After ascertaining the depth of the water, David began to dive off the high bank, from numerous positions, and before he realized it, the men had stopped swimming and had formed a semi-circle to watch. Then came exclamations of surprise and approbation as he plunged, again and again, into the water. “Bravo,” they shouted as he reappeared after each splash. “It’s nothing,” David answered with a happy smile. “Come along and I’ll show you how to do it.” But the men did not follow him; the bank was too high, they said. Therefore, Jones showed them various strokes in swimming and in this they all joined, vieing with one another in attempts to master the lesson and thereby win the _muito bom_ of approval from the master. When they returned to the launch the men who had been to swim told the others what had occurred and were loud in their praise of their new companion. Everyone listened interestedly except Miguel, their self-appointed leader. “Who couldn’t swim inside the stockade?” he asked derisively. “It wasn’t that. We all swam, but it was the ways he did it. And you should have seen him dive from the top of the bank, and you know how high that is.” “All it takes to do that is practice,” Miguel said, with an air of pouring out wisdom to the ignorant. “Some day we will see if this Nobody is so wonderful in the water. I will go into the river--” he paused so that they might appreciate the full weight of his words, “into the river, I said, where there is no stockade, or into a lagoon full of piranhas and crocodiles. See if he will follow me.” At first David said nothing. But the men were looking at him expectantly and a few were showing disappointment in their faces. “All right,” he answered slowly. “Let me know when you are ready. I am not trying to show off but I can certainly do anything you can.” The men now looked at Miguel. He moved uneasily. His bluff had been called, much to his dismay. But he held his ground. “I will let you know” he said, “and everybody else, too, so they can see just how brave you are and what a good swimmer you are. You said you would follow me; I have witnesses.” “Yes. I said that. I expect you to make good--I have witnesses, too.” Just then the cook called the men for the evening meal, so taking their bowls and spoons they went to the launch for their dole of rice and beef. In the days that followed, David gave demonstrations and lessons in swimming and diving so often as the opportunity presented itself; and, under his instruction a number of the party soon became adepts at performing the feats they had admired so greatly. In return, they showed him how to handle the lasso and he lost no chance to practice with it, using stumps and snags for targets and sometimes one of the men who would run past, inviting the entangling coils of the rope.