Chapter 34 Chapter Thirty-Three

"Turn left, God bless! Turn left, Greek, or our horses will drown." Don Francisco's shout was louder than the crashing waves. Despite a few frightened horses and a crew of six, the balsa raft sailed through the wind and waves.The canvas was hoisted, and the ship's horses were tied tightly to the mast by the bridle.Since leaving Tumbes Beach, where he stopped temporarily, Jia Boye can easily recognize the tall figure of the Greek Bedo and the red cotton cap even if he only looks at his back. The Greeks steered the heavy oars with all their might.Alas, although they tried to keep their bearings, the balsa was bobbing on the crest at a slant.Pushed by an unknown force, the ship deviated from the channel, turned right and rushed into the stormy sea.

For a while, the boat was so fast that it seemed to be gliding on the water. Because of its small size and light weight, it looked like a light boat floating on the palm of a demon. At this time, the sea surface under the log boat suddenly had a storm, and all the crew members felt the threat of the wind and waves almost at the same time, and began to scream wildly.Their restlessness infected the boat's horses, eyes wide, tugging at the harness, kicking their forefeet, roaring like a tyrannosaurus. Everything happened so suddenly that time seemed to stand still.The uneasy Jia Boye heard Sai Batian screaming wildly beside him.

The balsa raft kept spinning in the turbulent surf.The horses on the ship lost their balance and slammed into the side of the ship, and the crew slipped and fell on the wet deck.The waves under the boat rolled up one after another, and after rolling up the huge waves, they were broken into countless sprays.Just when the light raft was at the crest of a terrible wave, the hull unexpectedly regained its balance... Then the swell filled the boat with horrible white foam, the water was waist deep.The masts on the balsa were down, and the stern was lifted high by the waves like a leaf blown by the wind.Mr. Francisco drew out his long sword and held it high above the water.Suddenly, just as he raised his knife to cut the horse rope, the waves engulfed him, so that he cut the agave rope that bound the hull with him, and the logs of the boat were scattered into driftwood!

"They're all dead!" Jia Boye yelled. "No!" Sai Batian roared. He is right. With the push of the waves, the waves scattered on the beach into green slow waves, and at this time, horses emerged from the sea one by one.Then, out of the rushing waves popped hair, beards, gaping mouths, and panicked eyes. "There! It's Bedo!" Sai Batian yelled, pointing to a head in front of him. "He's even wearing his red cotton cap." Not far from the Greeks, Mr. Francisco's gray hair could be vaguely seen, and he swam vigorously to the shore. Jia Boye limped and tried to catch up with Sai Batian, and he rushed to rescue the Greek and Mr. Francisco who were still submerged in the water.But as soon as the first wave hit his thigh, he backed away.

"Anyway," he murmured, "this is the last voyage of the evening, for the wind and waves are too high." The experience of being almost drowned the night before is still fresh in my memory. After the Greek vomited a large amount of seawater into Sai Batian's arms, his throat was still tingling! In fact, they didn't need him at all.Everyone who fell into the sea climbed on their horses and rode back to the shore at high speed. In order to save face, Mr. Francisco jumped out of the sea and sat proudly on the saddle, holding the rein in his hand, soaked all over his body, like a sea god who trampled the created land under his feet!

"I knew he wasn't reliable at all!" Lying on the sand dune, Enando Pizarro pointed a finger at Jia Boye, and then cursed, his mouth was as foaming as the white foam on the waves. Just after noon, their ship broke down a few chains away from the beach, and due to the treacherous terrain, they had to abandon their plan to dock.In the end, only a few horses and a few crew members swam back to the shore smoothly, and all the sailboats and light rafts were swallowed up by the sea. Despite the anxiety in his heart, Don Francisco still sat majestically in the saddle.He kept staring at the huge sandy beach, searching back and forth, hoping to find a passer-by in the large mangrove forest, and his expression seemed to have flown out of the mangrove forest to see Tumbes.

"It's just some everyday clothes, brother," he said. "We can have some sent over for us..." "Twelve linen shirts, a pair of boots, and three coats, worth a horse in total, and a spare chain mail, and you'll get them all out of here, brother!" "They all nearly drowned, and as for me, brother, I need every one of them as helpers." "You actually need these people!" Enando said disappointedly. Mr. Francesco pursed his lips unhappily, regardless of the fact that his whole body was still soaked, he kicked the horse away from his angry brother.

