The Approach to the Prison.--Baldabella's Stratagem.--The Release of the
Captive.--Wilkins's Tale of Trials.--A Well.--The Potato Crop.--The
Flying Opossum.--The Salt Plant.--Preparations for a Siege.
Cautiously and quietly the party wound, under the cover of the trees and
bushes, across the plain, till they reached the wood that enclosed the
abode of the savages. Then the peril increased. Jack led the way, and
one after another they followed, step by step, through, under, or over
the matted brush; and, finally, the leader placed his party in a
position where they could all command a view of the rocky cave, though
they stood at a short distance from each other. On the cleared ground
before the cave two women were seated, bruising nuts between two stones;
and several children were playing round them. The anxious young men
watched for some minutes, but none of the men appeared; then Baldabella
proposed to go forward to introduce herself to the women, her friends
promising to rescue her if they attempted to detain her.
Disencumbering herself from the light robe she condescended to wear in
civilized life, and retaining only her cloak of furs, she took her
fish-spear in her hand, and penetrated to a distant part of the wood,
from whence she made her appearance on the charred glade, many yards
from the ambush of her friends, and with slow steps, counterfeiting
great fatigue, she walked up to the women, to demand, as she had
arranged with her friends, food and repose. As soon as they perceived
her, the women rose and looked round anxiously, and the young men
expected every moment to hear the signal call for them; but the solitary
feeble form of Baldabella seemed to re-assure them. She drew near and
talked for some minutes to her dark sisters; and the soft and pathetic
inflections of her voice convinced the concealed party that she was
appealing to that compassionate feeling which is ever so strong in the
heart of woman.
The women listened, and invited the stranger to sit down by them; they
fed her with the rich kernels of the nuts, and, the rain beginning to
fall again, they took her with them into the cave for shelter. How
anxiously the young men waited, at one moment prompted to burst out and
free the captive, who seemed to have no gaoler but the women, and then
resolving to leave the whole affair to the shrewd management of
Baldabella. Arthur was anxiously examining the state of his rifle and
ammunition, which he had carefully shielded beneath his fur cloak, when
they were roused to force their way through the bush by the loud and
triumphant voice of Wilkins, the low and apparently smothered _coo-ee_
of the women, and, finally, by the appearance of Baldabella, rushing
wildly from the cave, followed by Wilkins, excited, tattered, and
emaciated. He carried a gun in his hand, and staggered up to his friends
as if intoxicated.
"Take this, and load it directly," said he, giving Hugh the gun. "My
hands are so cramped wi' them tough bands, that it'll be long afore I
have any use on 'em. Rascals! rogues! Come on, I say; march while we
can; yon screeching jins will soon bring a wasp's-nest round us."
Not caring for caution now, they hacked and burst through the thick
wood, till they reached the plain; and then the _coo-ee_ of the duped
women rang alarmingly on their ears, and was soon answered by a faint
and distant cry from the absent men. Poor Wilkins, whose legs had been
bound till they were numbed, made but slow progress; and Arthur ordered
O'Brien and Jack, with Baldabella, to move rapidly forward, to guard,
or, if necessary, to close the pass, while Hugh and he protected the
slow retreat of Wilkins.
They made no use of their arms till they saw the whole body of the
savages appear outside the wood, and spears were falling round them.
Then Hugh and Arthur fired their guns simultaneously into the midst of
the foes, who plunged screaming into the woods. Two men lingered
outside, but another volley from the second barrel, struck down one, and
his companion disappeared in a moment.
"Now, Mr. Arthur," cried Wilkins, as he hurried forward, "now don't ye
trust 'em. They're watching us; we'se be done if we make straight to our
cutting. They're sharp-eyed chaps; we'se have to bubble 'em a bit."
Wilkins was right; and though it occupied some time, they made the
circuit of the forest, before they ventured to enter; after which, they
lost no time in closing up the opening with great art and care. Then the
rescued prisoner was conducted to the cave, welcomed with great joy,
fresh clad, and fed with pheasant, biscuit, and the unfailing tea; and
his friends gathered round him to hear the tale of his hardships and
trials.
