ALLIGATOR OR SHARK--A SHOOTING EXPEDITION--WE WITNESS THE DEATH OF A
SCOUT--MAKE OUR ESCAPE--PREPARATIONS FOR OUR VOYAGE UP THE RIVER--
NIGHT--AROUSED BY AN ATTACK ON THE FORT--INDIANS ENTER IT--ESCAPE TO THE
BOAT--FOLLOWED BY THE DOCTOR--VOYAGE ACROSS THE LAKES--CAMP ON THE SHORE
OF THE LAKE--THE DOCTOR SHOOTS AN ALLIGATOR--PURSUED BY INDIANS--ENTER
THE MAGDALENA--BEAUTIFUL SCENERY--MAGNIFICENT TREES--GAY FLOWERS--
GORGEOUS PLUMAGE OF BIRDS--THE DOCTOR CATCHES AN ALLIGATOR--VOYAGE
CONTINUED--MOUNTAINS IN SIGHT--A TEMPEST AT NIGHT--END OF VOYAGE--WE
PART WITH THE DOCTOR.
As soon as morning came I got up and sauntered out into the fort. The
sentries were at their posts, but no one else was astir. Both within
and without the fort a perfect silence reigned, broken only now and then
by the cries of water-fowl as they rose from the bank, or the screaming
of parrots as they flew out of the neighbouring forest, from whence also
proceeded the suppressed chattering of a tribe of monkeys.
I was on my way to the gate, intending to go to the landing-place and
take a bath, when a stranger approached me. He wore a large
broad-brimmed straw hat with a Republican cockade, a short tunic of blue
and white striped cotton, light blue trousers, jack-boots with immense
spurs; a long French dragoon sword with brass basket-hilt fastened to
his waist-belt was dangling at his side, while a powder-horn was slung
over his shoulders, and he carried in his hand an enormous old French
silver-mounted gun. His hair was light, and so would have been his
complexion, had it not been burned red by exposure to the hot sun of the
tropics. His beard was carefully trimmed to a point. I may further say
that he had prominent black eyes, an aquiline nose of considerable
dimensions, a mouth not very small, a long face with a sharp chin; while
I judged by his features that he was German. Such, I found, was the
case, when he addressed me, and introduced himself as Dr Rudolph
Stutterheim.
After wishing me good-morning, he inquired where I was going. I told
him.
"Then you will be gobbled up by either one alligator or one shark," he
replied; "for though the water is brackish, the alligators come down
here to pick up any morsels they can find, and the sharks come for the
same purpose."
I thanked him for his warning, but still felt rather doubtful if he was
right. To convince me, he procured two pieces of offal, which he
carried at the end of his stick, and accompanied me down to the
landing-place, a rough stone pier which projected into the lake. Taking
a piece, he jerked it some distance into the water, when in an instant a
huge pair of jaws with rows of sharp teeth rose above the surface and
snapped it up. He then took the other piece and threw it in an opposite
direction, when just as it reached the water another pair of jaws, the
lower part of silvery-whiteness, rose above the water, and the meat was
gone.
"You see, my young friend, you can have your choice," he said; "but I
don't think you will wish just now to bathe in this place."
I assured him I did not; and he having lighted a big meerschaum pipe
which he drew from his pocket, we returned to the fort. I inquired
whether he was the surgeon of the forces stationed there.
"Such an occupation would not suit my fancy," he answered, shrugging his
shoulders; "though, while I am here, I willingly cooper up those who
require my services. I am a traveller and naturalist, desirous of
seeing the country and the strange creatures it contains, and in search
of adventures, which I may perhaps some day narrate for the
enlightenment of the world."
I, of course, replied that I hoped he would do so, as I should like to
read the work of one who had rendered me so essential a service; and I
added that I felt deeply grateful to him, as he had certainly saved my
life by preventing me from venturing into the water.
"It was at no great cost to myself," he answered; "but I should have
grieved to see one so young swallowed by a saurian, and who is, at all
events, capable of becoming food for powder, if for nothing else--eh?
What do you say, my young friend?"
Somewhat uncertain whether or not the doctor was quizzing me, I replied
that I hoped I might some day become fit for a better fate than he
suggested.
"Yet such has been the lot of many a fine man with a head on his
shoulders, who has run it into a quarrel not his own," he observed. "I
know what war is--a horrible, detestable affair at the best. Take my
advice: Have nothing to do with it. Both parties now striving for the
mastery are savages. You will find that out before long--though do not
tell the commandant what I say, or he may chance to order me out to be
shot, as a traitor to the cause of liberty. Bah!--there is only liberty
where good laws exist, which all obey! Here, the only laws obeyed are
those administered at the point of the bayonet. But don't repeat this,"
he added, putting his finger to his lips and turning away.
After parting from the doctor, I returned to the house of the
commandant, whom, with my uncle, I found at breakfast. I at once made
inquiries about my friend of the morning.
"He is a wonderful man--a genius, a philosopher, a professor of
astrology, a magician," answered the commandant, shrugging his
shoulders. "More I cannot say; he is a wonder--a mystery; but he
understands the art of brewing punch to perfection, and that is
something in his favour."