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In Search of El Dorado

by Harry Collingwood · English · Gutenberg #23142 · 543,750 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: In Search of El Dorado

Author: Harry Collingwood


        
Release date: October 21, 2007 [eBook #23142]

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23142

Credits: Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN SEARCH OF EL DORADO ***




Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




In Search of El Dorado, by Harry Collingwood.

________________________________________________________________________
Rather strangely the book starts off with an incident very closely
resembling the loss of the "Titanic", which had occurred a few years
before the publication of this book.  This episode, the sinking due to
collision with ice of the "Everest", is well told, and must indeed give
a good picture of what had happened with the "Titanic".

As a result of this our two heroes find themselves on an ice floe, from
which they are rescued, and become great friends.  They decide to go
together to South America, to see what adventures befall them.  Several
interesting episodes are described, but eventually they find themselves
outside what appears to be a city of gold, but down in a former crater
with no apparent means of access.  Eventually they do find the way down,
and to their surprise, Earle, the American, who was wearing an amulet he
had found earlier in the trip, was treated with great reverence as a
God.  All this is exceptionally well-told, and you will certainly enjoy
the book.

________________________________________________________________________
IN SEARCH OF EL DORADO, BY HARRY COLLINGWOOD.



CHAPTER ONE.

ICE!

The _Everest_, newly launched, the biggest and fastest boat in the
Trans-Atlantic services, was on her maiden voyage to New York.  The
fortunes of that voyage concern our story simply from the fact that it
brought our two adventurers together and helped to show the manly stuff
of which they were made.  Thereafter the sea was not for them, but the
far-off swamps and forests of the mighty Amazon Valley, where most
amazing adventures befel them.  On the _Everest_ Dick Cavendish was
fifth officer.

The run from Liverpool to Queenstown was made under easy steam in order
that the ship might arrive off the Irish port at a reasonable hour in
the morning; but no sooner were the Irish passengers and the
supplementary mails shipped than the word went quietly round among the
officers that the "Old Man" was bent upon breaking the best previous
record for the run across the herring pond and setting up a new one
unassailable by any other craft than the _Everest_ herself.  And
certainly when, as the liner passed Daunt Rock lightship shortly after
nine o'clock on the Sunday morning following her departure from
Liverpool, and the moment was carefully noted by chronometer, the omens
were all most favourable for the weather was fine, though cold, with a
light northerly wind and smooth water, and with her turbines running at
top speed the chief engineer reported that the hands in the stokeholds
were keeping a full head of steam without difficulty.  At noon the
patent log showed that the _Everest_ was within a fraction of eighty
miles from the lightship; and Captain Prowse already began to picture
himself as holding the blue ribbon of the Atlantic.

And so things continued without a hitch or break of any description
until half the journey across the Atlantic had been accomplished; the
weather remained fine, with light winds, no sea, and very little swell
to speak of, while the ship ran as smoothly and steadily as though she
were travelling on land-locked waters instead of in mid-Atlantic.

Meanwhile she kept in almost hourly touch with other ships going east or
west, reporting her position and progress and asking from time to time
for the latest news; but it was not until Tuesday afternoon, about three
o'clock, local time, that she got any intelligence of the slightest
moment, this being a message from the homeward bound liner _Bolivia_, to
the following effect--

"Warning!  S.S. _Bolivia_, New York--Liverpool, Latitude 45 degrees, 7
minutes North, Longitude 37 degrees, 57 minutes West.  Just cleared
large area consisting of detached masses of field ice with several
bergs, through which we have been working for the last three hours.
Very dangerous.  Advise ships approaching it to observe utmost caution,
particularly at night time."

This message was duly handed to Captain Prowse in his own cabin by the
wireless operator, who waited while the skipper read it, to see whether
the latter desired to address any inquiry to the _Bolivia_.  But after
cogitating over it for two or three minutes, the skipper crumpled up the
paper and thrust it into his pocket, saying--

"All right, `Sparks', that'll do.  And--look here, youngster--just keep
this message strictly to yourself, d'ye see?  Don't say a word to
anybody about it.  I'll see that all necessary precautions are taken;
but I don't want the news of there being ice ahead to be talked about;
it'll only make the passengers unnecessarily nervous and uneasy; and I
don't want that.  Besides, it will be easy enough to alter the course a
few degrees south if it should be found desirable.  You understand me?"

"Perfectly, sir," answered `Sparks,' lingering for a moment at the cabin
door.  "Anything else, sir?"

"No," answered the skipper, "nothing more at present, thank you.  But
keep your ears open for any further messages."

The operator saluted and vanished; whereupon the skipper produced the
chart of the North Atlantic, by the aid of which he was navigating the
ship, spread it open upon the table, and studied it intently.  A pencil
mark consisting of a number of straight lines--the junction of each of
which with the next was indicated by a dot surrounded by a small circle,
against which was a note indicating the date, hour and moment of the
ship's arrival at each particular spot--showed the track of the ship
across the ocean from her point of departure abreast of Daunt Rock, and
a thinner, lighter pencil line extending on to New York marked the still
untravelled portion of the route.  Taking a pencil, parallel ruler and
pair of dividers in his hand, Captain Prowse proceeded carefully to jot
down the position of the _Bolivia_, as indicated by her message; having
done which he gave vent to a sigh of relief; for he saw that the course
which he was pursuing would take the _Everest_ some sixty miles to the
north of that point.

"Thank God! that's all right," he murmured.  "There's nothing to fear.
That patch of drift ice is not in the least likely to extend as far
north as our track.  Besides, with the precautions that we are
observing--taking the sea temperature every half-hour, and so on--and
the maintenance of a good look-out, we are perfectly safe.  I suppose I
ought to tell Brown" (the chief officer) "about this message; but I
won't--no; I'll keep it to myself, for the chap's as nervous as a cat,
and would want to slow down as soon as the dusk comes.  And I don't want
that; I mean to make this a record passage, and don't intend to be
frightened into losing several precious hours merely because a ship
sixty miles to the south'ard of my track reports a little floating ice.
No; I'll just issue instructions that everybody is to be on the alert
and keep a specially sharp look-out, and let it go at that."

Having come to which conclusion, Captain Prowse left his cabin and
joined the officer of the watch on the bridge.

"By Jove!  What glorious weather we are having," he remarked genially,
as the officer came to his side.  "I cannot remember such a spell of it
as we have had ever since leaving Queenstown.  What's she doing, Mr
Dacre?"

"Twenty-six point six, sir, at the last reading of the log, about half
an hour ago," answered the second officer; "and she hasn't slackened
down any.  At this rate we ought to be berthed in New York by noon the
day after to-morrow, with a record passage to our credit."

"Ay," agreed the skipper, "that's what I am hoping for in a quiet way.
It will be a feather in our caps if we can pull the thing off--and
please the owners, too.  Have you seen any sign of ice yet?"

"Not yet, sir," answered Dacre, "though I suppose we may expect to see
some at almost any moment, now.  But the temperature of the water
remains quite steady.  It is only half a degree colder than it was this
time yesterday, and that is no more than one would reasonably expect
about here."

"Quite so," assented the skipper.  "Well, let the temperature continue
to be taken every half-hour regularly, and keep the look-outs on the
alert.  We don't want any accidents--or even any narrow escapes, on our
first trip.  The officers of the fleet have a reputation for
carefulness, and we must live up to it.  Let me know at once if any ice
is sighted."

"Certainly, sir," replied the second officer, as the skipper turned away
and retired to his cabin.

At half-past nine o'clock that night the ship's band was playing in the
grand lounge, and most of the first-class passengers who were not in the
smoke-room were promenading or sitting about in that spacious and
handsome apartment, listening to the music, or chatting together in
couples or little groups.  The smoke-room, too, was pretty well
occupied, a few of the men reading while the rest were either seated at
the tables, playing poker, or standing round watching the play.

At the same hour a little party of the ship's officers who were off
duty, of whom Dick Cavendish was one, were gathered in the ward-room,
engaged in the conduct of an informal smoking-concert, and Dick was
standing at the piano warbling "Dear Heart" to the doctor's
accompaniment--it is no longer the fashion for sailors to sing
sea-songs--when the proceedings were abruptly interrupted by a jolt--it
was scarcely severe enough to merit the term "shock"--instantly followed
by a perceptible lifting of the ship's bows and a slight list of her to
starboard, while to her smooth, steady, gliding progress succeeded a
rapid succession of jerks, accompanied by a sound of rending, distinctly
audible in the ward-room in the dead silence that suddenly fell upon the
party.  Then the bows of the ship were felt to dip and her stern to
rise, while her speed slackened so abruptly that those who were standing
only retained their footing with difficulty; a final jar, succeeded by a
crash, came, and the ship once more settled to her bearings, floating
smoothly and tranquilly as before.

By this time the occupants of the ward-room were all upon their feet,
staring at one another, speechless, with horrified eyes.  But as the
stern of the ship settled and she again came to her bearings, Mr Brown,
the chief officer, who was one of the party, exclaimed:

"Ice--by the Living Jingo!--and we've hit it!  More than that she's torn
the bottom off herself, unless I'm very greatly mistaken; and in another
minute there'll be the deuce and all to pay--a panic, as likely as not.
To your stations, gentlemen, and remember--the first thing to be done is
to keep the boat deck clear.  Come on!"  And he led the way up the
companion-ladder to the deck.

As Dick emerged into the open air, the first thing of which he became
conscious was a distinctly keener edge of chill in the atmosphere; next,
that the ship's engines had stopped; and third, that the second-class
passengers were swarming out of their quarters like angry bees, each
demanding of the other to be told what had happened.  They were
evidently heading with one accord for the promenade deck, doubtless _en
route_ for the boat deck; and Dick only reached the foot of the ladder
in the nick of time to meet the rush of the foremost.

"Hillo!" he cried, good-humouredly, planting himself square in front of
the ladder.  "Whither away, good people?  No, no; that is the
first-class quarters; you know that you have no right on the promenade
deck.  Keep to your own part of the ship, please."

The crowd checked at the cool authoritativeness of Dick's tones; but a
big, burly man elbowed his way through the crush until he came face to
face with the young officer.

"Out of the way, youngster," he shouted.  "Who are you, to talk of
`right' at a time like this?  The ship is on the rocks and sinking,
and--"

"Oh, my dear good man," interrupted Dick, wearily.  "You make me tired.
Why do you start talking about things of which you know nothing, and try
to frighten your fellow passengers?  You are the sort of chap who yells
blue murder if the lights in a picture theatre go out before you think
they ought, and starts a panic in which a lot of women and children get
badly hurt.  Rocks!  Why, we're hundreds of miles from the nearest land.
And as to the ship sinking, don't you know that she's unsinkable--that
she _can't_ sink?  The fact is that we've hit a bit of ice in the
darkness, and all the bumping that you felt was just the ice being
broken up by the ship as she ran past it.  Now, take my advice, all of
you; go back to your cabins and turn in, or some of you will be catching
bad colds.  Where are the parents of those children in night-dresses?
Whoever they are, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for bringing
the poor little kiddies into the cold in that rig!  Take 'em below and
put 'em to bed again, there's good people.  And go to bed yourselves;
it's the most comfortable place in the ship on a night like this.  I
wish I had the chance to go there."

Dick's one idea in talking had been to subdue the tendency towards panic
which he had observed in the crowd before him, and to a certain extent
he had succeeded.  That is to say, the parents of the children in
nightgowns had sheepishly herded their flock back into the deck-house,
while a few of the other passengers had followed them.  But the majority
still lingered, waiting perhaps to hear further particulars.  And these
the big, burly man--who, from his somewhat "loud" costume, might be
taken for a pugilist or a doubtful frequenter of race courses--seemed
determined to have.  Dick's sarcasm had produced no more effect upon him
than rain does upon a duck, and he still stood staring aggressively at
the young officer.

"That's all very well," he declared truculently; "but if there's no
danger, what are all them sailors so busy about the boats up there for?"

The boat deck was by this time a scene of feverish but orderly activity,
every available seaman being mustered there, busily engaged, under the
supervision of the chief and second officers, on the task of stripping
the boats of their canvas, casting them loose, hoisting them out of
their chocks, and swinging them outboard ready for lowering.

"Why, you chump," answered Dick, "they are doing that for the express
purpose of reassuring people like yourself, who always go badly scared
if they get half a chance.  Besides, it is one of the standing orders of
the ship, and gives the men a bit of exercise in handling the boats.
They will hang there for a bit, and then they will be swung inboard and
stowed again.  Now,--_please_ go back to your cabins, all of you, and
make yourselves comfortable.  Or, if you don't care to do that--if you
are determined to hang about out here on deck in the cold, at least go
and put some warm clothes on.  For I tell you candidly that it may be an
hour or more before those boats are swung in and stowed."

"All right!" returned Dick's opponent, "I'll stay where I am until
that's done, and chance it.  I'd rather have a cold than be drowned in
my cabin, like a rat in a trap."

"Very well," retorted Dick.  "Do as you please, by all means.  It's your
look-out, not mine.  Only you are setting a very bad example to the
others.  And by this time to-morrow you will all be sorry that you did
not take my advice."

Meanwhile, from where Dick stood, at the foot of the ladder leading to
the promenade deck, he could hear the purser up there suavely assuring a
crowd of first-class passengers that there was not the slightest
occasion for alarm, that the boats were merely being swung out as a
precautionary measure always adopted in such cases, and that if they
would kindly retire to the dining-saloon they would find a hot supper
awaiting them which he had taken it upon himself to order, just to
fortify his charges against any possible ill effects from the cold to
which they were so foolishly exposing themselves.  And while he spoke,
the purser was busily but very politely shepherding the promenade deck
crowd toward the doorway giving access to the dining-saloon.

But above the suavely jocular accents of the purser's voice Dick's quick
ears caught other and more sinister sounds, to wit, the persistent
crackling of the ship's wireless installation, and he very shrewdly
suspected that that meant something much more serious and important than
"Sparks" swapping good-nights with some other operator--that, in short,
it meant nothing less than that most urgent of all wireless calls, the
S.O.S. of a ship in dire distress summoning other ships to her aid.
Further than that, although the work of preparing the boats for lowering
was proceeding in a perfectly quiet and orderly manner, Dick was
conscious, even above the roar of escaping steam, of a strenuous haste
in the movements of the men engaged upon the task, as well as of a
certain note of sharpness and urgency in the tones of the officers who
were supervising the work, all of which combined to impress upon the
young officer the conviction that matters were taking a distinctly
serious turn for the _Everest_.

In the brief interval during which the above impressions were printing
themselves upon Dick's consciousness, a few of the people confronting
him had turned, and, in a half-hearted, hesitant way, were drifting back
toward the entrance of the deck-house, although the greater part of them
seemed disposed to follow the burly man's example and remain where they
were until authoritatively assured that all was well with the ship.  It
was during this momentary lull that a brass-buttoned steward came nimbly
down the ladder before which Cavendish was standing, and said to him:

"Purser's compliments, sir, and would you be so good as to tell the
second-class passengers that, on account of their bein' disturbed by the
ship hittin' a lump of ice, and turnin' out in the cold, tea, coffee,
and hot soup is bein' served in the dinin'-room to warm 'em up a bit
before they goes to their beds."

"Right-o!" answered Dick.  "I will inform them at once.  Ladies and
gentlemen," he continued, "lest you should not all have heard the
message which the steward has just delivered, let me repeat it.  It is a
message from the purser to the effect that since so many of you have
unfortunately been scared out of your warm cabins by the collision of
the ship with a small piece of ice, tea, coffee, and hot soup are now
being served in the dining-room to those who care to have something to
warm them before turning in.  If you take my advice, you will lose no
time in going below to get it, because only a limited quantity will be
served, and those who get below first will have the best chance.
Good-night, all of you.  Turn in as soon as you have had your hot drink,
and get a good night's rest."

And therewith the young man turned and with much deliberation ascended
the ladder, his intention in so doing being to convey the impression
that the scare was over and the entire incident ended.

The ruse was brilliantly successful, for the moment at least, for when,
upon reaching the head of the ladder, he turned to see what was
happening on the deck which he had just left, he saw that the whole
crowd of second-class passengers was in full retreat, with the burly man
elbowing his way through it, that he might secure his full share of
whatever might happen to be going in the dining-room.

Pausing for a moment to watch the gradual disappearance of the people
through the deck-house door, Dick waited until the last of them had
vanished, and then darted along the now deserted promenade deck and up
the ladder to the boat deck, where he found himself in the midst of a
scene of the most strenuous activity; the men still feverishly working
at the task of clearing and swinging out the boats, the officers
supervising and assisting in the work, as though every second of time
were more precious than gold, stewards hurrying up from below with
provisions with which to stock the boats, and the captain on the bridge
overlooking all, the whole deck brilliantly illuminated by every
available electric lamp, while overhead the steam still roared out of
the pipes, and the crackle of the wireless obtruded itself insistently
through all other sounds.

Cavendish knew that Mr Brown, the chief officer, was up here somewhere,
and he presently found him and briefly reported what had happened down
on the main deck.

"Good!" returned Brown.  "But go back and guard the head of the ladder
leading from the main to the promenade deck.  We're holed in nearly
every compartment, and the leaks are gaining upon us in spite of the
steam pumps.  The ship's doomed--that's the long and the short of it;
nothing can save her; and as soon as all the boats are ready there will
be a call for the women and children.  Your duty then will be to see
that no men from the second-class are allowed to slip past you until all
women and children have been safely got off.  Likely enough some of the
men may try to rush you.  Got a revolver?"

"I have a pair down in my cabin, but--"

"Good!" interrupted Brown.  "Don't waste time going down to fetch them.
Collar a steward and tell him to get them for you.  Now, off you go.
Those people down below may take the alarm again at any moment.  One
word more.  When all the women and children are up, don't let any men
pass you until you get word from me.  Now--scoot!"

Dick "scooted," dispatching a steward for his revolvers on the way, not
that he had the slightest intention of using them; but he knew how
efficacious a revolver--even though empty--is in stopping a rush, and he
decided that it would be a good thing to have them.  A minute later--his
visit to the boat deck having occupied some ten minutes--he reached his
post at the head of the ladder which he was to guard--just in time.  For
as he posted himself, the head of the burly man swung into view, wagging
from side to side as its owner climbed the ladder, with quite a little
crowd behind him, while others were streaming out on deck.

"What! my friend, you here again?" exclaimed Dick as he planted himself
at the head of the ladder, with a hand grasping the rail on either side
of him, thus converting himself into a human closed gate.  "Have you
come to tell me that there were not enough hot drinks to go round and
that you didn't get your fair share?  No you don't"--as the man strove
to dislodge Cavendish from his position--"your place is down there on
the main deck, as I've told you before--ah! would you?  Then take that,
as a little lesson that when you're aboard ship you must behave yourself
and obey orders!"

"That" was a blow straight between the eyes, administered to the burly
man, who now seemed determined to fight his way up to the boat deck at
all costs.  The fellow went reeling back under the impact of the blow,
and would undoubtedly have fallen some ten feet to the deck below had he
not been caught and supported by the people beneath him on the ladder.
These instantly raised a loud clamour, in which the words "Shame!
shame!" were distinctly audible, while some of the women began to cry
and manifest a disposition to become hysterical.  Then another big man
suddenly started to elbow his way through the crowd now thickly grouped
about the foot of the ladder which Dick was guarding, shouting, as he
came--

"Here, let me get at him.  Officer or no officer, I'll soon shift him!"

"Yes, yes; that's right, governor," shouted others, also pressing
forward.  "Let's get him out of the way.  What right has he got to keep
us down here while the ship's sinking?  Our lives are just as good as
other people's, and we've a right to save 'em if we can."

Dick saw that a crisis was imminent and that unless he acted with
decision the people on the deck below would very quickly get out of
hand.  Luckily for him, the steward whom he had dispatched for his
revolvers at this moment appeared, thrust the weapons into his hand, and
dashed off again without saying a word.  The youngster was reluctant to
display the weapons, for he was by no means sure that the sight of them
would produce the desired effect.  Yet there seemed to be no
alternative, for the little band of men below--some eight or ten in
number--were evidently determined to force the passage of the ladder.
He therefore pointed both weapons straight at the group as he shouted:

"Halt there, you men!  If you dare to move another step, I'll shoot.
What do you mean by your outrageous conduct, pushing and hustling your
way violently through a crowd of helpless women and children in that
brutal fashion?  You wouldn't do it if any of them belonged to you, and
I am surprised that the husbands and fathers put up with it.  Call
yourselves Englishmen?  Pah!  I'm ashamed of you.  You make me sick!"

