_ CHAPTER NINE
OUR JOURNEY OVER THE MOUNTAINS--WILD SCENERY--A RIDE ON A SILLERO'S BACK--FEARS FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR SERVANTS AND HORSES--MAKING PROGRESS-- MY SILLERO AND I GET AHEAD--THE CRUEL CONDUCT OF THE SPANIARD, AND ITS FEARFUL PUNISHMENT--OUR CAMP ON THE MOUNTAINS--AN ADVENTURE WITH A JAGUAR--I KILL A TURKEY FOR SUPPER--OUR ATTENDANTS REJOIN US--SOUNDS AT NIGHT--WE BEGIN TO DESCEND--DANGERS OF THE JOURNEY--WE PART FROM OUR SILLEROS, AND PROCEED ON HORSEBACK--A VISIT TO THE FALLS OF TEQUENDAMA-- THEIR MAGNIFICENCE.
The road was as bad as could be,--often so steep, that it was like climbing up steps; in some places, indeed, large trees had fallen across the path. But our peons skipped over the trunks with as much firmness as if they had been walking on level ground. Now on one side, now on the other, were tremendous precipices, down which the traveller, by a slip of the foot, might be hurled, and dashed to pieces. We had cloaks and blankets, which we required during the night, for as we ascended the atmosphere became very cold. We also maintained good fires to keep off the jaguars, which frequently, we were told, attacked the mules. We heard them roar during the night; while a dismal howling was kept up by the red monkeys which abound in these deserts. Added to this, our ears were saluted by the loud screeching of night-birds, which formed a serenade far from pleasing.
The mountains were clothed with gloomy forests, which ascend almost to the summit of this branch of the Cordilleras. In a few places, where there were openings, we enjoyed extensive views, on either side, of superb scenery--the mountain-tops concealed in the clouds. We also saw numerous birds perched on the trees, or flitting among their branches-- many of the most brilliant plumage, such as I had never before seen in the neighbourhood of Popayan.
I generally kept ahead with my sillero, who led the way. One of the peons following carried the chief load; then came Mr Laffan; Domingo and the rest of the people with the animals bringing up the rear. My sillero, though an Indian, was called Manoel; being, as he said, a baptised Christian. As I was anxious to gain information, which he seemed willing to impart, I was tempted to break through the plan which had been agreed on, and to speak a few words of Spanish, so that I might ask questions. I began in a broken, hesitating sort of way, until at length I forgot myself altogether, though Manoel did not appear at all astonished.
"El senor speaks Spanish better than I should have supposed possible from the short time he has been in the country," he observed.
"I can understand what you say, and that is all I want," I answered. "I have heard other Indians speak as you do, and so I am more ready to converse with you than I should be with a Spaniard."
I felt sure that I could trust Manoel, as, from one or two remarks he had let drop, I was convinced that he was a Liberal, and had no love for the Spaniards. While we were encamped at night, sitting round our fire, we all talked away until it was time to go to sleep; but while travelling, as we were compelled to move in single file, it was difficult to carry on a conversation, except with the person immediately in front or behind.
After we had proceeded some distance, we began to hope that I had been mistaken in what I had heard the captain say to the sergeant, and that we should escape any risk of being captured and prevented from continuing our journey. Still Mr Laffan continued anxious on the subject.
We had been travelling for some time, and I was beginning to feel more tired than I had hitherto done. I had not as yet, indeed, quite recovered my full strength, and was scarcely fitted to walk as I was doing.
Manoel at length persuaded me to get on the silla. "It makes no difference to me," he observed; "you are as light as a feather. You English are very different from the Spaniards. They get on our backs as if they were riding mules, and will often use a stick if we do not go fast enough to please them."
I consented unwillingly, for I did not like the idea of any one carrying me.
From the position I had now attained, I could look down the steep ascent we had mounted, and I had an extensive view. I saw Mr Laffan standing gazing back along the path we had come; the rest of the party were nowhere, in sight. We shouted, but no reply came. Could the Spaniards have acted as the captain had advised them, and captured our people?
"Stop, Duncan," cried Mr Laffan; "I do not like the look of things." He soon overtook me, and expressed the same fears I entertained.
I asked Manoel what he thought.
"Very likely," he answered; "those ladrones would as willingly rob English travellers who honour our country by a visit, as they would the unfortunate Patriots or us poor Indians. The best thing we can do is to push on."
The peons carried our valises, the most valuable part of our property. We had our money in our pockets, with a brace of pistols apiece; and I had my gun, which I had brought in case I should see anything to shoot.
"But what shall we do for provisions?" asked Mr Laffan.
"We shall find game enough on the road to supply all our wants," answered Manoel.
