stopped. No wonder, poor brutes, they would go no farther; and I was
lost in the darkness, and dared not turn back. I stood with them till
daybreak, hoping you all were safe, and then--"
Cyril uttered a wild cry of joy, one which made itself heard by all, for
a bare-headed misty figure, whose presence they had not been aware of as
it followed them, suddenly caught the colonel's arm, placed its lips to
his ear, and cried:
"Quick, father--the Indians; they're coming down the valley fast."
In the face of such news as Perry bore, there was no time to ask
questions about his escape, but as the colonel grasped the boy's arm,
trembling the while with excitement, his heart throbbing with joy, he
cried:
"How far away?"
"Not half a mile. I could see them coming down the valley."
"This way," said the colonel promptly, and he supplemented his words
with gestures, as, still holding his son's arm tightly, he led them on
through the mist of fine spray inward toward where the mules were
standing together. And now as they approached the fall, a great deal of
the horror caused by the darkness and noise passed away, for the mist
grew opalescent from the sunshine far above, and though progress looked
terribly perilous, they could see the extent of their danger, and there
was no mystery of hidden peril, no constant dread of unknown chasms
waiting to engulf them at their next stride.
For they knew now that they were in one of Nature's wildest and grandest
rifts, where a goodly-sized river, after tearing its way along the
profound depths of a narrow gorge, had reached a spot where by some
earthquake convulsion this gorge had suddenly, as it were, broken in
two. One part had dropped several hundred feet, forming a profound
chasm into which the water from above leaped in one great glistening
wave, smooth as so much gleaming glass, to be broken up into spray as it
reached the jagged rocks below, and there eddy and foam in what was
undoubtedly a huge basin, from which the mist arose, while the broken
water swept on down into the valley to join the little stream by whose
side they had come.
The leading mule threw up its head as the colonel approached, and its
parted teeth and drawn-back lips suggested that it was whinnying a
welcome or a demand for food. But the great fall before them, and the
knowledge that at any time the Indians might appear from out of the
dense mist and commence their attack, gave the colonel eyes for only one
thing, and that a way out of what seemed to be a perfect _cul de sac_.
The deafening roar, of course, prevented all consultation, and the mist
added to the confusion; but these had their advantages for the
fugitives, veiling their actions from their pursuers, and preventing any
sound made by the mules from being heard.
And as Cyril watched their leader's actions, and then caught an
encouraging look from John Manning, who gave his head a jerk in the
colonel's direction, as if to say: "It's all right, he'll find his way
out," the boy felt in better spirits. The terrors of the night were
gone; they were all there safe, and there was the possibility of the
Indians feeling as much in awe of the terrible chasm as they had
themselves, and hence shrinking from making their way through the mist,
and giving them the credit of going on down the valley by the greater
stream which issued from beneath the falls.
Cyril's thoughts were many, and in the reaction from the terrible
despair from which he had suffered, he was ready to accept anything
short of the marvellous; and consequently he was in nowise surprised on
seeing their leader go right on into the darkness, peering here and
there, and the leading mule follow him and Perry, the rest getting in
motion directly, and going on into the mist till the last had
disappeared.
Just then John Manning, who had turned to look back, wiping the moisture
from his face, clapped Cyril on the shoulder, and placed his lips close
to the boy's ear.
"Can't see 'em coming. This'll scare 'em from following. They'll think
nobody but mad folk would ever come along here. I say, he's found a way
behind the fall."
But John Manning was wrong.
They followed the direction taken by the last mule, together stepping
cautiously onward through the mist, for the rugged shelf they were on
was dripping with moisture, and felt slippery beneath their feet, while
to their left there was the huge body of water always gliding down into
the spray which eddied up to meet it. Then, to their intense
astonishment, they stepped right out of the dense, clinging mist, which
hid everything, into a clear atmosphere. It was quite in twilight that
they stood, but the falling water brought with it a cool current of air;
and as they both stopped for a moment to gaze and wonder, there to their
left was the great fall rushing down clear of the rock behind, and
leaving plenty of room for any one to pass through to the other side,
beneath the water, had the shelf been continued there; but it passed
round to their right, as if Nature had made a natural staircase,
zigzagging up the side of the gorge; and there, some distance above
them, were the colonel and Perry, mounting slowly after the leading
mule, which showed no hesitation about proceeding now that it was day.
