CHAPTER EIGHT.
SIGNS OF SUSPICION.
Half an hour later, the little caravan was in motion, and, for the firsttime the preparations were delightfully easy. Eager to be of someservice, and to try to make up for what he had done, Cyril began to helpto load the mules, and above all, helped the colonel.
For the latter was trying hard to make the guide understand that hewould like to pass through the patch of forest below them, before theyascended the mountain path visible away to their left; and the manstared at him in the most blank way possible, and then kept on pointingto a couple of great fagots which lay tightly bound upon one of themules' backs.
"It's all right, sir; let me speak to him," cried Cyril eagerly. "Hethinks you keep on telling him you want wood for the next fire we make,and he says he has got plenty." Then, turning to the guide, he rapidlysaid a few words in the rough dialect of Indian and Spanish, with theresult that the man gave the colonel a sharp look, and then nodded hishead, and went off with the leading mule.
Perry gave his father an eager look, and the colonel, who was smilingwith satisfaction at the ease with which a difficulty had been smoothedaway, frowned.
"Oh yes, it's very nice," he said; "but I cannot afford to have anintelligent interpreter on such terms as these, Master Perry. There,get on; I said I would not refer to the trouble any more.--Hi! Cyril,my lad, you'd better ride that black mule."
"Ride--the mule, sir?" said the boy hesitatingly.
"Yes; your feet are cut and sore. Rest till they are better."
"Hurrah!" whispered Perry. "Jump up, old chap. Here, I'll give you aleg. I shall ride, too, to-day."
The next minute, both boys were mounted, and following the last mulewith the second Indian.
That patch of scrubby forest looked to be close at hand, but it tookthem nearly an hour to reach it, everything being on so grand a scaleamong the mountains; but at last they began to thread their way through,with the colonel eagerly examining the different trees, the Indiansnoting his actions curiously, but always hanging their heads again ifthey thought that they were observed.
The colonel kept up his examination, but did not seem very wellsatisfied; and soon after, the bushy trees with their shining greenleaves were left behind, and they journeyed on through what had lookedat a distance like fields of buttercups, but which proved to be a largetract covered with golden calceolaria, whose rounded turban-like flowersglistened in the sun. This looked the more beautiful from the abundanceof grass, at which the mules sniffed carelessly, for they had passed thenight eating.
Then before starting upward, there was the rapid stream to cross at aspot where the rocks had fallen in a perfect chaos from themountain-side, completely filling up the chasm along which the waterran; and here they could hear it rushing, gurgling, and trickling down ahundred channels far below, in and out amongst the rugged masses of rockwhich dammed it back.
The mules made no difficulty about going over here, merely loweringtheir muzzles, and sniffing at the cracks and holes as they felt aboutwith their forefeet, and climbed more than walked across to the solidrock and the bare, very faintly marked, stony track, which led up and upto a narrow gap in the mountains, evidently a pass.
Steeper and steeper grew the way, now zigzagging along a stiff slope,now making a bold dash at the mountain-side, over loose stones whichwent rolling down, setting others in motion till regular avalanchesrolled down into the valley hundreds of feet beneath.
"Have you ever been here before, Cil?" said Perry, who now rode closebehind his friend.
"No. Never any farther than the place where I overtook you."
"Isn't this very dangerous?" continued Perry, as the mules climbed up,sending the loose stones rattling down to their right.
"Eh? Dangerous? I don't know. I was wondering what they are thinkingat home. Yes, I suppose it is dangerous."
"Then hadn't we better get down and walk?"
"What for? We couldn't walk up so well as the mules. They've got fourlegs to our two. They're a deal more clever and sure-footed than weshould be."
Perry kept his seat, fully expecting to have the mule make a slip, andthen for them to go rolling down hundreds of feet into the valley; butin due time the gap-like opening was reached, and through this place,with the walls on either side so steep that they looked an if they hadbeen cut, they passed into a narrow valley, or rather chasm, looking asif the mountains had been split down to their roots by some earthquake;and a chill of horror ran through Perry, as he checked his mule wherethe rest were panting and recovering their breath.
"Not a very cheerful-looking place, boys," said the colonel, as hesurveyed the great chasm, running apparently for miles through themountains, zigzagging, returning upon itself, and always dark andprofound in its lower part; so deep, in fact, that from where they stoodit might have gone right down to the centre of the earth, while upwardthe sides rose, wall-like, toward three huge peaks, which lookeddazzlingly white.
All at once Perry started, and it seemed as if an electric shock hadpassed through the mules. For there was a tremendous booming roar somedistance away, followed by peal after peal, as if of thunder running formiles amongst the mountains, and not dying away till quite a couple ofminutes had elapsed.
