through the hole in the roof and set off with our spades up the
mountain side, to dig out enough rock to make a big smoke as soon as it
was light. Billy said it was a pity I had told the men about the rock,
and he was sure harm would come of it; but I showed him that our case
could scarcely be worse than it was, shut up in a narrow compass with
such unpleasant companions, and that if we drove the savages from the
island we should at least have liberty of movement, and as for what was
to happen after, we must leave it to Providence, at the same time
saying that the seamen would surely not remain long on the island when
they found it was not very plentiful in food, so far as they could
tell. "That's all very well, master," says Billy sorrowfully; "but
there's enough to keep 'em until the fruits begin to ripen again, and
there's all our pigs and fowls, which they'll eat up as sure as a gun,
and we shan't be able to breed no more. Still, I don't see what we can
do, unless we poison the whole lot of 'em, same as we did the monsters,
and I suppose you won't agree to that." I said that I would not, and
then reminded Billy that we had triumphed over many difficulties and
dangers in our four years' residence on the island, and I did not in
any way despair of coming safely through this present predicament; and
so we went on up the mountain side, not hurrying or taking any
particular care, for we knew the savages would not be in this part of
the island, having a very wholesome dread of the volcano.
Being come to the place where the deposit of fizzy rock was, we worked
a great quantity of it loose with our spades, and carried it to the
neighbourhood of the springs, where by the dawn we had two great heaps.
As soon as it began to be light we threw the rock bit by bit into the
water, Billy at one spring and I at the other, being careful to keep
out of sight from below, for we knew that every eye in the camps of the
savages would be turned to the mountain as soon as they saw the smoke.
It happened that the cloud of steam over the summit was somewhat denser
than it had been the day before, which was all in favour of our design.
We were favoured, too, by the stillness of the air, for, there being no
wind, the fumes that rose from the rock hung about the mountain and did
not float away, though that was also a disadvantage to us, inasmuch as
we could not avoid the poisonous stench. We had to hold our breath and
rush into the smoke in order to keep the springs constantly fed with
the rock, and I began to feel very ill, and, going to see how Billy was
faring, I observed that his skin was a greenish colour, and so I bade
him to desist and to come with me and peer over to see whether our
trick had wrought upon the savages as we hoped it would. We saw that
they were standing in a great throng watching the smoke; but they did
not as yet appear to be infected with panic, which, when I thought of
it, I considered to be due to the absence of the rumbling noises that
commonly accompanied the action of the volcano. Since we could not in
any way make such a noise as would counterfeit the natural rumbling, I
racked my brains to think of any other means by which we might work
upon them the beginnings of fright, for I was sure that if we could
only start them it would not be long before panic fear got hold of
them, and then it would sweep them away. Running back to my spring, to
cast more rock into it, I observed that there were some big boulders a
little higher up, below the edge of the crater, that appeared to be
insecurely poised. They were at the top of a gentle slope, which fell
away afterwards into a sheer precipice several hundreds of feet in
depth. I wondered whether the boulders I have mentioned could be seen
from the savages' camp, and creeping up the slope to see, I found that
the savages were quite out of sight; whereupon I hastened down to
Billy, and after throwing into the springs enough rock to last a good
while, we went together to the top of the slope, and shoving with all
our strength against one of the boulders, we set it rolling down. The
moment we had started it we went to another, and so on, until there was
a sort of cascade of rocks sliding down the slope and then plunging
over the edge and crashing down at the foot of the precipice, the sound
coming very faintly to our ears.
Though we chose only the smaller of the boulders, the larger being
utterly beyond our strength to move, the haste with which we worked
made us very hot and weary, and when we paused to rest for a moment we
thought we heard shouts of alarm from below, and then all of a sudden
there was silence. Heaving over one more boulder we hastened down to
the place from which we could see the savages while ourselves unseen,
and when we got there they had all vanished. "We've done it, master,"
said Billy, panting, "and much good 'twill be to us." But I was by no
means sure that the savages had actually gone, thinking that maybe they
had merely shifted their quarters; accordingly I did not think it
proper to go down at once towards our hut, but remained for some while
longer feeding the springs with the rock. However, when we were again
feeling very sick because of the fumes, and went to some distance for
purer air, we caught sight of the fleet of canoes making for the
westward, the savages paddling with great energy; and being very joyful
at the success of our stratagem, though somewhat apprehensive of what
was to ensue, we descended the mountain-side and came again to our hut.
