Real Gold Part 10

"I can't tell, my boy, unless he wants to show us that the other man is coming while we sleep."

They tried again, but could get no farther. The Indian grew excited at last and voluble, making gestures too, pointing forward and then at the ground, ending by pointing at them in turn, throwing himself down and pretending to sleep.

"I give it up," said the colonel, turning away towards the fire; "but we must try to learn their language as fast as we can, or we shall never get through our journey."

A good meal near the fire, whose glow was comfortable enough up at the height they now were, and then father and son strolled a little way about their camp, the wood proving very attractive; but the darkness soon closed in, and they began to return toward the fire, which glowed brightly and cast the shadows of the Indians against the rock-wall as they sat prolonging their meal.

"What is John Manning doing eating with them?" said the colonel suddenly. "I told him he was to keep those men in their places. They are my paid servants while--"

"He's over yonder," said Perry, interrupting his father, "stacking guns together, I think."

"Nonsense!" said the colonel; "there he is, sitting with the Indians, eating."

"He can't be, father; I can see him over there."

"But look, boy, there are three shadows against the cliff."

"One--two--yes, there are three shadows," said Perry dubiously; "but it is something to do with the fire."

"Absurd, my lad; there are three shadows cast by three men sitting there."

"I know," cried Perry excitedly; "that is what the Indian meant--that the third fellow would be here to-night to sleep, or while we slept."

"To be sure," cried the colonel, in a tone full of satisfaction. "I'm glad of it, not but what we could have got on without him, for the mules go well enough, but because it proves the guide to be trusty and a man of his word."

CHAPTER FIVE.

PERRY IS STARTLED.

The guide came to the colonel smiling as soon as he saw him seated, and pointed to; the other side of the fire, as he spoke words which evidently announced the coming of the promised a.s.sistant.

The colonel replied in Spanish, and the Indian went back to his companions. Soon after, the smell from John Manning's pipe rose on the cool night-air, and Perry sat talking to his father in a questioning mood.

"When are we going over the top of one of the snow-mountains, father?"

he said.

"I have no intention of going over the top of either of the mountains,"

replied the colonel. "We have nothing to gain but hard labour up there.

We want to get through the first ridge, and on to the rich tablelands, or among the beautiful valleys."

Perry said "Oh!" in a tone of voice which suggested "Do we? I did not know." Then aloud: "How high up are we now?"

"About eight thousand feet, I should say; perhaps a little more, for it is rather cold. There, let's get to sleep; I want to start early and be well on our way soon after sunrise."

The colonel had his desire, for, long before the lower part of the ridge was quite light, the mules were all loaded, and the party made their start, with Diego the Indian leading, the new arrival second, and the other man right in the rear as before.

Perry had one glance at the new-comer, and made out that he was a more stunted fellow than the others. In other respects he seemed to be similar in aspect, but wore a good deal of radiating paint upon his cheeks, from which it was drawn along in lines right up to his brows, and downward toward the jaws. He wore the same loose, many-folded gown, reaching just to his knees, and carried a bow, arrows, and a long blowpipe, but he was wanting in his friends' plumpness and breadth of shoulder.

"Looking at the new mule-driver, Perry?" said the colonel. "Yes? Seems to be quite a stripling. But so long as he does his work well enough, it does not matter."

He did do his work and well, as it proved, trudging along by the mules, helping to unload and load again, managing those under his charge admirably, and proving to be most industrious in fetching water. But he was timid and distant to a degree, shrinking away when either of the English party approached him, and on one occasion showing so evident an intention to hurry away into the mountains, that the colonel checked his son when next he saw him making for the Indian lad.

"Let him be," said the colonel; "he's wild as a hawk, and he doesn't look particularly clean."

"No," said Perry, laughing, "he is a grub. Those fellows don't wash, I suppose, for fear of spoiling their paint."

