“Yes; the trees glide by very quickly.”
“Ay, they do, sir,” said the man, who did not take his eyes from the surface of the river before them. “I did mean to make the boys pull so that we could go down gently, but it wouldn’t be much good, and only toil ’em for nothing.”
“There’s no danger, I suppose, Shaddy?”
“No, sir, no, not much, unless we run on a sharp snag or trunk of a tree, or get swept into a corner and capsized.”
“What?” cried Rob.
“Capsized, sir. That would make an end of our expedition. Now, lads,” he shouted to the men, “pull your best.”
He gave his own oar a peculiar twist as the men obeyed, and Rob caught sight of the danger ahead for the first time. It was a huge tree which had been undermined by the water during the past few hours and fallen right out into the stream, its top being over a hundred feet from the shore and showing quite a dense tangle of branches level with the water, to have entered which must have meant wreck.
But Shaddy was too much on the qui vive, and his timely order and careful steering enabled him to float the craft gently by the outermost boughs.
They were going onward again at increased speed, when Brazier shouted,—
“Stop! I must have some of those plants.”