that we had had no eyes for a nearer danger. When the savages on shore
had discharged their spears, a good number of them leapt into the water
and set off swimming after us, of which we were not aware until on a
sudden we saw their black heads on the surface not many yards away.
They were very fine swimmers, that is certain, for some of them had
overhauled us, and were indeed almost within reach of our outrigger
before we saw them. I own I got a fright then, for if they once
managed to grip the outrigger, they could haul it beneath the surface
and so upset our craft, and all would be over. In this extremity I
called to Billy to keep them off with his spear or axe, though this
meant a slackening of speed which we could ill afford in face of the
canoes drawing nearer so rapidly to the gap; and besides, it gave
opportunity to others of the swimmers to come up with those that had at
first outstripped them. You see, then, how desperate was our
situation, I having both to paddle and to steer, and Billy having to
rush from end to end of the canoe to beat off the men, which would soon
become an impossible business, for while he jabbed at the men aiming at
the stern cross-piece, another made a dash for the bow-end, and there
were others ready to clutch at the beam.
I was pretty nearly mad with despair when, as we came out of the
shelter of the trees lining the land side of the lagoon, I felt the
breeze blow stronger against my cheek and a flush of hope within me.
Crying to Billy to keep up for a minute longer, to which he answered,
"Trust me, master," in a breathless kind of way, I dropped my paddle,
caught at the halyard, and ran the sail up the mast. Instantly it
filled and took the wind, but in the moment when the vessel came to a
stop at my ceasing to paddle, two of the swimmers laid hands on the
beam of the outrigger, and I felt the vessel give a dreadful lurch. My
heart was in my mouth, as we say; but Billy, with a desperate stroke of
his spear, drove one of the men away, and the next moment the sudden
filling of the sail caused the vessel to plunge forward, so that the
man who still clung to the outrigger was drawn along and prevented from
exerting his strength to upset us. And while he still hung on Billy
reached over, and brought his axe down with great force on the man's
head, almost losing his balance; and the man gave a yell and let go his
hold, falling back among his companions, who had now abandoned the
pursuit.
[Illustration: "BILLY REACHED OVER, AND BROUGHT HIS AXE DOWN ON THE
MAN'S HEAD."]
Just as, before, our attention had been kept from the swimmers by the
canoes, so our tussle with the swimmers had prevented us from observing
the oncoming of the canoes. Being now free from the former danger, we
saw that our vessel and the canoes were about equal distances from the
gap, and I perceived with a terrible sinking of the heart that though
the _Fair Hope_ was making much greater speed than when we drove her by
paddles alone, yet the canoes were going still faster, the men in them
plying their paddles with amazing force and dexterity. Within a few
moments it became clear to me that the foremost canoe and our vessel
must reach the gap almost at the same instant, and Billy, who seemed to
have forgotten the perils in the excitement of the race, cried out,
"Don't let it be a tie, master. I'd rather be beat than come in a
tie." But I saw that to be even with them would be as good as a
beating, for if we came so much as within spear-throw of them, we could
not by any means escape as we had escaped from the men on shore. And
though I now took to my paddle again, having fixed the sail, and strove
with all my might, I perceived that within a minute the savages' first
canoe must reach the gap before us, and I was on the point of giving up
for lost, grasping my bow with the resolution to make the best fight I
could before being overwhelmed. Billy had already taken his, though I
knew by the set of his face that he was suffering much pain from his
wounded arm, and catching my eye, he said, "This is what we made 'em
for," and looked with great determination at the savages in the canoes.
