Chapter Sixteen.How Jimmy was taken very bad indeed.This sudden supply of food necessitated our making camp where we were, and cutting the meat up into strips to dry, while, apparently on the principle of making their hay while the sun shone, the blacks lit a fire and had a tremendous feast, both Jack Penny and I laughing heartily to see the solemn face of Jimmy as he devoted himself to the task of storing up an abundance of food, ready for emergencies.At our table, as the doctor called it, we contented ourselves with the turkey-like bird, which was delicious, but we tasted the wild pig, a piece of which, fairly well roasted, was brought to us in the most solicitous manner by Ti-hi, who smiled contentedly as he saw us begin to partake thereof.We set it aside, though, as soon as the black had gone, for the doctor pronounced it strong and musky, and Jack Penny behaved very rudely, according to the ordinary etiquette of the dinner table, and exclaimed:“Oh, law!”It was a glorious sunset, and the place where we were encamped, as we styled it, was once more beneath a huge tree. For a time I was listening to the birds’ screams and cries from the forest, and then all at once they ceased, and a long-drawn howl, which recalled the horrors of our night-watch, arose from a distance. Then the sun sank, and darkness began to come on very quickly. First the sky paled and a star or two began to twinkle, then all above us was of a deep intense purple, studded and encrusted with points of dazzling light, and, like the doctor, tired out with loss of rest, I began to yawn.For our evenings were not devoted to amusements. Our day only had two divisions, that for work and that for rest. As soon as the arduous toil of the day was over, and we had partaken of food, we were ready for sleep; so this time Jack Penny was set to watch with Ti-hi and Gyp, and we lay down on a bough-made bed.One moment I was lying on my back gazing up at the stars, and first thinking of my mother and how anxious she must be as to how I was getting on; then wondering where my father was likely to be, and whether we were going to work in the best way to find him; the next moment I was dreaming that Gyp had run after and caught a wild man of the woods by the tail, and had dragged him into camp, howling dismally.It did not fit into my dream that wild men of the woods were not likely to be possessed of tails for Gyp to tug, and if they were, that they would have striven to crush the dog by one blow of the hand; my dream arranged itself, and the howling was continued as I started up, all wakefulness, and saw a dark figure bending over me and looking colossal as seen against the ruddy light of the fire.“Is that you, doctor?” I said.“Yes, Joe; wake up. I want you.”“What’s the matter—has that horrible thing come again?”“No,” he said; “the black is very bad.”“What! old Jimmy?” I cried.“Yes. That is he howling.”I jumped up with a curious sensation of suffocation at my chest, for, startled from a deep sleep into wakefulness, it occurred to me that something dreadful was going to happen, and that we were to lose the true-hearted, merry, boyish companion of so many years. Like a flash there seemed to come back to me the memory of dozens of expeditions in which he had been my faithful comrade, and this was like a death-blow to our hopes, for, in spite of his obstinacy and arrogance, Jimmy would have laid down his life to serve me.“Let us go to him, doctor,” I said. “Make haste!”Our way to the black lay past the camp fire, where Jack Penny was sitting with Ti-hi, and the former spoke excitedly as we drew near:“I say, doctor, do make haste and give him a dose of something to do him good, or else put him out of his misery.”“Jack!” I said in disgust.“Well, he’s awful bad, you know, and he ought to have something. Mind how you go to him. I went just now and he began hitting at my legs with his waddy, and then he poked at Gyp with his spear for going up to smell him.”“He won’t hurt me,” I said sadly; and as another doleful cry came from among the bushes, I led the way to where the poor fellow lay, horribly swollen and writhing in agony.Two of the blacks were watching him, and from what we could make out it seemed that Jimmy had alarmed them by his restlessness, and that they had fetched him back when he ran some distance and fell, and laid him where he now was, in too much agony to stir.“What is the matter with him, doctor?” I said excitedly, as I went down on one knee and took the poor fellow’s hand, which he grasped convulsively, and laid flat directly upon his chest—at least that is to say, nearly.“I hardly know yet, my lad,” said the doctor. “Perhaps he has eaten some poisonous berry. You know how he tastes every wild fruit we pass.”“And will it—will it—”I could say no more, for something seemed to choke my voice, and I looked up imploringly in the doctor’s eyes.“Oh! no, Joe, my lad,” he said kindly, “not so bad as that.”“Jimmy bad as that—Jimmy bad as that,” moaned the poor fellow; and as just then Jack Penny threw some light twigs upon the fire, the blaze showed me the swollen and distorted countenance of my poor companion, and a strange chill of apprehension came over me.We watched by him all night, but he grew worse towards morning, and at last he lay apparently stupefied, free from pain, but as if the berry, or whatever it was that he had swallowed, had rendered him insensible.Of course, continuing our journey was out of the question, so all we could do was to make the rough brushwood pallet of the sufferer more comfortable by spreading over it a blanket, and I did little else but watch by it all the day.I felt hurt two or three times by the rough, unfeeling manner in which the doctor behaved towards the black, and I could not help thinking that if Jimmy had been a white man the treatment would have been different.This worried me a good deal, for it seemed so different to the doctor’s customary way; but I took comfort from the fact that poor Jimmy was as insensible to pain as he was to kindness, and in this state of misery I hardly left him all day.Towards evening the doctor, who had spent the time overhauling and cleaning our guns and pistols, came to me and insisted upon my going to Jack Penny, who had just got a good meal ready.“But I am not a bit hungry, doctor,” I cried.“Then go and eat against you are,” he said. “Lay in a moderate store, and don’t,” he added meaningly, “don’t eat more than is good for you.”I looked at him wonderingly, and got up without a word, feeling more hurt and annoyed with him than ever, and the more so as he looked at me with a peculiar smile as he twisted a stout cane about in his hands.“How’s Jimmy?” said Jack Penny.“Dying,” I said sadly, as I took my seat before him.“Oh! I say, not so bad as that, Joe Carstairs! It takes a lot to kill a fellow like Jimmy. He’ll come all right again. Here, set to and have a good feed. You must want it awfully.”“I can’t eat,” I said bitterly. “I liked poor old Jimmy. A better fellow never breathed. He saved your life yesterday.”“Ah! that he did,” said Jack; “and it’s all right. The doctor says—Hullo! what’s that?”I started to my feet, for a horrible scream rang through the woods from the direction where poor Jimmy lay; and a pang shot through me as I felt that it was a new throe being suffered by my poor black comrade—comrade soon to be no more.
This sudden supply of food necessitated our making camp where we were, and cutting the meat up into strips to dry, while, apparently on the principle of making their hay while the sun shone, the blacks lit a fire and had a tremendous feast, both Jack Penny and I laughing heartily to see the solemn face of Jimmy as he devoted himself to the task of storing up an abundance of food, ready for emergencies.
At our table, as the doctor called it, we contented ourselves with the turkey-like bird, which was delicious, but we tasted the wild pig, a piece of which, fairly well roasted, was brought to us in the most solicitous manner by Ti-hi, who smiled contentedly as he saw us begin to partake thereof.
We set it aside, though, as soon as the black had gone, for the doctor pronounced it strong and musky, and Jack Penny behaved very rudely, according to the ordinary etiquette of the dinner table, and exclaimed:
“Oh, law!”
It was a glorious sunset, and the place where we were encamped, as we styled it, was once more beneath a huge tree. For a time I was listening to the birds’ screams and cries from the forest, and then all at once they ceased, and a long-drawn howl, which recalled the horrors of our night-watch, arose from a distance. Then the sun sank, and darkness began to come on very quickly. First the sky paled and a star or two began to twinkle, then all above us was of a deep intense purple, studded and encrusted with points of dazzling light, and, like the doctor, tired out with loss of rest, I began to yawn.
For our evenings were not devoted to amusements. Our day only had two divisions, that for work and that for rest. As soon as the arduous toil of the day was over, and we had partaken of food, we were ready for sleep; so this time Jack Penny was set to watch with Ti-hi and Gyp, and we lay down on a bough-made bed.
One moment I was lying on my back gazing up at the stars, and first thinking of my mother and how anxious she must be as to how I was getting on; then wondering where my father was likely to be, and whether we were going to work in the best way to find him; the next moment I was dreaming that Gyp had run after and caught a wild man of the woods by the tail, and had dragged him into camp, howling dismally.
It did not fit into my dream that wild men of the woods were not likely to be possessed of tails for Gyp to tug, and if they were, that they would have striven to crush the dog by one blow of the hand; my dream arranged itself, and the howling was continued as I started up, all wakefulness, and saw a dark figure bending over me and looking colossal as seen against the ruddy light of the fire.
“Is that you, doctor?” I said.
“Yes, Joe; wake up. I want you.”
“What’s the matter—has that horrible thing come again?”
“No,” he said; “the black is very bad.”
“What! old Jimmy?” I cried.
“Yes. That is he howling.”
I jumped up with a curious sensation of suffocation at my chest, for, startled from a deep sleep into wakefulness, it occurred to me that something dreadful was going to happen, and that we were to lose the true-hearted, merry, boyish companion of so many years. Like a flash there seemed to come back to me the memory of dozens of expeditions in which he had been my faithful comrade, and this was like a death-blow to our hopes, for, in spite of his obstinacy and arrogance, Jimmy would have laid down his life to serve me.
“Let us go to him, doctor,” I said. “Make haste!”
Our way to the black lay past the camp fire, where Jack Penny was sitting with Ti-hi, and the former spoke excitedly as we drew near:
“I say, doctor, do make haste and give him a dose of something to do him good, or else put him out of his misery.”
“Jack!” I said in disgust.
“Well, he’s awful bad, you know, and he ought to have something. Mind how you go to him. I went just now and he began hitting at my legs with his waddy, and then he poked at Gyp with his spear for going up to smell him.”
“He won’t hurt me,” I said sadly; and as another doleful cry came from among the bushes, I led the way to where the poor fellow lay, horribly swollen and writhing in agony.
Two of the blacks were watching him, and from what we could make out it seemed that Jimmy had alarmed them by his restlessness, and that they had fetched him back when he ran some distance and fell, and laid him where he now was, in too much agony to stir.
“What is the matter with him, doctor?” I said excitedly, as I went down on one knee and took the poor fellow’s hand, which he grasped convulsively, and laid flat directly upon his chest—at least that is to say, nearly.
“I hardly know yet, my lad,” said the doctor. “Perhaps he has eaten some poisonous berry. You know how he tastes every wild fruit we pass.”
“And will it—will it—”
I could say no more, for something seemed to choke my voice, and I looked up imploringly in the doctor’s eyes.
“Oh! no, Joe, my lad,” he said kindly, “not so bad as that.”
“Jimmy bad as that—Jimmy bad as that,” moaned the poor fellow; and as just then Jack Penny threw some light twigs upon the fire, the blaze showed me the swollen and distorted countenance of my poor companion, and a strange chill of apprehension came over me.
We watched by him all night, but he grew worse towards morning, and at last he lay apparently stupefied, free from pain, but as if the berry, or whatever it was that he had swallowed, had rendered him insensible.
Of course, continuing our journey was out of the question, so all we could do was to make the rough brushwood pallet of the sufferer more comfortable by spreading over it a blanket, and I did little else but watch by it all the day.
I felt hurt two or three times by the rough, unfeeling manner in which the doctor behaved towards the black, and I could not help thinking that if Jimmy had been a white man the treatment would have been different.
This worried me a good deal, for it seemed so different to the doctor’s customary way; but I took comfort from the fact that poor Jimmy was as insensible to pain as he was to kindness, and in this state of misery I hardly left him all day.
