Through Forest and Stream: The Quest of the Quetzal

George Manville Fenn

"Through Forest and Stream"

Chapter One.

Why we were there.

The captain of the steamer stopped by where I was watching the flying fish fizz out of the blue-ink-like water, skim along for some distance, and drop in again, often, I believe, to be snapped up by some bigger fish; and he gave me a poke in the shoulder with one finger, so hard, that it hurt.

“Yes?” I said, for he stood looking hard in my face, while I looked back harder in his, for it seemed such a peculiar way of addressing one, and his manner was more curious still.

He was naturally a smooth-faced man with a very browny-yellow skin, and he kept on passing the finger with which he had poked me over first one cheek and then over the other, just as if he were shaving himself without soap.

Then his speech seemed more peculiar than his manner, for he repeated my one word, only instead of pronouncing it yes, he turned it into yuss.

He looked so comic and puzzled that I smiled, and the smile became a laugh.

I was sorry directly after, because it seemed rude to one who had been very civil to me ever since we left Kingston Harbour.

“’Tain’t nothing to laugh at, young feller,” he said, frowning. “I’ve been talking to him yonder, and I can’t make nothing of him. He’s a re-lay-tive of yours, isn’t he?”

“Yes; my uncle,” I replied.

“Well, I’m afraid he don’t know what he’s cut out for himself, and I think I ought to tell you, so as you may talk to him and bring him to his senses.”

“There’s no need,” I said, quickly.

“Oh, yes, there is, my lad. He don’t know what he’s got before him, and it’s right that you should. He’s going shooting, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“Nattralist?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he don’t know what the parts are like where he’s going. Do you know what fevers is?”

“Oh, yes,” I replied; “I’ve heard of them often.”

“Well, the coast yonder’s where they’re made, my lad. Natur’s got a big workshop all along there, and she makes yaller ones, and black ones; scarlet, too, I dessay, though I never see none there that colour.”

“Uncle’s a doctor,” I said, “and he’ll know all about that.”

“But he’s going, he tells me, to shoot birds in the forests and up the rivers, and means to skin ’em, and he won’t do it.”

“Why not?” I said.

“Why not? Because if the fevers don’t stop you both, the Injuns will; and if they don’t, you’ll get your boat capsized in the rivers or along the coast, or you’ll get lost in the woods and never be heerd of again.”

“Uncle’s an old, experienced traveller,” I said, “and has been a great deal in South America.”

“You warn’t with him there, was you?”

“No,” I said; “but I was with him in the East Indian Islands.”

“Then you tell him to stop about the West Indy Islands. He may get some birds there, but he won’t if he goes to the coast yonder. You tell him I say so.”

“What’s the use?” I said. “Uncle has made his plans.”

“Oh, yes, and he thinks he’s going to do wonders with that cranky cockboat.”

He turned and nodded his head contemptuously at our good-sized boat lashed on the deck amidships.

“It was the best he could get in Port Royal Harbour,” I said, “and all the better for being rather small.”

“Why?” said the captain.

“Easier to manage. We can go up the rivers in her, or sail along the coast.”

“You’ll get snagged in the rivers, and pitched into the sea if you try to coast along. Oh, here he is!”

For at that moment Uncle Dick, looking particularly eager and inquiring, came up to where we stood.

“Well, captain,” he said, “having a word with my nephew about our boat?”

“That’s so, sir,” was the reply, “and about that venture of yours. You take my advice, now, and just go from port to port with me, and you can buy all you want for a few dollars; and that’ll be better than going up country and catching fevers. There’s lots o’ bird-skins to be bought.”

Uncle Dick laughed good-humouredly.

“Why, captain,” he said, “I might just as well have stopped in London and bought a few bird-skins down by the docks.”

“A deal better, doctor. You don’t know what you’re cutting out for yourself.”

“We should come off badly for natural history specimens, captain, if people followed your advice.”

“Quite well enough, doctor. I don’t see much good in stuffed birds.”

“Ah, well, captain,” said my uncle, “we will not argue about that. You land us and our boat where I said.”

“Do you know what sort of a place it is, sir?”

“Pretty well,” replied my uncle. “I shall know better when we reach it.”

“All right, sir. You’re my passenger, and I’ll keep to my bargain. But don’t you blame me if anything goes wrong.”

“I never shall, believe me,” said my uncle.