The seamen had already issued from it, and were standing on the cliffs
watching the departing canoes; but as we approached them we observed
signs of discontent and anger among them, instead of the gladness we
expected. And when we came to them several of them cried out that the
savages had taken their boat, and now they were marooned; and Hoggett
came up to us with a very truculent mien, and said that he now knew how
we had tricked him when he first came to the island--I mean on his
first visit to us--and he wanted to know what we meant by it, and but
for us he might have stayed on the island with his mates and lived
hearty, instead of near starving as he had done, and we had better not
try no more tricks on him, or he'd show us, and a great deal more to
the like effect, with plentiful oaths and very foul language. I
affected to laugh it off, saying that at any rate our trick had cleared
the island of savages, whereupon he broke out again: "Yes," says he,
"and they've robbed us of our boat; and now we've got to stop here, and
goodness knows how we'll live, for you two fools ain't had the sense to
grow enough for all of us. I want my breakfast, I do, and there ain't
nothing in that there cabin, and you'd better look alive and get me
something, or I may come to eating you." This speech made me very
indignant, when but for us Hoggett and the rest would without doubt
have been butchered by the savages; but since it was plain that we were
to live with him and them I saw that no good would come of quarrelling,
so I laughed again, and said if he was patient he might have a
breakfast of pork and potatoes (by which I meant yams) and maybe an egg
or two, unless the savages had scared our hens from laying; and he
looked very well pleased at this, and called to the other men, telling
them what the breakfast was to be, and then he stuck his hands in his
pockets and swaggered off among them, saying to us as he went not to be
long about it, because he was hungry.
Billy fairly gnashed his teeth as we went to our hut. He was much more
put about than I was, resenting on my behalf the domineering airs that
Hoggett put on. "There you are," says he, "what did I say? This ain't
our island no more. You ain't the king, and I ain't the prince, or
whatever you call it, but it belongs to Hoggett."
"Oh no, it doesn't," said I; "Hoggett doesn't become the owner just
because you and I, to humour him, give him his breakfast."
"Breakfast!" says Billy scornfully; "yes, breakfast, and dinner, and
supper, and bites in between; and as for humouring him, you might as
well humour one of they monsters we poisoned, he'll only squeeze you
the harder."
[Sidenote: Dreams]
I laughed at Billy, for I believed that by showing ourselves friendly
we should gain the friendliness of the men, so that, if we were
destined to live on the island together, we might form a peaceable if
not a happy community. I dreamt of a little republic, in which all
should have tasks corresponding to their talents, so that what little
labour was required should fall very lightly on individuals. I dreamt
also of making a boat large enough to carry us all, and sailing away
some day to England, or at least to some place where we should fall in
with an English ship. And I dare say in these my day-dreams I saw
myself as the head of this little republic; not an autocrat, but a
kindly and benevolent protector, to whom the others would look up,
knowing that his whole heart was set on their good. It was in this
frame of mind that I willingly helped Billy to prepare a sumptuous
repast for the men, slaying a pig and several fowls, and boiling yams
and eggs. They ate with mighty good appetite, and I am sure thoroughly
enjoyed the meal, though Wabberley did grumble in the middle of it,
because we had no beer. Some of them mocked and jeered at our clumsy
crockery and other utensils; but Clums spoke up for us on this point,
saying that a pot was good enough if it didn't run out, and he only
wished he had had such things in the island where they had been.
