SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL TRAVELLING 
courage that they would not come; it was because of their 
duty! 
Of course, Alcides was sadly disappointed, but I was 
delighted, when it all fell through. 
I owe the success of my expeditions to the fact that, 
no matter what happens, I never will stop anywhere. It is 
quite fatal, on expeditions of that kind, to stop for any 
length of time. If you do, the fatigue, the worry, and 
illness make it generally impossible to start again -— all 
things which you do not feel quite so much, as long as 
you can keep moving. Many a disaster in exploring 
expeditions could easily have been avoided, had the people 
known this secret of successful travelling. Push on at all 
costs — until, of course, you are actually dead. 
With my reduced party of two men (Alcides and 
Filippe) I had to arrange matters differently, and decided 
to abandon part of my baggage, all things, in fact, 
which were not absolutely necessary, taking only food, 
instruments for scientific observations, cameras, and pho¬ 
tographic plates. 
Alcides and Filippe, who by then had become most 
adventurous, and I were about to start on July first, and 
were making things ready, when two of my deserters 
returned and begged me to take them along again. They 
had found living at their own cost rather expensive, and 
had realized that it would have been an impossibility for 
them to get out of that place again with the funds at their 
disposal. Each meal had cost them a small fortune. 
Animals were extremely expensive, and it was then the 
wrong season for launches to come up the river as far as 
Rosario, the nearest port to the south. 
“ We will come with you,” said they, in a sudden out¬ 
burst of devotion. “ We will come. We are brave men. 
You have always been good and generous to us. We are 
sorry for what we have done. Order us and we will kill 
anybody you like for you! ” 
378 