When Sai Batian decided to rush to the coast, he found a black spot at the outlet of the river that divided the mangrove forest into two. South China Sea. "A few more balsa rafts! Five or six, heading our way..." "An Indian?" asked Don Francisco. "It's too far away, I can't see clearly." But the question was immediately answered, because the Greeks had already rushed to the river mouth to find out, and then galloped back, not only kicking up waves of wet sand behind them, but also driving away the little red hermit crabs gathered on the beach . "It's Su Tuo, Governor! It's Su Tuo who's back!" After recognizing Su Tuo, he immediately shouted happily.

"He heard us! He knows! With these light rafts, we can go ashore easily tomorrow!" Jia Boye shouted. "What does he know, Su Tuo?" Ainando muttered while massaging his injured thigh, "A knife in my leg doesn't hinder my hearing! Me too, I want to know..." Jia Boye questioned Mr. Francesco's eyes.The governor nodded earnestly in agreement, and rode towards a group of Spanish nobles who were drying their bodies. "Fortunately, before Captain Su Tuo came ashore, we had time to inform him that those Indians had betrayed us." Jia Boye pointed to Sai Batian.

Anando raised his eyebrows, expressing his confusion, waiting for Jia Boye to continue, but the latter closed his mouth at this moment.After waiting impatiently for a while, he let out an annoyed "ah". Although the shirt was soaked and the socks were stuck to the skin, the Greek jumped off the horse, stroked the horse tenderly, and gave Jia Boye a polite look: "Tell us what happened that night! It seems very interesting, even I myself can't figure out what ghosts and ghosts we encountered." In a few simple sentences, Jia Boye narrated the pitiful end of Bauganag being kidnapped and brutally killed by Indians on a dark and stormy night.