Dick's appeal to the husbands and fathers of those whom the gang had
been hustling so roughly was a happy inspiration, and produced an
immediate effect, the said husbands and fathers at once raising their
voices in remonstrance, while the women also joined in, with the result
that a heated altercation quickly ensued which threatened to speedily
develop into a free fight.  But that was only a shade less desirable
than the other, wherefore, slipping his revolvers into his pockets, Dick
intervened.

"Now then, below there, none of that!" he shouted.  "I'll allow no
fighting.  The first man who strikes a blow shall be clapped in irons.
And just listen to me a moment, if you please," he continued, as the
faces below turned again toward him.  "Will one of you men who seem so
extraordinarily anxious to come up here kindly explain _why_ you want to
come?"

For a moment there was dead silence among the crowd, then the burly man
whom Dick had struck, and who had retired crestfallen to the foot of the
ladder, looked up and replied:

"The ship's sinking--you can't deny it--and our lives are worth just as
much as other people's.  We want to have a fair chance of saving 'em,
and--"

"Stop a moment," interrupted Dick, thinking he saw a chance to create a
diversion and avert the inevitable rush for a few minutes.  "You say
that the ship is sinking and that you want to save your lives by taking
to the boats.  Have you all taken the precaution to put your money and
other valuables in your pockets?  And have you all seen to it that you
are dressed in your warmest clothes?  You know," he continued,
banteringly, "if you were at this moment called to get into the boats,
you would be very sorry when you afterwards remembered that in your
hurry you had left all your valuables behind you.  And boating in this
weather is a most unpleasantly cold business, I assure you."

A rather lengthy silence followed this speech of Dick's.  Those whom he
had addressed were thinking very seriously about what he had said
touching money and valuables.  Probably not one of them had dreamed of
adopting the precautionary measures suggested, and many of them were
painfully conscious at that moment that every penny they possessed was
locked up in the trunks in their cabins.  Several of them began to move
hesitatingly towards the deck-house entrance.  Then a man who was
leading the way, suddenly halted and shouted--

"Look here, mister.  Tell us the plain truth, as man to man.  Is this
ship going to sink, or isn't she?  That's all that we want to know."

The question set Dick's mind working at lightning speed.  Should he or
should he not deny the dreadful truth?  He felt that he could not
unreservedly deny it, yet, on the other hand, unreservedly to admit it
might precipitate a panic.  He quickly decided that the proper thing to
do would be to prepare those people for the inevitable, but to do so in
such a fashion as to reassure them to the utmost possible extent.
Therefore he answered:

"As man to man I tell you that we hope to take this ship safely into New
York harbour.  But I will not attempt to conceal from you the fact that
she has sustained a certain amount of damage from her collision with a
mass of ice and she is leaking a bit--stop!  Don't run away until I have
told you everything," he continued, as he saw the listening crowd below
bracing itself for a rush.  "As I have said, the ship is leaking a bit,
but the steam pumps are at work--listen! you can hear the beat of them--
and the water is pouring out of her almost, if not quite, as fast as it
is pouring in."  (This was very far from being the truth, and Dick knew
it, but he considered that the circumstances justified the
prevarication).  "But it is a rule with this company, as it is with many
others, that the moment a ship sustains any damage, however slight, the
first step taken is to provide for the safety of passengers, and that is
why you see the boats being got ready.  If the leak should be found to
be gaining on the pumps, ample notice will be given you, and plenty of
time will be allowed for transferring everybody to the boats without
rush or confusion of any kind.  So now you know all that there is to
know.  If you take my advice you will all go to your cabins, dress
yourselves in your warmest clothes, secure money and valuables about
your persons, and then lie down and get a comfortable sleep.  If it is
considered desirable that you should be transferred to the boats you
will be told so in good time.  And don't hurry.  It may be hours yet
before you will be summoned to the boats--if indeed you are summoned at
all."

Again Dick's eloquence had triumphed, and this time the triumph was
distinctly of a more decisive character than on the previous occasion;
his candour--so far as it went--had convinced the people whom he
addressed that if there was any danger at all it was certainly not
imminent; and in a body they turned away, intent upon acting on his
advice.

Within a minute of the disappearance of the last of the second-class
passengers, a loud hissing, shearing sound rent the air, heard
distinctly above the now somewhat moderated roar of the escaping steam,
and, leaning far out over the rail of the promenade deck, Dick was just
in time to mark the heavenward flight of a rocket--the first visible
signal of distress which the _Everest_ had thus far made--and to see it
burst, high up, into a shower of brilliant red stars.  It was the light
shed by these stars as they floated downward that first revealed to the
young officer the fact that a thin veil of haze enveloped the ship,
through which, scattered here and there, were several small blocks of
field ice; while away on the starboard quarter, distant about half a
mile, was a much larger mass, standing perhaps two or three feet above
the water's surface, which might well be the berg that had done all the
mischief.  But Dick was horrified, as he stared down into the water, to
note how much nearer was the surface than usual, as seen from the level
of the promenade deck--quite three feet nearer, he estimated.  And the
ship had sunk to that extent within little more than half an hour!

The lad glanced eagerly about him.  The deck below, set apart for the
exclusive use of the second-class passengers, was now tenantless, but
the port of every cabin was aglow with light, showing pretty
conclusively that the people there were following Dick's advice.  The
same held good with regard to the cabins on the promenade deck; every
window--and many doors as well--revealed the fact that the occupants
were busy within; but even while Cavendish looked, a few people emerged
from adjacent cabins, all of them warmly clad and evidently prepared as
well as they could be for the hardships of exposure in open boats.
Also, far away for'ard, Dick could just distinguish that the smoke-room
door was open and that men were passing in and out, their movements
suggesting uneasiness and expectancy.

Again Dick glanced over the rail.  The water was perfectly smooth,
unwrinkled by even the faintest zephyr of a breeze, and the great ship
lay almost as motionless and steady as though she were in dock.  Thank
God! when the moment came there ought to be no difficulty in getting the
laden boats safely lowered and afloat.  At the thought of the boats he
glanced upward and saw that the whole of them on the starboard side were
swung out and lowered sufficiently to permit of the people stepping
easily into them from the deck above.  Then he ran across the deck to
the port side, and saw that all boats but one on that side were also
ready, while the last one was even at that moment being lowered to the
same level as the rest.

As Dick walked back to his station at the head of the ladder another
rocket went screaming its way aloft into the black sky, and with the
bursting of it the lad became conscious of the fact that the wireless
was no longer insistently clamouring; there were moments now when it
remained silent for quite a minute or more, followed by a few sharp
cracklings, and again silence.  The _Everest_ had evidently at last got
into touch with another ship and was exchanging confidences with her.

Dick began to feel cold up there on the promenade deck, and to promote
warmth, proceeded to walk briskly to and fro athwart the broad space of
deck abaft the long range of cabins.  And as he did so, he caught a
momentary view of one of the quartermasters entering the doorway which
led toward the main companion-way, and, incidentally, to the library,
ladies' boudoir, grand saloon, and dining-hall.  The man held a small
slip of paper in his hand, and Dick instantly surmised that the slip
might be a communication from either the captain or the chief officer to
the purser.

The lad paused in his walk, awaiting results.  And they were not long in
coming, for a few minutes later the quartermaster emerged, quickly
followed by the purser, who, taking up a position midway between the
smoke-room and the block of cabins abaft it--which space Dick now saw
was occupied by several groups of men and women--cleared his voice and
then proclaimed in ringing accents:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this paper which I hold in my hand is a message
which has just been brought to me from Captain Prowse, and it contains
news which I am sure will be very welcome to you all.  It is to the
effect that our wireless operator has succeeded in getting into touch
with the _Bolivia_ and acquainting the captain of that vessel with our
somewhat unfortunate plight.  The _Bolivia_, as some of you are
doubtless aware, is homeward bound, but upon learning the news of our
accident, her captain has unhesitatingly interrupted his voyage and is
at this moment heading for our position as rapidly as his powerful
engines will drive him.  He expects to arrive alongside in about three
hours from now; you have therefore the assurance of perfect safety, let
what will happen.  This is as gratifying news to Captain Prowse as I
expect it is to you; for I may now tell you that the _Everest_ is much
more seriously damaged than we at first anticipated, and--purely as a
measure of precaution, I assure you--the captain, in consultation with
his officers, has decided temporarily to transfer all passengers to the
boats, thus ensuring their safety, whatever may happen to the ship.  And
if the worst should come to the worst and the leak continue to gain upon
us, the _Bolivia_ will receive you upon her arrival and convey you to
New York.  It was in anticipation of some such contingency as this that
I advised you all, a little while ago, to change into warmer clothing,
and I am glad to see that you have taken my advice.  A call for you to
enter the boats--women and children first--will shortly be made;
therefore, if any of you have any valuables in your cabins, let me
advise you to secure them at once.  Several of you have deposited money
and jewels in my charge.  I am now about to proceed to my office for the
purpose of delivering those deposits to their rightful owners; and I
shall be much obliged if you will all kindly bring your deposit notes
with you to facilitate the distribution."

And, so saying, the purser, cool and imperturbable as ever, bowed and
withdrew, his departure being instantly followed by a hurried rush of
the passengers to their cabins.

An interval of some twenty minutes now elapsed, during which nothing
particular happened, except that the second-class passengers began again
to emerge from their quarters in little groups and congregate about the
foot of the ladder, as though holding themselves in readiness to obey an
expected call.  At regular intervals distress rockets continued to be
fired from the upper deck, each discharge being followed by a little
movement of restlessness on the part of the rapidly increasing crowd,
while Dick noticed that the ship's wireless was again insistently
calling.  He also noticed that the burly man and a small group of
kindred spirits were quietly but unobtrusively edging their way through
the gathering crowd towards the foot of the ladder, and he decided to
check the movement forthwith.  Therefore, raising his arm to attract
attention, and then pointing downward at the culprits, he said:

"Now, look here, you men!  Stop that at once, if you please.  I see your
game; but it won't do.  You are trying to get in front of all the
others, so as to be first in the boats if you are called to take to
them.  But it won't do, my fine fellows.  If it is decided to send away
the boats, the women and children will be the first to go; therefore the
men will be pleased to fall in in the rear.  Let all the children come
forward, and their mothers with them--no, no; don't rush and crowd, for
there is not the least occasion for hurry; make a lane, there--a good
wide lane to the foot of the ladder--do you hear what I say?  That's
better--open out wider yet.  So!  Good!  Now, you mothers, come to the
front with your kiddies, and sit down on deck until further orders.  Let
the youngsters come up the ladder and sit down on the steps.  They may
come up as far as the top step, but no farther.  That's right.  Now,
little folks, sit close together and keep each other warm.  That's
capital.  Now you will do very well."

As Dick finished, a quartermaster, accompanied by half-a-dozen seamen,
came along the deck, and while the latter ranged themselves immediately
behind Cavendish, the quartermaster murmured in the young man's ear:

"They're goin' to begin launchin' the boats, sir, and the chief officer
wants you up on the boat deck to help.  I'm to stay here with these men,
to see that there's no rush.  You're to go at once, please, sir."

"Right!" responded Dick, and turned to go.  Then a thought suddenly
occurred to him, and he faced round to the people on the deck below, now
evidently all agog to learn what fresh development was impending.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said.  "A message has just been brought to me
that the captain has decided to put you all into the boats, as a measure
of safety.  But I see that none of you have as yet put on life belts.
You will find them in your cabins.  Please go there and fetch them, and
two of these men will come to you and help you to put them on.  There is
no hurry, so, when the call comes, please take your time, and let there
be no crowding.  You will get away much quicker by behaving in a quiet
and orderly manner."

Then, with a few words of warning to the quartermaster and the seamen,
Dick turned and made a dash for the boat deck.



CHAPTER TWO.

THE FOUNDERING OF THE "EVEREST."

Upon reaching the ladder leading to the boat deck, which was the
uppermost deck of all, he found it packed with first-class passengers,
among whom the word had already been passed round, so, rather than
incommode them, he sprang up on the rail and swarmed up a stanchion.

Arrived on the boat deck, he found the preparations for lowering the
boats complete, and he also found the captain and chief officer
preparing to supervise the embarkation.  These he at once joined, and
upon reporting himself, was immediately stationed at the after end of
the deck on the starboard side, to supervise the dispatch of four boats.
The deck was now rapidly filling with passengers, who were coming up
from below, both fore and aft, men, women and children indiscriminately,
despite the efforts of those below to keep them apart.  But they were
received upon their arrival by a number of quartermasters and seamen,
who firmly, but with rough courtsey, herded the men along the middle
part of the deck while the women and children were allowed to go to the
port and starboard sides of the deck, where the officers received them.

Dick stationed himself abreast the aftermost of his quartette of boats,
and as the anxious mothers with their children came crowding up, he
quickly passed them through the opening in the rail and into the boat,
where the three men in charge of it received them and directed them
where to place themselves.  So far, there was very little confusion,
except that a few women clamoured for their husbands to be allowed to go
with them, so causing a certain amount of delay; but on the whole
matters were going very well, and within forty minutes the whole of the
boats that had been swung out were safely lowered and dispatched, with
orders to lie off at least half a mile, and there wait for further
orders.  These boats took not only all the women and children, but also
as many men as room could be found for.

But all told there still remained nearly two thousand men aboard the
doomed ship, whose safety depended upon the possibility of launching the
collapsible boats and life rafts before the now rapidly sinking liner
foundered.  And this possibility had become very questionable, for the
water had gained so much that the furnace fires had been extinguished
and steam was rapidly failing, with the result that the pumps were no
longer working at anything like full power.  Moreover, although every
possible arrangement had been made to facilitate the launching of the
collapsible and other craft, much still remained to be done before they
would be ready to receive their complement of passengers and be
dispatched.  Meanwhile the _Everest_ had settled so low in the water
that many of those still waiting were beginning to betray much
uneasiness, not to say restiveness, at the inevitable delay, this
restiveness being most apparent among the steerage passengers and, in a
lesser degree, among the second-class, while the first-class passengers,
almost to a man, not only displayed the most perfect coolness, but even
united with the officers of the ship in their efforts to allay the
rapidly growing impatience of the others.

Dick saw that trouble was brewing, and stimulated his gang of workers
both by voice and example, with the result that very soon he had a big
collapsible boat hooked on to the davit tackles and swung outboard.  But
she still needed a certain amount of preparation before she would be
ready to receive her living cargo, and to complete that preparation
Cavendish ordered four of his gang of six men into her.  Instantly a
crowd of excited foreigners from the steerage, probably mistaking the
action for an indication that the boat was ready, made a rush for her
and, thrusting Dick and his remaining two assistants aside, hurled
themselves frantically into her, shrieking and jabbering like maniacs.
The result, of course, was that the boat promptly collapsed, and taking
the intruders entirely by surprise, precipitated the greater number of
them into the water beneath, while the four seamen in her only escaped a
like fate by making a spring for and seizing the tackles and guys.

Dick, who with his two assistants had been knocked down and nearly
overboard by the rush, quickly scrambled to his feet and dropped
overboard every rope's end he could lay his hands upon, and by this
means contrived to rescue some twenty of the now thoroughly sobered and
frightened men; but, of course, this involved a most lamentable delay
and loss of time; and meanwhile it became apparent to all that the ship
was now fast settling in the water.  Even worse than that, however, was
the effect which the conviction produced upon the ignorant foreigners
among the passengers.  These were fast developing a tendency to panic,
which manifested itself in a determination to assist the seamen; and
since their efforts to assist were unaided for the most part by the
smallest glimmering of knowledge as to the proper thing to do, they
naturally hindered instead of helping, and not only Dick but the other
officers as well soon had all their work cut out to keep the zealous but
ignorant foreigners in anything like order.

The worst characteristic of panic is that it is so horribly contagious.
Let a crowd of people once get the idea into their heads that they are
in peril, and they will fight together like wild beasts in their anxiety
to escape.  And the officers of the _Everest_ knew this; therefore they
devoted the whole of their energies to the task of reassuring that great
crowd of men who now filled the boat deck of the sinking ship, arguing,
pleading, and even threatening, while the Dagos crowded around them ever
more menacingly, with eyes ablaze with mingled terror and ferocity, lips
contracted into savage snarls, and hands in many cases gripping long,
ugly-looking, dagger-like knives.

Then suddenly there came, unceremoniously elbowing his way through the
excited crowd, the well-known form of the purser, his face wreathed with
smiles, and a paper in his hand.

"Make way, there, make way, good people," he shouted.  "I have good news
for you.  The wireless operators have succeeded in getting into touch
with three more ships, and now not only the _Bolivia_, but also the
_Cotopaxi_, the _Platonic_, and the _Nigerian_ are hastening to our
rescue and will all be alongside us in the course of a few hours.
Therefore, cheer up, there is help and room for everybody on the way."

"Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!  Three cheers for the purser and his good
news," shouted a man with a strong American accent; and all who
understood him heartily took up the cheering; while the foreigners, who
had failed to catch the meaning of the purser's remarks, at least
understood from the cheering that good news of some sort had come to
hand, and their attitude at once became less menacing.

"Good for you, sir," exclaimed Dick to the men who had started the
cheering.  "Those hurrahs of yours are worth more than diamonds to us
just now.  Hurry up lads with that boat and let's get her afloat.  Are
you ready, Simpson?  Good!  Now then, come along, good people, but don't
crowd, there's plenty of time.  Jump in, sir--" to the man with the
American accent; "you deserve a place, if only in return for those
cheers."

"Not I, my son," answered the man addressed--he was only about
twenty-eight to thirty years of age.  "I have neither wife, child, nor
relative of any kind, as far as I know.  Let the married folk go first.
Now then, you husbands and fathers, step out.  Any more for the shore?"

He spoke with a smile on his good-locking face, and that and the little
jest of "Any more for the shore?" were as comforting to many a man there
as all the assurances of the ship's officers had been; nay, more, for
they had been accompanied by a wave of the hand toward the boat and a
voluntary stepping aside that seemed to say as plain as words--"Pass
along, you who are afraid.  I am not, and am entirely willing to wait my
turn."

But although the peril of panic was less imminent than it had been, it
was by no means banished, and probably none recognised this more clearly
than the American, for while the boat just filled was being lowered, he
edged up to Dick and murmured:

"Say, young man, unless you are looking for trouble I would advise you
to get all those Dagos out of the ship quick.  I know their sort, sir,
and I can tell by the look in their eyes, that the smallest thing in the
way of an extra scare will just send the whole crowd jumping mad.  So
get rid of them in a hurry.  That's my advice."

"And I believe you are right, too," answered Dick.  "But I can't act on
your advice, all the same.  There are others who are entitled to as good
a chance as the Dagos, and they must have it.  There is yourself, for
instance--"

"Nix!  I guess not!" interrupted the American.  "Of course, I know what
you mean," he continued, in a low tone; "the ship can't last much
longer, and a good few of us are in for a cold swim; but I guess I'll
take my chance with the rest of the bathers."

The launching and the dispatch of the collapsibles was now proceeding
with frantic haste, for it was no longer possible to conceal the fact
that the ship's minutes were numbered, while there were still over a
thousand people aboard.  But the discipline was perfect, the work was
going forward smoothly and with no more bustle than if the passengers
were being landed upon a wharf; and if it had not been for the horribly
nervous condition of the foreigners all might have been well.  But they
were in just that state of "nerves" when, as the American had suggested,
the smallest scare would act upon them as a spark upon gunpowder; and
the scare presently came, in the form of a small explosion--which might
have been nothing more than the accidental discharge of a revolver
somewhere down in the depths of the ship.  Whatever it may have been, it
was enough to turn the scale--to upset the state of delicate, unstable
equilibrium prevailing, and after a momentary glance around them, the
foreigners, nearly three-hundred in number, set up a yell of terror and
hurled themselves in a body upon those who were at work upon the boats.

