Rob Harlow's Adventures: A Story of the Grand Chaco

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER NINE.

  THE DOUBLE CATCH.

  The sharp report was from Brazier's piece, and as all looked round itwas to see a large turkey-like bird beating and flapping the ground withits strong pinions, evidently being badly wounded.

  "Ah!" cried Shaddy, "that'll be better meat than our fish;" and droppingthe line, he trotted towards the spot where the bird lay close to theedge of the forest, just as Brazier started on the same mission from hisend of the opening; while quite a flock of small birds and a troop ofmonkeys came flying and bounding through the trees, as if to see whatwas the meaning of the strange noise, and filling the air with theirchatterings and cries, but hardly displaying the slightest dread.

  "I happened to look round," cried Brazier, "and saw it come out fromamong the trees."

  This was just as he and Shaddy neared the bird, where it lay half adozen yards from the dense mass of interwoven foliage, when, to thedisgust of both, the bird suddenly rose to its feet, made a bound, and,with its wings whistling loudly, flew right in through an opening, whileits would-be captors were brought up short by the to them impenetrableforest.

  "How vexatious!" cried Brazier, stamping his foot.

  "There goes our supper!" grumbled Shaddy; "and that's about the joociestbird I know."

  "I wish I'd given it the other barrel," said Brazier.

  "Better load, sir," said Shaddy. "Never mind. You'll get anotherchance soon. Eh? Oh, very well then, have a try."

  This was to one of the boatmen, who, roused by the shot, came up smilingwith his sword-like knife in his hand, evidently with the intention ofcutting his way in and trying to retrieve the bird.

  "I don't think it is of any use," said Brazier.

  "Dunno, sir. Perhaps it is. The bird was hard hit, and maybe hasn'tgone far. Let him try. He may just as well do that as lie and sleep."

  They both stopped for a few minutes watching the man, who bent down, andgoing on all-fours, passed in between the interlacing growth. They sawhis feet for a few moments, and then he disappeared altogether, whileBrazier and Shaddy both returned to their stations.

  "What a pity!" grumbled the latter. "'Bout the nicest birds I know--when you're hungry. There'll be another shot for him soon, though, forthey go in flocks in open bits of land near water."

  "What bird was it?" said Rob--"a turkey?"

  "Nay, not so big as a turkey, lad; I dunno what they call 'em. I call'em Argentine larks."

  "What?" cried Rob, with a laugh.

  "Ah, you may grin, my lad, but it ain't such a bad name; and if you'dseen 'em do what I have, you'd say so too."

  "What do you mean?" said Rob; "do they make their nests on the ground?"

  "I don't know nothing about their nests, but I'll tell you what they do:they rise off the ground and fly up in the air higher and higher, andsail round and round singing just like a lark does, only lots of timesas loud."

  Rob looked keenly in the man's face.

  "Oh, I ain't a-stuffing of you with nonsense, my lad; that 'ere's anat'ral history fact. They flies up singing away till they're out ofsight, and the music comes down so soft and sweet then that it makes youwant more and more, as you get thinking of when you was away in thecountry at home."

  "But that bird was so big," cried Rob.

  "All the better, my lad. Holds more music and sings all the longer."

  "Caught anything?" asked Joe from the boat, for both lines had been castnow, and the lads were patiently holding the ends.

  "No; haven't had a bite," replied Rob; and the words had hardly left hislips when Brazier's gun raised an echo across the river, which ran toand fro, reflected by the wall of trees in zigzag course till it diedout.

  But no one listened to the echo, for all attention was taken by a largeduck, one of about a dozen which had come skimming along over thesurface of the water till its course had been stopped by Brazier'saccurate shot, when it fell flapping heavily and raising quite a sprayaround it as it began to float rapidly down-stream.

  "Come, we mustn't lose that," cried Shaddy, running to unfasten the ropewhich moored the boat. "We'll go together. Mr Joe, sir, haul in yourline."

  But before the boy could obey there was a cry of annoyance from Brazieras, with a slight splash, something seized the duck and drew it under.

  "'Nother supper gone!" growled Shaddy.

  "What was it?" cried Brazier.

  "Didn't see, sir. Either a 'gator or a big fish. Look sharp, Mr Joe,sir. Now, if you could catch that there fish with the duck in his jawstoo, it would be something like."

