 CHAPTER IX. That afternoon with Rima and the forest under the morrow tree had proved so delightful that I was eager for more rambles and talks with her. But the variable little witch had a great surprise in store for me. All her wild natural gaiety had unaccountably gone out of her. When I walked in the shade she was there, but no longer as the blithe, fantastic being bright as an angel, innocent and affectionate as a child, tricksy as a monkey, that it played at hide-and-seek with me. She was now my shy, silent attendant, only occasionally visible. And appearing then like the mysterious maid I had found reclining among the ferns, who had melted away mist-like from sight as I gazed. When I called she would not now answer as formerly, but in response would appear in sight as if to assure me that I had not been forsaken. And after a few moments her gray shadowy form would once more vanish among the trees. The hope that as her confidence increased and she grew accustomed to talk with me she would be brought to reveal the story of her life had to be abandoned at all events for the present. I must, after all, get my information from Nuflo or rest in ignorance. The old man was out for the greater part of each day with his dogs, and from these expeditions he brought back nothing that I could see but a few nuts and fruits, some thin bark for his cigarettes, and an occasional handful of Heimogum to perfume the hut of an evening. After I had wasted three days in vainly trying to overcome the girl's now inexplicable shyness, I resolved to give for a while my undivided attention to her grandfather to discover, if possible, where he went and how he spent his time. My new game of hide-and-seek with Nuflo, instead of with Rima, began on the following morning. He was cunning, so was I. Going out and concealing myself among the bushes I began to watch the hut. That I could elude Rima's keener eyes I doubted. That did not trouble me. She was not in harmony with the old man and would do nothing to defeat my plan. I had not been long in my hiding-place before he came out, followed by his two dogs, and going to some distance from the door he sat down on a log. For some minutes he smoked. Then rose, and after looking cautiously round, slipped away among the trees. I saw that he was going off in the direction of the low range of rocky hills south of the forest. I knew that the forest did not extend far in that direction, and thinking that I should be able to catch a sight of him on its borders, I left the bushes and ran through the trees as fast as I could to get ahead of him. Coming to where the wood was very open, I found that a barren plain beyond it, a quarter of a mile wide, separated it from the range of hills. Thinking that the old man might cross this open space, I climbed into a tree to watch. After some time he appeared, walking rapidly among the trees, the dogs had his heels, but not going towards the open plain. He had, it seemed, after arriving at the edge of the wood, changed his direction and was going west, still keeping in the shelter of the trees. When he had been gone about five minutes I dropped to the ground and started in pursuit. Once more I caught sight of him through the trees, and I kept him in sight for about twenty minutes longer. Then he came to a broad strip of dense wood which extended into and through the range of hills, and here I quickly lost him. Hoping still to overtake him I pushed on, but after struggling through the underwood for some distance and finding the forest growing more difficult as I progressed, I at last gave him up. Moving eastward, I got out of the wood to find myself at the foot of a steep, rough hill, one of the range which the wooded valley cut through at right angles. It struck me that it would be a good plan to climb the hill to get a view of the forest belt in which I had lost the old man, and after walking a short distance I found a spot which allowed of an ascent. The summit of the hill was about three hundred feet above the surrounding level, and did not take me long to reach. It commanded a fair view, and I now saw that the belt of wood beneath me extended right through the range, and on the south side opened out into an extensive forest. If that is your destination, thought I, old fox, your secrets are safe from me. It was still early in the day, and a slight breeze tempered the air and made it cool and pleasant on the hilltop after my exertions. My scramble through the wood had fatigued me somewhat, and, resolving to spend some hours on that spot, I looked round for a comfortable resting-place. I soon found a shady spot on the west side of an upright block of stone where I could recline at ease on a bed of lichen. Here, with shoulders resting against the rock, I sat thinking of Rima, who lone in her wood to-day, with just a tinge of bitterness in my thoughts which made me hope that she would miss me as much as I missed her, and in the end I fell asleep. When I woke it was past noon, and the sun was shining directly on me. Standing up to gaze once more on the prospect, I noticed a small wreath of white smoke issuing from a spot about the middle of the forest-belt beneath me, and I instantly divined that new flow had made a fire at that place, and I resolved to surprise him in his retreat. When I got down to the base of the hill, the smoke could no longer be seen, but I had studied the spot well from above, and had singled out a large clump of trees on the edge of the belt as a starting-point, and after a search of half an hour I succeeded in finding the old man's hiding-place. First I saw smoke again through an opening in the trees, then a small rude hut of sticks and palm-weaves. Approaching cautiously I peered through a crack and discovered old new flow engaged in smoking some meat over a fire, and at the same time grilling some bones on the coals. He captured a kodamundi, an animal somewhat larger than a tame tomcat, with a long snout and long ringed tail. One of the dogs was gnawing at the animal's head, and the tail and the feet were also lying on the floor, among the old bones and rubbish that littered it. Stealing round, I suddenly presented myself at the opening to his den when the dogs rose up with a growl, and new flow instantly leaped to his feet knife in hand. Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh, man! I cried with a laugh. I have found you at one of your vegetarian repasts, and your grass-eating dogs as well. He was disconcerted and suspicious, but when I explained that I had seen a smoke while on the hills, where I had gone to search for a curious blue flower which grew in such places, and had made my way to it to discover the cause, he recovered confidence and invited me to join him at his dinner of roast meat. I was hungry by this time, and not sorry to get animal food once more. Nevertheless I ate this meat with some disgust, as it had a rank, taste, and smell, and was also unpleasant to have those evil-looking dogs savagely gnawing at the animal's head and feet at the same time. "'You see,' said the old hypocrite, wiping the grease from his mustache, "'this is what I am compelled to do in order to avoid giving offense. My granddaughter is a strange being, sir, as you have perhaps observed. That reminds me,' I interrupted, "'that I wish you to relate her history to me. She is, as you say, strange, and has speech and faculties unlike ours, which shows that she comes of a different race.' "'No, no, her faculties are not different from ours. They are sharper, that is all. It pleases the all-powerful to give more to some than to others. Not all the fingers on the hand are alike. You will find a man who will take up a guitar and make it speak, while I—' "'All that I understand,' I broke in again, but her origin, her history, that is what I wish to hear.' "'And that, sir, is precisely what I am about to relate. Poor child, she was left on my hands by her sainted mother, my daughter, sir, who perished young. Now her birth-place, where she was taught letters and the catechism by the priest, was in an unhealthy situation. It was hot and wet, always wet, a place suited to frogs rather than to human beings. At length, thinking that it would suit the child better, where she was pale and weakly, to live in a drier atmosphere among mountains, I brought her to this district. For this senior, and for all I have done for her, I look for no reward here, but to that place where my daughter has got her foot. Not, sir, on the threshold, as you might think, but well inside. For, after all, it is to the authorities above, in spite of some blots which we see in their administration, that we must look for justice. Frankly, sir, that is the whole story of my granddaughter's origin. Ah, yes, I returned. Your story explains why she can call a wild bird to her hand, and touch a venomous serpent with her bare foot and receive no harm. Doubtless you are right, said the old December. Living alone in the woods, she had only God's creatures to play and make friends with. And wild animals, I have heard it said, know those who are friendly towards them. You treat her friends badly, said I, kicking the long tail of the Kota Mundi away with my foot, and regretting that I had joined in this repast. Senior, you must consider that we are only what heaven made us. When all this was formed, he continued, opening his arms wide to indicate the entire creation. The person who concerned himself with this matter gave seeds and fruits and nectar of flowers for the sustentation of his small birds. But we have not their delicate appetites. The more robust stomach which he gave to man cries out for meat. Do you understand? But of all this friend, not one word to Rima. I laugh scornfully. Do you think me such a child, old man, as to believe that Rima, that little sprite, does not know that you are an eater of flesh? Rima, who is everywhere in the wood, seeing all things, even if I lift my hand against a serpent, she herself unseen. But, sir, if you will pardon my presumption, you are saying too much. She does not come here, and therefore cannot see that I eat meat. In all that wood where she flourishes and sings, where she is in her house and garden, and mistress of the creatures, even of the small butterfly with painted wings, there, sir, I hunt no animal, nor will my dogs chase any animal there. That is what I meant when I said that if an animal should stumble against their legs, they would lift up their noses and pass on without seeing it. For in that wood there is one law, the law that Rima imposes, and outside of it, a different law. I am glad that you have told me this, I replied. The thought that Rima might be near and unseen herself, look in upon us, feeding with the dogs, and, like dogs on flesh, was one which greatly troubled my mind. He glanced at me in his usual quick cunning way. Ah, senior, you have that feeling too, after so short a time with us. Consider, then, what it must be for me, unable