CHAPTER XXIV
HOW AMYAS WAS TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL
"Let us alone. What pleasure can we have To war with evil? Is there any peace In always climbing up the climbing wave? All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave In silence; ripen, fall, and cease: Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease."
TENNYSON.
Humboldt has somewhere a curious passage; in which, looking on somewretched group of Indians, squatting stupidly round their fires,besmeared with grease and paint, and devouring ants and clay, hesomewhat naively remarks, that were it not for science, which teachesus that such is the crude material of humanity, and this the state fromwhich we all have risen, he should have been tempted rather to look uponthose hapless beings as the last degraded remnants of some fallen anddying race. One wishes that the great traveller had been bold enoughto yield to that temptation, which his own reason and common sensepresented to him as the real explanation of the sad sight, insteadof following the dogmas of a so-called science, which has not a factwhereon to base its wild notion, and must ignore a thousand facts inasserting it. His own good sense, it seems, coincided instinctively withthe Bible doctrine, that man in a state of nature is a fallen being,doomed to death--a view which may be a sad one, but still one morehonorable to poor humanity than the theory, that we all began as somesort of two-handed apes. It is surely more hopeful to believe that thosepoor Otomacs or Guahibas were not what they ought to be, than to believethat they were. It is certainly more complimentary to them to think thatthey had been somewhat nobler and more prudent in centuries gone by,than that they were such blockheads as to have dragged on, the son afterthe father, for all the thousands of years which have elapsed since manwas made, without having had wit enough to discover any better food thanants and clay.
Our voyagers, however, like those of their time, troubled their headswith no such questions. Taking the Bible story as they found it, theyagreed with Humboldt's reason, and not with his science; or, to speakcorrectly, agreed with Humboldt's self, and not with the shallowanthropologic theories which happened to be in vogue fifty years ago;and their new hosts were in their eyes immortal souls like themselves,"captivated by the devil at his will," lost there in the pathlessforests, likely to be lost hereafter.
And certainly facts seemed to bear out their old-fashioned theories;although these Indians had sunk by no means so low as the Guahibas whomthey had met upon the lower waters of the same river.
They beheld, on landing, a scattered village of palm-leaf sheds, underwhich, as usual, the hammocks were slung from tree to tree. Hereand there, in openings in the forest, patches of cassava and indigoappeared; and there was a look of neatness and comfort about the littlesettlement superior to the average.
But now for the signs of the evil spirit. Certainly it was no goodspirit who had inspired them with the art of music; or else (as Carysaid) Apollo and Mercury (if they ever visited America) had played theirforefathers a shabby trick, and put them off with very poor instruments,and still poorer taste. For on either side of the landing-place werearranged four or five stout fellows, each with a tall drum, or longearthen trumpet, swelling out in the course of its length into severalhollow balls from which arose, the moment the strangers set foot onshore, so deafening a cacophony of howls, and groans, and thumps, asfully to justify Yeo's remark, "They are calling upon their devil, sir."To which Cary answered, with some show of reason, that "they were theless likely to be disappointed, for none but Sir Urian would ever cometo listen to such a noise."
"And you mark, sirs," said Yeo, "there's some feast or sacrifice toward.I'm not overconfident of them yet."
"Nonsense!" said Amyas, "we could kill every soul of them inhalf-an-hour, and they know that as well as we."
But some great demonstration was plainly toward; for the children of theforest were arrayed in two lines, right and left of the open space, themen in front, and the women behind; and all bedizened, to the best oftheir power, with arnotto, indigo, and feathers.
Next, with a hideous yell, leapt into the centre of the space apersonage who certainly could not have complained if any one had takenhim for the devil, for he had dressed himself up carefully for that veryintent, in a jaguar-skin with a long tail, grinning teeth, a pair ofhorns, a plume of black and yellow feathers, and a huge rattle.
"Here's the Piache, the rascal," says Amyas.
"Ay," says Yeo, "in Satan's livery, and I've no doubt his works areaccording, trust him for it."
"Don't be frightened, Jack," says Cary, backing up Brimblecombe frombehind. "It's your business to tackle him, you know. At him boldly, andhe'll run."
Whereat all the men laughed; and the Piache, who had intended to producea very solemn impression, hung fire a little. However, being accustomedto get his bread by his impudence, he soon recovered himself, advanced,smote one of the musicians over the head with his rattle to procuresilence; and then began a harangue, to which Amyas listened patiently,cigar in mouth.
"What's it all about, boy?"
"He wants to know whether you have seen Amalivaca on the other shore ofthe great water?"
Amyas was accustomed to this inquiry after the mythic civilizer ofthe forest Indians, who, after carving the mysterious sculptures whichappear upon so many inland cliffs of that region, returned again whencehe came, beyond the ocean. He answered, as usual, by setting forth thepraises of Queen Elizabeth.
To which the Piache replied, that she must be one of Amalivaca's sevendaughters, some of whom he took back with him, while he broke the legsof the rest to prevent their running away, and left them to people theforests.
To which Amyas replied, that his queen's legs were certainly not broken;for she was a very model of grace and activity, and the best dancer inall her dominions; but that it was more important to him to know whetherthe tribe would give them cassava bread, and let them stay peaceably onthat island, to rest a while before they went on to fight the clothedmen (the Spaniards), on the other side of the mountains.
