Читать книгу A Thousand Miles an Hour - Herbert Strang - Страница 7

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THE boys had looked on, with silent admiration, at Heneky's cool masterfulness. Alone of the two, Pedro had understood the Irishman's words. Translating these to Derrick, he added:

"He has plenty of courage. He has made a mortal enemy of Juan, and the man-I know his breed-will never rest until he has taken his revenge. Heneky must look out."

"I daresay Juan regrets his error of judgment," said Derrick. "A double error: he dropped some of the stuff into pretty deep water."

Some of the men had to work waist-deep in the river in recovering the packages: now and then they were compelled to dive in order to pass ropes underneath them. Standing like a grim overseer on the bank, Heneky mingled encouraging words to the Indians with stern orders to Juan, seeing to it that the man did his fair share of the work. Retribution had followed swiftly on the offence. Juan was pallid, partly with suppressed rage, partly with the taxing of his flabby muscles. He winced when, getting his hand among the cogs of a wheel, he scraped the skin from his fingers and withdrew them bleeding.

A little while after there was a panic rush of the whole party for the bank. The Indians, squealing with fright, dropped their burdens, leapt through the water, and scrambled ashore in a heap. Juan was a little behind the rest, and when he had heaved himself up among them, he clapped his hand upon his ankle, and a trail of blood was seen upon his legging. A moment later Bola, who had remained in his canoe, snatched up a short spear that lay beside him, leant over, plunged the spear into the water, and withdrew it with a short thick-bodied fish impaled upon it.

"A piranha," remarked Heneky. "They are worse than sharks or alligators. Demons, I call them. Look you at its ugly jaws."

He took the fish from the spear, and showed Derrick its gaping jaw and wedge-shaped teeth as sharp as razors.

"They'll cut you to the bone," he said. "And indeed I fear we'll get no more work out of Juan to-day."

Though the man's wound proved to be only a slight laceration of the flesh, Heneky was not so hardhearted as to compel him to re-enter the water. It was in fact some time before any of the Indians could be induced to resume work, fearing mutilation by the ferocious fish, and then some of them kept up a constant agitation of the water with their paddles in order to scare the pests away. The consequent delay, and the difficulty of removing the heavy packages from their muddy bed, prolonged the task into the afternoon, and by the time it was completed Heneky declared for remaining on the bluff for the night.

While they took a sparing meal from the little stock of provisions which the natives had left, Heneky showed himself to be a more agreeable companion than his brusque and off-hand manner had promised. In his slow melodious voice he regaled the boys with stories of his wanderings in the forest, gathering rubber, prospecting, trading for nearly twenty years. As a youth he had come out as an engine-hand on a tramp steamer, and the boys gathered that he had deserted in quest of adventure, but on this part of his career he was somewhat mysterious.

"I've fried too many fish, and that's the truth of it," he said. "My meaning is that I'm never a bit better off than I was twenty years ago, because I've had a fancy for too many things. I'm Roving Pat, and will be till I go under. Now I'll give ye a guess what I'd do if I had my time over again."

"I'm no good at guessing," said Derrick.

"A soldier; that's what I'd like myself," said Pedro.

"That's very wide of it, so I'll tell ye. If I were your age, I'd take to flying. 'Twas not heard of when I was a boy, and in the early days I mocked, like a good many more: how'd they be the way of navigating the sky in a machine heavier than air? But the idea got a grip of me; it gave me the flutters when I first saw Bleriot soaring aloft as smooth as a bird, and 'tis a trouble to me that I've never had a chance of it. Have ye ever been up, now?"

"I had a flight once," replied Derrick: "just ten minutes round and about an aerodrome: it cost me half a guinea."

"And didn't ye get your money's worth?" asked Heneky eagerly. "Didn't ye feel your heart light and your soul free?"

"I don't know about that," said Derrick, smiling.

"It's a queer sensation to feel the earth running away from you."

"By the powers, 'tis a feeling I'd like to have before I die." And then the Irishman astonished the boys by the extent of his information on aeroplanes and the art of flying. Having discovered a common interest between them, he expanded, opened out, and talked on and on, discussing the relative merits of the biplane and the monoplane, talking familiarly of the Curtis, Breguet and de Havilland types, retailing the exploits of famous airmen, and displaying an amazingly up-to-date knowledge of the most recent developments. Presently he went down to his canoe and returned with an armful of journals and magazines, and by the light of the camp lantern held forth to his interested hearers on the illustrations and diagrams of various machines, reading aloud in his pleasant voice paragraphs of description that had specially captured h1s imagination.

