by Rex Stout
Chapter XIV.
A FISHING PARTY.
Water, when whirling rapidly, has a keen distaste for any foreignobject; but when once the surface breaks, that very repulsion seems tomultiply the indescribable fury with which it endeavors to bury theobject beneath its center.
Once in the whirlpool, I was carried in a swift circle round itssurface for what seemed an age, and I think could not have been lessthan eight or ten seconds in reality. Then suddenly I was turnedcompletely over, my limbs seemed to be torn from my body, there was adeafening roar in my ears, and a crushing weight pressed against mefrom every side.
Any effort of any kind was worse than useless, as well as impossible;indeed, I could hardly have been said to be conscious, except for thefact that I retained sufficient volition to avoid breathing orswallowing the water.
The pressure against my body was terrific; I wondered vaguely why lifehad not departed, since--as I supposed--there was not a whole bone leftin my body. My head was bursting with dizziness and pain; my breastwas a furnace of torture.
Suddenly the pressure lessened and the whirling movement graduallyceased, but still the current carried me on. I struck out wildly withboth arms--in an effort, I suppose, to grasp the proverbial straw.
I found no straw, but something better--space. Instinct led the fightto reach it with my head to get air, but the swiftness of the currentcarried me again beneath the surface. My arms seemed powerless; I wasunable to direct them.
I hardly know what happened after that. A feeling of most intensesuffocation in my chest; a relaxation of all my muscles; a sensation oflight in my smarting eyes; a gentle pressure from the water beneath,like the rising gait of a saddle-horse; and suddenly, without knowingwhy or when or how, I found myself lying on hard ground, gasping,choking, sputtering, not far from death, but nearer to life than I hadthought ever to be again.
I lay for several minutes unable to move; then my brain awoke andcalled for life. I twisted over on my face, and moved my arms out andin with the motion of a swimmer; the most exquisite pains shot throughmy chest and abdomen. My head weighed tons.
Water ran from my nose and mouth in gurgling streams. The roaring,scarcely abated, pounded in my ears. I was telling myself over andover with a most intense earnestness: "But if I were really dead Ishouldn't be able to move." It appears that the first sense to leave adrowning man, and the last to return, is the sense of humor.
In another ten minutes, having rid my lungs of the water that hadfilled them, I felt no pain and but little fatigue. My head was dizzy,and there was still a feeling of oppression on my chest; but otherwiseI was little the worse for wear. I twisted carefully over on my sideand took note of my surroundings.
I lay on a narrow ledge of rock at the entrance to a huge cavern. Nottwo feet below rushed the stream which had carried me; it came downthrough an opening in the wall at a sharp angle with tremendousvelocity, and must have hurled me like a cork from its foaming surface.Below, it emptied into a lake which nearly filled the cavern, somehundreds of yards in diameter. Rough boulders and narrow ledgessurrounded it on every side.
This I saw in time, but the first thing that caught my eye was no workof nature. Fastened to the wall on the opposite side of the cavern,casting a dim, flickering light throughout its vast space, were twogolden, flaming urns.
It was not fear, but a sort of nausea, that assailed me as I realizedthat I was still in the domain of the Incas.
The ledge on which I lay was exposed to view from nearly every point ofthe cavern, and the sight of those urns caused me to make a swiftdecision to leave it without delay. It was wet and slippery and notover three feet in width; I rose to my feet cautiously, having noappetite for another ducking.
At a distance of several feet lay another ledge, broad and level, atthe farther end of which rose a massive boulder. I cleared the gapwith a leap, barely made my footing, and passed behind the boulderthrough a crevice just wide enough to admit my body.
Then through a narrow lane onto another ledge, and from that I found myway into a dark recess which gave assurance at least of temporarysafety. The sides of the cavern were a veritable maze of boulders,sloping ledges, and narrow crevices. Nature here scarcely seemed tohave known what to do with herself.
