IN THE WILDS
"All aboard! Step lively now! This boat makes no stops this side of
Boston!" cried Ned Newton gaily, as he got into one of the several tree
canoes provided for the transportation of the party up the Chamelecon
river, for the first stage of their journey into the wilds of Honduras.
"All aboard! This reminds me of my old camping days, Tom."
It brought those days back, in a measure, to Tom also. For there were
a number of canoes filled with the goods of the party, while the
members themselves occupied a larger one with their personal baggage.
Strong, half-naked Indian paddlers were in charge of the canoes which
were of sturdy construction and light draft, since the river, like most
tropical streams, was of uncertain depths, choked here and there with
sand bars or tropical growths.
Finding that Val Jacinto was regularly engaged in the business of
taking explorers and mine prospectors into the interior, Professor
Bumper had engaged the man. He seemed to be efficient. At the
promised time he had the canoes and paddlers on hand and the goods
safely stowed away while one big craft was fitted up as comfortably as
possible for the men of the party.
As Ned remarked, it did look like a camping party, for in the canoes
were tents, cooking utensils and, most important, mosquito canopies of
heavy netting.
The insect pests of Honduras, as in all tropical countries, are
annoying and dangerous. Therefore it was imperative to sleep under
mosquito netting.
On the advice of Val Jacinto, who was to accompany them, the travelers
were to go up the river about fifty miles. This was as far as it would
be convenient to use the canoes, the guide told Tom and his friends,
and from there on the trip to the Copan valley would be made on the
backs of mules, which would carry most of the baggage and equipment.
The heavier portions would be transported in ox-carts.
As Professor Bumper expected to do considerable excavating in order to
locate the buried city, or cities, as the case might be, he had to
contract for a number of Indian diggers and laborers. These could be
hired in Copan, it was said.
The plan, therefore, was to travel by canoes during the less heated
parts of the day, and tie up at night, making camp on shore in the
net-protected tents. As for the Indians, they did not seem to mind the
bites of the insects. They sometimes made a smudge fire, Val Jacinto
had said, but that was all.
"Well, we haven't seen anything of Beecher and his friends," remarked
the young inventor as they were about to start.
"No, he doesn't seem to have arrived," agreed Professor Bumper. "We'll
get ahead of him, and so much the better.
"Well, are we all ready to start?" he continued, as he looked over the
little flotilla which carried his party and his goods.
"The sooner the better!" cried Tom, and Ned fancied his chum was
unusually eager.
"I guess he wants to make good before Beecher gets the chance to show
Mary Nestor what he can do," thought Ned. "Tom sure is after that idol
of gold."
"You may start, Senor Jacinto," said the professor, and the guide
called something in Indian dialect to the rowers. Lines were cast off
and the boats moved out into the stream under the influence of the
sturdy paddlers.
"Well, this isn't so bad," observed Ned, as he made himself comfortable
in his canoe. "How about it, Tom?"
"Oh, no. But this is only the beginning."
A canopy had been arranged over their boat to keep off the scorching
rays of the sun. The boat containing the exploring party and Val
Jacinto took the lead, the baggage craft following. At the place where
it flowed into the bay on which Puerto Cortes was built, the stream was
wide and deep.
The guide called something to the Indians, who increased their stroke.
"I tell them to pull hard and that at the end of the day's journey they
will have much rest and refreshment," he translated to Professor Bumper
and the others.
"Bless my ham sandwich, but they'll need plenty of some sort of
refreshment," said Mr. Damon, with a sigh. "I never knew it to be so
hot."
"Don't complain yet," advised Tom, with a laugh. "The worst is yet to
come."
It really was not unpleasant traveling, aside from the heat. And they
had expected that, coming as they had to a tropical land. But, as Tom
said, what lay before them might be worse.
In a little while they had left behind them all signs of civilization.
The river narrowed and flowed sluggishly between the banks which were
luxuriant with tropical growth. Now and then some lonely Indian hut
could be seen, and occasionally a craft propelled by a man who was
trying to gain a meager living from the rubber forest which hemmed in
the stream on either side.
As the canoe containing the men was paddled along, there floated down
beside it what seemed to be a big, rough log.
"I wonder if that is mahogany," remarked Mr. Damon, reaching over to
touch it. "Mahogany is one of the most valuable woods of Honduras, and
if this is a log of that nature----
"Bless my watch chain!" he suddenly cried. "It's alive!"
