At this point Escombe acknowledged himself to be legitimately under
Butler's rule and dominion, to obey unquestioningly all the latter's
orders, to go where bidden and to do whatever he might be told, even as
did the soldiers of the Roman centurion; and Butler soon made him
understand and feel that there was a heavy score to be wiped off--a big
wound in the elder man's self esteem to be healed. There were a
thousand ways now in which Butler was able to make his power and
authority over Harry felt; he was careful not to miss a single
opportunity, and he spared the lad in nothing. He would not even permit
Harry to land until the latter had personally supervised the
disembarkation of every item of their somewhat extensive baggage; and
when this was at length done he insisted that Escombe should in like
manner oversee the loading of them into a railway wagon for Lima, make
the journey thither in the same truck with them--ostensibly to ensure
that nothing was stolen on the way--and finally, upon their arrival in
Lima, he compelled Harry to remain by the truck and mount guard over it
until it was coupled to the train for Palpa, and then to proceed to that
town in the same truck without seeing anything more of the capital city
than could be seen from the station yard. Then, again, at Palpa he
insisted that Harry should remain by the truck and supervise the
unloading of the baggage and its transference to a lock-up store, giving
the lad to understand that he would be held responsible for any loss or
damage that might occur during the operation; so that by the time that
all this was done poor Escombe was more dead than alive, so utterly
exhausted was he from long exposure to the enervating heat, and lack of
proper food.
But Harry breathed no word of expostulation or complaint. He regarded
everything that he now did as in the way of duty and merely as somewhat
unpleasant incidents in the execution of the great task that lay before
him, and he was content, if not quite as happy and comfortable as he
might have been under a more congenial and considerate leader. Besides,
he was learning something every minute of the day, learning how to do
things and also how not to do them, for he very quickly recognised that
although Butler might possibly be an excellent surveyor, he was but a
very poor hand at organisation. Then, too, Butler had
characteristically neglected the acquisition of any foreign language,
consequently they had no sooner arrived at Palpa than he found himself
absolutely dependent upon Harry's knowledge of Spanish; and this
advantage on Escombe's part served in a great measure to place the two
upon a somewhat more equal footing, and gradually to suppress those acts
of petty tyranny which Butler had at first evinced a disposition to
indulge in.
Palpa was the place at which their labours were to begin, and here it
became necessary for them to engage a complete staff of assistants,
comprising tent bearers, grooms, bush cutters, porters, cooks, and all
the other attendants needed for their comfort and convenience during a
long spell of camp life in a tropical climate, and in a country where
civilisation is still elementary except in the more important centres.
Luckily for them, the first section of their work comprised only a
stretch of a little more than thirty miles of tolerably flat country,
where no serious natural difficulties presented themselves, and that
part of their work was soon accomplished. Yet Escombe found even this
trifling bit of the great task before him sufficiently arduous; for
Butler not only demanded that he should be up and at work in the open at
daybreak, and that he should continue at work so long as daylight
lasted, but that, when survey work was no longer possible because of the
darkness, the lad should "plot" his day's work on paper before retiring
to rest. Thus it was generally close upon midnight before Escombe was
at liberty to retire to his camp bed and seek his hard-earned and much-
needed rest.
But it was when they got upon the second section of their work--between
Huacho, Cochamarca, and Cerro de Pasco--that their real troubles and
difficulties began, for here they had to find a practicable route up the
face of the Western Cordillera in the first instance, and, having found
it, to measure with the nicest accuracy not only the horizontal
distances but the height of every rise and the depth of every declivity
in the face of a country made up to a great extent of lofty precipices
and fathomless ravines, the whole overgrown with dense vegetation
through which survey lines had to be cut at enormous expense of time and
labour. And here it was that Butler's almost fiendish malice and
ingenuity in the art of making things unpleasant for other people shone
forth conspicuously. It was his habit to ride forth every morning
accompanied by a strong band of attendants armed with axes and machetes,
and well provided with ropes to assist in the scaling of precipitous
slopes, for the purpose of selecting and marking out the day's route, a
task which could usually be accomplished in a couple of hours; and then
to return and supervise the work of his subordinate, which he made as
difficult and arduous as possible by insisting upon the securing of a
vast amount of superfluous and wholly unnecessary information, in the
obtaining of which Harry was obliged to risk his life at least a dozen
times a day. Yet the lad never complained; indeed he could not have
done so even had he been so disposed, for it was for Butler to determine
what amount of information and of what nature was necessary for the
proper execution of the survey; but Escombe began to understand now the
means by which his superior had acquired the reputation of an
accomplished surveyor. It is easy for a man in authority to stand or
sit in safety and command another to perform a difficult task at the
peril of his life!
