Part 24 (2/2)
How far off was the city?
Oh! many moons' journey No; the inhabitants were not warlike They would welcoive the stones as ers of the ere great, forwaterfalls blocked the passage of the river The flow of the waters was fierce, the tides strong, and there was a thousand channels to bewilder the voyager But he knew the way through the lishmen?
He could He hated the Spaniards, and would never act as guide to those who oppressed his own nation But the Englishmen were brothers to the Indian
What reward did he desire?
Clothes like those worn by his white brothers, and a sword to slay his eneain was struck forthwith The guide clapped on his shapeless headpiece and strutted off, a happy reed with everything the adventurers seemed to desire, and spun them the yarns he had heard froratify his new audience And well-nigh a score of brave but credulous leefully, rubbed those same hands in joyous anticipation, and confidently looked forward to fabulous wealth and the glories of the city of old, the matchless capital of ”El Dorado”
Chapter xxxIII
WANDERING IN A MAZE
”Land ho!”
The idlers on deck sprang to their feet, and the cabins were speedily e visible save the horizon, gray with the heat-haze of noon, and the gray-blue waters that heaved up to meet it But the sailor in the crosstrees could see as invisible to those on the deck The gazers looked at hier over their heads
”Land ho!” he cried again; ”leagues of it, stretching east and west!”
The adventurers crowded into the bow of the boat, leaning over the bulwarks to larboard and starboard Presently a sinuous line, darker gray than the rest of the horizon, could be discerned above the surface of the ocean It lifted, cleared; the gray deepened to black; the low coast of the Orinoco delta was revealed The crew raised a resounding cheer, and the gentlemen of the couide, stood in the forepeak of the shi+p, the centre of an eager group Yonder was land; for what point of it should they steer?
Master Jeffreys was endeavouring to settle that question The Indian was pouring out a torrent of coast Spanish, and gesticulating with every sentence The Devonian explained the situation to his coather,” he said, ”the arues of coastline similar to that which confronts us In this stretch there are at least a hundred mouths, connected one with the other by thousands of cross channels The whole delta is a bewildering h to carry our shi+p well into the country; others are too shallow to float a shi+p's boat
Moreover, the guide says that he has had a free passage up a channel on one occasion that was i sandbanks One of the reat strength We take risks whatever we do”
”Is he sure that we are approaching the Orinoco coast?”
”Quite”
”That will do, then We will skirt it until he recognizes a landht breeze held steady, the tide was running in; so fair progress was made The land now stood out quite distinct from the water Darkback on the fringe of the tidalwas visible in the low, dark line
Without going farther in, the shi+p's course was altered until it was parallel with the coast, and all the afternoon they held steadily along, looking for some landmark familiar to the Indian But the coast was sofeatures were not plentiful It was nearly sunset when, following an inward curve of the shore, they discovered that they were in the mouth of a wide estuary The banks wereout, a turbid current was distinguishable, flowing in great volume seawards The wind, for the ti the shi+p round, and bear her back to the Atlantic Soundings were taken, and about three fathoms of water discovered, where at least twenty ti, for it was evident that they had turned into one of the shallow ht come to an end a few miles up Captain Drake dropped anchor well away froht nized that the navigation of the river was going to be no easy ain aboutebb the _Golden Boar_ stood out to sea onceThey found one that Yacae of the afternoon tide, they ran up nearly twentyas the tide, and they had to anchor against the ebb, or be swept out to sea quicker than they had coain, and were fifty ht and left wereays reddening and glistening in the setting sun
The nu stretches of land so broke the force of the tide that hardly any headas made the next day, and a council was held to deterress
Captain Drake was of opinion that it was ie of the river in the shi+p Rigorous questioning and cross-questioning of Yaca nature of the river-bed, and of the frequency of shallows A stay of a couple of days in the anchorage was resolved upon, and during that tiorously
But it was easier to decide this matter than to carry the decisions into practice Three boats were sent out the next day just after sunrise All pursued a h the channels, and by noon all three crews had lost themselves in the maze
The ere all alike, muddy, tree-bordered, stea with reptiles Moreover, they laced and interlaced so frequently, crossing like the threads in a woven fabric, that any idea of direction was iiant trees shut in the channels from one another, and no boat's crew could see un-fire froers a cue to their whereabouts, and a guide back to safety