CHAPTER XXVII.
OF OUR FURTHER ESCAPES, AND A STRATAGEM BY WHICH OUR ENEMIES WERE PUT TOGREAT DISCOMFORT.
Hearing these words, Lady Biddy did rouse herself up as from a dream,and seeing me kneeling by her side with bent head, and the negro lyingat a distance quite still she gave a little scream of surprise, andthen, clasping my folded hands in hers, fell to weeping and laughing outof all measure; but I knew not which was the more piteous to hear.
"You have saved me again. You good Benet--again saved!" cried she.
"Ay, Lady Biddy," says I. "Yet I am but the happy instrument of a DivineGrace; and you should think, not of me, but of Him whose servant I am."
These serious words had the effect I wished, for at once she grewcalmer, and, ceasing to smile, did with all her heart pour out gratefulthanks to Heaven. And never did holy man more devoutly join in heartfeltpraise than I who was, as I may say, a sinner.
From this sweet communion we were aroused in a sudden and terriblemanner. The thunder of a cannon smote our ears, and at the same moment agreat splinter was torn out of the side of the tree, against which weknelt, by a ball. Yet we were not harmed thereby so much as a hair ofour heads.
As we started to our feet we heard a great shout from the sea, andcasting our eyes that way we perceived a couple of boats making for theshore as hard as ever the fellows within them could pull, so that wecould not doubt but that Rodrigues had spied us from the ship, and senthis company in our pursuit.
"Now, Lady Biddy," says I, "if you have strength we must run for it."
"Ay," says she with alacrity, and no sign of her late weakness. "Whitheryou will, Benet."
With that she puts her little soft hand in mine, and so, like twochildren, we started to run along the sands. And well it was we were soprompt, for ere we had got a dozen yards another gun was fired from theship, and this time charged with slug shot that scattered prodigiously,but, thanks be to God, did us no hurt in the world; at which I laughedaloud, and Lady Biddy joined her pretty mirth as gay as any peal ofbells, so elated was she with our happy release.
Yet were we laughing ere we were out of the wood, or rather, as I maysay, ere we were in it, for there lay our only chance of safety fromthose villains who were now nearing the shore. But how to penetrate thethicket of brambles, lianas, ground-pines, agaves, and other pricklyshrubs that did hedge the land beyond the sea-sands, where the groundrose towards the woods, I knew not; for though I should not havehesitated to plunge into this growth being by myself, albeit the fleshof my legs would have paid dearly, yet could I attempt no such thingwith Lady Biddy, whose skirts had been torn from her body and her tenderlimbs lacerated cruelly at the very outset, and she eventually been helda prisoner in the bonds of those thorny vines. So still we kept to thecoast, running on as swiftly as the shifting sand would allow, all thetime hand in hand, and with a good heart, until another shout behind usmade my heart sink and banished the smile from my lady's cheek; for nowwe knew that one of the boats had reached the shore.
"A little further, Lady Biddy--a little further," says I cheerfully.
"Yes, Benet," says she, hopefully still, yet with difficulty from theshortness of her breathing. "I can run a good way yet."
Now glancing aside I saw a hillside where the trees were of a prodigiousheight, and so close together that their branches mingled in onewide-spreading solid canopy, and loth I was to pass them by, for I knewby my experiences on the Oronoque that beneath these trees nothing grewbut toadstools and such growth for the want of light, and there might wehave run with ease as far as that sort of trees extended, but thethicket on the hither side was impassable, so there was no help for itbut to run on.
Presently I saw Lady Biddy bend her head, biting her nether lip with herteeth, as if to control some pain, and this, together with hearing thereport of a musket in our rear, showing that our pursuers were gettingwithin gunshot of us, did work me up with desperation, so that I wasminded to catch my companion in my arms, and essay whether I might notthat way struggle through the thorny barrier. And this course I resolvedto take if in fifty paces no less desperate measure was to be found.
Fifty paces were covered, and yet there was no sign of any opening inthat rank growth; then I added another ten; and after that, ten more;when, casting my eye again upon Lady Biddy, I saw in her despairing eyesthat she could go no further.
I stopped, and, leaning upon my shoulder for support, she gasps--
"One moment, Benet. I shall be better in a moment."
I looked back (yet in a manner not to affright the poor girl), and sawthe seamen doggedly running on, but no nearer, Heaven be thanked, whichsurprised me, although each man was encumbered with his musket and otherarms. But seeing us at a stand they set up a shout, and began to mendtheir pace.
"Now," said Lady Biddy, and again we started forward.
Hardly had we made half a dozen yards when I stopped her with a cry ofjoy, for there, lying flush with the outlying growth of what I term thethicket, was a great mass of dry, brown, broad leaves, which I knew forthe head of a cabbage-tree, which, though it promised nothing to aninexperienced eye, did to mine betoken a means of crossing the thicketby its stem, which is never less than 150 feet long in one falling todecay, and is more often 250 feet. And happily this tree in fallingathwart the thicket had struck upon a rock, so that it was lifted wellup above the more tangled growth.