Towards evening the doctor, who had spent the time overhauling and cleaning our guns and pistols, came to me and insisted upon my going to Jack Penny, who had just got a good meal ready.
“But I am not a bit hungry, doctor,” I cried.
“Then go and eat against you are,” he said. “Lay in a moderate store, and don’t,” he added meaningly, “don’t eat more than is good for you.”
I looked at him wonderingly, and got up without a word, feeling more hurt and annoyed with him than ever, and the more so as he looked at me with a peculiar smile as he twisted a stout cane about in his hands.
“How’s Jimmy?” said Jack Penny.
“Dying,” I said sadly, as I took my seat before him.
“Oh! I say, not so bad as that, Joe Carstairs! It takes a lot to kill a fellow like Jimmy. He’ll come all right again. Here, set to and have a good feed. You must want it awfully.”
“I can’t eat,” I said bitterly. “I liked poor old Jimmy. A better fellow never breathed. He saved your life yesterday.”
“Ah! that he did,” said Jack; “and it’s all right. The doctor says—Hullo! what’s that?”
I started to my feet, for a horrible scream rang through the woods from the direction where poor Jimmy lay; and a pang shot through me as I felt that it was a new throe being suffered by my poor black comrade—comrade soon to be no more.
Chapter Seventeen.How the Doctor gave Jimmy his Physics.I could not move for a few moments, the terrible cry and the shrieks that followed seemed to rob me of all power; but overcoming this paralysing feeling at last, I ran towards where poor Jimmy lay, the thought flashing upon my mind that the doctor must be performing some operation to try and save the poor fellow’s life.I was quite right, as I found when I reached the spot, followed by all the little camp: the doctor was performing an operation, and the Australian was upon his knees now, his feet then, capering about, and appealing for mercy.For the instrument with which the doctor was performing his operation was the stout cane I had previously seen in his hand, one that he had cut in the jungle, and then sent me away so as to spare my feelings and keep me from witnessing the painful sight.To my utter astonishment Jimmy was apparently free from all traces of his late ailment, and catching sight of me he bounded to me, getting behind me to avoid the hail of blows that the doctor was showering upon his unprotected person.“Doctor!” I shouted.“The dose to be repeated,” he said, “when necessary,” and he reached round me with the cane, giving Jimmy two or three very sharp cuts. “See how this takes down the swelling. For outward application only. One dose nearly certain to cure.”“What are you doing?” I cried.“Doing? Performing a wonderful cure. Hasn’t Jimmy here been horribly ill, and alarmed the whole camp?”Every time he could he gave Jimmy a smart cut, and the black shrieked with pain.“How are you now, my man?” he said mockingly.“Jimmy quite as well. Ever so better. All rightums. Tank you better,” yelled the black, and he sheltered himself again behind my back.“Doctor,” I said, surprised and angry at what seemed horrible cruelty.“Give him some more?” he said laughing. “Of course I will,” and he tried to reach round me, but I caught hold of the cane, and Jimmy took advantage of the cessation of hostilities for a moment to run for some distance and then climb up a tree, in one of the higher branches of which he settled himself like a monkey, and sat rubbing himself and looking down at the danger from which he had escaped.“There, Joe,” said the doctor, laughing; “it has made me hot. That’s as good a cure as the Queen’s physician could have made.”“How could you be so brutal to the poor wretch?” I said indignantly.“Brutal! Ha! ha! ha! My indignant young hero!” he cried. “Here are you going to take up the cudgels in the rascal’s behalf. Don’t you see there was nothing the matter with the artful black ruffian.”“Nothing the matter!” I said. “Why, wasn’t he dangerously ill?”“Dangerously full,” said the doctor, clapping me on the shoulder. “I was obliged to give him a lesson, Joe, and it will do him good for all our trip. I suspected the rascal from the very first, but I have studied medicine long enough to know how easy it is to be deceived by appearances; so I gave Master Jimmy the benefit of the doubt, and treated him as if he was really very ill, till I had made assurance doubly sure, and then I thrashed him.”“What! do you really mean, doctor—” I began.“It could not very well have happened with an Englishman, Joe. With Master Jimmy there, it was different.”“But was he not very ill?”“You saw him run and climb that tree; you heard how he yelled. Now what do you think? Could a dying man do that?”“N–no,” I faltered. “What does it all mean, then?”“Pig!” said the doctor, smiling; “the gluttonous dog ate till he could not stir. He had as much as anybody else, and then waited his chance, and when every one was lying down he began upon the store of dried strips.”“Jimmy terribull sorry, Mass Joe,” came from up the tree.“He behaved like a boa constrictor, and then alarmed us all horribly instead of confessing the truth. Why, my dear boy, do you suppose I should have been so cruel to a sick man?”“You black rascal!” I cried, looking up at Jimmy, who howled like a dog.“Jimmy come down now! Never do so no more.”“Only let me have a turn at you,” I said, and he immediately began to climb higher.“Here, you come down, sir,” I shouted.For answer he climbed higher and higher till he was pretty well out of sight among the small branches in the top of the tree.“All right!” I said, “I can wait;” and I walked away with the doctor, horribly annoyed at the waste of time, but wonderfully relieved at matters being no worse.I never knew, but I suspect that Jimmy stopped in the top of the tree till it was dark and then slunk down and hid himself amongst the bushes close up to the watch-fire.At all events he was busy the next morning working away as if nothing had been wrong overnight. He showed himself to be most active in putting things straight, making up the loads, and every now and then glancing furtively first at one of us and then at the other.“Oh, I do like Jimmy, that I do,” said Jack Penny to me, and then he threw himself down and began to laugh heartily, shutting his eyes and rolling himself gently to and fro till he declared that he felt better, and got up.“I don’t care about laughing when I’m standing up,” he said seriously, “it waggles my back so.”When breakfast time came, for we had a seven or eight mile walk first in the cool of the early morning, we made a halt and the rations were served out by the doctor, who gave me a look and handed each black his portion in turn, but omitted Jimmy.The latter stood disconsolately looking on for some minutes in the hope that he was to be remembered after all; but when he saw everybody busy at work eating and himself utterly neglected, he walked slowly away some distance from where we were seated and, laying his head against the trunk of a tree, let out a series of the most unearthly howls.“Oh, I say!” exclaimed Jack Penny.“Pleasant,” said the doctor, going on with his breakfast; and seeing that he was observed, and that his howls were having some effect, Jimmy displayed the utter childlike disposition of a savage by redoubling his cries.“If he don’t stop directly I shall go and talk to him with this,” I said, snatching up a stick.“How—aw—ooo!” cried Jimmy, and I jumped to my feet, when he became silent, and I resumed my place.Jimmy watched us eagerly for a few minutes, when, left half starved himself, and unable to bear the neglect when others were enjoying themselves, the howls burst out again followed by a self-commiserating— “Poor Jimmy, Mass Joe not care poor Jimmy never now.”No one took any notice, and we went on eating grilled turkey and damper and drinking coffee, and all the time I was rather enjoying my importance and the fact of being able to control, boy as I was, a stout powerful fellow like Jimmy and make him as obedient as a dog.“Poor old Jimmy cut handums. Ebber so sorry, poor Jimmy. Go and die himself. Haw—ow!”“I say,” said Jack Penny, “he couldn’t dye himself any blacker, could he, Joe Carstairs?”“Have some more coffee, Joe?” said the doctor aloud. “Here, give me a piece more turkey.”“Poor Jimmy go starve a deff,” was the next that met our ears, and it had such an effect upon Jack Penny that some of his coffee got into his windpipe and he choked and coughed and laughed till he was obliged to lie down.“If I was to cough much like that I should break my back,” he said, sitting up and wiping his eyes. “Poor old Jimmy? I do like him. Heisa one.”Jimmy stood watching the disappearing food, then he sat down. Then he lay at full length; but no one took the slightest notice, for the blacks were selfishly busy, and we were keeping up the punishment for the false alarm to which our follower had subjected us.At last this attack upon Jimmy’s tenderest part—his appetite—grew to be more than he could bear, and he sat up in the squatting attitude so much affected by savages.“Ah!” he exclaimed dolefully, “poor black fellow—poor Jimmy!” and this started Jack Penny off laughing once more, which so exasperated Jimmy that he sprang up as sharply as if stung, and ran in a rage to where his black companions were eating their food.“Here, hi! you black fellow, Jimmy done wid him. Jimmy gib boomerang. You no fro down wallaby.”He held out his curious hard-wood weapon to Ti-hi, who took it, gazing at him wonderingly, while Jimmy glanced at us to see if we were about to relent and give him some breakfast.“Jimmy going,” he said at last, loud enough for us to hear; but we paid no heed.“Jimmy going; nebber come back no more,” he said in a louder voice; but no one turned a head.“Jimmy go jump river. Big bunyip crocodile come eat poor Jimmy. All um very sorry. No see poor Jimmy not nev more.”He glanced at us again, but we were laughing over our breakfast, though not so busy but that we were able to see the black fold his arms and stalk away, evidently under the impression that we should start up and arrest him; but no one moved.“Big water bunyip glad get black fellow,” he said, as loudly as he could, and with a scornful look at us.“Here, suppose we go,” said the doctor, rising.“Go?” said Jack, getting up slowly, “where to?”“To see Jimmy feed the crocodiles. Come along, lads.”Jimmy stopped short with his jaw dropped, and nearly beside himself with rage. He seemed to be completely staggered at our cool way of taking things, and at last he ran off like the wind, rushed back again with his eyes flashing, and slapping his legs as he darted upon Ti-hi, waddy in hand.“Gib boomerang Jimmy, black tief fellow,” he roared. “Take a boomerang. Jimmy boomerang. Tief fellow tole a boomerang.”Snatching it from Ti-hi’s hand he made believe to strike him with the curious weapon and then rushed off with it into the bush.“Well, Joe,” said the doctor, “do you think the crocodiles will dine on blackbird?”I shook my head.“What do you say, Jack Penny, eh?”“Jimmy won’t jump in, I know,” drawled Jack.“You’re right,” said the doctor; “he’ll come back before long hungry as a hunter, and regularly tamed down or I’m no judge of character.”“Yes,” I said, “and he’ll bring back something he has killed so as to try and make friends. That’s how he always did at home.”“Well,” said Jack Penny solemnly, “I hope he will. I like Jimmy, he makes me laugh, and though it hurts my back I like laughing. It does me good. I never used to have anything to laugh at at home. Father used to laugh when he kicked me, but it never seemed funny to me, and I never used to laugh at that.”“Well, Jack Penny, I dare say the black will give you something to laugh at before long, for I don’t suppose it will be long before he is back.”
I could not move for a few moments, the terrible cry and the shrieks that followed seemed to rob me of all power; but overcoming this paralysing feeling at last, I ran towards where poor Jimmy lay, the thought flashing upon my mind that the doctor must be performing some operation to try and save the poor fellow’s life.
I was quite right, as I found when I reached the spot, followed by all the little camp: the doctor was performing an operation, and the Australian was upon his knees now, his feet then, capering about, and appealing for mercy.
For the instrument with which the doctor was performing his operation was the stout cane I had previously seen in his hand, one that he had cut in the jungle, and then sent me away so as to spare my feelings and keep me from witnessing the painful sight.
To my utter astonishment Jimmy was apparently free from all traces of his late ailment, and catching sight of me he bounded to me, getting behind me to avoid the hail of blows that the doctor was showering upon his unprotected person.
