Jack dropped down into the boat with a feeling of pity for the men who
had to stay on board with the mate. Sir John, the doctor, and Captain
Bradleigh were of the party, all well-armed, and, to Jack's excitement
and satisfaction, he found that the crew of the boat all wore cutlasses,
with the peculiar hilt which enables the wearers to fix them
bayonet-fashion to the muzzles of their rifles.
"Just as well to be prepared, Mr Jack," said the captain, smiling, as
he saw the interest the boy took in the men's appearance. "I don't
think we shall find a soul in the island. If there had been, they must
have caught sight of us, and would have shown themselves, even if they
had gone off into the woods when they saw us coming ashore. Well, what
do you say to this for a treat? Think it's as good as Doctor Instow
described?"
"Better, ever so much," said Jack excitedly; "but please don't talk to
me now. There is so much to see, I want to look about me. It is all so
fresh and beautiful. But are there cocoa-nut trees?"
"Yes, of all sizes, from little ones a year old, to old ones in full
bearing. There they are."
"But I thought cocoanuts grew on a sort of palm-tree which went up from
the ground as straight as an arrow."
"No: never. The cocoa-nut sapling springs up with a beautiful curve
like you see yonder, all alike, and no matter how the wind blows they
keep to it, bending down and springing up again as if they were made of
whalebone. They get it badly though when there is a hurricane; scarcely
anything can stand that. But look down."
"Look down?"
"Yes, into the sea. You must not pass that over."
The boy glanced over the side of the boat, as the men rowed gently
across the lagoon, to find that they had gradually come into a shallow
part, whose waters, save for the disturbance made by the boat's passing,
were perfectly calm and of crystal clearness. As they neared the sandy
shore, the bottom, by the refraction, seemed to come nearer and nearer
to the surface, through which he sat gazing into one of Nature's
loveliest aquaria, strewn with the most wondrous corals and madrepores,
not dry, harsh, and stony, but glowing in colours imparted by the many
creatures which covered them. The seaweeds were exquisite, and the
flowers of this submarine garden were sea anemones of wondrous tints,
some closed like buds, others open wide, aster-like, and as bright in
tint, but with a slow, creeping movement of their petal-like arms, as
some unfortunate water creature touched them and was drawn into the
central mouth.
Shell-fish too of wondrous forms lay or crept about in the grottoes of
coral rock. Some were anchored oyster-like, and of gigantic size, lying
as traps with shells apart, like the mouth of some terrible monster
lying hidden among the weeds; others with strange, striped shells
crawled snail-like over the bottom, amidst many so small that they were
mere specks. And all the while, as the boat glided on over the surface,
there were flashes of gold, silver, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and amethyst,
for shoals of fish, startled by their coming, darted through the sunlit
water, to hide in the waving groves of sea-weed, or nestle down among
the coral stones.
"Stop rowing, please," said Sir John suddenly; and Jack turned to see
that his father and the doctor had been gazing down into the water from
the other side of the boat. "Only for a few minutes, captain: we must
not pass over this too quickly."
"You have only to give your orders, sir," said the captain, smiling with
satisfaction; and as the men sat with their oars balanced, the boat
glided slowly on, hardly disturbing the surface; but her shadow was
sufficient as it darkened the water to still startle the fish from their
homes.
"Here's work, Meadows--here's collecting. Jack, boy, what do you think
of it?"
"Oh!" ejaculated the lad, without raising his eyes from the wondrous
scene he was watching once more.
There does not seem much in that simple little interjection; but the
meaning put into it by the tone and the face of the lad who uttered it
spoke volumes.
"Ah, it is oh!" cried the doctor. "Here, Jack, it's all nonsense, I
can't be thirty-six; I feel only sixteen, and I want to begin wading in
here."
"I'd advise you to wear very thick boats then," said the captain. "Some
of these things are knife-edged, some sharp as thorns. You'll have to
take care."
"Oh, we will; eh, Jack?"
"Yes; but we must get a lot of these as specimens. Here, look--look!"
"Ah, one of those snakes," said Sir John. "One? Look--look! there are
dozens of them gliding about."
