Four Young Explorers; Or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics

by Oliver Optic

  CHAPTER XII

  A FORMIDABLE OBSTRUCTION REMOVED

  The deer shot by Felix was a little fellow, though he was full grown,Achang said, when it was taken on board the yacht. The one killed byLouis was much larger. The pigs were in better condition than the oneshot before. The men were set at work to skin the deer, and the cook cutout the best parts of the two swine. There was plenty of salt pork inthe stores, so that the sides were not needed.

  Achang kept himself very busy in his workshop. He had a difficult job onhis hands; for he had to skin the fingers and toes of the animal, and tokeep every part in its original shape. Captain Scott went to the wheelas soon as he came on board, and started the engine. Clingman reportedthe depth of water the same as when the party went on shore. By backingand going ahead a short distance at a time, he got the boat about, andheaded her for the river.

  The water was deep enough, and there was no particular difficulty in thenavigation, though he was to follow the course he had taken at first. Hehad carefully observed the shape and location of the trees, and thestream was reached in a short time. Louis declared that it was a greatpity they could not remain near the high ground, for he had no doubtthat plenty of game would have been found.

  "It seems to me that we have got all the game we want," said Scott."What could we do with a couple more deer and a brace of wild hogs?"

  "Perhaps you are right; but the fellows want to hunt, though I think Ihave had enough of it. I enjoy the sailing up this river, and it will bepleasant to explore the lakes farther up the stream," added Louis.

  "I hope we shall get to some place where we can do some fishing for achange; besides, I am fish hungry," replied Scott.

  "Most of the fishing here is done with the tuba plant; and I think it ismean to stupefy the fish, and then pick them up on the top of the water.But the river is clearer up this way, and we will drop our lines when wecome to a good place."

  "If you want to do any more shooting just now, there is a flock oflong-noses" (by which he meant proboscis monkeys), said the captain, ashe pointed to them.

  "We have one good specimen of that creature, and I don't want any moreat present; but I would give something to know why they prefer to be intrees which grow out of the water," added Louis.

  "I give it up, for I don't see any reason for it; but I suppose thelong-nose understands the matter himself, and he won't tell us. Here weare at the river."

  The captain rang the speed-bell as the steamer entered the stream whereit was only thirty feet wide. There was a considerable current, and thescrew-pines were densely packed together on both sides. The boatcontinued on her course for half an hour longer, when she seemed to havecome to the end of all things, and the gong rang to stop her.

  "Here we are!" exclaimed Scott. "And here we are likely to remain,unless we back down stream till we find a place wide enough to turn in."

  The obstruction which closed the passage of the river against theBlanchita was a bridge of dead pines which the current had brought down,and they had caught at the sides till they formed the barrier. It wasnot more than six feet wide, though it might as well have been a hundredso far as blocking up the river was concerned.

  "I don't like the idea of stopping here, for I want to see the lakesabove; and I hoped we might get some fishing there," said Louis.

  "What the matter is?" called Achang from his workshop.

  He moved to one side so that he could see the obstruction.

  "You can go through that, Captain," he continued, after Morris hadcorrected his English. "I have come up here before, and we have cut away through."

  "All right; we will see what the bridge is made of," said the captain,as he rang to back the boat.

  She backed down the stream about twenty rods, and then he stopped her.He then ordered Clingman to draw a piece of sailcloth over the stem, toprevent the dead pines from scratching the paint on the bow. As soon asthis was done, she went ahead again at full speed, and the captaincalled to the engineer to give her all the steam he could. She wentahead at a furious rate, and Scott pointed her to what seemed to be theweakest place in the barrier.

  "Now hold on, fellows, or she will tip you over!" shouted the captain asthe boat approached the obstruction.

  She struck the mass of pines, and drove her bow far into it, but stoppedwithout going through it. The barrier was not solid, and was heldtogether by the entanglement of the bushes as they were driven into thenucleus of the mass by the current.

  "We can't cut through in that way," said Scott, as he looked at thehalf-sundered bridge.

  "We don't want to take the back track," added Louis.

  "There are more ways than one to skin a mosquito, and we haven't halftried yet," replied the captain. "The thing is softer than I supposed,and yielded when the boat hit it. I could go through, but it would takeall the paint off the sides. Get out the anchor, Clingman, and we willsee what can be done."

  "I think we shall stick fast enough without anchoring," said Morris witha laugh.

  "Wait a few minutes, my hearty; for I was not thinking of coming toanchor just now," answered Scott, as he went forward to the stem, andmounted the rail.

  The anchor was stowed under the forward seat; and Clingman, afteroverhauling the cable, passed it up to the captain. It was not veryheavy, and with a skilful toss he threw it just over the edge of thebarrier on the up-stream side. All wondered what he was going to do, forthey saw no way to get through by means of the anchor; but they werewilling to believe that the captain knew what he was about, and theysaid nothing.

  "Now pay out about fifty feet of cable," continued Scott, as he rang thegong to back her. "Haul steady on it till you are sure it is fast in thestuff, Clingman."

