Chapter 23 Chapter 8 The Indian Boy

It was a gunshot.Jacques.exclaimed Alloch. Not more than three hundred paces from here.Valdes said. Did Sergeant Marshall go hunting after you left? I think not. Is it the Indian who lives in this hut? Let's see if the house is occupied first.Said the captain of the Garinetta ship. The two men had been several steps away from the hut when the gunshot fired, and now they were back inside. The inside was as shabby as the outside, without a piece of furniture, and on the innermost floor was a straw mattress, and it seemed that someone had slept on it not long ago.Along the wall stands a row of karebas.In one corner was a basket containing a leftover piece of cassava cake, and on the roof were several forked poles, one of which held a piece of wild boar.Two or thirty almond-like javier fruits piled together, and termites that the Bravo Indians ate.A charred log was still smoking in the stove on a flat stone.

The owner of the hut, Valdes said, should have been in the house before we arrived. He can't go far, Jacques.Elloch said, maybe he fired the shot? Valdes shook his head. The Indians had neither rifles nor pistols, he said, but bows and scimitars. But you have to figure it out.Jacques.Eloch cried out, because he couldn't help becoming anxious again when he thought that the Cuevas who might be Alphaniz were nearby. If this is the case, then those who camped on Mount Monument would be in danger!When they headed for Santa Juana, they didn't know what kind of attack they would encounter on the way!

Jacques.Eloch and Valdez came out of the hut, weapons in hand, and walked slowly towards the direction of the gunfire under the cover of trees and undergrowth. The hut they found was not a settlement, and there was no plowed land in sight around it, no crops, vegetables, fruit trees, or livestock feed. Jacques.Alloch and Valdez pricked up their ears, opened their eyes wide, and walked forward with small steps. There were no unusual sounds, save for the crowing of pheasants and powwows roaming among the foliage, or the rustling of some beast as it brushed behind the bushes. They walked like this for twenty minutes, wondering whether they should go back to the hut and from there back to the camp.Just as he was thinking, he suddenly heard a moan not far away.

Valdes made a gesture to signal his companion to lie down on the ground, not to hear better, but to avoid being seen by others before the time came. There was a row of low shrubs in front, and beyond was a glade bathed in sunlight. Valdez parted the shrubs and had a panoramic view of the clearing, where the moans came from. Jacques.Elloch lay beside him, finger hooked on the trigger, also looking across through the slits of the branches. There, there!Valdez finally found it. So many precautions are really unnecessary, at least for now.From here, on the other side of the clearing, under a palm tree, there were only two people.

One was lying on the ground, motionless, as if asleep, or more like dead. The other was kneeling on the ground, holding the other's head, and moaning, for obvious reasons. There was no danger in going to the two Indians, and it was a duty to help them. These two men were not the nomadic or sedentary Bravos common in the upper Orinoco.Valdez recognized them from their physical appearance as the Baniwas of his own race. One of them was silent, one was a man over fifty years old, and the other was a thirteen-year-old boy. Jacques.Eloch and Valdez skirted the bushes and emerged ten paces away from them.

Seeing the person coming, the Indian boy stood up immediately. There was a look of terror on his face.He hesitated for a moment, finally raised the head of the man lying under the tree once, and ran away. Valdez made a friendly gesture to him, but failed to keep him. The two ran to the man, bent down, lifted his upper body, listened to his breathing, and put their hands on his heart The heart has stopped beating.His lips lost their color, and he couldn't breathe out. The Indian had been dead only a quarter of an hour or so, for his body had not yet cooled and stiffened.The cloth wrapped around him was stained with blood, and when the cloth was removed, it could be seen that his lung had been pierced by a bullet.

Valdez scoured the ground, picking up a bullet from the blood-stained grass. It was a 6.5mm pistol cartridge. That's the caliber for the pistol on the Garinetta, Jacques.Elloch said the pistol on Moricer was an eight-millimeter caliber. He thought of Horace. We must find a way to get the child back.Only he, he said, could tell us how the Indian had been shot, and perhaps he could tell who the murderer was. Possibly, said Valdez, but where to find him?He scared away. Maybe he ran back to the hut? unlikely. It is indeed unlikely, nor is it the case. The Indian boy only ran a hundred steps to the left of the clearing. He hid behind a tree and observed the two strangers. Take a few steps forward.

