THE GOLD-SEEKERS
The bar and store which Señor Sanda had set up in the heart of the
gold-prospecting district stood on the banks of a stream which, some
three days' march farther on emptied itself into the Oyapok, a river
which constituted the frontier between French Guiana and Brazil. The bar
was an establishment similar to those, called _albacen_, which are to be
found in the forest solitudes of Gran Chaco.
Here everything was sold that could be of use to the worker in the
forest--tools, provisions, preserves, tinware, clothes, arms, munitions
and every variety of alcohol. It was at once a bar and a grocer's shop.
It was likewise a gaming-house. Men entered it with their pockets well
filled with gold dust, and left it to work in the "sluices," having lost
their all. Other men quickly made a fortune, but they did not keep it
long. Truth to tell, Señor Sanda was the only man in the place who grew
rich.
One Sunday, in the large saloon bar, constructed of wooden planks with a
corrugated iron roof, men were having an exciting game at the table, at
the far end of the room, near the counter behind which Sanda, assisted
by his "boys," was serving out rum and Indian spirits to chance
customers.
At the gaming-table gold dust passed from one hand to another, and
little bags were emptied on the turn of the dice or filled to an
accompaniment of shouts, protests and a general uproar, which were
followed suddenly by intervals of intense silence.
Near the door the Parisian, the Burglar, the Caid and the Joker were
seated at a table with a bottle before them. They were chatting somewhat
furtively as they eyed, by turns, the proprietor, new arrivals as they
came in, and the table at the other end at which a mad game was in
progress.
"We might imagine ourselves at the Jockey Club," said the Joker.
"You dry up," said the Parisian.
The four men had no gold dust. They were penniless, but they were in
possession of an important secret which had brought them to that village
and filled them with a dim but splendid hope. They had overheard
Chéri-Bibi and the Nut's conversation about Yoyo and his hoard of gold.
Consequently they had performed surprising feats, marching day and night
in order to arrive at the diggings before the two men.
During the last twenty-four hours they had been hunting, without
success, for Yoyo. At last they ran aground at Sanda's bar, and were now
seated with a bottle in front of them for which, seemingly, they would
find some difficulty in paying.
Suddenly the Parisian stood up and said:
"Don't you trouble about me, but go on with your chatter." And he showed
them a set of dice with which they were quite familiar.
He went to have a look at the men at the gaming-table where a certain
amount of disorder reigned. The men were arguing about a throw of the
dice. The Parisian forked out a piece of linen which might possibly have
been a handkerchief with a knot at the end of it containing an
appreciable quantity of the precious metal.
He took a hand in the game.
His first victim was a woolly-headed half-breed, who came from the
diggings with a well-lined belt. Half an hour later he had lost the lot.
He swore, for that matter, that he had been robbed, and the quarrel was
about to lead to blows, for two other diggers had come in and taken
sides against the Parisian, when Señor Sanda stepped between them and
declared that he only allowed gentlemen who were above suspicion to
enter his place. Sanda exercised absolute authority. He could expel from
his gaming club anyone who failed to meet his approval without having to
consult any committee of management.
The Parisian, in the manner of a great aristocrat, at once ordered the
most expensive drinks and invited everyone to have a drink with him,
paying a large sum in advance to Señor Sanda without moving a muscle of
his face. Then the Parisian, as he had foreseen, was favored with
Sanda's smile, and the sound of the dear man's voice was as pleasant to
hear as the gold dust was pleasant to look upon.
The Burglar, the Caid and the Joker joined them and took part, as may
well be imagined, in the general carouse.
"I've unloosened the tongue of the pub-keeper," said the Parisian. "We
must try to make the most of it."
The Parisian poured the gold dust which he had won into his wide-brimmed
felt hat, and letting it run through his fingers, said to Sanda:
"Poor beggars! I've probably taken the result of six months' work away
from them."
"Oh, not many of them make their fortunes in the diggings apart from a
few Indians who discover a real vein and hide themselves from Europeans
as though they were the plague . . ." returned Sanda. "See that man
passing over there?"
"Where?"
"Opposite the bar. . . . That's a celebrated magician. He knows where
the gold is, does that man. . . . He's called Yoyo."
The Parisian made a dash for the window. He saw a man going past who was
in the full vigor of youth.
His appearance was somewhat startling, and even demoniacal. He wore his
hair plaited in little tresses. He had a fine figure and moved
gracefully. It would be difficult to withstand his flashing gaze.