In a flash, Dick, the American, and half a dozen more were swept out
through the temporary gangway by the maddened crowd, and, before they
fully realised what was happening, found themselves floundering in the
water alongside, while others came hurtling down on all sides.  Luckily
for himself, Dick went down straight--and consequently somewhat deep,
and before his descent was checked his presence of mind returned.  He
pictured to himself exactly what was happening above him, and struck out
powerfully under water, so as to escape the shower of falling bodies
when he should reach the surface.

The water was bitterly cold, but Dick kept under as long as he could,
swimming straight away from the ship; and when at length he rose he saw
with satisfaction that he was some ten yards distant from her, and well
clear of the struggling mass of men alongside, who were being added to
by dozens, even as he watched.

The next moment another head broke water alongside him, and as it did so
a voice which Dick instantly recognised ejaculated, amidst a fusillade
of coughs and splutterings--

"B-r-r-ur!  It's colder'n charity!  Darn those Dagos, anyway!  It was
cold enough up there on the hurricane deck, but here--ugh!"

"You are right," returned Dick.  "It _is_ cold, and no mistake.  I hope
those fellows didn't hurt you in their mad rush."

"Nary a hurt," replied Dick's companion.  "So it's you, young man, is
it?  Good!  Say! although it is so tarnation cold down here, I guess
we're better off than the people up there on deck.  For now we'll have a
chance to get clear of the ship before she sinks, if we hustle a bit.
See that star over there?  I guess we'd better make a bee line for it
and swim for all we're worth; then, if we're lucky we may escape being
dragged down in the vortex; and perhaps we may find a boat to hang on to
until something comes along and picks us up."

Dick agreeing, the pair struck out strongly in the direction of the
star.  But, as they swam, their ears were assailed by a veritable
pandemonium of sound aboard the sinking steamer--shouts, yells, screams,
and a regular fusillade of pistol shots, bearing eloquent evidence of
the terrible scenes that were enacting aboard her.

As the two swimmers proceeded the mingled sounds aboard the _Everest_
seemed to swell rather than diminish, to such an extent indeed that
presently the American turned to Dick and gasped, through chattering
teeth--

"S-s-say! s-s-seems to m-me that there's a r-reg-ular pitched b-a-attle
going on aboard there--ugh!  G-g-guess w-we're b-b-better off here
th-th-than there--eh?"

"R-r-rather!" stammered Dick back, but he was suffering so intensely
from the icy nip of the water that he felt no disposition to talk, and
simply pushed ahead for all he was worth, hoping that by dint of violent
exertion he might be able to conquer the numbing sensation that was
gradually clogging his movements.

For another ten minutes the pair pressed forward side by side.  Then
suddenly Dick's companion ceased his exertions, and, with a groan,
turned over on his back.  He managed to stammer a question whether there
were any boats at hand; and upon Dick replying in the negative the
American gasped:

"Then I'm d-d-done.  C-cramp all over.  C-can't s-swim 'nother s-stroke.
G-good-bye!"

"Good-bye be hanged!" shouted Dick, stirred to new life by his
companion's extremity.  "Just y-you lie as y-you are--I'll l-l-look
after you."

And flinging himself on his back, Cavendish gripped the other man firmly
by the collar, and, kicking out vigorously, towed him along.  Some five
minutes later the youngster became conscious of a sudden and very
decided fall in the temperature of the water, and looking about in
search of the cause, found himself within a few yards of a large cake of
field ice.  There, at all events, was a refuge of a sort--something that
would serve the purpose of a raft, and with a few vigorous strokes he
was alongside it.  It was a great slab of field ice, its flat upper
surface not more than six inches above water; and after a tremendous
struggle Dick not only got upon the slab himself but also contrived to
drag his companion up also.  Their combined weight seemed to have very
little effect upon the stability of the mass, merely depressing the
adjacent edge perhaps a couple of inches; and, this fact ascertained,
Dick lost no time, but set to work upon the body of the insensible
American, pounding, rubbing, and rolling it with such vigour that not
only did he at length feel the chill departing from his own limbs but
also felt his companion stir and heard him groan.

"Feel better?" demanded Dick.  Then, without waiting for a reply, he
added: "If you can only manage to get to your feet and walk about a bit,
we'll soon restore our circulation.  Let me give you a lift."

"Wait," gasped the American.  "Breast pocket--br-r-randy flask.  Take
nip and give me one."

The brandy flask was found, and after applying it to the lips of its
owner, Dick took a mouthful himself before replacing the top.  The
effect of the spirit upon their chilled bodies was almost miraculous, a
wave of warmth surged through them, and presently the American was on
his feet, and, with Dick's arm linked in his, was staggering to and fro
upon the surface of the ice.  As the stiffness and cramp worked out of
their limbs they were able to increase their pace, until within a few
minutes they were trotting to and fro across the mass and feeling almost
warm once more.

Meanwhile, although the sounds of conflict and confusion aboard the
_Everest_ still floated to the pair, horribly suggesting the awful
scenes that were being enacted on her deck, the ship herself had settled
so deeply in the water that only the lights in the cabins of the
promenade deck and the clusters illuminating the boat deck now marked
her whereabouts, and it soon became apparent that the end was very near.
As a matter of fact it was even nearer than the occupants of the floe
imagined, for as with one accord they paused to glance at the ship in
response to an exceptionally strident outburst of sound, they beheld the
line of lights suddenly incline from the horizontal, saw the slope grow
steadily steeper, and then, as the great mass of the vessel's stern hove
up, an indistinct blur of deeper blackness on the darkness of the night,
the line of lights slid forward and vanished one after another until all
had disappeared, while at the same moment a heartrending wail from
hundreds of throats pealed out across the water, punctuated by a
crackling volley of pistol shots.

"Gone!" ejaculated Dick's companion--and the ejaculation was almost a
groan.  "The unsinkable _Everest_, that triumph of human ingenuity which
was finally to insure travellers against every peril of the sea, is
gone, sent to the bottom by a chunk of ice so small that, we may assume,
the look-outs never saw it until it was too late.  And with her she has
taken, I suppose, the best part of a thousand people--of whom you and I,
my friend, might have been two, if those tarnation cowardly Dagos had
not knocked us overboard, for which I am obliged to them, although I
wasn't by a long chalk, a quarter of an hour ago.  Now I guess we're
just as well off here as those people are in the boats; better, maybe,
for we can at least move about and keep ourselves warm here, whereas--
say!  What's that?  See, over there!  Isn't it a rocket?"

As Dick looked in the direction toward which his companion pointed, he
caught a momentary glimpse of a sudden faint irradiation in the sky,
followed by the appearance of a minute cluster of tiny falling stars.

"Yes," he replied, "that's a rocket all right; and it means that the
_Bolivia_ or one of the other ships is coming up, and is firing rockets
to let us know that help is at hand.  But whatever she is, she is a long
way off yet, and probably will not arrive for the next half-hour at
least.  So let me recommend another sprint or two across the ice just to
keep the blood moving in our veins."

"Correct again," returned the American, as they started off at a brisk
walk.  "But--say!" he continued, turning to Dick and extending his hand,
"we've been so darned busy getting ourselves warm that I haven't yet
found time to thank you for saving my life.  But I'll do it now--"

"Saving your life?" ejaculated Dick.  "I don't think I understand."

"Oh yes, I guess you do," answered the American.  "Or, if you don't, I
calculate I can easily enlighten you.  You saved my life, young man,
when you took me in tow out there and navigated me to this desirable ice
floe, and don't you forget it.  You may bet your bottom dollar that I
shall not, and there's my hand upon it, stranger.  Now, let me introduce
myself.  I know who you are all right; you're Mr Cavendish, late fifth
officer of the unsinkable steamship _Everest_, very recently gone to the
bottom.  Isn't that right?"

Dick acknowledged the truth of his companion's statement, whereupon the
latter resumed.

"Very good," he said.  "Now, I suppose you've never heard of Wilfrid
Earle, of New York, the man who undertook to hunt his way from Cairo to
the Cape--"

"Oh! but of course I have," interrupted Dick.  "I've read about you in
the papers--and, come to think of it, I've seen your photograph also in
the papers.  Somehow your face seemed familiar when I noticed you a
while ago on the boat deck--"

"Sure!" cut in the other.  "That's me--Wilfrid Earle, the eccentric New
Yorker, all right, all right.  Only arrived home from Cape Town little
more than a fortnight ago, with a whole caravan load of skins, horns,
tusks, and so on; and now I guess they're about half a mile down, in the
hull of the _Everest_.  Gee!  Guess you're thinking me a heartless brute
for talking so lightly about the awful thing that's just happened; but,
man, I've got to do it--or else go clean crazy with thinking about it.
Or, better still, not think about it at all, since thinking about it
won't mend matters the least little bit.  Say! what are all those little
lights dotted about over there?"

"Oh!" answered Dick, "they are the lights of the _Everest's_ boats.
Each boat was provided with a lantern, in order that they might keep
together, and be the more easily found when the rescuing ships come up."

"Ah!" returned Earle.  "A very excellent arrangement.  But say! what
about us?  We have no lantern.  How are we going to make our whereabouts
known?  Those boats are a good mile away, and--"

"I don't think we need worry very greatly about that," answered Dick.
"Naturally, the _Bolivia_--or whatever the coming craft may be--will
pick up the people in the boats directly she arrives; but she'll lower
her own boats, too, and send them away to search the sea in the
immediate neighbourhood for people who may be floating about in
lifebuoys or cork jackets.  There must be quite a number of them at no
great distance from us--though how long they are likely to survive,
drifting about in the ice-cold water, I should not like to say.  But I
think we may take it for granted that, once they have arrived, the
rescuing ships will not quit the scene of the disaster until they have
made quite sure that they have got all the survivors.  They will wait
about until daylight comes, without a shadow of doubt."

"Good! it is comforting to hear you say that," returned Earle.  "You
see, I don't know much about the sea and sailor ways, and it occurred to
me that those rescuing ships might take it for granted that when they
had recovered the people from the boats, they would have done all that
was possible--and quit.  Gee! but it's cold here on this ice.  Lucky
that there's no wind, or we should be frozen stiff in half an hour.
We'll have another nip of brandy each; it'll do us both good.  Lucky
thing, too, that I had the sense to fill the flask and slip it into my
pocket when I knew what had happened to the ship.  I sort of foresaw
some such experience as this, and concluded that a drop of brandy might
be a good thing to have about one's person."

They had their nip and felt all the better for it; but it was necessary
for them to keep moving briskly in order to combat the numbing chill of
their wet clothes, and they resumed their pacing to and fro across their
narrow block of ice.

For a time their conversation was of a desultory and fragmentary
character, for they were both intently watching the progress of the
approaching steamer, which continued to send up rockets until the glow
of the flames from her funnels became clearly visible.  Then the display
of rockets suddenly ceased, no doubt because--as Dick surmised--the
lights of the boats had been sighted by the eager look-outs aboard her.
Then her mast-head light came into view, followed, a little later, by
her port and starboard side lights; and at length the dark, scarcely
discernible blotch that represented her hull lengthened out suddenly,
revealing a long triple tier of brightly gleaming ports; and a few
seconds later the roar of steam escaping as her engines stopped, reached
the two watchers on the ice.

"Hurrah!" shouted Dick, "she is among the boats at last and doubtless
picking them up.  Now we must keep our ears open listening for the sound
of oars, or hailing, for I'll bet that the skipper will have had his
boats swung out ready for lowering, and their crews standing by, long
ago."

But nearly half an hour elapsed before the welcome sound of oars working
in rowlocks faintly reached their ears, followed quickly by the shrill
note of an officer's whistle.

"At last!" breathed Dick, in tones of profound relief.  "Now is our
chance, Mr Earle.  We will shout together: `Boat ahoy!'  Take the time
from me.  Now--one, two, three, Boat ahoy-y-oy!"

The long drawn out "ahoy" had scarcely died on their lips before it was
answered by an equally long blast from the whistle, to which they
responded by repeating the hail at brief intervals, each answering blast
of the whistle telling them that the boat was drawing nearer, until at
length the faint loom of the boat showed in the darkness, and a lantern
was suddenly held high above a man's head.  Then they heard a voice
exclaim:

"There they are, sir--two of 'em--on that block of ice!"  And a minute
later they were being carefully helped into the stern sheets of the
boat, which was already floating deep with a load of motionless forms
enwrapped in cork jackets.  Whether they were living or dead it was
impossible just then to say.

"Any more on the ice?" demanded the officer in charge of the boat.
Then, following Dick's reply in the negative, he continued: "Right!
shove off, bow! pull port!  Give way all!  Now it's us for the ship.
Put your backs into it, lads.  A minute or two may make all the
difference between life and death for some of these poor chaps that
we've fished up.  Here, have a sip of brandy, you two.  You must be
frozen pretty nearly stiff."

"No brandy, thanks--unless my friend here--Mr Cavendish, fifth officer
of the _Everest_--would care to have another nip.  But we've already had
some--filled a flask and slipped it into my pocket when I realised that
the ship was going to sink--and I guess it saved our lives."

Upon Dick also declining "another nip" the officer in charge held out
his hand.

"Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr Cavendish, and to have picked you
up.  My name is Urquhart--`chief' of the _Bolivia_.  By the way, since
we got your S.O.S. and learned particulars of the smash-up, we've all
been wondering how the mischief you managed to pile up your ship on a
berg, after our warning of this afternoon.  Was it thick at the time,
or--how was it?"

"Your warning!" exclaimed Dick.  "Did you warn us, then?  If so, it is
the first that I've heard of it."

"Oh! we warned you all right," answered Urquhart, "and got your
acceptance of the message."

"The dickens!" ejaculated Dick.  "That's very queer.  Nobody said a word
to me of any warning having been received.  Yet--no, I cannot understand
it.  Mr Brown, our `chief,' you know, and some seven or eight more were
down in the ward-room when we hit the berg, and he seemed as much
astonished as any of us.  If he had heard anything about it, I think he
would certainly have passed the word round, but--he didn't."

"Ah!" remarked the _Bolivia's_ chief, with deep meaning.  "Were you by
any chance trying to break the record?"

"Well," answered Dick, "I believe the skipper had some such idea in his
mind.  You see we've had the most perfect weather all the way; little or
no wind, and water like glass; the ship reeling off her
twenty-six-and-a-half knots as steadily as clockwork, and everything
going beautifully.  I certainly did get a hint that Captain Prowse would
like to set up a new record--"

"Exactly!" concurred Urquhart, dryly.  "That, to my mind, explains
everything.  Your skipper got our warning--and simply suppressed it.  He
was out after a new record, and was willing to `take a chance,' as the
Americans say.  And here is the result--a brand-new ship gone to the
bottom, and, I suppose, hundreds of lives lost.  How many did you
muster, all told?"

"I couldn't say, exactly," answered Dick, "but probably not far short of
three thousand."

"Yes; there you are!" commented Urquhart.  "Three thousand; and boats
for only about half of 'em.  What became of your skipper?  Went down
with his ship, I expect."

"I'm afraid so," answered Dick.  "In fact, I should not be very greatly
surprised if it should prove that I am the only surviving officer."

"That so?  And how did you manage to escape?" demanded Urquhart.

Whereupon Dick launched forth into the full story of the disaster.  But
before he had nearly finished, the boat arrived alongside the _Bolivia_,
and her freight, whether living or dead, was quickly passed up on deck
to the waiting doctor, who quickly distributed the units here and there
about the ship, while the boat departed upon a further quest.

Dick and Earle, being both very little the worse for their adventure,
were first taken below and given a hot bath; then they were led to a
vacant passenger cabin, packed in hot blankets, and given a certain
nauseous draught which quickly threw them into a profuse perspiration
and a deep sleep, from which they emerged, some hours later, not a penny
the worse for their adventure.



CHAPTER THREE.

EARLE'S PROPOSITION TO DICK CAVENDISH.

It was the rays of the newly risen sun shining in through the open port
that awakened Dick Cavendish on the morning following his great
adventure.  He was occupying the upper bunk in the cabin, and the first
sound to greet his ears was the deep, regular breathing of the still
sleeping Earle in the bunk beneath.  Dick, being a sailor, awoke with
all his senses completely about him; the occurrences of the previous
night came back to his memory in a flash, and even before he opened his
eyes he was fully aware that he was in the top berth of one of the
_Bolivia's_ cabins, and that it was the companion of his adventure who
was in the bunk beneath him.

The next thing of which he was aware was the perfect stillness of the
ship, the complete absence of that peculiar tremor due to the throb of
the engines and the beat of the propellers when a ship is under way; and
the thought that the _Bolivia_ was still "standing by" caused him to
open his eyes, rise up in his bunk, and peer through the open port at
his elbow.  The picture which then presented itself to his gaze was that
of a brilliant morning, with a sky of turquoise blue faintly streaked
here and there with the merest suggestion of a few mares' tails, a sea
of sapphire blue wrinkling and sparkling under the softest imaginable
breathing of a westerly air of wind, the horizon obscured by a thin veil
of haze that seemed to be already melting in the warmth of the sun, a
great two-funnelled steamer lying motionless about a mile away, with a
film of smoke issuing from her funnels and "feathers" of steam trembling
at the top of her waste pipes, a whole flotilla of boats pulling slowly
and apparently aimlessly hither and thither, and a few masses of ice of
varying dimensions, from small fragments of a square foot in area to a
great berg fully sixty feet high, thinly dotting the surface of the sea.

Presently there came to Dick's ear the sound of a quietly spoken order
out on deck, followed by a subdued stir, accompanied by certain sounds
which the youngster's experience told him was the prelude to the
matutinal rite of scrubbing the decks, succeeded a few minutes later by
the gush and splash of water and the sound of scrubbing brushes
vigorously applied.  Then the cabin door opened, and a steward entered
bearing on a tray two cups of steaming coffee and a plate of buttered
biscuits.

"Mornin', sir--mornin', gen'lemen both," remarked this functionary as a
stir in the bottom berth announced that his entry had awakened its
occupant.  "Hope you've both slep' well and ain't feelin' none the worse
for last night's happenin's."

"Good morning, steward," answered Dick.  "Thank you.  Answering for
myself, I slept like a top, and am feeling A1 this morning.  I see that
we have not moved during the night, and that the boats are still out.
What ship is that out there on our port beam?"

"That's the _Platonic_, sir.  Arrived 'bout three hours ago.  And the
_Cotopaxi_--belongin' to your own company--and the _Nigerian_, they're
lyin' about half a mile off to starboard of us.  They comed up pretty
near together, 'bout two hours ago, and all of 'em lowered their boats
straight away.  Don't know exactly what luck they've had.  They've
picked up a good many, I b'lieve, but I'm afraid very few of em'll be
alive after floatin' about so many hours in the cold.  Clothes
genle'men?  Yes, certainly.  They're in the dryin' room.  I dessay
they're quite dry by this time.  I'll fetch 'em for ye in a brace of
shakes."

"How are the others getting on, steward?" demanded Earle.  "You picked
up everybody from the boats, I suppose?  What with them and your regular
passengers, the ship must be like a rabbit warren!"

"So she is, sir," grinned the steward.  "They're scattered about all
over her.  We make up shake-downs for 'em wherever we could find a
blessed inch of space.  They're in the smoke-room, the ladies' boodwor,
the lib'ry, the drorin'-room, dinin' saloon, the officers' quarters,
and--why, some of the men is even down in the stokeholds.  Oh yes, we
took 'em all aboard, of course.  But I expect we shall thin 'em out a
good bit presently.  Ye see they was all bound for Noo York, and the
_Platonic_ and _Nigerian_ are both goin' there, so I expect they'll take
the bulk of 'em between 'em.  And if there's any as wants to go back
home, the _Cotopaxi_ and us'll take 'em.  I haven't heard how they're
feelin' after their spell in the boats, but I reckon they're all right.
That wasn't no very great hardship for 'em, exceptin' for the kiddies.
They was a bit frightened, naterally.  And now, if you'll excuse me,
gen'lemen, I'll go and get your clothes, for there'll be a lot to do
presen'ly."

There was.  For after the entire area of the surrounding sea had been
carefully swept by the boats until it was ascertained that no more
living or dead were to be found, there came the task of providing
breakfast for everybody, in itself a task of no small magnitude under
the circumstances.  And while the meal was in progress, the officers of
the _Bolivia_ were going round among the rescued people, carefully
noting the names of the survivors for transmission to England and
America by wireless.  Then followed the gruesome task of identifying
such of the dead as had been found; after which came the separation of
those who wished to go on to New York from those who wished to return to
England, this in turn being followed by the trans-shipment of the
rescued in accordance with the arrangement come to by a council composed
of the captains of the rescuing ships.