"Ay, ay! this is all as it ought to be," said he; "and God be thanked
I'se out on t'clutches of them unnat'ral dogs. They tied me hand and
foot, all 'cause I couldn't be made to swear as how I'd turn
bush-ranger, and start by robbing and murdering them as had cared for me
and given me meat and claithes and good advice. That brute Peter bullied
me, and kicked me when he knew I was tied fast; and he'd have put a
knife into me, but likely he thought to bring me into his ways; and he
were feared his blackeys might turn round on him, for they'd no ill
blood again me. Then he ordered as how I were to have nought given me to
eat, and sure enough I'd been starved afore this; but them poor jins,
'whiles, popped a few bites into my mouth, and brought me a sup of
water, when I were like to go mad for want on't. A hempen rope wouldn't
have held me, afore I lost my strength; but them stringy bark cords are
like iron.
"It were dowly wark, and mony and mony a time, master, I thought over
your words, and all my bad life, and my coward's death, and God's
judgment to come. And then and there I settled it in my mind, if He
pleased to set me free again, I'd niver swear another oath, I'd niver
tell another lie, and I'd niver miss praying for strength, when bad
thoughts came into my mind. I see, Miss, ye'r crying over my black sins,
and well ye may, God help me. After this, I felt a bit more cheery, and
I were sure some on ye would see after me; but I niver reckoned on her
to be t'first, and were quite stunned when I saw her come in with
t'other jins. But I plucked up my heart; I kenned she'd mind my words,
and I just said,--
"'Yer knife--cut these ropes!' and as sharp as a needle she was up to
me, pulled out a knife from under her cloak, and cut me loose. But poor
creaters as we are, I couldn't move arm or leg for a good bit, and her
there, hauding a hand on one woman's mouth, and a hand on t' others,
flayed as how they'd shrike out, till I come round a bit, and got my
arms worked round from behind me, and my feet to shuffle on. Then I
thanked God in my heart, and off we came, and here we are; God bless ye
all. I'se niver leave ye, whiles I have life. But, Mr. Arthur, we're not
safe; Peter's a cunning fish."
"There's one comfort, Wilkins," said Arthur; "they do not like to face
the heavy rain, which is now very welcome; and before it ceases, we must
make ready for a siege; unfortunately, we want provisions."
Ruth placed herself uneasily before her poultry hutch, and Wilkins said,
"There's lots of pigeons amang yon trees; I can soon trap a lot, and
fetch 'em down here alive, and we'll fit up a dove-cote, and have tame
birds to eat. We'se be forced to care nought for a drop of rain, but set
off and forage about inside of t' wood."
To be besieged in a subterranean cave, from whence there was no retreat,
was truly an alarming prospect; and several plans of fortification and
defence were projected during the continuance of the heavy rain; while,
regardless of the weather, the active youths left the cave to forage for
stores, and to survey the plains that divided them from their enemies.
"Do look at our potatoes, Arthur," said Hugh; "how they have sprung up
the last month. In another week they will be fit to eat, and we shall
have a plentiful crop of these useful roots."
Though they saw all was still on the moist plain, they did not venture
beyond the wood, but easily procured birds, figs, and oats in abundance;
and after Wilkins had placed his traps for pigeons, and Hugh had taken
up a root of the still small potatoes, they returned to the cave,
heavily laden with good things.
Day after day they brought in fruit and grain to add to the stores, and
captured a number of fine pigeons, for which Jack wattled off a niche in
the cave, and they were supplied with grass and brushwood for nests, and
grain for food, to induce them to settle quietly. It was impossible in
this climate to keep animal food eatable for more than two days; but so
long as they had grain and potatoes they knew that they could live,
provided they could secure a constant supply of water.
This was their most perplexing difficulty; and even amidst the rain the
stony lining of the reservoir was taken up that they might bore the
ground beneath it with long poles. Up to the waist in water, they bored
ineffectually for an hour, the pole always striking against the solid
rock. At length the pole passed through, there was an accidental opening
in the rock, and the party who watched in the caves below, saw, with
delight, the water trickle through into a recess some distance from the
entrance. Then they all descended, to sink a well in the soft sandy
floor of the cave, which they lined with slabs, and looked on with
pleasure as this little reservoir gradually filled from the pool above,
which the continual rains kept constantly filled with water.
