When I came to, it was as if all the past was a dream, for I heard
voices I knew, and lay listening to them talking in a low tone, till,
opening my eyes, I found I was close to the doctor, the captain, Jimmy,
and the sailors, while Jack Penny was sitting holding my hand.
"What cheer, my hearty?" said the captain, making an effort to come to
me; but I then became aware of the fact that we were surrounded by
savages, for one great fellow struck the captain on the arm with his
club, and in retort the skipper gave him a kick which sent him on his
back.
There was a loud yell at this, and what seemed to threaten to be a
general onslaught. My friends all prepared for their defence, and Jimmy
took the initiative by striking out wildly, when half a dozen blacks
dashed at him, got him down, and one was foolish enough to sit upon his
head, but only to bound up directly with a shriek, for poor Jimmy, being
held down as to arms and legs, made use of the very sharp teeth with
which nature had endowed him.
We should have been killed at once, no doubt, had not one tall black
shouted out something, and then begun talking loudly to the excited mob,
who listened to him angrily, it seemed to me; but I was so dull and
confused from the blow I had received upon my head that all seemed misty
and strange, and once I found myself thinking, as my head ached
frightfully, that they might just as well kill us at once, and not
torture us by keeping us in suspense.
The talking went on, and whenever the tall chief stopped for a moment
the blacks all set up a yell, and danced about brandishing their spears
and clubs, showing their teeth, rolling their eyes, and behaving--just
like savages. But still we were not harmed, only watched carefully,
Jimmy alone being held, though I could see that at a movement on our
part we should have been beaten to death or thrust through.
At last, after an interminable speech, the big chief seemed to grow
hoarse, and the blacks' yells were quicker and louder.
Then there was a terrible pause, and a dozen sturdy blacks sprang
towards us as regularly as if they had been drilled, each man holding a
spear, and I felt that the end had come.
I was too stupid with my hurt to do more than stare helplessly round,
seeing the bright sunshine, the glittering sea, and the beautiful waving
trees. Then my head began to throb, and felt as if hot irons were being
thrust through it.
I closed my eyes, the agony was so great; and then I opened them again,
for all the savages were yelling and clapping their hands. Two men had
seized me, and one of them had his head bandaged, and in a misty way I
recognised him as one of the poor wretches to whom I had given water.
He and the others, who were easily known by the doctor's patches of
sticking-plaster, were talking with all their might; and then all the
blacks began yelling and dancing about, brandishing their spears and
clubs, frantic apparently with the effect of the injured men's words.
"They ar'n't going to kill us, my lad," said the captain then; "and look
ye there, they are going to feast the doctor."
For the latter was regularly hustled off from among us by a party of
blacks, led by two of the sticking-plastered fellows, while two others
squatted down smiling at us and rubbing their chests.
"Are we to be spared, then?" I said.
"Spared? Well, I don't know, my lad," said the captain. "They won't be
so ungrateful as to kill us, now these blacks set ashore have turned up
and told 'em what sort of chaps we are; but I don't think they'll free
us. They'll keep us here and make the doctor a physic chief. Eh! go
there? All right; I can understand your fingers better than your
tongue, my lad. Come on, all of you."
This last was in response to the gesticulations of the injured men who
were with us, and soon after, we were all settled down in a very large
open hut, eating fruit and drinking water, every drop of which seemed to
me more delicious than anything I had ever tasted before.
A curious kind of drink was also given to us, but I did not care for it,
and turned to the water again; while the doctor set to work to dress and
strap up my injury as well as he could for the pressure of the people,
who were wonderfully interested in it all, and then gathered round the
doctor's other patients, examining their injuries, and listening to the
account of the surgical treatment, which was evidently related to them
again and again.
"Well, this is different to what you expected; isn't it, squire?" said
the captain to me the first time he could find an opportunity to speak.
"I was beginning to feel precious glad that I shouldn't have a chance to
get back and meet your mother after what she said to me."
"Then you think we are safe now?" said the doctor.
"Safe!" said the captain; "more than safe, unless some of 'em, being a
bit cannibal like, should be tempted by the pleasant plumpness of Mr
Jack Penny here, and want to cook and eat him."
"Get out!" drawled Jack. "I know what you mean. I can't help being
tall and thin."
"Not you, my lad," said the captain good-humouredly. "Never mind your
looks so long as your 'art's in the right place. We're safe enough,
doctor, and I should say that nothing better could have happened.
Niggers is only niggers; but treat 'em well and they ain't so very bad.
You let young Squire Carstairs here ask the chief, and he'll go with
you, and take half his people, to try and find the professor; ah, and
fight for you too, like trumps."
