THE ISLAND
The ascent was steep and difficult, so unbroken was the undergrowth,
except where jagged and pitted rocks rose grayly on the slope.
Bananas, nut palms, and mangoes Grenville promptly noted. Indeed,
every tropical tree, shrub, and fruit of which he had ever learned was
represented in the thicket, together with long, snake-like creepers,
huge ferns, and many plants with which he had no acquaintance.
There was abundant life in all directions. Here, with a grunt, and
beyond with a bound of startled surprise, some animal scuttled to cover
in alarm at their approach. A small flock of parrots abruptly arose,
flashing their brilliant plumage in the sunlight and screaming
raucously. Half a dozen leeches, clinging firmly to the fat, green
leaves next the ground, where all was moist and shaded, attracted
Grenville's notice as they lifted their heads and groped about for
flesh upon which to fasten.
Here and there in the tree tops a monkey obscured a patch of sky for a
moment and chattered or squeaked a warning to his kind. Grenville,
almost wholly convinced that man seldom or never visited the place, and
puzzled to account for a fact so extraordinary, now emerged at the edge
of a natural clearing and promptly discovered a small patch of sugar
cane, reared above the grass and vines. He was certain that man had
brought it to the island.
A half minute later he underwent a decidedly complex set of emotions.
He was barely five feet ahead of Elaine, who was following blindly in
his trail, a prey to new dreads of all the sounds about them, when he
halted in a tense and rigid attitude of alertness. Elaine glanced
quickly ahead.
Apparently a patch of orange sunlight was lifting from the grass. Then
Elaine, too, saw the black, irregular stripes, the huge, topaz eyes,
and the lazy movement of a mighty shoulder muscle, as the beast before
them arose and blocked their path.
It was not the fact that he had rarely if ever seen a tiger so large
that most impressed the man, thus unexpectedly confronted by this
unfrightened monarch of the island--_the brute bore a collar about his
neck, gleaming with gold and the facets of some sort of jewels_!
He had obviously once been a captive! He knew the form of man, if not
his nature!
For a moment or more there was absolute stillness in that grassy arena,
where two world-old enemies stood face to face in their first,
preliminary contest of courage. A certain arrogance, a contempt of all
possible adversaries, here in his undisputed realm, shone unmistakably
in the eyes of the motionless brute. His paunch was rounded
significantly. He had recently dined.
Grenville could think of but one thing to do, unarmed as he was, and
unwilling to compromise an encounter so vitally important.
He let out a shout such as a demon might have uttered, and, rushing
madly forward, with his club upraised, yelled again and again, his
aspect one to strike terror to the heart of a giant. He was almost
upon the astonished tiger when the brute abruptly fled. The roar the
great beast delivered, as he bounded from sight in the jungle, was the
sullen note of a creature that obeys, reluctantly, the command of one
superior to himself.
"Now, then, a little discretionary haste," said Grenville, quickly
returning to Elaine. "I prefer the top of the rocks."
But she did not move, so helpless was her will and so rigid all her
being. Once more, with his arm about her waist, Sidney firmly urged
her forward, on a beaten trail he took no time to study.
It led in a tortuous manner up the last steep acclivity, where, with
every rod, the growth became less luxuriant, and the rocks more thickly
strewn. Thus they presently came upon a second natural clearing, a
sort of uneven terrace, some fifty feet lower than the dominating
headland crowned by the solitary tree.
The trail to this final eminence was plainly scored along a narrow,
crumbling ledge, where the volcanic tufa, comprising the ancient
upheaval, had for years disintegrated in a honeycomb fashion that left
all the bowlders and even the walls deeply pitted.
When they turned about together on this dominating mount, the island
lay mapped irregularly beneath them in the purple sea, revealed
well-nigh in its entirety.
In all its expanse there was not a sign of a human habitation.
They knew, without a word of argument, they were absolutely alone on
this tropic crumb of empire, sole survivors of the frightful wreck,
completely ignorant of their whereabouts, and surrounded not only by
savage and inimical jungle brutes, but also by some mystery that was
not to be understood.
"Well," said Grenville, presently, "such as it is, it's ours."
"Ours," said Elaine. A cold little shiver ran along her nerves, at
thoughts of her plight between the man she had called a brute, and the
still more savage creatures of the jungle. "Where are you going?" she
added, as Grenville moved away.
"To look about for a moment," he replied, "and then I must pick some
breakfast."
The examination of the hilltop was promptly concluded. It proved to be
a flat, uneven plateau of small dimensions, with precipitous walls on
every side, except where the trail led downward. Much loose rock was
scattered on its surface. Three-quarters of its boundary rose
perpendicularly out of the sea. The remainder plunged down into jungle
greenery, and the natural clearing that lay between two dense, rank
growths on either side. Not far from the center of the table-rock a
fair-sized cave, that bore unmistakable signs of former occupancy and
fires once ignited on its floor, afforded a highly acceptable shelter,
both from the sun and the elements. It occupied, of course, a position
that could be readily and easily defended.