"And I tell ye," he said, "that this Amazon valley, and for that matter the greater part of the South American continent, is just waiting for the aeroplane, as you may say. And sure we'll see wonderful things before we're much older. Of course the need is for a handier machine than they've got at present, one that doesn't depend on aerodromes, that'll rise anywhere and at any time, and carry any weight. 'Twill come some day or other, and 'tis my hope I'll live to see the day. Why now, think of it: what you lads would have been saved if ye'd been able to come by aeroplane. Ye'd have done the journey in a day or two. Why, you could be at home in half an hour from this very spot. Your mine, I guess, isn't above forty miles away as the crow flies, and the aeroplane'll go as straight and faster than a crow. But there's a six-thousand-foot mountain between, and that means a roundabout river journey of a good hundred miles, and several awkward portages. If you hadn't got your machinery I could lead you across the hills; 'twould be only a couple of days hard marching. As it is you must follow the river, and 'twill take you a week. However, time's of no account on the Amazon, or anywhere else on this continent, for the matter of that. 'Tis only in the towns that ye have to keep your eye on the clock, and for myself, I'd not live in a town for all the gold and diamonds in all the world."

They sat talking till far into the night: yet Heneky had the men stirring soon after daybreak, so that they might get well on their way before the heat of noon. The boys grew more and more pleased with their new companion. Under Juan's lax control the Indians had been lazy: with Heneky they worked harder and progress was more rapid. And Heneky took care that Juan himself did not shirk his new job as paddler. Ever since his swishing the man had been sulky and morose; he rarely spoke, and, to judge by the scowl upon his brow and the malignant gleam in his eyes, dark thoughts were seething in his mind. Heneky watched him narrowly, and when the party camped at night, he chose a position for the tents where surprise would not be easy, kept his revolver always handy, and arranged that one or other of the Europeans should always be on watch.

In spite of his care, however, it was discovered early one morning, when, according to Heneky they were within two days' journey of the Alvarez hacienda that Juan had vanished. The Indians professed not to know when he had left the camp, or where he had gone, and Heneky sent Bola to find his trail in the forest. Returning after a short search, the Indian reported that the track ran towards the north-west.

"That's not our way," said Heneky at once.

"We'll not waste time following him, and if the spalpeen comes to a bad end, sure he'll deserve it. And 'tis my hope that we've seen the last of him, though I misdoubt it."

Some twenty-four hours later they arrived at a spot where the river journey must end. Derrick had noticed changes in the vegetation along the banks. There was less jungle; the trees were smaller and there came into view the peaks of the Andes, which had before been hidden by the forest. The remainder of the journey was to be accomplished on foot, across a rocky tableland in the foothills of the mountain range. The machinery, which at the portages had been carried part at a time, was too heavy to be conveyed all at once, and it was left in a little hollow some distance from the river, from which it would presently be removed on wagons sent from the mine. As the party marched, Heneky pointed out the snow-clad peaks of Mont Sorata and Mont Illimani in the far distance, showing an acquaintance with the country that surprised even Pedro. Then they struck into a beautiful valley winding between sloping heights, with broad expanses of grassland merging into stony hills. At a sudden turn Derrick had his first sight of his aunt's hacienda, a low brightly-painted bungalow of stone and wood, in the midst of a large garden surrounded by a paling. On the hillside beyond he noticed a number of small wooden huts, which Pedro told him were the dwellings of the miners.

Long before they reached the place they were welcomed by the barking of dogs, and a lady appeared at the gate amid a group of excited servants. At the same time a number of short figures came into view among the huts, their gestures showing their interest in the arrival of the party. Pedro hastened ahead to greet his mother, and linking his arm in hers brought her along the road.

"This is Derrick, madre," he said. "You won't recognise him."

"He was hardly more than a baby when I last saw him," said the Señora Alvarez, with a charming smile. "How do you do? Welcome to my little home. I hope you had a pleasant journey, and that you will be very happy while you stay with us."

"I am sure I shall, Aunt Bertha," said Derrick.

