Secrets of the Andes

  CHAPTER XX

  Difficulties of the Trail

  The sight that the explorers beheld was unpleasant to the extreme.Scarcely had Joe uttered the cry of horror when the organ suddenlyfell, pushing one of the natives over the cliff.

  The man screamed in terror and then disappeared into the depths below.It was thousands of feet to the bottom of the abyss, and instant deathwas almost certain.

  Bob drew back from the brink with a shudder. Joe and Dr. Rander gavecries of repugnance. The other Indians screamed hoarsely, utteringsomething that only Dr. Rander understood.

  The natives ran wildly down the trail, scowling and making gestures.

  "Terrible!" muttered the old explorer, when they had disappearedaround a turn.

  "What did they say?" inquired Joe, who had been struck by the Indians'attitude of anger.

  "They intend to kill the man who wanted the organ," Dr. Rander toldhim. "They blame the Indian's death on him."

  "Well, of all things!" exclaimed Joe indignantly. "Isn't thereanything we can do about it?"

  The old man shook his head.

  "When they set their minds on anything there's no use trying to changethem," he said hopelessly.

  "We might warn the man whom they intend to kill," suggested BobHolton.

  "Don't know who it is," Dr. Rander returned. "And the Indians wouldn'ttell us."

  Bob and Joe all during that day felt that something could have beendone to prevent the natives from killing the plantation owner, orwhoever it was that was getting the organ. They were not a littlevexed at Dr. Rander for treating the matter so lightly.

  "But then," said Bob hopefully, "maybe the Indians didn't get awaywith it."

  Ten minutes later the youths forgot about the incident. They had beenstruggling over an exceedingly rough stretch when they suddenly cameto another river, much wider than the one they had seen several dayspreviously.

  "Have to ford it, I guess," said Joe Lewis. "No other way across."

  Again the boys put on their hip boots, and again they plunged into thewater, driving the mules before them. The going here was difficult,as the current was rather strong, and the mules had to be watched moreclosely.

  They were about halfway across when the old explorer cried out infright.

  "Help!" His voice was wild with terror.

  "What is it?" demanded Joe, who was nearest him.

  Then the youth saw. Dr. Rander was rapidly sinking into a hole.Already the water had reached his chest, and he was going downrapidly.

  Joe at once put thought into action. He dashed over to one of themules, opened a bag, and began searching about for a rope.

  Frantic with the delay, the youth worked his hand like a machine,feeling in every corner of the bag. What if he could not find therope?

  But fortune was with him. In another bag on the opposite side of themule he found the rope. Luckily it was not tangled.

  Joe was almost afraid to turn for fear Dr. Rander would be gone. Hisheart gave a leap as he saw that the explorer's head was still abovethe water.

  "Here, get hold of this," Joe called, throwing the rope over to theold man. "Now come on, Bob. Let's pull."

  This last was unnecessary, as Bob was already on the spot waiting tocatch hold of the rope.

  "Steady, now!"

  Slowly the youths pulled their friend out of the heavy mud, whichoozed ominously as it released its victim. Once it seemed as if theold man would have to release his hold, but he managed to hang ondesperately.

  At last, when he was completely out of the mud, he moved over to hisyoung companions and gazed at them gratefully.

  "You did wonderful," he commended. "Many people would have acted moreslowly--and I would have gone under."

  "Wonder if there are any more treacherous places like that?" Bobscanned the chocolate water closely, as if by instinct to detect anydangerous spots.

  "We'll have to risk it," Joe said. "It might be well to spread apart,so if anyone gets caught, the others can come to his rescue."

  "Good suggestion," praised Bob. "I'll get away over to this side."

  But if there were any more mud holes the explorers failed to comeacross them, and finally reached the other side safely, driving themules before them.

  On the bank Dr. Rander took off his mud-soaked clothes and replacedthem with dry ones. Then, after a short rest, they resumed thejourney.

  "Who's coming?" Joe strained his ears to make out the source offootsteps.

  Then, rounding a growth of stunted trees, appeared a long caravan ofsmall llamas, which were heavily loaded with what was probablyfirewood. Beside the curious animals walked two Indians, wearing thecommon "pancake" hats.

  Luckily there was enough room for both cavalcades to pass freely, andthey experienced no difficulty.

  The natives stopped for a few minutes and conversed with Dr. Rander,who spoke Quichua freely. Then they started down the trail, drivingthe llamas at a rapid pace.

  "Funny animals," observed Bob when they had gone. "I was afraid allthe time one or two would come at me and spit in my face, like the oneback at Cuzco."

  Joe laughed.

  "As long as you don't bother them, I guess they're all right," hesaid. "But from what I've heard, they don't like to be played with."

  "Don't I know it!" grinned the other youth.

  Before long they saw the origin of the llama caravan. Set back fromthe path was a large mud hut, about which played several Indianchildren. Another man and a woman came out to meet the adventurers.

  Again Dr. Rander stopped to converse in the Quichua tongue. But notfor long. He was anxious to lose no time in getting to the secrets.Even at best it would require many, many days.

  "Hope we don't have any trouble from now on," said Joe, as he followedthe old man up a steep slope. "But I suppose we will."

  Bob nodded.

  "Exploring has its difficulties," he said. "It will be funny if wedon't have any more things happen to delay us."

  That evening they camped in a little valley between two high peaks.All were glad to rest their tired limbs after such an arduous day overrocky paths.

