CHAPTER XXVII.

OF OUR FURTHER ESCAPES, AND A STRATAGEM BY WHICH OUR ENEMIES WERE PUT TO GREAT DISCOMFORT.

Hearing these words, Lady Biddy did rouse herself up as from a dream, and seeing me kneeling by her side with bent head, and the negro lying at a distance quite still she gave a little scream of surprise, and then, clasping my folded hands in hers, fell to weeping and laughing out of all measure; but I knew not which was the more piteous to hear.

"You have saved me again. You good Benet--again saved!" cried she.

"Ay, Lady Biddy," says I. "Yet I am but the happy instrument of a Divine Grace; and you should think, not of me, but of Him whose servant I am."

These serious words had the effect I wished, for at once she grew calmer, and, ceasing to smile, did with all her heart pour out grateful thanks to Heaven. And never did holy man more devoutly join in heartfelt praise than I who was, as I may say, a sinner.

From this sweet communion we were aroused in a sudden and terrible manner. The thunder of a cannon smote our ears, and at the same moment a great splinter was torn out of the side of the tree, against which we knelt, by a ball. Yet we were not harmed thereby so much as a hair of our heads.

As we started to our feet we heard a great shout from the sea, and casting our eyes that way we perceived a couple of boats making for the shore as hard as ever the fellows within them could pull, so that we could not doubt but that Rodrigues had spied us from the ship, and sent his company in our pursuit.

"Now, Lady Biddy," says I, "if you have strength we must run for it."

"Ay," says she with alacrity, and no sign of her late weakness. "Whither you will, Benet."

With that she puts her little soft hand in mine, and so, like two children, we started to run along the sands. And well it was we were so prompt, for ere we had got a dozen yards another gun was fired from the ship, and this time charged with slug shot that scattered prodigiously, but, thanks be to God, did us no hurt in the world; at which I laughed aloud, and Lady Biddy joined her pretty mirth as gay as any peal of bells, so elated was she with our happy release.

Yet were we laughing ere we were out of the wood, or rather, as I may say, ere we were in it, for there lay our only chance of safety from those villains who were now nearing the shore. But how to penetrate the thicket of brambles, lianas, ground-pines, agaves, and other prickly shrubs that did hedge the land beyond the sea-sands, where the ground rose towards the woods, I knew not; for though I should not have hesitated to plunge into this growth being by myself, albeit the flesh of my legs would have paid dearly, yet could I attempt no such thing with Lady Biddy, whose skirts had been torn from her body and her tender limbs lacerated cruelly at the very outset, and she eventually been held a prisoner in the bonds of those thorny vines. So still we kept to the coast, running on as swiftly as the shifting sand would allow, all the time hand in hand, and with a good heart, until another shout behind us made my heart sink and banished the smile from my lady's cheek; for now we knew that one of the boats had reached the shore.

"A little further, Lady Biddy--a little further," says I cheerfully.

"Yes, Benet," says she, hopefully still, yet with difficulty from the shortness of her breathing. "I can run a good way yet."

Now glancing aside I saw a hillside where the trees were of a prodigious height, and so close together that their branches mingled in one wide-spreading solid canopy, and loth I was to pass them by, for I knew by my experiences on the Oronoque that beneath these trees nothing grew but toadstools and such growth for the want of light, and there might we have run with ease as far as that sort of trees extended, but the thicket on the hither side was impassable, so there was no help for it but to run on.

Presently I saw Lady Biddy bend her head, biting her nether lip with her teeth, as if to control some pain, and this, together with hearing the report of a musket in our rear, showing that our pursuers were getting within gunshot of us, did work me up with desperation, so that I was minded to catch my companion in my arms, and essay whether I might not that way struggle through the thorny barrier. And this course I resolved to take if in fifty paces no less desperate measure was to be found.

Fifty paces were covered, and yet there was no sign of any opening in that rank growth; then I added another ten; and after that, ten more; when, casting my eye again upon Lady Biddy, I saw in her despairing eyes that she could go no further.

I stopped, and, leaning upon my shoulder for support, she gasps--

"One moment, Benet. I shall be better in a moment."

I looked back (yet in a manner not to affright the poor girl), and saw the seamen doggedly running on, but no nearer, Heaven be thanked, which surprised me, although each man was encumbered with his musket and other arms. But seeing us at a stand they set up a shout, and began to mend their pace.

"Now," said Lady Biddy, and again we started forward.

Hardly had we made half a dozen yards when I stopped her with a cry of joy, for there, lying flush with the outlying growth of what I term the thicket, was a great mass of dry, brown, broad leaves, which I knew for the head of a cabbage-tree, which, though it promised nothing to an inexperienced eye, did to mine betoken a means of crossing the thicket by its stem, which is never less than 150 feet long in one falling to decay, and is more often 250 feet. And happily this tree in falling athwart the thicket had struck upon a rock, so that it was lifted well up above the more tangled growth.

