Reining up his mule, Escombe at once glanced behind him to ascertain
whether Arima happened to be within sight. Yes, there he was, about a
mile distant, pushing along at a trot and winding hither and thither, as
he persistently followed the erratic twistings and turnings of the
pursued man's spoor. Harry therefore drew his revolver from his belt,
and, pointing the muzzle of the weapon upward, discharged two shots in
rapid succession to attract the Indian's attention, and then waved his
white pocket handkerchief in the air as a sign that the lost man had
been found, and that the pursuit was at an end. The Indian immediately
uttered a peculiar shrill whoop by way of reply, and turned his beast's
head directly toward the spot where the young Englishman could be seen
sitting motionless in his saddle; whereupon Harry at once sprang to the
ground and, throwing his mule's bridle upon the grass--a sign which the
animal had been trained to obey by standing perfectly still--rushed
toward the prostrate figure, and, turning it gently over, raised it to a
sitting posture, passing his arm round the neck as a support to the
drooping head.
Yes, the man was Butler, there could be no doubt about that; but oh!
what a dreadful change had been wrought by those few days of flight and
exposure! Butler had always been a man of somewhat spare build, but now
he was emaciated to an extent almost past belief--his cheeks were so
hollow that it seemed as though an incautiously rough touch would cause
the protruding cheek-bones to burst through the skin; his closed eyes
were sunk so deep in their sockets that the eyeballs appeared to have
dwindled to the size of small marbles; while the lips had contracted to
such an extent as to leave the tightly clenched teeth clearly visible,
the general effect being that of a grinning, fleshless skull with a
covering of shrivelled skin drawn tightly over it. The once immaculate
suit of white clothing was now deeply soiled and stained by contact with
the earth and grass, and was a mere wrapping of scarcely recognisable
rags, the coat being missing altogether, while great rents in the
remaining garments revealed the protruding ribs and the shrunken limbs,
the colour of the yellowish-brown skin being almost completely obscured
by the latticing of long and deep blood-smeared scratches that mutely
told how desperately the man had fought his way through all obstacles in
his headlong, panic-stricken flight; his finger nails were broken and
ragged; his boots were cut and torn to pieces to such an extent that
they afforded scarcely any protection to his feet; and his once iron-
grey hair and moustache, as well as his short growth of stubbly beard,
were almost perfectly white.
With a quick slash of his knife Escombe severed the filthy wisp of silk
that had once been a smart necktie, as it had somehow become tightly
knotted round the unconscious man's throat, and then impatiently awaited
the coming of Arima, who was leading the horse on the saddle of which
were strapped the small supply of medical comforts which had been
brought along to meet just such a contingency as this; and a few minutes
later the Indian cantered up and, flinging himself from the back of his
mule, came forward to render assistance.
Bidding the man kneel down and support the unconscious Butler's head,
Harry sprang to the saddle bags and drew forth a flask of brandy, which
he held to the sick man's lips, allowing a few drops of the liquid to
find their way between the clenched teeth. For fully ten minutes he
strove to coax a small quantity of the spirit down his chiefs throat,
and at length had the satisfaction of seeing that some at least had been
swallowed. The almost immediate result of this was a groan and a
slight, spasmodic movement of the emaciated limbs; and presently, after
a few minutes of further persistent effort, Butler opened his eyes.
"Ah, that's better!" ejaculated the amateur physician with a sigh of
extreme satisfaction. "You will soon be all right now, sir. Let me
give you just another spoonful and you will feel like a new man. No,
no, please don't keep your teeth clenched like that; open your mouth,
Mr Butler, and let me pour a little more down your throat. Do
please,"--in a most insinuating tone of voice--"it will do you no end of
good. Arima, take hold of his chin and see if you can force his lower
jaw open, but be as gentle as you can. There, that's right! Now then!"
With a deft touch and no apparent violence the Indian succeeded in
getting the locked jaws apart, and Escombe promptly availed himself of
the opportunity to pour about a tablespoonful of spirits into the
partially open mouth. For a moment there was no result, then a cough
and a splutter on the part of the sick man showed that the potent elixir
was making its way down his throat, and, with another groan, the patient
made a feeble effort to struggle to his feet. But the attempt was a
failure, the last particle of strength had already been spent, and,
sighing heavily, Butler subsided back upon the supporting arm of the
Indian, and lay staring vacantly at the rich sapphire sky that arched
above him. Then Harry took him by the hand, and, calling him by name,
endeavoured to win some sign of recognition from him, but all in vain.
