CHAPTER XX
STRANGE SIGNS
AFTER the first joy of the meeting was over, Paganel
and his party, except perhaps the Major, were only conscious of one feeling —
they were dying of thirst. Most fortunately for them, the Guamini ran not far
off, and about
seven in the morning the little troop reached the inclosure
on its banks. The precincts were strewed with the dead
wolves, and judging from their numbers, it was evident
how violent the attack must have been, and how desperate
the resistance.
As soon as the travelers had drunk their fill, they began
to demolish the breakfast prepared in the ramada, and did
ample justice to the extraordinary viands. The nandou
fillets were pronounced first-rate, and the armadillo was
delicious.
"To eat moderately," said Paganel, "would be positive ingratitude to
Providence. We must eat immoderately."
And so they did, but were none the worse for it.
The water of the Guamini greatly aided digestion apparently.
Glenarvan, however, was not going to imitate Hannibal
at Capua, and at ten o'clock next morning gave the signal
for starting. The leathern bottles were filled with water,
and the day's march commenced. The horses were so well
rested that they were quite fresh again, and kept up a canter
almost constantly. The country was not so parched up
now, and consequently less sterile, but still a desert. No
incident occurred of any importance during the 2d and 3d
of November, and in the evening they reached the boundary
of the Pampas, and camped for the night on the frontiers
of the province of Buenos Ayres. Two-thirds of their
journey was now accomplished. It was twenty-two days
since they left the Bay of Talcahuano, and they had gone
450 miles.
Next morning they crossed the conventional line which
separates the Argentine plains from the region of the Pampas. It was here that
Thalcave hoped to meet the Caciques,
in whose hands, he had no doubt, Harry Grant and his men
were prisoners.
From the time of leaving the Guamini, there was marked
change in the temperature, to the great relief of the travelers. It was much
cooler, thanks to the violent and cold
winds from Patagonia, which constantly agitate the atmospheric waves. Horses and
men were glad enough of this,
after what they had suffered from the heat and drought,
and they felt animated with fresh ardor and confidence.
But contrary to what Thalcave had said, the whole district
appeared uninhabited, or rather abandoned.
Their route often led past or went right through small
lagoons, sometimes of fresh water, sometimes of brackish.
On the banks and bushes about these, king-wrens were hopping about and larks
singing joyously in concert with the
tangaras, the rivals in color of the brilliant humming birds.
On the thorny bushes the nests of the annubis swung to and
fro in the breeze like an Indian hammock; and on the shore
magnificent flamingos stalked in regular order like soldiers
marching, and spread out their flaming red wings. Their
nests were seen in groups of thousands, forming a complete town, about a foot
high, and resembling a truncated
cone in shape. The flamingos did not disturb themselves
in the least at the approach of the travelers, but this did not
suit Paganel.
"I have been very desirous a long time," he said to the
Major, "to see a flamingo flying."
"All right," replied McNabbs.
"Now while I have the opportunity, I should like to
make the most of it," continued Paganel.
"Very well; do it, Paganel."
"Come with me, then, Major, and you too Robert. I
want witnesses."
And all three went off towards the flamingos, leaving the
others to go on in advance.
As soon as they were near enough, Paganel fired, only
loading his gun, however, with powder, for he would not
shed even the blood of a bird uselessly. The shot made
the whole assemblage fly away en masse, while Paganel
watched them attentively through his spectacles.
"Well, did you see them fly?" he asked the Major.
"Certainly I did," was the reply. "I could not help
seeing them, unless I had been blind."
"Well and did you think they resembled feathered arrows when they were
flying?"
"Not in the least."
"Not a bit," added Robert.
"I was sure of it," said the geographer, with a satisfied
air; "and yet the very proudest of modest men, my illustrious countryman,
Chateaubriand, made the inaccurate
comparison. Oh, Robert, comparison is the most dangerous figure in rhetoric that
I know. Mind you avoid it all
your life, and only employ it in a last extremity."
"Are you satisfied with your experiment?" asked
McNabbs.
"Delighted."
"And so am I. But we had better push on now, for
your illustrious Chateaubriand has put us more than a mile
behind."
On rejoining their companions, they found Glenarvan
busily engaged in conversation with the Indian, though apparently unable to make
him understand. Thalcave's gaze
was fixed intently on the horizon, and his face wore a puzzled expression.
The moment Paganel came in sight, Glenarvan called
out:
"Come along, friend Paganel. Thalcave and I can't
understand each other at all."
