Mr. Fortescue Part 23

"What are you going to do ?"

"Set the forest on fire--the wind is from us--and instead of following us farther--and who knows that they won't try?--instead of following us farther they will have to hark back and run for their lives."

Without another word we set to work gathering twigs, which we place among the trees. Then I dig up with my knife and add to the heap several pieces of the brimstone impregnated turf. This done, I strike a light with my flint and steel.

"Good!" exclaims Carmen. "In five minutes it will be ablaze; in ten, a brisk fire;" and with that we throw on more turf and several heavy branches which, for the moment, almost smother it up.

"Never mind, it still burns, and--hark! What is that?"

"The baying of the hounds and the cries of the hunters. They are nearer than I thought. To the _azuferales_ for our lives!"

The moor, albeit in some places yielding and in others treacherous, did not, as I feared, prove impa.s.sable. By threading our way between the smoking sulphur heaps and carefully avoiding the boiling springs we found it possible to get on, yet slowly and with great difficulty; and it soon became evident that, long before we gain the forest the hounds will be on the moor. Their deep-throated baying and the shouts of the field grow every moment louder and more distinct. If we are viewed we shall be lost; for if the blood-hounds catch sight of us not even the terrors of the _azuferales_ will balk them of their prey. And to our dismay the fire does not seem to be taking hold. We can see nothing of it but a few faint sparks gleaming through the bushes.

But where can we hide? The moor is flat and treeless, the forest two or three miles away in a straight line, and we can go neither straight nor fast. If we cower behind one of the smoking brimstone mounds we shall be stifled; if we jump into one of the boiling springs we shall be scalded.

"Where can we hide?" I ask.

"Where can we hide?" repeated Carmen.

"That pool! Don't you see that, a little farther on, the brook forms a pool, and, though it smokes, I don't think it is very hot."

"It is just the place," and with that Carmen runs forward and plunges in.

I follow him, first taking the precaution to lay my pistol and knife on the edge. The water, though warm, is not uncomfortably hot, and when we sit down our heads are just out of the water.

We are only just in time. Two minutes later the hounds, with a great crash, burst out of the forest, followed at a short interval by half a dozen hors.e.m.e.n.

"Curse this brimstone! It has ruined the scent," I heard Griscelli say, as the hounds threw up their heads and came to a dead stop. "If I had thought those _ladrones_ would run hither I would not have given them twenty minutes, much less forty. But they cannot be far off; depend upon it, they are hiding somewhere.--_Por Dios_, Sheba has it! Good dog! Hark to Sheba!

Forward, forward!"

It was true. One of the hounds had hit off the line, then followed another and another, and soon the entire pack was once more in full cry. But the scent was very bad, and seemed to grow worse; there was a check every few yards, and when they got to the brook (which had as many turns and twists as a coiled rope), they were completely at fault. Nevertheless, they persevered, questing about all over the moor, except in the neighborhood of the sulphur mounds and the springs.

While this was going on the hors.e.m.e.n had tethered their steeds and were following on foot, riding over the _azuferales_ being manifestly out of the question. Once Griscelli and Sheba, who appeared to be queen of the pack, came so near the pool that if we had not promptly lowered our heads to the level of the water they would certainly have seen us.

"I am afraid they have given us the slip," I heard Griscelli say. "There is not a particle of scent. But if they have not fallen into one of those springs and got boiled, I'll have them yet--even though I stop all night, or come again to-morrow."

"_Mira! Mira!_ General, the forest is on fire!" shouted somebody. "And the horses--see, they are trying to get loose!"

Then followed curses and cries of dismay, the huntsman sounded his horn to call off the hounds and Carmen and I, raising our heads, saw a sight that made us almost shout for joy.

The fire, which all this time must have been smouldering unseen, had burst into a great blaze, trees and bushes were wrapped in sulphurous flames, which, fanned by the breeze, were spreading rapidly. The very turf was aglow; two of the horses had broken loose and were careering madly about; the others were tugging wildly at their lariats.

