"Ahoy! ahoy!"
But there was no response, and Rob and Brazier exchanged glances, their
faces full of despair.
"Ahoy!" shouted Shaddy once more.
Still no reply, and a cold chill ran through Rob and his eyes grew dim
as he thought of the bright, handsome, dark-eyed lad who had been his
companion so long, and with whom he had been such friends till the
miserable little misunderstanding had thrust them apart.
"It must be farther on," said Brazier at last, when shout after shout
had been sent up without avail.
"Think so, sir?" said Shaddy gloomily. "I thought it was about here,
but p'r'aps you're right. Come on. River made a big twist there, and
it's hard to tell distance shut up half in the dark among the trees. I
did hope," he continued, as he forced his way in among the trees and
held boughs aside for them to follow, "that the poor lad had swung
himself up and would have made his way like a squirrel from branch to
branch till he reached dry land, but it don't seem to be so. There,
sir, we must be 'bout opposite where we saw him. Can't be no farther.
Ahoy! ahoy! ahoy!"
They all listened intently after this, but there was no sound of human
voice, only the shrieking of parrots and chattering of monkeys.
Shaddy shouted again, with the result that he startled a flock of birds
which were about to settle, but rose again noisily.
They all shouted together then, but there was no response, and feeling
that their efforts were useless, they went on a short distance, and
tried once more without result.
"He'd have answered if he had been anywhere near, sir," said Shaddy
gloomily. "I'll go on if you like, but take my word for it he ain't
here."
Rob looked at both despairingly, but he was obliged to take the guide's
words for those of truth, and, feeling utterly crushed, he slowly
followed the others as they began to return, feeling the while that if
it had not been for the edge of the water by which they walked it would
have been impossible to find their way back through the dense
wilderness.
Their guide returned by their outward steps as accurately as he could,
but it was not always possible, for in coming out the bushes had been
forced on in the same direction and then sprung back together, after the
fashion of the withes in a fish-trap, and presenting their points,
thorns, and broken stems in a perfect _chevaux de frise_.
In these cases Shaddy had to select a different path, the exigencies of
the way forcing him more inland, and at last, in spite of his
experience, he stopped short, looked about him and then upwards, seeking
to make out the sky, but it was completely shut off, and they stood in a
twilight gloom.
"What's the matter, Shaddy?" said Rob at last, after looking at the
man's actions wonderingly; but there was no reply.
"For goodness sake, man, don't say that you have lost your way," cried
Brazier excitedly.
Shaddy still remained silent, and took off his hat to scratch his head.
"Do you hear me, man? Have you lost your way?"
"Don't see as there's any way to lose," growled Shaddy. "I ain't seen
no path. But I have gone a bit wrong."
"Here, let me--" began Brazier, but Shaddy interrupted him.
"Steady, sir, please! Don't wherrit me. I shall hit it off directly.
You two gents stand just as you are, and don't move. Don't even turn
round, or else you'll throw me wrong worse than I am. You see, the
place is all alike, and nothing to guide you. One can't tell which way
to turn."
"But tell me," said Brazier, "what are you going to do?"
"There's only one thing to do, sir: find the river, and I'm going to
make casts for it. You both stand fast and answer my whistles; then I
shall know where you are and can come back and start again. If we don't
act sensible we shall lose ourselves altogether and never get out of
it."
"And then?" said Brazier.
"Oh, never mind about _then_, sir. I've lost my way a bit, and I'm
going to find it somehow, only give me time."
"Which way do you think the river lies?" said Rob gloomily.
"I'm going to try out yonder, sir. You see we've turned and doubled so
that I can't tell where we are."
"But it's out that way, I'm sure," said Rob, pointing in the opposite
direction.
"Why are you sure, sir?"
Rob shook his head.
"Ah, to be sure, dear lad!" said the guide; "you only think it's out
that way, and I daresay Mr Brazier here thinks it's out another way."
"Well, I must confess," said Brazier, "that I thought the river lay
behind us."
"Yes, sir, that's it. I've been lost before with half a dozen, sir, and
every one thought different. One wanted to go one way; one wanted to go
another. Fact is, gentlemen, we neither of us know the way. It's all
guesswork. Once lost, there's nothing to guide you. I can't recollect
this tree or that tree, because they're all so much alike, and it's as
puzzling as being in the dark. There's only one way out of it, and that
is to do as I say; you stand fast, and I'll cast about like a dog does
after losing the scent till I find the right track. Only mind this: if
I don't have you to guide me back with whistle and shout I shall be lost
more and more."
"You are right, Naylor," said Brazier; "we leave ourselves in your
hands. Go on."
