HOT WORK.
Jack led us from the beach over the white coral sand straight up to the
wood, and after looking about for a while to make sure of his bearings
among the huge fallen logs, hit at last upon a faint trail that led
straggling through the forest--a trail scarcely worn into the semblance
of a path by the bare feet of naked savages. Following his guidance, we
plunged at once, with some doubtful misgivings, into the deep gloom of
the woodland, and found ourselves immediately in a genuine equatorial
thicket, where mouldering trunks of palms encumbered the vague path, and
great rope-like lianas hung down in loops from the trees overhead, to
block our way at every second step through that fatiguing underbrush.
The day was warm, even as we travelers who know the world judge warmth
in the tropical South Pacific; and the moist heat of that basking,
swampy lowland, all laden with miasma from the decaying leaves, seemed
to oppress us with its deadly effluvia and its enervating softness at
every yard we went through the jungle. Moreover, we had to carry our
arms and ammunition among that tangled brake; and as our rifles kept
catching continually in the creepers that drooped in festoons from the
branches, while our feet got simultaneously entangled in the roots and
trailing stems that straggled underfoot, you can easily imagine for
yourself that ours was indeed no pleasant journey. However, we
persevered with dogged English perseverance; the sailors tramped on and
wiped their foreheads with their sleeves from time to time; while poor
Jack marched bravely at our head with an indomitable pluck which
reflected the highest credit on Mr. Macglashin's training.
The only one who seemed to make light of the toil was our black boy,
Nassaline.
We went single file, of course, along the narrow trail, which every here
and there divided to right or left in the midst of the brake with most
puzzling complexity. At every such division or fork in the track, Jack
halted for a moment and cast his eye dubiously to one side and the
other, at last selecting the trail that seemed best to him. Nassaline,
too, helped us not a little by his savage instinct for finding his way
through trackless jungle. For my own part, I could never have believed
any road on earth could possibly be so tortuous; and at last, at the end
of the twenty-fifth turn or thereabouts, I ventured to say in a very low
voice (for we were stealing along in dead silence), "Why, Jack, I
believe you're leading us round and round in a circle, and you'll bring
us out again in the end at the very same bay where we first landed!"
"Hush!" Jack answered, with one finger on his lip. "We're drawing near
the outskirts of the village now. You must be very quiet. I can just see
the grass roof of Taranaka's temple peeping above the brushwood to the
right. In three minutes more we shall be out in the open."
And sure enough he told the truth. Almost as he ceased speaking, the
noise of savage voices fell full upon my ear from the village in front,
and I could hear the natives, in their hideous corroboree, beating hard
upon their hollow drums of stretched skin, and shouting in the dance to
their drunken comrades.
It was a ghastly noise, but it did our hearts good just then to hear it.
I could almost have clapped my hand upon Jack's back and given him three
cheers for his gallant guidance when we saw the village plot opening up
in front of us, and the naked savages, in their war-paint and feathers,
guarding the door of Taranaka's temple. But the necessity for caution
compelled me to preserve a solemn silence. So we crouched as still as
mice behind a clumpy thicket of close-leaved tiro bushes, and peeped out
from our ambush through the dense foliage to keep an eye upon the scene
till the _Albatross_ hove into sight in the harbor.
"My father and my mother must still be there," Jack whispered under his
breath, but in a deep tone of relief. "The Tanaki men are guarding them
exactly as they did when Martin and I left the island. I almost think I
can see Miriam's head through the open door. We shall be in time still
to deliver them from these bloodthirsty wretches."
"In what direction must we look for the _Albatross_?" I whispered back.
"Will she come in from the south there?"
"O, no!" Jack answered in a very low voice. "That's an island to the
right--a little rocky island that guards the harbor. There's deep water
close in by the shore that side. Martin 'll try to bring her in the
northern way, so that the natives mayn't see her till she's close upon
the village. It's a difficult channel to the north, all full of reefs
and sunken rocks; but I think he understands it, he's swam in it so
often. We won't see her at all till she's right in the harbor and just
opposite the temple."
