The last exclamation was called from Jack by the fact that the teams had suddenly stopped, and the native drivers were shouting excitedly over something which had happened.
They were at the time trying to make a roadway to the nitrate bed through a trackless wilderness, and had thus far progressed with greater ease than the young speculator had calculated.
But upon reaching the spot where the teamsters and workmen were holding an excited controversy, Jack found that the cause of the excitement was the fact that the way had been stopped by a sharp, rocky ridge, which extended for miles in both directions.
“We can’t go any further, señor,” declared the head driver. “No team can find its way through these rocks and up and down the hill.”
Jack had seen this place when making his survey and had calculated upon the difficulty in passing it, having the route most feasible at this point.
“Let two men come forward with axes to clear away the stunted growth, and the rest get their levers. I will show you by to-morrow it can be passed.”
Lively work followed, the men taking hold with a vim, so that by noon the next day a path had been cleared, so the teams could cross the rocky ridge.
The balance of the distance to the mine was very favorable and at last Jack had the satisfaction of finding himself at his destination, when the men were set to work loading the carts, the oxen getting a chance to rest while it was being done.
While superintending the work Jack had time to realize more fully than before the gigantic undertaking he had upon hand. It is true the worst seemed over, now that the path was cleared, but he knew with the rude implements he had to work with that this had been poorly done, and that the loaded teams would have difficult work to reach the open country. Even then he would be many miles from the nearest seaport, where he was likely to meet with another obstacle in finding a ship to transport his cargo to the United States. Then, after he had reached home, how would he be treated? A failure to sell his nitrate meant the loss of every penny of money he had worked so hard to earn. But these anxious thoughts did not rob him of his confidence in his ultimate success. Now he had put his shoulder to the wheel, he was not one to look back.
When the hour came for him to give the order to hitch up the cattle and prepare for the return journey, he gave his orders in a cheery tone.
“I tell you, Jack,” said Plum, speaking with less drawl than common, “I’m mighty glad to do this. I don’t see how you can be so chipper, for I’m dead sure we’re going to have loads of trouble before we get out of this.”
“No great thing was ever done without having more or less trouble at the outset,” replied Jack. “As soon as we get started we shall find it easier. Hi, there, Pedro!” addressing one of the Peruvian drivers, “you have those oxen yoked wrong. You ought to know better by this time.”
“Who knows best, señor, you or I?” demanded the Peruvian, showing anger at what he deemed an unwarranted interference.
Jack said nothing further, feeling that he had spoken too sharply perhaps, though he knew he was in the right. He had found the natives anything but pleasant men to deal with, and the quarrel of one was sure to be taken up by his companions.
Five minutes later the foremost team was leaving the nitrate bed, starting on its long journey at the slow pace of oxen, while the other soon followed.
Vague reports had reached Jack before he had left on his trip, of the uprising of the people, and of the guerrilla warfare being carried on by the straggling armies of the North and South. Still he did not think he would be molested, and he felt in good spirits, as they followed the rough pathway.
To be on his guard as much as possible, however, he had thought best to keep a short distance ahead of the teams, while Plum Plucky followed about the same distance behind, the two thus maintaining a continual watch over the train.
Nothing occurred to delay their progress, until Jack found himself climbing the steep upgrade, which the Peruvians had declared impassable before they had done so much work in clearing it. The course was uneven now, and considerable of the way it was little more than a scratch on the mountain side, with a sheer descent on one side of hundreds of feet.
He had got about half way toward the top when the loud cries of the teamsters caused him to look back.
A glance showed him that the foremost team was “hung up” at a particularly bad place.
The drivers were belaboring the patient oxen unmercifully, but not another inch could they make the animals pull the load.
Shouting to the men to stop their useless goading of the oxen, our hero ran back to the spot, finding that the second team had stopped a short distance below, where it was comfortably waiting for the other to move ahead so it could resume its tedious journey.
As there was no chance to get the oxen on the lower team past the upper one, so as to be hitched on to help, on account of the narrowness of the road, Jack quickly dismissed such an idea from his thoughts.
Not wishing to throw off a part of the load, which must be lost by so doing, he stepped alongside the cattle and began to stroke them and to speak gently to them.