After a few minute's talk with the Patagonian, the interpreter turned to
Glenarvan and said:
"Thalcave is quite astonished at the fact, and certainly
it is very strange that there are no Indians, nor even traces
of any to be seen in these plains, for they are generally
thick with companies of them, either driving along cattle
stolen from the estancias, or going to the Andes to sell their
zorillo cloths and plaited leather whips."
"And what does Thalcave think is the reason?"
"He does not know; he is amazed and that's all."
"But what description of Indians did he reckon on meeting in this part of
the Pampas?"
"Just the very ones who had the foreign prisoners in
their hands, the natives under the rule of the Caciques Calfoucoura, Catriel, or
Yanchetruz."
"Who are these Caciques?"
"Chiefs that were all powerful thirty years ago, before
they were driven beyond the sierras. Since then they have
been reduced to subjection as much as Indians can be, and
they scour the plains of the Pampas and the province of
Buenos Ayres. I quite share Thalcave's surprise at not
discovering any traces of them in regions which they usually
infest as
salteadores, or bandits."
"And what must we do then?"
"I'll go and ask him," replied Paganel.
After a brief colloquy he returned and said:
"This is his advice, and very sensible it is, I think. He
says we had better continue our route to the east as far as
Fort Independence, and if we don't get news of Captain
Grant there we shall hear, at any rate, what has become of
the Indians of the Argentine plains."
"Is Fort Independence far away?" asked Glenarvan.
"No, it is in the Sierra Tandil, a distance of about
sixty miles."
"And when shall we arrive?"
"The day after to-morrow, in the evening."
Glenarvan was considerably disconcerted by this circumstance. Not to find
an Indian where in general there were
only too many, was so unusual that there must be some
grave cause for it; but worse still if Harry Grant were a
prisoner in the hands of any of those tribes, had be been
dragged away with them to the north or south? Glenarvan
felt that, cost what it might, they must not lose his track,
and therefore decided to follow the advice of Thalcave, and
go to the village of Tandil. They would find some one
there to speak to, at all events.
About four o'clock in the evening a hill, which seemed a
mountain in so flat a country, was sighted in the distance.
This was Sierra Tapalquem, at the foot of which the travelers camped that night.
The passage in the morning over this sierra, was accomplished without the
slightest difficulty; after having crossed
the Cordillera of the Andes, it was easy work to ascend the
gentle heights of such a sierra as this. The horses scarcely
slackened their speed. At noon they passed the deserted
fort of Tapalquem, the first of the chain of forts which defend the southern
frontiers from Indian marauders. But
to the increasing surprise of Thalcave, they did not come
across even the shadow of an Indian. About the middle
of the day, however, three flying horsemen, well mounted
and well armed came in sight, gazed at them for an instant,
and then sped away with inconceivable rapidity. Glenarvan was furious.
"Gauchos," said the Patagonian, designating them by
the name which had caused such a fiery discussion between
the Major and Paganel.
"Ah! the Gauchos," replied McNabbs. "Well, Paganel, the north wind is not
blowing to-day. What do you
think of those fellows yonder?"
"I think they look like regular bandits."
"And how far is it from looking to being, my good
geographer?"
"Only just a step, my dear Major."
Paganel's admission was received with a general laugh,
which did not in the least disconcert him. He went on
talking about the Indians however, and made this curious
observation:
"I have read somewhere," he said, "that about the
Arabs there is a peculiar expression of ferocity in the
mouth, while the eyes have a kindly look. Now, in these
American savages it is quite the reverse, for the eye has a
particularly villainous aspect."
No physiognomist by profession could have better characterized the Indian
race.
But desolate as the country appeared, Thalcave was on
his guard against surprises, and gave orders to his party
to form themselves in a close platoon. It was a useless
precaution, however; for that same evening, they camped
for the night in an immense tolderia, which they not only
found perfectly empty, but which the Patagonian declared,
after he had examined it all round, must have been uninhabited for a long time.
Next day, the first estancias of the Sierra Tandil came
in sight. The estancias are large cattle stations for breeding cattle;
but Thalcave resolved not to stop at any of
them, but to go straight on to Fort Independence. They
passed several farms fortified by battlements and surrounded by a deep moat, the
principal building being encircled by a terrace, from which the inhabitants
could fire
down on the marauders in the plain. Glenarvan might,
perhaps, have got some information at these houses, but
it was the surest plan to go straight on to the village of
Tandil. Accordingly they went on without stopping,
fording the
rio of Los Huasos and also the Chapaleofu, a
few miles further on. Soon they were treading the grassy
slopes of the first ridges of the Sierra Tandil, and an hour
afterward the village appeared in the depths of a narrow
gorge, and above it towered the lofty battlements of Fort
Independence.