We were dying of thirst now, and longing for drink, but could get
nothing to quench our drought. "What I would give," I muttered to Tom
Blake, "for a drink of water!"
"If Captain want water," Nassaline answered, "me soon get him some." And
he made a gash with his knife in the stem of a sort of gourd that
climbed over the bushes, from which there slowly oozed and trickled out
a sort of gummy juice that relieved to some degree our oppressive
sensations. All the men began at once cutting and chewing it, with
considerable satisfaction. It wasn't as good as a glass of British beer,
I will freely admit; but still, it was better than nothing, any way.
By this time it was nearly half-past six, and we watched eagerly to see
what action the natives would take as soon as they finished their
night-long _sing-sing_. Lying flat on the ground, with our rifles ready
at hand, and our heads just raised to look out among the foliage, we
kept observing their movements cautiously through the thick brushwood.
At a quarter to seven we saw some bustle and commotion setting in on a
sudden in front of the temple; and presently a tall and sinister-looking
native, who, Jack whispered to me, was the Chief of Tanaki, came up from
the village, where the _sing-sing_ had taken place, and stood by the
door of the thatched grass-house. We could distinctly hear him call the
missionary to come out in pigeon English; and next moment our
unfortunate countryman staggered forth, with his little daughter half
fainting in his arms, and stood out in the bare space between the tomb
of Taranaka and the spot where we were lying.
Oh! how I longed to take a shot at that miscreant black fellow.
At sight of his father, worn with fatigue and pale with the terror of
that agonizing moment, Jack almost cried aloud in his mingled joy and
apprehension; but I clapped my hand on his mouth and kept him still for
the moment. "Not a sound, my boy, not a sound," I whispered low, "till
the time comes for firing!"
"Shall we give it them hot now?" Tom Blake inquired low at my ear next
moment. But I waved him aside cautiously.
"Not yet," I answered, "unless the worst comes to the worst, and we see
our people in pressing and immediate danger; we'd better do nothing till
the _Albatross_ heaves in sight. Her gun will frighten them. To fire now
would be to expose ourselves and our friends there to unnecessary
danger."
"All right, sir," Tom murmured low in reply. "You know best, of course.
But I must say, it'd do my 'eart good to up an' pepper 'em!"
"Come out, white woman!" we heard the Chief say next with insolent
familiarity; and Mrs. Macglashin stepped out, a deplorable figure, with
her boy's hand twined in hers, and her white lips twitching with horror
for her little ones. It made one's blood boil so to see it that we could
hardly resist the temptation as we looked to fire at all hazards, and
let them know good friends were even now close at hand to help and
deliver them.
"Whether the _Albatross_ heaves in sight or not," I whispered to Tom
Blake, "we must fire at them soon--within five minutes--and sell our
lives as dearly as we can. I can't stand this much longer. It's too
terrible a strain. Come what may, I must give the word and at them!"
"Quite right, sir," says Tom. "What's the use of delaying?"
And, indeed, I began to be terribly afraid by this time there was
something very wrong indeed somewhere. Could Martin have missed his way
among those difficult shoals, and run our trusty vessel helplessly on
the rocks and reefs? It looked very like it. They were certainly
overdue; for even at the present crippled rate of speed, the good old
_Albatross_ had had plenty of time, I judged, to round the point and get
back safe again into the deep water of the harbor. If she failed in this
our hour of need, the natives would surround us and cut us to pieces in
a mass, for our best reliance was in our solid brass thirty-pounder. I
began to tremble in my shoes for some time for the possible upshot. Over
and over again I glanced eagerly towards the point for that longed-for
white nose of hers to appear round the corner.
