twenty miles from the Land's End, there lived a
+Cornish gentleman named Trevannion.  Just twenty years ago he died,
+leaving to lament him a brace of noble boys, whose mother all three had
+mourned, with like profound sorrow, but a short while before.
+
+"Squire" Trevannion, as he was called, died in his own house, where his
+ancestors for hundreds of years before him had dispensed hospitality.
+None of them, however, had entertained so profusely as he; or rather
+improvidently, it might be said, since in less than three months after
+his death the old family mansion, with the broad acres appertaining to
+it, passed into the hands of an alien, leaving his two sons, Ralph and
+Richard, landless, houseless, and almost powerless.  One thousand pounds
+apiece was all that remained to them out of the wreck of the patrimonial
+estates.  It was whispered that even this much was not in reality
+theirs, but had been given to them by the _very respectable_ solicitor
+who had managed their father's affairs, and had furthermore _managed_ to
+succeed him in the ownership of a property worth a rental of three
+thousand a year.
+
+Any one knowing the conditions under which the young Trevannions
+received their two thousand pounds must have believed it to be a gift,
+since it was handed over to them by the family solicitor with the
+private understanding that they were to use it in pushing their fortunes
+elsewhere,--anywhere except in Cornwall!
+
+The land-pirate who had plucked them--for in reality had they been
+plucked--did not wish them to stay at home, divested, as they were, of
+their valuable plumage.  He had appropriated their fine feathers, and
+cared not for the naked bodies of the birds.
+
+There were those in Cornwall who suspected foul play in the lawyer's
+dealings with the young Trevannions, among others, the victims
+themselves.  But what could they, do?  They were utterly ignorant of
+their late father's affairs,--indeed, with any affairs that did not
+partake of the nature of "sports."  A solicitor "most respectable,"--a
+phrase that has become almost synonymous with rascality,--a regular
+church-goer,--accounts kept with scrupulous exactness,--a man of honest
+face, distinguished for probity of speech and integrity of heart,--what
+could the Trevannions do?  What more than the Smiths and the Browns and
+the Joneses, who, notwithstanding their presumed greater skill in the
+ways of a wicked lawyer world, are duped every day in a similar manner.
+It is an old and oft-repeated story,--a tale too often told, and too
+often true,--that of the family lawyer and his confiding client,
+standing in the relationship of robber and robbed.
+
+The two children of Squire Trevannion could do nothing to save or
+recover their paternal estate.  Caught in the net of legal chicanery,
+they were forced to yield, as other squires' children have had to do,
+and make the best, of a bad matter,--forced to depart from a home that
+had been held by Trevannions perhaps since the Phoenicians strayed
+thitherward in search of their shining tin.
+
+It sore grieved them to separate from the scenes of their youth; but the
+secret understanding with the solicitor required that sacrifice.  By
+staying at home a still greater might be called for,--subsistence in
+penury, and, worse than all, in a humiliating position; for,
+notwithstanding the open house long kept by their father, his friends
+had disappeared with his guests.  Impelled by these thoughts, the
+brothers resolved to go forth into the wide world, and seek fortune
+wherever it seemed most likely they should find it.
+
+They were at this period something more than mere children.  Ralph had
+reached within twelve months of being twenty.  Richard was his junior by
+a couple of years.  Their book-education had been good; the practice of
+manly sports had imparted to both of them a physical strength that
+fitted them for toil, either of the mind or body.  They were equal to a
+tough struggle, either in the intellectual or material world; and to
+this they determined to resign themselves.
+
+For a time they debated between themselves where they should go, and
+what do.  The army and navy came under their consideration.  With such
+patronage as their father's former friends could command, and might
+still exert in favour of their fallen fortunes, a commission in either
+army or navy was not above their ambition.  But neither felt much
+inclined towards a naval or military life; the truth being, that a
+thought had taken shape in their minds leading them to a different
+determination.
+
+Their deliberations ended by each of them proclaiming a resolve,--almost
+sealing it with a vow,--that they would enter into some more profitable,
+though perhaps less pretentious, employment than that of either
+soldiering or sailoring; that they would toil--with their hands, if need
+be--until they should accumulate a sufficient sum to return and recover
+the ancestral estate from the grasp of the avaricious usurper.  They did
+not know how it was to be done; but, young, strong, and hopeful, they
+believed it might be done,--with time, patience, and industry to aid
+them in the execution.
+
+"Where shall we go?" inquired Richard, the younger of the two.  "To
+America, where every poor man appears to prosper?  With a thousand each
+to begin the world with, we might do well there.  What say you, Ralph?"
+
+"America is a country where men seem to thrive best who have _nothing_
+to begin the world with.  You mean North America,--the United States,--I
+suppose?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"I don't much like the United States as a home,--not because it is a
+republic, for I believe that is the only just form of government,
+whatever our aristocratic friends may say.  I object to it simply
+because I wish to go south,--to some part of the tropical world, where
+one may equally be in the way of acquiring a fortune."
+
+"Is there such a place?"
+
+"There is."
+
+"Where, brother?"
+
+"Peru.  Anywhere along the Sierra of the Andes from Chili to the Isthmus
+of Panama.  As Cornish men we should adopt the specialty of our
+province, and become miners.  The Andes mountains will give us that
+opportunity, where, instead of grey tin, we may delve for yellow gold.
+What say you to South America?"
+
+"I like the thought of South America,--nothing would please me better
+than going there.  But I must confess, brother, I have no inclination
+for the occupation you speak of.  I had rather be a merchant than a
+miner."
+
+"Don't let that _penchant_ prevent you from selecting Peru as the scene
+of mercantile transactions.  There are many Englishmen who have made
+fortunes in the Peruvian trade.  You may hope to follow their example.
+We may choose different occupations and still be near each other.  One
+thousand pounds each may give both of us a start,--you as a merchant of
+goods, I as a digger for gold.  Peru is the place for either business.
+Decide, Dick!  Shall we sail for the scenes rendered celebrated by
+Pizarro?"
+
+"If you will it--I'm agreed."
+
+"Thither then let us go."
+
+In a month from that time the two Trevannions might have been seen upon
+a ship, steering westward from the Land's End, and six months later both
+disembarked upon the beach of Callao,--_en route_ first for Lima, thence
+up the mountains, to the sterile snow-crested mountains, that tower
+above the treasures of Cerro Pasco,--vainly guarded within the bosom of
+adamantine rocks.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+THE BROTHERS ABROAD.
+
+Ralph and Richard Trevannion.  If it were so, a gap of some fifteen
+years--after the date of their arrival at Cerro Pasco--would have to be
+filled up.  I decline to speak of this interval of their lives, simply
+because the details might not have any remarkable interest for those
+before whom they would be laid.
+
+Suffice it to say, that Richard, the younger, soon became wearied of a
+miner's life; and, parting with his brother, he crossed the Cordilleras,
+and descended into the great Amazonian forest,--the "montana," as it is
+called by the Spanish inhabitants of the Andes.  Thence, in company with
+a party of Portuguese traders, he kept on down the river Amazon, trading
+along its banks, and upon some of its tributary streams; and finally
+established himself as a merchant at its mouth, in the thriving "city"
+of Gran Para.
+
+Richard was not unsocial in his habits; and soon became the husband of a
+fair-haired wife,--the daughter of a countryman who, like himself, had
+established commercial relations at Para.  In a few years after, several
+sweet children called him "father,"--only two of whom survived to
+prattle in his ears this endearing appellation, alas! no longer to be
+pronounced in the presence of their mother.
+
+Fifteen years after leaving the Land's End, Richard Trevannion, still
+under thirty-five years of age, was a widower, with two children,--
+respected wherever known, prosperous in pecuniary affairs,--rich enough
+to return home, and spend the remainder of his days in that state so
+much desired by the Sybarite Roman poet,--"otium cum dignitate."
+
+Did he remember the vow mutually made between him and his brother, that,
+having enough money, they would one day go back to Cornwall, and recover
+the ancestral estate?  He did remember it.  He longed to accomplish this
+design, he only awaited his brother's answer to a communication he had
+made to him on this very subject.
+
+He had no doubt that Ralph's desire would be in unison with his own,--
+that his brother would soon join him, and then both would return to
+their native land,--perhaps to dwell again under the same roof that had
+sheltered them as children.
+
+The history of the elder brother during this period of fifteen years, if
+less eventful, was not less distinguished by success.  By steadily
+following the pursuit which had first attracted him to Peru, he
+succeeded in becoming a man of considerable means,--independent, if not
+wealthy.
+
+Like his brother, he got married at an early period,--in fact, within
+the first year after establishing himself in Cerro Pasco.  Unlike the
+latter, however, he chose for his wife one of the women of the
+country,--a beautiful Peruvian lady.  She too, but a short while before,
+had gone to a better world, leaving motherless two pretty children, of
+twelve and fourteen years of age,--the elder of the two being a
+daughter.
+
+Such was the family of Ralph Trevannion, and such the condition of life
+in which his brother's epistle reached him,--that epistle containing the
+proposal that they should wind lip their respective businesses, dispose
+of both, and carry their gains to the land that had given them birth.
+
+The proposition was at once accepted, as Richard knew it would be.  It
+was far from the first time that the thing had been discussed,
+epistolary fashion, between them; for letters were exchanged as often as
+opportunity permitted,--sometimes twice or thrice in the year.
+
+In these letters, during the last few years of their sojourn in South
+America, the promise made on leaving home was mutually mentioned, and as
+often renewed on either side.  Richard knew that his brother was as
+eager as himself to keep that well-remembered vow.
+
+So long as the mother of Ralph's children was alive, he had not urged
+his brother to its fulfilment; but now that she had been dead for more
+than a year, he had written to say that the time had come for their
+return to their country and their home.
+
+His proposal was, that Ralph, having settled his affairs in Peru,--
+which, of course, included the selling out of his share in the mines,--
+should join him, Richard, at Para, thence to take ship for England.
+That instead of going round by Cape Horn, or across the Isthmus, by
+Panama, Ralph should make the descent of the great Amazon River, which
+traverse would carry him latitudinally across the continent from west to
+east.
+
+Richard had two reasons for recommending this route.  First, because he
+wished his brother to see the great river of Orellana, as he himself had
+done; and secondly, because he was still more desirous that his _own
+son_ should see it.
+
+How this last wish was to be gratified by his brother making the descent
+of the Amazon, may require explanation; but it will suffice to say that
+the son of Richard Trevannion was at that time residing with his uncle
+at the mines of Cerro Pasco.
+
+The boy had gone to Peru the year before, in one of his father's
+ships,--first, to see the Great Ocean, then the Great Andes,--afterwards
+to become acquainted with the country of the Incas, and last, though not
+of least importance, to make the acquaintance of his own uncle and his
+two interesting cousins, the elder of whom was exactly his own age.  He
+had gone to the Pacific side by _sea_.  It was his father's wish he
+should return to the Atlantic side by land,--or, to speak more
+accurately, by _river_.
+
+The merchant's wish was to be gratified.  The miner had no desire to
+refuse compliance with his proposal.  On the contrary, it chimed in with
+his own inclinations.  Ralph Trevannion possessed a spirit adventurous
+as his brother's, which fourteen years of mining industry, carried on in
+the cold mountains of Cerro Pasco, had neither deadened nor chilled.
+The thought of once more returning to the scenes of his youth quite
+rejuvenated him; and on the day of receiving his brother's challenge to
+go, he not only accepted it, but commenced proceedings towards carrying
+the design into execution.
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+A month afterwards and he might have been seen descending the eastern
+slope of the Cordilleras on mule-back, and accompanied by his family and
+followers; afterwards aboard a _balsa_,--one of those curious crafts
+used in the descent of the Huallaga; and later still on the _montaria_,
+upon the bosom of the great river itself.
+
+With the details of his mountain travels, interesting as they may be, we
+have naught to do.  No more with his descent of the Huallaga, nor his
+long voyage on the Amazon itself, in that up-river portion of the stream
+where it is called the "Maranon."  Only where it becomes the stupendous
+"Solimoes" do we join Ralph Trevannion on his journey, and remain with
+him as long as he is "Afloat in the Forest," _or making a voyage among
+the tree-tops_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+THE GALATEA.
+
+On an evening in the early part of December, a craft of singular
+construction might have been seen descending the Solimoes, and
+apparently making for the little Portuguese port of Coary, that lies on
+the southern side of the river.
+
+When we say of singular construction, we mean singular to one
+unaccustomed to the navigation of Amazonian waters.  There the craft in
+question was too common to excite curiosity, since it was nothing more
+than a _galatea_, or large canoe, furnished with mast and sail, with a
+palm-thatched cabin, or _toldo_, rising over the quarter, a low-decked
+locker running from bow to midships,--along each side of which were to
+be seen, half seated, half standing, some half-dozen dark-skinned men,
+each plying, instead of an oar, a paddle-blade.
+
+Perhaps the most singular sight on board this embarkation was the group
+of animated beings who composed its crew and passengers.  The former, as
+already stated, were dark-skinned men scantily clad,--in fact, almost
+naked, since a single pair of white cotton drawers constituted the
+complete costume of each.
+
+For passengers there were three men, and a like number of individuals of
+younger age.  Two of the men were white, apparently Europeans; the other
+was as black as soot could have made him,--unquestionably an African
+negro.  Of the young people two were boys, not much differing in size,
+and apparently not much in age, while the third was a half-grown girl,
+of dark complexion, raven-coloured hair, and beautiful features.
+
+One of the white men appeared to be, and was, the proprietor of the
+montaria, and the employer of its swarthy crew.  He was Ralph
+Trevannion.
+
+The young girl was his daughter, and bore her Peruvian mother's name,
+Rosa, more often pronounced by its diminutive of endearment, Rosita.
+The younger of the two boys--also of dark complexion--was his son Ralph;
+while the older, of true Saxon physiognomy and hue, was the son of his
+brother, also bearing his father's Christian name, Richard.
+
+The second white man was unmistakably of European race,--so much so that
+any one possessing the slightest knowledge of the Hibernian type would
+at once have pronounced him a "Son of the Sod."  A pure pug nose, a
+shock of curled hair of the clearest carrot colour, an eternal twinkle
+in the eye, a volume of fun lying open at each angle of the mouth, were
+all characteristics by which "Tipperary Tom"--for such was his
+_sobriquet_--might be remembered.
+
+About the negro there was nothing special, more than that he was a pure
+negro, with enormously thick lips, flattened nose, long protruding
+heels, teeth white as hippopotamus ivory, and almost always set in a
+good-humoured grin.  The darkey had been a sailor, or rather
+ship-steward, before landing in Peru.  Thither had he strayed, and
+settled at Cerro Pasco after several years spent aboard ship.  He was a
+native of Mozambique, on the eastern coast of Africa, to which
+circumstance was he indebted for the only name ever given him,--Mozey.
+
+Both he and the Irishman were the servants of the miner, or rather his
+retainers, who served him in various ways, and had done so almost ever
+since his establishing himself among the rocks of Cerro Pasco.
+
+The other creatures of the animated kingdom that found lodgment upon the
+craft were of various shapes, sizes, and species.  There were
+quadrupeds, quadrumana, and birds,--beasts of the field, monkeys of the
+forest, and birds of the air,--clustering upon the cabin top, squatted
+in the hold, perched upon the gangway, the toldo, the yard, and the
+mast,--forming an epitomised menagerie, such as may be seen on every
+kind of craft that navigates the mighty Amazon.
+
+It is not our design to give any description of the galatea's crew.
+There were nine of them,--all Indians,--four on each side acting as
+rowers, or more properly "paddlers," the ninth being the pilot or
+steersman, standing abaft the toldo.
+
+Our reason for not describing them is that they were a changing crew,
+only attached to the craft for a particular stage of the long river
+voyage, and had succeeded several other similar sets since the
+embarkation of our voyagers on the waters of the upper Amazon.  They had
+joined the galatea at the port of Ega, and would take leave of her at
+Coary, where a fresh crew of civilised Indians--"tapuyos"--would be
+required.
+
+And they _were_ required, but not obtained.  On the galatea putting into
+the port of Coary, it was found that nearly every man in the place was
+off upon a hunting excursion,--turtle and cow-fish being the game that
+had called them out.  Not a canoe-man could be had for love or money.
+
+The owner of the galatea endeavoured to tempt the Ega crew to continue
+another stage.  It was contrary to their habit, and they refused to go.
+Persuasion and threats were tried in vain.  Coaxing and scolding proved
+equally unavailable; all except one remained firm in their refusal, the
+exception being an old Indian who did not belong to the Ega tribe, and
+who could not resist the large bribe offered by Trevannion.
+
+The voyagers must either suspend their journey till the Coary
+turtle-hunters should return, or proceed without paddlers.  The hunters
+were not expected for a month.  To stay a month at Coary was out of the
+question.  The galatea must go on manned by her own people, and the old
+Indian who was to act as pilot.  Such was the determination of Ralph
+Trevannion.  But for that resolve,--rash as it was, and ending
+unfortunately for him who made it,--we should have no story to tell.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+DRIFTING WITH THE CURRENT.
+
+The craft that carried the ex-miner, his family and following, once more
+floated on the broad bosom of the Solimoes.  Not so swift as before,
+since, instead of eight paddlers, it was now impelled by only half the
+number,--these, too, with less than half the experience of the crew who
+had preceded them.
+
+The owner himself acted as steersman, while the paddles were plied by
+"Tipperary Tom," Mozey, the old Indian,--who, being of the Mundurucu
+tribe, passed by the name of "Munday,"--and Richard Trevannion.
+
+The last, though by far the youngest, was perhaps the best paddler in
+the party.  Brought up in his native place of Gran Para, he had been
+accustomed to spend half his time either in or upon the water; and an
+oar or paddle was to him no novelty.
+
+Young Ralph, on the contrary, a true mountaineer, knew nothing of
+either, and therefore counted for nothing among the crew of the galatea.
+To him and the little Rosa was assigned the keeping of the pets, with
+such other light duties as they were capable of performing.
+
+For the first day the voyage was uninterrupted by any incident,--at
+least any that might be called unpleasant.  Their slow progress, it is
+true, was a cause of dissatisfaction; but so long as they were going at
+all, and going in the right direction, this might be borne with
+equanimity.  Three miles an hour was about their average rate of speed;
+for half of which they were indebted to the current of the river, and
+for the other half to the impulsion of their paddles.
+
+Considering that they had still a thousand miles to go before reaching
+Gran Para, the prospect of a protracted voyage was very plainly outlined
+before them.
+
+Could they have calculated on making three miles an hour for every hour
+of the twenty-four, things would not have been bad.  This rate of speed
+would have carried them to their destination in a dozen days,--a mere
+bagatelle.  But they knew enough of river-navigation to disregard such
+data.  They knew the current of the Solimoes to be extremely slow; they
+had heard of the strange phenomenon, that, run which way the river
+might, north, south, east, or west,--and it _does_ keep bending and
+curving in all these directions,--the wind is almost always met with
+blowing _up stream_!
+
+For this reason they could put no dependence in their sail, and would
+have to trust altogether to the paddles.  These could not be always in
+the water.  Human strength could not stand a perpetual spell, even at
+paddles; and less so in the hands of a crew of men so little used to
+them.
+
+Nor could they continue the voyage at night.  By doing so, they would be
+in danger of losing their course, their craft, and themselves!
+
+You may smile at the idea.  You will ask--a little scornfully, perhaps--
+how a canoe, or any other craft, drifting down a deep river to its
+destination, could possibly go astray.  Does not the current point out
+the path,--the broad waterway not to be mistaken?
+
+So it might appear to one seated in a skiff, and floating down the
+tranquil Thames, with its well-defined banks.  But far different is the
+aspect of the stupendous Solimoes to the voyager gliding through its
+_Capo_.
+
+I have made use of a word of strange sound, and still stranger
+signification.  Perhaps it is new to your eye, as your oar.  You will
+become better acquainted with it before the end of our voyage; for into
+the "Gapo" it is my intention to take you, where ill-luck carried the
+galatea and her crew.
+
+On leaving Coary, it was not the design of her owner to attempt taking
+his craft, so indifferently manned, all the way to Para.  He knew there
+were several civilised settlements between,--as Barra at the mouth of
+the Rio Negro, Obidos below it, Santarem, and others.  At one or other
+of these places he expected to obtain a supply of _tapuyos_, to replace
+the crew who had so provokingly forsaken him.
+
+The voyage to the nearest of them, however, would take several days, at
+the rate of speed the galatea was now making; and the thought of being
+delayed on their route became each hour more irksome.  The ex-miner, who
+had not seen his beloved brother during half a score of years, was
+impatient once more to embrace him.  He had been, already, several
+months travelling towards him by land and water; and just as he was
+beginning to believe that the most difficult half of the journey had
+been accomplished, he found himself delayed by an obstruction vexatious
+as unexpected.
+
+The first night after his departure from Coary, he consented that the
+galatea should lie to,--moored to some bushes that grew upon the banks
+of the river.
+
+On the second night, however, he acted with less prudence.  His
+impatience to make way prompted him to the resolution to keep on.  The
+night was clear,--a full moon shining conspicuously above, which is not
+always the case in the skies of the Solimoes.
+
+There was to be no sail set, no use made of the paddles.  The crew were
+fatigued, and wanted rest and repose.  The current alone was to favour
+their progress; and as it appeared to be running nearly two miles an
+hour, it should advance them between twenty and thirty miles before the
+morning.
+
+The Mundurucu made an attempt to dissuade his "patron" from the course
+he designed pursuing; but his advice was disregarded,--perhaps because
+ill-understood,--and the galatea glided on.
+
+Who could mistake that broad expanse of water--upon which the moon shone
+so clearly--for aught else than the true channel of the Solimoes?  Not
+Tipperary Tom, who, in the second watch of the night,--the owner himself
+having kept the first,--acted as steersman of the galatea.
+
+The others had gone to sleep.  Trevannion and the three young people
+under the toldo; Mozey and the Mundurucu along the staging known as the
+"hold."  The birds and monkeys were at rest on their respective perches,
+and in their respective cages,--all was silent in the galatea, and
+around,--all save the rippling of the water, as it parted to the
+cleaving of her keel.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+THE GALATEA AGROUND.
+
+Little experienced as he was in the art of navigation, the steersman was
+not inattentive to his duty.  Previously to his taking the rudder, he
+had been admonished about the importance of keeping the craft in the
+channel of the stream, and to this had he been giving his attention.
+
+It so chanced, however, that he had arrived at a place where there were
+two channels,--as if an island was interposed in the middle of the
+river, causing it to branch at an acute angle.  Which of these was the
+right one?  Which should be taken?  These were the questions that
+occurred to Tipperary Tom.
+
+At first he thought of awakening his master, and consulting him, but on
+once more glancing at the two channels, he became half convinced that
+the broader one must be the proper route to be followed.
+
+"Bay Japers!" muttered he to himself.  "Shure I can't be mistaken.  The
+biggest av the two ought to be the mane sthrame.  Anyway, I won't wake
+the masther.  I'll lave it to the ship to choose for hersilf."  Saying
+this he relaxed his hold upon the steering oar, and permitted the
+galatea to drift with the current.
+
+Sure enough, the little craft inclined towards the branch that appeared
+the broader one; and in ten minutes' time had made such way that the
+other opening was no longer visible from her decks.  The steersman,
+confident of being on the right course, gave himself no further
+uneasiness; but, once more renewing his hold upon the steering oar,
+guided the galatea in the middle of the channel.
+
+Notwithstanding all absence of suspicion as to having gone astray, he
+could not help noticing that the banks on each side appeared to be
+singularly irregular, as if here and there indented by deep bays, or
+reaches of water.  Some of these opened out vistas of shining surface,
+apparently illimitable, while the dark patches that separated them
+looked more like clumps of trees half-submerged under water than
+stretches of solid earth.
+
+As the galatea continued her course, this puzzling phenomenon ceased to
+be a conjecture; Tipperary Tom saw that he was no longer steering down a
+river between two boundary banks, but on a broad expanse of water,
+stretching as far as eye could reach, with no other boundary than that
+afforded by a _flooded forest_.
+
+There was nothing in all this to excite alarm,--at least in the mind of
+Tipperary Tom.  The Mundurucu, had he been awake, might have shown some
+uneasiness at the situation.  But the Indian was asleep,--perhaps
+dreaming of some Mura enemy,--whose head he would have been happy to
+embalm.
+
+Tom simply supposed himself to be in some part of the Solimoes flooded
+beyond its banks, as he had seen it in more places than one.  With this
+confidence, he stuck faithfully to his steering oar, and allowed the
+galatea to glide on.  It was only when the reach of water--upon which
+the craft was drifting--began to narrow, or rather after it had narrowed
+to a surprising degree, that the steersman began to suspect himself of
+having taken the wrong course.
+
+His suspicions became stronger, at length terminating in a conviction
+that such was the truth, when the galatea arrived at a part where less
+than a cable's length lay between her beam-ends and the bushes that
+stood out of the water on both sides of her.  Too surely had he strayed
+from the "mane sthrame."  The craft that carried him could no longer be
+in the channel of the mighty Solimoes!
+
+The steersman was alarmed, and this very alarm hindered him from
+following the only prudent course he could have taken under the
+circumstances.  He should have aroused his fellow-voyagers, and
+proclaimed the error into which he had fallen.  He did not do so.  A
+sense of shame at having neglected his duty, or rather at having
+performed it in an indifferent manner,--a species of regret not uncommon
+among his countrymen,--hindered him from disclosing the truth, and
+taking steps to avert any evil consequences that might spring from it.
+
+He knew nothing of the great river on which they were voyaging.  There
+_might_ be such a strait as that through which the galatea was gliding.
+The channel might widen below; and, after all, he might have steered in
+the proper direction.  With such conjectures, strengthened by such
+hopes, he permitted the vessel to float on.
+
+The channel _did_ widen again; and the galatea once more rode upon open
+water.  The steersman was restored to confidence and contentment.  Only
+for a short while did this state of mind continue.  Again the clear
+water became contracted, this time to a very strip, while on either side
+extended reaches and estuaries, bordered by half-submerged bushes,--some
+of them opening apparently to the sky horizon, wider and freer from
+obstruction than that upon which the galatea was holding her course.
+
+The steersman no longer thought of continuing his course, which he was
+now convinced must be the wrong one.  Bearing with all his strength upon
+the steering oar, he endeavoured to direct the galatea back into the
+channel through which he had come; but partly from the drifting of the
+current, and partly owing to the deceptive light of the moon, he could
+no longer recognise the latter, and, dropping the rudder in despair, he
+permitted the vessel to drift whichever way the current might carry her!
+
+Before Tipperary Tom could summon courage to make known to his
+companions the dilemma into which he had conducted them, the galatea had
+drifted among the tree-tops of the flooded forest, where she was
+instantly "brought to anchor."
+
+The crashing of broken boughs roused her crew from their slumbers.  The
+ex-miner, followed by his children, rushed forth from the toldo.  He was
+not only alarmed, but perplexed, by the unaccountable occurrence.  Mozey
+was equally in a muddle.  The only one who appeared to comprehend the
+situation was the old Indian, who showed sufficient uneasiness as to its
+consequences by the terrified manner in which he called out: "The Gapo!
+The Gapo!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+THE MONKEY-POTS.
+
+"The Gapo?" exclaimed the master of the craft.  "What is it, Munday?"
+
+"The Gapo?" repeated Tipperary Tom, fancying by the troubled expression
+on the face of the Indian that he had conducted his companions toward
+some terrible disaster.  "Phwat is it, Manday?"
+
+"Da Gapoo?" simultaneously interrogated the negro, the whites of his
+eyeballs shining in the moonlight.  "What be dat?"
+
+The Mundurucu made reply only by a wave of his hand, and a glance around
+him, as if to say, "Yes, the Gapo; you see we're in it."
+
+The three interrogators were as much in the dark as ever.  Whether the
+Gapo was fish, flesh, or fowl, air, fire, or water, they could not even
+guess.  There was but one upon the galatea besides the Indian himself
+who knew the signification of the word which had created such a
+sensation among the crew, and this was young Richard Trevannion.
+
+"It's nothing, uncle," said he, hastening to allay the alarm around him;
+"old Munday means that we've strayed from the true channel of the
+Solimoes, and got into the flooded forest,--that's all."
+
+"The flooded forest?"
+
+"Yes.  What you see around us, looking like low bushes, are the tops of
+tall trees.  We're now aground on the branches of a _sapucaya_,--a
+species of the Brazil-nut, and among the tallest of Amazonian trees.
+I'm right,--see! there are the nuts themselves!"  As the young Paraense
+spoke, he pointed to some pericarps, large as cocoa-nuts, that were seen
+depending from the branches among which the galatea had caught.
+Grasping one of them in his hand, he wrenched it from the branch; but as
+he did so, the husk dropped off, and the prism-shaped nuts fell like a
+shower of huge hailstones on the roof of the _toldo_.  "Monkey-pots
+they're called," continued he, referring to the empty pericarp still in
+his hand.  "That's the name by which the Indians know them; because the
+monkeys are very fond of these nuts."
+
+"But the Gapo?" interrupted the ex-miner, observing that the expressive
+look of uneasiness still clouded the brow of the Mundurucu.
+
+"It's the Indian name for the great inundation," replied Richard, in the
+same tranquil tone.  "Or rather I should say, the name for it in the
+_lingoa-geral_."
+
+"And what is there to fear?  Munday has frightened us all, and seems
+frightened himself.  What is the cause?"
+
+"That I can't tell you, uncle.  I know there are queer stories about the
+Gapo,--tales of strange monsters that inhabit it,--huge serpents,
+enormous apes, and all that sort of thing.  I never believed them,
+though the _tapuyos_ do; and from old Munday's actions I suppose he puts
+full faith in them."
+
+"The young patron is mistaken," interposed the Indian, speaking a patois
+of the _lingoa-geral_.  "The Mundurucu does not believe in monsters.  He
+believes in big serpents and monkeys,--he has seen them."
+
+"But shure yez are not afeerd o' them, Manday?" asked the Irishman.
+
+The Indian only replied by turning on Tipperary Tom a most scornful
+look.
+
+"What is the use of this alarm?" inquired Trevannion.  "The galatea does
+not appear to have sustained any injury.  We can easily get her out of
+her present predicament, by lopping off the branches that are holding
+her."
+
+"Patron," said the Indian, still speaking in a serious tone, "it may not
+be so easy as you think.  We may get clear of the tree-top in ten
+minutes.  In as many hours--perhaps days--we may not get clear of the
+Gapo.  That is why the Mundurucu shows signs of apprehension."
+
+"Ho!  You think we may have a difficulty in finding our way back to the
+channel of the river?"
+
+"Think it, patron!  I am too sure of it.  If not, we shall be in the
+best of good luck."
+
+"It's of no use trying to-night, at all events," pursued Trevannion, as
+he glanced uncertainly around him.  "The moon is sinking over the
+tree-tops.  Before we could well get adrift, she'll be gone out of
+sight.  We might only drift deeper into the maze.  Is that your opinion,
+Munday?"
+
+"It is, patron.  We can do no good by leaving the place to-night.  Wiser
+for us to wait for the light of the sun."
+
+"Let all go to rest, then," commanded the patron, "and be ready for work
+in the morning.  We need keep no lookout, I should think.  The galatea
+is as safe here as if moored in a dry dock.  She is _aground_, I take
+it, upon the limb of a tree!  Ha! ha! ha!"
+
+The thought of such a situation for a sailing craft--moored amid the
+tops of a tall tree--was of so ludicrous a nature as to elicit a peal of
+laughter from the patron, which was echoed by the rest of the crew, the
+Mundurucu alone excepted.  His countenance still preserved its
+expression of uneasiness; and long after the others had sunk into
+unconscious sleep, he sat upon the stem of the galatea, gazing out into
+the gloom, with glances that betokened serious apprehension.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+THE GAPO.
+
+The young Paraense had given a correct, although not sufficiently
+explicit, account of the sort of place in which the galatea had gone
+"aground."
+
+That singular phenomenon known as the _Gapo_ (or _Ygapo_), and which is
+one of the most remarkable characteristics of the great Amazonian
+region, demands a more detailed description.  It is worthy of this, as a
+mere study of physical geography,--perhaps as pleasant a science as any;
+and furthermore, it is here absolutely necessary to the understanding of
+our tale.  Without some comprehension of the circumstances that
+surrounded them, the hardships and sufferings endured, the adventures
+accomplished, and the perils passed by the crew of the strayed galatea,
+would appear as so many fabulous inventions, set forth to stimulate and
+gratify a taste for the merely marvellous.  Young reader, this is not
+the aim of your author, nor does he desire it to be the end.  On the
+contrary, he claims to draw Nature with a verisimilitude that will
+challenge the criticism of the naturalist; though he acknowledges a
+predilection for Nature in her wildest aspects,--for scenes least
+exposed to the eye of civilisation, and yet most exposed to its doubting
+incredulity.
+
+There are few country people who have not witnessed the spectacle of a
+piece of woodland inundated by the overflow of a neighbouring stream.
+This flood is temporary; the waters soon subside into their ordinary
+channel, and the trees once more appear growing out of _terra firma_,
+with the green mead spreading on all sides around them.  But a flooded
+forest is a very different affair; somewhat similar in character indeed,
+but far grander.  Not a mere spinney of trees along the bank of a small
+stream; but a region extending beyond the reach of vision,--a vast tract
+of primeval woods,--the tall trees submerged to their very tops, not for
+days, nor weeks, but for months,--ay, some of them forever!  Picture to
+your mind an inundation of this kind, and you will have some idea of the
+Gapo.
+
+Extending for seventeen hundred miles along the banks of the Solimoes,
+now wider on the northern, now stretching farther back from the southern
+side, this semi-submerged forest is found, its interior almost as
+unknown as the crater-like caverns of the moon, or the icy oceans that
+storm or slumber round the Poles,--unknown to civilised man, but not
+altogether to the savage.  The aboriginal of Amazonia, crouching in his
+canoe, has pierced this water-land of wonders.  He could tell you much
+about it that is real, and much that is marvellous,--the latter too
+often pronounced fanciful by lettered _savans_.  He could tell you of
+strange trees that grow there, bearing strange fruits, not to be found
+elsewhere,--of wonderful quadrupeds, and _quadrumana_, that exist only
+in the Gapo,--of birds brilliantly beautiful, and reptiles hideously
+ugly; among the last the dreaded dragon serpent, "Sucuruju."  He could
+tell you, moreover, of creatures of his own kind,--if they deserve the
+name of man,--who dwell continuously in the flooded forest, making their
+home on scaffolds among the tree-tops, passing from place to place in
+floating rafts or canoes, finding their subsistence on fish, on the
+flesh of the _manatee_, on birds, beasts, reptiles, and insects, on the
+stalks of huge water-plants and the fruits of undescribed trees, on
+monkeys, and sometimes upon _man_!  Such Indians as have penetrated the
+vast water-land have brought strange tales out of it.  We may give
+credence to them or refuse it; but they, at least, are firm believers in
+most of the accounts which they have collected.
+
+It is not to be supposed that the Gapo is impenetrable.  On the
+contrary, there are several well-known waterways leading through it,--
+well-known, I mean, to the Indians dwelling upon its borders, to the
+_tapuyos_, whose business it is to supply crews for the galateas of the
+Portuguese traders, and to many of these traders themselves.  These
+waterways are often indicated by "blazings" on the trees, or broken
+branches, just as the roads are laid out by pioneer settlers in a North
+American forest; and but for these marks, they could not be followed.
+Sometimes, however, large spaces occur in which no trees are to be seen,
+where, indeed, none grow.  There are extensive lakes, always under
+water, even at the lowest ebb of the inundation.  They are of all sizes
+and every possible configuration, from the complete circle through all
+the degrees of the ellipse, and not unfrequently in the form of a belt,
+like the channel of a river running for scores of miles between what
+might readily be mistaken for banks covered with a continuous thicket of
+low bushes, which are nothing more than the "spray" of evergreen trees,
+whose roots lie forty feet under water!
+
+More frequently these openings are of irregular shape, and of such
+extent as to merit the title of "inland seas."  When such are to be
+crossed, the sun has to be consulted by the canoe or galatea gliding
+near their centre; and when he is not visible,--by no means a rare
+phenomenon in the Gapo,--then is there great danger of the craft
+straying from her course.
+
+When within sight of the so-called "shore," a clump of peculiar form, or
+a tree topping over its fellows, is used as a landmark, and often guides
+the navigator of the Gapo to the _igarita_ of which he is in search.
+
+It is not all tranquillity on this tree-studded ocean.  It has its fogs,
+its gales, and its storms,--of frequent occurrence.  The canoe is oft
+shattered against the stems of gigantic trees; and the galatea goes
+down, leaving her crew to perish miserably in the midst of a gloomy
+wilderness of wood and water.  Many strange tales are told of such
+mishaps; but up to the present hour none have received the permanent
+record of print and paper.
+
+Be it _our_ task to supply this deficiency.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE ECHENTE.
+
+It would not be true to say that the crew of the galatea were up with
+the sun.  There was no sun to shine upon the gloomy scene that revealed
+itself next morning.  Instead, there was a fog almost thick enough to be
+grasped with the hand.  They were astir, however, by the earliest
+appearance of day; for the captain of the galatea was too anxious about
+his "stranded" craft to lie late abed.
+
+They had no difficulty in getting the vessel afloat.  A strong pull at
+the branches of the sapucaya, and then an adroit use of the paddles,
+carried the craft clear.
+
+But what was the profit of this?  Once out in the open water, they were
+as badly off as ever.  Not one of them had the slightest idea of the
+direction they would take, even supposing they could find a clear course
+in any direction!  A consultation was the result, in which all hands
+took part, though it was evident that, after the patron, most deference
+was paid to the Mundurucu.  The young Paraense stood next in the scale
+of respect; while Tipperary Tom, beyond the account which he was called
+upon to give of his steersmanship, was not permitted to mingle his
+Hibernian brogue in the discussion.
+
+Where was the river?  That was the first problem to be solved, and of
+this there appeared to be no possible solution.  There was no sun to
+guide them, no visible sky.  Even had there been both, it would scarce
+have mended the matter.  The steersman could not tell whether, on
+straying from the channel, he had drifted to the south or the north, the
+east or the west; and, indeed, an intellect less obtuse than that of
+Tipperary Tom might have been puzzled upon the point.  It has been
+already mentioned, that the Solimoes is so tortuous as to turn to every
+point of the compass in its slow course.  The mere fact that the moon
+was shining at the time could be of little use to Tipperary Tom, whose
+astronomy had never extended beyond the knowledge that there was a moon.
+
+Where lay the river?  The interrogatory was repeated a score of times,
+without receiving a satisfactory answer; though every one on board--the
+little Rosita excepted--ventured some sort of reply, most, however,
+offering their opinion with a doubting diffidence.  The Mundurucu,
+although repeatedly appealed to, had taken small part in the discussion,
+remaining silent, his eyes moodily wandering over the water, seeking
+through the fog for some clue to their escape from the spot.
+
+No one plied the paddles; they had impelled her out of sight of the
+sapucaya, now shrouded in the thick fog; but, as it was useless paddling
+any farther, all hands had desisted, and were now resting upon their
+oars.  At this moment it was perceived that the galatea was in motion.
+The Mundurucu was the first to notice it; for his attention had for some
+time been directed to such discovery.  For this reason had he cast his
+searching glances, now down into the turbid waters, and now out through
+the murky atmosphere.  A thicket was discernible through the fog, but
+every moment becoming less distinct.  Of course it was only a collection
+of tree-tops; but whatever it was, it soon became evident that the
+galatea was very slowly receding from it.  On discovering this, the
+Mundurucu displayed signs of fresh animation.  He had been for some
+minutes lying upon his face, craning out over the gangway, and his long
+withered arms submerged in the water.  The others occupied themselves in
+guessing what he was about; but their guesses had been to no purpose.
+Equally purposeless had appeared the actions of the Indian; for, after
+keeping his arm under water for a period of several minutes, he drew it
+in with a dissatisfied air, and once more arose to his feet.  It was
+just then that he perceived the tree-tops, upon which he kept his eyes
+sharply fixed, until assured that the galatea was going away from them.
+
+"_Hoola_!" he exclaimed, attempting to imitate the cry he had more than
+once heard issuing from the lips of Tipperary Tom.  "_Hoola_! the river
+is out there!"  As he spoke, he pointed towards the tree-tops.
+
+It was the first confident answer to the all-important question.
+
+"How can you tell that, Munday?" inquired the captain of the craft.
+
+"How tell, patron?  How tell day from night, the moon from the sun, fire
+from water?  The Solimoes is there."  The Indian spoke with his arm
+still extended in the direction of the trees.
+
+"We are willing to believe you," rejoined Trevannion, "and will trust to
+your guidance; but pray explain yourself."
+
+"It's all guess-work," interpolated Tipperary Tom.  "Ould Munday knows
+no more av fwat he's talkin' about than Judy Fitzcummons's mother.  I'll
+warrant ye we come in from the t'other side."
+
+"Silence, Tom!" commanded his master.  "Let us hear what Munday has to
+say.  _You_ have no right to contradict him."
+
+"Och, awance!  An Indyen's opinion prefarred before that ov a freeborn
+Oirishman!  I wondher what nixt."  And as Tipperary completed his
+chapter of reproaches, he slank crouchingly under the shadow of the
+_toldo_.
+
+"So you think the river is there?" said Trevannion, once more addressing
+himself to the Mundurucu.
+
+"The Mundurucu is sure of it, patron.  Sure as that the sky is above
+us."
+
+"Remember, old man!  It won't do for us to make any mistake.  No doubt
+we've already strayed a considerable distance from the channel of the
+Solimoes.  To go again from it will be to endanger our lives."
+
+"The Mundurucu knows that," was the laconic reply.
+
+"Well, then, we must be satisfied of the fact, before we can venture to
+make a move.  What proof can you give us that the river lies in that
+direction?"
+
+"Patron!  You know the month?  It is the month of March."
+
+"Certainly it is.  What of that?"
+
+"The _echente_."
+
+"The _echente_?  What is that?"
+
+"The flood getting bigger.  The water on the rise,--the Gapo still
+growing,--that is the _echente_."
+
+"But how should that enable you to determine the direction of the
+river?"
+
+"It has done so," replied the Indian.  "Not before three months--in
+June--will come the _vasante_."
+
+"The _vasante_?"
+
+"The _vasante_, patron: the fall.  Then the Gapo will begin to grow
+less; and the current will be _towards_ the river, as now it is _from_
+it."
+
+"Your story appears reasonable enough.  I suppose we may trust to it.
+If so," added Trevannion, "we had better direct our course towards
+yonder tree-tops, and lose no time in getting beyond them.  All of you
+to your paddles, and pull cheerily.  Let us make up for the time we have
+lost through the negligence of Tipperary Tom.  Pull, my lads, pull!"
+
+At this cheering command the four paddlers rushed to their places; and
+the galatea, impelled by their vigorous strokes, once more glided gayly
+over the bosom of the waters.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+AN IMPASSABLE BARRIER.
+
+In a few moments the boat's bow was brought within half a cable's length
+of the boughs of the submerged trees.  Her crew could see that to
+proceed farther, on a direct course, was simply impossible.  With equal
+reason might they have attempted to hoist her into the air, and leap
+over the obstruction that had presented itself before them.
+
+Not only were the branches of the adjoining trees interlocked, but from
+one to the other straggled a luxurious growth of creepers, forming a
+network so strong and compact that a steamer of a hundred horse-power
+would have been safely brought to a stand among its meshes.  Of course
+no attempt was made to penetrate this impenetrable _chevaux de frise_;
+and after a while had been spent in reconnoitring it, Trevannion, guided
+by the counsel of the Mundurucu, ordered the galatea to go about, and
+proceed along the selvage of the submerged forest.  An hour was spent in
+paddling.  No opening.  Another hour similarly employed, and with
+similar results!
+
+The river might be in the direction pointed out by the Indian.  No doubt
+it was; but how were they to reach it?  Not a break appeared in all that
+long traverse wide enough to admit the passage of a canoe.  Even an
+arrow could scarce have penetrated among the trees, that extended their
+parasite-laden branches beyond the border of the forest!  By tacit
+consent of the patron, the paddlers rested upon their oars; then plied
+them once more; and once more came to a pause.
+
+No opening among the tree-tops; no chance to reach the channel of the
+Solimoes.  The gloomy day became gloomier, for night was descending over
+the Gapo.  The crew of the galatea, wearied with many hours of exertion,
+ceased paddling.  The patron did not oppose them; for his spirit, as
+well as theirs, had become subdued by hope long deferred.  As upon the
+previous night, the craft was moored among the tree-tops, where her
+rigging, caught among the creepers, seemed enough to keep her from
+drifting away.  But very different from that of the preceding night was
+the slumber enjoyed by her crew.  Amidst the boughs of the sapucaya,
+there had been nothing to disturb their tranquillity, save the
+occasional shower of nuts, caused by the cracking of the dry shells, and
+the monkey-pots discharging their contents.  Then was the galatea
+"grounded" upon a solitary tree, which carried only its own fruit.
+To-night she was moored in the middle of a forest,--at all events upon
+its edge,--a forest, not of the earth, nor the air, nor the water, but
+of all three,--a forest whose inhabitants might be expected to partake
+of a character altogether strange and abnormal.  And of such character
+were they; for scarce had the galatea become settled among the
+tree-tops, when the ears of her crew were assailed by a chorus of
+sounds, that with safety might have challenged the choir of Pandemonium.
+Two alone remained undismayed,--Richard Trevannion and the Mundurucu.
+
+"Bah!" exclaimed the Paraense, "what are you all frightened at?  Don't
+you know what it is, uncle?"
+
+"I know what it resembles, boy,--the Devil and his legions let loose
+from below.  What is it, Dick?"
+
+"Only the howlers.  Don't be alarmed, little Rosita!"
+
+The little Peruvian, gaining courage from his words, looked admiringly
+on the youth who had called her "little Rosita."  Any one could have
+told that, from that time forward, Richard Trevannion might have the
+power to control the destinies of his cousin.
+
+"The howlers!  What are they?" inquired the old miner.
+
+"Monkeys, uncle; nothing more.  From the noise they make, one might
+suppose they were as big as buffaloes.  Nothing of the kind.  The
+largest I ever saw was hardly as stout as a deerhound, though he could
+make as much noise as a whole kennel.  They have a sort of a drum in the
+throat, that acts as a sound-board.  That's what enables them to get up
+such a row.  I've often heard their concert more than two miles across
+country, especially in prospect of an approaching storm.  I don't know
+if they follow this fashion in the Gapo; but if they do, from the way
+they're going it now, we may look out for a trifling tornado."
+
+Notwithstanding the apparent unconcern with which young Trevannion
+declared himself, there was something in his manner that arrested the
+attention of his uncle.  While pronouncing his hypothetical forecast of
+a storm, he had turned his glance towards the sky, and kept it fixed
+there, as if making something more than a transient observation.  The
+fog had evaporated, and the moon was now coursing across the heavens,
+not against a field of cloudy blue, but in the midst of black, cumulus
+clouds, that every now and then shrouded her effulgence.  A dweller in
+the tropics of the Western hemisphere would have pronounced this sign
+the certain forerunner of a storm; and so predicted the young Paraense.
+"We'll have the sky upon us within an hour," said he, addressing himself
+more especially to his uncle.  "We'd better tie the galatea to the
+trees.  If this be a _hurricane_, and she goes adrift, there's no
+knowing where we may bring up.  The likeliest place will be in the
+bottom of the Gapo."
+
+"The young patron speaks truth," interposed Munday, his eyes all the
+while reading the signs of the heavens; "The Mundurucu knows by yonder
+yellow sky."
+
+As he spoke, the Indian pointed to a patch of brimstone-coloured clouds,
+conspicuous over the tops of the trees.  There was no reason why Ralph
+Trevannion should not give credit to the two weather-prophets, who could
+have no personal motive in thus warning him.  He yielded, therefore, to
+their solicitation; and in ten minutes more the galatea was secured
+among the tree-tops, as fast as cords could make her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+A TROPICAL TORNADO.
+
+Notwithstanding the apparently complete security thus obtained for the
+craft, the Mundurucu did not seem to be easy in his mind.  He had
+climbed up the mast to the yard, and, having there poised himself, sat
+gazing over the tops of the trees upon the patch of brimstone sky which
+was visible in that direction.  The others all talked of going to sleep,
+except the young Paraense, who counselled them to keep awake.  He, too,
+like the Mundurucu, was troubled with forebodings.  He understood the
+weather-signs of the Solimoes, and saw that a storm was portending.
+Though the sun had not been visible during the whole day, it was now
+about the hour of his setting; and as if the storm had been waiting for
+this as a signal, it now boldly broke forth.  A few quick puffs, with
+short intervals between them, were its precursors.  These were soon
+followed by gusts, stronger, as well as noisier, in their advent; and
+then the wind kept up a continuous roaring among the tops of the trees;
+while above the thunder rolled incessantly, filling the firmament with
+its terrible voice.  Deep darkness and the vivid glare of the
+lightning-flashes followed each other in quick succession.  At one
+moment all was obscure around the crew of the galatea,--the sky, the
+trees, the water, even the vessel herself; in the next, everything was
+made manifest, to the distance of miles, under a brilliance garish and
+unearthly.  To add to the unnatural appearance of things, there were
+other sounds than those of the thunder or the storm,--the cries of
+living creatures, strange and unknown.  Birds they might be, or beasts,
+or reptiles, or all these, commingling their screams, and other accents
+of affright, with the sharp whistling of the wind, the hoarse rumbling
+of the thunder, and the continuous crashing of the branches.
+
+The crew of the galatea were on the alert, with awe depicted on every
+face.  Their fear was lest the craft should be blown away from her
+moorings, and carried out into the open water, which was now agitated by
+the fury of the storm.  Almost under the first lashing of the wind, huge
+waves had sprung up, with white crests, that under the electric light
+gleamed fiercely along the yellow swell of the turbid water.  Their
+anxiety was of short continuance; for almost on the instant of its
+rising, it became reality.  Unfortunately, the tree to which the craft
+had been tied was one whose wood was of a soft and succulent nature,--a
+species of _melastoma_.  Its branches were too brittle to bear the
+strain thus unexpectedly put upon them; and almost at the first onset of
+the tornado they began to give way, snapping off one after the other in
+quick succession.  So rapid was the process of detachment, that, before
+fresh moorings could be made, the last cord had come away; and the
+galatea, like a greyhound loosed from the leash, shot out from among the
+tree-tops, and went off in wild career over the waves of the Gapo.
+Before any control could be gained over her by her terrified crew, she
+had made several cables' length into the open water, and was still
+sweeping onward over its seething surface.  To turn her head towards the
+trees was clearly out of the question.  The attempt would have been
+idle.  Both wind and waves carried her in the opposite direction, to say
+nothing of the current, against which she had been already contending.
+The crew no longer thought of returning to the tree-tops, out of which
+they had been so unceremoniously swept: Their only chance of safety
+appeared to be to keep the craft, as well balanced as circumstances
+would permit, and run before the wind.  Even this for a time seemed but
+a doubtful chance.  The wind blew, not in regular, uniform direction,
+but in short, fitful gusts, as if coming from every point of the
+compass; and the waves rolled around them as high as houses.  In the
+midst of a chopping, purging sea, the galatea tumbled and pitched, now
+head, now stern foremost, at times going onward in mad career, and with
+headlong speed.  The parrots and macaws upon the yard had as much as
+their strong claws could do to keep their perch; and the monkeys,
+cowering under the shelter of the _toldo_, clung close to its timbers.
+Both birds and beasts mingled their terrified cries with the creaking of
+the galatea's timbers and the shouts of her crew.  The Gapo threatened
+to ingulf them.  Every moment might be their last!  And with this dread
+belief, scarce for a moment out of their minds, did our adventurers pass
+the remainder of that remarkable night, the galatea galloping onward,
+they could not tell whither.  All they knew or could remember of that
+nocturnal voyage was, that the vessel kept upon her course, piloted only
+by the winds and waves,--at times tossing within deep troughs of
+turbulent water, at times poised upon the summits of ridge-like swells,
+but ever going onward at high speed, seemingly ten knots an hour!
+
+For a long while they saw around them only open water, as of some great
+lake or inland sea.  At a later hour, the lightning revealed the tops of
+submerged trees, such as those they had left behind; but standing out of
+the water in clumps or coppices, that appeared like so many islands.
+Amidst these they were carried, sometimes so close to the trees as to
+give them hopes of being able to grasp their boughs.  Once or twice the
+rigging of the galatea brushed among the branches; and they used every
+effort to stay their runaway craft, and bring her to an anchorage.  But
+in vain.  The storm was stronger than the united strength of the crew.
+The twigs clutched with eager hands parted in twain, and the
+storm-driven vessel swept on amid the surging waters.
+
+Daylight arrived at length, breaking through a red aurora, soon followed
+by a brilliant sunrise.  This somewhat cheered our despairing
+adventurers.  But the tempest was still raging with undiminished fury,
+the wind as loud and the waves as high as at any period throughout the
+night.  Once more they were in the middle of a waste of waters, neither
+trees nor land in sight.  Another great lake or inland sea?  It could
+not be that over which they had been already carried?  No.  The wind was
+now blowing more steadily; and could it not have shifted?  Even if it
+had, they had not returned through the archipelago of tree-top islands.
+They were in another opening of the Gapo.  Munday was of this opinion,
+and that was proof sufficient to satisfy his companions.  As we have
+said, the returning day did little to restore the confidence of the
+galatea's crew.  The tornado still continued.  Despite the sunlit sky,
+the storm showed no signs of abating; and the crazy craft gave tongue in
+every timber of her frail frame.  The sounds were ominous to the ears of
+those who listened to them.  It was too evident, that, unless there
+should soon come a lull, the galatea would go to the bottom.  She had
+not been constructed to stand a strain like that to which she had been
+thus unexpectedly exposed, and an anchorage either to _terra firma_ or
+the tree-tops would soon become necessary to her salvation.  Her crew,
+convinced of this, were one and all upon the lookout, scanning the
+horizon as closely as the crested billows would admit.  The Mundurucu
+had mounted to the top of the mast, where, with one of the monkeys that
+had perched itself on his shoulders, he clung with the tenacity of
+despair.  All at once he was heard to cry out, the monkey mocking him in
+mimic tone.
+
+"What is it, Munday?  What do you see?" were the inquiries that reached
+him from below.
+
+"Land," was the laconic reply.
+
+"Land!" went up the echo from half a score of joyous voices.
+
+"Maybe not land,--I mean the _terra firma_," pursued the observer, in a
+less confident tone.  "It may be only the top of a thick forest like
+what we tried to penetrate yesterday.  Whatever it is, patron, it seems
+along the whole edge of the sky.  We are drifting towards it, straight
+as the wind can carry us."
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed Trevannion, "anything is better than this.  If we
+can get once more among the tree-tops, we shall at least be saved from
+drowning.  Thank God, children.  We shall be preserved!"
+
+The Indian descended from the mast, close followed by the monkey, whose
+serio-comic countenance seemed to say that he too was satisfied by the
+observation just made.  Still careering madly onward before the tempest,
+the boat soon brought the tree-tops within view, and, after a brief
+debate, the conclusion was reached that it was only a submerged forest.
+But even this was better than buffeting about on the open billows,--
+every moment in danger of being swamped; and with a universal feeling of
+joy our adventurers perceived that their craft was drifting toward that
+dark line.  They were powerless to control her course.  Her rudder had
+been unshipped during the night, and they could trust only to the
+tempest still raging to carry them to the confines of the forest.  In
+full hope that this would be the result, they took no measures either to
+promote or frustrate the steering of the storm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+THE GALATEA TREED.
+
+Tossed by the tempest, the galatea preserved her course towards the
+tree-tops, thus keeping up the spirits and confidence of her crew.
+Despite some divergences caused by an occasional contrary gust of wind,
+she kept an onward course, in due time arriving within such distance of
+the forest, that it was no longer doubtful about her drifting among the
+trees.  In this there was a prospect of temporary safety at the least,
+and our adventurers had begun to congratulate themselves on the
+proximity of the event.  Just then, a gigantic tree--it must have been
+gigantic to stand so high over its fellows, though it could scarce be
+fifty feet above the surface of the water--presented itself to their
+eyes.  It stood solitary and alone, about a quarter of a mile from the
+edge of the forest, and as much nearer to the craft, still struggling
+through the wind-lashed water.  Like that in the top of which they had
+first gone aground, it was a sapucaya,--as testified by the huge
+pericarps conspicuously suspended from its branches.  High as may have
+been the inundation, its stem rose still higher, by at least ten feet;
+but half-way between the water's surface and the branches, the colossal
+trunk forked in twain,--each of the twin scions appearing a trunk of
+itself.  Through the fork was the water washing at each heave of the
+agitated Gapo,--the waves with foaming crests mounting far up towards
+the top of the tree, as if aspiring to pluck the ripe fruit depending
+from its branches.
