Читать книгу Jaragu of the Jungle - Rex Beach - Страница 5

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Out of a gaping hole in the back of the dead creature crawled a man with a black skin. His skin was far darker than the darkest-skinned man among the San Blas people. He saw Jaragu at the same instant that the native boy was so surprised to see him. The black man also saw Jaragu’s poised spear, and he promptly ducked back into the great bird’s inside.

“Man, put away dat pigsticker or somebody’s gwine get hurt,” Sunshine yelled in alarm. “Cap’n Bill, Cap’n Bill—where is you all at?”

“Here, Sunshine,” a voice answered him.

At the sound of another voice, Jaragu whirled to see a white man getting up from the sand several paces in front of the great bird. The white man held one hand gripping his shoulder and his white face was twisted with pain.

“Are you hurt, Sunshine?” Captain Adams, called.

“No, suh,” the black boy replied. “But I’m afeared I’s gwine be hurt ‘fore long. See dat feller with de spearment? Can’t you talk some words to him, suh? He don’ seem to savvy English as I speaks it to him.”

Seeing that neither of these strange men carried a spear, Jaragu stood his ground and gripped his weapon more firmly. He advanced no farther, however, for caution is the first law of the jungle. Something about the men and their unfamiliar speech compelled Jaragu to remain and watch.

The white man turned and faced the native boy. Then he slowly raised his left hand in the San Blas signal of brotherhood.

“We come in friendship and peace,” he said in Jaragu’s own language.

Jaragu relaxed his grip on his spear and lowered its tip. He stared at the white man fixedly.

“You speak with the tongue of my people,” he said, “and yet you are not one of us.”

Captain Adams smiled.

“We belong to another tribe,” he explained. “Our boat which travels through the air instead of in the water has been broken by the storm. We seek a shelter for the night. Will you take us to your chief?”

The native boy shook his head.

“Chief Chingana does not welcome strangers who come to Puyadas Cay,” Jaragu replied regretfully, for this white man seemed friendly.

What was more, Jaragu was stirred by the rousing of old memories. The white man’s first words in his own tongue had not been wholly strange. His speech brought back almost-forgotten recollections of Jaragu’s childhood, and there flashed in Jaragu’s mind a fleeting picture of his mother, who had now been gone to the world of spirits for more than ten rainy seasons. She had spoken words very much like those of this white man.

“I will talk to your chief and tell him that we come in peace,” Captain Adams went on.

“Then I will take you to Chief Chingana,” Jaragu agreed.

“Come on out, Sunshine,” the captain called to his guide.

Sunshine stuck his head out, and, seeing that the spear was no longer being brandished, he climbed to the beach.

“Is yo’ bad hurt, boss?” he inquired.

“Afraid my shoulder’s broken,” was the reply, accompanied by a grimace of anguish. “Listen, Sunshine,” he then continued; “There’s something queer about that native boy. He isn’t a San Blas, unless I’m an Indian too. I don’t see how or why, but I’m sure he’s—”

Before the captain could finish what he was about to say, he clutched his injured shoulder convulsively and collapsed in a sprawling heap on the sand.