On which the Piache, after capering and turning head over heels withmuch howling, beckoned Amyas and his party to follow him; they did so,seeing that the Indians were all unarmed, and evidently in the highestgood humor.
The Piache went toward the door of a carefully closed hut, and crawlingup to it on all-fours in most abject fashion, began whining to some onewithin.
"Ask what he is about, boy."
The lad asked the old cacique, who had accompanied them, and receivedfor answer, that he was consulting the Daughter of the Sun.
"Here is our mare's nest at last," quoth Cary, as the Piache from whinesrose to screams and gesticulations, and then to violent convulsions,foaming at the mouth, and rolling of the eyeballs, till he suddenly sankexhausted, and lay for dead.
"As good as a stage play."
"The devil has played his part," says Jack; "and now by the rules of allplays Vice should come on."
"And a very fair Vice it will be, I suspect; a right sweet Iniquity, myJack! Listen."
And from the interior of the hut rose a low sweet song, at which allthe simple Indians bowed their heads in reverence; and the English werehushed in astonishment; for the voice was not shrill or guttural, likethat of an Indian, but round, clear, and rich, like a European's; and asit swelled and rose louder and louder, showed a compass and power whichwould have been extraordinary anywhere (and many a man of the party,as was usual in musical old England, was a good judge enough of sucha matter, and could hold his part right well in glee, and catch, androundelay, and psalm). And as it leaped, and ran, and sank again, androse once more to fall once more, all but inarticulate, yet perfect inmelody, like the voice of bird on bough, the wild wanderers were raptin new delight, and did not wonder at the Indians as they bowed theirheads, and welcomed the notes as messengers from some higher world. Atlast one triumphant burst, so shrill that all ears rang again, and thendead silence. The Piache, suddenly restored
to life, jumped upright, andrecommenced preaching at Amyas.
"Tell the howling villain to make short work of it, lad! His tune won'tdo after that last one."
The lad, grinning, informed Amyas that the Piache signified theiracceptance as friends by the Daughter of the Sun; that her friends weretheirs, and her foes theirs. Whereon the Indians set up a scream ofdelight, and Amyas, rolling another tobacco leaf up in another strip ofplantain, answered,--
"Then let her give us some cassava," and lighted a fresh cigar.
Whereon the door of the hut opened, and the Indians prostratedthemselves to the earth, as there came forth the same fair apparitionwhich they had encountered upon the island, but decked now infeather-robes, and plumes of every imaginable hue.
Slowly and stately, as one accustomed to command, she walked up toAmyas, glancing proudly round on her prostrate adorers, and pointingwith graceful arms to the trees, the gardens, and the huts, gave him tounderstand by signs (so expressive were her looks, that no words wereneeded) that all was at his service; after which, taking his hand, shelifted it gently to her forehead.
At that sign of submission a shout of rapture rose from the crowd; andas the mysterious maiden retired again to her hut, they pressed roundthe English, caressing and admiring, pointing with equal surprise totheir swords, to their Indian bows and blow-guns, and to the trophiesof wild beasts with which they were clothed; while women hastened offto bring fruit, and flowers, and cassava, and (to Amyas's great anxiety)calabashes of intoxicating drink; and, to make a long story short, theEnglish sat down beneath the trees, and feasted merrily, while the drumsand trumpets made hideous music, and lithe young girls and lads danceduncouth dances, which so scandalized both Brimblecombe and Yeo, thatthey persuaded Amyas to beat an early retreat. He was willing enoughto get back to the island while the men were still sober; so there weremany leave-takings and promises of return on the morrow, and the partypaddled back to their island-fortress, racking their wits as to who orwhat the mysterious maid could be.
Amyas, however, had settled in his mind that she was one of the lostInca race; perhaps a descendant of that very fair girl, wife of theInca Manco, whom Pizarro, forty years before, had, merely to torturethe fugitive king's heart, as his body was safe from the tyrant's reach,stripped, scourged, and shot to death with arrows, uncomplaining to thelast.
They all assembled for the evening service (hardly a day had passedsince they left England on which they had not done the same); and afterit was over, they must needs sing a Psalm, and then a catch or two, erethey went to sleep; and till the moon was high in heaven, twenty mellowvoices rang out above the roar of the cataract, in many a good old tune.Once or twice they thought they heard an echo to their song: but theytook no note of it, till Cary, who had gone apart for a few minutes,returned, and whispered Amyas away.
"The sweet Iniquity is mimicking us, lad."
They went to the brink of the river; and there (for their ears were bythis time dead to the noise of the torrent) they could hear plainly thesame voice which had so surprised them in the hut, repeating, clearand true, snatches of the airs which they had sung. Strange and solemnenough was the effect of the men's deep voices on the island, answeredout of the dark forest by those sweet treble notes; and the two youngmen stood a long while listening and looking out across the eddies,which swirled down golden in the moonlight: but they could see nothingbeyond save the black wall of trees. After a while the voice ceased, andthe two returned to dream of Incas and nightingales.
They visited the village again next day; and every day for a week ormore: but the maiden appeared but rarely, and when she did, kept herdistance as haughtily as a queen.
