When we turned out on the following morning our two resuscitated savages
were nowhere to be seen, and the bodies of the three dead had also
vanished; but a glance in the direction of the beach showed that they
were still somewhere on the island, for their canoe lay hauled up on the
sand, alongside the catamaran, where we had left her on the previous
night, and the prints of their naked feet on the sand indicated that
they had made some three or four journeys to the eastern extremity of
the bay. We therefore concluded that the two were performing the
obsequies of their departed companions, and made no endeavour to
discover their whereabouts, taking it for granted that they would
reappear when they had disposed of their dead to their satisfaction.
While we were partaking of breakfast a big cloud of smoke arose from the
woods situated at the eastern extremity of the bay, causing us to
surmise that the dead were at that moment undergoing the process of
cremation; but we made no attempt to investigate, leaving the savages to
their own devices for that day, and proceeding to the shipyard as usual
immediately after breakfast.
Shortly after midday our two savages hove in sight, making their way
down the cliff path to the shipyard, having evidently followed the path
over the plateau which we had beaten in our frequent passages to and fro
between the two bays. They displayed no fear of us, approaching us
without the slightest hesitation, but exhibiting more curiosity than any
natives with whom I had thus far been brought into contact. They seemed
to be filled with astonishment at the whiteness of our skins when,
following our usual custom, we discarded our scanty clothing and plunged
into the sea for a few minutes before partaking of our midday meal; and
did not appear to be able to understand how it was that, while our
faces, necks, hands, and arms were almost as dark as their own skins,
the remaining portions of our bodies, ordinarily protected from the sun
by our clothing, should be so very much lighter. They were not
oppressed by any feeling of false modesty or bashfulness, but examined
us minutely at close quarters, jabbering together with the utmost
animation all the while and lightly running their fingers over our arms
and necks, with the apparent purpose of finding the join in the
differently coloured portions of our skin.
This was all very well, of course, and sufficiently amusing to all
concerned; but now that these two savages had come to us we quite
intended to make use of them, and allow them to work for their living.
Therefore, as soon as we had resumed our clothing, Murdock undertook the
task of making known our intentions and wishes to our dusky friends.
And the way he did it was amusing enough. In common with others of his
kind he had repeatedly been brought into contact with foreigners of
various nationalities, both civilised and savage, but he had one simple
method of communicating with them all, a method which he was firmly
convinced must be efficacious in exact proportion to the measure of
intelligence possessed by the persons with whom he desired to
communicate; and that method was to speak to the stranger in broken
English! For example, he proposed to set these two natives to the task
of collecting fuel for the purpose of cooking the fish which Chips and
Sails were about to catch for our midday meal by going offshore a short
distance in the catamaran; and the way he did it was something like
this.
Turning to the two natives, he poked first one and then the other on the
naked chest with his forefinger, to secure their attention, and then
proceeded to remark, with much flourishing of his hands:
"Now then, Johnnie, and you, Jim, come along wi' me and gather firewood.
Savvy?"
To this the natives naturally responded with a blank stare of
non-comprehension, gradually merging into a broad smile. Then, seeing
that his first attempt had not been exactly a success, the boatswain
proceeded upon his usual lines. Assuming an aspect of intense
earnestness, and holding his forefinger up before them, he continued:
"Now, lookee here, you coffee-coloured sweeps, me wantee you come alonga
me and catchee plenty wood for makee fire cookee fis' that them two men
are goin' for catchee. Now, then, d'ye savvy that?"
The intonation of his concluding words no doubt conveyed to the minds of
his hearers the idea that he was asking a question, for the two savages
turned to each other and exchanged a few words. Then the elder, with a
broad smile, pointed first to himself and uttered the word "Mokalua"--
which we easily understood must be his name--and then to his companion,
pronouncing the word "Vati", which was as certainly the name of the
other. So evident was this that even Murdock understood it, and, proud
of his quick comprehension, hastened to display his cleverness by
prodding the first native in the chest and remarking:
"Ay, ay; that's easy enough to understand: your name's Mokalua, and
yours,"--turning to the other--"is Vati. That's all right; I can see
that we'll soon get to understand each other. Now then, Mokalua and
Vati, let's have another try. Me wantee plenty much firewood, so you
two come and helpy me gatheree it. Comprenny?"
