Desperate, but ready for action in defence of his comrade, Murray
gripped his cutlass hard, and in those exciting moments found time,
oddly enough, to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was armed
with the heavy service weapon in place of the ordinary ornamental dirk
that formed part of a midshipman's equipment. As to his chance, slight,
well-built and youthful, he could not help feeling doubtful, pitted as
he was about to be against a heavy, work-hardened negro wielding the
heavy cutting weapon utilised for laying low the canes; but on the other
hand he felt that skill would count somewhat on his side, for in company
with the wounded lad he sought to defend he had devoted every
opportunity that presented itself to small-arms practice, and was no
mean handler of the service sword.
"I can only do my best," he thought; and in this spirit he stood on
guard in the darkness, his eyes flashing, and fresh and active, prepared
for everything that might befall him.
And that for the time being proved to be nought, for in those brief
moments the black made for the doorway, Murray noting the glistening of
the great fellow's opal eyes, and standing ready to receive him upon his
point, when with a sharp swerve to his right, the man sprang at the
broad-leaved banana plant which had supplied the lads' sustenance, and
disappeared from his sight, and then there was the sharp hacking sound
of a couple of blows being delivered at the fruit stem, before the huge
fellow backed into sight again with a banana bunch thrown over his left
shoulder.
A minute later the black had plunged in amongst the canes, and Murray,
whose heart was still beating hard from excitement, was listening to a
repetition of the sounds he had first heard, as the man worked himself
round by the back, the imaginary danger passing away and leaving the
middy wondering how it could have happened that the black had not caught
sight of him, and coming to the conclusion that the poor fellow was so
intent upon obtaining the food that he had been driven from by his
enemies, that he had eyes for nothing else.
"What a coward I must be!" thought Murray, as he calmed down. "I'm
precious glad that there was no one by to see what a fine brave-hearted
fellow I am. Poor fellow, why, he must be the black who built this
hovel and planted the fruit. Well, of course he's a slave, and I only
hope we may have the opportunity to set him free."
Murray stood thinking for a few moments, and then in obedience to a
sudden thought he made a dash for the spot where the black had plunged
in. But all was silent again, and he felt that it would be impossible
to follow his trail.
"It's a pity," thought the lad, as he went slowly back to the hut
doorway. "Here was a friend, if I had only known--one who would have
helped me to find the way back to the others--if I could have made him
understand what I wanted."
Upon reaching the side of Roberts he had the satisfaction of finding him
sleeping more calmly, and after making up his mind to be on the watch
for the black's next coming, he crouched down by his wounded companion
to think again about trying to hunt out Tom May; but he ended by
wrinkling up his brow and coming to the conclusion that it would be
cruel to forsake his friend in such distress.
"A hundred things might happen," he mused. "I should as likely as not
lose my way and be unable to get back. Poor Dick--I don't think I care
much for him, for he always sets himself against me and is as jealous as
can be; but trouble seems to wipe all that away, and I suppose I am
pretty fond or I shouldn't have been ready to fight for him. Yes," he
mused, "he might recover his senses and find himself alone and so weak
that he could hardly stir. Why, it would be enough to drive him nearly
mad."
Murray employed himself twice over in the course of that day bathing and
dressing his comrade's wound, and always with good results, for though
the lad remained insensible, he sank each time into a more restful
slumber, leaving his nurse and surgeon at liberty to watch and plan as
to their future.
It was towards evening that he had another scare--one sufficiently real
to make him feel that they were again in imminent danger, for though he
could not identify a couple of fresh-comers of whose advent he had
warning, their fierce aspect, the way in which they were armed, and
their action, seemed to show for certain that they belonged to one or
other of the slavers' crews.
Murray heard them approach suddenly, and darting out of the hut, he took
refuge in the shelter of the cane plantation, from amidst whose thick
growth he saw them step to the front of the hut, which in no wise
excited their curiosity; but they stopped short for a few minutes,
_just_ long enough for one of them to climb one of the cocoanut trees
and hack off a couple of the great husks, to fall with heavy thuds,
before the climber slipped to earth again, when both set to work hacking
off the husk and cutting away one end of the half-hardened shell.
