The cry was repeated twice before I could make a dash through the thick
swampy growth towards the bank.
"Quick--quick, Harry! They are here!"
"Mas'r Harry!" cried Tom in a piteous voice.
The next moment I was on the trampled bank a little below where we had
landed, to see in a moment that the little raft was being pushed off;
for in cat-like silence our enemies had approached us, and I bitterly
repented that I had not joined Tom, instead of wasting time over the
fishers whose canoes we had taken. I knew that not a moment had been
wasted, and that it would have been impossible to have half-made another
raft by this time; but the means of safety had been open to me, and, so
as to be fair, I had slighted it; while now I was in despair.
Those were terrible moments! As I emerged from the brake there arose a
fierce yell; there was a scattered volley, and the flashes gave me a
momentary glimpse of the pale face of Lilla upon the raft. Then there
was the loud splashing of the water, and the hurrying to and fro of
dimly-seen figures--for the darkness was now deepening with that
rapidity only known in equatorial regions.
A moment after, I heard the splashing of water, as of some one swimming;
and feeling that it was my only chance, I prepared to dash into the
muddy current, when there was a crash, a hoarse cry, and a heavy body
struck me on the back, driving me down upon my hands and knees, a tight
clutch was upon my throat, and I felt that I was a prisoner, when, with
a despairing effort for liberty, I threw myself sidewise towards the
river, rolled over in the mud, and then my adversary and I were beneath
the water.
We rose directly, and I felt that I was free; for, with a guttural cry,
my foe loosened his hold and made for the bank, while, blinded and
confused, I swam desperately in the direction I thought might have been
taken by the raft.
I almost dashed through the water for a few minutes, as I tried to put
in force every feint I knew in swimming; while, as I made the current
foam around, I could hear the noise of struggling, muttered
imprecations, and then a low, panting breathing, and then once more
there was silence.
I began to feel that I had made my last effort, and I was nerving myself
for another stroke when my hand touched something hard.
"Loose your hold or I fire!" cried a fierce voice, and the barrel of a
gun was pressed against my cheek.
"Uncle!" I gasped, in a voice that did not sound like mine, and as I
spoke I grasped the cold barrel of the gun.
There was a loud ejaculation, a faint cry, hands were holding mine, I
could feel the raft rocking to and fro, as if about to be overturned;
and then, as I felt that I was drawn upon it--that I was saved--my
senses reeled, and my mind became dark as the sky which hung over the
river.
I believe my swoon did not last many minutes. How could it, when my
head was being held to my aunt's breast, which heaved with emotion, and
hot tears were falling upon my forehead.
"Lilla?" I whispered.
"Harry!" was breathed upon my cheek, as she came forward.
But this was no time for talking, and rallying my strength I rose to my
knees.
"I thought I should never have reached you, Uncle," I said.
"I did my best, Harry," he whispered; "but I felt that when those
blood-hounds leaped suddenly out from the brake that I must push off."
"But what was that struggle I heard? Did I not hear Garcia's voice?"
"Yes," said my uncle, huskily.
"And where is Tom?"
My uncle was silent.
"Poor Tom?" I said, in an inquiring voice.
"Yes," said my uncle, huskily. "It seemed to me that Garcia and another
reached the canoe Tom was in--the gold canoe, Harry--and that then there
was a desperate fight, which lasted some minutes. I had seized the
paddle, and tried to make for where the struggle seemed to be going on;
but first there was a faint, gurgling cry, and then utter silence; and
though I softly paddled here and there I could find nothing. Harry,
that canoe was heavily laden--the gold was a dead weight--"
"And it took down with it what was worth ten thousand times more than
the vile yellow trash," I cried bitterly--"as true a heart as ever beat.
Oh, Uncle--Uncle! I have murdered as noble a man as ever breathed, and
as faithful a friend. Oh, Tom--Tom!" I groaned.
I could say no more; but out there that night on the breast of the
black, swift stream, with not a sound now but the sobs of the women to
break the terrible silence, I--a woman myself now in heart--bent down to
cover my face with my hands and cry like a child.
