The Mysterious Island Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 22 Captain Grant's Children (22)
"Ser, Tarcaf! I'm still alive, thanks to Toka!"

The Indian didn't wait for Robert Jr. to finish speaking, and ran over to caress his BMW.He kept chatting and nagging with "Taojia"; and he hugged its neck and kissed it like a human being.

Then, facing Paganel again, the Indian pointed to Robert Jr. and said:

"What a great lad!"

Then, he praised Robert Jr. with an Indian saying that means "courage and courage", saying: "His spurs will never tremble!"

At this time, Sir Glenarvan put his arms around Robert and said angrily:
"You child, what did you do? Why don't you let me, or Takaf, take this risk? You do it alone, because you want to be a hero who saves others!"

"My dear sir," said the child solemnly but excitedly, "you know that Tarcaf has delivered me; and you are now going to find my father and save his life! So this adventure and sacrifice The matter should be borne by me!"

plain landscape
The two teams reunited here.After a short period of joy, Paganel, Austin, Mulati, and Wilson were all unbearably thirsty, and only the laid-back Major McNabbs still had the same flat expression.God really favored this group of travelers. They saw the Guamini River not far away.Everyone flocked to the river.At seven o'clock in the morning, the group of travelers came to "Ramata" again, and saw a large pile of dead wolves lying in front, back, left, and right of the yard; they could really feel the intensity of the battle last night.

These travelers drank the cool water of the river and ate their fill in the courtyard of "Ramata".They felt that the rib meat of "Nandu" was very delicious, and the most delicious was the armadillo meat grilled in the shell.

"It seems that it would be a disservice to God if we eat less!" said Paganel, "and we must eat until we are full!"

Paganel really ate a lot, but his stomach was not distended; this was because he also drank a lot of water from the Guamini River.That water really has a miraculous digestive function, keeping the stomach from bursting.

At this time, Sir Glenarvan thought of the ancient Hannibal Hannibal, who lived from 247 BC to 182 BC, was a famous general in ancient Cathay; he attacked Rome many times, but he fought repeatedly. defeat.In Cabo Cabo, near the south of the ancient Roman city.In 216 BC, after Hannibal captured the city, he was obsessed with the rich and comfortable life there, and never sent troops to attack again, and then returned in a mess.The serious consequences of standing still.So he thought not to repeat the same mistakes, so he ordered the team to go back on the road at ten o'clock.They filled their leather buckets with the cool river water, and then mounted their horses and set off.After eating, drinking and resting, these horses are full of energy and move forward bravely.Along the way, the travelers saw some signs of fertility in the wet land.But there is still no human habitation in a radius of hundreds of miles.

On November 11nd and 2rd, there is not much to record.On the night of November 3, after two days of trekking, the Jazz team reached the end of the Pampas prairie.At this time, people are exhausted.So the team rested on the edge of the Pampas prairie and at the border of the province of Buenos Aires.Calculated, they set off from Talcahuano Province on October 11. After 3 days of travel, they traveled a total of about 10 miles; in general, they walked about two-thirds of the journey.

On the next morning, Jazz and his party crossed the dividing line between the Argentine grasslands and plains.Tarcafe hoped to meet the Indians who were rumored to have captured Captain Grant and his two companions in this area.

Judging from the 64 provinces in Argentina, only Buenos Aires is the largest and richest in resources.The province lies between longitudes 65° and [-]° E, and borders the Indian Territory to the south.Here, the climate is mild and pleasant, the land is fertile, and the resources are abundant. Grasses are everywhere, and there are trees as tall as vegetables.Moreover, the terrain of this region is flat, until the Tandil Mountains and the Tabalcon Mountains are all flat, without ups and downs.

The travellers, after leaving the Guamini, were very satisfied with the climate of the country.In the high altitudes of this region, it is the bitter cold wind of Patagonia that stirs the air waves, so the temperature in this area often maintains around 17 ℃.After the high temperature and scorching heat of the grassland, when I came here, I felt that the climate was mild and comfortable, and everyone was refreshed, excited, full of energy, and moved forward tirelessly.Although the natural conditions here are so superior, it seems that no one has ever settled here; to be precise, it should be the people who lived here before, and now all of them have moved away.

At 37° south latitude, there are many lakes and swamps; the lakes and swamps have salty water and fresh water. In the bushes on the lakeshore, you can also see wrens, starlings, larks, and a The "Tangara" that can stop in the air is constantly flying around... Among the thorns, there is a hanging nest of the "Annubi" bird, which looks like a hammock built by the white people in the colony; The herons build their nests, more than a foot high, in the shape of conical buildings; thousands of these nests are gathered together, like a small town.When this group approached, these ibis were not afraid of humans, and did not dodge, but lined up neatly, walking neatly as if no one was there.Our scholar Paganel saw it, and was deeply disappointed.

