Night came again with its long dreary hours. Malchus strapped himself
by his belt to the tree to prevent himself from falling. In this way he
managed to obtain a few hours of uneasy sleep, waking up each time with
a start, in a cold perspiration of fear, believing that he was falling
into the hungry jaws below. In the morning a fierce desire to kill some
of his foes seized him, and he descended to the lowest branch.
The wolves, seeing their prey so close at hand, thronged thickly under
it, and strove to leap up at him. Lying down on the bough, and twisting
his legs firmly under it to give him a purchase, Malchus thrust his
sword nearly to the hilt between the jaws, which snapped fiercely as a
wolf sprang to within a few inches of the bough. Several were killed in
this way, and the rest, rendered cautions, withdrew to a short distance.
Suddenly an idea struck Malchus. He took off his belt and formed it
into a running noose, and then waited until the wolves should summon up
courage to attack again. It was not long. Furious with hunger, which
the prey they had already devoured was only sufficient to whet, the
wolves again approached and began to spring towards the bough.
Malchus dropped the noose over the neck of one, and with an effort
hauled it to the bough, and despatched it with his dagger. Then he moved
along the bough and hung it on a branch some ten feet from the ground,
slashing open with his dagger its chest and stomach. Having done this
he returned to his place.
Six wolves were one after the other so hauled up and despatched, and, as
Malchus expected, the smell of their blood rendered the pack more savage
than ever. They assembled round the foot of the tree, and continued to
spring at the trunk, making vain endeavours to get at the supply of food
which hung tantalizingly at so short a distance beyond their reach.
So the day passed as before without signs of rescue. When it became
dark Malchus again descended to the lowest bough, and fired his three
remaining arrows among the wolves below him. Loud howls followed each
discharge, and the sound of a desperate struggle below.
Then he tumbled the six dead wolves from their position to the ground
below, and then as noiselessly as possible made his way along a bough
into an adjoining tree. From this he passed into another, till he had
attained some distance from the spot where the wolves were fighting and
growling over the remains of their companions, far too absorbed in their
work for any thought of him.
Then he dropped noiselessly to the ground and fled at the top of his
speed. It would be, he was sure, some time before the wolves had
completed their feast; and even should they discover that he was missing
from the tree, it would probably be some time before they could hit upon
his scent, especially as, having just feasted on blood, their sense of
smell would be dulled.
Several times he stopped and listened in dread lest he should hear the
distant howl, which would tell him that the pack was again on his scent.
All was quiet, save for the usual cries and noises in the forest. In
two hours he saw a distant glow of light, and was soon in the encampment
of his friends.
*A CYCLONE IN THE BAY OF BENGAL.*
*FROM "A CHAPTER OF ADVENTURES."*
[Jack Robson, Arthur Hill, Jim Tucker, are three midshipmen on board the
_Wild Wave_. When in the Bay of Bengal the appearance of the weather
changes, and the captain orders most of the sails to be taken in.]
"What is it all about?" Arthur Hill asked his comrades, as the three
boys gathered together after the work was done. "Why, there is not a
breath of wind. Is it all done for practice, do you think?"
Jim shook his head. "I expect we are going to have one of those
cyclones Mr. Timmins was speaking about the other day, though I don't
see any signs of it, except the queer colour of the sky. I expect the
glass must have been going down very fast. There is the captain popping
into his cabin again. Well, he is not long about it," he added, as
Captain Murchison hurried out again and spoke to Mr. Timmins, who
immediately gave the order, "Furl mizzen and main topsails! Lower down
the fore-stay-sail!"
"Well, there can't be more to do now," Jack said, when the order was
carried out, "unless we get to work to set them all again."
"Look, Jack!" Arthur Hill said, grasping his arm and pointing away on
the starboard beam.
A wall of black mist seemed to hang upon the horizon, rising every
moment higher and higher.
"The squall is coming, lads!" the captain shouted. "When it strikes
her, hold on for your lives. Carpenter, put a man with an axe at each
of the weather-shrouds. We may have to cut away before we have done
with it."
All eyes were now turned towards the bank of cloud, which was rising
with extraordinary rapidity. Small portions of the upper line seemed at
times to be torn off and to rush ahead of the main body, and then to
disappear, suddenly blown into fragments. A low moaning sound was
heard, and a line of white could be made out at the foot of the
cloud-bank. The water around the ship was still as smooth as glass,
though there was a slight swell, which swayed her to and fro, and caused
the shrouds and blocks to rattle.
Louder and louder grew the murmur. Again the captain's voice was heard:
"Hold on for your lives, lads!" and then with a scream and roar, as of a
thousand railway whistles, the gale struck the ship. So tremendous was
the force, that although the closely-reefed fore-topsail was the only
sail that the Wild Wave was showing aloft--for the jib blew from the
bolt-ropes the instant the squall struck her--the vessel heeled over and
over until her lee-rail was under water. Further and further she went,
until the ends of the yards were under water, and the sea seemed to
Jack, who was holding on by the weather bulwark, as if it were directly
under his feet.
He thought that the ship was going to capsize, and had not her cargo
been well stowed she must have done so. She was now almost on her beam
ends, pressed down by the action of the wind upon her hull rather than
her masts, and had it not been that the boys had each at the last moment
twisted a rope round his body, they must have dropped into the water,
for the deck afforded no hold whatever to their feet. Jack felt
completely bewildered at the noise and fury of the wind. He had thought
that after the gale they had passed through south of the Cape, he knew
what bad weather was; but this was beyond anything of which he had the
slightest conception.