got back to where we had left Uncle Paul and Marian. We
recounted our adventures to them, when Marian was not a little agitated
at hearing of our encounter with the macaws, and at our having been
compelled to leap into the river.

"Oh, how dreadful it would have been had you been drowned," she
exclaimed; "or had a shark or alligator, or an anaconda, snapped you
up!"

"There was very little danger of that," answered Arthur. "We had not
very far to swim before we got hold of a branch and drew ourselves out
of the water."

"I am not quite so certain about that as you are, Arthur," observed
Uncle Paul. "We all have reason to be thankful that you escaped the
danger in which you were placed."

When Kallolo returned, after another exploring expedition, and heard of
our adventures, he said that he would go at night and capture the young
macaws, when the parents would not attempt to defend them; and that he
should probably, at the same time, be able to catch some of the older
birds. He had brought with him an ara parrot, as he called it, which,
young as it was, had already grown to a considerable size. Though it
had not yet obtained its full plumage, its colours were very beautiful.
Its body was of a flaming scarlet, while the wings were red, yellow,
blue, and green; its tail, which was of great length, being scarlet and
blue. He had caught the bird with a noose, just as it was about to
leave the nest, and he said that he had hopes of being able to tame it.
The creature seemed but little disconcerted, and finding that it was
treated kindly, at once fed willingly out of his hand. He secured it by
a piece of string to a small branch near us, where it could perch at its
ease. Quacko the monkey looked at it with a somewhat jealous eye, but
Kallolo made him understand that he must not interfere with the new
favourite, and Ara and Quacko soon became friends.

The day passed away in our truly sylvan abode much faster than I could
have expected; and could we but have been assured that my father was
safe, we should, considering the circumstances, have been tolerably
happy and contented. At night we all went to sleep in the positions we
had before occupied.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

WE MAKE A PLATFORM--A SAIL!--THE MISSING ONES ARRIVE--MY FATHER
DESCRIBES THEIR ADVENTURES--DUTCH DETERMINATION--VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY--A
CALM--I CATCH A LARGE FISH--THE RAFT ON FIRE--ABOUT SHIP.

Two days passed by, spent much as those I have befo