Jungle and Stream: or, The Adventures of Two Boys in Siam

The doctor was the quickest to grasp the position. Rising from his seat, he took down one of the ready-charged guns, and waited for a few moments till from out of the writhing knot the reptile's tail rose quivering and thrashing the ashy ground. Directly after the head appeared, some feet above the folds, dimly seen through the smoke, as it was darted angrily in different directions, the jaws opening and the creature snapping at the horrible enemy which was causing it so much agony.

It was for this the doctor had been waiting, and as the head rose a little higher and was nearly motionless for a moment, both barrels flashed out their contents; and as the concussion made the leaves overhead quiver violently, the serpent writhed and struggled frantically over and over in a knot that seemed to be always tying and untying itself, was hidden amongst the thick, reedy growth close to the river, splashed and wallowed a little in the shallow from which the reeds sprung, and then with a loud splash went clear of the growth into the dark, deep water overhung by the boughs of the trees.

Then there was an eddying and quivering where the stream glided along, and a few bubbles ascended to the surface, but though attentive watch was kept, no more was seen, the swift current having undoubtedly swept the reptile away.

"I had a good sight of its head when I fired," said the doctor. "Would you like to have snake for breakfast every morning when you lived out in the open, Harry?"

"Ugh!" ejaculated the boys together.

"Well, I'm very glad we were having our breakfast on board," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing. "Here, Michael, you need not stand staring up into the tree; there are no more snakes up there."

"Wouldn't its mate be there, sir?" said the man.

"Oh no, it isn't likely. Where is the coffee-pot?"

"Don't know, sir; but I don't want any more breakfast, thank you."

"Nonsense, man," said his master; "find the coffee-pot, and the men will rake the fire together again. There is nothing to mind now."

Mike looked anything but satisfied, going about his task unwillingly; but the men came back from where they had scattered, laughing with one another now that the scare was at an end.

"He's making a poor beginning," said Harry, on seeing their man go peering about slowly in different directions amongst the tall grass and bushes.

"Mike doesn't like snakes," replied Phra, laughing.

"Well, who does?" cried Harry. "I hate them; and it was enough to scare anybody. I know I should have jumped away fast enough. I say, look there."

"What at?"

"There's the pot, in amongst those young bamboos. No, no; there, half in the water. – Found it?"

"No, sir. It's gone," replied the man.

"Nonsense; here it is. You didn't look in the right place."

Mike came towards them, looking very sour and disgusted, as he picked up the tin vessel.

"Reg'lar spoiled," he said, examining the pot and holding it out to show that there was a big dent on one side. "Won't hold water now."

"How do you know till you try? Dip it in and see."

The pot was dipped, filled, and proved to be quite sound in spite of the hollow in its side, a fact which disappointed Mike, who prepared to make some fresh coffee by getting into the boat again, while the men laughingly collected the scattered brands and restarted the fire.

"I say, Mike," said Harry, as the man came back, "you shouldn't make a fuss about a little thing like this; it's nothing to what you will have to put up with."

Mike looked at him aghast, his face screwed up into such an aspect of dismay that the boys burst out laughing.

"Ah, it's all very well to laugh, Master Harry," grumbled the man; "but if there's going to be any more of this sort of thing, I know – "

"Know what?"

"I'm going back home."

"How?" said Harry, laughing.

"Don't ask stupid questions," said Phra, with a perfectly serious face. "He's either going to swim back with the stream, among the crocodiles, or to walk through the jungle. There are not so very many tigers there now."

"What!" gasped Mike.

"Make haste, Michael, my lad," said Mr. Kenyon. "Get the fresh coffee made and the men's breakfast over; we want to go on."

"Yes, sir; of course, sir – oh dear, oh dear! – Ah, it's all very well to laugh, Master Harry."

"Laugh! Well, it's enough to make any one laugh to see you make such a fuss over a baby snake. Wait till we come to the hundred foot long ones."

Mike gave him another look, and then hurried back to the blazing fire.

"You've spoiled his breakfast," said Phra.

"Serve him right for being a great coward. I want him to get used to such things."

Phra laughed.

"Who's to get used to such things as that? I say, look; there's one of our old friends watching us."

