----"

At this stage Stewart smote his Job's comforter with a force and fervour
that showed him to be possessed of considerable muscular powers; then
there was peace.

Our hammocks were swung near the river, on the edge of a dense forest in
which areca and apia palms raised their stately heads among ebony and
camphor trees, and a plentiful sprinkling of wiry bamboo growths. The
foliage was so thick in places as to be almost impenetrable, and amid
the clinging underscrub the guttapercha plant and numerous others with
names unknown to us struggled for existence.

The river was here a fairly broad and oily stream, with rather a
dangerous current; below us it surged and roared over a series of jagged
limestone rocks, but higher up its course led across a plateau which
extended farther than we could guess, for the mountains faded back into
the far distance and reared their gaunt peaks above a bewildering sea of
luxurious tropical vegetation. It was these mountains we were anxious to
reach now, but how to do it promised to be a question not easily
answered.

After some consideration we decided to follow the river-channel as far
as possible, and cut off the curves by blazing a way through the thicket
with our axes. And so, on the morning following our discovery of gold,
we packed a fortnight's stores in our kits and trudged off, first taking
the precaution to sling our remaining provisions in an odd hammock from
the limb of a tall palm, where we hoped to find them on our return.
Travelling is not an easy matter in these latitudes, and we had
succeeded so far only with great difficulty and much perseverance. Where
the rivers were navigable we had usually progressed by means of hastily
constructed rafts, but the stream now flowed too swiftly to allow of
that form of transport, and we had therefore to work our passage in the
strictest sense of the word.

For three days we forged ahead, now clambering along the banks of the
swirling torrent, and again crashing through the darkened forest, using
our axes energetically. More than once, in the stiller waters between
the curves, huge crocodiles were seen disporting themselves cumbrously,
and when we approached they fixed their baleful eyes on us, and came
steadily on until the Captain stopped their leader by a well-directed
bullet. The crocodiles of this region seemed extremely ferocious, and
no sooner had one of their number been rendered _hors de combat_ than
the horrible carc