THE SAD AND MOMENTOUS ERA REFERRED TO AT THE CLOSE OF THE CHAPTER
PRECEDING THE LAST
One sultry evening, many weeks after our travellers had passed the
uncomfortable night on the floating island in the Gapo, they came to a
place where the banks of the river rose boldly up in rugged rocks and
hemmed in the waters of the Amazon, which were by this time somewhat
abated. Here they put ashore, intending to kindle their fire and encamp
for the night, having been up and hard at work since daybreak.
The evening was calm and beautiful, and the troublesome insects not so
numerous as usual,--probably owing to the nature of the ground. One or
two monkeys showed themselves for a moment, as if to enquire who was
there, and then ran away screaming; a porcupine also crossed their
path, and several small bright snakes, of a harmless species, glided
over the rocks, and sought refuge among the small bushes; but beyond
these there were few of the sights and sounds that were wont to greet
them in the forest.
"I think things look well to-night," remarked Martin as he threw down a
bundle of sticks which he had gathered for the fire; "we shall have a
comfortable snooze for certain, if the mosquitoes don't wake up."
"I'm not so sure of that," replied Barney, striking a light with flint
and steel and stooping to puff the smouldering spark into a flame. "I've
larned by exparience that ye niver can be--puff--sure o' nothin' in
this--puff--remarkable country. Jist look at Darkey now," continued the
Irishman, sitting down on a stone before the fire, which now began to
kindle up, and stuffing the tobacco into his pipe with his little finger.
"There he is, a livin' Naygur, aliftin' of the provision-bag out o' the
canoe. Well, if he was all of a suddent to turn into Marmoset an' swaller
himself, an' then jump down the throat of Grampus, and the whole consarn,
canoe and all, to disappear, I don't think that I would be much
surprised."
"Would you not, Barney? I suspect that I should be, a little, under the
circumstances; perhaps the old Nigger would be more so."
"Niver a taste," continued Barney. "Ye see, if that was to happen, I
would then know that it was all a drame. I've more than wance expected to
wake up since I comed into furrin parts; the only thing that kapes me in
doubt about it is the baccy."
"How so, Barney?"
"Why, bekase it tastes so rael, good luck to it! that I can't git myself
to think it's only a drame. Jist look, now," he continued, in the same
tone of voice; "if it wasn't a drame, how could I see sich a thing as
that standin' on the rock over there?"
Martin glanced towards the spot pointed out by his friend, and
immediately started up with surprise.
"Hallo! Barney, that's no dream, I'll vouch for it. He's an Indian, and a
very ugly one too, I declare. I say, old fellow, do you know what sort of
savage that is?"
"Not know," answered the trader, glancing uneasily at the stranger.
"He might have the dacency to put on more close, anyhow," muttered
Barney, as he gazed inquiringly at the savage.
The being who had thus appeared so suddenly before the travellers
belonged to one of the numerous tribes of Indians inhabiting the country
near the head-waters of some of the chief tributaries of the Amazon. He
was almost entirely naked, having merely a scanty covering on his loins;
and carried a small quiver full of arrows at his back, and what appeared
to be a long spear in his hand. His figure was strongly but not well
formed; and his face, which was of a dark copper hue, was disfigured in a
most remarkable manner. A mass of coarse black hair formed the only
covering to his head. His cheeks were painted with curious marks of jet
black. But the most remarkable points about him were the huge pieces of
wood which formed ornaments in his ears and under lip. They were round
and flat like the wooden wheel of a toy-cart, about half an inch thick,
and larger than an old-fashioned watch. These were fitted into enormous
slits made in the ears and under lip, and the latter projected more than
two inches from his mouth! Indeed, the cut that had been made to receive
this ornament was so large that the lip had been almost cut off
altogether, and merely hung by each corner of his mouth! The aspect of
the man was very hideous, and it was by no means improved when, having
recovered from his surprise at unexpectedly encountering strangers, he
opened his mouth to the full extent and uttered a savage yell.
The cry was answered immediately. In a few minutes a troop of upwards of
thirty savages sprang from the woods, and, ascending the rock on which
their comrade stood, gazed down on the travellers in surprise, and, by
their movements, seemed to be making hasty preparations for an attack.
By this time Barney had recovered his self-possession, and became
thoroughly convinced of the reality of the apparition before him. Drawing
his pistol hastily from his belt, he caught up a handful of gravel,
wherewith he loaded it to the muzzle, ramming down the charge with a bit
of mandioca-cake in lieu of a wad; then drawing his cutlass he handed it
to Martin, exclaiming, "Come, lad, we're in for it now. Take you the
cutlass and Til try their skulls with the butt o' my pistol: it has done
good work before now in that way. If there's no more o' the blackguards
in the background we'll bate them aisy."
