While the events related in the preceding chapter were in progress, which gave advent to the new era, the manacled savages would have fared poorly but for the ever mindful benevolence of Padre Simon, who ministered to their relief after depositing with his traps his godsend, which he averred came from the source of their misfortunes. His arm warned him to be cautious in his approach to the old savage, but he could not refrain from the pitying exclamation “It’s a shame,” when he saw him bound to the links of the cable with its coils for his bed. Placing the food he had brought cautiously within reach, he left with intention of pleading for some aid in mitigation of their painful position, but the question of an equitable division of the gold trove diverted his thoughts. But after the ablutions of the succeeding morning, and Antonio’s improvement of the younger savage, his dereliction occurred to his thoughts under the stimulating inspiration of a somewhat copious oblation to memory, which served to render the sincerity of his repentant remorse heedless. Under the sacrificial impression he hastened forward to make amends for his forgetful inhumanity. Without observing the change already made for the ease of the savage, he attempted to place an oakum fender between his back and the cable. Exposing his arm the brute again seized it with a vicious energy that bespoke his determination of obtaining recompense for his morning’s aggravations. With the pain, caused by the working teeth of the savage, the padre’s terror of the 25deadly poison was revived, which caused him to cry for help in frenzied accents, alarming all on board. Again English Jack was the first to reach the struggling victim of misplaced pity. With a sailor’s promptness he forced his sheath knife between the back teeth of the cannibal with a delicacy peculiar to the tar when called upon to repel boarders; working the blade, with a prying motion, hither and thither with the edge directed toward the ear the backward capacity of the mouth was insensibly enlarged, which produced a diminution of muscular tenacity and consequent release of the padre’s arm. His release was not effected until the teeth of the savage had penetrated through his linen coat and sleeve of his shirt, inflicting bruised punctures beneath the skin sufficient for the absorption of virus. The general consternation was greatly increased by the exultant gleams darted from the eyes of the bleeding savage. Dr. Baāhar had just prescribed whiskey to be taken in copious draughts for ad deliquium effect, which the padre, with a sense of relief, said he had premised, when the young savage attracted attention by pantomimic gesticulation, at the same time producing from his mouth a small sac of an acorn’s size and shape. From the pleased honesty of his expression and the scowls of the old savage, it was apparent that it contained an antidote for the poison. Aabrawa having caught some familiar words, he was soon able to add his assurance in verification of the boy’s ability to counteract the effects of the poison with a sure antidote. The padre with fear hesitatingly submitted his arm to the boy’s mouth, the old savage regarding the operation with looks that boded ill to the savior and saved if by accident they should come within his reach for injury. The padre, when impressed with the kindly intention of the boy, apostrophized the old wretch in this wise: “You ungrateful venomous old serpent, upon my conscience you ought to be made to crawl on your belly 26all the days of your life with a rattle tied to your—well if you haven’t a tail, you are a vile reptile all the same, and I don’t believe all the purgatories in creation can change you! Upon my soul, it’s a shame and an imposition for you to pretend to be a man with a soul to be saved!” Here the padre observing the smiles provoked by the earnestness of his address to an object as incapable of appreciating as he was of understanding the language in which the anathematizing sentence was couched, apologetically appealed to his auditors, “You know that what I have said is as true as there is a day of salvation for man to sin away.”
“Are you not assuming,” asked Mr. Welson, “the privilege and understanding of a judge without knowledge sufficient for the condemnatory sentence you have pronounced as a penalty against this savage?”
“By their works ye shall know them,” replied the padre, looking wofully at his arm.