to nourish myself on gums and fruitlets, and that little sweetness made by wasps out of flowers, when I am compelled to go far away and eat secretly to avoid giving offence. It was hard, no doubt. But I did not pity him. Secretly I could only feel anger against him for refusing to enlighten me. While making such a presence of openness, and I also felt disgusted with myself for having joined him in his rank repast. But the simulation was necessary, and so, after conversing a little more on indifferent topics, and thanking him for his hospitality, I left him alone to go on with his smoky task. On my way back to the lodge, fearing that some taint of New Flow's evil-smelling den and dinner might still cling to me, I turned aside to where a streamlet in the wood widened and formed a deep pool to take a plunge in the water. After drying myself in the air, and thoroughly ventilating my garments by shaking and beating them, I found an open shady spot in the wood and threw myself on the grass to wait for evening before returning to the house. By that time the sweet warm air would have purified me. Besides, I did not consider that I had sufficiently punished Rima for her treatment of me. She would be anxious for my safety, perhaps even looking for me everywhere in the wood. It was not much to make her suffer one day after she had made me miserable for three. And perhaps when she had discovered that I could exist without her society, she would begin to treat me less capriciously. So ran my thoughts as I rested on the warm ground, gazing up into the foliage, green as young grass in the lower shady parts, and above luminous with the bright sunlight and full of the murmuring sounds of insect life. My every action, word, thought, had my feeling for Rima as a motive. Why, I began to ask myself, was Rima so much to me? It was easy to answer that question, because nothing so exquisite had ever been created. All the separate and fragmentary beauty and melody and graceful motion found scattered throughout nature were concentrated and harmoniously combined in her. How various, how luminous, how divine she was, a being for the mind to marvel at, to admire continually, finding some new grace and charm every hour, every moment, to add to the old. And there was, besides, the fascinating mystery surrounding her origin to arouse and keep my interest in her continually active. That was the easy answer I returned to the question I had asked myself. But I knew that there was another answer, a reason more powerful than the first. But I could no longer thrust it back or hide its shining face with a dull leaden mask of mere intellectual curiosity. Because I loved her, loved her as I had never loved before, never could love any other being, with a passion which had got something of her own brilliance and intensity, making a former passion look dim and commonplace in comparison, a feeling known to everyone, something old and worn out, a weariness even to think of. From these reflections I was roused by the plaintive three syllable call of an evening bird, a nightjar common in these woods, and was surprised to find that the sun had set and the woods already shadowed with the twilight. I started up and began hurriedly walking homewards, thinking of Rima, and was consumed with impatience to see her. And as I drew near to the house, walking along a narrow path which I knew, I suddenly met her face to face. Doubtless she had heard my approach, and instead of shrinking out of the path and allowing me to pass on without seeing her, as she would have done on the previous day, she had sprung forward to meet me. I was struck with wonder at the change in her as she came with a swift easy motion, like a flying bird, her hands outstretched as if to clasp mine, her lips parted in a radiant welcoming smile, her eyes sparkling with joy. I started forward to meet her, but had no sooner touched her hands than her countenance changed, and she shrunk back trembling, as if the touch had chilled her warm blood, and moving some feet away she stood with downcast eyes, pale and sorrowful as she had seemed yesterday. In vain I implored her to tell me the cause of this change, and of the trouble she evidently felt. Her lips trembled as if with speech, but she made no reply, and only shrunk further away when I attempted to approach her, and at length, moving aside from the path, she was lost to sight in the dusky leafage. I went on alone and sat outside for some time, until old Newflow returned from his hunting, and only after he had gone in and had made the fire burn up did Grima make her appearance, silent and constrained as ever. CHAPTER X On the following day Grima continued in the same inexplicable humor, and feeling my defeat keenly, I determined once more to try the effect of absence on her, and to remain away on this occasion for a longer period. Like old Newflow I was secreting going forth next morning, waiting until the girl was out of the way, then slipping off among the bushes into the deeper wood, and finally quitting at shelter I set out across the savanna towards my old quarters. Great was my surprise on arriving at the village to find no person there. At first I imagined that my disappearance in the forest of evil fame had caused them to abandon their home in a panic, but on looking round I concluded that my friends had only gone on one of their periodical visits to some neighboring village. For when these Indians visit their neighbors they do it in a very thorough manner. They all go, taking with them their entire stock of provisions, their cooking utensils, weapons, hammocks, and even their pet animals. Fortunately in this case they had not taken quite everything. My hammock was there, also one small pot, some cassava bread, purple potatoes, and a few ears of maize. I concluded that these had been left for me in the event of my return, also that they had not been gone very many hours, since a log of wood buried under the ashes of the hearth was still a light. Now as their absences from home usually last many days, it was plain that I would have the big naked barn-like house to myself for as long as I thought proper to remain, with little food to eat, but the prospect did not disturb me, and I resolved to amuse myself with music. In vain I hunted for my guitar. The Indians had taken it to delight their friends by twanging its strings. At odd moments during the last day or two I had been composing a simple melody in my brain, fitting it to ancient words, and now, without an instrument to assist me, I began softly singing to myself, Moe masclara che la luna, sola una, E no mundo vos nacistes. After music I made up the fire and parched an ear of maize for my dinner, and while laboriously crunching the dry hard grain I thanked heaven for having bestowed on me such good molars. Finally I slung my hammock in its old corner, and placing myself in it in my favorite oblique position, my hands clasped behind my head, one knee cocked up, the other leg dangling down, I resigned myself to idle thought. I felt very happy. How strange thought I, with a little self-flattery, that I, accustomed to the agreeable society of intelligent men and charming women, and of books, should find such perfect contentment here. But I congratulated myself too soon. The profound silence began at length to oppress me. It was not like the forest where one has wild birds for company, where their cries, albeit inarticulate, have a meaning and give a charm to solitude. Even the sight and whispered sounds of green leaves and rushes, trembling in the wind, have for us something of intelligence and sympathy. But I could not commune with mud-walls and an earthen pot. Feeling my loneliness too acutely, I began to regret that I had left Rima, then to feel remorse at the secrecy I had practiced. Even now, while I inclined idly in my hammock, she would be roaming the forest in search of me, listening for my footsteps, fearing perhaps that I had met with some accident where there was no person to succor me. It was painful to think of her in this way, of the pain I had doubtless given her by stealing off without a word of warning, springing to the floor. I flung out of the house and went down to the stream. It was better there, for now the greatest heat of the day was over, and the weltering sun began to look large and red and rayless through the afternoon haze. I seated myself on a stone within a yard or two of the limpid water, and now the sight of nature and the warm, vital air and sunshine infected my spirit, and made it possible for me to face the position calmly, even hopefully. The position was this. For some days the idea had been present in my mind, and was now fixed there, that this desert was to be my permanent home. The thought of going back to Caracas, that little Paris in America, with its old world vices, its idle political passions, its empty round of gayities, was unendurable. I was changed, and this change, so great, so complete, was proof that the old artificial life had not been and could not be the real one, in harmony with my deeper and truer nature. I deceived myself, you will say, as I have often myself said, I had, and I had not. It is too long a question to discuss here, but just then I felt that I had quitted the hot, tainted atmosphere of the ballroom, that the morning air of heaven refreshed and elevated me, and was sweet to breathe. Friends and relations I had who were dear to me, but I could forget them, even as I could forget the splendid dreams which had been mine. And the woman I had loved, I knew perhaps loved me in return. I could forget her, too. A daughter of civilization and of that artificial life she could never experience such feelings as these, and return to nature as I was doing. For women, though within narrow limits more plastic than men, are yet without that larger adaptiveness which can take us back to the sources of life, which they have left eternally behind. Better, far better, for both of us, that she should wait through the long slow months, growing sick at heart with hope deferred, that, seeing me no more, she should weep my loss, and be healed at last by time, and find love and happiness again in the old way, in the old place. And while I thus sat thinking, sadly enough, but not despondingly, of past and present and future, all at once on the warm still air came the resonant, far-reaching, cling-clang of the caponiero from some leafy summit half a league away. Cling-clang fell the sound again, and often again at intervals, affecting me strangely at that moment, so bell-like, so like the great wide-traveling sounds associated in our minds with Christian worship. And yet, so unlike, a bell, yet not made of gross metal dug out of the earth, but of an ethereal, sublimer material that floats impalpable and invisible in space, a vital bell suspended on nothing, giving out sounds in harmony with the vastness of blue heaven, the unsullied purity of nature, the glory of the