a feverish sort o' place, gentlemen, very hot. There's lot's
o' dangerous and poisonous things about, and I have heard that the
Injuns on the banks have a bad habit of shooting poisoned arrows from
their bows, or little tiny ones from their blowpipes. Ain't it rather a
mad idea?"

"That's what the sailors told Columbus," said the younger man, who had
been sitting in silence.

"Yes," said his brother, "and it was not a mad thing to discover
America."

"Well, no, sir," said the captain, dabbing his dewy head once more; "but
you can't discover America over again."

"Of course not, but though North America has been traversed over and
over again, how very little is known of the interior of South America!"

"Ha!" ejaculated the captain, screwing up his face; "if you put it in
that way, gentlemen, we don't seem to know much about it, certainly:
only that there's some big rivers there. I s'pose about as big as any
of 'em. I did sail up one of the mouths for a bit once."

"Ah!" cried the younger man excitedly, "and what did you see? Strange
wild beasts--wonderful trees on the shores--beautifully-coloured birds--
great serpents--monkeys, and the great sea-cows?"

The captain's face shone as he wrinkled it up till his eyes were nearly
closed.

"Well, why don't you speak?" said his questioner. "You could not go up
that vast river without seeing some wonders. What did you see?"

"Water, sir: lots of it," said the captain bluffly.

"Of course," said the young man impatiently.

"We sailed up for three days."

"Yes?"

"And then we sailed down again."

"Oh, absurd! But the shores: what were they like?"

"Don't know, my lad. I never saw them."

"What?"

"Too far away on either hand. It was like being at sea off that coast,
where the water's all muddy. That river and the big ones that run into
it, according to the charts, from north, south, and west all seem as if
they were hard at work washing all the land away and carrying it out to
sea. It's bad enough here, but down south yonder it's wonderful: the
water's muddy for miles away out to sea."

"Oh, but you couldn't sail far up that great river without seeing
something interesting if you kept your eyes open," said the young man
contemptuously.

"My eyes were wide open enough, my lad," said the captain, with a laugh.
"I don't shut 'em much when I'm in strange waters, I can tell you. Too
fond of David Banes, Esquire. Never was skipper of a ship, was y