The Rajah of Dah

  CHAPTER NINE.

  NED LOSES HIS HAT.

  The two lads had grown in an hour as intimate as if they had beenfriends for months, and they were chatting away together as theyapproached Murray's house, where Hamet was standing looking out.

  "Hah!" he cried; "you are here. The master has been looking for you,and is gone again."

  "Here he comes!" cried Ned's new companion, taking off and waving hiscap as Murray came striding up, looked strangely at the Resident's son,and then turned to his nephew.

  "I was getting anxious about you," he said. "Keep by me, my boy. Comealong to breakfast. We are going up the river directly after. MrBraine has been to say we are to go on with our work at once, and landand examine some hills about ten miles up."

  "I know," said Ned's companion, "Gunong Bu."

  Murray turned upon him sharply, but the lad was in nowise abashed.

  "I'll go with you, and show you. I know the way through the jungle.There's an old path. I've been--"

  "Thank you," said Murray, coldly. "Come, my boy, the breakfast has allbeen sent on by the rajah."

  "I knew he would send," said their visitor. "You keep friends with him,and you'll see how civil he can be."

  Murray frowned a little; and, amused by his uncle being deceived as hehad himself been, Ned said quietly, "he has come to breakfast with us,uncle."

  "It is very kind of him," said Murray, coldly; "but he might have waitedtill he was asked."

  "And then you wouldn't have asked me. I say, you; he thinks like youdid, that I'm a nigger."

  "Well," said Murray, quickly, "are you not a Malay, in spite of yourperfect English?"

  "Of course not, sir; I'm Frank Braine."

  "My dear sir, I beg your pardon," cried Murray. "You should have toldme, Ned. Come in, my lads, I'm getting sharp-set;" and directly after,they were seated, eastern fashion, cross-legged on the mat, which wasspread with Malay luxuries, prominent among which was some excellentcoffee, and a hearty meal was made, with the Resident's son as much athome as if he had been a very old friend; and hardly was it ended, whenMr Braine appeared.

  "Ah, Frank," he said, smiling; "not long making yourself at home, I see.The boat's ready, Mr Murray," he continued, "and plenty of provisionson board. I daresay you will get some new birds and insects on yourway, and the rajah hopes you will make some discovery up in the hills."

  "He seems reasonable," said Murray, laughing. "What would he likefirst--a gold-mine?"

  "Oh, you must humour him, and then you will have plenty of opportunityfor your own work. Will you want an interpreter beside your own man?"

  "No," said Frank, quietly. "I'm going with them, father."

  "You, my boy? Oh, very well, only try not to be rash; though I don'tsuppose you will have any adventures. You know, I suppose, that we havetiger and elephant about here, so take a rifle in case you meet biggame."

  The men were waiting below, and they were soon after despatched withHamet to carry guns, ammunition, and the other impedimenta of anaturalist who is an enthusiastic collector. The gentlemen followedsoon after, Mr Braine seeing them down to the boat, which proved to bea handsome naga, fully manned. The crew were well-armed, and as Nedglanced at their faces he, little observant as he was in such matters,could note that they were a strong, fierce-looking, determined party,who would stand at nothing their leader set them to do.

  There was a friendly wave of the hand, followed by that of a couple ofpocket handkerchiefs, as the boat swung out into the stream and beganrapidly to ascend, for the doctor and his ladies had just strolled downto the bamboo jetty, but too late to see the party off.

  "I say, don't do that," cried Frank, quickly, as Ned hung one arm overthe side of the boat, and let the cool water run through his fingers.

  "Of course not. I forgot Hamet did tell me."

  "There's a chap at the next place with only one arm. He was hangingover the side of a boat holding his line with his hand, and a crocsnapped it right off."

  "Is that a traveller's tale, squire?" said Murray, drily.

  "No, it isn't," said the boy, frowning. "You don't believe it? Ask himthere if a croc didn't nearly seize him this morning."

  "What!" cried Murray.

  "Yes, uncle," said Ned. "It was so, and Frank Braine snatched me awayjust in time."

  "Oh, get out! I only pushed you out of his way. They are nastybeggars."

  He turned to the Malay guard and said a few words, to which a choruswhich sounded like assent came at once.

  "They say you have to be very careful, for the crocs kill a good manypeople every year."

  "Then we will be very careful," said Murray; "and I beg your pardon fordoubting you."

  "Oh, that don't matter."

  "And let me thank you for helping Ned here this morning."