[Sidenote: Mr. Bodger]
For the rest of that day the men roamed about the island, and one or
two of them plucked up courage to climb the mountain, though they
turned back before they came to the crater. They discovered our
plantation of yams, and were pleased to express approval of the manner
in which we had fenced it in, and Pumfrey said it must be enlarged now,
for we could not grow enough there to feed them all. This brought home
to me the fact that our solitude was henceforth to be peopled, and
though I might please myself with dreams of ruling over a little
republic, I own I felt a sort of regret that the happy life Billy and I
had led together was encroached on and perturbed, a feeling which grew
into positive abhorrence before the day was out. The men came
punctually back to the hut for meals, and Clums, who was a good-natured
fellow if he was let alone, lent a hand to their preparation, so that
the work did not fall wholly on Billy and me. And it was during the
latter part of the day that I heard from Mr. Bodger more particulars of
the miseries of his life on their island. They had saved him at the
first, it appeared, merely because they thought his seamanship might be
some time useful to them, but when he never had an opportunity of doing
anything in that way they used to taunt him, and ask him why he hadn't
stuck to Captain Corke and Mr. Lummis, and dealt very evilly with him
in many ways. It was plain to me that not only had he no authority
over them, such as a ship's officer ought to have, but that he went in
mortal terror of Hoggett, so that if it came to a tussle between
Hoggett and me I could expect no help from Mr. Bodger.
I observed during the day that there were always some of the men in the
hut, or reclining against the wall outside, and it came into my head
that they were guarding it, so that Billy and I could not barricade
ourselves in it as we had done before, and keep them out. I smiled at
this, for having let them in of my own accord, and under no compulsion,
I did not think of going back on this, even though the savages were
departed. I thought we should not be so discommoded at night, because
we had not only the hole in the roof, but could also keep the door
open, there being no longer any fear of molestation by wild dogs. In
my mind I was planning to build other huts, as soon as I could persuade
the men to it, so that Billy and I might have our own to ourselves,
which was very much to be desired, considering what stores we had
beneath it, and the access to our canoe, now laid up in Dismal Cave.
But just before dark, when we had had our supper out in the open, and
were thinking of turning in, and I came with Billy to the doorway of
the hut, there was Hoggett standing in it with his elbows stuck out and
his legs a-straddle, and Wabberley and Chick just behind him. He did
not offer to move aside for me, on which I smiled and said we had not
foreseen that he would be our guest or we might have made the doorway
wider; and then he took a step forward, Wabberley and Chick moving into
the doorway, and thrusting his head out until his nose nearly touched
mine, he said, very loud: "Look 'ee here, you Brent," says he, "this
here place is now mine, d'ye see? and I'm a-going to let in my friends
and no one else, and to-night I'm not a-going to have any one in but
Mr. Chick and Mr. Wabberley and one or two more, and you two young
fellows can just rig up a bunk outside, along with Bodger and the rest."
"That's rather a poor return for hospitality, isn't it, Mr. Hoggett?" I
said as pleasantly as I could, though I was raging inside.
"I don't want none of your fine talk, Brent," says he, "and as for
Billy Bobbin, if he makes those eyes at me I'll knock his head off."
"No, you won't," says Billy, nimbly stepping back out of reach. It
appeared that he had not been able to keep out of his eyes the fury
which burnt within him.
Hoggett glared at him, and called him foul names, and then turning to
me he cried: "I've said my say, and I tell you if I catch you inside
this cabin to-night or any time, I'll flay you alive. You hear that,
Mr. Chick?"
"I do," says Chick.
"You hear that, Mr. Wabberley?" says Hoggett again.
"I do," says Wabberley.
"Well, then, Brent has had fair warning, more'n he gave me," says
Hoggett, "when he sent an arrow through the fleshy part of my arm."
"That's a lie," cried Billy; "you had more warning than I'd give you."