Meanwhile Griscelli and his companions, followed by the hounds, were making desperate haste to get back to the trail and reach the valley of stones. But the road was rough, and in attempting to take short cuts several of them came to grief. Two fell into a deep pool and had to be fished out. Griscelli put his foot into one of the boiling springs, and, judging from the loud outcry he made, got badly scalded.

By the time the hunters were clear of the moor the loose horses had disappeared in the forest, and the trees on either side of the trail were festooned with flames. Then there was mounting in hot haste, and the riders, led by Griscelli (the two dismounted men holding on to their stirrup leathers), and followed by the howling and terrified hounds, tore off at the top of their speed.

"They are gone, and I don't think they will be in any hurry to come back,"

said Carmen, as he scrambled out of the pool. "It was a narrow shave, though."

"Very, and we are not out of the wood yet. Suppose the fire sweeps round the moor and gains the forest on the other side?"

"In that case we stand a very good chance of being either roasted or starved, for we have no food, and there is not a living thing on the moor but ourselves."

CHAPTER XVII.

A TIMELY WARNING.

The involuntary bath which saved our lives served also to restore our strength. When we entered it we were well-nigh spent; we went out of it free from any sense of fatigue, a result which was probably as much due to the chemical properties of the water as to its high temperature.

But though no longer tired we were both hungry and thirsty, and our garments were wringing wet. Our first proceeding was to take them off and wring them; our next, to look for fresh water--for the _azuferales_ was like the ocean-water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

As we picked our way over the smoking waste by the light of the full moon and the burning forest, I asked Carmen, who knew the country and its ways so much better than myself, what he proposed that we should do next.

"Rejoin Mejia."

"But how? We are in the enemies' country and without horses, and we know not where Mejia is."

"I don't think he is far off. He is not the man to retreat after a drawn battle. Until he has beaten Griscelli or Griscelli has beaten him, you may be sure he won't go back to the llanos; his men would not let him. As for horses, we must appropriate the first we come across, either by stratagem or force."

"Is there a way out of the forest on this side?"

"Yes, there is a good trail made by Indian invalids who come here to drink the waters. Our difficulty will not be so much in finding our friends as avoiding our enemies. A few hours' walk will bring us to more open country, but we cannot well start until--"

"Good heavens! What is that?" I exclaimed, as a plaintive cry, which ended in a wail of anguish, such as might be given by a lost soul in torment, rang through the forest.

"It's an _araguato_, a howling monkey," said Carmen, indifferently.

"That's only some old fellow setting the tune; we shall have a regular chorus presently."

And so we had. The first howl was followed by a second, then by a third, and a fourth, and soon all the _araguatoes_ in the neighborhood joined in, and the din became so agonizing that I was fain to put my fingers in my ears and wait for a lull.

"It sounds dismal enough, in all conscience--to us; but I think they mean it for a cry of joy, a sort of morning hymn; at any rate, they don't generally begin until sunrise. But these are perhaps mistaking the fire for the sun."

And no wonder. It was spreading rapidly. The leafless trees that bordered the western side of the _azuferales_ were all alight; sparks, carried by the wind, had kindled several giants of the forest, which, "tall as mast of some high admiral," were flaunting their flaring banners a hundred feet above the ma.s.s of the fire.

It was the most magnificent spectacle I had ever seen, so magnificent that in watching it we forgot our own danger, as, if the fire continued to spread, the forest would be impa.s.sable for days, and we should be imprisoned on the _azuferales_ without either food or fresh water.

"Look yonder!" said Carmen, laying his hand on my shoulder. A herd of deer were breaking out of the thicket and bounding across the moor.

"Wild animals escaping from the fire?"

"Yes, and we shall have more of them."

The words were scarcely spoken when the deer were followed by a drove of peccaries; then came jaguars, pumas, antelopes, and monkeys; panthers and wolves and snakes, great and small, wriggling over the ground with wondrous speed, and creatures the like of which I had never seen before--a regular stampede of all sorts and conditions of reptiles and beasts, and all too much frightened to meddle either with us or each other.