Swift and Sure: The Story of a Hydroplane

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER XIV--REPAIRS

  "What's happened?" asked Ruggles anxiously.

  "We struck a snag: goodness knows what damage is done. We shall have torun into the bank and wait till morning. Can't see to do anything inthe dark. Was there ever such beastly bad luck!"

  "Well, you couldn't expect everything to go smoothly. You haven't hadmuch to complain of so far."

  "That's true; but just at this moment, when everything depended on ourkeeping ahead of the train! Listen to it. We must be close on thenarrows, to judge by the row it's making."

  "It's lucky we hadn't got any farther, then."

  By this time Will had steered the vessel to the left bank, running underthe overhanging branches of a large tree. Before it came to rest, Azitobeat the bank with his pole to scare away any alligator that might lurkthere.

  "Water's coming in," said Will. "But I'm afraid that's not the worst.We can stop a leak, but we are done if there's anything seriously wrongwith the engine. We haven't even got the yacht now."

  "Better lift the craft on to the bank, so that she doesn't becomeabsolutely waterlogged," Ruggles suggested.

  Everybody got out, Azito removing the small stock of food left in thevessel, and Ruggles and Jose lifting the General between them.

  "Shall we untie his cords?" said Will. "He must be pretty stiff anduncomfortable."

  "It depends what you mean to do. Will you still have a try at gettinghim to Bolivar?"

  "Without a doubt. There's the Chief to consider."

  "Then you mustn't loose him. It won't be safe. By the way, what wasthat howl I heard as we hauled him into the boat?"

  "I don't know."

  "Senor, it was this man," said the Indian, pointing to Machado. "He wasgoing to hurt the engine."

  "It's a lie!" cried Machado, in abject fear.

  "Tell us what he did, Azito," said Will.

  The Indian explained that Machado and the General had conversed in lowtones while on the yacht, arousing his suspicion. He told how he hadprevented the man from carrying out his intention when the Senor's backwas turned. Will caught Machado's arm, and he winced.

  "Tie him up," said Will. "He shan't have another chance."

  Machado was bound and laid beside the General. Food was distributed,but sparingly; the supply brought from Bolivar would soon be exhausted.Then they sat down to wait for daylight, not daring to sleep, in casedanger in the shape of beast or man should come. They heard the trainrumbling along to their left, until by and by the sound died away.

  The dawn stole upon them. They all presented a sorry and woe-begoneappearance, none more than General Carabano. When captured he waswearing a long flowered dressing-gown, the colours of which had "run"through his immersion in the lake. He had lost the well-fed andarrogant look which he habitually wore. He made no further protest, butaccepted in sullen silence the meagre portion of food allotted to him,and meekly allowed his arms to be rebound when the brief meal wasfinished.

  Will and Ruggles lost no time in making an examination of thehydroplane. They found that a sharp branch of a submerged tree hadpenetrated the bottom and pierced the petrol-tank, where it had snappedoff. The pressure which usually fed the petrol up to the engine hadforced it out of the tank, and Will realized with despair that thehydroplane was now of no more use to them than a raft. All the petrolthat was left was about a gallon in one of the cans.

  "We are clean done, Ruggles," he said. "There's not the ghost of achance of our getting to Bolivar."

  "Except at three miles an hour," said Ruggles.

  "With the river closely watched, as it will be, we can't even driftdown. Espejo will know we can't have passed. No one but a madman wouldattempt to go at any pace in the dark, and then he'd come to grief. Iwas a fool not to take your advice."

  "It's no good crying over spilt milk, as the Chief would say. I canmanage to patch up the hole, if that's any good."

  "Well, it would keep the thing afloat, but that won't help us much.Without petrol we're stuck."

  "Is there none left at the camp?"

  "Not a cupful. I brought away the last cans before I went down toBolivar."