We agreed, therefore, to move forward as fast as we could. Domingo, with the peons and our animals, if not captured, could easily follow and overtake us at night.
"We are coming to the steepest part of our journey," said Manoel; "the Spanish soldiers will have a difficulty in climbing up the path ahead."
Every now and then Mr Laffan looked back, and I kept looking occasionally down the valley,--but not a sign of our attendants could I discover. In a short time Manoel said that he observed the marks of footsteps ahead. "They are those of a sillero carrying some person. We shall soon overtake them."
Manoel, in his eagerness, soon distanced the other peon and Mr Laffan, whose anxiety made him stop to ascertain whether our attendants were coming. We were at this time mounting an excessively steep and narrow path, with a tremendous precipice on one side, down which it made me giddy to look: had I not had the most perfect confidence in my sillero, I should infinitely have preferred to walk. I begged him, indeed, to let me get off; but he always answered, "You are no weight; it makes not the slightest difference to me. I feel my footing more secure with you on my back." Shortly afterwards I heard him exclaim, "There they are!-- the savage brute!"
"Of whom do you speak?" I asked.
"Of the Spanish officer. He is digging his spurs into the side of my poor brother, to make him go faster."
I glanced round, although it was somewhat difficult to do so; and there, sure enough, I saw the captain whom we had met at the posada, seated in a silla, and striking, now with one leg now with the other, at his carrier, occasionally hitting him over the head with the back of his hand. The Indian went on, as far as I could perceive, without complaining; but the captain shouted "Go on--go on faster," and again dug his spurs into the poor Indian.
Manoel groaned. I could hear him grind his teeth.
"How can you bear it?" he muttered. "The Spaniard may repent his cruelty, though."
At the foot of the precipice, I should have said, rushed a fierce torrent, roaring and foaming down the side of the mountain. Presently I saw the sillero buttress himself, as it were, firmly with the iron-shod stick with which he supported his steps. Again the Spaniard dug his spurs into his side, asking him what he was doing, and, with a fearful oath, shouted to him to go on. The Indian answered by a vigorous jerk of his back, when I saw the Spaniard shot off, as from a catapult. The next moment he was falling headlong down into the gulf, several hundred feet below us. One fearful shriek rent the air; it was the only sound the wretched man had time to utter before the breath, by the rapidity of his fall, was taken from his body. It was the work of an instant. I shut my eyes. It seemed like some terrible dream. The Spanish captain was gone, though his voice still sounded in my ear.
Manoel stopped. "He has met the fate he deserved," he said.
"But the sillero will see you, and suppose you will inform against him."
Manoel answered with a low laugh. "He is my brother, and knows that the secret is safe in my keeping. Can I trust you? No other creature saw what has occurred."
"God saw him, and he is the avenger of blood," I answered.
"Would you have had my brother patiently submit to the cruelties inflicted upon him?" asked Manoel.
"We have no right to take the life of a fellow-creature, except in self-defence or open warfare," I replied. "But the secret is safe in my keeping. I did not even see the face of the man who committed the deed, and I know not who he was. I love the Spaniards as little as you do, and I promise you I will not reveal the dreadful crime I have just witnessed."
"I am grateful," answered Manoel; "for, to tell you the truth, had I thought you capable of informing against my brother, I might have been tempted, though much against my inclination, to serve you as he served the Spaniard; but had I done so, I never should have been happy afterwards."
I scarcely thought that Manoel was in earnest, and yet I believe that he was so. His fidelity to his brother sillero would have been paramount to every other consideration. Manoel was advancing as he spoke, but when I looked round the sillero had disappeared, though I afterwards caught a glimpse of him bounding up the rocks on the left, having hurled his chair over the cliff.
It was some time before I could recover from the horrible scene I had witnessed; and I debated in my own mind whether or not I should have given the promise I had made to Manoel. One thing was certain, however--I was bound to keep it.
When the path became less steep, I insisted on walking. Manoel, too, though he had boasted of his strength, was obliged to stop and rest; and at length the peons and Mr Laffan rejoined us. The latter was still anxious about the rest of the party, and declared that it would be impossible for the horses to mount the steep path by which we had come. He thought that even the mules could scarcely do it, supposing that they had not been overtaken by the Spaniards.
I had not, of course, told him how our chief cause of anxiety was removed, and that we need no longer fear discovery on our arrival at Bogota.
"When the Spaniards are driven away, and a Liberal government is established, we must have a good road over these mountains," exclaimed Mr Laffan. "It is a disgrace to a civilised country, that no better means of communication exists between the capital and her most fertile districts."