"Thunder," whispered Perry.
"No, I think not," said Cyril below his breath.--"What was that, Diego?"he said in the man's tongue.
The answer was laconic, and accompanied by a smile.
"He says some of the snow fell over yonder, out of sight."
_Crash_!
There was another roar, followed by its echoes.
"Look! look!" cried Cyril excitedly. "There, just below that placewhere the sun shines on the ice."
"Yes, I see it," said Perry; "a waterfall." And he shaded his eyes togaze at the glittering appearance of a cascade pouring over a shelf ofice into the depths below.
"Waterfall!" said the colonel, smiling. "There is no water up there tofall. It is a cataract of pieces of ice and solidified snow, thousandsof tons of it broken away through the weight and the mass being loosenedby the heat of the sun."
"Gone!" cried Cyril.
"To appear again, lower down," said the colonel, and they watched theglittering curve of dazzling ice as it reappeared and made another leap,and again another and another, lower down, till it finally disappearedby falling into some chasm behind a fold of the mountain. But the roarof the ice was continued like distant thunder, telling how enormous thefall must have been, though dwarfed by the distance into a size thatappeared trifling.
Then the boys sat gazing at the black gulf before them, with its hugewalls, which were nearly perpendicular in places.
"I say, of course, we're not going along that way?" said Perrynervously.
"I don't know," replied Cyril; "the tracks generally do go along theworst-looking places."
"But how can they have been so stupid as to pick those?" said Perrypetulantly.
"They don't pick them," replied Cyril. "Only they are obliged to goalong any places there are. Yes, we shall have to go along yonder."
"Impossible."
"How would you go, then?" said Cyril. "We're not flies; we can't climbup those walls; and you couldn't go over the mountains if you wished,because of the ice and snow. You must go in and out round them wherethe valleys are open, and this is open enough. There is no other way."
"But, I say, shan't you be--er--just a little afraid to go down there?"
"No," said Cyril quietly. "I don't feel afraid a bit. There's only onething I feel afraid of now."
"What's that? Falling off one of the precipices?"
"No," said Cyril sadly. "Meeting my father."
Perry was silent, and his friend turned to Diego, who was going frommule to mule, examining the knots in the hide ropes by which the baggagewas secured to the pack-saddles.
"Which way does the road go now?" he asked.
The man pointed straight along the black chasm running from bel
ow themaway into the distance.
"Along there?" whispered Perry, as he comprehended the gesture.
"Yes, I thought so," said Cyril coolly. "There can be no other way."
"But what else did he say?" asked Perry breathlessly.
"He said, did your father want to go on any more."
"What's that?" cried the colonel.
Cyril repeated the man's remark.
"Tell him of course, till I wish him to stop."
Cyril delivered the message, and the man spoke again, gesticulating andpointing along the deep valley.
"He says, sir, that there is no place farther on where you will get abigger valley, and that there are plenty of snow-mountains fartherback."
The colonel made a gesture full of impatience.
"What does he mean, Cyril? Doesn't he want to go any farther?"
"I think that's it, sir. I'll ask him what he means."
Cyril turned to the guide again, and there was a short, eagerconversation, carried on for a minute or so.
"He says, sir, that the way along the track is very dangerous. It goesalong that side, to the left, and the path is very narrow. If any oneslipped, he would fall right to the bottom."
"It must be the regular way across the mountains, where mules areaccustomed to go, and he undertook to guide me; so tell him I go on."
Cyril conveyed the colonel's words to the man, who looked annoyed, andglanced suspiciously at the colonel as he said a few words, to which theboy replied angrily.
"What's that? what's that?" cried the colonel.
Cyril hesitated.
"Speak out, sir; what is it? Why don't you speak?"
"He said he wanted to know where you wanted to go, and what for?" saidCyril, watching the colonel rather anxiously.
"Tell him as far as I please, and where I please," said the colonelsternly. "Now then, at once; and tell him I should advise him not toask me any more questions. Forward!"
Cyril interpreted the words, and the Indian looked sharply at hisemployer, to see in his eyes the glances of a man accustomed to command,and without a word he took the rein of the leading mule, and went awayto the left, seeming to Perry as if he were passing over the edge of aprecipice, so suddenly the descent began, a dozen yards away.
