The change was magical. At the first cry, all dropped down helter-skelter beneath the boughs and leaves, seeking shelter; and as the falcon gave a harsh scream it was over groves that had suddenly become deserted, not a tenant being visible, except some half-dozen humming-birds, whose safety lay in their tiny size and wonderful powers of flight. Three of these, instead of showing fear, became immediately aggressive, and, darting like great flies at the falcon, flashed about it in different directions, apparently acting in concert and pestering the great bird, so that it winged its way over the great wall of trees and was gone.
But almost at the same moment a vulture appeared, with its hideous naked head and neck outstretched, making the humming-birds ruffle up again and resume their attack till they literally drove the great intruder away.
“What daring little things they are!” said Rob, who was watching the tiny bird gems with keen delight, while Brazier’s admiration was as much taken up by the clusters of blossoms hanging from a branch over the water.
“I shall be obliged to have those, Rob,” he said, pointing to the orchids. “Do you think you could get out along that bough if the boat were run in to the bank?”
“Yes,” said the boy; “but suppose I drop into the river! What then?”
“We would keep the boat under you.”
“Can’t be done,” growled Shaddy, who had been trying to force the boat back to their little camp by paddling with one oar over the stern. “’Bliged to ask you, gentlemen, to take an oar apiece. Stream runs mighty fast here.”
Rob seized an oar, and Brazier followed suit, at the same time glancing toward their last night’s halting-place to see if their men were within reach to come and row and enable him to make an effort to obtain some of the green, bulbous-looking stems and flowers of the lovely parasite which had taken his attention. But they were as unobtainable as if they were a hundred miles away, for it would have taken them days to cut a way to opposite where the boat was now being held against the swift stream, and even when they had reached the spot it would have been impossible to force her in through the tangled growth to the shore.
“Now together, gentlemen!” growled Shaddy. “Keep stroke, please. Pull hard.”
They were already tugging so hard that the perspiration was starting out upon Rob’s brow, and in that short row, with Shaddy supplementing their efforts by paddling with all his might, they had a fair sample of the tremendous power of the stream.