Further blank looks from the natives, at which the boatswain lost his
patience; and, clutching Mokalua by the wrist, while he seized the
unhappy Vati by the shoulder and violently swung him round with his face
toward the cliffs, he exclaimed savagely:
"Here, come along o' me, you two! You're like the monkeys; you can
understand, but you won't, for fear o' bein' put to work! But you don't
get over me quite so easily as that, my sons; I've had that trick tried
on me before, but it didn't come off, and it ain't comin' off now.
You've got to work for your livin' while you're on this here hisland,
and don't you forget it. Can't understand my language, can't ye? Well,
I can speak another language with my boot--"
I saw that the time had arrived for me to interfere. Murdock was
rapidly working himself up into a rage, and when he was angry he was a
little apt to be violent; also he was an exceptionally powerful man,
while the two natives whom he held in his grasp were still weak from
semi-starvation and long exposure, and were beginning to look rather
frightened. Now I did not want them to be frightened, I wanted to win
their confidence, so I stepped forward and gently removed the
boatswain's grasp from the persons of his prisoners, saying:
"There, that will do, Murdock; don't get excited, man, because these two
bronze images cannot understand you. You cannot understand them, you
know, so you are quits. We shall just have to be patient with them, and
treat them kindly; and I have no doubt that in due time they will learn
to understand what we want them to do." Then, turning to the two
wide-eyed savages, and trusting that they would at least understand the
intonation of my voice, I patted them both good-naturedly on the
shoulder and said, in English of course:
"That's all right. Don't you be afraid of him, he'll not hurt you; he's
quite a good-natured chap. But he wants you to go with him to the woods
yonder; so run along," and I first pointed to the jungle, then to
Murdock, patted them encouragingly on the back, and finally waved my
hand toward the cliffs.
That I was tolerably successful in a general sort of way was at once
evident, for the expression of mingled fear and savagery on Mokalua's
features at once vanished, giving place to a smile; he nodded his head,
pointed to Murdock, himself, and Vati, waved his hand toward the woods,
said a few quick words to his companion, and at once set off at a brisk
walk toward the cliff path, accompanied by the two others, the trio
returning about twenty minutes later with an abundant supply of dry
twigs and branches, with which they at once proceeded to build the
constituents of a fire. But it was evident, from their actions and
their quick, earnest interchange of remarks, that the two were
exceedingly curious as to how we were going to set light to the wood,
now that we had it; and they looked on with the most absorbed interest
while Cunningham took a little dry moss in his hand and focused the
sun's rays upon it with a burning-glass, afterwards fanning it into a
flame by gently whirling it in the air; and I shall not readily forget
their amazement when the moss burst into flame and Cunningham thrust it
into the heart of the heap of sticks. When Cunningham made to return
the lens to his pocket, Mokalua held out his hand and said something
which we readily understood to be a request that he might be permitted
to look at it: and when the engineer handed it over to him the native
first examined it with wondering eyes, turning it about in his hands,
holding it up, and becoming quite eloquent in the expression of his
amazement when his quick eye detected the inverted image of the
landscape seen through it; then, after one or two futile attempts, he
succeeded in focusing the rays of the sun upon his naked arm, giving a
little yelp as he felt the sting of the heat. Finally, with a laugh, he
handed the lens back to Cunningham; but there was a covetous look in his
eyes as he did so which caused me to utter a word of warning to the
engineer lest he should awake some fine morning and discover that his
burning-glass had mysteriously vanished.
