“Hadn’t we better shift our quarters?” said Brazier.
“Yes, do,” said Joe eagerly; “I hate snakes.”
“Nobody’s going to jump through that tree and ’sturb ’em, so I don’t s’pose they’ll ’sturb us. You see, they’re a curious kind o’ beast, which is all alive and twine for a day or two till they get a good meal, and then they go to sleep for a month before they’re hungry again. It’s wonderful how stupid and sleepy they are when they’re like this. It takes some one to jump on ’em to rouse ’em up, like Mr Rob did.”
“Well, we must chance it,” said Brazier; and they seated themselves to their al fresco supper, over which Rob forgot his fright—his appetite returning, and the novelty of the position making everything delightful, in spite of the discomfort of their seat. For all around was so new, and there was a creepy kind of pleasure in sitting there by that crackling fire eating the delicious, hot, juicy birds, and all the while listening to the weird chorus of the forest, now in full swing.
Rob paused in the picking of a tasty leg, deliciously cooked, and sat in a very unpolished way listening to the curious cries, when, raising his eyes, they encountered Brazier’s, who was similarly occupied.
“We’ve come to a wild enough place, Rob, my lad,” he said; “but I don’t think we wish to change.”
“Oh! no,” said Rob, in a whisper. “One can’t help being a bit frightened sometimes, but it is grand even if we see nothing more.”
Shaddy uttered a low, jerky sound, which was meant for a laugh.
“See nothing more, lad!” he cried. “Why, look here, you may go hundreds of miles to the south, the west and the north, and it’s all savage land that man has hardly ever crossed. Don’t you think there’s something more to be seen there? Why, who knows but what we may come upon strange wild beasts such as nobody has ever set eyes on before, and— Why, what’s the matter with our young skipper?”
Joe was opposite to him, staring wildly, his eyelids so drawn back that he showed a circle of white around the irises, and his lips were apart from his teeth.