  "That's nothing," cried Frank, hastily. "Hi! Abdul!" he shouted to oneof the rowers; and he hurried from beneath, the mat awning overhead,amongst the crew to the man in the bows, evidently to avoid listening tofurther thanks, and sat down to go on talking to the Malay, whose heavystolid face lit up as he listened.

  "So you had quite an adventure?" said Murray.

  "Yes, uncle," replied Ned; and he then went on to tell of the horriblescene he had witnessed.

  Murray listened with his brows knit, and then after sitting thoughtfuland silent for some minutes: "Mr Braine and the doctor have notexaggerated the situation, Ned," he said. "Well, my lad, we must makethe best of it. I daresay we can spend a month here advantageously, butwe must be careful not to upset the rajah, for, though he can be acapital friend, and send us out collecting in this royal way, it isevident that he can prove a very dangerous enemy. You see he is a manwho has the power of life and death in his hands, and does not hesitateabout using it. We are beyond help from the settlement, andunmistakably his prisoners."

  "Well, I don't mind being a prisoner, uncle, if he is going to treat uslike this."

  "Good, lad. I'll take a leaf out of your book, and make the best ofthings. This is quite new ground for a naturalist, so let's set asideall worry about where we are, and think only of the wonderful objectsabout us."

  Ned was already following out that plan, and wishing his uncle would notworry about other things, for they were riding at a pretty good rate upthe clear sparkling river, and passing scene after scene of tropicloveliness that excited a constant desire in the boy to go ashore androam amongst grand trees of the loveliest tints of green, all differentfrom anything he had seen before.

  Just then Frank came back.

  "Got your shooting tackle ready?" he said.

  "No, but I was thinking it was time," replied Murray, "and that we mightas well land directly we see a bird or two. I want to get all thespecimens I can."

  "Land!" said Frank, with a merry laugh; "land here?"

  "Yes; not to go any distance. Just for a ramble, and then return to theboat."

  "But you couldn't, nor yet for miles farther on."

  "Why? The country on either bank looks lovely."

  "The trees do, but that's all jungle."

  "Well, I see that," said Murray, rather impatiently.

  "But you don't know what our jungle is, sir. You couldn't get a dozenyards any way."

  "The trees are not so thick as that."

  "No, but the undergrowth is, and it's all laced together, and bound withprickly canes, so that at every step you must have men to go before youwith their parangs to chop and clear the way."

  "Is a parang a chopper?"

  "They chop with it," replied Frank. "It's the sword thing the men carryto cut down the wild vines and canes with."

  "Do you mean to say we couldn't get through there?" said Ned.

  "Yes, of course I do. Like to try? I did when I first came. Why, infive minutes you'd be horribly scratched, and your clothes torn half offyour back, and you so hot you couldn't bear yourself."

  _Cock-a-doodle-do_!

  It was a peculiar broken spasmodic crow fr
om some little distance in thejungle, and Ned turned upon the Resident's son, laughingly: "Why, theremust be a road there to that farm or cottage and back."

  There was an answering crow from farther away.

  "Is there a village close by?" asked Murray.

  "If there was a village, it would be here," said Frank, showing hiswhite teeth. "This is the high-road of the country, and the villagesare all on the rivers."

  "But there must be people who keep fowls in there."

  "Yes," said Frank, merrily; "Mother Nature does. Those are jungle cockscrowing. I say, look out. Don't you want one of those?"

  He pointed to where a lovely bluish bird, with a long tail ending inoval disks like tiny tennis racquets, was seated some distance aheadupon a bare branch; but almost as he spoke the bird took flight, andwent right on, up the river like a flash of blue light.

  "Never mind; you'll have plenty more chances, and you'll soon know asmuch about the place as I do."

  The guns were brought out of their woollen bags and charged, and theboat glided on, steered closer in to one bank now, so as to give thenaturalist a better chance of a shot; with the result that he broughtdown in the course of the next two hours, as they followed the windingcourse of the river, shut in on both sides by the tall flower-deckedtrees, two brilliant racquet-tailed kingfishers, a pink-breasted dove,and a tiny sunbird, decked in feathers that seemed to have been bronzedand burnished with metallic tints of ruby, purple, and gold.

  These were carefully picked up from the water in which they fell, laidin the sun to dry their feathers, and then put aside for preparationthat evening. After this specimens were seen of gorgeously paintedbutterflies, one being evidently seven or eight inches across, butcapture was out of the question, and Ned watched them longingly as theyflitted across the stream.