In such manner, and to the accompaniment of quite a number of amusing
little incidents, did Mokalua and Vati become members of our small
community. And glad enough were we all to have them, for the
awkwardness and inconvenience arising from our inability to understand
each other's speech soon passed away, the two savages manifesting an
extraordinary aptitude to adapt themselves to the situation, and an
equally extraordinary facility in the comprehension of what was required
of them; so that they rapidly became of very material value to us,
catching more fish than the party could consume, gathering our firewood
for us, teaching us new methods of cooking, and assisting us in the more
laborious portions of our shipyard work. Thus by the time they had been
with us some three or four months we began to wonder how we had ever
contrived to rub along at all without them.
Their one fault was an ineradicable propensity to steal anything and
everything that they could lay their hands upon, especially nails--
which, it will be understood, were of very considerable value to us,
situated as we then were. But their most serious peccadillo, and the
one which had the most disastrous results, was their theft of a brace of
revolvers and a number of cartridges. We had no occasion to make use of
our firearms until the two savages had been with us about five months;
then on a certain day we made the disagreeable discovery that South-west
Bay had been invaded by a school of some seven or eight orcas, or killer
whales, the most voracious and ferocious creatures that swim the seas,
being even more terrible than the white shark, although not quite so big
as he is. When we first became aware of the presence of these tigers of
the sea in our bay we were not greatly concerned, being under the
impression that theirs was only a flying visit, and that they would
disappear in the course of an hour or so, and be no more seen. But when
on the following day they were seen to be still present, and when,
further, they chose to amuse themselves by snatching the fish off the
hooks, we came to the conclusion that it was time to declare war upon
those orcas, for so long as they remained in the bay we might not dare
to bathe.
Accordingly we armed ourselves with revolvers, put a boarding pike and
cutlass into the hand of each of the savages, and went out in the
catamaran to attack and drive away the orcas. And a very fierce and
desperate battle we had with them too, for they proved to be full of
fight, charging the catamaran with the evident intention of destroying
it; and during the two hours that the fight raged we experienced several
exceedingly narrow escapes from destruction by the wounded cetaceans,
though we drove them off at last, after killing all but two, while the
survivors were so desperately wounded that they no doubt died very
shortly after reaching the open ocean.
The most important point, however, in connection with this incident was
that the two savages then saw revolvers used for the first time; and the
flash, the report, and, above all, the undoubted fact that in some
mysterious fashion they were able to wound and even to kill at the
distance of a spear-cast, absolutely fascinated them. Nothing would
satisfy them but that they must possess a revolver apiece, and the very
next day they stole a brace, together with some fifty cartridges; and
having watched us intently, and thus acquired a smattering of knowledge
of how to use the weapons, took to the woods, where, later on, we heard
them popping away in the most reckless fashion. That, of course, was an
offence which it would never do to overlook; therefore we sallied forth,
captured the culprits, took the revolvers and the half-dozen or so
remaining cartridges from them, and having first read them a severe
lecture--one of many such--upon the heinousness of stealing, endeavoured
to create a lasting impression upon their minds by inflicting upon each
a severe rope's-ending. Four days later we found that they and their
canoe, together with several small articles--Cunningham's burning-glass
among the number--had vanished.
Now this was likely enough to prove a very serious matter for us, for
several important reasons. In the first place, Mokalua and Vati had
proved to be individuals possessed of quite a considerable amount of
intelligence, for savages. They had spent five months with us, during
which they had come to know the island intimately; and doubtless they
had perceived, among other things, that it was capable of supporting
some five hundred fellow savages in what, to them, would be a condition
of ease and affluence. Also, they knew that there were but five of us,
possessing several things which to them represented such incalculable
wealth that no effort on their part to acquire it would be regarded as
too great. Therefore we at once jumped to the conclusion that, animated
by a deep sense of resentment at the indignity which we had inflicted
upon them by flogging them, and possibly also spurred on by an
overpowering cupidity, they had determined to risk their very lives in
an attempt to return to their own island, there to report all that they
had seen and learned during their sojourn with us, with the object of
stirring up their fellow islanders to organise an expedition against us.
