ing gives a boy a position at once in a
school. Thanks to Tony, I gained one at once, and ever afterwards kept
it. I do not intend to give an account of my school-life and
adventures, as I have more interesting matter to describe. I was placed
in the lowest class, as might have been expected. Although I knew
nothing of Latin, I was up to several things which my class-mates were
not, and as I did my best to learn, I soon caught up a number of them.
My friend Tony was in the class above me, and he was always ready to
give me any help. Though not quarrelsome, I had several battles to
fight, and got into scrapes now and then, but not often, and altogether
I believed I was getting on pretty well. Tony, my first acquaintance,
remained my firm friend. Although now and then we had quarrels, we
quickly made them up again. He used to listen with eager ears to the
accounts I gave him of my voyage, and the wonders of my native land. He
never laughed at my foreign accent, though the other boys did; but I
very soon got rid of it. I used to try to teach him Spanish, and the
Indian language, which I had learned from the servants; but I soon
forgot them myself, and had difficulty even in recalling a few words of
the tongue which I once spoke with ease.

"I say, Harry, I should so like to go out with you to that country,"
said Tony to me one day. "When you go back I must try and get my father
to let me accompany you."

I, of course, was well pleased at the proposal, and we talked for days
together of what we should do when we got out there. At last we began
to think that it was very hard we should have to wait till we had grown
big fellows like those at the head of the school, and Tony proposed that
we should start away by ourselves. We looked at the map, and considered
how we could best accomplish our object. We observed the mighty river
Amazon rising at no great distance--so it seemed on paper--from Quito
itself, and running right across the continent into the Atlantic.

"Will it not be fun paddling up by ourselves in a canoe!" exclaimed
Tony. "We will have guns to go on shore and shoot birds and beasts; and
when we grow tired of paddling we will sail along before the wind; and
we will have a tent, and sleep in it at night, and light a fire in front
of it to cook our suppers and keep off the wild beasts; and then, when
we arrive at the upper end of the river, we will sell our canoe to the
Indians, and trudge away on fo