Real Gold Part 11

"Go on, then," said the colonel.

The boy descended from the few yards of loose stony way to where the wet rough-hewn boards began, drew a deep breath, and stepped on to the bridge, conscious that the guide was looking back, and that the new Indian was at the other end, watching him earnestly, with his lips slightly parted and his teeth bared.

To Perry it was a sign that their attendant felt the danger of the place, and was watching to see him fall. And if he did, he felt nothing could save him, for he would be swept away in an instant down that narrow chasm full of rus.h.i.+ng water, where it was impossible for any one to climb down and stretch out a helping hand.

One step, two steps, three steps, all descending, for the middle of the bridge hung far lower than the ends, and Perry could feel it vibrato beneath him, and his nervous dread increased. And yet it was so short a distance to where the Indians were waiting, as he stepped cautiously on till he was well past the middle, when all at once the sky above him seemed to be darkened over his head, there was a peculiar, whistling, rus.h.i.+ng sound, and looking up sharply, Perry saw that the huge bird which had pa.s.sed out of sight had wheeled round and was flying so close above him, that it seemed as if its object were to strike at him with its powerful talons.

As a matter of fact, the bird swept by five-and-twenty feet above his head, but it was near enough to destroy the lad's balance as he started and bent down to avoid the fancied blow. The colonel uttered a loud cry of warning, and Perry made an effort to recover himself, but this stagger caused the bridge to sway, and in another moment or two he would have been over into the torrent had not the bridge vibrated more heavily as a guttural voice whispered to him:

"Quick! _mano_--hand!"

It was accompanied by a sharp drag as his own was seized, and, recovering his balance, he half ran--was half pulled--up the slope into safety on the other side.

Perry felt giddy and dazed as the Indian loosed his hold and hurried away among the mules, while before he had half recovered himself, his father had crossed and was at his side.

"Perry, my lad, you sent my heart into my mouth."

"Yes," faltered the boy. "It was very horrid. That bird."

"It was startling, my lad, but you ought to be able to walk boldly across a place like that."

"Ahoy! colonel!" came from the other side, as John Manning hailed them.

"What is it?" shouted back the colonel.

"Hadn't I better go back, sir?"

"Back? No. Come over!"

John Manning took off his hat and scratched his head, looking down at the hanging bridge and then up at his master.

Just then there was a shout from Diego and some words in the Indian tongue, which resulted in the other Indian offering his hand to the colonel's servant, who resented it directly.

"No," he growled; "I'll do it alone. One must be safer by one's self;"

and stretching out his arms like a tight-rope dancer, he came down cautiously, stepped on to the bridge and slowly walked across, the Indian following at a trot, as if astonished at any body finding so good a pathway difficult.

"I hope there ain't many more o' them spring playthings, sir," said John Manning gruffly. "I thought Master Perry was gone."

"Nonsense!" said the colonel shortly. "That great bird startled him.

Forward again; the men are going on.--Perry, my boy, you must give that Indian lad a knife, or something as a present: he saved your life."

"Yes, father," said the boy, looking dazed and strange. "I--I'm better now."

"Yes, of course you are. Pis.h.!.+ we mustn't dwell upon every slip we have. There, think no more about it," he continued, as he noticed the boy's blank, pale face. "Go on, and mount your mule."

"I think I would rather walk," said Perry.

"Walk, then," said the colonel shortly, and he went on and mounted his mule.

"Quick! _mano_--hand!" buzzed in Perry's ear, and at the same time he seemed to hear the booming roar of the torrent beneath his feet, and the rush of the huge bird's wings just above his head--"Quick! _mano_-- hand!"

"I say, Master Perry, sir, don't look that how," said John Manning in a low voice; "you're as white as taller candle. You're all right now."

"Yes," said Perry, trying hard to recover his natural balance. "I'm all right now."

"You've made the colonel look as black as thunder, and it wasn't our fault. They've no business to have such bridges in a Christian country.

But it was enough to scare any one, my lad. I thought that there bird meant to have you."

"That was fancy," said Perry hastily. "I ought to have known better."

"No, it wasn't fancy, my lad. I think he'd have had you, only seeing us all about made him give you up. But it's all right."

"All right?"

"Yes, sir, we're on the c'rect track."

"Of course we are," said Perry, as they marched on once more behind the mules, followed by the Indian.

"You dunno what I mean, sir," said John Manning testily. "I meant on the track for one o' them di'mond valleys. Know what that bird was?"

"Yes; a condor."

"Con grandmother, sir. It was a roc, one o' them birds as carried Sindbad out o' the valley. This was only a chicken, I should say; but it was a roc, all the same."

"What nonsense!" said Perry. "That was all fancy tale and romance."

"Not it, sir. I might have thought so once, but I don't now. Let me ask you this, sir," said Manning: "suppose there was no way out or no way into the valleys we've come along, could you climb up the sides?"

"No, of course not."

"And if you'd heard tell of birds with wings thirty foot across before you'd seen 'em, would you have believed in them?"

"No, and I don't now."

"What! after one of 'em come down to attack you, and we scared it away."

"That was only about half the size."

"Oh, come, Master Perry, sir, don't get a haggling about trifles; there ain't much difference between fifteen foot and thirty. You mark my words, sir, the colonel's been studying up his _'Rabian Nights_, and he's on the right track now for one of them valleys, and we shall go back to San-what's-its-name with these ugly-looking donkey mules loaded up with all kinds of precious stones. You're a lucky one, Master Perry, sir, and your fortune's about made."

"Think so?" said Perry, for the sake of speaking, for he was very thoughtful.

"Yes, sir, I just do; and as for me, I hope it's going to be my luck to get just a few nubbly bits for myself, so as I can buy myself a cottage and a bit o' garden, and keep a pig, so as to live retired. You'll come and see me, Master Perry, then, won't you?"

"Of course," said the boy, and then, making a trivial excuse to get away, he hurried along the line of slow-going mules to see that his father was right in front before their guide, who walked by the first mule; then there were three more plodding along, just far enough behind each other to be safe from any playful kick. By the head of the third mule their new Indian driver was walking with his bow over his shoulder, a handful of long arrows tucked under his arm, and his head bent down watching his footsteps.

Perry kept behind at some distance, watching the Indian's every gesture, till he saw his father returning, for the track had become wider, and the boy watched intently; for he saw the colonel bend down from his mule and tap the Indian on the shoulders as he said a few words in Spanish.

But what they were Perry was too far off to hear, the mules too making a good deal of clattering on the rocky track, which noise was echoed all around in a wonderful way.