Chapter Seven.

The Great Swamp and its weird Denizens.

It was on the eleventh day after the resumption of their march that, quite early in the afternoon, they finally emerged from the forest and found themselves upon the edge of a swamp, which stretched away ahead and on either side of them as far as the eye could reach, except that, in the extreme distance, and in the direction in which they wished to travel, there was the suggestion of firm and somewhat hilly ground which might be about thirty miles distant.

“Gee!” ejaculated Earle, as the party came to a halt by the margin of the morass-like expanse, “this promises to be a corker, Dick. Eh, what? Guess we’ll have to go into camp for a bit, and explore. I don’t at all like the notion of attempting to force our way across that swamp, if there is a method of working round it—as of course there is if we are prepared to travel far enough. This reminds me of Florida, where I once spent a month shooting ’gators—and other things. I guess there’ll be all the ’gators we want in there, to say nothing of snakes, mosquitos, scorpions, centipedes, and other ‘varmint.’ No; I guess we’ll go round, if we can; and if we can’t, we must make dugouts, and effect the crossing in them. We’ll never be able to do it any other way.”

It was indeed a formidable-looking barrier, this vast expanse of swamp, that stretched itself, mile after mile, right athwart the party’s course, and its aspect was as dreary and depressing as one could well imagine. All along its margin the soil was soft, boggy and treacherous, to such an extent, indeed, that while making a preliminary investigation of the ground before definitely deciding upon a location for the camp, Dick suddenly sank in to above his knees, and only succeeded in extricating himself with the utmost difficulty, assisted though he was by Earle and some half a dozen Indians, who formed themselves into a human chain and dragged him out by main force.

The entire expanse of swamp appeared to be level, with the exception of a few very trifling elevations here and there, and seemed to consist of boggy soil covered with a rank growth of coarse grass, reeds, and stunted bush, sparsely dotted here and there with a few gnarled and unwholesome-looking trees, the whole intersected by a labyrinth of canals filled with stagnant water, which wound hither and thither in a most purposeless and bewildering fashion. That insect life abounded there was manifest at the most cursory glance, for great clouds of midges or flies could be seen hovering in the air in every direction, while Earle’s surmise as to the presence of alligators was abundantly confirmed by the frequent roaring of the creatures. The forest seemed to grow close up to the margin of the swamp everywhere, a mere narrow strip of open ground some twenty to thirty yards wide, dividing the two.

A fairly satisfactory site for the camp having at length been found, Earle and Dick, armed with rifle and automatic, and each accompanied by an Indian carrying a machete, set off in opposite directions to explore the margin of the swamp, in the hope of discovering a spot from which a promising start to cross might be made; while King Cole, quite unable to decide which of his masters he would accompany, finally laid down with his head between his paws and whined pitifully, refusing to be comforted by anybody.

Warned by his recent mishap, Dick was careful to give the treacherous margin of the swamp a wide berth. The route he was pursuing led about due south; and for nearly an hour he pursued his way at a good brisk pace, uneventfully and without finding anything like that of which he was in search. Eventually, however, he arrived at a point where the edge of the forest abruptly receded toward the east, leaving a wide expanse of bare soil, beyond which, at a distance of a short quarter of a mile, the swamp again appeared, stretching away limitlessly toward the south and east. Apparently, the only thing to do was to follow the northerly margin of solid ground, which seemed to trend away in a westerly direction, the direction namely in which Earle wished to travel, and this Dick accordingly did. He followed this course for about half an hour, finding the tongue of firm ground which he was traversing vary in width, from time to time, from several yards to, in places, merely enough for a man conveniently to walk upon, while it twisted hither and thither in the most erratic fashion, although on the whole it continued to push its way steadily westward toward the heart of the swamp. Then, glancing at the declining sun, he decided that he must retrace his steps if he desired to get back to camp before dark.

Thus far, the afternoon’s journey had been wholly uneventful, excepting for the persistent attacks of the myriads of mosquitoes and flies which swarmed in great clouds about the two adventurers to such an extent that there were times when they were compelled to halt and beat the pests off their bodies. But now they had something else than flies and mosquitoes to think about, for they had scarcely progressed a quarter of a mile on their return when, as they approached a spot where the firm soil narrowed to a mere causeway, scarcely two feet in width, Dick, who was leading, suddenly became aware of a strange and formidable-looking creature squatting at the far extremity of the causeway, apparently awaiting their approach.

