Kitabı oku: «Real Gold: A Story of Adventure», sayfa 15

Chapter Twenty Seven
Ready for the Worst

Nature must be satisfied at whatever cost, and, as soon as possible, the provisions were unpacked, while a fire, which had been lit with the scraps of wood collected as they returned, burned brightly, the smoke drawing farther into the cavern, and being rapidly dispersed. Then, as soon as the kettle, suspended by an iron rod over the flames, began to boil, a very small handful of tea was thrown in, and the tin lifted off and laid aside.

Only some very wooden cake bread, and some very dry tough beef, with a strong flavour of being imperfectly sun-cured; but how delicious it was when washed down by the warm, unsweetened, milkless tea!

They sat on the stones a little way inside the entrance, where the cool dampness of the cave was relieved by the soft, warm, sunny air which floated in from the gorge; and a sharp lookout was kept for the Indians, but not a sign betrayed their presence. A short exploration of the interior, too, was made, but there was not a sound to be heard, save an impatient stamp or two from the mules; and, concluding that the enemy had all left the place, the colonel returned to where he had left the boys on guard, but only to find them both fast asleep, and John Manning walking up and down slowly by the stream, with his gun over his shoulder.

“Don’t wake ’em, sir,” said the man appealingly: “they tried very hard to hold up, but it warn’t to be done; and if I hadn’t got up and taken to marching here on sentry-go, I should have been fast asleep too.”

“Poor fellows,” said the colonel sadly, “it was too much to expect after what they have gone through. There, lie down for a couple of hours, and then I’ll wake you to relieve me.”

“Begging your pardon, sir, if you’d take first turn,” began the old soldier, but he was cut short directly by a sharp gesture, and, without a word, he lay down with his piece in his hand, and was asleep directly. The colonel took his place, and then began to walk slowly to and fro, now right out where the sinking sun glistened upon the surface of the stream, now back inward, with the walk growing darker, till it was quite black.

And as he marched to and fro, the colonel reflected upon the hopelessness of their position. As he approached the open sunshine, he felt lighter-hearted; but as he turned and walked inward toward the cold and darkness, his spirits sank once more, and he saw no way out of their difficulties save the giving up of that for which he had come all those many thousand miles. Then he stopped short, for Cyril had suddenly sprung to his feet, looking horribly guilty and ashamed.

“I am so sorry, sir,” he faltered. “I did not mean to go to sleep.”

“You could not help it, my lad,” said the colonel, laying his hand upon the boy’s shoulder. “You had reached the limit of human endurance. But, Cyril, my lad, you are being sharply punished for your mad escapade.”

“Yes, sir,” said the boy sadly, “and I suppose I deserve it. I should mind all this much less if we had arranged with my father that I should come.”

“Well done, young philosopher,” said the colonel, as he kept his hand on the lad’s shoulder, and marched him to and fro. “Come, as you can think so well, give me your advice. You know why I have come – to obtain this seed to place in the hands of those who will cultivate it, and make the world independent of the one source of supply.”

“Yes, sir,” said Cyril wonderingly.

“And you see the position to which I am reduced.”

“Yes, sir. Will the Indians kill us?”

“Not without paying dearly for it,” said the colonel sternly. Then changing his manner: “No, my lad. These people are only half-savage, and look upon what they are doing as a duty. I do not think they will kill us if they can get possession of all our baggage. They might keep us in captivity until means are taken to free us; but I don’t know – I hardly feel that our lives are safe.”

“Not very, sir,” said Cyril grimly, “if they rolled big stones. It might have been us instead of the mules this morning.”

“Yes, we have had some narrow escapes; but what shall I do now – give up and own that I am beaten?”

“And let them have the kina seed, sir? No, that I wouldn’t; I’d fight for it first,” cried Cyril excitedly.

“Do you know what you are talking about?” said the colonel excitedly.

“Yes, sir,” cried Cyril, “I was very much down a while ago; but I’ve had something to eat now, and a sleep and – What! give up to a pack of savages, and let them rob you of all we have worked so hard to get? That I wouldn’t while there was a charge of powder left.”

