COUNCIL FIRES IN TWO PLACES.
The rising sun flashed spears of light on a rocky spur that stretched
out from the foot of the mighty Andes. A tall, straight figure stood
silhouetted against a background of sun-bathed cliff. Higher above him
the great masses of land rolled back, league after league, and
stretched upwards foot after foot to the eternal snows and the eternal
heavens. Below him a belt of dark forest swept round the foothills of
the giant range, and through a gap in the mass of trees a noisy, turbid
stream went tumbling down to the sweltering plains and a feeder of the
Orinoco.
The man stood motionless as his rocky pedestal, and intently watching
something beyond the line of trees. Presently he turned sharply about,
came down from the crag, pushed his way through the trees, and stood in
a little pool-filled hollow. Almost immediately he was joined by about
twoscore men, all armed with spear and bow and arrow, and, like
himself, brown-skinned and stalwart. The newcomers bowed themselves to
the ground and murmured some words of homage and adulation. The
standing savage drew in a deep breath, expanding his broad chest, and
his eyes flashed with pride and power.
"Arise, my sons," he said; "the gods that make men and unmake them
shall reward you. Ye have been faithful to him whom the gods have set
over you. To the brave shall be the spoils; my sons shall lade
themselves with all their hearts may desire. Now tell me what you have
done."
A tall warrior stood forth. "We have followed our father since the
white strangers seized him. We have watched him and them, and waited
for this happy moment."
"Aught else?"
"We have spoken with the peoples who dwell in the woods and the hills,
and turned their minds against the men from the land of the sun-rising.
They will fight them if any man can discover a charm that will protect
them from the thunder and lightning that springs from the strangers'
hands."
The chieftain laughed. "I will find them a charm," he cried. "I have
walked all night," he added suddenly; "I will sleep. Watch ye."
The chieftain slept. One man went to the cliff as sentinel; the rest
squatted around the pool, looked to their weapons, and talked in
whispers. The sun climbed upwards, the shadows shortened, the water of
the pool grew warm, the sentinel ensconced himself in a shaded cleft of
the rock that overlooked the valley, and maintained the unwinking watch
of the stoic savage.
The chieftain awoke, a giant refreshed. A warrior brought him water in
a gourd; another handed him some fruits from a wallet. A call blown on
a hollow reed brought the watcher down from his eyrie. Led by the tall
warrior who had addressed his chief, the band went off deeper and
higher into the hills. They toiled along through a defile all the
afternoon, and when the sun was dipping behind the western peaks came
into a broad, cup-like valley, that was dotted with the rude stone huts
of a mountain tribe. The tall warrior went forward alone, but
presently came back and piloted the band through the straggling groups
of huts to the spot where the tribal fire was licking up a fresh supply
of fuel. A group of warriors seated by the fire gave the newcomers a
guttural greeting, and motioned them to seats on the other side of the
blazing heap. Silence was maintained until roasted meat, corn cakes,
and fermented liquor were handed round to both parties; then all
gathered on the windward side, and the palaver commenced.
The visiting chief held forth at great length. He gave a reasonably
good summary of the history of the white man along the Orinoco valley
from the first advent of the Spaniards. He spoke of their cruelties,
their lust for the yellow dust, and their belief in a golden city on
the shores of a lake that fed the head waters of the river. He
described the attack on his village, and his own subsequent captivity
and semi-slavery. He belittled the strength of his captors, and was
inclined to scoff at their thunder-and-lightning tubes. He confessed
that the flame and roar of these formidable weapons were terrifying at
first; but he had witnessed their action at close quarters, and
familiarity had bred a sort of contempt. The lightning would not
always leap forth when wanted, nor did the thunder always slay. He was
inclined to put as much faith in a well-directed arrow. The latter
might be discharged unseen; not so the fire-weapons of the white
strangers. The fire-god must be brought to their nostrils, and breathe
into them before the fire within would answer; and if a man lay on the
ground when he saw the fire he was safe from death. Finally, he urged
with savage passion that the intruders should be killed or expelled
from the land. He spoke of them as wearied and dispirited, sick with
fatigue and the sun-fever, and boldly asserted that they were an easy
prey. The tall warrior arose after his chief, emphasizing all that his
lord had said.
The chiefs of the tribe did not reply at once, but held a brief
consultation apart. They were not inclined to accept the white men at
their visitor's valuation, nor were they prepared to take up arms
against such wonderful beings without very serious cause. From the
chief's own showing they had treated him in a brotherly spirit at
first. Other native tribes had, apparently, fraternized with the
strangers, and had got considerable advantage thereby. As regards the
city of gold, the chiefs had never heard of the place themselves,
although they had occasional dealings with peoples who dwelt near the
head waters of the great river. But the white strangers were wise, and
knew things that the gods had not told to other men. Maybe the city
really existed. If the white men wanted to get there, why should any
man hinder them? And it was all very well for their visitor to pretend
that he had no fear of the thunder weapons. Why had all his people
fled at the sound of them?
The chieftain tried to explain, and again urged his points with a
number of fresh arguments. But the council was against him; they
refused to run their heads into unknown and fearful dangers by opposing
a wonderful race that showed no disposition to interfere with them.
And so the council ended.
From the cliff that guarded the outlet from the small valley into the
gorge a keen-eyed native, gazing intently eastwards towards the greater
valley, might have made out a point of yellow light about three leagues
away in a bee-line. The light was on the bank of the affluent of the
Orinoco, and came from the camp fire of the adventurers. There also a
council was being held, and the question for decision was the momentous
one whether the quest for the golden city should be abandoned as
hopeless. According to the Spanish papers and general rumour the
expedition should now be in touch with superior, light-coloured races,
and a civilization rivalling that of the ancient empires of Assyria or
Babylon for wealth and luxury. The way to Manoa should be as plain and
well-known as the way to Rome or Venice. Yet all around were frowning
mountains and dense forests, the homes of fierce birds and beasts, and
the haunts of savage, warlike tribes. A thousand miles nearer the
ocean the natives talked glibly and circumstantially enough about the
"Gilded One" and his wonderful city. Here, where the gates of his
kingdom should be, no man had heard either of king or country. Months
of hardship and privation, the facing of death a hundred times in
almost as many forms, had brought the intrepid band to--nothing!
On this particular occasion every man was admitted to the council, and
the words of the common soldier and sailor were listened to as
attentively as the words of any of the gentlemen. An onlooker would
have been sorely puzzled to decide from outward appearance which of the
battered, travel-worn band was its leader. The fire lighted up a ring
of gaunt, brown, bearded faces, and the pairs of eyes that centred on
each speaker's face in turn had little of hope or animation in them.
The conference began after the evening meal, and extended far into the
night. All seemed to realize the hopelessness of pursuing the quest
any farther, yet none cared to face the ordeal of turning the boats
seaward again. They compromised the matter. A last attempt should be
made to acquire guides and information. If the attempt failed, the
search would be abandoned.