“Doctor!” I shouted.
“The dose to be repeated,” he said, “when necessary,” and he reached round me with the cane, giving Jimmy two or three very sharp cuts. “See how this takes down the swelling. For outward application only. One dose nearly certain to cure.”
“What are you doing?” I cried.
“Doing? Performing a wonderful cure. Hasn’t Jimmy here been horribly ill, and alarmed the whole camp?”
Every time he could he gave Jimmy a smart cut, and the black shrieked with pain.
“How are you now, my man?” he said mockingly.
“Jimmy quite as well. Ever so better. All rightums. Tank you better,” yelled the black, and he sheltered himself again behind my back.
“Doctor,” I said, surprised and angry at what seemed horrible cruelty.
“Give him some more?” he said laughing. “Of course I will,” and he tried to reach round me, but I caught hold of the cane, and Jimmy took advantage of the cessation of hostilities for a moment to run for some distance and then climb up a tree, in one of the higher branches of which he settled himself like a monkey, and sat rubbing himself and looking down at the danger from which he had escaped.
“There, Joe,” said the doctor, laughing; “it has made me hot. That’s as good a cure as the Queen’s physician could have made.”
“How could you be so brutal to the poor wretch?” I said indignantly.
“Brutal! Ha! ha! ha! My indignant young hero!” he cried. “Here are you going to take up the cudgels in the rascal’s behalf. Don’t you see there was nothing the matter with the artful black ruffian.”
“Nothing the matter!” I said. “Why, wasn’t he dangerously ill?”
“Dangerously full,” said the doctor, clapping me on the shoulder. “I was obliged to give him a lesson, Joe, and it will do him good for all our trip. I suspected the rascal from the very first, but I have studied medicine long enough to know how easy it is to be deceived by appearances; so I gave Master Jimmy the benefit of the doubt, and treated him as if he was really very ill, till I had made assurance doubly sure, and then I thrashed him.”
“What! do you really mean, doctor—” I began.
“It could not very well have happened with an Englishman, Joe. With Master Jimmy there, it was different.”
“But was he not very ill?”
“You saw him run and climb that tree; you heard how he yelled. Now what do you think? Could a dying man do that?”
“N–no,” I faltered. “What does it all mean, then?”
“Pig!” said the doctor, smiling; “the gluttonous dog ate till he could not stir. He had as much as anybody else, and then waited his chance, and when every one was lying down he began upon the store of dried strips.”
“Jimmy terribull sorry, Mass Joe,” came from up the tree.
“He behaved like a boa constrictor, and then alarmed us all horribly instead of confessing the truth. Why, my dear boy, do you suppose I should have been so cruel to a sick man?”
“You black rascal!” I cried, looking up at Jimmy, who howled like a dog.
“Jimmy come down now! Never do so no more.”
“Only let me have a turn at you,” I said, and he immediately began to climb higher.
“Here, you come down, sir,” I shouted.
For answer he climbed higher and higher till he was pretty well out of sight among the small branches in the top of the tree.
“All right!” I said, “I can wait;” and I walked away with the doctor, horribly annoyed at the waste of time, but wonderfully relieved at matters being no worse.
I never knew, but I suspect that Jimmy stopped in the top of the tree till it was dark and then slunk down and hid himself amongst the bushes close up to the watch-fire.
At all events he was busy the next morning working away as if nothing had been wrong overnight. He showed himself to be most active in putting things straight, making up the loads, and every now and then glancing furtively first at one of us and then at the other.
“Oh, I do like Jimmy, that I do,” said Jack Penny to me, and then he threw himself down and began to laugh heartily, shutting his eyes and rolling himself gently to and fro till he declared that he felt better, and got up.
“I don’t care about laughing when I’m standing up,” he said seriously, “it waggles my back so.”
When breakfast time came, for we had a seven or eight mile walk first in the cool of the early morning, we made a halt and the rations were served out by the doctor, who gave me a look and handed each black his portion in turn, but omitted Jimmy.
The latter stood disconsolately looking on for some minutes in the hope that he was to be remembered after all; but when he saw everybody busy at work eating and himself utterly neglected, he walked slowly away some distance from where we were seated and, laying his head against the trunk of a tree, let out a series of the most unearthly howls.
“Oh, I say!” exclaimed Jack Penny.
“Pleasant,” said the doctor, going on with his breakfast; and seeing that he was observed, and that his howls were having some effect, Jimmy displayed the utter childlike disposition of a savage by redoubling his cries.
“If he don’t stop directly I shall go and talk to him with this,” I said, snatching up a stick.
“How—aw—ooo!” cried Jimmy, and I jumped to my feet, when he became silent, and I resumed my place.
Jimmy watched us eagerly for a few minutes, when, left half starved himself, and unable to bear the neglect when others were enjoying themselves, the howls burst out again followed by a self-commiserating— “Poor Jimmy, Mass Joe not care poor Jimmy never now.”
No one took any notice, and we went on eating grilled turkey and damper and drinking coffee, and all the time I was rather enjoying my importance and the fact of being able to control, boy as I was, a stout powerful fellow like Jimmy and make him as obedient as a dog.
“Poor old Jimmy cut handums. Ebber so sorry, poor Jimmy. Go and die himself. Haw—ow!”
“I say,” said Jack Penny, “he couldn’t dye himself any blacker, could he, Joe Carstairs?”
“Have some more coffee, Joe?” said the doctor aloud. “Here, give me a piece more turkey.”
“Poor Jimmy go starve a deff,” was the next that met our ears, and it had such an effect upon Jack Penny that some of his coffee got into his windpipe and he choked and coughed and laughed till he was obliged to lie down.
“If I was to cough much like that I should break my back,” he said, sitting up and wiping his eyes. “Poor old Jimmy? I do like him. Heisa one.”
Jimmy stood watching the disappearing food, then he sat down. Then he lay at full length; but no one took the slightest notice, for the blacks were selfishly busy, and we were keeping up the punishment for the false alarm to which our follower had subjected us.
At last this attack upon Jimmy’s tenderest part—his appetite—grew to be more than he could bear, and he sat up in the squatting attitude so much affected by savages.
“Ah!” he exclaimed dolefully, “poor black fellow—poor Jimmy!” and this started Jack Penny off laughing once more, which so exasperated Jimmy that he sprang up as sharply as if stung, and ran in a rage to where his black companions were eating their food.
“Here, hi! you black fellow, Jimmy done wid him. Jimmy gib boomerang. You no fro down wallaby.”
He held out his curious hard-wood weapon to Ti-hi, who took it, gazing at him wonderingly, while Jimmy glanced at us to see if we were about to relent and give him some breakfast.
“Jimmy going,” he said at last, loud enough for us to hear; but we paid no heed.
“Jimmy going; nebber come back no more,” he said in a louder voice; but no one turned a head.
“Jimmy go jump river. Big bunyip crocodile come eat poor Jimmy. All um very sorry. No see poor Jimmy not nev more.”
He glanced at us again, but we were laughing over our breakfast, though not so busy but that we were able to see the black fold his arms and stalk away, evidently under the impression that we should start up and arrest him; but no one moved.
“Big water bunyip glad get black fellow,” he said, as loudly as he could, and with a scornful look at us.
“Here, suppose we go,” said the doctor, rising.
“Go?” said Jack, getting up slowly, “where to?”
“To see Jimmy feed the crocodiles. Come along, lads.”
Jimmy stopped short with his jaw dropped, and nearly beside himself with rage. He seemed to be completely staggered at our cool way of taking things, and at last he ran off like the wind, rushed back again with his eyes flashing, and slapping his legs as he darted upon Ti-hi, waddy in hand.
“Gib boomerang Jimmy, black tief fellow,” he roared. “Take a boomerang. Jimmy boomerang. Tief fellow tole a boomerang.”
Snatching it from Ti-hi’s hand he made believe to strike him with the curious weapon and then rushed off with it into the bush.
“Well, Joe,” said the doctor, “do you think the crocodiles will dine on blackbird?”
I shook my head.
“What do you say, Jack Penny, eh?”
“Jimmy won’t jump in, I know,” drawled Jack.
“You’re right,” said the doctor; “he’ll come back before long hungry as a hunter, and regularly tamed down or I’m no judge of character.”
“Yes,” I said, “and he’ll bring back something he has killed so as to try and make friends. That’s how he always did at home.”
“Well,” said Jack Penny solemnly, “I hope he will. I like Jimmy, he makes me laugh, and though it hurts my back I like laughing. It does me good. I never used to have anything to laugh at at home. Father used to laugh when he kicked me, but it never seemed funny to me, and I never used to laugh at that.”
“Well, Jack Penny, I dare say the black will give you something to laugh at before long, for I don’t suppose it will be long before he is back.”
