"Ah!" ejaculated Ned, as he sat wiping the salt spray out of his eyes;
"can't say as I should like to go through that again, Mr Jack, but now
we have done it I like it. My word, how I can brag now to our chaps on
board!"
"Do you think they will try and follow us, Ned?" panted Jack, who spoke
as if he had been running hard.
"Surely not, sir. Never be so mad."
"But I'm afraid they will. My father would never sit there and make no
effort to save us."
Ned was silent for some minutes, and the foam of the breakers on the
reef began to soften as the blacks paddled hard straight out to sea.
A few minutes later it was night, with the stars beginning to shine out
clearly from the purpling sky, and the paddles making the water flash
into phosphorescent foam.
"You're right, Mr Jack," said Ned at last; "Sir John wouldn't mind
running any risk to save us, but he might see that it was only throwing
away a chance to get the boat capsized, and he may have to row back to
the yacht so as to get her out of the lagoon and after us to cut us off
before these black ruffians can get home to where they came from."
"It means slavery after all, Ned," said Jack bitterly. "Why didn't we
jump overboard and--and try to swim to the boat?"
"What the doctor calls `law of self-preservation,' sir," said Ned
quietly. "We'd seen too much in that lagoon, very pretty to look at,
but too many ugly things about in the blue waters. Been just about as
mad as for them to try and follow the canoe. What do you say to making
ourselves comfortable, sir, and having a nap?"
"What, now? At a time like this?" cried Jack.
"Yes, sir, that's what I was thinking, so as to be ready for work
to-morrow."
"I could not sleep," said Jack sadly, as he sat gazing back in the
direction of the reef.
"Very well, sir; then you take the first watch while I go below, only
there ain't no below. It's of no use for you to look back at the reef,
sir, for they couldn't have got through, and if they could this canoe
goes two miles to their one. What we've got to do is to wait for
to-morrow morning, and hope for the best."
Jack said nothing, but he knew that all his companion said was right,
and he sat there silent, while Ned stretched himself in the bottom and
was off soundly to sleep. Almost directly after about half the blacks
withdrew the paddles from the water and lay down in the bottom, leaving
the rest to urge the boat along.
It was hard work in the solitude of that night to keep from giving way
to despair, and to cling to the hope that those in the boat had not
attempted the daring feat performed with the canoe, but had turned back
to the yacht to get her under weigh and come in chase. For always there
came the thought that by morning the canoe would be out of sight, and he
and Ned still on the way to some state of captivity, preserved for
Heaven only knew what terrible fate.
From time to time the resting half of the savages sprung up, summoned by
a thump given with the handle of a paddle, each rower awakening the man
who was to relieve him after about an hour's spell; and Jack watched all
this in a dull, apathetic way again and again, till somehow the long
weary night sluggishly drew near its end. Over and over again an angry
feeling of resentment attacked the watcher, and when the sleeping
savages were aroused he felt disposed to kick Ned and make him wake up
and talk.
But a better feeling soon prevailed. "Poor fellow!" he said to himself;
"why shouldn't he rest and forget all his troubles for a few hours? It
is only selfishness to rouse him."
It was still dark when Ned suddenly sat up. "Morning, sir," he said;
"been to sleep?"
"I? No, Ned, I couldn't sleep."
"That's a pity. I could, like a top. It's done me a lot of good, and
I'm ready now for anything, fighting, swimming, or breakfast, specially
the last. Hot coffee, toast, fried ham, or a bit of fish. Not
particular. Don't do to be when you're at sea."
"You don't seem to trouble much about our position, Ned," said Jack
bitterly.
"Not a bit, sir. What's the good? Don't make it any better to go on
the dump. It can't last. It's like the weather--either gets better or
it gets worse. My word, what a fine thing a bit o' sleep is! Bit cool
though. Always is just before sunrise. Seen anything of the yacht,
sir?"
"Bah! Impossible! How could I?"
Ned said nothing, but glanced at the dimly-seen paddlers working away,
and at the sleeping party who were in the bottom of the canoe, and then
turned his attention astern.
"Wonder where they are taking us, sir," he said. "There must be a big
island somewhere out in this direction, and--"
He became silent so suddenly that Jack turned to him in surprise, and
saw that he was gazing fixedly over the stern of the canoe into the
black darkness, for there was no sign of the coming day.
"What are you thinking?" said Jack at last.
