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Old Gold; or, The Cruise of the "Jason" Brig, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 17. The Enemies In The Stream |
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_ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. THE ENEMIES IN THE STREAM In the days which followed Captain Banes navigated his brig so skilfully that the adventurers progressed far up into what seemed to be perfectly virgin country. Before a week had passed Sir Humphrey was able to be up on deck, looking a good deal pulled down, but mending fast. A good-sized awning had been stretched aft for his benefit, and here he sat back during the greater part of the day with a glass to his eye, watching the many changes of the river as the brig tacked to and fro in some reaches or ran blithely before the wind in others, for the river wound about and sometimes even completely reversed its course. And now, as the distance between the shores gradually became narrower, the travellers saw the value of the long tapering spars the captain ran up, to bear each a couple of square-sails--sky-scrapers he called them. These were spread so high above the deck that they caught the breeze when the lower pieces of canvas were either quite becalmed or shivered slightly and refused to urge the vessel against the steadily-flowing stream. The river was still a goodly stream, and its muddy waters ran deep and showed no sign of rock on either shore. Day after day the same kind of thickly-wooded forest was seen on both shores, until it became almost monotonous. Now and then they saw a bare trunk, high up whose jagged, splintered branches were marks--dried, muddy weeds and seeds--which still clung and showed to what a marvellous height the river must rise at times, turning the surrounding country for miles into one vast marsh. "Fine river this, mister," said the captain one day, as they were gliding slowly on, the pressure of the wind being just sufficient to make the brig master the stream. "Plenty of water; no rocks. I think it would be a bit different if it was up yonder where you come from." "Yes," said Briscoe, smiling. "There'd be plenty of towns on the banks, well-cultivated farms everywhere, and all kinds of plantations; and instead of crawling along like this we should be travelling up in a steamer." "With plenty of niggers along the banks to cut down the forests for burning in the engine fires, eh?" the captain asked. "Yes; these forests would soon be put to some purpose, captain." "Yes," said Sir Humphrey; "it must seem strange to you to sail on for hundreds of miles through wild land and find it quite in a state of nature. How much farther do you think we shall be able to sail up here?" The captain did not answer immediately, but smiled in a curiously grim fashion. Then he said: "If you'll tell me how long these favourable winds will last, sir: how long we shall be without a storm in the mountains: and how long it will be before we encounter rocks and falls, perhaps I can answer you; but this is all as new to me as it is to you, and I cannot tell you anything about what's going to happen to-morrow. But I suppose it don't matter for a few weeks. You don't want to do any boat work till you get better." "That's true," said Sir Humphrey; "and it is very pleasant sailing up between these wonderful banks of trees." "Yes, very pleasant, sir; but it makes my crew so idle that I'm afraid they won't understand the meaning of the word work, much less be able to spell it when I want it done." "Never mind, captain," said Brace. "Sail away: it's all so gloriously new." So they sailed on and on through what seemed to be eternal summer. Now and then a shot was obtained, and some beautiful bird was collected, or a loathsome reptile's career was brought to an end, the monster sinking down in the muddy water. On one occasion a great serpent was seen hanging in folds across the bough of a tree which dipped lower towards the river with its weight. It was Brace's charge of buckshot which tumbled it off with a tremendous splash into the river, where it writhed and lashed the water up into foam before making for the shore, swimming with ease, much to their surprise. The spot where it landed was fairly open, and in the excitement caused by the adventure the boat, which was always kept towing behind the brig, was manned. Brace, the American, Dan, the second mate, and four men followed to get a good opportunity for putting the reptile out of its misery when it had about half-crawled out among the bushes. A well-placed shot in the head effected this, and the body lay heaving gently while the party landed. The question was then eagerly discussed what should be done. "We ought to have that skin," said Brace. "It is an enormous brute. Why, judging from what we can see, it must be thirty feet long." "Say forty," cried Briscoe, laughing. "But who's to skin it?" The question was received in dead silence, everyone gazing down at the slowly-heaving monster, about ten feet of the fore part of its body lying where it had crawled, and it was easy enough to believe that another twenty or thirty feet of the creature lay out of sight in the muddy water. "I wouldn't do that job for a crown," whispered one of the men to another, and a chorus of grunts followed. "Well," said Lynton, "who is going to volunteer? Mr Brace wants that skin taken off. We must have a rope round the beggar's neck, throw one end over one of the branches of a tree, and then we can haul him up higher and higher as we peel him down from the head." "And suppose he begins to twissen himself up in a knot and lash out with his tail?" growled one of the men. "Bah!" cried Lynton. "Here, a couple of you row back to the brig and get a coil of rope. I'll skin the brute myself if someone will help me to do the job." "I'll volunteer, Mr Lynton," cried Brace; while Dan smiled and took off his coat before rolling up his shirt-sleeves. "Will you, sir?" cried the mate; "then we'll soon do the job; but it's a bit nasty and slimy, you know, and I expect it will make us smell of snake for some days." "Never