To hew and hollow a canoe out of a solid tree trunk is a sufficiently
formidable task for two men to undertake when they possess no more
suitable tools than their hangers--the hanger being a weapon very
similar to the more modern cutlass; and although the two Englishmen had
already done a similar piece of work once before, and were therefore not
altogether lacking in experience; and although Vilcamapata taught them
how to hollow out the hull expeditiously, after it was properly shaped,
by the use of fire, it cost Phil and Dick very nearly a month's
strenuous labour to get their new craft to their liking. But when she
was finished she was a very good canoe, indeed, much more shapely than
those made by the Indians, and her hull was so thin that, although she
measured about eighteen feet long over all by four feet beam, she was
light enough to be carried easily a distance of two or three miles, if
need be, by the two Englishmen, Vilcamapata being too old and feeble to
be capable of lending assistance in work of that sort.
But at length the work was finished, the craft was taken down to the
river, put in the water, and found to float true, and as buoyantly as an
egg-shell. The trio therefore put their few belongings into her, not
forgetting the two fine emeralds and the gold scales taken from the
idol, embarked, and resumed their journey.
They were now on the headwaters of a river which had its rise somewhere
on the eastern slope of the Andes; and the water was icy cold, being in
fact nothing but the drainings from an enormous glacier which could be
seen, some forty miles away, clinging to the side of a majestic peak
that towered nearly twenty thousand feet into the deep blue of the
tropic sky. But that was a blessing rather than otherwise, for although
they were not yet down among the plains the weather was intensely hot--
they being now immediately under the equator--and the coldness of the
water helped somewhat to mitigate the stifling heat between the two
great walls of forest which bordered the river on either hand.
No sail was needed, for they were now travelling with the stream, which,
being as yet little more than a mountain torrent, ran rapidly, so that a
paddle over the stern to keep the craft in midstream was all that was
necessary. But although the stream ran at the rate of fully six miles
an hour their progress was not by any means as speedy as one might at
first suppose, for rapids occurred at frequent intervals, and if these
were found to be impassable it became necessary to carry the canoe past
them through the forest. This plan, however, was only resorted to in
extreme cases, for if, upon examination, it was deemed at all possible
to shoot the rapids, they were shot; and as this sometimes happened as
often as three or four times a day, the adventurers soon acquired a
degree of dexterity in the art that they would have regarded as
perfectly amazing at the beginning of their journey.
On the evening of the fifth day of their journey down the river they
chanced to camp at a spot which afforded them an exceptionally fine view
of the mountain range to the westward; and when on the following morning
they rose to prepare for the day's journey they saw that a terrific
thunderstorm was raging about halfway up the eastern slope of the range.
It was a magnificent sight, the clouds, black as night below, but
brilliantly illuminated by the sun above, clinging to the mountain spurs
in enormous masses which rolled together, parted, and rolled together
again like charging squadrons, while the lightning, keen and vivid as
molten steel, incessantly darted from their black breasts like the
flashes of a platoon of musketry. And while this elemental warfare was
raging furiously up there among the mountains it was brilliant weather
where the wanderers were camped, with not a breath of wind to assuage
the torrid heat. Stukely happened to make some remark upon the contrast
to Vilcamapata, to which the old man replied:
"Yes, it is well for us that we are here rather than there; for such a
storm might well mean death for us all. But we must be watchful to-day,
lord, for that storm covers many miles of country, and the rain is
falling in torrents; and, unless I am greatly mistaken, most of it will
find its way into this river. Therefore must we be on our guard against
a sudden spate, which may overwhelm us if we are caught unawares."