+
+Towards this tree the galatea was now going as straight as if she had
+been steered by the finger of Destiny itself.  There was no other power
+to control her,--at least none that was human.  The wind, or destiny,--
+one of the two,--must determine her fate.  The waves perhaps had
+something to do with it; since the next that followed lifted the galatea
+upon its curling crest, and lodged her in the sapucaya in such a fashion
+that her keel, just amidships, rested within the forking of the twin
+stems.
+
+"Thank God!" exclaimed her owner, "we are safe now.  Moored between two
+stanchions like these, neither the winds of heaven nor the waves of the
+great ocean itself could prevail against us.  Make fast there!  Make
+fast to the limbs of the tree!  Tie her on both sides.  These are no
+twigs to be snapped asunder.  Hurrah! we are anchored at last!"
+
+The gigantic stems of the sapucaya, rising on both sides above the
+beam-ends of the galatea, looked like the supporters of a graving-dock.
+It is true the craft still floated upon the bosom of a troubled water;
+but what of that?  Once made fast to the tree, she could not be carried
+farther; therefore was she secure against wind and wave.  The tornado
+might continue, but no longer to be a terror to the crew.  These, partly
+relieved from their fears, hastened to obey the master's commands.
+Ropes were grasped, and, with hands still trembling, were looped around
+the stems of the sapucaya.  All at once action was suspended by a loud
+crash, which was followed by a cry that issued simultaneously from the
+lips of all the crew; who, before its echoes could die away among the
+branches of the sapucaya, had become separated into two distinct groups!
+
+The crash had been caused by the parting of the galatea's keel, which,
+resting in the fork of the tree, had broken amidships, on the subsidence
+of the wave that had heaved her into this peculiar position.  For a few
+seconds the two sections of the partly dissevered craft hung balanced
+between the air and the water, the fore-deck with its stores balancing
+the quarter with its _toldo_.  But long before the beam was kicked, the
+occupants of both had forsaken them, and were to be seen, some of them
+clinging to the branches of the sapucaya, some struggling beneath
+against the storm and the current of the Gapo.  By noble devotion on the
+part of those who could swim, the whole crew were placed beyond the
+reach of the waves upon the branches of the sapucaya, where, from their
+elevated position, they beheld the craft that had so long safely carried
+them parting in two and sinking out of sight.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+A DANGEROUS DUCKING.
+
+Before the dismembered vessel quite disappeared under the storm-lashed
+waves, every individual of her crew had found a foothold upon the
+branches of the sapucaya.  The tree, while causing the wreck of their
+vessel, had saved them from going with her to the bottom of the Gapo.
+For some time, however, they were far from feeling secure.  They were in
+different parts of the tree, scattered all over it, just as they had
+been able to lay hold of the limbs and lift themselves above the reach
+of the swelling waves.  Scarce two of them were in the same attitude.
+One stood erect upon a branch with arms around an upright stem; another
+sat astride; a third lay along a limb, with one leg dangling downwards.
+The young Paraense had taken post upon a stout _lliana_, that threaded
+through the branches of the trees, and, with one arm around this and the
+other encircling the waist of his cousin, Rosita, he kept both the girl
+and himself in a position of perfect security.  Young Ralph found
+footing on a large limb, while his father stood upon a still larger one
+immediately below.  The pets, both birds and beasts, had distributed
+themselves in their affright, and were seen perched on all parts of the
+tree.
+
+For a time there was no attempt made by any one to change his position.
+The tornado still continued, and it was just as much as any of them
+could do to keep the place already gained.  There was one who did not
+even succeed in keeping his place, and this was Tipperary Tom.  The
+Irishman had selected one of the lowest limbs, that stretched
+horizontally outward, only a few feet above the surface of the water.
+He had not exactly made choice of his perch, but had been flung upon it
+by the swelling wave, and, clutching instinctively, had held fast.  The
+weight of his body, however, had bent the branch downward, and, after
+making several fruitless efforts to ascend to the stem, he had
+discovered that the feat was too much for him.  There was no choice but
+to hold on to the bent branch or drop back into the boiling Gapo, that
+threatened from below to ingulf him; terrified by the latter
+alternative, Tom exerted all his strength, and held on with mouth agape
+and eyes astare.  Soon the tension would have proved too much for him,
+and he must have dropped down into the water.  But he was not permitted
+to reach this point of exhaustion.  A wave similar to that which had
+landed him on the limb lifted him off again, launching him out into the
+open water.
+
+A cry of consternation came from the tree.  All knew that Tipperary Tom
+was no swimmer; and with this knowledge they expected to see him sink
+like a stone.  He did go down, and was for some moments lost to view;
+but his carrot-coloured head once more made its appearance above the
+surface, and, guided by his loud cries, his situation was easily
+discovered.  He could only sink a second time to rise no more.  Sad were
+the anticipations of his companions,--all except one, who had made up
+his mind that Tipperary Tom was not yet to die.  This was the Mundurucu,
+who at the moment was seen precipitating himself from the tree, and then
+swimming out in the direction of the drowning man.  In less than a score
+of seconds he was in the clutch of the Indian, who grasping him with one
+hand, with the other struck out for the tree.
+
+By good fortune the swell that had swept Tipperary from his perch, or
+one wonderfully like it, came balancing back towards the sapucaya,
+bearing both Indian and Irishman upon its crest, landing them in the
+great fork where the galatea had gone to pieces, and then retiring
+without them!  It seemed a piece of sheer good fortune, though no doubt
+it was a destiny more than half directed by the arm of the Indian, whose
+broad palm appeared to propel them through the water with the power of a
+paddle.
+
+To whatever indebted, chance or the prowess of the Mundurucu, certain it
+is that Tipperary Tom was rescued from a watery grave in the Gapo; and
+on seeing him along with his preserver safe in the fork of the tree, a
+general shout of congratulation, in which even the animals took part,
+pealed up through the branches, loud enough to be heard above the
+swishing of the leaves, the whistling of the wind, and the surging of
+the angry waters, that seemed to hiss spitefully at being disappointed
+of their prey.
+
+Tom's senses had become somewhat confused by the ducking.  Not so much,
+however, as to hinder him from perceiving that in the fork, where the
+wave had deposited him and his preserver, he was still within reach of
+the swelling waters; seeing this, he was not slow to follow the example
+of the Mundurucu, who, "swarming" up the stem of the tree, placed
+himself in a safe and more elevated position.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+A CONSULTATION IN THE TREE-TOP.
+
+It would scarce be possible to conceive a situation more forlorn than
+that of the castaway crew of the galatea.  Seated, standing, or astride
+upon the limbs of the sapucaya, their position was painful, and far from
+secure.  The tempest continued, and it was with difficulty they could
+keep their places, every gust threatening to blow them out of the
+tree-top.  Each clung to some convenient bough; and thus only were they
+enabled to maintain their balance.  The branches, swept by the furious
+storm, creaked and crackled around them,--bending as if about to break
+under their feet, or in the hands that apprehensively grasped them.
+Sometimes a huge pericarp, big as a cannon-ball, filled with heavy
+fruits, was detached from the pendulous peduncles, and went _swizzing_
+diagonally through the air before the wind, threatening a cracked crown
+to any who should be struck by it.  One of the castaways met with this
+bit of ill-luck,--Mozey the Mozambique.  It was well, however, that he
+was thus distinguished, since no other skull but his could have
+withstood the shock.  As it was, the ball rebounded from the close
+woolly fleece that covered the negro's crown, as from a cushion, causing
+him no further trouble than a considerable fright.  Mozey's looks and
+exclamations were ludicrous enough, had his companions been inclined for
+laughter.  But they were not; their situation was too serious, and all
+remained silent, fully occupied in clinging to the tree, and moodily
+contemplating the scene of cheerless desolation that surrounded them.
+
+Till now, no one had speculated on anything beyond immediate safety.  To
+escape drowning had been sufficient for their thoughts, and engrossed
+them for more than an hour after the galatea had gone down.  Then a
+change began to creep over their spirits,--brought about by one
+observable in the spirit of the storm.  It was, you remember, one of
+those tropical tempests, that spring up with unexpected celerity, and
+fall with equal abruptness.  Now the tempest began to show signs of
+having spent itself.  The tornado--a species of _cyclone_, usually of
+limited extent--had passed on, carrying destruction to some other part
+of the great Amazonian plain.  The wind lulled into short, powerless
+puffs, and the comparatively shallow waters of the Gapo soon ceased to
+swell.  By this time noon had come, and the sun looked down from a
+zenith of cloudless blue, upon an expanse of water no more disturbed,
+and on branches no longer agitated by the stormy wind.
+
+This transformation, sudden and benign, exerted an influence on the
+minds of our adventurers perched upon the sapucaya.  No longer in
+immediate danger, their thoughts naturally turned to the future; and
+they began to speculate upon a plan for extricating themselves from
+their unfortunate dilemma.
+
+On all sides save one, as far as the eye could scan, nothing could be
+seen but open water,--the horizon not even broken by the branch of a
+tree.  On the excepted side trees were visible, not in clumps, or
+standing solitary, but in a continuous grove, with here and there some
+taller ones rising many feet above their fellows.  There could be no
+doubt that it was a forest.  It would have gratified them to have
+believed it a thicket, for then would they have been within sight and
+reach of land.  But they could not think so consistently with their
+experience.  It resembled too exactly that to which they had tied the
+galatea on the eve of the tempest, and they conjectured that what they
+saw was but the "spray" of a forest submerged.  For all that, the design
+of reaching it as soon as the waters were calm was first in their minds.
+
+This was not so easy as might be supposed.  Although the border of the
+verdant peninsula was scarce a quarter of a mile distant, there were but
+two in the party who could swim across to it.  Had there existed the
+materials for making a raft, their anxiety need not have lasted long.
+But nothing of the kind was within reach.  The branches of the sapucaya,
+even if they could be broken off, were too heavy, in their green growing
+state, to do more than to buoy up their own ponderous weight.  So a
+sapucaya raft was not to be thought of, although it was possible that,
+among the tree-tops which they were planning to reach, dead timber might
+be found sufficient to construct one.  But this could be determined only
+after a reconnoissance of the submerged forest by Richard Trevannion and
+the Mundurucu, who alone could make it.
+
+To this the patron hardly consented,--indeed, he was not asked.  There
+seemed to be a tacit understanding that it was the only course that
+could be adopted; and without further ado, the young Paraense, throwing
+off such of his garments as might impede him, sprang from the tree, and
+struck boldly out for the flooded forest.  The Mundurucu, not being
+delayed by the necessity of stripping, had already taken to the water,
+and was fast cleaving his way across the open expanse that separated the
+solitary sapucaya from its more social companions.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+A FRACAS HEARD FROM AFAR.
+
+The castaways watched the explorers until they disappeared within the
+shadowy selvage.  Then, having nothing else to do, they proceeded to
+make themselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit, by
+selecting for their seats the softest branches of the sapucaya.  To be
+sure there was not much choice between the limbs, but the great fork,
+across which the galatea had broken, appeared to offer a position rather
+better than any other.  As the swell was no longer to be dreaded,
+Trevannion descended into the fork, taking little Rosa along with him,
+while the others sat on higher limbs, holding by the branches or stout
+llianas growing above them.  At best their situation was irksome, but
+physical inconvenience was hardly felt in their mental sufferings.
+Their reflections could not be other than painful as they contemplated
+the future.  Their shelter in the sapucaya could be only temporary, and
+yet it might continue to the end of their lives.  They had no assurance
+that they might be able to get out of it at all; and even if they should
+succeed in reaching the other trees, it might be only to find them forty
+feet deep in water.  The prospect was deplorable and their forebodings
+gloomy.
+
+For nearly an hour they exchanged no word.  The only sound heard was an
+occasional scream from one of the pet birds, or the jabbering of the
+monkeys, of which there had been five or six, of different kinds, on the
+galatea.  Two only had found refuge on the tree,--a beautiful little
+_Ouistiti_, and a larger one, of the genus _Ateles_, the black Coaita.
+The others, chained or otherwise confined, had gone down with the
+galatea.  So, too, with the feathered favourites, of many rare and
+beautiful kinds, collected during the long voyage on the Upper Amazon,
+some of which had been bought at large prices from their Indian owners,
+to carry across the Atlantic.  The caged had perished with the wreck,
+others by the tornado, and, like the _quadrumana_, only two of the birds
+had found an asylum on the tree.  One was a splendid hyacinthine macaw,
+the _Araruna_ of the Indians (_Macrocercus hyacinthinus_); the other a
+small paroquet, the very tiniest of its tribe, which had long divided
+with the little ouistiti the affections of Rosa.
+
+About an hour had elapsed since the departure of the swimming scouts,
+with no signs of their return.  The party cast anxious glances towards
+the place where they had last been seen, listening for any sounds from
+the thicket that concealed them.  Once or twice they fancied they heard
+their voices, and then they were all sure they heard shouts, but
+mingling with some mysterious sounds in a loud, confused chorus.  The
+coaita heard, and chattered in reply; so, too, did the ouistiti and
+paroquet; but the macaw seemed most disturbed, and once or twice,
+spreading its hyacinthine wings, rose into the air, and appeared
+determined to part from its _ci-devant_ protectors.  The call of Ralph,
+whose especial pet it was, allured it back to its perch, where, however,
+it only stayed in a state of screaming uncertainty.  There was something
+strange in this behaviour, though in the anxiety of the hour but little
+heed was paid to it; and as the voices soon after ceased, the araruna
+became tranquillised, and sat quietly on the roost it had selected.
+
+Once more, however, the shouting and strange cries came pealing across
+the water, and again the araruna gave evidence of excitement.  This time
+the noise was of shorter duration, and soon terminated in complete
+tranquillity.  Nearly two hours had now expired, and the countenances of
+all began to wear an expression of the most sombre character.  Certainly
+they had heard the voices of Richard and the Mundurucu mingling with
+those unearthly sounds.  There was time enough for them to have gone far
+into the unknown forest, and return.  What could detain them?  Their
+voices had been heard only in shouts and sharp exclamations, that
+proclaimed them to be in some critical, perhaps perilous situation.  And
+now they were silent!  Had they succumbed to some sad fate?  Were they
+dead?
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+THE JARARACA.
+
+There are bodily sensations stronger than many mental emotions.  Such
+are hunger and thirst.  The castaways in the tree-top began to
+experience both in an extreme degree.  By good fortune, the means of
+satisfying them were within reach.  With a "monkey-cup" emptied of its
+triangular kernels they could draw up water at will, and with its
+contents conquer the cravings of hunger.  At his father's request, and
+stimulated by his own sensations, Ralph began climbing higher, to
+procure some of the huge fruit-capsules suspended--as is the case with
+most South American forest-trees--from the extremities of the branches.
+The boy was a bold and skilful climber among the crags and cliffs of his
+native Cordilleras.  Still a tree did not come amiss to him, and in a
+twinkling he had ascended to the top branches of the sapucaya, the macaw
+making the ascent with him, perched upon his crown.  All at once the
+bird began to scream, as if startled by some terrible apparition; and
+without losing an instant, it forsook its familiar place, and commenced
+fluttering around the top of the tree, still continuing its cries.  What
+could be the cause?  The boy looked above and about him, but could
+discover nothing.  The screams of the araruna were instantly answered by
+the little paroquet in a tiny treble, but equally in accents of terror,
+while both the coaita and ouistiti, chattering in alarm, came bounding
+up the tree.  The paroquet had already joined the macaw, and, as if in
+imitation of its great congener, flew fluttering among the top branches,
+in a state of the wildest excitement!  Guided by the birds, that kept
+circling around one particular spot, the boy at length discovered the
+cause of the alarm; and the sight was one calculated to stir terror.
+
+It was a serpent coiled around a lliana that stretched diagonally
+between two branches.  It was of a yellowish-brown colour, near to that
+of the lliana itself; and but for its smooth, shining skin, and the
+elegant convolutions of its body, might have been mistaken for one
+parasite entwining another.  Its head, however, was in motion, its long
+neck stretched out, apparently in readiness to seize upon one of the
+birds as soon as it should come within striking distance.
+
+Ralph was not so much alarmed.  A snake was no uncommon sight, and the
+one in question was not so monstrous as to appear very formidable.  The
+first thought was to call off the birds, or in some way get them out of
+reach of the snake; for the imprudent creatures, instead of retreating
+from such a dangerous enemy, seemed determined to fling themselves upon
+its fangs, which Ralph could see erect and glistening, as at intervals
+it extended its jaws.  The little paroquet was especially imprudent,
+recklessly approaching within a few inches of the serpent, and even
+alighting on the lliana around which it had warped itself.  Ralph was
+ascending still higher, to take the bird in his hand, and carry it clear
+of the danger, when his climbing was suddenly arrested by a shout from
+Mozey, the Mozambique, that proclaimed both caution and terror.  "Fo'
+you life doant, Mass'r Raff!" cried the negro, following up his
+exclamation of warning.  "Fo' you life doant go near um!  You no know
+what am dat ar snake?  It am de _Jararaca_!"
+
+"Jararaca!" mechanically rejoined Ralph.
+
+"Ya--ya--de moas pisenous sarpin in all de valley ob de Amazon.  I'se
+hear de Injine say so a score ob times.  Come down, Mass'r! come down!"
+
+Attracted by the screaming of the birds and the chattering of the
+monkeys, the others listened attentively below.  But upon the negro's
+quick cry of warning, and the dialogue that ensued, Trevannion ascended
+higher, followed by Tipperary Tom,--Rosa remained alone below, in the
+fork where her father had left her.  Trevannion, on coming in sight of
+the snake, at once recognised it as all that Mozey had alleged,--the
+most poisonous of the Amazon valley,--a species of _Craspedocephalus_.
+He knew it from having seen one before, which the Mundurucu had killed
+near Coary, and had described in similar terms,--adding that its bite
+was almost instantly fatal, that it will attack man or beast without any
+provocation, that it can spring upon its enemy from a distance, and,
+finally, that it was more feared than any other creature in the country,
+not excepting the jaguar and jacare!
+
+The appearance of the reptile itself was sufficient to confirm this
+account.  Its flat triangular head, connected with the body by a long
+thin neck, its glittering eyes and red forking tongue, projected at
+intervals more than an inch beyond its snout, gave the creature a
+monstrous and hideous aspect.  It looked as if specially designed to
+cause death and destruction.  It was not of great size,--scarcely six
+feet long, and not thicker than a girl's wrist; but it needed not bulk
+to make it dangerous.  No one knew exactly what to do.  All were without
+arms, or weapons of any kind.  These had long since gone to the bottom
+of the Gapo; and for some minutes no movement was made except by young
+Ralph, who on being warned of his danger, had hastened to descend the
+tree.  The birds were left to themselves, and still continued screaming
+and fluttering above.  Up to this time the snake had remained
+motionless, except his oscillating head and neck.  Its body now began to
+move, and the glittering folds slowly to relax their hold upon the
+lliana.
+
+"Great God! he is coming down the tree!"  The words had hardly left
+Trevannion's lips before the snake was seen crawling along the lliana,
+and the next moment transferring its body to a branch which grew
+slantingly from the main trunk.  This was soon reached; and then, by
+means of another lliana lying parallel to it, the reptile continued its
+descent.  All those who stood by the trunk hastily forsook the perilous
+place, and retreated outward along the branches.  The jararaca seemed to
+take no note either of their presence or flight, but continued down the
+limb towards the fork of the main stem, where stood little Rosa.  "O
+heavens!" cried Trevannion, in a voice of anguish, "my child is lost!"
+
+The girl had risen to her feet, being already fearful of the danger
+threatening her friends above; but on looking up, she beheld the hideous
+reptile coming straight towards her.  Her situation was most perilous.
+The lliana by which the snake was descending rose right up from the fork
+of the sapucaya.  The child was even clasping it in her hand, to keep
+herself erect.  The reptile could not pass without touching her.  In
+fact, it must pass over her person to get down from the tree.  There was
+no likelihood of its gliding on without striking her.  Its well-known
+character--as the most malicious of venomous serpents--forbade the
+supposition.  The snake was scarce ten feet above her head, still
+gliding onward and downward!  It was at this crisis that her father had
+given voice to that despairing exclamation.  He was about to scramble
+down to the trunk, with the design of launching himself upon the
+serpent, and grappling it with his naked hands, reckless of
+consequences, when a sign from Mozey, accompanied by some words quickly
+spoken, caused him to hesitate.
+
+"No use, Mass'r!" cried the negro, "no use,--you be too late.  Jump,
+lilly Rosy!" he continued, calling to the child in a loud, commanding
+voice.  "It's you only chance.  Jump into de water, an ole Mozey he come
+down sabe you.  Jump!"  To stimulate the child by his example, the
+negro, with his last word, sprang out from his branch and plunged into
+the water.  In an instant he was upon the surface again, continuing his
+cries of encouragement.  Rosa Trevannion was a girl of spirit; and, in
+this fearful alternative, hesitated not a moment to obey.  Short as was
+the time, however, it would have proved too long had the snake continued
+its descent without interruption.  Fortunately it did not.  When its
+hideous head was close to the child's hand, where the latter grasped the
+lliana, it suddenly stopped,--not to prepare itself for the fatal dart,
+but because the negro's heavy fall had splashed much water against the
+tree, sprinkling child and jararaca too.  It was the momentary surprise
+of this unexpected shower-bath that had checked the serpent, while Rosa
+dropped down into the Gapo, and was caught by her sable preserver.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+HOLD ON!
+
+Mozey's noble conduct elicited a cry of admiration.  It was the more
+noble as the negro was a poor swimmer, and therefore risked his own
+life.  But this produced another effect, and in the shout there was no
+tone of triumph.  The child was perhaps only rescued from the reptile to
+be swallowed with her preserver by a monster far more; voracious, the
+ingulfing Gapo.  Nor was it yet certain that she had been saved from the
+serpent.  The jararaca is a snake eminently amphibious, alike at home on
+land or at sea.  It might follow, and attack them in the water.  Then,
+too, it would have a double advantage; for while it could swim like a
+fish, Mozey could just keep himself afloat, weighted as he was with his
+powerless burden.  In view of this, Trevannion's heart was filled with
+most painful anxiety, and for some time neither he nor any beside him
+could think what course to pursue.  It was some slight relief to them to
+perceive that the snake did not continue the pursuit into the water; for
+on reaching the fork of the tree it had thrown itself into a coil, as if
+determined to remain there.
+
+At first there appeared no great advantage in this.  In its position,
+the monster could prevent the swimmers from returning to the tree; and
+as it craned its long neck outward, and looked maliciously at the two
+forms struggling below, one could have fancied that it had set itself to
+carry out this exact design.  For a short time only Trevannion was
+speechless, and then thought, speech, and action came together.  "Swim
+round to the other side!" he shouted to the negro.  "Get under the great
+branch.  Ho, Tom!  You and Ralph climb aloft to the one above.  Tear off
+the lliana you see there, and let it down to me.  Quick, quick!"
+
+As he delivered these instructions, he moved out along the limb with as
+much rapidity as was consistent with safety, while Tipperary and Ralph
+climbed up to carry out his commands.  The branch taken by Trevannion
+himself was that to which he had directed the negro to swim, and was the
+same by which Tipperary Tom had made his first ascent into the tree, and
+from which he had been washed off again.  It extended horizontally
+outward, at its extremity dipping slightly towards the water.  Though in
+the swell caused by the tornado it had been at intervals submerged, it
+was now too far above the surface to have been grasped by any one from
+below.  The weight of Trevannion's body, as he crept outward upon it,
+brought it nearer to the water, but not near enough for a swimmer to lay
+hold.  He saw that, by going too far out, the branch would not bear his
+own weight, and might snap short off, thus leaving the swimmers in a
+worse position than ever.  It was for this reason he had ordered the
+untwining of the creeper that was clinging above.  His orders were
+obeyed with the utmost alacrity by Tom and Ralph, as if their own lives
+depended on the speed.  Almost before he was ready to receive it, the
+long lliana was wrenched from its tendril fastenings, and came
+straggling down over the branch on which he sat, like the stay of a ship
+loosened from her mast-head.
+
+Meanwhile Mozey,--making as much noise as a young whale, blowing like a
+porpoise, spurting and spitting like an angry cat,--still carrying the
+child safe on his shoulders, had arrived under the limb, and, with
+strokes somewhat irregularly given and quickly repeated, was doing his
+very best to keep himself and her above water.  It was evident to all,
+that the over-weighted swimmer was wellnigh exhausted; and had not the
+end of the long lliana plumped down in the nick of time, the Mozambique
+must indubitably have gone to the bottom, taking his charge with him.
+Just in time, however, the tree-cable came within his clutch, and,
+seizing it with all his remaining strength, Rosa relieved him of her
+weight by laying hold herself, and the two were drawn up into the tree
+amidst cries of "Hold on! hold on!" ending in general congratulation.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+THE PAROQUET.
+
+Alas! there was one circumstance that hindered their triumph from being
+complete.  The jararaca was still in the tree.  So long as this terrible
+tenant shared their abode, there could be neither confidence nor
+comfort.  There it lay coiled upon its scaly self, snugly ensconced in
+the fork below, with skin glittering brightly, and eyes gleaming
+fiercely in the golden sunlight that now fell slantingly against the
+tree.  How long would the monster remain in this tranquil attitude, was
+the question that presented itself to the minds of all, as soon as the
+first transport of their joy had subsided.  It was evident it had no
+intention of taking to the water, though it could have done so without
+fear.  No doubt the sapucaya was its habitual haunt; and it was not
+likely to forsake it just to accommodate some half-score of strange
+creatures who had chosen to intrude.  Surely some time or other it would
+re-ascend the tree, and then--?
+
+But all speculations on this point were soon interrupted.  The little
+paroquet, which had shown such excitement on first discovering the
+snake, had been quiet while all were engaged in the salvage of Mozey and
+the child.  Now that a certain quietness had been restored, the bird was
+seen returning to the jararaca for the supposed purpose of renewing its
+impotent attack.  For some minutes it kept fluttering over the serpent,
+now alighting upon a branch, anon springing off again, and descending to
+one lower and nearer to the jararaca, until it had almost reached its
+head.  Strange to say, there appeared no hostility in the bird's
+movements; its actions betrayed rather the semblance of fear, confirmed
+by the tremulous quivering of its frame whenever it came to rest upon a
+perch.  The spectators' suspicion was further strengthened by the little
+creature's continued cries.  It was not the angry chattering by which
+these birds usually convey their hostility, but a sort of plaintive
+screaming that betokened terror.  At each flight it approached closer to
+the serpent's forked tongue, and then retreated, as if vacillating and
+irresolute.
+
+The reptile meanwhile exhibited itself in a hideous attitude; yet a deep
+interest enchained the spectators.  Its head had broadened, or flattened
+out to twice the natural dimensions; the eyes seemed to shoot forth twin
+jets of fire, while the extensile tongue, projected from a double row of
+white, angular teeth, appeared to shine with phosphorescent flame.  The
+bird was being _charmed_, and was already under the serpent's
+fascination.
+
+How could the pretty pet be saved?  Young Ralph, noticing the despair
+upon his sister's face, was half inclined to rush down the tree, and
+give battle to the jararaca; and Tipperary Tom--whose general hostility
+to snakes and reptiles had a national and hereditary origin--purposed
+doing something to avert the paroquet's fast-approaching fate.
+Trevannion, however, was too prudent to permit any interference, while
+the negro appeared only anxious that the magic spectacle should reach
+its termination.  It was not cruelty on his part.  Mozey had his
+motives, which were soon after revealed, proving that the brain of the
+African is at times capable of conception equal, if not superior, to his
+boasted Caucasian brother.  There was no interruption.  The end was not
+far off.  By slow degrees, the bird appeared to grow exhausted, until
+its wings could no longer sustain it.  Then, as if paralysed by a final
+despair, it pitched itself right into the mouth of the reptile, whose
+jaws had been suddenly extended to receive it!  There was a slight
+flutter of the wings, a tremulous motion of the body, and the
+self-immolated creature appeared to be dead.  The serpent, half
+uncoiling itself, turned its head towards the tree, and, once more
+opening its jaws, permitted the now lifeless paroquet to escape from
+their clasp, and drop quietly into the crotch formed by the forking of
+the stem.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+THE LLIANA UNLOOSED.
+
+The spectators of this little tragedy of animal life had hitherto
+prudently refrained from taking part in it.  Curiosity now exerted an
+equal effect in preventing their interference; and without speech or
+motion they sat on their respective perches to observe the _finale_ of
+the drama, which evidently had not ended with the death of the paroquet.
+That was but the beginning of the end, for the prey was yet to be
+devoured.  Though provided with a double row of teeth, it is well-known
+that animals of the reptile kind do not masticate their food.  These
+teeth, set trenchantly, as is commonly the case, are intended only to
+capture the living prey, which enters the stomach afterwards by a
+process termed deglutition.  At the spectacle of just such a process,
+with all its preliminary preparations, were the group in the sapucaya
+now to be present,--the principal performer being apparently unconscious
+of, or at all events unconcerned at, their presence.
+
+Having deposited the dead bird in the fork of the tree, the serpent
+changed its coiled attitude into one that would give it a chance of
+filling its belly with less inconvenience.  There was not room for it to
+extend itself fully; and, in default of this, the tail was allowed to
+drop down along the stem of the tree, at least two thirds of the body
+remaining in a horizontal position.  Having arranged itself apparently
+to its satisfaction, it now directed its attention to the paroquet.
+Once more taking the dead bird between its teeth, it turned it over and
+over until the head lay opposite to its own, the body aligned in a
+longitudinal direction.  The jaws of the snake were now widely extended,
+while the tongue, loaded with saliva, was protruded and retracted with
+great rapidity.  The serpent continued this licking process until the
+short feathers covering the head of the bird, as also its neck and
+shoulders, seemed to be saturated with a substance resembling soap or
+starch.  When a sufficient coating had been laid on to satisfy the
+instincts of the serpent, the creature once more opened its jaws, and,
+making a sudden gulp, took in the head of the paroquet, with the neck
+and shoulders.  For a time no further action was perceptible.  Yet a
+movement was going on: and it was to assure himself of this that the
+Mozambique was so attentive.
+
+We have said that he had a motive for permitting the pet to be
+sacrificed, which was now on the eve of being revealed to his
+companions.  They all saw that there was something upon his mind, and
+eagerly anticipated the revelation.  Just as the jararaca had succeeded
+in bolting the anterior portion of the paroquet,--that is, the head,
+neck, and shoulders,--Mozey rose from his seat, stole towards the stem
+of the tree, and let himself down toward the fork, without saying a
+word.  His purpose, however, was manifest the moment after, for he
+stretched out his right hand, clutched the jararaca around the small of
+the neck, and flung the serpent--no longer capable of defending itself--
+far out into the waters of the Gapo!  The monster, with its feathered
+morsel still in its mouth, sank instantly, to be seen no more; so
+thought Mozey and his associates in the sapucaya.
+
+But, as the event proved, they had hastened to an erroneous conclusion.
+Scarce had their triumphant cheer echoed across the silent bosom of the
+Gapo, when the paroquet was observed floating upon the water; and the
+snake, having ejected the half-swallowed pill, was once more upon the
+surface, swimming with sinuous but brisk rendings of its body in rapid
+return to the tree.  The situation seemed more alarming than ever.  The
+fiend himself could hardly have shown a more implacable determination.
+
+To all appearance the jararaca was now returning to take revenge for the
+insult and disappointment to which it had been subjected.  Mozey, losing
+confidence in his own cunning, retreated up the tree.  He perceived, now
+that it was too late, the imprudence of which he had been guilty.  He
+should have permitted the snake to proceed a step further in the process
+of deglutition, until the disgorging of the paroquet, against the grain
+of its feathers, should have become impossible.  He had been too hasty,
+and must now answer the consequences.  Sure enough, the serpent returned
+to the sapucaya and commenced reascending, availing itself of the
+lliana, by which all of its enemies had effected their ascent.  In a few
+seconds it had mounted into the fork, and, still adhering to the
+parasite, was continuing its upward way.
+
+"O heavens!" ejaculated Trevannion, "one of us must become the prey of
+this pitiless monster!  What can be done to destroy it?"
+
+"Dar's a chance yet, Mass'r," cried Mozey, who had suddenly conceived a
+splendid thought.  "Dar's a chance yet.  All ob you lay hold on de
+creepin' vine, an' pull um out from de tree.  We chuck de varmint back
+into the water.  Now den,--all togedder!  Pull like good uns!"
+
+As the negro spoke, he seized the lliana, by which the serpent was
+making its spiral ascent, and put out all his strength to detach it from
+the trunk of the sapucaya.  The others instantly understood his design,
+and grasping the parasite, with a simultaneous effort tried to tear it
+off.  A quick jerk broke the lliana loose; and the jararaca, shaken from
+its hold, was sent whirling and writhing through the air, till it fell
+with a plunging noise upon the water below.  Once more a triumphant
+cheer went up through the sapucaya branches, once more to be stifled ere
+it had received the answer of its own echoes; for the jararaca was again
+seen upon the surface, as before, determinedly approaching the tree.
+
+It was a sight for despair.  There was something supernatural in the
+behaviour of the snake.  It was a monster not to be conquered by human
+strength, nor circumvented by human cunning.  Was there any use in
+continuing the attempt to subdue it?  Mozey, a fatalist, felt half
+disposed to submit to a destiny that could not be averted; and even
+Tipperary Tom began to despair of the power of his prayers to Saint
+Patrick.  The ex-miner, however, as well acquainted with the
+subterraneous regions as with upper earth, had no superstition to hinder
+him from action, and, instead of desponding he at once adopted the
+proper course.  Catching hold of the creeper, that had already been
+loosened from the trunk, and calling upon the others to assist him, he
+tore the creeper entirely from the tree, flinging its severed stem far
+out upon the water.  In a moment after, the snake came up, intending to
+climb into the sapucaya, as no doubt it had often done before.  We
+wonder what were its feelings on finding that the ladder had been
+removed, and that an ascent of the smooth trunk of the sapucaya was no
+longer possible, even to a tree snake!  After swimming round and round,
+and trying a variety of places, the discomfited jararaca turned away in
+apparent disgust; and, launching out on the bosom of the Gapo, swam off
+in the direction of the thicket,--on the identical track that had been
+taken by Richard and the Mundurucu.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+SERPENT FASCINATION.
+
+It was some time before Trevannion and his companions in misfortune
+could recover from the excitement and awe of their adventure.  They
+began to believe that the strange tales told them of the Gapo and its
+denizens had more than a substratum of truth; for the protracted and
+implacable hostility shown by the snake, and its mysterious power over
+the bird, seemed surely supernatural.  Trevannion reflected on the
+singular behaviour of the jararaca.  That a reptile of such contemptible
+dimensions should exhibit so much cunning and courage as to return to
+the attack after being repeatedly foiled, and by an enemy so far its
+superior in strength and numbers, together with its hideous aspect,
+could not fail to impress him with a feeling akin to horror, in which
+all those around him shared.  The very monkeys and birds must have felt
+it; for when in the presence of snakes, they had never before exhibited
+such trepidation and excitement.  Long after the serpent had been
+pitched for the second time into the water, the coaita kept up its
+terrified gibbering, the macaw screamed, and the tiny ouistiti,
+returning to Rosa's protection,--no longer to be shared with its late
+rival,--sat trembling in her lap, as if the dreaded reptile were still
+within dangerous proximity.
+
+This feeling was but temporary, however.  Trevannion was a man of strong
+intellect, trained and cultivated by experience and education; and after
+a rational review of the circumstances, he became convinced that there
+was nothing very extraordinary, certainly nothing supernatural, in what
+transpired.  The jararaca--as he had heard, and as everybody living on
+the Amazon knew--was one of the most venomous of serpents, if not the
+most venomous of all.  Even the birds and beasts were acquainted with
+this common fact, and dreaded the reptile accordingly, not from mere
+_instinct_, but from actual knowledge possessed and communicated in some
+mysterious way to one another.  This would account for the wild terror
+just exhibited, which in the case of the paroquet had come to a fatal
+end.  There was a mystery about this for which Trevannion could not
+account.  The power which the serpent appeared to have obtained over the
+bird, controlling its movements without any apparent action of its own,
+was beyond comprehension.  Whether or not it be entitled to the name
+given it,--_fascination_, certainly it is a fact,--one that has been
+repeatedly observed, and to which not only birds, but quadrupeds, have
+been the victims; and not only by ordinary observers, but by men skilled
+in the knowledge of nature, who have been equally at a loss to account
+for it by natural causes.  But this link in the chain of incidents,
+though mysterious, was not new nor peculiar to this situation.  It had
+been known to occur in all countries and climes, and so soon ceased to
+excite any weird influence on the mind of Trevannion.
+
+For the other circumstances that had occurred there was an explanation
+still more natural.  The jararaca, peculiarly an inhabitant of the Gapo
+lands, had simply been sunning itself upon the sapucaya.  It may have
+been prowling about in the water when overtaken by the tornado; and, not
+wishing to be carried away from its haunt, had sought a temporary
+shelter in the tree, to which an unlucky chance had guided the galatea.
+Its descent was due to the behaviour of the birds, which, after having
+for a time tantalised it,--provoking its spite, and in all likelihood
+its hungry appetite,--had temporarily suspended their attack, returning
+down the tree with Ralph and the negro.  It was in pursuit of them,
+therefore, it had forsaken its original perch.  The commotion caused by
+its descent, but more especially the ducking it had received, and the
+presence of the two human forms in the water below, had induced it to
+halt in the forking of the tree, where shortly after its natural prey
+again presented itself,--ending in an episode that was to it an ordinary
+occurrence.  The choking it had received in the hands of the negro, and
+its unexpected immersion, had caused the involuntary rejection of the
+half-swallowed morsel.  In the opaque water it had lost sight of the
+bird, and was returning to the sapucaya either in search of its food, or
+to reoccupy its resting-place.
+
+It is well-known that the jararaca has no fear of man, but will attack
+him whenever he intrudes upon its domain.  The Indians assert that it
+will even go out of its way for this purpose, unlike the rattlesnake and
+other venomous reptiles, which rarely exert their dangerous power except
+in self-defence.  So this jararaca reascended the sapucaya undismayed by
+the human enemies it saw there, one or more of whom might have become
+its victims but for the timely removal of the lliana ladder.
+
+On this review of facts and fancies, the equanimity of our adventurers
+was nearly restored.  At all events, they were relieved from the
+horrible thoughts of the supernatural, that for a time held ascendancy
+over them.  Their hunger and thirst again manifested themselves, though
+little Rosa and her preserver no longer suffered from the last.  In
+their short excursion both had been repeatedly under water, and had
+swallowed enough to last them for that day at least.  Yet they were in
+want of food, and Ralph once more climbed the tree to obtain it.  He
+soon possessed himself of half a dozen of the huge nut capsules, which
+were tossed into the hands of those below, and, water being drawn up in
+one of the emptied shells, a meal was made, which if not hearty, was
+satisfactory.  The group could do no more than await the return of their
+absent companions; and with eyes fixed intently and anxiously upon the
+dark water, and beneath the close-growing trees, they watched for the
+first ripple that might betoken their coming.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+THE WATER ARCADE.
+
+We must leave for a time the castaways in the tree-top, and follow the
+fortunes of the two swimmers on their exploring expedition.
+
+On reaching the edge of the submerged forest, their first thought was to
+clutch the nearest branch, and rest themselves by clinging to it.  They
+were no longer in doubt as to the character of the scene that surrounded
+them, for their experience enabled them to comprehend it.
+
+"The Gapo!" muttered Munday, as they glided in under the shadows.  "No
+dry land here, young master," he added, clutching hold of a lliana.  "We
+may as well look out for a roost, and rest ourselves.  It's full ten
+fathoms deep.  The Mundurucu can tell that by the sort of trees rising
+over it."
+
+"I didn't expect anything else," rejoined young Trevannion, imitating
+his companion by taking hold of a branch and climbing up.  "My only hope
+is that we may find some float timber to ferry the others across.  Not
+that there's much in it if we do.  How we're to find our way out of this
+mess is more than either you or I can tell."
+
+"The Mundurucu never despairs,--not even in the middle of the Gapo," was
+the Indian's proud reply.
+
+"You have hope, then?  You think we shall find timber enough for a raft
+to carry us clear of the inundation."
+
+"No!" answered the Indian.  "We have got too far from the channel of the
+big river.  We shall see no floating trees here,--nothing to make a raft
+that would carry us."
+
+"Why then did we come here, if not for the purpose of finding dead
+timber for that object?"
+
+"Dead timber?  No!  If that was our errand, we might go back as we've
+come,--empty-handed.  We shall float all the people over here without
+that.  Follow me, young master.  We must go farther into the Gapo.  Let
+old Munday show you how to construct a raft without trees, only making
+use of their fruit."
+
+"Lead on!" cried the Paraense.  "I'm ready to assist you; though I
+haven't the slightest conception of what you mean to do."
+
+"You shall see presently, young master," rejoined Munday, once more
+spreading himself to swim.  "Come on! follow me!  If I'm not mistaken,
+we'll soon find the materials for a raft,--or something that will answer
+as well for the present.  Come along, there!  Come!"--and he launched
+himself into the water.
+
+Trevannion followed his example, and, once more consigning himself to
+the flood, he swam on in the Indian's wake.  Through aisles dimmed with
+a twilight like that of approaching night, along arcades covered with
+foliage so luxuriant as to be scarce penetrable by the rays of a tropic
+sun, the two swimmers, the Indian ever in advance, held their way.
+
+To Richard Trevannion the Mundurucu was comparatively a stranger, known
+only as a _tapuyo_ employed by his uncle in the management of the
+galatea.  He knew the tribe by rumours even more than sinister.  They
+were reputed in Para to be the most bloodthirsty of savages, who took
+delight not only in the destruction of their enemies, but in keeping up
+a ghastly souvenir of hostility by preserving their heads.  In the
+company of a Mundurucu, especially in such a place,--swimming under the
+sombre shadows of a submerged forest,--it can scarce be wondered at that
+the youth felt suspicion, if not actual fear.  But Richard Trevannion
+was a boy of bold heart, and bravely awaited the _denouement_ of the
+dismal journey.
+
+Their swim terminated at length, and the Indian, pointing to a tree,
+cried out: "Yonder--yonder is the very thing of which I was in search.
+Hoo-hoo!  Covered with sipos too,--another thing we stand in need of,--
+cord and pitch both growing together.  The Great Spirit is kind to us,
+young master."
+
+"What is it?" demanded Richard.  "I see a great tree, loaded with
+climbers as you say.  But what of that?  It is green, and growing.  The
+wood is full of sap, and would scarce float itself; you can't construct
+a raft out of that.  The sipos might serve well enough for rope; but the
+timber won't do, even if we had an axe to cut it down."
+
+"The Mundurucu needs no axe, nor yet timber to construct his raft.  All
+he wants here is the sap of that tree, and some of the sipos clinging to
+its branches.  The timber we shall find on the sapucaya, after we go
+back.  Look at the tree, young master!  Do you not know it?"
+
+The Paraense, thus appealed to, turned his eyes toward the tree, and
+scanned it more carefully.  Festooned by many kinds of climbing plants,
+it was not so easy to distinguish its foliage from that of the parasites
+it upheld; enough of the leaves, however, appeared conspicuous to enable
+him to recognise the tree as one of the best known and most valuable to
+the inhabitants, not only of his native Para, but of all the Amazonian
+region, "Certainly," he replied, "I see what sort of tree it is.  It's
+the _Seringa_,--the tree from which they obtain caoutchouc.  But what do
+you want with that?  You can't make a raft out of India-rubber, can
+you?"
+
+"You shall see, young master; you shall see!"
+
+During this conversation the Mundurucu had mounted among the branches of
+the seringa, calling upon his companion to come after him, who hastily
+responded to the call.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE SYRINGE-TREE.
+
+The tree into whose top the swimmers had ascended was, as Richard had
+rightly stated, that from which the caoutchouc, or India-rubber, is
+obtained.  It was the _Siphonia elastica_, of the order _Euphorbiaceae_,
+of the Amazonian valley.  Not that the _Siphonia_ is the only tree which
+produces the world-renowned substance, which has of late years effected
+almost a revolution in many arts, manufactures, and domestic economies
+of civilised life.  There are numerous other trees, both in the Old and
+New World, most of them belonging to the famed family of the figs, which
+in some degree afford the caoutchouc of commerce.  Of all, however, that
+yielded by the _Siphonia elastica_ is the best, and commands the highest
+price among dealers.  The young Paraense called it _Seringa_, and this
+is the name he had been accustomed to hear given to it.  _Seringa_ is
+simply the Portuguese for syringe, and the name has attached itself to
+the tree, because the use which the aborigines were first observed to
+make of the elastic tubes of the caoutchouc was that of squirts or
+syringes, the idea being suggested by their noticing the natural tubes
+formed by the sap around twigs, when flowing spontaneously from the
+tree.  For syringes it is employed extensively to this day by Brazilians
+of all classes, who construct them by moulding the sap, while in its
+fluid state, into pear-shaped bottles, and inserting a piece of cane in
+the long neck.
+
+The caoutchouc is collected in the simplest way, which affords a regular
+business to many Amazonians, chiefly native Indians, who dispose of it
+to the Portuguese or Brazilian traders.  The time is in August, when the
+subsidence of the annual inundation permits approach to the trees; for
+the _Seringa_ is one of those species that prefer the low flooded lands,
+though it is not altogether peculiar to the Gapo.  It grows throughout
+the whole region of the Amazon, wherever the soil is alluvial and
+marshy.  The India-rubber harvest, if we may use the term, continues
+throughout the dry months, during which time very large quantities of
+the sap are collected, and carried over to the export market of Para.  A
+number of trees growing within a prescribed circle are allotted to each
+individual, whose business it is--man, woman, or boy--to attend to the
+assigned set of trees; and this is the routine of their day's duty.
+
+In the evening the trees are tapped; that is, a gash or incision is made
+in the bark,--each evening in a fresh place,--and under each is
+carefully placed a little clay cup, or else the shell of an
+_Ampullasia_, to catch the milky sap that oozes from the wound.  After
+sunrise in the morning, the "milkers" again revisit the scene of
+operations, and empty all the cups into a large vessel, which is carried
+to one common receptacle.  By this time the sap, which is still of a
+white colour, is of the consistency of cream, and ready for moulding.
+The collectors have already provided themselves with moulds of many
+kinds, according to the shape they wish the caoutchouc to assume, such
+as shoes, round balls, bottles with long necks, and the like.  These are
+dipped into the liquid, a thin stratum of which adheres to them, to be
+made thicker by repeated immersions, until the proper dimensions are
+obtained.  After the last coat has been laid on, lines and ornamental
+tracings are made upon the surface, while still in a soft state; and a
+rich brown colour is obtained by passing the articles repeatedly through
+a thick black smoke, given out by a fire of palm-wood,--several species
+of these trees being specially employed for this purpose.  As the moulds
+are usually solid substances, and the shoes, balls, and bottles are cast
+_on_, and not _in_ them, it may be wondered how the latter can be taken
+off, or the former got out.  King George would have been as badly
+puzzled about this, as he was in regard to the apples in the pudding.
+The idea of the Amazonian aboriginal, though far more ingenious, is
+equally easy of explanation.  His bottle-moulds are no better than balls
+of dried mud, or clay; and so too, the lasts upon which he fashions the
+India-rubber shoes.  Half an hour's immersion in water is sufficient to
+restore them to their original condition of soft mud; when a little
+scraping and washing completes the manufacture, and leaves the commodity
+in readiness for the merchant and the market.
+
+The _Seringa_ is not a tree of very distinguished appearance, and but
+for its valuable sap might be passed in a forest of Amazonia, where so
+many magnificent trees meet the eye, without eliciting a remark.  Both
+in the colour of its bark and the outline of its leaves it bears a
+considerable resemblance to the European ash,--only that it grows to a
+far greater size, and with a stem that is branchless, often to the
+height of thirty or forty feet above the ground.  The trunk of that on
+which the Mundurucu and his companion had climbed was under water to
+that depth, else they could not so easily have ascended.  It was growing
+in its favourite situation,--the Gapo,--its top festooned, as we have
+said, with scores of parasitical plants, of many different species,
+forming a complete labyrinth of limbs, leaves, fruits, and flowers.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+A BATTLE WITH BIRDS.
+
+Scarce had the Paraense succeeded in establishing himself on the tree,
+when an exclamation from his companion, higher up among the branches,
+caused him to look aloft.  "Hoo-hoo!" was the cry that came from the
+lips of the Mundurucu, in a tone of gratification.
+
+"What is it, Munday?"
+
+"Something good to eat, master?"
+
+"I'm glad to hear it.  I feel hungry enough in all conscience; and these
+sapucaya nuts don't quite satisfy me.  I'd like a little fish or flesh
+meat along with them."
+
+"It's neither," rejoined the Indian.  "Something as good, though.  It's
+fowl!  I've found an arara's nest."
+
+"O, a macaw!  But where is the bird?  You haven't caught it yet?"
+
+"Haven't I?" responded the Mundurucu, plunging his arm elbow-deep into a
+cavity in the tree-trunk; and dragging forth a half-fledged bird, nearly
+as big as a chicken.  "Ah, a nest! young ones!  Fat as butter too!"
+
+"All right.  We must take them back with us.  Our friends in the
+sapucaya are hungry as we, and will be right glad to see such an
+addition to the larder."
+
+But Richard's reply was unheard; for, from the moment that the Mundurucu
+had pulled the young macaw out of its nest, the creature set up such a
+screaming and flopping of its half-fledged wings, as to fill all the
+woods around.  The discordant ululation was taken up and repeated by a
+companion within the cavity; and then, to the astonishment of the twain,
+half a score of similar screaming voices were heard issuing from
+different places higher up in the tree, where it was evident there were
+several other cavities, each containing a nest full of young araras.
+
+"A regular breeding-place, a macaw-cot," cried Richard, laughing as he
+spoke.  "We'll get squabs enough to keep us all for a week!"
+
+The words had scarce passed his lips, when a loud clangour reverberated
+upon the air.  It was a confused mixture of noises,--a screaming and
+chattering,--that bore some resemblance to the human voice; as if half a
+score of Punches were quarrelling with as many Judys at the same time.
+The sounds, when first heard, were at some distance; but before twenty
+could have been counted, they were uttered close to the ears of the
+Mundurucu, who was highest up, while the sun became partially obscured
+by the outspread wings of a score of great birds, hovering in hurried
+flight around the top of the seringa.  There was no mystery about the
+matter.  The new-comers were the parents of the young macaws--the owners
+of the nests--returning from a search for provender for their pets,
+whose piercing cries had summoned them in all haste to their home.  As
+yet, neither the Indian nor his young companion conceived any cause for
+alarm.  Foolish indeed to be frightened by a flock of birds!  They were
+not allowed to indulge long in this comfortable equanimity; for, almost
+on the moment of their arrival above the tree, the united parentage of
+araras plunged down among the branches, and, with wing, beak, and
+talons, began an instant and simultaneous attack upon the intruders.
+The Indian was the first to receive their onset.  Made in such a united
+and irresistible manner, it had the effect of causing him to let go the
+chick, which fell with a plunge into the water below.  In its descent it
+was accompanied by half a dozen of the other birds,--its own parents,
+perhaps, and their more immediate friends,--and these, for the first
+time espying a second enemy farther down, directed their attack upon
+him.  The force of the assailants was thus divided; the larger number
+continued their onslaught upon the Indian, though the young Paraense at
+the same time found his hands quite full enough in defending himself,
+considering that he carried nothing in the shape of a weapon, and that
+his body, like that of his comrade, was altogether unprotected by
+vestments.  To be sure, the Mundurucu was armed with a sharp knife,
+which he had brought along with him in his girdle; but this was of very
+little use against his winged enemies; and although he succeeded in
+striking down one or two of them, it was done rather by a blow of the
+fist than by the blade.
+
+In a dozen seconds both had received almost as many scratches from the
+beaks and talons of the birds, which still continued the combat with a
+fury that showed no signs of relaxation or abatement.  The Paraense did
+not stay either to take counsel or imitate the example of his more sage
+companion, but, hastily bending down upon the limb whereon he had been
+maintaining the unequal contest, he plunged headforemost into the water.
+Of course a "header" from such a height carried him under the surface;
+and his assailants, for the moment missing him, flew back into the
+tree-top, and joined in the assault on Munday.  The latter, who had by
+this become rather sick of the contest, thinking of no better plan,
+followed his comrade's example.  Hastily he flung himself into the
+flood, and, first diving below the surface, came up beside the Paraense,
+and the two swam away side by side in silence, each leaving behind him a
+tiny string of red; for the blood was flowing freely from the scratches
+received in their strange encounter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+A CONTEST WITH CUDGELS.
+
+Our discomfited adventurers did not swim far from the seringa, for the
+birds did not follow them.  Satisfied with seeing the burglars fairly
+beyond the boundaries of their domicile, the tenants of the tree
+returned to their nests, as if to ascertain what amount of damage had
+been done.  In a short time the commotion had almost subsided, though
+there was heard an occasional scream,--the wail of the bereaved parents;
+for the helpless squab, after struggling a while on the surface of the
+water, had gone suddenly out of sight.  There was no danger, therefore,
+of further molestation from their late assailants, so long as they
+should be left in quiet possession of the seringa, and therefore there
+was no further necessity for the two swimmers to retreat.  A new
+intention had shaped itself in Munday's mind by this time, and he
+expressed his determination to return, to the surprise of the youth, who
+asked his purpose.
+
+"Partly the purpose for which we first climbed it, and partly," added
+he, with an angry roll of his almond-shaped eyes, "to obtain revenge.  A
+Mundurucu is not to be bled in this fashion, even by birds, without
+drawing blood in return.  I don't go out from this _igarape_ till I've
+killed every arara, old as well as young, in that accursed tree, or
+chased the last of them out of it.  Follow, and I'll show you how."
+
+The Indian turned his face towards the thicket of tree-tops forming one
+side of the water arcade, and with a stroke or two brought himself
+within reach of some hanging parasites, and climbed up, bidding Richard
+follow.  Once more they were shut in among the tops of what appeared to
+be a gigantic mimosa.  "It will do," muttered the Mundurucu drawing his
+knife and cutting a stout branch, which he soon converted into a cudgel
+of about two feet in length.  This he handed to his companion, and then,
+selecting a second branch of still stouter proportions, fashioned a
+similar club for himself.
+
+"Now," said he, after having pruned the sticks to his satisfaction,
+"we're both armed, and ready to give battle to the araras, with a better
+chance of coming off victorious.  Let us lose no time.  We have other
+work to occupy us, and your friends will be impatient for our return."
+Saying this, he let himself down into the water, and turned towards the
+seringa.  His _protege_ made no protest, but followed instantly after.
+Tightly clutching their cudgels, both reascended the seringa, and
+renewed the battle with the birds.  The numbers were even more unequal
+than before; but this time the advantage was on the side of the
+intruders.
+
+Striking with their clubs of heavy acacia-wood, the birds fell at every
+blow, until not one arara fluttered among the foliage.  Most of these
+had fallen wounded upon the water; a few only, seeing certain
+destruction before them, took flight into the far recesses of the
+flooded forest.  The Mundurucu, true to his promise, did not leave a
+living bird upon the tree.
+
+One after another, he hauled the half-fledged chicks from their nests;
+one after another, twisted their necks; and then, tying their legs
+together with a sipo, he separated the bunch into two equally-balanced
+parts, hanging it over a limb of the tree.  "They can stay there till ee
+come back, which will be soon.  And now let us accomplish the purpose
+for which we came here!"  Laying aside the club that had made such havoc
+among the macaws, he drew the knife from his girdle.  Selecting a spot
+on one of the larger limbs of the seringa, he made an incision in the
+bark, from which the milky juice immediately flowed.
+
+He had made provision against any loss of the precious fluid in the
+shape of a pair of huge monkey-pots, taken from a sapucaya while on the
+way, and which had been all the while lying in their place of deposit in
+a network of parasites.  One of these he gave Richard, to hold under the
+tap while he made a second incision upon a longer limb of the seringa.
+Both nutshells were quickly filled with the glutinous juice, which soon
+began to thicken and coagulate like rich cream.  The lids were restored
+to their places, and tied on with sipos, and then a large quantity of
+this natural cordage was collected and made up into a portable shape.
+This accomplished, the Mundurucu signified his intention of returning to
+the castaways; and, after apportioning part of the spoil to his
+companion, set out on the way they had come.  The young Paraense swam
+close in his wake, and in ten minutes they had re-traversed the igarape,
+and saw before them the bright sun gilding the Gapo at its embouchure,
+that appeared like the mouth of some subterraneous cavern.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+CHASED BY A JACARe.