sun, and conveying a mystic, a higher message to the soul than the sounds that surge from tower in belfry. Oh, mystic bell-bird of the heavenly race of the swallow and dove, the katesel and the nightingale, when the brutish savage and the brutish white man that slay thee, one for food, the other for benefit of science, shall have passed away, live still, live to tell thy message to the blameless, spiritualized race that shall come after us to possess the earth, not for a thousand years, but for ever. For how much shall thy voice be our clarified successors, when even to my dull, unperged soul thou can't speak such high things, and bring it a sense of an impersonal, all compromising one, who is in me and I in him, flesh of his flesh and soul of his soul? The sounds ceased. But I was still in that exalted mood and, like a person in a trance, staring fixedly before me into the open wood of scattered dwarf trees on the other side of the stream, when suddenly on the field of vision appeared a grotesque human figure moving towards me. I started violently, astonished and a little alarmed. But in a few moments I recognized the ancient cluckla, coming home with a large bundle of dry sticks on her shoulders bent almost double under the burden, and still ignorant of my presence. Slowly she came down to the stream, then cautiously made her way over the line of stepping stones by which it was crossed, and only when within ten yards did the old creature catch sight of me sitting silent and motionless in her path. With a sharp cry of amazement and terror she straightened herself up, the bundle of sticks dropping to the ground, and turned to run from me. That at all events seemed her intention for her body was thrown forward, and her head and arms working like those of a person going at full speed, but her legs seemed paralyzed and her feet remained planted on the same spot. I burst out laughing, where at she twisted her neck until her wrinkled brown old face appeared over her shoulder staring at me. This made me laugh again, whereupon she straightened herself up once more and turned round to have a good look at me. Come, cluckla! I cried. Can you not see that I am a living man and no spirit? I thought no one had remained behind to keep me company and give me food. Why are you not with the others? Ah, why! she returned tragically, and then deliberately turning from me and assuming a most unladylike attitude, she slapped herself vigorously on the small of the back, exclaiming, Because of my pain there! As she continued in that position with her back towards me for some time, I laughed once more and begged her to explain. Slowly she turned round and advanced cautiously towards me, staring at me all the time. Finally, eyeing me suspiciously, she related that the others had all gone on a visit to a distant village. She's starting with them, that after going some distance a pain had attacked her in her hind quarters so sudden and acute that it had instantly brought her to a full stop, and to illustrate how full the stop was she allowed herself to go down, very unnecessarily, with a flop to the ground. But she no sooner touched the ground than up she started to her feet again, with an alarmed look on her owish face, as if she had sat down on a stinging nettle. We thought you were dead! she remarked, still thinking that I might be a ghost after all. No, still alive, I said. And so because you came to the ground with your pain they left you behind. Well, never mind, cla-cla, we are two now, and must try to be happy together. By this time she had recovered from her fear and began to feel highly pleased at my return, only lamenting that she had no meat to give me. She was anxious to hear my adventures and the reason of my long absence. I had no wish to gratify her curiosity, with the truth at all events, knowing very well that with regard to the daughter of the Didi her feelings were as purely savage and malignant as those of Cuoco. But it was necessary to say something, and fortifying myself with a good old Spanish notion that lies told to the heathen are not recorded, I related that a venomous serpent had bitten me, after which a terrible thunderstorm had surprised me in the forest, and night coming on prevented my escape from it. Then next day, remembering that he who was bitten by a serpent dies, and not wishing to distress my friends with a sight of my dissolution, I elected to remain, sitting there in the wood, amusing myself by singing songs and smoking cigarettes, and after several days and nights had gone by, finding that I was not going to die after all, and beginning to feel hungry, I got up and came back. Old Clacla looked very serious, shaking and nodding her head a great deal, muttering to herself. Finally she gave it as her opinion that nothing ever would or could kill me, but whether my story had been believed or not, she only knew. I spent an amusing evening with my old savage hostess. She had thrown off her ailments, and, pleased at having a companion in her dreary solitude, she was good-tempered and talkative, and much more inclined to laugh than when the others were present, when she was on her dignity. We sat by the fire, cooking such food as we had, and talked and smoked. Then I sang her songs in Spanish with that melody of my own. Muay más clara que la luna. And she rewarded me by emitting a barbarous chant in a shrill, screechy voice, and finally starting up, I danced for her benefit, polka, miserca, and valse, whistling and singing to my motions. More than once during the evening she tried to introduce serious subjects, telling me that I must always live with them, learn to shoot the birds and catch the fishes, and have a wife. And then she would speak of her granddaughter Ualava, whose virtues it was proper to mention, but whose physical charms needed no description, since they had never been concealed. Each time she got on this topic I cut her short, vowing that if I ever married she only should be my wife. She informed me that she was old and passed her fruitful period, but not much longer would she make cassava bread, and blow the fire to a flame with her wheezy old bellows, and talk the men to sleep at night. But I stuck to it that she was young and beautiful, that our descendants would be more numerous than the birds in the forest. I went out to some bushes close by, where I had noticed a passion plant in bloom, and gathering a few splendid scarlet blossoms with their stems and leaves, I brought them in and wove them into a garland for the old dame's head. Then I pulled her up, in spite of screams and struggles, and waltzed her wildly to the other end of the room and back again to her seat beside the fire. And as she sat there, panting and grinning with laughter, I knelt before her, and with suitable passionate gestures, declaimed again the old, delicate lines sung by Meina before Columbus sailed the seas. Vue más clara que la luna, sola una, en el mundo vos no chistes tan gentil, que no vechistes ni tavistes, competedora ninguna, desde nines en lacuna, corbrastis fama, beldad, contanta graciosidad, que vos dote la fortuna. Speaking of another all the time. Oh, poor old cla-cla, knowing not what the jingle meant nor the secret of my wild happiness, now when I recall you sitting there, your old gray owlish head crowned with scarlet passion-flowers, flushed with fire-light, against the background of smoke-blackened walls and rafters, how the old undying sorrow comes back to me. Thus our evening was spent, merrily enough. Then we made up the fire with hard wood that would last all night, and went to our hammocks, but wakeful still. The old dame, glad and proud to be on duty once more, religiously went to work to talk me to sleep. But although I called out at intervals to encourage her to go on, I did not attempt to follow the ancient tales, she told, which she had imbibed in childhood from other white-headed grandmothers, long, long turned to dust. My own brain was busy thinking, thinking, thinking now of the woman I had once loved, far away in Venezuela, waiting and weeping and sick with hope deferred. Now of Rima, wakeful and listening to the mysterious night sounds of the forest, listening, listening for my returning footsteps. Next morning I began to waver in my resolution to remain absent from Rima for some days, and before evening my passion, which I had now ceased to struggle against, coupled with the thought that I had acted unkindly in leaving her, that she would be a prey to anxiety, overcame me, and I was ready to return. The old woman, who had been suspiciously watching my movements, rushed out after me as I left the house, crying out that a storm was brewing, that it was too late to go far, and night would be full of danger. I waved my hand in good-bye, laughingly reminding her that I was proof against all perils. Little she cared what evil might befall me, I thought, but she loved not to be alone. Even for her, low down as she was intellectually, the solitary earthen pot had no mine-stuff in it, and could not be sent to sleep at night with the legends of long ago. By the time I had reached the ridge I had discovered that she had prophesied truly, for now an ominous change had come over her nature. A dull gray vapor had overspread the entire western half of the heavens. Down, beyond the forest, the sky looked black as ink, and behind this blackness the sun had vanished. It was too late to go back now. I had been too long absent from Rima, and could only hope to reach New Flo's Lodge, wet or dry, before night closed round me in the forest. For some moments I stood still on the ridge, struck by the somewhat weird aspect of the shadowed scene before me, the long strip of dulled uniform green, with here and there a slender palm lifting its feathery crown above the other trees, standing motionless, in strange relief against the advancing blackness. Then I set out once more at a run, taking advantage of the downward slope to get well on my way before the tempest should burst. As I approached the wood there came a flash of lightning, pale, but covering the whole visible sky, followed after a long interval by a distant roll of thunder, which lasted several seconds and ended with a succession of deep throbs. It was as if nature herself, in supreme anguish and abandonment, had cast herself prone on the earth, and her great heart had throbbed audibly, shaking the world with its beats. No more thunder followed, but the rain was coming down heavily now in huge drops that fell straight through the gloomy windless air. In half a minute I was drenched to the skin, but for a short time the rain seemed an advantage, as the brightness of the falling water lessened the gloom, turning the air from dark to lighter gray. This subdued rain light did not last long. I had not been twenty minutes in the wood before a second and greater darkness fell on the earth, accompanied by an even more copious downpour of water. The sun had evidently gone