The Gilded Man: A Romance of the Andes

by Clifford Smyth

  XV

  AT THE SIGN OF THE CONDOR

  There is no doubt about it; Miranda had much the worst of it in his tiltwith Anitoo. The Indian's point blank question as to why the explorerswere in the cave was not easily answered. The more Miranda thought itover the less able was he to discover--or at least explain--just thatvery thing: why he and his companions were there. To say they werelooking in a cave on the Bogota plateau for a man who had disappearedmany miles away on the Honda road sounded rather unreasonable, now thathe looked at it from the standpoint of a stranger; while to recall thestory of foul play that linked this place with David's disappearanceyears ago seemed, under the circumstances, dangerous even to theimpetuous Miranda. So, he shrugged his shoulders and resorted to a moreevasive reply than was his custom.

  "We come for a picnic, and we want to get out--that is all."

  Anitoo again smiled broadly, yet with the subtle suggestion of holdingin reserve an unuttered fund of wisdom that comes so naturally with thepeople of his race.

  "That is all?"

  "We look for one friend who is lost. Then, we come with another who hasgone. He is one canaille! You have seen him?"

  "Ah!" murmured Anitoo, half to himself. "What is his name? What is helike?"

  "He is one Yankee. He is called Senor Don Raoul Arthur. He look--well,he look like this----" and Miranda gave an exaggerated example ofRaoul's rolling and twitching eyes.

  "So, he is here!" said Anitoo, startled, apparently, by the informationand amused by the grotesque lesson in optics given by the doctor.Miranda, on the other hand, gathered that Anitoo disliked Raoul--andthis pleased him immensely. But he could get nothing more from theIndian who, although still friendly, began to show signs of impatience,talking earnestly to his followers in a language unintelligible toMiranda and Herran.

  On both sides there was evident uneasiness; and when Anitoo, in a tonethat sounded disagreeably like a command, told the explorers that theycould not continue their tour of the cave unattended by them, thingsseemed to come to a climax. Miranda expostulated, the others grumbledand talked of resistance. But Anitoo was inflexible, insisting, all thewhile, that there was nothing unfriendly in his attitude. He remindedthem that they could not possibly find their way out of the cave withouthis guidance. Miranda jumped at this hint of a rescue, but was againunable to extract a definite promise from Anitoo.

  "We will first show the Senores some of the wonders of the Guatavitakingdom," said the smiling Indian.

  "We don't want to see any more," said Miranda emphatically. "We haveseen enough."

  "No! No!" continued Anitoo. "Whoever comes so far as this must see ourqueen before he goes away."

  "A queen! A kingdom in a cave! But that is impossible!"

  "I like his offer," interposed Leighton, who understood enough to catchthe meaning of this strange proposal. "Anitoo seems honest. We have lostour way. If he has a queen and a kingdom to show us, they may be worthseeing. We can be no worse off, certainly, for seeing them."

  "Once in the land of goblins and fairies," remarked Una, "queens andkingdoms are a matter of course."

  "It is some idle mummery, I suppose," added Leighton; "we are toonear civilization for anything else. All the same, these lanterns--orwhatever you call them--that they carry, are worth knowing more about."

  "What are they?"

  "I would give a good deal to know."

  "Well, Senor," said Anitoo impatiently, "you will come with us?"

  Without waiting for Miranda, who seemed reluctant to place himself inthe Indian's power more than he could help, Leighton bowed assent.

  "And this Senor Arthur?" inquired Anitoo.

  "He has gone," replied Miranda promptly. "He will not come again."

  "Perhaps," said Anitoo vaguely.

  At his signal the Indians lifted the curved trumpets to their lips,the drums were beaten and, to the same curious spirited music thathad heralded their approach--half march, half dance--they moved off,the explorers in their midst, down the path flanked by the forest ofstalactites, to the great entrance chamber whence, after finishing theirhasty meal, the "picknickers" had first started on their journey ofdiscovery.

  The friendly bearing of Anitoo and the other cavemen did not failto impress the explorers favorably, dispelling whatever suspicionsthey might have had in the beginning, and giving them a taste of realenjoyment in their adventure. All had this feeling of security exceptMiranda and Herran. The two South Americans, however, were less easilymoved. Instead of sharing Una's and Mrs. Quayle's admiration of thepicturesque appearance of their guides, they grumbled something tothe effect that it was a lot of meaningless foolery. This skepticalattitude grew to open disapproval when, having reached the centralrock where they had taken their meal in the main cavern, the Indians,instead of proceeding toward the entrance to the tunnel that had beenso mysteriously lost, kept on in the opposite direction. This meantthat they were now to explore an entirely new, unknown region; and thepossibilities that awaited them, with such uncommunicative guides, inthe gloomy depths that stretched before them, stirred up something ofa mutinous spirit in the two South Americans. But their protests werefutile. Without halting his rhythmic march, Anitoo smiled courteouslyat their objections, merely repeating his intention of taking them to"the queen." As this was all he would say, they were compelled to makethe best of the vague indication of the course they were following. Theothers continued to enjoy the oddity of the adventure. The enliveningstrains of music, the gala costumes of the Indians--all seemed part of acurious carnival the purpose of which was unknown to them. The noveltywas kept up by the strange scenes through which they were passing; itreached its climax at the further wall of the great central chamber.

