hat you must be very careful to act
according to my rules and regulations, for an infringement might bring
peril to us all."

"Yes, father."

"And yet you took upon yourself to go down there to bathe in that swift,
strange river, and took your brother and cousin."

"Yes, father. I see it was wrong now, but it seemed a very innocent
thing to do."

"Innocent? You could not have been guilty of a more wild and mad act.
Why would not the captain allow bathing when we were in the tropics?"

"Because of the sharks; but there would not be sharks up here in this
river."

"Are there no other dangerous creatures infesting water, sir?"

A horrified look came into Norman's eyes, and the colour faded out of
his cheeks.

"What!" he said at last, in a husky voice, "are there crocodiles in the
river?"

"I had it on good authority that the place swarmed with them, sir; and
you may thank God in your heart that my enterprise has not been darkened
at the start by a tragedy."

"Oh, father!" cried the boy, catching at the captain's hand.

"There, it has passed, Man," said the captain, pressing the boy's hand
and laying the other on his shoulder; "but spare me such another shock.
Think of what I must have felt when German told me you boys had come
down to bathe. I ought to have warned you last night; but I cannot
think of everything, try as I may. There, it is our secret, boys. Your
mother is anxious enough, so not a word about this. Quick, get on your
clothes, and come on to breakfast.--Jack, old fellow," he continued, as
he walked slowly back, "it made me feel faint as a woman. But mind
about the firing. We did not hit anything. They will very likely ask."

As it happened, no questions were asked about the firing, and after a
hearty breakfast, which, in the bright morning, was declared to be
exactly like a picnic, they started once more on what was a glorious
excursion, without a difficulty in their way. There was no road, not so
much as a faint track, but they travelled on through scenery like an
English park, and the leader had only to turn aside a little from time
to time to avoid some huge tree, no other obstacles presenting
themselves in their way.

German, the captain's old servant, a peculiarly crabbed man in his way,
drove the cart containing the tent, provisions, and other immediate
necessaries; Uncle Munday came last on horseback with his gun instead of
a riding-whip, driving the cattle and spare horses,