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Rob Harlow's Adventures: A Story of the Grand Chaco, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 34. All For The Best |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. ALL FOR THE BEST Shaddy had preceded him, and neither of them heard the regular beat of oars and the faint splashing of water as four rowers, urged on by one in the stern, forced their way toward the spot from whence the hail had come, till the boat went crashing among the drooping boughs, was secured to the huge trunk, and after water and a little sopped bread had been administered, the three sufferers were carefully lowered down and laid under the shed-like awning. Three weary days of delirium ensued before the first of the sufferers unclosed his eyes, illumined by the light of reason, and had the bright semicircle of light facing him eclipsed for the moment by a slight figure which crept in beneath the awning to give him food. And then two more days elapsed before Rob could say feebly,-- "Tell me, Joe, have I been asleep and dreaming?" "I hope so," said the young Italian, pressing his hand. "Then you are not dead?" "Do I look like it? No; but I thought you were. Why, Rob, old chap, we only got back to you just in time." "But I thought--we thought that--" Rob ceased speaking, and Giovanni, who looked brown, strong, and well, finished his companion's sentence after turning to where the two famine-pinched feeble men lay listening for an explanation of the events of the past. "You thought I had been drowned, and that the men had carried off the boat while you were all looking for me?" Rob's eyes said, "Yes," as plainly as eyes could speak. "Of course you would," said Joe, laughing merrily. "You couldn't help thinking so; but I wasn't drowned, and the men didn't steal the boat. What say, Shaddy?" For there was a husky whisper from where the old sailor lay--a ghost of his former self. "Say?" whispered the guide sourly,--"that we can see all that." "Tell us how it was," said Rob, holding out his hand, which Joe grasped and held, but he did not speak for a few minutes on account of a choking sensation in his breast as the sun glanced in through the ends of the awning, after streaming down like a silver shower through the leaves of the huge tree beneath which the boat was moored, while the swift river, once more back within its bounds, rippled and sang, and played against the sides. "The men told me," said Joe at last, with a slight Italian accent in the words, now that he was moved by his emotion--"they told me all about what horror and agony you showed as you all went off to rescue me, while there I was perched up in the branches of the great tree, expecting every moment that it would be rolled over by the river, unless I could creep up to the next bough and the next, all wet and muddy as they were, and I knew that I could not keep on long at that. But all at once, to my horror, we began to glide down--oh, so swiftly, but even then I felt hopeful, for the tree did not turn, and I was far above the water as we went on swifter and swifter, till all at once I caught sight of the boat, moored some distance onward, with the four men in it sitting with their backs to me. I made up my mind to leap into the water and swim to them, but the next minute I knew that it would be impossible, and that the branches would stop me, entangle me, and that I should be drowned. Then the tree began to go faster and drift out toward the middle, but it was caught by an eddy and swept in again toward the shore, so that I felt I should be carried near to the boat, and I shouted to them then to throw me a rope." "No good to try and throw a rope," growled Shaddy faintly. "Go on, my lad," whispered Brazier, for Joe had stopped. "They saw me for the first time, and gave a shout, but they all stood up directly, horrified, for the fierce stream now bore me swiftly on right down upon them, and before we could all realise it the boughs were under and over the boat, and it was carried away from where it was moored. And there it was just beneath me, with the boughs going more and more over and under it, and our speed increasing till I began to wonder whether we should roll right over and force it down, or the lower boughs lift and raise it right up. Then there was another thing to consider-- whether I ought to try and drop down into the boat, or they ought to climb up to me." "Ah!" ejaculated Rob, heaving a long sigh and then breathing hard. "And all this time," continued Joe, "we were being swept down the stream at a tremendous rate, too frightened to do anything, making up our mind one way one minute, altering it the next; while, to my great delight, the tree kept in just the same position, which, I have since supposed, must have been because the roots were so laden with earth and stones that it served as a balance to the boughs. "We went on down like this for hours, expecting every minute would be our last, for so sure as the tree touched bottom or side it must have been rolled over by the swift current, but the