“But it will never get up so high as this?” cried Rob in alarm, as he thought of the trees which he had seen swept down the river, forest chiefs, some of them, which had been washed out by floods.
“I hope not, sir; but we have to be ready for everything in this country, as you’ve found out already.”
This set Rob thinking as he watched the waves coming down the river, each sweeping before it a mass of verdure, pieces at times taking the form of floating islands, with the low growth upon them keeping its position just as the patches had broken away from undermined banks.
“Don’t you wonder where it all goes, Mr Rob?” said Shaddy suddenly.
“Yes; does it get swept out to sea?”
“Not it, sir. Gets dammed up together in bends and corners of the river, and makes it cut itself a fresh bed to right or left. This country gets flooded sometimes for hundreds upon hundreds of miles, so that you can row about among the trees just where you like. Ah! it would be a fine time for Mr Brazier when the flood’s at its height, for we could row about just where we liked—if we had a boat,” he added after a pause.
Just then the puma gave a savage growl.
“Here, what’s the matter with you?” cried the guide sharply.
The puma snarled again and showed its teeth, but they saw that it was staring away from the tree.
“He can see the serpent,” said Rob eagerly; and they now saw the reason, for, evidently aware of their proximity, and from a desire to escape, the great reptile was all in motion, its fore-part beginning slowly to descend the tree, the head and neck clinging wonderfully to the inequalities of the bark for a part of the way, and then the creature fitted itself in the deep groove between two of the buttress-like portions, which ran down right away from the main trunk.