"May as well be comfortable, sir, while we are here," said Cross,
smiling. "Keep the sun off, if we don't have rain."

That night we had everything shipshape, and retired early to rest, to
enjoy a delicious sleep, which only seemed to last ten minutes before I
opened my eyes to find it was morning once more, and I lay wondering
what it was that Cross had lost, for it seemed to me in my half-wakeful
state that I heard him say:

"Well, no more bones about it; you had it last, and you must find it."

I could not speak till I had made an effort and sat up, and then I was
wakeful enough for the words to come.

"What have you lost?" I asked.

"My axe, sir, and I can't get along without that. It's a whole bag of
tools to me. Pete had it last thing to chop some wood, and he says he
laid it down inside the hut; but it aren't here now, and he's got to
find it."

"I can't find it, Master Nat," said Pete dolefully; "he must have took
it away and laid it somewhere else himself. Seems such a pity, it do."

"What, to take the axe?" I said.

"Nay--I meant to have a bother about that, and spoiling the holiday. I
know the best way to find a thing like that," he added triumphantly.

"How?" I asked.

"Don't look for it, and then you're sure to find it when you least
expect."

But the axe was not found then, and it was soon forgotten, for we were
too busy searching the sides of the wonderful gorge, going day after day
for miles on one side exploring the nooks and crannies, and another day
wading across the river to explore the other side.

But though we discovered and shot numbers of the most beautiful birds,
many of them quite new to both, we saw no sign of those we sought, and
at last my uncle had decided that we must move a few miles higher, when
a discovery was made which sent a thrill of hopefulness through us, and
we began exploring and shooting more eagerly than ever, devoting each
morning to the task and the evenings to skinning and preserving, till
our selection of beautiful skins began to grow to an extent far greater
than we had intended.

Meanwhile we had been living a gloriously free and happy life;
expeditions had been made twice to the boat for more necessaries, which
were supplemented by an abundant supply of birds and fishes, the upper
waters being so full of the latter that it was an easy task of a morning
for Pete and me to catch enough for a meal.

But we had a few unpleasant experiences. Twi