troop marched into the village; and a fearful-looking lot of scarecrows
the prisoners were by that time, in truth. They had scarcely a rag to
their backs, while their boots and stockings had long since worn away
from their feet, and they had to tramp along barefooted. They were lean
and gaunt, with scarcely an ounce of flesh on their poor starved bodies;
in fact they presented the appearance of a squad of skeletons rather
than of living men. Tanned, as they were, to a deep mahogany colour by
the fierce sun and strong air, with hair growing down upon their
shoulders, and with coarse, matted beards, no one would have believed
that a few short months ago many of these men were among the smartest
and best-dressed officers in the Chilian army and navy. Jim himself
looked as bad as the rest, but he had one advantage which the others had
not, for under his tattered rags his brave heart beat as strongly and as
resolutely as ever, whereas the Chilians had entirely lost their
courage.
The sun was just setting, and the long day's work was over, when the
Chilians arrived, and they were just in time to see the prisoners who
were already there taking their evening meal. A few half-starved curs
had run out to meet the new arrivals, and now jumped and barked savagely
around them in a transport of fury at seeing a few new faces. The
village, if such it could be called, consisted simply of a number of
long wooden huts roofed over with corrugated iron. Some of the huts
were used as barracks for the convicts, some as quarters for their
guards, and a still larger number as engine, boiler, machinery, and
store houses for the purpose of extracting and storing the silver from
the ore. The whole place was intersected by narrow-gauge tram-lines,
upon which were run little wagons which a couple of men could push, for
bringing the raw material from the mine to the smelting-houses. Several
of these standing about in various parts of the village added to the
general uncouthness and desolation of the scene; and Jim felt that if he
were compelled to stay here for very long, he would go mad with the very
dismalness and horror of his surroundings.
But he was not allowed very much time for reflection, for directly the
much-diminished roll was called, the prisoners were conducted to a shed
containing a large number of sacks of crushed Indian corn, the staple
food of the Indians in Peru; and here a small quantity of the
unappetising stuff was served out, together with a tin can, to each man.
This corn, made into a sort of porridge by boiling it with water, was
to constitute the prisoners' evening meal; and they were given to
understand that all their other meals would consist of the same food.
The unfortunate men, who had been freed from their shackles as soon as
they arrived at their destination, then took their tins, and, making
themselves as comfortable as they could in the prisoners' compound,
proceeded to boil and eat their unwholesome-looking porridge. By the
time that this was done, darkness had fallen, and the village was
lighted up by means of rough paraffin lamps hoisted on poles. By the
light of these the prisoners were now herded together once more and
marched away to the long iron sheds in which they were told they would
have to sleep. But before entering these hovels, a number of Peruvian
soldiers brought out a quantity of clothing, made on purpose for the
convicts, and the Chilians were ordered to strip and put these on. Jim
was very glad to have another suit, although it consisted of only a pair
of rough blue serge trousers, a kind of jersey, a neckcloth, and a
jacket, for his own garments were so torn and ragged that they were
hardly sufficient to cover him. They were then told that a pair of
clogs would be served out to each of them the next morning at daybreak,
when work would commence, but that now they were expected to turn in for
the night, according to the rules governing this little convict
settlement. The iron-roofed shed looked even more uninviting inside
than outside. Down each side were ranged narrow platforms, which were
divided into "beds" by narrow strips of wood about three inches in
height, and all the covering allowed was a pair of very old dirty
blankets; of mattresses there was no sign, not even loose straw being
provided, and the whole interior was dirty and odoriferous beyond
description. However, considered Jim philosophically, prisoners cannot
be choosers; and having arranged his blankets as comfortably as was
possible under the circumstances, he turned in and slept the sleep of
the utterly weary.
