When Dick recovered consciousness it was evening; the street was quiet,
and he was lying upon a couch in a darkened room, with Philip Stukely
and an elderly woman bending over him; the woman holding a basin of warm
water, while Stukely assiduously bathed an ugly scalp wound on the crown
of his head. The said head was throbbing and aching most atrociously,
and when the young man sat up and attempted to rise to his feet he
discovered, to his astonishment and chagrin, that he had no control over
himself, the room seemed to be whirling and spinning round with him at
bewildering speed, and his legs immediately collapsed under him.
"Now, then, none of that, youngster," exclaimed Stukely, as he flung his
arm round Chichester and gently lowered the lad back on the couch.
"What a plague induced you to start up like that, all of a sudden,
before I was ready for you? You will just have to lie still, young man,
until I tell you that you may move. And how do you feel, now that you
have seen fit to at last come to your senses?"
"How do I feel?" reiterated Dick, trying to pass his hand over his
forehead, and failing, for the member seemed heavier than lead. "Why, I
seem to have no more strength than a baby; my head is nothing but one
big, atrocious ache; and I don't seem to be able to remember things very
well. For instance, I don't in the least know where we are, or how we
got here; and--and--who is the--ah--lady, Phil?"
"Don't you worry about the lady, youngster, she is all right, and proved
herself to be a friend just when we badly needed one," answered Stukely.
"The important thing just now is to find out precisely what is the
matter with you; so have the goodness to answer my questions as clearly
as possible, will ye?"
And while Stukely is closely questioning his patient the opportunity may
be taken to explain, in a very few words, how the two friends came to
find themselves where they were. As has already been stated, they were
fighting among the party who were defending the rear during the retreat
of the English back along the street by which they had come, when Dick
was felled to the ground by a great stone hurled from the top story of
one of the houses opposite which they were at the moment engaged.
Stukely, who was fighting behind him, heard the crash of the stone on
Dick's head, saw the lad reel and fall, and instantly stooped to raise
him to his feet again. But Dick Chichester was no light weight for a
man like Stukely to lift unaided, and before it could be done the whole
fight seemed to sweep right over them. Stukely was knocked down and
trodden under foot, men locked together in the grip of deadly strife
reeled and staggered and stumbled over him, and finally he received a
kick in the temple which so nearly robbed him of his senses that he was
only very vaguely conscious of what was happening during the next minute
or two. The next thing of which he was fully aware being that he was
being held by the shoulders and dragged along over uneven ground, then
he became suddenly conscious of being inside a building, and of hearing
a door closed and barred; and, finally, of finding himself sitting upon
the floor of the room where Dick and he now were, with the old lady
supporting his head on her knee while a young woman endeavoured to pour
_aguardiente_ down his throat. Then he fully recovered his senses, to
find, to his great joy, that Dick also had been rescued, and was then
lying senseless on a couch in the same room. Then, somehow, the young
woman had disappeared, and rising to his feet, he had devoted himself to
the task of wooing back Dick Chichester's senses. This, however, had
proved a far more difficult task than he had at first anticipated; and
it was not until the golden quality of the light streaming in through
the closed jalousies proclaimed the near approach of sunset that Dick
manifested any indication of returning consciousness, with the result
already recorded. And now a protracted and careful examination of the
wound, coupled with much questioning of his patient, convinced Stukely
that his friend Dick had sustained a very serious injury to the head
which had so far affected the brain that it would be several days at
least before the young man could possibly be moved! Meanwhile, what was
happening to the ship and the rest of the crew?
That was a question that could not be answered just then, for the old
lady, who, for some mysterious reason, had chosen to play the part of
Good Samaritan, could not speak a word of English, while Stukely spoke
no Spanish; and as for venturing outside the house in quest of
information, that was obviously impossible, for two excellent reasons;
the first being that Dick's condition was such that he could not
possibly be left, even for so short a time as half an hour; while the
other equally good reason was that to venture into the street would be
to invite immediate assassination.
