"There, now, what did I tell you?" demanded Stukely, triumphantly, as
the boat slid easily through the reeds and glided alongside a smooth,
grassy bank, the top of which was scarcely a foot above the surface of
the river. "Now," he continued, "if we lower the sail and unstep the
mast, we may remain here as long as we please, undetected."
Indeed the statement was strictly true; for, having lowered the sail and
unshipped the mast, they stepped ashore upon a smooth, grassy lawn, of
some four acres in extent, completely hidden from the river by the
screen of tall reeds, the feathery tops of which rose some ten feet
above the water's surface, while inland it was completely encircled by a
belt of forest the undergrowth of which was so dense as to be absolutely
impenetrable by man without the aid of axes or other hewing implements.
The lawn was thickly dotted with trees and shrubs of various kinds, amid
which was conspicuous the tree which Stukely had asserted was good for
the making of bows; and many of the trees were fruit bearers, among them
being bananas, pawpaws, guavas, mangoes, and other excellent varieties.
Dick stared about him in amazement as he stepped ashore, taking the
boat's painter with him and making it fast to a sturdy bush which grew
conveniently close to the water's edge. "Well," he said, in answer to
Stukely's question, "you were perfectly right, however you came by your
knowledge. And, as to remaining here--well, I think we might do worse.
We ought to accustom ourselves gradually to the outdoor, semi-savage
life which will henceforth be ours; and I think we cannot do better than
begin here. And that reminds me that I have not yet breakfasted, while
yonder I see some bananas that appear to have reached the very pink of
perfection. Are you hungry, Phil?"
"I am," answered Stukely, with emphasis; "and we have a full larder, it
seems; so help yourself, lad. At present we shall be obliged to content
ourselves with an exclusively fruit diet; but in the course of a few
days, when we have provided ourselves with bows and arrows, we can vary
it a little by adding an occasional venison steak, or a parrot or two.
I can assure you, Dick, that parrots are very excellent eating."
"How do you know?" demanded the matter-of-fact Dick. "Have you ever
eaten one?"
"Ay, often enough," answered Stukely, impulsively, then he checked
himself. "At least," he stammered, "I seem to have done so; and yet, of
course, 'tis impossible. Do you believe, as some assert, that a certain
number, if not all, of us have lived on this earth once, twice, thrice
before this present life, Dick? Because that is exactly how I feel, as
though I had spent at least one previous existence here, in this very
part of the world, amid such surroundings as those which our eyes now
gaze upon. It all seems so absolutely familiar; I feel that I know all
that there is to know about everything, except the names of them; ay,
and there are even times when strange dim memories of past scenes seem
to visit me, and for a moment I picture myself surrounded by all the
pomp and grandeur of a civilisation that has long passed away. You will
call me a dreamer, as indeed you have often called me already; and
perhaps you are right. Yet it is strange that all my dreams should
centre round scenes glorious as this, and have been so vivid that I
recognise hitherto unseen objects as perfectly familiar when my gaze
rests upon them. But this is unprofitable talk; the really important
thing is that we are hungry, and are surrounded by food in abundance.
Let us to breakfast."
When at length they had satisfied their hunger by feasting upon the
several kinds of delicious fruits which abounded in the enclosure, Phil
approached the tree which he had asserted was good for making bows from,
and, drawing his hanger, proceeded to examine very carefully its several
boughs, finally choosing two which were absolutely straight and about
twelve feet long. These he hacked off from the parent trunk, without
difficulty, using his hanger as an axe; then, handing one to Dick, whom
he directed to follow his own example, he sat down in the shadow of a
great umbrella tree and proceeded to trim away first the twigs and then
the bark. This done, he took the bare, straight branch, and trimmed off
the thin end until the wood, which was perfectly round, was about
three-quarters of an inch thick. Then he cut away enough of the thick
end of the branch to leave a pole about six feet long, which he
proceeded to whittle away at the thick end until it also was about the
same thickness as the thinner end, leaving the middle part about two
inches thick. This he did with his pocket knife, without any
difficulty, the wood seeming to be quite soft and yielding itself to the
sharp blade with the utmost facility. And as he worked, so did Dick,
the latter with a smile of amusement upon his face, for he flattered
himself that he knew a thing or two about bows; and to him it seemed
ridiculous to suppose that this wood which yielded itself as readily as
cheese to the shaping of the knife could ever be of the slightest use as
a bow. But he worked steadily on, following Stukely's lead, and shaping
his own branch precisely as Stukely shaped his, and after some three
hours of by no means arduous work each possessed a perfectly straight,
smooth rod, accurately trimmed into the form of a bow about six feet
long, with properly notched ends for the string to fit into.
