The Admirable Lady Biddy Fane

by Frank Barrett

  CHAPTER L.

  WE TAKE COUNSEL OF THE INGAS AS TO OUR FUTURE, ETC.

  Matthew's business was to tell us that the Ingas were waiting to holdcouncil with us. As soon as we heard this we hastened from thatpleasant, retired spot where we had been strolling, as I have said, tojoin them, not without some self-reproach for so slighting those to whomwe owed better civility; but, to tell the truth, I had clean forgetthose good Indians, for where my sweet lady stood was all the world tome, and I was indifferent to all outside it.

  Coming beyond those jutting rocks which had screened us from view weperceived the Ingas' camp. They had built a fire upon the further sideof a little lake, fed by a stream running from the mountains, in themidst of the hollow, and here sat a score of Indians handling thearquebuses taken from the Portugals, and examining them by the light ofthe fire. At a little distance a dozen of their women were groupedtogether on their mats, about a pile of pack-saddles and merchandise.Hard by stood a couple of tents of rush mats, very curiously woven andstained. These objects, lit up by the dancing flames of the fire, withthe deep shade of the rocks beyond, were a pleasure to see for all wholove pictures of strange things; but that which gave it the finishingtouch was an Inga with his spear, who stood on a high rock, keepingguard, and cut the rising moon in two halves with his dark, handsomefigure.

  When the Indians spied us approaching they rose to their feet, and theircaptain, coming to meet us with a very noble and courtly carriage, laidhis hand on my breast, and I did likewise by him, seeing this was theirmode of greeting. Then the Indian woman whose life I had saved cameforward and went though the same ceremony; but, this done, she slippedbeside my Lady Biddy and began to fondle her hand, stroking it gently,lifting it up to her cheek, etc., which I thought very pretty.

  I begged Matthew to make my apologies to the captain for not having paidmy respects to him; but this he would not do, telling me these Ingaswere a mighty touchy sort of people in trifles, and were as like as notto take an apology as an admission of wrong, and a mean trick of gettingcheaply out of a mess one ought never to have got into.

  "How'mever," says he, "I have settled that matter by telling him that anEnglishman's first duty is to pay his services to the females of histribe, and, that being done, you are now at liberty to devote all yourattention to him."

  In this matter it seemed to me Matthew showed more sense than I or manybetter cultivated men, who never meet without some paltry excuse orother.

  The Indians meanwhile led us to the tent, where a supper had been laidout on a mat, and insisted very civilly on our eating before enteringupon business: then they withdrew to their place by the fire, where aspace was left in their midst for us, every man smoking tobacco, for Ibelieve there is no people in the world so given to the use of thisherb.

  When we had finished our meal, we escorted Lady Biddy to the secondtent, which had been given for her use, Matthew telling us that theIndians never speak of their affairs before the sex. "Though why not,"says he, "I can not say, except it be that their females are givenovermuch to talk, which leads to blabbing of secrets."

  Lady Biddy retained us a minute at the entrance to her tent to show howWangapona, her Indian friend, had decked the floor with soft blooms offlowers, and bound knots of bright feathers to the head and foot of thenet which served her as a bed; also placing for her use a bowl of freshwater, in which floated certain fruits to give it flavor and sweetness.Then bidding each other farewell, with a fervent wish that we mightsleep peacefully, we separated; but she did not again offer to let mekiss her.

  Coming to the fire with Matthew, we sat down with the Indians, andaccepted of their tobacco-sticks, which they call zigaroes; and now, allsmoking like so many chimneys, the chief spoke to the matter in hand,every one listening in solemn silence. And first of all he bade Matthewtell me that every enemy of the Portugals and Spaniards was regarded bythem as a friend.

  "Ay," says the chief, in his tongue, "we spare the lives of thoseserpents and jagoaretes that haunt the woods they hunt, and pray to ourgod, the Sun, not to dry up the festering marshes that poison the airthey breathe, but to nourish with his rays all venomous fruits that theymay eat, all loathsome reptiles whose fangs and stings may taint theirblood, and to give strength to those beasts who tear their flesh andbreak their bones.

  "Our forefathers," he goes on, "were mighty kings, and the meanest ofour people lived in palaces, to which the richest abodes of theseaccursed Portugals are but dens and hovels. Our people spurned undertheir feet the gold for which our enemies sell their souls. Our men werewise; our women were faithful; our children were obedient: all werehappy. Then came this troop of ravening jagoaretes into our slumberingcamp. Jagoaretes! Nay, 'tis an insult to the divine Sun to compare thebasest beast he has fashioned to a Portugal. The jagoarete kills; hedoes not yoke our warriors with oxen and scar their backs with whips; hedoes not put chains upon our hopeful boys and doom them to lifelongpain; he does not force our innocent maids to bear a race of slaves."

  "Lord love us, master," says Matthew, after translating this to me, "Ihope he isn't going to make a capital offence of this trifle."

  "We are unhappy," continues the Inga, sinking his voice to a tone ofmournful sadness. "Who can laugh in the still night? The very flowershang their heads: in the morning you will find tears in their eyes. Oursun has sunk. Will it ever rise again?"

  "Ay, that it will, I warrant," says Matthew to him stoutly.

  The Indians held up their hands as a warning not to interrupt the chief.