As for Dick, it scarcely needed the interview which he had with Captain
Wilson, of the _Cotopaxi_, to decide him to return to England in that
ship.  It was, indeed, the only thing for him to do; he had no business
in New York; while, on the other hand, there would, of course, be a
judicial inquiry into the circumstances connected with the loss of the
_Everest_, at which his presence, as the sole surviving officer of the
ship, would be imperatively required.  He communicated his decision to
Earle immediately that the question was raised, and was surprised, and
not a little pleased, when the American announced his intention to also
return to England.

"You see," the latter explained, "my only, or at least my principal,
reason for going to New York fizzled out when the _Everest_ took my
collection of hunting trophies with her to the bottom of the Atlantic.
If I went on to New York there would be nothing for me to do, while I
have a scheme in my head that can be worked out in Europe as well as, or
better than, in New York.  Besides, to be quite frank with you,
Cavendish, I've taken a very strong liking for you altogether, apart
from the fact that you saved my life, and I guess I don't want to lose
sight of you.  And I'll tell you why.  If this scheme of mine--which I
have had in my mind for a long time--should eventuate, as I guess it
will, I shall want you to take a hand in it.  You are exactly the sort
of young fellow that I have been looking for, and I guess I can make it
quite worth your while to chip in with me.  But I won't say any more
about it just now--there will be plenty of time to talk matters over
later on.  Now let us go ahead and get aboard the _Cotopaxi_."

It was well on toward noon of that day before all the arrangements made
were completed, and the several ships proceeded towards their respective
destinations.  But long before that the wireless operators had been
busily engaged in transmitting the intelligence of the disaster to the
two hemispheres; and by the time that the ships were dipping their
ensigns to each other in farewell the newsboys of Europe and America
were charging through the streets of hundreds of cities and towns,
yelling in a dozen different languages, "Spechul edition!  Wreck of the
_Everest_!  Fearful loss of life!  Full partic'lars and list of the
saved!  Spechul!"

It was not until the Fastnet lighthouse showed above the horizon on the
_Cotopaxi's_ port bow that Earle reverted to the topic of his "scheme,"
although there had been ample opportunity for him to do so during the
eastward run, he having privately so arranged matters with the purser
that he and Cavendish were berthed in the same cabin during the voyage.
But for reasons best known to himself he had devoted the opportunity
thus afforded him to elicit as much as he possibly could of Dick's
previous history; and Dick, open and candid as the day, and with nothing
to conceal, had told a great deal more than perhaps some people would
have considered quite prudent; so that when the Fastnet hove in sight,
Earle knew practically all that there was to know about Dick, including
even the fact that the latter had a sister, who, Earle gathered, from a
number of cursory and incidental remarks, must be a girl very well worth
knowing.

On this particular morning, however, when, after breakfast, the pair
snugly ensconced themselves in a couple of deck chairs on the boat deck,
which just then happened to be clear of other occupants than themselves,
Earle suddenly broke ground with:

"Say!  Cavendish, have you ever heard of the city of Manoa?"

"The _City of Manoa_!" repeated Dick.  "Is she a steamer, or a sailing
ship?  I know the _City of Paris_, of course, and the--"

"No, no," interrupted Earle with a laugh.  "Can't you get ships out of
your head anyway?  I'm not talking now about a ship, but about a genuine
sure-'nough city, the Golden City of Manoa, to be precise.  Ever heard
of it?"

"Can't say I have," returned Dick, "excepting, of course, the fabled
city of that name, supposed to be ruled over by a certain El Dorado, who
was so enormously rich that he used to gild himself--"

"Exactly," agreed Earle.  "That's the guy.  And it is his city that I am
trying to talk to you about.  You--in common with almost everybody
else--speak of it as the `fabled' city, because, although it has been
much talked about and eagerly sought, the fact that it was actually
found has never been conclusively demonstrated.  The story of its
existence originated of course with those old Spanish conquistadors who,
under that king of freebooters, Pizarro, conquered the Incas, and
thereby amassed incalculable wealth.  You have, of course, heard the
story of his treacherous capture of the Inca Atahualpa, and of how the
latter, having noticed the Spaniard's greed of gold, offered to ransom
himself by filling with gold to as high as a man could reach, the room
in which he was confined.  That offer it was that seems to have fully
opened the eyes of Pizarro and his followers to the enormous potential
wealth of the country; and when, through their treacherous murder of
Atahualpa, they had to a considerable extent cut off from themselves the
supply of further enormous contributions, they naturally began to hunt
about for the source of the wealth that had already fallen into their
hands.

"It was through the inquiries thus instituted that the story of El
Dorado and his golden city first came to their ears.  They were told
that far away in the north there lived a people called the Chibchas, a
people as civilised as, and far more wealthy than, the Incas.  They were
given to understand that the Chibcha country abounded not only in gold
but also in gems, especially emeralds, and in illustration of the
bounteousness of this wealth certain customs of the Chibchas were
described.  The particular custom which gave rise to the legend of El
Dorado was that which was observed on the occasion of the accession of a
new monarch to the throne; and it was carried out somewhat after this
fashion:--

"The proceedings began with elaborate religious ceremonies, including a
long and rigorous fast, which was observed by the entire nation.  This
period of penance over, the inhabitants proceeded to the shores of Lake
Guatabita, where, upon the day arranged for his coronation, the new
ruler was brought forth from his place of penance, and, escorted by the
priests, was led down through the assembled multitude to the margin of
the lake, where the priests first smeared his body from head to foot
with a certain sticky kind of earth, powdered him all over with gold
dust, and then dressed him in his coronation robes, which were stiff
with golden decorations and gems.  This done, the new monarch entered a
vessel loaded with costly ornaments of gold, emeralds, and other
precious stones, where he was received by the four most important
caciques, who were also clad in their most gorgeous dress, and the craft
was forthwith rowed out toward the middle of the lake.  Arrived here,
the freight of gold and precious stones was solemnly thrown overboard as
an offering to the gods who were supposed to inhabit the depths of the
lake, the people ashore meanwhile celebrating the sacrifice by dancing
to the accompaniment of musical instruments until the monarch returned
to the shore.

"Guatabita was a sacred lake, and was the recognised receptacle for
votive offerings of enormous value upon every possible occasion, and it
must therefore at this day contain wealth beyond the dreams of avarice,
several attempts to secure which have already been made; and it was on
the shore of this lake that the golden city of Manoa was at first
supposed to be situated.

"Of course, we know now that such was not the case, for the lake has
been often visited, and no traces of the city have been found; but
Guatabita was the original objective of the seekers of El Dorado.

"When at length it was conclusively demonstrated that Manoa was not
situated upon the shore of Lake Guatabita, its existence began to be
doubted for a while; but the belief, and the desire to discover it, were
revived somewhere about the middle of the 16th century by a
circumstantial story related by one Martinez, a lieutenant of Diego de
Ordaz, who declared that, having been shipwrecked, he was taken inland
to the city--which he called Omoa--and there entertained in regal
fashion by El Dorado himself.  So circumstantial and full of gorgeous
detail was his story, that his chief Ordaz himself undertook the quest;
but the search resulted only in disappointment, as did that of many
others, including your own Sir Walter Raleigh.

"Now, the mistake made by all those people was, to my mind, that they
did not look for Manoa in the right place.  Their very eagerness misled
them.  So hungry were they for wealth that any old story was good enough
to start them off upon a wild goose chase.  I am not hungry for wealth;
I have more of it than, with my moderate desires, I know what to do
with.  I am not a multi-millionaire, but I have quite enough to enable
me to gratify all my cravings, of which the predominant ones are
exploration and hunting.  I also have a hankering to ferret out secrets;
and the secret, which has haunted me for years is that connected with
the city of Manoa.  Did or did it not exist?  That is what I want to
find out.  For years I have been digging and delving after every scrap
of information that I could possibly get track of upon the subject; and
you would be surprised if you could see what a mass I have accumulated.
But it was not until about a fortnight ago that, in your British Museum,
I unearthed a certain manuscript which furnished me with the one
definite and decisive clue I wanted.  I won't bore you with details, but
will just mention that with the help of this clue I have been able to
worry out the situation of the much sought city within a hundred miles
or so; and I have come to the definite conclusion that it lies within
the territory of Peru, on the eastern slope of the Andes.  And, having
told you that much, I suppose you will not be greatly surprised to learn
that I have determined to seek for it; for by so doing I shall be able
at one and the same time to gratify my state for exploration and my love
of hunting.

"You will remember, perhaps, that on the morning when we were picked up
by the _Bolivia_, I told you that I had a certain scheme in my head.
Well, that's the scheme.  You will also probably remember that I said,
if the scheme should eventuate I should want you to take a hand in it.
The scheme is going to eventuate--I've taken time to think it over and
make up my mind--and the question now is: Will you take a hand in it?
Stop a bit, I don't want you to answer off-hand.  Let me just tell you
the nature of my proposition first.

"There will be plenty of danger attaching to the expedition, and that is
one reason why I want you to become a member of it, because I noted your
behaviour aboard the _Everest_ while she was sinking.  I had my eye upon
you for some time before you became aware of my existence, and I could
not avoid being impressed by the coolness and firmness which you
displayed at a moment when those two qualities were essential to prevent
the breaking out of a desperate and disastrous panic.  Then you saved my
life; and I confess to being a bit superstitious on that point.  I have
the conviction that the individual who has saved one's life is a good
friend to have, and likely to bring one luck.  Finally, what I have seen
of you since has caused me to conceive a strong admiration of and liking
for you--three good reasons, I think, for my desire that you should
become a member of my party.

"Now, as to the terms which I am prepared to offer you.  I shall, of
course, defray all the costs of the expedition, including outfit, so
that you will not be put to a cent of expense.  And I will enter into a
contract with you, engaging you for a definite period of three years,
even though the expedition should, not last for so long as that; while,
should it last longer, you will be paid full salary for the whole of the
time.  And I will pay you at the rate of one hundred and fifty dollars--
or thirty British pounds, if you prefer it--per month, arranging with my
bankers to pay in that sum every month for three years, to any bank in
the United States or England that you choose to name.  Now, my friend,
what do you say?  Will you come?"

"Do you require an answer at once?" demanded Dick.

"No, I don't," answered Earle.  "Take time to think it over, if you
like, between now and our arrival at Liverpool."

"Yes," said Dick.  "I should like a few hours to consider the matter.
For, you see, your proposal has come upon me quite unexpectedly; and it
involves a break of something like three years in my career as a sailor,
which may make it a bit difficult for me to take up the life again just
where I lay it down.  And, quite apart from that, there is the matter of
the inquiry into the loss of the _Everest_.  That may not come on for
some time, and when it does it may be a lengthy affair.  That would
probably mean some months of delay; while, of course, you will be
anxious to start at once, now that you have made up your mind to go."

"No," answered Earle.  "I am in no hurry at all; on the contrary, two or
three months of delay would be welcome rather than otherwise to me,
because it would afford me time to extend my investigations a bit, with
the possibility of securing further and still more definite clues."

"Then, in that case," said Dick, "I will give your proposal my most
careful consideration, and let you have a definite reply before we
land."

And so the matter was left, for the moment.  But the proposal appealed
very strongly to Dick for a variety of reasons, the chief of which was
that his acceptance of it would enable him to provide for his sister
Grace for at least three years.  The flavour of adventure attached to
the enterprise also powerfully appealed to him, for adventure was the
very breath of life to him; and as for the rest--well, like all
adventurous spirits, he was disposed to let the future take care of
itself.  Therefore, he did not wait for the arrival of the _Cotopaxi_ at
Liverpool, but, having thought the matter carefully over, informed
Earle, on the evening of the same day, that he gratefully and gladly
accepted his proposal.

The following day saw the arrival of the _Cotopaxi_ at Liverpool, and
as, of course, it had been known for several days beforehand that
certain survivors from the _Everest_ were on board her, and as, thanks
to frequent wireless communications with her, the time of her arrival
was known almost to a minute, and had been made public, the landing
stage was packed with people when the ship drew alongside, most of them,
it is true, animated by nothing more than mere morbid curiosity to gaze
upon those who had recently passed through a very terrible experience,
but among them were a few who had come down to welcome back to life the
relatives or friends who had escaped.  And among these were Mr James
McGregor, the manager of the Mount S.S. Company; and with him, Grace
Cavendish, the purpose of the latter being, of course, to welcome her
brother, while Mr Mcgregor's business was to see that Dick did not
prematurely fall into the hands of the reporters.  Dick and Earle, being
both destitute of baggage, were among the first to cross the gang plank,
landing together; and thus it came about that Earle naturally saw Grace
Cavendish, and was introduced to her, with results that may hereafter be
disclosed.  And it is significant that whereas Earle's original
intention had been to proceed direct to London he now somewhat surprised
Dick by informing him that he intended to take up his abode in the
Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool, for the present.

The events of the ensuing two months, during which period the judicial
inquiry into the loss of the _Everest_ was prepared for and carried out,
have very little to do with this story, and they may, therefore, be
dismissed in a few words.  It was, of course, only natural that Mr
McGregor, in his capacity of manager to the company owning the lost
liner, should have frequent and long interviews with Dick and Earle, for
the purpose of eliciting information upon various points connected with
the disaster, as they were raised by the company's counsel, and those
interviews soon resulted in the development of a strong mutual
friendship between the trio, in consequence of which Dick and Earle
became frequent visitors at the manager's house overlooking Prince's
Park.  And, quite as naturally, it soon came about that Dick informed
Mr McGregor of Earle's proposal, and invited the manager's opinion as
to the effect which his acceptance of it would have upon his future
prospects.  The result was that, after the three had fully talked the
matter over together, the manager came to the conclusion that not only
was the proposal much too advantageous for Dick to refuse, but that his
acceptance of it would not very materially affect his maritime career,
should he determine to resume it upon the termination of the adventure,
ending up with the assurance that Dick might always count upon his (the
manager's) influence and help.

For the rest, Dick arranged with Earle that the former's salary should
be paid in monthly to Grace's credit, in a Liverpool bank, so that his
sister might be effectively protected against any unforeseen reverse of
fortune; while Grace made it clear that she was so happy in her present
position that she would continue in it so long as the Mcgregors had any
need of her; thus, when at length the inquiry was over and Dick was once
more free, he was able to bid his sister farewell with the pleasant
consciousness that her future was as secure as human foresight could
make it.

The first week of August witnessed the arrival of Dick and Earle in New
York, where the pair took up their abode in the latter's comfortable
home in Fifth Avenue during the progress of their preparations for the
great adventure.  The precise nature of these preparations need not be
revealed at this point of the story, since the details will appear as
the narrative proceeds; the only fact that need now be mentioned being
that, after long and anxious consideration of the question, Earle had
finally determined that the starting point of the expedition should be
the junction of the river Tecuachy with the Javari, a tributary of the
Amazon, to which point he and Dick would proceed in the former's steam
yacht _Mohawk_, a comfortable little craft of two hundred and fifty tons
register.  At this point, on the left, or northern, bank of the
tributary, stands, on Peruvian soil, a small town called Conceicao, and
abreast of this town the _Mohawk_ came to an anchor about mid-afternoon
of a certain day in the month of November, not so very many years ago.

At the moment when the yacht came to an anchor, her deck was encumbered
with two long canoe-shaped craft, each measuring six feet beam by thirty
feet in length.  They were practically flat-bottomed, to ensure light
draught, and were built in sections, to provide the maximum of
portability, which quality was further ensured by the fact that the
material of which they were constructed was an amalgam largely composed
of aluminium.  They were completely decked from stem to stern with a
light covering of the same material, rendering them absolutely
watertight; but by an ingenious arrangement of wing nuts these decks
could be removed in a few minutes; while, by a similar arrangement, the
hulls could almost as quickly be taken apart.

No sooner was the _Mohawk's_ anchor down and the craft riding stem-on to
the current than the crew proceeded to launch the two canoes overboard,
when proof of their extreme lightness became manifest in the fact that
it needed the strength of only ten men to lift each of them and heave
them bodily over the rail, after which they were passed astern and
secured by a painter.  A number of beams and planks, all carefully cut,
fitted and marked, were then brought on deck, after which half a dozen
men descended to the two canoes; the beams and planks were passed down
to them as required, and within an hour the whole was fitted together in
the form of a double canoe, twenty feet broad, with a space of eight
feet between the two hulls--with a plank deck of twenty feet width in
the middle and twenty feet long.  This curious looking craft was next
fitted with two masts and a bowsprit, arranged to carry two standing
lugs and a jib, and by the time that this was done the tropical night
was descending upon the workers, and their labours for the day came to
an end.

Meanwhile, an official visit had been paid to the yacht by the Inspector
of Customs of Conceicao, who inquired into the reasons for the visit of
the yacht, inspected her papers, and--upon learning that hunting and
exploration were the objects of the expedition--levied a substantial
amount in the shape of duty upon the guns, ammunition and general
equipment of the party, notwithstanding the fact that the Tecuachy
flowed through Brazilian territory; after which he dropped his official
attitude and offered his services--for a consideration--in furthering
the objects of the expedition.  All that Earle needed at the moment,
however, was to engage the services of a dozen natives possessing some
knowledge of the country to be traversed--and also a knowledge of the
Spanish language, of which the American was a fluent linguist--and these
the inspector faithfully promised to produce on the morrow.

It was past the hour of noon on the following day when the inspector
turned up aboard the _Mohawk_ with his dozen recruits.  Earle and Dick
were sitting down to luncheon on the after deck, beneath the awning when
they arrived; but subsequent inspection of the party seemed to justify
the delay, for, so far at least as physique was concerned, the men
appeared to be everything that could be desired.  They were all
full-blooded Indians--which Earle pronounced to be infinitely preferable
to half-breeds--and seemed, so far as might be judged from appearances,
to be civil, capable, and fairly intelligent fellows.  They all
understood Spanish, although they spoke the language but imperfectly;
but when it came to questioning them upon their knowledge of the country
which they would be called upon to pass through, they all frankly
confessed utter ignorance of it, beyond the fact that from hearsay they
understood it to be full of perils of every imaginable description.  But
this, they explained, had not deterred them from enlisting when they
learned that their leaders were to be two white men, for they had heard
that white men were possessed of strange powers, enabling them to
conquer every conceivable kind of peril, while, as for themselves, they
were quite willing to work hard, and fight hard, too, provided that the
pay was good.

By that time the fitting and equipment of the double canoe had been
completed and she was ready for an immediate start; as soon, therefore,
as the new hands had been paid three months' wages in advance, which
they entrusted to the inspector to transmit to their relatives, and as
soon also as the inspector had been paid a certain sum as head money for
his services in finding the men, the whole party quitted the yacht and
got under way, heading across the river for the mouth of the Tecuachy,
before entering which they saw the _Mohawk_ heave up her anchor and
start upon her return journey to New York.



CHAPTER FOUR.

THE QUEST BEGINS.

The expedition consisted of fifteen persons all told, namely, Wilfrid
Earle, the chief and leader; Dick Cavendish, his lieutenant; Peter,
Earle's negro cook and a _chef_ of surpassing skill, capable of
concocting appetising dishes out of the most meagre and unpromising
materials; and the twelve recruits from Conceicao, one of whom, named
Inaguy, at once the most masterful and intelligent of them, Earle
immediately appointed headman of the gang, with a small increase of pay,
at the same time making him responsible for the good behaviour of those
under him.

There was a fresh easterly breeze blowing when the double canoe--or
raft, as they agreed to term her--cast off from alongside the _Mohawk_,
and under its influence the craft, with one leeboard down, slid across
the Javari at a speed that was as surprising as it was gratifying.  And
when at length she slid in between the low, forest-clad banks of the
Tecuachy, the breeze was still fair for her, although the closer
proximity of the shores to each other caused it to come at times in
baffling flaws.  Dick, as the sailor of the party, was naturally in
command, and when at length the sunlight vanished from the tree-tops on
the eastern shore of the stream, giving warning of the near approach of
night, he ran the raft into a convenient bight on the lee shore--that
the mosquitoes might not come off to them against the wind during the
night--and came to an anchor in the midst of what seemed to be an
unpeopled wilderness.

