When night came he was so tired that he sought his hammock right after supper. Neither the loud voices of the mozos nor the uncomfortable position he was forced to assume on account of the short stretch of the ropes kept him awake. For the first time in several nights he slept soundly, and it seemed but a moment when someone called them all to tumble out in a hurry to prepare for the journey up the river. CHAPTER X THE ASCENT OF THE UPPER AMAZON Day was just breaking when the launch nosed her way out into the little stream. Overhead, the leaf-covered branches of the trees that lined the water-course met to form a delicate tracery of black against the graying sky. Birds raised their voices, clear and cheery in the checkered canopy and others responded in drowsy, listless whispers from the dark walls on either side. Where the creek was narrowest or where the foliage was so dense as completely to obscure the sky, the water seemed to melt away into deep pools of blackness; but the launch glided on and on without plunging abruptly into some unseen abyss, although the muffled throb of the engine always seemed fainter in the heavier gloom as if in deference to the all-pervading spirit of darkness. Once there was a sudden crashing in the heavy undergrowth followed by the splash of a heavy body in the water; then silence for a short interval. Now the sequence was reversed. There was first a splashing in the water and then the crashing of brush--on the opposite side of the stream. A tapir, alarmed by the boat, had sought refuge in the water only to discover that the cause of its terror was directly in its path. Therefore it had dived and swum swiftly beneath the surface and then, emerging, lost no time in regaining the land. When the light grew somewhat stronger gaunt forms appeared between the water and the fretwork overhead. They always sprang out of the deepest shadows and melted into the distance as silent as spectres and as devoid of clews as to their identity. But finally, when one of them emitted a hoarse croak of fright as the launch rounded a bend and brushed the vegetation in which the creature had been concealed, David knew that it was a heron. The occasional chorus of squawks that came from high above belonged to flocks of macaws on their way to some fruiting tree for an early breakfast. By the time the sun rose the launch had entered the main river where the craft hugged the shore in order to avoid the strong current further out. There now being less danger of collisions they moved at a faster rate of speed. David could not but feel how different this mode of travel was from the slow, painful progress made by the batalao when he came up this same river to the ranch.