The bustle about him at daybreak woke Syd up to find that it was a
glorious morning, but a sharp breeze had arisen; the sea was alive with
breaking waves, and great rollers kept coming in to thunder upon the
rock, sending up the broken water so far that it was evidently the first
duty to get all the tackle and raise the remainder of the cases and
barrels to the level of the cleft.
Willing hands worked well at this, and at last everything was got up in
safety on the first platform ready for running into the cleft, all save
the two dismounted guns and their carriages, which were not likely to
hurt, and the raising of these was deferred till after the breakfast,
which one of the men who acted as cook had prepared.
"There'll be no communication with the ship to-day, gentlemen," said the
lieutenant, "unless the wind drops. Why, she must be three miles
farther away, and I can't see the _Orion_. Bad job for you, Mr
Belton."
"Yes, sir," said Syd, quietly going on with his breakfast, and glancing
at Terry, who scowled.
"Well, I shall make you work. That's the only plan in dealing with
stowaways."
"Oh, I'll work, sir," said Syd. "When I've done break fast," he added
to himself.
"I tell you what," said the lieutenant; "we shall all be busy getting up
and mounting those guns, so I shall set you to find your mare's-nest."
"My what, sir?"
"Mare's-nest, my lad. You shall have two of our most active lads
well-armed. Take pistols yourself, and be careful with them. Go and
search every hole and cranny you can. Find the thing you saw last
night, and bring him or it to me. I'm satisfied it was no one from the
_Sirius_, and it may be some young black sent across and landed to find
out what he can."
As soon as the morning meal was ended Syd set about his task, meeting
with a lowering look from Terry as he passed him. Two smart young
fellows were his companions, and the fact that he had a brace of loaded
pistols stuck in his belt making him feel more important than ever he
had felt before, till he came upon Strake, who was busy at the very part
where he had seen the dark figure pass, and strengthening and adding to
the tackle which was to be used to get up the guns.
"Mornin', Mr Belton, sir," said the boatswain; and stepping aside so as
to be out of hearing, he said in a low voice, "'Member what I says to
you when I was cleaning the cap'in's pistols?"
"Yes, I remember, Barney," said Syd, in the same low tone.
"Then I says it again, sir, that's all."
"I'll take care," said Syd; and he went on in advance of his men, but
feeling as if the old boatswain had been cutting his comb.
An isolated mass of rock some eight or ten acres in extent does not
suggest that there would be much difficulty in the way of search; but
before they had gone many yards Syd realised that he had a very awkward
task, and that a rope would be a very acceptable article for helping one
another. This had to be fetched, and then once more they started, with
Syd beginning to feel the responsibilities of his work, and the
necessity for showing that he possessed energy and determination if he
wished the men to obey.
They had not gone much past their first halting-place when he stopped
and hesitated, for there were cracks and holes large enough to conceal
any one, in all directions. As he stood looking round him, one of the
men whispered to the other, and they both laughed.
This seemed to stir Syd up. He had inherited enough of his father's
habits to feel nettled at any doubt of his ability, and he rather
startled the men by saying sharply--
"You, Rogers, go yonder to the left; Wills, you take the right. Both of
you keep as close to the sea as you can, and I'll take the centre of the
rock. Keep both of you to about my pace, and whenever I'm out of sight
wait till you see me again, for I'll keep on the high ground as much as
I can. Now then, off and search every hole you see. If you feel that
you have run the enemy to earth, stop and fire as a signal."
"Ay, ay, sir," they cried together. "But what's the enemy like, sir?"
"Find him and see," said Syd, sharply. "Now off."
The men separated at once, and the toilsome job began, with the sun
beating down with tropical power, but the brisk wind reducing the ardour
to bearing point.
"Nice job this," thought the boy, as leaving the cleft centre of the
rock a little to his left, he began his arduous clamber. "Why, it's as
bad as being an ant in a loaf-sugar basin. Given myself the hardest
job."
