ON THE ROCKS.
As the sailmaker was stretching himself, Rough-and-Ready, who was
already stirring, said,--
"I say, mate what name shall we call you by?"
"Isn't Sailmaker good enough?" was the Irish answer.
"It's good enough; but it's no name."
"Tom, for short, then."
"That'll do, Tom; it's like your talk, short, and to the point."
From that time they talked of him as Tom the Sailmaker.
"We're going to look for something for breakfast, Marvel," said
Rough-and-Ready. "Don't wake the women--let them have their sleep out.
And keep your eye on those two rascals yonder. If they come to close
quarters, have no mercy. They'd have none on you. Come along, Tom."
They returned some two hours afterwards, with smiling faces. The women
gathered hope from their cheerful countenances. The sailmaker was
loaded with wood to replenish the fire, which had not been allowed to
go out during the night.
"We're going to have a fine breakfast," said Rough-and-Ready,
flourishing half a dozen plump pigeons. He chuckled as he exhibited
them; but he had no time for trifling. There was more serious business
to attend to--the cooking of the pigeons.
With those and a few mussels they made a breakfast fit for kings and
queens. The two malcontents in the distance had no fire and no
pigeons; they made their breakfast off cold shell-fish, and looked
with envious eyes at the cooking going on among the other party.
"Ah, ah, my fine fellows!" cried Rough-and-Ready, waving half a
roasted pigeon in the air; "what d'ye think of mutineering now?"
They could not hear him, but they understood his taunting action.
Said Rough-and-Ready to the women, when breakfast was finished,--
"Can you handle a pistol? Could you pull the trigger of one straight
in the face of man or beast, if danger threatened?"
They looked at him inquiringly.
"You might have to do it," continued Rough-and-Ready; "so you had
better learn, and be prepared."
"But why?" they asked.
"You see, my dears, there are two parties of us. Here we are, one
party. Yonder are two rascals, another party. We are not the best of
friends, we two parties. If they could get rid of us, they would. By
fair means they can't; but they might try foul. Now I take it that we
men have to look after you and protect you--and you may depend upon us
for doing our best, my dears. We must see to every thing--food,
lodging, protection from storms and from savage Blacks. That may take
us away from you sometimes, and those rascals might steal upon you
unaware. Or another thing might happen: we might fall sick. Then who
will protect you? Or another thing--But, pshaw! there are a dozen
other reasons why you should learn to use fire-arms."
Without more ado he showed them how to load a pistol and fire it,
and indeed was not content until they did it to his satisfaction.
Minnie was the more expert of the two; she soon learned. Then said
Rough-and-Ready,--
"Now, we are going to take a walk. A mile, I dare say. We shall be
followed, you'll see; the enemy will want to know where we are going."
Rough-and-Ready took Little Emma in his arms, the sailmaker assisted
Rachel Homebush, and Joshua attended to Minnie. As Rough-and-Ready
expected, Scadbolt and the Lascar followed them at a distance.
Rough-and-Ready led the way over the rocks, on to sand, into forest.
They were nearly an hour before they came to the end of their journey,
for the women were very weak and could walk but slowly. Without any
forewarning, Rough-and-Ready stopped.
"Here is another thing I have to teach you. A native call."
And to their astonishment, he put his hands to his mouth and emitted a
shrill cry, that rang through the woods and seemed to linger there.
The word he uttered was "Coo-[=e][=e]!" and the sound was composed of
two notes, the second an octave higher than the first. He made them
all repeat the cry after him many times, and made them dwell on the
notes as long as their breath lasted.
"If we miss each other, and lose our way, that cry will be a signal.
You have no idea how far it will travel, if you dwell long enough on
the notes. Now, you" (to the men) "stop here for a little while. You,"
(to the women) "follow me."
They obeyed him unhesitatingly. He led the women over a rise in the
woodland, where the trees were thickly grouped; and when they were on
the declivity on the other side, they saw at the base of the rise a
lovely creek of fresh water sparkling in the sun.
"You will not be disturbed for an hour," he said, and darted away.
They divined the meaning of this delicate thoughtfulness, and with
full confidence in him and his party they made their way to the creek,
and bathed and combed their hair. (I vouch for the comb, but am not
prepared to say where it came from, for the cunning of woman is beyond
me.) The men looked at them with astonishment when they came back,
sleek and trim. They appeared to have grown a dozen years younger.
They blushed and smiled as the men gazed at them, and Little Emma
lisped, "It was so nice!" Even Rachel looked brighter and more
womanly.