At last, as evening approached, Manoel selected a spot for encamping, and we made the usual preparations. We enjoyed a magnificent scene. As far as the eye could range were mountains clothed with immense forests, into which man had never penetrated. About a couple of hundred feet below us ran a sparkling stream, towards which, while the peon was employed in collecting wood for the fire, Manoel made his way, to fill a leathern bottle with water. I accompanied him with my gun, followed by Lion, hoping to shoot some birds for supper.
We had gone a little way along the bank, when a wild turkey got up. I fired, and brought it to the ground. Manoel ran forward to secure it, but just before he reached it he stopped and beckoned to me. As he did so I saw a huge jaguar, which had been drinking at the stream, not two hundred yards from us. I had, as a sportsman should, reloaded my gun before moving. The only weapon Manoel possessed, besides the manchette at his girdle, was his sharp-pointed staff,--not calculated for an encounter with so powerful a beast. The jaguar, having seen the turkey fall, crept on to seize it. I advanced as rapidly as I dared, keeping my gun ready for instant use. Lion would have rushed forward to get the bird had I not ordered him to remain at my heels, for, powerful as he was, a blow from the jaguar's paw would have been too much for him.
The jaguar seemed determined not to be disappointed of the turkey, and would probably, I thought, spring at Manoel. The difficulty was to avoid wounding him in shooting at the jaguar. Manoel stood ready for action, with his staff in his hand. He dared not for a moment withdraw his eye from the jaguar, which, had he done so, would immediately have sprung upon him. I called to him, telling him I was coming, in case he might not have heard my footsteps. The jaguar was all the time creeping up, threatening at any moment to spring, and I was about twelve yards behind Manoel when the brute began to bound forward. Manoel leapt on one side. Now or never, I must gain the victory, or both my companion and I might lose our lives. I fired. The jaguar bounded into the air, then fell over on its side.
Manoel dashed forward and plunged his stick into the creature's neck, pinning it to the ground; then drawing his manchette, he quickly terminated its existence. We left it where it lay, for we could not have carried its skin, even had we taken the trouble of flaying it.
Near the top of the hill we met Mr Laffan, who had witnessed the encounter.
"Bravo, Duncan! you behaved famously; and Manoel too--he is a fine fellow. All the same, the turkey is welcome, for I am terribly hard set."
We soon had the bird roasting before the fire. It was, however, but a moderate supper for four people and a dog, and I was sorry that I had not succeeded in killing another turkey.
Mr Laffan kept constantly jumping up and looking down the path by which we had come, in the hope of seeing our attendants; and just as the shades of evening were creeping over the mountains, he exclaimed, "There they are!--I hope I am not mistaken."
I could see several persons and animals winding round the side of the hill, so I called to Manoel, and asked him if he thought they were our friends.
"If they are Spaniards, senor, we shall be wise to move forward, for they will treat you with but little ceremony, I suspect."
Manoel descended to a point from whence he could observe the approaching party without being seen, and in a short time returned and relieved our anxiety by assuring us that they were our friends. It was some time, however, before they reached our camp.
They had been delayed by their efforts to rescue one of the mules which had slipped over a precipice and got pitched in a tree; from which, wonderful to relate, it was drawn up uninjured. The Spanish commandant, we therefore concluded, had not thought fit to send in chase of us.
During the night we heard the roar of jaguars and other wild animals; but as we kept up a blazing fire, we were not molested. In the morning, just as we were about to start, I shot two wild turkeys; and had we had time to spare, I might have killed several more. As we proceeded we saw several tracks of bears and jaguars, perfectly fresh.
The next day we reached the Paramo, on the summit of the Cordilleras, thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. We caught sight of numbers of wild asses, which inhabit this mountainous region. The hoof of the animal is divided like that of a pig. They are very shy, so that even the Indians are seldom able to approach near enough to kill them; and they are also very swift of foot.
We crossed the Paramo in safety, and continued our journey for several days without any further adventure.
The views, as we descended the mountains, were magnificent. We could see the Cordilleras on the opposite side of the plain of Bogota, seventy or eighty miles off; while north and south rose prodigious heights, with apparently perpendicular sides, their bases covered with thick, gloomy forests, which appeared perfectly impenetrable. As we looked back, it seemed impossible that we should have crossed the range. Frequently we passed through dark gorges piercing the forests, two miles in length, and not more than three or four feet wide, the vegetation on either side being most luxuriant.
We had to be on our guard against bruising our legs by pieces of rock; or getting our clothes torn by the long thorns of the bamboos; or being knocked off our mules--for we had again mounted--by the branches of trees. We met a party of peons conveying salt on the backs of oxen to Cartage. The cargoes were small, and placed in such a manner as to enable the animals to pass through these narrow places. Fortunately there was an opening near the spot, or we should have been unable to pass each other.
