OF OUR FURTHER ESCAPES, AND A STRATAGEM BY WHICH OUR ENEMIES WERE PUT TO
GREAT DISCOMFORT.
Hearing these words, Lady Biddy did rouse herself up as from a dream,
and seeing me kneeling by her side with bent head, and the negro lying
at a distance quite still she gave a little scream of surprise, and
then, clasping my folded hands in hers, fell to weeping and laughing out
of all measure; but I knew not which was the more piteous to hear.
"You have saved me again. You good Benet--again saved!" cried she.
"Ay, Lady Biddy," says I. "Yet I am but the happy instrument of a Divine
Grace; and you should think, not of me, but of Him whose servant I am."
These serious words had the effect I wished, for at once she grew
calmer, and, ceasing to smile, did with all her heart pour out grateful
thanks to Heaven. And never did holy man more devoutly join in heartfelt
praise than I who was, as I may say, a sinner.
From this sweet communion we were aroused in a sudden and terrible
manner. The thunder of a cannon smote our ears, and at the same moment a
great splinter was torn out of the side of the tree, against which we
knelt, by a ball. Yet we were not harmed thereby so much as a hair of
our heads.
As we started to our feet we heard a great shout from the sea, and
casting our eyes that way we perceived a couple of boats making for the
shore as hard as ever the fellows within them could pull, so that we
could not doubt but that Rodrigues had spied us from the ship, and sent
his company in our pursuit.
"Now, Lady Biddy," says I, "if you have strength we must run for it."
"Ay," says she with alacrity, and no sign of her late weakness. "Whither
you will, Benet."
With that she puts her little soft hand in mine, and so, like two
children, we started to run along the sands. And well it was we were so
prompt, for ere we had got a dozen yards another gun was fired from the
ship, and this time charged with slug shot that scattered prodigiously,
but, thanks be to God, did us no hurt in the world; at which I laughed
aloud, and Lady Biddy joined her pretty mirth as gay as any peal of
bells, so elated was she with our happy release.
Yet were we laughing ere we were out of the wood, or rather, as I may
say, ere we were in it, for there lay our only chance of safety from
those villains who were now nearing the shore. But how to penetrate the
thicket of brambles, lianas, ground-pines, agaves, and other prickly
shrubs that did hedge the land beyond the sea-sands, where the ground
rose towards the woods, I knew not; for though I should not have
hesitated to plunge into this growth being by myself, albeit the flesh
of my legs would have paid dearly, yet could I attempt no such thing
with Lady Biddy, whose skirts had been torn from her body and her tender
limbs lacerated cruelly at the very outset, and she eventually been held
a prisoner in the bonds of those thorny vines. So still we kept to the
coast, running on as swiftly as the shifting sand would allow, all the
time hand in hand, and with a good heart, until another shout behind us
made my heart sink and banished the smile from my lady's cheek; for now
we knew that one of the boats had reached the shore.
"A little further, Lady Biddy--a little further," says I cheerfully.
"Yes, Benet," says she, hopefully still, yet with difficulty from the
shortness of her breathing. "I can run a good way yet."
Now glancing aside I saw a hillside where the trees were of a prodigious
height, and so close together that their branches mingled in one
wide-spreading solid canopy, and loth I was to pass them by, for I knew
by my experiences on the Oronoque that beneath these trees nothing grew
but toadstools and such growth for the want of light, and there might we
have run with ease as far as that sort of trees extended, but the
thicket on the hither side was impassable, so there was no help for it
but to run on.
Presently I saw Lady Biddy bend her head, biting her nether lip with her
teeth, as if to control some pain, and this, together with hearing the
report of a musket in our rear, showing that our pursuers were getting
within gunshot of us, did work me up with desperation, so that I was
minded to catch my companion in my arms, and essay whether I might not
that way struggle through the thorny barrier. And this course I resolved
to take if in fifty paces no less desperate measure was to be found.
Fifty paces were covered, and yet there was no sign of any opening in
that rank growth; then I added another ten; and after that, ten more;
when, casting my eye again upon Lady Biddy, I saw in her despairing eyes
that she could go no further.
I stopped, and, leaning upon my shoulder for support, she gasps--
"One moment, Benet. I shall be better in a moment."
I looked back (yet in a manner not to affright the poor girl), and saw
the seamen doggedly running on, but no nearer, Heaven be thanked, which
surprised me, although each man was encumbered with his musket and other
arms. But seeing us at a stand they set up a shout, and began to mend
their pace.
"Now," said Lady Biddy, and again we started forward.
Hardly had we made half a dozen yards when I stopped her with a cry of
joy, for there, lying flush with the outlying growth of what I term the
thicket, was a great mass of dry, brown, broad leaves, which I knew for
the head of a cabbage-tree, which, though it promised nothing to an
inexperienced eye, did to mine betoken a means of crossing the thicket
by its stem, which is never less than 150 feet long in one falling to
decay, and is more often 250 feet. And happily this tree in falling
athwart the thicket had struck upon a rock, so that it was lifted well
up above the more tangled growth.
