"This is nice, Mr Jack; we can't get up and run away because of the
niggers, and we can't stop here because of the snakes. Yes; what's to
be done?"
Jack was silent in turn for a few moments.
"Let's crawl a little way off, Ned."
Jack set the example, and it was very willingly followed, till they were
a dozen yards farther from the fire; but before half the distance was
covered, the shouting of the blacks was heard again.
"I say, Mr Jack," whispered Ned, as they subsided, "you're a very
clever fellow over your books."
"Am I, Ned?" said Jack sadly.
"Oh, yes, I've often heard the guv'nor and Doctor Instow say so. Well
then, there's me. I'm sharp enough over my work--sort of handy chap."
"Yes; but what's the good of talking about that now?"
"I was only thinking, sir. Here's you and me making no end of a fuss,
and starving, and all the rest of it, and getting into a state o'
melancholy, because we've lost our way, while these poor ignorant
savages go about without any clothes, and regularly enjoy themselves in
the same place."
"Yes, Ned, they are a deal cleverer than we are after all."
"That they ain't, sir. We've only got to use our brains more, and we
can beat 'em hollow. I ain't going to dump it any more. It's like
saying a nigger's a better man than a white; and he ain't. Now then, as
the boy in the book I once read used to say, take it coolly, and let's
see if we haven't got more brains than they have."
"Very well, Ned; but now, if we don't mind, they'll kill us."
"Then we will mind, sir. I should like to catch 'em at it. First thing
is we must now be cool. Well, we've got enough for to-morrow, only
those snakes are watching it. Well, while we're waiting for those
niggers to go by, let's give the snakes notice to quit."
"How? Pelt 'em?"
"There; look at him!" said Ned. "Only wants a bit of thinking. Come
on, sir, we can do it as we lie here; they'll soon scatter."
"But suppose they come this way?"
"Throw at 'em again, sir. Ready?"
There were plenty of loose fragments of lava lying about in the sandy
soil, stones which had doubtless been ejected by the volcano, to fall
upon its slopes, and which had in course of time been washed lower and
lower, and armed with these, they began to pelt the sides of the fire,
the effect being wonderfully speedy. As the first stones fell there was
a strange rustling and hissing, heads were raised menacingly up, and as
a second couple fell the reptiles began to move off rapidly.
"Two biggest coming this way, Ned," said Jack excitedly, and gathering a
half-dozen or so smaller stones in his right hand, he hurled them
catapult fashion right at the advancing heads, with the result that the
two reptiles turned sharply, and went off at full speed in beneath the
abundant growth of plants, while at the end of a few minutes the
missiles thrown in their track produced no effect.
"That's done, sir," said Ned coolly, "and our to-morrow's dinner's safe,
and it'll be very hard if I don't dodge something better to go with it.
Hist! hear that!"
The call had been uttered evidently much nearer, and Jack grasped his
spear.
"That's right, sir," whispered Ned, "but this is a big place, and it
ain't likely that they'll come right over us. Let's lie still and
listen. We can't see them, and they can't see us."
At that moment Jack pinched the speaker's arm, and pointed over him.
"Something to see that way? All right, sir."
He softly wrenched himself round, and gazed in the indicated direction,
to see a black figure standing in bold relief against the orange slope
of the mountain. He was nearby a hundred feet higher than where they
lay, having mounted upon a ridge which was probably one of the hardened
lava-streams which had flowed down, and as they watched him, one by one
seven more joined him.
He stood looking round for a few moments, and then uttered the cry they
had heard before, and turned to descend, making straight for the bend of
the ravine which seemed to lead to the shore.
The call was responded to, and a few minutes after another party came
into sight away to the left, making apparently for the same place, and
if they kept on, it was evident that they would pass about a hundred
yards from Jack and his companion, so that their policy was to lie quite
still.
"Be too dark to see us in ten minutes, sir," whispered Ned.
"Yes; and then we can't do better than make our way up that ridge till
we come upon another valley running down to the shore."
"That's the way, sir," said Ned. "Only wants a little thinking about.
A set o' naked niggers beat you at scheming? Why, it ain't likely."