"There," said Stukely at last, as he critically inspected his own and
Dick's production, "I do not think we can improve upon either of those,
which ought to make really formidable weapons when they are ready for
use. Now, the next thing is to hang them up in the shade to dry, and
that will take three full days at least, after which they will be ready
to use, and will steadily improve in quality until the whole of the sap
is completely dried out of them. If they have a fault it will probably
be that we shall find them a shade too strong for us at first; but we
shall grow accustomed to that in time. We cannot do better than hang
them to a bough of this tree, where they will be completely shielded
from the rays of the sun, and will dry slowly and evenly. Now, the next
thing we need is a string for each bow, and--if we can contrive it--a
spare string as a stand by. And"--glancing about him--"I think we ought
to find the materials for the manufacture of those strings not very far
away."
He hung up the two bows in such a situation that at no time of the day
would the rays of the sun get at them, and then wandered round the
enclosure, peering up among the branches of the trees, and at length
seemed to find what he was seeking, for presently he swung himself up
into a particular tree, and climbing some little way up it, plucked two
brown balls about the size of oranges, with which he descended.
"Here we are," he exclaimed in accents of satisfaction, as he exhibited
the balls to Dick. "These are the cocoons of a certain caterpillar, the
name of which I forget, but they spin a kind of silk which is admirably
adapted for the making of bowstrings, for it is incredibly strong, does
not fray, and is not affected by damp. Now--"
"But how on earth do you come to know all this, Phil?" demanded Dick, as
he took one of the cocoons in his hand and examined it curiously.
"I cannot tell you," answered Stukely, rather impatiently; "let it
suffice you that I possess the knowledge, in some inscrutable way, ay,
and a good deal more, too, of which you are like to reap the benefit in
the long run."
He then proceeded to explain and illustrate how the silk was to be
unwound--a task which kept them both busy for several hours--and when
this was at length done he showed Dick how to spin the fine, tough
filament into a thin but immensely strong cord. But the most remarkable
part of the whole affair was the perfectly intimate knowledge which he
displayed of the various operations, none of which, be it remembered, he
had ever performed before. The unwinding of the cocoons and the
spinning of the cords--two for each bow--occupied the young men during
the remainder of that first day and the whole of the second, for the
process was a rather tedious and delicate one, in which Dick at least
exhibited all the inaptitude of the novice. The third and fourth days
were fully occupied in the cutting of reeds and the conversion of them
into arrows; and here again Stukely showed the same weird,
incomprehensible knowledge and skill that he had so conspicuously
displayed in his choice of the wood for the bows, his working of it to
the proper shape, and his manufacture of the bowstrings; for the arrows,
when finished, were as nearly perfect as such missiles could possibly
be, the shafts being of uniform length, perfectly straight, and each
tipped with a strong, hard thorn, sharp as a needle, and growing
naturally in the form of a barb. Two dozen arrows for each constituted
their initial equipment, but they cut a considerable quantity of spare
reeds and thorns, and wound quite a large skein of silk to bind the
barbed heads with, as they were quite prepared to lose several of their
arrows at the outset, and accordingly made ample provision for their
replacement, which could be done at odd moments, while working their way
up the river. Their next business was to plait two quivers of palm-leaf
fibre, with shoulder straps to support the same; and it was Stukely who
had to make these, for when Dick endeavoured to follow his friend's
instructions he proved to be so absolutely lacking in the necessary
skill that, to save time, Phil undertook to do all the work himself.
These several occupations kept them busy for an entire week, during
which they saw no sign of human presence on the river; and by the time
that all was finished the bows had dried into prime condition, and Dick
found, to his amazement, that the wood which, when first cut, had been
soft and workable as cheese, had become as hard as iron, tough, elastic,
and extraordinarily strong; that it had, in short, become perfect for
use as a bow.