"That I shall have to report you to the captain, sir, for not keeping
better watch. I didn't set you to it. You volunteered."
"What do you mean, Ned?" cried Jack excitedly.
"You said, when I asked you whether you had seen anything of the yacht,
`Bah! Impossible! How could I?'"
"Well, how could I in the dark?"
"By keeping a bright look-out, sir. There's her light."
"What!" cried Jack.
"Steady, sir, steady. Don't jump out of the boat."
"But you don't mean--"
"Oh yes, I do, sir. Look yonder."
"Oh, nonsense!" cried Jack bitterly; "that must be a star setting in the
west."
"Well, it may be, sir, and if it is, it's so close down that in another
five minutes it'll be one; but it strikes me that there's a little
lighter look yonder, and that it's the east. Of course I don't know for
certain like, and I've been asleep. Let's watch for a bit. I believe
it's our star as the guv'nor's had lit up to let us know he's coming
after us--that's what I think, sir."
"It is too much to hope," said Jack despondently.
"Not a bit, sir. You can't say but what it's as likely as likely. But
there, we shall soon know. I wonder whether the niggers have seen it
yet."
Evidently they had not, and this, knowing how sharp-eyed they were,
strengthened Jack's belief that it was only a star, and he said so.
"All right, sir," said Ned, after a long watching, "pr'a'ps you're
right; but it's a new kind if it is, for it don't come up nor it don't
go down. Anyhow that's the east, for the sun means to come up there, or
I'm a Dutchman."
They sat watching for about a quarter of an hour longer, and then Jack
exclaimed softly--
"You were wrong, Ned, it was a star, and it has sank out of sight."
"Down in the east, sir?"
"It cannot be the east, Ned, it must be the west."
"Then it's last night again, sir, and that's a speck left up to show
where the sun went down."
As Ned spoke he pointed to where there was a faint flush of light, which
grew warmer and warmer as Jack sat trying to keep from being too
sanguine. Then he turned away and feared to gaze aft any more, oh
account of the blacks, who were paddling steadily away, for against a
pale streak of light in the east, there, plainly enough to be seen, were
the hull and spars of the _Silver Star_, while like a pennon there
floated out behind her a long dark cloud of smoke, telling that her
engine fires were roaring away and her propeller hard at work.
"I was afraid to hope, Ned," whispered Jack. "Think they see us?"
"Think they see us, sir! Why, of course. Mr Bartlett's up in the
main-top with his glass to his eye, you may be sure, and the lads below
are shovelling in the coals as if they cost nothing. Look at the smoke.
I say, see how the niggers are at it. They know. Shouldn't be
surprised if we catch sight of the place we're going to when the sun's
up. All I hope is that it's so far away that they can't reach it."
The sun rose at last, and the mountain became glorified once more, but
it was a long time before a glimpse could be caught of their
destination, and then, like a faint cloud extending right and left for
miles, there was land--dim, low-lying misty land, without a sign of
elevation or peak.
"That's it sure enough, Mr Jack, sir," said Ned, shading his eyes from
the glare of the sea; "and now it's a question of paddles against
screw."
"Yes. Which will win, Ned?"
"Screw, sir. If it was wind and sails in this changeable sort of place
I should be a bit doubtful, but I ain't the least."
A stern chase is always a long one, they say, and to the prisoners it
seemed to be here, and Hope and Doubt alternately held sway, while to
Jack's agony the dim, distant flat land, which by degrees began to
assume the aspect of a long range of extremely flat islands, appeared to
come steadily nearer, while the yacht hardly seemed to stir.
"She will never catch us, Ned," said Jack despondently.
"Go along with you, sir. She'll do it before we get near. Not but what
these fellows paddle splendidly. Hallo! what are they going to do?"
The answer came in the quick hoisting of a couple of low masts and the
same number of matting sails, for the water was beginning to be flecked
by a coming breeze. In addition, the men rapidly rigged out a couple of
bamboos on one side, and lashed their ends to another which lay along
the bottom of the boat, so as to form an outrigger to counteract the
pressure of the sails.
A few minutes later the paddles were laid in, for the great canoe was
gliding through the water faster than the men could propel her.
At last, though, hope began to grow stronger in the prisoners' breasts,
for it was plain now that with full steam on the yacht was rapidly
coming up.
