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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 05:51:10 -0800 |
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| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 05:51:10 -0800 |
| commit | d09bd24c83c2ce96f80d9a46dc613d29b449d2ef (patch) | |
| tree | feaafe0a57d7c0cd7ec2789d78e90742706a6df6 /39399-h/39399-h.htm | |
| parent | 091505bded63a44f2d3af71a582d5fb116b07b84 (diff) | |
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+ float: left; + margin-right: 1em } + +.align-right { clear: right; + float: right; + margin-left: 1em } + +.align-center { margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto } + +div.shrinkwrap { display: table; } + +/* SECTIONS */ + +body { margin: 5% 10% 5% 10% } + +/* compact list items containing just one p */ +li p.pfirst { margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0 } + +.first { margin-top: 0 !important; + text-indent: 0 !important } +.last { margin-bottom: 0 !important } + +span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 1 } +img.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.5em 0 0; max-width: 25% } +span.dropspan { font-variant: small-caps } + +.no-page-break { page-break-before: avoid !important } + +/* PAGINATION */ + +@media screen { + .coverpage, .frontispiece, .titlepage, .verso, .dedication, .plainpage + { margin: 10% 0; } + + div.clearpage, div.cleardoublepage + { margin: 10% 0; border: none; border-top: 1px solid gray; } + + .vfill { margin: 5% 10% } +} + +@media print { + div.clearpage { page-break-before: always; padding-top: 10% } + div.cleardoublepage { page-break-before: right; padding-top: 10% } + + .vfill { margin-top: 20% } + h2.title { margin-top: 20% } +} + +</style> +<title>TREASURE OF KINGS</title> +<meta name="PG.Rights" content="Public Domain" /> +<meta name="PG.Title" content="Treasure of Kings" /> +<meta name="PG.Producer" content="Al Haines" /> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/img-cover.jpg" /> +<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Charles Gilson" /> +<meta name="DC.Created" content="1922" /> +<meta name="MARCREL.ill" content="Caton Woodville treasure.rst:23: (INFO/1) Enumerated list start value not ordinal-1: "R" (ordinal 18)" /> +<meta name="PG.Id" content="39399" /> +<meta name="PG.Released" content="2012-04-07" /> +<meta name="DC.Language" content="en" /> +<meta name="DC.Title" content="Treasure of Kings Being the Story of the Discovery of the "Big Fish," or the Quest of the Greater Treasure of the Incas of Peru." /> + +<link href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" rel="schema.DCTERMS" /> +<link href="http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators" rel="schema.MARCREL" /> +<meta content="Treasure of Kings Being the Story of the Discovery of the \"Big Fish,\" or the Quest of the Greater Treasure of the Incas of Peru." name="DCTERMS.title" /> +<meta content="treasure.rst" name="DCTERMS.source" /> +<meta content="en" scheme="DCTERMS.RFC4646" name="DCTERMS.language" /> +<meta content="2012-04-08T03:03:24.234236+00:00" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.modified" /> +<meta content="Project Gutenberg" name="DCTERMS.publisher" /> +<meta content="Public Domain in the USA." name="DCTERMS.rights" /> +<link href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39399" rel="DCTERMS.isFormatOf" /> +<meta content="Charles Gilson" name="DCTERMS.creator" /> +<meta content="R. Caton Woodville" name="MARCREL.ill" /> +<meta content="2012-04-07" scheme="DCTERMS.W3CDTF" name="DCTERMS.created" /> +<meta content="width=device-width" name="viewport" /> +<meta content="EpubMaker 0.3.19b4 by Marcello Perathoner <webmaster@gutenberg.org>" name="generator" /> +<style type="text/css"> +.pageno { position: absolute; right: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } +.pageno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.lineno { position: absolute; left: 95%; font: medium sans-serif; text-indent: 0 } +.lineno:after { color: gray; content: '[' attr(title) ']' } +.toc-pageref { float: right } +pre { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.9em; white-space: pre-wrap } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 39399 ***</div> +<div class="document" id="treasure-of-kings"> +<h1 class="document-title level-1 pfirst title">TREASURE OF KINGS</h1> +<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="noindent pfirst" id="pg-produced-by"><span>Produced by Al Haines.</span></p> +<div class="noindent vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="noindent pfirst"><span></span></p> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<!-- container: coverpage --> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 52%" id="figure-51"> +<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-cover.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +Cover art</div> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<!-- container: frontispiece --> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-52"> +<span id="everywhere-was-gold-stacked-upon-the-floor-piled-against-the-walls"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-front.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"EVERYWHERE WAS GOLD, STACKED UPON THE FLOOR, PILED AGAINST THE WALLS." See page 208.</div> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<div class="align-None center container titlepage white-space-pre-line"> +<p class="pfirst white-space-pre-line x-large">TREASURE OF KINGS</p> +<p class="pnext small white-space-pre-line">Being the Story of the Discovery of<br /> +the "Big Fish," or the Quest of the<br /> +Greater Treasure of the Incas of Peru.</p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">By</p> +<p class="large pnext white-space-pre-line">MAJOR CHARLES GILSON</p> +<p class="pnext small white-space-pre-line"><em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Author of "The Realm of the Wizard King," "The Fire Gods,"</em><br /> +<em class="italics white-space-pre-line">"In the Power of the Pygmies," etc.</em></p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst small white-space-pre-line">With Frontispiece in Colour and Eight Full-page<br /> +Illustrations by R. CATON WOODVILLE, R.I.</p> +<div class="vspace white-space-pre-line" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<p class="medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">LONDON<br /> +"THE BOY'S OWN PAPER" OFFICE,<br /> +4, Bouverie Street, E.C. 4</p> +</div> +<div class="clearpage"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="left pfirst small white-space-pre-line">The Realm of the Wizard King. A Tale of Prehistoric Monsters.<br /> +The Scarlet Hand. A Tale of a Secret Society.<br /> +Submarine U93. A Tale of the Great War at Sea.<br /> +The Fire Gods. A Tale of the African Forest.<br /> +The Mystery of Ah Jim. A Tale of the Sea.<br /> +On Secret Service. A Spy Story.<br /> +The Lost Empire. A Tale of the Battle of the Nile.<br /> +The Lost Column. A Tale of the Boxer Rebellion.<br /> +The Lost Island. A Tale of the Mysterious East.<br /> +The Sword of Freedom. A Tale of the English Revolution.<br /> +The Spy. A Tale of the Peninsular War.<br /> +The Race Round the World. A Tale of a new Motor Spirit.<br /> +The Pirate Aeroplane. A Tale of Ancient Egypt.<br /> +In the Power of the Pygmies. A Tale of the Congo.<br /> +A Motor Scout in Flanders. A Tale of the Fall of Antwerp.<br /> +Across the Cameroons. A Tale of the Great War in West Africa.<br /> +Held by Chinese Brigands. A Tale of China.<br /> +The Society of the Tortoise Mask. A Tale of a Secret Society.<br /> +The Captives of the Caves. A Tale of Savage Men.<br /> +The Sword of Deliverance. A Tale of the Balkan War.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<div class="clearpage"> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="id1"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title">CONTENTS</h2> +<div class="container contents"> +<ul class="compact simple toc-list"> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-i-john-bannister" id="id2">CHAPTER I--JOHN BANNISTER</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ii-the-coming-of-amos" id="id3">CHAPTER II--THE COMING OF AMOS</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iii-the-map" id="id4">CHAPTER III--THE MAP</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-iv-kidnapped" id="id5">CHAPTER IV--KIDNAPPED</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-v-i-set-forth-upon-my-voyage" id="id6">CHAPTER V--I SET FORTH UPON MY VOYAGE</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vi-i-am-concerned-in-a-mutiny" id="id7">CHAPTER VI--I AM CONCERNED IN A MUTINY</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-vii-and-am-made-to-pay-for-it" id="id8">CHAPTER VII--AND AM MADE TO PAY FOR IT</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-viii-into-the-wilderness" id="id9">CHAPTER VIII--INTO THE WILDERNESS</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-ix-i-am-left-to-my-doom" id="id10">CHAPTER IX--I AM LEFT TO MY DOOM</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-x-how-the-wild-men-came-and-looked-at-me" id="id11">CHAPTER X--HOW THE WILD MEN CAME AND LOOKED AT ME</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xi-i-burn-my-boats" id="id12">CHAPTER XI--I BURN MY BOATS</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xii-the-path-of-the-tiger" id="id13">CHAPTER XII--THE PATH OF THE TIGER</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiii-the-story-of-atupo" id="id14">CHAPTER XIII--THE STORY OF ATUPO</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xiv-the-glade-of-silent-death" id="id15">CHAPTER XIV--THE GLADE OF SILENT DEATH</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xv-how-i-beheld-a-miracle" id="id16">CHAPTER XV--HOW I BEHELD A MIRACLE</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xvi-i-find-the-big-fish" id="id17">CHAPTER XVI--I FIND THE "BIG FISH"</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xvii-the-greater-treasure" id="id18">CHAPTER XVII--THE GREATER TREASURE</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xviii-i-fall-in-with-a-friend" id="id19">CHAPTER XVIII--I FALL IN WITH A FRIEND</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xix-the-boatswain-tells-his-story" id="id20">CHAPTER XIX--THE BOATSWAIN TELLS HIS STORY</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xx-i-return-to-the-soldier-s-tomb" id="id21">CHAPTER XX--I RETURN TO THE SOLDIER'S TOMB</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxi-i-am-made-a-ghost-and-then-a-fool" id="id22">CHAPTER XXI--I AM MADE A GHOST, AND THEN A FOOL</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxii-mr-forsyth-and-i-become-better-acquainted" id="id23">CHAPTER XXII--MR. FORSYTH AND I BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiii-how-amos-gained-possession-of-the-map" id="id24">CHAPTER XXIII--HOW AMOS GAINED POSSESSION OF THE MAP</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxiv-how-amos-was-possessed-of-seven-devils" id="id25">CHAPTER XXIV--HOW AMOS WAS POSSESSED OF SEVEN DEVILS</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxv-how-the-sheep-were-shorn" id="id26">CHAPTER XXV--HOW THE SHEEP WERE SHORN</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxvi-a-night-of-terror" id="id27">CHAPTER XXVI--A NIGHT OF TERROR</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxvii-how-amos-met-his-end" id="id28">CHAPTER XXVII--HOW AMOS MET HIS END</a></p> +</li> +<li class="level-2 toc-entry"><p class="first pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#chapter-xxviii-conclusion" id="id29">CHAPTER XXVIII--CONCLUSION</a></p> +</li> +</ul> +</div> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<div class="clearpage"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</p> +<p class="center pnext small">BY R. CATON WOODVILLE, R.I.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="left pfirst small white-space-pre-line"><a class="reference internal white-space-pre-line" href="#everywhere-was-gold-stacked-upon-the-floor-piled-against-the-walls">"Everywhere was gold, stacked upon the floor, piled against the walls"</a> . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#because-he-answered-slowly-because-you-are-a-caveman-too">"'Because,' he answered slowly, 'because you are a caveman, too'"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#he-rolled-back-the-boulder-as-though-it-were-nothing">"He rolled back the boulder as though it were nothing"</a> (missing from book)</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#and-bound-i-was-then-and-there-to-a-stout-palm-tree-a-little-distance-from-the-margin-of-the-forest">"And bound I was, then and there, to a stout palm tree, a little distance from the margin of the forest"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#they-came-closer-than-ever-to-within-an-arm-s-length-of-me">"They came closer than ever, to within an arm's length of me"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#i-had-reached-the-conclusion-of-my-journey-the-big-fish-was-there">"I had reached the conclusion of my journey. The Big Fish was there"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#hands-up-he-cried-hands-up-you-brown-barbarian-or-else-i-shoot-you-dead">"'Hands up!' he cried. 'Hands up, you brown barbarian, or else I shoot you dead!'"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#lie-there-and-rot-he-shouted-and-they-below-heard-his-footsteps-as-he-danced-upon-the-stone">"'Lie there and rot!' he shouted. And they below heard his footsteps as he danced upon the stone"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><a class="reference internal" href="#and-so-we-came-to-the-seashore-and-saw-the-sun-go-down-upon-the-wide-and-golden-pacific-ocean">"And so we came to the seashore, and saw the sun go down upon the wide and golden Pacific Ocean"</a></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<!-- container: dedication center white-space-pre-line --> +<p class="center pfirst small">INSCRIBED TO</p> +<p class="center medium pnext">BROMLEY DAVID SMITH-DORRIEN</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<div class="clearpage"> +</div> +<p class="center pfirst x-large">TREASURE OF KINGS</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-i-john-bannister"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id2">CHAPTER I--JOHN BANNISTER</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I shall never forget the day on which I first set eyes upon John +Bannister. I was then a boy--sixteen years of age, if I remember +rightly--and I stood before him, tongue-tied by the questions that he +asked me, wondering how he had come by the great ugly, horrid scar upon +his face, awed--indeed, I think, a little frightened--by the great +muscles in his forearms, naked to the elbows, his rough weather-beaten +face with skin like leather, and above all else by the stature of the +man.</p> +<p class="pnext">For he was a giant--a giant such as I had dreamed of when a child. As +some such figure had I pictured Giant Despair, when my mother had read +to me from <em class="italics">Pilgrim's Progress</em>: "And Giant Despair was in one of his +fits again." I had pictured Strength and Madness let loose amid a +thunderstorm of wrath. And when I first looked upon him who was to be +my champion and my comrade. I forgot his soft, kindly words and +pleasing smile, and could only think how terrible he must be in anger.</p> +<p class="pnext">There is a strip of beach upon the Sussex coast, so many miles from +nowhere, where the sand-snipe gather and seldom a human being may be +seen. There, as a lad, I would love to roam, with no certain object in +view, but just to find what I could, to observe what chanced to come my +way, and, when wearied of wandering, to sit upon the shingle over and +above those plains of wet, grey sand and think of all manner of things +as my boyish fancy pleased.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was seated thus one April morning, far from home, and wondering how +my tired legs would carry me back to dinner, when my attention was +attracted to two strange birds, of a kind that I could not remember to +have seen before. The sea was calm as glass, the sun hot as August. +They were large birds, and were engaged--so far as I could see at a +distance of more than a hundred yards--in dragging from the shallow +water what might have been the carcass of a fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">I watched them, greatly interested, forgetful even of my appetite, +possibly for five minutes; and then there came a heavy step upon the +shingle at my back.</p> +<p class="pnext">I turned quickly, to behold the figure of John Bannister. Like some +great beast of prey, he had broken his way quite noiselessly through a +thick brake of that shrub which, I think, is called +sea-buckthorn--though I never knew one tree from another. And he stood +regarding me, with his hands upon his hips.</p> +<p class="pnext">I got to my feet, thinking that such a man might be up to no good in so +lonesome a place, and I might find it advisable to take to my heels. +But, quite suddenly, he laughed; and at the sound of his laughter I +knew at once that I, for sure, had nothing to fear. Since that +memorable day I have learned in the world many true and singular +things, but none truer than that you may know always an honest man by +his laughter and the shake of his hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I startled you," he said.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I wondered who it was," I faltered sheepishly.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And you are still none the wiser," he answered.</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that, he seated himself by my side.</p> +<p class="pnext">He told me that the strange birds were hooded crows. He told me also +how they bullied the rooks, robbed the gulls; how they were cleverer +and more evil than any other bird, foes of all and feared by +all--thieves and murderers. He talked like a book; he had the science +of the matter at his finger-tips, and he could, at the same time, paint +pictures, as it were, with words. With him the hooded crow was in a +single sentence <em class="italics">corvus cornix</em>, and the "highwayman of the air."</p> +<p class="pnext">And as he talked to me, I wondered the more concerning him, and thought +the less of the hooded crows. Who was he, whence had he come, and what +was he doing there in such a lonely place, in his shirt sleeves, in the +warm April sunshine? These were questions that he himself was to +answer. I cannot say why he took me straightway into his confidence, +and afterwards into the very chamber of his heart--but he did; else I +would now have naught to write about.</p> +<p class="pnext">Let me confess that I have taken the whole tenour of my life from this +man's greatness. I have tried my best, all my long years, to bear in +mind his strength, his wisdom, and his courage, that I might walk +humbly in the shadow of a glorious example. But, more than all +besides, I know that I owe to him the restless spirit of adventure, the +love of action, the joy of wandering, that has led me so often to +strange and distant places where I have found myself in even stranger +company.</p> +<p class="pnext">I cannot tell you of all he said to me upon the morning of our meeting. +He spoke of many things, of the world he had seen, the dangers he had +faced, the people he had known. As I had no longer feared him after +his first word and his open, kindly smile, so after five minutes of his +talking did I feel that I had known him all my life. For his words +were magic. Wondrous pictures framed themselves before my eyes upon +the calm surface of that English sea--pictures of wild men, of treeless +deserts, of savage forests and inhospitable hills; and I longed then to +follow in the footsteps of this heroic man, whose hairy arms were those +of Vulcan and whose voice was soft as that of the mother whom I loved.</p> +<p class="pnext">I forgot my dinner. I hungered only for adventure. I sat upon the +shingle, wondering what lay beyond the vague horizon where grey sea and +sky were blended, where I could just discern the smoke of a solitary +and distant steamer, the only sign of life or movement upon that desert +sea--for we in the West of Sussex lay well away from the track of the +Channel shipping.</p> +<p class="pnext">On a sudden, I asked him the time; and with a glance at the sun he told +me it was two. At that, I jumped to my feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">"But I am late!" I cried.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Not for the first time," said he. "I can remember my own boyhood."</p> +<p class="pnext">"My dinner was at one."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then you dine with me; for I eat when I have time and appetite, sleep +when I will, and live as Nature meant me to."</p> +<p class="pnext">He led me back from the beach across some sand-hills to a place where +the gorse was like a wave of gold. And there was a wooden hut--or, +rather, shed, for it was walled upon three sides only. And within were +all sorts of things: a sleeping-bag made of the skins of some small +animal with fur soft as a mole's, which he said had come from the south +of Africa; an iron cooking-pot, an evil-looking affair which he had +brought with him from the Amazon; skins painted by North American +savages; mocassins; a Malay sarong, a kind of towel worn around the +waist; and more curiosities and rude, primitive utensils than I could +well describe within the space of a page of the smallest print.</p> +<p class="pnext">And yet, I dined like a prince: a soup of fish, plover roasted upon a +spit, and in place of bread, flour and water fried in a pan after the +custom of the Afghans. It may have been the novelty of it all, or the +fact that by then I was well-nigh famished, but I never ate more +heartily, and I have never forgotten that meal, though I have had many +such since then.</p> +<p class="pnext">In answer to my questions, he told me more concerning himself. Though +he had lived a life of adventure, exploring wild countries, sleeping +beneath the stars, in constant peril of his life from savage beasts and +scarce less savage men, I could not of myself comprehend why he should +in peaceful England bury himself miles from the abodes of his fellow +human beings. For I write--you must remember--of many years ago, of +the mid-Victorian time, as it is called--and good days they were, as we +know full well who have lived to see these unsettled, troublous days. +To-day, from the spot where John Bannister and I first met, you may +catch a glimpse to the west along the coast of the red roofs of +bungalows, where week-end visitors may come from London to set up +bathing-huts upon the beach, whilst from the east, perhaps, a pair of +lovers may wander from across the golf course at Littlehampton in +search of desirable seclusion. For that stretch of coast is desolate +still; but in those days it was a kind of No Man's Land, with no sign +of life but the gulls and the sand-snipe, the smoke from John +Bannister's camp-fire, and the hooded crows.</p> +<p class="pnext">Well, the truth was, he who feared neither beast of prey nor painted +cannibal was afraid of civilised men. He went once a week to the +little inland village a few miles distant to purchase groceries and +stores. There--as I found out afterwards--they thought him a madman, +though he was always courteous in his manner and paid without question +for what he bought. He had few words for any man, and none ever for a +woman. Later, when my mother came to learn of my new-found friend who +lived alone among the sand-hills, she was anxious to see him, more for +my own welfare than from curiosity; but he told me flatly that he had +never known any civilised woman save his own mother, who had died when +he was young, and he would rather face a wounded lion than pretend to +talk to one.</p> +<p class="pnext">"For it comes to this," said he; "I have gone back, as it were, upon +the centuries; I have learned to live as men lived in ancient times. +Though I have read much and thought more, and have some claim, I +suppose, to be called a scholar, in many ways I am no better than a +cave-man. I have forgotten all the niceties of culture. I have +neither small-talk nor table manners. So I prefer to live as I do, in +my own way; and I offer no welcome to visitors. The farmer who owns +this land is glad enough of the little I pay him in the way of rent; +but, beyond that and my weekly shopping, I seek no intercourse with +strangers. I am content to be alone."</p> +<p class="pnext">I asked if he were not often lonely, and he laughed.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Even here," said he, "in Sussex, Nature is a living force. The sea +changes almost hour by hour. Birds come and visit me. Even the +rabbits in the brake have already learned to know me. They all seem to +know--these little, wild things--that I am one of them, and soon cease +to fear me. They are my companions and my friends, and I have also +books and memory. And I have health and air, the smell of the salt sea +and the seaweed, and the sunrise to awaken me before your street-bred +friends are stirring. The wind, the rain, and the sun--I welcome each +as it comes. Did I want other comrades, I should go and seek them; but +I prefer to live like this."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And yet you talked willingly to me?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Because," he answered slowly--and his words came to me as a +surprise--"because you are a cave-man, too."</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-53"> +<span id="because-he-answered-slowly-because-you-are-a-caveman-too"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-016.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"'BECAUSE,' HE ANSWERED SLOWLY, 'BECAUSE YOU ARE A CAVE-MAN, TOO.'"</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">"I!" I exclaimed.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Every boy," said he, "every healthy, happy boy. It was the savage in +you--though you may not realise it--that brought you out here alone, +that took you right away from red bricks and shops and dinner."</p> +<p class="pnext">I cannot say whether I have conveyed to the reader in the space of this +short chapter a true conception of the character of John Bannister, as +he was when I knew him first. Of his personal appearance I have yet to +write; and if it be a simple matter to describe that which is outwardly +apparent, it is by no means easy either to fathom or to portray a man's +soul and mind.</p> +<p class="pnext">Do not imagine that I myself knew aught of him until after we had +sojourned together for months, faced the same dangers, stood side by +side throughout the great adventure of which I have to tell. I knew +from the first that he was wise and generous and kind: I could see with +my eyes that he was strong, and his talk charmed the imagination of a +dreamy, active boy. In spite of all he knew, of the experiences he had +had in all parts of the world, he was one of the simplest men that ever +lived. And there was something in him of the poet. I do not mean that +he ever tried to set down his thoughts in verse, but that he lived in +love with all things beautiful. I have seen him stand stock-still like +one transfigured, with eyes illumined, gazing in wonderment upon a +purple sunset upon the snow-capped crestline of the distant Andes--and +that at a moment when his own life, as well as mine, was not worth a +full day's purchase.</p> +<p class="pnext">Judge all men by their deeds and not their words. Hear this history to +the end, and see what like of man was he whose charm and peril led me +forth from green and sleepy Sussex to adventure in the darkness of +those tropic forests that shut out the source of the great River of +Mystery, where there are poison, black ignorance, and fell disease, and +a man may no more count the dangers that encompass him than the myriads +of stinging insects that drone about his ears.</p> +<p class="pnext">And one thing more: my own life has not been lived without event. It +has been my fate to tell a score of times of the enterprise of others; +but of all men of action I have ever known, read or written of, I rank +John Bannister as first. Perhaps that may be because I can now seat +myself of a winter's evening before my study fire and see him in my +fancy as he was in all his strength and manhood, pass through again the +dangers and the hardships, and live once more the glorious days that it +was my privilege to pass with him, and remember that, had it not been +for him, I might have lived all my life in Sussex and seen nothing of +the world. But how can I set down the debt I owe him? For I owe him +life itself.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ii-the-coming-of-amos"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id3">CHAPTER II--THE COMING OF AMOS</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">After that morning, throughout the summer months when I was at school, +there was seldom a Saturday or a Wednesday afternoon when I was not to +be seen hastening eastward along the beach to see John Bannister and to +listen to his talk.</p> +<p class="pnext">During those days I learned much of him, of his travels and adventures; +but there were certain matters upon which he would never speak in any +detail. He would never tell me, for instance, the full story of how he +had come by the great scar upon his face--a disfigurement so pronounced +as to be at once pathetic and repulsive, which had aroused my boyish +curiosity from the first. Had it not been for that scar, Bannister +would have been a handsome man, as indeed he was when the left side of +his face was to be seen in profile. He had deep-set steel-grey eyes +that looked clean through you, and the forehead of a thinker; his hair, +in those bygone days, was black, no more than touched with white upon +the temples and about the ears, and his moustache the longest I have +ever seen. Though there was never a man, I should suppose, who had +less of vanity in his composition, I think he grew it thus to hide in +part the record of the terrible wound that had extended from his right +ear to the corner of his mouth--a scar that was always rough and white, +though his face was burnt by the sun to the colour of tan.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I came by that," he once said to me in answer to my question, "in what +might be called an honest cause. A thousand miles from nowhere, where +there is neither Law nor Right nor Wrong nor Justice, one--who may or +may not have learned the Lord's Prayer at his mother's knee--would have +put to death some score of helpless human creatures, slaughtered them +like sheep."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why," said he, "there are but few motives that sway the evil that lies +in all men, and of these greed of gold is first. And this man of whom +I speak was a great force of evil, and is so still, for I never doubt +that he is yet alive. For gold he would have murdered those who had +never wronged him, who had indeed shown him nothing but kindness and +hospitality. Fate decreed that this man's path and mine should cross; +and because I stood between him and an ill-gotten fortune, I was struck +a coward's blow. You would never guess the weapon, Dick, that gave me +my beauty mark for life?"</p> +<p class="pnext">He paused as if waiting for an answer, though I had none to give.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Well, then," he continued, "it was a sceptre--the golden sceptre of a +bygone dynasty of monarchs, ended four hundred years ago--kings of no +naked savages, but emperors, rulers over an ancient civilisation that +has crumbled to the dust, of a people who were cultured in their own +way, industrious and great. It is something, we may imagine, to carry +through life the scar that was given by the symbol of such authority +and power."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And where was this?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Where the mountains overtop the clouds," he answered, "where one may +see the last of the sunset beyond the valleys of Peru, and the dawn +rises from the dark forests of the Upper Amazon, in which, Dick, there +are secrets that no man yet has ever lived to learn."</p> +<p class="pnext">"It was the sceptre of the <em class="italics">Incas</em>!" I exclaimed; for I had read as a +holiday task <em class="italics">The Conquest of Peru</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">"The very same that was hidden from Pizarro," he made answer, "together +with all the gold of Huaraz and Cuzco."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And who was the man who struck you?" I demanded.</p> +<p class="pnext">"When I tell you that his name is Amos Baverstock," said Bannister, +"that he hails from the same west-country town as I do--and that is +Tiverton in Devon--and that that man to this day counts himself as my +greatest enemy, I tell you more than I should."</p> +<p class="pnext">And though I tried my utmost, I could get from him nothing more. A +reticent man by nature, he was yet from the beginning prodigal of +speech with me. With the exception of this great Peruvian +adventure--which, I could tell from his demeanour, he ranked as the one +outstanding episode in all his life--he would answer all my questions. +I thought this strange; and there was an even stranger thing about +him--and I was soon to learn that the two were linked together. Though +he had to some extent confided in myself, he forbade me to speak of him +to my schoolfellows. He told me he was well content to have found a +friend in a boy after his own heart, much the same sort of lad as the +John Bannister who had bathed in the Exe, and, barefooted, raced other +boys upon the river bank; but, were the knowledge of his presence upon +that lonely shore to become the common property of a clamouring, +crowded school, his seclusion would be lost, his peace of mind +disturbed, his haven of rest and solitude converted into a kind of +monkey-house--for that is what he called it.</p> +<p class="pnext">I gave my word, and kept it; and yet, I could not but think of things. +And it occurred to me that John Bannister lived as he did for other +reasons than solely to enjoy the fruits of solitude. Not that he +himself had ever told me anything that was not the truth: he had, +indeed, sojourned for so many years in the wild places of the world +that he had forgotten much concerning the ways of civilisation and +could be shy--as he was before my mother--like an overgrown yokel who +stands, cap in hand, first on one foot and then upon the other. He +wanted more than solitude, he wanted secrecy. For more reasons than +one I should have guessed it; but I was but a boy, and looked not for +motives or for causes. I was content to take the man as he was: a hero +in my eyes, who had risked his life a thousand times, who had done +great deeds and seen strange sights and wondrous places that I had only +dreamed of.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now I come, at last, to the beginning of my story: a blazing +morning in the August sun, when our friendship was four months old, +when the wheels of chance began to move, and those forces were set in +motion that whirled me away, when still a schoolboy, from sunny, sleepy +Sussex, to be a wayfarer with grim Death himself in dark, tropic +lowlands, or amid the very clouds.</p> +<p class="pnext">It being holiday-time, and I having no thought in my head than what +pertained to my hero, I set forth earlier than usual, and took the +straight cut across the fields, instead of following the shore. This +led me to a group of sand-hills, not half a mile from where Bannister +had pitched his camp; and amid these I stumbled upon three men, seated, +heads together, in the shadow of a gorse bush.</p> +<p class="pnext">I cannot for the life of me explain why I did it--never before or since +have I played the eavesdropper of my own free choice--but the moment I +set eyes upon a hunchback, with a clean, wrinkled face and two small +eyes as black as boot-buttons, down I dropped on all fours, like a man +shot, and crept silently and swiftly to the cover of a clump of +reed-like grass.</p> +<p class="pnext">I think the sight of the man frightened me. He had the cruellest face +I had ever seen; and there was cunning in it, too. Also, there was a +suggestion of merriness, of latent mirth, about him--patent in the +shining, bead-like eyes--that caused me instantly to shudder. Have you +ever considered the eyes of a half-grown pig, as something apart from +the glistening, inquisitive, joyful, and highly entertaining quadruped +that a young pig happens invariably to be? They are wicked and +gleeful, defiant and pitiless, those little, twinkling eyes. They are +more fearful than those of a snake, because they are more alive and +equally soulless. Well, then, such eyes had this man: eyes at once +merciless and mischievous. And so it was, I must suppose, that I hid +myself amid the grass.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then one of those who were with him used these very words; and when +I heard them, it was as if I was deprived of the power to breathe.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I wish I were a hundred miles from here, I can tell you that. He's +not likely to forget that it was you, Amos Baverstock, that trapped him +and left him for dead, and that it was I who struck the blow."</p> +<p class="pnext">I lay in the long grass, close as a hare, my heart pumping within me +like an engine. I had heard and seen enough already to know that my +friend was in danger. I had a sense of some calamity impending, but no +time just then to guess at the meaning of it all; for I must listen to +the quiet, cold voice of Amos Baverstock--the hunchback with the pig +eyes and a long, thin nose like a weasel.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You were right enough in London," said he, "when I told you I had +tracked him down, as I swore to you both I should."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Maybe," said the other, "I forgot, for the moment, what he was. I +would sooner face a tiger."</p> +<p class="pnext">He was a rough-looking man, with a red, untidy beard, and there was +something about him of the sailor.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Tut, man," said Amos; "you make a mountain of a molehill! I do not +propose to set about this matter like a fool. He's lying yonder like +an old dog-fox in his earth, and we'll send a terrier in to fetch him +out."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Me!" cried the red-bearded man, horror-stricken at the thought.</p> +<p class="pnext">But, before Amos Baverstock could answer, the third man spoke for the +first time; and my attention being thereby attracted towards him, I was +at once astonished at everything about his individuality: his voice, +his personal appearance, the words he used, his very attitude of +carelessness and ease.</p> +<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Cave tibi cane muto.</em>"</p> +<p class="pnext">That is what he drawled, and though I was then a schoolboy who had +struggled through the dull prose of Cæsar to the loftier realms of +Virgil, I must confess that fear had so deprived me of my wits that I +understood no word, except the first.</p> +<p class="pnext">The speaker lay flat upon his back, with his hands folded behind his +head, and his face exposed to the sun--like a tripper who would go back +to London nicely tanned. I observed that he had taken off his coat and +rolled it into a pillow, and that the shirt he wore was of the softest, +flimsiest silk.</p> +<p class="pnext">He was dressed like a fop in the height of the fashion of that day, +wearing a white tie, with a great gold pin in it, a well-curled +moustache and those short side-whiskers which were then the vogue. He +had light-blue eyes and fair, curly hair, and had it not been for the +side-whiskers, would have looked much younger than he was. Everything +about him suggested that he was--or should have been--a gentleman of +means and leisure.</p> +<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Cave tibi cane muto</em>," he repeated, more slowly than before. And +this time I had the sense to understand it: "Beware of the silent dog."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Just so," said Amos. "We will tempt the dog with a bone. Trust to +me, you dolt," he cried, turning sharp upon the man with the red beard, +who was sitting with a scowl upon his face and his legs crossed like a +Hindoo. "Ask yourself, have I ever yet sent you on a wild-goose chase? +Am I one to take unnecessary risks?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then, shoot him, take what we want, and have done with it," growled +the other.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Friend Joshua," said Amos, "we are some eight thousand miles from +Chimborazo, and probably not two miles from a police-station. We want +no questions asked, no hue and cry. That would ruin everything."</p> +<p class="pnext">"There's something in that," admitted the red-bearded man, whose name +was evidently Joshua.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos chuckled.</p> +<p class="pnext">"This is no baby's game," said he. "Bannister fears neither man, wild +beast nor devil. No more am I afraid of him. I have tricked him once, +and I can trick him again. Were I to get within arm's length of him, +it is true, as like as not he would wring my precious neck; and the +same applies to you, friend Joshua; for he will not have forgotten that +it was you who struck him down at the end of the passage that leads +from Cahazaxa's Tomb. But Mr. Forsyth here, he has never set eyes on +in all his life."</p> +<p class="pnext">"In other words," cut in the young man with the side-whiskers, still +stretched at full length upon the ground--"in other words, I myself am +the bone to be presented to the silent, dangerous dog. A pleasant +prospect--but I acquiesce. Having gone into this business, I am +prepared to take what comes."</p> +<p class="pnext">Though he had spoken with a shade more animation than before, he had +neither moved an inch nor troubled even to open his eyes. A calm +customer, in very truth, was Mr. Gilbert Forsyth, as I was afterwards +to learn, something to my cost--a man with more manners than morals, +who was never afraid and never surprised, and who smelt of the vile +pomade with which he plastered his moustache.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Sir," said Baverstock, "you are the very man for me. I promise you +that, if we pull this business through, we shall wade knee-deep in +gold."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I want gold to spend and not to paddle in," said Forsyth. "Give +orders, Mr. Wisdom; I am here solely to obey."</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos produced a long and very black cigar, bit the end off and began to +chew, making his face all wrinkles. I thought that he would light it, +but he did no such thing. He would look at it with one eye half +closed, use it much as a musical director wields his baton to punctuate +his words, and then chew again, until the brown juice was streaming +from the corners of his mouth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Go to John Bannister this morning," said he. "Go to him now, if you +like. He doesn't know you from Adam. Pretend you're just an idle, +inquisitive holiday-maker who has dropped across him by chance; get +into conversation with him, ask him foolish questions; and then, +without advertisement, just--drop that across his head."</p> +<p class="pnext">As he said this, he threw across to Mr. Forsyth some kind of weighted +implement, such as a house-breaker might have in his possession. It +was about the size and shape of a belaying-pin, and attached to the +thin end was a leather strap to secure it to the wrist.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Sounds simple enough," drawled Forsyth. "However, for the sake of +argument, suppose I fail. I understand from what you both tell me, he +has the strength of two ordinary men."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Six," growled the red-bearded fellow, who seemed to me to be a +discontented rascal.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Strike hard and without warning," said Amos. "In case of mishap, +Trust and I will be at hand to help you."</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought, at the time, that Trust was another man--a fourth party in +this vile conspiracy; for I did not then know that the name of the +red-bearded man--as great a rogue as Amos himself, if not a tenth as +clever--was Joshua Trust, who had served before the mast in the Royal +Navy, to be tried by court-martial for a felony and afterwards +discharged.</p> +<p class="pnext">Mr. Forsyth, in the meantime, picked up the bludgeon and toyed with it +in his hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A useful tool," he observed. "Convenient to carry, and--I should +say--effective to use. To be candid, I'm a little afraid of it. +Though I have not the pleasure of knowing Mr. Bannister, I should be +sorry--for my own sake as well as his--to deprive him of his life."</p> +<p class="pnext">"You need not be afraid of that," laughed Amos. "Had his skull been +thinner than a bullock's, it would have been broken years ago. We want +him senseless, when we can bind him hand and foot, and help ourselves +to the very thing we want. He has got it somewhere, sure enough; and +had I to search the world for it, I would find it in the end."</p> +<p class="pnext">And then he clapped his hands and rubbed them together; and I have +never seen in all my life an expression of such malignant glee.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Once it is ours," he cried, "across the Western Ocean! Nothing stands +between us three and fortune. Gold!" he almost shrieked, "I tell you, +it is there knee-deep in a cavern as large as a cathedral: golden +ornaments and vessels, bars and rings and bracelets. You shall have +your fair share, Mr. Forsyth; for all's square between us, and, I +confess, we could not very well move in this business without you. +Joshua here will tell you, though I may be an ill man to cross in more +ways than one, I never yet went back upon my friends. You've come into +this affair to help us, and I'll not forget it."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Dear me, no!" drawled Forsyth. "I join you for my own ultimate gain. +I recognise that I am blessed with as little conscience as yourselves, +and see profit in the matter. I know nothing of this fellow Bannister, +and care still less. Besides, I have, I suppose, a natural taste for +such an adventure as you propose. I am heartily tired of this dreary +country, with its railways, gas-pipes and antimacassars. I would, in a +word, stake all I have upon an only venture, to die soon or rich--I +care little which it be."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon he yawned, placing the tips of his fingers before his +mouth in a manner exceedingly affected.</p> +<p class="pnext">They talked then for a while of other things; and all the time I was +seeking an opportunity to escape, to hasten to my friend to warn him of +his danger; and yet, though I was well screened from view of Amos +Baverstock and his companions, it was some time before I could find the +courage to bestir myself. I feared that they might hear me; and the +very sight of Amos had instilled within me a sense of dread which +returns to me even to this day whenever I think of the man.</p> +<p class="pnext">I lay in the long grass like a wounded bird: it was as if I had not the +power to move. My thoughts were running riot--Bannister to be +shamefully assaulted, something stolen, and I kept repeating to myself +the magic phrase, "Gold knee-deep in a cavern large as a cathedral."</p> +<p class="pnext">There was something about all this of the kind of adventures I had +often imagined; I had thought that I would revel in the prospect of +such dangerous escapades; and here was I, scared out of my wits, too +terrified to move, my heart beating violently, as if I were out of +breath from running.</p> +<p class="pnext">Indeed, it was only the thought that Amos Baverstock or one of the +others would get up to go, and then discover me, that made me shift +from where I had been hiding; and no sooner was I out of earshot than I +set off running as if pursued by fifty fiends. I never ran so fast +before or since. Over the sand-hills, stumbling amidst the shingle, +breaking my way through gorse and hedgerow, I came at last to John +Bannister's cabin, lying in a hollow by the sea.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mr. Bannister!" I cried. "Mr. Bannister! Something dreadful is about +to happen!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I was, I suppose, half blinded by my running; or I had not the sense to +look about me. I stood before the opening of the cabin, wringing my +hands and crying out like a fool:</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mr. Bannister! Mr. Bannister! Come quickly!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I had for answer neither the sight of his great strength nor the +familiar sound of his voice, but just the wash of the sea at high tide +beyond the ridge where the buckthorn grew, a great rhythmical, +breathing sound, as if a giant were slumbering.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was more afraid than ever when I realised that he was not there, and +it might take time to find him; for, befogged as my wits were, I knew +well enough that the occasion was one that would admit of no delay.</p> +<p class="pnext">I ran straight to the beach, and looked to the eastward and westward. +For a moment I had hoped to find him, for he would sometimes bathe in +the sea at that hour of the day; but a glance or so was enough to tell +me I should not find him there.</p> +<p class="pnext">I wandered for a while somewhat aimlessly amongst the shrubberies that +crowned the margin of the sand-hills and the shingle, and then returned +to the cabin. As things happened, I must have done so in the nick of +time; for, when I had searched in odd corners, as if looking for a +hidden thimble, instead of a man of six-foot-four, I went to the +threshold, and looking out beyond the gorse, beheld the tall figure of +Mr. Gilbert Forsyth, strolling towards me, swinging in his hand his +silver-mounted Malacca cane.</p> +<p class="pnext">I did not know whether or not he had seen me. It was sufficient for +the moment that I had no way of escape. The cabin--as I have said--had +been built in a hollow, and to cross the ridge that encompassed it +would bring me into full view of Mr. Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the other hand, I could think of nowhere to hide. I stood for a +moment irresolute, with clenched fists, cudgelling my brains and +wishing that I was anywhere else upon the wide face of the earth. Then +I heard a footstep on the shingle without, and as I drew back into the +shade of the hut, I saw the man's shadow cast upon the threshold.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked about me in a wild and silly way, and then without a thought +dived under the great fur sleeping-bag that lay ruffled against the +wall.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth entered. I could not see him, but I could hear him moving to +and fro, and once he even trod upon my foot. Then I heard his voice, +raised in a kind of drawling sing-song, as if he called to someone at a +distance.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come on," he sang. "The way's clear. The dog's out of his kennel."</p> +<p class="pnext">A full minute may have elapsed. On such occasions, time counts for +next to nothing. But, presently, I was aware that, besides myself, +there were three persons in that small place, and one of them was Amos +Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Here's our chance," said he. "Joshua, keep watch from without. He +may not be far away, and it would be a rough-and-tumble business if he +caught us in the act. And now, sir, help me to find the map. The +thing must be somewhere in this hut, unless he carries it always on his +person."</p> +<p class="pnext">And at those words was I made to realise that, as sure as I had been +christened Richard Treadgold in the little church at Middleton, I had +done a foolish thing and was like to be made to pay for it.