Well, Stukely told himself, matters could not be helped; Dick and he
were the victims of circumstance, and there was nothing for it but to
submit, with the best grace possible. And so far as their future was
concerned, that must take care of itself. Sufficient unto the day is
the anxiety thereof. So, with the elderly dame's assistance, he devoted
himself to the task of doing what he could to relieve and help Dick,
philosophically leaving the future to take care of itself.
Presently it became too dark to see, and the old lady went to the door
of the room and called. Two female voices replied; and a few minutes
later two young women entered, one bearing a lighted oil lamp, while the
other carried a tray upon which were set out a bowl of soup, a dish
containing some roast ribs of kid, some heads of young Indian corn
boiled, a loaf of bread, and a flask of wine. These viands were placed
upon a table together with the lamp, and the young women retired again,
after indicating by signs that the food was intended for the two
Englishmen.
Dick's hurt proved to be very much more serious than was at first
supposed; he became delirious; and for a whole week Phil was kept busy,
night and day, constantly attending to him, his watch being shared by
the old lady and her two daughters, who proved extraordinarily kind and
solicitous. Then the patient began to mend, slowly; and the young
women--who proved to be twins, named respectively Clara and Dolores--did
their best to beguile the time for their two guests by teaching them
Spanish. And remarkably efficient teachers they proved to be, too;
their pupils making enough progress within the next three weeks to
enable them to gather a tolerably correct general idea of what was said
to them. Thus, little by little, and by dint of frequent reiteration,
accompanied by much laughter and many blushes on the part of their fair
instructresses, the two young Englishmen learned that they owed their
lives to the compassion of the Senoritas Clara and Dolores; who,
watching the fight from their window, had been so greatly impressed by
the gallant bearings of Dick and Phil, that when the two were seen to go
down in the melee, the girls, moved by a common impulse, had dashed out
of the house, the moment that a favourable opportunity had presented
itself, and had dragged the apparently inanimate bodies indoors
unnoticed in the prevailing confusion. And they also learned that,
according to common report, some eight or ten survivors of the
ill-advised landing-party had succeeded in fighting their way back to
the ship, which had thereupon got under way and sailed out of the
harbour, leaving the _Santa Margaretta_ ablaze from stem to stern.
Thus the time went on until Dick and Phil had been secreted in Cartagena
nearly six weeks, by which time the former was so nearly approaching
convalescence that the pair had begun to discuss seriously the question
of their future. Then, one night, about nine o'clock, the two girls,
who had been out taking the air upon the alameda, came rushing home in
consternation with the news that somebody had somehow acquired an
inkling of the fact that they were harbouring two Englishmen in their
house, and that the soldiers might be expected to arrive at any moment
to take the whole party prisoners! But, as the girls breathlessly
explained, if the Englishmen got away at once--as they must for their
own sakes--no harm need be expected to befall their hostesses, as it
would then appear that some enemy had been spreading a false and
malicious report.
The two young Englishmen hardly liked the idea of going off and leaving
their kind entertainers to bear unaided the brunt of a strict and severe
cross-examination; but it was obviously the only thing to be done, for
it would be far worse for the family if the hated _Ingleses_ were
actually found in the house, than if their recent presence there were
only suspected; they therefore agreed to go at once; and, since they had
no belongings to pack, were ready to depart upon the instant. But the
girls, who were bitterly distressed at the idea of so sudden and
unceremonious a leave-taking, would not let them leave the house alone,
to take their chance of finding their way, unmolested, down to the
harbour; they insisted upon accompanying them and guiding them by the
least-frequented ways; and this they did, following a number of narrow,
winding, deserted lanes and alleys which at length brought them out upon
the wharf where they had landed on the ill-fated day when they had
attempted the rescue of Captain Marshall. Here, after a long,
lingering, and tearful parting on the part of the girls, the two young
men eventually found themselves alone, about half-past ten o'clock at
night; by which hour the wharf was deserted, save for themselves.
