Preparations for Departure
Three days later, having actually worn off the bonds on their lower limbs
by their long, painful journey on their hands and knees through the dense
growth, until a friendly Peruvian lad finished their liberation, Jack and
Plum entered de la Pama, two sorry-looking youths but still full of
courage. Almost the first news they learned was that the St. Resa railroad
was again without the men to run the train, which had been stalled for
weeks. In fact, the engineer and his helper who had succeeded them, had
not made one complete trip, the fireman having blown out the boiler soon
after leaving De la Pama.
In this dilemma the officials hailed the appearance of the boys with
unfeigned delight. But Jack was sorry to learn that it had been decided
not to pay over thirty pistoles a month for his services.
"We might as well let the cars stand idle as to pay out all we can get for
help. Then, too, the business is not going to be very good while this war
lasts, señor."
The pay was still big for that country, and Jack resolved to accept,
though before doing so he asked: "What will you pay my fireman?"
"Twenty pistoles, señor. That is the best we can do. We can get plenty of
men for that price." "It doesn't look so. But what do you say, Plum? That
will bring you seventy-two dollars a month, if I reckon right. I will try
it for awhile if you will go with me."
"I'm with you."
Most unexpected to them at the time they began, the "awhile" proved for a
year. Jack had not dreamed he should stay so long, but his previous
experience had left him penniless, and with his fixed determination to try
again, he knew he would not be able to find so good an opportunity to earn
the needed money to begin renewed operations. During those days Jack sent
several letters to his folks and to Jenny. In return he received a letter
from his father, stating that all was now going fairly well with the
family and if he wanted to stay in South America he could do so. Mr. North
also sent the information that Fowler & Company had gone into the hands of
a receiver and there was no telling whether the business would be
continued or not, and Jack need not expect any back pay from the concern.
From Jenny Jack heard not a word, much to his anxiety and dismay. The fact
was that Jenny's folks had moved to another town and she had not received
Jack's letters, and consequently did not know exactly where he was.
"I suppose she has forgotten all about me," he thought, with a sigh.
"Well, I suppose I ought to go back, but I hate to do it before I've
managed to get some money together. There's a fortune in that nitrate and
I know it, and some day I'll get hold of it."
Very much to Jack's surprise they were not molested very much by the
bush-raiders, whose power seemed to have been checked by the advance of
the opposing armies, for the war was still carried on, though in a sort of
desultory manner, as if each side was afraid of the others. Jack could
foresee that the Chilians were pretty sure to secure that portion of the
country before they got through. Plum Plucky had stood by his friend all
of this time, and they had met with some thrilling experiences, but come
out of them safely.
Jack saved his money like a miser, and with undimmed faith in his ultimate
success bought five more nitrate beds, to be laughed at by his friend.
"Should think you would want to look after 'em loads you have got over on
the Andes," Plum would frequently say.
Each time Jack remained silent.
"Say, Jack," Plum would then invariably say, "don't yeou s'pose 'em oxen
are getting hungry by this time?"
Still the other held his peace.
Jack had not forgotten the mysterious island in the equally mysterious
lake amid the Andes, and twice during the year his memory had been
refreshed by startling accounts given of the place by different parties
that had visited the valley. These men had given it the name of the
"Devil's Waters," not very inappropriately.
At the end of the year, it now being certain that the Peruvians were
losing their hold on the province which comprised the territory in which
they were located, Jack said to his companion:
"I am almost sorry to say that I shall make my last trip to-morrow, Plum."
"Going back to nitrates?" asked the other, showing but little surprise.
"Yes. I must get a cargo to America as soon as possible."
"Should think you would want to. Guess I will stick to the old gal here a
little longer. When I have got enough money to get out of this swamp in
the way I want to I shall go back to old New England.
"I tell you there is no place like the Old Bay State. Yeou won't think me
a sneak for deserting yeou now, Jack?" dropping back into his old-time
nasal drawl.
"Oh, no, of course not. In fact, I think you are doing just as I should if
I were in your place. I will speak a good word for you to get my position
as engineer. You can run the engine as well as I now."