Chapter Eighteen.How I nearly had an Arrow to drink.We were soon on the way towards the interior again, and the doctor and I had set to work trying to obtain some information from Ti-hi, and also from Aroo, another intelligent looking follower who had been one of the prisoners made by the captain of the burnt schooner.It was hard work, but we were daily getting to understand more and more of the commoner words of conversation, and by degrees we managed to make out that the reason why we had not come upon any native village was that the nearest was still many days’ journey distant, but that if we changed our course and went down to the sea-shore we should soon find signs of occupation.But I felt that this would be of no use, for if my father had been anywhere on the coast he must have come in contact sooner or later with one or other of the trading vessels, whose captains, even if they could not bring him away on account of his being a prisoner, would certainly have reported somewhere that they had seen a white captive, and the news must have spread.“He must be right in the interior somewhere,” I said; “and I’m sure we can’t do better than keep on.”“I think you are right, Joe,” said the doctor thoughtfully.“I feel sure I am,” I said. “I don’t expect to find him directly; but I mean to go on trying till I do.”“That’s the way to find anybody,” said Jack Penny. “You’re sure to find ’em if you keep on like that. Come along.”Jack went off; taking great strides as if he expected to be successful at once; but he did not keep up the pace long, but hung back for me to overtake him, saying:“I say, Joe Carstairs; does your back ever ache much?”“No,” I said; “very little. Only when I’m very tired.”“Ah! you ain’t got so much back as I have,” he said, shaking his head. “When you’ve got as much as I have you’ll have the back-ache awfully, like I do. I say, I wonder where old Jimmy has got to.”“He’s close at hand somewhere,” I said. “Depend upon it he has not gone far. If the truth were known,” I continued, “he’s walking along abreast of us, just hidden in the bushes.”“Think so?” said Jack dubiously.“I’m about sure of it,” I replied.“I ain’t,” said Jack. “I’m afraid he’s gone right away back; and we’ve offended him so that we sha’n’t see him any more.”“You keep your opinion, Jack, and I’ll keep to mine. I say, I wonder what that noise is!”“Noise! Birds,” said Jack.“No, no! That dull murmur. There, listen!”“Wind in the trees.”“No, I’m sure it is not!” I exclaimed. “There! it is gone now. It is like far-off thunder.”“Water,” said the doctor, who had closed up with us unperceived. “I’ve been listening to it, and it sounds to me like a waterfall. Depend upon it we shall find that the river comes down over some pile of rocks, and if we were clear of the forest and could take a good look round we should find that the country is growing mountainous on ahead.”It seemed during the next day’s journey that the doctor was right, for we were certainly ascending, the land growing more rugged and toilsome, but at the same time far more beautiful and full of variety. In place of always journeying on through thick forest or park-like stretches, we now found our way was among stony ridges and long heavy slopes, with here and there a lovely valley, so full of beauty that I used to think to myself that perhaps we should find my father had built himself a hut in some such place as this, and was patiently going on with his collecting.We had seen nothing of Jimmy for three days, and though I suspected him of being close at hand, and coming to our camp at night stealthily in search of food, it really began to appear as if he had left us for good, when an adventure towards evening showed us who was correct in his surmise.“I don’t think much of the doctor’s waterfall,” Jack said to me, in his dry drawling way.“Why, we haven’t seen it!” I replied.“No, nor we ain’t going to, seemingly. It’s wind amongst the trees.”“Don’t be so obstinate,” I said, listening intently to hear the heavy thunderous murmur still, now I listened for it, though I had not seemed to notice it before.“There ain’t no waterfall,” he replied, “or we should have seen it before now.”“Perhaps the shape of the land keeps us from getting near it, or perhaps the wind drives the sound away.”“Or perhaps the sound drives the wind away, or perhaps the— Look out, Joe, look out!”Jack Penny leaped aside nimbly, and I followed his example, hardly escaping, while the man in front of me, less quick in his motion consequent upon his having a load upon his head, was sent flying by a great slate-coloured buffalo which had suddenly charged us from behind a clump of trees where it had been lying.It all happened so quickly that I had not time to think of my gun, while the doctor was fifty yards behind, and could not have fired had he been able to see, for fear of hurting us.The great beast had stopped for a moment after sending our bearer flying, and then, seeing him down, snorted a little, lowered his head, and would doubtless have tossed and trampled him to death had there not suddenly come a whirring whizzing noise from some bushes in a hollow on our right, when something struck the buffalo a heavy blow upon the muzzle, making it turn up its head, utter a furious roar, and charge at the bushes.This was my opportunity, and taking a quick aim I fired, and heard the bullet strike with a heavy thud, when the buffalo seemed to drop upon its knees on the steep slope, and literally turned a somersault, crashing with a tremendous noise into some trees; and then, to my astonishment, rising again and going off at a lumbering gallop.It did not go far, for just then there was the sharp crack of the doctor’s piece, and once more the buffalo fell heavily, to lie struggling, while, to my astonishment I saw a familiar black figure bound out of the bushes, catch up the boomerang he had thrown, and then race after the buffalo, which he reached just as the doctor also came up and put it out of its misery by a merciful shot in the head.“Jimmy killum! Jimmy boomerang killum!” shouted the black, dancing on the prostrate beast, while Jack and I were busy helping the poor bearer to his feet, and making sure that though stunned he was not seriously hurt.“No,” said the doctor. “No bones broken. It’s wonderful what some of these savage races will bear.”He ceased his examination and gave the poor fellow a friendly clap on the shoulder, while, after lying down for a time in the new camping-ground, close up to the welcome supply of meat, the injured man was sufficiently recovered to sit up, and eat his share of roast buffalo flesh.Some delicious steaks which we cooked proved very welcome to us by way of a change, but we did not commence without a few words with Master Jimmy, who was all smiles and friendliness now with everybody, till the doctor said, pointing to the abundant supply of meat:“No more bad illness, Jimmy. You are not to eat much.”“Jimmy won’t eat not bit!” he cried viciously. “Go in a bush and starve a deff.”“There, sit down and eat your supper!” said the doctor sternly; “and no more nonsense, please.”The black looked at him in a sidelong fashion, and his fingers played with the handle of his waddy, which was behind him in his waistband, and then he quailed beneath the doctor’s steady gaze, and sat down humbly by the camp fire to cook and eat what was really a moderate quantity for an Australian black.Next morning we were off at daybreak, our way lying up a narrow ravine for a short distance, and then between a couple of masses of rock, which seemed to have been split apart by some earthquake; and directly we were through here the dull humming buzz that we had heard more or less for days suddenly fell upon our ears with a deep majestic boom that rose at times, as the wind set our way, into a deafening roar.I looked triumphantly at Jack Penny, but he only held his head higher in the air and gave a sniff, lowering his crest directly after to attend to his feet, for we were now in a complete wilderness of rocks and stones, thrown in all directions, and at times we had regularly to climb.“It is useless to bring the men this way,” the doctor said, after a couple of hours’ labour; but as he spoke Ti-hi called a halt and pointed in a different direction, at right angles to that which we had so far followed, as being the one we should now take.The sun had suddenly become unbearable, for we were hemmed in by piled-up stones, and its heat was reflected from the brightly glistening masses, some of which were too hot even to be touched without pain, while the glare was almost blinding wherever the rocks were crystalline and white.“I say, is that a cloud?” said Jack Penny, drawing our attention to a fleecy mass that could be seen rising between a couple of masses of rock.“Yes!” cried the doctor eagerly, as he shaded his eyes from the sun’s glare; “a cloud of spray. The falls are there!”“Or is it the wind you can see in the trees?” I said, with a look at Jack Penny.“Get out!” retorted that gentleman. “I didn’t say I was sure, and doctor isn’t sure now.”“No, not sure, Penny,” he said; “but I think I can take you to where water is coming down.”We felt no temptation to go on then, and willingly followed our guides, who pointed out a huge mass of overhanging rock right in the side of the ravine, and here we gladly halted, in the comparatively cool shade, to sit and partake of some of the buffalo strips, my eyes wandering dreamily to right and left along the narrow valley so filled with stones.I was roused from my thoughts about the strangeness of the place we were in and the absence of trees and thick bush by the doctor proposing a bit of a look round.“We are getting up among the mountains, Joe,” he said; “and this means more difficult travelling, but at the same time a healthier region and less heat.”“Oh, doctor!” I said, wiping my forehead.“Why, it couldn’t be any hotter than it is out there!” said Jack.“Come with us, then, and let’s see if we can find a fresh way out. Perhaps we may hit upon a pass to the open country beyond. At all events let’s go and see the falls.”We took our guns, leaving all heavy things with the blacks, who were settling themselves for a sleep.The sun’s heat almost made me giddy for the first hundred yards, and either my eyes deceived me or Jack Penny’s long body wavered and shook.But we trudged laboriously on over and among masses of rock, that seemed to be nearly alive with lizards basking in the sun, their curious coats of green and grey and umber-brown glistening in the bright sunshine, and looking in some cases as if they were covered with frosted metal as they lay motionless upon the pieces of weatherworn stone.Some raised their heads to look at us, and remained motionless if we stopped to watch them, others scuffled rapidly away at the faintest sound, giving us just a glimpse of a quivering tail as its owner disappeared down a crevice almost by magic.“Don’t! don’t fire!” cried the doctor, as Jack suddenly levelled his piece.“Why not?” he said in an ill-used tone. “I daresay they’re poison and they ain’t no good.”The object that had been his aim was an ash-grey snake, rather short and thick of form, which lay coiled into the figure of a letter S, and held its head a few inches from the rock on which it lay.“If you wish to kill the little vipers do it with a stick, my lad. Every charge of powder may prove very valuable, and be wanted in an emergency.”“I say,” said Jack Penny, dropping the butt of his piece on the rock, leaning his arms upon it, and staring at the speaker. “You don’t think we are likely to have a fight soon, do you?”“I hope not,” said the doctor; “but we shall have to be always on the alert, for in a land like this we never know how soon danger may come.”“I say, Jack,” I whispered, “do you want to go back?”“No: I don’t want to go back,” he said with a snort. “I don’t say I ain’t afraid. P’r’aps I am. I always thought our place lonely, but it was nothing to these parts, where there don’t seem to be no living people at all.”“Well, let’s get on,” said the doctor, smiling; and we threaded our way as well as we could amongst the chaotic masses of stones till we were stopped short by a complete crack in the stony earth, just as if the land had been dragged asunder.As we stood on the brink of the chasm, and gazed down at the bottom some hundred feet below, we could see that it was a wild stony place, more sterile than that we had traversed. In places there were traces of moisture, as if water sometimes trickled down, and where this was the case I could see that ferns were growing pretty freely, but on the whole the place was barrennesss itself.It seemed to have a fascination though for Jack Penny, who sat down on the edge and dangled his long legs over the rock, amusing himself by throwing down pieces of stone on to larger pieces below, so as to see them shatter and fall in fragments.“Snakes!” he said suddenly. “Look at ’em. See me hit that one.” He pitched down a large piece of stone as he spoke, and I saw something glide into a crevice, while another reptile raised itself up against a piece of rock and fell back hissing angrily.We were so high up that I could not tell how big these creatures were, but several that we noticed must have been six or seven feet long, and like many vipers of the poisonous kinds, very thick in proportion.I daresay we should have stopped there amusing ourselves for the next hour, pitching down stones and making the vipers vicious; but our childish pursuit was ended by the doctor, who clapped Jack on the shoulder.“Come, Jack,” he said, “if we leave you there you’ll fall asleep and topple to the bottom.”Jack drew up his legs and climbed once more to his feet, looking very hot and languid, but he shouldered his piece and stepped out as we slowly climbed along the edge of the chasm for about a quarter of a mile, when it seemed to close up after getting narrower and narrower, so that we continued our journey on what would have been its farther side had it not closed.Higher and higher we seemed to climb, with the path getting more difficult, save when here and there we came upon a nice bare spot free from stones, and covered with a short kind of herb that had the appearance of thyme.But now the heat grew less intense. Then it was comparatively cool, and a soft moist air fanned our heated cheeks. The roar of the falls grew louder, and at any moment we felt that we might come upon the sight, but we had to travel on nearly half a mile along what seemed to be a steep slope. It was no longer arid and barren here, for every shelf and crevice was full of growth of the most vivid green. For a long time we had not seen a tree, but here tall forest trees had wedged their roots in the cracks and crevices, curved out, and then shot straight up into the air.The scene around was beautiful, and birds were once more plentiful, dashing from fruit to flower, and no doubt screaming and piping according to their wont, but all seemed to be strangely silent, even our own voices sounded smothered, everything being overcome by the awful deep loud roar that came from beyond a dense clump of trees.We eagerly pressed forward now, ready, however, to find that we had a long distance to go, and the doctor leading we wound our way in and out, with the delicious shade overhead, and the refreshing moist air seeming to cool our fevered faces and dry lips.