CHAPTER LVIII.
WE FIND A HAVEN OF REST IN A WONDROUS LAKE; BUT ARE NIGH BEING SUCKEDINTO A WHIRLPOOL.
We swiftly left the island behind us, for this lake (as I call it),which had been pretty still when we entered it, was now hurrying alongwith the force of any mill-stream. The water was orange-tawny with themud and sand it had swept up in its course, and littered all over withgreat trees and bushes; and this wreck on it, with the desolation allaround, and the vast extent and the mighty force of it, did strike usboth with awe and a feeling of our littleness and helplessness, so thatwe could not speak for some time. However, we presently found someconsolation in perceiving that the rain had ceased to fall, and thatbetwixt the black clouds was here and there a rift of blue, which wasthe first we had seen of the sky for six weeks or thereabouts; and withthis we grew more cheery, and even the conies began to prick their earsand nibble of some herb we had torn up for them the last thing beforeputting off.
My attention was soon diverted from these trifles by more seriousmatters; for being carried to that end of the lake whence the watersissued in a narrow passage betwixt two high rocks as through the neck ofa funnel, it was with the utmost ado I kept our canoe in mid-stream andclear of those bushes and trees which, as I have said, were scatteredabroad, and here by the confluence of the flood we were brought intosuch close quarters that at every turn the canoe was threatened to benipped in their embrace or swept into the midst of the wreck and lumberthat ground painfully against the banks, where our frail bark (as I maytruly call it) would in a moment have been crushed like a thing ofpaper, and we with it.
To make matters worse, the course of the river was impeded by sundryhuge rocks standing up here and there, which threw the stream intoviolent convulsions of eddies and torrents that no force of man couldresist, so that one minute we faced one way, and the next another, toour great confusion and imminent peril, for out of all this trouble ofrocks, bushes, trees, dead carcasses of cuacuparas,[5] and the like,there was promise of a speedy end (by death) to all our troubles; andcertain I am that but for the help of Providence we had never come outof these straits alive.
[Footnote 5: A sort of stag, as big as any Devonshire cow.--B. P.]
How long we were in this pickle, whether five minutes or five hours, Iknow not; but I take it few men are so plagued in eighty years. And notone instant of repose was there either for me or my dear lady (whothroughout kept a cool head, and helped with one of the oars to staveoff this or that floating thing as surely and stoutly as any man), forere we were out of one danger we were into another, and destructionmenacing us on all sides.
It seemed that our condition could be no worse than it was; but whilst Iwas laying this fool's flattery to my heart, for its encouragement, myLady Biddy cries suddenly:
"Hark, Benet! What can that noise be?"
Then straining my ears, yet still battling with trees, rocks, etc., Icaught the sound her finer ear had first detected, which was like therushing of a great wind at a distance. This perplexed me greatly for aspace, for there was but a little air stirring; but at length, growingmore used to the sound, which increased every instant, I hit upon anexplanation of it which struck despair into my soul.
"Lord help us!" says I, "'tis the cataract we were warned against by theIngas."
"Oh, what is to be done?" says she.
"Nay," says I, dropping my oar, "there is nothing to do now but toperish, dear cousin."
But she was not minded to perish tamely thus; and seeing we weredrifting upon a tree, deftly turned her oar to my side and pushed thecanoe from it, to our immediate salvation. Thus put to shame for mycowardice, I picked up my oar and strove again vigorously to keep inclear water.
But now the roaring of that fall was grown to the loudness of thunder,and casting my eye that way I perceived a kind of cloud rising above theriver, which was nothing but the vapor thrown off by the heat of thisvast river in falling such a prodigious depth.
Hitherto we had striven only to keep to the middle of the river, but nowI glanced to the side, for there only might we chance to escape beingengulfed in the cataract; though only to be crushed amidst the tearingheaps of timber that swept the shores. To my astonishment, I saw nothingbut steep rocks on either hand; for being entirely occupied in steeringaway from the floating masses on the river, I had taken no note of thechanging character of the country we had entered. In that glance Iperceived there was no escape by the sides; so that there seemed trulyno way but to go down with the water into that terrible abysm.
