CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
FRIGHTENED BY FALSE FIRES.
"Naylor--Giovanni--help! help!" cried Brazier. "What have I done?"
As in a voice full of agony Brazier uttered these words, the dense smokefrom the gun which had hidden Rob for the moment slowly rose and showedthe lad lying motionless upon the earth. Shaddy rushed up, dropped uponone knee and raised the boy's head, while with his keen knife heldacross his mouth he looked sharply round for the South American lion,ready to meet its attack.
But the animal was not visible, and it was directly after forgotten inthe excitement centred on Rob.
"Tear off his clothes! Where is he wounded? No doctor! Run to theboat for that little case of mine. Here, let me come."
These words were uttered by Brazier with frantic haste, and directlyafter he uttered a cry of horror and pointed to Rob's forehead close upamongst the hair, where a little thread of blood began to ooze forth.
"That ain't a shot wound," growled Shaddy. "Hi! One of you get somewater."
One of the boatmen, who had hurried up, ran back toward the stream, andjust then Rob opened his lips said peevishly,--
"Don't! Leave off! Will you be quiet? Eh! What's the matter?"
As he spoke he thrust Brazier's hand from his head, opened his eyes andlooked round.
"What are you doing?" he cried wonderingly.
"Lower him down, Naylor," whispered Brazier hoarsely; and Shaddy was inthe act of obeying, but Rob started up into a sitting position, and thensprang to his feet.
"What are you doing, Shaddy?" he cried angrily, as he clapped his handto his brow, withdrew it, and looked at the stained fingers. "What'sthe matter with my head?"
He threw it back as he spoke, shook it, and then, as if the mist whichtroubled his brain had floated away like the smoke from Brazier's gun,he cried:
"I know; I remember. Oh! I say, Mr Brazier, you haven't shot thatpoor cat?"
"Rob, my boy, pray, pray, pray lie down till we have examined yourinjuries."
"Nonsense! I'm not hurt," cried the lad--"only knocked my head on astump. I remember now: I caught my right foot in one of those canes,and pitched forward. Where's the cat?"
He looked round sharply.
"Never mind the wretched beast," cried Brazier. "Tell me, boy: you werenot hit?"
"But I do mind," cried Rob. "I wouldn't have had that poor thing shoton any account."
"Are you hurt?" cried Brazier, almost angrily.
"Of course I am, sir. You can't pitch head first on to a stump withouthurting yourself. I say, did you hit the cat?"
"Then you were not shot?" cried Brazier.
"Shot? No! Who said I was?"
"Ourai!" shouted the young Italian, with the best imitation he couldgive of an English hurrah.
"Then I have frightened myself almost to death for nothing," criedBrazier. "How dare you pretend that you were shot!"
"I didn't," cried Rob angrily, for his smarting head exacerbated histemper. "I never pretended anything. I couldn't help tumbling. Youshouldn't have fired."
"There, hold your tongue, Mr Rob, sir. It's all right, and instead ofyou and the guv'nor here getting up a row, it strikes me as you oughtboth to go down on your knees and be very thankful. A few inches moreone way or t'other, and this here expedition would have been all over,and us going back as mizzable men as ever stepped."
The guide's words were uttered in so solemn and forcible a way thatBrazier took a step or two forward and caught his hand, pressing itfirmly as he looked him full in the eyes.
Brazier was silent for a few moments, and then, in a voice renderedhusky by emotion, he said,--
"You are quite right, Naylor. Thank you, my man, for the lesson. Ideserve all you have said, and yet I am thankful at heart for the--"
He did not finish his words, but dropped Shaddy's hand, and then turnedto Rob and laid his hand upon the boy's shoulder.
"Come to the boat, Rob," he said. "I'll sponge and strap up that littlecut. Naylor spoke truly. We have much to be thankful for. I ought notto have spoken so harshly to you."
"Nor I to have been so cross, sir. It was my head hurt me, and made mespeak shortly."
"Say no more now, boy. Come and let me play surgeon."
"What, for this?" cried Rob, laughing. "It's only a scratch, sir, anddoesn't matter a bit."
But Brazier insisted, and soon after Rob's forehead was ornamented witha strip of diachylon plaster, and the injury forgotten.
The men soon prepared a meal, and the rest of the day was spent inpreparing the deer meat to keep in store; the effect of the hot sunbeing wonderful, the heat drying up the juices and checking thedecomposition that might have been expected to succeed its exposure.But it in no case improved the appearance of the boat.
Toward evening Brazier did a little collecting, helped by the boys, andlater on the latter fished from the boat, with no small success, so thatthere was no fear of the stores being placed too much under contributionfor some days to come.
