CHAPTER NINE.
HOWLING MONKEYS--A BEAUTIFUL SCENE--THE CURUPIRA--WE MAKE A RAFT--CAPTAIN VAN DUNK AND HIS COMPANIONS DEPART ON IT--VISIT THE INDIANENCAMPMENT--WHITE UAKARI--ARRIVAL OF MACO--START ON A LONG SWIM.
We kept a vigilant watch during the night, with the oars ready to shoveoff, should by chance any of the Indians approach us. Kallolo took poston the roots of the tree I have before described, whence we had at firstseen the light which had given us an intimation of the neighbourhood ofthe savages, that he might give us timely warning should any of themquit their encampment and come towards us. Still there was but littleprobability of being disturbed during the hours of darkness.
Scarcely had the sun sunk behind the trees when a deep gloom pervadedthe surrounding atmosphere; and from a distance came the most fearfulhowlings, echoing through the forest.
"Oh, surely the savages are upon us," I could not help exclaiming.
"No, Massa Guy, no fear of that," answered Kallolo. "Dey only howlingmonkeys, which are shouting to each oder from de top branches of detrees, asking each oder how dem are dis fine ebening."
After this assurance, the other noises which came out of the forest didnot create so much feeling of alarm. I knew they were only the cries ofanimals or birds or insects, all of which were adding their voices tothe wild, and certainly not harmonious, concert. Flocks of parrots andblue macaws flew overhead, the different kinds of cawing and screamingof the various species making a terrible discord. Then arose thestrangely sounding call of the cicada, or cricket, one of the largestkind, perched high on the trees, setting up a most piercing chirp. Itbegan with the usual harsh jarring tone of its tribe, rapidly becomingshriller, until it ended in a long and loud whistling note.Comparatively small as are these wonderful performers, their voices madea considerable item in the evening concert. Before they had ceased, thetree-frogs chimed in with their "Quack, quack! drum, drum! hoo, hoo!"accompanied by melancholy nightjars, which for long kept up theirmonotonous cries.
While we were seated, the whole air above our heads suddenly becamebright and glaring with lights of various hues; now darting here, nowthere; now for a moment obscured only to burst forth again with greaterbrilliancy. These beautiful lights were caused by fireflies andfire-beetles. The lights of the former were red, and bright as those ofthe brightest candle; and being alternately emitted and concealed, eachof the tiny flames performing its own part in the mazy dance, theyproduced a singularly beautiful spectacle. The fireflies, however,disappeared shortly afterwards, when a number of large beetles, calledelaters, took their place, displaying both red and green lights. Thered glare, like that of a lamp, alternately flashed and vanished, as theinsect turned its body in flight; and now and then a green light wasdisplayed. The mingling of the two colours, red and green, in theevolutions of flight totally surpasses my power of description. Wecaught several, and had we possessed an uncoloured glass bottle we mighthave made a lantern which would have afforded us sufficient light towork by. Even through the thick glass of a schiedam bottle a stronglight was emitted, but scarcely sufficient for our purpose, though itenabled us to see our way about the log.
After some time all was silent, then suddenly came a loud yell, orscream, uttered probably by some defenceless fruit-eating animal whichhad been pounced upon by a tiger-cat or the stealthy boa-constrictor.It required the exercise of a considerable amount of nerve to keep upour spirits during those dark hours of the night. Now and then therecame also a crash, resounding far through the wilderness, as some hugebough, or perhaps an entire tree, its roots loosened by the flood, fellinto the water, striking the neighbouring trees with its branches in itsdescent. Most of these sounds, however, we could account for. Atlength, as we all lay awake, a noise reached our ears which made severalof our party start up. I can describe it only as like the clang of aniron bar struck against a hard hollow tree, followed by a piercing cry.As it was not repeated, the dead silence which followed tended toheighten the unpleasant impression it had produced.
"What can it be?" I asked Kallolo, who had just returned on board andwas sitting by me.
"Dat, Massa Guy? Dat de voice of de curupira. He bery bad man, withlong shaggy hair, and live in de trees. He neber let anyone see him,but walk about all night, doing all the harm he can. Often he comesdown to de plantations to steal de mandioca, and carry off youngchildren when he can. Him got bright red face, and feet like de stag."
