"Wa-all, I'm jiggered!" ejaculated Hiram, having recourse to his usual
favourite expression when startled or surprised at anything, as the
skipper, after evading Jan Steenbock's pursuit, darted out of the cave
and appeared on the scene, destroying the harmony of our happy meeting
with Sam. "Keep yer haar on, cap, an' don't make a muss about nuthin'!"
Captain Snaggs, in response to this, made a gesture as if he were going
to strike him.
"Ye durned rep-tile!" he yelled out. "I'll soon knock the sass out o'
ye; I will so, by thunder!"
"No, ye don't, cap; no, ye don't," said Hiram good-humouredly, putting
up his fists to guard himself, but not doing so offensively. "I guess
two ken play at thet game, I reckon, an' ye'd best let me bide; fur, I'm
a quiet coon when ye stroke me down the right way, but a reg'lar
screamer when I'm riled, an' mighty risky to handle, sirree, ez ye ken
bet yer bottom dollar!"
"Jee-rusalem--this air rank mutiny!" exclaimed the skipper, starting
back. "Would ye hit me, yer own cap'en?"
"No, cap; I don't mean fur to go ez fur ez thet,"--replied the other,
lowering his fists, but keeping his eye steadily on Captain Snaggs, the
two looking at each other straight up and down--"not if yer doesn't lay
hands on me; but, if yer dew, why, I reckon I'll hev to take my own
part, fur I ain't a-goin' to be knocked about by no man, cap'en or no
cap'en, ez we're now ashore an' this air a free country!"
"Snakes an' alligators, this air a rum state o' things!" cried the
skipper, sobering down a bit at this reply, as well as awed by Hiram's
steadfast manner. "But, I don't kinder wish to be at loggerheads with
ye, my man, fur ye hev ben a good seaman right through the vy'ge, an I
ken pass over yer sass, ez I don't think ye means any disrespect."
"Nary a cent, cap," agreed Hiram to this; "nary a cent o' thet."
"But ez fur thet durned nigger thaar," continued the skipper, foaming up
with passion again on seeing Sam and Tom grinning together at his
backing down so mildly before Hiram's resolute attitude, neither of
them, nor any of us indeed, recognising that he was in a state of
delirium, "I'll hev him an' thet scoundrel of a carpenter in irons, an'
tried fur conspi-racy, I guess, when we git back to some civilised
port."
"Better wait till ye fetch thaar, boss," said Hiram drily. "I guess we
air hard an' fast aground jest now; an' it ain't no good a-talkin' till
ye ken do ez ye sez; threat'nin's air all bunkum!"
"I'll soon show ye the rights o' thet," shouted Captain Snaggs, making a
rush past Hiram to reach Sam, who drew away behind Tom, just beyond his
grasp. "Only let me catch holt on thet durned nigger, an' I'll skin him
alive. I'll ghost him, I will!"
Hiram, however, protected the darkey with his outstretched arm, thus
barring the skipper's advance; while Tom Bullover also stood up in
front, further shielding Sam, who now spoke up for himself from his safe
position in the rear, whither I too retreated out of harm's way.
"Golly! Massa Cap'en," said Sam, with a native dignity and eloquence
which I had not previously believed him to possess, "what fur am yer
wish ter injure a pore black man like me, dat nebbah done yer no harm?
But fur der impersition ob der good God abobe us all, yer'd a-murd'red
me, as yer taut yer hab dat time dat yer shoots me, an' I tumbles inter
de sea?"
"Harm, cuss ye?" retorted Captain Snaggs. "Didn't ye try to pizen me
afore I went fur ye? It wer arter thet I drew a bead on ye with my
six-shooter!"
"No, Mass' Snaggs," answered the negro solemnly; "I'se swan I nebbah
done dat ting! I'se nebbah pizen yer, nor no man. I'se only put one
lilly bit jalap in de grub, fo' joke, 'cause yer turn me out ob de
galley fo' nuffin'. I'se only done it fo' joke, I swan!"
"A durned fine joke thet, I reckon," sneered the skipper, snorting and
fuming with rage at the recollection. "Why, me an' Flinders hed the
mullygrabs fur a week arterwards; an' I guess I don't feel all right
yet! I ain't half paid ye fur it, by thunder! But, thet ain't the wust
by a durned sight; fur, by yer dodrotted tomfoolery, an' carryin' on
with thet scoundrel yer accomplice thaar--thet British hound, Bullover,
I mean--ye hev so fuddled every one aboard thet ye hev caused the loss
of the shep an' cargy on this air outlandish island. I'll make ye
answer fur it, though--I will by the jumpin' Jeehosophet!"
