NEDRA
The next month passed much more quickly than any previous month within
the lives of the two castaways. Each day brought forth fresh novelties,
new sensations, interesting discoveries. Her courage was an inspiration,
a revelation to him. Despite the fact that their journeyings carried
them into thick jungles where wild beasts abounded, she displayed no
sign of fear. Jaunty, indifferent to danger, filled with an exhilaration
that bespoke the real love for adventure common among English women, she
traversed with him the forest land, the plains, the hills, the river,
and, lastly, the very heart of the jungle. They were seldom apart from
the time they arose in the morning until the hour when they separated at
night to retire to their apartments.
Exploration proved that they were on an island of considerable
dimensions, perhaps twenty miles long and nearly as wide. The only human
inhabitants were those in the village of Ridgehunt, as the new arrivals
christened it,--combining the first syllables of their own names. From
the tops of the great gate posts, christened by Lady Tennys, far across
the water to the north, could be seen the shadowy outlines of another
island. This was inhabited by a larger tribe than that which constituted
the population of Ridgehunt.
A deadly feud existed between the two tribes. There had been expeditions
of war in the past, and for months the fighting men of Ridgehunt had
been expecting an attack from the island of Oolooz. Nearly twenty miles
of water separated the two islands. The attacking force would have to
cover that distance in small craft. Shortly before the advent of the
white people, King Pootoo's men captured a small party of scouts who had
stolen across the main on a tour of exploration. They were put to death
on the night of the arrival in Ridgehunt. A traitor in their midst had
betrayed the fact that Oolooz contemplated a grand assault before many
weeks had gone. Guards stationed on the summits of the gate posts
constantly watched the sea for the approach of the great flotilla from
Oolooz. King Pootoo had long been preparing to resist the attack. There
were at least five hundred able-bodied men in his band, and Hugh could
not but feel a thrill of admiration as he looked upon the fierce,
muscular warriors and their ugly weapons.
He set about to drill them in certain military tactics, and they,
believing him to be a god whom no enemy could overthrow, obeyed his
slightest command. Under his direction breastworks were thrown up along
the western hills, trenches were dug, and hundreds of huge boulders were
carried to the summits overlooking the pass, through which the enemy
must come in order to reach the only opening in the guerdon of the
hills. It was his plan to roll these boulders from the steep crests into
the narrow valley below just as the invaders charged through, wreaking
not only disaster but disorder among them, no matter how large their
force. There was really but one means of access by land to the
rock-guarded region, and it was here that he worked the hardest during
the fourth week of their stay among the savages.
He was working for his own and her safety and freedom. In Ridgehunt they
were idols; in the hands of the unknown foe their fate might be the
cruel reverse. Pride in the man who was to lead their brown friends to
victory swelled in the heart of the fair Briton, crowding back the
occasional fear that he might be conquered or slain. She had settled
upon the course to pursue in case there was a battle and her protector
fell. A dagger made from the iron-like wood used by the natives in the
manufacture of spears and knives hung on the wall of her room. When he
died, so should she, by her own hand.
Gradually they began to grasp the meaning of certain words in the native
language. Hugh was able after many days to decide that the natives knew
nothing of the outside world and, furthermore, that no ships came into
that part of the sea on account of the immense number of hidden reefs.
The island on which they had been cast bore a name which sounded so much
like Nedra that they spelled it in that way. In course of time she
christened the spots of interest about her. Her list of good English
names for this utterly heathen community covered such places as Velvet
Valley, Hamilton Hills, Shadburn Rapids, Ridgeway River, Veath Forest
and others. Ridgeway gave name to the temple in which the natives paid
homage to them. He called it Tennys Court.
Her room in the remodelled temple was a source of great delight to Lady
Tennys. It was furnished luxuriously. There were couches, pillows,
tables, chairs, tiger-skin rugs, and--window curtains. A door opened
into her newly constructed bath pool, and she had salt or fresh water,
as she chose. The pool was deep and clay lined and her women attendants
were models of the bath after a few days. She learned the language much
easier than Hugh. He was highly edified when she told him that his new
name was Izor--never uttered without touching the head to the ground.