"Then I shan't wade," said the doctor decisively. "I don't want any
patients this trip, and there wouldn't be much fun in laying myself up
with a bad leg, and having myself to attend. I shall do my wading in a
boat."
"Yes; and we must fish for and catch some of these little fellows. Do,
father, look at that one gliding along by that clump of branched stuff,
plant or coral, or whatever it calls itself. Why it's like a gold-fish
with a great, broad bar of glittering blue across it."
"Lovely!" cried the doctor.
A discordant burst of shrill, whistling screams came from the cocoa-nut
grove ashore, and Jack looked up sharply.
"Paroquets," said the captain. "There they are, quite a flock of them."
Jack's hand stole behind him toward the guns and just then there was a
fluttering of wings, and a little cloud of green, shot with orange
yellow and blue, glided out of the grove and flew inland.
"Let's land," said Sir John. "There is so much to see, that we had
better content ourselves with a preliminary look round."
"Yes," said the doctor, "and devote separate days after to some
particular branch. Pull away, my lads."
"Yes; but very gently," cried Jack; and they glided on, the men guessing
the wishes of those on board by swinging together with a slow, steady
motion, and just lightly dipping their oars without a splash, so that,
as they glided on toward a patch of sand some four hundred yards away,
where the grove of palms was the highest, and the shade from the glowing
sun the deepest, a glorious view of the submarine treasures was enjoyed.
Jack sighed as the boat's prow touched the sands, the men sprang out on
either side in the shallow water, and ran her right up on the shore,
close to a great cocoa-nut tree, ready for the painter to be attached in
case the tide should rise as high.
Two men were left as keepers, and the party, shouldering their arms,
prepared to start inland.
"It will be best, gentlemen," said the captain, "to make our way along
the open ground between the lagoon and the forest to-day, and to keep
well together. I don't think there is a soul but ourselves on the
island, but it is as well to take every step as if we were in face of
enemies. For no doubt once upon a time the people who live among these
tropical islands were fairly amiable when not provoked; but I'm sorry to
say that they have been so ill-used by the sailors and traders of all
nations, that whatever they may have been, they are often now ready to
behave in a very treacherous manner to white people."
"Quite right," said Sir John; "and it is hard to make them understand
that we are perfectly peaceable. I quite agree with Doctor Instow that
our pleasant voyage ought not to be made arduous to him and painful to
us all by any sad accident. We do not want any patients suffering from
spear-thrust, or poisoned arrow sent from blow-pipe or bow, and I beg
that every one will understand that I should look upon it as a calamity
if, in defence of our lives, we were forced to fire upon a set of
ignorant savages. Captain Bradleigh, we trust to your guidance on
board, we will continue to do so, please, on shore."
"Thank you, Sir John," said the gentleman addressed; "you have uttered
my sentiments exactly, and I am glad to say that I can trust my lads
thoroughly. So now, then, we'll go west slowly and easily, so that you
can take a look at anything which takes your fancy, and we will just
skirt the woodland patches while we go as far as seems reasonable in
this direction, our main object being to find out whether we have the
island to ourselves."
"But we shall only be examining the narrow band by the water side. What
about inland?" said the doctor.
"If we go partly to-day and partly to-morrow round the island, I fancy
we shall learn all we want," replied the captain. "If there are any of
the black fuzzy-headed Papuans here, or the browner South Sea Islands
type of men, more like the Maoris, or lastly the Malay flat-nosed
fellows, we are sure to find traces of them by the shore or up the
little rivers. They don't care for the inland parts of an island like
this, where there is a volcano still more or less active. They
generally give these mountains a wide berth, unless there happens to be
a tribe of the original people who have been driven inland by the more
warlike folk, who go filibustering about searching for new lands in
their great outrigger war canoes."
"Hang their war canoes!" said the doctor gruffly, "we don't want them
here."
"You, my lads," said the captain to the two men by the boat, "will not
leave your posts, and you will keep the cutter just afloat, so that you
can leap aboard and keep her off at the first sign of danger. If there
is anything you will fire two shots sharply, as a warning to Mr
Bartlett, though probably he will see it first and send help to you.
