"Nothing certain at sea except the unexpected." The truth of this was
sadly exemplified by the terrible calamity which had befallen the _Sea
Flower_--and befallen her so suddenly, too!
Only one week ago she was sailing over a rippling sea on the wings of a
favouring breeze, every wavelet dancing joyously in the sunlight. On
board, whether fore or aft, there was nothing but hope, happiness, and
contentment. Till--
"The angel of death spread his wings on the blast."
Now all is terror and gloom--a gloom and a terror that have struck deep
into the heart of every one who knows what death and sorrow mean.
A breeze has sprung up at last, and both Halcott and Tandy have
reluctantly come to the conclusion that it will be better to steer for
colder weather. So southward the _Sea Flower_ flies, under every stitch
of canvas, with studding-sails low and aloft. Shall the plague be
stayed? Heaven alone can tell!
As it is, the depression hangs like a dark, foreboding cloud over the
ship.
No one cares to talk much by day or by night. The men sit silently at
their meals, with lowered brows and frightened looks. They eye each
other askance; they know not who may be the next. They even avoid each
other as much as possible while walking the decks. Hardly will a man
volunteer to nurse the sick. The hammocks containing these hang on the
lee side, and the crew keep far away indeed.
But they smoke from morn till night.
Halcott himself and little Fitz are the only nurses, and both are worn
out for want of rest. With their own hands they sew up the hammock of
the dead, unhook it, lift the gruesome burden on to the top of the
bulwark, and, while the captain with uncovered head raises his eyes to
heaven and utters a prayer, the body is committed to the deep, to be
torn in pieces next minute by the tigers of the sea.
Poor little Nelda! She is as merry as ever, playing with Bob or the
'Ral on the quarterdeck, and it is strange, in this ship of death, to
hear her musical voice raised in song or laughter in the midst of
silence and gloom!
No wonder that, hearing this, the delirious or the dying fancy
themselves back once more in their village homes in England.
Nelda wonders why the captain, who used to romp and play with her, tries
all he can now to avoid her; and why little Fitz, the curious,
round-faced, laughing, black boy, with the two rows of alabaster teeth,
never comes aft.
Halcott himself never goes below either. He insists upon taking his
meals on deck. Nor will he permit Tandy or Ransey to come forward. If
_he_ can, he means to confine the awful plague to the fore part of the
ship.
They say that in a case of this kind it is always the good who go first.
In this instance the adage spoke truly.
Terrible to say, in less than a fortnight no less than thirteen fell
victims to the scourge. But still more, more awful, the crew now became
mutinous.
Luckily, all arms, and ammunition as well, were safely stored aft.
Durdley was chief mutineer--chief scoundrel! Out of the fourteen men
left alive, only four were true to the captain, the others were ready to
follow Durdley.
This fellow became a demon now--a demon in command of demons; for they
had found some grog which had been in charge of the second mate--who was
dead--and excited themselves into fury with it.
Durdley, the dark and ugly man, rushed to the screen-berth where Halcott
was trying to ease the sufferings of a poor dying man.
He was as white as a ghost; even his lips were pale.
Beware of men, reader, who get white when angry. They are dangerous!
"Here, Halcott," cried Durdley, "drop your confounded mummery, and
listen to _me_. Lay aft here, my merry men, lay aft."
Nine men, chiefly Finns and other foreigners, armed with ugly knives and
iron marline-spikes, quickly stationed themselves behind him.
"Now, Halcott, your game's up. You brought this plague into the ship
yourself. By rights you should die. But I depose you. I am captain
now, and my brave boys will obey me, and me alone.
"You _hear_?" he shouted, for Halcott stood a few paces from him, calmly
looking him in the face.
"I _hear_."
"Then, cusses on you, why don't ye speak? You'll be allowed to live, I
say, both you and Tandy, on one condition."
"And that is--?"
"That you alter your course, and steer straight away to the nearest
land--the Falkland Isles--at once."
"I refuse. Back, you mutinous dog! back! I say. Would you dare to
stab your captain? Your blood be,"--here the captain's revolver rang
sharp and clear, and Durdley fell to the deck--"on your own cowardly
head."
There was a wild yell and a rush now, and though the captain fired again
and again, he was speedily overpowered.
The revolver was snatched from his hand, and he was borne down by force
of numbers.
But assistance was at hand.
"Now, lads, give it to them! Hurrah!"
It was Tandy himself, with the four good men and true, who had run aft
between decks to inform the mate of the mutiny.
All were armed with rifles, but these they only clubbed. So fiercely
did they fight, that the mutineers speedily dropped their knives and
iron marline-spikes, and were driven below, yelling for mercy like the
cowards they were.
The captain, though bruised, was otherwise intact. Nor was Durdley
dead, though he had lost much blood from a wound--the revolver bullet
having crashed through the arm above the elbow, and through the outside
of the chest as well. But two Finns lay stark and stiff beside the
winch.
Even to tragedy there is always a ridiculous side or aspect, and on the
present occasion this was afforded by the strange behaviour of Bob and
the Admiral during the terrible _melee_. It is not to be supposed that
Bob would be far away from his master when danger threatened him.
Seeing Ransey Tansey, rifle in hand, follow his father to join in
repelling the mutineers, it occurred to him at once that two might be of
some assistance. It did not take the faithful tyke a moment to make up
his mind, but he thought he might be of more use behind the mutineers
than in front of them. So he outflanked the whole fighting party, and
the attack he made upon the rear of Durdley's following was very
effective.
The 'Ral could not fight, it is true, but his excitement during the
battle was extreme. Round and round the deck he ran or flew, with his
head and neck straight out in front of him, and his screams of terror
and anger added considerably to the clamour and din going on forward.
The poor bird really seemed to know that men were being killed, and
seeing his master engaged, he would fain have helped him had he been
able.
Of the ten men then who had mutinied three were wounded, including the
ringleader, two were dead, and the remaining five were now taken on deck
and roped securely alongside the winch to await their sentence. The
deck was quickly cleared of the dead, and all evidences of the recent
struggle were removed.
Durdley resembled nothing more nearly than a captured bird of prey. He
was stern, silent, grim, and vindictive. Had he not been utterly
prostrate and powerless, he would have sprung like a catamount at the
throats of the very men who were dressing his wounds, and these were
Tandy and Halcott himself.
Yet it was evident that he was not receiving the treatment he had
expected, nor that which he would have dealt out to Halcott had he
fallen into his hands.
"Why don't you throw me overboard?" he growled at last, with a fearful
oath. "Sharks are the best surgeons; their work is soon over. I'd have
served you so, if my lily-livered scoundrels had only fought a trifle
better, hang them!