They ceased then to take much notice of their fresh follower all through that day and the next; and the Indian trudged on beside the luggage mules, with his shoulders up and his head bent, as if he were carefully watching where he should next place his feet, speaking to n.o.body but Diego, when the guide left the leading mule for a few minutes to stop and look right along the line, inspecting the loads as the mules pa.s.sed him, smiling at the colonel and Perry, and exchanging rather a fierce look with John Manning; for, somehow, these two did not seem to be the best of friends. Then he would let his companion who guarded the rear come right up, walk beside him, talking for a few minutes, and then start forward again at a trot, pa.s.sing them once more till he had reached the leading mule.

There was little change that day, always a constant succession of precipitous walls to right and left, their way being along a narrow shelf, with the stream they followed thundering beneath them, sometimes a hundred feet beneath, at others perhaps a thousand, and quite invisible, but making itself evident by the echoing roar of the rushing waters.

They pa.s.sed n.o.body, neither did they see a single animal to tempt them to use rifle or gun that hung by its sling across their backs, till late in the afternoon, when, just as they turned the corner of a great b.u.t.tress of rock, a huge bird suddenly swept by, gazing wonderingly at them. By one consent, father and son paused to watch the ease with which the great-winged creature glided along the gorge, half-way between the top and the stream below, turned suddenly and came back, as if to renew their acquaintance, and then curved round again, sweeping along for a short distance, and again wheeling round, not in a series of circles, but ellipses, each turn sending it almost without effort higher and higher, till it had reached a sufficient elevation, when it pa.s.sed out of sight over the wall on their left.

"Eagle?" said Perry.

"Vulture," replied the colonel. "There you have seen one of the biggest birds that fly. Didn't you notice its naked head?"

"Yes; and it had quite a comb over the top, and a ruff round its neck.

I thought it was an eagle from its great hooked beak."

"The featherless head is a general mark of the vultures," said the colonel. "I wish I had had a shot at it; but I don't know: I don't want to be burdened with bird-skins, especially of such a size as that."

"What a monster to skin!" said Perry thoughtfully. "Why, its wings must have been six or seven feet from point to point."

"Double the length--say fourteen or fifteen, my boy," replied the colonel. "It must have been that. Old travellers used to make them out to be twenty-five or thirty feet from wing-tip to wing-tip; but they do reach the size I say. Hallo! what are we stopping for?"

"Why, there's a bridge," cried Perry; "and the path goes along on the other side of the gorge."

"And what a bridge," muttered the colonel.

He might well exclaim, for it was formed in the narrowest part of the gloomy gorge, and though not more than five-and-thirty feet in length, it looked perilous in the extreme, being formed merely of a couple of thick ropes of twisted fibre, secured at either side round ma.s.ses of rock, and with a roadway made by rough pieces of wood laid across and firmly bound to the ropes.

"A suspension bridge with a vengeance," continued the colonel. "We shall never get the mules to cross that."

And he had perfect warrant for his words. For some forty yards below, the water foamed along in a perfect torrent, falling heavily from a shelf above, and sending up quite a thick mist, which magnified the surrounding objects and added to the gloom of the place.

Perry felt appalled, but the halt was of short duration, for after turning to them and shouting something which was almost inaudible in the roar of the torrent, the Indian stepped on to the bridge, and walked coolly across, half hidden by the mist; while the mule which played the part of leader bent its head, sniffed at the stout boards which formed the flooring, stepped on and walked carefully across, with the bridge swaying heavily beneath its weight.

"Not so bad as it looked, my lad," said the colonel, as the next mule followed without hesitation. Then, after a pause, their new Indian crossed, followed with the mule by which he had walked, and then the rest, including those from which the travellers had dismounted, for no one thought of venturing to ride across the chasm.

"Our turns now, Perry," said the colonel. "How do you feel?"

"Don't like it," said Perry huskily.

"Summon up your nerve, my lad; forget that there is any torrent beneath you, and walk boldly across. Here, I'll go first."

"No, no, please don't," cried Perry, setting his teeth. "I'll go."