“Both teams couldn’t pull the load up this path, señor,” said one of the drivers.
“I am sorry I did not think to double up at the foot of the ascent, but it is too late to complain now. Come, boys! all together.”
Jack had taken the long, slender pole, with its ten feet of lash, with which the drivers urged on their patient teams, and swinging the unwieldly instrument over their heads as he uttered the words, he hoped to make them start.
The result was most unexpected.
Putting their shoulders to the work with renewed life, the obedient oxen fairly touched the ground with their bodies as they tugged ahead with their burden.
The cart creaked and the axles groaned, while the heavy wheels began to revolve.
“Hooray! it is mov--”
Plum Plucky gave expression to the exultant cry, but he did not have time to finish before a loud snap was heard, and the oxen were seen to suddenly plunge up the grade, leaving the cart!
“The pull pin has broken!” cried one of the Peruvians, terrified.
“The clevis has broke--look out!” yelled Plum, turning pale. “The other team will be smashed!”
The heavily loaded wagon, freed suddenly from the power which had pulled it to this precarious position, stood for a moment as if balanced on the pinacle.
Of course Jack had seen what was taking place with a quicker eye than any of his companions, and as he saw the wagon trembling in the balance for a moment before it started on its downward course to destruction, and realizing that a timely action could yet save it, he rushed forward to seize hold of one of the wheels, shouting to his assistants:
“Quick--put your shoulder to the wheel and we may save it!”
Plum did spring forward to help his friend, but even he was too late to be of any avail, while the Peruvians stood idle, without offering to move.
While the united strength of all might have stopped the wagon, Jack’s resistance was futile, and in a moment the loaded vehicle started on its downward course, soon gaining a momentum that nothing could stop.
Faster and faster it moved, the wheels creaking and groaning unanimously, as it gained in speed.
The drivers of the other team in the pathway below uttered wild cries of terror, as they saw their danger, and began to scramble helter-skelter up the mountain side.
The runaway was going directly upon them, but they were likely to escape.
Not so with the oxen and wagon, which seemed surely doomed.
Jack saw at a glance his whole work going to naught in a moment’s time.
Then his presence of mind returned to him and he thought he saw a way to avert a part of the loss.
Bounding down the pathway after the runaway, he soon managed to catch hold of the tongue, which was dodging swiftly from one side to the other of the path, according as it was swung to and fro by the motion of the forward wheels.
Grasping this forearm with all the strength he possessed, Jack swung it toward the near side, until locking the forward wheel on that side against the sill of the cart.
He had seen that the only chance to save the rear wagon was at the sacrifice of the other, and no sooner had he begun to hold the pole in that position that the wagon began to turn toward the gulf yawning on that side of the track.
It was a fearful alternative, but the best he could do, and Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he found the hind wheels going over the brink of the chasm.
For a moment the big load stood quivering on the edge of the precipice, and then, with a crash which sounded far up and down the rugged valley, the wagon went headlong to its doom.
Breathless and exhausted by his almost superhuman effort, Jack sank down upon the hard rocks, where he had stood at the fateful moment.
Plum Plucky, further up the broken pathway, stood in silent awe, while the Peruvians looked on from their perches on the mountain side with bulging eyes and chattering teeth.
The only creatures which seemed unconcerned were the oxen which had been so narrowly threatened, as they quietly chewed their cuds, while they blinked their big, soft-lighted eyes. Plum was the first to speak.
“Jiminey whack, Jack! but you’ve done it.”
“It was my only chance to save the oxen and the other load,” said Jack, rising to feet. “Better save half a loaf than to lose it all, you know. Simply couldn’t turn it into the rocks.”
“But I don’t see how you could think of it. I was scart, I ain’t ashamed to own. I’ll bet that other is smashed into kindling wood.”
Jack was already looking over the precipice after the lost wagon, saying in a minute or so:
“It has come out better than I should have expected, though it will do us no further good. It has lodged among some trees and rocks, and I do not believe a wheel has been broken.”
“That’s so, Jack, though I reckon it don’t make any difference to us. But if ’em rocks don’t start to grow it’s ’cause the nitrate ain’t any good, for the stuff is sowed all over the Andes.”
