till, having reached what he considered to be a satisfactory position,
he pointed upward, and from behind the tree where we were ensconced I
looked among the branches far overhead, and for the first time saw one
of those wonderfully plumaged creatures--the birds of paradise.

I could have stopped there for long, gazing at the beautiful creatures
with their fountain-like plumage of pale gold, but time would not permit
of my lagging behind, and to Jimmy's great disgust I hurried back, and
determined that no object should lead me away from the great aim of our
journey.

The turkey was ample as a meal for us, but we wanted food for our
followers, so as to husband our flour and biscuits. Birds were all very
well, but we wanted to kill something more substantial, and for a long
time past we had seen no sign of deer, though traces of buffalo were
pretty frequent in spots where they had made a peculiar track down to
the river, evidently going regularly to quench their thirst.

The sight of the buffalo tracks formed the subject of a discussion.
Fresh meat was wanted for our followers, who made very light of birds,
and one of these animals would have been invaluable to us just then; but
the doctor decided that it would not be prudent to follow them, they
being rather dangerous beasts, and therefore, though the meat would have
been so useful both for present use and to dry in the sun, we gave up
the idea of trying to obtain any, preferring to trust to finding deer,
and continued our journey.

We had gone very little farther, and I was just about to propose to the
doctor that we should venture as far as the river and try for some fish,
when there was an alarm given by the native who was leading, and in an
instant loads were thrown down and every man sought refuge in a tree.

We did not understand the natives' words, but their actions were easy
enough to read, and all followed their example, the doctor and I getting
up into the same tree, one which forked very low down, and we were just
in safety when we heard a cry, and saw that Jack Penny was in
difficulties. He too had climbed part of the way into a tree, when he
had slipped, and in spite of all his efforts he could not at first
contrive to get back; and this was just as a rushing noise was heard,
that I thought must be a herd of buffalo, but, directly after, a drove
of small wild pig came furiously charging down.

My attention was divided between the sight of the pigs a