Popular Adventure Tales

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER XXI.

  THE CANNIBAL FISH AND THE GYMNOTUS.

  About this time an incident occurred that was very near having a fataltermination for one of the party--Leon. The day was a very hot one, andas the cool water looked inviting, Leon could not resist the temptationof taking a bath. Having undressed himself, he plunged into the rivernearly in front of where the house stood, and began splashing aboutquite delighted. The rest were not heeding him, as each was engaged withsome occupation within the house.

  Leon at first kept wading about in a place that was not beyond hisdepth, but, by little and little, he took short swims, as he wished topractise, and become a good swimmer like Guapo. His father had not onlygiven him permission, but had even advised him to do so. And it may behere remarked that all parents would do well to take the same coursewith their children and allow them to acquire this healthful and usefulart. No one can deny that thousands of lives are annually sacrificed,because so few have taken the trouble to learn swimming.

  Well; Leon was determined to be a swimmer, and at each attempt he made awider stretch into the deep water, swam around, and then back again tothe bank.

  In one of these excursions, just as he had got farthest out, all at oncehe felt a sharp pain as if from the bite of some animal, and thenanother, and another, upon different parts of the body, as if severalsets of teeth were attacking him at once!

  Leon screamed--who wouldn't have done so?--and his scream brought thewhole household to the edge of the water in less than a score ofseconds. All of them believed that he was either drowning or attacked bya crocodile. On arriving at the bank, however, they saw that he wasstill above water, and swimming boldly for the shore--no signs of acrocodile were to be seen!

  What was the matter?

  Of course that question was asked of him by them all in a breath. Hisreply was that "he could not tell--_something was biting him allover_!"

  The quick eye of the mother now caught sight of blood--around theswimmer the water was tinged with it--her piercing shriek rent the air.

  "O God! my child--my child! Save him--save him!"

  Both Don Pablo and Guapo dashed into the water and plunged forward tomeet him. In the next moment he was raised in their arms, but the bloodstreamed down his body and limbs, apparently from a dozen wounds. Asthey lifted him out of the water they saw what had caused these wounds.A shoal of small fish, with ashy-green backs and bright orange belliesand fins, was seen below. With large open mouths they had followed theirvictim to the very surface, and now that he was lifted out of theirreach, they shot forward and attacked the legs of his rescuers, causingDon Pablo and Guapo to dance up in the water, and make with all hastefor the bank. As soon as they had reached it, they turned round andlooked into the water. There were these blood-thirsty pursuers that hadfollowed them up to the very bank, and now swam about darting from pointto point, and ready for a fresh attack on any one that might enter thewater!

  "They are the 'cannibal fish!'" said Guapo, in an angry tone, as heturned to attend to Leon. "I shall punish them yet for it. Trust me,young master, you shall be revenged!"

  Leon was now carried up to the house, and it was found that in all hehad received nearly a dozen wounds! Some of them were on the calves ofhis legs, where the piece of flesh was actually taken out! Had he beenfarther out in the river, when first attacked, he might never havereached the shore alive, as the fierce creatures were gathering in fargreater numbers when he was rescued, and would most undoubtedly havetorn him to pieces and eaten him up!

  Such has been the fate of many persons who have fallen among the"cannibal fish" in the midst of wide rivers where they had no chance ofescape. These ferocious little "caribes," or "caribitos," as they arecalled (for the word _carib_ signifies cannibal), lie at the bottom ofrivers, and are not easily seen; but the moment an attack is made by oneof them, and a drop of blood stains the water, the whole shoal rises tothe surface, and woe to the creature that is assailed by their sharptriangular teeth!

  Of course the wounds of Leon, although painful, were not dangerous, butthe chief danger lay in the loss of blood which was pouring from so manyveins. But Guapo found ready to his hand the best thing in the world forstopping it. On some mimosa-trees, not far from the house, he hadalready observed--indeed, so had all of them--a very singular species ofants' nests of a yellowish brown colour. The ants themselves were of abeautiful emerald green. They were the _Formica spinicollis_. Thesenests were composed of a soft cotton-down, which the ants had collectedfrom a species of _Melastoma_, a handsome shrub found growing in theseregions; and this down Guapo knew to be the best for blood-stopping.

  Even Don Pablo had heard of its being used by the Indians for thispurpose, and knew it by the name of "_yesca de hormigas_," or"touch-wood of ants." He had heard, moreover, that it was far superioreven to the ants' nests of Cayenne, which form an article of commerceand are highly prized in the hospitals of Europe. Guapo, therefore, ranoff and robbed the green ants of their nests, and speedily returnedwith the full of his hands of the soft "yesca." This was applied to thewounds, and in a few minutes the bleeding was effectually stopped, andLeon, although still suffering pain, had now only to be patient and getwell.

