The Woodlands Orchids Part 7

He had not been there before, but the road--rather, the trail--was plain enough. Unfortunately it led him, after a while, into a jicara-grove.

This tree, which supplies the calabash used throughout Central America, has some very odd peculiarities. Its leaves grow by fours, making a cross, and on that account, doubtless, the Indians esteem it sacred; their pagan forefathers reverenced the cross. The trunks spring at equal distances, as if planted by rule, but such is their natural habit; I have the strongest impression that Mr. Belt found a cause for this eccentricity, but the pa.s.sage I cannot discover. Thirdly, jicara-trees always stand in a low-lying savannah, across which they are marshalled in lines and 's.p.a.ced'

like soldiers on parade in open order--at least, I never saw them in another situation. Such spots are damp, and the herbage grows strong; thus the half-wild cattle are drawn thither, and before the wet season comes to an end they have trampled the whole surface, obliterating all signs of a path, if one there be, and confounding the confusion by making tracks innumerable through the jungle round.

Upon such a waste Roezl entered, and he paused forthwith to deliberate.

The compa.s.s would not help him much, for if it told the direction of the village, the Indian trail which led thither might open to right or left anywhere on the far side of the grove. Travellers in those wilds must follow the beaten course.

At length he took bearings, so as to go straight at least, and rode on.

Presently an Indian lad came out from the forest behind him, but stopped at sight of the tall stranger. Roezl shouted--he spoke every patois of Spanish America with equal fluency. The boy advanced at length. He could only talk his native Quiche, but Roezl made out that he was going to the village--sent him ahead, and followed rejoicing. So he crossed the jicara-ground.

But in the forest beyond, it was not easy to keep up with an Indian boy trotting his fastest. In a few minutes the guide had vanished and Roezl hurried along after him. Suddenly a ragged rascal sprang out from the bushes ahead with levelled gun. Roezl glanced back. Two others barred his retreat.

Not unfamiliar with such incidents, he laughed and offered his purse--never well filled. Good humour and wit had carried him through several adventures of the kind without grave annoyance; once in Mexico, when he had not one silver coin to ransom himself, a party of bandits kept him twenty-four hours simply to enjoy his drolleries, and dismissed him with ten dollars--which was a G.o.dsend, said Roezl. But these fellows only spoke Quiche, and they were sullen dogs.

The purse did not satisfy them by any means. They made their prisoner dismount and enter the forest, marching behind him. The camp was close by, and here Roezl found his guide, hitched to a tree by the neck. The brigand officer and some of the men talked Spanish, and they appreciated Roezl's 'chaff,' treating him with boisterous familiarity; but they would not hear of letting him go until the Captain's arrival. He sat upon the ground, exchanging jokes with the ruffians, drinking their aguardiente and smoking their best cigars, like a jovial comrade.

Meantime the Indian members of the band were out of the fun, and they attended to business. What they wanted of the lad Roezl did not understand, but when he persisted in refusing they beat him savagely. At length it went so far that Roezl could not bear to hear the poor fellow's cries. Putting the matter humorously, he begged the lieutenant to interfere, and that worthy commanded the Indians to desist.

After an hour or so the Captain appeared, and Roezl's case was put before him; at the same moment, however, the scouts brought in a priest. He had resisted probably, for they had bound and beaten him. Such treatment was novel, doubtless. It had taken all spirit out of the holy man, who walked as humbly as could be till he set eyes on the Captain. Then his courage returned. They were old acquaintances, evidently, and the Padre claimed satisfaction. He did not get it; but the Captain set him free, with apologies. The boy proved to be his servant, and he also was released.

Roezl a.s.serted a claim to equal consideration as defender of that youth, and at length it was ungraciously allowed. Remembering, however, that his precious orchids would soon arrive and fall into the brigands' hands, to be smashed in spite probably, he ransomed them by a bill drawn on himself at the capital. Then he rode on to overtake the priest, who was Cura of the village which he sought.

Not prepossessing at all was that ecclesiastic. None of the bandits had a more stupid expression or one less amiable. But Roezl found presently that he had some reason for ill-humour. Six c.o.c.ks had he taken to a grand match at Tetonicapan the day before--three his own, three belonging to paris.h.i.+oners; and every one was killed! The boy had been sent in advance to break the news.

c.o.c.k-fighting is the single amus.e.m.e.nt of that population, besides drink, of course, and the single interest of its ministers--most of them, at least. This padre could talk of nothing else. It was not a subject that amused Roezl, but he knew something of that as of all else that pertains to life in those countries. The dullest of mortals could not help gathering information about c.o.c.ks and their ways in a lifetime of travel up and down Spanish America; the most observant, such as this, must needs collect a vast deal of experience. But Roezl was not interested in his companion.

