CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
IN TREASURE LAND.
They were by this time close up in front of the huts of the barkgatherers, when all at once one of the huge condors came swooping alongoverhead, looking gigantic up against the sky. And then it was as if asudden idea had struck the colonel, who raised his piece, took aim,lowered it, and hesitated; for the huge bird was at a great distance,and the people looked at him wonderingly. The next moment his rifle wasat his shoulder again, there was the flash and puff of white smoke, thesharp crack, and the rumbling echoing roar in the mountains, as thecondor was seen to swerve and then dart straight upward.
"Missed!" muttered John Manning, "but he felt the bullet."
"Hit!" cried Cyril excitedly, for all at once the bird's wings closed,and it fell over and over and then dropped like a stone, crashing inamong the trees about a hundred yards away.
The Indians had looked on at first incredulously, and several of themexchanged glances as the condor shot upward as if to escape unharmed;but the moment it turned over and began to fall, they set up a loudshout and rushed off to pick up the fallen bird, the whole crowd makingfor the dense patch of forest, and then walking back steadily, bearingthe bird in triumph.
"Rather a risky thing to do, boys," said the colonel, reloading as hespoke. "If I had missed, I should have done harm to the position wehave made in these people's estimation. But I felt that I could hit thebird, and now they will believe that I may prove a terrible enemy inanger."
"Do it? Of course he could," whispered John Manning. "I've known himtake a rifle from one of our men lots of times, and pick off one of theBeloochees who was doing no end of mischief in our ranks up in themountains."
By this time the Indians were back, looking full of excitement, andready almost to worship the white chief who had come amongst them, withsuch power of life and death in his hands--powers beside which theirbows and arrows and poison-dealing blowpipes seemed to them to bepitiful in the extreme. They laid the body of the great bird, which wasstone-dead, at his feet, and then looked at him wonderingly, as if tosay, "What next?"
That shot had the effect which the colonel had intended to produce, forto a man the Indians felt the terrible power their white visitor held inhis hand, and each felt that he might be the object of his vengeance ifany attack was made.
But Colonel Campion felt that the effect was only likely to betemporary, and that he must gain the object for which he had made hisperilous journey as quickly as possible, and begin to return before theimpression had worn off.
Bidding Cyril then tell their guide that he should camp there for a fewdays, he sent the two men back for the mules, giving orders that theyshould take a couple of the Indians who had followed them to help.
His manner carried the day, and the party of four departed.
"I suppose it's all right, Master Cyril," whispered John Manning; "but Ishould have thought we'd ha' done better by fortifying our own camp, andnot running our heads right into the lion's mouth; but the colonel knowsbest, and we've only got to obey orders."
Certainly that seemed to be the safest course to pursue--a bold one; soin this spirit, and as if the colonel felt that there was nothingwhatever to be feared from the people, the mules and packages werebrought up. A snugly-sheltered spot was selected, close to a springwhich came gushing from the rock, and a fresh camp made; the party goingand coming among the cinchona gatherers as if they were invitedvisitors; while the Indians themselves looked puzzled, and watched everyaction from a distance.
That night, beside the fire, surrounded by the dense growth of thelife-preserving trees he had sought, the colonel became morecommunicative.
"You boys have, I daresay, canvassed why I undertook this expedition,"he said, "and, I suppose, took it for granted that I came in search ofthe gold supposed to be hidden by the Peruvians, to save it from therapacity of the Spaniards."
"Yes, sir; that's what I thought," said Cyril.
"Or else to find one of the di'mond walleys," growled John Manning.
"This is not the right direction for them, my man," said the colonel,smiling. "You have to seek for them between the leaves of books. No,boys; I came to seek something of far greater value to myfellow-creatures than a buried store of yellow metal, which may or maynot exist. It is possible that a number of the sacred vessels from someof the old temples may have been hidden by the priests, who, at theirdeath, handed down the secret to their successors; but I think it is farmore likely to be a fable. Still, the Indians believe in it, and ifthey knew that a discovery had been made, they would destroy the livesof the finders, sooner than that the gold should be taken out of thecountry."