Amyas, of course, as soon as he could converse somewhat better with hisnew friends, was not long before he questioned the cacique abouther. But the old man made an owl's face at her name, and intimated bymysterious shakes of the head, that she was a very strange personage,and the less said about her the better. She was "a child of the Sun,"and that was enough.
"Tell him, boy," quoth Cary, "that we are the children of the Sun byhis first wife; and have orders from him to inquire how the Indianshave behaved to our step-sister, for he cannot see all their tricks downhere, the trees are so thick. So let him tell us, or all the cassavaplants shall be blighted."
"Will, Will, don't play with lying!" said Amyas: but the threat wasenough for the cacique, and taking them in his canoe a full mile downthe stream, as if in fear that the wonderful maiden should overhear him,he told them, in a sort of rhythmic chant, how, many moons ago (hecould not tell how many), his tribe was a mighty nation, and dwelt inPapamene, till the Spaniards drove them forth. And how, as they wanderednorthward, far away upon the mountain spurs beneath the flaming coneof Cotopaxi, they had found this fair creature wandering in the forest,about the bigness of a seven years' child. Wondering at her white skinand her delicate beauty, the simple Indians worshipped her as a god,and led her home with them. And when they found that she was human likethemselves, their wonder scarcely lessened. How could so tender a beinghave sustained life in those forests, and escaped the jaguar and thesnake? She must be under some Divine protection: she must be a daughterof the Sun, one of that mighty Inca race, the news of whose fearfulfall had reached even those lonely wildernesses; who had, many of them,haunted for years as exiles the eastern slopes of the Andes, about theUcalayi and the Maranon; who would, as all Indians knew, rise againsome day to power, when bearded white men should come across the seas torestore them to their ancient throne.
So, as the girl grew up among them, she was tended with royal honors,by command of the conjuror of the tribe, that so her forefather the Sunmight be propitious to them, and the Incas might show favor to the poorruined Omaguas, in the day of their coming glory. And as she grew, shehad become, it seemed, somewhat of a prophetess among them, as wellas an object of fetish-worship; for she was more prudent in council,valiant in war, and cunning in the chase, than all the elders of thetribe; and those strange and sweet songs of hers, which had so surprisedthe white men, were full of mysterious wisdom about the birds, and theanimals, and the flowers, and the rivers, which the Sun and the GoodSpirit taught her from above. So she had lived among them, unmarriedstill, not only because she despised the addresses of all Indian youths,but because the conjuror had declared it to be profane in them to minglewith the race of the Sun, and had assigned her a cabin near his own,where she was served in state, and gave some sort of oracular responses,as they had seen, to the questions which he put to her.
Such was the cacique's tale; on which Cary remarked, probably notunjustly, that he "dared to say the conjuror made a very good thing ofit:" but Amyas was silent, full of dreams, if not about Manoa, stillabout the remnant of the Inca race. What if they were still to be foundabout the southern sources of the Amazon? He must have been very nearthem already, in that case. It was vexatious; but at least he mightbe sure that they had formed no great kingdom in that direction, or heshould have heard of it long ago. Perhaps they had moved lately fromthence eastward, to escape some fresh encroachment of the Spaniards; andthis girl had been left behind in their flight. And then he recollected,with a sigh, how hopeless was any further search with his diminishedband. At least, he might learn something of the truth from the maidenherself. It might be useful to him in some future attempt; for hehad not yet given up Manoa. If he but got safe home, there was many agallant gentleman (and Raleigh came at once into his mind) who wouldjoin him in a fresh search for the Golden City of Guiana; not by theupper waters, but by the mouth of the Orinoco.
So they paddled back, while the simple cacique entreated them to tellthe Sun, in their daily prayers, how well the wild people had treatedhis descendant; and besought them not to take her away with them, lestthe Sun should forget the poor Omaguas, and ripen their manioc and theirfruit no more.
Amyas had no wish to stay where he was longer than was absolutelynecessary to bring up the sick men from the Orinoco; but this, he wellknew, would be a journey probably of so
me months, and attended with muchdanger.
Cary volunteered at once, however, to undertake the adventure, ifhalf-a-dozen men would join him, and the Indians would send a few youngmen to help in working the canoe: but this latter item was not an easyone to obtain; for the tribe with whom they now were, stood in some fearof the fierce and brutal Guahibas, through whose country they must pass;and every Indian tribe, as Amyas knew well enough, looks on each tribeof different language to itself as natural enemies, hateful, and madeonly to be destroyed wherever met. This strange fact, too, Amyas and hisparty attributed to delusion of the devil, the divider and accuser; andI am of opinion that they were perfectly right: only let Amyas take carethat while he is discovering the devil in the Indians, he does not giveplace to him in himself, and that in more ways than one. But of thatmore hereafter.
Whether, however, it was pride or shyness which kept the maiden aloof,she conquered it after a while; perhaps through mere woman's curiosity;and perhaps, too, from mere longing for amusement in a place sounspeakably stupid as the forest. She gave the English to understand,however, that though they all might be very important personages, noneof them was to be her companion but Amyas. And ere a month was past, shewas often hunting with him far and wide in the neighboring forest, witha train of chosen nymphs, whom she had persuaded to follow her exampleand spurn the dusky suitors around. This fashion, not uncommon, perhaps,among the Indian tribes, where women are continually escaping tothe forest from the tyranny of the men, and often, perhaps, formingtemporary communities, was to the English a plain proof that they werenear the land of the famous Amazons, of whom they had heard so oftenfrom the Indians; while Amyas had no doubt that, as a descendant of theIncas, the maiden preserved the tradition of the Virgins of the Sun, andof the austere monastic rule of the Peruvian superstition. Had not thatvaliant German, George of Spires, and Jeronimo Ortal too, fifty yearsbefore, found convents of the Sun upon these very upper waters?