"But if no one has seen him, how can you tell that he has got red face,cloven feet, and shaggy hair?" I asked.
"Ah, Massa Guy, that is more than I know; but my fader tell me so, hisfader tell him,--so I suppose some one saw him long, long ago."
"I only hope, then, that he will not come and pay us a visit," Iremarked.
"I hope not, massa," said Kallolo, shuddering and looking round into thedarkness as if he just then thought that such a thing was by no meansimprobable.
Notwithstanding the dangerous position in which we were placed, I atlength dropped off to sleep. When I awoke, the day was beginning todawn; the birds were again astir; the cicadae had commenced their music;flocks of parrots and macaws, and other winged inhabitants of theforest, were passing overhead in countless numbers, seeking theirmorning repast; beautiful long-tailed and gilded moths, likebutterflies, were flying over the tree-tops; the sky had assumed theloveliest azure colour, across which were drawn streaks of thin whiteclouds with Nature's most delicate touch. The varied forms of thetrees, imperceptible during the gloom of night, now appeared, thesmaller foliage contrasting with the large, glossy leaves of the tallertrees, and the feathery, fan-shaped fronds of the palms.
The air, for a short time, felt cool and refreshing; but almost beforethe sun had gilded the topmost boughs of the trees, the heat began toincrease and give indication of a sultry day. All hands were speedilyon foot. The skipper led the way on to the roots of the trees, (for Imust not say, on to the shore), followed by Peter and the rest of hiscrew, and began to hew away at the smaller palms and other trees whichthey thought would serve to form the proposed raft. Tree after tree wascut down; but the felling of each occupied some time. Arthur, Tim, andI assisted in towing them out to the log, where we arranged themalongside each other, ready to receive the crosspieces by which thewhole were to be bound together. Trees somewhat lighter, cut intolengths, were selected for the latter purpose. We looked out for theIndian encampment, but from no point we could reach was it visible; andwe concluded, therefore, that we were not likely to be seen by any ofthe natives. Although a description of the operations we were employedin can be given in a few words, they occupied the whole day. After thelogs had been cut we had to collect a quantity of the more flexiblevines with which to bind them together; and this also took us a gooddeal of time. Thus, though we got over our meals as quickly aspossible, it was again night before the raft was completed. Some longpoles for propelling it had also been cut and shaped.
The skipper contemplated the work with evident satisfaction. "There, myfriends," he said, "this will carry more than half of our party; and ifhalf of you will consent to embark, I will stop and assist in makinganother like it, so that we may all proceed together. I don't like thethought of leaving you behind."
Uncle Paul and my father, however, firmly declined the skipper's offer."I would much rather that you should go forward, Captain van Dunk, andexplore the way; and should you be successful in finding an eligiblespot for camping on and building a vessel, you could send back for us,and we would then construct one or more rafts for the voyage. Thedangers of the expedition are too great for Marian and her father toencounter, unless with a definite object in view."
"Well, well," answered the captain, "I trust that we shall meet againere long. Now, my friends, we must go on board, and shove off."
When this was said we were seated at supper. As soon as it was over,the various articles which the skipper intended to take with him wereplaced on board the raft. Shaking us all by the hand, he and his crewstepped o
n to it, each armed with a long pole, which assisted to steadythem and at the same time to push on the raft. We did not cheer, as wemight have done under other circumstances, for fear that our voicesshould reach the Indians, at no great distance, so in perfect silenceour friends shoved off into the middle of the stream. Darkness havingcome on, they were speedily lost to sight.
