“You cannot hire some of the natives to get on a train,” said the professor, while they were looking around the town. “They look upon the railroad as the invention of the Evil One. They are the ones who have retarded the progress of South America for centuries.”
At Puerto Cabello the boys witnessed some trading which was as interesting as it was amusing. An old native had brought in some pineapples which he wished to exchange in trade for some clothing. Instead of lumping the value of his stock in trade, he valued each pineapple separately and wanted to know what it would bring in exchange. Thus he gave two pineapples for a hat, three for a pair of slippers, one for a flaming red neckerchief, one for a big brass pin holding a polished bit of glass, and ten for a pair of trousers. The latter bargain was made with difficulty, the clothier taking the trousers and laying them on his counter and the native placing one pineapple after another alongside until the clothier nodded his head to show that he was satisfied. Then the native, having two pineapples left, traded them for a small bottle of cologne.
CHAPTER XXIII
A STOP AT TRINIDAD
“Off for the Orinoco at last! Now for some real fun and excitement Mark, aren’t you glad that we have left Caracas and La Guayra behind?”
“I am Frank, and I hope the trip up the Orinoco proves all we anticipate,” answered Mark, as he threw himself into a steamer chair beside his chum. “But as for excitement, I don’t think we have any reason to complain. We’ve kept a-going pretty well since we arrived.”
“So we have,” put in Darry, who was close at hand, watching the last speck of land fade from sight. “But we haven’t had any fun, in the shape of hunting, and I suppose that’s what Frank means.”
“To be sure—and fishing, too, and camping out. It’s all well enough to see the cities and towns, but I want to see more—the great river and the wonderful mountains and waterfalls, and all that.”
“I want to see the wild horses,” came from Sam. “They tell me they have any quantity of them down on the llanos, and that you can buy a horse for a dollar or two any time you want him.”
“A wild horse wouldn’t be of much account until he was broken,” said Mark. “And in trying to break him you might break your own neck. You can be sure they are not so easy to tame as our own domestic horses.”
“I want a shot at a puma or something like that,” continued Darry. He had had it all planned out for a long time—how he was going to send the skin home for a rug to place in the parlor.