lood subsided the canoe and its occupants would have rotted
away, and no one would ever have known the fate that had befallen them."

"How do you find your way through a flooded forest, Hurka?"

"It is born in us as it is born in birds to make their way back to their
nests. It may be that a careful examination would show that the trunks on
one side are more thickly covered with creepers than the other; but we do
not need to take notice of such things, or if we notice them it is without
knowing it, as we are sure of our direction. We have seen Spanish
travellers who had the things with which they said they could direct their
course at sea, with a card that goes round and round, and always when it
is steady points in one direction. This is no doubt very useful out on the
plains or in a forest where there are no obstacles, but here where the
woods are intercepted by numberless streams and with wide swamps, such a
machine is useless to any one unless he is intimately acquainted with the
country and the course of the streams. Even Indian dwellers on the shores
of the river often, in the times of floods, get lost in the forest and
lose their lives, so changed is the aspect of everything by the water."

"It must be terrible," Stephen said, as he glanced between the trunks of
the trees at the still, dark water under the thick canopy. "Of course the
sun must be a help."

"We do not often see the sun in times of flood, senor. Rain often falls
very heavily, and even when it does not do so there is, you see, a mist in
the air rising from this vast expanse of water. Besides, it is only when
it is directly overhead that the sun's rays penetrate the foliage, and at
that time it is too high for the shadows to afford much guidance. Among
us, three shots of a gun at regular intervals is a call for aid, but in
flood time it is a useless one, for the Indians, like the wild beasts, all
leave, save when their huts are on eminences, and the chances of the shots
being heard by human ears are small indeed. To one lost in the forest at
other times it is all but certain death, but when the floods are out a man
would do wisely to fire the first shot into his own head."

Day after day they travelled on, keeping just far enough out to get the
benefit of the current without allowing themselves to be drawn towards the
centre of the river. Even this at times was very difficult, especially
when they were passing round curves, for much of the water, in