I had from the first contemplated the possibility of making an excursionthrough the forest, in order to ascertain, if possible, the exactposition of the Indian encampment. There could be little doubt that itwas constructed as ours had been at the grove on the Orinoco,--high upon the branches of some enormous tree, or on a platform supported by thestems of several trees; which is the way, Kallolo told me, the Indiansinhabiting the region nearer the mouth of the river form theirhabitations. Arthur and I had been talking the matter over, and weproposed it to Kallolo. He said that he was quite ready to go alone,but that if we wished to accompany him he should have no objection.Could we have secured a band of elaters to go before us, we might,without difficulty, have found our way; but as neither they nor thefireflies could be depended on, we should have to make the expedition indarkness. There was, however, a bright moon in the sky, which, providedwe kept along the edge of the river, would give us sufficient light.The only creatures we had to fear were the anacondas; but Kalloloaverred that they were not often found in narrow streams, and that thealligators always forsook the flooded region and went further up thecountry, where they could find sunny banks to bask on during the day,and a more ample supply of food. We mentioned our wishes to Uncle Pauland my father. They at first objected, but on Kallolo's assuring themthat there was no great danger, and that he would take good care of us,they consented to let us go, provided we did not extend our explorationsto any great distance. Tim would have liked to go also, but Uncle Pauldesired him to remain to assist him should his services be required.Accordingly, each of us taking a long pole as a weapon of defence, aswell as to assist in making our way along the fallen logs and roots ofthe trees, we set out. Kallolo led, I went next, and Arthur followed.We carried also a long piece of rope, one end of which Kallolo held inhis hand, and the other was fastened round Arthur's waist, while Isecured myself by a separate piece to the middle. Should either of usslip into the water, we could thus easily be hauled-out again.
I knew very well that our expedition would be a hazardous one, but I wasscarcely prepared, I confess, for the difficulties we encountered andthe fatigue we had to go through. Without Kallolo's guidance we shouldcertainly not have been able to accomplish it. Sometimes we had to leapfrom root to root; at others, to walk along a fallen log, raised severalfeet above the surface; and often we had to wade in the water up to ourknees, with the risk every moment of being soused overhead in it. Nowand then we had to climb a tree. We were keeping all the while on theeast side of the stream, as it was that on which we expected to find theencampment. Kallolo advanced cautiously, giving us time to obtain afirm footing before he again moved forward. Sometimes we were all threewalking together along a fallen trunk, then we had to cling to the hugebuttressed roots of a tree.
We had gone on in this way for a considerable time, when we saw beforeus a wide space of water, which it would be necessary to cross ere wecould again reach another mass of trees, over whose boughs we hoped tomake our onward way. Kallolo sounded it with his pole. "We may, Ithink, wade across it," he said; "though it may be better to swim, lestwe strike our feet against any stems remaining in the ground." Weagreed to follow him, though I confess I had no great fancy for swimmingthrough that ink-like water, and could not help fearing lest somemonster lying at the bottom might rise up and seize us. However, it hadto be done, unless we should make up our minds to return.
"Are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Yes, yes," answered Arthur.
Kallolo entered the water and struck out. We followed, keeping closebehind him and trailing our poles by our sides. I did my best to keepthe end of mine down, so that any creature at the bottom might seizehold of it instead of my legs. Arthur said that he was doing the same;but Kallolo appeared to have no apprehensions on the subject. We soonreached a branch almost touching the water. We scrambled on to it, andthen without difficulty made good progress, holding on to the hangingsepos amid which we passed. We had gone some way when my foot struck ona slimy substance, and I heard a loud hiss as I felt it glide frombeneath me and splash into the water below. I knew that I had troddenon a snake, and was thankful that it had not sprung up and bitten me. Itold Arthur.
"I hope we shall not meet with another," he answered calmly. "It wasone of the things we had to expect."
The only object we had to guide us was the light from the Indianencampment, of which we occasionally caught glimpses. It seemed to bemuch further off than we had supposed. Indeed, sometimes I fancied thatit was no nearer than when first we started! Occasionally I felt almostsorry that I had attempted the expedition. Then I remembered theimportance of ascertaining the exact position of the encampment, and itsdistance from the river.
Sometimes, as we went along, we disturbed huge frogs, which were seatedon the low boughs and the floating logs, and which went off with loudsplashes into the water. The croakings of others were heard on everyside. Frequently a huge bat or bird of night flitted by. The wings ofthe former fanned our faces, while the latter uttered a harsh croak orshriek as it flew through the gloom. Generally all around us was silentand dark, an oppressive gloom pervading the atmosphere, except when wepassed through a swarm of fireflies or elaters, as we now and then did.
