“That we ain’t, sir. I know you’re not, and if you’ll show me what I can do more than I did last evening and afternoon to find the poor boy, here’s Shadrach Naylor ready to risk his life any way to save him. But set me to do it, for I can’t see no way myself. Can you?”
Rob was silent, and Brazier shook his head.
“You see, it’s like this, sir,” continued Shaddy: “people as have never been in these woods can’t understand what it means, when it’s just this: Shut your eyes and go a dozen yards, turn round, and you’re lost. There’s nothing to guide you but your own footsteps, and you can’t see them. You may live for a few days by chewing leaves, and then it’s lie down and die, wishing you were a monkey or a bird. That’s the truth, gentlemen.”
“Then you give up in despair, Naylor?” said Brazier angrily.
“Not I, sir—not the sort o’ man. What I say is, we can’t do no good by wasting our strength in looking for Mr Joe. We’ve got to try and save our own lives by stopping where we are.”
“And what shall we do first?”
“Use our brains, sir, and find something to eat, as I said afore. There’s fruit to find, fish, birds, and monkeys to catch. Snakes ain’t bad eating. There’s plenty of water, and— Oh, we’re not going to die yet. Two big men and a small one, and all got knives; so come along, and let’s see what we can do.”
Shaddy turned to the fire, taking out his knife and trying the edge.
“First thing I want, Mr Rob, is a bit of hard half-burnt wood—forked bit, out of which I can make a big fish-hook, a long shank and a short one. It must be hard and tough, and— Why, hullo! I didn’t see these here before.”
“What?” asked Rob and Brazier in a breath, and their companion pointed down at the earth.