"Ay, and you too, Mr Tandy, with your solemn face, if you hadn't
consented to take us straight to land!"
"Keep your mind easy," said Halcott, quietly. "I'll get rid of you as
soon as possible, you may be well sure."
"Do your worst--I defy you. But if that worst isn't death, I'll bide my
time. I'd rather die three times over than lie here like a half-stuck
pig."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the fight little Nelda was in terrible distress, and, but for
Janeira, she would doubtless have rushed forward, as she wanted to do,
in order to "help daddy and 'Ansey."
Bob was the first to bring her tidings of the victory.
He came aft at full gallop, almost threw himself down the companion-way,
and next moment was licking the child's tear-bedewed cheeks.
She could see joy in the poor dog's face. He was full of it, and trying
as much as ever dog did try to talk. Perhaps he never fully realised
till now how awkward it is for a doggie to want a tail. But he did what
he could, nevertheless, with the morsel of fag-end he had.
"Don't cry, little mistress," he was trying hard to say, "don't cry.
It's all right now. And it was such fun to see them fighting, and I
fought too. Oh, didn't I bite and tear the rascals just."
Even the 'Ral seemed to know that the danger was past and gone for a
time, and nothing would suffice to allay his feelings save executing a
kind of wild jig right on the top of the skylight--a thing he had never
done before.
But although quieted now, Nelda was not quite content, till down rushed
Ransey Tansey himself. With a joyful cry she flew to his arms, and he
did all he could to reassure her; so successfully, too, that presently
she was her happy little self once more, playing with Bob on the
quarterdeck, as if nothing had happened. Blissful childhood.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The condition of affairs, after the ship had penetrated into the regions
of ice and snow, was not an enviable one, although there was now a rent
in the dark cloud that hovered over the _Sea Flower_--a lull in the
terrible storm.
Durdley was progressing favourably, and making so rapid a recovery that,
in case he might cause more mischief, he was put in irons. But the
other wounded men, probably owing to their weak condition, had died.
The five others were allowed to go on duty. Halcott refused to accept
their offered promise to behave leal and true. What is a promise, even
on oath, from such bloodthirsty villains as these?
"I do not wish either promise or apology," he told them plainly. "Your
conduct from this date will in some measure determine what your future
punishment may be. Remember this, we do not trust you. The four good
Englishmen, who fought for myself and mate, are all armed, and have
orders to shoot you down without one moment's grace if they observe a
suspicious movement on your part, or hear one single mutinous word.
There! go."
The ship's course was altered now, and all sail made to round Cape Horn.
No doubt the cold had been the means of eradicating the dreadful plague.
Yet Halcott was a man whom no half-measures would satisfy.
There was plenty of clothing on board, so a new suit was served out to
every seaman, the old being thrown overboard. Then the bedding and
hammocks were scoured, and when dry fumigated. Sulphur was burned
between decks, and hatches battened down for a whole day. Every portion
of the woodwork was afterwards scrubbed, and even the masts were
scraped. This work was given to the mutineers, and a cold job it was.
The men sat each one in the bight of a rope, and were lowered up or down
when they gave the signal.
Halcott was very far indeed from being vindictive, but long experience
had taught him that mutinous intentions are seldom carried out if active
occupation be found for body and mind.
"I breathe more freely now," said the captain, as Tandy and he walked
briskly up and down the quarterdeck.
"Heigho!" said Tandy, "we no doubt have sinned--we certainly have
suffered. But," he added, "I thank God, Halcott, from my inmost soul,
first that you are spared, and secondly, that my little innocent child
here and my brave boy Ransey Tansey are still alive and happy."
"Amen! And now, Tandy, we've got to pray for fine weather. We are
rather underhanded--those wretched Finns may break out again at any
moment. They will, too, if not carefully watched."
"You have a kinder heart than I have, Halcott, else you'd have made that
scoundrel Durdley walk the plank, and hanged the rest at the yardarm,
one by one."
"The worst use you can put a man to is to hang him," said Halcott,
laughing.
"But will you care to land on the island we are in search of, with these
fellows?" asked Tandy. "Mind," he added, before Halcott could answer,
"I take no small blame to myself for having engaged such scoundrels.
Want of time was no excuse for me. Better to have sacrificed a month
than sail as shipmates with such demons as these."
"Keep your mind easy, my dear friend; I'll get rid of them, by hook or
by crook, before we reach our island."
"It relieves me to hear you say so, but indeed, Halcott, 'twixt hook and
crook, if I had my way, I should choose the crook. I'd give the beggars
a bag of biscuit and a barrel of pork, and maroon them on the first
desert island we come in sight of."
I do not know that Halcott paid much attention to the latter part of
Tandy's speech. He was at this moment looking uneasily at a bank of
dark, rock-like clouds that was rising slowly up to the north and east.
"Have you noticed the glass lately, Tandy?" he said quietly.
"I'll jump down and see it now."
"Why," he said, on returning, "it is going tumbling down. I'll shorten
sail at once. We're going to have it out of that quarter."
There was little time to lose, for the wind was already blowing over the
cold, dark sea in little uncertain puffs and squalls. Between each
there was a lull; yet each, when it did come, lasted longer and blew
stronger than those that had preceded it.
The barque was snug at last. Very little sail indeed was left on her;
only just enough to steer by and a bit over, lest a sail or two should
be carried away.
Of the four trustworthy men, one was Chips the carpenter, the other old
Canvas the sailmaker. The latter kept a watch, the former had been
placed in Tandy's.
It was hard times now with all. Watch and watch is bad enough in
temperate zones, but here, with the temperature far below
freezing-point, and dropping lower and lower every hour, with darkness
and storm coming down upon them, and the dangers of the ice to be
encountered, it was doubly, trebly hard.
It takes a deal to damp the courage of a true British sailor, however,
and strange as it may seem, that very courage seems to rise to the
occasion, be that occasion what it may. But now, to quote the wondrous
words of Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner--"
... "The storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong;
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.
"With sloping masts and dipping prow.
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head.
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward ay we fled.
"And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold;
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
"And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
* * * * *.
"The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!"
Yes, the good barque _Sea Flower_ was driven far, far to the southward,
far, far from her course; but happily, before they reached the icy
barrier, the wind had gone down, so that the terrible noises in the main
pack which the poet so graphically describes had few terrors for them.
The wind fell, and went veering round, till it blew fair from the east.
A very gentle wind, however, and hardly did the barque make five knots
an hour on her backward track.
Others might be impatient, but there was no such thing as impatience
about Nelda, and little about Ransey Tansey either. Everything they saw
or passed was as fresh and new to them as if they were sailing through a
sea of enchantment.
