“ Far up the Maya-tata canoe excursions were made, and at every bend of this strange river the scenery seemed more delightfully wild, silent, and beautiful.
"Heigh-ho!" said Dick one day. "I think I should not mind living here for years and years, did I but know that poor Peggy was safe and well."
"Ah! yes, that is the ever-abiding anxiety, but we are not to lose heart, are we?"
"No," said Dick emphatically. "If the worst should come to the worst, let us try to look fate fearlessly in the face, as men should." ”

“ Close enough to admire the flowers that draped the forest trees; close enough to hear the wild lilt of birds or the chattering of monkeys and parrots; close enough to see tapirs moving among the trees, watched, often enough, by the fierce sly eyes of ghastly alligators, that flattened themselves against rocks or bits of clay soil, looking like a portion of the ground, but warily waiting until they should see a chance to attack.
There cannot be too many tapirs, and there cannot be too few alligators. So our young heroes thought it no crime to shoot these squalid horrors wherever seen. ”

“ Next day, amidst wild unearthly clamour and music, she was led from the tent and seated on the throne. Garments of otter skins and crimson cloth were cast on the throne and draped over the beautiful child. She was encircled with flowers of rarest hue, and emu's feathers were stuck, plume-like, in her bonnie hair.
Meanwhile the trumpets blared more loudly, and the tom-toms were struck with treble force, then all ceased at once, and there was a silence deep as death, as everyone prostrated himself or herself before the newly-made young queen. ”

“ It is seldom indeed that a savage is troubled with sleeplessness, but that night poor Benee was far too anxious to slumber soundly. For he knew not what another day might bring forth. It might be pregnant with happiness for him and the young girls he loved so dearly, or it might end in bloodshed and in death.
What a glorious morning broke over the woodlands at last! Looking eastwards Benee could note a strip of the deepest orange just above the dark forest horizon. ”

“ All the past is as nothing. Let us live for the future. Is that right, Roland?"
"Yes, you must forget the past, Peggy," said Roland. "Dick is right. The past shall be buried. We are young yet. The world is all before us. So come, laugh, and be happy, Peggy."
"And this charming child here, who is she?" said Dick. He alluded to Weenah.
"That is little Weenah, a daughter of the wilds, a child of the desert. Nay, but no child after all, are you, Weenah?"
Weenah bent her dark eyes on the ground.
"I am nothing," she said. "I am nobody, only--Benee's." ”

“ God's angels surely they, speaking, as they gazed down, words from their home on high, peace and good-will to men, and happiness to all that lived and breathed.
On and on over plains, through moor and marsh, by lake and stream, by forest dark and jungle wild. It was evident that Benee meant to put leagues between himself and the camp of his recent enemies before each star grew beautiful and died; before the fiery sun leapt red above the eastern hills, and turned the darkness into day. ”

“ Though our heroes listened, they could not hear a sound, not even the crackling of a bush or broken branch.
Soon the moon glared red through the topmost boughs of the far-off trees, and flooded all the land with a light almost as bright as day. The stars above, that before had glittered on the river's rippling breast, and the stars beneath--those wondrous flitting fire-insects--paled before its beams, and the night-birds sought for shelter in caves among the rocks. So over all the prairie and woodlands there fell a stillness that was almost oppressive. ”

“ There was the clatter of ponies' feet, and next minute as handsome a boy as ever sat in saddle, and as pretty and bright a lassie as you could wish to meet, galloped into the clearing, and reined up their spirited little steeds close to the spot where the men were lounging.
Burly Bill stuck his thumb into the bowl of his meerschaum to put it out, and Jake threw his pipe on the bank.
Roland was tall for his age, like Peggy. But while a mass of fair and irrepressible hair curled around the boy's sun-burned brow, Peggy's hair was straight and black. ”

“ Sometimes storms raged through the woods, with thunder, lightning, and drenching rain; or even on the brightest of days, down might sweep a whirlwind, utterly wrecking acres and acres of forest, tearing gigantic trees up by the roots, twisting them as if they were ropes, or tossing them high in air, and after cutting immense gaps through the jungle, retire, as if satisfied with the chaos and devastation worked, to the far-off mountain lands. ”

“ Higher and higher they leapt, along the ground they ran, meeting in all directions down the dark river and across the wild moor by the edge of the woodland. The undergrowth was dry, the grass was withered, and in an amazingly short time the whole forest by the banks of the Madeira was sheeted in devastating flames.
The savages had been massed in the centre of the jungle, and just preparing to issue forth and carry death into the camp of our heroes, when suddenly the crackling of the flames fell on their ears, and they knew they were caught in a fire-trap, with scarcely any means of escape. ”

“ Peter?"
"I am, Dick. I have had my suspicions of him ever since a month after he came. It was strange how Benee hated him from the beginning, to say nothing of Brawn, the dog, and our dear lost Peggy."
"Cheer up!" said Dick. "Give Peter a show, though things look dark against him."
"Yes," said Roland sternly, "and with us and our expedition he must and shall go. We can watch his every move, and if I find that he is a villain, may God have mercy on his soul! His body shall feed the eagles." ”

“ Was Benee disinterested? Did he really feel love for the white man and the white man's children? Can aught save selfishness dwell in the breast of a savage? In brief, was it he who had been the spy, he who was the guilty man; or was it Peter who was the villain? Look at it in any light we please, one thing is certain, this strange Indian was making his way back to his own country and to his own friends, and Indians are surely not less fond of each other than are the wild beasts who herd together in the forest, on the mountain-side, or on the ice in the far-off land of the frozen north. ”