down, and the whole sky was now covered with one thick cloud. Becoming more nervous as the gloom increased, I bent my steps more to the south, so as to keep near the border a more open part of the wood. Probably I had already grown confused before deviating and turned the wrong way, for instead of finding the forest easier, it grew closer and more difficult as I advanced. Before many minutes the darkness so increased that I could no longer distinguish objects more than five feet from my eyes. Groping blindly along I became entangled in a dense undergrowth, and after struggling and stumbling along for some distance in vain, endeavours to get through it. I came to a stand at last in sheer despair. All sense of direction was now lost. I was entombed in thick blackness, blackness of night and cloud and rain, and of dripping foliage and network of branches bound with bush-ropes and creepers in a wild tangle. I had struggled into a hollow, or whole, as it were, in the midst of that mass of agitation, where I could stand upright and turn round and round without touching anything. But when I put out my hands they came into contact with vines and bushes. To move from that spot seemed folly, yet how dreadful to remain there standing on the sodden earth, chilled with rain, in that awful blackness in which the only luminous thing one could look to see would be the eyes, shining with their own internal light, of some savage beast of prey. Yet the danger, the intense physical discomfort, and the anguish of looking forward to a whole night spent in that situation stung my heart less than the thought of Rima's anxiety and of the pain I had carelessly given by secretly leaving her. It was then, with that pang in my heart, that I was startled by hearing, close by, one of her own low, warbled expressions. There could be no mistake. If the forest had been full of the sounds of animal life and songs of melodious birds, her voice would have been instantly distinguished from all others. How mysterious! How infinitely tender it sounded in that awful blackness! So musical and exquisitely modulated! So sorrowful! yet piercing my heart with a sudden, unutterable joy. Rima! Rima! I cried. Speak again! Is it you? Come to me here! Again that low, warbling sound, or a series of sounds, seemingly from a distance of a few yards. I was not disturbed at her not replying in Spanish. She had always spoken it somewhat reluctantly, and only went at my side. But when calling to me from some distance she would return instinctively to her own mysterious language and call to me as bird calls to bird. I knew that she was inviting me to follow her, but I refused to move. Rima! I cried again. Come to me here! For I know not where to step and cannot move until you are at my side and can feel your hand. There came no response. And after some moments, becoming alarmed, I called to her again. Then close by me, in a low, trembling voice, she returned, I am here. Put out my hand and touched something soft and wet. It was her breast. And moving my hand higher up I felt her hair hanging now and streaming with water. She was trembling, and I thought the rain had chilled her. Rima! Poor child! How wet you are! How strange to meet you in such a place! Tell me, dear Rima, how did you find me? I was waiting, watching all day. I saw you coming across the savannah and followed you at a distance through the wood. And I had treated you so unkindly. Ah, my guardian angel! My light in the darkness! How I hate myself for giving you pain! Tell me, sweet! Did you wish me to come back and live with you again? She made no reply. Then running my fingers down her arm I took her hand in mine. It was hot, like the hand of one in a fever. I raised it to my lips and then attempted to draw her to me, but she slipped down and out of my arms to my feet. I felt her there, on her knees, with head bowed down. Stooping and putting my arm around her body, I drew her up and held her against my breast, and felt her heart throbbing wildly. With many endearing words I begged her to speak to me, but her only reply was, Come! Come! As she slipped again out of my arms and holding my hand in hers guided me through the bushes. Before long we came to an open path or glade where the darkness was not profound, and releasing my hand she began walking rapidly before me, always keeping at such a distance as just enabled me to distinguish her gray, shadowy figure, and with frequent doublings to follow the natural paths and openings which she knew so well. In this way we kept on nearly to the end, without exchanging a word, and hearing no sound except the continuous rush of rain, which to our accustomed ears had ceased to have the effect of sound, and the various gurgling noises of innumerable runners. All at once, as we came to a more open place, a strip of bright fire light appeared before us, shining from the half-open door of New Flo's Lodge. She turned round as much as to say, Now you know where you are. Then hurried on, leaving me to follow as best I could. CHAPTER 11 OF GREEN MANTIONS This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. GREEN MANTIONS by W. H. Hudson. CHAPTER 11 There was a welcome change in the weather when I rose early next morning. The sky was without cloud and had that purity in its color and look of infinite distance seen only when the atmosphere is free from vapor. The sun had not yet risen, but Old New Flo was already among the ashes, on his hands and knees, blowing the embers he had uncovered to a flame. Then Rima appeared, only to pass through the room with quick light tread to go out of the door without a word, or even a glance at my face. The old man, after watching at the door for a few minutes, turned and began eagerly questioning me about my adventures on the previous evening. In reply I related to him how the girl had found me in the forest, lost and unable to extricate myself from the tangled undergrowth. He rubbed his hands on his knees and chuckled, Happy are you, a senior, he said, that my granddaughter regards you with such friendly eyes, otherwise you might have perished before morning. Once she was at your side, no light, whether a sun or moon or lantern, was needed, nor that small instrument which is said to guide a man awright in the desert, even in the darkest night. Let him that can believe such a thing. Yes, happy for me, I returned. I am filled with remorse that it was all through my fault that the poor child was exposed to such weather. Oh, senior, he cried eerily, let not that distress you. Rain and wind and hot suns, from which we seek shelter, do not harm her. She takes no cold and no fever, with or without agu. After some further conversation I left him to steal away unobserved on his own account, and set out for a ramble in the hope of encountering Rima and winning her to talk to me. My quest did not succeed. Not a glimpse of her delicate shadowy form did I catch among the trees, and not one note from her melodious lips came to gladden me. That noon I returned to the house, where I found food placed ready for me, and knew that she had come there during my absence and had not been forgetful of my wants. Shall I thank you for this? I said. I ask you for heavenly nectar for the sustentation of the higher winged nature in me, and you give me a boiled sweet potato, toasted strips of sun-dried pumpkins, and a handful of parched maize. Rima! Rima! My woodland fairy! My sweet saviour! Why do you yet fear me? Is it that love struggles in you with repugnance? Can you discern with clear spiritual eyes the grosser elements in me, and hate them, or has some false imagination made me appear all dark and evil, but too late for your peace after the sweet sickness of love has infected you? But she was not there to answer me, and so after a time I went forth again and seated myself listlessly on the root of an old tree not far from the house. I had sat there a full hour when all at once Rima appeared at my side. Bending forward she touched my hand, but without glancing at my face. Come with me! she said, and turning, moved swiftly towards the northern extremity of the forest. She seemed to take it for granted that I would follow, never casting a look behind, nor pausing in her rapid walk, but I was only too glad to obey, and, starting up, was quickly after her. She led me by easy ways, familiar to her, with many doublings to escape the undergrowth, never speaking or pausing until we came out from the thick forest, and I found myself for the first time on the foot of the great hill or mountain Itaioa. Glancing back for a few moments she waved a hand towards the summit, and then at once began the ascent. Here too it seemed all familiar ground to her. From below the sides had presented an exceedingly rugged appearance, a wild confusion of huge jagged rocks, mixed with a tangled vegetation of trees, bushes, and vines, but following her in all her doublings it became easy enough, although it fatigued me greatly owing to our rapid pace. The hill was conical, but I found that it had a flat top, an oblong or pear-shaped area, almost level, of a soft crumbly sandstone, with a few blocks and boulders of a harder stone scattered about, and no vegetation except the gray mountain lichen and a few seer-looking dwarf shrubs. Here Rima, at a distance of a few yards from me, remained standing still for some minutes, as if to give me time to recover my breath, and I was right glad to sit down on a stone to rest. Finally she walked slowly to the center of the level area, which was about two acres in extent. Rising, I followed her and climbed on to a huge block of stone, began gazing at the wide prospect spread out before me. The day was windless and bright, with only a few white clouds floating at a great height above, and casting traveling shadows over that wild-broken country, where forest, marsh, and savanna were only distinguishable by their different colors, like the grays and greens and yellows on a map. At a great distance the circle of the horizon was broken here and there by mountains, but the hills in our neighborhood were all beneath our feet. After gazing all round for some minutes, I jumped down from my stand and, leaning against the stone, stood watching the girl, waiting for her to speak. I felt convinced that she had something of a very highest importance to herself to communicate, and that only the pressing need of a confidant, not new-flow, had overcome her shyness of me, and I determined to let her take her own time to say it in her own way. For a while she continued silent, her face averted, but her little movements and the way she clasped and unclasped her fingers showed that she was anxious and her mind working. Suddenly, half turning to me, she began speaking eagerly and rapidly. "'Do you see?' she said, waving her hand to indicate the whole circuit of earth. "'How large it is! Look!' pointing now to mountains in the west. Those of the Vahanas. One, two, three. The highest. I can