When I had heard the story of Atupo, it seemed to me that I knew all
there was to know concerning the "Big Fish." And a feeling of
restlessness at once possessed me; I desired to be up and doing, to
venture myself across the grassland, to find the Wood of the Red Fish,
for which the bold Spaniards of a bygone century had searched so often
and in vain.
But I stood in the debt of charity and honour, and in consequence I felt
for all the world like a kennelled dog that tugs barking on his chain.
For some weeks, at least, I must stay by the side of the wounded man,
whom I could now call my friend. And if those days were something idle,
we were by no means out of danger; for any day Amos Baverstock might
return when, of a certainty, it would go ill with Atupo and myself.
I found ample time throughout this period of my adventuring to explore
the neighbourhood of the Temple, and many things I found of the greatest
interest. About a mile distant from the ruins was the village where the
Peruvians had lived, and here also was a great convent built of stone
and thatched with straw, after the fashion of the palaces in ancient
Quito. In this convent--so Atupo told me--had dwelt some score of nuns,
vestal virgins, whose lives were dedicated to the Sun, just as there had
been such maidens in the service of Jupiter and Mars in the great
temples of Rome; for in many respects did the ancient Peruvians resemble
the Romans: they were great builders of roads, bridges, and forts; every
man must serve the state; and the Inca, on returning from his victories,
would march in public triumph through the chief city of the land.
I found both the village and the convent quite deserted; for--as I have
said--on hearing of the approach of Amos and his friends, the Peruvians
had fled into the forest, preferring to run the risk of death at the
hands of the wild men with their poisoned arrows, or from starvation in
the midst of that unending wilderness, to finding themselves once again
face to face with that implacable and murderous villain who had sworn to
put them all--woman, man, and child--relentlessly to death.
I learned afterwards that few of these poor fugitives survived; for Amos
burned their homes to the ground and left not one stone upon another;
and this he did in wrath and malice, since it served him no better
purpose than to waste his time, and that at a moment when his fate was
jeopardised and he himself stood betwixt life and death.
When I saw the convent and the village, the place was just as the
inhabitants had left it; and in such haste had they departed that I even
found cooking-pots containing stews, all cold and jellified, standing in
the ashes of burnt-out fires. The only sign of life to be seen was a
number of llamas, long-necked Peruvian sheep, grazing in the shadow of
the convent walls.
And now I am arrived at that part of my story when I came within an ace
of losing life itself, and was only delivered at the eleventh hour by
what was little short of the miraculous. For, in course of time, Atupo
was healed of his wound, and well able, with the help of a staff, to
hobble about the temple. It was then that I told him of my plans, of
how I longed to journey to the Wood of the Red Fish, if for nothing else
than to gaze upon the treasure of the Incas.
He listened patiently to all I had to say, and then sighed deeply.
"As you will," said he. "Of what use now is all this gold? My brother
priests are slain, my people are scattered broadcast; the children of
Cahazaxa are no more. Find your way, if you will, to the 'Big Fish.' I
have told you where it lies. Feast your eyes upon the wealth that was
once the glory of Peru. The race of the Incas is ended; the blood of
kings is cold; even our gods are dead."
I knew that he referred to certain images in the Temple which Amos had
wantonly destroyed; and I was sorry for the man.
"You will come with me?" I asked.
But he shook his head.
"That is not possible," he answered. "And even were it so, there would
be naught to gain. I am already too greatly in your debt, and were I to
accompany you, I should be a hindrance and a danger."
I could not deny the truth of this, though I was loth to leave him, weak
and crippled as he was. And yet, it was manifest that we could not
remain for an indefinite time within the Temple: sooner or later, our
provisions would run out, and, any day, Amos might return.
"Where will you go?" I asked.
He pointed towards the forest.
"Thither," said he; and there was a certain nobility in his manner when
he added, "to find my own people; for find them I will, in this world or
beyond the grave. Death holds no fears for the sons of Cahazaxa."
And so, some days afterwards, we parted: he, to the east, to the dark,
spreading forest; I, to the west, across the grassland, upon my treasure
quest, to search for the Wood of the Ked Fish and the lost Treasure of
Kings.