"Do you think so?" I said.
"Think! I'm sure of it; and I'm all right now. They'll be glad to see
me and trade with me. I'm glad you made me set those chaps free."
"And what has become of the crew of the other schooner?" I said
anxiously.
"Nobbled," said the captain; "and sarve 'em right. Tit for tat; that's
all. Men who plays at those games must expect to lose sometimes.
They've lost--heavy. Change the subject; it's making young Six-foot
Rule stare, and you look as white as if you were going to be served the
same. Where's the doctor?"
"He said he was going to see to the injured men," I replied.
"Come and let's look how he's getting on," said the captain. "It's all
right now; no one will interfere with us more than mobbing a bit,
because we're curiosities. Come on."
I followed the captain, the blacks giving way, but following us closely,
and then crowding close up to the door of the great tent where the
doctor was very busy repairing damages, as he called it, clipping away
woolly locks, strapping up again and finishing off dressings that he had
roughly commenced on board.
During the next few days we were the honoured guests of the savages,
going where we pleased, and having everything that the place produced.
The captain moored his vessel in a snug anchorage, and drove a roaring
trade bartering the stores he had brought for shells, feathers,
bird-skins, and other productions of the island.
Gyp was brought on shore, and went suspiciously about the place with his
head close up to his master's long thin legs, for though he had
tolerated and was very good friends with Jimmy, he would not have any
dealings with the New Guinea folk. It did not seem to be the black
skins or their general habits; but Jack Penny declared that it was their
gummed-out moppy heads, these seeming to irritate the dog, so that,
being a particularly well-taught animal, he seemed to find it necessary
to control his feelings and keep away from the savages, lest he should
find himself constrained to bite. The consequence was that, as I have
said, he used to go about with his head close to his master's legs,
often turning his back on the people about him; while I have known him
sometimes take refuge with me, and thrust his nose right into my hand,
as if he wished to make it a muzzle to keep him from dashing at some
chief.
"I hope he won't grab hold of any of 'em," Jack Penny said to me one day
in his deliberate fashion; "because if he does take hold it's such a
hard job to make him let go again. And I say, Joe Carstairs, if ever
he's by you and these niggers begin to jump about, you lay hold of him
and get him away."
"Why?" I said.
"Well, you see," drawled Jack, "Gyp ain't a human being."
"I know that," I replied.
"Yes, I s'pose so," said Jack. "Gyp's wonderfully clever, and he thinks
a deal; but just now, I know as well as can be, he's in a sort of doubt.
He thinks these blacks are a kind of kangaroos, but he isn't sure. If
they begin to jump about, that will settle it, and he'll go at 'em and
get speared; and if any one sticks a spear into Gyp, there's going to be
about the biggest row there ever was. That one the other day won't be
anything to it."
"Then I shall do all I can to keep Gyp quiet," I said, smiling at Jack's
serious way of speaking what he must have known was nonsense. After
that I went out of the hut, where Jack Penny was doing what the captain
called straightening his back--that is to say, lying down gazing up at
the palm-thatched rafters, a very favourite position of his--and joined
some of the blacks, employing my time in trying to pick up bits and
scraps of their language, so as to be able to make my way about among
the people when we were left alone.
I found the doctor was also trying hard to master the tongue; and at the
same time we attempted to make the chiefs understand the object of our
visit, but it was labour in vain. The blacks were thoroughly puzzled,
and I think our way of pointing at ourselves and then away into the bush
only made them think that we wanted fruit or birds.
The time sped on, while the captain was carrying on his trade, the
blacks daily returning from the ship with common knives, and hatchets,
and brass wire, the latter being a favourite thing for which they
eagerly gave valuable skins. My wound rapidly healed, and I was eager
to proceed up the country, our intention being to go from village to
village searching until we discovered the lost man.
"And I don't know what to say to it," said the captain just before
parting. "I'm afraid you'll get to some village and then stop, for the
blacks won't let you go on; but I tell you what: I shall be always
trading backwards and forwards for the next two years, and I shall coast
about looking up fresh places so as to be handy if you want a bit of
help; and I can't say fairer than that, can I, doctor?"
"If you will keep about the coast all you can," said the doctor, "and be
ready, should we want them, to supply us with powder and odds and ends
to replenish our stores, you will be doing us inestimable service.
Whenever we go to a coast village we shall leave some sign of our having
been there--a few words chalked on a tree, or a hut, something to tell
you that English people have passed that way."
"All right, and I shall do something of the kind," said the captain.
"And, look here, I should make this village a sort of randy-voo if I was
you, for you'll always be safe with these people."
"Yes; this shall be headquarters," said the doctor. "Eh, Joe?"