tell you their names. Vahanachara, Chumi, Aranoa. "'Do you see that water? It is a river called Guayaparo. From the hills it comes down. Inaruna is their name, and you can see them there in the south. Far, far!' And in this way she went on pointing out and naming all the mountains and rivers within sight. Then she suddenly dropped her hands to her sides and continued, "'That is all. Because we can see no further. But the world is larger than that. Other mountains, other rivers. Have I not told you of Voa? On the river Voa, where I was born, where mother died, where the priest taught me years, years ago. All that you cannot see. It is so far away. So far!' I did not laugh at her simplicity, nor did I smile or feel any inclination to smile. On the contrary, I only experienced a sympathy so keen that it was like pain while watching her clouded face, so changeful in its expression, yet in all change is so wistful. I could not yet form any idea as to what she wished to communicate or to discover. But seeing that she paused for a reply, I answered, "'The world is so large, Reema, that we can only see a very small portion of it from any one spot. Look at this!' And with a stick I had used to aid me in my ascent I traced a circle six or seven inches in circumference on the soft stone, and in its center placed a small pebble. "'This represents the mountain we are standing on,' I continued, touching the pebble, and this line encircling it encloses all the earth we can see from the mountaintop. Do you understand? The line I have traced is the blue line of the horizon beyond which we cannot see. And outside of this little circle is all the flat top of Etaiowa representing the world. Consider, then, how small a portion of the world we can see from this spot.' "'And do you know it all?' she returned excitedly. "'All the world?' waving her hands to indicate the little stone plain. All the mountains and rivers and forests, all the people in the world.' "'That would be impossible, Rima. Consider how large it is.' "'That does not matter. Come, let us go together, we too in Grandfather, and see all the world, all the mountains and forests, and know all the people.' "'You do not know what you're saying, Rima. You might as well say, Come, let us go to the sun and find out everything in it.' "'It is you who do not know what you're saying,' she retorted, with brightening eyes which for a moment clenched full into mind. "'We have no wings like birds to fly to the sun. Am I not able to walk on the earth and run? Can I not swim? Can I not climb every mountain?' "'No, you cannot. You imagine that all the earth is like this little portion you see. But it is not all the same. There are great rivers which you cannot cross by swimming, mountains you cannot climb, forests you cannot penetrate, dark and inhabited by dangerous beasts, and so vast that all this space your eyes look on is a mere speck of earth in comparison.' She listened excitedly. "'Oh, do you know all that?' she cried, and with a strangely brightening look, and then half turning from me she added with sudden petulance. Yet only a minute ago you knew nothing of the world because it is so large. Is anything to be gained by speaking to one who says such contrary things?' I explained that I had not contradicted myself, that she had not rightly interpreted my words. I knew, I said, something about the principal features of the different countries of the world, as, for instance, the largest mountain ranges and rivers and the cities. Also something but very little about the tribes of savage men.' She heard me with impatience, which made me speak rapidly, in very general terms, and to simplify the matter I made the world stand for the continent we were in. It seemed idle to go beyond that, and her eagerness would not have allowed it.' "'Tell me all you know,' she said the moment I ceased speaking. "'What is there, and there, and there?' Pointing in various directions. "'Rivers and forests, they are nothing to me. The villages, the tribes, the people everywhere. Tell me, for I must know it all.' "'It would take long to tell, Rima.' "'Because you are so slow. Look how high the sun is. Speak, speak. What is there?' "'All that country,' I said, waving my hands from east to west, is Guyana, and so large it is that you could go in this direction, or in this, traveling for months without seeing the end of Guyana. Still it would be Guyana. Rivers, rivers, rivers with forests between, and other forests and rivers beyond, and savage people, nations and tribes. Gaiahibo, Aguarekoto, Ayano, Mako, Pierroa, Quiriquiripo, Tuporito. Shall I name a hundred more? It would be useless, Rima. They are all savages, and live widely scattered in the forests, hunting with bow and arrow and the Zabatana. Better than how large Guyana is. "'Gaiana, Guyana, do I not know all this is Guyana? But beyond, and beyond, and beyond. Is there no end to Guyana?' "'Yes. There northwards it ends at the Orinoco, a mighty river, coming from mighty mountains, compared with which Itaewa is like a stone on the ground on which we have sat down to rest. You must know that Guyana is only a portion, a half of our country, Venezuela. Look, I continued, putting my hand round my shoulder to touch the middle of my back. There is a groove running down my spine, dividing my body into equal parts. Thus does the great Orinoco divide Venezuela, and on one side of it is all Guyana, and on the other side the countries are provinces of Cumana, Maturum, Barcelona, Bolivar, Guarico, Apure, and many others. I then gave a rapid description of the northern half of the country, with its fascinos covered with herds in one part, its plantations of coffee, rice, and sugarcane in another, and its chief towns. Last of all, Caracas, the gay and opulent little Paris in America. This seemed to weary her, but the moment I ceased speaking, and before I could well moisten my dry lips, she demanded to know what came after Caracas, after all, Venezuela. The ocean, water, water, water, I replied. There are no peeper there, in the water, only fishes, she remarked, then suddenly continued, Why are you silent? Is Venezuela then all the world? The task I had set myself to perform seemed only at its commencement yet. Thinking how to proceed with it, my eyes roved over the level area we were standing on, and it struck me that this little irregular plain, broad at one end, and almost pointed at the other, roughly resembled the South American continent in its form. Look, Rima, I began. Here we are on this small pebble, Itaewa, and this line round it shuts us in. We cannot see beyond. Now let us imagine that we can see beyond, that we can see the whole flat mountaintop, and that, you know, is the whole world. Now listen while I tell you of all the countries and principal mountains and rivers and cities of the world. The plan I had now fixed on involved a great deal of walking about, and some hard work in moving and setting up stones, and tracing boundary and other lines. But it gave me pleasure, for Rima was close by all the time, following me from place to place, listening to all I said in silence but with keen interest. At the broad end of the level summit I marked out Venezuela, showing by means of a long line how the Oronoco divided it, and also marking several of the greater streams flowing into it. I also marked the sights of Caracas and other large towns with stones, and rejoiced that we are not like the Europeans, great city builders, for the stones proved heavy to lift. Then followed Columbia and Ecuador on the west, and, successively, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, ending at last in the south with Patagonia, a cold arid land, bleak and desolate. I marked the littoral cities, as we progressed on that side, where earth ends and the Pacific Ocean begins, and infinitude. Then in a sudden burst of inspiration I described the Cordilleras to her, that world-long stupendous chain, its sea of Titicaca, and wintry, desolate, piramo, where lie the ruins of Tijuanaco, older than Thebes. I mentioned its principal cities, those small, inflamed, or festering, pimples that attract much attention from appearing on such a body. Quito, called, not in irony but by its own people, the splendid and the magnificent, so high above the earth as to appear but a little way removed from heaven. Dequita al cielo, as the saying is. But of its sublime history, its kings and conquerors, Heymar Capac the Mighty, and Huascar and Atuhualpa the Unhappy, not one word. Many words, how inadequate, of the summits, white with everlasting snows, above it, above this navel of the world, above the earth, the ocean, the darkening tempest, the condor's flight. Flame-breathing Kotopaxi, whose wrathful mutterings are audible two hundred leagues away, and Chimborazo, Antisana, Serrata, Ilamani, Akoncagua, names of mountains that affect us like the names of gods, Implacable Pahakamak, and Viracocha, whose everlasting granite thrones they are. At the last I showed her Cusco, the city of the sun, and the highest dwelling place of man on earth. I was carried away by so sublime a theme, and remembering that I had no critical hearer, I gave free reigns to fancy, forgetting for the moment that some undiscovered thought or feeling had prompted her questions. And while I spoke of the mountains, she hung all my words, following me closely in my walk, her countenance brilliant, her frame quivering with excitement. There yet remained to be described all that unimaginable space east of the Andes, the rivers, what rivers, the green plains that are like the sea, the illimitable waste of water where there is no land, and the forest region. The very thought of the Amazonian forest made my spirit droop. If I could have snatched her up and placed her on the dome of Chimborazo, she would have looked on an area of ten thousand square miles of earth, so vast as the horizon at that elevation. And possibly her imagination would have been able to clothe it all with an unbroken forest. Yet how small a portion this would be of the stupendous whole of a forest region equal in extent to the whole of Europe! All loveliness, all grace, all majesty are there, but we cannot see, cannot conceive, come away. From this vast stage to be occupied in the distant future by millions and myriads of beings, like us of upright form, the nations that will be born when all the existing dominant races on the globe, and the civilizations they represent, have perished as utterly as those who sculptured the stones of old Tiahuanaco. From this theater of palms prepared for a drama unlike any which the immortals have yet witnessed, I hurried away, and then slowly conducted her along the Atlantic coast, listening to the thunder of its great waves, and pausing at intervals to survey some maritime city. Never probably since old Father Noah divided the earth among his sons had so grand a geographical discourse been delivered, and having finished I sat down, exhausted