Part 16 (1/2)

He therefore accepted the situation with much satisfaction, which, however, he took care not to show, and marched off toward the mine with his guard. When he arrived at the place where he was to work, he saw that the word ”mine” hardly described the place, for it was not in the least like an English mine. The so-called mines consisted of a number of ancient Inca workings which, after having lain idle for hundreds of years, had been again started by the Peruvians. Instead of a shaft being driven down into the earth, and galleries being cut in various directions from that shaft, the mines simply consisted of tunnels driven horizontally into the side of a hill. It was a primitive method, and one adopted by the Incas; but the ground was so rich and ore so plentiful that this method was found as good as any other, and cheaper than most. There were scores of these tunnels, some of which had been exhausted and abandoned, while the ore was being taken out of others by truck-loads at a time, the little narrow-gauge tram-lines running from the tunnel-mouths right down into the village.

By the time that Jim had arrived at his allotted post his fellow- prisoners had disappeared elsewhere, and he found, to his great joy, that he was working on the side of the hill remote from all the other convicts. He could hardly conceal his satisfaction, for everything was falling out much better than he could possibly have expected; and, under the influence of his newly awakened hope, he became quite chatty and affable with the sentry, who gradually thawed under the Englishman's flow of talk and high spirits. Douglas now found that he was not expected to extract ore, for indeed there was no tram-line here whereby it could be carried away. This particular tunnel had been closed up by a fall of rock as long ago as the sixteenth century and had never since been worked, and as the Peruvians thought that there might still be a good supply of ore there, they had determined to open it once more.

This, then, was Jim's task, and he approached the blocked-up tunnel- mouth determined to do as much work as he possibly could, and thus endeavour to earn the sentry's good-will, for that, he decided, should be his first step on the road to freedom.

By the time that dusk had fallen and work had ceased for the day, Douglas had cleared away several cubic yards of rubble from the tunnel- mouth, and had also impressed the sentry so favourably that the latter not only thought himself lucky in having charge of so docile a prisoner, but also decided that it would not be necessary for him to exercise quite so much vigilance as he had expected to be obliged to do.

Morning after morning the Englishman and the Peruvian went up to the tunnel, and the two soon became, to all appearance, very excellent friends. Jim steadily worked his way farther and farther into the tunnel, and the sentry sat at the entrance thereto, smoking and dozing, instead of standing close beside the prisoner during the whole day, as he had done at first. Douglas was delighted, for this was precisely what he wanted. The soldier's suspicions were being lulled to sleep very effectively, and Jim told himself that the time was fast approaching when he might try to hoodwink the fellow still further.

However, in order not to act too hastily, he allowed a few more days to elapse, and then one morning, during his mid-day meal, he entered into conversation with the Peruvian, adroitly keeping the conversation as personal as possible, and leading the fellow on to talk about himself.

It was an easy task that Jim had before him, as he very soon found. He sympathised with the man in all his little troubles, and advised him what to do to make matters easier for himself, the consequence being that Douglas pa.s.sed the whole afternoon sitting down and talking with the soldier, with the result that by the evening the two were as friendly together as even Jim could wish.

The Peruvian Government, it now appeared, was in the habit of giving the prisoners a small bonus for every cubic yard of rubble or ore that was removed above a certain fixed quant.i.ty, and this bonus Jim laid himself out to earn, with the result that he very soon had a nice little h.o.a.rd of _pesetas_, which he laid out on such comforts as the village provided. He also took care to keep his gaoler well supplied with _cigarillos_, which proved the best prescription for keeping him in a good temper. So that by the time that three months had slipped by, the man had ceased to keep guard over his prisoner at all, and left him to excavate the tunnel unwatched, while he himself sat down on the shady side of a rock to enjoy his tobacco. Things were now indeed shaping very well for Jim, and having lulled his gaoler's suspicions, the young man next set about getting together a small store of provisions, which he secreted little by little behind a great boulder which he found about fifty feet inside the mouth of the tunnel, and a month later he had acc.u.mulated what he considered to be enough provender to last him, with care, until he could reach either the sea-coast or the nearest Chilian outpost, which at that time was lying somewhere near Caraguara.

