It was the habit of Robin and his friends at this time, the weather
being extremely fine and cool, to sit at the mouth of their cavern of an
evening, chatting about the events of the day, or the prospects of the
future, or the experiences of the past, while old Meerta busied herself
preparing supper over a fire kindled on the ground.
No subject was avoided on these occasions, because the friends were
harmoniously minded, in addition to which the sweet influences of
mingled star-light and fire-light, soft air, and lovely prospect of land
and sea--to say nothing of the prospect of supper--all tended to induce
a peaceful and forbearing spirit.
"Well, now," said Robin, continuing a subject which often engaged their
intellectual powers, "it seems to me simple enough."
"Simple!" exclaimed Johnson, with a half-sarcastic laugh, "w'y, now, you
an' the doctor 'ave tried to worrit that electricity into my brain for
many months, off an' on, and I do believe as I'm more muddled about it
to-night than I was at the beginnin'."
"P'r'aps it's because you hain't got no brains to work upon," suggested
Slagg.
"P'r'aps it is," humbly admitted the seaman. "But look here, now,
doctor," he added, turning to Sam with his brow knotted up into an agony
of mental endeavour, and the forefinger of one hand thrust into the palm
of the other,--"look here. You tells me that electricity ain't a
substance at all."
"Yes, that's so," assented Sam with a nod.
"Wery good. Now, then, if it ain't a substance at all, it's nothin'.
An' if it's nothin', how can you go an' talk of it as somethin' an' give
it a name, an' tell me it works the telegraph, an' does all manner of
wonderful things?"
"But it does not follow that a thing must be nothing because it isn't a
substance. Don't you see, man, that an idea is something, yet it is not
a substance. Thought, which is so potent a factor in this world, is not
a substance, yet it cannot be called nothing. It is a condition--it is
the result of brain-atoms in action. Electricity is sometimes described
as an `invisible imponderable fluid,' but that is not quite correct,
because a fluid is a substance. It is a better definition to say that
electricity is a _manifestation of energy--a result of substance in
action_."
"There, I'm muddled again!" said Johnson, with a look of hopeless
incapacity.
"Small blame to you, Johnson," murmured Slagg who had done his best to
understand, while Stumps sat gazing at the speakers with an expression
of blank complacency.
"Look here, Johnson," said Sam, "you've often seen men shaking a carpet,
haven't you?"
"In coorse I have."
"Well, have you not observed the waves of the carpet that roll along it
when shaken!"
"Yes, I have."
"What are these waves?"
"Well, sir, I should say they was the carpet," replied Johnson.
"No, the waves are not the carpet. When the waves reach the end of the
carpet they disappear. If the waves were the carpet, the carpet would
disappear. The same waves in a whip, soft and undulating though they
be, result in a loud crack, as you know."
"Muddled again," said Johnson.
"Ditto," said Slagg.
"Why, I'm not muddled a bit!" suddenly exclaimed Stumps, with a
half-contemptuous laugh.
"Of coorse you're not," retorted Slagg. "Brainless things never git
into that state. You never heard of a turnip bein' muddled, did you?"
Stumps became vacant, and Sam went on.
"Well, you see, the waves are not substance. They are a condition--a
result of atoms in motion. Now, when the atoms of a substance are
disturbed by friction, or by chemical action, they get into a state of
violent commotion, and try wildly to fly from, or to, each other. This
effort to fly about is energy. When the atoms get into a very intense
state of commotion they have a tendency to induce explosion, unless a
way of escape is found--escape for the energy, not for the atoms. Now,
when you cause chemical disturbance in an electric battery, the energy
thus evolved is called electricity, and we provide a conductor of escape
for it in the shape of a copper or other metal wire, which we may carry
to any distance we please, and the energy runs along it, as the wave
runs along the carpet, as long as you keep up the commotion in the
battery among the excited atoms of copper and zinc."
"Mud--no, not quite. I have got a glimmer o' su'thin'," said Johnson.
"Ditto," said Slagg.
"Supper," said old Meerta.
"Ha! that's the battery for me," cried Stumps, jumping up.
"Not a bad one either," said Robin, as they entered the cave; "alternate
plates of beef and greens, steeped in some such acid as lemonade, cause
a wonderful commotion in the atoms of the human body."
