ELECTRIFYING THE SAVAGES.
"What a sight! They are going to attack us, sure!"
It was Mont who spoke, as at six o'clock in the morning he ascended to
the platform.
The morning mist had lifted, and he could see the land distinctly.
The savages were very busy, and more numerous than they had been the
night before.
As well as he could calculate, he counted six or seven hundred of them.
They were tall, handsome men, with an erect bearing, their features well
chiseled.
In their ears they wore rings of bone.
Their arms were bows and arrows, spears, and shields made of the skins
of fish stretched over a wooden frame or the back of the turtle.
A chief rowed in a canoe toward the _Searcher_, keeping at a safe
distance.
He was adorned with a fantastic headdress of feathers and leaves, and
seemed to be the king of the country.
Having nothing better to do, Mont got a fishing line from the negro who
usually attended upon him, and amused himself with catching some of the
fish that swam round the ship.
No one made any preparation to repel an attack of the Papouans, which
alarmed Mont very much.
He had, however, so much confidence in the sagacity of Captain Vindex
that he believed he would not be caught asleep.
For two hours he continued his sport with tolerable success, and was so
wrapped up in it that he forgot the natives for the time.
While he was engaged in pulling up a good bite, an arrow whizzed past
him.
Mont dropped his fish, and very nearly his line.
"Bother the brutes!" he exclaimed; "can't they let a fellow fish in
peace? Why doesn't the captain make a start and get away from them?"
He was as eager now to leave the land as he had been the day before to
reach it.
It was clear that the Papouans were puzzled.
They had seen European ships before, but what could they make of a long
cylinder of iron, without masts, almost flush with the surface of the
water, and no chimney like a steamer?
But they gained confidence as they saw no attempt made to drive them
away.
They had seen some of their number killed by the air-guns, yet they had
heard no noise.
All at once a flotilla consisting of a score of canoes, full of savages,
put off from the shore, and approached the ship.
Mont at once sought refuge in the interior of the ship, and ran to
apprise the captain of the formidable state affairs were assuming.
Clearly no orders had been given to repel boarders.
Knocking at the captain's door, he was told to enter.
Captain Vindex was reading.
"Do I disturb you?" asked Mont politely.
"A little," replied the captain; "but I suppose you have good reason for
seeking me?"
"Rather," answered our hero. "We are surrounded by savages, and in a few
minutes we shall have them on board."
"Ah," said the captain, "they have got their canoes, I suppose?"
"Heaps of them."
"Then we must do something."
"Shut up the shop," said Mont.
"That is easily done," replied the captain, touching a bell, and adding:
"In half a minute the trapdoor will be closed. You need not be afraid
that they will break in."
"No, but to-morrow we shall want air, and you must open the door again
for your pumps to work."
"Yes; our ship is like a great whale, and cannot live without air."
"In a moment the Papouans will be on the top of us, and I don't suppose
they will go away in a hurry," replied Mont.
"You suppose they will take possession of the outside and keep it?"
"Exactly."
"Well, then," answered the captain calmly, "I don't see why they
shouldn't. Why should I kill the poor creatures if I can help it? I know
many savages in the civilized world whom I would cut off with more
pleasure. Leave them to me. If it is necessary I will make a terrible
example of them."
"You have no cannon."
"I shall not fire a shot, and I shall not wound them in any way, and yet
they will fall like leaves in autumn. Go to your friends, and rest
perfectly easy," said the captain.
This was a dismissal, and, wondering much, Mont went away.
As he sought his cabin he heard the fierce cries of the savages, who
swarmed on the back of the iron ship like flies in summer.
The night passed without any incident. Plenty of oxygen still passed
through the ship, but it was time to renew the air, which was becoming
impure.
Breakfast was served in the morning, as usual.
Eleven o'clock came, and the captain showed no signs of moving.
This apathy appeared incomprehensible to Mont.
Without any difficulty the vessel could have gone out to sea, risen in
mid-ocean, and taken in fresh air.
"It is very odd we don't move," he remarked.
