“I am,” replied Mr. Snodgrass. “I particularly want a pink butterfly with blue and gold wings.”
“We knows whar to find him!” exclaimed the foremost paddler. “We’ll show yo’ if yo’ uns’ll come along.”
“I wouldn’t go with them if I were you,” said Mr. Seabury in low tones. “They may be very treacherous.”
[CHAPTER XIX]
A PLOT FOILED
“Wait until I speak to them,” replied Mr. Snodgrass, preparing to descend to the lower deck. “I must not lose a chance to get that butterfly.”
He was soon in conversation with the colored men, who explained they had heard of the scientist’s object from one of their number who had come from the village where the travelers had last stopped, and where the professor had talked of the butterfly.
“I hope he doesn’t allow himself to be persuaded to accompany those men,” said Mr. Seabury to the three boys. “I believe they would kill him for what valuables he carried, once they got him off in the swamp.”
“Are they as bad as that?” asked Ned.