We were unmolested during the night, but when daylight returned and we looked about for our horses, they were nowhere to be seen. They had, perhaps, found their way to their favourite pastures, where they were likely to meet with their former companions.
“We shall have a long tramp in search of them, but I make no doubt shall find them at last,” said Alick.
Though my brother tried thus to reassure us, the disappearance of our horses was a serious matter. It was not pleasant to have to carry our saddles in addition to the knapsacks we each of us had at our backs.
“The first thing we have to do is to try and get something for breakfast,” observed Martin. “If we had but some fishing-lines or nets, we might easily get some fish which could quickly be cooked.”
“As we have neither one nor the other, we must be content with whatever we can obtain,” I observed.
Robin proposed that we should at once go down to the river, on the banks of which we might possibly obtain some wild-fowl; and as we were too hungry to discuss the pros and cons for any length of time, we immediately set out. Not far off a stream ran into the river, and we hoped that near its mouth we might meet with some wild ducks. We had not gone far when Martin exclaimed, “I see some birds; we shall have one of them before long.”
Great was our disappointment on going a little farther to discover that the birds whose wings had attracted Martin’s attention were fish-hawks, whose flesh is anything but savoury; still, hungry as we were, we would gladly have shot one of them and breakfasted off it till better food could be procured. There were several of these birds congregated on a tree overhanging the stream. Presently one of them which had been perched on a branch pounced downwards into the water, and quickly returned with a large fish, with which it rose above the surface. It seemed wonderful that the bird could lift so heavy a weight.
The fish struggled in the claws of its captor.
“We must manage to have that fish,” exclaimed Alick. And we ran on, intending to shoot the bird and rob it of its prey; but as it reached the branches, in its desperate efforts to lift so heavy a weight its wings struck them, and letting go its hold, the fish fell to the ground.
“Shout! shout!” cried Alick, and shouting together we frightened the bird at the moment it was about to pounce down to recover its prey.