Then keep on firing a shot every minute till you get an answer from us,
followed by one shot, and then two more, which mean that we have heard
you and are coming back. Now I don't expect anything of the kind, but
we must be on the look-out till we have examined the place. You
understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"That's right. Don't leave your rifles, and don't go to sleep."
"Right, sir."
"Then now, gentlemen, we'll advance in a line. No straggling, mind.
When one halts, all will stand fast. Forward!"
Jack shouldered his perfectly new double gun and stepped out, not
feeling the weight of either that or the satchel and cartridge pouch
slung by cross-belts, while from that at his waist hung a leather
holster containing a revolver and a strong, handy sheath knife, suitable
for a weapon, for skinning a specimen, or for hacking a way through
tangled scrub. A feeling of subdued excitement set his heart beating
steadily, and a thrill of returning health made his muscles feel tense,
while his eyes flashed with eagerness, and there was an elasticity in
his step that sent a feeling of satisfaction home to his father.
He was between Sir John and the doctor as they stepped off in a line
over the soft sand, and the latter turned for a moment, looking serious.
"One word to you two," he said,--"medical adviser's word. This is a new
country, and you are new to it. Just mind this: with quiet steady going
you can do a great deal; but there must be no over-exertion so as to get
too much heated. Chills are easily taken in these tropic lands, and
they mean fever and weakness, so let there be no false delicacy or
shame, and fighting to keep up with men better fit for the work than we
are. If either of you feels tired, stop at once and rest."
"That's all meant for me," said Jack, smiling.
"No, it isn't," cried the doctor sharply. "It's meant as much for your
father, who has a deal more weight to carry than you have, and if I am
not much mistaken, Jack Meadows, Esquire, he is a good deal older. Now
you understand. No over-exertion, no drinking cold water while you're
hot. As I told you before, I don't want patients till I get back home.
I've come out to enjoy my trip, so have a little mercy, if you please."
They tramped on under the blazing sunshine, and where they could under
the shade of trees, starting crabs running in all directions, fish which
had been basking on the wet sand by the water's edge wriggling and
flopping back into the lagoon, and birds of brilliant colours from the
trees they passed; all of which excited a desire in Jack to begin trying
his skill with his double gun; but it was an understood thing that
shooting was not to commence that day, but every hour be devoted to
exploring.
Everything looked superlatively beautiful. Metallic-armoured lizards
darted over the dry sand to hide amongst the scattered blocks of
sun-baked coral, lovely butterflies and other insects flitted amongst
low growth, in company with tiny sun-birds which seemed clothed in
brilliant burnished mail, and at every few steps larger birds, perfectly
new to the visitors, took flight or hurried thrush-like to take refuge
beneath the bushes.
On their left the wondrously blue lagoon glittered through the tall
stems of the cocoa-nut trees which fringed the shore; on their right
they had the open park-like stretches of land, dotted with bush and
stately tree; and every here and there, through an opening, they had
glimpses of the forest, which rose upward covering the flanks of the
mountain.
At the end of an hour, long after--through the curving of the shore--the
yacht had disappeared from view, they made their first halt. They
stopped at a valley-like opening which ran in a sinuous manner up and up
till they had a glimpse of the central mountain nearly to its highest
part.
The captain, in his caution, set a man on the highest part to act as
sentry and guard against a surprise, and he himself took another and
walked a quarter of a mile farther in search of traces on the sands of
canoes.
Jack threw himself down beneath a group of cocoa-nut trees, with the
soft sand for his couch, and was delighted and puzzled at the pleasant,
restful sensations he enjoyed. Sir John and the doctor sat down a
little apart, and the sailors chose another group of cocoa-nut trees to
indulge in a quiet chat.
Jack had just half-closed his eyes, to lie gazing through the lashes at
dazzling light and rainbow-like effects seen in the mist caused by the
breakers on the reef, when a rustling sound behind him made him start
and find that it was their man.
"Only me, Mr Jack, sir. Hope I haven't woke you out of a nap."
"Oh no. I was not asleep, Ned."
"Tired, sir?"
"No, not a bit."
"Feet hurt you?"
"No. Why should they?"
"With the walking, sir. You see, you're not used to it."
"No, I'm not used to it, Ned; but I soon shall be."