The utmost that he could accomplish was to extract from his patient a
few meaningless, incoherent mumblings, which conveyed nothing save the
fact that the speaker's mind was, at least for the moment, a perfect
blank. At length, convinced that he could do no more until he had got
his patient settled in camp, he called upon Arima to help him, and
between the two they soon had the unfortunate man comfortably stretched
upon a blanket under the lee of an enormous granite rock, which would at
least partially shield him from the keen wind of the fast approaching
night. Then, with the help of a few stout saplings cut from a clump of
bush close at hand, they contrived to rig a small, makeshift kind of
tent over the upper half of his body, as a further protection from the
cold, and lighted their camp fire close to his feet. Then, while the
Indian, with gentle touch, cut away the soiled rags of clothing from the
wasted body and limbs, and swathed them in a waterproof rug, Escombe
unsaddled and hobbled the horse and mules, and turned them loose to
graze. Next he unpacked the saddle bags and camp equipage, and
proceeded to prepare a small quantity of hot, nourishing soup, which,
with infinite difficulty, he at length induced his patient to swallow, a
few drops at a time; and finally, with a makeshift pillow beneath his
head, the invalid was gently laid down in a comfortable posture, when he
soon sank into a refreshing sleep. The weary pair seized the
opportunity thus afforded them to attend to their own most pressing
needs; but neither of them closed their eyes in sleep that night, for
they had scarcely finished their supper when Butler awoke and again
demanded their most unremitting care and attention, as he evinced great
uneasiness and perturbation of mind which speedily developed into a
state of such violent delirium, that it was only with the utmost
difficulty the combined efforts of the pair were able to restrain him
from doing either himself or them some serious injury.
For more than forty hours did that dreadful delirium continue, the
patient being extraordinarily violent during almost the entire period;
then his unnatural strength suddenly collapsed, leaving him weak as an
infant and in an almost continuous state of lethargy, so profound that
it was with great difficulty that his two nurses were able to arouse him
sufficiently to administer small quantities of liquid nourishment. It
was by this time evident, even to Harry's inexperienced eye, that
Butler's condition was desperate, even if not altogether hopeless, and
he consulted Arima as to the possibility of procuring the services of a
qualified physician; but the Indian had no encouragement to offer.
Cerro de Pasco, the nearest town in which one might hope to find a
doctor, was some fifty miles distant, as the crow flies, but the
difficulties of the way were such that, using the utmost expedition, it
would take a messenger at least four days to reach the place, and as
many to return--assuming that the messenger were fortunate enough to
find a doctor who could be persuaded to set out forthwith--by which
time, Harry knew instinctively, the patient would be long past all human
aid. Besides, there was no messenger to send, save Arima; and, in view
of the possible recurrence of delirium, the lad felt that he would not
be justified in sending the Indian away. While the two were still
engaged in debating the question of what was best to be done under the
distressing circumstances, Butler ended the difficulty by quietly
breathing his last, crossing the borderland between life and death
without a struggle, and without recovering consciousness. Indeed so
perfectly quiet and peaceful was the end that it was some time before
young Escombe could convince himself that his chief was really dead; but
when at length there could no longer be any question as to the fact, the
body was at once wrapped in the waterproof sheet which had formed a
makeshift tent for the shelter of the sick man, and packed, with as much
reverence as the circumstances would allow, upon the deceased man's
horse, for conveyance back to camp for interment, the pair having with
them no implements wherewith to dig a grave. Moreover, Harry considered
that, taking the somewhat peculiar circumstances of the case into
consideration, it was very desirable that the body should be seen and
identified by the other members of the survey party before burial took
place.
This event occurred on the evening of the third day after death, Escombe
himself reading the burial service; and he afterwards fashioned with his
own hands, and placed at the head of the grave, a wooden cross, upon
which he roughly but deeply cut with his pocket knife the name of the
dead man and the date of his death. He also, as a matter of precaution,
took a very careful set of astronomical observations for the
determination of the exact position of the grave, recording the result
in his diary at the end of the long entry detailing all the
circumstances connected with the sad event.