with my efforts, and mopped my brow, but glad that my huge task was over, and satisfied that I had convinced her of the futility of her wish to see the world for herself. Her excitement had passed away by now. She was standing a little apart from me, her eyes cast down and thoughtful. At length she approached me and said, waving her hand all around, What is beyond the mountains over there? Beyond the cities on that side, beyond the world. Water, only water, did I not tell you? I returned stoutly, for I had, of course, sunk the isthmus of Panama beneath the sea. Water, all round? She persisted. Yes. Water, and no beyond. Only water, always water. She could no longer adhere to so gross a lie. She was too intelligent, and I loved her too much. Standing up I pointed to distant mountains and isolated peaks. Look at those peaks, I said. It is like that with the world. This world we are standing on, beyond that great water that flows all round the world, but far away, so far that it would take months in a big boat to reach them. There are islands, some small, others as large as this world, but, Rima, they are so far away, so impossible to reach, that it is useless to speak or to think of them. They are to us like the sun and moon and stars, to which we cannot fly. And now sit down and rest by my side, for you know everything. She glanced at me with troubled eyes. Nothing do I know. Nothing have you told me. Did I not say that mountains and rivers and forests are nothing? Tell me about all the people in the world. Look, there is Cusco over there, a city like no other in the world. Did you not tell me so? Of the people, nothing. Are they also different from all others in the world? I will tell you that if you will first answer me one question, Rima. She drew a little nearer, curious to hear, but was silent. I promised that you will answer me. I persisted, and as she continued silent, I added. Shall I not ask you, then? Say, she murmured. Why do you wish to know about the people of Cusco? She flashed a look at me, then averted her face. For some moment she stood hesitating, then coming closer touched me on the shoulder and said softly, Turn away. Do not look at me. I obeyed, and bending so close that I felt her warm breath on my neck, she whispered, Are the people in Cusco like me? Would they understand me, the things you cannot understand? Do you know? Her tremulous voice betrayed her agitation, and her words, I imagined, revealed the motive of her action in bringing me to the summit of Itaewa, and of her desire to visit and know all the various peoples inhabiting the world. She had begun to realize, after knowing me, her isolation and unlikeness to others, and at the same time to dream that all human beings might not be unlike her, and unable to understand her mysterious speech, and to enter into her thoughts and feelings. I can answer that question, Reema. I said, Ha! No, poor child. There are none there like you. Not one, not one. Of all their priests, soldiers, merchants, workmen, white, black, red and mixed, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, ugly and beautiful. Not one would understand the sweet language you speak. She said nothing. And glancing round, I discovered that she was walking away, her fingers clasped before her, her eyes cast down and looking profoundly dejected. Jumping up I hurried after her. Listen, I said, coming to her side. Do you know that there are others in the world like you who would understand your speech? Oh, do I not? Yes, mother told me. I was young when you died, but, oh, mother, why did you not tell me more? But where? Oh, do you not think that I would go to them if I knew that I would ask? Does New Flo know? She shook her head, walking dejectedly along. But have you asked him? I persisted. Have I not? Not once, not a hundred times? Suddenly she paused. Look, she said, now we are standing in Guiana again, and over there is Brazil, and up there towards the Cordilleras it is unknown, and there are people there. Come, let us go and seek from my mother's people in that place, with grandfather, but not the dogs, they would frighten the animals and betray us by barking to cruel men who would slay us with poisoned arrows. Oh, Rima, can you not understand? It is too far, and your grandfather, poor old man, would die of weariness and hunger in old age in some strange forest. Would he die, old grandfather? Then we could cover him up with palm leaves in the forest and leave him. It would not be grandfather, only his body that must turn to dust. He would be away, away where the stars are. We should not die but go on and on and on. To continue the discussion seemed hopeless. I was silent, thinking of what I had heard, that there were others like her somewhere in that vast green world, so much of it imperfectly known, so many districts never yet explored by white men. True, it was strange that no report of such a race had reached the ears of any traveller, yet here was Rima herself at my side, a living proof that such a race did exist. Newfellow probably knew more than he would say. I had failed, as we had seen, to win the secret from him by fair means and could not have recourse to foul the rack and thumb screw to ring it from him. To the Indians she was only an object of superstitious fear, a daughter of the Didi, and to them nothing of her origin was known. And she, poor girl, had only a vague remembrance of a few words heard in childhood from her mother, and probably not rightly understood. While these thoughts had been passing through my mind, Rima had been standing silent by, waiting perhaps for an answer to her last words. Then, stooping, she picked up a small pebble and tossed it three or four yards away. Do you see where it fell? She cried, turning towards me. That is on the border of Guyana, is it not? Let us go there first. Rima, how you distress me. We cannot go there. It is all a savage wilderness, almost unknown to men, a blank on the map. The map? Speak no word that I do not understand. In a very few words I explained my meaning. Even fewer would have sufficed, so quick was her apprehension. If it is a blank, she returned quickly. Then you know of nothing to stop us, no river we cannot swim, and no great mountains like those where Quito is. But I happen to know, Rima, for it has been related to me by old Indians, that of all places that is the most difficult of access. There is a river there, and although it is not on the map, it would prove more impassable to us than the mighty Oronoco and Amazon. It has vast malaria swamps on its borders, overgrown with dense forest, teeming with savage and venomous animals, so that even the Indians dare not venture near it. And even before the river is reached there is a range of precipitous mountains called by the same name, just there where your pebble fell, the mountains of Rialama. Hardly had the name fallen from my lips before I changed, as lightning came over her countenance. All doubt, anxiety, petulance, hope, and despondence, and these in ever-varying degrees, chasing each other like shadows, had vanished, and she was instinct and burning with some new powerful emotion which had flashed into her soul. Rialama! Rialama! she repeated so rapidly, in an atone so sharp that it tingled in the brain. That is the place I am seeking. There was my mother found. There are her people in mine. Therefore was I called Rialama. That is my name! Rima! I returned, astonished at her words. No, no, no! Rialama! When I was a child and the priest baptized me, he named me Rialama, the place where my mother was found. But it was long to say, and they called me Rima. Suddenly she became still, and then cried in a ringing voice. He knew it all along. That old man! He knew that Rialama was near. Only there where the pebble fell, that we could go there. While speaking she turned towards her home, pointing with raised hand. Her whole appearance now reminded me of that first meeting with her when the serpent bit me. The soft red of her irises shone like fire, her delicate skin seemed to glow with an intense rose-color, and her frame trembled with her agitation, so that her loose cloud of hair was in motion as if blown through by wind. Traitor! Traitor! She cried, still looking homewards and using quick, passionate gestures. It was all known to you, and you deceived me all these years. Even to me, Rima, you lied with your lips. Oh, horrible! Was there ever such a scandal known in Geyana? Come, follow me. Let us go at once to Rialama. And without so much as casting a glance behind to see whether I followed or no, she hurried away, and in a couple of minutes disappeared from sight over the edge of the flat summit. Rima! Rima, come back and listen to me. Oh, you are mad! Come back, come back! But she would not return or pause and listen, and looking after her I saw her bounding down the rocky slope like some wild, agile creature, possessed of padded hoofs and an infallible instinct, and before many minutes she vanished from sight among rocks and trees lower down. New-flow, old man! said I, looking out towards his lodge. Are there no shooting pains in those old bones of yours to warn you in time of the tempest about to burst on your head? Then I sat down to think. CHAPTER XII To follow impetuous bird-like Rima in her descent of the hill would have been impossible, nor had I any desire to be a witness of old new-flow's discomforture at the finish. It was better to leave them to settle their quarrel themselves while I occupied myself in turning over these fresh facts in my mind to find out how they fitted into the speculative structure I had been building during the last two or three weeks. But it soon struck me that it was getting late, that the sun would be gone in a couple of hours, and at once I began the descent. It was not accomplished without some bruises and a good many scratches. After a cold draft, obtained by putting my lips to a black rock from which the water was trickling, I set out on my walk home, keeping near the western border of the forest for fear of losing myself. I had covered about half the distance from the foot of the hill to New-flow's lodge when the sun went down. Away on my left the evening uproar of the howling monkeys burst out, and after three or four minutes ceased. The after silence was pierced at intervals by screams of birds going to roost among the trees in the distance, and by many minor sounds close at hand of small bird, frog, and insect. The western sky was now like amber-colored flame, and against that immeasurably distant luminous background the near branches and clustered foliage looked black, but on my left hand the vegetation still appeared of a uniform dusky green. In a little while night would drown all color, and there would be no light but that of the wandering lantern-fly, always unwelcome to the belated walker in a lonely place, since, like the igna's fatuous, it is confusing to the sight and sense of direction. With