"Why, Phil," exclaimed Dick, in amazement, "what does this mean? Surely
you are not pretending that you understand the old chap's lingo?"
"No, Dick, I am not pretending," answered Stukely, regarding Chichester
with a dazed expression. "It is a fact--a most extraordinary and
unaccountable fact, that I really understand what the poor old chap
says, without knowing it, without even previously suspecting it for an
instant. I seem to possess a sufficient knowledge of his tongue to be
able to comprehend his speech, and even to answer him; and I believe
that in the course of a day or two I shall be able to converse freely
with him. What he cried out just now was an entreaty that we would
spare his life, and I answered that he need not fear us, for we meant
him no harm."
"Um-m-m!" commented Dick. "Well, this is the land of marvels, and no
mistake! I thought I had grown accustomed to the wonders of it, and
that I had no capacity for further astonishment, but I confess that you
have contrived to give me one more spasm of surprise. Ask your friend
who he is, and where he hails from: I dare swear that he is not a native
of this village."
Stukely turned to the old man, who was by this time sitting up and
gently chafing his wrists and ankles, and attempted to put to him the
question which Dick had suggested. But he found that the words would
not come to him; he felt that he knew but could not remember them; and
after two or three bungling attempts he was obliged to give it up.
"Now, that is very extraordinary," said he, attempting to explain his
failure to Dick; "almost as extraordinary as the fact that I understood
the old chap's words, and was able to answer them. But I know his
language--I am certain I do--and after I have practised with him a
little, it will all come back to me. Meanwhile we must do the best we
can. Are you feeling better, `gramfer'? And what were the Indians
going to do to you?" This in English.
The Indian looked up in Stukely's face and spoke for nearly a minute;
and when he had finished Stukely was again, to his own and Dick's
amazement, able to reply.
"We are getting on," Phil explained. "The old gentleman asked me why I
did not address him in his own tongue, since I evidently understand it;
and then went on to say that we arrived here just in the nick of time,
as the villagers were about to torture him to death, to secure the
favour of some god or devil of whom they appear to be particularly
afraid. And I said that he might depend upon us to protect him so long
as we have the power to do so."
Then he turned again to the old man, and, with a good deal of stammering
and hesitation, and many long pauses for consideration, said something
else, to which the ancient again replied; whereupon Phil made a further
attempt, with the result that ultimately the two had quite a long
conversation together, although it must be confessed that the elder man
did most of the talking. At length the conversation came to an end, for
the moment, and Stukely seized the opportunity to transmit to Dick the
information which he had acquired.
"Our friend's story is a very remarkable one," he said. "He tells me
that his name is Vilcamapata; that he is a Peruvian; and was once a
priest of the Sun, in a temple which stood--and the ruins of which,
indeed, still stand--on an island in the midst of a great lake which,
lies among the mountains far away to the southward. This was when Peru
was at the zenith of its power and glory under an Inca named Atahuallpa,
whom the Spaniards under Pizarro decoyed into their power and murdered
most shamefully and cruelly; afterward seizing the country and making it
their own. Since then `gramfer' Vilcamapata has been a wanderer and a
fugitive, always fleeing from the Spaniards, who, it appears, are doing
their utmost to extirpate the Peruvians under the pretence of
converting--or trying to convert--them to the Christian faith. Thus it
was in the course of his aimless wanderings that he came to this
village, three days ago, and was seized by the inhabitants, who, after
much deliberation, decided to sacrifice him to one of their demons, and
were, indeed, about to do so when we appeared upon the scene and
interrupted them."
"Well," said Dick, "it seems to me that he stands a very good chance of
being sacrificed still, as soon as these Indians find that there are
only two of us to defend him. Pray heaven that they may not take it
into their heads to sacrifice us too, with a murrain on them!"
"Oh, I don't think they will do that, or even attempt to take gramfer
from us," replied Phil, cheerfully. "It seems that they have a very
great respect for white men--except Spaniards--and are ever on the
lookout for a paleface named Amalivaca to come across the Great Water
and unite all the Indians into one great and powerful nation which shall
utterly destroy the Spaniards and restore the country to its original
owners."