This retort placed the padre’s star in the ascendant, and it was immediately proposed that the mouth of the old savage should be rid of its poison, a task which Jack and Bill volunteered to accomplish. Preparing a running noose they slipped it over his arms, pinioning them to his side, and then proceeded with sheath knife and marline-spike to open his mouth for investigation, but not without strenuous efforts on the part of the subject for revengeful retaliation. Beneath his tongue they found two sacs, or bladders of the river whiting, attached to the cuspid teeth, which by the tongue’s pressure could be made to eject their contents into wounds inflicted with the sharpened teeth, which were pointed like fangs, verifying the padre’s estimate of his reptile instincts. Above, attached to teeth upon either side, were the sacs containing the antidote in position to be pressed by the cheeks. Rid of these venomous appliances the nozzle of the steamer’s hose played the part of a purifier by injecting a 27bountiful supply of water into his mouth, regardless of the published restrictions of the humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
During the passage of the two days succeeding that of the padre’s mishap, parties of savages were discovered tracking the progress of the steamer, the while with opportunity holding communication by signs with the captive chief. As he did not appear to be in the slightest degree amenable to kind treatment, and his presence on board was neither safe, agreeable, or ornamental, a consultation was held for the best means to be used for his disposal. As no feasible method appeared for his immediate transfer to the shore with beneficial effect upon his kindred, Mr. Welson asked the privilege of retaining him on board as a subject for instinctive experiment. The savage chief having, in the thoughtless zeal of the two sailors,—bred from automatic education on board of a “man of war,”—received gratuitous injury, they lost caste in the captain’s favor, which caused them to “overhaul” their thoughts for a restorative. Bill sagely remarked that “What’s done’s done, but now we see the drift to smooth water we must kedge for the current and a fair wind; so we must try to make the old shark as comfortable as we can.” This opinion meeting with the hearty approval of his mate, they at once “set about” rectifying the effects of their brutality, without fully realizing in thought the extent of their own culpability. Still there was a vague remonstrance that “loomed up” from youthful impression which admonished them of the source of the captain’s silent reproof. While engaged in their propitiatory labors the Indian boy, or “cub” as they styled him, watched, and apparently detected the source of the kindly influence wrought in the mood of the sailors. His looks of grateful appreciation attracted the sailors’ attention, which caused Jack to 28exclaim, “I say Bill, the young un’s throwing out signals of distress; odds, we were too hard on the old brute. P’raps we can take the young un in tow; suppose we give him an outfit, he seems to take kindly to his head-gear.”
Bill bestowed an “observation” on the boy, and became convinced that no treachery was meditated, but that all was fair and above board, so they resolved to rig him out ship-shape in their watch below. Their intention being discovered while in progress, there was a general overhauling of kits, so that the originators were obliged to accept contributions in excess of their requirements. Aabrawa, while the metamorphosis was in progress, discovered that he was an adopted prisoner of the old savage, and that his name with his own tribe was Waantha. To all the trial changes in the process of clothing him, Waantha submitted with unmistakable evidences of gratification; and when fully dressed to the satisfaction of his impromptu guardians he was escorted by Antonio and the sailors aft for the captain’s inspection and approval. The pleasing expression of his joyfully bewildered face won the kindly confidence of all, and he was voted his liberty. When asked by the captain if he would like to be employed, he expressed his desire to help Antonio, who with permission cordially adopted him as an apprentice in the culinary department. When duly installed, as a dish-washer, the concentrated ire of the old chief was fully aroused, causing his eyes to fairly scintillate with fury as he readily understood that his plans would be exposed. The sailors’ thoughtful endeavors to win back the captain’s favor gradually proved successful, and when fully reinstated showed a careful regard for its retention.
Mr. Dow in his naturalistic wanderings had acquired a keenness of perception for the detection of danger from premonitory indications that exceeded, from his 29natural endowments, the sagacity of the veteran trappers of the North American wilds, so that with Aabrawa and his two well trained dogs he had felt himself proof from surprisal. In proof of his cultivated superiority he instructed the members of the corps in the various causes inciting the flight of birds along the banks of the river and over the distant forests, which invariably proved to be correct in inception. The flight of water-fowl disturbed by alligators or other causes, birds by serpents or monkeys, or like inimical foes, he could detect the intruding species with unerring certainty while distant to the utmost reach of the eye. Early in the afternoon a flight of parrots rose over a distant headland, settling again in the same place; this was repeated frequently with upward impetuosity, which with irregularity in rise and descent indicated some vengeful cause. In explanation, Mr. Dow said, “You will find on rounding the headland a settlement of Brazilian apes, of a different species from any you have yet seen, also in the neighborhood a plantation of sugar bananas. These the natives believe the apes plant, as the spot selected is always adapted in a special way to their growth, and in close proximity to a grove of trees suited in spread of limbs for their arboreal habitations. The parrots have likewise a great fondness for the luscious fruit, which is known as the ape banana, and gather in flocks for poaching depredations, in which large numbers lose their lives, for they are no match in quickness of flight for the nimble quadrumanal defenders of the rights of freehold proprietorship, who have acquired considerable skill in the use of projectile weapons. When we reach the plantation you will find them engaged in defending ‘the fruits of their labor,’ unless the unusual appearance of the steamer alarms both parties.”
