"Do you think they have tied us up like this so as to take us down to a
canoe?"
"Yes, they've made us prisoners to take us away somewhere. That's what
I think, sir."
"Yes, and that's what I think, Ned. Now look carefully all round, and
see if you can make out whether any one is watching."
"Can't get my head up, sir," whispered the man after a pause, "but as
far as I can make out they're all fast asleep."
"Then let's try to get away."
"Yes, sir; but how?"
"Do as I do. I'm outside, and the ground slopes down from here. I'll
start and you follow."
"But I'm tied wrists and ankles, sir. I can't stir."
"Yes, you can. Don't whisper so loud. I am going to roll myself over
slowly, and keep on down that slope till I'm a little way off. Then I
think we can get our knives out. I can get yours, or you can get mine.
Or did they take yours?"
"No, sir. It's in my pocket all right; I can feel it against me."
"Then, ready. It's of no use to wait longer. I'll start, and you lie
still and watch. If they don't notice my moving, then you can come."
"No, sir, we go together or we don't go at all. I'm not going to lie
still and let you be caught and knocked about perhaps."
"There's no time for arguing, Ned. Do as I tell you. There, I'm off."
Ned drew his breath hard, and raised his head a little to note whether
his young master's movements were heard, but though the growth rustled
and crackled a little not a savage stirred, and Jack went on rolling
himself over and over, suffering pretty sharp pain from his bonds, but
setting it at nought, and struggling on till well down out of sight of
the rough camp.
Then he stopped and waited for Ned during what seemed to be quite an age
before the man joined him, breathing laboriously, and then they lay
listening, but all was still.
"Easy enough to escape, sir, if you make up your mind to it."
"But we have not escaped yet, Ned," whispered Jack. "We ought to have
waited till it was dark. Now then, I'll creep close to you. Try and
put your hand in my pocket and take out the little knife I have there."
It was harder to do than either of them had anticipated, and Ned
suffered agony in one wrist as he strained to get at the knife with one
hand, while the other was always in the way and kept it back. At last
though he was successful and held it in triumph, but there was something
more to do, for a closed blade was as bad as nothing.
Still they say "where there's a will there's a way." Certainly there
was will enough here, and by degrees Ned worked himself along so that he
could hold the little clasp-knife to Jack's lips. These parted
directly, so did his firm white teeth, and closed upon the blade, while
Ned drew at the handle, with the result that the blade was opened a
little. Then it was drawn from between Jack's teeth, and closed with a
snap, when the work had to be gone over again.
This time, trembling with excitement and dread lest at any moment the
blacks might miss them, Jack closed his teeth with all his might upon
the narrow portion of the blade awkwardly offered to him, held on at the
risk of the ivory breaking, and Ned drew the handle away slowly, with
the result that the strength of the spring was mastered, the knife half
opened, and this done the rest was easy.
Ned paused for a few moments to wrench his head round and gaze up the
slope toward the savages' camp, then turning to Jack he laid the blade
flat upon the back of his hand, and forced it under the thin cane which
bound his wrists, having hard work to do it in his hampered position
without cutting his companion's hands.
"Now, sir," he whispered, "I'll turn the blade edge outwards, and you
must work yourself up and down against it. Try now."
Jack made an effort, which hurt his wrist horribly without doing the
slightest good.
"That won't do, sir," whispered Ned. "I can't help you half so much as
by holding still. Now try again, not jigging as you did before, but
giving yourself a regular see-saw sort of swing. Now then 'fore they
wake. Off you go."
It was agony. The back of the knife-blade seemed to be cutting bluntly
down upon his wrist-bones, but setting his teeth hard, Jack forced
himself downward and drew back.
"That's the sort, sir. Don't do much, but it's doing something. If I
had my hands free I could soon cut the withes. Keep it up."
Setting his teeth harder, Jack kept on the sawing movement, apparently
without avail, but the pain grew less as the edge of the blade cut into
the cane.
"It's of no use, Ned," whispered the lad. "Let's try to undo the knots
with our teeth. I'll try on yours first."
"You keep on sawing," said the man in a low growl, and the words came so
fiercely that Jack involuntarily obeyed, and the next minute, to his
great surprise, there was a faint cracking sound; one strand of the cane
band was through, and the rest uncurled like a freed spring.