Now I knew that if we could once get upon the stem of that tree we might have a convenient bridge for getting to a place where the ground was freer; and as there was no time to consider whether the thing was possible or not, I hurried Lady Biddy thither, and bidding her grip me tightly by the shoulders, I did set myself with all the strength and agility I possessed (which was doubled by the desperate occasion), to drag myself up by the hanging leaves to the crown of it; and thanks to the fibers of these leaves being of a prodigious toughness, as well as to the help of Providence, I succeeded so well that in a twinkle we stood side by side upon the trunk of this fallen tree.

Here were we well concealed from sight, but not so secure neither as was to my taste; so, begging Lady Biddy stay there till my return, I ran nimbly down the length of the palmetto, and then along the inner side of the thicket beneath the trees, where the growth was of moderate proportion, back in the direction we had come, till guessing I was about come level with our pursuers, I set up a great mocking laugh of derision to be heard of them. Upon which, to my great satisfaction, I heard one of the seamen shout to his fellows, who were in advance, to come back, for they had passed the game.

"Ay," shouts I, "and you'll have to look sharp to catch us at that."

The fellows replied by firing a volley into the thicket where they deemed I might be, but they might as usefully have fired into the sand for all the damage their bullets could do to me through that huge mass of shrubs and plants, whereof the best part are as tough as leather.

I gave them another laugh, but still a little further back from the part where I had left Lady Biddy, to make them conclude we were flying thence, and this enraging them beyond measure, they straightway plunged into the thicket, fancying that we had passed through, and that they might do the same. And first of all there was great cursing amongst them for the thorns that stuck in their legs; but as they pushed further in to free themselves, and only got the worse entangled, being torn and rent (as they must) from head to foot at every moment, the cries of pain and rage that these wretches set up were enough to make any heart glad to hear.

Leaving them in this pickle I sped back the way I had come, and found Lady Biddy had of herself passed along the length of the great cabbage tree and got down by the upturned roots. Without waste of time we continued our way, keeping within the grateful shade of the trees, yet holding on within sight of the thicket that we might have some notion, however vague, of our whereabouts.

We kept on at a briskish pace without stopping (except that once I went a little out of my way to pluck some guave apples, which were a great refreshment and comfort to us) for best part of an hour, I take it, by which time the nature of the ground took a new aspect, and seeing some dead reeds entangled in the branches of a bush I perceived they must have been left there by flood of waters. This led me to conclude we were near some river, which gave me no small satisfaction, for already my mind was becoming anxious with regard to the question of water to drink. As we proceeded the traces of flood became more plentiful, and at length coming to the verge of the wood we found ourselves on the edge of a lagoon, stretching upwards of a mile towards a broad river, whose yellow waters were cut off from the blue sea by a long neck of sand that extended as far as the eye could reach.

This lagoon was a dismal waste of refuse washed down by the swollen river in the rainy season, for as yet the new growth of reeds had not penetrated the mass, except here and there where a patch of tender green rose amidst the wide expanse of rotting vegetation. But if the foreground was dismal to look on, the eye was recompensed by that which lay beyond. For there the sky was pierced by the glittering summits of prodigious mountains, whose sides swept down to lesser hills of purple rock, and these again in undulating slopes to the blue sea and the river, which on its further side shone like gold in the sunlight. And these lower slopes did at first look as though a sunset cloud had settled upon them; yet at a second glance did rather seem as if they were covered over with a vast tapestry, in which were woven all shades of green, mingled with bright patches of red and orange, purple and rose-pink, by reason of the many-hued flowers which crowned the trees, as no traveler shall deny who has cast eyes on those wondrous woods.

For a minute we stood still looking in amaze and delight upon this prospect, for it was the first we had seen of those mountains, but then we bethought us of those wretches we had left behind (who for certain would stay no longer than they could help in the thorns), and likewise I perceived we must yet follow up the course of this river before we could get water fit to drink. Added to which the lagoon bred abundance of stinging flies, and I feared there might likewise be reptiles in such a spot, so again we stepped forward.

Before long we found it necessary to penetrate further into the wood by reason of the ground rising abruptly from the river; yet still we kept as near as might be to the river, every now and again pausing in our upward walk where a break offered view of the river below and the mountains beyond.

We kept on, for Lady Biddy would not allow that she was fatigued, until I heard, as I thought, the breaking of water; and passing a huge rock we saw, to my inexpressible satisfaction, a silvery stream of water tumbling down the gorge that opened before us.