The next thing, he told himself, was to wait for a favourable opportunity to escape; and while waiting he put all his energies into his work, so that he might have as much money as possible when the time came for him to make his attempt. It was quite the usual thing now for the guard--whose name, Jim had ascertained, was Carbajal--to lie down behind his rock, and either sleep or smoke while his charge laboured in the tunnel; and one day Jim crawled over to the rock where he lay and took a good look at the fellow. He was sitting with his back against the rock, fast asleep; his rifle was lying about three feet away from him, and his peaked cap was tilted over his eyes. If he would only go to sleep like that in the morning, thought Jim, all would be well; for the escape would have to be made very early in order that the fugitive might get a good long start before his absence was discovered when the roll was called at nightfall.

Douglas had now quite a nice little stock of money, and he soon made up his mind what to do. One evening, before going to the sleeping barracks, he bought a bottle of _aguardiente_, and from an _Indio_ with whom he had made friends he procured a large quant.i.ty of _coca_ leaves, which he put into the bottle of spirit to soak overnight, knowing that by the morning the strong liquor would have absorbed all the cocaine out of the leaves.

The next morning he extracted all the leaves and recorked the bottle, which he carefully secreted under his coat, for he had determined to make his escape that very day. Then he went up to the tunnel, followed by the guard, who lay down behind his usual rock directly they arrived at the works. Jim considered for a few seconds whether he should offer the man the bottle at once or later, and finally determined in favour of the latter, in order to avoid arousing his guard's suspicions, and to give him an opportunity to get thoroughly thirsty in the hot sun. Jim then went into the tunnel and walked down to its far end, not to work, however, for he determined to save himself up as much as possible, in view of future contingencies.

He therefore sat down, with his back against one of the tunnel walls, but would not close his eyes lest he should inadvertently drop off to sleep. He had been staring abstractedly at the opposite wall for some minutes, when it dawned upon him that one of the blocks of stone of which it was composed had a very curiously symmetrical appearance, and the longer he gazed at it the more convinced did he become that the slab was not nature's handiwork at all, but that of man. In a moment all sorts of legends vaguely flashed through his mind, and, knowing that this tunnel had been originally used by the Incas and had not been opened since, he began to wonder whether the curious circ.u.mstance was worth investigating. He soon decided that it was, and seizing his pick, he inserted the point at the edge of the slab, and attempted to lever the stone away. It resisted for so long, however, that he was beginning to think the stone was after all no more than a part of the natural rock, when, under a more than usually vigorous pull, he saw it move forward slightly.

He now wrenched at it more determinedly than ever, and in a few seconds had the satisfaction of seeing the heavy slab totter and then fall outward on to the floor of the tunnel. Douglas was provided with matches and a lantern for the purposes of his work, and he lost no time in exploring the cavity which the stone had disclosed. With eager fingers he searched and probed about, but for some time found nothing.

Then his hand suddenly encountered something that felt metallic and heavy, and upon bringing it to the light, he found that he held in his hand a small golden image, some three inches high, evidently representing the G.o.d Rimac. This spurred him on to new efforts, and in a few minutes he had extracted five other little figures from the same place. Jim believed that he had now emptied the cache, and he was on the point of abandoning further search, since time was flying, but was just feeling round the hole for the last time, when his hand came in contact with something else.

This last object which he brought to light proved to be nothing less than a roll of Inca paper, a coa.r.s.e material made of the wool of the vicuna, which the priests were accustomed to use in keeping their records. This was probably a prize of considerably greater value than the gold, Jim thought, and he carefully opened it with trembling fingers. But, as he quite expected, he could make nothing of it, for it was written in the ancient Inca character, which few white men have ever seen, and which only a small number of Indians, directly descended from the ancient Peruvian race, are able to decipher. There was not much of it, but Douglas guessed that its value must be great, or it would not have been hidden so carefully away. He therefore folded it up carefully, and put it, together with the little gold figures, in his pocket, and then left the cave with his bottle of _aguardiente_, which he meant to present to Carbajal.

The fellow was already very nearly asleep, as it happened, and he was, moreover, very thirsty, consequently Jim's offer was accepted with almost indecent haste; as a matter of fact, Carbajal put the bottle to his lips the moment that Jim held it out to him, and he only removed it when it was nearly all gone.