Now, the whole thing had been so hurried, and the girls had had so much
to say during the journey from the house to the wharf, that the two
friends had been quite unable to form anything in the nature of a plan;
and even now it was not wise to linger on the wharf, discussing the
question of what they should do, for the city guard, or watchmen, might
come along at any moment and surprise them. They therefore hastily
surveyed such boats and canoes as were moored to the wharf, chose the
first useful-looking craft they came to, jumped into her, cut her
painter, and pushed off down the harbour on their way to the island of
Tierra Bomba, which Dick decided had better be their first
halting-place.
The night was, fortunately, fine, with a high and spacious sky of
indigo, star-studded, flecked with a few thin, fleecy clouds driving up
solemnly out of the eastward, and the moon, in her second quarter,
sailing high overhead and affording them all the light that they needed,
with perhaps a little to spare. The boat which they had appropriated
was a very good craft of her kind, about fifteen feet long, very shallow
and beamy, and equipped with a pair of oars, a tiller and rudder, and a
mast and sail. The latter they were especially thankful for, as the
journey before them was one of about seven miles; and as soon as they
were fairly clear of the town and had reached a point at which they
could bear away far enough to the southward to permit of setting the
sail, they stepped their mast, unfurled their canvas, and went buzzing
merrily down the harbour, passing on their way the hulk of the _Santa
Margaretta_, which had been burnt to the water's edge before the flames
could be extinguished. Their destination was the creek in the eastern
shore of Tierra Bomba in which the longboat had lain hidden when Dick
and Marshall had reconnoitred the town together; and they reached it
about midnight, secreted the boat beneath the well-remembered bushes,
and then composed themselves to sleep as well as they could in her
stern-sheets.
The sun was a full hour above the horizon when his beams, piercing the
thick canopy of foliage which overhung their place of concealment,
awakened the two fugitives, who arose from their hard couch refreshed
but hungry. A plunge into the shallow waters of the creek washed the
lingering remains of sleep out of their eyes, and further refreshed
them, when, having allowed their bodies to dry in the brisk warm breeze,
they dressed and scrambled ashore to hunt for food. Of this they
obtained without difficulty as much as they required; for Tierra Bomba
was at that time densely overgrown with trees and bushes of various
kinds, among which several fruit-bearing varieties flourished wild,
particularly plantains and bananas. Upon these, then, they satisfied
their hunger, at the same time taking the precaution to secure a bunch
of sufficiently generous dimensions to meet all their needs for several
days to come. Then, their immediate wants satisfied, they retreated to
their place of concealment and, seating themselves in their boat,
proceeded to discuss their plans for the future.
The information respecting the doings of the _Adventure_, communicated
to them by their fair friends the Senoritas Clara and Dolores, left
little doubt in their minds that the crew, thoroughly discouraged at the
disastrous result of their adventure in Cartagena, had decided to rest
satisfied with the treasure which they had already acquired--and which,
indeed, was considerable enough to satisfy most reasonable people--and
had sailed direct for England upon quitting the harbour, too hastily
concluding, perhaps, that all the missing were dead; or, if not dead, at
least captive beyond all hope of deliverance. This assumption seemed to
Stukely and Chichester to be the only one at which they could reasonably
arrive; and since its acceptance shut them out from all hope of ever
again seeing the _Adventure_ and being able to rejoin her, the question
that naturally arose in their minds was: What were they to do now?
It was Dick who first put this question into words; and by way of reply
Stukely put another question--"Why did we come here at all?"
"Well," retorted plain, matter-of-fact Dick, "because we couldn't help
ourselves, I suppose."
"Very well," agreed Stukely, "I will concede that, if you like. We came
because we could not help ourselves; because, in other words, after we
were picked up by the _Adventure_, no opportunity occurred to land us
again, and therefore we had no choice but to remain in the ship. But
why did we consent to become members of her crew?"
"Why, in the hope of making our fortunes, of course," returned Dick.
"And we did so, too; or should have done so, rather, if thicky stone had
not cracked my skull for me."
