more, some old, and some young, gambolling about and playing all
sorts of pranks. No sooner did they catch sight of us than they
stopped, and scampered off helter-skelter, the old ones catching hold of
the young ones in their arms, all equally anxious to make their escape.
Some took prodigious leaps, catching the branches with their long tails,
and, after a swing or two, throwing themselves to another branch, and so
made their way amid the boughs till the whole of them were quickly lost
to sight. They, however, had not gone far, when Tom's quick eyes
detected several bushy faces grinning out from among the boughs where
they had concealed themselves. We paddled on a short distance and then
remained quiet, when in a few minutes, first one bolder than the rest
came out from his hiding-place, and then another, and another, uttering
sharp cries; presently the whole troop came back, and began amusing
themselves as before, the spot for some reason or other suiting their
tastes. It was great fun, I confess, and Tom and Gerald enjoyed it
immensely. They declared that the monkeys were the same fellows who
came to look at them and had threatened, as they supposed, to make them
prisoners. I had paddled for some distance into the forest when I
considered that it was time to turn back, for the sun was getting low;
it was just possible that I might lose my way, and I suspected it would
be no easy matter to find it in the dark. How far the water might
extend over the country I could not tell, probably for miles and miles.
I had begun, as I believed, to direct the head of the canoe towards the
brig, steering by the rays of the sun, which still came across the
forest and struck the topmost boughs of the trees, of which I
occasionally caught a glimpse, when presently Tom caught sight of some
tempting fruit like plums, which hung from the branches almost within
our reach. I tried to get at them with my paddle by standing up in the
canoe. On finding this impossible, Tom and Gerald volunteered to climb
along the branch, when they managed to get hold of a good number, which
they threw into the canoe, though, by-the-bye, they very nearly toppled
down head foremost into the water when making the attempt. I tried the
plums and found them excellent. Knowing how welcome they would be on
board, we took as many as the canoe would hold: no one enjoyed them more
than Spider, who munched away at them with amazing gusto, till his
masters decla