"Hah! I thought so," said Ned with a low chuckle of satisfaction. "Now
catch hold of the knife and cut the band round your ankles."
"I can hardly feel the handle," muttered Jack.
"You will directly. Look sharp, sir, sharp as your knife."
"Yes," said Jack, "but I'm going to cut your wrists free first."
"No, no, sir; your legs."
Jack set his teeth again as hard as when he was holding the back of the
knife-blade, and in response he took hold of Ned's hand with his left
and applied the edge across the cane which held the poor fellow's
wrists, and in a clumsy fumbling way began to saw downward.
"Mr Jack, Mr Jack!" whispered the man excitedly, "you shouldn't, you
shouldn't! I wanted to get you cut loose first."
"You hold your tongue and keep still," said the lad. "I don't want to
cut your wrist. Steady. Oh, how numb and helpless my hands feel."
"They cut well enough, sir," said Ned with a laugh, as the outer turn of
the cane band was divided, and once more the tough vegetable cord opened
like a spiral string.
"That's your sort, Mr Jack, sir. Give me hold of the knife. My turn
now."
"No, no, my hands are getting better. Rub your wrists while I cut your
ankles free."
For answer Ned made a dash at the knife, but Jack avoided him, and
forgetting everything in his desire to set his companion at liberty, he
began sawing away at his ankles, while Ned thrust his hand into his own
pocket and drew out his knife, to begin operating directly after upon
Jack's bonds, with so much success that he was able to free him first.
His own were at liberty though directly after, and then they lay panting
and perfectly still.
Jack was the first to speak.
"Now then," he said, "shall we crawl up and try and get our guns?"
"And make one of them wake and tap us both again on the head. No, sir,
that won't do. Soon as you feel that you can move, crawl right away in
among the bushes, and I'll follow. Have you got any hands and feet?
because I feel as if I hadn't."
"Mine are terribly numb, Ned, but we'll start at once. It will do me
more good to work them than to rest them. Which way?"
"Downwards, because it's more easy. Then go into that hollow ditch-like
bit."
"But it goes upward."
"Never mind, take it, and we shall be out of sight. It will be best.
They're sure to think we've made for the sea. Why, how dark it's
growing. Didn't know it was so late."
Jack said nothing, but began to crawl away as fast as his tingling,
helpless limbs would allow, feeling that so long as they got away from
their captors it did not so much matter which direction they took. He
turned his head from time to time to see if Ned was all right, and found
that he was lamely struggling on after him, but always gave him a cheery
look.
Jack followed the rugged little ditch-like place, which had evidently
been carved out by one of the rivulets which ran down from the mountain,
but after following it some time and turning to look back at Ned, he
suddenly dropped flat on his face and began to crawl out of it, and
toward the shelter of the forest, which came close up.
"What's the matter?" said Ned.
"Don't lift your head; creep as flat as you can, and let's get among the
bushes."
"That's right enough; but why? It won't be such good going."
"We've been crawling higher and higher," said Jack, "and when I turned
to see how you were getting on, I looked down over your shoulder, on to
the smoke of the fire, and the blacks were lying about it, and just at
that moment one of them jumped up, and then all the rest followed, and
they must have missed us!"
"Shall we get up and run then?"
"No, no, they may not come this way. Hark! what's that?"
"Wind. Why, I didn't see it coming, only thought it was evening. We're
in for a storm."
"Never mind, if it will only keep them from following us, Ned."
They struggled on, finding their limbs less helpless. Minute by minute,
and just before plunging into the darkness beneath the trees, Jack
turned to raise his head slightly, and to his great delight saw ten or
twelve of the blacks far below the smoke of their camp, and evidently
descending the mountain slope, but the next instant his hopes were
crushed, for there in full pursuit, coming along the stony hollow up
which they had crawled, was another party of the enemy.
"In with you, Ned," he whispered, as he dropped down again to creep into
the dense growth which swallowed him like a verdant sea, while before
they had penetrated many yards the gloom beneath the spreading branches
was lit up by a flash of lightning. The next minute the flashes came so
quickly that the forest seemed turned into one vast temple, whose black
pillars supported a ceiling of flame, and as the deafening detonations
shook the earth around them, they were glad to crouch as quickly as they
could in a recess formed at the foot of a gigantic tree which sent out
flat buttresses on every side, more buttresses passing down into roots.