The convicts kept their eyes fixed on him.
"He comes here to buy the necessaries for the _yaraqué_ feast, which is
the most important event of the year. The Indians carry through the
village their flags made of basket-work, which they fix on tall bamboos,
beat on their various drums, and play a sort of flute made from dead
men's bones."
At that moment one of the gamblers, who had procured a little gold,
challenged the Parisian to a fresh game. The Parisian imagined, from the
appearance of the saloon, that it would be difficult to refuse to play,
and he sat down once more opposite his partners; but, turning to the
Burglar and his chums, he threw a glance in the direction of Yoyo, who
was entering a hut on the other side of the street, and one of them went
out to follow the Indian's tracks.
In the meantime night had fallen quickly, and Chéri-Bibi and the Nut
had come in. They were feeling worn out, and did not stop in the village
until they reached Sanda's store.
When they entered the bar the proprietor and his customers were so
intent upon the game that their arrival passed entirely unobserved. They
went to a table some distance from the lamps, and threw their bags down
in a dark corner beside them.
Then Chéri-Bibi stood up to inspect some cooking utensils which were
hanging on the wall and which, on the way, he had decided to buy.
The Nut, overcome with fatigue, holding his head in his hands, did not
seem to have the strength to give an order. Nevertheless he turned his
head at the sounds which came from the other end of the room. Curses and
yells of fury went up against the turn of the dice. The Parisian
insolently continued to win.
Suddenly the Nut gave a start. Someone was speaking whose voice he
seemed to recognize, and yet it could not be.
He rose from the table and drew near the gamblers. The dice were thrown
again.
"Those dice are loaded!" a loud voice broke out.
The Nut, who had flung out the accusation, stared at the gambler with
blazing eyes. His heart was swelling with an unspeakable hatred. The
Parisian. . . . The Parisian was before his eyes. . . . The man who had
tortured him for such long years.
"That man has robbed you!"
The gamblers made a rush at the Parisian, but the Nut shook off the
human cluster which stood between him and his enemy.
"No, no. . . . Leave him to me," he cried. "This man is my affair. He
falls to my lot. Oh, how long I've waited for this moment!"
Chéri-Bibi tried in vain to intervene. The Parisian and the Nut, locked
in a deadly embrace, were rolling on the floor.
As soon as hostilities broke out Sanda saw that the affair would end in
a free fight and, as was his duty, sent one of his "boys" to warn the
headman of the place. And at the height of the struggle, as the Parisian
was gasping for breath under the pressure of the Nut's fingers, the
saloon was plunged into complete darkness. The Parisian's confederates
had put out the lamps. Someone shouted:
"Police!"
The police had, in fact, arrived. The lamps were lighted again, and it
was seen that the birds had flown. . . .
Sanda remarked to the headman:
"Fortunately for me, my customers pay in advance!"
Saved from the Nut's clutches by the cunning and devotion of his
friends, the Parisian soon recovered his senses, and in particular, his
perception of their position. The main thing for them was not to lose
sight of Yoyo.
The four convicts felt certain that Chéri-Bibi was unaware of the
medicine-man's appearance in the village, and it was with full
confidence in their scheme that they followed Yoyo's tracks as soon as
he once again made his way into the forest.
Yoyo led them during a part of the night into an almost impenetrable
wilderness; but when dawn broke they realized that they had lost trace
of him. For hours they endeavored, without avail, to recover the scent.
They held a consultation, and finally determined to return to the
village, for they ran some risk in that part of the jungle of losing
their way, which would mean death to them. . . .
At the village they would be able to buy such things as they stood in
need, particularly fire-arms, and leave the place and wait patiently
until Chéri-Bibi and the Nut passed the frontier into Brazil, for when
the two men came back from visiting Yoyo they would be laden with gold.
The Parisian and his gang were fully aware of the part of the coast from
which the Nut would attempt to sail for Europe. . . . The plan was
adopted with enthusiasm.
Meanwhile Chéri-Bibi and the Nut had also entered the forest.
Chéri-Bibi went forward with confidence owing to the landmarks which
had been set up some years before; and suddenly, as he was passing under
a giant tree, something fell into his arms. It was Yoyo--Yoyo, who,
perceiving that he was being followed, had climbed into a tree with the
agility of a monkey--Yoyo, who had recognized Chéri-Bibi.
