noon
`` No , my men , '' said the doctor , more firmly , `` we are not going to despair , for if we keep going down-stream we must reach the main river at last . '' `` That 's what I keep thinking , uncle , '' cried Rodd ; `` but every time we turn out of one of these rivers we seem to get into another , and I want to know why it is that we have never yet come upon a sandy patch where we made a fire . '' Embayments of this kind they found again and again during the next few days of their , so to speak , imprisonment in this labyrinth , and in which they were fain to halt for food and sleep ; but whether the flood had obliterated all signs of their occupation , or whether the places were absolutely fresh , they never knew . One thing was determined on , and that to keep on with dogged British obstinacy till the problem was solved , and after losing count of the days that they had spent in the forest , and after vain usage of the compass , which had only seemed to lead them more and more astray , they had their reward one noon , when the boat was run up on to the sand of a forest nook which seemed strikingly familiar , and Rodd and Morny both sprang out , gun in hand , followed by Joe Cross , who excitedly cried -- `` All right , gentlemen ! Here we are at last ! I 'd just swear to this tree and that other big one right across the river . '' `` Yes , '' cried the doctor ; `` this , I am quite certain , is where we set up our tent the night we missed our guide . ''