The Adventures of Captain Horn by Frank Richard Stockton

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THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN

BY FRANK R. STOCKTON

1910

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I An Introductory Disaster

II A New Face in Camp

III A Change of Lodgings

IV Another New Face

V The Rackbirds

VI Three Weld Beasts

VII Gone!

VIII The Alarm

IX An Amazing Narration

X The Captain Explores

XI A New Hemisphere

XII A Tradition and a Waistcoat

XIII "Mine!"

XIV A Pile of Fuel

XV The Cliff-Maka Scheme

XVI On a Business Basis

XVII "A Fine Thing, No Matter What Happens"

XVIII Mrs. Cliff is Amazed

XIX Left Behind

XX At the Rackbirds' Cove

XXI In the Caves

XXII A Pack-Mule

XXIII His Present Share

XXVI His Fortune under his Feet

THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HORN

CHAPTER I

AN INTRODUCTORY DISASTER

Early in the spring of the year 1884 the three-masted schooner _Castor_,
from San Francisco to Valparaiso, was struck by a tornado off the coast
of Peru. The storm, which rose with frightful suddenness, was of short
duration, but it left the _Castor_ a helpless wreck. Her masts had
snapped off and gone overboard, her rudder-post had been shattered by
falling wreckage, and she was rolling in the trough of the sea, with her
floating masts and spars thumping and bumping her sides.

The _Castor_ was an American merchant-vessel, commanded by Captain Philip
Horn, an experienced navigator of about thirty-five years of age. Besides
a valuable cargo, she carried three passengers--two ladies and a boy. One
of these, Mrs. William Cliff, a lady past middle age, was going to
Valparaiso to settle some business affairs of her late husband, a New
England merchant. The other lady was Miss Edna Markham, a school-teacher
who had just passed her twenty-fifth year, although she looked older.
She was on her way to Valparaiso to take an important position in an
American seminary. Ralph, a boy of fifteen, was her brother, and she was
taking him with her simply because she did not want to leave him alone in
San Francisco. These two had no near relations, and the education of the
brother depended upon the exertions of the sister. Valparaiso was not the
place she would have selected for a boy's education, but there they could
be together, and, under the circumstances, that was a point of prime
importance.

But when the storm had passed, and the sky was clear, and the mad waves
had subsided into a rolling swell, there seemed no reason to believe that
any one on board the _Castor_ would ever reach Valparaiso. The vessel had
been badly strained by the wrenching of the masts, her sides had been
battered by the floating wreckage, and she was taking in water rapidly.
Fortunately, no one had been injured by the storm, and although the
captain found it would be a useless waste of time and labor to attempt to
work the pumps, he was convinced, after a careful examination, that the
ship would float some hours, and that there would, therefore, be time for
those on board to make an effort to save not only their lives, but some
of their property.

All the boats had been blown from their davits, but one of them was
floating, apparently uninjured, a short distance to leeward, one of the
heavy blocks by which it had been suspended having caught in the cordage
of the topmast, so that it was securely moored. Another boat, a small
one, was seen, bottom upward, about an eighth of a mile to leeward. Two
seamen, each pushing an oar before him, swam out to the nearest boat,
and having got on board of her, and freed her from her entanglements,
they rowed out to the capsized boat, and towed it to the schooner. When
this boat had been righted and bailed out, it was found to be in good
condition.

The sea had become almost quiet, and there was time enough to do
everything orderly and properly, and in less than three hours after the
vessel had been struck, the two boats, containing all the crew and the
passengers, besides a goodly quantity of provisions and water, and such
valuables, clothing, rugs, and wraps as room could be found for, were
pulling away from the wreck.

The captain, who, with his passengers, was in the larger boat, was aware
that he was off the coast of Peru, but that was all he certainly knew of
his position. The storm had struck the ship in the morning, before he had
taken his daily observation, and his room, which was on deck, had been
carried away, as well as every nautical instrument on board. He did not
believe that the storm had taken him far out of his course, but of this
he could not be sure. All that he knew with certainty was that to the
eastward lay the land, and eastward, therefore, they pulled, a little
compass attached to the captain's watch-guard being their only guide.