As his eyes fell upon it Cavendish came to a halt so suddenly that the Indian in his rear cannoned into him, nearly knocking him into the black water alongside.

“Steady, Moquit!” exclaimed Dick, addressing his follower in the Indian tongue, in which he was rapidly acquiring a considerable degree of proficiency. “Look ahead, Moquit. What is that thing? Have you ever seen anything like it before?”

“Never, master,” answered Moquit, staring with bulging eyes at the apparition, which in its turn was staring back at them. “I like it not. Toqui preserve us!”—(Toqui was the name of Moquit’s most revered god)—“it looks like a slayer of men. Had not master better destroy it with his fire tube, lest it cross over and devour us?”

“I do not think we need greatly fear that,” answered Dick, holding his rifle in readiness nevertheless. “The causeway is too narrow for the brute to cross. What, in the name of Fortune, can the beast be?” he concluded in his own tongue.

He might well wonder; for never in his life before had he seen such a creature, either alive, dead, or even in a picture. And yet—stay! As he looked at the thing more intently, there seemed to gradually float into his memory a hazy sort of recollection that he had seen a picture or representation of the creature which squatted there stolidly some thirty yards before him.

According to Cavendish’s own subsequent description, which was confirmed in every particular by Moquit, the general impression conveyed was that of a gigantic frog, as big as an ox, but with several important modifications, one of which was that its capacious mouth was furnished with a most formidable set of sharp, curved, dagger-like teeth, of which the observers gained an excellent view, since the creature opened its mouth several times. It was a quadruped; that is to say, it was provided with four legs, but while its front legs were so short as to be little more than rudimentary, its hind legs were as long and apparently as powerful, proportionately, as those of a kangaroo. And, like a kangaroo, it was provided with a long tail, as thick at the root as its own body, tapering away to a blunt point. Indeed, as Dick remarked, he could scarcely describe the creature better than by likening it to what he conceived might be the appearance of a cross between a frog and a kangaroo. It had a pair of big, staring eyes, its toes were armed with long, murderous-looking claws, and its brownish-yellow skin was mottled all over with wart-like protuberances.

For fully five minutes, Dick supposes, he stood intently studying the peculiarities of the extraordinary creature, animated much more by curiosity than by any sense of fear, for he had somehow fully persuaded himself that the beast would not hazard the passage of that narrow causeway, while in any case a shot or two from the U.M.C. Remington, which the young Englishman carried, would of a surety put an end to the creature’s career. Then, as Dick still stood watching and perhaps waiting for developments of some sort, the great brute suddenly rose upon its hind legs and, uttering a curious squealing sound, launched itself into the air with a terrific spring which Cavendish saw with consternation would bring the beast right upon him. Quick and unexpected as was the action, however, it did not take Dick wholly by surprise; on the contrary, as though by instinct, he threw up the muzzle of his rifle, pressed the trigger, and heard the bullet thud as it struck the leaping body. A loud, horrible scream escaped the brute as the bullet smote it. It writhed in mid-air, and that writhe caused it to fall into the water instead of landing upon Dick’s body, as it must otherwise have done. It fell with a terrific splash which drenched Dick and Moquit, and still writhing with pain, instantly turned, with the evident intention of climbing out and attacking the two men. But by this time Dick had begun to realise the dangerous character of the creature, and, rapidly levelling his rifle again, shot it through the head as it laid its two front paws upon the bank preparatory to climbing out. With a moaning gasp, the great body relaxed and slowly settled back into the water, where it presently turned over on its back and floated, dead. Less than a minute later, while Dick and Moquit still stood staring in amazement at the weird creature, there came a sudden, violent swirling in the black water, and the heads of some six or seven enormous alligators appeared round the body. The great jaws of the reptiles opened, and the carcass was violently dragged hither and thither as the huge saurians tugged fiercely at it. Dick did not wait to see the issue of the struggle, but skipped nimbly across the causeway, with Moquit close upon his heels, and made the best of his way back to camp, where he found Earle already anxiously awaiting him.

“Well,” demanded the American, as Cavendish came within hail, “have you met with any luck? I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy about you, for we seem to have struck a rather dangerous streak of country here.”