The Englishmen agreed, and nothing further was said about the matter,
for they were busy making their preparations for the day; and in due
time they embarked and proceeded on their journey. About midday, in
confirmation of the old Peruvian's words, the first of the expected
spate revealed itself in a sudden acceleration of the current and a
change in the appearance of the water, which became turbid with mud in
suspension. Yet although the speed of the current continued to increase
gradually, it merely helped the voyagers on their way, for they now
seemed to have reached a stretch of the river that was entirely free
from rapids, nothing of the kind having been encountered since their
start in the early morning. Swiftly the canoe sped down the river,
running now at the rate of a good nine miles an hour, and her occupants
rejoiced exceedingly, for they were getting over as much ground in a
single hour as sometimes cost them a whole day to cover. They began to
make light of the precautions which they had observed during the earlier
hours of the day, and told each other with glee that if this was the
worst a spate could do they would welcome one every day so long as they
were bound downstream.
Indeed it was speedy travelling compared with what they had been
accustomed to; it was like journeying by postchaise after travelling in
a market wagon. The country swept past them at a speed that almost made
them giddy as they watched it, while the motion of the canoe was smooth
and easy as that of a cradle. Then, as they whirled round a bend they
suddenly, and without warning, found themselves sweeping through a gorge
with vertical, rocky, fern-grown banks on either hand. Too well they
knew what that sort of thing was the prelude to. There were rapids
ahead, almost to a dead certainty, and they had missed their chance of
inspecting before attempting to shoot them, for there was no landing on
either of those vertical banks; while as for returning to a point where
landing was possible, they might as well have attempted to fly! Well,
there was but one thing for it; if there were indeed rapids ahead they
must do their best to shoot them without the usual preliminary
inspection; they were growing quite accustomed to that kind of work now,
and it ought not to be so very difficult.
Accordingly Dick placed himself in the bow of the canoe and Phil
stationed himself amidships, each armed with the long pole which they
used to bear the canoe off the rocks when shooting rapids, while the
Peruvian perched himself up in the stern with the short steering paddle
in his hand. Presently the expected rapids swung into view ahead, and a
sufficiently formidable sight they presented. It was difficult, nay
impossible, to tell how far they extended, for a bend of the river shut
out the view; but there was at least half a mile of them in plain sight,
a narrow channel of foaming, leaping water, with the black head of a
rock showing occasionally here and there amid the foam. Dick drew his
feet up under him and raised himself to his full height in the crank
cockleshell of a canoe, in order that he might obtain as extended a view
as possible of what lay before him: he was admittedly far the more
expert canoeist of the two, especially when it came to shooting rapids,
therefore on such occasions his post was always in the bow, which then
becomes the post of honour--and of responsibility.
What he saw was by no means reassuring; there was far too much spouting
and foaming water for his taste, for such appearances invariably
indicated rocks submerged to the extent of a few inches at the utmost,
contact with any of which meant at least the destruction of the canoe,
if no worse mishap. True, in almost every stretch of rapids there
exists what may be termed by courtesy a channel, that is to say, there
is a passage, more or less tortuous, between the rocks where the water
is deep enough to float a canoe if one can but hit it off in time. This
channel or passage is usually distinguishable by the comparative
smoothness of the water in it; so that if the navigator can guide his
canoe fairly into it by the time that the rapids are actually reached,
he stands a very fair chance of accomplishing the run in safety,
although even then he must be continually on the alert, since the turns
are often so sharp that, unless taken at precisely the right moment, the
canoe may be dashed with destructive violence against an obstructing
rock; and it was the part of the bowman, or pilot, to look out for such
rocks and bear the canoe off them with the long pole which he invariably
wielded.
At length Dick believed he saw the beginning of such a channel, close
under the right bank of the river, and waved Vilcamapata to steer the
canoe toward it. Half a minute more, and the little craft had darted in
between two formidable walls of leaping water and was speeding downward
at a speed of fully fifteen miles an hour, with Dick and Phil standing
upright and thrusting their long poles first to one side and then the
other as Chichester's experienced eye detected the signs which mark the
presence of dangerous rocks to right or left, and signalled accordingly.
To cry out was utterly useless, the roar and hiss of the tortured
waters was far too loud to render even the voice of a Stentor audible,
and those behind the pilot could but watch his motions, and act
accordingly.