And if Butler was tyrannically exacting in his treatment of Harry, he
was still more so toward the unfortunate peons in his service, and
especially those whom he detailed to accompany him daily to assist in
the task of selecting and marking out the route of the survey line.
These people knew no language but their own, and since Harry was always
engaged elsewhere with theodolite, level, and chain, and was, therefore,
not available to play the part of interpreter, it became necessary for
Butler to secure the services of a man who understood enough English to
translate his orders into the vernacular; and because this unfortunate
fellow was necessarily always at Butler's elbow, he became the scapegoat
upon whose unhappy head the sins and shortcomings of the others were
visited in the form of perpetual virulent abuse, until the man's life
positively became a burden to him, to such an extent, indeed, that he
would undoubtedly have deserted but for the fact that Butler, suspecting
his inclination perhaps, positively refused to pay him a farthing of
wages until the conclusion of his engagement. It can easily be
understood, therefore, that, under the circumstances described, an
element of tragedy was steadily developing in the survey camp.
But although the overbearing and exacting behaviour of the chief of the
expedition was thus making matters particularly unpleasant for everybody
concerned, nothing of a really serious character occurred until the
second section of the survey had been in progress for a little over two
months, by which time the party had penetrated well into the mountain
fastnesses, and were beginning to encounter some of the more formidable
difficulties of their task. Butler was still limiting his share of the
work to the mere marking out of the route, leaving Harry to perform the
whole of the actual labour of the survey under his watchful eye, and
stirring neither hand nor foot to assist the young fellow, although the
occasions were frequent when, had he chosen to give a few minutes'
assistance at the theodolite or level, such help would have saved young
Escombe some hours of arduous labour, and thus expedited the survey.
Now, it happened that a certain day's work terminated at the edge of a
_quebrada_, and Butler informed Harry that the first task of the latter,
upon the following morning, would be to take a complete set of accurate
measurements of this _quebrada_, before pushing on with the survey of
the route. A _quebrada_, it may be explained, is a sort of rent or
chasm in the mountain, usually with vertical, or at least precipitous
sides, and very frequently of terrific depth, the impression suggested
by its appearance being that at some period of the earth's history the
solid rock of the mountain had been riven asunder by some titanic force.
Sometimes a _quebrada_ is several hundreds of feet in width, and of a
depth so appalling as to unnerve the most hardy mountaineer. The
_quebrada_ in question, however, was of comparatively insignificant
dimensions, being only about forty feet wide at the point where the
survey line crossed it, and some four hundred feet deep.
Now, although Harry was only an articled pupil, he knew quite enough
about railway engineering to be perfectly well aware that the elaborate
measurements which Butler had instructed him to take were absolutely
unnecessary, the accurate determination of the width at the top--where a
bridge would eventually have to be thrown across--being all that was
really required. Yet he made no demur, for he had already seen that it
would be possible to take as many measurements as might be required,
with absolute accuracy and ease, by the execution of about a quarter of
an hour's preliminary surveying. But when, on the following morning, he
commenced this bit of preliminary work, Butler rushed out of his tent
and interrupted him.
"What are you doing?" he harshly demanded. "Have you forgotten that I
ordered you to measure very carefully the _quebrada_ this morning,
before doing anything else?"
"No, sir," answered Harry, "I have not forgotten. I am doing it now,
or, rather, doing the necessary preliminary work."
"Doing the necessary preliminary work?" echoed Butler. "What do you
mean? I don't understand you."
