"Martain Rattler" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ballantyne R.M)

"What are we to have for breakfast, Barney?" enquired Martin, as he rose and
yawned and stretched his limbs.
"Help yersilf to what ye plase," said Barney, with a polite bow, waving his hand
round him, as if the forest were his private property and Martin Rattler his
honoured guest.
"Well, I vote for oranges," said Martin, going towards a tree laden with ripe
fruit.
"An' I'll try plums, by way of variety," added his companion.
In a few minutes several kinds of fruit and nuts were gathered and spread at the
foot of the tree under which they had reposed. Then Barney proceeded to kindle a
fire; not that he had anything to cook, but he said it looked sociable-like, and
the smoke would keep off the flies. The operation, however, was by no means
easy. Everything had been soaked by the rain of the previous night, and a bit of
dry grass could scarcely be found. At length he procured a little, and by
rubbing it in the damp gunpowder which he had extracted from his pistol, and
drying it in the sun, he formed a sort of tinder that caught fire after much
persevering effort.
Some of the fruits they found to be good, others bad. The good they ate, the bad
they threw away. After their frugal fare they felt much refreshed, and then
began to talk of what they should do.
"We can't live here with parrots and monkeys, you know," said Martin; "we must
try to find a village or town of some sort, or get to the coast, and then we
shall perhaps meet with a ship."
"True, lad," replied Barney, knitting his brows and looking extremely sagacious;
"the fact is, since neither of us' knows nothing about anything, or the way to
any place, my advice is to walk straight for'ard till we come to something."
" So think I," replied Martin; "therefore the sooner we set off the better."
Having no luggage to pack and no arrangements of any kind to make, the two
friends rose from their primitive breakfast table, and walked away straight
before them into the forest.
All that day they travelled patiently forward, conversing pleasantly about the
various and wonderful trees, and flowers and animals they met by the way, but no
signs were discovered that indicated the presence of man. Towards evening,
however, they fell upon a track or footpath, which discovery rejoiced them much;
and here, before proceeding farther, they sat down to eat a little more fruit -
which indeed they had done several times during the day. They walked nearly
thirty miles that day without seeing a human being; but they met with many
strange and beautiful birds and beasts, some of which were of so fierce an
aspect that they would have been very glad to have had guns to defend themselves
with. Fortunately, however, all the animals seemed to be much more afraid of
them than they were of the animals, so they travelled in safety. Several times
during the course of the day they saw snakes and serpents, which glided away
into the jungle on their approach, and could not be overtaken, although Barney
made repeated darts at them, intending to attack them with his cutlass, which
assaults proved fruitless.
Once they were charged by a herd of peccaries - a species of pig or wild hog -
from which they escaped by jumping actively on one side; but the peccaries
turned and rushed at them again, and it was only by springing up the branches of
a neighbouring tree that they escaped their fury. These peccaries are the
fiercest and most dauntless animals in the forests of Brazil. They do not know