“See,” he added, “the bridge has never yet been repaired.”
Then they went slowly and sadly away, for Tandy felt sorry indeed to witness the grief of his companion.
“How he must have loved him!” he thought. But he remained silent. Grief is sometimes far too deep for sympathy.
They saw many little pigs to-day and rabbits also, as well as a species of pole-cat. But having still plenty of provisions on board they did not hamper themselves by making a bag.
Higher up the stream now they went, and after a time found a place that could be easily forded, the river meandering through a green and pleasant valley, studded here and there with fragrant shrubs and carpeted with wild flowers.
Monster butterflies darted from bloom to bloom—as big as painted fans they were, and radiantly beautiful; but still more beautiful were the many birds seen here and there, especially the kingfishers. So tame were these that they scarce moved even when the travellers came within a yard of them. Asleep you might have believed them to be till one after another, with a half-suppressed scream of excitement, they left their perches to dive into a pool, so quickly too that they looked like tiny strips of rainbow.
Dinner was partaken of by the side of the stream, and after a time they crossed the ford.
The country was rough and rolling and well-wooded, though few of the birds that flitted from bough to bough had any song; they made love in silence.
The beauty of the colours is doubtless granted them for sake of the preservation of species, for there are lizards large enough here to prey upon them, did the birds not resemble the flowers. Their want of song, too, is a provision of nature for the same purpose.
They found the country through which they passed on their way to the lake so covered with jungle, here and there, that they had to climb hills to save themselves from being lost, having brought no compass with them.