Shag looked wise at this remark, and wagged his tail. He evidently agreed with Harry.
“Well, you all look like drowned rats,” laughed Lady Vane; “fortunately you have each got a change of clothing. Run, Mary, and do you dear boys go and get changed, while the Indians bring this dreadful-looking monster to the raft. It must be skinned, and kept as a trophy by Mary the discoverer.”
CHAPTER XXII.
It was a glorious morning when the search party embarked on the raft two days after the capture of the mammoth river-serpent, to which Mary the discoverer had given the name of the demon-snake. Of course the creature had been skinned, and his shining, scaly coat was pegged out in the hot sun, which soon dried it up without any further curing being necessary. Then it was neatly rolled and tied up by the Indians, and placed on one of the pack-horses.
It had been decided to drive these horses, and all the other ones as well, another ten miles or so, where Piñone reported rich pasturage to abound, and turn them loose thereon under the care of their bell mare, a steady old lady, so called because she always wore a bell around her neck, the tinkling of which while she fed kept the rest of the herd together. She was pretty well to be trusted not to stray away from these plentiful feeding grounds, and the Indians knew that the others would not leave her.
No sooner, therefore, had the animals been committed to her care, and the saddles and the rest of the equipments stacked in the centre of the raft, than every one embarked, and the punters set to work to propel the craft up stream. Harry and Topsie, and indeed all the others, were looking out eagerly for the white Trauco settlement, through which Piñone had told them they would pass that day. He had no idea what their reception would be, however; and after consultation with Sir Francis, it was decided to lay to some two miles before the spot was reached, and to send a spy party to reconnoitre, and to see if danger lay ahead. If it was ascertained that the station was quiet, a forward movement could be made at once, but if a large number of Traucos were discerned to be in temporary possession of the locality, it was deemed prudent to delay an advance until they had proceeded on their way. The fact was, that Sir Francis wished, if possible, to avoid collision with these strange people, of whose humanity he had little doubt. He had not forgotten the pathetic death of the Trauco who had stolen Topsie, while the splendid courage and self-sacrifice of the Trauco queen, had raised her people in his estimation high above the realm wherein the brute creation dwells.
Thus, when they had proceeded up the river for several hours, Piñone called a halt, and the raft was paddled to land and made fast in the shade of the forest, and under the overhanging branches of a great tree. He then selected to accompany him, Harry and Topsie, Aniwee, Graviel, and two of his Indian followers, and with a caution to Sir Francis to be on the qui vive, the Indian chief stole noiselessly forward, with Aniwee and his two white friends beside him, and the others following closely in the rear.