But he persevered, searching diligently every rift, and amongst great
blocks of stone over which he afterwards clambered, seeking the highest
point so as to get a sight of one or the other of his two men, who were
as active as he; but they all reached the edge of the rock at the point
furthest from where they had landed without making any discovery.
"Well," cried Syd, wiping the great drops of perspiration from his brow,
"found anything?"
"Lots of holes, sir," said one.
"Cracks big enough to hold a ship's crew, sir," said the other.
"Back again, then," cried Syd. "There's either a monkey or a man in
hiding somewhere about the place, and we've got to find him."
"Ought to have said _it_" thought Syd, as he started back, shouting to
the men to take lines a little nearer to him, while he too altered his
course, making straight now for the cleft rock which rose like the
citadel of the place.
As he climbed along he found rift after rift, some so close that he
could not get his hand down, others so wide and deep that he hesitated
at the task of leaping over them, wondering what would be the result if
he slipped and fell. The fact grew upon him as he went on, that small
as the place looked from the ship's deck, there was plenty of room for
an enemy or fifty enemies to hide; but he became more certain that the
natural pier was the only place where an enemy could land; the two men
having confirmed the opinion formed when Lieutenant Dallas rowed round.
"Strikes me," said Syd to himself, as he kept on peering down into chasm
after chasm, "that if we want to catch our friend we shall have to set a
trap for him."
He climbed on and came to another eerie-looking place, more forbidding
than any he had yet seen. It was only a jagged crack of a couple of
feet across, but it sloped outward directly, so that a vast hollow was
formed, and when he shouted down it there was a deep reverberating sound
which died away in a whisper.
Boy nature is boy nature all the world over, and Syd could not resist
the prompting which led him to drag a great piece of stone to the edge
of the crack and push it in.
He shrank back, startled at the effect of what he had done, for no
sooner had the stone disappeared than it seemed to strike on the side
and rebound, to strike again and then again and again, raising an
echoing, booming roar, which ended as suddenly as it had begun.
"I can't go down a place like that," he said, impatiently, as he shrank
away; and then he stood staring, for the noise began again. But not
below ground, for it was as if the rock had come crashing out in front
of him a hundred and fifty feet away, to be followed by a hurried
shouting; and on climbing a block of stone to his right, he made out one
of his men looking out for him, and waving his hand and shouting--"Back!
Back!"
Something was wrong. Perhaps it was an attack; and he clambered higher
so as to attract the attention of the other man, who also shouted and
waved his hand before pointing at the citadel in front.
"Something must be wrong," thought Syd, and he hurried panting on, to
get in sight of the end of the chasm at last, but he could see nothing,
only that the spars rigged up crane-fashion were not there.
He was now on the highest part of the ridge, which ran down from the
centre rock to the end; and as he clambered along he gazed seaward in
search of the frigate, but it seemed to be gone. The next moment,
though, he caught sight of her top-gallant spars, and realised that she
must be sailing right away.
The heat was tremendous as Syd struggled on, finding that he had
selected a far worse piece of the rock than had fallen to his men, and
that his task would prove hopeless without the whole party turned out to
help.
All at once, after getting over a block of rugged limestone, which
seemed full of coral, he found that he must let himself right down into
a deep crack, or else clamber to right or left, where the difficulties
were far greater, even if they were surmountable.
He paused for a few moments to wipe his streaming face, and looked up
overhead longingly at where the wind was whistling among the blocks of
stone, and then lowered himself carefully down some thirty feet, stood
listening to a curious sound which came whispering up from where the
chasm he was in contracted to a mere crack, and after coming to the
conclusion that it must be caused by there being some communication with
the sea, he crossed the crack, and began to climb up the other side,
where before he was half-way up one of his two men appeared peering over
the edge, and looking down with a scared face.
"Oh, there you are, sir," he cried; "we was getting frightened, and
thought you'd tumbled."