At length as we advanced we saw a light directly before us, andconsiderably above the level over which we were passing. We wereanxious to get as near to it as we could without being seen, so as toascertain its distance from the river. We went on some way further,when, to our surprise, we came upon a stream, which we found runningbetween us and the Indian camp, (for so I may call it, for want of abetter name). On we crept in silence, till, crawling along a boughwhich hung just above the water, we came full in sight of it. We nowdiscovered, what I had before conjectured, that it was a platformerected upon the branches of an enormous tree. In the centre burned afire, around which some thirty or forty natives were seated, while wecould distinguish others scattered about,--some on the branches, andothers on a mass of logs which formed a natural bridge at no greatdistance from us. The light of the fire above showed us two menstanding on it. We dared scarcely move lest they should see us. Whatthey were about we could not ascertain, but it seemed to us that theywere watching for some one. Could they by any means have discovered ourapproach, I thought it would not take them many minutes to cross thestream and make their way to us. We could see no canoes. With a canoethey might have speedily overtaken us without our having the slightestchance of escape. Had Captain van Dunk and his companions come thisway, they must to a certainty have fallen into the hands of the savages.We gazed up at the platform, and everywhere around--the figures ofnatives alone met our sight. I had been standing a little way behind mycompanions, who now drew back. I asked them what they thought about thematter.
"This is not the main stream," answered Kallolo. "We must use greatcaution in proceeding, as it cannot be far off; but I hope,notwithstanding, that the captain managed to pass by without being seen.We must remember, when we attempt to make the passage, to keep to theright, which will carry us away from this spot."
Arthur was of Kallolo's opinion; he acknowledged that he should feelvery anxious till we had got a good distance from the encampment. Itcould scarcely be supposed that the savages were without canoes; andshould they by any means discover that strangers were near them, theywould probably follow us.
Having now gained all the information we required, we agreed that it wastime to return, and accordingly set out, Kallolo leading, as before.How he managed to guide us was more than I could discover, for I feltvery sure that I should immediately have lost my way, unless I hadturned constantly to observe the position of the
camp. He went onsteadily, without once, as far as I saw, looking round. He took adifferent course to that by which we had come; and though longer, itseemed to me that we had fewer difficulties to encounter than before.Perhaps we were more accustomed to them. We had, however, twice to swimacross portions of the flooded land. Had it not been for the fear ofbeing caught by an anaconda or alligator, this would have been the lessfatiguing mode of proceeding; but as we made our way through the darkwaters, I could not avoid having very uncomfortable feelings on thesubject. In some places the water was sufficiently shallow to enable usto wade without difficulty, showing that the land must here be muchhigher, and giving us hopes that we should, before long, reach dryground. The most difficult work was walking along the submerged logs,for we had carefully to balance ourselves, to prevent falling off. Atthe end we had generally to climb up the roots or branches, and make ourway along the low boughs, sometimes having to swing ourselves off fromone to the other by means of the sepos. Several times the boughsthreatened to give way beneath our feet; and once Arthur and I wereplunged into a mass of rotten brushwood and water, where we shouldcertainly have lost our lives had not Kallolo quickly hauled us outagain with the rope. At length, thoroughly fatigued, we saw, just asthe dawn was breaking, the log and our friends on it, who were anxiouslylooking out for us, as we had been absent much longer than they hadexpected us to be.
We were thankful to take off our wet trousers and shirts, and coverourselves up in Uncle Paul's and my father's cloaks while our ownclothes were hung up to dry. This did not take long in the hot air. Wewere too tired to eat, and therefore lay down to sleep tillbreakfast-time; while Kallolo, who was well accustomed to that sort ofwork, gave an account of our expedition to my father and Uncle Paul.