“Why, we’re walking along by the very edge,” said Jack Penny suddenly. “This is the way;” and stepping aside he took about a dozen steps and then the undergrowth closed behind him for the moment, but as we parted it to follow him we caught sight of his tall form again and then lost it, for he uttered a shrill “Oh!” and disappeared.“Doctor! quick!” I cried, for I was next, and I sprang forward, to stop appalled, for Jack was before me clinging to a thin sapling which he had caught as he fell, and this had bent like a fishing-rod, letting him down some ten feet below the edge of an awful precipice, the more terrible from the fact that the river seemed to be rushing straight out into the air from a narrow ravine high upon our right, and to plunge down into a vast rocky basin quite a couple of hundred feet below.As I caught sight of Jack Penny’s face with its imploring eyes I was for the moment paralysed. He had tight hold of the tree, which was only about half the thickness of his own thin wrists, and he was swaying up and down, the weight of his body still playing upon the elastic sapling.“I can’t hold on long, Joe Carstairs,” he said hoarsely. “I’m such a weight; but I say I ain’t a bit afraid, only do be quick.”The doctor had crept to my side now, and he reached out his hand to grasp Jack, but could not get hold of him by a couple of feet.“Can’t you reach?” the poor fellow gasped.“No, not yet,” the doctor said sharply; and his voice seemed quite changed as he took in the position; and I saw him shudder as he noted, as I had done, that if Jack fell it would be into the foaming basin where the water thundered down.“Be quick, please,” panted Jack. “I can’t do nothing at all; and I don’t—think—I could swim—down there.”“Don’t look down,” roared the doctor, though even then his voice sounded smothered and low.Jack raised his eyes to ours directly, and I seemed to feel that but for this he would have been so unnerved that he would have loosed his hold.“Now,” cried the doctor, “the tree’s too weak for you to cling to it with your legs. Swing them to and fro till we catch hold of you.”Jack looked at me with a face like ashes; but he obeyed, and it was horrible to see the sapling bend and play like a cart-whip with the weight upon it. Each moment I expected it to snap in two or give way at the roots; but no: it held fast, and Jack swung to and fro, and danced up and down over the awful gulf till he was within our reach.“Now!” shouted the doctor to me. “Both together.”I did as he did, clutched at Jack’s legs as they swung up to us; held on; and then we threw ourselves back, dragging with all our might.“Let go! let go!” roared the doctor to Jack.“I daren’t, not yet,” he cried, with his head hidden from us, that and his body being over the gulf, while we had his legs over the edge of the rock.“But the tree is drawing you away from us,” shouted the doctor. “Let go, I say.”All this time it was as though Jack Penny were made of india-rubber, for as we pulled his legs it was against something elastic, which kept giving and drawing us back.For a few moments it seemed doubtful whether we should save him, for our hold was hastily taken and none of the best, and I felt the cold perspiration gathering in my hands and on my brow. Then just as I felt that I must give way, and the doctor’s hard panting breathing sounded distant and strange through the singing in my ears, our desperate tugging prevailed over even the wild clutch of one who believed himself in deadly peril. Jack’s hands relaxed, and we all fell together amongst the bushes, but safe.No one spoke, and the dull sound of panting was heard even amidst the roar of the falling waters. Then the doctor got up, looking fierce and angry, and seizing Jack by the collar he gave him a shake.“Look here,” he said. “I’ll have no more of it. Next time you get into danger, you may save yourself.”“Thank ye, doctor,” said Jack, sitting up and rocking himself softly. “I might just as well have gone as be treated like this. You might have taken hold of a fellow’s clothes, both of you. You’ve about tore the flesh off my bones.”The doctor turned away to look at the great waterfall, evidently amused by Jack’s dry drawling speech; and I sat and looked at my companion, while he looked at me, and spoke out so as to make me hear above the roar of the torrent.“I say, Joe Carstairs, I didn’t seem to be very much frightened, did I?”“No,” I said. “You bore it very bravely.”“Mean it?”“Of course,” I said.“That’s right; because I did feel awfully queer, you know. I don’t mind that though so long as I didn’t show it.”“How did you manage to get into such a pickle?” I said.“Oh, I don’t know,” he drawled, still rubbing himself gently. “I was wandering forward to get a good look at the waterfall, and then my legs seemed to go down. I only had time to grip hold of that tree, and then I was swinging about. That’s all. Let’s have a look at the water, though, all the same.”We followed the doctor, going cautiously along till we found him standing gun in hand gazing from a bare spot right out at the huge tumbling body of water, which made the very rocks on which we stood tremble and vibrate as it thundered down.In one spot, half-way down what looked to be a terribly gloomy chasm, a broad beam of sunlight shone right across the foam and fine spray that rose in a cloud, and from time to time this was spanned by a lovely iris, whose colours looked more beautiful than anything of the kind that I had before seen.I could have stood for hours gazing at the soft oily looking water as it glided over the piled-up rocks, and watched it breaking up into spray and then plunge headlong into the chaos of water below; but the doctor laid his hand upon my shoulder and pointed upwards, when, leading the way, he climbed on and on till we were beyond the rocks which formed the shelf over which the water glided, and here we found ourselves at the edge of a narrow ravine, along which the stream flowed swiftly from far beyond our sight to the spot where it made its plunge.We were in comparative quiet up here, the noise of the fall being cut off by the rocks, which seemed to hush it as soon as we had passed.“Let us get back, my lads,” the doctor said then; “I don’t think we shall advance our business by inspecting this grand river;” and so leaving the water-worn smooth rock of the ravine, we retraced our steps, and at last, hot and fainting almost with the heat, reached the little camp, where our black followers were eagerly looking out for our return.“Where’s Jimmy?” I said as I glanced round; but no one knew, and supposing that he had gone to hunt something that he considered good to eat I took no further notice then, though the doctor frowned, evidently considering that he ought to have been in camp. Gyp was there though, ready to salute his master, who lay down at once, as he informed me in confidence, to rest his back.We were only too glad to get under the shelter of the great overhanging rock, which gave us comparative coolness, situated as it was beneath a hill that was almost a mountain, towering up in successive ledges to the summit.The walk, in spite of the excitement of the adventure, had given us an excellent appetite, and even Jack Penny ate away heartily, looking self-satisfied and as complacent as could be.“Why, what are you laughing at, Jack?” I said, as I happened to look up.“I was only smiling,” he whispered, “about my accident.”“Smiling—at that!” I exclaimed. “Why, I should have thought you would have been horrified at the very thought of it.”“So I should if I had been a coward over it, Joe Carstairs; but I wasn’t—now was I?”“Coward! No,” I said, “of course not. Here, fill my cup with water.”We were sitting pretty close to the edge of our shelter, which really might have been termed a very shallow cave, some twenty feet above the level; and as I spoke I held out the tin pannikin towards Jack, for the heat had made me terribly thirsty. The next moment, though, something struck the tin mug and dashed it noisily out of my hand, while before I could recover from my astonishment, the doctor had dragged me backwards with one hand, giving Jack Penny a backhander on the chest with the other.“Arrows!” he whispered. “Danger! There are savages there below.”
We were soon on the way towards the interior again, and the doctor and I had set to work trying to obtain some information from Ti-hi, and also from Aroo, another intelligent looking follower who had been one of the prisoners made by the captain of the burnt schooner.
It was hard work, but we were daily getting to understand more and more of the commoner words of conversation, and by degrees we managed to make out that the reason why we had not come upon any native village was that the nearest was still many days’ journey distant, but that if we changed our course and went down to the sea-shore we should soon find signs of occupation.
But I felt that this would be of no use, for if my father had been anywhere on the coast he must have come in contact sooner or later with one or other of the trading vessels, whose captains, even if they could not bring him away on account of his being a prisoner, would certainly have reported somewhere that they had seen a white captive, and the news must have spread.
“He must be right in the interior somewhere,” I said; “and I’m sure we can’t do better than keep on.”
“I think you are right, Joe,” said the doctor thoughtfully.
“I feel sure I am,” I said. “I don’t expect to find him directly; but I mean to go on trying till I do.”
“That’s the way to find anybody,” said Jack Penny. “You’re sure to find ’em if you keep on like that. Come along.”
Jack went off; taking great strides as if he expected to be successful at once; but he did not keep up the pace long, but hung back for me to overtake him, saying:
“I say, Joe Carstairs; does your back ever ache much?”
“No,” I said; “very little. Only when I’m very tired.”
“Ah! you ain’t got so much back as I have,” he said, shaking his head. “When you’ve got as much as I have you’ll have the back-ache awfully, like I do. I say, I wonder where old Jimmy has got to.”
“He’s close at hand somewhere,” I said. “Depend upon it he has not gone far. If the truth were known,” I continued, “he’s walking along abreast of us, just hidden in the bushes.”
“Think so?” said Jack dubiously.
“I’m about sure of it,” I replied.
“I ain’t,” said Jack. “I’m afraid he’s gone right away back; and we’ve offended him so that we sha’n’t see him any more.”
“You keep your opinion, Jack, and I’ll keep to mine. I say, I wonder what that noise is!”
“Noise! Birds,” said Jack.
“No, no! That dull murmur. There, listen!”
“Wind in the trees.”
“No, I’m sure it is not!” I exclaimed. “There! it is gone now. It is like far-off thunder.”
“Water,” said the doctor, who had closed up with us unperceived. “I’ve been listening to it, and it sounds to me like a waterfall. Depend upon it we shall find that the river comes down over some pile of rocks, and if we were clear of the forest and could take a good look round we should find that the country is growing mountainous on ahead.”
It seemed during the next day’s journey that the doctor was right, for we were certainly ascending, the land growing more rugged and toilsome, but at the same time far more beautiful and full of variety. In place of always journeying on through thick forest or park-like stretches, we now found our way was among stony ridges and long heavy slopes, with here and there a lovely valley, so full of beauty that I used to think to myself that perhaps we should find my father had built himself a hut in some such place as this, and was patiently going on with his collecting.
We had seen nothing of Jimmy for three days, and though I suspected him of being close at hand, and coming to our camp at night stealthily in search of food, it really began to appear as if he had left us for good, when an adventure towards evening showed us who was correct in his surmise.
“I don’t think much of the doctor’s waterfall,” Jack said to me, in his dry drawling way.
“Why, we haven’t seen it!” I replied.
“No, nor we ain’t going to, seemingly. It’s wind amongst the trees.”
“Don’t be so obstinate,” I said, listening intently to hear the heavy thunderous murmur still, now I listened for it, though I had not seemed to notice it before.
“There ain’t no waterfall,” he replied, “or we should have seen it before now.”
“Perhaps the shape of the land keeps us from getting near it, or perhaps the wind drives the sound away.”
“Or perhaps the sound drives the wind away, or perhaps the— Look out, Joe, look out!”
Jack Penny leaped aside nimbly, and I followed his example, hardly escaping, while the man in front of me, less quick in his motion consequent upon his having a load upon his head, was sent flying by a great slate-coloured buffalo which had suddenly charged us from behind a clump of trees where it had been lying.
It all happened so quickly that I had not time to think of my gun, while the doctor was fifty yards behind, and could not have fired had he been able to see, for fear of hurting us.
The great beast had stopped for a moment after sending our bearer flying, and then, seeing him down, snorted a little, lowered his head, and would doubtless have tossed and trampled him to death had there not suddenly come a whirring whizzing noise from some bushes in a hollow on our right, when something struck the buffalo a heavy blow upon the muzzle, making it turn up its head, utter a furious roar, and charge at the bushes.
This was my opportunity, and taking a quick aim I fired, and heard the bullet strike with a heavy thud, when the buffalo seemed to drop upon its knees on the steep slope, and literally turned a somersault, crashing with a tremendous noise into some trees; and then, to my astonishment, rising again and going off at a lumbering gallop.
It did not go far, for just then there was the sharp crack of the doctor’s piece, and once more the buffalo fell heavily, to lie struggling, while, to my astonishment I saw a familiar black figure bound out of the bushes, catch up the boomerang he had thrown, and then race after the buffalo, which he reached just as the doctor also came up and put it out of its misery by a merciful shot in the head.
“Jimmy killum! Jimmy boomerang killum!” shouted the black, dancing on the prostrate beast, while Jack and I were busy helping the poor bearer to his feet, and making sure that though stunned he was not seriously hurt.
“No,” said the doctor. “No bones broken. It’s wonderful what some of these savage races will bear.”
He ceased his examination and gave the poor fellow a friendly clap on the shoulder, while, after lying down for a time in the new camping-ground, close up to the welcome supply of meat, the injured man was sufficiently recovered to sit up, and eat his share of roast buffalo flesh.
Some delicious steaks which we cooked proved very welcome to us by way of a change, but we did not commence without a few words with Master Jimmy, who was all smiles and friendliness now with everybody, till the doctor said, pointing to the abundant supply of meat:
“No more bad illness, Jimmy. You are not to eat much.”