“It is pretty well scattered, that is a fact. But come, boys, we must hitch on the other oxen, and see if the double team can pull this load to the top.”
Though the loss of one of his wagons and a portion of his nitrate, which had cost him so much to get so far, was felt keenly by Jack, he showed his indomitable will by immediately giving his attention toward carrying out the work of crossing the ridge.
The remaining load proved an easy burden for the united teams, and in a few minutes the heavy wagon was moving slowly up the path, the loud commands of the Peruvian drivers echoing up and down the valley with somewhat startling effect.
“As soon as we get to the summit,” said Jack to Plum, “you and I will go back and see if there is not some way to save the other wagon, even at the sacrifice of its load.”
“I s’pose we might throw off what nitrate there is left on it, and by hitching together all the chains and ropes we have--”
“I wonder what is wrong now,” exclaimed Jack, for the team had again stopped, though the wagon was not more than its length from the summit. To the drivers he shouted:
“Drive up a little further, so the wagon will stand without--”
Loud, angry cries stopped him in the midst of his speech.
Anxious to know what had caused another interruption in the advance, he hurried forward, to meet a most unexpected sight.
Drawn up in front of the team in the narrow path was a squad of Chilian soldiers, or bushwhackers, more properly speaking, for he knew they did not belong to the regular army.
The Peruvians were cowering by the side of the wagon and cattle, muttering over something in their native tongue which our hero did not understand.
“Ho, there, soldiers!” he called out, in his best Spanish, “what does this mean?”
“It means if you don’t get out of our path, Americanos, we will hew you down!”
“Don’t be too fast, señor captain,” Jack made bold to say, “this path is one of my own making, though if you will allow me to get my team to the--”
“Pitiful dog!” cried the Chilian, “Captain de Costa commands you to clear his way without any insulting words.”
Jack saw that it would be worse than useless to have any words with this imperious Chilian, who in his petty command felt more arrogant than a king on this throne. Accordingly he began in a respectful tone:
“If Captain de Costa will kindly allow us to drive to the summit we shall be able--”
“Americano dog! will you surrender?”
By this time the Peruvians had taken to their heels, and Jack and Plum stood alone in front of the pompous captain and legion.
Jack’s first thought was to boldly refuse the demand, knowing the other had no business to interfere with him, and to make such a resistance as he and his companion could. But single-handed, against such odds, he knew it would be folly.
“If you please, Captain de Costa, we two are but peaceful American boys, both of us engaged--”
“Will you surrender?” thundered the Chilian, advancing with uplifted sword, as if he would carry out his threat of hewing him down.
“We are offering no resistance to you, señor captain. If you will allow us to--”
At a motion from the Chilian leader his soldiers leaped forward, and Jack and Plum were quickly made prisoners.
The order was then given for the lads to be intrusted to a portion of troops under the command of a sergeant, and then the march down the pathway toward the nearest town was begun.
The last Jack saw of his team it was still standing just over the brow of the height, the patient oxen chewing their cuds as unconcerned as if the fortunes and the lives of their owners were not in the least endangered.
“What is going to be the end of this?” asked Plum, as they were marched along side by side.
“It is impossible to tell. I do not think it will be best for us to have much to say to each other if we wish to keep together. We must keep our eyes open for a chance to escape.”
Plum taking the hint, the friends walked along in silence until the journey seemed without end.
The soldiers kept up a continual run of conversation, Jack catching enough to know that the Chilian forces were gaining successes wherever they met the Peruvians. He also learned that the army of Bolivia was now their greatest concern, and that the latter was then on a march over the Andes to meet them.
At nightfall a halt was made under a spur of the mountains, but before the sun had tipped with gold the crest of the distant Andes the weary journey was resumed.
That day about noon they came in sight of a little up-country town, which the prisoners soon learned was known as Santa Rosilla. Its long, narrow streets bore a deserted appearance, save for the motley-coated soldiers passing to and fro, as if on guard.
The town bore every sign of a recent siege, while the indications were as strong that the inhabitants had been completely routed and killed or driven back into the mountains by their conquerors.
Straight down the grand plaza marched the soldiers with their captives, making their way toward the casa consistorial, or town house, above which flapped in the sleepy breeze the flag of Chili.