“What!” exclaimed Dick. “Have you, too, been meeting with adventures, then?”

“Of a sort, yes; though nothing worth speaking about,” answered Earle. “Simply met the biggest python I’ve ever seen; and as the beggar seemed in a quarrelsome humour and spoiling for a fight, I shot him. And you? I sort of gather from your last remark that you have met with an adventure of some sort. Is that so?”

“You bet!” answered Dick, who was almost unconsciously adopting many of Earle’s expressive idioms. And he proceeded to relate in detail the occurrences of the afternoon.

“Gee!” exclaimed Earle, when his companion had finished. “That sounds interesting. I wonder what the brute can have been.” (He was referring to the strange beast which Dick had shot). “Do you think you could draw a picture of him?”

“Oh yes, after a fashion,” answered Dick, who was really rather clever with his pencil and brush in an amateurish fashion. “He was something like this.” And, whipping out his pocket-book, he rapidly produced a very spirited pencil sketch of the unknown creature.

“Gee!” repeated Earle, studying the sketch. “Say, Dick, this is intensely interesting. The thing looks absolutely new to me. And yet—I don’t quite know. Seems to me that I’ve somewhere seen something a bit like it before—”

“That’s what I thought,” said Dick; “though I’m quite prepared to swear that I never before saw the actual thing itself. I should have remembered it if I had.”

“Y–e–s, I guess you would,” returned Earle, still thoughtfully considering the sketch. At length he returned the book to Dick, remarking:

“Then you think there is just a possibility that we may be able to cross the swamp by way of that tongue of firm ground that you explored this afternoon? In that case, I guess we’ll try it. We may succeed; and if we do, it will save us a long journey round; for I was unable to find the northern end of the swamp this afternoon, although, before turning back I climbed the highest tree in the neighbourhood and carefully searched the whole of the visible country through my Goertz prismatics. We will try that tongue of land of yours to-morrow, Dick. And as for the flies and things, I guess we can beat them by enveloping our heads in gauze veils and wearing gloves. I brought some green gauze along expressly to meet such a contingency. Learned the wrinkle in Africa, where the flies and mosquitoes used to drive me pretty nearly crazy.”

An hour after sunrise on the following morning found the expedition en route, and in due time it reached the tongue of firm ground which Dick had discovered during the preceding afternoon. Here the two leaders enveloped their heads, helmets and all, in capacious veils of green gauze which Earle had produced during the preceding evening.

Earle was in exceptionally high spirits that morning. The story of Dick’s encounter with the strange beast had intensely interested him, for he was by way of being a naturalist, as well as a good many other things, and he was naturally eager to get a sight of another creature of the same species. Then a view at close quarters of the swamp added further to his excitement, for even then, in the dazzling glare of the morning sun, there was a certain suggestion of weirdness and uncanniness about the place that appealed very strongly to his imagination. To young, prosaic Dick Cavendish, a sailor pure and simple, whose only knowledge of science was that connected with navigation, the swamp was just—well, a swamp, and nothing more; but, to Earle’s higher scientific intelligence it was an absorbingly interesting mystery. For they had scarcely penetrated it to the depth of a mile before the American began to be aware that the character of his surroundings was undergoing a subtle change, the herbage underfoot, the rushes that edged the lagoons and water channels, the plants that here and there in wide patches hid the surface of the water, the ferns that decked the banks of the water-courses, were all new and strange to him; and this, in conjunction with Dick’s adventure here, less than twenty-four hours ago, generated within him a thrilling conviction that he was on the brink of great and important discoveries.

Presently Dick turned to him and said, pointing: “You see where the ground narrows away to a mere ridge, ahead there? It was just on this side of it that the queer beast was squatting when I first caught sight of him.”

“That so?” responded Earle, coming to a sudden standstill. “Halt there, men; don’t advance another step until I tell you,” he ordered, wheeling round and holding up his hand.

“Now then, Dick,” he continued, “you and I will go forward, carefully examining the soil for footprints. Perhaps, if we are in luck, we may succeed in finding an impression, though I am afraid the ground is rather too dry—stay, what is this?”

Stretching out his hand to stay Dick’s incautious advance, Earle went down on one knee and carefully examined a faint impression on the ground. It consisted of a slight depression in the thin dust overlaying the hard earth, practically circular in shape and about the size of the palm of a man’s hand, and beyond it, at a distance of about three feet six inches, there were three somewhat deeper impressions, about a foot apart, such as might be made by the sharp claws of an animal.

