Читать книгу In Far Bolivia: A Story of a Strange Wild Land - Stables Gordon - Страница 6

Burly Bill laid down his banjo. Then he pushedhis great extinguisher of a thumb into the bowlof his big meerschaum, and arose.

"De good Lawd ha' mussy on our souls, chillun!"cried Beeboo, twisting her apron into a calico rope."We soon be all at de bottom ob de deep, and de'gators a-pickin' de bones ob us!"

"Keep quiet, Beeb, there's a dear soul! Never a'gator'll get near you. W'y, look 'ow calm Miss Peggyis. It be'ant much as'll frighten she."

Burly Bill could speak good English when he tooktime, but invariably reverted to Berkshire when in theleast degree excited.

He was soon on board the little steamer.

"What cheer, Jake?" he said.

"Not much o' that. A deuced unlucky business.May lose the whole voyage if it comes on to blow!"

"W'y, Jake, lad, let's 'ope for the best. No usegivin' up; be there? I wouldn't let the men go toprayers yet awhile, Jake. Not to make a bizness on'tlike, I means."

Well, the night wore away, but the raft neverbudged, unless it was to get a firmer hold of the mudand sand.

A low wind had sprung up too, and if it increasedto a gale she would soon begin to break up.

It was a dreary night and a long one, and few onboard the steamer slept a wink.

But day broke at last, and the sun's crimson lightchanged the ripples on the river from leaden gray todazzling ruby.

Then the wind fell.

"There are plenty of river-boats, Bill," said Jake."What say you to intercept one and ask assistance?"

"Bust my buttons if I would cringe to ne'er a oneon 'em! They'd charge salvage, and sponge enormous.I knows the beggars as sails these puffin' Jimmieswell."

"Guess you're about right, Bill, and you know theriver better'n I."

"Listen, Jake. The bloomin' river got low all atonce, like, after the storm, and so you got kind o'befoozled, and struck. I'd a-kept further out. ButBurly Bill ain't the man to bully his mate. On'ylisten again. The river'll rise in a day or two, andif the wind keeps in its sack, w'y we'll float like athousand o' bricks on an old Thames lumper! Bustmy buttons, Jake, if we don't!"

"Well, Bill, I don't know anything about the burstingof your buttons, but you give me hope. So I'll goto breakfast. Tell the engineer to keep the firesbanked."

Two days went past, and never a move made the raft.

It was a wearisome time for all. The "chillun", asBeeboo called them, tried to beguile it in the best waythey could with reading, talking, and deck games.

Dick and Roland were "dons" at leap-frog, and itmattered not which of them was giving the back, butas soon as the other leapt over Brawn followed suit, greatly to the delight of Peggy. He jumped in sucha business-like way that everybody was forced tolaugh, especially when the noble dog took a leap thatwould have cleared a five-barred gate.

But things were getting slow on the third morning, when up sprang Burly Bill with his cartridge-belt onand his rifle under his arm.

"Cap'n Jake," he said, touching his cap in RoyalNavy fashion, "presents his compliments to the crewof this durned old stack o' timber, and begs to saythat Master Rolly and Master Dick can come on shorewith me for a run among the 'gators, but that MissPeggy had better stop on board with Beeboo. Herlife is too precious to risk!"

"Precious or not precious," pouted the girl, "MissPeggy's going, and Brawn too; so you may tell CaptainJake that."

"Bravo, Miss Peggy! you're a real St. Clair. Well,Beeboo, hurry up, and get the nicest bit of coldluncheon ready for us ever you made in your life."

"Beeboo do dat foh true. Plenty quick, too; butoh, Massa Bill, 'spose you let any ebil ting befall depoh chillun, I hopes de 'gators'll eat you up!"

"More likely, Beeb, that we'll eat them; and really, come to think of it, a slice off a young 'gator's tailaint 'arf bad tackle, Beeboo."

An hour after this the boat was dancing over therippling river. It was not the dinghy, but a gig.Burly Bill himself was stroke, and three Indianshandled the other bits of timber, while Roland tookthe tiller.

The redskins sang a curious but happy boat-lilt asthey rowed, and Bill joined in with his 'cello voice:

"Well steered!" said Burly Bill, as Roland ran thegig on the sandy beach of a sweet little backwater.

Very soon all were landed. Bill went first as guide, and the Indians brought up the rear, carrying thebasket and a spare gun or two.

Great caution and care were required in venturingfar into this wild, tropical forest, not so much onaccount of the beasts that infested it as the fear ofgetting lost.

It was very still and quiet here, however, and Billhad taken the precaution to leave a man in the boat, with orders to keep his weather ear "lifting", and ifhe heard four shots fired in rapid succession late inthe afternoon to fire in reply at once.

It was now the heat of the day, however, and thehairy inhabitants of this sylvan wilderness were allsound asleep, jaguars and pumas among the trees, andthe tapirs in small herds wherever the jungle wasdensest.

There was no chance, therefore, of getting a shotat anything. Nevertheless, the boys and Peggy werenot idle. They had brought butterfly-nets with them, and the specimens they caught when about five milesinland, where the forest opened out into a shrub-cladmoorland, were large and glorious in the extreme.

Indeed, some of them would fetch gold galore in theLondon markets.

But though these butterflies had an immense spreadof quaintly-shaped and exquisitely-coloured wings, thesmaller ones were even more brilliant.

Strange it is that Nature paints these creatures incolours which no sunshine can fade. All the tints thatman ever invented grow pale in the sun; these neverdo, and the same may be said concerning the tropicalbirds that they saw so many of to-day.

But no one had the heart to shoot any of these.Why should they soil such beautiful plumage withblood, and so bring grief and woe into this love-litwilderness?