“You won’t,” said the captain, and he walked aft, shaking his head as if our case was hopeless.

“Our friend is not very encouraging, Nat,” said my uncle. “He believes that he knows better than we do, but I think we shall manage all the same. At any rate, we’ll try.”

“How far are we from the coast?” I asked.

“Not above a day’s run,” said my uncle; “so have all your traps ready for putting in the boat at any moment.”

“Everything is ready, uncle,” I said.

“That’s right. I shall be glad to get ashore and to work.”

“Not more glad than I shall be, uncle,” I said. “I’m sick of being cooped up on board ship with this skipper—there, he’s at it again.”

The voice of the captain in a furious passion abusing someone, followed by the sound of a blow and a yelp such as a dog would give when kicked, made Uncle Dick frown.

“The brute!” he muttered. “How he does knock that poor lad about.”

“It’s shameful, uncle,” I said, passionately, “if we stop on board much longer I shall tell him he’s what you said.”

“No, hold your tongue, Nat,” said my uncle. “We have no right to interfere. He has often made my blood boil. Ah! don’t laugh. I mean feel hot, sir.”

“I wasn’t going to laugh, uncle,” I said. “It makes me wonder, though, how boys can want to come to sea.”

“All captains are not like our friend yonder,” said Uncle Dick. “But it seems to me that he’s a tyrant to everyone on board. Who’s being bullied now?”

For just then sharp words were being exchanged, and a gruff voice cried:

“Do. You hit me, and skipper or no skipper, I’ll give it you back with interest!”

“What! you mutinous dog!” shouted the captain. “Here, boy, go down and fetch my revolver from the cabin.”

“Bah!” came in a loud voice. “You daren’t use it. If you did, the crew would put you in irons.”

The ship’s carpenter came by where we were stood, scowling fiercely at us both, walked to the forecastle hatch, and went below.

“Yes, Nat,” said my uncle, “I think we shall be happier out in the woods. Don’t you wish we had Ebo here?”

“I’ve often wished it, uncle,” I said. “But perhaps we may pick up just such a fellow out yonder.”

“Such pieces of luck don’t happen twice to the same people. Hullo, here’s poor Doldrums. Well, my lad, in trouble again?”

The ship’s boy, a sallow, dirty-looking lad of about eighteen, but stunted and, dwarfed for his age, came shuffling by us, to follow the carpenter, and he held one hand to his eye and spoke in answer with his face half averted.

“Trouble again, sir?” said the poor fellow, half piteously, half in anger; “I aren’t never been out of it since we sailed.”

“What have you been doing? Here, let me look at your face.”

“Oh, never mind that, sir,” said the lad, shrinking.

“But I do mind,” said my uncle. “Let me see.”

Uncle Dick did not wait for the boy to take down his hand, but drew it away, to show that the eye was red and swollen up.

“Did the captain do that?” I said.

The lad nodded, and his forehead filled with lines.

“What had you been about?”

“Nothing, sir,” said the lad bitterly.

“Then what had you left undone?”

“I dunno, sir. I try all day long to do what the skipper wants, but it’s always kicks when it arn’t blows; and when it’s neither he’s always swearing at me. I wish I was dead!” he cried passionately.

“Stop here,” cried Uncle Dick, sharply, for the lad was moving off, with his eye covered up again.

Regularly cowed, the lad stopped short, flinching the while.

“Don’t do that,” said Uncle Dick. “I was not going to strike you.”

“No, sir, but everybody else does, ’cept the carpenter. But I don’t care now; I shall go overboard and end it.”

“Why?” said Uncle Dick.

“Why, sir? What’s the good o’ living such a life as this?”

“This ship is not the whole world, my lad, and all the people are not like the captain.”

The lad looked half wonderingly at my uncle, and then turned to me with so pitiful a look that I felt ready to take the poor fellow’s part the next time he was in trouble.

“Everyone nearly seems the same to me,” he said drearily. “I don’t know why I come to sea. Thought it was all going to be adventures and pleasure, and it’s all kicks and blows, just because I’m a boy.”

The poor fellow looked enviously at me, and sniffing loudly, walked on.

“It ought to be stopped, uncle,” I said. “The poor fellow’s life is made miserable.”

“Yes, Nat. It is terrible to see how one man can make other people’s lives a burden to them. I’m a regular tyrant to you sometimes.”