Two minutes of strenuous labour brought them to the bend in the river,
and this, Dick knew, would be one of the most critical points in the
whole run; for it is difficult enough to follow the turns of the
channel, even when the course of the river is straight, but when the
river as well as the channel bends it is difficult indeed to avoid
disaster. Still, Dick remained perfectly cool and self-possessed; the
certainty and success with which he had piloted the canoe through that
unknown half-mile of chaotic leaping and rushing water had given him
more confidence in himself than all the rest of his experience put
together, and he felt that unless something quite unexpected and out of
the common happened, there was no reason why they should not accomplish
the remainder of the run in safety. He held up his hand as a warning to
those behind him to be extra vigilant, for they were at what was
probably the most dangerous point of the run, and the next instant waved
to the Peruvian to swerve the canoe powerfully to the left. The Indian
obeyed, to the best of his ability; but he was old, his strength was
nothing like what it had been, and the little craft did not swerve quite
smartly enough to carry her clear of a rock that lay in her course.
Therefore out shot Dick's long pole, and the moment that he felt the jar
of it upon the rock he threw his whole weight upon it in the attempt to
save the canoe. The shock was tremendous, the canoe was turned
violently broadside-on to the current, and at that critical moment
Dick's pole snapped clean in two, the recoil sending the youngster
headlong into the boiling current, while the next moment the canoe swept
up against the submerged rock, was rolled over and over, and her
remaining occupants were flung into the swirl.
The moment that Dick felt the pole snap in his hand he knew that a
capsize was inevitable, and, with the instinct which belongs to the
accomplished swimmer, he at once made up his mind what would be the best
thing for him to do. If he could manage to get into the centre of the
main current he could probably retain his position there, and so swim
the remainder of the distance to the lower end of the rapids in safety,
provided that he could avoid the rocks. There was no use in looking out
for the others; they were as well able to take care of themselves as he
was; besides, they would each stand a better chance apart than together
in that mad turmoil. As for the canoe, she must take her chance;
probably she would be smashed to splinters; but if so, it would only
mean the making of another one. True, it would involve a month's delay,
but time of late had seemed to lose its value for them all; they were
bound for a definite goal, which they would assuredly reach sooner or
later, and the loss of a month or two seemed a mere trifle not worth
consideration. Accordingly, the moment that Dick rose to the surface he
shook the foam and spray from his eyes, glanced round him, verified his
position, and at once struck out powerfully for the comparatively smooth
water that indicated the main current, noting, as he did so, that Phil
and the Peruvian were both swimming strongly, and that the canoe, full
of water, was slowly rolling over and over as she drove along through
the worst of the broken water. Five minutes of desperate struggle,
during which he had no time to think of anything but his own safety, and
during which he had several very narrow escapes of being dashed
violently against rocks and sustaining serious injuries, if not being
killed outright, and he suddenly found himself in smooth water, with the
canoe swinging hither and thither in the eddies, close beside him. To
swim to her and proceed to push her before him toward the nearest bank
was an instinctive act with Dick; and he presently had the satisfaction
of grounding her on a small strip of shingly beach where there was a
slight back eddy. Then he looked about for the other two, and presently
caught sight of Phil, a little lower down, swimming slowly and
supporting Vilcamapata's apparently senseless form. Phil looked as
though he were rather in difficulties, so Dick at once plunged in again
and swam to his assistance, and ten minutes later all three of them were
ashore again, about a mile lower down the river than the spot where the
canoe had been beached.
"I'm afraid gramfer, here, is rather badly hurt," gasped Phil, as he and
Dick lifted the insensible form of the Peruvian to the top of the low
bank. "Evidently he has been dashed against a rock and stunned, if not
worse," he continued, pointing to a very ugly jagged wound in the right
temple, from which the blood was welling pretty freely. "I noticed, as
I drove past, that you had saved the canoe. Do you think you could
manage to go back and fetch her down, Dick? My case of medicaments is
in her--if the thwart to which it was lashed has not gone adrift--and I
should be very glad to have it just now. Dost thou mind; or art too
tired?"