There were other, smaller caverns close at hand, but none with a whole
or unpierced roof. Fragments of broken clay utensils lay scattered
about, together with the whitening bones of small-sized animals that
had one time served some denizens for food. There was nothing in or
about the principal cave of which Grenville could make the slightest
use.
The view of the island from this point of vantage was not particularly
encouraging. Midway of its rugged bulk, that jutted from the azure
tides, and on the side directly opposite the estuary, another wall of
rock loomed, gray and barren, above the tops of the trees. Behind
this, at the island's farthest, left-hand extremity, a third
"intrusion" of volcanic stuff rose to a height only barely lower than
this whereon the raftmates stood. It was not, however, flat.
A portion only of the estuary was visible--the outer bay, where the
raft was plainly floating. Save for areas covered with rock and brush
together, the remaining surface of the island appeared to be thickly
grown to jungle, the forest comprising foliage of infinite variety.
With Elaine walking silently at his side, afraid to be with him, yet
more afraid to be alone, Grenville passed from this hasty examination
of the island's general topography to a closer inspection of the
perpendicular scarp of the terrace. On the seaward side it rose about
one hundred feet above the mark of high water. Its right front
appeared to overhang its base, a reassuring distance above the highest
tree. Across its entire bulk at this place the cliff had once been
cracked, and a "slip" had formed a ragged shelf. Then came the slope
where the trail was worn, beyond which forty feet or more of unscalable
tufa was reared above a section of the jungle once devastated by fire.
In the midst of this section, being rapidly reclaimed by vines and
creepers, stood the shell of a huge old tree, the heart of which had
been consumed, from the roots to its blackened top, leaving walls still
thick and solid.
"Well," said Sidney, returning again to the principal cave, which he
reinspected critically, "it doesn't take long to overlook our
possessions. You'd better begin to make yourself at home, while I go
below for fodder," and, taking up his club from a ledge where he had
let it fall, he went at once down the long-abandoned trail and out
across the clearing.
Elaine had followed to the scarp, where she watched till he
disappeared. How helpless she was in the hands of this man, whose
declaration and deeds had so aroused her indignation and hatred, she
thoroughly understood. A sickening conviction that days might elapse
before she could hope to escape, increased her sense, not only of
alarm, but also of distrust in Grenville. His action in taking up his
stick had not escaped her attention. Strangely enough, a horrible pang
went straight to her breast as she suddenly thought of that tiger
again--and of what it might mean if Grenville never returned. Whatever
else might happen, nothing could be so terrible as to perish here
alone. She tried to assure herself, however, that Grenville was
thoroughly competent to cope with the dangers of the place.
Yet the silence of the jungle where she had seen him disappear,
oppressed her unendurably. Not even a tree was shaken, to indicate
where he had gone. Summoning all her resolution, she returned to the
cavern, alone.
A slab of rock, once doubtless employed for a table, lay with one end
resting on the earth, while the other leaned upon a second rock,
against the wall of the cave. She lifted this slab to a second prop,
then blew the last fragment of dust and sand from its surface, by way
of preparing it for breakfast. She looked about, longing for further
employment, but, inasmuch as two rude fragments of the rock already
reposed beside her table for seats, there was absolutely nothing more
she could add, either by way of utensils or furnishings, from the
boulders scattered loosely on the terrace.
When she thought of leaves, whereon to serve what fruits the jungle
might surrender, she started briskly for the trail--but halted at its
summit. A horror of unknown things that might be lurking at the
thicket's edge impressed itself upon her. Nevertheless, she shook it
off, and, descending rapidly, soon filled her arms with large, clean
"platters" from a rankly growing plant of the "elephant's ear" variety,
then clambered back to her aerie.
Two of the leaves she dropped at the bend of the trail and left them
there in the sun. Twice after that she returned to the edge, to search
all the greenery for Grenville. Her uneasiness respecting his long
absence was rapidly increasing when she turned once more toward the
cave. He emerged at that moment from the farther thicket of the
clearing, came unobserved to the winding trail, and discovered the
leaves she had abandoned.
He was amazingly "loaded" with similar leaves for breakfast purposes,
as well as with fruits, and a singular bowl of water, yet he paused,
with a smile upon his lips, to discard every leaf he had provided, in
order that Elaine's thoughtful effort at assistance might not be in the
least belittled.
She met him just as he came to the top, and began to take a portion of
his burden.
"Oh," she said, "you've found water--or is it the juice of the melon?"
"Water," he answered, moving towards the cave. "The bowl is half of a
paw-paw, which, next to that spring itself, is the welcomest thing I've
discovered."
She was glad to note bananas among his several fruits, but she made no
further observations. More and more her sense of constraint increased,
as she clearly foresaw her dependence upon and intimate association
with this man, who had overstepped the bounds of honor to his friend,
and to whom she had spoken in such anger.