[Sidenote: Escape]
But in that critical moment I saw something that set me on taking
another resolution, and carrying it out too, all in an instant, as it
were. We had been making, as I have said, for the gap in the reef,
through which the sea flowed inwards very smoothly. Upon the reef
itself the water was very much broken, more at some points than at
others, and in that flash of time I had observed that the part nearest
to us, on our right hand, appeared to lie some little distance below
the surface, for the water above it was not near so restless and
foam-crested as at some other parts. There were swells and eddies,
indeed, but it seemed to me that the water was deep enough to take our
vessel, and, as a drowning man will catch at a straw, I seized on this
as a bare chance of escape. In the twinkling of an eye--for I saw and
thought and acted all in a breath, so to speak--I thrust my paddle into
the water at such an angle as would divert the canoe towards this part
of the reef, telling Billy what I was about, and bidding him be ready
for anything that might happen. The vessel's head swung round to the
reef, we scudded across it with a scratching and scraping that made me
shudder, and it was well I did not know then what I learnt from a
mariner afterwards, how if we had struck upon any small pinnacle of
hard coral we must have been overturned to a certainty; that knowledge
might then have made a coward of me. But I did not know it, and we
scraped and bumped across the reef, which was very narrow, and so came
into the open sea, where, feeling the full force of the wind, we sped
away right merrily.
"You did that prime, master," says Billy, "and now I'll have a shot."
But by the time the foremost of the three canoes had come through the
gap, and Billy had adjusted his aim, we were clean out of range, which
rejoiced me as much as it disappointed him. "Can't we lay by and have
a shot or two?" he said; "the wretches killed my little dog." But I
thought it was more pertinent that we should make good our escape,
especially as it yet remained to be proved that the canoes could not
overtake us. It was a mercy they had no sails, for the paddlers drove
their craft along at a prodigious pace, so that for a time we did not
draw very much away from them, and when we did, immediately afterwards
there was a lull in the wind which made them gain upon us, so
alarmingly that I took to my paddle again to assist the wind. The
savages shouted with joy when they saw the gap between us lessening,
and even when the wind freshened again they did not give up the
pursuit, taking encouragement, no doubt, from what had lately happened,
and hoping that the wind would drop again, and for a longer time, until
they came within spear-throw. In this posture of affairs I saw that
Billy might be right, and that it would be really a wise thing to
discourage them more effectually, especially as we had done nothing to
provoke them, but on the contrary had intended to deal with them in the
most friendly way. Accordingly, I luffed a little, as seamen say, and
so allowed the first canoe to make upon us, and then I fitted an arrow
to my bow, and taking as good an aim as I could, let the shaft fly.
Our vessel was not above sixty yards distant from theirs, and if I had
been shooting on shore I should have hit the mark as like as not; but
being not at all accustomed to take aim while moving up and down I
missed the man at whom I aimed, and indeed did not hit any man, the
arrow sticking in the side of the canoe.
"Try again, master," says Billy; but I was afraid I should not get the
chance of another shot, for the savages had stopped paddling, not being
sure, I suppose, whether I had done any damage or not; and our vessel
being under sail, was carried on a good way. But when they saw that no
one had been hit, they let forth a shout of derision, and set to
paddling again as if determined to dog us. I dare say I was nettled a
little by the mocking note I heard in their shout, which as it were put
me on my mettle; whether it was by greater care and steadiness or sheer
good fortune I know not, but certainly my next shot took effect, though
the range was longer. The man in the bow of the canoe gave a great
yell, and at the same moment dropped his paddle, and we saw him tear my
arrow out of his left shoulder and clap his hand to the wound,
whereupon Billy gave a shout of delight, and cried, "There you are, old
dirty-face, and I wish it was you that shot my little dog." The next
man in the canoe hurled his spear at us, but it fell some little
distance astern, and the other canoes having by this time caught up
with the first, we guessed by the loud chatter of the men that they
were taking counsel together, even while they still worked their
paddles. The result of their deliberation was that they gave up the
chase, a very reasonable course, for I am sure they could not have
caught us. They turned their canoes' heads towards their island, which
was now, I suppose, about two miles distant, and as soon as we saw that
they were really leaving us we hove to, and I bathed Billy's wound with
fresh water from one of our pots, observing as I did so that the
lurchings and jerkings our vessel had suffered in crossing the reef had
caused our pots to spill over, so that we had not left above a third of
the water we started with. Billy's wound, though he made light of it,
was an ugly gash, and I was a little anxious lest the weapon that dealt
it was poisoned. However, this was not so, and when I afterwards put a
bandage of leaves upon the wound (for Billy would not hear of my
tearing a strip from my tattered shirt), his arm was stiff for a few
days, but then quickly healed.
