"Here roams the wolf, the eagle whets his beak.
Birds, beasts of prey, and wilder men appear."
Byron.
My friend Ben paused for a moment.
A sheet of lightning almost blinded us. It was followed instantaneously
by one of the most terrific peals of thunder I have ever heard in this
country.
"It was in just such a storm as this," said Captain Roberts, "that we
took shelter in the ruins of an old fort. We tethered our mules
outside, and we had not even the heart to keep the Indians from sharing
our quarters. For once, and it was the last time, we ate with them,
drank with them, and talked to them. How little we suspected them of
treachery!
"We found plenty of dry wood in the old fort and soon had a roaring fire
with which to warm up our soup and cook our vegetables.
"`Who goes sentry to-night?' I said to the mate.
"`Well,' replied the mate, `I guess we'd better draw for it. He'll have
a wet skin whoever does it.'
"It was just after dinner when this conversation took place.
"`But,' continued the mate, stretching himself before the fire, `I
expect it will be between you and me, for, look, the other fellows have
all gone to sleep, and I feel so drowsy I really--don't--know--how
long--'
"He said no more; he was asleep.
"`Poor fellows,' I said to myself, as I took up my gun and prepared to
leave the room, `they're tired. I'll station myself here by the door,
where I can be in the dry and still see all that is going on.'
"The storm continued with unabated violence. The rain came down in
sheets; the thunder seemed to rend the old fort and shake it to its very
foundation, while the lightning was everywhere; the whole world looked
as if on fire. Night was coming on, and rude though our shelter was, I
felt thankful we were not out in the gloom of the forest.
"`How soundly they sleep!' I said to myself about half an hour after
when I went to heap more wood on the five. `How I envy them! I'll sit
a moment and think. The Indians are not so bad as they look. First
impressions are not always--the--best.'
"The next thing I was conscious of was hearing voices close beside me.
It was the Indians bending over me and over my companions, and seeming
to listen for our breathing.
"`They're dead,' one said.
"`Better make sure,' said another.
"Then with half-open eyes I could see drawn daggers gleaming in the
fire-light; but I was unable to stir hand or foot; I felt like one in
some dreadful nightmare. I tried to shriek, but my voice failed me.
Then, `O God, be merciful to us!' I inwardly prayed, `for our hour is
come.'
"Two Indians advanced, knives in hand, towards the mate. One pulled his
head back, the other had his arm uplifted to strike, when suddenly he
sprang back appalled.
"Was it sent as in answer to my prayer? I know not; yet I firmly
believe nothing happens by chance. The electric fluid had entered by
the roof, shattering the masonry and scattering the fire. It gleamed on
the uplifted knife of the would-be assassin; he dropped it, and with arm
paralysed and hanging by his side fled shrieking from the building. The
others uttered exclamations of terror and surprise, and quickly followed
the first.
"I remember no more then. Daylight was shimmering in through the broken
roof of the building, and the fire had long gone out, when I awoke
shivering, and started to my feet.
"Almost at the same moment the mate jumped up. He was the first to
speak.
"`We have been drugged,' he cried, pressing his hand to his aching head.
"`Drugged?' I answered. `Yes, fools that we were to trust those
scoundrels; we've been drugged, and, doubtless, robbed.'
"The mate looked very pale and ghastly in the early light of the
morning; probably I myself looked little better. My surmise was right:
the Indians had gone. They had taken all our goods and our pack-mules
with them, and driven away the spare animals. Thank goodness, they had
left us our arms and ammunition.
"Not even on the morning after the shipwreck did we poor fellows feel so
miserable as we did now, seated round a meagre meal of bananas and
gourds.
"But we were intent on regaining our goods.
"Clever though these Indians might be if alone and unencumbered, they
could hardly go fast, nor far at a time, through forest and jungle with
horses and laden mules. Nor could they go anywhere without leaving a
trail that even a white man could pick up and follow.
"The rain of the previous night favoured us. We soon found the trail,
and, better still, we had not gone very far ere a sound fell upon our
ears that caused us to pause and listen. It was soon repeated--the
neighing of a horse. I sprang into the jungle, and there, to my joy,
found not only the horse I had ridden, but two others and some mules
besides. The poor brutes were quietly browsing on the herbage and the
tender leaves of young palm-trees, but were evidently delighted to see
us.
