Martin Rattler
Page 20
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SAD AND MOMENTOUS ERA REFERRED TO AT THE CLOSE OF THE CHAPTERPRECEDING THE LAST
One sultry evening, many weeks after our travellers had passed theuncomfortable night on the floating island in the Gapo, they came to aplace where the banks of the river rose boldly up in rugged rocks andhemmed in the waters of the Amazon, which were by this time somewhatabated. Here they put ashore, intending to kindle their fire and encampfor the night, having been up and hard at work since daybreak.
The evening was calm and beautiful, and the troublesome insects not sonumerous as usual,--probably owing to the nature of the ground. One ortwo monkeys showed themselves for a moment, as if to enquire who wasthere, and then ran away screaming; a porcupine also crossed theirpath, and several small bright snakes, of a harmless species, glidedover the rocks, and sought refuge among the small bushes; but beyondthese there were few of the sights and sounds that were wont to greetthem in the forest.
"I think things look well to-night," remarked Martin as he threw down abundle of sticks which he had gathered for the fire; "we shall have acomfortable snooze for certain, if the mosquitoes don't wake up."
"I'm not so sure of that," replied Barney, striking a light with flintand steel and stooping to puff the smouldering spark into a flame. "I'velarned by exparience that ye niver can be--puff--sure o' nothin' inthis--puff--remarkable country. Jist look at Darkey now," continued theIrishman, sitting down on a stone before the fire, which now began tokindle up, and stuffing the tobacco into his pipe with his little finger."There he is, a livin' Naygur, aliftin' of the provision-bag out o' thecanoe. Well, if he was all of a suddent to turn into Marmoset an' swallerhimself, an' then jump down the throat of Grampus, and the whole consarn,canoe and all, to disappear, I don't think that I would be muchsurprised."
"Would you not, Barney? I suspect that I should be, a little, under thecircumstances; perhaps the old Nigger would be more so."
"Niver a taste," continued Barney. "Ye see, if that was to happen, Iwould then know that it was all a drame. I've more than wance expected towake up since I comed into furrin parts; the only thing that kapes me indoubt about it is the baccy."
"How so, Barney?"
"Why, bekase it tastes so rael, good luck to it! that I can't git myselfto think it's only a drame. Jist look, now," he continued, in the sametone of voice; "if it wasn't a drame, how could I see sich a thing asthat standin' on the rock over there?"
Martin glanced towards the spot pointed out by his friend, andimmediately started up with surprise.
"Hallo! Barney, that's no dream, I'll vouch for it. He's an Indian, and avery ugly one too, I declare. I say, old fellow, do you know what sort ofsavage that is?"
"Not know," answered the trader, glancing uneasily at the stranger.
"He might have the dacency to put on more close, anyhow," mutteredBarney, as he gazed inquiringly at the savage.
The being who had thus appeared so suddenly before the travellersbelonged to one of the numerous tribes of Indians inhabiting the countrynear the head-waters of some of the chief tributaries of the Amazon. Hewas almost entirely naked, having merely a scanty covering on his loins;and carried a small quiver full of arrows at his back, and what appearedto be a long spear in his hand. His figure was strongly but not wellformed; and his face, which was of a dark copper hue, was disfigured in amost remarkable manner. A mass of coarse black hair formed the onlycovering to his head. His cheeks were painted with curious marks of jetblack. But the most remarkable points about him were the huge pieces ofwood which formed ornaments in his ears and under lip. They were roundand flat like the wooden wheel of a toy-cart, about half an inch thick,and larger than an old-fashioned watch. These were fitted into enormousslits made in the ears and under lip, and the latter projected more thantwo inches from his mouth! Indeed, the cut that had been made to receivethis ornament was so large that the lip had been almost cut offaltogether, and merely hung by each corner of his mouth! The aspect ofthe man was very hideous, and it was by no means improved when, havingrecovered from his surprise at unexpectedly encountering strangers, heopened his mouth to the full extent and uttered a savage yell.
The cry was answered immediately. In a few minutes a troop of upwards ofthirty savages sprang from the woods, and, ascending the rock on whichtheir comrade stood, gazed down on the travellers in surprise, and, bytheir movements, seemed to be making hasty preparations for an attack.
