On the Banks of the Amazon | Page 7

often, and altogether I believed I was
getting on pretty well. Tony, my first acquaintance, remained my firm
friend. Although now and then we had quarrels, we quickly made them
up again. He used to listen with eager ears to the accounts I gave him of
my voyage, and the wonders of my native land. He never laughed at my
foreign accent, though the other boys did; but I very soon got rid of it. I
used to try to teach him Spanish, and the Indian language, which I had
learned from the servants; but I soon forgot them myself, and had
difficulty even in recalling a few words of the tongue which I once
spoke with ease.
"I say, Harry, I should so like to go out with you to that country," said
Tony to me one day. "When you go back I must try and get my father
to let me accompany you."
I, of course, was well pleased at the proposal, and we talked for days
together of what we should do when we got out there. At last we began
to think that it was very hard we should have to wait till we had grown
big fellows like those at the head of the school, and Tony proposed that
we should start away by ourselves. We looked at the map, and
considered how we could best accomplish our object. We observed the
mighty river Amazon rising at no great distance--so it seemed on
paper--from Quito itself, and running right across the continent into the
Atlantic.
"Will it not be fun paddling up by ourselves in a canoe!" exclaimed
Tony. "We will have guns to go on shore and shoot birds and beasts;
and when we grow tired of paddling we will sail along before the wind;

and we will have a tent, and sleep in it at night, and light a fire in front
of it to cook our suppers and keep off the wild beasts; and then, when
we arrive at the upper end of the river, we will sell our canoe to the
Indians, and trudge away on foot with knapsacks on our backs up the
mountains, till we reach your father's house; and will not he be
astonished to see us!"
I agreed with him in his last idea certainly, but I was puzzled to think
how we were to reach the mouth of the Amazon, and when we were
there how we were to procure canoe. All the rest appeared pretty easy
in the way Tony proposed it, and, after all, even on a big map, the river
did not look so very long.
"Well, my idea is," said Tony, "that we should save up all our
pocket-money, and then, some day when we have got very hard lessons
to do, or anything disagreeable takes place, run off, and get aboard a
ship sailing to South America. I should not mind being cabin-boy for a
short time; and as you know Spanish and Indian, you could tell the
captain you would interpret for him, and of course he would be very
glad to have you; and then, you know, we should soon learn to be
sailors; and it will be much pleasanter climbing about the rigging and
up the masts and along the yards than sitting at our desks all day
bothering our heads with Caesar and Ovid and sums and history and
geography, and all that sort of thing."
"But I have not got Caesar and Ovid to do yet," I observed; "and I want
to have a little more schooling; for Uncle James says I shall not be fit
for anything until I do. Do not you think we had better wait till I get
into your class, or rather higher still?"
Tony said he was much disappointed at my drawing back, which he
argued I was doing when I made these remarks. However, I spoke in
perfect sincerity, and fully believed that I should enjoy the adventure he
proposed just as much as he would. I had my doubts, however, whether
we should receive so favourable a reception at the end of our journey as
he supposed. However, he continued talking and talking about the
matter, till I agreed to consider what could be done during another half.

I spent my first holidays in London at Uncle James's, and my brother
John came there, and I was surprised to find what a big fellow he was.
We were very good friends, and he took me out to see a number of the
sights of London. We went, among other places, to Exeter Change,
where there were all sorts of wild beasts. I had no idea until then that
there were so many in the world. I was highly interested, and