CHAPTER LVI
I AM PUT TO GREAT CONCERN ON ACCOUNT OF A PORTUGAL, WHICH PRESENTLY TAKES THE PRETTIEST TURN IMAGINABLE
The next morning I awoke at daybreak, but lay very still for a good hour, not to disturb my dear lady; and this time was in nowise tedious, for my head was full of glee to think that here was another day of joy before me. And also my mind was well occupied in turning over the particulars of our existence, and devising means by which I might make the day agreeable to my lady as well as joyful to myself.
Among other things, I thought it would not be amiss if I went a-hunting in the woods for some fresh game to replace the buccan, which is at best but an indifferent dry kind of victuals. "Moreover," thinks I, "my absence will give Lady Biddy occasion to bathe her sweet body if she be so minded." Whereupon I cast off my mat, and stepping into the shallow, that I might not overmuch joggle the canoe about, I gave myself a sluice and dressed myself.
Presently my lady, awaking, calls to me to know if it were time to rise.
"Nay," says I, "there is no hurry, for I am going a-hunting in the woods and shall not return maybe for an hour."
"You are sure you will not be back before, Benet?" says she.
"As for that," says I, "I will not stir from the place if you are afraid to be alone."
"Nay," says she, with a little laugh, "I am not afraid of that."
"Then I shall assuredly not be back for an hour," says I. "And if you are disposed to bathe, you will find the water very fresh and proper. I see no danger now, but I do beg you, ere you step in the water, to look well about you that there be no water-serpents nor cockadrils nigh."
She promised me she would be very careful; and so with a bow and a dozen arrows away I went into the woods, as cheerful as you please. And there, after shooting at a bird with a beak as big as his body (which is called a tucana) and missing him, I had the good chance to spy a tumandua, which is a long-haired beast with a snout three parts of a yard long, that feeds on the ants of the earth, which he licks up with a prodigious long tongue, like any whip-thong. I killed him with my first arrow, and having taken the skin off I cut the best parts, packed them in a cool leaf, and left the rest behind. And now I looked about for a milk-tree such as I have spoken of, and having the good fortune to find one I gave it a couple of gashes and drew off as much as a quart of excellent good milk in a gourd I had bethought me to sling on to my waist-belt. And by the time this was done, and I had plucked some good fruits, I reckoned it was time to return to the river; so thither I made my way, stopping now and then to stuff my pockets with such dry husks of nuts as make a brisk fire, and culling a few flowers that I thought might refresh my dear lady's senses as she ate. In this manner I charged myself pretty well: with this under one arm, that under t'other, my pockets sticking out on either side, my bow on my back, and my hands full.
But I was like to let all these things drop from me when I came to that point of the woods whence I could see the canoe, for the boat lay there empty, and nowhere could I catch a glimpse of my lady. But, to my horror, I presently spied, through an opening in the wood to my right, a Portugal (as I accounted him by his dress), fitting an arrow to his bow. I caught sight of him but for a moment, for having fitted his arrow he stole forward stealthily, as if to take his quarry by surprise, and disappeared behind a thicket. Then, as I say, was I like to have dropped all I had for amazement and terror. And now in a moment it appeared to me that my lady, having caught sight of this enemy, had fled into the wood to find me, and that, hampered by the thick growth, she had been brought to a stand, whither this wicked Portugal was stealing upon her to take her life. Whereupon, casting everything to the ground, I rushed forward, hallooing with all my force.
"Turn, villain Portugal!" shouts I. "Here is your enemy!"
But ere I had run fifty paces I was stayed by a new amazement, for, coming to the edge of the thicket, I was brought face to face with what I had taken for a Portugal, and now found was none other than Lady Biddy herself, but arrayed in a Portugal's doublet and trunks like any boy.
Hearing my terrible shout, and then catching sight of me all dumbfounded with astonishment, she must needs fall into a merry laugh; but the next moment she hung her head, blushing up to the eyes, and her knees turned in together for shame to be seen in that dress.
