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The Ocean Cat's Paw: The Story of a Strange Cruise, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 42. Night In The Jungle |
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_ CHAPTER FORTY TWO. NIGHT IN THE JUNGLE In spite of the risks run from the ravenous reptiles, whose daring proved that they had a hard struggle for existence, familiarity soon bred contempt, and the sailors laughed, as they proceeded up the beautiful river, at perils which not many days before would have made them turn pale. For they were enjoying an excursion that seemed to present fresh beauties at every yard. As a rule the forest came down to the flowing water on both sides in waves of verdure, with grand trees which every now and then presented the aspect of some gorgeous flower garden, here red, there blue, at other times in lovely wreaths of white, while it seemed, Joe Cross said to the lads, as if one of the blossoming trees took flight every now and then and came skimming over the boat, filling the sky with flowers, so beautiful were the flocks of parrots and other birds that, apparently attracted by the strangers, flew screaming and whistling overhead. There was no question about getting a shot at some beautiful green and orange long-tailed paroquet, or at one of the soft grey scarlet-tailed parrots which, as they flew across the river, shrieking at those who had interrupted their solitude, gave place to others of a delicate pink; but upon seeing Rodd raise his gun, the Spaniard laughed and said-- "Never mind them. I could fill my schooner with those things at any time. You wait till we get up into the little side river. There will be something better worth shooting then; or perhaps you would like to kill a few as you are coming back." "Yes, Rodd," said the doctor; "that would be wiser, my lad." "But suppose we don't see them as we come back," said the lad. "Not see them?" said the Spaniard, laughing. "Why, the country's alive with them!" Then as the party sated their eyes upon the various objects they passed, a light soft breeze arose when they turned into a bend of the river, and the Spaniard expressed his satisfaction, and suggested that the sail should be hoisted. This was rapidly done, the oars were laid in, and Joe Cross came aft to preside at the newly-shipped rudder, while all through the rest of the day, and after the tide had run its course and become adverse, they tacked from side to side, or glided onward with the wind astern, the men only having at very rare intervals to take to their oars. It was soon after mid-day that the doctor proposed that the boat should be run ashore and that they should land to dine at a lovely park-like opening where the dense portion of the forest had receded farther from the bank; but the Spaniard shook his head. "No," he said, "don't do that. It looks very nice, but it isn't safe. There are the crocodiles basking about the bank, snakes and serpents nearly everywhere, and the leopards and other great cats hanging about among the trees. Keep aboard. It's safer here." "He means to take care of us, Morny," said Rodd, in French, and directly after he gave his companion a meaning look, for the Spanish skipper turned to the doctor and said-- "Tell your men to have their guns handy." "What for?" said the doctor. "Do you scent danger?" "Nothing particular," replied the man, "but up here in these parts you never know what may happen next. Something may come just when you think you are safe, and it's best to be always ready." So that and the following meal were eaten in the boat, which just before dark was at the Spaniard's suggestion run up into a calm reach where the forest had become very distant, while the river seemed to have widened out to double its former size. Here he proposed that they should anchor for the night and wait for the morning before continuing their journey. This was disappointing to the lads, who looked longingly at the shore, while Rodd suggested that there were several places that looked level, and where it would be easy to rig up a tent where they might sleep. The Spaniard laughed, and with a grim smile said-- "You wanted a guide for coming up here, young man. If we did what you say we shouldn't all be ready to go on again in the morning." "What, because of the wild beasts?" said Rodd eagerly. The Spaniard nodded. "He is quite right, Rodd," said the doctor. "And I suppose we might catch fever here?" he continued. "Bad," said the Spaniard laconically. "Keep to the boat." The night came down dark and beautiful; the great purple velvet arch that spread from side to side of the river was gloriously spangled with stars, for in the day's ascent the little party seemed to have left the river mists behind, and as they sat together the doctor and his young companions revelled in the loveliness of the scene, while they listened to the strange sounds from forest and river which constantly smote upon their ears and now seemed wondrously near. "It seems very different," whispered Rodd to Morny, for something preyed upon his spirits and stayed him from speaking aloud. "Yes," said Morny, in the same subdued tone; "it is very different from being aboard the vessels. I shan't go to sleep to-night; shall you?" "No. Who could go to sleep? Why, as soon as one lay down I should expect to see the great slimy snout of a crocodile thrust over the boat's gunwale, and then--" "I say," said Morny, "don't!" But nothing worse than sounds troubled the party that night, as not long after this conversation the two lads obeyed the doctor's suggestion that they should creep under the awning, whose canvas sides were tightly belayed to the gunwale; and though both declared that they would never close their eyes, they and the watches into which the little crew was divided followed the Spanish skipper's example, and in turn slept heavily till sunrise, the great orange globe slowly rolling up over the edge of the forest and shining brilliantly down upon the glittering river, for as over-night there was not a sign of mist. About half the day passed with plenty of favouring gales to help the boat along, and spare the men's arms, and Rodd commented on this to their guide. "Wait a bit," he said. "A little farther on, and we shall turn into one of the little rivers where the high trees are close together at the sides. There won't be much wind there, and the men will have to row." Everything was as he said, for as they passed out of the main stream the banks were but a little way apart, and in place of the full flow of the great river the stream grew sluggish; but everything being so close at hand the beauties of the forest became far enhanced. "You said rivers," said the doctor suddenly. "Are there more than this one?" "Plenty," replied the man, and he made himself a fresh cigarette as he sat back in the boat, to go on smoking. "Not