  Strange to say, another incident occurred that very evening, whichtaught our party a further lesson of the danger of taking to the waterwithout knowing more of its inhabitants. Just as they had finishedsupper, and were seated in front of their new house, the mule, that hadbeen let loose, stepped into the river to drink and cool its flanks. Itwas standing in the water, which came up to its belly, and, havingfinished its drink, was quietly gazing around it. All at once, it wasobserved to give a violent plunge, and make with hot haste for the bank.It snorted and looked terrified, while its red nostrils were wide open,and its eyes appeared as if they would start from their sockets. Atlength it reached the bank, and, staggering forward, rolled over in thesand, as if it was going to die!

  What could all this mean? Had it, too, been attacked by the "caribes?"No; that was not likely, as the bite of these creatures upon the hardshanks of the mule could not have produced such an effect. They mighthave frightened it, but they could not have thrown it into "fits"--forit was evidently in some sort of a fit at that moment.

  It might have been a puzzle to our party not easily solved, had Guaponot been upon the spot. But Guapo had witnessed such an incident before.Just before the mule gave the first plunge Guapo's eyes had beenwandering in that direction. He had noticed an odd-looking form glidenear the mule and pass under the animal's belly. This creature was of agreenish-yellow colour, about five feet in length, and four or fiveinches thick. It resembled some kind of water-snake more than a fish,but Guapo knew it was not a snake, but an eel. It was the great_electric eel_--the "temblador," or "gymnotus."

  This explained the mystery. The gymnotus, having placed itself under thebelly of the unsuspecting mule, was able to bring its body in contact atall points, and hence the powerful shock that had created such aneffect.

  The mule, however, soon recovered, but from that time forward, nocoaxing, nor leading, nor driving, nor whipping, nor pushing, wouldinduce that same mule to go within twenty feet of the bank of that samepiece of water.

  Guapo now bethought himself of the narrow escape he himself had hadwhile swimming across to the palm-woods; and the appearance of thegymnotus only rendered him more determined to keep the promise he hadmade to Leon,--that is, that he would revenge him of the caribes.

  None of them could understand how Guapo was to get his revenge withoutcatching the fish, and that would be difficult to do. Guapo, however,showed them how on the very next day.

  During that evening he had made an excursion into the wood, and returnedhome carrying with him a large bundle of roots.

  They were the roots of two species of plants--one of the genus_Piscidea_, the other a _Jacquinia_. Out of these, when properly poundedtogether, Guapo intended to make the celebrated "barbasco," orfish-poison, which is used by all the Indians of South America incapt
uring fish. Guapo knew that a sufficient quantity of the barbascothrown into the water would kill either "temblador," caribe, or any fishthat ever swam with fins.

  And so it proved. In the morning Guapo having prepared his barbasco,proceeded to the upper end of the lake-like opening of the river, andthere flung his poison into the stream. The slow current through thevalley greatly favoured him, and from the large quantity of roots he hadused, the whole pool was soon infected with it. This was seen from thewhitish tinge which the water assumed. The barbasco had scarcely time tosink to the bottom when small fish were seen coming to the surface, andturning "wrong side uppermost." Then larger ones appeared, and in a fewminutes all the fish in that particular stretch of water, with severalgymnoti, were seen floating on the surface quite dead. To the great joyof Guapo and Leon, who sat by the bank watching, hundreds of the littlecaribes, with their bronze gills quite open, and their yellow belliesturned up, were seen among the rest.

  But Guapo had not made this great slaughter purely out of revenge. Hehad another object. They were not too well off for meat, and a dish offish would be welcome. Guapo and Don Pablo had already providedthemselves with long-handled nets, and they soon scooped out severalbasketfuls of fish. Among others they netted numerous "caribes," forthese little monsters, fierce as they are, are not surpassed fordelicacy of flavour by any fish in the South American rivers. Thegymnoti approached the bank, where Guapo fished them out, not toeat--although they are often eaten. There was not a spark of electricityin them now. The barbasco had cured them of that; any one might havehandled them with safety, as there was not a charge left in their wholebattery.

  The lake was quite cleared of all its dangerous denizens, and Leon mightbathe with safety, as soon as he got well; and over the fish-dinner theycould now laugh at the adventures both of Leon and the electrified mule.