"That's right, sir. If they had been hurting you and your boots felt
tight, I was going to say, come down to the water's edge and paddle your
feet a bit."
"But they're all right."
"Glad of it, sir. Mine ain't. At least they're better now. That's
what I went and did, and it's lovely. Thirsty, sir?"
"Well, yes, I am thirsty."
"Then I'll get you a drink, sir, same as the men's had. Two of 'em's
been up one of those trees--these trees like we're under, sir. They
calls 'em cocoa-nut, but that's all nonsense. They're not nuts."
"Oh yes, these are real cocoa-nut trees, Ned."
"Well, sir, I don't like to contradick you; it wouldn't be my place.
But if these are real cocoanuts, them we buys--I mean I buys--at home
are sham ones."
"Oh, they're all the same, Ned."
"Well, sir, 'tain't for me to contradick. I dessay you're quite right
and they are all the same, but they're quite different. Them at home's
hard shells with rough shaggy hairs on 'em, and inside they're white
solid nut."
"So are these, Ned."
"Beg pardon, sir, have you tasted one? You must have seen 'em hanging
here in the trees."
"Of course I've seen them."
"Yes, sir, and they're twice as large as ours, with a cover to 'em like
a piece of solid door-mat."
"That's the outer husk, Ned."
"Oh, is it, sir? I thought it was something. But you ain't tasted
one?"
"No."
"Well, sir, it's hard work to cut them at home with a knife, they're
that hard; as for these here they're too soft to cut with a spoon. Have
one, sir?"
"Oh no, I'm not disposed to eat nuts," said Jack, laughing.
"But you don't eat 'em here, sir; it's more drinking of 'em. Let me get
you one, sir."
"Very well: I do feel as if I could drink something."
"Then these are the very thing, sir," said the man, and he hurried off,
Jack lying back watching him till he reached the knot of sailors
enjoying the shade.
Then as Jack watched quite out of hearing, a kind of pantomime began, in
which the sailors seemed to be laughing, and Ned gesticulating, and
holding his hand first to one and then another, slapping his knee
afterward, and seeming to go on in the most absurd manner; but the next
minute Jack began to grasp dimly what it all meant, and that the sailors
were daring their man to do something, and telling him it could not be
done.
There it all was: directly after Ned slipped off his straps and belt,
pulled off his jacket, and then rapidly got rid of his boots.
Jack did not hear him say, "Now, my lads, I'll show you," but he seemed
to say it, after shading his eyes and staring upward for a few moments
before spitting in his hands, taking a run and a jump, and beginning to
hug and climb one of the cocoa-nut trees, while the sailors all sprang
up to stand clapping their hands, and evidently bantering him or urging
him on.
This brought Jack into a sitting position, and the next minute he had
out his glass, and was watching with the actor apparently close at hand,
drawing himself up a few inches at a time, as one would mount a
scaffold-pole, and his wrinkled forehead, compressed lips, and
determined eyes so plain that Jack could have fancied that he heard him
breathe.
"I wonder whether he'll do it," said the lad softly. "He is just one of
those obstinate fellows who, if they make up their minds to do a thing,
manage it somehow."
And feeling as deeply interested as the man himself, Jack felt ready to
run across to the cocoa-nut grove and shout encouragement.
"Look so precious undignified if I did. But how strange it seems!
There was he only the other day in his quiet livery and white tie
valeting us, and waiting at table, and now he's climbing that tree like
a boy."
"Or a monkey, Jack," said the doctor, who had come up behind, and Sir
John with him. "I didn't hear you," said Jack, starting. "Not likely
when you were talking aloud with your ears glued to that lorgnette.
Well, eyes then. But it's the air, my lad; I feel ready to do any
stupid thing of that kind. I'd challenge you to climb the two next
trees if we were alone."
"_I_ hope the foolish fellow will not meet with an accident," said Sir
John.
"Pooh! not he," said the doctor. "The lads have been challenging him, I
suppose."
"I think that's it, but he has gone to get a cocoa-nut for me."
"You did not send him to do it, Jack?"
"No, father: he came and proposed it."
"Tree's getting gradually thinner," said the doctor. "Easier to climb."
