Kitabı oku: «Jungle and Stream: or, The Adventures of Two Boys in Siam», sayfa 13

CHAPTER XVI
THE HOUSE-BOAT

The disappointment caused by the absence of the old hunter was modified by the interest in the preparations. These filled the two lads with excitement, for a journey into unknown parts in such a land as Siam was full of the suggestions of wonders.

The first thing seen to was the choice of a boat, the requirements being that it should be light, strong, drawing very little water, and well provided for the accommodation of fourteen or sixteen people, with a fair amount of room, night and day. Then there would be boxes containing stores for a week, cooking apparatus, and cases for containing the specimens of all kinds that were to be saved.

But in a country like Siam, where house-boats are necessities of domestic daily life, there was little difficulty. One of the plainest of the King's light barges was found to answer all the requirements upon being provided with a few bamboo poles and an awning, so that the forward part of the boat could be sheltered at night and during storms, for the protection of the men. The central part was covered in, according to the regular custom, with a bamboo-supported roof, and matting curtains were so placed at the sides that the whole could be turned into a comfortable cabin at night, while the after-part had its matting cover that could be set up or removed at pleasure, this portion being intended for the after rowers and servants.

Boxes and chests were selected, filled, and placed on board. There were loops for the guns and spears to be taken, and lockers for the ammunition, and at last there seemed to be nothing more that could be done, for the crew were selected by Phra, who had his favourites among the King's servants, these including men who had never evinced any dislike to the English and were always eager to attend to the wishes of their young Prince.

The time had passed so rapidly that it was hard to believe two days had slipped away before everything could be declared to be in readiness. But on the second evening nothing more seemed needed, and it was felt that they might start at daylight the next morning.

For the crew was on board to protect the stores and other things; even the stone, barrel-shaped filter fitted in a basket cover – a clumsy, awkward thing which the doctor declared to be absolutely necessary – was on board.

Harry had exclaimed against its being taken, and the doctor heard him.

"Look here, young fellow," he said, "do you know what I am going up the river for?"

"A holiday, of course," replied Harry.

"Exactly. Then do you suppose I want my holiday spoiled by being called upon to attend people who are ill through drinking unwholesome water?"

"Of course not, sir; but would any one be ill?"

"Every one would," said the doctor angrily.

Harry thought this was a sweeping assertion, but he said nothing, and the filter was placed astern.

"I wish some one would knock it over," Harry whispered to Phra. "It would go to the bottom like a stone."

"Never mind the filter."

"I don't," said Harry; "but I do mind about old Sree. Oh, don't I wish

I could have three wishes!"

"What would they be? What's the first?"

"I should have had that," said Harry. "Wishing to have three wishes."

"Well, then, what would the second be?"

"That the third might for certain be had," said Harry, laughing.

"What would the third be?"

"That old Sree would come here to-night."

"You've got your wish, then," cried Phra excitedly, "for here he comes."

"No! Nonsense!" cried Harry, who felt staggered and ready to turn superstitious.

"He is here, I tell you. Look, talking to that sentry by the gate."

"I say," said Harry, "isn't it rather queer?"

"It's rather good fortune," replied Phra.

"But after what we said."

Phra laughed.

"Why, you're not going to believe in old fables, are you?"

"No, of course not; but it did seem startling for him to turn up just as I had been wishing for him."

"Nonsense. Why, I have been wishing for him to come every hour for the last two days. Let's go and meet him. He's coming this way."

In another minute they had leaped ashore, run up the stone steps of the landing-place in front of the palace, and encountered Sree.

"Here, I say, where have you been?" cried Harry.

"I have been through the jungle and up towards the head of the little river, Sahibs, so as to find out whether it is worth your going up too."

"Well, is it?" cried Harry.

"Oh yes, well worthy," replied Sree. "No one ever goes there to hunt or shoot, and the birds are very tame and beautiful, and the river full of fish."

"Fish!" cried Harry excitedly. "There, I knew we had forgotten something, Phra. Fishing tackle."

"Yes, we must take some."

"I was coming to advise you to get a boat and go up there for two or three days to shoot, fish, and collect."

"Then you are too late, old Sree," cried Harry.

"Too late, Sahib?" said the man, whose countenance looked gloomy from disappointment.