Strongly impressed with the conviction that this was really what had
happened, Simpson, the sailmaker, and I hastened to stock the catamaran
with provisions and water enough to last us for four days, and forthwith
proceeded to sea, heading in the direction of the island which lay to
leeward of us, in the hope of overtaking the two savages before they
could arrive at their destination, and inducing them, either by
persuasion or by force, to return with us. And we were fully justified
in hoping that we should be successful, for the catamaran was a
wonderfully speedy craft, especially before the wind; we calculated that
the savages would scarcely average more than four knots per hour
paddling in the open sea, even with the wind in their favour, while the
catamaran would do ten easily. Consequently we should cover in ten
hours a distance which they would need twenty-five hours to traverse;
and, since they would probably not have more than nine hours' start of
us, we ought to catch them long before they could arrive at their
island.
It was about eight o'clock in the morning when we started, and the
moment that we were clear of the reef I bore up dead before the wind;
and thereafter all that was necessary was to keep the catamaran running
straight before it. We took it for granted that the fugitives, like
ourselves, would avail themselves of the direction of the wind as a
guide, consequently we assumed that they were somewhere--probably about
thirty-six miles--directly ahead of us when we bore away, and a very
simple calculation enabled us to determine that, if all our data
happened to be correct, we ought to overtake the canoe about two o'clock
in the afternoon. Therefore for the first four hours of our pursuit we
troubled ourselves only to maintain as straight a course as possible.
At the end of that time, however, or about midday--by which time our own
island was out of sight astern, while the other had not yet hove up
above the horizon--I deemed it advisable to take a look round.
Accordingly, turning over the steering paddle to Simpson, I shinned up
to the catamaran's masthead, and remained there for fully five minutes,
intently scrutinising the surface of the sea in every direction, my
range of vision at that elevation covering a circle of about nine miles
radius. But there was nothing in sight, at which I was in nowise
surprised, as I estimated that the canoe was still about twelve miles
ahead of us. I calculated, however, that we were gaining upon her at
the rate of about six miles an hour, in which case she ought to be on
the horizon's verge in the course of another half-hour; therefore at the
expiration of that time I again went aloft, and was just a trifle
disappointed to find the horizon still bare. However, I was quite
certain that a run of another half-hour would suffice to bring her into
view, therefore at one o'clock I again ascended to the masthead, quite
prepared to see her directly ahead. But again I was disappointed, for
the horizon was bare in every direction, save for the fact that, as
straight ahead of us as though we had seen and been steering for it all
the while, there was a delicate blue shape, which I instantly recognised
as the upper part of the island that we had seen from the lip of the
crater on our own island.
I was decidedly nonplussed at the fact that the fugitives were still
invisible, and knew not how to account for it. True, the sea was a
trifle heavy for navigation in so frail a craft as a small canoe, yet
the two savages were experts in the handling of such craft, and it was
therefore scarcely likely that they had met with a mishap of any
description--indeed, all that was needed to ensure their perfect safety
was to keep the canoe dead before the sea, and she would go along
without shipping a drop of water; even I, comparatively inexpert as I
was, would not have hesitated to undertake such a voyage, under the
influence of so powerful an inducement as that which we suspected to
animate the two natives. There was one other possible explanation, of
which I thought as I stood up there on the swaying yard, and that was
that the fugitives might have secured a piece of canvas, or material of
some kind, out of which they had manufactured a sail; in which case
their speed would no doubt be considerably higher than that which we had
estimated, and all our calculations would need revision. Considerably
perturbed at the thought, I descended to the deck and mentioned the
matter to Simpson, who agreed with me that it was quite possible our
dark friends might have taken the precaution to provide themselves with
a sail when they had made up their minds to return to their own island--
for we had not allowed ourselves time before our departure to overhaul
our belongings in detail, and ascertain the precise extent of their
depredations.