"Then permit me to explain," said Harry suavely. "I have ascertained
that, by placing the theodolite over that peg yonder,"--pointing to a
newly driven peg some four hundred feet away to the left--"I shall be
able to get an uninterrupted view of the _quebrada_ from top to bottom,
and, by taking a series of vertical and horizontal angles from the top
edge, can measure the contour of the two sides, at the point crossed by
the survey line, with the nicest accuracy."
"How do you mean?" demanded Butler.
Harry proceeded to elaborate his explanation, patiently describing each
step of the intended operation, and making it perfectly clear that the
elaborate series of unnecessary measurements demanded could be secured
with the most beautiful precision.
"But," objected Butler, "when you have taken all those angles you will
have done only part of the work; you will still have to calculate the
length of the vertical and horizontal lines subtended by them--"
"A matter of about half an hour's work!" interjected Harry.
"Possibly," agreed Butler. "But," he continued, "I do not like your
plan at all; I do not approve of it; it is amateurish and theoretical,
and I won't have it. A much simpler and more practical way will be for
you to go down the _quebrada_ at the end of a rope, measuring as you
go."
"That is one way certainly," assented Harry; "but, with all submission,
Mr Butler, I venture to think that it will not be nearly so accurate as
mine. Besides, consider the danger. If the rope should happen to be
cut in its passage over the sharp edge of that rock--"
"Look here," interrupted Butler, "if you are afraid, you had better say
so, and I will do the work myself. But I should like you to understand
that timid people are of no use to me."
The taunt was unjust, for Harry was not afraid; but he was convinced
that his own plan was far and away the more expeditious and the more
accurate, also it involved absolutely no danger at all; while it was
patent to even the dullest comprehension that there was a distinct
element of danger attaching to the other, inasmuch as that if anything
should happen to the rope, the person suspended by it must inevitably be
precipitated to the bottom, where a mountain stream roared as it leaped
and boiled and foamed over a bed of enormous boulders.
Had Escombe been ten years older than he actually was he would probably
not have hesitated--while disclaiming anything in the nature of
cowardice--to express very strongly the opinion that where there were
two methods of executing a certain task, one of them perfectly safe, and
the other seriously imperilling a human life, it was the imperative duty
of the person with whom the decision rested to select the safer method
of the two, particularly when that method offered equally satisfactory
results with the other. But, being merely a lad, and as yet scarcely
certain of himself, remembering also that his future prospects were
absolutely at Butler's mercy, to make or mar as he pleased, Harry
contented himself with a disclaimer of any such feeling as fear, and
expressed his readiness to perform the task in any manner which Butler
might choose to approve. At the same time he confessed his inability to
understand precisely how the required measurements were to be taken, and
requested instructions.
"Why," explained Butler impatiently, "the thing is surely simple enough
for a baby to understand. You will be lowered over the cliff edge and
let down the cliff face exactly five feet at a time. As it happens to
be absolutely calm, the rope by which you are to be lowered will hang
accurately plumb; all that you will have to do, therefore, will be to
measure the distance from your rope to the face of the rock, at every
five feet of drop, and you will then have the particulars necessary to
plot a contour of the cliff face, from top to bottom. You will do this
on both sides of the _quebrada_, and then measure the width across at
the top, which will enable us to produce a perfectly correct section of
the gorge."
"But how am I to measure the distance from the rope to the cliff face?"
demanded Harry. "For, as you will have observed, sir, the rock
overhangs at the top, and the gorge widens considerably as it descends."
"You can do your measuring with a ranging-rod," answered Butler tersely;
"and if one is not long enough, tie two together."
"Even so," persisted Harry, "I fear I shall not be able to manage--"
"Will you, or will you not, do as you are told?" snapped Butler. "If
you cannot manage with two rods, I will devise some other plan."
"Very well, sir," said Harry. "If you are quite determined to send me
over the cliff, I am ready to go. What rope is it your pleasure that I
shall use?"
"Take the tent ropes," ordered Butler. "You will have an ample quantity
if you join them all together. Make a seat for yourself in the end, and
then mark off the rest of the rope into five-foot lengths, so that we
may know exactly how much to pay out between the measurements. Then
lash two ranging-rods together, and you will find that you will manage
splendidly."