  "This is a real fix. That Espejo fellow will begin to search the riverwhen he finds we don't pass; he can easily get canoes from some of thenatives down the Orinoco. He's bound to find us if we're still on theriver, and then with only two revolvers and a couple of knives betweenus we shall be at his mercy. Seems to me, as soon as I've patched upthe hole, we'd better pole up the river and go straight on instead ofturning up the stream towards the hacienda. They might not look for usthere."

  "There seems nothing else. But it'll take a week to get so far. We'vegot the current against us, and with our load we should do about onemile an hour. Besides, what's to happen then? They can search for usand keep a watch on the river for any length of time, and our food won'tlast more than two days on the shortest commons, and precious stale itwill be, too."

  "The only other plan would be to march along this left bank till we cometo a village, and then promise the natives a reward to guide us toBolivar."

  "And let Espejo collar my hydroplane! Not if I can help it. Besides,we've got to rescue the Chief."

  "Well, you can think it over while I am stopping the leak."

  There were a few simple tools on board, and Ruggles, not belying hisreputation as handy man, succeeded after an hour's work in making whathe called a good temporary job of it. Will watched him for a time;then, seeing from the General's look that he had taken the full measureof the situation, and expected to be rescued by his lieutenant beforelong, he said to himself fiercely that he would not be bested, andwalked away to think quietly how the disaster might be retrieved.

  The want of petrol was the only difficulty. When Ruggles had finishedhis task the hydroplane would be quite capable of continuing the voyageif fuel could be got. He would, of course, not again attempt to proceedby night; and by day Azito could be trusted to avoid snags. But petrolhe had none, nor could he get any; and without it he saw no possible wayof working the engine. Was there a substitute?

  Suddenly he remembered that the Indians were accustomed to use for theirtorches a resinous liquid made from a kind of pine-tree that grew incertain districts. Would not such a wood-spirit be quite as good forhis purpose as petrol? Full of the idea, he hastened back to consultRuggles. Ruggles shook his head.

  "I am up to most things in the machine line," he said, "but don't knowmore than a baby about distilling or chemistry and such. Still, it's afact, what you say. The Indians do get a sort of benzine from thetrees, and benzine and petrol are first cousins, at any rate. There'sno harm in trying. But do you know whether these trees growhereabouts?"

  "No, I don't," confessed Will, with misgiving. "I'll ask Azito."

  The Indian's reply was cheering. There was a forest of the right kindof trees some miles inland from the left bank of the river. It could beapproached by a creek, not very far from the scene of his adventure withthe jaguar. This was fortunate. The spot was a good many miles fromtheir present position, and if Captain Espejo did undertake a systematicsearch of the river, it would be long before he came to the upperreaches. Will decided to set off at once. The petrol tank having beenrepaired, he could make use of the last gallon of spirit contained inthe almost empty can. It would suffice to carry the hydroplane at a lowspeed perhaps a dozen miles up-stream; then they must trust to theirpoles. Will made sure that the sparking apparatus was in good order;the whole party went aboard, with two prisoners now instead of one; andwhile the morning was still young the hydroplane started for the upperriver. At first Will hesitated to set the engine going, in case it washeard by the enemy; but reflecting that they had almost certainly run onto the junction several miles below, and would scarcely have begun tosearch yet, he decided to get as far from them as he could. There wouldprobably be greater danger if the throbbing were heard as theyapproached the neighbourhood of the hacienda.

  A few
miles up Azito caught sight of the little yacht, which on beingcast off had drifted for some distance and then run into the bank, whereit had wedged itself among the lower boughs of a large tree. Will hailedthis as a fortunate discovery. By dividing the party the labour ofascending against the current would be considerably lessened. The boatwas hauled off and towed until the petrol gave out; then once moreGeneral Carabano was transferred to it, with Ruggles as punter andguardian. Keeping both vessels as near to the left bank as was safe, inorder to avoid the full force of the current, Ruggles in the yacht andJose and Azito by turns in the hydroplane steadily poled along. It wasslow and tiresome work. In two hours they covered a distance less thanthe hydroplane in good trim would have accomplished in ten minutes.Indeed, it was late in the afternoon when they came to the littlestream, running into the left bank, from which they could gain the creekthat Azito had mentioned.