Being now equipped with powerful and effective weapons which would
enable them to save their powder and ball for special emergencies, and
provide them with all the game they might require, the two adventurers
resumed their journey, heading up the wide, deep river which they
believed to be the Magdalena, sailing when the wind permitted, and
paddling when it did not, unless they happened to be within sight of a
good camping place when the wind failed them, in which case they very
frequently ran in alongside the bank, moored the boat, and rested or
hunted, or both, until the wind sprang up again.
They were perfectly happy now, these two; and it is difficult to say
which was the happier. The life which they were living was, as nearly
as possible, ideal; it was passed in the open air, in the midst of
glorious scenery which was constantly revealing new beauties and
wonders; they had not a care in the world, for the river and the forest
provided them with an ample supply of food, while they had no anxiety
with regard to clothing in a climate which rendered clothes a
superfluity. In short, their every physical need was abundantly
satisfied; they enjoyed perfect health, and if their adventures thus far
were of a somewhat tame and commonplace description, well, what mattered
it? They had not a doubt that excitement in plenty lay before them, and
meanwhile their daily life was insensibly training and preparing them to
cope with it. Each of them was happy in his own way; Dick, because all
was new and splendid, and Phil, because he was possessed of a wonderful
overmastering feeling that after a long period of exile he once more
found himself amid scenes that were familiar, and, although he could not
say precisely in what way, suggestive of glorious associations.
Late on the second day of their resumed voyage they arrived at a point
where the river forked, the stream on their right hand being almost as
important as the other; but they decided that the stream on their left
was the main stream, and therefore followed it. Although they knew it
not at the moment, this decision of theirs to follow the left instead of
the right stream was of the utmost import to them; for had they decided
differently they would have missed the extraordinary adventure that
awaited them among the mountains which lay so far ahead that many a
weary mile of river, forest, and plain must be traversed before their
peaks should swing into sight.
They camped that night on the point of land where the two rivers united
their waters, and had scarcely landed when, without a sound to tell of
his coming, a graceful antelope emerged from the brake a few hundred
yards away, evidently going to the river to drink. The adventurers were
at the moment partly concealed by the reeds among which they had moored
their boat, moreover the wind was in their favour, and for nearly half a
minute the creature failed to see them. By the time that he did,
Stukely had seized his bow, fitted an arrow to the string, and risen
cautiously to his feet. Then the antelope appeared to become aware of
some unusual feature in the scene, and halted to investigate, whereupon
Phil cautiously drew his bowstring, released it with a loud twang, and
the arrow, flying straight and true, pierced the creature's heart, so
that it fell dead in its tracks, and they had their first deer. And now
again Stukely gave fresh evidence of his uncanny knowledge, for although
he had never before killed a deer, and might be supposed to know nothing
of the verderer's art, he at once set to work to skin and "break up" the
animal with all the skill of an adept. So that night they feasted
sumptuously upon venison steaks, grilled upon the embers of a fire
which, with a further display of his strange knowledge, Phil kindled by
the apparently simple but really exceedingly difficult process of
rubbing two sticks together! And that night, too, they heard for the
first time the roar of the jaguar in the adjacent forest.
For several days--so many, indeed, that they lost count of them--they
voyaged steadily up the great river, sailing when the wind permitted,
paddling when it did not, passing, at tolerably frequent intervals,
points where lesser streams discharged themselves into the main body of
water, while by imperceptible degrees the waterway narrowed, and the
forest--dense, green, flower-decked, alive and gay with bird and insect
life--pressed its foliaged walls in upon them ever closer and closer,
except where an occasional break caused by fire or windfall afforded
them a momentary glimpse of giant mountain ranges to right and left, at
first a delicate purple-grey in the distance, but ever, like the forest,
creeping closer in upon them. And now at increasingly frequent
intervals, they began to see Indians, at first a solitary "buck"
spearing fish from his canoe, but later on in parties of from half a
dozen to fifty or more, crossing the river, or, like themselves, using
it as a highway. But thus far, much as Stukely desired it, they had
never succeeded in getting into touch with the natives, for the latter
invariably fled at the mere sight of them.
