The Ocean Cat's Paw Part 78

he trolled out merrily; and then, clapping his hands to his lips, "_Espanol_ ahoy!" he shouted.

"Ahoy!" came back from the bank of trees across the little river.

"_Espanol_ ahoy!" shouted the boy again, and there was the answering echo.

"Well, I hear you!" cried Rodd merrily. "But how did you get there without the boat?"

There was no answer to this.

"Coffee and fried ham!" roared Rodd.

"'Am!" came back.

"Yes, but it's only bacon!" shouted Rodd.

"'Acon!"

"Well, why don't you come?"

"Don't be stupid, Rodney," cried the doctor shortly. "Here, Cross-- cook--any of you; have you seen the Spanish skipper?"

"No, sir!" came in chorus.

"Dear me," said the doctor thoughtfully; "now I come to think of it I don't remember seeing him this morning."

"No, uncle; nor I neither. Did you see him, Morny?"

"No, not this morning. I saw him talking with you last night, sir."

"Yes; that was when I was saying that we should start back for certain, and he went and lay down in his usual place, close to the side of the tent, directly afterwards."

"Oh yes; he was there when we lay down, wasn't he, Morny?"

"Yes; I remember that."

"But we have not seen him since, uncle."

"Very strange," said the doctor, and turning to the men he questioned them in turn, with the result that all were sure that they had not seen the Spaniard since over-night.

The doctor and the two lads stood gazing at one another for some minutes in silence.

"Do you think anything could have happened to him?" said Morny at last.

"Oh no," cried the doctor sharply. "He's too much at home here in these wild parts for that."

"But I was thinking, uncle--" said Rodd, in a hesitating way.

"Thinking of what, my boy?"

"That there might be some few crocodiles up here in this narrow part of the river, after all."

"Absurd, Rodney! Don't jump at conclusions like that!" cried the doctor.

"But they are such horribly fierce creatures, uncle."

"Don't be absurd, sir! Is it likely that one of those reptiles could have come up out of the river, crawled into the tent, and dragged him out again, without some one knowing it? No; he must have got up early and gone off by himself somewhere, as this is as far as we were to go, meaning to see if he could find the traces of a chimpanzee, so as to show us one or more before we start back."

"Yes, that's possible, uncle," said Rodd. "And perhaps he has found one."

"Very likely; and if he has he'll soon be back to take us on the trail."

"Perhaps so, uncle," said Rodd meaningly.

"Why do you speak like that, sir?"

"Because I say he may have found one, uncle."

"Well--and then?"

"The chimpanzee won't let him come back."

"Really, Rodney, you make me very angry sometimes," cried the doctor.

"If ever there happens to be a little hitch of any kind you immediately clap it under your mental microscope and try to make it as large as you possibly can. That's it for certain, Morny. He wants to keep perfect faith with us, and so he has gone to see whether he can find any signs of these great apes. Well, we won't let the breakfast spoil, and it would be a sort of madness to go hunting about in the forest for his tracks; so come along. I dare say he'll be back long before we have done."

But the breakfast was eaten without any sign of the Spaniard, and now the doctor began to be thoroughly uneasy, for the time was there when they ought to be starting on their backward journey, and minute by minute he grew more impatient.

His excitement was shared by the two lads, and the men were questioned again and again, while all joined in searching round the little encampment as far as was possible; and that was a very short distance, for almost directly after the stretch of sand was pa.s.sed they came upon dense shrubby growth, and beyond this there were the huge forest trees matted together by vines and lianas into an impa.s.sable wall, while as far as could be made out there was no trace of any one having tried to force his way through.

"Most singular thing," said the doctor. "We can't go away and leave him alone in these wilds. But have everything ready for an immediate start, and we must wait."

"I say, Morny," said Rodd, "what do you make of this? Here, stop a minute, though. Can you think of any way by which he could go?"

Morny shook his head.

"There's no path into the forest," he said, "and it's just as dense on the other side if any one ventured to swim across the river to go from there."

"To go where?" said Rodd sharply.

"I don't know. I was only thinking of what any one might try to do."

"And then," said Rodd, "there's only up the river and down the river, and he had no boat. But it's no use to bother; we have got to wait and see; and we mustn't forget those two poor n.i.g.g.e.rs. I wonder whether they will follow us back?"

"Sure to," said Morny; "right back to the vessels."

"Hi! Joe Cross!" cried Rodd. "Put what's left of the breakfast in a wild banana leaf again and leave it on the bank."

"Got it all ready here, sir," was the reply.