They were moments of intense excitement for Murray, as he crouched a few
yards away, almost afraid to breathe, fully expecting that one or other
of the pair might rise from where he had thrown himself down, and
entering the hut discover its occupant. But it seemed as if the rough
little edifice only represented the hut of a slave in the fresh-comers'
eyes, and having satisfied their thirst with the sweet sub-acid cream,
they cast away the shells and sat talking together for a few minutes;
and then the crucial moment seemed to have arrived for the discovery,
for they suddenly sprang up--so sharply that the lad's hand flew to his
cutlass, and then he had hard work to suppress a cry of relief, as the
pair rapidly stalked away.
"It is too risky," muttered the lad. "I must find some safer
hiding-place."
"So beautiful and yet so horrible," he thought, as he crouched in
amongst the abundant growth, the narrow sunlit openings being visited
from time to time by tiny birds whose scale-shaped feathers were
dazzling in their hues as precious stones, while they were so fearless
that he watched them hang suspended in the air or flit with a low hum to
and fro within a few inches of his face. At another time he would be
visited by butterflies that were the very perfection of Nature's
painting, while wherever the sun's rays struck down hottest the jungle
was alive with glistening horny-coated beetles whose elytra looked as if
they had been fashioned out of golden, ruddy and bronze-tinted metal.
Just when the sun was beginning to sink lower and warning him that it
would not be long before he would have the protection of another night,
his attention was caught by a fresh rustling noise not far away, and it
struck him that this might be the sound made by the returning of the
builder of the hut.
So sure did the lad feel of this that he congratulated himself upon the
fact that he was well hidden still amongst the foliage around, where he
could suddenly start out upon the big black if he should enter the
shelter.
But as the faint rustling continued, he awakened to the recollection of
the previous night's alarm, for it now dawned upon him that the movement
was not made by a human being, but by one of the reptiles with which he
had peopled the thatch.
This was soon plain enough, and whether venomous or not it was enough to
startle the watcher, as a serpent some seven or eight feet in length
came into sight, travelling through the undergrowth, with its scales
ever changing in tint as its folds came more or less into connection
with the light that penetrated the leaves.
Murray felt the natural disgust for the lithe creature and dread of the
poison fangs of which it might be the bearer, but at the same time he
could not help feeling a certain admiration for its wondrous activity,
the power with which it intertwined itself among the twigs and in loops
and wreaths and coils, while the light played upon the burnished scales
in silver greys, chestnuts and ambers, and softly subdued and floating
over it as if in a haze of light, played bronze green and softened
peacock blues.
For a time the serpent seemed to be making its way towards him, and
there were moments when he felt certain that he was its goal, and that
two brilliant points of light shot from the two hard jewel-like eyes
were marking him down.
Then all at once there was a sharp movement as if a spring had been let
loose, and the midshipman felt paralysed for a few moments, before his
hand glided to the cutlass and he began to draw it slowly from its
sheath ready to make a cut, for, following upon the sharp spring-like
movement the serpent had disappeared, the next sound that met his ears
being that of the reptile trickling, as it were, through the undergrowth
in his direction.
For a few moments he could not stir, and the recollection of what he had
read about the fascination displayed by snakes seemed to have a
paralysing effect upon him, till his reason suggested that it was the
eye that was said to produce the power described, while now the reptile
had dropped out of sight amongst the undergrowth. His dread was
increased, though, by the fact that the sun was rapidly passing out of
sight, according to its way in the tropics, and it began to seem to him
that he would be at the mercy of what might probably be a venomous
creature approaching slowly amongst the leaves.
All at once there was another quicker and sharper movement, as if
something passing amongst the undergrowth very slowly and cautiously had
startled the reptile, which made where it was growing dark three or four
rapid darts, each more distant, the last being followed by one that
developed into a glide, which soon died away, the sound being supplanted
by a steady slow rustle that was gradually approaching; and for a
certainty the sounds were made by a human being forcing his way through
the forest.
"Enemy or friend?" Murray asked himself, and then, freed from the
horror of the approaching serpent, he roused himself to try and creep
silently back towards the hut.