However, coming to herself presently, and perceiving there was no need to be ashamed of that which is done with no ill-motive, she lifts up her head, though her cheek yet burned and her bright eyes twinkled, and tells me how she had begged these clothes (which had belonged to the stripling that was page, as I have told, to Lewis de Pino) of the Ingas for her own use. And now I remembered how, when she stepped first into the canoe, she carried with her a packet which she put carefully in one part of the canoe, where, as may be believed, I had left it untouched.
"I shall need my gown," says she, "when we get out of these wilds, and assuredly there would be little left of it if I tried to make my way through these woods wearing it. Now," adds she, "I need be no plague to you, Benet, when we have to leave the river, for I can pass as readily as you through the bushes and thickets. Nay, I wish to be independent, so far as my strength will allow, that you may not fear to leave me alone if there be occasion; and to that end I was practising with this bow, and I thought I was brave enough for anything till you frightened me out of my wits by shouting out so terribly." And therewith she fell to laughing again; but now she was more at her ease, perceiving that I did not regard her in any unbecoming manner.
"Your judgment is never at fault, cousin," says I; "and sure it is more fit you should travel in this sort than in a gown which you have no means to mend when it suffered by an unseemly rent. Also 'twill be a great comfort to me to know you will not be left helpless by any accident that may happen to me."
"We will not think of such misfortunes," says she; "but I am heartily glad you approve of what I have done; and now, to complete the improvement, do, prithee, cut my hair close with your knife."
"Nay," says I, "that I can not do; you know not how pretty it is."
"Perhaps I do," says she sadly, and yet with a certain depth of meaning that I did not then fathom; "and so do as I beg you; for I can not well do it myself, and I am still woman enough to dread the thought of its being cut away."
"What need is there to cut it at all?" says I deploringly.
"Why," says she, "'tis as like to catch in the briars as my skirts, and the vexation will be greater. Besides, 'tis out of character with my dress, and I wish to feel my head as free as my limbs are. See," says she, undoing the knot and letting it fall, "how unbecoming it is to a young fellow, and what a deal of trouble it may get me into."
Here again was a hint of her meaning, yet I could not catch it then for admiring of the long waving tresses that came down to her waist, and glittered like threads of spun silk, with the color of a chestnut just burst from its husk.
However, seeing she would take no denial, I screwed up courage to take off some of this beautiful adornment; but I would cut it no shorter than her shoulders, which I maintained was the length that pages do wear it. And I would not lose a single hair; but when the business was done I tied the long locks in a thick knot, tenderly and in silence, for my heart was sorrowing with the reflection that one day this would be all that I could have of her.
"You are not going to keep that, Benet?" says she, seeing what I was about.
"Ay," says I, "if you will let me." And then, not knowing any better excuse to make, I added, "It may serve very well for fish-lines if there be any angling to do."
Thereupon we fell to talking of fishing and hunting, as that were the main question (though, so far as I was concerned, it was a long way therefrom), and I took her to see what I had got us in the shape of provision; and, to our content, no mischief had happened to those things by casting them down so hurriedly, for they had fallen into a tuft of grass, and the gourd of milk was unspilt. So we set about making a fire and preparing our food, all with a light and cheerful heart, as if 'twas the most natural thing in the world for my lady to be figuring in the garb of a boy. But when she was occupied with the cooking of the tamandua, under the pretense of seeing that the canoe had not shifted, I withdrew a little out of sight, and having pressed my lips and cheek to the cold shining locks of her hair, I opened my doublet and slipped them into my breast, where I ever kept them thereafter.
And now, to make an end to this part of our history, I must say here that I think my dear lady had another and secret intent in putting on the boy's habit and cutting off her hair, which was that she might that way abate somewhat the passion of love that reigned in my heart, and was, despite my utmost endeavors to conceal it, yet visible to her eyes. She thought, as I believe, that by putting off the garb and character of her sex, I might come to regard her less as a woman, and more as a comrade of my own kind. It is not necessary to be a philosopher – it is enough to be a woman – to perceive that a man's tenderness does increase by the dependence of womankind upon his means and love; and 'twas for this reason she desired to undertake what I undertook, to overcome her weakness, and to stand alone, as one may say.