The Nut was presented to him with due form and ceremony. Yoyo was a
medicine-man who seemed to be conversant with the usages of polite
society and to value them more than anything else.
"I'm the man who told him all about the benefits of civilization," said
Chéri-Bibi, with a touch of pride. Nevertheless, the presence
of a gang of undesirables in the neighborhood, to which he drew
attention--Chéri-Bibi recognized from Yoyo's description that he was
referring to the Parisian and his confederates--curtailed his
demonstrations of friendship, which the medicine-man's personality
rendered well-nigh sacred; and when Yoyo had expressed to Chéri-Bibi
how rejoiced his family would be to see him again, the three of them
plunged into the very depths of the Macuano country in which Yoyo lived.
When Chéri-Bibi and the Nut reached the place they received a very
touching welcome. The old mother, the young sister and brothers vied
with each other in their kindness to the new-comers. They served a
concoction for the evening meal which brought the tears to Chéri-Bibi's
eyes.
Never had fish and pimento been so tastily prepared for the convict's
palate, and he declared that he had never eaten anything so good, even
in the days when he was in hiding in a fisherman's hut in Martigny,
after a sorry story of an attempted murder of a gendarme, the
mock-heroic episodes of which he recalled not without a certain
whimsical humor.
The story was, it seemed, entirely in Chéri-Bibi's favor, for he had
taken upon himself to defend a young girl who appeared to be in some
danger; but the misfortune was that the jury suspected that the danger
came from Chéri-Bibi himself. And he concluded: "I expected that, but
when your conscience is clear you can afford to treat the rest as a good
joke."
The natives, who were extremely quick-witted, listened to Chéri-Bibi
with absorbed attention. The evening wore on in most agreeable fashion
as Chéri-Bibi indulged in his recollections as a criminal, for he
deferred the consideration of serious business to the morrow. As to the
Nut, he was like a man in a dream.
He no longer allowed himself to be astonished at anything. The most
amazing incidents seemed to him to be quite normal. He knew beforehand
that anything might happen to him, and, adopting Chéri-Bibi's
philosophy, was prepared for everything. A day or two ago it was the
penal settlement, convicts, warders; yesterday it was the fearsome
Oyaricoulets, and the not less fearsome Parisian; that night it was an
excellent dinner, winding up with stories of which the least that could
be said was that they were in keeping with the fantastic nature of the
events which were in store for them. To-morrow! What would happen
to-morrow. Oh, yes, Chéri-Bibi had promised him that to-morrow he would
be a millionaire!
And in very truth he did become a millionaire. After a good night's
rest, which was the first that they had passed in safety since their
departure from île Royale, Yoyo suggested to Chéri-Bibi that they
should set out with him. . . .
They came to a clear stream in which the medicine-man's brothers and
women-folk were engaged in obtaining gold by washing the alluvial
gravels.
It is well known that this particular region is one of the richest in
the world, and nearly every river contains gold in appreciable
quantities. But the difficulties which are involved in obtaining it, and
the impossibility for Europeans to live in the primeval forest, renders
the collection of the gold exceedingly arduous. To secure remunerative
results, large companies with considerable capital at their command are
necessary. The individual prospector who refuses to become a worker for
others is fated soon to be discouraged or to perish. In comparison with
the few who grow rich by a lucky accident, what great numbers go under!
The native can overcome these disadvantages. Nevertheless, when he has
discovered a lode, or some creek containing a larger amount of the metal
than usual, he is plundered, or rather, compulsorily dispossessed,
according to the rigor of the law of ownership established by white men.
Thus, learning from experience, he hides himself and works entirely
alone.
For many years Yoyo and his family had labored for Chéri-Bibi. What was
the nature of his tremendous services to them that they should become
his slaves? "I saved Yoyo's life," said Chéri-Bibi modestly. The truth
was that one day, when tired of the settlement, he escaped and was
taking a holiday on the Upper Oyapok, he saved the entire family from
destruction by a man-eating tribe. . . . "But that," as Kipling says,
"is another story."
Chéri-Bibi having given the signal, Yoyo led the way over a swamp,
concealed by bamboos. Undoubtedly they would have been engulfed in the
swamp but for stones which had been secretly laid down in the mire and
were scarcely visible, but which held them up as they walked across.
Each man had but to imitate the movements of Yoyo. One of his brothers
who, with a proud air, leaned on the handle of a pickaxe, was the last
to cross over. Thus they landed on an islet of moss-covered boulders
whose approach was guarded by this belt of mud. They made their way into
a narrow circular space surrounded by rising ground.