He pointed up to where a little grey-whiskered monkey was holding back the leaves, so as to peer wonderingly down at the party.

"I believe one could soon coax these monkeys down to be fed."

"If you put a few bananas on the top of the cabin there, they wouldn't want any coaxing; they'd come and take them."

"Yes, when we were not looking; but I mean, coax them into being tame enough to feed from one's hand."

"Might perhaps, but they're treacherous. They like to spring on any one's shoulders to bite the back of the neck. Look, look! Parrots!"

A little flock of brightly coloured, long-tailed lories flew over the river, but before a gun could be seized they had disappeared.

"Not very good ones," said Harry. "Only green."

"And sour," said the doctor.

"Sour?" cried Harry wonderingly.

"Yes, sour grapes, Hal. Why, they were lovely specimens, my boy. Look at those butterflies flitting about the flowers growing there in wreaths. Now, if this were a hard road we might get a few of them."

"We could get one of those sun-birds," said Harry, pointing to some half-dozen fluttering about the cluster of flowers dependent from a bough overhanging the stream.

"Yes, but we must wait till we have got some dry sand to use instead of shot. Mind we scrape some up from the first shallow place we reach."

The fact of the boat being motionless there by the side of the river, and all on board sitting quietly watching the abundant beautiful objects around, made the various inhabitants of the jungle on either side come out of their hiding-places and take no further heed of their presence; consequently until the men had finished their breakfast there was ample opportunity for a quiet, observant natural history study, and Mr. Kenyon remarked, —

"It is, after all, better to be content with watching nature in a place like this than shooting specimens and preserving them in a miserable imitation of the natural shape. For how poor and pitiful they are at the best."

"That's true enough," said the doctor, smiling; "but you would not make a museum of our memories."

"Why not?" said Mr. Kenyon.

"Because memory is weak, and our description of what we have seen to other people who could never by any possibility see the beautiful creatures we have encountered, would come very far short. I think that the sight of the poorest skin that we have preserved would make ten times the impression on another's mind that a month's talking could."

"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and nature is so abundant."

By this time the men had resumed their oars, and the boat was gliding rapidly up the river, the boys being ready to point out where they had shot the birds they had taken back, and seen the monkey which had watched them on their way.

So far they had met no crocodiles, but as they went higher it seemed as if, though they kept themselves out of sight, several were in the narrow river and were retiring before them, till the water growing more shallow they began to show from time to time.

The boys seized their guns upon catching sight of the two prominences which contained the reptile's eyes appearing above the surface some thirty yards ahead, but Mr. Kenyon checked them.

"Don't shoot," he said, "it is of no use to kill a few among so many."

"But suppose they attack us," said Harry.

"They will not unless driven to bay. Steer in closer to the side, Sree," continued Mr. Kenyon, "so as to give them room to retreat down the river."

The order was obeyed, the boat being kept to the left, so close in that the oars touched the tips of the hanging boughs, with the consequence that every now and then there was a loud splashing and wallowing in the water close beneath the bank, the part hidden by the pendent boughs.

"Why, they swarm under there," said the doctor.

"Yes," said Mr. Kenyon, "and this shows how little the shooting of one or two has to do with thinning them down. By the way, boys, where was it that you had your adventure with the big crocodile and the monkey?"

Phra rose and pointed forward.

"A little farther there, on the right," he said, "where those bigger trees are hanging over the water."

The whole scene came vividly back to the pair as the boat glided on, and after a glance upward at the trees, Harry's eyes fell to scanning the water, half expecting to see the ugly muzzle of one of the great crocodiles shoot out.

This he did not see, but first one and then another made a tremendous eddy in the stream, their lurking-places being churned up by the men's oars.

"The brutes are extremely thick up here," said the doctor: "a pretty good warning that we must not attempt any bathing."

"They seem to swarm," replied Mr. Kenyon. "It is a pity they are of no use; but perhaps some day one will be found for them, – possibly their skins may be utilised."

"Skins of young ones, perhaps. These big fellows would be too horny."

As he spoke, a huge reptile rushed from a mud bank into the river with a tremendous splash, sending a wave along the surface, which made the boat rise and fall.