John Manning nodded, and they followed up and up the giddy path, now
leaving the fall some distance behind, now approaching it again, but
always near enough to be terribly impressed by the vast curve of
gleaming black water, which, as they rose higher, could be plainly seen
plunging down into what appeared to them as a dark grey cloud.
From time to time the colonel looked back and waved his hand, stopping
at last at a spot where the natural track curved suddenly round a sharp
point of rock. The mules followed one by one, their heads right down,
and their feet carefully planted at every step, till the last had gone
round; and then in turn Cyril and John Manning climbed up, and before
passing the sharp rock, stopped to gaze down into the vast rift up whose
side they had mounted so far.
From this point the whole of the wild zigzag was visible right to where
the grey veil of mist shut off the level shelf where they had passed the
night, and John Manning's lips had just parted to utter some words about
the horrible nature of the place, when Cyril started back and jerked his
garment, to make him follow suit.
The old soldier was keenly alive to danger, and dropping upon his knees,
he joined Cyril in cautiously looking over the edge of the rocks they
had just ascended, softly bringing the muzzle of his piece to bear upon
what he saw.
For, as he gazed down, there in the gloom, not two hundred yards away as
an arrow would fly, but at a distance which it had taken them nearly
half an hour to climb by the gradual ascent, was the figure of an Indian
standing out just clear of the mist, and peering cautiously about, as if
searching every rock and crevice around.
The next minute another had joined him, coming out of the mist
cautiously, and with the tentative motion of one who was on strange
ground.
Then came another and another, with their figures looking huge and
grotesque as they stood in the mist, and then suddenly shrinking into
the stature as of dwarfs, as soon as they were clear.
One by one they came on, till there were at least thirty collected
together, and all gazing about cautiously, as if in dread.
As Cyril knew from his own experience, they could only converse with
difficulty, so that he was not surprised to see that one of them, who
appeared to be the leader, was gesticulating and pointing here and
there, and finally upward toward where the two fugitives were watching
every act.
But, as the boy watched the Indians keenly, it was very evident that
they were far from confident, and he soon decided that they were as much
panic-stricken by the horror of the place as he and his friends had been
overnight. At last, though after a great deal of pointing upward and
hesitation, it seemed as if they were all reluctantly about to continue
the pursuit, for their leader took a few steps forward and waved them
on.
But they did not stir, save to crowd together a little more and press
toward the wall of rock, away from the fall.
"They don't like it," whispered John Manning, for it was becoming
possible, where they lay, to make a few words audible without shouting.
"Strikes me they're so scared, that if we were to send one of these big
pieces of rock rolling down, they'd beat a retreat."
"Look, look!" whispered Cyril.
"I am," said John Manning, for all at once a couple more of the Indians
suddenly appeared from out of the mist, in whom they recognised Diego
and his fellow-guide, the former holding something in his hand which he
was showing to all in turn with a great deal of gesticulation,
accompanied by eager pointings down into the depths below the fall, and
back through the mist.
"What's he got there?" whispered John Manning. "Something to eat? He
wants them to go back."
"I know," said Cyril so loudly that his companion caught his arm. "It's
Perry's cap."
"What!" cried the old soldier. "I know how it is. They've found it
somewhere down the stream, where it had been washed, and he's saying
that we must all have tumbled in there and been swept away."
This appeared to be a very likely interpretation, for, with a great
display of eagerness, the men hurried back through the mist till all
were gone.
"Let's make haste on and overtake them," said Cyril eagerly. "I want to
ask Perry where he left his cap."
"And he'll tell you, sir, that he didn't leave it anywhere, but had it
took away by the water."
"Are they in sight?" said the colonel, bending down over them. "You
were quite right. This is an excellent place to keep them back. Yes,"
he continued, on hearing the surmises of the two watchers, "that must be
it, and they have gone back to follow the stream."
He led the way again, and they followed to where Perry was anxiously
looking back, as the mules steadily went on higher and higher up the
gloomy gorge, where the great stream was hurrying and foaming along
toward where it would make its plunge; while the thunderous roar of the
fall was rapidly dying away, shut out, as it now was, by curve after
curve of the valley.
