CHAPTER VIII
AN ENCHANTING LAND--AN UNCOMFORTABLE BED AND A QUEER BREAKFAST--MANYSURPRISES AND A FEW FRIGHTS, TOGETHER WITH A NOTABLE DISCOVERY
"I've woked in paradise!"
Such was the exclamation that aroused Martin Rattler on the morning afterhis landing on the coast of South America. It was uttered by BarneyO'Flannagan, who lay at full length on his back, his head propped up by aroot of the tree under which they had slept, and his eyes staring rightbefore him with an expression of concentrated amazement. When Martinopened his eyes, he too was struck dumb with surprise. And well mightthey gaze with astonishment; for the last ray of departing daylight onthe night before had flickered over the open sea, and now the first gleamof returning sunshine revealed to them the magnificent forests of Brazil.
Yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in boundless admiration; forthe tropical sun shone down on a scene of dazzling and luxuriantvegetation, so resplendent that it seemed to them the realization of afairy tale. Plants and shrubs and flowers were there, of the mostcurious and brilliant description, and of which they neither knew theuses nor the names. Majestic trees were there, with foliage of everyshape and size and hue; some with stems twenty feet in circumference;others more slender in form, straight and tall; and some twisted in abunch together and rising upwards like fluted pillars: a few hadbuttresses, or natural planks, several feet broad, ranged all roundtheir trunks, as if to support them; while many bent gracefully beneaththe load of their clustering fruit and heavy foliage. Orange-trees withtheir ripe fruit shone in the sunbeams like gold. Stately palms roseabove the surrounding trees and waved their feathery plumes in the air,and bananas with broad enormous leaves rustled in the breeze and cast acool shadow on the ground.
Well might they gaze in great surprise; for all these curious andbeautiful trees were surrounded by and entwined in the embrace ofluxuriant and remarkable climbing plants. The parasitic vanilla with itsstar-like blossoms crept up their trunks and along their branches, whereit hung in graceful festoons, or drooped back again almost to the ground.So rich and numerous were these creepers, that in many cases they killedthe strong giants whom they embraced so lovingly. Some of them hung fromthe tree-tops like stays from the masts of a ship, and many of themmingled their brilliant flowers so closely with the leaves, that theclimbing-plants and their supporters could not be distinguished from eachother, and it seemed as though the trees themselves had become giganticflowering shrubs.
Birds, too, were there in myriads,--and such birds! Their feathers weregreen and gold and scarlet and yellow and blue--fresh and bright andbrilliant as the sky beneath which they were nurtured. The great toucan,with a beak nearly as big as his body, flew clumsily from stem to stem.The tiny, delicate humming-birds, scarce larger than bees, fluttered fromflower to flower and spray to spray, like points of brilliant green. Butthey were irritable, passionate little creatures, these lovely things,and quarrelled with each other and fought like very wasps! Enormousbutterflies, with wings of deep metallic blue, shot past or hovered inthe air like gleams of light; and green paroquets swooped from tree totree and chattered joyfully over their morning meal.
Well might they gaze with wonder, and smile too with extreme merriment,for monkeys stared at them from between the leaves with expressions ofundisguised amazement, and bounded away shrieking and chattering inconsternation, swinging from branch to branch with incredible speed, andnot scrupling to use each other's tails to swing by when occasionoffered. Some were big and red and ugly,--as ugly as you can possiblyimagine, with blue faces and fiercely grinning teeth; others weredelicately formed and sad of countenance, as if they were for everbewailing the loss of near and dear relations, and could by no means comeat consolation; and some were small and pretty, with faces no bigger thana halfpenny. As a general rule, it seemed to Barney, the smaller themonkey the longer the tail.
Yes, well might they gaze and gaze again in surprise and in excessiveadmiration; and well might Barney O'Flannagan--under the circumstances,with such sights and sounds around him, and the delightful odours ofmyrtle trees arid orange blossoms and the Cape jessamine stealing up hisnostrils--deem himself the tenant of another world, and evince hisconviction of the fact in that memorable expression--"I've woked inparadise!"
But Barney began to find "paradise" not quite so comfortable as it oughtto be; for when he tried to get up he found his bones pained and stifffrom sleeping in damp clothes; and moreover, his face was very muchswelled, owing to the myriads of mosquitoes which had supped of it duringthe night.
"Arrah, then, _won't_ ye be done!" he cried, angrily, giving his face aslap that killed at least two or three hundred of his tormentors. Butthousands more attacked him instantly, and he soon found out,--what everyone finds out sooner or later in hot climates,--that _patience_ is one ofthe best remedies for mosquito bites. He also discovered shortlyafterwards that smoke is not a bad remedy, in connection with patience.
