"All right, my lads; haul away!"
They hauled, but instead of the fish suffering itself to be dragged like a lump of lead close in to the boat, it now commenced different tactics, and rose till the gilded tail appeared above the surface quite clear of the line, and beat and churned up the water so that it was too much disturbed for them to see the head, the creature seeming to be fighting hard to dive down again straight to the bottom.
"That"s right, my lads: he"s coming. "Nother fathom, and I"ll get the hook into him. Haul steady. He"s, done. He"s--Well, I"m blessed!"
Shaddy roared out this last exclamation, for all at once, as the boys hauled persistently at the line, the tail half of a large dorado was thrust above the surface, agitated violently, and directly after there followed the hideous head of an alligator with its jaws tightly closed upon the fore half of the fish. It was shaking its head savagely to break the line, and began giving violent plunges while it made the water foam with its struggles, and in another moment would no doubt have broken away; but just at the crisis, on seeing what was the state of affairs, Brazier raised his gun, took a quick aim, and discharged rapidly one after the other both barrels of his piece.
The result was magical. As the smoke rose, and quite a cloud of brilliantly tinted birds flew here and there from side to side of the river, whose trees on both banks seemed to have grown alive with monkeys, the alligator made one leap half out of the water, fell back with a heavy splash, and then lay motionless save for a quivering of its tail as it was drawn nearer, when Shaddy managed to get his hook inside the jaws, which were distended by the dorado, and then, stepping ash.o.r.e, he hauled the reptile right out on to the gra.s.s.
"Is he dead?" said Brazier, who was reloading.
"Not yet, sir; but you"ve shattered the back of his head, and he"ll soon be quite. No wonder you didn"t land him quicker, Master Joe."
"But what does it mean?" cried Rob. "Oh, I see! Joe hooked a dorado, and this fellow tried to swallow it head first, and couldn"t get it right down."
"That"s it, my lad," replied Shaddy. "He"d half managed it when Mr Jovanny here gave a pull, and has got the hook in him somewhere. I thought so. Here"s the pynte sticking right through outside his neck, and he couldn"t bite because of the fish stuck in his jaws just like a great gag."
"Well, what"s to be done?" said Rob; "we can"t eat the dorado now.
Wonder whether I"ve got a bite yet."
He went slowly and wearily up to the tree where he had fastened the end of his line, and to his delight saw that the branch was rising and falling as a fish on the hook tugged to get away.
"Hi! Joe! Got one!" he shouted; but before the lad could reach him he had the line in his hand and was hauling, sore as his fingers were, a heavy fish toward the sh.o.r.e. Then with a cry of disappointment he pulled in the line easily enough, for the fish was gone.
They returned to the spot where Brazier and Shaddy stood, near the captured alligator.
"Good six feet long, Rob," said Brazier, who had measured it by taking two long paces. "Something like a catch, Giovanni. Can you get the fish out of its jaws, Naylor?"
"Oh yes, I think so, sir."
"Mind, for these creatures are very retentive of life."
"Oh yes, I know "em, sir. I"ll get the chopper and take his head off first."
"But we are not going to eat that fish now, Mr Brazier, are we?"
"Well, I don"t know, Rob. If it is well washed and skinned, it cannot be any the worse, and we have nothing else in the way of fish or meat."
"Wrong, sir," said Shaddy, making a very wide smile; "look at that."
He pointed toward the top of the little clearing where the boatman had forced his way in amongst the tangled growth, and gone on hewing his way through bush, thorn, vine, and parasitical growth, to reappear just in the nick of time with the bustard-looking bird hanging from his left hand, dead.
"Says he had to go in a long way," said Shaddy, after a short conversation with the man, who, weary though he was with his exertions, immediately set to work by the fire picking the bird and burning its feathers, with the result that the Europeans of the little expedition confined themselves to the windward side of the fire till the man had done.
"Never had such a delicious supper before in my life," said Rob two hours later, as they sat in the boat eating oranges and watching the gorgeous colours of the sky.
"Think this place "ll do, sir?" said Shaddy, after washing down his repast with copious draughts of _mate_ made by his men.
"Excellently, Naylor."
"And you ain"t hardly begun yet," said Shaddy, smiling. "Wait till you get higher up, where it"s wilder and wonderfler: this is nothing. Suit you, Master Rob? Never had such fishing as that before, did you?"
"Never, Shaddy; but what did you do with the alligator and the fish?"
"My lads cut all off as the "gator hadn"t had down his throat, and tumbled the other into the stream. Ain"t much of him left by this time."
The night came on almost directly after, with the remarkable tropical absence of twilight; and, as if all had been waiting for the darkness, the chorus of the forest began. Then, well making up the fire with an abundance of wood, the boatmen came on board, and immediately settled themselves down to sleep.
CHAPTER TEN.
THE WONDERS OF THE WILDS.
It was a weird hour that next which was pa.s.sed with the fire sending up volumes of smoke, followed by glittering sparks which rose rapidly and looked like specks of gold-leaf floating away over the river, red now as blood, now orange and gold, as the fire blazed higher and cast its reflections on the rapid stream.
The bright light had a singular attraction for the birds, which came skimming round and swooping through the dark smoke, small birds with bright wings, and large-headed owls with soft silent pinions; these latter every now and then adding their mournful cries to the harsh screeching, whirring, drumming, throbbing, and piping of bird, insect, and reptile which mingled with the fine, thin, humming _ping_ of the mosquitoes and the mournful fluting of the frogs.
No one spoke for a time, the attention of three of the party being taken up by the novelty of their position and the noises of the forest, for though they had pa.s.sed many nights on the river and listened to the cries on the farther sh.o.r.e, this was their first experience of being right in among these musicians of the night as they kept up their incessant din.
"Can you tell what every sound is that we hear, Shaddy?" whispered Rob at last.
"Nay, hardly; some on "em of course," said their guide. "You know many of them too already, though they get so mixed up it"s hard to pick out one from the other."
"But that?" whispered Rob, as if he dared not raise his voice, and he started violently, for there was a splash close at hand.
"Didn"t mean that fish, did you, sir? That won"t hurt you here so long as you don"t walk overboard in your sleep."
"No, no, I didn"t mean that; I meant that bellowing noise. You heard it, didn"t you, Mr Brazier?"
There was no reply.
"Sleep," said Shaddy gruffly.
"Joe, you heard that bellowing down the river there?" whispered Rob.
Again there was no reply.
"Sleep too," growled Shaddy. "Well, don"t you know what that was?"
"No."
""Gator. Don"t suppose he thinks it"s bellowing. Dessay he"d call it a song. There it goes again. Comes along the river as if it was close to us. But there, don"t you think you"ve done enough for one day, and had better do as the rest are doing? We"re the only two awake."
"But what about keeping watch?" said Rob, rather excitedly.
"Oh, I don"t know as there"s any need to keep watch here, my lad," said Shaddy coolly.
"What, not with all kinds of wild and savage beasts about us, and monstrous reptiles and fishes in the very water where we float! Why, it seems madness to go to sleep among such dangers."