"True, Robin, and the energy thereby evolved," said Sam, "sometimes
bursts forth in brilliant sparks of wit--to say nothing of flashes of
absurdity."
"An' thunderin' stoopidity," added Slagg.
Further converse on the subject was checked at that time by what Sam
termed the charging of the human batteries. The evening meal went on in
silence and very pleasantly for some time, but before its close it was
interrupted in an alarming manner by the sudden entrance of Letta with
wild excitement in her eyes.
"Oh!" she cried, pointing back to the entrance of the cave, "a ship!--
pirate-ship coming!"
A bombshell could scarcely have produced greater effect. Each
individual leaped up and darted out, flushing deep red or turning pale,
according to temperament. They were not long in verifying the
statement. A ledge of rocks concealed the entrance to the cavern from
the sea. Over its edge could be seen the harbour in which they had
found the vessel whose total destruction has been described; and there,
sure enough, they beheld a similar vessel, though considerably smaller,
in the act of furling her sails and dropping anchor. There could be no
doubt as to her character, for although too distant to admit of her crew
being distinguished by star-light, her rig and general appearance
betrayed her.
"Not a moment to be lost, Robin," said Sam Shipton hurriedly, as he led
the way back to the tavern, where old Meerta and blind Bungo, aided by
Letta, had already cleared away all evidence of the late feast, leaving
only three tin cups and three pewter plates on the table, with viands
appropriate thereto.
"Ha! you're a knowing old lady," exclaimed Sam, "you understand how to
help us, I see."
"Me tink so!" replied Meerta, with an intelligent nod. "On'y us t'ree
here. All de pyrits gone away. Dem sinners on'y come here for a feed--
p'r'aps for leetil poodre. Soon go away."
"Just so," said Sam, "meanwhile we will hide, and return after they are
gone, or, better still, if you, Letta, and Bungo will come and hide with
us, I'll engage to lay a train of powder from the barrels inside to
somewhere outside, and blow the reptiles and the whole mountain into the
sea! There's powder enough to do it."
"You tink me one divl?" demanded the old woman indignantly. "No, some
o' dem pyrits not so bad as each oder. You let 'em alone; me let you
alone."
This gentle intimation that Meerta had their lives in her hand, induced
Sam to ask modestly what she would have him do.
"Go," she replied promptly, "take rifles, swords, an' poodre. Hide till
pyrits go 'way. If de finds you--fight. Better fight dan be skin
alive!"
"Unquestionably," said Sam, with a mingled laugh and shudder, in which
his companions joined--as regards the shudder at least, if not the
laugh.
Acting promptly on the suggestion, Sam armed himself and his comrades
each with a good breech-loading rifle, as much ammunition as he could
conveniently carry, and an English sword. Then, descending the mountain
on the side opposite to the harbour they disappeared in the dark and
tangled underwood of the palm-grove. Letta went a short distance with
them.
"They won't kill Meerta or blind Bungo," she said, on the way down.
"They're too useful, though they often treat them badly. Meerta sent me
away to hide here the last time the strange bad men came. She thinks I
go hide to-night, but I won't; so, good-night."
"But surely you don't mean to put yourself in the power of the pirates?"
said Robin.
"No, never fear," returned the child with a laugh. "I know how to see
them without they see me."
Before further remonstrance could be made, the active child had bounded
up the pathway and disappeared.
Not long after Sam and his comrades had taken their departure, the
pirates came up to the cavern in a body--about forty of them--well armed
and ready to fight if need be. They were as rascally a set of
cut-throats as one could desire to see--or, rather, not to see--of
various nationality, with ugly countenances and powerful frames, which
were clothed in more or less fantastic Eastern garb. Their language,
like themselves, was mixed, and, we need scarcely add, unrefined. The
little that was interchanged between them and Meerta we must, however,
translate.
"What! alive still!" cried the ruffian, who appeared to be the leader of
the band, flinging himself down on a couch with the air of a man who
knew the place well, while his men made themselves at home.
Meerta merely smiled to the salutation; that in to say, she grinned.
"Where are they?" demanded the pirate-chief, referring of course to
those who, the reader is aware, were blown up.
