Chapter 9. The Double Catch

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_ CHAPTER NINE. THE DOUBLE CATCH

The sharp report was from Brazier's piece, and as all looked round it was to see a large turkey-like bird beating and flapping the ground with its strong pinions, evidently being badly wounded.

"Ah!" cried Shaddy, "that'll be better meat than our fish;" and dropping the line, he trotted towards the spot where the bird lay close to the edge of the forest, just as Brazier started on the same mission from his end of the opening; while quite a flock of small birds and a troop of monkeys came flying and bounding through the trees, as if to see what was the meaning of the strange noise, and filling the air with their chatterings and cries, but hardly displaying the slightest dread.

"I happened to look round," cried Brazier, "and saw it come out from among the trees."

This was just as he and Shaddy neared the bird, where it lay half a dozen yards from the dense mass of interwoven foliage, when, to the disgust of both, the bird suddenly rose to its feet, made a bound, and, with its wings whistling loudly, flew right in through an opening, while its would-be captors were brought up short by the to them impenetrable forest.

"How vexatious!" cried Brazier, stamping his foot.

"There goes our supper!" grumbled Shaddy; "and that's about the joociest bird I know."

"I wish I'd given it the other barrel," said Brazier.

"Better load, sir," said Shaddy. "Never mind. You'll get another chance soon. Eh? Oh, very well then, have a try."

This was to one of the boatmen, who, roused by the shot, came up smiling with his sword-like knife in his hand, evidently with the intention of cutting his way in and trying to retrieve the bird.

"I don't think it is of any use," said Brazier.

"Dunno, sir. Perhaps it is. The bird was hard hit, and maybe hasn't gone far. Let him try. He may just as well do that as lie and sleep."

They both stopped for a few minutes watching the man, who bent down, and going on all-fours, passed in between the interlacing growth. They saw his feet for a few moments, and then he disappeared altogether, while Brazier and Shaddy both returned to their stations.

"What a pity!" grumbled the latter. "'Bout the nicest birds I know-- when you're hungry. There'll be another shot for him soon, though, for they go in flocks in open bits of land near water."

"What bird was it?" said Rob--"a turkey?"

"Nay, not so big as a turkey, lad; I dunno what they call 'em. I call 'em Argentine larks."

"What?" cried Rob, with a laugh.

"Ah, you may grin, my lad, but it ain't such a bad name; and if you'd seen 'em do what I have, you'd say so too."

"What do you mean?" said Rob; "do they make their nests on the ground?"

"I don't know nothing about their nests, but I'll tell you what they do: they rise off the ground and fly up in the air higher and higher, and sail round and round singing just like a lark does, only lots of times as loud."

Rob looked keenly in the man's face.

"Oh, I ain't a-stuffing of you with nonsense, my lad; that 'ere's a nat'ral history fact. They flies up singing away till they're out of sight, and the music comes down so soft and sweet then that it makes you want more and more, as you get thinking of when you was away in the country at home."

"But that bird was so big," cried Rob.

"All the better, my lad. Holds more music and sings all the longer."

"Caught anything?" asked Joe from the boat, for both lines had been cast now, and the lads were patiently holding the ends.

"No; haven't had a bite," replied Rob; and the words had hardly left his lips when Brazier's gun raised an echo across the river, which ran to and fro, reflected by the wall of trees in zigzag course till it died out.

But no one listened to the echo, for all attention was taken by a large duck, one of about a dozen which had come skimming along over the surface of the water till its course had been stopped by Brazier's accurate shot, when it fell flapping heavily and raising quite a spray around it as it began to float rapidly down-stream.

"Come, we mustn't lose that," cried Shaddy, running to unfasten the rope which moored the boat. "We'll go together. Mr Joe, sir, haul in your line."

But before the boy could obey there was a cry of annoyance from Brazier as, with a slight splash, something seized the duck and drew it under.

"'Nother supper gone!" growled Shaddy.

"What was it?" cried Brazier.

"Didn't see, sir. Either a 'gator or a big fish. Look sharp, Mr Joe, sir. Now, if you could catch that there fish with the duck in his jaws too, it would be something like."