The next morning he was awakened by a hideous clanging noise, which
proceeded from a huge gong hung in the courtyard. Everybody immediately
sprang out of bed, folded up their blankets, and streamed out into the
courtyard, where, Jim noticed, there was a narrow stream of running
water. He availed himself of this to have a good wash, a proceeding
which excited the laughter of the gaolers, many of whom looked as though
they had never touched water in any form during the whole of their
lives. This having been done, he procured his tin and his daily
allowance of meal and prepared his breakfast, for which he had an
excellent appetite. When this was over, the prisoners were told off in
groups of ten each, a soldier with loaded rifle mounting guard over each
section. These were marched away one by one, until only one group
remained, and Jim had not yet been apportioned to a party; but he soon
found that Captain Garcia-y-Garcia had represented him to the Governor
as being a most dangerous character, so that he was to have a guard all
to himself, and not to be allowed near the other prisoners. This
arrangement suited Jim admirably, for he had already made up his mind
that if he was to escape at all, it must be alone, and he would have a
much better chance of getting away while working by himself than he
would get if he were one of a gang; for it would be strange indeed if a
strong, able-bodied young Englishman could not get the better of a mere
Peruvian soldier.
He therefore accepted the situation with much satisfaction, which,
however, he took care not to show, and marched off toward the mine with
his guard. When he arrived at the place where he was to work, he saw
that the word "mine" hardly described the place, for it was not in the
least like an English mine. The so-called mines consisted of a number
of ancient Inca workings which, after having lain idle for hundreds of
years, had been again started by the Peruvians. Instead of a shaft
being driven down into the earth, and galleries being cut in various
directions from that shaft, the mines simply consisted of tunnels driven
horizontally into the side of a hill. It was a primitive method, and
one adopted by the Incas; but the ground was so rich and ore so
plentiful that this method was found as good as any other, and cheaper
than most. There were scores of these tunnels, some of which had been
exhausted and abandoned, while the ore was being taken out of others by
truck-loads at a time, the little narrow-gauge tram-lines running from
the tunnel-mouths right down into the village.
By the time that Jim had arrived at his allotted post his fellow-
prisoners had disappeared elsewhere, and he found, to his great joy,
that he was working on the side of the hill remote from all the other
convicts. He could hardly conceal his satisfaction, for everything was
falling out much better than he could possibly have expected; and, under
the influence of his newly awakened hope, he became quite chatty and
affable with the sentry, who gradually thawed under the Englishman's
flow of talk and high spirits. Douglas now found that he was not
expected to extract ore, for indeed there was no tram-line here whereby
it could be carried away. This particular tunnel had been closed up by
a fall of rock as long ago as the sixteenth century and had never since
been worked, and as the Peruvians thought that there might still be a
good supply of ore there, they had determined to open it once more.
This, then, was Jim's task, and he approached the blocked-up tunnel-
mouth determined to do as much work as he possibly could, and thus
endeavour to earn the sentry's good-will, for that, he decided, should
be his first step on the road to freedom.
By the time that dusk had fallen and work had ceased for the day,
Douglas had cleared away several cubic yards of rubble from the tunnel-
mouth, and had also impressed the sentry so favourably that the latter
not only thought himself lucky in having charge of so docile a prisoner,
but also decided that it would not be necessary for him to exercise
quite so much vigilance as he had expected to be obliged to do.
Morning after morning the Englishman and the Peruvian went up to the
tunnel, and the two soon became, to all appearance, very excellent
friends. Jim steadily worked his way farther and farther into the
tunnel, and the sentry sat at the entrance thereto, smoking and dozing,
instead of standing close beside the prisoner during the whole day, as
he had done at first. Douglas was delighted, for this was precisely
what he wanted. The soldier's suspicions were being lulled to sleep
very effectively, and Jim told himself that the time was fast
approaching when he might try to hoodwink the fellow still further.
However, in order not to act too hastily, he allowed a few more days to
elapse, and then one morning, during his mid-day meal, he entered into
conversation with the Peruvian, adroitly keeping the conversation as
personal as possible, and leading the fellow on to talk about himself.
It was an easy task that Jim had before him, as he very soon found. He
sympathised with the man in all his little troubles, and advised him
what to do to make matters easier for himself, the consequence being
that Douglas passed the whole afternoon sitting down and talking with
the soldier, with the result that by the evening the two were as
friendly together as even Jim could wish.
