Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main

by G. A. Henty

  The work upon which the boys were engaged passed unnoticed by theIndians, who were too much absorbed by the enjoyment of the newdiscovery to pay any attention to other matters. The bows andarrows had been given to them, as anything else in camp for whichthey had a fancy would have been given; but beyond that, none hadobserved what was being done.

  There were, then, many exclamations of astonishment among them,when Ned and Tom issued from their hut in the morning to join thehunting party, carrying their new weapons. The bows were, ofcourse, unstrung; and Ned handed his to the chief, who viewed itwith great curiosity. It was passed from hand to hand, and thenreturned to the chief. One or two of the Indians said something,and the chief tried its strength. He shook his head. Ned signed tohim to string it, but the chief tried in vain, as did several ofthe strongest of the Indians. Indeed, no man, however powerful,could string an old English bow, unless trained to its use.

  When the Indians had given up the attempt as hopeless, the two ladsstrung their bows without the slightest difficulty, to the intensesurprise of the natives. These again took the bows, but failed tobend them even to the length of their own little arrows. The ladsthen took out their newly-made shafts, and took aim at a youngtree, of a foot diameter, standing at about two hundred yardsdistance; and both sent their arrows quivering into the trunk.

  The Indians gave a perfect yell of astonishment.

  "It is not much of a mark," Tom said; "Hugh Willoughby, of ourvillage, could hit a white glove at that distance every time; andthe fingers of a glove five times out of six. It is the length ofthe shots, not the accuracy, which astounds these fellows. However,it is good enough to keep up our superiority."

  The party now started on their hunt. There was but littledifficulty in finding game, for numerous herds could be seengrazing. The task was to get within shot. The boys watchedanxiously, to see the course which the Indians would adopt.

  First ascertaining which way the wind was blowing, the chief, withten others, accompanied by the boys, set off to make a circuit, soas to approach one of the herds upwind. When they had reached thepoint desired, all went down upon their bellies and crawled likesnakes, until they reached a clump of low bushes, a quarter of amile from the herd. Then they lay quiet, waiting for theircomrades, whose turn it now was to act.

  These, also making a circuit, but in the opposite direction, placedthemselves half a mile to windward of the deer, in a long line.Then they advanced toward the herd, making no effort to concealthemselves.

  Scarcely had they risen to their feet than the herd winded them.For a minute or two they stood motionless, watching the distantfigures; and then, turning, bounded away. The chief uttered anexclamation of disgust, for it was evident at once that, from thedirection that they were taking, the herd would not pass, as hehoped, close by the bushes.

  The lads, however, were well satisfied; for the line would takethem within a hundred and fifty yards. As, in a closely-packedbody, they came along, Ned and Tom rose suddenly to their feet,drew their bows to their ears, and launched their arrows. Each had,according to the custom of English archers, stuck two arrows intothe ground by the spot where they would stand up; and these theyalso discharged, before the herd was out of shot. With fairshooting it was impossible to miss so large a mark, and five of thelittle deer rolled over, pierced through by the arrows; whileanother, hit in a less vital spot, carried off the weapon.

  The Indians raised a cry of joy and surprise, at shooting which tothem appeared marvellous, indeed; and when the others came upshowed them, with marks of astonishment, the distance at which theanimals had fallen from the bush from which the arrows had beenaimed.

  Two more beats were made. These were more successful, the herdspassing close to the places of concealment, and upon each occasionten stags fell. This was considered sufficient.

  The animals were not all of one kind. One herd was composed of deerfar larger than, and as heavy as good-sized sheep; while the otherswere considerably smaller, and the party had as much as theirunited efforts--except those of Ned and Tom, whose offer to assistwas peremptorily declined--could drag back to the village, wherethe feasting was at once renewed.

  The lads, when the natives had skinned the deer, took some of thesmaller and finer skins, intending to dry them; but the natives,seeing their intention, brought them a number of the same kind,which were already well cured and beautifully supple. Fashioningneedles from small pieces of bone, with sinews for thread, andusing their own tattered clothes as patterns, the two lads set towork; and by the following evening had manufactured doublets andtrunks of deerskin, which were a vast improvement upon their lateragged apparel; and had, at a short distance, the appearance ofbeing made of a bright brownish-yellow cloth.