"Not a bit of it," answered Dick. "Of course I'll go, with pleasure.
And you will be glad to hear that, so far at least as I could see, the
craft is not damaged at all. But of course her paddles are lost, except
the one that gramfer, there, has stuck to so tenaciously, so I must
borrow it from him." And he stooped down and, with some difficulty,
loosened the grip of the unconscious man's hand on the steering paddle,
which he had, no doubt unconsciously, retained in his grip ever since
the capsize. "I'll be back as quickly as possible," concluded Dick, as
he struck off into the bush that, just there, bordered the river.
He returned again in about half an hour, with the canoe intact, nothing
having been lost but the paddles, which were the only articles that
happened to have been loose in her when she capsized. With quick
fingers he cast loose the small medicine case which Phil had taken
ashore with him on the occasion of the ill-fated landing at Cartagena,
and which he had carried about with him ever since, carefully enwrapped,
like their powder horns, in portions of their shirts liberally smeared
with caoutchouc juice to exclude all moisture. Poor old Vilcamapata was
still insensible when Dick returned, and Phil was looking exceedingly
anxious about him; but the production of the medicine case soon altered
matters; and a few minutes later the old man was sitting up and looking
about him dazedly. At first he seemed not to recognise Phil or Dick, or
to be able to remember what had happened; but gradually it all came back
to him; and when Phil asked him how he felt he replied that he was
fatigued and desired to sleep. Accordingly, the young medico bathed the
wound with water from the river, applied some healing ointment to it,
bound it up with what remained of their shirts; then they made up a
temporary couch for the sufferer under the shadow of a bush, and left
him to sleep as long as he would, while Dick went off in search of game,
and Phil proceeded to carve a pair of new paddles and to cut a couple of
new poles.
When Dick returned from his hunting expedition, some two hours later,
with a small deer and a brace of guinea fowl, he found that Vilcamapata
was still asleep, while Phil was putting the finishing touches to the
new paddles. The Peruvian, it appeared, had scarcely moved since he
fell asleep; and there was some peculiarity in the manner of his
breathing which was causing Stukely a good deal of anxiety.
"I am rather afraid," explained Phil, "that the poor old man has
sustained some internal injury, in addition to the wound on his head;
and, if so, we may have trouble with him. But we will let him sleep as
long as he will; for sleep is a great restorer; and the breathing
difficulty may disappear when he awakes and sits up. But when he does,
I will subject him to a very careful examination. It was most
unfortunate that your pole broke, Dick; but for that I believe we should
have shot the rapids in perfect safety."
While Phil completed the paddles, Dick set to work to light a fire,
break up the deer, and prepare the guinea fowl for cooking; and still
the injured man slept on, his breathing ever growing more laboured and
stertorous, until at length the difficulty with which he drew his breath
awakened him and, with a groan, he strove to raise himself. In an
instant Stukely was by his side and, slipping an arm beneath his
shoulders, he raised the old man to a sitting position, with his back
supported by the stiff branches of the bush under the shadow of which he
had been sleeping. And while he was making the poor old fellow as
comfortable as he could he enquired solicitously how he felt; but
Vilcamapata only looked at him blankly, and murmured a few words in a
tongue that was quite unintelligible to his listener. Then, with gentle
touch, Phil began to pass his hand cautiously over his patient's body,
searching for possible fractured ribs or some similar injury; but the
old man waved him impatiently away, and presently broke forth in a low,
crooning sort of chant.
