Machete

“ If it came to fighting I should have to put my trust in my machete, a long broad-bladed sword like a knife, formidable as a lethal weapon, yet chiefly used for clearing away brambles and cutting down trees.
All went well at the beginning. We were up betimes and off with our horses before daylight. The braves on duty asked no questions, there was no reason why they should, and we passed through the village without meeting a soul. ”

“ The machete, a long half cleaver, half sword, opens you a path through a thicket, cuts you a coffee or an orange stick, lops an orchid from its high perch on the rugged tree-bark, or brings down a tall banana, and splits open its covering to serve as a protection to a budget of botanical specimens. ”

“ With an elation of accomplishment almost overbalancing fear for the nonce, I replaced the trench-knife and machete in my handbag, took out my powerful electric torch, and prepared for a triumphant, lone, and utterly rash invasion of the fabulous nether world I had uncovered. ”

“ Their arrows were gone, their darts exhausted, and no spearman was among them; they fought with nature's weapons, while above them one lone clubman struggled to swing down his lethal bludgeon without killing his fellows.
McKay, wrenching his machete loose and gripping it with both hands, got its point upward and jabbed blindly at the weight of flesh bearing him down. Faintly to his ears came yells of rage and the impact of blows—the battle roars of Tim and Knowlton, who with their machetes were cleaving a way to their captain. ”

“ Naked children ran races with the engine. The ox-drivers, leading their patient yokes with a barbed pole, wore only a straw hat, a pair of pants, and a machete—a big two-bladed knife—wherewith to hack their way through the undergrowth. The women were garbed in what appeared to be a thin, loose-flowing nightgown. The houses were of cane and thatch, festering usually in pools of filth. Swarms of pigs came out at each stopping-place to nose about in search of the melon-rinds or fruit-skins that passengers might contribute to their welfare. ”

“ But contiguity was productive of democracy, and both ladies and Generals joined the peons in lamentation of common misery.
The life of the party was a stout woman with a machete in the bosom of her voluminous soiled shirtwaist. Her seven children were constantly tumbling about over the other passengers to the annoyance of every one, and her admonitions that she would cut their throats if they did not sit still, illustrated by a waving of the machete, had little effect upon them. On the lake steamer, she had led the mournful chorus of “Ay! Ay! Ay!” ”

“ They may do to cut our way through the underbrush."
"Cut way through Spaniard," said Washington, still waving his arm excitedly.
"You can do all that kind of cutting, George Wash Jenks. Perhaps you would prefer a razor."
"No, machete."
"All right; machete it is, and I hope you will find something to use it on and work off some of that cutting energy."
They then each selected from the supply of arms a rifle, pistol, and all the ammunition they could comfortably carry. They lowered them [Pg 114] into the small boat and were about to climb in when Harry stopped them. ”

“ The stranger appeared, judging from the luxury he displayed, to belong to the high class of society. A machete hung down his right side, two pistols were passed through his girdle, the handle of a long knife protruded from his right boot, and he held a superbly damascened rifle across the saddle in front of him. ”

“ The young woman was going to reply, when Calros, whose jealousy was ever awake, approached the un known, and said, "Pardon me, Señor Cavalier, but I have a particular liking for red ribbons. Will you surrender those that adorn your machete as forfeit for the first blood drawn?"
"With pleasure," answered the stranger. "I should hardly have ventured to offer them in homage to Doña Sacramenta; henceforth they shall have a certain value in my eyes, as being the price of blood shed for her." ”

“ As he plunged in at the doorway I swung my machete hard to his throat. He flopped down, his head cut almost off. The woman and child cowering behind me screamed again, but I gave no attention to them. I popped out into the open.
No more volleys came. Instead, the firing now was a steady crackle. Naked men were dropping dead. Other savages were running—some toward the bush, some toward houses, some straight at the place where the shooting sounded. ”

“ He wore the costume of the rich Mexican hacenderos, that is to say, the mança; the zarapé, of many colours; the velvet calzoneras, open at the knee, and botas vaqueras; his hat, of vicuna skin, gallooned with gold, was drawn in by a rich toquilla, fastened with a costly diamond; a sheathless machete hung from his right hip, merely passed through an iron ring: the barrels of two six-chambered revolvers shone in his waist belt, and he had thrown on the grass by his side an American rifle, beautifully damascened with silver. ”

“ Dominant was the resolve that they should not take him alive. He whetted the edge of the machete on a rough stone, and tested the balance of it and the grip of the hilt. He would give a good account of himself on the wall of Cartagena.
CHAPTER IX THE GOOD HERMIT OF LA POPA The cloth bound round his tousled head, the torn shirt that bared his chest, the pongee trousers soiled with sweat and dust, the strips of canvas wrapped about his feet, made this wounded fugitive the image of a buccaneer as he sat waiting in the round watch-tower with the machete across his knees. ”

“ We reached the river, and took the canoes up-stream, and resumed our march through the jungle. The Yellow One walked near me several times leering at me and calling me beast and dog, and taunting me with the fact that I should soon look upon the torn remnants of my brave comrades who had died fighting.
I bit my tongue and kept silence. But from the corner of my eye I studied his weapons, as I had done a number of times before. He carried a rifle in one hand, a machete and dagger at his left side, and a revolver at his right. ”

“ When they reach the section the rubber is weighed. They know by experience what the needle of the balance should mark, and when it indicates that they have delivered the full amount required, they leap about and laugh with pleasure. When it does not, they throw themselves face downwards on the ground and, in this attitude, await the lash, the bullet, or the machete. This is at the option of the chief of section, but they are generally given fifty lashes with scourges, until the flesh drops from their bodies in strips, or else are cut to pieces with machetes. ”