+
+A few more strokes would have carried the swimmers clear of the water
+arcade.  Richard was already congratulating himself on the prospect of
+escaping from the gloomy shadow, when all at once his companion started,
+raised his head high above the surface, and gazed backward along the
+dark arcade.  As he did so, an exclamation escaped him, which only could
+be one of alarm.  "A monster!" cried the Mundurucu.
+
+"A monster!  What sort? where?"
+
+"Yonder,--just by the edge of the igarape,--close in to the trees,--his
+body half hid under the hanging branches."
+
+"I see something like the trunk of a dead tree, afloat upon the water.
+A monster you say, Munday?  What do you make it out to be?"
+
+"The body of a big reptile,--big enough to swallow us both.  It's the
+_Jacare-uassu_.  I heard its plunge.  Did not you?"
+
+"I heard nothing like a plunge, except that made by ourselves in
+swimming."
+
+"No matter.  There was such a noise but a moment ago.  See! the monster
+is again in motion.  He is after us!"
+
+The dark body Richard had taken for the drifting trunk of a tree was now
+in motion, and evidently making direct for himself and his companion.
+The waves, undulating horizontally behind it, proclaimed the strokes of
+its strong, vertically flattened tail, by which it was propelled through
+the water.
+
+"The jacare-uassu!" once more exclaimed the Mundurucu, signifying that
+the reptile was the great alligator of the Amazon.
+
+It was one of the largest size, its body showing full seven yards above
+the water, while its projecting jaws, occasionally opened in menace or
+for breath, appeared of sufficient extent to swallow either of the
+swimmers.
+
+It was idle for them to think of escaping through the water.  At ease as
+they both were in this element, they would have proved but clumsy
+competitors with a cayman, especially one of such strength and natatory
+skill as belong to the huge reptile in pursuit of them.  Such a
+swimming-match was not to be thought of, and neither entertained the
+idea of it.
+
+"We must take to the trees!" cried the Indian, convinced that the
+alligator was after them.  "The Great Spirit is good to make them grow
+so near.  It's the only chance we have for saving our lives.  To the
+trees, young master,--to the trees!"
+
+As he spoke, the Mundurucu faced towards the forest; and, with quick,
+energetic strokes, they glided under the hanging branches.  Most nimbly
+they climbed the nearest, and, once lodged upon a limb, were safe; and
+on one of the lowest they "squatted," to await the approach of the
+jacare.  In about three seconds the huge saurian came up, pausing as it
+approached the spot where the two intended victims had ascended out of
+its reach.  It seemed more than surprised,--in fact, supremely
+astonished; and for some moments lay tranquil, as if paralysed by its
+disappointment.  This quietude, however, was of short duration; for soon
+after, as if conscious of having been tricked, it commenced quartering
+the water in short diagonal lines, which every instant was lashed into
+foam by a stroke of its powerful tail.
+
+"Let us be grateful to the Great Spirit!" said the Indian, looking down
+from his perch upon the tree.  "We may well thank him for affording us a
+safe refuge here.  It's the jacare-uassu, as I said.  The monster is
+hungry, because it's the time of flood, and he can't get food so easily.
+The fish upon which he feeds are scattered through the Gapo, and he can
+only catch them by a rare chance.  Besides, he has tasted our blood.
+Did you not see him sup at it as he came up the igarape?  He's mad now,
+and won't be satisfied till he obtains a victim,--a man if he can, for I
+can tell by his looks he's a man-eater."
+
+"A man-eater!  What mean you by that?"
+
+"Only that this jacare has eaten men, or women as likely."
+
+"But how can you tell that?"
+
+"Thus, young master.  His bigness tells me of his great age.  He has
+lived long, and in his time visited many places.  But what makes me
+suspect him to be a man-eater is the eagerness with which he pursued us,
+and the disappointment he shows at not getting hold of us.  Look at him
+now!"
+
+Certainly there was something peculiar both in the appearance and
+movements of the jacare.  Young Trevannion had never seen such a monster
+before, though alligators were plenteous around Para, and were no rare
+sight to him.  This one, however, was larger than any he had ever seen,
+more gaunt or skeleton-like in frame, with a more disgusting leer in its
+deep-sunken eyes, and altogether more unearthly in its aspect.  The
+sight of the hidden saurian went far to convince him that there was some
+truth in the stories of which he had hitherto been sceptical.  After
+all, the Gapo might contain creatures fairly entitled to the appellation
+of "monsters."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+A SAURIAN DIGRESSION.
+
+It would be difficult to conceive a more hideous monster than this upon
+which Richard Trevannion and his comrade gazed.  In fact, there is no
+form in nature--scarce even in the imagination--more unpleasing to the
+eye than that of the lizard, the serpent's shape not excepted.  The
+sight of the latter may produce a sensation disagreeable and akin to
+fear; but the curving and graceful configuration, either at rest or in
+motion, and the smooth, shining skin, often brilliantly coloured in
+beautiful patterns, tend to prevent it from approaching the bounds of
+horror.  With the saurian shape it is different.  In it we behold the
+type of the horrible, without anything to relieve the unpleasant
+impression.  The positive, though distant, resemblance to the human form
+itself, instead of making the creature more seemly, only intensities the
+feeling of dread with which we behold it.  The most beautiful colouring
+of the skin, and the gentlest habits, are alike inefficacious to remove
+that feeling.  You may look upon the tree-lizard, clothed in a livery of
+the most vivid green; the _Anolidae_, in the bright blue of turquoise,
+in lemon and orange; you may gaze on the chameleon when it assumes its
+most brilliant hues,--but not without an instinctive sense of
+repugnance.  True, there are those who deny this, who profess not to
+feel it, and who can fondle such pets in their hands, or permit them to
+play around their necks and over their bosoms.  This, however, is due to
+habit, and long, familiar acquaintance.
+
+Since this is so with the smaller species of the lizard tribe, even with
+those of gay hues and harmless habits, what must it be with those huge
+saurians that constitute the family of the _Crocodilidae_, all of which,
+in form, colour, habits, and character, approach the very extreme of
+hideousness.  Of these gigantic reptiles there is a far greater variety
+of species than is generally believed,--greater than is known even to
+naturalists.  Until lately, some three or four distinct kinds,
+inhabiting Asia, Africa, and America, were all that were supposed to
+exist.  Recent exploration reveals a very different condition, and has
+added many new members to the family of the _Crocodilidae_.
+
+It would be safe to hazard a conjecture, that, when the world of nature
+becomes better known, the number of species of these ugly amphibia,
+under the various names of gavials, crocodiles, caymans, and alligators,
+all brothers or first-cousins, will amount to two score.  It is the very
+close resemblance in appearance and general habits that has hitherto
+hindered these different kinds from being distinguished.  Their species
+are many; and, if you follow the naturalists of the anatomic school, so
+too are the genera; for it pleases these sapient theorists to found a
+genus on almost any species,--thus confounding and rendering more
+difficult the study it is their design to simplify.  In the case of the
+_Crocodilidae_ such subdivision is absolutely absurd; and a single
+genus--certainly two at the most--would suffice for all purposes,
+practical or theoretical.  The habits of the whole family--gavials and
+alligators, crocodiles, caymans, and jacares--are so much alike, that it
+seems a cruelty to separate them.  It is true the different species
+attain to very different sizes; some, as the _curua_, are scarce two
+feet in length, while the big brothers of the family, among the gavials,
+crocodiles, and alligators, are often ten times as long.
+
+It is impossible to say how many species of _Crocodilidae_ inhabit the
+waters of the South American continent.  There are three in the Amazon
+alone; but it is quite probable that in some of its more remote
+tributaries there exist other distinct species, since the three above
+mentioned do not all dwell in the same portion of this mighty stream.
+The Amazonian Indians speak of many more species, and believe in their
+existence.  No doubt the Indians are right.
+
+In the other systems of South American waters, as those of the La Plata,
+the Orinoco, and the Magdalena, species exist that are not known to the
+Amazon.  Even in the isolated water deposits of Lake Valencia Humboldt
+discovered the bava, a curious little crocodile not noted elsewhere.
+The three Amazonian reptiles, though having a strong resemblance in
+general aspect, are quite distinct as regards the species.  In the
+curious and useful dialect of that region, understood alike by Indians
+and Portuguese, they are all called "Jacares," though they are
+specifically distinguished as the _Jacare-uassu_ the _Jacare-tinga_, and
+the _Jacare-curua_.  Of the first kind was that which had pursued the
+two swimmers, and it was one of the largest of its species, full
+twenty-five feet from the point of its bony snout to the tip of its
+serrated tail.  No wonder they got out of its way!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+TREED BY AN ALLIGATOR.
+
+For a time the two refugees were without fear or care.  They knew they
+were out of reach, and, so long as they kept to their perch, were in no
+danger.  Had it been a jaguar instead of a jacare, it would have been
+another thing; but the amphibious animal could not crawl up the trunk of
+a tree, nor yet ascend by the hanging limbs or llianas.  Their only
+feeling was that of chagrin at being stopped on their way back to their
+companions in the sapucaya, knowing that their return would be
+impatiently expected.  They could by shouting have made themselves
+heard, but not with sufficient distinctness to be understood.  The
+matted tree-tops intervening would have prevented this.  They thought it
+better to be silent, lest their shouts might cause alarm.  Richard hoped
+that the alligator would soon glide back to the haunt whence it had
+sallied, and leave them at liberty to continue their journey, but the
+Mundurucu was not so sanguine.
+
+There was something in the behaviour of the jacare he did not like,
+especially when he saw it quartering the water as if in search of the
+creatures that had disappeared so mysteriously.
+
+"Surely it won't lie in wait for us?" was the first question put by his
+companion.  "You don't think it will?"
+
+"I do, young master, I do.  That is just what troubles the Mundurucu.
+He may keep us here for hours,--perhaps till the sun goes down."
+
+"That would be anything but pleasant,--perhaps more so to those who are
+waiting for us than to ourselves.  What can we do?"
+
+"Nothing at present.  We must have patience, master."
+
+"For my part, I shall try," replied the Paraense; "but it's very
+provoking to be besieged in this fashion,--separated by only a few
+hundred yards from one's friends, and yet unable to rejoin or
+communicate with them."
+
+"Ah!  I wish the _Curupira_ had him.  I fear the brute is going to prove
+troublesome.  The Mundurucu can read evil in his eye.  Look! he has come
+to a stand.  He sees us!  No knowing now when he will grow tired of our
+company."
+
+"But has it sense enough for that?"
+
+"Sense!  Ah! cunning, master may call it, when he talks of the jacare.
+Surely, young master, you know that,--you who are a Paraense born and
+bred?  You must know that these reptiles will lie in wait for a whole
+week by a bathing-place, watching for a victim,--some helpless child, or
+even a grown man, who has been drinking too much _cashaca_.  Ah yes!
+many's the man the jacare has closed his deadly jaws upon."
+
+"Well, I hope this one won't have that opportunity with us.  We mustn't
+give it."
+
+"Not if we can help it," rejoined the Indian.  "But we must be quiet,
+young master, if we expect to get out of this fix in any reasonable
+time.  The jacare has sharp ears, small though they look.  He can hear
+every word we are saying; ay, and if one were to judge by the leer in
+his ugly eye, he understands us."
+
+"At all events, it appears to be listening."
+
+So the conversation sank to silence, broken only by an occasional
+whisper, and no gesture even made communication, for they saw the
+leering look of the reptile fixed steadily upon them.  Almost two hours
+passed in this tantalising and irksome fashion.
+
+The sun had now crossed the meridian line, and was declining westward.
+The jacare had not stirred from the spot.  It lay like a log upon the
+water, its lurid eyes alone proclaiming its animation.  For more than an
+hour it had made no visible movement, and their situation was becoming
+insupportable.
+
+"But what can we do?" asked Richard, despairingly.
+
+"We must try to travel through the tree-tops, and get to the other side.
+If we can steal out of his sight and hearing, all will be well.  The
+Mundurucu is angry with himself; he didn't think of this before.  He was
+fool enough to hope the jacare would get tired first.  He might have
+known better, since the beast has tasted blood.  That or hunger makes
+him such a stanch sentinel.  Come, young master!" added the Indian,
+rising from his seat, and laying hold of a branch.  "We must make a
+journey through the tree-tops.  Not a word,--not a broken bough if you
+can help it.  Keep close after me; watch what I do, and do you exactly
+the same."
+
+"All right, Munday," muttered the Paraense.  "Lead on, old boy!  I'll do
+my best to follow you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+AN AQUA-ARBOREAL JOURNEY.
+
+It may appear strange, incredible, absurd, that such a journey, for
+however short a distance, should have been attempted by human beings.
+No doubt to many it _will_ appear so, and be set down as ludicrously
+improbable.  Twenty minutes passed in the shadowy gloom of a South
+American forest would strip the idea of travelling among the tree-tops
+of much of its improbability.  In many places such a feat is quite
+possible, and comparatively easy,--perhaps not so "easy as rolling off a
+log," but almost as much so as climbing to the top of one.  In the great
+_montana_ of the Amazon there are stretches of forest, miles in extent,
+where the trees are so matted and interlaced as to form one continuous
+"arbour," each united to its immediate neighbours by natural stays and
+cables, to which the meshes formed by the rigging of a ship are as an
+open network in comparison.  In the midst of this magnificent luxuriance
+of vegetable life, there are birds, beasts, and insects that never set
+foot upon the ground;--birds in a vast variety of genera and species;
+beasts--I mean quadrupeds--of many different kinds; insects of countless
+orders; quadrumana that never touched _terra firma_ with any of their
+four hands; and, I had almost added, _man_.  He, too, if not exclusively
+confining himself to the tops of these forest-trees, may make them
+habitually his home, as shall be seen in the sequel.
+
+It was no great feat, then, for the Mundurucu and his acolyte to make a
+short excursion across the "spray" of the forest, since this is the very
+timber that is so tied together.  There was even less of danger than in
+a tract of woods growing upon the highlands or "Campos."  A fall into
+the Gapo could only entail a ducking, with a brief interruption of the
+journey.
+
+It does not follow that their progress must be either swift or direct.
+That would depend upon the character of the trees and their parasites,--
+whether the former grew close together, and whether the latter were
+numerous and luxuriant, or of scanty growth.  To all appearance, Nature
+in that spot had been beneficent, and poured forth her vegetable
+treasures profusely.
+
+The Indian, glancing through the branches, believed there would be no
+more difficulty in getting to the other side of the belt of timber that
+separated them from the open water, than in traversing a thicket of
+similar extent.  With this confidence he set forth, followed by his less
+experienced companion.  Both began and continued their monkey-like march
+in the most profound silence.
+
+They knew that it was possible and easy for the alligator to bear them
+company; for although they were forced to pass through an almost
+impervious thicket, down on the water it was altogether different.
+There was nothing to impede the progress of the saurian, huge as it was,
+except the trunks of the trees.
+
+To tell the truth, it was a toilsome trip, and both the travellers were
+weary of it long before coming within sight of the open water on the
+opposite side.  Often were they compelled to carry their own weight on
+the strength of their arms, by hoisting themselves from tree to tree.
+Many a _detour_ had they to make, sometimes on account of the
+impenetrable network of creepers, and sometimes because of open water,
+that, in pools, interrupted their route.
+
+The distance to be traversed was not over two hundred yards.  At
+starting they knew not how far, but it proved about this measure.  If
+they had made their calculation according to time, they might have
+estimated it at half a score of miles.  They were a good hour and a half
+on the journey; but the delay, with all its kindred regrets, was
+forgotten, when they saw the open water before them, and soon after
+found themselves on the selvage of the submerged forest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+A TIMELY WARNING.
+
+On arriving among the outside frees, our explorers, homeward bound, saw
+something to cheer them,--something besides the bright sun and the
+shining waters of the Gapo.  It was the sapucaya, still bearing its
+stupendous fruit, the friends they had left behind them.  The Paraense
+appeared to be counting them, as if to make sure that all were still
+safe upon the tree.  Perhaps he was only intent on the discovery of one,
+or, having discovered, was feeding his eyes upon her form, slender and
+graceful in the distance.  He would have shouted to apprise them of the
+safety of himself and companion, had not a sign from the latter,
+accompanied by a few muttered words, counselled him to hold his peace.
+
+"Why not, Munday?"
+
+"Not a word, young master.  We are not yet out of the woods; the jacare
+may hear us."
+
+"We left it far behind in the igarape."
+
+"Ah, true!  Who knows where he may be now?  Not the Mundurucu.  The
+monster may have followed us.  Who knows?  He may be at this moment
+within twenty yards, waiting for us to come back into the water."
+
+As he spoke, the Indian looked anxiously behind him.  He could discover
+no cause of alarm.  All was still under the shadow of the trees.  Not
+even a ripple could be seen upon the sombre surface of the water.
+
+"I think we've given it the slip," remarked Richard.
+
+"It looks so," responded the Indian.  "The Mundurucu hears no sound,
+sees no sign.  The jacare should still be in the igarape."
+
+"Why should we delay any longer?  Several hours have elapsed since we
+left the sapucaya.  My uncle and everybody else will be out of all
+patience.  They will be distracted with sheer anxiety.  They look as if
+they were.  Though we have a good view of them, I don't suppose they see
+us.  If they did, they would be hailing us, that's certain.  Let us take
+to the water, and rejoin them."
+
+The Mundurucu, after looking once more to the rear, and listening for a
+few moments, replied, "I think we may venture."
+
+This was the cue for young Trevannion, and, lowering himself from the
+limb on which he was supported, the two almost at the same instant
+committed themselves to the flood.  Scarce had they touched the water
+when their ears were assailed by a shout that came pealing across the
+Gapo.  It neither startled nor surprised them, for they could not fail
+to comprehend its meaning.  It was a cheer sent forth from the sapucaya,
+announcing their reappearance to the eyes of their anxious companions.
+Stimulated by the joyous tones, the two swimmers struck boldly out into
+the open water.
+
+Richard no longer thought of looking behind him.  In a hasty glance
+directed towards the sapucaya, as he rose after his first plunge upon
+the water, he had seen something to lure him on, at the same time
+absorbing all his reflections.  He had seen a young girl, standing erect
+within the fork of the tree, throw up her arms as if actuated by some
+sudden transport of joy.  What could have caused it but the sight of
+him?
+
+The mind of the Mundurucu was far differently employed.  His thoughts
+were retrospective, not prospective.  So, too, were his glances.
+Instead of looking forward to inquire what was going on among the
+branches of the sapucaya, he carried his beardless chin upon his
+shoulder, keeping his eyes and ears keenly intent to any sight or sound
+that might appear suspicious behind him.  His caution, as was soon
+proved, was neither unnatural nor superfluous, nor yet the counsel given
+to his companion to swim as if some swift and terrible pursuer were
+after him; for although the Indian spoke from mere conjecture, his words
+were but too true.
+
+The swimmers had traversed about half the space of open water that lay
+between the sapucaya and the submerged forest.  The Indian had purposely
+permitted himself to fall into the wake of his companion, in order that
+his backward view might be unobstructed.  So far, no alligator showed
+itself behind them, no enemy of any kind; and in proportion as his
+confidence increased, he relaxed his vigilance.  It seemed certain the
+jacare had given up the chase.  It could not have marked their movements
+among the tree-tops, and in all likelihood the monster was still keeping
+guard near the opening of the igarape.  Too happy to arrive at this
+conclusion, the Indian ceased to think of a pursuit, and, after making
+an effort, overtook the young Paraense, the two continuing to swim
+abreast.  As there no longer appeared any reason for extraordinary
+speed, the swimmers simultaneously suspended the violent exertions they
+had been hitherto making, and with relaxed stroke kept on towards the
+sapucaya.
+
+It was fortunate for both that other eyes than their own were turned
+upon that stretch of open water.  Had it not been so, the silent
+swimmer, far swifter than they, coming rapidly up in their rear, might
+have overtaken them long before reaching the tree.  The shout sent forth
+from the sapucaya, in which every voice bore a part, warned them of some
+dread danger threatening near.  But for late experience, they might not
+have known on which side to look for it; but, guided by this, they
+instinctively looked back.  The jacare, close behind, was coming on as
+fast as his powerful tail, rapidly oscillating from side to side, could
+propel him.  It was fortunate for the two swimmers they had heard that
+warning cry in time.  A score of seconds made all the difference in
+their favour, all the difference between life and death.  It was their
+destiny to live, and not die then in the jaws of the jacare.  Before the
+ugly reptile, making all the speed in its power, could come up with
+either of them, both, assisted by willing hands, had climbed beyond its
+reach, and could look upon it without fear from among the branches of
+the sapucaya.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+IMPROVISED SWIMMING-BELTS.
+
+The huge saurian swam on to the tree,--to the very spot where Richard
+and the Mundurucu had climbed up, at the forking of the stem.  On
+perceiving that its prey had for a second time got clear, its fury
+seemed to break all bounds.  It lashed the water with its tail, closed
+its jaws, with a loud clattering, and gave utterance to a series of
+sounds, that could only be compared to a cross between the bellowing of
+a bull and the grunting of a hog.
+
+Out in the open light of the sun, and swimming conspicuously upon the
+surface of the water, a good view of the reptile could now be obtained;
+but this did not improve the opinion of it already formed by Richard.
+It looked, if possible, uglier than when seen in shadow; for in the
+light the fixed leer of its lurid eye, and the ghastly blood-coloured
+inside of the jaws, at intervals opened, and showing a triple row of
+terrible teeth, were more conspicuous and disgusting.  Its immense bulk
+made it still more formidable to look upon.  Its body was full eight
+yards in length, and of proportionate thickness,--measuring around the
+middle not less than a fathom and a half; while the lozenge-like
+protuberances along its spine rose in pointed pyramids to the height of
+several inches.
+
+No wonder that little Rosa uttered a shriek of terror on first beholding
+it; no wonder that brave young Ralph trembled at the sight.  Even
+Trevannion himself, with the negro and Tipperary Tom, regarded the
+reptile with fear.  It was some time before they felt sure that it could
+not crawl up to them.  It seemed for a time as if it meant to do so,
+rubbing its bony snout against the bark, and endeavouring to clasp the
+trunk with its short human-like arms.  After several efforts to ascend,
+it apparently became satisfied that this feat was not to be performed,
+and reluctantly gave up the attempt; then, retreating a short distance,
+began swimming in irregular circles around the tree, all the while
+keeping its eye fixed upon the branches.
+
+After a time, the castaways only bent their gaze upon the monster at
+intervals, when some new manoeuvre attracted their notice.  There was no
+immediate danger to be dreaded from it; and although its proximity was
+anything but pleasant, there were other thoughts equally disagreeable,
+and more important, to occupy their time and attention.  They could not
+remain all their lives in the sapucaya; and although they knew not what
+fortune awaited them in the forest, beyond, they were all anxious to get
+there.
+
+Whether it was altogether a flooded forest, or whether there might not
+be some dry land in it, no one could tell.  In the Mundurucu's opinion
+it was the former: and in the face of this belief, there was not much
+hope of their finding a foot of dry land.  In any case, the forest must
+be reached, and all were anxious to quit their quarters on the sapucaya,
+under the belief that they would find others more comfortable.  At all
+events, a change could not well be for the worse.
+
+Munday had promised them the means of transport, but how this was to be
+provided none of them as yet knew.  The time, however, had arrived for
+him to declare his intentions, and this he proceeded to do; not in
+words, but by deeds that soon made manifest his design.
+
+It will be remembered that, after killing the macaws, he had tapped the
+seringa, and "drawn" two cups full of the sap,--that he had bottled it
+up in the pots, carefully closing the lids against leakage.  It will
+also be remembered, that he had provided himself with a quantity of
+creepers, which he had folded into a portable bundle.  These were of a
+peculiar sort,--the true sipos of the South American forest, which serve
+for all purposes of cordage, ropes ready made by the hand of Nature.  On
+parting from the seringa, he had brought these articles along with him,
+his companion carrying a share of the load.  Though chased by the
+jacare, and close run too, neither had abandoned his bundle,--tied by
+sipos around the neck,--and both the bottled caoutchouc and the cordage
+were now in the sapucaya.  What they were intended for no one could
+guess, until it pleased the Indian to reveal his secret; and this he at
+length did, by collecting a large number of nuts from the sapucaya,--
+Ralph and Richard acting as his aides,--emptying them of their
+three-cornered kernels, restoring the lids, and then making them
+"water-proof" by a coating of the caoutchouc.
+
+Soon all became acquainted with his plans, when they saw him bind the
+hollow shells into bunches, three or four in each, held together by
+sipos, and then with a stronger piece of the same parasite attach the
+bunches two and two together, leaving about three feet of the twisted
+sipos between.
+
+"Swimming-belts!" cried Ralph, now for the first time comprehending the
+scheme.  Ralph was right.  That was just what the Mundurucu had
+manufactured,--a set of _swimming-belts_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+ALLIGATOR LORE.
+
+For an hour the castaways remained in the tree, chafing with impatience
+and chagrin that their awful enemy still kept his savage watch for them
+in the Gapo below, gliding lazily to and fro, but ever watching them
+with eager, evil eye.  But there was no help for it; and by way of
+possessing their souls in more patience, and making time pass quicker,
+they fell to conversing on a subject appropriate to the occasion, for it
+was the jacare itself, or rather alligators in general.  Most of the
+questions were put by Trevannion, while the answers were given by the
+Mundurucu, whose memory, age, and experience made him a comprehensive
+cyclopaedia of alligator lore.
+
+The Indian, according to his own account, was acquainted with live or
+six different kinds of jacare.  They were not all found in one place,
+though he knew parts of the country where two or three kinds might be
+found dwelling in the same waters; as, for instance, the jacare-uassu
+(great alligator), the same as was then besieging them, and which is
+sometimes called the black jacare, might often be seen in the same pool
+with the jacare-tinga, or little alligator.  Little jacare was not an
+appropriate name for this last species.  It was four feet long when full
+grown, and he knew of others, as the jacare-curua, that never grew above
+two.  These kinds frequented small creeks, and were less known than the
+others, as it was only in certain places they were found.  The jacares
+were most abundant in the dry season.  He did not suppose they were
+really more numerous, only that they were then collected together in the
+permanent lakes and pools.  Besides, the rivers were then lower, and as
+there was less surface for them to spread over, they were more likely to
+be seen.  As soon as the _echente_ commenced, they forsook the channels
+of the rivers, as also the standing lakes, and wandered all over the
+Gapo.  As there was then a thousand times the quantity of water, of
+course the creatures were more scattered, and less likely to be
+encountered.  In the _vasante_ he had seen half-dried lakes swarming
+with jacares, as many as there would be tadpoles in a frog-pond.  At
+such times he had seen them crowded together, and had heard their scales
+rattling, as they jostled one another, at the distance of half a mile or
+more.  In the countries on the lower part of the Solimoes, where many of
+the inland lakes become dry during the _vasante_, many jacares at that
+season buried themselves in the mud, and went to sleep.  They remained
+asleep, encased in dry, solid earth, till the flood once more softened
+the mud around them, when they came out again as ugly as ever.  He
+didn't think that they followed this fashion everywhere; only where the
+lakes in which they chanced to be became dry, and they found their
+retreat to the river cut off.  They made their nests on dry land,
+covering the eggs over with a great conical pile of rotten leaves and
+mud.
+
+The eggs of the jacare-uassu were as large as cocoa-nuts, and of an oval
+shape.  They had a thick, rough shell, which made a loud noise when
+rubbed against any hard substance.  If the female were near the nest,
+and you wished to find her, you had only to rub two of the eggs
+together, and she would come waddling towards you the moment she heard
+the noise.  They fed mostly on fish, but that was because fish was
+plentiest, and most readily obtained.  They would eat flesh or fowl,--
+anything that chanced in their way.  Fling them a bone, and they would
+swallow it at a gulp, seizing it in their great jaws before it could
+reach the water, just as a dog would do.  If a morsel got into their
+mouth that wouldn't readily go down, they would pitch it out, and catch
+it while in the air, so as to get it between their jaws in a more
+convenient manner.
+
+Sometimes they had terrific combats with the jaguars; but these animals
+were wary about attacking the larger ones, and only preyed upon the
+young of these, or the jacare-tingas.  They themselves made war on every
+creature they could catch, and above all on the young turtles, thousands
+of which were every year devoured by them.  They even devoured their own
+children,--that is, the old males did, whenever the _mai_ (mother) was
+not in the way to protect them.  They had an especial preference for
+dogs,--that is, as food,--and if they should hear a dog barking in the
+forest, they would go a long way over land to get hold of him.  They lie
+in wait for fish, sometimes hiding themselves in the weeds and grass
+till the latter come near.  They seized them, if convenient, between
+their jaws, or killed them with a stroke of the tail, making a great
+commotion in the water.  The fish got confused with fright, and didn't
+know which way to swim out of the reptile's reach.  Along with their
+other food they ate stones, for he had often found stones in their
+stomach.  The Indian said it was done that the weight might enable them
+to go under the water more easily.
+
+The _Capilearas_ were large animals that furnished many a meal to the
+jacares; although the quadrupeds could swim very fast, they were no
+match for the alligator, who can make head with rapidity against the
+strongest current.  If they could only turn short, they would be far
+more dangerous than they are; but their neck was stiff, and it took them
+a long while to get round, which was to their enemies' advantage.
+Sometimes they made journeys upon land.  Generally they travelled very
+slowly, but they could go much faster when attacked, or pursuing their
+prey.  Their tail was to be especially dreaded.  With a blow of that
+they could knock the breath out of a man's body, or break his leg bone.
+They liked to bask in the sun, lying along the sand-banks by the edge of
+the river, several of them together, with their tails laid one on the
+other.  They would remain motionless for hours, as if asleep, but all
+the while with their mouths wide open.  Some said that they did this to
+entrap the flies and insects that alighted upon their tongue and teeth,
+but he (the Mundurucu) didn't believe it, because no quantity of flies
+would fill the stomach of the great jacare.  While lying thus, or even
+at rest upon the water, birds often perched upon their backs and
+heads,--cranes, ibises, and other kinds.  They even walked about over
+their bodies without seeming to disturb them.  In that way the jacares
+could not get at them, if they wished it ever so much.
+
+There were some jacares more to be dreaded than others.  These were the
+man-eaters, such as had once tasted human flesh.  There were many of
+them,--too many,--since not a year passed without several people falling
+victims to the voracity of these reptiles.  People were used to seeing
+them every day, and grew careless.  The jacares lay in wait in the
+bathing-places close to villages and houses, and stole upon the bathers
+that had ventured into deep water.  Women, going to fetch water, and
+children, were especially subject to their attack.  He had known men,
+who had gone into the water in a state of intoxication, killed and
+devoured by the jacare, with scores of people looking helplessly on from
+the bank, not twenty yards away.  When an event of this kind happened,
+the people armed themselves _en masse_, got into their _montarias_
+(canoes), gave chase, and usually killed the reptile.  At other times it
+was left unmolested for months, and allowed to lie in wait for a victim.
+
+The brute was _muy ladim_ (very cunning).  That was evident enough to
+his listeners.  They had only to look down into the water, and watch the
+movements of the monster there.  Notwithstanding its ferocity, it was at
+bottom a great coward, but it knew well when it was master of the
+situation.  The one under the sapucaya believed itself to be in that
+position.  It might be mistaken.  If it did not very soon take its
+departure, he, the Mundurucu, should make trial of its courage, and then
+would be seen who was master.  Big as it was, it would not be so
+difficult to subdue for one who knew how.  The jacare was not easily
+killed, for it would not die outright till it was cut to pieces.  But it
+could be rendered harmless.  Neither bullet nor arrow would penetrate
+its body, but there were places where its life could be reached,--the
+throat, the eyes, and the hollow places just behind the eyes, in front
+of the shoulders.  If stabbed in any of these tender places, it must go
+under.  He knew a plan better than that; and if the brute did not soon
+raise the siege, he would put it in practice.  He was getting to be an
+old man.  Twenty summers ago he would not have put up with such
+insolence from an alligator.  He was not decrepit yet.  If the jacare
+consulted its own safety, it would do well to look out.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+A HIDE UPON A REPTILE.
+
+After thus concluding his long lecture upon alligators, the Indian grew
+restless, and fidgeted from side to side.  It was plain to all, that the
+presence of the jacare was provoking him to fast-culminating excitement.
+As another hour passed, and the monster showed no signs of retiring,
+his excitement grew to auger so intense, as to be no longer withheld
+from seeking relief in action.  So the Mundurucu hastily uprose,
+flinging aside the swimming-belts hitherto held in his hands.
+Everything was put by except his knife, and this, drawn from his
+_tanga_, was now held tightly in his grasp.
+
+"What mean you, Munday?" inquired Trevannion, observing with some
+anxiety the actions of the Indian.  "Surely you are not going to attack
+the monster?  With such a poor weapon you would have no chance, even
+supposing you could get within striking distance before being swallowed
+up.  Don't think of such a thing!"
+
+"Not with this weapon, patron," replied the Indian, holding up the
+knife; "though even with it the Mundurucu would not fear to fight the
+jacare, and kill him, too.  Then the brute would go to the bottom of the
+Gapo, taking me along.  I don't want a ducking like that, to say nothing
+of the chances of being drowned.  I must settle the account on the
+surface."
+
+"My brave fellow, don't be imprudent!  It is too great a risk.  Let us
+stay here till morning.  Night will bring a change, and the reptile will
+go off."
+
+"Patron! the Mundurucu thinks differently.  That jacare is a man-eater,
+strayed from some of the villages, perhaps Coary, that we have lately
+left.  It has tasted man's blood,--even ours, that of your son, your
+own.  It sees men in the tree.  It will not retire till it has gratified
+its ravenous desires.  We may stay in this tree till we starve, and from
+feebleness drop, one by one, from the branches."
+
+"Let us try it for one night?"
+
+"No, patron," responded the Indian, his eyes kindling with a revengeful
+fire, "not for one hour.  The Mundurucu was willing to obey you in what
+related to the duty for which you hired him.  He is no longer a
+_tapuyo_.  The galatea is lost, the contract is at an end, and now he is
+free to do what he may please with his life.  Patron!" continued the old
+man, with an energy that resembled returning youth, "my tribe would
+spurn me from the _malocca_ if I bore it any longer.  Either I or the
+jacare must die!"
+
+Silenced by the singularity of the Indian's sentiment and speech,
+Trevannion forbore further opposition.  No one knew exactly what his
+purpose was, though his attitude and actions led all to believe that he
+meant to attack the jacare.  With his knife?  No.  He had negatived this
+question himself.  How then?  There appeared to be no other weapon
+within reach.  But there was, and his companions soon saw there was, as
+they sat silently watching his movements.  The knife was only used as
+the means of procuring that weapon, which soon made its appearance in
+the form of a _macana_, or club, cut from one of the llianas,--a
+_bauhinia_ of heaviest wood, shaped something after the fashion of a
+"life-preserver," with a heavy knob of the creeper forming its head, and
+a shank about two feet long, tapering towards the handle.  Armed with
+this weapon, and restoring the knife to his _tango_, the Indian came
+down and glided out along the horizontal limb already known to our
+story.  To attract the reptile thither was not difficult.  His presence
+would have been a sufficient lure, but some broken twigs cast upon the
+water served to hasten its approach to the spot.  In confidence the
+jacare came on, believing that by some imprudence, or misadventure, at
+least one of those it had marked for its victims was about to drop into
+its hungry maw.  One did drop,--not into its maw, or its jaws, but upon
+its back, close up to the swell of its shoulders.  Looking down from the
+tree, his companions saw the Mundurucu astride upon the alligator, with
+one hand, the left, apparently inserted into the hollow socket of the
+reptile's eye, the other raised aloft, grasping the _macana_, that
+threatened to descend upon the skull of the jacare.  It _did_ descend,--
+crack!--crash!--crackle!  After that there was not much to record.  The
+Mundurucu was compelled to slide off his seat.  The huge saurian, with
+its fractured skull, yielded to a simple physical law, turned over,
+showing its belly of yellowish white,--an aspect not a whit more lovely
+than that presented in its dark dorsal posterior.  If not dead, there
+could be no doubt that the jacare was no longer dangerous; and as its
+conqueror returned to the tree, he was received with a storm of
+"_Vivas_" to which Tipperary Tom added his enthusiastic Irish
+"Hoor-raa!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+TAKING TO THE WATER.
+
+The Mundurucu merited congratulation, and his companions could not
+restrain their admiration and wonder.  They knew that the alligator was
+only assailable by ordinary weapons--as gun, spear, or harpoon--in three
+places; in the throat, unprotected, except by a thin, soft integument;
+in the hollow in front of the shoulders, and immediately behind the bony
+socket of the eyes; and in the eyes themselves,--the latter being the
+most vulnerable of all.  Why had the Indian, armed with a knife, not
+chosen one of these three places to inflict a mortal cut or stab?
+
+"Patron," said the Indian, as soon as he had recovered his breath, "you
+wonder why the Mundurucu took all that trouble for a _macana_, while he
+might have killed the jacare without it.  True, the knife was weapon
+enough.  _Pa terra_!  Yes.  But it would not cause instant death.  The
+rascal could dive with both eyes scooped out of their sockets, and live
+for hours afterwards.  Ay, it could have carried me twenty miles through
+the Gapo, half the distance under water.  Where would old Munday have
+been then?  Drowned and dead, long before the jacare itself.  Ah,
+patron, a good knock on the hollow of its head is the best way to settle
+scores with a jacare."
+
+And as if all scores had been now settled with this fellow, the huge
+saurian, to all appearance dead, passed unheeded out of sight, the
+current of the Gapo drifting it slowly away.  They did not wait for its
+total disappearance, and while its hideous body, turned belly upward,
+with its human-like hands stiffly thrust above the surface, was yet in
+sight, they resumed their preparations for vacating a tenement of which
+all were heartily tired, with that hopeful expectancy which springs from
+a knowledge that the future cannot be worse than the present.  Richard
+had reported many curious trees, some bearing fruits that appeared to be
+eatable, strung with llianas, here and there forming a network that made
+it easy to find comfort among their branches.  If there had been nothing
+else to cheer them, the prospect of escaping from their irksome
+attitudes was of itself sufficient; and influenced by this, they eagerly
+prepared for departure.
+
+As almost everything had been already arranged for ferrying the party,
+very little remained to be done.  From the hermetically closed
+monkey-cups the Mundurucu had manufactured five swimming-belts,--this
+number being all that was necessary, for he and the young Paraense could
+swim ten times the distance without any adventitious aid.  The others
+had their share of empty shells meted out according to their weight and
+need of help.  Rosa's transport required particular attention.  The
+others could make way themselves, but Rosa was to be carried across
+under the safe conduct of the Indian.
+
+So when every contingency had been provided for, one after another
+slipped down from the fork, and quietly departed from a tree that,
+however uncomfortable as a residence, had yet provided them with a
+refuge in the hour of danger.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+A HALF-CHOKED SWIMMER.
+
+Munday led off, towing little Rosa after him by a sipo, one end fastened
+to his girdle, and the other around her waist.  Trevannion followed
+close behind, Ralph a little farther off, with Richard keeping abreast
+of his cousin and helping him along.  Mozey swam next; Tipperary Tom,
+who was last to leave the tree, brought up the rear.  The ouistiti had
+found a berth on the shoulders of young Ralph, who, buoyed up by a good
+supply of air-vessels, swam with his back above water.  As for the macaw
+and coaita, the desperate circumstances in which our adventurers were
+placed rendered it not only inconvenient, but out of the question, to
+trouble themselves with such pets; and it had been agreed that they must
+be abandoned.  Both, therefore, were left upon the tree.  With the macaw
+it was a matter of choice whether it should stay there.  By simply
+spreading out its great hyacinthine wings it could keep pace with its
+_ci-devant_ protectors; and they had hardly left the tree, when the
+bird, giving a loud scream, sprang from its perch, hovered a moment in
+the air, and then, flying down, alighted on Mozey's wool-covered
+cranium, making him hide his astonished head quickly under water.  The
+arara, affrighted at having wetted its feet, instantly essayed to soar
+up again; but its curving talons, that had clutched too eagerly in the
+descent, had become fixed, and all its attempts to detach them were in
+vain.  The more it struggled, the tighter became the tangle; while its
+screams, united with the cries of the negro, pealed over the water,
+awaking far echoes in the forest.  It was sometime before Mozey
+succeeded in untwisting the snarl that the arara had spun around its
+legs, and not until he had sacrificed several of his curls was the bird
+free to trust once more to its wings.
+
+We have said, that by some mystic influence the big monkey had become
+attached to Tipperary Tom, and the attachment was mutual.  Tom had not
+taken his departure from the tree without casting more than one look of
+regret back among the branches, and under any other circumstances he
+would not have left the coaita behind him.  It was only in obedience to
+the inexorable law of self-preservation that he had consented to the
+sacrifice.  The monkey had shown equal reluctance at parting, in looks,
+cries, and gestures.  It had followed its friend down to the fork, and
+after he had slipped into the water it appeared as if it would follow
+him, regardless of both instinct and experience, for it could not swim.
+These, however, proved strong enough to restrain its imprudence, and
+after its protector had gone it stood trembling and chattering in
+accents that proclaimed the agony of that unexpected separation.  Any
+one listening attentively to its cries might have detected in the
+piteous tones the slightest commingling of reproach.  How could it be
+otherwise to be thus deserted?  Left to perish, in fact; for although
+the coaita was perfectly at home upon the sapucaya, and could live there
+as long as the nuts lasted, there was not the slightest chance of its
+getting away from the tree.  It must stay there till the _vasante_, till
+the flood fell, and that would not be for months.  Long before that it
+must undoubtedly perish, either by drowning or starvation.
+
+Whether or not these unpleasant forebodings passed through the monkey's
+wits, and whether they nerved it, may never be known.  Certainly
+something seemed to stimulate the creature to determination; for instead
+of standing any longer shivering in the fork of the tree, it turned
+suddenly, and, darting up the trunk, ran out upon one of the horizontal
+branches.  To go directly from the sapucaya to the forest, it was
+necessary to pass under this limb; and Tipperary Tom, following in the
+wake of the others, had taken this track.  He was already far out from
+the stem of the tree, almost clear of the overhanging branches, and half
+oblivions of the painful parting, when a heavy body, pouncing upon his
+shoulders, caused both him and his empty shells to sink some feet under
+the water; for just like old Munday on the alligator had the monkey come
+down upon Tipperary Tom.  The affrighted Irishman, on rising to the
+surface, sputtered forth a series of cries, at the same time
+endeavouring to rid himself of the unexpected rider on his back.  It was
+just at this crisis, too, that the macaw had managed to make good its
+footing in the fleece of the negro.  Mozey, however, was the first to
+get clear of his incubus; and then all eyes were directed towards
+Tipperary Tom and the clinging coaita, while peals of laughter resounded
+from every lip.
+
+Mozey had enfranchised himself by sacrificing a few tufts of his woolly
+hair, but the task was not so easy for Tom.  In fact, it proved
+altogether impracticable; for the coaita had curled its prehensile tail
+around his neck in a knot that would have made a hangman envious.  The
+more he tugged at it, the more it tightened; and had the Irishman been
+left to himself, it would have no doubt ended in his being strangled
+outright, a fate he began to dread.  At this crisis he heard the
+Mundurucu shout to him across the water to leave the coaita alone, as
+then it would relax its hold.  Fortunately for himself, Tom had the
+prudence to obey this well-timed counsel; and although still half
+suffocated by the too cordial embrace of his pet, he permitted it to
+have its own way, until, having approached the forest, the monkey
+relaxed its hold, and sprang up among the branches.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+A SUPPER OF BROILED SQUAB.
+
+Guided by the Mundurucu, the swimmers entered the water arcade before
+described, and proceeded on to the tree that had furnished the
+caoutchouc for their swimming-belts.  The siphonia, so late the scene of
+strife and querulous complainings, was now silent as the tomb; not a
+living arara was in sight or within hearing.  The few old birds that had
+survived the club conflict had forsaken the spot, betaking themselves to
+some distant part of the forest, perhaps out of the Gapo altogether, to
+mourn over nests laid desolate, over chicks seized and instantly
+destroyed by ruthless hands.  Only the young were there, suspended in a
+bunch from the branches.  The Mundurucu mounted first, taking his charge
+along with him; and then all the others climbed up into the tree, where
+the macaw and the monkey--one upon wing, the other by a passage through
+the tree-tops in speed almost equalling the flight of a bird--had
+already arrived.
+
+Farther progress for that night was no part of their purpose.  It would
+have been as idle as imprudent.  The sun was already level with their
+gaze, and to have forsaken their perch at that hour would have been like
+leaving a good inn for the doubtful chances of the road.  The seringa,
+with its thickly trellised limbs, offered snug quarters.  Upon its
+network of parasites it was possible to repose; there were hammocks
+woven by the hand of Nature, and, rude as they might be, they were a
+pleasant improvement on their couches of the preceding night.
+
+The tree contained other proofs of its hospitality.  The fat fledglings
+suspended upon it promised a supper not to be despised; for none of the
+party was a stranger to macaw flesh, and, as those were young and
+tender, eyes sparkled and mouths watered on beholding them.  No one
+expected that they were to be eaten raw, though there was more than one
+in the party whose appetite had become sharp enough for this.  The
+Mundurucu would have shown but slight squeamishness at swallowing one of
+the squabs as it was, while to Mozey it would have signified less.  Even
+Tipperary Tom declared his readiness to set about supping without
+further preparation.
+
+The semi-cannibal appetites of his companions were controlled by
+Trevannion, who commenced talking of a fire.  How was it to be made?
+How could the chicks be cooked?  His questions did not remain long
+unanswered.  The Indian, eager to meet the wishes of his employer,
+promised that they should be gratified.
+
+"Wait a bit, patron," said he.  "In ten minutes' time you shall have
+what you want, a fire; in twenty, roast arara."
+
+"But how?" asked the patron.  "We have no flint nor steel, any of us;
+and if we had, where find the tinder?"
+
+"Yonder!" rejoined the Mundurucu.  "You see yonder tree on the other
+side of the igarape?"
+
+"That standing out by itself, with smooth, shining bark, and hoary,
+handlike leaves?  Yes, I see it.  What of it?"
+
+"It is the _embauba_, patron; the tree that feeds the lazy sloth, the
+_Ai_."
+
+"O, then it is that known as the _Cecropia peltata_.  True, its crown of
+peltate leaves declares the species.  But we were talking of fire,
+Munday.  Can you obtain it from the cecropia?"
+
+"In ten minutes, patron, the Mundurucu will draw sparks from that tree,
+and make a fire too, if he can only obtain from it a dry branch, one
+without sap, decayed, dead.  You shall see."
+
+So saying, he swam out towards the cecropia.  On reaching this, he
+scaled it like a squirrel, and was soon among its silvery fronds, that
+spread palm-like over the water.  Soon the snapping of a breaking branch
+was heard, and shortly after the Indian came gliding down the tree, and,
+holding the piece of cecropia above his head, swam with one hand towards
+the caoutchouc, which he once more ascended.  On rejoining his
+companions, they saw that the stick he had secured was a bit of dry,
+dead wood, light, and of porous texture, just such as might be easily
+ignited.  Not caring to make any secret of his design, he confirmed his
+companions in their conjecture by informing them that the embauba was
+the wood always employed by his people, as well as the other tribes in
+Amazonia, when they wished to make a fire; and saying this, he proceeded
+without further delay to make them acquainted with the proper way.
+Strange to say, it proved to be the friction process, often described as
+practised in remote corners of the world, and by savage tribes who could
+never have held the slightest communication with one another.  Who
+taught them this curious mode of creating fire?  Who inducted the Indian
+of the Amazon, and the aboriginal of Borneo, into the identical ideas of
+the _sumpitan_ and _gradatana_,--both blow-guns alike?  Who first
+instructed mankind in the use of the bow?  Was it instinct?  Was it
+wisdom from on high?
+
+While Trevannion was reflecting on this strange theme, the Mundurucu had
+shaped a long spindle from a slender branch which he had cut from some
+hard wood growing near; and, whirling it between the palms of his hands,
+in less than ten minutes, as he had promised, sparks appeared in the
+hollowed stick of the cecropia.  Dry leaves, twigs, and bark had been
+already collected, and with these a flame was produced, ending in a
+fire, that soon burned brightly in one of the forks of the seringa.
+Over this the young macaws, supported on spits, were soon done brown;
+and a supper of roast arara, with parched sapucaya nuts, proved anything
+but a despicable meal to the party who partook of it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+ONCE MORE IN THE WATER.
+
+Our adventurers passed a tolerable night among the sipos of the seringa.
+They might have slept more soundly but for apprehensions about the
+future that intruded even into their dreams.  Morning brought no relief,
+for then reality itself appeared ruder than the visions of fancy in
+their slumbers.  They had cold macaw for breakfast,--remains of the
+preceding night's roast, which had been kept up as long as the fire was
+alight, and carefully preserved, to serve for a future occasion.  It was
+just sunrise, and as soon as the meal was over, they consulted seriously
+how to extricate themselves from their unpleasant and perilous
+position,--how to work a deliverance from the jaws of the Gapo.
+Whereabouts in this strange region were they?  How far had they entered
+it?  They could not even frame a guess of the distance traversed by the
+galatea before she had come to grief in the fork of the sapucaya.  It
+might be twenty miles, it might be fifty; who could tell?  They only
+knew that the ill-fated vessel had been drifting away from the Solimoes,
+and deep into the solitudes of the Gapo.  They knew they must be many
+miles from the banks of the Solimoes, and, from his hydrographic
+knowledge, already tested, the old tapuyo could tell its direction.  But
+it was no longer a question of getting back to the channel of the great
+river.  On the contrary, the object now was to reach solid land.  It
+would be worse than idle to seek the Solimoes without the means of
+navigating it; for, even should the stream be reached, it would be one
+chance in a thousand to get within hail of a passing vessel.  Almost as
+well might such be looked for in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  They
+were now bent on discovering the shortest route to the mainland that
+bordered this inundated region.  This should be found in the direction
+opposite to that in which the river lay.  It might not, but the
+probabilities were in favour of that hypothesis.  They had but little
+difficulty in determining the way to take.  The index already pointed
+out by the Indian was still to be depended upon.
+
+The _echente_ was still going on.  The current was from the river, if
+not with absolute directness, yet with enough to point out the bearing
+of the Solimoes.  The land might be many miles distant,--farther than
+the river itself,--but there was no alternative but to reach it or die.
+But how reach it?  That was the question.  They could hardly hope to
+swim the whole distance, for it must be great.  A raft?  This too was
+talked of.  But how was a raft to be constructed?  Among the tops of
+those water-loving trees there could scarce be found a stick light
+enough to have floated itself, let alone the carrying of a ponderous
+cargo.  Out of such heavy timber there would be but little chance of
+their constructing a raft, and the idea was abandoned almost as soon as
+broached.  But Munday's proposal met the approbation of all.  The water
+arcade chanced to continue in the direction they should take.  Why not
+once more make use of the swimming-belts, that had already done such
+good service, and effect a further exploration of the flooded forest?
+The proposition was too reasonable to be rejected.  It was unanimously
+accepted; and, without more ado, our adventurers descended from the
+siphonia, and began to traverse the strait.  The macaw and monkey kept
+their company as before, but no longer needed to make themselves a
+burden to their protectors, since both could travel through the
+tree-tops as the swimmers passed below.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+THE IGARAPE.
+
+They needed no pilot to point out their course.  There could be no
+danger of straying from it.  The strait they were following was of that
+kind known as an igarape, which, in the language of the Amazonian
+Indian, means literally "the path of the canoe,"--_igarite_ being the
+name of the craft most used in the navigation of the Gapo.  The strait
+itself might have been likened to a canal, running through a thicket,
+which formed on both sides a colossal hedge, laced together by an
+impenetrable network of parasitical plants.  Unlike a canal, however, it
+was not of uniform breadth, here and there widening into little openings
+that resembled lakes, and again narrowing until the tree-tops stretching
+from each side touched one another, forming underneath a cool, shadowy
+arcade.
+
+Up this singular waterway our adventurers advanced, under the guidance
+of the bordering line of verdure.  Their progress was necessarily slow,
+as the two who could swim well were compelled to assist the others; but
+all were aided by a circumstance that chanced to be in their favour,--
+the current of the Gapo, which was going in the same direction with
+themselves.  Herein they were greatly favoured, for the flow of the
+flood corresponded very nearly with the course of the igarape; and, as
+they advanced, they might have fancied themselves drifting down the
+channel of some gently flowing stream.  The current, however, was just
+perceptible; and though it carried them along, it could not be counted
+on for any great speed.  With it and their own exertions they were
+enabled to make about a mile an hour; and although this rate might seem
+intolerably slow, they were not discontented, since they believed
+themselves to be going in the right direction.  Had they been castaways
+in mid-ocean, the case would have been different.  Such tardy travelling
+would have been hopeless; but it was otherwise in the forest sea that
+surrounded them.  On one side or the other they could not be more than
+fifty miles from real dry land, and perhaps much less.  By going right,
+they might reasonably hope to reach it, though detained upon the way.
+It was of the utmost importance, however, that the direction should be
+known and followed.  A route transverse to it might take them a thousand
+miles, either way, through a flooded forest,--westward almost to the
+foot of the Andes,--eastward to the mouth of the Amazon!  The
+experienced tapuyo, knowing all this, was extremely cautious in choosing
+the course they were now pursuing.  He did not exactly keep in the line
+indicated by the flow of the flood.  Although the _echente_ was still
+going on, he knew that its current could not be at right angles to that
+of the river, but rather obliqued to it; and in swimming onward he made
+allowance for this oblique, the igarape fortunately trending at a
+similar inclination.
+
+Several hours were spent in slowly wending along their watery way, the
+swimmers occasionally taking a rest, stretched along the surface of the
+water, supported by hanging llianas or the drooping branches of the
+trees.  At noon, however, a longer halt was proposed by the guide, to
+which his followers gladly gave consent.  All were influenced by a
+double desire,--to refresh themselves not only by a good rest, but by
+making a meal on the cold roast macaws, several of which were strapped
+upon the shoulders of the tapuyo.  A tree with broad, spreading branches
+offered a convenient place, and, climbing into it, they took their seats
+to await the distribution of the dinner, which was committed to the care
+of the ex-steward, Mozey.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+ABOUT HUMMING-BIRDS.
+
+Previous to ascending their dining-tree, the swimmers had been more than
+six hours in the water, and, as nearly as they could guess, had made
+about that number of miles.  They congratulated themselves on having met
+with no hostile inhabitants of the Gapo, for the jararaca and jacare,
+with the perils encountered while in the presence of these two dangerous
+reptiles, were fresh enough in their remembrance to inspire them with
+continual fear.  All along the way, the Indian had been constantly upon
+the alert.  Nothing had occurred to cause them alarm, though many
+strange sounds had been heard, and strange creatures had been seen.
+Most of these, however, were of a character to cheer rather than
+affright them.  The sounds were mostly musical,--the voices of birds,--
+while the creatures seen were the birds themselves, many of beautiful
+forms and bright plumage, perched upon the tree-tops, or winging their
+way overhead.  Conspicuous among them were the tiny winged creatures
+called humming-birds, with which the Gapo abounded.  During their swim
+they had seen several distinct species of these lovely little sprites,
+flashing like meteors over the surface of the water, or darting about
+through the tree-tops like sparks of glistening light.  They appeared to
+be the gnomes and elves of the place.
+
+While eating dinner, our adventurers were favoured with an excellent
+opportunity of observing the habits of these graceful and almost
+microscopic creatures.  A tree stood near, whose top was surmounted by a
+parasite,--a species of bignonia,--in full blossom, that with its array
+of sweet-scented flowers completely covered the tree, almost concealing
+the green foliage underneath.  Over this flowery spot hundreds of
+humming-birds were hovering, now darting from point to point, anon
+poised upon swiftly whirring wings in front of an open flower, their
+tiny beak inserted into the corolla, therefrom to extract the savoury
+honey.  There were several species of them, though none of them of large
+size, and all looking more like insects than birds.  But for the
+swiftness of their motions, they might have passed for a swarm of wild
+bees (_meliponae_) disporting themselves among the flowers.  Ralph and
+Rosa were delighted with the spectacle, though it was not new to them,
+for the warmer valleys of the Andes, through which they had passed in
+approaching the headwaters of the Amazon, were the favourite _habitat_
+of the humming-birds, and there a greater number of species exist than
+in Amazonia itself.  What was new to them, however, and to the rest of
+the party as well, was some information imparted by the tapuyo while
+they sat conversing after dinner.  He said that there were two kinds of
+these birds, which, although alike in size, beauty, bright plumage, and
+many other respects, were altogether distinct in their habits and ways
+of life.  By two kinds he did not mean two species, for there were many,
+but two sets of species, or groups, as the Indian would have called
+them, had he been a student of ornithology.  One set, he said,--and the
+several species then before their eyes belonged to it,--lived upon the
+juice of the flowers, and this was their only food.  These frequented
+such open _campos_ as those on the southern side of the Solimoes, and
+along the rivers running into it from that direction.  They were also
+common in plantations, and other places where clearings had been made,
+or where the forest was thin and scattering, because there only could
+they find a sufficiency of flowers.  It was only at times that they made
+excursions into the great water-forest, when some of the sipo plants
+were in blossom, just as the one before them was at that time.  The
+species they saw did not belong to the Gapo.  They had only strayed
+there upon a roving excursion, and would soon return to the mainland,--
+the treeless regions.  The kinds that frequented the great forest never
+went out of it, and cared nothing about flowers.  If seen hovering
+around a tree in blossom, it was only because they were in pursuit of
+insects, which had been attracted thither in search of the sweet juices.