”Ah! _senor_,” sighed the soldier, as he wiped his lips, ”that stuff was good--it always is good when one is thirsty, but--but what a curious flavour it has with it. Not that it is a disagreeable taste, mind you; indeed, I rather like it, but it is somewhat different from the stuff one usually gets here.”

”Ah,” replied Douglas, ”I can see that you are unused to the taste of _aguardiente_. It is perhaps a long time since you tasted any?

However, there is plenty more where that came from, so don't be chary of using it; besides, I can see that you are thirsty.”

After having offered Jim a taste of the spirit, which he declined, much to Carbajal's satisfaction, that worthy again raised the bottle to his lips and finished the contents, flinging the empty bottle away as soon as he had done so. He then composed himself as comfortably as he could against the rock, tilted his cap over his eyes again, and, after a preliminary grunt or two, announced that he felt tired and wished to be left alone. Jim was not slow in taking the hint, but instead of returning to the tunnel, he took up a position from which he could watch his fatigued warder. He kept his eyes fixed on the fellow, and very soon had the satisfaction of seeing Carbajal fall over on his side, completely overcome by the potency of the drug with which the spirit had been doctored.

Jim at once left his hiding-place and crept cautiously forward, presently reaching Carbajal's side. Then he proceeded to shake him, lightly at first, and afterwards more vigorously, until he saw that nothing would wake him for at least a dozen hours. The next thing was to carry the man into the tunnel, and, once there, Douglas lost no time in stripping off the fellow's uniform and clothing himself therein. He then fastened on the leather belt, with its cartridge-pouch attached, and possessed himself of Carbajal's carbine.

This completed Jim's transformation; and he flattered himself that he could now be very easily mistaken for a Peruvian soldier, which was, of course, what he desired. He took one last look round the tunnel, felt in his pockets to make sure that he had transferred to them the golden images and the doc.u.ment, as well as all his other belongings, and marched boldly out of the cavern.

”_Clang! clang! clang! clang_!” At this moment there came rolling up from the village the sound of the alarm-bell, cutting sharply into Jim's meditations, and he knew in a moment what had occurred. A perverse fate had prompted some prisoner to seize this precise moment in which to make a dash for liberty, and the alarm was being given. For a few seconds Jim hesitated, considering; then, with a hurried look round, he started off down the hillside at full speed, leaping rocks, boulders, and everything else that came in his way. The soldiers were already pouring out of their barracks!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

ESCAPED!

This was indeed a sorry trick that fortune, that perverse jade, had played him, meditated Jim. The chances were, too, that the fugitive would take the same direction as Douglas himself, in which case they would probably both be captured. This thought gave wings to the young Englishman's feet, and he went bounding away down the hill like a startled deer, thinking of nothing but getting to cover as quickly as possible. But the unfortunate fact was that there was no place within at least a mile where a man could be concealed, and Jim knew well that long ere he could reach the strip of forest on which he was keeping his eye, he would be in full view of the pursuers should they happen to come that way, which was more than probable.

Stay, though; were both fugitives taking the same direction? There was not so much clamour perceptible now, and Jim pulled up suddenly to listen, at the same time looking back along the way by which he had come. For a few seconds dead silence reigned, and Jim was beginning to congratulate himself that the Chilian had taken another course, when round the corner of the hill he saw a figure emerge, flying along at a tremendous pace, and leaping every obstacle that came in its way; a moment later he heard a renewed uproar of shouts and curses, and he observed that the other fugitive was heading directly for him, doubtless with the pursuers hard on his track.

Then, at this critical moment, an idea flashed through Jim's brain. He did not believe that the fugitive had yet caught sight of him, while the soldiers would not reach the corner for a few seconds, he hoped. Like a man shot, Jim flung himself p.r.o.ne on the ground, and commenced to crawl toward a large boulder which he had just caught sight of, and in less than half a minute he was ensconced behind a rock which was just big enough to afford concealment to one man, if that man had the sense to remain perfectly motionless. Then, stretching himself flat upon the ground, Jim cautiously peered round the edge of the boulder, in order to keep an eye upon the escaping prisoner, for a plan had come into his head which he thought might possibly be successful, and which was certainly the only one which offered any hope of his being able finally to get clear away.