"My days are done," he murmured; "my wanderings are at an end; my Father
the Sun and my Mother the Moon call me, and I must depart for those
Islands of the Blessed that our Father sometimes deigns to show us
floating afar in the serene skies of eventide. My spirit is weary and
longs for rest. Full forty years have I been an outcast and a wanderer
in the land that once belonged to my people; and during those years no
friendly face have I ever beheld, no friendly voice has ever reached
mine ear until the day when the two white men saved me from the fire of
the Pegwi Indians. And to me have they been since then as sons; nay,
more than sons, for there was a time when I dreamed that he whom the
fair young giant calls Phil might be our Father Manco Capac returned to
earth to deliver his people from the thraldom of the Spaniard. But
to-day have mine eyes been opened, and I know of a surety that Manco
will never return to earth to deliver his people, whose doom it is to
disappear gradually from off the face of the earth, and be known no
more. Therefore, listen unto me, O ye who have been as sons to me in
the days of my loneliness and old age: Ye crave for gold, and the stones
that gleam in the light white and bright as stars, green as the young
grass that springs to life after the rains of winter, and red as the
heart's blood of a warrior; and in my blindness I dreamed that ye sought
them as the means whereby ye might obtain the power to drive out the
Spaniard from the fair land of the Incas and restore it to those from
whom it was wrongfully taken. And in the days of our great calamity
there arose one who prophesied that in the latter days our Father Manco
should return to earth and do this thing; therefore was a great treasure
of gold and stones secretly gathered together from mines known only to
our own people, and securely hidden from the Spaniard, in order that
when Manco came he might have an abundance of wealth wherewith to buy
arms and food and clothing for his armies. But to-day I know that the
prophet who foretold this thing was a false prophet, and that the hidden
treasure will never be needed for the accomplishment of the purpose for
which it was gathered; also I am the last of those who knew the secret
of the hiding-place, and if I pass away, taking the secret with me, the
treasure will be lost, wasted, useless, remaining for ever undiscovered.
"Therefore hearken now unto me, O ye who have been to me as sons in
these the last days of mine old age. When my spirit leaves this
withered shell, as it is about to do, ye shall build a funeral pyre, lay
my body thereon, and put fire thereto; for by fire are all things
purified, and on the wings of the flames shall my spirit mount and soar
away to those Happy Isles where is neither sin, nor sorrow, nor
suffering, nor any other evil thing. This shall ye do to-night. And
with the rising of to-morrow's sun ye shall resume your journey down the
river, and so continue for, it may be, twelve days, until this river
flows into a much mightier one. Then ye shall journey up that mightier
stream--which flows to the south and west--and, turning neither to the
right hand nor to the left, shall follow it to its source beyond Cuzco,
until ye sight Sorata's mighty snow-clad crest. And there, under
Sorata's morning shadow shall ye find the Sacred Lake. There are
islands in that lake: that which lies in the centre of the lake is the
island which ye must seek, for on it stands the ruined temple of the
Sun, beneath the great marble floor of which lies--lies--the--Yea, great
Lord and Father, I come!"
And, sinking back among the branches of the bush which supported him,
Vilcamapata, the one-time priest of the Sun, closed his eyes as a
torrent of blood gushed from his mouth, and quietly passed away.
"Internal haemorrhage!" exclaimed Stukely, as he lightly laid his
fingers upon the pulseless wrist. "I feared it. Yes"--as he passed his
hand over the body--"three of his ribs are broken, and the jagged ends
have doubtless lacerated some internal organ--the lung, perhaps. Well,
he is dead, beyond all question; and now, all that remains for us to do,
Dick, is to dispose of his body in accordance with his instructions.
But I do not altogether like the idea of building his pyre just here.
We must see if we cannot find a suitable spot about a quarter of a mile
away."
"I know a perfectly suitable spot about that distance from here,"
answered Dick; "I passed through it on my way back to camp, about an
hour ago. Come, I will show it to you; there is plenty of dry wood
there, and there is a path by which we can easily carry the body to it.
Better make a litter, perhaps, and take it with us now."
Stukely eagerly concurred in this view, and they at once proceeded to
construct a litter of boughs bound together with lianas, upon which,
when it was finished, they laid the attenuated form of the old man, and,
with measured steps and slow, bore him to the spot where his mortal
frame was to undergo its typical purging by fire. The place was one of
those perfectly open clearings which are so frequently met with in the
South American forest; it was about ten acres in extent, roughly
circular in shape, and was carpeted with thick grass which the deer and
other grazing animals kept close cropped; consequently it was well
adapted for the purpose to which it was about to be put, since by
erecting the pyre in the centre of the clearing there would be no risk
of setting the adjoining forest ablaze.