But Joe did not have the chance to catch a fish with the duck or without, and Rob fervently hoped that he might not catch the captor of the duck, for he felt certain that he had seen the jaws of a small alligator close upon the unfortunate bird as he held the end of his line tightly and waited for the bite which would not come.

But in the midst of that lovely solitude there was no room for disappointment. Though they could not obtain exactly what they sought, Rob felt that nature was offering them endless treasures, and his eye was being constantly attracted by the flowers high up on the trees across the river and the still more beautiful butterflies and birds constantly passing here and there. Now it was some lovely object whose large flat wings flashed with steely or purply blue, according to the angle in which it was viewed, then butterflies of velvety black dashed with orange and vermilion. Parrots of vivid green with scarlet heads flew to and fro across the stream; and twice over a great _ara_ or macaw, with its large, hooked beak and scarlet-and-blue feathering, a very soldier in uniform among birds, flew over them, watching them keenly as it uttered its harsh, discordant cry. Then, too, there were the humming-birds darting here and there with bee-like flight, emitting a flash every now and then as their metallic, scale-like feathers caught the sun on their burnished surface.

"No," said Rob to himself, "one can't feel disappointed here," and soon after, as he drew a long, deep breath full of satisfaction, "Oh, how gloriously beautiful it all is! What would they say at home?"

Now he gazed down into the deep, clear, swiftly flowing water, where, brilliantly illuminated by the sun, just beyond where he sat shaded by a tree, he could see fish of all sizes floating motionless, apparently at different depths, while farther out there were more and more, larger it seemed, and as the depth and density of the water increased looking more shadowy and strange.

"There are plenty of them, even if they don't bite," thought Rob; "and if it were not that we must have them to eat, I don't know that I want to catch them. Ugh!"

He involuntarily shrank away, but resumed his position at the edge of the river, gazing down at where, with its four legs outstretched and its tail waving softly, an alligator swam by some five feet below the surface. It was only a small one, between three and four feet in length, but showing all the ugly configuration of its kind; and it fascinated Rob as he gazed at it till it slowly grew more shadowy and shortened in length and disappeared.

"Wonder how Joe's getting on!" he thought; and then his mind dwelt again upon their surroundings, and as his eyes wandered from spot to spot he felt that they ought to go no farther, but make a temporary stay there.

Just then he looked to his right, to find that Mr Brazier had given up his task of watching for birds and was busy with Shaddy arranging the bunch of orchids on a branch in the full sunshine, to dry as much as was possible before being transferred to their destination--the bottom of one of the tubs.

"Slow work!" muttered Rob, drawing in his line now, to find the biscuit softened, but still held tightly enough to the hook. Then, dropping it in again, he watched it as it was carried out by the eddy, and ended by tying the line fast to one of the overhanging branches and walking to where the boat was moored.

"How are you getting on, Joe?" he said; but there was no answer. "Not here?" he muttered as he stepped on board, to find the young Italian lying back fast asleep, while the end of the line was secured to one of the thwarts.

"Oh, I say!" muttered Rob, "you lazy beggar!" Then stooping down, so that his lips were near the sleeper's ear, he said loudly, "Ready for supper?"

Joe leaped up in confusion.

"Have I been asleep?" he said hastily.

"Looks like it. Where's the dorado?"

"I--that is--I grew so drowsy, I--yes, I fastened the end of the line for fear it should go overboard, and--here, look out!" he cried sharply, "I have him!"

"Not you," said Rob; "the hook caught it."

For the line had been drawn tight while Joe slept, and as he took hold of it he found that it was fast in something heavy, which now sent a quiver along the line, as if it were shaking its head angrily at being disturbed.

"Why, it's a big one," said Rob excitedly.

"It's a monster," panted Joe. "Oh, I wish I had not been asleep."

"Caught anything?" came from behind them, and Brazier and Shaddy drew near.

"Yes; Joe has hooked a very big one," cried Rob eagerly. "Get your hook ready, Shaddy."

"All right, sir," said the guide grimly, "but you won't want it just yet. You'll have to play that chap before you get him up to the boat."

So it seemed, for the captive lay sulky for a few moments, resenting the strain on the line, till Joe gave it a jerk, when there was a rush away to the left, the line suddenly slackened, and Rob exclaimed in a tone of disappointment,--

"Gone!"