This time guns were seized by the boys' elders, upon the strength of the possibility of an attack; but the huge creature must have sunk at once to the bottom, for no further sign appeared.

Meantime the great, green bank of trees on either side seemed to grow more beautiful from the brilliancy of the flowers with which some of the trees were covered; while, wherever a flock of parroquets flew out, it was pretty well always a sign of fruit.

Here, too, at intervals, where there were breaks in the banks of the great timber trees, huge tufts of bamboo shot up spear-like, and showed their delicate foliage, looking at a distance so light and feathery that often enough the straight stems, which rose in places as much as sixty feet, seemed as if surrounded by a delicate haze.

It was now decided that due attention should be given to collecting and providing for the meals of so large a party; and as nothing in the shape of deer or pig had been seen, and mid-day was long passed, it was suggested that, as soon as a suitable spot was reached, the boat should be moored to some overhanging bough and the boys should try their fortune at fishing.

As soon as Sree heard this he busied himself with the basket which contained the lines, and kept a look-out for a likely pitch.

Suddenly there was a rushing of wings, and a big bird appeared – a signal for two guns to be raised, but only to be laid down again.

"Ugh! vulture," said Harry in disgust.

"Pity not to have shot it," said Phra; "it would have done to cut up for bait."

Harry's lip curled up and his nostrils dilated.

"Do you know we mean to eat the fish we catch?"

"Oh, of course," said Phra hurriedly; "I hadn't thought of that. But would it make any difference, Doctor Cameron?" he added.

The doctor laughed.

"No," he said, "I don't think we should have found the fish any the worse for it. All the same, though, I should prefer my fish not to have been fed upon the flesh of an unclean bird."

"Exactly so," said Harry's father; "but perhaps it is just as well that we should not study the food of the fish we eat. They are not very particular as to their diet. – What about that quiet, still eddy yonder, Sree?"

"Where the great tree-trunk lies in the water?" said the doctor. "No, that won't do. There must be scores of half-rotten boughs among which the fish would run and tangle up the lines."

"It would be an excellent place, Sahib," said Sree humbly. "We could tie up the boat there, and fish below it, where the stream runs in."

"To be sure," said Mr. Kenyon; "I had not noticed that little rivulet.

You are wrong, Doctor; it will be a capital place."

"Perhaps," said the gentleman addressed, "but I don't like the look of it. I feel pretty sure that we shall find a great crocodile has his lurking-place under that large tree-trunk."

"Yes, Sahib; there is one there," said Sree; "but he will go as soon as he sees the boat."

He spoke to the man in the bows to be ready to make the line fast to one of the dead boughs, which stuck up dry and swept clear of bark, showing, like its fellows, how high the flood water had raised the level of the river, for above a certain height the bark was still clinging to the branches.

It proved to be just as the old hunter had said, for as the boat was forced up to the great trunk lying in the water, there was a sudden rush, the surface was turned into a series of eddies, and a wave rolled along towards the other side of the river, indicating the direction in which the reptile disturbed had gone.

All the same the boat was made fast, and floated down stream to the full length of the rope, the men's oars were laid in, and those astern joined their companions forward, to squat together talking in a low tone and chewing betel, while Mr. Kenyon and the doctor settled themselves comfortably in the open cabin.

"Won't you fish, father?" asked Harry.

"No, my boy," he replied; "you shall fish for me."

"But you will fish, Doctor Cameron?" said Phra politely.

"No, I would rather see you," replied the doctor, and he started and caught up his gun, but laid it down once more, for the birds which had caught his eye were only crows, some half-dozen of which came up stream as if they had followed the boat, and now they had found it, settled down in one of the highest trees apparently to have a quiet chat about its object in coming up there.

Sree had been busy the while, preparing bait for the lines, which were to be used ledger fashion without rods.

Sree's bait was some very stiff paste, which he was working up out of a couple of handfuls of flour; and he made haste to explain that if the fish did not take this well, he should soon change the lure.

"But we must catch one first."