At last we reached a tambo, or shed, built for the use of travellers-- the first sign of civilisation we had met since we left the western side of the Cordilleras.
We were now once more in a warmer region. Butterflies of large size, covered with orange-coloured spots, fluttered about; and red monkeys leapt from tree to tree, frequently coming down to make grimaces at us. Another day's journey brought us to a cottage inhabited by peasants, who gave us a satisfactory welcome.
At length we reached the place where we were to part from our silleros and peons, and continue our journey on horseback.
"I hope that we shall meet again," I said to Manoel, who had won my regard.
"We shall, senor, it may be, if you do not soon leave the country," replied Manoel, looking earnestly at me.
"I may stay longer than I at first intended," I said.
Manoel and the rest of our attendants were well satisfied with the payment we had made them.
Mr Laffan and I, with Domingo, now continued our journey on horseback, the roads being tolerable. But, eager as we were to reach Bogota, we agreed that it would be wise, the better to keep up our assumed character, to visit the waterfall of Tequendama, which was not far out of our direct road. It is formed by the river Bogota, which is hereabouts sixty yards in breadth.
As soon as we got within a mile or so of it, we obtained a guide to show us the way. At a height of six hundred feet above the plain of Bogota, we enjoyed a magnificent view, embracing the various windings of the river, several large lakes, and enormous forests--the city in the distance, backed by a range of bold mountains. Thence we began to descend towards the waterfall, the sides of the hill being abrupt and slippery. We passed through a grand, gloomy forest, the lofty boughs of the trees sheltering us from the rays of the hot sun. All was silent, except the deep, fine note of the tropiole, which was occasionally heard; while through the openings we caught sight of other birds of brilliant plumage, which here live unmolested.
Leaving our horses, the dominie and I descended a couple of hundred feet to a spot where the "Salto," as it is called, burst on our view, rushing down between two mountains until it attains the edge of a precipice, whence the vast body of water is precipitated into a mighty abyss below. The chasms through which such falls issue are known in the country as barancas. The sides, consisting of reddish granite, rise almost perpendicularly. The height of the whole fall may be nearly one thousand feet, but the single fall in front of us was calculated to be about six hundred feet.
We stood on the bank of the precipice for some minutes, not daring to speak: indeed, the sound of the falling water completely drowned our voices when we made the attempt; the sensation in our ears being as if a thousand pieces of artillery were discharged close to us. The ground trembled beneath our feet, our eyes were dazzled by the sparkling spray, and our senses felt confused, as the mighty volume of water rushed down before us, between the perpendicular rocks, into the chasm at their base. The overwhelming body of water, as it left its upper bed, formed a broad arch, smooth and glossy. A little lower down it assumed a fleecy form; and then shot forth in millions of tubular shapes, which chased each other more like sky-rockets than anything else to which I can compare them. The changes were as singularly beautiful as they were varied, in consequence of the difference in gravitation, and rapid evaporation, which was taking place before the waters reached the bottom. Dense clouds of vapour rose for a considerable height, mingling with the atmosphere, and presenting in their descent the most brilliant rainbows. From the rocky sides of the immense basin hung shrubs and bushes, while numerous springs and tributary streams added their mite to the grand effect. The water at the bottom then rushed impetuously along a stony bed, over which hung various trees, and was lost beyond a dark turn in the rock. From the level of the river where we stood, the hills, completely covered with wood, rose to a great height; while through the only opening amid them we observed the distant mountains in the province of Antioquia, their summits clothed with perpetual snow. Hovering over the fearful chasm were various birds of the most beautiful plumage, peculiar to the spot, and differing from any I had seen before. Our guide told us that some philosophical gentlemen, in order to ascertain the tremendous force of the torrent, had once compelled an unfortunate bullock to descend it; but that, excepting a few bones, not a vestige of the animal could afterwards be found at the bottom.
"It is worth coming all the way from England to behold such a scene as this," observed Mr Laffan to our guide, as he put a piece of money into the man's hand. "The young milord is highly pleased."
The guide took care to inform some persons whom he found at the top of the hill, and who were going to Bogota, of the opinion I had formed; and they of course entertained no suspicion that I was any other than a young English lord travelling with his tutor. This was a great advantage to us, as it prevented puzzling questions being asked.
Mr Laffan, however, continued to express his fears that the Spanish captain might have preceded us, and given notice to the authorities of our coming.
I, of course, said nothing of having witnessed the man's terrible end, as I had resolved to keep the fearful secret locked in my own bosom. Probably, even had I mentioned it, very little trouble would have been taken to search out the culprit and bring him to justice. _