I seated myself on a bit of projecting limestone, still wet andshivering. I had no boots nor trousers; my feet were bruised andswollen, and my flannel shirt and woolen underwear were but scantyprotection against the chill air, damp as they were. Also, I seemed tofeel a cold draft circling about me, and was convinced of the fact bythe flickering flames in the golden urns.
Desolate, indeed, for I gave Harry up as lost. The thought generatedno particular feeling in me; death, by force of contrast, may evenappear agreeable; and I told myself that Harry had been favored of thegods.
And there I sat in the half-darkness, shrinking from a danger of whoseexistence I was not certain, clinging miserably to the little that wasleft of what the world of sunshine had known as Paul Lamar, gentleman,scientist, and connoisseur of life; sans philosophy, sans hope,and--sans-culotte.
But the senses remain; and suddenly I became aware of a movement in thewater of the lake. It was as though an immense trout had leaped andsplit the surface. This was repeated several times, and was followedby a rhythmic sound like the regular splash of many oars. Then silence.
I peered intently forth from my corner in the recess, but could seenothing, and finally gave it up.
As the minutes passed by my discomfort increased and stiffness began totake my joints. I realized the necessity of motion, but lacked thewill, and sat in a sort of dumb, miserable apathy. This, I should say,for an hour; then I saw something that roused me.
I had before noticed that on the side of the cavern almost directlyopposite me, under the flaming urns, there was a ledge some ten ortwelve feet broad and easily a hundred in length. It met the surfaceof the lake at an easy, gradual slope. In the rear, exactly betweenthe two urns, could be seen the dark mouth of a passage, evidentlyleading directly away from the cavern.
Out of this passage there suddenly appeared the forms of two Incas. Inthe hand of each was what appeared to be a long spear--I had evidentlybeen mistaken in my presumption of their ignorance of weapons.
They walked to one end of the long ledge and dragged out into the lightan object with a flat surface some six feet square. This they launchedon the surface of the lake; then embarked on it, placing their spearsby their sides and taking up, instead, two broad, short oars. Withthese they began to paddle their perilous craft toward the center ofthe lake with short, careful strokes.
About a hundred feet from the shore they ceased paddling and exchangedthe oars for their spears, and stood motionless and silent, waiting,apparently, for nothing.
I, also, remained motionless, watching them in dull curiosity. Therewas little danger of being seen; for, aside from the darkness of mycorner, which probably would have been no hindrance to them, aprojecting ledge partly screened my body from view.
The wait was not a long one, and when it ended things happened with sostartling a suddenness that I scarcely grasped the details.
There was a loud splash in the water like that I had heard before, aswift ripple on the surface of the lake, and simultaneously the twoIndians lunged with their spears, which flew to their mark with deadlyaccuracy. I had not before noticed the thongs, one end of which wasfastened to the shaft of the spear and the other about the waist of thesavage.
There followed a battle royal. Whatever the thing was that had feltthe spears, it certainly lost no time in showing its resentment. Itthrashed the water into furious waves until I momentarily expected theraft to be swamped.
One Inca stood on the farther edge of the craft desperately plying anoar; the other tugged lustily at the spear-thongs. I could see ablack, twisting form leap from the water directly toward the raft, andthe oarsman barely drew from under before it fell. It struck thecorner of the raft, which tipped perilously
.
That appeared to have been a final effort, for there the battle ended.The oarsman made quickly for the shore, paddling with remarkabledexterity and swiftness, while the other stood braced, holding firmlyto the spear-thongs. Another minute and they had leaped upon theledge, drawing the raft after them, and, by tugging together on thelines, had landed their victim of the deep.
It appeared to be a large black fish of a shape I had never beforeseen. But it claimed little of my attention; my eye was on the twospears which had been drawn from the still quivering body and which nowlay on the ground well away from the water's edge, while the two Incaswere dragging their catch toward the mouth of the passage leading fromthe cavern.
I wanted those spears. I did not stop to ask myself what I intended todo with them; if I had I would probably have been hard put to it for ananswer. But I wanted them, and I sat in my dark corner gazing at themwith greedy eyes.
The Incas had disappeared in the passage.