One of the most surprising circumstances, perhaps, in connection with
this voyage up the river, was the rapidity with which the two
Englishmen--or Dick, rather--lost the capacity to be astonished.
Stukely, indeed, had never manifested the least surprise at any of the
wonders that were continually coming under their observation, for,
steadfastly adhering to that strange fancy of his that he must have
lived in these regions during some former state of existence, he
persistently asserted that everything he saw was perfectly familiar to
him. But with Dick it was very different; he was as matter-of-fact as
Phil was fanciful; and the sight of giant trees between two and three
hundred feet in height towering up into the cloudless blue a solid mass
of purple, scarlet, or yellow bloom; of graceful clumps of feathery
bamboo a hundred feet long; of the lofty forest walls on either hand
draped with festoons of orchids of the most extraordinary and
undreamed-of shapes and the most gorgeous colours; of birds, insects,
ay, and even fish, that flashed and glittered with all the hues of the
rainbow; of monkeys who followed their course up the river in troops of
a hundred or more; of the lithe and graceful jaguar lying stretched upon
some trunk or branch that closely overhung the water, watching with
ready paw to seize any unwary fish that might chance to swim past within
reach; of alligators that basked log-like on the mud banks--all these
things were to Chichester at first a source of utmost wonder and
admiration; yet within a month they had become the veriest commonplaces
to him, and had entirely ceased to attract his attention. He was far
more interested in the sight of a fair breeze stealing up the river
after them than he was in the sight of the most beautiful flower, the
most gorgeous butterfly, or the most dainty and brilliant colibri, for
he knew that all these things he would see again a thousand times or
more; but a wind that would relieve them of the labour of paddling in
that scorching climate--ah! that was indeed a sight worth seeing.
At length, when they had been journeying up the river in leisurely
fashion for about three weeks, meeting with no adventure worthy of
record, on a certain hot and steamy afternoon, when the boat, under
sail, was doing little more than barely stem the current, they gradually
became aware of a low, faint roar, at first scarcely distinguishable
above the rustle of the wind in the trees aloft and the buzzing hum of
the innumerable insects which swarmed in the forest and hovered in
clouds over the surface of the water. But as the boat continued to
creep upstream the roar gradually increased in intensity, until at
length, as they rounded a bend and entered another reach of the river
which extended practically straight for nearly three miles ahead of
them, they saw, at a distance of about a mile, a long stretch of
foaming, tumbling water, rushing headlong down through a rocky gorge,
about three hundred yards wide, over what was evidently a rocky bed, for
the brown heads of several rocks were seen protruding above the leaping
water in the channel. Rapids! with a fall of nearly thirty feet in
about half a mile. This was a formidable obstacle indeed, for it did
not seem possible that they could get the boat through them; and if they
should be obliged to abandon her, what would then happen? Obviously
they would be obliged to walk the rest of the distance--or to build
another boat, or canoe, above the rapids; and it was difficult to say
which was the more distasteful alternative of the two. Walking,
probably, for although their belongings were few and by no means
cumbersome to carry, the forest was so dense that, as they had already
proved by experience, it was scarcely possible to travel a hundred feet
without being faced by the necessity to cut their way.
"Well," said practical Dick, after they had sat staring at the beautiful
but tantalising scene for full five minutes, "it's no use meeting
trouble halfway, or wondering how we are going to get across the bridge
until we come to it; let's push on and get as close up as we can; then
we'll get ashore, walk up along, and have a look at the place. Perhaps
when we come to it, it will not look so bad as it does from here."
The bank on either hand was so densely overgrown with shrubs that
landing seemed out of the question; but, seizing their paddles, the two
adventurers drove the boat up against the rapidly strengthening current.
Presently a tiny strip of beach, a yard wide by ten or twelve yards
long, came into view; and here they beached the boat, making her well
fast in order that the current might not sweep her away. The rapids
were now less than a hundred feet distant, and the rush of the water
brought down with it a cool, spray-laden breeze that was infinitely
refreshing after the baking breathlessness of the stream below; but the
roar of the chafing waters was so loud that it was almost impossible to
make one's voice heard; Phil therefore scrambled up the steep bank, and
signed to Dick to follow. Fighting their way through the dense
undergrowth, through which they were obliged to cut much of their way
with their hangers, they at length came out upon a jutting spur of bare
rock which overhung the rapids at a height of some fifty feet, and from
this point they were able to obtain a tolerably distinct view of the
whole gorge. And, as Dick had suggested, when they came to look at the
place from close at hand, it did not appear to be nearly so
impracticable as they had at first imagined.