The cold affected neither. They were dressed to withstand it. The
keen, frosty air was bracing rather than otherwise, and warm blood
circulated more quickly through every vein as they trod the decks
together. How strange, how weird-like at times were the snow-clad
icebergs they often saw, their sides glittering and gleaming in the
sunshine with every colour of the rainbow, and how black was the sea
that lay between!
The smaller pieces through which the ship had often to steer were of
every shape and size, all white, and some of them acting as rafts for
seals asleep thereon--seals that were drifting, drifting away they knew
not, cared not whither.
Sometimes a great sea-elephant would raise his noble head and gaze
curiously at the passing barque, then dive and be seen no more. Shoals
of whales of a small species afforded our little seafarers great delight
to watch. But these went slowly on their way, dipping and ploughing,
and looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. The porpoises
were still more interesting, for they seemed to live but to romp and
play and chase each other, sometimes jumping right out of the water, so
that it is no wonder Nelda imagined they were playing at leap-frog.
Nelda, when told that these were schools of porpoises, said,--
"Oh, well, and school is just let out, I suppose; no wonder they are
happy. And the big whales are their mothers! They are not happy
because they are all going to church, quiet and 'spectable like."
The myriads of birds seen everywhere it would be impossible here to
describe. Suffice it to say that they afforded Nelda great delight.
Bob was as merry as ever; but when one day the 'Ral walked solemnly aft
wearing a pair of canvas stockings right up as far as his thighs, both
Tandy and Halcott joined with the youngsters in a roar of hearty
laughter. There was no more dance in that droll bird, and wouldn't be
for many a long day. "A sail in sight, sah! A steamer, sah!" It was
little Fritz who reported it from the mast-head one morning, some time
after the _Sea Flower_ had regained her course, had doubled the Cape,
and was steering north-west by west.
The stranger lay to on observing a flag of distress hoisted, and soon a
boat was seen coming rapidly on towards the _Sea Flower_.
The steamer was the _Dun Avon_, homeward-bound from San Francisco, with
passengers and cargo.
The captain himself boarded her with one of his men, and to him was
related the whole sad story as we know it. "We have a clean bill of
health now though," added Halcott; "but we are short-handed--one man in
irons, and five more that we cannot trust."
"Well," said the steamer captain, "I cannot relieve you of your black
hats, but I'll tell you what I can do: I shall let you have four good
hands if they'll volunteer, and if you'll pay them well. And I should
advise you to set your mutineers on shore at the entrance to the Strait
of Magellan, and let them take their chance. You're not compelled to
voyage with mutineers, and risk the safety of yourselves and your ship.
Now write your letters home, for my time is rather short."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The four new hands were four hearties, as hard as a mainstay, as brown
as bricks, and with merry faces that did one's heart good to behold.
Was it marooning, I wonder? Well, it doesn't matter a great deal, but
just ten days after this the mutineers were landed, bag and baggage, on
the north cape of Desolation Island, not far from the route through the
far-famed strait. With them were left provisions for six weeks, guns,
ammunition, and tools.
I never heard what became of them. If they were picked up by some
passing ship, it was more than they deserved.
"At last," said Halcott, when the boat returned--"at last, friend Tandy,
an incubus is lifted off my mind, and now let us make--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"All Sail for the Island of Gold."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Book Two.
Book 3--CHAPTER ONE.
"A SIGHT I SHALL REMEMBER TILL MY DYING DAY."
Captain Halcott sat on the skylight, and near him sat Tandy his mate,
while between them--tacked down with pins to the painted canvas, so that
the wind might not catch it--lay a chart of a portion of the South
Pacific Ocean.
At one particular spot was a blue cross.
"I marked it myself," said Halcott; "and here, on this piece of
cardboard, is the island, which I've shown you before--every creek and
bay, every river and hill, so far as I know them, distinctly depicted."
"The exact longitude and latitude?" said Tandy.
"As near as I could make them, my friend."
"And yet we don't seem to be able to discover this island. Strange
things happen in these seas, Halcott; islands shift and islands sink,
but one so large as this could do neither. Come, Halcott, we'll work
out the reckoning again. It will be twelve o'clock in ten minutes."
"Everything correct," said Halcott, when they had finished, "as written
down by me. Here we are on the very spot where the Island of Misfortune
should be, and--the island is gone!"
There was a gentle breeze blowing, and the sky was clear, save here and
there a few fleecy clouds lying low on a hazy horizon.
Nothing in sight! nor had there been for days and days; for the isle
they were in search of lies far out of the track of outward or
homeward-bound ships.
"Below there!"
It was a shout from one of the new hands, who was stationed at the
fore-topgallant cross-trees.
"Hallo, Wilson!" cried Tandy running forward. "Here we are!"
"Something I can't make out on the lee bow, sir."
"Well, shall I come up and bring a bigger glass?"
"One minute, sir!"
"It's a steamer, I believe," he hailed now; "but I can't just raise her
hull, only just the long trail of smoke along the horizon."
Tandy was beside the man in a few minutes' time. "This will raise it,"
he said, "if I can focus aright. Why!" he cried next minute, "that is
no steamer, Tom Wilson, but the smoke from a volcanic mountain or hill."
Down went Tandy quickly now.
"Had your island of gold a chimney to it?" he said, laughing. He could
afford to laugh, for he felt convinced this was _the_ island and none
other. "There wasn't a coal mine or a factory of any kind on it, was
there? If not, we will soon be in sight of the land of gold. Volcanic,
Halcott--volcanic!"
"Keep her away a point or two," he said to the man at the wheel.
"There were hills on the Island of Misfortune, but no signs of a
volcano."
"Not then; but in this mystery of an ocean, Halcott, we know not what a
day or an hour may bring forth.
"Let me see," he continued, glancing at the cardboard map; "we are on
the east side of the island, or we will be soon. Why, we ought soon to
reach your Treachery Bay. Ominous name, though, Halcott; we must change
it."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nearer and nearer to the land sailed the _Sea Flower_. The hills came
in sight; then dark, wild cliffs o'ertopped with green, with a few
waving palm-trees and a fringe of banana here and there; and all between
as blue a sea as ever sun shone on.
"It is strangely like my island," said Halcott; "but that hill, far to
the west yonder, from which the smoke is rising, I cannot recognise."
"It may not have been there before."
"True," said Halcott. But still he looked puzzled.
Then, after bearing round to the north side of the island, past the
mouth of a dark gully, and past a rocky promontory, the land all at once
began to recede. In other words, they had opened out the bay.
"But all the land in yonder used to be burned forest, Tandy."