"Here we are!" exclaimed Yoyo.
He spoke a few quick words to his brother, who inserted his pick under a
stone of some considerable size which looked as if it were immovable,
but all the same it almost at once swung on a pivot, exposing to view a
crevice filled with thick moss.
The men shifted the moss and a leather bag could be seen. The magician
bent forward and untied the complicated fastenings. It was apparent,
that the bag was filled with gold dust. . . .
When, two days later, they crossed the Oyapok and, at the same time, the
Brazilian frontier, Chéri-Bibi heaved a deep sigh of relief, and said
to the Nut, pointing to the bag which Yoyo and one of his brothers had
carried so far, and to the landscape which lay before them:
"Fortune and liberty!"
"It is to you that I shall owe both. I shall never forget it."
The Nut had first refused to accept this royal gift. He could not
understand how it was that with such wealth, and friends like Yoyo,
Chéri-Bibi remained so long at the penal settlement and was quite ready
to go back to it.
"Come with me to Europe, or, if that is impossible, live here with
Yoyo," he entreated him. "Anything is better than life in the convict
settlement."
At first he received in reply merely one of those terrible grins which
placed an impassable gulf between Chéri-Bibi and mankind. Those who saw
that grin understood that something was on the other side of the abyss,
something entirely remote from them, apart from them, apart from
everything; some mysterious thing which they would never unravel, and
they did not persist.
Nevertheless a few minutes later Chéri-Bibi made an effort to enter
into an explanation for the Nut's benefit, to which he would never have
consented with anyone else. It seemed that the moment was not yet come
for Chéri-Bibi to see Europe once more. He had the most profound
reasons for his decision. Obviously he would amass a fortune before that
particular hour struck, but since it was still far distant, the Nut
could accept the gold with an easy conscience, inasmuch as Yoyo would
have ample time to collect together another hoard. In so far as the
penal settlement was concerned, Chéri-Bibi added, with a demoniacal
laugh, he should return to it by choice.
"Not forgetting that I cannot do without certain news which can only
reach me there."
Yoyo put an end to the discussion by announcing that the canoe, which
they required in order to descend the Oyapok, would be ready that
evening. He had bought one from the Indians. It was of fair size, hewn
in one piece from the trunk of a huge tree.
Yoyo steered her, seated in the stern, singing the while the plaintive
ballads of his country.
The journey proceeded without let or hindrance, and when they were
within a few miles of the sea they landed and made the rest of the way
by land in Brazilian territory, arriving thus at Cape Orange. At this
place there was an inn, which was well and favorably known in the
district for its admirable treatment of travelers. The proprietor did
not worry his customers by asking them indiscreet questions as to whence
they came, nor as to their previous careers, which usually had brought
them, more or less, in contact with the police. Moreover, the landlord,
who was called Fernandez, was a friend of Chéri-Bibi's.
An exuberant delight bubbled over his truculent features when his eyes
fell upon him.
"Oh, here's the 'Shower,'" he said.
This was his name for Chéri-Bibi, who became by accident one of his
customers and whom he did not know in any other way. One day Chéri-Bibi
got him out of his difficulties, when he was well nigh bankrupt and in
the slough of despair, by literally showering bank-notes on him, which
Fernandez accepted without asking whence they came.
Chéri-Bibi, therefore, had a friend in Fernandez who was almost as
devoted to him as Yoyo, and upon whom he could rely when he needed him.
A man who kept an inn on the outskirts of the forest, over the frontier,
could not fail to be useful to a "convict on the march." Chéri-Bibi
maintained that here again he had done a good stroke of business for
himself.
Fernandez's household consisted of his wife, who was still a handsome
woman, and two graceful and sprightly young daughters who, at their
father's bidding, paid their respects to Chéri-Bibi and proceeded to
prepare a special supper.
"Business getting on all right?" asked Chéri-Bibi when they were all
together in Fernandez's private room with a bottle of golden wine before
them.
"Bless me, yes," he returned. "What with convicts, gold-diggers,
smugglers and pirates I hold my own."
The Nut asked for news of the great war.
"Very unsatisfactory for France," said Fernandez, shaking his head. "But
the steamer which puts in here to-morrow morning may bring us better
news."
"I thought that the boat from the Antilles did not reach here for
another week," said Chéri-Bibi.