“I guess this looks very much as though it might be one of the footprints of your friend,” remarked Earle, after he had intently studied the impression for a full minute or more; “but it is very imperfect and indistinct; not nearly clear enough to be satisfactory. Let’s go on a bit; perhaps we may find others. If not, we’ll come back and examine this again. Go carefully, old chap, and if you see any other marks, don’t tread on them, for goodness’ sake.”

Crouching low and advancing a single step at a time, as they carefully scanned the ground before them, the two friends had covered a distance of some five yards when they came upon two more impressions, a little more distinctly marked than the first. They were about six feet apart, but in line athwart the path, and suggested the idea of having been made by the landing of the creature upon the ground after a forward jump. These, too, Earle carefully examined before proceeding, and then the two friends went on to the spot where Dick had seen the thing squatting. And here, the soil being considerably more moist and clayey, they found, to Earle’s intense delight, some half a dozen deep and perfectly clear imprints, only two of which had been partially obliterated by the feet of Dick and Moquit on their return after killing the beast. The imprints somewhat resembled those of a thick-toed bird, but were immensely larger than the spoor of any known bird, measuring exactly three feet nine and a quarter inches from the back of the heel to the front of the middle claw—which seemed to be some six inches longer than the two others—and two feet two inches across from one outer claw to the other; the indent showing that the middle claw was fourteen inches long.

“Gosh!” exclaimed Earle excitedly, as he rose to his full height after having made a careful figured drawing of the impression in his pocket-book—“what would I not give for enough plaster of paris to make a cast of that footprint! Guess it will make some of the professors at home sit up and take notice when they see this drawing in the book, which I mean to publish when I get back. Most of ’em won’t believe it, I expect. They’ll denounce it as a traveller’s tale. Hold on, though, I’ll take a photograph—two or three photographs—of the impressions; perhaps that will convince them. You shall stand just there, Dick, and I’ll include you in one of the pictures, to act as a sort of scale.”

The photographs were duly taken; and then Earle expressed the utmost anxiety to secure the carcass of the creature itself. But, as Dick reminded his companion, the creature had no sooner been killed than it became a prey to several alligators of formidable size, therefore any attempt to fish up the remains from the bottom of the canal would be certain to result in failure. And when Dick, pressing home his point, inquired whether Earle proposed to dive to the bottom in search of the body, the American reluctantly admitted that even his scientific ardour was scarcely equal to the adoption of such a course. The march was therefore resumed, after about an hour’s delay, Earle consoling himself with the hope that one specimen of the unknown monster having been found in the swamp, others might also exist there, and they might be fortunate enough to encounter one or more of them.

Naturally, the party’s rate of travelling was slow; for not only was Earle now constantly engaged in searching the ground for further “sign” of creatures possibly peculiar to the swamp, but halts were frequently being called while suspicious indications were carefully investigated; consequently when the mid-day halt was at length called, it was estimated that the party had not penetrated the swamp to a distance of more than some six or seven miles as the crow flies, though, of course, they had actually traversed a distance nearly half as much again. But, even so, Earle was quite satisfied with what had been done so far; while there was still no sign of a break in the continuity of the firm soil upon which they had been travelling.

The camp was pitched at a point where it widened out until there was fully a hundred yards of it between the two stretches of water to right and left, while on the right hand, or northern side of this wide space, the canal-like watercourse had given place to a sort of lagoon, nearly a mile long by about half that width. The water in this lagoon was much cleaner and more wholesome-looking than that in the canals, yet Earle considered that it would be unwise to use it for drinking purposes; he therefore selected a spot and set a couple of Indians to work to dig a pit in search of water, which he expected to find at a depth of two or three feet, such water to be first filtered and then boiled before use. And while the digging was proceeding, Earle and Dick took up a position on the summit of a low knoll a few yards away, and examined their surroundings through their prismatic glasses.

Suddenly Dick turned to his companion and pointed.

“I say, Earle,” he exclaimed, “what sort of an anima is that? Surely it is not a wild boar, though it looks a bit like the pictures I have seen of them.”