“Humph!” ejaculated the colonel, looking at the boy searchingly.

“That’s what my father would say if he were here. I wish he were.”

“To thrash you for leaving home in that cowardly way?”

“No, sir,” said Cyril quietly. “My father never thrashed me, and he never would. He always said it was degrading a boy to beat him, and that he was a poor parent who could not rule his children without blows. He told me he thought he could hurt me a good deal more by his words, and so he always could.”

“Perhaps so, sir,” said the colonel sternly; “but see what a mistake he has made, and what a miserable young dog you have turned out.”

Cyril was silent for a few moments.

“I hope I’m not all bad, sir,” he said. “I’m sure I’ve bitterly repented what I have done.”

“And been severely punished, too, my lad,” said the colonel kindly. “Your father is quite right, and when I tell him how you have behaved – as, please God, I hope I shall – if he is the man I believe him to be, he will shake hands with you as I do now, and say, ‘Let’s forget the past!’”

“Colonel Campion!” cried Cyril, snatching at the hand extended to him.

He could say no more, for something seemed to rise in his throat and choke him, while the colonel rested his arm affectionately upon his shoulder once more, and walked him up and down toward the light and back again.

“So you’d fight for it and stand out, eh?” said the colonel at last.

“Yes, sir, that I would,” cried Cyril excitedly, “and I’m sure Perry will say the same.”

The colonel was silent for a few moments, gazing straight before him into the darkness, and he asked himself whether he would be justified in running all these risks. He shook his head, and they turned and marched down again toward the light, where the rippling stream looked rosy in the evening, and the rocks on the other side of the gorge were all aglow. And there was so much in the brightness and hope and prospect of success that the feelings of dread, the shrinking from a terrible ordeal, and all hesitation fled away.

“Yes,” he said firmly as he stopped short; “a civilian might hesitate and give up, but I cannot, my lad. I determined to carry out this task, believing that by it I should vastly benefit suffering humanity at large, and Heaven helping me, I will achieve my aims.”

“And you will fight it out, sir?” cried Cyril.

“I will, my boy, to the bitter end. I made the Indians fear me, and if they attack us now, they shall fear me more, for I have our lives to save as well. Now, go and lie down.”

“No, sir, I don’t feel sleepy; let me watch with you.”

“You are a soldier for the time being, my lad, and if we are to succeed, discipline must be observed. In an hour’s time I rouse up John Manning to relieve me, and toward morning, when you are rested and refreshed, you shall be called to take your watch.”

Cyril lay down without a word, meaning to think out all that had been said, and feeling happier than he had since he left home. But he did not think, for in a few seconds after he had stretched his weary limbs upon the rocky floor, all the corners and points of his bed became soft as eider-down, and he dropped into a deep dreamless sleep, leaving the colonel seated on a rock, leaning forward with his gun between his legs, and his form looking black against the soft glowing light at the entrance of the cave.

Chapter Twenty Eight
Nature is Mistress

“I haven’t slept long,” thought Cyril as he woke with a start to see the colonel seated as he had left him when sleep came. He did not appear to have moved, and all was perfectly still. One thing, however, puzzled him, and that was the light. It was soft and warm and glowing then; now it was clear and bright.

All at once he saw something come into sight from the side and stand looking in. It was the old leading mule, and it stood there munching away at a tuft of green stuff which it held in its teeth, and then dropped, and stooped its head to take a long drink of water.

“Have the Indians gone?” thought Cyril, “and has the colonel let the mules out to feed?”

He sat up for a moment or two, and then lay down again.

“I may as well sleep till I am called,” he thought, and he lay listening to the heavy breathing of John Manning and Perry, whom he could see lying in precisely the same position as when he lay down a few minutes before.

But was it a few minutes before? Cyril asked himself as he saw the mule lift its head with the water dripping from its lips, and then pick up the tuft of green twigs, and go on munching again. It could not have been longer, for the colonel had not been relieved yet; but the light was so strange. Last time he looked, the opposite side of the gorge was glowing with the sunset rays; now it was in shadow, and the sun was shining just inside the mouth of the cave, and making the water flash like molten silver.

