Part 12 (1/2)
That night we moored our canoes with heavy stones for anchors in the center of the stream, andcame, however, and with the dae pushed upon our way, the dru out behind us About three o'clock in the afternoon we ca--the very one in which Professor Challenger had suffered disaster upon his first journey I confess that the sight of it consoled ht as it was, of the truth of his story The Indians carried first our canoes and then our stores through the brushwood, which is very thick at this point, while we four whites, our rifles on our shoulders, walked between the we had successfully passed the rapids, and made our way soht At this point I reckoned that we had come not less than a hundred miles up the tributary from the main stream
It was in the early forenoon of the next day that we er had been acutely uneasy, continually scanning each bank of the river Suddenly he gave an exclale tree, which projected at a peculiar angle over the side of the stream
”What do you make of that?” he asked
”It is surely an assai palm,” said Summerlee
”Exactly It was an assai pal is half a mile onwards upon the other side of the river
There is no break in the trees That is the wonder and the reen rushes instead of dark-green undergrowth, there between the great cotton woods, that is h, and you will understand”
It was indeed a wonderful place Having reached the spot reen rushes, we poled out two canoes through theed into a placid and shallow strea clear and transparent over a sandy bottom It may have been twenty yards across, and was banked in on each side by etation No one who had not observed that for a short distance reeds had taken the place of shrubs, could possibly have guessed the existence of such a stream or dreamed of the fairyland beyond
For a fairyland it was--the ination of etation h this tunnel of verdure in a golden twilight flowed the green, pellucid river, beautiful in itself, but ht from above filtered and tempered in its fall Clear as crystal, e of an iceberg, it stretched in front of us under its leafy archway, every stroke of our paddles sending a thousand ripples across its shi+ning surface It was a fitting avenue to a land of wonders All sign of the Indians had passed away, but animal life was more frequent, and the ta of the hunter Fuzzy little black-velveteyes, chattered at us as we passed With a dull, heavy splash an occasional cayed in froap in the bushes, and then luh the forest; once, too, the yellow, sinuous forreen, baleful eyes glared hatred at us over its tawny shoulder Bird life was abundant, especially the wading birds, stork, heron, and ibis gathering in little groups, blue, scarlet, and white, upon every log which jutted from the bank, while beneath us the crystal water was alive with fish of every shape and color
For three days we reen sunshi+ne
On the longer stretches one could hardly tell as one looked ahead where the distant green water ended and the distant green archway began The deep peace of this strange as unbroken by any sign of man
”No Indian here Too much afraid Curupuri,” said Gomez
”Curupuri is the spirit of the woods,” Lord John explained ”It's a naars think that there is so fearsome in this direction, and therefore they avoid it”
On the third day it became evident that our journey in the canoes could not lastmore shallow
Twice in as many hours we stuck upon the botto the brushwood and spent the night on the bank of the river In theLord John and Iparallel with the strearew ever shalloe returned and reported, what Professor Challenger had already suspected, that we had reached the highest point to which the canoes could be brought We drew the a tree with our axes, so that we should find theuns, ammunition, food, a tent, blankets, and the rest--and, shouldering our packages, we set forth upon the e of our journey
An unfortunate quarrel between our pepper-pots er had fro us issued directions to the whole party, much to the evident discontent of Su so of an aneroid barometer), the matter suddenly came to a head
”May I ask, sir,” said Summerlee, with vicious calm, ”in what capacity you take it upon yourself to issue these orders?”
Challenger glared and bristled
”I do it, Professor Summerlee, as leader of this expedition”
”I anize you in that capacity”
”Indeed!” Challenger boith unwieldy sarcasm ”Perhaps you would define my exact position”
”Yes, sir You are a man whose veracity is upon trial, and this coes”
”Dearhimself on the side of one of the canoes ”In that case you will, of course, go on your way, and I will follow at my leisure If I am not the leader you cannot expect me to lead”
Thank heaven that there were two sane men--Lord John Roxton and myself--to prevent the petulance and folly of our learned Professors fro and pleading and explaining before we could get them mollified! Then at last Summerlee, with his sneer and his pipe, wouldafter By soood fortune we discovered about this time that both our savants had the very poorest opinion of Dr Illingworth of Edinburgh Thenceforward that was our one safety, and every strained situation was relieved by our introducing the naist, when both our Professors would form a temporary alliance and friendshi+p in their detestation and abuse of this co the bank of the stream, we soon found that it narrowed down to a reen e-like mosses, into which we sank up to our knees The place was horribly haunted by clouds of lad to find solid ground again and tothe trees, which enabled us to outflank this pestilent an in the distance, so loud was it with insect life