Even if they had not stolen any of our canvas, they were past masters of
the art of mat making, and might easily have plaited for themselves a
sail of fine grass, which would answer their purpose almost as well as
one made of canvas. And if they had done that, what would their speed
probably be? The canoe was only a small craft of about twenty-four feet
long by about four feet beam, and with two men in her she would probably
run before wind and sea at a speed of about six and a half knots. Then,
still allowing her to have had nine hours' start of us, we came to the
disconcerting conclusion that at the precise moment when we were
discussing the question she must be within ten miles of her destination,
while we still had a run of some fifty miles before us. In that case,
of course, it was hopeless for us to dream of overtaking her:
nevertheless I did not intend to abandon the chase until I had fully
satisfied myself that the fugitives had made good their escape;
therefore we continued to stand on, hour after hour, until, by the time
that the sun was within half an hour of his setting, we had brought the
strange island "hull-up" on the horizon ahead, and had satisfied
ourselves that there was no canoe between it and us.
It was a considerably more extensive island than our own, being about
twenty miles long from north to south, somewhat rugged of surface, with
plenty of trees dotted about here and there, and wide patches of cleared
ground in between, upon which crops of various kinds seemed to be
growing. It rose rather steeply from the water's surface to a height of
some fifty or sixty feet, and then went sweeping grandly away to right
and left in a constantly steepening slope, which culminated in a lofty,
isolated peak occupying practically the centre of the island.
When we had run in close enough to note all these details I brought the
wind over the catamaran's port quarter and headed her so as to pass to
the southward of the island, being determined, now that I had come so
far, to sail right round it and see as much as I could of it.
The sun was just dipping beneath the horizon when, having brought the
most southerly extremity of the island square upon our starboard beam,
some two miles distant, we shifted our helm, and, jibing over, brought
the wind on our starboard quarter, hauling up to the northward and
westward to skirt the lee side of the island. This course soon brought
us in under the lee of the land and into smooth water, when, maintaining
an offing of about two miles, that we might not be becalmed and so
invite the risk of capture by a dash of canoes from the shore, we
quietly coasted along the lee side of the island, which we now
discovered to be roughly crescent-shaped in plan, with a deep
indentation on the west side protected by a barrier reef, and thus
forming a magnificent natural harbour, some eight miles long from north
to south by about six miles wide from east to west. A fine sandy beach
skirted the whole margin of this indentation, scattered along which, at
brief intervals, we caught sight of some ten or twelve little villages
of palm-leaf huts nestling in the midst of luxuriant coconut groves, the
land behind them soaring steeply away to the summit of the cone. And
abreast of each village the beach was dotted with canoes, some of which
were big enough to carry forty or fifty men. But nowhere did we see a
sign of the canoe of which we were in pursuit; and ultimately we were
driven to the conclusion that she had made the run across under sail,
and had secured a sufficiently long start to enable her to make good her
escape.
It was about four bells in the first watch when we ran out from under
the lee of the island and once more felt the full strength of the Trade
wind, which in the interim had freshened up until it was now blowing a
single-reefed topsail breeze; and at once the catamaran began to deluge
us with spray as we brought her close to the wind and started on our
long beat back to our own island. And now it became necessary for me to
use a little discretion, lest I should miss the island altogether; for
it was far below the horizon, and I had neither chronometer nor sextant
to help me to find it again, all I knew as to its position being that it
lay about a hundred miles dead to windward. Therefore I held on upon
the starboard tack until midnight, and thereafter tacked every four
hours, knowing that by following this plan we should be certain to pick
it up sooner or later. And so we did, catching our first glimpse of it
shortly after nine o'clock the next morning, when it hove into view
above the horizon broad on our port bow, rising a little higher as we
brought it abeam, and then gradually sinking again as it swung aft to
our port quarter. As soon as it sank out of sight we hove the catamaran
about, when it quickly reappeared, rising steadily above the horizon,
and this time showing much higher and more clearly before it began to
sink again. Finally, about six o'clock, just before sunset, we slid
into North Bay once more and beached the catamaran, much to the relief
of our companions, who were beginning to grow somewhat anxious as to how
our queer-shaped craft would stand the continuous strain of beating to
windward for many hours at a stretch against the strong wind and heavy
sea.