"Precisely," agreed Stukely. "If your skull had not been cracked, and
if we had both contrived to get back to the ship, as some of the others
appear to have done. But it is just those little ifs, my dear Dick,
that rule the destinies of men. If this, that, or the other thing had,
or had not, happened, everything would have been very different. Now,
for my own part, I am a great believer in destiny; I do not believe that
there is such a thing as accident or chance, but that what we usually
call by one or the other of those names is ordered by what some men call
Fate, but what I prefer to call Providence. I will not attempt to argue
this matter out with you just now, but will simply content myself with
the assertion that you and I were destined to be left behind. If you
ask, for what purpose, I reply that I do not know; I cannot even guess;
but I have no doubt that it will be revealed in due time. If my theory
is correct and Providence is indeed interfering in our affairs, we may
do as we will, but we shall be guided and governed, in spite of
ourselves, until we have accomplished the work which we are destined to
do. That being the case, let us leave ourselves in the hands of
Destiny, to do as she will with us, watching for such right impulses as
she may impart to us, and following them implicitly, under the belief
and conviction that she is guiding us.
"Now, why did we come to this Golden West? Was it not to make our
fortunes, to acquire a share of the wealth with which the land teems?
Of course it was; and since we are here, and cannot get away, I say let
us push into the interior and see if we cannot find for ourselves some
of the gold, or gems, with which the soil is said to abound. There must
be scores, nay, hundreds, of undiscovered mines in the lonely fastnesses
to which no man has thus far penetrated; and I can see no reason why we
should not find one of them. Now, what say you?"
"Simply, that I agree with every word you have said, Phil, and am quite
ready to go to the world's end with you," answered Dick. "Now, when do
we start, and which way do we go?"
"Well," returned Stukely, "our first business is to get safely away from
Cartagena; and the sooner the better. For it is evident that the
authorities have somehow obtained an inkling of the fact that two
Englishmen belonging to the band who have wrought them so much damage
have been lurking hidden in the city; and if my estimate of the Spanish
character be correct I believe they will take a good deal of trouble to
find us; and if they find us we may rest assured that they will clap us
into the Inquisition, by hook or by crook. Therefore, I say, let us get
away to-night, immediately after dark, so that we may have a chance to
put as many miles as possible between ourselves and Cartagena before
daylight. Then, as to which way we should go, the interior is where we
are bound for, and the interior lies to the southward, therefore when we
get out to sea, let us steer south, and enter the first river of any
importance that we happen to come to, knowing that all rivers lead to
the interior."
"Agreed!" exclaimed Dick. "We will leave here as soon as the darkness
is deep enough to conceal our movements; and we will begin our voyage by
slipping across the bay and going out to sea by way of the channel at
the back of the island of Baru, by which means we shall reach the open
sea some twenty-five miles south of Cartagena, and so avoid the risk of
being seen and informed upon by any of the local fishing boats. I would
that I had one of Mr Bascomb's charts with me; but as I haven't we must
e'en do without it and trust to memory. I have some recollection of
having seen a river of some importance marked on the chart not very far
south of this; and if we hug the shore pretty closely we can scarcely
fail to find it."
This matter settled, they proceeded to take stock of their possessions,
which totalled as follows: a pair of pistols each, the locks of which
had fortunately been fitted with new flints immediately before the
disastrous attempt to force a way to the Inquisition at Cartagena; two
powder horns full of powder; thirty bullets each, together with a
considerable quantity of greased rags to serve as wadding; a good,
serviceable hanger, each; and last, but not least, the splendid sword
which Dick had taken from the Spanish cavalier during the fight in the
square. These, the clothes which they stood up in, and the boat in
which they had made their escape, were all that they possessed in the
world; and thus scantily provided these two young men were calmly about
to plunge into the very heart of a hostile country, of which they knew
nothing, in search of fortune! Truly was it said of these men and their
contemporaries that "they feared God and naught else!" and it was they
who laid the foundations of that greatness among the nations of the
world which Britain enjoys to-day. May she have the wisdom to retain
it!