"Cheer up, Mr Rob, sir; don't be down-hearted. I shall find the way
out of it yet."
"I was not thinking about myself, Shaddy," said Rob in a choking voice.
"I was thinking about poor Joe."
"Ah!" said Shaddy in a suppressed voice. Then sharply, "I shall whistle
at first, and one of you keep answering. By-and-by I shall shout like
this."
He uttered a peculiarly shrill cry, and they all started, for it was
answered from a distance.
"Why, that's Joe," cried Rob joyfully. "Ahoy! ahoy!" he cried, and
paused to listen.
"Nay, sir, that wasn't Mr Jovanni, but one of the wild beasts. Sounded
to me like one of them little lions. Stop a bit, though; let's try a
shout or two to see if the boys in the boat can hear us now."
He hailed half a dozen times at intervals, but there was no reply.
"Thought not," he said. "Only waste of breath. We've wandered away
farther than I thought, and the trees shuts in sound. Stand fast,
gentlemen, till I come back."
He paused for a few moments, and then forced his way in amongst the
trees in a direction which Rob felt to be entirely wrong, but in his
despondent state he was too low in spirit to make any opposition, and
after marking the spot where Shaddy had disappeared, he turned round
suddenly, placed his arm across a huge tree trunk, rested his brow
against it, and hid the workings of his face.
"Come, come, Rob, be a man!" cried Brazier, laying his hand upon the
lad's shoulder. "Never despair, my boy, never despair!"
"Joe! Joe!" groaned Rob; "it is so horrible!"
"Not yet. We don't know that he is lost."
"He must be, sir, he must be, or he would have answered our hails."
At that moment there was a shout from out of the forest, and Rob started
round as if thinking it might be their young companion, but the cry was
not repeated; a shrill whistle came instead.
Brazier answered it with a whistle attached to his knife.
"It was only Shaddy," groaned Rob. "Mr Brazier, you don't know," he
continued. "We two had quarrelled, and had not made friends, and now,
poor fellow, he is gone."
"No, I will not believe it yet," cried Brazier; "for aught we know, he
may have escaped. He is too clever and quick a lad not to make a
desperate effort to escape. We shall run up against him yet, so cheer
up. Ahoy!" he cried in answer to a hail, and followed it up with a
whistle.
"Naylor said he should whistle for a time and then hail," said Brazier,
trying to speak cheerfully. "Come, lad, make a brave fight of it. You
are getting faint with hunger, and that makes things look at their
worst, so rouse up. Now then, answer Naylor's signal."
"I can't, not yet," said Rob huskily. "I am trying, Mr Brazier, and I
will master it all soon."
Just then the peculiar cry they had first heard rang out again from a
distance.
"Was that Joe?" whispered Rob, with a ghastly look. "He must be in
peril."
"No, no; it was a jaguar, I think. There goes Naylor again! Whistle!
whistle!"
Rob only gazed at him piteously, and Brazier responded to the signal
himself.
"Come, come, Rob," he whispered, "be a man!"
The lad made a tremendous effort to conquer his weakness, and turned
away from the tree with his lips compressed, his eyes half closed, and
forehead wrinkled.
"That's right," cried Brazier, clapping him on the shoulder. "Who says
our English boys are not full of pluck?"
He whistled again in response to a signal from Shaddy, and then they
listened and answered in turn for quite half an hour, during which the
guide's whistles and cries came from further and further away, but
sounded as if he were at last keeping about the same distance, and
working round so as to come back in another direction.
Then for a time all signals ceased, and they heard the cry of the wild
beast, followed by quite a chorus of shrieks and chatterings, which
ceased as suddenly as they had begun.
"He has gone too far, Mr Brazier," cried Rob suddenly, a complete
change having come over him, for he was once more full of excitement and
energy.
"I hope not."
"But he is not signalling."
"I'll try again."
Brazier raised the little metal whistle to his lips and gave out a
shrill, keen, penetrating note.
Then they listened, but there was no answer.
Brazier's brow wrinkled, and he refrained from looking at Rob as he once
more raised the whistle to his lips, to obtain for answer the
unmistakable cry of some savage, cat-like creature--jaguar or puma, he
could not tell which.
"No guns! no guns!" he muttered; and moving away from Rob, he opened the
long, sharp blade of his spring knife, one intended for hunting
purposes, and thrust it up his sleeve.
Just then Rob whistled as loudly as he could, and they both listened,
when, to their intense relief, there came a reply far to their left.
"Hurrah!" cried the boy excitedly, and then, "Oh, Mr Brazier, what a
relief!"
Brazier drew a long, deep breath.
"Whistle again, boy," he said; but before Rob could obey there was
another distant whistle, and on this being answered the signals went on
from one to the other for quite half an hour, and at last there was a
breaking and crashing noise, and Shaddy came within speaking distance.
