Part 25 (1/2)

The schee for the shi+p had failed

An anxious day followed Would the olden secret? Were the adventurers to be baffled and foiled after their thousands of leagues of journeying? The guide declared that the Spaniards had got hundreds of alleys of forty to sixty oars apiece The _Golden Boar_ had no such craft aboard Three good shi+ps' boats she had, the largest capable of holding about a score of men with arms and provisions, the others with capacity for about half that nuht be mounted in the bow

No ress by boat was resolved upon What should be done with the shi+p? She e home Some counselled that she should be taken back to Trinidad and harboured there for three ain at the end of that period

Others were for hiding her, as Oxenham had hidden his shi+p; but Nick and Ned Johnson were loud against any such proceeding A plan suggested by Trelaas to the effect that half the cost the islands in the _Golden Boar_, whilst the other half should try for ”El Dorado's” land, the spoils of each expedition to be put into the co to the terreed to this, but Captain Drake would ued, would be to weaken both parties to the verge of powerlessnesa

Matters were at a deadlock Then Dan Pengelly went hunting, and caught a native canoe and two natives He brought them to the shi+p Yacamo could make himself understood He persuaded the Indians that his masters were not Spaniards, but tender-hearted white men, who loved the brown man like a brother Generosity in the matter of presents helped the faith of the two ers Their own village was near at hand, hidden in the wooded recesses of an island, and they had intercourse with other villages along the delta, and could guide the adventurers through the network of channels to the main stream

But the problem what to do with the shi+p remained unsolved The two natives declared that it was iet her into the e up-streae

Captain Drake and a se, and talked with the chief He proved friendly enough, and quite willing to help, when he found that the newcomers were foes to his oppressors, the Spaniards He paid a return visit to the shi+p, and, learning the difficulty concerning her, offered to hide her in a deep pool on the eastern side of his own island She could there be effectively screened A survey of the spot and the channels leading to it showed that the plan was feasible; and, with shi+p's boats and native canoes, the _Golden Boar_ was towed to her anchorage, and preparations for the boat journey were at once begun The vessel was disuns buried, and the ammunition safely stowed in an empty hut Masts and sails were fitted to the two se canoe and rowers for the carriage of stores Two other canoes of stronger make were constructed, and at the end of twelve days Captain Drake had a flotilla of five boats under his coentleman adventurer, one shi+p's officer, two soldiers, and two seae in charge of shi+p and stores

Chapter xxxIV

FLOOD AND FEVER

The Indians were as good as their word Headed by the chief's canoe, the adventurers passed in steady procession through ress was slow, for, though the current in the cross channels was not strong, the as hardly felt; the heat was stifling, and rest during the es to be visited, presents to be made to the chieftains, and feasts to be eaten in return Haste was i, the river would soon be in flood, and pestilence would stalk through the swael

At last the apex of the delta was reached, and the broad river--stretching ators

The s frohty flood On its boso northwards to build up the growing delta But for the wind and the guidance of the natives the adventurers would have hty volume of the waters Happily the North-East Trades from the Atlantic, uni persistence across the flat delta and along the level plains through which the river made its way Sandbanks in the bed diverted the current here and there,quiet, lake-like pools under the banks The Indians knew of these, and skilfully made use of them Sails were spread to the breeze, and the flotilla went steadily on its way

One ent by, and then another The weather greorse and worse

Terrific stor the Orinoco into fury, tearing down the ers The banks of the stream were almost lost; hundreds of square miles of forest-clad plain were under water, the tree-tops alone showing the navigators the true course of the river The flood flowing sea-wards becahtier than ever The huh unbearable Men sickened, and in a few cases died Caht was almost unobtainable, and thick, poisonousthe hours of darkness, fevering thetheir limbs It became imperative to call a halt for a while; the enfeebled rowerscurrent, and the success achieved was not worth the effort that was uides turned their boat thither, the others following

The village stood on soround on the western bank of the stream, and in the dry season in of the waters Now the floods rolled between the piles, sub at least ten feet of them Native canoes were tethered to the supports, and the house platforms were soon covered with knots of brown-skinned fellows full of anxiety and apprehension concerning the onco fleet They knew the shi+p's boats for those used by the whitethe river, and wondered to find thee at such a time The friendly Indians went forward and explained who the white ers proved kind and confiding, as indeed had all the natives dwelling along the river They gave up roo out on the platforms themselves, and for a few days the expedition rested and recuperated

The sun had set, thefor its zenith A group of three--Johnnie Morgan, Tielly--sat on the platfore within a couple of feet of the water The day had been fiercely hot, and the water around had stea cauldron With the nant, mouldy vapours away, and left a clear landscape and cool air

Dan was stuffing tobacco into a pipe of baentle, he declared, an antidote against the etation that surrounded thehout the river voyage, and, forgetting his previous travels, and the natural toughness of his constitution, put his happy condition down to his daily pipes of the fragrant Indian weed But his two co Their heads were giddy, their hearts throbbing, and their stomachs at ith all solid food The tropicalevery moment

The trees swayed dismally in the breeze, and the birds chattered querulously at being disturbed The waters ”lap, lapped” ators nosed a for scraps and offal or any stray eatables that came their way

Moths and fireflies flitted about in such numbers that the air seemed alive with the, heaving, sucking, lapping, shi+ht full of majesty, beauty, ainst a pillar, closed his eyes, and sazed for a while with aching eyes at the weird scene around; then the heavy lids dropped, and they fell a-drea

Johnnie was back in the cool forest by Severn side; the oaks and the beeches swayed above hih The nightingale was singing his love song to his mate and thetide sounded a low acco Gone were the white, war parrots, the croaking frogs, the howling beasts; the glare of the sun no longer hurt his eyes, and its fierce heat no longer sent his brain throbbing and burning The air was cool, the bracken sweet, and the bird trilled out its passionate ainst a tree? He would lie down, and let the fresh, green fronds curl above hihed, his limbs relaxed, he swayed--he fell with a heavy splash into the warator swished his tail against a pile and darted off in sudden alar man roused sufficiently to be conscious that he was in the water Jeffreys was asleep, but Dan's sailor senses were alert in an instant His eyes opened, he glanced around, an, and peered over into the flood The fallen e reptile that had espied hiain Dan saw both, shouted in alar horror; then he swung hian by the hair, and brought hirip of the platfor himself into safety, and only just in time, for more than one scaly reptile had scented the feast, and was hurrying through thein the flood settled the grip of the fever on Morgan When next he sunned himself on the platfor, and the ues away southwards

Chapter xxxV

A FOE