CHAPTER V
A TROPICAL RIVER
Our _padrone_, as Talbot told us we should call him, stood in frontclad in a coloured muslin shirt. The broad sluggish river was alive withboats, all making their way against the current. By the time the lagoonhad narrowed, however, they had pretty well scattered.
We entered a tropical forest, and never shall I forget the wonder of it.The banks were lined to the water's edge with vegetation, so that onecould see nothing but the jungle. There were great palm trees, which werecognized; and teak trees, which we did not, but which Talbotidentified for us. It was a very bald sort of tree, as I remember it.Then there were tremendous sycamores in which were ants' nests as big asbeehives; and banana trees with torn leaves, probably the most exotictouch of all; and beautiful noble mangoes like domes of a greencathedral; and various sorts of canes and shrubs and lilies growingamong them. And everywhere leaped and swung the vines--thick ropy vines;knotted vines, like knotted cables; slender filament vines; sprayinggossamer vines, with gorgeous crimson, purple, and yellow blooms; andlong streamers that dipped to trail in the waters. Below them were broadpads of lotus and water lilies; with alligators like barnacled logs, andcormorants swimming about, and bright-eyed waterfowl. The shadows in theforest were light clear green, and the shadows under the hanging junglenear the water were dull green; and the very upper air itself, in thathot steaming glade, seemed delicately green, too. Butterflies were amongthe vine blossoms, so brilliant of colour that it seemed to me that theflowers were fluttering from their stems. Across the translucent greenshadows flashed birds. I recognized little green paroquets. I had neverbefore seen them outside of cages. No man can realize the wonder offinding himself actually part of romantic scenes so long familiar in thepages of books that they have become almost mythical. We sat thereabsolutely silent, save when calling attention to some new marvel,drinking it in.
Our men paddled steadily ahead. The negro hummed strange minor songs tohimself. Suddenly he flashed his teeth at us and broke into full voice:
"Oh, Susannah! don't cry for me! I'm off to California wid my banjo on my knee."
The accent was queer, but the words and tune were right. Talbotquestioned him in Spanish.
"He says all Americans sing it. He has taken many up the river."
"Too many," muttered Johnny. "I wish we'd started three months sooner."
It was growing dusk when we came in sight of a village of bamboo huts onthe right bank. To this we headed. Hardly had the boat struck the beachwhen both of our men leaped ashore and raced madly toward the huts.Pausing only long enough to slide the boat beyond the grip of the river,we followed, considerably mystified. Quick as we were, we found both the_padrone_ and his man, together with a dozen others, already seatedat a _monte_ table. The _padrone_ was acting as banker!
We discovered the name of this place to be Gatun. Talbot found us anative hut in which were hammocks we could rent for the night. The hutwas a two-storied affair, with a notched pole by which to clamber aloft.I took one look and decided to stay below. My weight seemed sufficientto bring the whole thing down about our ears.
I do not know which had the better of it. My hammock was slung acrossone corner of the single room. A cooking fire blazed merrily five or sixfeet away. Some ten or a dozen natives were drinking and talking untilnearly morning; and to my personal knowledge some ten or a dozenthousand fleas were doing the same. Six dogs were that hut's allowance.They discovered that my weight sagged my hammock down to a height justsuitable for the rubbing of their backs. In vain I smote with boot orpistol barrel. They kiyied and departed; but only for a moment. I hadnot even time to fall into a doze before one of the others was back atit. This amused the drinking natives. I suppose the poor beasts verypassionately wanted to scratch their backs. I could sympathize withthem; none of them could have had as many fleas as I had, for theirsuperficial area was not as great; but perhaps they had as many persquare inch.
In the course of the night it began to rain. I mean really rain,"without going into details as to drops," as somebody has said. Then Iceased envying my friends upstairs; for from all sounds I judged theroof was leaking.
Next morning it was still drizzling. The town was full of sad-eyed,wearied men. I think every one had had about the same experience. The_padrone_ was at first a little inclined to delay; but he quicklyrecognized that our mood was bad, so shortly we were under way.
That day was not an unmitigated joy. It rained, picking the surface ofthe river up in little spots and rings. The forest dripped steadily. Allthe butterflies and bright birds had disappeared; and sullen, shiftingclouds fairly touched the treetops. It was cold. Wrap ourselves as wewould, we became thoroughly chilled. We should have liked to go ashorefor a little fire, or at least a tramp about; but there seemed to be nobanks, and the vegetation would not let us approach whatever earth theremight be. The _padrone_ and the big negro thrust their headsthrough holes cut in the middle of their blankets, and seemed happy.Talbot Ward and Yank took it with the philosophy of old campaigners; butJohnny and I had not had experience enough to realize that things have ahabit of coming to an end. We were too wet even to smoke.
That night we spent at a place called Pena Blanca, which differed in noessential from Gatun. We slept there in small sheds, along with twentyor thirty of our ship's companions wedged tightly together. A dozenother similar sheds adjoined. We were all quarrelsome and disinclined totake much nonsense either from the natives or from each other. Also weneeded and wanted food; and we had difficulty in getting it. A dozenincipient quarrels were extinguished because the majority of the crowdwould not stand for being bothered by the row. Finally the whole hutfulbecame involved, and it really looked for a moment like a riot. A gooddeal of bad language flew about, and men seized their weapons. Yank roseto the occasion by appealing to them not "to kick up a muss," becausethere was "a lady of our own colour in the next room." The lady wasmythical, but the riot was averted.
The next day was clearing, with occasional heavy dashing showers, justto keep us interested. The country began more to open up. We passed manygrass savannahs dotted with palms and a tree something like our locust.Herds of cattle fed there. The river narrowed and became swifter. Oftenour men had to lay aside their paddles in favour of the pole or trackingline. Once or twice we landed and walked for a short distance along thebanks. At one place we saw several wild turkeys. At another somethinghorrifying, rustling, and reptilian made a dash fairly from between myfeet, and rushed _flop_ into the water. The boys claimed I jumpedstraight upward four feet; but I think it was nearer ten. Talbot saidthe thing was an iguana. I should like very much to be able to describeit accurately, but my observation was somewhat confused. Beyond theevident fact that it snorted actual fire, I am not prepared to go.
Along in the early afternoon we reached bolder shores in which the traprock descended sheer beneath the surface of the water. Directly ahead ofus rose a mountain like a cone of verdure. We glided around the base ofit, and so came to Gorgona, situated on a high bluff beyond. This we haddecided upon as the end of our river journey. To be sure we hadbargained for Cruces, six miles beyond; but as the majority of ourship's companions had decided on that route, we thought the Gorgonatrail might be less crowded. So we beached our boat, and unloaded oureffects; and set forth to find accommodations for the present, and mulesfor the immediate future.