Brazier smiled sadly as he thought of his dried-up specimens.
“Me and Mr Rob here will find plenty of some sort or another for the kitchen, so as you needn’t trouble about that. What do you say?”
“That you teach good philosophy, and I’ll take your advice. Not much virtue in it, Rob,” he said, smiling, “for we cannot help ourselves. There, I will do as you suggest as soon as we have made a few more arrangements for our stay.”
“You leave them to us, sir,” said Shaddy. “Mr Rob and I are quite strong enough crew for the job, and I saw some wonderful fine plants right at the edge of the forest yonder. I’d go and try for ’em now, sir.”
“Shaddy’s afraid that some one will come along and pick them first,” cried Rob, laughing.
“No fear, sir, unless it’s some big, saucy monkey doing it out of imitation and mischief. What do you say?”
“I say yes,” replied Brazier. “It would be wrong to despair and foolish to neglect my chance now that I am thrown by accident among the natural history objects I came so many thousand miles to find.”
As he spoke he moved off in the direction pointed out by their guide, while Shaddy chuckled directly they were alone.
“That’s the way, Mr Rob,” he said; “give him something to think about and make him busy. ‘A merry heart goes all the day; a sad one tires in a mile,’ so the old song says. Mind, I don’t mean he’s merry, but he’ll be busy, and that’s next door to it. Now then, I’m ready. Let’s get the string on and bend our bow.”