1 86  The  Butterfly  Hunters

"  Well,  if  you  all  give  the  puzzle  up,  I  will  show  you  a
plan  that  I  saw  in  use  in  Borneo  and  that  I  have  used  in
Brazil  and  Venezuela  frequently,  by  which  we  shall  be  in
the  top  of  that  tree  before  four  hours  have  passed.  Ordi-
narily so  much  trouble  as  we  are  now  going  to  take  is
hardly  worth  while,  but  as  we  shall  be  here  two  or  three
days  longer  and  as  those  butterflies  are  so  valuable  that  a
dozen  of  them  will  sell  for  enough  to  pay  the  expenses  of
our  entire  trip  into  the  interior,  I  think  it  worth  while  in
this  case."

So  saying,  the  Doctor  commissioned  Dave  to  cut  him
five  stout  bamboo  poles  about  forty  feet  long  and  not  less
than  four  inches  in  diameter ;  and  Henri  he  told  to  bring
him  several  hundred  feet  of  strong,  flexible  vegetable
ropes.  The  boys  he  sent  out  to  cut  about  fifty  bamboo
sticks  from  one  and  one-half  to  two  and  one-half  inches
thick  and  thirty  inches  long,  telling  each  of  the  messengers
to  bring  the  first  fourth  part  of  his  task  to  the  tree  to  be
climbed,  as  soon  as  he  had  finished  it.  When  Ned  and
Harry  arrived  with  a  dozen  of  their  bamboo  sticks,  they
found  the  Doctor  already  cutting  notches  at  regular  inter-
vals in  a  bamboo  pole  that  Dave  had  brought,  while  on  the
ground  lay  a  pile  of  vegetable  ropes  cut  into  four-foot
lengths.  The  Doctor  was  inclined  to  be  non-committal,
and  they  went  away  after  more  sticks,  much  mystified.
