“Why, Brace,” said Sir Humphrey, as they glided gently along, gun in hand, watching the steep slope of cliff on their left, everywhere beautiful and in places almost perpendicular and awful in its grandeur, “this is the most beautiful part of the country we have seen.”
“Don’t talk,” said Brace, in a low tone of voice. “I seem to want to watch.”
“But don’t forget about the cooking,” said Briscoe, suddenly raising his gun to his shoulder. “Look out, Brace, up yonder, and watch the bushes on that shelf of rock.”
He fired twice the next moment, and half a dozen large birds rose to fly across the river, one of which fell to Brace’s gun; while, the boat being run close under the rocky face of the cliff, a couple of men climbed out and crept up among the bushes, where they found that Briscoe had shot three large turkey-like birds, which would form a welcome addition to their larder.
During their steady glide on, half a dozen more good-sized birds of similar and different kinds were brought down from where they were feeding upon the fruits and berries, the men’s spirits rising with their success as much as from the beauty of the winding gorge, so that the evening’s camping was looked forward to with eagerness, while the captain’s declaration that they were getting beyond the influence of the flood was received with a cheer.
“You see, gentlemen, it’s like this: the flood has been acting like the tide in a river which has kept back the regular flow here, and it strikes me that before we have gone many miles farther the stream will have grown slacker and slacker till it comes almost to a standstill, and to-morrow some time we shall have it against us once more.”
“Unless we turn into another stream and so get back a fresh way,” suggested Brace. “It is a wonderful network of water.”
“Maybe,” said the captain; “but we don’t want to lose our bearings.”
“We couldn’t if we kept on going down stream. We must reach the sea somewhere.”
“That’s right enough,” said the captain drily; “but I don’t want to reach it somewhere. I want the way that leads by my brig.”