So a harmless friendship sprang up between Amyas and the girl, whichsoon turned to good account. For she no sooner heard that he needed acrew of Indians, than she consulted the Piache, assembled the tribe, andhaving retired to her hut, commenced a song, which (unless the Piachelied) was a command to furnish young men for Cary's expedition,under penalty of the sovereign displeasure of an evil spirit with anunpronounceable name--an argument which succeeded on the spot, and thecanoe departed on its perilous errand.
John Brimblecombe had great doubts whether a venture thus started bydirect help and patronage of the fiend would succeed; and Amyas himself,disliking the humbug, told Ayacanora that it would be better to havetold the tribe that it was a good deed, and pleasing to the Good Spirit.
"Ah!" said she, naively enough, "they know better than that. The GoodSpirit is big and lazy; and he smiles, and takes no trouble: but thelittle bad spirit, he is so busy--here, and there, and everywhere," andshe waved her pretty hands up and down; "he is the useful one to havefor a friend!" Which sentiment the Piache much approved, as became hisoccupation; and once told Brimblecombe pretty sharply, that he was ameddlesome fellow for telling the Indians that the Good Spirit cared forthem; "for," quoth he, "if they begin to ask the Good Spirit for whatthey want, who will bring me cassava and coca for keeping the bad spiritquiet?" This argument, however forcible the devil's priests in all ageshave felt it to be, did not stop Jack's preaching (and very good andrighteous preaching it was, moreover), and much less the morning andevening service in the island camp. This last, the Indians, attractedby the singing, attended in such numbers, that the Piache found hisoccupation gone, and vowed to put an end to Jack's Gospel with apoisoned arrow.
Which plan he (blinded by his master, Satan, so Jack phrased it) tookinto his head to impart to Ayacanora, as the partner of his tithes andofferings; and was exceedingly astonished to receive in answer a box onthe ear, and a storm of abuse. After which, Ayacanora went to Amyas,and telling him all, proposed that the Piache should be thrown to thealligators, and Jack installed in his place; declaring that whatsoeverthe bearded men said must be true, and whosoever plotted against themshould die the death.
Jack, however, magnanimously forgave his foe, and preached on, of coursewith fresh zeal; but not, alas! with much success. For the conjuror,though his main treasure was gone over to the camp of the enemy, had areserve in a certain holy trumpet, which was hidden mysteriously in acave on the neighboring hills, not to be looked on by woman under painof death; and it was well known, and had been known for generations,that unless that trumpet, after fastings, flagellations, and othersolemn rites, was blown by night throughout the woods, the palm-treeswould bear no fruit; yea, so great was the fame of that trumpet, thatneighboring tribes sent at the proper season to hire it and the blowerthereof, by payment of much precious trumpery, that so they might besharers in its fertilizing powers.
So the Piache announced one day in public, that in consequence of theimpiety of the Omaguas, he should retire to a neighboring tribe, of morereligious turn of mind; and taking with him the precious instrument,leave their palms to blight, and themselves to the evil spirit.
Dire was the wailing, and dire the wrath throughout the village.Jack's words were allowed to be good words; but what was the Gospel incomparison of the trumpet? The rascal saw his advantage, and begana fierce harangue against the heretic strangers. As he maddened, hishearers maddened; the savage nature, capricious as a child's, flashedout in wild suspicion. Women yelled, men scowled, and ran hastily totheir huts for bows and blow-guns. The case was grown critical. Therewere not more than a dozen men with Amyas at the time, and they had onlytheir swords, while the Indian men might muster nearly a hundred. Amyasforbade his men either to draw or to retreat; but poisoned arrows wereweapons before which the boldest might well quail; and more than onecheek grew pale, which had seldom been pale before.
"It is God's quarrel, sirs all," said Jack Brimblecombe; "let Him defendthe right."
As he spoke, from Ayacanora's hut arose her magic song, and quiveredaloft among the green heights of the forest.
The mob stood spell-bound, still growling fiercely, but not daring tomove. Another moment, and she had rushed out, like a very Diana, intothe centre of the ring, bow in hand, and arrow on the string.
The fallen "children of wrath" had found their match in her; for herbeautiful face was convulsed with fury. Almost foaming in her passion,she burst forth with bitter revilings; she pointed with admiration tothe English, and then with fiercest contempt to the Indians; and atlast, with fierce gestures, seemed to cast off the very dust of herfeet against them, and springing to Amyas's side, placed herself in theforefront of the English battle.
The whole scene was so sudden, that Amyas had hardly discovered whethershe came as friend or foe, before her bow was raised. He had just timeto strike up her hand, when the arrow flew past the ear of the offendingPiache, and stuck quivering in a tree.
"Let me kill the wretch!" said she, stamping with rage; but Amyas heldher arm firmly.
