Читать книгу Tigre - Jim Kjelgaard - Страница 4

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When the sun went down, a coolness fell over the meadow. Pepe Estrada's twenty-four goats that had been resting on the meadow's shady side throughout the afternoon heat got up and flexed their muscles. Then the great billy that ruled the flock led the twelve milk goats, the six half-grown kids and the five nannies soon to be with kids and in milk, out into the meadow.

Sitting with his back against the straight trunk of a banana tree, the brim of his woven-straw sombrero pulled over his eyes, Pepe knew when his goats rose. His siesta was never the sort of thorough slumber which those with no flock to look after might permit themselves. Even when he slept, he knew where his goats were, what they did and whether danger threatened.

Snatching at bits of grass as they moved, the goats started across the meadow toward the winding little path that led through gloomy jungle, across another meadow, through a grove of palms, across a river ford and, finally, to their home village of Muzo. Halfway across the meadow, the big billy stopped, and his flock halted behind him.

The big billy and the twelve older nannies looked around. Imitating their elders, the younger nannies and the kids glanced behind them, too. The big billy, known to Pepe as Brother Goat and to various villagers who had felt the impact of his great, curving horns as Brother Devil, loosed a hoarse bleat. At once, in a varying range of voices, the rest of the flock raised a swelling chorus.

The goats wanted their master. Pepe pushed his sombrero up and grinned.

Midnight-black hair tumbled from beneath his hat, and sparkling black eyes were perfect foils for a rather impudent nose. His smile was warm, and nicely-matched teeth contrasted almost startlingly with a swarthy complexion.

The young goatherd rose, smoothing his white cotton trousers that ended six inches above his bare feet. He tightened his braided-grass belt, pushed the sombrero still further back until it dangled by the string around his throat, and straightened out his white shirt. He now presented a perfect picture of a carefree fifteen-year-old Mexican boy.

But there was something more, something a trained artist would have noted at first glance. Pepe's face, manner and bearing were gentle, but they were gentle in the same way that a blue sky can be one moment—and yet only an hour or even minutes afterward, support a fierce storm. Pepe, too, was fully capable of fierce, decisive and tremendous action—and at a second's notice—should the need arise.

Four years ago, Pepe's father, who was also named Pepe and also a goatherd, had battled to the end when a tigre, or jaguar, had struck his goats. Armed only with a knife, he had been killed by the great cat. But first he had battled so hard that man had never before witnessed such a conflict. Pablo Sanchez, who had watched the fight from where he crouched behind a mahogany tree, still loved nothing better than to tell about it whenever he could corner a listener.

Neither Pablo nor anyone else in Muzo had ever before witnessed such a battle for the very good reason that never before had there been any. Even Lazario Rujan avoided tigres. He was the village hunter and the only man in Muzo who had a firearm. Lazario owned an ancient muzzle loading rifle. Only an insane man or one who had much to lose would even think of battling a tigre with a knife. But who could lose more than a goatherd whose flock was threatened? For the older Pepe it had indeed been a desperate battle in more ways than one. However, the tigre was so badly wounded in his right front paw that he had run away on three legs without getting even one goat.

On the point of walking over to his waiting flock, Pepe halted.

There was a gum tree at one side of the meadow. On a limb of this tree, about twenty feet up from the ground, a quetzal sat. With its rounded crest, green, scarlet and white plumage, and long false tail extending a full two feet beyond its true tail, this was indeed a very beautiful bird.

Pepe took due pleasure in the lovely sight. During all his fifteen years in Muzo he had seen no more than a dozen quetzales. This one would furnish something to talk about when he reached the village. Suddenly, the bird uttered a sharp cry and, with a flash of bright feathers, flew into the jungle. Pepe smiled and walked on.

Seeing him come, twenty-two of the goats set their own pace toward the jungle. Of the two that remained behind, Maria, a gentle brown-and-white nanny, waited for Pepe. Brother Goat, who counted that day lost when he did not exercise his horns on at least one villager, stood with lowered head and stamped a threatening hoof. Pepe laughed and continued to walk toward him.

"Amigo," he murmured. "Friend, you are bluffing and you know it. You would no more think of hurting me than I would of hurting you. Now begone and look to the safety of your flock."