"Yes; we're going for a week in that big boat."

"I am sorry, Sahib," said the man sadly. "I worked hard, and it took long to get through the jungle, and I had to sleep in trees. The Sahib's servant was not neglectful of his master. He is grieved that he is too late."

"Don't tease him, Hal; he doesn't like it. It hurts him. Never mind,

Sree; we wanted you to help, but everything is ready now."

"I am glad, Sahib," said the man; "but I am sorry too, for I should have liked to go as hunter with the young Sahibs."

"Does that mean you can't go?" said Harry, laughing.

"Not unless the young Sahib will take his servant," said the man sadly.

"Why, of course we shall take you," cried Harry, "and we are as glad as glad that you have come. Here, let's go to the boat, Phra. I want Sree to see everything, so as to say whether we ought to take anything else."

The old hunter brightened up on the instant, and hurried with the boys to the boat, where for the next hour he was examining arrangements and suggesting fresh places for some of the articles, so that they might be stowed where they would be handier and yet more out of the way. He was able to suggest a few more things too, notably a stout net to hang by hooks from the roof of the cabin, ready to place specimens in to dry, or hold odds and ends for common use; more baskets, and a coil of rope, and a stout parang or two for cutting a way through creepers or cane-brakes.

At last, with a smile full of content, Sree announced himself as being satisfied, and having received permission from Phra, took possession of one corner at the back of the cabin, while Harry went to see the doctor respecting starting quite early the next morning, and then returned home.

CHAPTER XVII
JUNGLE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

The heavy dew lay thick on leaf and strand, and the sky in the east was still grey, as the little party met at the landing-place, where the men were on the look-out and ready for the start; while when they pushed off and four oars sent the boat well up against the stream, past the house-boats clustered against the farther shore, nothing could have looked more peaceful and still.

The men eagerly worked at their oars in their peculiar Venetian, thrusting fashion, standing to their work; and it was a satisfaction to see that, in spite of its size and load, the boat was wonderfully light, and rode over the water like a duck.

The calmness and peace of everything was most striking as it grew lighter; and when the eastern sky began to glow, and the tips of the towers and spires of the different temples became gilded by the coming sun, both Mr. Kenyon and the doctor expressed their admiration, declaring the King's city to be after all, in spite of its lying in a flat plain, beautiful in the extreme.

Then the sun rose, shedding its glorious light around and giving everything a beauty it did not really possess. For sordid-looking boats, with nothing but a few mats hung from bamboo poles, looked as if they were made of refined gold; while the trees which fringed the water, and hung their pendent boughs from the banks, shed a wondrous lustre, as if flashing gems from every dewy leaf.

The river too, in spite of its muddy waters, seemed more beautiful than ever, and the boys were revelling in the new delight of their journey up stream, when sundry preparations being made by Mike in the extreme after part of the boat changed the bent of Harry's thoughts to quite a different direction from that of admiring the beauty of the scene through which they were passing.

It was just as his father exclaimed, —

"Are you noticing how beautiful all this is, Hal?"

"Oh yes, father, I've been looking at it ever so long. But when are we going to have breakfast?"

The doctor burst into a hearty fit of laughter, in which Phra joined, and the boy seemed puzzled.

"What is it?" he said, looking from one to the other. "Have I said something queer?"

"Very, Hal," said his father. "Getting hungry?"

"I was – terribly," replied Harry uneasily; "but I don't feel so now. I don't like to be laughed at."

"It will not hurt you, my boy. As to breakfast, you will have to wait an hour or so, till we turn out of the main stream. Then we must land at the first opening, and have a fire made ashore."

Harry nodded, and wondered how he should get over the time.

There proved to be so much to take his attention, however, that he was ready to wonder when the boat was run in between two magnificent clumps of trees soon after they had turned off into the lesser river and entered the jungle by one of its water highways.

The men sprang out, and one made the prow fast by a rope, while others scattered, parang in hand, to collect and cut up dead or resinous wood, of which a heap was soon made and set alight, the air being so still that the blue smoke rose up quite straight, to filter, as it were, through the boughs overhead, the men feeding the flames carefully till a good mass of glowing embers was produced.

Over this sylvan fireplace Mike, with a cloth tied about his waist, apron fashion, presided, and in a very short time had prepared the coffee and taken it aboard.

