Brace felt an icy chill run through him, and for a few moments he was
paralysed.
Not longer, for directly after a thrill of excitement set every nerve
throbbing.
Laying down his gun, he snatched his knife from its sheath, thrust the
point inside the sleeve of his brother's flannel shirt, ripped it to the
shoulder, and laid bare the great white biceps muscle, in which the head
of an arrow was embedded, so nearly passing through that as Brace placed
his hand beneath the arm he could feel the point of the missile.
"Don't hesitate," whispered Sir Humphrey. "Poisoned or not poisoned,
that arrow must be extracted. Will you cut down to it or shall I let
Briscoe?"
"I'll do it," said Brace, through his set teeth; "but I can't help
hurting you, Free: I must do that."
"Go on. Act," said his brother firmly. "_I'm_ not a child. Cut
boldly."
Brace placed the point of the knife close to the shaft of the arrow, his
hand trembling so that he could not keep the point still. Then he was
as firm as a rock, for the thought came to him that he must be doing
wrong to make so terrible a cut, and he knew that he risked dividing
some important vessel.
The knife fell into the bottom of the boat with a loud jangling sound,
for the right idea had come, and Brace played the surgeon as if he had
been trained to the profession.
Keeping his left hand beneath his brother's arm just clear of the raised
skin where the point of the arrow pressed, he seized the shaft firmly,
gave a sudden thrust, and forced the arrow-head right through, keeping
up the pressure till both barbs were well clear, and with them four or
five inches of the thin bamboo.
"Now, one of you," he cried to Dan, "pick up my knife and cut through
the arrow."
The man grasped the idea, and with one cut divided the shaft, while in
less time than it takes to tell it Brace pulled with his left hand, and
the part of the shaft in the wound was drawn right through, while the
blood began to flow.
The next moment Brace's lips were applied to the wound, first on one
side and then on the other, making it bleed more freely; and this he
supplemented by holding his brother's arm over the side and bathing and
pressing the wound.
"It may be a false alarm, lad," said Sir Humphrey, speaking slowly and
calmly; "but it is as well to take the precaution."
"Yes, of course," said Brace huskily, and his heart sank low and the
chill of dread increased, for as he sucked the wound where the arrow had
entered he was conscious of a strange pungent acid taste, which clung to
his lips and caused a stinging sensation at the tip of his tongue.
He scooped up a little water in the hollow of his hand and then snatched
it away, flinging the water over his brother's face, for he was
conscious of a sharp pricking sensation as if he had scarified the skin
against a thorn.
But he plunged his hand into the water again and raised it quickly to
his mouth to wash away the bitter taste before applying his lips once
more to the wounded arm.
This time the water reached his mouth, but he felt a repetition of the
pricking in his fingers, and to his astonishment two tiny silvery fish
fell into the bottom of the boat, while he found that two of his fingers
were red.
But he had no time to think of self, and he worked hard bathing and
encouraging the bleeding from both orifices of the wound and applying
his lips to them again and again.
Sir Humphrey was sitting motionless in the bottom of the boat with his
back against the side, bearing the pain he suffered patiently, and
lighting bravely to master the mental agony which attacked him with
suggestions of all the horrors that attend a poisoned wound.
Meanwhile Briscoe had not been idle. The keen inquisitiveness of his
nature was now shown in a very different way, for his eyes were
searching the depths of the forest as he peered through the gloom among
the dimly-seen trunks again, and he fired twice in the direction from
which the splashing of paddles had been heard.
He never turned his head nor shifted his eyes for a moment from that
point, reloading by touch alone, while after he had fired the first shot
he took upon himself to give orders to the sailors in a stern, firm
voice.
"Get back to the brig as fast as you can, my lads."
It was not until he had assured himself of the fact that their enemy was
in retreat that he turned for a moment to where Brace was busy with his
amateur surgery.
"That's right," he said; "I shouldn't bandage it up yet. Let it bleed,
in case the arrow was smeared with anything nasty. It's hardly likely
that it was, though."
As he spoke he picked up the barbed head, glanced at it, and then
slipped it into his pocket in the most indifferent way.
"I wouldn't fidget about that," he said to Sir Humphrey. "Most of the
things we hear are old women's tales. Here, hold my gun," he added
sharply to his man.
He thrust an arm round Sir Humphrey, just as his eyes were closing and
he glided slowly along the side of the boat.
The next moment he too leaned over to scoop up some water and trickle it
over the fainting man's face.
"Bah!" he ejaculated, "how sharp they are!" For a little silvery fish,
which in company with a shoal had darted at his finger, fell with a pat
on the wounded man's breast, and lay quivering and leaping till it
disappeared through the grating at the bottom of the boat.
"Does that fainting mean danger?" cried Brace excitedly.
"Oh, no. Let his head go right down, and he'll soon come to."
"But you are of opinion that the arrow was poisoned," whispered Brace,
in a whisper which was expressive of painful anxiety.
"It had been smeared with some stuff by an ignorant savage; but it may
not be poisonous to human beings, and even if it were you've been
drawing it all away from the wound."
"Oh, make haste, men; make haste," cried Brace excitedly.
"Let 'em be, my lad," said Briscoe; "they're doing their best. Come,
keep cool, for your brother's sake."
"Oh, don't talk like that," cried Brace wildly. "Look at him: he's
dying and we right away in the forest like this."
"You keep cool," said the American sternly. "He isn't dying nor
anything like it. Only fainting from the shock, and he'll soon come to.
It won't help him for you to turn hysterical like a girl. You began
right; now keep it up."
"What, shall I go on doing something to the wound?"
"No, I'd let that be now. You must have cleared it from anything that
wiped off as the arrow passed in, and he's a strong, brave fellow.
