CHAPTER XIX.
THE SCOUT IN THE JUNGLE.
Riding at a leisurely pace, the five scouts started upon theirdangerous quest, Ronie and one of the Venezuelans riding side by side,with Jack and another behind them, leaving the single man to follow.The young sergeant was pleased to find that the trio selected toaccompany him by Colonel Marchand were very prepossessing men, one ofthem a man with gray hair, while the others were but a little overtwenty years of age. The oldest, whose name was Riva Baez, claimed heknew the country well, so it was he who rode beside our hero to showthe way.
"About ten kilometers to the west we shall strike the main road toTruxillo," he remarked. "But it may be well for us to avoid that. ElCapitan and his followers are believed to be hovering around thefoothills between here and Barquisimete. It is a country just suitedto ambuscade and concealment."
"How far is it to the nearest town?"
"Less than five kilometers. It is a small town called Caro."
"Is it held by the insurgents?"
"No, though it bears the marks of one of their raids. The people havebeen left too poor to be either feared or sought for."
"We need not go there?"
"About a kilometer this side we can strike a mountain road leading intothe wild country."
"Where we are likely to find El Capitan and his insurgents?"
"_Si_, Sergeant Rand."
"Then that is our course, senor. Show us the way."
Nothing further was said until possibly three miles had been passed,when Riva Baez drew rein. The road they had taken soon after leavingthe encampment of the troops, by this time had sort of "dwindled away,"as Jack put it, until it was now little more than a cattle path. Thecountry ahead was thinly populated, if settled at all. The guide ofthe little party was the first to speak:
"If we follow this course half a kilometer farther we shall come outupon the road leading to Caro, which winds down from the mountains.Beyond, the country is infested with the insurgents, and we are likelyto run upon them at every turn. If we keep on through Caro we shallsoon come into the lower country, where we shall find a string of townsalong the way, but the people, as a rule, unfriendly to us. If we bendto the left here we shall be able to make a short cut over the spur ofthe ridge and reach the region of Maracaibo without much risk ofstirring up El Capitan's hornets. Which way shall we go, sergeant?"
"Our purpose is to learn all we can of the enemy," replied Ronie."According to your account, we shall learn very little of them bykeeping to the left. Neither are we especially anxious just at presentto seek towns in the lower country. But we will go to Caro first."
"_Si_, Sergeant Rand," and without longer delay Riva Baez led the marchforward again. Owing to the unfavorable conditions of the route, theyhad advanced slowly, and it was now past midnight. The moonbeamstipped the treetops with a silvery halo, but underneath this foliage itwas so dark that our riders had to pick their way with constantcaution, lest they should run into some trap of nature or set by thehand of an enemy that claimed this country as his own.
Nothing to cause them actual alarm, however, took place, and after awhile Riva declared they were close down to Caro, which he described aslying in a narrow valley through which wound one of the numerousmountain streams watering the country. Upon receiving thisintelligence, Ronie called a halt, and after a short consultation withhis guide and Jack, he decided to enter the town alone with the former,leaving the others to await their return, unless called by a signalagreed upon. With this understanding he and the guide rode cautiouslyforward, the road overhung with the dense vegetation springing from arich soil under most favoring conditions of the atmosphere.
A ride of less than five minutes, even at a slow pace, brought the twoscouts in sight of the little hamlet made tip of coffee planters'homes. At that time the silence of sleep lay upon the place, no soundof night breaking the gentle murmur of the river flowing parallel withthe road. Near the edge of the first plantation Ronie motioned for hiscompanion to stop, when he slipped from the saddle to the ground.
"I am going to make a little exploration alone," he whispered. "Do youremain here with the horses. I will not be gone over ten minutes. IfI am, you may understand that I am in trouble, and act at your owndiscretion."
"Look sharp, senors," warned Riva Baez. "No one seems to be astir,but, for all that, one of El Capitan's sharpshooters may be lying inwait to shoot you down like a jaguar."
"I have had a bit of experience among the Igorrotes of Luzon," repliedRonie, "and you can count upon me not running headlong into an ambush.What a beautiful night it is," he could not refrain from adding.
"If you think this is delightful, sergeant, you ought to witness anight on the Orinoco in the great rubber country of the south."
Without making any reply to this, Ronie stole silently forward uponfoot, soon finding himself in the midst of the beehive homes of thesmall coffee planters. But not a soul seemed to occupy the primitivedwellings without doors or windows, but left free for the passage ofthe night breeze.
"It is singular no one should be awake," he mused, "but the housesappear to be as deserted as if they had never been occupied. There isa mystery about this I do not understand. I am inclined to risk mychances and enter one of them. I will if they all prove to look asempty as these."
