"I think," replied d.i.c.k, "that we may safely cook any of them, but, as to eating, why, I should only eat those that are nice in flavour."

"That's right. We'll be guided by that rule."

The boys fished from canoes which they hired or requisitioned from the Indian natives of the place. Clever these fellows are, and the manner in which they watch for and harpoon or even spear a huge "boto"--which looks like a long-snouted porpoise or "sea-pig"--astonished our heroes.

This fish is killed by whites only for its oil, but the Indians did not hesitate to cut huge fourteen-pound pieces from the back to take home for culinary purposes.

The "piraroocoo" is an immense fellow, and calculated to give good sport for a long summer day if you do not know how to handle him.

This "'roocoo", as some of the natives call him, likes to hang around in the back reaches of the river, and is often found ten feet in length.

He has the greatest objection in the world to being caught, and to being killed after being dragged on sh.o.r.e. Moreover, he has a neat and very expert way of lifting a canoe on his back for a few seconds, and letting it down bottom-upwards.

When he does so, you, the sportsman or piscador, find yourself floundering in the water. You probably gulp down about half a gallon of river water, but you thank your stars you learned to swim when a boy, and strike out for the bank. But five to one you have a race to run with an intelligent 'gator. If he is hungry, you may as well think about some short prayer to say; if he is not very ravenous, you may win just by a neck.

This last was an experience of d.i.c.k's one day; when a 'roocoo capsized his frail canoe and his Indian and he got spilt.

Luckily Roland was on the beach, and just as a huge 'gator came ploughing up behind poor d.i.c.k, with head and awful jaws above water, Roland took steady aim and fired. Then the creature turned on his back, and the river was dyed with blood.

The natives salt the 'roocoo and eat it. But Roland's Indian carriers managed to get through as many as could be caught, without any salt worth speaking about.

Surely the fish in this beautiful river must have thought it strange, that so many of their number were constantly disappearing heavenwards at the end of a line. But it did not trouble them very much after all, and they learnt no lesson from what they saw, but took the bait as readily as ever.

There were very many other species of fish, which not only gave good sport but made a most delicious _addendum_ to the larder.

Boats and canoes were now in the river all day long, and with the fish caught, and the turtle which were found in great abundance, not to mention the wild animals killed in the woods, Roland managed to feed his little army well.

There is one fish in this river which is sometimes called "diabolo". He is no relation at all, however, to the real octopus or devil-fish, for this creature is flat. It seems a species of ray, and has an immense mouthful of the very sharpest of teeth. He is not at all dainty as to what he eats. He can make a meal off fresh-water sh.e.l.l-fish; he can swallow his smaller brothers of the deep; take a snack from a dead 'gator, and is quite at home while discussing a nice tender one-pound steak from a native's leg.

The young 'gator is neither fish, flesh, nor good red-herring. Yet if you catch one not over a yard long, and he doesn't catch you--for he has a wicked way of seizing a man by the hand and holding on till his mother comes,--his tail, stewed or fried with a morsel of pork, will tide you over a "hungry hillock" very pleasantly indeed.

If we turn to the pleasant reaches of the River Madeira, or the quiet back-waters, and, gun on shoulder, creep warily through the bush and scrub, we shall be rewarded with a sight that will well repay our caution.

Here of an early morning we shall see water-fowl innumerable, and of the greatest beauty imaginable.

Hidden from view, one is loth indeed to fire a shot and so disturb Nature's harmony, but prefers, for a time at all events, to crouch there quietly and watch the strange antics of the male birds and the meek docility of the female.

Here are teal, black ducks, strange wild geese, brown ducks, sheldrakes, widgeons, and whatnot.

And yonder on the sh.o.r.e, in all sorts of droll att.i.tudes with their ridiculously long necks and legs, are storks and herons. I think they like to perform their toilet close to the calm pellucid water, because it serves the same purpose to them as a bedroom mirror does to us.

Young tapirs form a welcome addition to the larder, and the woods all round abound in game.