increasing anxiety I hastened on, when all at once a low growl issuing from the bushes some yards ahead of me brought me to a stop. In a moment the dogs, Sucio and Galloso, rushed out from some hiding-place furiously barking, but they quickly recognized me and slunk back again. Relieved from fear I walked on for a short distance, then it struck me that the old man must be about somewhere, as the dog scarcely ever stirred from his side. Coming back I went to the spot where they had appeared to me, and there, after a while, I caught sight of a dim yellow form as one of the brutes rose up to look at me. He had been lying on the ground by the side of a widespreading bush, dead and dry, but overgrown by a creeping plant which had completely covered its broad, flat top, like a piece of tapestry thrown over a table, its slender terminal stems and leaves hanging over the edge like a deep fringe. But the fringe did not reach to the ground and under the bush, in its dark interior I caught sight of the other dog, and after gazing in for some time I also discovered a black recumbent form which I took to be new-flow. What are you doing there, old man? I cried. Where's Rima? Have you not seen her? Come out. Then he stirred himself, slowly creeping out on all fours, and finally, getting free of the dead twigs and leaves, he stood up and faced me. He had a strange, wild look, his white beard all disordered, moss and dead leaves clinging to it, his eyes staring like an owls, while his mouth opened and shut, the teeth striking together audibly, like an angry peccary's. After silently glaring at me in this mad way for some moments, he burst out, Cursed be the day when I first saw you, man of Caracas, cursed be the serpent that bit you in head not sufficient power in its venom to kill. Ha! You come from Etaiowa. Were you talked with Rima? And you have now returned to the tiger's den to mock that dangerous animal with the loss of its welp. Fool! If you did not wish the dogs to feed on your flesh, it would have been better if you had taken your evening walk in some other direction. These raging words did not have the effect of alarming me in the least, nor even of astonishing me very much. Albeit up to now the old man had always shown himself suave and respectful. His attack did not seem quite spontaneous. In spite of the wildness of his manner and the violence of his speech, he appeared to be acting apart which he had rehearsed beforehand. I was only angry, and stepping forward, I dealt him with a very sharp wrap with my knuckles on his chest. Moderate your language, old man, I said. Remember that you are addressing a superior. What do you say to me? He screamed in a shrill, broken voice, accompanying his words with emphatic gestures. Do you think you are on the pavement of Caracas? Here are no police to protect you. Here we are alone in the desert, where names and titles are nothing standing man to man. An old man to a young one, I returned, and in virtue of my youth I am your superior. Do you wish me to take you by the throat and shake your insolence out of you? What? Do you threaten me with violence? He exclaimed, throwing himself into a hostile attitude. You, the man I saved and sheltered in fed, and treated like a son. Destroyer of my peace, have you not injured me enough? You have stolen my grandchild's heart from me, with a thousand inventions you have driven her mad. My child, my angel, rima, my savior, with your lying tongue you have changed her into a demon to persecute me. And you are not satisfied, but must finish your evil work by inflicting blows on my worn body. All, all is lost to me. Take my life if you wish it, for now it is worth nothing, and I desire not to keep it. And here he threw himself on his knees and tearing open his old ragged mantle, presented his naked breast to me. Shoot, shoot! he screeched. And if you have no weapon, take my knife and plunge it into this sad heart, and let me die. And drawing his knife from its sheath, he flung it down at my feet. All this performance only served to increase my anger and contempt, but before I could make any reply, I caught sight of a shadowy object at some distance moving towards us, something gray and formless, gliding swift and noiseless, like some great low flying owl among the trees. It was rima, and hardly had I seen her before she was with us, facing old new flow, her whole frame quivering with passion, her wide-open eyes appearing luminous in that dim light. You are here! she cried in that quick ringing tone that was almost painful to the sense. You thought to escape me, to hide yourself from my eyes in the wood. Miserable, do you know that I have need of you, that I have not finished with you yet? Do you then wish to be scourged to Rialama with thorny twigs, to be dragged fither by the beard? He had been staring open-mouthed at her, still on his knees, and holding his mantle open with his skinny hands. Rima! Rima! have mercy on me! he cried out piteously. I cannot go to Rialama! It is so far, so far! And I am old and should meet my death. Oh, Rima! Child of the woman I save from death, have you no compassion? I shall die! I shall die! Shall you die? Not until you have shown me the way to Rialama. And when I have seen Rialama with my eyes, then you may die. And I shall be glad at your death. And the children, and the grandchildren, and cousins and friends of all the animals you have slain and fed on, shall know that you are dead, and be glad at your death. For you have deceived me with lies all these years, even me, and are not fit to live. Come now to Rialama! Rise instantly! I command you! Instead of rising, he suddenly put out his hand and snatched up the knife from the ground. Do you then wish me to die? he cried. Shall you be glad at my death? Behold! Then I shall slay myself before your eyes. By my own hand, Rima, I am now about to perish, striking the knife into my heart. While speaking he waved the knife in a tragic manner over his head. But I made no movement. I was convinced that he had no intention of taking his own life, that he was still acting. Rima, incapable of understanding such a thing, took it differently. Oh! you are about to kill yourself! she cried. Oh, wicked man, wait until you know what will happen to you after death. All shall now be told to my mother. Hear my words. Then kill yourself! She also now dropped to her knees, and, lifting her clasked hands and fixing her resentful, sparkling eyes on the dim blue patch of heaven visible beyond the treetops, began to speak rapidly in clear, vibrating tones. She was praying to her mother in heaven, and while new flow listened absorbed his mouth open, his eyes fixed on her, the hand that clutched the knife dropped to his side. I also heard with the greatest wonder and admiration, for she had been shy and reticent with me, and now, as if oblivious of my presence, she was telling aloud the secrets of her inmost heart. Oh, mother, mother, listen to me, to Rima, your beloved child! she began. All these years I have been wickedly deceived by grandfather, new flow, the old man that found you. Often have I spoken to him of real ama, where you once were, and your people are, and he denied all knowledge of such a place. Sometimes he said that it was at an immense distance in a great wilderness full of serpents larger than the trunks of great trees, and of evil spirits and savage men, slayers of all strangers. At other times he affirmed that no such place existed, that it was a tale told by the Indians. Such false things, did he say to me. To Rima, your child! Oh, mother, can you believe such wickedness? Then a stranger, a white man from Venezuela, came into our woods. This is the man that was bitten by a serpent, and his name is Abel. Only I do not call him by that name, but by other names which I have told you. But perhaps you did not listen, or did not hear, for I spoke softly, and not as now, all my knees solemnly. For I must tell you, O mother, that after you died the priest had boa told me repeatedly that when I prayed, whether to you, or to any of the saints, or to the mother of heaven, I must speak as he had taught me, if I wished to be heard and understood. And that was most strange, since you had taught me differently. But you were living then at boa, and now that you are in heaven, perhaps you know better. Therefore listen to me now, O mother, and let nothing I say escape you. When this white man had been for some days with us, a strange thing happened to me, which made me different, so that I was no longer rima, although rima still. So strange was this thing, and I often went to the pool to look at myself and see the change in me. But nothing different could I see. In the first place it came from his eyes passing into mine, and filling me just as the lightning fills a cloud at sunset. After words it was no longer from his eyes only, but it came into me when ever I saw him, even at a distance, when I heard his voice, and most of all when he touched me with his hand. When he is out of my sight, I cannot rest until I see him again, and when I see him, then I am glad, yet in such fear and trouble that I hide myself from him. O mother, he could not be told, for once when he caught me in his arms, and compelled me to speak of it, he did not understand, yet there was need to tell it. Then it came to me that only to our people could it be told, for they would understand and reply to me, and tell me what to do in such a case. And now, O mother, this is what happened next. I went to grandfather and first begged, and then commanded him to take me to Rialama, but he would not obey, nor give attention to what I said. But whenever I spoke to him of it, he rose up and hurried from me, and when I followed he flung back a confused and angry reply, saying in the same breath that it was so long since he had been to Rialama that he had forgotten where it was, and that no such place existed. And which of his words were true and which false I knew not, so that it would have been better if he had returned no answer at all, and there was no help to be got from him. And having thus failed, and there being no other person to speak to except this stranger, I determined to go to him, and in his company seek through the whole world for my people. This will surprise you, O mother, because of that fear which came on me and his presence, causing me to hide from his sight, but my wish was so great that for a time it overcame my fear, so that I went to him as he sat alone in the wood, sad because he could not see me, and spoke to him, and led him to the summit of Itaewa to show me all the countries of the world from the summit. And you must also know that I tremble in his presence, not because I fear him as I fear Indians and cruel men, for he has no evil in him, and is beautiful to look at, and his words are gentle, and his desire is to be always with me, so that he differs from all other men I have seen, just as I differ from all women, except