I had come over the worst track I had ever travelled on in
spite of rain and fever, but I at once saw that all my labours were
in vain and that I could not surmount this last difficulty.
But I was
lucky in one way. The chief told Vic that if we had gone yesterday we
should all have been killed, as without knowing anything about it,
we should have got there just after the fight. So for once fever
had done me a good turn, a "providencia," I think Vic called it,
as I should have reached my destination the previous day if I had
not been delayed by fever. Out of curiosity to see what the chief
would say, I told Vic to tell him that I would help him with my gun,
but the chief was ungrateful and contemptuous, saying that they
would shoot me before I could see to shoot them. Vic thought I was
serious, and said he would not go with me, and begged me not to go,
saying, in a mixture of English and Spanish, "What will your father,
your sister, and your brother say to me when Buquil arrow make you
dead?" Needless to say I was not keen on stalking Buquils who were
waiting for me with steel arrows in long grass, and, besides, if I
went with the gallant little nine hundred, I should miss my steamer. I
never heard the result of that fight, much as I should like to have
known it. After the meeting had dispersed, we returned to the river
and rested. I bathed and took a swim in a big, deep pool under a huge
tree, which was one mass of beautiful white flowers. I have never
enjoyed a swim more. Vic also took a wash, and to my great surprise
one of the Negritos proceeded to copy him, and as Vic soaped himself
the Negrito tried to do the same thing with a stone, with which he
succeeded in getting rid of a great deal of dirt. It surprised and
amused the other Negritos, both men and women, who jeered and roared
with laughter at the unusual spectacle of a Negrito washing himself.
I signed to them to give our boy carrier a wash, as he seemed the
noisiest of the party, and two men got hold of him to duck him, but
he seemed so terrified that I stopped them. The youngster evidently
hated me for the fright he had received, as later on when I made him
a present of a silver ten-cent piece to make up for his fright -
this is a very handsome present for a Negrito - he threw it on the
ground and stamped his foot in anger. The Negritos shot several fish
and large prawns with a special kind of long pointed arrow; these
we ate with our rice by the river side before returning. The night
I stayed with my old friend, the comic chief, I found him actually
in tears and much cut up at the idea of his two sons having to take
part in the fight.
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