"He says nothing of the journey, you see," said Pedro, laughing. "Indeed, I'm afraid he found it rather trying. But I must introduce a new friend to you, madre. Without Mr. Heneky—"

"Pat Heneky-Roving Pat for short," the Irishma corrected. He had stood hat in hand a little behind the boys.

"Well, Roving Pat, then," said Pedro drawing him forward. "Without him we should not have been here to-day, perhaps not at all."

Señora Alvarez looked surprised and alarmed.

"What happened?" she asked. "But let us go on to the veranda: you must tell me all about it. I need not say that Mr. Heneky—"

"Pat, ma'am. Sure I don't know myself at all if you mister me."

"You are very welcome," said the lady avoiding the name. "Let us all go in."

With Pedro she led the way up the garden to the pillared veranda, where cushioned cane chairs were ranged around a bamboo table. Neat smiling native servants brought cooling drinks from the house, and then the lady asked her son to explain what he had meant.

"I don't think much of that fellow Juan you sent us as guide, madre," said Pedro. "In fact, I'm afraid he's a thorough scamp."

"But, my dear, I know nothing about your guide," said his mother. "I sent word to Señor Pando at San Antonio that a guide would be required; you remember him: a respectable lawyer; and I took it for granted that he would provide a trustworthy man. I am seriously annoyed. But tell me: how did the guide fail you?"

Pedro related briefly the incidents of the journey, dwelling particularly on the fortunate meeting with Pat Heneky when he and Derrick had been lost in the forest and deliberately abandoned by Juan.

Señora Alvarez listened attentively, her face expressing growing concern as the story proceeded.

"It is all very strange," she said. "I too have some grave news to give you."

"The landslide? You sent me word about that," said Pedro.

"It is what followed the landslide," said his mother.

"That was due to an earthquake, and it not only blocked up the road from La Paz, but destroyed a great part of the mine workings. I kept that from you, because I didn't wish to worry you. I have had a very anxious time. I set the men to save everything it was possible to save, and I was astonished to find that Diego-he is the engineer, Derrick-seemed to put all sorts of obstacles in their way. He seemed to hinder rather than to help, and one day I was amazed to learn that he had taken it upon himself to dismiss the men to their homes, telling them that it was quite useless to do any more until the new machinery arrived. I protested, rather warmly, as you may imagine, and the result was that he took himself off, suddenly and without notice, and I haven't seen him since."

"The wretch!" said Pedro. "Can one ever trust these low-class Bolivians? I am glad I am half English, madre."

"A strange thing was that for a fortnight before he left he was constantly in the company of a stranger whom he did not introduce to me, but who, I was told, was his brother. This man came here a few weeks after the landslide, and he went all over the mine workings with Diego, showing what I thought was a natural curiosity about the devastation that had occurred. I did not like the look of the man, still less the look of a servant he brought with him-a little man with a most evil face who followed him like a shadow. I always knew where the master was, even if I could not see him, for the man's red shirt—"

"Bedad now!" exclaimed Heneky. Señora Alvarez looked at him in surprise.

"Sure and I ask your pardon, ma'am," said the Irishman, "but 'tis the truth's truth that the spalpeen Juan did be wearing a red shirt, and a thought came into my head."

"You think he was the same man?" asked Pedro.

"Indeed I thought he might," said Heneky.

The lad looked distressed.

"I do hope it is not so," said Señora Alvarez, "because if it is, it does appear that Diego, or his brother, or both of them, are malicious."

"It seems hardly likely," said Derrick: "I mean hardly likely that they got this servant-man employed as our guide, for I gather that your engineer has not long left you. Did his brother go with him?"

"Yes, they went away together about a fortnight ago."

"And it is three weeks ago that Juan came to us at San Antonio."

"But the man with the red shirt left before his master. I missed him one day. Of course I had never said anything about him to Diego; I did not wish to appear inquisitive about his friends. I never saw him again after that day."

"Is your mine working, ma'am?" asked Heneky, the sudden change of topic surprising his hearers.

"No, nothing has been done for five or six weeks. Why do you ask?"

"Because, ma'am, you'll pardon me for putting my spoke in, and me a stranger-because you must start work again without any delay."

"Why?" asked Pedro, struck by a certain grave emphasis in the man's tone.

"Because if you do not, you'll lose your mine. Maybe you do not know it, but that's the law in Bolivia."