Afloat in the Forest Part 22

AN UNEXPECTED ESCAPE.

The great reptile had already displayed more than a third of its hideous body, that kept constantly thickening as it rose over the b.u.t.t-end of the log; and still the tapuyo appeared irresolute. In a whisper, Trevannion suggested their taking to the water.

"No, patron; anything but that. It would just be what the sucuruju would like. In the water it would be at home, and we should not. We should there be entirely at his mercy."

"But are we not now?"

"Not yet,--not yet,--stay!" From the fresh confidence with which he spoke, it was evident some plan had suggested itself. "Hand me over that monkey!" he said; and when he took the ape in his arms, and advanced some paces along the log, they guessed for what the pet was destined,--to distract the attention of the anaconda, by securing for it a meal!

Under other circ.u.mstances, Tom might have interfered to prevent the sacrifice. As it was, he could only regard it with a sigh, knowing it was necessary to his own salvation.

As Munday, acting in the capacity of a sort of high-priest, advanced along the log, the demon to whom the oblation was to be made, and which he still fancied might be the _Spirit of the Waters_, paused in its approach, and, raising its head, gave out a horrible hiss.

In another instant the coaita was hurled through the air, and fell right before it. Rapidly drawing back its head, and opening wide its serrated jaws, the serpent struck out with the design of seizing the offering.

But the ape, with characteristic quickness, perceived the danger; and, before a tooth could be inserted into its skin, it sprang away, and, scampering up the mast, left Munday face to face with the anaconda, that now advanced rapidly upon him who had endeavoured to make use of such a subst.i.tute.

Chagrined at the failure of his stratagem, and dismayed by the threatening danger, the tapuyo retreated backwards. In his confusion he trod upon the still smouldering fire, his scorched feet scattering the f.a.gots as he danced through them, while the serpent, once more in motion, came resolutely on.

His companions were now more frightened than ever, for they now saw that he was, like themselves, a prey to fear. For again had he become a believer in the Spirit of the Waters. As he stood poising his spear, it was with the air of a man not likely to use it with effect. The young Paraense, with his knife, was more likely to prove a protector. But what could either do to arrest the progress of such a powerful monster as that, which, with only two thirds of its length displayed, extended full twenty feet along the log? Some one of the party must become a victim, and who was to be the first?

The young Paraense seemed determined to take precedence, and, with the generous design of protecting his friends,--perhaps only little Rosa was in his thoughts,--he had thrown himself in front of the others, even the spearman standing behind him. It appeared that his time was come. He had not confidence that it was not. What could he do with a knife-blade against such an enemy? He stood there but to do his duty, and die.

And both would quickly have been accomplished,--the duty and the death,--but that the Omnipotent Hand that had preserved them through so many perils was still stretched over them, and in its own way extricated them from this new danger. To one unacquainted with the cause, it might have been a matter of surprise to see the reptile, hitherto determined upon making an attack, all at once turn away from its intended victims; and, without even showing its tail upon the log, retreat precipitately into the water, and swim off over the lagoa, as if the ceiba was something to be shunned beyond everything else that might be encountered in the Gapo!

CHAPTER SEVENTY SEVEN.

HISTORY OF THE ANACONDA.

Though it may be a mystery to the reader why it had retreated, it was none to our adventurers, who had seen it crawl over the scattered f.a.gots; they had heard the hissing, sputtering sound, as the live coals came in contact with its wet skin; they had witnessed its dismay and flight at a phenomenon so unexpected. They were therefore well aware that it was the scorching hot cinders that had caused the sucuruju to forsake the dead-wood in such a sudden and apparently mysterious manner.

It was some time before they were entirely relieved of their fears.

Notwithstanding its precipitate retreat, they could not tell but that the anaconda might change its mind and come back again. They could see it swimming for some time in a tortuous track, its head and part of its neck erect above the water; then it took a direct course, as if determined upon leaving the lagoa. It was, therefore, with no ordinary feeling of relief that they saw it finally disappearing from view in the far distance.

The mystery of its presence upon the dead monguba was soon cleared up.

The log was hollow inside, the heart-wood being entirely decayed and gone. In the cavity the serpent had perhaps sought a sleeping-place secure from intrusion during some protracted slumber that had succeeded the swallowing of a gigantic prey,--deer, paca, or capivain. Here it had lain for days,--perhaps weeks; and the log, carried away by the rising of the floods, had done nothing to disturb its repose. Its first intimation that there was any change in the situation of its sleeping-place was when the fire fell in through the burnt sh.e.l.l, and the hot cinders came in contact with its tail, causing it to come forth from its concealment, and make the observation that resulted in its attacking the intruders. The hollow that had contained the colony of tocandeiras was altogether a different affair. It was a cavity of a similar kind, but unconnected with that in the heart of the tree; and it was evident that the little insects and the great reptile, although dwelling in such close proximity,--under the same roof, it may be said,--were entirely unacquainted with each other.