  "I can take you where you can catch them," said Frank; "along by theedge of the jungle where the rice-fields are; only the worst ofbutterfly catching there is, that a tiger may fly out and butter you, asthey do the men sometimes who are at work over the rice."

  "Not a pleasant way of butterfly hunting, I must say," said Murray, who,gun in hand, was watching the edge of the jungle. "What's the matter?"

  For the men had suddenly ceased rowing, and the naga glided slowly on,diminishing in speed till it was stationary, and then, yielding to theinfluence of the stream, began to glide back.

  Meanwhile an excited conversation was going on between the principalboatman and Frank Braine, the former pointing up into a huge tree whoseboughs overhung the river, their tips almost touching the surface, andnaturally both Murray and Ned gazed up too.

  "What is it--a monkey or a bird?" said Ned, eagerly.

  "Yes, I see it now," said Frank. Then, telling the men in Malay to keepthe boat stationary, he turned to Murray: "Here's a shot for you, sir.I couldn't see it at first. Their eyes are sharper than ours. Wait aminute till the boat's right. That's it. Stop now, both of you lookright in through that opening among the leaves, and you'll see it on abranch."

  "What, some handsome bird?"

  "No; something that's been up there after the birds or monkeys. Do yousee? Look where I'm pointing."

  "I am looking there," said Ned, eagerly; "but I can only see a greatcreeper all curled about and twisted in knots where it looks quitedark."

  "Well, that's it," said Frank, laughing; "that great creeper. See it,Mr Murray?"

  "Yes, I see it now. Wait till I change the cartridge for bigger shot."

  "Yes; use your biggest for him," whispered Frank; and Ned looked onwonderingly, refraining from asking questions, for he was met by animperious "Hush!"

  "I can't see what he means, I suppose," thought Ned; and he watchedeagerly now as Murray suddenly took aim and fired.

  Then for a few moments there was a violent rustling and breaking oftwigs, and something heavy fell with a great splash beyond the screen ofleaves formed by the lowermost drooping branches.

  "You hit him!" cried Frank, excitedly, and he gave an order to the men,who rowed in under the drooping boughs.

  "Now quick, the other barrel!" cried the lad. "See him? Too late.He's gone!"

  "I couldn't get a good sight of him," said Murray.

  "But what was it?"

  "A great serpent. He glided out of the river in amongst those bushes."

  "Could we follow if the boat were rowed right in?"

  Frank shook his head.

  "Impossible," he said; and the boat was pulled out and began once moreto ascend the stream.

  "How big was it?" said Ned, as the incident was discussed.

  "Impossible to say," replied Murray; "but I should say fifteen orsixteen feet long, and as large round as your leg."

  Another hour's steady pulling up against the stream brought them toquite a change in the character of the river-banks. One side had thejungle as before, but on the other the forest receded more and more,till they gazed across a park-like plain dotted with clumps of hugetrees, and rising more and more till a range of hills towered up lookingwonderfully beautiful, wooded as they were to the summit.

  This meant a tramp, and the boat was run up beneath some trees, to oneof which it was moored, while two of the guard busied themselves inspreading refreshments beneath the awning in a business-like way, whichsuggested that they had been used to such tasks before.

  "Rather hot for a long walk," said Frank, when the meal was finished;"but I don't mind, if you don't."

  Murray smiled with the calm contempt for heat usually displayed by anEnglishman, took his gun and stepped ashore, followed by the boys, tofind that half a dozen men armed with spears followed them, one steppingforward to act as guide, but after a few words from Frank, going back tohis place with the rest.

  "Now then," he said, "what's it to be--birds or beasts?"

  "Birds to-day," replied Murray.

  "There you go then--a big one," cried the lad, as with a rushing, heavybeating sound of its wings, a great bird flow directly over their heads,uttering a hoarse cry, and with its huge curved bill bearing a curious,nearly square, excrescence on the top, plainly seen as the birdapproached.

  "Why didn't you shoot?" cried Frank, as the bird went off unscathed."Why, I believe, I could have hit that."

  "For the simple reason that I did not want to encumber myself with abird I have had before."

  "Oh, I see. There are lots of those about here, and I've found theirnests."

  "What sort of a nest is it?" asked Ned. "Anything like a magpie's?"

  "No!" cried Frank; "not a bit. Big as they are, they build like atomtit does, right in a hollow tree, but the one I saw had only laid oneegg, and a tomtit lays lots. It was in the trunk of a great worm-eatentree, and the hen bird was shut in, for the cock had filled theentrance-hole with clay, all but a bit big enough for the hen to put outher beak to be fed. What's that?"

