hither and thither in the most bewildering fashion; for in addition to
the giant trees which constituted the forest proper, there was a vast
quantity of thick, tangled undergrowth, through which a man might indeed
have forced his way with difficulty, but which was absolutely impassable
for laden mules; therefore it was necessary to follow the sinuosities of
the thinner parts of the jungle where a few occasional strokes of a
machete were all that were required to enable the laden animals to pass.
Under such circumstances progress was necessarily slow, and also
fatiguing; but the Englishmen forgot not only the snail-like nature of
their progress, but also the oppressive heat and fatigue of the march,
for they were now in a new and wonderful world, more strange and
beautiful than anything that the most fanciful imagination among them
had ever pictured. To men like themselves, seamen, accustomed day after
day, for months at a time, to the sight of the open sky, the boundless
sea, the invigorating breath of the salt wind, and the feeling of a
heaving deck beneath their feet, it was a novelty to be trudging upon
firm ground along a forest path, enveloped in the mystery of soft green
twilight, with dense masses of foliage overhead shutting out all sight
of the sky except at infrequent intervals, their horizon bounded by the
leafy brake within arm's reach of them on either hand, and to breathe
the hot, close atmosphere of the woods, pungent with many strange
odours; to listen to the silence of the forest, accentuated rather than
broken by the sounds of their passage, and the low singing hum of
innumerable myriads of invisible insects; to start as a sudden whirr of
wings directed their attention to some brilliant plumaged bird seen for
an instant flashing athwart their ken like a living gem and then
vanishing they scarcely knew whither; to behold the countless strange
forms and curious colours of the flowers that sprang beneath their feet
or hung in festoons from the lofty branches overhead; to hear the
mysterious sounds that occasionally came to them from the forest on
either hand; and to slake their thirst by devouring the strange but
luscious fruits indicated by their friends the Cimarrones and partaken
of at first doubtfully and with extremest caution. And it was only when
they suddenly emerged from the forest gloom into some brake open to the
sky, and halted for a moment until their eyes grew accustomed to the
dazzling daylight, that they were able to realise how intense that gloom
had been. But the novelty of the journey was not all pleasurable, for
apart from the breathless, oppressive heat, and the annoyance caused by
the pertinacious attacks of mosquitos, gnats, and other fiercely
stinging insects, there was a certain element of danger, as was
manifested by the frequent low warning cry raised by a Cimarrone, of
"_Culebra, culebra; guardarse_!" (snake, snake; beware!)
It was close upon noon when, after a gentle ascent of about four hours'
duration, followed by a somewhat steeper descent of rather less than
half that time the expedition emerged from the forest and found itself
in a small, open, grassy space, bordered on the one hand by the high
woods and on the other by a small stream of crystal clear water flowing
over a gravelly bed; and here Lukabela gave the welcome announcement
that he proposed to call a halt for two hours in order that men and
animals might rest and refresh themselves during the hottest part of the
day. Accordingly arms were piled, armour put off, and most of the
Englishmen indulged in the unwonted luxury of a fresh water bath, while
the faithful Cimarrones--or Maroons, as some of the mariners began to
call them--unloaded the mules, watered them, and then hobbled them to
feed upon the rich, short grass, lighted a fire, cut down sweet, balsam-
like boughs and built little arbours with them in the shadow of which
their white friends might sleep. And when, after a refreshing bath and
a still more refreshing sleep, the Englishmen were awakened about two
o'clock, behold! those faithful and indefatigable allies the Cimarrones
had provided a delicious hot meal for their delectation, consisting of
the choicest portions of two freshly-killed deer, which, having been
first wrapped in clay, were afterwards baked in the embers of the fire,
thus completely retaining all the natural juices of the meat and
rendering it incomparably delicate, tender and tasty. Then, the meal
finished, the Cimarrones--always the Cimarrones--produced certain dried
golden-brown leaves, which they deftly fashioned into _cigarros_ for the
delectation of themselves and such of the Englishmen as were adventurous
enough to test the seductive effects of tobacco; and when the _cigarros_
had duly been done justice to the mules were rounded up, loaded, the
order of march arranged, and the journey resumed.
