Everything seemed to be quiet and motionless around them, with the exception of the river, yet they were given precious little time for wonderment or speculation.
The first amazing sight on which their eyes rested was their own large canoe drifting down stream.

They stood a moment, not knowing what to make of it, but speedily reached the right conclusion: Ziffak had set it free for their special benefit.
It was floating sideways near the middle of the Xingu, and showed there was no one on board.
It was too invaluable to be allowed to get away from them, or to run the risk of a passage through the rapids below.

Long decided to swim out to it, but, before he could enter the water, the Professor showed him that some one had anticipated them.

A short distance up the bank, a native was in the act of entering the Xingu, while his companion stood on the bank, evidently about to follow him.
The clear moonlight enabled the explorers to identify them as Bippo and Pedros, the former being the one already in the water.
"Let them go," whispered the Professor, "they may as well do it for us." Pedros was but a few strokes behind his friend, and the two were seen to clamber over the side of the craft at the moment it came opposite where the delighted white men were standing.
At this juncture, the Professor called to them in a guarded voice.
Their expressions of amazement were ludicrous, and it was only after they had stared for several minutes and the call was repeated that they comprehended that their friends were near.
Then the two showed their extravagant delight by leaping up and down like a couple of children, and uttering cries that, to say the least, were imprudent.
The Professor sternly ordered them to hold their peace and paddle the boat to shore.

They set to work with a will and brought the craft to land, only a short distance below, where the white men had reached the river.