Escombe now suddenly found his young shoulders burdened with a heavy
load of responsibility, for not only did Butler's death leave the lad in
sole charge of the survey party, with the task of carrying on unaided
the exceedingly important work upon which that party was engaged, until
assistance could be sent out to him from England; but it also became his
immediate duty to report all the circumstances of the death of his
leader to the British Consul at Lima--who would doubtless put in motion
the necessary machinery for the capture and punishment of the men who
were responsible for the events which had brought about Butler's death--
and also to Sir Philip Swinburne, who would, of course, in turn,
communicate the sad intelligence to the deceased man's family. And
there were also all Butler's private effects to be packed up and sent
home forthwith.
Yet, taking everything into consideration, the death of his chief was a
relief rather than otherwise to the lad, unfeeling though the statement
may appear at the first blush. Butler was a man for whom it was quite
impossible for anyone to acquire a friendly feeling; Harry therefore
felt that when he had committed his chief's body to the earth with as
much respectful observance as the circumstances permitted, had carefully
and scrupulously collected together and dispatched to England all the
dead man's personal belongings, and had taken such steps as were
possible for the capture and punishment of the men who were primarily
responsible for Butler's death, he had done everything that a strict
sense of duty claimed from him, and was not called upon to feign and
outwardly manifest a sorrow which had no place in his heart. Besides,
he was now the responsible head of the survey party; upon him depended--
for at least the next three months--the conduct of an important and
highly scientific operation; and upon the manner in which he conducted
it depended very serious issues involving the expenditure of exceedingly
large sums of money. This was his opportunity to demonstrate to all
concerned the stuff of which he was made; it was an opportunity so
splendid that many a young fellow of his age would cheerfully give half
a dozen years of his life to obtain such another; for Harry fully
realised that if he could carry his task to a successful conclusion his
fortune, from the professional point of view, was made. And he felt
that he could--ay, and would--do this. The experience which he had
already gained since his arrival in Peru had been of inestimable value
to him, and he had made the very utmost of it; he therefore felt
confident of his ability to carry through his task to the satisfaction
of his employers and with credit to himself, and he entered upon it with
avidity and keen enjoyment. Moreover, he was tactful, and possessed the
happy knack of managing those under him in such a way that he was able
to extract the very last ounce of work from them without offending their
susceptibilities, or causing them to feel that he was making undue
demands upon them.
Under these circumstances, and with the perpetual galling irritation of
Butler's presence and influence removed, the survey made rapid and very
satisfactory progress, the party arriving at Cerro de Pasco in a trifle
under six weeks from the date of Butler's death, thus completing the
second section of the survey. The third section was very much longer
and more difficult in every respect than either of the two completed,
since it extended from Nanucaca--already connected by rail with Cerro de
Pasco--along the shore of Lake Chinchaycocha to Ayacucho and Cuzco, and
thence on to Santa Rosa, the distance being some four hundred and
seventy miles as the crow flies, while the difficulties of the route
might possibly increase that distance by nearly one-third. But Escombe
was by no means dismayed by the formidable character of the obstacles
that lay before him; he had come to realise that, to the man who would
achieve success, obstacles exist only that they may be overcome, and he
was gaining experience daily in the overcoming of obstacles. He
therefore attacked this third and very formidable section, not only
without any anxiety or fear, but with a keen zest that instantly
communicated itself to his little band of followers, welding them
together into a perfectly harmonious, smooth-working whole.
It must not be thought, however, that Escombe allowed himself to become
so completely absorbed in his work that he could think of nothing else.
On the contrary, he understood perfectly the meaning of the word
"recreation" and the value of the thing itself. He knew that no man can
work for ever without wearing himself out, and he looked upon recreation
as--what its name implied--a re-creation or rebuilding of those forces,
mental and physical, which labour wears away, and valued it accordingly,
taking it whenever he felt that he really needed it, even as he took
food or medicine.
Now it chanced that fishing was one of Escombe's favourite recreations;
and no sooner had he started the third section of the survey--which
began by skirting the eastern shore of Lake Chinchaycocha--than he made
a practice of indulging in an hour or two's fishing whenever the
opportunity offered. It was this practice that led to an occurrence
which was destined to culminate in an adventure so startling and
extraordinary as to be scarcely credible in these prosaic twentieth-
century days.
It happened on a Saturday afternoon.
