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VOLUME 81. NO. 26.
JUNE 27, 1907.
5 COTS. A COPY.
T RIS name was Michel Le
22 I Gros, and his native land
— was France; but from
the first day of our acquaintance
we called him * Froggy.”
was not because of hi
ality, but because his
theme was getting ma
second time. Ile rather res
FROGGY™
By Charles Paul Mackic By
down there between the border of [ bosom of hi irt the treasured pack
the nickname, until Tommy the forest and the edge of the river. | of holiday cards and a pocket looking-
Smith explained to him that it Both ends were open and the sick | glass. Moving to the door of the tent,
was a froggy ‘‘“who would a-wooing go’”; then [man lay so that he faced the woods. Now as | he resumed his performance, serutinizing every
he grinned modestly and accepted the title as | the sun rises high over a tropical river it plays | card as before in such fashion that the sunlight
one of honor., all kinds of tricks; there is the reflection from | played on its gaudy surface. Fach moment or
For ten years, off and on, he had drifted about | the wide stream, and the shivering refraction
peculiar uplifting of the feet
and shiftiness of the eyes which
you see among such men of the
great woods. They were dressed
alike, in waistbands and feather
crowns, except one old man,
who wore a rude necklace of
green stones. All were of lower
stature and lighter color than
their North American cousins.
Their splayed feet and the big
corns on their kiees showed they were used
to marching and paddling, and to much squat-
ting on heels during idle hours. Four of them
two he looked at the looking-glass and held it | carried bows and arrows taller than themselves ;
in the tangle of forests and rivers forming that | from the intervening stretch of sand, and then | to his ear, taking care to hold it in the sun at | the fifth, he of the necklace, bore a blowpipe
Great Drowned Land which stretches back over | the blinding scintillation from the thousands |an angle which sent its dazzling reflection, like | ten feet long. Silently lining up before the row
so much of the surface of America,
between the Lake of Maracaibo and the
Island of Maranhao. ITe spoke the gen-
eral lingo, which is understood by most of
the savage tribes of that wilderness, and
knew as much as any white man can of
those mysterious nomads. We shipped
him as cook at Pard, just as we were
starting up the Amazon, and were glad
of it ever after For in our hun-
griest nights the tinkle of Froggy’s guitar
and the ring of his merry songs sent our
memories chasing pleasanter thoughts
than the conditions of our stomachs,
while many a dull day w ortened by
his unlimited store of tri with cards
and scraps of sleight of hand.
e had two packs of cards—one plain
American for ordinary days; another
elaborately gilt Parisian, in a leather case,
for special occasions. *‘So to “member [
Michel Le Gros,”” was the only explana-
tion he would vouchsafe. Froggy was
no egotist; at any attempt to draw him
out about himself, he shut up like an
oyster.
In August we were well up on the
Aquiri, one of the higher tributaries of
the Great River. We had been knocking
about with our launch on that water-
world for nearly six months, looking for
rubber-groves, but now the waters were
falling at a rate which suggested sand-
bars, and warned us that it was time to
be returning to the safer channels of the
main river. As the streams diminished,
the fevers increased. All hands did their
best to fight them off, but after a while
it became necessary to submit to a regular
course of treatment—each man in turn
taking a day or two off in camp, swallow-
ing quinin and pulling himself together for
another spell of work. Froggy alone was
untouched by the malaria, and as he
proved as competent at nursing as at cook-
ing, he was installed as camp-tender and
hospital steward.
It was on a Thursday evening, the
24th, that we decided to have one more
try for the big rubber forest which was
reported, down at the settlements, to be
somewhere in our present neighborhood.
If that failed, we would break camp and
head for the river and home, As usual,
the matter was decided by ballot, after
those qualified to disc it had had their
say. The seven white men voted: the
ten Indians and half - breed ‘‘ hands””
accepted the consequences.
““Now dass what I call sense. Froggy
turned from the fire when he heard
the result, and waved a frying-pan
toward a very small pile of bo d cans. | of glittering leaves on the sharp edge where the | the beam from a search-light, straight into the
“You Yankees know everyt'ing, sure. I |forest faces the sun. Back of all that is the | blackness beyond the edge of the forest.
know sand-bars grow in de night. DBoat run |dense bl of the woods. The division| **Now I see five,” whispered Saunders.
on him, bang! Stay dere six mont’. dat | between Dbrilliancy and utter darkness *ms[ ““Da ? Now watch.””
10’1 pile of stuff”’—with another flourish of great | hardly as thick as a sheet of paper. |
scorn—‘‘in two weeks. Den monkey. Den When he was not dozing, Saunders divided | from his mouth and nose, holding the mirror
snake, frog, all dose nastiness. Den boots. | his time between watching the game of solitaire | in his hand and studying it attentively. Once
Den go hoofin’ it barefoot. Den die.”” And |and looking at the woods. Not a breath of air | or twice he flashed it into the woods, put it to
he resumed his cooking. was stirring and no living creature, from beetles | his ear and nodded gravely.
The others laughed, but his speech carried [up, was moving in the midday heat. Quietly At Jast he got up and took five red handker-
weight, and the ‘‘boss’” announced that, grove | he drawled: chiefs from the supply-chest. These he spread
or no grove, we should start down-stream on | ““Keep your eyes on the cards, Fros 1 | on the cards, and into each ostentatiously poured
Saturday. DBefore sunup the next morning the | see some macaws moving in the bushes; but |a handful of tobacco. Passing out into the
launch wheezily started on her final quest, | that's nonsenseatnoon. When you geta chance, | sunlight, he laid them in a row, about half-way
leaving Saunders taking his turn of bed and |look.”” | between the tent and the trees, puffed five times
quinin, with Froggy in charge.