+Upon these the forest humming-birds regularly preyed, making their
+exclusive diet upon flies, which they caught as much among the foliage
+as the flowers, darting upon the insects whenever they perched upon the
+leaves, and snapping them up either from the upper or under side.  They
+built their nests upon the tips of the palm-leaves, choosing the side
+that was inward towards the tree, from which they suspended them.  They
+were purse-shaped, and composed of fibres closely woven together with a
+thick lining of a fine, soft silk-cotton, taken from the fruit of a tree
+called _samauma_.  They did not come much into the sun, like the other
+kinds, but kept more in the shade, and might be often met whirring about
+in the aisles of the forest.  Sometimes they would poise themselves in
+the air, right in front of a person passing through among the
+tree-trunks, and, after remaining till the intruder's face would be
+within a few feet of them, would fly on in advance of him, and again
+come to a pause in the same way, repeating the manoeuvre several times
+in succession.  All these things, averred the observant Indian, made the
+humming-birds that kept constantly to the forest very different from
+those that only visited it upon occasions, and therefore, in his
+opinion, they were of two distinct kinds.  And his opinion was the
+correct one, founded on observations already made by the ornithologist,
+and which have resulted in the classification of the humming-birds into
+two great groups, the _Trochilinae_ and _Phaethorninae_.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.
+
+A CUL-DE-SAC.
+
+Notwithstanding the pleasant theme that formed the subject of their
+after-dinner discourse, it was not long continued.  Both those who took
+part in it and those who listened were too anxious about their situation
+to enjoy even the most interesting conversation.  As soon, therefore, as
+they felt sufficiently recruited by the rest, they resumed their aquatic
+journey.  For several hours they continued to advance at the same slow
+rate, without encountering any incident worthy of record.  The igarape
+still trended in a straight line, with only here and there a slight
+turning to one side or the other, preserving, however, the same general
+direction, which was northward.  This they had discovered on the night
+before, not by observing the polar star, which is at no time visible at
+the equator, nor until you have travelled several degrees to the north
+of it.  Even when this well-known star should be seen from the low
+latitudes of the torrid zone, it is usually obscured by the hazy film
+extending along the horizon.  Sirius and other northern, constellations
+had guided them.  As the sun had been shining throughout the whole of
+that day as well as the preceding one, you may suppose there could be no
+difficulty in discovering the quarter, within a point or two of the
+compass, at any hour of the day.  This might be true to any one
+travelling in a high latitude, northern or southern, or at certain
+seasons of the year, anywhere outside the tropics.  Even within the
+tropics it might be done by skilful observation, if the observer knew
+the exact time of the year.  Trevannion knew the time.  He knew,
+moreover, that it was close upon the vernal equinox, when the sun was
+crossing the equatorial line, near to which they were wandering.  For
+this reason, in the meridian hours the great orb was right over their
+heads, and no one--not even a skilled astronomer--could have told north
+from south, or cast from west.
+
+Supposing that the igarape should not be trending in the same direction,
+but imperceptibly departing from it?  In that case, during the mid-hours
+of the day they could have had no guidance from the sky, and must have
+suspended their journey till the sun should begin to sink towards the
+west, and once more make known the points of the compass.  Fortunately
+they needed not to make this delay.  As already observed, the flow of
+the flood was the pilot to which they looked for keeping them in their
+course; and, as this still ran with a slight obliquity in the same
+direction as the igarape, the latter could not have departed from the
+right line upon which, they had been advancing.  The current had been
+compared with the points of the compass that morning before setting out.
+It was a little to the east of north.  Northward, then, was the course
+of the swimmers.
+
+They had drawn further inference from the direction in which the flood
+was setting.  It proved that they had strayed from the Solimoes by its
+left or northern bank, and must now be somewhere among the mouths of the
+great river Japura.  It was no consolation to discover this, but the
+contrary.  The old tapuyo only looked graver on arriving at the
+conviction that such was the case.  He knew that in that direction, in
+the vast delta formed by the unnumbered branches of the Japura, the Gapo
+was of great width, extending far back from the banks of this remarkable
+river, and dry land in that direction might be at the greatest distance.
+There was no alternative but to keep on, and, by deviating from the
+course as little as possible, they might in due time reach the limits of
+the flood.  Actuated by this impulse and its attendant hopes, they
+continued their toilsome journey along "the path of the canoe."
+
+We have said that for several hours they encountered no incident worthy
+of note.  It was not destined, however, for that day's sun to set before
+one should arise, whose record is not a matter of choice, but necessity,
+since it exerted such an influence on the proceedings of the travellers
+as to cause a complete change in their mode of progression.  What they
+encountered was not exactly an incident, but an obstruction.  In other
+words, their swim was suddenly brought to an end by the ending of the
+igarape!
+
+They had arrived at the termination of this curious canal, which all at
+once came to a _cul-de-sac_, the trees closing in on both sides, and
+presenting an impenetrable front, that forbade farther progress.  The
+way was equally obstructed in every other direction; for on neither side
+of the igarape, throughout its whole length, had any opening been
+observed.  At first they fancied that the water might open again beyond
+the obstruction, but Munday, after penetrating a short distance among
+the tree-trunks, returned to declare his conviction that the igarape was
+at an end.  Nor did it terminate by any gradual convergence of the two
+lines of trees.  On the contrary, they came together in an abrupt
+circular sweep,--one of colossal size, that rose high above its fellows
+and spread far out, standing in the centre, like some Titanic guardian
+of the forest, and seeming to say to the igarape, "Hitherto shalt thou
+come, but no farther!"
+
+It was of no use remaining longer in the water for that day.  Even had
+the obstruction not arisen, it was time to have suspended their
+exertions.  The sun was sinking towards the tree-tops, and by the time
+they could get themselves snugly stowed away, and something ready for
+supper, it would be night.  Leaving other cares for the morrow, and the
+morrow to take care of itself, they at once proceeded to select their
+sleeping-place for the night.  The colossal tree that had come so
+unpleasantly across their track seemed to offer the very quarters they
+were in search of; and, without more ado, they accepted the hospitality
+of its wide-spreading branches.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY NINE.
+
+THE BRAZIL-NUTS.
+
+The tree upon which they had made their roost was one of a species of
+which they had observed many during the day.  It was the true Brazil-nut
+(_Bertholletia excelsa_), own cousin to the sapucaya; for both are of
+the same family,--the _Lecythis_,--of which there are many distinct
+members.  Like the sapucaya, it is a denizen of the low lands and
+flooded forests, growing to a stupendous height.  It produces large,
+showy flowers, which are succeeded by huge capsule-like pericarps, each
+enclosing a score or more of Brazil-nuts.  But though the flowers are
+followed by the fruits, these do not all come together; and, like the
+orange and other tropical trees, bud, blossom, and fruit may all be
+observed upon the same branch, in various stages of development.
+
+It need not be said that the nuts of the _Bertholletia_ form one of the
+commercial staples of Amazonia.  They are too well-known to need further
+description; for there are few dwelling-houses in either Europe or
+America where they have not been submitted to the squeeze of the
+nut-crackers.  In the forest, where they are no man's property, they are
+collected by whoever chooses to take the trouble, but chiefly by the
+Indians and half-breeds who dwell on the borders of the Gapo.  The time
+to gather the Brazil-nuts is the _vasante_, or dry season, though there
+are certain tribes of savages that go nutting in their canoes during the
+season of the _echente_.  But the real nut harvest is after the floods
+have subsided, and the trees once more stand upon dry land.  Then the
+whole _malocca_ of Indians, or the inhabitants of a village, proceed in
+a body to the places where the fruits are to be found, scattered around
+the stems of the tall trees that have produced them.
+
+In gathering their crop the gleaners require to observe certain
+precautions, those who go under the trees covering their heads with a
+thick wooden cap, resembling a helmet, lest the dropping of the heavy
+capsules--big as a cannon-ball, and almost as heavy--might crack a
+skull!  For this reason the monkeys of the Amazon forest, though crazy
+for sapucaya and Brazil-nuts, always give the _Bertholletia_ a wide
+berth, never going under, but around it, in a circle whose circumference
+lies outside the tips of the branches.  Strange to say, these creatures
+have no fear of the sapucaya, although its pericarps are as large and
+heavy as those of the Brazil-nuts.  But the former do not fall to the
+ground, or when they do, it is only after the lid has sprung open, and
+the huge cup has scattered its contents, leaving it a light and empty
+shell.  It is for this reason, as much as anything else, that the nuts
+of the sapucaya are scarce in the market, and command a higher price.
+Having escaped spontaneously from their shell, they are at the mercy of
+all comers, birds, quadrupeds, and monkeys; whereas the Brazil-nuts,
+protected by their thick woody pericarps, are not so easily accessible.
+Even the monkeys cannot get at them, until some animal with teeth better
+adapted for chiselling performs for them the service of laying open the
+box, and giving them a chance at the treasures contained within.  This
+is done by several species of rodents, among which the _cutia_ and
+_paca_ are conspicuous; and one of the most comical spectacles to be
+seen in a South American forest is that of a group of monkeys, watching
+from a distance the proceedings of a paca thus employed, and then
+springing forward to take forcible possession of the pericarp after it
+has been sufficiently opened.
+
+It was a bit of good fortune that our adventurers found lodgings upon
+the _Bertholletia_.  Though more hospitality may usually be met with in
+an inn, it provided them with at least a portion of their supper,--the
+bread-stuff.  They had still left a brace of the macaw squabs that had
+not been roasted; but Munday, as before, soon produced sufficient fire
+to give them a scorching, and keen appetites supplied salt, pepper, and
+sauce.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY.
+
+A TRAVELLING PARTY OF GUARIBAS.
+
+Supper over, our adventurers only awaited the sunset to signal them to
+their repose.  They had already selected their beds, or what was to
+serve for such,--the spaces of horizontal network formed by the
+intertwining of luxuriant llianas.  At the best, it was no better than
+sleeping upon a raked hurdle; but they had been already somewhat inured
+to an uneasy couch on the galatea, and they were every day becoming less
+sensitive to necessities and hardships.  They were all tired with the
+severe exertions they had made; for although their journey had been but
+about six miles, it was enough to equal sixty made upon land.  They felt
+as if they could go to sleep astride of a limb, or suspended from a
+branch.
+
+It was not decreed by fate that they should find rest before being made
+the witnesses of a spectacle so curious, that, had they been ever so
+much inclined for sleep, would have kept them awake against their will.
+
+A noise heard afar off in the forest attracted their attention.  There
+was nothing in it to alarm them, though had they not heard it before, or
+something similar to it, their fears might have been excited to the
+utmost pitch of terror.  What they heard was the lugubrious chant of a
+band of howling monkeys.  Of all the voices of Nature that awake the
+echoes of the Amazonian forest, there is perhaps none so awe-inspiring
+as this.  It is a combination of sounds, that embrace the various tones
+of shrieking, screaming, chattering, growling, and howling, mingled with
+an occasional crash, and a rattle, such as might proceed from the throat
+of a dying maniac.  And yet all this is often the product of a single
+_mycetes_, or howling monkey, whose hollow hyoidal bone enables him to--
+send forth every species of sound, from the rolling of a bass drum to
+the sharp squeak of a penny-whistle.
+
+"_Guaribas_!" quietly remarked the Mundurucu, as the distant noise was
+first heard.
+
+"Howling monkeys you mean?" interrogatively rejoined Trevannion.
+
+"Yes, patron, and the loudest howlers of the whole tribe.  You'll hear
+them presently.  They are coming this way."
+
+"They're not far off now, I should say, if one may judge by the loudness
+of their cries."
+
+"All of a mile yet, patron.  It proves that the forest stretches more
+than a mile in that direction, else the guaribas could not be there.  If
+there be open water between us and them, they won't come this way.  If
+not, we'll have them here in ten minutes' time.  I wish we could only
+travel among the tree-tops as they can.  We shouldn't stay long in the
+Gapo."
+
+"Just as the Mundurucu expected," continued the tapuyo, after a pause.
+"The guaribas are coming towards us.  I can hear the swishing of the
+leaves as they pass among them.  We'll soon see them."
+
+The howling of the guaribas had for some time ceased, but the rustling
+of leaves, with the occasional snapping of a twig, to which the Indian
+had directed the attention of his companions, told that the troop was
+travelling through the tree-tops, otherwise observing a profound
+silence.
+
+Soon they appeared in sight, suddenly presenting themselves upon a tall
+tree that stood by the side of the igarape, about a cable's length from
+that occupied by our adventurers.  For some minutes the branches of the
+tree were seen oscillating up and down, as each black guariba sprang
+into it: and this continued until not less than a hundred had found
+lodgement upon the limbs.  As the leader of the band, who was evidently
+chief of the tribe, caught sight of the igarape, he was seen to pause in
+an abrupt and ambiguous manner, at the same moment giving utterance to a
+cry, easily intelligible as a word of command.  It had the effect of
+causing those immediately behind him to come to a halt, as also the
+others, as they sprang successively into the tree.  There could be no
+question as to what had caused the halt.  It was the igarape crossing
+the track which the guaribas were going.  With them the only question
+was, how they were to get over it.
+
+At the point where the howlers had clustered together, the strait was
+narrower than elsewhere within sight.  Between the branches, extending
+horizontally from the opposite sides of the igarape, there was a clear
+space of about twenty feet; and to the spectators it appeared improbable
+that any animal without wings could leap from tree to tree.  The
+monkeys, however, did not seem to be of this opinion, but were plainly
+contemplating the leap; and it was evident that some of them were only
+restrained from taking it by an authoritative command from their chief,
+which held them in check.  For several minutes there was a profound
+silence among them, undisturbed until the stragglers had all arrived in
+the tree, and squatted on the branches.
+
+It was now observed that among these last were several mothers, each
+carrying a child upon her back, or embraced between her bare arms; the
+youngster with face upturned, clinging, not with teeth and toe-nail, but
+with hands and tail, to the neck of its maternal parent.  To these the
+attention of the whole tribe appeared to be directed; and it was evident
+that they were the sole cause of the difficulty,--the _impedimenta_ that
+had interrupted the onward march of the troop.
+
+There had been confusion, accompanied by some chattering, after first
+coming up; but a sign from the leader had put an end to all noise, and
+then succeeded the silence already mentioned.  During its continuance
+the guariba chief slowly ascended the tree, until he had attained a
+position elevated above all his followers.  Then squatting down, with
+his hams firmly planted upon a branch, his long tail carefully coiled
+around another, he commenced his harangue with as much ceremony as if he
+had been chairman of a Guild-Hall dinner.  Perhaps there was quite as
+much sense and eloquence in his speech; at all events, there was more
+noise: for during the ten minutes taken up by it--it had the advantage
+of brevity--no other sound could have been heard over the Gapo within
+the circuit of a mile.
+
+His address being ended, the chief, by a series of detached speeches,
+seemed to invite a reply from his followers, coaxing their assent, or
+daring them to contradiction.  There appeared to be no dissent, not one
+voice.  The chattering that responded to the speech was delivered in a
+tone that spoke unanimous compliance with the proposal--whatever it
+was--which their chief had offered to their consideration.
+
+Then ensued another interval of silence, much shorter than before, and
+again interrupted by the leader of the troop.  This time, however, his
+words were few and to the purpose.  They were pronounced in a tone of
+command, that called for prompt obedience, which was yielded
+instantaneously and without protest.
+
+One of the strongest of the guaribas ran out upon the limb overhanging
+the igarape, and, stopping at its extremity, braced himself for the
+leap.  In another instant it was made, and the monkey was seen rushing
+up into the tree on the other side of the igarape.  A comrade followed,
+placing his four hands in the same spot, his body in a similar attitude,
+and making the leap so exactly like the guariba that had preceded him,
+that it seemed the same monkey repeating the performance.  Then went
+another, and another, so close following, that the creatures appeared
+more like the links of some colossal but quick-moving chain, pulled by
+supernatural power across the igarape, than a series of individual and
+animated beings.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY ONE.
+
+THE MONKEY MOTHER.
+
+Our adventurers sat in silent wonder watching the movements of the
+monkeys.  It was certainly a spectacle of the most interesting character
+to see these creatures making the passage of the igarape.  Perhaps the
+most singular thing was the similarity of their leaps,--all planting
+their feet upon the same spot of the branch from which the leader
+sprang, springing exactly in the same way, and alighting on the opposite
+side in apparently the same spot and attitude, proving that each and all
+must have been actuated by the same thought or instinct at the precise
+moment of passing from one tree to the other.  Another singular point
+was, that during its continuance the intervals between each two were
+almost as regular as the ticking of a clock.  As soon as one launched
+itself out from the branch, another sprang into its place, and was ready
+to follow so quickly that the air was never for a moment without a
+monkey; and any one looking straight down the opening between the trees,
+without glancing to either side, might almost have fancied that it was a
+single guariba suspended in mid-air!
+
+All the males of the tribe had succeeded in making the leap in safety;
+and all the females, too,--those carrying their "piccaninnies" along
+with the rest,--except one.  This was a mother with a very young child
+on her back,--in fact a mere infant,--perhaps not nine days old.
+Notwithstanding its extreme youth, it appeared to comprehend the
+situation, as well as those of more mature age, clinging with its
+infantile fingers to the shaggy hide of its mother, while its tiny tail
+was twisted around the root of hers, in a loop that appeared tight as a
+sailor's knot.
+
+But the mother, enfeebled by some sickness,--for monkeys are subject to
+sickness as well as men,--appeared doubtful of her ability to accomplish
+the leap; and, after all the others had crossed, she stood upon the
+branch evidently only half determined about following them.  At this
+crisis occurred a curious incident,--the first of a series.  One of
+those that had crossed, a man-monkey, was seen to separate from the
+crowd, that had by this time ascended to the top of the tree.  Returning
+along the limb to which they had just leaped, he placed himself opposite
+to the hesitating female and began to chatter, intending to encourage
+her, as his gestures showed.  The mother of the infant made reply; but
+although the sounds were unintelligible to the human spectators, they
+might be translated as saying, "It's not a bit of use, my trying; I
+shall only get a ducking for my pains, and the infant too.  It may be
+drowned."
+
+Her reply was delivered in a tone of appeal; and, as if affected by it,
+the male monkey--evidently the father of the child--made no more
+remonstrance, but bounded back across the open water.  It was but the
+work of six seconds for him to transfer the juvenile to his own
+shoulders; and in as many more both he and it were on the right side of
+the igarape.  Relieved of her charge and encouraged by the cries of
+those already across, the mother sprang out from the branch.  The effort
+was too great for her strength.  With her forefinger she caught the
+twigs on the opposite side and succeeded in clutching them; but before
+she could lap the branch with her tail,--a more trustworthy means of
+prehension,--she had sunk below its level, and, the twigs giving way,
+she plunged into the water.
+
+A universal scream came from the top of the tree, and a score or more of
+guaribas leaped down upon the limb from which the unfortunate had
+fallen.  There was a scene of confusion,--just as there would have been
+had the catastrophe happened among human beings,--as when a boat upsets
+or some one breaks through the ice, and spectators stand speechless, or
+hurry to and fro, no one knowing exactly what to do,--what order to
+give, or whom to obey.
+
+Very like was the scene of surprise, terror, and lamentation among the
+monkeys,--except that it did not last quite so long.  In this respect
+animal instinct, as it is called, has the advantage of bewildered
+reason; and, while a crowd upon the sea-beach or the river-bank would
+have spent ten minutes before taking action to rescue the drowning
+individual, scarcely so many seconds were allowed to elapse before the
+guaribas had picked up and safely deposited her trembling person on the
+fork of a tree.
+
+The mode in which this had been accomplished was something to astonish
+the spectators, and yet it was performed in a very efficient manner.  As
+soon as the screaming would permit, the voice of the guariba chieftain
+was heard, in a chattering so loud and serious in tone as to indicate
+command; and some half-score of the number, in obedience, glided out on
+the limb of the tree under which the female was in imminent danger of
+being drowned.  A bucket could not have descended into a well, or a
+pulley-tackle come down from warehouse or mill, more promptly and
+speedily than did that string of monkeys, hooked neck and tail to one
+another, like the links of a long chain,--the lowest upon the swinging
+series being the husband of the half-drowned mother, who had hastily
+deposited his baby in one of the forkings of the tree.  Neither could
+the water-bucket have been filled, nor the wheat-sack hooked on, with
+half the speed and agility with which she was picked up and restored.
+
+Once more shouldering her "chickabiddy," she took her place in the
+troop, which, without further delay, moved on amid the tree-tops,
+keeping in a direct line of march, as if bent upon a journey that was to
+terminate at some spot already known to them.  For a long time their
+track could be traced by their continuous howling, which then was heard
+only at intervals, and at length receded to such a distance as to become
+inaudible.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY TWO.
+
+THE MUNDURUCU DISCOURSES OF MONKEYS.
+
+The sun was just setting as the guaribas disappeared; and from this
+circumstance it was conjectured that they were on their return to some
+favourite resting-place.  Trevannion supposed that they might be on
+their way to dry land; and, if so, the route they had taken might serve
+himself and party for a direction.  He mentioned this to the Mundurucu,
+who shook his head, not doubtfully, but as a simple negative.
+
+"You think it would be of no use our taking the direction in which they
+have gone?" said the miner interrogatively.
+
+"No, patron; not a bit of good in that.  They are as like to be going
+from _terra firma_ as towards it.  It's all the same to them whether
+they sleep over land, or water, so long as they have the trees to cling
+to.  They are now trooping to some roost they have a fancy for,--perhaps
+some very big tree,--which they use at all times for their
+night-rendezvous, and where others of the same tribe will be likely to
+meet them.  These have been off to some favourite feeding-ground, where
+the fruit may be more plenty than in the neighbourhood of their regular
+dwelling-place; or they may have been upon some ramble for amusement."
+
+"What! do monkeys make such excursions?" inquired young Ralph.
+
+"O yes," replied the Mundurucu.  "I've often met them trooping about
+among the trees, where nuts and fruits were in plenty; and have watched
+them, for hours at a time, without seeing them pluck a single one;--only
+chattering and screeching and laughing and playing tricks upon each
+other, as if they had nothing else to do.  Neither have they when
+certain sorts of fruit are ripe, especially soft fruits, such as berries
+and the pulpy nuts of several kinds of palms, as the _pupunha_ and
+_assai_.  It is a little different at other seasons, when they have to
+live on the Brazil-nuts and sapucayas; then they have something to do to
+get at the kernels inside the thick shells, and at this they employ a
+good deal of their time."
+
+"Do they sleep perched on the trees, or have they nests among the
+branches in which they can lie down at their ease?"
+
+"They have nests, but not for that.  The females only use them when
+about to bring forth their young.  As to sleeping at their ease, they
+can do that on the very slenderest of branches.  It's no hardship to
+them, as it is to us.  Not a bit."
+
+"But do they not sometimes fall off in their sleep?"
+
+"How could they do that, young master, when they have their tails to
+hold on by?  Before going to sleep they take a turn or two of their long
+tail round a branch, not always the one their body is on, but more
+commonly a branch a little above it.  For that matter they don't need
+any branch to rest upon.  They can go to sleep, and often do, hanging by
+the tail,--for that is the position in which they are most at ease; just
+as you would be reclining in a hammock.  I've seen them scores of times
+asleep that way.  To prove that they feel most at home when hanging by
+the tail, they take to it whenever any alarm comes suddenly upon them;
+and they want to be in readiness for retreat, in case of its proving to
+be an enemy."
+
+"What singular creatures!" said Ralph, half in soliloquy.
+
+"You speak truth, young master.  They have many an odd way, that would
+lead one to believe that they had as much sense as some kinds of men.
+You have seen how they picked up the old one that fell into the water;
+but I've seen them do a still stranger thing than that.  It is but the
+commonest of their contrivances, put in practice every time they want to
+pluck a nut, or some fruit that grows near the end of a branch too
+slender to carry their weight.  If there's a stronger limb above, they
+go out upon it; and then, clinging together as you saw them do, they let
+themselves down till the last in the string can lay hold of the fruit.
+Sometimes there is no branch right over the spot; but that don't hinder
+them from getting what they have coveted, if they can find a stout limb
+anyways near.  Then they make their string all the same; and, by setting
+it in motion, they swing back and forward, until the lowest of the party
+is tossed out within reach of the fruit.  I've seen them try this, and
+find that their string was just a few inches too short, when another
+monkey would glide down upon the others, and add his length to complete
+it.  Then I've seen them make a bridge, young master."
+
+"Make a bridge!  Are you in earnest?  How could they?"
+
+"Well, just in the same way as they get within reach of the nuts."
+
+"But for what purpose?"
+
+"To get across some bit of water, as a fast-running stream, where they
+would be drowned if they fell in."
+
+"But how do they accomplish it?  To make a bridge requires a skilled
+engineer among men; are there such among monkeys?"
+
+"Well, young master, I won't call it such skill; but it's very like it.
+When on their grand journeyings they come to a stream, or even an
+igarape like this, and find they can't leap from the trees on one side
+to those growing on the other, it is then necessary for them to make the
+bridge.  They go up or down the bank till they find two tall trees
+opposite each other.  They climb to a high branch on the one, and then,
+linking together, as you've seen them, they set their string in motion,
+and swing backward and forward, till one at the end can clutch a branch
+of the tree, on the opposite side.  This done the bridge is made, and
+all the troop, the old ones that are too stiff to take a great leap, and
+the young ones that are too weak, run across upon the bodies of their
+stouter comrades.  When all have passed over, the monkey at the other
+end of the string lets go his hold upon the branch; and if he should be
+flung into water it don't endanger him, as he instantly climbs up the
+bodies of those above him, the next doing the same, and the next also,
+until all have got safe into the trees."
+
+"Be japers," exclaimed Tipperary Tom, "it's wonderful how the craythers
+can do it!  But, Misther Munday, have yez iver seen them fall from a
+tree-top?"
+
+"No, never, but I've known one to leap from the top of a tree full a
+hundred feet in height."
+
+"Shure it was kilt dead then?"
+
+"If it was it acted very oddly for a dead animal, as it had scarce
+touched the ground when it sprang back up another tree of equal height,
+and scampered to the top branches nearly as quick as it came down."
+
+"Ah!" sighed Trevannion, "if we had only the activity of these
+creatures, how soon we might escape from this unfortunate dilemma.  Who
+knows what is before us?  Let us pray before going to rest for the
+night.  Let us hope that He, in whose hands we are, may listen to our
+supplications, and sooner or later relieve us from our misery."  And so
+saying, the ex-miner repeated a well-remembered prayer, in the response
+to which not only the young people, but the Indian, the African, and the
+Irishman fervently joined.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
+
+TWO SLUMBERERS DUCKED.
+
+It was somewhere among the mid-hours of the night, and all appeared to
+be as sound asleep as if reclining upon couches of eider-down.  Not a
+voice was heard among the branches of the Brazil-nut,--not a sound of
+any kind, if we except the snore that proceeded from the spread nostrils
+of the negro, and that of a somewhat sharper tone from the nasal organ
+of the Irishman.  Sometimes they snored together, and for several
+successive trumpetings this simultaneity would be kept up.  Gradually,
+however, one would get a little ahead, and then the two snorers would be
+heard separately, as if the two sleepers were responding to each other
+in a kind of dialogue carried on by their noses.  All at once this nasal
+duet was interrupted by a rustling among the boughs upon which rested
+Tipperary Tom.  The rustling was succeeded by a cry, quickly followed by
+a plunge.
+
+The cry and the plunge woke everybody upon the tree; and while several
+inquired the cause of the disturbance, a second shout, and a second
+plunge, instead of affording a clue to the cause of alarm, only rendered
+the matter more mysterious.  There was a second volley of
+interrogatories, but among the inquiring voices two were missing,--those
+of Mozey and the Irishman.  Both, however, could now be heard below; not
+very articulate, but as if their owners were choking.  At the same time
+there was a plashing and a plunging under the tree, as if the two were
+engaged in a struggle for life.
+
+"What is it?  Is it you, Tom?  Is it you, Mozey?" were the questions
+that came thick and fast from those still upon the tree.
+
+"Och! ach!--I'm chokin'!--I'm--ach--drown--ach--drownin'!--Help! help!"
+cried a voice, distinguishable as the Irishman's, while Mozey's was
+exerted in a similar declaration.
+
+All knew that Tom could not swim a stroke.  With the Mozambique it was
+different.  He might sustain himself above water long enough to render
+his rescue certain.  With Tom no time was to be lost, if he was to be
+saved from a watery grave; and, almost with his cry for help, Richard
+Trevannion and the Mundurucu plunged in after him.
+
+For a time, Trevannion himself and his two children could hear,
+underneath them, only a confused medley of sounds,--the splashing of
+water mingled with human voices, some speaking, or rather shouting, in
+accents of terror, others in encouragement.  The night was dark; but had
+it been ever so clear, even had the full moon been shining above, her
+beams could not have penetrated through the spreading branches of the
+Brazil-nut, melted and lined as they were with thorns and leafy llianas.
+
+It would seem an easy task for two such swimmers as the Indian and
+Paraense to rescue Tipperary Tom from his peril.  But it was not quite
+so easy.  They had got hold of him, one on each side, as soon as the
+darkness allowed them to discern him.  But this was not till they had
+groped for some time; and then he was found in such a state of
+exhaustion that it required all the strength of both to keep his chin
+above the surface.
+
+Mozey was fast becoming as helpless as Tom, being more than half
+paralysed by the fright he had got from being precipitated into the
+water while still sound asleep.  Such a singular awaking was sufficient
+to have confused a cranium of higher intellectual development than that
+of the Mozambique.
+
+After having discovered their half-drowned companions, neither Richard
+nor the Mundurucu knew exactly what to do with them.  Their first
+thought was to drag them towards the trunk of the tree, under which they
+had been immersed.  This they succeeded in doing; but once alongside the
+stem, they found themselves in no better position for getting out of the
+water.  There was not a branch within reach by which to raise
+themselves, and the bark was as smooth as glass, and slippery with
+slime.
+
+When first ascending into the great tree, they had made use of some
+hanging parasite, which now in the darkness they were unable to find.
+Even the two swimmers began to despond.  If not their own lives, those
+of their comrades might be lost in that gloomy aisle, whose pavement was
+the subtle, deceitful flood.  At this crisis an idea occurred to the
+young Paraense that promised to rescue them from their perilous
+position, and he called out, "The swimming-belts! fling down the
+swimming-belts!"  His uncle and cousin, by this time having a clearer
+comprehension of what had occurred, at once obeyed the command.  Richard
+and the Indian were not slow to avail themselves of this timely
+assistance; and in a trice the two half-drowned men were buoyed up
+beyond further danger.
+
+On getting back into the Bertholletia, there was a general explanation.
+Tipperary Tom was the cause of the awkward incident.  Having gone to
+sleep without taking proper precautions, his limbs, relaxed by slumber,
+had lost their prehensile power, and, sliding through the llianas, he
+had fallen plump into the water below, a distance of more than a dozen
+feet.  His cries, and the consequent plunge, had startled the negro so
+abruptly that he too had lost his equilibrium, and had soused down the
+instant after.
+
+The Mundurucu was by no means satisfied with the occurrence.  It had not
+only interrupted his repose, but given him a wet shirt in which to
+continue it.  He was determined, however, that a similar incident should
+not, for that night, occur,--at least not with the same individuals,--
+and before returning to his roost he bound both of them to theirs with
+_sipos_ strong enough to resist any start that might be caused by the
+most terrible of dreams.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FOUR.
+
+OPEN WATER.
+
+The next day was spent in explorations.  These did not extend more than
+four hundred yards from their sleeping-place; but, short as was the
+distance, it cost more trouble to traverse it than if it had been twenty
+miles on land, across an open country.
+
+It was a thicket through which the explorers had to pass, but such a
+thicket as one acquainted only with the ordinary woods of Northern
+countries can have no conception of.  It was a matted tangle of trees
+and parasitical plants, many of the latter--such as the climbing
+jacitara palms, the huge cane-briers, and bromelias--thickly set with
+sharp spines, that rendered it dangerous to come in contact with them.
+Even had there been firm footing, it would have been no easy task to
+make way through such a network; but, considering that it was necessary
+to traverse the wood by passing from tree to tree, all the time keeping
+in their tops, it will not be wondered at that a few hundred yards of
+such progress was accounted a day's journey.
+
+You must not suppose that all the party of our adventurers went even
+thus far.  In fact, all of them remained in the Brazil-nut, except the
+two who had acted as explorers on the former occasion,--Richard and the
+Mundurucu.  It would have been worse than idle for any other to have
+accompanied them.
+
+It was near sunset when they returned with their report, which to
+Trevannion and his party seemed anything but encouraging.  The explorers
+had penetrated through the forest, finding it flooded in every
+direction.  Not an inch of dry land had they discovered; and the Indian
+knew, from certain signs well understood by him, that none was near.
+The rapid drift of the current, which he had observed several times
+during the day, was one of these indications.  It could not, he
+declared, be running in that way, if dry land were in the vicinity.  So
+far, therefore, as reaching the shore was concerned, they might make up
+their minds for a long journey; and how this was to be performed was the
+question of the hour.
+
+One point the explorers had definitely determined.  The igarape
+terminated at their sleeping-place.  There was no sign of it beyond.
+Instead, however, they had come upon an opening of a very different
+character.  A vast expanse of water, without any trees, had been found,
+its nearest edge being the limit of their day's excursion.  This open
+water did not extend quite to the horizon.  Around it, on all sides,
+trees could be seen, or rather the tops of trees; for it was evident
+that the thicket-like bordering was but the "lop and top" of a submerged
+forest.  On returning to the "roost," Munday urged their going towards
+the open water.
+
+"For what purpose?" inquired the patron, who failed to perceive any good
+reason for it.  "We can't cross it, there being no sort of craft to
+carry us.  We cannot make a raft out of these green branches, full of
+sap as they are.  What's the use of our going that way?  You say there's
+open water almost as far as you can see,--so much the worse, I should
+think."
+
+"No, patron," replied the Indian, still addressing Trevannion as
+respectfully as when acting as his hired _tapuyo_.  "So much the better,
+if you give me leave to differ with you.  Our only hope is to find open
+water."
+
+"Why, we have been all along coming from it.  Isn't there plenty of it
+behind us?"
+
+"True, patron; but it's not running in the right direction.  If we
+launched upon it, the current would be against us.  Remember, master,
+'tis the _echente_.  We couldn't go that way.  If we could, it would
+only bring us back to the river-channel, where, without some sort of a
+vessel, we should soon go to the bottom.  Now the open Gapo we've seen
+to-day is landward, though the land may be a good way off.  Still, by
+crossing it, we shall be getting nearer to firm ground, and that's
+something."
+
+"By crossing it?  But how?"
+
+"We must swim across it."
+
+"Why, you've just said that it stretches almost to the edge of the
+horizon.  It must be ten miles or more.  Do you mean to say we can swim
+so far?"
+
+"What's to hinder us, master?  You have, the monkey-pots; they will keep
+you above water.  If not enough for all, we can get more.  Plenty of the
+sapucaya-trees here."
+
+"But what would be the object of our crossing this expanse of water?
+You say there is no dry land on the other side; in that case, we'll be
+no better off than here."
+
+"There is land on the other side, though I think not near.  But we must
+keep on towards it, else we shall never escape from the Gapo.  If we
+stay here, we must starve, or suffer greatly.  We might search the
+forest for months, and not find another nesting-place of the araras, or
+good food of any kind.  Take my advice, patron.  Soon as comes the light
+of to-morrow, let us cross to the open water.  Then you can see for
+yourself what is best for us to do."
+
+As the perilous circumstances in which they were placed had altogether
+changed the relationship between Trevannion and his _tapuyo_, the latter
+being now the real "patron," of course the ex-miner willingly gave way
+to him in everything; and on the morning of the next day the party of
+adventurers forsook the Brazil-nut, and proceeded towards the open Gapo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.
+
+THE JACANAS.
+
+It will be asked how they proceeded.  To swim to the open water would
+have been next to impossible, even with the assistance of the floats.
+Not only would the thick tree-trunks and drooping llianas have hindered
+them from making way in any direction; but there would have been nothing
+to guide them through the shadowy water, and they must soon lose
+themselves in a labyrinth of gloom.  No sign of the sky could have
+availed them in the deep darkness below; and there were no landmarks to
+which to trust.  The answer is, that they made their way along much as
+did the monkeys which had passed them the day before, only that their
+pace was a hundred times slower, and their exertions a thousand times
+more laborious.  In fact, they travelled among the tree-tops, and
+followed the same track which their explorers had already taken, and
+which Munday, on his return, had taken the precaution to "blaze" by
+breaking a number of twigs and branches.
+
+Their progress was of the slowest kind,--slower than the crawl of a
+cripple; but by dint of perseverance, and the performance of many feats
+in climbing and clinging and balancing, and general gymnastics, they
+succeeded at length in reaching the edge of the forest, and gaining a
+view of the wide watery expanse.  It was a relief to their eyes, so long
+strained to no purpose amidst the shadowy foliage that had enveloped
+them.
+
+"Now, Munday," asked Trevannion, as soon as he had recovered breath,
+after such laborious exertion, "we are here on the edge of the open
+water.  You talk of our being able to swim across it.  Tell us how."
+
+"Just as we swam the igarape."
+
+"Impossible, as you've admitted it can't be less than ten miles to the
+other side.  The tree-tops yonder are scarce discernible."
+
+"We came nearly as far along the canoe-path."
+
+"True; but then we had a chance to rest every few minutes, and that gave
+us strength to go on.  It will be different if we attempt to cross this
+great sea, where there is no resting-place of any kind.  We should be a
+whole day on the water, perhaps more."
+
+"Perhaps so, patron.  But remember, if we do not try to get out of the
+Gapo, we may be three, four, five, or six months among these tree-tops.
+We may get no food but a few nuts and fruits,--scarcely enough to keep
+us alive.  We may lose strength, and be no longer able to stay among the
+branches; we may grow faint and fall, one by one, into the water, to go
+down to the bottom of the Gapo or drop into the jaws of the jacares."
+
+The alternative thus brought in terrible detail vividly before them
+produced a strong impression; and Trevannion offered no objection to any
+plan which the Mundurucu should propose.  He only requested a fuller
+account of the feasibility of that now suggested,--in other words, an
+explanation as to how they were to swim a stretch of ten miles without
+stopping to rest.
+
+Munday made no mystery of the matter.  He had no other plan than that
+already tried with success,--the swimming-belts; only that two
+additional sets would now be needed,--one for himself, the other for the
+young Paraense.  On the short passage from the sapucaya to the forest,
+and along the canoe-path, these bold swimmers had disdained the use of
+that apparatus; but in a pull of ten miles, even they must have recourse
+to such aid.
+
+No further progress was to be made on that day, as the fatigue of their
+arboreal journey required a long rest; and shortly after their arrival
+upon the edge of the forest, they set about arranging for the night,
+having chosen the best tree that could be found.  Unfortunately, their
+larder was lower than it had ever been, since the going down of the
+galatea.  Of the squab macaws there were no longer any left; and some
+sapucaya nuts gathered by the way, and brought along by Munday, formed
+the substance of their scanty supper.
+
+As soon as it was eaten, the Mundurucu, assisted by Richard, busied
+himself in manufacturing the required swimming-belts; and long before
+the sun disappeared behind the forest spray, everything was ready for
+their embarkation, which was to take place at the earliest moment of its
+reappearance.
+
+As usual, there was conversation,--partly to kill time, and partly to
+keep off the shadows that surrounded, and ever threatened to reduce them
+to despair.  Trevannion took pains to keep it up, and make it as
+cheerful as the circumstances would permit, his object being less to
+satisfy himself than to provide gratification for his children.  At
+times he even attempted to jest; but generally the conversation turned
+upon topics suggested by the scene, when the Indian, otherwise taciturn,
+was expected to do the talking.  The open water became the subject on
+this particular occasion.
+
+"It appears like a lake," remarked the ex-miner.  "I can see a line of
+trees or tree-tops all around it, with no signs of a break or channel."
+
+"It is one," rejoined the _tapuyo_.  "A real _lagoa_.  Water in it at
+all seasons,--both _echente_ and _vasante_,--only 'tis fallen now from
+the flood.  There are no _campos_ in this part of the country; and if it
+wasn't a lagoa, there would be trees standing out of it.  But I see a
+surer sign,--the _piosocas_."
+
+The speaker pointed to two dark objects at some distance off, that had
+not hitherto been observed by any of the party.  On more careful
+scrutiny, they proved to be birds,--large, but of slender shape, and
+bearing some resemblance to a brace of cranes or curlews.  They were of
+dark colour, rufous on the wings, with a green iridescence that
+glistened brightly under the beams of the setting sun.
+
+They were near enough to enable the spectators to distinguish several
+peculiarities in their structure; among others a singular leathery
+appendage at the base of the beak, stout, spinous processes or "spurs"
+on the wing shoulders, very long, slender legs, and _tarsi_ of immense
+length, radiating outward from their shank, like four pointed stare,
+spread horizontally on the surface of the water.
+
+What struck the spectators, not only with surprise, but appeared
+unaccountable, was the fact that these birds seen upon the water were
+not seated as if swimming or afloat; but standing erect upon their long
+tarsi and toes, which apparently spread upon the surface, as if upon
+ice!
+
+Stranger still, while they were being watched, both were seen to forsake
+their statue-like attitude, and move first toward each other, and then
+apart again, running to and fro as if upon a solid fooling!  What could
+it all mean?  Munday was asked for the explanation.  Were they walking
+upon the water?
+
+No.  There was a water plant under their feet--a big lily, with a leaf
+several feet in diameter, that floated on the surface--sufficient to
+carry the weight of the biggest bird.  That was what was supporting the
+piosocas.
+
+On scanning the surface more carefully, they could distinguish the big
+lily, and its leaf with a turned-up edge resembling the rim of a Chinese
+gong, or a huge frying-pan.  They became acquainted for the first time
+with that gigantic lily, which has been entitled "the Royal Victoria,"
+and the discoverer of which was knighted for his flattery.
+
+"'Tis the _furno de piosoca_," said Munday, continuing his explanation.
+"It is called so, because, as you see, it's like the oven on which we
+bake our Cassava; and because it is the favourite roost of the piosoca."
+
+By "piosoca" the Indian meant the singular _jacana_ of the family
+_Palamedeidae_, of which there are species both in Africa and America.
+
+The birds had fortunately made their appearance at a crisis when the
+spectators required something to abstract their thoughts from the cares
+that encompassed them, and so much were they engrossed by the curious
+spectacle, that they did not perceive the _tapuyo_, as he let himself
+gently down into the water, and swam off under the drooping branches of
+the trees, pausing at a point opposite to where the piosocas were at
+play.
+
+From this point they could not have perceived him, as he had dived under
+water, and did not come up again until the slender shanks of a jacana,
+enveloped in the lily's soft leaf, were clutched by his sinewy fingers,
+and the bird with a shrill scream was seen fluttering on the water,
+while its terrified mate soared shrieking into the air.
+
+The party in the tree-tops were at first amazed.  They saw a dark, round
+object close to the struggling jacana, that resembled the head of a
+human being, whose body was under water!  It was not till it had come
+nearer, the bird still keeping it close company, that they identified
+the head, with its copper-coloured face, now turned towards them, as
+belonging to their guide and companion,--Munday.  A fire was soon
+blazing in the branches, and instead of going to sleep upon a supper of
+raw sapucayas, our adventurers sought repose after a hearty meal made
+upon roast jacana!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SIX.
+
+A COMPANION LEFT BEHIND.
+
+By daybreak they were once more in the water, each provided with a
+complete set of swimming-shells.  As the voyage was more extensive, and
+altogether more perilous, the greatest pains was taken to have the
+swimming apparatus as perfect as possible.  Any flaw, such as a weak
+place in the waist-belts or shoulder-straps, or the smallest crevice
+that would admit water into one of the shells, might be followed by
+serious consequences, perhaps even drowning.  Besides making the new
+belts, therefore, Munday had mended the old ones, giving all the shells
+an additional coating of caoutchouc, and strengthening the sipos that
+attached them to one another.
+
+Just as the sun's disk was seen above the tree-tops that skirted the
+_lagoa_ on the east, our adventurers embarked on their aquatic
+expedition.  But it could not be said that they started in high spirits.
+They knew not what was to be the sequel of their singular undertaking.
+Where their journey was to end, or whether its end might not be for some
+of their number--if not all of them--the bottom of the Gapo.
+
+Indeed, the Indian, to whom they all looked for encouragement as well as
+guidance, was himself not very sanguine of success.  He did not say so,
+but for all that Trevannion, who had kept interrogating him at intervals
+while they were preparing to start, had become impressed with this
+belief.  As the Mundurucu persisted in counselling the expedition, he
+did not urge any further opposition, and under the auspices of a
+glorious tropical sunrise they committed themselves to the open waters
+of the lagoa.
+
+At the very start there occurred a somewhat ominous accident.  As the
+coaita would have been a cumbersome companion for any of the swimmers to
+carry, it was decided that the creature should be left behind.
+Unpleasant as it was to part with a pet so long in the company of the
+galatea's crew, there was no alternative but to abandon it.
+
+Tipperary Tom, notwithstanding his attachment toward it, or rather its
+attachment toward him, was but too willing to assent to the separation.
+He had a vivid recollection of his former entanglement, and the risk he
+had run of being either drowned in the Gapo, or strangled by the
+coaita's tail; and with this remembrance still fresh before his fancy,
+he had taken the precaution at this new start to steal silently off from
+the trees, among the foremost of the swimmers.  Everybody in fact had
+got off, before the coaita was aware of their intention to abandon it,
+and to such a distance that by no leap could it alight upon anybody's
+shoulders.  On perceiving that it was left behind, it set up a series of
+cries, painfully plaintive, but loud enough to have been heard almost to
+the limits of the lagoa.
+
+A similar desertion of the macaw was evidently intended, to which no one
+had given a thought, although it was Rosa's pet.  The ouistiti had been
+provided with a free passage upon the shoulders of the young Paraense.
+But the huge parrot was not to be left behind in this free and easy
+fashion.  It was not so helpless as the coaita.  It possessed a pair of
+strong wings, which, when strongly and boldly spread, could carry it
+clear across the lagoa.  Conscious of this superior power, it did not
+stay long upon the trees, to mingle its chattering with the screams of
+the coaita.  Before the swimmers had made a hundred strokes, the macaw
+mounted into the air, flew for a while hoveringly above them, as if
+selecting its perch, and then dropped upon the negro's head, burying its
+claws in his tangled hair.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.
+
+THE GUIDE ABANDONED.
+
+As the swimmers proceeded, their hopes grew brighter.  They saw that
+they were able to make good headway through the water; and in less than
+an hour they were a full mile distant from their point of departure.  At
+this rate they should be on the other side of the lagoon before sunset,
+if their strength would only hold out.  The voyage promised to be
+prosperous; and joy sat upon their countenances.
+
+Shortly after there came a change.  A cloud was seen stealing over the
+brow of the Mundurucu, which was the cue for every other to exhibit a
+similar shadowing.  Trevannion kept scanning the countenance of the
+tapuyo to ascertain the cause of his disquietude.  He made no enquiry;
+but he could tell by the behaviour of the Indian that there, was trouble
+on his mind.  At intervals he elevated his head above the water, and
+looked back over his shoulder, as if seeking behind him for the cause of
+his anxiety.  As they swam on farther, Munday's countenance lost nothing
+of its anxious cast, while his turnings and backward glances became more
+frequent.  Trevannion also looked back, though only to ascertain the
+meaning of the tapuyo's manoeuvres.  He could see nothing to account for
+it,--nothing but the tree-tops from which they had parted, and these
+every moment becoming less conspicuous.  Though the patron did not
+perceive it, this was just what was causing the tapuyo's apprehensive
+looks.  The sinking of the trees was the very thing that was producing
+his despondency.
+
+Stimulated less by curiosity than alarm, Trevannion could keep silent no
+longer.  "Why do you look back, Munday?" he inquired.  "Is there any
+danger in that direction?  Have you a fear that we shall be followed?  I
+can see nothing except the tree-tops, and them scarcely at this moment."
+
+"That's the danger.  We shall soon lose sight of them altogether; and
+then--"
+
+"What then?"
+
+"Then--I confess, patron, I am puzzled.  I did not think of it before we
+took to the water."
+
+"O, I see what you mean.  You've been hitherto guiding our course by the
+trees from which we parted.  When they are no longer in view we shall
+have nothing to steer by?"
+
+"It is true.  The Great Spirit only can guide us then!"  The Mundurucu
+evidently felt more than chagrin that he had expressed himself so
+confidently about their being able to cross the lagoon.  He had only
+taken into consideration the circumstance of their being able to swim,
+without ever thinking of the chance of their losing the way.  The trees
+sinking gradually to the horizon first admonished him; and as he
+continued to swim farther into the clear water, he became convinced that
+such mischance was not only possible, but too probable.  With a sort of
+despairing effort he kept on with even more energy than before, as if
+trying how far he could follow a straight line without depending on any
+object to pilot him.
+
+After proceeding thus for two or three hundred yards, he once more
+raised his chin to his shoulder and looked back.  The tree-tops were
+barely visible; but he was satisfied on perceiving that the one from
+which they had started rose up directly opposite to him, thus proving
+that in his trial stretch he had gone in a straight line, inspiring him
+with the hope of being able to continue it to the opposite side.  With
+renewed confidence he kept on, after uttering a few phrases of cheer to
+the others.
+
+Another stretch of about three hundred yards was passed through in
+silence, and without any incident to interrupt the progress of the
+swimmers.  Then all came to a pause, seeing their conductor, as before,
+suspend his stroke, and again make a rearward reconnoissance.  This time
+he did not appear so well satisfied, until he had raised his head high
+over the surface, which he accomplished by standing erect, and beating
+the water with his palms downward, when his confidence was again
+refreshed, and he started forward once more.
+
+At the next stopping-place, instead of raising himself once into the
+standing poise, he did so several times in succession, each time sinking
+down again with an exclamation of disappointment.  He could not see the
+trees, even at the utmost stretch of his neck.  With a grunt that seemed
+to signify his assent to the abandoning of their guidance, he again laid
+himself along the water, and continued in the direction he had been
+already following; but not before assuring himself that he was on the
+right course, which fortunately he was still able to do by noting the
+relative positions of the others.
+
+At starting away from this, which he intended should be their last
+stopping-place, he delivered a series of admonitions intended for every
+swimmer.  They were to keep their places, that is, their relative
+positions to him and one another, as nearly as might be; they were to
+swim gently and slowly, according to the example he should set them, so
+that they might not become fatigued and require to pause for rest; and,
+above all, they were not to bother him by putting questions, but were,
+in short, to proceed in perfect silence.  He did not condescend to
+explain these strange injunctions further than by telling them that, if
+they were not followed, and to the letter, neither he nor they might
+ever climb into another tree-top!
+
+It is needless to say that, after such an intimation, his orders
+received implicit obedience; and those to whom he had given them swam
+onward after him as silently as so many fishes.  The only sound heard
+was the monotonous sighing of the water, seething against the hollow
+sapucaya-shells, now and then varied by the scream of the _caracara_
+eagle, as it poised itself for a second over their heads, in surprise at
+the singular cohort of aquatic creatures moving so mysteriously through
+the lagoons.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT.
+
+ROUND AND ROUND.
+
+For a full hour our adventurers preserved, not only their relative
+positions, but also the silence that had been enjoined upon them.  None
+of them spoke, even when a dead guariba--that had been drowned, perhaps,
+by attempting a leap too great for its strength and agility--came
+drifting along among them.  Not one of them took any notice of it except
+the ouistiti upon the shoulders of Richard Trevannion.  This diminutive
+quadrumanous specimen, on recognising the body of one of its big
+kinsmen, entered upon a series of chatterings and squeakings, trembling
+all the while as if suddenly awakened to the consciousness that it was
+itself in danger of terminating its existence in a similar manner.
+
+Its cries were not heeded.  Munday's admonition had been delivered in a
+tone too serious to be disregarded; and the ouistiti was permitted to
+utter its plaint, without a single word being addressed to it, either of
+chiding or consolation.  Tranquillity was at length restored, for the
+little ape, seeing that no notice was taken of it, desisted from its
+noisy demonstrations, and once more the swimmers proceeded in silence.
+
+Half an hour or so might have elapsed before this silence received a
+second interruption.  It again came in the voice of the ouistiti; which,
+rearing itself on its tiny hind-legs, having the shoulders of the
+Paraense for a support, craning its head outward over the water,
+commenced repeating its cries of alarm.  In seeking for an explanation
+of this conduct, they contented themselves with watching the movements
+of the alarmist, and by turning their eyes towards the object which
+appeared to attract the ouistiti and cause it such evident alarm.  Each
+buoyed himself up to get a good view; and each, as he did so, saw scarce
+ten paces ahead of him the carcass of a guariba!  It was drifting
+towards them in the same manner as the one they had already met; and
+before any of them thought of exchanging speech, it was bobbing about in
+their midst.
+
+The reflection that occurred to the swimmers was, that there had been a
+general drowning among the guaribas somewhere on the shores of the
+lagoon: perhaps a tribe had got into some isolated tree, where their
+retreat had been cut off by the inundation.  Had the tapuyo not been of
+the party, this theory might have satisfied all hands, and the journey
+would have been continued, instead of being suddenly interrupted by the
+tapuyo himself.  He was not so easily deceived.  On passing the first
+guariba, although he had said nothing, he had carefully noted the
+peculiarities of the carcass; and as soon as he swam within
+distinguishing distance of the second guariba, he saw that the pair were
+identical.  In other words, our adventurers had for the second time
+encountered the same unfortunate ape.
+
+There could be but one conclusion.  The carcass could not have changed
+its course, unless by the shifting of the wind, or the current of the
+water.  But neither would have explained that second _rencontre_.  It
+was only intelligible upon the supposition that the swimmers had been
+going round and round and returning on their own track!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FORTY NINE.
+
+GOING BY GUESS.
+
+Although their guide was the first to discover it, he did not attempt to
+conceal the dilemma into which he had been instrumental in leading them.
+"'Tis true, patron!" he said, addressing himself to Trevannion, and no
+longer requiring compliance with his former regulations.  "We have gone
+astray.  That's the same monkey we met before; so you see we're back
+where we were a half-hour ago.  _Pa terra_!  It's crooked luck, patron;
+but I suppose the Great Spirit wills it so!"
+
+Trevannion, confounded, made scarcely any reply.
+
+"We mustn't remain here anyhow," pursued the Indian.  "We must try to
+get to the trees somewhere,--no matter where."
+
+"Surely," said the ex-miner, "we can accomplish that?"
+
+"I hope so," was the reply of the tapuyo, given with no great
+confidence.
+
+Trevannion reflected that they had been _swimming in a circle_.  Should
+this occur again,--and there was every possibility of such a thing,--the
+desired end might not be so easy of accomplishment.
+
+For some minutes speculation was suspended.  The guide was engaged in
+action.  Like a water-spaniel in search of a winged wild-duck, he
+repeatedly reared himself above the surface, casting glances of
+interrogation to every quarter of the compass.  Like the same spaniel,
+when convinced that the wounded bird has escaped him, he at length
+desisted from these idle efforts; and, laying his body along the water,
+prepared to swim disappointedly to the shore.
+
+With something more than disappointment--something more than chagrin--
+did Munday commence retreating from the lagoon.  As he called upon his
+companions to follow him, there was a tremor in his voice, and an
+irresolution in his stroke perceptible to the least observant of them;
+and the fact of his having shouldered the dead guariba, after first
+making inspection to see that it was fit for food, was proof of his
+entertaining some suspicion that their voyage might be a long one.  No
+one questioned him; for notwithstanding the failure of his promise to
+guide them straight across the lagoon, they still relied upon him.  On
+whom or what else could they rely?