I laughed.

“Why, Aunt Sophy says you spoil me,” I cried.

“Well, we will not argue about that, my boy,” said my uncle; “we’ve too much to think about. In twenty-four hours we shall be afloat with our boat to ourselves; and the sooner the better, for if she’s out of the water much longer we shall have her leaky.”

He walked to where our half-decked boat lay in its chocks, with all her tackle carefully lashed in place, and I could not help feeling proud of our possession, as I thought of the delights of our river trips to come, and the days when we should be busy drying and storing skins on board, for it was planned out that we were to make the rivers our highways as far as possible, and live on board, there being a snug cabin under the half-deck, while well-oiled sail-cloth was arranged to draw over the boom, which could be turned into the ridge pole of a roof, and shut in the after part of the boat, making all snug at night, or during a tropical downpour.

“She’s rather too big for us, Nat,” said my uncle, “and I hope they will have no accident when they lower her down.”

“Oh, I hope not, uncle,” I said.

“So do I, my boy, but they were clumsy enough in getting her on board. However, we shall have troubles in plenty without inventing any.”

We stood together, leaning over the side and talking about our plans, which were to collect any new and striking birds that we could find, while specially devoting ourselves to shooting the quetzals, as they were called by the natives, the splendid trogons whose plumes were worn by the emperors of the past.

“And I’m not without hope, Nat,” said my uncle, “that in course of our journeys up in the mountains, in the parts which have not yet been explored, we may find the Cock of the Rocks. I see no reason whatever why those birds should not inhabit suitable regions as far north as this. It is hot enough in Central America, as hot as Brazil, and far hotter than Peru.”

“What about humming-birds, uncle,” I said.

“We shall find plenty, and perhaps several that have never before been collected; but we must not want ordinary specimens. We must not overload ourselves, but get only what is choice.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the coming of the captain, who looked at us searchingly.

“Well, doctor,” he said; “been thinking it all over?”

“Yes,” said Uncle Dick, quietly.

“And you’re going to let me take you in to Belize?”

“Indeed I’m not,” said my uncle quietly. “I made all my plans before I started, and explained to you before we sailed from Port Royal what I wished you to do.”

“Well, yes, you did say something about it.”

“The something was that you should drop me where I wished—somewhere in Yucatan or on Mosquito Coast.”

“That’s right, doctor; you did.”

“Very well, then; according to your calculations at noon to-day, we shall be within sight of land about mid-day to-morrow.”

“Dessay we shall, among the cays and reefs and little bits of islands yonder.”

“Then you will fulfil your part of the agreement at mid-day.”

“Drop you and your boat out at sea?”

“Yes,” said Uncle Dick.

“I say; doctor, air you mad?”

“I hope not.”

“Well, I begin to think you must be, for this is about the most unheard-of thing a man could do. You and this boy of yours have got to live.”

“Of course,” said my uncle.

“Well, what are you going to live on?”

“If I must explain, the stores contained in the cases you have of mine below.”

“Hah!” cried the captain; “well, that’s right, I suppose. But what about fresh water?”

“There is the cask, and a little tank belonging to the boat. They are both full, and we shall never be out of sight of land while on the coast. Afterwards we shall be journeying up the different rivers.”

“But when you’ve eaten all your stores, what then, doctor?”

“I hope we shall never be in that condition,” said my uncle, “for we shall husband our stores as reserves, and live as much as we can upon the fish we catch and the birds we shoot.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” laughed the captain. “Going up the rivers, air you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’d better try and ketch the sea cows. They’re big as elephants, and one o’ them’ll last you two, six months if she don’t go bad.”

“Thank you,” said my uncle, smiling; “but we shall be content with smaller deer than that.”

“Well, I guess I don’t like letting you go doctor,” said the captain.

“So it seems,” said my uncle quietly. “Pray why?”

“Don’t seem fair to young squire here, for one thing.”

“Have you any other reason?” said my uncle.

“You two can’t manage a boat like that.”

“We have managed a bigger one before. Any other reason?”

“Well, yes; you two’ll come to grief, and I don’t want to be brought to book for setting you adrift on about the maddest scheme I ever heerd tell of.”

“Ah, now we understand one another,” said my uncle, quietly. “Well, you may set you mind at rest, sir. I am the best judge of the risks to be run, and you will never be called to account for my actions.”