"No: give me your hand. Thank you. Phew! how hot it is down there!"
cried Syd, as he climbed out and stood in the comparatively cool
sea-breeze again. "But why did you hail me?"
"Don't know, sir. There's some'at wrong up yonder."
"Something wrong? Not attacked, are they?"
"Dunno, sir."
"Where's your messmate?"
"Here he comes, sir," said the man, waving his hand; and following their
young leader, the two sailors made for the end of the great chasm where
the guns were to be hoisted up, and Strake had been so busy with the
tackle.
For some minutes, as they climbed over or round the obstacles, there was
nothing to be seen; but after creeping round a bold corner of rock, Syd
suddenly found himself looking down on the whole party from the ship
gathered in a knot round what seemed from the rope and tackle to be one
of the guns.
"Got it up, and it slipped and fell," thought Syd, as he lowered himself
down and made his way to Roylance, whom he touched on the back.
"What's the mat--"
He did not finish, for as the midshipman turned Syd caught sight of the
gun and ropes, with some handspikes which had evidently been used as
levers.
All that was at a glance. Then he pushed his way forward to sink down
on one knee beside the lieutenant, who was lying on his back, his face
haggard and ghastly, his teeth set and his eyes closed, while the great
drops of agony were gathering on his brow.
He saw no more, for a piece of sail was thrown over his legs.
"Mr Dallas," he cried, "what is it? Are you ill?" A low murmur ran
round the little group, and at that moment the boatswain appeared with a
pannikin of water from one of the tubs.
As the lieutenant heard the lad's voice, he opened his eyes, looked
round wildly, and then his gaze rested on Syd's anxious face.
"Ah, Belton," he said in a hoarse whisper, "bad job. The gear gave
way--confounded gun--fell--crushed my legs. Ah!"
He uttered a groan full of anguish and fainted away.
"It's horrible!" cried Roylance, as every one looked on helplessly. "No
surgeon; the gale increasing, and the ship out of sight. Here, some one
get some brandy or rum. Ah, Belton!" he whispered, with the tears in
his eyes, "such a good fellow, and I'm afraid it's all over."
Syd heard this as if in a dream, as a deathly feeling of sickness came
over him, and there floated before his eyes a scene in a grand old
beech-wood near home, with a group of men standing round, helplessly as
these were, the sun shining down like a silver shower through the
branches, beneath which was a doctor's gig and a man in a smock frock
holding the horse's head. There on the moss, where scattered white
chips shone out clearly, lay a fine, well-built young man close by the
trunk of a tree which he had been helping to fell, but had not got out
of the way soon enough, and the trunk had crushed his legs.
The scene died away, and he was gazing down again at the unfortunate
lieutenant instead of at the woodman, with the doctor on his knee and a
boy by his side; and as the deathly sickness passed off he was brought
more to himself by hearing the haughty domineering voice of Terry.
"Stand away, some of you--all of you!" he cried. "Mr Belton, do you
hear me? Go away, sir; you are keeping the air from the wounded man."
Accustomed to obey, fresh ashore from the ship where the discipline was
of the strictest, Syd drew back; but as he did so a hysterical sob burst
from his throat, and he stepped forward again.
"Confound you, sir! do you hear me?" cried Terry. "I am in command now.
Stand back, or I'll put you under arrest."
As he advanced threateningly, Roylance touched Syd's sleeve.
"Don't make a row now, for poor Dallas's sake. Look! He's dying."
Syd looked at him quickly, and then turned back to face Terry, as he
said in a dreamy way--"Is there no help?"
"Will you stand back, sir?"
"No doctor? No one who understands--"
"Here, bo'sun--Strake; seize Mr Belton, and take him away."
No one stirred, but a murmur ran round the group as with a bitter cry of
agony Syd stepped forward so quickly that Terry drew back, expecting a
blow. But the lad did not even see him, and he was in the act of
sinking on his knees to take the lieutenant's hand, when his eyes rested
on the piece of sail-cloth thrown tightly over the injured man's legs,
where a ruddy patch of blood was slowly spreading.
