Afloat in the Forest Part 8

Certainly there was something peculiar both in the appearance and movements of the jacare. Young Trevannion had never seen such a monster before, though alligators were plenteous around Para, and were no rare sight to him. This one, however, was larger than any he had ever seen, more gaunt or skeleton-like in frame, with a more disgusting leer in its deep-sunken eyes, and altogether more unearthly in its aspect. The sight of the hidden saurian went far to convince him that there was some truth in the stories of which he had hitherto been sceptical. After all, the Gapo might contain creatures fairly ent.i.tled to the appellation of "monsters."

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

A SAURIAN DIGRESSION.

It would be difficult to conceive a more hideous monster than this upon which Richard Trevannion and his comrade gazed. In fact, there is no form in nature--scarce even in the imagination--more unpleasing to the eye than that of the lizard, the serpent's shape not excepted. The sight of the latter may produce a sensation disagreeable and akin to fear; but the curving and graceful configuration, either at rest or in motion, and the smooth, shining skin, often brilliantly coloured in beautiful patterns, tend to prevent it from approaching the bounds of horror. With the saurian shape it is different. In it we behold the type of the horrible, without anything to relieve the unpleasant impression. The positive, though distant, resemblance to the human form itself, instead of making the creature more seemly, only intensities the feeling of dread with which we behold it. The most beautiful colouring of the skin, and the gentlest habits, are alike inefficacious to remove that feeling. You may look upon the tree-lizard, clothed in a livery of the most vivid green; the _Anolidae_, in the bright blue of turquoise, in lemon and orange; you may gaze on the chameleon when it a.s.sumes its most brilliant hues,--but not without an instinctive sense of repugnance. True, there are those who deny this, who profess not to feel it, and who can fondle such pets in their hands, or permit them to play around their necks and over their bosoms. This, however, is due to habit, and long, familiar acquaintance.

Since this is so with the smaller species of the lizard tribe, even with those of gay hues and harmless habits, what must it be with those huge saurians that const.i.tute the family of the _Crocodilidae_, all of which, in form, colour, habits, and character, approach the very extreme of hideousness. Of these gigantic reptiles there is a far greater variety of species than is generally believed,--greater than is known even to naturalists. Until lately, some three or four distinct kinds, inhabiting Asia, Africa, and America, were all that were supposed to exist. Recent exploration reveals a very different condition, and has added many new members to the family of the _Crocodilidae_.

It would be safe to hazard a conjecture, that, when the world of nature becomes better known, the number of species of these ugly amphibia, under the various names of gavials, crocodiles, caymans, and alligators, all brothers or first-cousins, will amount to two score. It is the very close resemblance in appearance and general habits that has. .h.i.therto hindered these different kinds from being distinguished. Their species are many; and, if you follow the naturalists of the anatomic school, so too are the genera; for it pleases these sapient theorists to found a genus on almost any species,--thus confounding and rendering more difficult the study it is their design to simplify. In the case of the _Crocodilidae_ such subdivision is absolutely absurd; and a single genus--certainly two at the most--would suffice for all purposes, practical or theoretical. The habits of the whole family--gavials and alligators, crocodiles, caymans, and jacares--are so much alike, that it seems a cruelty to separate them. It is true the different species attain to very different sizes; some, as the _curua_, are scarce two feet in length, while the big brothers of the family, among the gavials, crocodiles, and alligators, are often ten times as long.

It is impossible to say how many species of _Crocodilidae_ inhabit the waters of the South American continent. There are three in the Amazon alone; but it is quite probable that in some of its more remote tributaries there exist other distinct species, since the three above mentioned do not all dwell in the same portion of this mighty stream.

The Amazonian Indians speak of many more species, and believe in their existence. No doubt the Indians are right.

In the other systems of South American waters, as those of the La Plata, the Orinoco, and the Magdalena, species exist that are not known to the Amazon. Even in the isolated water deposits of Lake Valencia Humboldt discovered the bava, a curious little crocodile not noted elsewhere.