  They made their way slowly up this stream for some three miles, passingmany small creeks on both sides. At last they reached that which wouldbring them to the spirit-yielding trees. Their progress now was evenslower than it had been. The creek was shallow and very weedy. Morethan once the vessels were brought up by clinging masses of aquaticvegetation. Not till the short dusk was beginning did they reach theneighbourhood of the wood. Here they found a little sandy strip onwhich they ran the vessels and disembarked, tired out. After a meagresupper they lay down on a stretch of green sward to pass the night, Willarranging that they should take turns to watch against intrusion by wildbeasts.

  Early next morning Azito led Will and Ruggles into the wood, and showedthem the trees to tap for the spirit. Then he said that he would paddlehimself some miles further up the creek in the yacht, until he reachedan Indian village where he might obtain food. The others set aboutrigging up a benzine distillery. This was naturally of the mostprimitive description. Will first made a clay crucible in which hecollected the liquid obtained from the trees; then, connecting this bymeans of a metal pipe from the engine with a water-bottle he wasaccustomed to take with him on the hydroplane, he lit a small fire,borrowing a box of matches from Machado, and distilled over the vapourfrom the crucible to the bottle. It occurred to him to hasten thecondensation by placing the bottle in the flowing water of the stream,propping it up with two stones. As soon as he had collected a smallquantity of the spirit he tested it, and found that it had all thevolatile and inflammable qualities of petrol.

  "I'd never have believed it," said Ruggles; "but it will take a monthbefore we get enough to carry us to Bolivar."

  "So it will if we don't make more crucibles. There's plenty of clay."

  "But what about pipes and bottles?"

  "There are plenty of reeds at the edge of the creek: they'll do forpipes. As for bottles, we've got two petrol cans, and we shall have tomake some clay bottles. The sooner the better."

  They set to work at once with Jose to make, first, crucibles out of thewhite clay which formed the subsoil, and as these were finished, theytook them into the forest and set them down at the trees they tapped.While the liquid was collecting they gathered reeds from the border ofthe stream, and fashioned clumsy clay bottles as receptacles of thevapour. By the afternoon they had a dozen pieces of apparatus at work,and Will was in high spirits at the prospect of filling his tank withthe all-important fuel. He found the moist heat of the forest verytrying, but willingly endured the discomfort and fatigue.

  In the evening Azito returned, staggering under a basket loaded withyuca, a root from which a capital bread could be made, and a goat-skinfilled with resinous liquid, purchased in the Indian village. Hereported that he had seen, as he came by the edge of the forest, a slothclinging to the branch of a tree, and several tapirs grubbing for roots,and wished Will to return with him and kill one of the animals forsupper; but Will did not care to risk a revolver shot, which might beheard by the enemy if they were coming up the river, and so he decidedto make a meal of yuca bread alone.

  Next day he set up more crucibles, and then, having at work as many ascould be conveniently tended, he adopted Ruggles' advice and restedduring the hottest hours. But he grew restless in inaction, and by andby strolled into the forest, whose gloomy depths had a fascination forhim. He marked signs of the great struggle for life going on allaround. Innumerable creeping plants twined about the trees, striving toforce a way to the sunlight in which their gorgeous blossoms mightexpand, and stifling the vitality out of the forest giants. Beetles andtermites scurried hither and thither: birds flitted from bough to bough,pecking at the ripe berries, and carrying away seeds which wouldgerminate in some other part, to be strangled ere they came to maturity,or to grow into stranglers in their turn. Among the other trees thepalms rose straight and lofty, their branchless trunks defying themurderous creepers, their leafy crowns dominating as if in contempt thelowlier competitors beneath.