The Peruvian Government, it now appeared, was in the habit of giving the
prisoners a small bonus for every cubic yard of rubble or ore that was
removed above a certain fixed quantity, and this bonus Jim laid himself
out to earn, with the result that he very soon had a nice little hoard
of _pesetas_, which he laid out on such comforts as the village
provided. He also took care to keep his gaoler well supplied with
_cigarillos_, which proved the best prescription for keeping him in a
good temper. So that by the time that three months had slipped by, the
man had ceased to keep guard over his prisoner at all, and left him to
excavate the tunnel unwatched, while he himself sat down on the shady
side of a rock to enjoy his tobacco. Things were now indeed shaping
very well for Jim, and having lulled his gaoler's suspicions, the young
man next set about getting together a small store of provisions, which
he secreted little by little behind a great boulder which he found about
fifty feet inside the mouth of the tunnel, and a month later he had
accumulated what he considered to be enough provender to last him, with
care, until he could reach either the sea-coast or the nearest Chilian
outpost, which at that time was lying somewhere near Caraguara.
The next thing, he told himself, was to wait for a favourable
opportunity to escape; and while waiting he put all his energies into
his work, so that he might have as much money as possible when the time
came for him to make his attempt. It was quite the usual thing now for
the guard--whose name, Jim had ascertained, was Carbajal--to lie down
behind his rock, and either sleep or smoke while his charge laboured in
the tunnel; and one day Jim crawled over to the rock where he lay and
took a good look at the fellow. He was sitting with his back against
the rock, fast asleep; his rifle was lying about three feet away from
him, and his peaked cap was tilted over his eyes. If he would only go
to sleep like that in the morning, thought Jim, all would be well; for
the escape would have to be made very early in order that the fugitive
might get a good long start before his absence was discovered when the
roll was called at nightfall.
Douglas had now quite a nice little stock of money, and he soon made up
his mind what to do. One evening, before going to the sleeping
barracks, he bought a bottle of _aguardiente_, and from an _Indio_ with
whom he had made friends he procured a large quantity of _coca_ leaves,
which he put into the bottle of spirit to soak overnight, knowing that
by the morning the strong liquor would have absorbed all the cocaine out
of the leaves.
The next morning he extracted all the leaves and recorked the bottle,
which he carefully secreted under his coat, for he had determined to
make his escape that very day. Then he went up to the tunnel, followed
by the guard, who lay down behind his usual rock directly they arrived
at the works. Jim considered for a few seconds whether he should offer
the man the bottle at once or later, and finally determined in favour of
the latter, in order to avoid arousing his guard's suspicions, and to
give him an opportunity to get thoroughly thirsty in the hot sun. Jim
then went into the tunnel and walked down to its far end, not to work,
however, for he determined to save himself up as much as possible, in
view of future contingencies.
He therefore sat down, with his back against one of the tunnel walls,
but would not close his eyes lest he should inadvertently drop off to
sleep. He had been staring abstractedly at the opposite wall for some
minutes, when it dawned upon him that one of the blocks of stone of
which it was composed had a very curiously symmetrical appearance, and
the longer he gazed at it the more convinced did he become that the slab
was not nature's handiwork at all, but that of man. In a moment all
sorts of legends vaguely flashed through his mind, and, knowing that
this tunnel had been originally used by the Incas and had not been
opened since, he began to wonder whether the curious circumstance was
worth investigating. He soon decided that it was, and seizing his pick,
he inserted the point at the edge of the slab, and attempted to lever
the stone away. It resisted for so long, however, that he was beginning
to think the stone was after all no more than a part of the natural
rock, when, under a more than usually vigorous pull, he saw it move
forward slightly.
He now wrenched at it more determinedly than ever, and in a few seconds
had the satisfaction of seeing the heavy slab totter and then fall
outward on to the floor of the tunnel. Douglas was provided with
matches and a lantern for the purposes of his work, and he lost no time
in exploring the cavity which the stone had disclosed. With eager
fingers he searched and probed about, but for some time found nothing.