And yet my spirits recoiled from such an end, being stirred up to adesperate antagonism by the frightful noise of the waters, that appearedto me like the impatient roaring of some great cage of famished lionsawaiting their meal.
Lady Biddy glanced round her at the same moment, and I saw no look ofhope in her face. In truth, she saw no escape, for now we were comewithin the cold vapors of the fall, that fell on us like an autumn mist;and so she turned her face to me, and seeing naught but despair there,her face lit up with a gentle smile, and she held forth her hands for meto take. Her lips moved as I clasped her dear hand, and though I couldhear never a sound from the thundering of the fall now close to ourears, I knew full well that those last words were, "God bless you, dearBenet!"
The thought that she must die, so beautiful and sweet, and still but inthe budding season of her life, and that after enduring so much, andstriving so bravely and heartily, did fire me with a very madness ofrevolt against Providence, which, as I wickedly conceived, had doomedthis dear girl, against all reason, justice, and mercy, to death; sothat with a furious cry I caught up my oar and struck it wildly againsta rock upon which we were being carried.
The shock of this encounter bent the oar till it snapped, though it wasmade of the toughest wood that grows in those parts, but it saved us;for this lusty blow turned us about from the current that was to theleft of these rocks into that which sped to the right, and whereas thatto the left went not more than two fathoms off over that mighty fall,the right passed through an opening in this rocky shore which we had nothitherto perceived, and here were we safe--at least, from destruction inthat frightful fall, thanks be to God. And here could I diverge likewiseone moment from the course of my history to point out the heinous follyof those who abandon themselves to despair, under the conviction thatProvidence has decreed their destruction, which it were useless tostruggle against; for in thus yielding they do more surely oppose thedecree of Providence, which hath given us functions expressly topreserve ourselves.
And now, I saw, we were in a manner safe, for though the stream wasswift and strong, much encumbered from wreckage torn from the banks,etc., and obstructed with rocks where the waters shot down withincredible force, carrying us into divers eddies and whirlpools below,yet were our ears unassailed by that fearful roar of torrents which hadparalyzed us. And after a while being carried through that chain ofhills we came in view of a great plain, flooded over as far as the eyecould reach, so that it looked like nothing but a vast sea, which floodwas naught but the overflow of the River Baraquan, poured through thepassage by which we had escaped the great falls. Here was there nocurrent except on the verge of the hills, and that running gently; andas these hills ran westward we kept our canoe in the stream, hoping thatit would run again into the Baraquan at a safe distance below the falls,which seemed to me the more likely because it bore towards a gap in somereasonably high mountains hemming in the plain to the southwest.
After running about two hours, as I judge, at about a league and a halfto the hour, and passing through this gap, though with such diminishedspeed that I had to use my oar, we came into a lake of still water,about a mile across, and shut in all around with a ragged wall ofcrystal or silver, I know not which--only this I will answer for, thatwhen a ray of sunlight touched them for a minute the eye was blinded bythe dazzling glister. On some parts this wall of rock rose flush fromthe water; but elsewhere there was a little sloping ground fairly wellwooded, but so flooded with the water tha
t had streamed into this basinfrom the Baraquan that some of the trees on the border rose not morethan four fathoms above the surface.
Issue from that lake saw I none, save by the passage we had entered; butI did not concern myself greatly on this head then, my main anxietybeing to find some refuge where we might repose, for the day was drawingto a close. Not a morsel of food has passed our lips for nigh ontwenty-four hours; and what with our exertion, terror, and hunger wewere spent and sick.
To this end I paddled the canoe towards those rocks which rose (as Ihave said) sheer from the water, and by good luck we came to a craggypart on the western side which led up to a deep cavern, which, to ourgreat comfort, we found as dry as any barn. But that which contented meas well as anything in this cavern was a great bank of dry leaves in thefurther extremity, the product of countless years, borne hither by thewinds, which in these parts do constantly blow from the east.
"Here," thinks I, with glee--"here shall my dear lady lie warm and dryat least this night."