  Here he caught sight of a cavy nibbling a nut, there a peccary huntingamong the undergrowth for seeds. Moving cautiously among the trees, hehad a glimpse of a labba peeping out of a hollow trunk, and disturbed adeer which was lying amid the bushes, its colour harmonizing so wellwith them that he had not distinguished it until it moved, though it waswithin a few feet of him. In the foliage overhead howling monkeys keptup their resounding notes, and tree-frogs boomed and whistledincessantly. As evening drew on, the forest was filled with thecontinuous hum of multitudinous insects; owls hooted, goatsuckersflitted from bough to bough uttering their weird cry, and snakesuncoiled themselves from the branches on which they had taken theirsiesta. Will would have liked to spend days in studying these creaturesof the forest.

  Returning to the camp, he discussed with Ruggles what should be donewhen the cans were filled.

  "It will be two days more before we have enough spirit," he said. "Ithink we should start from here in the early afternoon, run down to thenarrows at half-speed, and try to rush them at dusk. No more nightrunning for me. We might strike a snag again, and we can't risk it asecond time."

  "Couldn't we simply drift?" suggested Ruggles.

  "Too risky--not from the river, but you may be sure that Espejo willwatch it day and night. He will know we haven't got past him."

  "You had better send Azito out to scout, then, before we start."

  "A good idea. But I am sure we shall have to trust to our speed alone.We can't fight them with only two revolvers between us. Our only chanceis to get to the narrows before we are seen, and then go at top speed.A quarter of an hour would do it."

  On the second night thereafter the petrol tank was full, and there was aconsiderable quantity of spirit left over in one of the cans. Willordered Azito to go out in the yacht as soon as it was light, and see ifhe could discover the movements of the enemy. While the Indian wasabsent the others prepared for the adventurous voyage. The twoprisoners, who had sullenly watched the making of the benzine, were laidin the bottom of the hydroplane: Will and Ruggles thoroughly overhauledand oiled the engine, and cleaned the planes and the propeller of theweeds which had already begun to cling about them.

  About nine o'clock Azito returned. His report was that he had seen aboat filled with armed men coming slowly up the stream, searching thecreeks on either side. There were twelve men, all armed with rifles.

  "We must get out before they come up here," said Will. "Otherwise weshall be like rats in a trap. How far are they down, Azito?"

  "About three twists, senor."

  This was not very enlightening. The Indian's "twist" may be of anylength, according to circumstances. But Azito went on to explain thatthe enemy were not far below a creek that ran into the stream from theopposite side, which, as nearly as Will could recollect, was abouthalf-a-mile from that up which the hydroplane had come. He had littledoubt that if the enemy were proceeding systematically they would searchthe opposite creek first. Accordingly he ordered all on board. Theyacht was left. Will promised it as a present to Azito when his workwas over, having no doubt that Mr. Jackson would purchase it of DeMello.
Then they poled the hydroplane down the creek until they camewithin a few yards of the point where it entered the stream. There theydrew into the bank, where they could not be seen until the enemy cameright opposite the mouth.

  Many tall trees grew at the edge of the stream.

  "Climb up, Azito," said Will, "and tell us when the boat enters thecreek on the opposite side."

  In a few minutes the Indian was snugly perched among the thick foliageat the top of one of the loftiest trees.

  "We'll start as soon as we know they're in the creek," said Will toRuggles. "That may give us time to get several miles down before we'rediscovered."

  Several minutes passed. Then they saw Azito sliding down the tree withthe agility of a monkey.

  "They have gone into it, senor."

  "Very well. Pole us out. It's neck or nothing, Ruggles. Have you gotyour revolver handy?"

  "Trust me. You'd better give me yours. You can't use it and steer too,and I'm rather a dab with my left hand."

  "Here you are, then," said Will, smiling as he handed the weapon to him."But I hope we shan't come to close enough quarters for you to use it.We're off, and good luck to us."