Rob Harlow's Adventures Part 62

The blaze began to creep up and lick the twigs and branches as the blue smoke rose. Then the fire increased to a ruddy glow; and feeling chilly after the heat to which he had been exposed, Rob sat listlessly down gazing at the increasing flames, which lit up his sun-browned face as he thought and thought of his boyish comrade, then of Mr Brazier, and at last of himself.

They were sad thoughts, for he felt that he should never see home again, that he would be the next to be struck down by some savage beast, bitten by a poisonous snake, or lost in the forest, where he would be too weak to find his way back. And as he thought he wondered what Shaddy would do when he was gone--whether he would be picked up by some pa.s.sing boat, or live on in a kind of Robinson Crusoe life to a good old age.

Rob started involuntarily as he reached this point, for something touched him; and turning sharply, he found that the puma was rubbing its head against his shoulder, the beautiful creature uttering its peculiar purring sound as Rob threw an arm round its neck and began to caress it, ready as he was out there to cling to anything in his weariness and desolation.

He was thus occupied when the puma started away, for there was a step behind him.

"Tired, my lad? Only got one, but he's a fine fellow," said Shaddy, who rapidly chopped off the head and a good-sized piece of the tail of a fine dorado.

"Not so very; only low-spirited."

"Not you, my lad: hungry's the word. That's what's the matter with me.

Here, I say, squire, if you're anything of a cat you'll like fish," he continued, as he threw the head, tail, and other portions of the fish toward the puma, which hesitated for a few moments and then secured and bore them off.

Meanwhile, to help his companion more than from any desire for food, Rob had risen and cut some big palm leaves, laid them down, and then raked a hole in the heap of embers ready for the fish.

"That's better," said Shaddy, as he lifted the great parcel he had made of the fish; and depositing his load in the embers, he took the rough branch they used for a rake and poker in one, and covered the packet deeply.

"There, Mr Rob, sir; that's the best thing for our low spirits. We shall be better after that physic."

"Hush!" cried Rob excitedly.

"Eh! What? Did you hear something?"

"Yes: a faint cry."

"No!"

"But I did. And look at the puma: he heard it too. Didn't you see it start and leave the fish?"

"Yes, but I thought I startled it. He's very suspicious of me, and I don't suppose we shall ever be good friends."

"No, it was not that," whispered Rob, whose voice trembled as if he were alarmed.

"Then it was some beast in the forest. There they are, any number of them. Frog perhaps, or an owl: they make very queer sounds."

Rob shook his head.

"I say, don't look so scared, my lad, just as if you were going to be ill. I tell you what it was: one of those howling spider monkeys at a distance."

"There again!" cried Rob, starting up,--an example followed by the guide, who was impressed by the peculiar faint cry; and as Rob seized his companion's arm, the latter said, with a slight suggestion of nervousness in his tone:

"Now, what beast could that be? But there, one never gets used to all the cries in the forest. Here, what's the matter? Where are you going, my lad?"

"To see--to see," gasped Rob.

"Not alone, Mr Rob, sir. I don't think it is, but it may be some dangerous creature, and I don't want you to come to trouble. Got enough without. Hah! there it goes again."

For there was the same peculiar smothered cry, apparently from the edge of the forest, close to where they had raised their hut.

"Come along quickly," whispered Rob, in a faint, panting voice.

"Yes, but steady, my lad. Let's try and see, our way. We don't want to be taken by surprise. Get ready an arrow, and I may as well have my knife."

"No: come on; don't you know what it was? It was close here somewhere.

Can't you tell?"

"No, my lad, nor you neither. I've been a little longer in the woods than you."

"How can you be so dull?" cried Rob. "Now, quick: it must have been somewhere here. I heard 'Help' as plainly as could be."

"What?"

Just then the cry arose again, not fifty yards away; and unmistakably that word was uttered in a faint, piteous tone:

"Help!"--and again, "Help!"

The pair sprang forward together, crashing recklessly among the branches in the direction of the sound; but as they reached the place from whence it seemed to have come all was still, and there was no response to their cries.

"All a mistake, my lad," said Shaddy. "We're done up, and fancied it."

"Fancied? No, it was Mr Brazier," cried Rob excitedly. "I'm sure of it; and--Yes, yes, quick; this way. Here he lies!"

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

FRIEND AND PATIENT.

They had sought in vain for the lost man; and when in utter despair they had been on the point of giving up the search, he had struggled back to them, his last steps guided by the fire when he had felt that he must lie down utterly exhausted, to die.

"Mr Brazier! At last!" cried Rob; and he went down upon his knee and grasped his leader's hand, but there was no response, and the fingers he held were cold as ice.

"Here, lend a hand, Mr Rob, sir," cried Shaddy roughly, "and help me to get him on my back."

"Let me help carry him."

"No, sir; my way's easiest--quickest, and will hurt him least. He's half dead of starvation, and cold as cold. Quick, sir! let's get him down by the fire. It will be too dark in the hovel to do anything."

Rob helped to raise the wanderer, Shaddy swung him on his back lightly and easily, and stepping quickly toward the fire, soon had the poor fellow lying with his feet exposed to the blaze, while water was given to him a little at a time, and soon after a few morsels of the tender fish, which he swallowed with difficulty.

They had no rest that night, but, with the strange cries and noises of the forest around them, mingled with the splashings and danger-threatening sounds of the river, they tended and cared for the insensible man, giving him food and water from time to time, but in quant.i.ties suggestive of h.o.m.oeopathic treatment. Still they felt no fatigue for the great joy in both their hearts, for neither of them had the faintest hope of ever seeing their leader again.

Once or twice during the night Mr Brazier had seemed so cold and rigid that Rob had glanced wildly at the guide, who replied by feeling the insensible man's feet.

"Only sleep, my lad!" he said softly. "I daresay he will not come to for a couple of days. A man can't pa.s.s through the horror of being lost without going off his head more or less."

"Do you think he'll be delirious, then?"