“This place will suit,” said Shaddy, “because the water will carry the hook out softly right toward the middle in this eddy, and we shan’t have to throw and knock off our bait. Ready?”
Bang!
Chapter Nine.
The Double Catch.
The sharp report was from Brazier’s piece, and as all looked round it was to see a large turkey-like bird beating and flapping the ground with its strong pinions, evidently being badly wounded.
“Ah!” cried Shaddy, “that’ll be better meat than our fish;” and dropping the line, he trotted towards the spot where the bird lay close to the edge of the forest, just as Brazier started on the same mission from his end of the opening; while quite a flock of small birds and a troop of monkeys came flying and bounding through the trees, as if to see what was the meaning of the strange noise, and filling the air with their chatterings and cries, but hardly displaying the slightest dread.
“I happened to look round,” cried Brazier, “and saw it come out from among the trees.”
This was just as he and Shaddy neared the bird, where it lay half a dozen yards from the dense mass of interwoven foliage, when, to the disgust of both, the bird suddenly rose to its feet, made a bound, and, with its wings whistling loudly, flew right in through an opening, while its would-be captors were brought up short by the to them impenetrable forest.