The lines were strong and the hooks tied on gimp, such as would have been used for pike-fishing at home, for the fish of the Siamese rivers had not been tried for till they were as shy as ours at home, and before many minutes had elapsed the boys each had his baited hook thrown out from the opposite side of the boat six or eight yards away, the leads sinking some six feet in the fairly clear water, and with fingers just feeling the pierced lead, they waited.

It was not the first by many times that the boys had fished together in the river, and they pretty well knew what they were likely to catch; but they were not prepared to sit beneath the hot sunshine for so long without a sign of there being fish about.

"Come, be sharp," cried the doctor banteringly. "I thought we were going to have a good fry for dinner. How soon shall I send the men ashore to make a fire?"

"Fishermen always have patience," said Harry.

"But people who want their dinner do not," said Mr. Kenyon, laughing.

"I say, Sree," whispered Harry, "they will not bite at paste."

"Pull up your line, Sahib," said the hunter.

Harry did as he was told, and Sree smiled.

"Something has eaten the bait," he said. "Didn't you feel a pull?"

"No, not the slightest."

The hook was rebaited and sent down stream again, and Phra's hook proving to be in the same unattractive state, received the same treatment; but for fully half an hour nothing was done but rebaiting and throwing in.

"We had better make a move," said Mr. Kenyon. "It is very beautiful here, but the crocodiles seem to have scared the fish away. Let's go half a mile higher."

"No, no, not yet, father," said Harry. "It seems such a capital place, and – I've got him!"

For as he spoke he felt a slight twitch at the line he held, and then all was still for a few moments. Next there was a steady draw, and the line began to pass through his fingers, while upon checking it the drag became a heavy one, and he found that he was fast in a good fish.

It was evident that a shoal had come up towards the boat, for hardly had Harry begun to haul upon his line before Phra felt the premonitory twitch, and directly after the draw upon his line.

"Now, father, had we better go higher?" cried Harry. "Oh, my word! it is a big one; the line regularly cuts my hands."

There was nothing to see but the lines cutting the water in different directions, for it was evident that the baits had been seized by bottom-loving fish, which went on fighting to keep down as low as they could.

By this time Sree had taken up a short bamboo to which a large hook was firmly bound, and bidding Harry now draw hard, he stood ready, while the lad raised the heavy, struggling fish to the surface, and, in spite of its efforts, brought it close up to the side of the boat, when with one well-aimed stroke the old hunter thrust the hook beneath it and lifted it over the side.

The next moment, leaving the fish flapping and beating the bamboo bottom, Sree stepped beside Phra, where the same business was gone through, and the second fish dragged in.

They proved to be very similar in appearance to a fish but little known in England, though lingering still in some few sluggish rivers – the burbot – a fish that is best described as being something like a short, thick eel. These were together over twenty pounds in weight, and welcome from their delicate quality as food.

"Enough is as good as a feast," said Mr. Kenyon, smiling; and the order being given, the boat was once more sent gliding up stream, look-out being kept for a suitable place for landing and making a fire.

This was reached at last, and the fish, spitted on the ever-present, ever-useful bamboo, set down to roast, so that they might make a welcome addition to the next al fresco meal.

After another few miles a suitable mooring-place was found beneath an enormous tree, and a fire once more lit; this was to act as a scare to keep away noxious creatures, but, as Harry said, for some things they might have been better without.

For they soon found that the glare of the burning wood woke up and attracted the birds, which came circling round it in a strangely weird way, their dimly seen forms coming and going out of the darkness into the dome of light ribbed with the branches of the trees.

Moths and flies innumerable buzzed about through the glare, and, worst of all, the light and heat attracted the smaller reptiles, snakes and lizards creeping towards the flame for the sake of the warmth of what must have seemed to them like a new, strange sun, and many of them getting burned.

"It's very horrid, father," said Harry. "Mike says that he saw hundreds of wriggling snakes and lizards creeping up when he helped the men make up the fire as you advised, for they would have set the forest ablaze if it had been done their way."

"Hundreds, eh?" said Mr. Kenyon. "Then I suppose we may set it down as being about a dozen, Hal?"

"He is an awful fibster, father," said Harry, laughing.

"I don't think the man really means to lie wilfully," said Mr. Kenyon; "but his imagination and his tongue run wild."