  Murray had fired and brought down a gaily-feathered bird, green,scarlet, and orange, and with a sharp wedge-shaped beak fringed withsharp bristles.

  "A barbet," said Murray, giving the bird to one of the men to carry;"but like your hornbill, too common to be worth preserving."

  Other birds fell to Murray's gun as they went on. A trogon was thenext, a thickly-feathered soft-looking bird, yoke-toed like a cuckoo,and bearing great resemblance in shape to the nightjar of the Englishwoods, but wonderfully different in plumage; for, whereas the latter isof a soft blending of greys and browns, like the wings of some woodlandmoths, this trogon's back was of a cinnamon brown, and its breast of alight rosy-scarlet blending off into white crossed with finedark-pencilled stripes.

  The next was rather a common bird, though none the less beautiful in itsclaret-coloured plumage; but the striking part of the bird was itsgaily-coloured beak of orange and vivid blue.

  The tramp in the broiling sunshine was so full of interest now, that Nedforgot the labour, and eagerly kept pace with his uncle, the Malaysfollowing closely behind, and carrying the specimens willingly enough,but with their swar
thy faces wearing rather a contemptuous look for theman who, in preference to a quiet siesta beneath a tree, chose to trampon beneath the burning sun for the sake of a few uneatable birds.

  "I say," cried Frank, "I'll tell you of a bird you ought to shoot.Hist--hist!"

  He made energetic signs to them to lie down among the low bushes throughwhich they were passing.

  He was obeyed at once, and most quickly by the Malays, who croucheddown, spear in hand, like an ambush in waiting for something far moreimportant than the two birds of which the lad had caught sight in anarrow glade of a park-like patch of trees they were approaching, butwhich now remained invisible.

  "Well," said Murray, after waiting patiently for some few minutes withhis gun cocked, "what did you see?"

  "Two birds you ought to have shot," the lad whispered back, "but theymust have seen us. No; look. Go on first; creep to those bushes."

  He pointed to the edge of the clump, from out of which came slowly, withstately movement, a couple of long-necked birds, one of which carriedbehind him an enormous train of feathers which flashed in the brilliantsunshine.

  Murray needed no second hint, but crept carefully forward, takingadvantage of every bush and tree which afforded him shelter, while therest remained in concealment eagerly awaiting the result; even theMalays looking excited, with their soft dark eyes glowing and theirheads craned forward.

  Murray soon reduced the distance between him and the birds--quite aquarter of a mile--and it seemed as if he would easily stalk them; butwhile he was a full hundred yards away, something seemed to havestartled the game, which rose at once and made for the open, yet just inthe midst of the disappointment felt at the waste of energy over thestalk, they curved round so as to make for the shelter of the trees,passing between the watchers and Murray.

  "Never mind," said Frank, "he'll have another chance." Bang! followingupon a puff of smoke, and the bird with the long train stopped in itsflight, shot up a few yards, and then fell motionless.

  Ned uttered a cheer, and the whole party hurried forward, to reach theprize some time after Murray, who had reloaded and was carefullysmoothing the bird's plumage.

  "A long shot, Ned," he said. "That must have been fully eighty yards.It was the large shot did it. There, you never saw a peacock likethat."

  "Yes," cried Ned, "often."

  "No, my lad; look again."

  "Well, it is a little different. The neck's green."

  "Yes, instead of blue. That's the Javanese peacock, and a splendidspecimen. We'll hang this up till our return. Anything likely to touchit if we hang it on a branch?"

  "No, I think not, sir," replied Frank; and after the bird had beencarefully suspended fully six feet from the ground, the party walked on,to find that the ground was beginning to rise steadily, an indication oftheir nearing the hills.

  "So that's the bird you wanted me to find, was it?" said Murray, after along silent tramp, for the bush had grown rather dense.

  "Oh no. The birds I mean only come out of a night. I've only seen twosince I've been here, but you can hear them often in the jungle."

  "Owls?"

  "Oh no; pheasants, father says they are. Birds with tremendously longtails, and wings all over great spots like a peacock's, only brown."

  "Argus pheasants," said Murray, quietly. "Yes, I must try and get somespecimens of them."

  The ground began to rise more rapidly now, till it was quite a climbthrough open forest, very different to the dense jungle by theriver-side. The ground, too, had become stony, with great gray massesprojecting here and there, and still they rose higher and higher, till,hot and breathless, they stopped in a narrow gorge to look back at thenarrow plain they had crossed, just beyond which, and fringed on the farside by the dark jungle, they could see the river winding along like aribbon of silver.