"I suppose they could not be persuaded to accept us as two of
Amalivaca's sons, come over as a sort of advance guard to prepare the
Indians for the arrival of the old boy himself?" suggested Dick. "But
then the difficulty is that we don't understand their lingo. Does
gramfer, think you? If so, he might be induced to act as our
interpreter, and inform the Indians that we are their friends. Perhaps
if they could be persuaded of that they might be induced to help us to
get the boat up above the rapids."
"Yes," agreed Phil, "they might; that is a very good idea, and I'll see
what can be done." Therewith he turned to the ancient, and again, with
much halting and stammering, contrived to explain what they desired to
accomplish.
The Peruvian put several questions to Stukely, seeming not quite to
comprehend what the white men required; and Dick noticed that after the
ex-priest had spoken a little while with Phil, the latter became much
more fluent and certain in his speech, so that, in the course of a
further conversation of some ten minutes' duration, he contrived to make
Vilcamapata clearly understand what he wanted; whereupon the old man,
facing round toward the huts, lifted up his voice and made what seemed
to be a long proclamation in a language of which Stukely understood
nothing. But if what he said was incomprehensible to the white man, it
was evident that it was clearly enough understood by the Indians, who,
before the speech was half over, came swarming out of their huts and
prostrated themselves before Phil and Dick, grovelling in the dust. Nor
did they attempt to interfere further with the Peruvian; on the
contrary, they listened with the utmost attention to all that he had to
say to them; and when he had finished, about a dozen of them jumped into
one of the largest canoes, paddled across to the opposite side of the
stream, vanished into the forest, and after an absence of about an hour
and a half, reappeared, singing a song of triumph and carrying the white
men's boat, with all her gear and contents intact, upon their shoulders,
having evidently brought her up past the rapids by a path through the
forest, on the opposite side of the river to that by which Phil and Dick
had ascended.
It was by this time within half an hour of sunset; and when the boat had
been launched in the river above the rapids, towed across to the village
side of the stream, and safely moored, the piache again made his
appearance and addressed himself at considerable length to Vilcamapata;
who, in his turn, addressed himself to Phil, informing the latter that
the villagers were profoundly grateful for the honour which the white
men had done them in condescending to visit their village, and that they
trusted the said white men would, by lodging in the village for that
night at least, if not for a much longer time, afford them an
opportunity to show their gratitude in a practical way. To which Phil,
after consultation with Dick, replied that they were gratified to find
that their Indian children duly appreciated the honour which had been
done them, and that, as a token of their favour, they would accede to
their request to spend the night in the village, provided that a new hut
were erected for their accommodation; but that they must depart at
sunrise, as they had a long journey before them. Whereupon the Indians,
with joyful songs, at once proceeded to erect the new hut on a vacant
space somewhat apart from the village, pushing forward the work so
rapidly that the hut was completed and ready for occupation by the time
that the first stars began to appear in the sky. And no sooner had the
two white men installed themselves therein, with a large fire blazing
before the hut to afford them light, and drive off the mosquitoes, than
several women appeared with baskets on their heads, some of which
contained cassava, while the contents of others consisted of the young
heads of Indian corn, boiled, and wrapped in plantain leaves, the hind
quarter of a kid, roasted, roasted plantains, a quantity of fruit, and a
calabash containing a liquid which had a faint, mellow, acid flavour,
something like weak cider, exceedingly refreshing as a beverage, but
decidedly heady, as they discovered a little later on. The Peruvian, at
the joint request of the white men, established himself in a corner of
the hut, thankfully accepted such viands as they gave him, and generally
comported himself in such a manner as to convey the idea that he
regarded himself as under their special protection. Indeed they were
glad enough that he should so regard himself, for there could be no
doubt that he would be of very great service to them, if only as a guide
and interpreter; he having, it appeared, been a wanderer up and down the
country for--as Phil understood--nearly forty years.
"The thing that puzzles me most of all," said Dick, when they were
discussing the day's doings as they sat at supper that night, "is how
you and the Peruvian came to be able to converse together. To me it
seems nothing less than a miracle."
