A Mystery of the Cordillera. A tale of adventure in the Andes, etc

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A MYSTERY OF THE CORDILLERA " At the bottom of the bill I came upon two Englishmen." — Page Frontispiece. A MYSTERY OF THE CORDILLERA A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE ANDES BY ARTHUR MASON BOURNE u WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON BELLAIRS & CO. To MY FATHER AND MOTHER I Dedicate this Book with deepest affection A. M. B. CONTENTS CHAP. PAQE I. AN EXPEDITION PLANNED I II. PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE .... 22 III. EN ROUTE FOR THE "ENCHANTED LAND'' . . 3 1 IV. THE POINTING HANDS 38 V. "THE ANDES HUNT" 52 VI. AN INTERESTING STRANGER 63 VII. OUR FIRST GREAT DISCOVERY 79 VIII.' WE EXPLORE THE DARK CAVERN .... 95 IX. A STORM AND A DELUGE IO7 X. A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY 1 25 XI. THE DESERTED GOLD-MINE I4O Xn. GETTING READY FOR BATTLE . . . . -157 XIII. THE INDIAN MAIDEN 1 74 XIV. THE CONFLICT DRAWS NEAR 1 89 XV.

A BRUSH WITH THE ENEMY ..... 209 XVI. BURYING THE DEAD AND TENDING THE WOUNDED . 222 XVII. THE INDIAN FORTUNE-TELLER 237 XVIII. WE LEAVE THE "ENCHANTED LAND" . . . 25 1 XIX. THE JESUIT PRIEST 26 1 XX. A STRANGE DOCUMENT 280 XXI. THE MYSTERY SOLVED LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HILL I CAME UPON TWO ENGLISH- MEN" ........ Frontispiece PAGE " IMMEDIATELY BENEATH THE HAND WE FOUND A DATE, 1647" 44 " ' THERE'S THE TOP OF THE CROSS,' SHOUTED JACK, IN A STATE OF WILD EXCITEMENT " 84 "A WIDE VALLEY, ENTIRELY SURROUNDED BY HIGH MOUN- TAINS" I07 "WE SAW TWO HOUSES, COMPLETELY COVERED WITH IVY, ROSES, AND HONEYSUCKLE" . . . . 1 29 " RIGHT BEFORE US WAS THE VOLCANO, AND AT ITS FOOT THE LAKE ; THE WATER WAS SO STILL THAT IT RE- SEMBLED A MIRROR"

Chapter I An Expedition Planned

It has always been incomprehensible to me, and, I fancy, to a great many other people, why Englishmen invariably seem to shun their neighbours. I once knew two natives of Great Britain who lived near each other in a far-off town, up the country, for months together, and yet were strangers to each other until I suddenly came upon the scene, picked up an acquaintance with both of them, and finally brought about an introduction. But that this reticence is peculiar to the English character is undeniably the fact, and is not to be found amongst Frenchmen, nor Germans, nor, indeed, so far as I have been able to judge, amongst men of any other race. Whenever I have met an Englishman in any out-of-the-way part of the country, always supposing he is at all a decent-looking specimen of his kind, I have immediately "gone for him," become friendly with him, and generally discovered him to be a very good fellow.

In this manner I became acquainted with Jack Bickersteth. A I was journeying one fine afternoon from San Luis, whither I had gone a month or so previously with some cattle, when, at the bottom of the hill that flanks the Rio Quinto, I came upon two Englishmen ; one was a good-looking young fellow of about twenty two, who sat on the ground looking as though he had lost half-a-crown and found sixpence, while his com panion, a slim httle man, considerably older, bent over him with an air of having lost two half-crowns and found only a bad threepenny-bit. "Here, at last, is an adventure," thought I, as I rode up and inquired what was the matter. " Matter enough ! " replied the younger of the two, with a sickly smile. " That beast of a horse fell with me just after we crossed the river, and I have sprained my ankle."

I explained to him that the post-house, where the diligencia changed horses (for there were no railways there in those days), was situated just beyond the brow of the hill, at the bottom of which he was then sitting ; and added — " If you can only manage to mount, we can get there in a quarter of an hour." " Oh yes, sir ! Please do, sir ! We can't stay here all night ! " said the little man, jerking out his words in a nervous kind of way. " All right, I'll try. Give us your hand, Brandon, and help me up." The little man grasped one of his hands, and I the other ; and between us we got the invalid on to his legs, and presently, by dint of much pushing and hauling, succeeded in placing him in the saddle. But what on earth could this young fellow be doing out here, with a servant too, for such I now understood his companion to be ?