But they had a scare a quarter of an hour later, the second party of
blacks coming into sight suddenly, not twenty yards away, tramping in
Indian file, with their spears over their shoulders, and for the moment
Jack's heart seemed to stand still, and he grasped his weapon, ready to
make one blow for his life.
For it seemed impossible that the men could pass by--men of such a keen,
observant nature--without seeing the pair lying there amongst the
trailing growth of the potatoes.
Worse still, they came nearer, so as to avoid a block of stone in their
way, and one of the number leaped upon it, and after a look round,
uttered the call of his tribe, just as one of a flock of running birds
does to keep the rest together.
"Now for it," thought Jack, as the black looked straight in his
direction, and he prepared to spring up as the man leaped down, and
seemed about to run at him, spear in hand.
But just when an encounter for life or death seemed inevitable, the
savage trotted on, and the others followed, seeming to grow shorter,
till one by one they disappeared, shoulders, heads, tops of the spears,
dissolving into the coming gloom of evening.
"Oh, scissors!" whispered Ned. "I say, Mr Jack, sir, if I'd held my
breath much longer, I'm sure all the works would have stopped."
"I thought it was all over, Ned."
"Yes, sir, so did I; but I meant to have a dig at one or two of 'em
first. Talk about as near as a toucher, that was nearer. How do you
feel now?"
"Heart beats horribly."
"So does mine, sir. It's going like a steam-pump with too much to do.
But who's afraid?"
"I am, Ned."
"That you are not, sir. I'm just the same as you, but it's only
excitement, and what any one would feel. Now then they've gone down and
blocked our road, so we must go up another way. Just give 'em another
five minutes, and then we'll go and get our 'taters."
The ashes were soon being raked aside, and the invaluable potatoes about
to be uncovered, when Ned sniffed.
"I say, Mr Jack, sir, they smell good."
"Why, what's that, Ned?" cried Jack, pointing through the gloom at
something long and stiff curled up into a knot.
"That, sir? Well, I am stunned. Why, it's one of they snakes, sir, got
closer in to get warm, and he overdid it. He's cooked; and just you
smell, sir."
"Ugh! throw it away."
"But it smells 'licious, sir. It does really."
"It makes me feel sick, Ned--the idea's horrible. Why it will have
spoiled all the potatoes."
"Don't make me feel sick, sir; makes me feel hungry. You've no idea how
good it smells."
"What! a horrible reptile?"
"So's a turtle, sir; and you won't say turtle-soup isn't good."
"But a snake, and perhaps poisonous, Ned?"
"We shouldn't eat his head, sir. Don't see why you might not just as
well eat a snake as an eel, sir."
"Throw it away!" cried Jack sharply.
"All right, sir, you're master.--Good-bye, good victuals!" Ned added in
an undertone.--"Won't have hurt the taters, sir, there was all this
thick layer of ashes between."
"Are they burnt up?"
"No, sir, just right, and floury as can be. Look at that."
It was getting too dark to see much; but Jack made out that the little
round vegetable was all floury where it was broken.
The whole cooking was raked out, the ashes scattered away, and Ned
proceeded to take out his knife and hand it to his young master, with
instructions to cut out his shirt-sleeves just at the shoulder.
"I shall be warm enough without them, sir," he said. "There: now we'll
just tie up the ends, and here we have a good bag apiece to carry the
taters in. Nothing like having a bit of string in your pocket, sir. I
wonder whether Robinson Crusoe had a bit o' string when he was wrecked;
I 'spose he would have, because he could have twisted up a bit out of
the old ropes. It's always useful, sir. There you are, now. I'll tie
the bags together, and swing 'em over my shoulder, one on each side."
"I'll carry one."
"You shall have 'em both, sir, when I'm tired and want a bit of a rest.
Now then, ready, sir?"
"Yes."
"Then shoulder arms: march!" They made for the ridge of lava, climbed
upon it without much difficulty, and began to ascend the gradual slope
it formed, till they were shut in by the trees rising on either side,
when the darkness became so intense that their progress was very slow,
and they had to depend a good deal upon their spears used as
alpenstocks. But one great need urged them on, and it chased away the
thoughts of pursuit, and of the risks they were running. This need
acted as a spur, which kept them crawling up the solidified river for
fully a couple of hours, which were diversified by slips and falls more
or less serious.