"Yes," agreed Stukely, "I have no doubt it does; I can quite understand
that it would so appear to you. Indeed, when I come to reflect upon it,
it also appears miraculous to me; for why should I be able to understand
a language that I have never studied, spoken, or even heard before? It
seems impossible, upon the face of it, doesn't it? Yet, although I know
that I never was abroad until I came over here in the _Adventure_, I
have, from the earliest days of my childhood, had a feeling, amounting
sometimes to conviction, that sometime in the past I dwelt in just such
another land as this; a sound, an odour, has brought to me vague,
elusive memories of a country of vast forests, great, shining rivers,
stupendous mountains, and island-dotted lakes crowned with vast
buildings constructed in a style of architecture such as these eyes of
mine have never beheld in England. Then again I seem to be able to
recall gorgeous pageants in which I took a prominent part, and at which,
in the presence of an innumerable people, I assisted in the performance
of strange rites. Such scenes come to me most vividly in my dreams at
night; and there are occasions when those dreams are so realistic that
when I awake I am puzzled to decide which is the dream and which the
reality. And--strangest thing of all--on all these occasions I have
spoken the language which I spoke with Vilcamapata to-day! I recognised
him, or rather his type of countenance, the moment I set eyes upon him,
for I have beheld many such in my dreams. And ever since I have been in
this country I have had the feeling of one who, after a long absence,
finds himself again among familiar and homelike surroundings. Those are
the facts; but I cannot explain them any more than you can explain to me
why that fire throws out heat."
On the following morning the up-river journey was resumed, much to the
grief of the villagers, who seemed to have taken a most extraordinary
liking for the Englishmen, possibly because of some fancy that the
presence of the white men would bring good luck to the village and its
inhabitants. But neither Stukely nor Dick was minded to delay their
journey, and met the pressing invitation of the Indians to remain with
them by repeating their explanation that a long journey lay before them,
and that there were urgent reasons for the utmost haste. Whereupon the
headman of the village, through Vilcamapata, petitioned that a party
might be permitted to accompany the palefaces two days' journey up the
river, in order that they might transport their friends' boat past
certain rapids and a cataract which would be met with at that distance
above the village. This statement as to the existence of the rapids and
cataract being confirmed by Vilcamapata, Stukely graciously gave the
required permission; and when, after an early breakfast, the little
expedition set out, it consisted not only of the two Englishmen and
Vilcamapata, but also of twenty Indians in two canoes, who were vastly
astonished when, a fresh and favourable breeze happening to be blowing,
they saw the white men step their mast, unfurl their sail, and go
scudding upstream against the current at a speed which taxed their
utmost energies to keep pace with. But the wind died away about noon,
and then nothing would satisfy the Indians but that they must take the
boat in tow, which they did, with the result that Dick and Stukely were
spared a long and hot afternoon's paddling. Moreover, not content with
this, when the time came for them to camp for the night, the friendly
Indians insisted on building a hut for Dick and Phil to pass the night
in, one half of the party undertaking this task while the other half
plunged into the woods, to return, some three-quarters of an hour later,
loaded with fruit and game of various descriptions, the choicest
portions of which they placed in the white men's hut.
The next day's journey was, in all essential particulars, the
counterpart of that which preceded it, except that about mid-afternoon
they arrived at the foot of the rapids, of the existence of which the
Indians had warned them. These rapids were very much more formidable
than those which they had first encountered, the channel being
considerably narrower and the current consequently far more rapid; also
the river bed was here full of enormous rocks and boulders, over and
between which the water rushed and leapt and boiled in a turmoil of fury
that no boat or canoe could possibly have faced. Furthermore, the
rapids were nearly a mile and a half in length, beyond which was about a
mile of comparatively quiet water, and then came a cataract of over a
hundred feet in perpendicular height, with another half-mile of rapids
beyond it, before the river once more widened out sufficiently to be
navigable. Had the two adventurers been alone they would certainly have
been compelled to abandon their boat at this spot; but the Indians made
light of the difficulty, beginning by building a hut for their white
friends, as on the day before, on a small open plateau near the foot of
the rapids, while half a dozen of their number explored the banks on
either side of the river in search of a practicable road, by means of
which the boat could be carried up past the rapids and the cataract to
the navigable water beyond. This they eventually discovered in time to
effect the portage before dark. Then, more fruit having been found, and
game taken on the way back, a great fire was kindled, and a farewell
feast was held in honour of their paleface friends, which was wound up
with some of the most weird and extraordinary singing and dancing that
the Englishmen had ever heard or seen.