"Ye air wrong thaar, cap," put in Hiram here; "ye air wrong thaar!"
"Wrong! Who sez I'm wrong?"
"I dew," replied the other, in his sturdy fashion, in no ways abashed by
the question--"I sez ye air wrong. It warn't Sam ez lost the ship, or
'cashion'd the wrack in airy a way, nor yet yerself, cap, neither. It
wer summat else."
"Thunder!" exclaimed the skipper, puzzled by this. "What dew ye make it
out fur to be?"
"Rum, an' not `thunder,' mister," at once responded Hiram, equally
laconically. "I guess if ye hedn't took to raisin' yer elber thet
powerful ez to see snakes, an' hev the jim-jams, we'd all be now, slick
ez clams, safe in port at 'Frisco!"
This home truth silenced the captain for the moment, but the next
instant he startled us all with an utterly inconsequent question, having
no reference to what he had before been speaking of.
"Where hev ye stowed it?"
Hiram stared at him.
"I don't mean ye," said the skipper, dropping his eyes as if he could
not stand being gazed at; and I could see his face twitching about in a
queer manner, and his hands trembling, as he turned and twisted the
fingers together. "I mean the nigger an' thet other skunk thaar--the
white man thet's got a blacker heart inside his carkiss than the nigger
hez. Whaar hev they stowed it?"
"Stowed what, cap?" inquired Hiram, humouring him, as he now noticed,
for the first time, in what an excited state he was. "I don't kinder
underconstubble 'zactly what yer means."
"The chest o' gold," snorted out the skipper. "Ye know durned well what
I means!"
"Chest o' goold?" repeated Hiram, astonished. "I hevn't seed no chests
o' goold about hyar. No such luck!"
"Ye lie!" roared the captain, springing on him like a tiger, and
throwing him down by his sudden attack, he clutched poor Hiram's throat
so tightly as almost to strangle him. "I saw the nigger makin' off with
it, an' thet scoundrel the carpenter; fur the buccaneers told me jest
now. Lord, thaar's the skull rollin' after me, with its wild eyes
flashin' fire out of the sockets, an' its grinnin' teeth--oh, save me!
Save me!"
With that, he took to crying and sobbing like mad; and it was only then
we realised the fact that the skipper was suffering from another of his
fits of delirium, though it was a far worse one than any we had seen him
labouring under during the voyage.
Tom Bullover and Sam had the greatest difficulty in unclenching his
hands from Hiram's neck and then restraining him from doing further
violence, our unfortunate shipmate being quite black in the face and
speechless for some minutes after our releasing him.
As for Captain Snaggs, he afterwards went on like a raging madman; and
it was as much as Tom and Sam could do, with my help, to tie his hands
and legs so as to keep him quiet, for he struggled furiously all the
while with the strength of ten men!
In the middle of this, we heard a strange rumbling noise under our feet,
the ground beginning to oscillate violently, as if we were on board ship
in a heavy sea; while, at the same time, a lot of earth and pieces of
rock were thrown down on us from the heights above the little plateau
where the cave was situated. The air, also, grew thick and heavy and
dark, similarly to what is generally noticed when a severe thunderstorm
is impending.
"Oh, Tom!" I cried in alarm, "what has happened?"
"It's an earthquake, I think," he replied, looking frightened too.
"We'd better get under shelter as quickly as we can, for these stones
are tumbling down too plentifully for pleasure!"
"Where can we go?" said I--"the ship's too far off. Oh dear, something
has just hit me on the head, and it hurts!"
"Come in here to the cave; we'll be safe inside, if the bottom can stand
all this shaking. At all events, it'll be better than being out in the
open, to stand the chance of having one's head smashed by a boulder from
aloft!"
So saying, Tom disappeared within the mouth of the cavern, dragging
after him the prostrate form of the skipper, who appeared to have fallen
asleep, overcome by the violent paroxysms of his fit, for he was snoring
stertorously.
Sam and I quickly followed Tom, and the rear was brought up by Hiram--
now pretty well recovered from the mauling he had received at the hands
of our unconscious skipper, the shock of the earthquake having roused up
our shipmate effectually, while the continual dropping of the falling
earth and stones, which now began to rain down like hail, hastened his
retreat.
"I guess this air more comf'able," said he, as soon as he was well
within our place of shelter, now so dark and gloomy that we could barely
see each other, and Sam's colour was quite indistinguishable. "Talk o'
rainin' cats an' dogs! Why, the airth seems topsides down, an'
brickbats an' pavin' stones air a reg'ler caution to it!"
