“Himmel! Ach donnerblitzen! Ouch!” they could hear as they raced along, tumbling over roots and getting entangled2 in long, serpent-like lianas.
“What do you suppose can have happened?” panted Tom as they ran.
“Don’t know. The professor must have been attacked by some kind of venomous beast or other,” declared Jack3. “Hurry up, boys!”
“Better get your rifles ready,” warned Dick, seeing that his weapon was in order as best he could in his haste.
Suddenly they dashed into a small open space at the foot of a big tree. Half way up this tree was an odd sight. The professor, who had evidently climbed up by the aid of some small branches which grew almost down to the ground, was clinging to the trunk with one arm while the other appeared to be thrust into a hole in the tree.
As the boys came to a momentary4 halt his yells redoubled, and from the interlacing boughs5 above, a gorgeous bird swooped6 down and flew at the professor’s head, screeching8 and flapping its wings and snapping its big beak9 in a very menacing manner.
“It’s a macaw! A giant macaw!” cried Jack, as he noticed its gaudy10, red, green and blue plumage.
“Ach! Take der bird avay! He bite me pretty soon alretty!” shouted the professor.
“Does that mean that he’s bitten him already, or that he’s going to?” asked Dick, laughing at the odd figure the professor cut.
Jack raised his rifle and took careful aim as the macaw hovered11 about the professor’s head. The next minute his weapon flashed and cracked sharply. There was a shout from the professor and a screech7 from the bird and it fell dead almost at their feet.
“Good shooting!” approved Tom, picking it up.
“You’re all right now, professor,” hailed Jack; “I’ve killed the bird.”
“Himmel! I vish you could kill its mate!” cried the Teuton piercingly.
“Why? What’s the trouble? Why don’t you come down?” demanded Jack, who noticed that the professor’s arm was still thrust within the tree.
“I can’t. Annuder macaw in der nest inside der tree has mein fingers be-grabbed.”
What was the matter now became plain enough. The professor must have wandered off in search of specimens12 while supper was getting ready. Seeing a macaw fly into a nest he had climbed the tree and imprudently thrust in his hand to obtain some eggs. Instantly his fingers had been gripped by the bird’s powerful beak, and he was held prisoner. To add to his troubles, the big bird that Jack had just shot had been harassing14 the disturber of its home in the tree trunk.
Jack felt more inclined to laugh than anything else at the little naturalist’s plight15. But he stifled16 his mirth and hailed the spectacled German again.
“Hold on, professor. We’ll climb up there and kill it.”
“Blitzen, nein! Not for de vurld vould I haf you kill idt!” was the excited response.
“But it’s holding your hand! It will hurt you! You may get blood poisoning!”
“Nein, I haf on a gluff. Idt cannot hurdt me. Idt is a fine spezimen. Can’t you preak indo der tree midt your axes undt dig him out?”
“We might try,” said Jack rather dubiously18, “but I should think it would be better to pull your hand out of your glove.”
But by no persuasion19 would the professor consent to do this. He declared that he was willing to stand on the tree all night if the boys would only do him a favor and dig through the bark and give him a chance to seize the macaw within. Jack clambered up to the professor’s side and tapping the wood with his axe17 soon saw that it was a mere20 shell.
“I’ll soon chop you out of that,” he said, giving the wood a hard whack21.
“Chently! chently! I peg22 off you,” urged the professor; “he is a fine spezimen. Nodt for vurlds vould I haf him ge-hurt.”
“The bird isn’t as considerate toward you,” thought Jack as the professor broke off with a cry of pain caused by an extra hard tweak that the bird had given his imprisoned23 hand.
A few blows smashed the rotten wood away and as it crashed inward, releasing the professor, he lost his balance and slid down the trunk to the ground, landing with a hard bump. The macaw, on the other hand, let go of his fingers the instant Jack smashed the tree open, and with a loud shriek24, as if in contempt of the fallen scientist, it flew off through the wood. Nothing about the professor had suffered any injury but his feelings, and he was soon up. But to his disappointment, no eggs were found in the nest within the tree. Apparently25 it was only used for a roosting place, or else it was not the season for the birds to mate.
