rked, the stream on their right hand being almost as
important as the other; but they decided that the stream on their left
was the main stream, and therefore followed it. Although they knew it
not at the moment, this decision of theirs to follow the left instead of
the right stream was of the utmost import to them; for had they decided
differently they would have missed the extraordinary adventure that
awaited them among the mountains which lay so far ahead that many a
weary mile of river, forest, and plain must be traversed before their
peaks should swing into sight.

They camped that night on the point of land where the two rivers united
their waters, and had scarcely landed when, without a sound to tell of
his coming, a graceful antelope emerged from the brake a few hundred
yards away, evidently going to the river to drink. The adventurers were
at the moment partly concealed by the reeds among which they had moored
their boat, moreover the wind was in their favour, and for nearly half a
minute the creature failed to see them. By the time that he did,
Stukely had seized his bow, fitted an arrow to the string, and risen
cautiously to his feet. Then the antelope appeared to become aware of
some unusual feature in the scene, and halted to investigate, whereupon
Phil cautiously drew his bowstring, released it with a loud twang, and
the arrow, flying straight and true, pierced the creature's heart, so
that it fell dead in its tracks, and they had their first deer. And now
again Stukely gave fresh evidence of his uncanny knowledge, for although
he had never before killed a deer, and might be supposed to know nothing
of the verderer's art, he at once set to work to skin and "break up" the
animal with all the skill of an adept. So that night they feasted
sumptuously upon venison steaks, grilled upon the embers of a fire
which, with a further display of his strange knowledge, Phil kindled by
the apparently simple but really exceedingly difficult process of
rubbing two sticks together! And that night, too, they heard for the
first time the roar of the jaguar in the adjacent forest.

For several days--so many, indeed, that they lost count of them--they
voyaged steadily up the great river, sailing when the wind permitted,
paddling when it did not, passing, at tolerably frequent intervals,
points where lesser streams discharged themselves into the main body of
water, while by imperceptible degrees the waterway narrowed, an