What had thus suddenly made the Malays take to flight remained a
mystery. Forgetting my own wound, my first impulse was to run down and
see after Oliver. I met Emily, who threw herself into my arms.
"He is better, he is better!" she exclaimed. "The good Frau has, I
believe, saved his life."
"We are all saved, my dear sister," I said. "The enemy have taken to
flight, and we hope will not come back again."
"And he will be saved--he will not die," she again said, leading me to
where Oliver was lying on a bed of leaves.
The Frau had torn off his jacket and shirt, and I found that, like Queen
Eleanor, who saved her husband's life, she had been sucking the poison,
if there was any, from the wound, and was now carefully bathing it.
"I do not think I am much hurt," said Oliver, looking up as I entered.
"The good Frau has tended me so kindly and carefully, that I am sure I
shall soon get better."
When the Frau had finished with Oliver, I begged her to look at my head,
and, greatly to my relief, I found that the point of the arrow had not
entered the flesh; the pain was caused by the shaft, which had passed
over my head, only carrying away some of the hair. While the Frau was
making the examination, Emily and Grace stood trembling, watching the
result. Emily now threw herself on my neck and burst into tears, while
little Grace took my hand, and exclaimed,--"I am so thankful! I am so
thankful that neither you nor Oliver are likely to suffer."
"And now, my kind Frau," said Mr Sedgwick, coming down, "perhaps you
will look at my little hurt. You are the best doctor of the party, and
it strikes me that I have a bullet somewhere in my shoulder."
"Well, then, you lie down there," she said, placing him on the ground,
and kneeling down by his side after he had taken off his coat and shirt.
"Let me see. Yes, here is the hole the bullet came through."
I looked, when, to my surprise, I saw a little blue mark, scarcely
larger than a pea, and could not believe that a bullet had passed into
it.
"Yes, it come in there," she continued; "I see. Hillo! here it is,
though;" and she touched a large lump which appeared just behind the
shoulder. "Oh, I got knife. Now you no squeak out, sir;" and taking a
sharp knife from her pocket, she made a cut across the flesh, when out
popped the bullet almost into the mouth of the faithful Tanda, who had
followed his master, and was eagerly watching the operation. An
abundant supply of cool water was then applied, and plasters put on.
"There, you stay quiet a little, sir, and you soon get well," she said;
"but stay, I want to pull out the bit of shirt that go in--not much,
though." Indeed, the hole in the shirt was not much larger than that in
the flesh; but still it was evident that some portion had been torn
away. My uncle could hardly refrain from crying out as the Frau probed
the wound. She, however, succeeded in finding the piece of cotton.
Fortunately the jacket had flown open at the moment, so that nothing
else had gone in. "There, you healthy man; you be well in a few days--
no fear," she said.
Seldom has a desperate battle been fought with so few casualties on one
side, though, to be sure, a third of our party might have been put down
as wounded. We had reason to be thankful; but still I could not help
dreading that the Malays might return. Mr Sedgwick was about to
despatch Tanda, when Mr Thudicumb proposed that we should hoist our
post, and endeavour to ascertain what was the cause of their flight. By
means of the coir-rope we had prepared, it was soon hoisted up, and
stepped in its place more securely now than at first, because there was
no necessity for again lowering it. Roger Trew was very speedily at the
top.
"Hurrah!" he shouted; "hurrah! The prows are shoving off to sea,
pulling away like mad! Yes, there's the reason too--a large
square-rigged, white-sailed vessel coming round the point. By her look,
too, she is English; and they know pretty well that if they were to be
caught by her, their day of pirating would be over. Hurrah! hurrah!"
As may be supposed, we were all eager to mount to the top of the post,
and have a look at the stranger. Mr Thudicumb with his spy-glass
followed Roger.
"Yes, there is no doubt about it. She is a British man-of-war; and I
daresay she has been cruising in search of these very fellows. They are
all off, though; yes--five, six, eight prows, making their way to the
eastward. She will see our flagstaff on the rock, I hope, and send in
here. But I forgot; the pirates carried that away."
Thus he continued making his observations. We all stood eagerly round
him, though the ocean was hid from us.
"She has caught sight of the prows," he exclaimed, "and is making more
sail. They are, however, well to windward of her, and I am afraid she
will have a hard job to catch them up. Perhaps she will make a tack in
here; and if so, she will see us."
