THE TRACKLESS JUNGLE.
As they slowly ascended the sluggish, though powerful current of the
muddy Chagres, Mr. Raynor told them something about the object of their
expedition. In the foothills of the Cordillero de Bando, a sort of
backbone of mountains extending throughout the length of the Isthmus,
many small rivers rise, some of which feed the Chagres and contribute to
its floods. The largest of these, a stream known as the Rio Chepalto,
was, in the rainy season, quite a formidable torrent. Mr. Mainwaring's
idea was to construct a dam or dig some sort of a connecting link which
would divert the waters of the Chepalto in flood time into one of the
small rivers that flowed seaward, thus further taming the Chagres.
The Gatun valley was soon left behind and the Chagres plunged into a
steaming, luxuriant forest. Between banks overgrown in wild profusion
with every sort of tropical growth, its chocolate colored current flowed
silently along. In places, muddy bayous led off from the main stream and
these, the boys were told, were the haunts of crocodiles and alligators.
Everywhere amidst the luxuriant tangle on the banks were vivid splashes
of color, scarlet, yellow, and blue. These were the flowers of a score of
varieties of tropic shrubs and flowering bushes. They filled the air with
a rank, sweet smell that was almost overpowering. From the tangle, too,
there shot up majestic trees, from whose branches drooped long lianas, or
creepers, some of them thick as a man's thigh. Here was a clump of
brilliantly green and feathery bamboo, there shot up a grove of coco-bola
trees, while once in a while, but this rarely, there loomed in sight a
group of the kings of the tropical forests--a majestic gathering of
towering mahogany trees.
There were also clumps of banana plants growing to a height of fifteen or
twenty feet, with immense broad leaves often six feet in length.
Curiously enough, the banana bunches appeared to be hanging upside down.
Beyond the fruit extended a stem like a snake, ending in a big blossom
something like a red-brown water lily. There were occasional clumps of
cocoanut trees, too, at which Tubby looked with a strange mixture of awe
and longing.
Occasionally, through all this brilliant jungle gaily colored parrots or
a flock of screaming macaws would fly, alarmed by the chugging of the
launch. In some of the bayous, pelicans or big blue herons stood like
sentinels on one leg, watching the progress of the invaders. But,
beautiful as it all was, the boys missed the songs of the woodland birds
in the north. Except for the shrieking of the parrots and macaws, or the
occasional sullen splash of some unseen creature plunging into the river,
the vast forests that reached for miles all about them were silent.
Suddenly the launch came to a stop with a soft bump. The boys looked
rather alarmed. Had they collided with some huge creature that made its
home in the tepid waters of the Chagres? They were soon relieved of any
anxiety on that score.
"Well, we're aground at last," remarked Mr. Mainwaring in a
matter-of-fact tone.
"You talk as if you had expected such a thing to happen," said Rob in
some surprise.
"Yes indeed," rejoined the engineer, "in fact, I'm astonished that it
didn't happen before. The river is full of sand banks, and sometimes it
is impossible to see the channel. I see you've got the engine stopped
already. You had better reverse now and we'll soon get off again."
"I should think that it would be quicker to go through the forests,"
remarked Rob, when without much trouble they "got going" again.
"It would be almost twice as quick, but nobody knows the paths but the
Indians."
"Indians!" exclaimed Tubby. "Are there Indians here?"
He clutched his rifle with a determined look, for of course the boys had
brought their weapons along.
"Yes indeed, plenty of them, but I guess we won't see any. They are the
San Blas tribe and so small as to be almost pigmies."
"I know, I've seen pictures of them," cried Rob. "They look something
like Japs only they've got big round heads and long, straight black
hair."
"That's it," rejoined Mr. Mainwaring; "they're harmless enough unless
their particular territory is invaded. No white man has ever penetrated
far into their country and come back to tell the tale. But they say that
back among the forests and mountains to which they alone know the way are
deposits of emerald and gold of priceless value."
"I should think somebody would form an expedition and raid the place,"
said Tubby in a war-like manner.
"More easily said than done," Mr. Raynor struck in; "it's been tried, but
fever and poisoned arrows wiped out all but a few poor, half-crazed
wretches who struggled back to civilization more dead than alive."
"Do they ever come down to this part of the country?" asked Merritt.