The three Amazonian reptiles, though having a strong resemblance in general aspect, are quite distinct as regards the species. In the curious and useful dialect of that region, understood alike by Indians and Portuguese, they are all called "Jacares," though they are specifically distinguished as the _Jacare-ua.s.su_ the _Jacare-tinga_, and the _Jacare-curua_. Of the first kind was that which had pursued the two swimmers, and it was one of the largest of its species, full twenty-five feet from the point of its bony snout to the tip of its serrated tail. No wonder they got out of its way!

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

TREED BY AN ALLIGATOR.

For a time the two refugees were without fear or care. They knew they were out of reach, and, so long as they kept to their perch, were in no danger. Had it been a jaguar instead of a jacare, it would have been another thing; but the amphibious animal could not crawl up the trunk of a tree, nor yet ascend by the hanging limbs or llianas. Their only feeling was that of chagrin at being stopped on their way back to their companions in the sapucaya, knowing that their return would be impatiently expected. They could by shouting have made themselves heard, but not with sufficient distinctness to be understood. The matted tree-tops intervening would have prevented this. They thought it better to be silent, lest their shouts might cause alarm. Richard hoped that the alligator would soon glide back to the haunt whence it had sallied, and leave them at liberty to continue their journey, but the Mundurucu was not so sanguine.

There was something in the behaviour of the jacare he did not like, especially when he saw it quartering the water as if in search of the creatures that had disappeared so mysteriously.

"Surely it won't lie in wait for us?" was the first question put by his companion. "You don't think it will?"

"I do, young master, I do. That is just what troubles the Mundurucu.

He may keep us here for hours,--perhaps till the sun goes down."

"That would be anything but pleasant,--perhaps more so to those who are waiting for us than to ourselves. What can we do?"

"Nothing at present. We must have patience, master."

"For my part, I shall try," replied the Paraense; "but it's very provoking to be besieged in this fashion,--separated by only a few hundred yards from one's friends, and yet unable to rejoin or communicate with them."

"Ah! I wish the _Curupira_ had him. I fear the brute is going to prove troublesome. The Mundurucu can read evil in his eye. Look! he has come to a stand. He sees us! No knowing now when he will grow tired of our company."

"But has it sense enough for that?"

"Sense! Ah! cunning, master may call it, when he talks of the jacare.

Surely, young master, you know that,--you who are a Paraense born and bred? You must know that these reptiles will lie in wait for a whole week by a bathing-place, watching for a victim,--some helpless child, or even a grown man, who has been drinking too much _cashaca_. Ah yes!

many's the man the jacare has closed his deadly jaws upon."

"Well, I hope this one won't have that opportunity with us. We mustn't give it."

"Not if we can help it," rejoined the Indian. "But we must be quiet, young master, if we expect to get out of this fix in any reasonable time. The jacare has sharp ears, small though they look. He can hear every word we are saying; ay, and if one were to judge by the leer in his ugly eye, he understands us."

"At all events, it appears to be listening."

So the conversation sank to silence, broken only by an occasional whisper, and no gesture even made communication, for they saw the leering look of the reptile fixed steadily upon them. Almost two hours pa.s.sed in this tantalising and irksome fashion.

The sun had now crossed the meridian line, and was declining westward.

The jacare had not stirred from the spot. It lay like a log upon the water, its lurid eyes alone proclaiming its animation. For more than an hour it had made no visible movement, and their situation was becoming insupportable.

"But what can we do?" asked Richard, despairingly.

"We must try to travel through the tree-tops, and get to the other side.

If we can steal out of his sight and hearing, all will be well. The Mundurucu is angry with himself; he didn't think of this before. He was fool enough to hope the jacare would get tired first. He might have known better, since the beast has tasted blood. That or hunger makes him such a stanch sentinel. Come, young master!" added the Indian, rising from his seat, and laying hold of a branch. "We must make a journey through the tree-tops. Not a word,--not a broken bough if you can help it. Keep close after me; watch what I do, and do you exactly the same."