The bed of the channel was badly encumbered with rocks, it is true, but
only for about two hundred feet at the lower end; the rest of it, while
showing a partially submerged rock here and there, was on the whole
remarkably clear, the water rushing over its bed in a swift,
glass-smooth stream. Even where the rocks were thickest, it was
apparent that there was a very well-defined channel between them, up
which a carefully navigated boat might easily pass--if propulsive power
enough were applied to her to overcome the downward rush of the stream.
But how was that power to be obtained? Certainly not by paddling; the
stream was too swift for that. But it was just possible that it might
be done by warping if a warp long enough and strong enough could be
obtained. Moreover the warp need not be so prodigiously long, for now
that they came to look at the rapids at close quarters they saw that
their original estimate of their length had been a long way over the
mark; it was much nearer a quarter than half a mile long. They glanced
about them and saw that the trees were here, as everywhere along the
river bank, thickly draped with long, thin, tough lianas, and the same
idea flashed into both their minds at the same moment: why should they
not twist or plait a warp of lianas? There were plenty of them, and,
after all, it merely resolved itself into a question of time, while
time, just then, was of less importance to them than labour. There was
an alternative, of course, they might abandon the boat and construct a
canoe above the rapids; and it was worth considering whether the
construction of a canoe or the making of a warp would involve the more
labour. To settle the point they decided to go on through the woods
until they reached the head of the rapids, and there inspect the trees
with the view of ascertaining whether there were any suitable for the
construction of a canoe; and having come to this decision, they left the
rock and re-entered the forest.
For more than half an hour they were so busily engaged in forcing and
hewing their way through the dense, parasitical undergrowth that they
had no attention to spare for anything else; but at length they became
conscious of certain discordant sounds, reaching their ears above the
roar of the rapids, which presently became distinguishable as the
beating of drums, mingled with a sort of braying bellow, comparable to
nothing that they had ever heard before. As the pair pressed on, the
unearthly sounds gradually grew louder, not only because they were
approaching the source of them but also because it was evident that the
producers of the sounds were becoming more excited, for the tapping of
the drums increased in rapidity while the braying as steadily grew in
stridency and discord. Another five minutes of strenuous labour then
the two Englishmen burst through the last of the undergrowth and emerged
upon a cleared space of about a hundred acres on the bank of the river
just above the rapids. At this point the river widened out again to
about the space of half a mile from bank to bank, the gorge being about
a hundred yards below, and the current was again gentle enough to render
paddling against it an easy matter. A small strip of shingly beach was
dotted with some forty or fifty canoes, each hewn out of a single log;
and adjoining the beach, scattered over a space of about five acres of
ground, was a native village consisting of about fifty palm-leaf huts,
dotted about without the slightest attempt at symmetrical arrangement,
except that they were built round an open space. The remainder of the
clearing consisted of cultivated ground divided into patches devoted in
about equal proportions to cassava and maize, with a little indigo here
and there. A whole forest of slender poles, connected with each other
by lianas, from which large quantities of fish were suspended, drying in
the sun, and which, by the way, gave off a most intolerable odour,
indicated that the inhabitants depended as much upon the river as upon
the soil for their subsistence.
Apparently some sort of festival or religious ceremony was in process of
being observed when Dick and Phil burst in so unceremoniously upon them,
for the entire population of the village, men, women, and children, were
squatted in a circle round the open space in the middle of the village.
