Читать книгу The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan - L. Frank Baum - Страница 6

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We were all somewhat thoughtful after this interview, for it was evident we had undertaken an adventure the details of which were quite obscure to us. For my part I was too nervous and excited to bunk in just yet, so I took Joe’s arm and we walked over to the bow, where the clear starlight enabled us to watch the Seagull cut her way through the water. Chaka was at the rail before us, and started to move away; but I stopped him, saying:

“We are all brothers now, Chaka, and therefore we must become better friends. Now that we are aware of your station and rank in your own country we stand equal.”

“Only that?” said Joe. “Is the Atkayma of the Itzaex merely the equal of a common seaman?”

“I’m not common, Joe,” I protested; “and I’ve a notion a decent American is the social equal of an Indian chief. It’s social equality I’m talking about, not rank.”

“Cap’n Sam is right,” observed Chaka, with a smile that would have fascinated a woman. “Equality among men is found only in heart and brain.”

His readiness to converse, remembering his former reserve, almost startled me.

“Perhaps you’re right,” drawled Joe. “But tell us, Chaka, is there much danger in this coming adventure, do you think?”

The Maya looked grave.

“Plenty danger, Cap’n Joe.” Every one was a “Cap’n” to Chaka; he considered it a complimentary title, bound to please. “Danger from Itzaex, first of all; but not much, for I am Chief’s son. More danger from Mopane tribe, who hate Itzaex. Most danger from the mighty Tcha, who very strong, very jealous, very watchful.”

“What are those people like?” I asked.

The Maya shook his head.

“My father not tell me. When I ask, he tremble, like he afraid; and my father is brave man. But the Tcha country very small—in the middle of a mountain—and their legend say a white man some day discover them and be their master. My brother Paul is white man.”

“So you think our greatest danger will be to get to the hidden city, do you?”

“Yes. It long, bad journey. Mopanes watch by seashore, and fight us. My own people I have not seen for many years. When I find them they greet me as child of the sun, and help me. But Itzaex hate all white men, and I must use my power to protect white men from their hatred. That will be a danger to you, if not to me.”

“I see. Well, it promises to be an exciting trip, all right,” I said cheerfully, for the truth was that the danger of the adventure appealed to me more than the prospect of securing treasure. “It isn’t always necessary to fight your way in a hostile country, in order to win out, Chaka. Diplomacy and caution, backed by a little good judgment, are better than guns and pistols. Eh, Joe?”

“A little courage in avoiding a fight has often done us good service, Sam,” agreed my friend.

Chaka seemed to approve this view.

“Sometime my brother Paul tell you more,” he said.

I noticed he now spoke of Allerton as “my brother Paul,” when mentioning him to us; and there was a world of affection in the way he said it.

“Brother Paul has a big brain; his mind see far ahead. Also he have great man for Uncle—Cap’n Simeon Wells. We spend whole month last summer with Cap’n Wells, who know how to do many strange things.”

“He’s a jim-cracker electrician, all right,” said Joe.

“He give much wonder-things to my brother Paul, to help him with the Mopanes, the Itzaex and the Tcha. We keep wonder-things in the seven big boxes. You see, some day.”

With this information the Maya left us, and Joe and I sat another hour discussing the coming adventure before we finally turned in.

Uncle Naboth was pretty glum next morning. He was trying to find some way to back out of the expedition gracefully and with credit. Finally he said to us:

“You boys ain’t to be depended on; I’ve found that out. We had all our plans fixed to get into a steady, respectable coast trade, where there wouldn’t be a single thing to keep any o’ us awake nights; and here, when we’re only a week out o’ port, you’ve gone an’ upsot the whole deal.”

“It is funny, Uncle, I’ll admit,” said I. “But you can’t blame us for it, I’m sure. Lay it to Fate, where the responsibility belongs. Remember, too, that you were one of the first to offer to join the expedition.”

“I were wrong about that, Sam,” he replied, eagerly. “I meant to stick to my principles, as an honest man should. An’, by jinks, I will stick to my principles! Don’t try to argy with me; don’t try to coax me. As sure as my name’s Naboth Perkins I’m goin’ to stick to this ship, whatever you reckless bunch o’ youngsters may decide on.”

“Do you back down, sir?” demanded Archie, who was secretly much amused.