As though he understood every word, Brother Goat raised his head, quit stamping his hoof, bleated, whirled and raced to overtake the herd. Maria sidled up to and fell in beside Pepe. His arm encircled her neck and a feeling as warm as Maria herself entered the boy's heart.

He loved, named and knew the personal characteristics of every goat in the flock. When it was necessary to kill one, and sometimes, unhappily, it was, Pepe turned that distasteful task over to Luis Ortega, the village butcher. On the day the dreadful deed must be done, Pepe took the rest of his flock to the farthest pasture as early as possible and returned as late as he could. He had never been able to make himself taste goat's flesh.

Of all the flock, Brother Goat stood first in Pepe's affections, and Maria second. Maria had been the target of the tigre on that fateful day when Pepe's father had battled with his knife and wounded the spotted killer cat so badly that, forever after, it must get about on three legs. It was Brother Goat, then a young billy just coming into his prime, who had charged and butted the tigre, even while the battle raged. When it was over, both Maria and Brother Goat had stood close by Pepe's dying father, seeking to comfort him.

The rest of the flock had run—and who could blame them? Even a man had to be extraordinarily brave—or loco—to stand up against a tigre. But Maria and Brother Goat had not run, and for staying behind, their place in Pepe's flock was secure.

With his arm lingering around the gentle nanny's neck, Pepe looked proudly at the rest of his flock. When a father was no more, and there remained a mother, a young brother and two younger sisters to be cared for, it naturally followed that the oldest boy must wear his father's hat. And it was no small thing to be a goatherd.

Fortunately, with all the goats' milk they could drink and all the cheese they could eat, the Estrada family was the healthiest in Muzo. The villagers were eager for any surplus and for it they gladly traded cotton, clothing, jungle fruits and occasional marvels from far-off places. The Estradas even had a radio, a beautiful thing, with a huge, horn-shaped speaker and batteries that had long since run down. But Ramon Benavides, who spent twenty-four days a month at his potter's wheel and six transporting the fruit of his labors to the trading post at San Juan de la Rio, had promised new ones. They would arrive just as soon as Ramon had enough credit accumulated at the trader's on a kilo of goat's cheese delivered each month.

Some of the villagers wanted both milk and cheese and were willing to pay for them. The demand by far exceeded the supply. With an astute eye for business, Pepe confided his plans to Maria as they walked along.

"Two more kids from you, Maria and let both be nannies. Then you will be old, but never shall your soft throat know the sharp knife of Luis Ortega. You will live with us and feed on my mother's tortillas and the finest corn from the field that my brother Benito tends. You will see the flock become thirty-six or even forty-eight goats. We shall be rich—and live in peace and plenty."

The dream was so inspiring that Pepe fairly danced along. Who could dream of a better future than to live in Muzo and have thirty-six or forty-eight goats?

They reached the jungle and Pepe's smile faded while his feet moved swiftly. It was here the tigre had lain in wait four years ago and here, always supposing he came again, that he would lie in wait a second time. There was no real reason to expect him because, until this one came no tigre had been seen so near Muzo in the past ten years. Lazario Rujan, who brought down his game with his old muzzle-loader, when he could get powder and shot for it, and set snares when he could not, often found tigre tracks in the distant places he was forever visiting. But, as a rule, the big cats stayed away from villages.

Still, the very fact that one had come here was itself evidence that another might come. Brother Goat, who remembered both the place and the tigre, broke into a run and looked over his shoulder to make sure the flock ran with him. Pepe and Maria started to trot. The meadow had been light, but, even at midday, it was dark in the jungle—and darker still, now that the sun had gone down.

When he and his charges were out of the jungle and in the next meadow, Pepe smiled again. Tigres did not hide in meadows, nor was it likely that one would lay in ambush among the straight-trunked, wide-spaced palms. There remained only the river. Wise Brother Goat halted ten feet short of the ford and turned to face his flock. The older nannies halted, too, but a kid tried to break and run to the water. Brother Goat stepped in front of the brash youngster and butted her, none too gently, with his horns. The chastened kid bleated and ran to its mother.

Letting Maria join the flock, Pepe went ahead.

The river was a sluggish jungle stream that flooded in the summer rainy season and kept its own dark secrets in its murky pools all year round. There were fish, great bass that had never had a lure cast among them. There were also crocodiles that ranged from wriggling babies, six inches long, to monsters of twenty feet. Crocodiles usually avoided the shallow ford, but they often lurked near it, waiting for whatever came by. It was well for a careful goatherd to take no chances.