"I hope he will be successful," said Sir John. "The men will banter him
so if he fails."
"How the tree begins to bend!" said Jack anxiously. "Why don't you
shake it?" he cried, without considering that his words could not be
heard. But, oddly enough, just at that moment the idea seemed to have
occurred to Ned, who held on with his legs and shook the tree violently.
"You will not do it like that, my fine fellow," said the captain, coming
up; "and lucky for you that you can't. A crack from one of those nuts
would be no joke."
"Yes, they must be pretty heavy," said Sir John.
"Heavy enough to kill any one if they fell upon his bare head."
"Oh, look how the tree's bending over!" cried Jack.
"Yes, he had no business to choose such a slight one," said the captain,
as the tree swayed beneath the man's weight.
"Had I better stop him?" said Sir John.
"I think perhaps you had better not startle him and make him nervous,
father. We don't want any accidents."
"Indeed we don't," said the doctor; "better let him be. Why, if he goes
on like this the tree will bend over like a fishing-rod, and he can drop
from the top to the ground."
Then silence fell upon the group, and the sailors ceased to cheer, as,
with the elastic rod-like tree bending more and more over, and swaying
up and down, Ned climbed on, till the last part of his progress was
after the fashion of a sloth, hanging back downward, and at every
movement coming nearer, till the great crown of leaves and nuts, which
had stood forty feet in the air, was not more than twenty.
"Another two or three feet will do it," said the doctor; "but I'm afraid
he will not be able to get the nuts off."
"Oh yes; he can screw them off," said the captain.
"What I'm afraid of is--"
_Crack_!
A sharp loud snap, and the top of the tree came down, the big leafage
hiding Ned; but he was standing up close to the broken-off tree, which
was now like a thick pole, and rubbing himself hard, with the sailors
about him, when the lookers-on reached the spot.
"Oh, Ned!" cried Jack, who was first up.
"Yes, sir, it is `Oh, Ned!'" replied the man angrily.
"Hurt?" cried the others in a breath.
"Don't know yet, Sir John," said the man, "I think my right leg's broke,
though."
"Here, let me see," cried the doctor eagerly.
"No, it ain't, sir," said Ned, giving a kick. "It's the left one."
"Bah!" roared the doctor; "how could you stand upon it and kick out like
that if it were broken?"
"Right you are, sir; of course I couldn't. But something's broke, for I
heard it go. Maybe it's my arms."
"Maybe it's your head," said the doctor sarcastically, "for you are
talking in a very crack-brained fashion. Let me buckle your belt round
it tightly to hold it together."
The man stared wonderingly at the doctor, feeling his head all over the
while, and his eyes having a puzzled look in them, as if he couldn't
quite make out whether the doctor was speaking seriously. But the next
moment he took it as a piece of chaff and grinned.
"It's all right, sir, but it did come an awful whack against one of
these nuts."
"Better see if you've damaged the nut," said the doctor sarcastically.
"No, never mind. Head's too soft."
Ned grinned again, and gave himself a rub as he looked down at the crown
of the tree and then at the broken stump, snapped off a good
five-and-twenty feet from the ground.
"Here," he said, turning to the group of sailors, "you were precious
full of your brag about climbing, and saying I couldn't. But I did, and
now let's see one of you do that."
There was a roar of laughter, and Sir John turned away, but the captain
spoke rather seriously.
"I wouldn't advise you to do this sort of thing again, young fellow.
Now then, how do you feel? Can you go on with us, or will you wait here
till we come back?"
"Me wait here, sir?" cried Ned. "What, all alone? No, thank you, I'm
all right, sir. Walk as well as any of them."
"Then whoever wants a cocoa-nut had better have it, for we go on in five
minutes."
"Will you give me your knife, sir?" said Ned, turning to his young
master. "Thankye, sir; I know how it's done;" and chopping off the husk
and the top of the soft shell of one of the great nuts, he handed it to
Jack, the sailors quickly getting the rest of the others and serving
them the same, to hand to Sir John, the doctor, and captain, who all
partook of the deliriously cool, sub-acid pulp. Then the word was given
and the march commenced once more.