They made their way back to camp, laughing heartily26 over this adventure, and stopping by the way to pick up the wood they had chopped. They found Captain Sprowl all ready for them and a bit alarmed over the shot he had heard, but matters were soon explained. Mr. Chadwick had bandaged and dressed the injured engineer’s foot while they were gone, and he declared that it felt better already.
Not long after their return the call to supper was given, a summons for which all hands were quite ready. It was a novel experience this, of eating in the depths of the dense27 tropical forest on the banks of an unknown river. The fire blazed up brightly and cheerfully, however, and spread a ruddy glow about the little clearing that chased the dreary28 forest shadows into the background. After all, their position might have been much worse than it was.
Captain Sprowl was a good rough-and-ready cook, and he had concocted29 a supper that, while rather mixed as to courses, was heartily enjoyed by them all.
“Well, we won’t starve, anyhow,” declared Dick Donovan, leaning back against a tree trunk after partaking of pea soup and hot crackers30, hot pork and beans, jam and two cups of steaming hot coffee.
“No, and to-morrow if we’re lucky, we’ll have turtle eggs for breakfast,” declared Captain Sprowl.
“Turtle eggs,” cried Tom.
“Yes. I saw some turtles crawling out of the water on to that sandy beach above us a while back. I guess they’ll lay their eggs to-night, and in the morning we’ll make a round of the nests.”
“Wonder how some broiled31 macaw would go?” said Jack, mischievously32 eying the German savant who was busy skinning the specimen13 the boy had shot.
“There are many mac-causes why it wouldn’t be good,” quoth Dick solemnly, for which offense33 he was threatened by the boys with a ducking in the river if it was repeated.
“A macaw,—have you heard this before?—
At a German professor got sore;
It grabbed at his finger,
The prof he did linger,
And now he won’t do so no more,”
chanted Dick, who had a weakness for making up limericks.
“Stow that,” growled34 Captain Sprowl with mock indignation. “Now then,” he went on, “when you young fellers have quite digested your supper, we’ll set about fixin’ up for the night. You said there was a tent in the ship, Jack?”
“Yes, a light one of balloon silk. It’s seven by nine feet. Is it big enough?”
“Crullers, yes! Big enough for the crew of a down-east whaler, boy. We won’t all sleep in it at once, anyhow. I’ve been thinking that as we’re in a strange place and don’t know just what may be lurking35 about, we’d better keep watch two and two.”
“An excellent idea,” said Mr. Chadwick.
“Why can’t we sleep in the open?” asked Dick. “It’s plenty warm enough.”
“It’s warm enough, all right,” agreed the skipper, “but if you’d ever had black water fever, you’d know better than to sleep without protection alongside a tropical river.”
“Yes,” agreed Mr. Chadwick, “there is nothing more unhealthy than sleeping out of doors in the tropics,—that is, without any protection. We would better keep up the fire all night, too,” he added.
By the time the tent was up and their scant36 supply of bedding spread, the boys were quite ready to turn in. But Captain Sprowl had divided the night off into watches, each watch to be taken by one boy and one adult. The first watch from nine to twelve was to be taken by Dick and Mr. Chadwick. The second fell to the lot of Tom and the professor, and lasted from midnight till three a. m. The third watch from that hour until six was to be that of Jack and Captain Sprowl. These matters being adjusted, some green wood was piled on the fire for back logs and in half an hour, with the exception of those on watch, the occupants of the camp were sound asleep.
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1
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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3
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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4
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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6
swooped
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| 俯冲，猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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8
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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9
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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10
gaudy
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| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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11
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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12
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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13
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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harassing
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| v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人） | |
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15
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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16
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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17
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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20
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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21
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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22
peg
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| n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定 | |
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23
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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25
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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26
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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27
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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29
concocted
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| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
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30
crackers
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| adj.精神错乱的，癫狂的n.爆竹( cracker的名词复数 )；薄脆饼干；（认为）十分愉快的事；迷人的姑娘 | |
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31
broiled
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| a.烤过的 | |
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32
mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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33
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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34
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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35
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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36
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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