“‘How void of self enduring forethought are the uncontrolled instincts of youth, when reckless of experienced premonitions! It is with painful emotions that I am obliged to record that the descendants of the aboriginals who succored our forefathers in their castaway distress, and preferred them to their own hereditaments, with the reverent homage accorded to the gods, are now subject to the cruel exactions of the taskmaster. The hardships to which they are now subjected by the multiplied progeny of the sailor,—who in thoughtless frenzy attributed their thirst upon the ocean to exact equalization in water distribution,—will prove the sure precursor of our common destruction. The frailty of our godhead assumption has been long since exposed, engendering hatred from the enslaved in abhorrence of their own submissive weakness, so that with the opportunity they will destroy every vestige of their humiliation.’
“This prophecy indicates the period when the defense of a walled city was required for sustaining the exactions of the taskmaster. The traditionary scenes enacted by the old Heracleans, as the inhabitants of the first city were styled, would be as painfully oppressive to your kind-hearted generosity as they would be to me as relator. It will be sufficient for me to state, that the ‘City of the Falls’ was built by Indian labor, enforced by the cruelty of the taskmaster, as a place of recreative resort during the heated solstice, for the old Heracleans. When remonstrance failed to abate the oppressive exactions enforced from the accumulating slaves, and stay the wild orgies enacted by the democratic rule of the city’s majority, the kind-hearted stipulated for the cession of the new city for their seceding occupation, subject to their own governmental rule. In less than a decade of years, after the separation, the inhabitants of the old city were surprised, during the celebration of nocturnal orgies, dedicated to mythical patronage, by the uprising of their slaves; and with the exception of a few, who had been forewarned, an hour previous, in time to make good their escape to the City of the Falls, all were massacred, and the old city has continued a tenantless ruin to the present day.
“Unsatisfied with the partial success of their vengeful retribution, the Indians entailed upon their successors the unlimited enforcement of a constant siege, until the inhabitants of the new city were exterminated, a result that without your effective interposition in our behalf would be well nigh accomplished.”
CHAPTER VIII.
Long before daylight on the morning succeeding the narration of Correliana Adinope, the busy sound of preparation was heard on board of the Tortuga, and on shore. Food and clothes for raiment were bestowed in hampers and bales, by the Kyronese, in quantity sufficient for the easy carriage of the mules; while Captain Dow and his subalterns, Jack and Bill, marshaled the Kyronese guard in preparation for rifle, pistol, and howitzer, defensive and offensive practice. At sunrise, when nearly ready for the start, Correliana clapped her hands with a joyful exclamation, and, in a moment after a messenger falcon stooped in perch upon her wrist. This was of the species Falco peregrinus of the pampas, but much improved in size and plumage from culture. Its greeting, as with the first, was replete with pleasurable animation, extending its wings in impulsive sway to the voluntary and involuntary action of its talons, peculiar to birds and beasts of prey, when subject to intensified sensual gratification. As with the cat kind, who make their “friendly” satisfaction manifest by extending and contracting the sheath muscles of the claws, the falcon unconsciously closed its talons upon the wrist of its mistress, causing her to utter, with the painful punctures, “Soh, soh, Merlin, mon brachiale!” Captain Greenwood, observing the flow of blood from her wrist, quickly supplied her with a pair of gauntlets. Merlin, when again restored to her wrist, seemed to understand the intention of the buckskin proviso, for he used his talons in the expressive ruffling and extending of his wings; succeeding with his coquetry in attracting her attention from the train of meditation in which she appeared to be engaged, he raised his wings upright, exposing beneath parchment scripts; these removed he leisurely commenced a survey of his surroundings. After their perusal she wrote a few words in reply upon some French tissue paper furnished by M. Hollydorf; this secured in Merlin’s sacks, he desired Captain Dow to take note of the bird’s course, before it rose to its poise, as it would guide him to the opening of the pass in the foot-hills. After the bird in floating flight had reached the point of designation, it soared to its poise and in descent quickly disappeared from view.
When the train was fully in motion, Correliana beckoned Captain Greenwood apart, and then to his surprise addressed him in English, with slow, measured enunciation the involumed supplication “Will-you-come-to-us-if-we-are-successful? We-are-happy-among-ourselves,-and-if-you-love-happiness-as-we-enjoy-it-in-our-simplicity,-and-your-educated-habits-will-permit-you-to-love-me,-without-regret-from-other-cause-than-my-own-demerits,-there-will-be-great-joy-in-store-for-us.”
The captain’s faculties, notwithstanding his bewildered amazement caused by her sudden acquisition of power to express her thoughts in English, and with such clearness his most coveted desire, in terms so agreeable to his perception of her worth, answered with prompt energy, in quick imitation of her method, “If-my-life-is-spared-I-will-visit-you-soon!”
After a moment’s hesitation, as if to realize the full comprehension of his reply, she, with a sudden flush of joyful animation, exclaimed, “I-am-certain-you-feel-that-my-happiness-depends-upon-the-consummation-of-our-love-in-Heraclea!” Then with the proffer of salutation, she answered to the hastening call of Captain Dow.
This parting scene between Captain Greenwood and Correliana caused M. Hollydorf’s countenance to become overcast with a rueful shadow of dismay. At nine o’clock the train reached the foot-hills where they exchanged their last farewell signals with those left under Tortugan protection. On the fifth day after their departure from the anchorage of the Tortuga, the train had gained the eastern slope of the highest mountain pass that opened to their view the Betongo valleys, with but one interruption to their progress from Indian opposition, which was quickly turned aside.
On the first of July, while in midway descent to the valley, the falcons returned after a short flight over a wooded district to the left of their course, which was interpreted by Correliana as an indication of danger from an approaching party of Indians. This startling news caused the greatest activity. While Captain Dow reconnoitred with his glass the descent for a point of advantage for their reception, his two cannoniers prepared the howitzer charges for immediate action. Fortunately they were able to reach a comparatively level plat that offered for their train’s protection the vantage of a natural rampart, which was improved for the reception of the gun with a wall of stones serving as a mask. When the defensive preparations were completed, the pack train, under its guard of women, was sheltered behind it as far in the rear as possible.