The afternoon march was, in all essential respects, similar to that of
the morning, and continued until about five o'clock in the evening, when
another open, grassy glade, very similar to that of the noontide halt,
was reached, and here Lukabela announced his intention of halting for
the night. Then occurred a repetition of the principal events of the
previous halt, except that after the Englishmen had bathed to their
satisfaction they found a hot meal awaiting them without the preliminary
of the two hours' sleep. As before, the meal was followed by
_cigarros_, accompanied by a little desultory conversation; but this did
not continue long, for the Englishmen, at least, were dead weary with
their unwonted labours, and one after another they stretched themselves
out where they sat and, careless of the saturating dew, at once sank
into dreamless slumber, surrounded by their faithful allies, four of
whom kept watch over the sleeping camp until another day dawned. And so
the march continued day after day with little variation, sometimes
climbing upward and at other times descending, but on the whole the
tendency was distinctly to rise.
Toward the close of the third day, and in a still more marked degree
during the fourth day of their march, the breaks in the forest became
more frequent, and of greater extent, occasionally permitting them to
get a glimpse of their more immediate surroundings, when it became
apparent, as might indeed be judged by the up-and-down character of the
way which they had already traversed, that they were in the midst of
hilly country, a dip in the forest occasionally revealing a blue peak
breaking the sky-line in the far distance. And when they halted at mid-
day on the fourth day it was in a glade that formed part of the very
crest of a mountain spur, so that, even as they partook of their mid-day
meal they were able to look out over a vast extent of country both ahead
of and behind them. In the latter direction they saw mile after mile of
undulating woods stretching away into the distance, the outline
gradually softening and the infinite variety of green tints gradually
merging into filmy grey; and beyond it the Caribbean shimmering beneath
the tropic sun; while ahead of them, to the south-east, and almost
within a stone's throw, as it seemed, rose a lofty ridge, which Lukabela
informed George was the backbone of the range, from the summit of which
could be seen Panama and that--to Englishmen--almost fabulous ocean, the
Southern Sea, the very existence of which the Spaniards were guarding as
a priceless secret.
But, near as that ridge looked from their mid-day camping-place, it was
not reached until the evening of the fifth day of their march; and then,
after toiling up a steep slope for half an hour, the party topped it,
and a sudden shout of exultation burst from their throats as, standing
in a little glade, they looked out over the tree-tops of the intervening
forest and saw first another but much lower ridge, with a mountain
valley between it and them, and beyond that ridge, and only some ten
miles distant, the white towers and buildings of Panama nestling beside
a river which discharged into its harbour, the harbour itself dotted
with a few ships, and beyond it again the great, boundless, mystic
Southern Sea, at the sight of which George and his crew, like the pious
Christian mariners that they were, incontinently fell upon their knees
and gave God thanks, vowing at the same time that by His grace they
would sail those waters until they had recovered the lost ones of whom
they were in search--or had fearfully avenged their death.
