Chapter 8

THE CATARACT AND ITS MARVELS

The tramp through the forest was a leisurely one, as constant stops were made to examine the country. The rescued boys were wonderfully recuperated by the influence of two days of good food and the peace of mind and contentment that had come into their lives after a stormy and hazardous fourteen months' struggle.

Ralph brought in several specimens of fruit and vegetables, of the kind they had seen the natives use, and one specimen which had a long, tapering root. "Here is something they always had on hand," he remarked as he handed it to the Professor.

"That would be a valuable addition to our vegetable diet. It is a species of Salsify, or vegetable oyster, and by some called Goat's beard, on account of the peculiar top."

"I should like to know what this is. It seems to me that we saw plants of the same kind down near the South River." George produced a plant with beautiful large leaves at the end of each stem, which grew in clusters.

The Professor smiled. "You have at last found the real rubber tree. This was taken from one of the small trees, but they grow to considerable height, and many of the trees yield about eight gallons of milk, when first cut, which produces two pounds of rubber.

"But," continued the Professor, "I have something here that is more of a curiosity than anything else." He drew forth a stem with a number of leaves, and peculiarly marked. "Do you notice anything odd about this?"

All of them examined it intently, and finally Tom remarked: "Why don't you remember, Ralph, we saw these branches in the savage huts frequently, but I have no idea what they used them for."

"This is the carricature plant. If you will look closely the outline of human faces can be seen. Look at this leaf, the resemblance is plain. Among the savages these leaves are plucked as charms, and the more distinctly they are marked the more potent they consider them. It is something like the ideas of many people about the four-leaved clovers. So civilized people are not so very far above the savages, after all."

In the afternoon of the third day they approached the vicinity of the Cataract, and Harry and George were wild to make their way forward, so the yaks were constantly urged to go on, and it frequently made traveling difficult for those who were walking. Ralph and Tom were kept in the wagon, but insisted that the Professor and John should take their places there, and would not listen to their protestations.

About three o'clock Observation Hill was sighted, and there, proudly floating, was the flag. When the attention of the boys was called to it they almost wept for joy at the sight.

"Oh, how good it feels to see that old flag again," was Tom's comment, as he tried to brush away something that looked like a tear. "How far are we away now?"

"Not more than two miles from home, but the hill is three-quarters of a mile farther."

Angel was in his element now, as the home was sighted, and he danced and capered, just as George did. The Professor and John were in the wagon, and Harry asked the Professor to take the reins, and before any of them knew what he was about was out of the wagon and on a run down the hill, followed by George and Angel.

Ralph and Tom followed suit, and they made a procession that gave great pleasure to the Professor, as he saw their joyous spirits exhibiting themselves.

John's eyes lighted up, and the Professor noted the look of pleasure on his face. It was so good to see the steady increase in the developing intelligence. When they left two weeks before John was listless, and often entirely without any indications of what was going on all about him. The only characteristics were shown at intervals, where he would, probably, recall something, or instinctively be brought into contact with a former phase of his life; but now those periods seemed to be vanishing, and he became a more normal being at all times, without showing the marked eccentricities.

The boys reached the home, and Harry opened the door, and stood ready to receive and welcome their new companions.

When the wagon came up John and the Professor marched up, and the latter approached with the deference of a courtier, and John, noting the attitude of the Professor, made a like obeisance, and this act, so gracefully performed, was such a wonderful and startling thing that the boys were completely stunned. After making a show of welcome to the Professor, they walked over to John and offered him a welcome that was most touching to him.

The Professor and the boys now felt that they could not, in their future conversations, make any allusion to him, as there was an evident dawning of his intellect, and nothing must be said to attract his attention to it by discussing his condition.

Angel was in the rafters for a moment only, and then down and darted into the kitchen. Not for a moment did he rest content at any spot until he had investigated every corner. Wasn't that a boyish trait? When the whole house had been exhausted, he was over at the water wheel, and the boys followed, but they did not take in every arm and blade of the wheel, as he did. Then to the shop, and always leading the boys, who were after him with shouts of merriment.

"Oh, isn't this wonderful!" exclaimed Tom. "What a glorious time you must have had in building these things? And just to think of it, we were so near you, and in misery all the time;" and he said it in such a regretful manner that it drew forth the sympathy of all.