from you only, O sweet mother. On the mountaintop he marked out and named all the countries of the world, the great mountains, the rivers, the plains, the forests, the cities, and told me also the peoples, whites and savages, but of our people nothing. And beyond where the world ends there is water, water, water. And when he spoke of that unknown part on the borders of Guyana, on the side of the Cordilleras, he named the mountains of Rialama, and in that way I first found out where my people are. I then left him on Itaewa, he refusing to follow me, and ran to grandfather and taxed him with his falsehoods, and he, finding I knew all, escaped from me into the woods, where I have now found him once more, talking with the stranger. And now, O mother, seeing himself caught, and unable to escape a second time, he has taken up a knife to kill himself, so as not to take me to Rialama, and he is only waiting until I finish speaking to you, for I wish him to know what will happen to him after death. Therefore, O mother, listen well, and do what I tell you. When he has killed himself, and has come into that place where you are, see that he does not escape the punishment he merits. Watch well for his coming, for he is full of cunning and deceit, and will endeavor to hide himself from your eyes. When you have recognized him, an old man, brown as an Indian, with a white beard, point him out to the angels and say, This is Nuflo, the bad man that lied to Rima. Let them take him and singe his wings with fire, so that he may not escape by flying, and afterwards thrust him into some dark cavern under a mountain, and place a great stone that a hundred men could not remove over its mouth, and leave him there alone and in the dark, FOREVER. Having ended, she rose quickly from her knees, and at the same moment Nuflo, dropping the knife, cast himself prostrate at her feet. Rima, my child, my child, not that! He cried out in a voice that was broken with terror. He tried to take hold of her feet with his hands, but she shrank from him with aversion. Still he kept on crawling after her like a disabled lizard, abjectly imploring her to forgive him, reminding her that he had saved from death, the woman whose enmity had now been enlisted against him, and declaring that he would do anything she commanded him and gladly perish in her service. It was a pityable sight, and moving quickly to her side I touched her on the shoulder, and asked her to forgive him. The response came quickly enough. Turning to him once more, she said, I forgive you, grandfather, and now get up and take me to Rialama. He rose but only to his knees. But you have not told her! He said, recovering his natural voice, though still anxious, and jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Consider, my child, that I am old and shall doubtless perish on the way. What would become of my soul in such a case? For now you have told her everything, and it will not be forgotten. She regarded him in silence for a few moments. Then, moving a little way apart, dropped on to her knees again, and with raised hands and eyes fixed on the blue space above, already sprinkled with stars, prayed again. O mother, listen to me, for I have something fresh to say to you. Grandfather has not killed himself, but has asked my forgiveness, and has promised to obey me. O mother, I have forgiven him, and he will now take me to Rialama, to our people. Therefore, O mother, if he dies on the way to Rialama, let nothing be done against him. But remember only that I forgave him at the last, and when he comes into that place where you are, let him be well received, for that is the wish of Rima, your child. As soon as the second petition was ended, she was up again and engaged in an animated discussion with him, urging him to take her without further delay to Rialama, while he, now recovered from his fear, urged that so important an undertaking required a great deal of thought and preparation, that the journey would occupy about twenty days, and unless he set out well provided with food he would starve before accomplishing half the distance, and his death would leave her worse off than before. He concluded by affirming that he could not start in less time than seven or eight days. For a while I listened with keen interest to this dispute, and at length interposed once more on the old man's side. The poor girl and her petition had unwittingly revealed to me the power I possessed, and it was a pleasing experience to exercise it. Touching her shoulder again, I assured her that seven or eight days was only a reasonable time in which to prepare for so long a journey. She instantly yielded, and after one glance at my face she moved swiftly away into the darker shadows, leaving me alone with the old man. As we returned together through the now profoundly dark wood, I explained to him how the subject of Rialama had first come up during my conversation with Rima, and he then apologized for the violent language he had used to me. This personal question disposed of, he spoke of the pilgrimage before him, and informed me in confidence that he intended preparing a quantity of smoke-dried meat and packing it in a bag, with a layer of cassava bread, dried pumpkin slips, and such innocent trifles to conceal it from Rima's keen sight and delicate nostrils. Finally he made a long rambling statement which, I vainly imagined, was intended to lead up to an account of Rima's origin, was something about her people at Rialama. But it led to nothing except an expression of opinion that the girl was afflicted with a maggot in the brain, but that as she had interest with the powers above, especially with her mother, who is now a very important person among the Celestials, it was good policy to submit to her wishes. Turning to me, doubtless to wink, only I missed the sign owing to the darkness, he added that it was a fine thing to have a friend at court. With a little congratulatory chuckle he went on to say that for others it was necessary to obey all the ordinances of the church, to contribute to its support, hear mass, confess from time to time, and receive absolution. Consequently those who went out into the wilderness, where there were no churches and no priests to absolve them, did so at the risk of losing their souls. But with him it was different. He expected in the end to escape the fires of purgatory and go directly in all his uncleanness to heaven. A thing, he remarked, which happened to very few. And he, new flow, was no saint, and it first become a dweller in the desert as a very young man in order to escape the penalty of his misdeeds. I could not resist the temptation of remarking here that to an unregenerate man the Celestial country might turn out a somewhat uncongenial place for a residence. He replied airily that he had considered the point and had no fear about the future, that he was old, and from all he had observed of the methods of government followed by those who ruled over earthly affairs from the sky, he had formed a clear idea of that place, and believed that even among so many glorified beings he would be able to meet with those who would prove compangable enough and would think no worse of him on account of his little blemishes. How he had first got this idea into his brain about Rima's ability to make things smooth for him after death, I cannot say. Probably it was the effect of the girl's powerful personality and vivid faith acting on an ignorant and extremely superstitious mind. While she was making that petition to her mother in heaven, it did not seem in the least ridiculous to me. I had felt no inclination to smile, even when hearing all that about the old man's wings being singed to prevent his escape by flying. Her rapt look, the intense conviction that vibrated in her ringing, passionate tones, the brilliant scorn with which she, a hater of bloodshed, won so tender towards all living things, even the meanest, bade him kill himself, and only hear first how her vengeance would pursue his deceitful soul into other worlds, the clearness with which she had related the facts of the case, disclosing the innmost secrets of her heart. All this had had a strange, convincing effect on me. Listening to her I was no longer the enlightened, the creedless man. She herself was so near to the supernatural that it seemed brought near me. Indefinable feelings which had been latent in me, stirred into life, and following the direction of her divine, lustrous eyes fixed on the blue sky above, I seemed to see there another being like herself, a reema glorified, leaning her pale spiritual face to catch the winged words uttered by her child on earth. And even now, while hearing the old man's talk, showing as it did a mind darkened with such gross delusions, I was not yet altogether free from the strange effect of that prayer. Doubtless it was a delusion, her mother was not really there above, listening to the girl's voice. Still, in some mysterious way, reema had become, to me, even as the superstitious old new flow, a being apart and sacred, and this feeling seemed to mix with my passion, to purify and exalt it and make it infinitely sweet and precious. After we have been silent for some time, I said, Old man, the result of the grand discussion you have had with reema is that you have agreed to take her to Rialama, but about my accompanying you, not one word has been spoken by either of you. He stopped short to stare at me, and although it was too dark to see his face, I felt his astonishment. Sr., he exclaimed, we cannot go without you. Have you not heard my granddaughter's words, that it is only because of you that she is about to undertake this crazy journey? If you are not with us in this thing, then, Sr., here we must remain. But what will reema say to that? Very well, I will go, but only on one condition. What is it? he asked, with a sudden change of tone, which warned me that he was becoming cautious again. That you tell me the whole story of reema's origin, and how you came to be now living with her in this solitary place, and who these people are she wishes to visit at Rialama. Ah, Sr., it is a long story and sad, but you shall hear it all. You must hear it, Sr., since you are now one of us, and when I am no longer here to protect her, then she will be yours, and although you will never be able to do more than old new flow for her, perhaps she will be better pleased, and you, Sr., better able to exist innocently by her side without eating flesh, since you will always have that rare flower to delight you. But the story would take long to tell. You shall hear it all as we journey to Rialama. What else will there be to talk about when we are walking that long distance, and when we sit at night by the fire? No, no, old man. I am not to be put off in that way. I must hear it before I start. But he was determined to reserve the narrative until the journey, and after some further argument I yielded the point. End of chapter.