But if the country round about them was empty of human inhabitants--and
even of this they could not be certain--it seemed to be full to
overflowing of life of another sort, for no sooner had the swift tropic
night descended upon the adventurers, than the hot, humid air became
vibrant with sound, the dominant note of which was the _chur_ and hum of
myriads of insects haunting the dense forest on either hand, and the
still more dense undergrowth which cumbered the soil between the trunks
of the trees.  This great volume of indescribable sound--amazing because
of its intensity, coupled with the knowledge that it was created, for
the most part, by creatures of almost microscopic dimensions--was
continuous, merely rising and falling at irregular intervals, like the
sough of the wind through the tree-tops; but it was constantly broken in
upon by other sounds, the most prominent of which was perhaps the
croaking of innumerable frogs, sounding like the rapid whirr of wooden
rattles and lasting continuously for a period of several minutes, and
then ceasing abruptly, as though at a signal, to recommence as abruptly
a few minutes later.  These sounds were commonplace enough, and after an
hour or two to allow the ear to become accustomed to them, would of
themselves have been soothing and conducive to somnolence rather than
the reverse, but they were constantly being broken into by others so
strange, and in some cases so weird, that the night threatened to be a
sleepless one for at least the two white men of the party.  For
instance, at pretty frequent intervals there came from the depths of the
forest, now here, now there, what sounded like the notes of a bell,
followed perhaps by a weird unearthly scream, which would be taken up
and repeated on all hands until it needed but a small effort of the
imagination to convince the listener that some ghastly tragedy was being
enacted in his immediate vicinity.  And the effect was further
heightened by strange moanings and groanings, as of people in mortal
agony, queer sobbing sounds, cries as of children in distress, and,
intermingled with these, savage grunts and snarlings, barking, as of
angry dogs, loud whistling, coughing, roaring, sudden and violent
rustlings among the underbush, an occasional loud crash proclaiming the
fall of some forest giant, and, nearer at hand, sudden rushes and
swirling sounds in the water about the raft.

Immediately after coming to an anchor for the night Earle had drawn
forth from among the many bales and packages that were stowed on the
deck of the raft a long bundle, which, upon being cast loose, resolved
itself into the constituents of a double-skinned tent, the inner skin
being made of loosely woven cotton canvas, while the outer skin--with
six inches of air space between it and the inner--was made of light but
thoroughly waterproof material, warranted by its maker to withstand even
the assault of a tropical deluge.  This tent the two white men quickly
set up on the deck of the raft, between the two masts, when it was seen
to be roomy enough to accommodate two camp beds with a table of
convenient size between them, high enough for even Dick to stand upright
in it, and with sufficient space between the table and the entrance to
accommodate two deck chairs.  When the beds were made up on the folding
pallets, a lighted hurricane lamp suspended from the ridge pole of the
tent, and the table laid for dinner, the interior presented an eminently
cosy and comfortable appearance, and its two occupants sat down to the
meal provided for them by the inestimable Peter with excellent
appetites.

But they did not linger long over the pleasures of the table, for there
was still work to be done before they could conscientiously seek the
beds that wooed them, that work consisting in the unpacking of their
weapons and ammunition, and making the former ready for instant service.
This task they undertook immediately after dinner, sitting side by side
just within the entrance of the tent.

Earle had been, according to Dick's notion, lavishly extravagant in the
provision of firearms for the expedition, the total armoury amounting to
no less than twenty-one weapons; namely, three Westley-Richards
five-shot .318 repeating rifles; three Remington U.M.C. five-shot 35
repeating rifles, firing soft-nosed bullets; two 12A Standard U.M.C.
fifteen-shot .22 repeating rifles--the last five being especially
intended for big game and fighting; three Westley-Richards double-barrel
12-gauge smooth-bores; two Smith hammerless 10-gauged ditto; two
Remington U.M.C. 12-gauge six-shot repeating smooth-bores; and six Colt
Government model seven-shot .45 calibre automatic pistols.  But, as
Earle explained, "when you go exploring and hunting, you need a variety
of weapons for different purposes; and there is also the contingency of
possible loss to be considered; moreover, in a fight, with tremendously
heavy odds against you, a strong battery of weapons rapidly used, will
often put the enemy to flight before he has time to get to close
quarters."

The two friends were busily engaged in unpacking, setting up and loading
their weapons, chatting animatedly together meanwhile, and pausing from
time to time to gaze contemplatively into the velvet darkness which
represented the forest-clad nearer bank of the river before them, when
suddenly Dick caught sight of what looked like two small greenish-yellow
lamps close together that had suddenly revealed themselves in the
blackness.  They were quite motionless, and the lad scarcely knew what
to make of them.

"Look, Earle," he murmured.  "Do you see those two small lights over
there?  What can they be, I wonder?"

Earle, who was intent upon his work, looked up.

"Lights!" he exclaimed.  "Where?  Oh, yes, I see.  They are not lights,
my unsophisticated youth, they are the eyes of an animal--a carnivorous
animal, I judge, by the look of them--which has come down to the river
to drink, and is doubtless wondering who and what the dickens we are."

He glanced eagerly about him for a moment, then pointed to one of the
weapons which Dick had already put together and loaded.

"Just hand me that Remington U.M.C. rifle, old chap--it is loaded, isn't
it?  Good!  This will be a capital chance to try it."

The eyes were still plainly visible, apparently staring steadily at the
lamp-lit entrance of the tent and the two figures seated therein.
Without rising from his seat, Earle slowly lifted the rifle to his
shoulder, and the next instant the whip-like report of it rang out, to
be instantly succeeded by a tremendous outburst of every imaginable
sound from the forest, amid which the cries of countless startled birds
and the sudden rush of their wings predominated.  But Dick had kept his
gaze steadily riveted upon those two faintly shining orbs across there
in the blackness, and when the flash of the rifle lit up that blackness
for the fraction of a second he caught an instantaneous glimpse of a
foreshortened tawny-hided black-spotted form, with a rounded head and
short ears, standing at the very edge of the water, staring steadfastly
toward the raft.  Then, as the vision vanished, a snarling sound, half
roar, half shriek, met his ears, followed by a few convulsive splashes--
then stillness.

"By Jove!  I believe you've hit him," he exclaimed, excitedly starting
to his feet.  "It was a leopard; I saw him by the flash of the rifle."

"No; not a leopard, my son," answered Earle.  "So far as I know, there
are no leopards in America--except in menageries.  But it may have been
a panther or jaguar.  Let's get into the canoe and investigate.  We'll
take the lantern with us, and the rifle, to guard against possible
accidents."

Part of the equipment of the expedition consisted of a very handsome
little fifteen-foot cedar-built canoe, intended to be towed astern of
the raft, and there it now floated, attached to the raft by a slender
painter.  Unhooking the hurricane lamp, Dick led the way aft, followed
by Earle with the rifle in his hands, and presently they had both taken
their seats in the cockleshell of a craft.  She was fitted with rowlocks
for use, with a short pair of sculls for the especial benefit of Dick,
who knew nothing as yet of how to handle a paddle.  They were half way
to the shore when Earle, holding up the lantern on the end of a
boathook, caught sight of the motionless body of his victim lying half
in and half out of the water.

"There he is, and stone dead, if I'm any judge!" he exclaimed.  And even
as he spoke a great black head appeared close to the body, the sound of
snapping jaws was heard, and with a sudden swirl of water both head and
body disappeared in the black depths, to be seen no more.

"Con-found it!" exclaimed Earle, savagely.  "Now, if that isn't too bad!
My first jaguar, too, and a fine one at that; and a beastly 'gator has
stolen him from almost under my nose.  Let up, Dick--or, rather, turn
back.  It's no good.  That darned 'gator has got my jaguar safe down
there in the mud, and we shall never see him again.  Well, never mind, I
daresay we shall get plenty of other chances.  But I'll watch out and
not be caught napping next time."

What Earle said was true; the jaguar was gone beyond hope of recovery,
and the only thing to be done was to turn back.  Back they accordingly
went, to resume their work of putting their battery in order; nor did
they cease their labours until every weapon had been unpacked, put
together, thoroughly cleaned, and loaded in readiness for any emergency.
Then they retired to their respective couches, and after Peter had
carefully closed the mosquito curtains round them and extinguished the
hurricane lamp, proceeded to "woo the drowsy god."

But the novelty of their surroundings, the enervating heat, and the
multitudinous sounds that filled the night kept sleep at bay for several
hours, and it was not until the cool air that usually heralds morning in
the tropics blew in upon them through the open flap of the tent that
they actually sank into a sound slumber, from which they were awakened
only too soon by Peter with their matutinal cup of chocolate.

"I suppose," mused Dick, as he stepped out of the tent, pyjama-clad, and
gazed down into the turbid waters of the river, "it would be hardly wise
to indulge in a swim, though I feel that it is just the one thing I need
above all others to freshen me up."

"Swim!" retorted Earle, who stood beside him.  "My dear chap, I don't
know the precise depth of water just here, but I would be prepared to
bet a substantial sum that if a man were foolish enough to take a header
off here, he would never come up again; for if he didn't stick in the
mud of the bottom, that alligator who stole my jaguar last night, or
some of his relations, would have him before he could come to the
surface again.  No, no; no swimming for us at present, my boy; we shall
have to make out as best we can with our collapsible `tubs,' which I see
Peter has already filled for us, aft there.  There! what did I tell you?
See that?  What sort of a chance do you think you would have with a
chap like that?"  And as he spoke he pointed to a spot not half a dozen
yards away, where the head of an alligator had suddenly broken water,
lazily swimming up against the current.  The ripples which marked the
slight movements of the brute's tail showed that he must have measured
quite fifteen feet from end to end.

They bathed and breakfasted at leisure; and then, as there was no wind,
and Earle did not wish to impose upon his crew the labour of sweeping
the raft up-stream against the current if it could be avoided, the two
white men took the canoe, a repeating rifle and a smooth-bore, and went
ashore, effecting a landing at the spot where the jaguar had been shot
on the previous night, and which they now saw had been formed into a
tiny bit of beach through the breaking down of the bank by the animals
which evidently came to that particular spot to drink.  They had no
difficulty in finding the spoor of the lost jaguar, indeed it was the
first thing to attract their attention upon stepping ashore, and as
Earle gazed down upon the deep indentations in the plastic mud he
execrated the thieving alligator afresh, for the prints were as big as
the palm of his hand, indicating that the beast must have been a
particularly fine specimen.

At first they experienced very little difficulty in making their way
through the dense undergrowth, their plan being simply to follow the
path beaten down by the animals; but after travelling about a hundred
yards this path became merged into a number of others, evidently not
quite so much used, and in these the going was much more difficult, the
scrub not being so completely beaten down.  So difficult of passage did
they at length find it that they were seriously discussing the
advisability of giving up the attempt and turning back, when Earle, who
was leading the way, suddenly declared that he saw light ahead, and
pushing resolutely on, the explorers presently burst their way into a
wide open space of some ten or twelve acres extent, in which, for some
unknown reason, no trees were growing, save a few scattered saplings,
the tallest of which was not more than nine or ten feet high.

As they emerged into the open the pair involuntarily came to a halt,
entranced by the extraordinary beauty of the scene that met their gaze.
The open space, roughly circular in shape, was completely hemmed in on
every side by trees, some of which were of enormous size, while the
tints of their foliage varied through every shade of green, from that of
the young bud to a depth of tone that was nearly black.  Nor was green
by any means the only tint displayed; for some of the trees appeared to
be clothed with flowers of vivid flaming scarlet, instead of leaves,
while the leaves of others, instead of being green, were of a deep, rich
crimson hue, or a fine ruddy bronze, like that of the copper beech.
And, as though this were not in itself enough of beauty, many of the
more sombre foliaged trees were draped and festooned in riotous
profusion with parasitic creepers, the blooms upon which would have
driven a painter to distraction, so rich and varied were their tints,
while the shapes of some of them were fantastic enough to suggest that
Dame Nature must have been under the influence of a nightmare when she
formed them.  A few of them were merely giant creepers, but Earle, who
possessed more than a smattering knowledge of botany, declared that most
of them were orchids, several of which were new to him.  The air of the
place was heavy with mingled odours--one might almost have called them
perfumes, were it not for a certain smack of rankness and pungency in
them--and alive with birds, varying in size from that of a bumble bee up
to that of a carrion crow, a few specimens of which could be seen
perched here and there on the topmost branches of the tallest trees.
Several of the birds were of the humming bird or sunbird species, and
these, of course, gleamed and flashed in the sunlight like winged
jewels, while nearly all boasted plumage of pronouncedly vivid
colouring.

The two friends were still standing together on the spot where they had
come to a halt when first entering the clearing, and Earle was
expatiating upon the beauty and rarity of some of the orchids in their
immediate neighbourhood, when they suddenly became aware of the presence
of a large deer on the opposite side of the clearing.  So silently had
the creature come that neither of those who now stood watching him had
been aware of the moment of his coming, nor could they discern the spot
from which he had emerged.  The animal was standing as motionless as a
statue, with head erect, and he seemed to be sniffing the air, searching
it for hostile odours, so to speak.  He appeared to be quite unaware of
their presence, a fact not very difficult to account for, since the sun
was shining strongly in his eyes, while the two friends were not only
standing in deep shadow, but also chanced to have come to a halt
immediately behind a thick bush, which effectually hid all but their
heads from the deer.

Instinctively, Earle began slowly to lift his rifle, but only to lower
it again, as he murmured to Dick:

"Too far off--a good three-hundred yards if an inch.  We'll wait a bit.
I believe he has not yet seen us, and if so, he may come a bit nearer.
I guess this is where he comes every day to graze.  Ah!  I thought so"--
as the animal lowered his head and began to crop the rich grass.
"Crouch down and keep silent; with luck and patience we'll get him
before long."

It was weary work, to Dick at least, crouching behind that bush, for the
grass was long, and full of ticks, ants and other minute pests, which
lost no time in insinuating themselves between his clothes and his skin,
until the torment of his itching became almost unendurable.  But Earle
was, or seemed to be, inured to such trifling discomforts, and
continued, motionless as a graven image, to kneel on one knee behind the
bush, intently watching through its interstices the movements of the
unsuspecting deer.  And those movements were exasperatingly deliberate,
for the grass was rich, luscious and abundant, enabling the animal to
secure several mouthfuls before it became necessary for it to move by so
much as a step, while, further to tax the patience of the watchers, the
movements were vexatiously erratic, now here, now there, and as often as
not away from rather than toward the spot where the two men crouched
behind the screen of shrub.

At length Earle's patience began to show signs of giving out.  He very
cautiously altered his position, changing from one knee to the other; a
little later he knelt upon both knees, and a little later he sat down.
Finally, finding this attitude unfavourable for shooting, he again got
upon one knee.  By this time, however, the insect invaders of his person
were making their presence so distinctly felt that even his iron
self-control was beginning to succumb to their persistence, and at
length he murmured to Dick:

"Guess I'll have to risk a long shot, after all.  At this rate it may be
hours before the beast will draw appreciably nearer, and meanwhile, at
any moment something may happen to scare him away."  And very slowly and
carefully he proceeded to raise the rifle to his shoulder.

It was while he was doing this that the deer suddenly stopped feeding,
and, with his head still close to the ground, seemed gradually to
stiffen until his whole body became rigid.

"What's the matter now?" grumbled Earle, becoming rigid in his turn.
"Wonder whether he has scented us.  But I guess not--at this distance.
There is no wind, and--Gee! that explains it."  And he excitedly sprang
to his feet, his example being instantly followed by Dick.

What had happened was this.  The deer had stood perfectly rigid for
perhaps half a minute, during which Earle had also suspended all
movement, under the impression that the quarry had caught a momentary
glimpse of something suspicious behind the screening bush.  Then, while
the watchers waited tensely for the next development to occur,
something--for the moment it was impossible to say precisely what it
was--had flashed into view from out of the long grass, within a yard or
so of where the deer stood, and the next second the unfortunate creature
was enveloped in the coils of a huge python.  As the watchers of the
unexpected tragedy sprang to their feet they distinctly heard the bones
of the deer crack as the serpent constricted its coils about its victim;
and then Earle, with an ejaculation of anger, sprang out from behind the
bush, and, with Dick at his elbow, started at a run towards the spot as
the deer sank with a groan into the long grass.

A few seconds sufficed the pair to reach their goal, or at least near
enough to it for them to see that the unfortunate deer was not yet quite
dead, for its hind legs, which were not involved in the coils of the
python, were kicking out feebly, while its eyes gazed up at them
pitifully with an expression that might easily have been interpreted
into a prayer for deliverance from its sufferings.  As for the python,
it was already relaxing its awful grip upon the body of its victim, and
had thrown off one coil as the two friends came into view.  Earle, who
seemed to know something of the nature of the creature, warned Dick to
stand back, as the reptile was loosening itself in readiness to make a
spring.  But he himself evidently had no fear of the snake, for as it
reared its great head and gave vent to an angry hiss, he threw up his
rifle, and, standing his ground, fired a shot that went crashing through
its right eye and out at the back of the skull.

The next instant Dick received a blow across the chest that not only
knocked the breath out of him, but sent him to the ground with a crash,
while the threshing of the creature's body upon the earth, as it writhed
and twisted convulsively in its death agony, might have been heard from
one end of the glade to the other.  Earle dashed forward and quickly
dragged Dick out of the way before assisting the lad to regain his feet,
and it was well that he did so, for the next moment the monster was
writhing and pounding upon the very spot from which Dick had been
dragged.  And it was quite upon the cards that, but for Earle's prompt
action, the young Englishman might have been enveloped by those writhing
coils, and every bone in his body broken.  As it was, no great harm was
done; and as soon as Earle saw that his friend was safe, and that in its
struggles the python was moving steadily away from the spot, he sprang
in, and whipping out his big hunting knife, quickly drew it across the
dying deer's throat, thus terminating its sufferings.

"Poor brute!" he murmured, regarding the mangled body of the dead deer;
"if I had but made up my mind and pressed the trigger a few seconds
earlier, you would have been spared a good deal of terror and suffering.
As it is--well, let us get back to the raft, Dick, and send a couple of
men to bring in the deer.  Its tongue and hind-quarters are untouched,
and will afford all hands a meal of fresh meat, if we can secure it
before the vultures come along.  But we shall have to hurry, for unless
I am mistaken, there is the vanguard of their army already."  And he
pointed upwards towards a few small dark dots in the sky that had
suddenly and mysteriously appeared.

They hastened back to the raft and hurriedly explained to Inaguy, the
Indian headman, what had happened, and what Earle wanted done; and a few
minutes later two of the blacks sprang into the canoe and paddled away
to the shore, to return an hour later, with the head, hind-quarters, and
skin of the deer, but with the declaration that they had been wholly
unable to find the body of the python.

By this time a little breeze had sprung up from a quarter which would
just enable the raft to lay her course up the reach of the river in
which it then was, and the sails were accordingly set and the craft got
under way.  But the wind was so scant that the raft was able to do
little more than hold her own against the current; and when they
anchored that night, they estimated that they had covered little more
than eight miles of ground.

For an entire week the journey up the stream progressed in pretty much
the same deliberate fashion, at the end of which time they were detained
for a whole day by a furious outburst of wind, rain, thunder and
lightning, in the course of which the raft broke adrift, and, but for
Dick's skilful handling of the situation, would probably have been lost,
with all the party's belongings, and, quite possibly, a few lives as
well.  As it was, they were driven back some ten miles down stream
before a suitable refuge could be found and the raft again safely
anchored.  It was the worst storm that Dick had experienced, and even
Earle admitted that it far surpassed the worst that he had ever
encountered, even in the interior of Africa.  The wind blew with
hurricane force, stripping the trees of their leaves and even of some of
their branches, so that the air was full of flying debris, while the
lightning flashed and the thunder roared and boomed and crashed in a
continuous deafening medley of sound that might almost have excused the
belief that the foundations of the earth were being torn asunder.  And
all the time the rain came pounding down out of the storm-riven clouds
in such a deluge that it was difficult to draw one's breath while
exposed to it.  But even this does not convey any very clear idea of the
copiousness of the downpour, which will perhaps be more easily realised
from the statement that within the short space of twenty minutes it
completely filled and swamped the canoe.  This storm burst upon the
travellers about eleven o'clock at night, and it continued with unabated
fury all through the next day until within about half an hour of sunset.