  But Joe did not have the chance to catch a fish with the duck orwithout, and Rob fervently hoped that he might not catch the captor ofthe duck, for he felt certain that he had seen the jaws of a smallalligator close upon the unfortunate bird as he held the end of his linetightly and waited for the bite which would not come.

  But in the midst of that lovely solitude there was no room fordisappointment. Though they could not obtain exactly what they sought,Rob felt that nature was offering them endless treasures, and his eyewas being constantly attracted by the flowers high up on the treesacross the river and the still more beautiful butterflies and birdsconstantly passing here and there. Now it was some lovely object whoselarge flat wings flashed with steely or purply blue, according to theangle in which it was viewed, then butterflies of velvety black dashedwith orange and vermilion. Parrots of vivid green with scarlet headsflew to and fro across the stream; and twice over a great _ara_ ormacaw, with its large, hooked beak and scarlet-and-blue feathering, avery soldier in uniform among birds, flew over them, watching themkeenly as it uttered its harsh, discordant cry. Then, too, there werethe humming-birds darting here and there with bee-like flight, emittinga flash every now and then as their metallic, scale-like feathers caughtthe sun on their burnished surface.

  "No," said Rob to himself, "one can't feel disappointed here," and soonafter, as he drew a long, deep breath full of satisfaction, "Oh, howgloriously beautiful it all is! What would they say at home?"

  Now he gazed down into the deep, clear, swiftly flowing water, where,brilliantly illuminated by the sun, just beyond where he sat shaded by atree, he could see fish of all sizes floating motionless, apparently atdifferent depths, while farther out there were more and more, larger itseemed, and as the depth and density of the water increased looking moreshadowy and strange.

  "There are plenty of them, even if they don't bite," thought Rob; "andif it were not that we must have them to eat, I don't know that I wantto catch them. Ugh!"

  He involuntarily shrank away, but resumed his position at the edge ofthe river, gazing down at where, with its four legs outstretched and itstail waving softly, an alligator swam by some five feet below thesurface. It was only a small one, between three and four feet inlength, but showing all the ugly configuration of its kind; and itfascinated Rob as he gazed at it till it slowly grew more shadowy andshortened in length and disappeared.

  "Wonder how Joe's getting on!" he thought; and then his mind dwelt againupon their surroundings, and as his eyes wandered from spot to spot hefelt that they ought to go no farther, but make a temporary stay there.

  Just then he looked to his right, to find that Mr Brazier had given uphis task of watching for birds and was busy with Shaddy arranging thebunch of orchids on a branch in the full sunshine, to dry as much as waspossible before being transferred to their destination--the bottom ofone of the tubs.

  "Slow work!" muttered Rob, drawing in his line now, to find the biscuitsoftened, but still held tightly enough to the hook. Then, dropping itin again, he watched it as it was carried out by the eddy, and ended bytying the line fast to one of the overhanging branches and walking towhere the boat was moored.

  "How are you getting on, Joe?" he said; but there was no answer. "Nothere?" he muttered as he stepped on board, to find the young Italianlying back fast asleep, while the end of the line was secured to one ofthe thwarts.

  "Oh, I say!" muttered Rob, "you lazy begg
ar!" Then stooping down, sothat his lips were near the sleeper's ear, he said loudly, "Ready forsupper?"

  Joe leaped up in confusion.

  "Have I been asleep?" he said hastily.

  "Looks like it. Where's the dorado?"

  "I--that is--I grew so drowsy, I--yes, I fastened the end of the linefor fear it should go overboard, and--here, look out!" he cried sharply,"I have him!"

  "Not you," said Rob; "the hook caught it."

  For the line had been drawn tight while Joe slept, and as he took holdof it he found that it was fast in something heavy, which now sent aquiver along the line, as if it were shaking its head angrily at beingdisturbed.

  "Why, it's a big one," said Rob excitedly.

  "It's a monster," panted Joe. "Oh, I wish I had not been asleep."

  "Caught anything?" came from behind them, and Brazier and Shaddy drewnear.

  "Yes; Joe has hooked a very big one," cried Rob eagerly. "Get your hookready, Shaddy."

  "All right, sir," said the guide grimly, "but you won't want it justyet. You'll have to play that chap before you get him up to the boat."

  So it seemed, for the captive lay sulky for a few moments, resenting thestrain on the line, till Joe gave it a jerk, when there was a rush awayto the left, the line suddenly slackened, and Rob exclaimed in a tone ofdisappointment,--

  "Gone!"