Nothing in the world could have hindered John and the Professor from following up and witnessing the scene. Angel didn't try to run the sawmill, or to turn the lathe, but he did the next best thing, he jumped on the grindstone and sent it spinning while running over the top, a trick he had learned and which was one of the ways he had to help out George and Harry when at work.

If you should argue from now until you get to the end of this book that Angel did not know what he was doing during these exhibitions, and that it was only the act of an animal, it would not have convinced the boys. From the shop they visited the laboratory, and here the boys got their first real shock, as they saw the skeletons which had been taken from the cave.

It was all so remarkable to them that they did not know what to say or think. Here was intelligence directed from the first. How different had they utilized the intervening time. It was a momentous lesson, they were smart enough to appreciate what they saw and learned.

"I am so happy to know that we have been permitted to become a member of your family," said Ralph, as he grasped the Professor's hand. "All this around here is certainly worth seeing, and it makes me long to take a hand and help, and I know that Tom feels that way, too."

Before the Professor could reply George stepped up and put his arm around the Professor. "If you boys only knew how beautiful he has been, and how patiently he has urged us to carry out this work, you would almost wish, as has been our desire many times, never to leave this place; but--of course, we--we want to see home--and," and the tears came, and Ralph and Harry and Tom broke down and wept, and they turned away from each other to hide their emotions.

When they turned and tried to be very brave again, the Professor, who was not ashamed of the tears which fell, smiled through them, and his voice rang out with a cheer that made every face bright, as he said: "The most satisfying thing in life is appreciation. My boys have been heroes. I have done nothing; it is their work. I have felt ashamed, sometimes, to know how little has been the work of my hands. Occasionally they have been directed, but it is because they wanted to know so many things and the reasons for everything they started out to do. You can see, therefore, that if they had not possessed the spirit to accomplish these things, the little that I have tried to impart to them would have been of no use. I merely allude to this to show you that it is not knowledge or information that makes the world move or induces men to progress, but it is the spirit which takes hold of and utilizes the intelligence."

The new additions to the family now necessitated an entire rearrangement of their quarters. The house, which had been built up in sections, so to speak, contained three rooms, one, the original portion, being now the store room, to which was added a living room and a kitchen.

Commenting on this, and with all together, to get some understanding of the plans, the Professor outlined his views: "We have been putting up our structures here in the way usually followed in all rural communities, where there is plenty of room, by first erecting a little shanty, and then adding another room to that, and a little lean-to on the other side, and as the family grows, enclosing the lean-to to make another room, and then adding to that, and so on, until the whole mass makes a more or less picturesque structure, and a fine thing for artists to rave over. But the interior comfort is quite another thing. We should change that in this civilized community, and put up a building that will be not only comfortable and adapted for our necessities, but also artistic, and it will cost us no more than to do it in a slovenly, inartistic way. I imagine we can make good terms with the carpenter and the bricklayer and the decorator so as to reduce the cost as much as possible;" and all enjoyed the Professor's little joke.

It was Harry's turn to offer a few suggestions: "We have about everything we need now, except food. The barley is all gone--"

"What, all that we left in the bin?" asked George.

"Something has gotten into it and carried it all away."

"We shall have to investigate that the first thing," suggested the Professor. "Fortunately we haven't threshed out one of the stacks, and that will give us plenty of exercise for a day."

"What, have you a stack of barley here?" was Tom's eager question.

"Oh, yes," replied George, "and we make the finest kind of bread. I am sorry we can't offer any to-day."

It was so long since they had tasted bread that its name was almost forgotten.

All returned to the house. The Chief was still there, and he looked at the group in a curious way. Everything in sight attracted his curiosity, and the Professor tried to make him feel at home in his new surroundings. His wounds were progressing favorably, and he was now able to stand on one leg without much pain. At the suggestion of the Professor, Harry made a pair of crutches, which were brought in early the next morning, and he took them and imitated the act of walking with one of his legs raised up. This was a novel proceeding for the savage, and after they had been offered to him several times the Professor urged him to try them.

Comprehending what was wanted he struggled to his feet and reached for them. When they were adjusted he leaned forward for the first step, and a look of surprise came over him. It was a revelation to his poor untutored mind. It lighted up into an expression he had never exhibited before, and he thus received the first lesson on the route to civilization.