Doubling the headland a well protected cove opened to view with a crescent shaped hill sloping to the 30southwest, enclosing in its semi-amphitheatre a tamarisk grove with a banana patch upon the rise of the hillside. As the parrots had taken flight on the approach of the boat, and there were no signs of Indians or apes, the members of the corps proposed an exploring party for the verification of Mr. Dow’s descriptive sagacity. Mr. Dow excused himself from joining the exploring party, on the plea that he had once visited a settlement on one of the tributaries of the Amazon, of which he still retained a vivid impression, that was too recent to require revival. His ambiguity in describing the peculiarities of their domestic economy and defensive resources we had occasion to recollect. After precautionary measures had been taken to avoid surprise from the tracking savages, we landed, directing our steps in the first instance to the banana plantation. Its appearance well sustained the popular traditions of the Indians, as the plants were separated by well defined paths, and around their stalks not a weed or spear of grass was to be detected. This at least denoted care in grubbing, which of itself is an initiatory indication of cultivation. The plat was continued within the slope of the hillock; at one time the bluff bank of an inlet from the river which had been filled up by the drift debris and alluvial deposit caught in its curve, intermixed with the wash from the highlands. After completing our survey of the banana garden, and in our progress selecting and cutting unbidden the ripest bunches of the golden fruit, which were sent on board, we descended into the basin of the tamarisk grove to inspect the community habitations of the apes. Supposing, from the universal silence, that the inhabitants had fled in alarm on the steamer’s approach, we were admiring the high order of architecture displayed in the arrangement of their habitations, at the same time questioning with wonder their unnatural desertion despite the prevailing curiosity of the species in the presence of mankind, when 31a guttural challenge was re?choed from hundreds of mouths in answer to our query. In a moment the branches above were alive with the hosts we had excluded from our reckoning, who in chattering response tendered us the hospitalities of their aerial city in a shower of cocoanuts, stones, clubs, and other missiles rank with the “reverence” of ordure, prostrating three of our number outright, while they bewrayed all with an unendurable odor, that would have rendered the stink-pots of ancient Greece worthy of being esteemed pouncet-boxes for relief. These tokens of high admiration, designed for the distinguished reception of allied humanity, were accompanied with a jabbering outburst which could only be likened to an explosion of Chinese tongues. To save ourselves was impossible, for in a moment after they had discharged their weapons, pendant from every branch above was an ape ready to fall upon us. At this threatened juncture, when our lives depended upon the drop, the screech of the steam-whistle saved us. Some of our late assailants, paralyzed with the fearful shriek, dropped nerveless to the ground; others upon us, and clinging to our persons grinned beseechingly for protection. But the majority swung themselves from limb to limb in wild panic, disappearing over the brow of the hill. Without waiting to test the permanency of their fears, or courage for a rally, we shook off our personal attachments, and assisted the wounded on board, under cover of the still sounding whistle. In candor I must confess that our reception by those who remained on board ill accorded, from a lack of pitying sympathy, with our narrow escape from imminent peril. Yet I will as frankly acknowledge that there was ample cause for the levity of their manifest disgust at our approach; but when the old savage added his grin to the measure of our disgrace it was more than human nature could bear, and we thankfully accepted a warm bath, in our clothes, proffered by the engineer, 32while standing on the outjutting portion of the gangway plank, which he administered through the nozzle of the deck hose. Even Jack, who had received an ugly gash which had sounded the depth of his scalp, was obliged to submit to purification before Doctor Baāhar would bestow upon him the rites of absolution conferred by adhesive plaster, notwithstanding his plight was equally abnormal. But the sailor, in the spirit of his invincible good humor, provoked by the novelty of the encounter, declared that he knew the fellow who had barked his head-piece, and would have his revenge. Although we failed to appreciate the mirth of our scathless “friends,” we were exceedingly thankful for our escape, for we realized in the cool moments of reflection the peril we had encountered too vividly for the capital of a laugh at our own expense. Neither did we wish for a second trial of Mr. Dow’s skill in aping practical jokes. Bill, in expressing his gratitude for his friend’s escape, said, “There you lay, Jack, knocked on the head, and them fellows just ready to drop on us tooth and nail; well, I can tell you our lives weren’t worth the flutter of a gaff to’sel in a gale of wind, when the whistle brought them up with a sharp turn. But what’s food for one’s fun for another; the squall just took the wild ones aback like the wink of a gib in a luff, so they turned tail and scuttled away, and we hauled off for repairs, mighty glad they didn’t grapple.”
