Hal’s men slackened a little to enjoy the situation.
‘Pull!’ Hal shouted. ‘Keep going! If we just keep going, we’ve got them licked!’
The two boats, with the skiff in the lead and Banco once more at the tiller of the Ark, sped down the dark, winding passage. One or two more shots came from the men on the sand bar, but they went wild. The sound of angry voices died in the distance. Hal breathed again.
But he knew that he could hardly hold his lead. There seemed to be eight or ten men in Croc’s gang. Even if they were not very good oarsmen they should be able, with the help of the sail, to propel their light montaria faster than Hal’s eight, including himself and Roger, could row two boats, one of them a heavy batalao.
He could not. depend upon the sail. The one on the Ark was large and pulled powerfully when the wind was from behind. But both sails were squares and so were useless except with a following wind. Besides, his job was collecting, and that meant making frequent stops. No, a straight getaway was impossible. The game of hide-and-seek must continue. But it was not easy to hide two large boats made conspicuous by their masts and toldos.
The flotilla swept out of the passage into an expanse of river perhaps five miles wide. It kept getting broader and there was no other island in sight. If dawn found them here they would be as conspicuous as a fly on a windowpane.
The jungle animals were already beginning to announce morning. Gradually the stars dimmed in the east, a cold, grey light crept over the water, small clouds in the sky began to blaze pink, and then up bounced the tropical sun.
Everybody peered back along the course. A speck in the distance was probably Croc’s boat. If
they could see it, certainly Croc could see the Ark. Unluckily the river was becoming wider and wider. It was now ten miles from shore to shore, and more than ever like a sheet of glass on which it would be impossible to hide.
Hal looked at his map. Ahead there should be a cluster of islands — but beyond them there was another embarrassingly open stretch.
Then he noticed a blue line indicating a passage between what appeared to be the mainland and what really was the mainland. He thanked his stars for a highly detailed map. He looked towards the north shore and could see no passage — but he knew it was there and he changed the course of his little fleet.
‘There is nothing there,’ said Banco. Used to following the main channels, he knew of no such passage.
But it was there, and they found it. The boats were now temporarily cut off from Croc’s view by a screen of islands concealing the entrance to the passage. Croc, Hal hoped, would waste time looking for them among the islands and would not discover the little waterway through the jungle.
The passage was narrow and the trees met overhead. Their great white trunks went up two hundred feet before they branched to form a roof. It was like going down the nave of a cathedral — except that no cathedral would be alive with brilliant birds and chattering monkeys. The sails were of no use here, for the breeze was cut off by the forest. However, the surface was glassy smooth, and rowing was easy.
Crocodiles grunted as the waves from the boats struck them. Stilts exchanged remarks with two stately jabirus standing one-legged on the bank.
‘Look! A lizard walking on the water!’ cried Roger.
Everyone stopped rowing to witness the remarkable sight. The lizard, tail and all, was about three feet long. It stood on its hind feet and balanced itself with its tail which touched the surface of the water. Its clawed front feet were raised in the air like hands.
‘It’s a basilisk!’ cried Hal.
‘It looks savage,’ Roger said.
‘But it isn’t. The men who named it thought it must be the ferocious creature of the old stories — you know, a basilisk was supposed to be able to kill a person just by breathing upon him or merely by looking at him. And the way it stands up like man, or a ghost, must have made it seem more weird.’
‘It must be a ghost,’ said Roger, beginning to think that his mind was being addled by the mysterious gloom. ‘How could anything real run on the water?’
The basilisk, in quest of food, ran from one shore to the other, and upstream and downstream, paying no attention to the boats. It went with amazing speed. Whenever it stopped for an instant it began to sink.
‘Its body is very light,’ Hal said. ‘And see how large and flat its feet are — as broad as lily pads. As long as it keeps going it can stay up. What a sight it would be in a zoo!’
