CHAPTER FOUR.
THREE SHADOWS.
"Hallo, sir," cried Captain Norton, as they stood outside in theenclosure where the mules were being loaded, "where's the a other man?"
The Indian guide looked a little troubled, but spoke out quickly in hishalf-Indian, half-Spanish jargon.
"He will come. He will meet us soon in the mountains."
"Is that to be depended upon?" said the colonel harshly; for the absenceof one man of his force jarred upon his military precision.
"Yes. I have always found the Antis trustworthy."
"But we shall be a man short for the mule-driving."
"No," said Cyril quickly. "They want no driving. All you have to do isto start the leading mule, and the others will follow right enough."
"One more thing," said the colonel, who had had many a weary marchacross the hot dusty plains of India. "Ought we not to take water?"
"No; the Indians will take you from spring to spring. They know all thestreams and falls in the mountains."
The mules were laden after a good deal of squealing and kicking, and,during the process, John Manning shook his head, and confided to Perrythat the big leading mule with the bells had squinted round and shakenone hind-leg at him.
"He means me, Master Perry, sir. I ought to have got that will done."
"Nonsense! it's all right," cried the boy; and soon after, anaffectionate farewell was taken of the Nortons, it being decided, at thelast moment, that the captain should not accompany them. Then thelittle mule train started in the darkness up the bridle road leadingstraight away for the mountains, Cyril sending a cooee-like call afterthem as they reached the first turn of the zigzag road, and, ten minutesafter, they were slowly rising above the town, which still lay in thedarkness below.
The guide went first quite out of sight with the leading baggage mule,the others following; then the colonel walked next, beside his mule,with John Manning behind him; lastly, followed Perry with his mule, andthe second Indian came last of all.
The road was fairly wide at first, giving room for three mules to havewalked abreast, but their habit was to keep in single file, and, inspite of all efforts on Perry's part, his animal followed the example ofothers, and walked close to the edge.
As the day broke, John Manning noticed the trouble his young master wastaking, and he shook his head.
"'Tain't no good, sir; I've been a-trying as hard as a man can try toget the crittur to walk like a Christian, and he won't. One of 'em 'llgo over the edge directly, and kill hisself, and serve him right."
But the mule team plodded on, in their slow patient way, higher andhigher, while from time to time the travellers stopped to gaze back awayover the town, at the glittering, far-spreading sea, till all at once,after surmounting the last zigzag up the side of the mountain, theleading mule turned a sharp corner and disappeared from Perry's view,the others following, just as if they had entered a door in the side ofthe mountain. But, upon leaching the spot, Perry found that they hadentered a chasm in the slope--a huge rift, not twenty feet wide, andmade quite dim by the distance to where it opened upon the sky; whilebelow, it rapidly ran together, and closed some forty feet beneath theledge along which the path ran, and with a swift gurgling streamhurrying downward to the shore.
It was Perry's first sight of a mountain stream whose waters came directfrom the melting snow of the heights above, where winter always reigned,but he could see little but an occasional flash as the mules plodded onclose to the edge of the path, which, as it rose, grew narrower and morerugged. And, as they still ascended, and the walls on either side ofthe gorge shut out the light, the boy shuddered, and wondered whetherthe way would become more dangerous, for, if so, he felt that he darednot mount and ride where a false step on the part of the mule would sendhim down headlong from the shelf-like track, twenty--forty--why, it mustbe a hundred feet down to the stream!
"Two, I should say, boy," said the colonel, for Perry had involuntarilyspoken aloud. "Don't take any notice of the depth; you'll soon get usedto it. Look at the mules, how they keep to the very edge."
"Yes, it's horrible, father. The guides ought to train them to keepclose to the wall."
"The mules know best, boy. They are used to carry loads which spreadout on either side, and they avoid the wall because it is as dangerous.They might catch their burden against it, and be jerked off."
"I don't think I shall ever get used to such paths as this."
The colonel laughed.
"Not in half a day," he said. "In a short space of time you will runalong them as fearlessly as if you were on an English road."
"But are there many like this?"
"Pooh, this is nothing, Perry. You are going up into a land of wonders,where everything is so vast and grand that you will have no time to feelnervous."
"But what are we going for?" asked Perry.
The colonel turned and looked his son full in the eye. Then, smiling:
"Wait," he said. "You will know in good time."
Perry felt abashed, and wished that he had not asked, mentallydetermining not to question his father again, while, as he recalled hisconversations with Cyril, he began to feel that his new friend's ideasmust be right. Directly after, he felt sure that they were, for JohnManning edged up to him, where the path was a little wider, and said ina whisper:
"Master won't tell you, then, Master Perry?"
"Won't tell me what?" said Perry rather shortly.
"What we're going after. Strikes me as we're going treasure-hunting,and we shall get into one of them wonderful valleys you read of in the_'Rabian Nights_, where the precious stones lies about so thick, you canscoop 'em up."
"Oh, nonsense!"
"Do you know what the next country is to this?"
"Well, I suppose, if you went far enough over the mountains, you'd cometo Brazil."
"Zackley, sir; and what comes from Brazil?"