"No," growled Shaddy. "Pull in a bit, my lad. Steady!"

Joe began to haul in the line, drawing in yard after yard, which fell in rings to the bottom of the boat, till half the fishing cord must have been recovered.

"He has gone, Shaddy," said Joe.

"Beginning to think you're right, my lad. Fancied at first he'd swum up to the side, for there's no telling what a fish may do when--Look out; he's on still," roared Shaddy. "Hold the line, my lad. Don't let him haul it quite out, or he'll snap it when he gets to the end."

Joe seized the line and let it slip through his fingers, but the friction was so painful that he would have let go again had not Shaddy stepped to his help and taken hold behind him.

"Won't hurt my fingers," he growled; "they're a deal too hard," and he kept hold so that he did not interfere with Joe's work in playing the fish, but relieved him of the strain and friction as the line cut the water here and there.

Brazier looked on with plenty of interest in the proceedings, for the capture of a fish of goodly size was a matter of some consequence to the leader of an expedition with eight hungry people to cater for day after day.

"Think it's a dorado, Shaddy?" asked Rob.

"Ought to be, my lad, from its taking an orange, and if it is it's 'bout the heaviest one I've knowed. My word, but he does pull! Can't say as ever I felt one shake his head like that before. Shall I play him now, my lad?"

"No," cried Joe through his set teeth as he held on, "not yet. I will ask you if I want help. No: Rob will help me."

The struggle went on so fiercely that it increased Brazier's interest, and but for the clever way in which the two lads in turn played the fish, the cord, strong as it was, must have been broken. But they were fortunate enough to get a good deal of the long line in hand, and were thus enabled to let their captive run from time to time, merely keeping up a steady strain till the rush was over and then hauling in again.

"Why, boys," said Brazier at last as he stood on the bank resting upon his double gun, "it will be supper-time before you catch your prize, and in this climate fish will be bad to-morrow. Better let him go."

"What!" cried Rob, whose face was streaming with perspiration. "Let him go? Do you hear, Joe?"

Joe nodded and tightened his lips, his face seeming to say,--

"Let him go? Not while I can hold him."

So the fight went on till the fish grew less fierce in its rushes, but none the weaker, keeping on as it did a heavy, stubborn drag, and though frequently brought pretty near to the boat, keeping down close to the bottom, so that they never once obtained a glimpse of it.

"It ain't a dorado," said Shaddy at last. "I never see one fight like that."

"It must be a very grand one," said Joe, wiping his face, for he had resigned the line for a time.

"It pulls like a mule," said Rob, as the captive now made off toward the middle of the river.

"What sort of a hook have you got on, Mr Jovanni?" cried Shaddy.

"One of those big ones, with the wire bound round for about two feet above it."

"Then I tell you what, my lad: I don't believe that strong new cord'll break. S'pose both of you get hold after he's had this run, haul him right up, and let's have a look at him! Strikes me you've got hold of one of them big eely mud-fish by the way he hugs the bottom."

"Shall we try, Joe?"

"I--I'm afraid of losing it," was the reply. "It would be so dreadful now. Perhaps it will be tired soon."

"Don't seem like it, my lad!" said Brazier. "It is not worth so long and exhausting a fight."

"Right, sir, and they've been too easy with him. You get his head up, Mr Rob, as soon as he gives a bit, and then both of you show him you don't mean to stand any more nonsense. That'll make him give in."

"Very well," said Joe, with a sigh. "We have been a long time. Wait till he has had this run."

The line was running out more and more through Rob's fingers as he spoke, and the fish seemed bent on making for the farther shore; but the lad made it hard work for the prisoner, and about two-thirds of the way it began to slacken its pace, almost stopped, quite stopped, and sulked, like a salmon, at the bottom.

"Now both of you give a gentle, steady pull," said Brazier; and Joe took hold of the line and joined Rob in keeping up a continuous strain.

For a few minutes it was like pulling at a log of wood, and Rob declared the line must be caught. But almost as he spoke the fish gave a vicious shake at the hook, its head seemed to be pulled round, the strain was kept up, and the captive yielded, and was drawn nearer and nearer very slowly, but none the less surely, the line falling in rings to the bottom of the boat.

"Bravo!" cried Brazier.

