Chapter 9 No.9

The Ghosts of Bloody Dam

There were no further interruptions during the unfoldment of the crowded hours of the Flying Buddies until the final flight for the British barracks. There was a general sigh of relief and a smile when the men listened to that part in which the lads had discovered that they had made a circle in their wanderings and had returned to their starting point. Numerous pipes had been lighted and permitted to go out during the recital, and when Jim finished, Captain Seaman struck his tenth match and puffed vigorously. Only the doctor and his adopted son did not soothe tensed nerves with the narcotic. The room was as still as if it were empty when the boy's voice ceased, but finally Bradshaw broke the silence.

"There would have been a howl which could have been heard from Chili to Quebec if some of the pilots had discovered you lost within a few yards of the plane," he grinned.

"Surely would," Jim admitted.

"Will you send to search for Mills?" Bob asked their host, but before the captain could answer, Donald spoke.

"It will be as well, if I may be allowed to express an opinion, to let him remain as he is for the present."

"Until the last butterfly passes?" asked the doctor.

"Yes sir, until the last butterfly passes," the lad replied.

"He might injure himself or starve," Seaman objected, but he made no move to start the search.

"He will not starve, for the forest is full of berries, larger fruits and roots upon which he will learn to sustain himself. He found a fire lighted and will probably have sense enough to keep it going. Even if he doesn't, he need not suffer. The ruin has many nooks in which he can protect himself from cold or storms if it is necessary-"

"But snakes, or wild animals-" Bob protested.

"They will not molest him," Donald insisted.

"If we send air men in after him are they likely to be in danger?" Seaman asked quietly.

"They are." He turned to the Flying Buddies. "I believe that you are the first white men who have been through the Black Range Woods, seen what you have seen, and lived to tell your story," he told them quietly.

"I've heard that no white man who entered them during the time of the Butterfly Flight ever came out. As a matter of fact, I understand they have never been heard from again," the doctor added soberly.

"We were lucky," Jim answered.

"I say," Bob turned to the young Indian. "Tell us about this thing, will you?" He glanced about the room. "I'm sure we should all be glad to hear something and none of us will speak of it outside this room."

"You can depend upon us," Ruhel spoke up.

"Well-" Donald glanced at his father.

"Donald doesn't often discuss the-er things which are very close to his people," Manwell answered for the boy. "Not even with us."

"There are some things I may tell you," he replied, "but they must not be repeated before the womenfolk. I shall be glad to have this opportunity to talk of them now if we will not be interrupted." He glanced at the captain. Immediately that gentleman went to the door, and signaled to an orderly who stood at attention further down the hall.

"I shall be occupied here for a time. Is anyone in the house?"

"No sir. Madam has gone to the garden party, and the servants are in their own quarters, sir."

"Excellent. Have a couple of the boys keep watch outside so that no one comes near."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you."

He closed the door and a moment later they heard the click of heels as the guard hurried to see that the command was carried out explicitly. In the meantime the men puffed, the doctor glanced a bit anxiously at his patients, while the young Indian sat as still as if he had been carved out of some fine dark marble. Jim's eyes traveled over the well-shaped head, and thought of Ynilea, their special friend in the great Laboratory, and he wondered if this young fellow might not be receiving some of his training in one of the marvelous underground schools. He recalled that Don Haurea had told him that the world was ready for some of the information those scientific men had proved and it was possible that this lad, because of his advantages as a doctor's son might have been chosen to bring out for humanity medical or surgical truths still unknown to modern life. He remembered too, that the doctor had said that Donald had "been an education" to himself and his wife. Perhaps the story the lad would tell them would answer the questions Austin dared not ask at this time. He rather hoped they would get an opportunity to be alone with Donald before the "Lark" was ready to take them north again.

"It seems to me you boys are making a rather long day of it," said Bradshaw with a scowl.

"Why remind us of that? This looks like the best time in the world, and if we know a little of the truth of the Black Woods and the Dam, we can go to sleep in peace and not spend hours tossing around while our feeble brains try to find a solution-"

"Feeble is good," said Bradshaw with a grin. Just then they heard the two guards pacing back and forth and the orderly returned to his station in the hall.

"Guess it's all set," the captain told them.

"You know," Donald looked at their host, "that Doctor Manwell adopted me when my mother died. I was a baby and he and his wife have been most-"

"Why not skip that part?" the doctor put in quickly.