It was ten days before all these labors were fully accomplished; then a
dry day succeeded, and every hand was actively employed in digging up,
carrying off, and storing the potatoes, which were of good size, and an
abundant crop. They had made a number of bags of a flexible bark for
containing stores; but now so many were filled that Margaret was afraid,
if they had to set out soon, they should be unable to carry all off.
Then, after ascertaining the undisturbed solitude of the plain beyond
the wood, Arthur and Wilkins set out in hopes of procuring a change of
food; but no kangaroos or emus were in sight, and they feared to venture
far from their place of refuge. They shot some opossums, filled one bag
with the leaves of the tea-shrub, at the particular request of Jenny,
and another with the leaves of a salt plant, which seemed to have sprung
up after the rain, and which Arthur was glad to carry off, that he might
try an experiment of which he had read.
"But, I say, Mr. Arthur," said Wilkins, "we've gone and made a bad job
of it; just look ye here, we've niver thought that we were leaving a
track, and here it is on this plashy bog, and no mistake. We might just
as well have hung out a sign-post, to ask blacky to walk in."
Arthur was much vexed at his own carelessness, but he saw nothing could
now be done but to endeavor to confuse the track as much as possible,
and he arranged with Wilkins that they should separate, branch off in
different directions, and finally they made a circuit opposite to each
other round the wood, that the weak point might not be discovered.
"Ye see, Mr. Arthur," said Wilkins before they separated, "if Peter has
an inkling that we're aback of these trees, he'd soon cut his way
through, with a bit of help. But then, them fools of black fellows are
as bad as our fond lass Ruth; they're flayed out of their wits of this
wood, and they'll be shy of coming nigh hand it. I ken a good bit of
their talk, ye see, but I'se a bad hand at framing their queer
chirruping words. I heard 'em tell of bad sperrits as haunted this wood.
But Black Peter's set on getting haud of t' master's money, and guns,
and powder, and such like, and he's not good to put down. I seed Master
Hugh's rifle as soon as they pulled me into that hole, and kept an eye
on't. It were no use to them, for they'd no powder; and I said to
myself, if God please to loose me, that gun goes wi' me."
They then parted to move round the dark forest, and during his walk,
Arthur was alarmed to see smoke from the wood in which the cave of the
savages lay; and before he reached the opening, he heard their curious
and unwelcome cry, which proclaimed that the foe was near, and he
feared, watching their movements, and now deeply regretted that they had
left their retreat. Gladly they returned to it, and doubly secured the
entrance, determining to keep an incessant watch, lest they should be
surprised in their citadel.
On their return they found that Jack, assisted by Hugh and Gerald, had
formed an oven, lined with slabs, on the hearth where the cooking-fire
was usually made, and Jenny was preparing cakes of bruised oats, and a
pigeon-pie made in a large oyster-shell, and covered with potatoes, to
be baked in the new oven. The flesh of the opossum was not relished by
any of the party. Jenny declared she would just as soon eat a monkey;
Ruth was afraid to touch one, even before it was cooked; and Mr.
Mayburn, after a long lecture to prove that the flesh must certainly be
wholesome, from the habits and the vegetable diet of the class of
animals to which it belonged, concluded by declining, himself, to eat
of it.
"Nevertheless," he said, "I am not prejudiced by the vulgar error of
confounding this little creature with the ugly opossum of America, to
which it bears no resemblance, except in its marsupial formation and its
playful habits. In fact, the graceful form, delicate color, and
extraordinary agility of this beautiful animal, seem to rank it rather
with the squirrels; and from the lateral folds of membrane, which it has
the power to expand, in order to support its flying leaps through the
air, it has been named by some travellers the 'flying squirrel,' though
distinct from the American squirrel, and, like all the quadrupeds of the
country, exclusively Australian."
The pretty delicate gray skins were carefully preserved, to be sewed
together for cloaks; and the hungry boys did not disdain a stew of
opossums, which they declared was quite as good as rabbit. But previous
to the cookery, Arthur showed his father the new salt-shrub; and the
large and peculiar form of the leaves enabled them to decide that it
must be Brown's _Rhagodia Parabolica_, the leaves of which are edible.