Catching up a club which he always kept handy there, Pepe ran into the ford, splashing as much as possible and shouting. If a crocodile heard the commotion, it would come. One person alone could escape. But not all of a herd of goats could do likewise. Pepe waded across the brook to the far side and back again. When no crocodile appeared, he called out cheerfully.

"Bring them in, Brother Goat! It is safe."

The flock crossed ... passed among the palms ... and looked down on the village.

Muzo consisted of sixteen thatched huts that housed sixty-five people. It was located in a green valley, with no trees for half a kilometer in any direction. A sparkling little spring-fed stream, too cold and too shallow for crocodiles, coursed in front of it, offering a never-failing supply of water for the gardens in which the villagers grew corn, squash, many kinds of melons and beans.

Pepe caught sight of his mother, who was patting tortillas into shape before their house, and waved to her. His two sisters, Rosalita and Ana, were grinding corn for more tortillas in the stone metate, or grinding bowl. Benito and the rest of the gardeners who were busily at work did not stop or even look up.

Of all the people of Muzo, only the children not yet old enough to labor and old Uncle Ruiz, who was past eighty and had his working days behind him, were not at some useful task. Absorbed in their games, the children hadn't a single glance for Pepe, either.

Uncle Ruiz came to meet him, however, and, since any man of Muzo was fair game, Brother Goat began to prance and snort as he prepared to attack. Pepe slipped a hand inside his shirt and brought out a little chunk of salt wrapped in cornhusks.

"For shame!" he scolded gently. "You would use your horns on an old man who is scarcely able to stand alone? For shame, Brother Goat!"

At the same time, he flicked the cornhusks away and passed the chunk of salt beneath Brother Goat's nose. Forgetting the quarry in sight, the big billy crowded close to Pepe and flicked his tongue out. Pepe drew the salt, a much-loved delicacy, away.

"You and Maria shall share it," he promised, "but only if you behave yourself and do not attack Uncle Ruiz. If you do, Maria shall have all the salt."

Brother Goat remained beside him, but the rest of the flock wandered toward their thorn-surrounded corral. The old man continued to draw near. Uncle Ruiz was fond of telling thrilling tales of his adventurous youth—which nobody believed. He was old now, and so stiff with age that he must walk with the aid of a stick that someone had brought him from the jungle. Hair that had once been midnight-black was frost-white, as was Uncle Ruiz's beard. His teeth were worn to the gums, and his eyes in old age had once more the complete innocence that had been theirs in babyhood. Uncle Ruiz did not see well unless, according to some villagers, there was something he wished to see. He was within thirty feet of Pepe when he halted.

"Hola, Pepe."

Pepe replied with the respect due old age, "Good evening, Uncle Ruiz."

"I thought I saw the goats go past," Uncle Ruiz was squinting, "but is that Brother Devil beside you?"

Pepe laughed. "Brother Goat is here—and he will not hurt you because he is anxious for the bit of salt in my hand."

"Then I am safe from his attack."

In his long-past youth, Uncle Ruiz had been a goatherd, too, and the memories stored up were dear to him. As he continued to advance, he asked, "Will you bring me a bowl of goat's milk tonight?"

"A bowl of the very best," Pepe promised. "Maria herself shall fill the bowl."

Uncle Ruiz, called uncle by everyone, was not really kin to Pepe or to anyone else in Muzo. He had lived so long that he had seen his wife die, and his nine children, and all his relatives. Unable now to do anything for himself and with no kin left to do anything for him, nevertheless, he knew neither cold nor hunger because every family in the village set aside a portion of what they had for Uncle Ruiz.

"What did you see today?" Uncle Ruiz asked.

Pepe answered, "I saw a quetzal."

"A quetzal?"

"It was a quetzal," Pepe affirmed.

"Tell me about it! All about it! Omit nothing!"

With the flock safely enclosed in their corral, Brother Goat centered all his attention on the hand that held the salt. Pepe pretended to ignore him as he told about the gum tree in the meadow, and the quetzal in the gum tree. He finished with, "It voiced a great cry and flew away."

"A quetzal cried?" Uncle Ruiz questioned.

"It cried."

