be right, for when the course of the trees had been
followed for about four miles, the party found themselves upon a marshy
patch of a vivid green, the trees they had followed ending at the very
edge. Pools of clear water were plentiful, and the banks and swampy
ground between them and the lakes were rich in deep green succulent and
coarse reeds and grassy patches such as cattle delight in.

A dry slope some fifty feet above the swamp was soon selected for the
temporary halt--a place which proved to be quite free from reptiles; and
here the mules were unladen, the fire was lit, and the boys joined
eagerly in the culinary preparations, all being eager to help in the
preparation of the evening meal.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

PEACE AND PLENTY.

"What do you think of this, boys?" said Griggs, at sunrise the next
morning.

"Splendid!" cried Chris.

"Glorious!" shouted Ned. "Oh, bother the old gold and the tramping
through choking deserts. Come along, Chris."

"Here, what are you going to do?" cried Griggs.

"Swell ourselves out again," replied Chris. "I'm dried-up like a stalk
with all that miserable tramping, and I shan't come right again till
I've been in for an hour."

"In where?"

"Why, in that big pool. You listen. You can hear me crackle with the
salt and dust caked over me. I'm afraid to laugh, for fear I should
crack my skin."

"Get out! But a good wash will be a treat. I say, though, that place
looks deep. You can both swim very well?"

"Oh, tidily--eh, Ned?"

"I should think so!"

"That's all right then," said Griggs; "but how about--"

"About what?" cried Chris, for the American stopped.

"The anacondas and alligators and snapping turtles and garfish with
teeth sharp as sharks?"

"Oh, I say," cried Ned, with his face contracting as he glanced at the
smooth clear waters of the largest pool in sight. "You don't think
there's anything of that sort in there, do you?"

"I dunno. Haven't given it a thought," replied the American.

"Come along," cried Chris; "he's laughing at us."

"Not I," said Griggs.

"Anacondas," said Chris thoughtfully. "Yes, they are the big
boa-constrictor-like chaps that half live in the water, and lay hold of
anything that goes in. No, it's all stuff, Ned. They don't live here;
they're in South America. There's nothing to mind."

"I don't know so much about that," said Griggs. "What about alligators
and snapping turtles? There's safe to be plenty of