“Well, don’t blame me if you both find yourselves on your backs with fever.”

“Never fear, captain,” said my uncle. “If it is calm in the morning, as soon as we are within sight of land—”

“What land?”

“Any land on or off the coast, I shall be obliged by your getting my boat over the side, and the stores and chests out of the hold and cabin, so that we can get everything stowed away, then you can take us in tow, and I can cast off as soon as I like.”

“All right,” said the captain, and he went forward once more, while we two stayed on deck watching the wonderful sunset, till the great golden orange ball dipped down out of sight behind the clouds, which looked like ranges of mountains rising from some glorious shore.

We were not long afterwards made aware of the captain’s reason for going forward, his voice rising in angry bullying tones, and we soon found that he and the fierce carpenter were engaged in a furious quarrel, which ended as quickly as it began, the captain making his reappearance, driving the ship’s boy before him, and hastening the poor fellow’s sluggish, unwilling movements by now and then giving him a kick.

Chapter Two.

Our Start.

My sleep was disturbed that night by dreams of sea cows as big as elephants, orange-coloured birds in huge flocks, and golden-green quetzals flying round my head, with their yard-long tails spread out, and their scarlet breasts gleaming in the sunshine which flashed through my cabin window.

I was puzzling myself as to how the beautiful birds could be out there at sea, and why it was that Uncle Dick and I could be walking about at the same time among golden mountains, which were, I felt sure, only last evening’s sunset clouds, when all at once it was quite clear, for Uncle Dick cried:

“Now then, Nat, my boy, tumble out, tumble out. The sun’s up, and we’ve no end to do. The men are at work already.”

I was awake then, and after hurriedly dressing, I went on deck, to find out that the noises I had been hearing were caused by the men making fast some tackle to our boat, ropes being passed through a pulley block at the end of a swinging boom, and when they were ready the mate gave orders. Then the men began to haul, and as the ropes tightened the heavy boat was lifted out of the chocks in which she lay, and with a good deal of creaking was swung out over the bulwarks quite clear of the steamer’s side, and then lowered down with her bows much lower than the stern, so that it looked as if the boat we had trusted to for taking us many a long journey was about to dive down under the sea.

But she was too well built, and as she kissed the flashing waters she began to float, the stern part dipping lower till she was level, and the ropes grew slack, when all the men gave a cheer as she glided along beside the steamer, tugging at the rope which was made fast to her bows.

Next Uncle Dick went down into her with the carpenter, and I was left on deck to superintend the getting up of our chests and boxes of stores, which were lowered down into the boat, the carpenter; who looked quiet and civil enough now, working well at packing in the chests so that they fitted snugly together and took up little room.

Then our two small portmanteaus of clothes were swung down, followed by the cartridge-boxes and the long case which held our guns and rifles. Lastly the tank in the stern was filled with fresh water, and the little cask swung down and lashed under the middle thwart.

“How much more is there to come, Nat?” asked my uncle, as I stood on deck, looking down.

“That’s all, uncle,” I said.

“Bravo! for we’re packed pretty close. Hardly room to move, eh, carpenter?”

“I don’t see much the matter, sir,” said the man. “Everything’s nice and snug, and these boxes make like a deck. Bimeby when you’ve used your stores you can get rid of a chest or two.”

“No,” said Uncle Dick; “we shall want them to hold the specimens we shoot. But you’ve packed all in splendidly, my lad.”

“Thankye, sir,” said the man gruffly, and just then I heared a low weary sigh from somewhere close by, and turning sharply, I saw the ship’s boy standing there with his left hand up to his face, looking at me piteously.

“Hallo!” I said, smiling; “how’s the eye this morning?”

“Horrid bad, sir,” he answered.

“Let me look.”

He took away his hand slowly and unwillingly, showing that the eye was a good deal swollen and terribly blackened.

“You wouldn’t like an eye like that, sir?” he said, with a faint smile.

“No,” I said angrily; “and it’s a great shame.”

I hardly know how it was that I had it there, where money was not likely to be of use, but I had a two-shilling piece in my pocket, and I gave it to the poor fellow, as it seemed to me like showing more solid sympathy than empty words.

His face lit up so full of sunshine that I did not notice how dirty it was as he clapped the piece of silver to the swollen eye.

“That will not do any good,” I said, laughing.