There had been no preparations – no hunting for provisions, to add to the toothsomeness of the breakfast; but eaten out there in the open boat, under the shade of the majestic trees, with the river gliding by, the strange cries from the jungle heard from time to time, and the attention of the lads constantly attracted to bird, insect, or reptile, they were ready to declare that they had never enjoyed such a breakfast before.

"How grand it would be to live always like this!" cried Harry.

"Beautiful," said the doctor; "especially in the rainy seasons, when you could keep nothing dry and find no wood that would burn."

"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon; "rain does damp one's enthusiasm."

"Oh, of course it would not be so pleasant then," said Harry; "but generally it would be glorious, wouldn't it, Phra?"

"I should get tired of it after a time, I think," was the reply.

"Pooh! I shouldn't. Look how the men are enjoying it."

Harry nodded towards their people, who had all landed to take their meal on shore, leaving the boat free to their superiors, and certainly the party looked very happy, squatted round the fire, in spite of the heat; while the smoke curled up in great wreaths in company with the suffocating carbonic acid gas evolved by the burning wood.

"Yes, they look happy enough, Hal," said the doctor. "They don't trouble themselves much about tablecloths or knives and forks."

In fact, the party formed quite a picture, one that it seemed a pity to disturb.

But it was disturbed, for at a word from Mike, Sree rose to dip some fresh, clear water to fill up the coffee-pot, and this done, Mike took a piece of half-burned bamboo, stirred the embers and parted them so as to make a steady place for the big coffee-pot, when there was a whirl of flame, sparks, and smoke rushing up among the boughs in a spiral, for the fire was now at its hottest.

There was no warning.

Sree had squatted down again, and Mike had seated himself, supporting himself upon one hand, leaving the other to snatch off the coffee-pot directly the brown froth began to rise with the boiling up, whenbang – rush – scatter! Something fell suddenly from high up among the boughs overhead right into the fire, and as the men turned and rolled themselves away in every direction, they were bombarded as it were, by showers of red-hot embers and half-burned sticks, which were driven after them by the object which had fallen from the tree, and was now writhing, twining, and beating the burning wood and ashes till the fire was scattered over a surface some yards across.

The matter needed no explanation; it was all plain enough. After the manner of such reptiles, a good-sized boa had tied itself up in a bundle of curves, knots, and loops on a convenient bough, after a liberal meal probably of monkey, and had been fast asleep exactly over the spot where the fire was made. It had borne heat and smoke without moving until the last stir up of the embers delivered by Mike, but this had sent so stifling a flame that the sleeping serpent had been aroused, started into wakefulness, and in the heat and suffocation fallen into the flames, to writhe in agony, turning over and over in knotty convolutions, in one spot a yard or two square.

The doctor was the quickest to grasp the position. Rising from his seat, he took down one of the ready-charged guns, and waited for a few moments till from out of the writhing knot the reptile's tail rose quivering and thrashing the ashy ground. Directly after the head appeared, some feet above the folds, dimly seen through the smoke, as it was darted angrily in different directions, the jaws opening and the creature snapping at the horrible enemy which was causing it so much agony.

It was for this the doctor had been waiting, and as the head rose a little higher and was nearly motionless for a moment, both barrels flashed out their contents; and as the concussion made the leaves overhead quiver violently, the serpent writhed and struggled frantically over and over in a knot that seemed to be always tying and untying itself, was hidden amongst the thick, reedy growth close to the river, splashed and wallowed a little in the shallow from which the reeds sprung, and then with a loud splash went clear of the growth into the dark, deep water overhung by the boughs of the trees.

Then there was an eddying and quivering where the stream glided along, and a few bubbles ascended to the surface, but though attentive watch was kept, no more was seen, the swift current having undoubtedly swept the reptile away.

"I had a good sight of its head when I fired," said the doctor. "Would you like to have snake for breakfast every morning when you lived out in the open, Harry?"

"Ugh!" ejaculated the boys together.

"Well, I'm very glad we were having our breakfast on board," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing. "Here, Michael, you need not stand staring up into the tree; there are no more snakes up there."

"Wouldn't its mate be there, sir?" said the man.

"Oh no, it isn't likely. Where is the coffee-pot?"