The mule stared in toward him, and Cyril made a bull, as a sudden thought flashed through his mind.

“Why, it’s to-morrow morning!” he mentally exclaimed as he started up, “and I’ve been asleep all this time.”

He went to where the colonel sat, and though the stones rattled a little beneath his feet, the watcher did not stir, but sat as if gazing straight out past the mule, when Cyril said reproachfully:

“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long, sir.”

But there was no answer, and at that moment there was a dull sound, a whinnying sigh, as the mule gave a violent start, throwing out its legs in all directions, and scattering the stones before gathering itself together, and making a tremendous leap to go galloping away, not so quickly, though, but that Cyril saw it had a long arrow sticking in its back.

“What’s that? Who? You, Cyril?” cried the colonel, springing to his feet. “What! Have I been to sleep?”

“I don’t know, sir; I only just woke up.”

“Why, it’s morning,” cried the colonel angrily. “What was that noise?”

“The old mule. Some one shot an arrow, and stuck it in her back.”

“But how came it there? I – I – Ah! and I blamed you, boy, for falling asleep at your post.”

“Anything the matter, sir?” said John Manning, coming forward, followed hastily by Berry.

“Matter, man; yes. I have kept watch by sleeping all night.”

“Well, sir, I don’t wonder,” said the man. “I have too, for you didn’t call me to go on duty.”

“Oh, shame!” exclaimed the colonel. “And at a time like this!”

“I don’t see no shame in it, sir,” growled John Manning bluntly. “You wanted sleep like the rest of us, and you couldn’t fight against it. You ain’t an iron man, sir.”

“Silence, sir!” cried the colonel angrily, and he hurried right out of the cave, closely followed by the boys, in time to see the mule disappear low down the gorge, galloping madly among the stones.

“Another – our most valuable pack mule gone,” cried the colonel, in a voice full of the anger and annoyance he felt. “The poor brute must have strayed out to graze.”

“Yes, sir; I saw it eating when I awoke, and then directly after the arrow struck it.”

“Then the Indians must be close at hand. Come back and help to secure the rest of the mules, or they may be straying out after their leader.”

Cyril looked in the colonel’s face, and then pointed down the valley at something moving, plainly seen now in the clear morning atmosphere.

“Yes; I see it. One moment till I focus the glass.”

The colonel held his little double glass to his eye, and then let his hand fall to his side in dismay on learning that the mischief was worse than he had anticipated, for there was another mule on the far slope; and just then John Manning came up with Perry from an expedition within the cave.

“Yes: what is it?” cried the colonel sharply.

“Sorry to have to report it, sir,” said Manning, in a low deep growl, “but the mules have strayed out in the night.”

“All?” said the colonel hoarsely. “Is there not one left?”

“No, sir; as far as I can make out, not one.”

The colonel’s brows knit, and he stood motionless for a few moments. Then without a word he walked right in to where it was quite dark.

“Light the lantern,” he said sharply, and in a few moments a match gleamed out, and the candle was soon after shedding its rays in all directions. But hardly had John Manning given a glance round, than he uttered a sharp ejaculation.

“What is it?” cried the colonel. “Can you see the rest of the mules?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, what is it?” cried the colonel impatiently.

“Don’t you see, father?” cried Perry excitedly; “the Indians must have crept in while we slept. They have carried everything away.”

“What?” raged out the colonel as he looked wildly round where his servant was holding up the lantern, and then he uttered a groan.

For it was too true. Every pack had gone, and with them the possibility of holding out against the cunning enemy who had been in their midst.

The same thoughts came to each of the boys – thoughts of all they had heard before setting out, of those who ventured into the mountains in search of the Incas’ treasures never being heard of more, and a curious chilling feeling of despair came over them.

Would they ever see home again?

But the colonel was not the man to give way to despair. The position was terrible – right out there amid the gigantic mountains, with the only roads through them those naturally formed by the torrents in the wild deep gorges, shut in by precipices of the most stupendous nature, with no other guide than their compass, and surrounded by enemies who might at any moment make an attack; while, so far from being able to make a prolonged defence now, the Indians had robbed them of the means.