For the rest of that day and that night, and the next day and the next
night, the two boats moved eastward, the people on board suffering but
little inconvenience, except from the labor of continuous rowing, at
which everybody, excepting the two ladies, took part, even Ralph
Markham being willing to show how much of a man he could be with an
oar in his hand.

The weather was fine, and the sea was almost smooth, and as the captain
had rigged up in his boat a tent-like covering of canvas for the ladies,
they were, as they repeatedly declared, far more comfortable than they
had any right to expect. They were both women of resource and courage.
Mrs. Cliff, tall, thin in face, with her gray hair brushed plainly over
her temples, was a woman of strong frame, who would have been perfectly
willing to take an oar, had it been necessary. To Miss Markham this boat
trip would have been a positive pleasure, had it not been for the
unfortunate circumstances which made it necessary.

On the morning of the third day land was sighted, but it was afternoon
before they reached it. Here they found themselves on a portion of the
coast where the foot-hills of the great mountains stretch themselves
almost down to the edge of the ocean. To all appearances, the shore was
barren and uninhabited.

The two boats rowed along the coast a mile or two to the southward, but
could find no good landing-place, but reaching a spot less encumbered
with rocks than any other portion of the coast they had seen, Captain
Horn determined to try to beach his boat there. The landing was
accomplished in safety, although with some difficulty, and that night was
passed in a little encampment in the shelter of some rocks scarcely a
hundred yards from the sea.

The next morning Captain Horn took counsel with his mates, and considered
the situation. They were on an uninhabited portion of the coast, and it
was not believed that there was any town or settlement near enough to be
reached by waiting over such wild country, especially with ladies in the
party. It was, therefore, determined to seek succor by means of the sea.
They might be near one of the towns or villages along the coast of Peru,
and, in any case, a boat manned by the best oarsmen of the party, and
loaded as lightly as possible, might hope, in the course of a day or two,
to reach some port from which a vessel might be sent out to take off the
remainder of the party.

But first Captain Horn ordered a thorough investigation to be made of the
surrounding country, and in an hour or two a place was found which he
believed would answer very well for a camping-ground until assistance
should arrive. This was on a little plateau about a quarter of a mile
back from the ocean, and surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on
the side toward the sea the ground sloped gradually downward. To this
camping-ground all of the provisions and goods were carried, excepting
what would be needed by the boating party.

When this work had been accomplished, Captain Horn appointed his first
mate to command the expedition, deciding to remain himself in the camp.
When volunteers were called for, it astonished the captain to see how
many of the sailors desired to go.

The larger boat pulled six oars, and seven men, besides the mate Rynders,
were selected to go in her. As soon as she could be made ready she was
launched and started southward on her voyage of discovery, the mate
having first taken such good observation of the landmarks that he felt
sure he would have no difficulty in finding the spot where he left his
companions. The people in the little camp on the bluff now consisted of
Captain Horn, the two ladies, the boy Ralph, three sailors,--one an
Englishman, and the other two Americans from Cape Cod,--and a jet-black
native African, known as Maka.

Captain Horn had not cared to keep many men with him in the camp, because
there they would have little to do, and all the strong arms that could be
spared would be needed in the boat. The three sailors he had retained
were men of intelligence, on whom he believed he could rely in case of
emergency, and Maka was kept because he was a cook. He had been one of
the cargo of a slave-ship which had been captured by a British cruiser
several years before, when on its way to Cuba, and the unfortunate
negroes had been landed in British Guiana. It was impossible to return
them to Africa, because none of them could speak English, or in any way
give an idea as to what tribes they belonged, and if they should be
landed anywhere in Africa except among their friends, they would be
immediately reenslaved. For some years they lived in Guiana, in a little
colony by themselves, and then, a few of them having learned some
English, they made their way to Panama, where they obtained employment as
laborers on the great canal. Maka, who was possessed of better
intelligence than most of his fellows, improved a good deal in his
English, and learned to cook very well, and having wandered to San
Francisco, had been employed for two or three voyages by Captain Horn.
Maka was a faithful and willing servant, and if he had been able to
express himself more intelligibly, his merits might have been better
appreciated.