On the day in question, the survey party being then encamped on the
shore of Lake Chinchaycocha, as soon as he had squared up his week's
work, and snatched a hasty luncheon, the young Englishman brought forth
his fishing tackle, and, getting aboard a balsa, or light raft, which
Arima had constructed for him, proceeded to paddle some distance out
from the shore to a spot which he had already ascertained afforded him a
fair prospect of sport. Arrived there he dropped his keeleg--a large
stone serving the purpose of an anchor--overboard and settled down
comfortably to enjoy his favourite pastime, and also provide an
exceedingly welcome addition to the somewhat monotonous fare of camp
life.
The sport that afternoon was not so good as Harry had expected, and it
was drawing well on toward evening before the fish began to bite at all
freely--he was trying especially for a certain particularly delicious
kind of fish, something between a trout and a mullet, which was only to
be captured by allowing the hook to rest at the very bottom of the lake.
Suddenly he felt a smart tug at his line and at once began to haul it
in, but he had scarcely got it fairly taut when the tremulous jerk which
denoted the presence of a fish at the other end was exchanged for a
steady strain, and it soon became perfectly evident that the hook had
become entangled in something at the bottom. Now Escombe's stock of
fishing tackle was of exceedingly modest proportions, so much so,
indeed, that the loss of even a solitary hook was a matter not to be
contemplated with indifference, therefore he brought all his skill to
bear upon the delicate task of releasing the hook from its entanglement.
But at the end of half an hour he was no nearer to success than at the
beginning of his endeavours, while the sun was within a hand's breadth
of the horizon, and he had no fancy for being caught by the darkness
while on the lake, therefore he adopted other tactics, and strove to
bring the object, whatever it might be, to the surface by means of a
steady yet not dangerously powerful strain. Ah, that was better! At
the very first tug Escombe felt the resistance yield by the merest
hairs-breadth, and presently a faint jerk told him that he had gained
another fraction of an inch, which success was repeated every few
seconds until he was able to lift and drop the line a clear foot. Then
the sun's lower limb touched and rested for an instant upon the ridge of
the Western Cordilleras before it began to sink behind them, and Harry
realised that the moment for energetic measures had arrived; for he was
a good two miles from the shore, and it would take him the best part of
an hour to paddle his clumsy craft that distance. Therefore he steadily
increased the strain upon his line, determined to release himself one
way or another, even though at the cost of a hook. But it proved
unnecessary for him to make so great a sacrifice, it was the unknown
object that yielded, with little momentary jerks and an ever decreasing
resistance until it finally let go its hold of the bottom altogether and
came to the surface securely entangled with the hook. Upon its
emergence from the water Harry gazed at his catch in astonishment; he
had expected to see the water-logged branch of a tree, a bunch of weed,
or something of that sort, but as it dangled, dripping with sandy ooze
in the last rays of the setting sun, certain ruddy-yellow gleams that
flashed from it told its finder that he had fished up something metallic
from the bottom of the lake. The next moment Escombe was busily engaged
in disentangling his find from the fish hook, but long ere he had
succeeded in doing so the young man had made the interesting discovery
that he had been fortunate enough to retrieve a most remarkable jewel,
in the form of a gold and emerald collar, from the depths of the lake.
Methodical even in the midst of his excitement at having made so
valuable a find, the young Englishman carefully disentangled his hook
and line from the jewel, neatly wound up the former, and then proceeded
patiently to wash away from the latter the ooze with which it was
thickly coated, having done which he found himself in possession of an
ornament so massive in material and so elaborate and unique in
workmanship that he felt certain it must be worth quite a little fortune
to any curio collector. It was, or appeared to be, a collar or
necklace, a trifle over two feet in length, the ends united by a massive
ring supporting a medallion. The links, so to speak, of the necklace
consisted of twelve magnificent emeralds, each engraved upon one side
with certain cabalistic characters, the meaning of which Escombe could
not guess at, and upon the other with a symbol which was easily
identifiable as that of the sun; these emeralds were massively set--
framed would be almost the more appropriate word--in most elaborately
sculptured gold, and joined together by heavy gold links also very
elaborately cut. The pendant was likewise composed of a superb emerald
of fully three inches diameter set in a gold frame, chiselled to
represent the rays of the sun, the emerald itself being engraved with
the representation of a human face, which, oddly enough, Harry
recognised, even at the first glance, to be extraordinarily,
astoundingly like his own. This was a find worth having, the young man
told himself, and might prove worth several hundreds of pounds if
judiciously advertised and offered for sale at Christie's upon his
return home; for safety's sake, therefore, he put it round his neck,
tucking it inside his shirt, snugly out of sight, and, heaving up his
keeleg, proceeded to paddle thoughtfully back to the shore.