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Amos Baverstock was come to search for a certain map, the +significance of which I then, of course, knew nothing. Whether or not +he would find this map was a question of itself; but there was no sort +of a question within the bounds of probability that he could look for +long and fail to discover <em class="italics">me</em>. And then, in truth, the fat would be +in the fire.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iii-the-map"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id4">CHAPTER III--THE MAP</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I expected every moment to be caught, to be jerked forth from my +hiding-place like a landed fish. In the course of their searching they +must sooner or later move the sleeping-bag, and I would be exposed.</p> +<p class="pnext">It occurs to me that fear must be one of the strangest of emotions; for +I can honestly say that, now that I was in this hopeless and perilous +predicament, I was no longer afraid. Certain that I must fall into the +hands of Amos Baverstock, equally uncertain of what then would be my +lot, I was resigned to my fate; I was long past apprehension. I still +thought of Bannister, and wondered concerning the map for which Amos +and Forsyth were looking, but for myself I now cared not a snap of the +fingers what became of me; and this attitude of mind I preserved +throughout the next eventful moments, else I had never acted as I did.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Amos never found me on his own account. No doubt he would have +done so in a very little time, had not Forsyth, almost at once, struck +upon the very map for which the two were searching.</p> +<p class="pnext">"What's this!" exclaimed Forsyth. "It seems the thing we want."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Where?" cried Amos, who, I judged, snatched it from the other's hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">"That's it!" he almost shouted. "The parchment map copied from that +made ages ago by Villac Umu, the High Priest of the Incas of Peru. +Bannister has translated it, and marked the route in red ink. It's all +plain as daylight."</p> +<p class="pnext">I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was wildly excited. He +spread out the map upon the little table in the centre of the cabin, +and, feeling secure since Joshua Trust was keeping watch, spoke +breathlessly to Forsyth, relating the matter in such detail that then +and there I was made a party to the whole vile conspiracy--or as much +of it as there was any need for me to know.</p> +<p class="pnext">"When the ancient Peruvians fled before the advance of the Pizarros," +he explained, "they carried their treasures across the mountains. +These they hid in two places: one, which is called the Little Fish, +consists of all manner of earthenware utensils; the other--the Big +Fish--is composed of golden ornaments and ingots. I have heard it said +by some that the Little Fish is in Bolivia; by others, as far north as +the Amazonas Territory--the truth being that no man living knows. It +was John Bannister himself who discovered the secret of the Greater +Treasure, or the Big Fish, as the natives call it. He lived for years +among the wild savages who inhabit the forests about the eastern +foothills of the Andes; and there, I believe, he came across some +priestly descendants of those who had served the Incas. It was high up +among the Conomamas, to the south of the great Region of the Woods, +that I first fell in with Bannister. I was there prospecting for gold, +but I had never dreamed of such a gold-mine as the Greater Treasure of +the Incas. Bannister never told me that he had learned the secret from +the priests, but I made so free as to inspect the map, when I believed +him to be sleeping."</p> +<p class="pnext">"But is this safe?" asked Forsyth. "Supposing Bannister returns?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"There is nothing to fear," said Amos. "Time's our own. Joshua is on +watch upon the sand-hills, and can see him coming half a mile away. We +are as safe here as anywhere."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Well, then, go on with your story," said the other. "You saw the map +yourself?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"No more than glanced at the thing before he had me by the throat and +well-nigh strangled me," cried Amos. "After that we parted company, +though I followed his track, and three times tried to kill him."</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Mr. Forsyth laugh in his silly, affected way.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You do not mince your words," said he. "And I think I like you for it +all the better. So you tried to murder him, and failed?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"I did not say 'murder,'" grumbled Amos. "You can do no worse than +kill in the great Region of the Woods; and whether you slay a jaguar, a +monkey or man, it is much the same in the end. But to kill a man like +John Bannister is no such easy matter. He has the ear of a panther and +the eye of a bird, and he strikes like the coral snake--silent and +deadly--and for those self-same reasons, the story I am telling you +must now turn something against myself. For I began the business by +hunting John Bannister in the Wilderness; but, before the game was a +week old, it was he that was hunting me, and hunting me, too, day and +night, from the Putumayo to Bolivia, from the Amazon to the sea.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I sought safety, at last, in the port of Lima, where I was sheltered +by some pretence of Law and Justice; and there I joined forces with +friend Joshua and three other kindred spirits who now lie unburied, +their bones picked by the vultures.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Well, then," Amos went on, "we five put our heads together and talked +the question out. It was plain to us that, since Bannister was such a +tough nut to crack, it were safer and simpler to go straight to the +fountain head, as the saying goes, and see what could be done with the +priests. I guessed from what Bannister had told me, that the Peruvians +were a weak-kneed, cowardly lot, and thought it would not be difficult +to frighten them into telling us all they knew. But we had to search +the woods for months before we found them, living in the midst of black +ignorance and superstition; and by then--would you believe +it!--Bannister had got wind of our intentions, and had come back upon +his own trail, crossing the mountains and descending into the Region of +the Woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He turned up in time to ruin all our plans. His very presence gave +the priests the courage they had lacked. There was a stiff fight, and +we, having the worst of it, were obliged to beat a quick retreat to the +foothills, though we carried with us a hostage. So far as this man was +concerned, I took a leaf from the book of the Spaniards. I knew that +Pizarro had not gained all his knowledge by fair words and promises. I +tortured the wretch, until he shrieked for mercy and promised that he +would guide us to Cahazaxa's Tomb, upon the very crestline of the +Andes, where he swore to us the Greater Treasure was hid. Thither we +went, to find that the rascal had lied to us. A few golden ornaments +there were, in a vault cut in the living rock, at the end of a narrow +passage, and amongst these was the ancient sceptre of the Incas, but +the lot were not worth the price of our journey. Moreover, John +Bannister himself had had the audacity to follow us. Night by night, +he hovered about our bivouac, hoping to deprive us of our hostage. So +I set my mind to work to finish him; and as fortune had it, the old +Tomb was as good as a rat-trap. For there was a great boulder at the +mouth of the passage, which might be rolled down-hill to block the +entrance; and even then it was as much as Joshua and I could do. We +fooled John Bannister to enter the Tomb by making a show of moving camp +and leaving the Peruvian behind. However, when we thought we had caged +him, we found to our great dismay that we had under-estimated the man's +colossal strength; for he rolled back the boulder as though it were +nothing, and came down upon us like a raging lion."</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst white-space-pre-line" id="he-rolled-back-the-boulder-as-though-it-were-nothing">[Illustration: "HE ROLLED BACK THE BOULDER AS IF IT WERE NOTHING<br /> +(missing from book)]</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 1em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Amos paused a moment in his narrative. Listening eagerly for what was +yet to come, I heard distinctly the disgusting noise of the chewing of +one of his long, black cigars.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We were unprepared for that," he continued. "Indeed, thinking we had +got him safely caught, to starve to death or shoot himself, we were +standing before the entrance to the passage without our arms; and +before we could master him, our party of five had been reduced to two. +It was Joshua who ended the affair. We had looted the Tomb of the +little treasure that was there; and Joshua snatched up the golden +sceptre of the Incas and struck down John Bannister, whom that night we +left for dead."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And what of the map?" asked Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We searched him, but never found it. He may have left it with the +priests, or hidden it somewhere in the forest. Two years later, I +again journeyed to the Region of the Woods, and found out from the +priests that Bannister had taken it away with him, after he had +returned to the Wilderness from Cahazaxa's Tomb."</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos had calmed down by degrees whilst he related the whole story to +Mr. Forsyth; but now, quite suddenly, he became as frantically excited +as before.</p> +<p class="pnext">"For two years I have hunted for the man," he cried; "and I found him +here by chance. I want nothing but the map, to know where the Greater +Treasure has lain hidden for more than four centuries, and to learn how +to get there. See here!" he shouted; "the place is far to the north, +near the valley of the Yapura River. The treasure of the Incas was +carried four hundred miles from Cuzco!"</p> +<p class="pnext">"What more could we want?" laughed Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why, nothing else," said Amos. "This map's worth more to us than the +keys to the vaults of the Bank of England."</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard a sound like the rustle of paper or parchment, from which I +judged that Amos flourished the map in his hand. And then it was that +I did a thing so bold that I have never ceased to be amazed at my own +audacity.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had passed from sheer fright to cold deliberation. I cared not two +pins for my own safety; and though I was still in dread of Amos, I +thought not once of him, but of John Bannister, whose very shadow I +almost worshipped. Besides, it must be understood, I was already +caught like a fly in the web of these adventures. I had listened, as +to a story, to all that Amos had said, and had tried to figure in my +mind's eye the Greater Treasure, all glittering in the dust, Cahazaxa's +Tomb and the dark Region of the Woods. I knew, from what I had heard, +that if all this wealth belonged to any Christian man, that man was +John Bannister himself and never Amos Baverstock. Why Bannister was +content to live as he did, when he could be master of such riches, was +a circumstance I could not then explain, but which I was wise enough to +see was no concern of mine. Upon one thing was I well determined, with +a kind of blind pig-headedness that might have led to my own +undoing--and that was that Amos should never take away with him the map.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Gold!" he cried. "Gold! We'll wade knee-deep in it!"</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that, I sprang from under the sleeping-bag and hurled myself +straight at him whom I so truly feared.</p> +<p class="pnext">Both he and Mr. Forsyth were too surprised to do little else but gape, +which gave me the chance I wanted, to snatch the parchment from his +hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">I do not think I could have been much quicker; but he was not to be +taken unawares. The parchment was old, and must have been half torn +already, for, when he pulled one way and I the other, the thing came in +half. And then, even before Baverstock had time to drop an oath, I was +past the opening of the cabin and racing like a madman through the +gorse.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-iv-kidnapped"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id5">CHAPTER IV--KIDNAPPED</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">While I went over the sand-hills like a hare, I looked back once and +saw Amos running, his face all screwed up in fury, and his black eyes +as if they were on fire. At the door of the cabin stood Mr. Forsyth, +shaking his Malacca cane at me, but never troubling himself to move so +much as an inch.</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew from the first that I had the legs of both of them, that Amos +could never catch me though I carried a pound weight on either foot. +And I believe, like a fool, I laughed, thinking myself secure; and when +I pulled through a hedgerow that cut off the sand-drift from the open +fields, I found myself face to face with Joshua.</p> +<p class="pnext">For my own excuse, it may be urged that I had had much to think of in +the last few minutes; and if I had remembered my friendship with +Bannister, I had at least forgotten the very existence of Joshua Trust. +But there he was, as plain as a pike-staff, about thirty yards to the +front of me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I pulled up and stared at him; and to my surprise he made no movement, +until I heard the voice of Amos from behind me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Catch the young fiend! Shoot, Joshua, before he gets away!"</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that I jumped to the right, straight into a rabbit-hole, and +pitched on to my head.</p> +<p class="pnext">I lay where I was for a few seconds without moving, for I was a trifle +shaken by the fall. I could still hear Amos, cursing and swearing +horribly, and Joshua, beating along the hedge with his stick. For all +that, neither could I see them nor could they see me; for I was flat +upon my face in a bunch of thistles, which was near as great a torment +as a swarm of bees.</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew from the first that sooner or later I would have to run for it; +and the only thing that held me back from bolting then and there was +the certain knowledge that Joshua Trust would shoot. I write with +natural reluctance whatsoever stands something to the credit of myself; +but, even at the moment, I thought more of the parchment than of my own +skin. For I still held the crumpled fragment of the map in my right +hand, gripping it tightly as if it were a running-cork.</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Joshua's voice quite near to me; and knowing that he must find +me if I remained where I was, I resolved to take my chance. But first, +in case of possible misfortune, I stuffed my portion of the parchment +map to the full length of an arm down the very rabbit-hole that had +tripped me up. And as I did so, a thought flashed through my mind: +that it was, indeed, a strange circumstance that half the secret of the +Greater Treasure of the Incas of old Peru, who four hundred years ago +had foiled the greedy Spaniards, should lie hidden in a rabbit-scrape +in Sussex.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then I sprang to my feet and trusted to Providence to help me. +Joshua was in front of me and threw out his arms to catch me. But I +dived beneath them, swerved away from him, and ran for my very life.</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Amos shouting like a madman. Out of the corner of an eye, I +saw Joshua Trust fumbling in the region of his belt for the pistol I +knew he carried.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was neck or nothing then. I had the sense not to run straight, but +to dodge here and there like a snipe; and as like as not I owed my life +to that. For I found out afterwards that Trust was a dead shot, who +seldom missed his mark.</p> +<p class="pnext">As I fled, the sharp crack of his pistol broke upon the silence, +scaring the sea birds from the beach. The bullet sang past my head and +clipped the lobe of an ear, so that the blood ran down my neck. And +thus was I, Dick Treadgold, blooded, in both metaphor and fact, to a +life of peril and adventure.</p> +<p class="pnext">Whilst Joshua reloaded, I had a chance to double the distance between +us. I headed inland, away from the shore, and made in the direction of +the village which was more than a mile away. Straight in front of me +was a clump of trees, and I hoped to gain this before Trust could fire +again.</p> +<p class="pnext">Though the country that lies south of the Downs, from the west of +Worthing to the ancient city of Chichester, is, in the main, as flat as +a table, this particular clump of trees was perched upon a rounded +hillock--though you would call it that nowhere but in western Sussex; +and therefore, when I gained the trees, I could survey the land on +every side of me to the extent of a good square mile.</p> +<p class="pnext">To the south were Joshua and Amos Baverstock, hastening after me, the +latter some way behind his longer-legged companion. To the north, a +little to the east, was the sharp belfry of the church in the village I +would gain: and, to the west, was the lane that leads to Arundel.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had paused for a moment, not so much for breath as to get my +bearings, to select the shortest route; and in this brief moment, I +became aware of a circumstance that caused my heart to leap for joy. +For, coming toward me, by way of a footpath that led across the fields, +carrying under an arm a brown paper parcel that I knew to contain his +weekly stock of provisions, I recognised the great, tall figure of John +Bannister himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">All thoughts of my pursuers were instantly banished from my mind. What +cared I now for Amos Baverstock and all his threats and oaths! I was +conscious of nothing else but the bald fact that a friend in need was +close at hand--and one, moreover, who would soon get the best of Master +Baverstock--and so great was my elation that I took no heed of a +dog-cart which, at that moment, came rattling round a bend in the road.</p> +<p class="pnext">I called loudly upon Bannister by name, though he was then scarcely +within hearing, and dashed down the hill before Joshua could have +reached the trees from the other side.</p> +<p class="pnext">The road in that place was bounded by a wooden fence, and balancing +myself upon the top of this, I shouted frantically to Bannister.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come quick!" I cried. "Amos Baverstock is here!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I was answered, before the last word had left my lips, by a shot fired +at the back of me. The bullet splintered the woodwork of the very bar +upon which I was standing; and, startled into action, I jumped into the +road.</p> +<p class="pnext">Immediately I had to turn back again no less quickly, to avoid being +run down by the dog-cart, the driver of which reined up with a jerk.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked up at him at once, thinking to recognise some farmer that I +knew; but, instead of that, I set eyes, to my amazement, upon Mr. +Gilbert Forsyth, with his side-whiskers and his greased moustache.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remembered then--too late as things turned out--that the road curved +seaward near the place where I had first discovered Amos and his +friends. Had I thought of it at all, I must have known that they had +never walked to that lonely spot. They had driven there, to leave the +horse and cart upon the road, whilst they settled themselves at a +little distance to discuss how best they might attack John Bannister, +in his cabin by the sea. Moreover, had I known then as much as I know +now of Mr. Gilbert Forsyth, I should never have supposed for a single +instant that he could be as idle as he seemed, that he would have +remained doing nothing before the opening of the cabin, whilst his +friends were pursuing me.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Gilbert Forsyth, a fop to all appearances and a lazy dude, was in +reality a man of action. He said not a word to me, but when he had +reined in his horse, he lifted his whip, and cut me down as if I were a +thistle.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a long tandem whip--and tandems were much in fashion in the days +when all this happened. The lash wrapped itself about my legs like a +living snake; so that when Forsyth jerked the whip backwards with all +his force, I was thrown violently on my face upon the hard, dusty road.</p> +<p class="pnext">I tried to get to my feet as quick as I could, but had done no more +than struggle to my knees, when Forsyth struck me upon the crown of my +head with the heavy handle of the whip.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a cruel blow and a stout one; and I know that if I did not +actually lose consciousness I, at least, saw the trees swing upward +into the sky, and the white road upon which I lay rush round and round, +like the spokes of a revolving wheel.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then the next thing I knew was that Forsyth had me by the throat. +Though I was then young, I was not a weakling. I struggled +desperately, and might, perhaps, have freed myself, had not Joshua +Trust arrived upon the scene in time to settle the affair the wrong way +for me.</p> +<p class="pnext">For he gathered me up in his arms, and I was held as if I were encased +in iron. I shouted frantically, but that was of no more help than the +cackling of a hen. I was lifted bodily into the cart.</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Joshua shout to Amos: "Run like mad! Here's Bannister himself!"</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth had climbed upon the box. Trust was on the back seat, with me +held like a squalling babe in his arms. The cart tilted forward a bit, +as Amos scrambled up and took his seat beside the driver.</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Forsyth crack his whip, and immediately the horse started off +at a canter, the cart rocking like a boat in a heavy sea. I continued +to shout, until Joshua swore at me and clapped one of his great hands +across my mouth. And the last thing I saw, as the cart turned into the +main road to Littlehampton, was John Bannister breaking through the +boundary fence, and then standing quite still and upright in the middle +of the road, staring after us, with his brown paper parcel still under +his arm.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-v-i-set-forth-upon-my-voyage"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id6">CHAPTER V--I SET FORTH UPON MY VOYAGE</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">Though all these events took place more than fifty years ago, I have a +very perfect recollection of that drive. In those days there was not +much traffic on the Sussex roads; and we passed nothing on the way to +Slindon save a hay-cart and a brewer's wagon. On neither occasion did +I dare cry out for help, for Joshua Trust sat by the side of me with +his loaded pistol, pressed close against my ribs, in the pocket of his +sailor's pea-jacket. I never doubted for an instant that he would +shoot. I had then, it is true, little experience of the world; but I +could scarce fail to recognise that I was fallen into the hands of +desperate men who counted human life of little worth.</p> +<p class="pnext">So I kept my silence upon the road, wondering all the time what was to +become of me, and, above all else, what Amos Baverstock would say when +he discovered that I had cast away my fragment of the map.</p> +<p class="pnext">That he thought I had it still was plain enough, since he twice told +Joshua to keep an eye on me, lest I should throw it from the cart. He +was in a great haste to reach the woods at Slindon, where in springtime +the wild flowers are like a garden; and he had a good reason for this. +Indeed, in all my experience of Amos, I never knew him fail for want of +caution; and when a man is circumspect as well as fearless, he is an +enemy who cannot be trifled with.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was the scoundrel's design, so I discovered, to reach the woods with +as little delay as possible, and there to wait until the evening, when +he could take the Portsmouth road under cover of darkness. There were, +at that date, many coaches on the highways; and Amos evidently thought +it wiser not to trust me.</p> +<p class="pnext">So to Slindon Woods we went, and were there in no time, soon after +noon. They unharnessed the horse, and turned him out to graze; and +whilst Mr. Forsyth unpacked a hamper that was well stocked with +provisions and wine to drink, Amos took me by the shoulders, and looked +me straight in the face.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And now, boy," he said, "I'll have no more nonsense from you--so +understand me, once and for all. It's an unwise thing to pry into my +affairs--I can tell you that. You know more about me already than I +care to think; and I tell you fairly, you had best mend your ways, if +you value life."</p> +<p class="pnext">I was afraid of the look of him, of the hard glitter in his eyes and +the way in which his thin lips were tightly pressed together. And I +was more afraid still of what would happen when he discovered that I +had made away with my fragment of the torn map. My heart was in my +mouth. I felt as if I were suspended by a thread upon the brink of a +precipice, and that at any moment that thread would break and I be +hurled into eternity.</p> +<p class="pnext">Fortunately, perhaps, I was not left long in such uncertainty; for no +sooner had Amos taken his hands from off my shoulders than he clapped +them together behind his back, and came out with the very question that +I feared.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And where's the map, my boy?" said he.</p> +<p class="pnext">I answered nothing.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Give it up," he demanded, and held out a hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I have not got it," said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">At that his jaw dropped. He stared at me in amazement, not knowing +whether or not to believe me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Haven't got it!" he repeated. "What d'ye mean?"</p> +<p class="pnext">And the way he rapped out those last few words made my blood run cold. +I saw, however, that I must make a clean breast of the matter, let it +end which way it would.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I have not got it," said I, "for a simple reason; because I had thrown +it away before you caught me. And now, you know the truth, and can do +with me what you will."</p> +<p class="pnext">The hunchback stood staring at me as if I were a ghost. His thin, +wrinkled face had gone a yellow or a greenish colour, and his little +eyes looked blacker and more on fire than ever. He kept working his +mouth about, as if he were chewing some of his vile tobacco; and, on +the whole, I cannot conceive an expression more menacing, a countenance +less prepossessing.</p> +<p class="pnext">He came up to me, and searched my pockets; and whilst he was doing so, +I noticed that both his hands were trembling. He had then been joined +by both Trust and Forsyth, who stood on either side of him.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos, as he drew away from me, came out with an oath that I can never +write. Indeed, the swearing of this man was not the least of his many +sins.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He has not got it!" he cried. "We've been fooled, Mr. Forsyth; and +that by a slip of a boy!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought that he would kill me, then and there, beneath the shadow of +the trees in Slindon Woods. But, though Amos Baverstock often worked +himself into fits of ungovernable fury, he never was guilty of a +foolish action. For my life--though at the time I never guessed +it--was of some use to him. Not only did I know where I had hidden the +torn map, but, as like as not, I had looked at it, and might be able to +remember the names of some of the places that were marked +thereon--knowledge for which Amos would give much. Had it not been for +this, I have little doubt he would have put me out of the world.</p> +<p class="pnext">They tied my feet together, in case I should endeavour to escape, +whilst the three seated themselves upon the gnarled surface roots of a +great oak tree, and examined their fragment of the map, discussing the +question openly, so that I overheard them and learned of the trick that +Providence had played us all.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the map had been rent in twain, not by the hands of Amos Baverstock +and me, but by the sure and supple fingers of Almighty Destiny. Amos +had in his possession at least three-quarters of the parchment--he had +it all, indeed, except one corner, that which I had seized in my +attempt to wrench it from his grasp. And, as good luck had it, that +one corner contained the information of the greatest value: to wit, the +exact locality where the Greater Treasure was to be found.</p> +<p class="pnext">As for the rest of the map, it carried you from the outskirts of what +may pass as modern civilisation to within a certain unknown distance of +the secret place. It put you on the right road, as it were, and then +left you--lost in the midst of a wilderness of doubt.</p> +<p class="pnext">When Amos grasped the full significance of this, he jumped to his feet, +a perfect figure of fury, storming at me and swearing, using threats +and shouting of torture, if I did not then and there confess. But +speak I would not. Whatever happened, I was resolved to hold my +ground, though I was filled with grave misgivings.</p> +<p class="pnext">For all that afternoon they badgered me, trying intimidation, bribery +and curses; and then, at last, they settled it amongst themselves that +they would take me with them into Portsmouth, and thence across the sea +into the very heart of a black barbarous country, where they hoped to +find the Treasure of the Incas.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then, whilst we waited in the woods for sunset, that I saw +myself, a lad of sixteen summers, launched upon a series of adventures, +among strange peoples and in wild, romantic lands--adventures such as +those of which I had often read, of the bold Spaniards who had followed +Columbus into a new and unknown world, and brave blades of the stamp of +Drake and Grenville, who--like John Bannister himself--were all men of +Devon. That I was to be one of a company so glorious seemed to me all +my heart could wish, though I went as a hostage with my life itself at +ransom.</p> +<p class="pnext">In a strange fashion, in very truth, did I begin my travels; for I +journeyed that night to Portsmouth, not only bound hand and foot and +tied to the seat of the dog-cart, but gagged as well; so that, by the +time we reached our destination, I ached in every limb.</p> +<p class="pnext">For three weeks we dwelt together in a lodging-house, patronised by +seamen, in a poor quarter of the town. The landlord--a fat, slovenly +fellow whose hand was seldom far from a pint mug or near a razor--was, +as I guessed, hand in glove with Amos; for he must have known that +throughout those three dreary weeks I was kept locked in a stuffy room, +where I had neither fresh air nor liberty, and no better fare than is +accorded to a convict.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have said that we dwelt together, but this was not wholly so; for Mr. +Gilbert Forsyth, though he was often of our party, had taken rooms in +one of the best hotels. He was a gentleman somewhat fastidious in his +habits, with a nice taste in wine and clothes, though--as he was soon +to prove--he could rough it with the best of us.</p> +<p class="pnext">Joshua, too, was seldom in our lodgings. It appears that he spent most +of his time in the neighbourhood of the docks, on the lookout for an +old shipmate whom he knew he could trust, with whom Amos could strike a +bargain.</p> +<p class="pnext">Such a man was eventually found. Joshua brought him in, one evening, +and shortly afterwards Mr. Forsyth arrived, looking more than ever as +if he had just come out of a bandbox.</p> +<p class="pnext">This fellow proved to be the skipper of a barque, due to sail in a few +days' time, bound for Caracas in Venezuela. She must call first at +Liverpool, to take on a cargo of cotton goods, but would touch at no +port upon the voyage but Fayal in the Western Islands, which are now +called the Azores.</p> +<p class="pnext">All this fitted in exceedingly well with Amos's plans. As I was in the +next room when they talked the matter out, and they never troubled to +close the door, I know for a fact that Baverstock bribed the skipper, +and that Forsyth--who I suspected all along had undertaken to produce +the funds--paid him as much as fifty pounds down, quite apart from the +question of passage money, and there was more to come at the end of the +voyage.</p> +<p class="pnext">Gilbert Forsyth, indeed, was a member of the expedition for no other +reason than that he supplied the sinews of war, else Amos had never +taken him into his confidence and agreed to forego a third part of the +loot. For all that, Forsyth proved himself a man of action and +resource, though he never looked it; and things would have gone worse +with Amos than they did, had he not had at his right hand one so +capable and cool throughout those wild, adventurous days.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Joshua Trust was well enough in his way to strike a blow or carry a +camp-kettle across a mountain range that topped the clouds--otherwise +he was a bull-in-a-china-shop kind of a fellow, whose worth was in his +forearms and not his head.</p> +<p class="pnext">But Forsyth was cast in a finer mould: a man of education, with tags of +Latin in the corners of memory, a sense of humour--subtle enough to be +lost upon both his strange companions--and a wonderful brain for +figures.</p> +<p class="pnext">The man's laziness was all pretence and affectation. He always talked +as if he were half asleep, and yawned at intervals, screening his mouth +with a hand upon one of the fingers of which he wore a golden signet +ring; and yet, his brain was ever active, and he had the happy knack of +doing the right thing at the right time--as he had already proved to my +cost.</p> +<p class="pnext">Even whilst I lay imprisoned in that dingy room in Portsmouth, Forsyth +returned along the coast to within a stone's throw of John Bannister's +cabin by the sea, and searched vainly for the fragment of the map which +I had thrown away. And that in itself was a bold thing to do; for the +police--to whom Bannister had described the appearance of both +Baverstock and Trust--had been told of my disappearance, and the +countryside, from Arundel to Chichester, was populous with printed +offers of reward.</p> +<p class="pnext">For, all this time, my mother was well near distracted by anxiety and +distress. John Bannister called upon her, and tried in his own +straightforward way to set her fears at rest, and swore to her that he +would find me, though he had to search the world.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of how well he kept his oath it is my task to write, and of much else +besides. For the barque, which was called the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>, +dropped her pilot off the Needles of the Isle of Wight, and with a fair +wind and under full canvas struck the open sea. And I, Dick Treadgold, +was on board, sea-sick that night as any full-grown man could be, and +sick at heart as well. For, when the white cliffs of dearest England +faded in the evening light, I realised for the first time that I was +alone, and there was no telling what the Fates held in store for me.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vi-i-am-concerned-in-a-mutiny"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id7">CHAPTER VI--I AM CONCERNED IN A MUTINY</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I have neither space nor patience to describe in any detail that long +and tedious voyage. For we were months at sea. I saw whales spouting +water into the air, and schools of porpoises; and at one time, for a +whole month on end, we were becalmed, the ship lying idle in the midst +of a vast floating mass of seaweed, where there were all kinds of +jelly-fish and squids. The heat was excessive, and there was a rank, +almost putrid, smell in the air, which came from the decaying seaweed. +That in itself was enough to try the temper of every member of the +crew; but, to make matters worse, much of the tinned meat on board +exploded in the hold. I cannot explain this, but I know that it +happened, and am content to leave the explanation to the scientific +reader. These circumstances, together with the surly nature of James +Dagg, the captain, led from dissatisfaction to open grumbling, and +thence to the mutiny of which I have now to tell.</p> +<p class="pnext">My own fortunes were, to some extent, involved in that affair; and in +any case, I must describe the incident more or less as it occurred, +since nothing could better serve to illustrate the true character of +Amos Baverstock, who plays as important a part as myself in the +narrative that follows.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had not been a week at sea, and just recovered from my sickness, when +I was given clearly to understand that I was to hold no intercourse +with any of the crew. I cannot say that I wished to, for they were a +ruffianly lot--half of them, I verily believe, prison-birds, like +Joshua Trust, and the remainder West Indian negroes, Chinamen, and +Lascars from the coast of Malabar.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had to share a cabin with Amos himself, who seldom let me out of his +sight. Thrown into such close intimacy with the man, I learned much +concerning him, and he more of me. He seldom allowed a day to pass +without questioning me in regard to what I knew of the map; and so +terrible did his threats become that I was filled with fear for the +future.</p> +<p class="pnext">On that account, I yearned for a friend, someone in whom I could +confide; and it was not long before I found such a man on board that +pestilential ship. Now that I can look back upon my series of +adventures, I can see both men and matters in their true perspective, +and I realise that, had it not been for William Rushby, the boatswain +of the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>, the most honest and the whitest man that ever +piped all hands on deck, this tale had never been told.</p> +<p class="pnext">When I saw him first, I sized him up as the true seaman that he was; +but I dared not speak to him, because of the threats that had been +heaped upon me. I knew also that I could go to none of the ship's +officers with my story, for they were all tarred with the same brush as +the skipper; but Providence before long gave me the chance I wanted.</p> +<p class="pnext">When we were in mid-ocean Amos tired of the voyage, and required little +persuasion from Mr. Forsyth to take to playing cards. Captain Dagg was +a card-player, too, and Joshua made the fourth; and this was the party +that sat down nightly after supper to gamble, drink and smoke, by the +light of a reeking paraffin lamp in the little stuffy saloon.</p> +<p class="pnext">I watched them play for many nights, and though I knew nothing of the +game, it was quite clear to me that they were three babes at the +business by the side of Mr. Forsyth. For it was he who always won, no +matter with whom he played or what cards he held, and it was he who +raked in their money.</p> +<p class="pnext">This was all one to me. I soon tired of watching them; and when I had +once slipped away from them, to breathe the fresh air on deck, and no +questions had been asked, I made it my constant practice to sit of an +evening upon the poop, whence I could look down into the water and see +the phosphorus as if smouldering in the wake of the ship.</p> +<p class="pnext">And here it was that I talked with William Rushby. At that hour it was +his duty to see that the ship's lamps were lighted, and when he had +hoisted the mast-head lights, and put the red light to port and the +green to starboard, he would come aft, haul in the log, and speak to me +in whispers.</p> +<p class="pnext">That he took that precaution from the first makes it plain enough that +he guessed some mischief was afoot. He questioned me concerning who I +was and what business I had in such company on board that ship. It was +some time before I dared tell him the truth, for fear of Amos +Baverstock; but I did so in the end, making him swear to keep my +secret; which he did.</p> +<p class="pnext">"It is all like a fairy tale," said he, when he had heard my story; +"and it's hard to tell the best way to help you. Of this much I am +certain: if you set forth into the back country of Venezuela with a man +like Baverstock, you'll not come back alive."</p> +<p class="pnext">"But I cannot escape!" I protested. "Even on board this ship, I am +watched at all hours of the night and day."</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby thought for a while, stroking his short black beard which was +like that of a Russian Czar.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Maybe," said he, "at Caracas, I could desert and take you with me. I +have no liking for my shipmates here, as you may well imagine. In the +meantime, many weeks must pass before we sight the mainland, and in +that time much may happen."</p> +<p class="pnext">As he said this with some significance, I asked him what he meant.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why, just this," he answered; "there's trouble brewing aboard, which +will come to a head before we touch port. The crew are a low-down, +blackguard lot, no better men than sailors; and though they may be held +to blame for that, it's no fault of theirs if they are fed worse than +swine and cursed from dawn to sunset. Dagg I had heard about, though I +never signed on under him before, nor will again, and the mate's even +worse. There's high talk in the fo'c'sle, as it is, where the +ringleader is that nigger cook. Mark my words--and I've sailed the +seas for more than twenty years--a prize-fighting negro in the galley +can cause more mischief aboard a sailing-ship than a monkey and a +woman, both in one."</p> +<p class="pnext">I laughed, for I was not then accustomed to the talk of sailors.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And they've run out of lime-juice," he went on; "and that's a serious +thing."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Lime-juice!" I repeated, thinking he was joking still.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A man must eat vegetables," he explained to me, "to keep his blood +cool and his liver nicely trimmed. You can't eat green cabbages and +Brussels-sprouts in mid-Atlantic, so you must carry lime-juice aboard; +and we've run out. The men have much to complain of. They are in ill +health, and one or two should be lying up in a sick berth, instead of +being sworn at left and right for not moving quicker. So I see trouble +ahead. It may be a hurricane, or just a summer squall; and if the +first, Heaven help James Dagg and his officers, for they're a tough lot +for'ard, as I know who've listened to their talk."</p> +<p class="pnext">And Rushby was proved to be in the right. We ran into a great calm as +I have said. The sea was like glass; and though the sun was blotted +out by a steam-like fog, the heat was so intense that we went about the +deck in naught but vests and trousers, with the sweat dripping from our +finger-tips.</p> +<p class="pnext">Without a doubt, the crew suffered for lack of lime-juice; some broke +out with a horrid skin disease. And then the news came that the tinned +meat had all gone bad, and we were forced to live on salted ling-fish, +so that we went thirsty all day long.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was Ebenezer Hogg, the negro cook, who started all the trouble. He +was a long, raw-boned Jamaica man, who had cut a figure in the +prize-ring in his younger days. He had never forgiven the skipper for +a blow across the mouth because the cabin potatoes had not been +properly peeled, though this was the work of Ah Chin, the cook's mate, +a half-daft Canton Chinaman, who would fire off crackers at all hours +of the night, in honour (I suppose) of the heathen gods he worshipped.</p> +<p class="pnext">Hogg told his shipmates he cared not a "dime with a hole in it" for +James Dagg or any man. They had no food fit to eat, so they might as +well help themselves to the ship's grog, to keep--as he described +it--body and soul together.</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby--as his duty was--warned the captain of what was coming; but +Dagg, who had been losing heavily at cards to Mr. Forsyth, only abused +the boatswain for his pains, and said that he himself was the best +judge of such matters and would know how to deal with insubordination.</p> +<p class="pnext">And that night the crew, led by Hogg, the nigger, broke into the +storeroom with a hatchet and broached the rum casks. Within +half-an-hour, they were all roaring drunk; and that was a night that I +shall never live to forget.</p> +<p class="pnext">The moon came out from the white sea-mist, as if to look down in +scandalised amazement upon a scene of debauchery and violence--a round, +red ball of fire, casting its rays upon the stagnant, reeking seaweed, +illuminating the deck of that floating madhouse with a dull crimson +glare, whereby you might see the whites of men's eyes and the glitter +of the sharp blades they handled.</p> +<p class="pnext">Dagg appeared on deck, his face livid with passion; and I could see by +his walk that he, too, had been drinking heavily at his card-playing.</p> +<p class="pnext">"What's all this?" he shouted at the top of his voice. "Understand, +I'll have no monkey-tricks aboard the ship that I command."</p> +<p class="pnext">Hogg at once squared up to him, his two fists before his face, very +drunk and brazen.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come on, James Dagg!" he cried, with his Christy-minstrel accent. +"Time yer and me settled de account."</p> +<p class="pnext">"This here's mutiny!" exclaimed the captain.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Dat's de right word, boss," said Hogg. "Mutiny it is."</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that, he struck the captain with his fist, so that Dagg rolled +over and over upon the deck, groaning loudly.</p> +<p class="pnext">The fat was now in the fire. If discipline could be restored, Hogg +would be hanged at the yard-arm and his body cast into the sea; and +drunk as he was, the nigger knew it.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I'm de captain of dis ship," he bellowed, "an' James Dagg's de cook."</p> +<p class="pnext">He showed his white teeth in a grin, and then gave orders as if he had +been accustomed all his life to a position of authority; and the wonder +was he was instantly obeyed. Five minutes later, both Dagg and his +mate were bound hand and foot; and the second mate had been locked in +his cabin, where he was fast asleep. The negro went staggering +backwards and forwards, from the forecastle to the poop, crying out +that he it was who was Captain and his name was Admiral Hogg.</p> +<p class="pnext">There were two spectators of this comedy, who could not be considered +as partisans; and the one was William Rushby and the other was myself. +The boatswain's sense of duty would have held him to the captain, had +it not been for me; for, though I had no liking for any of the crew, +and a feeling of positive loathing for a great brute like Hogg, I saw +in the discomfiture of James Dagg and his officers some chance of my +own ultimate deliverance. So that when the cook turned upon me, and +caught me by the scruff of the neck, I played the card that I thought +safest at the time, but which certainly lost me the trick that meant +the game.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And now, boy," said Hogg, "which way de wind blow wid you? Will you +sign on to serve as cabin-steward under Admiral Hogg?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why, sure," said I, having picked up something of the man's own way of +speaking. "I was never a friend of Captain Dagg's, as you may have +seen for yourself."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon, I looked away from the negro's grinning countenance, and +straight in the black, pig-like eyes of Amos Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">If I had feared him before, I was well-nigh terrified of him then; for +there was black murder in the look he gave me, and his mouth was +working horribly.</p> +<p class="pnext">For all that, he straightened his face in half a second, and turned to +Hogg as calm as the sea itself.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I'll settle with you in a moment," said he. "I've not lived more than +half my life without learning how to deal with a buck nigger who's +three parts tipsy. Bo's'n," said he to Rushby, pointing straight at +me, "put that boy in irons."</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby never moved.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Did you hear my orders?" rapped out Amos.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I heard right enough," said the boatswain. "But I'm not here to take +orders from you."</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, the crew, who had gathered round, thinking that Rushby was +with them, became bolder than ever. Knives were drawn from belts, and +one of these was flourished in the face of the captain who still lay +upon the deck, bound hand and foot.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Ho!" cried Amos. "So that's your tune, is it? I see you must all be +taught a lesson."</p> +<p class="pnext">He talked with all the confidence in the world, though--with the +exception of Mr. Gilbert Forsyth, who had just strolled on deck with +both hands in his trouser pockets--there was no one at his back, and he +faced a crowd of angry, drunken seamen who would not then have stopped +short of murder.</p> +<p class="pnext">From Rushby he turned once more to Hogg. "And so," said he, "you claim +to be the captain of this ship?"</p> +<p class="pnext">The negro glanced in his direction, but would not meet those cruel, +steadfast eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">"If I'm not," he blurted out, "then who is de captain? Tell me dat?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why, I am," roared Amos. "And what have you to say to it?"</p> +<p class="pnext">Hogg realised he was challenged. Perhaps, under the influence of rum, +he had already gone further than he meant to; but, in any case, so far +as he was concerned there was no question of retreat.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Put up your fists!" he shouted. "We fight for it and let de best man +win."</p> +<p class="pnext">He grinned from ear to ear, as, standing in front of Amos--above whom +he towered by a good clear head and shoulders--he lifted his great, +black fists to the level of his face. I thought that he would kill +Amos with a single blow; for the one was so big and bony, and the other +so frail and shrivelled up. But I did not then know Amos Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come on!" cried Hogg, still grinning.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked at Amos, thinking to find him alarmed; but never upon the face +of any man have I beheld an expression of such complete contempt.