When the serpent was quite out of sight, our adventurers once more recovered their spirits, and conversed gayly about the strange incident.

The breeze, having freshened, carried their raft with considerable rapidity through the water, in the right direction, and they began to scan the horizon before them in the hope of seeing, if not land, at least the tree-tops ahead. These, however, did not show themselves on that day, and before the sun went down the forest behind them sank out of sight. The night overtook them, surrounded by a smooth surface of open water, spotless and apparently as limitless as the great ocean itself.

They did not "lay to," as on the night before. The breeze continued favourable throughout the night; and, as they were also favoured with a clear sky, and had the stars to pilot them, they kept under sail till the morning. Before retiring to rest they had supped upon roast charqui and fish broiled over the coals; and, after supper, talk commenced, as usual, the chief topic being the anaconda. On this subject the tapuyo had much to say, for of all the animals that inhabit the water wilderness of the Amazon there is none that inspires the Indian with greater interest than the sucuruju. It is the theme of frequent discourse, and of scores of legends;--some real and true, while others have had their origin in the imagination of the ignorant aboriginal; some even having proceeded from the excited fancy of the colonists themselves, both Spanish and Portuguese, who could boast of a higher intelligence and better education.

The fanciful say that there are anacondas in the waters of the Amazon full thirty yards in length, and of a thickness equalling the dimensions of a horse! This has been stated repeatedly,--stated and believed in, not only by the ignorant Indian, but by his instructors, the monks of the missions. The only fanciful part of the statement is what regards the size, which must be merely an exaggeration. What is real and true is of itself sufficiently surprising. It is true that in the South American rivers there are anacondas, or "water-boas," as they are sometimes called, over thirty feet in length and of proportionate thickness; that these monstrous creatures can swallow such quadrupeds as capivains, deer, and even large-sized animals of the horse and cattle kind; that they are not venomous, but kill their prey by _constriction_,--that is, by coiling themselves around it, and crus.h.i.+ng it by a strong muscular pressure; and that, once gorged, they retire to some safe hiding-place,--of which there is no scarcity in the impenetrable forests of Amazonia,--go to sleep, and remain for a time in a sort of torpid condition. Hence they are much more rarely seen than those animals which require to be all the time on the alert for their daily food.

Of these great snakes of Tropical America there are several species; and these again are to be cla.s.sified, according to their habits, into two groups markedly distinct,--the "boas," properly so called, and the "water-boas," or anacondas. The former are terrestrial in their mode of living, and are to be found upon the dry road; the latter, though not strictly living in the water or under it, are never met with except where it is abundant; that is to say, on the banks of rivers and lagoons, or in the submerged forests of the Gapo. They swim under water, or upon the surface, with equal facility; and they are also arboreal, their powers of constriction enabling them to make their way to the tops of the highest trees. It is these that are more properly called sucurujus,--a name belonging to the common language spoken upon the Amazon, a mixture of Portuguese with the ancient tongue of the Supinampas, known as the _lingua geral_. No doubt, also, it is from some unusually large specimen of sucuruju, seen occasionally by the Indian hunters and fishermen, that these simple people have been led into a belief in the existence of the wonderful _Mai d'Agoa_, or "Mother of the Waters."

CHAPTER SEVENTY EIGHT.

A SNAKE "YARN."

Cheered by the thought that the breeze was bearing them in the right direction, our adventurers sat up till a late hour. When they at length resolved upon going to sleep, it was arranged that two should sit up,-- one to mind the sail, the other to ply a paddle, and keep the craft steadily to her course, as well as could be done with such a rudder.

The old sea-cook still had charge of the sheets and halyards, while Tipperary, notwithstanding that he had already proved himself such an indifferent helmsman, was intrusted with the steering.

After the many perils through which they had pa.s.sed, and under the apprehension of the many more through which they might yet have to pa.s.s, Tom's mismanagement,--the original cause of all their misfortunes,--if not forgotten, was not remembered against him with resentment. It had been only an error of judgment,--a fault of the head, and not of the heart.

Even the negro, whose race appears, almost by instinct, to inherit an antipathy to the countrymen of Tom, and who, previous to the catastrophe, was not always on the best of terms with the Irishman, no longer showed signs of spite: rather had the two become friends. Their friends.h.i.+p sprung from the ties of a common misfortune, and any little difference that now displayed itself was in a rivalry as to which should make himself most useful to the floating community.

On this particular night they sat together as white and black brothers; Mozey attending to the sipo that served for a sheet to the sail, and Tom steering the craft by a star that had been pointed out to him as that towards which he was to keep her head.