Tandy quietly handed him the glass.
The forest he now looked upon was not composed of living trees, but of
skeletons, their weird shapes now covered entirely by a wealth of
trailing parasites and flowery climbing plants.
"I am satisfied now, and I think we may drop nearer shore, and let go
the anchor."
In an hour's time the _Sea Flower_ lay within two hundred yards of the
beach.
This position was by no means a safe one were a heavy storm to blow from
either the north or the west. There would be nothing for it then but to
get up anchor and put out to sea, or probably lie to under the shelter
of rocks and cliffs to the southward of the island.
The bay itself was a somewhat curious one. The dark blue which was its
colour showed that it was deep, and the depth continued till within
seventy yards of the shore, when it rapidly shoaled, ending in a
snow-white semicircle of coral sands. Then at the head of the bay, only
on the east side, stretching seawards to that bold promontory, was a
line of high, black, beetling cliffs, the home of those wheeling
sea-birds. These cliffs were of solid rock of an igneous formation
chiefly, but marked here and there with veins of what appeared to be
quartz. They were, moreover, indented with many a cave: some of these,
it was found out afterwards, were floored with stalagmites, while huge
icicle-like stalactites depended from their roofs.
Rising to the height of at least eight hundred feet above these cliffs
was one solitary conical hill, green-wooded almost to its summit.
The western side of the bay, and, indeed, all this end of the island,
was low, and fringed with green to the water's edge; but southwards, if
one turned his eye, a range of high hills was to be seen, adding
materially to the beauty of the landscape.
The whole island--which was probably not more than sixteen miles in
length, by from eight to nine in width--was divided by the river
mentioned in Captain Halcott's narrative into highlands and lowlands.
The day was far advanced when the _Sea Flower_ dropped anchor in this
lovely bay, and it was determined therefore not to attempt a landing
that night. Halcott considered it rather an ominous sign that no
savages were visible, and that not a single outrigger boat was drawn up
on the beach.
Experience teaches fools, and it teaches savages also. Just a little
inland from the head of the bay the cover was very dense indeed; and
though, even with the aid of their glasses, neither Halcott nor Tandy
could discover a sign of human life, still, for all they could tell to
the contrary, that green entanglement of bush might be peopled by wild
men who knew the _Sea Flower_ all too well, and would not dare to
venture forth.
The wind went down with the sun, and for a time scarce a sound was to be
heard. The stars were very bright, and seemed very near, the Southern
Cross sparkling like a diamond pendant in the sky.
By-and-by a yellow glare shone above the shoulder of the adjacent hill,
and a great round moon uprose and sailed up the firmament as clear and
bright as a pearl.
It was just after this that strange noises began to be heard coming from
the woods apparently. They were intermittent, however. There would be
a chorus of plaintive cries and shrieks, dying away into a low,
murmuring moan, which caused Nelda, who was on deck, to shiver with fear
and cling close to her brother's arm.
"What on earth can it be?" said Tandy. "Can the place be haunted?"
"Haunted by birds of prey, doubtless. These are not the cries that
savages utter, even during an orgie. But, strangely enough--whatever
your experience may be, Tandy--I have seldom found birds of prey on the
inhabited islands of the South Pacific."
"Nor I," said Tandy. "Look yonder!" he added, pointing to a
balloon-shaped cloud of smoke that hovered over a distant hill-top, lit
up every now and then by just such gleams of light as one sees at night
penetrating the smoke from some village blacksmith's forge. But yonder
was Vulcan's forge, and Jupiter was his chief employer.
"Yes, Tandy, that is the volcano. But I can assure you there was no
such fire-mountain, as savages say, when I was here last."
"To-morrow," said the mate, "will, I trust, make every thing more plain
to us."
"To-morrow? Yes, I trust so, too," said Halcott, musingly. "Shall we
go below and talk a little?"
"I confess, my friend," Halcott continued, after he had lit his pipe and
smoked some time in silence--"I confess, Tandy, that I don't quite like
the look of that hill. Have you ever experienced the effects of a
volcanic eruption in any of these islands?"
"I have not had that pleasure, if pleasure it be," replied the mate.
"Pleasure, Tandy! I do not know of anything more hideous, more awful,
in this world.
"When I say `any of these islands,' I refer to any one of the whole vast
colony of them that stud the South Pacific, and hundreds of these have
never yet been visited by white men.
"Years ago," he continued, "I was first mate of the _Sky-Raker_, as
bonnie a brig as you could have clapped eyes upon. It afterwards
foundered with all hands in a gale off the coast of Australia. When I
trod her decks, second in command, I was a bold young fellow of twenty,
or thereabouts; and I may tell you at once we were engaged in the
Queensland black labour trade. And black, indeed, and bloody, too, it
might often be called.
"We used to go cruising to the nor'ard and east, visiting islands here
and islands there, to engage hands for working in the far interior. We
arranged to pay every man well who would volunteer to go with us, and to
land them again back home on their own islands, if they _did_ wish to
return.
"On these expeditions we invariably employed `call-crows.'"
"What may a `call-crow' be, Halcott?"
"Well, you know what gamblers mean on shore by a `call-bird' or
`decoy-duck.' Your `call-crow' is the same, only he is a black who has
lived and laboured in Queensland, who can talk `island,' who can spin a
good yarn in an off-hand way, and tell as many lies as a
recruiting-sergeant.
"These are the lures.
"No matter how unfriendly the blackamoors among whom we may land may be,
our `call-rooks' nearly always make peace. Then bartering begins, and
after a few days we get volunteers enough."
"But they do attack you at times, these natives?"
"That's so, Tandy; and I believe I was a braver man in those days than I
am now, else I'd hardly have cared to make myself a target for poisoned
arrows, or poisoned spears, so coolly as I used to do then."
Nelda, who had come quietly down the companion-way with her brother,
seated herself as closely to Captain Halcott as she could. She dearly
loved a story, especially one of thrilling adventure.
"Go on, cap'n," she said, eagerly. "Never mind me. `Poisoned
spears,'--that is the prompt-word."
"These black fellows were not of great height, Tandy," resumed Halcott.
"Savages," said Nelda. "Please say savages."
"Well, dear, savages I suppose I must call them. They were almost
naked, and many of the elder warriors were tattooed on cheeks, chest,
and arms. All had bushy heads of hair, and were armed with bows and
arrows, spears and clubs, and tomahawks.
"But," he added, "it was generally with the natives of those islands
from which we had already obtained volunteers that we had the greatest
trouble. The ship I used to sail in, Tandy, was as honest as it is
possible for such a ship to be, and I never saw natives ill-treated by
any of our crew, though more than once we had to fight in self-defence.