+
+After proceeding a considerable distance, he came to a pause, once more
+stood up in the water, and, turning as upon a pivot, scanned the circle
+of the horizon.  Satisfied that there was not a tree-top within view, he
+swam onward as before.  Could he have ensured keeping a straight course,
+no great danger need have been apprehended.  The lagoon might be ten
+miles wide; or, if twenty, it could not so materially affect the result.
+Swim as slowly as they might, a score of hours would see them on its
+shore,--whether this was the spray of another submerged forest, or the
+true _terra firma_.  There was no danger of their going to the bottom,
+for their swimming-belts secured them against that.  There was no danger
+of their suffering from thirst,--the contingency most dreaded by the
+castaway at sea, and the strayed traveller in the desert,--of fresh
+water they had a surfeit.  Nor did hunger dismay them.  Since eating the
+jacana, they had set forth upon a breakfast of Brazil-nuts,--a food
+which, from its oily nature, may be said to combine both animal and
+vegetable substance.  Moreover, they were now no longer unprovided
+against a future emergency: since their guide carried upon his shoulders
+the carcass of the guariba.
+
+Their real danger lay in their deviating from a right line: for who
+could swim straight, with his eyes on a level with the surface of the
+water, and nothing to direct his course, neither tree, nor rock, nor
+star, nor signal of any kind?  The tapuyo knew this.  So did they all.
+Even the children could tell that they were no longer guided, but going
+by guess-work.  It was no longer a question of getting _across_ the
+lagoon, but _out_ of it.  The unsteady movements of their guide, instead
+of allaying their fears, produced the contrary effect, and the
+disconsolate expression on his countenance was evidence that he was
+under much apprehension.
+
+For over an hour this uncertainty continued.  The swimmers, one and all,
+were beginning to give way to serious alarm.  To say nothing of reaching
+land, they might never more set eyes upon the submerged forest.  They
+might swim round and round, as in the vortex of Charybdis, until sheer
+exhaustion should reduce them utterly.  In due time hunger must overtake
+them; and a lingering death by starvation might be their destiny.  When
+faint from want of food and unable to defend themselves, they would be
+attacked by predatory creatures dwelling in the water, while birds of
+prey would assail them from the air.  Already could they fancy that the
+cry of the caracara sounded more spiteful than was its wont; and
+exultingly, as if the base bird foreboded for them a tragical ending.
+
+More than twenty times had the tapuyo repeated his inspection of the
+horizon, without seeing aught to cheer him.  They had been many hours in
+the water, and supposed it to be about noon.  They could only conjecture
+as to the time, for the sun was not visible.  At an early hour in the
+morning--almost as they started--the sky had become overcast with a
+sheet of leaden grey, concealing the sun's disk from their sight.  This
+circumstance had caused some discouragement; but for it they might long
+since have escaped from their dilemma, as the golden luminary, while low
+down, would have served them as a guide.
+
+Strange to say, at that hour when it was no longer of any concern to
+them, the sky became suddenly clear, and the sun shone forth with
+burning brilliance.  But his orb was now in the zenith, and of no
+service to point out the quarter of the compass.  Within the equatorial
+zone, north, south, east, and west were all alike to him at that season
+of the year and that hour of the day.  If they could but have the
+direction of one of these points, all would have been well.  But the sun
+gave no sign.
+
+For all that, the Indian hailed his appearance with a grunt of
+satisfaction, while a change came over his countenance that could scarce
+be caused by the mere brightening of the sky.  Something more than
+cheerfulness declared itself in his dark features,--an expression of
+renewed hope.
+
+"If the sun keep on to show," said he, in answer to the questioning of
+Trevannion, "it will be all right for us.  Now it's no good.  In an hour
+from now he'll make some shadow.  Then we shall swim as straight as can
+be, never fear, patron! we shall get out of this scrape before night,--
+never fear!"
+
+These cheering words were welcome, and produced universal joy where but
+the moment before all was gloom.
+
+"I think, patron," continued the tapuyo.  "We may as well stop swimming
+for a while, till we see which way the sun goes.  Then we can make a
+fresh start.  If we keep on now, we may be only making way in the wrong
+direction."
+
+The tired swimmers were only too ready to yield compliance to this bit
+of advice.  The Mundurucu made one more endeavour to catch sight of the
+tree-tops, and, being still unsuccessful, resigned himself to
+inactivity, and along with the rest lay motionless upon the water.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY.
+
+GUIDED BY A SHADOW.
+
+In this way about an hour was spent; though by no means in solemn
+silence.  Perfectly at ease, so far as physical comfort was concerned,
+upon their liquid couch the swimmers could converse, as if stretched
+upon a carpet of meadow-grass; and they passed their time in discussing
+the chances of their ultimate escape from that cruel situation, to which
+an unlucky accident had consigned them.  They were not altogether
+relieved from apprehension as to their present predicament.  If the sky
+should become again overcast, they would be worse off than ever, since
+there was the loss of time to be considered.  All were constantly
+turning their eyes upwards, and scanning the firmament, to see if there
+were any signs of fresh clouds.
+
+Munday looked towards the zenith with a different design.  He was
+watching for the sun to decline.  In due time his watchfulness was
+rewarded; not so much by observation of the sun itself, as by a
+contrivance which declared the course of the luminary, long before it
+could have been detected by the eye.
+
+Having cautioned the others to keep still, so that there should be no
+disturbance in the water,--otherwise perfectly tranquil,--he held his
+knife in such a way that the blade stood up straight above the surface.
+Taking care to keep it in the exact perpendicular, he watched with
+earnest eye, as a philosopher watches the effect of some chemical
+combination.  In a short time he was gratified by observing a _shadow_.
+The blade, well balanced, cast an oblique reflection on the water; at
+first, slight, but gradually becoming more elongated, as the experiment
+proceeded.
+
+Becoming at length convinced that he knew west from east, the tapuyo
+restored his knife to its place, and, calling to his companions to
+follow him, he struck off in the direction pointed out to him by the
+shadow of the steel.  This would take the swimmers in an easterly
+direction; but it mattered not what direction so long as it carried them
+out of the lagoon.  As they proceeded onward, the guide occasionally
+assured himself of keeping the same course, by repeating the experiment
+with his knife; but after a time he no longer needed to consult his
+queer sun-dial, having discovered a surer guide in the spray of the
+forest, which at length loomed up along the line of the horizon.
+
+It was close upon sunset when they swam in among the drooping branches,
+and once more, with dripping skins, climbed up into the tops of the
+trees.  Had it not been that they were glad to get to any port, they
+might have felt chagrin on discovering that chance had directed them to
+the very same roost where they had perched on the preceding night.
+
+The drowned guariba which Munday had carried from the middle of the
+lagoon was roasted, and furnished their evening meal; and the epicure
+who would turn up his nose at such a viand has never tasted food under
+the shadow of an Amazonian forest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY ONE.
+
+AROUND THE EDGE.
+
+Discouraged by their failure, our adventurers remained upon their perch
+till nearly noon of the next day, in listless lassitude.  The exertions
+of the preceding day had produced a weariness that required more than a
+night's rest, for not only their bodies, but their spirits were under
+the influence of their long toil, until their state of mind bordered
+upon despondency.  As the hours wore on, and their fatigue was gradually
+relieved by rest, their spirits rose in like proportion; and before the
+sun had reached its meridian, the instinctive desire of life sprang up
+within their bosoms, and once more they began to consider what steps
+should be taken to prolong it.
+
+Should they make another attempt to cross the lagoon by swimming?  What
+chance would there be of steering in the right course, any more than
+upon the day before?  They were just as likely to go astray a second
+time, and perhaps with a less fortunate _finale_.  If again lost amidst
+the waste of waters, they might not be able to get sight of the
+tree-tops, but swim on in circles or crooked turnings, until death,
+arising from sheer exhaustion, or want of food, should complete their
+misery.
+
+Even the Mundurucu no longer urged the course in which he had formerly
+expressed such confidence; and for some time he declined giving any
+advice whatever,--his silence and his gloomy looks showing that he felt
+humiliated by the failure of his plan.  No one thought of reproaching
+him; for although their faith in his power was not quite so strong as it
+had hitherto been, there was yet confidence in his superior skill.  Had
+they been castaways from a ship, escaping in an open boat, or on some
+raft or spar, in the middle of the great ocean, their cook would
+doubtless have disputed his right to remain master.  But in the midst of
+that strange inland sea, whose shores and islands consisted only of
+tree-tops, the Mozambique acknowledged himself to be no more than a
+novice.
+
+Trevannion himself took the lead in suggesting the next plan.  It was
+not intended to give up the idea of crossing the lagoon.  It was a
+general belief that on the other side there must be land; and therefore
+to reach it became the paramount thought of the party.  To go around it,
+by keeping upon the trees, was clearly out of the question.  Even had
+these continued all the way with interlacing branches, still the journey
+would have been one that apes alone could perform.  It would have
+occupied days, weeks, perhaps a month; and what certainty was there of
+finding food for such a length of time?  Still, if they could not travel
+upon the tree-tops, what was to hinder them from going _under_ them?
+Why should they not use the forest to steer by,--swimming along the edge
+of the trees, and making use of them at intervals for rest, and for a
+sleeping-place during the night?
+
+The idea was excellent, and, coming from Trevannion himself, was of
+course approved without one opposing voice.  Even the Indian
+acknowledged that it was a sagacious design, and superior to his own.
+Fortunately it required but slight preparation for trial, and as the sun
+shone down from the zenith they forsook their resting-place, and once
+more betook themselves to the water, with their swimming-belts carefully
+adjusted again about them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY TWO.
+
+THE MASSARANDUBA.
+
+They advanced at the rate of about a mile an hour.  Could they have kept
+on steadily, this would have given them ten or twelve miles a day, and
+two or three days might have brought them to the other side of the
+lagoon.  It was necessary, however, that they should stop at intervals
+to obtain rest; and their progress was further impeded by the piosoca
+plants,--the huge water-lilies already described,--whose broad, circular
+leaves, lying along the surface like gigantic frying-pans, came directly
+in their course.  Here and there they had to traverse a tract of these
+lilies several acres in extent, where the rims of the rounded leaves
+almost touched each other; and the thick succulent stalks formed a
+tangle underneath, through which it was very difficult for a swimmer to
+make way.  More than once they were compelled to go around these watery
+gardens for a distance of many hundreds of yards, but thus shortening
+the journey made in the right direction.
+
+On account of such impediments they had not gone more than three miles
+from their point of starting, when the Mundurucu recommended a halt for
+the night, although it could not have been later than six o'clock, as
+could be told by the sun, still high up in the heavens.
+
+"I am hungry, patron," said the Indian at last; "so are you all.  We
+must have some supper, else how can we go on?"
+
+"Supper!" echoed Trevannion.  "Yes, sure enough, we are hungry.  I knew
+that an hour ago.  But upon what do you propose to sup?  I see nothing
+but trees with plenty of leaves, but no fruit.  We cannot live upon
+leaves like the sloth.  We must be starving before we take to that."
+
+"We shall sup upon milk, master, if you don't object to our making a
+camping-place close by."
+
+"Milk!" exclaimed Tom.  "What div yez say, Misther Munday?  Div yez mane
+milk?  Och! don't be after temptin' wan's stomach with a dilicacy that
+can't be obtained in this land av wather!  Shure now we're not only a
+hundred modes from the tail av a cow, but a thousand, may be, from that
+same."
+
+"You may be wrong there," interrupted the Paraense.  "There are cows in
+the Gapo, as well as upon land.  You have seen them yourself as we came
+down the river?"
+
+"Troth, yis,--if yez mane the fish-cow," (the Irishman alluded to the
+_Vaca marina_, or manatee,--the _peixe-boi_ or fish-cow of the
+Portuguese, several species of which inhabit the Amazon waters).  "But
+shure the great brute could not be milked, if we did cotch wan av them;
+an' if we did we should not take the throuble, when by sthrippin' the
+skin av her carcass we'd get somethin' far betther for our suppers, in
+the shape av a fat steak."
+
+"Yonder is what the Mundurucu means!" said the guide.  "Yonder stands
+the cow that can supply us with milk for our supper,--ay, and with bread
+too to go along with it; don't you see the _Massaranduba_?"
+
+At first they could see nothing that particularly claimed attention.
+But by following the instructions of the guide, and raising their heads
+a little, they at length caught sight of a tree, standing at some
+distance from the forest edge, and so far overtopping the others as to
+appear like a giant among pygmies.  It was in reality a vegetable
+giant,--the great massaranduba of the Amazon,--one of the most
+remarkable trees to be found even in a forest where more strange species
+abound than in any other part of the world.  To Tom and some others of
+the party the words of the Mundurucu were still a mystery.  How was a
+tree to supply them with a supper of bread and milk?
+
+Trevannion and Richard required no further explanation.  The former had
+heard of this singular tree; the latter had seen it,--nay, more, had
+drank of its milk, and eaten of its fruit.  It was with great joy the
+young Paraense now looked upon its soaring leafy top, as it not only
+reminded him of a spectacle he had often observed in the woods skirting
+the suburbs of his native city, but promised, as the tapuyo had
+declared, to relieve the pangs of hunger, that had become agonisingly
+keen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY THREE.
+
+A VEGETABLE COW.
+
+The tree which had thus determined them to discontinue their journey,
+and which was to furnish them with lodgings for the night, was the
+famous _palo de vaca_, or "cow-tree" of South America, known also as the
+_arbol de leche_, or "milk-tree."  It has been described by Humboldt
+under the name _Galactodendron_, but later botanical writers, not
+contented with the very appropriate title given to it by the great
+student of Nature, have styled it _Brosium_.  It belongs to the natural
+order of the _Atrocarpads_, which, by what might appear a curious
+coincidence, includes also the celebrated breadfruit.  What may seem
+stranger still, the equally famous upas-tree of Java is a scion of the
+same stock, an _atrocarpad_!  Therefore, just as in one family there are
+good boys and bad boys, (it is to be hoped there are none of the latter
+in yours,) so in the family of the atrocarpads there are trees producing
+food and drink both wholesome to the body and delicious to the palate,
+while there are others in whose sap, flowers, and fruit are concealed
+the most virulent of poisons.
+
+The massaranduba is not the only species known as _palo de vaca_, or
+cow-tree.  There are many others so called, whose sap is of a milky
+nature.  Some yield a milk that is pleasant to the taste and highly
+nutritious, of which the "hya-hya" (_Tabernaemontana utibis_), another
+South American tree, is the most conspicuous.  This last belongs to the
+order of the _Apocyanae_, or dog-banes, while still another order, the
+_Sapotacae_, includes among its genera several species of cow-tree.  The
+massaranduba itself was formerly classed among the _Sapotads_.
+
+It is one of the largest trees of the Amazonian forest, frequently found
+two hundred feet in height, towering above the other trees, with a top
+resembling an immense vegetable dome.  Logs one hundred feet long,
+without a branch, have often been hewn out of its trunk, ready for the
+saw-mill.  Its timber is very hard and fine grained, and will stand the
+weather better than most other South American trees; but it cannot be
+procured in any great quantity, because, like many other trees of the
+Amazon, it is of a solitary habit, only two or three, or at most half a
+dozen, growing within the circuit of a mile.
+
+It is easily distinguished from trees of other genera by its reddish,
+ragged bark, which is deeply furrowed, and from a decoction of which the
+Indians prepare a dye of a dark red colour.  The fruit, about the size
+of an apple, is full of a rich juicy pulp, exceedingly agreeable to the
+taste, and much relished.  This is the bread which the Mundurucu hoped
+to provide for the supper of his half-famished companions.
+
+But the most singular, as well as the most important, product of the
+massaranduba is its milky juice.  This is obtained by making an incision
+in the bark, when the white sap flows forth in a copious stream, soon
+filling a calabash or other vessel held under it.  On first escaping
+from the tree it is of the colour and about the consistency of rich
+cream, and, but for a slightly balsamic odour might be mistaken for the
+genuine produce of the dairy.  After a short exposure to the air it
+curdles, a thready substance forming upon the surface, resembling
+cheese, and so called by the natives.  When diluted with water, the
+coagulation does not so rapidly take place; and it is usually treated in
+this manner, besides being strained, before it is brought to the table.
+The natives use it by soaking their _farinha_ or maize-bread with the
+sap, and it is also used as cream in tea, chocolate, and coffee, many
+people preferring it on account of the balsamic flavour which it imparts
+to these beverages.
+
+The milk of the massaranduba is in great demand throughout all the
+district where the tree is found, both in the Spanish and Portuguese
+territories of tropical South America.  In Venezuela it is extensively
+used by the negroes, and it has been remarked that these people grow
+fatter during the season of the year when the _palo de vaca_ is plenty.
+Certain it is that no ill effects have been known to result from a free
+use of it; and the vegetable cow cannot be regarded otherwise than as
+one of the most singular and interesting productions of beneficent
+Nature.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR.
+
+A MILK SUPPER.
+
+It was some time before they swam under the massaranduba's
+wide-spreading branches, as it did not stand on the edge of the forest,
+and for a short time after entering among the other trees it was out of
+sight.  The instincts of the Indian, however, directed him, and in due
+time it again came before their eyes, its rough reddish trunk rising out
+of the water like a vast ragged column.
+
+As might have been expected, its huge limbs were laden with parasites,
+trailing down to the surface of the water.  By these they found no
+difficulty in making an ascent, and were soon safely installed; its huge
+coreaceous leaves of oblong form and pointed at the tops, many of them
+nearly a foot in length, forming a shade against the fervent rays of the
+sun, still several degrees above the horizon.
+
+As the Indian had anticipated, the tree was in full bearing, and ere
+long a number of its apples were plucked, and refreshing the parched
+palates that would have pronounced them exquisite had they been even
+less delicious than they were.  Munday made no stay even to taste the
+fruit.  He was determined on giving his companions the still rarer treat
+he had promised them, a supper of milk; and not until he had made some
+half-dozen notches with his knife, and placed under each a
+sapucaya-shell detached from the swimming-belts, did he cease his
+exertions.
+
+They had not long to wait.  The vegetable cow proved a free milker, and
+in twenty minutes each of the party had a pericarp in hand full of
+delicious cream, which needed no sugar to make it palatable.  They did
+not stay to inquire how many quarts their new cow could give.  Enough
+for them to know that there was sufficient to satisfy the appetites of
+all for that night.
+
+When, after supper, the conversation naturally turned to the
+peculiarities of this remarkable tree, many other facts were elicited in
+regard to its useful qualities.  Richard told them that in Para it was
+well-known, its fruit and milk being sold in the streets by the negro
+market-women, and much relished by all classes of the inhabitants of
+that city; that its sap was used by the Paraense joiners in the place of
+glue, to which it was equal, if not superior, guitars, violins, and
+broken dishes being put together with it in the most effective manner,
+its tenacity holding against both heat and dampness.  Another curious
+fact was, that the sap continues to run long after the tree has been
+felled: that even the logs lying in the yard of a saw-mill have been
+known to yield for weeks, even months, the supply required by the
+sawyers for creaming their coffee!
+
+And now our adventurers, admonished by the setting of the sun, were
+about stretching themselves along the branches, with the intention of
+going to sleep.  But they were not to retire without an incident, though
+fortunately it was such as to add to the cheerfulness lately inspiring
+the spirits of all, even to the macaw and little monkey, both of whom
+had amply regaled themselves upon the succulent fruits of the
+massaranduba.  The great ape, again left behind, had been altogether
+forgotten.  No one of the party was thinking of it; or, if any one was,
+it was only with a very subdued regret.  All knew that the coaita could
+take care of itself, and under all circumstances it would be safe
+enough.  For all this, they would have been very glad still to have kept
+it in their company, had that been possible; and all of them were glad
+when a loud chattering at no great distance was recognised as the
+salutation of their old acquaintance, the coaita.  Directly after, the
+animal itself was seen springing from tree to tree, until by a last long
+leap it lodged itself on the branches of the massaranduba, and was soon
+after seated upon the shoulders of Tipperary Tom.
+
+While the swimmers were proceeding by slow stages, the ape had kept them
+company among the tops of the adjacent trees; and, but for its being
+delayed by having to make the circuit around the various little bays, it
+might have been astride the vegetable cow long before the swimmers
+themselves.  Coming late, it was not the less welcome, and before going
+to sleep it was furnished with a fruit supper, and received a series of
+caresses from Tom, that in some measure consoled it for his double
+desertion.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE.
+
+ONLY A DEAD-WOOD.
+
+Despite the coarse netting of the hammocks on which they were
+constrained to pass the night, our adventurers slept better than was
+their wont, from a certain feeling of security,--a confidence that God
+had not forgotten them.  He who could give them food in the forest could
+also guide them out of the labyrinth into which their own negligence had
+led them.
+
+A prayer to Him preceded their breakfast on the cream of the cow-tree,
+and with another they launched themselves upon their strings of shells,
+with renewed confidence, and proceeded along the curving selvage of the
+trees.  As before, they found their progress impeded by the "ovens" of
+the piosoca; and despite their utmost exertions, at noon they had made
+scarce three miles from their starting-point, for the gigantic tree that
+had sheltered them was full in sight, and even at sunset they could not
+have been more than six miles from it.
+
+In the forest about them there appeared no resting-place for the night.
+The trees stood closely together, but without any interlacing of
+branches, or large horizontal limbs upon which they might seek repose.
+For a time it appeared as if they would have to spend the night upon the
+water.  This was a grave consideration, and the guide knew it.  With
+their bodies immersed during the midnight hours,--chill even within the
+tropics,--the consequences might be serious, perhaps fatal.  One way or
+another a lodgement must be obtained among the tree-tops.  It was
+obtained, but after much difficulty.  The climbing to it was a severe
+struggle, and the seat was of the most uncomfortable kind.  There was no
+supper, or comfort of any kind.
+
+With the earliest appearance of day they were all once more in the
+water, and slowly pursuing their weary way.  Now slower than ever, for
+in proportion to their constantly decreasing strength the obstruction
+from the piosocas appeared to increase.  The lagoon, or at least its
+border, had become a labyrinth of lilies.
+
+While thus contending against adverse circumstances, an object came
+under their eyes that caused a temporary abstraction from their misery.
+Something strange was lying along the water at the distance of about a
+quarter of a mile from them.  It appeared to be some ten or twelve yards
+in length, and stood quite high above the surface.  It was of a dark
+brown colour, and presented something the appearance of a bank of dried
+mud, with some pieces of stout stakes projecting upward.  Could it be
+this?  Was it a bank or spit of land?
+
+The hearts of the swimmers leaped as this thought, inspired by their
+wishes, came into every mind.  If land, it could be only an islet, for
+there was water all around it,--that they could perceive.  But if so, an
+islet, if no bigger than a barn-door, would still be land, and therefore
+welcome.  They might stretch their limbs upon it, and obtain a good
+night's rest, which they had not done since the wreck of the galatea.
+Besides an islet ever so small--if only a sand-bar or bank of mud--would
+be a sort of evidence that the real dry land was not far off.
+
+The dark form at first sight appeared to be close in to the trees, but
+Munday, standing up in the water, pronounced it to be at some distance
+from them,--between fifty and a hundred yards.  As it was evident that
+the trees themselves were up to their necks in water, it could hardly be
+an island.  Still there might be some elevated spot, a ridge or mound,
+that overtopped the inundation.  Buoyed up by this hope, the swimmers
+kept on towards it, every eye scanning intently its outlines in order to
+make out its real character.  All at once the projections which they had
+taken for stakes disappeared from the supposed spot of mud.  They had
+assumed the shape of large wading birds of dark plumage, which, having
+spread their long, triangular wings, were now hovering above the heads
+of the swimmers, by their cries proclaiming that they were more
+astonished at the latter than they could possibly be at them.
+
+It was not until they had arrived within a hundred yards of the object
+that its true character was declared.  "_Pa Terra_!"  Munday cried, in a
+sonorous and somewhat sorrowful voice, as he sank despairingly upon his
+breast;--"no island,--no bank,--no land of any kind.  _Only a
+dead-wood_!"
+
+"A dead-wood!" repeated the patron, not comprehending what he meant, and
+fancying from the chagrined air of the Indian that there might be
+mischief in the thing.
+
+"That's all, master.  The carcass of an old _Manguba_, that's been long
+since stripped of his limbs, and has been carried here upon the current
+of the Gapo; don't you see his huge shoulders rising above the water?"
+
+Richard proceeded to explain the Indian's meaning.  "The trunk of a dead
+tree, uncle.  It's the silk-cotton-tree, or manguba, as Munday calls it.
+I can tell that by its floating so lightly on the water.  It appears to
+be anchored, though; or perhaps it is moored among the stalks of the
+piosocas."
+
+The explanation was interrupted by a shout from the Indian, whose
+countenance had all at once assumed an expression of cheerfulness,--
+almost joy.  The others, as they turned their eyes upon him, were
+surprised at the sudden change, for but a moment before they had noticed
+his despairing look.
+
+"The Mundurucu must be mad, patron," he shouted.  "Where is his head?
+Gone down to the bottom of the Gapo along with the galatea!"
+
+"What's the matter?" inquired Tom, brightening up as he beheld the
+joyful aspect of the Indian.  "Is it dhroy land that he sees?  I hope
+it's that same."
+
+"What is it, Munday?" asked Trevannion.  "Why do you fancy yourself
+insane?"
+
+"Only to think of it, patron, that I should have been sorry to find but
+the trunk of a tree.  The trunk of a tree,--a grand manguba, big enough
+to make a _montaria_, an _igarite_,--a galatea, if you like,--a great
+canoe that will carry us all!  Cry _Santos Dios_!  Give thanks to the
+Great Spirit!  We are saved!--we are saved!"
+
+The words of the tapuyo, wild as they might appear, were well
+understood.  They were answered by a general shout of satisfaction,--for
+even the youngest of the party could comprehend that the great log lying
+near them might be made the means of carrying them clear of the dangers
+with which they had been so long encompassed.
+
+"True,--true," said Trevannion.  "It is the very thing for which we have
+been searching in vain,--some sort of timber that would carry its own
+weight in the water, and us beside.  This dead manguba, as you call it,
+looks as if a ton would not sink it a quarter of an inch.  It will
+certainly serve us for a raft.  Give thanks to God, children; his hand
+is in this.  It fills me with hope that we are yet to survive the perils
+through which we are passing, and that I shall live to see old England
+once more."
+
+No flock of jacanas ever created such a commotion among the leaves of
+the Victoria lily as was made at that moment.  Like frail leaves the
+thick stems were struck aside by the arms of the swimmers, strengthened
+by the prospect of a speedy delivery from what but the moment before
+seemed extremest peril; and almost in a moment they were alongside the
+great trunk of the manguba, in earnest endeavour to get upon it.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY SIX.
+
+THE STERCULIADS.
+
+In their attempts at boarding they were as successful as they could have
+expected.  The top of the gigantic log was full six feet above the
+surface of the water, and there were huge buttresses upon it--the
+shoulders spoken of by Munday--that rose several feet higher.  By dint
+of hard climbing, however, all were at length safely landed.
+
+After they had spent a few minutes in recovering breath, they began to
+look around them and examine their strange craft.  It was, as the Indian
+had alleged, the trunk of a silk-cotton-tree, the famed _Bombax_ of the
+American tropical forests,--found, though, in many different species,
+from Mexico to the mountains of Brazil.  It is known as belonging to the
+order of the _Sterculiads_, which includes among its _genera_ a great
+number of vegetable giants, among others the _baobab_ of Africa, with a
+stem ninety feet in circumference, though the trunk is out of proportion
+to the other parts of the tree.  The singular hand-plant of Mexico
+called _Manita_ is a sterculiad, as are also the cotton-tree of India
+and the gum-tragacanth of Sierra Leone.
+
+The bombax-trees of Tropical America are of several distinct species.
+They are usually called cotton or silk-cotton-trees, on account of the
+woolly or cottony stuff between the seeds and the outer capsules, which
+resemble those of the true cotton plant (_Gossypium_).  They are noted
+for their great size and imposing appearance, more than for any useful
+properties.  Several species of them, however, are not without a certain
+value.  _Bombax ceiba_, and _Bombax monguba_, the monguba of the Amazon,
+are used for canoes, a single trunk sufficing to make a craft that will
+carry twenty hogsheads of sugar along with its crew of tapuyos.  The
+peculiar lightness of the wood renders it serviceable for this purpose;
+and there is one species, the _ochroma_ of the West Indies, so light as
+to have been substituted for cork-wood in the bottling of wines.
+
+The silk or cotton obtained from the seed-pods, though apparently of an
+excellent quality, unfortunately cannot be well managed by the
+spinning-machine.  It lacks adhesiveness, and does not form a thread
+that may be trusted.  It is, however, extensively used for the stuffing
+of couches, cushions, and other articles of upholstery; and the
+Amazonian Indians employ it in feathering the arrows of their blow-guns,
+and for several other purposes.
+
+A peculiarity of the Sterculiads is their having buttresses.  Some are
+seen with immense excrescences growing out from their trunks, in the
+form of thin, woody plates, covered with bark just like the trunk
+itself, between which are spaces that might be likened to stalls in a
+stable.  Often these partitions rise along the stem to a height of fifty
+feet.  The cottonwood (_Populus angulata_) and the deciduous cypress of
+the Mississippi (_Taxodium distichum_) partake of this singular habit;
+the smaller buttresses of the latter, known as "cypress knees,"
+furnishing the "cypress hams," which, under their covering of
+lime-washed canvas, had been sold (so say the Southerners) by the Yankee
+speculator for the genuine haunch of the corn-fed hog!
+
+In spite of its commercial inutility, there are few trees of the South
+American forest more interesting than the manguba.  It is a conspicuous
+tree, even in the midst of a forest abounding in types of the vegetable
+kingdom, strange and beautiful.  Upon the trunk of such a tree, long
+since divested of its leaves,--stripped even of its branches, its
+species distinguishable only to the eye of the aboriginal observer,--our
+adventurers found a lodgment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN.
+
+CHASED BY TOCANDEIRAS.
+
+Their tenancy was of short continuance.  Never did lodger retreat from a
+shrewish landlady quicker than did Trevannion and his party from the
+trunk of the silk-cotton-tree.  That they so hastily forsook a secure
+resting-place, upon which but the moment before they had been so happy
+to plant their feet, will appear a mystery.  Strangest of all, that they
+were actually driven overboard by an insect not bigger than an ant!
+
+Having gained a secure footing, as they supposed, upon the floating
+tree-trunk, our adventurers looked around them, the younger ones from
+curiosity, the others to get acquainted with the character of their new
+craft.  Trevannion was making calculations as to its capability; not as
+to whether it could carry them, for that was already decided, but
+whether it was possible to convert it into a manageable vessel, either
+with sails, if such could be extemporised, or with oars, which might be
+easily obtained.  While thus engaged, he was suddenly startled by an
+exclamation of surprise and alarm from the Indian.  All that day he had
+been the victim of sudden surprises.
+
+"The _Tocandeiras_!--the _Tocandeiras_!" he cried, his eyes sparkling as
+he spoke; and, calling to the rest to follow, he retreated toward one
+end of the tree-trunk.
+
+With wondering eyes they looked back to discover the thing from which
+they were retreating.  They could see nothing to cause such symptoms of
+terror as those exhibited by their guide and counsellor.  It is true
+that upon the other end of the tree-trunk, in a valley-like groove
+between two great buttresses, the bark had suddenly assumed a singular
+appearance.  It had turned to a fiery red hue, and had become apparently
+endowed with a tremulous motion.  What could have occasioned this
+singular change in the colour of the log?
+
+"The Tocandeiras!" again exclaimed Munday, pointing directly to the
+object upon which all eyes were fixed.
+
+"Tocandeiras?" asked Trevannion.  "Do you mean those little red insects
+crawling along the log?"
+
+"That, and nothing else.  Do you know what they are, patron?"
+
+"I have not the slightest idea, only that they appear to be some species
+of ant."
+
+"That's just what they are,--ants and nothing else!  Those are the
+dreaded _fire-ants_.  We've roused them out of their sleep.  By our
+weight the manguba has gone down a little.  The water has got into their
+nest.  They are forced out, and are now spiteful as hungry jaguars.  We
+must get beyond their reach, or in ten minutes' time there won't be an
+inch of skin on our bodies without a bite and a blister."
+
+"It is true, uncle," said Richard.  "Munday is not exaggerating.  If
+these ugly creatures crawl upon us, and they will if we do not get out
+of the way, they'll sting us pretty nigh to death.  We must leave the
+log!"
+
+And now, on the way towards the spot occupied by the party, was a fiery
+stream composed of spiteful-looking creatures, whose very appearance
+bespoke stings and poison.  There was no help for it but to abandon the
+log, and take to the water.  Fortunately each individual was still in
+possession of his string of sapucaya-shells; and, sliding down the side
+of the log, once more they found themselves among the grand gong-like
+leaves of the gigantic lily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT.
+
+A LOG THAT WOULDN'T ROLL.
+
+It now became a question, what they were to do.  Abandon the log
+altogether, for a swarm of contemptible insects, not larger than
+lady-bugs, when, by the merest chance, they had found a raft, the very
+thing they stood in need of?  Such a course was not contemplated,--not
+for a moment.  On gliding back into the Gapo, they had no idea of
+swimming away farther than would secure their safety from the sting of
+the insects, as Munday assured them that the fire-ants would not follow
+them into the water.  But how regain possession of their prize?
+
+The ants were now seen swarming all over it, here and there collected in
+large hosts, seemingly holding council together, while broad bands
+appeared moving from one to the other, like columns of troops upon the
+march!  There was scarce a spot upon the surface of the log, big enough
+for a man to set his foot upon, that was not reddened by the cohorts of
+this insect army!
+
+"How shall we dispossess them?" inquired Trevannion.
+
+"Shure," said Tipperary Tom, answering as if the appeal had been made to
+him, "can't we sit thim on fire, an' burn thim aft the log?  Cudn't we
+gather some dry laves out av the threes, an' make a blaze that 'ud soon
+consume ivery mother's son av thim?"
+
+"Nonsense, Tom.  We should consume the log, as well as the ants, and
+then what would be the advantage to us?"
+
+"Well, thin, iv yez think fire won't do, why can't we thry wather?  Lit
+us thry an' drownd thim off the log.  Munday sez they can't swim, an' iv
+they can't, shure they must go to the bottom."
+
+"How would you do it?" asked Trevannion, catching at the idea suggested
+by the Hibernian.
+
+"Nothing asier.  Give the did three a rowl over on its back, an' thin
+the ants'll get undher the wather; an' won't they have to stay there?
+Lit us all lay howlt on the log, an' see iv we can't give the swate
+craythers a duckin'."
+
+Convinced that there was good sense in Tom's counsel, swimming back
+towards the log, they stretched their arms upward, and commenced trying
+to turn it over.  The attempt proved unsuccessful.  Partly from the
+enormous weight of the dead tree, saturated as one half of it was with
+water, and partly owing to the great buttresses acting as outriggers,
+they could only turn it about one tenth part of its circumference.  It
+rolled back upon them, at first dipping a little deeper, but afterwards
+settling into its old bed.  They were about to discontinue their efforts
+when a cry came from Tom, as if some new source of terror had been
+discovered in the manguba.  Soon each and all found an explanation in
+their own sensations, which were as if they had been sharply stung or
+bitten by some venomous insect.  While shouldering the log in vain
+endeavours to capsize it, some scores of the ants had been detached from
+its sides, and fallen upon the bodies of the swimmers.  Instead of
+showing gratitude for this temporary respite from drowning, the spiteful
+insects had at once imbedded their poisoned fangs in their preservers,
+as if conscious that they owed all their misfortunes to the intruders
+who had so rudely disturbed their rest.  But when these stray ants that
+had been stinging them were disposed of, their attention was once more
+directed towards the manguba, with a still more determinate resolution
+to repossess what in their eyes was more valuable than a selected log of
+the finest Honduras mahogany!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER FIFTY NINE.
+
+DROWNING THE TOCANDEIRAS: FIVE MEN IN A FEVER.
+
+For a time the brains of our adventurers were busied in devising some
+plan for routing the tocandeiras from their floating citadel, of which
+they now retained sole possession.  At last Tipperary Tom again became
+the suggester of a scheme for dispelling the multitudinous hosts.
+
+"If we can't spill thim aff the log," said he, "we can wather thim aff
+it."
+
+"Not such a bad idea," said Richard.  "Come on, let us surround the
+trunk, and attack them on all sides, and let all heave together."
+
+The dark mud colour that had characterised it when first seen, and
+during the time while they were approaching it, was now changed to a hue
+of fiery red, here in spots of patches, there in broad lists or streaks,
+running irregularly between the extremities.  Of course the red bands
+and blotches mottling its sombre surface were the tocandeiras, whose
+crowded battalions were distributed all over it.  On closer scrutiny, it
+could be seen that they were in motion, passing to and fro, or in places
+circling around as if in search of the intruders who had disturbed them.
+
+At a word from Trevannion, all the assailants commenced heaving up water
+with the palms of their hands, and the log became shrouded under a
+shower of sparkling drops that fell fast and thickly over it,
+dissipating into a cloud of vapour like the spray of a waterfall.  Under
+such a drenching the tocandeiras could not possibly retain their hold,
+however tenacious might be their sharp curving claws, and it was but
+natural that thousands of them should soon be swept from the manguba.
+Their assailants saw it, and, rejoicing at the success of their scheme,
+gave utterance to triumphant shouts, just like boys destroying with hot
+water a nest of wasps or hornets.  Louder than all could be heard the
+voice of Tipperary Tom.  It was he who had suggested the scheme, and the
+thought of having his character for sagacity thus raised caused his
+boisterous fit of self-congratulation.
+
+But the splashing suddenly ceased, and the six pairs of palms, instead
+of being turned upward and forward to bale water upon the log, were now
+exerted in the opposite direction, backward and downward, while the
+owners of them commenced swimming away from the spot; as they went off,
+making vigorous efforts to free themselves from the spiteful creatures
+again clinging to them.  Not one of them said a word about staying
+longer by the dead manguba; but, picking up little Rosa on the way, they
+continued their retreat, nor paused again until they felt sure of having
+distanced the tocandeiras.
+
+As a matter of course they had retreated towards the tree-tops.  After
+so many surprises, accompanied by almost continuous exertion, they stood
+in need of rest.  Having chosen one that could be easily climbed, they
+ascended to its branches, and there seated themselves as comfortably as
+circumstances would permit.  On perceiving that the sun was already over
+the meridian, and satisfied, moreover, that the task of getting rid of
+their enemies was one that it might take time to accomplish, they
+determined to remain all night in their new situation.  But there was a
+more powerful reason for suspending their journey at this point.  They
+were suffering great pain from the stings of the tocandeiras, and, until
+that should be to some extent allayed, they could think of nothing else,
+unless indeed it might be a mode of avenging themselves.
+
+It was fortunate they had found a safe place of repose, and that Munday,
+who suffered less than the rest, preserved sufficient composure to make
+their beds or hammocks of sipos, for, in less than twenty minutes after
+ascending the tree, every one of the party, Munday and Rosa excepted,
+found himself in a raging fever from the stings inflicted by the
+tocandeiras, since these bloodthirsty insects not only bite as other
+ants, but have the power of stinging like wasps, only that the pain
+produced by their sting is much greater,--more like that of the black
+scorpion.
+
+As the sun went down, a cool breeze began to play over the waters of the
+lagoa; and this--the fever having burnt itself out--restored them to
+their ordinary health, though with a feeling of languor that disinclined
+them to do anything for that night.  Stretched upon their rude aerial
+couches, they looked up at the stars, and listened to Munday as he made
+answer to the interrogatories of Trevannion giving an account of one of
+the singular customs of his tribe,--that known as the "Festival of the
+Tocandeiras."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY.
+
+THE FESTIVAL OF THE TOCANDEIRAS.
+
+When a youth of the Mundurucu nation, or its kindred tribe, the Mahue,
+has reached the age for assuming the dignities of manhood, he is
+expected to submit himself to an ordeal that well deserves to be called
+fiery.  This more especially if the youth's ambition inclines him to
+become a warrior or otherwise distinguished in the tribe.  The ordeal is
+voluntary; but without undergoing it, the young Mundurucu must consent
+to an existence, if not disgraced, at least inglorious; and if not
+absolutely scorned by the girls of the Malocca, he will have but slight
+chance of winning their smiles.
+
+It must be known to my young readers that a custom prevails among many
+tribes of North American Indians of submitting their young men who
+aspire to become "braves" to a test of courage and endurance so severe
+at times as to be a torture quite incredible to those unacquainted with
+the Indian character.  You might fancy the South American a very
+trifling affair, compared with the torture of the Mandans and other
+Northern tribes, when you are told that it consists simply in the
+wearing of a pair of gloves, or mittens, for a certain length of time,--
+so long that the wearer can make the round of the Malocca, and finish up
+by an obeisance to the _tuchao_, or chief, who awaits him at the door of
+his hut.  But these mittens once described to you, as they were
+described by Munday to his companions on the tree, you will perchance
+change your mind; and regard the Mundurucu ceremony as one of the most
+severe that was ever contrived to test the constancy and courage of any
+aspirant to distinction.
+
+When the young Mundurucu declares his readiness to put on the gloves, a
+pair of them are prepared for him.  They are manufactured out of the
+bark of a species of palm-tree, and are in fact only long hollow
+cylinders, closed at one end, and large enough to admit the hand and arm
+up to the elbow.  Before being drawn on they are half filled with ants
+of the most spiteful and venomous kinds; but chiefly with tocandeiras,
+from which the ceremony derives its name.
+
+Thus accoutred, and accompanied by a crowd with horns, drums, and other
+musical instruments in use among the Indians, the candidate for
+manhood's rights has to make the round of the village, presenting
+himself before every hut, and dancing a jig at every halt that is made.
+Throughout all the performance he must affect signs of great joy,
+chanting a cheerful strain, loud enough to be heard above the beating of
+the drums, the blowing of the horns, and the fracas of his noisy
+followers.  Should he refuse to submit to this terrible ordeal, or
+during its continuance show signs of weakness or hesitation, he is a
+lost man.  He will be forever after the butt and scorn of his tribe; and
+there is not a Mundurucu girl who will consent to have him for a
+sweetheart.  His parents and relatives will also be affected in the
+event of his proving a coward, and he will be regarded as a disgrace to
+the family.
+
+Stimulated by these thoughts, he enters upon the trial, his friends
+urging him forward with cries of encouragement, his parents keeping by
+his side, and with anxious entreaties fortifying him against a failure.
+He has courageously thrust his hands into the fiery gauntlets, and with
+like courage he must keep them there, until the ceremony is completed.
+He suffers cruel torture.  Every moment increases his agony.  His hands,
+wrists, and arms feel as if surrounded by fire.  The insect poison
+enters his veins.  His eyes are inflamed.  The sweat pours from his
+skin,--his bosom palpitates,--his lips and cheeks grow pale; and yet he
+must not show the slightest acknowledgment of suffering.  If he does, it
+will cover him with shame; and he will never be permitted to carry the
+Mundurucu war-spear, nor impale upon its point the head of his slain
+enemy.  He knows the awful fate that must result from failure; and,
+though staggering in his steps, he keeps courageously on.  At length he
+stands in the presence of the tuchao, seated to receive him.
+
+Before the chief the ceremony is repeated with increased excitement; the
+dance is redoubled in vigour,--the chant is louder than ever,--both
+continuing until his strength fails him through sheer exhaustion.  His
+gloves are then removed, and he falls into the arms of his friends.
+
+He is now surrounded by the young girls of the tribe, who fling their
+arms around him, covering him with kisses and congratulations.  His
+sufferings prevent him from appreciating their soft caresses, and
+breaking away from their embrace, he rushes down to the river, and
+flings his fevered body into the grateful current.  There remaining
+until the cool water has to some extent alleviated his pain, he comes
+forth and retires to the Malocca, to receive fresh congratulations from
+his fellow-savages.
+
+He has proved himself of the stuff of which warriors are made, and may
+now aspire to the hand of any Mundurucu maiden, and to the glory of
+increasing the number of those hideous trophies that adorn the
+council-room of the tribe, and which have earned for these Indians the
+distinctive surname of _Decapitadores_ (Beheaders).
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY ONE.
+
+AMAZONIAN ANTS.
+
+Succeeding this thrilling account of the tocandeira festival, ants
+continued for a time to form the staple subject of conversation, which
+was not confined to the particular species they had encountered upon the
+log, but related to many others that inhabit the forests and _compos_ of
+the Amazon valley.  Scores of sorts were known to the Mundurucu,--all
+differing from each other, not only in size, shape, colour, and what may
+be termed _personal_ characteristics, but also in their modes of life,
+habits, and dwelling-place; in short, in every particular except those
+essential traits which make them all members of the same family.
+
+The entomologist who would make a study of ant-life could find no better
+school to pursue it in than the grand valley of the Amazon.  In all
+parts of it he will find these insects in countless numbers, and in a
+vast variety of species,--separated from each other by all distinctions
+of classes founded on habits of life quite opposed to each other.  Some
+species inhabit the earth, never descending below its surface.  Others
+live _under_ it, in subterranean dwellings, scarce ever coming out into
+the light of day.  Others again live above the earth, making their home
+in the hollow trunks of trees; while still others lead a more aerial
+life, building their nests among the twigs and topmost branches.
+
+In their diet there is a still greater range.  There are _carnivora_ and
+_herbivora_,--some that feed only on flesh, others that confine
+themselves to vegetable substances.  There are, moreover, kinds that
+devour their meat before the life is out of it; while other carnivorous
+species, like the vulture among birds, prey only on such carrion as may
+chance to fall in their way, and in search of which their lives seem
+principally to be spent.
+
+Then there are the vegetable feeders, which not only strip the leaves
+from plants and trees, but destroy every other sort of vegetable
+substance that they may fancy to seize upon.  The clothes in a chest or
+wardrobe, the papers in a desk, and the books in a library, have all at
+times been consumed by their devastating hosts, when foraging for food,
+or for materials out of which to construct their singular dwellings.
+These dwellings are of as many different kinds as there are species of
+ants.  Some are of conical shape, as large as a soldier's tent.  Some
+resemble hillocks or great mounds, extending over the ground to a
+circumference of many yards.  Others represent oblong ridges, traversed
+by numerous underground galleries, while some species make their
+dwellings in deep horizontal tunnels, or excavations, often extending
+under the bed of broad rivers.  Many kinds lead an arboreal life, and
+their nests may be seen sticking like huge excrescences to the trunks of
+the forest-trees, and as often suspended from the branches.
+
+To give a detailed account of the different kinds of Amazonian ants,--to
+describe only their appearance and ordinary habits,--would require, not
+a chapter, but a large volume.  Their domestic economy, the modes of
+constructing their domiciles, the manner of propagating their species,
+their social distinction into classes or castes, the odd relations that
+exists between the separate castes of a community, the division of
+labour, their devotion to what some writers, imbued with monarchical
+ideas, have been pleased to term their _queen_,--who in reality is an
+individual _elected_ for a special purpose, render these insects almost
+an anomaly in nature.  It is not to be expected that the uneducated
+Indian could give any scientific explanation of such matters.  He only
+knew that there were many curious things in connection with the ants,
+and their indoor as well as out-door life, which he had himself
+observed,--and these particulars he communicated.
+
+He could tell strange tales of the _Termites_, or white ants, which are
+not ants at all,--only so called from a general resemblance to the
+latter in many of their habits.  He dwelt longest on the sort called
+_Saubas_, or leaf-carrying ants, of which he knew a great number of
+species, each building its hill in a different manner from the others.
+Of all the species of South American ants, perhaps none surprises the
+stranger so much as the sauba.  On entering a tract of forest, or
+passing a patch of cultivated ground, the traveller will come to a place
+where the whole surface is strewn with pieces of green leaves, each
+about the size of a dime, and all in motion.  On examining these leafy
+fragments more closely, he will discover that each is borne upon the
+shoulders of a little insect not nearly so big as its burden.
+Proceeding onward he will come to a tree, where thousands of these
+insects are at work cutting the leaves into pieces of the proper size,
+and flinging them down to thousands of others, who seize upon and carry
+them off.  On still closer scrutiny, he will observe that all this work
+is being carried on in systematic order,--that there are some of the
+insects differently shaped from the rest,--some performing the actual
+labour, while the others are acting as guards and overseers.  Were he to
+continue his observation, he would find that the leaves thus transported
+were not used as food, but only as thatch for covering the galleries and
+passages through which these countless multitudes make their way from
+one place to another.  He would observe, moreover, so many singular
+habits and manoeuvres of the little crawling creatures, that he would
+depart from the spot filled with surprise, and unable to explain more
+than a tenth part of what he had seen.
+
+Continuing his excursion, he would come upon ants differing from the
+saubas not only in species, but in the most essential characteristics of
+life.  There would be the _Ecitons_, or foraging ants, which instead of
+contenting themselves by feeding upon the luxurious vegetation of the
+tropics, would be met upon one of their predatory forays,--the object of
+their expedition being to destroy some colony of their own kind, if not
+of their own species.  It may be that the foraging party belong to the
+species known as _Eciton-rapax_,--the giant of its genus, in which many
+individuals measure a full half-inch in length.  If so, they will be
+proceeding in single file through the forest, in search of the nests of
+a defenceless vegetable-feeding ant of the genus _Formica_.  If they
+have already found it, and are met on their homeward march towards their
+own encampment, each will be seen holding in its mouth a portion of the
+mangled remains of some victim of their rapacity.
+
+Again, another species may be met travelling in broad columns,
+containing millions of individuals, either on the way to kill and
+plunder, or returning laden with the spoil.  In either case they will
+attack any creature that chances in their way,--man himself as readily
+as the most defenceless animal.  The Indian who encounters them retreats
+upon his tracks, crying out, "_Tauoca_!" to warn his companions behind,
+himself warned by the ant-thrushes whom he has espied hovering above the
+creeping columns, and twittering their exulting notes, as at intervals
+they swoop down to thin the moving legion.
+
+Of all the kinds of ants known to the Mundurucu, there was none that
+seemed to interest him more than that which had led to the
+conversation,--the tocandeira, or, as the Brazilians term it, _formigade
+fogo_ (fire-ant).  Munday had worn the formidable mittens; and this
+circumstance had no doubt left an impression upon his mind that the
+tocandeira was the truest representative of spitefulness to be found in
+the insect world.
+
+Perhaps he was not far astray.  Although an ant of ordinary size,--both
+in this and general appearance not differing greatly from the common red
+ant of England,--its bite and sting together are more dreaded than those
+of any other species.  It crawls upon the limbs of the pedestrian who
+passes near its haunt, and, clutching his skin in its sharp pincer-like
+jaws, with a sudden twitch of the tail it inserts its venomous sting
+upon the instant, holding on after it has made the wound, and so
+tenaciously that it is often torn to pieces while being detached.  It
+will even go out of its way to attack any one standing near.  And at
+certain landing-places upon some of the Amazonian rivers, the ground is
+so occupied with its hosts that treading there is attended with great
+danger.  In fact, it is on record that settlements have been abandoned
+on account of the fire-ant suddenly making its appearance, and becoming
+the pest of the place.
+
+Munday, in conclusion, declared that the tocandeiras were only found in
+the dry forests and sandy _campos_; that he had never before seen one of
+their swarms in the Gapo, and that these in the dead-wood must have
+retreated thither in haste, to escape drowning when caught by the
+inundation, and that the log had been afterwards drifted away by the
+_echente_.
+
+Whether this statement was true or not, the ants appeared to have made
+up their minds to stay there, and permit no intruders to deprive them of
+their new, strange domicile,--at all events until the _vasante_ might
+enable them once more to set foot upon dry land.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY TWO.
+
+THE ANTS STILL EXCITED.
+
+At break of day the party were all awake; and after refreshing
+themselves with a little _cheese_--which was only some coagulated milk
+of the massaranduba, preserved in sapucaya-shells--they once more turned
+their attention to the floating trunk.  To their surprise, it was no
+longer where they had left it!
+
+There was a fog upon the water, but that was rapidly becoming
+dissipated; and as the sun peeped over the tree-tops, the lagoa was
+sufficiently free from mist for any dark object as large as a man's
+head, within a mile's distance, to be distinguished.  The manguba had
+been left scarce a hundred yards from their sleeping-place.  Where was
+it now?
+
+"Yonder!" said Munday, "close in by the trees.  By our splashing in the
+water, we started it from its moorings among the piosocas.  There has
+been a little breeze through the night, that has brought it this way.
+It is now at anchor against yonder tree.  I shouldn't wonder if the ants
+would try to escape from it, and take to the branches above them.  The
+dead manguba is not their natural home; nor is the Gapo their
+dwelling-place.  The tocandeiras belong on land; and no one would expect
+to find them here.  They must have had their home in the hollow of the
+log while it was lying on dry land.  The _echente_ set it afloat while
+they were inside, and the current has carried them far away from their
+own country."
+
+So they now turned to ascertain whether Munday's conjectures were true,
+that the ants had taken to the tree that stood over the dead-wood, which
+was at no great distance; and as the sun had now completely dispelled
+the fog, they could see it very distinctly.  The tocandeiras were still
+upon it.  Their countless hosts were seen moving over its surface in all
+their red array, apparently as much excited as when putting to flight
+the swimmers who had intruded upon them.
+
+The log, although close to the stem of the standing tree, was not in
+connection with it.  Something held it several feet off; and as none of
+the drooping branches reached quite down, it was impossible for the
+insects to reach the tree, although they evidently desired to make this
+change, as if suddenly dissatisfied with their quarters on the drifting
+trunk, and wishing to change them for others less at the mercy of the
+winds and waves.
+
+As there was something curious in all this, something that could not
+fail to fix the attention of the observer, our adventurers remained
+silent, watching the movements of the insect multitude, in hopes that
+they might find some way of detaching themselves from the floating log,
+and leave in peaceable and undisputed possession the quarters they
+appeared so desirous of quitting to those who were equally desirous of
+entering upon them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY THREE.
+
+THE TAMANDUA: THE ANT-THRUSH.
+
+Trusting to the explanation given by the tapuyo, they did not think of
+inquiring further into the cause of the commotion among the ants.  While
+scanning the tree closely, several of the party perceived a movement
+among its branches, and soon after the form of a singular creature that
+was causing it.  It was a quadruped, about the size of a raccoon or cat,
+but of a shape peculiarly its own.  Its body was long and cylindrical,
+terminating posteriorly in a round, tapering tail, while its low, flat
+head, prolonged into a smooth, slender muzzle, also tapered nearly to a
+point.  The eyes were so small as scarcely to be seen, and the mouth
+more resembled a round hole than the closing of a pair of jaws.  It was
+covered with a dense silky fur, of a uniform length over the body, and
+slightly crisped, so as to give it a woolly aspect.  This fur was
+straw-coloured, with a tinge of maroon and brown on the shoulders and
+along the back, while the tail presented a ringed appearance from an
+alternation of the two colours.
+
+"_Tamandua_!" exclaimed Munday, at sight of the strange quadruped.  "The
+ant-eater.  Not the great one, which is called _Tamandua assu_, and
+don't climb up the trees.  That you see is the little one; he lives all
+his life among the branches,--sleeps there, either upon his breast, or
+suspended by his tail,--travels from one tree to another in search of
+honey, bees, wasps, grubs, but, above all, of such ants as make their
+nests either in holes, or stick to the twigs.  Ha!" he continued, "what
+could I have been thinking of?  The tocandeiras wishing to climb up to
+the tree?  Not a bit of it.  Quite the contrary.  It's the tamandua
+that's keeping them in motion!  See the cunning beast preparing to make
+a descent among them!"
+
+Nothing could be more certain than that this was the tamandua's
+intention; for almost on the instant it was seen to move among the
+branches, descending from one to the other, partly using its strong,
+hooked claws, and partly its tapering and highly prehensile tail.  Once
+upon the dead-wood, it lay flat down upon its breast and belly; and
+shooting out its long, thread-like tongue, coated with a sticky shining
+substance resembling saliva, it commenced licking up the tocandeiras
+that swarmed in thousands around it.  It was to no purpose that the ants
+made an attack upon it.  Nature had provided it with an armour proof
+both against their bite and sting.  Rage around it as they might, the
+tocandeiras could do nothing to hinder it from licking them up from the
+log, and tucking them in hundreds into its capacious stomach.  Finally
+the tamandua had taken his fill,--breakfasted to his heart's content;
+then, erecting himself on his hind-legs after the manner of a squirrel
+or marmoset, he sprang back upon the branch from which he had descended.
