Our prize--a ship of six hundred tons, and mounting fourteen guns--
called the "Santiago," proved to be of considerable value. A prize crew
being put on board, we steered for Saint Helena, where it was possible
we might find a purchaser, and if not, Captain Oliver resolved to take
her to the Cape. Fortunately, at Saint Helena we found the officers and
crew of an Indiaman, which had been burnt at sea; and the Company's
agent there was very glad to purchase our prize, and send her on, most
of the goods being suitable to the Indian market. On concluding the
bargain, the agent presented the Captain with a couple of young tigers.
They were somewhat inconvenient pets, though they would have been
valuable had we been going home. However, as we had no others on board,
he accepted them, thinking they might serve to amuse the ship's company,
and having an idea, I believe, that they might be perfectly tamed. We
in the midshipmen's berth welcomed them with glee, and at once began to
teach them to perform all sorts of tricks. They would let us ride on
their backs, and they learned to leap through hoops and over ropes, and
they would rush round and round the deck at a rapid rate, and soon they
became the most playful, engaging creatures possible. Oldershaw was the
only person who expressed doubts about their amiability.
"If I were the Captain, I would clip their claws and draw their teeth
before I would let them play with you youngsters," he observed. "Their
tricks may be playful now, but they will serve you a scurvy one before
long, or their nature is more changed than I believe it to be."
Of course we laughed at his prognostications, and continued to amuse
ourselves with our pets as usual. The Cape was reached. We took on
board a supply of live and dead stock, having now a long run before us
across the Indian Ocean, into that part of the world where I had first
seen the light--the China Seas. We had several sheep and a supply of
hay to feed them on. Some of the men had an idea that our tamed pets
would gladly feed on the hay, but their carnivorous teeth refused to
munch it. They, however, turned suspiciously hungry glances towards the
newcomers. Oldershaw observed it, "They have probably never eaten sheep
or midshipmen," he observed, "but the nature to do so is in them, and
depend upon it their nature will have sway if we give them the
opportunity." However, as the animals were tolerably well-fed, and were
carefully caged, they gave no exhibition when anyone was watching them
of their evil propensities, if they possessed them. When our stock of
fresh meat was exhausted, first one sheep and then another was killed to
supply the Captain and officers' tables, a portion falling to the lot of
some of the men's messes. Their skins, which were peculiarly fine, were
cleansed and prepared by the armourer, who happened also to understand
the trade of a currier. Two of them were hung up to dry, when it came
into the brains of Tom Twig and Dicky Esse to clothe themselves in the
skins, and in high glee they came prancing about the deck, baa-ing away,
imitating two frolicsome lambs, with a tolerable amount of accuracy.
They afforded much amusement to us, their messmates, and not a little to
the men who happened to be on deck. Not content with amusing us, off
they went, into the neighbourhood of the tigers' cage. It ought to have
been shut, and generally was shut. So exact was their imitation of
nature that the beasts, after watching them with great eagerness for
some moments, could no longer resist their natural propensities. With
fierce leaps they rushed against the door of their cage. It gave way,
and out they sprang. One bound carried them on to the backs of their
expected prey. In another instant Tom and Dicky Esse would have been
torn to pieces, had they not, in a way midshipmen alone could have done,
slipped out of their skins, and rolled pale with terror across the deck.
The animals, finding only the dry skins, were about to make another
spring, when the man who had charge of them and had witnessed the scene,
came rushing up with his stick of office, and several other men coming
to his assistance with ropes, the savage creatures were forthwith
secured. Both the midshipmen were rather more frightened than hurt, and
in consideration of their terror they escaped any further consequences
of their conduct which was looked upon by the First-Lieutenant as
somewhat derogatory to the dignity which they were in duty bound to
maintain.
After leaving the Cape, we were constantly becalmed, and then, getting
further east, fell in with a hurricane, from the effects of which
nothing but first-rate seamanship, under God's Providence, could have
preserved the frigate. We were now getting much in want of water, and
Captain Oliver, unwilling to go out of his way to any of the settlements
to obtain it, resolved to search for a supply at the first island we
should fall in with. At length we came in sight of a large island, with
yellow sands, and green palm trees waving in the breeze. Nothing could
be more attractive, but it appeared that nobody on board had been there
before. The master knew the existence of the island on the chart, but
whether it was inhabited or not, or by whom, he could not say. As no
anchorage was found, the ship was hove to, and three boats, with casks,
under the command of the Second-Lieutenant, and my friend Oldershaw, and
Pember, were directed to go on shore. I went with Oldershaw, and Twigg
and Esse went in the other boats. We pulled into the bay abreast of the
ship, where, between two projecting rocks, we found an excellent
landing-place, and not far from it a stream of water, clear and limpid.