This was the position as it struck them all at first, but the colonel gave it a different aspect directly.

“Council of war,” he said cheerily, as he led the way out into the sunshine, and sat down upon a block of stone. “Come, Perry lad, a soldier’s son must not look like that as soon as he is face to face with difficulties. John Manning will tell you that he and I have been in worse straits than this up in the hill-country. – Eh, Manning?”

“Of course, sir. This is nothing. Such a fine morning, too. Why, if the snow lay twenty foot deep, as we’ve seen it, and we didn’t know whether we had any fingers or toes, we might begin to holler.”

“Of course,” said the colonel. “So let’s see what is to be done.”

The two boys exchanged glances, but said nothing.

“Now, then,” cried the colonel, “let’s look the worst straight in the face, and then we will calculate our advantages. First of all, the enemy.”

“None in sight, sir,” said John Manning.

“No; they have gone. They have achieved their aim in getting possession of our baggage.”

“Don’t you think they’ll attack us, sir?” said Cyril.

“No, certainly not. They have been here, and found us asleep. Had they wished to slay us, there we were at their mercy, and not a hair of our heads has been touched. Next trouble.”

“Walked off with all the wittle, sir,” growled John Manning.

“Yes, that’s bad; but we have plenty of water, and shall not fail in our journeyings for that. Bad thing to be journeying through a wild country with not a drop of water, eh, Manning? We have done that.”

“Don’t talk about it, sir. And the sun all the time drying the very marrow out of your bones.”

“Yes, those were terrible times, my man. We shall not suffer that way, and as to food, we have our guns. What about ammunition?”

“All got plenty, sir,” growled John Manning. “I’ve seen every morning that our pouches were full.”

“That’s right, then. With a little hunting, we must find some game in these valleys, scarce as it has been. Then there is the coca leaf, whose virtues we must try, failing anything better. Oh, come, we are not so very badly off.”

“Then you will try at once to make for one of the tracks through the mountains, sir?” said Cyril.

“And live by hunting, father?” cried Perry.

“And give up, after trying so long, and being so near success, my boy?” said the colonel. “Come, come: Britons would not have made their name known all over the world if they had gone on like that.”

“Look here,” cried Cyril excitedly; and then he stopped and looked doubtingly at the colonel.

“Well, I’m waiting, my lad. Every suggestion has its value at a time like this. Speak out.”

“I’m afraid you’ll think the idea too wild, sir.”

“I will say so if it is, my boy. Let’s have it.”

“I thought this, sir,” said Cyril hesitatingly: “we’re well-armed; the Indians are afraid of you, and they are most likely retreating back to their camp with our mules and baggage, along with the seed we worked so hard to get.”

He stopped again, and looked from one to the other, very red in the face all the time.

“Well, go on,” said the colonel encouragingly.

“Why not show them we’re not a bit afraid, and go on in pursuit of them at once? I don’t believe they’d fight, and if they did – well, we should have to do the same.”

“Hooray!” shouted John Manning, throwing up his cap, catching it again, and then drawing himself up stiffly as he glanced at the colonel: “Beg pardon, sir.”

The colonel merely nodded, but said to himself: “I wish Percy had spoken like that.” Then turning to Cyril: “You said, why not go in pursuit?”

“Yes, sir,” said Cyril, throwing off his hesitation, and speaking now with his eyes sparkling, and cheeks flushed with excitement. “Why not?”

“Exactly, my boy, why not?” said the colonel. “We were caught unawares, and I have blamed myself, an old soldier, severely for the greatest lapse of which an officer can be guilty – eh, John Manning? – sleeping on duty in face of the enemy.”

“Awful bad, sir, in time of war.”

“Yes, but there are bounds to human nature’s endurance, John Manning; and though I would not own it to myself, I was utterly exhausted.”

“All was, sir.”

“Then now we must make up for it. – Cyril, my lad, you have proposed exactly what I intended to do. Fortunately, we made a good meal last night. To-day we must feast again when we have retaken the baggage. – All ready? Fall in.”

