Martin Rattler

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER XIII

  MARTIN AND BARNEY CONTINUE THEIR TRAVELS, AND SEE STRANGETHINGS--AMONG OTHERS, THEY SEE LIVING JEWELS--THEY GO TO SEE AFESTA--THEY FIGHT AND RUN AWAY

  Martin Rattler and Barney O'Flannagan soon after this began to entertaina desire to travel further into the interior of Brazil, and behold withtheir own eyes the wonders of which they had heard so much from theirkind and hospitable friend the hermit. Martin was especially anxious tosee the great river Amazon, about which he entertained the most romanticideas,--as well he might, for there is not such another river in theworld for size, and for the many curious things connected with its watersand its banks. Barney, too, was smitten with an intense desire to visitthe diamond mines, which he fancied must be the most brilliant andbeautiful sight in the whole world; and when Martin asked him what sortof place he expected to see, he used to say that he "pictur'd in his minda great many deep and lofty caverns, windin' in an' out an' round about,with the sides and the floors and the ceilin's all of a blaze withglittering di'monds, an' top'zes, an' purls, an' what not; with Naiggursbe the dozen picking them up in handfuls. An' sure," he would add, "if wewas wance there, we could fill our pockets in no time, an' then, hoorayfor ould Ireland! an' live like Imperors for ivermore."

  "But you forget, Barney, the account the hermit has given us of themines. He evidently does not think that much is to be made of them."

  "Och! niver mind the hermit. There's always good luck attends BarneyO'Flanngan; an' sure if nobody wint for fear they would git nothing, allthe di'monds that iver came out o' the mines would be lyin' there still;an' didn't he tell us there was wan got only a short time since, worth Idon't know how many thousand pounds? Arrah! if I don't go to the minesan' git one the size o' me head, I'll let ye rig me out with a long tailan' set me adrift in the woods for a blue-faced monkey."

  It so happened that this was the time when the hermit was in the habit ofsetting out on one of his trading trips; and when Martin told him of thedesire that he and Barney entertained to visit the interior, he told themthat he would be happy to take them along with him, provided they wouldact the part of muleteers. To this they readily agreed, being only tooglad of an opportunity of making some return to their friend, who refusedto accept any payment for his hospitality, although Barney earnestlybegged of him to accept of his watch, which was the only object of valuehe was possessed of,--and that wasn't worth much, being made ofpinch-beck, and utterly incapable of going! Moreover, he relieved theirminds, by telling them that they would easily obtain employment ascanoe-men on the Amazon, for men were very difficult to be got on thatriver to man the boats; and if they could stand the heat, and werewilling to work like Indians, they might travel as far as they pleased.To which Martin replied, in his ignorance, that he thought he could standanything; and Barney roundly asserted that, having been burnt to a cinderlong ago in the "East Injies," it was impossible to overdo him any more.

  Under these circumstances, therefore, they started three weeks later tovisit a populous town about twenty miles off, from which they set out ontheir travels, with a string of heavily laden mules, crossed the lowcountries or campos lying near to the sea, and began to ascend thesierras that divide this portion of Brazil from the country which iswatered by the innumerable rivers that flow into the mighty Amazon.

  The cavalcade consisted of ten mules, each with two goodly sized bales ofmerchandise on its back. They were driven and attended to by Negroes,whose costume consisted of a light cotton shirt with short sleeves, and apair of loose cotton drawers reaching down to the knee. With theexception of a straw hat this was all they wore. Martin, and Barney, andthe hermit each bestrode a mule, with a small bale slung on either side;over the front of which their legs dangled comfortably. They had ponchoswith them, strapped to the mules' backs, and each carried a clumsyumbrella to shield him from the fierce rays of the sun; but our twoadventurers soon became so hardened and used to the climate, that theydispensed with the umbrellas altogether.

  The sierra, or mountain range, over which they passed was about thirtymiles in extent, being in some places quite level and open, but in otherssomewhat rugged and covered with large but thinly scattered trees, themost common of which had fine dark-green glossy leaves, with spikes ofbright yellow flowers terminating the branchlets. There were also manypeculiar shrubs and flowering plants, of a sort that the travellers hadnever seen the like of in their native land.

  "How I wish," said Martin with a sigh, as he rode along beside his friendBarney, "that I knew something of botany."

  Barney opened his eyes in surprise. "Arrah! it's too much of aphilosopher ye are already, lad. What good would it do ye to know all thehard names that men have given to the flowers? Sure I wance wint afterthe doctor o' a ship, to carry his box for him when he wint on what hecalled botanical excursions; and the poor cratur used to be pokin' hisnose for iver down at the ground, an' peerin' through his greenspectacles at miserable bits o' plants, an' niver seemin' to enjoyanything; when all the time _I_ was lookin' far fornint me, an' allaround me, an' up at the sky, seem' ivery beautiful thing, and snifterin'up the sweet smells, an' in fact enjoyin' the whole univarse--an my pipeto boot--like an intelligent cratur." Barney looked round as he spoke,with a bland, self-satisfied expression of countenance, as if he feltthat he had given a lucid definition of the very highest style ofphilosophy, and proved that he, Barney O'Flannagan, was possessed of thesame in no common degree.

