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ur riflemen can see the eyes of the enemy," added the agent. "I must bid you good-by now, for I have business on shore here. I don't think the crocodiles will come any nearer to you, but be prudent. I shall hope to see you at Simujan on your return." Mr. Eng shook hands with all the cabin party, and went ashore. The captain gave the order to cast off the fasts, and Lane was ordered to take the wheel. The two sampans had before made fast to the shore; and as the Blanchita got under way, one of them put off, and paddled towards the crocodiles. The last that was seen of the craft, it had a saurian hooked after the Malay mode of fishing for them. After breakfast had been served in the cabin, and the party had gone to their seats forward, the character of the river began to change, becoming much narrower. They came to another Dyak village, where the jungle was cleared off and paddies were near the stream. It looked as though all the inhabitants had gathered on the bank, male and female. A long-house was to be seen on a knoll, and the wheelman was ordered to take the boat within a couple of rods of the shore. "Are you going to make a landing at this village, Captain Scott?" asked Louis. "No; we have seen enough of these people, but we will see what we can as we pass along. They are all beckoning us to go ashore; but we won't do so, for any more Dyak maidens would be rather monotonous." "I quite agree with you, Captain, though there is one with a big stick of bamboo in her hand, who looks more graceful and pretty than any we saw in the village we visited," replied Louis. "I wonder what that cane is for," added Scott. "That's to contain some kind of liquid; and she may have four feet of tuak in it," answered the millionaire, laughing at the idea of measuring a fluid by Long Measure. "I think the girl comes nearer to being a beauty than any girl I have seen before." "She is hooped with brass like all the rest of them," added Scott, as the boat proceeded beyond the group on the shore. In another half-hour great trees, with an abundant undergrowth of bushes, extended down to the river, and in places some distance into the water. CHAPTER XI STEAMBOATING THROUGH A GREAT FOREST Although there was a wall of green on each side of the boat, and the river was not more than sixty feet wide, the explorers found that everything close to the earth was under water. If the dense jungle had not prevented, the
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