The boys followed the colonel’s example, and leaped to their feet.

“Light marching order,” said the colonel, “so we ought to get along fast. That mule we saw, Cyril, shows that the others have been taken down the valley toward the great fall. There is no choice of road here, so I take it that the Indians are making their way straight back to their camp. Now, one word more. See that your weapons are ready for immediate use; no talking, but keep all your energies devoted to making observations in every direction. No rift or ravine likely to hide the enemy must be passed, if it is one possible for mules to climb. Now, forward.”

Then with a feeling of exhilaration that the boys could hardly comprehend, the little party started off with the colonel leading, and John Manning with his gun over his shoulder marching last, with a look in his face that suggested his feeling that he was guarding the rear of a column of advance once again.

Chapter Twenty Nine
A Military Movement

At the first spot which gave him an opportunity to examine the gorge, the colonel mounted to a narrow shelf and made good use of his glass, descending at last to say: “They have got a good start of us, but there is something about a quarter of a mile on that I can’t make out. Forward cautiously.”

Five minutes later the colonel halted again and sent Perry to the left, close up under that side of the gorge; Cyril to the right, with orders to advance in a line with him, and be ready to fire if there were any need.

It was quite a military movement, and the boys’ hearts beat heavily at what seemed like the first initiation in real warfare; but before they had gone far Cyril uttered a shout, and pointed forward to something now hidden from the colonel by a cluster of rocks in the lowest part of the ravine, close to where the river ran with a deep-toned roar far below.

A minute later they were alongside the object, which proved to be the leader, lying as near as it could get to the deep gash in which the water was foaming. The poor wounded beast had in its struggles broken the long arrow nearly level with its skin, and in its agony of thirst it had been trying to reach the water, but fallen upon its side.

As Cyril came close up, the mule raised its head and uttered a piteous whinnying noise, looking up in the face of one who had many a time broken off some green spray of juicy growth to feed it as it trudged along with its load; but its eyes were already glazing, and it was the poor creature’s last effort, for the head fell back heavily: there was a curious quivering of the legs, which struck out once as if their owner were galloping, and then all was still.

“Poor brute,” said the colonel. “We cannot bury it, for there is no soil here, even if we had tools. Forward, my lads.”

He led on, and the boys followed, feeling low-spirited; but they soon had something else to think about, for just as they were approaching one of the narrowest parts of the gorge, Perry stopped short.

“Where’s John Manning?” he said.

Cyril followed suit, but no sign of the old soldier met his eyes, and they communicated with the colonel, who looked very anxious and much disturbed.

“We must return,” he said. “Why, boys, you ought to have kept in touch with him. Double.”

They all started back, but before they had gone a hundred yards the colonel cried “Halt;” for there in the distance was the missing man coming on at a rate which meant that he would soon overtake them.

“Did you see what he has been doing?” said Cyril, as they were once more on the march.

“Been stopping to get something,” said Perry, “but I could not see what. Could you?”

“Ugh! Yes,” said Cyril, with a shudder of disgust. “He doesn’t want for us to be starved, but who’s going to eat mule?”

The tramp was long and tedious, but being no longer controlled by the pace of the baggage animals, the little party made far better progress than when they were making their way up the valley; yet the distance they had come was far greater than they had anticipated, and for long enough there was no sign of the Indians having passed that way. But they kept on, the colonel feeling convinced that they had passed no side ravine up which the mules could have been driven; while, having these animals at their command, the colonel felt certain that the Indians would not carry the loads.

At last, during the hottest part of the afternoon, a halt was called, and they made for a huge rock which overhung on one side, offering a tempting shade from the burning sun; but before they reached it Cyril uttered an eager cry.

“Look! look!” he said excitedly, and he pointed to where there were marks about a patch of herbage where the mules had been cropping the coarse stuff, as well as browsing upon some tufts of bushes, whose green twigs were bitten and broken off, and here and there leaves which had been dropped were still so fresh that it was evident that they could not long have been left.

This discovery, and a faint trace or two of the Indians having been with the mules, had a better effect upon the party than hours of rest. For they knew now that the treasured packs, containing not only the necessities upon which they depended for life, but the carefully-collected seed, were only a short distance ahead, and that if they pushed on with energy they ought to overtake them.

