“You will get a chance to read about what we have accomplished and that will be easier than staying here,” one chap laughed.
“Gosh, a fellow would like to live half a dozen lives to take in all the good things that are going on,” said Bob.
“Great age we’re living in, but even a bug can teach us no end.”
“We are going all the way around, so we’d better start,” Howard reminded them, so with a sigh, Caldwell tore himself away, and presently the three were back in the launch, chugging off from the shore and its interesting workers. They made two more stops before they reached the branch stream, where the researchers were all stationed on high scaffolds.
“Their stuff went to camp yesterday, so you wouldn’t see anything different,” Howard told them and they chugged by. The branch was so narrow and winding that it took all his skill to pilot his boat, and the boys were thrilled with the wonders all about them.
There were hundreds of great vines, heavy with fruit and flowers, enormous interlocking trees through which birds of brilliant plumage flashed swift as streaks. Some of them called hoarsely to the boatmen, while others, far back, paused in their flight to trill their own sweet melodies. Hundreds of monkeys of all sizes chattered at them or swung from branches with inquisitive glances, and twice, impudent rascals threw pieces of wood defiantly after them. They saw a couple of little fellows leaping along the shore evidently curious about the great rollers the boat left behind it, but when one extra large wave swept over the leader, he leaped to the nearest tree and scolded roundly.
“You were looking for it,” Bob chuckled.
“Like to take one home?” Howard asked. “The boys have caught a few, but they usually let them go.”
“I’d rather leave them here where they belong,” Bob answered. “I do not believe they would take to an airplane.”
“Oh, you don’t? That’s where you are wrong. The pilot who went to Jamaica found one stowed away in his bus when he first came down, and he’s been with him ever since. The little pest won’t leave the machine as long as he has his aviation suit on.”