And he set about capturing it. He contrived to
get his boats one on either side of the nimble animal. The basilisk was beginning to get worried. An angry red crest rose up on its head, another on its back, and still another on its tail. It looked something like a turkey gobbler with three red banners waving instead of one.
Suddenly leaving the water, it skittered up some twigs which touched the surface, and took refuge on a low branch. Hal made a pass at it with:his net on the end of a long pole. But it leaped into the water, disappeared entirely for an instant, then bobbed up like a jack-in-the-box and began to run again.
One of the Indians, a young fellow named Aqua, who was always willing to do more than he was asked to do, made a mighty leap out of the montaria and landed squarely upon the basilisk. They both vanished under the surface. When Aqua came up his arms were empty. The lizard had wriggled free and presently it shot up into the air, reminding one of those reverse motion pictures in which a diver dives out of the water instead of into it.
But now it was really annoyed. With its three crests flaming mad, its jaws open, and sharp claws extended, it lunged straight at Aqua. Even a leaf-eating lizard can be provoked to anger. Aqua made ready to defend himself, but it was Hal who saved him from being badly scratched.
Down came the net, arriving just in time to trap not only the lizard but the head of the Indian. The basilisk, surprised by this new attack, clawed at the net instead of Aqua. The Indian struggled free, and Hal drew the net with its lively contents to the boat.
He lifted the new passenger on board. It was remarkably light for so large an animal. Hal exclaimed over its beautiful coloration — green and brown with dark crossbars and red crests. And what talent! The creature could run equally well on land or on water, was a good swimmer, and could climb trees almost as nimbly as a monkey. Any big zoo would be happy to pay from £100 to £150 for it.
If he could just get it to a zoo! And he gritted his teeth as he thought of the man who was apparently determined either to steal his collection or destroy it.
The basilisk tried to run off with the net. Two men held the net while Hal ventured to put an arm inside and slip a noose over the animal’s head. It was hard to avoid the snapping jaws. Finally the line slipped into place just behind the head crest and forward of the front legs. Hal tied another knot in it to make it fit snugly. No amount of squirming or clawing could dislodge it.
Then he removed the net. The basilisk was now like a dog on a leash, but the leash was thirty feet long. The other end of it was tied to a post of the toldo. ‘Why no cage?’ Banco asked. ‘Would you like to be in a cage? As long as I can, I like to give the animals as much freedom as possible. Besides, if they’re not caged, they can help feed themselves.’
The basilisk’s only idea at the moment was not to feed itself, but to get away. It scooted across the deck and then across ten feet of water to the nearby bank and climbed a tree. Since the boat was moving along, the line at once became well entangled in the brush. The Ark had to be backed up to the shore; Hal untangled the line and drew the protesting lizard on board.
Banco grinned at Hal’s embarrasment. ‘Better let me make a cage,’ he said.
But Hal stuck to his theories. ‘When we get a tigre you can make a cage for him, but not for a harmless lizard.’
He had seen too many animals die in cages. Even in the zoos the trend nowadays was towards providing animals with open parks as similar as possible to their native habitat.
So he tole
rated Banco’s scorn as his four leashed animals, the tapir, the stork, the iguana and the basilisk, proceeded to wind themselves up with each other. He patiently unwound them as often as necessary.
The woodland waterway was eight miles long. It came out, according to the map, at the junction of the Napo and Amazon rivers.
Whether they were being followed down the passage, Hal could not tell. But he had a new plan for eluding his pursuer. When the end of the channel was reached, he directed his little fleet not out into the great waters of the Amazon, where it would again be clearly visible, but to the left, up the Napo.
Soon the bends in this river concealed the boats from any voyagers on the Amazon. Hal selected a quiet cove and made ready to spend the rest of the day there.
This time no gangplanks were run out. The baby boas would have used them to escape to shore. The boats were moored some twenty feet out and the men waded to the beach.
Roger was the first ashore, and therefore the first to stumble into trouble.
Chapter 17
Wrestling Match
Roger gaped. He rubbed his eyes. This couldn’t be true. There just couldn’t be any such animal.