All day the two fugitives lay in their place of concealment, resting and
otherwise preparing for a wakeful and busy night; and when at length the
sun plunged down into the western sea in a transient blaze of glory, and
the sea breeze began to die away, they cautiously pushed out from
underneath their leafy screen and proceeded to paddle quietly down the
little cove toward the south bay, which they reached just as the last of
the daylight was fading out of the sky and the stars were beginning to
twinkle out, one after the other, in swift succession, in the great
purple dome of heaven above. The evanescent twilight now shrouded
everything in mystery; a few boats could be seen moving about here and
there, but only by the lingering golden light in the western sky
reflected gleamingly from the ripple of bow or paddle, and the fugitives
passed across the bay and entered the narrow channel between the island
of Baru and the main, just as the first soft breathings of the land wind
began to make themselves felt. To these they gladly spread their sail--
for paddling was rather too warm work to be agreeable--and went gliding
easily and pleasantly along, closely hugging the weather shore, for the
sake of the smooth water and the deep shadow afforded by the mangroves
that thickly lined the beach.
They had reached thus along the shore for about an hour and a half when
a sudden brightening of the sky to the eastward heralded the rising of
the moon; and presently the orb, now nearly at the full, sailed up over
the tops of the trees which lined the shore, and flooded the entire
scene with her soft orange radiance. And the first thing upon which the
eyes of the fugitives fell was a large galley lying at anchor right in
the middle of the fairway, scarcely a mile ahead. There were no lights
visible on board her; but the frequent flash of the moonlight upon
polished steel showed that someone at least, probably a sentinel, was
moving and presumably on the watch on board her.
Now arose the question: What was to be done? Should they stand boldly
on and take the risk of being challenged; or should they run the boat
ashore and take to the woods? Everything depended upon the question of
what was the galley's business just there, of all places in the world;
and it did not take the Englishmen long to make up their minds that in
all probability she had been stationed there to keep a lookout for them,
as the passage out at the back of Baru was so obviously the one that
would be most likely to be taken by people anxious to escape from
Cartagena by water. If that were the case they could not possibly hope
to slip past the craft unchallenged, for the moon was every moment
soaring higher into the sky and more clearly lighting up the scene, and
especially the surface of the water. And if they were challenged and,
refusing to reply, attempted to escape, what hope of success had they?
Absolutely none! Therefore they put down their helm, hove the boat
about, and headed in for the land.
If any doubt remained in their minds as to the character and intentions
of the galley, it was speedily dissipated, for they had scarcely got
their boat round upon the other tack when a musket was discharged on
board the craft, and a hail was faintly heard pealing across the water
from her, and some two minutes later a ruddy flash succeeded by a puff
of smoke leapt from her forecastle, followed, a second or two later, by
the splash of a heavy shot in the water a dozen yards or so astern of
the boat. Five breathless minutes followed for the fugitives, and then
a whole forest of oars suddenly sprang from the galley's sides, plunged
into the water, and she was under way, heading straight after the boat.
"Shall we do it, Dick, think you?" demanded Stukely, as he peered
anxiously under the foot of the sail.
"Yes," answered Dick, "if the wind holds. Blow, good breezes, blow!" he
murmured, and began to whistle softly. Suddenly he sat more upright in
the boat and gazed eagerly ahead.
"Look ahead and all along past our weather bow, Phil," he said. "Is my
sight deceiving me, or do I see a number of water channels running into
the land there? To me it looks as though there was an indentation of
some sort, like--well, like the mouth of a river choked with islands,
away ahead of us. And, if so, we are saved, for it will be strange
indeed if we cannot dodge the galley among those islands--even if she
can get in among them," he added. "For unless I am very greatly
mistaken the water shoals close inshore of us. Do you notice how smooth
it is?"
