CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
AT THE BIVOUAC.
The boys were heartily glad when, just before nightfall--night, whichfell much sooner, shut in there in the deep valleys of the Andes--thecolonel snatched at a suggestion made by John Manning.
"Water, sir, coming out of that slit in the rock, plenty o' breastwork,and a bit of green stuff for the mules."
"Yes, we'll halt here. We are not likely to find a better place," saidthe colonel.
So instead of tramping on for another hour, a halt was called early, thepackages formed into a shelter in front of the "slit" in the rock, asJohn Manning called it, a place which suggested its being a way into agood-sized cavern, and then a fire was lit, and they prepared theirmeal.
For no more had been seen of the Indians, and though the colonel had ashrewd suspicion that they might still be in chase of them, those whichhad been seen in the valley were, he concluded, only wanderers, whomthey had startled while on some hunting expedition, and whom they wouldprobably see no more.
The fire was only used to heat the water for their coffee, and as soonas this was made, carefully extinguished by John Manning, so as not toattract attention if any one was still about; and then they sat, glad ofthe rest, eating biscuit and charqui, and sipping coffee from the tin.
Over the meal, John Manning made a report respecting what he called thecommissariat department.
"Stores getting low, sir," he said.
"Yes, I must supplement them with one of the guns," said the colonel."I have been so much taken up with getting the cinchona seed, that Ihave hardly thought of anything else."
Very little was said then for some time, the weariness mentally felt byall making them ill disposed for conversation; but just before dark thecolonel carefully inspected their surroundings, and with John Manning'shelp, made a few arrangements for their defence.
"I don't think they would dare to attack us if they found where we are,"said the colonel; "but we must be prepared."
"Is it worth all this trouble and risk, father?" said Perry, who was, inaddition to being weary and low-spirited, stiff, and a good dealbruised.
"What! to get the seed, boy?"
Perry nodded.
"Lie down and rest, and wait till the knowledge comes to you, boy.There, I'll speak out and ask you a question. Do you think it is goodfor humanity at large for one of the greatest blessings discovered bythem, for the prevention and cure of a terrible ill, to be solely underthe control of one petty, narrow-minded government, who dole it out tothe world just as they please, and at what price they like? Why, such ablessing as quinine ought to be easily accessible all the world round,and if I can succeed in getting our precious little store safely toEngland, it will be the beginning of a very great work. Worth thetrouble? Why, the tenth part of what I have obtained of full ripe seed,of what is undoubtedly the finest white-flowered kind, would be worth ahundred times the labour and risk we have gone through--worth evengiving up life, my lad, so that others might benefit by what I havedone."
"But suppose, when we get it to England, it won't grow," said Perry.
"Why, you doleful young croaker!" cried the colonel merrily, "I don'texpect it to grow in England. Tropic plants do not flourish in ourlittle, cool, damp isle. There are plenty of places, though, where itwould grow, if we get it safely home."
"Getting it wet isn't good for it, is it?" said Perry sleepily.
"You are thinking of what you have in your pockets," said the colonel."That will not have hurt, for it would dry again pretty soon.--You haveyours safe, Cyril?"
"Yes, sir, there's about three pounds in my pockets."
"I have as much, and John Manning a little more, while I have a smallpacket in each of the mules' loads."
"So as to make sure of saving some of it?" said Cyril eagerly.
"Yes, that is the idea, my lad," said the colonel. "Now, boys, Manningand I will take it in turns to watch. There, get a good rest, and don'tthink that I should have gone through all this labour, risk, andexcitement unless I had felt that I was doing something well worthy ofthe trouble; so make up your minds to get it safely to San Geronimo."
He left them, as usual, to see where the mules were grazing, and Cyrilsat gazing down before him.
"What's the matter?" said Perry.
"I was thinking that it's all very well for you people to get back home,only it isn't so pleasant for me."
"Father will speak to Captain Norton for you," said Perry.
"No: I don't want him to. I shall speak myself. I wouldn't have myfather see me sneak in behind yours in that cowardly way. Oh dear, Iwish it was over!"
"Mules feeding well and all quiet, boys," said the colonel; "and to allappearance there isn't a soul near us for miles.--By the way, Manning,did you go into the cave?"
"No, sir. Did you tell me? Seemed too damp to use for sleeping."
"No, I did not tell you; but get the lantern and let's look inside. Wedon't want to be disturbed by some animal coming out in the night."
Manning took the battered lantern, and led the way to where the springcame gushing out of what at a distance looked like a long, narrow,sloping crack, but which proved to be, on closer acquaintance, largeenough for a man to walk in upright by stepping from stone to stone,round about which the water came gurgling and bubbling out.
