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

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  A CATASTROPHE.

  The next morning the sun was drinking up the mists at a wonderful ratewhen Rob opened his eyes, saw Joe close by him fast asleep, and raisedhis hand to give him a friendly slap, but he checked himself.

  "We're not friends yet," he said to himself, with a curious, regretfulfeeling troubling him; and as he went forward to get one of the men tofill him a bucket of water for his morning bath, for the first timesince leaving England he felt dismal and low-spirited.

  "Morning, sir!" said Shaddy. "Mr Joe not wakened yet?"

  "No."

  "Did you two make friends 'fore you went to sleep?"

  "No, Shaddy."

  "Then I lay tuppence it wasn't your fault. What a pity it was you letyour tongue say that about the monkey!"

  "Yes, Shaddy," said Rob as he plunged his head into the pail and had agood cool sluice. "I wish I hadn't now. It was a great pity."

  "True, sir, it was. You see, there ain't no room in a boat forquarrelling, and if it came to a fight you'd both go overboard togetherand be eaten by the fish afore you knew where you were. And that wouldnot be pleasant, would it?"

  "Don't talk nonsense, Shaddy," said Rob shortly as he plunged his headinto the bucket again.

  "Certinly not, sir," replied the man seriously. "You see, I know how itwould be as well as can be. 'Talian lads don't fight like English lads.They can't hit out straight and honest, but clings and cuddles andwrastles. Soon as ever you began he'd fly at you, and tie his arms andlegs about you in knots, and hamper you so that you couldn't keep yourbalance, and as there's no room in the boat, you'd be ketching your toesomewhere, and over you'd go. If I were you, Mr Rob, sir, I wouldn'tfight him."

  "Will you leave off talking all that stupid nonsense, Shaddy?" cried Robangrily as he began now polishing his head and face with the towel."Who is going to fight? I suppose you think it's very clever to keep onwith this banter, but I can see through you plainly enough."

  Shaddy chuckled.

  "All right, sir; I won't say no more. Give him time, and don't noticehim, and then I daresay he'll soon come round."

  "I shall go on just as if nothing had happened," said Rob quietly. "Iapologised and said I was sorry, and when his annoyance has passed offhe'll be friends again. What a glorious morning after the storm!"

  "Glorious ain't nothing to it, sir. Everything's washed clean, and theair shines with it. Even looks as if the sun had got his face washed,too. See how he flashes."

  "I can feel, Shaddy," said Rob, with a laugh.

  "That's nothing to what's coming, my lad. Strikes me, too, that weshall find a little more water in the stream, if Mr Brazier says we'reto go down the river to-day. Hear the birds?"

  "Hear them?" cried Rob. "Why, they are ten times as lively to-day."

  "That they are, sir. They're having a regular feast on the thingswashed out of their holes by the rain. As for the flowers, Mr Brazierwill have no end of beauties to pick. They'll come out like magic afterthis rain. He won't want to go on to-day."

  "Yes, I shall, Naylor," said Brazier, stepping out from under theawning. "We may as well go on, beautiful as all this is. Ah," hecontinued as he gazed round and took a long, deep breath, "whatgloriously elastic air! What a paradise! Rob, my lad, there can benothing fairer on earth."

  "Don't you be in a hurry, sir!" growled Shaddy. "I'm going to show youplaces as beat this hollow."

  "Impossible, my man!" said Brazier.

  "Well, sir, you wait and see. Bit o' breakfast before we start?"

  "Yes," said Brazier, and the men just then stirred the fire together,and called from the shore that the water was boiling and the cakes inthe embers baked.

  The sensation of delicious comparative coolness after the storm as theysat under the trees, and the fragrance borne from myriads of floweringplants was so delightful to the senses that Rob looked with dismay atthe idea of leaving the place for the present. The thirsty ground haddrunk up the rain, and only a little moisture remained where the suncould not penetrate, while the sky was of a vivid blue, without a speckof cloud to be seen.

  But, though Brazier did not notice it, there was a jarring element inthe concord of that glorious morning, for the young Italian was heavyand gloomy, and hardly spoke during the _alfresco_ meal.

  "What's that?" said Rob suddenly as there was a slight rustling amongthe boughs and undergrowth a short distance away.

  "Might be anything, sir," said Shaddy. "Some little animal--monkeypraps. It won't hurt us. Maybe it's a snake."

  In spite of an effort to seem unconcerned, Rob could not resist thedesire to glance at his comrade at the mention of the monkey, and, as hefully expected, even though he could not check it, there was Joe glaringat him fiercely.

  Rob dropped his eyes, feeling that Joe fully believed he was doing it toannoy him, and that Shaddy had the same intention.

  Meanwhile the sound had ceased, and was forgotten by the time they wereall on board once more, the rope which had moored them to a tree beingcast off.

  "Now, my lads, away with you!" growled Shaddy, and the oars droppedamong the lily leaves with a splash, startling quite a shoal of fish onone side and a large reptile on the other, which raised quite a wave asit dashed off with a few powerful strokes of its tail for deeper water.