At last I grew more calm, for there was work to be done. I found that
we had floated on to a kind of mud bank, and were aground, and I had to
help my uncle to get the raft off, which we managed by drawing the canoe
up alongside, and then getting in and paddling hard, with the effect
that the raft at last floated off, and we retained our places in the
canoe guiding the raft down the swiftly flowing stream.
Morning at last, to bring no brightness to my heart.
We paddled on, the little raft, buoyant as possible, following swiftly
in our wake.
"Harry," said my uncle, almost sternly, "I have thought it over during
the darkness of the night, and I cannot feel that we have been wanting
in any way. Poor lad! it was his fate."
"Uncle," I cried, throwing down my paddle, "I can bear this no longer.
I must go back!"
"Harry," cried my uncle, "you shall not act in that mad fashion. You
have escaped with life, and now you would throw it away."
"Is it not mine to cast away if I like?" I said bitterly.
"No," he said in a low tone, as he bent forward and whispered something
in my ear.
"Say no more, Uncle--pray say no more," I groaned. "Indeed, I believe
that I am half mad. I would almost sooner have died myself than that
this should have happened. How can I ever face those at home?"
"Harry, my lad," said my uncle, "take up your paddle, and use it. You
are thinking of the future--duty says that you must think now of the
present. We have two lives to save; and, until we have them in one of
the settled towns, our work is not done."
I took up my paddle in silence, and plunged the blade in the stream, and
we went on, swiftly and silently, along reach after reach of the river.
Many hours passed without an alarm, and then, just as we were passing
into another and a wider river, there came from the jungly edge of the
left bank a puff of smoke, and a bullet struck the canoe.
"To the right," whispered my uncle softly; "we shall soon be out of
that."
The paddles being swiftly plied, we made for the opposite bank, striving
hard to place those we had with us out of reach of harm. But with
bullets flying after us our efforts seemed very slow, and the raft was
struck twice, and the water splashed over us several times, before I
felt a sharp blow on my shoulder--one which half numbed me--while a
bullet fell down into the bottom of the canoe.
"Spent shot, Harry," said my uncle, striking on alternate sides with his
paddle, for I was helpless for the next quarter of an hour. "There will
be no wound, only a little pain."
The skin-raft held together well--light and buoyant--so that our
progress down stream was swift, but apparently endless, day after day,
till our provisions were quite exhausted, and our guns had to be called
into requisition to supply us with food.
We were suffering too much to appreciate the wonders of the region
through which we were passing; but I have since then often recalled it
here at home in the quiet safety of my chair by my fireside, wondering
often too how it was that we managed ever to get down to a civilised
town in safety.
There was, of course, always the consciousness of knowing that, if we
kept afloat, sooner or later we must reach the sea; but what an
interminable way it was! At one time we were slowly gliding down a wide
river whose banks were not only covered to the water's edge with the
dense growth of the primeval forest, but the huge branches of the great
trees spread far over the muddy flood. These trees were woven together,
as it were, by the huge cable-like lianas which ran from tree to tree.
From others hung the draperies of Spanish moss, while others were
clothed with flowers from the water's edge to the very summits, whose
sweet blooms filled the air with their spicy odours. This wondrous wall
of verdure rose to a great height; and when the current sometimes swept
us near what was really a shoreless shore great herons would sometimes
take flight, or a troop of monkeys rush chattering up amongst the leafy
branches, going along hand over hand with the most astonishing velocity,
or making bounds that I would think must end in their falling headlong
into the river. But no, they never seemed to miss the branch that was
their aim, and this, too, when often enough one of these agile little
creatures would be a mother with a couple of tiny young ones clinging so
tightly to her neck that the three bodies seemed to be only one.