At last, unable to restrain my curiosity any longer, I rose to my feet
and peered across the bushes. As I did so, I saw the savages seize
Macglashin in their arms, and range the four poor fugitives in a line
together. My blood curdled. The Chief and the ten savages with the
Sniders stood in a row, half fronting us where we lay. Macglashin and
his wife were fortunately out of line of fire for our rifles. "Now, we
can delay no longer," I cried. "He means murder. The moment the black
fellow gives the word of command, fire at once upon him and his men,
boys. Take steady aim. No matter what comes. Let the poor souls have a
run for their lives, any way."
As I spoke, the Chief uttered in Kanaka the native words for "One, two,
three," with loud drunken laughter.
At the sound of the Chief's voice, the savages loosed the four wretched
Europeans. At the very same sound we all fired simultaneously--and six
of the black monsters fell writhing on the ground, while the Chief and
the four others, taken completely by surprise, dropped their rifles in
their supreme astonishment.
"Forward, boys, and secure them!" I cried, dashing out into the open,
and waving my hat to the astounded missionary. "Here we are, sir. Run
this way! We're friends. We've come to your rescue. Catch the Chief at
once, lads; and hooray for the _Albatross!_"
For just as I spoke, to my joy and relief, her good white nose showed at
last round the point; and next instant, the boom! boom! of her jolly
brass thirty-pounder, fired in the very nick of time, completed the
discomfiture of the astonished savages.
Before they knew where they were, they found themselves hemmed in
between a raking cross-fire from our Sniders on one side, and the heavy
gun of the _Albatross_ on the other. The tables were now completely
turned. We charged at them, running. Macglashin, seizing the situation
at a glance, caught up one of the rifles belonging to the wounded men,
which had been flung upon the ground, and, hardly yet realizing his
miraculous escape, joined our little party as an armed recruit with
surprising alacrity. For the next ten minutes there was a terrible scene
of noise and confusion. The blacks advanced upon us, swarming up from
the village like bees or wasps, and it was only by a hand-to-hand fight
with our bayonets--for we had fortunately brought them in case of close
quarters--that we kept our dusky enemy at bay. At last, however, after a
smart hand-to-hand contest, we secured the Chief, and tied him safely
with the rope he had loosed from Macglashin. Then we seized the
remaining Sniders that lay upon the ground, while the men of the
village, drunk and stupefied, began to fall back a little and molest us
from a distance.
"Now, put the lady and children in the center, boys," I cried, at the
top of my voice, "and let the Chief march along with us as a hostage.
Down to the shore, while the _Albatross_ boat puts out to save us!" Then
I turned to the savages, and called out in English, "If any one of you
dares to fire at us, I give you fair warning, we shoot your Chief! Hold
off there, all of you!"
To my great delight, Nassaline, standing forward as I spoke, translated
my words to them into their own tongue, and waving them back with his
hands made a little alley for us through the midst to regain the shore
by. Smart boy, Nassaline!
After a moment, however, the natives once more began to crowd round us,
as we started to march, in very threatening attitudes, with their
Sniders and hatchets. At one time I almost thought they would overpower
us; but just then Jim, who was watching the proceedings with his glass
from the deck of the _Albatross_, and saw exactly how matters stood,
created a judicious diversion at the exact right moment by firing a
little grape-shot plump into the heart of the grass huts of the village,
and bowling over a roof or two before the very eyes of the astonished
savages. They fell back at once, and began to make signs of desiring a
parley. So we halted on the spot, with the lady and children still
carefully guarded, and held up our handkerchiefs in sign of truce. Then
Nassaline, aided by our sailor who understood the Kanaka language, began
to palaver with them. He told them in plain and simple terms we must
first be allowed to take the lady and children in safety to the
_Albatross_, and that we would afterwards come back to treat at greater
length with their head men as to the Chief's safety. To this, after some
demur, the black fellows assented; and we beckoned to Jim accordingly by
a preconcerted sign to send the boat ashore to us, to fetch off the
fugitives. At the same time we retreated in military order, in a small
hollow square, to the beach, still taking good care to protect in the
midst our terrified non-combatants.