Finally I rose and began to search for an exit from the recess in whichI had hidden myself. At first there appeared to be none, but at lengthI found a small crevice between two boulders in the rear. Into this Isqueezed my body with some difficulty.
The rock pressed tightly against me on both sides, and the sharpcorners bruised my body, but I wormed my way through for a distance offifteen or twenty feet. Then the crevice opened abruptly, and I foundmyself on a broad ledge ending apparently in space. I advancedcautiously to its edge, but intervening boulders shut off the light,and I could see no ground below.
Throwing prudence to the winds, I let myself over the outermost corner,hung for a moment by my hands, and dropped. My feet touched groundalmost instantly--the supposedly perilous fall amounted to somethinglike twelve inches.
I turned round, feeling a little foolish, and saw that from where Istood the ledge and part of the lake were in full view. I could seethe spears still lying where they had been thrown down.
But as I looked the two Incas emerged from the passage. They picked upthe spears, walked to the raft, and again launched it and paddledtoward the center of the lake.
I thought, "Here is my chance; I must make that ledge before theyreturn," and I started forward so precipitately that I ran head on intoa massive boulder and got badly stunned for my pains. Half dazed, Iwent on, groping my way through the semidarkness.
The trail was one to try a llama. I climbed boulders and leaped acrosschasms and clung to narrow, slippery edges with my finger-nails.Several times I narrowly escaped dumping myself into the lake, and halfthe time I was in plain view of the Incas on the raft.
My hands and feet were bruised and bleeding, and I had bumped intowalls and boulders so often that I was surprised when I took a stepwithout getting a blow. I wanted those spears.
I found myself finally within a few yards of my destination. A narrowcrevice led from where I stood directly to the ledge from which theIncas had embarked. It was now necessary to wait till they returned tothe shore, and I drew back into the darkness of a near-by corner andstood motionless.
They were still on the raft in the middle of the lake, waiting, spearin hand. I watched them in furious impatience, on the border of mania.
Suddenly I saw a dark, crouching form outlined against a boulder notten feet away from where I stood. The form was human, but in some wayunlike the Incas I had seen. I could not see its face, but thealertness suggested by its attitude made me certain that I had beendiscovered.
Vaguely I felt myself surrounded on every side; I seemed to feel eyesgazing unseen from every direction, but I could not force myself tosearch the darkness; my heart rose to my throat and choked me, and Istood absolutely powerless to make a sound or movement, gazing in asort of dumb fascination at that silent, crouching figure.
Suddenly it crouched lower still against the black background of theboulder.
"Another second and he will be at my throat," I thought--but I stoodstill, unable to move.
But the figure did not spring. Instead, it suddenly straightened up toalmost twice the height of an Inca, and I caught a glimpse of a whiteface and ragged, clinging garments.
"Harry!" I whispered. I wonder yet that it was not a shout.
"Thank God!" came his voice, also in a whisper; and in another momenthe had reached my side.
A hurried word or two--there was no time for more--and I pointed to theIncas on the raft, saying: "We want those spears."
"I was after them," he grinned. "What shall we do?"
"There's no use taking them while the Incas are away," I replied,"because they would soon return and find them gone. Surely we canhandle two of them."
As I spoke there came a sound from the lake--a sudden loud splashfollowed by a commotion in the water. I looked around the corner ofthe boulder and saw that the spears again found their mark.
"Come," I whispered, and began to pick my way toward the ledge.
Harry followed close at my heels. It was easier here, and we soonfound ourselves close to the shore of the lake, with a smooth stretchof rock between us and the fisherman's landing-place. The urns, whoselight was quite sufficient here, were about fifty feet to the right andrear.
The Incas had made their kill and were paddling for the shore. As theycame near, Harry and I sank back against the boulder, which extended tothe boundary of the ledge. Soon the raft was beached and pulled wellaway from the water, and the fish--I was amazed at its size--followed.
They drew forth the spears and laid them on the ground, as they haddone formerly; and, laying hold on the immense fish, still flounderingponderously about, began to drag it toward the mouth of the passage.
