Читать книгу Jaragu of the Jungle - Rex Beach - Страница 4

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The surf was pounding and roaring across the outer reef as Jaragu swung his cayuca, or fishing boat, toward a break in the coral barrier. The cayuca had been hollowed out of a solid piece of mahogany, as were most of the boats used by the San Blas Indians of the region.

The boy wore only a loin cloth. His finely muscled body was the color of bronze. Watching his chance, he drove in on the crest of a wave. A moment later he was moving swiftly toward the second or inner reef.

The water was choppy now, but the swell and roll of the open sea was broken by the outer reef that shelters Puyadas Cay from the storm-swept Caribbean seas. The wind was still howling from offshore. Blinding rain descended with tropical suddenness and with it came the crashing of thunder and forked lightning.

Guided only by sound and a sure sense of direction, the boy steered the light cayuca through a narrow break in the inner reef. From there to shore it was easy going, and he settled back and let the wind carry him along.

In the bow of the boat there was a large tarpon with a hole in its head where the boy’s spear had found its mark. Jaragu looked at the large fish and smiled proudly. He had been far down the coast. His luck had been good. Now he was almost home.

Just as the brown lad sat thinking about these things, his keen ears caught a strange noise. It came from above and sounded like the drone of many, many giant bees.

Suddenly the droning sound stopped, and presently a giant bird passed over him through the air. It made a strange whistling cry as it passed, and an instant later the boy heard it strike the beach of Payudas Cay with a roar like the thunder itself.

Jaragu’s first impulse was to take to his heels, though the unknown monster had surely dashed itself to death on the earth. But he stood his ground and stared. He could see the creature through the rain. Its queer tail stuck up high in the air. Its wings were broken off from its body and its head seemed to be buried deep in the sand.

Now Jaragu prided himself on not being afraid of any living thing. This one, huge though it was, appeared to be quite dead, for it lay still and made no sound. Therefore, remembering his pride, he steered for the shore instead of paddling toward the village on the opposite end of the cay.

Beaching his cayuca, Jaragu cautiously approached the wreck. Still believing it to be the carcass of some great bird that might still have enough life left to attack and hurt him, the boy held his spear in readiness. But the great flying thing remained quite motionless as he came near.

Then Jaragu saw something that froze him in his tracks.