Her name was also Izor, but she blushed readily when he addressed her as
Mrs. Izor--without the grand curtsey. The five spearmen were in reality
priests, and they were called Mozzos. She also learned that the chief
who found them on the rock was no other than the mighty King Pootoo and
that he had fifty wives. She knew the names of her women, of many
children and of the leading men in the village.
The feeble sprout of Christianity was planted by this good British girl.
It had appeared to be a hopeless task, but she began at the beginning
and fought with Mercy as her lieutenant. Humanity was a stranger to
these people when she found them, but she patiently sowed the seeds and
hoped. A people capable of such idolatry as these poor wretches had
shown themselves to be certainly could be led into almost any path of
worship, she argued.
Late in the afternoon of their thirty-third day on the island the white
idol of Nedra swung lazily in her hammock, which was stretched from post
to post beneath the awning. Two willowy maidens in simple brown were
fanning her with huge palm leaves. She was the personification of pretty
indolence. Her dreamy eyes were turned toward the river and there was a
tender, eager longing in their depths. Hugh was off in the hills with
his workmen and the hour had passed for him to emerge from the woodland
on his way to the village.
The shadows of night were beginning to settle upon the baking earth and
a certain uneasiness was entering her bosom. Then she caught a glimpse
of his figure in the distance. With his swarm of soldiers behind him he
came from the forest and across the narrow lowlands toward the river. He
steadfastly refused to be carried to and from the "fortifications" in
the rude litter that had been constructed for him, a duplicate of which
had been made for her. A native with a big white umbrella was constantly
at his side and King Pootoo was in personal command of the workmen as
"sub-boss." Ridgeway jocosely characterized his hundred workmen as
"Micks," and they had become expert wielders of the wooden pick, shovel
and crowbar. In the village there were the three hundred tired armorers
who had worked all day among the hard saplings in the country miles to
the south. It was their duty to make an inexhaustible supply of spears,
swords, etc.
As the American came up over the bank of the river Lady Tennys could not
repress a smile of pride. The white grass trousers, the huge white hat,
and the jaunty military carriage had become so familiar to her that she
could almost feel his approach before he came into view. It was always
the same confident, aggressive stride, the walk of the master.
Although the sun had dropped behind the twin giants and the haze of the
night was on, Hugh's faithful attendant carried the umbrella over his
head. The new Izor said, more than once, that, having taught the fellow
to carry the protector, he could not unteach him. Were it darkest
midnight the umbrella was produced and carried with as much serenity as
when the sun broiled and toasted at midday. When the returning band of
laborers was half way across Velvet Valley, Tennys, as was her wont,
left her hammock and went forth to meet the man beneath the white
sunshade. His pace quickened and his face brightened as she drew near.
The hatless, graceful figure in white came up to him with the cry:
"Why are you so late? Dinner has been waiting for an hour."
"Pshaw! And the cocoanuts are cold again," he cried with mock concern.
She took his arm and they trudged happily through the deep grass on
which the never-failing dew was already settling. "But we have finished
the fortifications. By George, if those Ooloozers get through that
valley they'll be fit to try conclusions with England and America
combined. With four hundred men I can defend the pass against four
thousand. To-morrow I'll take you over to see the defences. They're
great, Tennys."
She dampened his enthusiasm somewhat.
"Won't it be an awful joke if the enemy doesn't come?"
"Joke! It will be a calamity! I'd be tempted to organize a fleet and go
over after them. By the way, I have something fine for you."
"A letter from home?" she cried laughingly. "One would think so from the
important way in which you announce it. What is it?"