I set forth upon my great adventure all naked like a savage, save for a
loin-cloth of woven hair that Atupo, the priest, had given me. I was
armed with my long Indian blow-pipe and a quiverful of darts. And I
went into that strange, romantic land alone, without guide, compass or
companion, never knowing at night-time, when I lay down to sleep, what
calamity or fortune the morrow held in store for me. And this, I stand
convinced even to this day, when my hairs are white and shoulders bowed,
is the only way to live and to die.
For three days I traversed a great plain of rolling, down-like country,
that reminded me somewhat of my own dear Sussex, save that the grass was
coarse and longer. Some miles before me was a high ridge that stood
forth at sunset like a battlement across the sky; and I knew that I must
gain the crest of this before I could find the Wood of the Red Fish.
Presently, however, I found my progress impeded by a river that had
worked its way throughout the centuries deep into the rock, so that it
flowed between almost perpendicular cliffs.
I could neither see nor devise any manner of crossing. I sat down upon
the edge of the canon and ate some of the manioc I had brought with me
from the temple. I remembered that both Amos and Atupo had somehow
crossed the river; and this thought was not a little encouraging. Across
the grassland I had followed no track or pathway, so that when I had
found a means of crossing the canon, I must know that I was once again
upon the right road to the wood that I was seeking.
That night, in full moonshine, I worked up-stream for many miles upon
the left bank of the ravine. I slept for a few hours, and at daybreak
continued my journey, and a little after, came quite suddenly upon one
of the most wondrous things that I have ever seen.
For there before me was a great and magnificent suspension bridge,
spanning the width of the ravine--a distance, I should say, of thirty or
forty yards. The cables of this bridge were made of the twisted fibre
of maguey, a kind of osier, and were at least three feet in diameter.
It was hard to realise that the whole structure stood there more or less
as it had been erected, centuries before; but it seemed to me an even
more wonderful thing that, in the midst of such a desolate and barren
region, I should so suddenly have come across evidence of the greatest
skill in engineering. I could scarce believe that I had passed through
an almost impenetrable tropical forest to traverse a ravine as easily as
I might have walked along the familiar dyke from Sidlesham to Pagham.
The bridge itself was no more than a footbridge, but it served its
purpose well enough; and, crossing over, I hit almost at once upon a
pathway through the grass. This I lost at nightfall, but I continued on
my way in the moonlight, working upward upon a slope that rapidly became
steeper.
In the small hours of the morning, sheer fatigue brought me to a halt by
the side of a spring of clear water, bubbling forth from the earth. And
here I drank and ate, breathing deeply of the cool fresh air of the
uplands, which was like strong wine to me after the humid atmosphere of
the forest; so that I slumbered as I had not slept for months, since I
had left my home in Sussex, nor did I awaken until the morning sun was
high.
I saw that I had but a little way to go to reach the crestline of the
hills--an hour's climb would do it; and I set forward gleefully, in high
anticipation, wondering what lay beyond the watershed, and whether I
would sight the Wood of the Red Fish, but little dreaming what would
there befall me.
I reached the summit hot and out of breath; and then I stood stock
still, breathless in wonderment and all amazed.
I cast not one glance towards the wide valley at my feet. I stood
staring before me, like one dumbfounded, at the gorgeous panorama I
beheld. For yonder, more than a hundred miles away, but clear in the
morning sun at the back of me, stood the mighty and majestic Andes.
Snow-crowned they were, rugged as a wild sea, and yet bold and still and
massive as the thrones of gods. And I, who had never seen such
mountains in my life, was awed and wonder-struck; and I realised, I am
sure, the glory of the works of God.
I gazed--it may have been, for an hour, sitting cross-legged, naked as
the wild men of the woods, with my blow-pipe on my knees--at that great
range of mountains that spans near half the world, extending almost from
pole to pole. And then I looked down into the valley, and the thought
that I was now within a day's march of my goal banished from my mind all
loftier thoughts, and I found myself wondering whether it was I who was
to find, at last, the lost land of El Dorado.
For the valley was cut up into marshland, plains and hillocks, in and
out of which a river wandered, now and again to open out into a lake or
swamp, in which there were little tree-clad islands. But to the north
was a wood, diamond-shaped, flanked to the east by a spur of the hills,
and to the west by a morass where I could see the water glittering in
the sunlight.