At last, as the lava flood took a bend round toward the north, they
became aware of a bright glow high above their heads, where the summit
of the volcano must be, and after a remark from Ned that it looked as if
a bit of the sunset was still there, Jack grasped its meaning.
"It's the reflection of the fire that must be burning up at the top of
the mountain."
"Think so, sir? Well, I suppose it's too far off to hurt us. That's
miles away."
"Yes; but we are walking on one of the rivers which ran down, and these
stones we keep kicking against were once thrown out."
"Ah, you've read a lot about such things, sir; I haven't. Then you say
it's all fire up there?"
"Yes, Ned; look, it's getting brighter."
"Then what's the good of our expecting to find water?"
"Because so many springs rise in mountains, and so much water condenses
there. Hark! what's that?"
Ned listened.
"Can't hear anything, sir."
"Not that?" cried Jack, whose senses seemed to be sharpened by his
needs.
"No, sir, nothing at all."
Jack made no remark, but pressed on with more spirit than he had before
displayed. Then he stopped short in the darkest part they had
encountered, a place where the trees encroached so much from the forest
on either side that they seemed to be completely shut in.
"Now can you hear it, Ned?" cried the boy triumphantly.
"Yes, sir, I can hear it now--water, and a lot of it falling down the
rocks. It must be there just below."
Ten minutes after they had lowered themselves down amongst the trees, to
where in the darkness they could lie flat at the edge of a rocky basin,
scooping cool, sweet water with one hand, and drinking with a sense of
satisfaction and delight such as they had never experienced before.
"There, Mr Jack," said Ned joyously, "I don't know what you think, but
I say that it's worth going through all the trouble we've had for a
drink like that. Here goes again."
He bent down over the stone basin, scooping up the water with his hand.
"Have another, Mr Jack, sir," he cried. "That first one was nothing.
It's coming down over the fall sweeter and fresher than ever."
Jack, nothing loth, went on drinking again, but in a more leisurely
manner.
"That's it, sir; have a good one. We shall be wanting it to-morrow,
when perhaps we can't get any. Fellow ought to be a camel in a place
like this, and able to drink enough to last him a week. Go on, sir; I
feel as if it's trickling into all kinds of little holes and corners
that had got dried-up. Think it goes into your veins, because I'm
getting cosy now, right to the tips of my toes, where I was all hard and
dry."
"I've had enough now, Ned," said Jack with a sigh, as if he were sorry
to make the announcement.
"Don't say that, sir. We've got no bottles, so we must take what we
want inside. Have another drink, sir, so as to get yourself well
soaked, then you'll be able to stand a lot. I didn't like to howl about
it, so as to put you out of heart when you were as bad as me; but my
mouth was all furred inside like a tea-kettle, and as for my throat, it
was just as if it was growing up, and all hard and dry."
"That was just as I felt, Ned."
"I thought so, sir. Hah!" with a loud smack of the lips. "I've tasted
almost every kind of wine, sir, from ginger up to champagne, and I've
drunk tea and coffee, and beer, and curds and whey, thin gruel, and
cider, and perry, but the whole lot ain't worth a snap compared to a
drink of water like this; only," he added with a laugh, "you want to be
thirsty as we were first. Done, sir?"
"Yes, quite, Ned."
"Then I tell you what, Mr Jack, sir; we'll try and hunt out a snug
place somewhere close handy and have a good sleep."
"I don't feel sleepy, Ned. I want to get back and end my father's
terrible suspense."
"So do I, sir; but I put it to you--can we do anything in the dark
to-night?"
"No. There is only the satisfaction of trying."
"Yes, sir; but you have to pay a lot for it. Say we try for home now--
that's all we can do,--shan't we be less fit to-morrow?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Very well then, sir; it's a lovely night, let's have a good sleep.
Then as soon as it's light we'll set to work and eat one of these
sleeves of potatoes, come down here again, and take in water enough to
last us for the day, or till we find some more, and try all we can to
get down to the shore somehow or another. By this time to-morrow night,
if I don't find some way of showing that a white man can manage to live
where a black can, my name's not what it is."
