"Fish run big, sometimes," he said, nodding his head sagaciously.
"Don't leave your line like that, doctor," he added; "make it fast to
that bough."
The doctor obeyed, and leaving Jack looking very drowsy and dreamy we
two took our guns and started along the river bank, thinking that
perhaps we might find something useful for the larder, the heat of the
climate rendering it necessary for a supply to be obtained from day to
day.
It was a glorious walk past quiet bends of the river that were as still
as ponds, and full of red and white lotus plants which shot up their
lovely blossoms from amidst their floating liliaceous leaves. Trees in
places overhung the water, and great wreaths of blossom or leaves of
dazzling green were reflected on the surface. Insect life was abundant:
burnished beetles and lovely coloured butterflies flitting from flower
to flower. Birds, too, especially waders and great creatures that I
took to be pelicans, were busy in the shallows, where now and then a
great crocodile wallowed through the mud, evidently roused by our
approach, for though we saw several of these creatures, not one gave the
slightest sign of a disposition to attack.
"There, we are not likely to see deer before evening when they come down
to drink," said the doctor. "Let's get back, Joe, my lad, the sun is
not so powerful as it was, and we may as well make a fresh start."
We were about three parts of the way back, finding some fresh object of
interest at every turn, when I suddenly caught hold of my companion's
arm, for a peculiar cry fell upon my ear.
"Something wrong!" exclaimed the doctor, and we set off at a sharp run
where the undergrowth would allow.
A curious sensation of dread came over me, and a cold damp feeling was
on my brow and in the palms of my hands as the cry rose once more--a
singularly doleful cry, as of some one in great peril.
"Are you loaded?" said the doctor, as we ran on, and his voice sounded
hoarse with emotion.
I nodded, for I could not speak, and, full of the idea that our little
camp had been attacked by savages and that some of our followers were
being killed, I ran on.
It was hard work and like running in a nightmare to get back to our
starting-place, for there was always some thorn or tangle that we had
not noticed in our careful advance seeming to stop us on our way; but at
last we came within sight of the spot where we had left Jack Penny, but
he was not there.
"There's something wrong at the camp," I panted.
"Be cool," replied the doctor, "we may have to fire. Try and keep your
nerve. Ah!"
This ejaculation was consequent upon our simultaneously catching sight
of Jack Penny, up to the armpits in the river, holding on by the branch
of a tree.
As he saw us he shouted lustily for help. It was no drawl now, but a
sharp quick shout.
I ran down the bank and the doctor following, we joined hands, when,
catching at Jack's wrist, I held on tightly.
"Now, then," I said, as I gazed wonderingly in his ghastly face and
staring eyes, "let go, and we'll draw you ashore."
"No, no," he cried hoarsely. "Got hold of me--drag me in."
"Got hold? Of course," I said, "we'll drag you in."
"One of those brutes has got him, Joe," cried the doctor excitedly, and
his words sent such a thrill through me that I nearly loosed my hold.
"Here, pull both together," he said, as he got down by my side and
seized Jack Penny by the other arm.
We gave a fierce drag, to find that it was answered from below, Jack
being nearly drawn out of our hands, his head going down nearly to the
eyes, and for the moment it seemed as if we were to be drawn in as well.
But fortunately Jack still had tight hold of the branch, to which he
clung in the agony of desperation, and he uttered such a piercing cry
that it served to arouse the sleeping blacks, the result being that, as
we were holding on, and just maintaining our ground, Jimmy and Ti-hi,
the black who had attached himself to me, came running down.
They saw what was wrong, and Jimmy seized me, the black doing the same
by Jimmy, with the effect of dragging poor Jack Penny farther and
farther from the water in spite of the struggles of the reptile that was
trying to haul him back. First we had him out to the chest, then to the
hips, then nearly to the knees, and I never till then thoroughly
realised what a lot there was of him, for it seemed as if he would never
end.
"Hold on!" cried the doctor suddenly. "I'm going to loose him."
"No, no!" panted Jack, with a horrified look; but the doctor did loose
his hold and caught up his gun.