"All right, Munday," muttered the Paraense. "Lead on, old boy! I'll do my best to follow you."

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.

AN AQUA-ARBOREAL JOURNEY.

It may appear strange, incredible, absurd, that such a journey, for however short a distance, should have been attempted by human beings.

No doubt to many it _will_ appear so, and be set down as ludicrously improbable. Twenty minutes pa.s.sed in the shadowy gloom of a South American forest would strip the idea of travelling among the tree-tops of much of its improbability. In many places such a feat is quite possible, and comparatively easy,--perhaps not so "easy as rolling off a log," but almost as much so as climbing to the top of one. In the great _montana_ of the Amazon there are stretches of forest, miles in extent, where the trees are so matted and interlaced as to form one continuous "arbour," each united to its immediate neighbours by natural stays and cables, to which the meshes formed by the rigging of a ship are as an open network in comparison. In the midst of this magnificent luxuriance of vegetable life, there are birds, beasts, and insects that never set foot upon the ground;--birds in a vast variety of genera and species; beasts--I mean quadrupeds--of many different kinds; insects of countless orders; quadrumana that never touched _terra firma_ with any of their four hands; and, I had almost added, _man_. He, too, if not exclusively confining himself to the tops of these forest-trees, may make them habitually his home, as shall be seen in the sequel.

It was no great feat, then, for the Mundurucu and his acolyte to make a short excursion across the "spray" of the forest, since this is the very timber that is so tied together. There was even less of danger than in a tract of woods growing upon the highlands or "Campos." A fall into the Gapo could only entail a ducking, with a brief interruption of the journey.

It does not follow that their progress must be either swift or direct.

That would depend upon the character of the trees and their parasites,-- whether the former grew close together, and whether the latter were numerous and luxuriant, or of scanty growth. To all appearance, Nature in that spot had been beneficent, and poured forth her vegetable treasures profusely.

The Indian, glancing through the branches, believed there would be no more difficulty in getting to the other side of the belt of timber that separated them from the open water, than in traversing a thicket of similar extent. With this confidence he set forth, followed by his less experienced companion. Both began and continued their monkey-like march in the most profound silence.

They knew that it was possible and easy for the alligator to bear them company; for although they were forced to pa.s.s through an almost impervious thicket, down on the water it was altogether different.

There was nothing to impede the progress of the saurian, huge as it was, except the trunks of the trees.

To tell the truth, it was a toilsome trip, and both the travellers were weary of it long before coming within sight of the open water on the opposite side. Often were they compelled to carry their own weight on the strength of their arms, by hoisting themselves from tree to tree.

Many a _detour_ had they to make, sometimes on account of the impenetrable network of creepers, and sometimes because of open water, that, in pools, interrupted their route.

The distance to be traversed was not over two hundred yards. At starting they knew not how far, but it proved about this measure. If they had made their calculation according to time, they might have estimated it at half a score of miles. They were a good hour and a half on the journey; but the delay, with all its kindred regrets, was forgotten, when they saw the open water before them, and soon after found themselves on the selvage of the submerged forest.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

A TIMELY WARNING.

On arriving among the outside frees, our explorers, homeward bound, saw something to cheer them,--something besides the bright sun and the shining waters of the Gapo. It was the sapucaya, still bearing its stupendous fruit, the friends they had left behind them. The Paraense appeared to be counting them, as if to make sure that all were still safe upon the tree. Perhaps he was only intent on the discovery of one, or, having discovered, was feeding his eyes upon her form, slender and graceful in the distance. He would have shouted to apprise them of the safety of himself and companion, had not a sign from the latter, accompanied by a few muttered words, counselled him to hold his peace.

"Why not, Munday?"