There, look: he's coming to."
Sir Humphrey's eyelids had begun to quiver, and at the end of a few
minutes he had quite recovered consciousness.
He lay back gazing straight up at the boughs of the trees, beneath which
they were passing more quickly now, for they were gliding along with the
current; but twice over he let his eyes rest upon those of his brother,
and he lightly pressed the young man's hand.
"It's very unlucky," he said. "So unexpected and uncalled for. I
hardly expected that we should have to encounter this."
"They're a treacherous lot," said Briscoe quietly. "It's enough to make
a man fire upon them at sight. Wound hurt much?"
"It feels as if a red-hot iron had been thrust through it," said Sir
Humphrey.
"Glad of it," said the American, who was taking the affair in a very
calm manner.
"What!" exclaimed Brace, as he turned round quickly with flashing eyes.
"Glad of it, sir. Good sign. Fine, healthy pain. Now, if it had felt
numb and dull I shouldn't have liked it, for it would have sounded as if
something nasty was on the arrow. There, you keep a good heart, and
we'll soon have you back on board. Then you can have a few hours'
sleep, and you'll be all right by night."
"I hope so," said Sir Humphrey calmly, and he closed his eyes once more,
while Brace turned his upon his companion with a look full of wild
anxiety, but only to receive a quiet nod and a reassuring smile in
return.
"I don't think there are any more near," said Briscoe, "and I don't want
to have the unpleasant feeling upon my conscience that I've killed a
fellow-creature; but if any more of them send arrows in this direction,
Dan and I will shoot at sight, and we're uncommonly good shots."
He had hardly uttered the last words when there was a sharp whirr as if
a beetle had darted by the speaker's ear, and they could see an arrow
stuck quivering in a tree the boat was just passing, while Dan
immediately sent a charge of buckshot crashing among the leaves.
"That was a bad aim," said the American, facing sharply round, "and I
can't see who sent it. Can you make out a bit of dark skin anywhere
among the bushes, Dan?"
The man shook his head as he quickly reloaded his weapon, and there was
a grumbling murmur in the negative.
The rustling, washing sound of the water beneath the boat as the men
urged it along with all their might, everyone giving a thrust with his
oar whenever he could reach a tree, was now the only thing that
disturbed the silence.
But the opening out of the creek into the river seemed as far off as
ever, and Brace's agony increased as he kept watching for the bright
sunshine flashing from the water, but only to turn his eyes back to
where his brother lay with his face looking very hard and drawn.
"Can't get a glimpse of anyone," said Briscoe; "and I don't think it's
of any use to fire to scare 'em. Whoever fired that last shot must be
on the land, for there's no sign of a boat. Does anyone of you hear
paddling?"
"No, no. We can't hear anything moving," came in chorus.
Then Brace spoke out excitedly: "Surely we ought to be back in the river
by this time! Have we missed our way?"
"Well, I don't like to say we have," replied the American; "but it does
seem a very long time before we get out of this watery swamp. Hold hard
a minute, my lads, and try and make out how the stream runs."
The men ceased thrusting at the tree-trunks as soon as Briscoe had given
the word, and by slow degrees the boat came to a stand, and then began
to float back in the opposite direction to that in which they had been
forcing it.
"Why, we're going wrong," cried one of the men excitedly, springing up.
"Well, never you mind," said the American sharply. "Just you sit down
and wait for orders. We'll tell you which way to go."
"But--" began the man.
"Silence, sir!" cried Briscoe sharply. "All! look out!"
An arrow stuck in the side of the boat so close to Brace that it passed
through his loose flannel shirt, pinning it to the wood; and Briscoe
swung himself round and fired sharply in the direction from which it had
come.
The shot rattled among the leaves, and they and a few twigs came
pattering down into the water, while directly after there was another
report from right away to their left.
"Hah! that must have come from the brig," cried Brace.
"Right," said Briscoe. "Now then, lads, you know which way to punt her
along: the creek opens out and winds about in all sorts of ways, and I
daresay we could wander in a regular maze for hours; but we know which
direction to make for now. You listen keenly for the next answer to my
shot, Mr Brace, for I'll fire again soon: only I should like something
to fire at. See that arrow?"
"Yes," said Brace, stretching out his hand to withdraw the arrow from
where it had pierced the side of the boat.
"Don't do that; let it be, and draw your flannel over the feathering.
Look at the slope it takes. I fancy the man who shot that must have
been seated on the branch of a tree."
"It may have been shot from a distance and taken a curve."
"No," said Briscoe; "there are too many boughs for it to have come
through. It was sent from pretty close, I should say; and between
ourselves I hope we shan't have any more. Ah, that's right, my lads.
She's moving nicely now. I only wish you were able to row."
"Same here, sir," growled the man handling the boat-hook; "and we wish
you could bring down one of they savages as keeps on trying to hit the
target, meaning we. This sort of thing aren't pleasant here in the
dark."
The American nodded, as his eyes literally glittered in the gloomy
shades, for he kept on turning them in all directions, and then with his
face lighting up he took a quick aim and fired away to his right,
scattering leaves and sending them pattering down; but apparently with
no other effect save that there was another shot fired, and certainly
from a much nearer point.
Just then the men gave a cheer, for as they urged the boat in the
direction of the spot whence came the last shot, they caught sight of a
bright ray of light.
Five minutes later there was a distinct lightening of the gloom, and
before many more minutes had passed the boat was forced out suddenly
through a curtain of drooping boughs into the dazzling light of the open
river.
The "Jason" was riding at anchor quite a quarter of a mile lower down
the stream, while close in shore was another of the brig's boats,
standing up in whose stern the unmistakeable figure of Captain Banes was
seen.