Where could he have come from, and where could he be going ? My curiosity was aroused ; I longed to ask the question, but decided to wait patiently until the situation unravelled itself. Each of the strangers had a spare horse, on one of which (that led by the servant) a couple of small leather portmanteaus were strapped on the top of a recado, or native saddle, and in front of each of the saddles of the horses they were riding was placed a good thick rug. "My name is Jack Bickersteth," remarked the younger rider when we were fairly started, "and my man's is Hezekiah Brandon. What is yours ? " " Brook," I rephed. " Been long in the country ? " " Five years." " Know most of it by this time, I suppose ? " " A considerable amount, but not all, by any means. I generally travel between Mendoza and Santa Fe' with cattle, so I know the road pretty well."

" You speak the language, of course ? " " Oh yes ; it doesn't take long to pick up that. With a little knowledge of Latin to begin with, it's a very easy hngo to learn." "The worst of it is," said Bickersteth, "I have only been six weeks in the country, and hardly know a word of the language, while Brandon of course knows none, and neither of us is acquainted with anybody out here, except the bankers in Buenos Ayres." "And very useful people to know, too," I said, laughing, "if you only have a proper letter of intro duction to them." " Oh, that's all right," he remarked ; " I have plenty of coin to last me at present, if that's what you mean. I was sent out here for my health ; wrong in the lungs, you know ; over-trained a bit at Oxford last year, burst up completely, or else I should have rowed 'four' in the 'Varsity eight."

I looked at him. His outward appearance did not suggest a weak chest ; on the contrary, he looked the picture of health, and stood about five feet ten, having broad, square shoulders and a very handsome face. His merry blue eyes and curly chestnut hair, the latter visible under a dark-blue cap worn right on the back of his head, proclaimed beyond the shadow of a doubt his Saxon origin. " Brandon's a useful man," said Bickersteth, " and a regular caution to ride" (he was now following about ten paces in the rear, hence these confidences). " He has been first whip to my father for the last twenty years, who wouldn't have let him come here, even for me, but for the fact that April is the end of your summer, and only the beginning of spring at home. Everything, as far as I can make out, is upside down in this blessed country.

But, I say," he continued, " I forgot ; you were going the other way. Don't let my affairs bring you back." "It's of no consequence to me," I replied. " I could not get to the Morro to-night, as it is twelve long leagues from here, so I should have had to camp out, and it will be much pleasanter staying with old Don Pancho at the 'post' than going on; in fact, I had intended doing so, and don't know what made me start so late." " Probably my good angel (if there are such things) induced you to start, so as to find me and lend me a helping hand. But have we much farther to go ? My ankle is confoundedly painful." I pointed out the posta behind a clump of trees, about two hundred yards distant, and five minutes later we were there. I explained to Don Pancho that my companion had hurt his foot, so he and his wife, Mercedes (both old friends of mine, for I had spent the night there repeatedly on my journeyings to and from Mendoza), produced a catre, upon which we laid Jack Bickersteth, and made him as comfortable as the painful condition of his foot allowed.

The old woman made a cold bran poultice, which she tied as tightly as possible, and this eased him greatly. I now had leisure to examine Hezekiah Brandon, who had gone up considerably in my estimation since I had heard what a wonderful horseman he was ; but his appearance was not in his favour. His height could not have been more than five feet three, nor his weight much over nine stone ; one of his shoulders was considerably higher than the other, and he had a face something like a rat, with small, black, bright eyes, very close together; a long, thin, straight nose, and a mouth like a carpet-bag. Besides all this, he was clean-shaven, his iron-grey hair was cropped short, and a grey, soft felt hat reposed jauntily on one side of his narrow head. It was necessary to know him somewhat intimately, as I did later on, in order to discover the sterling qualities which lay hidden beneath this un prepossessing exterior.

A Norfolk jacket and riding breeches of some whitey-brown stuff, such as his master wore, yellow boots and a straight pair of spurs, com pleted his costume. While I had been attending to Bickersteth, Hezekiah had employed himself in unsaddling the horses, so I went and told one of the peones to give each of the animals a feed of maize, and then have them turned out with those belonging to the posta, giving him a chirola (a small piece of money) to ensure their being well looked after. " Mortial glad I was to see you ride up this after noon, sir," was Hezekiah's greeting when we presently met. " I'm blest if I know what we should have done else. Master Jack would have had to sleep down there, for we could not have got back to the Morra to night. That's the place we started from this morning ; an 'orrid nasty place I call it ; they nearly p'isoned us with grease and garlic ; and as for fleas and other creeping things as I won't mention, sir, we was welly eat up."