The reason was this. Many ships that had agreed to bring the blacks
back home, broke their promise, which, perhaps, they had never intended
to keep. When they returned to the islands, therefore, to obtain more
recruits, bloodshed was almost certain to ensue. If one white man was
killed, then the revenge taken was fearful. At a safe distance the
whites would bring their rifles and guns to bear upon the poor savages,
and the slaughter would be too dreadful to contemplate. If the unhappy
wretches took shelter in their woods or jungles, these would be set on
fire, till at last a hundred or more of them would fling their arms
away, hold up the palms of their hands in token of submission, or as on
appeal for mercy, and huddle together in a corner like fowls, and just
as helpless. The whites could then pick and choose volunteers as they
pleased, and it is needless to tell you there was nothing given in
exchange.
"Our trouble took place when we returned to an island, having found it
impossible to bring the natives we had taken off back with us. This
they looked upon as cheating, and they would rush to arms, compelling us
to fire upon them in self-defence.
"Well, we were constantly on the search for new islands. The natives on
these might threaten us for a time, but the `call-crows' soon pacified
them. The beads and presents we distributed, coupled with the glowing
accounts of life in Queensland which the `crows' gave these poor
heathen, did all the rest, and we soon had a cargo."
"And this species of trade was, or is, called black-birding, I think,"
said Tandy.
"It was, and _is_ now, _sub rosa_.
"But I was going to tell you of a volcanic eruption. Before I do so,
however, I propose that we order the main-brace to be spliced. For this
is an auspicious night, you know, and I have not heard a jovial song on
board the _Sea Flower_ for many and many a day.
"Janeira!"
"Yes, sah. I'se not fah away, sah."
And Janeira entered, smiling as usual, and as daintily dressed as a
stage waiting-maid.
"Pass the word for Fitz, Janeira, like a good girl."
"Oh, he's neah too, sah. At you' service, sah!"
Fitz had been in the pantry eating plum-duff, or whatever else came
handy. The pantry was a favourite resort with Lord Fitzmantle, and
Janeira never failed to put after-dinner tit-bits away in a corner for
his especial delectation.
"Now, Jane, you shall draw some rum, and, Fitz, you must take it
for'ard. Here is the key, Jane; and, Fitz, just tell them for'ard to
drink the healths of those aft, and sing as much as they choose
to-night."
"Far away then, Tandy and Nelda," said Halcott, resuming his narrative,
"to the west of this island, farther away almost than the imagination
can grasp, so solitary and wide is this great ocean, there used to be a
small island called Saint Queeba. Who first found it out, or named it,
I cannot tell you, Tandy, but I believe our own brig was the first that
ever visited it in a black-birding expedition.
"The population seemed to be about three thousand, and of these we took
away at least one hundred and fifty. The poor creatures appeared to
have no fear of white men, and so we concealed our revolvers and entered
into friendly intercourse with them.
"The island was a long way from any other, and this probably accounted
for its never having been black-birded before.
"We returned from Australia almost immediately again after landing our
recruits, and I for one felt sure the natives would welcome us.
"So we brought extra-showy cloth and the brightest beads we could
procure.
"They did welcome us, and we soon had about half a cargo of real
volunteers.
"We were only waiting for others to come from the interior; for the wind
was fair just then, and we were all anxious to proceed to sea.
"The very evening before the arrival of the blacks, however, the wind
went suddenly down, although, strangely enough, at a great altitude we
could see scores of small black clouds scurrying across the sky.
Finally, some of these circled round and round, and combined to form a
dark blue canopy that gradually lowered itself towards the island.
"Soon the sun went down, a blood-red ball in the west, and darkness
quickly followed. It was just then that we observed a fitful gleam
arise from the one and only mountain the island possessed. Over this a
ball of cloud had hung all day long, but we had taken little notice of
it.
"`I've never seen the like of that before, mate,' said the skipper to
me, pointing at the slowly descending pall of cumulus.
"`Nor I either, captain,' I replied.
"I couldn't keep my eyes off it, do what I would, for dark though the
night was that strange cloud was darker. It seemed now to be sending
downwards from its centre a whirling tail, or pillar, which the gleams
that began to rise higher and higher from the developing volcano lit up,
and tongues of fire appeared to touch.
"`It's going to be a storm of some kind, Halcott,' said my skipper.
`Oh, for a puff of wind, for, Heaven help us, lad! we are far too near
the shore.'
"`I have it,' he cried next minute. `Lower the boats and heave up the
anchor.'
"I never saw men work more willingly in my life before. Even the blacks
we had on board lent a hand, and no sooner was the anchor apeak than
away went the boats, and the ship moved slowly out to sea.
"We had got about three knots off-shore, when, happening to look back, I
saw a sight which I shall remember to my dying day.
"The black and awful whirling cloud had burst. If one ton of water came
down like an avalanche, a million must have fallen, with a deafening
roar like a thousand thunders.
"It seemed as if heaven and earth had gone to war and the first terrific
shot had been fired.
"For a time the mountain was entirely enveloped in darkness; then up
through this blackness rose high, high into the air a huge pillar of
steam. This continued to rise for over an hour, with incessant thunder
and lightning around the base of the hill. Rain, almost boiling hot,
fell on our decks, and hissed and spluttered on the still water around
the ship, compelling us to fly below or seek the shelter of tarpaulins.
"This ceased at last, and now we could see that the volcanic fire had
gained the mastery; for the flames, with huge pieces of stones and
rocks, were hurled five hundred feet at least into the starry sky.
"For many hours the thunderings and the lightnings over that devoted
island and around the hill were such, Tandy, as I pray God I may never
see or hear again. There were earthquakes, too; that was evident enough
from the strange commotion in the water around us, and this was
communicated to the ship. The best sailors on our brig could scarcely
stand, far less walk. Towards morning it had partially cleared,
although the lightning still continued to play, fork and sheet, above
the base of the volcanic hill. We could now see streams of molten lava
pouring down the mountain's side, green, crimson, and violet.
"Very lovely indeed they were. But ah! then I knew the fate of those
unhappy inhabitants was to be a terrible one. It would be a choice of
deaths, for in less than half an hour the isle was one vast
conflagration. We saw but little more of it even next day, for the lava
was now pouring into the sea and a cloud of steam enveloped the scene of
tragedy.
"Our decks were covered with dust and scoriae, and this fell steadily
all that day.
"We had managed by means of the boats to work off and away fully fifteen
miles. This was undoubtedly our salvation; for presently we were struck
by a terrible tornado, and it required all our skill to keep out of the
vortex.