The rest depended upon the strong arms of the two men.

They went on then at once, but no fresh sign encouraged them, and at last the closing in of the ravine and the piled-up mountain in front warned them that they were approaching the gloomy chasm into which the river plunged. In fact, half an hour after, the deep booming roar of the fall began to be audible, as if coming from somewhere high up on the mountain-side.

“If it’s coming to a fight,” said Perry, “I hope it will not be in that deep cavernous place near the fall. I feel as if I hardly dare go down to it after what happened.”

“Nonsense; you’ll feel plucky enough when it comes to the point. Come along.”

“Steady, young gentleman. Halt,” growled John Manning. “You should keep your eyes open for what’s going on in front. Look at the colonel.”

They gazed forward, and saw that the last-named gentleman was signing to them to stop and follow his example of crouching down; and directly after they saw him creeping on toward the spot, from which so short a time before they had seen the Indians come out from behind the veil of mist, and amidst the roar of the falls point upward, making signs to each other, and then disappear.

It was now so gloomy, that it was hard to make out their leader’s movements, for the light only reached them from the narrow opening high overhead, and where the little river raced onward toward the fall it was rapidly growing black; but in a few minutes the colonel signed to them to come on, and at a word from John Manning they advanced quickly, stooping in obedience to a sign from the colonel’s hand, and reached him at last where he crouched behind a stone.

He did not speak, but pointed, and first John Manning, then Perry, and lastly Cyril peered cautiously over the stone, the latter being only in time to see that they were quite right in their surmises, for there below was a party of about thirty well-armed Indians, slowly making their way down the last of the many zigzags of the path toward where the mist rose like a dark veil, the wind which blew down the gorge keeping it, as it rose from the great gulf, from spreading in their direction, but beating it back into a dense cloud, to float slowly out into the valley beyond.

There they were walking very cautiously, some ten in front, and next, to Cyril’s great joy, the remainder of their train of pack-mules, well loaded with the treasures taken from the cave. The rest of the party followed about a dozen yards behind.

Cyril remained watching till the head of the little column readied the veil of mist, went on, and was completely blotted out the next minute, one by one, the Indians being visible in the gloom, and then gone.

Next it was the turn of the animals, and as Cyril watched, it was very curious to note how a mule would be visible for a time, then its head and shoulders would disappear, and lastly it would be entirely swallowed up. The remainder of the Indians followed, one by one, till the last man, who seemed to be their chief, was alone, and he turned back to gaze upward, narrowly scrutinising the zigzag path by which his party had descended for a few minutes before he followed the rest. Then the gloomy place was utterly deserted, and momentarily growing blacker, so that the way down could not be seen.

There was no fear now of their words being heard above the booming roar which came up out of the chasm, and the colonel explained his intentions.

“I am going to call upon you all to show your nerve,” he said, “for we must go down, and pass along by the fall through the darkness and mist.”

“But is it safe, father?” said Perry anxiously.

“Safe or no, my lad, it is a chance I cannot let slip,” replied his father. “You saw their leader looking back, Cyril? He was evidently satisfied that there was no pursuit, and he and his people will conclude that once they get through the mist they will be safe, and no doubt camp just on the other side for the night. – Manning, we must steal through the mist, creep up, and surprise them. Two or three of our little volleys will, I believe, put them to flight if we come upon them suddenly, and then we must return this way, and show our teeth fiercely if they pursue.”

“Right, sir; I’m ready,” said John Manning. “You lead, and we’ll follow.”

“Let’s rest, then, till it is quite dark. I believe I can lead you right through to the other side without much risk, for after our experience we know the worst. Besides, where they can go, we can go. There, wait a bit, boys, and we shall have our own again, and the wherewithal to make a good meal. No, no,” the colonel added as John Manning raised his head. “Only in case of utter starvation, my man. We can hold out a little longer, and I hope we shall not have to come to eating mule. Now, lie down, all of you, and rest. In a couple of hours’ time I shall start.”