"Then you have not come to find the gold, sir?" said Cyril; while Perrylay there upon his chest, resting his chin upon his hands, and elbows onthe earth, gazing up in his father's face.
"No, boy; I have come, and I am running some risks, I know, to drag outinto the light of day the wondrous medicine which has saved the lives ofhundreds of thousands, and made it possible for men to exist in thefever-haunted countries spread around the globe."
"You mean quinine," said Cyril. "Father always keeps a bottle in hisdesk."
"Yes, I mean quinine, the beautiful crystals obtained from the bark ofthese trees, boy; the medicine kept so jealously guarded here, the onlyplace where it is produced, high up on the eastern slope of thesemountains. I have come to seek it, and have found it far more easilythan I expected: we are sitting and lying here right in the middle ofone of the cinchona groves."
"But we can't take away much, father, even if they will let us," saidPerry.
"Wrong, boy. I hope that we shall be able to bear away, unseen, enoughto stock the world, and to make the drug, which is a blessing tohumanity, plentiful, instead of civilised Europe having to depend uponthe supply from here--from this carefully-guarded place."
"You mean to take away some young trees," said Cyril excitedly.
"I should like to do so, but that is a doubtful way, my boy. The youngtrees would be awkward to carry, and transplanting trees often meanskilling them. We must try something better than that, though. I shallsee what I can do in making one bundle, with the roots carefully boundup in damp moss."
"Yes, we might do that," assented Cyril, "but we didn't bring a spade."
"Let us find some tiny trees, and we'll do without a spade," said thecolonel quietly. "But I am in this position, boys. I know very littleabout the trees we see around us. That they are the right ones therecan be no doubt, for the Indians are camped here, cutting them down, andpeeling off and drying the bark. There are several kinds which produceinferior kinds of quinine; but these laurel-like evergreen trees producethe true, the best Peruvian bark; and it is to take away the means ofpropagating these trees in suitable hot mountainous colonies of our own,that we are here. Now, how is it to be done?"
"Indians won't let it be done, sir," said Manning. "Here, I know lotso' places up Simla way where it would grow fine. Up there, north o'Calcutta, sir."
"Yes; there are spots there where it might be grown, or in the mountainsof Ceylon," said the colonel; "but we have to get it there."
"I know," said Cyril. "Let's get heaps of seed. Why, we might till ourpockets that way."
"Yes; that is my great hope, boys; so, whenever you see seed-pods orberries nearly ripe, secure them. But we are surrounded bydifficulties. We may be here at the wrong time of year, though Icalculated that as well as I could; and now that we are here, I havebeen terribly disappointed, for so far, instead of seeing seed, I havenoted nothing but the blossoms. It is as if we are too early, though Ihope these are only a second crop of flowers, and that we may find seedafter all."
"But these sweet-smelling flowers, something like small lilac, are notthe blossoms of the trees, are they?" said Perry.
"Yes, those are they," said the colonel. "Now my secret is out, and youknow what we have to do.--Well, Manning, what is it?"
"My old father had a garden, sir, and he used
to grow little shrubs bycutting up roots in little bits, which were often dry as a bone when heput them in, but they used to grow."
"Yes," said the colonel. "Quite right; and now we are here, in spite ofall opposition, we must take away with us seeds, cuttings of twigs, androots, and if possible, and we can find them, a number of the tinyseedlings which spring up beneath the old trees from the scattered seed.There, that is our work, and all must help.--Do you hear, Manning?"
"Oh yes, sir, I hear, and if you show me exactly what you want, I'll domy best; but, begging your pardon, sir, ain't it taking a deal o'trouble for very small gains?"
"No, my man, the reward will be incalculable."