"Fools!" cried she to the tribe, while tears of anger rolled down hercheeks. "Choose between me and your trumpet! I am a daughter of the Sun;I am white; I am a companion for Englishmen! But you! your mothers wereGuahibas, and ate mud; and your fathers--they were howling apes! Letthem sing to you! I shall go to the white men, and never sing you tosleep any more; and when the little evil spirit misses my voice, he willcome and tumble you out of your hammocks, and make you dream of ghostsevery night, till you grow as thin as blow-guns, and as stupid asaye-ayes!"*
* Two-toed sloths.
This terrible counter-threat, in spite of the slight bathos involved,had its effect; for it appealed to that dread of the sleep world whichis common to all savages: but the conjuror was ready to outbid theprophetess, and had begun a fresh oration, when Amyas turned the tideof war. Bursting into a huge laugh at the whole matter, he took theconjuror by his shoulders, sent him with one crafty kick half-a-dozenyards off upon his nose; and then, walking out of the ranks, shook handsround with all his Indian acq
uaintances.
Whereon, like grown-up babies, they all burst out laughing too, shookhands with all the English, and then with each other; being, after all,as glad as any bishops to prorogue the convocation, and let unpleasantquestions stand over till the next session. The Piache relented, likea prudent man; Ayacanora returned to her hut to sulk; and Amyas to hisisland, to long for Cary's return, for he felt himself on dangerousground.
At last Will returned, safe and sound, and as merry as ever, not havinglost a man (though he had had a smart brush with the Guahibas). Hebrought back three of the wounded men, now pretty nigh cured; the othertwo, who had lost a leg apiece, had refused to come. They had Indianwives; more than they could eat; and tobacco without end: and if it werenot for the gnats (of which Cary said that there were more mosquitoesthan there was air), they should be the happiest men alive. Amyas couldhardly blame the poor fellows; for the chance of their getting homethrough the forest with one leg each was very small, and, after all,they were making the best of a bad matter. And a very bad matter itseemed to him, to be left in a heathen land; and a still worse matter,when he overheard some of the men talking about their comrades' lonelyfate, as if, after all, they were not so much to be pitied. He saidnothing about it then, for he made a rule never to take notice of anyfacts which he got at by eavesdropping, however unintentional; but helonged that one of them would say as much to him, and he would "givethem a piece of his mind." And a piece of his mind he had to give withinthe week; for while he was on a hunting party, two of his men weremissing, and were not heard of for some days; at the end of which timethe old cacique come to tell him that he believed they had taken to theforest, each with an Indian girl.
Amyas was very wroth at the news. First, because it had never happenedbefore: he could say with honest pride, as Raleigh did afterwards whenhe returned from his Guiana voyage, that no Indian woman had ever beenthe worse for any man of his. He had preached on this point month aftermonth, and practised what he preached; and now his pride was sorelyhurt.
Moreover, he dreaded offence to the Indians themselves: but on thisscore the cacique soon comforted him, telling him that the girls, as faras he could find, had gone off of their own free will; intimating thathe thought it somewhat an honor to the tribe that they had found favorin the eyes of the bearded men; and moreover, that late wars had sothinned the ranks of their men, that they were glad enough to findhusbands for their maidens, and had been driven of late years to killmany of their female infants. This sad story, common perhaps to everyAmerican tribe, and one of the chief causes of their extermination,reassured Amyas somewhat: but he could not stomach either the loss ofhis men, or their breach of discipline; and look for them he would. Didany one know where they were? If the tribe knew, they did not care totell: but Ayacanora, the moment she found out his wishes, vanished intothe forest, and returned in two days, saying that she had found thefugitives; but she would not show him where they were, unless hepromised not to kill them. He, of course, had no mind for so rigorous amethod: he both needed the men, and he had no malice against them,--forthe one, Ebsworthy, was a plain, honest, happy-go-lucky sailor, andas good a hand as there was in the crew; and the other was that samene'er-do-weel Will Parracombe, his old schoolfellow, who had beentempted by the gipsy-Jesuit at Appledore, and resisting that bait, hadmade a very fair seaman.
So forth Amyas went, with Ayacanora as a guide, some five miles upwardalong the forest slopes, till the girl whispered, "There they are;"and Amyas, pushing himself gently through a thicket of bamboo, behelda scene which, in spite of his wrath, kept him silent, and perhapssoftened, for a minute.
On the farther side of a little lawn, the stream leapt through a chasmbeneath overarching vines, sprinkling eternal freshness upon all around,and then sank foaming into a clear rock-basin, a bath for Dian's self.On its farther side, the crag rose some twenty feet in height, bank uponbank of feathered ferns and cushioned moss, over the rich green beds ofwhich drooped a thousand orchids, scarlet, white, and orange, and madethe still pool gorgeous with the reflection of their gorgeousness. Atits more quiet outfall, it was half-hidden in huge fantastic leaves andtall flowering stems; but near the waterfall the grassy bank slopeddown toward the stream, and there, on palm-leaves strewed upon the turf,beneath the shadow of the crags, lay the two men whom Amyas sought,and whom, now he had found them, he had hardly heart to wake from theirdelicious dream.