CHAPTER II

A NEW FACE IN CAMP

The morning after the departure of the boat, Captain Horn, in company
with the Englishman Davis, each armed with a gun, set out on a tour of
investigation, hoping to be able to ascend the rocky hills at the back of
the camp, and find some elevated point commanding a view over the ocean.
After a good deal of hard climbing they reached such a point, but the
captain found that the main object was really out of his reach. He could
now plainly see that a high rocky point to the southward, which stretched
some distance out to sea, would cut off all view of the approach of
rescuers coming from that direction, until they were within a mile or two
of his landing-place. Back from the sea the hills grew higher, until they
blended into the lofty stretches of the Andes, this being one of the few
points where the hilly country extends to the ocean.

The coast to the north curved a little oceanward, so that a much more
extended view could be had in that direction, but as far as he could see
by means of a little pocket-glass which the boy Ralph had lent him, the
captain could discover no signs of habitation, and in this direction the
land seemed to be a flat desert. When he returned to camp, about noon,
he had made up his mind that the proper thing to do was to make himself
and his companions as comfortable as possible and patiently await the
return of his mate with succor.

Captain Horn was very well satisfied with his present place of
encampment. Although rain is unknown in this western portion of Peru,
which is, therefore, in general desolate and barren, there are parts of
the country that are irrigated by streams which flow from the snow-capped
peaks of the Andes, and one of these fertile spots the captain seemed to
have happened upon. On the plateau there grew a few bushes, while the
face of the rock in places was entirely covered by hanging vines. This
fertility greatly puzzled Captain Horn, for nowhere was to be seen any
stream of water, or signs of there ever having been any. But they had
with them water enough to last for several days, and provisions for a
much longer time, and the captain felt little concern on this account.

As for lodgings, there were none excepting the small tent which he had
put up for the ladies, but a few nights in the open air in that dry
climate would not hurt the male portion of the party.

In the course of the afternoon, the two American sailors came to Captain
Horn and asked permission to go to look for game. The captain had small
hopes of their finding anything suitable for food, but feeling sure that
if they should be successful, every one would be glad of a little fresh
meat, he gave his permission, at the same time requesting the men to do
their best in the way of observation, if they should get up high enough
to survey the country, and discover some signs of habitation, if such
existed in that barren region. It would be a great relief to the captain
to feel that there was some spot of refuge to which, by land or water,
his party might make its way in case the water and provisions gave out
before the return of the mate.

As to the men who went off in the boat, the captain expected to see but a
few of them again. One or two might return with the mate, in such vessel
as he should obtain in which to come for them, but the most of them, if
they reached a seaport, would scatter, after the manner of seamen.

The two sailors departed, promising, if they could not bring back fish or
fowl, to return before dark, with a report of the lay of the land.

It was very well that Maka did not have to depend on these hunters for
the evening meal, for night came without them, and the next morning they
had not returned. The captain was very much troubled. The men must be
lost, or they had met with some accident. There could be no other reason
for their continued absence. They had each a gun, and plenty of powder
and shot, but they had taken only provisions enough for a single meal.

Davis offered to go up the hills to look for the missing men. He had
lived for some years in the bush in Australia, and he thought that
there was a good chance of his discovering their tracks. But the
captain shook his head.

"You are just as likely to get lost, or to fall over a rock, as anybody
else," he said, "and it is better to have two men lost than three. But
there is one thing that you can do. You can go down to the beach, and
make your way southward as far as possible. There you can find your way
back, and if you take a gun, and fire it every now and then, you may
attract the attention of Shirley and Burke, if they are on the hills
above, and perhaps they may even be able to see you as you walk along. If
they are alive, they will probably see or hear you, and fire in answer.
It is a very strange thing that we have not heard a shot from them."

Ralph begged to accompany the Englishman, for he was getting very
restless, and longed for a ramble and scramble. But neither the captain
nor his sister would consent to this, and Davis started off alone.