  "No," growled Shaddy. "Pull in a bit, my lad. Steady!"

  Joe began to haul in the line, drawing in yard after yard, which fell inrings to the bottom of the boat, till half the fishing cord must havebeen recovered.

  "He has gone, Shaddy," said Joe.

  "Beginning to think you're right, my lad. Fancied at first he'd swum upto the side, for there's no telling what a fish may do when--Look out;he's on still," roared Shaddy. "Hold the line, my lad. Don't let himhaul it quite out, or he'll snap it when he gets to the end."

  Joe seized the line and let it slip through his fingers, but thefriction was so painful that he would have let go again had not Shaddystepped to his help and taken hold behind him.

  "Won't hurt my fingers," he growled; "they're a deal too hard," and hekept hold so that he did not interfere with Joe's work in playing thefish, but relieved him of the strain and friction as the line cut thewater here and there.

  Brazier looked on with plenty of interest in the proceedings, for thecapture of a fish of goodly size was a matter of some consequence to theleader of an expedition with eight hungry people to cater for day afterday.

  "Think it's a dorado, Shaddy?" asked Rob.

  "Ought to be, my lad, from its taking an orange, and if it is it's 'boutthe heaviest one I've knowed. My word, but he does pull! Can't say asever I felt one shake his head like that before. Shall I play him now,my lad?"

  "No," cried Joe through his set teeth as he held on, "not yet. I willask you if I want help. No: Rob will help me."

  The struggle went on so fiercely that it increased Brazier's interest,and but for the clever way in which the two lads in turn played thefish, the cord, strong as it was, must have been broken. But they werefortunate enough to get a good deal of the long line in hand, and werethus enabled to let their captive run from time to time, merely keepingup a steady strain till the rush was over and then hauling in again.

  "Why, boys," said Brazier at last as he stood on the bank resting uponhis double gun, "it will be supper-time before you catch your prize, andin this climate fish will be bad to-morrow. Better let him go."

  "What!" cried Rob, whose face was streaming with perspiration. "Let himgo? Do you hear, Joe?"

  Joe nodded and tightened his lips, his face seeming to say,--

  "Let him go? Not while I can hold him."

  So the fight went on till the fish grew less fierce in its rushes, butnone the weaker, keeping on as it did a heavy, stubborn drag, and thoughfrequently brought pretty near to the boat, keeping down close to thebottom, so that they never once obtained a glimpse of it.

  "It ain't a dorado," said Shaddy at last. "I never see one fight likethat."

  "It must be a very grand one," said Joe, wiping his face, for he hadresigned the line for a time.

  "It pulls like a mule," said Rob, as the captive now made off toward themiddle of the river.

  "What sort of a hook have you got on, Mr Jovanni?" cried Shaddy.

  "One of those big ones, with the wire bound round for about two feetabove it."

  "Then I tell you what, my lad: I don't believe that strong new cord'llbreak. S'pose both of you get hold after he's had this run, haul himright up, and let's have a look at him! Strikes me you've got hold ofone of them big eely mud-fish by the way he hugs the bottom."

  "Shall we try, Joe?"

  "I--I'm afraid of losing it," was the reply. "It would be so dreadfulnow. Perhaps it will be tired soon."

  "Don't seem like it, my lad!" said Brazier. "It is not worth so longand exhausting a fight."

  "Right, sir, and they've been too easy with him. You get his head up,Mr Rob, as soon as he gives a bit, and then both of you show him youdon't mean to stand any more nonsense. That'll make him give in."

  "Very well," said Joe, with a sigh. "We have been a long time. Waittill he has had this run."

  The line was running out more and more through Rob's fingers as hespoke, and the fish seemed bent on making for the farther shore; but thelad made it hard work for the prisoner, and about two-thirds of the wayit began to slacken its pace, almost stopped, quite stopped, and sulked,like a salmon, at the bottom.

  "Now both of you give a gentle, steady pull," said Brazier; and Joe tookhold of the line and joined Rob in keeping up a continuous strain.

  For a few minutes it was like pulling at a log of wood, and Rob declaredthe line must be caught. But almost as he spoke the fish gave a viciousshake at the hook, its head seemed to be pulled round, the strain waskept up, and the captive yielded, and was drawn nearer and nearer veryslowly, but none the less surely, the line falling in rings to thebottom of the boat.