The door of the town house, which bore the marks of many bullets, was off its hinges, but the rooms within were secure enough for all prisoners of war that might fall into their hands in that isolated district, and thither our twain were marched.
To their delight, which they were careful to conceal, they were put into a room together, though under a strong guard.
“Looks so we were in for it,” said Plum, after they had been left by themselves for an hour or more.
“It was a hard set-back to my plans,” said Jack.
“I wonder what they will do with us,” ventured Plum, expressing the thought uppermost in our hero’s mind.
“From what I have overheard I should judge we were likely to be shot at the first opportunity.”
“’Pears to me you’re mighty cool about it. Will they dare to shoot us? We are not mixed up in their war, and it might make trouble for them in in the end, if I know anything.”
“They don’t stop to consider that. It is my opinion they would dare to do anything but meet an equal number of the enemy. It looks bad for us, Plum.”
“I wonder if we can’t dig out of here somehow? These walls don’t seem so awful thick.”
“Of course we must try and get out of this. The first thing to do will be to free our limbs. Can you loosen your bonds any?”
For the next ten minutes the boys were busy trying to free their hands from the ligatures which had been fastened in no uncertain way.
“It’s no use,” acknowledged Plum at last. “I believe mine grow tighter and tighter. Hark! I should think that soldier on guard in the hall would get tired of that everlasting tramping back and forth. I’ve a mind to tell him to stop.”
“Better not do it. I wonder if by standing on my shoulder you could look out of that window up there?”
“I have been thinking that same thing. Let’s try it.”
Naturally their attention had been attracted to a small window, which afforded light and ventilation for the room, but which was about ten feet from the floor.
Tied hands and feet, as they were, the boys tried many times to carry out their plan without avail, until it must have been near midnight when Plum said:
“It’s mighty aggravating. There must be lights on the streets, for I’ve seen their flash.”
“Let’s try once more. If I lie down perhaps you can get on my neck, after which I believe I can raise you to the window.”
This proved a most difficult feat, but after repeated attempts Plum succeeded in gaining the desired position, when Jack slowly straightened up, until he had brought his companion’s head on a level with the window, where by leaning against the wall he was enabled to hold him for a hasty look over the scene without.
Plum had barely gained his unsteady perch before he exclaimed in a tone of excitement:
“Oh, Jack! the town is on fire! Everything is burning up!”
At that moment the dull boom of a cannon reached their ears.
“Looks as if the old town was being raided by some enemy,” declared Plum, after a short pause, during which another peal of the distant cannon awoke far and wide the dismal night.
Loud cries were now heard outside the town house, making the youths’ situation one of excitement. In the hall adjoining their prison the steady tramp of the sentry’s feet had suddenly ceased.
“How about the fire?” asked Jack, bracing himself more firmly against the wall under the weight of his companion.
Boom! boom! boom! rang sullenly on the scene before Plum could reply, and then the rattle of musketry succeeded and the hoarse shouts of men giving orders such as no one could understand in the wild confusion.
“The fire lifts higher and higher,” said Plum, as soon as a lull in the tumult allowed him to be heard by his companion. “It seems to be burning on the northeast corner of the town, and the wind is driving it down this way like a race horse. The plaza is full of soldiers.”
The cannonade soon became almost continual, and was fairly deafening.
“What will become of us?” asked Plum, showing his first sign of hopelessness.
“Is the window large enough to let us crawl out if our hands were free?” asked Jack.
“It may be; but it is crossed with bars of iron no man could break with his hands.”
“Take your last look and then come down.”
Plum took a hurried survey of the scene which he realized he might never look upon again, but his narrow orbit allowed of nothing more than what he had described.
The cannons were still thundering forth their loud-voiced peals of war, half drowned by the incessant rattle of the smaller arms in the hands of the town’s defenders.
In a moment Plum descended to the floor in a heap.
“Get on your feet if you can,” said Jack a moment later.
By resting against the wall, as his companion was doing, Plum Plucky soon stood beside him.
“I should like to know what we are to do in this condition. We are sure to be killed.”
“Hark! do you hear anything of the sentry now?”
“No; he went out to join the soldiers. I see him.”