Harry had his doubts, for to his own mind the tent ropes seemed none too
strong for such a purpose. Moreover, the clips upon them would render
the paying out over the cliff edge exceedingly awkward; still, since it
seemed that the choice lay between risking his life and ruining his
professional prospects, he chose the former, and set about making his
preparations for what he could not help regarding as a distinctly
hazardous experiment. These did not occupy him very long, and in about
twenty minutes he was standing at the cliff edge, with a padded bight of
the rope about his body, and the two joined ranging-rods in his hand,
quite ready to be lowered down the face. Then two peons whom he had
specially selected for the task, drew in the slack of the rope, passed a
complete turn of it round an iron bar driven deep into a rock crevice,
and waited for the command of a third who now laid himself prone on the
ground, with his head projecting over the edge of the cliff, to watch
and regulate the descent. Then Harry, fully realising, perhaps for the
first time, the perilous nature of the enterprise, laid himself down and
carefully lowered himself over the rocky edge.
"Lower gently, brothers!" ordered the man who was supervising the
operation, and the rope was carefully eased away until the first five-
foot mark reached the cliff edge, while Butler, who now also began at
last to recognise and appreciate the ghastly peril to which his
obstinacy had consigned a fellow creature, moved off to a point about a
hundred yards distant, from which he could watch the entire descent.
And he no sooner reached it than he perceived that Harry's objections to
the plan were well grounded, and that, even with the two joined rods, it
would be impossible for the lad to take the required measurements over
more than the first quarter of the depth. This being the case, it was
obviously his duty at once to put a stop to so dangerous an attempt,
especially as he knew perfectly well that it was as unnecessary as it
was dangerous; but to do this would have been tantamount to confessing
that he had made a mistake, and this his nature was too mean and petty
to permit, so he simply sat down and watched in an ever-growing fever of
anxiety lest anything untoward should happen for which he could be
blamed.
Meanwhile, at the very first stoppage, Harry began to experience some of
the difficulties that beset him in the task which he had undertaken.
Despite the utmost care in lowering, the rope would persist in
oscillating, very gently, it is true, but still sufficient to render it
necessary to pause until the oscillation had ceased before attempting to
take the measurement; also the torsion of the rope set up a slow
revolving movement, so that, even when at length the oscillation ceased,
it was only with difficulty that the correct measurement was taken and
recorded in the book. This difficulty recurred as every additional
five-foot length of rope was paid out, so that each measurement cost
fully five minutes of precious time. Moreover, despite the padding of
the rope, Harry soon began to find it cutting into his flesh so
unpleasantly that he had grave doubts whether he would be able to endure
it and hold out until the bottom, far below, should be reached.
At length, when about forty feet of rope had been very cautiously paid
out, and some eight measurements taken, the peon who was superintending
the operation of lowering was suddenly seen to stiffen his body, as
though something out of the common had attracted his attention; he
raised one hand as a sign to the other two to cease lowering, and gazed
intently downward for several seconds. Then he signed for the lowering
to be continued, and, to the astonishment of the others, wriggled
himself back from the edge of the cliff until he had room to stand
upright, when, scrambling hastily to his feet, he sprang to the two men
who were lowering, and hissed between his set teeth:
"Lower! lower away as quickly and as steadily as you can, my brothers;
the life of the young _Senor_ depends upon your speed and steadiness.
The rope has stranded--cut by the edge of the rock, most probably--and
unless you can lower the _muchacho_ to the bottom ere it parts
altogether, he will be dashed to pieces!"
Meanwhile Harry, hanging there swinging and revolving in the bight of
the rope, was not a little astonished when he found himself being
lowered without pause, save such momentary jerks as were occasioned by
the passage of the clips round the bar and over the cliff edge, and he
instinctively glanced upward to see if he could discover what was
wrong--for that something had gone amiss he felt tolerably certain. For
a few seconds his eye sought vainly for an explanation, then his gaze
was arrested by the sight of two severed ends of one strand of the rope
standing out at a distance of about thirty feet above his head, and he
knew!--knew that the strength of the slender rope had been decreased by
one third, and that his life now depended upon the holding together of
the two remaining strands!