It was about a dozen yards from where their fire had been lit, amongstthe stones fallen at different times from the heights above; and as theyapproached, a low musical rippling greeted their ear in a pleasantmurmur, suggesting that the spring must come for some distance through alow, natural passage, whose stony walls caused the echoings of silverysplashings, which now grew louder and more strange.
"Yes, too damp-looking for a resting-place," said the colonel; "and itdoes not look like the lair of any dangerous beast, but we may as wellexamine it, and we ought to have done so before. Why, boys, it wouldmake quite a fortress if we had to defend ourselves. Plenty ofwater-supply, and ample room to drive in the mules."
John Manning had gone inside at once, and as soon as he was a shortdistance from the narrow entrance, he struck a light and applied it tothe candle within the lantern, holding it above his head, and thencautiously picking his steps along from stone to stone in the bed of thestream.
Whish, whirr, came a peculiar sound, and, as if moved by one impulse,the two boys rushed out, startled, to stand looking back, wondering whythe colonel had not followed.
"What was that?" cried Cyril.
"I don't know. Something rushed by my head," said Perry excitedly, ashe looked vainly round in the dim light, and then back at the faintlylit-up entrance to the cave, where the lantern, now invisible behind acurve, shone upon the moist stone wall.
"Come along back," cried Cyril; "what cowards they will think us. Itmust have been birds. Ah! yes; look, dozens of them," he cried,pointing to where what seemed to be faint shadows kept gliding out andshooting upward over the face of the rock, to disappear at once in theevening gloom.
"Think they are birds?" said Perry, in an awe-stricken voice.
"Birds or bats," said Cyril. "How stupid to be startled like that!Come along."
He sturdily led the way back, ashamed of the sudden access of fear whichhad come upon him; though entering so strangely weird-looking a place bythe feeble light of a lantern, and when unnerved by long toil and thedangers they had lately passed through, it was not surprising, andstronger folk might easily have been scared.
He had hardly got well inside again before his face was brushed by asoft wing, and he felt ready to run back once more, but this time hemastered the dread, and felt that Perry's hand was laid upon his armjust as the colonel's voice, which sounded hollow, echoing, and strange,said softly: "Goes in, perhaps, for miles.--Look, boys."
The voice sounded close to his ear; but to his surprise he found thatthe lantern was quite a hundred yards in, and the light glimmering fromthe surface of the tiny stream, while there was plenty of room on eitherside for them to walk.<
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"Where are you, boys?" said the colonel, more loudly.
"Here, sir; coming," cried Cyril, who grasped the fact, now, that theirsudden rush out had not been noticed.
"It's all safe so far; no crevices or chasms," said the colonel; and asthe two lads approached, "Did you see the birds? They are flying aboutoverhead in flocks. Hark at the rush of their wings!"
As he ceased speaking, and his voice was no longer reverberating andwhispering about overhead, a peculiar fluttering, whirring sound, as ofmany wheels in rapid motion, struck upon the boys' ears, a sound whichadded strangely to the mysterious air of the place. It was evident,too, that the roof was now far above their heads, giving room for thestrange dwellers in darkness to wheel and swoop about, often so closethat the wind raised by their pinions beat upon the explorers' cheeks.
"Lucky I'd got the lantern door shut," said John Manning, in a strangewhisper, "or they'd have blown it out a dozen times over.--Shall I goany farther, sir?"
"No; it is of no use. But what a hiding-place! There's room, Manning,for quite a brigade.--What's that?"
A sharp crash fell upon their ears, as of a stone dislodged somewherehigh up in the distance; and this was evidently the case, for they heardit rattle down, loosening others, and sending a reverberating echo alongthe cavern, which told of its vastness being greater than they hadbefore imagined.
"One of the birds loosened a stone, sir," said John Manning. "Look out:here they come."
For, evidently alarmed by the falling stones, there was now the rush asof a mighty wind, and the little party could feel that a great flock ofbirds was passing overhead toward the entrance, hurriedly making theirescape out into the open air.
"Let's follow their example," said the colonel; "we are only wastingtime. But this would make a capital retreat if we were attacked; and wecould defend it against hundreds."
"Till we were starved, or burned out," grumbled John Manning.
"It would take a forest on fire to burn us out of this, sir," said thecolonel. "What! make difficulties? We have plenty to encounterwithout. Now then, forward with the light."
John Manning faced round, and led on at once, while, as he held up thelantern, the dark mass of birds in a regular train could be seen passingon toward the entrance, which was reached directly after, both boysuttering a sigh of relief on finding themselves once more in the outerdarkness, where they could breathe freely, and feel as if a great dangerhad been escaped.