Part 5 (1/2)
”Yes,” Douglas agreed, ”that time will suit me very well, Senor Montt; and I shall look forward to our expedition with great interest.”
The conversation then turned upon other matters, and the subject was dropped; but the next evening, after dinner, Douglas reminded Montt of their arrangement; and the two men, dressing themselves in mufti, stepped off the _Covadonga_ on to the wharf, and made their way up into the town.
They walked along the sea-front, where the horse-trams were wont to ply before the electric cars were introduced, right away up to the north end of the promenade, until they came to the Hotel de Sucre, where they turned off to the right, up a very narrow and badly-lighted side-street, which conducted them into a part of the city very much resembling the place in Iquique into which Jim had been inveigled. Indeed Jim began to have some doubts as to the wisdom of their little adventure when he saw the evil glances and scowls of hatred which everywhere met them on their progress; for it was not so very long that the Chilians had occupied the place.
However, Montt betrayed not the slightest uneasiness, and a.s.sured his friend that the Bolivians always looked askance at strangers in the city, and as they were both dressed in mufti, so that their connection with the Chilians was not apparent, the young Englishman decided not to worry himself about the matter, but to trust entirely to his companion's discretion.
They traversed a number of narrow side-streets and gloomy alleys, and presently came out in the broad _Plaza de la Libertad_, where some patriotic orator was volubly holding forth about the rights of man and the iniquity of the Chilian invasion. Montt hurriedly seized Jim's arm as the Englishman was on the point of crossing the road to hear what the orator had to say, and guided him away to the left, so that they skirted the _plaza_ instead of crossing it.
”The people seem in rather an excitable mood to-night,” said the lieutenant; ”we had therefore better make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. I wonder what has occurred? Possibly there may have been some battle, in which the Bolivians have been defeated. I would not have come ash.o.r.e had I thought that the city was likely to be in this state of unrest. However, as we are here we may as well go forward; so come along, and let us get away from this frothing volcano as soon as we can. We will turn down this side-street; it is not very much out of our way, and we shall be out of sight of the crowd all the sooner.”
Jim readily acquiesced, as a good many of the people whom they met seemed to regard them with anything but friendly glances, and the two men hurried away down the Calle San Antonio, where they soon got out of range of the angry growling of the mob.
”Can't imagine what's wrong here to-night,” muttered Montt, in a low voice, ”but it must be either, as I said, that we have defeated their countrymen somewhere on land, or else that one of our s.h.i.+ps has sunk or captured the _Huascar_; nothing less would, I imagine, have roused them to such a pitch of excitement. We Chilians are maintaining a ridiculously small army of occupation here; far too small for the purpose, in my opinion; and if the Bolivians were to turn restive, as they seem very much inclined to do, we should have rather a bad time of it, I am afraid. However, we are not far away from the house where this old Inca witch-woman, or whatever she calls herself, lives. It used to be in one of the small hovels on the right side of the street we are just coming to.”
They turned into the street--or, rather, alley--indicated by Montt, and at once found themselves in a cobble-paved and exceedingly ill-lighted thoroughfare, flanked on either side by a curious a.s.sortment of huge, old-time houses, which were doubtless, at one period, the dwellings of high Government officials, and tiny, tumbledown hovels, which seemed to have sprung up, like fungi or some other evil growth, on the small s.p.a.ces of ground which had formerly been left vacant between the larger houses.
Half-way down this evil-looking, evil-smelling, and squalid alley Montt called a halt and, looking round carefully, remarked:
”Now, Senor Douglas, so far as I can remember--for it is a good many years since I was here before--this is the house; but as I see no sign of any light in the place, the old woman may have gone away, or died.
However, having come thus far, we will try our luck.” And the lieutenant knocked softly upon the door.
The sound echoed dully through the little building, but otherwise the silence remained unbroken; it seemed as though the place was indeed deserted.
”_Caramba_!” exclaimed Montt, ”I don't believe there is anybody here, after all; what a pity! I do not care to knock too loudly, either, for fear of attracting the attention of the neighbours. They are a queer lot down in this quarter, I can tell you. Hallo! did you hear anything moving inside there, just then, Douglas?”
Jim listened intently for a few seconds, then replied: ”Yes, I think I _do_ hear something prowling about in there, but--upon my word, Montt, it sounds more like a--a--well, an animal than a human being; and--what a very curious smell there is; quite like--let me see--” here the young officer sniffed several times--”yes,” he continued after a pause, ”it is quite like the odour of a wild beast!”
”_Per Dios_! you are right,” exclaimed the lieutenant, sniffing in turn.
”And I remember that last time I visited this place the old woman certainly seemed to carry with her an uncanny, musty, animal odour.
Therefore it is probably she. I will knock again.”
Montt thereupon drew from his jacket pocket a revolver, which he had taken the precaution to bring with him, and tapped softly on the door with its b.u.t.t.
This time there followed a plainly perceptible ”shuffle-shuffle” like the soft padding of a heavy animal's paws, and both men started violently when, directly afterward, and from the other side of the door, a whining voice inquired--
”Who knocks at my door? Go away, whoever you are. I am a poor, lone old woman, and if you dis--”
”Are you the Inca woman, Mama Huello?” broke in Montt; ”for, if so, we wish to consult you. We are two naval officers who have heard of your wonderful powers of foretelling the future, and we should like to have a demonstration of them.”
There was a pause, and then the whining voice replied: ”Yes, I am the Mama Huello; wait ye there for a short time, while I prepare for your reception.”
Again that curious shuffling sound was heard, and Jim somehow felt a s.h.i.+ver of fear run down his spine. It was only a disordered fancy, of course; but to him it certainly seemed as though the voice proceeded from an animal, rather than from a human being. Then Montt remarked:
”She must surely have a big dog, or some other pet animal with her, I should think, for I distinctly heard the 'pad-pad' of paws when the Mama turned away. I hope the creature will not attempt to worry us, under the impression that we mean harm to the old woman.”
Jim did not reply. He felt instinctively that they would find no animal there when they entered the house; but he had no further time for reflection, for, at that moment, the door opened with startling suddenness, and a voice invited them to enter.
Montt stepped inside, and Jim followed close upon his heels. The door shut after them, of its own accord, apparently; and they found themselves in a narrow stone-flagged pa.s.sage, which was dimly lighted by an oil-lamp with a large red shade over it. The whitewashed walls were covered with all manner of hieroglyphs and drawings, the meaning of which Jim could not fathom. Nor had he much time to examine them, for the voice of the Mama, still proceeding from some unseen quarter, invited them to go forward, and they presently found themselves in a large apartment, built of stone, upon the walls of which hung rich silks and cloths made of vicuna-wool, together with a number of other articles, evidently of ancient native manufacture, the like of which the young Englishman had never seen before. To say that he was astonished at the barbaric splendour of the apartment is to put it very mildly; and he could not understand how it was that such an apparently diminutive house could contain a room of such large size as the one in which he now stood.