"While it was still raging around us, an explosion away on our port
quarter, where the island would be just then, seemed to rend the whole
earth in pieces. Many of our crew were struck deaf, and remained so for
days. Our ship shook, Tandy, fore and aft, quivering like a dying rat.
She seemed to have no more stability in her then than an old orange box.
"An immense wave, such as I had never seen before, rose in the sea and
swept on towards us. The marvel is that it did not swamp us.
"As it was we were carried sky-high, and our masts cracked as if they
were about to go by the board. Smaller waves followed, and the gale
that brought up the rear drove us far away from the scene of the
terrible tragedy before the sun rose, redder than ever I had seen it
before, for it was shining through the dust and debris of that broken up
island.
"I left the trade soon after this, Tandy. I was tired and sick of
black-birding.
"But in my own ship, two years after this, I visited the spot. The
island was gone; but for more than a mile in circumference the sea was
strangely rippled, and gases were constantly escaping that we were glad
enough to work to windward of.
"But listen! our good little crew is singing. Well, there is something
like hope in that--and in the sweet notes of Tom Wilson's violin. He's
a good man that, Tandy, but he has a history, else I'm a Hottentot.
"Well, just one look at the sky, and then I'll turn in, my friend. We
don't know what may be in store for us to-morrow."
And away up the companion-way went Captain Halcott.
Book 3--CHAPTER TWO.
"I SEE A BEACH OF CORAL SAND, DARK FIGURES MOVING TO AND FRO."
Next morning broke bright and fair. Not a cloud in all the heaven's
blue; not a ripple on the water, just a gentle swell that broke in long
lines of snow-white foam on the crescent shore--a gentle swell with
sea-birds afloat on it. Ah! what would the ocean be to a sailor were
there no birds. The sea-gulls are the last to leave him, long after all
other friends are gone, and the land, like a pale blue cloud far away on
the horizon, is fading from his view.
"Adieu! adieu! away! away?" they shriek or sing, and as the shades of
evening are merging into darkness they disappear. But these same birds
are the first to welcome the mariner back, and even should there be no
land in sight, or should clouds envelop it, the sight of a single gull
flying tack and half-tack around the ship sends a thrill of hope and joy
to the sailor's heart. On the deep, lone sea, too, Jack has ay a
friend, should it be but in the stormy petrel, the frigate-bird, or that
marvellous eagle of the ocean, the albatross itself.
Those birds floating here around the _Sea Flower_ so quietly on the
swell of the sea looked as happy as they were pure and lovely. No
whiteness, hardly even snow itself, could rival the whiteness of their
chests, while under them their pink legs and feet looked like little
twigs of coral.
The morning was warm, the sun was bright; they were moving gently with
the tide, careless, happy. As he stood there gazing seawards and
astern--for the ship had swung to the outgoing tide--Halcott could not
help envying them.
"Ah!" he said half aloud, "you are at home, sweet birds; never a care to
look forward to, contentment in your breasts, beauty all around you."
Then his thoughts went somehow wandering homewards to his beautiful
house, his house with a tower to it, and his lovely gardens. They would
not be neglected though. It was autumn here. It would be spring time
in England, with its buds, its tender green leaves, its early flowers,
and its music of birds. Then he thought of his dog. Fain would he have
brought him to sea. The honest collie had placed his muzzle in his
master's hand on that last sad evening of parting, and glanced with
loving, pleading eyes up into his face.
"Take me," he seemed to say, "and take _her_."
_Her_ was Doris. His--Halcott's--own Doris; the lovely girl for whom he
had risked so much, for whom he would lay down his life; the girl that
would be his own fair bride, he told himself, if ever he returned. Ah!
those weary "ifs!"
But he had looked into the dog's bonnie brown eyes.
"Friend," he had said, "you will stay with Doris. You will never leave
her side till I come back. You will watch her for me."
And he remembered now how Doris had at that moment thrown herself into
his arms, and strained him to her breast in a fit of convulsive weeping.
And this had been the parting.
"What, Halcott," cried Tandy's cheerful voice, "up already! and--and--
why, Halcott, old man, there is moisture in your eyes!"
"I--I was thinking of home, and--well, I was thinking of my dog."
"And your Doris. Heigho! I have no Doris, no beautiful face to welcome
me home. But look yonder," he added, taking Halcott's arm.
Little Nelda stood at the top of the companion-way, the sunlight playing
on her yellow hair, one hand held up to screen her face, delicate, pink,
yet so shyly sweet, and her blue eyes brimful of happiness.
Just one look she gave, then, with arms outstretched, rushed gleefully
towards her father. Next moment she was poised upon his shoulder, and
Tandy had forgotten that there was any such thing as danger or sorrow in
the world.
The two men walked and talked together now for quite an hour. Indeed,
there was very much to talk about, for although they had made the island
at last, they had no idea as yet how they should set about looking for
the gold which they were certain existed there.
They had not made up their minds as to what they should do, when Janeira
rang the bell for breakfast, and with Fitz was seen staggering aft with
the covered dish.
"Jane, you look happier than ever this morning. What is the matter?
Has some beautiful bird brought you a letter from home?"
"De bootiful bird, sah, is Lawd Fitzmantle, and see, sah, dat is de
letter from home."
She lifted the dish cover as she spoke. Beautiful broiled fish caught
only that morning over the stern, but oh, the delicious odour would have
revived the heart of a dying epicure!
"Babs is going to be very good to-day," said Tandy to his little
daughter after breakfast.
"Better than ever, daddy?"
"Yes, much, because I'm going on shore with Captain Halcott here and two
men."
"And _me_?"
"No, not to-day, dear. We're going to climb that high hill and look all
round us, and perhaps put up a flag; and Ransey will let you look
through a spyglass to see us, and we'll wave our hands to you. Now will
you be better than usual?"
"Ye-es, I think I'll try. And oh, I'll make the Admiral look through
the spyglass too, and when you see him looking through, you must wave
your hand and fire your gun. Then we'll all--all be happy and nicer
than anything in the whole world."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was not without a feeling of misgiving that Halcott and Tandy left
the boat that had taken them on shore, and took their way cautiously
towards the bush. There was hard work before them and the two sturdy
fellows, Chips and Tom Wilson, whom they had brought with them--hard
work to penetrate through the jungle and to effect an ascent of the hill
they had already named the Observatory--hard work and danger combined.
The crew of the boat stood gun in hand until they saw the party safe
into the bush, then, more easy in their minds now, rowed slowly back to
the ship. For if savages had been hiding under cover, the attack would
have been made just as the party was stepping on shore.