Curious little creatures these monkeys were, but as a rule exceedingly
shy. Sometimes on a hot mid-day I would be seated listlessly, paddle in
hand, dipping it now and then to avoid some mass of tangled driftwood,
and then watching the great wall of verdure, I would see the leaves
shake a little and then all would be still; but if I watched attentively
as we glided by, it was a great chance if I did not see some little,
dark, hairy face gazing intently down at me with the sharp, eager eyes
scanning my every movement, and if I raised a hand the little face was
gone like magic, a rustling leaf or waving strand of some
convolvulus-like plant being all that was left to show where the little
creature had been.
At other times, instead of the winding river with its walls of verdure,
we passed into what seemed to be some vast island-studded lake, some
being patches of considerable extent, others mere islets of a dozen
yards across, but all covered with trees and tangled with undergrowth.
Landing on any of these was quite impossible unless through one of the
verdant tunnels in which now and then there would be a swirl of the
water that formed their bottom, showing where some huge reptile had
dived at the sight of our boat and raft; while at other times a great
snout, with the two eminences above its eyes, would be thrust out of the
water and then slowly subside, to be seen no more.
At these times the current swept us through winding channels in and out
among the islands, and if I could have felt in better spirits I should
have found endless pleasure in investigating the various beauties of the
vegetable world: the great trumpet-shaped flowers that hung from some of
the vines, with endless little flitting and poising gems of
humming-birds feeding upon the nectar within the blossoms. Then
squirrels could be seen running from branch to branch, at times boldly
in sight, at others timid as the other occupants of the tree, the
palm-cats, that were almost as active.
Once I caught sight of the spots of a jaguar as the agile beast crept
along a branch in its hunt for food, the object of its aim being a group
of little chattering and squealing monkeys which were feasting on the
berries of a leafy tree.
Lilla shuddered on one occasion as I pointed out the long, twiny body of
a large boa which was sluggishly making its way through the dense
foliage of an india-rubber tree, apparently to get in a good position
where it could secure itself in ambush, ready for striking at any bird
that might come within its reach.
As it happened the current drove us right in close to the tree and
beneath some of its overhanging branches, with the result that the
creature ceased its slow gliding movement through the dense leafage, and
raised its head and four or five feet of its neck, swaying it slowly to
and fro as if hesitating whether or no to make a dart at us.
It was by no means a pleasant moment, and I felt for the time something
of the sensation that I had so often read of as suffered by people who
have been fascinated by snakes. I had a gun lying close by me, but I
made no movement to reach it; and though I had a paddle in my hand I
believe that, if the creature had lowered its head, I should not have
struck at it. In short, I could do nothing but gaze at that waving,
swaying head, with the glistening eyes, and the beautiful yellow and
brown tortoiseshell-like markings of the neck and body.
Then the stream swept us slowly away, and we were beyond the reptile's
reach.
Taking; the recollection of these wild creatures of the South American
forests, though, altogether, there was not so much cause for fear. As a
rule every noxious beast seemed to aim at but one thing, and that was to
escape from man. Even the great alligators, unless they could find him
at a disadvantage in their native element, would rush off through the
mud and undergrowth to plunge into the water and seek safety right at
the bottom of the river. The jaguars were timid in the extreme; and
though they would have fought perhaps if driven to bay, their one idea
seemed to be to seek safety in flight. It was the same with the
poisonous serpents, the most dangerous being a kind of miniature
rattlesnake which was too sluggish and indifferent to get out of the
traveller's way, and many a poor fellow suffered from their deadly bite.
In fact the most dangerous and troublesome creatures we had to encounter
on our journey down the river, excepting man, were the mosquitoes--which
swarmed all along the river borders and pestered us with their bites--
and an exceedingly small fish that seemed to be in myriads in parts of
the stream, and to make up in absolute ferocity for their want of size.
This savageness of nature was of course but their natural instinctive
desire for food, but it was dangerous in the extreme, as I knew later
on. Our experience was in this wise:--
It was one lovely afternoon when we were floating dreamily along between
two of the most beautiful walls of verdure that we had seen. Many of
the trees were gorgeous with blossoms, the consequence being that
bright-winged beetles, painted butterflies, and humming-birds abounded.
