IN A LONELY SPOT.
The dark night happily favoured them; and what was also in their favour
was the fact that Sieur Simon's boat lay at anchor, and his hoys had
been plying backwards and forwards all the afternoon, making the men on
guard pay but little attention to the gentle plash of the oars as
Andreas and Harry sent the long boat shooting off into the bay. One
thought distressed the faithful Andreas: he had done his best to lay in
a store of food, but he knew it was a very inadequate provision if the
boys were to be left long in the desert island.
No one spoke for some time; then, when they had safely passed the ship,
and were well out to sea, they had plenty to say to each other. Harry
told how he had heard the baying of the dogs from his hiding-place; how
they had come nearer and nearer, and he had felt a strange horror, which
nothing else had ever given him before, at the idea of being torn in
pieces by those blood-thirsty animals; then how the sounds had told him
the dogs were close at hand, the shouting and yelling negroes urging
them on, and the pirates mingling oaths with these cries as they were
entangled in the scrub or the mangrove branches. Yes, and at last they
had come close by, up to the foot of the tree, and had paused there as
the baying dogs rushed round and round undecided, till one of them had
evidently scented out the trail made by Andreas, and the negroes had
hunted the dogs forward. Harry's face as he told the story still bore
traces of the terrible ordeal he had passed through during those few
moments of intense suspense.
'I fancied before that I was brave, but I only know that when I heard
those evil beasts I had no more courage left in me than a zany at a
village fair; and when they had passed by, I lay on the floor of my
hiding-place as if I were already dead. I have never before been in such
dire terror of my life; but in truth such barbarous ways are not honest
warfare.'
'Yet I saw my father hunted down by wild dogs,' said Andreas, on whom
this fact had made a lasting impression; and Carlo looked grave, for he
knew well enough that his people it was who had perpetrated such
cruelties on the gentle Indians, and that Spain would ever have to bear
the shame of the first cruelties in the New World--cruelties which other
nations had not been slow to adopt; till the black plague-spot had
spread all over the fair lands and the newly discovered islands.
All night they rowed hard, and when daylight came, and with it all the
glory of the tropical sunrise, St. Catherine was no longer in sight; and
unless any other knew the secret of the desert island and betrayed the
knowledge to Sieur Simon, they were saved. Each in his own heart
thanked God.
Harry's face began to recover its more cheerful expression: he was not
leaving his loved ones as was Carlo; but was this journey bringing him
much nearer his own home?
'When shall we sight this place?' asked Carlo wearily, when the sun
beating down on their heads reminded him that he was now not nearly as
strong as before his illness; 'and what do you call it, Andreas? It
seems as if we were going to a land of nowhere.'
'It has no name known to the white men, Senor; but my father, who took
me there when I was a boy, always called it by an Indian name which
meant "Queen of the Water," because of the one tall Jagua palm-tree
which stands high and solitary on it, and can be seen from a long
distance.'
'Then we are already in sight,' said Harry suddenly. 'Look, Andreas,
there, right ahead! You have come straight as an arrow.'
This welcome news gave them fresh courage, and on they sped. Nearer and
nearer they came; they could now discern the wild scrub bordering the
sand on which the surf painted a long line of white foam; they could see
the motion of the leaves as the soft breeze disturbed the luxuriant
undergrowth; but suddenly Andreas, standing up, dropped his oar from
sheer surprise.
'Queen of the Water is not a desert island now!' he said. 'Look,
Senor!'
The boys also gazed now at the shore; and there, sure enough, on a small
rock that jutted out into the sea, they saw a weird-looking figure
walking slowly up and down, and waving long thin arms as if to warn off
the intruders. The man, who hardly looked human even from this
distance, appeared to be intent only on this one action; and so strange
did it seem, that the three looked at each other with the same question
expressed on their faces, and this was, 'Shall we land?'
[Illustration: "_SHALL WE LAND?_" (missing from book)]
'If there is one man there may be more,' said Carlo, in despair; 'but I
can row no more. We may as well be killed here as go on to another
island and die by the way.'
'He is no Indian, but a white man,' remarked Andreas, again scanning the
rock; 'his beard is long, and his hair too. He either wishes us ill, or
wishes to warn us from some danger; and yet I never heard of any one
living here. This is indeed a misfortune.'
'Well, we must risk it,' said Harry, seeing Carlo was looking terribly
white and done up; 'and I think if we run the boat in here, at our right
hand, that old fellow will not come up with us till we are well landed,
for he will have nigh upon a mile to walk. If I'm not right, you may
call me an ass for my pains, Carlo.'
Andreas approved, and presently they were obliged to keep all their wits
sharp in order to enter the semicircular harbour, for there was some
danger in getting the boat through the tumbling surf. But the Indian
was too well accustomed to landing a boat to come to grief, and very
soon the three stood on firm land; and after dragging up the boat out of
reach of the waves, they looked anxiously around their new home. Near
them, above the low cliff, was a clearing made by nature, where grew
bananas, cacao, and bois-immortel, among which could also be seen a few
orange-trees and Avocado pears; so that there was no fear of dying of
thirst. But what interested them most was the strange weird figure,
who, instead of following them, still kept on the same rock, and still
waved his arms as if warding off some visible enemy. Andreas gazed a
few minutes in silence; then all at once his eyes lighted up.
