Part 17 (1/2)
They at once sat down to talk matters over, and Jim soon found that his friend knew this part of the country very well, having been there before; and that he had decided to make for Arica, which was at this time in Chilian hands. Jim readily fell in with the plan, and after a good long rest the two men started away upon their arduous journey.
They camped for the night on the outskirts of the wood, which they reached about midnight, and there made a meal off the provisions which each had been thoughtful enough to bring. These provisions lasted them a week, by which time they were approaching the region where they might hope to find the Chilian outposts. But they had either miscalculated the distance, or the Chilians had retreated, for it was another week before they finally came into contact with a Chilian force at Tacna; and, meanwhile, they had had to procure food at the muzzle of Jim's carbine, for the country-folk soon perceived that the two fugitives were escaped Chilian prisoners.
As soon, however, as they fell in with Colonel Barros, in command of the first company of the Taltal regiment, stationed at Tacna, their troubles were over. He at once provided them with mules and a small escort, at the same time lending them as much money as he could spare. And after a stay of three days with this hospitable and kindly man they took their departure, arriving at Arica two days later; and there, before their eyes as they came in sight of the harbour, lay the _Blanco Encalada_, the Chilian flags.h.i.+p, a sight which Jim thought the finest that he had ever seen. The _O'Higgins_ was there also, together with three other s.h.i.+ps; and the two scarecrows lost no time in repairing on board their respective vessels.
Jim Douglas's reception on board was one which he will remember all his life. He was instantly shouldered by his brother officers and carried off to the ward-room, where he was made to detail all his adventures, the captain and admiral being at the moment ash.o.r.e. It was nearly midnight before Jim had finished; and, the admiral being still ash.o.r.e, he retired to his bunk and slept the sleep of the utterly weary.
The next thing he knew was that he was being violently shaken, while a voice cried, ”Rouse up, _amigo_; rouse up! The admiral has just come on board; and, having been informed of your return, desires to see you immediately. Hurry up! for I believe, from the look of the old gentleman, that he has something good in store for you. It's just nine o'clock, and he breakfasts in ten minutes; so look sharp.”
Jim did ”look sharp.” He dragged a uniform out of his chest, slipped it on, and in less than ten minutes was standing shaking hands with Admiral Riveros.
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
A GUERILLA STRONGHOLD.
”_Buenas dias_, Senor Douglas,” said the old gentleman heartily; ”sit down and tell me all about yourself and your doings since the memorable night when you left the _Blanco Encalada_. I feared that you, with all the rest of the crew of the _Janequeo_, had perished in Callao harbour, or fallen into the hands of the Peruvians--which is even worse, so they tell me. I am indeed glad to see you back again, my young friend. Now proceed with your report, senor, if you please.”
Thus commanded, Jim plunged into a fairly full and detailed recital of all that had befallen him since he had left the flags.h.i.+p, only pausing in his narrative when Riveros wished to be enlightened upon some point or other. The admiral continually nodded approbation of what Douglas had done; and the lad noticed that he paid particular attention to the account of the silver mine at Sorata, and Jim's description of the country thereabout. When the young Englishman had finished his report, which he did in the course of about an hour, Riveros suddenly said:
”Then I may take it, _Senor el Teniente_, that you are pretty well acquainted with the country about Sorata? Did you, by any chance, see or hear anything of a village called Coroico during your captivity, or while you were escaping?”
”Coroico?” mused Jim; ”let me see--yes, sir; I seem to remember hearing the place spoken of by a warder with whom I contrived to become friendly--the man whose uniform I took the small liberty of appropriating, you will remember. He said that a Bolivian force was collecting near there, for the purpose, I believe, of making raids into the newly acquired Chilian territory.”
”Exactly! Just so,” replied Riveros; ”that is the matter in a nutsh.e.l.l.
Now listen to me for a few moments, please. As you are aware, we have practically destroyed the naval power of Peru; and we have also made short work of her armies wherever we have come into contact with them.
In a word, Peru is almost at the end of her resources; and the Government is ready to come to terms, allowing us to keep the territory we have newly acquired along the sea-coast, namely, that strip of land reaching, roughly, from Papos to Arica. So far, so good. A small portion of that territory, however, belonged to Bolivia, which is, as you know, the ally of Peru. Now, the Bolivian Government is also ready to surrender that land; but a large portion of the population will not hear of it being given up, since their only port, Antof.a.gasta, is situated upon it. These--rebels, I suppose I may call them, are trying to displace the president of Bolivia in order to put in power a man who will not accede to the Chilian demands; but Dr Ladislao Cabrera is too strong for the rebels, and still retains his office.
”Having therefore been foiled in that direction, a force of Bolivians has been collected by a noted guerilla leader named Bajos; and this force, amounting to about a couple of thousand men, has entrenched itself in a strong position near Coroico, whence frequent destructive raids are being made into our newly won territory. They burn and slay wherever they go; in fact they leave a trail of blood and ashes behind them plain enough for anybody to follow. Mercy seems a thing absolutely unknown among these desperadoes; and instead of carrying on their warfare in a civilised manner, they are committing the most dreadful atrocities on all Chilians, both civil and military, who fall into their hands. Now, these men are a menace which we cannot tolerate; for, unless the band is rooted out and utterly destroyed, there will never be peace or safety in the northern part of Chili. This has been a somewhat long introduction to what I have to say, _teniente_, but it was necessary, in view of the remarks which I am about to make.