Hardly, however, had he got out these words than there came a tremendous
crash of thunder, a vivid sheet of forked lightning simultaneously
illuminating the whole interior of the cavern; and, to our great
surprise, we perceived by the bright electric glare the figure of
another man besides our own party--the stranger standing at the upper
end of the cave, near the block of stone in the centre, where Sam had
been seated when I had seen him playing the banjo, and Tom gave him such
a fright by pretending to be a ghost.
Sam, now, like the rest of us, saw this figure advancing in our
direction, and believed he was going to be treated to another visitation
from the apparition which had terrified him previously, and which he was
still only half convinced was but the creation of Tom's erratic fancy.
"O Lor', Cholly!" he exclaimed, in great fright, clutching hold of my
hand, as I stood near him at the entrance to the cave. "Dere's anudder
duppy come, fo' suah! My golly! What am dat?"
But, before I could say anything, much to our great relief--for I felt
almost as much terrified as he--the voice of Jan Steenbock sounded from
out from the gloomy interior in answer to his question.
"It vas mees, mein frents--it vas mees!"
"Goodness gracious, Mister Steenbock!" sang out Tom Bullover, looking
towards him, as the hazy figure advanced nearer and became more
distinct, although we could not yet actually see the second-mate's face.
"How did you get here?"
"I vas hoont aftaire ze cap'en," replied Jan, coming up close to us now.
"He vas get troonk, and go mat again in ze valleys beyont ze sheep, and
I vas run aftaire hims, as he vas run avays, and den he vas go out of
zight in one big hole at ze top of ze hill. I vas vollow aftaire hims,
but den I loose hims, and ze erdquake vas come and ze toonder and
lightning, and I vas zee yous and here I vas!"
"Oh, we've got the skipper all right," said Tom. "He nearly killed
Hiram jest now in his frenzy; but we've tied him up with a lashing round
his arms and legs, so that he can't get away and come to no harm till
he's all serene again. I'm a-sitting on him now to keep him down; as,
though he's sleepin', he tries to start up on us every minute. By
Jingo! there he goes again!"
"He vas bat mans," observed Jan Steenbock, helping to hold down the
struggling skipper, whose fits of delirium still came back every now and
again. "He vas vool of mischiefs and ze rhoom! Joost now, he vas dink
dat he vas talk to ze boocaneer cap'en, and dat he vas show him dat
dreazure dat vas accurst, and he vas dink he vinds it, and dat I vas
shteal hims avay."
"I'm jiggered!" ejaculated Hiram, in surprise. "Why, he comed up hyar
an' goes fur me to throttle me, sayin' ez how I hed took the durned
treesor, tew. I guess I only wish we could sot eyes on it!"
"Bettaire not, mine vrents, bettaire not zee it no mores," said Jan,
solemnly shaking his head in the dim light. "It vas accurst, as I vas
tell yous, by ze bloot of ze schlabe dat vas kilt by ze Sbaniards. It
vas only bringt bat look to ze beeples dat vas touch hims. Bettaire
not, mein frent, nevaire!"
"I ain't got no skear 'bout thet," replied Hiram, with a defiant laugh.
"Guess, we air all on us pretty wa-al season'd to them ghostesses by
this time, both aboard ship an' ashore, an' I don't care a cuss fur the
hull bilin' on them, I reckon!"
"Shtop!--listen!"--whispered Jan Steenbock, in his deep, impressive
voice, as another vivid flash of lightning lit up the cave for a brief
instant, making it all the darker afterwards. This was followed by a
second crashing peal of thunder, as if the very heavens were coming down
and were rattling about our ears; while the ground heaved up beneath our
feet violently, with its former jerky motion.--"Ze sbirrits of eefel vas
valk abroat in ze shtorm."
Even as he spoke, his solemn tones sending a thrill through my heart,
there came a still more violent shock of earthquake, which was succeeded
by a tremendous grinding, thumping noise from the back of the cave; and
then, all of a sudden, a large black body bounded past us through the
entrance close to where we stood. The rush of air knocked us all down
flat on our backs, as this object, whatever it was, made its way out,
and, finally, we could hear it, a second later, plunged into the sea
below at the foot of the declivity.
"Bress de Lor'!" ejaculated Sam, in greater terror than ever. "Dere's
de duppy, fo' suah! Hole on ter me, Cholly! Hole on! I'se mighty
'fraid! Hole on ter me, for de Lor's sake, sonny!"