The exploring party kept to the extreme edge of the bush after
penetrating and searching hither and thither for a time, but neither
track nor trail of savages could they find. But they came across
several little pathways that led here and there through the jungle, and
at first they could not make out what these were. They learned before
long, however; for Bob, who had gone on ahead a little way, came
suddenly and excitedly rushing out from a thicket. In his mouth he held
something that Tandy imagined was a rat, but the shrieking and yelling
behind the dog soon undeceived him, and, lo! there now rushed into the
open a beautiful little boar and a sow. The former flashed his tusks in
the sunlight. He wanted the baby back. It was his, _his_, he said, and
his wife's. He felt full of fight, and big enough to wage war against
the whole world for that baby.
Tandy made Bob drop it, which he did, and it ran squealing back to its
mother. The boar, or king pig, said he accepted the apology, and would
now withdraw his forces. And he accordingly did so by scuttling off
again into the bush. These wild dwarf-pigs and a species of rock-rabbit
were, they found afterwards, about the only animals of any size the
island contained.
After this trifling adventure they fought their way through a terrible
entanglement of bush, till they reached the foot of the hill.
The men had brought saws and axes with them, and were thus enabled by
cutting here and whacking there to make a tolerably good road. When
they reached the hill they found themselves in a woodland of beautiful
trees. Walking was now easy enough, and in about an hour's time they
reached the summit of the hill and sat down to luncheon.
Eager eyes were watching their progress from the ship, for the upper
part of this mount was covered only with stunted grass and beautiful
heaths, among which they noticed many a charmingly-coloured lizard--
green with crimson markings, or pale blue and orange--but they saw no
snakes.
Tandy turned his glass now upon the barque, and there sure enough was
Nelda with the Admiral by her side. He waved his coat, and twice he
fired his gun. From the hill on which they stood the view was lovely
beyond compare. They could see well into the highland part of the
island, with its rolling woods, on which the fingers of autumn had
already traced beauty tints; its bosky glens; its rugged rocks and
hills; its streaks of silvery streams; the lake lying down yonder in the
hollow, with something like a floating garden in its centre; and afar
off the vast expanse of ocean.
Look which way they would, that sea was all before them, only dotted
here and there far to the northward with islands much smaller than the
one on which they stood.
High up on the top of the volcanic hill a white cloud was resting, and
its dark sides were seamed with many a waving line, the channels down
which lava must have run during some recent eruption.
"Ha!" said Halcott presently, "now I can understand the mystery of the
burned forest. At first, when we landed here, we believed that the
black-birders had been ahead of us; but no, Tandy, no, it was nothing
but the lava that fired the forest."
But strangely enough, however, not a sign of human life was anywhere
visible.
Was there any way of accounting for this? "What is your theory,
Halcott?" said Tandy. Halcott was lying on the green turf, fanning
himself with his broad hat.
But he now lit his pipe. Like most sailors, he was capable of calmer
and more concentrated thought when smoking.
"Tandy," he said slowly, after a few whiffs of the too seductive
weed--"Tandy, we have luck on our side. Those blackamoors have fled
helter-skelter at the first signs of the eruption. Nothing in the world
strikes greater terror to the mind of the ordinary savage--and precious
ordinary most of them are--than a sudden convulsion of nature."
Another whiff or two.
"What think you, men," he said, looking round him, "came up with the
fire and the smoke from the throat of that volcanic hill?"
"Stones and ashes," ventured Chips.
"Stones and ashes? Yes, no doubt, but demons as well--so the dusky
rascals who inhabited this island would believe--demons with fire-fierce
eyes, tusks for teeth, and blood-red lolling tongues; only the kind of
demons that at home nurses try to frighten children with, but more
dreadful to those natives than either falling stones or boiling rain.
"That is it, Tandy; they have fled. Heaven grant they may not come
back. But if they do, we must try to give them a warm reception, unless
they are extra civil. Meanwhile, I think that old Vulcan, at his forge
in yonder hill, has not let out his fires. They are merely banked, and
he is ready to get up steam at a moment's notice.
"Why, Tandy, what see you?"
The mate of the _Sea Flower_ was lying flat on the green hill-top, with
his telescope resting on Bob's back.
"I see--I--see," he said, without taking his eye from the glass, "a
little island far away, a level island it is."
"Yes. Go on."
"I see a beach of coral sand, dark canoes like tree-trunks are lying
here and there, and I see dark figures moving to and fro, and many more
around a fire. The beach is banked behind by waving plantain or
banana-trees, and cocoa palms are nodding in the air."
"Then," said Halcott, "I was right, and those savages you see, Tandy,
are the natives of this Island of Gold--for we shall call it the Isle of
Misfortune never again--the very natives, Tandy, who fled from this
place when Vulcan's thunders began to shake the earth."
Slowly homewards now they took their way, and just as the sun was
westering stood once more upon the coral beach. The boat was speedily
sent for them, and they were not sorry to find themselves once more on
board.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fine weather continued, with scarcely ever a breath of wind, for a whole
week. But this could not always be so. The ocean that stretches from
the shores of South America far across to New Zealand and Australia is
Pacific by name, but not always pacific by nature, and terrible indeed
are the gales and circular storms that sometimes sweep over its surface.
So, knowing this, Halcott and Tandy determined to seek, if possible, a
safer anchorage or harbour.
It was with this view that they extended their explorations, and made
little boat excursions round the rocky coast. These last Nelda, much to
her joy, was permitted to join. Looking over the boat's gunwale, far
down into the depths of the clear, transparent water, she could see
marine gardens more lovely than any she had ever dreamt of.
"Oh," she cried, "look, daddy, look! That is fairyland. Oh, I _should_
like to go down and see a mermaids' ball."
After rounding the promontory, with its bold, bluff cliffs frowning
darkly over the deep, they came to the entrance to the river.
This river was fed by springs that rose far inland, and so wide was it
at its mouth that the mariners hoped it would make a most excellent
shelter and harbour for the _Sea Flower_. Alas, greatly to their
disappointment, they found it barred across.
And no other spot could be found around the island coast.
By paying out the anchors; however, which, getting a firm hold of the
coralline bottom, were almost bound to hold, Halcott believed the _Sea
Flower_ could weather almost any storm.
In this he was sadly mistaken, as the sequel will show.
It was determined now to penetrate into the highland part of the isle
itself, and make their first grand plunge for gold. If this could be
found in sufficient quantities, their stay on the island need be but
very brief.
Book 3--CHAPTER THREE.
"WE SHALL ALWAYS BE BROTHERS NOW--ALWAYS, ALWAYS."