But my passion was proof against these devices. For I could trace no action of hers to its motive without increasing my admiration and delight in the contemplation of her fine disposition. Nay, the aspect of her mind did delight my soul, as much, I truly believe, as the sight of her dear person; and she could do nothing to conceal the one or disguise the other from my searching perception. "Lord!" thinks I, when I dare not look at her, "can there be another soul so beautiful in all the world?" And then, when her eyes were elsewhere and I could regard her unseen, I would mark the dainty outline of her brow and nose, and the short upper lip that did betray her delicacy, her rounded under lip that spoke of mirth, her full, round chin, in which was no sign of weak or wanton purpose; also (with joy) how her hair that I had cut so barbarous straight did begin to curl at the end, and would sit shining on her shoulder or flutter in the soft breeze lightly by her downy cheek, like a butterfly beside a peach-plum.
CHAPTER LVII
THE RAINY SEASON SETS IN WITH A VENGEANCE, AND WE ARE PUT TO SORRY SHIFT TO KEEP FROM DROWNING
For five weeks we traveled down that great river, and if I set about it I could give a good account of every day; for 'twas my pleasure when I lay down at night to review the incidents of the day, since every hour did yield some precious food for rumination. Assuredly there were accidents, mishaps, and perils in that journey (as notably an assault by hostile savages, which made us mindful to trust them not thereafter); but in overcoming these difficulties and helping each other, my dear lady and I were knit more closely together, seeing that we had fared but miserably alone; and trouble, I take it, is like salt, which of itself is an abomination, but mingled sparingly with one's daily bread does give it good savor, and serves as a zest to the appetite.
But not to weary the reader with a tedious detail of my happiness, I will cut this matter short, and come to that time when the rainy season set in, and I knew no comfort day or night for concern on my dear lady's account. And over this business I will not linger neither, for surely no one with a feeling heart will care to hear of my misery.
At first we counted that the rain would give over at the end of the day, and that we might yet go a little further before taking refuge for the season; but we soon found our mistake, for in these parts it does not rain in showers, but comes down cats and dogs, as you may say, for spitefulness, a whole month without ceasing. So when we perceived how matters stood, having not a dry thread on us, and no means to lie down but in a bath, we resolved to stop at the next convenient spot we came to. And coming at length to a part of the river where the waters spread out into a kind of lake, we spied, standing up out of it on its south side, a very fair high island, which I then made for, as we deemed it would be more proper to our purpose than elsewhere. And a very good sort of island we found it – about fifty acres in extent, well furnished with trees, and of a sandy soil; and we were well pleased to find abundance of holes in the higher part, which I knew at once for the burrows of acutis,4 which, boiled or roast, make as good a dish as any man could have. Here, having settled to make our dwelling on the highest part of the island, as being the best drained, we drew our canoe ashore, and hauled it up thither. I say we, for my lady did haul with all her strength bravely, for she shrank from no helpful service, and well she aided me, bless her good heart!
Then with a couple of lianes that had served us for mooring our boat, we made a shift to sling up our canoe bottom upwards between two trees about seven feet from the ground; and, this done, we went to the water-side and cut a fair stack of cane-reeds, that grew abundantly there, and with a good deal of labor carried them up to our canoe. And now we set about planting our canes the length of the canoe, but a good bit wider at the base, and inclining them in such sort that they joined at the top within the boat, so that no wet could enter that way; indeed, we set these canes so close together, and so thickly all round and about save a little opening at the leeward end for our door, that not a drop of rain came through anywhere. Thus by nightfall had we made for ourselves a very decent little cottage, which I divided in two by hanging my mat across midway of its length, in order that my lady should have a chamber to herself.