mind," said Brace. "I'd do anything rather than lose that skin." There was a low growling among the men as they laid their heads together before pushing off to the ship. "Now then," cried the mate, "what is it? Why don't you be off?" "It's all right, sir," said the man who had first protested; "we can't stand by and let you and Mr Brace do the job by yourselves. We four'll help Dan peel the beggar as soon as they've fetched the rope from the brig." The boat pushed off, and the matter was discussed, the American suggesting that the best plan would be to make an incision just below where the skull was joined to the vertebrae, dislocate these so as to put a stop to all writhing, get a noose round the neck, and then it would be easy to divide the skin from throat to tail, and draw it off. "Oh, yes, sir," said one of the men, just as the boat reached the side of the brig; "we'll soon manage that." "I say, Mr Briscoe," said Brace, "I suppose the ants won't be long in picking the reptile's bones quite clean." "Oh, no; they and the flies would soon finish anything that was left in the way of flesh, but I was thinking of dragging the body afterwards into the river. It's a five-and-twenty footer, though, without doubt." "Yes," said Brace, "but I hope they're not going to be long with that rope. I say, any fear of Indians about here?" "Hi! look out!" cried one of the sailors, calling to Brace and the others from where they were dividing the thick growth and peering about trying to see what was beyond. Three guns sent forth a clicking sound on the instant, as those who bore them turned to face the expected danger. Brace's nerves quivered with excitement as he listened for the whizz of the arrows he expected to hear rush by. "Give him another shot in the head, sir," cried one of the men; "he's trying to wriggle himself back into the water." Brace raised his gun to fire a charge into the serpent's head again, for sure enough the monster was gliding slowly back through the undergrowth into the stream. But the men did not wait for him to fire. Following Dan's example and setting aside all their horror and repugnance as they saw the reptile gliding back slowly into the river, they acted as if moved by the same set of muscles, and threw themselves upon the long lithe creature. "Now then, lads, take a good grip of him," cried Dan, "and we'll run him up the bank as far as we can. Ugh!" His mates backed him up well, seizing the serpent just behind the wounded head with powerful hands; but just as they had taken a firm hold and were about to put their plan into action, a tremendous thrill seemed to run from tail to head of the reptile as an eddy whirled up the water, and they let go and sprang away. "Ah, catch hold again," cried Brace, dropping his gun and darting at the serpent, but before he could reach it the movement had become quicker, and they had the mortification of seeing their prize pass steadily backward under the bushes, and in spite of the renewed efforts of the men the half-crushed head reached the water, gliding down out of sight, and staining the surface with blood. "Yah!" yelled the man nearest to the water, and he flung himself back against his mates, who could not for a moment tell what had terrified him. On approaching the water's edge where it flowed along dark and deep beneath the pendent boughs they heard a wallow and a splash, and the lookers-on had a startled glance at a great horny, muddied head and a pair of tooth-serrated gaping jaws, which rose above the surface and were plunged again into the bloodstained water, to disappear, but to be followed by a great gnarled-bark back and a long tail which lashed the water before it passed out of sight. Before another word could be uttered the water beneath the boughs seemed to boil up in eddies as if it were being churned from below, and during a brief space the horrified lookers-on had a glimpse or two of the slowly twining and writhing body of the serpent, as it rose to the surface from time to time, while over and under enemies were dragging at it from all directions. "Well, if that isn't a rum un, I'm a Dutchman," cried the second mate, as they watched the tremendous struggle going on. It gradually receded farther from the bank and the combatants were carried down stream by the current. "I never saw anything like that but once before." "Well, I never saw it once," said the American; while Brace was silent, standing peering through the dipping boughs so as not to lose an atom of what was going on. "Where was yours?" "At home in our river," said the mate. "I was lying on my chest with my hand over the side of the camp-shedding, as we called the boards put to keep up the river-bank by the weir. I was looking down through the clear water at a shoal of little perch playing about, waiting for anything that might be swept over the weir, when a big earth-worm came down and the perch all went for it together, some at the head, some at the tail, or the middle, or anywhere they could get hold, and it was just like this till they all went out of sight as this has done. For it's gone now, hasn't it?" "Yes, quite out of sight," said Brace, drawing a deep, sighing breath. "Why, the river seems to be alive with alligators." "Hungry ones too," said Lynton, "and they've got a fine big full-flavoured worm for breakfast. Fancy their laying hold of his tail and pulling him away from us like that!" "Say, Jemmy," said one of the sailors, speaking to another who was standing near him, "if at any time I'm ashore and want to come aboard, you'll have to send the boat, for I'm blessed if I'm going to try a swim." "That's a downright fine specimen gone, Mr Brace," said Briscoe drily; "and I'm real sorry we lost him. What do you say about its length? I think we might make it fifty feet?" "Do you think it was fifty feet long?" cried Brace, laughing. "Well, yes, and I call that a pretty modest estimate, when we might easily have made it a hundred feet." Dan opened his mouth, showed his teeth, and laughed with a sound like a watchman's rattle that had lain in the water. _ |
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