"Gone away," answered Meerta.
"Far away?" asked the pirate.
"Yes, _very_ far away."
"Goin' to be long away?"
"Ho! yes, _very_ long."
"Where's the little girl they took from Sarawak?"
"Gone away."
"Where away?"
"Don't know."
"Now, look here, you old hag," said the pirate, drawing a pistol from
his belt and levelling it, "tell the truth about that girl, else I'll
scatter your brains on the floor. Where has she gone to?"
"Don't know," repeated Meerta, with a look of calm indifference, as she
took up a tankard and wiped it out with a cloth.
The man steadied the pistol and pressed the trigger.
"You better wait till she has given us our grub," quietly suggested one
of the men.
The leader replaced the weapon in the shawl which formed his girdle, and
said, "Get it ready quick--the best you have, and bring us some wine to
begin with."
Soon after that our friends, while conversing in low tones in the grove,
heard the unmistakeable sounds of revelry issue from the cave.
"What think you, boys," said Sam suddenly, "shall we go round to the
harbour, surprise and kill the guard, seize the pirate-ship, up anchor
and leave these villains to enjoy themselves as best they may?"
"What! and leave Letta, not to mention Meerta and Bungo, behind us?
Never!"
"I forgot them for the moment," said Sam. "No, we can't do that."
As he spoke the noise of revelry became louder and degenerated into
sounds of angry disputation. Then several shots were heard, followed by
the clashing of steel and loud yells.
"Surely that was a female voice," said Robin, rising and rushing up the
steep path that led to the cavern, closely followed by his comrades.
They had not gone a hundred yards when they were arrested by hearing a
rustling in the bushes and the sound of hasty footsteps. Next instant
Letta was seen running towards them, with glaring eyes and streaming
hair. She sprang into Robin's arms with a convulsive sob, and hid her
white face on his breast.
"Speak, Letta, dear child! Are you hurt?"
"No, O no; but Meerta, darling Meerta, she is dead! They have shot her
and Bungo."
She burst again into convulsive sobbing.
"Dead! But are you sure--quite sure?" said Sam.
"Quite. I saw their brains scattered on the wall.--Oh, Meerta!--"
She ended in a low wail, as though her heart were broken.
"Now, boys," said Johnson, who had hitherto maintained silence, "we must
go to work an' try to cut out the pirate-ship. It's a good chance, and
it's our only one."
"Yes, there's nothing to prevent us trying it now," said Robin, sadly,
"and the sooner the better."
"Lucky that we made up the parcels last night, warn't it?" said Jim
Slagg as they made hasty arrangements for carrying out their plan.
Jim referred to parcels of rare and costly jewels which each of them had
selected from the pirate store, put into separate bags and hid away in
the woods, to be ready in case of any sudden occasion arising--such as
had now actually arisen--to quit the island. Going to the place where
these bags were concealed, they slung them over their shoulders and set
off at a steady run, or trot, for the harbour, each taking his turn in
carrying Letta, for the poor child was not fit to walk, much less to
run.
Stealthy though their movements were, however, they did not altogether
escape detection. Two bright eyes had been watching Letta during all
her wanderings that night, and two nimble feet had followed her when she
ran affrighted from the pirates' stronghold. The party was overtaken
before half the distance to the harbour had been gained, and at length,
with a cry of satisfaction.
Letta's favourite--the small monkey--sprang upon her shoulder. In this
position, refusing to move, he was carried to the coast.
As had been anticipated, the pirate vessel was found lying in the pool
where the former ship had anchored. Being considerably smaller,
however, it had been drawn close to the rocks, so that a landing had
been effected by means of a broad plank or gangway instead of a boat.
Fortunately for our friends, this plank had not been removed after the
pirates had left, probably because they deemed themselves in a place of
absolute security. As far as they could see, only one sentinel paced
the deck.
"I shouldn't wonder if the guard is a very small one," whispered Sam to
Robin, as they crept to the edge of the shrubs which lined the harbour,
and surveyed their intended prize. "No doubt they expected to meet only
with friends here--or with nobody at all, as it has turned out,--and
have left just enough to guard their poor slaves."
"We shall soon find out," returned Sam. "Now, boys," he said, on
rejoining the others in the bush, "see that your revolvers are charged
and handy, but don't use them if you can avoid it."