“ If I am seen we are all doomed. But listen, and listen intently. You are free if you are fortunate. Liberty is at hand. Your friends are twenty miles down stream in camp. Down the stream of Bitter Waters. Ride this way to-morrow, and when far enough away take Weenah in your saddle, and gallop for your life into the forest. Weenah will be your guide. ”

“ As the matter stands I do not beg for my life, but rather that you should deal with me as I deserve to be treated.
"Death, believe me, gentlemen, is in my case preferable to life. But listen and judge for yourselves, and if parts of my story need confirmation, behold yonder is Kaloomah, and he it was whom I hired to carry your adopted sister away, where in all human probability she could never more be heard of again. Have you got all that down?"
"I have," said Dick.
"But," said Roland, "what reason had you to take so terrible a revenge on those who never harmed you, if revenge indeed it was?" ”

“ The poor, untutored savage felt, in his happiness, at this moment, that it would be sweet to die were the loved ones only near to hold his hand.
But he could die, too, fighting for them; ay, fighting to the end. Who was he that would dare touch the ground where Peggy or Weenah trod if he--Benee--were there?
And so they journeyed on and on by the river's side and through jungle and forest, never dreaming of danger or pursuit.
Ah! but wild as a panther was Kaloomah now. ”

“ Once when, with their rifles in hand, Roland and Dick were watching a small flock of tapirs at a pond of water, which formed the centre of a green oasis in the dark forest, they noticed a balloon-shaped cloud in the south. It got larger and larger as it advanced towards them, its great twisted tail seeming to trail along the earth. ”

“ That same forenoon Dick and Roland rode out to the forest.
They could hear the boom and shriek and roar of the great buzz-saw long before they came near the white-men's quarters.
They saw Jake,--and busy enough he was too,--and told him that they had some reason to doubt the honesty or sincerity of Mr. Peter, and that they would take him along with them.
"Thank God!" said Jake most fervently. "I myself cannot trust a man whom a dog like Brawn and a savage like Benee have come to hate." ”

“ Peter," said Roland sternly, "you have narrowly escaped the death you would have meted out to poor Brawn with your cruel and accursed arrow.
"You may not love the dog. He certainly does not love you, and dogs are good judges of character. He tree'd you, and you sought revenge. You doubtless have other reasons to hate Brawn, but his life is far more to us than yours. Now confess you meant to do for him, and then to make your way down-stream by stealing a canoe." ”

“ Roland and Dick, with Peter, to say nothing of Brawn, occupied the after-cabin in a canoe of very light draught, but really a twelve-tonner. The cabin was, of course, both dining-room and sleeping berth--the lounges being skins of buffaloes and of wild beasts, but all clean and sweet.
The cabin itself was built of bamboo and bamboo leaves lined with very light skins, so overlapping as to make the cabin perfectly dry.
Our heroes had arranged about light, and candles were brought out as soon as daylight began to fade. ”

“ The Indians had told the whites, the evening before, strange legends about the deep, almost bottomless, pools beneath the falls.
Down there, according to them, devils dwell, and hold high revelry every time the moon is full. Dark? No it is not dark at the bottom, for Indians who have been dragged down there and afterwards escaped, have related their adventures, and spoken of the splendid caverns lit up by crimson fire, whose mouths open into the water. Caverns more gorgeous and beautiful than eyes of men ever alight upon above-ground. ”

“ A huge snake, black as a winter's night, uncoiled itself, hissed, and darted into the heath to hide. Benee heeded it not. A wild beast of some sort sprang past him with furious growl. Benee never even raised his rifle. And when he came to the banks of a reed-girt lake, and saw his chance of shooting a huge cayman, he cared not to draw a bead thereon. He just went on with his chant and on with his walk. Benee was truly happy and hopeful for once in his life.
And amid such scenery, beneath such a galaxy of resplendent stars, who could have been aught else?
"How beautiful is night! ”

“ Up, guns! Let them have a volley! Straight at yonder bush! Fire low, lads! See, yonder is a savage!"
Dick took aim at a dark-skinned native who stood well out from the wood, and fired. He was close to the stream and had been about to shoot, but Dick's rifle took away his breath, and with an agonized scream he threw up his arms and fell headlong into the water.
Volley after volley rang out now on the still air, and soon it was evident that the woods were cleared.
"Those are the Paynee Indians without a doubt," said Dick; "the same sable devils that the skipper of that steamer warned us about." ”

“ That they were burning to get news of the unfortunate Peggy goes without saying, and to hear at the same time Benee's own marvellous adventures.
Nor did they hurry the poor fellow even next day.
It is a good plan to fly from temptation, when you are not sure you may not fall. There is nothing dishonourable about such a course, be the temptation what it may.
Roland and Dick adopted the plan this morning at all events. Both were awake long before sunrise; long before the beautiful stars had ceased to glitter gem-like high over mountains and forest. ”

“ See, I am clad in the skins of the puma and the otter; I have killed the jaguar, too, and I have been far north and fought with terrible men. They fell before the poison of my arrows. They tried to catch me; but fleet of foot is Weenah, and they never can see me when I fly. In trees I have slept, on the open heather, in caves of rocks, and in jungle. But never, never could I find my Benee. Ah! life of mine, you will never go and leave us again.
"Yes," she added, "Mother and Father live, and are well. Our home have we enlarged. 'Tis big now, and there is room in it for Benee. ”

“ Some who had exposed themselves were speedily brought down with poisoned arrows, and already lay writhing in the agonies of spasmodic death.
But see, led on by the chief Kaloomah himself, who seems to bear a charmed life, the foremost ranks of those sable warriors have already all but gained footing on the ramparts, while with axe and adze the pale-faces endeavour to repel them.
In vain!
Kaloomah--great knife in hand--and at least a score of his braves have effected an entrance, and the whites, though fighting bravely, are being pushed, if not driven back. ”