"That's true," returned Fernandez, "but a boat now starts from
Martinique, and calls at the ports along the coast on dates announced
beforehand. She has to pick up Frenchmen of military age coming from the
interior to join up."
Chéri-Bibi turned to the Nut.
"That's just the very thing to meet the wishes of my friend Didier
d'Haumont, who has left his business on the Upper Oyapok--a very fine
and prosperous business--to go back to France and do his duty. Only, old
chap, Didier d'Haumont came away in such a tearing hurry that he
absolutely forgot to bring his wardrobe with him. As I know you always
have these things on hand, I hope that he won't be much the worse for
it."
"Your friend will be able to get anything he wants here," returned
Fernandez, bowing to the Nut with every mark of politeness.
"That's all right then. You'll go with my friend to the ship, of
course?"
"Your friend won't need any help but mine, and I'll introduce him to
Captain Lalouette, an old acquaintance, who will be very glad to be of
service to him."
"So that's settled," said Chéri-Bibi, bluntly, concealing his emotion.
"But what's happened to our friend Yoyo?"
At that moment Yoyo came into the room. Chéri-Bibi must have read some
uneasiness in the expression of his face for he asked him what was the
matter.
"Nothing; all goes well," replied Yoyo somewhat laconically.
They sat down to supper, which grew very lively. The hostess and her
daughters made themselves agreeable. Chéri-Bibi was the most exuberant
of the party. He did not eat, he devoured his food. Moreover, he drank
to excess. He who prided himself on having maintained throughout his
adventurous career the greatest abstemiousness and showed an abstainer's
contempt for drunkards, continually held out his glass, and kept level
with Fernandez, who was considered the hardest drinker on the coast.
The Nut alone neither ate nor drank. But he was no more astonished at
anything Chéri-Bibi did than Chéri-Bibi was astonished at his doings.
They both knew quite well what this excessive eating and drinking on the
one hand, and this complete abstinence on the other really meant, and
that it had its origin in both cases in the thought which never left
their minds, that the following night, at that particular hour, they
would have said good-bye to each other with very considerable chances of
never meeting again.
Ten years side by side in a convict settlement bring about frightful
hatreds, or friendships which depend upon something almost higher than
liking, and create a bond of moral unity, as it were, which does not
break without some excruciating wrench.
Convicts have been known to die rather than to allow themselves to be
parted. And it might be that if suicide had not been forbidden to
Chéri-Bibi for reasons which we shall know one day, that supper night
at Fernandez's inn might, by his own desperate act, have been his last.
For that matter it was almost equally fatal to him though not by any
design of his own.
He had judged rightly when he read on Yoyo's face some degree of
uneasiness. During the meal Yoyo often left the room. First he subjected
the more or less pallid faces in the ordinary bar to a scrutiny, and
then he strolled round the house.
The starting point of his secret agitation was the squawk of a paroquet
which scarcely ever left them as they sailed down the Oyapok. They were
near the forest in which these birds abound, and it was to some extent
natural that they should hear them, but the inn was a considerable
distance from the forest. Moreover, certain shadowy movements round the
inn almost level with the ground seemed to Yoyo suspicious. He climbed
to the balcony, mounting quickly and coming down almost immediately.
This time obviously there was an end to his doubts.
Some hours later when everyone seemed to be asleep in the inn, the
Burglar broke open the door of the yard with a cleverness and quickness
which impressed even his confederates, and accompanied by them effected
an entrance into the inn. They crept forward with the greatest caution.
Suddenly they were stopped short by a loud burst of laughter which
startled the silence of the night. Oh, they recognized that laugh! And,
as the phrase goes, they took themselves off. They beat a retreat with a
haste that caused them to knock their heads against the door which a few
minutes before they had opened and which was now closed. At that moment
a fusillade burst around them.
They performed wonders in their effort to get away from the infernal inn
in which they expected to take their victims by surprise, but were so
nicely cornered. By extraordinary agility they managed to climb to the
top of a wall and drop to the other side at the risk of breaking their
necks. Nevertheless, they lost a few of their feathers; and the next
morning the extent of their downfall was apparent in the traces which
they left behind--traces of blood.
"All the same," said Chéri-Bibi in confidence to Fernandez, "you'll now
understand how necessary it is for me to stay in the country until they
are collared with me--just to keep my eye on them, at close quarters, so
that they don't do any harm to my friend the Nut. . . ."