“Jimmy won’t eat not bit!” he cried viciously. “Go in a bush and starve a deff.”
“There, sit down and eat your supper!” said the doctor sternly; “and no more nonsense, please.”
The black looked at him in a sidelong fashion, and his fingers played with the handle of his waddy, which was behind him in his waistband, and then he quailed beneath the doctor’s steady gaze, and sat down humbly by the camp fire to cook and eat what was really a moderate quantity for an Australian black.
Next morning we were off at daybreak, our way lying up a narrow ravine for a short distance, and then between a couple of masses of rock, which seemed to have been split apart by some earthquake; and directly we were through here the dull humming buzz that we had heard more or less for days suddenly fell upon our ears with a deep majestic boom that rose at times, as the wind set our way, into a deafening roar.
I looked triumphantly at Jack Penny, but he only held his head higher in the air and gave a sniff, lowering his crest directly after to attend to his feet, for we were now in a complete wilderness of rocks and stones, thrown in all directions, and at times we had regularly to climb.
“It is useless to bring the men this way,” the doctor said, after a couple of hours’ labour; but as he spoke Ti-hi called a halt and pointed in a different direction, at right angles to that which we had so far followed, as being the one we should now take.
The sun had suddenly become unbearable, for we were hemmed in by piled-up stones, and its heat was reflected from the brightly glistening masses, some of which were too hot even to be touched without pain, while the glare was almost blinding wherever the rocks were crystalline and white.
“I say, is that a cloud?” said Jack Penny, drawing our attention to a fleecy mass that could be seen rising between a couple of masses of rock.
“Yes!” cried the doctor eagerly, as he shaded his eyes from the sun’s glare; “a cloud of spray. The falls are there!”
“Or is it the wind you can see in the trees?” I said, with a look at Jack Penny.
“Get out!” retorted that gentleman. “I didn’t say I was sure, and doctor isn’t sure now.”
“No, not sure, Penny,” he said; “but I think I can take you to where water is coming down.”
We felt no temptation to go on then, and willingly followed our guides, who pointed out a huge mass of overhanging rock right in the side of the ravine, and here we gladly halted, in the comparatively cool shade, to sit and partake of some of the buffalo strips, my eyes wandering dreamily to right and left along the narrow valley so filled with stones.
I was roused from my thoughts about the strangeness of the place we were in and the absence of trees and thick bush by the doctor proposing a bit of a look round.
“We are getting up among the mountains, Joe,” he said; “and this means more difficult travelling, but at the same time a healthier region and less heat.”
“Oh, doctor!” I said, wiping my forehead.
“Why, it couldn’t be any hotter than it is out there!” said Jack.
“Come with us, then, and let’s see if we can find a fresh way out. Perhaps we may hit upon a pass to the open country beyond. At all events let’s go and see the falls.”
We took our guns, leaving all heavy things with the blacks, who were settling themselves for a sleep.
The sun’s heat almost made me giddy for the first hundred yards, and either my eyes deceived me or Jack Penny’s long body wavered and shook.
But we trudged laboriously on over and among masses of rock, that seemed to be nearly alive with lizards basking in the sun, their curious coats of green and grey and umber-brown glistening in the bright sunshine, and looking in some cases as if they were covered with frosted metal as they lay motionless upon the pieces of weatherworn stone.
Some raised their heads to look at us, and remained motionless if we stopped to watch them, others scuffled rapidly away at the faintest sound, giving us just a glimpse of a quivering tail as its owner disappeared down a crevice almost by magic.
“Don’t! don’t fire!” cried the doctor, as Jack suddenly levelled his piece.
“Why not?” he said in an ill-used tone. “I daresay they’re poison and they ain’t no good.”
The object that had been his aim was an ash-grey snake, rather short and thick of form, which lay coiled into the figure of a letter S, and held its head a few inches from the rock on which it lay.
“If you wish to kill the little vipers do it with a stick, my lad. Every charge of powder may prove very valuable, and be wanted in an emergency.”
“I say,” said Jack Penny, dropping the butt of his piece on the rock, leaning his arms upon it, and staring at the speaker. “You don’t think we are likely to have a fight soon, do you?”
“I hope not,” said the doctor; “but we shall have to be always on the alert, for in a land like this we never know how soon danger may come.”
“I say, Jack,” I whispered, “do you want to go back?”
“No: I don’t want to go back,” he said with a snort. “I don’t say I ain’t afraid. P’r’aps I am. I always thought our place lonely, but it was nothing to these parts, where there don’t seem to be no living people at all.”
“Well, let’s get on,” said the doctor, smiling; and we threaded our way as well as we could amongst the chaotic masses of stones till we were stopped short by a complete crack in the stony earth, just as if the land had been dragged asunder.
As we stood on the brink of the chasm, and gazed down at the bottom some hundred feet below, we could see that it was a wild stony place, more sterile than that we had traversed. In places there were traces of moisture, as if water sometimes trickled down, and where this was the case I could see that ferns were growing pretty freely, but on the whole the place was barrennesss itself.
It seemed to have a fascination though for Jack Penny, who sat down on the edge and dangled his long legs over the rock, amusing himself by throwing down pieces of stone on to larger pieces below, so as to see them shatter and fall in fragments.
“Snakes!” he said suddenly. “Look at ’em. See me hit that one.” He pitched down a large piece of stone as he spoke, and I saw something glide into a crevice, while another reptile raised itself up against a piece of rock and fell back hissing angrily.
We were so high up that I could not tell how big these creatures were, but several that we noticed must have been six or seven feet long, and like many vipers of the poisonous kinds, very thick in proportion.
I daresay we should have stopped there amusing ourselves for the next hour, pitching down stones and making the vipers vicious; but our childish pursuit was ended by the doctor, who clapped Jack on the shoulder.
“Come, Jack,” he said, “if we leave you there you’ll fall asleep and topple to the bottom.”
Jack drew up his legs and climbed once more to his feet, looking very hot and languid, but he shouldered his piece and stepped out as we slowly climbed along the edge of the chasm for about a quarter of a mile, when it seemed to close up after getting narrower and narrower, so that we continued our journey on what would have been its farther side had it not closed.
Higher and higher we seemed to climb, with the path getting more difficult, save when here and there we came upon a nice bare spot free from stones, and covered with a short kind of herb that had the appearance of thyme.
But now the heat grew less intense. Then it was comparatively cool, and a soft moist air fanned our heated cheeks. The roar of the falls grew louder, and at any moment we felt that we might come upon the sight, but we had to travel on nearly half a mile along what seemed to be a steep slope. It was no longer arid and barren here, for every shelf and crevice was full of growth of the most vivid green. For a long time we had not seen a tree, but here tall forest trees had wedged their roots in the cracks and crevices, curved out, and then shot straight up into the air.
The scene around was beautiful, and birds were once more plentiful, dashing from fruit to flower, and no doubt screaming and piping according to their wont, but all seemed to be strangely silent, even our own voices sounded smothered, everything being overcome by the awful deep loud roar that came from beyond a dense clump of trees.
We eagerly pressed forward now, ready, however, to find that we had a long distance to go, and the doctor leading we wound our way in and out, with the delicious shade overhead, and the refreshing moist air seeming to cool our fevered faces and dry lips.
“Why, we’re walking along by the very edge,” said Jack Penny suddenly. “This is the way;” and stepping aside he took about a dozen steps and then the undergrowth closed behind him for the moment, but as we parted it to follow him we caught sight of his tall form again and then lost it, for he uttered a shrill “Oh!” and disappeared.
“Doctor! quick!” I cried, for I was next, and I sprang forward, to stop appalled, for Jack was before me clinging to a thin sapling which he had caught as he fell, and this had bent like a fishing-rod, letting him down some ten feet below the edge of an awful precipice, the more terrible from the fact that the river seemed to be rushing straight out into the air from a narrow ravine high upon our right, and to plunge down into a vast rocky basin quite a couple of hundred feet below.
As I caught sight of Jack Penny’s face with its imploring eyes I was for the moment paralysed. He had tight hold of the tree, which was only about half the thickness of his own thin wrists, and he was swaying up and down, the weight of his body still playing upon the elastic sapling.
“I can’t hold on long, Joe Carstairs,” he said hoarsely. “I’m such a weight; but I say I ain’t a bit afraid, only do be quick.”
The doctor had crept to my side now, and he reached out his hand to grasp Jack, but could not get hold of him by a couple of feet.
“Can’t you reach?” the poor fellow gasped.
“No, not yet,” the doctor said sharply; and his voice seemed quite changed as he took in the position; and I saw him shudder as he noted, as I had done, that if Jack fell it would be into the foaming basin where the water thundered down.
“Be quick, please,” panted Jack. “I can’t do nothing at all; and I don’t—think—I could swim—down there.”
“Don’t look down,” roared the doctor, though even then his voice sounded smothered and low.
Jack raised his eyes to ours directly, and I seemed to feel that but for this he would have been so unnerved that he would have loosed his hold.
“Now,” cried the doctor, “the tree’s too weak for you to cling to it with your legs. Swing them to and fro till we catch hold of you.”
Jack looked at me with a face like ashes; but he obeyed, and it was horrible to see the sapling bend and play like a cart-whip with the weight upon it. Each moment I expected it to snap in two or give way at the roots; but no: it held fast, and Jack swung to and fro, and danced up and down over the awful gulf till he was within our reach.
“Now!” shouted the doctor to me. “Both together.”
I did as he did, clutched at Jack’s legs as they swung up to us; held on; and then we threw ourselves back, dragging with all our might.
“Let go! let go!” roared the doctor to Jack.
“I daren’t, not yet,” he cried, with his head hidden from us, that and his body being over the gulf, while we had his legs over the edge of the rock.
“But the tree is drawing you away from us,” shouted the doctor. “Let go, I say.”
All this time it was as though Jack Penny were made of india-rubber, for as we pulled his legs it was against something elastic, which kept giving and drawing us back.
For a few moments it seemed doubtful whether we should save him, for our hold was hastily taken and none of the best, and I felt the cold perspiration gathering in my hands and on my brow. Then just as I felt that I must give way, and the doctor’s hard panting breathing sounded distant and strange through the singing in my ears, our desperate tugging prevailed over even the wild clutch of one who believed himself in deadly peril. Jack’s hands relaxed, and we all fell together amongst the bushes, but safe.
No one spoke, and the dull sound of panting was heard even amidst the roar of the falling waters. Then the doctor got up, looking fierce and angry, and seizing Jack by the collar he gave him a shake.
“Look here,” he said. “I’ll have no more of it. Next time you get into danger, you may save yourself.”
“Thank ye, doctor,” said Jack, sitting up and rocking himself softly. “I might just as well have gone as be treated like this. You might have taken hold of a fellow’s clothes, both of you. You’ve about tore the flesh off my bones.”
The doctor turned away to look at the great waterfall, evidently amused by Jack’s dry drawling speech; and I sat and looked at my companion, while he looked at me, and spoke out so as to make me hear above the roar of the torrent.
“I say, Joe Carstairs, I didn’t seem to be very much frightened, did I?”
“No,” I said. “You bore it very bravely.”
“Mean it?”
“Of course,” I said.
“That’s right; because I did feel awfully queer, you know. I don’t mind that though so long as I didn’t show it.”