Now I knew that if we could once get upon the stem of that tree we mighthave a convenient bridge for getting to a place where the ground wasfreer; and as there was no time to consider whether the thing waspossible or not, I hurried Lady Biddy thither, and bidding her grip metightly by the shoulders, I did set myself with all the strength andagility I possessed (which was doubled by the desperate occasion), todrag myself up by the hanging leaves to the crown of it; and thanks tothe fibers of these leaves being of a prodigious toughness, as well asto the help of Providence, I succeeded so well that in a twinkle westood side by side upon the trunk of this fallen tree.
Here were we well concealed from sight, but not so secure neither as wasto my taste; so, begging Lady Biddy stay there till my return, I rannimbly down the length of the palmetto, and then along the inner side ofthe thicket beneath the trees, where the growth was of moderateproportion, back in the direction we had come, till guessing I was aboutcome level with our pursuers, I set up a great mocking laugh of derisionto be heard of them. Upon which, to my great satisfaction, I heard oneof the seamen shout to his fellows, who were in advance, to come back,for they had passed the game.
"Ay," shouts I, "and you'll have to look sharp to catch us at that."
The fellows replied by firing a volley into the thicket where theydeemed I might be, but they might as usefully have fired into the sandfor all the damage their bullets could do to me through that huge massof shrubs and plants, whereof the best part are as tough as leather.
I gave them another laugh, but still a little further back from the partwhere I had left Lady Biddy, to make them conclude we were flyingthence, and this enraging them beyond measure, they straightway plungedinto the thicket, fancying that we had passed through, and that theymight do the same. And first of all there was great cursing amongst themfor the thorns that stuck in their legs; but as they pushed further into free themselves, and only got the worse entangled, being torn andrent (as they must) from head to foot at every moment, the cries of painand rage that these wretches set up were enough to make any heart gladto hear.
Leaving them in this pickle I sped back the way I had come, and foundLady Biddy had of herself passed along the length of the great cabbagetree and got down by the upturned roots. Without waste of time wecontinued our way, keeping within the grateful shade of the trees, yetholding on within sight of the thicket that we might have some notion,however vague, of our whereabouts.
We kept on at a briskish pace without stopping (except that once I wenta little out of my way to pluck some guave apples, which were a greatrefreshment and comfort to us) for best part of
an hour, I take it, bywhich time the nature of the ground took a new aspect, and seeing somedead reeds entangled in the branches of a bush I perceived they musthave been left there by flood of waters. This led me to conclude we werenear some river, which gave me no small satisfaction, for already mymind was becoming anxious with regard to the question of water to drink.As we proceeded the traces of flood became more plentiful, and at lengthcoming to the verge of the wood we found ourselves on the edge of alagoon, stretching upwards of a mile towards a broad river, whose yellowwaters were cut off from the blue sea by a long neck of sand thatextended as far as the eye could reach.
This lagoon was a dismal waste of refuse washed down by the swollenriver in the rainy season, for as yet the new growth of reeds had notpenetrated the mass, except here and there where a patch of tender greenrose amidst the wide expanse of rotting vegetation. But if theforeground was dismal to look on, the eye was recompensed by that whichlay beyond. For there the sky was pierced by the glittering summits ofprodigious mountains, whose sides swept down to lesser hills of purplerock, and these again in undulating slopes to the blue sea and theriver, which on its further side shone like gold in the sunlight. Andthese lower slopes did at first look as though a sunset cloud hadsettled upon them; yet at a second glance did rather seem as if theywere covered over with a vast tapestry, in which were woven all shadesof green, mingled with bright patches of red and orange, purple androse-pink, by reason of the many-hued flowers which crowned the trees,as no traveler shall deny who has cast eyes on those wondrous woods.
For a minute we stood still looking in amaze and delight upon thisprospect, for it was the first we had seen of those mountains, but thenwe bethought us of those wretches we had left behind (who for certainwould stay no longer than they could help in the thorns), and likewise Iperceived we must yet follow up the course of this river before we couldget water fit to drink. Added to which the lagoon bred abundance ofstinging flies, and I feared there might likewise be reptiles in such aspot, so again we stepped forward.
Before long we found it necessary to penetrate further into the wood byreason of the ground rising abruptly from the river; yet still we keptas near as might be to the river, every now and again pausing in ourupward walk where a break offered view of the river below and themountains beyond.
We kept on, for Lady Biddy would not allow that she was fatigued, untilI heard, as I thought, the breaking of water; and passing a huge rock wesaw, to my inexpressible satisfaction, a silvery stream of watertumbling down the gorge that opened before us.