"A cut over the head with cold steel will be sufficiently effective, for
we have no desire to kill. Nevertheless, don't be particular. We can't
afford to measure our blows with such scoundrels; only if we fire we
shall alarm those in the cave, and have less time to get under weigh."
"What is to be done with Letta while we attack?" asked Robin.
"I'll wait here till you come for me," said Letta, with a sad little
smile on her tear-bedewed face; "I'm quite used to see fighting."
"Good, keep close, and don't move from this spot till we come for you,
my little heroine," said Sam. "Now, boys, follow me in single file--
tread like mice--don't hurry. There's nothing like keeping cool."
"Not much use o' saying that to a feller that's red-hot," growled Slagg,
as he stood with a flushed face, a revolver in one hand and a cutlass in
the other.
Sam, armed similarly, glided to the extreme verge of the bushes, between
which and the water there was a space of about thirty yards. With a
quiet cat-like run he crossed this space, rushed up the plank gangway,
and leaped upon the deck, with his comrades close at his heels. The
sentinel was taken completely by surprise, but drew his sword
nevertheless, and sprang at Sam with a shout.
The latter, although not a professional warrior, had been taught
single-stick at school, and was an expert swordsman. He parried the
pirate's furious thrust, and gave him what is technically termed cut
Number 1, which clove his turban to the skull and stretched him on the
deck. It was a fortunate cut, for the shout had brought up seven
pirates, five from below and two from the fore-part of the vessel, where
they had been asleep between two guns. With these his comrades were now
engaged in mortal combat--three of them having simultaneously attacked
Johnson, while two had assailed Jim Slagg.
When Sam turned round the stout sailor had cut down one of his foes, but
the other two would probably have proved too much for him if Sam had not
instantly engaged one of them. He was a powerful, active man, so that
for nearly a minute they cut and thrust at each other without advantage
to either, until Sam tried a feint thrust, which he followed up with a
tremendous slash at the head. It took effect, and set him free to aid
Slagg, who was at the moment in deadly peril, for poor Slagg was no
swordsman, and had hitherto foiled his two antagonists by sheer activity
and the fury of his assaults. He was quite collected, however, for,
even in the extremity of his danger, he had refrained from using his
revolver lest he should thereby give the alarm to the pirates on land.
With one stroke Sam disposed of one of the scoundrels, and Slagg
succeeded in cutting down the other.
Meanwhile our hero, Robin, and Stumps had attacked the two pirates who
chanced to be nearest to them. The former thought of Letta and her
wretched fate if this assault should fail. The thought filled his
little body, with such a gush of what seemed to him like electric fire,
that he leaped on his opponent with the fury of a wild cat, and bore him
backward, so that he stumbled over the combings of a hatchway and was
thrown flat on the deck--_hors de combat_.
But Stumps was not so fortunate. Slow in all his movements, and not too
courageous in spirit, he gave way before the villain who assailed him.
It was not indeed much to his discredit, for the man was much larger, as
well as more active and fierce, than himself. A cut from the pirate's
sword quickly laid him low, and his antagonist instantly turned on
Robin. He was so near at the moment that neither of them could
effectively use his weapon. Robin therefore dashed the hilt of his
sword into the man's face and grappled with him. It was a most unequal
struggle, for the pirate was, as we have said, a huge fellow, while
Robin was small and slight. But there were several things in our hero's
favour. He was exceedingly tough and wonderfully strong for his size,
besides being active as a kitten and brave as a lion. The way that
Robin Wright wriggled in that big man's embrace, hammered his nose and
eyes with the iron hilt of his cutlass, stuck his knees into the pit of
his stomach, and assaulted his shins with the toes of boots, besides
twisting his left hand into his hair like a vice, was wonderful to
behold.
It was all Letta's doing! The more hopeless the struggle felt, the more
hapless did Letta's fate appear to Robin, and the more furious did the
spirit within rise above its disadvantages. In the whirl of the fight
the pirate's head chanced for one moment to be in proximity to a large
iron block. Robin observed it, threw all his soul and body into one
supreme effort, and launched his foe and himself against the block.
