y, and when the hunter saw his
opportunity he fired again. The orang had grasped a screw-pine, and he
held on, but he struggled no more. The captain had ordered the sampan
to be brought alongside, and two men were at the paddles. Louis and
Felix joined them, and they paddled towards the _game_.
"I think he is dead though he still holds on at the bush," said Louis.
"We shall soon find out," added Clingman, as he threw a slip-noose over
his head. "Heave ahead now!" he continued, as Clinch grasped the line
with him, and they pulled together.
The orang did not make any movement, and it was certain that he was
dead. When they had drawn him within a few feet of the sampan, the line
was made fast, and the men paddled to the steamer. A purchase was rigged
to the top of one of the stanchions, and the dead animal was hoisted
into the sampan.
"Now, Lane, measure him," said the captain.
The body was laid out at full length in the bottom of the boat; and the
carpenter took his length on a boathook, which he notched to indicate
the height of the animal. He was directed to take several other
measurements; in fact, Louis kept him at work for over an hour, with
another hand to assist him in spreading out the limbs. The captain
became quite impatient; for he was less a scientist than the young
millionaire, though he had a taste for natural history.
"Have you finished, Louis?" asked Scott as the former returned to the
yacht.
"All done; but Lane must sum up the results," replied Louis.
"What good will all those measurements do you?" demanded the captain
rather contemptuously.
"They will not put any money in my pocket, but I want to know the size
of the game I have killed," answered Louis, somewhat nettled by the
manner of Scott. "When a man has caught a fish he wants to know what his
prize weighs."
"All right; but I want to get a little farther into the woods here, and
I can get around the bushes ahead of her," replied the captain, who had
been studying up a course by which he could go a considerable distance
farther inland.
He backed the boat, and then went ahead very slowly, with Clingman
feeling of the bottom with the boathook. It was novel sailing through
the forest in a steam-launch, and all hands enjoyed it. The screw-pines
were rather scattered, and the forest of large trees was quite open.
After the boat had gone about half a mile, as the captain judged,
Clingman made a report.
"By the mark, one," said h
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