The Young Llanero | Page 6

increasing every
instant; and the water, before so calm, rose in foaming waves with
extraordinary suddenness,--the cause of which, my uncle observed, was
the shallowness of the lake. Still we continued our course, hoping to get
to the village of Cervanos, where we could procure a bongo, or native

canoe, in which we could perform our voyage of eight hundred miles
up the Magdalena; and where also, should it, as we hoped, be in the
hands of the Republicans, we might obtain the information we required
to send back to the schooner. The fury of the wind, which, now shifting,
blew partly across and partly down the lake, made it impossible for us
to proceed in the direction we desired; and an opening among the
mangrove-trees, which my uncle hoped might prove the mouth of a
stream, appearing, he steered towards it.
Scarcely had we got the boat's head round when the gale came down
upon us with redoubled fury, and sent her flying along with only two
oars out at a furious speed. A small palm-branch which, floating by, my
uncle picked up, was almost blown out of his hands as he held it in the
air. We were fortunately right in conjecturing that we were entering the
mouth of a stream; so we went on some distance with unabated speed,
when a crash was heard, and the water came rushing into the boat. We
had run against a sunken log or projecting root. Still we ran on, while
the man in the bows attempted to stop the leak with his jacket and the
boat's sail, and my uncle and I bailed as fast we could with our hats.
Every moment we expected the boat to fill; but presently we saw a
narrow opening, through which we rushed, with only space sufficient
for the oars on each side to avoid the roots of the mangrove-trees, while
the dense foliage formed a wall of verdure high above our heads.
We had no provisions with us, and we could not tell whether the region
into which we were penetrating was inhabited by hostile Indians or
wild beasts and venomous serpents. After going some way, however,
the stream widened, and at the same time became shallower; and the
mangrove-trees ceasing, we found ourselves in the midst of a dense
forest. Looking out anxiously on both sides, we observed a bank which
would afford us a small space on which to land; so pulling up to it, we
hurriedly sprang on shore. In spite of all our efforts, the boat was nearly
half-full of water.
Our first care was to land our baggage, and especially to keep our guns
and ammunition dry. We then, having piled our property together, by
our united efforts hauled up the boat, and the extent of the damage she

had received was soon discovered. A hole had been made through a
plank, a portion of which had also been ripped off. It was a wonder the
boat had not filled and gone down. We had no tools--not even a
marling-spike to serve as a hammer--with which to repair her. The crew
took the matter very coolly, only observing that they wished they had
some grog and grub.
"I will try what I can do for you in the way of getting provisions," said
my uncle, "and I hope to be able to shoot some birds, or an animal of
some sort; but in the meantime we must endeavour to repair the boat.
We can draw some nails from the seats, where they are of less
consequence; and we must cut some canvas out of the sail, if we can
find no plank to fasten over the hole."
Encouraged by my uncle, the men set to work to draw some nails out of
the stern-sheets with their knives; and we then managed to turn the boat
over. The canvas alone, it was evident, would not keep the water out of
the boat, even though backed by a piece of one of the bottom boards
which was broken off. My uncle, however, after examining the trees in
the neighbourhood, found a large one with a smooth bark; in this he
made a hole with one of the men's knives, and immediately a thick
white liquid issued from it. Sending for the piece of canvas, he allowed
the liquid to flow over it till it had formed a thick, hard cake.
"Now, my lads," he said, "stick that plaster over the hole, and nail the
board tightly over it. I will answer for it that no water gets through,
whatever it may do round the edges."
The plan succeeded; but still, only the most foolhardy would have
attempted to recross the bar in so unseaworthy a boat; indeed, with our
baggage on board,