“Done a lot, sir,” he answered—“that and what you said.”

He made a curious sound as if he were half choking then, and turned sharply to run forward to the cook’s galley.

By the time breakfast was over, land could be seen from the deck to starboard, port, and right forward—misty-looking land, like clouds settled here and there upon the surface of the sea.

This grew clearer and clearer, till about noon it was plain to see that some of the patches were islands, while farther to the west the mainland spread right and left with dim bluish-looking mountains in the distance.

It was early in the afternoon that the captain suddenly gave his orders, the engine was stopped, and the boat towing far astern began to grind up against the side, as it rose and fell on the heaving sea.

“Still of the same mind, doctor?” said the captain.

“Certainly, sir.”

“Then now’s your time. Over you go.”

“I thought you would run in a few miles nearer,” said Uncle Dick.

“Did you, sir?” said the captain roughly; “then you made a great mistake. This sea swarms with reefs and shoals nigher in, and I’m not going to be mad enough to risk my vessel, if you’re mad enough to risk your life. Now, sir, please, I want to get ahead and claw off here before it falls calm. If I don’t, some of these currents ’ll be landing me where I don’t want to go.”

“We are ready,” said Uncle Dick.

“Haul that boat abreast the starboard gangway!” shouted the captain, and a couple of men ran to obey the order.

“Well, good-bye, captain,” said Uncle Dick, “and thank you for what you’ve done.”

“Good-bye, sir, and good luck to you. You too, youngster; but it isn’t too late yet.”

“Much,” said my uncle, and it seemed quite strange to me that what followed took so short a time. For one minute we were on the deck of the large vessel, the next we were standing up in our little boat, waving our hats to the crew, who had crowded to the side to give us a cheer; and the last faces I noted as they glided away were those of the carpenter and the boy, who gazed after us in a wistful way, the latter looking miserable in the extreme as he held his left hand over his eye.

Chapter Three.

Night Ashore.

I was brought back to the present by my uncle giving me a hearty slap on the shoulder.

“Ready to begin again, Nat?” he cried.

“Yes, uncle,” I said eagerly. “It seems like the old days come back.”

“Ship the rudder, then, while I hoist the sail. The skipper may be right, so let’s make use of this soft breeze to get to the mainland before the calm leaves us at the mercy of the currents.”

A few minutes later the boat careened over gently, and glided fast through the water, while I steered, making for an opening which Uncle Dick made out with his glass to be the mouth of a valley running up the country.

“It’s too far off to see all I want, Nat,” he said, as he closed his glass; “but I fancy we shall find a river there, and we’ll run in and try our luck. If there’s nothing attractive about the place, we’ll make a fresh start after a night’s rest, and go on coasting along south till we find the sort of place we want. How well the boat sails with her load!”

On we glided, with the vessel we had left gradually getting hull down as the afternoon wore on, while we passed no less than three tempting-looking wooded islets where we might have landed to pass the night; but Uncle Dick shook his head.

“No, my boy,” he said; “we’ll keep to our course. There are more of these cays about, and we could land upon one if the wind dropped. As it holds fair, we’ll run on to the mainland, for if it only keeps on till sunset, we shall reach the shore before dark.”

Uncle Dick was right, and as it drew near sunset I was feasting my eyes on a wild-looking region whose beauty increased as we drew closer. There was dense mangrove jungle, then cliff covered with verdure, and this was broken up by patches of yellow sand backed by fringes of cocoanut grove, which again gave place to open park-like forest with big trees—this last where the great rocky bluff towered up with another eminence on the other side of the opening—but there was no river, nothing but a fine sandy cove, with a tiny stream running down from a patch of beautiful forest.

As we ran in we had our last sight of the distant vessel which had brought us so far on our journey, and Uncle Dick, who was standing up forward to direct me in my steering, cried—

“Nothing could be better, Nat. It’s like landing on one of our old islands. Neither hut nor inhabitant to be seen. This is genuine wild country, and we shall find a river to-morrow. I was half afraid that we should be coming upon sugar or coffee plantations, or perhaps men cutting down the great mahogany trees.”

