ey had never had
before, when all at once, as he stood in the boat looking up stream,
after she had once more been carefully moored for the night, the guide
turned and said quietly:--

"To-morrow, long before the sun's highest, I shall get you up to the
place I mean, and, once there, you can begin business as soon as you
like."

"A river on the left bank," said Brazier, as eagerly as a boy.

"Yes, sir, one as runs for far enough west, and then goes north."

"And you think there are no Indians there?"

"I don't say that, sir, because we shall see some, I daresay; but
they'll perhaps be friendly."

"You are not sure?"

"Well, no, sir. There, the sun's dipping down; it will be heavy
darkness directly in this fog, and what we want is a good night's rest,
ready for a long, hard day's work to-morrow."

It was Brazier's turn to keep watch half the night, and at about twelve,
as nearly as they could tell, Rob rose to take his place.

"Nothing to report," said Brazier. "The same noises from the forest,
the same splashings from the river, the Indians sleeping as heavily as
usual. There, keep your watch; I wish I had it, for you will see the
day break that is to take us to the place which I have been longing to
see for years."

Saying "good-night," Brazier went into the shelter, and Rob commenced
his solitary watch, with his brain busily inventing all kinds of dangers
arising from the darkness--some horrible wild creature dropping down
from the tree, or a huge serpent, which had crawled down the branch,
twining its way along the mooring rope and coming over the bows past the
Indian boatmen. Then he began to think of them, and how helpless he
would be if they planned to attack him, when, after mastering him, which
he felt they could easily do, he mentally arranged that they would creep
to the covered-in part of the boat and slay Brazier and Giovanni.

"Poor Joe!" he said to himself. "I was beginning to like him, though he
was not English, and--Oh, Joe, how you startled me!"

For a hand had been laid upon his shoulder as he sat watching the dark
part where the Indians lay, and he started round to find that Giovanni
had joined him.

"I did not mean to frighten you," said the lad, in his quiet, subdued
way. "Mr Brazier woke me coming in to sleep, and I thought you would
be alone, and that I could come and talk to you about our journey
to-morrow."

"I'm glad you've come, but it would be too bad to let you stop.