Adventures of a Young Naturalist
the roof became so low that Lucien alone could stand upright. I brought
up the rear, watching my guides, who kept on ascending or descending,
according to the inequalities of the ground. Sometimes it was necessary
to halt, to climb over a rock, or cross a pool of water. At last I saw
my companions again resume their upright position; we were now in a
hall, so vast that our torches were quite powerless to throw a light up
to the roof.
Surrounded by hundreds of bats, flitting round the torches like immense
moths, and yet always avoiding them, we had ample opportunity for
observing the precision of their flight. At length, stunned by their
shrill cries, I again proposed to beat a retreat, but Sumichrast
insisted upon continuing our search. He urged that the bats, who went
out every night into the open air to seek their food, would not be
likely to follow the narrow winding path we had followed; there must
therefore be some other outlet. My friend and l'Encuerado set off in
search of it; but I did not dare to venture farther with my boy over
the damp and sticky ground. Our two scouts, however, climbed some
enormous heaps of rock many feet above us; and we suddenly lost sight
them.
The bats still swarmed round us, pushing their familiarity so far as to
brush us with their wings. My prudence rather vexed Lucien, who had
become very intrepid. After about five minutes, Sumichrast's voice
summoned us, and we bent our steps towards the heap of rocks which had
been scaled by our companions.
The ascent was difficult, and, in spite of remonstrances, I would not
let go Lucien's hand. Fortunately I did not do so, for suddenly he
slipped, and, while trying to save him, I dropped my torch; and there we
were, perched up on this pile of _debris_, in utter darkness.
"Don't move!" I cried; "you know that we are surrounded by precipices."
"How dark it is! One might fancy that the darkness was solid, and
weighed down upon our eyes."
"The fact is, that we are in a darkness in which the light does not
penetrate, even by reflection, and, like you, I could readily fancy that
I was blindfolded. Call l'Encuerado."
The vaulted roof above us re-echoed the name of the Indian, who
immediately replied.
The bats now ceased their flight; but when the light reappeared the
uproar began afresh. Lucien related our accident to his friend, who, in
his hurry to come to our rescue, fell several times over the rocks. At
last he reached us, and, lighting our torches, he guided us over the
dangerous ground. When we cleared the fallen rocks, we entered a chamber
studded with stalactites, on which Sumichrast's torches threw a light,
and the walls of the cave glittered as if they had been covered with
crystal stars. From the ground, from the roof, and from the walls,
clusters of variegated rays were reflected in every direction, as if
emanating from ten thousand diamonds. The beauty of this scene was quite
sufficient to dazzle far less enthusiastic spectators than we were. But
it was not long before a repulsive, oppressive, thick smoke compelled us
to move on, and a few paces through a passage brought us into the centre
of an immense hall, lighted by an aperture into the open air.
I joyfully hailed the blue sky, and then closely examining the ground we
were treading on, noticed that it was covered with fragments of baked
clay. Removing this, it was not long before we came to a layer of damp
charcoal. L'Encuerado went outside and cut some branches, which, when
pointed at the end, helped us in our digging. After two hours of hard
work, we succeeded in laying bare more than a square yard of black and
greasy mould.
Thoroughly exhausted, in spite of my curiosity being excited, I was
compelled to follow Sumichrast out of the cave in order to breathe the
fresh air. A fine rain was falling, and I was so devoted to the idea of
my excavation in the cave, that I was very glad to use the state of the
weather as a pretext for putting off our departure to the next day.
My companions had hardly recovered their breath before I summoned them
back to work. L'Encuerado, as the hole became larger, was quite excited,
and soon fancied that he could perceive gold. The fact is, that every
Indian believes that all caves and grottoes contain unheard-of
treasures, either the work of nature or buried by man, and that these
treasures are guarded by some malicious genius, who allows the searchers
just to catch a glimpse of the hidden riches, but never permits their
being carried away.
"Don't laugh, Tatita," said the Indian to me, with a mysterious air;
"especially just at this moment."
He then went on to tell us that a friend of his, who was tending his
flocks on the mountain, ran into the thickets in pursuit of one of
his goats. The animal continued to retreat before him, and led him to
the mouth of a cave. The Indian, hesitating at first, at length took off
all his clothes, so as to be sure that he carried no iron about him, and
entered the cavern. But he soon drew back, startled by the sight of
fifty broken boxes overflowing with coined money. Instead of profiting
by this windfall, and taking possession of the fortune by appropriating
some of it which had fallen out on the ground, the stupid fellow
returned to his village as quick as he could, and communicated his
discovery to his friends. That very evening five of them set out,
provided with sacks, intending to convey the treasure to a safe place.
They camped in the vicinity of the cave, and the night wore away in
drinking to the health of the good genius. As soon as day appeared, they
followed their guide. First they ascended, and then they descended; but
they never succeeded in finding the spot where all this enormous wealth
lay.
"He was not able to find his way back to the spot?" said Lucien, much
interested by the story.
"No, Chanito; the cave had become invisible."