“Then our way is clear. Now, Plum, I want you to brace yourself as best you can, and when I give the word throw all your weight against the door with me.”
“Going to try and break it down?”
“Yes; ready?”
“Ready.”
“Now then, together!”
The old door shook and creaked beneath their combined efforts, but it withstood the shock.
“Again--together!”
This time the whole building trembled, and the door creaked and groaned, but still defied them.
“Still again--together!”
But the third attempt, nor yet the fourth nor fifth cleared their pathway, though when both the boys were bruised from head to feet the rusty hinges suddenly gave away and they went headlong into the narrow hallway.
Jack struck upon top, and he was the first to gain his knees, as near an erect position as he could easily gain, and he began to crawl toward the open air, saying:
“Follow me, Plum.”
On the outer threshold they paused to take a hasty survey of the surroundings, soon satisfying themselves that a terrific battle was being waged at the upper end of the town.
“The quicker we get away the better,” said Jack, begining to move laboriously toward the grand plaza, with Plum close behind him.
In that slow, tedious way the two crossed the yard in front of the town house, and then steering for the cover of a line of shrubbery bordering on the west side of the plaza, they crawled as fast as they could in that direction.
The sound of the cannon was not heard so constant now, but the storm of the musketry had not seemed to cease to any extent.
What meant infinitely more to them, the firing was rapidly drawing nearer. The fire, too, of the burning town was growing brighter and brighter, even the plaza showing plainly under its vivid glare.
Upon reaching the shrubbery they stopped for a brief respite.
“Look, Jack!” exclaimed Plum, in a shrill whisper, “our prison is on fire! We didn’t get out any too soon.”
Jack had made the same discovery. He made no reply, his thoughts being busy in another direction.
An incendiary had kindled a fire at one end of the building and so fast did the flames increase and spread that while they watched them they sprang up and enveloped one whole side in a crimson sheet.
“We must get away from this place,” said Jack. “The two factions of war are coming this way on a run. It must be the captors of the town have met more than their match this time.”
Again the escaping couple began their slow retreat, now under cover of a dense growth reaching they knew not how far. Nor did that matter so long as it afford them shelter from their enemies.
Once, having gained a little summit from which they could look down on the exciting scene, they stopped to gaze back, their curiosity aroused by the wild medley of cries.
The town house was now all ablaze, the lurid fire feeding upon its walls lighting far the night scene, while throwing a weird glamor over the contending factions of war-crazed men, who had now both reached the further side of the plaza and temporally suspended hostilities.
There was a reason for this last, too, as explained by Jack’s words, as he analyzed the situation:
“They are Chilians on both sides, Plum!”
“Do you mean, Jack, that this attack on the Chilians of the town has been made by some of their own countrymen?”
“Yes; there has been some mistake made, which has cost many needless lives. What a painful surprise it must be to them!”
Jack afterwards learned that he had been right in his conjectures, and that through some unexplainable blunder one division of the Chilian army had been sent to capture the town already in possession of another portion.
Santa Rosilla was in the possession of the Chilians sure enough now!
But Jack and Plum dared not stop to see the outcome of this singular meeting between the armed forces, but improved every moment to get away from the ill-fated town.
Three days later, having actually worn off the bonds on their lower limbs by their long, painful journey on their hands and knees through the dense growth, until a friendly Peruvian lad finished their liberation, Jack and Plum entered de la Pama, two sorry-looking youths but still full of courage. Almost the first news they learned was that the St. Resa railroad was again without the men to run the train, which had been stalled for weeks. In fact, the engineer and his helper who had succeeded them, had not made one complete trip, the fireman having blown out the boiler soon after leaving De la Pama.
In this dilemma the officials hailed the appearance of the boys with unfeigned delight. But Jack was sorry to learn that it had been decided not to pay over thirty pistoles a month for his services.
“We might as well let the cars stand idle as to pay out all we can get for help. Then, too, the business is not going to be very good while this war lasts, señor.”
The pay was still big for that country, and Jack resolved to accept, though before doing so he asked: “What will you pay my fireman?”
“Twenty pistoles, señor. That is the best we can do. We can get plenty of men for that price.” “It doesn’t look so. But what do you say, Plum? That will bring you seventy-two dollars a month, if I reckon right. I will try it for awhile if you will go with me.”