As no natives appeared, the opinion was that that part of the island, at
all events, was uninhabited, and this made us somewhat careless. All
the casks being filled, the boats were sent back for a fresh supply, as
we could not hope to find a better place for filling up with that
important necessary. Pember, directing Tom Twigg to take charge of his
boat, invited Dicky Esse and me to accompany him meantime on a stroll to
see the island farther inland. He directed Toby Kiddle and Pat Brady to
follow with a couple of muskets.
"Not that they will be wanted," he observed; "but if we do fall in with
any natives, it will make them treat us with respect."
"If I were you, Pember, I would not go far from the bay," observed
Oldershaw, as he shoved off.
"You are always uttering warnings, old Careful," muttered Pember; and,
leading the way, he turned his back on the sea and proceeded inland.
The country was very beautiful. We soon came to a grove of cocoa-nuts,
when Pember proposed that we should procure a supply. This, however,
was more easily thought of than done. Pat Brady, who was the most
active of the party, declared that he could manage it after the native
fashion. He and Kiddle having placed the muskets against a tree, were
considering the best way of mounting. We went first to one tree and
then to another, to find one which seemed most easy to climb, with a
satisfactory reward at the top of it for our trouble. Having made a
band of sufficient strength with our handkerchiefs, Pat commenced his
ascent. He had got some way up, Kiddle having helped him as far as he
could reach, when suddenly a dozen dark-skinned savages sprang out from
among the trees, and before we could draw our pistols they had brought
us all to the ground. Forthwith they proceeded to bind our arms behind
us. Pat, seeing there was no use going higher, came gliding down the
tree, and was secured in the same manner. We endeavoured to make them
understand that we had desired to do them no harm, and that if the
cocoa-nuts were theirs, we should be happy to pay for them. Whether
they understood us or not I cannot say, but without more ado, three of
them attaching themselves to Pember, and a like number to each of the
other men--one black fellow, however, only taking charge of Dicky and
another of me--they dragged us off into the interior. In vain Pember
struggled and expostulated. The fierce gleam of their dark eyes, and
the keen blades of their glittering creeses which they flourished before
us, showed that it would be dangerous to dispute the point with them.
All we could do, therefore, was to move forward as they insisted, hoping
that, when our absence was discovered, a strong party might be sent in
pursuit of us, and that we might be recovered. We had not gone far when
they were joined by another band of a similar number, and we could not
help suspecting that they had been watching us all the time, but seeing
so many armed men round the boats had not ventured to attack us. This
made us still more regret our folly in having ventured alone into the
country. On, on we went. We had great reason to fear that they had no
intention of restoring us. At length they stopped at a village of
bamboo huts, covered with cocoa-nut leaves, from which a number of women
and children came forth to gaze at us. The children went shrieking away
when they saw our white skins, while the women advanced cautiously and
touched us, apparently to ascertain whether the red and white would come
off.
"Faith, they take us for white niggers!" said Pat Brady, observing the
look of astonishment, not unmixed with disgust, with which the women
regarded us. "It's to be hoped they won't set us to work as we do the
blacks, though, to be sure, it would be better than eating us, and I
don't like the looks of those fellows at all, at all."
"Depend upon it, if they don't eat us they will make us work, or why
should they otherwise carry us off?" observed Kiddle. "These Malay
fellows make slaves of all the people they can lay hands on. If it was
not for that they would cut our throats."
These remarks made Dicky Esse and me feel very uncomfortable, till
Pember observed that perhaps they had carried us off in the hopes of
obtaining a ransom. This idea kept up our spirits a little; but as they
continued to drag us on further and further into the country, our hope
on that score greatly decreased. At length we reached another village,
in which was a large hut. Under the shade of a wide-spreading verandah
in front of it an old chief was seated on cushions; a dozen half-naked
savages with drawn swords standing behind him. He was dressed in a
dark-coloured turban, with a shawl over his shoulders, a belt, in which
were three or four formidable looking daggers with jewelled hilts, and a
curved sword by his side. His dark countenance was unpleasantly savage
and morose, and we felt that our lives would be of little value if they
depended upon the amiability of his disposition. Our captors arranged
us before him, and then appeared to be explaining how they had got
possession of us. He smiled grimly at the narration. As Pember, Dicky
Esse, and I were placed in advance, it was evident that our captors
looked upon us as of more value than the men. This made us hope that
they were entertaining some thoughts of allowing us to be ransomed, for
in every other way the men were likely to prove more useful to them than
we should.