Laying the litter and its burden down in a convenient position just
within the clearing, the two Englishmen plunged back into the forest,
and, using their hangers as axes, vigorously proceeded to hew down all
the dry, dead branches and underwood they could find; for the afternoon
was waning apace and it was essential that the flames should be kindled
in time to allow of their returning to their camping place by daylight.
Fortunately there was no lack of suitable material close at hand; and an
hour's arduous work sufficed to provide a sufficiency for their purpose.
Then they proceeded to build the pyre, laying the smallest branches at
the bottom, intermingled with plenty of dry brushwood, and putting the
thickest branches on the top. Then, on the top of all, they placed the
body; and Phil next proceeded to make fire in the usual way by rubbing
two sticks together. This was soon done, the fire was inserted into the
heart of the pyre by means of an aperture left for the purpose, and
then, when the whole was fairly alight, Phil and Dick bared their heads,
fell upon their knees, and with the simple faith which so strongly
characterised the religious feeling of the time, humbly commended the
soul of Vilcamapata to the mercy of God who gave it. By the time that
they had finished their petitions the pile was a mass of flame which
roared and crackled fiercely as it shot straight upward in the still
evening air; and, with a last parting glance at the body, which could be
seen shrivelling in the midst of the flames, they turned and silently
wended their way back to their camping place. And thus passed
Vilcamapata, the last of the ancient Peruvian priests of the Sun, with
two men only, and they of alien blood and alien religion, to perform the
last sacred rites for him.
On the following morning, having breakfasted and completed their
preparations for immediate departure, the two young Englishmen, feeling
strangely lonely, walked over to the spot where the funeral pyre had
been built, and inspected what remained of it. They found that it had
been completely consumed, to the very last twig; and upon searching
among the white ashes they found a calcined skull and a few fragments of
the larger bones. These they gathered carefully together and reverently
buried; after which, having now done all that was possible to preserve
the remains of their late friend from desecration, they returned to the
camp, embarked in their canoe, and resumed their voyage down the river.
The following fortnight proved quite uneventful for our two adventurers;
they journeyed on down the river at an average rate of about twenty
miles a day, and from time to time encountered rapids or cataracts, or
both together, shooting most of the former, and, of course, being
compelled to carry the canoe down past the latter; but they had by this
time become so thoroughly accustomed to the negotiation of rapids and
waterfalls that they had long since ceased to regard the passage of one
or the other as an adventure. True, they saw a few Indians
occasionally; but these generally beat a hasty retreat when the white
men appeared, and remained concealed until the canoe and its two
occupants, now garbed like savages in the skins of beasts, had
disappeared round the next bend in the river.
As foretold by Vilcamapata, they reached the "much mightier river"--the
Maranon--on the afternoon of the twelfth day, and there their pleasant
journeying with the current ceased; henceforward the current would again
be their enemy, instead of their friend as it had been of late, and
every inch of progress would have to be won either with the assistance
of the sail or by arduous toil with the paddle. Luckily for them, they
had had the prescience to bring the sail along with them when they found
themselves obliged to abandon the boat, and now they reaped the full
reward of their labours, and were glad that they had resisted the
often-repeated temptation to leave it behind when they encountered some
exceptionally difficult bit of road.
Thanks to the help afforded by a strong breeze from the north-east, the
end of their second day's journeying on the Maranon found them some
seventy miles above the spot where they had struck the river, and in the
territory--had they but known it--of the fierce and warlike Mayubuna
Indians. They had seen several parties of these during the latter part
of the day, and, contrary to the usual custom of the Indians which they
had thus far met with, instead of running away at the first sight of the
canoe, the Mayubunas had stood on the river bank and watched their
progress, manifesting no fear of the whites, but, on the other hand,
displaying no outward signs of hostility, unless, indeed, the fact that
about an hour before sunset a large canoe had been manned at the last
village which the white men had passed, and had proceeded rapidly up the
river ahead of them, might be so construed. Unfortunately for them,
they did not so construe it, but regarded it rather as a sporting
attempt on the part of a number of Indians, bound up the river, to
display the superiority of the paddle over the sail, and were amused
accordingly.