“I’m with you.”
Most unexpected to them at the time they began, the “awhile” proved for a year. Jack had not dreamed he should stay so long, but his previous experience had left him penniless, and with his fixed determination to try again, he knew he would not be able to find so good an opportunity to earn the needed money to begin renewed operations. During those days Jack sent several letters to his folks and to Jenny. In return he received a letter from his father, stating that all was now going fairly well with the family and if he wanted to stay in South America he could do so. Mr. North also sent the information that Fowler & Company had gone into the hands of a receiver and there was no telling whether the business would be continued or not, and Jack need not expect any back pay from the concern.
From Jenny Jack heard not a word, much to his anxiety and dismay. The fact was that Jenny’s folks had moved to another town and she had not received Jack’s letters, and consequently did not know exactly where he was.
“I suppose she has forgotten all about me,” he thought, with a sigh. “Well, I suppose I ought to go back, but I hate to do it before I’ve managed to get some money together. There’s a fortune in that nitrate and I know it, and some day I’ll get hold of it.”
Very much to Jack’s surprise they were not molested very much by the bush-raiders, whose power seemed to have been checked by the advance of the opposing armies, for the war was still carried on, though in a sort of desultory manner, as if each side was afraid of the others. Jack could foresee that the Chilians were pretty sure to secure that portion of the country before they got through. Plum Plucky had stood by his friend all of this time, and they had met with some thrilling experiences, but come out of them safely.
Jack saved his money like a miser, and with undimmed faith in his ultimate success bought five more nitrate beds, to be laughed at by his friend.
“Should think you would want to look after ’em loads you have got over on the Andes,” Plum would frequently say.
Each time Jack remained silent.
“Say, Jack,” Plum would then invariably say, “don’t yeou s’pose ’em oxen are getting hungry by this time?”
Still the other held his peace.
Jack had not forgotten the mysterious island in the equally mysterious lake amid the Andes, and twice during the year his memory had been refreshed by startling accounts given of the place by different parties that had visited the valley. These men had given it the name of the “Devil’s Waters,” not very inappropriately.
At the end of the year, it now being certain that the Peruvians were losing their hold on the province which comprised the territory in which they were located, Jack said to his companion:
“I am almost sorry to say that I shall make my last trip to-morrow, Plum.”
“Going back to nitrates?” asked the other, showing but little surprise.
“Yes. I must get a cargo to America as soon as possible.”
“Should think you would want to. Guess I will stick to the old gal here a little longer. When I have got enough money to get out of this swamp in the way I want to I shall go back to old New England.
“I tell you there is no place like the Old Bay State. Yeou won’t think me a sneak for deserting yeou now, Jack?” dropping back into his old-time nasal drawl.
“Oh, no, of course not. In fact, I think you are doing just as I should if I were in your place. I will speak a good word for you to get my position as engineer. You can run the engine as well as I now.”
“Good for you, Jack. Now, how do you think of getting that stuff to the States?”
“About the same way I tried first, only I shall not try to go behind that spur of the Andes, as I did before.
“I can see my mistake now, though I believe that is the richest deposit I have, and I shall sometime make something out of it. I am going to get a cargo from the bed nearest to the railroad and get the company to freight it for me to the seaboard.”
“Then I shall see you occasionally, Jack.”
“Oh, yes. I shall not be far away.”
Jack was as good as his word, and the following day Plum Plucky proudly took his place as engineer, with a new fireman to help him.
Jack then began to carry out his scheme of getting a cargo of nitrate to his native land.
This time he obtained his supply of nitrate from a bed less than ten miles from the railroad, drawing it to the station with ox teams. With his better knowledge of the country he met with success in this part of the undertaking, and then the train carried it to the sea-coast for him at moderate rates.
Before this had been done he had bargained with a Peruvian captain of a merchantman to carry the cargo to Philadelphia.
This had proved the most difficult part of his arrangements, for with the existing war between the countries it was sometime before he could find a man willing to do it.
But he found one at last and the nitrate was eventually loaded on the vessel.
It was a proud, and yet an anxious, moment for Jack when he found everything in readiness to leave the harbor.