"Don't know, sir; but I don't want any more breakfast, thank you."

"Nonsense, man," said his master; "find the coffee-pot, and the men will rake the fire together again. There is nothing to mind now."

Mike looked anything but satisfied, going about his task unwillingly; but the men came back from where they had scattered, laughing with one another now that the scare was at an end.

"He's making a poor beginning," said Harry, on seeing their man go peering about slowly in different directions amongst the tall grass and bushes.

"Mike doesn't like snakes," replied Phra, laughing.

"Well, who does?" cried Harry. "I hate them; and it was enough to scare anybody. I know I should have jumped away fast enough. I say, look there."

"What at?"

"There's the pot, in amongst those young bamboos. No, no; there, half in the water. – Found it?"

"No, sir. It's gone," replied the man.

"Nonsense; here it is. You didn't look in the right place."

Mike came towards them, looking very sour and disgusted, as he picked up the tin vessel.

"Reg'lar spoiled," he said, examining the pot and holding it out to show that there was a big dent on one side. "Won't hold water now."

"How do you know till you try? Dip it in and see."

The pot was dipped, filled, and proved to be quite sound in spite of the hollow in its side, a fact which disappointed Mike, who prepared to make some fresh coffee by getting into the boat again, while the men laughingly collected the scattered brands and restarted the fire.

"I say, Mike," said Harry, as the man came back, "you shouldn't make a fuss about a little thing like this; it's nothing to what you will have to put up with."

Mike looked at him aghast, his face screwed up into such an aspect of dismay that the boys burst out laughing.

"Ah, it's all very well to laugh, Master Harry," grumbled the man; "but if there's going to be any more of this sort of thing, I know – "

"Know what?"

"I'm going back home."

"How?" said Harry, laughing.

"Don't ask stupid questions," said Phra, with a perfectly serious face. "He's either going to swim back with the stream, among the crocodiles, or to walk through the jungle. There are not so very many tigers there now."

"What!" gasped Mike.

"Make haste, Michael, my lad," said Mr. Kenyon. "Get the fresh coffee made and the men's breakfast over; we want to go on."

"Yes, sir; of course, sir – oh dear, oh dear! – Ah, it's all very well to laugh, Master Harry."

"Laugh! Well, it's enough to make any one laugh to see you make such a fuss over a baby snake. Wait till we come to the hundred foot long ones."

Mike gave him another look, and then hurried back to the blazing fire.

"You've spoiled his breakfast," said Phra.

"Serve him right for being a great coward. I want him to get used to such things."

Phra laughed.

"Who's to get used to such things as that? I say, look; there's one of our old friends watching us."

He pointed up to where a little grey-whiskered monkey was holding back the leaves, so as to peer wonderingly down at the party.

"I believe one could soon coax these monkeys down to be fed."

"If you put a few bananas on the top of the cabin there, they wouldn't want any coaxing; they'd come and take them."

"Yes, when we were not looking; but I mean, coax them into being tame enough to feed from one's hand."

"Might perhaps, but they're treacherous. They like to spring on any one's shoulders to bite the back of the neck. Look, look! Parrots!"

A little flock of brightly coloured, long-tailed lories flew over the river, but before a gun could be seized they had disappeared.

"Not very good ones," said Harry. "Only green."

"And sour," said the doctor.

"Sour?" cried Harry wonderingly.

"Yes, sour grapes, Hal. Why, they were lovely specimens, my boy. Look at those butterflies flitting about the flowers growing there in wreaths. Now, if this were a hard road we might get a few of them."

"We could get one of those sun-birds," said Harry, pointing to some half-dozen fluttering about the cluster of flowers dependent from a bough overhanging the stream.

"Yes, but we must wait till we have got some dry sand to use instead of shot. Mind we scrape some up from the first shallow place we reach."

The fact of the boat being motionless there by the side of the river, and all on board sitting quietly watching the abundant beautiful objects around, made the various inhabitants of the jungle on either side come out of their hiding-places and take no further heed of their presence; consequently until the men had finished their breakfast there was ample opportunity for a quiet, observant natural history study, and Mr. Kenyon remarked, —

"It is, after all, better to be content with watching nature in a place like this than shooting specimens and preserving them in a miserable imitation of the natural shape. For how poor and pitiful they are at the best."