And now it became necessary to exercise the most extreme caution, for,
so far as was known, there were no Indians within twenty miles of
Panama, save a few "tame" ones who had been permitted to establish
themselves within some four miles of the city, and who made a living by
growing vegetables and fruit and rearing poultry for the Panama market;
the country all round about within a radius of a dozen miles or so had
therefore come to be regarded as practically as safe as the streets of
the city itself, and hawking parties were of frequent occurrence among
the magnates of Panama. And to encounter one of these parties would be
to inevitably give the alarm to the citizens, which, strong as the
English felt themselves to be, was a consummation to be carefully
avoided; wherefore, having gazed their fill upon the glorious prospect
before them, the party retired along the way by which they had come,
until they reached a spot where they had already decided to camp; and
there they spent the night. The journey down into the plain was
accomplished on the following day with the utmost circumspection, not
only because every step which they now took led to the danger of
detection by some party of sportsmen, or solitary fowler, but also
because the "tame" Indians had to be reckoned with; and it was known
that these were in the habit of wandering far up the slopes of the
Cordilleras in search of game and of the fruit that grew wild in rich
abundance in certain of the woods. Moreover, the time had now arrived
when a definite plan of action of some sort must be determined upon,
since this would largely influence the manner of their approach to the
city and their subsequent actions. Therefore as soon as the party had
once more topped the ridge upon which they had stood entranced for half
an hour during the previous evening young Saint Leger called a halt and,
flinging himself down upon the grass, produced his perspective glass--or
telescope, as we now call the much improved instrument--and with its
assistance subjected the town and roadstead to a prolonged and careful
examination. The result of this examination, and of a conference with
his officers which was simultaneously conducted, was that the resolution
was made to capture a certain caravel which was seen to be riding at
anchor in the roadstead and which appeared to be the best suited to
their requirements of any of the ships then in sight; and, having
secured possession of her, to threaten the town with destruction by her
guns until all the information required from the Governor had been
abstracted from him; after which the only thing remaining to be done
would be to sail in search of the galleys containing the English
prisoners, and capture them when found. It was an audacious scheme, for
Panama was the biggest and most important city on the continent at that
time, and, apart from the question of soldiers, the citizens alone if
they chose to arm themselves and fight were sufficiently numerous to
overwhelm the English; but George had by that time learned to gauge the
courage of the American Spaniard pretty accurately, and he felt that the
undertaking which he had planned, although difficult, was by no means
beyond his power to accomplish.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
HOW THEY TOOK THE GREAT GALLEON.
In order to obtain possession of the caravel which George had marked
down as his prey, boats were necessary, since the vessel lay at anchor
in the roadstead, instead of alongside the wharf; and to obtain boats it
would be necessary to enter the city. But Panama, like Nombre and San
Juan, and indeed all the Spanish settlements in America, was fortified
on the landward side as a protection against the incursions of the
savages who, gentle enough when the white man first came among them,
soon had their most ferocious and bloodthirsty instincts fully aroused
by the heartless cruelty and treachery with which the Spaniards quickly
began to treat them; to enter the city from its landward side was
therefore impossible for the English without at once betraying
themselves and something of their purpose. The only alternative,
therefore, was to gain an entrance from the water; and the problem was
how to do this without betraying themselves and putting the inhabitants
on their guard.
At first the difficulty seemed to be insurmountable, but George Saint
Leger was one of those who refuse to acknowledge anything as impossible;
and at length, when the party had halted at mid-day behind the very last
screen of timber between them and the city, he believed he had
discovered the answer to his problem.