For the following three days the weather continued unsettled; then it
cleared, and the raft resumed her journey.  But her progress was slow,
owing to the scantness of the wind, and for the next ten days they were
able to accomplish only a few miles a day, the current running strong
against them.  Then, late on a certain afternoon, they reached a point
where the bed of the river was obstructed by rapids, and the raft was
moored for the night so that the banks might be explored on the morrow
for portage facilities.  And now it was that the real difficulties of
the journey began to reveal themselves; for upon attempting to find a
path through the forest, which grew right down to the water's edge on
both banks of the river, the explorers found the undergrowth to be so
absolutely impenetrable that, even to make their own way through it, it
was necessary to employ a gang of men to cut a path.  And this was a
slow process, for not only had the tough tangle of creepers, of which
the underbush was chiefly composed, to be cut away, but it had to be
afterwards removed from the path, so that the better part of three days
was consumed in this way before a road was cleared to the upper end of
the rapids.

Then followed the laborious task of carrying the various items of their
equipment up through the quarter of a mile of roughly cut pathway, which
consumed the whole of another day.  And finally came the dismembering of
the raft itself, and the porterage of its component parts and the canoe
to the upper end of the rapids, where it was put together again.  Thus,
altogether, the intervention of those rapids involved the travellers in
a loss of no less than five days.

The four which followed were much more favourable, the raft covering a
distance of nearly sixty miles during that period.  Then a stretch of
some four miles of river bed was encountered so cumbered and choked with
rocks that its navigation was impossible, and the raft had again to be
taken to pieces and transported overland.  And when this obstacle was at
length surmounted, it was found that the channel of the stream had
become so contracted that the further use of the raft as a concrete
structure was out of the question; the wooden platform, with the masts
and sails, as also the metal decks of the two canoe-like pontoons, were
therefore abandoned, after carefully enveloping them in tarpaulins
brought along for the purpose; and after their place of concealment had
been marked, so that it might easily be found again in the event of the
expedition returning by that route, the journey was continued in the
open pontoons and the canoe.  Finally, when at length the party had been
travelling for nearly five weeks upon the river, they reached a point
where navigation was no longer possible, even for the small canoe, and
it became necessary to take to the forest, still, however, keeping in
touch with the stream as nearly as possible, for the sake of the water.

It is not necessary for the purposes of this story to enlarge upon the
difficulties with which the travellers now had to contend; they may be
left to the imagination of the reader, merely remarking that in many
places the trees grew so thickly together, and the undergrowth between
them was so dense, that to accomplish a march through it of three miles
between sunrise and sunset of a single day was regarded as a feat worthy
of especial note.  Not, however, it must be understood, that these
conditions uniformly prevailed; very far from it indeed; for there were
days when, from circumstances difficult to account for, the going was so
comparatively easy that a distance of ten, or even twelve miles was
accomplished.  But this did not occur until some time after they had
finally lost touch with the river and had got away from the vast plains
on to higher ground, where the forest was less dense, the undergrowth
much thinner--becoming in some places altogether non-existent--and where
open glades became increasingly frequent and of ever extending area.

Thus far the travellers had met with no very remarkable experiences.
There is nothing exciting in the work of hewing a path for oneself
through miles of tough, tangled undergrowth, or in toiling thirstily
hour after hour in sweltering heat, wondering meanwhile how much longer
it will be before the welcome sound of trickling water will reach one's
ears; even crouching in concealment for hours at a stretch, rifle in
hand, in the hope that something eatable will come within shot, soon
grows monotonous; while, as for the multitudinous nocturnal sounds of
the forest, so weird and thrilling when first heard, the party soon
became accustomed to them, and slept soundly through them all.

But, naturally, in the course of a long journey through the unexplored
wilds of South America, interesting incidents are by no means uncommon,
while others of a more weird and thrilling character occur occasionally,
as our friends were to learn in due time.  It was, however, one of the
merely interesting kind that awaited them in an open glade which they
entered on a certain evening, after a long and toilsome journey, just as
the sun's last rays were gilding the tree-tops on the eastern side of
the clearing.

The weary, sweat-drenched travellers celebrated their arrival in this
wide open space with shouts of joy, for a tiny streamlet meandered
through the middle of it, while in other respects it was ideal, not only
as a camping place for the coming night, but also as a spot upon which
to halt and recuperate for a few days--a relaxation which they had been
promising themselves during the past fortnight.  It was the bone-weary
Indian carriers who were loudest in the expression of their rejoicing as
they stumbled through the tangled grass toward the margin of the tiny
stream, upon the bank of which their camp would be pitched; and as they
gladly flung down their burdens on the chosen spot, they emitted a final
yell of satisfaction which, to the astonishment of all, was answered,
from some distance on the opposite side of the stream, by a wailing cry,
as of some person--or, more probably, some creature--in extreme anguish.
The cry was so peculiar, so expressive of suffering, so piercing, yet
at the same time so feeble, that it instantly arrested the attention of
everybody, and all stood staring tensely in the direction from which it
had come.

"Hillo!" exclaimed Dick, who was the first to find his voice after the
first moment of surprise had passed.  "What on earth does that mean?"

"Don't know," answered Earle, who was glancing about him in search of a
favourable spot upon which to pitch the tent; "but we'll soon find out.
Pitch the tent anywhere you like, Peter, so long as it is not too close
to the water.  Where you are standing now will do quite well.  Come on,
Dick, and bring your rifle with you.  It was somewhere over in that
direction."

The pair took the brook at a bound, and, despite their fatigue, set off
at a run in the direction from which the sound had proceeded.  As they
went, the peculiar sound--half whine, half scream--pealed out again upon
the still air, thus guiding them afresh, so that in the course of a
couple of minutes they reached its source.

And this was what they saw.

A young black panther--a somewhat rare animal--about three-parts grown,
lying stretched out upon its left side in the long grass, apparently in
a dying condition.  There was a broad trail in the grass leading from
the spot where it lay toward the far edge of the timber; but the trail
was short, not more than a few yards long, growing less and less
distinct as it receded, showing that the miserable creature had been in
the clearing for several days, dragging itself slowly, and doubtless
with infinite suffering, toward the water, which it had thus far failed
to reach.  Its coal-black coat, "watered" with the characteristic
markings of the panther, also in black, was dull and staring, the result
of neglect, and probably also of suffering; its tongue, dry and parched,
lolled out of its open jaws, which were lightly fringed with froth; and
its half-closed eyes were glassy yet burning with fever.  It was in the
last stage of emaciation, its ribs and backbone showing clearly beneath
its skin.

"Poor brute!" ejaculated Dick, whose sympathies were easily aroused.
"It's evidently dying, and in great pain, too.  Better put it out of its
misery, hadn't we?"  And he raised his rifle suggestively.

"Not on your life," interposed Earle, hastily.  "Yes, the poor beast is
pretty well pegged out; but I guess we can save him, with care and a
little trouble.  He's dying of hunger and thirst, that's what is the
matter with him, and that"--pointing to the creature's enormously
swollen right forepaw--"is what has brought on all the trouble.  An
exaggerated case of abscess, rendering it impossible for the beast to
hunt, or, finally, even to walk.  But I guess I can fix him all right,
so far as the abscess is concerned, after which we will see if we can't
pull him round and tame him.  I'm very fond of animals, and I guess he
would make a fine pet, and look mighty picturesque basking on one's
hearthrug winter nights.  You stay here, and I'll bring along a hammock
and a couple of `boys' to tote him over to the camp.  I shall be better
able to see what I am doing there than here.  You stay and keep the poor
chap company.  I believe he knows that we sympathise with him."  With
which whimsical remark Earle started back hot foot for the camp, now in
process of being pitched, leaving Dick to keep the dying beast company.

Now, whimsical as that idea of Earle's might at first seem, Dick came to
the conclusion that there really might be something in it; for not only
did the unhappy panther show no fear of his visitors or anger at their
close proximity, but there was a certain pitiful expression in his
fevered eyes that, to Cavendish's imagination at least, seemed to appeal
for compassion and help.  Of course, it may have been that the creature
was too near dissolution to feel either anger or fear; but Dick decided
that that remained to be seen.  He eagerly awaited the return of Earle,
and was unfeignedly relieved when, after a somewhat lengthy interval, he
saw his friend returning, accompanied by two Indians bearing a lighted
lantern and a hammock arranged as a stretcher.

Rejoining Dick, Earle at once got to work, displaying a quiet activity
and sureness of himself that at once excited the young Englishman's
amazement and admiration.  Bidding the Indians to stand back a few
paces, and taking the lighted lantern from them, the American deposited
a mahogany case upon the ground, which, upon being opened, proved to
contain a complete surgical outfit.  Withdrawing from this a sponge and
a bottle, he rapidly saturated the former with the contents of the
latter, and then, stepping fearlessly up to the suffering beast, he
applied the sponge to its nostrils, holding it there for a short time
until the creature's eyes closed and it seemed to lapse into
unconsciousness.  Then, beckoning the natives to approach with the
stretcher, he and Dick, with the help of the Indians, lifted the now
inanimate body of the panther and deposited it upon the stretcher, which
he then ordered the Indians carefully to convey to the camp, Dick
leading the way with the lantern while the American paused a moment to
replace the bottle and sponge and close the case.  But he overtook the
little procession before it was half way to the camp, and hurried on to
complete his preparations for the operation which he contemplated.
These preparations were complete by the time that the stretcher-bearers
reached the camp, and the moment that the Indians laid down their
burden, Earle handed Dick the sponge, with instructions to hold it with
a gentle pressure against the panther's mouth and nostrils.  This done,
the American seized a lancet, and, lifting the swollen paw, made a
quick, long incision in it, upon which an amazing quantity of
exceedingly offensive matter spurted out.  With deft manipulations of
the member, the American quickly pressed all the matter out of it, after
which he carefully washed out the cavity with warm water, treated it
with an antiseptic, stitched up the wound, dressed it, and finally bound
it up tightly with a bandage enclosing a thick pad of cotton wool.

"There!" he exclaimed, with a sigh of satisfaction, as he completed the
operation, "I guess that is fixed all right, and when the poor beast
comes round, he won't know himself, he will feel so easy and
comfortable.  That will do with the sponge, Dick.  Now, while I clean my
lancet and put matters generally straight, will you be good enough to
see that the beast has water and food placed handy, so that he can get
it without troubling to move?  Thanks.  Then we will get our supper.
Food and drink, and a good long sleep, ought to work wonders for our
patient, and we shall see how he shapes to-morrow.  If he feels very
chipper, he may decide to give us the slip during the night; but somehow
I don't think he will."



CHAPTER FIVE.

THE GOD OF THE CATU INDIANS SPEAKS.

That night, as the two friends sat together discussing supper, Dick
learned a few fresh facts concerning his companion.  He expressed his
surprise and admiration at the skill and dexterity which Earle had
displayed when performing the operation upon the panther's foot; to
which the American replied:

"Pooh! my dear chap, that was a mere nothing; one of the simplest
surgical operations it is possible to think of.  You should have seen
some of the operations I have assisted at, and some in which I have been
the sole operator.  Why, man--but I won't enter into details.  Say!  I
guess I've never told you that I am a full-fledged physician and
surgeon, have I?  No.  Well, I am.  Been through my studentship, walked
the hospitals, was chief assistant-surgeon at a big hospital in New York
for nearly a year, took all my degrees--and then chucked it up and took
to travelling and exploration, which was the idea that led me to
qualify.  Because, you see, when a man ventures beyond the pale of
civilisation and has to rely absolutely upon himself, a knowledge of
medicine and surgery is a big asset; indeed, had I not possessed such
knowledge I should have pegged out in Central Africa, for it was solely
by its means that I escaped death upon at least half-a-dozen different
occasions.  And the same knowledge has enabled me to save the lives of
quite a number of natives.  There are a few African tribes with whom I
am regarded as `some' medicine-man, and who would cheerfully have killed
their chief and elected me in his place if I would but have said the
word."

Later on in the evening they went out together to visit their patient,
and found the poor beast manifestly much easier and more comfortable.
He had consumed all the water and a small portion of the food supplied,
but was evidently still partially stupefied by the after effect of the
anaesthetic, and showed no resentment at their approach; he even
submitted to be touched and gently stroked, seeming to be in that numb
and semi-conscious condition in which one cares nothing for whatever may
happen.  But the fever of almost unendurable suffering had vanished from
his eyes, and Earle insisted that the poor brute recognised them, and
was in some vague fashion aware that he owed his relief to them.  They
brought him more water, which he lapped greedily out of the enamelled
dish, even while Earle held it; and when at length they left him, the
poor brute was tentatively trifling with the remains of the food with
which they had supplied him.

With the coming of dawn on the following morning, the two friends issued
from their tent, eager to enjoy the now rare luxury of a bath; and on
their way they paid another visit to their patient.  The brute proved to
be markedly better, although still terribly weak from the long period of
starvation which he had evidently undergone.  He revealed his knowledge
of their approach by partially baring his fangs in a sort of semi-snarl,
and even made some semblance of an effort to scramble to his feet, but
the attempt was clearly too much for his strength, and he subsided
again.  But he was now lying in a more natural and comfortable position,
with his handsome head resting upon his outstretched forepaws, like a
great cat, and when Earle unhesitatingly approached, and, placing his
hand upon the creature's head, proceeded gently to caress it, the animal
not only endured the touch, but after a minute or two actually began to
purr.

From that moment the process of taming the beast synchronised with the
progress of its recovery.  On the second day of the halt at the rest
camp the interesting invalid was able to use his feet and limp the few
paces of distance from the camp to the rivulet as often as thirst
demanded, but after drinking, the creature always returned to his lair
near the tent, where Earle took care to feed him; and when, after a
sojourn of five days on the spot, the camp was "broken" and the march
was resumed, "King Cole," as the American had named his new pet, fell in
and plodded along between the two white men as naturally as though he
had been brought up with them from cubhood.

Thus far, the party, greatly to their own surprise, had encountered no
Indians, though they had occasionally met with "signs," indicating that
the country was not absolutely a desert.  But on the fifth day of their
resumed march they unexpectedly came upon a small party in a clearing,
who incontinently fled upon their approach.  A halt was at once called,
and the party went temporarily into camp, while Earle, unpacking one of
his bales, produced therefrom certain small hand-mirrors, a string or
two of vari-coloured beads, two gaudy-looking bandanna handkerchiefs,
and three cheap pocket-knives.  These treasures he entrusted to the care
of Inaguy, the headman, and furnishing him with an escort of two men,
dispatched him in search of the elusive natives, bidding him find them
and by means of the gifts which he carried, open up peaceful
communication with them.  For up to this time the party had been
wandering more or less at random, and their leader was most anxious to
get into touch with the inhabitants, so that he might question them and
perchance extract some information from them which might aid him in his
quest.  Then, the ambassador dispatched, the party sat down to await his
return with such patience as they possessed.

It was not, however, until past noon on the following day that Inaguy
returned to camp alone, with a somewhat disquieting tale.  From this it
appeared that, having got upon the retreating Indians' trail, he and his
companions had followed it up until close upon sunset, when, while
passing through a narrow opening between two high rocks, they had been
suddenly set upon from both front and rear, overpowered, and conveyed as
captives to a certain spot, where they found the tribe of which they
were in search established as dwellers in numerous rock caves in the
side of a cliff.

Arrived here, they were at once taken into the presence of the chief and
closely questioned as to the why and the wherefore of their presence in
that region, how many in number their party were, and so on, the
questioning and answering being conducted with considerable difficulty
owing to Inaguy's very imperfect knowledge of the language in which he
was addressed.  It appeared that the chief listened to Inaguy's
explanation, such as it was, with a good deal of impatience and
suspicion, and finally terminated the interview by appropriating the
gifts which the man bore, and condemning him and his comrades to be
sacrificed, on the following morning, to a certain stone god, by way of
propitiation, in the hope that the act might effect the cure of certain
persons belonging to the community who were then lying apparently at the
point of death, suffering from some mysterious sickness.  And so
terrified had Inaguy been at the prospect of a sacrificial death, with
its accompanying tortures, that it had taken him the whole night to
think out an argument which might possibly save the lives of himself and
his companions.

This argument he had advanced when, at sunrise, he and his two
companions had been led forth to die upon the altar before the great
stone god; and it had consisted, first, in the narrative of how the
Great White Chief in command of his party had miraculously cured a black
panther which had been discovered in the last stage of dissolution, and
subsequently tamed it, and secondly, in the confident assertion that the
man who could do this thing could likewise cure the sick of the village,
if he were approached in a becomingly humble spirit.  The humble spirit,
Inaguy regretfully reported, had proved conspicuous by its absence; but
after much discussion a bargain had been eventually struck whereby the
two followers of Inaguy were to be retained as hostages while the
headman was to be released upon condition that he returned at once to
the Great White Chief, conveying a message that unless the latter and
his party turned up at the village before sunset, the hostages would be
put to death.

It took Earle not a moment to decide what his action should be, when
Inaguy brought his narrative to a conclusion.  The men's lives must be
saved at any cost; and since the village was situated at a considerable
distance from the camp, and it would mean quick marching for the party
to reach it within the stipulated time, the tent was immediately struck,
and the march was at once commenced.

They arrived at the village with only a few minutes to spare, so few
indeed, that they found the villagers already assembling in preparation
for the sacrifice, while the sun's disc was within less than half of its
own apparent diameter from the summits of a range of hills that bounded
the horizon.

The first object to attract the visitors' attention was an enormous
figure, some forty feet high, bearing a rude resemblance to that of a
seated man, which had evidently at some remote period, been sculptured
out of a solid block of black marble seemingly springing vertically out
of the ground.  There was nothing artistic in the conception or
execution of the image, which was a mere travesty of the human figure,
every member being absurdly out of proportion, while the only features
upon the modelling of which any pains had been taken were those of the
face, the expression of which hideously suggested the extremes of
mingled cunning and ferocity.  An altar of the same black marble, about
three feet high and ten feet long, stood at the feet of the figure, and
this was already piled with wood in preparation for the anticipated
sacrifice.

At the precise moment when the party came within sight of this
extraordinary figure they also became conscious of a peculiar taint in
the air suggestive of mud and rotting vegetation; and as Earle sniffed
it he remarked:

"Umph!  Big swamp not far off, I guess, which, apart from anything else,
is enough to account for sickness in the village.  Swamp fever, most
likely.  Say, Dick, that's an ugly-looking guy, that idol, eh.  Won't
these ginks get a startler when they hear him speak presently!"

"Speak?" repeated Dick.  "How do you mean?"

"You just wait and see, sonny," returned Earle.  "Oh, yes, he'll speak,
you bet.  And what he is going to say is--But here comes the chief and
his principal headmen to meet us.  Now, Inaguy, you be very careful in
your interpretation of everything that passes, for a good deal may
depend upon it.  And let's hurry; I want to get up as close as possible
to that idol before the palaver begins."

The chief of the tribe was easily distinguishable from all the rest,
from the fact that he walked some half a dozen paces in front of the
others, and also because of his garb, which consisted of a gaudy
head-dress of variously coloured feathers and an enormous jaguar's skin
thrown over his left shoulder, half of it covering the front of his
body--and the other half the rear, the two halves united at his right
hip by knotting the skin of the left foreleg to the left hinder one.  He
was, like all the rest of his tribe, coal-black in colour, and, like his
followers, was armed with a sheaf of formidable-looking barbed spears,
the heads of which appeared to be made of bone or horn.  They seemed to
be a fine race of men, standing nearly six feet high, and their carriage
was suggestive of great strength and agility, but they were undeniably
ugly and repulsive of feature, the expression being that of mingled
cunning and cruelty.  As they drew nearer, King Cole, the black panther,
began to snarl and show his fangs in an exceedingly hostile fashion,
whereupon Dick hurriedly seized one of the tent ropes and deftly looped
it about the animal's neck in a standing bowline knot, at the same time
soothing him by word and touch.