”As I say, the work of the navy is practically finished; but we are very short of men in the army; for the army has to cover a large extent of country. I have therefore decided to transfer you from the navy to the army, and to send you, at the head of five hundred men, against these outlaws. You are acquainted with the country; and you have always carried out most satisfactorily such work as I have given you to do.
More than that number of men cannot, as I understand, be spared. Five hundred against two thousand is heavy odds, I admit; but much will depend upon the man who is in charge of the smaller force; and I have no hesitation in saying that I do not think I could have chosen a better man for the purpose than yourself.”
Jim bowed and murmured his thanks. ”Now,” resumed Riveros, ”the force is actually ready, and is waiting to start on its march. If you had not turned up in the nick of time I should have been obliged to send another man; for this is a matter that cannot wait. Since you are here, however, I shall be glad if you will start for Coroico at once. I am sorry to be obliged to send you away so soon, for you deserve a long rest after all that you have gone through; but perhaps this commission as captain in the army which I have procured for you may be some slight recompense for what you have been obliged to endure. Should you bring this expedition to a satisfactory issue, I think I can promise that you will be raised to the rank of major. That is all, I think. And now, Senor Douglas, the sooner you get away the better. _Dios guarde al Usted_! Any further particulars which you may desire to know will be given you by Captain Simpson; you will find him in his cabin. _A Dios, senor, a mas ver_!”
The kindly but extremely busy old gentleman pushed Jim out of the cabin without giving him an opportunity to express the grat.i.tude he felt for the promotion and the trust reposed in him, and he made his way at once to Simpson's cabin, in order to get all the information possible relative to the forthcoming expedition. When he emerged, an hour or so later, he was beaming with joy and pleasureable antic.i.p.ation; for he found that the task was likely to be a very difficult one; in consequence of which he had been provided with a squadron of the Guias cavalry, together with a couple of field-pieces, which Simpson had told him he would find very necessary. He quickly packed up his slender baggage, and, after saying good-bye to his comrades, had himself rowed ash.o.r.e. There his first move was made to the establishment of a military tailor, where he procured his new uniform and weapons; then he paid a visit to the cavalry barracks, selected a charger for himself, inspected his troop, and gave orders for them to be ready for an early start on the morrow. They were a fine-looking lot of men, and Jim felt that they were just the sort of fellows for an expedition of this kind.
The following morning at seven o'clock Douglas rode into the parade ground, and found his men already drawn up, together with the two field- pieces; and half an hour later the little army clattered out of the barrack-yard into the streets, past the _plaza_, out of the north gate, and swung into the road which led north-eastward toward Lake t.i.ticaca, reaching La Paz four days after leaving Arica. They stayed here one day, leaving on the following morning, and by nightfall the force was at the foot of the mountains which they would have to traverse before reaching Sorata. Here they camped for the night, pus.h.i.+ng forward the next day right into the heart of the mountains, which, at this alt.i.tude, were clothed with thick pine forests, and cut up by mountain torrents spanned by narrow and frail bridges, across which it was a very difficult and supremely dangerous task to transport the horses and the guns.
They had been among the mountains a week, and were approaching fairly close to Coroico; Jim therefore took the precaution to throw out scouts in all directions round his little force, in order to prevent surprise; and one evening, just before darkness began to settle down, one of the men came riding in to say that he had caught sight of a small body of Bolivians hovering among the hills about a mile to the right of the main body. ”Evidently,” thought the young commander, ”the guerillas are expecting some such expedition as this, and have thrown out their outposts; there will therefore be little hope of taking them by surprise.” However, as there was no further alarm, and as darkness was fast closing down, orders were given for the camp to be pitched for the night; and very soon the horses were picketed and the men were under canvas, sentries were posted, and everything was made snug and comfortable for the night.
About nine o'clock, feeling greatly fatigued, Jim turned into his tent, and, wrapping himself in his heavy overcoat, threw himself down on the ground, determined to get to sleep early that he might feel fresh and fit for the next morning, when they might reasonably expect to get into touch with the enemy. But try as he might, and tired as he was, sleep refused to visit him, and the harder he tried the wider awake did he become. He also found that he was rapidly becoming obsessed by a horrible feeling that all was not right, that there was some unknown but terrible danger hovering over the sleeping camp. He strove to dispossess his mind of such fancies by a.s.suring himself that sentries were posted everywhere, and that therefore the camp would be early alarmed in the event of an attack being made; but it was all to no purpose; the presentiment only held him the more firmly in its embrace.
He had just looked at his watch and discovered that it was midnight, and that he had been tossing and tumbling for three hours, when his ears caught a very faint sound, coming apparently from some distance away.
Douglas sprang to his feet in a moment, and striding to the flap of his tent, bent all his energies to the task of listening intently. Yes, there it was again! It was coming from the direction of a wooden suspension bridge which spanned a broad ravine, and which the force had crossed about a quarter of an hour before camping down; and it took the form of heavy, m.u.f.fled blows of iron against wood.
”Hallo!” exclaimed Douglas, ”there is something wrong here! but what are the sentries doing?”
In a second he had belted on his sword and revolver, and plunged out of the tent in the direction from which the sound was coming, and a few minutes later arrived at the place where the sentry should have been standing; but there was no sign of the man--he was nowhere to be seen.
”_Caramba_!” exclaimed Jim, ”I believe there has been foul play here!”