nd other _employes_,
to reach them; and the next moment they were lost in the midst of the
people who crowded out of the Fort to welcome them. This was their hour
of happiness and joy.

To me there is an hour of regret, and I hope, boy reader, to you as
well--the hour of our parting with the "YOUNG VOYAGEURS."

THE FOREST EXILES,

OR

ADVENTURES AMID THE WILDS OF THE AMAZON.

CHAPTER I.

THE BIGGEST WOOD IN THE WORLD.

Boy Reader, I am told that you are not tired of my company. Is this
true?

"Quite true, dear Captain,--quite true!"

That is your reply. You speak sincerely? I believe you do.

In return, believe _me_, when I tell you I am not tired of yours; and
the best proof I can give is, that I have come once more to seek you. I
have come to solicit the pleasure of your company,--not to an evening
party, nor to a ball, nor to the Grand Opera, nor to the Crystal Palace,
nor yet to the Zoological Gardens of Regent's Park,--no, but to the
great zoological garden of Nature. I have come to ask you to accompany
me on another "campaign,"--another "grand journey" through the fields of
Science and Adventure. Will you go?

"Most willingly--with you, dear Captain, anywhere."

Come with me, then.

Again we turn our faces westward; again we cross the blue and billowy
Atlantic; again we seek the shores of the noble continent of America.

"What! to America again?"

Ha! that is a large continent, and you need not fear that I am going to
take you over old ground. No, fear not that! New scenes, await us; a new
_fauna_, a new _flora_,--I might almost say, a new earth and a new sky!

You shall have variety, I promise you,--a perfect contrast to the scenes
of our last journey.

Then, you remember, we turned our faces to the cold and icy North,--now
our path lies through the hot and sunny South. Then we lived in a
log-hut, and closed every cranny to keep out the cold,--now, in our
cottage of palms and cane, we shall be but too glad to let the breeze
play through the open walls. Then we wrapped our bodies in thick
furs,--now we shall be content with the lightest garments. Then we were
bitten by the frost--now we shall be bitten by the sand-flies, and
mosquitoes, and bats, and snakes, and scorpions, and spiders, and stung
by wasps, and centipedes, and great red ants! Trust me, you shall have a
change!

Perhaps you do not contemplate _such_ a change with any very lively
feelings of pleasure. Come! do no