me rare fine ones out here.
There, go and lie down, my lad."

"Why are you in such a hurry to get rid of me? You are watching. Can't
I keep you company?"

"Glad to have you, my lad, but I was picked out by Skipper Ossolo
because I know all about the country and the river ways, wasn't I?"

"Yes, of course."

"Very well, then. I give you good advice. You don't want to be ill and
spoil your trip, so, to keep right, what you've got to do is to eat and
drink reg'lar and sensible and take plenty of sleep."

"Oh, very well," said Rob, with a sigh. "I'll go directly."

"It means steady eyes and hands, my lad. I know: it all sounds very
wild and strange up here, but you'll soon get used to it, and sleep as
well as those Indian lads do. There, good-night."

"Good-night," said Rob reluctantly. "But isn't it nearly morning?"

"Not it, five hours before sunrise; so go and take it out ready for a
big day--such a trip as you never dreamed of."

"Very well," replied Rob, and he crept quietly back to his place under
the canvas covering, but sleep would not come, or so it seemed to him.
But all at once the mingling of strange sounds grew muffled and dull,
and then he opened his eyes, to find that the place where he lay was
full of a soft, warm glow, and Joe was bending over him and shaking him
gently.

CHAPTER FIVE.

A WATCH IN THE DARK.

"You do sleep soundly," said the young Italian merrily.

"Why, it's morning, and I didn't know I had been sleeping! Where's Mr
Brazier?"

"Forward yonder."

"Why, we're going on."

"Yes; there's a good wind, and we've been sailing away since before the
sun rose."

Rob jumped up and hurried out of the tent-like arrangement, to find
Shaddy seated in the stern steering, and after a greeting Rob looked
about him, entranced by the scenery and the wondrous tints of the dewy
morning. Great patches of mist hung about here and there close under
the banks where the wind did not catch them, and these were turned by
the early morning's sun to glorious opalescent masses, broken by
brilliant patches of light.

The boat was gliding along over the sparkling water close in now to the
western shore, whose banks were invisible, being covered by a dense
growth of tree and climber, many of whose strands dipped into the river,
while umbrageous trees spread and drooped their branches, so that it
would have been possible to row or paddle in beneath them in one long,
bowery tunnel close to