I bathed his wound, I say, and then we ate a very good meal, and Billy
gave my dog a double share of food, to comfort him, he said, for the
loss of his companion. I asked him if double meals would comfort him,
supposing I was killed, merely to tease him; but his face became so
piteous when he said, "Don't say such things, Master, for I can't
a-bear it," I wished I had never spoken the words. I had never told
Billy how the thought that he might die came to me sometimes, and what
intolerable anguish it caused me, and I did not know that he ever had
the like thought; but he confided to me a long while after that
sometimes as he lay awake at night the question would repeat itself in
his mind: "What if Master should die?" and it gave him such a dreadful
feeling of loneliness that he would put out his hand to touch me lying
near him, to make sure that my flesh was still warm with the blood of
life. When he told me this I remembered having once felt his hand upon
mine, and how it tingled, and when I spoke he tightened his grasp and
said, "Good night, old king," and I knew by his tone that he had a
great affection for me; but I never supposed he was troubled in mind,
or I might have shown him, perhaps, more plainly how great was my
affection for him.
However, to return to our vessel. We ate a meal, and considered what
we should do: whether continue our voyage in another direction, or
return at once to Palm Tree Island. Billy thought we had better go
a-cruising, "For," said he, "we don't know but what these savages will
spy on us, and see where we go to if we go home at once, and then they
may come after us some day, and we shall have a deal of trouble."
"But they may spy on us even if we don't go home at once," I said, "and
never leave us until they find out where we came from."
"Not they," says he; "they won't have the patience."
[Sidenote: We return Home]
I thought Billy's reasoning far from conclusive, for if they meant to
spy on us they would do so, and could not tell whether we were going
home or not. However, it did not appear that they had any such
intention, for by this time they were out of sight, and very thankful
we were that they had drawn away from us, for towards midday the wind
dropped, and the vessel lay almost idle for a long time, her sail
hanging very limp and sad. If the canoes had been near us now, we
could not have got away from them, and thinking of this made me haul
down our sail and unship the mast, lest they should be seen from some
elevated place in the island we had just left--a tree-top, maybe, for
the surface of coral islands is mainly flat. We could see our own
island very clearly, the mountain standing up against the sky; but I
began to be afraid that we should not reach it that day, because of the
calm, and we could not go fast enough with paddles alone. I did paddle
for a while, in order to increase our distance from the coral island,
which became dimmer on the horizon until we could scarce see it; but I
had begun to think that we should have to spend the night out at sea
when, as the sun sank, a breeze sprang up, which, if it held, would
bring us to our island, I guessed, very soon after dark. We hoisted
the sail, and sped along very merrily, being perfectly enchanted with
the qualities of the _Fair Hope_; but distance at sea is very
deceptive; we were farther away from our island than we thought, and it
was long after dark before we arrived at the little sandy beach, though
not so dark but we could see the giant form of the mountain upreared
against the stars, and so we did not lose our way. We were very tired,
and when we had moored our vessel to the rock we employed for this
purpose, we left everything in her, food and weapons and all, being
desirous of nothing but to get back to our house, eat our supper, and
go to bed.
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH
OF THE SEVERAL SURPRISES THAT AWAITED BILLY AND THE NARRATOR AND THE
CREW OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_; AND OF OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE
"I say, master," said Billy, as we toiled up towards our house, "you
and me'll think twice afore we go a-cruising again. I ain't never been
so tired in my life, and I shan't be awake to eat no supper."
"Very well," said I, "we won't trouble to make up our fire, but----"
[Sidenote: Unexpected Visitors]
The words died on my lips, and we both stood stock still at the same
moment, for there had come to our ears on a sudden, from the direction
of the house, the sound of loud and boisterous laughter. Little John
yelped, Billy clutched my hand, and you will scarce believe it, but we
were both trembling like leaves in the wind; for imagine if you can
what a shock it was to us, after our loneliness on the island, to hear
the laughter of men.
"They've got here first," says Billy in a whisper presently.
"Who?" said I.