The two parties met and came to a halt at a point some thirty feet from
the altar; and as they did so Earle waved his hand in greeting toward
the figure, airily remarking as he did so:

"How do, old chap!  Glad to have the pleasure of seeing you at last."

To which, to the stupefaction of everybody, Dick included, the figure
replied in a high, thin voice:

"The pleasure is mine, oh wonderful medicine-man, who has come to heal
my people.  Tell them that ye are my particular friends, and that they
must treat you and yours well during your stay among them, upon pain of
incurring my lasting anger."

"Got that, Inaguy?" asked Earle, turning to his headman, who seemed so
paralysed with amazement that he could scarcely reply in the
affirmative.  "Good!  Then just translate to the chief and his followers
what I said, and what their god answered."

With chattering teeth and lips that quivered with terror to such an
extent that he could scarcely articulate, the thoroughly frightened
Inaguy obeyed his master's order, and his astonishment and terror were
so obviously genuine that they only added to the already profound effect
produced upon the Indians by the seeming miracle of speech from their
hitherto dumb god.  Had the chief been a little less astonished than he
was, it might have occurred to him to wonder why the idol had chosen to
express his will in a language that needed interpretation; but obviously
he was altogether too profoundly impressed by the marvellous happening
for the smallest shred of suspicion to enter his mind, and upon
receiving the message he immediately wheeled round, and prostrating
himself with his face to the ground--an example instantly followed by
those about him--mumbled a long statement which, upon being translated
by Inaguy, proved to be an emphatic assurance that nothing whatever
should be done that could provoke the god's displeasure.  This done, he
rose to his feet and shouted an order for the immediate release of the
hostages; after which he turned to Earle and Dick and reverentially bade
them welcome to the village, at the same time requesting them to pitch
their camp wherever they pleased.

Earle, having chosen a spot well out in the open, where anything in the
nature of a sudden surprise would be difficult--though he explained to
Dick that, after what had happened, he had little or no fear of anything
of the kind--intimated to the chief his desire to see the sick people at
once, and went off with that individual, leaving Dick to supervise the
arrangement of the camp.

Meanwhile Dick, who was by no means a fool, had been thinking matters
over, and had come to the conclusion that he understood the apparent
mystery of the idol's speech, and chuckled to himself over Earle's
cleverness, which had been so wonderful as to mystify even the young
Englishman for the moment.

By the time that Earle reached the camp, after paying his professional
visit to the sick, the camp was all in order, and supper was nearly
ready.  Earle was in fine feather, for not only had he discovered that
the invalids were all down with swamp fever, which, severe as it was, he
was confident of his ability to cure, but upon questioning the chief
with regard to the great object of his quest, he had been informed that
a tribe of Indians known as the Mangeromas, occupying territory many
days' march toward the south-west, were believed to possess some
knowledge of a wonderful people answering to the description which Earle
had given, but that the Catus--the tribe whose guests the party now
were--had as little as possible to do with the Mangeromas, since the
latter were an exceedingly fierce, warlike and barbarous race, more than
suspected of cannibalism.  This unsavoury reputation, however, affected
Earle not in the least, he was out for adventure, and was determined to
have it, moreover he wanted definite information concerning El Dorado
and the city of Manoa, and was prepared to take his chance, even among
cannibals in order to get it.

"Well," remarked Dick, "that's all right; where you go, I go with you,
even if it should be into a country where cannibals are as common as
blackberries in August.  And I have no doubt that, if need be, you can
scare them as effectually as you did those niggers this evening.  And
let me tell you, while I think of it, that you did it remarkably well.
Why, you puzzled even me for the moment."

"Did I, really?" demanded Earle, with every symptom of extreme
gratification.  "I am glad of that, for, to tell you the truth, I am a
bit out of practice, and the idea did not occur to me until Inaguy
mentioned the idol this afternoon.  Then I thought that if, by means of
ventriloquism, I could make the idol speak, it would cause our friends
here to sit up and take notice, as it did.  Ventriloquism, Dick, is a
very useful accomplishment for a man who goes much among savages, as I
have done, and it has got me out of an extremely tight corner more than
once.  It always appealed to me powerfully, from the time when, as a boy
of seven years old, I attended a ventriloquial entertainment and heard
the guy conversing with unseen people in mid-air, and heard remarks
addressed to him by obviously inanimate objects.  There seemed to me to
be useful possibilities in it, and I started trying to do it at once,
finally taking lessons from a wonderfully clever guy, who told me that
my throat was specially well adapted for it.  Ah! here comes Peter with
supper, for which I'm glad, for I happen to be possessed of a ten dollar
appetite to-night."

The meal over, Earle unpacked, his medicine chest and mixed a sufficient
quantity of medicine to serve his patients through the night, and took
it up to the village, where he remained nearly three hours ministering
to the sick, and talking, through Inaguy, to Yahiti, the chief of the
Catus.  When at length he returned to the camp he was in the highest
spirits, for the somewhat incomprehensible reason that Yahiti had
informed him that the country lying between the Catu and the Mangeroma
territories was extraordinarily difficult, and full of the most weird
and terrible perils.

On the following morning the two friends were astir with the dawn, Earle
having expressed a desire to inspect the great swamp in the
neighbourhood, to which he attributed the epidemic of fever from which
the inhabitants of the village were suffering.  This swamp was situated
at the distance of about a mile south-east from the village, and was of
such an extent that whenever the wind blew from either the east or the
south--these being the prevailing winds there--the pestiferous odours
arising from it were wafted directly toward the village; and Earle's
idea was to investigate, with the view of ascertaining whether anything
could be done to reclaim the swamp, failing which he proposed to
recommend the Catus to abandon the place and take up their abode
elsewhere.

Upon reaching the swamp, it was found to lie in a shallow depression,
roughly circular in shape and some three miles in diameter, its deepest
part--about eight feet--being nearest the village, while at its upper
extremity it was fed by a small stream of a capacity just about
sufficient to neutralise the constant process of evaporation without
being enough to produce an overflow.  Further than that, it occupied
such a position that a trench little more than a quarter of a mile in
length and averaging a depth of about nine feet was all that was needed
to drain the swamp by carrying off the water and discharging it into a
valley some three-hundred feet deep.

An alternative scheme which Earle also investigated was the diversion of
the stream which supplied the swamp with water; and this was also found
possible by cutting a trench about two hundred yards long; but it was
open to the objection that, in order to do it, the workers would be
obliged to walk a distance of nearly twelve miles daily to and from
their work, and he doubted whether the Catus were energetic enough to do
it.

The task of convincing the Catus that they must do away with the swamp
or abandon the village, unless they were prepared continually to suffer
from fever, was a long and troublesome one, the Indians having a strong
constitutional objection to anything in the nature of hard work; but
Earle succeeded at length, and actually got them started on the work of
cutting the drainage ditch, that scheme having been chosen as the one
promising the quickest results and involving the least labour.  By the
time that this was done the invalids were all recovered from their
sickness; and ten days after their arrival at the Catu village the
exploring party resumed their march, to the loudly expressed regret of
the inhabitants, who urgently pressed them to remain, and would quite
possibly have detained them by force, but for fear of exciting the anger
of the stone god.

The journey was resumed immediately after breakfast on a certain
morning, and before the hour for the first halt arrived the party began
to realise the truth of Yahiti's story that the route was full of
difficulties, if not of dangers; for it lay over rugged country so
thickly bestrewn with enormous boulders that Earle likened the journey
to the exploration of San Francisco immediately after the earthquake.
Of course, they went round the boulders when such a course was possible,
but it very frequently happened that long reefs of rock projected out of
the ground for miles on either hand, when, difficult though the task
might be, it became easier to climb up one side and down the other, than
to pass round.  Two miles was the extent of their journey over that kind
of country which they were able to accomplish before sunset; and when at
length they camped they were little more than eight miles from the Catu
village.

To travel over such country was wearisome in the extreme, but there was
nothing for it but to push on, or else make a detour of unknown extent;
and this idea Earle would not entertain for a moment.  On the following
day, therefore, they resumed their journey, although with every yard of
advance the difficulties appeared to grow more formidable.

It was about mid-morning when they reached the base of a cliff some
forty feet high that, being practically vertical, seemed to bar their
further progress, and after contemplating it for several minutes, Earle
decided to make the spot a halting place while he and Dick explored the
cliff in opposite directions in search of a practicable crossing.
Accordingly, while the natives were forming camp, the two white men,
taking their rifles and a few cartridges, set off along the foot of the
cliffs, Earle proceeding in a north-westerly direction, while Dick
proceeded toward the south-east.

The rock of which the cliff was formed was, for some considerable
distance in the direction followed by Dick, quartzite; but at a point
about a mile from the spot where he had parted from Earle it changed to
a black, bituminous limestone, studded here and there with ammonites.
Dick, who knew little or nothing about geology, merely noticed the
change in the character of the rock, and sauntered on, eagerly scanning
its face, in the hope of finding a spot where it might be scalable by
men carrying moderately heavy burdens.  And at length he reached, as he
believed, such a spot, where the black rock seemed to have been riven by
some mighty natural convulsion, the rift forming a steep and exceedingly
narrow gully leading to the summit.  Naturally, he at once started to
climb this gully, with the object of testing its practicability; and he
had traversed nearly two-thirds of its length when, as he scrambled up,
his attention was suddenly attracted to a sort of pocket in the rock,
which had been laid open by a fall.  What particularly attracted his
attention toward this pocket was the fact that it contained a
considerable number of bright green crystals, which struck him as being
peculiar not only from their rich colour, but also from the fact that
they were all of practically the same shape, namely hexagonal.  So
greatly did he admire them that he put a couple of the largest in one of
his pockets, intending to show them to Earle and ask him whether
perchance they were of any value.  Then he pushed on again and soon
reached the upper end of the gully, when he found himself, somewhat to
his amazement, on a vast tableland, stretching as far as could be seen,
with what looked like a big forest at a distance of some ten miles.

Having completed his survey, Dick descended the gully and returned to
the camp, to find that Earle was still absent; he therefore set out to
seek him and report his success.  Some two miles beyond the camp he met
the American returning, considerably disgusted, he having failed in his
search, and at once Dick reported his triumph, incidentally producing
the crystals and asking if Earle happened to know what they were.

"Know what they are?" echoed Earle, after most carefully and
interestedly examining the stones.  "Why, of course I do.  Don't you?"

"Haven't the least idea," answered Dick.  "But they struck me as being
rather pretty, and I thought I would take them back to my sister as
souvenirs of my travels.  There are dozens more where these came from."

"Are there?" caustically remarked Earle.  "Then, my dear Cavendish,
permit me to congratulate you; for these two crystals are remarkably
fine emeralds; and the probability is that you have accidentally
stumbled upon an emerald mine rich enough to make the fortunes of a
dozen men.  Let's get back to camp and move on to this gully of yours.
We'll overhaul it at once, and if it should prove--as I strongly
suspect--to be a true emerald mine, we'll work it for a few days and
ascertain something like its probable worth."

"But," protested Dick, "I didn't know that emeralds were found in South
America."

"What!" ejaculated Earle, in amazement.  "You ignorant sailorman!  Why,
some of the most famous emeralds in the world have been unearthed in
this country.  The Spaniards, under Pizarro, took enormous quantities of
them from the Peruvians, but were never able to learn exactly where they
were obtained; and the only mine now known in South America is, I
believe, situated near Bogota.  But I have long been convinced that this
is the country, _par excellence_, for emeralds--ay, and possibly rubies
and sapphires as well.  Come along, man; let's go and have a look at the
mine that's going to make a millionaire of you."



CHAPTER SIX.

EMERALDS--AND THE DEATH FLOWER.

The two friends reached their temporary camp in good time for the
mid-day meal; they therefore decided to have it before proceeding
farther.  As soon as the meal was over the camp was struck, and the
entire party proceeded in the direction of the gully, or cleft, upon
their arrival at which preparations were at once made for a possible
sojourn of a few days; and while those preparations were being made,
Earle and Dick, carrying a pickaxe and shovel, as well as their rifles,
started to climb the cleft, bent upon examining the spot where the
emeralds had been found, and, if possible, settling the question as to
whether or not a mine had actually been discovered.

Their open-air life, and the toil of their recent travels had put both
young men into the pink of condition; it was, therefore, not long before
they reached the spot where Dick had made his momentous find.  Arrived
there, Earle's first act was to subject each of the crystals lying in
the exposed "pocket" to a careful examination.  There were fifty-four in
all, of varying sizes; and when Earle had pronounced each of them to be
a genuine emerald--and most of them of the first water, they were all
deposited in a knapsack which they had taken with them for the purpose.
This done, the American seized a pickaxe and began to dig into the face
of the cliff, pausing at intervals to take a rest while Cavendish
shovelled away the debris.  The rock was not at all difficult to work,
yielding readily to the blows of the pickaxe and coming away in lumps
the size of one's fist, or even bigger, consequently it was not very
long before, between them, they had excavated a cavity of considerable
size.  But after nearly two hours of strenuous toil without result, they
retired from the hole for a time to rest, and were debating the question
whether or not it was worth while to pursue the investigation any
further, Earle being rather of opinion that Dick's find had been merely
an isolated pocket, and that they might seek for weeks or possibly
months, without finding any more emeralds, when, without the slightest
warning, the hole in which they had been working suddenly caved in,
laying bare a new face, some nine or ten square yards in area.  And when
at length the face had ceased to crumble and the dust had subsided, the
first thing to attract their attention was an emerald nearly as big as a
duck's egg projecting from the newly exposed rock.  This they carefully
dug out, afterwards proceeding to search among the fallen rock, in which
they eventually found two other very fine stones.

"There!" exclaimed Earle, with a sigh of satisfaction, when at length
they had thoroughly examined and cleared away the fallen rock.  "I guess
we've done enough; for we've demonstrated that this is a sure-'nough
mine.  See that stuff round the place where we picked out the emerald?
That is calcite, and this rock is a black limestone; all the indications
are, therefore, in favour of this being a genuine emerald mine, which we
can work, if we choose, on our return journey.  Now, we'll just dig out
that mass of calcite and carefully cover it up, so that in the
exceedingly unlikely event of any other prospector passing this way,
there will be little or nothing to attract his attention; and to-morrow,
before we resume our march, we will determine the exact position of this
spot by astronomical observations and make a note of it in our diaries,
so that we can find the place again.  Meanwhile, we have not done at all
badly this afternoon, for I guess the contents of this knapsack are
worth a good many thousand dollars."

It was nightfall by the time that the explorers got back to their camp,
and they were bone-weary from their extraordinary exertions; but they
had, as recompense, the knowledge that they had left their mine in such
a condition that no mere casual visitor would be in the least likely to
suspect its existence.

Immediately after breakfast on the following morning the party struck
camp and proceeded to climb the cleft.  It cost the Indian carriers half
an hour's severe toil to accomplish the ascent, and when at length they
reached the summit they were only too glad to lay down their burdens and
take a rest while the two leaders, with the assistance of their pocket
sextants and Earle's pocket chronometer, determined the position of the
head of the gully.  This done, and the calculations worked out and
checked, the march was resumed; the outer edge of the forest through
which their route lay being reached shortly after noon.  And when at
length they sat down to their mid-day meal, all hands enjoyed an unusual
luxury; for about an hour before pitching camp, Dick, who chanced to be
leading the way, saw and shot something as it attempted to make off
through the long grass, that something proving to be a strange creature
partaking, in about equal proportions, of the characteristics of a pig
and a deer.  Dick, of course, not being a naturalist, was unable to name
the creature, and even Earle declared himself puzzled; but whatever it
may have been, its flesh proved to be exceptionally tender, juicy, and
delicious, and the Indians fairly gorged themselves with it.

The forest into which the party plunged when the march was resumed
proved to be entirely different in character from that which they had
previously traversed.  To begin with, the trees were all of new and
strange species, mostly bearing foliage of dark and gloomy tints; they
stood much farther apart; the undergrowth was sparse, or absent
altogether; and there were no orchids, or long, trailing garlands of
lovely parasitic growth which had rendered the forests already traversed
so strangely beautiful.  Another peculiarity of the forest was that
scarcely a bird was to be seen, excepting an occasional vulture or
carrion crow perched upon some lightning-blasted stump.  Moreover, there
was a strange silence pervading the place, a silence that seemed almost
uncanny, as though insects as well as birds shunned the place.
Altogether, the effect of the silence, the sombre tints of the foliage,
the absence of brilliant-hued blooms, and a certain subtle something in
the atmosphere, was distinctly depressing.  There was one redeeming
feature about it, however, which was that the sparseness of the
underbush and the greater space between the trunks of the trees rendered
travelling comparatively easy, and the party made good progress.

As they plunged farther into the depths of the forest, however, they
began to realise that its gloomy aisles were by no means so devoid of
life as they had at first imagined.  The first intimation of this fact
came to them in the form of a sudden yell from one of the Indian
carriers, who declared that he had been bitten on the leg by something;
and upon investigation this proved to be the case, for the calf of his
bare leg showed two tiny punctures, not more than one-eighth of an inch
apart, the flesh around which, even as Earle and Dick examined the
wounds, began to swell and turn a curious blue tint, while the injured
man rapidly lost the power of speech and voluntary movements, though his
body began to be shaken by violent tremors.

Earle now showed himself to be a man of prompt action.  Whipping his
keen hunting knife out of its sheath, he slashed open the flesh athwart
the two punctures and then, kneeling down, applied his lips to the wound
and sucked it strongly until the blood began to come, at first
sluggishly and in coagulated clots, but eventually more freely.  It was
noticeable, too, that at first the blood was almost black in colour, but
by dint of vigorous sucking it at length came freely and changed to its
normal colour.  Meanwhile, Dick, recalling conversations which he had
had with Earle, in which the latter had described certain rough and
ready methods which he had successfully adopted in treating venomous
snake bites, opened a shot cartridge, extracted the powder therefrom,
and with it made a squib.  This he had ready long before Earle was
prepared to use it; but when at length the blood was flowing freely and
naturally from the wound, they laid the now comatose victim prone upon
the ground, and, while Dick held the wounded limb in position, Earl
applied the squib to the wound and fired it.  The result was that the
wound was quickly and very effectively cauterised, apparently without
inflicting the slightest suffering upon the victim, who never moved a
muscle while the squib spluttered and burned upon his raw flesh.  Earle
then quickly and deftly dressed the wound and bound it up, after which
he proceeded to revive his patient by moistening his lips with raw
whiskey, with which he finally drenched the man internally as soon as
the unfortunate fellow was able to swallow.

But, of course, there was no more marching for the party that day, and
preparations were at once made for pitching the camp.  The first task
was to beat the long, dry grass thoroughly, in order to drive away the
snake which had bitten the man, or any other snakes which might be
lurking therein.  But this procedure, while it may possibly have had the
desired effect, had also another, by no means desirable; for it was soon
discovered that the threshing had aroused the anger of a legion of
enormous black ants--fierce, venomous creatures nearly an inch long--
which came swarming by thousands up out of holes in the ground, and
attacked the intruders with indescribable ferocity.  The unfortunate
semi-naked Indians instantly scattered in ignominious flight, leaving
the two white men to deal with the situation as best they could.  And
although Earle and Dick were, of course, fully clothed, and their bodies
were therefore reasonably well protected, they were both severely bitten
before, by setting fire to the grass and allowing it to blaze for a few
seconds before beating it out, they were able to put the foe to flight.
The burning of the grass, however, revealed the fact that the soil was
everywhere honeycombed with holes, into which the creatures had
doubtless retreated, ready to sally forth again upon the smallest
provocation; therefore, in order to protect themselves from further
attack, they cut an immense quantity of grass, strewed it over the
central portion of the already burnt area, and burned it over again;
after which, the ashes being first swept away with branches, they
ventured to go into camp, the Indians slinking back by twos and threes
as soon as they perceived that the risk of renewed hostilities was over.
As for the two white men, although they bathed their hurts with dilute
ammonia as quickly as they could, they both suffered acutely, to such an
extent, indeed, that they were both in a high state of fever, bordering
on delirium, before midnight.  Earle, however, foreseeing what was
impending, mixed for himself and Dick a strong draught, which no doubt
helped to avert even worse consequences, and by dawn of the following
morning the fever was conquered and the sufferers sank into a somewhat
troubled sleep, from which the faithful Peter would not permit them to
be aroused upon any pretext whatsoever.  As for the bitten man, he
suffered severely for several hours, the wounded limb swelling to about
three times its normal size, while acute pains shot through the whole of
his tortured body; but at length these gradually grew less, until he
sank into a state of coma which eventually became natural sleep, during
which the swollen limb gradually resumed its normal dimensions.  When he
at length awoke, beyond being troubled with a dazed feeling and, of
course, a considerable amount of pain arising from the cauterisation of
the wound, he seemed to be little the worse for his adventure; and when
at length the party struck camp and resumed their march shortly after
mid-day, he was able to hobble along with the rest, although it was
found necessary to relieve him of all work during that day.