"I shall try not to embarrass you, sir, but I may as well mention the fact so everyone will understand," he said, then went on, "They have brought me up as carefully as if I were their own son, taught me themselves, hired tutors, and sent me to good schools-"

"That you ran away from, you young rascal," the doctor chuckled.

"You had already taught me all they could and I wanted to be with you, work with you," he replied. "As long as I can remember some of my own race have been near me. It has always been my privilege to visit them and they too have instructed me. I am especially interested in my father's profession and with his help hope to carry it on-I hope I can become as honored as he is-"

"My boy, my boy-"

"Please don't interrupt. That's not cricket," said Bob.

"Pardon me."

"Because of this desire in me, my own people have taught me the numerous herbs which grow hereabouts, the chemicals that can be extracted from them, the trees, soil, and even insects. I have not learned a great deal as yet-"

"I may as well throw in a bouquet myself. Everything he has shown to me is new to medical science, and has proved of great value in curing illnesses considered incurable," the doctor told them.

"Thank you, sir. As well as these matters, I have learned much about my own race, its traditions, history before the conquest and the destruction of the Empire. All of these things are fairly well known to you, so I shall go to the story of the temple ruin the boys visited earlier this morning. It was an ancient city long before the Spaniards visited these shores, had a large population, while many of its leading men knew of the Ynca Empire to the south. The tribes frequently traded with each other, and it was the ambition of our race to extend the northern section of the development to meet that of the Yncas which ended, at the time of the conquest, at Quito, which was the last great station on the Royal Road," he paused, and Jim nodded.

"We've seen some of the ruins," Jim said.

"No doubt, the land is full of them. In the temple were men and women, the best of the tribes, who recorded the traditions and history in sculpturing, carving, weaving and the knotted twines which are still found in certain localities. The range of the Andes mountains which separated us from the southern empires was, and still is, a great barrier. There were no horses, wagons or other means of building, but construction was going on constantly. Then our ancient prophets who foretold many things with great accuracy, and read the signs in the skies, the rocks, and the mountains, grew very sober. They foretold that the Empire to the south would be annihilated almost entirely and a new race would take complete possession of the whole country."

"Those prophets surely knew their onions," Bob remarked, and Donald nodded.

"They met with the great men of the land, and for the next hundred years they ceased to build in the sections of the Black Woods. They devoted themselves to planting great forests, to cutting ways through the mountains which are still undiscovered by the white men, and quietly started a community far from the coast, and so distant from other tribes that their existence in the new community was unknown. Each new generation studied the signs, and although many of the people were discontented because of the activities carried on, which were in opposition to their own desires, the younger prophets continued to verify the findings of the old men, so that no change was made in the plan. The people who did not believe that it was possible for a strange race to come here and survive, separated themselves from the others and resolved to remain where they were. However, they did assist in the construction of hiding-houses and passages to which they could flee if the threatened danger ever came. The southern empire was growing both north and south and our people, some of them, were sure the others lacked what you now call a progressive spirit." He smiled at the Flying Buddies.

"Great old spirit," Bob remarked.

"Over a hundred years from the time of the first prophecy, tribes coming from the northern islands began to tell strange tales of a race which came out of the sea in winged boats, spit fire from sticks, and threw red hot stones which caused everything they struck to crumble and fall. They dressed in a shiny metal and mounted themselves on strange animals they called horses, whose hoofs trampled men, women and children. They spoke of their king, made amazing promises to the natives, stole gold and jewels by the boat-load, and forced the tribes to work for them and pay them tribute."

"Generous little habit those middle-agers had," said Jim.

"The people of our land heard these stories and most of them withdrew to the fastness they had prepared for themselves, but the others refused to credit the strange stories and could not conceive of any race making slaves of them. They built themselves more hiding places, buried their treasures, made circuitous passages through the thick forests and filled them with spiked traps, deadly snakes, vipers, and treacherous bridges which would fall as soon as any weight was put upon them. They deserted their city and temple, and stripped it of its wealth. In the course of a few years the white men appeared in their boats, threw their hot stones, or bullets, fired their guns, and marched into the land. They found, here in the north, a few wild tribes besides all that was left of our people who had remained behind."

"Reckon they wished they had gone when the going was good," said Jim.

"One day they learned that a new army of white men was coming, so a band carrying the treasures of the temple with them started by a roundabout route to join the distant community. They marched through their passage to a deep meadow where they expected to find an opening by which they could continue their journey, but they discovered that a solid wall rose in front of them and that behind it a stream had formed a good-sized lake. Some of the men went to locate a route around this. While the others waited, the white men appeared with their guns, armor, horses and blood thirsty dogs. They destroyed the band, took the treasure, and being unfamiliar with the country, started their horses up the cliffs, which were rugged and appeared possible to ascend. In the struggle and the scrambling, stones were loosened, a stream burst through and the entire wall gave way, killing them all."