"They'd got no pressure on at first, sir, only enough to send her along
a bit. What do you say to it now?"
"It's in doubt, Ned. They may run us into shallow water where the yacht
dare not come."
"But she dare send her boats, sir. Oh, we're all right now.--If they
don't knock us on the head when they find they're beaten," Ned added to
himself.
The faces of those on board the yacht began now to grow plain as the
mountain seemed to be steadily sinking in the distance, and figures
could be made out on the low shore in front.
"Ned, Ned, look," whispered Jack excitedly. "It's all over with us."
"Why, what for?"
"Can't you see they are getting out two more canoes?"
"You've got better eyes than I have, sir; I can't see anything."
Jack proved to be right, for soon after a couple of great canoes came
through an opening in a line of breakers, and made straight for the one
which bore the prisoners.
"It's going to be a close shave, Mr Jack," said Ned at last. "If they
get near enough to the land they'll win, because the _Star_ won't dare
to follow, but I don't give up yet. Only look here, sir, if matters
come to the worst they'll try and kill us, so be on the look-out. You
can swim now after those lessons I gave you."
"Oh, Ned, only a few strokes. I cannot trust myself," groaned Jack.
"Oh dear! and you a gent, and your education neglected like that. Why,
to be able to swim now, sir, is worth all the Latin and Greek in the
world. But never mind, I can, though all the Greek I know is _quantum
stuff_, and p'r'aps that's Latin. You do as I tell you; the moment you
see that one of the niggers means mischief, over you go; I shall be
there, and I'll help you swim, sir, and the yacht's sure to have a boat
ready to drop and pick us up."
On they went, with the wind sending the canoe rapidly along, and the
blacks sat on the edge to keep her well down, and on the outrigger. The
speed now was wonderful, the long elastic vessel bent and glided like
some live creature over the swell, and had the blacks had another mile
to go, the fate of the two prisoners would have been sealed; but at full
speed now the yacht, with sail after sail shaken out to the help of the
propeller, came up hand over hand, and when pretty close swayed off to
windward, curved round as she glided by, and was once more answering her
helm in the other direction, racing for the canoe's bows, the steering
being so true that the fore-part was forced under water while the stern
rose slowly in the air. "Now for it," said Ned sharply. Jack hesitated
for a moment or two, and then tried to plant one foot upon the side and
leap after his companion; but his momentary hesitation was nearly fatal,
for one of the blacks made a dash at him, caught him by the shoulder,
and struck at him with his raised club.
In his despair the lad forced himself forward, and instead of the head
of the heavy club, it was the man's arm which struck him across the
shoulder, and the next moment they were thrown by the rising of the
stern headlong amongst the struggling crowd as the canoe filled. Then
all was darkness and confusion as the lad felt himself dragged down
lower and lower, till it seemed as if he would never rise again.
Moments are changed to minutes at such times as these, but prolonged as
the agony seemed, he was soon at the surface once more, panting for
breath and beating the water like a drowning dog.
But coolness came with the strong desire for life, and he now struck out
bravely as he saw the water about dotted with the black heads of his
enemies, one and all swimming for the floating wreck of their canoe,
whilst the yacht was far away, and Jack's courage became despair as he
kept on swimming slowly, better than he could have believed, so as to
keep himself afloat.
"That's the way, Mr Jack, sir," came from behind him; "and you said you
couldn't swim."
"Ned," gasped the boy, turning in the direction of the sound, and his
slow, steady strokes became on the instant fast and wild.
"Ah, don't do that!" cried Ned, swimming alongside. "Slow and steady,
sir. Don't wind yourself. There, it's all right; I could keep you up,
but I want you to try yourself. Strike out as I told you last time we
bathed. Slow and steady. Let your legs go down as far as they like.
Never mind if the water comes right up to your mouth; lay your head
sideways and screwed round so that you can look over your right
shoulder, and rest the back of it on the water. That's the way. Think
you're having a lesson in swimming, and do just as I do. See? We only
want to keep afloat till a boat comes from the yacht to pick us up.
Well done, sir. This is the best lesson in swimming you ever had."
Jack took stroke for stroke feebly enough, and kept well afloat, but he
felt all the time that if Ned were not at his side he would have begun
to strike out again in frantic despairing haste, wearied himself in a
very short time, and gone down.
"Man never knows what he can do till he tries, sir," said Ned cheerily.
