"Not that I ever heard of, squire. They're great stupid innocents, as far as I know. That one wouldn't wait for a boat to get anywhere near it; but if it did I daresay in its fright it might upset the craft. I fancy all they want is to be let alone. Pretty good size, eh?" "Yes," said Brace; "I wish my brother were here to see it." "Very tempting for a shot," said Briscoe, fingering his gun. "Very," said the captain sarcastically. "Couldn't well miss it, sir, eh?" "Oh, I daresay I could," said the American; "I'm very clever that way, skipper, sometimes. But there, I don't want to kill the poor thing. Would you like to shoot, Brace Leigh?" "No," said the young man. "It seems such a stupid, inoffensive-looking beast. I should like a shot at a jaguar or a leopard, and I could not resist having a shot at one of those loathsome old alligators if I saw one." "There you are then," said Briscoe softly, as he pointed to what seemed to be a trunk of an old tree floating along not very far away from the brig between the verdant bank of the river and the side of the vessel. Brace looked at it hard before he fully grasped what the object was, and then cocked the left-hand barrel of his gun. "Don't shoot," said Briscoe. "It is only waste of powder and bullet." "I could hit the brute without any trouble," said Brace. "I don't doubt that," said the American; "but the bullet will most likely glance off, while if it gets home the reptile will only sink." "So I suppose; but it will be one fewer of the savage beasts." "One out of millions," said Briscoe. "Besides, you'll scare away that water-elephant, and we may as well watch it for a bit." "Gone--both of them," said Brace, laughing, as he lowered the hammer of his piece, for the sea-cow suddenly gave a wallow and went down with a loud splash as if it had been alarmed by the sight of something approaching, while its disturbance of the water acted upon the great alligator, which sank at once, startling another, of whose presence the watchers were not aware till they caught a glimpse of the reptile's tail as it disappeared. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. THE ENEMIES IN THE STREAM. In the days which followed Captain Banes navigated his brig so skilfully that the adventurers progressed far up into what seemed to be perfectly virgin country. Before a week had passed Sir Humphrey was able to be up on deck, looking a good deal pulled down, but mending fast. A good-sized awning had been stretched aft for his benefit, and here he sat back during the greater part of the day with a glass to his eye, watching the many changes of the river as the brig tacked to and fro in some reaches or ran blithely before the wind in others, for the river wound about and sometimes even completely reversed its course.