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You black dog!" said he, with an oath.</p> +<p class="pnext">He drew back his right hand, as if about to strike, and immediately I +caught the glint of a revolver barrel in the moonlight.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was a flash, a single loud report, and then a dull, heavy thud as +the negro's great ungainly body came down upon the deck. And there he +lay, full in the red moonshine, upon that tropic night, huddled and +stone-dead--the black, bragging fool who had claimed to be our captain.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And now, then," said Amos, as cool as ever, turning to the crew, "is +there any man else who would like to command this ship?"</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-vii-and-am-made-to-pay-for-it"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id8">CHAPTER VII--AND AM MADE TO PAY FOR IT</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">And that was the end of the mutiny on board the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>. The +match was struck by a negro; the flames were fed with rum; and the fire +flared up, just to be stamped out by the one strong man on board.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos at once released both the captain and his mate; whereupon Dagg +treated the crew to a long-winded, high speech upon the subject of what +he would do, if such insubordination occurred again; but as he had done +naught during the crisis, but to get knocked down the moment he opened +his mouth, there were few of his audience who were not laughing up +their sleeves.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have told the full story of the disturbance, to illustrate the +character of Amos Baverstock. I have yet to write of the sequel to the +trouble, which more nearly concerned myself.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Amos was as good as his word, and made short work of William Rushby +and of me. Though the crew had been bound over to keep the peace, as +you might call it, admonished to behave themselves in future, the +boatswain was not only degraded of his rank, but forthwith cast into +irons.</p> +<p class="pnext">As for myself, I was led before a kind of tribunal, assembled in the +saloon. Captain Dagg, Amos Baverstock, and Joshua Trust were my +judges; and a strange triumvirate they made, Amos chewing his black +cigar, and all three seated before their glasses of grog, with their +greasy playing-cards scattered before them on the table.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Boy," said Dagg, "you joined in a mutiny. Do you know that, you +whelp? Do you know what it means?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"No, sir," said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"It means death," said Dagg. "The yard-arm--that's what it means."</p> +<p class="pnext">I believed, for the moment, that they were really going to kill me; and +so seriously had the great heat and the excitement affected me that I +don't think I cared very much whether they did so or not. Anyway, I +know I answered boldly, though I had never the courage to look straight +at Amos, whose eyes I felt were upon me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Captain Dagg," said I, "if you want to murder me, get on with the +matter. I ask you to do no more than to remember this: I did not come +on board your ship of my own free will. I was kidnapped, and carried +here by force, and I have no means of escape."</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, Amos struck the table with his fist; and, bold though my words +had been, I jumped as if a cannon had been fired.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Silence!" he roared. "We are not here to argue with you. You were +given your orders. You were told that on no account were you to +communicate with anyone on board this ship, and you defied us. We have +reason to suspect that you have taken into your confidence William +Rushby, formerly boatswain. Do you deny it?"</p> +<p class="pnext">He banged the table again. I looked right into his face, and it was +just as if I was under fire. But I could never answer him. I had the +pluck neither to lie nor to tell the truth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Good!" said he. "You admit as much. Well, then, we shall see that no +such tricks are played us in the future. Rushby is in irons. As for +you, for the rest of this voyage you remain a prisoner in your cabin; +and if we have any more trouble with you--I warn you fairly--you meet +the same fate as that hide-bound, cursed nigger."</p> +<p class="pnext">And that was the lame and impotent conclusion of the mutiny on board +the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">My lot was now even worse than before. For week after week I was +locked in a stuffy cabin, and got neither fresh air, good food, nor +exercise. The calm broke up quite suddenly with a squall, followed by +a shower of rain. For about an hour the water came down like a cascade +upon the sea, washing the ship from stem to stern, giving--as it +appeared to me, looking out from my narrow port-hole--new life to the +floating seaweed and the myriads of living things that were swarming in +the midst of it.</p> +<p class="pnext">The ship rocked, turning lazily from side to side, like a sleeper +awakening, and then, lurching, took on a list to starboard, as the wind +gripped her hoisted sails. And then, once again, we were under canvas, +ploughing westward across that great, lonely ocean.</p> +<p class="pnext">A few days later, we struck a trade wind, and made even better +progress. Though I myself was never more miserable in all my life, I +had reason to think that there was less discontent on board. I could +hear the patter of the bare feet of the men on the deck above me, as +they hastened about their work, as sailors should, and the shrill note +of the boatswain's whistle--which caused me to wonder who the new +boatswain was. It must be understood that during these days of my +imprisonment I had nothing to read and nothing to do, but to meditate +upon my own misfortunes.</p> +<p class="pnext">Life was not made any the more pleasant for me inasmuch as I still +shared a cabin with Amos, though I was devoutly thankful that I saw +little of him. Night by night, he would sit late at cards, trying--I +should imagine--to win back what he had lost to Mr. Forsyth; and I made +a point of being asleep, or pretending to be so, before he came to bed.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now I have to tell of something which has a direct bearing upon all +that follows. I had become so despondent and forlorn, and I found +myself in the company of such infamous and shameless rogues, that I had +actually forgotten my friends. I had forgotten that there were yet in +the world true, honest men who could be both brave and loyal.</p> +<p class="pnext">One evening, I must confess, my heart was near to breaking. The world +seemed all so hopeless and so wicked that I brought my face to my hands +and cried just as I had been wont to cry, when I was a little chap of +four years old, when things had not gone for me exactly as I wanted. +And as I sobbed, I could hear the gamblers in the saloon beyond the +cabin door; the "clink" of the bottles and the glasses, and the deeper +note of the coins upon the table; now and again, a gruff oath from Amos +or Joshua Trust, and Mr. Forsyth's affected drawl. And then, a voice, +quite near to me, whispered in my ear:</p> +<p class="pnext">"Me lad, be quick! I want a word with you."</p> +<p class="pnext">I sprang to my feet--I had been lying on my berth--and looked about me. +I could see no one in the cabin, and had begun to think of ghosts and +spirit-voices, when I heard the whispering again.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Here, me lad! The port-hole."</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked at the port, and could see a face by the light of the oil +lamp--a face in a frame studded with stars, the face of a man with a +short stump of a grisly beard.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Rushby!" I exclaimed.</p> +<p class="pnext">"The same," said he. "But speak low, for Heaven's sake! Those rascals +are at their cards in the saloon; the door's thin, and it's all up with +us if we're discovered."</p> +<p class="pnext">I went to the port-hole, so that my face was close to his.</p> +<p class="pnext">"But how are you here?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I've not lived my life and done my duty," said he, "without making +friends. One of the crew, of the name of Adams, to whom I have been of +service in the past, has let me loose--just as you might unchain a +yard-dog for a run. I have a few minutes at the best before I'm back +in irons, but that's enough for what I have to say."</p> +<p class="pnext">"But where are you now?" I asked, for he appeared to me to be walking +upon the sea.</p> +<p class="pnext">He explained that he was hanging on to a rope, made fast to a stanchion +on the deck above, but that he had something of greater importance to +tell me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Are we near our journey's end?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"In three days," he answered, "we should sight the coast, unless the +wind changes. What they intend to do with me at Caracas I neither know +nor care. I will somehow find the means to escape, and make my way +back to England; and then, Captain Dagg and Amos Baverstock shall pay +for what they've done."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I entreat you," I exclaimed, "do not meddle with Amos!"</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby laughed softly.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And leave you at his mercy!" he cried. "That's not my way, nor--I +should think, if all you have told me be the truth--the way of Mr. +Bannister. This matter shall never rest where it now stands. I am +here to learn two things, though I am no better than a simple sailor, +and it will want a wiser head than mine before we're safe in port. +Come, tell me, lad, where did you hide the map you snatched from +Baverstock? John Bannister may want it."</p> +<p class="pnext">"In a rabbit-hole," said I; and I went on to describe, as best I could, +how that rabbit-hole might be found.</p> +<p class="pnext">"There's a warren," said I, "about two hundred yards to the west of +Bannister's cabin----"</p> +<p class="pnext">"And how am I to find that?" Rushby took me up.</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought for a moment; and then I got a bright idea when most I needed +it, for I realised there was little time to spare and that Amos, at any +moment, might enter and find Rushby at the port-hole.</p> +<p class="pnext">I gave him my mother's address; for I had little doubt that Bannister +had gone, long before this, to her. With my life in danger, he +would--I knew--soon get the better of his natural dread of women.</p> +<p class="pnext">"That's all I want," said he.</p> +<p class="pnext">And a moment after he was gone. It so happened that many months were +to elapse before I set eyes upon him again--a true man and an honest, +big of heart and strong of hand, the type that has made the very name +of British sailor to rank so highly all the world across, from the old +three-decker to the battle-cruiser of to-day. And I speak of the men +without whose cutlasses and courage Blake and Drake, or even Nelson +himself, had never been the famous admirals that they were.</p> +<p class="pnext">For, when we were come to Caracas, I was discharged from that poisonous +vessel like a worthless bale of freight. Unshipped by night into a +broken-down two-wheeled cart, and conveyed through the narrow streets +of an evil-smelling city, where men talked loudly in a foreign tongue, +with quarrelsome voices and much waving of the hands, and then I found +myself in a dirty hovel upon the slopes of tree-clad hills, where I +could see the round moon through a great hole in the roof, and lie +listening to the singing of millions of crickets, wondering what would +be the end of it all.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-viii-into-the-wilderness"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id9">CHAPTER VIII--INTO THE WILDERNESS</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">For these few days, it happened that I was left in the charge of Joshua +Trust. In other words, he was the watch-dog that guarded me, day and +night; and a dull dog he was. He never opened his mouth, save to +grumble at everything--the heat, the insects, the very food he cooked +himself. Now and again, he would sigh; which puzzled me, until I +solved the problem for myself: he was inclined to regret the idle days +aboard the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em> when he had naught to think about except +his grog and cards.</p> +<p class="pnext">So, in this man's company, I learned nothing concerning what was afoot. +But I was free to use my eyes, and I could scarce fail to observe that +they were turning by degrees that ruined habitation into a kind of +depôt. For, day and night, came stores and arms and ammunition to the +place--all manner of such things as might be required upon an +expedition into the wild hinterland of that strange country, where +there were few roads, but many bridle-paths and broad rivers to be +crossed.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos came often to the hut, and Mr. Forsyth was always with him; and, +as I knew, it was the last-named who had paid for all. That, however, +was all one to me. I was safely caught, thousands of miles from dear, +silly Sussex; and even if I was so fortunate as to escape from Joshua +Trust, what was I to do in that foreign land, where I could not speak a +word of the language and had no friend to whom to go?</p> +<p class="pnext">On the fourth day of my captivity came six mules, and with them three +men whom I took to be half-castes of a sort, for they were no more than +two parts black and spoke Spanish, shouting at one another when they +conversed. But I was more interested in the mules, which were of a +kind that I had never seen before; for they were small animals, little +larger than donkeys, with mouse-grey woolly coats like sheep. Each of +these was provided with a pack-saddle; and when they were loaded for +the inspection of Amos Baverstock and Forsyth, I was amazed at the +great weight that such slender and seemingly fragile beasts could carry.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the fifth day after we had left the ship, we set forth upon our +great march towards the south. Our party numbered eight in all: Amos, +Forsyth, and Trust (the first the acknowledged leader of the +expedition); myself and the three mulemen, whilst the other was a +guide--a lean, cadaverous Spaniard, black as a raven, whom I never +heard called by any other name than that of Vasco. I do not think this +fellow was an evil man by nature, except in so far as he was capable of +doing almost anything for money. In that, at any rate, he was honest: +he served his masters faithfully, no matter who they were.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now we come to the march itself that, step by step, led me farther +and farther from the confines of civilisation and into the heart of a +cruel and magic wilderness where things happened that I should not +believe, had I not seen them with my eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">The first stage of our journey was uneventful enough; and the +scenery--especially on the mountains we were obliged to +cross--surprisingly beautiful. We first climbed to a great height, +following a zig-zag road, along which the little mules struggled +gallantly with their heavy loads. I had thought that, on gaining the +crestline, we must again descend to something approaching the level of +the sea. But this was not so; for the mountains proved to consist of a +series of parallel chains, and no sooner had we negotiated one valley +than we found ourselves upon the watershed of another.</p> +<p class="pnext">These valleys were thickly populated. We were seldom out of sight of +villages and towns, many of which contained considerable buildings. +The country had the aspect of being extremely fertile and prosperous. +There were plantations of coffee and cocoa, tobacco and cotton, but a +far greater area of the valley regions was given over to the +cultivation of manioc and maize. For all I could ever learn, there was +no flour in the land, for I never tasted bread, but subsisted upon hot +maize cakes, made by Vasco, the guide, which I found as good as +hot-cross buns.</p> +<p class="pnext">When we were clear of the mountains, we began to descend into the +valley of a great river which, had I learned more geography when I was +at school, I would have known to be the Orinoco. The course of this +great stream we followed for many days, marching in a south-westerly +direction, against the current. The climate was now a great deal +hotter than it had been near the coast, and towns and villages were few +and far between. One thing that I observed was the courteous behaviour +of the inhabitants, who seldom failed to wave their hands to us and +pass the time of day.</p> +<p class="pnext">We came to a vast sea of grass where, here and there, were scattered +woods; and finally, after crossing a river of some importance, a +tributary of the Orinoco, we sighted a great mountain that overtopped +the surrounding hills like a giant in the midst of pygmies.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos, who had been unusually reticent upon the line-of-march, now +became talkative, almost hilarious. He carried constantly a grin upon +his fox-like countenance, and would often chuckle to himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the great mountain in front of us might be described as the gateway +of the road to the Treasure we were seeking, and was marked upon the +left-hand top corner of the map. It was called Mount Tigro, but by +that name I have never been able to trace it upon any modern map, +though it was shown to be about twenty miles south of the Rio Guaviare.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were now--though I did not know it at the time--close upon the +frontier of Colombia, and, I think, for a time our route lay through +that little-known country, until we turned eastward again into the +territories of the Amazonas.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were now in a mountainous and savage land, where we could make but +the slowest progress. For not only were the hills steep and pathless, +but in places clothed in such luxuriant vegetation that we had often to +break a way with hatchets for the mules.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were marching by the map, and Amos had become our guide. He and +Forsyth--who never seemed to tire--would lead our little column, myself +walking in company of Joshua, and the pack-mules bringing up the rear.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were soon to bid good-bye to these faithful, dumb companions; for, +after we had climbed the slopes of another range of mountains, we +followed the course of a river valley that led us rapidly downward, to +land us into the very heart of such a forest as I did not dream to be +possible.</p> +<p class="pnext">The mulemen were paid off--by no means too handsomely, I thought--to +return upon that long and tedious journey to the coast. And we five +went on alone--Amos and his two confederates, Vasco and +myself--carrying our stores and provisions in knapsacks on our backs, +and all armed as though we were like to meet with savage men.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the first place, I must tell you that the heat was insufferable, for +all this while we had been approaching the equator. The forest swarmed +with myriads of stinging insects, and sometimes I saw great tree snakes +of a magnitude that even now makes my blood run cold when I think of +them. We came upon one, lying half coiled upon the bank of a woodland +pool, and I am ready to swear that he was longer than a cricket-pitch, +and of a thickness almost equal to my own waist.</p> +<p class="pnext">But I marvelled most at the forest trees, the names of some of which I +learned from Vasco, who had a little English, of which he was +exceedingly vain. One of these was a palm-tree, the very leaves of +which were forty feet in length, standing almost erect, all bunched +together--a magnificent sight to behold. And these forest giants were +intertwined and intermingled with thousands of creepers, parasites, and +climbers, so that in places, even at mid-day, when the tropic sun was +at its height, it was dark as night in the vast Region of the Woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">For weeks we struggled onward, literally fighting our way through that +all but impenetrable wilderness. I saw that Amos had more than he +could do to trace our route upon the map; and there were times, I am +convinced, when even Vasco and Baverstock himself truly believed that +we were lost.</p> +<p class="pnext">He told us he was looking for a certain landmark; and in that dark and +endless forest he might as well have searched for a pin. At one time, +there was not a living soul within hundreds of miles of us. There were +great alligators in the rivers that we crossed by means of rough +dug-out canoes, which we made upon one bank and left upon the other; +the jungle teemed with snakes, many of the venomous kind besides the +great loathsome pythons, in whose coils an ox might have been crushed +to death; thousands of gaily-coloured birds were among the tree-tops +high above us, and the dead leaves about our pathway swarmed with +little things that crept and crawled and stung so vilely that we were +covered from head to foot with painful swellings. But never a sign did +we see of any human being. Nature reigned in that black wilderness, +untrammelled and supreme.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then, as one steps on a sudden from a darkened room, we came forth +one morning from the forest into the blazing light of the sun. And +there was such a wonder as I had never seen before.</p> +<p class="pnext">Before us was a plain upon which was growing a tall, reed-like grass; +and in the centre of this plain was a long, hog-backed hillock, bare of +trees. Remember, we were in the very heart of the Unknown, for months +we had seen no sign or trace of humanity, and I, at least, judged +myself to be hundreds of miles from the very outposts of the civilised +world; and yet, upon the summit of this hillock was a great ruined +palace or a temple, encircled by a colonnade of vast stone pillars, no +less in their proportions than those of Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain +in England, only they were there by the score, and stood perpendicular +and massive, not one having fallen from its place.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stood rooted in amazement, when my attention was attracted by Amos, +whose behaviour was now that of a madman. He threw both his arms into +the air, which action--in view of his hunched back and his pig-like, +glittering eyes--made him look more evil and gleeful than ever, and +shouted at the top of his voice:</p> +<p class="pnext">"Found!" he cried. "The Temple of Cahazaxa, who fled from Cuzco with +the Treasure! And now, boy, the matter rests with you!"</p> +<p class="pnext">He changed as in a flash from unbounded joy to passion. He seized me +by the shoulders, gripping me so tightly that it was as if his fingers +burned into my flesh like red-hot irons.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I'll have the truth from you!" he shrieked, dancing like a maniac on +his feet. "The truth, and nothing but the truth! Or else, I swear as +I'm a living man, you die here and now."</p> +<p class="pnext">"What truth?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">My voice was trembling; for so terrible did the man seem that a cold +sweat had broken out upon my forehead. He drew nearer to me still, +peering into my face and whispering.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Henceforward," said he, "you guide us. Either you have seen the map +or Bannister has told you all he knows. In any case, you guide us from +here to the place where the Greater Treasure is hid. Refuse, and you +die, here and now, in the midst of this almighty desert."</p> +<p class="pnext">One glance at the man was enough to tell me that he meant every word he +said. And yet, I do not think I was any longer afraid.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-ix-i-am-left-to-my-doom"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id10">CHAPTER IX--I AM LEFT TO MY DOOM</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I was now, it was apparent, in such a situation that my life was of +little worth. Without doubt, Amos did believe that I was capable of +guiding our little column to the place where the Greater Treasure was +hidden.</p> +<p class="pnext">He thought, perhaps, that I had looked at the fragment of the map I had +snatched from his hand, or else that John Bannister had told me the +full story.</p> +<p class="pnext">As a matter of fact, I knew nothing. When flying for my very life from +Amos, I had had other things to think of than to gratify a very natural +curiosity, and had never so much as cast a glance at the map. And as +for Bannister, I have said already this was the one subject upon which +he could never or seldom be induced to talk.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos, however, held a contrary opinion. Somehow, he must have learned +that for several months John Bannister had been a good friend to me, +and in his own mind had never questioned that I knew all there was to +know.</p> +<p class="pnext">In either case, it was all the same to him; for my life was worth +nothing if I could not help him in the furtherance of his purpose, and +I was but a fifth mouth to feed in a wild, tropic region where food was +difficult to find.</p> +<p class="pnext">That day I had a stormy scene with Amos, who was supported by Mr. +Forsyth, whose questions I found even more difficult to answer; whilst +Joshua Trust stood by, tugging at his red beard, which had now become +more untidy and unkempt than ever. As for Vasco, he sat at a little +distance, cross-legged, looking in a puzzled manner from Amos +Baverstock to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I swore on my oath to them that Bannister had told me nothing; but they +would not believe me. Then, for the first time, I was shown the map +which Amos had brought with him all the way from Sussex; and at once I +observed a singular coincidence.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the parchment had been rent across the very place where was marked +the great ruined building even then before us; and all Amos had of it +was the following inscription: THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF C---- and then +came the torn edge, where I had held the parchment tightly between my +thumb and forefinger.</p> +<p class="pnext">But this information, slight as it was, had been enough for Amos, who +knew well the story of Cahazaxa, the Peruvian prince, of whom I will +tell in the proper place. Both Bannister and Amos had heard often of +Cahazaxa's Temple, which might be regarded as a kind of half-way house +upon our treasure hunt. And upon the other portion of the map, which I +had hidden in a rabbit-hole, were the letters "AHAZAXA," plain enough +to any one who had ever heard of the temple, and thence the route +marked plainly to the secret place where the Greater Treasure lay.</p> +<p class="pnext">Had Bannister ever shown me the map, I should in all probability have +remembered the names of some of the places marked thereon; but he had +never done so--which, after all, saved me a world of trouble at one of +the most critical moments in my life.</p> +<p class="pnext">For, had I known, I trust I would never have confessed to these unholy +scoundrels. I like to think that my courage would not have failed me +at the eleventh hour. As it was, being wholly ignorant, I had nothing +to tell, and boldly declared as much, though both the hunchback and Mr. +Forsyth thought me to be lying.</p> +<p class="pnext">The former worked himself into a kind of frenzied passion. Gripping me +by a wrist, he jerked me first in one direction, then in another, +sometimes so violently that my head flew backward and forward like a +weather-cock in the wind.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We'll have the truth from you!" he shouted. "I'll have it, though I +must tear it from you with red-hot irons."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I know nothing," I persisted.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You'll speak or die," he answered. "And I'll see to it that death +does not come easy!"</p> +<p class="pnext">All that day, they badgered me and persecuted me with questions. And +in the end, when the sun was setting, they gave it up, and decided to +put me to death.</p> +<p class="pnext">Mine was a strange fate, in very truth; and now, when I look back upon +that hour, I marvel that I took it all so calmly. For it was my +destiny to sit by the camp-fire, whilst our evening meal of maize and +manioc was cooking, and hear them discuss among themselves how I should +be done to death.</p> +<p class="pnext">Trust was all for rough-and-ready methods, in keeping with the blunt +character of the man; Amos, for cold, deliberate torture; whereas +Forsyth would bind me to a tree and leave me in the midst of that great +wilderness to starve.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was Mr. Forsyth's vote that was carried; and now that I knew the +manner of my death, I was filled with cold fear, though till then I had +borne my ordeal with a fortitude that surprised even myself.</p> +<p class="pnext">And bound I was, then and there, to a stout palm-tree that stood by +itself a little distance from the margin of the forest. For rope they +used a kind of creeper that was common in the woods, and not only was +this as strong as a ship's hawser, but so hard and tied so tightly that +it cut into my legs and arms like bands of steel.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-54"> +<span id="and-bound-i-was-then-and-there-to-a-stout-palm-tree-a-little-distance-from-the-margin-of-the-forest"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-096.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"AND BOUND I WAS, THEN AND THERE, TO A STOUT PALM TREE, A LITTLE DISTANCE FROM THE MARGIN OF THE FOREST."</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">In such a manner was I doomed. For an hour or so I watched those three +dread men, all so different, alike in nothing but their devilry, +sitting together around the fire, talking in low voices, even +pleasantly, as if to do murder were an every-day affair.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then they lay down to sleep, and both Trust and Amos were soon snoring; +whereas I was left, already athirst and hungry, to await the approach +of a terrible and lingering death.</p> +<p class="pnext">That night and those which followed will live always in my memory. I +watched the moon rise, wondrous round and white and large, behind the +rounded hill upon which stood Cahazaxa's Temple. The stars, which had +been shining in their millions, faded in the moonshine, all save one +bright planet in the sky above me. And there arose a mist, in which I +thought there was something ghostly, upon the plain where the long +grass stood like corn ready for the cutting. And behind me, as if +striving to enfold me in an overpowering, stifling embrace, was the +dark, deadly forest that cut me off from all and everything I loved.</p> +<p class="pnext">Long before dawn, Amos Baverstock was stirring. I watched him kindle +the embers of the camp-fire into a blaze, and, sitting with his crooked +back, he looked just like a monkey. I noticed that even at that hour +he was chewing one of his foul, black cigars, his stock of which was +running low. Presently, he awakened Trust and Forsyth. They ate their +breakfast in silence; never a word was said. And then they packed +their knapsacks and set forward upon the march, in the gloaming, with +never a word or a glance at me.</p> +<p class="pnext">They marched in a bee-line upon the ruins of the ancient temple, and +were soon lost both to sound and sight, for the plain lay even yet in +the shadow of the night.</p> +<p class="pnext">The dawn--the great heat at midday--the majesty and grandeur of the +wilderness in the heart of which I was doomed and lost for ever--and, +above all else, the grave-like silence of that place--it were better I +made no attempt to describe these things than fail in the endeavour. I +know no more than that my loneliness was overpowering. It was as if I +was the only living atom, save the insects and the butterflies that +fluttered round about me, in all that world of gorgeous vegetation.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not move a fraction of an inch. I would gaze by the hour at +the great stones of the ruins before me, small in the distance and yet +plain to see in that clear atmosphere, and wonder what manner of men +had lived there in bygone days--what had been their hopes, their +interests, their mode of life. And then my thirst would consume me; my +tongue would cleave to the roof of my mouth, and I would suck my lips +to find them dry as bones.</p> +<p class="pnext">One day of it had been more than I could bear; and that second night, I +prayed that death might come speedily, for I saw that in death only +would I find release from all my sufferings. But I lived on, like the +Ancient Mariner himself; and on the third day, as on that tragic ship, +there came a rain--a blessed rain from Heaven itself for me. Clouds +appeared as if by magic, a dark canopy cast across the forest like a +curtain; and the skies on a sudden opened and the rain came down in +torrents.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was wetted in an instant to the skin, but I cared nothing for that. +I threw back my head with opened mouth, and the water streaming down my +face was life and strength and hope to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">And that night I no longer prayed for death; I prayed to the great God +of Right and Justice for deliverance. And yet, how weak is human +nature, how little is our faith! For before morning I was struggling +like a madman to free myself from my bonds.</p> +<p class="pnext">The more violently I fought for liberty, the greater pain I suffered; +for the hard fibre cut into my flesh until I gave it up, and, overcome +by sheer exhaustion, I fell asleep, held upright by my bonds.</p> +<p class="pnext">I awoke to behold the half-light of approaching day. The plain of +grass before me was lost in the mist which, in that weird place, came +always at sunset and at dawn.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked about me as if I yet were dreaming. The giant forest trees +had taken upon themselves the shape of ugly spectres. The tall grass +swayed in the wind of the dawn with a soft, rustling sound that +reminded me of my mother's silken dresses. I watched a lizard, the +length of a foot-rule, run swiftly down the trunk of a tree and make +off into the grass.</p> +<p class="pnext">I endeavoured in vain to trace its passage, wondering whither the +little creature was going so swiftly; and when I looked up I beheld to +my astonishment--a man!</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-x-how-the-wild-men-came-and-looked-at-me"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id11">CHAPTER X--HOW THE WILD MEN CAME AND LOOKED AT ME</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I have called him a man, and so he was, though, in very truth, at that +time I had never seen his like. He was small in stature, little taller +than myself; and there was something about him that was more animal +than human. I cannot account for this, unless the explanation be found +in the scared look upon his face, especially in the eyes--the eyes of a +hunted beast.</p> +<p class="pnext">He was not black, but light brown of skin, though there was so much +dirt about him that I was not even sure of that. His hair was lank and +long. All matted with mud, it fell about his ears. He wore no +clothing, save the skin of some small, wild animal hung loosely round +his waist; and he held in one hand a long bamboo rod, which I took to +be a blow-pipe.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, I believed that this savage would kill me out of hand, defenceless +as I was. But he stood staring at me for a long time, with his wild +eyes and his mouth widely opened.</p> +<p class="pnext">So, by degrees, my courage returned to me, and with it something of +hope. I tried to think--and it is no simple matter to be reasonable +when one is exhausted by starvation and tortured both in body and in +mind.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was manifest, in the first place, that I had no means of +communicating with this man. I could neither speak to him nor sign, +since I knew no word of any barbarous language, and my hands were bound +fast to my sides. But I did the only thing I could do--I moved my +mouth as if I were eating, hoping against hope that he would take my +meaning: that I was starving and begged for food.</p> +<p class="pnext">And the more I mouthed at him and made grimaces, the more he stared at +me, and the more frightened did he seem. For the better part of five +minutes I swear he never moved an inch, and then, quite suddenly, he +took to his heels and dived into the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">For a little time I could scarce credit it that he had left me to my +fate. But when a full hour had passed, and I realised that it was +possible that the wild man might not return, my sense of loneliness +became even more oppressive than before, and to tell the truth I cried.</p> +<p class="pnext">I am, in the evening of a long, adventurous life, at times of a +reflective disposition, and I have considered often the strange +complexities of human nature, for I have seen many men and places in my +time. When I first beheld the savage, I was alarmed beyond measure +that he would put the life out of me by means of his murderous-looking +blow-pipe. I would, at that moment, gladly have had him on the other +side of the world. And when he left me so suddenly, without sign or +signal of either hostility or friendship, I felt no less dismayed.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was so utterly alone in that great silence, in the shadow of those +mute, majestic trees. Not even the wild inhabitants of that +inhospitable region would come and have done with it and kill me.</p> +<p class="pnext">And thus, indeed, I burst into tears, and cried as children cry. I +think sheer weakness and the pain that I had suffered had much to do +with it; and in any case it all seemed to me so pitiful and hopeless, +for I was over-young to undergo such cruel privations.</p> +<p class="pnext">I slept again until the evening, when I was awakened of a sudden by a +strange noise like the chuckling of a hen.</p> +<p class="pnext">I opened my eyes and looked upon the same wild man who had regarded me +before. But this time he had brought three others with him--all four +as like to one another as so many beans. And there they stood, in a +row, immediately before me, one of them--as I have just expressed +it--chuckling like a hen.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not for the life of me make out whether or not he was laughing. +He might have been amused, amazed, or angered. There was no expression +upon his face. The noise seemed to come from somewhere out of his +throat. When I opened my eyes and looked at him, he ceased at once; so +I am inclined to think he had behaved thus in order to awaken me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I judged that the man I had seen earlier in the day had stood at a +distance of about twenty paces from me; but now, made bolder by +companionship, he had approached to within about twelve yards from the +palm-tree to which I was bound. They were all armed with blowpipes, +but they made no hostile movement; they just stood staring at me with +their mad eyes, speechless and looking more afraid than I was.</p> +<p class="pnext">All on a sudden, I was impelled to cry out. I shouted as a dog yelps +when trodden on, asleep upon a mat.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Give me food!" I cried. "Have pity on me! I am starving!"</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that they vanished, all the four of them. They scattered like +birds, swiftly and in silence. At one moment, I beheld them; at the +next, they were nowhere: they might have been spirited away.</p> +<p class="pnext">They did not return that night, which was the most miserable of all. +Hunger was now gnawing at my vitals. There was a foul taste in my +mouth, and I felt so weak and lifeless that it was as if the slow +beating of my heart shook my whole frame, making it hard for me to +breathe. Also, I was again consumed by a raging thirst; but the worst +of the whole matter was the seeming hopelessness of my situation; for +now I verity believed that my end was drawing near.</p> +<p class="pnext">Though often our endurance is strained to the utmost, and there are +times when we are weighed down by grief and trouble, I know that the +good God is merciful, that it is well to bear the ills we have so +bravely as we may, in the firm conviction that faith and a stout heart +to hope will conquer in the end.</p> +<p class="pnext">The sun rose in that lone place upon my misery; and a little after, +came the wild men again; and this time they were nine in number, for I +counted them as they stepped in single file forth from the darkness of +the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">They stood gazing at me as before; and now I was wise enough to hold my +peace, though by then--if the truth be told--there was little strength +within me; for, even as I looked at them, my eyelids dropped and my +head nodded on my shoulders like that of a drunken man.</p> +<p class="pnext">They came closer than ever, to within an arm's length of me, and one +timidly extended an arm and touched me, and then drew back quickly as +if he had burned his fingers.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-55"> +<span id="they-came-closer-than-ever-to-within-an-arm-s-length-of-me"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-128.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"THEY CAME CLOSER THAN EVER, TO WITHIN AN ARM'S LENGTH OF ME."</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">I saw now that I had nothing to fear from them, that it was a keen +struggle in their untutored minds as to whether fear or curiosity +should win. I did my best to smile.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a senseless, mirthless smile, forced upon lips that were dry and +burning and eyes grown dim throughout long hours of watching and +despair; and yet--by the grace of Providence--it achieved its simple +purpose.</p> +<p class="pnext">For, forthwith, like a tribe of monkeys, they set to talking among +themselves; and never had I heard such gibberish. They waved their +hands, and made mouths and faces at one another that were astonishing +to behold. They touched me repeatedly, fingering my tattered clothes; +and one tugged so violently at the sleeve of my shirt, which had been +torn to ribbons upon the thorn trees in the forest, that he pulled it +off almost from the shoulder--and then began the monkey-house again.</p> +<p class="pnext">The very sight of my white skin, where it had not been tanned by the +sun, set them jabbering for the space of half-an-hour; and all that +time I kept my silence, fearing that, if I should speak, they would +disperse like Sussex rooks at the sound of a farmer's gun.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had read and heard of fierce savage black men, cannibals and the +like, who regarded as their natural foes all of alien race, whom they +put horribly to death. But these wild people were shy as antelopes; +and though they might have been dangerous if handled wrongly, there was +nothing to fear from them in the case of one placed at so great a +disadvantage as myself.</p> +<p class="pnext">I did nothing, then, but let them talk it out; and in the end, one of +them took a bone knife with an edge like a saw, and cut through the +fibre that bound me to the tree.</p> +<p class="pnext">The others stood a little apart with their long blow-pipes, ready to +riddle me with darts that I learned afterwards were poisoned. But no +sooner were my hands freed than I pointed a finger straight down my +opened mouth--a gesture which no one could mistake.</p> +<p class="pnext">That set them talking once again; and when they were through with it, +they took me with them back into the woods. In single file we wormed +our way through the thick undergrowth of the forest, until at length we +hit upon a footpath where they travelled fast and silently, these +strange men of the woods. By then my strength was well-nigh exhausted. +Both in mind and in body I was come to the end of my powers of +endurance; and I could go no farther.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so, thereupon, they carried me, taking it in turns among themselves +to bear my weight, for they were not strong men, but thin of limb and +short in stature.</p> +<p class="pnext">We journeyed until nightfall, and then camped in the forest. They gave +me food--roasted manioc and crushed bananas; and then I fell asleep.</p> +<p class="pnext">At daybreak--though in those dark places we saw little of the sun, and +there was small difference betwixt night and morning--we were on the +march again, and about midday struck the course of a considerable river +which we followed up-stream for a distance of many miles. From this +valley we turned into that of a tributary, and reached our destination +in the evening.</p> +<p class="pnext">This was a small village of rude huts, inhabited--as I afterwards +discovered--by the various members of a single family. I had walked +many miles upon the second day, and found myself on arrival at the +village as greatly fatigued as ever, suffering also from a stiffness in +the joints, due to the cramped position I had been forced to assume +when bound by the liana to the tree. So that after my simple meal that +night, I again fell asleep, and slept, I verily believe, as I never did +before or since. For not only was I spent and weary, but I had now the +comfortable assurance that these wild people would do me no bodily +harm. For the time being, at least, I was safe.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xi-i-burn-my-boats"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id12">CHAPTER XI--I BURN MY BOATS</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">You may scarce credit it when I say that I sojourned for many months +with these savage, yet simple, people, and whilst with them received +neither hurt nor insult, but passed my days in pleasant idleness in the +heart of those awe-inspiring woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have since described their ways and mode of living to a famous +ethnologist, one whose business it was to study the sundry races of +mankind; and he believed that I fell into the hands of a tribe of +Caishana aborigines, one of the most primitive races in the world.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of this, however, no one can be sure; for I learned little of their +language, and of that remembered nothing. Besides, there are so many +hordes of Indians and tribes in the valleys of the Upper Amazon, and of +so few of these is anything definite known, even at the present day, +that a question of such slight importance, for the time being, may +remain unanswered.</p> +<p class="pnext">It makes, in any case, no difference to my story. I do but state mere +facts, leaving footnotes, queries and the like to scientists and +students. For five months--as I can guess--I lived with this woodland +people; and it pleases me to remember that, in return for their +hospitality and kindness, I was able to render them some service. I +taught them novel methods of catching the fish that abounded in the +rivers, creeks and pools; and I gave them gladly the few belongings +that I had upon me, even a large jack-knife, which the chief of the +village received with unfeigned delight--for they were so uncivilised +as to be altogether unacquainted with the use of iron.</p> +<p class="pnext">On my side, I learned many things from them, becoming, for instance, +skilled in the use of the blow-pipe--a very deadly weapon, since it +made no more noise than a pop-gun, and the arrows were invariably +dipped in the juice of a poisonous herb that grew plentifully in the +forest.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was much interested in the manufacture of these instruments. Many +were of bamboo, but those of the better quality of a hard wood, from +which the inside had been patiently scraped by means of a bone knife, +until the surface was smooth as glass. Needless to say, to accomplish +this, the shaft had to be split into two pieces, which were afterwards +joined together. It took a skilled worker weeks to make a blow-pipe. +A good specimen was always coveted, and he who possessed one was +regarded as a person of importance. I was instructed also in the craft +of making the darts or arrows; and this was an accomplishment that, +more than once in the course of the next few months, stood me in good +stead.</p> +<p class="pnext">Of the people themselves, of their strange ways and customs, I might +write a full chapter, were I so disposed. I have no reason to think +that they varied greatly from the majority of the wilder tribes in the +great forests of the Amazon. They were small in stature, short-lived, +and very dirty. They went well-nigh naked, and many suffered from a +particularly loathsome disease, the character of which I know not, save +that it left their skin marked black in patches. I feared, at first, +that this would prove contagious; but, either my nationality or else my +cleanly habits--for I bathed daily in the river--preserved my health +and personal appearance.</p> +<p class="pnext">In regard to my bathing, I can relate a strange thing. It being the +rainy season, the river was alive with alligators. I was at first +considerably frightened of these horrid reptiles; but I soon discovered +that all that was necessary was to beat the surface of the water +violently with a stick in order to scare them away. Of course, it was +needful to exercise a certain amount of discretion, to keep one's eyes +open whilst in the water; and I do not say that there was no danger +present. But the fact remains that the South American cayman, one of +the most formidable-looking brutes in all the world, is a cowardly +beast and by no means greatly to be feared.</p> +<p class="pnext">If that be so, I have another story to tell concerning the snakes of +that dark region; for these I never ceased to fear, and not without +good cause. My boots had long since ceased to be of the least +practical use, and I had presented them, not without ceremony, to the +head man of the village where I stayed. I was obliged therefore to go +bare of foot in the forest, like the natives themselves, and day and +night I walked in constant peril of my life.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the underwoods were populous with serpents of all kinds, many of +which were venomous. They were usually to be found in the vicinity of +water, and amongst them I cannot fail to mention the gigantic tree and +water snakes, in whose deadly coils a full-grown man might well be +crushed to death. More than once I set eyes upon these great, evil, +stealthy monsters; and on each occasion my very blood ran cold. But I +have yet to write of what I have called--for no better reason than that +there is melodrama in the name--the Glade of Silent Death, where in +part the tragedy of all my narrative attains some sort of a crisis--a +crisis, at least, for one of whom I dare say more than I would of any +other: that he well deserved his fate.