When I awoke, I found breakfast prepared; and putting on my clothes, Isat down to eat it. We had ventured to light a small fire, as Kalloloassured us that the Indians would not observe the smoke at the distancethey were from us. A decoction from some leaves, which served us astea, had been boiled in the iron pot. I could have drunk any quantityof it, but found myself utterly unable to eat anything. Arthur was muchin the same state; indeed, he felt even worse than I did. Our friendsbecame very anxious, for, without shelter or any remedies againstdisease, should we become really ill the matter would be very serious.Kallolo, seeing the condition we were in, immediately set to work andcut a quantity of palm branches, with which, aided by Tim, he formed asort of arbour to shelter us from the sun. He then started off, andreturned shortly with the fruit of a certain palm--a decoction fromwhich, he said, would afford a cooling drink--which he immediately puton the fire. After allowing the liquid to cool, he gave each of us alarge cupful, and poured the remainder into one of the bottles formedfrom the cuja fruit, his countenance meanwhile expressing deep concern.
All day we lay, our heads racked with pain. Had we been called upon tomake any exertion, we should have found it impossible. Uncle Paulproposed to bleed us, but Kallolo entreated him not to do so, sayingthat if we persevered in following his plan of cure we should soon bewell. We drank cupful after cupful of the decoction he had prepared;and towards evening the pain left my head, and though I felt a peculiarlassitude such as I had never before experienced, I had no otherdisagreeable sensation. By the next morning both Arthur and I wereperfectly well, and able to do justice to the portions of fish and fleshcooked for us, and the ample supply of fruit Kallolo had collected inthe forest. This was the only time during the period of our expeditionthat I had the slightest attack of illness.
"I am so thankful that you are both well again!" exclaimed Marian, asshe sat near us. "I was so miserable all yesterday; and thought howdreadful it would be should you die, and our father and uncle be leftwith me alone. I am not exactly tired of this sort of life, but I doheartily wish that we were safe again among friends."
"It is better than being shut up in the Inquisition, at all events,"said Arthur; "though for your sake I wish we were safe on shore.However, perhaps before long we may reach dry land; and then, if thebrave skipper is able to carry out his intentions, we may soon get away.If we can reach a Dutch settlement, we shall be safe; for when theHollanders hear that we have been flying from the Inquisition, theywill, I am very sure, give us a friendly reception. You know howbravely they fought to overthrow it in their own country, under thebrave William of Orange, when Philip of Spain and his cruel general theDuke of Alva tried to impose it on them. They have never forgottenthose days; and their country is as purely a Protestant one as OldEngland and her colonies." I heard my poor father sigh; he was, I haveno doubt, regretting having ventured under a government supporting thathorrible system, so calculated to destroy all true religious principles,and to make the people become fanatics or hypocrites. Arthur heard him,and changed the subject, as he knew it must be one which could not failto be painful.
We were anxiously awaiting the return of Maco, whom we hoped would bringus tidings of Captain van Dunk.
The heat, as may be supposed, was very great, for the sun having gainedits greatest altitude, its rays fell down on the narrow streamundisturbed by the slightest breath of air. To shield us somewhat fromit, Kallolo and Tim had collected a number of branches, and formed acomplete arbour over our heads, in addition to the bed-places they hadbefore made. We could thus lie in the shade, shielded from the burningsun. It served also to hide us from the view of any natives who mightapproach the neighbourhood. The lower part was left open, so as toallow the air to circulate freely; and we could thus see the forest oneither side.
We were all seated together; but most of us feeling drowsy, weredisinclined for conversation. I was lying down near Marian, when shetouched me, whispering, "Look, look, Guy, at those curious creatures!"I turned my eyes in the direction she pointed, and saw, peering at usfrom among the boughs of a neighbouring tree, a whole tribe of almosttailless monkeys. They were curious-looking creatures, with faces of avivid scarlet hue; their bodies, about eighteen inches long, wereclothed with long, straight, shining, whitish hair; their heads werenearly bald, and sprinkled over with a short crop of thin grey hair;whilst around their ruddy countenances were bushy whiskers of a sandycolour, leading under the chin. Though almost destitute of tails, theyseemed to be active little creatures, as we saw them running up and downthe larger branches; not leaping, however, from one to the other, as domost of the monkey tribes which we had seen. Several of them, evidentlymothers, were carrying young ones on their backs; but they moved aboutquite as rapidly as the rest. We remained perfectly quiet, watchingthem at their gambols. Now and then several of them would come and havea look at us, and then run off--as if to give an account to theircompanions of the strange creatures they had seen. Soon others wouldcome and gaze at us with their reddish-yellow eyes, evidently somewhatdoubtful as to what we were, and as to our power to harm them; again torun off to a distance, jabbering and shrieking in the greatestexcitement. Prompted by curiosity, others would quickly appear,--especially mammas; accompanied by delicate-looking monkeys whom we tookto be unmarried young ladies. Indeed, they showed that curiosityaffects the breasts of female monkeys as powerfully as it is said to dothat of human beings of the fair sex. They afforded us great amusement;till at last, after an hour or so, Uncle Paul, who had been sleeping,suddenly started up and gave a loud sneeze, when they all scampered up atree; and as we looked up, we could see them making their way along thetopmost branches, till they disappeared in the distance.