As for the Chief, he marched before us, with his hands tied, and his
feet free, led by a rope, the ends of which I held myself, with the aid
of two of my sailors. A more ridiculously crestfallen or disappointed
creature than that drunken and conquered savage at that particular
moment it has never yet been my fate to light upon.
We reached the beach in safety, and sent Mrs. Macglashin and the
children aboard, with Jack to accompany them. Then we turned to parley
with the discomfited savages. Jim kept the thirty-pounder well pointed
in their direction, with ostentatious precision, and we made them hold
off along the beach at a convenient distance, where he could rake them
in security, while we ourselves retained the Chief in our hands, with a
pistol at his head, as a gentle reminder that we meant to stand no
nonsense.
After a few minutes' parley, conducted chiefly by our
Kanaka-speaking sailor, with an occasional explanation put in by our
assistant-interpreter, Nassaline, we arrived at an understanding, in
accordance with which we were to return them their Chief for the time
being, on consideration of their bringing us down to the beach all the
Macglashins' goods, and making restitution for the sack of the
mission-house in dried cocoa-nut, the sole wealth of the island. Those
were the terms for the immediate present, as a mere personal matter: for
the rest, we gave the Chief clearly to understand that we intended to
sail straight away with all our guests for Fiji, there to lay our
complaint of his conduct before the British High Commissioner in the
South Pacific. We would then charge him with murder and attempted
cannibalism, and with stirring up his people to massacre the other
missionary, and the trader Freeman. We would endeavor to get a gunboat
sent to the spot, to make official inquiry into the nature of the
disturbances, and to demand satisfaction on the part of the relations of
the murdered men. Finally, we would also lay before the Commissioner the
conduct of the French labor-vessel, and her kidnaping skipper, who had
instigated the savages to their dastardly attack, and whom I was
strongly inclined to identify with the captain from whose grip we had
rescued our friend Nassaline. We gave the Chief to understand,
therefore, that he must by no means consider himself as scot free,
merely because we let him go unhurt till trial could be instituted by
the proper authorities. He must answer hereafter for his high crimes and
misdemeanors to the Queen's representative.
To all of which the penitent savage merely answered with a sigh:
"Me make mistake. Kill missionary by accident. Man a _oui-oui_ tell me
Queenie England no care for Scotchman, an' me too much believe him. Now
Captain tell me Queenie send gunboat for eat me up, and kill all my
people. No listen any more to man a _oui-oui_."
And then we put off in triumph to the _Albatross_. The family meeting
that ensued on board when Macglashin stood once more upon a British deck
with his wife and children, I won't attempt--rough sailor as I am--to
describe: I don't believe even the special correspondent of a morning
paper could do full justice to it. To see those two lads, too, catch
their pretty little sister once more in their arms, and cover her with
kisses, while she clung to their necks and cried and laughed
alternately, was a sight to do a man's heart good for another
twelvemonth. And as we sat that same evening round the cabin-table
(where our Malay cook had performed wonders of culinary art for the
occasion), and drank healths all round to everybody concerned in this
remarkable rescue, the toast that was received with the profoundest
acclamations from every soul on board, was that of the two brave boys
whose courage and skill had guided us at last, as if by a miracle, to
the recovery of all that was nearest and dearest to them.
Indeed, if Martin and Jack don't get the Victoria Cross when we return
to England, I shall have even a lower opinion than ever before of her
Majesty's confidential political advisers of all creeds or parties.
Transcriber Notes:
Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of
the speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up
paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate. Thus
the page number of the illustration might not match the page number in
the List of Illustrations, and the order of illustrations may not be the
same in the List of Illustrations and in the book.
Errors in punctuation and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected
unless otherwise noted.
On page 32, "to" was replaced with "too".
On page 35, "aud" was replaced with "and".
On page 39, "inportance" was replaced with "importance".
On page 82, "reparing" was replaced with "repairing".
On page 97, "Macglasin's" was replaced with "Macglashin's".