"If you can round the point down there," said the captain to him, "do it,
for you may see a town or houses not far away on the other side. But
don't take any risks. At all events, make your calculations so that you
will be back here before dark."

The captain and Ralph assisted the two ladies to a ledge of rock near the
camp from which they could watch the Englishman on his way. They saw him
reach the beach, and after going on a short distance he fired his gun,
after which he pressed forward, now and then stopping to fire again. Even
from their inconsiderable elevation they could see him until he must have
been more than a mile away, and he soon after vanished from their view.

As on the previous day darkness came without the two American sailors, so
now it came without the Englishman, and in the morning he had not
returned. Of course, every mind was filled with anxiety in regard to the
three sailors, but Captain Horn's soul was racked with apprehensions of
which he did not speak. The conviction forced itself upon him that the
men had been killed by wild beasts. He could imagine no other reason why
Davis should not have returned. He had been ordered not to leave the
beach, and, therefore, could not lose his way. He was a wary, careful
man, used to exploring rough country, and he was not likely to take any
chances of disabling himself by a fall while on such an expedition.

Although he knew that the great jaguar was found in Peru, as well as
the puma and black bear, the captain had not supposed it likely that
any of these creatures frequented the barren western slopes of the
mountains, but he now reflected that there were lions in the deserts of
Africa, and that the beasts of prey in South America might also be
found in its deserts.

A great responsibility now rested upon Captain Horn. He was the only man
left in camp who could be depended upon as a defender,--for Maka was
known to be a coward, and Ralph was only a boy,--and it was with a
shrinking of the heart that he asked himself what would be the
consequences if a couple of jaguars or other ferocious beasts were to
appear upon that unprotected plateau in the night, or even in the
daytime. He had two guns, but he was only one man. These thoughts were
not cheerful, but the captain's face showed no signs of alarm, or even
unusual anxiety, and, with a smile on his handsome brown countenance, he
bade the ladies good morning as if he were saluting them upon a
quarter-deck.

"I have been thinking all night about those three men," said Miss
Markham, "and I have imagined something which may have happened. Isn't
it possible that they may have discovered at a distance some inland
settlement which could not be seen by the party in the boat, and that
they thought it their duty to push their way to it, and so get
assistance for us? In that case, you know, they would probably be a long
time coming back."

"That is possible," said the captain, glad to hear a hopeful supposition,
but in his heart he had no faith in it whatever. If Davis had seen a
village, or even a house, he would have come back to report it, and if
the others had found human habitation, they would have had ample time to
return, either by land or by sea.

The restless Ralph, who had chafed a good deal because he had not been
allowed to leave the plateau in search of adventure, now found a vent for
his surplus energy, for the captain appointed him fire-maker. The camp
fuel was not abundant, consisting of nothing but some dead branches and
twigs from the few bushes in the neighborhood. These Ralph collected with
great energy, and Maka had nothing to complain of in regard to fuel for
his cooking.

Toward the end of that afternoon, Ralph prepared to make a fire for the
supper, and he determined to change the position of the fireplace and
bring it nearer the rocks, where he thought it would burn better. It did
burn better--so well, indeed, that some of the dry leaves of the vines
that there covered the face of the rocks took fire. Ralph watched with
interest the dry leaves blaze and the green ones splutter, and then he
thought it would be a pity to scorch those vines, which were among the
few green things about them, and he tried to put out the fire. But this
he could not do, and, when he called Maka, the negro was not able to
help him. The fire had worked its way back of the green vines, and seemed
to have found good fuel, for it was soon crackling away at a great rate,
attracting the rest of the party.

"Can't we put it out?" cried Miss Markham. "It is a pity to ruin those
beautiful vines."

The captain smiled and shook his head. "We cannot waste our valuable
water on that conflagration," said he. "There is probably a great mass
of dead vines behind the green outside. How it crackles and roars! That
dead stuff must be several feet thick. All we can do is to let it burn.
It cannot hurt us. It cannot reach your tent, for there are no vines
over there."

The fire continued to roar and blaze, and to leap up the face of the
rock.