They were none too soon, for the storm was, brief as the time had been,
now in full force; the rain dashed and swept in amongst the groaning
trees, and the noise and confusion were deafening, and made the more
awe-inspiring by the lashing of the branches as they were driven here
and there by the wind.
"What's that, sir?" cried Ned, with his lips to his companion's ear, for
a tremendous crash had succeeded a roar of thunder.
"Tree gone down."
"Oh!" said Ned, pressing Jack close up into the recess. "Well, so long
as it ain't this one I suppose we mustn't grumble. But I'd rather have
undressed myself before I took my bath, sir, wouldn't you?"
"Oh, how can you talk like that!" shouted Jack.
"'Cause I feel so jolly and satisfied," said Ned, with his lips again to
Jack's ear. "A bit ago it was all over with us, going to be took and
tied up again, sir. P'r'aps to be taken away and fatted and eaten. Now
there's nothing the matter, only it's a bit dark. Don't seem, sir, as
if I'm doing any good in trying to be your umbrella. You are a little
moist, I suppose, sir?"
"Moist, Ned! I'm soaking; I can feel the water running down into my
boots."
"Oh, never mind, sir. We'll have a good wring out as soon as the
storm's over. But my word, I never saw lightning like this before, and
never felt it rain so hard."
"Nor thunder so loud," cried Jack. "It is terrible. Hush! hark at
that!"
"Water, sir, running down this way."
"Shan't be washed away from here, shall we, Ned?"
"No, sir, I think not. Seems to me that it's coming down that bit of a
ditch we crawled up."
It was: the dry, stony bed having been filled in a few minutes six feet
deep by a raging torrent, which was constantly being augmented by scores
of furious rills, the upper portions of the mountain having been struck
by what resembled a swirling water-spout.
"I say, Mr Jack, I hope the yacht won't get washed away. Which side of
that stony ditch were the niggers when you saw 'em last?"
"The other side."
"Then they won't come this. Now if they'd only take to thinking that
we'd been washed down the side and out to sea, what a blessing it would
be for us! They wouldn't come and hunt for us any more."
"Don't--pray don't talk," cried Jack. Then to himself,--"Oh, if the
storm would only keep on."
But, as has been shown, it did not. Its violence on their side of the
mountain was soon exhausted, and it swept on and out to sea, leaving the
fugitives standing where hundreds of rills came amongst the foot of the
trees on their way toward the stream overflowing the stony channel,
while the leaves and boughs poured down a constant shower of heavy
drops.
By degrees the force of the water abated, the slope being too steep for
it to continue long within the regular channels which scored the
mountain side; and leaving their temporary asylum, the fugitives pressed
on in the hope of reaching the ravine up which they had been making
their way that morning when they hung back and were left behind.
But it was in a bewildered way that they pushed on, till hours must have
passed, feeling that there was nothing for them but to try and find a
refuge in some rude shelter such as they had several times encountered
by the side of one of the lava-streams, where in cooling the volcanic
matter had split up and broken, and formed wildly curious, cavernous
places, any one of which would have been welcome.
Night was coming on fast; they dare not attempt to descend, and it began
to be plain that they would have to be content with a resting-place on
some stony patch from which the water had drained, when, as they
staggered along, just within the sheltering gloom of the huge forest
trees, they stumbled upon one of the ancient lava-streams, which stopped
their progress like some mountainous wall, and a very few minutes'
search was sufficient to find the shelter they required, a dark,
cavernous place whose flooring was of volcanic sand.
"It's dry as a bone, Mr Jack, sir," said Ned, after stooping down, "and
as warm as warm. Well, sir, if this ain't sunshine after storm I should
like to know what is!"
Jack was too much exhausted to reply, and directly after he began to
follow his companion's example by stripping off and wringing his
clothes.
"Black sunshine this, Ned," he said.
"Well, sir, it is certainly; but you can't say it ain't warm. You put
your hand down on the sand."
"Yes; it's quite warm, Ned."
"Why, is this only the back-door into the burning mountain, sir?
Because if so, will it be safe?"
"Ned, I'm too tired to talk. Pray be quiet and let me think. We must
be safer than out upon the mountain side. Let's lie down and rest."