Anxious to make the experiment, the leaves were boiled for some time,
strained, and the liquor filtered and evaporated several times, and at
length the exposure to great heat produced some crystals of salt, to the
delight of the young chemists, and still more to the content of Jenny,
who treasured the precious salt, which had so long been the grand
deficiency in her cookery. The leaves themselves were added to the stew,
and not only communicating a salt flavor to the insipid meat, but formed
a tender vegetable, tasting like spinach; and it was determined to omit
no opportunity of searching for this valuable plant.
In the preparation and enjoyment of their abundant food, they did not
neglect the necessary precautions for concealing their retreat. All the
potato stalks were thrown into the cave, for fuel, and the ground was
smoothed over as much as possible, and strewn with stones, that the
traces of cultivation might haply escape observation; a watch was
continually kept on the heights, and every opening that lighted the
cave, with the exception of some narrow crevices, was carefully covered
with a slab of stone beneath the brush, lest an accident similar to that
which befell O'Brien should lead their enemies to discover the
subterranean hollow.
This precaution rendered their abode gloomy, though they left the
principal opening--the entrance--uncovered till any serious cause of
alarm should render it prudent to enclose themselves entirely; and when
a cessation of the rain permitted them, they all gladly remained in the
open air, enjoying the perfume of the revived vegetation, and the joyful
notes of thousands of birds which sported in the air, fluttered on the
trees, or clamored noisily round the pools of water, plunging their
beaks into the mud for the worms and reptiles on which they fed. These
creatures supplied the family with unfailing food, and afforded Mr.
Mayburn constant amusement in studying their various habits.
But a cessation of rain brought to them also a certain increase of
peril. The natives were seen spreading over the plain below, hunting the
kangaroo or opossum; and _Black_ Peter, himself, easily distinguished,
as Gerald said, because he was _white_, was observed stooping down, as
Arthur suspected, to scrutinize the track, which he feared the rain had
failed to obliterate. Still, occasionally heavy showers fell, and
dispersed the people, who shrink from rain; and it was not till one
morning, when none was actually falling, though dark clouds hid the sun,
that the whole force of the savages, certainly exceeding fifty men,
appeared crossing the plain; following slowly, and it seemed
reluctantly, their debased chief, Black Peter.
When they had approached within a hundred yards of the forest, the
natives halted at once, and Peter, after speaking some words to them,
began again to examine the perplexed track, and drawing close to the
trees, followed it round the whole boundary, apparently puzzled and
enraged. At length he paused not far from the real entrance, and
swinging round his axe above his head, he called out loudly to the
people. They answered by throwing their axes on the ground, and
remaining erect and motionless. The watchers above distinctly heard
repeated strokes of the axe on the hard pine-trees; but they were well
convinced that the efforts of one man alone could not accomplish an
entrance, even for many days, and therefore felt comparatively
tranquillized.
Still there was the absolute conviction that they were in a state of
siege; that this man was of indomitable determination, of cruel and
depraved nature, and that ultimately his obstinacy might bend even the
timid savages to his will. And at this thought, fear and anxiety stole
over every heart. Mr. Mayburn was persuaded to remain in the cave with
Margaret and the three women, the sentinels promising to send reports of
the progress of affairs to them, while, with tears and prayers they
waited the result.
"Now, Mr. Arthur," said Wilkins, "just let me say my say. We've t' best
on't yet: let's keep yon pass again all them rogues, and see which side
tires first. We'll cut a canny hole to fire through at 'em, and load one
gun after another; and as ye 're a bit soft-hearted yersel', ye maun
just let me be front-rank man, and I'se pick off my chaps, reet and
left, till there's not a rogue can stand again us. Folks say as how
Peter's charmed; but I'se have a blaze at him, onyhow, and see if I
can't stop his mischief."
"That will be capital!" cried Gerald. "And let us dig trenches, Arthur,
and then won't we pepper the rascals snugly."
"But these savages are not rascals, Gerald," said Arthur; "they are only
ignorant wretches, misled by a rascal. To fire on them from an ambush
would be cold-blooded murder, which papa would never sanction. We have
no right deliberately to destroy so many human lives."
"Ye're a real soft un, master," said Wilkins. "What's a few savages?
Bless ye, t' country round about teems with 'em; they'll niver be
missed!"
Nevertheless, Arthur could not be persuaded that it was expedient or
excusable to destroy the surplus population of savages; and he preferred
to reserve his charges for absolute defence.