The Mighty Orinoco

Chapter IX Across the Sierra

299 chapter IX Across the Sierra At six o’clock in the morning, Jacques Helloch and his companions started out from the campsite near Maunoir Peak, their falcas left under the guard of Parchal, in whom they had full confidence. Parchal had under his orders the boatmen of the Gallinetta and of the Moriche, fifteen men in all. The two others would accompany the travelers and carry their supplies. It was agreed that, if they were attacked and if Parchal felt unable to defend himself against either the natives or Alfaniz’s Indians, he should abandon the campsite and, if possible, try to reach the Mission of Santa Juana. Jacques Helloch felt assured that the mission would be fully able to resist the Quivas who now infested this part of the Venezuelan territory. On this subject, which Valdez and Jacques Helloch had discussed at length, there was every reason to believe that good luck would outweigh the bad. Encountering the band of Alfaniz would be the worst eventuality during their trek across the forests of the Sierra Parima. But according to young Gomo and what his father had replied to Jorr ès, this band had not shown itself in the neighborhood of the sierra. By working his way toward the north, the Spaniard obviously hoped to rejoin Alfaniz, whose cellmate he had perhaps once been, any hypothesis being permitted in his regard. But even if the Quivas were not far away, the mission was not far either—some fifty kilometers or so. If they covered twenty-five kilometers in twenty-four hours, they could probably travel that distance in two and a half days. Leaving on October 30, at dawn, was it exaggerated to think that they could arrive by midnight of November 1? No, provided that bad weather did not hold them up. So, with a little luck, the small group could depend on making this trip without any regrettable incidents. The detachment was made up of eight people. Jacques Helloch and Valdez walked in the lead, then Jean and Gomo, who gave them 300 directions. Next came Germain Paterne and Sergeant Martial, and after them the two boatmen of the Gallinetta, who carried the supplies , which had been reduced to the strict necessities, some blankets for night stops, some preserved meat and manioc flour, a couple of gourds of brandy and rum. In the middle of these well-stocked forests, under normal circumstances , the hunters would easily be able to provide food for the voyagers . It was better, however, not to signal their presence with gunfire . If a few peccaries or capybaras wanted to be captured without being felled by a bullet, they would be welcome, but the sierra would not be subject to the echoes of a single gunshot. It goes without saying that Jacques Helloch, Sergeant Martial, and Valdez were armed: they carried their carbines, their cartridge belts were full, and their revolvers and knives were in their belts. Germain Paterne had taken along his hunting rifle and his herborist box, from which he was never separated. The weather was favorable for the walk. No rain or storm threatened , and high clouds filtered the sun’s rays. A cool breeze ran across the tops of the trees, swept under the branches, and swirled the dry leaves into the air. The ground rose toward the northeast. Except for an occasional savanna, there were no swamps in the area, and none of those damp areas that are often found in the deep pockets of the plains. Nevertheless, the voyagers would not be deprived of water on their excursion. According to Gomo, the Rio Torrida, starting from its mouth on the Orinoco, could be followed in the direction of Santa Juana. It was a torrential stream, unnavigable and strewn with granitic rocks, impracticable for falcas and even for the smaller dugouts. It wound around in capricious zigzags through the forest. The group began to ascend its right bank. Led by the young Indian and after passing the old straw hut on their left, they moved toward the northeast, in such a way as to cut obliquely across the territories of the sierra. The trek was not easy on the surface of an overgrown soil, sometimes covered with a thick layer of dead leaves, sometimes encumbered by branches that the violent winds of chubascos had knocked down by the hundreds. Jacques Helloch, however, tended to moderate their speed in order to save the strength of the young girl. And when...