Both African and Irishman were not a little vain of being thus left to themselves. Up to that time both had been playing a very subordinate part; the Indian taking upon himself almost the sole management of affairs, and treating them as n.o.bodies. From the night on which they had made their unfortunate mistake by straying into the Gapo, every movement had been made by his counsel and direction: moreover, both had suffered humiliation by his having saved their lives from drowning.

Although they were not ungrateful for that, they were nevertheless chagrined to think that they should be so looked upon.

On this night, Munday, worn out by his long-continued exertions, was urged by Trevannion to desist, and recruit his energies by good repose.

As there was no particular reason why he should remain awake, he had consented to do so; and, with his back against one of the b.u.t.tresses, he reposed, silent as the Sphinx.

Neither the man of Mozambique, nor he of Tipperary, was given to habits of silence; and they continued to converse long after the others had sunk into slumber. After what had that day occurred, it was natural that the theme should be _snakes_. "Yez have got some in your counthry,--haven't yer, Mozey?" inquired Tom.

"Dar you'se 'bout right, Ma.s.ser Tum. Haven't we got um! Snakes ob de biggest kind."

"But none so big as the wun we saw the day?"

"Buf! you call dat a big snake. He not more den ten yard long. I've hab some on de coa.s.s of Africa, down dere by Mozabeek, dat measure more den a mile,--ticker round de body den dis ere log we sittin' on."

"More than a mile long!" rejoined Tipperary. "And thicker than this tree! Yez don't mane to say ye iver saw wan ov that size yerself?"

"Well, I's not say it war a whole mile. It mout be less, an' it mout a been more dan a mile. Ob one ting I's sartin shoo: it wa'n't less den three quarters ob a mile. Youz may b'lieve um or not; jess as you pleeze 'bout dat, Ma.s.sa Tipprary. All I'b got to say is, dat de snake I 'peak 'bout war long nuf to go clar roun' de kraal, and twice roun'

too."

"A kraal! what moight that be? I know what a _kreel_ is. Miny's the wan I've carried on me back, full ov turf at that, in the bogs of Tipperary. Yez don't mane a kreel, div ye?"

"Kreel! no. I'm 'peakin' 'bout de place we n.i.g.g.e.rs live in,--village, you white folk call 'um."

"A village! that is a town av people,--men, weemen, and childher."

"Jess so. Da be men, woman, and chillen in de kraal,--sartin to be plenty of boaf de last,--an' dar am dogs, and sheeps, and goats, and sometime big cattle. Dat's zactly what we brack folks ob de African coa.s.s call de kraal. Some am bigger dan oders; but de one I 'peak 'bout, dat war surrounded by de snake, war a kraal ob de mod'rate size.

It had 'bout a hundred houses, and, ob coorse, it contain zackly hundred families, excludin' de piccaninnies."

"A snake to extind round a hundherd houses! Whin was that?"

"When dis chile was a piccaninny hisself. If you like, Ma.s.sa Tipprary, I tell you all 'bout it. Ye see, dat de kraal I 'peak 'bout war my native place, wha dis chile fust saw de s.h.i.+nin' ob de sun. I 'pose I war 'bout ten year ole jess at dat time when de sac.u.mstance 'curred ob which I go tell you. Near de village dar war a big foress. It wa'

filled with all sorts ob dangerous beasts. Da wa' buffaloes and elephants, an' de rhinoceros, an' hipperpotamusses, an' dar war big monkeys ob de baboon 'pecies. These la.s.s war partickler dangerous, 'pecially to de women ob de place, for if any ob de n.i.g.g.a gals strayed too fur into de foress, den de baboons carried dem up into de tops ob de highest trees, an' dere kep' dem prisoner fo' eber. But de wussest ting in dat wood war de snakes. Da war ob all sorts an' sizes. Dere war de cobera, berry benemous, dat killed you wif him bite, an' de spit snake dat fo' pizen beat de cobera all holler, as it kud kill ye by jess spittin' upon yer from among de branches ob a tree. An' da war de whip-snake, dat lashed folks to deaph wif him tail; an' de rock-boa dat twisted itself roun' you body an' crushed you to de jelly. But none ob dese kud hold a candle to de great big snake ob all,--de one I tell you 'bout. Munday, he call dat we see, de spirit ob de waters. Our big snake we n.i.g.g.a of Mozabeek call de _debbil ob de woods_. Nebba mind 'bout de name. He come one fine mornin', dis debbil come, while de people ob de kraal war all 'sleep, dat is 'fore anybody get up to go 'bout dar bisness. He surroun' the village _twice_."

"You mane that he crawled twice round it?"

"Not a bit ob dat;--he may hab crawled twenty time roun' it: n.o.body know. De people all 'sleep when he come. What dis chile mean is, dat when de people get out ob dar beads, an' come to de door, de debbil ob de woods, he hab him body all roun' de place in two great coil, one on top ob de odder, like de cable 'board s.h.i.+p,--de two makin' a fence roun'

do kraal, more'n ten feet high."