[Illustration:  ]

At length he came to a river about thirty or forty yards wide; and this was the same river that he had bathed in many leagues further down in the open valley.  It is called by the savages Co-viota-co-chamanga, which means that it runs partly in the dark and partly in the light.  Here it was in the dark.  The trees grew thick and tall on its banks, and their wide branches met and intermingled above its waters that flowed on without a ripple, black to the eye as a river of ink.  How strange it seemed when, holding on to a twig, he bent over and saw himself reflected—­a white, naked child with a scared face—­in that black mirror!  Overcome by thirst, he ventured to creep down and dip his hand in the stream, and was astonished to see that the black water looked as clear as crystal in his hollow hand.  After quenching his thirst he went on, following the river now, for it had made him turn aside; but after walking for an hour or more he came to a great tree that had fallen across the stream, and climbing on to the slippery trunk, he crept cautiously over and then went gladly on in the old direction.

Now, after he had crossed the river and walked a long distance, he came to a more open part; but though it was nice to feel the sunshine on him again, the underwood and grass and creepers trailing over the ground made it difficult and tiring to walk, and in this place a curious thing happened.  Picking his way through the tangled herbage, an animal his footsteps had startled scuttled away in great fear, and as it went he caught a glimpse of it.  It was a kind of weasel, but very large—­larger than a big tom-cat, and all over as black as the blackest cat.  Looking down he discovered that this strange animal had been feasting on eggs.  The eggs were nearly as large as fowls’, of a deep green colour, with polished shells.  There had been about a dozen in the nest, which was only a small hollow in the ground lined with dry grass, but most of them had been broken, and the contents devoured by the weasel.  Only two remained entire, and these he took, and tempted by his hunger, soon broke the shells at the small end and sucked them clean.  They were raw, but never had eggs, boiled, fried, or poached, tasted so nice before!  He had just finished his meal, and was wishing that a third egg had remained in the ruined nest, when a slight sound like the buzzing of an insect made him look round, and there, within a few feet of him, was the big black weasel once more, looking strangely bold and savage-tempered.  It kept staring fixedly at Martin out of its small, wicked, beady black eyes, and snarling so as to show its white sharp teeth; and very white they looked by contrast with the black lips, and nose, and hair.  Martin stared back at it, but it kept moving and coming nearer, now sitting straight up, then dropping its fore-feet and gathering its legs in a bunch as if about to spring, and finally stretching itself straight out towards