"I can't understand it," said the professor. "But everything is so
remarkable on board this ship that I have ceased to wonder at anything."
"I've had a taste of niggers, and don't want another," said Stump, who
was lying on a mattress with his leg bound up.
"Hark at the reptiles! What a thundering row they're kicking up!"
remarked Mont.
"I never heard such a racket," answered Carl; "our skipper must be out
of his head not to start the vipers."
The captain appeared in the doorway.
There was a pleasant smile on his face, and he did not seem at all
alarmed at the menacing aspect of affairs.
"Gentlemen," he said, "we resume our voyage at twelve o'clock exactly."
"It is now a quarter to," said the professor, regarding his chronometer.
"Precisely. I shall open the flap, and take in air directly."
"And the niggers?" said Mont.
"The Papouans?" replied the captain, shrugging his shoulders.
"Won't they get in?"
"How?"
"Easily enough, by walking down the ladder. They can do that when the
flap is up, and can kill us all without any trouble."
"Gentlemen," said Captain Vindex, "the Papouans will not descend the
staircase, although the flap is open."
They regarded this singular man in amazement.
"You do not understand me," he continued. "Come to the bottom of the
ladder, and you shall see."
"Shall we take our guns?" asked the professor.
"Not the slightest necessity."
"At least your slaves are armed?"
"They are all at their work; follow me," said the captain.
They obeyed his order, and walked to the foot of the metal ladder.
The captain folded his arms, and stood by the side of the professor.
Mont and Carl were together.
Even Stump had crawled along the passage to see what would happen.
Captain Vindex made a sign to a slave, who, touching a spring, caused a
trapdoor in the back of the _Searcher_ to fly open.
The sunshine descended in a flood.
Terrible cries of rage and triumph were heard, and a swarm of natives
appeared on all sides.
At least twenty made a rush at the ladder, brandishing their tomahawks
and spears, while they uttered fierce yells and scraps of war songs.
The first who grasped the railing, and placed his foot on the ladder,
gave a bound back, and the most fearful shrieks burst from his quivering
lips. A second, a third, and a fourth did the same.
What invisible force was at work Mont did not know. He thought the days
of magic and sorcery had returned.
A score of Papouans tried to descend; but they had no sooner made the
attempt than they instantly retreated, yelling dismally, and threw
themselves into the sea.
"Stunning," said Mont. "It's fine, but I don't know how you do it."
The captain smiled.
To get a better view, Mont put one foot on the staircase and one hand on
the railing.
He immediately withdrew them, uttering a cry which was loud enough to
wake the dead.
"Oh, oh!" he cried.
"What's up?" exclaimed Carl, who could not help laughing.
"I see the dodge now," said Mont; "it's an electric battery applied to
the metal of the staircase, and whoever touches it has a shock. I've had
it before at Coney Island, and at fairs. You pay a dime and get
electrified."
"Ah!" ejaculated the professor, upon whom a light began to dawn.
"You are right," said the captain calmly. "I have connected the brass
staircase with the powerful storage battery that gives us light and
power, and the ignorant savages are frightened at they know not what. If
they had persisted in their attempt to enter the ship I should have
applied all my electrical force, and they would have fallen as dead as
flies on a fly paper; but I did not wish to harm them. They are enemies
unworthy of my hatred."
The news of the dreadful and mysterious pains which they felt were
spread by the shocked natives to their friends.
Alarmed and horrified, they beat a precipitate retreat, swimming and
rowing back to the shore.
In half an hour the beach was deserted, and all flew away from the sea
fiend whose nature they could not understand.
"They take us for the Old Nick," said Mont.
"Twelve o'clock," exclaimed the captain, who was always as punctual as
fate; "I said we should sail at twelve."
At this moment the engines began to revolve, and the _Searcher_ skimmed
over the surface of the sea like a bird.
The air was soon taken into the reservoirs, the flap or panel was
closed, and sinking into the bosom of the waves, she glided along, moved
by her powerful screw, like a big fish; only the helmsman, sitting in
his solitary place of lookout, being responsible for her management.