"I'll tell you my plan," said d.i.c.k Temple. "Just loose off the boats, and make one bold dash for liberty."

"Ha! ha! sah!" cried Charlie. "I takes de liberty to laugh notwidstanding, foh true. You plenty much all dead men 'fore you get into de big ribber!"

"Well, hang it!" said d.i.c.k, "we're not going to stay here with the pretty prospect before us of being all scuppered and eaten. What say you, Roll?"

"I think," said Roland quietly, "that Charlie there has come prepared to speak, for his face is just beaming."

"See, sah," cried Charlie, evidently pleased, "you trust all to Charlie.

He makee you free after dark. Down in de fo'est yondah dere am mebbe two, mebbee free hunder' sabages. Now dey not want to fight till de dark. Dey will fight all de same when de moon rise, and de rifle not muchee good. No hit in de dark, on'y jes' puff, puff.

"See," he continued, "de wind begin to blow a leetle. De wind get high byme by, den de sun go out, and Charlie he fiah de forest."

"Fire the forest, Charlie?"

"Notwidstanding," said Charlie grimly.

"When," he added, "you see de flame curl up, be all ready. Soon de flame he bus' highah and highah, and all by de ribber bank one big blaze."

"Charlie," cried Bill, "you're a brick! Give us a shake of your yellow hand. Hurrah! boys, Charlie's going to do it!"

Never perhaps was sunset waited for with more impatience.

The great and unanswerable question was this: Would these savages attack immediately after darkness fell, or would they take some time to deliberate?

But behind the rugged mountains down sank the sun at last, and after a brief twilight the stars shone out.

Charlie was not going alone. He had asked for the a.s.sistance of many Indians, and in a whisper he gave them their orders.

Our heroes did not interfere in any way, for fear of confusing the good fellow's plans. But they soon noted that while Charlie himself and two Indians left in one of the smallest canoes, the others disappeared like snakes in the gra.s.s, creeping northwards over the plain.

And now there was silence, for the wind was hushed; silence everywhere, that deep, indescribable silence which nightfall ever brings to a wild and savage land, in which even the beasts are still and listening in forest and dell, not knowing from which direction danger may spring.

Within the little camp nothing could be done but lie still, every man holding his breath with suspense. Nothing could be done save watch, wait, count the weary minutes, and marvel at their length.

Suddenly, however, the deep silence was broken by a mournful cry that came from riverwards. It was apparently that of an owl seeking for its mate, but it was taken up and repeated northwards all over the plain twixt camp and forest, and almost at the same time tiny tongues of fire sprang up here and there and everywhere.

Higher and higher they leapt, along the ground they ran, meeting in all directions down the dark river and across the wild moor by the edge of the woodland. The undergrowth was dry, the gra.s.s was withered, and in an amazingly short time the whole forest by the banks of the Madeira was sheeted in devastating flames.

The savages had been ma.s.sed in the centre of the jungle, and just preparing to issue forth and carry death into the camp of our heroes, when suddenly the crackling of the flames fell on their ears, and they knew they were caught in a fire-trap, with scarcely any means of escape.

Charlie had been terribly in earnest, and, hurrying on in his canoe towards the Madeira, he lit the bank all along, and even down the side of the great stream itself.

It was evidently his savage intention to roast these poor cannibals alive.

As it was, the only outlet towards salvation that remained for them was the Madeira's dark brink.

"Now, boys, now!" shouted Roland, when he saw that the fire had gained entire mastery, and, making its own wind, was sweeping onwards, licking up everything in its way.

"Now, lads, on board! Let us get off down stream in all haste.

Hurrah!"

CHAPTER XXII--EVENINGS BY THE CAMP FIRE

The moorings were speedily slipped, and by the light of the blazing forest the peons bent st.u.r.dily to their paddles, and the canoe went dancing down stream.

They had already taken on board the Indians who had a.s.sisted Charlie, and before long his own boat hove in sight, and was soon taken in tow by the largest canoe.

That burning forest formed a scene which never could be forgotten. From the south side, where the boats were speedily rushing down the stream on their way to the Madeira, and from which came the light wind that was now blowing, the flames leaned over as it were, instead of ascending high in air, and the smoke and sparks took the same direction.

The sparks were as thick as snow-flakes in a snow-storm, and the lurid tongues of fire darted high as the zenith, playing with the clouds of smoke or licking them up.

The noise was indescribable, yet above the roaring and the crackling could be heard the shouts of the maddened savages, as they sought exit from the h.e.l.l around them.

There was no escape except by the Madeira's bank, and to get even at this they had to dash through the burning bushes.

Alas! Charlie and his a.s.sistants had done their work all too well, and I fear that one-half of the cannibals were smothered, dragged down by alligators, or found a watery grave.

As the canoes shot past, the heat was terrible, and next morning at daybreak, when they were far up the river, towards the falls, Roland and his friend were surprised to notice that the palm-leaves which covered the cabin were brown and scorched.

On the whole the experience they had gained of the ferocity and fighting abilities of these Paynee cannibals was such as they were not likely to forget.

During all this period of excitement the suspect Peter had remained perfectly quiescent. Indeed he seemed now quite apathetic, taking very little notice of anything around him, and eating the food placed before him in a way that was almost mechanical. Neither Roland nor d.i.c.k had taken much heed of him till now. When, however, they observed his strange demeanour they took council together and determined that the watch over him should be made extra strict, lest he should spring overboard and be drowned.

Roland may seem to have been harsh with Mr. Peter. But he only took proper precautions, and more than once he a.s.sured d.i.c.k that if the man's innocence were proved he would recompense him a hundred-fold.

"But," added d.i.c.k meaningly, "if he is really guilty of the terrible crime we impute to him, he cannot be punished too severely."

The expedition had that afternoon to land their stores once more to avoid rapids, and a little before sunset they encamped near to the edge of a beautiful wood well back from the banks of the Madeira.

The night pa.s.sed without adventure of any kind, and everyone awoke as fresh and full of life and go as the larks that climb the sky to meet the morning sun.

Another hard day's paddling and towing and portage, and they found themselves high above the Madeira Falls in smooth water, and at the entrance to a kind of bay which formed the mouth or confluence of the two rivers, called Beni and Madro de Dios. This last is called the Maya-tata by the Bolivians.

It is a beautiful stream, overhung by hill and forest, and rises fully two hundred miles southward and west from a thousand little rivulets that drain the marvellous mountains of Karavaya.

The Beni joins this river about ten or twelve miles above the banks of the Madeira. It lies farther to the south and the east, and may be said to rise in the La Paz district itself, where it is called the Rio de la Paz.

To the north-west of both these big rivers lies the great unexplored region, the land of the Bolivian and Peruvian cannibals.

Small need have we to continue to hunt and shoot in Africa, wildly interesting though the country is, when such a marvellous tract of tens of thousands of square miles is hidden here, all unvisited as yet by a single British explorer.

And what splendid possibilities for travel and adventure are here! A land larger than Great Britain, France, and Ireland thrown together, which no one knows anything about; a land rich in forest and prairie; a land the mineral wealth of which is virtually inexhaustible; a land of beauty; a land of lake and stream, of hills and rocks and verdant prairie, and a veritable land of flowers!