The word " welly " proclaimed a countryman of my own. It means "nearly," and I fancy it is not used much outside Staffordshire. So I remarked in reply — "You are a countryman of mine, I see." " And what part of England might that be, sir ? I come from Staffordshire, close by Stone. I was born on a farm my father rented from Squire Brook — per haps some relation of yours, sir ? My father is dead these four years, and now my brother Tom has the farm. Our family has rented the same farm from father to son nigh upon two hundred years. Ever been there, sir ? " " Of course I have," said I, somewhat astonished at the statement, " for Squire Brook, as you call him, is my father." " Well, I'm — ahem ! beg pardon, sir, but I'm blest if ever I heard tell of such a thing ; to think as how I should have fallen across you out here.

It's a coinei dunse. I must go and tell Master Jack." The fact of Brandon's family having held land under my father's family created a bond of clanship between us, and we became fast friends. Bickersteth, when he heard of it, told me that, for his own part, he never knew where Brandon had originally grown, or, rather, failed to grow. We had a long talk that night, and Brandon informed me that " Master Jack " was the only son of Squire Bickersteth, who lived in a county adjoining our own ; that he was immensely rich, kept a pack of hounds entirely at his own expense ; and that "Master Jack" himself would eventually come into it all. " He's a game 'un, sir, he is. Lord ! he's led me such a dance up till now as never was ; we've ridden right up country here from a place they calls Rosario, and he says he's going on to another they calls Bolivia, though where that is goodness only knows."

Early next morning I had to say good-bye to my newly found friends, as I was obliged to be at the little town El Morro without fail that night. So, with hearty good wishes on both sides, and hoping to meet Bickersteth again before his year in the country was up, I departed on my way. Five months later, in the early part of September, I found myself once more in Mendoza. I had returned with a troop of cattle which had been advantageously disposed of to a Chilian dealer, and my time was now my own ; so, having nothing to do, and all day to do it in, I went for a stroll to look at the ruins of the churches and houses that were tumbled down in the great earthquake of '64. It was a lovely day; the peach-trees in the orchards round the outskirts of the town were all in bloom, and, beguiled by the beauty of the scenery, I had gone considerably farther than I had intended.

Lunch-time had passed, and, being very hungry, I hurried up, and shortly arrived at the Hotel de Europa. Here I ordered some food, and was into my room, when suddenly I heard a shout behind me — " Brook, by all that's wonderful ! " On turning I beheld Jack Bickersteth hurrying towards me, and Brandon peering out from a door in the patio. " Well, I do call this a piece of luck," cried the former, as we shook hands. " You always seem to turn up at the right moment ! " " Glad to hear it," I replied. " And where have you been all this time ? " " Where haven't we been ? should be the question. We've travelled through all the northern provinces as far as Bolivia, and only got back half-an-hour ago. I heard there was an Englishman here, but never ex pected to find you." He was very brown now, burnt by the sun, and altogether better-looking to my mind, for I had got to hate the pink-and-white complexion that usually characterises the faces of young Englishmen when first they make their appearance out here.

" Come along into my room," he said, " and have a yarn. I have a lot to tell you, and, besides, I want to ask your advice on a very important matter." " I have not had anything to eat all day," I replied, much gratified in again meeting my newly acquired friends. " How are you, Brandon ? Glad to see you safe and sound once more." " Same to you, sir." We sat down at a table in a corner of the patio, my usual place at meal-times, and where my lunch was laid out. Brandon took up his position some five yards behind his master, evidently intent on hearing our conversation. " So you've been having a good time, have you ? " said I, pouring out a glass of real old Mendoza wine. " Rather ! I should just think so. What a splendid country, what scenery, what sport, and, last but not least, what pretty girls !

" Here Brandon fairly shook with suppressed laughter ; he significantly wagged his head at him, winked one eye, and jerked down both corners of his mouth until they were nearly level with his chin. " Well, where are you going next ? " I inquired presently. " That is just what I want to speak to you about. I wish, if possible, to get right into the heart of the Cordillera, for I hear they have never been explored, and I have got a rambling fever on me. How can I get there ? Will you come too ? I will pay all expenses if you'll only join me." Here was a proposal such as seldom falls to one's lot. I had often longed, while looking at that enormous snow - capped range, to have a chance of exploring some of the mysteries hidden within its depths, but something had always occurred to prevent me.