Kallolo told us that this species of monkey is known as the whiteuakari. Marian said that she should like to have one. He replied thatthey were very difficult to catch, and that unless taken very young,being of a sensitive disposition, they speedily pine and die. He toldus that the native, when he wishes to catch one alive, goes forth withhis blowpipe and arrows tipped with diluted woorali poison. Thispoison, though it produces a deadly effect on all animals, as well as onthe natives, who exist without salt, has very little effect onsalt-consuming Europeans. Salt, indeed, is the
only antidote to thepoison. The hunter, therefore, when in search of the white uakari,supplies himself with a small quantity of salt. As soon as he has shotthe monkey, he follows it through the forest, till, the poison beginningto take effect, it falls from the tree. He takes care to be close underthe bough to catch it in his arms, and immediately puts a pinch of saltinto its mouth. In a short time the little creature revives; and inmost instances not appearing to be much the worse for the poison, it isled away captive. A young one thus entrapped speedily becomes tame, andis much prized, as an interesting pet, by the white inhabitants.Kallolo promised, as soon as he could manufacture a blowpipe, to try andcatch a young uakari for Marian; and he said that he was sure, under theinstruction of Quacko, it would soon become civilised.
Hitherto Quacko and the ara parrot had been our chief sources ofamusement. The two creatures had become great friends, though Quackonow and then showed an inclination to pick the feathers out of hiscompanion's back; but when he made the attempt, she resented it by asevere peck on his head--and one day caught the tip of his tail, andgave it a bite which was calculated to teach him not to behave in thesame manner again. Whenever we asked Kallolo to try and catch us somemore pets, he invariably replied, "Wait till I can make my blowpipe andsome poison, and then I will bring you as many creatures as you may wishfor. Ah, the blowpipe is a wonderful instrument; it will serve to killanything, from a big tapir or a fierce jaguar or puma, down to thesmallest manakin or humming-bird."
Frequently, during the day, Kallolo crept from our shelter and took alook round in the direction of the Indian camp, to make sure that noneof the savages were approaching. He was certain, he said, that they hadno canoes, or they would have found us out before this. Just at sunsethe came back with the alarming intelligence that he had seen an Indianin the distance, who was evidently making his way towards us. Headvised us to remain perfectly quiet, so that, unless he should reallycome close to the log, we might escape being seen. "As I saw but oneman, he cannot be coming with any hostile intention; though he mightpossibly, should he discover us, go back and return with hiscompanions," he added. We all accordingly withdrew within our leafyarbour, where, as the night was already casting its gloomy mantle overus, there was little probability of our being seen.
We remained without speaking, for fear the stranger might hear ourvoices. The sounds I have before described began to issue from theforest, preventing us from hearing the noise he might make inapproaching. We had begun to hope that he had turned back, whensuddenly a voice close to us exclaimed, "Halloa! what has become of themall?" and to our great satisfaction we recognised it as that of Maco.Uncle Paul immediately called to him; and he soon scrambled on board,exhibiting infinite satisfaction at finding us. He had, he told us,many adventures to narrate, in addition to a message of importance whichhe brought from the captain. We replied that we were eager to hear whathe had to say.