"Just there, Tandy," said Halcott, as the two stood together a day or
two after on the brink of a rocky chasm, at the bottom of which the
river swept slowly along, dark and deep, because confined by the wet and
perpendicular rocks--"just there it was where my friend, my almost
brother, plunged over. He had torn up the bridge, as I told you, to
save us from the black men's axes, and so doing sacrificed his life.
Ah, James! poor James!
"See," he added, "the bridge has never yet been repaired."
Then they went slowly and sadly away, for Tandy felt sorry indeed to
witness the grief of his companion.
"How he must have loved him!" he thought. But he remained silent.
Grief is sometimes far too deep for sympathy.
They saw many little pigs to-day and rabbits also, as well as a species
of pole-cat. But having still plenty of provisions on board they did
not hamper themselves by making a bag.
Higher up the stream now they went, and after a time found a place that
could be easily forded, the river meandering through a green and
pleasant valley, studded here and there with fragrant shrubs and
carpeted with wild flowers.
Monster butterflies darted from bloom to bloom--as big as painted fans
they were, and radiantly beautiful; but still more beautiful were the
many birds seen here and there, especially the kingfishers. So tame
were these that they scarce moved even when the travellers came within a
yard of them. Asleep you might have believed them to be till one after
another, with a half-suppressed scream of excitement, they left their
perches to dive into a pool, so quickly too that they looked like tiny
strips of rainbow.
Dinner was partaken of by the side of the stream, and after a time they
crossed the ford.
The country was rough and rolling and well-wooded, though few of the
birds that flitted from bough to bough had any song; they made love in
silence.
The beauty of the colours is doubtless granted them for sake of the
preservation of species, for there are lizards large enough here to prey
upon them, did the birds not resemble the flowers. Their want of song,
too, is a provision of nature for the same purpose.
They found the country through which they passed on their way to the
lake so covered with jungle, here and there, that they had to climb
hills to save themselves from being lost, having brought no compass with
them.
"Ha! yonder is the lake," cried Halcott; "and now we shall see the place
where my dear girl and her mother were imprisoned; and, Tandy," he
added, "we may find gold."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Close here, by the green banks of the little lake, and in a grove, much
to their astonishment, they found a canoe.
To all appearance it had been recently used, for there were the marks of
feet on the grass, and in the canoe--a black dug-out--were a native
tomahawk, a kind of spear or trident, and fishing-hooks of bone, most
curiously formed, and evidently only recently used.
"Look to your guns now, lads," said Halcott, "and keep out of sight;
that island is inhabited."
Just at that moment, as if in proof of what he said, a slight wreath of
smoke came curling up through the foliage of a large-leaved banana grove
on the tiny island.
A council of war was immediately held. The question to be debated was:
should two of their number enter the canoe and row boldly off to the
grass hut, the top of which could be seen peeping grey over the green of
the trees?
This had been Tom Wilson's proposition. He and Chips, he said, would
run the risk. There could not be many savages on the island. With
revolvers in their hands they need not fear to advance under cover of
the rifles of Captain Halcott and Mr Tandy.
"Poisoned arrows," said Halcott, shaking his head, "speed swiftly from a
bush. Spears, too, fly fast, and the touch of either means death!
"No, my good fellows, we must think of some other plan. I cannot afford
to have you slain. If one or two savages would but appear, we could
make signs of peace, or hold them up with our rifles."
From his position at this moment Halcott alone commanded a view of the
islet, which was barely seventy yards away. The three others were
sitting on the edge of the canoe.
"Oh!"
This was a sudden exclamation of half-frightened surprise, and when
Tandy looked up, behold! there stood Halcott in a position which seemed
to indicate a sudden attack of catalepsy. Halcott's shoulders were
shrugged, his clenched fists held somewhat in advance, his head bent
forward, eyes staring, brows lowered, and lips parted.
Halcott was a brave man, and Tandy right well knew it. The sight of a
score of spear-armed savages could not have affected him thus; he might
be face to face with a tiger or a python, yet feel no fear.
Thinking his friend was about to fall, Tandy sprang up and seized his
arm.
Halcott recovered almost at once, and a smile stole over his bold,
handsome, sailor face.
But he spoke not. He could not just then. He only pointed over the
bush towards the island, and Tandy looked in the same direction.
Slowly from out the plantain thicket tottered, rather than walked, the
tall figure of a white man. His long hair flowed unkempt over his
shoulders; he was clothed in rags, and leaned upon a long, strong spear.
He stood there for a moment on a patch of greensward, and, shading his
eyes from the sunlight, gazed across the lake, and as if listening.
Then he knelt just there, with his right hand still clutching the spear,
as if engaged in prayer.
And Tandy knew then without being told that the man kneeling yonder on
the patch of greensward was the long-lost James Malone himself. But no
one moved, no one spoke, until at last the Crusoe staggered to his feet.
This he did with difficulty, moving as one does who has aged before his
time with illness or sorrow, or with both combined.
James had turned to go, when, with a happy cry, Halcott sprang out from
his hiding-place, dragging with him the small canoe and her paddles.
"Ship ahoy! James! James!" he shouted, "your prayers are heard. I'm
here--your old shipmate, Halcott. You are saved!"
The captain sprang into the canoe as he spoke, and soon shoved her off.
They could see now, in a bright glint of sunshine, that James's hair was
long and had a silvery sheen. He gazed once more across, but shook his
head. It was evident he would not credit his senses. Then he turned
round and moved slowly and painfully back into the bush.
Tandy had not attempted to go with Halcott, though the canoe could
easily have held two.
"That meeting," he said to himself, "will be a sacred one. I shall not
dare to intrude."
It was quite a long time after he reached the island and disappeared in
the grove before anything more was seen of Halcott.
Tandy had thrown himself on the beach in a careless attitude, just as he
used to lounge on summer days on the poop of the _Merry Maiden_ while
slowly moving along the canal, and smoking now as he used to smoke
then--smoking and thinking.
But see, Halcott is coming at last. He is leading James by the hand and
helping him towards the boat, and in a few minutes' time both are over
and standing on the bank of the lake.
"Tandy, this is James. But you know the strange story, and this is the
strangest part of all."
Tandy took the hand that was offered to him. How cold and thin it felt!
"God sent you here," said James slowly, and speaking apparently with
some difficulty. "_His_ name be praised. It was for this happy meeting
I was kept living on and on, though I did not know it. It has been a
weary, terrible time. It is ended now, I trust." Here a happy smile
spread over his sadly-worn face, and once more he extended his hand to
Halcott. "Heaven bless you, friend--nay, _brother_!"
"Yes, James, and we shall always be brothers now--always, always."
Book 3--CHAPTER FOUR.