"That's right, both of you!" shouted Shaddy excitedly. "He's dead beat, and I shall have the big hook in his gills before he knows where he is. Haul away!"

"Are these mud-fish you talk about good eating, Naylor?" asked Brazier.

"Oh yes, sir. Bit eely-like in their way; not half bad. Come, that's winning, gents. Well done. Give me a shout when you want me. I won't come yet so as to get in your way."

"Sha'n't be ready yet," panted Rob. "He is strong. I think you ought to have a harpoon.--I say."

"Yes, sir."

"Do these mud-fish bite?"

"Well, yes, sir," replied Shaddy; "pretty nigh all the fish hereabouts are handy with their teeth."

"Ah, he's off again!" cried Joe; and they had to let the prisoner run. But it was a much weaker effort, and a couple of minutes later they had hauled in all the line given, and got in so much more that the fish was at the bottom of the river only four or five yards from the boat.

"Now then, both together; that line will hold!" cried Shaddy excitedly; "get him right up and see what he is, and if he begins to fight fierce let him have one more run to finish his flurry, as the whalers call the last fight."

"Ready, Joe?"

"Yes."

"Both together, then."

There were a few short steady pulls, hand over hand, and the prisoner was drawn nearer and nearer, and raised from the bottom slowly and surely, while, as full of excitement now as the lads, Brazier and Shaddy stood close to the edge watching.

"Hurrah!" cried Rob, who was nearest to the gunwale. "I can see him now!"

"Well, what is it--a mud-fish?" asked Brazier.

"No," said Joe, straining his neck to get a glimpse through the clear water, the disturbed mud raised by the struggles of the fish being rapidly swept away. "It's a dorado: I can see his golden scales!"

"Then he's a regular whopper, my lads. Steady, don't lose him!" cried Shaddy. "Shall I come on board?"

"No, not yet," said Joe excitedly. "He may make another rush."

"Why, I say, it isn't a very big one," said Rob.

"No," cried Joe, in a disappointed tone; "but he's coming up backwards, which shows how strong he is."

"Ha, ha!" shouted Rob; "we've caught him by the tail."

"Got the line twisted round it, perhaps," said Brazier. "That's what makes the fish seem so strong."

"Ugh!" yelled Rob, letting go of the line, with the result that it was drawn back rapidly through Joe's fingers, till at a cry from his lips Rob took hold again as the fish ran off and nearly reached its former quarters.

"What's the matter?" said Brazier. "Did the line cut your fingers?"

"No. We've caught a horrid great thing. It isn't a dorado. I saw it well, and it's nearly as long as the boat."

"Gammon!" growled Shaddy. "Here, what's it like, Master Joe?"

"I don't know. I never saw a fish like it before: its tail was all golden scales, and then it was dark at the top and bottom, and went off dark right toward the head."

"Then it must be a mud-fish, I should say, though I never knowed of one with a tail like that. Haul him in again, and I'll get aboard now ready with the hook."

He stepped into the boat, and lay down in the bottom with his arms over the side and his landing-hook, securely bound to a short, stout piece of bamboo, held ready.

"Shan't be in your way, shall I?" he asked.

"No, not at all," replied Joe. "Now, Rob, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"I say, don't let go again."

"I'll try not," replied Rob, and the hauling began once more, with almost as much effort necessary. But at the end of a minute it began to be evident that the fish was tired, for it yielded more and more as the line was drawn in, but kept to its old tactics of hugging the bottom till it was close up to the boat, where, after pausing a moment or two, Rob cried,--

"Now then, both together! Don't miss him, Shaddy! Mind, he's a hideous great thing."

"All right, my lads; haul away!"

They hauled, but instead of the fish suffering itself to be dragged like a lump of lead close in to the boat, it now commenced different tactics, and rose till the gilded tail appeared above the surface quite clear of the line, and beat and churned up the water so that it was too much disturbed for them to see the head, the creature seeming to be fighting hard to dive down again straight to the bottom.

"That's right, my lads: he's coming. 'Nother fathom, and I'll get the hook into him. Haul steady. He's, done. He's--Well, I'm blessed!"