After our captors had said all they had to say, the old chief made a few
remarks in return. Before he had ceased speaking, several of his guards
advanced towards us with their sharp-looking swords glittering in the
sunbeams. It was a moment of intense anxiety. It seemed evident they
intended to kill us. We could, however, neither fly nor defend
ourselves.
"I say, Ben, have you said your prayers?" whispered Dicky to me. "If
not, it is time to begin."
Pember prepared to meet his fate with dogged resolution, his dark red
countenance turning almost to an ashy hue. Kiddle and Brady, as I cast
my eye on them, were evidently preparing to show fight.
"Knock the fellow next you down, Pat," said Toby, "and get hold of his
cutlash. I will treat mine the same, and if we cannot get away we will
die game."
Suddenly our expected executioners stopped, and stood waving their
weapons at a short distance from our necks. The chief continued
haranguing for some time, and when he ceased others stepped forth from
the crowd and addressed him. Whether or not the chief had intended to
kill us, we could not ascertain, but having kept us in most disagreeable
suspense for half-an-hour or more, though it seemed several hours, the
men with the swords faced about, and marched back to their former
position. Our guards then carried us off to a hut at a little distance,
into which we were all thrust, several men standing outside as a guard
over us. After some time they brought us a mess of grain of some sort,
well seasoned with pepper.
"I suppose they don't intend to kill us, or they would not give us
this," observed Pat, taking a handful from the bowl, as, of course, we
were left to feed ourselves, with our fingers. "Faith, it's not so bad,
after all."
His example was followed by Dicky and me, and after a time Pember and
Kiddle, unable any longer to restrain their appetites, also commenced
eating. A supply of dry leaves and long grass, with several carpets,
were brought in, and we were given to understand that they were to serve
us as beds. This sort of treatment again raised our hopes that our
captors might give us our liberty on receiving a ransom. Our difficulty
would be to communicate with the ship.
"They cannot expect any very large sum for us," observed Pember, who,
deprived of any stimulant, was getting sadly out of spirits. "The
Captain would not consent to pay much for me, I am afraid, and you two
youngsters are worth little enough."
"Speak for yourself," answered Esse. "I rather think the Captain sets a
higher estimation on me than you do."
"Whether or not, for the honour of the flag they will not desert us," I
observed.
Pember on this gave a faint sickly laugh.
"Few inquiries would be made at the Admiralty as to what had become of
an old mate and two youngsters. Expended on a watering party--killed by
savages. Such would be our epitaph, and the matter would be settled to
the satisfaction of all parties."
No wonder, considering the circumstances, that our conversation did not
take a more lively tone. Pat Brady, to be sure, did his best now and
then to get up a laugh, but with very poor success.
"Keep silence, man!" exclaimed Pember, at last, in a surly tone. "You
will be singing out in a different way to-morrow morning when they get
the ovens ready."
"Faith, I suppose they would be after making me into an Irish stew, or a
dish of bubble and squeak!" exclaimed Pat, whose spirits were not to be
quelled even with the anticipation of being turned into a feast for
cannibals. I had an idea, however, that the people into whose hands we
had fallen were not addicted to such practices, and was, therefore, not
much influenced by the remarks which Pember occasionally made as to our
probable fate. We were allowed to pass the night in quietness, and next
morning another bowl of food was brought to us, with a basket of fruit
of various sorts, very acceptable in that hot climate. We waited
anxiously, expecting the arrival of a party from the frigate, either to
rescue us by force, or to offer a ransom for our liberty; but no one
appeared, nor did any of the natives, except the man who brought the
food, come to the hut. Once, during an interval of silence, Esse
declared he heard firing, but though we listened with all our might, the
sounds reached no other ears. After a time, indeed, we all fancied we
heard the boom of great guns, but even of that we could not be quite
certain. Night again came round, and no one had come to look for us.