For what a nest it was which they had found! the air was heavy withthe scent of flowers, and quivering with the murmur of the stream, thehumming of the colibris and insects, the cheerful song of birds, thegentle cooing of a hundred doves; while now and then, from far away,the musical wail of the sloth, or the deep toll of the bell-bird, camesoftly to the ear. What was not there which eye or ear could need? Andwhat which palate could need either? For on the rock above, some strangetree, leaning forward, dropped every now and then a luscious apple uponthe grass below, and huge wild plantains bent beneath their load offruit.
There, on the stream bank, lay the two renegades from civilized life.They had cast away their clothes, and painted themselves, like theIndians, with arnotto and indigo. One lay lazily picking up the fruitwhich fell close to his side; the other sat, his back against a cushionof soft moss, his hands folded languidly upon his lap, giving himself upto the soft influence of the narcotic coca-juice, with half-shut dreamyeyes fixed on the everlasting sparkle of the waterfall--
"While beauty, born of murmuring sound, Did pass into his face."
Somewhat apart crouched their two dusky brides, crowned with fragrantflowers, but working busily, like true women, for the lords whom theydelighted to honor. One sat plaiting palm fibres into a basket; theother was boring the stem of a huge milk-tree, which rose like somemighty column on the right hand of the lawn, its broad canopy of leavesunseen through the dense underwood of laurel and bamboo, and betokenedonly by the rustle far aloft, and by the mellow shade in which it bathedthe whole delicious scene.
Amyas stood silent for awhile, partly from noble shame at seeing twoChristian men thus fallen of their own self-will; partly because--andhe could not but confess that--a solemn calm brooded above that gloriousplace, to break through which seemed sacrilege even while he felt ita duty. Such, he thought, was Paradise of old; such our first parents'bridal bower! Ah! if man had not fallen, he too might have dwelt foreverin such a home--with whom? He started, and shaking off the spell,advanced sword in hand.
The women saw him, and springing to their feet, caught up their longpocunas, and leapt like deer each in front of her beloved. There theystood, the deadly tubes pressed to their lips, eyeing him like tigresseswho protect their young, while every slender limb quivered, not withterror, but with rage.
Amyas paused, half in admiration, half in prudence; for one rash stepwas death. But rushing through the canes, Ayacanora sprang to the front,and shrieked to them in Indian. At the sight of the prophetess the womenwavered, and Amyas, putting on as gentle a face as he could, steppedforward, assuring them in his best Indian that he would harm no one.
"Ebsworthy! Parracombe! Are you grown such savages already, that youhave forgotten your captain? Stand up, men, and salute!"
Ebsworthy sprang to his feet, obeyed mechanically, and then slippedbehind his bride again, as if in shame. The dreamer turned his headlanguidly, raised his hand to his forehead, and then returned to hiscontemplation.
Amyas rested the point of his sword on the ground, and his hands uponthe hilt, and looked sadly and solemnly upon the pair. Ebsworthy brokethe silence, half reproachfully, half trying to bluster away the comingstorm.
"Well, noble captain, so you've hunted out us poor fellows; and want todrag us back again in a halter, I suppose?"
"I came to look for Christians, and I find heathens; for men, and I findswine. I shall leave the heathens to their wilderness, and the swine totheir trough. Parracombe!"
"He's too happy to answer you, sir. And why not? What do you want of us?Our two years vow is out, and we are free men no
w."
"Free to become like the beasts that perish? You are the queen'sservants still, and in her name I charge you--
"Free to be happy," interrupted the man. "With the best of wives, thebest of food, a warmer bed than a duke's, and a finer garden than anemperor's. As for clothes, why the plague should a man wear them wherehe don't need them? As for gold, what's the use of it where Heaven sendseverything ready-made to your hands? Hearken, Captain Leigh. You've beena good captain to me, and I'll repay you with a bit of sound advice.Give up your gold-hunting, and toiling and moiling after honor andglory, and copy us. Take that fair maid behind you there to wife; pitchhere with us; and see if you are not happier in one day than ever youwere in all your life before."
"You are drunk, sirrah! William Parracombe! Will you speak to me, orshall I heave you into the stream to sober you?"
"Who calls William Parracombe?" answered a sleepy voice.
"I, fool!--your captain."
"I am not William Parracombe. He is dead long ago of hunger, and labor,and heavy sorrow, and will never see Bideford town any more. He isturned into an Indian now; and he is to sleep, sleep, sleep for ahundred years, till he gets his strength again, poor fellow--"
"Awake, then, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christshall give thee light! A christened Englishman, and living thus the lifeof a beast?"