"I must be a very short time about it," he answered, "as the captainbegs that you will come forward at once and join him. You must knowthat we found the voyage on the raft, far more difficult than we hadexpected, on account of the number of large roots projecting into thestream, and the boughs which hung over it, almost close to the surfaceof the water. We frequently had to jump off our raft, and, where thewater was shallow enough, drag it along. At other times we had to swimby its side, or push it before us; and even thus we had often difficultyin getting along. We believe that we were not discovered by thenatives; at all events, they did not follow us. Twice we caught sightof them when we were in the water, and we could not account for theirnot having seen us. We found the channel extended for several miles,seldom being wider than it is here, and often much narrower. At itstermination it widens into a succession of lakes; but for a long way wecould not find firm ground. At length, after pushing up a stream, wereached a bank where the forest was much less dense than we had hithertofound it; and going on still further, we arrived at an open space ofsmall size, exactly such as the captain was in search of. We herelanded our stores; and he and Peter having begun to put up a hut, and tomark such trees as he considered would serve for a vessel, he sent Samboand me back on the raft to the end of the narrow passage. I there leftSambo, to take care of the raft, and to catch fish and kill some birdsfor food, while I swam on here with the aid of my floats. Consideringthe difficulties we met with in getting through the passage on the raft,the captain advises that you should all make your way along it byswimming. We saw no alligators, which are the only creatures to bedreaded, and the captain is certain that they have all gone further intothe interior; at all events, that none inhabit the passage. I am nowwell acquainted with the way; and if we pass the Indian encampmentduring the hours of darkness, we shall run no risk of being discovered.Should you decline coming on in the way I mention, the captain advisesthat you should go back on the log, and try to find the entrance of amuch wider and deeper channel, which he is sure exists some way to thenorthward; and it is by this channel that the captain hopes to carry hisvessel, when built, into the waters of the Orinoco."
We all listened eagerly to Maco's account; of which I merely give abrief translation, for, of course, the language he used would be quiteunintelligible to my readers.
Uncle Paul was very doubtful about the plan proposed, and my father wasvery unwilling to expose Marian to so much risk. She herself, however,declared that she was quite willing to undertake the expedition. BothKallolo and Maco very strongly urged that we should do as the captainadvised. Were we to return down the stream on the log, a long timemight be spent; and we should very likely fall in with other savages,who might be even less peacefully disposed than those in the camp nearus. Their habits we had as yet had no opportunity of ascertaining.They might possibly be friendly, though, with the uncertainty, it wasprudent to try and avoid them altogether. One thing was certain, theywere not addicted to roaming about, or they could not have failed tofind us; and we might certainly hope to pass by them unobserved. Thesearguments at length prevailed with my father and Uncle Paul, and theyagreed to set out. The few things we had with us were done tightly upand placed on floats, which Kallolo and Maco agreed to push before them.Marian's gown and our jackets were done up in the same way, so that sheonly retained a tight-fitting under-dress, which would not impede herprogress, while we wore our trousers. These arrangements being made, wefitted on our floats, of which each of us had four; and they weresufficient to keep our shoulders and arms well out of the water, whileat the same time they did not impede our progress.
We took our last meal on board the log which had carried us so well;then waiting for some time, till we believed that the natives would haveretired to rest, we stood ready to set out on our dangerous and novelexpedition. In no other climate could we have undertaken it. The waterwas here so warm, even at night, that there was no risk of our limbsbecoming cramped by being long immersed in it; nor were we likely tosuffer in any other way. Really, for the sake of protection from thecold, garments were altogether unnecessary; and it is not surprisingthat the dark-skinned natives should consider them an encumbrance, andgenerally dispense with them altogether.
"Are you all ready?" asked Uncle Paul.
"Yes!" was the general answer; "all ready."
It was settled that he should take the command, though Maco acted as ourguide. The Indian, slipping off into the water, struck out up thecentre of the channel; our uncle and father followed; Kallolo went next,carrying Quacko on his head, with Tim, who had charge of Ara on his;Marian and I, with Arthur to support her in case of need, brought up therear. The floats bore us up admirably; and we found swimming a far moreeasy mode of progression than we should have found walking over the logsthrough the mighty forest to be.
