The trench in which he found himself was far higher than was necessary,
and fronted by huge stones. It was evidently the work of human hands,
but by what class of people erected Benee could not imagine.
He could spare a few boulders anyhow, so, while the enemy was still far
below, he started first one, then another, and still another, on a
cruise down the mountain-side and on a mission of death.
These boulders broke into scores of large fragments long before they
reached the savages, two of whom were struck, one being killed outright.
And Benee knew his advantage right well, and, taking careful aim now
with his repeating-rifle--a sixteen-shooter it was,--he fired.
He saw the bullet raise the dust some yards ahead of the foe, who paused
to gaze upwards in great amazement.
But next shot went home, for Benee had got the range, and one of the
five threw up his hands with a shriek, and fell on his face, to rise no
more.
Rendered wild by the loss of their companions, the others drew their
knives and made a brave start for Benee's trench.
But what could poor savages do against the deadly fire of civilized
warfare. When another of their number paid the penalty of his rashness,
the other three took fright and went racing and tumbling down the hill
so quickly that no more of Benee's shots took effect.
Roland had given Benee a field-glass before he started, and through this
he watched the flying figures for many a mile, noting exactly the way
they took, and determining in his own mind to choose a somewhat
different route, even though he should have to make a wide detour.
He started downhill almost immediately, well-knowing that these
dark-skinned devils would return reinforced to seek revenge.
He knew, moreover, that they could follow up a trail, so he did all in
his power to pick out the hardest parts of this great moorland on which
to walk.
He came at last to a stream. It was very shallow, and he plunged in at
once.
This was indeed good luck, and Benee thought now that Peggy's God, who
paints the sky at sunrise, was really looking after him. He could baulk
his pursuers now, or, at least, delay them. For they would not be able
to tell in which direction he had gone.
So Benee walked in the water for three miles. This walk was really a
leaping run. He would have gone farther, but all at once the stream
became very rapid indeed, and on his ears fell the boom of a waterfall.
So he got on shore with all haste.
But for five miles on from the foot of the leaping, dashing, foaming
linn, the stream was flanked by acres of round, smooth boulders.
These could tell no tale. On these Benee would leave no trail. He
leapt from one to the other, and was rejoiced at last to find that they
led him to a forest.
This was indeed a grateful surprise, so he entered the shade at once.
Benee, after his exciting fight and his very long run, greatly needed
rest, so he gathered some splendid fruit and nuts, despite the
chattering and threatened attacks of a whole band of hideous baboons,
and then threw himself down under the shade of a tree in a small glade
and made a hearty meal.
He felt thirsty now. But as soon as there was silence once more in the
forest, and even the parrots had gone to sleep in the drowsy noontide
heat, he could hear the rush of water some distance ahead.
He got up immediately and marched in the direction from which the sound
came, and was soon on the pebbled shore of another burn.
He drank a long, sweet draught of the cool, delicious water, and felt
wondrously refreshed.
And now a happy thought occurred to him.
Sooner or later he felt certain the savages would find his trail. They
would track him to this stream and believe he had once again tried to
break the pursuit by wading either up or down stream.
His plan was, therefore, to go carefully back on his tracks and rest
hidden all day until, foiled in their attempt to make him prisoner, they
should return homeward.
This plan he carried into immediate execution, and in a thicket, quite
screened from all observation, he laid him down.
He was soon fast asleep.
But in probably a couple of hours' time he sat cautiously up, and,
gently lifting a branch, looked forth.
For voices had fallen on his ear, and next minute there went filing past
on his trail no fewer than fifteen well-armed warriors.
They stopped dancing and shouting at the tree where Benee had sat down
to feed, then, brandishing their broad knives, dashed forward to the
stream.
They had evidently gone up the river for miles, but finding no trail on
the other bank returned to search the down-stream.
In his hiding-place Benee could hear their wild shouts of
vengeance-deferred, and though he feared not death, right well he knew
that neither his rifle nor revolvers could long protect him against such
desperate odds as this.
There was now peace once more, and the shades of evening--the short
tropical gloaming--were falling when he heard the savages returning.
He knew their language well.
It was soon evident that they did not mean to go any farther that night,
for they were quite tired out.
They were not unprovided with food and drink such as it was, and
evidently meant to make themselves happy.
A fire was soon lit in the glade, and by its glare poor Benee, lying low
there and hardly daring to move a limb, could see the sort of savages he
would have to deal with if they found him.