But, as is often the case among the mountains, that which had looked soterrible at a little distance, last its dangerous aspect when boldlyapproached, for, following closely upon the luggage mules, Perry reachedthe edge of that which he had supposed to be a precipice, and found thatit was only a slope, going downward; but it was quite steep enough torequire great care in crossing it, and the mules showed theircomprehension of the fact that it must not be attacked lightly, by theway in which they walked, slowly and carefully, making sure of everystep they took, till they were well across the green slope, and on tosolid rock once more.
And now it was plain that the man had not exaggerated, for their pathlay along what is known to geologists as a fault in the rock of whichthe side of the valley was composed--that is to say, the upper part ofthe huge mass appeared to have slipped sidewise, leaving four or fivefeet of the lower part of the valley wall like a shelf, and along thisthe mules began to walk cautiously, taking the greatest care that theirloads did not touch the side of the rock, and consequently walking asclose to the edge as possible.
The man had not exaggerated in the least. The shelf-like paths they hadpreviously traversed were in places perilous enough, but here the bottomof the chasm-like valley was quite hidden from the travellers, andimagination added largely to the depth whenever either of the boys stolea glance downward.
No one spoke, but they rode on in single line, feeling appalled by theawful nature of the place, hour after hour, for the path wound andzigzagged, and seemed without end. At every slip of a mule's hoof, atevery kick against a loose stone, Cyril felt his pulses leap, and Perryturned cold with apprehension; while, whenever Cyril turned to lookround at his friend, each saw in the other's face a hard set look, and astrange, almost despairing stare in his eyes.
They were conscious of there being a rushing torrent somewhere farbelow, but it was down in the region of gloom, and they went on forhours without once catching even a gleam of the water, which at timessent up a dull thunderous roar, at others died away into a faintmurmuring vibration, as if it were making for itself a subterraneanchannel through the bottom of the chasm. But little attention was paidto that, each of the travellers keeping his eyes fixed upon the narrowpath in front, and rarely glancing up at the rocky wall on their left,or down into the profound gulf upon their right.
It was well on in the afternoon when, in turning an angle where the pathshot off suddenly to their left, they came upon a wide opening lit up bythe sun; but, saving that it was light, it was more repellent to the eyethan the path along which they had come. For it was one wild chaos oftumbled-together rocks, looking as if, by some convulsion of nature, thewhole of that portion of the valley side had been shattered and tumbleddown from the shoulder of a huge mountain, destroying the pathway, andleaving in its place a broad stretch of masses of rocks, from pieceshundreds of tons in weight, to fragments not larger than a man's head.
Progress across this appeared impossible, but the guide went on for afew minutes and then stopped; for rugged as the place was, it possessedthe quality of being level enough to enable them to make a halt forrefreshments, without being on a narrow shelf where there was not roomfor a mule to be turned.
Hideous as the place was, every face brightened, for the strain offeeling in great peril was for the time removed, and even the mulesshowed their satisfaction by whinnying to each other, and givingthemselves a shake, as they began to sniff about and browse upon the dryvegetation which grew amongst the fallen stones.
"Hah!" ejaculated the colonel, as he got off his mule, and looked roundand above at the pure blue sky. "One feels as if one could breathe andmove now."
"Yes," said Perry, with a shudder; "it was horrible."
"Nonsense, boy," cried the colonel. "It was not a place one wouldselect for a nice walk, but I should not have liked to miss such ajourney. People at home do not know there are such wildly-grand placesin the world--eh, Cyril?"
"No, sir," replied the latter eagerly, for a pleasant word or two fromthe colonel was like a gleam of sunshine in his breast; "but it wasdangerous. I should not have liked to get off my mule on that shelf."
"Not on the precipice side, certainly," said the colonel.
"Why, there wasn't any room on the other," cried Perry; "and if one hadturned giddy, one would have gone down, down--ugh!"
"Yes, the place did look deep," said the colonel, "but no one did turngiddy, and the mules went along as steadily as if they had been on aturnpike road.--Well, Manning, what's the matter?"
"I was thinking about our having to go back along that there path, sir."
"Well, I daresay we shall," replied the colonel, "but you don't mind."
"Not mind, sir?" cried the old soldier gloomily.
"Not you, my man. I grant it is a little dangerous, but not so bad aswalking along a shelf in the Nagari pass, with a Belooch behind everystone, taking aim at one with his long matchlock."
John Manning grinned, took off his hat, and scratched his head.
"You did not complain about the danger then," continued the colonel.
"No, sir, I didn't, did I!" said the man, wrinkling up his face a littlemore; "and I ain't going to grumble about this neither. I'll gowherever you lead, colonel, like a soldier should."
"Yes; I knew that when I chose you to come with us, Manning," said thecolonel quietly. "Well, what about dinner? We had better have it uponthat flat-topped stone."
