"Do so, by all means," said Mr. Paterson, when he mentioned his purpose to him. "The manatee's flesh, in spite of the creature's ugly appearance, is equal to the best pork, and we cannot have too much of it for our hungry people."
"Then I'll just do my verra best to get ye one, and maybe two, for they tell me they are in plenty up yon river," said Donalblane, pointing towards the so-called Golden River.
"Good luck to you, my lad," rejoined Mr. Paterson, patting him on the shoulder. "Be sure that the chief hunter goes with you, for the manatee can give plenty of trouble, if you do not know how to handle him."
Donalblane promised to be sure of having Raymon, whose heart he had already won by various little kindnesses, and hastened off to make arrangements for a start the following morning. He had no difficulty in securing the co-operation of Raymon, who was only too glad to join him, and who undertook to procure a canoe and two of the best paddlers in his tribe. Accordingly, at dawn of the next day Donalblane set out on his hunt for a manatee.
CHAPTER X.
THE CHASE OF THE MANATEE.
Several hours' steady paddling brought the hunting party, ere the full heat of the day, to a part of the river where the banks were densely clothed with mangroves, broken here and there by bayous, whose shallow bottoms were lush with rank vegetation.
"We get him there," said Raymon, pointing to one of these bayous. "When sun going down. Plenty of manatee in dat place."
Donalblane was impatient to begin the hunt right away; but Raymon knew his business better, and so they sought a landing in one of the cool, dark recesses of the mangrove forest, and, after eating their lunch, lay down for the inevitable siesta.