“ The groans of the dying horse awoke the slaves of the farm, who went out armed with lances and machetes.* (* Great knives, with very long blades, like a couteau de chasse. No one enters the woods in the torrid zone without being armed with a machete, not only to cut his way through the woods, but as a defence against wild beasts.) ”

“ Candela followed, carrying a biggish bundle hung to the end of a pole (which he balanced on his shoulder) , with a long stick in his hand, and a machete secured in his waist-belt.
After greeting us, the padre whispered to me,—“I am not so warlike as I look, for my pistols are unloaded,—since I have neither powder nor shot,—and one of them is destitute of a lock. My dagger, however, is sharp; and I can use my stick to some purpose.” ”

“ Suddenly he turned his head, espied me, sprang to his feet, and, whipping out his rapier, leapt with a fierce cry towards me. I turned to flee, being unarmed save for my machete, the which was no match for a rapier. But I was a thought too late. The red man was upon my heels ere I could slip overboard, crying out upon me in words which I was too busy saving my life to heed.
Then began a hot chase round the deck of the galleon, the which might have continued until the pursuer, being the elder, became exhausted, had not I espied, in my running, a half-pike lying over against the bulwarks. ”

“ An axe is a clumsy and a dangerous tool in canoe and in camp. It is awkward in shape, and heavy. It can be used for many purposes, but the machete can be used for all the purposes for which an axe is used, except for heavy pounding, and is admirably adapted for many other uses. Millions of people from Texas to Patagonia have long found the machete an ever-ready tool. ”

“ When we were fully packed, each man carried a load weighing eighty-five pounds, strapped by means of bark strips to the shoulders, with his rifle in his left hand and a machete to clear the path in his right. ”

“ L'Encuerado had once been nearly throttled by an ant-eater, and hence it would have been of no use for me to have attempted to prevent his shooting it.
"Do not come near, Tata Sumichrast," cried the Indian; "these beasts die very hard, and I still bear the marks of their claws on my skin. Let me just tickle him up with the point of my machete."
"You need not have been afraid," said Sumichrast; "its ugliness is no proof that it is vicious. It will not attack human beings, and only makes use of its strength to defend itself. ”

“ The Cuban machete, which is used for cutting sugar-cane in times of peace, and for carving the oppressors in time of war, always looked to me as if it would make a very plausible corn-cutter, but I never saw it tried. For some of the stalks I struck, I think a butcher's bone-saw would be best, though I suppose a strong man might cut them with a sharp axe. I am inclined to think it would be a good idea for a man who is cutting corn to have a caddie, the same as they have when playing golf. ”

“ It would have broken the back of the most able-bodied navvy; and when we reached the boat at sunset, we had scarce strength left to eat our supper and roll into our bunks. A machete is a heavy weapon that needs no little skill in handling with economy of force, and Tom, who had been brought up to it, was, in spite of his years, a better practitioner than I.
[Pg 82] I have already hinted at the kind of devil's underbrush we had to cut our way through, but no words can do justice to the almost intelligent stubbornness with which those weird growths opposed us. ”

“ It is for this reason that the natives always go around armed with the machete, a long blade very much like [101] a corn-cutter, for it enables them to cut their way through the dense undergrowth, and is a protection, should any danger be encountered. ”

“ I don't know how I did it, but I'd pulled Gerald off the table, and he was sprawling on the floor, before the room filled with smoke and noise, and a bullet had cut clean across the green cloth. I saw the insurgent officer whip out a revolver and fire, I sprang out into the dark with mine, and José, with a yell, a machete in his hand, dashed past me, down on to the beach. ”

“ Two men are required to navigate the craft; one goes ahead armed with a gun or a machete, which is a long knife, and answers for many purposes—a weapon as well as an agricultural implement—and the oxen are supposed to follow him, while the other sits on the load and yells as he prods the animals with an iron-pointed goad long enough to reach the leaders. ”

“ Then the Peccaries closed in on them with swinging machetes.
The spearmen drove their weapons into the bellies of some and tore them out again. The clubmen attacked with terrible blows, their tooth-studded bludgeons smashing men’s heads and tearing out their brains. The chief himself swung one of those clubs, and I saw him crush the skulls of four men. The blow-gun men seized machetes from fallen foes and slashed throats open with them. And I stood where I was, snapping a bullet into any Peccary I could hit without shooting one of my Indian friends. ”

“ If he shot the reptile the noise would bring his [12] human enemies surging down upon him. If he attempted to use his machete, the snake’s stroke would be quicker than Bomba’s blow, and the creature’s fangs would be imbedded in his flesh. ”

“ The machete is a fine broad blade but it is not so nice as a drilled hole in the chest; no man wants his death-bed to be a shambles. The men fighting on the insurgents' right knew that if they fell they were lost.
On the extreme right, the young lieutenant found five men in a little saucer-like hollow. Two were dead, one was wounded and staring blankly at the sky and two were emptying hot rifles furiously. Some of the guerillas had snaked into positions only a hundred yards away. ”

“ In some sections a man sets out along each of the proposed rows carrying in one hand a long sugar-cane and in the other a machete. He jabs the cane into the ground at intervals of about three feet, slashes off the buried end with his cutlass, and marches on, to repeat the process at every step. More often nowadays one man goes ahead to dig holes with a heavy hoe, while another following him drops into each of them a section of cane and covers it with a stamp of his bare heel. ”

“ The beaters came on. If he were hunting a man-sized and weaponless animal, Gilbert thought, he would send the beaters through with staves and machetes....
He watched them come. He could name them, they came so close. They beat the undergrowth and the hanging creepers, vines and lianas with their clubs. Here and there he caught the gleam of a machete blade. If they spotted him they would make a rush, cutting off his retreat, surrounding him on three sides and forcing him back along the trail toward where Mulveen was waiting, probably in a comfortable blind, with an atomic rifle. ”