"I do," said Stukely. "I humbly hope it may not be too shoal for us as
well as for the galley. All right, fire away," he continued,
apostrophising the galley; "fire away and waste your powder! You will
have to shoot a good deal better than that to hit us." For the people
in the galley were loading and firing in feverish haste, evidently
anxious to hit the boat before she should reach the shelter of the
islands, now less than a quarter of a mile ahead.
Presently the boat shot into the belt of smooth water that Dick's keen
eye had detected, and Phil seized a paddle and plunged it over the side,
to withdraw it a moment later and inspect it by the light of the moon.
"Four foot of water, with any quantity of soft black mud under it," he
announced. "If thicky galley keeps as she is going for another five
minutes, Dick, she'll be stuck so hard and fast in that same mud that
she'll have something else to think about than chasing us. Ah!" as the
boat luffed round a small mangrove-covered island, and the galley was
shut out from view, "there goes their last chance of hitting us with
their footy ordnance--with a murrain on them!"
The fugitives now suddenly found themselves sailing through a labyrinth
of small, mangrove-covered islets intersected by water lanes so narrow
and winding that they were only able to sail the boat along them by
exercising the utmost care and vigilance. This intricate and difficult
navigation continued for nearly three hours, at the end of which time
they suddenly emerged from the maze of islets and found themselves in a
stream of thick, muddy water, averaging about a quarter of a mile in
width, with low banks fringed by mangrove trees, beyond which it was
occasionally possible to catch glimpses of more lofty vegetation. The
water here was so deep that, except when close to the bank on either
side, it was impossible to reach bottom with a six-foot paddle; but when
they had traversed the river far enough to enable them to get a vista of
a clear mile astern of them there was still no sign of the galley, which
they therefore concluded had been unable to pass the mud bar at the
entrance of the river.
The course of the stream which they were now following was,
approximately, north-north-east, for a distance of about twenty-two
miles, which was traversed in a trifle over four hours. Here the river
suddenly bent sharply round in a south-easterly direction; the mangroves
disappeared, being replaced by a thick fringe of reeds, the banks of the
river gradually increased in height, and were covered to the water's
edge with a thick tangle of bushes, amid which towered the outposts of a
forest of magnificent trees that could be seen stretching away for miles
ahead. The fugitives considered that they were now well beyond all
likelihood of pursuit, and the thick beds of reeds which fringed the
river at frequent intervals afforded them excellent opportunities for
concealment; but the wind continued favourable, and the moon afforded
them ample light; they therefore determined to press forward so long as
the conditions continued favourable, one of them remaining on watch and
steering the boat while the other slept.
In this fashion they sped up the stream hour after hour, all through the
night, the width of the waterway remaining about the same, but the
character of the country ever-changing, the banks in places rising to a
height of quite a hundred feet, here in the form of a gentle, tree-clad
slope, and there towering precipitously, a rocky face, with overhanging
bushes and great clumps of fern springing from every fissure. At length
the moon sank beneath the tree-tops on the western bank, and the light
became so uncertain that the voyagers were seriously debating the
advisability of seeking a suitable spot in which to tie up the boat,
when a sudden chilliness in the wind warned them that the dawn was at
hand, and a few minutes later the sky to the eastward paled, so that the
tops of the trees stood out against the pallor black as though drawn in
Indian ink, the stars dimmed and blinked out, one after another, the
eastern pallor became suffused with delicate primrose that rapidly
warmed into clear amber, a beam of golden light flashed through the
branches of the trees on the eastern bank of the river, and in a moment
the whole scene changed as if by magic, a thousand lovely tints of
green, blue, orange, crimson, and white, leapt into view as daylight
flooded the landscape, revealing great masses of flowering shrubs and
enormous festoons of queer-shaped and gorgeously coloured orchids;
colibris that flashed like living gems darted hither and thither; flocks
of gaily plumaged parrots winged their way, screaming discordantly,
across the stream; brilliantly painted kingfishers darted like streams
of living fire from bough to bough, or perched staring intently down
into the water from some overhanging branch; enormous butterflies of
exquisite colours, and dragon-flies with transparent rose-tinted wings
flitted inconsequently over the surface of the water and were leaped at
by fish as brilliantly tinted as themselves--and it was day in the South
American forest. Half an hour later, as the boat rounded a low bluff, a
break in the forest appeared ahead, beyond which a wide expanse of water
was seen sparkling in the rays of the early morning sun; and presently
the boat shot out of the stream which she had been traversing all night,
and the wanderers found themselves floating upon the bosom of a
magnificent river about a mile wide, flowing as nearly as might be due
north.