  There were several umbrageous trees here, and the air was so fresh andcomparatively cool that it was decided to halt now for an hour to rest.Then, after a good look round had been taken, Murray suggested that theyshould return by another route to where the peacock had been hung, afterwhich they could go direct to the boat.

  The Malays lay down and began preparing fresh pieces of betel-nut tochew; but Murray's rest was short, and jumping up again, he took ageological hammer from his belt, and began to crack and chip the stonesand masses of rock which peered from the barren-looking ground, the twoboys, one of whom carried the gun, watching him intently.

  "Plenty of quartz, Ned," said Murray. "Quite possible that one mightfind gold here."

  As he spoke, he broke a piece of gray stone which he had hooked out fromamong the grass, and laid in a convenient place. A quick ejaculationcame from his lips, and Frank cried excitedly, "Why, you haven't foundgold?"

  "No, my lad, but I have found a valuable metal. Look!"

  He handed the broken halves of the stone to the boys, while the Malayscrouched together, chewed away at their betel, and watched them.

  "Well," said Ned, "I don't see any valuable metal. Do you?"

  Frank shook his head.

  "That is a fairly rich piece of ore too," said Murray. "Don't you seethose little black grains running through the quartz?"

  "No. These are all standing still," said Frank, laughing.

  "Facetious, eh?" said Murray, smiling. "Well, those black grains aretin."

  "Oh, they do get tin somewhere up the river," said Frank, eagerly; "butit isn't a bit like this."

  "But it is like what this would be if it were smelted, young gentleman,"cried Murray; "and, judging from appearances, I should say that therajah could get tin enough in these hills to make him as wealthy as helikes."

  "He ought to be satisfied, then, with what you have done, uncle," saidNed.

  "But he will not be, my boy. He will not care to set up works, andhe'll want us to try again for something better. There, we'll take ourspecimens to show to Mr Braine, and start back now. Give me the gun,and I'll go in the centre, and you two shall walk on either side of me,say fifty yards or so distant. You may beat up some specimens, and giveme a better chance. Ask the men to keep about a hundred yards behindus."

  Frank went and spoke to the men, and told them what was about to bedone, and they rose, took their spears and waited while the boys startedoff to right and left, Murray waiting till they had guessed theirdistances, and then at his signal, a low whistle, the start was made forthe river, down the steep slope, and bearing off so as to leave theiroutward track on their left.

  It was a laborious descent, and Ned found the path he had to followencumbered by loose gray stones, and full of gins and traps, in theshape of narrow cracks in the rock, and bramble-like canes ever ready totrip him up. However, fortunately, the trees and bushes were prettyopen on that dry hill-side, and he could pick his way. But there was noshot, and he saw no sign of bird or reptile; only a few butterflieswhich started up from among the dry herbage, and went flapping awayamong the trees.

  Once or twice he heard the crackling of twigs on his left, and once hefancied that he could hear the Malays coming on behind him; but he wasnot sure, and he toiled on, bathed in perspiration, thinking howwonderfully still everything was out there, and how loud the rustlingnoise was he made with his boots in forcing his way through the scrub.

  All at once, just as he was thinking what a likely place that steepstony hill-side looked for snakes, a magnificent butterfly sprang upwithin a yard or two of his feet, and as he stopped short, he saw it gofluttering on in a zigzag fashion, and then pounce down all at once,only a little way on before him, and right in the direction he had togo.

  "I don't see why I shouldn't have a specimen too," he said to himself,as, regardless of the heat, he took off his straw hat, and creptsilently on with his eyes fixed upon the spot where the beautiful insecthad disappeared. He was within a yard of it, with upraised hat ready tostrike, when it darted up, and he made a bound forward, strikingdownward with his hat at the same time.

  The result was unexpected. Ned's step w
as on to nothing, and, lettinggo of his hat, he uttered a cry of horror as he felt himself fallingthrough bushes, and then sliding along with an avalanche of stones,apparently right away into the bowels of the earth, and vainly trying tocheck himself by stretching out his hands.

  One moment he saw the light dimmed by the green growth over the mouth ofthe opening, the next he was in utter darkness, and gliding down rapidlyfor what seemed, in his horror and confusion, a long period. Then allat once the rattling, echoing noise of falling stones ceased, and so didhis progress, as he found himself, scratched and sore, lying on his sideupon a heap of stones, some of which were right over his legs. It didnot take him long to extricate himself, and stand upright with his handsresting on a cold rocky wall, and as he stood there in the darkness, heobeyed his first impulse, which was to shout for help. But at every cryhe uttered there was so terrible a reverberation and echo, that heceased, and began to try to climb back up the great crack to the lightof day.