"What are we to have for breakfast, Barney?" inquired Martin as he roseand yawned and stretched his limbs.
"Help yersilf to what ye plase," said Barney, with a polite bow, wavinghis hand round him, as if the forest were his private property and MartinRattler his honoured guest.
"Well, I vote for oranges," said Martin, going towards a tree which wasladen with ripe fruit.
"An' I'll try plums, by way of variety," added his companion.
In a few minutes several kinds of fruit and nuts were gathered andspread at the foot of the tree under which they had reposed. ThenBarney proceeded to kindle a fire,--not that he had anything to cook,but he said it looked sociable-like, and the smoke would keep off theflies. The operation, however, was by no means easy. Everything hadbeen soaked by the rain of the previous night, and a bit of dry grasscould scarcely be found. At length he procured a little; and by rubbingit in the damp gunpowder which he had extracted from his pistol, anddrying it in the sun, he formed a sort of tinder that caught fire aftermuch persevering effort.
Some of the fruits they found to be good,--others bad. The good theyate,--the bad they threw away. After their frugal fare they felt muchrefreshed, and then began to talk of what they should do.
"We can't live here with parrots and monkeys, you know," said Martin; "wemust try to find a village or town of some sort; or get to the coast, andthen we shall perhaps meet with a ship."
"True, lad," replied Barney, knitting his brows and looking extremelysagacious; "the fact is, since neither of us knows nothing aboutanything, or the way to any place, my advice is to walk straight for'ardtill we come to something."
"So think I," replied Martin; "therefore the sooner we set off thebetter."
Having no luggage to pack and no arrangements of any kind to make, thetwo friends rose from their primitive breakfast-table, and walked awaystraight before them into the forest.
All that day they travelled patiently forward, conversing pleasantlyabout the various and wonderful trees, and flowers, and animals they metwith by the way; but no signs were discovered that indicated the presenceof man. Towards evening, however, they fell upon a track orfoot-path,--which discovery rejoiced them much; and here, beforeproceeding further, they sat down to eat a little more fruit,--which,indeed, they had done several times during the day. They walked nearlythirty miles that day without seeing a human being; but they met withmany strange and beautiful birds and beasts,--some of which were of sofierce an aspect that they would have been very glad to have had guns todefend themselves with. Fortunately, however, all the animals seemed tobe much more afraid of them than they were of the animals; so theytravelled in safety. Several times during the course of the day they sawsnakes and serpents, which glided away into the jungle on their approach,and could not be overtaken, although Barney made repeated darts at them,intending to attack them with his cutlass; which assaults always provedfruitless.
Once they were charged by a herd of peccaries,--a species of pig or wildhog,--from which they escaped by jumping actively to one side; but thepeccaries turned and ru
shed at them again, and it was only by springingup the branches of a neighbouring tree that they escaped their fury.These peccaries are the fiercest and most dauntless animals in theforests of Brazil. They do not know what fear is,--they will rush in theface of anything; and, unlike all other animals, are quite indifferent tothe report of fire-arms. Their bodies are covered with long bristles,resembling very much the quills of the porcupine.
As the evening drew on, the birds and beasts and the innumerable insects,that had kept up a perpetual noise during the day, retired to rest; andthen the nocturnal animals began to creep out of their holes and goabout. Huge vampire-bats, one of which had given Barney such a fright thenight before, flew silently past them; and the wild howlings commencedagain. They now discovered that one of the most dismal of the howlsproceeded from a species of monkey: at which discovery Martin laughedvery much, and rallied his companion on being so easily frightened; butBarney gladly joined in the laugh against himself, for, to say truth, hefelt quite relieved and light-hearted at discovering that his ghosts wereconverted into bats and monkeys!
There was one roar, however, which, when they heard it ever and anon,gave them considerable uneasiness.
"D'ye think there's lions in them parts?" inquired Barney, glancing withan expression of regret at his empty pistol, and laying his hand on thehilt of his cutlass.