It has been said that Panama stood not only on the shore of the ocean
but also on the left bank of a small stream which, taking its rise
somewhere among the adjacent mountains, discharged itself into the
waters of the harbour, and when once it had come to be recognised that
the approach of the party must be made by water, it was upon this stream
that George concentrated his attention. It was but an insignificant
affair as to width, and to all appearance shallow, but just before it
reached the city it widened out to about sixty yards across; and while
the young captain was studying it through his perspective glass, during
the mid-day halt, he perceived a few boats and canoes plying hither and
thither upon that portion of it which flowed past the town. Also, while
he was watching, his attention was attracted to two figures in the plain
below; and by bringing his glass to bear upon them he was able to
distinguish that the leading figure was a Spaniard carrying what
appeared to be a hawk upon his wrist, while the individual who followed
him was either an Indian or a negro, he could not distinguish which, but
he saw that this person was carrying something suspended from a pole
over his shoulder, which looked like and doubtless was a bunch of dead
birds. The pair walked straight to the margin of the stream, about
three-quarters of a mile above the city, the stream being at that point
about twenty yards wide, and when the Spaniard reached the margin he
halted, turned and said something to his follower, at the same time
pointing to the ground, whereupon the black carefully deposited the pole
and its burden upon the ground, then stooped low, and allowed the
Spaniard to seat himself astride upon his shoulders. Then, rising to
his feet with his burden, the black stepped into the stream, waded
across, deposited the Spaniard upon the bank, and, as the latter strode
off towards the town, returned, picked up his load, waded across again,
and followed the footsteps of his master. Now, there was nothing _very_
remarkable about this, but there were _two_ points connected with it
which attracted George's notice, one of them being that when the black
stepped into the stream with his master upon his shoulders, a single
stride sufficed to carry him into water deep enough to submerge him to
his waist, and that depth was maintained all the way across until within
about two yards of the bank. The other point which George considered
worthy of note was that about a hundred yards below the point where
those two persons had crossed the stream, there grew a clump of bamboos
sufficiently large to screen the entire party from observation, if they
could reach it undetected by people in the town. He called Lukabela to
him, told him what he had seen, explained the scheme that had developed
in his mind while watching the passage of the two men across the stream,
and finally indicated the clump of bamboo, asking whether there was any
possibility of reaching it after dark without being detected. The
Cimarrone thereupon studied the features of the country below and around
him long and intently, and at length answered in the affirmative,
pointing out the route which it would be necessary to follow, and then,
after a little further pregnant conversation, the two rose and returned
to where the rest of the party lay _perdu_.
In conversation with Lukabela, George had already learned from the
Cimarrone that, from information derived by the latter from certain
runaway slaves, the citizens of Panama were somewhat addicted to the
keeping of late hours, as late hours were counted in those days, that is
to say, the more gay and pleasure-loving of the Panamans rarely thought
of seeking their couches before midnight; Saint Leger, therefore,
determined to remain where he was until that hour in order that his
arrival in the city might be deferred until its roysterers were all
safely in bed and asleep; also, there was in all probability a somewhat
strenuous time before the Englishmen, and some unlikelihood as to when
they might reckon upon another night's undisturbed rest; upon his return
to camp, therefore, George issued an order that every man was to compose
himself to rest and get as much sleep as possible, the only breaks in
these periods of rest being at the appointed meal times. But the young
captain had by this time become wise in the art of warfare, consequently
he took the precaution to protect his camp from surprise by throwing out
strong pickets of Cimarrones in every direction from which surprise
could possibly come; and, this done, the expedition composed itself to
rest.
It was about five o'clock in the evening that George was awakened by a
light touch upon his shoulder, and, springing up, he found Lukabela
bending over him with his finger to his lips.
"What is it, chief?" demanded George in a whisper.
"Come and see," replied the Cimarrone in an equally guarded tone of
voice; whereupon George arose and, led by the black, noiselessly quitted
the sleeping camp and made his way to a small knoll in the open,
commanding a fairly comprehensive view of the city and roadstead.
As the pair crept cautiously to the summit of the knoll and peered over
it, Lukabela pointed with his finger and murmured "Behold!" And,
looking in the direction toward which the chief was pointing, George
beheld a noble and stately galleon standing in toward the anchorage with
ensigns and pennons flying from her mastheads, and with a large galley
acting as escort to her. The galleon was an exceptionally large vessel,
being, as Saint Leger estimated, of fully five hundred tons measurement.
She showed a double tier of ordnance, besides sakers, falcons,
falconettes and serpentines on her poop and fore and after castles. She
was painted a deep golden yellow, with broad white bands along her two
tiers of gun ports, and there was, in accordance with the Spanish
fashion of the times, a tremendous amount of decorative gilding about
her bows and quarters; her sails also were decorated with paintings,
though what subjects were represented it was impossible to distinguish
at that distance.
"A plate ship, loaded with silver from Lima, without a doubt," whispered
Lukabela. "I saw her appear round yonder headland about half an hour
ago, and I thought you would be interested."