  "Bravo!" cried Brazier.

  "That's right, both of you!" shouted Shaddy excitedly. "He's dead beat,and I shall have the big hook in his gills before he knows where he is.Haul away!"

  "Are these mud-fish you talk about good eating, Naylor?" asked Brazier.

  "Oh yes, sir. Bit eely-like in their way; not half bad. Come, that'swinning, gents. Well done. Give me a shout when you want me. I won'tcome yet so as to get in your way."

  "Sha'n't be ready yet," panted Rob. "He is strong. I think you oughtto have a harpoon.--I say."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Do these mud-fish bite?"

  "Well, yes, sir," replied Shaddy; "pretty nigh all the fish hereaboutsare handy with their teeth."

  "Ah, he's off again!" cried Joe; and they had to let the prisoner run.But it was a much weaker effort, and a couple of minutes later they hadhauled in all the line given, and got in so much more that the fish wasat the bottom of the river only four or five yards from the boat.

  "Now then, both together; that line will hold!" cried Shaddy excitedly;"get him right up and see what he is, and if he begins to fight fiercelet him have one more run to finish his flurry, as the whalers call thelast fight."

  "Ready, Joe?"

  "Yes."

  "Both together, then."

  There were a few short steady pulls, hand over hand, and the prisonerwas drawn nearer and nearer, and raised from the bottom slowly andsurely, while, as full of excitement now as the lads, Brazier and Shaddystood close to the edge watching.

  "Hurrah!" cried Rob, who was nearest to the gunwale. "I can see himnow!"

  "Well, what is it--a mud-fish?" asked Brazier.

  "No," said Joe, straining his neck to get a glimpse through the clearwater, the disturbed mud raised by the struggles of the fish beingrapidly swept away. "It's a dorado: I can see his golden scales!"

  "Then he's a regular whopper, my lads. Steady, don't lose him!" criedShaddy. "Shall I come on board?"

  "No, not ye
t," said Joe excitedly. "He may make another rush."

  "Why, I say, it isn't a very big one," said Rob.

  "No," cried Joe, in a disappointed tone; "but he's coming up backwards,which shows how strong he is."

  "Ha, ha!" shouted Rob; "we've caught him by the tail."

  "Got the line twisted round it, perhaps," said Brazier. "That's whatmakes the fish seem so strong."

  "Ugh!" yelled Rob, letting go of the line, with the result that it wasdrawn back rapidly through Joe's fingers, till at a cry from his lipsRob took hold again as the fish ran off and nearly reached its formerquarters.

  "What's the matter?" said Brazier. "Did the line cut your fingers?"

  "No. We've caught a horrid great thing. It isn't a dorado. I saw itwell, and it's nearly as long as the boat."

  "Gammon!" growled Shaddy. "Here, what's it like, Master Joe?"

  "I don't know. I never saw a fish like it before: its tail was allgolden scales, and then it was dark at the top and bottom, and went offdark right toward the head."

  "Then it must be a mud-fish, I should say, though I never knowed of onewith a tail like that. Haul him in again, and I'll get aboard now readywith the hook."

  He stepped into the boat, and lay down in the bottom with his arms overthe side and his landing-hook, securely bound to a short, stout piece ofbamboo, held ready.

  "Shan't be in your way, shall I?" he asked.

  "No, not at all," replied Joe. "Now, Rob, are you ready?"

  "Yes."

  "I say, don't let go again."

  "I'll try not," replied Rob, and the hauling began once more, withalmost as much effort necessary. But at the end of a minute it began tobe evident that the fish was tired, for it yielded more and more as theline was drawn in, but kept to its old tactics of hugging the bottomtill it was close up to the boat, where, after pausing a moment or two,Rob cried,--

  "Now then, both together! Don't miss him, Shaddy! Mind, he's a hideousgreat thing."

  "All right, my lads; haul away!"

  They hauled, but instead of the fish suffering itself to be dragged likea lump of lead close in to the boat, it now commenced different tactics,and rose till the gilded tail appeared above the surface quite clear ofthe line, and beat and churned up the water so that it was too muchdisturbed for them to see the head, the creature seeming to be fightinghard to dive down again straight to the bottom.

  "That's right, my lads: he's coming. 'Nother fathom, and I'll get thehook into him. Haul steady. He's, done. He's--Well, I'm blessed!"