"He's bleeding to death," he cried excitedly; and a change seemed to
come over the boy, as he bent down and quickly drew away the sail-cloth.
"This is too much," cried Terry. "You meddling young fool!"
Syd flushed for a moment into anger. "Roylance! Strake!" he cried,
"take that idiot away." As he turned from the astounded middy, he threw
off his jacket, gave one glance at Dallas, whose eyes were fixed upon
him in a wild despairing way; and then knife in hand he was down upon
his knees.
"Here, Barney," he said, in cool firm tones, as recollections of what he
had seen in the wood at home played once more through his brain; "down
on your knees there by his head, and bathe his face with the cold water.
Keep back on the windward side," he continued. "Mr Roylance, let four
men hold a sail over us to keep off the sun."
His orders were so full of the force which makes men obey, that they
were acted upon at once; and all the time Syd was on his knees busy.
Without a moment's hesitation he had inserted his sharp knife at the
left knee-band, and slit up the garment right to the groin, laying bare
a ghastly wound that seemed to go right to the bone, and from which the
blood came in one spot with a regular throb, throb, which Syd knew meant
death before long if it was not stopped.
"Water, here!" he shouted.
"I must protest against this boy's meddling," cried Terry. "Mr Belton,
let him die in peace."
"Mr Roylance--" came in faint tones from the white lips of the wounded
man, "take--Mr Terry--"
He fainted as he spoke, but it was enough. At a word from the
midshipman two of the sailors secured Terry by the wrists, and he was
forced away, while two other men ran for a bucket of water.
"Leave his head now, Barney," cried Syd, in a quick, decided voice.
"Your neckerchief, man. Quick, roll it up."
This was handed to the young operator, who passed it under Dallas's limb
far up, tied it round in a knot, called for a jack-knife, and then
shouted to the willing man who handed it to shut it up. This done he
passed the knife inside the neckerchief, pressed it down on the inner
part of the thigh, and then took his sheathed dirk from his belt.
This he also passed under the neckerchief, and began to twist round a
few turns, drawing the bandage tightly down on the knife-handle, which,
as he still twisted, was forced firmly home, pressing the artery against
the bone.
This done, and the dirk secured so that it could not twist back, Syd
turned to the gaping wound, from which the blood still welled, but
sluggishly. The water was ready, and scooping some on to the wound, it
was more plainly revealed as a great clean-cut gash, extending many
inches.
Syd's fingers were soon busily employed searching for and finding the
ruptured artery, and in spite of the horrible nature of the gash, he
uttered a sigh of satisfaction as he discovered it and pressed it
between his finger and thumb.
"Now one of you--no, you, Strake," he cried, "off with my handkerchief,
and tear it across so as to get me a couple of strips, which roll up
fine as twine."
This was done, but the pieces were rejected as too thick.
Two more were prepared and laid ready.
"Now," he said, "a little more water here, over my hands."
He was obeyed, and with deft fingers, taught by Doctor Liss, he rapidly
tied the artery, and the main flow of blood was stopped amid a low
murmur of satisfaction, the patient, who had revived, lying perfectly
motionless with his eyes fixed upon his surgeon.
And now for a few moments the lad paused, with his brow wrinkled up,
thinking.
He wanted silk and a large needle, and the latter was unattainable.
"Has any one a pin or two?" he said.
There was an eager search, and the result was that five were found, of
which the boatswain produced three; and then stared as he saw his young
officer unbutton and strip off his white linen shirt, to kneel there
half-naked beneath the rough awning the men held over them, and rapidly
slit and tear it up into bandages.
By this time Roylance was back, and taking his cue from his friend, he
did not hesitate to follow his example.
"Now quick, Strake," said Syd; "lay me up a few more strips of silk as
fine as you can."