"I am," replied George emphatically, bringing his glass to bear upon the
craft, and he watched her as she gradually drifted in toward the
anchorage, while Lukabela kept a look-out to guard against their being
surprised by passers by.
Slow and stately the great galleon crept toward the roadstead, impelled
by the dying sea-breeze, and at length, as the wind dropped altogether
and the waters of the bay became a flawless mirror reflecting the
gorgeous tints of a flaming sunset, she dropped her ponderous anchor
about half a mile from the shore; her gaily painted sails were slowly
clewed up and furled; the galley went alongside and received several
richly dressed persons from the galleon, including some three or four in
full suits of armour, and then pushed off and pulled toward the quay,
churning the placid waters of the bay into foam with the long, regular
strokes of her sixty oars, finally ranging up alongside and mooring to
the wharf, when the passengers from the galleon and some twenty other
persons, who were probably the officers of the galley, landed and
disappeared among the streets of the city.
Then George Saint Leger arose from his place of concealment among the
long grass at the summit of the knoll, thinking deeply, and made his way
back to the camp, accompanied by the Cimarrone chief. As they entered
the camp George turned to his black companion and said:
"My thanks to you, Lukabela, for arousing me. The sight you showed me
was well worth looking at. Please God, before twelve hours are past
that ship and her cargo shall be mine; ay, and the galley too. For who
knows but that somebody aboard her may be able to give me news of my
brother."
The great bell of Panama cathedral was booming out the hour of midnight,
and its sonorous strokes came floating slowly and subdued by distance to
the camp of the English adventurers as the sturdy band, having partaken
of a hearty supper, formed up into marching order prior to leaving their
place of concealment. A strong scouting party of Cimarrones had been
thrown forward in advance to guard against surprise, and as George
completed his inspection of weapons and equipment the cry of a nightjar
coming from the extreme distance and repeated ever nearer by the line of
scouts told that the way was clear and that the column might begin its
advance.
There is no need to describe, step by step, the sinuous passage through
the long grass of that band of intrepid adventurers toward the clump of
bamboos which was to be their rallying point; they knew that danger
encompassed them on every hand, and that the most trivial accident might
result in their premature discovery and, possibly the ruin of all their
plans, yet they pressed forward steadily and unflinchingly, trusting
implicitly in the wisdom of their leaders and the sagacity of their
black allies, and in about three-quarters of an hour arrived safely at
the point for which they were aiming, without the occurrence of the
slightest disconcerting incident of any description.
Here, completely screened from observation by the sheltering clump of
bamboos, the blacks at once proceeded to unload the pack mules and stack
their loads in close proximity to the river bank. And while this was
being done, George, Dyer, and twelve of the most reliable of the
Englishmen calmly laid aside their weapons, armour, and all clothing,
and at a signal from their captain, crept crouchingly round the shoulder
of the bamboo clump to the river margin where, after heads had been
counted to see that none was missing, the whole party noiselessly
entered the water, waded out to mid stream, and then, following their
leader, proceeded to swim silently and with deliberation toward the
city. There was a moon, in her first quarter, shining brightly almost
directly overhead, which afforded ample light for the party to see where
they were going, while a soft mist hung over the river and the low
ground about the city, which to a certain extent concealed their
movements.
George was careful not to hurry himself or his followers, for, in the
first place, they were a full quarter of an hour earlier than they
expected, and he did not wish to reach the city until he could be
reasonably sure that its inhabitants were all abed and asleep, and in
the next place he was anxious to conserve his own and his followers'
strength as far as possible, knowing that many heavy demands would be
made upon it before long; he therefore paddled very quietly along,
hardly exerting himself at all and allowing the current to carry him
cityward. Thus the hour of one boomed out from the cathedral while they
were still a quarter of a mile from the inner extremity of the quay for
which they were aiming.