It was the precursor of a terrible tropic tempest, with bluish lightning
that was blinding, while the roar of heaven's artillery was incessant.
But not a man blenched as the rowers bent to their oars, gladdened by
the feeling that the current was with them, as they sent the boat
rapidly along for their last halting-place. But a mile had hardly been
covered when, with a wild shriek and roar, down came the rain, not in
showers or in drops, but in sheets so heavy that before a minute had
elapsed every one was drenched, and soon after two of the men had to
begin to bale.
To proceed was impossible, and braving the risk, the boat was rowed
beneath the overhanging branches of one of the monarchs of the primeval
forest which reached its limbs far out over the stream, and there,
somewhat protected, the boat was moored. For quite a couple of hours
the little party crouched in the bottom, aiding the shelter by spreading
the sail over the awning, the men holding on to keep the canvas from
being swept off by the howling gale, while the rain poured off in
buckets-full, as the men said.
Then a new danger attacked them. The stream swelled and swelled till
the boat rose feet higher and was forced in among the low-hanging
branches, while the great risk now was that they might be swept out and
along the furious torrent into which the sluggish river had been turned.
But just as it seemed impossible to hold on any longer, and when the
forest on either side had become river too, the rain ceased as suddenly
as it had begun, the wind dropped, and the clouds began to pass away,
while in less than an hour the sun was shining brightly down, and huge
clouds of steam floated over the flooded land.
It was impossible to cast off from their mooring, for every man agreed
that to follow the course of the rushing water would mean that they
would be swept away from the river and in all probability be capsized
before they had gone many hundred yards.
There was nothing for it, then, but to bale hard and free the boat from
water, wring out and try to dry their saturated garments, and do what
they could in the way of drying the sail and awning, in the hope that
the flood would soon pass away.
Fortunately Cross was soon able to announce that the water was sinking,
and this continued so rapidly that before many hours had passed they
were able to put off once more into the stream, which had pretty well
returned to the limits of its banks; and the drying of their clothes and
of such stores as had suffered followed in rapid course.
But it was a disheartening commencement of their journey back to the
main river, and darkness fell upon a desolate and terribly depressed
company, who passed the night of solitude and despair wondering what had
happened at the anchorage where the brig had been left careened.
Rodd had tried to whisper comfort to his comrade, but only to be met
with imploring words, the lad begging to be allowed to sit and think;
and Rodd respected his prayer.
No better fortune attended him with Uncle Paul, who sternly bade him be
silent.
"I too must think, my lad," he said--"and pray."
The silence was shared by the sailors, who only indulged in a whisper
now and then.
And how the rest of that night passed away Rodd hardly knew. Of one
thing only was he quite certain, and that was that sleep never visited
the occupants of that boat.
Daylight at last, when such provisions as were absolutely necessary were
partaken of as the boat went steadily down-stream, for there was water
enough in the river still to have completely changed its sluggish
character, while this was hailed by the men with delight, seeing that it
helped their course, while wherever the wind was available the sail was
hoisted and they sped along, every one keeping a sharp look-out for
their last bivouac but one, it having been decided amongst them that
they must have been swept by that one, which was hidden by the swollen
stream.
But in spite of the keen observation of the sailors and the sharp
look-out by the doctor and the two lads, that day passed without the
familiar sandy embayment among the trees being sighted, and before long
it became a certainty that they were gliding along a different channel
to any they had passed before.
The flood might have altered the stream to a certain extent, but they
passed banks that were certainly different, and just at dusk when a
brisk breeze was blowing they glided through an opening among the trees
which did not seem familiar, and the question arose, should they turn
back?
But before it was settled, darkness fell, and another dismal night was
passed.
The next day broke bright and fine, and encouraged thereby, every man
was keenly on the alert to try and sight one of the Spaniard's
halting-places; but it was long before such an opening was found, and
then when it was hailed with delight as their resting-place at the end
of that day's work, it was forced upon them that they had never been
there before.
Fortunately, though their stores were diminished in quantity, fish were
plentiful, and every now and then a bird fell to Rodd's or the doctor's
gun, for it was felt to be a necessity, as more and more all realised
that they were involved in a perfect labyrinth or network of watery
ways, and that their stores should be supplemented. For opening after
opening in the great walls of verdure kept presenting itself, nearly
always involving the party in a dispute as to whether they had been
there before, till their mental confusion became greater, their ideas
more sadly confused, and the tract of low-lying water-netted country,
far from seeming the paradise through which they had glided on their way
up, now seemed the dwelling-place of despair.
"Isn't there one of you who can guide us aright?" cried the doctor
despairingly. "Is it possible that what seemed so easy to that
treacherous Spanish wretch should prove such a horrible problem to us
all?"
For a time no one spoke, the men hanging their heads, and by way of
showing their earnestness tugging harder at their oars. But at the next
appeal Joe Cross was egged on to make some answer.
