“Do it no end of good to stop like that till to-morrow,” said Shaddy. “It would be pretty nigh stiff and hard by then.”
“But I don’t want it stiff and hard,” cried Rob. “I want it soft, like a leather rug.”
“Yes, sir, I know,” replied the guide. “Let’s get it dry first; I can soon make it soft afterwards.”
Brazier was looking round the open patch of slightly sloping ground, about half an acre in extent, forming quite a nook in the forest through which the river ran.
“There is plenty of work here for a day or two,” he said; “and it is a suitable place for our halt.”
“Couldn’t be better, sir. We shan’t find another so good.”
“Then we’ll stop for one day, certain.”
“’Cording to that, then,” said Shaddy thoughtfully, “we’d better take the carkidge somewhere else.”
“Of course—get rid of it or bury it. Before long in this sun it will be offensive. Why not throw it in the river?”
“That’s what I meant to do, sir; but I was a bit scared about drawing the ’gators about us. Don’t want their company. If they see that came from here they’ll be waiting about for more. I dunno, though; perhaps the stream’ll carry it down half a mile before they pull it under or it sinks.”