"Perhaps it's his eyes," said the doctor, smiling; "a natural failing.

The lenses are too round, and they magnify."

"Let's be charitable, and set it down as that," said Mr. Kenyon; "but it does not matter to us. It is not as if we were going to sleep ashore, and this is a novel experience."

"Novel, indeed. What a collection of moths and beetles we might make now!"

"Awkward work," replied Mr. Kenyon. "I think we might be content with enjoying the strange scene."

Both being tired with the day's exertions, the boys thought so too, and for long enough they watched the illuminated trees of the jungle, which were always changing their aspect as the fire rose and fell, emitting flashes of light, and sending up myriads of sparks or wreaths of smoke to form clouds overhead, which reflected back the light and turned the water into gold, while strange, dark shadows seemed to dance and waltz among the great trunks.

It was all so wild and beautiful that even after the men had finally replenished the fire and settled themselves down for the night under their matting shelter, spread over the fore part of the boat, no one aft felt the slightest desire to lie down and sleep.

"I couldn't sleep, could you?" said Harry, in a low tone, to Phra, as they sat in the half-closed-in cabin, now watching the surroundings of the fire, now, attracted by some sound, turning to look up or down the river.

"Sleep? No," replied Phra; "it all seems so strange and different. We've heard all these noises of a night when we've been at home, but they were far off."

"And now one is right amongst them," said Harry. "I say, are you sure your gun's loaded?"

"Yes, quite; I looked at it just now."

"So did I at mine. I don't think I'm at all afraid; are you?"

"I don't think so; but after what we saw this morning I can't help fancying that there might be a great snake somewhere in the boughs overhead, coming down lower and lower till it thrust in its head here. I say, fancy it taking one of us out and up into the tree."

"Shan't," said Harry. "I don't believe there are any in the jungle big enough to do such a thing."

"Oh, there are some monsters," said Phra quietly.

"Yes, so people like our Mike say. He told me once that some of your father's men said they had seen a croc fifty feet long. Hark at that!"

The sound was startling, and it came from off the water lower down the river.

"It's your fifty feet crocodile slapping the water with his tail to stun the fish," said Phra grimly.

"I don't know about fifty, but it sounds as if the great wretch might be thirty feet long. Ugh! What's to prevent a monster coming up close to the boat and helping himself to one of us? I couldn't go to sleep for thinking such a thing possible."

"I don't think there's any fear of such a thing happening. You never heard of anything of the kind among the thousands of boats down the river and canals."

"No, but one can't help thinking of such creepy notions. We never thought of them before we came."

"Are you boys going to sleep?" said Mr. Kenyon.

"Yes, father, directly," said Harry; "I mean, going to try."

"Off with you, then, so as to be ready for a good day's work to-morrow. Did you see how beautiful the fire-flies are, right away up and down the river?"

"Yes, sir," said Phra. "I've been watching them; it looks sometimes as if the bushes and boughs were full of flying stars. Hear that?"

"Yes; a tiger," said Mr. Kenyon quietly. "Hear the king of stripes,

Doctor?"

The gentleman addressed grunted, and then breathed hard.

"The brute does not trouble him," said Mr. Kenyon; "and it need not trouble us."

"No fear of its swimming out to the boat?" said Phra.

"Not the slightest," replied Mr. Kenyon. "Let down that mat to screen you from the night air and mists, and go to sleep."

"Let the mat down?" said Harry, in a tone full of protest; "but if we do we can't see the fire-flies."

"Take another look, and then let it down and go to sleep."

"But we don't feel as if we could go, father."

"Of course not, if you sit up talking. There, let down the matting, for our sake as well as yours. Good-night, my boys."

"Good-night, sir."

"Good-night, father," said Harry, as he let fall the mat, and thus completely closed in the cabin-like place. – "But there's no sleep for us, Phra, I'm afraid."

"Let's try," said Phra.

"Oh, I'll try," replied Harry.

It needed no trying, for in five minutes there was no one awake in the boat, though there were wild cries far away in the jungle, strange splashings, coughings and barkings from the river, and every now and then loud cracklings and sputterings from the fire, whose rays gleamed in through the matting hung round.