"Hungry?" he asked, coming toward the entrance.

"I wouldn't object to something warm," Teddy replied with a laugh; "but I suppose it isn't safe to build a fire till after dark."

"We can have one now," the Indian said, as he began to crawl through the pa.s.sage.

"There," Jake said triumphantly, as Poyor disappeared, "you can see how much danger there would be in our taking a stroll. Yesterday he wouldn't let a fellow whisper, and now we're to cook as if such a tribe as the Chan Santa Cruz had never existed."

"That doesn't make the slightest difference so far as we are concerned.

He could go in safety where you'd be certain to get into trouble."

Again the engineer was silenced but not convinced and Neal's fears that some dangerously foolish move might be made by him, were increased.

When Poyor returned he brought with him a small quant.i.ty of wood, more mud, and a bundle of green leaves.

At the further end of the cave he built a fire; encased the fish as he previously had the "chickens," piled the embers over them, and then, in the canteen brought by c.u.mmings, he steeped the leaves.

Breakfast or dinner, whichever it might be called was ready in half an hour, and when Poyor set the repast before them, where all could be on the alert while eating, Teddy exclaimed:

"Those leaves must have been from a tea plant; it seems quite like being on the yacht again to smell that."

"You'll be disappointed when you taste of the beverage," c.u.mmings, who had just been awakened by the Indian, said, as he approached his companions. "He has made an infusion of pimientillo leaves, a drink of which the natives of Yucatan are very fond."

Teddy was pleased rather than otherwise with the flavor, which was as of tea mixed with cloves, and drank so much that Poyor was forced to brew another canteen full in order to satisfy his own desires.

The fish were p.r.o.nounced delicious, and although c.u.mmings thought he had caught considerably more than could be consumed in one meal, there was very little left when the hunger of all had been appeased.

It was now nearly noon, when every native of the country believes a siesta is necessary, however important business he may have on hand, and Poyor stretched himself once more out on the sand, c.u.mmings advising the boys and Jake to do the same thing.

"I slept so long that I couldn't close my eyes now if I tried, so you had better take advantage of the opportunity."

CHAPTER XXII.

JAKE'S VENTURE.

The boys followed c.u.mmings' advice; but owing to the fact that they had taken no exercise the slumber was neither prolonged nor refreshing.

When they awakened Poyor and Jake were yet asleep, and they went softly to where c.u.mmings was keeping most vigilant watch.

"Had enough of it?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes: we are not feeling so comfortable in mind that we can sleep at will, and just now a little goes a great way," Neal replied.

"Don't make the mistake of dwelling upon your troubles. By putting them from your mind you are in better condition to meet what may come, and besides, fretting never did mend matters."

"I'll admit that the advice is good; but it is not every one who can follow it."

"Why not? Have you tried by looking for something else with which to occupy your attention?"

"Shut up here as we are it would be pretty hard work to think of anything except our own situation."

"I'm not so certain of that. Suppose we try by speaking of the country on whose sh.o.r.es you were cast by the waves?"

"It was formerly an independent republic; but now forms one of the Mexican states," Teddy replied promptly.

"I'll admit that to be true; but it is a small fund of information for a schoolboy to have regarding a country which was probably the most powerful on the hemisphere hundreds of years before Columbus crossed the ocean. Here have been found the ruins of forty-four large cities; the remains of enormous artificial lakes, paved roads, and, in fact, all the evidences of a high state of civilization which existed before Europe could boast of the slightest form of government."

"You may be certain that I shall study about it with more interest in case we are so fortunate as to be able to go to school again," Teddy replied. "Tell us about the people who lived here when it was so great."

"I wish I could," c.u.mmings said with a sigh. "If it had been possible for us to have taken from the Silver City any records, or sculptured figures, or plates of a historical nature, I might have succeeded in solving that which the student can speak of only as a mystery. Before the Conquest it was known as Maya--that is to say, the territory now called Yucatan, and the Chan Santa Cruz yet speak the Maya language. It is only certain that for many centuries there was here an important feudal monarchy, which doubtless arose after the Toltec overthrow of the very ancient kingdom of Xibalba."

"Cortez was the first white man to come into this country," Neal said half questioningly.

"Not by any manner of means. In the year 1502 Ferdinand Columbus, driven by adverse currents out of his southerly course, sighted a group of islands off Honduras, and captured a huge canoe, which is described as having been as wide as a galley and eighty feet long, formed of the trunk of a single tree. In the middle was an awning of palm leaves, not unlike those of Venetian gondolas, under which were the women, children and goods. The canoe was propelled by twenty-five Indians who wore cotton coverlets and tunics without sleeves, dyed various colors and curiously worked. The women wrapped themselves in large mantles of similar material.

"The men wore long swords, with channels each side of the blade, edged with sharp flints that cut the body as well as steel. They had copper hatchets for chopping wood, belts of the same material, and crucibles in which to melt it. For provisions they carried roots and grain, a sort of wine made from maize, and great quant.i.ties of almonds. This is a fragment of the history of Yucatan, simply a suggestion of what can be found by study, and some day when you have nothing to do, ask Poyor to tell you of his people's traditions."

c.u.mmings had succeeded in interesting the boys despite Neal's a.s.sertion that it would be impossible to think of anything but their own condition, and Teddy asked, hoping to hear more about the country:

"How large is Yucatan?"

"I question if even the officials know. It is set down as containing 76,560 square kilometres, with 302,315 inhabitants; but the last figures can be only guess-work, since regarding the unconquerable tribes of the interior, such as we are now trying to escape from, all is conjecture."

This concluded the conversation so far as c.u.mmings was concerned, for Poyor had awakened and joined the party, and there was very much to be discussed with him relative to what move should be made, when a sufficient time had elapsed.

In order that the boys might understand all which was said, the two men spoke only in English, and when the consultation was brought to a close the former had a very clear idea of the condition of affairs.

"It is safe to venture out in search of food," Poyor said, when c.u.mmings intimated by his silence that there was no further topic which he wished to discuss, "and I will go for a short time."

"Why not take one of the boys with you?" the leader of the expedition asked. "It is dull work for them here, and a little exercise will be beneficial."

"Not yet," the Indian replied quickly. "Too broad a trail would surely attract the attention of the enemy, and we must not run such a risk."

"Very well, we will do a little fishing in order to have something hearty for supper in case you are not successful."

Then the Indian went cautiously out through the narrow pa.s.sage, and he had but just disappeared when Jake awakened.

"What's goin' on?" he asked with a yawn. "Has Poyor left us again?"

"He thought it might be possible to get some game near by, and proposes to make the attempt," c.u.mmings replied carelessly. "Now that you are awake stand watch awhile, for the boys and I are going to catch a few more fish."

Jake seated himself by the entrance, and c.u.mmings led the way to the stream, never fancying for a single moment that the sentinel might desert his post.

The second effort to draw food from the water was more successful than the first. c.u.mmings had hardly dropped the line before the bait was seized, and he landed a fairly good sized fish, after which he proposed that Teddy should try his hand at the work.