However, before deciding this way we made a fire of dry leaves, to besure there was no savage beast or venomous worm hiding in the cavities;but there was no sign of any live creature having been there before us,save birds, whereof were some empty nests in the crevices. So hither wetransported the goods from our canoe, not forgetting those acutis we hadbrought with us; and having satisfied the cravings of nature with whatbroken victual we had (being more hungry than nice), we knelt down sideby side with one accord, and rendered thanks to God for his mercy to us.Indeed, our hearts were full of gratitude and peace; so that when ourlips had ceased to speak, our spirits were yet very still andmeditative. Thus it came about that instead of setting to (as Iintended) to make some sort of sleeping-chamber for my gentle lady, Isat down beside her on a little knoll, and through the mouth of ourcavern we watched the pink light fade out of the pearly clouds insilence.
Before I could rouse myself to an active disposition my sweet littlecomrade, quite overcome by the fatigue of that long day, fell asleepwhere she sat. First her chin drooped upon her breast, and theninclining towards me, her shoulder rested against my side, whereupon, togive her support, I put my arm about her body, with no unholy intent,but reverently, as any father might encircle his child. Presently sheraised her head with a deep-drawn breath, and all unconscious laid herface against my breast, and so fell again into a deep slumber, with theinnocent calm of a little child. And, though her pretty head was so nearthat I might have touched it with my lips, I did not take advantage ofher unconsciousness in this way (thanks be to God), nor in any otherwhich would give me shame to remember, my heart being filled with anecstasy of pure love, softened with a compassionate sorrow, that one ofher sex and condition should be brought, by rude hardship and cruelfortune, to this pitiful estate.
When she gave signs of awakening, I made a feint of yawning andstretching my arms, and then jumping up I cried:
"Lord, cousin, I do believe we've been a-napping!"
"Why, where are we, Benet?" says she.
"That we will presently see," says I; and putting some leaves on theembers that yet glowed, I blew them up into a flame, and by this lightin a twinkling I set up a mat with the oar and a half that were left us,and begged my lady to repose herself, if she would make a shift withthat poor accommodation, for the night.
The next morning being tolerably fair we made a voyage around our lake,and though we examined the inlets and rocks closely we could discover noissue, save that (as I have said afore) by which we had come in, wherethe waters were still flowing in pretty freely. This perplexed usconsiderably, for besides the stream from the Baraquan there wereconstantly falling into the lake some half a dozen runnels from springsin the rocks; yet, as we could plainly see, the water had not risen inthe night, but rather fallen away if anything. However, on taking asecond turn round the lake, we were like to have had this mysteryexplained in a fashion that was more conclusive than agreeable; forcoasting closer than heretofore by these rocks that rose sheer out ofthe water, we felt ourselves suddenly within the influence of a current,which drew us with incredible velocity towards a deep vortex ofwhirlpool, by which these waters were drawn into some subterraneouspassage through the rocks, and 'twas only by employing our utmoststrength and skill that we thrust our canoe out of the flow, and so(thanks be to God!) escaped being sucked into that horrid gulf.
When we were somewhat recovered of the disorder into which this lateperil had thrown us, I pointed out to my lady that there appeared no wayof escaping from our captivity but by the stream that had brought usthither. "For," says I, "'tis questionable if ever we can scale thosesteep and slippery rocks that surround us."
"And could we do so," says she, "we must go empty-handed, for sure wecould never drag our canoe up there, nor any of those things that arenecessary to us. Nor have we any assurance that we shall be better offon the other side of those rocks than on this."
"You are in the right of it," says I; "then there remains nothing for itbut to get back into the Baraquan as best we may."
"Ay," says she, "but we must assuredly wait until the rainy season ispast--which has but just begun--for 'twere madness to venture again intosuch dangers as we have by a miracle escaped."
On hearing this I turned aside, that she might not read in my face theexultation of joy that filled my heart. And so as I made no reply shesaid in a rallying tone:
"Are you very anxious to get rid of me, Benet?"
'Twas on my tongue to answer, "If I could make captivity endurable toyou, I would never take you from these rocky confines"; but I kept thesewords to myself, though what reply I stammered in their place I can notrecall to mind.