few minutes and then stopped; for rugged as the place was, it possessed
the quality of being level enough to enable them to make a halt for
refreshments, without being on a narrow shelf where there was not room
for a mule to be turned.
Hideous as the place was, every face brightened, for the strain of
feeling in great peril was for the time removed, and even the mules
showed their satisfaction by whinnying to each other, and giving
themselves a shake, as they began to sniff about and browse upon the dry
vegetation which grew amongst the fallen stones.
"Hah!" ejaculated the colonel, as he got off his mule, and looked round
and above at the pure blue sky. "One feels as if one could breathe and
move now."
"Yes," said Perry, with a shudder; "it was horrible."
"Nonsense, boy," cried the colonel. "It was not a place one would
select for a nice walk, but I should not have liked to miss such a
journey. People at home do not know there are such wildly-grand places
in the world--eh, Cyril?"
"No, sir," replied the latter eagerly, for a pleasant word or two from
the colonel was like a gleam of sunshine in his breast; "but it was
dangerous. I should not have liked to get off my mule on that shelf."
"Not on the precipice side, certainly," said the colonel.
"Why, there wasn't any room on the other," cried Perry; "and if one had
turned giddy, one would have gone down, down--ugh!"
"Yes, the place did look deep," said the colonel, "but no one did turn
giddy, and the mules went along as steadily as if they had been on a
turnpike road.--Well, Manning, what's the matter?"
"I was thinking about our having to go back along that there path, sir."
"Well, I daresay we shall," replied the colonel, "but you don't mind."
"Not mind, sir?" cried the old soldier gloomily.
"Not you, my man. I grant it is a little dangerous, but not so bad as
walking along a shelf in the Nagari pass, with a Belooch behind every
stone, taking aim at one with his long matchlock."
John Manning grinned, took off his hat, and scratched his head.
"You did not complain about the danger then," continued the colonel.
"No, sir, I didn't, did I!" said the man, wrinkling up his face a little
more; "and I ain't going to grumble about this neither. I'll go
wherever you lead, colonel, like a soldier should."
"Yes; I knew that when I chose you to come with us, Manning," said the
colonel quietly. "Well, what about dinner? We had better have it upon
that flat-topped stone."
"I shan't be five minutes, sir; but I was hesitating about that stone.
It's just in the hot sunshine, and if there are any snakes about here,
that seems a likely place."
"Any snakes about here, Diego?" asked Cyril, and the man shook his head,
and replied that it was too cold.
A few minutes later they were enjoying a hearty meal, and the mules were
revelling in their freedom from their loads, while the two Indians sat
munching their sun-dried strips of meat, and talking together in a low
voice.
"All these stones and rocks tumbled down from above, I suppose, sir?"
said Cyril, after a prolonged look upward at the peak which rose high
above them, with its smooth sides glittering with snow, and a thin,
white, gauzy cloud just hiding the extreme point.
"Yes, my lad," said the colonel, shading his eyes, and looking up. "The
snow hides the old scar, but I should say that during some eruption the
whole side of the crater fell outward, and crumbled down to here, as you
say."
"Crater?" cried Cyril.
"Yes; don't you see that it is a volcano?"
"I did not, sir. Then those clouds up there are smoke?"
"More likely steam."
"Steam? Those clouds?" cried Perry, gazing up. "And is this a burning
mountain?"
"Yes. You will be able to say you have been on the side of a volcano,"
said the colonel quietly. "Look at all this broken stone about; how
glistening a great deal is, as if it had been molten. That piece, too,
looks like scoria."
"Then hadn't we better go on at once?" cried Perry, getting up from the
stone on which he was seated.
"What for? Are you afraid of an eruption?" said the colonel, with a
shade of contempt in his voice.--"Feel that stone where he was sitting,
Cyril; perhaps it is warm."
"Yes, it was quite warm when I sat down upon it," said Perry hastily.
"All the stones about here are nearly hot."
"Of course they are, sir," cried his father. "Have they not been baking
in this hot sunshine? There, sit down and finish your dinner.
Mountains don't break out into eruption without giving some warning."
"But this must have been quite lately, sir," said Cyril, to turn the
colonel's fire.
"Geologically lately, my lad," he said, picking up and examining a
stone, "but not in our time, nor our grandfathers'. In all probability
these stones came crumbling down some hundreds of years ago."