"Now, then," he cried. "All together. Haul with all your might."
We obeyed, and though we were for the moment mastered we gave a good
swing again, and it seemed as if Jack Penny must be dragged in two.
It was like playing a game of French and English, and we were in danger
of getting the worst of it. We saw what the doctor wanted, and that was
to get the reptile so near the surface that he could fire; but as soon
as we got poor Jack nearly ashore the creature gave a tremendous tug,
making the water swirl and the mud and sand from the bottom rise in
clouds.
This went on for five minutes, during which we were striving with all
our might, when I nearly loosed my hold, for Jack said in a low
despairing tone of voice:
"Joe Carstairs, don't let him have me till you've shot me first."
I held fast though, and the fight went on, till, just as we were
beginning to despair, the reptile came nearer to the surface, the ugly
protuberances over its eyes were level with the water, and, bending
down, the doctor reached out with his gun in one hand, held the muzzle
close to the creature's eye, and fired.
There was a tremendous sputter and we were nearly forced to leave go,
but the next moment there was no resistance but weight, and we drew Jack
and his aggressor, a crocodile about ten feet long, right up to the
bank, the monster's jaws, which had closed over one of Jack's stoutly
booted feet, remaining fast, though the upper part of its head was all
blown away.
"Dat a big bunyip," cried Jimmy, forcing the end of his spear through
the reptile's jaws and trying to push them open, which he did with his
companion's help, and Jack Penny was free to limp feebly for a few
yards, and sink down amongst the reeds.
Jimmy did not seem in the least afraid of the bunyip now, for hacking
off a long lithe cane he put it over the reptile's jaw, and, twisting it
tightly rope-fashion, he and Ti-hi dragged it right away from the water,
and, avoiding the frantic lashings of its tail, they turned it over with
their spears, used like levers, and kept on stabbing it in its tender
underparts until it ceased to struggle, when Jimmy turned it over again
and began to perform a triumphant war-dance on its back.
Meanwhile poor Jack Penny, who had been nearly speechless, began to
revive.
"That's better," said the doctor. "Now let me look at your foot."
"Has he bit it right off?" said Jack faintly. "I can't feel it. Just
when I needed it so badly, too!"
"Bit it off! No!" I cried. "Is it much hurt, doctor?"
"I can't tell till I have unlaced his boot," he replied. "Tell me if I
hurt you much, my lad."
"It don't hurt," said Jack faintly. "I can't feel at all."
It was rather hard work to get the boot off; but at last it was free,
and the doctor inspected a double row of red spots, two of which bled a
little, but not much.
"I'm beginning to feel now," said Jack dolefully. "Why, he ain't bit it
off!" he said, raising himself so that he could look down at the injured
member. "I thought it was gone."
"No; your foot has only had an ugly pinch; the stout boot saved it. Let
it bleed a little, my lad; it will save you pain."
"What! had he only got hold of my boot?" said Jack excitedly.
"And the foot in it," said the doctor. "See, here are the marks of the
teeth."
"I thought he'd bit it right off, Joe Carstairs," said Jack dolefully.
"An' I say, what a coward I am!"
"Coward!" I exclaimed. "Why?"
"To be so frightened as I was," replied Jack, with a dismal sigh.
"Well, I don't know about being a coward, Master Jack Penny," said the
doctor quietly; "but I do know that if I had had my foot in that
reptile's mouth I should have been in a most horrible state of fear.
There, my lad," he continued kindly, "don't think any more about it,
only to be thankful for your escape."
"But he ought to tell us first how he was caught like that," I said.