Breakfast was soon begun. Elaine consumed all she could relish of the
fruits, although neither the loco (loquet, a yellowish sort of plum),
the guava--green and full of seeds--nor the custard apple, which was
somewhat sickishly sweet, appealed irresistibly to her fancy.
She drank from a leaf, curled up to form a cup, and found the water
decidedly refreshing and agreeable, despite the fact it was slightly
flavored by the juices of the paw-paw shell in which it had been served.
Grenville leaned back, when his appetite was thoroughly appeased, and
began to empty his pockets. He produced the remains of his broken
knife, a few loose coins, a ring of keys, a pig-skin purse with several
pieces of gold as its contents, the stub of a pencil, and his watch,
which, by great good fortune, was waterproof, and still in good running
condition, despite its several immersions.
Elaine was watching his movements, puzzled to guess his intent.
"Taking stock," he said, presently, "by way of facing the situation and
formulating plans.... These trifling chattels are all I possess in the
world--our world, at least--with which to begin certain labors. You
probably haven't even hairpins."
Elaine had coiled her hair upon a twig. She shook her head, and
faintly resented his allusion to the island as a sort of partnership
property.
Grenville began to segregate his belongings.
"Money, keys, pencil, and watch--all mere encumbrances, absolutely
worthless. One broken knife--invaluable. We shall require, as soon as
possible, water-jugs, basins, cooking utensils, something to make a
fire, implements to chop our fuel, some primitive weapons, and tools
with which to fashion a boat. I must lose no time in exploring beyond
the spring. I have found nothing yet that will especially lend itself
to our uses."
Elaine's brown eyes were very wide. "You expect to remain here long
enough to build a boat, when the raft---- I know it can't be rowed, of
course, but--couldn't you try a sail?"
"We couldn't sail it in its present form," he answered, "even if we
knew which direction to take when we started. With a small, swift boat
we might venture a few explorations from the island as a base."
She was silent for a moment, and grave.
"You haven't much faith, then, in hailing some passing steamer?"
"I think it wiser to prepare against a probable wait that may be rather
long." He read and understood her impatience with the situation--a
situation rendered infinitely more complicated and delicate by what he
had dared to say and do the previous afternoon.
Once more black dreads that she dared not permit to reveal themselves
completely arose to engulf her mind. She could not doubt that
Grenville knew, far better than herself, how meager were their hopes of
immediate rescue or escape from this exile in the sea. More than
anything else, however, she wished to be worthy of and loyal to the man
to whom her plighted word had been given. That she owed so much to
Grenville already was an added irritation. A braver, finer spirit than
she summoned to her needs never rose in a woman's breast.
Her eyes met his with a cold look of resolution in their depths.
"I know you will show me how to help. I must do my share in
everything. Can you tell how long it must have been since anyone was
here?"
Grenville had never thought her finer--never loved her so madly before.
Yet he quelled the merry demons of his nature.
"No," he replied, as he took in his hand a bit of bone, bleached
cleanly white. "I can't even understand why an island so abundantly
supplied with fruits and game, to say nothing of useful woods and the
like, should be so utterly abandoned. There seems to be nothing wrong
with the place, and much that is quite in its favor."
"Perhaps that tiger," she suggested.
Sidney shook his head. "It's something that goes a bit deeper--at
least, there may once have been something sinister. The natives of all
this part of the world are rather accustomed to tigers."
Her sense of divination was exceedingly keen.
"You think there is something worse? You haven't already encountered
something more----"
"Nothing," he hastened to interrupt. "The problem of our daily
existence affords our greatest present cause for concern--and I frankly
admit I considerably relish the prospect of proving we are equal to all
that our situation may demand."
She was not to be satisfied so readily.
"But there may be something wrong with the island?"
"Possibly--from a native's point of view."
"But--you are almost certain to meet that tiger again."
"All the more reason for getting to work at once." He arose in his
quick, active manner, and once more surveyed their camp.
"A few rocks piled in your doorway," he continued, "and your cave will
meet your requirements admirably. I should say mine would better be
this small retreat, the roof of which I can readily restore. It is
close enough to be neighborly, and is nearer the head of the trail."
The smaller cave thus indicated occupied a position suggestive of a
sentry's box, before precincts to be guarded. Its opening faced the
gateway of the trail, while its size was sufficient for the needs of
any primitive man.
Elaine, who had mechanically followed Grenville from the shelter,
looked resignedly about. She had failed till now to think, concretely,
of actually remaining, perhaps night after night, in such a place.
"It was terrible!" she said, "--the accident--everything!--terrible!"
She suddenly thought of the threat he had made--to compel her to love
him as he loved her, before they should reach their home--and shivered
anew at the unforeseen predicament in which she was plunged, and hated
him more than before.
"Bad business," he answered, briefly, "but at present the task before
us is to cut a lot of grass and strew it about on the rocks to dry."
He opened the stubby blade of his knife, glanced at it ruefully, and,
selecting a bit of stone, began to whet its edge. But he halted the
action abruptly.
A low, weird sound, like a human wail, came from somewhere over behind
them.