"Wales," said the mate.
"Lane for the starboard," added Scott.
"Hobson's choice," laughed Morris, as he took the last man. "Clinch for the port; the last, but by no means the least."
"I fancy the watches will have an easy time of it; for I suppose we shall not do much running up and down these rivers, and through dark forests, in the night," suggested Louis.
"If we lie up in the night, I shall divide them both into quarter-watches, and have one man on duty all the time; for we may be boarded by a huge crocodile or a boa-constrictor if we are not on the lookout. But Achang is a pilot for these rivers. Isn't that so, Captain Bakir?"
"I have been up and down all the rivers in this part of the island, though I was not shipped as a pilot then," replied Achang, who had been the captain of a dhow, and on board the ship he had been called by his first name or the other with the title.
"All right; we shall use you for pilot or interpreter as occasion may require; and I suppose you can tell us all we want to know about the country and the people," added the captain.
Clinch, one of the ablest seamen on board, was steering the launch, and Scott kept the run of the courses; but as long as the craft had three feet of water under her, she was all right. The conversation took place in the cabin, as the explorers called the after part of the steamer, though no such apartment had been built there.
A frame constructed of brass rods, properly braced, extended the entire length of the launch. A stanchion at the bow and another at the stern, with five on each side set in the rail, supported a rod the whole distance around the craft. Another extended from the bow to the stern stanchion, directly over the keel, about six inches higher than those at the sides. Ten rods led from the central down to the side rods, like the rafters of a house.
Over the whole, of this structure above was extended a single piece of painted canvas, serving as a roof, and keeping out both sun and rain. It was laced very taut to the rods, and had slope enough to make the water run off. On the sides were curtains, which could be hauled down tight. The launch had been used by the rajah on the Ganges, and when closed in the interior was like "a bug in a rug."