"Then you think there is no fear of another eruption, father?"
"If I did think there was, do you think I should be sitting here so
calmly?" replied the colonel.
Perry had nothing to say to this, and he soon after became interested in
a conversation which took place between Cyril and the guide, waiting
impatiently until it was at an end.
"What does he say?" asked Perry, as Cyril turned away.
"That as soon as we've passed this rough place there's another path,
like the one we've come by, and he wants to know if your father means to
risk it."
Perry felt a shrinking sensation, but he said nothing, knowing how
determined his father was when he had set his mind upon a thing.
"I told him we were going, of course. But, I say, Perry," whispered
Cyril, "how far does he mean to go?"
Perry shook his head.
"Is it any use to ask him where he means to stop?" whispered Cyril.
"No; not a bit."
"Hallo! Look here!" cried Cyril, and Perry snatched up his piece from
where it lay.
"Look out, father!" he cried, as one by one, with solemn, slow stride,
some half-dozen peculiar-looking, flat-backed, long-necked animals came
into sight round an angle of the valley at the far side of the chaos of
stones amongst which they had made their halt.
"Put down that gun. Don't be stupid," cried Cyril. "Can't you see they
are llamas?"
"What if they are? I suppose they are good to eat."
"I shouldn't like to try one," cried Cyril, laughing.
The colonel had now caught sight of the animals, which kept on coming
round the corner in regular file, with their long necks held up stiffly.
"Quite a caravan," the colonel said. "Ask Diego what they are
carrying."
"I know, without asking, sir," said Cyril eagerly. "They're bringing
down Quinquina--kina, as they call it. You know, sir--bark."
"Hah!" ejaculated the colonel eagerly, and he took out the little double
glass he carried to examine the train of animals, which had evidently
come from the track that they were to pursue after their halt.
"You're wrong, I think, my lad," said the colonel, after a long
examination through his glass. "They have all got bales of something on
their backs, and, judging from the outside, I think they are skins or
hides."
"Yes, sir, that's right," cried Cyril, "but it is bark inside. They
make the bark up into bales, and cover them with hides before binding
them up. I know; I've seen them before."
The colonel continued his inspection, and Cyril hurriedly questioned the
guide before speaking to the former again.
"He says they are taking the kina down to the port, and that they will
halt here to rest."
"Then we'll stay a little longer and see them," said the colonel,
closing his glass after seeing several armed men turn the corner and
begin to climb beside the llamas over the rugged stones.
CHAPTER NINE.
CYRIL SCENTS DANGER.
As the men in charge of the llamas came in sight of the colonel and his
party, they waited for more and more to join them, and it soon became
plain that they expected or meditated an attack; but a peaceful message
sent on by the colonel gave them confidence, and the swarthy men, for
the most part armed, came on, followed now by their charge, till the
great opening in the rock-wall was filled by the drove of rough,
woolly-looking animals; there being over five hundred in the caravan,
and each bearing about a hundredweight of the precious fever-averting
bark.
Diego and Cyril's powers were soon brought into requisition for
interpreting; the strangers willingly stating where they were going, but
proving themselves as eager to know the colonel's business as he showed
himself about the bark bales, before the mules were once more loaded,
and the English party started again, so as to get to the end of the
valley before dark.
The coming of the caravan had given the boys encouragement, for, as
Cyril argued to Perry, the track could not be so very bad if that drove
of animals bearing loads could come along it in safety.
"I don't know about that," replied Perry. "I had a good look at them.
Short-legged, broad things like these, with soft spongy feet like
camels, seem made for walking up here among the rocks; while the mules,
with their long legs and hard hoofs, look as if they might slip and go
over at any time."
This was just after they had started, and found, as soon as they had
cleared the rocky chaos, that the shelf path was so wide that the lads
were able to ride abreast; and as the colonel had gone right in front
with the guide, the boys began talking about the men with the llamas.
"Any one would think your father wanted to go into the kina trade," said
Cyril, who was rapidly recovering his spirits. "Did you notice how the
Indian frowned when Diego kept on talking to him, and I asked all those
questions for your father?"
"I thought he seemed impatient and tired, and as if he wanted to sit
down and rest."
