All the cabin party had their lines out, but not another fish was caught. The place where they fished seemed to be a hole, and the water was deep and clear. Perhaps Morris's struggle with the big fish had scared the others away, for not another could be seen. The day was done, and it was growing dark. It was decided to anchor where they were, and spend the night there; and they hoped the fish would be in biting condition the next morning.

Achang called the fish the gourami, or something like that; but beyond this nothing was known about him. Louis, who was generally posted, could tell his companions nothing about it. But Pitts had cut it up, and it was fried for supper. The flesh was hard, and the flavor excellent. There was enough of it for all hands, and the supper amounted to a feast. A heavy thunder-shower made the evening very gloomy; but the canvas roof and curtains of the Blanchita fully protected the party from the rain, which fell in sheets for full two hours.

The next morning when the party turned out, the weather was as pleasant as they could desire, and the air was cleared and freshened by the shower.[116] The first thing they did was to throw over their lines; for they could see the fish through the clear water of the lake. In about as many minutes they had hooked four fish, though not one of them was so large as the one Morris had caught the evening before. But at that point they ceased to bite, and not another nibble was had. Either the fish did not like the looks of the boat, handsome as she was, which would have been very bad taste on their part, or the struggles of those which had been hauled in frightened them away. Very likely the fish could have explained the reason for their sudden disappearance; but they did not, and it remained a mystery.

They had an ice-chest on board, and Mr. Eng had replenished it at Simujan. Pitts dressed the fish, and put them in the refrigerator. For breakfast they had fresh pork, and it was much better than that they had had before. They had learned to drink coffee without milk, for it was not often that it could be procured away from the larger towns.

"I say, fellows, don't you think there can be too much of a good thing?" asked Captain Scott at the head of the table.

"Of course there can be too much of a good thing; for a fellow might eat ice-cream till his throat was frozen," replied Felix.

"Almost anything becomes a bad thing when you have too much of it," added Louis. "But I think we could have stood about four more of those nice fish. What is the moral of all this, Captain?"[117]

"With me the moral is that I have had hunting enough for the present," replied Scott. "I should like a little more variety in our daily life."

"I don't think I should care to go hunting more than one day in a week, or, at most, two," replied Louis. "We have had it right along for a week; and, as you suggest, that's too much of a good thing."

"But it was you, Louis, who went in for three weeks of it," added the captain.

"Simply because I thought it would take the Guardian-Mother and the Blanche about that time to visit Siam and French Cochin-China."

"I suppose if we had made our trip up these rivers in a sampan, we should not have got so far inland in another week," added Morris.

"I don't think we should have come up here at all if the Blanchita had not been available," said Louis. "But we are close to the mountains now, and I am in favor of a tramp on shore."

"All right; and after breakfast we will get under way, for I must attend to the navigation," replied Scott; "and I suppose Felipe has steam enough by this time."

They left the table, and Scott went to the wheel. To save time and trouble, the men took their meals in the after cabin, and the engineer had the head of the table. Both Louis and Felix had run the engine of the Maud a portion of the time on her memorable voyage from Funchal to Gibraltar, and the former[118] was sent to the engine-room. The boat went ahead; and after passing through a section of pandanus, they came to an open lake, which they judged to be five miles long.

The water was shallow, though deep enough for the steamer. The captain opened the binnacle, and headed the Blanchita to the north. It was a very quiet time, and the boat went along at her usual speed. In little less than half an hour she reached the head of the lake; but there was no convenient landing-place for a craft of her draught, and she was anchored at a considerable distance from the shore. Achang and two of the seamen were directed to attend the "Big Four," and they were landed in the sampan.

Each of the cabin party took his fowling-piece, while Achang had a rifle, and each of the sailors carried one, the latter to be used by the young men if they were wanted. They had walked but a short distance before they came to a steep precipice about twenty feet high, at which a notched log had been placed by some former visitors, as they supposed; but as soon as they had mounted it, they came upon a Dyak long-house, which might have been better called a short-house, for it contained but six doors, and therefore the tax upon the village need not have caused any grumbling.

The dwelling was not now a novelty, neither were the Dyak men and maidens; for the latter were not as pretty as several they had seen on the river.[119] They were very hospitable, and invited the party to enter the house, which they did; but there was little to interest them there. Achang talked with them, and the head man said they caught plenty of fish in the lake, and they snared pigs, deer, monkeys, and other game. He engaged a couple of guides for the mountains.

The game was plentiful, and the hunters shot several deer, a pig, and a Malay bear; but they were not enthusiastic hunters, considering that they had come to Borneo for that purpose. After a four hours' tramp they all thought they had had enough of it. Felix declared that he preferred to hunt cobras and tigers, for all the game seemed to be very tame to him. Seating themselves on the ground, they rested for an hour, and then started on their return to the boat. All the game was given to the Dyak guides, who were very glad to get it. They swung it on a pole, and trotted along with their load as though it had been no burden at all.

"They do that all day," said Achang. "Never get tired."

"They have l............