What a paradise! and yet this country is hardly yet known to us young Britons. We hear of ague. Bah! Regularity of living, and a dust of quinine, and camping in the open, can keep fever of all sorts at bay.

Some may be surprised that our heroes should have settled down, as it were, so enthusiastically to fishing and sporting, although uncertain all the while as to the fate of poor kidnapped Peggy.

True, but we must remember that activity and constant employment are the only cure for grief. So long, then, as Roland and d.i.c.k were busy with gun or fishing-rod, they were free from thought and care.

But after sunset, when the long dark night closed over the camp; when the fire-flies danced from bush to bush, and all was still save the wind that sighed among the trees, or the voices of night-birds and prowling beasts, and the rush of the river fell on the ear in drowsy, dreamy monotone, then the boys felt their anxiety acutely enough, but bravely tried to give each other courage, and their conversation, oft-repeated, was somewhat as follows:--

_Roland_. "You're a bit gloomy to-night, d.i.c.k, I think?"

_d.i.c.k_. "Well, Roll, the night is so pitchy dark, never a moon, and only a star peeping out now and then. Besides I am thinking of--"

_Roland_. "Hush! hush! aren't we both always thinking about her?

Though I won't hesitate to say it is wrong not to be hopeful and cheerful."

_d.i.c.k_. "But do you believe--"

_Roland_. "I believe this, d.i.c.k, that if those kidnapping revengeful Indians had meant murder they would have slain the dear child in bed and not have resorted to all that horrible trickery--instigated without doubt by somebody. She has been taken to the country of the cannibals, but not to be tortured. She is a slave, let us hope, to some Indian princess, and well-guarded too. What we have got to do is to trust in G.o.d. I'm no preacher, but that is so. And we've got to do our duty and rescue Peggy."

_d.i.c.k_. "Dead or alive, Roland."

_Roland_. "Dead or alive, d.i.c.k. But Heaven have mercy on the souls of those who harm a hair of her head!"

d.i.c.k did his best to trust in Providence, but often in the middle watches of the night he would lie in his tent thinking, thinking, and unable to sleep; then, after perhaps an uneasy slumber towards morning, awake somewhat wearily to resume the duties of the day.

CHAPTER XVII--BILL AND HIS BOATS

Roland, young and inexperienced as he was, proved himself a fairly good general.

He certainly had not forgotten the salt, nor anything else that was likely to add to the comfort of his people in this very long cruise by river and by land.

They knew not what was before them, nor what trouble or dangers they might have to encounter, so our young heroes were pretty well prepared to fight or to rough it in every way.

Independent of very large quant.i.ties of ammunition for rifles and revolvers, Roland had prepared a quant.i.ty of war-rockets, for nothing strikes greater terror into the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the ordinary savage than these fire-devils, as they term them.

Roland, d.i.c.k, and Bill each had shot-guns, with sheath-knives, and a sort of a portable bill-hook, which many of the men carried also, and found extremely handy for making a clearance among reeds, rushes, or lighter bush.

We have already seen that they had plenty of fishing-tackle.

Oil and pumice-stone were not forgotten, and Roland had a regular inspection of his men every day, to make certain that their rifles and revolvers were clean.

But this was not all, for, to the best of their ability, both Roland and d.i.c.k drilled their men to the use of their arms at short and long distances, and taught them to advance and retire in skirmishing order, taking advantage of every morsel of cover which the ground might afford.

Plenty of maize and corn-flour were carried, and quite a large supply of tinned provisions, from the plantation and from Burnley Hall. These included canned meat, sardines, and salmon.

Extra clothing was duly arranged for, because from the plains they would have to ascend quite into the regions of cloud and storm, if not snow.

Medicine, too, but only a very little of this, Roland thought, would be needed, although, on the other hand, he stowed away lint and bandages in abundance, with a few surgical instruments.

Medical comforts? Yes, and these were not to be considered as luxuries, though they took the form of brandy and good wine.