"Oh, it wasn't that," said Cyril quietly; "it's because they want to
keep all about the bark trees very secret, so that no one else shall be
able to grow it and supply it for sale. You heard my father say how the
people who went in search of the trees never came back again. Father
feels sure that they were murdered."
"No; that was the people who went after the treasures."
"Oh, was it? I forget. Perhaps it was both," said Cyril. "My head got
in such a muddle over my coming after you, that things are mixed. I
suppose it was because Colonel Campion asked so much about the kina."
"Father takes a great interest in everything; that's why he travels and
has come here," said Perry. "Look, there goes a condor."
"Well, let him go," said Cyril. "He isn't good to eat, and you've got
plenty of provisions to last till you get to some village on the other
side of the mountains. But, I say, it does seem strange that you people
should come here of all places in the world."
"I don't see it," replied Perry. "It's a very wonderful place to come
to, but I wish it wasn't quite so dangerous. I keep feeling afraid of
turning giddy."
"Yes, it's a wonderful place to come to, and I had no idea that the
valleys were so awful and deep; but I should enjoy it if it wasn't for
thinking of them at home. I hope they believe I've come after you.
Wish I'd left a line to say where I had gone."
"It's too late to wish that now," said Perry.
"Yes, but one can't help wishing it all the same. I wish I knew why
your father has come up here."
At that moment there was a warning shout from forward, and another from
John Manning in the rear, for the boys had been so wrapped in their
thoughts that they had not noticed how rapidly the path was narrowing.
They had, however, another hint, and that was from Cyril's mule, which,
from long training on similar paths, knew exactly what to do, and went
on ahead, while Perry's stopped short on the narrowing shelf which
followed all the windings and angles of the rocky wall, and had become
so strait that Perry shrank from watching the laden mules, whose loads
every now and then brushed against the stones, and one completely caught
against a rough projection, making the intelligent animal that bore it
stop and ease away a little, leaning more and more over the precipice
till Perry's hands turned cold and wet, and he held his breath. Just,
though, as he was about to close his eyes, so as not to see the poor
brute plunge headlong down to where it would certainly be dashed to
pieces, the load escaped from the awkward corner, and the mule trudged
on just as before, while Perry heard a deeply-drawn sigh just behind
him.
"I thought he'd have gone, Master Perry," said John Manning. "Mules
ain't got no nerves, that's for certain, and if ever you hear any one
say in the future as a donkey's a stupid animal, you tell him he don't
know what he's talking about."
"That mule's sensible enough, at all events," said Perry, without
venturing to turn his head, lest he should have to look down into the
gulf.
"Sensible, sir? Why, he acted just as a human being would. I call it
wonderful. I say, Master Perry, though."
"Yes? But I wish you wouldn't talk to me so, while we are going along a
place like this."
"Don't say so, Master Perry, because I want to talk. It keeps one from
feeling a bit skeary, because this is a place, sir, really."
"Well, what do you want to say? Speak loud, for I can't turn round to
listen."
"But if I speak loud, the colonel will hear me, sir, and I want to talk
about him."
"Well, go on then; what is it?"
"Can't you tell me, sir, where we're going to, and what we're going
for?"
"We're going over the mountains, John."
"Well, sir, I know that; but what are we going for?"
"To find the valley of diamonds, and throw down lumps of meat for the
rocs to fetch out."
"No, no, sir, that won't do," said John Manning, shaking his head. "As
you said to me the other day, that's only a story out of the _'Rabian
Nights_, and not real truth, though these places might just as well be
something of the kind, from the looks of them. But, I say, sir, you do
know where we're going, and what for, don't you?"
"No, I have not the slightest idea. Ask my father yourself."
"What, sir! Me ask the colonel about the plan of his campaign? Why, I
should as soon have thought of asking the Dook o' Wellington."
"We shall know in good time, I daresay," said Perry; and then a slip on
the part of one of the mules ahead made them turn cold once more.
But the clever animal recovered itself on the instant, and for hours
they kept on along this path, till the boys despaired of reaching its
end, and began to calculate on the possibility of having to encamp on a
place like that for the night.
But it is a long lane that has no turning, and just when there was a
sensible deepening of the gloom, and the peeps they had of the sky
overhead were of a golden amber, they turned an angle and became aware
of an increase in the murmuring sound of water, which thenceforth grew
louder and louder, till it was evident that they were approaching some
extensive fall.