It was amusing to see him make one attempt after the other, and before night he could travel about fairly well. What must have been his thoughts as he saw the busy workshops and the surroundings of the home to which he had been so unwillingly brought? At every opportunity the Professor cultivated his acquaintance. As time wore on he became communicative in his way, but it was difficult to bring things to his mind and comprehend the language used.

He was first taught to name certain things, such as the different foods; and it did not take long to learn what "Yes" and "No" meant, and when handed anything particularly appetizing it was finally associated in his mind with "good." Thus step by step he acquired a small vocabulary of words.

The first task in the morning was the threshing out of barley. Chief, as he was called, witnessed the task, and picked up and fondled one of the flails, like a child caressing a new toy, but he did not have the remotest idea what the threshing of the barley meant until the beaten straw had been removed and the golden grain was winnowed out.

And there was another thing that interested him immensely, and that was the grist mill, composed of the two stones, and when the water wheel was set in motion and the upper stone began to whirr, he stood with mouth and eyes open, and watched the meal running from the spout like one entranced. Usually these people are too stolid to pay attention to such things, but his intense interest was so pronounced that it attracted all who witnessed it.

He followed every step in the preparation of the flour and in the making of the bread, and when the loaves were finally deposited on the table, it was some time before he could gain sufficient composure to taste it. When he did so eventually the amount he ate was enough commendation of its quality to satisfy the most egotistic baker.

Tom became the constant companion of Harry in the workshop, as he was a lover of the mechanical arts. Ralph had the spirit of adventure, and was the counterpart of George, who liked to investigate. These two became the animated question marks of the party. On every subject they took a leading part.

The second evening George brought out his home-made violin. This was the occasion for another surprise. Red Angel was at the feet of George in an instant. Tom could not keep his hands still, as he had also learned to play the instrument, and ventured to suggest that he would like to assist in building a bass viol, and not to be outdone Ralph offered to construct a flute.

The violin that evening was another link in the chain which was to eventually convert a savage into an instrument of untold value to the people of that island. At first Chief could not understand it. He tried to see where the wailing noise came from and pressed closer and closer to George as he played. When George played another tune in quick time he became animated, and slow, plaintive music seemed to subdue him.

"Do you know," said the Professor, "that what we call music does not appear as such to savages. Noise and sound are not distinguished by them. The beating of their crude tom toms is the only thing that appeals to their ears. That is simply noise. Rhythm and time are recognized, principally because all their music is associated by some act of dancing."

"I have often wondered why it is that dancing is such a universal custom?" ventured Tom.

"Among all ancient peoples it formed the integral part of religious ceremonies, and is even to-day practiced by many of the eastern Christians in that manner. It was the custom of the Jews from their first historical account, as shown in the account given in Exodus, where Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moses, took a timbrel in her hand and went out with the other women with timbrels and dances. The Hebrews had a regular chorus in the Temple, with dancing performers of women; and the dance was adopted as a fitting close to the feast of the Tabernacle, when the rulers of the synagogues, the doctors of the schools, and even the members of the Sanhedrin, accompanied the sacred music with their voices, and leaped and danced with torches in their hands until morning."

"Do you think the savages even in these western islands use the dance as a religious ceremony?"

"All tribes in the Island of the Pacific, and I might say, over the entire world, associate these dances with religion, with war, and with some festive commemoration of events. I dare say that you boys have witnessed some of those rites."

Ralph responded to this: "We saw that happen on the occasion the victims were sacrificed by the savages who captured us, as I related in my story the other day. The other tribe also had a dance, but it was so entirely different that we both noticed it at the time."

"Your observation was correct. As in clothing, and in the matter of decorations, so different peoples show their dancing characteristics by different traits. This is true of all civilized people as well. Of these, the best known, which I might mention, are the tarantella of the Neapolitans, the bolero and fandango of the Spaniards, the mazurka and cracovienna of Poland, the cosack of Russia, the redowa of Bohemia, the quadrille and cotillion of France, the waltz, polka and gallopade of Germany, the reel and sword dance of Scotland, the minuet and hornpipe of England, the jig of Ireland, and the last to capture America is the tango."