  So far, the natural features of the cave had absorbed their attention;now they were confronted with a series of Titanic specimens of humanarchitecture as amazing in design as they were unexpected. It ismisleading, perhaps, to describe this architecture as the product ofhuman genius, because in line, material, and general plan it followedclosely the pattern and the workmanship of the cave itself. Man hadhere adopted the half finished designs of nature and completed them ina way that carried out his own ends. Thus, the gradually widening trailfollowed by Anitoo and his band of musicians made toward a great archwaythat swept upward in a glistening half circle of white stone. In thecenter of this rounded arch, twenty-five feet from the ground, gleamed ahuge round tablet upon whose smooth white surface could be distinguisheda series of engraved characters. These characters, outlined in gold,were immediately recognized by General Herran as similar in designto the picture-writing, presumably of Chibcha origin, that covered arocky promontory rising above one of the foothills skirting the Bogotatableland.

  The mighty portal to which this tablet formed the keystone, was onlypartially the work of man. Here the elemental forces that originallyhollowed out the great central chamber through which the explorers hadpassed, had encountered a granitic rock effectually resisting theirravages. Hence, the narrowing of the passage-way to the diameter of thehalf-circle described by the white arch, and hence the opportunity thathad been seized by an aboriginal race of men to complete and embellishwhat nature had so nobly planned. The sides of the arch rose in majesticcolumns, shaped and smoothed to the semblance of such pillars as thoseused in the massive temples of ancient Egypt; and, still bearing outthis similarity, each of these pillars stood at the head of a long rowthat stretched away indefinitely in the darkness beyond. The curve ofthe arch overhead had also followed the simplest of lines, but with soglowing a symmetry that the beholder yielded to the conviction thathere, whether of Nature's design or Man's, he stood on the thresholdof a realm wherein were garnered treasures of art and science uniquein the world's history. Besides the golden characters engraved on thekeystone of this gigantic portal there was but one attempt at sculpturaladornment. This was the rudely carved head of a condor, made to curvedownward from the central tablet of the arch, as if the sleepless dutyhad been given to this winged monarch o
f the Andes of inspecting all whopassed beneath its lofty eyrie.

  Before this imposing structure the explorers paused in astonishment.Anitoo smiled, somewhat disdainfully, and signed to them to enter. Thisthey were loath to do until they could learn more definitely whither thecavemen were leading them.

  "Senores," remonstrated Anitoo, "when you were lost in this cave, I cameto your rescue. Now, you must follow me."

  "That is very good," said Miranda irritably. "We have enough of thiscave. We want to go out."

  "Follow me," persisted Anitoo.

  "You take us out?"

  "I take you to the queen," he retorted.

  "Why we go to your queen? We make nothing with your queen."

  "Ah, but perhaps she make something with you."

  "Caramba! What she make with me?"

  "You will see."

  The explorers looked at each other helplessly. One thing wasevident--the Indians had no intention of parting with them. But theycould not tell whether they were hostile or friendly. They were nottreated as captives; but they felt that any attempt to escape would bequickly frustrated. They were too far outnumbered by the cavemen tomake resistance possible. Leighton therefore decided that there wasnothing for it but submission. Upon this the Indians gave a grunt ofsatisfaction, and Anitoo signaled to advance, pointing upward to theSign of the Condor.

  But the signal came too late.