Miserable as our estate may appear to those who have never suffered adversity, and are frighted out of their wits if they be but caught in an April shower, we were, I protest, heartily well content with our shelter, taking mighty satisfaction to ourselves because no wet leaked through our walls; that the ground, by being sandy, absorbed the water, so that there was no mud or beastliness on our floor; that, though our clothes were sodden, yet we felt no discomfort of cold, etc. Nay, we even made merry in getting our supper, because we were nearly choked by our fire of damp nuts, which set us coughing like any sick of a phthisic. But the true reason of our cheerfulness was that we were each minded to make the best of a bad job for the sake of the other, and in that way looked over the defects in our condition in spying out its advantages; and sure I am that the less we study our personal happiness, the less we find to be discontented with in our lot.
When we had been here three weeks I began to grow uneasy, for in all this time the rain had not ceased to fall, I verily believe, half an hour, whereby the waters were swelled to such a prodigious extent that more than half our island was flooded (and that the steeper part), so that I foresaw we could stay there not above another week unless a change in the weather came about; but sign of change was there none, the rain pouring down as though it would never have done. Yet where on earth we were to go, or what to do for the best, I could no way imagine. For as our island lay under water, so did the land by the river-side. To pass afoot amidst the trees in quest of higher ground was not less impossible than to get thither with the canoe – the trees about there being as close together as nine-pins, and the water pretty nigh a couple of fathoms high amongst them.
At length, seeing my anxiety, Lady Biddy accused me of keeping a secret from her against the spirit of true friendship. Whereupon I told her of my fears, and the perplexity they threw me into.
"I did think you had this matter on your mind, Benet," says she, "and I own I have noticed the rising of the waters with mistrust. Indeed," adds she, "you and I are not alone in this apprehension."
"Why, who else is there here to heed such matters?" says I.
"Look," says she, pointing before her through the opening as we sat in our hut.
Casting my eyes as she directed, I noticed a troop of acutis with their heads to the ground and their ears cast back.
"They have been driven from their holes by the water," says she, "and are so subdued by fear that they have let me take them up in my arms."
"They know they are safe here; which we may take for our own assurance," says I.
"So I think," says she. "A change must come ere long. Indeed, the air feels different already."
And a change did come the very next night; but such as we had not bargained for. About midnight there broke over us the most terrific storm of thunder and lightning I ever knew, and with it the rain came down in such torrents that I thought the weight of it must burst the lianes and bring our shelter down about our ears. This continued all the night, and I could not sleep a wink for thinking that mayhap the end of the world was at hand, and we were to be drowned by a second flood, despite the rainbow.
About daybreak Lady Biddy called to me.
"Benet," says she, "here's one of those poor acutis crept right into my arms."
Upon that I sprang to my feet and went outside, fearing the worst. And there, in the half-light, the whole of the ground about me was alive with the poor acutis, all so numbed with the wet and terror that they had not the sense to move out of my way; nor did they even cry out when I trod upon them. I had not gone a score of paces when I felt the sand yielding beneath me, and caught sight of water amidst the trees.
"Cousin," says I, running back, "we must prepare to go at once."
"I am dressed, Benet," says she cheerfully; "what can I do?"
I could not at once reply for admiring of the helpful, ready character of that dear woman (thus revealed), but paused to gaze on her in wonder and love; however, this was no time for long delay, so we presently got all the things out of the hut and placed them ready to our hand; and then I unfastened the lianes that held up our canoe, and we had now but a short distance to haul it ere we reached the water. Then we stowed all our poor possessions in their place, and launched the canoe amidst the trees. When it lay fairly afloat I begged my lady to get in. But she hesitated, with a mournful look behind her.
"Benet," says she, "if it won't make your labor of rowing more difficult, I should like to take some of those poor dear conies away. 'Tis so pitiful to leave them here to die."
I helped her with a willing and ready heart to carry as many of the half-dead acutis to the canoe as we could take, and then we got in, and I pushed my way through the trees out into the stream.