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, had I been content to eke out the remainder of my years with these +untutored people, I should never have beheld the wonders of which I +have to tell. I think I realised that if I continued to live as a +savage, I must eventually myself become a savage, forgetting all I had +ever learned of Christian civilisation. So I made up my mind to take +my life into my hands, and set forth alone into the Wild.</p> +<p class="pnext">Beyond doubt, my ulterior motive was to regain the confines of the +civilised world, to hear again the voices of men speaking my own +language--even the lazy Sussex twang. But I was moved firstly not so +much by a desire for liberty, as by the spirit of adventure. For I had +caught something of the rover from John Bannister, as I sat listening +to his stories to the soft accompaniment of the wash of the English +sea; and I would find out all I could concerning the quest of Amos +Baverstock and the secret of the Greater Treasure of the Incas, which +the more civilised of the Indians called the "Big Fish."</p> +<p class="pnext">And so I asked the savages to guide me back to the place where they had +found me, within sight of Cahazaxa's ruined temple. Though I never +knew but a score of words of their language, I was now proficient in +the art of conversing by signs and the drawing of pictures in the mud, +as I was also something of a woodsman and--though but a few months +older than when I had been kidnapped--no longer a boy, but the +beginnings of a man, who was like to have a hard part to play. Life in +the wilderness had made me self-reliant. To the wanderer in savage +places peril comes naturally enough, and death itself is all in the +work of the day.</p> +<p class="pnext">But it was one thing to ask, and another to receive. The chief man of +the community--for it was hardly a village--was all against the +project. In the first place, he and the rest of them had grown to be +fond of me--I was regarded as both a curiosity and something of an +acquisition. Secondly, I soon discovered that they stood in fear and +trembling of the ruins, which they firmly believed to be haunted.</p> +<p class="pnext">Though they might have restrained me by force, we argued the matter +out, and it came to a question of will-power--or obstinacy, if the word +suit you better--and I had my way.</p> +<p class="pnext">Accordingly, one morning I set forth into the forest, accompanied by a +guide. I was dressed in the remnants of my shirt, tied like a kilt +about my waist, and carried a ten-foot blow-pipe and a score of darts; +and beyond these I had neither arms nor clothing. I was just a white +savage in a great dark wilderness, with my life in my own hands and all +Nature at war against me. And I doubt if I can even say that I was +white, for I was now tanned almost to the colour of the wild men +amongst whom I had lived.</p> +<p class="pnext">In three days, by easy journeys, my companion and I came to the margin +of the woods, to the great plain of waving grass, in the midst of which +the Temple of Cahazaxa stood upon a hill-top.</p> +<p class="pnext">I begged of the man to come with me, to serve me as a servant, making +vague promises of reward which I am sure he did not understand; and +though, as I could see, the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak; for +he fell down upon his knees before me, trembling in all his limbs, +craving permission to return.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not be heartless. From the tribe I had never received anything +but kindness. But permission to be gone was not all the simple fellow +wanted; for, when he saw that I was determined to go alone upon my way +to the ruins on the hill-top, he again fell down upon his knees, and +implored me to return with him.</p> +<p class="pnext">In so far as I could take his meaning, the old temple was infested by +ghosts and evil spirits. Singular things for centuries had been known +to happen among those grey, worn stones: weird singing had been heard +and strange coloured lights had been seen of nights, and no man of the +forest who had ever ventured to the hillock had as yet returned alive.</p> +<p class="pnext">To speak true, these fables--though I believed no word of them--did but +whet my appetite for action. I had a taste for danger. For the first +time in my life, I was conscious of my own individuality. Man or boy, +I was free. I had a part to play upon the stage of life, and the wide +world was my scene. I, too, was upon the same quest as Amos: the hunt +for the Greater Treasure. It was as if something within me urged me to +go forward, like a knight-errant of old, placing my firm trust in +Providence; and I now have little doubt that it was the voice of +Destiny that spoke within me.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so I bade farewell to the forest tribesman, whom I left upon the +verge of tears, believing in his heart of hearts that I was as good as +doomed; and with a light heart and my blow-pipe, I went my way across +the plain, towards the hill upon which stood the ancient Temple of +Cahazaxa, whilst the sun was sinking in the sky.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xii-the-path-of-the-tiger"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id13">CHAPTER XII--THE PATH OF THE TIGER</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">It was near upon the time of sunset when I slowly climbed the hill. I +could not take my eyes from the great stones before me, many of which +must have been at least ten square yards in surface area, and cut so +straight and square that, without cement or mortar, they fitted one +against the other as nicely as a child's wooden bricks. I wondered how +they had come there, by what means they had been transported and lifted +into position; and I marvelled that an ancient people should have been +masters of such science.</p> +<p class="pnext">But it was not this alone that caused my footsteps to become slower and +slower as I approached the ruin. Despite myself, I could not help +remembering much that the wild man had said to me of ghosts and evil +spirits.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the dim evening light, wreathed in the mist that rose from the +surrounding plain, those great pillars of cold, silent stone looked not +to belong to this world of common things. Towering, as they did, above +the tree-tops of the forest, they made me think of the enchanted +palaces of which in childhood my mother had read to me from fairy +tales. If there were ghosts anywhere in all the world, they were +here--and I was sure of that.</p> +<p class="pnext">This notion got the strongest hold of me; and presently, a cold sweat +broke out upon my forehead, and I wished that I were back with the wild +men in their woodland village. However, I had more pride than to +retreat, and that at the eleventh hour; and I continued to go forward, +though something after the manner of a condemned man towards the +gallows.</p> +<p class="pnext">As it grew darker I became more afraid. Night in those tropic +latitudes comes suddenly; darkness falls like a curtain upon a stage; +and when I had gained the outer pillars, which formed together an +encircling colonnade, there was scarce light enough for me to see a +distance of thirty yards.</p> +<p class="pnext">Within the circumference of these outer pillars--which attained upon an +average a height of about fifty feet--was a great roofless building +with a floor of flagstones, where the silence quite unnerved me. It +was more oppressive than the silence of the forest, where I had always +been conscious that one was surrounded by Life in a million forms: +plants, insects, and animals--all at war that they might live.</p> +<p class="pnext">But this place seemed dead, save for vast colonies of small red ants +whose bite was poisonous; for I had not been there a full minute before +I was bitten from head to foot, and there were painful weals all over +me.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was plain I could not sleep amid the ruins as I had intended. Not +only would the ants torture me almost to distraction, but the place was +uncanny, and I could now well understand how those ignorant woodlanders +believed it to be haunted.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was about to go, and had actually turned towards the main entrance, +which I could see quite clearly in the light of the newly-risen stars, +when a sound came to my ears that was so like a groan that I felt my +blood run cold.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stood transfixed, more frightened than bewildered. Looking about me +on every side, straining my eyes in the semi-darkness, I could see +nothing. I was convinced that there was no one in that vast chamber +save myself and the red ants. And yet the groan came again, louder +than before.</p> +<p class="pnext">I tip-toed across the room, my heart throbbing like an engine. And +like a frightened child, I hid myself in a corner; for I had no +convictions any longer, and I wished only to be somewhere where I could +not be seen.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then a spider descended upon me from somewhere high up the wall. And +you may laugh at me when I say that I sprang to my feet and dropped my +blow-pipe and let out a cry that was very near a shriek. But you would +never have laughed had you been placed as I was, seen that spider, and +felt upon your shoulders his restless, furry legs. For this was no +common spider that eats flies and gnats, but a bird-devouring brute, +the size of a saucer; and this is no exaggeration when one takes into +account the full extension of his legs.</p> +<p class="pnext">As I fled, I picked it from off me with my hand, and threw it away; +whereupon I found that it had covered my fingers with a disgusting and +sticky saliva. I am only thankful that it had no time to bite me, for +I believe the bite of these terrible insects has been known to prove +fatal. They build webs of such strength and solidity that birds as +large as sparrows are caught in the toils and killed; and I have heard +it said that these monsters also ascend trees, drive hens from their +nests and then devour their eggs.</p> +<p class="pnext">However, this is no treatise upon Natural History. He who wishes to +know more of this horrid creature may read of it in recognised works of +science. For myself, to have felt once its quick, hairy legs upon my +bare neck and shoulders is enough for many a day, and the thing may +belong to any species and genus that it likes, so long as I never set +eyes upon one again.</p> +<p class="pnext">For I was thoroughly scared; I had become as jumpy as a bean on a hot +plate. I trust that I am not by nature a coward; but the atmosphere of +that ghostly, misty place, the mysterious groans that I had heard, +which had seemed to come from nowhere, and the long-legged, furry +spider, had all so played upon my nerves that I knew neither what I was +doing nor what would happen next.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had made, in any case, as much noise as a harlequinade. I had cried +out at the top of my voice and had sent my wooden blow-pipe rattling to +the ground. And then I stood motionless, breathless, waiting--as it +seemed--for some new calamity.</p> +<p class="pnext">This time it was no groan I heard, but a human voice calling, at first +loudly, and then more softly, in a strange foreign tongue.</p> +<p class="pnext">I listened, and I dared not move. The silence that followed endured +for minutes, during which the seconds were punctuated by the violent +beating of my heart. And, presently, I began to think. As I mastered +my fears, I became capable of reasoning.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was folly to consider ghosts. Such superstitions were well enough +for untutored savages, wild men of the forests, but they would never do +for Richard Treadgold, who had lived his years in Sussex--though, of a +certainty, I had heard of more than one so-called haunted house between +Beachy Head and Selsey Bill.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was convinced that I had heard a human voice. I had been able even +to distinguish words, howbeit in a language that I did not comprehend. +And if that were so, it must follow that I was not the only human soul +within that gloomy ruin.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked about me, and saw in the starlight my blow-pipe, lying on the +floor. I picked it up, and placing a dart within the mouthpiece, began +to explore the place, starting at the wide entrance and making a tour +of the walls.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was not long before I came upon a square hole in the ground, edged +with shallow coping stones to keep out the water when the place was +flooded by the rains. It reminded me of a hatchway on board a ship.</p> +<p class="pnext">Below it was quite dark. I lay down upon the floor at full length with +the idea of listening: for I was now sure that I was on the track of +the secret of the place. But presently my eyes grew accustomed to the +darkness, and I saw before me a flight of narrow steps, leading +downward--as it seemed--into the very bowels of the earth.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had now mastered my fears. I was determined to be a fool no longer, +but to conduct myself like the man I wished I were. I would have +descended without a second's thought had it not been for two grave +considerations: firstly, I had no means of striking a light; and +secondly, the stairway was so narrow that I must leave behind my long +Indian blow-pipe, the only means of self-defence I had.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have set down already much by no means favourable to myself; and +therefore I have the less hesitation in recording an incident which +goes far to prove that there were moments when I was a worthy pupil and +admirer of John Bannister himself. For I went down that black and +shallow staircase, half naked as I was and quite unarmed, not knowing +what would befall me at the end of it.</p> +<p class="pnext">Half-way down, the staircase turned, when to my surprise I saw below me +the dim reflection of a light. And presently I found myself in a long +shallow chamber, where I stood bewildered.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the centre of the room was a rough stone altar upon which burned an +oil lamp of a quaint design and wrought in bronze. Of other such +lamps, similar in all respects, I counted five, lying upon the stone +flooring, each surrounded by its own pool of oil.</p> +<p class="pnext">The whole place indeed was in great disorder. Curtains of finely woven +hair had been wrenched from the walls and cast upon the ground. +Benches and short-legged tables had been overturned, and in some cases +broken. Here lay a sword, and there a spear, and here again a pistol, +broken at the small of the butt. Nor was all this the worst of it, by +any means; for immediately before me, lying in stiff, huddled +attitudes--a pathetic and a tragic thing to see--were three stone-dead +men, as sure as I first saw the light of day in Sussex.</p> +<p class="pnext">Dead they were, for they neither moved nor even breathed. And when I +sighed aloud at the wonder of it all, a fourth man whom I had not +noticed, lying upon the floor at the other end of the room, struggled +upon an elbow and cried out to me, and afterwards pointed a finger down +his throat.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was no such fool as to mistake his meaning. He wanted water to +drink, and I looked about me to find it. At the foot of the altar was +a pool of clear, crystal water, a spring that bubbled from out of the +crust of the earth, the overflow being conducted to the far end of the +chamber by means of a shallow, wooden trough. I found a drinking +vessel which, to my amazement, was of gold; and this I filled in haste, +and brought to the wounded man.</p> +<p class="pnext">For wounded he was, a leg being broken at the thighbone, so that he +could not move an inch without suffering the greatest pain. It was +this pain I daresay, as much as loss of blood, which had thrown him in +a fever; for his skin was burning to the touch.</p> +<p class="pnext">Three times I filled the cup, and each time he emptied it; and as he +drank, he thanked me with his eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then he lay back and rested, whilst I gazed upon that shambles; for a +shambles it was--blood was everywhere.</p> +<p class="pnext">I went to the dead men, to each in turn, to make sure that there was no +spark of life in any. And this was the second time that I looked upon +the cold face of death; for, sure enough, each one was dead. And they +were shot; they had been killed by leaden bullets: one in the head, +another in the heart, whereas the third, poor wretch! had died in +agony, with a great wound in his stomach.</p> +<p class="pnext">But dead though they were, I could not regard them without noticing how +different they were in features and in figure from the wild men of the +woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">The savages with whom I had sojourned for so long, for whose simple +kindness I shall be ever grateful, were of a Mongolian cast of +countenance: they had high cheek-bones, lips thinner than a negro's, +and yet thick and loose, and their eyes were almond-shaped, inclining +downwards to the nose. Also, their greatly receding foreheads and +chins suggested that they belonged to one of the lower and least +intelligent species of mankind.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the three dead men, as well as he who was yet alive, had aquiline +noses, thin lips, and rounded eyes. Also they were fully dressed in +long tunics of some woven material, open at the throat, and girdled at +the waist. They wore their hair long, but cut straight, level with the +eyebrows; and above this fringe a broad metal band encircled the head +above the ears.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked from them to the altar, and saw thereon a graven disc from +which rays extended to the extremities of the stone. Beyond doubt this +was meant to be the sun; and of a sudden I remembered that the +inhabitants of Old Peru had been wont to worship the sun.</p> +<p class="pnext">So these, perhaps, were those same Peruvian priests of whom Amos +Baverstock had spoken, they who shared with John Bannister the secret +of the Greater Treasure of the Incas.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then the truth burst upon me as in a flash--I had struck the +pathway traversed by the tiger. The death and destruction by which I +was surrounded was the work of Amos Baverstock himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">I picked up the broken pistol, looked at it in the lamplight, and knew +straightway that I had guessed aright. For I recognised it at once. +It had belonged to Joshua Trust. It was the same pistol I had seen +often in his hands, the one with which he had fired at me upon the +Littlehampton road. And if I had had any doubts upon the matter, they +would have been dispelled at once; for there were the man's initials, +"J.T.," carved with his sailor's jack-knife on the wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">I just let the broken pistol fall to the ground at my feet; and at the +noise, the wounded man, to whom I had given water, struggled again upon +an elbow, and spoke to me--<em class="italics">in English</em>.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiii-the-story-of-atupo"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id14">CHAPTER XIII--THE STORY OF ATUPO</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">"Friend?" said he; and though he pronounced the word in the strangest +fashion, I at once took his meaning.</p> +<p class="pnext">I assured him of my good intentions, that I was no friend of those who +had committed so dastardly an outrage. And at that, though in the +greatest pain--as I could see--he smiled and thanked me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I will not repeat word for word the childish broken English that he +talked. He knew nouns enough to express his meaning, but this was all +of our language that he had, and for verbs he was obliged to fall back +upon grimaces and gesticulations. These, however, were so forcible and +graphic that I was never at a loss to understand him: and during the +six weeks that this man and I lived together in the ruins, whilst his +broken leg was mending, he came to speak quite fluently in my language, +whereas--to my shame, be it confessed--I learned not a dozen words of +his.</p> +<p class="pnext">I asked him how he had picked up his English; and since I had already +guessed his answer, the familiar sound of that fond name was no less +pleasant in my ears.</p> +<p class="pnext">"John Bannister," said he; and then asked me eagerly where Bannister +now was.</p> +<p class="pnext">I shook my head, telling him as simply and as briefly as I could the +whole of my adventures, from the time when I was kidnapped a few miles +from my home beyond the seas to the day when I took my departure from +the habitations of the wild men of the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">His story I got from him by degrees, after I had tended to his wounds. +I had no knowledge of surgery, but I knew that a broken leg must be +made fast to a splint; and, borrowing a knife, I returned that very +evening to the forest, and cut a straight branch from a tree, as well +as a long coil of liana, which I wound about my shoulders like a +garden-hose.</p> +<p class="pnext">I peeled the bark from two sides of the branch to make it as smooth as +possible, and then bound it tightly to the poor man's leg by means of +the liana. I bathed his wound daily with the clean water from the +spring within the vault; and in a few days the blood ceased to flow and +the wound--a rough, ugly rent from a leaden bullet--began to heal.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was a plentiful supply of food within the chamber--bananas, dried +berries, and manioc; and together we lived, this man and I, in +uneventful idleness, he flat upon his back on a bed of rushes, I +attending to his daily wants.</p> +<p class="pnext">He claimed direct descent from the <em class="italics">incas</em> of Old Peru. He told me +much that I already knew: that in the great land which had been +discovered by Pizarro there had been two races, the common Peruvians +and those of <em class="italics">inca</em> stock. The latter was the nobility of the land, +being of royal blood; and it was they who had held the important +offices of state and formed the priesthood.</p> +<p class="pnext">Centuries ago, upon the fall of Cuzco, Cahazaxa, one of the greatest +nobles in the kingdom, escorted by an army of priests and soldiers, +conveyed the Greater Treasure across the mountains, and hid it in the +forest that extends across the whole valley of the Upper Amazon and its +tributaries. The Spaniards got wind of this, and some years +afterwards, in the year 1541, an expedition led by the redoubtable +Orellano, a lieutenant of Gonzalo Pizarro, crossed the eastern chain of +the Andes in search of El Dorado, or that country which was then but +vaguely known as the Land of the Gilded King.</p> +<p class="pnext">This "Gilded King" was Cahazaxa himself, who, at the time of Orellano's +famed expedition, had been for some months dead. But the little +civilised colony that he had established in the wilderness survived, +and continued to survive until the middle of the last century, when I +myself beheld the last of it.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, in the narration of historical and other facts, I have the +greatest regard for a certain principle, established by the Greeks: the +habit of reserving for its proper place each item of information, +whether it be of primary or secondary importance. On that account, I +ask you, therefore, for the space of a chapter or so, to bear in mind +the famous name of Orellano and his search for the Land of the Gilded +King--an affair to which I must soon refer again. I set down now only +that which the <em class="italics">inca</em> himself told me, together with such historical +facts as were known to me at the time.</p> +<p class="pnext">Cahazaxa was dead; and he was buried in a cavern, high amidst the +cloud-wrapped mountains, where his soul might rest in peace the nearer +to the God he worshipped--the life-giving and almighty Sun, who, as he +held, in the very dawn of the ages had sent Manco Copac and Mama Oello +Huaco to earth, to make the Incas of Peru glorious and great.</p> +<p class="pnext">Orellano, the Spaniard, failed to find the Treasure. Undergoing the +most terrible privations, he and his gallant followers pierced the +forest, and, making one of the most remarkable journeys in the whole +history of exploration, descended into the main stream of the great +River of Mystery--as I call the Amazon--and, finally, after eight +months of hardship and of peril, came within sight of the Atlantic.</p> +<p class="pnext">The courage of these men is much to be commended. The modern explorer +has at his service breech-loading magazine rifles, invaluable +geographical and scientific knowledge, and an adequate supply of +suitable food and drugs. But these bold Spaniards of the sixteenth +century had nothing, save their own stout hearts and strong Toledo +blades. Enough has been written concerning their greed, their bigotry +and cruelty. The story might be told again and again of their +indomitable bravery. Orellano knew not whither he was going. When he +decided to shoot the rapids, taking his life in his hands, he might as +well have thrown dice with Death. How can we do aught but honour the +land that has produced such sons as Cortez and Pizarro, Orellano, Vasco +Nunez, and Alonzo de Ojeda?</p> +<p class="pnext">But, for the present, we are more concerned with Cahazaxa, a hero no +less than these doughty Spaniards. He and his followers hid themselves +in the wilderness, and there both Orellano and Pizarro himself failed +to find them; and in this there is little to wonder at, when we +consider the immensity of the great Forest of the Amazon.</p> +<p class="pnext">They built for themselves a massive temple after the fashion of the +sacred palaces of Quito and Cuzco, dedicated to the Sun; and in course +of time they constructed roads and bridges across the rivers, founding +for themselves a colony where the civilisation of the <em class="italics">incas</em> lived for +a century or more after their own country across the mountains had +fallen under the dominion of the hated Spaniard.</p> +<p class="pnext">This was the land of the Gilded King, the country of El Dorado. Word +of its existence came to Quito, from the lips of savage aborigines +prone naturally to exaggeration; but, though party after party of +avaricious, bold adventurers crossed the mountains, the Peruvian +settlement remained undisturbed. The secret of the "Big Fish" was +never discovered either by the Spaniards or the Portuguese, who in the +next century came up the great river from the east, traversing the +country that is now called Brazil.</p> +<p class="pnext">I did not learn all this from the <em class="italics">inca</em> priest himself; but so much of +it as he could not tell me I knew already from what I had read of those +golden days when the New World was a land of Mystery and Romance, and +men thought and talked of doubloons instead of dollars.</p> +<p class="pnext">It is true, I never beheld with my own eyes the actual civilisation of +ancient Peru as it had existed in Cahazaxa's time, because, many years +before, it had died a natural death. The Peruvians, born and bred upon +the western sea-board or the great tablelands beyond the Andes, were +not able to survive in the humid atmosphere of the tropic forest. In +course of time, a colony of several thousands, whom Cahazaxa had led +across the mountains, had dwindled to a community of a few families of +the old <em class="italics">inca</em> stock, the majority of whom served as priests of the Sun +in the great ruined temple, constructed by their forefathers, which +they were not able to keep in repair.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was these men, descended in a direct line from the <em class="italics">incas</em> whom the +Spanish conquerors had driven forth from Cuzco and Quito, who guarded +the secret of the Greater Treasure. It was they who were treacherously +attacked and foully done to death by Amos Baverstock. And I will now +relate the full story of that brutal enterprise as I got it from the +lips of the man whom I befriended.</p> +<p class="pnext">Baverstock, with his three companions, had come to the temple some +weeks before, on the day they had tied me to the tree and left me to +starve to death.</p> +<p class="pnext">The priests had been greatly alarmed at the sight of the intruder, whom +they recognised at once. They remembered the time when Baverstock and +Trust had attacked the temple, and they had been obliged to fight for +their lives, and would then and there have been slaughtered, had it not +been for John Bannister, who placed himself at their head and drove +Amos forth.</p> +<p class="pnext">But Bannister was no longer with them to fortify them with his courage, +to preside at their councils, and to deal death to their enemies with +his swift, unerring aim. And they were terrified at the very sight of +Amos, as I myself had been when I first set eyes on the man upon the +Sussex shore.</p> +<p class="pnext">He demanded to know where the Greater Treasure was hidden. He reminded +them that they had lied to him once, and held forth threats that made +their blood run cold. If they lied to him again, he would return, and +no man of them would live to fool Amos Baverstock a third time.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, they dared not speak the truth, for they were sworn to secrecy +before the Sun, which they believed to be the Creator of the Universe; +and yet, they dared not lie, for they knew Amos would be as good, or as +evil, as his word.</p> +<p class="pnext">So, swearing upon all things they looked upon as holy, they set Amos +and his friends upon the right road to the "Big Fish." They told him +to follow a certain track across the grassland, until he came to a +range of down-like, grass-clad hills. Thence, to the west, lay a wood +in mid-valley, and in a glade in this wood the Treasure was buried, the +place being marked by a great red stone, standing forth in the form of +a monster fish in the act of leaping from the water. Here, clearly, +was the origin of the legend, current among the natives even to this +day, of the Big and Little Fishes. And when I heard the story as it +was told me by the <em class="italics">inca</em> priest, I confess I was conscious that my +heart beat more rapidly and the warm blood of my youth was stirred +within me.</p> +<p class="pnext">But Amos Baverstock cared nothing for legend. He lived only to lay +hands upon a horde of untold gold; and that same day he left the Temple +of Cahazaxa and set forth to the west upon his treasure hunt.</p> +<p class="pnext">And when he was gone, the priests held conference, demanding of Atupo +why he had told their enemy so much of their cherished secret--for +Atupo was the name of the surviving priest with whom I talked among the +temple ruins. For he it was who devised the scheme whereby he hoped +both to save the lives of his friends and to preserve the Greater +Treasure; and now that all had failed so dreadfully, to the great pain +he suffered from his wound was added anguish and remorse, inasmuch as +the blame was his.</p> +<p class="pnext">He advised them to arm themselves, and took with him ten of the best +archers of the little community, ordering them to steep the heads of +their arrows in the juice of the venomous weed that grows in the +forest--which is nothing more or less than strychnine, one of the most +virulent of poisons.</p> +<p class="pnext">Atupo, with these ten men, who were all young and fleet of foot, +traversed the grassland by a series of forced marches by night, so that +they outdistanced Amos and reached first the Wood of the Red Fish--for +so, with a little latitude, may be translated the old Peruvian name. +And there they laid an ambush by a pathway along which Amos, and those +with him, would be obliged to pass, and each archer was instructed to +pick out his man. Four were detailed to shoot at Amos, three at Trust, +and two each at Forsyth and the Spaniard, Vasco.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, it seems not possible that a plan so well thought out could fail; +and yet, it would seem also that here, at least, the devil helped his +own.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Mr. Forsyth, and not Amos, came first to the ambuscade; and of the +two arrows, one struck a silver tobacco tin that he chanced to be +carrying that day in the pocket over his heart, and the other sheared +off his right ear as cleanly as a tailor snips his cloth with a pair of +scissors. And in the fraction of a second, Forsyth, all bleeding from +the head, had his revolver from its holster, and had shot down two of +the priests.</p> +<p class="pnext">Thus was the alarm given to Amos and those who followed him; and there +was no question of a surprise. It came to a hand-to-hand affair, and +then a running fight amid the woodland undergrowth, in which the bow +and arrow had but a small chance against modern firearms. One by one, +the priests were dropped in their tracks, and only Atupo himself +escaped with life, though sorely wounded in the leg.</p> +<p class="pnext">He got clear of the wood, and lay hidden, day after day, in the long +grass of the plain, journeying by night towards the forest, +endeavouring to reach the ruined Temple of Cahazaxa. Though his leg +was not then broken, he could do no more than crawl a few miles at a +time, so that he was long weeks upon the road.</p> +<p class="pnext">And during all these days, Amos beat the wood from west to east, from +south to north, and failing to find the "Red Fish," believed that he +had again been sent upon a wild-goose chase; and the more firm was he +in this conviction since there had been such treachery on the part of +the <em class="italics">inca</em> priests.</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard afterwards that his wrath was like that of a madman; he stamped +and raved, and swore that he would return to the temple and put every +living soul to death. And yet, they could not move a yard upon their +backward journey, until Forsyth's life was out of danger.</p> +<p class="pnext">Without doubt, Mr. Gilbert Forsyth would have died in torture, there +amid the foothills of the distant Andes, had it not been for his own +promptitude and courage. For no sooner did he feel the poison working +inward from the wound where the arrow had cut off an ear, than he +thrust the blade of a hunting-knife into a glowing charcoal camp-fire, +and himself placed the red-hot steel upon the lacerated flesh.</p> +<p class="pnext">And though he fainted at the time, and fell afterwards into a raging +fever, this action saved, perhaps, his life. In the wilderness, +rough-and-ready methods are often unavoidable; only he who is bold and +strong can survive, whilst the weakling falls by the way. That +Forsyth, despite his affectations and his London ways, was a man of +action who could face pain as well as danger, this deed of his was in +itself enough to prove. With his own hand he burned the poison from +his flesh.</p> +<p class="pnext">For all that, he lingered for many days betwixt life and death; and it +was the delay caused thereby that gave Atupo time to regain the temple.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had intended to give warning to his brother priests, and for this +purpose he arrived none too soon. Many were so alarmed at the news of +the disaster that they departed instantly, seeking shelter in the +forest and taking with them their wives and families. But three +remained, to collect the sacred lamps and vessels that were within the +Temple, meaning to set forth the following day. And these were caught +at midnight by Amos, who turned assassin then and there; for it was he +who killed them with his own hands, in the great vault beneath the +ruins.</p> +<p class="pnext">Atupo, too, he shot, though the man lay wounded on the ground, +exhausted after the effort of his long journey across the grassland, +and left him there for dead, his already wounded leg fractured a few +inches below the hip.</p> +<p class="pnext">All this I learned from the man himself, while I nursed him under the +Temple--all save the story of the fortitude of Mr. Forsyth, of which I +heard afterwards, as in due time I will tell.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xiv-the-glade-of-silent-death"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">CHAPTER XIV--THE GLADE OF SILENT DEATH</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">When I had heard the story of Atupo, it seemed to me that I knew all +there was to know concerning the "Big Fish." And a feeling of +restlessness at once possessed me; I desired to be up and doing, to +venture myself across the grassland, to find the Wood of the Red Fish, +for which the bold Spaniards of a bygone century had searched so often +and in vain.</p> +<p class="pnext">But I stood in the debt of charity and honour, and in consequence I +felt for all the world like a kennelled dog that tugs barking on his +chain. For some weeks, at least, I must stay by the side of the +wounded man, whom I could now call my friend. And if those days were +something idle, we were by no means out of danger; for any day Amos +Baverstock might return when, of a certainty, it would go ill with +Atupo and myself.</p> +<p class="pnext">I found ample time throughout this period of my adventuring to explore +the neighbourhood of the Temple, and many things I found of the +greatest interest. About a mile distant from the ruins was the village +where the Peruvians had lived, and here also was a great convent built +of stone and thatched with straw, after the fashion of the palaces in +ancient Quito. In this convent--so Atupo told me--had dwelt some score +of nuns, vestal virgins, whose lives were dedicated to the Sun, just as +there had been such maidens in the service of Jupiter and Mars in the +great temples of Rome; for in many respects did the ancient Peruvians +resemble the Romans: they were great builders of roads, bridges, and +forts; every man must serve the state; and the Inca, on returning from +his victories, would march in public triumph through the chief city of +the land.</p> +<p class="pnext">I found both the village and the convent quite deserted; for--as I have +said--on hearing of the approach of Amos and his friends, the Peruvians +had fled into the forest, preferring to run the risk of death at the +hands of the wild men with their poisoned arrows, or from starvation in +the midst of that unending wilderness, to finding themselves once again +face to face with that implacable and murderous villain who had sworn +to put them all--woman, man, and child--relentlessly to death.</p> +<p class="pnext">I learned afterwards that few of these poor fugitives survived; for +Amos burned their homes to the ground and left not one stone upon +another; and this he did in wrath and malice, since it served him no +better purpose than to waste his time, and that at a moment when his +fate was jeopardised and he himself stood betwixt life and death.</p> +<p class="pnext">When I saw the convent and the village, the place was just as the +inhabitants had left it; and in such haste had they departed that I +even found cooking-pots containing stews, all cold and jellified, +standing in the ashes of burnt-out fires. The only sign of life to be +seen was a number of llamas, long-necked Peruvian sheep, grazing in the +shadow of the convent walls.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now I am arrived at that part of my story when I came within an ace +of losing life itself, and was only delivered at the eleventh hour by +what was little short of the miraculous. For, in course of time, Atupo +was healed of his wound, and well able, with the help of a staff, to +hobble about the temple. It was then that I told him of my plans, of +how I longed to journey to the Wood of the Red Fish, if for nothing +else than to gaze upon the treasure of the Incas.</p> +<p class="pnext">He listened patiently to all I had to say, and then sighed deeply.</p> +<p class="pnext">"As you will," said he. "Of what use now is all this gold? My brother +priests are slain, my people are scattered broadcast; the children of +Cahazaxa are no more. Find your way, if you will, to the 'Big Fish.' +I have told you where it lies. Feast your eyes upon the wealth that +was once the glory of Peru. The race of the Incas is ended; the blood +of kings is cold; even our gods are dead."</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew that he referred to certain images in the Temple which Amos had +wantonly destroyed; and I was sorry for the man.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You will come with me?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">But he shook his head.</p> +<p class="pnext">"That is not possible," he answered. "And even were it so, there would +be naught to gain. I am already too greatly in your debt, and were I +to accompany you, I should be a hindrance and a danger."</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not deny the truth of this, though I was loth to leave him, +weak and crippled as he was. And yet, it was manifest that we could +not remain for an indefinite time within the Temple: sooner or later, +our provisions would run out, and, any day, Amos might return.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Where will you go?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">He pointed towards the forest.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Thither," said he; and there was a certain nobility in his manner when +he added, "to find my own people; for find them I will, in this world +or beyond the grave. Death holds no fears for the sons of Cahazaxa."</p> +<p class="pnext">And so, some days afterwards, we parted: he, to the east, to the dark, +spreading forest; I, to the west, across the grassland, upon my +treasure quest, to search for the Wood of the Ked Fish and the lost +Treasure of Kings.</p> +<p class="pnext">I set forth upon my great adventure all naked like a savage, save for a +loin-cloth of woven hair that Atupo, the priest, had given me. I was +armed with my long Indian blow-pipe and a quiverful of darts. And I +went into that strange, romantic land alone, without guide, compass or +companion, never knowing at night-time, when I lay down to sleep, what +calamity or fortune the morrow held in store for me. And this, I stand +convinced even to this day, when my hairs are white and shoulders +bowed, is the only way to live and to die.</p> +<p class="pnext">For three days I traversed a great plain of rolling, down-like country, +that reminded me somewhat of my own dear Sussex, save that the grass +was coarse and longer. Some miles before me was a high ridge that +stood forth at sunset like a battlement across the sky; and I knew that +I must gain the crest of this before I could find the Wood of the Red +Fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">Presently, however, I found my progress impeded by a river that had +worked its way throughout the centuries deep into the rock, so that it +flowed between almost perpendicular cliffs.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could neither see nor devise any manner of crossing. I sat down upon +the edge of the cañon and ate some of the manioc I had brought with me +from the temple. I remembered that both Amos and Atupo had somehow +crossed the river; and this thought was not a little encouraging. +Across the grassland I had followed no track or pathway, so that when I +had found a means of crossing the cañon, I must know that I was once +again upon the right road to the wood that I was seeking.</p> +<p class="pnext">That night, in full moonshine, I worked up-stream for many miles upon +the left bank of the ravine. I slept for a few hours, and at daybreak +continued my journey, and a little after, came quite suddenly upon one +of the most wondrous things that I have ever seen.</p> +<p class="pnext">For there before me was a great and magnificent suspension bridge, +spanning the width of the ravine--a distance, I should say, of thirty +or forty yards. The cables of this bridge were made of the twisted +fibre of maguey, a kind of osier, and were at least three feet in +diameter. It was hard to realise that the whole structure stood there +more or less as it had been erected, centuries before; but it seemed to +me an even more wonderful thing that, in the midst of such a desolate +and barren region, I should so suddenly have come across evidence of +the greatest skill in engineering. I could scarce believe that I had +passed through an almost impenetrable tropical forest to traverse a +ravine as easily as I might have walked along the familiar dyke from +Sidlesham to Pagham.</p> +<p class="pnext">The bridge itself was no more than a footbridge, but it served its +purpose well enough; and, crossing over, I hit almost at once upon a +pathway through the grass. This I lost at nightfall, but I continued +on my way in the moonlight, working upward upon a slope that rapidly +became steeper.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the small hours of the morning, sheer fatigue brought me to a halt +by the side of a spring of clear water, bubbling forth from the earth. +And here I drank and ate, breathing deeply of the cool fresh air of the +uplands, which was like strong wine to me after the humid atmosphere of +the forest; so that I slumbered as I had not slept for months, since I +had left my home in Sussex, nor did I awaken until the morning sun was +high.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw that I had but a little way to go to reach the crestline of the +hills--an hour's climb would do it; and I set forward gleefully, in +high anticipation, wondering what lay beyond the watershed, and whether +I would sight the Wood of the Red Fish, but little dreaming what would +there befall me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I reached the summit hot and out of breath; and then I stood stock +still, breathless in wonderment and all amazed.</p> +<p class="pnext">I cast not one glance towards the wide valley at my feet. I stood +staring before me, like one dumbfounded, at the gorgeous panorama I +beheld. For yonder, more than a hundred miles away, but clear in the +morning sun at the back of me, stood the mighty and majestic Andes. +Snow-crowned they were, rugged as a wild sea, and yet bold and still +and massive as the thrones of gods. And I, who had never seen such +mountains in my life, was awed and wonder-struck; and I realised, I am +sure, the glory of the works of God.</p> +<p class="pnext">I gazed--it may have been, for an hour, sitting cross-legged, naked as +the wild men of the woods, with my blow-pipe on my knees--at that great +range of mountains that spans near half the world, extending almost +from pole to pole. And then I looked down into the valley, and the +thought that I was now within a day's march of my goal banished from my +mind all loftier thoughts, and I found myself wondering whether it was +I who was to find, at last, the lost land of El Dorado.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the valley was cut up into marshland, plains and hillocks, in and +out of which a river wandered, now and again to open out into a lake or +swamp, in which there were little tree-clad islands. But to the north +was a wood, diamond-shaped, flanked to the east by a spur of the hills, +and to the west by a morass where I could see the water glittering in +the sunlight.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the foothills across the valley was a considerable forest, extending +as far as the eye could reach; but I could not doubt that the wood in +mid-valley, to the right of me, being so like the description which +Atupo, the priest, had given me, was the Wood of the Red Fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then and there I set forward running, for I was young and +hot-headed, and had not yet learned that time is but the slave of man, +and that patience and caution are of more worth than eager haste.</p> +<p class="pnext">So I came, that evening, hot and thirsty to the wood, and then, in the +darkness of the trees, whilst the sun was setting, I stood like a fool, +irresolute and wearied, not knowing what next that I should do.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was hungry as well, for I had eaten all the food I had carried with +me from the temple, and saw now that I must trust to my blow-pipe for +sustenance, and kill what came my way that might be fit to eat. +Fortunately, during my sojourn with the wild men, I had learned +something of Indian woodcraft; and setting about my business without +further loss of time, I searched at random in the wood until I found a +glade where there was a pool of water, and here I crouched under cover, +lying motionless, with my blow-pipe ready for whatsoever animal might +come down to the pool to drink whilst the evening light still lasted.</p> +<p class="pnext">This place--though I then knew it not--was the Glade of Silent Death; +and I have given it that name for a certain reason, which was in very +truth a tragedy.</p> +<p class="pnext">There came, as I waited, to the woodland pool a small kind of deer; and +he waded knee-deep into the water that he might drink. As he did so, I +thought that I perceived some movement on the surface, as it might have +been a rat swimming swiftly a distance of a few yards. I took no heed +of it at the time, my attention being taken up with my blow-pipe, that +I might strike the deer stone-dead, beneath the point of the left +shoulder, placing my arrow deep in the poor beast's heart.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was about to shoot, when suddenly he kicked, and then endeavoured +with a jerk to throw himself backward on his haunches. To my +astonishment I observed that he was held fast by the nose, which might +have been gripped in a vice, and that in spite of all his efforts he +was being dragged steadily and slowly deeper into the pool.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was as if I were smitten by a cold rush of ice, when the truth was +made quite plain to me. It was that half-light of evening, which is +neither day nor night, when the early moon vies with the dying +sunlight. And I saw the monster writhing coils of a great serpent rise +dripping from the water and enfold the broken stump of a tree.</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew now that the deer was doomed; and so illogical is human nature +that I experienced two emotions: terror of the reptile and pity for the +beast that but a moment since I myself would have gladly slain for food.</p> +<p class="pnext">No doubt the anaconda stood in need of nourishment as much as I, and +wanted more of it, to boot. But snakes were accursed things since +Eden, and this vile, stealthy giant more so than most, because of his +great bulk and strength. I know now that he was nearer thirty than +twenty feet in length, and that his girth about the middle was greater +than that of my own chest, though I was a strong lad for my years.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now that he had lashed himself to the tree-stump, the deer was +lost. Its head was already under water, so that in a few moments the +animal must be drowned. It would then be crushed to a pulp in the +powerful, band-like coils of the constrictor, covered all over with a +loathsome saliva, to be swallowed slowly and gradually, and yet in bulk.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could see the head of the snake, for the light was fading and the +deer in its death struggle lashed the water into foam. But I could see +the great glistening body of the reptile but a few yards away from me, +and into the thickest part of this I drove one of the darts from my +Indian blow-pipe, and as I did so, shuddered, more revolted than afraid.</p> +<p class="pnext">The effect was instantaneous and surprising. My dart must have struck +the snake in the region of the spinal cord, for the great length of the +brute curled backward like the lash of a whip; and the deer, released +from those murderous coils, scrambled from the water, panting and +exhausted, with its red tongue hanging from its mouth.