“I suppose the heat of our camp fire under the branches had something to do with it, too,” said Billy.
“Undoubtedly,” declared the captain. “And then as we sat around after supper we were, unknown to ourselves, inhaling the deadly vapor till we grew sick. Instead of moving away before we grew worse, as we certainly would have if we had known the cause of our malady, we made ourselves worse by lying down to sleep with that poisonous breath as our only atmosphere. Salloo, your lizard is vindicated, and to show you it is, the next one you shoot I’ll volunteer to eat.”
But although recovered, they still felt weak from the effects of their terrible night under the upas, whose Latin name, if any one wishes to know it, is antiaris toxicaria. In fact, their feelings were very like those of persons just getting over sea-sickness. They felt buoyantly well and happy, but not yet quite strong enough for the hard work of the trail. So they remained where they were till the next day and then pushed on once more on their quest.
CHAPTER XXXIII.—THE GIANT SPIDERS.
When they resumed their journey the next morning they encountered a new form of obstacle in the form of the webs of huge red bird-catching spiders, whose nets stretched from tree to tree in the forest, looked like seine nets in a fisherman’s village hung out to dry, or to make another comparison, miles of mosquito netting hung between the tree trunks. Through these webs they had to make their way for a long distance.
The boys did not like it at all, and Donald Judson, who was particularly averse to spiders, slunk in the rear till the natives, with shouts and yells, cut down the webs that hung across the trail. The soft silky substance of the webs struck them in the face and clung glutinously and covered their clothes with a coating of white fleece.
As they forced their way through this repulsive feature of New Guinea forest travel, they could, from time to time, see the hideous forms of the huge and venomous spiders that had spread the webs peering at them from dark retreats in the crevices of trees or else scuttling off on long, hairy legs to safety. It did not require much imagination to picture their anger at this ruthless destruction of their homes. That night they camped near the edge of a big swamp, and the two boys, weary of the monotony of the long march and tired of canned stuff and preserved goods, volunteered to set out with rifles and see if they could not bring in something more palatable.
As they had camped early when the swamp crossed their path, there was plenty of time for them to go quite a distance in search of game. In a short time they had brought down two birds that looked something like partridges, as well as shooting an odd-looking bird like a huge parrot, with a gigantic bill and horny head. They were some distance apart, separated by a brake of reeds, when Jack heard a sudden cry of alarm from Billy.
Disregarding the danger of snakes, he pushed his way through the brake at once. As he came in sight of Billy, who was standing staring into the forest as if petrified, Jack, too, received a shock. Not far from Billy was what he at first thought was a man. But such a man! Not even in a nightmare had the boy ever beheld such a hideous form.