  The seaman humored the cable till he was unable to haul the rope home,and then reported the situation. The boat continued to back till thecable was hauled taut, when he stopped her. Then he spoke through thetube to the engineer, and rang the gong. The craft moved again, but verygently, for Scott was afraid the anchor would not hold; but it did, andspeaking through the tube, he gradually increased the speed. The cableswayed and groaned, and it was evident that a heavy strain was upon it.The barrier was shaking and quivering under the pressure, and it wasplain that something would yield very soon.

  "Hurrah!" shouted Felix, who was looking over the bow at the bridge ofpines; and the cry was repeated by the rest of the cabin party, andtaken up by the sailors. "Bully for you, Captain Scott! Upon me wurrud,ye's have skinned the muskitty!"

  This demonstration was called forth by the rupture of the barrier in twoplaces, so that about one-half of it gave way, and was towed down streamby the steamer. Scott kept the craft moving till he found a place in thegreen banks of the river to leave the tow, for it was wide enough toobstruct the channel.

  "Clingman and Wales, jump on the raft with the boathooks, and crowd thestuff over to the starboard side," said the captain when he had foundthe place he wanted.

  He stopped the boat, and then went ahead, to enable the men to get uponthe mass, after they had thrown a couple of boards upon it to stand on.Backing her again, he hugged the starboard side of the stream, and drewthe raft abreast of the place, and close to it, where it was to be left.The men on it hooked into the screw-pines, and hauled it into theopening. Pulling vines from the trees, they moored it where it was. Assoon as the two men came aboard the boat, the captain went ahead again.

  "You did that job handsomely, Captain Scott," said Louis. "I thought theonly way we could get through was by cutting a passage for the boat."

  "That would have taken too long," replied Scott, as he called Clinch tothe wheel. "Mind your eye! for the river is very crooked up here. Lookout for the swing as she goes around the bends."

  The boat had not gone a great distance when she came to a considerableexpanse of territory which had been swept over by fire. The party didnot think that the green bushes would burn; but they had burned so thatnothing was left of them but the blackened stems, and there was no roomfor an ar
gument.

  "When the fire gets started, it scorches and dries the bushes till theywill burn," Louis explained. "But what are we coming to now?" he asked,looking ahead where the country seemed to be level, and covered with asheet of water, in which the screw-pines were abundant.

  "That must be one of your lakes, Louis," added the captain.

  "If it is mine, I will sell it to you," replied he.

  "I don't want to buy; but I am not so sure that we can get through asshoal a place as that seems to be, for it is only the spreading out ofthe river. The greater the expanse, the less the depth. How is that,Achang?"

  "Plenty water; float the boat," answered the Bornean. "Little PadangLake. Plenty pandanus."

  "What are pandanuses?" asked Scott.

  "The plural of the word is pandanaceae; and they are the same thing asthe screw-pines, and sometimes are found thirty feet high. There is one;and you can see roots starting out of the stem, and heading downward.The leaves are very useful to the natives. We shall get tied in a hardknot if we follow the twists of this stream much farther."

  Presently the boat came to the lake. The captain was considerablyexercised about the depth of water; and as they entered the lake, whichwas not very different from the overflowed region they had visited thatday, he ordered the wheelman to stop her.

  "There must be some sort of a channel through this pond," said he,looking about him. "There is a bigger lake than this one farther up.There are mountains in sight in the distance, and the water from themmust find an outlet to the sea."

  "I have no doubt you are right; and probably there is a channel throughthis lake, for its water must get to the sea, unless it dries up on theway," added Louis.

  "It will be easier to find this channel near the river than it will whenwe are half-way across the lake;" and the captain sent two men withMorris in the sampan to search for it.

  The water was tolerably clear; and they went to the mouth of the outlet,sounding all the time with the boathooks. They found the channel at thispoint, and then followed it up beyond the steamer. Morris shouted thatthe sampan was in the channel, and the Blanchita moved into it. Thesearching-party returned to the steamer. Morris was the mate; and, withthe two men who had gone with him, he was directed to keep the run ofthe deeper water.

  In another half-hour they came to the forest again, though the treeswere growing in the shallow lake. Achang was hard at work all the time,taking all the pains with his operation which Louis had required of him;but his occupation did not prevent him from looking about him, and hesoon made a discovery.

  "Mias! Mias!" he shouted, pointing to a tall tree a few rods from theboat. "Mias fast asleep!"

  All the party looked in the direction indicated, and saw the orang. Hewas lying on his back in the crotch of the tree, holding on with bothhands to the branches. He must have been a heavy sleeper or the puffingof the engine would have aroused him. But Louis would not fire at him,as Scott suggested. He had a bigger orang than the one in the tree, andhe did not want another. As he would not fire, Felix refused to do so,and the mias was left to finish his nap.

  A little later in the day the boat came to Padang Lake; but they weredisappointed when they found it was filled with screw-pines, though theycould see open water, in one direction quite a large sheet of it.Following the channel, they reached the open space. The boat had hardlypassed the limit of the screw-pines before Clingman shouted, "Fish!"

  The captain rang the gong, the boat stopped, and fishlines were indemand. The flesh of the orang was used for bait; and in a few minutesMorris hauled up a fish so large that it taxed all his strength andskill to get him into the boat.