Part 59 (1/2)
”This thought made us feel quite unhappy.”
”You certainly did lose your chance,” observed Jack, ”for a steamer which I spoke came down about that time, and you might probably have got on board her.”
”I told you so, Gerald,” exclaimed Tom, ”I was--”
”But it does not matter now,” answered Gerald, ”all's well that ends well.”
”You are right, but it might not have been so had we been shot by those fellows as we were swimming off to the _Supplejack's_ boat,” observed Tom. ”Well, I suppose you want me to cut my yarn short. As soon as it was dark we lighted our fire, which we should have been puzzled to do, had not Gerald had some fusees in his pocket, which he carries, you will understand, to give a light to any one who wants to smoke a cigar.”
”I understand,” observed Jack, laughing. ”You, of course, Mr Desmond, never dream of smoking one yourself?”
”Only occasionally, sir, and Tom and I had finished all I had when we were captured by the gauchos.”
”Our fires burned well,” continued Tom, ”and we roasted our young capybara to perfection; we only wanted salt and pepper, and an onion or two to make it delicious. As it was, with the addition of a little brown bread we had remaining, we made a good meal, and slept like tops till daylight. One of us, you will understand, regularly kept watch on the river while the other searched for provisions, except when we wanted to catch another young capybara, when we had to a.s.sist each other. We captured the second in the same way we had the first, with our long wands and nooses; we also caught several birds after dark, roosting on the branches of the trees; we were afraid, however, to venture out as far as the plain above to look for partridges, lest we might have been seen by any of the country people or soldiers who might have been on their way to the cliff I spoke of; we found, indeed, that men were constantly on the watch for pa.s.sing vessels, and we should to a certainty have been discovered.
”Our chief exploit was catching the big capybara, which we attempted when we had eaten nearly all her young ones. We were afraid if we took the last, that she might suspect that something was wrong and make off.
We accordingly got up at night, when we thought that she would be asleep, and placed a couple of nooses at the mouth of her hole, securing the end to a part of the root of the tree which rose above the ground.
We then went back to our cave, and roasted the last of the young ones we had caught. As usual, we kept watch by turns: we had become somewhat anxious at night, for we could not help thinking that the smell of our roast pig might attract some keen-scented jaguar to the spot, and I can tell you that the thought of being s.n.a.t.c.hed up at any moment by one of those beasts made us keep our eyes about us, and prevented us from going to sleep. I know it did me, and I am pretty sure that Gerald was not more comfortable in his mind on the subject than I was.
”It was my morning watch, and as soon as daylight returned I called Gerald, and we crept carefully up to the capybara's hole.
”We had not long to wait before we heard her barking, for strange to say, though she was like a pig she did not grunt. She was calling to her solitary young one to get up, I suppose. Presently we felt a pull on one of our lines, and directly afterwards the other was drawn taut.
We gave each of them a jerk, and then springing forward with our sticks, we were just in time before the capybara drew back into her hole to give her a couple of stunning blows on the head. We quickly had her out, and a few more blows deprived her of life. It occurred to us that if we dragged her up to our cave, the track might lead any pa.s.ser-by to it.
We therefore fastened her legs together, and carried her on one of our sticks, the little one following, wondering, I dare say, why its mother had taken to move in so curious a fas.h.i.+on, and not seeming to notice us.
Desmond proposed that we should tame it, but as we could not manage to find it food, we were obliged to kill it. Not being expert butchers, we were employed most of the day in skinning and cutting up the beasts.
Our chief puzzle was to know what to do with the offal. At last we put it into the skin, and carrying it down at night threw it into the river.
In the meantime our cave had the not over-pleasant odour of a butcher's shop in hot weather, while we were in the constant apprehension of a visit from a jaguar. Our regret was that though we had a superabundance of meat we should soon be reduced to short commons, as it was not likely to keep, even when cooked, for more than a couple of days. We had just returned from the river, having accomplished the task I spoke of, and had lighted our fire, when we heard a rustling of the leaves at the entrance, the flames just then blazing up brightly; the next instant we caught sight of the savage-looking head of one of the monsters we dreaded, which had poked its way between the boughs, and was apparently about to spring on us. Desmond instinctively laid hold of the first thing which came to hand. This happened to be one of the capybara's legs which we were about to spit.
”We then seized our sticks to fight for our lives; but the jaguar having caught the tempting morsel, either satisfied with it, or frightened by the bright flames and our sticks, which we flourished in his face, sprang back and bounded away with the meat in his mouth.
”Having repaired our fence, and made it, as we hoped, more secure, we returned to cook and eat our supper. I confess that neither of us felt very comfortable on watch that night, lest the jaguar should come back for a further supply of capybara.
”That was only last night; we little thought at the time how soon our Robinson Crusoe life was coming to an end. Though pleasant in some respects, it was not, as you see, without its drawbacks. Directly the _Supplejack_ hove in sight we recognised her; but having seen the enemy on the top of the cliffs, we were in great doubt whether we should succeed in getting off--it seems, indeed, a wonder to me that we were not killed, and I only hope we feel sufficiently grateful for our preservation.”
”I am afraid, Tom, that we are not, and never can be, sufficiently grateful for the mercies shown to us,” observed Jack gravely. ”If we had not been watched over and taken care of, we should none of us be here at the present moment. Now, as you and Desmond look somewhat sleepy, go and turn in.”
Gerald was half asleep already, and Tom having given one or two significant yawns, they were both very glad to obey Jack's order.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
THE SUPPLEJACK REACHES BAXADA DE SANTA FE--PLANS FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE FLEET WHEN RETURNING--A NIGHT EXPEDITION TO SURVEY AN ISLAND-- ALARM--MAGNIFICENT EXPLOIT--ROCKET BATTERY PEPPERS THE BATTERIES OF SAN LORENZO TO SOME EFFECT--SQUADRON Pa.s.sES UNHARMED--ESCAPE OF THE BOAT-- MONTE VIDEO REACHED.
The _Supplejack_ continued her course up the river, and the following day got beyond the reach of Rosas' flying artillery. Tom and Gerald, having been well fed during their adventures, were not much the worse for them, and after a good night's sleep were well able to return to their duty. They of course had to repeat their adventures to their own messmates, and Needham and s.n.a.t.c.hblock were also eager to hear all about them.
At last the brig reached Baxadar de Santa Fe, a town of some size, built partly at the foot and partly on the side of a lofty hill, which rises above the river. It is surrounded by corrals, or cattle-farms, where thousands of animals are slaughtered for the sake of their hides and tallow alone, which are s.h.i.+pped from the port. As there are not human mouths sufficient to consume the enormous quant.i.ties of beef, it is thrown away and carried off by vast flocks of gallinasos, caracaras, carrion crows, and other birds of prey, which hover over the country, their appearance and the odour arising from the putrefying flesh making the place far from agreeable. Here the _Supplejack_ found a large fleet of merchantmen, which had been further increased by others which had come down the river. The question was how they all were to get back again to the sea. Two or three steamers, which came up after the _Supplejack_ had suffered by a hot fire, opened on them from the batteries, newly thrown up by Rosas, several officers and men having been killed and wounded. The most formidable batteries were those at San Lorenzo, which were now completed, and it could not be expected that the fleet would be allowed to repa.s.s them without a strong opposition.
Several plans were thought of, the bluejackets and marines might land and storm the batteries, but such an undertaking could only be carried out with great loss of life, as the troops of Rosas were not to be despised, and as the batteries were open in the rear they could not be held without a strong force.