"Are you sure? Might there have been something else, perhaps a chachalaca, near the gum tree? Could it not have been the chachalaca that cried?"

Pepe answered firmly, "There was nothing else. The quetzal cried."

"This surely means evil," Uncle Ruiz muttered darkly.

Pepe was astonished. "A quetzal can mean evil?"

"How many such birds have you seen, boy?"

"No great number," Pepe admitted.

"Of those you've seen, did you ever hear a quetzal cry out in the manner you have described?"

"Not that I remember," Pepe said uneasily.

"Then it means evil," Uncle Ruiz intoned. "From this point on, watch yourself, Pepe. Take every care."

"I will." Pepe's uneasiness mounted. "Now I must go, Uncle Ruiz, for the milking is to be done. I will bring or send your bowl of goat's milk."

Uncle Ruiz called hollowly as Pepe turned away with Brother Goat beside him, "Take care. Evil hangs over you."

Uncle Ruiz was very old, Pepe told himself as he walked to the corral. He was forever seeing things no one else saw and always making gloomy prophecies. Had he not declared that Jose Ramirez, a young and healthy man filled with the robust life of youth, would die in the next dark of the moon?

Pepe recalled suddenly that Jose Ramirez had gone into the jungle during the next dark of the moon. A tree that had lived for two hundred years and grown huge during its life had fallen upon him, and the men of Muzo had needed two full days to cut the tree away.

Again Pepe tried to shrug off the gloomy forebodings of an old man—and could not do it. But there was no point in worrying his mother, so when he paused in front of her, he smiled cheerfully.

She knew he was worried, in spite of his efforts to hide it, and asked, "Did something ill befall you today?"

"Nothing ill, Mother," Pepe said truthfully.

"You look troubled."

"I saw a quetzal."

"That is good. You must tell us of it."

"I will," Pepe promised.

Maria, who knew there'd be a treat because there was always one at milking time, left the flock and came running forward when Pepe and Brother Goat entered the corral. The boy broke the chunk of salt in two and gave half to Maria, who ate daintily. The other half he gave to Brother Goat, who chewed lustily and looked back at the closed gate, as though remembering his lost opportunity and regretting that he had not butted Uncle Ruiz.

In their turn, Pepe put his nannies on the milking platform and milked them into earthenware jars. He sent Rosalita with a bowl of milk for Uncle Ruiz and tried to be properly merry as he himself partook of goat's milk and his mother's tortillas.

The attempt fell flat and soon his melancholy mood communicated itself to his brother, his sisters and even his mother, and they were among the first of the villagers of Muzo to seek their petates, or reed mats that served as beds.

Pepe covered himself with a serape and lay wakeful, looking through the doorway at the embers of the fire in front of his mother's house and wishing mightily that he had never seen the quetzal. Or, if he had to see it, at least he wished that he had not heard it cry. But if he was fated both to see it and hear it cry, then he wished that he had never told Uncle Ruiz.

Finally, the boy fell into a troubled sleep and presently dreamed that he heard goats calling.... He woke with a start and realized that he really did hear goats.

Throwing off the serape aside and springing from his petate, Pepe rushed outside and snatched a brand from the fire. Holding the torch aloft, he raced toward his goat corral.

He was some distance away when the torch's flickering light revealed most of his goats huddled at the far end of the corral. Halfway between them and something Pepe could not see, Brother Goat trotted angrily back and forth, shaking his horns, breathing his rage and obviously waiting for the right moment to charge.

Pepe came nearer and saw what the enemy was!

A huge tigre, its tail lashing angrily, crouched full length in the semi-gloom, facing Brother Goat. It turned its head and its eyes glowed like two yellow moons fallen to earth as the torchlight reflected from them. Pepe tried to run faster and could not.

Disturbed by the torch, for fire was one of the few things it feared, the tigre rose and ran swiftly, despite the fact that it ran on only three legs. Its right front paw was shriveled and held close to its body, but the goat in the tigre's jaws impeded its progress no more than a mouse would hinder a cat. Brother Goat launched his charge.

Pepe hurled his only weapon, the firebrand, but the tigre cleared the stone fence and thorn barrier as though they did not even exist and was gone in the darkness. The torch fell beside Brother Goat, who was still snorting his anger and shaking his horns. Tears of mingled rage and sorrow sprang into Pepe's eyes.

The goat the tigre had carried was Maria.