The place was black and forbidding enough, but as they got on another
mile or two, their journey was brightened by the glow upon the ridges
and slopes on high where the sun reached, and the grassy sides of the
lower mountains looked delightful after their long experience of black,
dripping stone.
Many a look back was given as they went on higher and higher, every step
taking them more into the mighty range, and fortunately due west; and,
weary as they all were, intense was the longing to hurry their steps.
But that last was impossible. They were dependent upon the mules for
their supply of food, and the cautious animals only had one pace, and
this regulated their masters'.
At last, when utterly exhausted, a halt was called just at a sharp turn
in the gorge, where water could be reached, and the rocks sheltered them
and the mules from pursuers; while they gave them the opportunity of
scanning the narrow way for nearly a mile, so that if a watch was kept,
it was impossible for them to be taken by surprise.
There was some stunted herbage too, here, upon which, as soon as they
had drunk, the mules began to browse. But no load was removed, arms
were ready for an attack, and the only mule that was lightened was the
one that bore the provisions.
And now Perry was questioned more closely about his escape, and Cyril
heard it from his lips for the first time.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
PERRY'S PERIL.
"There isn't much to tell," said the boy with a shiver.
"Never mind; tell me: I want to know. What's the matter--cold?"
"No, I'm warm enough now," said Perry, "for my clothes have got dry; but
it makes me shiver as soon as I think about it, and I feel as if I
always shall. It's a thing I shall dream about of a night, and wake up
feeling the water strangling me."
Cyril looked at him in wonder, and the boy tried to smile, but it was a
very pitiful attempt, and he went on hurriedly.
"You know how horrible all that was when I felt sure that my father had
gone down somewhere, and something forced me to go and try to find him.
And then, as I went on through the mist, I only took three or four steps
before my feet gave way, and I was sliding at a terrible rate down, down
to where the water was thundering and roaring."
"Was it very deep?" said Cyril, for his companion paused.
"I don't know; I seemed to be sliding along very fast, and then I was
fighting for breath, and being dashed here and there, and I suppose I
was carried along by the water almost as swiftly as I slid down that
dreadful slope. Then, after fighting for my breath, all was confusion
and darkness, and I can't remember any more till I found myself lying
among some rocks. The water was rushing and foaming over my legs, and
every now and then rushing up over my chest, and making me feel so in
fear of being drowned that I climbed a little, and then a little more,
till I was out of the water, but afraid to move in the darkness in case
I should fall in again."
"Where were you?" said Cyril.
"I didn't know then, but lay aching with the cold, and listening to the
rushing water; while it was so dark, that I felt sure that I must have
been washed into some great hole underground, where I should lie till I
was dead."
"We felt all kinds of horrors about you," said Cyril, "but you seem to
have suffered more than we did."
"I don't know," said Perry plaintively. "It was very bad, though, and
if I hadn't fallen at last into a sort of stupor, I've thought since
that I should have gone mad."
"Stupor!" said Cyril, smiling. "You mean you went to sleep."
Perry looked at him so reproachfully that Cyril felt the blood flush
into his cheeks, and the colour deepened as his companion said: "How
could a fellow go to sleep when he believes his father has been killed,
and he has himself just escaped from a horrible death?"
"Don't take any notice of what I said," cried Cyril hurriedly; "I did
not mean it."
"I know you did not. I suppose it was from being so exhausted. I felt
as if I had been stunned, and could neither think nor stir, and then
this curious feeling came over me, and everything passed away. It was
not sleep."
"No, no; don't say that again," cried Cyril apologetically. "How long
were you like that?"
"I don't know, only that it was still dark when I came to, and sat
wondering where I was, and whether I should ever see the light again, so
miserable and desolate you cannot think."
"Yes, I can," said Cyril warmly; "I felt bad, too, when I thought you
were drowned, and went down to try to find you."
"What!" cried Perry excitedly. "You went down to try to find me?"
"Oh yes," said Cyril coolly. "Didn't you know? They put a rope round
me and let me down."
"Cil!"
"Well, don't make a fuss about it," said Cyril, laughing. "They had
hold of the rope."
"But the place was so awful. Didn't you feel frightened?"