"It's all right. Just keep your mouth above water while you take a good
long breath, and then shut it again. Lower you are the easier you
float. When you're tired you shall turn on your back, and I'll guide
you."
"Shall we be drowned, Ned?" panted the lad. "We'll talk about that by
and by, sir. We can go on like this easy in the sea for an hour, if you
do as I tell you. Now then, we're not running a race. Just try to
think you're standing in the water, and to move your hands as slowly as
you can. It's all right, Mr Jack, sir. We've escaped. Here's the
yacht coming back to pick us up, and they've got one of the cutters
ready to drop with the men in her. Don't you say nothing. You just
attend to your swimming lesson: I'll do all the talking. I learnt to
swim when I was a little bit of a nipper and went with the boys at
school. They used to pitch me in, so that I was obliged to swim, I can
tell you. That was only fresh water. It's ever so much easier to swim
in the sea--when it's smooth. Mind you, I don't know nothing about it
when it's rough."
"Is the yacht near, Ned?" said Jack huskily. "What's that to you?"
cried the man fiercely. "You mind your lesson. Ought to know better
than that. I want to see you swim well, and you were doing beautiful
before you began to talk. No, you ain't getting tired. If you was, as
I told you, I'd make you float. Ur-r-r!"
Ned uttered a sound like a savage dog, for a panting and splashing had
made him turn his head to see, not six yards behind him, a
fierce-looking black face, with grinning teeth and flashing eyes,
looking the more savage from the fact that, to leave his arms both at
liberty, the black was holding his war-club in his grinning teeth.
The partly submerged canoe, burdened with its clinging crew, was a
hundred yards away, the two which had been launched to her assistance
quite three, and the yacht still two, but cutting the water fast.
Ned set his teeth; and for a brief instant thought of getting out his
knife, but he knew it would be madness to attempt it, and he prepared
with desperate energy for the worst.
"Don't you take any notice of me," he growled fiercely to his young
master. "You keep on swimming. Do you hear?"
In utter ignorance of the peril behind, and influenced in his weakness
and helplessness as a swimmer by one whom he instinctively felt to be at
home in the water, and his master, Jack obeyed, keeping to the slow
stroke with his arms, while his action with his legs was that of the
well-known treading water.
All this was but brief.
After savagely shouting at Jack, Ned drew a deep breath and turned to
meet the black, whose eyes glowed with race hatred as he raised one hand
from the water, took the short melon-headed nulla-nulla club from his
teeth, rose a little higher, and struck at his fellow-swimmer with all
his might.
But it was for dear life. Ned threw himself sidewise, the head of the
club grazed his shoulder as it splashed the water. Then, quick as
thought, Ned retaliated by dashing out his left fist, and struck his
enemy full on the cheek.
But it was a feeble blow, and did no more than make him fiercer as he
turned to renew the attack.
"It's all over!" groaned the poor fellow. "If they'll only pick up the
poor young governor in time!"
A hoarse sob of despair escaped from Ned's breast, as he prepared to
dodge the next blow from the club, meaning not to strike another
nerveless, helpless blow from the water, but to grapple with the black.
"And then it's who can hold his breath longest," he thought. "Oh, why
did I come on a trip like this?"
Thought comes quickly at a time like this.
The club was once more raised and held suspended in the air for a few
moments, the wily black feinting twice over, and making Ned dodge. The
third time he made another quick feint, and was in the act then of
delivering a tremendous blow, when Jack uttered a wild cry, for he had
turned his head to appeal to his companion for help.
At that moment Ned heard a whizz, as if some beetle had suddenly passed
his ear; there was instantaneously a sharp pat, and the moment after the
report of a rifle. The club fell into the water with a splash.
"Hah!" ejaculated Ned, turning on his side, and in a dozen side strokes
he was alongside of Jack once more, as he was making a brave effort to
come to his companion's aid.
"Back, my lad, back!" cried Ned as he swam. "No, no; you're not beaten
yet. Hooray! the boat! They're close here, and--Mr Jack, sir--it's--
it's too much--I--I--Swim, sir, swim--don't--don't mind me!"
The poor fellow's look seemed fixed and staring, his arms refused their
office, and Jack caught at him to try and support him. Then struggling
vainly the water closed over his head, as his starting eyes saw the
flashing of the water thrown up by six oars, and a figure standing
leaning toward him, boat-hook in hand.