The fishing was brought to a close, and their captives hung over theside in a great bag composed of net, so that they could be kept aliveready for use when required; and this done, Rob turned to Giovanni.
"Come ashore, Joe," he said.
Brazier looked up sharply from where he was taking notes and numberinghis dried specimens of plants.
"Where are you going?" he said.
"Only to have a bit of a wander ashore," replied Rob.
"No, no; be content with your day's work. We shall have some suppersoon, and then turn in for a long night's rest. Besides, I don't carefor you to go alone."
"Very well, sir," said Rob quietly; "only we couldn't go far and belost. Shall we take Shaddy with us?"
"No; I wish you to stay in the boat this evening, and I'm going to callthe men on board as soon as they have well made up the fire. There aresavage beasts about, and we don't want more trouble than we can help."
Rob looked disappointed, but he said nothing, and went right forward towhere Shaddy was busy washing out one of the guns; and there the twolads sat, gazing across the green surface of lily leaves, watching thebirds which ran to and fro, the gorgeous colouring of the sky, and themany tints reflected by the water where the stream ran winding through.Then, too, there were splashings and plungings of heavy fish, beasts,and reptiles to note, and very little to see, for by the time they hadmade out the spot where the splash had been made, there was nothingvisible but the heaving of the great lily leaves and a curious motion oftheir edges, which were tilted up by the moving creatures stirringamidst the stems.
"Head hurt?" said Joe at last, after a long silence, broken only by thegrunts of Shaddy as he rubbed and polished away at the gun-barrel, so asto remove the last trace of damp.
"Hurt? No. Only smarts a bit," replied Rob.
"Why did you want to go ashore again?"
There was no reply.
"I didn't; I was too tired. Don't care for much walking in the hot sun.Did you want to shoot?"
"No. Wanted to see whether Mr Brazier had shot that poor cat."
"Poor cat!" said Joe, derisively: "I wonder whether a mouse calls hisenemy a poor cat. Why, the brute could have taken you and shaken youlike a rat, and carried you off in its jaws."
"Who says so?" retorted Rob, rather warmly.
"I do."
"And how do you know you were right?"
"Well, of course I can't tell whether I'm right," said Joe, "only that'swhat lions and tigers do."
"Seemed as if it was going to, didn't it?" said Rob, who was now growingwarm in the defence of the animal. "Why, it was as tame as tame, andI'm going ashore first thing to-morrow morning to track it out and findwhere it lay down to die. I want its skin, to keep in memory of thepoor thing. It was as tame as a great dog."
"Won't be very tame 'morrow morning if you find it not dead," growledShaddy.
"Then you don't think it is dead, Shaddy?" cried Rob eagerly.
"Can'
t say nothing about it, my lad. All I know is that Mr Brazierfired two barrels at it, and as the shots didn't hit you they must havehit the lion."
"Don't follow," said Rob, with a short laugh. "Couldn't they have hitthe ground?"
Shaddy rubbed his head with the barrel of the gun he was oiling, andthat view of the question took a long time to decide, while the boyssmiled at each other and watched him.
"Well," said Shaddy at last, "p'raps you're right, Master Rob. If theshots didn't hit the lion they might have hit the ground."
"And you did not find the animal, nor see any blood?"
"Never looked for neither, my lad. But, tell you what: if you do wanthis skin I'll go with you in the morning and track him down. I expectwe shall find him lying dead, for Mr Brazier's a wonderful shot."
"And not likely to miss," said Rob sadly. "But I should like its skin,Shaddy."
"And you shall have it, sir, if he's dead. If he isn't he has p'rapscarried it miles away into the woods, and there's no following himthere."
Rob gazed wistfully across the opening now beginning to look gloomy, andhis eyes rested on the figures of the boatmen who were busily piling upgreat pieces of dead wood to keep up the fire for the night, theprincipal objects being to scare away animals, and have a supply of hotembers in the morning ready for cooking purposes. And as the fireglowed and the shadows of evening came on, the figures of the men stoodout as if made of bronze, till they had done and came down to the boat.
An hour later the men were on board, the rope paid out so that they werea dozen yards from the shore, where a little grapnel had been dropped tohold the boat from drifting in, and once more Rob lay beneath the awningwatching the glow of the fire as it lit up the canvas, which was lightand dark in patches as it was free from burden or laden with the objectsspread upon it to dry. From the forest and lake came the chorus towhich he was growing accustomed; and as the lad looked out through theopen end of the tent--an arrangement which seemed that night as if itdid nothing but keep out the comparatively cool night air--he could seeone great planet slowly rising and peering in. Then, all at once, therewas dead silence. The nocturnal chorus, with all its weird shrieks andcries, ceased as if by magic, and the darkness was intense.
That is, to Rob: for the simple reason that he had dropped asleep.