"I shan't be five minutes, sir; but I was hesitating about that stone.It's just in the hot sunshine, and if there are any snakes about here,that seems a likely place."
"Any snakes about here, Diego?" asked Cyril, and the man shook his head,and replied that it was too cold.
A few minutes later they w
ere enjoying a hearty meal, and the mules wererevelling in their freedom from their loads, while the two Indians satmunching their sun-dried strips of meat, and talking together in a lowvoice.
"All these stones and rocks tumbled down from above, I suppose, sir?"said Cyril, after a prolonged look upward at the peak which rose highabove them, with its smooth sides glittering with snow, and a thin,white, gauzy cloud just hiding the extreme point.
"Yes, my lad," said the colonel, shading his eyes, and looking up. "Thesnow hides the old scar, but I should say that during some eruption thewhole side of the crater fell outward, and crumbled down to here, as yousay."
"Crater?" cried Cyril.
"Yes; don't you see that it is a volcano?"
"I did not, sir. Then those clouds up there are smoke?"
"More likely steam."
"Steam? Those clouds?" cried Perry, gazing up. "And is this a burningmountain?"
"Yes. You will be able to say you have been on the side of a volcano,"said the colonel quietly. "Look at all this broken stone about; howglistening a great deal is, as if it had been molten. That piece, too,looks like scoria."
"Then hadn't we better go on at once?" cried Perry, getting up from thestone on which he was seated.
"What for? Are you afraid of an eruption?" said the colonel, with ashade of contempt in his voice.--"Feel that stone where he was sitting,Cyril; perhaps it is warm."
"Yes, it was quite warm when I sat down upon it," said Perry hastily."All the stones about here are nearly hot."
"Of course they are, sir," cried his father. "Have they not been bakingin this hot sunshine? There, sit down and finish your dinner.Mountains don't break out into eruption without giving some warning."
"But this must have been quite lately, sir," said Cyril, to turn thecolonel's fire.
"Geologically lately, my lad," he said, picking up and examining astone, "but not in our time, nor our grandfathers'. In all probabilitythese stones came crumbling down some hundreds of years ago."
"Then you think there is no fear of another eruption, father?"
"If I did think there was, do you think I should be sitting here socalmly?" replied the colonel.
Perry had nothing to say to this, and he soon after became interested ina conversation which took place between Cyril and the guide, waitingimpatiently until it was at an end.
"What does he say?" asked Perry, as Cyril turned away.
"That as soon as we've passed this rough place there's another path,like the one we've come by, and he wants to know if your father means torisk it."
Perry felt a shrinking sensation, but he said nothing, knowing howdetermined his father was when he had set his mind upon a thing.
"I told him we were going, of course. But, I say, Perry," whisperedCyril, "how far does he mean to go?"
Perry shook his head.
"Is it any use to ask him where he means to stop?" whispered Cyril.
"No; not a bit."
"Hallo! Look here!" cried Cyril, and Perry snatched up his piece fromwhere it lay.
"Look out, father!" he cried, as one by one, with solemn, slow stride,some half-dozen peculiar-looking, flat-backed, long-necked animals cameinto sight round an angle of the valley at the far side of the chaos ofstones amongst which they had made their halt.
"Put down that gun. Don't be stupid," cried Cyril. "Can't you see theyare llamas?"
"What if they are? I suppose they are good to eat."
"I shouldn't like to try one," cried Cyril, laughing.
The colonel had now caught sight of the animals, which kept on cominground the corner in regular file, with their long necks held up stiffly.
"Quite a caravan," the colonel said. "Ask Diego what they arecarrying."
"I know, without asking, sir," said Cyril eagerly. "They're bringingdown Quinquina--kina, as they call it. You know, sir--bark."
"Hah!" ejaculated the colonel eagerly, and he took out the little doubleglass he carried to examine the train of animals, which had evidentlycome from the track that they were to pursue after their halt.
"You're wrong, I think, my lad," said the colonel, after a longexamination through his glass. "They have all got bales of something ontheir backs, and, judging from the outside, I think they are skins orhides."
"Yes, sir, that's right," cried Cyril, "but it is bark inside. Theymake the bark up into bales, and cover them with hides before bindingthem up. I know; I've seen them before."
The colonel continued his inspection, and Cyril hurriedly questioned theguide before speaking to the former again.
"He says they are taking the kina down to the port, and that they willhalt here to rest."
"Then we'll stay a little longer and see them," said the colonel,closing his glass after seeing several armed men turn the corner andbegin to climb beside the llamas over the rugged stones.
Real Gold: A Story of Adventure Page 8
