The Web of the Golden Spider Read online

  CHAPTER XIV

  _In the Shadow of the Andes_

  As soon as lights were secured an examination of the battle ground wasmade. Four men were found, three of them with leg wounds which did nomore than cripple them, and one with a scalp wound made by a grazingbullet which had knocked him unconscious. There was no surgeon aboard,but one of the mates had a good working knowledge of surgery andcleaned and dressed the wounds.

  As soon as it was daylight Stubbs had a talk with the mutineers.

  "'Course," he informed them, "'course ye knows the medicine ye getsfer mutiny on the high seas. Every yeller dog of ye can look for'ardto a prison sentence of twenty years or so. As for Splinter--yerleader--I can 'member the time I'd ha' had the pleasure er watchin'him squirm from a yardarm without any further preliminaries. As 'tis,maybe he'll be 'lowed to think it over th' rest of his life in acell."

  He kept them on a diet of crackers and corned beef and they neveropened their lips in protest. Every day they were brought up morningand afternoon for drill. After this the three men divided the nightinto the three shifts so that at least one of them was always uponguard. But the men were thoroughly cowed, and evidently hoped, by goodbehavior, to reestablish themselves before port was reached.

  It was during these night watches that Wilson had many long talks withStubbs--talks that finally became personal and which in the end ledhim, by one of those quick impulses which make in lives for a greatdeal of good or wrecking harm, to confide in him the secret of thetreasure. This he did at first, however, without locating it nearerthan "Within five hundred miles of where we're going," and withnothing in his narrative to associate the idol with the priest. Truthto tell, Wilson was disappointed at the cool way in which Stubbslistened. But the latter explained his indifference somewhat when heremarked, removing the clay pipe from his mouth:

  "M' boy, I'm sorter past my treasure hunting days. Once't I dug up'bout an acre of sand on one of the islands of the South seas an' itsorter took all th' enthusiasm, as ye might say, fer sech sport outernme. We didn't git nothin' but clam shells, as I remember. Howsomever,I wouldn't git nothin' but clam shells outern a gold mine. Thet's th'way m' luck runs. Maybe th' stuff's there, maybe it ain't; but if Igoes, it ain't."

  He added, a moment later:

  "Howsomever, I can see how, in order to find the girl, you has to go.The dago gent--if he lives--will make fer that right off. I've heerno' women with the gift o' conjurin'--like seventh sons o' seventhsons--but I ain't ever met with sech. I dunno now--I dunno now butwhat I might consider your proposition if we comes outern this rightand the cap'n here can spare me. I can't say this minute as how Itakes much stock in it, as ye might say. But I tell ye fair, I'm gladto help a pardner and glad to have a try, fer the sake of the girl ifnothin' more. I don't like ter see an older man play no sech games asthis man--who d' ye say his name is?"

  "Sorez."

  "Maybe we can find out more 'bout him down here. Anyhow, we'll talk itover, boy, when we gits through this. In the meanwhile yer secret issafe."

  Wilson felt better at the thought that there was now someone with whomhe could talk freely of the treasure. It became the main topic ofconversation during the watch which he usually sat out with Stubbs,after his own.

  The ship's log of the remainder of this long journey would read asuninterestingly as that of an ocean liner. Day succeeded day, and weekfollowed week, with nothing to disturb the quiet of the trip. A stopwas made at Rio for coal, another after rounding the Horn (here theydid not have the excitement of even high seas), and another halfway upthe West coast. But at these places not a man was allowed to leave theship, Danbury, Wilson, and Stubbs themselves remaining on board infear of a possible attempt on the part of the mercenaries to land.

  As a matter of fact, the latter were thoroughly frightened and didtheir best by good behavior to offset the effect of their attempt.They were obedient at drills, respectful to all, and as quiet as thecrew itself. This was as Stubbs had anticipated, but he on his sidegave no sign of relenting in the slightest until the day before theysighted Choco Bay, where the landing was to be made. On the contrary,by dark hints and suggestions he gave them to understand that certainof them--and no one knew who was included in this generality--stoodactually in danger of prison sentences. So they outdid one another inthe hope of reinstating themselves. At the conclusion of what was tobe their last drill Stubbs called them to attention and sprung thetrap to which he had been gradually leading them. He studied them witha face heavy with clouds.

  "We are nearing our port," he drawled, "an' some of you are nearin'the jail. An' a jail in these diggin's, my beauties, is a thing thatain't no joke, 'cause they shets you up below ground where ye has onlyyour natural frien's the rats fer playmates,--rats as big as dogs an'hungry as sharks, as ye might say. Sometimes the cap'n of these hereports fergits ye--'specially if they's frien's er mine. If they thinksof it, they brings yer sour bread an' water an' yer fights the ratsfer it; if they fergits, as they has a way er doin', you jus' staythere until the rats gits stronger than you. Then, little by little,yer goes. But they buries yer bones very partic'lar, if they findsany. They takes their time in this country, they takes their time."

