Saving the canoe that they had seen, the events of the night were pretty
well forgotten when a fresh start was made, for all were anxious to
explore the great canon and make a wider acquaintance with the beauties
that opened out as they trusted themselves once more to the gliding
waters which bore them gently on, so slowly now that the powers of the
flood-tide were evidently failing gradually.
"We shall have the current against us before long," said the captain
decisively.
"I've been thinking so too," said the first mate; "see how calm the
water's getting. It will be wrong then, for the wind is dead against
us, what there is of it."
"You'd like to go right on up here, gentlemen, I suppose?"
"Certainly," said Sir Humphrey decisively, "till we are obliged to turn
back. The scenery here is grand. Don't you think so, Mr Briscoe?"
"Beats grand," was the reply; "but, my word, if gold wasn't a dangerous
word to name in these boats, I should like to land with a hammer and
prospect a bit up among these rocks on either side. If they're not full
of rich ore I don't know paying stuff when I see it."
"Let it rest," said Brace, in a half-whisper. "Don't let the men hear
you talking about gold again. You remember what occurred before."
"Right. I won't mention the word; but if the Indians who live in these
parts haven't found out and made use of the metal here, the same as the
Mexicans and Peruvians did, they must be a queer sort of people.
Shouldn't wonder if we see some more of them to-day."
"Neither should I," said Brace, grasping his piece. "Look: that must be
the canoe we saw yesterday evening. What are they doing?"
"Fishing," said the captain quickly. "Now then, gentlemen, let's be
ready for emergencies, but make no sign, and maybe they'll be friendly
instead of showing fight."
All eyes were directed at a canoe in which three Indians were busy
fishing, while a fourth sat in the stern keeping the craft straight by
dipping his paddle and giving it a swoop from time to time. They were
some three hundred yards ahead, just off a pile of massive rounded rocks
which jutted out into the river, and evidently gliding with the current
in the same direction as the two boats.
One thing was very evident: they were so intent upon their work that
they did not look back, and hence were in perfect ignorance of the
approach of the adventurers, while at the end of a couple of minutes
they glided on in their frail canoes beyond the rocky promontory, which
completely hid them from the view of those in the boats.
"Do you think we ought to follow them up, sir?" asked the captain.
"Yes," replied Sir Humphrey, "and keep our weapons out of sight as if we
had come upon a peaceful errand."
"I'm afraid they won't understand us, sir," said the captain gruffly;
"but we'll try."
The current was running very gently now, so that the approach of the
boats to the promontory took time; but at last it was rounded, revealing
to the occupants of the boats a scene as startling as it was strange.
There, a couple of hundred yards away, was the canoe they had followed,
while at various distances farther on no less than six more small canoes
were dotted about, their feather-crowned crews all busily employed
fishing, while as the boats glided round the tree-covered rocks the
nearest Indians struck up a soft minor-keyed chant which was taken up by
the crews of the other canoes, the whole combining in a sweet low melody
which floated over the smoothly-flowing river, fully explaining the
sounds heard from the cavern-mouth overnight.
In all probability it was a fisher's song which the people imagined had
some effect upon the fish they were trying to lure to their nets.
Strangely wild and mournful, it rose and fell, and gained at times in
force as it seemed to echo from the right side of the canon, which here
rose up like some gigantic wall hundreds of feet in height, barred with
what appeared to be terraces, and honeycombed with open doors and
windows, row above row, from the lowest, upon which in two places
smouldered the remains of fires, right up to the sky-line, which,
roughly regular, was carved into something resembling the crenellations
of a gigantic castle, extending apparently hundreds upon hundreds of
yards.
Brace had hardly swept the face of the strangely-worked range of cliff
when the softly mournful chorus ceased, and as if moved by one impulse,
on catching sight of the approaching boats, the Indians burst forth into
a shrill piercing yell which echoed and re-echoed discordantly from the
face of the rocks. The next moment every man had seized his paddle, and
they were making the river foam and sparkle with the vigour of their
strokes.
There was no mistaking the effect produced on the Indians by the
appearance of the boats: it was the feeling of horror and dread, every
man plunging his paddle deeply into the water and striving his utmost to
force the canoes to their greatest speed, so that they might escape from
the strange beings. In all probability they were seeing white men for
the first time in their lives.
"What does that mean?" said Brace: "going to fetch help?"