[Sidenote: Turned Out]
Hoggett in a fury caught up a musket that stood against the wall, and
was presenting it at Billy, but I knocked it up, and bade him, in a
very different tone from what I had used as yet, have a care. He
seemed surprised at my firmness, and put down the musket, and then,
seeing that the other men had come up, and were standing at watch in a
little knot, I turned to them, with the intent to appeal to their sense
of justice, believing that if I could once get them to break away from
Hoggett's dominance all might be well. But I had not spoken a dozen
words when Hoggett, who, as his words had shown, was longing to pay off
his score against me for wounding him that time, aimed a blow at me,
which, however, I saw coming out of the corner of my eye, so that I was
ready for it, and parrying it with my left arm, I dealt him such a blow
upon his body that he fell doubled up at the doorway. In a moment
Chick sprang across him, cutlass in hand, and made for me, and
Wabberley came after him, and Hoggett called on the other men to seize
me; and though Billy sprang instantly to my side, I saw that the odds
were too great against us, and that we had better run for it. I
stepped back just in time to escape Chick's cutlass, and at the same
time Billy thrust his foot in front of Wabberley, so that the big man
came down very heavily on his face; and then we sprinted across the
drawbridge, and pulled it after us, so that the men that pursued us
were brought up on the brink of the moat, and could do no more than
shake their fists and curse us. Billy and I went on leisurely with
Little John, who had come after us, and considering what we should do
we determined to betake ourselves to the thicket on the slope of the
mountain, and it was quite dark before we got there. We made ourselves
as comfortable as we could for the night, being strangely reminded of
our first coming to the island and the fears and terrors of that time;
but we had no such disquietude of mind now, and I think in our hearts
we were both glad to have broken with the seamen. When I reproached
myself for not having the presence of mind to resume possession of our
hut immediately after the savages had departed, Billy said it wouldn't
have been much good, because the seamen could not choose but stay on
the island, their boat being gone, and things would have come to pretty
much the same pass; but he had no sooner said it than he let forth a
sharp cry of dismay: "Our canoe, master!" And then I remembered that,
having laid our canoe up in the cave, we had no means of getting to
her, now that the entrance to the cavern was barred, for we could not
climb down the face of the cliffs, nor had we any other boat or raft to
carry us there by sea. This was a very staggering situation to be in,
and Billy said it was a shame that after we had been so happy all these
years we should have all our troubles over again. Sleep overtook us
before we saw any way out of our difficulties, which stared us in the
face when we opened our eyes to the new day.
[Illustration: "I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE
DOORWAY."]
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH
OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR
PROPERTY
We had one great advantage over the seamen in that we knew every yard
of the island, and so could find our food without searching. Billy
laughed when he thought of them having to get their own breakfast, and
wishing they had not driven us away; but I said that they had not
intended to drive us away, but that Hoggett expected to daunt and cow
us, and so make us his bond servants. "Well, he _must_ be a fool,"
says Billy, and chuckled again to think that his old enemy had
over-reached himself. Presently we saw that I was right in my surmise,
for we heard men shouting in different parts of the island, and guessed
they were seeking us; but we kept close all that day, feeling pretty
sure that the men would not come up the mountain until they had
searched other parts.
We were not idle this day, for we at once set about making a raft to
carry us round to the cave, using saplings and creepers for this
purpose, fashioning them into a kind of hurdle which we hoped would
support us well enough, or at least one of us, for the short voyage.
We laughed again to think that when we should have got our canoe again,
we might if we pleased sail clean away from the island and seek another
home without let or hindrance from the seamen; but we never had any
serious thought of this, Palm Tree Island being now our very home. As
for what our course of action was to be, we very earnestly considered
that while our fingers were busy with the raft. It was plain we could
not fight the men, for they had muskets and powder and shot enough to
kill us, being only two; and we were without any weapons save our axes,
which we always carried in our belts, all the others being either in
the hut or in the cellar below it. If we did not fight them, we must
nevertheless be either friends or enemies; friends we could not be
while Hoggett maintained his present insolency, and as enemies we could
but keep out of their way. But I saw we should lead a terrible life if
we remained on the island and were harried from place to place, and
hunted down, and maybe captured and made slaves of in the end. We
might, to be sure, go and live in the cave, where it was little likely
that we should be discovered, and if we were we could no doubt make a
very good defence; but we did not relish the prospect of skulking, so
to speak, in the dim purlieus of the cave and tunnel while our enemies
were ranging the island free, and enjoying the full use of what we had
laboured so hard for. "I can't a-bear to think of Hoggett drinking out
of _my_ mug," says Billy, with a rueful countenance, "and blunting _my_
spears, and wasting _my_ arrows, and eating our pigs, too, master.
What if they eat 'em all, as they did in their own island, and don't
leave none for breeding? Oh, that Hoggett! Wouldn't I like to drop
some fizzy rock in his water and poison him!"