  "Well, Barney," rejoined Martin, "since you give me credit for being aphilosopher, I must continue to talk philosophically. Your botanicalfriend took a _microscopic_ view of nature, while you took a _telescopic_view of it. Each view is good, but both views are better; and I can'thelp wishing that I were more of a philosopher than I am, especially inreference to botany."

  "Humph!" ejaculated Barney, who seemed not quite to understand his youngfriend, "yer observations are remarkably thrue, and do ye great credit,for yer years. Ah! Mr. Hermit, good luck to ye! I'm glad to see thatye've got some consideration for man and baste. I'm quite ready for myvictuals, and so's my mule; aren't you, avic?"

  Barney's latter remark was addressed to his patient charger, from whoseback he sprang as he spoke, and slackened its girths.

  It was now approaching mid-day, and the hermit had pitched upon a largetree as a fitting spot for rest and refreshment. Water had been broughtup the mountain in a huge calabash; but they did not require to use it,as they found a quantity in the hollow stump of a tree. There wereseveral frogs swimming about in this miniature lake; but it was found tobe fresh and clear and good notwithstanding.

  Towards evening they passed a string of mules going towards the townwhich they had just left. They were driven by Negroes, most of whom wereslaves, and nearly quite naked. A Brazilian merchant, wearing apicturesque broad-brimmed, high-crowned straw-hat, a poncho, and brownleather boots armed at the heels with large sharp spurs, rode at thehead, and gave the strangers a surly nod of his head as they passed. Soonafter, they descended into the plain, and came to a halt at a sort ofroadside public-house, where there was no sleeping accommodation, butwhere they found an open shed in which travellers placed their goods, andslung their hammocks, and attended to themselves. At the venda, closebeside it, they purchased a large bag of farina, being short of thatnecessary article of food, and then set to work to prepare supper in theopen air; while the merry Negroes, who seemed to enjoy life mostthoroughly, laughed and sang as they removed the bales from the mules'backs and cooked their simple fare.

  Barney's cooking propensities now came into full play; and, with thevariety of fruits and vegetables which the country afforded, he exercisedhis ingenuity, and produced several dishes of so savoury a nature thatthe hermit was compelled to open his eyes in amazement, and smack hislips with satisfaction, being quite unable to express his sentiments inwords. While thus busily and agreeably employed, they were told by theowner of the venda that a festa was being celebrated at a village about aleague distant from where they stood.

  "I shou
ld like to see it above all things," said Martin eagerly; "couldwe not go?"

  The hermit frowned. "Yes, we can go, but it will be to beholdfolly. Perhaps it will be a good lesson, from which much may belearned. We will go."

  "It's not a step that I'll budge till I've finished me pipe," saidBarney, pulling away at that bosom friend with unexampled energy. "Tosmoke," he continued, winking gently with one eye, "is the first law ofnature; jist give me ten minutes more, an' _I'm_ your man for anything,"

  Being a fine evening, they proceeded on foot. In about an hour aftersetting out they approached the village, which lay in a beautiful valleybelow them. Sounds of mirth and music rose like a distant murmur on theair, and mingled with the songs of birds and insects. Then the sun wentdown, and in a few minutes it grew dark, while the brilliant fire-fliesbegan their nocturnal gambols. Suddenly a bright flame burst over thevillage, and a flight of magnificent rockets shot up into the sky, andburst in a hundred bright and variously-coloured stars, which paled for afew seconds the lights of nature. But they vanished in a moment, and theclear stars shed abroad their undying lustre,--seeming, in their quiet,unfading beauty, a gentle satire on the short-lived and gairishproductions of man.

  "Mighty purty, no doubt," exclaimed Barney. "Is this the Imperor'sbirth-day?"

  "No," replied the hermit, shaking his head; "that is the way in which thefalse priests amuse the people. The poor Indian and the Negro, and,indeed, the ignorant Brazilian, thinks it very grand; and the priests letthem think it is pleasing to the God of heaven. Ah! here comes an oldNegro; we will ask him."

  Several country people, in varied and picturesque costumes, hurried pastthe travellers towards the village; and as they came to a foot-path thatjoined the road, an old Negro approached them. Saluting him in thePortuguese language, the hermit said, "Friend, why do they let offrockets to-night?"

  "For Dios" (for God), answered the old man, looking and pointing upwardswith grave solemnity. Without vouchsafing another word, he hurried away.

  "So they think," said the hermit, "and so they are taught by the priests.Music, noise, and fire-works please these ignorant people; and so thepriests, who are mostly as ignorant as the people, tell them it is a goodpart of religious ceremony."

  Presently a band of young girls came laughing and singing along the road.They were dressed in pure white, their rich black tresses being uncoveredand ornamented with flowers, and what appeared to be bright jewels.

