Hal hung his head.
"Now, you're not going to show a streak of yellow?" asked Ken. He knew how to stir his brother.
Hal rose to the attack and scornfully repudiated the insinuation. Ken replied that they were in a new country and must not reach conclusions too hastily.
"I liked it back up there at the little village where we saw the green river and the big trees with the gray streamers on them," said Hal.
"Well, I liked that myself," rejoined Ken. "I'd like to go back there and put a boat in the river and come all the way here."
Ken had almost unconsciously expressed the thought that had been forming in his mind. Hal turned slowly and looked at his brother.
"Ken, that 'd be great--that's what we came for!"
"I should say so," replied Ken.
"Well?" asked Hal, simply.
That question annoyed Ken. Had he not come south to go into the jungle? Had he come with any intention of shirking the danger of a wild trip? There was a subtle flattery in Hal's question.