It was rough work searching for a resting-place, and the best they could
find was upon some rough, shrubby growth, not unlike heather, in a
recess among several mighty blocks of stone. But if it had been a
spring bed, with the finest of linen, they could not have slept better,
or awoke more refreshed, when the forest was being made melodious by the
songs of birds. The mountain top was beginning to glow, and just below
there came the soft tinkling splash of the falling water.
"Morning, sir," cried Ned, springing up. "Your shower-bath's waiting,
sir. Come along, sir. Do us no end of good to have a dip. We shall
take in a lot of water that way, and get rid of the dust that choked us
yesterday."
Jack needed no farther invitation, and upon descending the sides of the
stone river, there was the natural bath ready to send a thrill of
strength through them, for the rivulet came down in a series of little
falls each having its well-filled basin.
There was the drawback that there were no towels to use, and Jack said
so.
"What, sir?" cried his man. "You don't mean to say that you would have
used a towel if you had had one!"
"Why, of course. Why not?"
"Been waste of so much water. Let it soak in gradual, sir. You'll want
every drop by and by. You wait till we get out in the sun. Just think
of how we were yesterday."
Ten minutes after they were seated beneath a tree, discussing their
potatoes, eating away with a glorious appetite till about half of one
sleeve-full had been demolished, when Jack cried, "Hold!"
"Why, you ain't had enough yet, sir?"
"No, but we will keep these till by and by when we are hungry again."
"But I'm hungry now, sir," cried Ned; "and they'll be so much easier to
carry after we've eat 'em--we shall have got rid of the skins."
"Never mind, don't let's be improvident."
"But I'm pretty sure to spear or shoot a pig to-day for supper, sir."
"Then the potatoes will come in all the more useful as we have no
bread," said Jack, smiling. "Let's go now, and climb to that little
basin, to have a good draught of water."
"All right, sir; what you say's best, but it's hard work leaving those
beautiful little 'taters. They make you feel as if you could go on
browsing like all day long."
But the rest were carefully tied up in the sleeve, a good hearty draught
of the cool refreshing water taken, and they descended once more to the
natural road.
"The breakfast makes one feel different, Ned. I am not nearly so
low-spirited this morning."
"Low-spirited, sir? Why, I could run and shout _Hooray_, I feel so
well. Look at that arm, sir! Who's going to feel mis'rable when he's
got his strength back like that. Ready, sir?"
"Ready? Yes," cried Jack. "Now then, we must make up our minds to get
back to the yacht to-day."
"That's it, sir; but if you see me run mad-like, and go off with my
spear, you come and help me, for it means pig."
They started once more, following the course of the lava-stream, with
its steady ascent, and at every turn Jack looked back longingly, feeling
as he did that they were going away, but knowing that the longest might
prove in the end the shortest road. They kept on, waiting for the time
when they found that the great flow of fiery molten stone had
encountered an inequality which had made it divide into two streams, the
further of which might lead them down to the sands somewhere far from
the yacht.
But mid-day with its burning sun had come, and the intense heat
compelled them to stop and rest beneath a clump of trees, which struck
them both as being more dwarfed in appearance, though their growth was
luxuriant and beautiful. The forest, too, had become more open, there
were glades here and there, and it was possible, if they had been so
disposed, to have left the stony road and threaded their way among the
bushes.
"Why, if we are forced to keep on like this much longer, Ned, we shall
reach the crater."
"Well, why not do it, sir? Once up there we can look all over the
island, and choose our way down straight to the yacht."
"I should like to do it now we are so high," said Jack; "but we must
only think of getting back."
"And getting our suppers, sir," whispered Ned, as he pointed toward a
rocky ridge high up above the lava-stream to the left, where seen
against the sky-line, as they browsed on the herbage among the rocks,
there was a group of about half-a-dozen goats, two of which were
evidently kids, while one was a patriarch with enormous curved horns.
"Now, Mr Jack," whispered Ned; "we had some practice with our bows and
arrows yesterday; this time we must do it at any cost."
"Yes, Ned," whispered back the lad excitedly. "It may mean the strength
to escape."
The next minute, bow and arrow in one hand, spear in the other, they
were carefully stalking the herd by creeping upward among the trees and
blocks of tumbled-together volcanic stone, which gave them the
opportunity of climbing up within easy shot unseen.