  "Hallo!" exclaimed Martin, gazing after them; "what splendid jewels!surely these must be the daughters of very rich people."

  "Och, but they've been at the di'mond mines for certain! Did iver ye saethe like?"

  The girls did indeed seem to blaze with jewels, which not only sparkledin their hair, but fringed their white robes, and were worked round theedges of their slippers; so that a positive light shone around theirpersons, and fell upon the path like a halo, giving them more theappearance of lovely supernatural beings than the daughters of earth.

  "These jewels," said the hermit, "were never polished by the hands ofmen. They are fire-flies."

  "Fire-flies!" exclaimed Martin and Barney simultaneously.

  "Yes, they are living fire-flies. The girls very often catch them and tiethem up in little bits of gauze, and put them, as you see, on theirdresses and in their hair. To my mind they seem more beautiful far thandiamonds. Sometimes the Indians, when they travel at night, fixfire-flies to their feet, and so have good lamps to their path."

  While Barney was expressing his surprise at this information, in veryracy language, they entered the village; and, mingling with the throng ofholiday-keepers, followed the stream towards the grand square.

  The church, which seemed to be a centre of attraction, and wasbrilliantly illuminated, was a neat wooden building with two towers. Thestreets of the village were broad and straggling; and so luxuriant wasthe vegetation, and so lazy the nature of the inhabitants, that it seemedas if the whole place were overgrown with gigantic weeds. Shrubs andcreeping-plants grew in the neglected gardens, climbed over the palings,and straggled about the streets. Plants grew on the tops of the houses,ferns peeped out under the eaves; and, in short, on looking at it one hadthe feeling that ere long the whole place, people and all, must besmothered in superabundant vegetation!

  The houses were all painted white or yellow, with the doors and windowsbright green,--just like grown-up toys; and sounds of revelry, with nowand then the noise of disputation, issued from many of them.

  It is impossible to describe minutely the appearance of the motley crowdthrough which our adventurers elbowed their way, gazing curiously on thestrange scene, which seemed to them more like a dream than reality, aftertheir long sojourn in the solitudes of the forest. Processions headed bylong-robed priests with flambeaux and crucifixes; young girls in lightcostumes and long white cotton shawls, selling sweet cakes of mandiocaflour, and bonbons; swarthy Brazilians, some in white jackets, loosecotton drawers, and straw hats, others in brown leather boots andponchos; Negroes in short white drawers and shirts, besides many withoutany clothing above their waists; Indians from the interior,copper-coloured, and some of them, fine-looking men, having only a stripof cloth about their loins;--such were the strange crew whose loud voicesadded to the whiz of rockets, squibs, crackers, guns, and musicalinstruments, created a deafening noise.

  In the midst of the village there was a tree of such enormous size thatit quite took our travellers by surprise. It was a wild fig-tree, capableof sheltering a thousand persons under its shadow! Here a spiritedfandango was going on, and they stood for some time watching themovements of the performers. Growing tired of this, they wandered aboutuntil they came to a less crowded part of the village, and entered apleasant grove of trees skirting the road by which they had arrived.While sauntering here, enjoying the cool night breeze and deliciousperfume of flowers, a woman uttered a piercing shriek near to them. Itwas instantly followed by loud voices in altercation. Ever ready to flyto the help of womankind, and, generally, to assist in a "row," Barneydarted through the bushes, and came upon the scene of action just in timeto see the white skirt of a female's dress disappear down an avenue, andto behold two Brazilians savagely writhing in mortal strife. At themoment he came up, one of the combatants had overcome the other, and afierce smile of triumph crossed his swarthy countenance as he raised hisgleaming knife.

  "Och, ye murtherer! would ye attimpt that same?" cried Barney, catchingthe man by the wrist and hurling him on his back. The other sprang up onbeing thus unexpectedly freed, and darted away, while the thwarted manuttered a yell of disappointment and sprang like a tiger at Barney'sthroat. A blow, however, from the Irishman's fist, quietly delivered, andstraight between the eyes, stretched the Brazilian on the ground. At thesame moment a party of men, attracted by the cries, burst through thebushes and surrounded the successful champion. Seeing their countrymanapparently dead upon the ground, they rushed upon Barney in a body; butthe first who came within reach was floored in an instant, and the otherswere checked in their career by the sudden appearance of the hermit andMartin Rattler. The noise of many voices, as of people hastening towardsthem, was heard at the same time.

  "We have no time to lose, do as I bid you," whispered the hermit.Whirling a heavy stick round his head the hermit shouted the single word"Charge!" and dashed forward.

  Barney and Martin obeyed. Three Brazilians went down like ninepins; therest turned and fled precipitately.

  "Now, run for life!" cried the hermit, setting the example. Barneyhesitated to follow what he deemed a cowardly flight, but the yells ofthe natives returning in strong force decided the question. He and Martintook to their heels with right good will, and in a few minutes the threefriends were far on the road which led to their night bivouac; while thevillagers, finding pursuit hopeless, returned to the village, andcontinued the wild orgies of their festa.