“Where?” demanded Earle, who had been looking in another direction. “Oh! I see,” he continued, catching sight of the creature at which Dick was pointing, and which was standing at the edge of a little strip of beach, about a quarter of a mile away, on the opposite side of the water.

The two raised their glasses to their eyes and proceeded to watch the animal, which seemed to have a desire to drink, but was debating within itself the question of how far it would be prudent to enter the water even as far as would be necessary to enable it to do so. It was standing quite still, staring down into the water, and thus afforded an excellent opportunity for careful inspection.

“N–o,” answered Earle slowly, after he had studied the appearance of the creature for nearly a minute—“it certainly is not a boar, though it is not altogether unlike one. But it is too big for a boar. Looks to me more like a hyaena—though of course I know there are no such creatures in this country. Also it is far too big to be a hyaena—unless it is an entirely new species. And the thing has tusks, just like a wild boar. Now, what the mischief can it be? It is rather too far off for a dead shot, or I would have a try at it; but it would be a pity to merely wound it and scare it away. Say! is there any way of getting across to the other side, short of swimming?”

“I’m afraid not,” answered Dick. “And after what I saw yesterday I wouldn’t give a farthing for the chance of anybody who should attempt to swim in these waters.”

Dick still had his glasses to his eyes as he spoke; and even as the last words left his lips he had an impression of something stealthily moving in the long herbage some distance to the rear of the strange animal which they were watching. He was about to direct Earle’s attention to the circumstance when, from the spot where he had observed the stealthy movement, a great body rose into the air with a tremendous leap and hurtling through the intervening space, descended fair and square upon the body of the creature standing by the water’s edge.

“Gee-rusalem!” shouted Earle, as the harsh scream of the stricken animal pealed out on the stagnant air. “See that, Cavendish?”

“Sure!” responded Dick. “Take particular notice of that last brute, Earle; for as sure as my name is Cavendish, it is another of the same kind that I killed yesterday.”

“My revered ancestors! You don’t say so!” gasped Earle. “Sure?”

“Absolutely certain,” averred Dick.

“But—but—man alive—” stammered Earle in his excitement, “you told me that the thing you shot yesterday was a sort of cross between a frog and a kangaroo, and that beast doesn’t suggest at all that sort of idea to me. What a ferocious beast it is! He is literally tearing the other poor brute to pieces.”

“Yes,” agreed Dick. “And I am just now beginning to understand what a narrow squeak I had yesterday. For that fellow is exactly like the thing I killed yesterday, though, now that I see him broadside-on, the resemblance, whether to a frog or a kangaroo, is not so strong as it was when I was facing him. But there are the same long, powerful hind legs, the same almost invisible front ones, the same gaping mouth filled with strong, dagger-like teeth, the same long, thick, pointed tail—in short, the same creature from stem to stern.”

“But the head of that thing is more like an alligator’s than a frog’s,” objected Earle. “And then, look at that serrated arrangement of the skin—I suppose it is—from the back of the head to the extremity of the tail. You never said anything about that.”

“No,” admitted Dick, “I believe I didn’t; but the other thing had it, all the same. I remember noticing it, now that you call my attention to it. I tell you that the two creatures are identical in every respect, except that this one looks to be a bit bigger than the other. Do you happen to know what the thing is called?”

“N–o, I am not sure that I do,” answered Earle, “but I’ll find out as soon as ever I get back to New York. I shall remember the appearance of the beast all right, now that I’ve actually seen it, and I guess there will be somebody who can tell me. Say! Dick, I wouldn’t have missed this sight for a thousand dollars; and I’d give ten thousand to get the skin and skeleton of the brute. If I could but secure them, I’d go straight back to New York at once, and leave Manoa for another time. Isn’t there any way by which we could get across that insignificant strip of water?”

“Not without a boat or a raft of some sort, I’m afraid,” answered Dick. “And there is nothing hereabout from which we could construct even the most elementary sort of raft. Besides, before we could put anything together, even if we had the material, the brute would be gone. See, he has almost gorged the whole of his prey already.”

“I’ve a mind to try a shot at him—and I will, too,” said Earle. “Hi, there, Peter, bring me my point-three-five Remington and some cartridges. Hurry, you black angel! Perhaps if the brute is very savage, and we can attract his attention, or hurt him a bit, he may take it into his head to attack us. He could jump across the stream a little lower down, easily enough. Or he may be a swimmer. He looks a good deal more like a reptile than a beast, anyhow.”

