CHAPTER XI--I BURN MY BOATS
You may scarce credit it when I say that I sojourned for many monthswith these savage, yet simple, people, and whilst with them receivedneither hurt nor insult, but passed my days in pleasant idleness in theheart of those awe-inspiring woods.
I have since described their ways and mode of living to a famousethnologist, one whose business it was to study the sundry races ofmankind; and he believed that I fell into the hands of a tribe ofCaishana aborigines, one of the most primitive races in the world.
Of this, however, no one can be sure; for I learned little of theirlanguage, and of that remembered nothing. Besides, there are so manyhordes of Indians and tribes in the valleys of the Upper Amazon, and ofso few of these is anything definite known, even at the present day,that a question of such slight importance, for the time being, mayremain unanswered.
It makes, in any case, no difference to my story. I do but state merefacts, leaving footnotes, queries and the like to scientists andstudents. For five months--as I can guess--I lived with this woodlandpeople; and it pleases me to remember that, in return for theirhospitality and kindness, I was able to render them some service. Itaught them novel methods of catching the fish that abounded in therivers, creeks and pools; and I gave them gladly the few belongings thatI had upon me, even a large jack-knife, which the chief of the villagereceived with unfeigned delight--for they were so uncivilised as to bealtogether unacquainted with the use of iron.
On my side, I learned many things from them, becoming, for instance,skilled in the use of the blow-pipe--a very deadly weapon, since it madeno more noise than a pop-gun, and the arrows were invariably dipped inthe juice of a poisonous herb that grew plentifully in the forest.
I was much interested in the manufacture of these instruments. Manywere of bamboo, but those of the better quality of a hard wood, fromwhich the inside had been patiently scraped by means of a bone knife,until the surface was smooth as glass. Needless to say, to accomplishthis, the shaft had to be split into two pieces, which were afterwardsjoined together. It took a skilled worker weeks to make a blow-pipe. Agood specimen was always coveted, and he who possessed one was regardedas a person of importance. I was instructed also in the craft of makingthe darts or arrows; and this was an accomplishment that, more than oncein the course of the next few months, stood me in good stead.
Of the people themselves, of their strange ways and customs, I mightwrite a full chapter, were I so disposed. I have no reason to thinkthat they varied greatly from the majority of the wilder tribes in thegreat forests of the Amazon. They were small in stature, short-lived,and very dirty. They went well-nigh naked, and many suffered from aparticularly loathsome disease, the character of which I know not, savethat it left their skin marked black in patches. I feared, at first,that this would prove contagious; but, either my nationality or else mycleanly habits--for I bathed daily in the river--preserved my health andpersonal appearance.
In regard to my bathing, I can relate a strange thing. It being therainy season, the river was alive with alligators. I was at firstconsiderably frightened of these horrid reptiles; but I soon discoveredthat all that was necessary was to beat the surface of the waterviolently with a stick in order to scare them away. Of course, it wasneedful to exercise a certain amount of discretion, to keep one's eyesopen whilst in the water; and I do not say that there was no dangerpresent. But the fact remains that the South American cayman, one ofthe most formidable-looking brutes in all the world, is a cowardly beastand by no means greatly to be feared.
If that be so, I have another story to tell concerning the snakes ofthat dark region; for these I never ceased to fear, and not without goodcause. My boots had long since ceased to be of the least practical use,and I had presented them, not without ceremony, to the head man of thevillage where I stayed. I was obliged therefore to go bare of foot inthe forest, like the natives themselves, and day and night I walked inconstant peril of my life.
For the underwoods were populous with serpents of all kinds, many ofwhich were venomous. They were usually to be found in the vicinity ofwater, and amongst them I cannot fail to mention the gigantic tree andwater snakes, in whose deadly coils a full-grown man might well becrushed to death. More than once I set eyes upon these great, evil,stealthy monsters; and on each occasion my very blood ran cold. But Ihave yet to write of what I have called--for no better reason than thatthere is melodrama in the name--the Glade of Silent Death, where in partthe tragedy of all my narrative attains some sort of a crisis--a crisis,at least, for one of whom I dare say more than I would of any other:that he well deserved his fate.