Between watching his patient and making a
beginning at the preparations for breaking camp,
Froggy was kept moving about a good deal | times, he stared at them all with great sur
among the tents. As the morning drew on, |and put his ear to them as they pread out |
Saunders improved a good deal, and at last |on the blanket. Then he nodded his head with | plained in an undertone,
called to his companion to come in and help |an air of satisfaction. |cards. “‘Bes’ you ever saw.
him kill time. So Froggy squatted down on ;l} ““Dose Chuncho head-dresss | us now, mebbe not. We see soon.””
blanket by the side of the cot and began to play | he whispered. Saunders envied hi
a complicated game of solitaire, keeping up a | *‘Cannibals, Froggy?” | him_jt seemed hours before anything moved.
running fire of comment on things and people | *‘De very wors’ ever. Dey only two I see; [ Af Jadt he muttered
meanwhile. | but mebbe so ten, twelve, fitteen. Now I play | *“They’re coming, Froggy.”
The tent was pitched ‘on that roll of clean | magic. You say nothin’.””
sand which, as the waters fall, you always find |
ORAWN BY THOMAS FOGARTY.
THoMAS .~ Focmm vy -
FROGGY CONSULTED HIS GILDED CARDS AND POCKET MIRROR
ise, | his game,
, Mr. Saunders,”
| you run thi
Lighting his pipe, he poured clonds of smoke | fell oftenest in the old man’s
he was satisl
“hands’ to lift the big soup - kettle—which
contained the best part of our s
it in the middle of the Chunchos. Stepping
into the kitchen tent, he came out with a pile
of little gourd saucers, which he took and him-
self handed to the Indians, telling them in the
lingo to eat their fill.
Froggy lifted each card carefully, showed it |on his pipe, flashed his glass as often into the |
to Saunders, turned it toward the forest, and | woods, and returned to his solitaire at the tent | hand into his throat and drew out a tiny bl
laid it gravely down. IMaving done this a few | door. After that he did not take his eyes from |and white marmoset, which slipped from his
| grasp and scampered toward the tents.
“Dat great magie, Mr. Saunders,” he ex- |
| his own party
that we now had no supper, and then proceeded
Out of the shining shield of foliage stepped | to open the mouths of one after
With an air of anthority he drew from the | five Indians, one following another, with that | draw from their inner depths a good
of handkerchiefs, each man lifted his
own, and in single file they returned to
the forest.
Saunders, who had kept up a running
report to his stolid companion, could re-
strain his curiosity no longer.
““Well, Froggy?”’ he asked, somewhat
impatiently.
“Jes’ wait, Mr. Saunders,” was the
only reply.
At last a single Indian stepped out on
the glaring sands, carrying a buneh of
birds. These he deposited in a row, five
all told, just where the handkerchiefs had
lain, and then stepped back among the
On hearing of this, Froggy relaxed
pretense of profound abstraction.
lering up the cards and blanket, he
them away, and went to feel his
patient’s forehead.
“‘Fever all gone dis trip, Mr, Saunders,””
he said, cheerfully. “‘Dass fine. 1don’t
t'ink dose Chunchos kill us yet. Now
you take one more slug quinin.”’
The shadows were getting long and the
light turning yellow before the whistle of
the launch was heard far up-stream. As
she approached, the engineer kept up a
fantastic series of tootings _which conld
only mean one thing—that the gum-trees
had been found. This was confirmed
when the party landed, the more energetic
starting at once with preparations for
moving camp.
But the boss, on hearing the stories of
Saunders and Froggy, vetoed any appear-
ance of excitement, agreeing with the
Jatter that the Chunchos had probably
been watching the camp for more than
that one day, and it would be unwise to
disclose our own plans until we knew the
strength of the savages.
The Indians, however, furnished all
the excitement that could be desired.
While we were waiting for supper they
marched out of the forest in single file,
one, two, three, and so on, up to the
fourteenth,—the procession being closed
Ly the old fellow with the blowpipe.
Grasping his unwieldy weapon with one
hand, with the other he led a white boy,
whose only garment consisted of a huge
mask of plaited feathers reaching nearly
to the knees, and pierced with holes for
eyes and mouth.
they approached us, the other In-
dia 1id their bows and ows on the
sand, but the old man stuck to his blow-
pipe: it scemed to be a badge of authority.
Forming a circuit a few yards from us,
they squatted on their heels in silence—
and just stayed squatted.
st, everybody I’ said the boss. “‘Frogzy,
show.””
Froggy consulted his gilded cards and pocket
mirror, managing the latter so that its reflection
Apparently
1 two of the
for he direct
pper—and put
As he was leaving them a pitiful little shriek
Theard, and Froggy clasped his own stomach
if in great pain. In an instant he put his
Now it takes little less than a convulsion of
he picked up the | nature to keep a lot of savages from eating a
Mebbe dey kill | free meal, but not a Chuncho moved toward
[the steaming kettle, All eyes were en the
cheerful indifference. To | wonder-working white man.
ITe, expressing relief, quiet
v walked over to
, explained to us in pantomime
another, and
ON
ey syl vV rL
Louey