  At a small gurgling spring but a short distance away they drank freelyand filled their canteens to capacity. Then, refreshed and ready toprepare the meal, they were about to head for the tent when Dr. Randernoticed something coming at them. He turned about quickly, his facewhite with fear.

  The youths saw the danger and ran toward the mules as fast as theycould.

  Advancing toward them was a heavy swarm of green jungle flies, whosebite all knew to be poisonous as well as annoying. If the fliesattacked the explorers, the result would be marks and red, swollenscratches that would disappear only after several weeks of patienttreating.

  "The mosquito nets--quick!" cried Dr. Rander, opening a pack andfumbling about nervously. "We must have them! That swarm of flies isso large that there won't be anything left of us!"

  But the adventurers were not quick enough. Before they could get outthe nets the buzzing flies were upon them, biting their faces and armsseverely. The little insects even penetrated the heavy clothing in adetermined effort to satisfy their thirst for blood.

  "This is awful!" groaned Bob, working feverishly to find a net.

  Scarcely would they put a hand into the packs when they would have toremove it and slap away the flies, the marks of which already painedseverely.

  At last Joe found the pack that contained the nets, and lost no timein distributing the latter among his friends and himself.

  "Now let them come," challenged Bob, facing the swarm angrily. "Iguess it won't do 'em any good now."

  But even with the protection afforded by the closely woven nets, themenacing little creatures bit the explorers' arms and legs mostannoyingly.

  Relief did not come until dark. The blackness of the night served insome manner to cause the flies to leave, although a small few remainedthreateningly.

  "Oh!" muttered Bob, trying in vain to bend his wrist. "They sure fixedus up ple
nty good. Our---- My gosh! Joe, look at yourself in a mirror.And you, too, Dr. Rander."

  The three were indeed a sorry-looking sight. Their faces were soswollen that their eyes were hardly visible, and their hands and armswere no better off.

  "And how it hurts!" Joe was almost frantic with the stinging pain."It's a good thing the sun went down when it did, or there would havebeen nothing left of us," he added.

  All were too bruised and tired to prepare a meal, but necessity forcedthem to do so. But not until Dr. Rander produced a large tube of aspecial salve, which he applied freely to the swollen parts.

  "This will relieve the pain," he told the youths. "In the morningwe'll be a little better, but it won't be for a week that the soreswill disappear completely."

  Dawn found the adventurers scarcely aware that they had been bitten,although the scars were still there to tell the story.

  "Let's forget all about that unpleasant encounter," suggested Joeoptimistically. "Suppose we take everything that happens purely as anadventure."

  "Now you're talking!" Bob patted his chum on the back. "We came herefor adventure, and we mustn't kick when we get it."

  Along toward noon Bob was lucky in bringing down a wild duck, whichflew from a jungle not far away. Roasted over a fire, it proved goodeating, despite the fact that it was tough.

  Dinner--for that was what the youths called the noon meal when theywere on exploration trips--over, they took it easy in the shade of agroup of stunted trees, which grew almost straight out from themountainside.

  "Trail's pretty bad," observed Joe, his eyes on what could be seen ofthe narrow path as it circled up the peak. "But I suppose it's nothingto what we'll find it later on."

  Which proved fairly accurate, as they later observed. At times thetrail was so rough and rocky that it was with greatest difficulty thatthe mules were able to clamber up the steep elevations. On oneoccasion it was necessary for the mules to jump up a three-foot rock,which obstructed the trail dangerously near a five-hundred-foot drop.

  "Steady, now," cautioned the old man, helping the youths unload themules. "If we make a misstep, it will prove our finish."

  None of the explorers did, fortunately. But one of the mules was notas lucky. It was the last animal in the line and had been carryingonly trifles that were not of necessity to the explorers.

  The other mules had safely jumped to the top of the rock and weregrazing on the thin patches of grass that grew on the mountainside.

  "Hurry, now," came from Joe. "Let's get this last fellow up."

  Scarcely had the words left his mouth when the unfortunate animal lostits footing and, balancing for a moment at the edge of the canyon,plunged helplessly over the brink.

  "Gone!" Dr. Rander could hardly believe the fact.

  Bob and Joe had watched the accident tensely, unable to render anyassistance to the terrified mule. At last they climbed up on the rockwith a resolution to take matters as they were.

  "Talk about adventure," said Bob with a grim smile. "I guess we'regetting plenty of it."

  "Just wait," murmured Joe meaningly. "This won't be anything to what'scoming, or else I'll miss my guess."

  "I sincerely hope nothing else will happen today," Dr. Rander said. "Iwish to get beyond this short range of mountains before nightfall."

  They later saw that traveling was so slow that it would be impossibleto do this. But they were well on the other side of the peaks whendarkness overtook them.

  "Now to make camp," sang Bob, tethering the foremost mule to a stoutcrag.

  "Wait," called Joe, who was just out of sight around a turn.

  "What for?"

  "Because--I've found something. Come here."

  Bob and Dr. Rander went around the bend, where Joe was waiting forthem.

  "It's a cave," explained the youth. "A big cave. Let's see what's init."

  "Better be careful," was the old man's warning. "It isn't unlikelythat some snake has its lair here."

  They went in cautiously, Joe holding his flashlight and Bob hisrevolver. How far the opening extended they had not the slightestidea, for the light beam did not reach the other end.

  Suddenly Joe shrank back, as his light rested on something not thirtyfeet ahead.

  "Bats!" he cried. "Vampire bats! And they're coming toward us!"