By this time Barney had recovered his self-possession, and becamethoroughly convinced of the reality of the apparition before him. Drawinghis pistol hastily from his belt, he caught up a handful of gravel,wherewith he loaded it to the muzzle, ramming down the charge with a bitof mandioca-cake in lieu of a wad; then drawing his cutlass he handed itto Martin, exclaiming, "Come, lad, we're in for it now. Take you thecutlass and Til try their skulls with the butt o' my pistol: it has donegood work before now in that way. If there's no more o' the blackguardsin the background we'll bate them aisy."
Martin instinctively grasped the cutlass, and there is no doubt that,under the impulse of that remarkable quality, British valour, whichutterly despises odds, they would have hurled themselves recklessly uponthe savages, when the horrified old trader threw himself on Barney's neckand implored him not to fight; for if he did they would all be killed,and if he only kept quiet the savages would perhaps do them no harm. Atthe same moment about fifty additional Indians arrived upon the scene ofaction. This, and the old man's earnest entreaties, induced them tohesitate for an instant, and, before they could determine what to do,they were surprised by some of the savages, who rushed upon them frombehind and took them prisoners. Barney struggled long and fiercely, buthe was at length overpowered by numbers. The pistol, which missed fire,was wrenched from his grasp, and his hands were speedily bound behind hisback. Martin was likewise disarmed and secured; not, however, before hemade a desperate slash at one of the savages, which narrowly missed hisskull, and cut away his lip ornament.
As for the old trader, he made no resistance at all, but submittedquietly to his fate. The savages did not seem to think it worth theirwhile to bind him. Grampus bounced and barked round the party savagely,but did not attack; and Marmoset slept in the canoe in blissful ignoranceof the whole transaction.
The hands of the two prisoners being firmly bound, they were allowed todo as they pleased; so they sat down on a rock in gloomy silence, andwatched the naked savages as they rifled the canoe and danced joyfullyround the treasures which their active knives and fingers soon exposed toview. The old trader took things philosophically. Knowing that it wasabsolutely impossible to escape, he sat quietly down on a stone, restedhis chin on his hands, heaved one or two deep sighs, and thereafterseemed to be nothing more than an ebony statue.
The ransacking of the canoe and appropriating of its contents occupiedthe savages but a short time, after which they packed everything up insmall bundles, which they strapped upon their backs. Then, making signsto their prisoners to rise, they all marched away into the forest. Justas they were departing, Marmoset, observing that she was about to be leftbehind, uttered a frantic cry, which brought Grampus gambolling to herside. With an active bound the monkey mounted its charger, and away theywent into the forest in the track of the band of savages.
During the first part of their march Martin and Barney were permitted towalk beside each other, and they conversed in low, anxious tones.
"Surely," said Barney, as they marched along surrounded by Indians,"thim long poles the savages have got are not spears; I don't see nopoint to them."
"And what's more remarkable," added Martin, "is that they all carryquivers full of arrows, but none of them have bows."
"There's a raison for iverything," said Barney, pointing to one of theIndians in advance; "that fellow explains the mystery."
As he spoke, the savage referred to lowered the pole, which seemed to beabout thirteen feet long, and pushing an arrow into a hole in the end ofit, applied it to his mouth. In another moment th
e arrow flew through theair and grazed a bird that was sitting on a branch hard by.
"Tis a blow-pipe, and no mistake!" cried Barney.
"And a poisoned arrow, I'm quite sure," added Martin; "for it onlyruffled the bird's feathers, and see, it has fallen to the ground."
"Och, then, but we'd have stood a bad chance in a fight, if thim's thewipons they use. Och, the dirty spalpeens! Martin, dear, we're done for.There's no chance for us at all."
This impression seemed to take such deep hold of Barney's mind, that hisusually reckless and half jesting disposition was completely subdued, andhe walked along in gloomy silence, while a feeling of deep dejectionfilled the heart of his young companion.
The blow-pipe which these Indians use is an ingeniously contrived weapon.It is made from a species of palm-tree. When an Indian wants one, he goesinto the woods and selects a tree with a long slender stem of less thanan inch in diameter; he extracts the pith out of this, and then cutsanother stem, so much larger than the first that he can push the smalltube into the bore of the large one,--thus the slight bend in one iscounteracted by the other, and a perfectly straight pipe is formed. Themouthpiece is afterwards neatly finished off. The arrows used are veryshort, having a little ball of cotton at the end to fill the tube of theblow-pipe. The points are dipped in a peculiar poison, which has theeffect of producing death when introduced into the blood by a merescratch of the skin. The Indians can send these arrows an immensedistance, and with unerring aim, as Martin and Barney had many anopportunity of witnessing during their long and weary journey on foot tothe forest-home of the savages.