"But after you leave the steamer? You can't shoot ivory from the boat, I presume," protested Mr. St. John.
"And what about snakes and savage tribes?" put in his wife.
"My dear Etta," replied the explorer patiently, "we will be near few savage tribes. I might almost say that there are none. As for snakes, I've seen only three deadly ones in all the years I've spent in Africa. After we leave the steamer, Tom, we'll get out of the jungles into the highlands. Burt stands just as much chance of getting killed here as there. An auto might run over him any day, a mad dog might bite him or a chimney might fall on him!"
For all his anxiety Burt joined heartily in the laugh that went up at his uncle's concluding words. The laughter cleared the somewhat tense situation, and the discussion was carried into the library. Burt saw, much to his relief, that his father was not absolutely opposed to the trip, although his mother seemed anxious enough.
"Now give us your proposition, George," said his father as they settled down around the table. "What's your definite idea about it?"
"Good! Now we're getting down to cases!" cried the explorer with a smile at his sister. "Burt, get us that large atlas over there." Burt had the atlas on the table in an instant. "Let's see—Africa—here we are. Get around here, folks!" As he spoke Mr. Wallace pulled out a pencil and pointed to the mouth of the Congo River.
"Here's the mouth of the Congo, you see. Here we step aboard one of the State steamers. These are about like the steamers plying between New York and Boston. Following the Congo up and around for twelve hundred miles, roughly speaking, we come to the Aruwimi river. Up this—and here we are at Yambuya, the head of navigation on the Aruwimi. From here we'll go on up by boat or launch for three or four hundred miles farther, then strike off after elephants."
"But how do you get down there in the first place?" asked Mr. St. John, who seemed keenly interested.
"Any way you want to!" returned the explorer. "There are lines running to Banana Point or Boma, the capital, from Antwerp, Lisbon, Bordeaux, Hamburg, or from England. We'll probably go from England though."