We went on, keeping close together, without speaking, lest by any chanceour voices might be heard by the Indians, whom we were anxious to avoid.Our progress was slow, of course, as the best swimmers had to wait forthe rest. The time appeared to me to be very long; and I fancied thatwe had
been swimming for more than an hour, when in reality we had notbeen half that time in the water. We could not, however, avoid everynow and then looking up to the huge fire of the Indians, which could bediscerned burning brightly in the distance; but instead of gettingnearer to it, as I expected that we should, it became less and lessdistinct, and at last was to be seen almost behind us. I knew that wewere turning off in an opposite direction; still we were too near thedanger not to wish to get further from it. On our left I observed themouth of a channel which we had reached on a former night, and whichled, I have no doubt, close under the Indian encampment. Had we notpossessed Maco as a guide, we should very naturally have gone up it, andthus found ourselves close to our supposed enemies.
I was already beginning to feel somewhat fatigued, and I was afraid thatMarian must be tired. I asked her how she felt.
"I should much like to get a short rest, if it is possible," sheanswered; "but I can go on longer, though my arms and legs are beginningto ache."
Just then Maco, who had been some way ahead, returned; and having spokena few words to Uncle Paul, he led us to the side of the stream, where wefound the buttress roots, as I have before described, of a large treeprojecting into the water. We all climbed on it; and Arthur and Iassisted Marian to a spot where she could rest with comparative comfort.We sat down by her side, but prudence prevented us from speaking abovea whisper. We waited for some time, then Uncle Paul asked her if shewas ready to go on.
"Yes, yes!" she answered. "I already begin to feel more like a fish;and I think, after a little experience I shall be as much at home in thewater as on dry ground."
This answer showed that she was in good spirits; and once more the wholeparty slipped into the channel. We proceeded up it much in the same wayas before. Quacko and Ara would have objected to this sort of progress,had they not been perched on the heads of those whom they knew to betheir friends. There they sat with perfect composure, supposing thatall must be right, and, I dare say, thinking themselves beings of nolittle importance.
We had gone on for some time, when I perceived that the gloom of nightwas gradually disappearing, the light of dawn taking its place. Idescribe the change from night to day just as it appeared to me at thetime. Looking up, I saw that the tops of the trees were already tingedwith the glow of the rising sun. Rapidly it descended; and at lengththe trees, the tall stems and winding sepos, the rich foliage, and thecalm water, were bathed in the warm light of day. No scene could havebeen more beautiful. Our spirits rose, and, strange as it may seem, Icould scarcely help shouting out with delight. On one side of usfloated a number of magnificent water-lilies with leaves of prodigioussize, which I will afterwards describe. They were such as we had neverseen before.
Maco, who had gone ahead, was seated on a bough almost concealed by thefoliage, beckoning us to come on. At that moment Uncle Paul pointedupwards towards the left; and looking over my shoulder, I saw through anopening in the forest a platform raised between several palm-trees, witha number of natives on it, while others, with spears in their hands,were standing on the lower boughs engaged in spearing either fish orturtles. They were apparently so occupied, that we hoped they had notseen us.
Although we had already been swimming for some time, we could notventure to rest as we had intended doing; we therefore pushed on asrapidly as we could. In a short time Marian confessed that she could gono further. We had, fortunately, a small piece of rope, which theskipper had left us. It was uncoiled from the float which supported it,and one end fastened to Marian's floats; Kallolo taking the other end,towed her forward, while Arthur and I swam by her side. We were thusable to proceed much faster than before.
At last we all got so tired, that even Arthur and I could not helpcrying out that we should like to rest; and as we had for some time lostsight of the Indians, there appeared to be no danger in our doing so.Reaching a widespreading bough, therefore, interlaced by a number ofsepos not more than a foot from the water, those who were leadingclimbed on it, and assisted up Marian, Arthur and I following. Here wewere all able to rest, sheltered from the rays of the sun, by this timestriking down with great force, and concealed from anyone at a distanceby the thick foliage which surrounded us.
The Wanderers; Or, Adventures in the Wilds of Trinidad and Orinoco Page 9