Then his hand suddenly encountered something that felt metallic and
heavy, and upon bringing it to the light, he found that he held in his
hand a small golden image, some three inches high, evidently
representing the god Rimac. This spurred him on to new efforts, and in
a few minutes he had extracted five other little figures from the same
place. Jim believed that he had now emptied the cache, and he was on
the point of abandoning further search, since time was flying, but was
just feeling round the hole for the last time, when his hand came in
contact with something else.
This last object which he brought to light proved to be nothing less
than a roll of Inca paper, a coarse material made of the wool of the
vicuna, which the priests were accustomed to use in keeping their
records. This was probably a prize of considerably greater value than
the gold, Jim thought, and he carefully opened it with trembling
fingers. But, as he quite expected, he could make nothing of it, for it
was written in the ancient Inca character, which few white men have ever
seen, and which only a small number of Indians, directly descended from
the ancient Peruvian race, are able to decipher. There was not much of
it, but Douglas guessed that its value must be great, or it would not
have been hidden so carefully away. He therefore folded it up
carefully, and put it, together with the little gold figures, in his
pocket, and then left the cave with his bottle of _aguardiente_, which
he meant to present to Carbajal.
The fellow was already very nearly asleep, as it happened, and he was,
moreover, very thirsty, consequently Jim's offer was accepted with
almost indecent haste; as a matter of fact, Carbajal put the bottle to
his lips the moment that Jim held it out to him, and he only removed it
when it was nearly all gone.
"Ah! _senor_," sighed the soldier, as he wiped his lips, "that stuff was
good--it always is good when one is thirsty, but--but what a curious
flavour it has with it. Not that it is a disagreeable taste, mind you;
indeed, I rather like it, but it is somewhat different from the stuff
one usually gets here."
"Ah," replied Douglas, "I can see that you are unused to the taste of
_aguardiente_. It is perhaps a long time since you tasted any?
However, there is plenty more where that came from, so don't be chary of
using it; besides, I can see that you are thirsty."
After having offered Jim a taste of the spirit, which he declined, much
to Carbajal's satisfaction, that worthy again raised the bottle to his
lips and finished the contents, flinging the empty bottle away as soon
as he had done so. He then composed himself as comfortably as he could
against the rock, tilted his cap over his eyes again, and, after a
preliminary grunt or two, announced that he felt tired and wished to be
left alone. Jim was not slow in taking the hint, but instead of
returning to the tunnel, he took up a position from which he could watch
his fatigued warder. He kept his eyes fixed on the fellow, and very
soon had the satisfaction of seeing Carbajal fall over on his side,
completely overcome by the potency of the drug with which the spirit had
been doctored.
Jim at once left his hiding-place and crept cautiously forward,
presently reaching Carbajal's side. Then he proceeded to shake him,
lightly at first, and afterwards more vigorously, until he saw that
nothing would wake him for at least a dozen hours. The next thing was
to carry the man into the tunnel, and, once there, Douglas lost no time
in stripping off the fellow's uniform and clothing himself therein. He
then fastened on the leather belt, with its cartridge-pouch attached,
and possessed himself of Carbajal's carbine.
This completed Jim's transformation; and he flattered himself that he
could now be very easily mistaken for a Peruvian soldier, which was, of
course, what he desired. He took one last look round the tunnel, felt
in his pockets to make sure that he had transferred to them the golden
images and the document, as well as all his other belongings, and
marched boldly out of the cavern.
"_Clang! clang! clang! clang_!" At this moment there came rolling up
from the village the sound of the alarm-bell, cutting sharply into Jim's
meditations, and he knew in a moment what had occurred. A perverse fate
had prompted some prisoner to seize this precise moment in which to make
a dash for liberty, and the alarm was being given. For a few seconds
Jim hesitated, considering; then, with a hurried look round, he started
off down the hillside at full speed, leaping rocks, boulders, and
everything else that came in his way. The soldiers were already pouring
out of their barracks!