After them, the men went in turns and bathed, and by that time they
were hungry enough for their dinner. Rough-and-Ready had already
provided it, having shot a sufficient number of birds for three or
four meals. Nothing could satisfy them after dinner but to go to the
rocks, and look seaward for the sight of a ship. Rough-and-Ready
declared it was useless. "Time thrown away," he said. "If we see a
ship, we have no means of signalling it; and even if we had, 'tis a
thousand to one that they would not see the signal." But all-potent as
his authority and advice were in every other matter, he could not
prevail upon them to cast away the hope of being rescued by that
means. Before night came they made their way back to the woods, and
constructed some rough tents with branches of trees, to sleep in. As
they were collecting suitable timber, Rough-and-Ready, who never
omitted an opportunity to instruct his companions in the resources of
the country, called their attention to a group of curiously-twisted
trees, which he said were apple-trees, although there was no fruit on
them. On nearly every one of them, three or four feet from the ground,
was a large knob, bulging out like a tumor.
"See how bountiful Nature is," said Rough-and-Ready. "You need seldom
be in want of water or food, if you know the secrets of the bush."
He dug his knife into one of the knobs, and fresh water ran out of the
wood. They tasted it, and found it very sweet.
It was a beautiful night, and they sat talking for some time before
they retired to rest. Their strength was recruited by the nourishing
food they had eaten, and by the bath they had had. They had not seen
the Lascar or Scadbolt since the morning, and they deemed it prudent
to keep watch during the night. Now that the first excitement of being
saved was over, their thoughts turned to their unfortunate companions
who had found a grave in the cruel sea, and they shed pitiful tears
over the memory of the dead.
Rough-and-Ready's experience of the Australian natives was largely
drawn upon during the night. Although he said nothing of his past
career, it was evident that he was well acquainted with every thing
appertaining to Australian bush-life. His descriptions of the natives
were not comforting; he described them as treacherous, mean, and
cruel. As to their chances of escape, he declared that there was no
hope from the sea. Their best plan would be to try and work their way
southward, but not for some time, until they were quite strong.
"We will camp here," he said, "for two or three weeks at least, and
try and learn something about the country."
But he told Joshua, when they two were alone, that he only said that
to console the women.
"We can manage to live here; but to get south we should have to cross
country, where we should almost certainly be starved to death or
butchered by the Blacks."
The prospect was dismal indeed; they seemed to be cut off from the
world.
Notwithstanding that the women shuddered and trembled as they listened
to Rough-and-Ready's account of the natives, with whom they were
almost certain to come in contact soon, the subject was too
fascinating to be avoided. So, being compelled to talk about them, he
spoke of many strange things concerning them. The conversation turning
upon their superstitions, he told his hearers of the savage beliefs in
water-spirits and land-spirits, who are all females, and walk about
without heads; of the Oorundoo, who comes out of the water to drown
bad wives; of the Balumbal, a gentle race of spirits who live upon the
sweet leaves of flowers; of the Bunyip, a monster who lives in the
large lakes, and who issues therefrom to seize women and children;
Potoyan, a spirit of darkness, whose Whisper strikes terror; and of
many other singular beliefs.
Said Rough-and-Ready, "There is no surer way to frighten the blacks
than through their superstitious fears. Their 'doctors' can work upon
them as they please."
Joshua had taken care of his accordion, and had preserved it almost
uninjured. He played, and they all listened wonderingly to the soft
notes of "Home, sweet home," floating through the woods. It was like a
dream; they could scarcely believe they were awake. When he ceased
playing, a melancholy cuckoo-note came from the distant woods.
"'Tis the more-pork, a night-bird," said Rough-and-Ready. "I never
heard it sing in the day."
They retired to their beds of dry leaves soon after that, and dreamed
of the strange things they had heard. But Joshua could not sleep. Some
time before midnight--it might have been an hour--he rose and wandered
away from the camp, through the solemn woods. He took no notice of the
groups of majestic trees through which he walked--here masses of the
silver-leaved iron-bark; there thick clusters of the gigantic palm,
woven together, as it were, by luxuriant vines trailing through their
topmost branches. Strange effects of light and shade were produced by
this natural network; but Joshua took no heed of them, nor of the
other wonders of the woods by which he was encompassed. A sense of
awful desolation was upon him; tremblingly he retraced his steps till
he came to the camp, where he sank upon the ground exhausted by
emotion. The full moon rose and shed its light upon him. He took from
his breast the Bible which Dan had given him, and read upon its first
page, "From Dan, with undying love and confidence." Those words did
much to calm him; he kissed them, and pressed the book to his heart,
and gradually fell into a deep sleep.