Both heads met it at the same moment, and the combatants rolled from
each other's grasp. The pirate was rendered insensible, but Robin,
probably because of being lighter, was only a little stunned.
Recovering in a moment, he sprang up, glanced round, observed that the
pirates were almost, if not quite, overpowered, and leaped over the
bulwarks. A few moments later and he had Letta in his arms. Just then
a pistol shot rang in the night air. The last of the pirates who was
overpowered chanced to use his fire-arm, though without success. It was
fortunate the fight was over, for, now that the alarm had been given,
they knew that their chance of escaping was greatly lessened.
"Cut the cable, Slagg. Out with a boat-hook, Johnson, ready to shove
off. I'll fetch Letta," cried Sam, springing to the side.
He was almost run down, as he spoke, by Robin with the child in his
arms.
"Ha! Robin--well done, my boy. Here, Letta, you understand the
language, tell the slaves below to out oars and pull for their lives.
It's their only chance."
The poor creatures, who were bound to the thwarts below deck, had been
listening with dull surprise to the fighting on deck--not that fighting
was by any means unusual in that vessel, but they must have known that
they were in harbour, and that the main body of the pirates were on
shore. Still greater was their surprise when they received the above
order in the sweet gentle tones of a child's voice.
Whether they deemed her an angel or not we cannot tell, but their belief
in her right to command was evinced by their shoving the oars out with
alacrity.
A few seconds sufficed to cut the cable, and the gangway fell into the
sea with a loud splash as the vessel moved slowly from the land, while
Johnson, Robin, and Slagg thrust with might and main at the boat-hooks.
The oars could not be dipped or used until the vessel had been separated
a few yards from the land, and it was during the delay caused by this
operation that their greatest danger lay, for already the pirates were
heard calling to each other among the cliffs.
"Pull, pull now for life, boys," shouted Sam as he seized the helm.
"Pull, pull now for life, boys," echoed the faithful translator in her
silvery tones.
The oars dipped and gurgled through the water. There was no question as
to the energy of the poor captives, but the vessel was heavy and
sluggish at starting. She had barely got a couple of hundred yards from
the shore, when the pirates from the cavern came running tumultuously
out of the woods. Perceiving at once that their vessel had been
captured, they rushed into the water and swam off, each man with his
sword between his teeth.
They were resolute villains, and swam vigorously and fast. Sam knew
that if such a swarm should gain the side of the vessel, no amount of
personal valour could prevent recapture. He therefore encouraged the
slaves to redoubled effort. These responded to the silvery echo, but so
short had been the distance gained that the issue seemed doubtful.
"Give 'em a few shots, boys," cried Sam, drawing his own revolver and
firing back over the stern. The others followed his example and
discharged all their revolvers, but without apparent effect, for the
pirates still came on.
One of the sails had fortunately been left unfurled. At this moment a
light puff of air from the land bulged it out, and sensibly increased
their speed.
"Hurrah!" shouted Johnson, "lend a hand, boys, to haul taut."
The sail was trimmed, and in a few minutes the vessel glided quickly
away from her pursuers.
A loud British cheer announced the fact alike to pirates and slaves, so
that the latter were heartened to greater exertion, while the former
were discouraged. In a few minutes they gave up the chase with a yell
of rage, and turned to swim for the shore.
About a hundred yards from the mouth of the harbour there lay a small
islet--a mere rock. Here Sam resolved to leave the pirate guard, none
of whom had been quite killed--indeed two of them had tried
unsuccessfully to rise during the fight.
"You see," said Sam, as he steered for the rock, "we don't want to have
either the doctoring or the killing of such scoundrels. They will be
much better with their friends, who will be sure to swim off for them--
perhaps use our raft for the purpose, which they will likely find,
sooner or later."
They soon ranged up alongside of the island, and in a few minutes the
bodies of the pirates were landed and laid there side by side. While
they were being laid down, the man who had fought with Robin made a
sudden and furious grasp at Johnson's throat with one hand, and at his
knife with the other, but the seaman was too quick for him. He felled
him with a blow of his fist. The others, although still alive, were
unable to show fight.
Then, hoisting the mainsail, and directing their course to the
northward, our adventurers slipped quietly over the sea, and soon left
Pirate Island far out of sight behind them.