The first range passed, they began to descend into a valley. Here the oranges, bananas and other tropical fruit grew in profusion, and in the brush could be seen numerous wild coffee berries just turning a beautiful red. The boys tasted them, to find them very bitter; "not a bit like cooked coffee," as Don put it.
"It's the ripeness and roasting that brings out the flavor," said Robert Menden.
Presently they came to a mountain torrent, all of twenty feet wide and ten to twelve feet deep. There was no bridge, but a large palm tree lay from bank to bank, and over this they made their way, one following the other.
"What about horses here?" questioned Leander. "You don't mean to say they walk this sort of a tight-rope."
"No, horses go up de water and walk on rocks," answered Carlos Remora.
Danny was the last to set foot on the tree, the others being some distance ahead. He was over the very center of the stream when a large bird, flying from some nearby bushes directly past his face, startled him. He uttered a yell, and turning around, the others were just in time to see him slip from the tree and disappear with a splash into the swirling stream below.
CHAPTER XVII.
IN WHICH DANNY IS RESCUED.
"Danny has fallen into the river!"
"Danny! Danny! can you save yourself?"
"The little fellow will be drowned!"