I was as delighted as he was, for my mind was full of the gloriously-plumaged bird we meant to shoot, and there in imagination I peopled the flower-decked bushes with flashing humming-birds whose throats and crests glowed with scale-like feathers, brilliant as the precious stones—emerald, topaz, ruby, and sapphire—after which they were named. The great forest trees would be, I felt sure, full of the screaming parrot tribe, in their uniforms of leafy green, faced with orange, blue, and crimson; while, farther up the country, there would be the splendid quetzals, all metallic golden-green and scarlet.

But I had little time for thought. In a short time, in obedience to my uncle’s orders, I had steered the boat right into the mouth of the little stream beyond where the salt waves broke; the sail was lowered and furled and the anchor carried ashore and fixed between two masses of rock, so that it could not be dragged out by the tugging of the craft.

“Wouldn’t do to wake up and find our boat gone, Nat,” said Uncle Dick, “if we set up our tent on shore. The sand looks very tempting, and we are not likely to be disturbed. But now then, start a fire, while I unpack some stores, and—yes—we will. We’ll set up the tent to sleep under. More room to stretch our legs.”

I was not long in getting a fire burning, with the kettle full of the beautiful rivulet water heating; while Uncle Dick stuck in the two pointed and forked sticks with which we were provided, laid the pole from fork to fork, and spread the oiled canvas sheet over it, so that there was a shelter from the night dews.

But before our coffee was ready and the bacon for our supper fried, night was upon us, and the bushes near scintillating in the most wondrous way, every twig seeming to be alive with fire-flies.

For a short space of time, as we sat there on the sands, partaking of our meal—than which nothing more delicious had ever passed my lips—all was still but the lapping of the tiny waves and the musical trickling of the rivulet amongst the rocks and stones. Then I jumped, for a peculiar cry arose from the forest behind us, and this seemed to be the signal for an outburst of sounds new to me, piping, thrumming, drumming, shrieking, howling, grunting in every variety, and I turned to look in Uncle Dick’s face, which was lit up by the glow from our little wood fire.

“Brings back old times in the South American forests, Nat,” he said coolly. “I could put a name to nearly every musician at work in Nature’s orchestra yonder.”

“What was that horrible cry?” I whispered. “Jaguar or puma?”

“Neither, my boy; only a heron or crane somewhere up the stream.”

“That snorting croak, then?”

“Only frogs or toads, Nat; and that chirruping whirring is something in the cricket or cicada way. If we heard a jaguar or puma, it would most likely be a magnified tom-cat-like sort of sound.”

“But that mournful howl, uncle?” I whispered.

“A poor, melancholy spider-monkey saying good-night to his friends in the big trees. Most of the other cries are made by night-birds out on the hunt for their suppers. That cry was made by a goat-sucker, one of those ‘Chuck-Will’s-widow’ sort of fellows. They’re very peculiar, these night-hawks. Even ours at home keeps up that whirring, spinning-wheel-like sound in the Surrey and Sussex fir-woods. Ah, that’s a dangerous creature, if you like!” he said, in a whisper.

“Which?” I said, below my breath.

“That piping ping-wing-wing.”

“Why, that’s a mosquito, uncle,” I cried contemptuously.

“The only thing likely to attack us to-night, Nat,” he said, laughing; “but we’ll have the guns and everything ready all the same.”

“To shoot the mosquitoes, uncle?”

“No, but anything that might—mind, I say might—come snuffing about us.”

Uncle Dick was so calm and cool over it that he made me the same, and the little nervous sensation caused by the novelty of my position soon passed away. The guns were loaded and laid ready, a couple of blankets spread, and utterly wearied out, after making up the fire, we crept into our tent and lay down to get a good night’s sleep.

“We’ll rest on shore wherever it’s safe, Nat,” were Uncle Dick’s last words. “It’s nicer to have the solid ground under you. This is a treat; the sand’s like a feather bed; but we shan’t often have such a luxurious place. Good-night.”

“One moment, uncle,” I whispered, as I heard a rustling sound somewhere in the bushes. “What do you think is making that?”

I waited for him to answer, under the impression that he was listening to make sure before he replied; but as he took no heed, I spoke again, but only to hear his hard breathing, for he was fast asleep, and I started up in horror, for the strange rustling sound, as of a huge snake or alligator creeping through the dry grass and bushes, began again much nearer than before.

Chapter Four.

The Dangers of the Night.

It is not pleasant to hear a noise as of something forcing its way through bushes close by your bedside, when instead of the strong walls of a house in a thickly inhabited place, with police to protect you, there is nothing but a thin piece of canvas between you and a forest swarming, for aught you can tell, with hosts of dangerous creatures seeking their prey.

