Free 01 Amazon Adventure by Willard Price Page B

to us.’ said Hal, ‘he’ll just be Specs Hunt.’
    Specs Hunt came to realize very quickly that he was a member of the Hunt family, and demanded all the privileges pertaining thereto. He was a gentle little fellow, made chirps like a bird, but leaps like an acrobat, and was all over everything all the time. He did not seem to have a streak of the meanness that sometimes characterizes a monkey. He was mischievous in a merry way, but handled himself with such squirrel-like lightness that he rarely upset or broke anything.
    His greatest delight was to play with Charlie’s long black hair. He would leap out of it at Nosey, the tapir, and land upon his back. But when Nosey tumbled overboard for a bath, taking Specs with him, Specs was loud in disapproval and would clamber back into the boat and make straight for Roger whom he had adopted as his special guardian.
    He would climb inside Roger’s shirt and lie there wet and cool against his skin until he dried.
    It was going to be hard to part with Specs.

Chapter 11
Noah’s Ark on the Amazon
    ‘The Amazon!’ cried Hal, as the canoe swept around a curve and pointed its nose out into a far greater river, broad, swirling, and full of brown humps like lions’ heads with manes flowing — mounds of water that hinted the power and speed of the current.
    For five days they had followed the mysterious dotted line. When a new map was made that line would be solid. Hal completed his pencilled map by marking the juncture with the Amazon. Then he put the map carefully away in a waterproof bottle and placed the bottle in the waterproof medicine box. That map was one of the expedition’s most cherished possessions.
    The Amazon, greatest river on earth! Roger and his father were as excited as Hal. The other passengers seemed to share the excitement, or it may have been that they were only disturbed by the rolling and pitching of the little canoe.
    The tapir whinnied, the marmoset chirped, and even the sleepy vampire in her dark cage squeaked in alarm. Only Charlie took the whole thing calmly. Hanging from his thwart, the mummified hero did not even deign to open his eyes. He merely nodded gravely.
    ‘Is this really the Amazon?’ Roger wanted to know.
    ‘Yes and no,’ said his father. ‘But mostly yes. Look on your American Geographical map. You’ll notice that the entire river from here to the Adantic is called the Amazon. But in addition to that, each part of the river has a special name. Some people call this section the Mararion, and the next section the Solimoes. But it’s all the Amazon.’
    ‘How soon do we build the raft?’ inquired Roger eagerly.
    The canoe had been the best vessel for shooting the rapids of the Pastaza, but no animals of any size could be collected and carried in a canoe. Besides, on these great waters, a canoe was none too safe. It had been decided that upon reaching the Amazon they would build a raft to transport their animals and themselves downstream.
    Roger had even suggested the name for it. Noah’s Ark.
    ‘The sooner the better.’ Hunt said. ‘But we can’t land here — the current is too strong. Let’s watch for a cove.’
    The wind blew fresh from the far shore, a mile away. If it had not been for the current, they might have imagined themselves on a lake instead of a river. On the port side the near shore was a riot of flowering trees. Near the bank, waterfowl
    bobbed up and down in the ripples and went up in a cloud as the boat approached.
    Roger reached for the shotgun. But the careening of the boat reminded him to be prudent.
    Birds of all kinds, colours and calls adorned the forest. This was evidently a bird paradise. But the most astonishing bird was the jabiru stork, as tall as a man. which walked along the shore with the stately step of a king.
    They rounded a point where the wild lashing of water sent the marmoset scurrying into Roger’s shirt; then they slid into a calm bay. There was no current here except a lazy eddy that