Now that the pursuit was over and had failed, and we were all together
again, we began to realise, as we discussed the incident, just what the
flight of those two natives meant to us. It meant several things: and
each one of them spelt d-a-n-g-e-r to us in big black letters; danger of
the most imminent and deadly kind; danger which was liable now to swoop
down upon us at any moment, and, if it caught us unprepared, simply to
wipe us out of existence. In a word, it meant that if those two
fugitives had succeeded in reaching their own island--as we had only too
much reason to believe was the case--we were liable at any moment to an
invasion in force from their fellow islanders; and if we could not repel
that invasion, or, better still, effect our own escape before it
happened, we could hope for nothing short of annihilation. Long and
anxiously we discussed the question that night; and the decision at
which we finally arrived was that if Mokalua and Vati had indeed reached
their own island it would probably take them at least a week to gain the
ear of the chiefs, tell the story of their own sojourn with us, and stir
them up to such a condition of cupidity as would induce them to
undertake an expedition against us. And when they had accomplished so
much it would probably take them another week to organise the expedition
and get across to us, possibly even longer, if the Trade wind continued
to blow strongly. We considered, therefore, that we had about a
fortnight in which to complete our preparations; and the question then
arose whether these preparations should be of a defensive character, or
whether, by working hard, we could complete the schooner, ballast her,
get her into the water, and leave the island before the expected
invasion took place.
Common sense pointed to the latter alternative as by far the wiser of
the two; the only difficulty was that we were by no means sure that we
could accomplish it. Fortunately for us, although we had put the most
implicit faith in the fidelity of Mokalua and Vati, we had never allowed
them to become aware of the existence of the subterranean passage from
our dwelling cave to South-west Bay: therefore, if the worst should come
to the worst, and we were attacked before we were ready to leave the
island, we might no doubt barricade ourselves into our cavern and make a
good stand there, and perhaps even defend the schooner from destruction,
so long as our cartridges held out; but if the invaders should once
succeed in effecting a landing upon the island, they could, almost to a
dead certainty, prevent us from completing our preparations, launching
the schooner, and getting away in her. Finally, the matter seemed to
resolve itself into a fight against time, our aim being to complete the
schooner and sail in her for home before the savages should arrive upon
the scene. In accordance with this arrangement, then, we proceeded with
our several labours, commencing work each day the moment that there was
light enough to see what we were about, and working steadily on until we
could see no longer, encouraged by the thought that although our
calculations seemed to indicate the possibility of attack within about a
fortnight of the flight of the two natives, the force of circumstances
might perhaps afford us a still longer time in which to complete our
task.
And with the passage of the days we began to realise that, work as hard
as we might, we should need nearly double the time which we believed we
had at our disposal if we were to finish our work as it ought to be
finished. For while the schooner's hull was complete her deck was only
partially laid, and that task had to be completed, together with all
deck fittings, such as the companion way and fore scuttle; the seams
must be properly caulked and paid, the masts stepped and rigged, the
sails finished and bent, the interior fittings, such as bunks, lockers,
shelves, and so on, fixed, the water casks stowed and filled, the
ballast stowed, provisions collected and put on board, and the little
craft generally completed in readiness for sea. True, many of the jobs
were trivial and did not need much time to attend to them, but in the
aggregate they presented quite a formidable appearance; and lastly, and
most formidable of all, there remained the launching ways to finish, the
cradle to build, and the wedging up to be done. Taken altogether, the
task seemed to be an impossible one, and our only hope lay in the chance
that our savage neighbours would so far resemble Mokalua and Vati in
character that they would proceed with their preparations for the
invasion which we regarded as inevitable with the same placid
deliberation and absence of haste that had been such strongly marked
characteristics of the two fugitives.
