A CAMP ON THE HILL
We found signs of wild animals in great number and variety, as we forced
our trail through the jungle, but so considerable a concourse of
creatures as ours was sure to frighten anything and everything from the
line of march. It seemed to me to be a place in which company was
exceedingly desirable.
A feeling of relief came over me when at length we reached the clearing
we had selected from afar, and made our way to the rounded summit of the
hill. No sooner had I signed for a halt than half a dozen of the
fighters advanced and laid at my feet the sea-shell receptacle, filled
with our flints, and everything else which had been saved when we fled
into the cave, all of which had been carried at great pains through the
tunnel. These things I had quite forgotten in our stress of cares.
The place we had reached proved to be ideal for a settlement. Not only
were fruit and nut-trees abundant, but the forest contained countless
woods of value, while huge bamboos were flourishing not far away, at a
marshy spot, and the hills and ravines about us were teeming with birds
and game. We held a commanding position, the rock-formations of which
made a natural fortification nearly complete. Through the trees, in one
direction, I could see the lake, a thing which gave me the greatest
delight, for I thought it might mean almost anything to me, later on.
Although we got the benefit of a cooling breeze, the end of the day was
intensely hot. While we had been out of the tunnels probably no longer
than about an hour and a half, yet the whole adventure made the day seem
very long. Thirsting for water, I hastened down the side of our hill to
where I saw signs of a spring. Clear water, sure enough, was gushing out
of a fissure, and I hastened to drink. The first mouthful fetched me up
standing, bitterly disappointed. The water was salt. For a second I was
ready to curse the living fountain, and then I fairly danced with
delight.
Salt! The only thing I really needed, and the rocks and banks of this
little stream were white with the precious incrustation! I lost no time
in scraping some off the pebbles at the edge, after which I got some
pure, cold water for drinking at another spring a hundred yards away. I
had known of hot springs and cold springs, almost side by side, in
Nevada, and of sulphur springs and iron springs and countless other
varieties, but it had never before been my fortune to drink from a
spring of brine. This elated me beyond anything yet discovered.
Before I could rejoin the main body of my fellows, a few were striking
off hap-hazard, for rations. Some vigorous sign-language, which I found
I could make more forcible if I also talked out what I wanted to convey,
in Anglo-Saxon, begot a show of order. Twenty fellows went after fruit
and nuts for all; as many crept into the woods to dig some pits and
attempt to drive in some game; others fetched wood for the fires, as
well as for more of the bows and arrows. I had a lot of the females
gather a species of tough reed, much resembling osiers, and although I
knew little of weaving, I succeeded in making a small, clumsy basket,
which at least served to initiate the scheme, but it took some time
before we achieved any results worth mentioning in this needed line of
utensils.
At the head of a gang I began to supplement our natural ridges of rock
with a wall made of piled-up stones. It would never do to be defenceless
again. During all our work and hustling about, the chief stood leaning
on his rock-crystal club, his albino mate at his side, and the
fawning-fellow—whom I named Grin—smiling maliciously at all I did. The
chief saw a certain amount of usurpation in my ordering the work. The
new mode of things amazed him, for the Links not only had a keen
comprehension of what I wanted, but they actually vied with one another
in the zeal with which they laboured to perform my bidding.
Darkness came on before we had accomplished much in any direction. The
old female who muttered had preserved a glowing coal from the torches, a
trick made the easier by the wood she employed, for it possessed the
property of retaining fire for a time incredibly long.
“Here, Granny,” I said to her, as if by habit, “make ouch here, ouch
over there, and ouch against the rock.”
By the light of the flames, I constructed a rude shelter for myself. The
Links had a way of massing up in bunches on the ground, to sleep, a
system which hardly appealed to my fancy. Already two or three dozen of
the youngsters were curled on the ground and were doubtless deep in
dreams.
We ate no meat that evening, for the hunters came back empty-handed, as
soon as the light began to fail in the woods. An hour after night had
settled down, they were all at rest, save Fatty and myself. I sat before
a glowing fire, thinking, wondering what would come, out of this strange
caper of my frolicsome fate. I planned out work, with escape for my
motive, and builded strange structures in the air, as I looked vacantly
into the embers. Fatty watched me eagerly, his nervous eyes as lively as
quicksilver. The light shone on half of his face and illuminated the
skull tied on top of his head, with a changeful glow. He tried his best
to remain awake and help me to think it all out, but his head would nod,
and his eye-lids insisted on drooping, till at length he slumped, rather
than curled down, fast asleep.
How long I sat there, getting drowsy myself and intending all the while
to go to my shelter, is more than I know. A scream woke me suddenly at
last. The moon had nearly set, but still was casting a mellow light on
the world. A mass of the Links made a singular picture, as they
scrambled about in a great confusion. Then out of their midst leaped a
monster beast—a long, thin tiger, with a female Link, now flung upward,
now dragged, now half across his shoulder, held in his mouth, and she
fairly splitting the air with her cries, as he ran away with her bodily.
I saw the brute clear the ridge of rock and bound down the slope to the
region of shadows, like a thing of evil; I heard a Babel of affrighted
chattering; I heard roars and howls and death-songs, out in the jungle
where the creatures held carnival of blood. I saw the fear of my
men-children, huddling about me; and I felt a longing to hover them all
from harm.
They were badly demoralised, but we built up the fires anew, and made
more, to enclose all the tribe. Then for hour after hour I walked about
the camp, keeping the fires from dying away, while out in the savage
world beyond, the prowlers ate, and growled at the “kill.”