Brazier was silent for a few moments, and then, in a voice rendered husky by emotion, he said,--
"You are quite right, Naylor. Thank you, my man, for the lesson. I deserve 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 turned to Rob and laid his hand upon the boy"s shoulder.
"Come to the boat, Rob," he said. "I"ll sponge and strap up that little cut. Naylor spoke truly. We have much to be thankful for. I ought not to have spoken so harshly to you."
"Nor I to have been so cross, sir. It was my head hurt me, and made me speak shortly."
"Say no more now, boy. Come and let me play surgeon."
"What, for this?" cried Rob, laughing. "It"s only a scratch, sir, and doesn"t matter a bit."
But Brazier insisted, and soon after Rob"s forehead was ornamented with a strip of diachylon plaster, and the injury forgotten.
The men soon prepared a meal, and the rest of the day was spent in preparing the deer meat to keep in store; the effect of the hot sun being wonderful, the heat drying up the juices and checking the decomposition 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, and later on the latter fished from the boat, with no small success, so that there was no fear of the stores being placed too much under contribution for some days to come.
The fishing was brought to a close, and their captives hung over the side in a great bag composed of net, so that they could be kept alive ready for use when required; and this done, Rob turned to Giovanni.
"Come ash.o.r.e, Joe," he said.
Brazier looked up sharply from where he was taking notes and numbering his dried specimens of plants.
"Where are you going?" he said.
"Only to have a bit of a wander ash.o.r.e," replied Rob.
"No, no; be content with your day"s work. We shall have some supper soon, and then turn in for a long night"s rest. Besides, I don"t care for you to go alone."
"Very well, sir," said Rob quietly; "only we couldn"t go far and be lost. Shall we take Shaddy with us?"
"No; I wish you to stay in the boat this evening, and I"m going to call the men on board as soon as they have well made up the fire. There are savage beasts about, and we don"t want more trouble than we can help."
Rob looked disappointed, but he said nothing, and went right forward to where Shaddy was busy washing out one of the guns; and there the two lads sat, gazing across the green surface of lily leaves, watching the birds which ran to and fro, the gorgeous colouring of the sky, and the many 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 had made out the spot where the splash had been made, there was nothing visible but the heaving of the great lily leaves and a curious motion of their edges, which were tilted up by the moving creatures stirring amidst the stems.
"Head hurt?" said Joe at last, after a long silence, broken only by the grunts of Shaddy as he rubbed and polished away at the gun-barrel, so as to remove the last trace of damp.
"Hurt? No. Only smarts a bit," replied Rob.
"Why did you want to go ash.o.r.e 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 his enemy a poor cat. Why, the brute could have taken you and shaken you like 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"s what lions and tigers do."
"Seemed as if it was going to, didn"t it?" said Rob, who was now growing warm in the defence of the animal. "Why, it was as tame as tame, and I"m going ash.o.r.e first thing to-morrow morning to track it out and find where it lay down to die. I want its skin, to keep in memory of the poor thing. It was as tame as a great dog."
"Won"t be very tame "morrow morning if you find it not dead," growled Shaddy.
"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 Brazier fired two barrels at it, and as the shots didn"t hit you they must have hit the lion."
"Don"t follow," said Rob, with a short laugh. "Couldn"t they have hit the ground?"
Shaddy rubbed his head with the barrel of the gun he was oiling, and that view of the question took a long time to decide, while the boys smiled at each other and watched him.
"Well," said Shaddy at last, "p"raps you"re right, Master Rob. If the shots 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 want his skin I"ll go with you in the morning and track him down. I expect we 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"raps carried it miles away into the woods, and there"s no following him there."
Rob gazed wistfully across the opening now beginning to look gloomy, and his eyes rested on the figures of the boatmen who were busily piling up great pieces of dead wood to keep up the fire for the night, the princ.i.p.al objects being to scare away animals, and have a supply of hot embers in the morning ready for cooking purposes. And as the fire glowed and the shadows of evening came on, the figures of the men stood out 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 were a dozen yards from the sh.o.r.e, where a little grapnel had been dropped to hold the boat from drifting in, and once more Rob lay beneath the awning watching the glow of the fire as it lit up the canvas, which was light and dark in patches as it was free from burden or laden with the objects spread upon it to dry. From the forest and lake came the chorus to which he was growing accustomed; and as the lad looked out through the open end of the tent--an arrangement which seemed that night as if it did nothing but keep out the comparatively cool night air--he could see one great planet slowly rising and peering in. Then, all at once, there was dead silence. The nocturnal chorus, with all its weird shrieks and cries, ceased as if by magic, and the darkness was intense.
That is, to Rob: for the simple reason that he had dropped asleep.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
FOE OR FRIEND?
It was still dark when Rob awoke, and lay listening to the heavy breathing of the other occupants of the boat. Then, turning over, he settled himself down for another hour"s sleep.
But the attempt was vain. He had had his night"s rest--all for which nature craved--and he now found that he might lie and twist and turn as long as he liked without any effect whatever.