The emphatic declaration of the sailor,--that the dark disc before them
must be an island, and that the upright forms upon it were those of
human beings,--dispelled all doubts upon the subject; and produced a
feeling of wild excitement in the minds of all three of his companions.
So strong was this feeling, that they could no longer control
themselves; but gave vent to their emotions in a simultaneous shout of
joy.
Acting prudently, they would have restrained that mirthful exhibition,
for although, for reasons already stated, the people appearing upon the
island could not be the wicked castaways who had composed the crew of
the _Pandora_, still might they be a tribe of savages equally wicked and
murderous.
Who could tell that it was not a community of _Cannibals_. No one
aboard the _Catamaran_.
It may seem singular that such a thought should have entered the mind of
any of the individuals who occupied the raft. But it did occur to some
of them; and to one of the four in particular. This was Ben Brace
himself.
The sailor's experience, so far from destroying the credences of
boyhood,--which included the existence of whole tribes of cannibals,--
had only strengthened his belief in such anthropophagi.
More than strengthened it: for it had been confirmed in every
particular.
He had been to the Fiji islands, where he had seen their
king, Thakombau,--a true descendant of the lineage of
"Hokey-Pokey-Winkey-Wum,"--with other dignitaries of this man-eating
nation. He had seen their huge caldron for cooking the flesh of men,--
their pots and pans for stewing it,--their dishes upon which it was
served up,--the knives with which they were accustomed to carve it,--
their larders stocked with human flesh, and redolent of human blood!
Nay, more; the English sailor had been an eye-witness of one of their
grand festivals; where the bodies of men and women, cooked in various
styles,--stewed, roasted, and boiled,--had been served out and partaken
of by hundreds of Thakombau's courtiers; the sailor's own captain,--the
captain of a British frigate,--ay, the commodore of a British
squadron,--with cannon sufficient to have blown the island of Viti Vau
out of the water,--sitting alongside, apparently a tranquil and
contented spectator of the horrid ceremonial!
It is difficult to account for the behaviour of this Englishman, the
Hon. -- by name. The only explanation of his conduct one can arrive at
is, to believe that his weak mind was fast confined by the trammels of
that absurd, but often too convenient, theory of international
non-interference,--the most dangerous kind of red-tape that ever
tethered the squeamish conscience of an official imbecile.
How different was the action of Wilkes,--that Yankee commander we are so
fond of finding fault with! He, too, paid a visit to the cannibal
island of Viti Vau; and while there, taught both its king and its people
a lesson by the fire of his forty-pounders that, if not altogether
effective in extinguishing this national but unnatural custom, has
terrified them in its practice to this very day.
Non-interference, indeed! International delicacy in the treatment of a
tribe of cruel savages! A nation of man-eaters,--forsooth, a nation!
Why not apply the laws of nationality to every band of brigands who
chances to have conquered an independent existence? Bah! The world is
full of frivolous pretences,--drunk with the poison-cup of political
hypocrisy.
It was not Ben Brace who thus reasoned, but his biographer. Ben's
reflections were of a strictly practical character His belief in
cannibalism was complete; and as the craft to which he had so
involuntarily attached himself drifted on towards the mysterious islet,
he was not without some misgivings as to the character of the people who
might inhabit it.
For this reason he would have approached its shores with greater
caution; and he was in the act of enforcing this upon his companions,
when his intention was entirely frustrated by the joyous _huzza_ uttered
by Snowball; echoed by little William; and chorussed by the childish,
feminine voice of Lilly Lalee.
The sailor's caution would have come too late,--even had it been
necessary to the safety of the _Catamaran's_ crew. Fortunately it was
not: for that imprudent shout produced an effect which at once changed
the current of the thoughts, not only of Ben Brace, but of those who had
given utterance to it.
Their united voices, pealing across the tranquil bosom of the deep,
caused a sudden change in the appearance of the island; or rather among
the people who inhabited it. If human beings, they must be of a strange
race,--very strange indeed,--to have been furnished with wings! How
otherwise could they have forsaken their footing on _terra firma_,--if
the island was such,--and soared upward into the air, which one and all
of them did, on hearing that shout from the _Catamaran_?
There was not much speculation on this point on the part of the
_Catamaran's_ crew. Whatever doubts may have been engendered as to the
nature of the island, there could be no longer any about the character
of its inhabitants.
"Dey am birds!" suggested the Coromantee; "nuffin more and nuffin less
dan birds!"
"You're right, Snowy," assented the sailor. "They be birds; and all the
better they be so. Yes; they're birds, for sartin. I can tell the cut
o' some o' their jibs. I see frigates, an' a man-o'-war's-man, an'
boobies among 'em; and I reckon Old Mother Carey has a brood o' her
chickens there. They be all sizes, as ye see."
It was no more a matter of conjecture, as to what kind of creatures
inhabited the island. The forms that had been mystifying the crew of
the _Catamaran_, though of the biped class, were no longer to be
regarded as human beings, or even creatures of the earth. They had
declared themselves denizens of the air; and, startled by the shouts
that had reached them,--to them, no doubt, sounds strange, and never
before heard,--they had sought security in an element into which there
was no fear of being followed by their enemies, either of the earth or
the water.