"Now," whispered Harry, and as he stood close at my side I could feelhis body draw together for the spring.
I laid a hand on his arm.
"Not yet. Others may be waiting for them in the passage. Wait tillthey return."
In a few minutes they reappeared in the light of the flaming urns. Iwaited till they had advanced half-way to the water's edge, some thirtyfeet away. Then I whispered to Harry: "You for the left, me for theright," and released my hold on his arm, and the next instant we werebounding furiously across the ledge.
Taken by surprise, the Incas offered no resistance whatever. Themomentum of our assault carried them to the ground; their heads struckthe hard granite with fearful force and they lay stunned.
Harry, kneeling over them, looked up at me with a question in his eyes.
"The lake," said I, for it was no time for squeamishness.
Our friend the king thought us dead, and we wanted no witnesses that wehad returned to life. We laid hold of the unconscious bodies, draggedthem to the edge of the lake, and pushed them in. The shock of thecold water brought one of them to life, and he started to swim, andwe--well, we did what had to be done.
We had our spears. I examined them curiously.
The head appeared to be of copper and the shaft was a long, thin rod ofthe same material. But when I tried it against a stone and saw itshardness I found that it was much less soft, and consequently moreeffective, than copper would have been. That those underground savageshad succeeded in combining metals was incredible, but there was theevidence; and, besides, it may have been a trick of nature herself.
The point was some six inches long and very sharp. It was set on theshaft in a wedge, and bound with thin, tough strips of hide.Altogether, a weapon not to be laughed at.
We carried the spears, the raft, and the oars behind a large boulder tothe left of the ledge with considerable difficulty. The two latter notbecause we expected them to be of any service, but in order not toleave any trace of our presence, for if any searchers came and foundnothing they could know nothing.
We expected them to arrive at any moment, and we waited for hours. Wehad about given up watching from our vantage point behind the boulderwhen two Incas appeared at the mouth of the passage. But they broughtonly oil to fill the urns, and after performing this duty departed,without a glance
at the lake or any exhibition of surprise at theabsence of their fellows.
Every now and then there was a commotion in some part of the lake, andwe could occasionally see a black, glistening body leap into the airand fall again into the water.
"I'm hungry," Harry announced suddenly. "I wonder if we couldn't turnthe trick on that raft ourselves?"
The same thought had occurred to me, but Harry's impulsiveness had mademe fearful of expressing it. I hesitated.
"We've got to do something," he continued.
I suggested that it might be best to wait another hour or two.
"And why? Now is as good a time as any. If we intend to findDesiree--"
"In the name of Heaven, how can we?" I interrupted.
"You don't mean to say you don't intend to try?" he exclaimed.
"Hal, I don't know. In the first place, it's impossible. And wherecould we take her and what could we do--in short, what's the use? Whythe deuce should we prolong the thing any further?
"In the world I refused to struggle because nothing tempted me; in thisinfernal hole I have fought when there was nothing to fight for. Ifcivilization held no prize worth an effort, why should I exert myselfto preserve the life of a rat? Faugh! It's sickening! I wondered whyI wanted those spears. Now I know. I have an idea I'm going to becoward enough to use one--or enough of a philosopher."
"Paul, that isn't like you."
"On the contrary, it is consistent with my whole life. I have neverbeen overly keen about it. To end it in a hole like this--well, thatisn't exactly what I expected; but it is all one--after. Understandme, Hal; I don't want to desert you; haven't I stuck? And I wouldstill if there were the slightest possible chance. Where can we go?What can we do?"
There was a long silence; then Harry's voice came calmly:
"I can stay in the game. You call yourself a philosopher. I won'tquarrel about it, but the world would call you a quitter. Whichever itis, it's not for me. I stay in the game. I'm going to find Desiree ifI can, and, by the Lord, some day I'm going to cock my feet up on thefender at the Midlothian and make 'em open their mouths and call me aliar!"
"A worthy ambition."
"My own. And, Paul, you can't--you're not a quitter."