"Horribly, of course, and it was ever so much worse when I'd got to the
end of the rope, and felt that you must be gone. But never mind that.
Go on. You were saying how miserable you were."
"Yes," said Perry thoughtfully, "till all at once I caught sight of
something high up, just as if it was a point of light coming through a
crack in the roof of the cavern into which I had been washed."
"And was it?"
"No," said the boy, with his eyes brightening, "it was the first light
of morning shining miles up on the ice of one of the great peaks, and as
I watched it, I saw it get brighter and then begin to glow as if it were
a precious stone. The light gradually stole down lower and lower, till
it seemed to come right into my heart; and from that moment I began to
grow strong and hopeful, and something seemed to tell me that I should
see you all again."
"Hah!" ejaculated Cyril, as he watched his friend's countenance; "I wish
something of that kind had come to me when I was feeling worst."
"You weren't alone," said Perry, smiling. "Well, as soon as I found
that I was just at the edge of a rushing torrent, I knew that if I
followed it up, I should come to the mouth of the gorge where you must
be, and I began to climb along the side, getting warmer every minute;
and I felt more hopeful too, for I began to think how clever my father
was, and that he would have been able to save himself, or have been
saved, just as I was."
"And then you soon found the mouth of the gorge where the water came
out?"
"Yes, and the place where we turned in last night, instead of going
right on down the main valley. It was quite a climb up to the path, but
I dragged myself up; and just then I happened to turn my eyes along the
way we came just as I was warmest, and then I turned cold again."
"Because you saw the Indians?"
Perry nodded, and the boys sat in silence for a few minutes, looking up
at the sunlit sky, which appeared like a broad jagged path running along
high above their heads.
"What are you thinking about?" said Perry suddenly, as he noted the
thoughtful, deeply-lined brow of his companion.
"Eh? Oh, nothing much," replied Cyril. "Only that when I knew you were
coming up into the mountains, I felt so jealous of you, and I fancied
that you were coming to see all kinds of wonders and make great
discoveries, and that it would be one grand holiday, day after day, and
instead of that--I say, we haven't had so very much fun yet, have we?"
"Plenty of adventures," replied Perry thoughtfully.
"Yes, plenty of adventures."
"It's been so hard upon you, though, from the first. You were so upset
when you joined us."
"And serve me right," cried Cyril angrily. "I'd no business to do it; I
believe they think at home that I'm dead. Nothing's too bad to happen
to me."
"Then you're sorry you came?"
"Yes; horribly. I don't mind all we've gone through, because it has
seemed to stir me up so, and made me feel as if I'd got more stuff in
me; and it ought to, for sometimes I've felt, since we came, that I
behaved like a miserable, thoughtless coward."
"No one could call you a coward," said Perry firmly.
"Oh yes, they could--a miserable, selfish coward."
"I should just like to hear any one call you one," said Perry viciously,
and with a hard, fierce look in his countenance.
"Then you soon shall," said Cyril. "I call myself one a dozen times a
day. There, I'm a coward."
"But I meant some one else."
"You wait long enough, and you'll hear my father call me one."
"You're not."
"Yes, I am, and I shall deserve all he says--that is, if we ever get
back to San Geronimo."
"Don't talk like that," said Perry. "What's to prevent us?"
"Indians," said Cyril mournfully.
"But we've left them behind."
"For a bit. They'll hunt us out again somewhere. They've got all the
advantage of us. I daresay there are thirty or forty of them hunting
us, and what one doesn't know of the country, another does; and as they
spread out, they'll warn every Indian they meet, so as to run us down,
for they're sure to feel now that we're after the buried treasures, and
they'll give us credit for having found them."
"Why?"
"Because we have escaped. Every pass will be guarded, and every valley
searched, so that they are sure to come across us at last.--Look,
they're going to start. Come along." And picking up their guns, the
boys joined the colonel and John Manning, who were tightening up the
ropes round two of the loads.
"Better trust the leader, Manning," said the colonel.
"Yes, sir. He seems as good as a guide; and if you set his head
straight, he'll take us somewhere; and where he goes, the others'll
follow. Rum thing, too, sir."
"Oh, I don't know," said the colonel; "these animals have passed their
lives in the mountains."
