owlands, less than twenty degrees further south.

But the explorers were weary and in need of rest. It will be recalled
that they found precious little opportunity for sleep during the
preceding night, which marked the close of an unusually hard day's
labor. They would have rested could they have done so, and now that
the chance seemed to present itself, they wisely decided to wait a few
hours before beginning the last stretch of water which lay between them
and the villages of the Murhapas.

The halt was made at the top of the rapids, where the boat was
carefully replaced in the river, the fracture made by Ziffak's javelin
repaired, and everything adjusted for the resumption of their voyage.
Then, with only the Professor on guard, the others lay down on their
blankets and almost immediately sank into a deep, refreshing slumber.

Professor Grimcke, finding the care of the camp on his hands, took a
careful survey of his surroundings, which were quite similar to those
that had enclosed him many times before.

On both sides, stretched the almost endless Brazilian forest, within
which a traveller might wander for weeks and months without coming upon
any openings. In front was the Xingu, smooth, swift, and winding
through the wilderness in such form that he could see only a short
distance up stream. Looking in the opposite direction, the agitation
of the water was noticeable before breaking into rapids, similar,
though in a less degree, to the rapids above Niagara Falls. The volume
still preserved its remarkable purity and clearness, which enabled him
to trace the shelving bottom a long way from where he stood.

Grimcke was somewhat of a philosopher, and always eager to make the
best use of the time at his command. There was nothing more to be
feared from the Aryks, and his situation, therefore, of guardian of his
sleeping friends might be considered a sinecure.

His fishing line was soon arranged, and with some of the dried meat he
had brought along serving for bait, he began piscatorial operations.

It will strike the reader as incredible, but in Borne portions of the
Orinoco and other tropical rivers of South America, the fish are so
abundant that they have been known to impede the progress of large
vessels moving through the waters. While no such overflowing supply is
found in the Xingu, yet they were so numerous that it required but a
few minutes for the Professor to haul in more than enough to furnish
the