“We heard that it came here under another leader,” Jim remarked.
“It did, and believe me, it won’t be long before the present incumbent gets his walking papers. That’s one thing the pilot is going to engineer in Jamaica, because Martin is a bad man. He thinks he knows everything, won’t listen to anyone, and has caused more trouble in a few weeks than we’ve had in the two years we’ve been here,” he told them.
“Too bad he’s such a die-hard,” said Jim.
“Now, here we are. Look ahead there, I’ll go a bit slow. See that scaffolding way up high?” He pointed to the right and the boys saw the framework above a thick roof of foliage, and even as they watched, could see a couple of men moving slowly along it and apparently examining something with magnifying glasses.
“Are they getting specimens?” Jim asked.
“Yes. They have discovered that insect life exists in layers. The bugs that live above that foliage screen are different from those below it, and in a place as high as that, there are sometimes several species in the woods underneath.”
“Expect they get some wonderful butterflies,” said Bob, who had a fine collection of his own at home.
“Indeed they do. You can see them before you go. They have dozens of cases, and have already sent crates of them to the museums all over the world.” They passed this first station, and then putting on more speed went rushing swiftly over the water, which was dark green and very deep. The boys were intensely interested in this part of the trip, and when the men in the stations noticed the boat, they shouted to Howard and waved greetings to the visitors.
“Do they mind being away off alone?” Jim asked.
“Reckon they get homesick sometimes, but there are radios, and that sort of thing in camp, and when the job is finished they will each get a good vacation to make up for such a lot of hard work. Here we can go ashore.” Howard ran the boat close to the land, made it fast to a sapling, and then led the way to where several men were busy collecting, assorting and classifying the lower strata of insect life. They all nodded a cheery greeting to the guests, showed them some of the exhibits, and the paraphernalia, and Bob was so interested that he wished he could spend a month with those busy fellows.