"Of course, sir, but I didn't mean that. I meant it was a rum thing for
them to follow their leader in this way, for they all hate him like
poison, and kick at him whenever they have a chance; and as for the way
he kicks at them, I wonder sometimes he doesn't get his heels stuck in
their ribs, so that he can't get out no more. 'Tis their natur' to, eh,
Master Cyril, sir?--Ah, would yer!"
This to one of the mules, whose heels must have itched, for it was
softly turning itself round as if seeking somewhere to administer a good
round kick.
Then all was ready for a start; but first the colonel mounted the side
among the rocks, to search the valley with his glass.
He was soon satisfied that the Indians were nowhere within sight, and
taking advantage of the high position he occupied, he turned the glass
in the other direction, to scan the way they were about to go.
All there was utterly silent and desolate. There were the rocks
everywhere, hardly relieved by a patch of green, and he was about to
descend and start the mules, when he caught sight of Cyril hurrying back
toward him, and signing to him to stay where he was.
"What is it?" he cried, as he saw the boy's anxious face.
"Look up to your left, sir, just above where that big rock sticks out
just as if it must fall."
"Yes, I see," said the colonel; "with another just above."
"That's it, sir. Look just between those two blocks."
"Yes, I have the place."
"Well, sir, there are two Indians there watching us."
"No, my lad, there are no Indians there. Take the glass and look for
yourself."
Cyril snatched the glass, directed it to the steep, precipitous side of
the gorge, and then uttered an ejaculation full of annoyance.
"They're gone, sir, but I'm sure there were two men there."
"Then if so, they must be close to the same spot now. I hope you are
wrong, but of course you may be right. Let's go on, and if they are
there, we shall be sure to catch sight of them, for they must go forward
or backward."
"Would you go on?" said Cyril dubiously.
"At any cost, boy. We cannot go back to that awful chasm to pass
another night. There, back with you, but keep your eyes on the position
in which you saw the men."
Cyril was silenced, and half ready to suppose that in his anxiety he had
deceived himself; and in a few minutes he was back with the colonel,
beside Perry and the mules, but without seeing anything in the direction
he had pointed out.
"Ready?"
"Yes, sir, but my eyes are not quite so good as they were, sir, and I
fancied I saw some one creeping along the side of the rock, up yonder to
the right."
"Left, John Manning," cried Cyril, "and I saw it too."
"You saw something on your left, sir? Then I am right, and my eyes are
true. There's Injuns watching us, sir, and if we don't look out, we
shall have arrows sticking in our skins."
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
AT THE BIVOUAC.
The boys were heartily glad when, just before nightfall--night, which
fell much sooner, shut in there in the deep valleys of the Andes--the
colonel snatched at a suggestion made by John Manning.
"Water, sir, coming out of that slit in the rock, plenty o' breastwork,
and a bit of green stuff for the mules."
"Yes, we'll halt here. We are not likely to find a better place," said
the colonel.
So instead of tramping on for another hour, a halt was called early, the
packages formed into a shelter in front of the "slit" in the rock, as
John Manning called it, a place which suggested its being a way into a
good-sized cavern, and then a fire was lit, and they prepared their
meal.
For no more had been seen of the Indians, and though the colonel had a
shrewd suspicion that they might still be in chase of them, those which
had been seen in the valley were, he concluded, only wanderers, whom
they had startled while on some hunting expedition, and whom they would
probably see no more.
The fire was only used to heat the water for their coffee, and as soon
as this was made, carefully extinguished by John Manning, so as not to
attract attention if any one was still about; and then they sat, glad of
the rest, eating biscuit and charqui, and sipping coffee from the tin.
Over the meal, John Manning made a report respecting what he called the
commissariat department.
"Stores getting low, sir," he said.
"Yes, I must supplement them with one of the guns," said the colonel.
"I have been so much taken up with getting the cinchona seed, that I
have hardly thought of anything else."
Very little was said then for some time, the weariness mentally felt by
all making them ill disposed for conversation; but just before dark the
colonel carefully inspected their surroundings, and with John Manning's
help, made a few arrangements for their defence.
"I don't think they would dare to attack us if they found where we are,"
said the colonel; "but we must be prepared."