[Sidenote: Quandary]
This was indeed a thing to be thought of, and we made up our minds at
least to secure some of our pigs and devise some secret place where we
might keep them. But the first matter to settle was our own
habitation, and it was near the close of the day before the notion came
into my head that we might choose the Red Rock, which being severed
from the island would be quite inaccessible, except by a bridge, and
when we had possession of our bows and arrows we could easily prevent
them from throwing a bridge across. It would have been quite foreign
to Billy's nature and habit if he had fallen in with this plan without
demur, and he said at once that Red Rock was quite barren, save for a
few stunted bushes which were of no good either for shelter or food.
"But," I said to him, "we shall have our canoe, and we can carry stores
in this from the cavern to the rock, and we can make shift to put up
some sort of shelter against the weather, which isn't very bad."
"That's true," says he, "but when our stores are all used up, what
then? We've got enough in our cellar for three or four months,
perhaps, and I lay Hoggett would like to get hold of some of our salted
pork, as good as bacon any day; but it won't last for ever, and what
then?"
"I can't see so far ahead," said I. "We can live very comfortably for
three or four months, and perhaps longer, and by that time something
may have happened."
"Yes," says he, "Old Smoker may start work again, and if he does I hope
he'll go strong, so that they'll be scared out of their wits and drove
to make a raft or boat or something to get away."
Having determined on this, therefore, we made great speed with our raft
and finished it before dark, but not soon enough to set off that same
night, nor indeed did we much wish to do so, because we had not forgot
the monsters that used to live in the cave, and though we had seen none
since we poisoned them, we were still squeamish about approaching in
the dark. Besides, we should need torches to light us up the tunnel to
our storehouse, and for these we had to collect some of the candlenuts,
and some dry grass for tinder; the flint and what we called the steel
Billy always had in his pocket. We made these preparations before we
lay down to rest, resolved to start as soon as ever we saw any sign of
dawn in the sky. This resolution, as often happens in such cases,
caused me to sleep fitfully, and it was in one of these wakeful spaces
that a notion jogged in my head of a plan whereby we might get even
with the seamen and come into our own again. I thought of it over and
over again, and it excited me and tickled my fancy too; but I
determined to say nothing about it to Billy until I had pondered it
more carefully, so that I should be ready to meet all the objections
which I knew he would raise.
It was still dark, but there was a sort of silent stirring in the sky,
betokening dawn, when I waked Billy, who was snoring very happily upon
his back, and told him we must convey our raft down to the shore, if we
would come to the cave before the men were about. He got up at once,
and we carried the raft between us across the island, being careful to
keep a good distance from the hut, which made the way longer but surer.
Being merely a kind of hurdle, the raft was not heavy and gave us no
trouble by its weight, though it was troublesome to get it over the
steep places we had to pass on our way down to the shore. However, we
came there without mishap, at the sandy beach, and launched the raft;
but when I stood upon it I saw that it would not support Billy as well,
and I proposed to him that I should go to the cave alone and bring back
the canoe for him. This he flatly and with great vehemence refused,
saying that I might never get there, what with sharks and long-legged
monsters, and that he wasn't going to be left behind, but would share
everything with me. When I asked him how he would go, the raft not
being strong enough for two, he said he would catch hold of it and swim
along, and as for sharks, he would kick out very hard and so scare any
that came, and we always had our axes. But now I took a firm stand,
and said plainly that I would not allow any such thing, nor did I yield
to Billy's pleading that I would permit him to make the journey alone;
and so I set off, and not to make a long story about a short voyage, I
arrived safely at the cave, and found the canoe just as we had left her
behind the rocks. Then I went back for Billy, and when we came to the
cave again we lit our torch (we had brought only one, having material
for plenty more in the cavern), and proceeded up the tunnel until we
reached our storehouse, where we first of all had a good breakfast,
thinking all the time of the seamen above, perfectly ignorant of what
was going on beneath them. We spoke in whispers and moved very
quietly, so that the men should not hear us, and get an inkling of our
whereabouts; not that there was much danger of this, perhaps, for if
they did hear a sound it was like to make them more fearful than
inquisitive, and Billy said they would be sure to think it was Old
Smoker talking to himself, and they might then leave the hut as a
dangerous place. But I thought it best to run no risks that we could
avoid, and so we moved very softly, as I have said.