Whether Ned suffered or not he kept to himself, for he resumed his
jacket, boots, and belts, clapped on his pith hat, and stalked off with
the rest, the way seeming to grow more and more beautiful, and the
natural history specimens more attractive at every hundred yards they
left behind.
But there was no shooting, the object of the exploration being
rigorously kept in mind, and they were just rounding what seemed to be
the end of a great artificial dike that ran down from the slope on their
right, when one of the men cried--"Look out! They must be close here."
Every one stopped short, and guns and rifles were brought to the ready.
"What is it?" said the captain in a low voice. "What did you see?"
"Didn't see nothing, sir," replied the man. "I smelt 'em."
"What do you mean?"
"Must be some huts or cottages close here, where the people keeps pigs."
"Yes, look, sir," cried another man, pointing; "they've been down here
to the sea."
He pointed to where, about a dozen yards away, there were abundant
traces of a drove of pigs, and as the captain advanced, the odour which
the sailor had noticed now became plain to all.
Sir John looked inquiringly at the captain. "A good find," said the
latter, smiling. "We shall be able to shoot some fresh young porkers.
Wild pig is not bad."
"Wild?" cried the doctor.
"Yes, there is evidently a herd of wild pigs in the island, if not
several. They have been down here lately."
"But surely there would not be wild boars and sows in an island like
this?" said Sir John.
"No," said the captain, "but pigs that have run wild. You see, the old
voyagers left two or three pairs in a good many places, and they have
increased largely. This must have been one of the favoured islands."
Further proof was given a short distance farther on, for they had a
glimpse of a herd which seemed to be fifty or sixty strong, whose
leaders stood grunting and staring at the new-comers for a moment or two
before whisking round and dashing off among the trees, to be hidden
directly by the low growth, a head or a tail being seen at intervals;
and then every sign was gone.
"Well," said the doctor to Jack, "that's another discovery to the good:
fresh pork and poultry."
"You can't eat parrots," said Jack, laughing.
"Why?" said the doctor.
"Oh, those highly-coloured birds can't be good."
"Wait a bit, my young philosopher. I never knew that gaily-coloured
barn-door cockerels were `bad', and I know that a young peacock is as
good as a pheasant; so where is your theory now?"
"Yes, Jack, you are beaten," said Sir John merrily.
"Oh, but I meant parrots and cockatoos and birds of paradise," said the
lad hurriedly.
"Parrots and cockatoos live on fruit," said the doctor; "fruit is good,
ergo parrots and cockatoos are good, and I'll have a curry made of the
first I skin."
"You are right about the birds of paradise though, my boy," said Sir
John. "I should not like to try one of those, because they are so
nearly related to the crow."
"A bird of paradise related to a crow--a black crow?"
"Oh yes, you'll find some of the most gaily painted birds out here in
the tropics very nearly related to some of our more common friends at
home."
"Yes; look, there goes one, Jack. I could bring him down easily."
The lad had already caught sight of a lovely bird upon the ground, which
stood looking at them for a few moments before hopping away beneath the
bushes and undergrowth, appearing again farther on, and then spreading
its wings for a short flight, and displaying the lovely colours with
which it was dyed, the most prominent being shades of blue relieved by
delicate fawn and pale warm drab.
"What's that?" cried Jack eagerly.
"That's a thrush," said the doctor.
"A thrush!"
"Yes; not one of our olive-green, speckled-breasted fellows, but a
thrush all the same, and saving its colouring, wonderfully like one of
ours."
There was plenty to say about bird and insect as they went on, keeping
just where the sand gave place to firm ground, for the birds were
excessively tame, and gave evident proof that they were not much
disturbed; while every now and then amid the lovely insects which
thronged wherever there were flowers, appeared some magnificent
butterfly, several inches across its wings, tempting Sir John to cease
exploring for the sake of making captures.
But everything was given up to the main object, and mile after mile was
tramped, every step seeming to reveal some new beauty--peeps through the
groves at the broad blue sea, or wonderful landscapes up ravines, with
the mountain towering up behind.
The natural history objects they encountered were plentiful enough. In
fact very few steps were taken without something attracting attention.
