We do not say that she looked sulky or acted sulkily—far from it; but she felt sulky, and that was a very uncomfortable state of things. We dwell a little on this point because we do not wish to mislead our young readers into the belief that life in the wild woods is all delightful together. There are shadows as well as lights there—some of them, alas! so deep that we would not like even to refer to them while writing in a sportive vein.
But it is also a fact, that when Ailie was fairly up and once more in the canoe, and when the sun began to flood the landscape with his golden light and turn the water into liquid fire, her temporary feelings of discomfort passed away, and her sensation of intense enjoyment returned.
The scenery through which they passed on the second day was somewhat varied. They emerged early in the day upon the bosom of a large lake which looked almost like the ocean. Here there were immense flocks of water-fowl, and among them that strange, ungainly bird, the pelican. Here, too, there were actually hundreds of crocodiles. The lake was full of little mud islands, and on all of them these hideous and gigantic reptiles were seen basking lazily in the sun.
Several shots were fired at them, but although the balls hit, they did not penetrate their thick hides, until at last one took effect in the soft part close behind the foreleg. The shot was fired by the trader, and it killed the animal instantly. It could not have been less than twenty feet long, but before they could secure it the carcass sank in deep water.
“What a pity!” remarked Glynn, as the eddies circled round the spot where it had gone down.
“Ah, so it is!” replied the doctor; “but he would have been rather large to preserve and carry home as a specimen.”
“I ax yer parding, sir,” said Tim Rokens, addressing Dr Hopley; “but I’m curious to know if crocodiles has got phrenoligy?”
“No doubt of it,” replied the doctor, laughing. “Crocodiles have brains, and brains when exercised must be enlarged and developed, especially in the organs that are most used, hence corresponding development must take place in the skull.”
“I should think, doctor,” remarked the captain, who was somewhat sceptical, “that their bumps of combativeness must be very large.”
“Probably they are,” continued the doctor; “something like my friend Phil Briant here. I would venture to guess, now, that his organ of combativeness is well-developed—let me see.”