"Would it not be as well to hoist a signal on the Flagstaff Rock, to
supply the place of the flag carried off?" observed Mr Hooker.
"Of course, of course," was the answer; "and the sooner we do so the
better."
As we knew that the house had been burned down, and no accommodation was
to be found on the shore, it was agreed that the ladies, with Oliver and
Potto Jumbo, Mr Sedgwick and Tanda, should remain at the fort, in case
any stray Malays might have failed to get off. It was important also to
drag away the dead bodies as soon as possible. In a very few hours they
would render the fort scarcely bearable; besides which they would be
certain to attract beasts of prey. Tanda and Potto Jumbo undertook to
perform this unpleasant work, and to bury them in some soft ground at
the bottom of the hill. The rest of us then set off to the sea-shore,
carrying a large sheet which had been saved from the wreck to act as a
signal.
"And Hooker, my dear fellow--Hooker," exclaimed my uncle, as we were
starting, "do let me know as soon as possible if our treasures have
escaped; it would be heartbreaking to lose them. Send up Walter as soon
as possible. The knowledge that they are safe would bring me round
quicker than anything else, and recompense me for what we have gone
through."
"Depend on me," answered his brother naturalist. "I hope it will be all
right; though probably, had the pirates not found their way to the fort,
they would have discovered our stores."
We now hurried down the hill, and made the best of our way along our
river road to the shore. As we passed the spot where the house had
stood, a heap of cinders alone remained, still smouldering. It was
surprising, indeed, that the trees had escaped. Had they caught fire, a
large portion of the forest, if not the whole of the woods on the
island, might have been burned. We were thankful we had escaped such a
fearful calamity. On our way we found the apparently dead body of a
pirate. I was going up to him, when Mr Thudicumb called me back.
"Stay, stay, Walter!" he cried. "If he is not dead, he may take his
revenge on you, even though at the last gasp."
I drew back just in time, for I thought I saw the man's eye move. Dick
Tarbox came on the next moment, when the seemingly dead Malay started
up, and made a rush at me, with his sharp kriss in his hand. But the
exertion was too much for him: just as he reached me he fell back, his
wound bursting out afresh, and the next instant he gave a gasp, and was
dead. It showed the desperate character of the men with whom we had had
to contend, and increased our gratitude that we had escaped falling into
their hands. Two more we found close to the beach, who had been left
behind by their companions in their hurry to embark. One was already
dead; the other, though badly wounded, still breathed. We approached
him cautiously. Roger Trew was on the point of lifting up his musket to
give him his quietus, when Mr Hooker called to him.
"He knows no better, poor wretch!" he said. "If he were our greatest
enemy, we should do our best to save him; only let us take away from him
the power of doing mischief."
"You are right, sir; I forgot that," said Roger Trew.
The pirate's kriss was in his hand, but his arm was too weak to lift it.
We removed his weapon, when Mr Hooker addressed some words to him,
which made the pirate open his eyes wide with astonishment.
"I have told him we will not hurt him," said our friend, "and if we can
do him any good, we will. I do not think he quite believes us; but
here, fortunately, I have brought some water. He is suffering from
thirst; lift up his head, and I will pour a few drops down his throat."
This was done; and Mr Hooker--asking me to watch the man, after we had
placed him higher up on the beach--giving me his flask, hurried off with
the rest of the party to the Flagstaff Rock.
I confess I was somewhat disappointed, as I thought I should be able to
get a better view of the movements of the English ship from thence. I
continued, however, to apply the flask to the man's mouth, he every now
and then making signs that he was suffering from thirst. I looked out
seaward, where I could still see the ship, and she seemed to me to be
standing towards the shore. How eagerly my heart beat with the thoughts
of being once more on board, and on my way to a civilised land! Not
that I was weary of my stay on the island; but I knew how anxious
Captain and Mrs Davenport must be about their daughter: and she, too,
poor girl, was pining sadly for them.
I lost sight of the party for some time, till at length I saw them
clambering up on a point of the rock where our flagstaff stood. It was
still there, though the flag had been carried away. Presently I saw
Roger Trew mounting to the top to re-reeve the halliards; and then up
went the huge white cloth, which flew out in the breeze against the
dark-green foliage of the forest. That surely must be seen, I thought.
