Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Ninth Man would have paired and the presence of the two men would not have been so annoying as the presence of the one. The next morning the party boarded the narrow gage passenger train and they were soon under way. They had tickets to Rio Bamba station, over and across the Eastern slope and the end of a railroad division. It is a day’s ride from Duran to Rio Bamba. The train lays up here for the night and the next day proceeds to Quito. But they were not going as far as Quito. Rio Bamba was their destination by rail. From Duran the G. & Q. makes its way through a swamp for the first hour or so and then rapidly begins to climb. Hughie Gibbs spent his time pointing out native huts perched on poles, alligators lying open- mouthed in the sun, strange colored birds, moss-festooned trees and other sights that were strange to him. After they had passed through the swamp and gained the solid mountainside the others began to take more notice from the windows. They scanned the contour of the country, the lay of the creeks and high bars and the formations of strata. No doubt there were many things that these men should have known that they did not know. No doubt the fund of information that Gibbs had stored away in his head was of more general value than that of any single 1 member of the party, but these men were ‘“gold-wise”’ and “trail-wise’’ from experience. As it was a gold-hunting expedition their knowledge was everything and whatever wisdom Gibbs had of other things was as valueless for the matters in hand as if he had never possessed it. However, he per- sisted in jabbering of things that were of small interest to the others and made as much of a nuisance of himself on the train as he had on the boat from Panama. They passed Huigra and it began to grow colder as they climbed into the higher alti- tude. They had made arrangement for this and donned sweaters and overcoats. The Nariz del Diablo (Devil’s Nose) jammed squarely in the middle of the cafion and over the bridge of which the train had to pass by means of switchbacks proved of great interest. Soon they gained the high wind-swept plateau covered with drifting horn-shaped sand dunes as far as the eye could reach. Along in the early afternoon Chimborazo 61 lifted its ice-coated crest in the east. The sand began to disappear and the soil changed to a volcanic ash with the small creeks and rivers running in deep-cut gorges. Although many thousand feet above the sea, every acre was being farmed. And the farms, cut into squares just large enough for one peon to cultivate, appeared like huge mantles of checked-cloth spread over the earth. At about eight o’clock that night they arrived in Rio Bamba. This is where the G. & Q. crosses the Rio Bamba or Bamba River, one of the most far-reaching trib- utaries of the Amazon, or Maranon as it is called in the high country. The Bamba is a fair-sized stream at this point and with caution canoes and small boats may be guided down its current. And of course it gradually grows in volume as it receives the contents of other small creeks and streams. The next morning found the party at the river’s bank studying the best method of navigating down it. They had brought no boats and they discussed what was the best type of boat for their purpose. After many diagrams had been sketched by one or the other it was at last decided what shape the craft would take. They secured lumber from a native and with the aid of a couple of carpenters at the end of the fourth day they had four boats that were water-tight | and would answer the purpose. 4 Another day was spent in sealing up the perishable supplies and ammunition in empty gasoline cans, leaving enough air in each can to float the contents, should the boat upset. The guns each had a block of wood attached to them by a short line so that in case of mishap it would be easy to recover them. With everything in shape to start they pitched camp for the night on the bank of the Bamba and the next morning the start was made down the stream. The bed of the river was very rocky and in places it was not more than ten feet across and the water was swift as a mill race. It was hard work to guide the boats and several times one or another sprang into the icy water to keep from upsetting. There were four boats and nine men. This compelled three men to ride in one of the boats. Gibbs had looked them over and decided he would ride with Harte and James. At COmiclboo ©