An hour later they were in full sight of where it came thundering down
hundreds of feet, spouting forth from a gap, and plunging down on to a
huge buttress of rock, which shot it off again far into the air,
distributing it so that it went on down into the valley like a misty
rain, and without a sound arising from below.
The fall was magnificent, for, as they approached, the upper part was
turned to gold by the setting sun, and to add to the beauty of the
scene, there was a patch of forest on either side, and the narrow shelf
was broadening out to where it ran into a side valley, all golden green
and darkened shadow. For they had reached the end of the terrific
gorge, and there were scores of places just in front ready for the
formation of ideal camps, without the risk of an incautious step sending
its unhappy author thousands of feet down into the depths below.
In another half-hour they were in a place which, by comparison with the
sterile defile of darkness and depression, seemed to the lads beautiful
in the extreme; and after a hearty meal, while the colonel was looking
round the camp, as he called it, and having a farewell glance for the
night at the mules, which were thoroughly enjoying the abundance of
grass, Cyril sat looking very thoughtful and depressed.
"He's thinking of home and his people," said Perry to himself, and then,
on the impulse of the moment:
"I say," he cried, "why didn't my father send you back along with the
llama train? I never thought of that before."
"Are you in such a hurry to get rid of me?" said Cyril bitterly.
"No, of course not; but as he said he should send you home by the first,
I thought it strange that he had not done so."
"Because they were not going to San Geronimo," said Cyril quietly.
"They would turn off to the north, just where I first joined you, and I
suppose he thought, after what I had suffered, it would be too cruel to
send me to find a great deal of my way back with people like that."
They relapsed into silence for a time, during which period John Manning
cleared away and washed up as methodically as if he were at home, while
the two Indians sat by the fire munching away at the supply of biscuit
given to them.
"What are you thinking about, Perry?" said Cyril at last.
"The stars. How big and bright they are up here. What were you
thinking about?"
"Diego, our guide."
"What about him?--that he ought to be fonder of water, even if it is
icily-cold?"
"No," said Cyril seriously. "I want to know why he has turned so quiet
and serious, and why he seems to be always watching your father in such
a peculiar way."
"Father was sharp with him, and ordered him to go on, when he seemed to
want to go back."
"Yes, and I suppose he did not quite like it; but that isn't all."
"What is all, then?" said Perry.
"Ah, that's what I want to find out. He puzzles me. He's thinking
about something, and I shouldn't wonder if he has taken it into his head
that your father has come up here to look for the Incas' treasures."
"Pooh! Why should he think that?" returned Perry.
"Because these Indian chaps are horribly suspicious as well as
superstitious. They would think it a horrible sin to touch the gold if
there is any; and if it is found, they would be ready to defend it."
"What with? Bows and arrows?" cried Perry, laughing.
"Yes, and blowpipes."
"Why don't you introduce pop-guns as well?"
"Because they are toys," said Cyril seriously, "and blowpipes are not.
Don't you know the tiny darts they send out are poisoned, and that one
will kill anything it hits?"
"Is that true?" said Perry, whose eyes dilated at the idea.
"Quite true. I saw a man kill several birds with the darts. They died
almost directly they were struck, and I have been told by father that he
has seen small animals die in a few minutes after being scratched."
"But do you think--Oh, what nonsense! You have got your head crammed
with that idea about the gold."
"Perhaps so," said Cyril thoughtfully, "and maybe I'm wrong. But I
don't like to see old Diego turn so gruff and distant, and it seemed
strange for him to go and talk for a long time with the Indians in
charge of the llamas. I saw them look very strangely and suspiciously
at your father afterwards."
"Those Indians? Why, what could it be to them? Ah, the Peruvian
Indians are said to be joined together to protect everything belonging
to the old days when they were a great nation, and keep it for the time
when the Incas come back to rule over them again."
"Say, Master Perry," said John Manning in a low voice, "your eyes are
younger than mine. Just cast 'em along the rock path we come to-day."
"Yes, what for?"
"Are you looking straight along, sir?"
"Yes."
"Well, what do you see?"
"Nothing at all."
"Try again, sir."
Both Perry and Cyril looked along the path, tracing it faintly in the
coming night for some distance along, beyond where the great fall came
thundering down.
"I can't see anything," said Perry.