"Only occasionally, when a hunting expedition has led them far afield,"
rejoined Mr. Mainwaring. "This Rio Chepalto that we are going to try to
diverge runs back into their country; but where it joins the Chagres is
not forbidden ground. Their territory begins higher up."
Suddenly there came another soft bump.
"Aground again!" cried Rob, stopping the engine. "Shall I reverse?"
"Yes; do so at once," was the order.
But this time the matter of getting off the sand bank was not so simple.
The two tow ropes attached to the canoe became entangled in the paddle
wheel as the _Pathfinder_ backed up, and they came to a stop. An
investigation showed that it might take some time to get it free. Tubby
was prompt in asking permission to go into the forest to see if he
couldn't bring down some game of some kind.
"You and Fred will have to go alone then," said Mr. Mainwaring, "and
don't go far from the river. We'll recall you by three blasts on the
whistle. Rob and Merritt will be needed to help us get untangled and to
work the engine."
"Never mind, we'll bring back some game that will make their eyes bulge,"
declared Tubby valiantly. "Come on, Fred."
"Wait till I shove the landing plank ashore," said Fred, catching hold of
a plank that was used for that purpose. The launch lay quite close to the
shore and the plank, which was ten feet long, was of sufficient length to
form a bridge.
"Never mind the plank," quoth Tubby, "I'll just step on this old log here
and----"
"Look out, boy!" came a sharp cry from Mr. Raynor.
But it was too late. Tubby had already stepped over the side of the
launch. As his foot touched the log a surprising thing happened. What had
seemed a balk of old rotten timber gave a leap that threw Tubby into the
water, and at the same instant a vast pair of jaws, armed with double
rows of gleaming teeth, flashed wide open. The alligator--for that was
what Tubby's "log" was--gave a menacing, hissing sound and a flourish of
its formidable tail.
The next instant a rifle cracked sharply. The creature gave a roar as a
bullet crashed down its open throat. Rob, seeing Tubby's peril, had
snatched Fred's rifle from him and pumped a bullet into the monster
reptile where it would do the most good. He pumped the repeating
mechanism and two more bullets drove into the 'gator before it sank,
crimsoning the muddy water. They saw no more of it and Mr. Mainwaring
declared that Rob must have killed it.
Tubby, up to his waist in water, gasped as he beheld his narrow escape
and Rob's prompt action.
"Gee whiz! This is a funny country," he mumbled, after he had been
lectured for his carelessness. "Cocoanuts explode and old rotten logs
turn into alligators."
On his promise to be careful and keep well within call, Tubby was allowed
to go on shore with Fred and you may be sure he used the landing plank
this time. The two boys struck off straight into the jungle and then kept
a course that lay parallel to the river bank. All at once Tubby gave a
violent exclamation and almost fell over backward. A lizard, but a lizard
almost as big as himself, had run through the jungle right in front of
him.
"A Panama water-lizard," declared Fred, who had put in more time studying
the country from books than had Tubby. "It's harmless."
"It doesn't look so," was Tubby's comment.
But a more thrilling encounter lay just ahead of them. Hanging from a
tree, and slowly swaying to and fro, was what looked like a beautifully
marked liana or hanging creeper.
"Oh, what a beauty," exclaimed Fred, stepping forward, but the next
instant he recoiled with a yell of alarm.
The creeper had emitted a loud, angry hiss and then they saw that it was
no creeper at all, but a brilliantly colored snake, at least fifteen feet
long, that was swinging from a limb around which its tail was coiled.
Tubby echoed Fred's yell of alarm and the next instant both boys took to
their heels in mad flight. The serpent had swiftly and silently begun
writhing its way to the ground.
"Run for your life!" cried Tubby wildly. "He's after us."
Stumbling over creepers, falling headlong, and then struggling to their
feet again, and keeping on with their mad rush, the two terrified boys
ran for their lives. Behind them came a thrashing sound as the big snake
made its way after them.
In their alarm they lost all sense of direction or distance. All they
knew was that the big reptile was pursuing them, and they raced along
without considering anything but escaping from it. It never even occurred
to them to open fire on it with their rifles.
How far they ran they had no idea. All they knew was that at last, when,
from sheer exhaustion they paused, there was no sound of pursuit. The
vast woods were silent. All at once they had a fresh fright. This time
from overhead. There was a mighty commotion in the tree-tops accompanied
by shrill barks and cries.