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then the animal fell dead upon the ground, but a few feet from +where I lay. I could feel my own heart beating within me like a +sledge-hammer. For some minutes I gazed at the pool that rocked and +swelled like a sea in miniature. There came ripples, one after the +other, to the water's edge, where they lipped and splashed like little +waves. And then, at last, all was still--still as glass in the +moonlight. But I knew that the great snake was somewhere near me, and +my sole desire was to escape from that dread, silent place, and that as +quickly as I might. And yet, the primal instinct of mankind was strong +within me, the love of life that is sustained by food; and as I drew +back into the thickets of the underwoods, I dragged with me by the +horns the lifeless body of the deer.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xv-how-i-beheld-a-miracle"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16">CHAPTER XV--HOW I BEHELD A MIRACLE</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I found a place where I could rest and eat; and there I cut steaks from +the deer with a quaint knife which had been given me by Atupo--for I +now prided myself on being a hunter of experience--and made a fire of +dried sticks and leaves.</p> +<p class="pnext">The heat of the night was excessive, and I had little need of the +warmth; but I was glad of the light of the flames, for I was still much +shaken by my adventure with the great constrictor, and had imagined +vague, savage enemies amid the dark thickets that hedged me in.</p> +<p class="pnext">It will be noted that I have referred to the snake as a "constrictor"; +but, from this, it must not be thought that the monster was a boa. The +family of the boas, known scientifically as the <em class="italics">boidae</em>, contains many +species which are to be found in all parts of the world: the diamond +snake of Australia, the rock python of Natal, the Indian python, and +the great South American genera--the anaconda and the true +boa-constrictor.</p> +<p class="pnext">All these reptiles are remarkable for the partial development of hinder +limbs, proving conclusively that the snakes and lizards are nearly +related to one another. These rudimentary limbs, however, are not +visible in the living animals, being covered by the skin, but are quite +evident in their skeletons. It is also of interest to remember that +birds have evolved from reptiles, the forelegs having been converted +into wings.</p> +<p class="pnext">All the constrictors kill their prey by crushing, and none have +poison-fangs; and though these species are, with one or two exceptions, +the largest snakes in the world, they move, whether in the water or +among the tree-tops, in absolute silence. That which I myself attacked +was undoubtedly an anaconda; and I know this for sure, because, though +the light was bad, I distinctly saw two rows of great, dark spots upon +his back, and not a black chain, which is the distinguishing mark of +the boa-constrictor. Besides, the anaconda is essentially a +water-snake, whereas the boa, though he will take readily to water, +lives as a rule among the trees.</p> +<p class="pnext">Well, though I shudder when I think of the brute, I had no real cause +at the time to abuse him, for I might not have slain the deer with my +blow-pipe, and I was now supplied with food so long as the meat would +keep in that steaming hothouse of a jungle.</p> +<p class="pnext">I did not sleep so well that night, weary though I was. I think I was +not so much afraid as oppressed by an almost overwhelming sense of +loneliness.</p> +<p class="pnext">Quite suddenly I realised, as I sat by my camp-fire, chewing the +venison steaks--which were inordinately tough--that I was utterly +alone. For weeks I had enjoyed the company of Atupo, and before that +of the wild men; and even Amos and his companions, my sworn enemies, +had human voices to which I had been wont to listen of an evening by +the fire when the day's march was ended. But here was I indeed, alone +in the dark wilderness, and I could not but recognise that the woods +around me were alive, that life in a thousand shapes and forms was all +about me, unseen, but not unheard.</p> +<p class="pnext">For I listened to strange and little noises everywhere--upon the +ground, in the thick undergrowth, among the great trees that towered +above me. My strained ears heard, perhaps, sounds that never were; but +I know that great moths came fluttering to my fire, and leaves moved +where insects crept and crawled, and now and again some kind of cricket +would begin to sing, only to cease quite suddenly, I should think, on +the approach of danger.</p> +<p class="pnext">They all lived, thought I, on sufferance, by the grace of the great God +who made them all, and me as well. For I was one with them, even these +little living things of the endless wilderness, encompassed by so many +dangers, at the mercy of the great forces of Nature that might at any +moment rise against us and stamp out our little lives.</p> +<p class="pnext">And I thought, too, of Amos. In the silence and the darkness, my old +dread of the man returned; and I asked myself where was he all these +months, and what were he and his companions doing?</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew that, like myself, he had been searching for the Treasure in +this same Wood of the Red Fish; but I could not think that he was still +in the neighbourhood. At the time, of course, I knew nothing of +Forsyth's wound, which had delayed Baverstock so long; and when I +afterwards came to work the matter out, I arrived at the conclusion +that Amos must have left the wood on the very night when I encountered +the anaconda. He then returned to the temple, and, finding both the +ruins and the village quite deserted, gave unholy vent to his wrath by +burning everything that fire could touch. He then came back upon his +own tracks, by way of the suspension bridge, drawn to the Red Fish like +steel to a magnet, for the man's soul itself was magnetised by gold.</p> +<p class="pnext">And all this time was I searching in the wood. For ten days I roamed +here and there, living upon wild fruits and berries, and the birds I +slew with my blow-pipe. Atupo had given me certain vague directions, +which had seemed clear enough to me at the time. However, the man's +knowledge of our language was but imperfect, and the wood itself a +veritable maze, a labyrinth of shallow, twisting tunnels, from which +the sunlight was eternally shut out.</p> +<p class="pnext">I wandered daily, lost in very truth, and came often to the Glade of +Silent Death, near which place I would never venture to sleep for fear +of the great serpent that I knew lay somewhere in the pool.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the tenth night of my wanderings, I received something in the nature +of a shock. I had made my camp-fire somewhat earlier than was my wont, +and a small, gay-feathered bird that I had shot and plucked was +roasting over the red-hot charcoal, when, of a sudden, a shot from a +rifle rang out in the woods not far from where I was.</p> +<p class="pnext">I sprang to my feet, in a high state of alarm, and kicked the fire +broadcast, for I had gone barefooted for so long that the soles of my +feet were like leather. And even as I did so, several other shots were +fired in quick succession.</p> +<p class="pnext">I ate my bird half cooked--for I was hungry--and sat in the darkness +for hour upon hour, certain that Amos himself was near at hand, and +filled with apprehension.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had a good mind that night to give up my quest, to return to the +grassland, where I could breathe the open air and feel the warmth of +Heaven's sun upon me, hoping that thence I might somehow find my way +back to the abodes of civilised men. I was sick at heart for want of +the sound of a human voice and the sight of those I loved.</p> +<p class="pnext">What would be my fate in that dark wilderness, armed only with my +blow-pipe, if I should fall into the hands of men like Amos Baverstock +and Trust? In my thinking, the shots that I had heard could have been +fired by no one else. And yet, of my own free will, for three days +longer I delayed within the wood; and now, when I can look back upon +those wild, adventurous days, I am devoutly thankful that I did.</p> +<p class="pnext">My own audacity can be explained, I think, by the fact that I was now +three parts a savage. I was, as one might say, on friendly terms with +danger. Peril and I had sojourned together for so long that I had come +to regard even grim Death itself as no such weighty matter. Life was +no more to me than to the little wild things that I daily slew for +food. And so, for three days, I continued my searching in the jungle, +howbeit acting more cautiously than before, making little noise and +pausing frequently to listen.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then, by chance, I made a great discovery. At the time, in very +truth, I did believe that I beheld the manifestation of a miracle; and +I warrant that he that reads this will think the same, when I have set +down the facts as they occurred.</p> +<p class="pnext">I came, late of an afternoon, upon an open place where there were rocks +among the trees; and between these rocks the ground was soft, the soil +quite black, being composed of the decayed vegetation of many tropic +seasons. Here I found footmarks of living men, and, moreover, men who +were no strangers to leather boots.</p> +<p class="pnext">That more than one of them had visited this very place, I was well +convinced, since the footmarks bore evidence of at least two pairs of +boots--one with great hobnails, and the other without. I never doubted +that I had hit upon the trail of Amos and his friends; and I had--as I +thought--sure proof of this, a little after, when I came upon an empty +cartridge-case.</p> +<p class="pnext">The most of us believe that we have latent abilities, little suspected +by our friends, that we are never called upon to use. I have heard it +said that the great Duke of Wellington thought little of himself as +soldier, but far too much of his reputation as a politician. And on +this occasion it was something pleasing to my vanity to play the part +of a detective, though I knew not the very alphabet of the business. I +examined the footmarks, and made quite sure that I had found the trail +of Joshua Trust, who wore, I knew, a pair of heavy boots with hobnails; +and the brass cartridge-case--which I have kept to this day as a +memento--had, I surmised, once been the property of Amos. So I went +down on hands and knees, groping in the half-light of the woods to see +what else I could discover. And whilst thus employed, I hit upon the +miracle that all but cost me life itself.</p> +<p class="pnext">I found a place beneath the rocks where there was a smooth stone slab, +fashioned plainly by the hand of man. And this rocked gently when I +pressed my weight upon it, which suggested that it had been moved quite +recently.</p> +<p class="pnext">In any case, both the shape and the size of the thing bewildered me, +for it was all the world like a tombstone. And one would not think to +find tombstones in the tropic wilderness beneath the Andes.</p> +<p class="pnext">I found the stone quite easy to lift, for it was thin as a plank, and +had a hole in the middle, through which I could place a hand. And then +I stood gazing into the cavity below.</p> +<p class="pnext">And as I gazed, I gasped. I drew back a little, with a quick catch of +the breath, and then came forward once again, to stand staring, like +one who is entirely daft, at what lay at my feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the round moon, of a surety, shone down into a tomb; and there +before me was a corpse--or what had been a corpse, four hundred years +ago. There lay a skeleton, white-boned and horrible--moreover, a +skeleton that was encased in armour.</p> +<p class="pnext">He who lay there before me in the moonlight had once been a man and a +soldier of old Spain; for his bony hands were crossed upon his chest +and held between them the handle of a naked sword. And at his head was +a steel helmet, and the trunk of his body was enclosed in a +breastplate; so that I could see naught but his grinning skull and the +white bones of his legs and arms.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stood and looked, and wondered. I wondered who he was, how he had +come there, and of the tales that he could tell, were life to return to +this bold adventurer of four hundred years ago. Though I do not fear +death more than most men, I dread even to this day to look upon the +face of it; and it took me time to gather my courage in both hands and +to light a fire by the graveside, that I might see the better and solve +so much of the mystery as I could.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have no proof--for we can seldom prove the past--but must weigh what +evidence there is. For all that, I am convinced--now that I have +thought and talked of it all to John Bannister and others--that I +looked then upon the remnants of one of the soldiers of the gallant +Orellano. I could not judge of the quality of the rusted steel of his +breastplate and his sword; but I should think that he had been an +officer of some distinction; since, on close inspection, I discovered +that the long blade had been damascened in silver, a metal that will +never rust. And that set my mind a-thinking of the great and gallant +men who had been the first to cross to the Pacific, to whom to-day--in +spite of all their bigotry and cruelty--the world owes so much.</p> +<p class="pnext">If one of Orellano's followers had lain buried in this place for all +this time, how nearly had the Spaniards come to finding the Greater +Treasure! I was not far, I knew, from the Big Fish, though I had +searched the Wood for days and never found it. And Orellano had +crossed the mountains to the west in search of El Dorado, and, having +failed in his purpose, had gone on down to the great river, and thence +to the Atlantic. And here lay one of his stout-hearted lieutenants, +buried like a Christian warrior, with the arms he had fought with, +within a few miles from where the Treasure lay.</p> +<p class="pnext">Wonder-struck, and not without great reverence, I put back the sword +between those bony hands, and then lifted the helmet to see if that, +too, could tell me anything concerning this tragedy of long ago. +Besides, I was curious to know how the man had met his death. Had he +been slain by a savage Indian? Or had he died of some fell, tropical +disease? And so I took the helmet in my hands; and when I did so, +something white fell out.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stooped and picked it up, and then examined it by the fire that I had +lighted. It was parchment--it was a fragment of a map--a piece torn +from the corner of a larger sheet. I looked at it and rubbed my eyes, +and looked again, to be sure that I was not dreaming.</p> +<p class="pnext">If I did not dream, then I was wholly mad. The thought came to me that +I had fallen into a fever, and now suffered one of those delusions +which are common enough when the heart is racing and the brow dry and +burning.</p> +<p class="pnext">I felt my pulse and the skin upon my forearm, and found that I was wet +with sweat. Nor was I mad or dreaming, for I was Dick Treadgold, and +my home lay far away, upon the Sussex shore. And yet, that which I +held in my hand was the very fragment of John Bannister's map which I +myself had torn from the hands of Amos Baverstock--that same fragment +which I had thrust, to the full length of my arm, down a rabbit-hole, +by Middleton, for fear that it should fall into the possession of that +scoundrel, Joshua Trust.</p> +<p class="pnext">There can be no disputing the testimony of a torn piece of paper. +There is, I believe, a celebrated murder trial, quoted in books of law +as an example of irrefutable circumstantial evidence, wherein the +murderer and the murdered man are each found in possession of a torn +piece of newspaper, these two fragments fitting together line for line +without a letter missing.</p> +<p class="pnext">You will never tear a sheet of paper twice in precisely the same way, +though you try a million times. In this case, I had the evidence of my +eyes and of my memory. It was the very fragment I had snatched from +the hands of Amos; I remembered the shape of it; I remembered the shape +also of the torn edge of the map that Amos himself had carried into the +wilderness; and, above all, there were the letters "AHAZAXA," the +rending of the parchment having decapitated the name "Cahazaxa."</p> +<p class="pnext">At first sight, what could look more like a miracle? There was no +question of coincidence. Here were two facts that, normally, could in +no way be related to one another: a rabbit burrows a hole for himself +upon the sandhills by the English Channel, and in the sixteenth century +a brave Spanish soldier lays down his life, and is buried in the +wilderness of South America. It will be readily understood that it +took me time to realise what I could certainly not explain.</p> +<p class="pnext">How came that fragment there? And why? I regarded the stained and +yellow parchment that I held in my hand as I sat by the side of the +fire, and felt even a trifle afraid of it. I had heard stories of +mummies coming to life, of inanimate objects--such as jasper scarabæi, +totems, and wooden, heathen gods--becoming active agencies for good or +evil. Had this thing taken wings upon itself, and flown across half +the world? Fate or luck--call it what you will--had guided me to find +it. But why should a document so precious have sought a refuge in the +rusted helmet of a soldier of fortune, who once, perhaps, had clinked +his sword in the gay courts of Granada or the narrow streets of old +Cadiz, who lay now amid the silence of the tropic jungle--a few +blanched and silly bones?</p> +<p class="pnext">I had no answer for these questions of my own, though I sat long into +the night and racked my brains for a solution of the problem. It was, +in consequence, an hour, as I should guess, before I could look the +bare fact in the countenance, before I could acknowledge the situation +as it was.</p> +<p class="pnext">No matter how it came there, by means comprehensible or supernatural, +there it was. And then, quite suddenly, I realised what it was. <em class="italics">I +had as good as found the Treasure</em>.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvi-i-find-the-big-fish"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17">CHAPTER XVI--I FIND THE "BIG FISH"</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">For a considerable time I had regarded this small piece of parchment in +the light of a mystery, a species of conjuring trick, just as one +regards the billiard-ball, the rabbit, or the eggs that a conjuror +produces from the upturned sleeve of his shirt. But now I saw quite +clearly that the thing had an intrinsic value, a significance of its +own; it bore a certain definite message--a message that most nearly +concerned myself.</p> +<p class="pnext">Eagerly, with hands that trembled somewhat, I studied the map. It will +be remembered that the portion which Amos possessed had been torn +across the place where was marked the Temple of Cahazaxa. Upon the +fragment that had come into my hands by so strange and mysterious a +chance, I was able to trace the route that I myself had taken from the +temple ruins to the Wood of the Red Fish. The ravine was shown, and +that wonderful suspension-bridge that had so amazed me when I saw it. +From the hills to the east--from the crestline of which I bad viewed +the distant glory of the Andes--a track was marked, leading towards the +south; whereas I, in hot haste at the time, had continued upon my way +due westward.</p> +<p class="pnext">Now, this track was shown to lead to a certain stream that came forth +from the Wood of the Red Fish upon the south. And it was called the +Brook of Scarlet Pebbles, an Indian name being thus translated in red +ink in the handwriting of John Bannister.</p> +<p class="pnext">The map had been drawn to no scale. Like many ancient and mediæval +documents, it was entirely without proportion or perspective. For +instance, the Wood itself--which was never more than fifteen miles +across--appeared to be of area equal to that vast tract of country that +lay between the great mountain to the north of the forest and the +Temple of Cahazaxa--a journey that had taken us many weeks.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was some sense in this; for in regard to the Wood of the Red +Fish, where the Treasure itself was hidden, it was necessary to be +precise, if the map were to be of any value. I saw that one must +follow the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles, until it entered a pool, where +Bannister had written the words: "Electric Eels." There, it appeared, +the stream flowed underground, for its course was dotted, and these +dots ended at a cross, bearing the words: "THE RED FISH IS HERE."</p> +<p class="pnext">This cross referred, as I could see at a glance, to certain marginal +notes, written in such minute handwriting that it was all that I could +do to read them, especially in view of the fact that Bannister's red +ink had faded. At last, however, I managed to make out the following +inscription:</p> +<blockquote> +<div> +<p class="pfirst">"<em class="italics">The tail of the Fish. A blow-pipe from the nose of the Fish. Twenty +yards across the Brook. Three feet, below the ground--a Ring.</em>"</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">This I read to myself over and over again. At one moment I thought it +clear enough, and at the next, too vague. At all events, thought I, I +will find out when I get there, for thither I intended to go.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not sleep that night, and I will not go so far as to say that I +tried to. I was so thrilled and mystified that my thoughts were +running riot; and surely there is little to wonder at in this. The +bones of the Spanish warrior lay in the ground beneath me, together +with his armour and his sword, for I had put back the tombstone in its +place and covered it again with a thin layer of soil. That brave +adventurer slept in tranquillity in the silent chamber of the heart of +the tropic jungle. He and the sword I have little doubt he had wielded +with such subtlety and skill were now alike at rest. His +treasure-hunt, at least, was ended; but mine was only just begun.</p> +<p class="pnext">For I was determined to set forward when the daylight came, to search +for the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles. If I found the margin of the Wood, +and followed this towards the south, I must sooner or later hit upon +the stream--if the map had any claim to accuracy. I could then follow +the brook, until eventually I found the Red Fish itself; and, if I +could not then associate any definite meaning with the queer, +disjointed words in the margin of the map, my own intelligence must +alone be held to blame.</p> +<p class="pnext">One of the reasons why I could not sleep was that I had committed these +words to memory and kept repeating them to myself, just like a parrot, +without any idea as to their meaning. That they had a meaning I never +doubted, for John Bannister himself had written them; and though I was +now grown older and had had many strange adventures of my own, I had +still my ancient and profound respect for the wisdom of my hero.</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought of him that night, but more of Amos Baverstock, whom I +believed to be somewhere near at hand, upon the same quest as I. On +that account, I realised that I must make haste upon the morrow. I had +risked so much already, I had undergone so many hardships, that I was +determined--now that I thought myself within reach of my goal--to see +the business through. From the hills to the east I had looked down +upon the Wood, and knew that it was not three days' march from one side +to the other, though the undergrowth was thick and tangled; and +therefore I knew also that the Red Fish could not be far away.</p> +<p class="pnext">I think I slept a little in the early hours of the morning, to be +awakened by the birds stirring in the trees, and the daylight streaming +from above through that same gap by means of which my nightly task had +been illumined by the moon. I ate such food as I had left, and then +set forth towards the east, guiding my footsteps as well as I was able +by the light of the rising sun.</p> +<p class="pnext">I came, at about midday, to the eastern side of the Wood, and looked +out towards the hills whither I had journeyed from the plain. Thence, +I turned towards the south and, walking once again in open country, +progressed at a fair pace, and never once sat down to rest, until the +daylight waned. I went then into the Wood, and searched for berries +that I knew were fit to eat; and when I had eaten these, I lay down +beneath a great tree and immediately fell fast asleep.</p> +<p class="pnext">The following morning, I continued my journey along the margin of the +Wood. My naked body was now burned by the sun to the colour of an +Indian's skin. Indeed, I am not sure that I was not even darker of +complexion than the wild woodland people with whom I had lived. My +hair was long, like that of a savage, for it had not been cut for +months. I had a leather girdle over a shoulder from which depended an +Indian quiver filled with darts. And there was something of the joy of +life within me, as I swung upon my way. I had health, at least, if I +wore no clothes upon my back. I felt convinced that my footsteps were +leading me to the hidden Treasure of the Incas; and I tossed my +blow-pipe in the air and caught it, time and again.</p> +<p class="pnext">The joy of life was in me, and the spirit of adventure. The sun shone +down upon me, and I breathed deeply of the open air; for the wind was +from the east, and the rank smell of decaying vegetation--so general +throughout the Wood--was no longer in my nostrils.</p> +<p class="pnext">And, presently, I came upon the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles. The water +was clear as crystal, and I went down upon my knees to drink my fill, +for I was thirsty. There was no question that I had found the stream +for which I had been searching, since the water flowed over a bed of +little rounded stones, every one of which was in colouring some tone or +tint of red. They ranged from pink to crimson; and they were all of +granite, though worn as smooth as marbles.</p> +<p class="pnext">Here was the brook that I must follow; so I turned into the Wood again, +and all that day followed the course of the stream, which winded and +twisted in so many directions that I wondered I had never seen it +before.</p> +<p class="pnext">That afternoon, being hungry for the taste of meat, I killed with my +blow-pipe a great bird that I found sitting on a branch, blinking like +an owl. I think he was some kind of bustard. At any rate, he was good +to eat, when roasted, and I sat long by my camp-fire, picking his bones +with my fingers. Then I pulled out my fragment of the map and looked +at it.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was manifest that I was not yet come to that part of the brook where +its course was marked by means of little dots; but, knowing the full +extent of the Wood, I had a good reason to suppose that I was not far +from my destination. And then I read again the queer marginal +instructions: <em class="italics">The tail of the Fish</em>--I must see that for myself; <em class="italics">a +blow-pipe from the nose of the Fish</em>--whatever that might mean, at all +events I had a blow-pipe, and a good one, too. As for the rest, I gave +it up. It was a riddle that I would solve when I got there--I felt +quite sure of that. I folded up the map and placed it in my quiver, +the nearest thing to a pocket that I possessed.</p> +<p class="pnext">And the next day I continued on my way, following the course of the +Brook of Scarlet Pebbles. I noticed that these pebbles were now larger +than before, and were so deep red in the shadow under the trees that +the clear water had the look of blood. Then I came to the pool, and +thought at first that the brook was come to an end.</p> +<p class="pnext">There were no pebbles here, but mud; and in my eagerness I waded in, to +be made at once painfully conscious of a tingling sensation in my legs. +Now and again something touched me--something quick and slimy; and each +time I received a shock. I had forgotten, for the moment, all about +the electric eels; but, when I remembered it, I was more pleased than +startled, for I knew that, so far, I was on the right track and that +the map could be relied upon.</p> +<p class="pnext">All about the pool was dense and tangled underwood, the branches of +which dipped here and there into the water. And there were also water +plants, some with flat, floating leaves, others tall reeds with +plume-like heads.</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew that this pool was not the termination of the brook; and yet, +though I searched for a long time, I could find no continuation of the +stream, until an idea occurred to me which at once solved the problem. +I plucked the little down-like feathers from one of my blow-pipe darts. +And these, at intervals of a few yards, I dropped upon the surface of +the water, all around the bank of the pool, until I found the stream +itself, flowing through a dense clump of thickets.</p> +<p class="pnext">Through this I broke my way, and as I did so, I remembered the +anaconda, and was filled with my old fear of snakes. It was plain +already that my surmise had been wrong. The brook did not flow +underground, but, for about a hundred yards or so, through a dark and +narrow tunnel, formed of low-growing creepers.</p> +<p class="pnext">So dense were these that I was obliged to break my way, almost every +inch; and, though my skin was now near as hard as leather, I was +scratched so badly by the thorn-trees that I was bleeding from a score +of places upon my chest and shoulders, when I came forth once more into +the half-light of the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could not see at first, for my eyes had grown accustomed to the +darkness, and I found myself in an open glade, where the trees were +thin and the rays of the sun no more than broken by the leaves above me.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I looked, and I saw the brook before me, here flowing straight +upon a rocky bed. Indeed, there were rocks everywhere, with rich soil +between them, in which were growing many strange and beautiful plants. +It was a natural rock-garden, far more wonderful to see than any yet +designed by man. The rocks were of dark-red granite, and the flowers +there in bloom were all the colours of the rainbow. But I looked not +once at them. I gazed, like one hypnotised, upon a great stone to my +right; for I had seen at once that this stone was the very shape and +image of a fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">How it stood there I cannot say, for, like the famous toadstone at +Tunbridge Wells, which I myself had seen when my mother took me there +in childhood, it looked as if it would topple over. For the fish, as +fishes are, was big in the head and narrow in the tail; and he stood +forth from the ground at an angle of about sixty degrees, and his mouth +was open, and there was a hole--on my side, at any rate--near where his +eye should be.</p> +<p class="pnext">The more I looked at it, the more wonderful I thought it. It might +have been graven by the hand of man, and cleverly at that; save that +this fish was devoid of fins, and the semblance, as I afterwards +discovered, was not so striking from any other point of view.</p> +<p class="pnext">Stepping from the water, I scrambled over the rocks, where I sat me +down, and heaved a great sigh, which I do not pretend to be able to +explain. Relief, joy, victory--all were mixed up in it, I do not +doubt. Here was I, at the end of all my travels; I had reached the +conclusion of my journey. The Big Fish was there.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-56"> +<span id="i-had-reached-the-conclusion-of-my-journey-the-big-fish-was-there"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-176.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"I HAD REACHED THE CONCLUSION OF MY JOURNEY. THE BIG FISH WAS THERE."</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">To achieve anything is a conquest, great or small. I had sojourned in +the wilderness, it seemed, for years; I had stood in constant peril of +my life; I had journeyed in company of cut-throats; I had lived with +savage men; I had seen something of the glories of old Peru, the Temple +of Cahazaxa; I had marched for days and days alone, naked and carrying +my Indian blow-pipe in my hand. And there was the Big Fish--the very +sign-post, as one might call it, to the Greater Treasure of the Incas.</p> +<p class="pnext">And as these thoughts jangled in my brain, a shot rang out--how far +away I could not tell, but somewhere in the Wood.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xvii-the-greater-treasure"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18">CHAPTER XVII--THE GREATER TREASURE</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I held my breath and listened, thinking that I would hear other shots, +as I had done before. But no sound came to break the stillness. Save +for the birds among the tops of the trees, and a big, solitary monkey +that swung himself from branch to branch, chattering as he went, I was +surrounded by the silence of the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was no news to me that I stood in the gravest peril. Such had been +the case for many a day; and--as I have said--I had come to look upon +life as of little worth. Amos I knew to be somewhere in the +neighbourhood; and I knew also that if he found me it would go ill with +me; I should not live for long if I fell again into that great +villain's clutches.</p> +<p class="pnext">And yet I did no more than shrug my shoulders. I had sublime faith in +myself, in my youth, and the Divine Providence that, so far, had kept +me from the way of harm. I had my blow-pipe, too; and, if the worst +should happen, I could use it well enough to drive one of my feathered +arrows straight into the heart of Amos Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">One learns, in the everlasting twilight of the woods, where danger +lurks on every hand, to live for the moment only, to let the future +look after itself. And so did I now; for Amos was no more to me than +the jaguar and the anaconda--brutes of prey, all three of them, and the +mortal man the vilest. Death in many forms and shapes was all about +me--sharp fangs, the serpent's coils, poison, and disease. There was +no need to scent from afar such dangers as might never come my way.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so, once again, I turned my thoughts to the Red Fish, standing +forth before me in the sunlight--a quaint and humorous-looking thing, +had I been able for a moment to forget its wonderful significance.</p> +<p class="pnext">I sat and looked at it; it may have been for half an hour, or even +more. And my memory took me back to that sunny August morning by the +Sussex shore, where I had first heard Amos speak of the Greater +Treasure of the Incas; and I remembered, word for word, what he had +said: "Gold! It is there knee-deep in a cavern, large as a cathedral." +And here was I, Dick Treadgold, in the very place myself, after a +series of most strange and unbelievable adventures, thousands of miles +from Sussex. My very name, I thought, was to prove a kind of analogue +with my destiny and actions; for I was fated, so it seemed, to tread on +gold.</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that, I pulled out my fragment of the map, and looked at it, +reading again and again the passage that had puzzled me so often:</p> +<blockquote> +<div> +<p class="pfirst">"<em class="italics">The tail of the Fish. A blow-pipe from the nose of the Fish. Twenty +yards across the Brook. Three feet, below the ground--a Ring.</em>"</p> +</div> +</blockquote> +<p class="pfirst">There, sure enough, was the tail of the Fish--or, at least, the upper +part of it, a sharp spur of rock protruding from the ground. I got to +my feet and approached, taking my blow-pipe with me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">A blow-pipe from the nose of the Fish.</em>" That clause had always +puzzled me. It seemed possible that I should use my blow-pipe as a +kind of measuring-rod; but I could not think in what direction I should +place it. Besides, the nose of the Fish was at least six feet from the +ground. And then I observed for the first time what I had not +perceived before; namely, that the body of the Fish was curved; and it +was this that gave me the very clue I wanted. What if I were to use +the blow-pipe as a plumb-line?</p> +<p class="pnext">At all events, I would try. So I drove the blow-pipe into the soft +ground, as near the perpendicular as I could judge, in such a manner +that it just touched the tip of the Fish's nose.</p> +<p class="pnext">I read my instructions again--though I already knew them by heart, and +tried to guess their meaning. I crossed the brook, which in that place +was very shallow, the water reaching little above my ankles; and no +sooner did I find myself upon the other side than I observed that my +wooden blow-pipe and the sharp, upright spur of rock that formed the +Fish's tail were in the same alignment.</p> +<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Twenty yards across the Brook</em>" could have but a single meaning. +Since the Red Fish itself was not that distance from the water, twenty +yards must be measured upon the other side; and this I at once resolved +to do.</p> +<p class="pnext">I already had an imaginary line, extending an indefinite distance. If +I held to this line--or if, in other words, I kept my blow-pipe +immediately between myself and the Fish's tail--I could not go far +wrong by stepping the prescribed twenty yards from the margin of the +brook.</p> +<p class="pnext">This I did, and, to verify my position, looked to see that I still had +my two fixed points in line with one another. I had verged a little to +the left, but soon put this right by taking a short pace in the other +direction. And then I repeated to myself the last sentence of my +instructions: "<em class="italics">Three feet, below the ground--a Ring</em>."</p> +<p class="pnext">Down I went upon all-fours, and began to scrape up the earth in my +hands. For the soil was soft, though now and again I hit upon a rock, +which, without great difficulty, I loosened with my knife, to cast +aside and continue with my work.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was nightfall by the time that I had gained a depth of three feet or +more; but, by then, I had come upon a great, smooth slab of stone; and +this discovery set my heart so wildly beating that I was obliged to +leave my task and rest awhile, drinking deeply of the water of the +brook.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the moonlight I laboured still, and a slow business it was, +displacing the earth a handful at a time, and scratching with the +Indian knife that Atupo, the priest, had given me. I was hot and +weary, and my finger-tips were painful; and yet I could not desist, but +worked on till midnight, to be at last rewarded. I came across a metal +ring, fastened to the slab, about eight inches in diameter. And when I +had washed the earth away, bringing water in my quiver from the brook, +I discovered that this ring was made of gold.</p> +<p class="pnext">I tugged at it and pulled with all my might, but could not move the +stone an inch; so back I went to my work again, grubbing with my hands, +for all the world like a dog that smells a rat. Sheer fatigue at +length quite overcame me, and I was obliged to lie down and rest, and +fell sound asleep, though I had intended no such thing.</p> +<p class="pnext">I awoke suddenly, at the first sign of daybreak, and went to the great +hole I had made in the ground, and wondered at myself that I had done +so much. The stone slab, I saw, was almost clear of earth.</p> +<p class="pnext">In less than an hour the great slab was free. I cut round the edges of +it with my knife, to loosen it, and then looked down upon my work, to +see how I might approach the conclusion of my task with the greatest +prospect of success.</p> +<p class="pnext">The stone slab was about three feet wide and twice as long. And the +gold ring, I could not fail to notice, was much nearer one end than the +other. As the handle is never to be found in the middle of a door, +this seemed to suggest that the slab opened upon hinges. It remained +to be seen, however, whether or not I had the strength to lift it.</p> +<p class="pnext">I tried more than once, and failed, though I moved the stone an inch or +so. Finally, I went into the Wood and cut a length of liana, one end +of which I tied to the golden ring. And then I tugged with all my +might; and the stone slab uprose like a derrick on a ship, attained a +vertical position, and there remained stationary and upright.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stepped to the hole and looked down upon a narrow flight of steps all +covered with the earth that had fallen from above. Down these I +hastened, presently to find myself in utter darkness, so that there was +nothing for it but for me to return and look about me for some means of +making a torch.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was now as skilled as any forest Indian in the art of making fire. +For months I had journeyed without matches, tinder-box or +magnifying-glass. I knew where to find touch-wood in the forest, and +could strike sparks from pieces of flint. For an hour I laboured in +the making of a torch, which I constructed of touchwood bound about by +reeds. And whilst I was thus employed I realised for the first time +how hungry I was--for I had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours, though +I had consumed great quantities of water.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now I did a strange thing, in view of the fact that I have always +been somewhat impetuous by nature and was then but a boy in years. +Though I was actually trembling with excitement, all eagerness to +behold the interior of the vault that I knew to be at the foot of the +steps, I went deliberately into the jungle in search of food.</p> +<p class="pnext">Finding no living thing that I could kill but monkeys, I was obliged to +content myself with wild nuts and berries; and then I returned to the +Red Fish, drank again from the brook, took up my torch and lit it from +the fire that I had kindled. And then down I went into the vault, to +feast my eyes upon the buried Treasure of the Incas.</p> +<p class="pnext">The stairway was at first so shallow that I must stoop as I descended; +but presently I found myself in a little chamber, hollowed out of the +living rock, the walls of which were of the same red granite as the +strange stone above. And weird and almost magic did the whole place +look in the light of my burning torch.</p> +<p class="pnext">For the very walls sparkled as with diamonds. Everywhere were little +grains of felspar, mica, or quartz, which caught the reflection of the +light. And when I looked upon the floor I saw that Amos had been +right. I trod upon bars of gold, all of the same length and size, and +laid with such regularity and neatness that they might have been the +palings of a fence--or many fences--spread flat upon the ground.</p> +<p class="pnext">How deep these ingots went I could not say, and was not then disposed +to inquire, for my attention was attracted by an arched opening, like +the doorway of a church, on the other side of the room. Through this I +passed, and found myself at the head of another flight of stone steps, +much broader and wider than the others--a gigantic stairway that +descended into the middle of a chamber so vast that my torch did no +more than throw a kind of halo all around me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I rushed down these steps with a loud, glad cry, and below I hastened +like a madman, here and there, passing along the walls, crossing at +random that wide, gloomy subterranean room.</p> +<p class="pnext">Everywhere was gold, stacked upon the floor, piled against the walls. +I saw golden chalices and cups, bracelets, rings and girdles; great +jugs of gold and golden basins, besides bars and ingots that one might +have counted by the thousand.</p> +<p class="pnext">I know not why it was, but the very sight of it made me dizzy, as I +staggered blindly about that wondrous place. At times I slipped and +stumbled, and at other times I fell between those glittering stacks, to +find myself--as Amos Baverstock had said in my hearing--knee-deep in +the very stuff that has made the world as wicked as it is.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then, at last, I sat down upon I know not what, save that it was +gold. The very sight that I had seen had exhausted me far more than +all my travels and privations. I felt sick at heart and weary. I +looked about me with tired and dreamy eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">It seemed to me strange--now that I had beheld this wonder--that I had +endured so much for sake of it. How had it come to pass that men +prized so highly what after all is no more than yellow metal? Here was +enough of it, in very truth, to serve the needs of a nation; and here +it had lain for four hundred years--and the world was none the worse. +How little of this vast treasure would be enough for me, or even Amos +Baverstock, in spite of all his greed!</p> +<p class="pnext">It frightened me--and that is the truth of it. I could not think what +I should do if all this precious wealth were mine. And then I wondered +if I had any right to call it mine just because it was mine for the +moment to gaze upon, to regard in breathless bewilderment and fear.</p> +<p class="pnext">You may behold that which you never own, as you may own that which you +never see. Boy though I was, so much was clear to me as daylight. Nor +had I any reason to suppose that I was the first to look upon this +marvel, since the fugitives from Cuzco, centuries ago, had carried it +across the mountains to hide it in this secret place. John Bannister +himself, perhaps, had looked upon it, though he had never told me so. +If it belonged to any living man, all this wealth was his.</p> +<p class="pnext">I felt by now as if I were about to faint; and besides, my torch was +burning low. And therefore I got unsteadily upon my feet and walked +into the little outer room, and thence ascended the steps in the broad +light of day. And there I stood breathing deeply, with my eyes closed +and my mouth parched as if by thirst.</p> +<p class="pnext">On a sudden I cast my burning torch into the brook before me, and fell +upon my knees and prayed to God. I prayed aloud, as if the living +trees and running water and the red stones about me could all hear my +prayer. And it was the Lord's Prayer that I had learned at my mother's +knee; for, boy though I was, I felt that which I had looked upon was +the very pith and kernel of all temptation to which, since Eden, +humanity was heir.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xviii-i-fall-in-with-a-friend"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19">CHAPTER XVIII--I FALL IN WITH A FRIEND</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I sat for many hours that morning, idle and oppressed by a feeling as +of emptiness. What use to me was all the wealth that I had seen--or, +for the matter of that, to any one? I had no means at my disposal to +take a millionth part of it away.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then I remembered Amos, and thought it my duty to take what steps I +could to see that that dread man should never solve the riddle of the +Red Fish, though it was unlikely he would find the place without the +aid of my fragment of the map.</p> +<p class="pnext">The sight of all that gold had, as it were, unnerved me--filled me with +a kind of weariness of life. I cannot say exactly how it was, but I +know that I had lost, on a sudden, all my energy and enthusiasm; and it +was late in the afternoon before I bestirred myself and got to work.</p> +<p class="pnext">I lowered the great slab and covered it with earth, which I trampled +down with my bare feet. Then I went into the woods and dug up plants +with my Indian knife, and these I stuck in the ground so that I made a +little garden. One shower of tropic rain and they would take root and +grow, and thus hide all trace of how the soil had been disturbed. And +looking up at the sky, where it was visible here and there between the +branches of the trees above me, I saw that such a shower was coming.</p> +<p class="pnext">The rain fell that evening, when I was camped once more in the woods +towards the east, having gone back the way that I had come, following +the course of the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles. I took shelter from the +rain beneath a tree, the great leaves of which formed a veritable roof +above me, so that not one drop of water fell upon the fire that I had +kindled.</p> +<p class="pnext">I ate my simple meal, and then lay down, not to sleep, but to think and +to listen to the rain, beating with a noise like many drums upon the +leaves.</p> +<p class="pnext">Well, I had seen the Treasure of the Incas. With my own eyes I had +beheld it. And I asked myself if I were any the better for it, and +could not see that I was. For gold is mud, and part of man is mud; and +yet there is a great God who is above, around and within us all. And +that night, as I lay awake in the woods, listening to the drumming of +the rain, I tried to think out such problems as man has not yet begun +to understand--problems that, perhaps, he may never solve on this side +of the grave.</p> +<p class="pnext">No doubt, the constant propinquity of danger had made me serious for my +years. I had lived for many months in the wilderness, and my pulse now +beat in rhythm with the earth. The forest, the majestic mountains I +had seen at sunrise, the sky of stars above the plain--all these were +mysteries to me, wondrous and eternal. But there was neither eternity +nor mystery in the work of man; in gold, in the rusted sword of +Orellano's soldier, or Cahazaxa's Temple.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw quite clearly now that this hidden treasure was no affair of +mine. I had lived happily for months as Nature meant me to, and the +sum total of my wealth had been my blow-pipe and the knife that Atupo, +the priest, had given me. I now understood--far better than I had done +at the time--all John Bannister had told me of his dread of cities and +of people. I, too, would like to live my life far from the abodes of +men, with the little shy things as my friends, in the chamber of the +Wild. For the very sight of the Treasure of Kings had frightened me. +Four hundred years it had lain there, beneath the ground, like a great, +harmful dragon; and it seemed to me that to let this monster loose upon +the world would be a bold thing to do--to saddle my conscience with a +load of responsibility such as I was never strong enough to bear. I +wished now that I was not one of the few who had solved this precious +riddle.</p> +<p class="pnext">And yet I was not sure of anything, for the gold tempted me sorely. I +was tempted more than I can say. If I had now learned to understand +something of John Bannister's ideals, I saw also, with alarming +clarity, the motives that swayed the deeds of Amos Baverstock. Gold to +him was a living force, the origin of all his strength and evil, the +prompter of his actions. Once or twice that night was I tempted to +return to the Red Fish that I might feast my eyes again upon the +Treasure.</p> +<p class="pnext">I told myself that I had not seen enough of it. I was like a drunkard +who had tasted wine. I wondered what worth it had in coinage that I +knew, and I set to thinking how I would spend so vast a sum.</p> +<p class="pnext">But these were thoughts only of the night-time, in the darkness and the +silence of the woods. I fell asleep at last, sick at heart and +wretched; but dawning day came to me with comfort, and I continued on +my journey with new hopes and prospects.