And the "log" was indeed so, for there was a sudden flash of white
teeth, a long red opening showed, and then came a click as an immense
alligator, having opened and closed his mouth, sank out of sight in a
swirl of water.
Mr. Damon drew back so suddenly that he tilted the canoe, and the black
paddlers looked around wonderingly.
"Alligator," explained Jacinto succinctly, in their tongue.
"Ugh!" they grunted.
"Bless my--bless my----" hesitated Mr. Damon, and for one of the very
few times in his life his language failed him.
"Are there many of them hereabouts?" asked Ned, looking back at the
swirl left by the saurian.
"Plenty," said the guide, with a shrug of his shoulders. He seemed to
do as much talking that way, and with his hands, as he did in speech.
"The river is full of them."
"Dangerous?" queried Tom.
"Don't go in swimming," was the significant advice. "Wait, I'll show
you," and he called up the canoe just behind.
In this canoe was a quantity of provisions. There was a chunk of meat
among other things, a gristly piece, seeing which Mr. Damon had
objected to its being brought along, but the guide had said it would do
for fish bait. With a quick motion of his hand, as he sat in the
awning-covered stern with Tom, Ned and the others, Jacinto sent the
chunk of meat out into the muddy stream.
Hardly a second later there was a rushing in the water as though a
submarine were about to come up. An ugly snout was raised, two rows of
keen teeth snapped shut as a scissors-like jaw opened, and the meat was
gone.
"See!" was the guide's remark, and something like a cold shiver of fear
passed over the white members of the party. "This water is not made in
which to swim. Be careful!"
"We certainly shall," agreed Tom. "They're fierce."
"And always hungry," observed Jacinto grimly.
"And to think that I--that I nearly had my hand on it," murmured Mr.
Damon. "Ugh! Bless my eyeglasses!"
"The alligator nearly had your hand," said the guide. "They can turn
in the water like a flash, wherefore it is not wise to pat one on the
tail lest it present its mouth instead."
They paddled on up the river, the dusky Indians now and then breaking
out into a chant that seemed to give their muscles new energy. The
song, if song it was, passed from one boat to the other, and as the
chant boomed forth the craft shot ahead more swiftly.
They made a landing about noon, and lunch was served. Tom and his
friends were hungry in spite of the heat. Moreover, they were
experienced travelers and had learned not to fret over inconveniences
and discomforts. The Indians ate by themselves, two acting as servants
to Jacinto and the professor's party.
As is usual in traveling in the tropics, a halt was made during the
heated middle of the day. Then, as the afternoon shadows were waning,
the party again took to the canoes and paddled on up the river.
"Do you know of a good place to stop during the night?" asked Professor
Bumper of Jacinto.
"Oh, yes; a most excellent place. It is where I always bring
scientific parties I am guiding. You may rely on me."
It was within an hour of dusk--none too much time to allow in which to
pitch camp in the tropics, where night follows day suddenly--when a
halt was called, as a turn of the river showed a little clearing on the
edge of the forest-bound river.
"We stay here for the night," said Jacinto. "It is a good place."
"It looks picturesque enough," observed Mr. Damon. "But it is rather
wild."
"We are a good distance from a settlement," agreed the guide. "But one
can not explore--and find treasure in cities," and he shrugged his
shoulders again.
"Find treasure? What do you mean?" asked Tom quickly. "Do you think
that we----?"
"Pardon, Senor," replied Jacinto softly. "I meant no offense. I think
that all you scientific parties will take treasure if you can find it."
"We are looking for traces of the old Honduras civilization," put in
Professor Bumper.
"And doubtless you will find it," was the somewhat too courteous answer
of the guide. "Make camp quickly!" he called to the Indians in their
tongue. "You must soon get under the nets or you will be eaten alive!"
he told Tom. "There are many mosquitoes here."
The tents were set up, smudge fires built and supper quickly prepared.
Dusk fell rapidly, and as Tom and Ned walked a little way down toward
the river before turning in under the mosquito canopies, the young
financial man said:
"Sort of lonesome and gloomy, isn't it, Tom?"
"Yes. But you didn't expect to find a moving picture show in the wilds
of Honduras, did you?"
"No, and yet-- Look out! What's that?" suddenly cried Ned, as a great
soft, black shadow seemed to sweep out of a clump of trees toward him.
Involuntarily he clutched Tom's arm and pointed, his face showing fear
in the fast-gathering darkness.