"It's a pity, but I really want to see how the ibis flies!" Paganel said to the major.

"It's not difficult at all!" said the major. "Now, here's your chance! My dear Paganel, don't miss your chance!"

"Come with me, Major; and you, too, little Robert. I need you two as witnesses!"

As soon as Paganel finished speaking, he walked towards the flock of ibis, followed by little Robert and the major.

As soon as he came within shooting range, Paganel loaded the gun; he did not load it, because he could not bear to see these beautiful birds bleeding.After the "bang", all these ibis flew high in fright; Paganel stretched out his telescope and looked at the sky carefully.

"How, how do you feel?" Paganel asked the major when the ibis flew out of sight, "Major, did you see them fly away?"

"I'm not blind, of course I see everything," said the major.

"When flying, do these ibis feel like feathered arrows?"

"Not like, not at all!"

"It's incomparable to Feather Arrow!" Little Robert interjected.

"That's right, I don't think they look like feathered arrows either!" Paganel was very pleased and continued, "But I know a writer who can be said to be the proudest of all the humble people in the world." This writer is the well-known Chateaubriand Chateaubriand (1768-1848), a representative writer of French pessimistic romantic literature in the [-]th century, who once wrote famous works such as the novel "Memoirs Outside the Grave". In the book, He compared the ibis with a feather and an arrow. Sigh! Little Robert, look again, you must understand that literary metaphors are the most unreliable! You must keep this in mind, and don’t easily believe in metaphors in the future; unless it is absolutely necessary, Never use metaphors!"

"Now, you are satisfied with the experiment!" said the major.

"I'm so satisfied!"

"Then I am satisfied too! But you know, we have lost a mile for your famous writer Chateaubriand, and now we have to hurry the horse forward!"

When the three of Paganel caught up with the big team, Sir Glenarvan and Takaf wanted to chat freely, but they suffered from language barriers, and both sides felt very distressed.Because Tarcalf stopped from time to time, pointing to the distant horizon, and asked Sir with a look of surprise; but Sir Glenarvan did not know what Tarcalf meant.At this juncture, Paganel caught up, and the Jazz were of course very pleasantly surprised.

"Paganel, come here, come here! Tarcaf wants to talk to me, but it's too much effort to communicate without speaking the language!"

So Paganel chatted with Tarcave for a while, and then said to Sir Glenarvan: "Tarcave saw a very strange phenomenon here, so he was very surprised!"

"What is this phenomenon?"

"Tacaf said that in the past in this plain area, you would often encounter groups of Indians. These Indians sometimes drove livestock plundered from pastures; sometimes they went to the Andes to sell weasels. Blankets or some leather whips. But until now, not only have there been no Indians, but there has been no sign of their passing."

"Didn't Tarcaf say why?"

"Well, he didn't understand what was going on, so he asked us curiously."

"What Indians did he think we'd meet in this country?"

“He would have thought that maybe we would run into Indians who had plundered some foreigners, usually Indians under tribal chiefs like Cavgula, Katriell, or Janstruz.”

"Who are these chiefs?"

"Thirty years ago, these chiefs were tribal rulers with great power. But since they were driven to this side of the Andes, they were tamed. Tamed as much as the Indians could bear. They They have been running around between the Pampas and the plains of Argentina, doing some bandit and bandit things. But now, we don't see them. In fact, I am as surprised as Tarcaf!"

"Now, what shall we do?" Sir Glenarvan continued.

"I'll ask him again!" Paganel replied.

Then, continuing his conversation with Tarcave some time, he turned to Sir Glenarvan again and said:
"Actually, I think his suggestion is very feasible. He suggested that we continue to walk eastward. On this 37° line, there stands a Fort Independence. Even if we go there, we can't find any news about Captain Grant. , can also figure out why these Indians are not haunting the plains of Argentina!"

"Is that Fort Independence far from here?" Sir Glenarvan continued.

"Well, it's not far away. It's in Mount Tandil, about sixty miles away from here."

"When will it be possible to get there?"

"If you keep going, it will be fine the night after tomorrow."