Yet it would not do to count upon this; therefore as soon as we fully
realised the impossibility of completing the schooner and getting away
in her within the fortnight, we so far modified our plans as to devote a
certain amount of time to the putting of our cavern into a condition of
defence. Fortunately for us, this was a very simple matter; for the
savages knew of only one entrance to the cavern, namely, that in North
Bay, and that was so exceedingly small that it might easily be blocked
from the inside with a few large stones. And, as luck would have it,
stones admirably adapted for the purpose existed in the cavern itself,
and only needed moving forward close to the entrance, after which--as we
tested by experiments--five minutes' work would suffice to block the
opening so effectually that nothing less than a powder charge would ever
clear it. Accordingly we divided our weapons and ammunition into two
equal parts, one of which parts we put aboard the schooner, while the
other we deposited in the mouth of our cavern. Then, having secured
ourselves as far as was possible against attack, we returned to our work
upon the schooner with redoubled energy.
Dawn of the twenty-third day after the flight of Mokalua and Vati found
us in high feather; for the strenuous labour of the preceding three
weeks had brought us to the point that a few hours' further work would
see the completion of our task, the further work required being that
needed to finish the cradle and wedge up, preparatory to launching. We
had been working systematically, attending first to those matters which
were most urgent, with the result that the schooner was now finished and
ready for sea, with ballast--consisting entirely of as much gold in
nuggets as Cunningham's calculations showed she could possibly carry--
properly stowed, the water casks stowed and filled, provisions on board,
masts stepped and rigged, sails bent--in short, everything completed
except the fitting and equipment of the cabin, and that, we decided,
could be done as easily after our little ship had been launched as while
she remained on the stocks. On this particular morning, then, we were,
as I have said, all in high feather, for we awoke with the comfortable
assurance that, barring accidents, the schooner would be safely afloat
before we again lay down to rest.
Now, although we had been working so strenuously during the past three
weeks, we had not omitted to take proper precautions against a surprise
on the part of the natives, the most important of these precautions
consisting in the visit of one of us to the summit of the crater the
first thing every morning, from which commanding elevation the sea to
the south-west was carefully scanned, with the aid of Cunningham's
telescope, in search of the expected flotilla of canoes. The same
precaution was observed the last thing before nightfall; and we decided
that, should the sea prove to be clear on these occasions, there was not
much risk of our being surprised during either of the intervals between.
On the particular morning before referred to it chanced to be my turn to
make the journey up the mountain; therefore, taking the telescope in its
case from the rock projection in the cavern which was its recognised
resting-place, and bidding my companions au revoir, I started out on my
three-and-a-half mile walk to the summit, while the others hurried down
to the beach, and, getting aboard the catamaran, made sail for
South-west Bay, where our shipyard was situated.
Now the whole distance from our cavern to the summit of the crater was
uphill, and the day, in addition to being brilliantly fine, was
excessively hot, for the Trade wind had softened down on the preceding
day, and was now blowing only a very moderate breeze; therefore I did
not greatly hurry myself, for my way lay, practically for the whole
distance to the foot of the crater, through jungle, where, although I
was sheltered to a great extent from the rays of the sun, I was also
shielded from the wind, and before I had travelled a mile I was
perspiring profusely. But, hot as it was while walking through the
jungle, it was hotter still when at length I emerged from its shelter
upon the bare hillside; and I had no sooner climbed above the level of
the vegetation, and was able to look over the top of it, than I flung
myself down upon a big block of lava, took off my hat, and proceeded to
wipe away the perspiration which was by this time streaming down my
forehead into my eyes and half-blinding me. And it was while I was thus
engaged that I happened to allow my gaze to wander away out over the
surface of the water in a south-westerly direction; and then I saw a
sight which caused me to spring to my feet with a smothered exclamation.