"I think not," replied Martin, in a low tone of voice. "I have read inmy school geography that there are tigers of some sort,--jaguars, orounces, I think they are called,--but there are no--"
Martin's speech was cut short by a terrific roar, which rang through thewoods, and the next instant a magnificent jaguar, or South Americantiger, bounded on to the track a few yards in advance, and, wheelinground, glared fiercely at the travellers. It seemed, in the uncertainlight, as if his eyes were two balls of living fire. Though not so largeas the royal Bengal tiger of India, this animal was nevertheless ofimmense size, and had a very ferocious aspect. His roar was so sudden andawful, and his appearance so unexpected, that the blood was sentthrilling back into the hearts of the travellers, who stood rooted to thespot, absolutely unable to move. This was the first large animal of thecat kind that either of them had seen in all the terrible majesty of itswild condition; and, for the first time, Martin and his friend felt thatawful sensation of dread that will assail even the bravest heart when anew species of imminent danger is suddenly presented. It is said that noanimal can withstand the steady gaze of a human eye; and many travellersin wild countries have proved this to be a fact. On the present occasionour adventurers stared long and steadily at the wild creature beforethem, from a mingled feeling of surprise and horror. In a few seconds thejaguar showed signs of being disconcerted. It turned its head from sideto side slightly, and dropped its eyes, as if to avoid their gaze. Thenturning slowly and stealthily round, it sprang with a magnificent boundinto the jungle, and disappeared.
Both Martin and Barney heaved a deep sigh of relief.
"What a mercy it did not attack us!" said the former, wiping the coldperspiration from his forehead. "We should have had no chance againstsuch a terrible beast with a cutlass, I fear."
"True, boy, true," replied his friend, gravely; "it would have beenlittle better than a penknife in the ribs o' sich a cratur. I niverthought that it was in the power o' man or baste to put me in sich afright; but the longer we live we learn, boy."
Barney's disposition to make light of everything was thoroughly subduedby this incident, and he felt none of his usual inclination to regard allthat he saw in the Brazilian forests with a comical eye. The danger theyhad escaped was too real and terrible, and their almost unarmed conditiontoo serious, to be lightly esteemed. For the next hour or two hecontinued to walk by Martin's side either in total silence, or inearnest, grave conversation; but by degrees these feelings wore off, andhis buoyant spirits gradually returned.
The country over which they had passed during the day was of a mingledcharacter. At one time they traversed a portion of dark forest, heavy andchoked up with the dense and gigantic foliage peculiar to those countriesthat lie near to the equator; then they emerged from this upon what totheir eyes seemed most beautiful scenery,--mingled plain andwoodland,--where the excessive brilliancy and beauty of the tropicalvegetation was brought to perfection by exposure to the light of the bluesky and the warm rays of the sun. In such lovely spots they travelledmore slowly and rested more frequently, enjoying to the full the sight ofthe gaily-coloured birds and insects that fluttered busily around them,and the delicious perfume of the flowers that decked the ground andclambered up the trees. At other times they came to plains, or _campos_,as they are termed, where there were no trees at all, and few shrubs, andwhere the grass was burned brown and dry by the sun. Over such theyhurried as quickly as they could; and fortunately, where they chanced totravel, such places were neither numerous nor extensive, although in somedistricts of Brazil there are campos hundreds of miles in extent.
A small stream meandered through the forest, and enabled them to refreshthemselves frequently; which was very fortunate, for the heat, especiallytowards noon, became extremely intense, and they could not have existedwithout water. So great, indeed, was the heat about mid-day, that, bymutual consent, they resolved to seek the cool shade of a spreading tree,and try to sleep if possible. At this time they learned, to theirsurprise, that all animated nature did likewise, and sought repose atnoon. God had implanted in the breast of every bird and insect in thatmighty forest an instinct which taught it to rest and find refreshmentduring the excessive heat of mid-day; so that, during the space of two orthree hours, not a thing with life was seen, and not a sound was heard.Even the troublesome mosquitoes, so active at all other times, day andnight, were silent now. The change was very great and striking, anddifficult for those who have not observed it to comprehend. All theforenoon, screams, and cries, and croaks, and grunts, and whistles, ringout through the woods incessantly; while, if you listen attentively, youhear the low, deep, and never-ending buzz and hum of millions uponmillions of insects, that dance in the air and creep on every leaf andblade upon the ground. About noon all this is hushed. The hot rays of thesun beat perpendicularly down upon what seems a vast untenanted solitude,and not a single chirp breaks the death-like stillness of the greatforest, with the solitary exception of the metallic note of the uruponga,or bell-bird, which seems to mount guard when all the rest of the worldhas gone to sleep. As the afternoon approaches they all wake up,refreshed by their siesta, active and lively as fairies, and ready foranother spell of work and another deep-toned noisy chorus.
The country through which our adventurers travelled, as eveningapproached, became gradually more hilly, and their march consequentlymore toilsome. They were just about to give up all thought of proceedingfurther that night, when, on reaching the summit of a little hill, theybeheld a bright red light shining at a considerable distance in thevalley beyond. With light steps and hearts full of hope they descendedthe hill and hastened towards it.