"Gracious, what's coming now?" gasped Tubby. "I wish we were back on the
launch!"
But it was only a troop of white-faced, long-tailed monkeys swinging by,
traveling along the tree-top high road at almost incredible speed. They
paused as they saw the boys standing there below them. Gathering together
they began to chatter and make a terrible noise.
Then, making horrible grimaces and yelling angrily, they broke off sticks
and began to pelt the two lads furiously with them. Suddenly Tubby raised
his rifle and fired at them. Instantly they made off, shrieking at the
top of their voices and swinging from limb to limb by means of their long
tails which they used as conveniently as hands.
The monkeys gone with their bewildering chatter, the boys began to look
about them. They were standing in a spot where the undergrowth was not so
dense, but they could see that they were in the depths of the forest. As
they looked around them the same thought clutched uncomfortably hard at
the heart of each. How far had they come on their wild run to escape the
great serpent? Also, in what direction had their retreat led them? Tubby
was the first to give these disquieting thoughts words.
"Where are we, Fred?"
"I--I don't know. Haven't you got your compass?"
"Yes, but I didn't take any bearings when we left the river."
"Let's strike out and try to get back. At any rate we'll hear the whistle
before long."
"That's so. I forgot that. Better sit down here and wait till we hear it,
then. No use wandering about, we might go in a wrong direction."
But had the boys known it, the launch whistle, not a very powerful one,
was at that very minute blowing repeatedly for them. Their wild dash to
escape from the huge snake had carried them far into the jungle.
They sat there for a long time, each busied with his own thoughts. At
last Tubby rose.
"It's funny we don't hear that whistle, Fred," he said, "but I've been
thinking that maybe we ran further than we thought from that beast in the
tree. Now I'm pretty sure the river lies that way," he pointed in a
directly opposite direction. "Let's strike out for it."
"All right," agreed Fred, whose face had begun to assume an alarmed look.
"S-s-s-s-say, Tubby, you don't think we're lost, do you?"
Tubby was quick to note the quaver in Fred's voice, and he bravely put on
a careless air.
"Lost! Not a bit of it. Two Boy Scouts lost in a bit of timber like this?
Not much. Come on, old chap, and we'll be laughing over our scare within
an hour's time."
But hour after hour went by and still the two lads, now thoroughly
scared, though neither had yet admitted it, plunged along through the
jungle. At last when they reached a small open space, Fred could stand it
no longer. He sank down on a fallen tree trunk and fairly gave way to his
fears.
"We're lost, Tubby," he moaned, "and it's no use going any further. I
can't, in fact. I'm dead tired out. What on earth shall we do?"
The fat boy looked at his comrade with alarmed eyes. It was plain that
Fred was on the verge of a nervous collapse. Their position was bad
enough without that. And yet Tubby could find no words to comfort his
companion. What Fred had said was the truth; they were lost in the
trackless jungle, a terrifying situation indeed. From time to time during
their wanderings they had fired their rifles, hoping to hear some
response, but none had come.
Tubby, however, had, whenever possible, marked the trail either by
barking or blazing a tree with his knife in Indian fashion, or by leaving
grass and stone signs in a manner familiar to all first-class Scouts.
This was now the only crumb of comfort he could offer to Fred.
"Cheer up. Maybe they'll pick up the trail," he said as hopefully as he
could.
"But if they don't, we--gracious! Look there!"
Facing the two lost boys was a party of squat, copper-colored little men
with big round heads and straight black hair. They carried bows and
arrows and spears. Their clothes consisted of old sacking, bits of cloth,
anything in fact that would partially cover them. They evidently formed a
hunting party, for some of them carried wild pigs and one or two had a
deer slung on a branch between them. They had crept up quite silently and
now regarded the interlopers intently.
For an instant the two white boys stood stock-still, as if turned to
stone. Then by a natural impulse, they turned and started to run. But a
spear whizzed through the air after them, transfixing itself quivering in
a tree just above their heads.
This brought them to a halt. Weapons they had none, for when they paused
they had laid down their rifles and in their precipitate, startled flight
had forgotten to pick them up again.
Utterly unnerved by this added sheaf to their bundle of misfortunes, the
two Boy Scouts stood facing the Indians who, they had no doubt, formed a
hunting or scouting party sent out by the San Blas tribes that made their
homes back in the mysterious recesses of the mountains where rose the
headwaters of the Chepalta.