  Out of the darkness, from the portion of the cave they had just left,rose a yell of defiance, followed by a flight of arrows and a volleyof pistol shots. Running towards them, but still a good distance off,they could see a huddle of figures, dimly lighted by a few torchesof wood, interspersed with lanterns similar to those used by theexplorers. There was no time to make out who the enemy was. Evidentlythey planned to carry things before them by the swiftness of theirattack, hoping to catch the cavemen off their guard. They went at itpell-mell, discharging their missiles as they ran--but with deadlyenough aim nevertheless. One Indian of Anitoo's party fell, struckdown by an arrow. His comrades, enraged by this, formed a close lineof battle around him, taking, as they did so, from the folds oftheir togas certain innocent looking objects, apparently long metaltubes, which they pointed at their assailants. The explorers failed torecognize these implements at first; then, as the Indians put them totheir mouths, they realized that they were nothing more nor less thanblowpipes, weapons used to-day only by the most primitive races. Butthe cavemen handled these weapons skillfully, pouring a goodly showerof darts into the turbulent throng advancing to meet them. As the hailof arrows and shooting of pistols continued, however, it was evidentthat the damage inflicted by the blowpipes was not enough to checkthe approach of the enemy, who exceeded the cavemen in numbers andwere anxious to engage them at close quarters. This Anitoo determinedto prevent. Shouting to his men, he urged them to retreat within thearchway before which they were fighting, a command they refused to obey,infuriated as they were by the loss of several of their number. Theirassailants, steadily pressing on, were soon near enough to give thecavemen the desired opportunity. Blowguns, bows and arrows were castaside, and they jumped into a hand-to-hand fight, with short pikes andsuch weapons as chance provided.

  It was then that the explorers seemed to reach the utmost limit oftheir misfortunes. Except for Andrew's pocket-knife and the revolversof Herran and Miranda, they were without weapons, and thus practicallydefenseless in the thick of a combat that at every moment gained inintensity. They were bewildered by the flashing lights of the torches,and kept getting in the way of Anitoo's men at the most inopportunetimes. Naturally, General Herran, as the only one among them who hadbeen in actual military service, did his best to keep the others in somesort of order; but his protests and commands, unintelligible to all butMiranda, went for very little. In vain he looked for some shelteredcorner into which he could withdraw his little party; but the fiercefighting all around them shut off any such easy way of escape. Thereseemed to be nothing to do but stay where they were--and be shot, asMrs. Quayle hysterically put it. And the shooting certainly increasedenough in volume every moment to warrant that lady's dismal view of thematter.

  But Herran, although fighting in caves was quite out of his line, wasnot the kind of soldier to give up in despair--even with two women onhis hands and three men who were quite as inexperienced and helpless inwarfare as the women. The fiasco of Panama still rankled in his soul,and he resolved this time to let as few of the enemy escape him aspossible. It was a serious business, but--at least he had a revolver,and he intended to use it.

  Plunging ahead of the others into the thick of the mob that faced him,he shot right and left, and--according to Miranda, who watched theaffair delightedly--every shot found its mark. This was all very well,and cheering enough to the explorers. It looked, indeed, for the moment,as if the tide of battle was about to be turned in their favor by theHero of Panama. But then, all of a sudden, as was bound to happen, theGeneral's cartridges gave out, leaving him an animated sort of targetin the midst of the men he had been attacking with such ferocity. Therewere cries of dismay from those who had been watching his brave exploit,a roar of rage from Miranda, who rushed forward, revolver in hand, todefend his old comrade. But Miranda was too late. A burly caveman,one of those who had borne the brunt of Herran's onslaught, seeing thelatter's plight, whirled aloft a huge club that he carried and broughtit down with fatal effect upon the General's head. It was a Homericblow, and the fall of the hero under it, sung in epic verse, would bedescribed as the crashing to earth of a monarch of the forest, a bull, alion, or something equally majestic and thunderous.

  But the victor in this deadly encounter had no time to enjoy histriumph. Miranda, not able to ward off the terrible blow that he sawdescending upon his friend, at least succeeded in inflicting mortalpunishment upon the offending caveman who, before he could raise hisclub to his shoulder again, received the full contents of the Doctor'srevolver.

  It was the first--and probably the last--time that Miranda could counthimself a conqueror on the field of battle. His exultation, however, wasshort-lived. Not only had he to bewail the loss of Herran, a good friendand a brave leader, but the odds in the combat before him were goingso unmistakably against Anitoo and his men, the fighting had become sowidespread and desperate, that the safety of the explorers seemed, everymoment, more and more a matter for miracles. As nothing further couldbe done with an empty revolver, Miranda shrugged his shoulders, threwaway his now harmless weapon and, turning hastily to his companions,ordered them to put out their torches, fall flat upon their faces wherethey stood, and to stay motionless in that position until the fortunesof the battle were decided. This they all did, some with an almostinconceivable promptness--and to any one who might be looking on itmust have appeared that the enemy had over-thrown this little group ofpeople before them with one well directed discharge of their weapons.