"No," said Lynton; "because this must be where they live."
"Yes; there are their fires on the banks," added the captain.
"But they are mere savages," said Sir Humphrey, who ceased to watch the
retreating Indians, to sweep the front of the towering cliffs with his
glass. "This palace must have been the work of a more highly civilised
race."
"And is it your opinion that they are at home, waiting to shoot?" asked
Briscoe, stooping to pick up his gun.
"At home? No," cried Sir Humphrey: "those are the ruins of some
extremely ancient rock city. Look, Brace. Use your glass. It is the
work of centuries. I should say every place has been cut and carved out
of the solid rock by some industrious race; but it is quite deserted now
save by birds."
"Then we've made a find," said Briscoe excitedly. "I say, I wonder
whether this is the great Golden City, captain?"
"No, sir," said the captain gruffly; "don't you see it's all stone?"
"Yes, but--look, Brace. Those places farther on look more regular--
there where the trees are growing out of the cracks and the creepers are
hanging down like curtains. I can't make 'em out very well with the
naked eye, but those windows seem to have carving sculpt about them, and
underneath seems to be like a stone colonnade and terrace."
"And a great central doorway," said Brace eagerly. "Yes, you are right:
the walls are covered with curious figures and ornamentations. It must
be either a great temple or the Inca's palace."
"Inca?" said Briscoe. "Yes--why not? Yes; I suppose it would be an
Inca, something of the same kind as the Peruvians. But, I say, look
here: these must have been something of the same sort of race as the
Peruvians."
"No doubt," said Sir Humphrey.
"And the Peruvians were out and outers for getting gold."
"Look here!" cried the captain, banging his hand down upon the edge of
the boat: "if you say gold again, Mr Briscoe, you and me's going to
have a regular row."
"Then I won't say it," said the American good-humouredly. "I promised
you that I would hold myself in; but recollect what I said to you last
night about these cliffs. I felt sure that they contained--ahem!"
"Shall we row close up to the bank where those fires are, sir?" said the
captain, turning his back upon Briscoe.
"If you think there is no risk of any Indians lying in ambush among
those rock-chambers," Sir Humphrey replied.
"I think the place is quite deserted, sir," replied the captain, "and
that if there had been any Indians on shore they would have bolted when
these chaps yelled."
"Yes; that's right enough," said Briscoe. "They're canoe-folk, and
there's no sign of a single person anywhere along the landing-place.
You may depend upon it this is a good fishing-station, and they come up
here to camp, and we've frightened them away. It's safe enough."
The captain glanced at Sir Humphrey, who nodded, and the men took to
their oars, while Lynton steered the heavy boat right up to the remains
of a stone-encumbered wharf or pier that had been laboriously cut out of
the solid rock. Here the boats were held, and, well armed, half their
occupants sprang out to climb over the slippery stones, which had
evidently only lately bean covered by the flood-water, whose mark could
be plainly seen, reaching up some ten feet, or half-way to where there
ran for hundreds of yards a more or less regular broad terrace cut down
out of the rock, and from which the honeycombed perpendicular cliff
rose, showing now that it was cut into steps, each step being a rough
terrace just below a row of window-like openings.
It was all plain enough now: the Indians' camp had been made right and
left of the rugged steps leading up from the water. There the fires
were still glowing, and about them and in rows where they could be dried
by the sun lay hundreds upon hundreds of good-sized fish: the harvest
the Indians had been taking from the river; while the state of some
which were piled together beneath a projecting piece of rock suggested
that the fishers must have been staying there for days.
"They are sure to come back for this fish," said Brace.
"Very likely," said Sir Humphrey. "Well, if they do, let them have it,
and we'll give them some present in return for what we have taken. Look
here, captain: we must camp here for a few days to explore this place."
"Very good, sir. We can pick out one or two of these caves, or rooms,
or whatever they are, to live in. Your Dan would like one of 'em for a
kitchen, Mr Briscoe."
"Yes; he's smelling about them now. I dessay he has chosen one
already," said the American. "Yes, I call this fine; we may come across
some curiosities next. What do you say to beginning a regular explore,
Brace?"
"I say: the sooner the better," cried Brace.
Sir Humphrey nodded.
