wherein the shadows were forbidding; for the sunshine seemed never to
have penetrated them, and they were the haunts of weirdness and mystery
profound.

Sometimes a tree that had fallen into the water and lay at a convenient
angle by the shore afforded the alligator a comfortable couch for his
sun-bath. Shall I ever forget the excitement occasioned by the discovery
of our first alligator! Not the ancient and honorable crocodile of the
Nile was ever greeted with greater enthusiasm; yet our sportsmen had
very little respect for him, and his sleep was disturbed by a shower of
bullets that spattered upon his hoary scales as harmlessly as rain.

Though the alligator punctuated every adventurous hour of that memorable
voyage in Nicaragua, we children were more interested in our Darwinian
friends, the monkeys. They were of all shades and shapes and sizes; they
descended in troops among the trees by the river side; they called to us
and beckoned us shoreward; they cried to us, they laughed at us; they
reached out their bony arms, and stretched wide their slim, cold hands
to us, as if they would pluck us as we passed. We exchanged compliments
and clubs in a sham-battle that was immensely diverting; we returned
the missiles they threw at us as long as the ammunition held out, but
captured none of the enemy, nor did the slightest damage--as far as we
could ascertain.

Often the parrots squalled at us, but their vocabulary was limited; for
they were untaught of men. Sometimes the magnificent macaw flew over us,
with its scarlet plumage flickering like flame. Oh, but those gorgeous
birds were splashes of splendid color in the intense green of that
tropical background!