CHAPTER XV.
ZIFFAK.
Fred Ashman was so startled by hearing the giant native utter hissubmission in unmistakable English, that he came near dropping hisleveled Winchester to the earth in sheer amazement.
He had not dreamed that the savage understood a word of that tongue,but judged from his own posture, with his weapon pointed at him, thatthe other knew when an enemy had "the drop" on him. Even if such werethe fact, he counted upon a desperate resistance, and was prepared togive the fellow his quietus by a shot from his rifle.
The savage held his ponderous javelin in his hand, but made no effortto use it. His black eyes were fixed on the face of the handsomeAmerican, and he could not have failed to note the expression ofbewilderment and wonder caused by the words that had just dropped fromhis dusky lips. Indeed, Ashman fancied he detected something akin to asmile lighting up the forbidding countenance.
It may be said that the young explorer for the moment felt himself inthe position of the man who drew an elephant in a lottery--he didn'tknow what to do with his prize. It had come to him so unexpectedlythat he was bewildered.
But he was quick to rally from his dazed condition. The fact that thegiant had shown such a knowledge of the English tongue suggested thepossibility not only of obtaining important information, but of makinga friend of this personage, who must possess great influence among hispeople.
True, the events of the afternoon and evening were against anything inthe nature of comity or good will, but no harm could come from anattempt to bring about an understanding between the people and theexplorers that had become involved in such fierce conflicts with them.
"Drop that spear!" commanded Ashman.
"I have surrendered," said the savage, in a low, coarse voice; "andZiffak does not lie."
Nevertheless, while the words were passing his lips, he unclosed hisright hand and allowed the implement to fall to the ground.
"Is your weapon poisoned?" asked Ashman, still mystified by theextraordinary situation and hardly knowing what to say.
"Your man in the wood was pierced by one of our spears; ask him."
"Such a warrior as Ziffak does not need to tip his weapons withpoison," said Ashman, glancing significantly at the carcass of thepuma. "It is cowardly to use such means against your enemies."
The savage shook his head and an ugly flash appeared in his eyes.
"Do not the whites from the Great River use fire to slay the nativesbefore they can come nigh enough to use their spears?"
"But they have no wish to use them against your people; we would betheir friends, and it pains us to do them harm; we would not have doneso had they not compelled us."
Ziffak stood a moment as motionless as a statue, with his piercingblack eyes fixed with burning intensity on the white man. The latterwould have given much could he have read his thoughts, of which anintimation came with the first words that followed.
"Waggaman and Burkhardt told our people that if we allowed the whitefolks to come into our country, they would bring others and slay allour men, women and children."
"Who are Waggaman and Burkhardt?" asked the explorer, uncertain whetherhe was awake or dreaming.
"They have lived with the Murhapas for years; they are white men, butthey are our friends."
Ashman recalled the story told by Bippo and his companions earlier inthe evening. It must be that the names mentioned belonged to those twomysterious individuals, who beckoned them across the Xingu. For somereason of their own, they wished to keep all others of their race outof the country.
It was plain that Ziffak was a remarkable person and the explorerdetermined to use every effort to win his good will.
"Waggaman and Burkhardt have told you lies; we are your friends."
"Why do you not stay at home and leave us alone?"
"We expect to go back, after ascending the river a short distancefurther; nothing would persuade us to live here, and, as I have toldyou, we would not harm any person if they would leave us alone."
Ziffak seemed on the point of saying something, but checked himself andheld his peace, meanwhile looking steadily at the man who had made hima prisoner in such clever style.
Ashman resolved on a rash proceeding.
"Take up your spear again, Ziffak; go back to your people, and, if youbelieve what I say, tell them my words, and ask them to give us achance to prove that we mean all I have uttered."
"My people know nothing about you," was the strange response.
"You heard but a few minutes ago the sounds of guns and the shouts fromthe direction of the rapids, which show they were fighting."
"Those people are not mine," said the native; "but they are my friends,and I fight for them."
"From what you said, you are a Murhapa?"
Ziffak nodded his head in the affirmative.
"Where do they live?"
He extended his hand and pointed up the river.
"One day's ride above the rapids and you reach the villages of theMurhapas. There live Waggaman and Burkhardt; they came many years ago.I am a chieftain, and they rule with me."
"It was from them you learned to speak my tongue?"
Ziffak again nodded his head, adding:
"Many of my people speak it as well as I."
"Tell me, Ziffak, why, if your home is so far above the rapids, you arehere among these people, whose name I do not know?"
"They are Aryks; they have much less people than the Murhapas, and areour slaves. Some days ago word was brought to us that a party of whitemen were making their way up the Xingu. Waggaman and Burkhardt and Iset out to learn for ourselves and to stop them. They went down theother side of the river and I came down to the Aryk village. I rousedthem to kill you before you could pass above the rapids, but we wereable to slay only one of them."
"And it was a sad mistake that you did that; for he was a good man, whowished you no evil. Where are Waggaman and Burkhardt?"
The native shook his head. He had picked up his spear, but made nomovement toward taking his departure. Ashman hoped he would not, foreverything said not only convinced him of the first importance ofgaining the fellow's confidence, but encouraged him in the belief thathe was fast doing so. He resolved to leave no stone unturned lookingto that end.
"Why did not your two white friends help you in the fight, to keep usfrom going further up the Xingu?"
"_Maybe they did_," replied Ziffak, with a significant glance upstream, which left no doubt that he referred to the conflict that hadtaken place there while the couple were talking on the margin of theriver.
"I don't believe it," Ashman hastened to say, hopeful that such was thecase; for, with two white men and their firearms, the peril of hisfriends must have been greatly increased.
"Why do you seek to enter our country?" asked the dusky giant, after abrief pause.
"We want to learn about your people; but I pledge you we wish not toharm a hair of their heads."
It was not to be expected that a savage who has heard nothing else foryears except that any penetration of his territory by white men meantdestruction, could give up that belief simply on the pledge of one ofthe race accused.
But it was equally clear that this particular savage was favorablydisposed toward Ashman. It may have been that his good will was won bythe neat manner in which he had got the best of Ziffak, the mostterrible warrior ever produced by that people. A brave man respectsanother brave man.
"Why did Waggaman and Burkhardt visit your villages and make their homewith you for so many years?"
"I do not know," replied Ziffak, with another shake of his head; "butthey have proven they are friends. They do not want to go back totheir people, who are all bad."
The thought occurred to Ashman, though he did not express it, that thestrange white men were criminals. They may have escaped from thediamond mines, which were at no great distance, and naturally preferredthe free, wild life of the interior to the labor and tyranny which themiserable wretches
condemned to service in those regions undergo.
"Ziffak," said the explorer, lowering his weapon, "will you walk backto the camp of my people? You have my promise that no harm shall beoffered you by any one."
The herculean native nodded his head, and the strange couple started upthe bank in the direction of the camp, which was now as silent asthough not a hostile shot had been fired, or a savage blow been struck.