“Well, Rob,” he cried, “is this good enough for you? Will the place do?”
“Do?” cried Rob. “Oh, I feel as if I do not want to talk, only to sit and look at the trees. There, ain’t those orchids hanging down?”
Brazier raised a little double glass which he carried to his eyes, and examined a great cluster of lovely blossoms hanging from an old, half-decayed branch projecting over the river.
“Yes,” he cried, “lovely. Well, Naylor, how soon are we to land or run up some creek?”
“Arter two or three days,” said the guide.
“But hang it, man, the bank yonder is crowded with vegetable treasures.”
“What! them?” said Shaddy, with a contemptuous snort. “I don’t call them anything. You just wait, sir, and trust me. You shall see something worth coming after by-and-by.”
“Well, run the boat in closer to the shore, so that I can examine the plants as we go along. The water looks deep, and the wind’s right. You could get within a dozen yards of the trees.”
“I could get so as you might touch ’em, sir. There’s plenty of water, but I’m not going no closer than this.”
“Why?”