"Nuts," said Perry, laughing. "Hard-shelled, oily nuts, that arehorribly nasty to eat."
"Yes, sir, and di'monds. So don't you say it ain't likely that we maycome to a valley of precious stones, because it strikes me that's whatit means."
Onward and upward, along paths partly natural, partly cut in the sidesof the gorge where the stream ran, and about mid-day Perry began torealise how high the mountains were, for, upon reaching an opening wherehe could look up and down, he saw that they had been climbing up and upfor about seven hours, and were able to look down at a wonderfulpanorama of mountain-side and valley; but upon looking upward, the greatsnowy peak appeared to be as far away as when they started.
Just then the guide spoke to the leading mule, his voice echoing backfrom across the gorge, for they had reached a slope where the sun shone,and there were patches of grass and green shrub which promised pasturefor the animals. They all stopped at once, waited patiently to berelieved of their burdens; and then, when the packs were neatly arrangedin a circle, the patient beasts threw themselves down, had a good roll,tossing their legs high in the air, so as to balance themselves for afew moments upon their spines, and then rose again, to begin nibbling atsuch herbage as they could find.
John Manning busied himself at once and started a fire, while, taking atin, the second Indian went down the steep slope to the bottom of thegorge, and toiled up again with his load of clear icily-cold water, intowhich, when it boiled, a small handful of tea was thrown, the tinremoved from the fire, and the provisions the colonel's servant hadtaken from a basket were served out.
The Indians took what was given to them, and sat down by themselves,while the others partook of their portions with great gusto.
Then, upon looking round, Perry found that the Indians were fast asleep,and asked his father whether he ought not to go and wake them up.
"No, boy; they'll take their mid-day nap and wake up soon."
And so it proved, for at the end of a couple of hours, the two mensuddenly sprang up, caught the leading mule and led him back to thepath, the oth
ers following and standing patiently to be laden.
Then onward again till dark, when the guides halted at a spot like thelast, the fire was lit, the evening meal prepared, and, well tired out,Perry lay down to pass the first night in the awful solitude to whichthey had climbed, and gazed up at the brilliant stars seen between largewalls of rock. He wondered what Cyril was doing; felt that it would beimpossible to sleep cushioned on that hard rock, and fell asleepdirectly, as a matter of course.
The night was cold up there beneath the glittering stars, but when Perrywoke up, warmly rolled in his blanket, there was a sight before him thatwas as new to him as it was grand.
Right away, apparently at the head of a long narrow valley, and high uptoward the heavens, there was a huge peak that might have been the massof glittering rock from which broke away the diamonds, emeralds,sapphires, rubies, opals, and amethysts, which went to form the valleysof precious stones of which John Manning had spoken. For it was alldark below, but up there one of the gigantic Andean peaks was bathed inthe full blaze of the rising sun.
The boy lay gazing up, enraptured, thinking of the delight of climbingup into such a world of glory, and then rolling himself out of hisblanket, he leaped up, with the stiffness and uneasiness of the pastnight quite gone, for the colonel's voice reached him:
"Now, my lad, jump up; breakfast."
At the same moment he heard the crackling sound of burning wood, and ina nook of the great wall of rock, where otherwise it would have beenquite dark, the glow of a bright fire shone upon the intent, hard faceof John Manning, who was baking a bread cake upon a disc of iron, whilethe two plump, effeminate-looking Indians watched him complacently.
Just below, the mules were cropping the green herbage, and from belowthem came the rush, roar, and splash of falling water.
"That's right," cried the colonel, holding out his hand. "Slept well?Find your bedroom draughty?"
"I don't know, father," said Perry. "I was looking at the stars oneminute, and the next I was staring at that glorious peak."
"Glorious indeed, my boy. Hah! There's nothing like a tramp in themountains, and a night's rest in the beautiful, crisp, fresh air. Comealong down to the dressing-room."
"Where?" said Perry, staring.
"Down yonder for a wash," said the colonel merrily; and, leading theway, they descended the precipitous slope to where the stream ranthundering by, reaching first a place where it was not above a couple ofyards across.
"Why, I thought it would be bigger than this," said Perry, "from thenoise it makes."
"Bigger than you think, my lad," said the colonel. "There is anenormous amount of water going by here. I daresay that crack is ahundred feet deep. Look at the speed at which it runs."
"Yes, it seems to run fast."
"Seems!" cried the colonel. "Here, give me your hand. Don't be afraid.Stop a moment; roll up your sleeve above your elbow. That's it. Setyour feet fast, and trust to me."
The boy obeyed, and after making sure of his own footing, the colonellet his son sink down sidewise till he was nearly horizontal, and couldplunge his arm right into the stream above the elbow.
It was a strange sensation for the boy to be sinking lower and lower,gazing in the gloom at that rushing, glassy water, which, as it dartedalong, carried with it another stream--one of air, which blew his hairabout and felt icily-cold, but nothing to compare with the water intowhich he plunged his arm.
The shock was electric. It was as if he received a blow from a mass ofice which numbed him, and gave his limb a sudden snatch and drag to drawit from the socket.