Valdez catches a glimpse of him and immediately stands up.The child seemed to run away again. Talk to him, Valdez.Jacques.Elloch said. The captain of the ship in Garineta stopped the boy in Indian and told him not to be afraid, but to come here and carry the dead back to the hut with them. The child hesitated for a moment before agreeing.The horror on his face turned into pain, and sobs started again in his throat. He walked over slowly, and as soon as he came to the corpse, he knelt down with tears streaming down his face. The young Indian has a gentle face and a strong physique, but he is thin due to lack of nutrition.How could he not be thin, living in a remote forest, living in such a thatched hut, and the person who depended on him for life was such a person who had already died?On the child's breast hung a small crucifix of the kind that missionaries bestow on new converts.The boy looks smart, Jacques.When Elloch and Valdez spoke Spanish, he said he knew the language.

The two began to ask him. May I have your name? Gao Mo. Who is this guy? my dad. Pitiful!Jacques.Elloch exclaimed that it was the child's father who had been killed The child is still crying, Jacques.Elloch took his hand and drew him close to caress and comfort him. Gao Mo controlled himself and held back his tears.He had a very certain instinctive feeling that the stranger before him would be his protector and friend. Valdes asked again: Who killed your father? A man came into our house in the middle of the night Is it that room?Valdes asked, pointing to the hut. Yes, there is no other house here.

Where did that man come from? have no idea. Is it an Indian? No, it's a Spaniard. Spanish!Jacques.Alloch yelled. Yes, we can understand what he said.Gao Mo said again. What does he want to do? He wondered if the Kiva had reached the Palima Forest. What Kiva?Valdes is as anxious as his companion at the moment. The Kivas led by Alphaniz.Gao Mo replied. Gang of fugitive convicts! Jacques.Eloch immediately went on to ask: Have these people appeared here before? I have no idea.said the child. Have you heard of them coming to the area? No. So, have you seen them before? Yes, I've seen it!