"Oh, there ain't much to tell," said Jack, sitting up and raising his
leg, and softly rubbing his injured foot. "I was fishing, and the fish
wouldn't bite, and I got a little nearer to the river side and threw in
again and fished; and the sun seemed to get hotter, and I suppose I fell
asleep, for I remember dreaming that the dingoes had got among father's
sheep again, and that he flicked his whip-lash round my wrist. Then I
tried to start up, but a big fish had hold of the line, and it tugged
away so hard that I was overbalanced, and took a header off the bank
right into the river; and when I came up, pretty tidy astonished like,
and began to swim for the bank, the fish on the line, which I had
twisted round my wrist, began tugging me out into the stream. It took
me out ever so far before I could get the line off my wrist; and then I
swam easily back, feeling awful popped like at having lost the fish and
the line; and I was just wondering what you would say, when all at once
there was a regular rush in the water, and something shut on my foot,
giving me such an awful nip that I yelled out as I caught hold of that
branch, and held on, shivering all the while with fear, for I forgot
about the crocodiles, and thought it must be a shark."
"Well!" I said, excitedly; for he stopped.
"Well, what?" said Jack.
"What next? What did you do?" I said.
"Hollered!" replied Jack laconically. "So would you if you had been
me."
"Yes," I said, "of course; but what took place next?"
"Oh, nothing; only that I held tight and he held tight, and as often as
he tugged at me it jumped the bough up and down like a see-saw, and it
was very horrid."
"Most horrible!" said the doctor.
"Then I hollered again," said Jack.
"Yes; go on!" I cried impatiently.
"I did go on," he replied. "I went on hollering, but them chaps at the
camp were asleep, and I began to feel that I should have to let go soon;
only I wouldn't, because I wanted to find out first what had become of
the professor. Then at last you came, and that's all; only I don't feel
much like walking very far to-day, so I shall sit still and fish."
"Fish! what, with things like that in the water?" I exclaimed.
"Oh! they won't hurt me," said Jack; "because I shall be on the look-out
now, and won't go in after the next fish that takes my line. I say,
where's Gyp?"
"I don't know," I said. "I have not seen him."
"Crocodiles are very fond of dogs," said Jack quietly. "I hope one of
'em hasn't got Gyp."
"Oh, no! he'd be too sharp for one of the reptiles," said the doctor
reassuringly.
"I don't know," said Jack in his quiet drawl. "I thought I was much too
clever for crocodiles; but they're sharp--precious sharp about the
teeth. Perhaps he's gone hunting something. He often used at home."
"Oh, yes; he'll come back," I said.
"Well, we shall see," said Jack. "I'm better now. Lend me another
line, Joe Carstairs. I want to see if I can't catch a fish."
I looked about first to see if I could trace my line, but it was
hopelessly gone. To my surprise and pleasure, though, I found the
doctor's where he had left it, tied to a root and drawn out tight,
evidently with a fish at the end.
I imagined that I could easily draw this out, and I did get it close up
to the bank, but as soon as it was in the shallow water it sprang right
out and darted away again, making the line rush through my hands so
rapidly that it burned my skin.
As it leaped out I had a good opportunity of seeing that a great silvery
fellow, fully a yard long, had hooked itself, and meant to have some
playing before it turned over upon its side in token of submission.
I kept on playing the fish, which seemed to grow stronger instead of
weaker as I went on at give and take with it, till I was almost tired.
At least six times did I draw it in and try to bring it within reach of
Ti-hi's fingers, but in vain, for it always darted off as if refreshed.
At last, though, I drew it well in, and once more it was about to repeat
its tactics; but this time it was too late, for the black pounced down
upon it, thrust his hooked finger into its gills, and pulled it up on to
the bank.
Just then Jimmy came trotting up, hauling away at a line, and to my
great delight I found that he had hunted out the one we had left with
Jack Penny.
"Fastum round big wood!" he cried; and then he tried to explain how the
fish had entangled the line round what an American would call a snag;
and the result was that we had two fine fish to carry back to the camp,
Jimmy's being tired out and readily yielding as he hauled on the line.
"I don't think I'll fish to-day," said Jack Penny then. "I say, I feel
as if that buck warn't good enough to eat."
Hardly had he spoken before he softly sank down sidewise, and lay
looking very white, and with his eyes shut.
"Is it the venison?" I said in a whisper to the doctor.
"No. He is a little faint, now the reaction has set in," replied the
doctor; and we had to carry poor wet Jack Penny as well as the fish into
camp, and of course we got no farther on our journey that day.