"Hear that lion prowling about?" he shouted.
"Yes, several times."
"Ah, I began to feel as if a gun would be handy. He came too close to
be pleasant."
"What have you found--the river?" cried Brazier.
"No, sir, not yet. I went far enough to be sure it ain't that way."
A few minutes later he forced his way to their side, looking hot and
exhausted.
"Why didn't you answer me when I whistled and shouted?" he cried.
"We did, Shaddy, every time we heard you."
"Nay, my lad, didn't seem to me as if you did. S'pose the trees kep' it
off at times. But all right, gentlemen, I shall soon hit it off, and
we'll get to the boat, have a good feed, and go to work again. Don't
look down, Mr Rob, sir! How do we know as Mr Jovanni isn't there
already waiting for us?"
Rob shook his head.
"Ah, you don't know, sir. Seems queer, don't it, to get so lost! but it
ain't the fust time. I've known men go into the forest only a score of
yards or so and be completely gone, every step they took carrying 'em
farther away and making 'em lose their heads till their mates found
'em."
"Stop! Which way are you going now?"
"This way," said Shaddy.
"But that's back--the way we came."
Shaddy laughed, and without another word forced his way again in among
the trees.
"I give up," said Brazier in despair. "It is too confusing for ordinary
brains. I could have taken an oath that he was wrong."
He answered a whistle, and they stood waiting till the crackling and
rustling made by their guide's passage ceased.
"I couldn't have believed that we came so far," said Rob, breaking the
silence.
"I don't think we did come very far, Rob," replied Brazier; "it is only
that the place is so hopelessly puzzling and intricate. Time is getting
on, too. We must not be overtaken by the night."
Rob could hardly repress a shudder, and, to make the dismal look of the
narrow space, darkened by close-clustering trees, more impressive, the
peculiar exaggerated cat-like call of the beast they had heard or
another of its kind rang out hollowly apparently not very far-away.
Almost simultaneously, though, came Shaddy's whistle, and this was
answered and repeated steadily at some little distance, but at last
growing quite faint.
As they were waiting for the next call there was a rustling sound
overhead, which took their attention, but for some time nothing but
moving leaves could be made out in the subdued light, till all at once
Brazier pointed to a spot some fifty feet above them, and at last Rob
caught sight of the object which had taken his companion's attention.
"Looking down and watching us," he said quickly, as he gazed at the
peculiar little dark, old-looking face which was suddenly withdrawn,
thrust out again, and finally disappeared.
"There is quite a party of monkeys up there, Rob," said Brazier; "and
the tree-tops are thoroughly alive with birds, but they are silent
because we are here. Ahoy!" he shouted as Shaddy now hailed from
somewhere nearer, and after a few shouts to and fro they heard him
say,--
"Found it!"
A thrill of joy ran through Rob, but it passed away and he felt
despondent again as they started to rejoin their guide, for the thoughts
of poor Joe were uppermost, and he began thinking of the day when they
should go back and join the schooner to announce the terrible accident
that had befallen the captain's son.
But he had to toil hard to get through the trees, and this work took
away the power of thinking much of anything but the task in hand.
Shaddy, too, had stopped short, waiting for them to come to him, and
they had to squeeze themselves between trees, climb over half-rotten
trunks, and again and again start aside and try another way as they
found themselves disturbing some animal, often enough a serpent.
"'Bliged to stop here, gen'lemen, and mark the direction," rang on their
ears all at once. "You see, one can't travel in a straight line, and I
was afraid of losing my way again."
"How far is the river away?"
"Not quarter of a mile if you could go straight, my lad, but it'll be
half a mile way we have to twist about. But come along. Once we get to
the water's edge, we'll soon make the boat."
He turned, and led on slowly and laboriously, the difficulties
increasing at every step, and more than once Rob was about to break
down. The last time he took hold of a tree to support himself, and was
about to say, "I can go no further," when, looking up, there was Shaddy
pointing down at the water, which had flooded over right in among the
trunks.
Rob dropped upon his knees directly, bent down, placed his lips to the
water, and drank with avidity, Brazier following his example.
The discovery of a guide which must lead them to the spot where they had
left the boat, and the refreshment the river afforded, gave Rob the
strength to follow Shaddy manfully along the margin of the flood over
twice the ground they had traversed in the morning--for their wanderings
had taken them very much further astray than they had believed--and the
result was that just at sundown, after being startled several times by
the cries of the jaguar or puma close on their left apparently, Shaddy
suddenly gave a hoarse cheer, for he had emerged upon the clearing at
whose edge the boat was moored.