Not, that is, until he reached the village. The Cura had invited him to his house--so to call an adobe building of two rooms, without upper floor.

It stood beside the church, hardly less primitive. Roezl glanced at the roof of this structure in pa.s.sing. It has been mentioned that the Indians have a pleasant custom of removing any orchid they find, notable for size or beauty, to set on the church roof or on trees around it. In the course of his long wanderings Roezl had bought or begged several fine plants from a padre, but only when the man was specially reckless or specially influential with his paris.h.i.+oners. The practice dates from heathen times, and the Indians object to any desecration of their offerings.

It was with curiosity rather than hope, therefore, that Roezl scrutinised the airy garden. There were handsome specimens of Cattleya--Skinneri most frequent, of course--Lycaste, Oncidium, and Masdevallia. They had done blooming mostly, but a belated flower showed here and there. In one big clump he saw something white--looked more closely--paused. The plant was Cattleya Skinneri certainly. How should a white flower be there?

All other collectors, perhaps, at that time, would have pa.s.sed on, taking it for granted that some weed had rooted itself amid the clump. But for many years Roezl had been preaching that all Cattleyas of red or violent tint, so to cla.s.s them roughly, must make albino 'sports.' I believe he had not one instance to cite in proof of his theory, which is a commonplace now. A wondrous instinct guided him--the same which predicted that an Odontoglossum of extraordinary character would be found in a province he had never entered, where, years afterwards, the striking Odont. Harryanum was discovered. Men talked of Roezl's odd fancy with respect, but very few heeded it.

He tried various points of view, but nowhere could the flower be seen distinctly. After grumbling and fuming a while the Cura left him, and presently he followed. That reverend person was an object of interest now.

At the first opportunity Roezl mentioned that he was seeking a white Flor de San Sebastian, as they name Cattleya Skinneri, for which he would pay a good sum, and asked if there were any in the neighbourhood.

The Cura replied at once, 'You won't get one here. Many years ago my people found one in the forest, but they never saw another before or since.'

'What did they do with it?' Roezl asked breathlessly.

'Fixed it on the church, of course.'

The man was stupid, but in those parts an idiot can see any opening for trade. To suppose that a c.o.c.k-fighting Guatemalan priest could have scruples about stripping his church would be grotesque. If he did not s.n.a.t.c.h at the chance to make money, when told that the stranger would pay for his whim, it must be because the removal of that plant would be so hazardous that he did not even think of it. Roezl dropped the subject.

They ate--more especially, they drank. The leading men of the village came in to hear the sad story of the c.o.c.k-fight. Not one word on any other topic was spoken until they withdrew to bed. But Roezl was not bored after a while. So soon as he grasped the situation, his quick wits began speculating and contriving means to tempt the Padre. And as he listened to the artless if not innocent discourse of these rustics, gradually a notion formed itself.

The issue of the great match had been a disaster all round. In the first place, there was an antique feud with the victors. Secondly, their c.o.c.ks had been defeated so often that for two years past they had lain low, saving their money to buy champion birds at the capital. And this was the result! In the a.s.surance of triumph they had staked all they could raise upon the issue. That money was lost, and the c.o.c.ks besides. Utter rout and bankruptcy! No wonder the priest sent his boy ahead to break the awful news.

Despairingly they speculated on the causes of their bad luck from year to year, and it was in listening to this discussion that Roezl perceived a gleam of hope. The mules arrived with his orchids, and started again in the morning; but he stayed behind. The Cura was more than willing to explain the local system of feeding, keeping, training, and in general of managing c.o.c.ks. Roezl went into it thoroughly without comment; but when the leading paris.h.i.+oners a.s.sembled at night, as usual, he lifted up his voice.

'My friends,' said he, 'you are always beaten because you do not understand the tricks of these wily townsmen. What you should import from Guatemala is not champion c.o.c.ks, but a good c.o.c.k-master, up to date. I'm afraid he would sell you indeed, but there is no other way.'

They looked at one another astounded, but the Cura broke out, 'Rubbis.h.!.+

What do we do wrong?'

'Only a fool gives away valuable secrets. If you want my information you must pay for it. But I will tell you one thing. You keep your c.o.c.ks tied up in a cupboard'--I am giving the sense of his observations--'by themselves, where they get spiritless and bored. You have been to Tetonicapan. Is that how they do there? In every house you see the c.o.c.ks tied in a corner of the living room, where people come and go, often bringing their own birds with them. Hens enter too sometimes. So they are always lively and eager. This you have seen! Is it not so?'