On the foothills across the valley was a considerable forest, extending
as far as the eye could reach; but I could not doubt that the wood in
mid-valley, to the right of me, being so like the description which
Atupo, the priest, had given me, was the Wood of the Red Fish.
And then and there I set forward running, for I was young and
hot-headed, and had not yet learned that time is but the slave of man,
and that patience and caution are of more worth than eager haste.
So I came, that evening, hot and thirsty to the wood, and then, in the
darkness of the trees, whilst the sun was setting, I stood like a fool,
irresolute and wearied, not knowing what next that I should do.
I was hungry as well, for I had eaten all the food I had carried with me
from the temple, and saw now that I must trust to my blow-pipe for
sustenance, and kill what came my way that might be fit to eat.
Fortunately, during my sojourn with the wild men, I had learned
something of Indian woodcraft; and setting about my business without
further loss of time, I searched at random in the wood until I found a
glade where there was a pool of water, and here I crouched under cover,
lying motionless, with my blow-pipe ready for whatsoever animal might
come down to the pool to drink whilst the evening light still lasted.
This place--though I then knew it not--was the Glade of Silent Death;
and I have given it that name for a certain reason, which was in very
truth a tragedy.
There came, as I waited, to the woodland pool a small kind of deer; and
he waded knee-deep into the water that he might drink. As he did so, I
thought that I perceived some movement on the surface, as it might have
been a rat swimming swiftly a distance of a few yards. I took no heed
of it at the time, my attention being taken up with my blow-pipe, that I
might strike the deer stone-dead, beneath the point of the left
shoulder, placing my arrow deep in the poor beast's heart.
I was about to shoot, when suddenly he kicked, and then endeavoured with
a jerk to throw himself backward on his haunches. To my astonishment I
observed that he was held fast by the nose, which might have been
gripped in a vice, and that in spite of all his efforts he was being
dragged steadily and slowly deeper into the pool.
It was as if I were smitten by a cold rush of ice, when the truth was
made quite plain to me. It was that half-light of evening, which is
neither day nor night, when the early moon vies with the dying sunlight.
And I saw the monster writhing coils of a great serpent rise dripping
from the water and enfold the broken stump of a tree.
I knew now that the deer was doomed; and so illogical is human nature
that I experienced two emotions: terror of the reptile and pity for the
beast that but a moment since I myself would have gladly slain for food.
No doubt the anaconda stood in need of nourishment as much as I, and
wanted more of it, to boot. But snakes were accursed things since Eden,
and this vile, stealthy giant more so than most, because of his great
bulk and strength. I know now that he was nearer thirty than twenty
feet in length, and that his girth about the middle was greater than
that of my own chest, though I was a strong lad for my years.
And now that he had lashed himself to the tree-stump, the deer was lost.
Its head was already under water, so that in a few moments the animal
must be drowned. It would then be crushed to a pulp in the powerful,
band-like coils of the constrictor, covered all over with a loathsome
saliva, to be swallowed slowly and gradually, and yet in bulk.
I could see the head of the snake, for the light was fading and the deer
in its death struggle lashed the water into foam. But I could see the
great glistening body of the reptile but a few yards away from me, and
into the thickest part of this I drove one of the darts from my Indian
blow-pipe, and as I did so, shuddered, more revolted than afraid.
The effect was instantaneous and surprising. My dart must have struck
the snake in the region of the spinal cord, for the great length of the
brute curled backward like the lash of a whip; and the deer, released
from those murderous coils, scrambled from the water, panting and
exhausted, with its red tongue hanging from its mouth.
And then the animal fell dead upon the ground, but a few feet from where
I lay. I could feel my own heart beating within me like a
sledge-hammer. For some minutes I gazed at the pool that rocked and
swelled like a sea in miniature. There came ripples, one after the
other, to the water's edge, where they lipped and splashed like little
waves. And then, at last, all was still--still as glass in the
moonlight. But I knew that the great snake was somewhere near me, and
my sole desire was to escape from that dread, silent place, and that as
quickly as I might. And yet, the primal instinct of mankind was strong
within me, the love of life that is sustained by food; and as I drew
back into the thickets of the underwoods, I dragged with me by the horns
the lifeless body of the deer.