  In the kind of warfare that now was raging, Anitoo's cavemen, on accountof their lack of numbers and deficient training, were unquestionablygetting the worst of it. Their white togas, and the flashing lightsthat they wore, made their escape difficult; obviously it would havefared badly for them if they had been left to fight their battle outalone. But Anitoo was taking no unnecessary chances. Fearing for hisown men from the very first, he had dispatched a messenger into thatunknown region of the cave lying beyond the Condor Gate. There wasmore, indeed, than the fate of his own men at stake. He knew that themajority of the enemy were of his own race, and that with them wereassociated two or three men from the outside world whose presencethere, under such circumstances, proved the existence of a formidableconspiracy against that subterranean realm, of which he had spokenvaguely to the explorers, and to which he belonged. The cavemen he hadwith him, although brave enough, were undisciplined and without militaryexperience. They could make but a poor defense against an attackdirected by leaders trained in the rough school of the guerilla. Allthis Anitoo knew, and the reinforcements for which he had sent arrivedbarely in time to save his little par
ty from being completely wiped out.But, fortunately for him, they did arrive in time. With a confused dinof war cries and trumpetings, a flash of mysterious torches, waving ofbanners, brandishing of pipes and blowguns, a body of men, suddenlyappearing out of the dim recesses of the cave, rushed, several hundredstrong, upon the encircling throng of invaders. The result was decisive.The rebels, with victory almost in their grasp, were quickly surrounded,many of them killed, while the few who failed to make their escape weretaken prisoners.

  Among the latter was one who had played a leading part in the attack.He was unarmed, his clothes were torn, an ugly thrust from a pike hadslashed across his face. But his bearing was undaunted; the dejectionof the vanquished was lacking in the composure with which he regardedAnitoo, before whom his captors led him.

  "Well?" he asked scornfully.

  "I expected you, Don Raoul," said Anitoo.

  The other laughed contemptuously.

  "Why are you here?" demanded Anitoo.

  "That is a long story. For one thing, your people are tired of livinglike bats in the dark. With the help of Rafael Segurra, your one greatman, I promised to free them."

  "Instead, Segurra is killed and you are a prisoner."

  "Ah! your muddle-headed rabble have killed him, have they? But, whereare my American friends?" he asked abruptly.

  "They are here. One of them, I think, was killed. But he was aBogotano."

  "I don't see them."

  For the first time Anitoo showed amazement. He called to his men, helooked in every possible and impossible place. The explorers werenowhere to be seen. Their disappearance, moreover, was complicated bythe fact that after the retreat of Anitoo's men, the great portalunder the Sign of the Condor had been closed. By this means the outerregion of the cave had been shut off, thus preventing the escape ofany of the combatants in that direction. As the Americans were not nowin sight, it seemed probable that they were on the other side of thestone gateway--although there was a faint possibility that they hadsought safety in the unexplored portion of the cave whither Anitoohad been leading them. Either way, their disappearance was certain,nor could Anitoo find out anything definite about them from his men.A few, indeed, remembered seeing them during the fight, and recalledHerran's charge, his subsequent fall, and the swift vengeance broughtupon his assailant by Miranda. One man declared that they had allbeen killed; but as this was quite improbable, and as the statementwas uncorroborated, it was promptly put aside as unworthy of belief.The whole thing was very vague. As a matter of fact, every one hadbeen too absorbed in the defeat of Segurra and his men to look afterthe explorers. Doubtless the latter, it was said, had succeeded inretreating into the darkness of the outer cave. In doing this, it istrue, they ran the chance of falling into the hands of Segurra's men--inwhich case they would have been recaptured by Anitoo.

  One strange feature of their disappearance was that the body ofHerran had apparently vanished with them. Anitoo remembered the exactspot where the explorers had been stationed during the battle and,consequently, where Herran had fallen. But now, neither living nor deadexplorers could be found. It seemed incredible that these people, two ofthem women, would have hampered themselves in their flight with the bodyof a dead man. And yet, there was the evidence of eyewitnesses to thekilling of Herran; there was the spot where he had fallen--and as thebody was not there now, it was practically certain that the explorershad carried it away with them. In this case they could not have gonevery far. As Anitoo was particularly anxious for their capture, andbelieving that they had returned to the outer cave, where they were indanger of being attacked by what was left of Segurra's men, he sent mostof his troops after them, remaining behind with Raoul and a few othersuntil their return.

  "It was to get those strangers and bring them to our queen," he said,"that I came out here."

  "Well, you have lost them," sneered Raoul. "But you have me. Why nottake me to your queen?"

  The two men looked at each other in silence. A faint smile lightedAnitoo's usually immobile features.

  "Yes," he said; "at last you will reach the place you have plottedagainst for so many months. But it will do you no good."

