-shell. The trio therefore put their few belongings into her, not
forgetting the two fine emeralds and the gold scales taken from the
idol, embarked, and resumed their journey.

They were now on the headwaters of a river which had its rise somewhere
on the eastern slope of the Andes; and the water was icy cold, being in
fact nothing but the drainings from an enormous glacier which could be
seen, some forty miles away, clinging to the side of a majestic peak
that towered nearly twenty thousand feet into the deep blue of the
tropic sky. But that was a blessing rather than otherwise, for although
they were not yet down among the plains the weather was intensely hot--
they being now immediately under the equator--and the coldness of the
water helped somewhat to mitigate the stifling heat between the two
great walls of forest which bordered the river on either hand.

No sail was needed, for they were now travelling with the stream, which,
being as yet little more than a mountain torrent, ran rapidly, so that a
paddle over the stern to keep the craft in midstream was all that was
necessary. But although the stream ran at the rate of fully six miles
an hour their progress was not by any means as speedy as one might at
first suppose, for rapids occurred at frequent intervals, and if these
were found to be impassable it became necessary to carry the canoe past
them through the forest. This plan, however, was only resorted to in
extreme cases, for if, upon examination, it was deemed at all possible
to shoot the rapids, they were shot; and as this sometimes happened as
often as three or four times a day, the adventurers soon acquired a
degree of dexterity in the art that they would have regarded as
perfectly amazing at the beginning of their journey.

On the evening of the fifth day of their journey down the river they
chanced to camp at a spot which afforded them an exceptionally fine view
of the mountain range to the westward; and when on the following morning
they rose to prepare for the day's journey they saw that a terrific
thunderstorm was raging about halfway up the eastern slope of the range.
It was a magnificent sight, the clouds, black as night below, but
brilliantly illuminated by the sun above, clinging to the mountain spurs
in enormous masses which rolled together, parted, and rolled together
again like charging squadrons, while the lightning, keen and vivid as
molten steel, incessantly darted from their black br