+Going a little higher up, he selected another and larger branch,
+placing himself so that his belly rested along its upper surface, with
+the legs hanging down on each side; and then, burying his proboscis in
+the long fur of his breast, and taking two or three turns of his tail
+around head, body, and legs, he fell fast asleep.
+
+The old saw, that there is "many a slip between the cup and the lip," is
+as true in the life of ant-eater as in that of a man; and when the
+tamandua awoke,--which it did some twenty minutes afterwards,--and
+looked down upon the dead-wood, it was astonished to discover that not a
+tocandeira was in sight.
+
+What had become of them?  When left by the tamandua to their own devices
+there were myriads still surviving.  The few thousands which the
+devourer licked up had made no perceptible diminution in their numbers;
+and on the retiring of their enemy, they were swarming as thickly and
+countlessly as ever.  Now not one was visible upon the log, the hue of
+which, from being of a flaming red, had returned to its original colour
+of sombre grey.  A few were discovered upon the standing tree, crawling
+up its trunk and lower branches, with excited air and rapid movements,
+as if escaping from terrible disaster.  These refugees did not amount to
+many hundreds; thinly scattered over the bark, they could have been
+counted.  They were too few to tempt the hunger of the tamandua.  It
+would not have been worth his while to project his slimy tongue for the
+sake of a single tocandeira; so he retained it--not behind his teeth,
+for he had none--but within the cylinder-shaped cavity of his mouth.
+What had become of the tocandeiras?  It is possible that the tamandua
+mentally put this question to himself; for there is no animal, however
+humble its organisation, that has not been gifted by beneficent Nature
+with a mind and powers of reasoning,--ay, with moral perceptions of at
+least the primary principles of right and wrong, as even the little
+ant-eater gives evidence.
+
+Perhaps you have yourself witnessed the proof.  You have seen one ant
+rob another of its crumb of bread, that by a laborious effort has been
+carried far.  You have seen the companions of both gather around the
+spot, deprive the despoiler of its ill-gotten prize, restore the crumb
+to its lawful possessor, and punish the would-be pilferer.  If you have
+not seen this, others have,--myself among the number.  Surely, it is
+reason; surely, it is moral perception.  If not, what is it?  The
+closet-naturalist calls it _instinct_,--a ready word to cloak that
+social cowardice which shrinks from acknowledging that besides man there
+are other beings upon the earth with talents worth saving.
+
+Soon after the ant-eater had gone to sleep, a little bird about the size
+of a starling was seen flitting about.  It was of the ordinary shape of
+the shrikes, or fly-catchers, and, like them, of sombre plumage,--a dull
+grey blended with bluish slate.  As already said, it was flitting about
+among the tree-tops, now and then rising above them, and hovering for a
+while in the air; then lighting again upon a branch, and from this
+hopping to another, and another, all the time giving utterance to
+twittering but scarcely musical notes.
+
+"An ant-thrush," Munday said.  "It's hunting about for the very
+creatures that are swarming on that log.  If it should spy them we'll
+have no more trouble with the tocandeiras.  That friend will clear them
+out of our way.  If it but gets its eye on that red crowd, it'll treat
+them very differently from what the beast has done.  In twenty minutes
+there won't be a tocandeira to sting us.  May the Great Spirit prove
+propitious, and turn its eyes upon the dead-wood!"
+
+For a time the bird kept up its flickering flight and twittering cry,
+while our adventurers watched it manoeuvres, keeping quiet, as a
+precaution against scaring it away.  All at once the ant-thrush changed
+its tactics, and its louder note proclaimed a surprise.  It had come
+close to the tree that contained the tamandua, and saw the quadruped
+taking its _siesta_ upon the branch.  From the presence of the ant-eater
+it argued the proximity of their common prey.
+
+The swarm of fire-ants, reddening the log, formed too conspicuous an
+object to escape being seen.  The ant-thrush soon saw them, and
+announced the discovery with a screech, which was a signal to scores of
+hungry companions.  It was answered by what seemed a hundred echoes, and
+soon the air resounded with whistling wings, as the feathered ant-eaters
+came crowding to the feast.
+
+Boy reader, you have bred pigeons, and fed them too.  You have flung
+before them whole baskets of barley, and pecks of oats, until the
+pavement was thickly strewed.  You have observed how quickly they could
+clear the ground of the grain.  With the like rapidity was the log
+cleared of the tocandeiras.  In ten minutes not a single insect could be
+seen upon it; and then the feathered ant-eaters, without giving the
+tamandua a hint that his premises had been despoiled, flew off into the
+forest in search of a fresh swarm.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR.
+
+ANT-EATERS--BIPED AND QUADRUPED.
+
+The spectacle of the bird ant-eaters engaged in their work of
+destruction is one that may be seen almost every day in the Amazonian
+region.  The presence of an army of ants passing from place to place
+through the forest--themselves often bent upon a marauding and murderous
+expedition--may often be discovered long belong the insects themselves
+are in sight, by the twittering cries and excited actions of the
+ant-thrushes, that in large flocks are seen hovering above them.  The
+traveller takes warning by the spectacle.  Experience has long ago
+taught him that to stray into the midst of a party of foraging ants is
+no slight matter.  It would be like dancing an Irish jig over a nest of
+hornets.  He is sure of being attacked, bitten, and stung by the
+venomous insects; and on hearing the call of the ant-thrush, he beats an
+instant retreat.  The quadruped licking up his insect prey is a sight of
+less frequent occurrence.
+
+Of these four-footed ant-eaters there are many distinct kinds, differing
+very considerably in their habits of life.  Four species are known to
+naturalists; but it is probable that there are many more yet to be
+discovered and described.  The Indians who are best acquainted with the
+remote haunts of the great mountain wilderness of interior South America
+assert that there are others; and their testimony is generally derived
+from acute observation.  Of the four known species there is the great
+ant-eater (_Myrmecophaga jubata_) called Tamanoir, large as a mastiff
+dog, and a match for most dogs in strength, often even killing one by
+squeezing the breath out of his body between its thick, muscular
+fore-limbs.  This is the _Tamandua bandeira_, or "banner tamandua" of
+the natives, so called from the peculiar marking of its skin,--each side
+of the body being marked by a broad blackish band running obliquely from
+the shoulders, and suggesting the resemblance of an heraldic banner.  It
+lives in the drier forests, making its haunt wherever the white ants
+(_termites_), those that construct the great hills, abound.  Of the
+habits of this species a more complete account has been given elsewhere.
+[See "The Forest Exiles," by the author of this story.]
+
+The second species of tamandua--that is, in size--is quite a different
+creature.  It scarcely ever descends to the earth, but passes from
+branch to branch and tree to tree by means of its strong, curving claws,
+and more especially by the aid of a very long and highly prehensile
+tail.  Its food consists exclusively of ants, that construct huge earthy
+nests high up among the branches or against the trunks of the trees,
+where they present the appearance of grotesque excrescences.  This
+tamandua often moves about during the day, in its slow progress much
+resembling the sloths, though its food is so very different from the
+animal of the Cecropia-tree (_bicho de embauba_).  This species dwells
+chiefly in the thick forests, and goes into the Gapo at all seasons of
+the year, and it was one of this sort which the party had seen.
+
+But there are still two other kinds that make their home upon the
+trees,--both exceedingly curious little animals, and much more rarely
+seen than the large tamanduas.  They are distinguished by the name of
+_tamandua-i_, which in the Indian language means "little tamandua."  One
+of them, the rarest of the family, is about the size of a half-grown
+kitten.  Instead of hair, it wears a fine wool of a greyish-yellow
+colour, soft and silky to the touch.  The other is of the same size, but
+dingy brown in colour, and with hair of a coarser kind.  These little
+ant-eaters both sleep through the day, curled up in the cavity of a
+tree, or in some fork of the branches, and only display their activity
+by night.
+
+Thus it is that the ants have no chance of escaping from their numerous
+enemies.  On the earth they are attacked and destroyed by the great
+ant-eater, in the trees by his brother with the four curving claws.  By
+day one species preys upon them,--by night, another.  Go where they
+will, there is a foe to fall upon them.  Even when they seek security
+under the earth, there too are they pursued by enemies of their own
+tribe, the savage _ecitons_, which enter their subterranean dwellings,
+and kill them upon their own hearths, to be dragged forth piecemeal and
+devoured in the light of the sun!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE.
+
+THE CHASE OF THE TAMANDUA.
+
+If the tamandua had been surprised by the disappearance of the
+tocandeiras, it was not less so to see approaching a creature more than
+ten times its own size.  This creature was of a dark bronze colour,
+having a long, upright body, a pair of legs still longer, arms almost as
+long as the legs, and a roundish head with long black hair growing out
+of its crown, and hanging down over its shoulders.  If the ant-eater had
+never before seen a human being,--which was probable enough,--it saw one
+now; for this creature was no other than old Munday, who had taken a
+fancy to capture that tamandua.  Perhaps the little quadruped may have
+mistaken him for an ape, but it must have also thought him the grandest
+it had ever set eyes upon.  Swinging itself from branch to branch, using
+both claws and tail to effect its flight, it forsook the tree where it
+had slept, and took to another farther into the forest.  But Munday had
+anticipated this movement, and passed among the branches and over the
+matted llianas with the agility of an ape,--now climbing up from limb to
+limb, now letting himself down by some hanging sipo.
+
+He was soon joined in the pursuit by Richard Trevannion, who was an
+expert climber, and, if unable to overtake the ant-eater in a direct
+chase, could be of service in helping to drive it back to the tree it
+had just left, and which stood at the end of a projecting tongue of the
+forest.  It is possible that Munday might have been overmatched, with
+all his alertness; for the tamandua had reached the narrowest part of
+the peninsula before he could get there.  Once across the _isthmus_,
+which consisted of a single tree, it would have had the wide forest
+before it, and would soon have hidden itself amid the matted tangle of
+leaves and twigs.  Richard, however, was too cunning to let the
+ant-eater escape him.  Dropping into the water, he swam towards the
+isthmus with all his strength, and reached the tree before the tamandua.
+
+By this time Munday had arrived from the opposite quarter, and was
+already climbing into the same tree.  Seeing itself intercepted on both
+sides, the tamandua began crawling up towards the topmost branches.  But
+Munday was too quick for it, and springing after, with the agility of a
+cat, he caught hold of it by one of the hind-legs.  Being an animal
+insignificant in size, and apparently in strength, the spectator
+supposed he would speedily have dragged it down.  In this however they
+were mistaken, not taking account of the power in its fore-limbs and
+tail.
+
+Notwithstanding the tapuyo exerted all his strength, he could not detach
+it from the tree; and even when assisted by his companion, was only able
+to get the fore-legs free.  The tail, lapped several times around a
+limb, resisted all their efforts.  But Munday cut the clinging tail with
+his knife, leaving two or three of its rings around the branch.  Then,
+twisting the stump around his wrist, he swung the animal back against
+the trunk with a force that deprived it at once of strength and life.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY SIX.
+
+ROAST ANT-EATER.
+
+Instead of returning to the tree, the Indian and Richard swam directly
+to the dead-wood, where they were quickly joined by the rest of the
+party.  Although the dead-wood was as hard as any other wood, and to
+sleep upon it would be like sleeping on a plank, still it would give
+them the feeling of security; so, as if by general consent, though
+nothing was said, they stretched themselves along the trunk, and were
+soon fast asleep.
+
+The old Indian, tough as the sipos of his native forests, seemed as if
+he could live out the remainder of his life without another wink of
+sleep; and when the rest of his companions were buried in profound
+repose, he was engaged in an operation that required both energy and the
+most stoical patience.  In a place where the bark was dry, he had picked
+out a small circular cavity, beside which he had placed some withered
+leaves and dead twigs collected from the tree that spread its branches
+above.  Kneeling over this cavity, he thrust down into it a straight
+stick, that had been cut from some species of hard wood, and trimmed
+clear of knots or other inequalities, twirling it between the palms of
+his hands so as to produce a rapid motion, now one way, now the other.
+In about ten minutes a smoke appeared, and soon after sparks were seen
+among the loose dust that had collected from the friction.  Presently
+the sparks, becoming thicker, united into a flame; and then, dropping
+the straight stick, he hastily covered the hole with the dry leaves and
+chips, and, blowing gently under them, was soon cheered by a blaze, over
+which a cook with even little skill might have prepared a tolerable
+dinner.  This had been Munday's object; and as soon as he saw his fire
+fairly under way, without dressing or trussing the game,--not even
+taking the hide off,--he laid the tamandua across the fire, and left it
+to cook in its skin.
+
+It was not the first time by scores that Munday had make that repast,
+known among Spanish-Americans as _carne con cuero_.  He now proceeded to
+prevent the spreading of the flames.  The dead-wood around was dry as
+tinder.  Stripping off the cotton shirt that, through every vicissitude,
+still clung to his shoulders, he leant over the side of the floating
+log, and dipped it for several minutes under the water.  When well
+soaked, he drew it up again, and taking it to the spot where the fire
+was crackling, he wrung the water out in a circle around the edge of his
+hearth.  When the tamandua was done brown, he then awakened his
+companions, who were astonished to see the fire, with the bronzed body
+of the Indian, nude to the waist, squatting in front of it,--to hear the
+crackling of sticks, the loud sputtering of the roast, and the hissing
+of the water circle that surrounded the hearth.  But the savour that
+filled the air was very agreeable.  They accepted his invitation to
+partake of the repast, which was found greatly to resemble roast goose
+in taste; and in an inconceivably short time only the bones of the
+ant-eater, and these clean picked, could be seen upon the ceiba.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY SEVEN.
+
+THE JUAROUa.
+
+Postponing till the next day the task of making a canoe out of their
+log, the party soon betook themselves to rest again; but they had been
+slumbering only about an hour when a low whimpering noise made by the
+monkey awoke Tipperary Tom, close to whose ear the animal had squatted
+down.  Its master raised himself up, and, leaning upon his elbow, looked
+out over the Gapo.  There was nothing but open water, whose smooth
+surface was shining like burnished gold under the beams of the setting
+sun.  He turned toward the trees.  He saw nothing there,--not so much as
+a bird moving among the branches.  Raising his head a little higher, and
+peeping over the edge of the dead-wood, "It's thare is it, the somethin'
+that's scyarin' ye?" he said to his pet.  "An' shure enough there is a
+somethin' yandher.  There's a `purl' upon the wather, as if some
+crayther was below makin' a disturbance among the weeds.  I wondther
+what it is!"
+
+At length the creature whose motion he had observed, whatever it was,
+came near enough for him to obtain a full view of it; and though it was
+neither a snake nor a crocodile, still it was of sufficiently formidable
+and novel appearance to cause him a feeling of fear.  In shape it
+resembled a seal; but in dimensions it was altogether different, being
+much larger than seals usually are.  It was full ten feet from snout to
+tail, and of a proportionate thickness of body.  It had the head of a
+bull or cow, with a broad muzzle, and thick, overhanging lip, but with
+very small eyes; and instead of ears, there were two round cavities upon
+the crown of its head.  It had a large, flat tail, not standing up like
+the tail of a fish, but spread in a horizontal direction, like that of a
+bird.  Its skin was smooth, and naked of hairs, with the exception of
+some straggling ones set thinly over it, and some tufts resembling
+bristles radiating around its mouth and nostrils.  The skin itself was
+of a dull leaden hue, with some cream-coloured spots under the throat
+and along the belly.  It had also a pair of flippers, more than a foot
+in length, standing out from the shoulders, with a teat in front of
+each, and looking like little paddles, with which the huge creature was
+propelling itself through the water, just as a fish uses its fins or a
+man his arms.
+
+The Irishman did not stay to note half of these characteristics, but
+hastily woke Munday, crying, "What is it?  O what is it?"
+
+The Indian, rousing himself, looked round for a moment dreamily, and
+then, as he caught sight of the strange object, replied, "Good fortune!
+it is the _juaroua_."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT.
+
+A FISH-COW AT PASTURE.
+
+The Irishman was no wiser for Munday's answer, "The juaroua."
+
+"But what is it?" he again asked, curious to learn something of the
+creature.  "Is it a fish or a quadruped?"
+
+"A _peixe-boi_,--a _peixe-boi_!" hurriedly answered the tapuyo.  "That's
+how the whites call it.  Now you know."
+
+"But I don't, though, not a bit betther than before.  A pikes-boy!
+Troth, it don't look much like a pike at all, at all.  If it's a fish av
+any kind, I should say it was a sale.  O, luk there, Munday!  Arrah, see
+now!  If it's the owld pike's boy, yandher's the young wan too.  See, it
+has tuk howlt av the tit, an' 's sucking away like a calf!  An' luk! the
+old wan has got howlt av it with her flipper, an' 's kapin' it up to the
+breast!  Save us! did hever I see such a thing!"
+
+The sight was indeed one to astonish the Irishman, since it has from all
+time astonished the Amazonian Indians themselves, in spite of its
+frequency.  They cannot understand so unusual a habit as that of a fish
+suckling its young; for they naturally think that the peixe-boi is a
+fish, instead of a cetacean, and they therefore continue to regard it
+with curious feelings, as a creature not to be classified in the
+ordinary way.
+
+"Hush!" whispered the Indian, with a sign to Tom to keep quiet.  "Sit
+still! make no noise.  There's a chance of our capturing the juaroua,--a
+good chance, now that I see the _juaroua-i_ [little one] along with it.
+Don't wake the others yet.  The juaroua can see like a vulture, and hear
+like an eagle, though it has such little eyes and ears.  Hush!"
+
+The peixe-boi had by this time got abreast of the dead-wood, and was
+swimming slowly past it.  A little beyond there was a sort of bay,
+opening in among the trees, towards which it appeared to be directing
+its course, suckling the calf as it swam.
+
+"Good," said Munday, softly.  "I guess what it's going after up there.
+Don't you see something lying along the water?"
+
+"Yes; but it's some sort av wather-grass."
+
+"That's just it."
+
+"An' what would it want wid the grass?  Yez don't mane to till me it
+ates grass?"
+
+"Eats nothing else, and this is just the sort it feeds on.  Very like
+that's its pasturing place.  So much the better if it is, because it
+will stay there till morning, and give me a chance to kill it."
+
+"But why can't yez kill it now?" said Tom.
+
+"For want of a proper weapon.  My knife is of no use.  The juaroua is
+too cunning to let one come so near.  If it come back in the morning, I
+will take care to be ready for it.  From it we can get meat enough for a
+long voyage.  See, it has begun to browse!"
+
+Sure enough it had, just as the Indian said, commenced pasturing upon
+the long blades of grass that spread horizontally over the surface; and
+just as a cow gathers the meadow sward into her huge mouth, at intervals
+protruding her tongue to secure it, so did the great water cow of the
+Amazon spread her broad lips and extend her rough tongue to take in the
+floating herbage of the Gapo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SIXTY NINE.
+
+THE PASHUBA SPEAR.
+
+Munday was now prepared to set out on a little exploring excursion, as
+he said; so, enjoining upon Tom, who was determined to awake the
+sleepers that they might share the sight of the feeding fish-cow, to
+keep them all strictly quiet until his return, he slipped softly into
+the water and swam noiselessly away.
+
+The enforced silence was tedious enough to the party, who were all eager
+to talk about the strange spectacle they saw, and it would surely have
+been soon broken, had not the Indian returned with a new object for
+their curiosity.  He had stolen off, taking with him only his knife.  At
+his reappearance he had the knife still with him, and another weapon as
+well, which the knife had enabled him to procure.  It was a staff of
+about twelve feet in length, straight as a rush, slightly tapering, and
+pointed at the end like a spear.  In fact, it _was_ a spear, which he
+had been manufacturing during his hour of absence out of a split stem of
+the _pashuba_ palm.  Not far off he had found one of these trees, a
+water-loving species,--the _Martea exorhuza_,--whose stems are supported
+upon slanting roots, that stand many feet above the surface of the soil.
+With the skill known only to an Amazonian Indian in the use of a
+knife-blade, he had split the pashuba, (hard as iron on the outside, but
+soft at the heart,) and out of one of the split pieces had he hastily
+fashioned his spear.  Its point only needed to be submitted to fire, and
+then steel itself would not serve better for a spear-head.  Fortunately
+the hearth was not yet cold.  A few red cinders smouldered by the wet
+circle, and, thrusting his spear point among them, the Indian waited for
+it to become hardened.  When done to his satisfaction, he drew it out of
+the ashes, scraped it to a keen point with the blade of his knife, and
+then announced himself ready to attack the juaroua.
+
+The amphibious animal was yet there, its head visible above the bed of
+grass upon which it was still grazing.  Munday, while rejoiced at the
+circumstance, expressed himself also surprised at it.  He had not been
+sanguine of finding it on his return with the spear, and, while
+fabricating the weapon, he had only been encouraged by the expectation
+that the peixe-boi, if gone away for the night, would return to its
+grazing ground in the morning.  As it was now, it could not have
+afforded him a better opportunity for _striking_ it.  It was reclining
+near the surface, its head several inches above it, and directly under a
+large tree, whose lower limbs, extending horizontally, almost dropped
+into the water.  If he could but get unperceived upon one of those
+limbs, it would be an easy matter to drive the spear into its body as
+far as his strength would enable him.
+
+If any man could swim noiselessly through the water, climb silently into
+the tree, and steal without making sound along its limbs, that man was
+the Mundurucu.  In less time than you could count a thousand, he had
+successfully accomplished this, and was crouching upon a limb right over
+the cow.  In an instant his spear was seen to descend as the spectators
+were expecting it to do; but to their astonishment, instead of striking
+the body of the peixe-boi, it pierced into the water several feet from
+the snout of the animal!  What could it mean?  Surely the skilled
+harpooner of fish-cattle could not have made such a stray stroke.
+Certainly he had not touched the cow!  Had he speared anything?
+
+"He's killed the calf!" cried Tipperary Tom.  "Luk yandher!  Don't yez
+see its carcass floatin' in the wather?"
+
+Still the spectators could not understand it.  Why should the calf have
+been killed, which would scarce give them a supper, and the cow spared,
+that would have provisioned the whole crew for a month?  Why had the
+chance been thrown away?  Was it thrown away?  They only thought so,
+while expecting the peixe-boi to escape.  But they were quickly
+undeceived.  They had not reckoned upon the strong maternal instincts of
+that amphibious mother,--instincts that annihilate all sense of danger,
+and prompt a reckless rushing upon death in the companionship or for the
+protection of the beloved offspring.  It was too late to protect the
+tiny creature, but the mother recked not of this.  Danger deterred her
+not from approaching it again and again, each time receiving a fresh
+stab from that terrible stick, until, with a long-drawn sigh, she
+expired among the sedge.
+
+These animals are extremely tenacious of life, and a single, thrust from
+such a weapon as he wielded would only have put the peixe-boi to flight,
+never to be encountered again.  The harpoon alone, with its barbed head
+and floats, can secure them for a second strike; and not being provided
+with this weapon, nor the means of making it, the old tapuyo knew that
+his only chance was to act as he had done.  Experience had made him a
+believer in the affection of the animal, and the result proved that he
+had not mistaken its strength.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY.
+
+CURING THE FISH-COW.
+
+Nothing was done for that night.  All slept contentedly on the
+dead-wood, which next day became the scene of a series of curious
+operations.  This did not differ very much from the spectacle that might
+be witnessed in the midst of the wide ocean, when whalemen have struck
+one of the great leviathans of the deep, and brought their ship
+alongside for the purpose of cutting it up.
+
+In like manner as the whale is "flensed," so was the fish-cow, Munday
+performing the operation with his knife, by first skinning the creature,
+and then separating the flesh into broad strips or steaks, which were
+afterwards make into _charqui_, by being hung up in the sun.
+
+Previous to this, however, many "griskins"--as Tom called them--had been
+cut from the carcass, and, broiled over the fire kindled upon the log,
+had furnished both supper and breakfast to the party.  No squeamishness
+was shown by any one.  Hunger forbade it; and, indeed, whether with
+sharp appetites or not, there was no reason why they should not relish
+one of the most coveted articles of animal food to be obtained in
+Amazonia.  The taste was that of pork; though there were parts of the
+flesh of a somewhat coarser grain, and inferior in flavour to the real
+dairy-fed pig.
+
+The day was occupied in making it ready for curing, which would take
+several days' exposure under the hot sun.  Before night, however, they
+had it separated into thin slices, and suspended upon a sort of
+clothes-line, which, by means of poles and sipos, Munday had rigged upon
+the log.  The lean parts alone were to be preserved, for the fat which
+lies between these, in thick layers of a greenish colour and fishy
+flavour, is considered rather strong for the stomach,--even of an Indian
+not over nice about such matters.  When a peixe-boi has been harpooned
+in the usual manner, this is not thrown away, or wasted.  Put into a
+proper boiling-pot, it yields a very good kind of oil,--ten or twelve
+gallons being obtained from an individual of the largest and fattest
+kind.
+
+In the present instance, the fat was disregarded and flung back into the
+flood, while the bones, as they were laid bare, were served in a similar
+fashion.  The skin, however, varying from an inch in thickness over the
+back, to half an inch under the abdomen, and which Munday had removed
+with considerable care, was stowed away in a hollow place upon the log.
+Why it was kept, none of the others could guess.  Perhaps the Indian
+meant it as something to fall back upon in the event of the charqui
+giving out.
+
+It was again night by the time the cow-skin was deposited in its place,
+and of course no journey could be attempted for that day.  On the morrow
+they intended to commence the voyage which it was hoped would bring them
+to the other side of the lagoa, if not within sight of land.  As they
+ate their second supper of _amphibious steaks_, they felt in better
+spirits than for many days.  They were not troubled with hunger or
+thirst; they were not tortured by sitting astride the branches of a
+tree; and the knowledge that they had now a craft capable of carrying
+them--however slow might be the rate--inspired them with pleasant
+expectations.  Their conversation was more cheerful than usual, and
+during the after-supper hour it turned chiefly on the attributes and
+habits of the strange animal which Munday had so cleverly dissected.
+
+Most of the information about its habits was supplied by the Indian
+himself, who had learned them by personal experience; though many points
+in its natural history were given by the patron, who drew his knowledge
+of it from books.  Trevannion told them that a similar creature--though
+believed to be of a different species--was found in the sea; but
+generally near to some coast where there was fresh water flowing in by
+the estuary of a river.  One kind in the Indian seas was known by the
+name of _dugong_, and another in the West Indies as the _manati_ or
+_manatee_,--called by the French _lamantin_.  The Spaniards also know it
+by the name of _vaca marina_ (sea-cow), the identical name given by the
+Dutch of the Cape Colony to the hippopotamus,--of course a very
+different animal.
+
+The manati is supposed to have been so named from its fins, or flippers,
+bearing some resemblance to the hands of a human being,--in Spanish,
+_manos_,--entitling it to the appellation of the "handed" animal.  But
+the learned Humboldt has shown that this derivation would be contrary to
+the idiom of the Spanish language, which would have made the word
+_manudo_ or _manon_, and not _manati_.  It is therefore more likely that
+this name is the one by which it was known to the aborigines of the
+southern coast of Cuba, where the creature was first seen by the
+discoverers of America.  Certain it is that the sea species of the West
+Indies and the Guianian coast is much larger than that found in the
+Amazon and other South American rivers; the former being sometimes found
+full twenty feet in length, while the length of the fish-cow of South
+America rarely reaches ten.
+
+Here Munday took up the thread of the discourse, and informed the circle
+of listeners that there were several species of juaroua--this was the
+name he gave it--in the waters of the Amazon.  He knew of three kinds,
+that were distinct, not only in size, but in shape,--the difference
+being chiefly observable in the fashion of the fins and tail.  There was
+also some difference in their colour,--one species being much lighter in
+hue than the others, with a pale cream-coloured belly; while the abdomen
+of the common kind is of a slaty lead, with some pinkish white spots
+scattered thinly over it.
+
+A peculiar characteristic of the peixe-boi is discovered in if lungs,--
+no doubt having something to do with its amphibious existence.  These,
+when taken out of the animal and inflated by blowing into them, swell up
+to the lightness and dimensions of an India-rubber swimming-belt; so
+that, as young Richard observed while so inflating them, they could
+spare at least one set of the sapucaya-shells, if once more compelled to
+take to the water.
+
+Munday gave a very good account of the mode practised in capturing the
+juaroua, not only by the Indians of his own tribe, but by all others in
+the Amazon valley.  The hunter of the peixe-boi--or fisher, as we should
+rather call him--provides himself with a _montaria_ (a light canoe) and
+a harpoon.  He rows to the spot where the creature may be expected to
+appear,--usually some solitary lagoon or quiet spot out of the current,
+where there is a species of grass forming its favourite food.  At
+certain hours the animal comes thither to pasture.  Sometimes only a
+single individual frequents the place, but oftener a pair, with their
+calves,--never more than two of the latter.  At times there may be seen
+a small herd of old ones.
+
+Their enemy, seated in his canoe, awaits their approach in silence; and
+then, after they have become forgetful of all save their enjoyment of
+the succulent grass, he paddles up to them.  He makes his advances with
+the greatest caution; for the fish-cow, unlike its namesake of the
+farm-yard, is a shy and suspicious animal.  The plunge of the paddle, or
+a rude ripple of the water against the sides of the montaria, would
+frighten it from its food, and send it off into the open water, where it
+could not be approached.
+
+The occupant of the canoe is aware of this, and takes care not to make
+the slightest disturbance, till he has got within striking distance.  He
+then rises gently into a half-crouching attitude, takes the measure of
+the distance between him and his victim, and throws his harpoon with
+unerring aim.  A line attached to the shaft of the weapon secures the
+wounded animal from getting clear away.  It may dive to the bottom, or
+rush madly along the surface, but can only go so far as that terrible
+tether will allow it, to be dragged back towards the montaria, where its
+struggles are usually terminated by two or three thrusts of a spear.
+
+The sport, or, more properly speaking, the trade, of harpooning this
+river cetacean, is followed by most of the Amazonian Indians.  There is
+not much of it done during the season of the floods.  Then the animals,
+becoming dispersed over a large surface of inundated forest, are seen
+only on rare occasions; and a chase specially directed to discover them
+would not repay the trouble and loss of time.  It is when the floods
+have fallen to their lowest, and the lagoas or permanent ponds of water
+have contracted to their ordinary limits, that the harpooning of the
+fish-cow becomes profitable.  Then it is followed as a regular pursuit,
+and occupies the Indian for several weeks in the year.
+
+Sometimes a lagoon is discovered in which many of these creatures have
+congregated,--their retreat to the main river having been cut off by the
+falling of the floods.  On such occasions the tribe making the discovery
+reaps a plentiful harvest, and butchering becomes the order of the day.
+
+The malocca, or village, is for the time deserted; all hands--men,
+women, children, and curs--moving off to the lagoa, and making their
+encampment upon its edge.  They bring with them boiling-pots, for trying
+out the oil, and jars to contain it, and carry it to the port of
+commerce; for, being of a superior quality, it tempts the Portuguese
+trader to make long voyages up many remote tributaries where it is
+obtained.
+
+During these grand fisheries there is much feasting and rejoicing.  The
+"jerked" flesh of the animal, its skin, and, above all, its valuable
+oil, are exchanged for knives, pigments, trinkets, and, worse still, for
+_cashaca_ (rum).  The last is too freely indulged in; and the fishing
+rarely comes to a close without weapons being used in a manner to bring
+wounds, and often death.
+
+As the old Mundurucu had been present at many a hunt of the fish-cow, he
+was able to give a graphic account of the scenes he had witnessed, to
+which his companions on the log listened with the greatest attention.
+So interested were they, that it was not till near midnight that they
+thought of retiring to rest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY ONE.
+
+A SAIL OF SKIN.
+
+By daybreak they were astir upon their new craft; and after breakfast
+they set about moving it away from its moorings.  This was not so easily
+accomplished.  The log was a log in every respect; and though once a
+splendid silk-cotton-tree, covered with gossamer pods, and standing in
+airy majesty over the surrounding forest, it now lay as heavy as lead
+among the weeds and water-lilies, as if unwilling to be stirred from the
+spot into which it had drifted.
+
+You may wonder how they were able to move it at all; supposing, as you
+must, that they were unprovided with either oars or sails.  But they
+were not so badly off as that.  The whole of the preceding day had not
+been spent in curing the fish-cow.  Munday's knife had done other
+service during the afternoon hours, and a pair of paddles had been the
+result.  Though of a rude kind, they were perfect enough for the purpose
+required of them; while at the same time they gave evidence of great
+ingenuity on the part of the contriver.  They had handles of wood, with
+blades of _bone_, made from the fish-cow's shoulder-blades, which Munday
+had carefully retained with the skin, while allowing the offal to sink.
+In his own tribe, and elsewhere on the Amazon, he had seen these bones
+employed--and had himself employed them--as a substitute for the spade.
+Many a cacao patch and field of mandioca had Munday cleared with the
+shoulder-blade of a fish-cow; and upon odd occasions he had used one for
+a paddle.  It needed only to shaft them; and this had been done by
+splicing a pole to each with the tough sipos.
+
+Provided with these paddles, then,--one of them wielded by himself, the
+other by the sturdy Mozambique,--the log was compelled to make way
+through the water.  The progress was necessarily slow, on account of the
+tangle of long stalks and broad leaves of the lilies.  But it promised
+to improve, when they should get beyond these into the open part of the
+lagoon.  Out there, moreover, they could see that there was a ripple
+upon the water; which proved that a breeze had sprung up, not
+perceptible inside the sheltering selvage of the trees, blowing in the
+right direction,--that is, from the trees, and towards the lagoa.
+
+You may suppose that the wind could not be of much use to them with such
+a craft,--not only without a rudder, but unprovided with sails.  So
+thought they all except the old tapuyo.  But the Indian had not been
+navigating the Gapo for more than forty years of his life, without
+learning how to construct a sail; and, if nothing else had turned up, he
+could have made a tolerable substitute for one out of many kinds of
+broad, tough leaves,--especially those of the _miriti_ palm.
+
+He had not revealed his plans to any one of the party.  Men of his race
+rarely declare their intentions until the moment of carrying them into
+execution.  There is a feeling of proud superiority that hinders such
+condescension.  Besides, he had not yet recovered from the sting of
+humiliation that succeeded the failure of his swimming enterprise; and
+he was determined not to commit himself again, either by too soon
+declaring his designs, or too confidently predicting their successful
+execution.
+
+It was not, therefore, till a stout pole had been set up in a hollow dug
+out by his knife in the larger end of the log, two cross pieces firmly
+lashed to it by sipos, and the skin of the fish-cow spread out against
+these like a huge thick blanket of caoutchouc, and attached to them by
+the same cordage of creepers,--it was not till then that his companions
+became fully acquainted with his object in having cut poles, scooped the
+hollow, and retained the skin of the cow, as he had done to their
+previous bewilderment.
+
+It was all clear now; and they could not restrain themselves from giving
+a simultaneous cheer, as they saw the dull dead-wood, under the
+impulsion of the skin sail, commence a more rapid movement, until it
+seemed to "walk the water like a thing of life."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY TWO.
+
+BECALMED.
+
+Once out on the open lagoa, and fairly under sail, in what direction
+should they steer their new craft?  They wanted to reach the other side
+of the lagoa, which the Indian believed to extend in the right direction
+for finding _terra firma_.  They had skirted the edge upon which they
+were for several miles, without finding either the sign of land or an
+opening by which they might penetrate through the forest, and it was but
+natural that they should wish to make trial the other side, in the hope
+of meeting with better fortune.
+
+Mozey, who prided himself on being the best sailor aboard, was intrusted
+with the management of the sail, while Trevannion himself acted as
+pilot.  The Indian busied himself in looking after the curing of the
+charqui, which, by the help of such a hot sun as was shining down upon
+them, would soon be safely beyond the chance of decay.  The young
+people, seated together near the thick end of the log--which Mozey had
+facetiously christened the quarter-deck of the craft--occupied
+themselves as they best might.
+
+The cloud that had shadowed them for days was quite dispelled.  With
+such a raft, there was every expectation of getting out of the Gapo.  It
+might not be in a day, or even in a week.  But time was of little
+consequence, so long as there was a prospect of ultimate release from
+the labyrinth of flooded forests.  The charqui, if economised, would
+feed all hands for a fortnight, at least; and unless they should again
+get stranded among the tree-tops they could scarcely be all that time
+before reaching dry land.
+
+Their progress was sadly slow.  Their craft has been described as
+"walking the water like a thing of life."  But this is rather a poetical
+exaggeration.  Its motion was that of a true dead-wood, heavily weighted
+with the water that for weeks had been saturating its sides.  It barely
+yielded to the sail; and had they been forced to depend upon the
+paddles, it would have been a hopeless affair.  A mile an hour was the
+most they were able to make; and this only when the breeze was at its
+freshest.  At other times, when it unfortunately lulled, the log lay
+upon the water with no more motion than they caused as they stepped over
+it.
+
+Towards noon their progress became slower; and when at length the
+meridian hour arrived the ceiba stood still.  The sail had lost the
+power of propelling it on.  The breeze had died away, and there was now
+a dead calm.  The shoulder-blades of the peixe-boi were now resorted to,
+but neither these, nor the best pair of oars that ever pulled a
+man-o'-war's boat, could have propelled that tree-trunk through the
+water faster than half a knot to the hour, and the improvised paddles
+were soon laid aside.
+
+There was one comfort in the delay.  The hour of dinner had now arrived,
+and the crew were not unprepared for the midday meal; for in their hurry
+at setting out, and the solicitude arising from their uncertainty about
+their craft, they had breakfasted scantily.  Their dinner was to consist
+of but one dish, a cross between fish and flesh,--a cross between fresh
+and dried,--for the peixe-boi was still but half converted into charqui.
+
+The Indian had carefully guarded the fire, the kindling of which had
+cost him so much trouble and ingenuity.  A few sparks still smouldered
+where they had been nursed; and, with some decayed pieces of the ceiba
+itself, a big blaze was once more established.  Over this the choicest
+tit-bits were suspended until their browned surface proclaimed them
+"done to a turn."  Their keen appetites furnished both sauce and
+seasoning; and when the meal was over, all were ready to declare that
+they had never dined more sumptuously in their lives.  Hunger is the
+best appetiser; scarcity comes next.
+
+They sat after dinner conversing upon different themes, and doing the
+best they could to while away the time,--the only thing that at all
+discommoded them being the beams of the sun, which fell upon their
+crowns like sparks of fire showered from a burning sky.  Tom's idea was
+that the heat of the sun could be endured with greater ease in the water
+than upon the log; and, to satisfy himself, he once more girdled on the
+cincture of shells, and slipped over the side.  His example was followed
+by the patron himself, his son and nephew.
+
+Little Rosa did not need to retreat overboard in this ignominious
+manner.  She was in the shade, under a tiny _toldo_ of broad leaves of a
+_Pothos_ plant, which, growing parasitically upon one of the trees, had
+been plucked the day before, and spread between two buttresses of the
+dead-wood.  Her cousin had constructed this miniature arbour, and proud
+did he appear to see his little sylph reclining under its shade.
+
+The tapuyo, accustomed to an Amazonian sun, did not require to keep cool
+by submerging himself; and as for the negro, he would scarce have been
+discommoded by an atmosphere indicated by the highest figure on the
+thermometer.  These two men, though born on opposite sides of the
+Atlantic Ocean, were alike types of a tropical existence, and equally
+disregarded the fervour of a tropic sun.
+
+Suddenly the four, who had fallen a little astern, were seen making
+towards the log; and by the terror depicted on their countenances, as
+well as their quick, irregular strokes, it was evident something in the
+water had caused them serious alarm.  What could it all mean?  It was of
+no use to ask the swimmers themselves.  They were as ignorant of what
+was alarming them as their companions upon the log; they only knew that
+something was biting them about the legs and feet; but what it was they
+had not the slightest idea.  It might be an insect,--it might be a
+water-snake, or other amphibious reptile; but whatever it was, they
+could tell that its teeth were sharp as needles, and scored their flesh
+like fish-hooks.
+
+It was not till they had gained footing upon the log, and their legs
+were seen covered with lacerations, and streaming with fresh blood, that
+they ascertained the sort of enemy that had been attacking them.  Had
+the water been clear, they might have discovered it long before; but
+discoloured as it was, they could not see beneath the surface far enough
+to make out the character of their secret assailants.  But the tapuyo
+well understood the signs, and, as soon as his eye rested upon them, his
+perplexity disappeared; and, with an exclamation that rather betokened
+relief, he pronounced the simple phrase, "Only _piranhas_!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY THREE.
+
+THE PIRANHAS.
+
+The companions of the tapuyo were no wiser for his words, until piranhas
+was explained to them to mean "biting fish," for such were the unseen
+enemies that assailed them.
+
+They belong to the great tribe of the _Salmonidae_, of which there are
+many varieties in the different Amazonian rivers, all very voracious,
+and ready to bite at anything that may be thrown into the water.  They
+often attack bathers, putting them to flight; and a swimmer who should
+unfortunately be surrounded by them, when far from the shore or a boat,
+would have the greatest difficulty to escape the fearful late of being
+eaten up alive.  Most of the species are fish of small size, and it is
+their numbers that the swimmer has chiefly to dread.
+
+As it was, our adventurers were more scared than hurt.  The commotion
+which they had made in the water, by their plunging and kicking, had
+kept the piranhas at a distance, and it was only an odd one that had
+been able to get a tooth into them.
+
+For any injury they had sustained, the Mundurucu promised them not only
+a speedy revenge, but indemnification of a more consolatory kind.  He
+knew that the piranhas, having tasted blood, would not willingly wander
+away, at least for a length of time.  Although he could not see the
+little fish through the turbid water, he was sure they were still in the
+neighbourhood of the log, no doubt in search of the prey that had so
+mysteriously escaped them.  As the dead-wood scarcely stirred, or
+drifted only slightly, the piranhas could keep alongside, and see
+everything that occurred without being seen themselves.  This the tapuyo
+concluded they were doing.  He knew their reckless voracity,--how they
+will suddenly spring at anything thrown into the water, and swallow
+without staying to examine it.
+
+Aware of this habit, he had no difficulty in determining what to do.
+There was plenty of bait in the shape of half-dried charqui, but not a
+fish-hook to be found.  A pair of pins, however, supplied the
+deficiency, and a piece of string was just right for a line.  This was
+fastened at one end to the pashuba spear, to the pin-hook at the other;
+and then, the latter being baited with a piece of peixe-boi, the fishing
+commenced.
+
+Perhaps never with such rude tackle was there more successful angling.
+Almost as soon as the bait sank under the water, it was seized by a
+piranha, which was instantly jerked out of its native element, and
+landed on the log.  Another and another and another, till a score of the
+creatures lay upon the top of the dead-wood, and Tipperary Tom gave them
+the finishing touch, as they were caught, with a cruel eagerness that
+might to some extent have been due to the smarting of his shins.
+
+How long the "catch" might have continued it is difficult to say.  The
+little fish were hooked as fast as fresh bait could be adjusted, and it
+seemed as if the line of succession was never to end.  It did end,
+however, in an altogether unexpected way, by one of the piranhas
+dropping back again into the water, and taking, not only the bait, but
+the hook and a portion of the line along with it, the string having
+given away at a weak part near the end of the rod.
+
+Munday, who knew that the little fish were excellent to eat, would have
+continued to take them so long as they were willing to be taken, and for
+this purpose the dress of Rosita was despoiled of two more pins, and a
+fresh piece of string made out of the skin of the cow-fish.
+
+When the new tackle was tried, however, he discovered to his
+disappointment that the piranhas would no longer bite; not so much as a
+nibble could be felt at the end of the string.  They had had time for
+reflection, perhaps had held counsel among themselves, and come to the
+conclusion that the game they had been hitherto playing was "snapdragon"
+of a dangerous kind, and that it was high time to desist from it.
+
+The little incident, at first producing chagrin, was soon viewed rather
+with satisfaction.  The wounds received were so slight as scarce to be
+regarded, and the terror of the thing was over as soon as it became
+known what tiny creatures had inflicted them.  Had it been snakes,
+alligators, or any animals of the reptile order, it might have been
+otherwise.  But a school of handsome little fishes,--who could suppose
+that there had been any danger in their attack?
+
+There had been, nevertheless, as the tapuyo assured them,--backing up
+his assurance by the narrative of several narrow escapes he had himself
+had from being torn to pieces by their sharp triangular teeth, further
+confirming his statements by the account of an Indian, one of his own
+tribe, who had been eaten piecemeal by piranhas.
+
+It was in the river Tapajos, where this species of fish is found in
+great plenty.  The man had been in pursuit of a peixe-boi, which he had
+harpooned near the middle of the river, after attaching his weapon by
+its cord to the bow of his montaria.  The fish being a strong one, and
+not wounded in a vital part, had made a rush to get off, carrying the
+canoe along with it.  The harpooner, standing badly balanced in his
+craft, lost his balance and fell overboard.  While swimming to overtake
+the canoe, he was attacked by a swarm of piranhas ravenous for prey,
+made so perhaps by the blood of the peixe-boi left along the water.  The
+Indian was unable to reach the canoe; and notwithstanding the most
+desperate efforts to escape, he was ultimately compelled to yield to his
+myriad assailants.
+
+His friends on shore saw all, without being able to render the slightest
+assistance.  They saw his helpless struggles, and heard his last
+despairing shriek, as he sank below the surface of the water.  Hastening
+to their canoes, they paddled, rapidly out to the spot where their
+comrade had disappeared.  All they could discern was a skeleton lying
+along the sand at the bottom of the river, clean picked as if it had
+been prepared for an anatomical museum, while the school of piranhas was
+disporting itself alone, as if engaged in dancing some mazy minuet in
+honour of the catastrophe they had occasioned.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR.
+
+A STOWAWAY.
+
+The new-caught fishes looked too temptingly fresh to be long untasted;
+and although it was but an hour since our adventurers had eaten their
+dinner, one and all were inclined for an afternoon meal upon piranha.
+The Mundurucu set the fire freshly astir, and half a dozen piranhas were
+soon browned in the blaze and distributed among the party, who one and
+all endorsed the tapuyo, by pronouncing them a delicacy.
+
+After the second dinner they were more gay than ever.  The sun sinking
+westward indicated the quarters of the compass; and already a few puffs
+of wind promised them an evening breeze.  They saw that it was still
+blowing in the same direction, and therefore favourable to the
+navigation of their craft, whose thick sail, spread broadly athwart
+ships, seemed eager to catch it.
+
+Little dreamt they at that moment that, as it were, a volcano was
+slumbering under their feet; that separated from them by only a few
+inches of half-decayed wood was a creature of such monstrous size and
+hideous shape as to have impressed with a perpetual fear every Indian
+upon the Amazon, from Para to Peru, from the head waters of the Purus to
+the sources of the Japura!  At that moment, when they were chatting
+gaily, even laughingly, in confidence of a speedy deliverance from the
+gloomy Gapo,--at that very moment the great _Mai d'Agoa_, the "Mother of
+the Waters," was writhing restlessly beneath them, preparing to issue
+forth from the cavern that concealed her.
+
+The tapuyo was sitting near the fire, picking the bones of a piranha,
+which he had just taken from the spit, when all at once the half-burned
+embers were seen to sink out of sight, dropping down into the log, as
+cinders into the ash-pit of a dilapidated grate.  "Ugh!" exclaimed the
+Indian, giving a slight start, but soon composing himself; "the
+dead-wood hollow at the heart!  Only a thin shell outside, which the
+fire has burnt through.  I wondered why it floated so lightly,--wet as
+it was!"
+
+"Wasn't it there the tocandeiras had their nest?" inquired Trevannion.
+
+"No, patron.  The hole they had chosen for their hive is different.  It
+was a cavity in one of the branches.  This is a hollow along the main
+trunk.  Its entrance will be found somewhere in the butt,--under the
+water, I should think, as the log lies now."
+
+Just then no one was curious enough to crawl up to the thick end and
+see.  What signified it whether the entrance to the hollow, which had
+been laid open by the falling in of the fire, was under water or above
+it, so long as the log itself kept afloat?  There was no danger to be
+apprehended, and the circumstance would have been speedily dismissed
+from their minds, but for the behaviour of the coaita, which now
+attracted their attention.
+
+It had been all the time sitting upon the highest point which the
+dead-wood offered for a perch.  Not upon the rudely rigged mast, nor yet
+the yard that carried the sail; but on a spar that projected several
+feet beyond the thick end, still recognisable as the remains of a root.
+Its air and attitude had undergone a sudden change.  It stood at full
+length upon all fours, uttering a series of screams, with chatterings
+between, and shivering throughout its whole frame, as if some dread
+danger was in sight, and threatening it with instant destruction.
+
+It was immediately after the falling in of the fagots that this began;
+but there was nothing to show that it was connected with that.  The
+place where the fire had been burning was far away from its perch; and
+it had not even turned its eyes in that direction.  On the contrary, it
+was looking below; not directly below where it stood, but towards the
+butt-end of the ceiba, which could not be seen by those upon the log.
+Whatever was frightening it should be there.  There was something about
+the excited actions of the animal,--something so heart-rending in its
+cries,--that it was impossible to believe them inspired by any ordinary
+object of dread; and the spectators were convinced that some startling
+terror was under its eyes.
+
+Tipperary Tom was the first to attempt a solution of the mystery.  The
+piteous appeals of his pet could not be resisted.  Scrambling along the
+log he reached the projecting point, and peeped over.  Almost in the
+same instant he recoiled with a shriek; and, calling on his patron
+saint, retreated to the place where he had left his companions.  On his
+retreat Munday set out to explore the place whence he had fled, and, on
+reaching it, craned his neck over the end of the dead-wood, and looked
+below.  A single glance seemed to satisfy him; and, drawing back with as
+much fear as the man who had preceded him, he exclaimed in a terrified
+shriek, "_Santos Dios_! 'tis the Spirit of the Waters!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY FIVE.
+
+THE SPIRIT OF THE WATERS.
+
+"The _Mai d'Agoa_! the Spirit of the Waters!" exclaimed Trevannion,
+while the rest stood speechless with astonishment, gazing alternately
+upon the Indian and the Irishman, who trembled with affright.  "What do
+you mean?  Is it something to be feared?"
+
+Munday gave an emphatic nod, but said no word, being partly awed into
+silence and partly lost in meditating some plan of escape from this new
+peril.
+
+"What did _you_ see, Tom?" continued Trevannion, addressing himself to
+the Irishman, in hopes of receiving some explanation from that quarter.
+
+"Be Sant Pathrick! yer honour, I can't tell yez what it was.  It was
+something like a head with a round shinin' neck to it, just peepin' up
+out av the wather.  I saw a pair av eyes,--I didn't stay for any more,
+for them eyes was enough to scare the sowl out av me.  They were
+glittherin' like two burnin' coals!  Munday calls it the spirit av the
+wathers.  It looks more like the spirit av darkness!"
+
+"The _Mai d'Agoa_, uncle," interposed the young Paraense, speaking in a
+suppressed voice.  "_The Mother of the Waters_!  It's only an Indian
+superstition, founded on the great water serpent,--the anaconda.  No
+doubt it's one of these he and Tom have seen swimming about under the
+butt-end of the log.  If it be still there I shall have a look at it
+myself."
+
+The youth was proceeding towards the spot so hastily vacated by Munday
+and Tom, when the former, seizing him by the arm, arrested his progress.
+"For your life, young master, don't go there!  Stay where you are.  It
+may not come forth, or may not crawl up to this place.  I tell you it is
+the Spirit of the Waters!"
+
+"Nonsense, Munday; there's no such thing as a _spirit_ of the waters.
+If there were, it would be of no use our trying to hide from it.  What
+you've seen is an anaconda.  I know these water-boas well enough,--have
+seen them scores of times among the islands at the mouth of the Amazon.
+I have no fear of them.  Their bite is not poisonous, and, unless this
+is a very large one, there's not much danger.  Let me have a look!"
+
+The Indian, by this time half persuaded that he had made a mistake,--his
+confidence also restored by this courageous behaviour,--permitted
+Richard to pass on to the end of the log.  On reaching it he looked
+over; but recoiled with a cry, as did the others, while the ape uttered
+a shrill scream, sprang down from its perch, and scampered off to the
+opposite extremity of the dead-wood.
+
+"It _is_ an anaconda!" muttered the Paraense, as he made his way
+"amidships," where the rest were awaiting him; "the largest I have ever
+seen.  No wonder, Munday, you should mistake it for the _Mai d'Agoa_.
+'Tis a fearful-looking creature, but I hope we shall be able to destroy
+it before it can do any of us an injury.  But it is very large, and we
+have no arms!  What's to be done, Munday?"
+
+"Be quiet,--make no noise!" entreated the Indian, who was now himself
+again.  "May be it will keep its place till I can get the spear through
+its neck, and then--Too late!  The sucuruju is coming upon the log!"
+
+And now, just rising through a forked projection of the roots, was seen
+the horrid creature, causing the most courageous to tremble as they
+beheld it.  There was no mistaking it for anything else than the head of
+a serpent; but such a head as not even the far-travelled tapuyo had ever
+seen before.  In size it equalled that of an otter, while the lurid
+light that gleamed from a pair of scintillating orbs, and still more the
+long, forked tongue, at intervals projected like a double jet of flame,
+gave it an altogether demoniac appearance.
+
+The water out of which it had just risen, still adhering to its scaly
+crown, caused it to shine with the brightness of burnished steel; and,
+as it loomed up between their eyes and the sun, it exhibited the
+coruscation of fire.  Under any circumstances it would have been fearful
+to look at; but as it slowly and silently glided forth, hanging out its
+forked red tongue, it was a sight to freeze the blood of the bravest.
+
+When it had raised its eyes fairly above the log, so that it could see
+what was upon it, it paused as if to reconnoitre.  The frightened men,
+having retreated towards the opposite end of the dead-wood, stood as
+still as death, all fearing to make the slightest motion, lest they
+should tempt the monster on.
+
+They stood about twenty paces from the serpent, Munday nearest, with the
+pashuba spear in hand ready raised, and standing as guard over the
+others.  Richard, armed with Munday's knife, was immediately behind him.
+For more than a minute the hideous head remained motionless.  There was
+no speech nor sound of any kind.  Even the coaita, screened by its
+friends, had for the time ceased to utter its alarm.  Only the slightest
+ripple on the water, as it struck against the sides of the ceiba,
+disturbed the tranquillity of the scene, and any one viewing the tableau
+might have supposed it set as for the taking of a photograph.
+
+But it was only the momentary calm that precedes the tempest.  In an
+instant a commotion took place among the statue-like figures,--all
+retreating as they saw the serpent rise higher, and, after vibrating its
+head several times, lie flat along, evidently with the design of
+advancing towards them.  In another instant the monster was advancing,--
+not rapidly, but with a slow, regular motion, as if it felt sure of its
+victims, and did not see the necessity for haste in securing them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY SIX.
+
+AN UNEXPECTED ESCAPE.
+
+The great reptile had already displayed more than a third of its hideous
+body, that kept constantly thickening as it rose over the butt-end of
+the log; and still the tapuyo appeared irresolute.  In a whisper,
+Trevannion suggested their taking to the water.
+
+"No, patron; anything but that.  It would just be what the sucuruju
+would like.  In the water it would be at home, and we should not.  We
+should there be entirely at his mercy."
+
+"But are we not now?"
+
+"Not yet,--not yet,--stay!"  From the fresh confidence with which he
+spoke, it was evident some plan had suggested itself.  "Hand me over
+that monkey!" he said; and when he took the ape in his arms, and
+advanced some paces along the log, they guessed for what the pet was
+destined,--to distract the attention of the anaconda, by securing for it
+a meal!
+
+Under other circumstances, Tom might have interfered to prevent the
+sacrifice.  As it was, he could only regard it with a sigh, knowing it
+was necessary to his own salvation.
+
+As Munday, acting in the capacity of a sort of high-priest, advanced
+along the log, the demon to whom the oblation was to be made, and which
+he still fancied might be the _Spirit of the Waters_, paused in its
+approach, and, raising its head, gave out a horrible hiss.
+
+In another instant the coaita was hurled through the air, and fell right
+before it.  Rapidly drawing back its head, and opening wide its serrated
+jaws, the serpent struck out with the design of seizing the offering.
+But the ape, with characteristic quickness, perceived the danger; and,
+before a tooth could be inserted into its skin, it sprang away, and,
+scampering up the mast, left Munday face to face with the anaconda, that
+now advanced rapidly upon him who had endeavoured to make use of such a
+substitute.
+
+Chagrined at the failure of his stratagem, and dismayed by the
+threatening danger, the tapuyo retreated backwards.  In his confusion he
+trod upon the still smouldering fire, his scorched feet scattering the
+fagots as he danced through them, while the serpent, once more in
+motion, came resolutely on.