  "Don't be too sure of that," growled Raoul. "I want to see yourqueen----"

  "You shall see her. But what can you do? Your friend, Segurra, the firsttraitor to the Land of the Condor, is dead. Your men are defeated----"

  "Not all!" shouted Raoul. "Look around you!"

  With those who knew him Anitoo enjoyed a reputation for astuteness thathad led to his being chosen for the command of the diminutive armyconsidered necessary for the defense of the Land of the Condor. He wasvaliant, absolutely trustworthy. But he was accustomed to deal onlywith simple problems, with people of comparatively guileless natures.Treachery was out of the domain of his experience. And now he was to paydearly for the lack of prudence that had allowed him to send away, on anindefinite mission, the troops he should have kept to guard hisprisoner.

  Startled by Raoul's exultant cry Anitoo seized a pike from one of thetwo men who had stayed with him. If he had fallen into an ambush hewould at least make a brave fight to free himself. But resistance fromthe first was hopeless. The slight eminence on which he stood with Raoulwas surrounded by a score or more men who had crept up on him, theirlights extinguished, and protected by the impenetrable darkness of thecave. As Anitoo and his two followers still carried the mysterioustorches that had excited the wonder of the explorers, they offered anexcellent mark to their concealed antagonists. And now the latter, dimlyvisible on the outer edge of the circle of light cast by these torches,jumped to their feet and, with weapons poised, made a rush for theirvictims.

  "So! Now for your queen!" yelled Raoul.

  Anitoo made a desperate lunge with his pike at the man beside him. Butthe latter was too quick for him. Dodging the blow, Raoul managed towrest the pike from his grasp. There was a tigerish struggle betweenthe two men, shouts of fury and triumph from those looking on. Then,overpowered by the number of his assailants, and mortally wounded,Anitoo fell to the ground. He had been so certain of the defeat of hisantagonists that this sudden turn in his fortunes filled him, even atthe approach of death, with the gloomiest forebodings.

  "Ah! my poor queen--lost!" he gasped with his last breath.

  Raoul snatched the torch from the dead man's tunic and waved it abovehis head.

  "You will be free men now," he cried, "not miserable bats in a cave!"

  Those of his hearers who understood his words, spoken in Spanish,repeated them to the others in their own language. There was wildcheering, in which the two followers of Anitoo joined--amazed at theirleader's fate--and then a rush for the great gateway. But this impulsivemovement of his men did not agree with Raoul's hastily conceived plan ofconquest. Delighted by his easily won victory, coming to him in the veryhour of defeat, he had no mind to leave Anitoo's hostile troops in hisrear--especially as he heard them approaching from the outer cave, andcould even catch the first glimmer of their torches.

  "Stop!" he commanded. "We need these men. Better to have them friendsthan enemies. They will come with us. Some of you warn them--tell themwhat has happened."

  His followers, halted in their eager flight, looked at Raoul inamazement. Then, hurriedly repeating to each other what he had said,they suddenly broke into another cheer, while two of their number, inobedience to Raoul's orders, ran towards the approaching troops.

  At first the two rebels were met with a flourish of pikes and angrycries that boded ill for their safety. When they succeeded in makingthemselves heard, however, explaining what had happened and pointing tothe dead body of Anitoo in confirmation of Raoul's victory, the cavemenchecked their hostile demonstrations, looking from one to the other ofthe men before them, and then to the little group surrounding Raoul, inastonishment. They had the most exaggerated trust in Anitoo's wisdom andprowess; that he could be vanquished by any one impressed them mightily.The death of their leader was, indeed, a potent argument in favor of theman who had killed
him. What did this victorious stranger intend to donow? they asked each other. Then the foremost of them put the questionto the two rebels, who answered with contagious enthusiasm:

  "He will free us! The wealth of the Condor will be ours! We will havethe world--not a cave--to live in!"

  The instant effect of this assurance was all that could be desired. Oneby one took up the words they had just heard with a shout of triumph,waving their weapons in air and declaring that they would follow thisnew-found leader to the death. Then they all broke into a run, salutingRaoul, when they reached him, with the submissive gesture they were wontto accord their superiors.

  Elated by the complete success of his strategy, Raoul looked exultantlyat the men prostrate before him. Then he spoke to them sternly.

  "Where are the Americans?" he demanded.

  "Gone," some of them murmured. "We could not find them."

  "Where have they gone? They must be near--somewhere."

  "To the queen--they have gone to the queen!"

  "Ah, yes! to the queen! Follow quickly! We go to the queen!"

  Raoul's words were greeted with a cheer. The men rose to their feet andall, at a signal from their leader, swept forward to the great gateway,shouting as they ran--

  "To the queen! To the queen!"