  Several of the men in the rear huddled closer to one another. One ortwo in the front row wiped the back of their hands over their brows.

  "They can't take 'Merican citizens," growled someone.

  "No, they can't--wuss luck for the 'Merican citizens. The others standsome show--but 'Merican citizens don't stand none. 'Cause they shetsyer up without a hearin' and communicates with the consul. The consulis drunk mostly an' devilesh hard to find an' devilesh slow to move.But the rats ain't,--Lord, no, the rats ain't. They is wide awake an'waitin'."

  A big man in the rear shouldered his way to the front.

  "See here, Cap'n," he blurted out, "I've had a talk with some of themen, an' we don't want none er that. We've done wrong, maybe, but,Gawd, we don't want thet. Give us a show,--give us a fightin' show.We'll go where you say and we'll fight hard. We weren't used to thissorter thing an' so it comes a bit tough. But give us a show an' we'llprove what we can do."

  He turned to the band behind him.

  "Wha' d' yer say, fellers? Is this on the level?"

  "Sure! Sure! Sure!"

  The cry came heartily.

  Stubbs thought a moment.

  "Is this here another little game?" he asked. "Once yer git on landare yer goin' ter turn yeller agin?"

  "No! No! No!"

  "'Cause it won't do yer no good, anyhow. Now I tell yer--the cap'n an'I had a talk over this an' I was fer lettin' yer take yer medicine an'pickin' up another bunch. Men is cheap down here. But he says, 'No; ifthey'll act like white men, give 'em a show. I want to git thisprincess with 'Mericans an' I want to show these fellers what'Mericans can do behin' a rifle.' Our game is to git to Carlina andlick the bunch of Guinnies thet has stolen the young lady's throne. Ifye wanter do thet an' do it hard and square--well, he's fer lettin'this other thing drop. Fight an' yer gits cash 'nuff to keep drunk fera year; squeal an' yer gits shot in the back without any more talk.There's a square offer--do ye take it like men?"

  "Sure! Give us a show!"

  "Then three cheers fer yer cap'n--Cap'n Danbury."

  This time the cheers were given with a will, and the boat rang withthe noise.

  "Now then, lay low an' take yer orders. An' I wish yer luck."

  "Three cheers fer Cap'n Stubbs," shouted someone.

  And as Stubbs bashfully beat a hasty retreat, the cheers rang lustilyin his ears.

  But he reported to Danbury with his face beaming.

  "Now," he said, "ye've gut some men worth something. They'll befightin' fer themselves--fightin' to keep outern jail. Mutiny has itsuses."

  The next morning the anchor clanked through blue waters into goldensand and the throbbing engines stopped.

  The land about Choco Bay is a pleasant land. It is surpassed only bythe plains along the upper Orinoco where villages cluster in
the bosomof the Andes in a season of never changing autumn. Nearer the coastthe climate is more fitful and more drowsy. One wonders how historywould have been changed had the early Puritans chanced upon such richsoil for their momentous conquering, instead of the rock-ribbed,barren coast of New England. The same energy, the same dauntlessspirit, the same stubborn clinging to where the foot first fell, ifexpended here, would have gained for them and their progeny a countryas near the Garden of Eden as any on earth. But perhaps the balmybreezes, the warming sun, the coaxing sensualism of Nature herselfwould have wheedled them away from their stern principles and turnedthem into a nation of dreamers. If so, what dreamers we should havehad! We might have had a dozen more Keatses, perhaps anotherShakespeare. For this is a poet's land, where things are only halfreal. The birds sing about Choco Bay.

  Rippling through the blue waters after dark, the yacht glided in asclose to the shore as possible. The morning sun revealed a goldensemicircle of sand rimming the turquoise waters of the bay. Across theblue sky above seagulls skimmed and darted and circled; so clear thewaters beneath that the clean bottom showed like a floor of burnishedgold. The harbor proper lay ten miles beyond, where a smaller inletwith deeper soundings was protected from the open inrush of the sea bythe promontory forming one tip of this broader crescent. Far, very farin the distance the lofty Andes raised their snowy crests--monarchswhich, Jove-like, stood with their heads among the clouds. So they hadstood while kings were born, fought their petty fights, died, and gaveplace to others; so they stood while men contended for their differentgods; so they stood while men loved and followed their loves intoother spheres. It was these same summits upon which Wilson now lookedwhich had greeted Quesada, and these same summits at which Quesada hadshaken his palsied fist. It was these same summits which but a shortwhile before must have greeted Jo; it was possible that at their verybase he might find her again, and with her a treasure which shouldmake her a queen before men. It made them seem very intimate to him.