"But that was hundreds of years ago," protested Jim.

"Yes, over four hundred," Donald replied. "The men of the band who went in search of a passage met a party of hunters from the new community. Their prophets had foreseen the disaster and these men were on their way to help their people if they could. When they reached the spot they saw the destruction which had been wrought and grieved deeply, for among the dead were many of their own relatives."

"Pretty tough," said Bob.

"One of the old prophets from the temple was with the party. They spent three days at the lake, fasting and praying to the sun, then they cursed the site, the Black Woods, all that was in it, and all that came into it. As they prayed the heavens grew dark, although it was day; a great comet shot across the sky, leaving a long pathway of green light which did not fade for many hours. By this sign the men knew that their prayers were answered. They cursed the place again, willed that the spirits of their slaughtered companions should return every year through all time as long as the white butterflies passed over the land to the sea; that the white men who had destroyed the band should repeat their crime and again take their punishment as meted out to them by the stored-up waters of the lake."

"Whew," exploded Bradshaw and he mopped his forehead.

"They further willed that any man who deliberately forced himself into the woods and under the butterflies should find destruction before the moon changed," the boy went on solemnly. "That while the spirits of those men of the temple walked the earth, if one of them gazed on a white man, met his eyes, that man should go mad, should live the life of an animal, so that no animal should injure him, but he should burrow in the ground for shelter as long as he lived, and that he should thus pass a span of years equal to the life time of three men-"

"Good God," whispered Ruhel.

"They surely made a good job of it while they were at it," Jim said softly.

"The last we saw of Mills, he was digging in," added Bob, and there was no mirth in his tone.

"And he's got three life-times to serve," said the doctor sadly, then added, "I have seen two men in the forests who seemed to be doing the same thing-they are so old no one knows how many years they have lived."

"That is why I said we must leave Mills. He would fight you like a demon, probably injure your men who tried to help him-"

"He picked up that chap who was with the dwarf and tossed him about as if he were a rubber ball," Bob reminded them.

"The strength of a man who is insane," said Ruhel. "We've had some dealings with them in Canada, powerful woodsmen, and it takes almost the whole force to overcome one."

"Guess we've all had such experiences," said Seaman. He smoked thoughtfully and stared at Donald.

"Now you know the story of the Bloody Dam. There are few of the natives who really know the tale, but every year someone brings out evidence that the Black Woods must be avoided; many legends have grown up about it, and neither the natives nor the negroes will go into it at this time of the year. You are in charge of this section of the country, Captain Seaman, my father and mother have made their home here, so I received permission to tell you the story that you might understand," he finished impressively.

"Thanks no end. It will probably save us many difficulties," the captain answered, and he gave no sign of doubting the strange tale. "I've been in these parts many years and I've seen queer things-"

"Jinks, isn't there any end to the curse?" Bob demanded. "Surely those old fellows ought to be satisfied with four hundred years of punishment."

"And their own people have to be a part of it," Jim added.

"As long as the butterflies make their flight to the sea," Donald replied. "The Black Woods and range are really a small area of land, probably about fifty miles square, and all white men will do well to keep out of it."

"It's a small space to avoid, considering the extent of the land where one can travel with safety," said Seaman. "It happened to be on the edge of my province and I'm willing to give it a wide berth, but it does seem as if there must be some way of cleaning it up."

"Better concentrate on cleaning up things nearer at hand," the doctor advised, then he turned to the Buddies. "In spite of my son's story I can see that your lids are heavy. You must not make your bodies pay too dearly because of your adventure. Get into a couple of bunks and forget the world for the next few hours."

"Reckon you are right," Jim replied, and he did have difficulty suppressing a yawn.

"We shall not need rocking," Bob added, then he held out his hand to Donald. "Thanks a lot for telling us what it was all about. We have to hang around here for a few days until our plane is in ship shape again. She bumped her nose on an iceberg, or something like that, and has to have her face lifted. Hope we see you again before we leave."

"My hope is the same. Rest as my father advises and when you have waked perhaps the Captain will send up an American flag to let us know that all is well with you-"

"Nothing of the kind," the captain declared. "But I'll have the boys run our own flag up and down so you'll get the word quickly."