"Christ shall give thee light?" answered the same unnatural abstractedvoice. "Yes; so the parsons say. And they say too, that He is Lord ofheaven and earth. I should have thought His light was as near us hereas anywhere, and nearer too, by the look of the place. Look round!"said he, waving a lazy hand, "and see the works of God, and the place ofParadise, whither poor weary souls go home and rest, after their mastersin the wicked world have used them up, with labor and sorrow, and madethem wade knee-deep in blood--I'm tired of blood, and tired of gold.I'll march no more; I'll fight no more; I'll hunger no more after vanityand vexation of spirit. What shall I get by it? Maybe I shall leave mybones in the wilderness. I can but do that here. Maybe I shall get homewith a few pezos, to die an old cripple in some stinking hovel, that amonkey would scorn to lodge in here. You may go on; it'll pay you. Youmay be a rich man, and a knight, and live in a fine house, and drinkgood wine, and go to Court, and torment your soul with trying toget more, when you've got too much already; plotting and planning toscramble upon your neighbor's shoulders, as they all did--Sir Richard,and Mr. Raleigh, and Chichester, and poor dear old Sir Warham, and allof them that I used to watch when I lived before. They were no happierthan I was then; I'll warrant they are no happier now. Go your ways,captain; climb to glory upon some other backs than ours, and leave ushere in peace, alone with God and God's woods, and the good wives thatGod has given us, to play a little like school children. It's long sinceI've had play-hours; and now I'll be a little child once more, with theflowers, and the singing birds, and the silver fishes in the stream,that are at peace, and think no harm, and want neither clothes, normoney, nor knighthood, nor peerage, but just take what comes; and theirheavenly Father feedeth them, and Solomon in all his glory was notarrayed like one of these--and will He not much more feed us, that areof more value than many sparrows?"
"And will you live here, shut out from all Christian ordinances?"
"Christian ordinances? Adam and Eve had no parsons in Paradise. The Lordwas their priest, and the Lord was their shepherd, and He'll be ourstoo. But go your ways, sir, and send up Sir John Brimblecombe, and lethim marry us here Church fashion (though we have sworn troth to eachother before God already), and let him give us the Holy Sacrament onceand for all, and then read the funeral service over us, and go his ways,and count us for dead, sir--for dead we are to the wicked worthlessworld we came out of three years ago. And when the Lord chooses to callus, the little birds will cover us with leaves, as they did the babiesin the wood, and fresher flowers will grow out of our graves, sir, thanout of yours in that bare Northam churchyard there beyond the weary,weary, weary sea."
His voice died away to a murmur, and his head sank on his breast.
Amyas stood spell-bound. The effect of the narcotic was all butmiraculous in his eyes. The sustained eloquence, the novel richness ofdiction in one seemingly drowned in sensual sloth, were, in his eyes,the possession of some evil spirit. And yet he could not answer the EvilOne. His English heart, full of the divine instinct of duty and publicspirit, told him that it must be a lie: but how to prove it a lie? Andhe stood for full ten minutes searching for an answer, which seemed tofly farther and farther off the more he sought for it.
His eye glanced upon Ayacanora. The two girls were whispering to hersmilingly. He saw one of them glance a look toward him, and then saysomething, which raised a beautiful blush in the maiden's face. With aplayful blow at the speaker, she turned away. Amyas knew instinctivelythat they were giving her the same advice as Ebsworthy had given to him.Oh, how beautiful she was! Might not the renegades have some reason ontheir side after all.
He shuddered at the thought: but he could not shake it off. It glidedin like some gaudy snake, and wreathed its coils round all his heartand brain. He drew back to the other side of the lawn, and thought andthought--
Should he ever get home? If he did, might he not get home a beggar?Beggar or rich, he would still have to face his mother, to go throughthat meeting, to tell that tale, perhaps, to hear those reproaches, theforecast of which had weighed on him like a dark thunder-cloud for twoweary years; to wipe out which by some desperate deed of glory he hadwandered the wilderness, and wandered in vain.
Could he not settle here? He need not be a savage, he and his mightChristianize, civilize, teach equal law, mercy in war, chivalry towomen; found a community which might be hereafter as strong a barrieragainst the encroachments of the Spaniard, as Manoa itself would havebeen. Who knew the wealth of the surrounding forests? Even if there wereno gold, there were boundless vegetable treasures. What might he notexport down the rivers? This might be the nucleus of a great commercialsettlement--
And yet, was even that worth while? To settle here only to tormenthis soul with fresh schemes, fresh ambitions; not to rest, but only tochange one labor for another? Was not your dreamer right? Did they notall need rest? What if they each sat down among the flowers, beside anIndian bride? They might live like Christians, while they lived like thebirds of heaven.--
What a dead silence! He looked up and round; the birds had ceased tochirp; the parroquets were hiding behind the leaves; the monkeys wereclustered motionless upon the highest twigs; only out of the far depthsof the forest, the campanero gave its solemn toll, once, twice, thrice,like a great death-knell rolling down from far cathedral towers. Wasit an omen? He looked up hastily at Ayacanora. She was watching himearnestly. Heavens! was she waiting for his decision? Both dropped theireyes. The decision was not to come from them.
A rustle! a roar! a shriek! and Amyas lifted his eyes in time to see ahuge dark bar shoot from the crag above the dreamer's head, among thegroup of girls.
A dull crash, as the group flew asunder; and in the midst, upon theground, the tawny limbs of one were writhing beneath the fangs of ablack jaguar, the rarest and most terrible of the forest kings. Of one?But of which? Was it Ayacanora? And sword in hand, Amyas rushed madlyforward; before he reached the spot those tortured limbs were still.
It was not Ayacanora, for with a shriek which rang through the woods,the wretched dreamer, wakened thus at last, sprang up and felt for hissword. Fool! he had left it in his hammock! Screaming the name of hisdead bride, he rushed on the jaguar, as it crouched above its prey, andseizing its head with teeth and nails, worried it, in the ferocity ofhis madness, like a mastiff-dog.