+
+His companions were now more frightened than ever, for they now saw that
+he was, like themselves, a prey to fear.  For again had he become a
+believer in the Spirit of the Waters.  As he stood poising his spear, it
+was with the air of a man not likely to use it with effect.  The young
+Paraense, with his knife, was more likely to prove a protector.  But
+what could either do to arrest the progress of such a powerful monster
+as that, which, with only two thirds of its length displayed, extended
+full twenty feet along the log?  Some one of the party must become a
+victim, and who was to be the first?
+
+The young Paraense seemed determined to take precedence, and, with the
+generous design of protecting his friends,--perhaps only little Rosa was
+in his thoughts,--he had thrown himself in front of the others, even the
+spearman standing behind him.  It appeared that his time was come.  He
+had not confidence that it was not.  What could he do with a knife-blade
+against such an enemy?  He stood there but to do his duty, and die.
+
+And both would quickly have been accomplished,--the duty and the
+death,--but that the Omnipotent Hand that had preserved them through so
+many perils was still stretched over them, and in its own way extricated
+them from this new danger.  To one unacquainted with the cause, it might
+have been a matter of surprise to see the reptile, hitherto determined
+upon making an attack, all at once turn away from its intended victims;
+and, without even showing its tail upon the log, retreat precipitately
+into the water, and swim off over the lagoa, as if the ceiba was
+something to be shunned beyond everything else that might be encountered
+in the Gapo!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN.
+
+HISTORY OF THE ANACONDA.
+
+Though it may be a mystery to the reader why it had retreated, it was
+none to our adventurers, who had seen it crawl over the scattered
+fagots; they had heard the hissing, sputtering sound, as the live coals
+came in contact with its wet skin; they had witnessed its dismay and
+flight at a phenomenon so unexpected.  They were therefore well aware
+that it was the scorching hot cinders that had caused the sucuruju to
+forsake the dead-wood in such a sudden and apparently mysterious manner.
+
+It was some time before they were entirely relieved of their fears.
+Notwithstanding its precipitate retreat, they could not tell but that
+the anaconda might change its mind and come back again.  They could see
+it swimming for some time in a tortuous track, its head and part of its
+neck erect above the water; then it took a direct course, as if
+determined upon leaving the lagoa.  It was, therefore, with no ordinary
+feeling of relief that they saw it finally disappearing from view in the
+far distance.
+
+The mystery of its presence upon the dead monguba was soon cleared up.
+The log was hollow inside, the heart-wood being entirely decayed and
+gone.  In the cavity the serpent had perhaps sought a sleeping-place
+secure from intrusion during some protracted slumber that had succeeded
+the swallowing of a gigantic prey,--deer, paca, or capivain.  Here it
+had lain for days,--perhaps weeks; and the log, carried away by the
+rising of the floods, had done nothing to disturb its repose.  Its first
+intimation that there was any change in the situation of its
+sleeping-place was when the fire fell in through the burnt shell, and
+the hot cinders came in contact with its tail, causing it to come forth
+from its concealment, and make the observation that resulted in its
+attacking the intruders.  The hollow that had contained the colony of
+tocandeiras was altogether a different affair.  It was a cavity of a
+similar kind, but unconnected with that in the heart of the tree; and it
+was evident that the little insects and the great reptile, although
+dwelling in such close proximity,--under the same roof, it may be
+said,--were entirely unacquainted with each other.
+
+When the serpent was quite out of sight, our adventurers once more
+recovered their spirits, and conversed gayly about the strange incident.
+The breeze, having freshened, carried their raft with considerable
+rapidity through the water, in the right direction, and they began to
+scan the horizon before them in the hope of seeing, if not land, at
+least the tree-tops ahead.  These, however, did not show themselves on
+that day, and before the sun went down the forest behind them sank out
+of sight.  The night overtook them, surrounded by a smooth surface of
+open water, spotless and apparently as limitless as the great ocean
+itself.
+
+They did not "lay to," as on the night before.  The breeze continued
+favourable throughout the night; and, as they were also favoured with a
+clear sky, and had the stars to pilot them, they kept under sail till
+the morning.  Before retiring to rest they had supped upon roast charqui
+and fish broiled over the coals; and, after supper, talk commenced, as
+usual, the chief topic being the anaconda.  On this subject the tapuyo
+had much to say, for of all the animals that inhabit the water
+wilderness of the Amazon there is none that inspires the Indian with
+greater interest than the sucuruju.  It is the theme of frequent
+discourse, and of scores of legends;--some real and true, while others
+have had their origin in the imagination of the ignorant aboriginal;
+some even having proceeded from the excited fancy of the colonists
+themselves, both Spanish and Portuguese, who could boast of a higher
+intelligence and better education.
+
+The fanciful say that there are anacondas in the waters of the Amazon
+full thirty yards in length, and of a thickness equalling the dimensions
+of a horse!  This has been stated repeatedly,--stated and believed in,
+not only by the ignorant Indian, but by his instructors, the monks of
+the missions.  The only fanciful part of the statement is what regards
+the size, which must be merely an exaggeration.  What is real and true
+is of itself sufficiently surprising.  It is true that in the South
+American rivers there are anacondas, or "water-boas," as they are
+sometimes called, over thirty feet in length and of proportionate
+thickness; that these monstrous creatures can swallow such quadrupeds as
+capivains, deer, and even large-sized animals of the horse and cattle
+kind; that they are not venomous, but kill their prey by
+_constriction_,--that is, by coiling themselves around it, and crushing
+it by a strong muscular pressure; and that, once gorged, they retire to
+some safe hiding-place,--of which there is no scarcity in the
+impenetrable forests of Amazonia,--go to sleep, and remain for a time in
+a sort of torpid condition.  Hence they are much more rarely seen than
+those animals which require to be all the time on the alert for their
+daily food.
+
+Of these great snakes of Tropical America there are several species; and
+these again are to be classified, according to their habits, into two
+groups markedly distinct,--the "boas," properly so called, and the
+"water-boas," or anacondas.  The former are terrestrial in their mode of
+living, and are to be found upon the dry road; the latter, though not
+strictly living in the water or under it, are never met with except
+where it is abundant; that is to say, on the banks of rivers and
+lagoons, or in the submerged forests of the Gapo.  They swim under
+water, or upon the surface, with equal facility; and they are also
+arboreal, their powers of constriction enabling them to make their way
+to the tops of the highest trees.  It is these that are more properly
+called sucurujus,--a name belonging to the common language spoken upon
+the Amazon, a mixture of Portuguese with the ancient tongue of the
+Supinampas, known as the _lingua geral_.  No doubt, also, it is from
+some unusually large specimen of sucuruju, seen occasionally by the
+Indian hunters and fishermen, that these simple people have been led
+into a belief in the existence of the wonderful _Mai d'Agoa_, or "Mother
+of the Waters."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT.
+
+A SNAKE "YARN."
+
+Cheered by the thought that the breeze was bearing them in the right
+direction, our adventurers sat up till a late hour.  When they at length
+resolved upon going to sleep, it was arranged that two should sit up,--
+one to mind the sail, the other to ply a paddle, and keep the craft
+steadily to her course, as well as could be done with such a rudder.
+The old sea-cook still had charge of the sheets and halyards, while
+Tipperary, notwithstanding that he had already proved himself such an
+indifferent helmsman, was intrusted with the steering.
+
+After the many perils through which they had passed, and under the
+apprehension of the many more through which they might yet have to pass,
+Tom's mismanagement,--the original cause of all their misfortunes,--if
+not forgotten, was not remembered against him with resentment.  It had
+been only an error of judgment,--a fault of the head, and not of the
+heart.
+
+Even the negro, whose race appears, almost by instinct, to inherit an
+antipathy to the countrymen of Tom, and who, previous to the
+catastrophe, was not always on the best of terms with the Irishman, no
+longer showed signs of spite: rather had the two become friends.  Their
+friendship sprung from the ties of a common misfortune, and any little
+difference that now displayed itself was in a rivalry as to which should
+make himself most useful to the floating community.
+
+On this particular night they sat together as white and black brothers;
+Mozey attending to the sipo that served for a sheet to the sail, and Tom
+steering the craft by a star that had been pointed out to him as that
+towards which he was to keep her head.
+
+Both African and Irishman were not a little vain of being thus left to
+themselves.  Up to that time both had been playing a very subordinate
+part; the Indian taking upon himself almost the sole management of
+affairs, and treating them as nobodies.  From the night on which they
+had made their unfortunate mistake by straying into the Gapo, every
+movement had been made by his counsel and direction: moreover, both had
+suffered humiliation by his having saved their lives from drowning.
+Although they were not ungrateful for that, they were nevertheless
+chagrined to think that they should be so looked upon.
+
+On this night, Munday, worn out by his long-continued exertions, was
+urged by Trevannion to desist, and recruit his energies by good repose.
+As there was no particular reason why he should remain awake, he had
+consented to do so; and, with his back against one of the buttresses, he
+reposed, silent as the Sphinx.
+
+Neither the man of Mozambique, nor he of Tipperary, was given to habits
+of silence; and they continued to converse long after the others had
+sunk into slumber.  After what had that day occurred, it was natural
+that the theme should be _snakes_.  "Yez have got some in your
+counthry,--haven't yer, Mozey?" inquired Tom.
+
+"Dar you'se 'bout right, Masser Tum.  Haven't we got um!  Snakes ob de
+biggest kind."
+
+"But none so big as the wun we saw the day?"
+
+"Buf! you call dat a big snake.  He not more den ten yard long.  I've
+hab some on de coass of Africa, down dere by Mozabeek, dat measure more
+den a mile,--ticker round de body den dis ere log we sittin' on."
+
+"More than a mile long!" rejoined Tipperary.  "And thicker than this
+tree!  Yez don't mane to say ye iver saw wan ov that size yerself?"
+
+"Well, I's not say it war a whole mile.  It mout be less, an' it mout a
+been more dan a mile.  Ob one ting I's sartin shoo: it wa'n't less den
+three quarters ob a mile.  Youz may b'lieve um or not; jess as you
+pleeze 'bout dat, Massa Tipprary.  All I'b got to say is, dat de snake I
+'peak 'bout war long nuf to go clar roun' de kraal, and twice roun'
+too."
+
+"A kraal! what moight that be?  I know what a _kreel_ is.  Miny's the
+wan I've carried on me back, full ov turf at that, in the bogs of
+Tipperary.  Yez don't mane a kreel, div ye?"
+
+"Kreel! no.  I'm 'peakin' 'bout de place we niggers live in,--village,
+you white folk call 'um."
+
+"A village! that is a town av people,--men, weemen, and childher."
+
+"Jess so.  Da be men, woman, and chillen in de kraal,--sartin to be
+plenty of boaf de last,--an' dar am dogs, and sheeps, and goats, and
+sometime big cattle.  Dat's zactly what we brack folks ob de African
+coass call de kraal.  Some am bigger dan oders; but de one I 'peak
+'bout, dat war surrounded by de snake, war a kraal ob de mod'rate size.
+It had 'bout a hundred houses, and, ob coorse, it contain zackly hundred
+families, excludin' de piccaninnies."
+
+"A snake to extind round a hundherd houses!  Whin was that?"
+
+"When dis chile was a piccaninny hisself.  If you like, Massa Tipprary,
+I tell you all 'bout it.  Ye see, dat de kraal I 'peak 'bout war my
+native place, wha dis chile fust saw de shinin' ob de sun.  I 'pose I
+war 'bout ten year ole jess at dat time when de sacumstance 'curred ob
+which I go tell you.  Near de village dar war a big foress.  It wa'
+filled with all sorts ob dangerous beasts.  Da wa' buffaloes and
+elephants, an' de rhinoceros, an' hipperpotamusses, an' dar war big
+monkeys ob de baboon 'pecies.  These lass war partickler dangerous,
+'pecially to de women ob de place, for if any ob de nigga gals strayed
+too fur into de foress, den de baboons carried dem up into de tops ob de
+highest trees, an' dere kep' dem prisoner fo' eber.  But de wussest ting
+in dat wood war de snakes.  Da war ob all sorts an' sizes.  Dere war de
+cobera, berry benemous, dat killed you wif him bite, an' de spit snake
+dat fo' pizen beat de cobera all holler, as it kud kill ye by jess
+spittin' upon yer from among de branches ob a tree.  An' da war de
+whip-snake, dat lashed folks to deaph wif him tail; an' de rock-boa dat
+twisted itself roun' you body an' crushed you to de jelly.  But none ob
+dese kud hold a candle to de great big snake ob all,--de one I tell you
+'bout.  Munday, he call dat we see, de spirit ob de waters.  Our big
+snake we nigga of Mozabeek call de _debbil ob de woods_.  Nebba mind
+'bout de name.  He come one fine mornin', dis debbil come, while de
+people ob de kraal war all 'sleep, dat is 'fore anybody get up to go
+'bout dar bisness.  He surroun' the village _twice_."
+
+"You mane that he crawled twice round it?"
+
+"Not a bit ob dat;--he may hab crawled twenty time roun' it: nobody
+know.  De people all 'sleep when he come.  What dis chile mean is, dat
+when de people get out ob dar beads, an' come to de door, de debbil ob
+de woods, he hab him body all roun' de place in two great coil, one on
+top ob de odder, like de cable 'board ship,--de two makin' a fence roun'
+do kraal, more'n ten feet high."
+
+"Saint Pathrick prasarve us!"
+
+"Ah, Masser Tom, I tink I hear you say dat de San Parfick you 'peak
+'bout was a great snake-killer in yur country.  I wish he had been in de
+island of Mozabeek on dat same mornin'.  Pahps dis nigger might still
+hab a fadder an' a modder.  He loss dem boaf on de occasion we now 'peak
+ob.  You see de snake, after enclosin' de kraal twice roun' wif him
+body, left enuf ob de neck to reach all ober de place; den stretchin'
+out him mouf, dat war wide nuf to swaller a man 'ithout chewin' him, he
+went from house to house, pickin' out de people, till der want one lef',
+neider man, woman, nor chile.  He eat up de chief ob de kraal jess de
+same as de commonest scum ob de village.  As fo' de piccaninnies, he
+swallow dem eight or ten at a time, jess de same as we see de ant-eater
+do wif de ants.  Boaf de men an' de women an' de chillen try to 'scape
+out ob de place.  'Twa'n't no manner ob use.  When dey tried to climb
+ober de body ob de snake, de ole debbil gub hisself a shake, an' down
+dey slipped from him sides, as if him skin had been coated from de slush
+cask.  Ob course da wa' soon all destroyed."
+
+"But yerself, Mozey; how did yez manage to 'scape?"
+
+"Ah, how! dat wor de bess joke ob de whole.  As I's been tellin' you, I
+war at de time only a piccaninny, 'bout ten years ob de age.  I war
+considered 'bove de common for dat age, an' wa' employed in de house ob
+de chief which war called de palace.  Well, jess when I see dat great
+big mouf sarchin' from place to place an' swallerin' up ebberybody, I
+know it wan't no use to hide down dar among de houses.  Now dar war a
+big pole dat stood righ' in front ob de palace, wif a flag floatin' on
+de top.  When de odder folk war runnin' about ebbery wha else, I climbed
+up de pole, an' when I got to de top, I drawed de flag roun' me, so as
+to hide de whole ob my body.  When dat 'ere debbil ob de woods had
+finished off wif de oder people, and cleared out de kraal complete, he
+nebber thought 'bout lookin' up de pole, or 'spectin' whether tha wa'
+anybody wrop up in de flag at de top.  Dis chile kep' up dar till he see
+de snake 'tretch out him long body, an' go back to de big foress.  Den I
+slip down from de tree, an' make my way to de nearest place wha da war
+people.  As boaf my fadder and modder had been eat up 'long wi' de ress,
+I atterwards left home an' tuk to de sea.  Dat's why dis nigger hab
+wandered all de way fom dat 'ere island ob Mozabeek.  Buf! de snake we
+see here, de spirit ob de water, a'n't no more to de debbil ob de woods
+dan a tadpole am to de biggest alligator in all de waters ob de Amazum."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTY NINE.
+
+SAINT PATRICK'S PERFORMANCE.
+
+Notwithstanding the serious air with which Mozey told his very
+improbable story, Tom did not appear to give implicit credence to it.
+He evidently suspected that the rogue had been cheating him; and, after
+several exclamations of wonder, but without betraying incredulity, he
+sat in silence, apparently cogitating some scheme for repaying him.  It
+was not long before an opportunity offered, his companion
+unintentionally furnishing him with a cue.
+
+"I's hab heer, Massa Tum, dat dar am no snake in de country wha you come
+from.  Dat 'ere de troof?"
+
+"Yis.  Nayther snake nor toad in owld Oireland,--nayther could live for
+a single hour, if ye plants them thare.  The green island wudn't contain
+thim bekase they're condimned to die the moment they sit fut on the
+sod."
+
+"But what condemn dem?"
+
+"Saint Pathrick, to be shure.  Trath, thare's a story about that.  May
+be yez wud loike to be afther hearin' it, Mozey?"
+
+"Like um berry much, Massy Tum."
+
+"Will, thin, I'll till it to yer.  It isn't such a wondherful story as
+yours; but it had a betther indin', as yer'll see when ye've heerd it.
+Instid av the snakes killin' all the people exciptin' wan, the riptiles
+got killed thimsilves, all but wan,--that was the father of ivry sirpint
+in the world.  He's livin' yit, an' must now be about five thousand
+years uv age.  So the praste sez.
+
+"A long toime ago, owld Oireland was very badly infisted wid thim
+craythers.  They wur so thick all over the swate island, that yez cudn't
+sit your fut down widout triddin' on wan av their tails; an' to kape out
+av their way the people had to build a great scaffoldin' that extinded
+all over the counthry, and slape on the threes, just as we've been doin'
+over the gyapo.
+
+"Whiniver they wanted anythin' to ate, such as purtaties, an' the loike,
+they were compilled to git it up from the ground wid long forks; and
+whin they wur in need to dhrink, they had to dip it up in buckets, as if
+they were drawin' it out av a well.
+
+"Av coorse this was moighty inconvanient, an' cudn't last long no how.
+The worst ov it was, that the snakes, instid ov gettin' thinned off,
+were ivery year growin' thicker, by razin ov their large families ov
+young wuns.  Will, it got so bad at last that ther' wusn't a spot av
+groun' bigger than the bunch ov your hand that warn't occupoyed by a
+snake, an' in some places they were two deep.  The people up on the
+platform that I towld yez about, they cursed an' swore, an' raged, an'
+raved, an' at last prayed to be delivered from the inimy."
+
+Here Tom paused to note the effect of his speech on his sable listener.
+
+"But dey war delibbered,--wur dey?"
+
+"Trath, wur they.  If they hadn't, is it at all loikely that yer wud see
+me here?  Will, the people prayed.  Not as your countrymen prays, to a
+stick or a stone, or beloike to the sarpints themselves, that could do
+them no benefit; but to a lady, that was able to protect them.  We, in
+owld Oireland, call her the Virgin Mary.  She was the mother av Him that
+came down from the siventh heaven to save us poor sinners.  But what's
+the use of my tryin' to explain all that to an ignorant haythen, loike
+you?"
+
+"No use, Massa Tum, no use," rejoined the African, in a tone of
+resignation.
+
+"Never moind, Mozey.  The lady heerd their prayer, and that was an ind
+to it."
+
+"She killed da snakes!"
+
+"Arrah now; did yez think the Virgin Mary--a raal lady as she was--ud be
+afther doin' such dhirty work as slaughter a whole island full of
+venomous sarpents?  Not a bit av that same.  It's true they were
+desthroyed; but not by her own swate hands.  She sinds a man to do the
+work for her.  She sint Sant Pathrick."
+
+"O, I's heerd ye 'peak ob dat man, many's de time, Massa Tum.  'Twur him
+dat kill de serpents, wur it?"
+
+"Trath was it."
+
+"But how'd he do it?  It muss hab take um a berry long time to destroy
+um all."
+
+"There ye are intirely asthray, nager.  It only occupied him wan day,
+an' not all the day nayther, for he had done the work a thrifle ov a
+hour or so afther dinner-time."
+
+"Gollys! how'd he do all dat?"
+
+"Will! ye see, he invited all the snakes to a grand banquit.  He had
+such a charmin' way wid him that they wun an' all agreed to come.  The
+place was on the top of a high mountain,--called the Hill of Howth,--far
+hoigher than any in the Andays we saw when crossin' thare.  The faste he
+had provided for them was a colliction of toads, includin' every wun ov
+thim that inhabited the island.  The toads he had invited too; an' the
+stupid craythers, not suspictin' anythin', come willingly to the place.
+
+"Now yez must undherstand, nager, that the snakes are moighty fond of
+toads, and frogs too; but Saint Pathrick had no ill-will against the
+frogs, an' they wur exchused from comin'.  As it was, the toads wur axed
+at an earlier hour than the snakes, an' got first to the top of the
+hill; an' while they were waitin' there to see what was to be done, the
+sarpints came glidin' up, and bein' tould that their dinner was spread
+before them, they fell to, an' swallowed up every toad upon the hill,
+which was every wun there was in all Oireland."
+
+The narrator made a long pause, either to draw breath after such a
+declamation, or to give time for his companion to indulge his
+astonishment.
+
+"Gora!" exclaimed the latter, impatient for further explanation.  "How
+'bout de snakes demselves?  Surely dey didn't swallow one anodder?"
+
+"Trath! an' that's jest what they did do,--every mother's son of thim."
+
+"But dat 'ere doan' 'tan' to reezun, unless dey hab a fight one wif de
+odder?  Splain yourself, Massa Tum."
+
+"Will, yez have guessed it exactly widout my sayin' a word.  They _did_
+have a foight, that went all roun' through the whole crowd, like a
+shindy in Donnybrook fair.  Yez would loike to hear how it begun.  Will,
+I'll tell ye.  There was two kinds av the riptile.  Wan they called
+`Ribbon snakes,' an' the tother `Orange snakes,' by razon av their
+colour, both in politics and religion.  They had a king over both that
+lived moighty foine at their expinse.  But he couldn't manage to keep
+thim continted with payin' him taxes, unless by sittin' the wan agaynst
+the tother.  An' this he did to the full av his satisfacshin.  Now the
+bad blood that was betwane thim showed itself at that great gatherin'
+worse than iver it had done afore.  Thare wasn't toads enough to give
+them all a full male; and by way of dissart they thought they'd turn to
+an' ate wun another.  Av course that was just what Sant Pathrick wanted;
+for he wasn't plazed at their having two sorts of religion.  So the ould
+praste hugged thim on in the quarrel, till it come to blows, an' inded
+in both kinds killin' an' atin' wun another till there was nothing lift
+av ayther exceptin' the tails."
+
+"Golly! what becomed of de tails?"
+
+"O, thim?  The people jumped down from the scaffolds and gathered thim
+up into a hape, and thin made a great bonfire av thim, and aftherwardt
+spred the ashes over the groun'; and that's what makes ould Oireland the
+greenest gim av the oshin."
+
+"But, Massa Tum, you hab say dat one ob de snakes 'scape from the genr'l
+congregation?"
+
+"Trath did I say it.  Wun did escape, an' 's livin' to make mischief in
+ould Oireland to this very day."
+
+"Which one was he?"
+
+"Their king."
+
+"De king.  How you call um, Massa Tipprary?"
+
+"The Divvel."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY.
+
+LIGHTS AHEAD.
+
+The expression of incredulity had now floated from the countenance of
+the Irishman to that of the African, who in turn suspected himself
+imposed upon.  The leer in Tom's eye plainly declared that he considered
+himself "quits" with his companion; and the two remained for some
+moments without further exchange of speech.  When the conversation was
+resumed, it related to a theme altogether different.  It was no longer
+on the subject of snakes, but stars.
+
+The pilot perceived that the one hitherto guiding him was going out of
+sight,--not by sinking below the horizon, but because the sky was
+becoming overcast by thick clouds.  In ten minutes more there was not a
+star visible; and, so far as direction went, the helm might as well have
+been abandoned.  Tom, however, stuck to his paddle, for the purpose of
+steadying the craft; and the breeze, as before, carried them on in a
+direct course.  In about an hour after, this gave token of forsaking
+them; and, at a still later period, the log lay becalmed upon the bosom
+of the lagoa.
+
+What, next?  Should they awake the others and communicate the unpleasant
+intelligence?  Tom was of opinion that they should, while the negro
+thought it would be of no use.  "Better let dem lie 'till," argued he,
+"and hab a good night ress.  Can do no good wake um up.  De ole craff
+muss lay to all de same, till dar come anodder whif ob de wind!"
+
+While they were disputing the points, or rather after they had done
+disputing, and each held his tongue, a sound reached their ears that at
+once attracted the attention of both.  It was rather a chorus of sounds,
+not uttered at intervals, but continued all the time they were
+listening.  It bore some resemblance to a distant waterfall; but now and
+then, mingling with the hoarser roaring of the torrent, were voices as
+of birds, beasts, and reptiles.  None of them were very distinct.  They
+appeared to come from some point at a great distance off.  Still, they
+were loud enough to be distinguished, as sounds that could not proceed
+out of the now tranquil bosom of the lagoa.
+
+Perhaps they might sooner have attracted the notice of the two men, but
+for the sighing of the breeze against the sail, and the rippling of the
+water as it rushed along the sides of the ceiba.  When these sounds had
+ceased, the conversation that ensued produced the same effect; and it
+was only after the dispute came to a close that the disputants were made
+aware that something besides their own voices was disturbing the
+tranquillity of the night.
+
+"What is it, I wondher?" was the remark of Tipperary Tom.  "Can yez
+tell, Mozey?"
+
+"It hab berry much de soun' ob a big forress!"
+
+"The sound av a forest?  What div yez mane by that?"
+
+"Wha' shud I mean, but de voices ob de animal dat lib in de forress.  De
+birds an' de beast, an' de tree frogs, an' dem 'ere crickets dat chirps
+'mong de trees.  Dat's what dis nigger mean."
+
+"I b'lieve ye're right, nager.  It's just that same.  It can't be the
+wather, for that's did calm; an' it can't purceed from the sky, for it
+don't come in that direction.  In trath it's from the forest, as ye
+say."
+
+"In dat case, den, we muss be near de odder side ob de lagoa, as de
+Indyun call um,--jess wha we want to go."
+
+"Sowl, thin, that's good news!  Will we wake up the masther an' till him
+av it?  What do yez think?"
+
+"Dis nigga tink better not.  Let um all sleep till de broke ob day.  Dat
+can't be far off by dis time.  I hab an idee dat I see de furs light ob
+mornin' jess showin' out yonner, at de bottom ob de sky.  Gora! what's
+yon?  Dar, dar! 'trait afore de head.  By golly! dar's a fire out
+yonner, or someting dat hab de shine ob one.  Doan ye see it, Massa
+Tum?"
+
+"Trath, yis; I do see somethin' shinin'.  It a'n't them fire-flies, div
+yez think?"
+
+"No! 'ta'n't de fire-fly.  Dem ere flits about.  Yon ting am steady, an'
+keeps in de same place."
+
+"There's a raal fire yandher, or else it's the willy-wisp.  See! be me
+troth thare's two av thim.  Div yez see two?"
+
+"Dar _am_ two."
+
+"That can't be the willy-wisp.  He's niver seen in couples,--at laste,
+niver in the bogs av Oireland.  What can it be?"
+
+"What can which be?" asked Trevannion, who, at this moment awaking,
+heard the question put by Tom to the negro.
+
+"Och, look yandher!  Don't yez see a fire?"
+
+"Certainly; I see something very like one,--or rather two of them."
+
+"Yis, yis; there's two.  Mozey and meself have just discovered thim."
+
+"And what does Mozey think they are?"
+
+"Trath, he's perplixed the same as meself.  We can't make hid or tail av
+thim.  If there had been but wan, I'd a sayed it was a willy-wisp."
+
+"Will-o'-the-wisp!  No, it can scarce be that,--the two being together.
+Ah!  I hear sounds."
+
+"Yes, masther, we've heerd thim long ago."
+
+"Why didn't you awake us?  We must have drifted nearly across the lagoa.
+Those sounds, I should say, come out of the forest, and that, whatever
+it is, must be among the trees.  Munday!  Munday!"
+
+"Hola!" answered the Indian, as he started up from his squatting
+attitude: "what is it, patron?  Anything gone wrong?"
+
+"No: on the contrary, we appear to have got very near to the other side
+of the lagoa."
+
+"Yes, yes!" interrupted the Indian as soon as the forest noises fell
+upon his ear; "that humming you hear must come thence.  _Pa terra_!
+lights among the trees!"
+
+"Yes, we have just discovered them.  What can they be?"
+
+"Fires," answered the Indian.
+
+"You think it is not fire-flies?"
+
+"No; the _loengos_ do not show that way.  They are real fires.  There
+must be people there."
+
+"Then there is land, and we have at last reached _terra firma_."
+
+"The Lord be praised for that," reverently exclaimed the Irishman.  "Our
+throubles will soon be over."
+
+"May be not, may be not," answered the Mundurucu, in a voice that
+betrayed both doubt and apprehension.
+
+"Why not, Munday?" asked Trevannion.  "If it be fires we see, surely
+they are on the shore; and kindled by men.  There should be some
+settlement where we can obtain assistance?"
+
+"Ah, patron! nothing of all that need follow from their being fires;
+only that there must be men.  The fires need only be on the shore, and
+as for the men who made them, instead of showing hospitality, just as
+like they make take a fancy to eat us."
+
+"Eat us! you mean that they may be cannibals?"
+
+"Just so, patron.  Likely as not.  It's good luck," pursued the tapuyo,
+looking around, "the wind went down, else we might have been carried too
+close.  I must swim towards yon lights, and see what they are, before we
+go any nearer.  Will you go with me, young master?"
+
+"O, certainly!" replied Richard, to whom the question was addressed.
+
+"Well, then," continued the tapuyo, speaking to the others, "you must
+not make any loud noise while we are gone.  We are not so very distant
+from those fires,--a mile or thereabout; and the water carries the sound
+a long ways.  If it be enemies, and they should hear us, there would be
+no chance of escaping from them.  Come, young master, there's not a
+minute to spare.  It must be very near morning.  If we discover danger,
+we shall have but little time to got out of its way in the darkness; and
+that would be our only hope.  Come! follow me!"
+
+As the Indian ceased speaking, he slipped gently down into the water,
+and swam off to the two lights whose gleam appeared every moment more
+conspicuous.
+
+"Don't be afraid, Rosetta," said Richard, as he parted from his cousin.
+"I warrant it'll turn out to be some plantation on the bank, with a
+house with lights shining through the windows, and white people inside,
+where we'll all be kindly received, and get a new craft to carry us down
+to Para.  Good by for the present!  We'll soon be back again with good
+news."
+
+So saying, he leaped into the water and swam off in the wake of the
+tapuyo.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY ONE.
+
+AN AERIAL VILLAGE.
+
+The swimmers had not made many hundred yards when they saw beyond doubt
+that the forest was not far off.  It was even nearer than they had at
+first imagined, the darkness having deceived them; and perhaps the log
+may have drifted nearer while they were under the impression that they
+lay becalmed.
+
+At all events, they were now scarcely a quarter of a mile from the
+forest, which they knew stretched along the horizon as far as they could
+have seen had it been daylight.  They could only just distinguish a dark
+belt or line rising above the surface of the water before them; but that
+this extended right and left to a far distance could be told from the
+sounds that came from it.  There was the hum of tree-crickets and
+cicadas, the _gluck_ of toads and frogs, the screams of aquatic birds,
+the hooting of owls, and the strange plaintive calls of the
+goat-suckers, of which several species inhabit the Gapo forests; the
+whip-poor-will and the "willy-come-go" all the night long giving
+utterance to their monotonous melody.  Harsher still were the cries
+proceeding from the throats of howling monkeys, with now and then the
+melancholy moaning of the _ai_, as it moved slowly through the branches
+of the _embauba_ (cecropia-tree).  All these sounds, and a score of
+other kinds,--some produced by insects and reptiles of unknown
+species,--were blended in that great choir of nature which fills the
+tropical forest with its midnight music.
+
+The two swimmers, however, paid no attention to this fact; their whole
+thoughts being occupied by the lights, that, as they advanced, grew
+every moment more conspicuous.  There was no longer any doubt about
+these being the blaze of fires.  It was simply a question of where the
+fires were burning, and who had kindled them.
+
+The young Paraense supposed them to be upon the shore of the lagoa.
+About this, however, his companion expressed a doubt.  They did not seem
+to burn steadily, their discs appearing now larger and now less.
+Sometimes one would go out altogether, then blaze up afresh, while
+another was as suddenly extinguished.  The younger of the two swimmers
+expressed astonishment at this intermittence, which his companion easily
+explained.  The fires, he said, were placed at some distance from the
+edge of the forest, among the trees, and it was by some tree-trunk now
+and then intervening that the illusion was caused.
+
+Silently the swimmers approached, and in due time they glided in under
+the shadow of the thick foliage, and saw the fires more distinctly.  To
+the astonishment of Richard--for the tapuyo did not seem at all
+astonished--they did not appear to be on the ground, but up in the air!
+The Paraense at first supposed them to have been kindled upon the top of
+some eminence; but, on scanning them more closely, he saw that this
+could not be the case.  Their gleaming red light fell upon water shining
+beneath, over which, it was clear, they were in some way suspended.
+
+As their eyes became accustomed to the glare, the swimmers could make
+out that the fires were upon a sort of scaffold raised several feet
+above the water, and supported by the trunks of the trees.  Other
+similar scaffolds could be seen, on which no fires had been kindled,--
+from the fact, no doubt, that their occupants were not yet astir.
+
+By the blaze human figures were moving to and fro, and others were on
+the platforms near by, which were more dimly illuminated; some entering,
+some coming forth from "toldos," or sheds, that stood upon them.
+Hammocks could be seen suspended from free to tree, some empty, and some
+still holding a sleeper.
+
+All this was seen at a single glance, while at the same time were heard
+voices, that had been hitherto drowned by the forest choir, but could
+now be distinguished as the voices of men, women, and children,--such as
+might be heard in some rural hamlet, whose inhabitants were about
+bestirring themselves for their daily avocations.
+
+The tapuyo, gliding close up to the Paraense, whispered in his ear, "A
+malocca!"
+
+"An Indian village!"  Richard rejoined.  "We've reached _tierra firme_,
+then?"
+
+"Not a bit of it, young master.  If the dry land had been near, those
+fires wouldn't be burning among the tree-tops."
+
+"At all events, we are fortunate in falling in with this curious
+malocca, suspended between heaven and earth.  Are we not so?"
+
+"That depends on who they are that inhabit it.  It may be that we've
+chanced upon a tribe of cannibals."
+
+"Cannibals!  Do you think there are such in the Gapo?"
+
+"There are savages in the Gapo who would torture before killing,--you,
+more especially, whose skins are white, remember, with bitterness, what
+first drove them to make their home in the midst of the water-forests,--
+the white slave-hunters.  They have reason to remember it; for the cruel
+chase is still kept up.  If this be a malocca of Muras, the sooner we
+get away, the safer.  They would show you whites no mercy, and less than
+mercy to me, a red man like themselves.  We Mundurucus are their
+deadliest enemies.  Now, you lie still, and listen.  Let me hear what
+they are saying.  I know the Mura tongue.  If I can catch a word it will
+be sufficient.  Hush!"
+
+Not long had they been listening, when the Indian started, an expression
+of anxiety suddenly overspreading his features, as his companion could
+perceive by the faint light of the distant fires.
+
+"As I expected," said he, "they are Muras.  We must be gone, without a
+moment's loss of time.  It will be as much as we can do to paddle the
+log out of sight before day breaks.  If we don't succeed in doing so, we
+are all lost.  Once seen, their canoes would be too quick for us.  Back,
+back to the monguba!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY TWO.
+
+A SLOW RETREAT: IN THE ARCADE.
+
+Their report spread consternation among the crew.  Trevannion,
+incredulous of the existence of such bloodthirsty savages as Munday
+represented the Muras to be, was disposed to treat it as an
+exaggeration.  The young Paraense, who, when in his father's house, had
+met many of the up-river traders, and heard them conversing on this very
+theme, was able to endorse what the Mundurucu said.  It was well-known
+to the traders that there were tribes of wild Indians inhabiting the
+Gapo lands, who during the season of the inundation made their home
+among the tree-tops,--that some of these were cannibals, and all of them
+savages of a most ferocious type, with whom an encounter in their native
+wilds, by any party not strong enough to resist them, might prove both
+dangerous and deadly.
+
+There was no time to argue; and without further opposition the ex-miner
+himself sprang to one of the paddles, the tapuyo taking the other.  They
+had no idea of going back across the lagoa.  To have proceeded in that
+direction would have been to court discovery.  With such slow progress
+as theirs, a mile would be about all they could make before daybreak;
+and, out on the open water, their craft would be distinguishable at
+three times that distance.  The course counselled by the tapuyo was to
+keep at first parallel to the line of the trees; and then enter among
+these as soon as the dawn began.
+
+As the party retreated, not two, but ten fires were seen gleaming among
+the trees, filling the forest with their bright coruscation.  The tapuyo
+explained that each new light denoted the uprising of a fresh family,
+until the whole malocca was astir.  The fires were kindled to cook the
+breakfast of the Indians.  Notwithstanding this domestic design, our
+adventurers looked back upon them with feelings of apprehension; for
+they were not without fears that, roasted over those very fires, they
+might furnish the savages with the material for a cannibal repast!
+
+To all appearance never did the ceiba go slower,--never lie so dull upon
+the water.  Despite the vigorous straining of strong arms, it scarcely
+seemed to move.  The sail was of no service, as there was not a breath
+of air, but was rather an obstruction; and, seeing this, Mozey let loose
+the halyards and gently lowered it.
+
+They had hardly made half a mile from the point of starting, when they
+saw the dawn just appearing above the tops of the trees.  They were upon
+the equator itself, where between dawn and daylight there is but a short
+interval of time.  Knowing this, the craft was turned half round, and
+pulled towards a place of concealment.  As they moved on to make it,
+they could see the sunlight stealing over the surface of the water, and
+the fires becoming paler at its approach.  In ten minutes more, daylight
+would be upon them!
+
+It was now a struggle against time,--a trial of speed between the ceiba
+and the sun,--both slowly approaching a critical point in their course.
+Trevannion and the tapuyo plied the paddles as men rowing for their
+lives and the lives of others dear to them.  They almost felt as if the
+sun favoured them; for he not only seemed to suspend his rising, but to
+sink back in his course.  Perhaps it was only the shadow of the trees,
+under which they had now entered.  At all events, they were in the midst
+of obscurity, propelling the dead-wood into the embouchure of an
+igarape, overshadowed with drooping trees, that, like a dark cavern,
+promised them a hiding-place.
+
+At the moment of entering, it was so dark they could not tell how far
+the opening extended.  In this uncertainty they suspended the stroke of
+their paddles, and suffered the ceiba to come to a standstill.  As yet
+they had no other light than that afforded by the fire-flies that
+flitted under about the trees.  But these were of the large species,
+known as _Cocuyos (Elater noctilucus_), one of which, when held over the
+page of a printed book, enables a person to read; and as there were many
+of them wandering about, their united sparkle enabled our adventurers to
+make out that the creek was of very limited extent.
+
+Gradually, as the sun rose higher, his light fell gently glimmering
+through the leaves, and showed that the arcade was a _cul de sac_,
+extending only about a hundred yards into the labyrinth of branches and
+parasitical plants.  They had entered, so to speak, a court through
+which there was no thoroughfare; and there they must remain.  They could
+only get out of it by taking to the tree-tops, or else by returning to
+the open lagoa.  But they had had enough of travelling through the
+tree-tops, while to abandon the craft that had carried them so
+comfortably, and that might still avail them, was not to be thought of.
+
+As to returning to the open water, that would be like delivering
+themselves into the very jaws of the danger they were desirous to avoid;
+for, once seen by the savages, there would not be the slightest chance
+of escape.  They were provided with canoes moored among the tree-trunks
+that formed the supports of their aerial habitations.  Clumsy structures
+enough; but, no matter how clumsy or slow, they were swifter than the
+dead-wood; and in the event of a chase the latter would be easily
+overhauled and captured.  Only one course offered any prospect of
+safety,--to remain all day in the arcade, trusting that none of the
+savages might have any business near the place.  At night they could
+steal out again, and by an industrious use of their paddles put a safer
+distance between themselves and the dangerous denizens of the malocca.
+
+Having determined on this, they drew their craft into the darkest
+corner, and, making it fast to a tree, prepared to pass the time in the
+pleasantest possible manner.
+
+There was not much pleasure sitting in that silent, sombre shadow;
+especially as they were in dread that its silence might be disturbed by
+the wild shout of a savage.  They had taken every precaution to escape
+discovery.  The little fire left burning upon the log had been
+extinguished by Munday, immediately on seeing the two lights first
+described.  They would fain have rekindled it, to cook a breakfast; but
+fearing that the smoke might be seen, they chose that morning to eat the
+charqui raw.
+
+After breakfast they could do nothing but keep their seats, and await,
+with such patience as they might command, the development of events.  It
+was not all darkness around them.  As the little creek penetrated the
+trees in a straight line, they commanded a view of a portion of the
+lagoa.  Their situation was very similar to that of a person inside a
+grotto or cavern on the sea-shore, which commands a view of the ocean
+stretching away from its mouth, the bright space gradually widening as
+it recedes in the distance.  Though themselves seated in the midst of
+obscurity, they could see brightness beyond the opening of the bay,--the
+sun shining with a golden gleam upon the water.
+
+On this their eyes were kept,--not in the hope of seeing anything there
+that might give them gratification, but rather desiring that nothing
+should be seen.  Notwithstanding the obscurity that surrounded them,
+they could not divest themselves of the idea that one passing the
+entrance of the creek could see them distinctly enough; and this kept
+them in constant apprehension.
+
+They had no need to keep watch in any other direction.  Behind them, and
+on each side, extended the unbroken wall of tree-tops, shaded with
+llianas, worked and woven together into a network that appeared
+impenetrable even to the wild animals of the forest.  Who would have
+looked for an enemy in human shape to come that way?
+
+Up to noon no incident occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the place
+or in any way add to their apprehensions.  Now and then a bird appeared,
+winging its way over the bright band illumined by the sun, or poising
+itself for a moment and then plunging downward upon some prey it had
+detected in the water.  All these appearances only increased their
+confidence; as the presence of the birds, undisturbed at their ordinary
+avocations, indicated the absence of human beings.
+
+The same conclusion was drawn from the behaviour of a brace of large
+fish-cows, at some distance outside, directly in front of the arcade.
+When first noticed, they were engaged in some sort of rude gambol, at
+which they continued for a full half-hour.  After that, one of them swam
+off, while the other, laying itself along the water, appeared to go to
+sleep.
+
+It was a tantalising sight to the eyes of the old tapuyo; and it was
+just as much as he could do to restrain himself from swimming out and
+attacking the sleeper, either with his knife or the pashuba spear.  The
+danger, however, would have been too great, not from a conflict with the
+cow, but of being seen by the sharp-eyed savages.
+
+In view of this, the Mundurucu resisted the temptation, and consented,
+though not without reluctance, to let the peixe-boi continue its
+slumbers uninterrupted.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY THREE.
+
+FOLLOWING THE FLOAT.
+
+Unfortunately for our adventurers, as well as for the cow-fish itself,
+other eyes than those of the tapuyo had been watching the gambols of the
+two cetaceans, and had paid particular attention to the one now taking
+its siesta on the surface.  Neither Munday nor his companions had any
+suspicion of this; for, excepting the peixe-boi itself, no living
+creature was in sight.  Having observed it for a considerable length of
+time, still reclining in its attitude of repose, they had almost ceased
+to think of it; when all at once it was seen to spring clear out of the
+water, and, after making two or three grotesque plunges, sink suddenly
+below the surface!
+
+The action was too violent and unnatural to be voluntary.  The peixe-boi
+had evidently been assailed in its sleep by some enemy, from which it
+was but too eager to retreat.
+
+But what could this enemy be?  The tapuyo knew of nothing _under_ the
+water that was likely to have made the attack.  There are no sharks nor
+swordfish in the Gapo, and an alligator would scarcely dare to meddle
+with a creature of such enormous dimensions.  Much less could an enemy
+have come from the air.  There is no bird in South America, not even the
+great condor itself, that would think of swooping down upon a peixe-boi.
+
+Some of the party said that they had seen something glancing towards the
+cow-fish at the moment it made the leap,--something that looked like a
+flash of lightning!  What could that be?  There was no cloud in the sky,
+no thunder.  It could not have been lightning.
+
+"_Pa terra_!" exclaimed the tapuyo, in evident alarm.  "I know what it
+was.  Keep quiet or we are lost!"
+
+"What was it?"
+
+"A harpoon,--look yonder, patron!  Don't you see the water in motion
+where the juaroua went down?"
+
+"Certainly I do.  That's very natural.  The waves are caused by the
+plunging of the animal."
+
+"The waves! not that; look again.  You see a thin ripple.  There's a
+cord making it.  Yonder's the float! and close behind that you will see
+something more.  There, there he is!"
+
+Sure enough, there was a rippling line caused by a cord drawn rapidly
+along the surface; at the end of this a small buoy of wood dragged
+rapidly after, and close behind a canoe, with an Indian in it, the
+Indian in a bent attitude, plying his paddle, and evidently in pursuit
+of the wounded cow-fish.  The log was a "float," the line drawing it
+along was at its other end attached to a harpoon, and that harpoon had
+its barbs buried in the body of the peixe-boi!
+
+Such a specimen of a human being, even for a savage, none of the
+spectators--the tapuyo perhaps excepted--had ever beheld.  He was as
+naked as if he had never been outside the Garden of Eden; and this very
+nakedness displayed a form that, but for the absence of a hairy
+covering, more resembled that of a monkey than a man.  A body extremely
+attenuated, yet pot-bellied, too; a pair of long, thin arms, with legs
+to match, the latter knotted at the knees, the former balled at the
+elbows; a huge head, seemingly larger from its mop of matted hair; a
+face with high cheeks and sunken eyes,--gave him an appearance more
+demoniac than human.  No wonder that little Rosa screamed as he came in
+sight, and that dismay exhibited itself on the features of several
+others of the party.
+
+"Hush!" whispered Munday.  "Silence all!  Not a word, or we shall be
+seen, and then not he, but perhaps a hundred of his tribe--Hush!"
+
+Fortunately the scream of Rosita had been only slight; and the savage,
+in eager pursuit of the peixe-boi, had not heard it, for he continued
+the chase without pause.
+
+He had no difficulty in discovering the whereabouts of his game.  The
+float guided him; for, no matter where the cow went, the tether was
+still attached to her, and the movement of the log along the surface
+betrayed to the eye of her pursuer every change of direction.
+
+Two or three times, the savage, dropping his paddle, was enabled to lay
+hold of the line and commence hauling in; but the great strength of the
+juaroua, as yet unexhausted, proved too much for him, and he was
+compelled to let go or be pulled out of his craft.
+
+The latter was but a frail concern, of the smallest and rudest kind,--
+consisting of a shell of bark, gathered up at both ends and tied by
+sipos, so as to give it somewhat the shape of an ordinary canoe.  Even
+when paddling with all his strength, its owner could make no great
+speed; but great speed was not required in the chase of a peixe-boi with
+a barbed spear sticking through its skin and rankling between its ribs.
+It only required patience, until the huge creature should become
+exhausted with its struggles and enfeebled by the loss of blood.  Then
+might the conquest be completed without either difficulty or danger.
+
+For twenty minutes or more the chase continued; the float being dragged
+hither and thither, until it had crossed the water in almost every
+direction.  Sometimes both log and canoe were in sight, sometimes only
+one of them, and sometimes neither,--at such times the cow-fish having
+passed far beyond the limits of clear water visible to the spectators.
+
+On the last of these occasions, several minutes had elapsed before the
+chase came again in sight.  Our adventurers were in hopes they would see
+no more of either fish, float, or follower.  The interest they might
+otherwise have taken in such a curious spectacle was destroyed by the
+thought of the danger that would result in their being discovered.
+
+Just as they had begun to congratulate themselves that they were to be
+spared this misfortune, the float once more came before their eyes,
+still being dragged along the surface, but with much less rapidity than
+when last seen.  The manatee was coming into the arcade, the canoe
+following close after, with the hideous savage eagerly plying his
+paddle, while, with outstretched neck and wild, scintillating orbs, he
+peered inquiringly into the darkness before him!
+
+There was no chance to escape discovery.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY FOUR.
+
+A CANNIBAL CAPTURED.
+
+The fears of those standing upon the ceiba could not have been greater
+than that of the savage himself, as his canoe came bumping against the
+dead-wood, and he saw standing above him a crowd of human forms.  A wild
+cry escaping from his lips expressed his terror and astonishment.  Then
+a second, in louder tone, was intended to give the alarm to his kindred,
+who might possibly hear it.
+
+With an Indian, as with the wild animals, presence of mind is rather an
+instinct than an act of reason.  Instead of being disconcerted by what
+he saw, and losing time to recover himself, the Mura at once plunged his
+paddle into the water, and commenced beating backward, assisted by the
+recoil of the canoe, which, on striking the dead-wood, had rebounded
+from it by the violence of the collision.
+
+In a moment he had sculled himself almost clear of the arcade; he was
+already within a few feet of its mouth, and would soon be back upon the
+open lagoa, when he would undoubtedly make for the malocca, and bring
+the whole tribe of cannibals upon them.  None of the party thought of
+pursuing him.  There was an attempt made to seize the canoe at the
+moment of its closing upon the log, but the craft had recoiled so
+suddenly after the collision, and been paddled so rapidly out of reach,
+that it all ended in Tipperary Tom getting soused in the water, and
+nearly drowned before he could be dragged out again.  The attempt at
+seizure might have had a different result had Munday been among those
+who made it.  But he was not.
+
+He was nowhere to be seen upon the log, nor anywhere else!  What had
+become of him?  None of them could say.  Little Rosa was the only one
+who could give any explanation of his absence.  She thought she had seen
+him slip off at the back of the log, while the canoe was coming on in
+front.  She was not sure, it was so dark upon that side; and she had
+been too much engaged in regarding the approach of the savage.
+
+Had he made off to conceal himself among the tree-tops?  Had he gone to
+secure his own safety, and abandoned his friends to their fate?  They
+could not think this.  Such a cowardly act would have been contrary to
+all they knew of the brave Mundurucu, whose faithfulness had so many
+times been put to the severest test.  No one could account for it.
+
+Just at that critical moment when the canoe had reached the mouth of the
+arcade, a dark round thing, like a human head, rose up in the water some
+six feet before it, and then another dark thing, wonderfully like a
+human hand, shot up beside the head, followed by a long and sinewy arm.
+The hand was seen to strike upward and clutch the canoe close by the
+stem; and then the craft went down, one end under water, while the other
+flew up into the air; then there was a capsize,--the savage, with a
+shriek and a loud plash, falling out; and then there was a struggle,--
+now under water, now above the surface,--accompanied by strange choking
+noises, as if two enormous alligators were engaged in a conflict of life
+and death.
+
+As the astonished spectators continued to gaze upon the scene,--still
+but imperfectly comprehended by them,--they saw that the combatants were
+coming nearer, as if the struggle was being carried on towards the end
+of the arcade, and was likely to terminate where they stood.
+
+And there it did end, immediately after, by the missing tapuyo making
+his appearance alongside the log, and dragging beside him the man who
+had made that involuntary "header" from the canoe.
+
+The latter no longer resisted.  The knife-blade glittering between
+Munday's teeth--a taste of whose quality the savage had already
+experienced--hindered him from offering any further resistance; and as
+they came up to the log, the two were swimming side by side peaceably,
+only that the action of one was evidently involuntary, while the other
+was directing it.
+
+It was more like the companionship of a policeman and a thief, than that
+of two swimmers who chanced to be going the same way.  One arm of the
+Mura was clutched by the Mundurucu, as if the captive was partly
+supported while being dragged along.
+
+"Reach out there, patron, and pull him up!" cried Munday, as he
+conducted his captive alongside the log.  "I don't want to kill the
+animal, though that might be the safest way in the end."
+
+"No, no, don't do that!" returned Trevannion, who now, along with all
+the others, had arrived at a full comprehension of the affair.  "We can
+keep him secure enough; and, if his shouts have not been heard, we need
+not fear having him along with us."  As the patron spoke, he reached
+down, and, laying hold of the captive, drew him close to the side of the
+dead-wood.  Then, assisted by Munday in the water and Mozey upon the
+log, the Mura was hoisted aboard.
+
+Once upon the dead-wood, a more abject wretch than the captive Mura
+could not have been found.  He trembled from head to foot,--evidently
+believing that he was about to be killed, and perhaps eaten.  He had
+only consented to be taken in the knowledge--which Munday had in some
+way conveyed to him--that resistance could but end in instant death; and
+there are few, even amongst the most reckless of savages, who will not
+yield to this.
+
+As he stood dripping upon the dead-wood, a red stream, trickling down
+his wet skin from a knife-wound in the shoulder, explained how the
+tapuyo had made known to him the idleness of resistance.  It was a first
+stab, and not dangerous; but it had given a foretaste of what was to
+follow, had the struggle been kept up.  After receiving this hint, the
+Mura had surrendered; and the after commotion was caused by his being
+towed through the water by a captor who was required to use all his
+strength and energy in supporting him.
+
+While the canoe-man was advancing up the arcade, the Mundurucu, instead
+of waiting till he came near, had dropped quietly into the water, and
+swum in an outward direction, as if intending to meet the
+manatee-hunter, face to face.  This he actually did,--met and passed
+him, but without being seen.  The darkness favoured him, as did also the
+commotion already caused by the wounded cow-fish, which in its passage
+up the creek had left large waves upon the water.  These, striking
+against the trunks of the trees, created a still further disturbance,
+amidst which the swimmer's dark face and long swarthy locks could not
+have been easily distinguished.
+
+Supporting himself by a branch, he awaited the return of the savage,--
+knowing that as soon as the latter set eyes upon the others he would
+instantly beat a retreat.  All turned out just as the tapuyo had
+anticipated; and just as he had designed did he deal with the canoe-man.
+
+In all this, the only thing that appeared singular was the tapuyo's
+taking so much pains to go out near the entrance, instead of boldly
+laying hold of the canoe as it passed him on its way inwards, or indeed
+of waiting for it upon the log,--where any one of the others, had he
+been a strong swimmer and armed with a knife, might have effected the
+capture.
+
+Munday, however, had good reasons for acting as he had done.  While the
+canoe was approaching, who could tell that it would come close up?  It
+had done so, even to striking the dead-wood with its bow; but Munday
+could not rely upon such a chance as that.  Had the savage discovered
+their presence a little sooner, he would have turned and sculled off,
+before any swimmer could have come up with him.
+
+A similar reason was given for gliding stealthily past, and getting on
+the other side.  Had the Mundurucu acted otherwise, he might have been
+perceived before he could seize the canoe, and so give time for the
+manatee-hunter to make off.  As this last would have been a terrible
+contingency, rendering their discovery almost a certainty, the cunning
+old man knew how important it was that no mismanagement should occur in
+the carrying out of his design.
+
+"If that rascal's shout has been heard," said Trevannion, "there will be
+but little chance of our escaping capture.  From what you saw, I suppose
+there are hundreds of these hideous creatures.  And we, without weapons,
+without the means either of attack or defence, what could we do?  There
+would be nothing for it but to surrender ourselves as prisoners."
+
+The Mundurucu was not able to offer a word of encouragement.  To have
+attempted defence against a whole tribe of savages, armed, no doubt,
+with spears and poisoned arrows, would have been to rush madly on death.
+
+"It is fortunate," continued the ex-miner, "that you have not killed
+him."
+
+"Why, patron?" demanded the tapuyo, apparently in some surprise.
+
+"It would have made them revengeful; and if we have the ill-luck to be
+taken, they would have been the more certain to destroy us."
+
+"No, no," answered the Indian,--"not a bit more certain to do that.  If,
+as you say, we have the bad luck to become their captives, we shall be
+killed all the same.  Their old revenge will be strong enough for that;
+and if not their revenge, they have an appetite that will insure our
+destruction.  You understand, patron?"
+
+This conversation was carried on in a low tone, and only between
+Trevannion and the tapuyo.
+
+"O Heaven!" groaned the ex-miner, turning his eyes upon his children.
+"It would be a fearful fate for--for all of us."
+
+"The more reason for doing all we can to avoid falling into their
+hands."
+
+"But what can we do?  Nothing!  If they discover our hiding-place before
+nightfall, then we shall surely be taken."
+
+"Admit that, master; but if they do not--"
+
+"If they do not, you think there would be some hope of our getting away
+from them?"
