CHAPTER XVI.
BLACKBEARD
"Well," said Knowlton, after a period of silent paddling, "we have metthe enemy and we are his'n. No harm done so far, though, and if old manCalisaya, or whatever his name is, wants to act nasty we can send himand a few others along the road to glory with our gats. We'll travel thesame road, of course, but we'll take company with us."
"_Si_, senhor," Pedro agreed. "And besides your pistols we still haveour machetes. Yet I believe Lourenco's words to the chief Monitaya willmake all well. But I cannot help wondering--" He glanced at McKay.
"I'm wondering, too, Pedro," said the captain. "It's hardly possiblethat these people know why we're here, and hardly likely that they haveany interest in the Raposa. Lord knows I've nothing else up my sleeve.It's a riddle to me."
It remained a riddle to the rest, for no explanation could be gleanedfrom the Mayorunas. At the first halt, which did not come until nearlysundown, the Americans discovered that one of the men in the fore canoewas Yuara, who had been lying in the bottom of the craft and sleepingall the afternoon. From him Lourenco attempted to get information as tothe reason for Suba's enmity--but in vain. The tall fellow spoke not aword in reply, and his face remained unreadable.
Camp was made, and by Yuara's direction the packs of the adventurerswere restored to them. The rifles, however, remained under guard ofsavages appointed by the subchief's son. When the night meal was out ofthe way nothing remained but to seek hammocks and sleep, for furtherattempts at conversation by Lourenco met with the same silent rebufffrom every cannibal addressed. None showed active hostility by eitherlook or manner, but it was plain that between wild and civilized menstood a wall--a wall not too high for the jungle dwellers to leap overin deadly action if occasion should be given. Wherefore the whites heldthemselves aloof, said little, and slept early.
"I am glad Yuara is with us," Lourenco said. "As he promised, he doesnot forget what was done for him. He will keep this band in control, andunless I am much mistaken he will tell Monitaya all he knows of us,which surely will not do us any harm. At any rate, we can sleep insafety to-night. And since it does no good to puzzle about what is goneby or to worry about what has not yet to come to pass, let us sleepnow."
"Ho-hum!" yawned Tim. "Renzo, ye spill more solid sense to the squareinch than any feller I seen in a long time. We're here because we'rehere; to-day's dead and to-morrer ain't born yet, and li'l' Timmy Ryanhits the hay right now. Night, gents."
So, surrounded by man eaters, the trailers of the Raposa slept far moresecurely than on any night down the river when their companions had beensupposedly civilized Peruvians. Whether a watch was kept by their guardsduring the night they neither knew nor cared, since they had nointention of attempting escape.
They awoke to find the men of Suba diminished in number by half. Yuara,deigning to speak for the first time since leaving the _maloca_,explained that the absent men had gone hunting for their breakfasts.Before long the hunters came straggling back, bearing monkeys and birds,which were divided among their companions. None of this meat was offeredto the prisoners, who ate unconcernedly from their pack rations. Tim,after watching the Indians sink their sharp-filed teeth into broiledmonkey haunches and tear the meat from the bones, snorted and turned hisback to them.
"Look like a gang o' bloody-faced devils gobblin' babies," he muttered."I'll believe now they're cannibals, all right."
So uncomfortably apt was his simile that the others grimaced and turnedtheir eyes elsewhere until the savage meal was finished. Then theirattention became riveted on a queer proceeding at the canoe whereinYuara had journeyed yesterday.
To the gunwales amidships two of the men fastened a couple of smallcrotched posts. In the forks was laid a pole, crosswise of the boat, andfrom this, by slender fiber cords, four slabs of wood were hung.Strolling down to the canoe, the travelers found that athwart its bottomhad been laid a crosspiece supporting two shorter crotched posts,between which stretched another transverse pole; and from this pole inturn the lower ends of the four slabs had been suspended. Now thesavages joined the tips of each pair of slabs by carved end sections,and the contrivance seemed to be complete--a sort of grate, its barssloping at an angle of forty-five degrees.
As the Americans eyed the arrangement in perplexity, one of the crewpicked up from the bow of the canoe a pair of mallets the heads of whichwere wrapped in hide. With these he struck the slabs in rapidsuccession. Out rolled four notes of astonishing volume--the first fournotes of the musical scale. Again and again he ran them over, thenstopped. The deep tones thrummed away along the creek and died.
"By George! a big xylophone!" Knowlton exclaimed, admiringly.
"It sure talks right out loud," said Tim. "Lot o' class to these guys,at that. Bet this is their brass band, and we'll go rip-snortin' intothe next town like we was on parade. Oughter have some flags to hang upin the boats, and mebbe a drum corps to help out. Wisht I had a tinwhistle or somethin' and I'd join the orchester. I can toot a whistlefine."