It stood up like a bear on its hind legs. It looked like a bear as far up as its neck. From there on it looked like nothing else in heaven or on earth. Its head was all snout. There was no mouth, no jaws, nothing but a small hole at the end of the snout. And out of this hole came chain lightning.
The creature had huge muscular forearms like a gorilla’s and great curved claws four inches long. With these it was tearing open a huge anthill that stood as high as a man. As the ants swarmed out, a red, fiery, lightning-like tongue nearly two feet long darted in and out so fast that it was impossible to follow it.
Hal arrived on the scene. ‘A giant ant bear!’ he shouted. ‘We must get that.’
Roger marvelled. ‘I didn’t know an anteater grew that big.’
There are different varieties. This is the largest. What a find!’
‘Well, if it’s only an anteater,’ said Roger scornfully, ‘I can grab it for you. You got the last thing — the basilisk. Let me nab this one.’ And he started forward.
‘Look out! It’s dangerous.’
‘Dangerous! How could it be, with only a tongue? It hasn’t a tooth in its head.’
‘But its claws — ‘
‘I’ll grab it from behind.’
The ant bear, in spite of very poor eyesight, realized that something was wrong. It brought its front paws down to the ground and lumbered off, slowly and awkwardly, with its front feet turned in. Behind it came the most fantastic tail Roger had ever seen — an immense brush two feet thick and several feet long. The entire weird outfit from snout tip to tail tip easily measured seven feet.
Roger came down with a flying tackle on the ant bear’s back and locked his arms around its chest. He expected now to carry it out to the Ark, and that would be that.
He was more than a little surprised when the supposedly timid anteater reared up on its hind feet and scratched his hands so badly with its claws that he had to let go. He jumped out of the way of the slashing claws. The anteater, still on its hind feet, sparred like a pugilist, advancing upon Roger and striking out with one arm and then the other. The red tongue darted like the tongue of a snake.
Hal was worried, but he knew that Roger would not thank him for interfering. He was ready to give the bear a smashing blow on the head with the stock of his gun if the situation became too critical.
‘Lay off,’ Roger panted. ‘This is my bear.’
Retreating, he stumbled against a log, and went over backwards. Instantly the hairy giant was upon him. The embrace that Roger had given it was now returned with interest. Like the bear of northern climes, this one knew how to hug. Hal remembered that it was said to be able to crush the life out of a puma in this fashion.
But Roger was not done. He struggled to his feet, bringing the bear erect with him. No stranger wrestling match had ever been seen. Roger got hold of the long snout and made as if he were trying to unscrew it. The gigantic tail switched and thrashed about, whipping him on one side of the face and then on the other, or getting in front of his eyes so that he could not see what he was doing. But he could always feel that tremendous and increasing pressure.
He tripped the beast and sent it hurtling on its back, but it did not relax its hold. The wrestlers were up again in a flash. Roger tried lifting his opponent clear of the ground, but it hung on just the same. The sticky red tongue slapped into Roger’s face. It seemed to be covered with mucilage. Roger let the bear take full honours in that kind of attack. His own tongue was dry and tight against the roof of his mouth.
He could not stand this hugging much longer. He violently twisted the snout — that was the easiest thing to get hold of. If a boxer didn’t like to get punched in the nose, why shouldn’t an ant bear’s nose be sensitive too?
Suddenly the bushes parted and a new gladiator entered the arena. Another big ant bear came to the aid of its companion.
Two against one. It wasn’t fair. Hal levelled his gun at the newcomer. But it was so close to Roger that he did not dare shoot.
Aqua leaped in with a knife — if one could call his thirty-inch-long machete a mere knife. It was practically a sword, and a murderous-looking one at that.
Up came the ant bear on its hind feet. It stood fully six feet high. Aqua was five inches shorter.