"That's true enough," said the doctor, smiling; "but you would not make a museum of our memories."

"Why not?" said Mr. Kenyon.

"Because memory is weak, and our description of what we have seen to other people who could never by any possibility see the beautiful creatures we have encountered, would come very far short. I think that the sight of the poorest skin that we have preserved would make ten times the impression on another's mind that a month's talking could."

"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and nature is so abundant."

By this time the men had resumed their oars, and the boat was gliding rapidly up the river, the boys being ready to point out where they had shot the birds they had taken back, and seen the monkey which had watched them on their way.

So far they had met no crocodiles, but as they went higher it seemed as if, though they kept themselves out of sight, several were in the narrow river and were retiring before them, till the water growing more shallow they began to show from time to time.

The boys seized their guns upon catching sight of the two prominences which contained the reptile's eyes appearing above the surface some thirty yards ahead, but Mr. Kenyon checked them.

"Don't shoot," he said, "it is of no use to kill a few among so many."

"But suppose they attack us," said Harry.

"They will not unless driven to bay. Steer in closer to the side, Sree," continued Mr. Kenyon, "so as to give them room to retreat down the river."

The order was obeyed, the boat being kept to the left, so close in that the oars touched the tips of the hanging boughs, with the consequence that every now and then there was a loud splashing and wallowing in the water close beneath the bank, the part hidden by the pendent boughs.

"Why, they swarm under there," said the doctor.

"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and this shows how little the shooting of one or two has to do with thinning them down. By the way, boys, where was it that you had your adventure with the big crocodile and the monkey?"

Phra rose and pointed forward.

"A little farther there, on the right," he said, "where those bigger trees are hanging over the water."

The whole scene came vividly back to the pair as the boat glided on, and after a glance upward at the trees, Harry's eyes fell to scanning the water, half expecting to see the ugly muzzle of one of the great crocodiles shoot out.

This he did not see, but first one and then another made a tremendous eddy in the stream, their lurking-places being churned up by the men's oars.

"The brutes are extremely thick up here," said the doctor: "a pretty good warning that we must not attempt any bathing."

"They seem to swarm," replied Mr. Kenyon. "It is a pity they are of no use; but perhaps some day one will be found for them, – possibly their skins may be utilised."

"Skins of young ones, perhaps. These big fellows would be too horny."

As he spoke, a huge reptile rushed from a mud bank into the river with a tremendous splash, sending a wave along the surface, which made the boat rise and fall.

This time guns were seized by the boys' elders, upon the strength of the possibility of an attack; but the huge creature must have sunk at once to the bottom, for no further sign appeared.

Meantime the great, green bank of trees on either side seemed to grow more beautiful from the brilliancy of the flowers with which some of the trees were covered; while, wherever a flock of parroquets flew out, it was pretty well always a sign of fruit.

Here, too, at intervals, where there were breaks in the banks of the great timber trees, huge tufts of bamboo shot up spear-like, and showed their delicate foliage, looking at a distance so light and feathery that often enough the straight stems, which rose in places as much as sixty feet, seemed as if surrounded by a delicate haze.

It was now decided that due attention should be given to collecting and providing for the meals of so large a party; and as nothing in the shape of deer or pig had been seen, and mid-day was long passed, it was suggested that, as soon as a suitable spot was reached, the boat should be moored to some overhanging bough and the boys should try their fortune at fishing.

As soon as Sree heard this he busied himself with the basket which contained the lines, and kept a look-out for a likely pitch.

Suddenly there was a rushing of wings, and a big bird appeared – a signal for two guns to be raised, but only to be laid down again.

"Ugh! vulture," said Harry in disgust.

"Pity not to have shot it," said Phra; "it would have done to cut up for bait."

Harry's lip curled up and his nostrils dilated.

"Do you know we mean to eat the fish we catch?"

"Oh, of course," said Phra hurriedly; "I hadn't thought of that. But would it make any difference, Doctor Cameron?" he added.

The doctor laughed.

"No," he said, "I don't think we should have found the fish any the worse for it. All the same, though, I should prefer my fish not to have been fed upon the flesh of an unclean bird."

"Exactly so," said Harry's father; "but perhaps it is just as well that we should not study the food of the fish we eat. They are not very particular as to their diet. – What about that quiet, still eddy yonder, Sree?"