Peter, the black cook, came running up at this juncture with the Remington, and Earle, snatching it from him, quickly adjusted the back sight and throwing himself prone upon the ground, took careful aim at the formidable-looking brute, which had ceased to feed and was now squatting on its haunches, facing toward the two men. A few seconds of suspense and the rifle flashed, the hum of the bullet was heard, and then a thud as it struck. Coincident with the thud of the bullet, the great body sprang high into the air, a loud, blood-curdling scream pealed out, and then, with a succession of prodigious leaps, it disappeared among the rank herbage.

The result was a bitter disappointment for Earle, who declared that he would not move from the spot until he had satisfied himself that it was impossible to cross to the other side of the water. But, short of swimming, there was no means of crossing, for there was nothing wherewith to make a raft of even the most flimsy description. This fact being at length conclusively established, the march was resumed immediately after the conclusion of the mid-day meal.

About an hour before sunset that day, they were rather unexpectedly brought to a halt by finding themselves on a small peninsula of some five acres in extent, thrusting itself forward into a great lagoon, the waters of which stretched away on either hand for many miles, while in the direction toward which they wished to travel, the nearest point of land was distant about a mile and a half. After surveying their surroundings for some time, the two leaders agreed that it was too late in the day to retrace their steps across the narrow isthmus by which they had arrived and seek some other route; the camp was therefore pitched on the south-westerly slope of the peninsula, quite close to a little strip of sandy beach, with a background consisting of a hummock some fifteen feet high crowned by an extensive clump of strange-looking shrubs, the nature of which Earle was anxious to investigate.

The day had been overpoweringly hot, the sun blazing down upon them unintermittently out of a cloudless sky; but now, while the camp was being pitched, a thin haze began insidiously to overspread the blue, while away toward the south-west a great bank of slatey blue cloud appeared above the ridge of the distant hills, working up against the wind and seeming to portend a thunderstorm.

Now that they had come to a halt, the leaders mutually confessed to a feeling of great fatigue, while the listless manner in which the Indians were going about their duties showed that they, too, were longing for an opportunity to rest their weary limbs. Earle flung himself down upon the short moss-like turf bordering the strip of beach and gazed longingly at the rippling waters of the lagoon as they sparkled in the slanting rays of the declining sun. Unlike the turbid, black and almost stagnant water in the canals which they had been passing during the day’s march, the tiny wavelets which rippled in upon the adjacent beach were crystal clear, and gave off the fresh, wholesome smell of pure water; and when, a little later, Earle rose languidly to his feet, and advancing a few paces to the water’s edge, scooped up a handful of the liquid and tasted it, he expressed the opinion that it was quite wholesome enough for drinking purposes.

“And it is deliciously cool, too,” he remarked to Dick. “For two pins I would strip and have a swim.”

“Not if I know it, my friend,” retorted Dick. “I grant you that the water looks almost irresistibly tempting, and I have no doubt that a swim would be amazingly refreshing—if we could only be sure of going in and coming out again unharmed. But who knows what dangers may be lurking beneath that sparkling surface? The place may be swarming with alligators, for aught that we know, and—”

“Why, you surely don’t mean to say that you are afraid, Dick?”

“No, I don’t,” returned Dick, “and if there were any real necessity to do so, I would not hesitate a moment to plunge in and swim across to the other side. But when one knows that there is a possibility of being seized and pulled down by an alligator, I contend that it would be folly to risk one’s life merely for the pleasure of a swim. I once saw a man seized by a shark. We were becalmed in the Indian Ocean, and the fellow determined to avail himself of the opportunity to go overboard and indulge in the luxury of a salt-water bath; so he got a chum to go up into the foretopmast crosstrees and have a look round. The chum signalled all clear, and the would-be bather slipped surreptitiously over the bows, passed along the martingale stays, dropped quietly into the water, and struck out. And before he had swum three strokes a shark darted from under the ship’s bottom and—that was the end of him. No, sir—look there! See that swirl? That means something big—an alligator, or a big fish of some sort, which is as likely as not to be dangerous. No; no swimming for me—or for you, either, thank you. But it wouldn’t be at all a bad idea to have our portable bath-tubs set up on the sand, and have a good dip in them.”