It was some three months after this occurrence--and in the interim young
Escombe had pushed forward the survey so rapidly, despite all
difficulties, that he had covered more than half the distance between
Nanucaca and Ayacucho--when, as he returned to camp at the end of his
day's work, he observed two strange mules tethered near his tent; and
presently a stranger emerged from the tent and advanced toward him. The
stranger, although deeply tanned by the sun, was unmistakably an
Englishman, some twenty-eight years of age, rather above middle height,
and with a pleasant though resolute expression stamped upon his good--
looking features. Approaching Harry, he held out his hand and smilingly
remarked:
"Mr Escombe, I presume. My name is Bannister--John Bannister--and I
come from Sir Philip Swinburne to act as your colleague in the
completion of the survey upon which you are engaged. These,"--producing
a packet of papers--"are my credentials. Grand country this,"--casting
an admiring glance at the magnificent scenery amid which the camp was
pitched--"but, my word, you must have had some tough bits of work, even
before reaching this spot."
"You are right, we have," answered Harry as he cordially returned
Bannister's grasp. "I am right glad to see you, and to bid you welcome
to our camp, for I have been pretty badly in want of intelligent help
lately. These fellows,"--indicating the native helpers who were now
scattered about the camp busily preparing for the evening meal--"are all
well enough in their way, and since poor Butler's death I have managed
to drill them into something like decent, useful shape; but I have often
been badly hampered for the want of another surveyor who could work with
me in surmounting some of the especially bad places. Now that you have
come we shall be able to get ahead nearly twice as fast. I suppose you
came out by the last mail, eh? And how are things going in the dear old
country?"
Harry led the new arrival into his tent, and proceeded forthwith to
discard his working clothes and divest himself of the stains of his
day's toil as he chatted animatedly, asking questions for the most part,
as is the wont of the old hand--and Escombe had by this time grown to
quite regard himself as such--when he foregathers with somebody fresh
from "home". Bannister, having arrived at the camp pretty early in the
afternoon, had already bathed and changed; he therefore had nothing to
do but to sit still and answer Harry's questions, jerking in one or two
himself occasionally, until the younger man's toilet was completed, when
they sat down to dinner together. By the time that the meal was over
each felt perfectly satisfied that he would be able to get on well with
the other, and was looking forward to a quite pleasant time up there
among the stupendous mountains.
Upon first seeing Bannister, and learning that he had come out from Sir
Philip, Harry naturally thought that the new arrival had been dispatched
to fill the position of chief of the survey party, rendered vacant by
the death of the unfortunate Butler; but upon opening the credentials
which Bannister had presented, he found that it was actually as the
bearer had stated, that he and Harry were to act as colleagues, not as
chief and subordinate, in the completion of the survey, thus making the
pair jointly responsible for the work, while they would share equally
the credit upon its completion. They spent an exceedingly pleasant
evening together, chatting mostly over the work that still lay before
them, Harry producing his plans and explaining what had already been
done, while Bannister sat listening gravely to the recital of sundry
hairbreadth escapes from death in the execution of duty, and of the
manner in which a few of the more than ordinarily difficult bits of work
had been accomplished; and when the pair again sat chatting together,
twenty-four hours later, at the end of their first day together, each
felt absolutely satisfied with the comrade with which fortune had
brought him into touch. Under these agreeable circumstances the survey
progressed with greater rapidity than ever, the two Englishmen
conquering obstacle after obstacle, and meeting with plenty of thrilling
adventures in the process, until in the fullness of time they reached
first Ayacucho and then Cuzco, when the worst of their troubles were
over. For there was a road--of sorts--between the ancient capital and
Santa Rosa, and the two Englishmen, after riding over it in company,
agreed that, for a considerable part of the way at least, the best route
for a railway would be found contiguous to the highroad, by following
which the surveyors would derive many substantial advantages, in
addition to finding a comparatively easy route to survey.