On the following morning the Indians escorted Phil, Dick, and
Vilcamapata to the spot where, beyond the cataract and the upper rapids,
their boat, with all its contents intact, rode safely in the placid
waters of a little bay where the river widened out and navigation was
once more possible. Here at last the kind-hearted natives bade a
reluctant and sorrowful farewell to Dick and Stukely; the bitterness of
parting being mitigated by a promise on the part of the white men that,
in the event of their returning by way of the river, they would not fail
to make a stay of at least a week in their friends' village.
Now, with a long stretch of unobstructed navigation before them, they
had time to improve their acquaintance with Vilcamapata, who was never
tired of expressing his gratitude to Dick and Stukely for having saved
him from a terrible death. But it soon became apparent that, for some
inexplicable reason, he regarded Stukely as much the more important
personage of the two, his devotion to Phil being of such a pronounced
character that it almost amounted to worship. This, of course, might
have been accounted for to some extent by the fact that Stukely was able
to converse with him in his own tongue, and the rapidity with which Phil
attained to proficiency in the Peruvian language was a never-ending
source of wonderment to Dick. But there was evidently something more
than this in it, something which he did not offer to explain, and upon
which Stukely did not care to question him, fearing that, if he did so,
such an exposure of ignorance on his part might result in a weakening of
his influence over the Peruvian, while from this influence he hoped to
obtain certain very important advantages. A rather remarkable
circumstance, which gradually revealed itself in the course of Phil's
conversations with the ex-priest, was that the latter did not seem to be
in the least surprised that Stukely should be desirous of penetrating
Peru; on the contrary, he appeared to regard it as quite a matter of
course; nay, more, it almost appeared as though Stukely's visit had been
long expected, and was a thing to be rejoiced over. At least this was
the impression which Stukely gathered from remarks and expressions
dropped by Vilcamapata from time to time; and he would greatly have
liked to have questioned the man upon the subject, and learned precisely
what he meant by such references; but forbore for the reasons above
stated. When at length Stukely cautiously hinted that the object of his
journey was the acquisition of wealth, the ex-priest, far from
exhibiting surprise or displeasure, displayed the utmost satisfaction,
and eagerly assured Phil that he could place him in possession of all
the wealth that he could possibly desire. Upon Phil asking where the
wealth was to come from, the Peruvian replied that when the country fell
into the hands of the Spaniards an enormous quantity of gold, silver,
and uncut gems had been concealed in a secret chamber of the temple of
which he had been a priest; that it was there still; and that he was
quite prepared to reveal the hiding-place to his English friends,
feeling assured that they would use it in the manner which had been
intended when it was first concealed. This again was a distinctly
cryptic remark, of which neither of the Englishmen could possibly guess
the meaning; but Stukely replied that Vilcamapata might rest assured
that they would employ it wisely and well; and with that answer the
Peruvian seemed perfectly satisfied. But when he was asked to describe
the whereabouts of the temple, he could only very vaguely indicate it as
being built on an island situated in the midst of a sacred lake; that
the lake lay at an immense distance to the southward, under the shadow
of a rather remarkable snow-capped mountain; that the way thither was
encompassed with dangers from wild animals, hostile Indians, and--worst
of all--Spaniards; and that, if they were fortunate, they might possibly
reach the place in about four moons of diligent travel. Four moons, or
months, of diligent travel! It seemed an immense distance; for
"diligent travel" through the virgin forest--and Vilcamapata gave them
to understand that a very considerable part of the distance would have
to be traversed by land--meant something like an average of fifteen
miles a day; and fifteen miles a day for one hundred and twenty days
meant a journey of eighteen hundred miles! But they were not dismayed;
for by this time they had come to have unlimited confidence in
themselves. They were daily becoming more learned in woodcraft, being
now able to traverse at least three miles of forest in the time that it
had originally taken them to travel one mile; familiarity had caused
them to lose completely their original dread of wild animals and noxious
reptiles and insects; and as for Indians and Spaniards--well, they
believed they could always circumvent either or both of them; while, so
far as the length of the journey was concerned, what was four months, if
there was a fortune to be gained at the end of it? So with light hearts
they pressed forward day after day, always following the river, until at
length they were obliged, first to abandon their boat in consequence of
the increasing number of rapids and falls, and take to a light canoe
instead, which they were easily able to transport overland when
necessary; and finally they reached a point where the river was no
longer navigable, even for a canoe, and they were obliged to take to the
forest.