  By this time the Indians had become quite accustomed to them. Themen, and sometimes even the women, came to the hut and sat down andtried to talk with them. The boys did their best to learn, askingthe name of every article, and repeating it until they hadthoroughly learned it, the Indians applauding like children whenthey attained the right pronunciation.

  The next morning they saw a young Indian starting alone, with hisbow and arrow. Anxious to see how he was going to proceed, byhimself, the boys asked if they might accompany him. He assented,and together they started off.

  After an hour's walking, they arrived at an eminence from which anextensive view could be obtained. Here their companion motioned tothem to lie down and watch his proceedings. They did so, and sawhim make a wide circuit, and work up towards the herd of deer.

  "They will be off long before he can get within bow shot," Tomsaid. "Look, they are getting fidgety already. They scent danger,and he is four hundred yards away. They will be off in a minute.

  "Look, what on earth is he doing?"

  The Indian was lying on his back, his body being almost concealedby the grass, which was a foot high. In the air he waved his legsto and fro, twisting and twining them. The boys could not helplaughing at the curious appearance of the two black objects wavingslowly about. The herd of deer stood staring stupidly at thespectacle. Then, as if moved by a common impulse of curiosity, theybegan slowly to approach, in order to investigate more closely thissingular phenomenon. Frequently they stopped, but only to continuetheir advance, which was made with a sort of circling movement, asif to see the object from all sides.

  Nearer and nearer they approached, until the leaders were not morethan fifty yards away; when the native leaped to his feet, anddischarged his arrows with such rapidity, and accuracy, that two ofthe animals fell before they could dart away out of range.

  The lads soon joined the native, and expressed their approval ofhis skill. Then, while he threw one carcass over his shoulder, theydivided the weight of the other between them, and so accompaniedhim into camp.

  The next day Ned and Tom, walking to an eminence near the camp, sawin the distance some ostriches feeding. Returning to the huts, theyfound the young hunter whom they had accompanied on the precedingday, and beckoned to him to accompany them. When they reached thespot from which the ostriches were visible, they motioned to him tocome out and shoot them. He at once nodded.

  As they were about to follow him back to camp, for their bows andarrows, he shook his head and signed to them to stay where theywere; and going off by himself, returned with his bow and arrowand, to the surprise of the boys, the skin of an ostrich.

  To show the lads what he intended to do, he put on the skin,sticking one arm up the long neck, his black legs alone showing. Henow imitated the motions of the bird, now stalking along, nowpicking up bits of grass, and this with such an admirable imitationof nature that Ned and Tom shouted with laughter.

  The three then set off together, taking a line which hid them fromthe view of the ostriches. The Indian at last led them to a smalleminence, and signed to them to ascend this, and there to lie downand watch the result. On arriving at their post, they foundthemselves about a quarter of a mile from the group of great birds.

  It seemed a long time before they could
see any signs of thenative, who had to make a long detour so as to approach the birdsupwind. About a hundred and fifty yards from the spot where theywere feeding was a clump of bushes, and presently the lads suddenlybeheld an ostrich, feeding quietly beside this clump.

  "There was no bird near those bushes two minutes ago," Tom said."It must be the Indian."

  Very quietly, and by degrees, the ostrich approached the group.When within four yards of them the ostrich, as if by magic,vanished; and an Indian stood in his place. In another moment hisbow twanged, and the ostrich next to him fell over, pierced throughwith an arrow; while the rest of the flock scattered over theplain, at an immense speed.

  Ned and Tom now rose to their feet and ran down the slope to theIndian, who was standing by the dead bird. He pulled out the tailfeathers and handed them to them; cut off the head and legs; openedand cleaned the body; and then, putting it on his shoulder, startedagain for the camp.

  For another week they remained in the Indian village, and in thattime picked up a good many native words. They then determined thatthey must be starting on their westward journey. They thereforecalled upon the chief and explained to him by signs, eked out witha few words, that they must leave him and go towards the settingsun.