CHAPTER LVIII
WE FIND A HAVEN OF REST IN A WONDROUS LAKE; BUT ARE NIGH BEING SUCKED INTO 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 along with the force of any mill-stream. The water was orange-tawny with the mud and sand it had swept up in its course, and littered all over with great trees and bushes; and this wreck on it, with the desolation all around, and the vast extent and the mighty force of it, did strike us both with awe and a feeling of our littleness and helplessness, so that we could not speak for some time. However, we presently found some consolation in perceiving that the rain had ceased to fall, and that betwixt the black clouds was here and there a rift of blue, which was the first we had seen of the sky for six weeks or thereabouts; and with this we grew more cheery, and even the conies began to prick their ears and nibble of some herb we had torn up for them the last thing before putting off.
My attention was soon diverted from these trifles by more serious matters; for being carried to that end of the lake whence the waters issued in a narrow passage betwixt two high rocks as through the neck of a funnel, it was with the utmost ado I kept our canoe in mid-stream and clear of those bushes and trees which, as I have said, were scattered abroad, and here by the confluence of the flood we were brought into such close quarters that at every turn the canoe was threatened to be nipped in their embrace or swept into the midst of the wreck and lumber that ground painfully against the banks, where our frail bark (as I may truly call it) would in a moment have been crushed like a thing of paper, and we with it.
To make matters worse, the course of the river was impeded by sundry huge rocks standing up here and there, which threw the stream into violent convulsions of eddies and torrents that no force of man could resist, so that one minute we faced one way, and the next another, to our great confusion and imminent peril, for out of all this trouble of rocks, bushes, trees, dead carcasses of cuacuparas,5 and the like, there was promise of a speedy end (by death) to all our troubles; and certain I am that but for the help of Providence we had never come out of these straits alive.
How long we were in this pickle, whether five minutes or five hours, I know not; but I take it few men are so plagued in eighty years. And not one instant of repose was there either for me or my dear lady (who throughout kept a cool head, and helped with one of the oars to stave off this or that floating thing as surely and stoutly as any man), for ere we were out of one danger we were into another, and destruction menacing us on all sides.
It seemed that our condition could be no worse than it was; but whilst I was laying this fool's flattery to my heart, for its encouragement, my Lady Biddy cries suddenly:
"Hark, Benet! What can that noise be?"
Then straining my ears, yet still battling with trees, rocks, etc., I caught the sound her finer ear had first detected, which was like the rushing of a great wind at a distance. This perplexed me greatly for a space, for there was but a little air stirring; but at length, growing more used to the sound, which increased every instant, I hit upon an explanation of it which struck despair into my soul.
"Lord help us!" says I, "'tis the cataract we were warned against by the Ingas."
"Oh, what is to be done?" says she.
"Nay," says I, dropping my oar, "there is nothing to do now but to perish, dear cousin."
But she was not minded to perish tamely thus; and seeing we were drifting upon a tree, deftly turned her oar to my side and pushed the canoe from it, to our immediate salvation. Thus put to shame for my cowardice, I picked up my oar and strove again vigorously to keep in clear 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 the river, which was nothing but the vapor thrown off by the heat of this vast river in falling such a prodigious depth.
Hitherto we had striven only to keep to the middle of the river, but now I glanced to the side, for there only might we chance to escape being engulfed in the cataract; though only to be crushed amidst the tearing heaps of timber that swept the shores. To my astonishment, I saw nothing but steep rocks on either hand; for being entirely occupied in steering away from the floating masses on the river, I had taken no note of the changing character of the country we had entered. In that glance I perceived there was no escape by the sides; so that there seemed truly no 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 a desperate antagonism by the frightful noise of the waters, that appeared to me like the impatient roaring of some great cage of famished lions awaiting their meal.
Lady Biddy glanced round her at the same moment, and I saw no look of hope in her face. In truth, she saw no escape, for now we were come within 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 me to take. Her lips moved as I clasped her dear hand, and though I could hear never a sound from the thundering of the fall now close to our ears, I knew full well that those last words were, "God bless you, dear Benet!"