so many crocodiles here," he said, "and they are smaller. More birds too. Look!" And as the men dipped their oars to row slowly up the winding stream, which often seemed to turn back upon itself, the Spaniard pointed now to tiny bee-like sunbirds with their dazzling metallic casques and gorgets--the brilliant little creatures that take the place of the humming-birds of the New World. At another time, though the two lads, eagerly observant and with the doctor to back them, needed no showing, their guide pointed to the many brilliantly-tinted birds of the thrush family, at the barbets and trogons, not so brilliant as those of the Western world, but each lovely in itself, while as they went on and on along their meandering river path, the birds that struck them as being most novel and at the same time tame in the way in which they came down the overhanging branches of the great forest trees, as if their curiosity had been excited by the strangers, were the many-tinted plantain eaters, with their crested heads, and the lovely green and crimson touracoos, which, while their violet and crimson relatives wore, as it were, a feather casque, displayed on their part a vivid green ornamentation that passed from beak to nape, which when they were excited looked more like a plume. They had come thus far without firing a shot, for the doctor had said-- "Let us leave the shooting till our return, and be contented with charging our memories and feasting our eyes, for no dried skins, however carefully they are preserved, will ever display the beauties of these birds' nature as we watch them here in life. But we must have a skin or two of these touracoos, for I want to show you lads the wonders of that vivid crimson upon their underparts." "Oh, I can see it plainly enough, uncle," said Rodd. "Yes," said Uncle Paul, "but you don't notice what I mean. Instead of that crimson being a beautiful dye fixed in the feathers, it is a soft red pigment which can be washed out into water and--I saw something moving up that creek," he added, in a low voice. "Niggers perhaps," said the Spaniard, without turning his head. "Likely to attack?" asked Rodd. "Pish!" said the Spaniard contemptuously. "Harmless. Fishing perhaps. We shall see more, I expect, farther on." He did not trouble himself to turn his head, though the rest in the boat kept a sharp look-out for what had attracted the doctor's attention up a narrow inlet arched over by the overhanging trees, but it was not until close upon evening that, as they pursued their winding way, this side stream opened out more into a reach, and then for the first time a movement some hundreds of yards behind brought forth a warning from Joe Cross, who was seated with the tiller in his hand. "Just cast your eye back, Mr Rodd, sir," he said; "yonder there where the stream opened out it seems to me there's a canoe with a couple of Indians in it. Nay, I mean blacks." "Yes; look, captain," said Rodd eagerly; and the Spaniard slowly raised himself up from where he was leaning back, took his cigarette from his lips, shaded his eyes, and then after a cursory glance replaced the cigarette and sank back. "Niggers," he said. "Fishing." Then they rowed on, leaving the two occupants of the canoe behind, till, coming to what he considered to be a suitable place, the Spaniard suggested that they should stay there for their meal upon an open sandy little beach some fifty yards across, beyond which the forest rose dark and thick again. "We can land and light a fire," he said, "and make coffee and stretch our legs." "It would not be safe," said the doctor, "to rig up a tent here, would it?" "Oh yes," said the captain. "The only thing to trouble us here might be a leopard or two; but a shot would scare them away." This was good news, and heartily welcomed by the whole party, and in a short time cooking was going on in the glowing embers of a fire, for which there was abundant fuel close at hand, while a canvas tent, strengthened by branches thrust deep in the sand, was cleverly contrived by the sailors. "I say, Morny, this is something like!" cried Rodd, as they sat together watching the men finishing their meal, with their jovial contented faces lit up by the glowing fire which flashed and cast shadows and sent up golden clouds dotted with tiny spark-like embers, as it was made up from time to time, according to the Spanish captain's suggestion that it would keep away all wild beasts and clear off the snakes. "Yes; my legs were beginning to feel cramped. I wonder how my father is." "Oh, he's happy enough," said Rodd, "and enjoying himself with the thought that Skipper Chubb has had a good day's work getting on a new outer skin over the hole." "Ah, yes, I hope so," cried Morny eagerly, his friend's suggestion seeming to brighten him up. "And I say," cried Rodd, "shan't we sleep to-night! How I shall stretch! I don't think I should much mind a great spotted cat coming and sniffing round the tent. Of course it would be very horrid to be clawed or bitten, but there's something natural about that. The idea of being grabbed by one of those great slimy reptiles and dragged under water, and before you have had time to squeak--" "Rodd, don't, please!" cried Morny, with a shudder. "It makes my flesh creep." "Yes; I was going to say it's time you lads changed your conversation," said the doctor quietly, "for none of the forest creatures are likely to disturb us to-night with a watch-fire kept up like this." "But I say, uncle," said Rodd mischievously, later on--when the watch had been set, with a big pile of dead firewood laid ready to replenish the fire, and Uncle Paul was about to follow the example of the Spanish captain and select his patch of dry sand covered with canvas, beneath the extemporised tent. "Well, what, my boy?" said the doctor drowsily. "Don't talk now. I am sure every one wants to go to sleep." "Yes, uncle; I am sure I do," said the boy, who was already fitting the projecting bones of his back into the yielding sand; "but do you think it's likely--" Rodd stopped to give Morny, who was beside him, a nudge with his elbow. "Do I think what's likely, Pickle?" replied the doctor. "That those two black fellows we saw in the canoe will sneak ashore to come and do anything to us with their spears?" "Rodney!" cried the doctor indignantly. "But they are sure to have spears, uncle, or else they couldn't be sticking the fish." "Go to sleep, sir!" said the doctor angrily. Rodd went at once, and did not stir again, till an extra loud crackling of burning wood made him start up in wonder and alarm. But it was only the morning watch, in the persons of Joe Cross and the appointed cook, making up the fire afresh in view of what Joe called boiling the billy and to give the cook some good broiling embers, for it was the break of day once more. _ |
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