  The grief of the chief was great, as was that of the tribe, when hecommunicated the tidings to them. There was great talking among thegroups round the fire that night, and Ned saw that some questionwas being debated, at great length. The next morning the chief andseveral of the leading men came into their hut, and the chief madea speech, accompanied with great gesticulation. The lads gatheredthat he was imploring them not to leave them, and pointing out thatthere would be hostile Indians on the road, who would attack them.Then the chief led them to the fires, and signed that if they wentout the tribe would be cold again, and would be unable to cooktheir food.

  Already, indeed, on one occasion after a great feast, the tribe hadslept so soundly that all the fires were out before morning, andNed had been obliged to have recourse to his flint and steel. Afterthis, two fires had been kept constantly burning, night and day.Others were lighted for cooking, but these were tended constantly,and Ned saw that there was little chance of their ever going outtogether, so long as the tribe remained in the village.

  Now, however, he proceeded to show them how to carry fire withthem. Taking one blazing stick, and starting out as for a journey,he showed that the fire gradually went out. Then he returned to thefire and took two large pieces, and started, keeping them socrossed that the parts on fire were always in contact. In this way,as he showed them, fire could be kept in for a very long time; andthat, if two brands were taken from each fire, there would belittle difficulty in keeping fire perpetually.

  Finally he showed them how, in case of losing fire in spite of allthese precautions, it could be recovered by means of friction. Hetook two pieces of dried wood; one being very hard grained, and theother much softer. Of the former he cut a stick of about a footlong and an inch round, and pointed at both ends. In the other hemade a small hole. Then he unstrung one end of a bowstring, twistedit once round the stick, and strung it again. Then he put one pointof the stick in the hole in the other piece of wood, which he laidupon the ground. Round the hole he crumbled into dust some dryfungus. On the upper end of the short stick he placed a flat stone,which he bade one of the natives press with moderate force.

  Now, working the bow rapidly backwards and forwards, the stick wasspun round and round like a drill. The Indians, who were unable tomake out what Ned was doing, watched these proceedings with greatattention. When a little smoke began to curl up from the heatedwood they understood at once, and shouted with wonder. In a fewminutes sparks began to fly from the stick, and as these fell onthe dried fungus they rapidly spread. Tom knelt down and blewgently upon them, adding a few dried leaves, and in another minutea bright flame sprang up.

  The natives were delighted. They had now means of making fire, andcould in future enjoy warmth and cooked food, and their gratitudeto the lads was unbounded. Hitherto they had feared that, whenthese strange white beings departed, they would lose their fires,and return to their former cheerless existence, when the longwinter evenings had to be spent in cold and darkness. That eveningthe chief intimated to his visitors that he, and a portion of themen of the tribe, would accompany them for some distance; the womenremaining behind, with the rest of the fighting men as their guard.This decision pleased the young men much, for they could not hopeto go far without meeting other tribes; and although, as had beenfound in the present instance, the gift of fire would be sure topropitiate the Indians; it was probable that they might be attackedon the march, and killed without having an opportunity ofexplanation. Their friends, however, would have the power of atonce explaining, to all comers, the valuable benefits which theycould bestow.

  During the time that they had been staying in the village, they hadfurther improved their bows by taking them to pieces, fitting theparts more accurately together, and gluing them with glue, preparedby boiling down sinews of animals in a gourd. Then, rebinding themwith fine sinews, they found that they were, in all respects, equalto their English weapons. They had now no fear as to their power ofmaintaining themselves with food on the way, and felt that, evenwhen their new friends should leave them, they would have a fairchance of defending themselves against attack, as their bows wouldcarry more than thrice as far as those of the natives.

  The following morning the start was made. The chief and twentypicked warriors accompanied them, together with six young Indians,two of whom carried lighted brands. The others dragged lightsleighs, upon which were piled skins and long poles, for makingtents at night, for the temperature was exceedingly cold aftersundown. The whole village turned out to see the party off, andshouts of farewell, and good wishes, rang in the air.