"It is wonderful," said Mrs. Cliff, "to think how those vines must have
been growing and dying, and new ones growing and dying, year after year,
nobody knows how many ages."

"What is most wonderful to me," said the captain, "is that the vines ever
grew there at all, or that these bushes should be here. Nothing can grow
in this region, unless it is watered by a stream from the mountains, and
there is no stream here."

Miss Markham was about to offer a supposition to the effect that perhaps
the precipitous wall of rock which surrounded the little plateau, and
shielded it from the eastern sun, might have had a good effect upon the
vegetation, when suddenly Ralph, who had a ship's biscuit on the end of a
sharp stick, and was toasting it in the embers of a portion of the burnt
vines, sprang back with a shout.

"Look out!" he cried. "The whole thing's coming down!" And, sure enough,
in a moment a large portion of the vines, which had been clinging to the
rock, fell upon the ground in a burning mass. A cloud of smoke and dust
arose, and when it had cleared away the captain and his party saw upon
the perpendicular side of the rock, which was now revealed to them as if
a veil had been torn away from in front of it, an enormous face cut out
of the solid stone.

CHAPTER III

A CHANGE OF LODGINGS

The great face stared down upon the little party gathered beneath it. Its
chin was about eight feet above the ground, and its stony countenance
extended at least that distance up the cliff. Its features were in low
relief, but clear and distinct, and a smoke-blackened patch beneath one
of its eyes gave it a sinister appearance. From its wide-stretching mouth
a bit of half-burnt vine hung, trembling in the heated air, and this
element of motion produced the impression on several of the party that
the creature was about to open its lips.

Mrs. Cliff gave a little scream,--she could not help it,--and Maka sank
down on his knees, his back to the rock, and covered his face with his
hands. Ralph was the first to speak.

"There have been heathen around here," he said. "That's a regular idol."

"You are right," said the captain. "That is a bit of old-time work. That
face was cut by the original natives."

The two ladies were so interested, and even excited, that they seized
each other by the hands. Here before their faces was a piece of sculpture
doubtless done by the people of ancient Peru, that people who were
discovered by Pizarro; and this great idol, or whatever it was, had
perhaps never before been seen by civilized eyes. It was wonderful, and
in the conjecture and exclamation of the next half-hour everything else
was forgotten, even the three sailors.

Because the captain was the captain, it was natural that every one
should look to him for some suggestion as to why this great stone face
should have been carved here on this lonely and desolate rock. But he
shook his head.

"I have no ideas about it," he said, "except that it must have been
some sort of a landmark. It looks out toward the sea, and perhaps the
ancient inhabitants put it there so that people in ships, coming near
enough to the coast, should know where they were. Perhaps it was
intended to act as a lighthouse to warn seamen off a dangerous coast.
But I must say that I do not see how it could do that, for they would
have had to come pretty close to the shore to see it, unless they had
better glasses than we have."

The sun was now near the horizon, and Maka was lifted to his feet by the
captain, and ordered to stop groaning in African, and go to work to get
supper on the glowing embers of the vines. He obeyed, of course, but
never did he turn his face upward to that gaunt countenance, which
grinned and winked and frowned whenever a bit of twig blazed up, or the
coals were stirred by the trembling negro.

After supper and until the light had nearly faded from the western sky,
the two ladies sat and watched that vast face upon the rocks, its
features growing more and more solemn as the light decreased.

"I wish I had a long-handled broom," said Mrs. Cliff, "for if the dust
and smoke and ashes of burnt leaves were brushed from off its nose and
eyebrows, I believe it would have a rather gracious expression."

As for the captain, he went walking about on the outlying portion of the
plateau, listening and watching. But it was not stone faces he was
thinking of. That night he did not sleep at all, but sat until day-break,
with a loaded gun across his knees, and another one lying on the ground
beside him.

When Miss Markham emerged from the rude tent the next morning, and came
out into the bright light of day, the first thing she saw was her
brother Ralph, who looked as if he had been sweeping a chimney or
cleaning out an ash-hole.

"What on earth has happened to you!" she cried. "How did you get yourself
so covered with dirt and ashes?"

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