"Personally, yes. If I were here alone, Hal"--I picked up one of thespears and passed my palm over its sharp point--"I would quit cold.But not--not with you. I can't share your enthusiasm, but I'll gofifty-fifty on the rest of it, including the fender--when we see it."
"That's the talk, old man. I knew you would."
"But understand me. I expect nothing. It's all rot. If by any wildchance we should pull out in the end I'll admit you were right. But Ieat under compulsion, and I fight for you. You're the leader unlessyou ask my advice."
"And I begin right now," said Harry with a grin. "First, to getDesiree. What about it?"
We discussed plans all the way from the impossible to the miraculousand arrived nowhere. One thing only we decided--that before we triedto find our way back to the great cavern and the royal apartments wewould lay in a supply of food and cache it among the boulders andledges where we then were. For if ever a place were designed for asuccessful defense by two men against thousands it was that one. Andwe had the spears.
Still no one had appeared in the cavern, and we decided to wait nolonger. We carried the raft back to the ledge. It was fairly light,being made of hide stretched tightly across stringers of bone, but wasexceedingly clumsy. Once Harry fell, and the thing nearly toppled overinto the lake with him on top of it; but I caught his arm just in time.
Another trip for the oars and spears, and everything was ready. Welaunched the raft awkwardly, nearly shipping it beneath; but finallygot it afloat with ourselves aboard. We had fastened the loose ends ofthe spear-thongs about our waists.
I think that raft was the craziest thing that ever touched water. Itwas a most excellent diver, but was in profound ignorance of the firstprinciple of the art of floating.
After a quarter of an hour of experimentation we found that by standingexactly in a certain position, one on each side and paddling with onehand, it was possible to keep fairly level. If either of us shiftedhis foot a fraction of an inch the thing ducked like a stone.
We finally got out a hundred feet or so and ceased paddling. Then,exchanging our oars for the spears, we waited.
The surface of the lake was perfectly still, save for a barelyperceptible ripple, caused no doubt by the undercurrent which was fedby the stream at the opposite side. The urns were so far away that thelight was very dim; no better than half darkness. The silence wasbroken by the sound of the rushing stream.
Suddenly the raft swayed gently; there was a parting of the water not afoot away toward the front, and then--well, the ensuing events happenedso quickly that their order is uncertain.
A black form arose from the water with a leap like lightning and landedsquarely on the raft, which proceeded to perform its favorite dive. Itwould have done so with much less persuasion, for the fish was amonster--it appeared to me at that moment to be twenty feet long.
On the instant, as the raft capsized, Harry and I lunged with ourspears, tumbling forward and landing on each other and on top of thefish. I felt my spear sinking into the soft fish almost withoutresistance.
The raft slipped from under, and we found ourselves floundering in thewater.
I have said the spear-thongs were fastened about our waists.Otherwise, we would have let the fish go; but we could hardly allow himto take us along. That is, we didn't want to allow it; but we soonfound that we had nothing to say in the matter. Before we had time toset ourselves to stroke we were being towed as though we had been corkstoward the opposite shore.
But it was soon over, handicapped as he was by four feet of spears inhis body. We felt the pull lessen and twisted ourselves about, and inanother minute had caught the water with a steady dog-stroke and wereholding our own. Soon we made headway, but it was killing work.
"He weighs a thousand tons," panted Harry, and I nodded.
Pulling and puffing side by side, we gradually neared the center of thelake, passed it, and approached the ledge. We were well-nigh exhaustedwhen we finally touched bottom and were able to stand erect.
Hauling the fish onto the ledge, we no longer wondered at his strength.He could not have been an ounce under four hundred pounds, and wasfully seven feet long. One of the spears ran through the gills; theother was in his middle, just below the backbone. We got them out withsome difficulty and rolled him up high and dry.
We straightened to return for the spears which we had left at the edgeof the water.
"He's got a hide like an elephant," said Harry. "What can we skin himwith?"
But I did not answer.
I was gazing straight ahead at the mouth of the passage where stood twoIncas, spear in hand, returning my gaze stolidly.