Of time I had plenty, and very little money would be required for the trip ; but I had no one to accompany me, and that was, most likely, the reason I had never gone. Travelling with a native was simply out of the question, even if I could have persuaded one to go, and it would be a case of putting pearls before swine to ask an Argentine to admire a wild or a beautiful landscape. It is not in their nature, and they don't understand it. As an instance of this want of appreciation of natural scenery, I may mention that I once inquired of a Spaniard (a native of the Canaries) if he had ever been up Teneriffe, and he replied — " Not likely. I'm a Spaniard. Englishmen are the only people mad enough to climb a mountain. I can see quite as much of the world as I wish from down below." After I had turned the matter over in my mind for a moment or two, while slowly swallowing my wine, I said to Bickersteth — " I don't see why I shouldn't join you in this expedition, if we can only manage to plan out the trip satisfactorily.

Indeed, I should enjoy it above everything, and this is just the time of year for it, as the snows will be melting in another fortnight. Only the worst of it is, I don't quite see how to set to work on it." " What do you mean ? I will provide the money, and you arrange the rest." " That is just the trouble. If you wished to go to Patagonia, or Cape Horn, I could tell you exactly all the things it would be necessary to take, but a trip into the Cordillera is quite a different matter, and I am sure we should want a lot of things that I should never think of. However, I know a man who can give us a fair idea of what we should most require." " Who is that ? " " Old Dr. Knight — a grand old man, and a great friend of mine. I always go and see him whenever I come up here, and, if you like, we will go round after dinner this evening; he is certain to be at home, as he seldom goes out after sunset.

Every time I meet him he tells me about the beauties of the Rio Atuel ; he is quite enthusiastic on that subject." We sat, smoked, and yarned, while Brandon went off to clean the saddles and look after the mules, for Bickersteth informed me they had discarded horses before he left Mendoza to go north. " I have got, I believe, five of the best mules to be found in the upper provinces. Will you come and look at them ? " Of course I would ; nothing pleased me better than inspecting a good animal of any sort. They were all feeding in the galpon at the back of the hotel, and were undoubtedly fine mules, although not to be compared with my own. " Come and look at mine," I said. " I have two over there under that weepingwillow. You can't see them from here." We went down to the tree, and I pulled aside the branches.

" By Jove ! " said he. " Where did you get these from ? You must have paid a pile for them." " They never cost me a cent. They were given to me by a friend of mine, a Spaniard ; I have often been offered $300 (about English money) for each of them, but I would never part, first because they were a present, and again, because I should never get another pair equally good." They were indeed a beautiful couple of bright bay female mules, without a white hair on them, and their coats shone like satin. I was naturally very proud of my animals, which were always as fat and sleek as moles, and always wore beautifullyworked head-stalls, with red velvet tassels hanging thereto, after the manner of the San Juanino troperos. Now, people who have never had much to do with mules may smile at the idea of ornamenting the head-stall of one of these much-maligned creatures ; but, allow me to state, there is no animal in the world that a bit of colour sets off better than a mule ; that colour must be red.

A mule may be naturally handsome, yet there is something wanting to make him beautiful, and just a little bit of red does it. No one would believe what an astonishing difference it makes. A female mule is worth as much again as a male, on account of her tractability and good temper. She will get as fond of you as a dog if you treat her well ; but a male is never wholly trustworthy, as he will sulk or fly in a passion on the least provocation ; while for endurance, also, the female is probably the better animal. As already stated, I was very fond of my mules, and very proud of them. I never rode any others when driving cattle, and, as the trip from Santa F^ to Mendoza lasted three months, I bestrode them every day, one in the morning, the other in the afternoon. "Well," said Bickersteth, in an envious tone, "I never imagined that a mule was such a beautiful creature before.

No wonder you are conceited about these, and if they were mine I would take them home." After dinner we strolled round to old Dr. Knight's place. We found him in, and, luckily, alone, his wife and family having gone out to a tertulia, and would probably not return until late. " Glad to see you, Brook," said the old man as we entered, " and your friend too." I introduced them to each other, and we went into a broad verandah, with vines trained all over the out side, where we found several easy-chairs. Here we seated ourselves, ht our pipes, and then the old man said — " Travelling as usual, Brook, with cattle ? " " Yes," I replied ; " and I expect, so long as the Chilians require cattle, I shall keep at it. It gets monotonous, though, going the same road over and over again." " Never mind that so long as it pays, my boy.