Lizards which seemed as they basked on pieces of the heated rock to have
been cut out of glittering metal, till, at the jar of a footstep, or the
shadow of any one cast across them, they darted away. In one place the
doctor pointed out sinuous markings on the sandy ground which looked as
if freshly made.
"Yes, a snake," said Sir John, "and a good-sized one too."
"How large?" said Jack with suppressed excitement.
"Seven or eight feet long, I should say," replied his father.
Jack looked with an expression of mingled dread and longing at the patch
of dense growth into which the track led, and directly after Edward
exchanged glances with him, the man's look seeming to say--
"I've marked down that spot, sir."
Glen after glen was passed, every one full of beauty and interest, and
at last they were brought up short by what looked like some huge pier
running right across their way, down over the sands, and ending suddenly
about a hundred feet out in the beautiful blue lake. At the first sight
it seemed like some great landing-place or wharf, but there was no sign
of handiwork about it, and the lad gazed at it in awe, as the doctor
explained that it was the end where it had cooled and solidified in the
lake of a huge lava-stream which had flowed down from the mountain, high
up on their right.
"But that means it must have run like so much liquid fire for miles."
"Yes, that's exactly what it does mean, Jack," said Sir John; "six or
seven or eight. We shall know some day, when we have explored the
place."
"And that will be like a high-road to the top," said the doctor, "only
I'm afraid it would be a rather rough one."
"We'll try it some day," said Sir John.
"Rather hard for your boots, sir," said the captain. "Look at it: like
glass, and as sharp in places."
"Why, it must be quite fresh," said Jack.
The captain smiled and shook his head.
"But some of these pieces look quite bright," said Jack.
"Yes; and these trees look quite green, and many of them may be a
hundred or two hundred years old."
"What has that got to do with it?" said Jack. "Oh yes, I see now: they
would have been burned up. Of course."
"Yes," said Sir John, as he stood looking at the huge solidified stream;
"everything about here must have been burned to ashes, and it would,
even with the rapid tropic rate, have taken fully a hundred years for
these trees to grow."
"How wide is the stream?" said the doctor; and he led the way to climb
up, startling something, which went off with a tremendous rush inland.
"What's that?" said Sir John.
"Couldn't catch a glimpse of it; but it wasn't a man. Four-legged
creature of some kind. There, that's its cry."
A peculiarly weird howl rang out, and was answered from a distance off;
but though the party waited in the hope of seeing what it was that had
been started, they were disappointed.
"Never mind," said the doctor; "we have proof that there are animals
about. Now then, how wide do you make the lava-stream to be?"
"About four hundred paces," said Sir John.
"Quite that," said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, what do you say to
making a halt just beyond the lava there--under one of those trees, say,
beside that stream?"
"Couldn't be a better place," cried Jack. "I am getting hungry."
"I think we all are," said the doctor, smiling, "for we have been
tramping quite two hours since Edward had his adventure on the cocoa-nut
tree."
"If I might suggest, Sir John, I'd make this the farthest limit of our
tramp to-day. We shall be about four hours going back; and to-morrow we
might go in the other direction--sail round the island, if you like."
"I think we would prefer to explore it on foot, captain," replied Sir
John.
They crossed the remainder of the solidified stream of stone, ascended
to the beautiful grove of trees on the other side, where a swift stream
of the purest water ran gurgling along to the sea, and here enjoyed, in
the cool shade, a delicious _al fresco_ meal, to which every one did
ample justice. After which a start was made for the yacht; but the heat
proved to be so intense, there not being a breath of air, save a
succession of hot puffs which seemed to be wafted down from the
mountain, that the men began to flag and show signs of being overcome.
Consequently, first one and then another halt had to be called, and when
they were still a good three miles from where they had left the boat,
the sun went down, and the night came on with startling suddenness, so
that at the end of a quarter of an hour it was dark as pitch beneath the
trees, and the order was given to bear off to the right, so as to follow
the sand.
"Can't go wrong," said the captain, "if we keep within touch of the
sea."
"Hark! hark! What's that?" cried Jack.
There was no need for him to speak, for every one had stopped short, and
was listening intently to the echoes which ran reverberating along a
valley, after what seemed to have been the firing of a heavy gun.