The Indian boy looked terrified again, and tears blurred his eyes again. Under Valdez's detailed questioning, the boy told them that the Kiva gang led by its leader attacked the village of San Salvador in the northern Palima Heights, killing almost all the people in the village, and the boy's mother was killed. , the boy and his father narrowly escaped death, came to this forest, built a thatched cottage, and lived there for ten months. As for whether the Kivas are in this area now, Gao Mo has no idea.Neither he nor his father knew whether they had been around the Orinoco. The Spaniard who broke into your house last night was asking you about this, right?Valdes asked again. Yes, because we couldn't answer, he lost his temper. Didn't he leave right away? Stayed until morning. Then what? He wanted my dad to show him the way, to lead him over to the Highlands. Your father agrees? He didn't agree, he didn't think this person could be trusted. So what did this person do? Seeing that we were unwilling to guide him, he left alone. But then came back again? Yes, about four hours later. Four hours later?why? He lost his way in the forest and couldn't tell where the high ground should be. This time he took out his pistol and threatened us, saying that if we refused to lead the way, he would kill us. Your father will have to agree. Yes, my daddy my poor daddy!The Indian teenager said the Spaniards grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the house, forcing him to walk in front and me following them.We walked like this for an hour, my father didn't want to lead the way for this man, so he went around in a circle around this place, and I saw what my father meant, because I knew the woods well, but the Spaniards soon understood how it was. When it happened, he was furious, yelled at my father, and started threatening again. My father was so angry that he rushed at the Spaniards. They only fought for a while. My father had no weapons, and I couldn't help him. A gunshot fired, and my father fell down. Down, the man fled.I helped Dad up, his chest was bleeding profusely, and he lost the strength to speak. He wanted to go back to the house again, but he staggered here and died! The affection among the Indian family members of the various tribes on the upper Orinoco River is extremely deep. The boy cried and threw himself on his father's body. Jacques.Ai Luohe and Valdez hurriedly comforted him, comforted him, and promised to avenge his father, and the murderer would find him and make him pay the blood debt. After hearing this, Gao Mo's eyes opened again, and through the tears, the fire of vengeance was burning. Jacques.Elloch asked him one last question. Did you see that person clearly? Yes, see clearly.I will never forget what he looked like. Can you tell me what clothes he wears, how tall he is, what kind of hair he has, and what are his facial features? He was wearing a vest and a pair of trousers like the crew wears. good. He is slightly taller than you.Gao Mo looked at Valdes and said. good. His hair was very black, and his beard was also black. horace!Jacques.Elloch said. it's him!Valdez agrees. The two proposed that Gao Mo go with them. where to?the child asked. To the river, the mouth of Torrida, where our boat is. Boat?the child asked. Don't you and your father know that two boats came last night? Don't know, but if we hadn't been dragged into the woods by the Spaniards this morning, we might have met you fishing. Well, my boy, Jacques.Elloch said, let me ask again, would you like to come with us? You have to promise me to go find the man who killed my father. I promise you to avenge your father. I will go with you. bring it on! The two led the children and returned in the direction of the Orinoco River. The dead Indians will not be left in the wilderness and become prey to tigers and leopards.He was a Baniwa Indian from the village of San Salvador, many of whom had converted to Christianity.But the villagers were all killed by the Kiva gang. Jacques.Elloch proposed to bring a few more crew members here in the afternoon to hold a Christian funeral for the dead. Gao Mo took them to take the shortest route, did not pass by the house, and returned to the camp in only half an hour. Jacques.Ai Luohe and Valdez have discussed, not to mention the matter of Horace.The relationship between him and Alphaniz has been confirmed, but it is better to keep it secret for now.Traveling companions have enough worries, don't make them more afraid. In fact, the situation has become very serious because Holles knew about the relationship between Jean and Colonel Kellmer. Alphaniz will learn this from Holles. I will try my best to catch his children. In fact, it was somewhat reassuring that the Kivas had not come near the Orinoco.If they had appeared in Palima Heights, the Gao Mo father and son would have heard of it.Jacques.Elloch decided to just say that after Horace escaped, he asked Gomo's father to show him the way to the Santa Juana mission, and the two quarreled and killed Gomo's father in the dispute. Jacques.Elloch taught this to Gomo, and the boy's eyes sparkled with intelligence, and he soon understood that he would not speak of the Kivas or the Alphanes to anyone. When Jacques.When Elloch returned to the camp, introduced Gao Mo to everyone, and told his story, Martial, Jean and Germain.Paterna was amazed! Everyone welcomed the Indian boy in a friendly way. When they heard that the boy had become an orphan, they asked him to take him over and caress him affectionately.Everyone will not let him go, no!never. Jean asked him if he knew the Santa Juana Mission, and his answer was good news for everyone: I know, I've been there several times with my dad. can you take us there able!able!You are not like that villain, who also asked us to lead the way. Valdes winked, and Gao Mo quickly shut up. After listening to Gao Mo's description of the murderer's appearance, Jacques.Both Eloch and Valdez were convinced of this person's identity.I hadn't dared to be sure at first, but when I found out that there was a pistol missing from the Garinetta, there was no more doubt. The gun that was lost belonged to Sergeant Martial. My pistol was stolen, he exclaimed, the bastard stole my gun and killed the poor Indian with my gun!This pistol was given to me by my colonel! Yes, veteran grief is as strong as anger.One day horace fell into his hands Gao Mo was very grateful for everyone's concern. After lunch, the finishing work of the Monua Peak camp was carried out.The crew will live here.The passengers continued to make preparations for departure, and it was unknown how long it would take to leave this time. In just a short while, Gao Mo had learned from Jean's mouth their purpose of going to the location of the Santa Juana Mission. Gao Mo's face changed. You are going to find your father.He said. yes my boy! You'll find Dad, and I'll never see Dad again, never again! Afternoon, Jacques.Alloch, Germain.Paterna and the crew on Moriche left the camp and headed for the forest clearing. Gao Mo accompanied them, and Jean got permission to follow. Half an hour later, they came to the spot, and the body of the Indian was still lying on his back under the palm tree.A grave was dug with pickaxes, deep enough that no wild beast would find it and dig it. Gao Mo, who was crying like a tearful man, kissed his father one last time, and the body was put in the grave. The pit was filled, and Jean and Gao Mo knelt on the side and prayed together. Everyone returns to camp. Let not feel very tired.He assured Jacques that he would be in good health for the journey.Both Elloch and Martial said the same. My heart is full of hope!He kept talking. After dark, the passengers returned to the ship, while the crew kept watch at the camp. A place had been made for Gaumo on the Garine Tower, but the poor child slept restlessly, uttering long sighs in his dreams.