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WE MOVE TO THE FOREST 85 |
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must think of some idea for fastening the end of the ladder to them. Then Fritz asked me how he could clean his new margay skin, and I showed him how to spread it out in the bed of the stream, under running water, fixed down by large stones. After this we returned, and dined heartily on some slices of ham and bread and cheese, under the shade of our beautiful trees.
While we ate I was considering the difficulty of getting up the tree, and at last I saw that we should be obliged to pass the night on the ground. So we began to sling our hammocks to some of the arched roots of the trees, spreading over them a piece of sail-cloth large enough to cover them, to keep off the dew and the insects. I then went with the two eldest boys to the seashore, to choose some pieces of wood to make steps for the ladder. Ernest discovered in a sort of bog some bamboo canes, which were just the thing. I cut them with my hatchet in pieces of four or five feet long, and the boys bound them together to carry back. At the same time I chose some of the straightest and most slender of the stalks, with which to make arrows, in case we might want them.
Seeing that the bamboos grew more thickly a little way off, T went towards them, when suddenly
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