For a few seconds the young Englishmen were silent, lost in admiration
at the spaciousness, the grandeur, and the tropical luxuriance and
beauty of the scene upon which their gaze rested entranced; then Dick
broke the silence by murmuring:
"Now, what river is this, I wonder? Surely it cannot be the Magdalena,
of which we have heard so many wonderful stories? And yet, if it is
not, I know not what river it can be. The Magdalena lies somewhere in
this direction, I believe, and--but what matters the name? It is a
superb waterway, however it may be called, the current is not so strong
but that we can easily stem it with the help of our sail, and it comes
from the direction in which we want to go. What say you, Phil? Which
is it to be, north or south?"
"South, of course," answered Stukely; "why ask such a totally
unnecessary question?" He spoke with so much irritation of manner that
Dick looked at him anxiously, fearing that he might be suffering from a
slight touch of fever. But no, there was nothing in Stukely's
appearance to suggest that he was suffering either from fever or any
other malady; but he was glancing about him keenly, eagerly, yet with a
puzzled expression, as though he recognised what he was looking at, but
could not understand why he recognised it. And his next words conveyed
precisely the same impression, for he murmured, as though speaking to
himself:
"Now, this is most extraordinary! This scene is absolutely familiar to
me; I seem to have gazed upon it--or upon something precisely similar to
it in every respect, thousands of times before. Look at those gigantic
ceibas yonder; those long, trailing ropes of purple orchids; see those
flamingoes with their scarlet, black-barred wings, their long thin legs,
and their curiously twisted beaks; observe those graceful white birds
with their handsome crested heads; ay, and even the very monkeys
swinging down by the creepers to dip up the water and drink it out of
the palms of their hands; it is all much more familiar and homelike to
me than ever was the scenery of Devon. Yet I have never been here
before, unless indeed it has been in my dreams. But could a dream, or
even a series of dreams, impart to me the perfect knowledge that I seem
to possess of everything upon which my eye rests? Now, yonder, for
instance, is a tree out of which I used to make--I mean that in some
strange way I seem to know that splendid bows can be made out of the
wood of that particular tree; and there, growing close beneath its
shade, in the water, is a clump of rushes which, when dried in the sun,
make perfect shafts for arrows. And that reminds me, Dick, that, since
we must save our powder and shot for very special occasions, we ought to
provide ourselves with bows and a good stock of arrows, if only to
enable us to procure game. Now, I know perfectly well, in some
mysterious manner, how to make bows and arrows; and since the materials
for making both are at this moment before our eyes, we ought to avail
ourselves of the opportunity. Don't you think so?"
"Certainly," answered Dick. "Though what you mean by saying that you
know what particular kinds of trees make the best bows, and all the rest
of it, I confess I don't understand."
"Nor do I," admitted Stukely. "But, all the same, I possess the
knowledge, however strange it may appear; and perhaps, later on,
understanding will come to me. Now, there is a good place to land,
among the reeds; push the boat in through them, Dick; we shall find the
bank low just there, with water enough for the boat alongside it."
"Now, how can you possibly know that?" demanded Dick. "Nevertheless,"
he continued, "we will try, because it will afford an excellent
opportunity to test the accuracy of your boasted knowledge." And he put
the helm up and headed the boat straight for the reeds, into the midst
of which she plunged a minute later, pushing them easily aside as she
drove through them, while they closed up again behind her, effectually
screening her from view from the river, and as effectually obliterating
the track which she had temporarily made through them.