"Of course there can be too much of a good thing; for a fellow might eat ice-cream till his throat was frozen," replied Felix.
"Almost anything becomes a bad thing when you have too much of it," added Louis. "But I think we could have stood about four more of those nice fish. What is the moral of all this, Captain?"
"With me the moral is that I have had hunting enough for the present," replied Scott. "I should like a little more variety in our daily life."
"I don't think I should care to go hunting more than one day in a week, or, at most, two," replied Louis. "We have had it right along for a week; and, as you suggest, that's too much of a good thing."
"But it was you, Louis, who went in for three weeks of it," added the captain.
"Simply because I thought it would take the Guardian-Mother and the Blanche about that time to visit Siam and French Cochin-China."
"I suppose if we had made our trip up these rivers in a sampan, we should not have got so far inland in another week," added Morris.
"I don't think we should have come up here at all if the Blanchita had not been available," said Louis. "But we are close to the mountains now, and I am in favor of a tramp on shore."
"All right; and after breakfast we will get under way, for I must attend to the navigation," replied Scott; "and I suppose Felipe has steam enough by this time."
They left the table, and Scott went to the wheel. To save time and trouble, the men took their meals in the after cabin, and the engineer had the head of the table. Both Louis and Felix had run the engine of the Maud a portion of the time on her memorable voyage from Funchal to Gibraltar, and the former was sent to the engine-room. The boat went ahead; and after passing through a section of pandanus, they came to an open lake, which they judged to be five miles long.