My uncle was seated half asleep with the heat, and his gun across his
knees, waiting for an opportunity to shoot some large bird that would be
good for food; I was dipping in my paddle from time to time so as to
keep the canoe's head straight and away from the awkward snags that
projected from the river here and there--the remains of trees that had
been washed out of the bank by some flood--and I was thinking
despondently about the loss of poor Tom.
Then my thoughts reverted to home and those I had to meet there, with
our accounts of how it was that poor Tom had met his death.
"All due to my miserable ambition," I said to myself; "all owing to my
wretched thirst for gold. And what has it all come to?" I said
bitterly. "I had far better have settled down to honest,
straightforward labour. I should have been better off."
I gave the paddle a few dips here, and noted that the water was much
purer and clearer than it had seemed yet. We were very close in to the
shore, but we had floated down so far that we had ceased to fear the
Indians, believing as we did that they were now far behind.
Then I began to think once more of how much better off I should have
been if I had settled down to work on my uncle's plantation.
Not much, I was obliged to own, for my settling down would not have
saved me from quarrelling with Garcia, neither would it have cleared my
uncle from the incumbrance upon his home.
"Perhaps things are best as they are," I said; and then I looked back to
where Lilla was thoughtfully gazing down into the river from where she
reclined upon the raft, and letting one of her hands hang down in the
water, which she played with and splashed from time to time.
I was just going to warn her not to do so, for I remembered having read
or heard tell that alligators would sometimes make a snap at a hand
dragging in the water like that, when she uttered a sharp cry, snatching
her hand away; and as she did so I saw a little flash, as if a tiny,
silvery fish, dropped back into the water.
"What is it?" I said.
"Something bit me--a little fish," she said. "It has nipped a morsel
out of my finger."
She held up her hand as she spoke before wrapping a scrap of linen round
it, and I could see that it was bleeding freely.
"Surely it could not have been that tiny fish," I said, thrusting one
hand into the water and snatching it back again, for as it passed
beneath the surface it was as if it had been pinched in half a dozen
places at once; and when I thrust it in again I could see that the water
was alive with little fish apparently about a couple of inches long, and
instantaneously they made a rush at my hand, fastening upon it
everywhere, so that it needed a sharp shake to throw them off; and when
I drew it out, hardened and tough as it was with my late rough work, it
was bleeding in a dozen places.
"Why, the little wretches!" I exclaimed; and by way of experiment I
held a piece of leather over the side, to find that it was attacked
furiously; while even later on, when I had been fishing and had caught a
small kind of mud-carp, I hauled it behind the canoe, in a few minutes
there was nothing left but the head--the little ravenous creatures
having literally devoured it all but the stronger bones.
I remember thinking how unpleasant it would be to bathe there, and often
and often afterwards we found that it would be absolutely impossible to
dip our hands beneath the water unless we wished to withdraw them
smarting and covered with blood.
What more these little creatures could effect we had yet to learn, but
we owned that they were as powerful in the water as the fiercer kind of
ants on land, where they were virulent enough in places to master even
the larger kinds of snakes if they could find them in a semi-torpid
state after a meal--biting with such virulence and in such myriads that
the most powerful creatures at last succumbed.
At last, as the days glided on, we became more and more silent. Very
little was said, and only once did my uncle talk to me quietly about our
future, saying that we must get to one of the settlements on the
Orinoco, low down near its mouth, and then see what could be done.
A deep, settled melancholy seemed to have affected us all; but the
sight, after many days, of a small trading-boat seemed to inspire us
with hopefulness; and having, in exchange for a gun, obtained a fair
quantity of provisions, we continued our journey with lightened spirits.
In spite, though, of seeing now and then a trading-boat, we got at last
into a very dull and dreamy state; while, as is usually the case, the
weakest, and the one from whom you might expect the least, proved to
have the stoutest heart. I allude, of course, to Lilla, who always
tried to cheer us on.
But there was a change coming--one which we little expected--just as,
after what seemed to be an endless journey, we came in sight of a town
which afterwards proved to be Angostura.