</p> +<p class="pnext">The dragon was behind my back, buried once again. For all I cared, it +might lie there for ever, untouched by mortal hand, unseen by mortal +eye, to be smothered in the dust of endless ages.</p> +<p class="pnext">As for myself, when I came forth from the undergrowth of the wood into +the warm light of the evening sun, I turned to the south, and continued +on my way until long after dark. I had made up my mind, and that was +something; I would pass round the Wood of the Red Fish, and journey +westward towards the great mountains. These I would cross, and come +down upon the tableland beyond, where I knew that I would find men who +were as civilised as I. Thence, as best I could, I must find my way +back to England. I had little doubt that I might be able to work a +passage for myself on board a ship that sailed from Callao or Guayaquil.</p> +<p class="pnext">But I was a fool to think my adventures so nearly at an end. My +destiny was no more in my own hands than that of a withered leaf, +carried here and there by the wind.</p> +<p class="pnext">I found the western side of the Wood to be very different from the +other. It was a country broken up by rocky spurs that descended from +the foothills just above me; and the ravines or little valleys that lay +between these spurs were densely choked with undergrowth, similar in +all respects to the thickets in the wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was no easy travelling, and yet there was no other road for me to +take, for to the north lay the big morass that I had observed from the +hill-top on the morning when I first looked down upon the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">So I made my way along the crestline of a rocky ridge, setting forth +upon my journey to the Andes early in the morning with the whole day +before me. Though the rays of the sun were powerful, the day was cool, +for a soft breeze was blowing from the mountains. I had not yet +breakfasted, since I thought it likely that in this more open country I +might kill with my blow-pipe some animal that was good to eat; and, +therefore, as I marched upon the way, I kept my eyes open, looking into +the ravines on either side of me, to see if I could catch a glimpse of +any living thing. And I had not gone far before--to my bewilderment--I +set eyes upon the solitary figure of <em class="italics">a man</em>.</p> +<p class="pnext">I dropped, on the instant, flat upon my face--for I was now a savage in +more ways than one. I had all the instincts of the wild man who knows +that danger may lurk behind every tree and shrub and rock. I lay upon +the ground, still as a lizard, with my eyes upon the stranger. And the +more I looked at him the more I wondered.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Forest Indians were small in stature, as I have observed in the +proper place. But this man was six feet in height. He was as brown as +I; and yet he wore clothes--clothes which were all in rags and tatters, +and a pair of boots, split open at the toe-caps and bound with string +about his ankles. Moreover, he carried in his hand a rifle; and this +rifle he used as a staff, placing the butt upon the ground and leaning +with his whole weight upon it as he limped slowly and painfully upon +his way down the ravine immediately beneath me.</p> +<p class="pnext">I have said that I had the instincts of a wild man. I was cautious, +shy and cunning. I had learned to trust no one, to be suspicious of +every one. And so I lay and watched him.</p> +<p class="pnext">It occurred to me, by degrees, that I had seen him before. I could not +for the life of me remember where. Then he sat down, with his face +toward me.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had a rough, weather-beaten, and yet a kindly, face. He had +steel-grey eyes, and a rough, tangled beard. He was so close to me +that I could see that his bare arms were tattooed; and it was this, +perhaps, that gave me the clue I wanted. I looked at his beard again, +and, unkempt as it was, it reminded me somehow of the beard of a +Russian Czar. This man was William Rushby.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was not sure of it at first. He was greatly changed from the honest +sailor who had befriended me on board the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>. But when +my mind was made up, and I was well-nigh carried away by mingled +feelings of astonishment and gladness, I got to my feet and went +towards him with my blow-pipe in my hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">Without any ado, he whipped the butt of his rifle into the hollow of +his shoulder, and I saw the sights were directed straight upon my heart.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Hands up!" he cried to me in English. "Hands up, you brown barbarian, +or else I shoot you dead!"</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-57"> +<span id="hands-up-he-cried-hands-up-you-brown-barbarian-or-else-i-shoot-you-dead"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-224.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"'HANDS UP!' HE CRIED. 'HANDS UP, YOU BROWN BARBARIAN, OR ELSE I SHOOT YOU DEAD!'"</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">I grasped the truth in an instant; and it is well I did, for I have +little doubt that he would have shot me where I stood. If William +Rushby had changed in personal appearance since last we met, of a +certainty I myself had changed still more. He took me for a wild man +of the woods, though he yelled at me in English, and would have killed +me out of hand, had I not lifted my arms and answered him, and laughed.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Rushby!" I cried. "Do you not know me? It is I--Dick Treadgold."</p> +<p class="pnext">He brought down his rifle, and stared at me like one who sees a ghost.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Dick!" said he, and then came forward, holding out his great hand, +into which I placed my own.</p> +<p class="pnext">And there we stood, and shook hands with one another, as though we had +met at Charing Cross. And he was near as naked as I, and we were both +so burned by the sun that the whites of our eyes were almost comical, +and our hair was long like that of gipsies, and the skin upon our legs +and arms had been scratched in scores of places by the thorn-trees in +the forest.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Dick!" he cried again. "I can see it now, though I would never have +believed it."</p> +<p class="pnext">"It is I who am asked to believe the most," said I. "How came you +here, of all people in the world?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"There's a yarn at the back of that," said he. "But, first, you must +tell me how you escaped from Amos."</p> +<p class="pnext">He seated himself, as he spoke, upon a boulder that lay in the ravine; +and when he moved I was reminded of a fact I had perceived +already--Rushby was badly wounded and lame of a leg.</p> +<p class="pnext">For all that, I saw that he would glean little in the way of +information if we did nothing but ask one another questions; so I +mastered my own curiosity, and replied to him.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why," I told him, "Amos tied me to a tree, and left me in the +wilderness to starve. And then I fell into the hands of savage men, to +whom I shall be ever grateful. From their dwellings in the forest I +journeyed alone to Cahazaxa's Temple, and thence across the plain to +the Wood of the Red Fish, where I find an old friend, and still believe +that I am dreaming. It is months now since I last set eyes upon a +white man, and that was Amos Baverstock himself."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Months!" cried Rushby in amazement. "You've not seen Baverstock--for +months!"</p> +<p class="pnext">He looked at me as if he thought that I was lying. I was at a loss to +know what he was driving at, though I assured him that I spoke the +truth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Months!" he repeated, holding his head between his hands, as if his +puzzled brains were paining him. "But we were told, two days ago, that +Amos held you prisoner."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Who told you?" I demanded.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was now as surprised as he, and even more astonished when I heard his +answer.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Baverstock himself," said Rushby.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Amos!" I exclaimed. "You have seen him, then?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"He lied to me!" cried Rushby, driving his clenched fist into the palm +of a hand. "He lied to me! And Bannister was right."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Bannister!" I echoed.</p> +<p class="pnext">But Rushby, rocking his shoulders from side to side like a man who +suffers anguish, stamped a foot upon the ground.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Oh, but I have done a fool's thing!" he cried. "I have been fooled, +and I have sent John Bannister to death!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I stood before him, speechless, gasping. Though I could make neither +head nor tail of what he had told me, I could see with my eyes that the +man was suffering torture in his soul. If Bannister was in danger, if +it was possible to save anything from the fire, it was I myself--and I +alone--who was capable of action, since Rushby was dead lame. And yet +I must first know the truth of the matter, for I was wholly in the dark.</p> +<p class="pnext">I went to Rushby and laid a hand upon his shoulder.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come, tell me what it all means," said I. "Tell me your story from +the first."</p> +<p class="pnext">He looked up at me, and then for the first time smiled--a sad smile, +none the less.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Sit down," he answered, in a calmer voice. "I will tell you all from +the beginning, as quickly as I can."</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xix-the-boatswain-tells-his-story"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20">CHAPTER XIX--THE BOATSWAIN TELLS HIS STORY</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">This that follows is the story that was told to me by William Rushby, +sometime boatswain of the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>, as we sat together side by +side in the ravine, the while John Bannister had gone forth alone in +peril of his life.</p> +<p class="pnext">To begin with, he reminded me of that evening when he had spoken to me +through the porthole on the ship, when I was held a prisoner in the +cabin that I shared with Amos Baverstock. After that--it will be +remembered--I never saw him again; for when the ship arrived at +Caracas, I was transported by night to the hills beyond the town.</p> +<p class="pnext">As for Rushby, he fell in with a friend--and that is the best of being +a sailor, who is never at a loss for a handshake and a word of greeting +in every port in all the world. For the boatswain, when the ship was +alongside the wharf, had seized the opportunity to desert, and lay in +hiding in the town, until news was brought him that Amos and his party +had set forth across the mountains. He then worked his way to Rio, and +a month later turned up in Southampton, where by the merest chance he +found John Bannister, about to set forth in quest of me across the +Western Ocean.</p> +<p class="pnext">The boatswain told Bannister all he knew, and together they searched in +the warren for the rabbit-hole in which I had hidden my fragment of the +map. This they found at last, not much the worse for wear; and having +set my mother's fears at rest, so far as they were able, they started +forth together for the port of Colon; for Bannister, knowing whither +Amos Baverstock was bound, deemed that the shortest route.</p> +<p class="pnext">From Colon they crossed the Isthmus to Panama, and thence sailed--as +Pizarro himself had done--down the coast to Guayaquil, the port of +Equador. From this place they journeyed inland, passed the great +height of Chimborazo, the summit of the Andes, and thence eastward, a +march of many weeks, into the Wild Region of the Woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister realised from the first that his task was well-nigh +impossible. He might as well hope to find me in the forest as a needle +in a haystack; and so, knowing where the treasure was, he went straight +to the Wood of the Red Fish, there to await the arrival of Amos and the +others.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had started some months after us, but he had taken the shorter route +and had been delayed by nothing. For all that, he arrived in the +neighbourhood of the Red Fish some weeks after Amos; for he and Rushby +heard nothing of the fight which took place when Atupo laid his ambush +and Forsyth was so badly wounded.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos--as we know--returned across the plain to wreak his vengeance upon +the Peruvian priests in the Temple of Cahazaxa. Then the man's greed +of gold drew him westward once again to search for the Big Fish, as the +natives called the treasure.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then that Vasco, the Spaniard, struck by the merest chance the +trail of John Bannister and Rushby. A fight took place between them, +and those were the shots which I myself had heard, one of which had +sorely wounded the boatswain in the leg.</p> +<p class="pnext">John Bannister had saved his comrade's life. William Rushby was a big +man, broadly made and heavy; but Bannister had whipped him up as though +he were a child and carried him all night throughout the jungle, with +the result that Amos, for the time being, lost all trace of them, +though he was searching in all directions in the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">It is a wonder, indeed, and something to be thankful for, that Amos and +his friends never stumbled across myself, whilst I was wandering about +with my blow-pipe and my arrows in search of the Red Fish, not knowing +where to look. For I was not then in possession of the map, of which I +have now to tell, and how it was that I found it in so singular a place.</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby was a wounded man and weak from loss of blood, and now Bannister +himself--great as was his strength--being overcome by his exertions, +fell into a raging fever. Knowing the Wood of old, he had carried +Rushby to the place of the Tomb of Orellano's soldier; and whilst in +hiding there he became so ill that for three days he raved, delirious. +And he had no one but a wounded man to tend him.</p> +<p class="pnext">They had no food, and were without means of getting any; for the +boatswain could not walk a dozen yards, but from time to time must drag +himself on all-fours to the stream to fetch his companion water to +drink.</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby, left to his own resources, and suffering the greatest pain, had +little doubt that they were lost. Look at the affair which way he +might, he could see no way out of their difficulties; they must either +be found by Baverstock or else starve to death. For himself, he cared +not which way it ended; but upon one thing he was determined--the +fragment of the map which they had brought with them from my +rabbit-hole in Sussex should never fall into the hands of Amos +Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so it was William Rushby himself who opened the tomb, and hid the +map in the helmet of the Spanish soldier. And that was how I found it, +a few days afterwards; for the earth had been disturbed and trampled +underfoot.</p> +<p class="pnext">The night after that, when John Bannister was a little recovered of his +fever, though still terribly weak, they heard the report of a shot-gun, +fired not far from where they were; and Rushby, realising that Amos was +still upon their track, made the supreme effort of his life, hoping +thereby to save both Bannister and himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was the old case of the blind leading the blind; for the one was so +weak that he tottered when he walked, and the other was lame of a leg, +with an open, septic wound that would not heal. But together, with +their arms around each other, they made good their escape, only to be +caught later in the great morass that lay upon the northern side of the +Wood, and being at the end of their resources and well-nigh starved to +death, they had no option but to surrender and without condition.</p> +<p class="pnext">There is no question Amos would have killed John Bannister then and +there had it not been for one potent circumstance: Bannister knew the +secret of the Big Fish. Both Baverstock and Trust regarded my friend +as their arch-enemy, who had foiled them more than once; and Rushby +told me of the look of unutterable hatred that was stamped upon every +evil feature of the face of Amos whenever he looked at Bannister--which +he did, by the same token, no more often than he had to, since it was +plain to see that he found it hard to meet the eyes of one stronger +than himself both in mind and body, and a thousand times more honest.</p> +<p class="pnext">And here, in his narrative, the boatswain became, on a sudden, wildly +excited, and pointed to a palm-tree that stood not far away from where +we both were seated, about a hundred yards down the ravine.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You see that tree?" he cried; and I nodded in reply. "Well, then," +Rushby continued, "the villain bound Bannister to that--bound him hand +and foot, and stood before him with a loaded rifle in his hands. He +cursed him; he threatened and blasphemed. He said that if Bannister +would not tell him where the treasure was, he would shoot him on the +spot. But he might as well have tried to frighten those white bones in +the tomb where I myself had hid the map."</p> +<p class="pnext">William Rushby paused, and ran his fingers through his beard. I never +saw a man who looked more miserable than he. And yet, so foolish was +I, indeed, that I did naught but ask him silly questions, when time was +of as much account as the life of the most heroic man that ever lived.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And Bannister would not speak?" said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Speak!" the boatswain cried. "Speak he did, and to the point. He +told Baverstock to shoot."</p> +<p class="pnext">He was silent for a moment, and sat looking at the open wound in his +leg.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I never saw any one more angry," he continued, "and I have served in +my day under many men of the same stamp as James Dagg, if not so bad as +he. All that night I lay awake, dead sure that Baverstock would murder +Bannister, if on the following morning he still refused to speak."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And you were camped in this ravine?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"In this same place," said Rushby; "for I have not moved since a +hundred yards."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And where are the others?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Listen!" said the boatswain. "I can do no more than spin a yarn from +the beginning. I am coming to what you want to know. Baverstock, his +threats having failed with Bannister, played his trump-card upon me, +and won the trick. Leaving Bannister still weak from fever, bound hand +and foot, he came to me by night and talked in whispers. He told me +that he held you a prisoner, and, like a fool, I believed him. He said +that if he did not learn the truth in regard to the exact position of +the Big Fish he would put not only Bannister and myself to death, but +also you, whose life he had purposely preserved throughout all these +months."</p> +<p class="pnext">"He lied!" I interrupted.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I know he did," said Rushby. "But I swallowed all those lies as a +shark takes a baited hook. I was neither strong nor wise like +Bannister. For my own life I cared not greatly, but I was loth to +behold John Bannister put to death, and I knew how much he cared for +you, and how he would grieve if you were to die through any fault of +mine. And thus it was that I told Amos Baverstock the truth. I told +him that we had brought with us from Sussex your little fragment of the +map; and I told him that I had hidden it within the helmet in the Tomb +of the Spanish soldier.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He said no more to me that night, but posted Vasco, the Spaniard, as a +sentry, with orders to see that Bannister and I did not communicate. +And at daybreak the next morning, in the utmost haste, he and his three +companions went back into the Wood to find the map in the Spaniard's +Tomb, and thence to discover the Red Fish itself, where the gold of +Peru is hidden."</p> +<p class="pnext">When I heard that, I burst into loud laughter. Rushby looked at me, +surprised, and asked me why I laughed.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He will never find it," I cried. "He will never find the map! For it +is no longer in the Tomb."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Not in the Tomb!" he burst forth. "Then, where is it? And how do you +know where it is?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Because it is here," said I. And as I said the words, I pulled forth +the little piece of parchment from the quiver in which I kept my +blow-pipe arrows.</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby looked at it, recognised it at once, and sat staring at me, as +if, on a sudden, he had been bereft of his senses.</p> +<p class="pnext">"How did you get this?" he blurted out.</p> +<p class="pnext">I told him in a few words how I had found it.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Merciful powers!" he groaned. "What have I done? Bannister is on a +wild-goose chase after all!"</p> +<p class="pnext">He again carried his hands to his head, and sat rocking from side to +side, as he had done before. I got to my feet, and shook him +violently; for--though as yet I understood no more than half the +matter--I saw that there had been some great mistake that was like to +cost us dearly.</p> +<p class="pnext">"What is it?" I cried. "Tell me the truth! Even now, it may not be +too late to make amends. Tell me what has happened."</p> +<p class="pnext">He looked up at me with a sad face. I am inclined to think that there +were even teardrops in his eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">"When Baverstock and those with him were gone," said he; "when they +were returned to the Wood and lost to view, I picked up my jack-knife, +and limped to the tree, where I cut Bannister's bonds. You must +understand that Amos departed that morning in such hot haste that he +left behind our knives and rifles, as well as much of his own +equipment. However, that is neither here nor there. I was obliged to +tell Bannister the truth; and, no sooner had I done so, than he made me +realise what a simpleton I was.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He told me that I had been a fool to hide the map in any place where +it could afterwards be found. It had been better had I torn it to +shreds. Nor would he believe that you were still in the hands of Amos +Baverstock. And the very thought that this unholy villain was to solve +at last the riddle of the Big Fish gave, upon the instant, new strength +to Bannister. For then and there he rose to his feet, and said that he +was going himself into the Wood, that he would reach the Tomb in +advance of Amos and take possession of the map."</p> +<p class="pnext">"He has gone there!" I shouted, like a maniac, springing to my feet and +pointing towards the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Yes," said Rushby. "He said that he would rather die a thousand times +than that Amos should find the Treasure."</p> +<p class="pnext">I felt as if I had received a violent blow. I knew not, for the +moment, what to do. And then I saw my course quite clear before me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I'll go to him!" I cried. "Take that, and keep it safe."</p> +<p class="pnext">And I flung at him my portion of the map, and then snatched up my +blow-pipe and my quiver filled with darts, and set off running down the +ravine, as fast as my legs would carry me, towards the Wood.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xx-i-return-to-the-soldier-s-tomb"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">CHAPTER XX--I RETURN TO THE SOLDIER'S TOMB</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I had every reason to be filled with apprehension. I was going, of a +certainty, into danger greater than any I had yet encountered. Whilst +searching in the Wood for John Bannister, my friend, I was like as not +to fall in with Amos Baverstock; and if that should happen, I could +hope for little mercy.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister--as Rushby had told me--was weak from illness and half +starved,, so that much of his great strength of former days must have +deserted him, when most he had a need of it. Besides, I knew not +whether he were armed, for that was a question I had not stayed to ask +when I hurried forth from the ravine upon my quest.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had therefore some cause to be afraid. And yet, in my heart, I was +glad as I had never been for months, as I raced upon my way into the +darkness of the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was journeying towards my friend, the great man whom I had learned to +honour and admire upon the beach in Sussex. And I believed that the +Fates would not be so cruel to me that I should fail to find him. I +felt that I would soon look upon him once again, feel the iron grasp of +his hand, and behold the light of recognition in his kindly eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">Many hours of daylight were before me, when I entered the Wood of the +Red Fish; and then, for the first time I think, I realised that my task +was not an easy one. Had I started from the other side of the Wood, I +believe that I could have found the Spaniard's Tomb without much loss +of time; for I was by now well acquainted with that portion of the +jungle.</p> +<p class="pnext">But in this neighbourhood I was an utter stranger, though I had the sun +to guide me whenever I caught glimpses of the daylight between the +overhanging branches of the trees. Also, I carried in my mind a very +perfect recollection of the map.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw that it was necessary above all else to calm myself, to think the +matter out, instead of plunging into the business like a bolting horse. +My destination was the Spaniard's Tomb, and I was in possession of +certain valuable information, the most of which was quite unknown to +Amos. The Wood of the Red Fish itself was diamond-shaped, the four +angles approximately directed towards the north, south, east, and west. +Now, the Big Fish lay somewhere in the very centre of the Wood; and I +had formerly journeyed to the place from the south, following the Brook +of Scarlet Pebbles. This brook--as I had observed--flowed in a +north-westerly direction, towards the morass, which I had passed at the +end of the ravine in which I had just left William Rushby.</p> +<p class="pnext">During the earlier days when I had adventured all alone, when I had +discovered both the Glade of Silent Death and the Tomb of Orellano's +soldier, I am convinced that I had never crossed the Brook of Scarlet +Pebbles. Indeed, I could scarce have done so without noticing at once +the singular character of the stream. I had become, during these +months extraordinarily observant; and my attention would certainly have +been attracted by the peculiar red stones with which the bed of the +brook was strewn. Hence, by a simple process of deduction, I was +forced to the conclusion that the Spaniard's Tomb must be somewhere in +the north-westerly part of the Wood; and the reader will the better +understand me if he glances at the map which I myself have made, and +which he must not think a facsimile of the real parchment map whereon +the Tomb was not even mentioned.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 58%" id="figure-58"> +<img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-238.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +Map of the Wood of the Red Fish</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">I was now, as I knew, somewhere on the southern side of the brook; and +that was the wrong side, if I was to find the Tomb with as little delay +as possible. Aided, therefore, by the position of the morning sun, I +directed my footsteps in a northerly direction, and came early in the +afternoon upon the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles, to the north of the Big +Fish. Thence, I decided to journey due eastward, hoping, sooner or +later, to come upon some place that I would recognise, which would +inform me of my whereabouts.</p> +<p class="pnext">Sunset overtook me when I was in the very heart of the jungle. There +was just time to search for food before the darkness came; and then I +lay down to rest without venturing to light a fire.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remember well that, at the time, I was surprised that I did not find +myself oppressed by the almost overwhelming sense of loneliness that +hitherto had always come upon me when I journeyed by myself in the +midst of the silent woods. But, now that I am old, and have thought +much upon many things, I have an explanation--howbeit somewhat +mystical--to account for the happiness I then experienced. I knew that +I was near my friend.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was fortified by memory. Thus it was with me. And more than that; +for it looked as if I was to give a helping hand to the great strong +man whom I had seen first upon the Sussex coast, who had told me of the +hooded crows, and to whose tales of travel I had listened eagerly, day +after day, before ever Amos Baverstock and the like of him had stepped +across my path. I would find the Tomb--upon that I was determined. +And I would find Bannister as well. Perhaps he was sleeping, even +then, not two hundred yards away from me, in that tangled, tropic +wilderness. With so pleasant a reflection I fell sound asleep, and +slept until daylight wakened me and the birds and monkeys were stirring +in the trees.</p> +<p class="pnext">I walked many miles that day, looking everywhere in vain for some tree +or stream that I should recognise, for the burnt-out embers of an old +camp-fire or the feathers of some bird that I myself had plucked and +eaten. But I found nothing, until late in the afternoon, when I came, +of a sudden, upon the dried-up skin of a small woodland deer.</p> +<p class="pnext">There also were his bones, dried and whitened, all the flesh therefrom +devoured by creeping insects. And, thinking it more than likely that +this was the same deer that had served me for many a meal, when I first +was come into the Wood--the same poor beast that had been crushed to +death by the great serpent that had lain in hiding beneath the water of +the pool--I cast about me, and soon found the Glade of Silent Death. +And now, I knew, I was on the right track to the Tomb, which from this +place lay towards the south; for I had a first-hand knowledge of all +this portion of the Wood, where I had sojourned for many days.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then an idea came to me whereby valuable time might be saved. I was +not far from the edge of the Wood, and if I could gain this before the +darkness came I might travel some distance southward by night, to +continue my searching in the morning. Keeping, therefore, the setting +sun at my back, I journeyed eastward, and came presently to open +country, when I travelled a good two miles to the south by the light of +the rising moon.</p> +<p class="pnext">Late at night I rested, sleeping till daybreak; and then, entering the +Wood again, I found by chance one of my old camping-places, and +following my old trail for several hours came at last--as I +expected--upon the Tomb of Orellano's soldier.</p> +<p class="pnext">As it was then almost dark, I hastened immediately to the Tomb, and +threw back the stone slab. There was light enough for me to see at a +glance that nothing had been touched. There were the white bones, the +breast-plate, sword and helmet--exactly as I had left them. I stood +irresolute a moment, looking down into the grave; and all at once, a +great fear possessed me that some calamity had overtaken Bannister.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was here in advance of both him and Amos--which was more than I had +ever hoped for. The next thing to decide was what to do, and--as will +be seen, in a moment--I was given no choice in the matter.</p> +<p class="pnext">Fear spreads, I think, like fire. I was solicitous, at first, for +Bannister; and then I feared for myself. Or there may be something in +the notion that the evil that is in a man taints the very atmosphere in +which he moves. At any rate, even as I thought of Amos Baverstock, I +became filled, on a sudden, with my old dread of him. I stood +shivering, as if from cold, beneath the trees, by the side of that +ancient grave, whilst the darkness spread around me.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then it was that the voice of Amos Baverstock himself came to my +ears with such startling suddenness that I was taken unawares. It was +just as if I had received some kind of electric shock. I straightened +with a jerk, and I verily believe that my heart itself stood still.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had not been able to hear the exact words he used; but I knew only +too well the hard, strident tones of his voice. I think he called upon +Joshua Trust to make haste and not to lag behind, and the language that +he used was vile as always.</p> +<p class="pnext">I stood where I was, stock-still, like one transfixed. And then I +heard the breaking of the undergrowth, as someone rapidly approached.</p> +<p class="pnext">I felt much as a mouse must feel, when the trapdoor closes after him. +I was spurred into sudden action. And yet there was nothing I could do.</p> +<p class="pnext">If I rushed into the thickets, my enemies must hear me. And what +chance had my blow-pipe against a leaden bullet? I looked up at the +trees around me, and saw at once that there was not one that I could +climb without a deal of trouble. And yet, Amos himself was coming +nearer and nearer, as I could tell by the breaking of the underwoods +and the dead sticks upon the ground. On a sudden, without a thought, I +jumped down into the Tomb, and pulled the stone slab into its place +above me.</p> +<p class="pnext">It is easy to say that this was the action of a fool. I attempt no +more than to relate what happened. That no man in a calm moment would +have done anything so rash and stupid, I would never for a moment deny. +I was, however, very far from calm. If the truth be told, I was +afraid. I hid my face like an ostrich--for that is all it comes to.</p> +<p class="pnext">And as soon as I found myself lying at full length upon those white and +aged bones in the darkness of the grave, I realised that I was +lost--that it had been far better for me had I fled into the jungle. +Amos himself must shift the slab to search the Tomb for the map that he +believed he would find within.</p> +<p class="pnext">And presently, through the opening in the slab, I heard, with a +distinctness that was indeed alarming, the voice of the man himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">"It is here!" he cried. "We've found it, as I said we would!"</p> +<p class="pnext">From the certain fact that no one answered him, I judged that +Baverstock was alone; and I was the more sure of this, since I could +hear the footsteps of but a single man upon the thin stone above me. +And I began to reckon what my chances would amount to, if it came to a +square fight between the two of us, with no one to intervene.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then I remembered that I was unarmed; for I had left my blow-pipe above +ground, though the chances were that it was now so dark that he might +not notice it. By the noise he made, his grunting and his muttered +oaths, I judged that he was searching for the means to lift the slab.</p> +<p class="pnext">I touched the stone above me with my fingers; and when I felt it +moving, I knew that the hour of my ordeal was come. I must fight and +defend myself, or die--and very likely both. I rose as the stone was +lifted, and, as I did so, placed the Spaniard's helmet on my head and +took up the rusted sword.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos threw aside the slab, and then jumped backward, as I stood up in +the grave, waist-deep in mother earth.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was that half-light which is neither night nor day--a weird and +ghostly light, pervading like a mist the shadows of the Wood. Small +wonder that that evil man thought that he beheld the resurrection of a +corpse!</p> +<p class="pnext">He let out a shriek--such a shriek as I never heard before or +since--that seemed as if it must have been audible for miles throughout +the evening silence of the jungle. It was the shriek of one whose hair +stands upright on his head. He stood before me quaking at the knees; +and then he found his voice again.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mercy!" he cried.</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that I rushed upon him with my sword.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxi-i-am-made-a-ghost-and-then-a-fool"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">CHAPTER XXI--I AM MADE A GHOST, AND THEN A FOOL</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I sprang at him with my sword, the rusty blade that I had filched from +those grim and whitened bones.</p> +<p class="pnext">The man was at my mercy. He was unarmed, having laid aside his rifle +before he approached the Tomb. He trembled in every limb as he fled +before my onslaught, and cried out aloud for pity, as I jabbed at him +in a kind of vicious frenzy.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the twilight his face looked pale-green in colouring, and his little +pig-like eyes seemed in danger of springing from his head. It would be +difficult to conceive an expression upon which abject terror was more +strongly marked.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos Baverstock was an evil man in many ways, and a brave man in +others; else he had never risked his life so often amid the dangers of +the tropic wilderness. Courage of a sort he had in plenty, but, +because he was evil in his nature, he feared death and all connected +with the grave, though I had never thought to find him as superstitious +as he was. He had always struck me as a hard, calculating man, who +looked upon the practical side of all things. And yet, without a +doubt, he now took me for a ghost.</p> +<p class="pnext">And after all--when the full facts are considered--his mistake was +excusable; even to-day, when I call to mind that scene which was +enacted in the half-light of the woods, I am inclined to laugh at it +all, for there was something ludicrous about it.</p> +<p class="pnext">I wore the helmet of the dead man, and had sprung at Amos out of the +Tomb, without giving him time to think. Assuredly, in his eyes, what +else could I have been but an infuriated ghost, dangerous and active +because my peace and solitude had been disturbed.</p> +<p class="pnext">I thrust at him savagely in the darkness, whilst he hurried here and +there, in and out among the trees, yelling like a fiend. How hideous +he was! I can see him now, with his hunchback, his green face, his +staring eyes, his mouth contorted in terror. For all that he was quick +and agile, and once or twice eluded a sword-thrust that would have +pierced him to the heart.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then, at last, I had him. I carried my sword in my right hand, +and, as I lunged, he jumped aside, towards the left. As quick as +thought I caught him by the throat. Whereat he fell down before me on +his quaking knees, and clasped his hands in the attitude of one who +pleads for mercy.</p> +<p class="pnext">He was in my power. I said not a word, but clenched my teeth, and +looked into those eyes that even then I feared. I drew back my sword, +and then paused a moment; for I had no liking for the work, which was +the hangman's job.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mercy!" he groaned.</p> +<p class="pnext">I took in a deep breath, like a man about to dive. I felt that I must +brace myself for this red task of common justice. I looked at his +body, clothed in tatters, to select a spot most vulnerable where I +might plunge my rusted sword.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mercy!" he cried again.</p> +<p class="pnext">I clenched my teeth. I was on the point of speaking, but fortunately +did not.</p> +<p class="pnext">I could hear him breathing heavily.</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon, on a sudden, I was felled by some one who had crept upon +me from behind. I was felled like an ox. A single blow upon the back +of the head sent me over like a ninepin, and I lay stretched at my full +length upon the ground, but half-conscious, with a singing sensation in +my head.</p> +<p class="pnext">Presently I sat up and looked about me. There was Amos, still upon his +knees, as green as ever. And immediately above me stood one whom I did +well to recognise as Mr. Gilbert Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">That place was dimly illumined by the white light of the newly-risen +moon, turning the leaves upon the trees above us to a glistening silver.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth was wearing the remnants of a pair of trousers, the legs of +which ended in a tattered fringe a little below his knees. He was +naked to the waist, around which was a belt, crammed with knives and +pistols.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remembered his curled whiskers and his pomaded moustache on the +morning when I had first set eyes upon him, when I lay hidden in the +gorse-bush. His fair hair now had grown so long that it reached to his +shoulders; and his whiskers had spread into a short, shaggy beard, +which was divided somewhat in the middle like that of a Frenchman or a +Sikh. I had thought of him always as a very immaculate gentleman; but +here was a desperate, piratical blade who, one might easily believe, +chewed glass and compelled his unhappy victims to walk the plank.</p> +<p class="pnext">He looked at me and folded his arms; and then spoke in a voice quite +calm.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And who the blazes are you?" he asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was wise enough not to answer. Ghosts--so far as I knew--could never +speak. And was I not a ghost?</p> +<p class="pnext">If I had been a fool to go down into the Tomb, I showed at least a +little wisdom in now holding my tongue. For this, however, I take no +credit. I could not foresee the course that events would take. I had +been surprised and mastered, and cursed myself because I had not killed +Amos out of hand, when the man was in my power. Disappointed, +disgusted with myself, I was stubborn as a mule. They might do what +they would, they might torture me, but still I would not speak.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth repeated his question; and for answer, I rushed again at Amos, +and even then would have killed him, had not the other caught me in his +arms and held me fast.</p> +<p class="pnext">The man was stronger than I thought; for, though I kicked and +struggled, I could not free myself. Amos, as he watched us, regained a +little of his commonsense, and got slowly upon his feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">"No ghost," said he. "No ghost." And he went on repeating the words +as if he were a parrot.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Ghost!" laughed Forsyth. "If this is a ghost, he is a warm-blooded +one, and as vicious as they make 'em."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then, who is he?" asked Baverstock. "I swear to you, he came out of +the Tomb, as I'm a living man."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And he's another," added Forsyth. "Who he is, or what business he has +in such a place as this, I can no more say than you can. None the +less, the circumstantial evidence is all against mortality. I am +reminded, my friend, of the Carthaginian Queen: '<em class="italics">Exoriare aliquis +nostris ex ossibus ultor</em>'--(May some avenger arise from my bones). I +call this individual 'Hannibal,' on that account."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Who wants your Latin gibberish!" cried Amos. "Look plain facts in the +face; call a spade a spade."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Also," said Forsyth, in his usual sing-song voice, "call a man a man, +and not a ghost."</p> +<p class="pnext">"If he's alive," said Amos, coming even nearer, "then, who is he? I +tell you, when I lifted the tombstone, he sprang forth like a +Jack-in-a-box, and, had it not been for you, I would never have escaped +with life."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I have told you already," said the other, "I know no more of him than +you do."</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then that they were joined by the Spaniard, Vasco, and Joshua +Trust, who came together from the darkness of the thickets into the +full light of the moon. And when they saw me, they also were afraid; +for I still wore the helmet on my head and stood at no great distance +from the open grave.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth explained the situation in a few words, with many a wave of the +hand, as if he introduced us. Baverstock, in the meantime, was rapidly +becoming his normal self. He seemed to have forgotten, for the time +being, the very object of his journey.</p> +<p class="pnext">"There's some mischief here!" on a sudden he exclaimed. "Rushby told +us we would find the map beneath the helmet of the Spaniard."</p> +<p class="pnext">At this, Forsyth laughed, and pointed straight at me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And since our Hannibal," he observed, "wears such a headgear somewhat +out of fashion, we may safely presume that he could tell us where the +map is, if he had the power to make us understand--which, for myself, I +doubt."</p> +<p class="pnext">The truth then dawned upon me on the instant. Mr. Gilbert Forsyth, for +all his cleverness and calmness, was as fully in the wrong as Amos +Baverstock had been; for he believed me to be a savage, whereas the +other had taken me for a ghost, the awful apparition of a bygone +Spanish soldier. If I had refused to speak before from sheer +pigheadedness, I was now resolved to play the part that I was cast for, +putting my trust in Providence and fortified by resolution. Though +they burnt my flesh with red-hot irons, I was determined I would never +speak.</p> +<p class="pnext">They questioned me in every barbarous language that they knew. Vasco +and Amos himself were my inquisitors, for Trust was no scholar, and +Forsyth's learning went no further than the dead classic tongues, and, +I believe, a little French. But I just gaped at them like a fool, and +at last they gave it up as a bad business; and Amos, by now well +convinced that I was human, struck me a cowardly blow across the mouth.</p> +<p class="pnext">They looked in the Tomb; they searched everywhere for the map. They +made a great fire of brushwood that they might see the better, and +neglected no possible hiding-place where that little strip of parchment +might be hidden. They looked inside my quiver, and even in the hollow +of my blow-pipe. And then, at length, quite late at night, they gave +it up. And in an ill mood they were, especially Trust and Amos.</p> +<p class="pnext">They must have thought, however, that I was likely to be of some use to +them, for they bound me hand and foot before I was permitted to lie +down to rest. They were evidently not disposed to set me free, until +they had solved the riddle I presented. They were altogether at a loss +to explain who I was or why--apparently of my own free will--I had gone +down into that grim and ancient vault. I think, even then, they +connected me in some way or other with Bannister himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">Left alone, I was given time to think, and I lay awake that night for +many hours, wondering what would happen.</p> +<p class="pnext">There were exactly three reasons why they should not have recognised +me: firstly, I was so altered in appearance, so brown and wrinkled by +the sun, with my hair all long and shaggy, that I do not think my own +mother herself would have known me; secondly, my face had been +half-hidden by the helmet I had worn; and, thirdly--the most potent +fact of all--they never dreamed for a moment that I was yet alive. +Months before, they had tied me to a tree, and left me to starve to +death in the great forest many miles away across the plain beyond +Cahazaxa's Temple. And, as I remembered this, it occurred to me that, +even if they were to recognise me, they might again believe me to be a +ghost, since for so long they had been certain I was dead.</p> +<p class="pnext">These were my thoughts as I lay awake, too near the fire for comfort; +and as I was thinking, I observed a singular phenomenon, which at first +gave me cause for new alarm.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos, Forsyth, and Vasco were sound asleep, and Joshua Trust was on +watch, seated on the ground a little way from me. He was not +particularly alert. Indeed, he was occupied in the kind of pastime +that amused him. With a red-hot firebrand in his hand, he was killing, +one by one, the little insects that crawled upon the ground.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked past him into the thickets, and at once I could have sworn +that I observed a pair of eyes in which the firelight was +reflected--eyes that steadily regarded me. Now, I might have believed +these eyes to be those of a jaguar, were it not that they resembled the +eyes of a man, and I knew for a fact that John Bannister was on the +trail.</p> +<p class="pnext">I made neither sound nor movement, but at once set out upon this new +train of thought. Were a jaguar prowling around the camp, and I had +seen in his eyes the reflection of the firelight, it had been of a +certainty but a few inches from the ground; for I knew well the habits +and the nature of this most beautiful of beasts. But these eyes were +four feet at least above the ground, and, being too large for those of +a monkey, must belong to a human being--who could be none other than +John Bannister himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">Sure of my facts, I was resolved to take no action, though my life +itself were in the greatest danger. I knew that I might safely leave +the matter in the hands of an older, wiser, and a stronger man than I.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw those eyes for no longer than a few seconds, and then they +disappeared. I heard no sound, not so much as the stirring of a leaf, +for the night was strangely still. There was not a breath of wind.</p> +<p class="pnext">How can I describe the emotions that then swayed me! I knew that I +must possess my soul in patience, leaving what was best to do to +Bannister himself. And yet I longed with all my heart to grasp the +hand of my friend. I knew now, for certain, that he was near to me, +watching over me, ready to strike a strong blow in my defence when the +opportunity should offer. And for that reason--so great was my faith +in him--I was conscious of a sense of security that I had not known for +months.</p> +<p class="pnext">I remembered that I had not seen him since that day when I beheld him +running across the Sussex fields, with his brown paper parcel under his +arm, when Forsyth had struck me down with his whip and carried me away, +to begin my series of adventures. I remembered him, too, as I had seen +him, standing in the white road looking after us. And he was now quite +near to me, thousands of miles away from where I had caught my last +glimpse of him; for it is a long march, in very truth, from the South +Downs of England to the shadow of the Andes; and much lies between that +is strange and wonderful and savage--the great ocean, the mystery of +those broad and endless rivers, and the forest with its eternal +twilight and dark, silent places where death lies in wait. John +Bannister had gone forth to find me; and he had found me, at last, +after all these dreadful days.