  They were about fifty yards from the shore, when Shaddy suddenly laidhis hand upon Rob's shoulder and pointed back to the place they had justleft.

  "See that, my lad?"

  "No. What?" cried Rob hastily. "Bird? lizard?"

  "Nay; look again."

  Rob swept the shore eagerly, and the next moment his eyes lit uponsomething tawny standing in a shady spot, half hidden by the leaves.

  "The puma!" he cried excitedly, and as the words left his lips theanimal made one bound into the undergrowth near the trees, and was gone.

  "Or another, one, Rob," said Brazier. "It is hardly likely to be thesame. There are plenty about, I suppose, Naylor?"

  "Oh yes, sir. Can't say as they swarm, but they're pootty plentiful,and as much like each other as peas in a pod."

  "But I feel sure that is the same one," cried Rob excitedly. "It isfollowing us down the lake."

  "Maybe," grumbled Shaddy, "but you couldn't tell at this distance."

  Rob was going to speak again, but he caught sight of Joe's face, with apeculiar smile thereon, and he held his peace.

  An hour later they were drawing close to the mouth of the river, whereit quitted the lake, and Shaddy pointed to the shores on either side.

  "Look at that," he said in a low tone. "I 'spected as much."

  "Look at what?" said Rob.

  "The trees. Water's two foot up the trunks, and the river over itsbanks, lad. We shall go down pootty fast it I don't look out."

  But he did "look out," to use his own words, and getting the boat round,he set the four men to back stern foremost into the stream, keeping along oar over the side to steer by and giving orders to the men to pullgently or hard as he gave instructions, for the river ran like amill-race. It was swift enough before, but now, thanks to thetremendous amount of water poured into it through the previous night'sstorm, its speed seemed to be doubled.

  Rob stood close by the steersman, while Joe was beside Mr Brazier, who,after the first minute or two of startled interest in their rapiddescent, became absorbed in the beauty of the overhanging plants, andhad no eyes for anything else.

  "We're going along at a tidy rate, Master Rob," said Shaddy.

  "Yes; the trees glide by very quickly."

  "Ay, they do, sir," said the man, who did not take his eyes from thesurface of the river before them. "I did mean to make the boys pull sothat we could go down gently, but it wouldn't be much good, and onlytoil 'em for nothing."

  "There's no danger, I suppose, Shaddy?"

  "No, sir, no, not much, unless we run on a sharp snag or trunk of atree, or get swept into a corner and capsized."

  "What?" crie
d Rob.

  "Capsized, sir. That would make an end of our expedition. Now, lads,"he shouted to the men, "pull your best."

  He gave his own oar a peculiar twist as the men obeyed, and Rob caughtsight of the danger ahead for the first time. It was a huge tree whichhad been undermined by the water during the past few hours and fallenright out into the stream, its top being over a hundred feet from theshore and showing quite a dense tangle of branches level with the water,to have entered which must have meant wreck.

  But Shaddy was too much on the _qui vive_, and his timely order andcareful steering enabled him to float the craft gently by the outermostboughs.

  They were going onward again at increased speed, when Brazier shouted,--

  "Stop! I must have some of those plants."

  Shaddy did not stir.

  "Do you hear, man? Stop! I want to collect some of those epiphyticplants."

  By this time they were nearly a hundred yards past, and Shaddy looked atthe enthusiastic collector with a comical expression on his face.

  "Always glad to obey orders, sir," he said drily; "but how can I stopthe boat now? Look at the water."

  "But you should have caught hold of one of the boughs, man."

  "When we were fifty yards away, sir?"

  "Then pull back to the tree."

  Shaddy smiled again.

  "It ain't to be done, sir, no, not if I'd eight oars going instead offour. There's no making head against the river now it's running likethis."

  "Then we've made a mistake in coming to-day," cried Brazier anxiously.

  "Well, no, sir, because before night we shall have made a big run rightinto the country you want to see, without tiring my lads, and I want tosave them up. But there's no stopping to-day for collecting."

  "But shall we be able to land somewhere?"

  "Hope so, sir. If we can't we shall have to go on. But you leave it tome, sir, and I'll do my best. Don't talk to me now, because I've got tosteer and look out against an upset, and, as you know, bathing ain'tpleasant in these waters."

  Brazier looked uneasy, and went and sat down in the stern, to becomeabsorbed soon after in the beauty of the scene as they raced down thesilvery flashing river, while Joe, who was near him, appeared to belooking at the birds and wondrous butterflies which flapped across fromshore to shore, but really seeing nothing but one of a company ofmonkeys, which, after the fashion of their kind, were trying to keeppace with the boat by bounding and swinging themselves from tree to treealong the shore.

  That seemed to the young Italian's disordered imagination, blurred, asit were, by rankling anger, like the monkey to which his companion hadcompared him, and his annoyance grew hotter, not only against Rob, butagainst himself for refusing to shake hands and once more be friends.