Martin instinctively grasped the cutlass, and there is no doubt that,
under the impulse of that remarkable quality, British valour, which
utterly despises odds, they would have hurled themselves recklessly upon
the savages, when the horrified old trader threw himself on Barney's neck
and implored him not to fight; for if he did they would all be killed,
and if he only kept quiet the savages would perhaps do them no harm. At
the same moment about fifty additional Indians arrived upon the scene of
action. This, and the old man's earnest entreaties, induced them to
hesitate for an instant, and, before they could determine what to do,
they were surprised by some of the savages, who rushed upon them from
behind and took them prisoners. Barney struggled long and fiercely, but
he was at length overpowered by numbers. The pistol, which missed fire,
was wrenched from his grasp, and his hands were speedily bound behind his
back. Martin was likewise disarmed and secured; not, however, before he
made a desperate slash at one of the savages, which narrowly missed his
skull, and cut away his lip ornament.
As for the old trader, he made no resistance at all, but submitted
quietly to his fate. The savages did not seem to think it worth their
while to bind him. Grampus bounced and barked round the party savagely,
but did not attack; and Marmoset slept in the canoe in blissful ignorance
of the whole transaction.
The hands of the two prisoners being firmly bound, they were allowed to
do as they pleased; so they sat down on a rock in gloomy silence, and
watched the naked savages as they rifled the canoe and danced joyfully
round the treasures which their active knives and fingers soon exposed to
view. The old trader took things philosophically. Knowing that it was
absolutely impossible to escape, he sat quietly down on a stone, rested
his chin on his hands, heaved one or two deep sighs, and thereafter
seemed to be nothing more than an ebony statue.
The ransacking of the canoe and appropriating of its contents occupied
the savages but a short time, after which they packed everything up in
small bundles, which they strapped upon their backs. Then, making signs
to their prisoners to rise, they all marched away into the forest. Just
as they were departing, Marmoset, observing that she was about to be left
behind, uttered a frantic cry, which brought Grampus gambolling to her
side. With an active bound the monkey mounted its charger, and away they
went into the forest in the track of the band of savages.
During the first part of their march Martin and Barney were permitted to
walk beside each other, and they conversed in low, anxious tones.
"Surely," said Barney, as they marched along surrounded by Indians,
"thim long poles the savages have got are not spears; I don't see no
point to them."
"And what's more remarkable," added Martin, "is that they all carry
quivers full of arrows, but none of them have bows."
"There's a raison for iverything," said Barney, pointing to one of the
Indians in advance; "that fellow explains the mystery."
As he spoke, the savage referred to lowered the pole, which seemed to be
about thirteen feet long, and pushing an arrow into a hole in the end of
it, applied it to his mouth. In another moment the arrow flew through the
air and grazed a bird that was sitting on a branch hard by.
"Tis a blow-pipe, and no mistake!" cried Barney.
"And a poisoned arrow, I'm quite sure," added Martin; "for it only
ruffled the bird's feathers, and see, it has fallen to the ground."
"Och, then, but we'd have stood a bad chance in a fight, if thim's the
wipons they use. Och, the dirty spalpeens! Martin, dear, we're done for.
There's no chance for us at all."
This impression seemed to take such deep hold of Barney's mind, that his
usually reckless and half jesting disposition was completely subdued, and
he walked along in gloomy silence, while a feeling of deep dejection
filled the heart of his young companion.
The blow-pipe which these Indians use is an ingeniously contrived weapon.
It is made from a species of palm-tree. When an Indian wants one, he goes
into the woods and selects a tree with a long slender stem of less than
an inch in diameter; he extracts the pith out of this, and then cuts
another stem, so much larger than the first that he can push the small
tube into the bore of the large one,--thus the slight bend in one is
counteracted by the other, and a perfectly straight pipe is formed. The
mouthpiece is afterwards neatly finished off. The arrows used are very
short, having a little ball of cotton at the end to fill the tube of the
blow-pipe. The points are dipped in a peculiar poison, which has the
effect of producing death when introduced into the blood by a mere
scratch of the skin. The Indians can send these arrows an immense
distance, and with unerring aim, as Martin and Barney had many an
opportunity of witnessing during their long and weary journey on foot to
the forest-home of the savages.