"We'll divide into two parties, captain," he said. "Let half prepare
for making a stay; and I should like the others to bring ropes and a
boat-hook or two to help our climb, for I daresay we shall need it
before we get to the top of this cliff."
"Very good, sir, and I don't think you'll find a soul to hurt you. I'd
keep my eyes well opened though, for you may find wild beasts, and
you're sure to find snakes. Let's see," he continued, consulting a
pocket compass. "Yes: we're facing nearly due south. It will be a warm
spot, and I should say that the old inhabitants are now represented by
snakes, and poisonous ones too."
Preparations were soon made, the captain electing to stay below and make
all ready for the party's return.
Brace led off along the rugged terrace, which was terribly encumbered by
stones fallen from above; but the young adventurer's first idea was to
continue along to where the palace-like front reared itself up about the
middle of the cliff.
Briscoe stepped alongside of him, and Brace noticed how busily his
companion's eyes wandered about, taking in everything on their way. Not
that there was much to see at first, save that the captain was right
about the inhabitants, for everywhere among the stones which lay heating
in the morning sun they came upon coiled-up serpents, many of which were
undoubtedly venomous; but there were other reptiles as well, for lizards
darted about by the hundred, when disturbed, to make for their holes in
crevices and cracks of the stonework, their scales glistening as if made
of burnished metal, bronze, deadened silver, mingled with velvety black
and soft silvery grey.
At the end of a couple of hundred yards Brace stopped.
"This won't do," he said. "We are on the lowest terrace, and the palace
is a floor higher. It ought to be somewhere over where we are."
"That's where I reckon it is," said Briscoe, going to the low ruined
wall between them and the river, and straining outward to look up.
"See anything?" said Brace.
"No; I can't reach out far enough; the next terrace overhangs. But it
must be here."
"Let's get right on towards the end," said Sir Humphrey, "and I daresay
we shall find some kind of steps leading to the next floor."
It was some time before anything but a dark hole was found, and that
seemed to be only a receptacle for loose stones, so it was passed; but
after pushing on for another two hundred yards, with nothing to take
their attention but the retreating reptiles and the beautiful flashing
river which washed the foot of the clift, Briscoe grew uneasy.
"Look here," he said; "we're losing time. Let's go back, for I'm sure
the way up is through that hole."
"Impossible!" said Brace. "There must be a bold flight of steps."
"No, there mustn't, mister," said Briscoe sharply. "This was an old
strong place when the people who lived here were alive, and you may
depend upon it that the way up was kept small for safety, so that it
could easily be defended by a man or two with spears, or shut up with a
heavy stone. I say we've passed the way up."
"Let's go back then," said Sir Humphrey, smiling good-humouredly; and
they all made their way back to the bottom of the hole, which had
evidently been carefully cut.
Briscoe went to it at once; he gave his double gun to the nearest man to
hold, and then, seizing one of the stones with which the horizontal
oven-like hole had been filled, he shook it loose and dragged it out to
stand in the attitude of lowering the heavy block to the ground.
"No," said Brace; "let me."
Brace uttered a warning cry.
"I see my nabs," said Briscoe coolly, as a snake with menacing hiss came
creeping rapidly out, raising its head as it glided down; and then its
tail part writhed and turned about, for its power of doing mischief was
at an end, the American having dropped the heavy stone upon its
threatening crest and crushed it upon the stones below.
"That's one," said Briscoe coolly. "I shouldn't wonder if his wife's at
home, and a small family as well. Here, you just fish out that next
stone with the boat-hook."
The man addressed stepped forward, thrust the implement into the
opening, and drew out another stone, when, as the American had
suggested, a second serpent came gliding out, to meet its death quickly
and be tossed by one of the men over the parapet-like wall into the
river.
More stones were dragged out with the boat-hook, but only a lizard
appeared afterwards; and as two more blocks were pulled forth light from
above came down, showing that the opening was L-shaped, going about six
feet in to where a chimney-like shaft rose at right angles, down which
the light struck, evidently from the next terrace.
"I thought so," said Briscoe. "Here: I'll go in first."
He crept into the hole at once, and found on looking up the shaft that
Briscoe was quite correct, for there were foot-holes chiselled out at
intervals in the chimney-like place, so that he could easily step up
from one to the other, and the next minute his head was on a level with
the floor above and his eyes gazing full in those of a venomous-looking
serpent, which raised its head from the middle of its coil ready to
strike.