"My favorite instrument is the old-fashioned dinner horn," laughedKnowlton. "But I think you're wrong--this is some kind of signalingapparatus."
"You have it right, senhor," Lourenco affirmed. "I have heard this sortof thing used, though I never before saw the instrument itself. Thosenotes will carry at least five miles, and the cannibals send messages bystriking the bars in different order. This run which we have just heardis always used first, and no message is sent until a reply is received."
"Bush telegraph," nodded McKay. "First call your operator and then shootthe message in code. Pretty ingenious for a bunch of absolute savages."
Lourenco turned to Yuara and asked a question. Yuara curtly replied.
"He says, Capitao, that this is to tell Monitaya we come. But we now aretoo far off for Monitaya's men to hear. The bars are made ready beforestarting so that they can be used as soon as we are within hearing. Hesays also that we start now."
The Mayorunas already were entering their canoes. With cool deliberationthe whites gathered up their equipment and settled themselves for thejourney at whose end lay either life or death. The boat of Yuarastarted, and once more the flotilla was on its way.
For an hour or more it swung on among the forested hills before thetelegraph instrument was put to use. Then it paused, and the sonorousvoice of the xylophone spoke to the jungle. A period of waiting broughtno reply.
The canoe moved on for a mile. Again the mallets beat the wood in theascending scale of the call. And then, faint, mellow, far off, soundedthe answer.
While every man sat silent the bars boomed out their fateful news. Slow,brief, deep as a bell tolling a dirge, a reply rolled back. And with thesolemnity of a funeral cortege the canoes once more moved on, unhurried,inexorable, the measured swing of the paddles beating like a pulse ofdoom.
At length the crew of Yuara held their paddles. Yuara himself turnedtoward the second canoe and talked a minute. A signal to his men, andhis boat proceeded. All the others remained where they were.
"He goes to Monitaya to speak of us," said Lourenco. "He will return. Wehave only to wait."
"Yeah," grunted Tim, disgustedly. "We'll wait till night if he takes aslong to go through his rigmarole as he done yesterday. If I got to fightI want to hop to it, not set round in the shade o' the shelterin' palmwhile them guys are heatin' up the stewpot. This waitin' stuff gits mygoat."
"You might sing us a song, senhor, to pass the time," Pedro suggested,with a tight-lipped smile.
"Say, I'll do that, jest to show these guys I don't give a rip. Andwhile their ears are dazzled by me melody I'm goin' to git me holsterunbottoned and me masheet kinder limbered up. Git set. Here it comes:
"Ol' Hindyburg thought he was swell, Pa-a-arley-voo! He made the kids in Belgium yell, Pa-a-arley-voo! But the Yanks come over with shot and shell And Hindyburg he run like hell, Rinkydinky-parley-voo!"
Under cover of his outbreak, which made the savages clutch their weapons
and glare at him in mingled suspicion and amazement, there proceeded afurtive loosening of pistols and machetes.
"A noble sentiment, and more or less appropriate," grinned Knowlton."But don't give them another spasm for a few minutes, or they may riseup and kill us all in self-defense. They're on the ragged edge now."
"Aw, them guys dunno how to appreciate good singin'. But I should worry;I got me gat fixed now like I want it."
Time dragged past. The Americans and Brazilians smoked and exchangedcasual comments on subjects far removed from their present environment.The Mayorunas watched them with unceasing vigilance, as if expecting asudden break for life and liberty. Their chief had intimated thatMonitaya would kill these men; and now was their last chance to try tododge death. But neither the black-bearded McKay nor any of his matesmanifested the slightest concern. And at last the canoe of Yuara cameback.
It came, however, without Yuara himself. The son of Rana had remained atthe _malocas_ ahead, whence he sent the command to advance. Closelyhemmed in by the men of Suba, the white men's boat surged onward at abrisk pace. Around a bend in the creek it went, and at once the domainof Monitaya leaped into view.
Two big tribal houses, each considerably larger than the one of Suba,rose pompously in a wide cleared space beside the stream. Before them,ranged in a semicircle, stood hundreds of Mayorunas--men, women,children--all silently watching the canoes of the newcomers. In thecenter of the arc, like the hub of a human half wheel, a small knot ofmen waited in aloof dignity, four of them adorned with the ornatefeather dresses of subchiefs, backed by a dozen tall, muscular savages,each armed with a huge war club. Before all stood a powerful,magnificently proportioned savage belted with a wide girdle of squirreltails, decked with necklaces of jaguar teeth and ebony nuts, crowned byplumes which in loftiness and splendor surpassed all other headgearpresent--the great chief Monitaya.
At the shore, beside a row of empty canoes, Yuara was waiting. Hementioned for his men to bring their dugouts to the regular landingplace, and when they obeyed he gave commands. Then he turned and walkedtoward Monitaya.