The other bear had chosen to wrestle with Roger. This one preferred to fight a duel with deadly weapons. Its great gorilla-arms flailed out at the Indian. Each arm ended in three sabres, four inches long, and razor-sharp. They were keen enough and powerful enough to tear open anthills made of baked clay almost as hard as cement. So firm were these hills that the downpours of the rainy season had no effect upon them, and it was difficult to dent them with a hammer or a hatchet. Yet an anteater sometimes kept slashing at a tenor-twelve foot-high hill until it had brought it completely to the ground. It would attack a log so firm on the outside that an axe would raise clean chips — and would hack its way through to the rotten heart filled with termites.
It was quite capable of making ribbons out of Aqua, if it could just get at him. But Aqua fenced skillfully. He parried every thrust with his machete. Whenever there was a chance he lunged at the creature’s body. He could seldom reach it. His knife was long but the bear’s arms were longer. Once when he came too close he received a deep slash on his chest. The blood welled out and Hal started to his rescue, but Aqua waved him back. He, like Roger, wanted to win his fight alone.
Aqua had one advantage over his opponent. The bear was fast with his arms, but slow on his feet. Aqua was fast all over. But, on the other hand, the bear fought with six blades, Aqua with one.
Aqua feinted a jump to the right, but, as the bear was turning, he leaped to the left and closed in on the animal’s flank. Before it could turn, he swung his machete with all his strength and cut cleanly through the neck. The long pointed head dropped off. The body dropped to the ground, but the muscles still jerked. Blood poured out. One of the men came running with a bottle — the blood would make a most acceptable dinner for Vamp.
But Roger and his giant had not suspended operations to watch the duel.
‘Hold tight!’ yelled Hal. ‘Don’t let him slash you.’
Roger clung close so that the bear could not swing at him with those vicious daggers. But he felt the claws sinking into his back. And the embrace of the beast was crushing him. He could not stand this sort of thing much longer.
Then he had an idea. He wrestled the bear out to the water’s edge. Perhaps anteaters hated water. He was wrong in that — the anteater is an excellent swimmer. Nevertheless, Roger was on the right track. The bear did not mind being dragged out into the bay — but when Roger dipped its pointed nose under the surface and held it there, it showed signs of discouragement.
Now it fought to free itself, but Roger hung on. In its struggles it pulled Roger from his footing a
nd he suddenly found himself on the bottom of the bay with the bear on top of him. He was now getting a dose of the medicine that he had prescribed for his antagonist. The question was simple: Which one of them could last longer without breathing.
The bear gave in first and rose to take breath. He did not get it, for Roger took care that the long proboscis he was still clutching should not come above the surface of the water. The bear’s muscles relaxed.
‘Don’t drown it,’ came Hal’s warning.
Roger dragged the now inert body of the anteater out of the water and dropped it on the deck of the Ark.
The captive opened its weak eyes, flickered its red tongue, and made a few feeble passes with its claws. Hal noosed a heavy line about its body to make a sort of harness before and behind the front legs and made fast the other end. The bear now had the liberty of a very short leash.
‘If he behaves himself, we’ll give him more rope later,’ Hal said.
The wounds of the gladiators were treated. Roger felt like a collapsed balloon and stretched himself out on the beach.
‘Guess you’ll have to do the foraging today,’ he said to Hal. ‘And I don’t envy you the job of getting enough ants for that bear!’
Hal was poring over one of his manuals. ‘It says here that they live for years in the zoos on chopped meat and raw eggs. They don’t have to have ants.’ His brow knitted as he read on. ‘Gosh, if I’d known this I wouldn’t have let you play with that bear. They really are bad. They’ve killed plenty of Indians. Here’s an account of one that even killed a jaguar — sank its claws into the heart. And a hunting dog is apt to be ripped open from stem to stern before it can get near enough to bite.’
Then perhaps it will get tough with our other animals?’
‘No. They say it’s very peaceable — provided it’s let alone.’
‘Well, believe me, I’ll let it alone from now on,’ moaned Roger.
The Indians carved up the dead beast and ant bear steaks were featured on the luncheon menu.
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