"As for me," he said, pointing to the ocean, "if it weren't for Sebatian, these crabs would have ripped me to pieces." While the Greek looked gratefully at his black companion, Mr. Enando glared angrily at the three of them, and at the little boys who seemed to have been provoked to climb out of the sandpit and run wild around his boots. hermit crab. "So you don't care about my precious clothes and let them go with the flow." He expressed dissatisfaction. "Don't be offended, Mr. Enando, I was too busy escaping to take care of your valuable clothes. I know you want me to jump back into the sea and retrieve those things. But if your lord doesn't remember If the villain lives, in the next life I will..." Several Spanish nobles snickered aside. "Well done, school boy," said the Greek. "It's just those few bastards who screwed up everything!" Enando muttered angrily. "You're so right. Those turtle grandsons not only killed Bauganagar, but also tried to trap us on a small island. They even planned to wait until Captain Suto and his army entered the river mouth next to the mangrove forest. After that, annihilate them in one fell swoop!" "Thanks to you seeing through this trap alone," Enando said sarcastically, "how did you do it?" Jia Boye pursed his lips and looked at him, while Sai Batian turned his head and smirked at the Greek. "We put all our trust in a leader who brought us here..." He stretched out his hand and pointed to the north, pointing to the other end of the river. Su Tuo's light raft team was really powerful. "The beach there is narrow, and the mangroves are thick. Do you know what we found? Dozens of Indians! Dozens of smiling faces!" These people will eat us alive!' he answered me: 'Give them a warning!'" "So we slashed the leader's throat." Jia Boye said with a sullen expression. "Now they understand everything," Sai Batian said with a smile, "with a good wind and a little luck, we sailed all the way here. The strong wind and waves swept us all into the bottom of the sea, but fortunately we spit us out here safely !Especially from the Indians, who couldn't cross the river because the current was too strong. As for our balsa rafts, they stayed where they were until you got safely ashore." "We hid in the mangroves and waited for the captain's light raft to appear," Jia Boye continued. "When the fleet approached, we shouted loudly and waved vigorously, but the fleet veered away from the river..." Just as he was about to continue, Enando Pizarro stood up staggeringly, turned his back, and did not want to listen to the next sentence. "Brother!" he said to Don Francisco, "it will be dark in an hour. What are you going to do?" Don Francisco rode slowly towards his brother.After walking in front of him, he drew out his long sword and flashed it in front of Enando's eyes.Everyone can clearly see the small water droplets on the blade, slowly gather into a long column of water, and fall to the ground drop by drop as if being slashed by the sharp blade. "I think," he said, his eyes drifting past the entourage surrounded by him, "we'd better not be too arrogant when we enter that golden city, especially if those local natives betray us temporarily. One landing operation has already turned us upside down, and it would be unwise to enter the mangrove immediately..." Glancing at the gray sea, where the light rafts were bobbing by the low-tide sand, he went on: "Su Tuo hasn't joined us yet, so it's best to wait until he comes. We don't have any extra time to send the remaining large number of horses ashore. I think we'll spend the night here tonight, and everyone will sit and sleep on the bed. On the saddle, just in case!" "I can't even ride half a mile now, do you think I can afford to stay on the back of this poor horse all night?" Enando complained. "By the way, I forgot to consider your situation, brother," Mr. Francesco replied softly, his eyes widening. "You can sleep on the beach. I have seen our friend's horsemanship. You can take your Let him take care of that idiot, and then go to sleep in peace. Anyway, he is right. Although he lost all our things, he saved our lives!" The governor pointed his finger at him, and Jia Boye couldn't help blushing with joy. Captain Enando de Souto never left his horse for a moment.Instead of going to the beach to join the little party, he headed with all his might for the submerged Santiago, stranded three chains away, and managed to climb aboard the raft and find his gray Andalusian. Stallion.It took a good bath in this tropical sea, and now it can finally go ashore with a clean body. After greeting the governor, he turned around and nodded to Jia Boye. "Nice to meet you, my friend," said the taciturn man. Last night, they held the reins in their hands all night, clamping the horses hard with their legs until they were too exhausted to move. Occasionally, they also nap on horseback.But as soon as they heard the sound of crabs scraping sand, they would wake up from their dreams.They imagined that they heard some fighting sounds, and groups of Indians swarmed out of the mangroves.However, there was no sound except the crowing of the rooster and the lapping of the waves. In the evening, the wind and waves on the sea were still very fierce, and only six Spanish nobles reluctantly landed on horseback.Now, there are still about a dozen infantrymen floating away from their sailboats and light rafts, floating in the sea, like a falling flower with its petals that have withered and scattered in the wind, each of them has to face the night and the fate alone. challenge.Some of them drew their longswords and laid them on the saddle racks, their blades gleaming in the starlight. Everyone fantasizes about the city that is close at hand, it is hidden behind the mangrove forest, and the fields are full of gold.They remembered the adventures told by Governor Francisco and the Greeks, who said that in those majestic palaces, a casual hand could scrape a fortune even from the walls. They were sleepy, trying to stay awake, resisting the fear of being invaded by wild beasts in their hearts, because they fantasized too much about the mountains of gold waiting ahead, and they couldn't help thinking that the sky was full of golden clouds.Despite their exhaustion, in their eyes, the empty night was as bright as the first lights! When the clouds in the east revealed a white dawn, they couldn't hold back anymore. Led by Doge Pizarro, they crossed a low-tide dry bay with thick, foul-smelling black sand.After that, they finally walked into the mangrove forest. A narrow, arid, and here and there gravel path winds beneath a giant banyan grove.There are countless animals in the leaves high above the sky.Twice the horses were screamed and screamed by venomous snakes as thick as arms.Later, another monster of this kind covered with fine scales appeared, resembling a withered tree trunk, but its deadly fangs were enough to split a calf in two with one bite! Walking to the depths of this dense forest, there is only a piece of sky above the head, as if a giant swung a sword and cut all the branches flat. As for the Indians, they saw none. They were nowhere to be seen in the grassland behind the mangroves, and not far away was the highest city wall of Tumbes. They galloped forward with enthusiasm. When they were within a stone's throw of the city gate, the Greek frowned and glanced at Don Francisco, who glanced back at him impassively. At this time, the sun finally climbed over the hills in the sky, and Jia Boye really hoped to see the gold glittering under the sunlight.Unfortunately nothing can be seen. Or hear the Indians screaming, frightening or roaring, but still nothing. They didn't have to go into the city at all to see through roofless houses and walls blackened by smoke or in dilapidated condition.All the streets made of rubble and earth bricks are now only muddy roads, and the city is even more empty... Surrounded by the smell of gunpowder after the war and the deadly atmosphere of looting and looting. The whole city was devastated and deserted!This is Tumbes City! "For God's sake," Suto rode his horse back and forth in front of Mr. Francisco Pizarro, yelling and shouting, "what trick are you playing? This is what you call a beautiful city?" Jia Boye looked at Pizarro, expecting to see an expression of anger or suspicion on his proud face, but instead he saw only a vague confusion.