The party stood round it, keeping their telescopes fixed on the distant
ship. Presently I saw that some movement was taking place on board.
Alas! the ship was tacking, and away she stood from the island. Perhaps
she will tack again, and once more stand in for the shore, I thought.
With difficulty could I take my eyes off her, to attend to the wounded
Malay. His low voice asking for water again drew my attention to him.
Although his brow was low and his eyes somewhat close together and
turned inwards, the expression of his countenance was not so bad as that
of many of his people; and I thought even that he gave a smile of
gratitude as I occasionally let a few drops of water trickle down his
throat.
The ship stood on and on. Once more she tacked, and my hopes revived.
She was, however, by this time a considerable distance along the coast,
and I could scarcely hope that our signal had been seen. I had been
keeping my eyes on her for some time, without turning my head, when I
heard voices, and looking round, I saw Mr Hooker and his party coming
towards me.
"No chance of getting off this time, I am afraid," said Mr Thudicumb.
"We shall have to build our vessel, and the sooner we set about it the
better."
"We must, however, put a house over our heads in the meantime," said Mr
Hooker. "This poor fellow, too, if we are to be instrumental in
preserving his life, must be cared for."
"Of course, sir," said Roger Trew. "We will have a hut up for him in no
time; and then, as it will be better to be near the shore instead of
remaining on the hill, we must get one set up for the young ladies and
the old Frau."
"Very right, my lad," said Mr Hooker. "But now, while you attend to
the wounded man, Walter and I will go and look for our treasures, and
ascertain whether they have escaped discovery by the pirates."
How eagerly Mr Hooker, whom I followed, looked round him on every side
as we proceeded to the hiding-place, lest he should discover any signs
of its having been visited!
"Alack! alack! I am afraid some of them have been here," he said. "Oh,
what mischief they may have done!"
We reached a hollow under the bank of a dry stream. Alas! the boughs
had been pulled away, and it was very evident that it had been entered.
The first thing we came upon was the jar which had contained the
nautilus: it was open and empty. The arrack had been carried off, and
the mollusc lay, entirely destroyed, on one side.
"This is sad--very sad! Oh, what a loss!" exclaimed Mr Hooker. "I
hope we may discover that no worse mischief has been done."
We went in, almost falling over a case which had been opened. Mr
Hooker examined it anxiously. It had not been disturbed, but after
being opened, the top had been allowed to fall down again. The other
cases were in the place where we left them. We now examined them. Mr
Hooker uttered a shout of joy as he found that all had escaped. It was
evident that the Malays had intended carrying off the cases, but had
been frightened away before they could accomplish their object.
"Now, Walter, run up to your uncle with the good news," exclaimed Mr
Hooker. "He said it would restore him, and I am sure it will. But do
not go without your fowling-piece, though. We have had examples of the
savage creatures to be met with in the woods."
I hurried along as fast as my legs would let me. I knew the delight the
announcement would give my uncle. I took the path we had so often
followed; keeping, as may be supposed, a bright look-out on either side,
lest I might encounter a wild beast or serpent. Emily saw me coming,
for she was on the watch, and ran down the hill to meet me. She gave a
good account of Oliver.
"I am so thankful," she said; "he does not seem to have suffered from
that fearful arrow. I little knew at the time what a risk you were all
running; but I now see how mercifully we have been preserved."
Our uncle had been sleeping, but he started up when he heard me speaking
in the fort.
"And our treasures, have they escaped, Walter? Are my collections all
safe?" he asked eagerly.
I told him that all his things had been uninjured, and that one case
only of Mr Hooker's had suffered, besides the nautilus.
"Nautilus, did you say? Has that been destroyed? Oh, those atrocious
villains! That prize on which I set such value! Well, Walter, you must
try and catch me another; you cannot render me a greater service. Alas!
alas! that I should have lost that one, and all for the sake of the
arrack in which it was preserved!"
I assured him that I would do my best to try and catch another, as I was
certain would also our companions.
"If poor Macco had been with us, I should have had more hope," I said.
"I never met a more expert fisherman, and I am sure he would have
devised some means, though we might fail."