"I go," stated Lourenco, rising. "You stay here until called. Yuara hastold his men to leave all weapons in the canoes."
He walked away after the son of Rana, and if any misgiving was in hisheart it did not show in his confident step. Halting before the bigchief, he began talking as coolly as if there were not the least doubtof welcome for himself and those with him. Monitaya gave no sign ofrecognition, of friendliness, or of enmity. Proud, statuesque, he stoodmotionless, his deep eyes resting on those of the Brazilian.
"Sultry weather," remarked McKay.
"Just so, Capitao," agreed Pedro, narrow eyed. "We shall soon knowwhether we shall have storm."
"Indications are for violent thunder and lightning soon," Knowltoncontributed. "See those husky clubmen awaiting? Looks as if a publicexecution were about to be pulled off."
"Yeah. But say, ain't that chief a reg'lar he-man, though! Nopot-bellied fathead like that there, now, Suby guy. Hope I don't have todrill him. I bet I won't, neither. He looks like he had brains."
Hoping Tim was right, but dubious, all watched the progress of theparley. Lourenco evidently was stating his case in logical sequence,recalling to the chief's mind the time when he had led him to revengeagainst the Peccaries of Peru, then going on to tell of the arrival ofthe strangers and the object of their search. Yuara's sudden, quickglance at him showed that the Raposa had been mentioned for the firsttime. A little later his face became slightly sullen, and the watchersguessed that Lourenco was now referring in somewhat uncomplimentaryterms to the treatment received in the _maloca_ of Suba. Soon after thatthe Brazilian ended his speech.
In a deep, quiet tone Monitaya spoke first to Lourenco, then to one ofhis subchiefs. The bushman beckoned to his waiting companions. At thesame time the subchief stepped out and called two names. As McKay,Knowlton, Tim, and Pedro arose and stepped ashore with the weaponlessmen of Suba, out from the great human arc came two men. All advancedtoward the chief. And though the Americans were studying the centralfigures as they walked, they also noticed that the pair of Mayorunas whohad been summoned were lame. One walked with a stiff knee, the other asif a whole leg was paralyzed.
"Squad--halt!" muttered McKay. A step and a half and the four stoodaligned and alert, two strides from Monitaya.
The eyes of the chief dwelt long on McKay, and they were hard eyes.Without shifting his gaze he grunted a few words. The two crippledIndians stumped forward and stared into McKay's face. Through a longminute the Americans felt a sinister tension grow in the air about them.Then, slowly, the cripples turned about and faced their ruler. In thetones of men sure of themselves, they spoke one word.
With the utterance of that word the tension broke. Through the long lineof watching tribesmen ran a murmur. The clubmen relaxed from their readypoise. The subchiefs glanced at one another as if disappointed. And thestern face of Monitaya himself was transformed by a wide, friendlysmile.
A sweeping gesture and the cordial timbre of the chief's voice told theAmericans plainly what Lourenco translated a moment later.
"We are welcome, comrades. We shall sleep in the _maloca_ of Monitayahimself and a feast shall be made for us. Our lives have just hung onone word, but now that the word is spoken we are safe. I cannot tell youmore now, for I do not wholly understand this matter myself as yet--butI shall learn. Now is the time, Capitao to give presents, if you haveany for the chief."
"I have. But our packs are in the canoe, and I'll be hanged if I'll makea beast of burden of myself at this stage of the game."
"I will have all the packs brought up, Capitao. The men of Suba tookthem from us at their _maloca_; now they shall restore them before allthese people."
He addressed Monitaya affably, then spoke more brusquely to Yuara. Thatyoung man, whose previous austerity now had dissolved into openfriendliness, uttered four words. Immediately his men returned to thecanoes and brought up not only the packs, but the rifles.
From his blanket roll McKay brought forth a cloth-wrapped package out ofwhich he drew a half-ax, its blade gleaming dully under a protectivecoating of grease, which he swiftly swabbed off. From his haversack heproduced a heavy chain of ruby-red beads. Under the bright sun the beadsglowed like living things, and the glittering steel flashed back adazzling beam. The two gifts together had cost considerably less thanten dollars in New York, but to the chieftain they were pricelesstreasures; and as McKay, with a formal bow, extended them to him, hisface shone with delight. Yet he made no such greedy grab for them as hadbeen displayed by Suba when tendered the knife. His acceptance wasachieved with a calm dignity which brought a twinkle of approval to theeyes of the white men.