"Why, the savages," he said. "They've spied on us. We'd better go
back for our spears and things."
I agreed that this was a prudential measure, and we trudged hastily
down again to the canoe, and took our spears and bows and arrows, and
then retraced our steps, the dog accompanying us. We crept up with
exceeding caution until we reached a spot whence we could overlook the
hollow in which our house was situated; but or ever we got there we
were aware of a red glow, as from a huge fire, and when we came to the
summit of the crest and looked down the long slope towards the hut,
near half-a-mile away, we saw that in front of it a very large fire was
kindled, which lit up all the country around, and on the fringe, so to
speak, of the illuminated space certain dark figures moved.
"They've made the fire ready to cook us," says Billy, his voice
trembling very much.
"Nay, they're cooking already," I said, and showed him that they had
set our great tripod over the fire, and something dangled from it
roasting.
[Illustration: Our Tripod]
"They've stole one of our pigs," said Billy in great anger; indeed, his
first fear was now swallowed up in this new emotion. He spoke pretty
loud, and the dog, knowing from his manner that something was amiss,
began to yelp. I bade Billy hold his peace, for we must creep silently
towards the house and discover who these visitors were: and since the
dog might betray us if he yelped as we approached, we thought it best
to tie him to a tree; he would doubtless yelp there, but the visitors
would suppose he was a wild dog. We had just left him tied up when I
remembered that if his yelping brought the wild dogs about him he would
very soon be torn in pieces, so we had to go back and loose him, and
then Billy took him in his arms and said he would keep him quiet, which
he did.
We crept along, being careful to take cover from the trees and shrubs,
and so not following a straight path, but working round somewhat until
we came to the back of our fowl-house, whence we could see and overhear
what was going on. But before we got there we had another amazing
shock, and a very disconcerting one too, for as we were walking Billy
all of a sudden clutched me by the arm and whispered, "That's Hoggett,"
and then he uttered that profane word which I had never heard upon his
lips since the first day we came to the island. And sure enough, when
we came to the fowl-house, and could both hear and see them, grouped
about the fire beyond it sat or lay or stood a dozen of Billy's once
shipmates on the _Lovey Susan_, the mutinous crew of my uncle's
ill-fated vessel. Some of them, being on the farther side of the fire,
we could not see clearly: but on this side there was Hoggett, Billy's
especial enemy, and Wabberley; and Clums the cook, attending to the
fine pig, one of our best, that was roasting; and Chick, and Pumfrey
the ship's carpenter, and others whose names I need not write. Billy
was for fitting an arrow to his bow and shooting Hoggett that instant,
but I forbade him, in a whisper but peremptorily, for the two of us
could not hope to get the better of a dozen, when they had firearms
too, for I had spied a musket standing against the wall of the hut,
near to where Hoggett was lying. Besides, I own I felt a certain
tenderness towards these men, rough and brutal, aye, and treacherous,
as they were; for they were men of our race and speech, and to hear my
own language from the lips of Wabberley brought back to me those
evenings when he feasted my uncle with his stories, so that he gave me
thoughts of home. However, I felt a natural indignation at seeing
these uninvited guests making free with our property, and after hearing
somewhat of their talk I ceased to feel any kindness towards them.
They were talking, I soon discovered, about the house and its owners,
and Hoggett declared that he was certain sure it belonged to savages,
an opinion which Wabberley instantly controverted.
"Have I, or have I not, been in these here South Seas afore, Tom
Hoggett?" I heard him say, and Hoggett growled that he _said_ he had;
whereupon Wabberley continued, "Well then, I ask you again, didn't we
leave they two striplings on this very island?"
"You're right, there," says Hoggett, "and one of 'em the sauciest,
snarliest son of a" (here a dreadful word) "that ever escaped his
proper lickings."
("That's me," whispered Billy, in a great rage.)
"True, but handy all the same," said Clums. "He could do a thing or
two with his tools, and I warrant you he made this;" and so saying, he
took up Billy's toasting-fork, and held a yam to the blaze.
[Illustration: Billy's Toasting Fork]
"'Twas Billy made it, sure enough," said Pumfrey, "for the other chap
couldn't ha' done it."