Such was the first adventure of the party in that terrible forest; but
there were others still worse to follow, as they soon found.  Nothing
very particular, however, befell them on that second day's march, for
after their experiences of the previous day they were careful to conduct
their march with all due precaution, Inaguy leading the way and
industriously beating the grass before him with a long, slender switch,
while Dick and Earle, following him on either flank, did likewise.  And
the wisdom of this method of procedure was manifested a dozen times or
more during the afternoon's march by sudden, quick scurrying sounds in
the grass immediately ahead, bearing witness to the fact that a lurking
snake had been startled and was effecting a hasty retreat.

When at length the time came to pitch camp for the night, the tactics of
the previous day were repeated, the grass being thoroughly burnt away
over an area spacious enough to accommodate the party.  And here again
the wisdom of their action was made manifest; for when the ashes were
swept up for removal the shrivelled remains of several centipedes and
scorpions--some of them of quite unusual size--were found, which would
doubtless have given trouble had not the flames rendered them harmless.

It was well on toward mid-afternoon of their third day's march through
the forest when the explorers met with their next adventure.  The total
absence of flowers in this forest has already been remarked upon, but
about the time named above it appeared as though this reproach was no
longer to apply.  For, after pressing through a part where both the
timber and the undergrowth had been found thicker than usual, the party
entered a wide open glade of considerable extent without a single tree
in it.  To make up for the absence of trees, however, there were, dotted
about here and there in the midst of the long grass, several clumps of
perfectly white flowers, ten or a dozen flowers in each clump.  And as
these clumps of flowers came into view, the whole party halted
involuntarily, struck with amazement; for the sight was, beyond all
question, the most wonderful that any of them had ever beheld.  The
blooms, shaped somewhat like the familiar Canterbury bell, were of
absolutely gigantic proportions, some certainly not less than six feet
in height, exclusive of the short, thick stem, while many were even
larger than this.  Each clump was surrounded by a kind of spray of still
more enormous leaves, each leaf being about twelve feet long by some
eight feet broad, lying almost flat upon the grass and forming a
complete barricade round the clump.  The air was charged with a peculiar
but exceedingly pleasant fragrance, which no doubt emanated from these
wonderful botanical curiosities; and after a short halt to take in the
details of the extraordinary picture, Earle announced his determination
to halt for the remainder of the day in the glade, in order that he
might examine the flowers at leisure.  Accordingly, a wide, clear space
in about the centre of the glade was chosen, and preparations for
pitching the camp were briskly proceeded with.

The discovery of these gigantic flowers threw Earle into a condition of
quite pleasant excitement.  He was a man of method, and, as such, had
naturally kept a diary of the proceedings of the party from the moment
of its departure from New York.  Hitherto, however, the diary had been
kept solely as a future aid to memory, and for his own individual
purposes alone; but now the discovery of what at the moment he believed
to be an entirely new species of plant, suddenly inspired him with the
ambition to become enrolled in the ranks of those scientific explorers
who have become famous by virtue of the remarkable character of their
discoveries, and it began to dawn upon him that there were possibilities
in this journey of his which might enable him to become one of the
immortals of scientific discovery.  So elated was he at the prospect
that he could not resist the temptation to communicate his hopes to
Dick, who, somewhat matter-of-fact individual though he was,
nevertheless heartily sympathised with his friend's ambition, and
cheerfully undertook to assist in every way possible, if Earle would but
indicate the direction in which assistance might be valuable.

"I guess you can help me very shortly then," said Earle.  "First of all,
I am going to take a photograph from somewhere over there, showing a
general view of this glade, with especial reference to the arrangement
and distribution of those clusters of gigantic flowers; and when I have
done that I propose to select the cluster containing the finest blooms,
station myself on one of the leaves--I guess they'll bear my weight
easily enough--and stand upright against a flower, so that my figure
will serve as a sort of scale by which a correct idea of its size may be
conveyed.  And that is where you will come in.  I shall want you to take
the photograph of me as I stand there.  I will select the spot from
which the photograph is to be taken, and will focus the camera, stop
down the lens to the extent required to get satisfactory definition, and
generally arrange the picture; and all that you will need to do will be
to remove the cap and give the proper exposure when I am ready.  The
light is not too good, and I intend to use the orange screen, so I guess
the exposure will be rather a lengthy one, but I will determine its
correct duration by means of the exposure metre; so all that you will
have to do will be to remove the cap and carefully note the time.  See?"

"Certainly," replied Dick, "and you may depend upon me to carry out your
instructions."

The camera--a compact quarter-plate instrument, adapted for use either
in the hand or mounted upon a tripod--was routed out, the fact that
there were four unexposed films still in it ascertained, and the pair
went off together, intent upon taking the proposed photographs.

The determination of the precise position from which to take the first
picture was a rather lengthy process, for Earle had the eye of an artist
and was anxious that the result should be not only a photograph, but
also a picture.  A suitable spot was, however, at length found, and the
photograph was taken, the correct exposure involving the uncapping of
the lens for no less than forty-five seconds.  Fortunately, there was no
wind, consequently there was no movement, and Earle was sanguine that he
had secured a thoroughly satisfactory picture.

Then came the choice of the particular clump of blooms to be
photographed at close quarters, with Earle standing in the midst of them
to show their enormous size.  This was an even more lengthy process than
the other; but at length everything was ready, and Earle, leaving Dick
standing by the camera, strode across the few yards of intervening
space, and proceeded to climb upon one of the monster leaves preparatory
to posing himself.  He did this by pressing the point of the leaf down
to the ground and then stepping on it and walking up its centre,
intending to pose himself at the junction of the leaf with its massive
stalk, in which position he would be able to stand quite close to the
enormous flower which was to be the principal object in the proposed
picture.

But when Earle had traversed a little more than half the length of the
huge leaf, it suddenly curled up and, to Dick's horror, completely
enveloped the adventurous American's form, round which it tightly
enfolded itself, while a half-smothered cry for help issued from its
folds.

Leaving the camera where it was, Dick rushed forward, drawing his heavy
hunting knife from its sheath as he did so, and dashing in, began to
hack desperately at the stem of the leaf, believing that if he could
sever it from its parent plant, he would be able to deliver his friend
from its stifling embrace.  But he soon found that, stout as was the
blade he was wielding, and strong as was the arm that wielded it, he
could do little or nothing against the marvellously tough stem which he
was attempting to sever.  It was as thick as his own leg and so hard and
slippery that the keen blade simply slithered along it instead of biting
into it; and realising his helplessness, he rushed out into the open,
where he could be seen and heard from the camp, and yelled to Inaguy and
Peter to bring axes, and for the rest of the men to bring along
machetes.

There was a note of urgency in Dick's stentorian tones which caused all
hands instantly to drop what they were doing and rush to his call; but
it was nearly ten minutes before the stubborn stalk yielded to the
desperate onslaught made upon it; and when at length it drooped to the
ground and the party threw themselves upon it, it cost them another
arduous five minutes to slit the tough, leather-like fibre of the leaf
apart and haul out the imprisoned and, by that time, insensible body of
their leader.

By Dick's direction they carried Earle's body to the camp, and,
stripping it, laid it upon one of the camp beds already arranged in the
tent.  This done, Dick carefully examined the inanimate form in search
of wounds or other injuries, but found nothing.  The heart was beating
strongly and steadily, the pulse was firm, though a trifle rapid, and
the breathing was somewhat irregular; otherwise Earle's aspect was that
of a man plunged in profound sleep.  So completely, indeed, was this the
case that after Dick had ineffectually striven by every means in his
power to arouse his friend, he was fain to leave him as he was,
contenting himself by remaining by the side of the bed, keeping his
fingers on Earle's pulse so that he might at once become aware of any
fluctuations in its beat, and awaiting the moment when a change of some
sort should occur.

Hour after hour dragged its slow length along and still the American lay
plunged deep in that strange slumber, the only changes in his condition
being that from time to time his pulse and his heart quickened their
beats and his breath came more heavily, as though the sleeper laboured
under some strong excitement; until at length, about eleven o'clock,
when the camp was wrapped in silence and all its members, except Dick,
fast asleep, Earle suddenly opened his eyes and stared first at the
lantern and then at Dick, with a puzzled and distinctly annoyed
expression.  At length he exclaimed:

"Hello, Dick!  What the mischief are you sitting there for, looking as
glum as an owl?  And why on earth did you wake me?  Man alive, I--"

"I didn't wake you," answered Dick, "but, all the same, I am profoundly
thankful to see you awake once more, and apparently in the possession of
all your senses.  Do you remember what happened to you?"

"You bet I do!" answered Earle emphatically.  "Shall I ever forget it?
Why, man, I've been in Elysium.  I've been--oh! dash it all, there are
no words to describe the delights of the last few--Say! how long have I
been asleep?"

Dick looked at his watch.  "Getting well on for eight hours," he
answered.

"Eight _hours_!" reiterated Earle, in tones of intense disgust.  "Only
eight _hours_, did you say?  Why, man alive, if what you say be true, in
those measly eight hours I have lived _years_ of joy and delight
unspeakable.  I have beheld scenes of unearthly indescribable beauty; I
have participated in pageants glorious and magnificent beyond
conception; I have--oh! what's the use?  If I were to talk from now
until doomsday I couldn't even begin to convey to your gross mind the
most feeble and shadowy notion of the joys and delights which have been
mine."

He spoke rapidly in tones of feverish excitement, and his eyes were
almost as luminous as those of King Cole, who sat up on his haunches,
alert and quivering, on the other side of the pallet.

"Look here, old chap," said Dick anxiously, "easy on.  Don't get
excited, whatever you do.  Your adventure of this afternoon has given
you a rather bad shaking up.  You've had a pretty severe shock, both
mental and physical, if I'm any judge, and it looks to me very much as
though you are going to be ill.  Better let me mix you a soothing
draught, hadn't you?  Just tell me what ingredients to take, and how
much of each, and I'll mix them in a brace of shakes--"

But by the time that Dick got thus far, Earle had begun to talk again,
loudly and excitedly, and was sitting up on the pallet, waving his arms
wildly.  And when Dick attempted to force him back into a reclining
position the American suddenly developed a kind of frenzy, seizing
Cavendish by the throat and doing his utmost to throttle him, while King
Cole, sorely puzzled at such extraordinary behaviour on the part of his
two especial friends, snarled angrily and bolted out of the tent into
the velvety star-lit darkness.

So violent did Earle become, and such extraordinary strength did he
develop under the influence of the delirium which had now seized him
that Dick was compelled in self-defence to shout for help; and presently
Peter, Inaguy, and some three or four others came rushing in, and, under
the impression that the two leaders were fighting, separated them.  But
a few hurried words of explanation from Cavendish "put them wise" to the
situation, and while by main force they restrained Earle from rising and
rushing naked into the night, Dick routed out the medicine chest and,
hurriedly consulting the pages of the accompanying book of instructions,
prepared a strong sleeping draught, which, among them, they compelled
the now violently crazy patient to swallow.

But it was nearly an hour before the potion became fully effective, and
even then Earle's sleep was fitful and disturbed, his semi-coherent
mutterings showing that his mind was still unhinged.  To be brief, the
outbreak of delirium was followed by a period of extreme weakness and
profound dejection, during which the patient lost all memory of his
splendid dream, and, at least temporarily, of several other things as
well, so that nearly a fortnight elapsed before Earle was again well
enough for the party to resume their journey.

It was while Earle was still an invalid, and before their march was
resumed, that on a certain occasion, while Dick was sitting at his
bedside, he besought the latter to tell him exactly what had happened on
the memorable afternoon which witnessed their arrival in the glade, he
apparently having forgotten everything about it.  With some reluctance,
after much earnest entreaty, Dick consented; and after he had related
all, Earle became very thoughtful for some time.  At length, however, he
looked up and said:

"Yes; I am beginning to remember; it is all coming back to me--the
occurrences of that afternoon, I mean.  I suppose you haven't attempted
to develop that negative giving the general view of the glade, have
you?"

"Not I," answered Dick, "I've had too many other things to think about.
But I'll do so to-night, if you like."

"I wish you would, old chap," said Earle.  "If my suspicion is correct,
that negative should be peculiarly interesting, and I should like it
developed before we leave here, in order that if it should be imperfect,
we may take another, as well as a near view of one of the clumps of
blooms.  By the way, did you ever happen to have heard of the Death
Flower?"

"N-o, I can't say that I have," answered Dick.  "Is there such a
flower?"

"So it is said," responded Earle.  "I remember having read somewhere of
such a flower, which, it is asserted, blooms in a certain island in the
Pacific.  The flower is said to be big enough to allow a man to stand
upright in it; but if anyone chances to be so ill-advised as to try the
experiment, the experimenter falls asleep, lulled to slumber by the
peculiar fragrance of the flower, and is at once favoured with the most
glorious dreams, in the midst of which the flower closes its petals and
suffocates him.  Now, that was very much my own experience, except that
I was enveloped by the leaf instead of the flower; you dug me out
instead of leaving me to die; and my gorgeous dream came afterwards--at
least, so I suppose--instead of while I was enveloped.  It will be
exceedingly interesting if it should prove that the flowers in this
glade are Death Flowers, for I believe it has hitherto been understood
that they flourish only in one spot in the world, namely, that small
island in the Pacific, the name of which I have for the moment
forgotten."

Accordingly, as soon as it was dark that night, Dick lighted the ruby
lamp and proceeded very carefully to develop the precious negative,
which proved to be absolutely flawless, to Earle's great delight.  And
on the following morning, at Earle's urgent request, Dick took out the
camera and photographed at close quarters the identical clump of flowers
that had so nearly proved fatal to his friend, taking care to include in
the picture the severed stem and the shredded leaf which had done the
mischief.  And this negative also proved eminently satisfactory.

As they sat together, on that particular afternoon, examining the two
negative films, Earle suddenly looked up and remarked:

"That is three times that you have saved my life, Dick; and if I have
not said anything about it up to the present, you mustn't think that I
am not profoundly grateful to you--"

"Oh, yes, of course, I know, old chap," interrupted Dick, who had an
intense dislike to being effusively thanked for any little service that
it might be in his power to render a friend.  "Please oblige me by
saying no more about it.  At the same time, let me remark that I have
not the slightest notion of what you are talking about.  How do you
reason it out that I've saved your life three times?  I only know of--"

"Three times, I said; and three times I mean," returned Earle.  "The
first time was when the _Everest_ sank; the second time was when you got
me out of the fatal embrace of that enveloping leaf; and the third time
was when you gave me that draught that sent me to sleep while I was
delirious.  For now that I am again in my right mind, and the danger is
all over, I may as well admit that, while the delirium held me, the
paramount idea in my mind was to get away from you, by hook or by crook,
slip away to the flowers, and throw myself upon another leaf, so that I
might enjoy a repetition of those glorious dreams and sensations that I
told you of.  In which case, of course, I should have died.  So there
you are."

"Thanks!" said Dick grimly.  "I'm glad you have told me, for I shall now
know exactly what to do, if anything similar should happen."

Earle's strength was slow to return to him, for there were two adverse
influences with which to contend, one being the depressing influence of
the forest itself in the midst of which they were encamped, while the
other was the total absence of game, which necessitated their falling
back upon the stock of canned and preserved food provided for such an
emergency, in order to sustain the invalid and restore him to perfect
health.  At length, however, Earle pronounced himself so far
convalescent as to be capable of resuming the march; and one morning the
party broke camp and continued their journey.  The length of the marches
was of course greatly curtailed, especially during the first two or
three days, to fit them to the diminished powers of the invalid, and at
the expiration of that time the party were fortunate enough to pass into
a belt of forest of a totally different character, where game was again
to be found, and from that moment Earle's progress toward complete
recovery was rapid.



CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE GREAT SWAMP AND ITS WEIRD DENIZENS.

It was on the eleventh day after the resumption of their march that,
quite early in the afternoon, they finally emerged from the forest and
found themselves upon the edge of a swamp, which stretched away ahead
and on either side of them as far as the eye could reach, except that,
in the extreme distance, and in the direction in which they wished to
travel, there was the suggestion of firm and somewhat hilly ground which
might be about thirty miles distant.

"Gee!" ejaculated Earle, as the party came to a halt by the margin of
the morass-like expanse, "this promises to be a corker, Dick.  Eh, what?
Guess we'll have to go into camp for a bit, and explore.  I don't at
all like the notion of attempting to force our way across that swamp, if
there is a method of working round it--as of course there is if we are
prepared to travel far enough.  This reminds me of Florida, where I once
spent a month shooting 'gators--and other things.  I guess there'll be
all the 'gators we want in there, to say nothing of snakes, mosquitos,
scorpions, centipedes, and other `varmint.'  No; I guess we'll go round,
if we can; and if we can't, we must make dugouts, and effect the
crossing in them.  We'll never be able to do it any other way."

It was indeed a formidable-looking barrier, this vast expanse of swamp,
that stretched itself, mile after mile, right athwart the party's
course, and its aspect was as dreary and depressing as one could well
imagine.  All along its margin the soil was soft, boggy and treacherous,
to such an extent, indeed, that while making a preliminary investigation
of the ground before definitely deciding upon a location for the camp,
Dick suddenly sank in to above his knees, and only succeeded in
extricating himself with the utmost difficulty, assisted though he was
by Earle and some half a dozen Indians, who formed themselves into a
human chain and dragged him out by main force.

The entire expanse of swamp appeared to be level, with the exception of
a few very trifling elevations here and there, and seemed to consist of
boggy soil covered with a rank growth of coarse grass, reeds, and
stunted bush, sparsely dotted here and there with a few gnarled and
unwholesome-looking trees, the whole intersected by a labyrinth of
canals filled with stagnant water, which wound hither and thither in a
most purposeless and bewildering fashion.  That insect life abounded
there was manifest at the most cursory glance, for great clouds of
midges or flies could be seen hovering in the air in every direction,
while Earle's surmise as to the presence of alligators was abundantly
confirmed by the frequent roaring of the creatures.  The forest seemed
to grow close up to the margin of the swamp everywhere, a mere narrow
strip of open ground some twenty to thirty yards wide, dividing the two.

A fairly satisfactory site for the camp having at length been found,
Earle and Dick, armed with rifle and automatic, and each accompanied by
an Indian carrying a machete, set off in opposite directions to explore
the margin of the swamp, in the hope of discovering a spot from which a
promising start to cross might be made; while King Cole, quite unable to
decide which of his masters he would accompany, finally laid down with
his head between his paws and whined pitifully, refusing to be comforted
by anybody.

Warned by his recent mishap, Dick was careful to give the treacherous
margin of the swamp a wide berth.  The route he was pursuing led about
due south; and for nearly an hour he pursued his way at a good brisk
pace, uneventfully and without finding anything like that of which he
was in search.  Eventually, however, he arrived at a point where the
edge of the forest abruptly receded toward the east, leaving a wide
expanse of bare soil, beyond which, at a distance of a short quarter of
a mile, the swamp again appeared, stretching away limitlessly toward the
south and east.  Apparently, the only thing to do was to follow the
northerly margin of solid ground, which seemed to trend away in a
westerly direction, the direction namely in which Earle wished to
travel, and this Dick accordingly did.  He followed this course for
about half an hour, finding the tongue of firm ground which he was
traversing vary in width, from time to time, from several yards to, in
places, merely enough for a man conveniently to walk upon, while it
twisted hither and thither in the most erratic fashion, although on the
whole it continued to push its way steadily westward toward the heart of
the swamp.  Then, glancing at the declining sun, he decided that he must
retrace his steps if he desired to get back to camp before dark.

Thus far, the afternoon's journey had been wholly uneventful, excepting
for the persistent a

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