Now, had I been content to eke out the remainder of my years with theseuntutored people, I should never have beheld the wonders of which I haveto tell. I think I realised that if I continued to live as a savage, Imust eventually myself become a savage, forgetting all I had everlearned of Christian civilisation. So I made up my mind to take my lifeinto my hands, and set forth alone into the Wild.
Beyond doubt, my ulterior motive was to regain the confines of thecivilised world, to hear again the voices of men speaking my ownlanguage--even the lazy Sussex twang. But I was moved firstly not somuch by a desire for liberty, as by the spirit of adventure. For I hadcaught something of the rover from John Bannister, as I sat listening tohis stories to the soft accompaniment of the wash of the English sea;and I would find out all I could concerning the quest of Amos Baverstockand the secret of the Greater Treasure of the Incas, which the morecivilised of the Indians called the "Big Fish."
And so I asked the savages to guide me back to the place where they hadfound me, within sight of Cahazaxa's ruined temple. Though I never knewbut a score of words of their language, I was now proficient in the artof conversing by signs and the drawing of pictures in the mud, as I wasalso something of a woodsman and--though but a few months older thanwhen I had been kidnapped--no longer a boy, but the beginnings of a man,who was like to have a hard part to play. Life in the wilderness hadmade me self-reliant. To the wanderer in savage places peril comesnaturally enough, and death itself is all in the work of the day.
But it was one thing to ask, and another to receive. The chief man ofthe community--for it was hardly a village--was all against the project.In the first place, he and the rest of them had grown to be fond ofme--I was regarded as both a curiosity and something of an acquisition.Secondly, I soon discovered that they stood in fear and trembling of theruins, which they firmly believed to be haunted.
Though they might have restrained me by force, we argued the matter out,and it came to a question of will-power--or obstinacy, if the word suityou better--and I had my way.
Accordingly, one morning I set forth into the forest, accompanied by aguide. I was dressed in the remnants of my shirt, tied like a kiltabout my waist, and carried a ten-foot blow-pipe and a score of darts;and beyond these I had neither arms nor clothing. I was just a whitesavage in a great dark wilderness, with my life in my own hands and allNature at war against me. And I doubt if I can even say that I waswhite, for I was now tanned almost to the colour of the wild men amongstwhom I had lived.
In three days, by easy journeys, my companion and I came to the marginof the woods, to the great plain of waving grass, in the midst of whichthe Temple of Cahazaxa stood upon a hill-top.
I begged of the man to come with me, to serve me as a servant, makingvague promises of reward which I am sure he did not understand; andthough, as I could see, the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak; forhe fell down upon his knees before me, trembling in all his limbs,craving permission to return.
I could not be heartless. From the tribe I had never received anythingbut kindness. But permission to be gone was not all the simple fellowwanted; for, when he saw that I was determined to go alone upon my wayto the ruins on the hill-top, he again fell down upon his knees, andimplored me to return with him.
In so far as I could take his meaning, the old temple was infested byghosts and evil spirits
. Singular things for centuries had been knownto happen among those grey, worn stones: weird singing had been heardand strange coloured lights had been seen of nights, and no man of theforest who had ever ventured to the hillock had as yet returned alive.
To speak true, these fables--though I believed no word of them--did butwhet my appetite for action. I had a taste for danger. For the firsttime in my life, I was conscious of my own individuality. Man or boy, Iwas free. I had a part to play upon the stage of life, and the wideworld was my scene. I, too, was upon the same quest as Amos: the huntfor the Greater Treasure. It was as if something within me urged me togo forward, like a knight-errant of old, placing my firm trust inProvidence; and I now have little doubt that it was the voice of Destinythat spoke within me.
And so I bade farewell to the forest tribesman, whom I left upon theverge of tears, believing in his heart of hearts that I was as good asdoomed; and with a light heart and my blow-pipe, I went my way acrossthe plain, towards the hill upon which stood the ancient Temple ofCahazaxa, whilst the sun was sinking in the sky.
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