He seemed to take much less to heart the information that the English
ship had passed by; indeed, I suspect he was very unwilling to leave the
island till he had re-collected more of the specimens which had been
left in the house and destroyed. As yet we could not tell whether the
pirates had discovered our store of timber for building the vessel, as
we had not had time to visit the bay; nor, indeed, whether the boat had
escaped their sharp eyes. That had been hidden among the rocks at some
distance from the place where we usually landed, and might possibly, we
hoped, not have been seen.
Late in the evening the rest of the party returned. They had given up
all hopes of again seeing the vessel, and they came to ask Mr Sedgwick
whether he would like to be carried down to the sea-shore.
"Certainly, certainly," he answered; "though I think I can walk. The
lad here--Oliver--must be carried; and if I fail, I will get you to help
me. But the sooner we commence building a house the better. I suppose
some time must pass before the vessel can be got afloat, and we can be
comfortable in the meantime Tanda here, who helped me to put up the
other house, will be of great assistance; and with so many hands, we can
soon get it ready."
I forgot to mention the creatures which had accompanied us into the
fort: we had to pull down some of our stockade to let them out. And
now, much in the order in which we had arrived, we returned to the site
of the house; near which we found our friends had put up very
comfortable huts for the reception of Mr Sedgwick and Oliver, and the
ladies.
It was night by the time we arrived. Our two-footed and four-footed
friends seemed delighted to get back to their old location, and began
feeding away eagerly, there being an abundance of provender suited to
their tastes scattered about.
"Up, lads, up!" I heard my uncle shouting out next morning. The sound
made me open my eyes. "Up, lads, up! We have work to do: a house to
put up, and a vessel to build; provisions to collect, and stores to
prepare."
All hands of our little community were soon on foot.
"Yah! yah! yah!" I heard the Frau cry out. "I will prepare breakfast.
You men go and work. Yah!"
With axes, knives, and saws, most of us started for the nearest bamboo
grove, and were soon cutting and hacking away, bringing down the huge
stalks and clearing them of their leaves. Oliver and I, however, went
in search of the boat, promising to join them. We eagerly hastened to
the spot where we had left it, scarcely, however, expecting to find, it
safe. It had escaped discovery, and we returned with the satisfactory
information.
As the stalks of the bamboos were cut down, they were formed into
bundles of a size which we could manage to drag over the ground to the
site of the house. Two of the party, under the direction of my uncle,
dug the holes where the uprights were to be inserted. Mr Hooker and I
undertook to drag the bundles. When we arrived with the first, we found
the Frau, aided by the girls, busily employed in roasting and boiling
before a huge fire which she had kindled. Oliver was still unable to do
any work. He therefore remained at the camp--as I may call it--in the
careful hands of the kind Frau; she or one of the girls being constantly
at his side, either with some cooling beverage, or with some delicacy
which they thought might tempt his appetite. At a little distance, in
the shade of some boughs, lay the wounded Malay. I saw his eyes fixed
on the girls with an expression of wonder. He probably had never seen
any beings so fair and graceful before. I could not help fancying that
he must have supposed them angels from another world; but whether or not
I was right, I have my doubts. When, however, one of them took him a
cup of tea which the Frau had just brewed, he received it with an
expression of countenance which I thought betokened gratitude.
When a number of people are working together with a will properly
directed, it is extraordinary how rapidly work can be got through. We
had a considerable number of the uprights in their places before we sat
down to breakfast. We were not long about our meal, as we were
determined to finish what was necessary to be done as soon as possible.
Having cut down a sufficient supply of bamboos, we next proceeded to
fell several sago-palms, for the purpose of obtaining the leaf-stems for
the walls and partitions, while from the trunks we intended to make a
supply of sago for our voyage. By the evening we had made wonderful
progress with the house, and retired to our temporary huts, satisfied
that we had done a good day's work.
Fitting the leaf-stems into frames occupied a longer time; but as
neatness was not our object, it was done rapidly. Thus in about four
days we had a very respectable house over our heads, capable of holding
all the party. My uncle sighed as he looked about it, though, and
thought of the treasures his former abode had contained. We now brought
back his and Mr Hooker's collections, and stored them in a division
which we called the museum.
"The next thing we have to do is to grow some corn for our consumption,"
said our uncle.
"Grow corn?" I asked. "Why, I did not suppose that we were to remain
here a year till it came up."
He laughed. "A couple of months, or little more, after it is put into
the ground, will be sufficient to produce the ripe corn," he answered.