THE CASTANHO 307 



fever and were much weakened ; only a few of them 

 retained their original physical and moral strength. 

 Cherrie and Kermit had recovered ; but both Kermit 

 and Lyra still had bad sores on their legs, from the 

 bruises received in the water work. 1 was in worse 

 shape. The after effects of the fever still hung on ; and 

 the leg which had been hurt while working in the rapids 

 with the sunken canoe had taken a turn for the bad and 

 developed an abscess. The good doctor, to whose un- 

 wearied care and kindness I owe much, had cut it open 

 and inserted a drainage tube ; an added charm being 

 given the operation, and the subsequent dressings, by 

 the enthusiasm with which the piums and boroshudas 

 took part therein. I could hardly hobble, and was 

 pretty well laid up. But " there aren't no ' stop, con- 

 ductor,' while a battery's changing ground." No man 

 has any business to go on such a trip as ours unless he 

 wUl refuse to jeopardize the welfare of his associates by 

 any delay caused by a weakness or ailment of his. It is 

 his duty to go forward, if necessary on all fours, until he 

 drops. Fortunately, I was put to no such test. I 

 remained in good shape until we had passed the last 

 of the rapids of the chasms. When my serious trouble 

 came we had only canoe-riding ahead of us. It is not 

 ideal for a sick man to spend the hottest hours of the 

 day stretched on the boxes in the bottom of a small 

 open dugout, under the wellnigh intolerable heat of the 

 torrid sun of the mid-tropics, varied by bhnding, drench- 

 ing downpours of rain ; but I could not be sufficiently 

 grateful for the chance. Kermit and Cherrie took care 

 of me as if they had been trained nurses ; and Colonel 

 Rondon and Lyra were no less thoughtful. 



The north was calling strongly to the three men 

 of the north— Rocky Dell Farm to Cherrie, Sagamore 