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
ESCAPED!
This was indeed a sorry trick that fortune, that perverse jade, had
played him, meditated Jim. The chances were, too, that the fugitive
would take the same direction as Douglas himself, in which case they
would probably both be captured. This thought gave wings to the young
Englishman's feet, and he went bounding away down the hill like a
startled deer, thinking of nothing but getting to cover as quickly as
possible. But the unfortunate fact was that there was no place within
at least a mile where a man could be concealed, and Jim knew well that
long ere he could reach the strip of forest on which he was keeping his
eye, he would be in full view of the pursuers should they happen to come
that way, which was more than probable.
Stay, though; were both fugitives taking the same direction? There was
not so much clamour perceptible now, and Jim pulled up suddenly to
listen, at the same time looking back along the way by which he had
come. For a few seconds dead silence reigned, and Jim was beginning to
congratulate himself that the Chilian had taken another course, when
round the corner of the hill he saw a figure emerge, flying along at a
tremendous pace, and leaping every obstacle that came in its way; a
moment later he heard a renewed uproar of shouts and curses, and he
observed that the other fugitive was heading directly for him, doubtless
with the pursuers hard on his track.
Then, at this critical moment, an idea flashed through Jim's brain. He
did not believe that the fugitive had yet caught sight of him, while the
soldiers would not reach the corner for a few seconds, he hoped. Like a
man shot, Jim flung himself prone on the ground, and commenced to crawl
toward a large boulder which he had just caught sight of, and in less
than half a minute he was ensconced behind a rock which was just big
enough to afford concealment to one man, if that man had the sense to
remain perfectly motionless. Then, stretching himself flat upon the
ground, Jim cautiously peered round the edge of the boulder, in order to
keep an eye upon the escaping prisoner, for a plan had come into his
head which he thought might possibly be successful, and which was
certainly the only one which offered any hope of his being able finally
to get clear away.
Douglas had suddenly remembered that he was wearing a Peruvian soldier's
uniform; and his idea was to allow the fugitive to pass him and then
join in the chase, trusting to luck that the pursuers would mistake him
for one of themselves. He would, of course, take care not to overtake
the Chilian,--let the poor man get away if he could, by all means,--but
he thought that if he could himself lead the pursuit, so to speak, he
might be able gradually to out-distance the rest of the soldiers, and
thus finally get clear away by allowing the Peruvians to imagine that he
was still keeping up the pursuit. Should the man be caught, however,
Jim trusted to being able to slip away unseen amid the excitement,
especially if the capture should happen to take place anywhere near that
strip of forest country a mile or so ahead.
A very few seconds sufficed to show Jim that he had not been seen by the
Chilian, and that the latter did not intend to avail himself of such an
insecure hiding-place as the rock afforded, for he went dashing past at
full speed, leaving Jim about a hundred yards to the left.
Just as the man fled by, his heavy gasps for breath sounding
marvellously loud in the still air, the first of his pursuers put in an
appearance round the corner of the hill, a quarter of a mile away,
carrying his carbine at the trail; and he was immediately followed by
about a score more soldiers, who began to shout themselves hoarse as
they came in sight of their quarry. Then several of the Peruvians
pulled up, and, dropping on their knees, levelled their carbines and
began to blaze away at the running man. Douglas prayed that the unhappy
creature might not be hit, for if he were, it would bring the pursuit to
an end in the precise spot where Jim could not possibly avoid being
discovered; but he need not have been alarmed; the shooting was
execrable, and the bullets flew everywhere but near the fugitive.
Several of them flattened themselves against the face of the boulder
behind which Douglas was lying, and one nearly blinded him with the dust
which it threw up as it plugged into the earth just in front of his
face.
The Peruvians did not keep up their target practice very long, for they
found it impossible to hit the runner, and realised that he gained a lot
of ground when they pulled up to fire. They therefore rose to their
feet and dashed along in pursuit once more, only occasionally
discharging their weapons pistol-wise in the hope of a lucky bullet
finding its billet.