The thought that she must die, so beautiful and sweet, and still but in the budding season of her life, and that after enduring so much, and striving so bravely and heartily, did fire me with a very madness of revolt against Providence, which, as I wickedly conceived, had doomed this dear girl, against all reason, justice, and mercy, to death; so that with a furious cry I caught up my oar and struck it wildly against a rock upon which we were being carried.
The shock of this encounter bent the oar till it snapped, though it was made 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 the left of these rocks into that which sped to the right, and whereas that to 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 not hitherto perceived, and here were we safe – at least, from destruction in that frightful fall, thanks be to God. And here could I diverge likewise one moment from the course of my history to point out the heinous folly of those who abandon themselves to despair, under the conviction that Providence has decreed their destruction, which it were useless to struggle against; for in thus yielding they do more surely oppose the decree of Providence, which hath given us functions expressly to preserve ourselves.
And now, I saw, we were in a manner safe, for though the stream was swift and strong, much encumbered from wreckage torn from the banks, etc., and obstructed with rocks where the waters shot down with incredible force, carrying us into divers eddies and whirlpools below, yet were our ears unassailed by that fearful roar of torrents which had paralyzed us. And after a while being carried through that chain of hills we came in view of a great plain, flooded over as far as the eye could reach, so that it looked like nothing but a vast sea, which flood was naught but the overflow of the River Baraquan, poured through the passage by which we had escaped the great falls. Here was there no current except on the verge of the hills, and that running gently; and as these hills ran westward we kept our canoe in the stream, hoping that it 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 some reasonably high mountains hemming in the plain to the southwest.
After running about two hours, as I judge, at about a league and a half to the hour, and passing through this gap, though with such diminished speed 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 of crystal or silver, I know not which – only this I will answer for, that when a ray of sunlight touched them for a minute the eye was blinded by the dazzling glister. On some parts this wall of rock rose flush from the water; but elsewhere there was a little sloping ground fairly well wooded, but so flooded with the water that had streamed into this basin from the Baraquan that some of the trees on the border rose not more than four fathoms above the surface.
Issue from that lake saw I none, save by the passage we had entered; but I did not concern myself greatly on this head then, my main anxiety being to find some refuge where we might repose, for the day was drawing to a close. Not a morsel of food has passed our lips for nigh on twenty-four hours; and what with our exertion, terror, and hunger we were spent and sick.
To this end I paddled the canoe towards those rocks which rose (as I have said) sheer from the water, and by good luck we came to a craggy part on the western side which led up to a deep cavern, which, to our great comfort, we found as dry as any barn. But that which contented me as well as anything in this cavern was a great bank of dry leaves in the further extremity, the product of countless years, borne hither by the winds, which in these parts do constantly blow from the east.
"Here," thinks I, with glee – "here shall my dear lady lie warm and dry at least this night."
However, before deciding this way we made a fire of dry leaves, to be sure 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 we transported the goods from our canoe, not forgetting those acutis we had brought with us; and having satisfied the cravings of nature with what broken victual we had (being more hungry than nice), we knelt down side by 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 our lips had ceased to speak, our spirits were yet very still and meditative. Thus it came about that instead of setting to (as I intended) to make some sort of sleeping-chamber for my gentle lady, I sat down beside her on a little knoll, and through the mouth of our cavern we watched the pink light fade out of the pearly clouds in silence.
Before I could rouse myself to an active disposition my sweet little comrade, quite overcome by the fatigue of that long day, fell asleep where she sat. First her chin drooped upon her breast, and then inclining towards me, her shoulder rested against my side, whereupon, to give her support, I put my arm about her body, with no unholy intent, but reverently, as any father might encircle his child. Presently she raised her head with a deep-drawn breath, and all unconscious laid her face against my breast, and so fell again into a deep slumber, with the innocent calm of a little child. And, though her pretty head was so near that I might have touched it with my lips, I did not take advantage of her unconsciousness in this way (thanks be to God), nor in any other which would give me shame to remember, my heart being filled with an ecstasy of pure love, softened with a compassionate sorrow, that one of her sex and condition should be brought, by rude hardship and cruel fortune, to this pitiful estate.