"All right, sir, you know best. I'll do what you tell me, and whenwe've got what we want, I'll fight for it. That's more in my way. But,begging your pardon once more, wouldn't it be better for you to go tothe head-man, and say, through Master Cyril here: `Look here, youngfellow, we've come a long journey to get some seed and young plants ofthis stuff; can't you make a sort of trade of it, and sell us a fewpen'orth civilly.'"
The colonel laughed.
"No. They will not let us take a seed out of the country if they canprevent it. I will tell you all the worst at once. They will make abold effort to master the dread with which I have succeeded in inspiringthem, and fight desperately to stop us when we get our little store."
"Then, begging your pardon again, colonel, wouldn't it ha' been betterto have come with a couple of companies of foot, and marched up withfixed bayonets, and told him that you didn't mean to stand any nonsense,but were going to take as much seed as you liked?"
"Invited the rulers of the country to send a little army after us?"
"Yes, of course, sir; but they've got no soldiers out here as could faceBritish Grenadiers."
The colonel was ready to listen to every opinion that night, and hereplied quietly:
"I thought it all out before I started, and this was the only way--tocome up into the mountains as simple travellers, reach the hot slopesand valley regions where the cinchona grows, and then trust to our goodfortune to get a good supply of the seed. But, even now, from our startfrom San Geronimo we have been watched. You have noticed it too, boys.Even the guide we took has arrayed himself against us from the first,and, while seeming to obey my orders, has taken care to communicate withevery one we passed that he was suspicious of my motives. Every mile wehave come through the mountain-range has been noted, and will be noted,till we get back."
"Why not go back, then, some other way, sir?"
"Because we cannot cross the mountains where we please. The road wefollowed is one which, no doubt, dates from the days when the Incasruled, and there are others here and there at intervals, but they willbe of no use to us. Somehow or other, we must go back by the way wecame, and I hope to take at least one mule-load with us to get safely toEngland. There, that is enough for to-night. Now for a good rest andwe shall see what to-morrow brings forth. Cyril and Perry, you will beon sentry till as near midnight as you can guess, and then rouse me.I'm going now to take a look round at the mules, and then I shall liedown."
He rose and walked away to where the mules were cropping the grass,which grew abundantly in the open places, and as soon as he was out ofhearing, John Manning began to growl.
"All right, young gentlemen," he said, "I'm ready for anything; but, ofall the wild scarum-harum games I was ever in, this is about thewildest. Come up here to steal stuff! for that's what it is, and youcan't call it anything else. I've know'd people steal every mortalthing nearly, from a horse down to a pocket-knife. I've been where theniggers tickled you when you was asleep and made you roll over, so thatthey could steal the blanket you lay upon. I've seen the crows in Indysteal the food out of the dogs' mouths; but this beats everything."
"Why?" said Perry shortly.
"Why, sir? Because physic's a thing as everybody's willing enough togive to someone else; I didn't think it was a thing as anybody wouldever dream o' stealing. As you may say, it's a thing as couldn't bestole."
"Father knows what he is about," said Perry shortly.
"Course he does, sir. Nobody denies that. We've got to begin takingphysic with a vengeance. All right: I'm ready. And I was thinking allthe time as we should bring back those four-legged jackasses loaded withgold and precious stones. All right, gentlemen. As I said before, I'mready; and it's a good beginning for me, for I shall get a long night'srest; so here goes."
He rolled himself in his blanket, then lay down with his feet near thefire, and began to breathe the heavy breath of a sleeper the nextminute.
"Well, Cil," said Perry, "what do you think of it?"
"Don't know," said Cyril. "Yes, I do. They're wonderfully watchfulover the bark, and as soon as they know what we are after, they'll stopus."
"Then we must not let them see what we are after, my lad," said thecolonel, who had returned unseen. "We must collect plants and flowersof all kinds, and load a couple of the mules. That will help to disarmsuspicion.--Pieces loaded?"
"Yes, sir."
"That's right. We must keep military watch now regularly; but therewill be nothing to fear to-night."