"You see, sir," he said, "there isn't anything we wouldn't do for you.
The lads here are sharp enough, but they wants a handle to work them.
We are only sailors, used to having an officer over us, and without him
we aren't much account."
"Oh," groaned the doctor to Rodd, "and I cannot direct them! Rodd, boy,
my brain feels as if it were giving way."
"Don't be down-hearted, sir. Don't chuck up your pluck, young
gentlemen," continued the poor fellow earnestly. "We must get out at
last. It all seemed so easy as we come up; but without that Spanish
chap, and now that it seems to be all turned upside down like, as we are
coming back'ards, it's like looking for a needle in a bottle of hay.
You see, me and my messmates have turned it all over in our heads, and
it always comes to this, that that storm either made us take a wrong
turning, or else that that Spaniard took us into a tangle of
watercourses out of which no one but him and them niggers could find the
way."
"Yes, yes," said the doctor; "we were thoroughly trapped into what has
proved to be a horrible maze."
"Ay, ay, sir!" cried Joe. "And amazing it is; but we are not going to
give up, sir. Wish we may all die if we do; for you see, it must all
come right at last. We have a lot of provisions, plenty of powder and
shot; we can't fail for fresh water, which is a great thing for sailors;
there's wood enough to make fires for five hundred years; and as for
good fish to eat, why, you could almost catch them with your hands."
"No, my men," said the doctor, more firmly, "we are not going to
despair, for if we keep going down-stream we must reach the main river
at last."
"That's what I keep thinking, uncle," cried Rodd; "but every time we
turn out of one of these rivers we seem to get into another, and I want
to know why it is that we have never yet come upon a sandy patch where
we made a fire."
Embayments of this kind they found again and again during the next few
days of their, so to speak, imprisonment in this labyrinth, and in which
they were fain to halt for food and sleep; but whether the flood had
obliterated all signs of their occupation, or whether the places were
absolutely fresh, they never knew.
One thing was determined on, and that to keep on with dogged British
obstinacy till the problem was solved, and after losing count of the
days that they had spent in the forest, and after vain usage of the
compass, which had only seemed to lead them more and more astray, they
had their reward one noon, when the boat was run up on to the sand of a
forest nook which seemed strikingly familiar, and Rodd and Morny both
sprang out, gun in hand, followed by Joe Cross, who excitedly cried--
"All right, gentlemen! Here we are at last! I'd just swear to this
tree and that other big one right across the river."
"Yes," cried the doctor; "this, I am quite certain, is where we set up
our tent the night we missed our guide."
"The morning, uncle," cried Rodd. "Yes, boy; I should have said the
morning. Look, Morny! You do not speak. Isn't this our last
halting-place on our way up?"
The French lad gave his hands a despairing wave in the air.
"Yes," he said; "that's what I feel, sir. Why, we have been all these
weary, weary days trying to get back to the river so that we might row
away to the brig, and this is the spot from which we started!"
"Well, gentlemen," cried Joe Cross, "I say hooray to that. Yes, this is
the place, aren't it, messmates?"
"Yes, yes," came in an excited chorus, for the discovery seemed to have
sent a thrill of joy through all the men.
"That's right, messmates," cried Joe. "Then all we have got to do now,
gentlemen, is to try and take our bearings right, rub the wet dust out
of all our eyes, and make a fresh start."
"The wet dust, Joe!" cried Rodd, with the nearest approach to a smile
which had appeared upon his face for many days. "Here, uncle, get out
the compass, and let's see what we can do with that."
"No," said the doctor quietly. "We must make a fresh start, but it must
be calmly and well, and after food and a good night's rest. Collect
wood, my lads, to make a fire. Boys, take your guns and go up-stream a
little higher where we have never been before, and shoot what birds you
can. Two or three of you men do what you can from the shore with the
fishing-lines. To-morrow morning we will start calmly and trustingly to
the river once again. Be of good heart, Morny, my lad, for the end of
our awful struggle must be coming near, and every one of us must do all
he can to help his brother for the one great end."
A cheer rose at the doctor's words, and the change in the whole party
was wonderful.
All worked with such energy that long before darkness set in the tent
was rigged up for the night, a good meal had been prepared, and almost
as full of hope as on the night when they had last encamped there for
their rest, a couple of hours were pleasantly passed before the fire was
once more made up and the watch set. Very soon afterwards all were
plunged in a deep and restful sleep, one from which Rodd and Morny were
startled by a terrific clap of thunder. Then the interior of their tent
was lit up by a vivid blue flash of lightning, by which they saw the
watch--Joe Cross and one of the sailors leaning over them, the former
saying--
"There's going to be an awful--"
"Storm," he would have said, but his words were drowned by another crash
which came instantly upon a sheet of lightning, and pretty well stunned
them with its roar.