This unexpected incident also made Sir Glenarvan very worried.In this flat Pampas area, there is not a single Indian in sight, which is incredible.You know, generally speaking, Indians are very numerous, but now there is no one to be seen. Something must have compelled them not to be here.The most tragic thing is that if Captain Harry Grant fell into a tribe of Indians in this area, was he kidnapped to the Indians in the north or the Indians in the south?After thinking about it, Sir Glenarvan had difficulty making a decision about his future actions, but because he didn't have any good ideas, he could only go to Fort Independence according to Tarcafe's suggestion.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the traveler saw a hill looming on the horizon.On this flat plain, this hill can be said to be a mountain.It is Tabalcon Mountain, and the jazz and his party rest under the mountain for the night.In this way, if you have enough energy, you will be able to climb this mountain very smoothly.On setting out the next day, the travelers found that the slopes of the mountain were not steep, and that the sandy ground undulated like waves.Compared with the highland rocks of the Andes before, the height of this mountain is nothing!Even the horses were not slowing down here uphill.At noon they passed the ruined fort of Tabalcon.This abandoned fort is just the first ring of bunkers built by the Indians in the Shannan area to defend against the attacks of foreign aborigines.However, when they came here, the travelers still did not see any traces of Indians, which made Tarcafe even more incredible.At twelve o'clock at noon, they finally saw three people, riding horses with guns on their waists, looking carefully at Sir Glenarvan's team from a distance, with expressions of extreme vigilance.But before long, these people disappeared again, which made Sir Glenarvan very dismayed.

"These are gauchos," said Tarcave, a Patagonian, who had caused a dispute between Paganel and the major by calling the natives by their title.

"Oh. Gauchos!" replied Major MacNabbs. "Hey, Paganel, you see, what do you think of these people when the north wind is gone today?"

"I think these people look very much like robbers," Paganel said.

"Oh, dear learned scholar, what a difference there is between 'like a robber' and 'is a robber'!"

"My dear major, it's only one step away!"

Paganel's answer made everyone laugh.But our university scholars were not angry, but made another big talk about the title of this Indian:
"Anyway, I read it in some book, but I don't remember the title. The book said that although the Arabs have a fierce look on their lips, their eyes are very gentle. But now, I think these Native Americans It's the exact opposite of them, their eyes are fierce and murderous."

It seems that even people who are proficient in physiognomy cannot describe Indians as well as he does.

At this time, everyone still followed Tarcaf's suggestion and walked closely together.Although this area is uninhabited, it is better to be cautious, and you must not let your guard down!However, this defense still seems unnecessary.That night, the group of travelers stayed in an abandoned village.This abandoned stockade used to be the place where the local chief Catley Ear usually gathered the aborigines and convened the team.Tarcaf, the Patagonian guide, looked left and right, but still couldn't see any traces of people living here.He checked it carefully a few more times, but to no avail. He could only conclude that no one had lived here for a long time.

On the second day, the Jazz and his team set off on the journey again, and they could faintly see the large pastures used for raising livestock on the Argentine grasslands of the first few "Estancias" adjacent to Mount Tandil.Then Tarcaf decided not to linger here, and continued walking, heading straight to "Independence Fort".Because he wants to unravel the mystery of why this area is so uninhabited.

Jazz and his party, since they climbed the high and low rocks, the trees they saw were very sparse.But here, the number of trees actually increased, but most of them were planted by Europeans after they came here.Among these trees, there are neem tree, poplar tree, peach tree, willow tree, bean flower tree and so on.These trees are left unattended, but they grow very well.Moreover, these trees are planted around the "Golar", which is a large "livestock pen".There are still many tree stumps nailed around "Golar". The livestock in the fence include cattle, horses, and sheep, and these livestock have the brand of the owner's mark on them.Outside the fence, there are many tall dogs guarding.Spread at the foot of the mountain is a kind of slightly saline soil, with lush high-quality grass growing on it, which is the best feed for livestock.A steward and a foreman are in charge of an "Esdansha", among which four "Peons" are in charge of every thousand head of livestock.

These people are now living the same life as the great shepherds in the "Bible" stories; moreover, the number of livestock they own may greatly exceed the ranchers in the Mesopotamian plains full of cattle and sheep.But the ranchers here have no family, let alone family life.Most of the ranchers in the "Esdanxia" in the Pampas area are merchants who sell livestock, while the ranchers in the "Bible" are full of children and grandchildren and have no taste of ancestors at all.

These circumstances are what the scholar Paganel talked about to his companions.While talking eloquently, this scholar also used the latest ethnographic viewpoints to make interesting comparisons between these different ethnic groups.Even the major, who has never shown his expression, seemed very interested when he listened to his opinion.

At this point Paganel told his companions that they should seize the opportunity to admire a mirage.This group of travelers noticed the spectacle.This kind of spectacle is not common in the wilderness of Mapingchuan. From a distance, the numerous "Esdanxia" are like small islands in the sea, and the surrounding trees are reflected in the clear water.And this Wang Qingshui is advancing and retreating, as if teasing passers-by, so that people will never be able to touch this water.In this mirage fantasy, all kinds of scenes are so wonderfully realistic that it is difficult to distinguish the real from the fake.

(End of this chapter)