They were fierce-looking beyond conception. Most of them had long
matted hair, and the ears of some carried the hideous pelele. The lobe
of each ear is pierced when the individual is but a boy, and is
gradually stretched until it is a mere strip of skin capable of
supporting a bone or wooden, grooved little wheel twice as large as a
dollar. The stretched lobe of the ear fits round this like the tyre
round a bicycle wheel.
The faces of these men, although wild-looking, were not positively
ill-favoured, though the mouths were large and sensual. But if ever
devil lurked in human eyes it lurked in theirs.
They wore blankets, and some had huge chains of gold and silver nuggets
round their necks.
Their arms were now piled, or, more correctly speaking, they were
trundled down in a heap by the tree.
While most of them lay with their feet to the now roaring fire, a space
was left for the cook, who cleverly arranged a kind of gipsy
double-trident over the clear embers and commenced to get ready the
meal.
The uprights carried cross pieces of wood, and on these both fish and
flesh were laid to broil, while large yams and sweet-potatoes were
placed in the ashes to roast.
By the time dinner was cooked the night was dark enough, but the glimmer
of the firelight lit up the savages' faces and cast Rembrandtesque
shadows far behind.
It was a weird and terrible scene, but it had little effect on Benee,
who had often witnessed tableaux far more terrifying than this.
Then the orgie commenced. They helped themselves with their fingers and
tore the fish and flesh off with their splendid teeth.
Huge chattees of chicaga, a most filthy but intoxicating beer, now made
their appearance. It was evident enough that these men were used to
being on the war-path and hunting-field.
The wine or beer is made in a very disgusting manner, but its
manufacture, strangely enough, is not confined to Bolivia. I have seen
much the same liquor in tropical Africa, made by the Somali Indians, and
in precisely the same way.
The old women or hags of the village are assembled at, say, a chief's
house, and large quantities of cocoanuts and various other fruits are
heaped together in the centre of a hut, as well as large, tub-like
vessels and chattees of water.
Down the old and almost toothless hags squat, and, helping themselves to
lumps of cocoa-nut, &c., they commence to mumble and chew these, now and
then moistening their mouths with a little water, the juice is spit out
into calabashes, and when these are full of the awful mess they are
emptied into the big bin.
It is a great gala-day with these hideous old hags, a meeting that they
take advantage of not only for making wine but for abusing their
neighbours.
How they cackle and grin, to be sure, as their mouths work to and fro!
How they talk and chatter, and how they chew! It is chatter and chew,
chew and chatter, all the time, and the din they make with teeth and
tongues would deafen a miller.
When all is finished, the bins are left to settle and ferment, and in
three days' time, the supernatant liquor is poured off and forms the
wine called chicaga.
Had anyone doubted the intoxicating power of this vilest of all vile
drinks, a glance at the scene which soon ensued around the fire would
speedily have convinced him.
Benee lay there watching these fiends as they gradually merged from one
phase of drunkenness to another, and fain would he have sent half a
dozen revolver bullets into the centre of the group, but his life
depended on his keeping still.
The savages first confined themselves to merry talking, with coarse
jokes and ribaldry, and frequent outbursts of laughter. But when they
had quaffed still more, they must seize their knives and get up to
dance. Round and round the blazing fire they whirled and staggered
through the smoke and through it again, with demoniacal shouts and awful
yells, that awakened echoes among the forest wild beasts far and near.
Then they pricked their bodies with their knives till the blood ran, and
with this they splashed each other in hideous wantonness till faces and
clothes were smeared in gore.
All this could but have one ending--a fight.
Benee saw one savage stabbed to the heart, and then the orgie became a
fierce battle.
Now was Benee's time to escape.
Yet well he knew how acute the power of hearing is among the Bolivian
savages. One strange noise, even the crackle of a bush, and the
fighting would end in a hunt, and he would undoubtedly lose his life.
But he wriggled and crawled like a snake in the grass until twenty yards
away, and now he moved cautiously, slowly off.
Soon the glare of the fire among the high trees was seen no more, and
the yelling and cries were far behind and getting more and more
indistinct every minute.
Benee refreshed himself at the stream, pulled some food from his pocket,
and ate it while he ran.
He knew, however, that after fighting would come drowsiness, and that
his late entertainers would soon be fast asleep, some of their heads
pillowed, perhaps, on the dead body of their murdered comrade.
If there be in all this world a more demonish wretch than man is in a
state of nature, or when--even among Christians--demoralized by drink, I
wish to get hold of a specimen for my private menagerie. But the
creature should be kept in a cage by itself. I would not insult my
monkeys with the companionship of such a wretch, should it be man or
beast.