Harry could see that those two remaining strands were stretched by his
hanging weight to the utmost limit of their resistance, and he watched
them with dull anxiety, as one in a dream, every moment expecting to see
the yarns of which they were composed part one by one under the strain.
And the worst of it was that that strain was not a steady one, otherwise
there might be some hope that the strands would withstand it long enough
to permit him to reach the bottom of the _quebrada_; but at frequent
intervals there occurred a couple of jerks--one as a clip passed round
the bar, and another as it slid over the cliff edge--and, of course, at
every recurrence of the jerk the strain was momentarily increased to an
enormous extent. And presently that which he feared happened, a more
than usually severe jerk occurred, and one of the yarns in the remaining
strands parted. Escombe dully wondered how far he still was from the
bottom--a fearful distance, he believed--for he seemed to be cruelly
close to the overhanging edge of the cliff, although he had been hanging
suspended for a length of time that seemed to him more like hours than
minutes. He did not dare to look down, for he had the feeling that if
he removed his gaze from those straining and quivering strands for a
single instant they would snap, and he would go plunging downward to
destruction. Then, as he watched, another yarn parted, and another. A
catastrophe was now inevitable, and the lad began to speculate
curiously, and from a singularly impersonal point of view, what the
sensation would be like when the last yarn had snapped. He had read
somewhere that the sensation of falling from a great height was
distinctly pleasurable; but what about the other, upon reaching the
bottom? A quaint story came into his mind about an Irishman who was
said to have fallen off the roof of a house, and who, upon being picked
up, was asked whether he had been hurt by his fall, to which the man
replied: "No, the fall didn't hurt me a bit, it was stoppin' so quick
that did all the mischief!" The humour of the story was not very
brilliant, yet somehow it seemed to Escombe at that moment to be
ineffably amusing, and he laughed aloud at the quaintness of the
conceit. And, as he did so, the remaining yarns of the second strand
parted with a little jerk that thrilled him through and through, and he
hung there suspended by a single strand, but still being lowered rapidly
from above. His eyes were now fixed intently upon the unbroken strand,
and he distinctly saw it stretching and straightening out under his
weight, but, as it seemed to him, with inconceivable slowness. Then--to
such a preternatural state of acuteness had his senses been wrought by
the imminence and certainty of ghastly disaster--he saw the last strand
slowly parting, not yarn by yarn but fibre by fibre, until, after what
seemed to be a veritable eternity of suspense, the last fibre snapped,
he heard a loud twang, and found himself floating--as it seemed to him--
very gently downward, so gently, indeed, that, as he was swung round,
facing the rocky wall, he was able to note clearly and distinctly every
inequality, every projection, every crack, every indentation in the face
of the rock; nay, he even felt that, were it worth while to do so, he
would have had time enough to make sketches of every one of them as they
drifted slowly upward. The next thing of which he was conscious was a
loud swishing sound which rose even above the deafening brawl of water
among rocks, that he now remembered with surprise had been thundering in
his ears for--how many months--or years, was it? Then he became aware
that he was somehow among leaves and branches; and again memory
reproduced the scene upon which he had looked when, standing upon the
cliff edge at a point from which he could command a view of the whole
depth of the gorge, he had idly noted that, at the very bottom of it, a
few inconsiderable shrubs or small trees, nourished by eternal showers
of spray, grew here and there from interstices of the rock, and he
realised that he had fallen into the heart of one of them. He contrived
to grasp a fairly stout branch with each hand, and was much astonished
when they bent and snapped like twigs as his body ploughed through the
thick growth; but he knew that the force of his fall had been broken,
and, for the first time since he had made the discovery of the severed
strand, the hope came that, after all, he might emerge from this
adventure with his life. Then he alighted--on his feet--on a great,
moss-grown boulder, felt his legs double up and collapse under him, sank
into a huddled heap upon the wet, slippery moss, shot off into the
leaping, foaming water, and knew no more.