  "They are numberless as chesketaws[3] on the lagoons; they suck ourblood like vampires in the night; we have no arms against them. We arescattered over the land like leaves after a tornado. Thus scattered,what can we do against our clustering enemies? We are hunted into themountains and the desert; but even there our homes are not safe. Theworld is too small to give refuge to the Inga. There is no limit to theenvious greed of our enemies; no bounds to their cruel spite. They wantgold, but they will not buy it of us, for that would give us power andthe means to live. They would not have a single Inga free, but allshould be their slaves, to wear yokes and chains, and toil for themwithout hope. Is it all darkness?" says he piteously, looking round him;"is there no hope? Yes," cries he, facing the moon and stretching up hisarms; "while the bride smiles, her god lives, and the moon's god is ourgod--the great father of all."

  [Footnote 3: The chesketaw is a venomous fly like the mosquito, butbigger and more poisonous.--B. P.]

  With this he slowly sank into his place upon the mat, saying neveranother word; and thus ended his speech, which seemed to me to be veryfine for such as he to deliver.

  After a few minutes' silence, given in respect to the chief, that hiswords might be duly digested, another Inga rose and spoke, and hisspeech was more practical and to the purpose. He said the tribe bore usa great affection, not only because were enemies to the Portugals, butalso because in the face of that foe I had dared to strike up the musketleveled at the breast of Wangapona. As our true friends, they wereprepared to give more consideration to our wishes than their own, andtherefore the first thing they wished to know was in what manner theymight serve us.

  I told Matthew to ask if they could give us an idea of our position withregard to the sea; upon which the chief, taking a stick of wood, spreadout the ashes of the fire in a plain to represent the face of the earth;then, with a handful of ashes, he built up a very fair presentment ofthe mountains, and after that traced furrows to show the course ofrivers. That river we had crossed he called the Attrato, and anotherstill a good distance to the west of the mountains where we lay hecalled the Cauca, and one yet further west the Magdalena (though he hadanother name for it), which joins the Cauca at some distance from itsdisemboguement. He also showed another stream rising from the mountainscalled the Meta, and this he assured us flowed into the Baraquan orOronoque, through his knowledge of the country in that part was limitedto hearsay.

  "Now, Matthew," says I, "what are we to do? Our nearest way to
the coastwill be to follow the Cauca, and get into the Magdalena, which flowsinto the sea somewhere about Cartagena."

  "Ay," says he, "but we must know if we are likely to flow with it intothe hands of the Portugals."

  To this question on this subject the Ingas replied that the whole ofthat coast was overrun with Portugals, who had, besides, severalsettlements on the Magdalena. They offered to guide us as far as theymight go in safety, but could give us no encouragement of escaping ourenemies.

  "Then," says I, "we must strike out for the Meta, and so get to theBaraquan, where I doubt if any Portugals are to be met with."

  The Ingas said they had heard of no enemies save certain tribes ofhostile Indians on the Baraquan, and promised to guide us to the Meta,which they counted as three weeks' journey.

  "If we take three weeks to get to the embers," says Matthew, regardingthe plan of ashes, "Lord only knows when we shall get t'other side ofthe fire."

  While we were discussing this difficulty, the Indians argued upon thepossibility of descending the Meta.

  "It seems to be a plaguy difficult job, master, even to these fellows,who are used to traveling those parts," says Matthew. "The open countryis impassable by reason of the woods; and the river is not much bettertraveling, by reason of divers cataracts, lakes, and blind inlets, whereone may be lost as in a maze, to say nothing of one part where we mustgo a hundred miles out of our way to avoid a race of hungry cannibals."

  "Ask them," says I, "if they can offer any alternative by which we maycome to our friends."

  Upon this question a great discussion ensued, in which Matthew tookpart.

  "Well, Matthew," says I, growing impatient, "what is it all about?"

  "To begin with, master," says he, "when I told them we wished to joinour friends, they put the very pertinent question, 'Where are they?'That was a poser. Hows'mever, for the glory of our country, I repliedthat Englishmen were to be found pretty nearly everywhere, especiallywhere they are not wanted. At present, I told 'em, we were pretty welloccupied in sweeping the seas of the Portugals, that we had made a verygood beginning, and that when we had finished that business we shouldundoubtedly step ashore and turn them out of Guiana. But as we did notwish to wait here till then, we should take it as a kindness if theywould put us in the way of getting to some part of the coast where therewere no Portugals, and we might keep a smart lookout for a passingvessel of our own people."

  "Was that the whole subject of discussion?" says I, when he paused.

  "No, master. They don't doubt anything I said, and are ready to believethat our ships are as plentiful in the seas as herrings. But herringsare not always to be caught when they are wanted, and the possibility ofour having to wait on the shore a week before being picked up by apassing Englishman lays open the difficulty of finding any spot on thecoast where we are not likely to be picked up first by a passingPortugal. The west and north coasts are to be put out of the question.The only coast that may be safe is that they know nothing about, to bereached only by the Baraquan, of which they know as little."

  "Then all this talk has resulted in nothing?" says I.

  "No, master, it has not, but the subject will have to be sifted out byus slowly; and so I will let them know that we will give their proposalthe consideration it deserves, and let them know our decision in themorning."

  The reply he gave evidently pleased the Ingas, who, bidding usgood-night after their fashion, lay down to sleep, while Matthew and Istrolled in the moonlight to consider the proposal they had made.