Ebo set to work earnestly to finish the hut, binding down the palm
leaves of the thatch with more long canes, which he cleverly threaded in
and out, and afterwards secured their ends. Then he cut off the long
ends of the bamboos so as to leave all tidy before commencing the sides.
My uncle was as anxious as I was to go upon some expedition; but as
there was no shelter to be obtained here, and it became more and more
evident that we were upon an uninhabited island, he saw the necessity
for having our boxes and stores under a roof.
So we set manfully to work helping the black, cutting bamboos, bringing
large palm leaves, fetching long rattan canes, and handing them to him;
while, saving when he left off for meals, Ebo toiled like a slave,
working with an industry that we should not have expected to find in an
inhabitant of one of these sleepy isles.
At last, though, he finished, and his childish delight seemed to know no
bounds. He danced and shouted, ran in and out, walked round the hut,
and then strutted up to us full of self-satisfaction, his tongue going
all the while, and evidently feeling highly delighted at our smiles and
words of praise.
No time was lost in transferring our boxes and stores beneath the roof;
and then, as it wanted quite three hours to sunset, my uncle proposed,
by way of recompense for all our drudgery, that we should take our guns
and see if we could not obtain a few specimens.
Ebo looked delighted, and, without being told, obtained a short piece of
bamboo ready for carrying the birds we shot.
Then, taking his spear out of the canoe, he smiled to show how ready he
was; but Uncle Dick took him by the arm and led him up to the door of
the hut.
"Put your spear there, as you did before, to keep off all visitors,
Master Ebo," he said; and he accompanied his request with signs to
express what he wished.
Ebo understood him at once, and made as if to stick the spear in the
ground before the door, but he stopped short and shook his head, ran a
few yards, and peered in amongst the trees; turned round and shook his
head again; ran in another direction and peeped about, coming back
shaking his head again.
Ebo's motions said as plainly as could be:
"There is nobody here but ourselves," and as if to satisfy us he led the
way to a high hill about a mile away, from whence we had a splendid view
all but in one direction, where there lay a clump of mountains. Look
which way we would there was nothing but rich plain and dense jungle,
with occasional patches of park-like land. Not a sign was there of
huts, and once more Ebo looked at us and shook his head, counting us
afterwards in his own way--one, two, three, and then tossing his arms in
the air.
"We are in luck, Nat," said my uncle. "This island must swarm with
natural history specimens, and he has brought us here because he thought
it a good place; so now to make the best use of our time. Look out!"
As he spoke he raised his gun and fired at a bird darting down a narrow
rift between two rocks that looked as if they had been riven asunder.
I thought he had missed it, but Ebo ran ahead and returned directly with
a most lovely kingfisher in glorious plumage.
"If we get nothing more in this island, Nat, I shall be satisfied," said
my uncle as we gazed at the lovely creature which Ebo had brought; and
seeing the satisfaction in our faces he indulged in another dance.
"Yes," continued my uncle, patting Ebo's black shoulder, "you are a
treasure, Ebo, and I see we shall be greatly in your debt. Now, Nat, we
must not have a feather of that bird spoiled. I feel ready to go back
on purpose to prepare it."
It was indeed a lovely creature; but as I gazed upon its delicately
beautiful tints I felt puzzled. It was of rich purple on the back, with
azure-blue shoulders dashed and speckled with a lighter blue, while all
the under parts were of a pure white, which seemed to throw out the rich
colours of the back. But the great beauty of the specimen was its tail,
which was long and had the two centre feathers continued almost without
any plumes till the end, where they spread out like a couple of racket
bats, making the little bird in all about a foot and a half long.
I felt as if I should never tire of gazing at the beautiful specimen,
and quite understood my uncle's feeling about wishing to make sure of it
by preserving it at once.
Just then, though, a large bird flew across, at which I fired, but it
was too far distant, and the shots did no more than rattle about its
feathers.
"Did you see its great beak, uncle?" I said.
"Yes, Nat, a hornbill. I daresay we shall find plenty of them here.
They take the places in the East of the toucans of the West. But now,
Nat, there is an easy shot for you--look! Ebo is pointing to it.
There, seated on that twig. Now see he darts off after a fly and is
back again. No, he is off once more. We have scared him."
But by this time I had seen the bird, and taking quick aim as it hovered
and snatched at a fly of some kind, I fired and brought it down, to find
that I too had got a prize in the shape of a lovely little bee-eater,
with plumage rich in green and blue, brown and black, while its tail was
also rendered more beautiful by the extension of its central feathers in
two long thin points.
My uncle's gun spoke out again the next moment, the second barrel
following quickly, and Ebo ran and picked up another of the lovely
kingfishers, and one of a different kind with a rich coral-red beak,
short tail, and its back beautifully barred with blue and black like the
ornamental feathers in the wings of a jay.
"That is a bee-eater you have shot, Nat, and a lovely thing too. Mine
are all kingfishers."
"There must be a little stream down in that hollow between those rocks,
uncle," I replied.
"No, Nat, I don't suppose there is," he said, smiling. "But why do you
say that?"
"Because of those kingfishers, uncle. There must be a stream or pool
somewhere near."
"I daresay there is, Nat; but not on account of these birds, my lad.
They are dry kingfishers, Nat. They do not live upon fish, but upon
beetles, butterflies, and moths, darting down and picking them off the
ground without wetting a feather."
"Why, how curious!" I said. "They have beaks just like the kingfishers
at home."
"Very much like them, Nat," he said; "but they catch no fish. But come,
we must get back to the hut, or we shall never get our birds turned into
skins before dark. Look out!"
We fired so closely together that it sounded like one shot, and three
more of the great pigeons fell heavily to the ground--part of a little
flock that was passing over our head.
Ebo seized them with a grin of delight, for he knew that these meant
larder, and then hastening back we had just time to strip and prepare
our skins before night fell, when, work being ended, the fire was relit,
the kettle boiled, and a sort of tea-supper by moonlight, with the dark
forest behind and the silvery sea before us, ended a very busy day.