"Invisible! but why?"
"Because they had some iron about them!"
"But you have just told us that he stripped off all his clothes?"
interposed Sumichrast.
"Ah! but, unfortunately, he kept his flint and steel in his hand."
The afflicted tone in which l'Encuerado pronounced this last phrase drew
a smile even from Lucien.
Again we entered the cavern, and picking over with care the layer of
charcoal which had already been laid bare, I discovered a small vase of
burnt clay, full of ashes. On one of the faces of the urn was depicted a
grinning visage, and in the interior was found one of the so-called
pilgrim's scallop-shells with the skull of a bird. Accustomed as I was,
by long apprenticeship, to such discoveries, I had no doubt whatever but
that a skeleton would soon present itself, and a skull was soon
discovered; then the vertebrae and tibiae of a human being. Next we found
some obsidian arrow-heads; and, last of all, some small broken clay
figures. Unfortunately, it was no use thinking about carrying away all
these relics; so I made up my mind to give up further labor. Directly
after dinner we busied ourselves in putting our baggage in order, so as
to be ready to start the next morning at day-break.
CHAPTER XVII.
A FORCED MARCH.--WILD-DUCKS.--VEGETABLE SOAP.--AN UNWELCOME GUEST.
It rained all night, and I awoke about seven o'clock in the morning
shivering with cold. It was Ascension-day, and l'Encuerado, before
making up the fire, chanted a canticle, and, after the manner of Roman
Catholics, piously crossed himself. We were soon comforted with some
coffee, and then, each of us resuming his burden, started off to reach
the foot of the mountain. Before plunging into the forest, I could not
help looking back with regret at the cave we had scarcely explored, and
in which so many archaeological curiosities remained buried. The sun only
showed itself at intervals through grayish-looking clouds driven
violently along by the east wind. The state of the earth, moistened by
rain which had lasted twenty-four hours, rendered our progression very
difficult, for we were traversing a ferruginous soil. Such wretched
walking put the finishing-stroke to our ill-humor by smearing and
soiling our clothes; for my part, I inwardly anathematized travelling in
general, more especially in rainy weather.
Just as we were emerging from this miserable ravine, Gringalet, who had
no doubt scented something, suddenly rolled himself upon the ground,
frantically. We had proceeded some distance before he rejoined us,
covered with a coating of red clay, which gave him as singular an aspect
as can well be imagined. The dog ran up and down, bounded about and
barked, as if he was making it a business to amuse us. Nor were his
efforts without success. We now reached a small plain, in which the sun
flooded us with its warm rays. This had the effect of putting us into
better humor; for our clothes dried, and with the warmth the feelings of
discomfort to which we had been a prey departed.
We were again entering among trees, when l'Encuerado suddenly stopped.
"What is that moving down below there?" he said.
"Some deer," I replied, after looking at them through my glass.
Each of us hurried to hide behind a bush, in hopes that the beautiful
animals would come within gunshot. Several times l'Encuerado expressed a
wish to move round to the other side of the plain; but I opposed his
idea, as the distance was too great. We spent more than an hour in
watching the flock browsing, playing about, and licking themselves; but
not one of them ventured in our direction. Tired with this inaction,
Sumichrast emerged from his hiding-place, and the deer scampered off.
Upon the whole, however, this delay had not been altogether useless;
for, thanks to the heat of the sun, the ground had become more
traversable, and my friend actually hummed a tune as he took the lead.
The time when we ought to have settled our bivouac had long passed, yet
we were still on the road. The path we were treading was flat and
unpromising, and the water from the cave, with which we had filled our
gourds, was so unpleasant in taste that we longed to find a spring.
Being unable to get a clear view of the horizon, I directed l'Encuerado
to climb to the summit of a lofty tree. The Indian ascended to its
topmost branch, and, having surveyed the prospect in every direction,
came down far from pleased at having failed to discern what he desired.
Fatigue, however, now compelled us to halt.
Our hut was soon constructed, the fire lighted, and the stew-pot filled
with water and rice. Not one of us felt inspired with sufficient courage
to induce him to go reconnoitring. An hour after sunset we were all
sleeping side by side; l'Encuerado had quite forgotten his earth-nuts,
and even dropped off to sleep without having been able to finish the
chant which he commenced.
I was wakened up by the cries of the tanagers--a beautiful species of
bird which lives in flocks. Lucien, like all the rest of us, complained
of feeling rather stiff in the joints, resulting, no doubt, from our
long journey the day before. On the morrow our little party started with
rather a hobbling gait; the presence of the birds seemed to tell us that
we were near some stream. Our limbs began gradually to lose their
numbness; we were now descending an almost imperceptible slope, and the
vegetation assumed a more tropical aspect. As we passed along, I noticed
several pepper-plants; and next we came to bushes, round which myriads
of _cardinal_ birds were flying. Guided by these beautiful red-plumaged
creatures, we suddenly found ourselves on the banks of a stream, running
noiselessly over a bed of white sand.