Perry gave a gasp, and pulled his arm out of the torrent.
"Ugh!" he ejaculated. "It's freezing."
"Yes; would you like a plunge in?"
"What! there, father? It would sweep me away."
"Yes, if you were a thousand times as strong, my lad. The force istremendous. Come along here."
He led the way upwards to where there was a fall of some few feet, andat the side a shallow pool of the water, wonderfully round, and forminga basin, giving them ample room for their ablutions; after which, freshand glowing, they climbed up past the mules to where the breakfast waswaiting, the hot coffee, bread, and frizzled charqui, or dried beef,being partaken of with an appetite Perry had never felt before.
Then the remains were packed up, the squealing mules loaded, and theystarted once more; now rising a thousand feet, now descending, butalways following the stream deeper and deeper into the mountains, tillthe grandeur and weird sternness of the gorge's defiles through whichthey passed grew monotonous, so that at the end of two days Perry beganto long for some change and the open sunshine, away from the tremendousprecipices which closed them in, and, in spite of the elasticity of theair, had sometimes a strangely depressing effect.
John Manning felt it, evidently, and sought every opportunity of keepingPerry by his side, so as to have a good grumble about the colonel.
"I don't know what he could be thinking about, Master Perry, to come tosuch a place as this. It's the world's end, I say. We shan't have abit o' shoe to our foot when we've gone a bit farther."
"Why don't you ride more, then?" said Perry. "You've got a mule onpurpose."
"What!" said John Manning, turning sharply round, "ride that mule? No,thankye, sir. I've seen him kick. I'm not going to give him a chanceto send me over his head down into one of them cracks. I believe someof them go right through the world. Look at this one now. I can't seeno bottom to it--can you?"
He pointed down into the deep chasm along one of whose sides the roughpath led.
"No, not from here," said Perry, glancing down, and wondering at theabsence of giddiness.
"Nor from anywhere else, sir," grumbled the man. "Why, if any one toldme that if you dropped down there, you'd come out somewhere by Simla, Ishould believe him, for I know they go right through."
"Nonsense!" said Perry, laughing. "There, father's beckoning to me."
It was evening once more, and they were coming again to an opening amongthe lower mountains, where they would halt for the night. In fact, halfan hour later the leading Indian checked his mule in a bowl-shapedhollow, where there was a dense little wood of goodly-sized trees, and athread-like fall of water came curving down into a mossy basin, whilethe whole place was brightened by the reflection from the mountains,made dazzling now by the setting sun.
The preparations were made for the evening meal with quite militaryprecision; the arms were placed near the fire, and, as if in imitation,the two Indians placed together their long stave-like blowpipes and bowsand arrows, before helping to unload the mules, and then sitting downpatiently to administer snuff to each other, and wait to be asked tojoin the meal.
"It's very awkward, Perry, my lad," said the colonel suddenly. "Weought to have had a guide who could understand us more easily."
"It _is_ awkward, father," said Perry.
"Come and help me now, and between us we may make the man comprehend."
Perry followed to where the Indians were squatting down in their loosecotton smock-frock-like garments, and at a sign the leader rose.
"The other man--where is the other man?" said the colonel in Spanish;but the Indian gazed at him vacantly, till in a fit of inspiration Perryrepeated his father's words as nearly as he could, and then began tocount, laughing as he said in Spanish, "One--two"--and gave an inquiringtone to the word "three," as if asking for it.
The man smiled and pointed to the ground as he answered, and then closedhis eyes and let his head fall over upon one hand.
"What does he mean by that, father?" said Perry.
"I can't tell, my boy, unless he wants to show us that the other man iscoming while we sleep."
They tried again, but could get no farther. The Indian grew excited atlast and voluble, making gestures too, pointing forward and then at theground, ending by pointing at them in turn, throwing himself down andpretending to sleep.
"I give it up," said the colonel, tu
rning away towards the fire; "but wemust try to learn their language as fast as we can, or we shall neverget through our journey."
A good meal near the fire, whose glow was comfortable enough up at theheight they now were, and then father and son strolled a little wayabout their camp, the wood proving very attractive; but the darknesssoon closed in, and they began to return toward the fire, which glowedbrightly and cast the shadows of the Indians against the rock-wall asthey sat prolonging their meal.
"What is John Manning doing eating with them?" said the colonelsuddenly. "I told him he was to keep those men in their places. Theyare my paid servants while--"
"He's over yonder," said Perry, interrupting his father, "stacking gunstogether, I think."
"Nonsense!" said the colonel; "there he is, sitting with the Indians,eating."
"He can't be, father; I can see him over there."
"But look, boy, there are three shadows against the cliff."
"One--two--yes, there are three shadows," said Perry dubiously; "but itis something to do with the fire."
"Absurd, my lad; there are three shadows cast by three men sittingthere."
"I know," cried Perry excitedly; "that is what the Indian meant--thatthe third fellow would be here to-night to sleep, or while we slept."
"To be sure," cried the colonel, in a tone full of satisfaction. "I'mglad of it, not but what we could have got on without him, for the mulesgo well enough, but because it proves the guide to be trusty and a manof his word."