water was so deep that we kept on, and, at last gaining courage, I lowered myself a little and got upon another bough, which was very near to the boat, and there I stood upright. "'Shall I jump?' I said, and they stood up ready to catch me, but I hesitated for a few moments before making a spring, which would take me through some thin twigs between us. "In my hurry and excitement, I jumped with all my force, but caught one foot against a little branch, and was jerked forward so violently into the boat that in their efforts to save me they made her give a great lurch, and she began to rock violently, and nearly sent two of them overboard. The next minute we saw that she had been driven clear of the boughs which held her and was floating away, but at the same moment the branches above us began to descend slowly, for the tree was rolling over, the buoyancy of the boat wedged in among the branches having kept it stationary so long. "Our position was now terribly dangerous, for the size and force of the boughs were sufficient, with the impetus they now had from being in motion, to drive us right under, an accident which meant death if we could not escape, but in their desperation the men seized the oars, and by pushing against the tree thrust the boat so far toward the clear water that we were only brushed by the outer twigs and thinnest parts as we were caught by the swift stream and went on down at a tremendous rate. "It was not until night was drawing near that we thought of making fast to a tree at the side where we could rest for the time and then start back in the morning to reach you again as soon as we possibly could, for I knew you would be fancying still that I was dead, and that the men had forsaken you. So we had a meal, and I set the watches, meaning to see to the men taking their turn. Then, feeling tired out, I lay down for a few minutes to rest, but--I dropped asleep." "'Course you did," said Shaddy sourly. "And when I awoke in a fright the sun was shining, the men were all asleep at the bottom of the boat, and we were spinning down the river as hard as we could go." "Sarved you all right if you'd been upset," growled Shaddy. "That would have woke some of you up." "Don't scold me, Shaddy," said the lad humbly. "I know I ought not to have gone to sleep, but I thought I could trust the men." "Thought you could trust them?" cried the old sailor. "Why, you couldn't even trust yourself!" "No," said Joe humbly. "Why, Mr Brazier, the pains I've took to make a seaman of that young chap, no one knows. I only wonder as they weren't all wrecked and drowned," protested Shaddy. "Let him go on, Naylor." "Ay, go on, Mr Jovanni. If there's anything more you ought to be ashamed on, speak it out and get it over. You'll be better after." "Isn't he hard upon me, Rob?" said Joe, smiling. "Yes, but it all turned out for the best," said his companion. "I didn't think so then," continued Joe, "when I began to find that we must have been gliding down the river fast all that night, and what I had begun to find out then I knew more and more as we tried to work our way back. We couldn't pole because the water was too deep, and we had to work our way along by the trees, sometimes getting a little way up the river and then making a slip and being swept down again for far enough, till I gave it up in despair. The men worked till they could work no longer. And all the time you were left alone without the guns and fishing tackle and food, and it used to make me mad to have to use any of the stores; so I made them fish all I could, and I did a little shooting, so that we didn't use much." "Oh, come," said Shaddy in a more agreeable tone, "that's the best thing we've heard you say yet, Mr Jovanni. That's where my teaching comes out, but don't you never say a word to me again about your seamanship!" "But you are keeping him from telling us how he came and saved us just as he did in the nick of time, Shaddy," said Rob. "All right, sir, all right! won't say another word," cried the old sailor querulously, "only don't let him get bragging no more about his seamanship and management of a crew." "I never will, Shaddy, and I hope I shall never be placed in such a predicament again." "How did you manage to get up the river?" asked Rob. "Oh, that was easy enough as soon as the flood came; we should never have got to you without; but as soon as the land was all flooded, I found that we could get right away from the swift stream and keep along at a distance, poling generally. Then we were able to take short cuts across the bends. We did get caught now and then and swept back a bit, but every day we made a good many miles, and at last as we were rowing steadily on over the flooded land, which is a good deal more open below, we neared the opening, and thought it was a good deal altered; but the men said I was wrong. I felt sure that I was right, and had just come to the conclusion that you must all have been swept away and drowned, when I heard the hail, and you are all safe once more." _ |
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