The brute wrenched its head from his grasp, and raised its dreadful paw.Another moment and the husband's corpse would have lain by the wife's.
But high in air gleamed Amyas's blade; down with all the weight of hishuge body and strong arm, fell that most trusty steel; the head of thejaguar dropped grinning on its victim's corpse;
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sp; "And all stood still, who saw him fall, While men might count a score."
"O Lord Jesus," said Amyas to himself, "Thou hast answered the devilfor me! And this is the selfish rest for which I would have bartered therest which comes by working where Thou hast put me!"
They bore away the lithe corpse into the forest, and buried it undersoft moss and virgin mould; and so the fair clay was transfigured intofairer flowers, and the poor, gentle, untaught spirit returned to Godwho gave it.
And then Amyas went sadly and silently back again, and Parracombe walkedafter him, like one who walks in sleep.
Ebsworthy, sobered by the shock, entreated to come too: but Amyasforbade him gently,--
"No, lad, you are forgiven. God forbid that I should judge you or anyman! Sir John shall come up and marry you; and then, if it still be yourwill to stay, the Lord forgive you, if you be wrong; in the meanwhile,we will leave with you all that we can spare. Stay here and pray to Godto make you, and me too, wiser men."
And so Amyas departed. He had come out stern and proud; but he came backagain like a little child.
Three days after Parracombe was dead. Once in camp he seemed unable toeat or move, and having received absolution and communion from good SirJohn, faded away without disease or pain, "babbling of green fields,"and murmuring the name of his lost Indian bride.
Amyas, too, sought ghostly council of Sir John, and told him all whichhad passed through his mind.
"It was indeed a temptation of Diabolus," said that simple sage; "for heis by his very name the divider who sets man against man, and temptsone to care only for oneself, and forget kin and country, and dutyand queen. But you have resisted him, Captain Leigh, like a true-bornEnglishman, as you always are, and he has fled from you. But that is noreason why we should not flee from him too; and so I think the sooner weare out of this place, and at work again, the better for all our souls."
To which Amyas most devoutly said, "Amen!" If Ayacanora were thedaughter of ten thousand Incas, he must get out of her way as soon aspossible.
The next day he announced his intention to march once more, and tohis delight found the men ready enough to move towards the Spanishsettlements. One thing they needed: gunpowder for their muskets. Butthat they must make as they went along; that is, if they could get thematerials. Charcoal they could procure, enough to set the world on fire;but nitre they had not yet seen; perhaps they should find it among thehills: while as for sulphur, any brave man could get that where therewere volcanoes. Who had not heard how one of Cortez' Spaniards, in likeneed, was lowered in a basket down the smoking crater of Popocatepetl,till he had gathered sulphur enough to conquer an empire? And what aSpaniard could do an Englishman could do, or they would know the reasonwhy. And if they found none--why clothyard arrows had done Englishmen'swork many a time already, and they could do it again, not to mentionthose same blow-guns and their arrows of curare poison, which, thoughthey might be useless against Spaniards' armor, were far more valuablethan muskets for procuring food, from the simple fact of their silence.
One thing remained; to invite their Indian friends to join them. Andthat was done in due form the next day.
Ayacanora was consulted, of course, and by the Piache, too, who was gladenough to be rid of the rival preacher, and his unpleasantly good newsthat men need not worship the devil, because there was a good God abovethem. The maiden sang most melodious assent; the whole tribe echoed it;and all went smoothly enough till the old cacique observed that beforestarting a compact should be made between the allies as to their shareof the booty.
Nothing could be more reasonable; and Amyas asked him to name his terms.
"You take the gold, and we will take the prisoners."
"And what will you do with them?" asked Amyas, who recollected poor JohnOxenham's hapless compact made in like case.
"Eat them," quoth the cacique, innocently enough.
Amyas whistled.
"Humph!" said Cary. "The old proverb comes true--'the more the merrier:but the fewer the better fare.' I think we will do without our redfriends for this time."
Ayacanora, who had been preaching war like a very Boadicea, was muchvexed.
"Do you too want to dine off roast Spaniards?" asked Amyas.
She shook her head, and denied the imputation with much disgust.
Amyas was relieved; he had shrunk from joining the thought of so fair acreature, however degraded, with the horrors of cannibalism.
But the cacique was a man of business, and held out stanchly.
"Is it fair?" he asked. "The white man loves gold, and he gets it. Thepoor Indian, what use is gold to him? He only wants something to eat,and he must eat his enemies. What else will pay him for going so farthrough the forests hungry and thirsty? You will get all, and theOmaguas will get nothing."
The argument was unanswerable; and the next day they started without theIndians, while John Brimblecombe heaved many an honest sigh at leavingthem to darkness, the devil, and the holy trumpet.
And Ayacanora?
When their departure was determined, she shut herself up in her hut, andappeared no more. Great was the weeping, howling, and leave-taking onthe part of the simple Indians, and loud the entreaties to come again,bring them a message from Amalivaca's daughter beyond the seas, and helpthem to recover their lost land of Papamene; but Ayacanora took no partin them; and Amyas left her, wondering at her absence, but joyful andlight-hearted at having escaped the rocks of the Sirens, and being atwork once more.
Westward Ho! Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough, in the County of Devon, in the Reign of Her Most Glorious Majesty Queen Elizabeth Page 24