In the same dignified manner he led the way to the _maloca_ whichevidently was the older of the two and which had always been his home.The semicircle of his subjects broke up into a disorderly crowd whichstreamed after him and his guests or surrounded the men of Suba withholiday greetings. Within the tribal house the adventurers proceeded tothe central space where burned the chief's fire. There Monitaya orderedcertain hammocks removed to make room for those of the visitors. Soonthe travelers were seated at ease in their hanging beds, their packs andrifles lying on the ground beneath them, while near at hand clusteredgroups of Mayorunas, staring at them in naive curiosity.
Pedro drew a long breath.
"Senhores, that was a very close call," he declared. "As Lourenco says,our lives have hung on one word. What was that word, comrade?"
"The word was, 'No,'" answered Lourenco. "Monitaya asked those twocrippled men, 'Is this the man?' As you saw, they looked at the capitao,giving no attention to the rest of us. Then they said, 'No.' You willremember that the capitao was the one whom Suba also picked upon. Assoon as Monitaya finishes talking with those men I shall ask him whatall this means."
The big chief was giving directions to a score of young fellows, whopresently scattered to various parts of the house and accouteredthemselves for hunting
. Thereupon Lourenco approached Monitaya with thefamiliarity of former acquaintance, being received with a good-humoredsmile. For a time the two conversed. As they talked the smile of theruler faded and his face grew dark, while into the Brazilian's voicecame a wrathful growl. Finally both nodded. Lourenco returned to hishammock, frowning.
"Capitao, it is all because of your black hair and beard. Through allthe _malocas_ of the Mayorunas, far and near, has gone the word to watchfor a big, black-bearded man who is neither a Brazilian nor a Peruvian,but of some country unknown to these people; and when such a man iscaught, to kill him and his companions without mercy. And the reason forsuch a command is this:
"For many moons the Mayorunas, especially those of the smaller andweaker _malocas_, have been losing women. From time to time sudden raidshave been made by gangs of gun-carrying Peruvian Indians and_mesticos_--half-breeds--who shot down the defenders of the housesbefore they could reach their weapons, and carried off girls. This, ofcourse, is nothing new here, for such things have happened occasionallyfor many years. But within the past five years there has been adifference in these attacks which has made them much more deadly.
"These raids used to be made always at night, and they were few and farbetween. But of late they have come about also in the day, at times whenalmost all the men of the small _malocas_ were far out in the foresthunting meat and the women had little protection. Several chiefs havebeen killed by the raiders, who seemed to be acting according to anagreed plan, to be organized for this work, and to know when to strikeand how to get away quickly. And what is more, the men who did this werenot chance parties who came only to get women for themselves and thenstayed away. The same men came back time after time.
"A few of these were killed, but only a few; and all the dead werePeruvians. Being dead, they could tell nothing. But the Mayorunas feltthat all these raids were directed by one mind. And they became sure ofthis when one captured girl escaped by killing a Peruvian with his ownknife and returned to her own _maloca_. She said the raiders took herand the other girls to the big man with the black beard, who waited at asafe place a day's march from the tribal house.
"A few weeks later another small _maloca_ several miles from here wasattacked at night while two men of Monitaya were there, having stayedout too late on a hunting trip and taken refuge with their neighborsuntil day. Both these men were hit and crippled by bullets in the wildshooting that opened the attack. One was struck in the knee, the otherin the lower part of the back. But both caught a glimpse of the leader'sface and saw that he was the black-bearded man himself.
"So you see, Capitao, why we have been near death. Suba and Monitayaboth thought you were the man. We were lucky to escape alive from Suba,and still more lucky that hero were two men who knew the face of theblackbeard."
"Schwandorf!" barked McKay.
"Yes, Capitao, it must be the German--"
"I know it's Schwandorf! And I know his game! He's a slaver!"
"A slaver?"
"That's it. Knew I'd seen that sneak before. He worked the same game inBritish Guiana eight years ago on a small scale. Had a gang of toughbush niggers from over in Dutch Guiana to do his dirty work. StoleMacusi girls--they're the best-looking Indians in B. G.--and sold themlike cattle to gold miners. Cleaned up quite a pot before the Englishgot on to him, but had to get out of the country on the hot foot--didn'thave time to take his gold with him. His name wasn't Schwandorf overthere, and he had no beard; he was thinner, too, and posed as a Russian;but he's the man. Must have made his get-away by the back door--down theBranco to the Amazon. Now he's running Mayoruna girls into Peru. Hecould sell them to rubber men or miners and make good money, eh,Lourenco?"
"_Si._"
"Sure. And that's why he wanted to kill off his Peruvians--they knew toomuch; probably were trying to bleed him for hush money. He must have aregular slave route and a gang of border cutthroats to do hisraiding--men who don't go downriver. Murderer, slaver--wonder how manyother crimes are on his soul."
"Them two are enough," growled Tim. "And he 'ain't got no soul."
"No soul," echoed Pedro. "You have said it, Senhor Tim. And if everthese people capture him he soon will have no body."