This is not a book on natural history, else gladlywould I describe the beauties in shape and colour ofthe birds, and their strange manners, the wary waysadopted in nest-building, and their songs and queerways of love-making.

Suffice it to say here that the boys were delightedwith all the tropical wonders and all the picturesquegorgeousness they saw everywhere around them.

But their journey was not without a spice of realdanger and at times of discomfort. The discomfortwe may dismiss at once. It was borne, as Beeboowould say, with Christian "forty-tood", and was duepartly to the clouds of mosquitoes they encounteredwherever the soil was damp and marshy, and partlyto the attacks of tiny, almost invisible, insects of thejigger species that came from the grass and ferns andheaths to attack their legs.

Burly Bill was an old forester, and carried with himan infallible remedy for mosquito and jigger bites, which acted like a charm.

In the higher ground-where tropical heath andheather painted the surface with hues of crimson, pink, and purple-snakes wriggled and darted about everywhere.

One cannot help wondering why Nature has takenthe pains to paint many of the most deadly of these incolours that rival the hues of the humming-birds thatyonder flit from bush to bush, from flower to flower.

Perhaps it is that they may the more easily seektheir prey, their gaudy coats matching well with theshrubs and blossoms that they wriggle amongst, whilegliding on and up to seize helpless birds in their nestsor to devour the eggs.

Parrots here, and birds of that ilk, have an easyway of repelling such invaders, for as soon as theysee them they utter a scream that paralyses theintruders, and causes them to fall helplessly to the ground.

To all creatures Nature grants protection, andclothes them in a manner that shall enable them togain a subsistence; but, moreover, every creature inthe world has received from the same great power themeans of defending or protecting itself against theattacks of enemies.

On both sides, then, is Nature just, for though shedoes her best to keep living species extant untilevolved into higher forms of life, she permits eachspecies to prey on the overgrowth or overplus ofothers that it may live.

Knocking over a heap of soft dry mould with thebutt end of his rifle, Dick started back in terror to seecrawl out from the heap a score or more of the mostgigantic beetles anyone could imagine. These weremostly black, or of a beautiful bronze, with streaks ofmetallic blue and crimson.

They are called harlequins, and live on carrion.Nothing that dies comes wrong to these monsters, and a few of them will seize and carry away a deadsnake five or six hundred times their own weight.My readers will see by this that it is not so muchmuscle that is needed for feats of strength as indomitablewill and nerve force. But health must be at thebottom of all. Were a man, comparatively speaking,as strong as one of these beetles, he could lift on hisback and walk off with a weight of thirty tons!

Our heroes had to stop every now and then tomarvel at the huge working ants, and all the wondrousproofs of reason they evinced.

It was well to stand off, however, if, with snappinghorizontal mandibles and on business intent, any ofthese fellows approached. For their bites are aspoisonous as those of the green scorpions orcentipedes themselves.

What with one thing or another, all hands wereattacked by healthy hunger at last, and sought theshade of a great spreading tree to satisfy Nature'sdemands.

When the big basket was opened it was found thatBeeboo had quite excelled herself. So glorious aluncheon made every eye sparkle to look at it. Andthe odour thereof caused Brawn's mouth to water andhis eyes to sparkle with expectancy.

The Indians had disappeared for a time. Theywere only just round the shoulder of a hill, however, where they, too, were enjoying a good feed.

But just as Burly Bill was having a taste from aclear bottle, which, as far as the look of it went, would have passed for cold tea, two Indian boysappeared, bringing with them the most delicious offruits as well as fresh ripe nuts.

The luncheon after that merged into a banquet.

Burly Bill took many sips of his cold tea. When Icome to think over it, however, I conclude there wasmore rum than cold tea in that brown mixture, orBill would hardly have smacked his lips and sighedwith such satisfaction after every taste.

The fruit done, and even Brawn satisfied, the wholecrew gave themselves up to rest and meditation. Theboys talked low, because Peggy's meditations had ledto gentle slumber. An Indian very thoughtfullybrought a huge plantain leaf which quite covered her, and protected her from the chequered rays of sunshinethat found their way through the tree. Brawn edgedin below the leaf also, and enjoyed a good sleep besidehis little mistress.

Not a gun had been fired all day long, yet a moreenjoyable picnic in a tropical forest it would be difficultto imagine.

Perhaps the number of the Indians scared thejaguars away, for none appeared.

Yet the day was not to end without an adventure.

Darkness in this country follows the short twilightso speedily, that Burly Bill did well to get clear of theforest's gloom while the sun was still well above thehorizon.

He trusted to the compass and his own good senseas a forester to come out close to the spot where hehad left the boat. But he was deceived. He struckthe river a good mile and a half above the placewhere the steamer lay at anchor and the raft agroundon the shoals.

Lower and lower sank the sun. The ground waswet and marshy, and the 'gators very much in evidenceindeed.

Now the tapirs-and droll pig-bodied creatures theylook, though in South America nearly as big as donkeys-areof a very retiring disposition, but not reallysolitary animals as cheap books on natural historywould have us believe. They frequent low woods, where their long snouts enable them to pull down thetender twigs and foliage on which, with roots, whichthey can speedily unearth, they manage to exist-yes, and to wax fat and happy.

But they are strict believers in the doctrine ofcleanliness, and are never found very far from water.They bathe every night.

Just when the returning picnic was within abouthalf a mile of the boat, Burly Bill carrying Peggy onhis shoulder because the ground was damp, a terriblescrimmage suddenly took place a few yards round abackwater.

There was grunting, squeaking, the splashing ofwater, and cries of pain.

"Hurry on, boys; hurry on; two of you are enough!It's your show, lads."

The boys needed no second bidding, and no soonerhad they opened out the curve than a strange sightmet their gaze.