  Shaddy roared out this last exclamation, for all at once, as the boyshauled persistently at the line, the tail half of a large dorado wasthrust above the surface, agitated violently, and directly after therefollowed the hideous head of an alligator with its jaws tightly closedupon the fore half of the fish. It was shaking its head savagely tobreak the line, and began giving violent plunges while it made the waterfoam with its struggles, and in another moment would no doubt havebroken away; but just at the crisis, on seeing what was the state ofaffairs, Brazier raised his gun, took a quick aim, and dischargedrapidly one after the other both barrels of his piece.

  The result was magical. As the smoke rose, and quite a cloud ofbrilliantly tinted birds flew here and there from side to side of theriver, whose trees on both banks seemed to have grown alive withmonkeys, the alligator made one leap half out of the water, fell backwith a heavy splash, and then lay motionless save for a quivering of itstail as it was drawn nearer, when Shaddy managed to get his hook insidethe jaws, which were distended by the dorado, and then, stepping ashore,he hauled the reptile right out on to the grass.

  "Is he dead?" said Brazier, who was reloading.

  "Not yet, sir; but you've shattered the back of his head, and he'll soonbe quite. No wonder you didn't land him quicker, Master Joe."

  "But what does it mean?" cried Rob. "Oh, I see! Joe hooked a dorado,and this fellow tried to swallow it head first, and couldn't get itright down."

  "That's it, my lad," replied Shaddy. "He'd half managed it when MrJovanny here gave a pull, and has got the hook in him somewhere. Ithought so. Here's the pynte sticking right through outside his neck,and he couldn't bite because of the fish stuck in his jaws just like agreat gag."

  "Well, what's to be done?" said Rob; "we can't eat the dorado now.Wonder whether I've got a bite yet."

  He went slowly and wearily up to the tree where he had fastened the endof his line, and to his delight saw that the branch was rising andfalling as a fish on the hook tugged to get away.

  "Hi! Joe! Got one!" he shouted; but before the lad could reach him hehad the line in his hand and was hauling, sore as his fingers were, aheavy fish toward the shore. Then with a cry of disappointment hepulled in the line easily enough, for the fish was gone.

  They returned to the spot where Brazier and Shaddy stood, near thecaptured alligator.

  "Good six feet long, Rob," said Brazier, who had measured it by takingtwo long paces. "Something like a catch, Giovanni. Can you get thefish out of its jaws, Naylor?"

  "Oh yes, I think so, sir."

  "Mind, for these creatures are very retentive of life."

  "Oh yes, I know 'em, sir. I'll get the chopper and take his head offfirst."

  "But we are not going to eat that fish now, Mr Brazier, are we?"

  "Well, I don't know, Rob. If it is well washed and skinned, it cannotbe any the worse, and we have nothing else in the way of fish or meat."

  "Wrong, sir," said Shaddy, making a very wide smile; "look at that."

  He pointed toward the top of the little clearing where the boatman hadforced his way in amongst the tangled growth, and gone on hewing his waythrough bush, thorn, vine, and parasitical growth, to reappear just inthe nick of time with the bustard-looking bird hanging from his lefthand, dead.

  "Says he had to go in a long way," said Shaddy, after a shortconversation with the man, who, weary though he was with his exertions,immediately set to work by the fire picking the bird and burning itsfeathers, with the result that the Europeans of the little expeditionconfined themselves to the windward side of the fire till the man haddone.

  "Never had such a delicious supper before in my life," said Rob twohours later, as they sat in the boat eating oranges and watching thegorgeous colours of the sky.

  "Think this place 'll do, sir?" said Shaddy, after washing down hisrepast with copious draughts of _mate_ made by his men.

  "Excellently, Naylor."

  "And you ain't hardly begun yet," said Shaddy, smiling. "Wait till youget higher up, where it's wilder and wonderfler: this is nothing. Suityou, Master Rob? Never had such fishing as that before, did you?"

  "Never, Shaddy; but what did you do with the alligator and the fish?"

  "My lads cut all off as the 'gator hadn't had down his throat, andtumbled the other into the stream. Ain't much of him left by thistime."

  The night came on almost directly after, with the remarkable tropicalabsence of twilight; and, as if all had been waiting for the darkness,the chorus of the forest began. Then, well making up the fire with anabundance of wood, the boatmen came on board, and immediately settledthemselves down to sleep.