Part 31 (1/2)

”I hope so too, captain, but I do not shut my eyes to the dangers which we may have to meet,” was the answer.

”That consul is a brave fellow,” whispered Tom to Archy; ”I look upon those as the bravest who know the full extent of the danger they may have to encounter, and with calm determination go into it.”

Mr Wilmot had an awning rigged to his boat, and had brought mattresses and pillows, so that he and his friend made it their sleeping-place.

The other boats contained also a few occupants, but the larger number of the party preferred sleeping on sh.o.r.e, where they could stretch their limbs, they having discovered that the mosquitoes annoyed them as much on board the boats as on the banks of the river.

Tom and his companions had noticed a mound of no great height, at a little distance from their camp fire, and they agreed that the ground at its base would afford them a comfortable sleeping-place. As soon, therefore, as the order was given to cease talking and singing, and go to sleep, they carried their coats and blankets to the spot, and rolled themselves up, expecting to pa.s.s a quiet night.

As they could not be overheard they talked on for some time, as mids.h.i.+pmen are accustomed to do under similar circ.u.mstances, then first one and then the other began to feel drowsy, and lying down forgot all sublunary matters.

Tom had not, however, been long asleep before he dreamed that he was attacked by a host of stag-beetles, a.s.sailing every part of his body, and that though he slashed at them with his cutla.s.s they came on in greater numbers than ever, till he felt ready to turn tail and bolt.

Suddenly he awoke, and finding that the sensation he had experienced in his dreams were a dreadful reality, began to jump and beat himself furiously. His companions, just then, started up from the same cause, and also began jumping, twisting, turning, and striking their bodies and legs with their hands as if they had gone mad.

”I'll be eaten up entirely if I don't get rid of these beasts,”

exclaimed Paddy Desmond, jumping and beating himself more violently than before.

Their cries awoke their nearest neighbours, while the sentries rushed forward, expecting to find that a band of Indians had secretly introduced themselves into the camp.

Jack and Terence were really alarmed, believing that the youngsters had been bitten by a snake, or attacked by another puma. Nothing, however, could be found on them till some brands brought from the fire threw a light on the subject, when it was discovered that they had chosen the neighbourhood of a nest of ants, of a species addicted to nocturnal rambles.

When they first lay down the ants were quiet in their abode, and remained so till their usual time for sallying forth in search of prey.

The first objects they had met with were the bodies of the three mids.h.i.+pmen, on whom they would have undoubtedly feasted till they had consumed them to their bones, had not their sharp pincers aroused their victims.

The mids.h.i.+pmen found it no easy job to rid themselves of the fearful little pests, even with the a.s.sistance of their friends, and they had literally to strip off their clothes, and capture each creature singly, and throw it into the fire, before they were got rid of.

One of the surgeons, taking compa.s.sion on them, produced some ointment, which allayed the irritation from which they were suffering.

They were not the only people whom the ants had attacked, and complaints, piteous and loud, came from all parts of the camp, of the attacks made by the fiery little pests. Many of the men, however, appeared bite proof, and only growled and swore at having their slumbers disturbed.

”We have, however, learnt a lesson, and I vote that in future we look out for ants' nests, before settling on our camping-ground,” observed Archy Gordon, with his usual gravity, as they once more lay down on the other side of the fire, at a respectful distance from their former resting-place.

”I'd sooner face an electric eel, or a boa-constrictor, than an army of those diabolical little pests,” exclaimed Desmond, who had suffered even more than his companions; ”you may tackle them, but I defy any one except perhaps Spider, to defeat their attacks, and he would have to keep his paws pretty active to catch them.”

”I wish that we had him with us,” groaned Tom; ”I am still itching and smarting all over, and they are at me again, I am sure of it.”

”A big ant-eater would help us more effectually,” observed Gordon. ”He is a curious creature, with a thick bushy tail and a pointed snout, in which he has a long tongue, to enable him to lick up an army of ants and swallow them down at a gulp.”

”I wonder that the ants are such fools as to come out of their castles, then,” remarked Desmond.

”The ant-eater does not wait for them to do that, for he has got powerful claws with which he pulls down their castles, and when they come out to repair the breaches, he sticks out his tongue and captures a whole army at once,” answered Gordon.

”Faith, then, I wish that we could have a few such creatures to inspect our camp in future before we lie down to rest,” said Desmond.

”Silence there, you youngsters,” cried an officer; ”if you can't go to sleep, take a round turn of your tongues.”

The hint was not neglected, and notwithstanding the irritation they were suffering, the mids.h.i.+pmen were very soon snoozing away as soundly as any one.

Every night similar scenes occurred; and during the day, except when stopping for dinner, the boats' crews pulled on with as much vigour and resolution as at first.