While the explorers’ ablutions were in progress ape sentinels were seen in the tree tops above their habitations, in which position they continued until a curve of the river concealed them from view.
June 8.—Large parties of Indians have been seen inland on both banks of the river during the day. The swiftness of the river’s current has greatly increased, giving indication of an upward incline to a more elevated plateau. Open glades reaching to the river are now of frequent occurrence. The left or 33eastern bank is less defined than the western, and bears stronger evidences of alluvial deposits in its arboreal growths.
June 10.—Our redeemed captive boy begins to show many pleasing traits, among which grateful fidelity is not the least. His attachment to Antonio, who first bestowed upon him pitying kindness, is prominently manifest and touching in the simplicity of its promptings. He desired Aabrawa to ask the captain to allow him to remain on board, promising that he would try and speak and make himself useful when recovered from his wound. The captain received his professions of attachment with a warmth that made his eyes glisten with joy. Mr. Welson suggested that it would be necessary to christen him, proposing that Padre Simon should officiate in administering baptismal rites. But the padre objected that he was not in orders, and for a layman to assume the solemn responsibility of baptizing was in his opinion but a grade less than presumptuous blasphemy. M. Hollydorf referred him to the example of John the Baptist when in a similar position, exhorting him to do his duty fearlessly, as the act of consummating the conversion of a heathen would be esteemed a meritorious service by the most bigoted of the sects. The padre still urged, “He does not understand our language, and consequently the effect of redeeming grace necessary for the consecrational rites of Christian adoption fulfilled by baptism.” Mr. Welson said, he need have no scruples on that score, for Xavier, Ricci, and other missionary apostles of the Church boast, each, of the baptism of five thousand and more heathen Chinese in less than a month after their arrival in the country, and without being able to communicate with their catechumens by the aid of interpretation. Having a strong reverence for the opinion of Mr. Welson, he reluctantly consented to officiate. Antonio standing as 34godfather, he was christened “Tortuga Waantha.” Scenes of this description were a source of renewed vitality to Mr. Welson, as it afforded him special delight to expose the vagaries of the three professions founded upon theoretical science. In fact, the very chairs of his Panamanian office were made available for startling effects in support of his specialities; indeed, his reputation had obtained such distant recognition, that strangers en route preferred to stand isolated in his presence. From these experimental essays none of his friends escaped; sensitiveness, dignity, and reserve, were in fact special invitations for the exercise of his curative skill, if in the slightest degree morbid in tendency. After meridian, when his books had been laid aside for the day, it had been his custom to indulge his quizzical humor in trolling for fun, and it was a rare occasion that did not offer a European or American gudgeon, isthmus bound, ready to take his bait.
As before mentioned, it had been his intention to return from his river voyage by a Brazilian steamer, but the varied characteristics of the members of the scientific corps, with the chance additions, made him resolve to forego the obligations of his business relations for the indulgence offered to his humorous inclinations. Meeting unexpectedly with his old friend Dow at Santa Anna, he eagerly seconded the exploring adventure of the Pilcomayo, from the prospective novelty it offered for the cultivation of his humorous studies. In addition to the incompatible whimsies of scientific association, the questionable reports of an undiscovered inland city provoked a second incentive. With this more explicit introduction of Mr. Welson, who from accident and inclination became one of the most important aids in directing and harmonizing the attainable objects of the expedition, we will resume the thread of our narrative.