  Meanwhile Rob stayed in the fore-part of the boat talking to Shaddy, whostood on one of the thwarts, so as to get a better view of the riverahead over the cabin roof, and kept on making an observation to the boyfrom time to time.

  "Easy travelling this, my lad, only a bit too fast."

  "Oh, I don't know; it's very delightful," said Rob.

  "Glad you like it, my lad; but I wish Mr Jovanni wouldn't sit on thestarn like that. He ought to know better. Least touch, and over he'dgo."

  "Look: what's that, Shaddy?" cried Rob, pointing to a black-lookinganimal standing knee-deep in water staring at them as they passed.

  Shaddy screwed his eye round for a moment, but did not turn his head.

  "Don't you get taking my 'tention off my work!" he growled. "That's a--that's a--well, I shall forget my own name directly!--awhat-you-may-call-it--name like a candle."

  "Tapir," cried Rob.

  "That's him, my lad. Any one would think you had been born on 'Mericanrivers. Rum pig-like crittur, with a snout like a little elephant'strunk, to ketch hold of grass and branches and nick 'em into his mouth.I say--"

  "Well, what, Shaddy?" said Rob. The man had stopped to bear hard uponhis oar.

  "Pull, my lads," he growled to his men. "Hold tight, every one. Ididn't see it soon enough. Tree trunk!"

  Rob seized one of the supports of the cabin roofing and gazed over it atwhat seemed like a piece of bark just before them, and the next momentthere was a smart shock, a tremendous swirl in the water, and a showerof spray poured over them like drops of silver in the bright sunshine,as something black, which Rob took for a denuded branch, waved in theair, and Joe plumped down into the bottom of the boat.

  Shaddy chuckled and wiped the water out of his eye.

  "I'm thinking so much about trees washed from the bank that I can't seeanything else."

  "But it was only a small tree, Shaddy, and did us no harm."

  "Warn't a tree at all, lad, only a 'gator fast asleep on the top of thewater going west and warming his back in the sun same time."

  "An alligator?"

  "Yes, my lad. Didn't you see what a flap he gave with his tail! Butnow just look there at Mr Jovanni. I call it rank obstinit. Just asif there was no other place where he could sit but right on the starn!There, you're friends, and he'll take it better from you. Go throughthe cabin and ask him to get off. I don't want him to go overboard."

  "Neither do I, Shaddy, but we are not friends, and if I ask him he willstop there all the more."

  "Then I must," said Shaddy. "Hi, Mr Jovanni, sir! Don't sit there; itain't safe."

  "Oh yes, I'm quite safe," cried the boy sharply. "Never mind me."

  "Hark at him! Don't mind him! What'll his father say to me if I goback without him? Pull, lads, pull!"

  Shaddy's order was necessary, for a huge tree--unmistakably a tree thistime--lay right across their way just where the river made a sudden bendround to their left.

  The better way would have been to have gone to the right, where therewas more room, but, the curve of the river being of course on that sidegreater, there would not have been time to get round before the boat wasswept in amongst the branches, so perforce their steersman made for theleft.

  This took them close in to where the bank should have been, but whichwas now submerged, and the boat floated close in to the great wall oftrees marking the edge of the stream, and so little room was there that,to avoid the floating tree-top, the boat was forced close in shore,where the stream at the bend ran furiously.

  "Look out!" roared Shaddy. "Heads down!" and Rob, who had been watchingthe obstacle in their way, only just had time to duck down as, with atremendous rushing and crackling sound, they passed right through a massof pendent boughs which threatened to sweep the boat clear of cabin andcrew as well, as the stream urged it on.

  The trouble only lasted a few seconds, though, and then they werethrough and floating swiftly round the inner curve toward an open patchof the shore which rose all clear of water and tree.

  "Anybody hurt?" cried Brazier from inside the cabin; "I thought theplace was going to be swept away after I had dived in here."

  "No, sir; we're all right," cried Rob. "I nearly lost my cap, though,and--Oh! where's Joe?"

  "Eh?" cried Shaddy, looking forward. "Why, he was--gone!"

  All faced round to look back just in time to catch an indistinct glimpseof their companion apparently clinging to a bough overhanging thestream; but the next moment the intervening branches hid him from theirsight, and a look of horror filled every face.

  "Did--did you see him, Shaddy?" panted Rob.

  "Thought I did, sir, but couldn't be sure," growled Shaddy, and thenfuriously to his men, "Row--row with all your might!"

  The men obeyed, making their oars bend as they tugged away with sucheffect that they advanced a few yards. But that was all. The currentwas too sharp, and they lost ground again. Then, in spite of all theirefforts, the most they could do was to hold their own for a minutebefore having to give way, pull in shore, and seize the overhangingboughs to which Shaddy and Brazier now clung to keep the boat fromdrifting.

  "Better land, sir," cried Shaddy. "We can't reach him this way."
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  "Reach him?" cried Rob piteously, and then to himself, "Oh! Joe, Joe,why didn't you shake hands?"