  To his horror and despair he soon found that such a climb would beimpossible in the darkness, and as a flood of terrible thoughtsthreatened to sweep away his reason, and he saw himself dying slowlythere from starvation, it seemed to him that it was not quite so dark ashe thought, and peering before him, he felt about with hand and foot,and changed his position slowly, finding that the stones beneath himwere pretty level till he made one unlucky step on a loose flat piece,which began to glide rapidly down. Although he tried hard to savehimself, he slipped and rolled again for some distance before he couldcheck his way, when he sat up with his heart bounding with joy, for,about a hundred yards or so before him, he could see a rough openinglaced over by branches, through which gleamed the sunlight.

  And now, as he cautiously made his way toward the light, he began torealise that he was in a rough rift or chasm in the rock, whose floordescended at about the same rate as the hill-slope; and five minutesafter, he forced his passage out through the bushes which choked theentrance, to hear, away on his left, a distant "cooey."

  He answered at once, and went on descending the hill, thinking howstrange his adventure had been, and that after all it was only a bit ofa fright, and that he had come part of the way underground, instead ofabove.

  And now the heat of the sun reminded him that he had lost his hat, andhe stopped short with the intention of going back, but another shout onhis left warned him that he must proceed or he might be lost.

  "And perhaps the Malays may find it," he argued; so tying hishandkerchief over his head with a great leaf inside, he trudged on,answering the "cooeys" from time to time, till he drew nearer, and atlast, in obedience to a whistle, joined his uncle about the same time asFrank.

  "Nothing to show," cried the former. "I say, Ned, you got too far away.I thought at one time I'd lost you. Why, where's your hat?"

  "Lost it," replied the boy, looking toward Frank as he spoke.

  That young gentleman was laughing at him, and this so roused Ned's ire,sore and smarting as he was, that he did not attempt to make anyexplanation of his mishap, feeling assured that he would only be laughedat the more, for not looking which way he went.

  They were all beginning to feel the effect of their walk in the hot sun,and in consequence they trudged back rather silently to where thepeacock had been hung, and this was borne in triumph back to the boat,where the rest of the men were patiently awaiting their return.

  "Wonder what they've got ready for us," said Frank, rousing up a littleas they came near the river.

  "Got ready? What, refreshments? Will they have anything?"

  "There'll be a tremendous uproar if they have not," cried Frank. "Therajah is a regular old pirate, as my father says, and he helps himselfto whatever he fancies from everybody round, but there's nothing stingyabout him as you'll find."

  The lad was quite right in his surmises respecting refreshments, for themen had quite a pleasant little repast spread, and most welcome of all,a great piece of bamboo, about five feet long, hanging from the side ofthe boat in the full sunshine, with one end swaying in the river.

  "Look at that!" cried Frank. "Know what that is?"

  "A very thick piece of bamboo."

  "Yes, but what's in it?"

  "I did not know anything was in it."

  "But you will know directly. That's the big decanter, with a whole lotof deliriously cool drink in it. I don't know what it is, only thatit's the old chap's favourite tipple, and it's precious good."

  "Is it wine?"

  "Oh no; at least perhaps they call it wine. It's somehow made with thesap out of the palm-trees, with cocoa-nut milk and fruit juice. I don'tknow, and it doesn't matter. As soon as you get your lips to a cup ofit, you don't want anybody to talk to you till it's done."

  Ned soon had an opportunity of putting the contents of the bamboo to thetest, and he quite agreed with Frank's description, for it was deliciousafter the long hot walk, and they all sat enjoying their meal as theboat glided rapidly down stream now, the men merely dipping their oarsfrom time to time to keep her head straight. They had spent a farlonger time than Ned had expected, and the sun was sinking behind thejungle as the village was reached, and they disembarked, Hamet beingready to bear the spoils of the day up to the house, where Murrayintended to commence preparing the skins at once, but found that MrBraine was in waiting to insist upon the two newcomers dining with himat his place.

  "Never mind them," he cried, as Murray pointed to his specimens; "youcan get hundreds more at any time, and Barnes and his people will behorribly disappointed if you do not come."

  To Ned's great satisfaction his uncle gave way, for he felt no greatdisposition to begin an unpleasant task after so hard a day, and theresult was that after a change they went up to the Resident's house, toreach there just at the same time as the doctor, his wife, and daughter.