"Where the great tree-trunk lies in the water?" said the doctor. "No, that won't do. There must be scores of half-rotten boughs among which the fish would run and tangle up the lines."

"It would be an excellent place, Sahib," said Sree humbly. "We could tie up the boat there, and fish below it, where the stream runs in."

"To be sure," said Mr. Kenyon; "I had not noticed that little rivulet.

You are wrong, Doctor; it will be a capital place."

"Perhaps," said the gentleman addressed, "but I don't like the look of it. I feel pretty sure that we shall find a great crocodile has his lurking-place under that large tree-trunk."

"Yes, Sahib; there is one there," said Sree; "but he will go as soon as he sees the boat."

He spoke to the man in the bows to be ready to make the line fast to one of the dead boughs, which stuck up dry and swept clear of bark, showing, like its fellows, how high the flood water had raised the level of the river, for above a certain height the bark was still clinging to the branches.

It proved to be just as the old hunter had said, for as the boat was forced up to the great trunk lying in the water, there was a sudden rush, the surface was turned into a series of eddies, and a wave rolled along towards the other side of the river, indicating the direction in which the reptile disturbed had gone.

All the same the boat was made fast, and floated down stream to the full length of the rope, the men's oars were laid in, and those astern joined their companions forward, to squat together talking in a low tone and chewing betel, while Mr. Kenyon and the doctor settled themselves comfortably in the open cabin.

"Won't you fish, father?" asked Harry.

"No, my boy," he replied; "you shall fish for me."

"But you will fish, Doctor Cameron?" said Phra politely.

"No, I would rather see you," replied the doctor, and he started and caught up his gun, but laid it down once more, for the birds which had caught his eye were only crows, some half-dozen of which came up stream as if they had followed the boat, and now they had found it, settled down in one of the highest trees apparently to have a quiet chat about its object in coming up there.

Sree had been busy the while, preparing bait for the lines, which were to be used ledger fashion without rods.

Sree's bait was some very stiff paste, which he was working up out of a couple of handfuls of flour; and he made haste to explain that if the fish did not take this well, he should soon change the lure.

"But we must catch one first."

The lines were strong and the hooks tied on gimp, such as would have been used for pike-fishing at home, for the fish of the Siamese rivers had not been tried for till they were as shy as ours at home, and before many minutes had elapsed the boys each had his baited hook thrown out from the opposite side of the boat six or eight yards away, the leads sinking some six feet in the fairly clear water, and with fingers just feeling the pierced lead, they waited.

It was not the first by many times that the boys had fished together in the river, and they pretty well knew what they were likely to catch; but they were not prepared to sit beneath the hot sunshine for so long without a sign of there being fish about.

"Come, be sharp," cried the doctor banteringly. "I thought we were going to have a good fry for dinner. How soon shall I send the men ashore to make a fire?"

"Fishermen always have patience," said Harry.

"But people who want their dinner do not," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing.

"I say, Sree," whispered Harry, "they will not bite at paste."

"Pull up your line, Sahib," said the hunter.

Harry did as he was told, and Sree smiled.

"Something has eaten the bait," he said. "Didn't you feel a pull?"

"No, not the slightest."

The hook was rebaited and sent down stream again, and Phra's hook proving to be in the same unattractive state, received the same treatment; but for fully half an hour nothing was done but rebaiting and throwing in.

"We had better make a move," said Mr. Kenyon. "It is very beautiful here, but the crocodiles seem to have scared the fish away. Let's go half a mile higher."

"No, no, not yet, father," said Harry. "It seems such a capital place, and – I've got him!"

For as he spoke he felt a slight twitch at the line he held, and then all was still for a few moments. Next there was a steady draw, and the line began to pass through his fingers, while upon checking it the drag became a heavy one, and he found that he was fast in a good fish.

It was evident that a shoal had come up towards the boat, for hardly had Harry begun to haul upon his line before Phra felt the premonitory twitch, and directly after the draw upon his line.

"Now, father, had we better go higher?" cried Harry. "Oh, my word! it is a big one; the line regularly cuts my hands."

There was nothing to see but the lines cutting the water in different directions, for it was evident that the baits had been seized by bottom-loving fish, which went on fighting to keep down as low as they could.