But is Bickersteth in the business also ? " " No," he answered for himself. " I have come to ask your advice about a trip Brook and I want to make right in among the Cordillera." " Whew ! " whistled the Doctor ; " young blood, and Anglo-Saxon blood especially, always has a roving tendency. I was the same in my young days, and that is why you see me here now. Curiously enough, I had the same desire as you have to see what is in the centre of the Andes, for no one has ever been there ; but I am a doctor, and, when I was young, had my way to make in the world, and, consequently, no spare time to indulge in explorations which might, or might not, turn out advantageously. Then when I got on, and began to feel my feet (as the saying is), I fell in love and married ; therefore, when I found time for a holiday I had to take my wife, and I never thought of asking Mrs. Knight to accompany me on a mule-back expedition into the mountains.

But what is your idea ? What do you want to do there ? Look for gold, or simply admire the scenery ? " " A little of both," said Bickersteth. " When I was up in San Juan and Catamarca most of the poor people washed for gold in a small way. One old fellow (a Frenchman) whom I met there told me that in two or three days he could pan out enough gold to keep him a month, and that was only from one of the little rivers which run down from the mountains. I fancy that, if we could only get well up amongst them, we might, by chance, discover one of the deposits where all this fine dust comes from." "A very good argument, and one which I should much like to see carried into effect. But do you know anything about mineralogy, anything about the different gold-bearing strata ? " " Not a scrap, unfortunately," replied Bickersteth.

" Then I am afraid you have not much prospect of succeeding, as it would be like looking for a needle in a truss of hay. Imagine the immensity of the area you would have to search. You might, of course, by a stroke of luck, alight on the right place in a week, or even in a day ; but the chances are a thousand to one against it, and you might possibly waste your whole hfe looking for what you would never find." " But has no one ever attempted it ? " I asked. " Yes, but never anybody who has had experience. Only four years ago three Frenchmen started off to search for gold ; they were not to be absent more than two months, but they never came back. Nothing was heard as to what had become of them, whether they were killed by Indians, fell over a precipice, or died of hunger. That they are not alive we are sure ; for one was a young fellow who intended to marry on his return, so he, at any rate, would have turned up, even though the others had decided to explore elsewhere.

But this is a peculiarity of the Cordillera ; people are lost, or at least disappear among them — a result which has been so frequently experienced by the Araucano Indians, who inhabit certain portions of the mountains, as to give rise to a legend of a ' Pizpah,' or enchanted country, which, when once a traveller reaches it, he can never leave. There is something very strange about it, as even the aborigines get lost, and no trace of them can be discovered." " I say, Brook, it would be awfully unfortunate if we were to come across this ' Pizpah.' " " The only way I can account for the mystery," con tinued the doctor, before I could reply to Bickersteth, "is that, as in A7enezuela, there are certain valleys ('valleys of death,' the aborigines there call them) where foul gases emanate from the soil, which consists of decomposed vegetable matter, and these gases, being of a greater density than the pure air of the higher regions, remain and stagnate there, instantly asphyxiating any animal or human being who unwittingly attempts to cross the valleys.

Similar gases may likewise ooze through the pores of these mountains, which are of volcanic origin, and we know that such poisonous ex halations do exist in the craters of all active volcanoes. Therefore, I see no reason why this theory should not account for the disappearance of both Indians and others." " Oh, hang it all ! " cried Bickersteth, " this is rather too strong ! I never bargained for anything like that. I don't mind roughing itto any reasonable extent, or even doing a bit of fighting at a pinch, but to go and get choked like a blind puppy, and nobody to know what becomes of me, is a little too much ! No, I would rather be excused. What do you say, Brook ? " " Well," I replied, " it does seem rather startling, 1 must confess, and I certainly never reckoned on having to encounter anything more than the ordinary dangers one usually expects to meet with in an expedition through an unknown country, such as from savages, wild beasts, storms, and that kind of thing.

But to go and get choked, as you say, and nobody to be any the wiser, is not, to say the least of it, a gentlemanly way of pegging out." The doctor smiled rather sarcastically. " There is no reason why you should desist from your expedition merely because I suggest the possibility of such a thing happening. Besides, 'forewarned is forearmed,' and, now that you have reason to suspect there may be such death-valleys in the Cordillera as actually exist in other places, you would always be able to avoid them." " But how on earth can we do that ? " cried Bickersteth excitedly. "We cannot see poisonous gases, and by the time we felt them we should be dead, suffocated." " By a very slight exercise of one of the most precious of God's gifts, which in man we call reason, and which, in animals, men in their egotism call in stinct, you would be able to traverse the Cordillera, from the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn, in perfect safety, at least so far as harm from noxious exhalations is concerned.