"No, not him," said Wabberley. "He was a overgrown weed, he was, all
stalk and no head to it, and I reckon if the truth was known he made
this; any fool could do it," and he took up, as it chanced, one of the
two-pronged forks that I had made, and of which I was a little proud at
the time.
"That's true, Nick," says Joshua Chick, "and what's more, shipmates, no
savage ever made a fork in his life, and lor' bless you, didn't we find
a hairbrush and a comb, and what savage ever wanted such, d'ye think?
And that there pig-sty, now, ain't that like the one where you was
brought up, Pumfrey, only a bit rougher, maybe?"
This question was very much resented by Pumfrey the carpenter, who
declared hotly that he had built pig-sties, not lived in 'em, and
whoever made this pig-sty was a very poor hand at it. To this
Wabberley assented, and went on to say that the dirtiest savage as ever
breathed would have been ashamed of the miserable things we had made in
the way of pots and baskets and other things. It was plain that they
had pretty thoroughly ransacked our hut, and I was on thorns lest they
should have discovered our secret store-house below, which it appeared,
from what followed, that they had not done, and thankful I was. One of
the men asked what we lived on, for we couldn't eat, he supposed,
nothing but pork and chickens, and they had found nothing else, except
the yams in the pig's trough, we having put all the rest of our fruits
and vegetables in the store-house.
"Ain't there plenty of trees on the island, donkey?" said Clums. "You
may take your davy there's bread-fruit and bananas and cocoa-nuts and
such like, and they pick 'em when they want 'em."
"But where are the young devils?" said Hoggett. "Ain't that there pig
done yet, Clums? The smell makes me want to get my teeth into him."
"One more turn," says Clums, "and then we'll have a better supper than
we've had many a day."
"I say, where are the young devils?" says Hoggett again. "D'ye think
they see us a-coming and sheered off?"
"Like as not," said Wabberley, "but we'll find 'em to-morrow, and they
shall get our dinner for us, d'ye see. I believe in taking it easy and
letting the youngsters do the work, I do. Did you get all the yams out
of that pig's trough, Clums?"
"I did," says he, "and there must be some more growing somewhere, and
'tis to be hoped things ain't so short as they are in our island,
mates. Did you ever know food go so fast? There seemed enough for
thousands when we landed there, and you wouldn't ha' thought a score of
men would ha' made such a hole in it."
And then they fell a-talking of the eight or nine men they had left on
what they called their island, and I judged from their discourse that
provisions being short with them, these twelve had come away to
discover a more plentiful land, having promised, if they found one, to
return and fetch their shipmates. Pumfrey reminded them of their
promise, adding that the men would certainly starve if they were not
brought off, whereupon Hoggett declared with an oath that he for one
was not going to tug an oar for twenty miles in a leaky boat, to bring
off a lot of useless blockheads who would soon eat them out of house
and home. We pricked up our ears at this, Billy and me, hearing for
the first time that our visitors had made up their minds to abide with
us, and Billy ground his teeth, and whispered that we should have to
fight 'em. One of the men--I think it was Wabberley--asked what about
the mountain? and said he didn't like the notion of living where he
might be boiled or roasted any day. At this Hoggett made a mock of
him. "Ain't it years since we left they boys here?" he said. "Does it
look like boiling or roasting, 'cept for pigs? These here burning
mountains ain't always a-working, that's plain, and this one here may
be asleep for fifty years to come."
And then they ended their discourse for a time, devoting themselves to
the roast pork and the yams of which they had deprived our pigs,
sighing also very heavily for beer; and finding no cocoa-nuts handy for
quenching their thirst, and being too lazy to fetch any (besides, it
was dark), two of them went with pots in their hands to the lake, on
which there was a very pretty reflection of their fire, and brought
them back full of water. Billy chuckled so much at this that I was
afraid he would be heard; but I was amused too, for there having been
no rains lately, we knew what the effect of drinking the water would
be; and, indeed, the next night we heard the men condoling with one
another, and it was plain that when they were seized in the middle of
the night with griping pains, they believed one and all that they were
poisoned.