'It is no enemy: it must be a poor man whom the pirates have brought
here. That is their fashion. I have heard them speak of it. They land
some one who has offended them, and leave him to die alone; though often
they will give him a musket and a little powder.'
'Then I should say that poor man is mad,' said Harry. 'If so, he may be
more dangerous than a pirate. But look, Andreas; if the pirates have
been once they may come again.'
'No, not for many a long day; they must have sighted this desert island
by chance, and landed this poor man here, knowing it was uninhabited.'
'Well, I will go and see what I can make of him,' said Harry, 'whilst
you get a rest, Carlo; for you must not be ill here, and Andreas will
begin unloading the boat.'
'Take care, Harry,' cried Carlo; 'nay, wait: I will come with you--I
can't bear you to run the risk alone.'
'I have been through so many perilous scrapes that one more or less
makes but little difference. Still, come along, Senorito, we may perhaps
make the poor man forget his troubles.'
So the two walked slowly along the shore till they came within a few
yards of the weird figure; and Harry, wishing to attract his attention,
called out to him and asked him what he did there. Then the figure
paused, and gazed at the new-comers as if they were an unfamiliar sight,
and began muttering through his long grey beard Spanish words of no
meaning.
'Senor Carlo, this poor fellow is a Spaniard; but I see no sign of a
musket. Speak to him, and ask him where he sleeps, and why he is here.'
Carlo began very courteously to inquire how the stranger had reached the
island, as no boat was in sight; but suddenly he stopped short in his
sentence, and clung wildly to Harry.
'Harry, Harry Fenn, look again, that man is--can you not see? It is my
father; and yet I hardly knew him. See the ring on his finger?' Harry
would certainly not have recognised the Marquis, whom he had seen but
little of; but in his astonishment he called out his name.
'The Senor Estevan del Campo! Surely it cannot be! Gracious Heaven!'
'Yes, yes,' said the poor man, 'that is my name. Who called me? Yes,
yes, Estevan del Campo!'
'Oh, sir, here is your son,' said Harry; and then Carlo, summoning up
his courage, rushed toward his poor father and knelt by his side.
'Father, father, do you not know me? I am Carlo, your son. Forgive me
if I ever spoke harshly, father.'
'Carlo my son? No, no, I have no son, no country. Don't let any one
come here to find out my hiding-place; I warn them off. The pirates
left me here; that was the kindest thing they did for me. I have no
name, no titles. Don't tell any one where I am. What do they call
it?--marooning--they marooned me, left me to die alone. It was their
kindness; I bear them no grudge for doing that. No name, no country!'
'No, no,' cried Carlo; 'we will take care of you, father; you shall not
die alone.' And turning his arm round the poor thin arm of his father,
Carlo dragged him forward; and Harry, following behind, wiped away a few
tears from his eyes; for it was indeed a sight to have touched the
hardest heart. But evidently the poor Marquis was out of his mind and
had not much longer to live.
The sound of human voices seemed to soothe him after a time; and when
they reached the shade of the grove where Andreas had set out some food
for the travellers, he was no longer muttering his few sentences. The
surprise of the Indian can easily be imagined, and the poor fellow's
pity for his old master was quite touching to witness, even though he
had never received much kindness at his hands. Little by little the
Marquis began to take in dimly that Carlo was with him, and to accept
the services of Andreas as he waited on him; but though not actually
starved, he had taken but little trouble to collect food, and the horror
of loneliness and shame at his past treason seemed to have done the work
of years. Carlo, who had all along been feeling a grudge against his
father, could now forgive and forget everything.
'Oh, Andreas, how fortunate it was that you brought us here! Stay with
us now, and do not go back to St. Catherine: I am so much afraid that
your absence will be discovered, and then---- Do stay, and let us share
our misfortunes and our luck.'
It was a great temptation to Andreas, and for a few moments he brooded
in silence over the proposal; but he had learnt Christianity in a way
not understood by many Christians. He considered that if he stayed he
would certainly save himself, but if he returned he might help to save
the poor ladies, who had now no protectors; and Andreas knew that the
word of a pirate was but a poor thing to trust in. He believed that he
could help them, and anyhow he could give them the knowledge that Carlo
was safe and that the Marquis was found. What did his life matter? Had
not the Padre told him these words: 'Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends,' and to the poor Indian
the words were simple and powerful, and to be, if needs were, carried
out literally. It took him but a few moments to make up his mind.
'Andreas must go back,' he said, smiling, now his decision was made;
'for the Senora and the Senorita will want to know the good news, and
they may want also to come to the Queen of the Water. Andreas loves
Senor Carlo dearly, but he will go away first and then come again.'
So towards evening, several hours before the sun set, Andreas was
escorted to the boat, while the boys helped to push it off from the
shore, and the Marquis stood by once more as if he were giving orders,
though he merely said, 'Tell them, Andreas, that I did it for the best.
The rascals deceived me. Tell them that, Andreas, and don't let my
little Felipa think badly of me.'