Shaddy roared out this last exclamation, for all at once, as the boys hauled persistently at the line, the tail half of a large dorado was thrust above the surface, agitated violently, and directly after there followed the hideous head of an alligator with its jaws tightly closed upon the fore half of the fish. It was shaking its head savagely to break the line, and began giving violent plunges while it made the water foam with its struggles, and in another moment would no doubt have broken away; but just at the crisis, on seeing what was the state of affairs, Brazier raised his gun, took a quick aim, and discharged rapidly one after the other both barrels of his piece.

The result was magical. As the smoke rose, and quite a cloud of brilliantly tinted birds flew here and there from side to side of the river, whose trees on both banks seemed to have grown alive with monkeys, the alligator made one leap half out of the water, fell back with a heavy splash, and then lay motionless save for a quivering of its tail as it was drawn nearer, when Shaddy managed to get his hook inside the jaws, which were distended by the dorado, and then, stepping ashore, he hauled the reptile right out on to the grass.

"Is he dead?" said Brazier, who was reloading.

"Not yet, sir; but you've shattered the back of his head, and he'll soon be quite. No wonder you didn't land him quicker, Master Joe."

"But what does it mean?" cried Rob. "Oh, I see! Joe hooked a dorado, and this fellow tried to swallow it head first, and couldn't get it right down."

"That's it, my lad," replied Shaddy. "He'd half managed it when Mr Jovanny here gave a pull, and has got the hook in him somewhere. I thought so. Here's the pynte sticking right through outside his neck, and he couldn't bite because of the fish stuck in his jaws just like a great gag."

"Well, what's to be done?" said Rob; "we can't eat the dorado now. Wonder whether I've got a bite yet."

He went slowly and wearily up to the tree where he had fastened the end of his line, and to his delight saw that the branch was rising and falling as a fish on the hook tugged to get away.

"Hi! Joe! Got one!" he shouted; but before the lad could reach him he had the line in his hand and was hauling, sore as his fingers were, a heavy fish toward the shore. Then with a cry of disappointment he pulled in the line easily enough, for the fish was gone.

They returned to the spot where Brazier and Shaddy stood, near the captured alligator.

"Good six feet long, Rob," said Brazier, who had measured it by taking two long paces. "Something like a catch, Giovanni. Can you get the fish out of its jaws, Naylor?"

"Oh yes, I think so, sir."

"Mind, for these creatures are very retentive of life."

"Oh yes, I know 'em, sir. I'll get the chopper and take his head off first."

"But we are not going to eat that fish now, Mr Brazier, are we?"

"Well, I don't know, Rob. If it is well washed and skinned, it cannot be any the worse, and we have nothing else in the way of fish or meat."

"Wrong, sir," said Shaddy, making a very wide smile; "look at that."

He pointed toward the top of the little clearing where the boatman had forced his way in amongst the tangled growth, and gone on hewing his way through bush, thorn, vine, and parasitical growth, to reappear just in the nick of time with the bustard-looking bird hanging from his left hand, dead.

"Says he had to go in a long way," said Shaddy, after a short conversation with the man, who, weary though he was with his exertions, immediately set to work by the fire picking the bird and burning its feathers, with the result that the Europeans of the little expedition confined themselves to the windward side of the fire till the man had done.

"Never had such a delicious supper before in my life," said Rob two hours later, as they sat in the boat eating oranges and watching the gorgeous colours of the sky.

"Think this place 'll do, sir?" said Shaddy, after washing down his repast with copious draughts of _mate_ made by his men.

"Excellently, Naylor."

"And you ain't hardly begun yet," said Shaddy, smiling. "Wait till you get higher up, where it's wilder and wonderfler: this is nothing. Suit you, Master Rob? Never had such fishing as that before, did you?"

"Never, Shaddy; but what did you do with the alligator and the fish?"

"My lads cut all off as the 'gator hadn't had down his throat, and tumbled the other into the stream. Ain't much of him left by this time."

The night came on almost directly after, with the remarkable tropical absence of twilight; and, as if all had been waiting for the darkness, the chorus of the forest began. Then, well making up the fire with an abundance of wood, the boatmen came on board, and immediately settled themselves down to sleep. _

Read next: Chapter 10. The Wonders Of The Wilds

Read previous: Chapter 8. Hidden Dangers

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