"We may as well camp right here," he went on. "It is as good a place as we can find; and while the rest of you are getting a fire going, Van and I will go into the woods a little way and get something for dinner."
This was satisfactory to all hands, so they came to a halt. Van and Jack at once left the gully and started on their mission.
They had not gone far, however, before they encountered a boy running, and behind him a half dozen savages. Both opened fire at once, and when the rescue was effected they took him back to the camp. There the latter explained that he was Joseph Hedgewood, the son of an Englishman, who had been killed by the savages, and who had left him an orphan and homeless. He was small and fair, with large, dark eyes and abundant dark hair. He wore a corduroy suit, much too large for his slender form, and his feet were encased in a pair of stout leather boots that were, however, small and shapely. All of the company looked at him quizzically, but when they perceived he was so young and tender they agreed to take him under their protection.
He, for his part, was diffident and wanted to serve them in the capacity of servant, but to that all objected.
"No, you won't," exclaimed Jack. "We have enough servants."
So he was installed as a companion, and when the first meal had passed he was as much at home as any of them.
That afternoon they proceeded onward, and when night fell they concluded to look for a suitable place to pitch their camp. Accordingly they pushed up the water course to where a gradual descent of perhaps a foot to every hundred yards became apparent.
"We will land in some beautiful valley that is inhabited solely by Amazons, see if we don't," said Prof. Drearland.
"That is yet to be found out, professor. I wouldn't make a note of it yet, if I were you," returned Jack Howard.
As far as they could see they were in a richly wooded valley.