The night passed without incident. It was true that Tom, and the others, too, when their turns came to go on watch, did receive a slight start as an occasional loud scream or cry rang through the forest. But they knew that the outcry was that of some small animal seized by a night-prowling beast, and did not worry about their personal safety so long as nothing approached the camp fire, which was kept brightly blazing.

In the morning, as soon as it began to grow light, Captain Sprowl and Jack, who were on sentry duty, went down to the sandy beach where they expected to find the turtles’ eggs. The captain’s previous experiences in the tropics had instructed him how to look for these delicacies. Nothing about the smooth sand showed where the eggs had been buried; that is, at first glance, but after a close scrutiny the captain found various places where the beach appeared to have been freshly disturbed. Digging into these areas with sharpened sticks, he and Jack soon uncovered numerous deposits of eggs; for the turtles of Brazil lay their eggs in big holes,—each one common to several of them,—filling them to within a short space of the top. The sand is carefully pushed back and the eggs left to hatch by the heat of the beach.

Returning to camp, they awakened the others. The boys would have liked to indulge in a swim in the river, but the captain warned them against doing any such thing as most of the Brazilian streams swarm with alligators and a kind of leech, that when once affixed to the skin is very difficult to remove. So they all contented themselves with a good wash in the not over-clear water. The turtles’ eggs did not prove quite such a treat as the boys had been looking forward to. From reading books of adventure they had the idea that the eggs were great delicacies; but after trying them, they came to the conclusion that the authors who wrote of them with such enthusiasm could never have tasted them. They were strong, fishy-tasting and oily, although, no doubt, in a pinch they would have tasted well enough. Captain Sprowl told them that the natives did not eat them but utilized them in another way.

At certain times a whole tribe would repair to an island known to be used by the turtles for egg-depositing. The caches of eggs were then robbed and the entire mess dumped into a canoe. The mass was then trampled upon, and after a while an oil arose to the surface, which was skimmed off and placed in jars and used for cooking and other purposes.

After the morning meal they naturally fell to discussing plans. Judkins declared himself better; but it was still painful for him to move about. Captain Sprowl could not take an observation till noon, but by a rough calculation he reckoned that they were cast away on the Brazilian coast some five hundred miles to the south of civilization.

It was in the midst of the discussion of ways and means that the professor electrified them all by a sudden proposition. He had been silent for a long time, buried, apparently, in deep thought. Mr. Chadwick had been asking Jack about how long it would be possible for them to fly on the gas-making supply they had on hand. The boy had replied that he figured they had enough on hand to carry them at least two weeks, allowing for evaporation and occasional intervals of land or water travel. Then it was that the professor spoke.

“For how much vill you charter me your machine?” he asked.

They stared at him for a moment. The question appeared so utterly irrelevant to what they had been discussing.

“Ach! I mean vat I say,” repeated the savant. “Are you villing to hire your machine oudt for a trip of say ten days?”

“Why, I—I beg your pardon, but I don’t exactly understand,” said Jack, acting as spokesman for the rest.

“Zo! Perhaps I should ought to haf madt meinself more clear, hein?”

“Well, you did give us a bit of a jump,” declared Jack. “The idea of chartering a machine in the midst of a Brazilian jungle is rather startling when you spring it as quickly as all that.”

“Dot is mein vay,” said the professor quietly, “budt ledt me make meinself plain. You know der object off mein trip down here?”

“In a general way you have already explained it,” said Mr. Chadwick. “You are to collect specimens for a zo?logical society of Germany, and also to bring home a complete account of your exploration of the country.”

“Dot is righdt. Idt vos for dot I vos hoping to gedt you to make me some sordt of a ship dot vould navigate dese vaters. Budt now dings haf fallen oudt differently. Dose foolish mens on der yacht dink dot I come after treasure. Budt neverdeless dey bring der ship chust aboudt vere I vant to go pefore she............