</p> +<p class="pnext">How was it possible for me to sleep? I lay awake for hours with +quickly beating heart, and thought of all that had been and all that +might be yet to come. I saw Vasco take the watch from Trust, and then +Mr. Forsyth post himself as sentry towards the early hours of morning. +And when at length the daylight came, Forsyth looked at me and saw that +I was awake. We sat for a while, looking straight into one another's +eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Friend Hannibal," said he.</p> +<p class="pnext">But I made no answer. At which he thought--for he was a strange man in +many ways--to test me with the classics.</p> +<p class="pnext">"'<em class="italics">Tutum silentii praemium</em>,'" said he; "or, as we have it, 'Silence is +ever golden.' However, I believe that you could tell us much, were you +so disposed."</p> +<p class="pnext">Still I never answered. He could think what he liked; I was determined +to hold my peace. For all that, I was considerably disconcerted; for +he continued to look at me for a long time in a very searching manner, +the while the daylight grew and the woods became flooded with that +faint, evanescent twilight that fades and seems to drift, even when the +sun is at its height.</p> +<p class="pnext">At last he gave a start, and sat bolt upright, rubbing both his eyes.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A strange thing!" said he, and continued to look at me, but this time +with a frown.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A strange thing, indeed!" he repeated.</p> +<p class="pnext">There was another pause, during which I had not the courage to look him +in the face. I had some presentiment of what was now to come; in spite +of which the suddenness with which he had made it manifest that my +secret was out, quite took away my breath.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Allow me," said he, "to offer you my most hearty congratulations. We +have every reason to presume that Master Richard Treadgold is unloved +by the gods."</p> +<p class="pnext">And at that, he held out a hand, and I was obliged to shake with him, +though I felt at once frightened and a fool.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxii-mr-forsyth-and-i-become-better-acquainted"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">CHAPTER XXII--MR. FORSYTH AND I BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">Forsyth got to his feet, and to my horror, immediately awakened Amos. +Then was I certain that my last hour was at hand. I never thought for +a moment that protection would come to me from a quarter whence I had +no reason to expect it.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had always suspected Amos to be a kind of madman; and that grey +morning in the woods I was, for the first time, convinced of it. He +behaved like no sane man, but cursed and raved and stamped upon the +ground, upon which at last he flung himself writhing as if in pain.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had been both foiled and fooled, and recognised it, too. Months +before, he had left me in the woods to die, and now beheld me as alive +as ever, and still standing betwixt him and the goal that he would +gain. Twice, it appeared, had he lost possession of the map--or that +part of it which was of the greatest value to him--and on both +occasions it was through me that he had failed. Besides that, he had +taken me for a ghost, an apparition; he had fallen down upon his knees +before me; and had I had the heart in cold blood to plunge my sword +into the half naked and defenceless body of a living man, Amos +Baverstock would now have been as dead as the Spanish warrior himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">Make no mistake in thinking that he felt a shade of gratitude for that. +It was bitter disappointment and blind, livid fury that mastered what +sanity was his. He rolled in his wrath here and there about the +ground, biting the withered leaves and the dead sticks, like the mad +dog he was.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then he got to his feet and swore that he would kill me, and this time +there would be no muddling in connection with a matter so inordinately +simple. For this dreadful purpose he took into his hands a long +hunting-knife, and with this he came toward me. And as he did so, I +looked over his shoulder, and saw in the midst of the thickets the +gleaming barrel of a rifle.</p> +<p class="pnext">I knew then for certain that I was not to die, and smiled into the evil +face of Amos. John Bannister himself was near at hand, my guardian and +my friend. Had Amos taken another step, or raised his hand to strike, +I know he would have dropped stone-dead upon the spot; for Bannister, +at such a moment, would have counted his own life as nothing. But now +I come to the strangest part of all my story: it was Mr. Gilbert +Forsyth who intervened.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You cannot do this," he drawled.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had stepped between us. Without violence, almost politely, with an +arm extended, he pushed Amos aside.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why not?" gasped Baverstock, gaping at the other.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mainly, my good friend," answered Forsyth, "because it will profit you +nothing. But there are other reasons. In the first place, last night +he might have killed you, and did no such thing. Secondly, I am +already disposed to admire this youth, and to think that it would have +been the better for us had he been upon our side from the beginning. +Thirdly, to kill him as you propose would be a foul and dirty business, +such as I refuse to countenance."</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos turned upon him like a wild beast.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You!" he cried. "Who are you to dictate terms to me? Who brought you +here?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"I brought myself," said Forsyth, very calmly, "and I brought you and +Trust as well; for money makes the world go round, and without my +worthy banker you were still kicking your heels in England. So the +less you speak of that the better."</p> +<p class="pnext">I never saw a man more self-possessed; and, on the other hand, I never +saw one more livid with rage than Amos. On the instant, forgetting me, +he turned the full current of his wrath upon Mr. Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">It would be irksome to repeat, word for word, the altercation that took +place between them; for they fought with words and argued for many +hours that morning. And whilst this was happening, now and again I +shot a glance toward the thickets, where I had seen the barrel of the +rifle I was sure belonged to Bannister. But I saw no further sign of +him, and heard no sound. I did not know, therefore, whether he was +still at hand; for as yet I had no experience of his great skill as a +woodsman. I did not know that, in spite of his bulk, he could move in +the undergrowth as silently as a snake, and when he struck, he did so +with the suddenness with which the jaguar springs upon his prey.</p> +<p class="pnext">For nearly all that morning Forsyth and Amos wrangled, the one to save +me, and the other to do murder--the one, quiet and calm; the other, +raving mad.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a question, I suppose, of will-power only; and Forsyth conquered +in the end. Amos, I could see, was utterly exhausted. The fire within +him had consumed the better part of his vitality and the violence of +his nature. He was at last reduced to utter speechlessness. He stood +before us, panting, his shallow chest heaving greatly like a man who +has run a race. He could not stand steadily upon his feet, but swayed +about, from one side to the other. I observed, also, a strange +difference in his eyes. They were no longer glistening and pig-like; +they were just the wild, staring eyes of a lunatic. And, sure enough, +a lunatic he was.</p> +<p class="pnext">He seated himself upon the trunk of a fallen tree, and there he sat for +many minutes, shivering as if from cold. At last he turned and spoke +in a weak voice--quite unlike his own--to Joshua Trust.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Get me water, you dog," he ordered, "and be quick about it."</p> +<p class="pnext">Trust went to a stream that was not far away; and even as the man +entered the thickets, I thought that I heard something move beneath the +trees, a little to his right.</p> +<p class="pnext">He came back with the water, and Amos drained it at a gulp.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I would know this," said Trust, standing before them both with folded +arms. "Who's master now? Who takes the bridge? Whose orders am I +expected to obey?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"That's a matter for yourself to settle," answered Mr. Forsyth. "Here +we are, in the midst of this almighty wilderness; and if we don't hold +together, as like as not we die. For myself, I am not one who, once he +has decided on a certain course of action, is easily turned aside. I +have come this distance to behold the Greater Treasure, and I do not go +back again until my quest is ended."</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, Amos brightened up in a manner truly wonderful. The very +thought of gold was to him a kind of tonic. He got again upon his feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Why, there you speak some sense!" he cried. "I am the last man in the +world to go back upon my friends. But we can do nothing without the +map."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Leave that to me," said Forsyth; "and, sooner or later, I will find +it. A little subtlety and sense may very well succeed where +cold-blooded murder must have failed."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon Forsyth turned to me and, taking me by both shoulders, +held me at arm's length.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Dick Hannibal," said he--for he had a singular sense of humour, quite +his own--"I would have you, as you love me, and are greatly in my debt, +tell us the whole truth; for I am convinced in my mind that you know +all there is to know."</p> +<p class="pnext">I shook my head. I was resolved to be as stubborn as before. And +besides, I had every reason now to think that John Bannister was +hovering on the outskirts of the camp, and might at any moment hasten +to my aid.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth waited for some minutes. Then he shrugged his shoulders.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I see," said he, "that neither threats nor violence will be of much +avail. You may think differently, however, when I prove to you that I +am neither such a fool, nor yet so soft of heart, as you appear to +think me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We find you in the Tomb," he went on, in his slow, deliberate voice, +"where we believe the map to have been hidden. You knew, therefore, +that it was there; and, therefore, also, you have fallen in with +Rushby. Very well, then, we all go back to Rushby; and what is more, +we start without delay. We know where we left him, and we know that he +cannot escape. The question, so far as I can see, presents no +difficulty at all."</p> +<p class="pnext">He appeared so confident that I was considerably alarmed, and not +without some reason, for I knew that I had left William Rushby in +possession of the map. Yet, Forsyth himself could never have known +this. He had, however, some definite plan at the back of his mind, and +appeared so cock-sure of himself that I wished more than ever that I +had some one with whom I might take counsel.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had no chance that day to attempt to satisfy my curiosity; for, so +soon as we had eaten a meal, we packed up what little equipment Amos +had brought with him from the ravine, and set forward on our march +towards the west. I calculated that it would not take us more than two +days to reach the other side of the Wood; for we followed the trail by +which Amos and the others had come, and it was seldom necessary for +him, who led the little column, to make use of either axe or bill-hook.</p> +<p class="pnext">On the first night, I had the privilege of being enlightened by Mr. +Forsyth, who now appeared to have taken me to some extent into his +heart--though upon that long march across the Great Forest, when we had +travelled in one another's company for many months, he had never +deigned to speak to me on more than one or two occasions.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos, on the other hand, gave me as wide a berth as possible, and sat +regarding me with scowls which--to tell the truth--I could not fail to +see I shared with Mr. Forsyth. Indeed, I trusted Baverstock so little +that, when sheer fatigue compelled me to fall asleep, I did so in the +firm conviction that the man might plunge a knife into my heart at any +moment. He was sullen and morose, addressing himself only to Trust and +the Spaniard, Vasco, and then never without an oath, and in the voice +of one who gives orders to a dog.</p> +<p class="pnext">But the case was very different with Mr. Forsyth, whose demeanour was +scrupulously polite.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I would delight to hear your story from the first," he said to me; +"for I cannot believe that you have arrived so far as this without some +very exceptional adventures."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I did not know," said I, "that my affairs meant anything to you."</p> +<p class="pnext">"On the contrary, you interest me vastly," he replied. "Consider, had +it not been for my humble self, you had now been lying with your throat +cut beside the open grave--or, perhaps, we might have buried you, with +some pretence of decent feelings."</p> +<p class="pnext">And so I told him as much as I thought it would do him no harm to +hear--of how I had been found by the wild men of the woods, and had +journeyed by myself to Cahazaxa's Temple. Thence, I told him, I had +found my way to the Wood of the Red Fish, where I had had the good +fortune to fall in with William Rushby. But I told him nothing of +Atupo, the Peruvian priest, or of the map which I myself had found by +so singular a chance, or of the Treasure that my living eyes had looked +upon.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And this is all your story?" he asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought it best not to answer him; but I saw by the sly, half-amused +expression upon his face that he knew well enough that I would keep him +half in the dark.</p> +<p class="pnext">He said nothing for a long time. And then quite suddenly, he slapped a +hand upon a knee.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Upon my life and soul," he cried, "you are a lad of spirit, such as I +myself once was, until I learned that in this world it is best to +assume a pose! Let me explain to you. There are certain commodities +upon the earth that all men are ever after, and money is the first of +these. We are, therefore, all enemies of one another; we scramble in +the same gutter--to such heights has civilisation attained. Be set +down for a fool, a lazy rascal and a fop, and it is easy enough to take +by surprise those who think they have the whip-hand of you. You have +had an example of this yourself in your own brief experience of Gilbert +Forsyth. When you made off from John Bannister's cabin, on the morning +when you saw us first, you never suspected that I was the one who would +catch you. And so now. It is I who will outwit you, where friend +Amos, with his knife and oaths, has failed already."</p> +<p class="pnext">I pricked my ears at that; for my curiosity was roused.</p> +<p class="pnext">"And where are we going?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"To William Rushby," he answered, "sometime boatswain of the <em class="italics">Mary +Greenfield</em>."</p> +<p class="pnext">"And why?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">He laughed outright.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You must learn to see things," he observed, "from the point of view of +others. Remember that I am well aware of this: Rushby and you, when +you met, compared notes and hatched a plot together. John Bannister +himself may, or may not, have been a party to your mild conspiracy. +That is a point that does not affect the issue. I am not so sure +Rushby spoke the truth when he told us he had hidden the map in the +Spaniard's Tomb; otherwise, I cannot see why we did not find it. I go +back to Rushby, and I take you with me, to learn the real truth."</p> +<p class="pnext">"How will you do that?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">I thought, at first, that he had ignored the question; for he answered +in a round-about way.</p> +<p class="pnext">"There is a game of cards called Poker," he observed, "at which I +myself am tolerably proficient. In this game--with which you are too +young to be well acquainted--there is a method of gaining by what is +known as Bluff. Amos played the game of Bluff on Bannister, and +failed. He tried it again on Rushby, and was singularly successful. +In other words, Baverstock pretended that he held you in his power, and +he was never asked to show his cards. To bluff, therefore is a risky +business, which should be practised only in moments of emergency or +urgent need. I go now to William Rushby, to lay my hand upon the +table, knowing for a certainty that I hold the best card in the pack."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I quite fail to understand you," said I, shaking my head; for all this +was so much double Dutch to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You," said Forsyth, "are the best card in the pack. There is no +occasion for us to bluff. We have you in our power, as we have also +Rushby. Between you, you know the truth. If one will not speak, the +other will. If neither speaks, Amos can have his way, and both of you +can leave your bones in this savage country, where you have ventured of +your own free will."</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw now there was nothing about the matter so subtle as I had +thought. After all, it was no more than the old game they had played +from the beginning.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I see," said I, quite slowly.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I am glad of that," said Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">Whereupon he lay down upon his side, and almost immediately fell sound +asleep.</p> +<p class="pnext">And for a long time I watched him slumbering, and wondered greatly upon +the strange complexity of the man's character. He was polished and +refined, and something of a scholar, too, if there was real learning +behind his tags of Latin. He was also not without humanity and a sense +of justice; else I had now been dead for a whole day and night--and +that I was still alive I was profoundly grateful. And still, he was a +villain, as cold-blooded as Amos himself, and more dangerous in the +sense that he was saner.</p> +<p class="pnext">These were the thoughts that carried me far into the night. Trust was +again on sentry; and as I watched the man, I observed that he was +nodding by the fire. Plainly, he was three parts asleep. Were my +hands not bound behind my back, it would be a simple matter to escape. +And as this thought came into my head--lo and behold!--<em class="italics">I was free</em>!</p> +<p class="pnext">Someone had approached quite silently from behind me, from the +direction of the thickets. In a trice, a sharp knife had cut my bonds. +And--as I have stated--I was free.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiii-how-amos-gained-possession-of-the-map"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24">CHAPTER XXIII--HOW AMOS GAINED POSSESSION OF THE MAP</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">The thing was done so swiftly that I had no time even to look round. I +sat regarding the burly figure of Joshua Trust, very definitely +outlined before the red glow of the fire; and I know that the man never +suspected for a moment what had happened.</p> +<p class="pnext">Someone whispered in my ear:</p> +<p class="pnext">"Keep an eye on Trust. Draw back into the thickets as silently as you +can. There you will find me waiting for you."</p> +<p class="pnext">I had no need to look at him. I knew the voice of John Bannister, even +though he did no more than whisper. I was resolved to carry out his +instructions to the word.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister withdrew. I neither heard nor saw him go, but I felt +instinctively that he was no longer at my back.</p> +<p class="pnext">I sat watching Joshua Trust, and saw that the man's chin had dropped +upon his chest. It was plain to see that, though he tried his best to +keep awake, he was so sleepy that he could not do so. But, knowing +that there would be trouble of a certainty if Amos caught him sleeping +on his post, he might awaken with a start at any moment, and for that +reason I thought that I had best take the chance that offered.</p> +<p class="pnext">I had been sitting upright, and still kept my hands behind my back, +though they were no longer bound together. Moving my attitude as +little as possible, I drew myself backwards, inch by inch. By this +cautious method it took me the better part of three minutes to gain the +margin of the undergrowth--a distance of ten yards at the very most. +There I was suddenly lifted off my feet, carried a short distance and +released, to grasp my old friend by the hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so he had found me at last, though it seemed to me for all the +world as if it was I who had discovered him. He had fulfilled the oath +he had sworn to my mother many months before; and from this moment we +were never again to be parted throughout our great adventure.</p> +<p class="pnext">His story I had learned from William Rushby; but Bannister as yet knew +nothing of what had happened to me, since he had not seen me from the +day when I was kidnapped upon the Littlehampton road. But there was no +time then to talk to one another. With as small delay as possible, we +must get well beyond the reach of Amos and his friends.</p> +<p class="pnext">That night we journeyed in one another's company for several hours +through the darkness of the woods. We could not see where we were +going, for it was not possible to see a hand before one's face, and we +were scratched most painfully and often upon the thorn-trees that were +plentiful amid the underwoods. But this was of no great account, if +our own safety were ensured; for, sooner or later, Joshua must see that +I was gone, and would at once give the alarm; and if we were not well +out of the way by then, it was quite possible that we might be +overtaken, and our plight would be as bad as ever.</p> +<p class="pnext">So we hurried blindly on our way, until at last John Bannister deemed +that we were safe. Then it was that I learned for the first time how +utterly exhausted he was. He had had no sleep, he told me, for two +nights, and he was still weak from the fever which had robbed him of +more than half his strength.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Let us sleep, Dick," said he. "To-morrow there will be time enough +for you to tell me all I want to know."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon we lay down to sleep together, side by side, in the dense +wood in which I had wandered for so long alone; and, strange as it may +seem, we slept hand in hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">I experienced a sense of security and peace such as I had never known, +it seemed to me, for years. He and I were at last together; and on the +morrow he must hear all my story, just as I myself had once been wont +to listen to his wondrous tales of enterprise and daring. I know that +I was happy, and I also know the reason: I had often dreamed--as boys +will let their fancy run away with them--that he and I were sojourning +together in some savage place, beset by many dangers. And I always +knew that, if he were with me, there would be naught to fear; we would +come forth unscathed from every peril that threatened life or limb.</p> +<p class="pnext">In all conscience, we had enough of danger now, on every side of us, in +the darkness of the Wood. And yet I slept, contented and at peace.</p> +<p class="pnext">Daylight awoke us, for we were both creatures of the Wild. Marking the +position of the sun, we set forward towards the west, hoping to gain +that night the ravine where we had left William Rushby.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister told me that he feared for Rushby's life, since he was sure +that Amos and the others would return to the ravine with all possible +speed, so soon as ever they discovered that I had escaped from their +clutches. I thought by now that I had a fair knowledge of the +topography of the Wood; but I soon found that Bannister knew as much, +or even more, than I. In the night we must have fled towards the +south; for we had not gone far upon the route that we had chosen before +we came upon the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I know where we are," cried Bannister, at once. "We are about five +miles to the south of the Big Fish itself. I can tell that by the size +of the stones in the stream. We had better change our course towards +the south."</p> +<p class="pnext">"But that will take us away from the ravine," said I, "which lies due +west of the Wood, some distance to the north of the Spaniard's Tomb!"</p> +<p class="pnext">"You're right, there," said Bannister. "It may be a long way round; +but the longest way is often the quickest, Dick. In a few hours we +should be clear of the Wood, although too far to the south. But we +shall have open country before us, and should march four miles an hour."</p> +<p class="pnext">I had, by now, told Bannister my story of all that had happened to me +since I first fell into the hands of Amos Baverstock. He asked few +questions, though these were always to the point; and when I had told +him everything, he said nothing, but just placed one of his great hands +upon my shoulder, and patted me so affectionately that the action +conveyed far more to me than any words he might have used. I knew that +he cared for me more than he dared trust himself to say, and, moreover, +he approved of all that I had done.</p> +<p class="pnext">So we journeyed towards the north-west, and came, full early in the +afternoon, to open country. Before us we could see the rocky spurs and +ridges--which were, in fact, the beginning of the foothills of the +Andes--running northward for several miles, to end quite suddenly at +the morass.</p> +<p class="pnext">John Bannister had changed greatly since the days when I knew him +first. He looked as big and strong as ever, but had become pitifully +thin; and I thought his hair was greyer, and there were deeper lines +upon his forehead. His mouth I could not see, for he had grown a great +beard, more than touched with grey. And this beard, merged into his +long moustache, was spread like the beard of a paladin upon his chest.</p> +<p class="pnext">We directed our way northward in a bee-line, so far as we could judge, +towards the ravine where we had left William Rushby; and this compelled +us to clamber over the rocky hillocks and to cross the gullies and +declivities that intervened. It was hard work, and the sun was baking +hot. And yet Bannister would not halt, even for food, for we both knew +well enough that the boatswain's life was in the greatest danger.</p> +<p class="pnext">"If Baverstock gets there before us," said he, "not only will he gain +possession of the map, and thereby learn the secret of the Treasure, +but there is very little doubt that he will put Rushby to death."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I think so, too," said I. "He has been baulked so often that he will +not care to take further risks. However, I now believe the man to be +quite mad. Last evening I saw him look for a long time at Forsyth, and +I swear there was murder in his eye."</p> +<p class="pnext">"No such criminals are wholly sane," said Bannister. "Amos has done +murder more than once, and he will never hesitate to do it again, if he +thinks that he sees profit in the business. Rushby is defenceless. +His wound has become septic, though I have dressed it often with what +skill I have. There is a chance that the evil may spread; and in that +case nothing can save his life but amputation of the leg. And that, of +course, we have neither the means of doing, nor the skill to do it if +we had."</p> +<p class="pnext">We were silent for a long time after that, though we hastened our +footsteps, knowing that life and death were in the scales.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was soon utterly fatigued, and could not fail to see that Bannister +as well was well-nigh at the end of all his strength. For all that, we +would not give in; for William Rushby was an honest man, to whom we +both owed much, and we were determined, if we could, to save his life.</p> +<p class="pnext">Presently, we began to doubt whether we would reach the ravine before +nightfall; for the sun, as we could see, was descending rapidly towards +the crestline of the Andes. Once only did Bannister pause, and then he +stood stock-still upon a hill-top, shading his eyes with the palm of a +hand and looking towards the west.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Was ever anything more wonderful!" said he. "I can never look upon a +mountain without thinking of Coleridge's <em class="italics">Hymn before Sunrise</em>: 'Earth +with her thousand voices, praises God.'"</p> +<p class="pnext">He stood for a while like a man in a dream; and I, also shading my +eyes, followed the direction of his gaze, and saw again the great and +glorious mountains in the distance, like a rugged battlement, scarred +and crumbled throughout æons of old Time, rising thousands of feet +before the red sky of evening. And I, too, though I knew naught of the +poet, felt within me a sense of great awe and reverence for the most +mighty works of God.</p> +<p class="pnext">I would have lingered there, I cannot say how long, had not Bannister +taken me by a hand and led me forcibly away with such long strides that +I was obliged to run. He looked straight in front of him as he walked. +I could see that he was preoccupied with his thoughts, and I did not +care to interrupt them. Looking about me, I thought I recognised the +country. I was certain we could not be far from the ravine.</p> +<p class="pnext">And a little after, on a sudden, we heard a shot, fired but a little +distance to the front of us, towards the right.</p> +<p class="pnext">Without a word we both began to run, and came, unexpectedly, upon the +very head of the ravine.</p> +<p class="pnext">The sun was now behind us; and we could see clearly all there was to +see. Far down the ravine was the solitary tree to which Bannister had +been bound when Amos had threatened him with death. And a few yards +from this, near where the old camping-ground had been, were the figures +of three men hastening in our direction; and these we recognised at +once as Forsyth, Trust, and Amos Baverstock himself. Vasco we saw a +little after come forth from the shadows of the Wood, so laden with +cooking utensils and the like that he might have been a pack-mule, for +he was doubled almost in half.</p> +<p class="pnext">However, we took little notice of him; for our eyes were fixed upon the +pathetic figure of poor Rushby, who was limping in great agony as he +tried to run. It was clear from the first that he had little chance of +escaping. It was inevitable that he must be overtaken almost at once. +Suddenly he pitched forward upon his face, and lay quite still upon the +ground; and, since no shot had been fired, we guessed that he had +fainted from pain and exhaustion. Amos pounced upon him as a cat +springs upon a mouse.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was, of course, unarmed, for I had left my blow-pipe by the Tomb. +But Bannister, who carried his rifle, hesitated to shoot, for a very +natural reason: at that range, if he fired at Amos, as like as not he +might hit William Rushby. So, together, we set forward running, hoping +that even yet we might not be too late to save the boatswain's life.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos was on his hands and knees by the side of Rushby; and as we +approached he sprang to his feet, waving something in his hand.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He has got the map!" cried Bannister, who at once brought his rifle to +his shoulder and fired straight at Amos.</p> +<p class="pnext">The singing of the bullet must have made Baverstock realise that he was +not by any means as safe as he would like. For the man cast no more +than a glance in our direction, and then turned upon his heel, to set +off running down the ravine as fast as his legs could carry him.</p> +<p class="pnext">Trust followed his example; and Vasco, the Spaniard, turned at once +back into the Wood. I saw that Forsyth hesitated for a moment; and +then, knowing full well that his strength was as nothing when compared +to that of Bannister, he also turned and fled.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister fired two more shots; but, as he was out of breath from +running, neither of these had any effect upon Amos, at whom they were +directed, save that they were near enough to make him run the faster.</p> +<p class="pnext">Our first care, at any rate, was for William Rushby, who--as we +guessed--had fainted from his great efforts to escape. He regained +consciousness as soon as ever his face was bathed with water; and then, +sitting up, he looked at us and groaned.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He has taken it?" he asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister tugged at his beard and shot a glance towards the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Yes," said he. "At last Amos has the map. By to-morrow evening he +will have found the Big Fish. After all these years he will be able to +feast his eyes upon the Greater Treasure of the Incas."</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxiv-how-amos-was-possessed-of-seven-devils"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25">CHAPTER XXIV--HOW AMOS WAS POSSESSED OF SEVEN DEVILS</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I felt, at that moment, so despondent that I was disposed to burst into +tears, to cry like a child through utter disappointment. For a minute +we discussed the matter between ourselves, and tried in vain to see one +ray of daylight. Look at it as we might, from every aspect, the +situation seemed just about as bad as it could be.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister himself was too exhausted to continue the pursuit, and Rushby +was a wounded man, whom, in any case, we dared not again leave alone in +the ravine.</p> +<p class="pnext">"What is to be done?" I asked. And there was something so woeful in my +expression that Bannister smiled.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We must make the best of a bad business, Dick," said he. "After all, +Rushby's life is of more account than the Treasure. Clearly, it is not +safe for us to remain here in open country. We must return to the +Wood, and find a place where we can hide. A few hours' rest, and I +shall have strength enough to go on; but I am not disposed to leave my +comrade until his life is out of danger."</p> +<p class="pnext">As he spoke, he placed a hand upon Rushby's shoulder; and I saw by the +look in the boatswain's face that he thought no less of John Bannister +than I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You'll not wait for me, sir," the boatswain answered. "I want nothing +better than to see Amos run to earth; for I have not forgotten the +voyage of the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>, when mainly through him I was cast +into irons. Besides, it's my fault that he has now got the map, and +I'll never cease to blame myself for that."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Forget it all!" said Bannister. "And as for future plans, they can +wait till we are rested. The sooner we are out of this place the +better; for we know not what Baverstock may do."</p> +<p class="pnext">Then and there we gathered together what little baggage we possessed, +as well as everything that Amos had left behind him when he had hurried +from the camp. There were two rifles between us--and we wanted no +more, since Rushby was a casualty; but we could find only ten rounds of +ammunition, and I was without my blow-pipe.</p> +<p class="pnext">I loaded myself with the rifles and equipment, whereas Bannister picked +up Rushby in his arms and carried him into the Wood. There we had not +long to search before we found a good hiding-place, a little hollow in +the midst of the thickets, where, Bannister told us, a jaguar had +reared her cubs. There was a stream near by, that connected, beyond +doubt, with the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles, and we were therefore well +supplied with water.</p> +<p class="pnext">Almost at once the three of us fell fast asleep. For myself, I had +never been so fatigued; and yet I awoke at daybreak, and immediately, +without disturbing my companions, went forth in search of food, and did +not return until I had as many wild fruits and berries as I could +conveniently carry in Bannister's haversack. I then made a fire; and +whilst I was thus employed the other two awakened.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister's first office was to attend to the boatswain's wound. This +he washed and dressed--very skilfully, I thought--and then ordered +Rushby to lie quite still and to make no attempt to move.</p> +<p class="pnext">Whilst we were eating we talked of what was best to do; and in this +argument the boatswain took a leading part. He had a mind of his own, +and was determined, from the first, to have his way.</p> +<p class="pnext">He told us that he was well enough where he was, if we left him food to +eat and a pannikin of water within reach, so that there would be no +need for him to move. As for John Bannister and me, we must take the +two rifles and what ammunition there was, and set forward without delay +towards the Big Fish, to find Baverstock and his three companions.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Though the odds are two to one against you," he added, "that will make +no difference. Stalk him, as you would a wild beast, and put a bullet +through the scoundrel, as he comes up from the vault. This evening he +will be there or thereabouts. Our one consolation is that he has no +means of taking the Treasure away. But you must be quick, sir; for I'm +open to a wager that Baverstock goes back across the plain, to find +forest Indians to work for him under the whip, that he may carry all +this gold to one of the rivers, and thence down-stream in more than one +canoe."</p> +<p class="pnext">There was little question that William Rushby had got the hang of the +affair. Indeed, all that he predicted was, or might have been, the +truth. It was not so much, I think, because Bannister wished to thwart +his ancient enemy, as because he desired to see for himself how the +whole business would end, that we set forward into the Wood at about +midday, our destination being the Red Fish itself.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister told me that you could not reach the Treasure from the +northern side, because the brook there opened out into a swamp, where +you could sink to the neck in mud, to be eaten alive by leeches. It +was therefore necessary for us to journey by a circuitous route towards +the west, until we came upon the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles, somewhere to +the south of the tunnel that led to the Fish. However, we had the sun +to guide us, and both Bannister and I were well acquainted with the +Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">And now, for once, I must tell my story from a point of view other than +my own, and follow, for a few hours, the fortunes of Amos Baverstock. +Afterwards, I was destined to behold with my own eyes the raving lunacy +of that unhappy man, and to witness the spectacle of a tragedy, at once +gruesome and fantastic. But first, I tell the story as I heard it from +the lips of Mr. Forsyth; and very weird it is.</p> +<p class="pnext">With the map in his possession, Amos set forth without delay to feast +his eyes upon the Treasure. Though his three companions were overcome +by fatigue, and there was but half an hour that evening before sunset, +the hunchback would not halt until darkness compelled him to do so; and +that night the excited and disordered condition of his mind would not +allow him to sleep.</p> +<p class="pnext">He had them up in the small hours that they might be ready to start at +daybreak; and they struck the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles early that +morning, but a few miles to the north of the Big Fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth afterwards told us that all that day Amos never spoke, but +forged ahead with the map in his hand, the others following as best +they could. The man was now blinded by his own greed and avarice. He +seemed alike incapable of fatigue and insensible to physical pain; for +he rushed forward with such mad impetuosity that he was cut to pieces +on the thorns, and was soon bleeding profusely from a score of places.</p> +<p class="pnext">He came, on a sudden, upon the swamp, into which he plunged so +recklessly that he was waist-deep before he knew it. Then, to his +great alarm, he found that he was unable to move. He was held tight in +the mud, and was at once attacked by scores of little leeches.</p> +<p class="pnext">He threw up his arms into the air like a drowning man, crying out +piteously for help. Forsyth, as cool as ever--as I can well +imagine--at once cut down a long bamboo, and held this out to Amos, who +was eventually hauled back to safety, though covered from head to foot +in mud.</p> +<p class="pnext">The leeches they were obliged to cut away from him with knives; and all +the time the man reviled them for not making greater haste, telling +them repeatedly that they were but a short distance from the Treasure, +upon which he was determined to set eyes that very day.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then that his companions, for the first time, suspected that the +man's mind was disordered; for Amos talked like a lunatic, and there +was a strange look in his eyes. For instance, he whipped round upon +Forsyth and told him that he had ever been a stumbling-block, with his +refined manners and his London airs, since the expedition started from +Caracas. At which Forsyth laughed aloud.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Your memory is something short," said he. "Less than five minutes ago +I saved your life. You were sinking even as I pulled you out. Had it +not been for me, you would have been drowned in black, stinking mud, +and your corpse devoured by leeches."</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, Amos burst into the wild and hideous laughter of a madman.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Liar!" he shrieked. "You saved the map! It was not me you saved; it +was the map--and without risk to yourself. Much good may it do you! I +shall see to it that you profit nothing. Trust Amos Baverstock for +that!"</p> +<p class="pnext">And then he laughed again, and again called Forsyth "Liar!"</p> +<p class="pnext">At the time they thought little or nothing of all this, the high talk +of an excited man. They believed him to be in one of his fits of +uncontrollable anger, when he could never rightly be held responsible +for either his actions or his words. But they left him as he was, +sticky with the black mud, with many horrid little leeches still glued +upon his skin, that was already all blood-stained from the thorns. And +they made a circuit of the swamp towards the east, and came suddenly +upon the open place where the Red Fish stood forth from the ground, +with opened mouth, as if in the act of leaping from the water.</p> +<p class="pnext">They had no need to cast about them, as I had done, in order to find +the entrance to the vault; for I had left traces as plain as any +printed book to read, and the flowers and ferns that I had planted were +not yet so well established that they looked quite natural.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos rushed in like a mad dog, and in feverish haste fell to working +with his knife, scattering broadcast the soft, rich soil that lay +between the rocks. In this task he was assisted by the others--for now +they were all near as wild with excitement as Amos himself. In a +little time they had the slab laid bare; then they threw it backwards, +so that they beheld the stone steps leading downward to the vault.</p> +<p class="pnext">They had no need to make a torch, as I had done, since they had always +carried with them a small collapsible lantern, and with this in one +hand and the map in the other, Amos led the way down the steps, through +the ante-chamber where the floor was paved with ingots, and thence into +the great vault below.</p> +<p class="pnext">And, thereupon, there is little doubt that Amos Baverstock went wholly +mad. He rushed here and there, yelling like a fiend. He snatched up +the gold in handfuls--the drinking vessels, the rings and bracelets and +the ingots--and cast them, in a kind of frenzy, right and left, all the +time shouting and dancing and filling that great chamber with the +echoes of his laughter.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then he filled his arms with ingots, and tied these together with a +rifle-sling, so that they resembled a great golden faggot, and weighed +far more than any normal man could carry. For the time being, he knew +not what he did; but was possessed of seven devils that were brothers, +and more like to one another than in general brothers are; and their +names were Avarice, Violence, Jealousy, Cruelty, Revenge, Cowardice, +and Cunning. Forsyth and the others regarded him amazed.</p> +<p class="pnext">Amos dashed up the stairway, carrying his great load upon his crooked +back. When he reached the open air, he threw his bundle down upon the +ground, and then turned an ear to listen at the stairhead.</p> +<p class="pnext">He heard Forsyth, Trust, and Vasco ascending in pursuit of him; and +then again he burst into his madman's laughter, and, laying hold of the +slab, hurled it back into its place, and rolled a great boulder upon +the top of it; for his strength was not his own, but that of all the +seven devils that were brothers who possessed him.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Lie there and rot!" he shouted. And they below heard his footsteps as +he danced upon the stone.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 63%" id="figure-59"> +<span id="lie-there-and-rot-he-shouted-and-they-below-heard-his-footsteps-as-he-danced-upon-the-stone"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-288.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"'LIE THERE AND ROT!' HE SHOUTED. AND THEY BELOW HEARD HIS FOOTSTEPS AS HE DANCED UPON THE STONE."</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">They cried out to him to be merciful and to release them; but he only +laughed the more, telling them that he was going alone across the plain +to find Indian porters to carry the Treasure through the wilderness, +and that he would not return for months--by which time they three would +be dead--dead as Orellano's soldier--starved to death in the very midst +of the gold they had endured so much to gain.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then Amos Baverstock set forward, laughing loudly, with his heavy +burden on his back, and a heavier burden still upon his soul. He went +alone into the woods, whilst the daylight faded and the shadows flooded +the undergrowth; and his loud, mad laughter scared the monkeys and the +birds amid the tree-tops; even the jaguar slunk away in fear at the +sound of that unholy mirth. The very Wild was filled with terror--all +save the great and stealthy snake that lay coiled in silence in the +cool woodland pool, more evil even than Amos, more strong than all his +seven devils, more cruel than Death itself.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxv-how-the-sheep-were-shorn"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26">CHAPTER XXV--HOW THE SHEEP WERE SHORN</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">In the meantime, John Bannister and I journeyed together through the +Wood, and came in a few hours to the Brook of Scarlet Pebbles. This we +crossed, and took up our westerly route, in order to avoid the swamp of +which we knew. This was a far longer march than that accomplished by +Amos; and that night we camped in the jungle--so far as we could +tell--a mile or two to the west of the Red Fish.</p> +<p class="pnext">Early the following morning we continued on our way, and soon struck +the Brook, as chance had it, at the pool of the electric eels, into +which we waded without a moment's hesitation. We found the tunnel +without difficulty, and through this advanced stealthily towards the +open place where we knew the Red Fish to be. We took good care to make +as little noise as possible; for we expected to find Amos and his +friends encamped above the vault. And then Bannister ordered me to +remain behind, whilst he went forward to get what news he could.</p> +<p class="pnext">I should say that half an hour elapsed before he returned; and that was +an anxious time for me. Expecting every moment to hear a rifle-shot, I +waited, knee-deep in water, in the impenetrable darkness of the tunnel. +So dark was it, indeed, that I never knew that Bannister had returned, +until I heard his voice quite close to me.</p> +<p class="pnext">He told me what he had seen. There was little doubt that the vault had +been visited since my departure, several days before; but there was one +circumstance which he could not by any means explain.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A great boulder has been rolled upon the slab," said he, "as if to +weigh it down. It looks as if Amos meant to keep the Treasure safe."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I know nothing of that," said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then, you had best come with me," said Bannister. "The road's clear +enough, though something extraordinary has happened."</p> +<p class="pnext">We came forth together from the tunnel, and I was at once half-blinded +by the sudden daylight, just as I had been before, when I first beheld +the red rock standing forth from the ground in the very semblance of a +fish with opened mouth. But when I could use my eyes again, I saw that +everything in that strange place was just as I had left it, with the +exception that the stone slab was no longer covered with earth, and a +great boulder, round as a snowball, lay upon the top of it.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Who placed this here?" I asked; and that was more than Bannister could +answer.</p> +<p class="pnext">We went together to the slab, and there he lay down and listened, with +his ear upon the stone.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I can hear nothing," said he. "It will be safe enough to enter."</p> +<p class="pnext">At this we removed the boulder, lifted the slab, and went down the +stone steps into the Treasure-chamber below.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was quite dark, for we had neither torch nor lantern. We had made +certain that the place would be deserted, and it therefore came to us +something in the nature of a shock, when we beard a jingling sound--as +if some one, who had been asleep upon the gold, had sprung on a sudden +to his feet. And then a human voice cried out to us; and this was so +loud and unexpected that I confess I jumped as if I had been pricked +with the point of a knife. For all that, I recognised the voice at +once as that of Joshua Trust.