"A pet--a wonder of a pet," he said. "Hey! Jing-a-ling, or whatever your
name is, bring that thing up here." A native came running up from the
rear bearing in his arms, a small, ugly cub, its eyes scarcely opened.
She gave vent to a little shriek and drew back.
"Ugh! The horrid thing! What is it?"
"A baby leopard. He's to be our house cat."
"Never! I never saw an uglier creature in my life. What a ponderous
head, what mammoth feet, and what a miserably small body! Where are
the spots?"
"He gets 'em later, just as we get gray hairs--sign of old age, you
know. And he outgrows the exaggerated extremities. In a few months he'll
be the prettiest thing you ever saw. You must teach him to stand on his
head, jump through a hoop, tell fortunes and pick out the prettiest lady
in the audience, and I'll get you a position with a circus when we go to
America. You'd be known on the bills as the Royal Izor of the Foofops
and her trained leopard, the Only One in Captivity."
"You mean the only leopard, I presume," she smiled.
"Certainly not the only lady, for there are millions of them in that
state."
They had their dinner by torchlight and then took their customary stroll
through the village.
"There seems to be no one in the world but you and I," she said, a
sudden loneliness coming over her.
"What a paradise this would be for the lover who vows that very thing to
the girl he loves."
"Do lovers mean all that they say?" she asked laughingly.
"Very few know just what they say until it is too late. A test on an
uncivilized island would bring reason to the doughtiest lover. There's
no sentiment in cold facts."
"I don't see why two people, if they loved as you say they can love,
should not be perfectly happy to live apart from the world. Do they not
live only for each other?"
"That's before the test, you see."
"I have not found existence on this island altogether unendurable," she
went on. "I am not in love, I'm cure, yet I am surprised to find myself
contented here with you. Then why should not lovers find this a real
paradise, as you say?"
"Would you be contented here with any other man as your companion?" he
asked, his head suddenly swimming.
"Oh, no!" she cried decisively. "I don't believe I'd like it here with
anybody but you. Now, don't look like that! I'm not such a fool as you
may be thinking, Hugh. I know the world pretty well. I know how other
people love, even though it has never been part of my lot. I'm not quite
a hypocrite. I was not presented at court for nothing. You see, you are
so good and we are such friends. It never occurred to me before, but I'm
sure I couldn't endure being here with any other man I know. Isn't it
queer I never thought of that?" she asked, in real wonder.
He looked at her steadily before answering. The flare of the torch
revealed a childlike sincerity in her face, and he knew she did not
realize the construction he might have been justified in according her
impulsive confession. His heart throbbed silently. A wave of tenderness
welled within him, bringing with it a longing to kiss the hem of her
raiment, to touch her soft, black hair, to whisper gently in her ear, to
clasp her hand, to do something fondly grateful.
"Are you quite sure of that?" he asked softly. She looked up into his
eyes honestly, frankly, unwaveringly, pressing his arm with a smile of
enthusiasm.
"Quite sure. Why not? Who could be better, more thoughtful, braver than
you, and for the sake of a woman who, by mistake, owes her life to you?
When you have done so much for me, why should I not say that you are the
man I like best of all I know? It is strange, perhaps, that it should
make any particular difference, but it seems to me no other man could
inspire the feeling of resignation and contentment that you do. Really,
it isn't so hard to live in the wilderness, is it?"
"Have you never known any one else with whom you could have been
contented here?" he asked persistently.
"Oh, I don't know what other men would be like if they were in your
place," she said. She appeared deeply thoughtful for some time, as if
trying to imagine others of her acquaintance in Hugh's place. "I am sure
I cannot imagine any one being just like you," she went on,
conclusively.
"No one you may have loved?"
"I have never loved anybody," she cried.
"Do you know what love means?"
"I haven't the faintest conception," she laughed, mockingly.
"I believe you said that to me some time ago," he said.
"I wish I could love," she said lightly. "But I suppose the chance is
forever lost if I am doomed to stay on this island all my life."
His smile was understood by the night.