Despite the scorching heat a large fire was blazing in the centre of the
open space, and round it sat the village band, consisting of four drums,
made of sections of trees with the inside cut away, leaving a thin
cylinder of wood, over one end of which was tightly strained a skin of
some sort which was slapped with the palm of the open hand, and about a
dozen flageolet players, their instruments being made of baked clay. It
was these last that emitted the unearthly braying, bellowing sounds
already mentioned. To this hideous medley of sounds a figure in the
middle of the circle was dancing, a figure so queer that for a second or
two the young Englishmen scarcely knew what to make of it. But
presently they saw that it was a man laced-up in a jaguar skin, with
teeth, claws, and tail complete, the face of the man peering out from
between the gaping jaws. He was not only dancing vigorously, if indeed
dancing it could be called, which consisted in leaping violently into
the air and springing from side to side over a bundle, the nature of
which the intruders could not at first make out, but also singing, or
rather howling, certain words which appeared to be gradually working his
audience up into a state of savage excitement; for at intervals one or
another of them, apparently moved out of himself, would yell furiously
and shake in the air a villainous-looking, triple-barbed spear.
For nearly a minute the people were so completely absorbed in the
movements and words of their piache, or medicine man, or witch doctor,
as the man in the jaguar skin proved to be, that they were quite
oblivious of the presence of the two Englishmen; but suddenly the piache
caught sight of them and stopped short in his leapings and howlings, and
glared, open-mouthed, at the strangers for a second or two before, with
a yell of dismay, he turned tail and, leaping right through the blazing
fire in his panic, dashed into a hut and violently drew across the mat
which served as a door. This extraordinary behaviour on the part of the
medicine man naturally excited the wonder of his audience, and also
aroused in them a feeling of consternation which caused them to spring
to their feet and look about them apprehensively. Then they, too,
caught sight of the Englishmen, and, like their piache, made a mad dash
for their huts, yelling as they went. Thus, in the course of a couple
of minutes, the two young Devonians were left in complete, undisputed
possession of the village, although they were conscious of being
stealthily observed from practically every hut in the place.
"Well," exclaimed Dick, as he stared about him in astonishment, "this
beats everything! Men and women, big and little, there must have been
close upon two hundred of them, and not one had the courage to stay and
face us!"
"They probably took us for Spaniards," answered Stukely, "and may have
thought that we were merely the advance guard of a considerable force.
Hence their terror. I only hope that when they discover their mistake
they may not revenge themselves upon us for the fright which we have
given them. I would that one or the other of us possessed a smattering
of their lingo, sufficient to make ourselves understood; I am afraid
that we shall find our ignorance in that respect a very serious
hindrance as we penetrate farther into the interior; and we must do our
best to remedy the--hallo! what on earth is in that bundle? Did you see
it move?"
Phil referred to the bundle over which the piache had been performing
his extraordinary dance when they interrupted him, and which had the
appearance of being simply a bundle of ordinary matting. But Stukely's
eye happened to have been resting upon it while he spoke, and he had
distinctly seen it move.
"No, I didn't," answered Chichester, in reply to his friend's question,
"for the simple reason that I wasn't looking at it. But we'll look at
it now, if you like." And striding over to where the bundle lay upon
the ground, he drew his knife, severed the thongs that bound it,
unrolled the matting, and disclosed to his own and his companion's
astonished gaze the figure of a little old man, securely bound hand and
foot. He was an Indian of some sort, evidently, but not of the same
race as the inhabitants of the village, his colour being that of light
copper, while that of the others was a very dark brown, nearly
approaching to black; also his features were of a totally different and
much higher type, his forehead being broad and high, his nose thin and
aquiline, and his cheek-bones rather high and prominent; in fact he
must, in the days of his youth, have been a decidedly handsome man, with
an imposing presence; but now he was old--how old it was rather
difficult to guess, but probably not far short of a hundred--shrunken
and shrivelled up until he resembled an animated mummy more than
anything else. His head and face were clean shaven, and he was naked,
except for a sort of petticoat of feathers about his loins, the said
petticoat having evidently at one time been an exceedingly handsome
garment, though now it was soiled, frayed, and generally very much the
worse for wear.
As Dick bent over the old fellow, with his long, keen knife in his hand,
to sever his bonds, the creature suddenly cried out some half a dozen
words, in a thin, high, piping voice, causing Stukely to start forward
and gaze earnestly into the face of the speaker; then, to Dick's
stupefaction, Stukely replied in apparently the same tongue, bent over
and rapidly loosed the thongs which bound the old fellow's hands and
feet together, and proceeded gently to chafe the shrunken limbs.