I felt that in my first night where I lay by the outskirts of one of the Central American forests, and I should have seized Uncle Dick by the arm and shaken him into wakefulness but for the dread of being considered cowardly.

For he seemed so calm and confident that I dared not wake him up, to be told that the noise I heard was only made by some innocent animal that would flee for its life if I slipped outside.

“I wonder whether that would,” I said to myself. “I’ll try.”

I made up my mind that I would take my double gun from where it lay beside me and go out; but it was a long time before I could make up my body to act; and when at last, in anger with myself for being so cowardly, I did creep out softly and make a dash in the direction of the sound, I was bathed in perspiration, and my legs shook beneath me, for I felt certain that the next minute I should be seized by some monstrous creature ready to spring at me out of the darkness.

But nothing did seize me. For there was a thud and a faint crash repeated again and again, and though I could not see, I felt certain that the fire had attracted some deer-like creature, which had gone bounding off, till all was silent again, when I crept back, letting the canvas fall behind me, feeling horribly conceited, and thinking what a brave fellow I must be.

I must have gone off to sleep directly I lay down then, for one moment I was looking at the dull-reddish patch in the canvas behind which the fire was burning, and the next everything was blank, till all at once I was wide awake, with a hand laid across my mouth, and the interior of our scrap of a tent so dark that I could see nothing; but I could hear someone breathing, and directly after Uncle Dick whispered:

“Lie still—don’t speak.”

He removed his hand then, and seemed to be listening.

“Hear anything, Nat?” he said.

“Not now, uncle. I did a little while ago, and took my gun and went out.”

“Ah! What was it?”

“Some kind of deer, and it bounded away.”

“It was no deer that I heard, my boy,” he whispered, “but something big and heavy. Whatever it was trod upon a stick or a shell, and it snapped loudly and woke me up. There it is again.”

I heard the sound quite plainly in the darkness, and it was exactly as Uncle Dick described, but I leaned towards its being a fragile shell trodden on by some big animal or a man.

“Couldn’t be one of the great cats?” I whispered.

“Oh, no! they tread like velvet.”

“Could it be a tapir?”

“Not a likely place for one. Hist!”

I was silent, and lay listening, so to speak, with all my might, till a low swishing sound reached us, just as if someone had brushed against a bush.

Uncle Dick laid his hand upon my shoulder, and he pressed it hard, as if silently saying, “Did you hear that?”

I answered him in a similar way, and then he whispered:

“Someone is prowling round the tent, and we shall have to go out and challenge them.”

“Suppose they are savages with bows and arrows?” I whispered back.

“Too dark for them to take aim,” he said. “A bold dash out will scare them, and I’ll fire over their heads.”

I felt as if it would be safer to stay where we were; but it seemed cowardly, so I was silent.

“I’ll go out at once,” said Uncle Dick, and I was silent for a moment, and then rose with my gun ready.

“I’ll come with you, uncle,” I whispered.

He pressed my hand before creeping softly out; and I followed, to find that the darkness was as black as inside the tent; that the fire-flies had ceased to shimmer and flash about the low trees, and that the fire was so nearly out that there was nothing visible but a faint glow.

“Stand fast,” whispered Uncle Dick, “while I throw on some of the light twigs we put ready.”

I did not remember putting any light twigs ready, nor anything else just then, for my head was full of wild thoughts, and I was straining my eyesight in all directions, with my gun cocked and ready to fire at the first attack.

All at once there was a rustle as the twigs were thrown on the glowing embers; a sharp crackling followed, and a bright flame sprang up.

At almost the same moment there came from the trees beyond the sound of a rush being made through the bushes, and then the report of Uncle Dick’s gun as he fired twice.

Someone uttered an ejaculation, the rushing sound increased, and directly after there came a loud crashing noise as if someone had fallen; but he—or it—was up again directly, and our enemies, by the splashing and crackling sounds, seemed to be retreating up the bed of the rivulet.

I stood ready to fire, but reserved my shot, as there seemed to be no need; and as I listened intently I could hear Uncle Dick slipping fresh cartridges into his gun, and the click it gave as he closed the breech.

“Hadn’t we better get into shelter?” I whispered. “We offer such a good mark for an arrow.”

