In Far Bolivia Part 27

The unhappy prisoner lay listening till sleep stole down on a star-ray and wafted her off to the land of sweet forgetfulness.

Next day, amidst wild unearthly clamour and music, she was led from the tent and seated on the throne. Garments of otter skins and crimson cloth were cast on the throne and draped over the beautiful child. She was encircled with flowers of rarest hue, and emu's feathers were stuck, plume-like, in her bonnie hair.

Meanwhile the trumpets blared more loudly, and the tom-toms were struck with treble force, then all ceased at once, and there was a silence deep as death, as everyone prostrated himself or herself before the newly-made young queen.

Kaloomah rose at last, and advanced with bended back and head towards her, and with an intuitive sense of her new-born dignity she touched him gently on the shoulder and bade him stand erect.

He did so, and then placed in her hand the sceptre of the dead queen--the poison-tipped spear.

Whatever might happen now, the girl knew that she was safe for a time, and her spirits rose in consequence.

This, then, was the story told by Shooks-gee, the father of Benee's child-love.

Had d.i.c.k Temple himself been there he could no longer have doubted the fidelity of poor Benee.

But there was much to be done, and it would need all the tact and skill of this wily Indian to carry out his plans.

He could trust his father and mother, as he called Weenah's parents, and he now told them that he had come, if possible, to deliver Peggy, or if that were impossible, to hand her a letter that should give her both comfort and hope.

Queen Peggy's apartments on the mountain were cannibalistically regal in their splendour. The princ.i.p.al entrance to her private room was approached by a long avenue of bamboo rails, completely lined with skulls and bones, and the door thereof was also surrounded by the same kind of horrors.

But every one of her subjects was deferential to her, and appeared awe-struck with her beauty.

And now Benee consulted with his parents as to what had best be done.

CHAPTER XVI--ON THE BANKS OF A BEAUTIFUL RIVER

They would not allow Benee to harbour for a single moment the idea of stealing the queen and escaping with her into the forest.

Two thousand armed men were stationed within a mile of the camp, so Benee would speedily be killed, and in all likelihood Queen Peggy also.

No; and he must go no farther into the land of the cannibals.

But he, Shooks-gee, undertook to give the queen a little note-book, in which a letter was written from her "brother", stating that all haste was being made to come to her deliverance. He would receive back the note-book, and therein would doubtless be written poor Peggy's letter.

Meanwhile Benee must wait.

Shooks-gee started on his mission next day.

He was away for a whole week, but it seemed but a few hours to Benee.

He had divested himself of his arms, and given the cloth and beads to Weenah's mother. Then all the dear old life of his boyhood seemed to be renewed. Weenah and he wandered wild and free once more in the forest and over the heath-clad plains; they fished in lake and stream; they ate and drank together under the shade of the pine-tree, and listened to the love-song of the sweet soo-soo.

It was all like a happy, happy dream. And is not the love-life of the young always a dream of bliss? Ah! but it is one from which there is ever an awakening.

And with the return of Shooks-gee, Benee's dream came to an end.

Peggy had written her long, sad story in the notebook.

Benee knew it was long, but he could not read it.

Then farewells were said.

The child Weenah clung to Benee's neck and wept. She thought she could not let him go, and at last he had to gently tear himself away and disappear speedily in the forest.

Just one glance back at Weenah's sad and wistful face, then the jungle swallowed him up, and he would be seen by Weenah, mayhap, never again.

It was not without considerable misgivings that Roland and d.i.c.k Temple made a start for the country of the cannibals.

The relief party consisted but of one hundred white men all told, with about double that number of carriers. It was, of course, the first real experience of these boys on the war-path, and difficulty after difficulty presented itself, but was bravely met and overcome.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

Probably the general of an army, be it of what size it may, is more to be pitied than even a king. The latter has his courtiers and his parliament to advise him; the general is _princeps_, he is chief, and has only his own skill and judgment to fall back upon.

It had been suggested by Burly Bill that instead of journeying overland as a first start, and having to cross the whirling river Purus and many lesser streams before striking the Madeira some distance above the Amazon, they should drop down-stream in steamer-loads, and a.s.semble at the junction of the former with the latter.

Neither Roland nor d.i.c.k thought well of the plan, and herein lay their first mistake. Not only was it weeks before they were able to reach the Madeira, but they had the grief of losing one white man and one Indian with baggage in the crossing of the Purus.

We cannot put old heads on young shoulders; nevertheless the wise youth never fails to profit by the experience of his elders.

Even when they reached the forest lands on the west side of the Madeira, another long delay ensued. For here they had to encamp on somewhat damp and unwholesome ground until Burly Bill should descend the stream to hire canoes or boats suitable for pa.s.sing the rapids.

Don Pedro or Peter was now doing his best to make himself agreeable. He was laughing and singing all day long, but this fact in no way deceived Roland, and as a special precaution he told off several white men to act as detectives and to be near him by day and by night.

If Peter were really the blood-guilty wretch that Roland, if not d.i.c.k, believed him to be, he made one mistake now. He tried his very utmost to make friends with Brawn, the great Irish wolf-hound, but was, of course, unsuccessful.

"I sha'n't take bite nor sup from that evil man's hand," Brawn seemed to say to himself. "He looks as if he would poison me. But," he added, "he shall have my undivided attention at night."

And so this huge hound guarded Peter, never being ten yards away from the man's sleeping-skin till up leapt the sun in the gold and crimson east and shone on the waters of the beautiful river.

"That dog is getting very fond of you, I think," said Roland one day to Peter, while Brawn was snuffing his hand. "You see how well he protects you by night. He will never lie near to either d.i.c.k or me."

Peter replied in words that were hardly audible, but were understood to mean that he was obliged to Brawn for his condescension. But he somewhat marred the beauty of his reply by adding a swear-word or two at the end.

While they waited in camp here for the return of Bill and his crews, they went in for sport of several sorts.

The fish in this river are somewhat remarkable--remarkable alike for their numbers and for their appearance--but all are not edible.

"How are we to know, I wonder, which we should cook and which we shouldn't?" said Roland to his friend, d.i.c.k Temple.