But when, upon rounding the next bend of the river, the two Englishmen
sighted two large canoes, full of Indians, ahead of them, one canoe
paddling along close in with the left bank, while the other as closely
hugged the right, they began for the first time to suspect that all was
not quite as it should be, and Phil--who was sitting idly amidships,
while Dick sailed the canoe--rose to his feet and hailed them in the
Indian dialect, which he had picked up from Vilcamapata. No notice,
however, was taken of the hail, but it was observed that the sailing
canoe was now gaining distinctly upon the others.
Encouraged by this evidence of superior speed, the white men pressed on,
anxious to get into communication and establish friendly relations with
the Indians before nightfall; and it was not until the two canoes ahead
suddenly swerved outward and laid themselves athwart the hawse of the
sailing canoe, as though to bar her further progress, that either of the
occupants of the latter thought of looking astern. Then they realised
that matters were indeed beginning to look serious, for behind them were
no less than four large canoes, each containing twenty-one men, which
had evidently emerged from a small creek about half a mile lower down,
and were now drawing near with unmistakably hostile intentions.
"This looks awkward, Dick," exclaimed Stukely, seizing his bow and
arrows. "Surely they cannot seriously intend to try to stop us?"
"If they don't, why are they laying their canoes across our hawse like
thicky?" demanded Dick. "Hadn't you better speak to them a bit, Phil?"
"Ay, I'll try," answered Stukely. And, stepping into the bows of the
canoe, he ostentatiously laid down his weapons and made the usual signs
of amity. The reply was a yell of anger and hatred from the Indians,
who were blocking the way, while one of them, springing to his feet,
shouted:
"Go back, dogs of Spaniards; go back! This is the land of the Mayubuna,
and we will permit no Spaniard to set foot upon its soil. We have no
desire to be swallowed up, as Atahuallpa and his people were, after he
had welcomed you to his country; therefore go back--or die!"
"They take us for Spaniards," explained Phil to Dick; and, raising his
hands, he shouted back:
"People of the Mayubuna, you are mistaken; we are not Spaniards, but are
the enemies of the Spaniard, and the friends of all who hate them. We
are on our way up the river to fight them, now; and we beg you to give
us free passage through your land, and also a little cassava."
A laugh of derision greeted this statement; and the Indian who had just
spoken shouted in reply:
"You lie, dog and son of a dog; you are Spaniards, for your skins are
light, like theirs, and one of you has a beard." And suddenly raising
his bow, the speaker discharged an arrow at Phil, which whizzed past
within half an inch of that gentleman's ear.
"Make as though you intended to run down that canoe," ordered Phil.
Then, seizing his bow and fitting an arrow to the string, he answered:
"Fools! we are English, I tell you, and the deadly enemies of the
Spaniard; therefore let us pass in peace, otherwise must we make a
passage for ourselves by force of arms."
The reply to this was another scornful laugh and a flight of arrows from
every Indian in the two opposing canoes. By a miracle Phil again
escaped unhurt, although no less than five arrows lodged in the
puma-skin tunic which he was wearing, and the sail of the canoe was
literally riddled with them. He felt that the matter was getting beyond
a joke, that the time for fair speaking was past and the time for action
had arrived, so, raising his bow, he drew his arrow to its head, and
aimed it full at the breast of the Indian who had addressed him so
abusively. For a single moment he hesitated, then he released the
arrow, and the next moment, with the shaft buried so deep in his body
that the point protruded nearly a foot out of his back, the savage flung
up his arms, reeled backward, and fell into the water, capsizing the
canoe in which he had been standing as he did so.