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You've come back!" he cried. "Stand clear of me, or else I'll wring +your neck! Who's he who swore that he never yet went back upon his +friends?"</p> +<p class="pnext">There followed a pause, during which I tried my best to make head and +tail of what the man had said. It speaks much for John Bannister's +intelligence that he tumbled to the truth at once. To my bewilderment, +he answered in a voice that was like enough to that of Amos Baverstock.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I've come back all right," said he. "But I'm here to offer terms, +which you may accept or not, as you wish."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon, for some reason or other, the Spaniard, Vasco, burst +forth into such a rapid stream of language that it seemed to me--who +understood not a word of what he said--that he swore with the most +amazing fluency and violence. At all events, when at last he ended, +apparently for want of breath, it came as a kind of relief to us to +hear the lazy drawl of Mr. Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"<em class="italics">Amicus certus in re incerta</em>," he observed. "Sure friend in doubtful +circumstances. Amos, we welcome you. We greet you as Joseph received +his brethren."</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then that Bannister spoke in his natural voice; and, as I +listened, I tried to imagine the feelings of those others whom his +words took so wholly by surprise.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Amos Baverstock has not returned," said he; "and I am prepared to take +my oath he never will. A certain friend, in very truth, was he who led +you here, and then entrapped you that you all might starve to death!"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Who's that?" cried Trust.</p> +<p class="pnext">"My name's John Bannister. And it was you, Joshua Trust, who once +tried to kill me--who, indeed, left me for dead. Do you remember that +day in the mountains, when Amos caught me in Cahazaxa's Tomb? Well, +now he has done the same for you. He has buried you alive; and when he +comes back for the gold he covets, he will think to find it strewn with +the bones of those who were fools enough to believe he was their +friend."</p> +<p class="pnext">I heard Trust groan in the darkness; or, I think, perhaps, a growl +describes it better. Forsyth, judging by the tones of his voice, was +just as calm as ever.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Bannister!" he exclaimed. "So this is the end of it all! We are to +owe our lives to you!"</p> +<p class="pnext">"That's a matter," answered Bannister, "for yourselves to settle. How +long have you been here?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Not many hours," said Forsyth; "but it seems like days and nights. We +have had time enough in which to consider the misery of our +end--without water, food, or light, in the midst of all this gold."</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister was silent a moment. He had not descended the stairs into +the chamber, but stood upon a step about midway down with myself close +behind him.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I'll have no treachery," said he. "It is very needful that you +understand the situation as it is. I am a man of my word, as you may +or may not know, and I set you free on certain conditions only."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Fire ahead," said Forsyth. "State your terms. Anything for daylight +and for freedom--for the certain knowledge that we have been granted a +new lease of life."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Good!" said Bannister. "I go before you up the staircase, and wait +for you above. Whatever arms you have you leave behind you. If any +one of you comes forth with a rifle in his possession, I shoot him dead +upon the spot."</p> +<p class="pnext">"We share the gold with you?" asked Joshua Trust.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Not an ounce of it, you fool!" cried Bannister. "Years ago I might +have had it for myself, had I wished to play the robber. All this +treasure is not yours or mine or anyone's; it belongs by right to the +Government of the country. I am neither a smuggler nor a thief. Were +it worth less, I might not be so honest; but here are millions, such as +to release would be to let loose a great force of evil that would +profit no one, and ourselves least of all. Here this gold has lain for +ages, and here let it lie. That is one of my conditions."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Let us out!" cried Trust. "All night I have dreamed that I must eat +bars of gold to live. I have sucked golden ingots with parched, dry +lips. I have slept upon gold, and never before had I a couch so +uninviting. Let us out, I say! I agree to anything."</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, Bannister bade me ascend the stairs, and followed close upon +my heels. When we reached the top, we waited both with our rifles at +the ready, prepared to fire upon the first sign of trouble. But the +three of them, one behind the other, came forth out of the vault as +meek as shorn lambs--first Trust; then Vasco; and finally, Mr. Gilbert +Forsyth, who, swaggering into the daylight in no particular haste, had +the audacity to hold out a hand to Bannister, as if he greeted an old +acquaintance.</p> +<p class="pnext">John Bannister, however, did no more than shrug his shoulders, and then +went to the stone slab and threw it back into its place.</p> +<p class="pnext">"When did Amos leave here?" he asked, turning again to Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Last night."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Did he say anything before he went?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Yes, he was so gracious as to tell us we could die where he had left +us. As for himself, he was going back into the forest to find native +porters to carry the gold away."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Just as we thought!" said Bannister. "Rushby was in the right."</p> +<p class="pnext">And, thereupon, our attention was immediately attracted by the strange +conduct of Joshua Trust, who looked up at the little patch of blue sky +just visible between the overhanging branches of the trees, clenched +both his fists in an amazing burst of passion, and shook them above his +head.</p> +<p class="pnext">"He shall pay for this!" he cried, with an oath that can never be +repeated. "And I have served him faithfully for years! He has gone +back upon me, when he saw that he had gained everything he wanted! By +thunder, he shall pay for it!"</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister looked at him, and smiled.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Have more sense, man," said he. "What use is all this anger? Amos +Baverstock is mad."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Mad or sane," cried Trust, "he shall answer for what he has done. +Come, tell me, what's the time?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"I should think no more than ten," said Bannister. "We started at +daybreak, and we were not two hours upon the march before we found the +brook."</p> +<p class="pnext">When I looked at Joshua, I was reminded of the man whom I had known on +board the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>, who was wont to sit drinking at his cards. +He was red of eye and flushed of countenance, and I saw that his lips +trembled with a passion he was quite unable to contain. He was a rough +man, in any case; and now that he had lived for months in the +wilderness, and had been saved from death as it were at the eleventh +hour, he was the greatest savage of the five of us.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Ten o'clock," he repeated. "Four bells, by Christopher! Then, he +can't be far away. He can never have travelled far by night, for he +took with him a hundredweight of gold. I'll go after him," he cried. +"He shall answer yet for what he tried to do."</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister stretched out an arm to detain the man; but Trust sprang +aside and, with another oath, dived into the thickets.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxvi-a-night-of-terror"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27">CHAPTER XXVI--A NIGHT OF TERROR</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">I was about to follow in pursuit of Trust, and had even taken a few +steps towards the undergrowth upon the right bank of the brook, when +Bannister called me back.</p> +<p class="pnext">"What's the use?" said he. "Let dogs delight. We have our own friends +to think of."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Our own friends?" said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Have you forgotten Rushby? We have left him alone too long as it is. +His life is more to us than the fate of either Trust or Baverstock; and +he is in danger just as great."</p> +<p class="pnext">At those words, I felt something of shame that I had indeed forgotten +one who had proved himself so loyal and true a comrade.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then, what's to be done?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"That's not so easy to decide," said Bannister. "I take it," he added, +turning again to Forsyth, "that you are now willing to cast in your lot +with us, to give up all thought of plunder?"</p> +<p class="pnext">Forsyth actually yawned.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Have it your own way," said he. "I have made a promise which I will +faithfully keep. I have always believed that there was honour among +thieves; but, even here, I find I was mistaken. To speak the truth, I +am heartily sick of the whole business, which has cost me a pretty +penny with nothing to show for it, save a scratched skin and a score of +bruises, and the loss of an ear. You may count me as one of +yourselves. I have little enough, perhaps, upon which to flatter +myself, but if there is skill in gaining, there is at least an art in +losing. It can be done gracefully. Do you not agree?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"Moralise as much as you like," laughed Bannister. "It amounts to no +more than this: you have failed dismally, and are glad enough to find +yourself alive. You are wise to accept the situation as it is. That's +all the same to me. Henceforward, you are under my orders, and I +expect prompt obedience."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I shall be charmed," said Forsyth, with a mock bow. "And what of +Rushby?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"He lies some way to the north," said Bannister. "I am alarmed at his +condition. The wound in his leg is septic, and it is very doubtful +whether he will recover."</p> +<p class="pnext">"I am distressed to hear it," answered the other, to whose effrontery +there seemed no end; for he added, "If the truth be told, it was I +myself who shot him--with the best intentions in the world."</p> +<p class="pnext">"No doubt," said Bannister grimly. "There has been give and take on +both sides; and I am the more glad to have saved your life, since I +know for a fact that you stood between Dick, here, and certain death, +when Amos would have killed him. But we waste time in useless talk. +Before we leave this place, I propose to cover the slab with earth, to +hide all traces of an intrusion so utterly worthless, doomed to failure +from the start."</p> +<p class="pnext">And thereupon the four of us set to work, scraping the soft earth back +upon the stone slab; for Bannister, who had enough of Spanish to +express his meaning, soon found another ally in Vasco, who, after all, +was a weak, shiftless kind of fellow, with few opinions of his own. +Though the man had been bewildered by the sight of so much gold, the +Treasure had had much the same effect on him as on myself when I first +went down into that vast, amazing chamber. He was frightened of it +all; and as well as that, he now realised for the first time that he +had served for all these months one who was both treacherous and mad; +and had it not been for Bannister and me, he would not have escaped +with life.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were all hard at work upon our hands and knees, when we were +surprised by the sound of a rifle-shot, fired at no great distance in +the Wood, in a northerly direction.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister got slowly to his feet, and stood listening; and then, +although he turned in my direction, it was as if he spoke quietly to +himself.</p> +<p class="pnext">"One shot," said he. "And one shot only."</p> +<p class="pnext">That was all he said.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Trust was never armed," said I.</p> +<p class="pnext">"That signifies nothing," answered Bannister. "Amos is loaded down by +gold. If he carried a rifle, Trust may have wrenched it from his +hands."</p> +<p class="pnext">We waited for some minutes, expecting to hear another shot, or perhaps +some other sound. But the whole Wood was silent--the silence of +midday, when the sun is at its height and all the wilderness is +resting, the wild things seeking refuge from the fierce rays of the +tropic sun.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Come," said Bannister, "we had best see to this."</p> +<p class="pnext">He led the way into the undergrowth, and we followed him in single +file. The trail of Amos was broad as a road, for, in his madness, he +had rushed forward, breaking down all obstacles that stood in his path +by the sheer weight of the gold he carried and the impetuous, headlong +nature of his flight.</p> +<p class="pnext">There could be little doubt that Joshua Trust had followed him with as +little difficulty as we. Certain it was that they could not be far +ahead, since Trust himself had not yet been absent half an hour. In +all probability, the night before, Amos himself, overtaken by the +darkness, had fallen sound asleep, and, being exhausted by his frenzied +efforts, had slumbered on until long after daybreak.</p> +<p class="pnext">In any case, we had not journeyed far before we came upon the still, +huddled form of him who had once been known as Joshua Trust, who now +lay a corpse, in a pool of his own blood, upon the trail that he had +followed.</p> +<p class="pnext">John Bannister kneeled down upon the ground beside the body, but +presently got sharply to his feet.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Stone-dead," said he, and nodded sagely, as if to signify that hither +in the end go all things weak and mortal.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Shot?" I asked.</p> +<p class="pnext">"By Amos. Through the heart."</p> +<p class="pnext">We stood in silence around the body, and I know that I was thinking +that it would be no more than common decency to bury this poor, +misguided man where he had fallen, when there came to my ears a sound +that made my very blood run cold.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a sound of laughter, faint and far away. Never in my wildest +nightmares had I heard laughter to compare to that. It was the +laughter of a fiend, terrible to listen to, for there was something in +it of the chuckling of an old, demented man, the cry of a new-born +child, and the senseless mirth of one who is delirious.</p> +<p class="pnext">In that half-light we looked at one another. There was cold fear in +the eyes of us all, even in the eyes of John Bannister, who I did not +know had fear of anything that lived upon the earth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Amos!" he exclaimed. But his voice was no more than a whisper.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw that Forsyth shuddered. And then that man, as a rule so calm and +nonchalant, who had always seemed to me to dread nothing so much as +that he might show his feelings, burst forth in the hottest +indignation. I shall never forget that moment, for it was the only +occasion upon which I saw John Bannister afraid, and Mr. Forsyth +alive--a living, sentient being--in every fibre of his body.</p> +<p class="pnext">"This madman must not live!" he shouted.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister answered slowly, in the same quiet voice in which he had +spoken before.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I am inclined to think you right," said he. "His very existence upon +the face of the earth is a blot upon Creation. The sound of that +hideous laughter robs the wilderness of all its beauty."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Then, after him!" cried Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Leave that to me," said Bannister.</p> +<p class="pnext">He opened his rifle, and slipped a cartridge into the breech. I heard +the click of the lock, and I saw how tightly his right hand gripped the +small of the butt. And I knew that death was still in the pot, that we +were not yet at the end of all this strife and horrid bloodshed.</p> +<p class="pnext">We went forward in pursuit, Bannister leading, hot upon the trail, the +other three of us following at his heels.</p> +<p class="pnext">All that afternoon we journeyed in a direction north-eastward, so far +as we could judge. And from time to time we heard the shrill, savage +laughter of that maniac, but a little way before us. And each time we +heard it, we were filled with dread--the dread that comes naturally to +one who finds himself confronted by the supernatural--the same dread +that is believed to make the human hair to stand on end in the presence +of a ghost.</p> +<p class="pnext">For Amos Baverstock, body, mind, and soul, was still in the possession +of his seven raging devils; and it was as if these evil spirits +infested the humid, stifling atmosphere of the very jungle through +which we passed in hot pursuit. Hitherto, we had been adventurers in a +savage land; we had walked in the midst of dangers that were material +and real. But now, with that unearthly laughter for ever in our ears, +we felt that we were wayfarers in the dark nether regions, that not +only our lives, but our very souls as well, were in peril of perdition, +of everlasting death. The fleeting shadows of the Wood were to us the +twilight of the Underworld. We were opposed by forces stronger and +more evil than wild beasts and wicked men.</p> +<p class="pnext">Darkness caught us before we had overtaken the madman whom we chased. +How he had managed to elude us for so long is little short of a +miracle; for he was weighed down by the gold he carried on his back. +There were times when he was quite near to us, when we could distinctly +hear him breaking his way through the thickets, rushing blindly onward. +And at such times he was silent--ominously silent. But he would +always, quite suddenly, shoot ahead again--how, we could not tell--and +presently, we would hear his wild laughter as before, far away from +us--laughter in which there was something of triumphant glee, as well +as lunacy and senseless mirth, incomprehensible and terrible to hear.</p> +<p class="pnext">All that night, during which we rested twice--on each occasion for an +hour or more--we heard his laughter in the Wood, throughout the length +and breadth of which it was as if fear of the man had spread. I verily +believe the monkeys sat shivering above us in the tree-tops, and the +great beasts of prey, who were wont to hunt by night, crouched with +flattened ears like frightened cats in the dark places of the jungle.</p> +<p class="pnext">Speaking for myself, I know that I experienced a most novel and +insecure sensation. I felt that the constant sound of this demoniacal +laughter would in the end drive me also mad; and Vasco, I am certain, +felt the same, though I cannot speak for the others.</p> +<p class="pnext">For all that, I had never seen an expression of such invincible +determination as the daylight disclosed upon the face of Bannister. +His jaw was set: his lips tight pressed, and there was a look in his +eyes as hard as steel.</p> +<p class="pnext">He said not a word to any one of us; and we had no thought of food, +though we all four drank deeply of water at the first stream to which +we came.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then we went on, following the trail, with the sound of that maniac's +laughter to guide us like the siren of a ship in a fog at sea.</p> +<p class="pnext">Never was a journey more strange, more ghostly. We were haunted men, +though we found upon the road evidence of the material. For, here and +there, lay golden ingots that had fallen from his arms, and there was +blood, too, upon the dead leaves upon the ground, where he had torn his +flesh upon the thorns.</p> +<p class="pnext">And then, at last, we sighted him, in a place where the undergrowth was +sparse and the trees a little way apart. For no longer than an instant +did we see him, else John Bannister had shot him dead; for it was a mad +dog we hunted, and it was not right that he should live. Strange as it +may seem--since they had sojourned for so many months in one another's +company--it was Mr. Gilbert Forsyth who was most keen upon the chase. +He was like a bloodhound on the trail. It was as much as Bannister +could do to keep him back.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Have at him!" he cried. "There he is! Shoot, man! Shoot him down!"</p> +<p class="pnext">But--as I have said--we caught no more than a glimpse of him. That +glimpse, however, was enough. If it had been terrible to hear his +laughter, it was even more terrible to behold him with our eyes. Every +shred of clothing had been torn from his back. He was plastered with +black mud from the swamp in which he had waded; and this mud--though we +could not see that--was still alive with little leeches that were +draining the life's blood in his veins. His hair was all ragged and +dirty; and without clothes he was more hideous than ever. We could see +the ingots, tied in a great bundle upon his back; and we marvelled that +any human being could carry so great a load. He shot a look at us +before he dived again into the undergrowth; and in that look there was +that for which we could not fail to pity him, vile and evil though the +man had been all the days of his life.</p> +<p class="pnext">His eyes were bright as ever, yet seemed to have grown larger, and, at +the same time, to have sunk deep into his head. His mouth, which was +never straight, was twisted to a degree that was alarming. He had +always the thinnest of lips, which he kept as a rule pressed tight +together; but now his mouth was opened wide, and he was slobbering. As +for his eyebrows, they reminded me of Satan himself as I have seen him +pictured, for they met upon the bridge of his nose, to slant upward, +arrow-shaped.</p> +<p class="pnext">John Bannister dashed forward. I saw that he meant to make a supreme +effort to overtake the man. We all wanted it to end, for the whole +affair was ghastly; and yet we dreaded the end, just as a hangman must +have no liking for his duty. And ours--we thought--was the very +hangman's work.</p> +<p class="pnext">It so happened that in this place the Wood was dense. Amos did not +laugh again, but we could hear him just in front of us; though, strive +as we might, we could not overtake him, until the pursuit had lasted, +perhaps, another twenty minutes--for, in such a case as this, it is +impossible to keep account of time.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister, who was still leading, of a sudden caught his foot in the +root of a tree, and pitched forward on his face. Without pausing an +instant, Forsyth rushed past him; and I, knowing that Forsyth was +unarmed, and fearing that he might come to the same violent end as +Joshua Trust, hastened after him, without looking to see if Bannister +were hurt.</p> +<p class="pnext">Almost at once I caught sight of Amos, but dared not fire at him, +because Forsyth was in front of me. And then, suddenly and +unaccountably, to my amazement Amos stopped, and looked back at us with +a face hideously contorted.</p> +<p class="pnext">I carried my rifle to my shoulder, and I believe I would have pressed +the trigger, had I not then seen what it was that had brought the +fugitive to a standstill. He had broken his way headlong through the +thickets, and now found himself upon the bank of a wide, dark pool, and +we were so close upon his heels that he had no time to turn either to +the right or to the left.</p> +<p class="pnext">It is my great regret that I did not fire; but I may be excused, +inasmuch as I did not at once recognise the place, and had then not the +least suspicion of what was about to happen. No sooner was my rifle to +my shoulder than Amos turned away from me, and, without a sound, with +his great load of gold upon his back, plunged straight into the pool.</p> +<p class="pnext">He sank so low at first that we thought he must be well beyond his +depth; but, almost at once, his feet found something firm--I think the +fallen trunk of a tree buried beneath the water. He rose to his full +height with the water no higher than his knees, and began to stumble +onward, when the whole of this uncanny business reached its tragic and +terrible conclusion.</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw something move upon the surface of the water--something that shot +across the pool in utter silence and with the rapidity of an arrow. +Right round Amos it swerved, and passed so close to us--who stood +gaping on the bank--that we could not fail to recognise what this +horror was. It was the flat and evil head of a gigantic, loathsome +serpent.</p> +<p class="pnext">Then the truth burst upon me like a sudden rush of ice, and I realised +that Amos Baverstock was come to that place which I myself had named +the Glade of Silent Death.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxvii-how-amos-met-his-end"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id28">CHAPTER XXVII--HOW AMOS MET HIS END</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">We stood horror-stricken upon the bank of that dark pool--mute, +impotent spectators of a tragedy we were powerless to prevent.</p> +<p class="pnext">Vasco, the Spaniard, stood beside me; and I heard his teeth chattering +in his head like castanets. As for Forsyth, before that gruesome +spectacle was ended he turned away with a kind of sickening sob, at the +same time passing a hand across his eyes, by which I knew that the man +was human after all. Bannister--who had soon caught us up--said +nothing, but stood rigid at the back of us, his rifle in his hands, +ready to fire so soon as an opportunity should offer. As for myself, +it was as if I was transfixed in petrified amazement. I was hypnotised +by the terror of the thing I saw, and could not look away, but must +watch the tragic business to the last.</p> +<p class="pnext">With a great splash of water, the immense body of the snake arose from +out the middle of the pool, the surface of which forthwith became +agitated by scores of little waves, forming a series of concentric +circles, spreading outward to the bank.</p> +<p class="pnext">We saw the glistening coils of the terrific reptile wind themselves, +swiftly and yet stealthily, around the frail body of the doomed, +unhappy Amos. He let out a piercing shriek, far more terrifying to +hear than the uncanny laughter with which he had disturbed the silence +of the woods--it was freezing in its shrillness. And at the same time +he threw both his arms above his head, so that his heavy bundle of +golden ingots fell into the water and at once disappeared from view.</p> +<p class="pnext">He made--so far as we could see--no effort of resistance. Terror, it +seemed, had mastered every muscle, nerve, and sinew in his body. He +was paralysed by fear. We could see, in that dim, religious light, the +huge head of the snake swaying backward and forward in front of him, +whilst its long forked tongue darted swiftly in and out. We saw the +man's face, too, livid with fright, and his wide, staring eyes. For a +moment all his features worked spasmodically. I think he tried to cry +out once more; but the breath had already been driven from his slender +frame by the colossal strength of the relentless serpent that, even as +we looked, broke down the slender bulwark of his ribs.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was then that John Bannister fired. He told me afterwards that he +meant to put Baverstock out of the torture he was suffering both of +body and of mind. If that were so, it was a lucky shot; for it killed +at once the reptile and the man.</p> +<p class="pnext">The bullet drilled the anaconda, breaking its spine, and thence pierced +the heart of Amos Baverstock. The unhappy wretch vanished from sight +upon the instant beneath the water of the pool; but the dying struggles +of that gigantic snake were amazing to behold.</p> +<p class="pnext">It lashed right and left, twisting all ways, writhing like a worm; so +that we, who looked on, were drenched in flying water. It made the +most frantic efforts to drag itself from the pool. The lower part of +its body seemed to be paralysed and quite useless; but at last it +succeeded in half twining itself around the trunk of a tree, where its +head swayed from side to side quite aimlessly. What surprised--and I +think horrified--us most of all was the silence of the brute.</p> +<p class="pnext">I fired, and missed; for my hand trembled violently. And, thereby, it +was left to Bannister to end the work he had begun. With his second +shot he smashed in the reptile's head; and the great snake at last lay +motionless, as loathsome in death as it had been terrible in life. I +am ready to believe that five minutes elapsed before any one of us +spake or even moved.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I shall never cease to dream of this," said Forsyth, in a weak voice, +at last. "No such nightmare ever was!"</p> +<p class="pnext">I saw that he wiped a hand across his forehead; and I did the same. +Though I was splashed all over with the water from the pool, a great +sweat had broken out upon me, and I experienced, in quick succession, +alternate sensations of extreme heat and cold.</p> +<p class="pnext">Vasco seized Bannister by an arm.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We go away!" he cried, in broken English. "We go now! It is no good +stay here."</p> +<p class="pnext">The man turned back into the Wood as if he would retreat by the way we +had come; but Bannister called him back.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Not that way," said he, in Spanish. "It is but a little way from here +to the end of the Wood, and we can pass round to the north across open +country. I know a way to the south of the morass."</p> +<p class="pnext">We were under Bannister's orders. And thankful we were that we had +such a man to follow. We knew there was an urgent need to go back to +Rushby as quickly as we might.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were obliged to pass round the pool, and this brought us to within a +few yards of the great body of the snake.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I never knew," said Bannister, "that such a monster could exist. He +must be over thirty feet in length. But, come; we can do nothing here."</p> +<p class="pnext">In single file, as before, we followed him, and presently came forth +into the open air upon the skirting of the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">There we regarded one another in shocked surprise; for the faces of us +all were white, and Vasco was still trembling. We said nothing; not a +word passed between us; but we all breathed deeply, like men who had +been for a long time under water.</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked up at the blue sky and the hills in the distance, to the east, +whence I had first looked down upon the Wood of the Red Fish, after my +journey across the plain. And I remembered what I had then thought; +how I was filled with the restless spirit of adventure; how the joy of +life was strong within me, whilst I ran the danger of my life, all +naked as I was, with my Indian blow-pipe in my hand and my quiver full +of arrows. But now I had seen the very face of death. I had beheld a +living terror. The mask of Romance had been removed from the +forbidding face of Tragedy. And that Wood was now to me a dread, +unholy place, wherein, I knew, I would never dare to venture again, in +spite of the great Treasure that lay hidden in its midst.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I would not go back," I cried to Bannister, "for all the Treasure of +the Incas, for all the treasure in the world!"</p> +<p class="pnext">My old friend looked at me, and smiled.</p> +<p class="pnext">"You are right," he answered. "And there never will be a need to, +Dick. As soon as we are rested, we must find our honest Rushby, and do +what we can for him."</p> +<p class="pnext">We camped that night in the open air, a mile or so to the south of the +morass; and the following morning continued our journey, keeping the +Wood to our left.</p> +<p class="pnext">We had not gone far before we discovered the figure of a man, who came +running towards us from the direction of the hills. I noticed that he +advanced with a peculiar limp, and on this account, for the moment, I +believed it to be Rushby, most marvellously recovered of his wound.</p> +<p class="pnext">But when the runner had drawn quite near to us, I was surprised beyond +measure to recognise my old friend, Atupo, the Peruvian priest, whom I +had befriended in the vault beneath the Temple of Cahazaxa.</p> +<p class="pnext">Though I called him by his name, he cast never so much as a glance at +me or any of the others, save Bannister, at whose feet he threw +himself, as pagans prostrate themselves before the idols that they +worship.</p> +<p class="pnext">"My master!" he exclaimed, and went on, in his quaint, broken English, +in some such strain as this: "I never thought to live to set eyes on +you again."</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister lifted him to his feet and, laying a hand affectionately upon +his shoulder, asked him what news he had of his friends and brethren, +who had fled from their dwellings before the wrath of Amos.</p> +<p class="pnext">Atupo told him that the majority had sought refuge in the woods, where +many of their number had been treacherously murdered by the wild men. +He himself, however, had founded a small colony of some score of +persons who were living by the side of the ravine that crossed the +plain, not so far beyond the hills that we could see. All these, he +said, were anxious to return to Cahazaxa's Temple, but dared not do so, +believing Amos to be still abroad.</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister at once set the man's mind at rest, assuring him that it was +not only safe for them to return, but that Amos himself was dead and +the Greater Treasure undisturbed.</p> +<p class="pnext">At that, Atupo threw up his hands by way of a gesture of delight; and +then, looking about him, for the first time recognised both Mr. Forsyth +and myself. And it is doubtful which of the two of us he was most +surprised to see.</p> +<p class="pnext">Myself he regarded as a trusted friend; but he knew that Forsyth had +been one of Baverstock's party, and he was astounded to behold that +gentleman alive. Being told by Bannister that he had naught to fear, +he pointed straight at Forsyth.</p> +<p class="pnext">"But that man should be dead!" he cried. "With my own eyes I saw him +shot with an arrow, the point of which was steeped in deadly poison."</p> +<p class="pnext">And then it was that Mr. Gilbert Forsyth told us the truth, which I +have set down already: how, with a fortitude that one cannot but +admire, he had burned the poison from his flesh, and thus saved his +life, though he had fallen into a fever.</p> +<p class="pnext">Atupo, soon afterwards, expressed himself anxious to return to his own +friends; but Bannister was one whose custom it was to look well ahead, +and he knew that the ancient Peruvians had been well skilled in +medicine.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Friend Atupo," said he, "we have need of your assistance; for there is +one of our number who is sorely wounded. You and your comrades owe not +a little to us; and I will, therefore, ask you to go back to the +Temple, and there await our coming. Prepare such drugs as you may have +for a man who has a wound in the leg that will not heal."</p> +<p class="pnext">"Does the sun ask the moon to shine?" inquired the Peruvian. "What of +the white man's medicines?"</p> +<p class="pnext">Bannister threw out his hands.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Alas!" he exclaimed. "We have none; we have used all we had."</p> +<p class="pnext">And so the matter was settled; Atupo, the priest, returning to the +Temple, and ourselves veering round to the west, between the Wood and +the morass, towards the place where we had left William Rushby.</p> +</div> +<div class="level-2 section" id="chapter-xxviii-conclusion"> +<h2 class="level-2 pfirst section-title title"><a class="toc-backref" href="#id29">CHAPTER XXVIII--CONCLUSION</a></h2> +<p class="pfirst">Early that afternoon we arrived at our destination, and found that we +were none too soon. For Rushby had long since consumed all the water +we had left him, but had managed somehow to move himself, though in the +greatest pain, to the bank of the stream that flowed near at hand, +where he was able, from time to time, to fill his pannikin with water. +Also, that very morning, he had eaten the last of the food that we had +left him. So it was well we came no later.</p> +<p class="pnext">He told us that he had slept daily for many hours; and on one occasion +he had awakened quite suddenly, to find one of those small deer that +were numerous in the Wood staring at him with its soft, mild eyes, from +a distance of not more than ten yards.</p> +<p class="pnext">I asked him if he had not been afraid that some wild beast of prey +might find him in the night. But he told me that he had never bothered +himself about such matters, since both by day and night he had kept a +fire alight. He had heard the report of the first shot, that which had +brought about the death of Joshua Trust, though he had heard nothing of +the other shots, upon the far side of the Wood, fired in the glade +where Amos Baverstock had met his tragic end.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I have lain here for days," said he, "wondering what was happening, +and whether I would ever set eyes upon any one of you again."</p> +<p class="pnext">When we told him the story of the death of Amos, he seemed little +enough impressed; for he was a rough-and-ready seaman, without the gift +of imagination, and he had not been there himself to behold with his +own eyes the terror of that incident or to hear the wild laughter of +the fugitive as he fled before us through the Wood.</p> +<p class="pnext">"A fit end for such a man," said he. "He himself was as evil as any +snake, though he had courage of a sort; for I remember him well, when +he faced the mutineers on board the <em class="italics">Mary Greenfield</em>. And what of the +map?" he asked, turning suddenly to Bannister, who shrugged his +shoulders.</p> +<p class="pnext">"We do not know," he answered; "but in default of certain evidence we +must presume that that little fragment which we brought with us all the +way from Sussex went down into the water when Amos was crushed to +death."</p> +<p class="pnext">"So then," said William Rushby, who was of a practical turn of mind, +"no one is any the wiser, so far as the Big Fish is concerned?"</p> +<p class="pnext">"No one," said Bannister, "save we five, and I do not suppose that any +one of us will ever care again to undertake such an expedition."</p> +<p class="pnext">I looked at Mr. Gilbert Forsyth; for I was inclined to think that he +was the only member of our party who was likely to persevere upon the +quest of the Greater Treasure in spite of any promise he had made.</p> +<p class="pnext">I was surprised at the attitude he had assumed; for there was something +in it that jogged my memory, that took me back to the day when I had +first seen him and Baverstock and Joshua Trust. For he lay upon his +back, with his hands clasped behind his head, and one knee thrown +carelessly across the other. But how different was he now! He no +longer wore his highly polished boots, his double-breasted waistcoat, +and his hat tilted at a jaunty angle on his head. He was in rags and +tatters, burnt and blistered by the sun, deprived of an ear where the +skin was all white and scarred owing to his having burnt it. And yet +he yawned in the same lazy fashion.</p> +<p class="pnext">"I've had enough of it," said he. "I want nothing better than a land +of chimney-pots and gas-pipes. I shall rejoice at the sight of a +policeman."</p> +<p class="pnext">And he yawned again.</p> +<p class="pnext">Rushby, we found, was in no better plight than before. It was quite +impossible for him to walk. We saw at once that we must carry him; and +as delay would profit us nothing, we set forward that very afternoon, +heading in the direction of the hills towards the east.</p> +<p class="pnext">It was a silent, almost a saddened, party that crossed the plain to +Cahazaxa's Temple. We took it in turns, two at a time, to carry +Rushby; and on that account we could not make many miles a day. We +crossed the suspension bridge, and at last came within sight of the +great ruin, whence from the hill-top we looked down upon the forest, +wherein we had all risked our lives so often, in the heart of which I +had lived for weeks with the wild men of the woods.</p> +<p class="pnext">I asked Bannister how it was that they had treated me so kindly, when +it was these same people who had murdered Atupo's friends.</p> +<p class="pnext">"Curiosity," said he; for he could explain most things. "The South +American savage is not by any means as curious as the African; but you +must remember that the men who found you had never before set eyes upon +a white man. They probably looked upon you as a kind of god. With the +Peruvians, it was different. Though the forest folk never ventured to +the Temple, they had regarded the priests for years as their natural +foes."</p> +<p class="pnext">We remained for two weeks at the Temple, during which time Atupo +personally attended to Rushby's wound, bathing it with a decoction made +from a herb that he procured in the forest. Whatever this was it +proved, at any rate, effective; for the wound soon healed, and the +boatswain was at last able to walk with the aid of a stick.</p> +<p class="pnext">We then set forward upon our journey towards the west, bidding good-bye +to the quaint people whom we had already learned to love. We crossed +the plain and that marvellous suspension bridge that had existed for +centuries, and stands--for all I know--to this day, as evidence of the +bygone civilisation of a great and ancient people. We came to the +valley in which lay the Wood of the Red Fish; but we passed so far to +the south that we did no more than see it dimly through the thick +morning haze that lay between the hills. And after that we entered +into a country very different from any we had yet seen--a land of high +mountains and deep valleys, clothed with trees.</p> +<p class="pnext">We were days upon our march across the Andes. We were obliged to +progress by easy stages, because Rushby was half a cripple. There, in +the highlands, we found a mild, simple people, engaged in agricultural +pursuits, tending large flocks of llamas, or Peruvian sheep. From +village to village we went, like beggars, and were always treated with +hospitality and kindness.</p> +<p class="pnext">At last we gained the crestline of those immortal mountains, and could +see, both to the north and to the south of us, peak upon peak, rugged +and inaccessible, towering like giants into the sky. Thence we +descended to the narrow tableland, where the grass was knee-deep and +native villages were many.</p> +<p class="pnext">All this was a journey of several weeks, and yet, in more ways than +one, something in the nature of a pleasant picnic after the hardships +and the perils we had been called upon to face.</p> +<p class="pnext">Sleeping night by night beneath the stars, wayfarers among the glorious +and rugged hills, we had learned the art of comradeship. We found that +there was good even in Forsyth and the sleepy, idle Vasco; and +fortunate, indeed, is he who never travels in worse company than that +of men like Bannister and Rushby.</p> +<p class="pnext">And so, upon a certain day at sunset, I was strangely conscious of a +feeling of sadness when I knew that we were come to the end of our +adventures, and that we soon must part. We stood then on a steep +bluff, and looked down upon a narrow strip of sea-board, populous with +towns and hamlets, with fertile fields between; and so we came to the +seashore, and saw the sun go down upon the wide and golden Pacific +Ocean.</p> +<div class="align-center auto-scaled figure" style="width: 62%" id="figure-60"> +<span id="and-so-we-came-to-the-seashore-and-saw-the-sun-go-down-upon-the-wide-and-golden-pacific-ocean"></span><img class="align-center" style="display: block; width: 100%" alt=" " src="images/img-320.jpg" /> +<div class="caption figure"> +"AND SO WE CAME TO THE SHORE AND SAW THE SUN GO DOWN UPON THE WIDE AND GOLDEN PACIFIC OCEAN."</div> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">And now my story is told. Since those days I have ventured often in +the wild places of the world--upon great open spaces, amid the summits +of unknown mountains, in dense, steaming forests--but never again have +I journeyed to the Wood of the Red Fish. Nor, to my certain knowledge, +did any of the others.</p> +<p class="pnext">In that, as in much else, we thought alike. Let the Inca gold lie in +the dust, where it has lain for above four hundred years. He who will +may yet go forth to find it. As for me, whenever I remember that dread +Wood I see the gold, stacked and glimmering in the torch-light, and I +hear the wild, mad laughter of Amos Baverstock as he fled before us, +and see him once again and hear his piercing shriek, when he was caught +in the silent, stealthy coils that crushed that evil man to death +before our very eyes. And I ask God to have mercy on us who are yet +alive, and to save us from a like living and ending.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst">THE END.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<p class="center pfirst small white-space-pre-line">PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY<br /> +WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,<br /> +LONDON AND BECCLES.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<div class="clearpage"> +</div> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 3em"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst white-space-pre-line">THE BOY'S LIBRARY OF<br /> +<em class="italics white-space-pre-line">Adventure and Heroism.</em></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst"><em class="italics">An excellent series of Gift Books, of good bulk, handsomely printed, +illustrated and bound. Large crown 8vo, cloth gilt coloured wrappers.</em></p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Fifth Form at St Dominic's. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">A lively and thoroughly healthy tale of Public School life; abounding +in stirring incident and in humorous descriptions.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">A Hero in Wolfskin. By TOM BEVAN.</p> +<p class="pnext">A Story of Pagan and Christian.</p> +<p class="pnext">A young Goth performs feats of valour against the Roman legions, and +dazzles a huge audience with his prowess in the Coliseum.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Adventures of Val Daintry in the Graeco-Turkish War. By V. L. +GOING.</p> +<p class="pnext">A bright and vigorous story, the main scenes of which are laid in the +last war between Turkey and Greece.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Adventures of a Three-Guinea Watch. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">A straightforward story of school-life, and of the duties and +temptations of young men entering upon the work of life.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Cock-House at Fellsgarth. A Public School Story. By TALBOT BAINES +REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">The juniors' rollicking fun, the seniors' rivalry, the school elections +and football match are all told in a forcible manner.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">A Dog with a Bad Name. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">The story of a big, ungainly youth who seemed fated to be +misunderstood, and to be made the butt of his comrades.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Master of the Shell. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">Dealing with the pranks of schoolboys, bubbling over with mischief and +fun, and the trials of a young House-Master.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">From Scapegrace to Hero. By ERNEST PROTHEROE.</p> +<p class="pnext">The Scapegrace, who became a thorough-going hero, was a wild, +unmanageable village boy possessing an inveterate taste for mischief.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Sir Ludar. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">A stirring tale of the days of Queen Elizabeth, dealing with the +wonderful adventures of a sturdy 'prentice-lad.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Tom, Dick and Harry. By TALBOT BAINES REED.</p> +<p class="pnext">A splendid story, exhibiting in the highest degree this popular +author's knowledge of schoolboy life and humour.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Submarine U93. By MAJOR CHARLES GILSON.</p> +<p class="pnext">A thrilling tale, in which the U boat is the principal factor. The +youthful hero, with that redoubtable personage, Captain Crouch, passes +through many ordeals and adventures.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Into the Soundless Deeps. A Tale of Wonder and Invention. By P. H. +BOLTON.</p> +<p class="pnext">The problems of sound and a "wonder-box," known as the "long distance" +ear, provide the main theme in this exciting story, in which adventures +with Spanish brigands also figure.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Mystery of Ah Jim. A Story of the Chinese Underworld, and of +Piracy and Adventure in Eastern Seas. By MAJOR CHARLES GILSON.</p> +<p class="pnext">In the unravelling of the mystery surrounding his parentage, an English +boy, brought up as a Chinese, passes through many adventures on sea and +land.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Fire Gods. By MAJOR CHARLES GILSON.</p> +<p class="pnext">A dashing, exciting story of adventure and mystery in Central Africa in +which Captain Crouch again distinguishes himself,</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Scarlet Hand. By MAJOR CHARLES GILSON.</p> +<p class="pnext">Trapped by a powerful Chinese Secret Society, leagued with Germany, two +British boys are kidnapped to China. Their pluck and resource carry +them through a series of adventures.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">The Guardians of the Shield. By ALFRED COLBECK.</p> +<p class="pnext">The hero of this thrilling story is a boy, the last of a princely +Jewish family, whose fortunes are closely bound up with a priceless +golden shield. Boys will delight in the succession of exciting +adventures which befall the hero.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="pfirst">Alan Dale. By SYLVANUS.</p> +<p class="pnext">Alan is stolen by gypsies, arrested for complicity in murder, +transported to Van Diemen's Land, escapes from prison, and is at last +rescued and restored to his home. What boy wants more?</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 2em"> +</div> +<p class="center medium pfirst">THE R.T.S., 4, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E.C. 4.</p> +<div class="vspace" style="height: 4em"> +</div> +<!-- -*- encoding: utf-8 -*- --> +<div class="backmatter"> +</div> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 39399 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |