Part 8 (1/2)
CHAPTER IX.
UNDER TROUBLED SKIES.
”Oh! how glad I am to think we've arrived at last!”
Andy uttered these words as he stood at the rail of a small but staunch steam yacht, of rather ancient vintage, that he and Frank had leased when arriving at Maracaibo, the city on the bay of the same name, from whence so much of Venezuela's coffee is s.h.i.+pped to the States.
It had belonged to some Englishman who, becoming stranded at this South American port while on a globe circling trip, was forced to let it go; and the agents gladly secured a crew for the adventurous young Americans, who were bound up the Magdalena River for some unknown purpose.
”Yes,” observed Frank, who leaned on the same rail close beside him, ”there's the town of Barranquila, all right. We've navigated the five hundred miles in this little steam craft” with only a few break-downs of the machinery, and just two days' delay. And the second step on our journey comes to a close.”
”The third ought to take us to that valley town up the river; ain't I right?” asked the anxious Andy.
”Sure. As near as I can make it, Magangue must be not over two hundred miles upstream. With good luck we can cover that in a couple of days,”
returned Frank.
”But why do you say good luck?” demanded his cousin, suspiciously.
”Oh! well, we are now in the land of tomorrow, you remember,” laughed Frank.
”You mean where they put off everything they can, saying 'no hurry; plenty of time, senors all; the world was not made in a day'? Is that it?” Andy went on.
”Partly. I was also thinking of another thing,” admitted Frank.
”Yes, and I bet I can give a mighty good guess what it is, old fellow.”
”Perhaps you can,” Frank said, a little gravely. ”Suppose you spout it out.”
”You've been pondering on what old Quito was telling us, in his broken English, about this little revolution that has been slumbering around the region of the Magdalena River of late. You have a hunch that we may just be unlucky enough to run across some of those ragged chaps, who want to upset the present government of Colombia, and seat some old ex-president fossil in the chair again.”
”Anyhow, you're a fine guesser, Andy,” admitted Frank.
”Then that's what was on your mind?” asked the other. ”I've noticed you frown a whole lot lately, which is unusual for my cheery pard, Frank.”
”Oh! well,” observed Frank, calmly, ”I acknowledge the corn. I was wondering whether we might be troubled by any of those fellows while we were navigating this river. I hope they'll just let us severely alone. But you know, Andy, just as Colonel Josiah warned us, these Colombians don't have any too much love for Yankees, ever since that Panama rebellion, when, as they believe, our government openly a.s.sisted the people of the Isthmus throw off the Colombian yoke, because we just had to control that strip of territory for the ca.n.a.l.”
”But why should the revolutionists want to stop us?” insisted his cousin. ”We are here only on a private quest. We seek no gold mines or cocoa plantations. Our only object is a mission of mercy. And besides, if these men are in open rebellion, they ought to be glad to see anybody that their government detests, Yankees or not.”
”Well,” pursued Frank, with a cautious glance around, ”I was thinking that some of the people in Maracaibo took altogether too much interest in our little monoplane. A lot of dark-faced men hovered around, and asked many questions. They have heard and read much about the wonderful things being done today in aeronautics, but have seen little or nothing.”
”Frank, that's so!” exclaimed Andy, quickly. ”Please go on. You are gripping my attention a heap, I admit. Tell me, do you suspect that some of those same chaps may have been Colombians?”
”I'm dead sure of it, and more than that, old Quito gave me to understand he believed they were connected with the junta that was pus.h.i.+ng this new revolution in Colombia.”
”Yes?” Andy said, in a way that plainly invited further explanation.
”Stop and think,” Frank continued. ”Suppose now, they conceived the idea that it would further their forlorn cause a heap if they only had such an airs.h.i.+p, and could threaten to drop all sorts of bombs into the camps of the government troops!”