  For the first three days no adventures were met with. The party hadno difficulty in killing game sufficient for their needs, and atnight they halted at streams or pools. Ned observed, however, thatat the last halting place the chief, who had hitherto taken noprecaution at night, gave some orders to his followers; four ofwhom, when the rest laid down to rest, glided off in differentdirections into the darkness.

  Ned pointed to them inquiringly, and the chief intimated that theywere now entering the hunting grounds of another tribe. Thefollowing day the band kept closely together. A vigilant lookout onthe plains was kept up, and no straggling was allowed. They hadsufficient meat left over, from their spoils of the day before, tolast for the day; and no hunting was necessary.

  The next evening, just as they had retired to rest, one of thescouts came in and reported that he heard sounds around, whichbetokened the presence of man. The calls of animals were heard onthe plain; and a herd of deer, which had evidently been disturbed,had darted past at full speed.

  The chief now ordered great quantities of dried wood to be throwninto the fire, and a vast blaze soon shot up high, illuminating acircle of a hundred yards in diameter. Advancing to the edge ofthis circle, the chief held out his arms, to show that he wasunarmed; and then shouted, at the top of his voice, to the effectthat he invited all within hearing to come forward, in peace. Thestrange appearance that they saw was a boon, given to the Indianpeople by two great white beings, who were in his camp; and that,by its aid, there would be no more cold.

  Three times he shouted out these words, and then retired to thefire and sat down. Presently from the circle of darkness a numberof figures appeared, approaching timidly and with an awe-struckair, until within a short distance of the fire.

  Then the chief again rose, and bade them welcome. There were somefifty or sixty of them, but Ned and his friend had no fear of anytreachery, for they were evidently under the spell of a sense ofamazement greater than that which had been excited among those theyfirst met; and this because they first saw this wonder by night.

  When the newcomers had taken their seats, the chief explained tothem the qualities of their new discovery. That it made them warmand comfortable the
ir own feelings told them; and on the morrow,when they had meat, he would show them how great were its effects.Then he told them of the dancing water, and how it softened andmade delicious the vegetables placed in it. At his command one ofhis followers took two brands, carried them to a distance, and soonlighted another fire.

  During the narrative, the faces of the Indians lighted up with joy;and they cast glances of reverence and gratitude towards the youngwhite men. These, finding that amity was now established, retiredto sleep to the little skin tents which had been raised for them;while the Indians remained sitting round the fire, engrossed withits wonders.

  The young men slept late next morning, knowing that no move couldbe made that day. When they came out of the tents, they found thatthe natives had lost no time. Before daybreak hunting parties hadgone out, and a store of game was piled near the fire; or ratherfires, for a dozen were now burning, and the strangers were beinginitiated in the art of cooking by their hosts.

  Two days were spent here; and then, after much talk, the tribe atwhich they had now arrived arranged to escort and pass the boys onto their neighbors, while the first party returned to theirvillage. Ned and Tom were consulted before this matter was settled,and approved of it. It was better that they should be passed on,from tribe to tribe, than that they should be escorted all the wayby a guard who would be as strange as themselves to the country,and who would naturally be longing to return to their homes andfamilies.

  For some weeks the life led by the travelers resembled that whichhas been described. Sometimes they waited for a few days atvillages, where great festivities were held in their honor The newsof their coming, in many cases, preceded them; and they and theirconvoy were often met at the stream, or other mark which formed theacknowledged boundary between the hunting grounds, by large bodieseager to receive and welcome them.

  They had, by this time, made considerable progress in the language,knew all the names of common objects, and could make themselvesunderstood in simple matters. The language of savage people isalways simple. Their range of ideas is narrow; their vocabularyvery limited, and consequently easily mastered.

  Ned knew that, at any time, they might come across people in astate of active warfare with each other; and that his life mightdepend upon the ability to make himself understood. Consequently helost no opportunity of picking up the language. On the march Tomand he, instead of walking and talking together, each went with agroup of natives; and kept up a conversation, eked out with signs,with them; and consequently they made very considerable progresswith the language.

  Chapter 13: Through the Cordilleras.