“How did you manage to get into such a pickle?” I said.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he drawled, still rubbing himself gently. “I was wandering forward to get a good look at the waterfall, and then my legs seemed to go down. I only had time to grip hold of that tree, and then I was swinging about. That’s all. Let’s have a look at the water, though, all the same.”
We followed the doctor, going cautiously along till we found him standing gun in hand gazing from a bare spot right out at the huge tumbling body of water, which made the very rocks on which we stood tremble and vibrate as it thundered down.
In one spot, half-way down what looked to be a terribly gloomy chasm, a broad beam of sunlight shone right across the foam and fine spray that rose in a cloud, and from time to time this was spanned by a lovely iris, whose colours looked more beautiful than anything of the kind that I had before seen.
I could have stood for hours gazing at the soft oily looking water as it glided over the piled-up rocks, and watched it breaking up into spray and then plunge headlong into the chaos of water below; but the doctor laid his hand upon my shoulder and pointed upwards, when, leading the way, he climbed on and on till we were beyond the rocks which formed the shelf over which the water glided, and here we found ourselves at the edge of a narrow ravine, along which the stream flowed swiftly from far beyond our sight to the spot where it made its plunge.
We were in comparative quiet up here, the noise of the fall being cut off by the rocks, which seemed to hush it as soon as we had passed.
“Let us get back, my lads,” the doctor said then; “I don’t think we shall advance our business by inspecting this grand river;” and so leaving the water-worn smooth rock of the ravine, we retraced our steps, and at last, hot and fainting almost with the heat, reached the little camp, where our black followers were eagerly looking out for our return.
“Where’s Jimmy?” I said as I glanced round; but no one knew, and supposing that he had gone to hunt something that he considered good to eat I took no further notice then, though the doctor frowned, evidently considering that he ought to have been in camp. Gyp was there though, ready to salute his master, who lay down at once, as he informed me in confidence, to rest his back.
We were only too glad to get under the shelter of the great overhanging rock, which gave us comparative coolness, situated as it was beneath a hill that was almost a mountain, towering up in successive ledges to the summit.
The walk, in spite of the excitement of the adventure, had given us an excellent appetite, and even Jack Penny ate away heartily, looking self-satisfied and as complacent as could be.
“Why, what are you laughing at, Jack?” I said, as I happened to look up.
“I was only smiling,” he whispered, “about my accident.”
“Smiling—at that!” I exclaimed. “Why, I should have thought you would have been horrified at the very thought of it.”
“So I should if I had been a coward over it, Joe Carstairs; but I wasn’t—now was I?”
“Coward! No,” I said, “of course not. Here, fill my cup with water.”
We were sitting pretty close to the edge of our shelter, which really might have been termed a very shallow cave, some twenty feet above the level; and as I spoke I held out the tin pannikin towards Jack, for the heat had made me terribly thirsty. The next moment, though, something struck the tin mug and dashed it noisily out of my hand, while before I could recover from my astonishment, the doctor had dragged me backwards with one hand, giving Jack Penny a backhander on the chest with the other.
“Arrows!” he whispered. “Danger! There are savages there below.”
Chapter Nineteen.How we were besieged, and I thought of Birnam Wood.I believe the doctor saved us from dangerous wounds, if not from death, for, as he threw himself flat, half a dozen arrows struck the roof of our shelter, and fell pattering down amongst us as we lay.“Here, quick! pass these packages forward,” the doctor whispered; and we managed to get the blacks’ loads between us and the enemy, making of the packages a sort of breastwork, which sheltered us while we hauled forward some pieces of stone, arrow after arrow reaching this extempore parapet, or coming over it to strike the roof and fall back.The natives with us understood our plans at once, and eagerly helped, pushing great pieces of stone up to us, so that in about a quarter of an hour we were well protected, and the question came uppermost in my mind whether it was not time to retaliate with a charge of shot upon the cowardly assailants, who had attacked us when we were so peacefully engaged.We had time, too, now to look round us and lament that our force was so much weakened by the absence of Jimmy and Aroo, who had gone to fetch more water.“They will be killed,” I said, and I saw Ti-hi smile, for he had evidently understood my meaning. He shook his head too, and tried to make me understand, as I found afterwards, that Aroo would take care of himself; but we left off in a state of the greatest confusion.Being then well sheltered we contrived loopholes to watch for our enemies, and Ti-hi pointed out to me the place from whence the arrows were shot every time the enemy could see a hand.The spot he pointed to as that in which our assailants lay was where a patch of thick growth flourished among some stones, about fifty yards along the rocky pass in the direction in which we had come, and as I was intently watching the place to make out some sign of the enemy, and feeling doubtful whether the black was right, I saw a slight movement and the glint of a flying arrow, which struck the face of the rock a few feet above my head, and then fell by Jack Penny’s hand.“Mind,” I said, as he picked it up; “perhaps it is poisoned.”Ti-hi was eagerly watching my face, and as I spoke he caught the arrow from Jack’s hand, placed it against his arm, and then closed his eyes and pretended to be dead; but as quickly came to life again, as several more arrows struck the rock and fell harmlessly among us. These he gathered together all but one, whose point was broken by coming in contact with the rock, and that he threw away.After this he carefully strung the bow that he always, like his fellows, carried, and looked eagerly at the doctor, who was scanning the ground in front of us with his little double glass.“I don’t like the look of things, my lads,” he said in a low voice, and his countenance was very serious as he spoke. “I intended for ours to be a peaceable mission, but it seems as if we are to be forced into war with two men absent.”“Shall we have to shoot ’em?” said Jack Penny excitedly.“I hope not,” said the doctor, “for I should be sorry to shed the blood of the lowest savage; but we must fight in defence of our lives. We cannot afford to give those up, come what may.”Ti-hi fitted an arrow to the string of his short, strong bow, and was about to draw it, but the doctor laid his hand upon him and checked him, to the savage warrior’s great disgust.“No,” said the doctor, “not until we are obliged; and then I shall try what a charge of small shot will do.”We were not long in finding out that it was absolutely necessary to defend ourselves with vigour, for the arrows began to fall thickly—thickly enough, indeed, to show us that there were more marksmen hidden among the trees than the size of the clump seemed to indicate from where we crouched.I was watching the patch of trees very intently when I heard a sharply drawn inspiration of breath, and turning I saw the doctor pulling an arrow from the flannel tunic he wore.“As doctors say, Joe,” he whispered with a smile, “three inches more to the right and that would have been fatal.”I don’t know how I looked, but I felt pale, and winced a little, while the doctor took my hand.The force of habit made me snatch it away, for I thought he was going to feel my pulse. I fancied for the moment that it must be to see whether I was nervous, and the blood flushed to my cheeks now, and made me look defiant.“Why, Joe, my lad, what is it?” he said quietly. “Won’t you shake hands?”“Oh! yes,” I cried, placing mine in his, and he gave it a long, firm grip.“I ought,” he said, after a pause, “to have said more about the troubles, like this one, which I might have known would arise, when we arranged to start; but somehow I had a sort of hope that we might make a peaceful journey, and not be called upon to shed blood. Joe, my lad, we shall have to fight for our lives.”“And shoot down these people?” I said huskily.“If we do not, they will shoot us. Poor wretches, they probably do not know the power of our guns. We must give them the small shot first, and we may scare them off. Don’t you fire, my lad; leave it to me.”I nodded my head, and then our attention was taken up by the arrows that kept flying in, with such good aim that if we had exposed ourselves in the least the chances are that we should have been hit.The doctor was on one side of me, Jack Penny on the other, and my tall young friend I noticed had been laying some cartridges very methodically close to his hand, ready for action it seemed to me; but he had not spoken much, only looked very solemn as he lay upon his chest, kicking his legs up and sawing them slowly to and fro.“Are we going to have to fight, Joe Carstairs?” he whispered.“I’m afraid so,” I replied.“Oh!”That was all for a few minutes, during which time the arrows kept coming in and striking the roof as before, to fall there with a tinkling sound, and be collected carefully by Ti-hi and his companions, all of whom watched us with glowing eyes, waiting apparently for the order to be given when they might reply to the shots of the enemy.“I say, Joe Carstairs,” said Jack, giving me a touch with his long arm.“Yes; what is it?” I said peevishly, for his questions seemed to be a nuisance.“I don’t look horribly frightened, do I?”“No,” I said; “you look cool enough. Why?”“Because I feel in a horrid stew, just as I did when a lot of the black fellows carried me off. I was a little one then.”“Were you ever a little one, Jack!” I said wonderingly.“Why, of course I was—a very little one. You don’t suppose I was born with long legs like a colt, do you? The blacks came one day when father was away, and mother had gone to see after the cow, and after taking all the meal and bacon they went off, one of them tucking me under his arm, and I never made a sound, I was so frightened, for I was sure they were going to eat me. I feel something like I did then; but I say, Joe Carstairs, you’re sure I don’t show it?”“Sure! Yes,” I said quickly. “If we have to shoot at these savages shall you take aim at them?”“All depends,” said Jack coolly. “First of all, I shall fire in front of their bows like the man-o’-war’s men do. If that don’t stop ’em I shall fire at their legs, and if that don’t do any good then I shall let ’em have it right full, for it’ll be their own fault. That’s my principle, Joe Carstairs; if a fellow lets me alone I never interfere with him, but if he begins at me I’m nasty. Here, you leave those arrows alone, and—well, what’s the matter with you?”This was to Gyp, who was whining uneasily as if he scented danger, and wanted to run out.“Down, Gyp, down!” said his master; and the dog crouched lower, growling, though, now as a fresh arrow flashed in from another part.The doctor started and raised his gun to take aim at the spot from whence this shot had come, for one of the savages had climbed up and reached a ledge above where we were. In fact this man’s attack made our position ten times more perilous than it was before.But the doctor did not fire, for Ti-hi, without waiting for orders, drew an arrow to its head, the bow-string gave a loud twang, and the next instant we saw a savage bound from the ledge where he had hidden and run across the intervening space, club in one hand, bow in the other, yelling furiously the while.The doctor was about to fire, and in the excitement of the moment I had my piece to my shoulder, but before he had come half-way the savage turned and staggered back, Ti-hi pointing triumphantly to an arrow sticking deep in the muscles of the man’s shoulder.There was a loud yelling as the wounded savage rejoined his companions, and our own men set up a triumphant shout.“That’s one to us,” said Jack Penny drily. “I think I shall keep the score.”The doctor looked at me just at this time and I looked back at him; and somehow I seemed to read in his eyes that he thought it would be the best plan to let the blacks fight out the battle with their bows and arrows, and I felt quite happy in my mind for the moment, since it seemed to me that we should get out of the difficulty of having to shed blood.But directly after I coloured with shame, for it seemed cowardly to want to do such work by deputy and to make these ignorant people fight our battle; while after all I was wrong, for the doctor was not thinking anything of the kind. In fact he knew that we would all have to fight in defence of our lives, and when a flight of about twenty arrows came whizzing and pattering over our heads and hurtled down upon the stony floor, I knew it too, and began to grow cool with the courage of desperation and prepared for the worst.“Here, Jack Penny,” I whispered, “you’ll have to fight; the savages mean mischief.”“All right!” he replied in a slow cool drawling way, “I’m ready for them; but I don’t know whether I can hit a man as he runs, unless I try to make myself believe he’s a kangaroo.”The yelling was continued by our enemies, and as far as I could tell it seemed to me that there must be at least thirty savages hiding amongst the rocks and trees, and all apparently thirsting for our blood.“It seems hard, doctor,” I said bitterly. “They might leave us alone.”