But although they could no longer travel by water they still clung
closely to the river, as it was their only source of supply of drinking
water; moreover, it happened to lead pretty nearly in the direction of
their route. They were now proceeding up a valley, hemmed in on either
side by mountains ranging in height from ten thousand to fifteen
thousand feet, yet so dense was the forest through which they were
travelling that they seldom caught a glimpse of them, except in one
particular instance where they frequently sighted a majestic,
snow-capped peak right ahead of them when they encamped in a clearing
close to the river.
At length a day came when the noble river, upon the broad bosom of which
they had journeyed for so many days, dwindled to a tiny brook brawling
over a rocky bed, across which they could leap, the forest grew thin and
stunted, degenerated to a few scattered scrub oaks, and finally ceased
altogether, and they found themselves confronted by a mountain barrier,
the bare rocks of which were interspersed with patches of grass, upon
some of which were grazing small flocks of most extraordinary animals,
such as they had never seen before, but with which Vilcamapata was
evidently quite familiar. There were three distinct species of them,
although they all bore a striking resemblance to each other, being about
the size of donkeys, but having long necks, heads somewhat like those of
sheep, and legs and feet resembling those of camels. Vilcamapata
informed the Englishmen that these animals were known respectively as
alpacas, llamas, and vicunas, and that the first were used by his
countrymen for food, while their wool was woven into garments; the
second were used as beasts of burden, and the third were valuable
principally for their hair and hides.
The river was now left behind; but this caused the travellers no
inconvenience, for the mountains which they were ascending, were most of
them snow-capped, and tiny rivulets of ice-cold water, formed by the
melting snow, were frequently met with, so that they were at no loss for
water wherewith to quench their thirst. But as they pressed on,
climbing ever higher and higher, they began to suffer very severely,
first from cold, and next from mountain sickness, due to the steadily
increasing rarefaction of the atmosphere. Vilcamapata, however, had a
remedy for both evils, for he killed three alpacas and stripped off
their skins to serve as wraps for himself and his companions, to protect
them from the cold; while, as soon as the first symptoms of mountain
sickness declared themselves, he produced from his pouch a quantity of
leaves of the marvellous coca, and bade the Englishmen chew them, which
they did; whereupon not only did the sickness disappear, but they felt
no further need of food, while their strength was restored to them in a
manner that seemed absolutely miraculous. It cost them three days of
arduous labour to cross this mountain range; but the evening of the
third day found them once more encamped in the tropical forest beside a
tiny stream that flowed to the southward and eastward, while, on the
farther side, the valley sloped away into a still deeper depression.
Six days later, having meanwhile traversed about a hundred miles of
stifling tropical forest, travelling all the while in a due southerly
direction, and having crossed two important streams running in an
easterly direction, to say nothing of numberless rivulets, they came to
the bank of a third stream, also running almost due east; and here
Vilcamapata announced that it would be necessary to build a canoe, as he
now proposed to take to the water again. Upon Stukely pointing out to
him that this river, like those others that they had recently crossed,
flowed east, whereas he understood that their own route lay to the
southward, the Peruvian replied that such was certainly the case; but
that although the river which they had now reached ran eastward, it
eventually discharged into another, by travelling up which they would in
process of time come very near to their destination; and that although
the distance which they would have to travel by water was very much
greater than the direct overland route, they would be able to accomplish
it in a much shorter time, and with considerably more ease and comfort
to themselves. With this reply the Englishmen were obliged to be
content; accordingly while Dick and the Peruvian proceeded to hunt for a
suitable tree out of which to construct a canoe, within a reasonable
distance of the river bank, Stukely, taking his bow and arrows, went off
into the forest in search of game.