Now I knew that if we could once get upon the stem of that tree we might
have a convenient bridge for getting to a place where the ground was
freer; and as there was no time to consider whether the thing was
possible or not, I hurried Lady Biddy thither, and bidding her grip me
tightly by the shoulders, I did set myself with all the strength and
agility I possessed (which was doubled by the desperate occasion), to
drag myself up by the hanging leaves to the crown of it; and thanks to
the fibers of these leaves being of a prodigious toughness, as well as
to the help of Providence, I succeeded so well that in a twinkle we
stood side by side upon the trunk of this fallen tree.
Here were we well concealed from sight, but not so secure neither as was
to my taste; so, begging Lady Biddy stay there till my return, I ran
nimbly down the length of the palmetto, and then along the inner side of
the thicket beneath the trees, where the growth was of moderate
proportion, back in the direction we had come, till guessing I was about
come level with our pursuers, I set up a great mocking laugh of derision
to be heard of them. Upon which, to my great satisfaction, I heard one
of the seamen shout to his fellows, who were in advance, to come back,
for they had passed the game.
"Ay," shouts I, "and you'll have to look sharp to catch us at that."
The fellows replied by firing a volley into the thicket where they
deemed I might be, but they might as usefully have fired into the sand
for all the damage their bullets could do to me through that huge mass
of shrubs and plants, whereof the best part are as tough as leather.
I gave them another laugh, but still a little further back from the part
where I had left Lady Biddy, to make them conclude we were flying
thence, and this enraging them beyond measure, they straightway plunged
into the thicket, fancying that we had passed through, and that they
might do the same. And first of all there was great cursing amongst them
for the thorns that stuck in their legs; but as they pushed further in
to free themselves, and only got the worse entangled, being torn and
rent (as they must) from head to foot at every moment, the cries of pain
and rage that these wretches set up were enough to make any heart glad
to hear.
Leaving them in this pickle I sped back the way I had come, and found
Lady Biddy had of herself passed along the length of the great cabbage
tree and got down by the upturned roots. Without waste of time we
continued our way, keeping within the grateful shade of the trees, yet
holding on within sight of the thicket that we might have some notion,
however vague, of our whereabouts.
We kept on at a briskish pace without stopping (except that once I went
a little out of my way to pluck some guave apples, which were a great
refreshment and comfort to us) for best part of an hour, I take it, by
which time the nature of the ground took a new aspect, and seeing some
dead reeds entangled in the branches of a bush I perceived they must
have been left there by flood of waters. This led me to conclude we were
near some river, which gave me no small satisfaction, for already my
mind was becoming anxious with regard to the question of water to drink.
As we proceeded the traces of flood became more plentiful, and at length
coming to the verge of the wood we found ourselves on the edge of a
lagoon, stretching upwards of a mile towards a broad river, whose yellow
waters were cut off from the blue sea by a long neck of sand that
extended as far as the eye could reach.
This lagoon was a dismal waste of refuse washed down by the swollen
river in the rainy season, for as yet the new growth of reeds had not
penetrated the mass, except here and there where a patch of tender green
rose amidst the wide expanse of rotting vegetation. But if the
foreground was dismal to look on, the eye was recompensed by that which
lay beyond. For there the sky was pierced by the glittering summits of
prodigious mountains, whose sides swept down to lesser hills of purple
rock, and these again in undulating slopes to the blue sea and the
river, which on its further side shone like gold in the sunlight. And
these lower slopes did at first look as though a sunset cloud had
settled upon them; yet at a second glance did rather seem as if they
were covered over with a vast tapestry, in which were woven all shades
of green, mingled with bright patches of red and orange, purple and
rose-pink, by reason of the many-hued flowers which crowned the trees,
as no traveler shall deny who has cast eyes on those wondrous woods.
For a minute we stood still looking in amaze and delight upon this
prospect, for it was the first we had seen of those mountains, but then
we bethought us of those wretches we had left behind (who for certain
would stay no longer than they could help in the thorns), and likewise I
perceived we must yet follow up the course of this river before we could
get water fit to drink. Added to which the lagoon bred abundance of
stinging flies, and I feared there might likewise be reptiles in such a
spot, so again we stepped forward.
Before long we found it necessary to penetrate further into the wood by
reason of the ground rising abruptly from the river; yet still we kept
as near as might be to the river, every now and again pausing in our
upward walk where a break offered view of the river below and the
mountains beyond.
We kept on, for Lady Biddy would not allow that she was fatigued, until
I heard, as I thought, the breaking of water; and passing a huge rock we
saw, to my inexpressible satisfaction, a silvery stream of water
tumbling down the gorge that opened before us.