“No, sir; not a jot. I stick to my first principles; that’s all.”

Well, we were glad he took it that way, for we didn’t want Uncle Naboth with us. He was brave enough, we knew; but he had a way of getting us all into unnecessary trouble, and his rotund figure prevented him from being as active as the rest of us. A better fellow never lived than this same Naboth Perkins, but we all felt he was safer on board ship than in the wildernesses of Yucatan, and we had a suspicion we would be safer without him, too.

From that time on the adventure was our one topic of conversation. Chaka suggested that he teach us to speak the Maya tongue during the voyage, and we eagerly accepted the offer. I had already a smattering of Arabian and Chinese and could speak fluently the native language of our South Sea Islanders, Nux and Bryonia. So it was little trouble to me, with the painstaking instructions of Chaka and Allerton, to learn to comprehend fairly the Maya tongue. Joe was a natural linguist and kept pace with me easily, but poor Archie was woefully thick-headed when it came to foreign languages. Even Ned Britton, who was wholly uneducated, got along better than he. We kept up our lessons until the day we sighted the coast of Yucatan, but even then Archie understood only a few words of Maya. The mate, for his part, knew all that was said to him, but was rather slow and uncertain of speech, while Joe and I could converse readily with Allerton and Chaka in the Maya.

One of the queerest things, in this regard, was our discovery that black Nux, our steward, had caught on to Chaka’s language with little difficulty, and had himself taught it to Bry. They surprised us one evening by joining in our conversation, and that decided Allerton to ask permission to add them to our party.

“I have never seen finer physical specimens of manhood than these blacks,” he said to me, “and your reports of their loyalty and courage have quite warmed my heart toward them. Perhaps their jet black complexions would be as great a novelty to the Tcha as white skins, and these fellows will add greatly to the strength of our party.”

“That will make nine of us, altogether—,” I said musingly; “you and Chaka, we three boys, Ned Britton, a sailor, and Nux and Bryonia. By the way, have you chosen the sailor?”

“I think I shall take the Mexican who is called Pedro,” answered Allerton. “He is an active fellow and looks honest. Moreover, he is accustomed to a climate similar to that of Yucatan, which is at present a province of Mexico, although so much of it is yet an unexplored wilderness. Do you think Pedro will be willing to join us?”

“I think so, if only for a share of the spoils,” said I. “But I advise you not to mention the subject to him until the last moment. You see, every man jack of them forward would like to go too.”

As you may imagine, we asked many questions of Chaka during the voyage regarding his native country, and the route we were to take to get there. On the whole his answers were clear and satisfactory, for although he had been away for nine years he was a youth of fifteen when forced to escape the Mopanes.

According to his statements all the tribes of Yucatan Indians are called Mayas, and have a common language which varies only slightly according to the dialects of the scattered tribes. All the natives, with the exception of the Itzaex, have at times been conquered by the Spaniards, who first invaded the peninsula in 1506. But the Mayas are mostly wild and untamed to this day, and save for the tribes inhabiting the flat and settled portions of the North and West they indulge in the same barbaric and warlike existence as when the whites first came among them.

After four hundred years of settlement there is less land tilled in Yucatan to-day than there was in its first century of annexation to Spain. The interior and mountainous district is still a wilderness and exceedingly dangerous for a white man to enter.

The most powerful and warlike tribe, now as in the beginning, is that of the Itzaex. These people have no desire to acquire more territory, but hold firmly to their original heritage and fight desperately any of their neighbors who dare cross their boundaries. On the other hand, the Itzaex are barred from the seashore by a fierce tribe known as the Mopanes, and on other sides by the Kupules and Choles.

The hidden city of the remnant of the ancient Tcha nation lies directly in the heart of the Itzaex territory, which is doubtless the reason none of the other tribes is aware of its existence. The chief city of Itzlan is built on the shores of a beautiful fresh water lake lying two thousand feet above the sea level; but Chaka declares no mortal eyes save those of his own tribe have ever yet beheld the place. Which, of course, makes us the more eager to see it.

We had a most delightful voyage south, the Pacific being on its good behavior. Excellent time was made even through the turbulent waters of the Horn, and not until we had rounded the continent and were in the waters of the Atlantic did Allerton again refer to the contents of his seven mysterious chests.