The captain had declared his intention of setting sail under cover of darkness, so as to escape an attack from a Chilian ship should one offer to dispute his passage.
That afternoon Jack saw Plum to bid him goodbye, feeling sorry to part with his honest friend.
The latter actually cried.
“Hang it, Jack! I’ve a mind to go with you. Think of me in this heathenish country and you among friends and rolling in wealth.”
“All but the wealth, Plum. But I shall be glad to have you go with me.”
“I thank you, Jack, but I mustn’t. I must stay here long enough to get the money to pay up the mortgage on dad’s farm, when I shall skip by the light of the moon. You may not find me here when you come back, Jack, but I wish you well.”
A little after sunset the Peruvian ship moved slowly out of the harbor of San Maceo, Jack watching the land as it receded from sight with a peculiar interest, and his mind ran swiftly back over the eventful time he had passed in that faraway land.
He had given the captain the last pistole he possessed, as he had been obliged to pay him in advance to get him to undertake the task, so he was again penniless. But he had no doubt he would have money enough as soon as he could get home and dispose of his cargo. Over and again he had figured out his profit, if it should prove saleable at the moderate price he had fixed upon it. Is it a wonder his thoughts were in a tumult? Is it strange that he found it difficult to make himself believe that at last after that long waiting, he was really homeward bound?
“How glad they will be to see me!” he thought. “And Jenny! She will not be expecting me. It has been so long since I left. Some of them may be--”
He was interrupted in his meditations by the report of a gun in the distance, and, glancing to the port, he discovered a ship coming up rapidly.
That there was something wrong in the appearance of the stranger was evident from the bustle and excitement which had suddenly sprung up among officers and crew, not one of whom spoke anything but Spanish.
All sail had been crowded on that the ship could possibly carry; but heavily loaded and at best a poor sailer, the new-comer continued to overhaul them at a startling rate.
Coming alongside of Jack finally, the captain said:
“We are lost, señor! I ought to lose my head for undertaking such a mad project.”
“It may not be as bad as you seem to think, señor capitan,” replied Jack, hoping to encourage the commander.
But all that he could say was in vain.
The Chilian warship, as the stranger really was, continued to keep up its firing, though the Peruvian vessel had not fired a gun.
Jack anxiously watched the approach of their pursuer, feeling that his fortune, if not his life, was at stake.
It is possible if the Peruvian had laid to and allowed the other to come up without the show of running away, that it might have been permitted to continue its course unmolested. And again it may not have been so.
At any rate the Peruvian captain held to his flight as his only hope of salvation, until at last a shot, better directed than the random firing so long kept up, struck the doomed merchantman fairly amidship.
The craft instantly lurched and trembled from bow to stern.
“She is sinking!” shrieked the captain. “Quick--to the boats!”
A scene of the wildest description followed the frantic captain’s announcement and order. The sailors were panic stricken, and more than half of them plunged headlong into the sea.
The captain was scarcely less distracted than his men, and he only added to the helplessness of the situation by his words and actions.
Jack tried to pacify him by saying:
“Pardon me, señor capitan, but the ship will not sink at once if at all. You have plenty of time in which to save your lives.”
“But the Chilian! We shall be made prisoners of war. Heaven protect me! I was a fool to listen to you, Señor North.”
“It is too late to think of that now. It is your duty to see if something cannot be done to stop the ship’s leak.”
It was useless to try to reason with the Peruvian captain. He was sure the ship was going to sink, and seemed determined that she should.
Meanwhile the Chilian continued to draw nearer, though it had nearly stopped firing.
The trumpet-like tone of the commander rang over the water just as the terrified Peruvians lowered a boat and leaped headlong into it, that is, those who had not previously jumped into the sea.
Finding himself alone on the sinking vessel, which was going down fast, Jack answered the Chilian’s challenge:
“Ship ahoy! what do you want?”
“What ship is that?”
“The merchant ship, Santa Clara, Señor Captain, now sinking from the effects of your shot.”
“Lay to and I’ll come aboard.”
This command was not obeyed.
The doomed vessel was now lurching fearfully, and Jack knew that he could not leave it any too soon for his own safety of life. Fortunately the shore was not so far away but he believed he could reach it, and throwing off his outer garments, he leaped into the water.