"Nor I," said Cyril. "Yes, I can. There's something that looks like
shadows moving."
"Steady, sir; don't seem as if you were noticing it, but notice it all
the same. It struck me as strange ten minutes ago, but I thought it was
fancy. But you see it, sir, and it must be right. Now then, sir, what
do you make that to be?"
"Indians," said Cyril promptly.
"That's right, sir--what I thought; and they're watching us, and after
no good."
"What! Do you think they are hanging round the camp to try to steal?"
"Don't know, sir," said John Manning gruffly. "I hope that's the
worst."
CHAPTER TEN.
JOHN MANNING THINKS.
John Manning's curious remark sent a thrill through Cyril, and, trying
hard not to appear as if watching, he strained his eyes in the direction
indicated, but the gloom had increased, and neither he nor Perry could
make out anything more.
"What do you mean by `you hope that's the worst?'" said Perry.
"Well, sir, I hardly know how to tell you."
"Speak out," said Cyril rather huskily. "If you think there's danger,
tell us, so that we can tell the colonel, and put him on his guard."
"Well, young gents, I did give him a hint once, but he nearly jumped
down my throat," said John Manning.
"What!" cried the boys in a breath.
"Well, sir, that's what you clever folk call methy-physical. I told him
I didn't think the Indians was to be trusted, and that I fancied they
were keeping an eye upon everything he did, and he insulted me, sir."
"Nonsense, John," said Perry. "My father wouldn't insult you."
"O' course you stick up for your dad, Master Perry, as is quite right
natural, and your duty to. But I put it to you, Master Cyril: he's a
soldier, and I'm a soldier, and if one soldier calls another a stoopid
old woman, with no more pluck than a quill pen, isn't that an insult?"
"But Colonel Campion did not mean it, I'm sure," said Cyril impatiently.
"Now then, don't waste time. What is it you think?"
"Well, sir, I think our Indians said something to those Indians who were
with the llamas, and three or four turned back and followed after us."
"Are you sure?" said Cyril anxiously.
"Well, sir, I'm sure I saw some of them dodging us and following. I
wasn't very sure at first, for I thought p'raps the colonel was right,
and I was a bit of an old woman growing scared at shadows; but I feel
pretty sure now."
"But why should they follow us?" asked Cyril tentatively. "You have
some idea in your head."
"Well, sir, I have; and whether it's right or wrong I can't say, but it
seems to me as these people are all in league together, and they don't
want anybody to come up in the mountains. They want to know what we're
about."
"But don't you fancy that, because it is what you have been thinking,
John," said Perry. "You have been wonderfully anxious to know where we
were going, and what for."
"That's a true word, sir," replied the man, "but I think they want to
know too. It seems to me they're afraid we want to take something out
of their country."
"Nonsense," said Perry.
"Nonsense!" said Cyril sharply. "He's right, Perry. It's just what I
told you, and--"
"Now, quick, Mr Cyril!" whispered John. "Turn towards me, as if you
were going to speak, and look toward the path we came by."
Cyril responded quickly, and saw by the light of the fire, which had
just then blazed up brightly, a dark face peering at them over a great
piece of rock. He even saw the flash of the fire in the watcher's eyes,
and then, as he pretended to hand something to Manning, his look was
averted for a moment, and when he glanced again in the same direction,
the face was gone.
Cyril responded quickly, and saw a dark face peering at them over a
great piece of rock.
"Now, Master Cyril, what do you say?" whispered John Manning.
"I say it may only be curiosity," replied Cyril, "but certainly we are
being watched, and the colonel ought to know directly."
"Hah!" ejaculated the old soldier, with a sigh of satisfaction, "this
puts one in mind of old times up in the hill-country, with the niggers
waiting to go at you with matchlock or knife. I didn't think I was ever
going to have the luck to see a bit of fighting again."
Perry started, and Cyril's face looked in the firelight as if it was
flushed.
"Where's the colonel?" he said quickly. "Be steady, Perry, old chap.
There's nothing to be frightened about. Don't look as if anything was
the matter. Come and find your father, and let's go and speak to Diego
and the other man."
"But I can't speak to them," said Perry excitedly.
"Never mind, I will. Come along."
"And suppose they shoot at us," whispered Perry, "with an arrow or
blowpipe?"
"They'd better!" said Cyril grimly. "But they won't do that. Come on."