"Good for you, Jack. Now, how do you think of getting that stuff to the
States?"
"About the same way I tried first, only I shall not try to go behind that
spur of the Andes, as I did before.
"I can see my mistake now, though I believe that is the richest deposit I
have, and I shall sometime make something out of it. I am going to get a
cargo from the bed nearest to the railroad and get the company to freight
it for me to the seaboard."
"Then I shall see you occasionally, Jack."
"Oh, yes. I shall not be far away."
Jack was as good as his word, and the following day Plum Plucky proudly
took his place as engineer, with a new fireman to help him.
Jack then began to carry out his scheme of getting a cargo of nitrate to
his native land.
This time he obtained his supply of nitrate from a bed less than ten miles
from the railroad, drawing it to the station with ox teams. With his
better knowledge of the country he met with success in this part of the
undertaking, and then the train carried it to the sea-coast for him at
moderate rates.
Before this had been done he had bargained with a Peruvian captain of a
merchantman to carry the cargo to Philadelphia.
This had proved the most difficult part of his arrangements, for with the
existing war between the countries it was sometime before he could find a
man willing to do it.
But he found one at last and the nitrate was eventually loaded on the
vessel.
It was a proud, and yet an anxious, moment for Jack when he found
everything in readiness to leave the harbor.
The captain had declared his intention of setting sail under cover of
darkness, so as to escape an attack from a Chilian ship should one offer
to dispute his passage.
That afternoon Jack saw Plum to bid him goodbye, feeling sorry to part
with his honest friend.
The latter actually cried.
"Hang it, Jack! I've a mind to go with you. Think of me in this heathenish
country and you among friends and rolling in wealth."
"All but the wealth, Plum. But I shall be glad to have you go with me."
"I thank you, Jack, but I mustn't. I must stay here long enough to get the
money to pay up the mortgage on dad's farm, when I shall skip by the light
of the moon. You may not find me here when you come back, Jack, but I wish
you well."
A little after sunset the Peruvian ship moved slowly out of the harbor of
San Maceo, Jack watching the land as it receded from sight with a peculiar
interest, and his mind ran swiftly back over the eventful time he had
passed in that faraway land.
He had given the captain the last pistole he possessed, as he had been
obliged to pay him in advance to get him to undertake the task, so he was
again penniless. But he had no doubt he would have money enough as soon as
he could get home and dispose of his cargo. Over and again he had figured
out his profit, if it should prove saleable at the moderate price he had
fixed upon it. Is it a wonder his thoughts were in a tumult? Is it strange
that he found it difficult to make himself believe that at last after that
long waiting, he was really homeward bound?
"How glad they will be to see me!" he thought. "And Jenny! She will not be
expecting me. It has been so long since I left. Some of them may be--"
He was interrupted in his meditations by the report of a gun in the
distance, and, glancing to the port, he discovered a ship coming up
rapidly.
That there was something wrong in the appearance of the stranger was
evident from the bustle and excitement which had suddenly sprung up among
officers and crew, not one of whom spoke anything but Spanish.
All sail had been crowded on that the ship could possibly carry; but
heavily loaded and at best a poor sailer, the new-comer continued to
overhaul them at a startling rate.
Coming alongside of Jack finally, the captain said:
"We are lost, señor! I ought to lose my head for undertaking such a mad
project."
"It may not be as bad as you seem to think, señor capitan," replied Jack,
hoping to encourage the commander.
But all that he could say was in vain.
The Chilian warship, as the stranger really was, continued to keep up its
firing, though the Peruvian vessel had not fired a gun.
Jack anxiously watched the approach of their pursuer, feeling that his
fortune, if not his life, was at stake.
It is possible if the Peruvian had laid to and allowed the other to come
up without the show of running away, that it might have been permitted to
continue its course unmolested. And again it may not have been so.
At any rate the Peruvian captain held to his flight as his only hope of
salvation, until at last a shot, better directed than the random firing so
long kept up, struck the doomed merchantman fairly amidship.
The craft instantly lurched and trembled from bow to stern.
"She is sinking!" shrieked the captain. "Quick--to the boats!"