'It is,' they muttered with thoughtful brows.

'Well, I make you a present of that hint. If you want any more valuable, you must pay.' And he withdrew.

Weighty was the consultation doubtless. Presently they went in search of him, the whole body, and asked his terms.

'You shall not buy on speculation,' said Roezl. 'Is there a village in the neighbourhood where they treat their c.o.c.ks as you do, and could you make a match for next Sunday? Yes? Well, then, you shall tie up your birds in a public room, follow my directions in feeding, and so forth. If you conquer, you shall pay me; if not, not.'

'What shall we pay?' asked the Cura.

'Your reverence and all these caballeros shall swear on the altar to give me the white Flor de San Sebastian which grows on the church roof.'

The end is foreseen. Roezl carried off his White Cattleya and sold it to Mr. George Hardy of Manchester for 280 guineas.

THE PHALAENOPSIS HOUSE

Phalaenopsis are noted for whimsicality. They flourish in holes and corners where no experienced gardener would put them, and they flatly refuse to live under all the conditions most approved by science. Most persons who grow them have such adventures to tell, their own or reported.

Sir Trevor Lawrence mentioned at the Orchid Conference that he once built a Phalaenopsis house at the cost of 600; after a few months' trial he restored his plants to their old unsatisfactory quarters and turned this beautiful building to another purpose. The authorities at Kew tell the same story with rueful merriment. In both cases, the situation, the plan, every detail, had been carefully and maturely weighed, with intimate knowledge of the eccentricities to be dealt with and profound respect for them. Upon the other hand, I could name a 'grower' of the highest standing who used to keep his Phalaenopsis in a ramshackle old greenhouse belonging to a rough market-gardener of the neighbourhood--perhaps does still. How he came to learn that they would thrive there as if under a blessed spell I have forgotten. But once I paid the market-gardener a visit and there, with my own eyes, beheld them flouris.h.i.+ng under conditions such that I do not expect a plain statement of the facts to be believed. In the midst of the rusty old ruin was a stand with walls of brick; above this wires had been fixed along the roof. The big plants hung lowest. Upon the edges of their baskets smaller plants were poised, and so they stood, one above another, like a child's house of cards--I am afraid to say how high. A labouring man stood first at one end, then at the other, and cheerfully plied the syringe. They were not taken down nor touched from month to month.

Seeing and hearing all this, I cried--but the reader can imagine what I cried.

'Well,' replied the market-gardener, 'I don't understand your orchids. But I shouldn't ha' thought they was looking poorly.'

Poorly! Under these remarkable circ.u.mstances some scores of Phalaenopsis were thriving as I never saw them elsewhere.

In this house they do very well, growing and flowering freely, giving no trouble by mysterious ailments. We have most of the large species--amabilis, Stuartiana, Schilleriana, Sanderiana, etc. No description of these is required. Hybrids of Phalaenopsis are few as yet.

Here is Hebe, the product of rosea Sanderiana, rosy white of sepal and petal, bright pink of lip, yellow at the base.

On the left is a 'rockery' of tufa, planted with the hybrid Anthuriums which Messrs. Sander have been producing so industriously of late years.

To my mind, an infant could make flowers as good as Anthuriums, if equipped with a sufficient quant.i.ty of sealing-wax, red and pink and white. Their form is clumsy, and grace they have none. But when they recognise a fas.h.i.+on, the wise cease to protest. Anthuriums are the fas.h.i.+on.

Since that is so, and many worthy persons will be interested, I name the hybrids here.

Of the Andreeanum type, raised by crossing its various forms:--_Lawrenciae_, pure white; _Goliath_, blood-red; _Salmoniae_, flesh-colour; _Lady G.o.diva_, white faintly tinged with flesh-colour; _Albanense_, deep red, spadix vermilion--this was one of the twelve 'new plants' which won the First Prize at the International Exhibition 1892.

Of the Rothschildianum type:--_Saumon_, salmon-colour; _niveum_, very large, whitish, with orange-red markings; _aurantiac.u.m_, coloured like the yolk of egg; _The Queen_, evenly marked in red, orange, and white.

Overhead hang small plants of Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium; on a shelf above the Anthuriums, against the gla.s.s, two large specimens of the n.o.ble Cyp. bellatulum alb.u.m--which with a despairing effort I have tried to sketch elsewhere--and no less than 380 plants of Cyp. G.o.defroyae, and its variety, Cyp. leucochilum, both white, heavily spotted with brownish purple.