There had been a time when he would have hesitated to go very far into
those depths of green shadow alone, for fear of losing himself; but that
time was now long past for both the young Englishmen. They had grown
quite accustomed to travelling through the pathless forest, to wandering
hither and thither in it in pursuit of game, and mechanically to note
while doing so a thousand signs, quite imperceptible to the novice,
whereby they were enabled to return with certainty to the spot where
they had temporarily fixed their camp. Therefore on this occasion, as
on many others, Stukely, with a word of explanation to his companions,
plunged unhesitatingly into the labyrinth of tangled undergrowth which
covered the soil between the boles of the giant trees, instinctively
taking the direction in which he would be likely soonest to come upon
the track of game.
Yet he might have been excused had he hesitated to enter such a maze as
that which reared itself within less than a hundred yards of the spot
which the party had fixed upon for their temporary camp, for there was
no semblance of a path through it, and the mode of progress consisted
simply in entering at the spot where the tangle was thinnest and, still
following the line of least resistance, in that way make one's devious
way forward. Progressing in such a fashion, it would have been quite
possible, nay more, almost inevitable, that one unaccustomed to such a
mode of travel should become hopelessly lost within the first five
minutes; but not so Stukely or Dick; they had learned to preserve their
bearings by noting the moss growing on the trunks of the trees, the
direction in which their principal branches pointed, and a hundred other
apparently trivial signs. But it was a weird place in which to be
alone, for, apart from the green twilight produced by the filtration of
the light through the dense canopy of foliage that shut out all view of
the sky overhead, the under-brake was so thick that it was seldom
possible to see more than a yard or two ahead, and it was impossible to
say what strange or thrilling sight might at any moment meet the gaze.
Then there was the uncanny silence of the place, the kind of silence
that caused an involuntary movement on tiptoe and the holding of the
breath for fear of breaking it, yet which was broken at recent intervals
by stealthy, unaccountable rustlings, or sudden, violent commotions
beginning close at hand and gradually dying away in the distance. These
strange, sudden, unaccountable sounds, caused in all probability by a
boa-constrictor, a buck, or some other creature startled into quick
movement by the scent of a human being, wafted to their nostrils by an
errant draught of air, were even more startling to the nerves than the
distant roar of the jaguar, or the call of the bell bird which
irresistibly suggested the incongruous idea that at no great distance in
those gloomy forest depths would be found a church!
But Stukely was thoroughly accustomed to these and the various other
strange sounds that so frequently broke the silence of the forest, and
if he noted them at all it was merely as a hunter notes sounds that
guide him toward his game, or warns him of possible dangers. It was
not, however, in such a spot as this that he expected to find game, it
was in the open glades that occur here and there, where for some
unaccountable reason an acre or so of ground is entirely free from
trees, or at all events from undergrowth, and where the soil is covered
with thick, rich grass, upon which the deer love to graze, and which
they seem capable of scenting for miles. So he pushed forward, worming
his way through the tangled brake with an ease and celerity that would
have seemed absolutely miraculous to him three months earlier, and ever,
as he went, his glances darted hither and thither, searching for the
stronger light which should reveal to him the whereabout of one of those
open glades, or, incidentally, a venomous snake or other noxious
creature lurking in his path.
At length, when he had been thus engaged for about an hour, and had
travelled a distance of about two miles, a somewhat stronger light away
on his right front conveyed to him the welcome intimation that such an
open glade as he sought was at hand; and ten minutes later he emerged
from the forest to find himself confronted by a scene of so
extraordinary a character that he halted abruptly and rubbed his eyes,
uncertain for the moment whether what he beheld was reality or the
effect of a disordered imagination.