With these thoughts in his mind he moved stealthily along past hutafter hut, reached by avenues bordered by stately, flowering plants oftropical brightness and verdure. But everywhere he went prevailed theutter loneliness and emptiness which had first struck him as sounusual. Finally, satisfied in his own mind regarding the actualsituation, he ventured to enter one of the dwellings, though notwithout extreme caution. He crept along under cover of a row ofbroad-leafed guamos bearing pods eight or ten inches in length, whichwere filled with rows of black beans enveloped in a pulp of snowywhiteness and agreeable sweetness. But if these facts had been knownto the young scout at this time they would certainly have been unheededby him, as he made his stealthy advance. He was aware that the timefor his return to Riva Baez was nearly passed, but he disliked toreturn until the mystery of the silent town had been solved. So hecontinued his advance until at last he stood on the earth floor underthe thatched roof, where the complete silence of undisturbed reposereigned.
The conviction which had at first forced itself upon him had beforethis become a settled fact. The dwelling was entirely deserted. Notonly was this the case with the hut he had entered, but it was true ofall the others. Caro was an abandoned town!
Anxious now to return to his companions with the intelligence, he lostno further time in retracing his steps, but he had barely gained theroad when he was aware of the approach of a horse! Ay, listening amoment, he was certain there were two of them. Knowing it wasnecessary for him to be on the alert for enemies, he drew back into themass of plants and waited until he should obtain a good view of theriders who were abroad, half expecting one of them to be Riva Baez. Hewas rewarded a moment later by the sight of his guide, who had becomeuneasy and had come in search of him. A signal from him attracted theVenezuelan's attention, and he showed unfeigned delight at finding hisleader so quickly.
Riva Baez expressed little surprise when Ronie told him that Caro was adeserted settlement, though he could offer no satisfactory explanationfor the fact.
"El Capitan may have taken them all captives, or butchered them in coldblood."
"There is nothing to show that violence has been done them. The hutsare simply deserted, just as if the owners had been called suddenlyaway for a brief absence."
"True, Sergeant Rand. Shall we stop here a while or push on toward thenext place?"
"We have no time to waste at this stage of action," replied theenergetic young American. "Let's move on into the country of theinsurgents. We can learn nothing by keeping away from them. The daywill soon be breaking."
"_Si_, sergeant; I am at your command. We will climb the hill back ofus, and then turn to the right.
At the top of the hill I think a callwill bring our comrades."
"The safer call is to go to them. I will wait on the hill while youare gone."
From the vantage he had gained where he waited for his companions torejoin him, Ronie obtained a wide sweep of the surrounding country, aview he knew was likely to prove of great value to him in his futureactions. He could not follow, even in the pale light of the westernmoon, which was beginning to lose its glory before the coming of thenew light on the eastern horizon, the trend of the mountain ranges ashe had not been able to do before. He was really in the region of adistinct offshoot of mountains from those that lead away from thegreatest mountain chain on the globe, the mighty Andes. The mountainsystem which crosses Venezuela in this district is an offset from theeastern Cordillera, and runs down to the Caribbean Sea in irregularconformity with the eastern shore of the Lake of Maracaibo. From thischain the Venezuelan system of two ranges, running almost side by side,extends toward the east, the most northerly branch, which follows quiteclosely to the seashore culminating in the Island of Trinidad. As helooked down upon it in the still morning atmosphere, the whole panoramaof country appeared like a solid mass of forest, uneven, it is true,but unbroken by the hand of man. The intense silence which had hungover deserted Caro was intensified here, so that it became oppressive.Ronie could not fully throw off this spirit of utter loneliness whichweighed down his very soul, so that he exclaimed involuntarily, in anundertone:
"Strange I should feel so impressed that something wrong is going tohappen. Somehow, I cannot shake off the impression that I stand in thepresence of a power that portends me mortal danger."
He had only partially succeeded in overcoming this passing weaknesswhen he hailed with delight the reappearance of his companions, and thefive then moved ahead with their accustomed caution.
Half an hour later, when the light of the new day was beginning topenetrate the tropical foliage with growing brightness, they were stillslowly moving along the narrow way, overhung by tall, graceful trees,adorned at their tops with brilliant flowers, when the silence of thescene was suddenly broken by a loud rifle shot. It was, in fact, tworeports blending into one, for two bullets cleft the air; with a swift,hissing sound. One of these struck the horse ridden by Riva Baez, andthe poor animal reared suddenly into the air, and snorted with pain andterror. The other bullet cut away a lock of hair from the temple ofRonie, and for an instant he was stunned by the force of the shot.