For, far out upon the sun-flecked blue of the gently ruffled ocean, I
caught a glimpse of first one and then another and another small dark
dot, each of which emitted frequent sparkling flashes which I instantly
identified as the sunlight striking upon the wet blades of swiftly
wielded paddles. With anxious haste I gripped the telescope case, swung
it round, withdrew the telescope, raised it to my eyes, and focused it;
and there, magnified into unmistakable distinctness by the powerful
lenses, I saw no less than ten canoes paddling straight for our island,
and only some eight miles distant from West Point, as we had named the
headland which projected into the ocean between North and South-west
Bays. They were head-on to me, therefore I could not very well judge
what size they might be; but I knew that they must be fairly big craft,
each carrying a considerable number of men, judging by the multitudinous
number of flashes that sparkled from their paddles as they swung
rhythmically into and out of the water: and they were all keeping line
too, for the whole ten swung up into view together on the crest of a
sea, and then disappeared again in the trough, with almost mathematical
regularity and precision. Without a doubt the anticipated invasion of
our island by the savages was about to take place; and, equally without
a doubt too, the invaders must gain a footing upon our territory before
we were prepared to quit it, unless a plan could be devised whereby
their advance might be delayed for some two or three hours. As these
thoughts flashed through my mind I anxiously scanned the surface of the
ocean for other canoes, but could find only the ten which I had
originally counted. Then, without wasting time in ascending to the
summit of the crater, I set off at a run and raced at my utmost speed
all the way back to our cavern.
It was downhill all the way, and despite the intense heat I do not think
I was more than twenty minutes in covering the distance. Once inside
the cavern I provided myself with a sufficient number of torches for my
purpose, lighted half a dozen of them to enable me to see what I was
about, and then proceeded to block the entrance securely from the inside
with the stones which we had already provided for that express purpose.
This done, I opened the case of ammunition which we kept stored in the
cavern, loaded a gun and a brace of revolvers, thrust the latter in my
belt, crammed my pockets and the bosom of my shirt with cartridges, and,
seizing a torch, hurried away through the tunnel to the shipyard in
South-west Bay, where I found my companions strenuously at work upon the
completion of the cradle, blissfully ignorant of the fact that the
savages were at that moment within half a dozen miles of us.
They glanced at me with a somewhat startled expression as I dashed down
the beach toward them with the gun in my hand and the revolvers in my
belt, and my face streaming with perspiration; and Cunningham shouted:
"Hillo, old chap, you're hot, and look as though you had been hurrying.
What's up? You surely don't mean to say that--"
"The savages are coming?" I interrupted. "That's just what I do mean
to say, then. They are within half a dozen miles of us at this moment--
ten big canoe-loads of them, and they'll be ashore here and about our
ears in two hours from now, unless we can devise some means of
preventing them. How are you getting on, Chips? How long will it be
before you are ready to wedge up?"
"Not for three or four hours yet, I'm afraid," answered the carpenter,
pausing in his work to consider the matter. "You see, we've a good deal
to do yet afore we can finish this here cradle, and the wood, bein'
nothin' but odds and ends like, is comin' a bit awk'ard--"
"Just so, I quite understand," I cut in upon his explanation. "Well,
carry on, man; don't stop an instant; we can't afford to waste so much
as a single second just now. Do the best you can with the resources at
your command, and work as you never worked before. As for me, I'm going
to take out the catamaran to meet those beggars, and see if I can't
hamper them a bit and prevent them from landing here in this bay. I've
blocked the cavern entrance at the other end, so it won't matter much
where they land so long as they don't come ashore here. That must be
prevented at all costs. I shall want one hand with me to sail the
catamaran while I do the fighting. Now, who can best be spared?"
"Why, I think I am the most useless member of the party--" began
Cunningham.
"No," I interrupted him emphatically; "your engineering knowledge should
come in very usefully in helping Chips to use up those odds and ends of
timber to the best advantage in completing the cradle. You are the man
for me, Simpson, so jump now. Get aboard the schooner, open a box of
ammunition, and bring me as many cartridges as you can carry, also
another gun, in case anything goes wrong with this one. Then join me
aboard the catamaran. And now, so long, you chaps; I'm off. Do your
level best to finish off and wedge up as soon as possible; and I'll do
what I can to hinder the savages and keep them from landing here.
Goodbye!" and, so saying, I turned and ran toward the spot where the
catamaran lay with her bows hauled up on the beach.