“No, my boy,” said my uncle; “the fire is between us and the enemy, and we are quite safe.”

For the twigs were blazing merrily now, and sending out a bright light, which spread around and made the nearest trees stand out and the little tent look bright and clear.

But the next moment something else caught my eye, and the startled sensation seemed to cause a catching of my breath as I stood pointing down at the smooth patch of sand beside the trickling water of the stream—a patch over which a wave must have lately passed, it was so smooth, while close up towards the fire, and where the full blaze of light played, were the objects which had struck my eye.

“What is it, Nat?” said my uncle sharply, and then as he caught sight of the marks too, he answered his own question aloud:

“Footprints—men’s—yes, more than one. Hah! Look-out, Nat; I can hear them coming back.”

Uncle Dick’s ears seemed to be sharper than mine, for though I listened intently and stood prepared to fire, some minutes elapsed before I heard a sound, and then it was not from up the stream, but from overhead—a sharp whistling cry—which was repeated again and again, and I caught the flash of wings as a large bird circled round, evidently attracted by the fire, which was kept blazing.

“Throw on some more, Nat,” said my uncle; “it will serve to keep them at a distance. Perhaps we’ve scared the savages off for good.”

“I hope so,” I said; “but we mustn’t go to sleep again.”

“You’re a queer chap, Nat, if you could go to sleep after this; I couldn’t.”

“But they may not be savages, uncle,” I said.

“Perhaps not, but the place seemed so wild that I don’t think they could be anything else. We must take turn and turn to watch till daylight. You go and lie down.”

“No, uncle,” I said; “I’d rather stay and watch. What time is it?”

“About midnight, I should think,” he said, pulling out the big old silver hunting-watch that accompanied him on all his travels, and holding it down in the full light from the fire. “Humph!” he ejaculated. “What time do you say?”

“Not much more than ten,” I said decisively. “I had only just dropped asleep.”

“It took you a long time to drop, then,” he said drily. “Ah! Look at that bird. It will singe its wings directly.”

“What time is it, then?” I said, for I was more interested in knowing how long I should have to watch in the darkness than in the flight of a bird.

“Like to know exactly, Nat?” said my uncle.

“Of course,” I said, wonderingly.

“You shall, then, my boy. It’s ten minutes, thirty seconds, past six.”

“Nonsense, uncle!” I cried. “The old watch must have stopped. Did you forget to wind it up?”

For answer he held it to my ear, and it was ticking loudly, while as he lowered it and I glanced at the face, I could see that the second hand had moved some distance on.

“Do you think it is right?” I said.

“Yes; we were fagged out last night and slept very soundly. You’ll soon know, for it will be daylight directly.”

Both the watch and my uncle were right—for the scream of a parrot reached my ears soon after, followed by whistlings and pipings from the forest; while soon after a horribly harsh grating screech came from overhead, and I caught a glimpse of the bird which uttered it—one of the great long-tailed Aras, on its way with three or four more to a favourite part of the forest.

“Going figging, Nat,” said my uncle, putting some more wood on the fire, not for the sake of the light—for away across the sea the dawn was brightening fast, after the way of sunrise and sunset in tropic lands; and even as I looked there, far on high, was a faint fleck of orange light on a tiny cloud. A few minutes later there were scores, and the birds were singing and chirping in all directions, even the sea furnishing the screams and peculiar cries of the various ducks and gulls.

“How glorious!” I said softly, for the beauty of the scene around in the glow of the morning light made me forget the darkness of the night and the terrors that it brought.

“Yes, Nat; we’ve hit upon birdland the first try,” said my uncle. “But it seems as if we shall have to leave it unless we can be sure that the Indians are friendly.”

As he spoke, we both examined the footprints again.

“Savage marks for certain, Nat,” said my uncle. “Do you see? These fellows have not been in the habit of wearing shoes.”

“Yes, I see,” I replied. “The big toe so wide away from the others.”

“You see that at a glance. I suppose it would be unwise to follow them; they would hear us coming, and might send a couple of arrows into us—perhaps poisoned. It’s a pity Nat; for there are plenty of birds about, and we could get some good specimens.—Yes; what is it?”

“They’ve been all along here, right down to the sea, uncle. See their tracks?”

“Yes; and I can see something else,” he said, shading his eyes, and looking to right and left anxiously in the now broad daylight.