The Peruvians were struggling in every direction, the boat having been upset by them in their mad endeavors to save themselves. Jack knew that the farther he got away from them and the quicker he did it, the better it would be for him. He left them in their furious, but futile, efforts to escape or drown, as their attempts for life deserved.
After swimming a short distance he looked back to find that he was just in season to witness the fate of the ship. He saw her make a sudden lurch forward, and then she seemed to right herself for a moment, but it was her death struggle, for with the next breath she went downward, quickly disappearing from sight forever.
“Another plan gone wrong,” thought Jack, “and again I am where I began.”
A less courageous youth than Jack North must have given up then, but with the stern determination of his nature not to give up, he resumed his swimming, reaching the land half an hour later.
“This is worse than before,” he said ruefully, as he viewed his drenched figure, “for I did save my coat then. Yes, and my cargo of nitrate is still on the mountain waiting for me. I think I will toss up a cent to see what I shall do next. No! come to think of it, I haven’t got the cent to do that!”
His first thought was to return to the machine shop in Tocopilla, but as De la Pama was nearer he decided to go there in the morning. “It is useless for me to remain here,” he reasoned, “I wonder how many of the Peruvians have escaped? They were a set of cowards anyway, and the captain the biggest fool of them all. I hope he will make good use of my money.”
Jack laid down supperless that night under the green blanket of a Peruvian forest, and he went on toward De la Pama the next morning breakfastless, thinking:
“There is one thing certain, I will not take Plum’s job from him. If he has no fireman, and will accept me, I will go as his helper.”
Though he did not seek immediately his friend, almost the first person he saw in town was Plum. It would be difficult to say which was the more surprised.
“What! not gone to the States, Jack?”
“No, Plum.”
“Something gone wrong, Jack, again?”
“About my usual luck, Plum. I am where I began--without a cent in my pocket,” and he quickly told the other what had befallen him since they had parted.
“It’s too bad, Jack, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I have what amounts to three hundred dollars that I’ve saved and every dollar of it is yours till you can pay it back.”
“I could not think of taking your hard earnings, Plum, for it is uncertain if I should ever be able to pay it back.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart, but must look for work again.”
“Then you shall have my job, Jack. I had rather fire anyway; honest, Jack.”
“Thank you again, Plum, and it’s just like your generosity, but I cannot rob you of your situation. How does your fireman do?”
“Tip-top, I am sorry to say. To tell the truth, Jack, he does so well I am afraid he will get my job away from me. I wish you would take the lever again, Jack, and let me fire. I never had so good a time in my life as I did then.”
This was a little past noon, and a few minutes later Jack would be obliged to part with Plum, who must start on his return to St. Resa.
“There is one favor you can do me, Plum. If you will lend me money enough to buy a pair of oxen I will begin to team a cargo of nitrate down myself. I do not feel you will take much risk in letting me have that amount.”
“I only wish you would take more, Jack.”
“I think I have hit on a better plan this time,” said Jack, as he took the loan. “I am going to draw enough for a shipload down on the Bolivian coast and house it there until an American ship comes into harbor.
“I may have to wait a long time, but it will be best in the end.”
With his oldtime vivacity Jack set out on his new undertaking. He soon found a yoke of oxen to his liking, and finding he had money enough he bought a second pair. Then he started for the mountain ridge where he had so unceremoniously left his two loads of nitrate so long before.
He did not expect to recover the one that had gone over the precipice, though it had not moved from its singular position. To his joy he found the other just where he had left it. The rust had gathered on the iron-work and the sun had discolored the wood, but the wagon was in running order, and as the path from this point was generally descending he had no trouble in drawing the load, though his team consisted of one yoke of oxen less than before.
It would be tedious to follow him in his long, lonely journeys to Cobija, on the coast of Bolivia, where he stored his nitrate until he had there enough for a ship’s cargo. During the time his cattle lived by feeding on the grass that grew on the more fertile places along the route, while he lived on whatever food he could pick up, sleeping at night under his cart.
He had no further use for his oxen, so he sold them at the first favorable opportunity, realizing enough for them to pay back the money he had borrowed of his friend, with a fair rate of interest. Surely he had made a more auspicious beginning this time.