"We went on now with more comfort, and had good hope of speedily coming
up with the pillaging Indians, of whom we never doubted we could give a
good account.
"Somewhat to our surprise we found they were taking a westerly
direction, instead of going east and by north, as they had been leading
us. They were either then bent upon returning to their own village, or
making their way to some seaport where they could sell their plunder.
If this latter surmise was the correct one, we were comparatively safe;
if the former, any chance we had of recapturing our goods lay in our
being able to come up with them before they were reinforced by members
of their own tribe. This thought made us redouble our exertions. But
we were weak for want of food and from the effects of the drug that had
been administered to us on the previous evening, so that our progress
was not so great as we wished it to be.
"The trail continued all day to lead us through the jungle; but before
sunset we found ourselves out in the open, on the brow of a hill that
overlooked a vast, almost treeless, swamp. It was bounded on the
further horizon by a chain of mountains--spurs, no doubt, of the
ubiquitous Andes. Away to the left, and just under the hills, we could
see smoke rising, and had no doubt that here our friends were encamped.
"We speedily held a council of war, at which we discussed the best plan
for attacking the Indians.
"We stirred not then till long past nine o'clock, when the moon rose and
flooded all the landscape. Then we took to the swamp. It was a
terrible ride: at times our horses floundered in the quagmires, at other
times they had to swim, to our imminent danger of being devoured by the
huge alligators with which the place seemed to swarm. We startled the
birds from their beds in the reeds, the wild beasts from their lairs in
the patches of jungle, and herds of fleet-footed creatures fled,
bounding away towards the forest at sight of us. It was a dangerous
ride. But we cared for nothing now; it was life or death with us. We
must reach the camp of the Indians, conquer them, or die in the attempt.
"All night we rode, struggling and fighting against fearful odds; but at
five o'clock in the morning, or about one hour before sunrise, we left
the plain and entered the forest, determined to take our foes by
surprise. The ride through the tangled forest, without any pathway save
that made by the beasts, was one of extreme difficulty. But we were
free at last; and tethering our horses, we prepared for the attack. We
could see the Indians on a small plateau not three hundred yards beneath
us, asleep by their smouldering fires. But we were on the brow of a
hill, they much nearer the plain; beneath was a precipice, overhung with
trailing shrubs and creepers, fully five hundred feet in depth, which it
was impossible to descend without risk of being seen.
"The place the Indians had chosen for a camping-ground was fortified by
nature. Probably that is the reason they had not troubled to set a
sentry. We saw our advantage at once; it was to make a detour, gain the
level of the plain, then creep up the hill upon them, attacking both in
flank and rear.
"We carried out our plans most successfully. Few but sailors could have
climbed up the rocks which led to the plateau. So steep were they that
in some places the loosening of a stone or one false step might mean
death.
"Just as we were at the very brink of this precipice, and within twenty
yards of where the enemy lay, a bough snapped with a loud report, and
next moment they were all up and on the alert.
"There was no need for further concealment; we speedily showed
ourselves, poured a volley into their bewildered ranks, and before they
could recover from their surprise we were on them with our muskets,
which we used as clubs.
"They were nearly three to one. They fought like fiends. So did we,
and the battle for a time was desperate. They were beaten at last, and
the few who remained alive ran shrieking away towards the rocks. We
cared but little how they fared.
"Our mate and another man were wounded, but not severely, and in two
days' time we were able to resume our journey.
"Providence was kind to us. We came upon a broad old war-road that led
through the forest and jungles and plains towards the setting sun, and
in one week more we were overjoyed to find ourselves standing on a
hill-side overlooking a verdant plain, with a river and a town, and
beyond it the blue sea itself, studded with the ships of many nations.
"And those who climb the hills in Greenland in spring-time to catch the
first rays of the returning sun, were not more joyful than we were now.
We laughed and shouted, and I believe the tears rolled down over our
cheeks.
"But we did not forget to kneel down there, and, with our faces on the
ground, thank in silence the kind Father who had led us through so many
troubles and dangers. And now, Nie, the storm is gone. We must thank
these good people for their kind hospitality, and start."