+
+"A good hope,--a good hope."
+
+"On the raft?"
+
+"Better than that, patron."
+
+"You have some plan?"
+
+"I've been thinking of one; but it's no use to speak of it, so long as
+we are in doubt this way.  If we are left unmolested until night, then,
+patron, it will be time to declare it.  Could you but promise me that
+this screecher hasn't been heard, I think I could promise you that by
+midnight we should not only be beyond the reach of his bloodthirsty
+fellows, but in a fair way of getting out of our troubles altogether.
+Ha! yonder's something must be looked to; I forgot that."
+
+"What?"
+
+"The _igarite_.  How near it was to betraying us!  Its course must be
+stopped this instant."  And he once more slipped down into the water and
+swam away.
+
+The canoe, out of which the Mura had been so unceremoniously spilled,
+and which was now bottom upwards, was drifting outward.  It was already
+within a few feet of the entrance, and in another minute would have been
+caught by the breeze stirring beyond the branches of the trees.  Once
+outside, it would soon have made way into the open lagoa, and would have
+formed a conspicuous mark for the eyes of the malocca.
+
+Munday swam silently, but with all his strength, towards it.  It must be
+reached before it could drift outside; and for some time there was
+apprehension in the minds of the spectators that this might not be done.
+The only one of them that would have been gratified by a failure was
+the captive Mura.  But the wretch showed no sign of his desire, knowing
+that there would be danger in his doing so.  He was held fast in the
+strong arms of the negro; while Tipperary Tom stood near, ready to run
+him through with the spear in case of his making any attempt to escape.
+
+Their apprehensions soon came to an end.  The tapuyo overtook it before
+it had cleared the screening of tree-tops; and, laying hold of a piece
+of cord which was attached to its stem, took it in tow.  In less than
+five minutes after, it might have been seen right side up, lying like a
+tender alongside the grand monguba.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY FIVE.
+
+A DAY SPENT IN SHADOW.
+
+All day long did our adventurers abide in silence, keeping close in
+their shadowy retreat.  Now and then only the Mundurucu swam to the
+entrance of the arcade; and, screened by the trees, took a survey of the
+open water outside.  He saw only a canoe, larger than that he had
+captured, with three men in it, out upon the lagoa, about two hundred
+yards from the edge, and opposite the malocca, which could not itself be
+seen, as it was some distance back among the trees; but, from the
+bearings he had taken on the night previous, the tapuyo knew where it
+lay.
+
+He watched the canoe so long as it remained in sight.  The gestures of
+the savages who were in it showed that they were occupied in fishing,
+though what sort of fish they might be taking in the flooded lake Munday
+could not guess.  They stayed about an hour; and then, paddling their
+craft back among the trees, were seen no more.
+
+This gratified the tapuyo and those to whom he made his report.  It was
+evidence that the harpooner had come out alone, and that, while striking
+the cow-fish, he had not been observed by any of his people.  Had that
+incident been witnessed, every canoe in possession of the tribe would
+have instantly repaired to the spot.
+
+Since the killing of a juaroua is an event of rare occurrence in the
+season of the _vasante_, when it does transpire it causes the same
+joyful excitement in a malocca of Amazonian Indians as the capture of a
+great walrus would in a winter village of Esquimaux.  It was, therefore,
+quite clear to our adventurers, that no suspicion had been aroused as to
+the cause of the harpooner's absence from the malocca, and so they were
+enabled to endure their imprisonment with calmer confidence, and higher
+hopes of finally effecting their escape.
+
+How long would this state of things continue?  How long might the Mura
+be away before his absence should excite suspicion and lead to a search?
+
+"As to such a thing as this," said Munday, pointing contemptuously to
+the shivering captive, "he'll no more be missed than would a coaita
+monkey that had strayed from its troop.  If he's got a wife, which I
+don't suppose he has, she'll be only too glad to get rid of him.  As for
+any one of them coming after him through affection, as you call it,
+there you're all out, patron.  Among Muras there's no such feeling as
+that.  If they'd seen him strike the juaroua it might have been
+different.  Then their stomachs would have brought them after him, like
+a flock of hungry vultures.  But they haven't seen him; and unless
+chance guides some one this way we needn't be in any fear for to-day.
+As for the morrow, if they'll only stay clear till then, I think I can
+keep my promise, and we shall not only be beyond reach of Muras, but out
+of this wretched lagoa altogether."
+
+"But you spoke of a plan, good Munday; you have not yet told us what it
+is."
+
+"Wait, master," he rejoined; "wait till midnight, till the lights go out
+in the Mura village, and perhaps a little longer.  Then you shall know
+my plan by seeing it carried into execution."
+
+"But does it not require some preparations?  If so, why not make them
+while it is daylight?  It is now near night; and you may not have time."
+
+"Just so, patron; but night is just the preparation I want,--that and
+this knife."
+
+Here Munday exhibited his shining blade, which caused the Mura captive
+to tremble all over, thinking that his time was come.  During all the
+day he had not seen them eat.  They had no chance to kindle a fire for
+cooking purposes, apprehensive that the smoke, seen above the tree-tops,
+might betray them to the enemy.  Some of them, with stronger stomachs
+than the rest, had gnawed a little of the _charqui_ raw.  Most had eaten
+nothing, preferring to wait till they should have an opportunity of
+cooking it, which the Mundurucu had promised them they should have
+before morning of the next day.  Their abstinence was altogether
+misunderstood by the Mura.  The wretch thought they were nursing their
+hunger to feed upon his flesh.
+
+Could he have seen himself as he was in their eyes, he might have
+doubted the possibility of getting up such an appetite.  They had taken
+due precautions to prevent his making his escape.  Tied hand and foot by
+the toughest sipos that could be procured, he was also further secured
+by being fastened to the monguba.  A strong lliana, twisted into a rope,
+and with a turn round one of the buttress projections of the roots, held
+him, though this was superfluous, since any attempt to slide off into
+the water must have terminated by his going to the bottom, with neither
+hands nor feet free.
+
+They were determined, however, on making things doubly sure, as they
+knew that his escape would be the signal for their destruction.  Should
+he succeed in getting free, he would not need his canoe; he could get
+back to his village without that, for, as Munday assured them, he could
+travel through the trees with the agility of an ape, or through the
+water with the power of a fish; and so could all his people, trained to
+the highest skill both in climbing and swimming, from the very nature of
+their existence.
+
+There was one point upon which Trevannion had had doubts.  That was,
+whether they were really in such danger from the proximity of this
+people as Munday would have them believe.  But the aspect of this
+savage, who could now be contemplated closely, and with perfect
+coolness, was fast solving these doubts; for no one could have looked in
+his face and noted the hideous expression there depicted without a
+feeling of fear, not to say horror.  If his tribe were all like him,--
+and the tapuyo declared that many of them were still uglier,--they must
+have formed a community which no sane man would have entered except upon
+compulsion.
+
+No wonder, then, that our adventurers took particular pains to keep
+their captive along with them, since a sure result of his escape would
+be that they would furnish a feast for the Mura village.  Had he been
+left to himself, Munday would have taken still surer precautions against
+his getting off; and it was only in obedience to the sternest commands
+of Trevannion that he was withheld from acting up to the old adage,
+"Dead men tell no tales."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY SIX.
+
+THE CRY OF THE JAGUAR.
+
+The night came on without any untoward incident; but no sooner was the
+sun fairly below the horizon than they became aware of a circumstance
+that caused them serious annoyance, if not absolute alarm.  They saw the
+full round moon rising, and every indication of the most brilliant
+moonlight.  The Mundurucu, more than any of them, was chagrined at this,
+because of the importance of having a dark night for carrying out his
+scheme, whatever it was.  In fact, he had declared that a dark night was
+indispensable, or, at all events, one very different from that which the
+twilight promised them.
+
+The original intention had been, as soon as night set in, to get the
+dead-wood once more into the open water, and then, if the wind should be
+in their favour, to bend the sail and glide off in any direction that
+would take them away from the malocca.  If there should be no wind, they
+could use the paddles and creep round the edge of the lagoa, going as
+far as might be before another sun should expose them to view.  It was
+doubtful whether they could row the dead-wood, before daybreak, beyond
+eyeshot of the savages; but if not, they could again seek concealment
+among the tree-tops, and wait for night to continue their retreat.
+
+This intention was likely to be defeated by the clear shining of a
+tropical moon.  As she rose higher in the heavens, the lagoa became all
+white effulgence; and as there was not the slightest ripple upon the
+water, any dark object passing along its surface would have been seen
+almost as distinctly as by day.  Even the little canoe could not have
+been carried outside the edge of the trees without the danger of being
+seen from afar.
+
+That the entrance to the arcade and the tree-line outside could be seen
+from the malocca was a thing already determined, for the tapuyo had
+tested it during the day.  Through the foliage in front of the village
+he could see here and there some portions of the scaffoldings, with the
+_toldos_ erected upon them, while its position was also determined by
+the smoke rising from the different fires.
+
+As soon as night had come on, he and the young Paraense had made a
+reconnoissance, and from the same place saw the reflection of the fires
+upon the water below, and the gleaming fires themselves.  Of course they
+who sat or stood around them could see them, should they attempt to go
+out with the monguba.  This scheme, then, could only be resorted to
+should the moon be obscured, or "put out," as Munday said, by clouds or
+fog.
+
+Munday admitted that his plan _might_ be put in practice, without the
+interposition of either; but in this case it would be ten times more
+perilous, and liable to failure.  In any case he did not intend to act
+until midnight.  After that, any time would do before the hour of
+earliest daybreak.  Confiding in the craft of the old tapuyo, Trevannion
+questioned him no further, but along with the rest waited as patiently
+as possible for the event.
+
+The water-forest was once more ringing with its nocturnal chorus.
+Tree-toads and frogs were sending forth their metallic monotones;
+_cicadae_ and lizards were uttering their sharp _skirling_ notes, while
+birds of many kinds, night-hawks in the air, _strigidae_ among the
+trees, and water-fowl out upon the bosom of the lagoon, were all
+responding to one another.  From afar came lugubrious vociferations from
+the throats of a troop of howling monkeys that had made their roost
+among the branches of some tall, overtopping tree; and once--what was
+something strange--was heard a cry different from all the rest, and on
+hearing which all the rest suddenly sank into silence.
+
+That was the cry of the jaguar tiger, the tyrant of the South American
+forest.  Munday recognised it on the instant, and so did the others; for
+they had heard it often before, while descending the Solimoes.  It would
+have been nothing strange to have heard it on the banks of the mighty
+river, or any of its tributaries.  But in the Gapo, it was not only
+strange, but significant, that scream of the jaguar.  "Surely," said
+Trevannion on hearing it, "surely we must be in the neighbourhood of
+land."
+
+"How, patron?" replied the Mundurucu, to whom the remark was
+particularly addressed.  "Because we hear the voice of the _jauarite_?
+Sometimes the great tiger gets overtaken by the inundation, and then,
+like ourselves, has to take to the tree-tops.  But, unlike us, he can
+swim whenever he pleases, and his instinct soon guides him to the land.
+Besides, there are places in the Gapo where the land is above water,
+tracts of high ground that during the _vasante_ become islands.  In
+these the _jauarite_ delights to dwell.  No fear of his starving there,
+since he has his victims enclosed, as it were, in a prison, and he can
+all the more conveniently lay his claws upon them.  The cry of that
+_jauarite_ is no sure sign of dry land.  The beast may be twenty miles
+from _terra firma_."
+
+While they were thus conversing, the cry of the jaguar once more
+resounded among the tree-tops, and again was succeeded by silence on the
+part of the other inhabitants of the forest.
+
+There was one exception, however; one kind of creatures not terrified
+into stillness by the voice of the great cat, whose own voices now heard
+in the interval of silence, attracted the attention of the listeners.
+They were the Muras.  Sent forth from the malocca, their shouts came
+pealing across the water, and entered the shadowy aisle where our
+adventurers sat in concealment, with tones well calculated to cause
+fear; for nothing in the Gapo gave forth a harsher or more lugubrious
+chant.
+
+Munday, however, who had a thorough knowledge of the habits of his
+national enemies, interpreted their tones in a different sense, and drew
+good augury from them.  He said that, instead of grief, they betokened
+joy.  Some bit of good luck had befallen them, such as the capture of a
+cow-fish, or a half-score of monkeys.  The sounds signified feasting and
+frolic.  There was nothing to denote that the sullen savage by their
+side was missed from among them.  Certainly he was not mourned in the
+malocca.
+
+The interpretation of the tapuyo fell pleasantly upon the ears of his
+auditors, and for a while they felt hopeful.  But the gloom soon came
+back, at sight of that brilliant moon,--a sight that otherwise should
+have cheered them,--as she flooded the forest with her silvery light,
+till her rich rays, scintillating through the leafy llianas, fell like
+sparks upon the sombre surface of the water arcade.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY SEVEN.
+
+THE MOON PUT OUT.
+
+Midnight came, and still the moon shone too clear and bright.
+
+Munday began to show uneasiness and anxiety.  Several times had he taken
+that short swim, like an otter from its earth or a beaver from its
+dome-shaped dwelling, each time returning to his companions upon the
+log, but with no sign of his having been gratified by the excursion.
+About the sixth trip since night had set in, he came swimming back to
+the dead-wood with a more pleased expression upon his countenance.
+
+"You've seen something that gratifies you?" said Trevannion,
+interrogatively; "or heard it, perhaps?"
+
+"Seen it," was the laconic reply.
+
+"What?"
+
+"A cloud."
+
+"A cloud!  Well?"
+
+"Not much of a cloud, patron; no bigger than the spread skin of the
+cow-fish there; but it's in the east, and therefore in the direction of
+Gran Para.  That means much."
+
+"What difference can it make in what direction it is?"
+
+"Every difference!  If from Gran Para 'tis up the great river.  Up the
+great river means rain,--perhaps thunder, lightning, a storm.  A storm
+is just what we want."
+
+"O, now I see what you mean.  Well?"
+
+"I must go back to the mouth of the _igarape_, and take another look at
+the sky.  Have patience, patron, and pray for me to return with good
+news."  So saying, the tapuyo once again slipped down into the water,
+and swam towards the entrance of the arcade.
+
+For a full half-hour was he absent; but long before his return the news
+he was to bring back had been told by signs that anticipated him.  The
+moonbeams, hitherto seen striking here and there through the thinner
+screen of the foliage, had been growing dimmer and dimmer, until they
+were no longer discernible, and uniform darkness prevailed under the
+shadow of the trees.  So dark had it become, that, when the swimmer
+returned to the ceiba, they were only warned of his approach by the
+slight plashing of his arms, and the next moment he was with them.
+
+"The time has come," said he, "for carrying out my scheme.  I've not
+been mistaken in what I saw.  The cloud, a little bit ago not bigger
+than the skin of the juaroua, will soon cover the whole sky.  The rags
+upon its edge are already blinding the moon; and by the time we can get
+under the scaffolds of the malocca it will be dark enough for our
+purpose."
+
+"What! the scaffolds of the malocca!  You intend going there?"
+
+"That is the intention, patron."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No.  I want one with me,--the young master."
+
+"But there is great danger, is there not?" suggested Trevannion, "in
+going--"
+
+"In going there is," interrupted the tapuyo; "but more in not going.  If
+we succeed, we shall be all safe, and there's an end of it.  If we
+don't, we have to die, and that's the other end of it, whatever we may
+do."
+
+"But why not try our first plan?  It's now dark enough outside.  Why
+can't we get off upon the raft?"
+
+"Dark enough, as you say, patron.  But you forget that it is now near
+morning.  We couldn't paddle this log more than a mile before the sun
+would be shining upon us, and then--"
+
+"Dear uncle," interposed the young Paraense, "don't interfere with his
+plans.  No doubt he knows what is best to be done.  If I am to risk my
+life, it is nothing more than we're all doing now.  Let Munday have his
+way.  No fear but we shall return safe.  Do, dear uncle! let him have
+his way."
+
+As Munday had already informed them, no preparation was needed,--only
+his knife and a dark night.  Both were now upon him, the knife in his
+waist-strap, and the dark night over his head.  One other thing was
+necessary to the accomplishment of his purpose,--the captured canoe,
+which was already prepared, laying handy alongside the log.
+
+With a parting salute to all,--silent on the part of the tapuyo, but
+spoken by the young Paraense, a hope of speedy return, an assurance of
+it whispered in the ear of Rosita,--the canoe was shoved off, and soon
+glided out into the open lagoa.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY EIGHT.
+
+AN HOUR OF SUSPENSE.
+
+Scarce had the canoe with its living freight faded out of sight, when
+Trevannion repented his rashness in permitting his nephew to risk his
+life in a scheme so ill understood as the tapuyo's.
+
+He had no suspicion of the Indian's good faith.  It was not that that
+caused him regret; only a certain compunction for having so easily
+consented to expose to a dread danger the life of his brother's son,--a
+life intrusted to his care, and for which he should be held answerable
+by that brother, should it be his fortune ever to see him again.
+
+But it was of no use to indulge in these regrets.  They were now idle.
+The act which had caused them was beyond recall.  The canoe must go on
+to its destination.  What was that?  Trevannion could not even
+conjecture.  He only knew that Munday had started for the malocca; but
+his purpose in going there was as much a mystery as though he had
+pretended to have gone on a voyage to the moon.
+
+Trevannion even felt angry with the tapuyo, now that he was out of
+reach, for having concealed the plan of his enterprise and the extent of
+the danger to be encountered.  But there was now no alternative but to
+await the return of the tapuyo, or the time that would tell he was never
+more to return.
+
+It had been fixed by the Indian himself, in a speech whispered into the
+ear of Trevannion as he pushed off the canoe.  It was this: "A word,
+patron!  If we're not back before daylight, stay where you are till
+to-morrow night.  Then, if it be dark, do as we proposed for to-night.
+Steal out and away.  But don't fear of our failing.  I only say that for
+the worst.  The Mundurucu has no fear.  _Pa terra_! in an hour's time we
+shall be back, bringing with us what we're in need of,--something that
+will carry us clear of our enemies and of the Gapo."
+
+So the party remained seated on the log.  Each had his own conjecture
+about Munday's plan, though all acknowledged it to be a puzzle.
+
+The surmise of Tipperary Tom was sufficiently original.  "I wondher
+now," said he, "if the owld chap manes to set fire to their town!
+Troth, it's loike enough that's what he's gone afther.  Masther Dick
+sayed it was ericted upon scaffolds wid bames of wood an' huts upon them
+that looked loike the laves of threes or dry grass.  Shure them would
+blaze up loike tindher, an' create a moighty conflagrayshin."
+
+The opinion of Tom's auditors did not altogether coincide with his.  To
+set the malocca on fire, even if such a thing were possible, could do no
+good.  The inhabitants would be in no danger from conflagration.  They
+would only have to leap into the flood to save themselves from the fire;
+and, as they could all swim like water-rats, they would soon recover a
+footing among the trees.  Besides, they had their great rafts and
+canoes, that would enable them to go wherever they wished.  They could
+soon erect other scaffolds, and construct other huts upon them.
+Moreover, as Munday and Richard had informed them, the scaffolds of the
+malocca were placed a score of yards apart.  The flames of one would not
+communicate with the other through the green foliage of that humid
+forest.  To fire the whole village with any chance of success, it would
+be necessary to have an incendiary under each scaffold, all applying the
+torch together.  It could not be for that purpose the tapuyo had gone
+forth.
+
+While engaged in the debate, they got so engrossed by it as to become
+neglectful of a duty enjoined upon them by the tapuyo, to keep a strict
+watch over the captive.  It was Tipperary Tom and the Mozambique, who
+had been charged with this guardianship.  Both, however, confident that
+it was impossible for the savage to untie himself, had only glanced now
+and then to see that he was there, his bronze-coloured body being
+scarcely visible in the obscurity.
+
+As it grew darker, it was at length impossible for them to distinguish
+the captive from the brown surface of the ceiba, except by stooping down
+over him, and this both neglected to do.  Little dreamt they of the sort
+of creature they were dealing with, who could have claimed rivalry with
+the most accomplished professors of the famous rope-tricks.
+
+As soon as he saw that the eyes of his sentinels were no longer upon
+him, he wriggled himself out of the sipos with as much ease as if he had
+been an eel, and, sliding gently from the log, swam off.
+
+It was a full half-hour after his departure before either of the
+sentinels thought of giving any attention to the state of their
+prisoner.  When they did so, it was to find him gone, and the coils of
+tree-rope lying loosely upon the log.  With simultaneous exclamations of
+alarm, they turned towards Trevannion, and then all looked in the
+direction of the lagoa, thinking they might see a swimmer going out.
+Instead of that they saw, through the dim light, what appeared to be a
+fleet of canoes, with men in them violently wielding their paddles, and
+directing their crafts right into the arcade!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTY NINE.
+
+SCUTTLING THE CANOES.
+
+The Mundurucu and his young companion, having paddled their craft out of
+the little creek, turned its head towards the Mura village.  Though the
+fires were no longer blazing so brightly as at an earlier hour of the
+night, there was still a red glow seen here and there, that told the
+position of the scaffolds, and served as a beacon to direct their
+course.  But they needed no such pilotage.  The border of the forest was
+their guide, and along this they went, taking care to keep close in
+under its shadow.  It was dark enough out upon the open water to prevent
+their being observed; but the Mundurucu was accustomed to act with
+extreme circumspection, and more than ever since the mistake we recorded
+some time before.
+
+As the malocca was but a short distance from the forest border, the
+tree-line would bring them close to its water frontage.  Beyond that he
+could trust to the guidance of the surrounding fires.
+
+Less than half an hour's use of the paddle--its blade dipped gently in
+the water--brought them within a hundred yards of the outskirts of the
+village.  Although the expedition was not to end here, it was not their
+design to take the canoe any farther.  I say _their_ design, for by this
+time the young Paraense had been made acquainted with his companion's
+purpose.  The chief reason why Munday had not disclosed it to Trevannion
+was, that the patron, deeming it too dangerous, might have put a veto
+upon its execution.  What this plan was, will be learnt by a relation of
+the mode in which it was carried out.
+
+Tying the canoe to a tree in such a way that they could easily detach it
+again, the two slipped over the gunwale, and laid themselves silently
+along the water.  Each was provided with a swimming-belt; for the task
+they had undertaken might require them to remain a good while afloat;
+and, moreover, it would be necessary for them now and then to remain
+still, without making any noise by striking the water to sustain
+themselves, while, furthermore, they would need at times to have both
+arms free for a different purpose.  Thus accoutred, and Munday armed
+with his knife, they swam under the scaffolds.
+
+They were careful not to cause the slightest commotion,--careful, too,
+to keep out of the narrow belts of light that fell slantingly from the
+fires above.  These were becoming fewer, and fast fading, as the fires,
+one after another, went out.  It appeared certain that the whole village
+was asleep.  No human form was seen, no voice heard; no sign of human
+beings, save the scaffolding that had been constructed by them, and the
+half-score of boats in the water underneath, moored to the trunks of the
+supporting trees.
+
+It was to these vessels that the Mundurucu was directing himself and his
+coadjutor.  Though his eyes were everywhere, his mind was fixed upon
+them.  There were, in all, about half a score of them, six being
+_igarites_, or canoes rudely constructed of tree-bark, similar in shape
+and fashion to that they had just parted from, but three of them of
+larger size, each capable of containing about eight men.  The others
+were large rafts or punts of rude fabrication, each big enough to
+support a toldo hut, with a whole family, and a number of friends to
+boot.
+
+Only to the canoes did the tapuyo direct his attention.  On swimming
+past the punts he did not even stay to regard them.  To all the
+igarites, however, except one,--and it the largest,--he paid a visit;
+stopping a considerable time alongside each, but lying so low in the
+water that only his head could have been seen above the surface, and
+scarcely that through the treble shadow of the night, the scaffolds, and
+the tree-tops.  It was only visible to his companion, whose face was all
+the while within three feet of his own, and whose hands were employed in
+assisting him in his subtle task.  What was this task, so silent and
+mysterious?
+
+In each of the five canoes to which the swimmers had paid their silent
+visit, and just after their departure from it, could have been heard a
+gurgling sound, as of water gushing up through a hole in the bottom.  It
+was heard, but only by him who had made the hole and the companion who
+had held the craft in its place while the knife-blade was accomplishing
+its purpose.  To its sharp point the soft tree-bark had yielded, and in
+ten minutes' time the five canoes, one after another, were scuttled,
+and, if left to themselves, in a fair way of going to the bottom.
+
+But they were not left to themselves.  They would have been, but for the
+negligence of Tom and the sable Mozambique.  Just as the scuttlers had
+concluded their part of the task, and were about to climb into the sixth
+canoe, that had been left seaworthy, a dark form that might have been
+taken for some demon of the flood was seen to rise out of the water, and
+stand dripping upon one of the rafts.  It stood only for a second or
+two,--just long enough to draw breath,--and then, laying hold of a
+knotted lliana that formed a sort of stair, it climbed to the
+scaffolding above.
+
+Dim as was the light, the Mundurucu recognised the dripping climber as
+the captive he had left on the log.  "_Santos dios_!" he muttered, in a
+hoarse whisper, "'tis the Mura.  They've let him escape, and now we're
+discovered.  Quick, young master.  Into the igarite.  All right; there
+are two paddles: you take one, I the other.  There's not a moment to be
+lost.  In ten minutes more we should have been safe; but now--see! they
+are filling fast.  Good!  If he gives us but ten minutes before raising
+the alarm--Ha! there it is.  Off! off!"
+
+While the tapuyo was speaking, still in a muttered undertone, a wild
+yell was heard upon the scaffolding above.  It was a signal sent forth
+by the returned captive to warn his slumbering nation, not that their
+navy was being scattered in its very dock by an unknown enemy, for he
+had neither seen the scuttler nor suspected what had been going on, but
+simply to tell his tribe of the adventure that had befallen himself, and
+conduct them in all haste to the spot where he had parted from his
+detested but careless captors.  He had seen the two of them go off in
+the igarite, impudently appropriating his own vessel before his face.
+Where could they have gone, but to make a nocturnal investigation of the
+malocca?
+
+It was for this reason he had himself approached it so stealthily, not
+raising any note of alarm until he felt safe upon the scaffolding of his
+own habitation.  Then did he send forth that horrid haloo-loo.
+
+Scarce had its echoes ceased to reverberate through the village, when it
+was answered by a hundred voices, all shouting in a similar strain, all
+giving a response to the tribe's cry of alarm.  Men could be heard
+springing from their hammocks, and dropping down upon the platforms, the
+timbers of which creaked under quick, resonant footsteps.  In the dim
+light some were seen hastily snatching up their bows, and preparing to
+descend to their canoes, little suspecting that they would find them
+scuttled and already half swamped.
+
+As Munday had said, there was not a moment to be lost; and, acting up to
+his words, he did not permit one to be lost.  In the large igarite
+propelled by the two paddles, he and his assistant stole off among the
+trees, and were soon out upon the lagoa, pulling, as fast as their
+strength and skill would permit them, in the direction of the creek.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETY.
+
+THE LOG LEFT BEHIND.
+
+The escape of their captive had caused the keenest apprehensions to the
+people upon the raft, which were scarce intensified at the sight of the
+canoe entering the arcade.
+
+By the simplest reasoning they had leaped to the quick conclusion that
+the latter was but the sequence of the former.  The Mura had swum back
+to his malocca.  They knew he could easily do it.  He had _learned_ his
+kindred, and it was they who now manned the igarite that was making
+approach.  It was only the first of a whole fleet.  No doubt there was a
+score of others coming on behind, each containing its complement of
+cannibals.  The manatee-hunter had got back to his village in time to
+tell of the two who had gone there in his own canoe.  These, unaware of
+his escape, had, in all probability, been surprised and taken prisoners.
+Shouts had been heard from the village just before the man was missed.
+It was this, in fact, that had caused them to think of their prisoner.
+On finding that he had given them the slip, they interpreted the shouts
+in two ways.  They were either salutations of welcome to the returned
+captive, or cries of triumph over the death or capture of the tapuyo and
+his companion.
+
+More like the latter.  So thought they upon the log; and the thought was
+strengthened by the appearance of the big canoe at the entrance of the
+arcade.  Its crew were Mura savages, guided to their place of
+concealment by him who had stolen away.
+
+These conjectures, varied though they were, passed through their minds
+with the rapidity of thought itself; for scarce ten seconds had elapsed
+from the time of their sighting the canoe until it was close up to the
+ceiba.
+
+Then to their great joy, they saw they had been reasoning wrongly.  The
+two forms had been magnified into ten, partly through the deception of
+the dim light, and partly because they had been springing from side to
+side while paddling the canoe and steering it into the creek.
+
+As they drew near, the others could see that they were in a state of the
+wildest excitement, working with all their strength, and gazing
+anxiously behind them.
+
+"Quick, uncle," cried Richard, as the igarite struck against the
+dead-wood.  "Quick! all of you get aboard here."
+
+"_Pa terra_!" added the tapuyo.  "Do as he tells you.  By letting your
+prisoner get off you've spoiled my plans.  There's no time to talk now.
+Into the igarite!  If the others are still afloat--then--then--Haste,
+patron!  Everybody into the igarite!"
+
+As the Indian gave these directions, he himself sprang on to the log;
+and tearing down the skin sail, he flung it into the canoe.  After it he
+pitched several pieces of the charqui, and then descended himself.
+
+By this time all the others had taken their seats in the canoe, Richard
+having caught little Rosa in his arms as she sprang down.
+
+There was not a moment of delay.  The two paddles belonging to the
+igarite were grasped, one by Munday himself, the other by the negro, who
+was next best rower, while the two bladed with the bones of the cow-fish
+were in the hands of Trevannion and his nephew.
+
+There were thus four available oars to the craft, that promised a fair
+degree of speed.
+
+With a last look at the log that had carried them safely, though
+slowly,--a look that, under other circumstances, might have been given
+with regret,--they parted from it, and in a score of seconds they had
+cleared the craft from the branches of the trees, and were out upon the
+bosom of the lagoa.
+
+"In what direction?" inquired Trevannion, as for a moment their strokes
+were suspended.
+
+"Stay a minute, patron," replied the tapuyo, as he stood up in the
+igarite and gazed over the water in the direction of the Mura village.
+"Before starting, it's as well to know whether they are able to follow
+us.  If not, it's no use killing ourselves by hard work."
+
+"You think there's a chance they may not come after us?"
+
+"A chance,--yes.  It would have been a certainty if you had not let that
+ape loose.  We should now be as safe from pursuit as if a hundred
+leagues lay between us and them.  As it is, I have my fears; there was
+not time for them to go down,--not all of them.  The small ones may, but
+the big igarite,--it would be still afloat; they could bale out and
+caulk up again.  After all, it won't carry the whole tribe, and there's
+something in that,--there's something in that."
+
+While the tapuyo thus talked he was standing with his head craned out
+beyond the edge of the igarite, scanning the water in the direction of
+the village.  His final words were but the involuntary utterance of what
+was passing in his mind, and not addressed to his companions.  Richard
+alone knew the meaning, for as yet the others had received no
+explanation of what had passed under the scaffolds.  There was no time
+to give a detailed account of that.  It would be soon enough when the
+igarite was fairly on its way, and they became assured of their safety.
+
+No one pressed for an explanation.  All, even Trevannion himself, felt
+humiliated by the thought that they had neglected their duty, and the
+knowledge that but for that very neglect the danger that threatened them
+would have been now at an end.
+
+The dawn was already beginning to appear along the eastern horizon, and
+although it was far from daylight, there was no longer the deep darkness
+that but a short while before shrouded the water.  Out on the lagoa, at
+any point within the circumference of a mile, a large object, such as a
+canoe, could have been seen.  There was none in sight.
+
+This looked well.  Perfect stillness reigned around the Mura village.
+There was no human voice to be heard, where but the moment before there
+had been shouting and loud talking, both men and women taking part in
+what appeared a confused conversation.  The fires, too, were out, or at
+all events no longer visible from the lagoa.
+
+Munday remarked that the silence augured ill.  "I fear they are too busy
+to be making a noise," said he.  "Their keeping quiet argues that they
+have the means, as well as the intention, to come after us.  If they had
+not, you would hear their howls of disappointment.  Yes: we may be sure
+of it.  They're emptying such of their canoes as may still be above
+water."
+
+"Emptying their canoes! what mean you by that?"
+
+Munday then explained the nature of his late expedition, now that its
+failure could no longer be charged upon himself.  A few words sufficed
+to make the whole thing understood, the others admiring the bold
+ingenuity of the plan as strongly as they regretted having given cause
+for its being frustrated.
+
+Though no pursuers had as yet appeared, that was no reason why they
+should stay an instant longer by the entrance to the arcade; so, once
+more handling the paddles, they put the great igarite to its best speed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETY ONE.
+
+THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.
+
+There was no debating the question as to the course they should take.
+This was opposite to the direction in which lay the malocca.  In other
+words, they struck out for the open water, almost in the same track by
+which they had come from the other bide while navigating the tree-trunk.
+
+Trevannion had suggested keeping "in shore" and under the shadow of the
+tree-tops.
+
+"No use," said the tapuyo; "in ten minutes more there will be light over
+the water.  We'll be seen all the same, and by following the line of the
+forest we should give our pursuers the advantage; they, by keeping
+straight across, would easily overtake us.  The trees go round in a
+circle, don't you see?"
+
+"True," replied Trevannion; "I did not think of that.  It is to be hoped
+we shall not have pursuers."
+
+"If we have they will soon come up with us, for they have more paddles,
+and are better skilled in the use of them; if they come after us at all,
+they will be sure to overtake us."
+
+"Then we shall be captured,--perhaps destroyed."  This was spoken in a
+whisper in the ear of the tapuyo.
+
+"It don't follow,--one or the other.  If it did, I shouldn't have much
+hope in handling this bit of a stick.  We may be pursued, overtaken, and
+still get off in the end.  They may not like close quarters any more
+than we.  That, you see, depends on how many of their vessels are gone
+to the bottom, and how many are still afloat.  If more than half that
+were scuttled have sunk, we may dread their arrows more than their oars.
+If more than half are above water, we shall be in more danger from
+their speed."
+
+Notwithstanding the enigmatical character of the tapuyo's speeches,
+Trevannion, as well as the others, was able to understand them.  He
+simply meant that, if the enemy were left without a sufficient number of
+canoes to pursue them in large force, they would not think of boarding,
+but would keep at a distance, using their arrows in the attack.
+
+It was by no means a pleasant prospect; still, it was pleasanter than
+the thought of coming to close quarters with a crowd of cannibal
+savages, and being either hacked to pieces with their knives, clubbed to
+death with their _macanas_, or dragged overboard and drowned in the
+lagoa.
+
+"In five minutes more," continued the tapuyo, "we shall know the best or
+the worst.  By that time it will be light enough to see in under the
+trees yonder.  By that time, if they have a single igarite above water,
+she'll be baled out.  By that time they should be after us.  If we don't
+see them in five minutes, we need never look for them again."
+
+A minute--another--a third elapsed, and still no appearance of pursuers
+or pursuit.  Slower still seemed the fourth, though it too passed, and
+no movement on the water.  Every heart beat with hope that the time
+would transpire without any change.  But, alas! it was not to be so.
+The black line was broken by the bow of a canoe, and in an instant after
+the craft itself was seen gliding out from under the shadow of the
+trees.  The tapuyo's prediction was fulfilled.
+
+"The big igarite!" he exclaimed.  "Just what I had fears of; I doubted
+its going down in time.  Eight in it!  Well, that's nothing, if the
+others have sunk."
+
+"But stay a moment," returned Richard; "see yonder!  Another coming out,
+farther down to the right!"
+
+"That's the cockle-shell we took from the harpooner.  There are two in
+it, which is all it will hold.  Only ten, as yet.  Good! if that's their
+whole strength, we needn't fear their coming to close quarters.  Good!"
+
+"I can make out no more," said the young Paraense, who had suspended
+paddling to get a better view of the pursuers.  "I think there are no
+more."
+
+"Just my thoughts," rejoined the tapuyo.  "I had that idea all along.  I
+was sure the small craft had gone down.  You remember we heard a
+splashing before we got well off,--it was caused by the sinking of the
+igarites.  Our hope is that only the big one has kept afloat.  As yet I
+see no others."
+
+"Nor I," added Richard.  "No, there are but the two."
+
+"Thank Heaven for that!" exclaimed Trevannion.  "There will be but ten
+against us.  Though we are not equal in numbers, surely we should be a
+match for such puny savages as these.  O that we only had arms!"
+
+As he said this, the ex-miner looked into the bottom of the canoe to see
+what there was available in the way of weapons.  There was the pashuba
+spear, which Munday had pitched in along with the strips of charqui; and
+there was another weapon equally effective in hands skilled in its use.
+It was a sort of barbed javelin or harpoon, the one with which the
+manatee-hunter had struck the juaroua.  During the day, while doing
+nothing else, Munday had amused himself by completing the conquest of
+the peixe-boi, which he found, by the line and float, had got entangled
+among the tree-tops.  Its carcass had been left where it was killed, for
+it was the weapon only which he coveted.  In addition to these, there
+were the paddles,--those manufactured from the shoulder-blades of the
+cow-fish,--looking like weapons that it would be awkward to have come in
+contact with one's skull in a hostile encounter.  Last, and not least to
+be depended upon, there was the tapuyo's own knife, in the use of which
+he had already given proofs of his skill.  In a hand-to-hand contest
+with ten savages, armed as these might be, there was not so much to be
+dreaded.
+
+But Munday assured them that there would be no danger of a close fight.
+There were no more canoes in sight.  Twenty minutes had now elapsed
+since the two had shot out from the trees, and if there had been others
+they would long since have declared themselves.  Arrows or javelins were
+the only weapons they would have to dread; and with these they would
+most certainly be assailed.
+
+"They'll be sure to overtake us," said he; "there are six of them at the
+paddles, and it's easy to see that they're already gaining ground.
+That's no reason why we should wait till they come up.  When the fight
+takes place, the farther we're away from their village the better for
+us; as who knows but they may fish up some of their swamped canoes, and
+come at us with a reserve force.  To the paddles, then, and pull for our
+lives!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETY TWO.
+
+THE CHASE.
+
+On swept the igarite containing the crew of our adventurers; on came its
+kindred craft, manned by savage men, with the little canoe close
+following, like a tender in the wake of a huge man-of-war.  They were
+not long in doubt as to what would be the upshot of the chase.  It had
+not continued half an hour before it became clear, to pursuers as well
+as pursued, that the distance between the two large igarites was
+gradually growing less.  Gradually, but not rapidly; for although there
+were six paddles plying along the sides of the pursuers and only four on
+the pursued, the rate of speed was not so very unequal.
+
+The eight full-grown savages--no doubt the picked men of their tribe--
+were more than a fair complement for their craft, that lay with gunwales
+low down in the water.  In size she was somewhat less than that which
+carried our adventurers; and this, along with the heavier freight, was
+against her.  For all this, she was gaining ground sufficiently fast to
+make the lessening of the distance perceptible.
+
+The pursued kept perfect silence, for they had no spirit to be noisy.
+They could not help feeling apprehensive.  They knew that the moment the
+enemy got within arrow's reach of them they would be in danger of death.
+Well might such a thought account for their silence.
+
+Not so with their savage pursuers.  These could be in no danger unless
+by their own choice.  They had the advantage, and could carry on war
+with perfect security to themselves.  It would not be necessary for them
+to risk an encounter empty-handed so long as their arrows lasted; and
+they could have no fear of entering into the fight.  Daring where there
+was no danger, and noisy where there was no occasion, they pressed on in
+the pursuit, their wild yells sent pealing across the water to strike
+terror into the hearts of the enemy.
+
+Our adventurers felt no craven fear, not a thought of surrender, not an
+idea of submitting to be taken captives.  By the most solemn
+asseverations the tapuyo had assured them that it would be of no use,
+and they need expect no mercy from the Muras.  He had said so from the
+first; but now, after having taken one of their number captive and
+treated him with contempt, after scuttling their fleet of igarites,
+their natural instinct of cruelty would be intensified by a thirst for
+revenge, and no quarter need be looked for by any one who might fall
+into their hands.
+
+Remembering the hideous creature who had escaped, seeing him again in
+his canoe as the pursuers came within distinguishing distance, seeing
+nine of his comrades quite as hideous as himself, and some of them in
+appearance far more formidable, the statement of the tapuyo did not fail
+to have an effect.
+
+The crew of the chased igarite gave up all thought of surrender, each
+declaring his determination to fight to the death.  Such was their mood
+when the savages arrived within bowshot.
+
+The first act of hostility was a flight of arrows, which fell short of
+the mark.  Seeing that the distance was too great for them to do any
+havoc, the six who had been propelling the igarite dropped their bows,
+and once more took to the paddles.
+
+The other two, however, with the spare man in the little canoe, were
+free to carry on their arrowy assault; and all three continued to twang
+their bows, sending shaft after shaft towards the chased igarite.  Only
+one of the three appeared to have much skill in his aim or strength in
+his arm.  The arrows of the other two either fell short or wide of the
+object aimed at, while his came plump into the igarite.
+
+He had already sent three,--the first passing through the broad-spread
+ear of the negro,--no mean mark; the second scratching up the skin upon
+Tom's cheek; while the third, fired aloft into the air, dropped down
+upon the skin of the peixe-boi that sheltered little Rosa in the bottom
+of the boat, penetrating the thick, tough hide, and almost impaling the
+pretty creature underneath it.
+
+This dangerous marksman was identified.  He was the hero of the
+harpoon,--the captive who had given them the slip; and certain it is
+that he took more pains with his aim, and put more strength into his
+pull, than any of his competitors.
+
+His fourth arrow was looked for with fearful apprehension.  It came
+whistling across the water.  It passed through the arm of his greatest
+enemy,--the man he most desired it to pierce,--the Mundurucu.
+
+The tapuyo started up from his stooping attitude, at the same time
+dropping his paddle, not upon the water, but into the igarite.  The
+arrow was only through the flesh.  It did nothing to disable him, and he
+had surrendered the oar with an exclamation of anger more than pain.
+The shaft was still sticking in his left arm.  With the right he pulled
+it out, drawing the feather through the wound, and then flung it away.
+
+In another instant he had taken up the harpoon, with the long cord still
+attached to it, and which he had already secured to the stern of the
+igarite.  In still another he was seen standing near the stern,
+balancing the weapon for a throw.  One more instant and the barbed
+javelin was heard passing with a crash through the ribs of the savage
+archer!  "Pull on! pull on!" cried he; and the three paddlers responded
+to the cry, while the pursuing savages, astounded by what they had seen,
+involuntarily suspended their stroke, and the harpooner, impaled upon
+the barbed weapon, was jerked into the water and towed off after the
+igarite, like one of his own floats in the wake of a cow-fish.
+
+A wild cry was sent forth from the canoe of the savages.  Nor was it
+unanswered from the igarite containing the crew of civilised men.  The
+negro could not restrain his exultation; while Tom, who had nothing else
+to do, sprang to his feet, tossed his arms into the air, and gave tongue
+to the true Donnybrook Challenge.
+
+For a time the pursuers did nothing.  Their paddles were in hands that
+appeared suddenly paralysed.  Astonishment held them stiff as statues.
+
+Stirred at length by the instinct of revenge, they were about to pull
+on.  Some had plunged their oar-blades into the water, when once more
+the stroke was suspended.
+
+They perceived that they were near enough to the retreating foe.
+Nearer, and their lives would be in danger.  The dead body of their
+comrade had been hauled up to the stern of the great igarite.  The
+harpoon had been recovered, and was once more in the hands of him who
+had hurled it with such fatal effect.
+
+Dropping their bladed sticks, they again betook them to their bows.  A
+shower of arrows came around the igarite, but none fell with fatal
+effect.  The body of their best archer had gone to the bottom of the
+Gapo.  Another flight fell short, and the savage bowmen saw the
+necessity of returning to their paddles.
+
+Failing to do so, they would soon be distanced in the chase.  This time
+they rowed nearer, disregarding the dangerous range of that ponderous
+projectile to which their comrade had succumbed.  Rage and revenge now
+rendered them reckless; and once more they seized upon their weapons.
+
+They were now less than twenty yards from the igarite.  They were
+already adjusting the arrows to their bow-strings.  A flight of nine
+going all together could not fail to bring down one or more of the
+enemy.
+
+For the first time our adventurers were filled with fear.  The bravest
+could not have been otherwise.  They had no defence,--nothing to shield
+them from the threatening shower.  All might be pierced by the barbed
+shafts, already pointing towards the igarite.  Each believed that in
+another moment there might be an arrow through his heart.
+
+It was a moment of terrible suspense, but our adventurers saw the
+savages suddenly drop their bows, some after sending a careless shot,
+with a vacillating, pusillanimous aim, and others without shooting at
+all.  They saw them all looking down into the bottom of their boat, as
+if there, and not elsewhere, was to be seen their most dangerous enemy.
+
+The hole cut by the knife had opened.  The caulking, careless from the
+haste in which it had been done, had come away.  The canoe containing
+the pursuers was swamped, in less than a score of seconds after the leak
+had been discovered.  Now there was but one large canoe upon the lagoa,
+and one small one,--the latter surrounded by eight dark human heads,
+each spurting and blowing, as if a small school of porpoises was at play
+upon the spot.
+
+Our adventurers had nothing further to fear from pursuit by the savages,
+who would have enough to do to save their own lives; for the swim that
+was before them, ere they could recover footing upon the scaffolds of
+the malocca, would tax their powers to the utmost extent.
+
+How the castaways meant to dispose of themselves was known to the crew
+of the igarite before the latter had been paddled out of sight.  One or
+two of them were observed clinging to the little canoe, and at length
+getting into it.  These, weak swimmers, no doubt, were left in
+possession of the craft, while the others, knowing that it could not
+carry them all, were seen to turn round and swim off towards the
+malocca, like rats escaping from a scuttled ship.
+
+In twenty minutes' time, both they and the fishing-canoe were out of
+sight, and the great igarite that carried Trevannion and his fortunes
+was alone upon the lagoa.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER NINETY THREE.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+A volume might be filled with the various incidents and adventures that
+befell the ex-miner and his people before they arrived at Gran Para,--
+for at Gran Para, did they at length arrive.  But as these bore a
+certain resemblance to those already detailed, the reader is spared the
+relation of them.  A word only as to how they got out of the Gapo.
+
+Provided with the Indian igarite, which, though a rude kind of craft,
+was a great improvement upon the dead-wood,--provided also with four
+tolerable paddles, and the skin of the cow-fish for a sail,--they felt
+secure of being able to navigate the flooded forest in any direction
+where open water might be found.
+
+Their first thought was to get out of the lagoa.  So long as they
+remained within the boundaries of that piece of open water, so long
+would their solicitude be keen and continuous.  The savages might again
+come in search of them.  Prompted by their cannibal instincts, or by
+revenge for the loss of one of their tribe, they would be almost certain
+to do so.  The total destruction of their fleet might cause delay.  But
+then there might be another malocca belonging to a kindred tribe,--
+another fleet of igarites not far off; and this might be made available.
+
+With these probabilities in view, our adventurers gave their whole
+attention to getting clear of the lagoa.  Was it land-locked, or rather
+"tree-locked,"--hemmed in on all sides by the flooded forest?  This was
+a question that no one could answer, though it was the one that was of
+first and greatest importance.
+
+After the termination of the chase, however, or as soon as they believed
+themselves out of sight, not only of their foiled foemen, but their
+friends at the malocca, they changed their course, steering the igarite
+almost at right angles to the line of pursuit.
+
+By guidance of the hand of God, they steered in the right direction.  As
+soon as they came within sight of the trees, they perceived a wide
+water-way opening out of the lagoa, and running with a clear line to the
+horizon beyond.  Through this they directed the igarite, and, favoured
+by a breeze blowing right upon their stern, they rigged up their rude
+sail.  With this to assist their paddling, they made good speed, and had
+soon left the lagoa many miles behind them.
+
+They saw no more of the Muras.  But though safe, as they supposed
+themselves, from pursuit, and no longer uneasy about the ape-like
+Indians, they were still very far from being delivered.  They were yet
+in the Gapo,--that wilderness of water-forests,--yet exposed to its
+thousands of dangers.
+
+They found themselves in a labyrinth of what appeared to be lakes, with
+land around them, and islands scattered over their surface,
+communicating with each other by canals or straits, all bordered with a
+heavy forest.  But they knew there was no land,--nothing but tree-tops
+laced together with llianas, and supporting heavy masses of parasitical
+plants.
+
+For days they wandered through its wild solitudes, here crossing a
+stretch of open water, there exploring some wide canal or narrow
+_igarape_, perhaps to find it terminating in a _cul-de-sac_, or
+_bolson_, as the Spaniards term it, hemmed in on all sides by an
+impenetrable thicket of tree-tops, when there was no alternative but to
+paddle back again.  Sometimes these false thoroughfares would lure them
+on for miles, and several hours--on one occasion a whole day--would be
+spent in fruitless navigation.
+
+It was a true wilderness through which they were wandering, but
+fortunately for them it had a character different from that of a desert.
+So far from this, it more resembled a grand garden, or orchard, laid
+for a time under inundation.
+
+Many kinds of fruits were met with,--strange kinds that had never been
+seen by them before; and upon some of these they subsisted.  The
+Mundurucu alone knew them,--could tell which were to be eaten and which
+avoided.  Birds, too, came in their way, all eaten by the Indians, as
+also various species of arboreal quadrupeds and quadrumana.  The killing
+and capturing of these, with the gathering of nuts and fruits to supply
+their simple larder, afforded them frequent opportunities of amusement,
+that did much to beguile the tediousness of their trackless straying.
+Otherwise it would have been insupportable; otherwise they would have
+starved.
+
+None of them afterwards was ever able to tell how long this Gypsy life
+continued,--how long they were afloat in the forest.  Engrossed with the
+thought of getting out of it, they took no note of time, nor made
+registry of the number of suns that rose and set upon their tortuous
+wanderings.  There were days in which they saw not the sun, hidden from
+their sight by the umbrageous canopy of gigantic trees, amidst the
+trunks of which, and under their deep shadows, they rowed the igarite.
+
+But if not known how long they roamed through this wilderness, much less
+can it be told how long they might have remained within its mazes, but
+for a heaven-sent vision that one morning broke upon their eyes as their
+canoe shot out into a stretch of open water.
+
+They saw a ship,--a ship sailing through the forest!
+
+True, it was not a grand ship of the ocean,--a seventy-four, a frigate,
+or a trader of a thousand tons; nevertheless it was a ship, in the
+general acceptation of the term, with hull, masts, spars, sails, and
+rigging.  It was a two-masted schooner, a trader of the Solimoes.
+
+The old tapuyo knew it at a glance, and hailed it with a cheer.  He knew
+the character of the craft.  In such he had spent some of the best years
+of his life, himself one of the crew.  Its presence was proof that they
+were once more upon their way, as the schooner was upon hers.
+
+"Going down," said the tapuyo, "going down to Gran Para.  I can tell by
+the way she is laden.  Look yonder.  _Sarsaparilla, Vanilla, Cascarilla,
+Maulega de Tortugos, Sapucoy_, and _Tonka_ beans,--all will be found
+under that toldo of palm-leaves.  Galliota ahoy! ahoy!"
+
+The schooner was within short hailing distance.
+
+"Lay to, and take passengers aboard!  We want to go to Para.  Our craft
+isn't suited for such a long voyage."
+
+The galliota answered the hail, and in ten minutes after the crew of the
+igarite was transferred to her decks.  The canoe was abandoned, while
+the schooner continued on to the city of Gran Para.  She was not in the
+Solimoes itself, but one of its parallel branches, though, in two days
+after having taken the castaways aboard, she sailed out into the main
+stream, and thence glided merrily downward.
+
+Those aboard of her were not the less gay,--the crew on discovering that
+among the passengers that they had picked up were the son and brother of
+their patron; and the passengers, that the craft that was carrying them
+to Gran Para, as well as her cargo, was the property of Trevannion.  The
+young Paraense found himself on board one of his father's traders, while
+the ex-miner was completing his Amazonian voyage in a "bottom" belonging
+to his brother.
+
+The tender attention which they received from the _capatoz_ of the
+galliota restored their health and spirits, both sadly shattered in the
+Gapo; and instead of the robber's garb and savage mien with which they
+emerged from that sombre abode, fit only for the abiding-place of
+beasts, birds, and reptiles, they soon recovered the cheerful looks and
+decent habiliments that befitted them for a return to civilisation.
+
+A few words will tell the rest of this story.
+
+The brothers, once more united,--each the owner of a son and daughter,--
+returned to their native land.  Both widowers, they agreed to share the
+same roof,--that under which they had been born.  The legal usurper
+could no longer keep them out of it.  He was dead.
+
+He had left behind him an only son, not a gentleman like himself, but a
+spendthrift.  It ended in the ill-gotten patrimony coming once more into
+the market and under the hammer, the two Trevannions arriving just in
+time to arrest its descent upon the desk, and turn the "going, going"
+into "gone" in their own favour.
+
+Though the estate became afterwards divided into two equal portions,--as
+nearly equal as the valuer could allot them,--and under separate owners,
+still was there no change in the name of the property; still was it the
+Trevannion estate.  The owner of each moiety was a Trevannion, and the
+wife of each owner was a Trevannion, without ever having changed her
+name.  There is no puzzle in this.  The young Paraense had a sister,--
+spoken of, but much neglected, in this eventful narrative, where not
+even her name has been made known.  Only has it been stated that she was
+one of "several sweet children."
+
+Be it now known that she grew up to be a beautiful woman, fair-haired,
+like her mother, and that her name was Florence.  Much as her brother
+Richard, also fair-haired, came to love her dark semi-Spanish cousin
+Rosita, so did her other dark semi-Spanish cousin, Ralph, come to love
+her; and as both she and Rosita reciprocated these cousinly loves, it
+ended in a mutual bestowing of sisters, or a sort of cross-hands and
+change-partners game of cousins,--whichever way you like to have it.
+
+At all events, the Trevannion estates remained, and still remain, in the
+keeping of Trevannions.
+
+Were you to take a trip to the "Land's End," and visit them,--supposing
+yourself to be endorsed with an introduction from me,--you would find in
+the house of young Ralph, firstly, his father, old Ralph, gracefully
+enacting the _role_ of grandfather; secondly, the fair Florence,
+surrounded by several olive-shoots of the Trevannion stock; and,
+lastly,--nay, it is most likely you will meet him first, for he will
+take your hat from you in the hall,--an individual with a crop of
+carroty hair, fast changing to the colour of turnips.  You will know him
+as Tipperary Tom.  "Truth will yez."
+
+Cross half a dozen fields, climb over a stile, under the shadow of
+gigantic trees,--oaks and elms; pass along a plank foot-bridge spanning
+a crystal stream full of carp and trout; go through a wicket-gate into a
+splendid park, and then follow a gravelled walk that leads up to the
+walls of a mansion.  You can only do this coming from the other house,
+for the path thus indicated is not a right of way.
+
+Enter the dwelling to which it has guided you.  Inside you will
+encounter, first, a well-dressed darkey, who bids you welcome with all
+the airs of an M.C.  This respectable Ethiopian, venerable in look--
+partly on account of his age, partly from the blanching of his black
+hair--is an old acquaintance, by name Mozey.
+
+He summons his master to your side.  You cannot mistake that handsome
+gentleman, though he is years older than when you last saw him.  The
+same open countenance, the same well-knit, vigorous frame, which, even
+as a boy, were the characteristics of the young Paraense.
+
+No more can you have forgotten that elegant lady who stands by his side,
+and who, following the fashion of her Spanish-American race, frankly and
+without affectation comes forth to greet you.  No longer the little
+Rosa, the _protegee_ of Richard, but now his wife, with other little
+Rosas and Richards, promising soon to be as big as herself, and as
+handsome as her husband.
+
+The tableau is almost complete as a still older Richard appears in the
+background, regarding with a satisfied air his children and
+grandchildren, while saluting their guest with a graceful gesture of
+welcome.
+
+Almost complete, but not quite.  A figure is absent from the canvas,
+hitherto prominent in the picture.  Why is it not still seen in the
+foreground?  Has death claimed the tapuyo for his own?
+
+Not a bit of it.  Still vigorous, still life-like as ever, he may be
+seen any day upon the Amazon, upon the deck of a galliota, no longer in
+the humble capacity of a tapuyo, but acting as _capatoz_,--as patron.
+
+His old patron had not been ungrateful; and the gift of a schooner was
+the reward bestowed upon the guide who had so gallantly conducted our
+adventurers through the dangers of the Gapo, and shared their perils
+while they were "afloat in the forest."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Afloat in the Forest, by Mayne Reid
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