"Ay, ay, sir!" and the boatswain's fingers were soon busy, while by
means of a couple of broad bandages Syd drew the edges of the wound
together, and gave the ends of the bands to two men to hold, while first
in one place he cleverly thrust a pin through the skin of one side of
the wound and out at the other, then holding the lips of the gash
together he quickly twisted a fine thread of silk over the pin-head on
one side, over the point on the other, and so on, to and fro, till the
wound was closed there.
Over this a temporary bandage was secured, and he proceeded to draw the
wound edges together in another place in the same way till this was also
fast and temporarily bandaged over. The other three pins were similarly
utilised, and then broad fresh bandages of linen were wrapped firmly
round, the temporary ones being removed by degrees, and again used in a
better manner, till the horrible wound was properly secured; then as Syd
ceased his efforts, as if moved by one spirit, a hearty English cheer
burst from every one present; and the men whose hands were not occupied
threw their hats in the air.
"Hush! pray!" cried Syd, looking up angrily, as, taking his knife once
more, he cut through the knee-band of the other leg, slit it up in turn,
and then softly drew down the stocking.
Here he paused, and looked anxiously up at his patient, whose pallor was
terrible.
"Keep on moistening his lips with a little spirit-and-water, Roylance,"
he whispered, "or he will not be able to bear the pain."
He was obeyed without a word, and after waiting a few moments the lad,
clumsily enough perhaps, but with a show of some of the skill that he
had seen displayed by Doctor Liss when out with him upon his rounds,
began to make his examination.
The leg was terribly scraped and bruised, but this was not the trouble.
Syd's eyes were sufficiently educated to detect what was wrong, and a
few delicate touches satisfied him.
"Got off a bit there, hasn't he, Master Syd?" whispered the boatswain.
"Got off, Barney? No," said the lad, sadly. "His thigh-bone is broken,
and his leg too, just above the ankle."
"Lor' ha' mussy!" muttered the boatswain, "who'd ha' thought o' that!"
Syd was silent, for he was face to face with another surgical problem.
He wanted splints, bandages, and brown paper, and he had none of these.
What was to be done?
"Two of you take your knives," he said, "and split up the lid of one of
those cases. I want half a dozen strong thin laths of different
widths."
"Ay, ay, sir!" came back; and there was the rending sound of wood heard.
"Now for bandages, Barney. Ah, I see. But I want some linen first to
go next the skin."
"Oh, you can have all the men's, sir, and welcome, I know."
"Yes, poor fellows. But I want some long narrow ones. You must cut
them from one of the sails."
"Ay, ay, sir!"
All worked hard at these preparations, while Syd had the longest lid of
any case they had brought to him, and this, after being covered with a
piece of sail-cloth, was carefully slipped under the broken limb. Then
there was a certain amount of trimming and measuring required over the
splints before the young surgeon was satisfied, a sensation of shrinking
keeping him from beginning what was another crucial task. Fortunately
the fractures were simple, and he had no very great difficulty in
bringing the broken bones into their proper positions, after which he
bandaged and applied the splints, making all fast, a low moan from time
to time being all that escaped from the sufferer.
At last. The final bandage was secured, and a horrible weight was
removed from Syd's breast, for he knew that he had set the bones rightly
even if his surgery was rough, and so far his patient had not sunk under
the operation.
"Shall we carry him up yonder now, sir?" said the boatswain, touching
his forelock.
"Move him? no," cried Syd. "Rig up something over his head. He must
not be touched." Then, turning to Dallas, he went down on one knee and
took his hand. "Are you in much pain?" he said.
The poor fellow was conscious, and he looked full in the speaker's eyes;
his lips moved, but no sound came, and the horrible feeling of sickness
which had first troubled Syd came back, increasing so fast that the lad
rose quickly and staggered a few yards.
"Give me something--water--quick!" he muttered; and all was blank.