OH, SHOOT! 



capture this one if he appeared, but my words 

 evoked a smile. It was evident that Billy 

 considered me a braggart and a fool. He 

 and the chief's son were vastly relieved when 

 they had paddled us out of sight of the place. 



We fished the Cardi River and we hunted it; 

 we followed withered old hunters armed with 

 rusty shotguns into wildernesses and swamps 

 whence none but an Indian with an Indian's 

 bump of location could have guided us out; 

 we perspired ourselves white in the humid, 

 ovenlike heat, and we emerged covered with 

 ticks as with a scale, for this was the dry 

 season. Nothing was proof against this in- 

 sect pest; every twig and every leaf contrib- 

 uted its quota to our persons the ticks got 

 into our hair and our eyebrows; we spent 

 hours "reading" our garments and each 

 other's backs. 



They are wonderful travelers, these little 

 men. We had great times with them, for, 

 once they came to trust us, we put full trust 

 in them, and they took us everywhere. It 

 was great fun, too, still-hunting the largest 

 and the wariest of tropical animals, matching 

 wits with wild creatures whose every sense is 

 sharpened to incredible acuteness. 



132 