“I’m afraid they will think that they would have done better in leaving us,” said the doctor gloomily, “for I don’t mean them to win the day if I can help it.”I could not help staring at the doctor: his face looked so stern and strange till, catching my eye, he smiled in his old way, and held out his hand.“We shall beat them off, Joe,” he said gently. “I would have avoided it if I could, but it has become a work of necessity, and we must fight for our lives. Be careful,” he added sternly. “It is no time for trifling. Remember your father, and the mother who is waiting for you at home. Joe, my boy, it is a fight for life, and you must make every shot tell.”For the moment I felt chilled with horror; and a sensation of dread seemed to paralyse me. Then came the reaction, with the thought that if I did not act like a man I should never see those I loved again. This, too, was supplemented, as it were, by that spirit of what the French callcamaraderie, that spirit which makes one forget self; and thinking that I had to defend my two companions from the enemy I raised the barrel of my piece upon the low breastwork, ready to fire on the first enemy who should approach.“Look,” said Ti-hi just then, for he was picking up scraps of our tongue; and following his pointing finger I made out the black bodies of several savages creeping to posts of vantage from whence they would be able to shoot.“Take care,” said the doctor sternly, as an arrow nearly grazed my ear. “If one of those arrows gives ever so slight a wound it may prove fatal, my lad; don’t expose yourself in the least. Ah! the game must begin in earnest,” he said partly under his breath.As he spoke he took aim at a man who was climbing from rock to rock to gain the spot from which the other had been dislodged. Then there was a puff of white smoke, a roar that reverberated amongst the rocks, and the poor wretch seemed to drop out of sight.The doctor’s face looked tight and drawn as he reloaded, and for a moment I felt horrified; but then, seeing a great brawny black fellow raise himself up to draw his bow and shoot at the part where Jack Penny was crouching, and each time seem to send his arrow more close to my companion, I felt suddenly as if an angry wave were sweeping over my spirit, and lay there scowling at the man.He rose up again, and there was a whizz and a crack that startled me.“I say,” drawled Jack Penny, “mind what you’re after. You’ll hit some one directly.”He said this with a strange solemnity of voice, and picking up the arrow he handed it to one of the blacks.“That thing went right through my hair, Joe Carstairs,” he continued. “It’s making me wild.”I hesitated no longer, but as the great savage rose up once more I took a quick aim and fired just as he was drawing his bow.The smoke obscured my sight for a few moments, during which there was a furious yelling, and then, just as the thin bluish vapour was clearing off, there was another puff, and an echoing volley dying off in the distance, for Jack Penny had also fired.“I don’t know whether I hit him,” he answered; “but he was climbing up there like t’other chap was, and I can’t see him now.”In the excitement of the fight the terrible dread of injuring a fellow creature now seemed to have entirely passed away, and I watched one savage stealing from bush to bush, and from great stone to stone with an eagerness I could not have believed in till I found an opportunity of firing at him, just as he too had reached a dangerous place and had sent his first arrow close to my side.I fired and missed him, and the savage shouted defiance as my bullet struck the stones and raised a puff of dust. The next moment he had replied with a well-directed arrow that made me wince, it was so near my head.By this time I had reloaded and was taking aim again with feverish eagerness, when all at once a great stone crashed down from above and swept the savage from the ledge where he knelt.I looked on appalled as the man rolled headlong down in company with the mass of stone, and then lay motionless in the bottom of the little valley.“Who is it throwing stones?” drawled Jack slowly. “That was a big one, and it hit.”“That could not have been an accident,” said the doctor; “perhaps Aroo is up there.”“I only hope he is,” I cried; “but look, look! what’s that?”I caught at the doctor’s arm to draw his attention to what seemed to be a great thickly tufted bush which was coming up the little valley towards us.“Birnam wood is coming to Dunsinane,” said the doctor loudly.“Is it?” said Jack Penny excitedly. “What for? Where? What do you mean?”“Look, look!” I cried, and I pointed to the moving bush.“Well, that’s rum,” said Jack, rubbing his nose with his finger. “Trees are alive, of course, but they can’t walk, can they? I think there’s some one shoving that along.”“Why, of course there is,” I said.“Don’t fire unless you are obliged,” exclaimed the doctor; “and whatever you do, take care. See how the arrows are coming.”For they were pattering about us thickly, and the blacks on our side kept sending them back, but with what result we could not tell, for the savages kept closely within the cover.It was now drawing towards evening, and the sun seemed hotter than ever; the whole of the sultry ravine seemed to have become an oven, of which our cavern shelter was the furnace. In fact the heat was momentarily, from the sun’s position, and in spite of its being so long past the meridian, growing more and more intense.Jack Penny had of late grown very silent, but now and then he turned his face towards me with his mouth open, panting with heat and thirst, as uneasily as his dog, whose tongue was hanging out looking white and dry.“Is there any water there?” said the doctor suddenly, as he paused in the act of reloading.“Not a drop,” I said, dismally.“Oh! don’t say that,” groaned Jack Penny. “If I don’t have some I shall die.”“It will be evening soon,” said the doctor in a husky voice, “and this terrible heat will be over. Keep on firing when you have a chance, my lads, but don’t waste a shot. We must read them such a lesson that they will draw off and leave us alone.”But as he spoke, so far from the loss they had sustained having damped the ardour of the enemy, they kept on sending in the arrows more thickly, but without doing us—thanks to our position and the breastwork—the slightest harm.The sun sank lower, but the rock where we were seemed to grow hotter, the air to be quivering all along the little valley, and as the terrible thirst increased so did our tortures seem to multiply from the fact that we could hear the heavy dull thunderous murmur away to our right, and we knew that it was cool, clear, delicious water, every drop of which would have given our dried-up mouths and parched throats relief.At one time I turned giddy and the whole scene before me seemed to be spinning round, while my head throbbed with the pain I suffered, my tongue all the time feeling like a piece of dry leather which clung to the roof of my mouth.And still the firing was going steadily on, each sending a bullet straight to its mark whenever opportunity occurred; but apparently without effect, for in the midst of all this firing and confusion of shouts from the enemy and defiant replies from our people, the arrows went to and fro as rapidly as ever.If it had not been for the sound of the falling water I believe I could have borne the thirst far better; but no matter how the fighting went, there was always the soft deep roar of the plashing water tantalising us with thoughts of its refreshing draughts and delicious coolness when laving our fevered heads.I grew so giddy at times that I felt that I should only waste my shot if I fired, and refrained, while, gaining experience and growing bolder by degrees, the savages aimed so that every shot became dangerous, for they sent them straight at a mass of rock before us some ten or a dozen yards, and this they struck and then glanced off, so that we were nearly hit three times running.Stones were set up at once upon our right as a protection, but this only saved us for a time. The savages had found out the way to touch us, and before many minutes had elapsedricochetshots were coming amongst as again.“I can hardly see them, Joe,” whispered the doctor suddenly; “my eyes are dizzy with this awful thirst. We must have water if we are to live.”He ceased speaking to catch me by the arm, and point to the bush that had been so long stationary in one place that I had forgotten it.“What’s that, my lad?” he whispered; “is that bush moving, or are my eyes playing me false. It must be on the move. It is some trick. Fire at once and stop it, or we shall be taken in the flank.”I raised my gun as I saw the bush moving slowly on towards us, now coming a yard or two and then stopping; but I was so giddy and confused that I lowered it again, unable to take aim. This took place again and again, and at last I lay there scanning as in a nightmare the coming of that great green bush.The doctor was watching with bloodshot eyes the enemy on his own side, Jack Penny was busy on the other, and the command of this treacherous advancing enemy was left to my gun, which seemed now to have become of enormous weight when I tried to raise it and take aim.“It’s all a dream—it is fancy,” I said to myself, as I tried to shade my eyes and steady my gaze; but as I said this the bush once more began to glide on, and the black patch I saw beneath it must, I felt, be the leg of the savage concealed behind.
I believe the doctor saved us from dangerous wounds, if not from death, for, as he threw himself flat, half a dozen arrows struck the roof of our shelter, and fell pattering down amongst us as we lay.
“Here, quick! pass these packages forward,” the doctor whispered; and we managed to get the blacks’ loads between us and the enemy, making of the packages a sort of breastwork, which sheltered us while we hauled forward some pieces of stone, arrow after arrow reaching this extempore parapet, or coming over it to strike the roof and fall back.
The natives with us understood our plans at once, and eagerly helped, pushing great pieces of stone up to us, so that in about a quarter of an hour we were well protected, and the question came uppermost in my mind whether it was not time to retaliate with a charge of shot upon the cowardly assailants, who had attacked us when we were so peacefully engaged.
We had time, too, now to look round us and lament that our force was so much weakened by the absence of Jimmy and Aroo, who had gone to fetch more water.
“They will be killed,” I said, and I saw Ti-hi smile, for he had evidently understood my meaning. He shook his head too, and tried to make me understand, as I found afterwards, that Aroo would take care of himself; but we left off in a state of the greatest confusion.
Being then well sheltered we contrived loopholes to watch for our enemies, and Ti-hi pointed out to me the place from whence the arrows were shot every time the enemy could see a hand.
The spot he pointed to as that in which our assailants lay was where a patch of thick growth flourished among some stones, about fifty yards along the rocky pass in the direction in which we had come, and as I was intently watching the place to make out some sign of the enemy, and feeling doubtful whether the black was right, I saw a slight movement and the glint of a flying arrow, which struck the face of the rock a few feet above my head, and then fell by Jack Penny’s hand.
“Mind,” I said, as he picked it up; “perhaps it is poisoned.”
Ti-hi was eagerly watching my face, and as I spoke he caught the arrow from Jack’s hand, placed it against his arm, and then closed his eyes and pretended to be dead; but as quickly came to life again, as several more arrows struck the rock and fell harmlessly among us. These he gathered together all but one, whose point was broken by coming in contact with the rock, and that he threw away.
After this he carefully strung the bow that he always, like his fellows, carried, and looked eagerly at the doctor, who was scanning the ground in front of us with his little double glass.
“I don’t like the look of things, my lads,” he said in a low voice, and his countenance was very serious as he spoke. “I intended for ours to be a peaceable mission, but it seems as if we are to be forced into war with two men absent.”
“Shall we have to shoot ’em?” said Jack Penny excitedly.
“I hope not,” said the doctor, “for I should be sorry to shed the blood of the lowest savage; but we must fight in defence of our lives. We cannot afford to give those up, come what may.”
Ti-hi fitted an arrow to the string of his short, strong bow, and was about to draw it, but the doctor laid his hand upon him and checked him, to the savage warrior’s great disgust.
“No,” said the doctor, “not until we are obliged; and then I shall try what a charge of small shot will do.”
We were not long in finding out that it was absolutely necessary to defend ourselves with vigour, for the arrows began to fall thickly—thickly enough, indeed, to show us that there were more marksmen hidden among the trees than the size of the clump seemed to indicate from where we crouched.
I was watching the patch of trees very intently when I heard a sharply drawn inspiration of breath, and turning I saw the doctor pulling an arrow from the flannel tunic he wore.
“As doctors say, Joe,” he whispered with a smile, “three inches more to the right and that would have been fatal.”
I don’t know how I looked, but I felt pale, and winced a little, while the doctor took my hand.
The force of habit made me snatch it away, for I thought he was going to feel my pulse. I fancied for the moment that it must be to see whether I was nervous, and the blood flushed to my cheeks now, and made me look defiant.
“Why, Joe, my lad, what is it?” he said quietly. “Won’t you shake hands?”
“Oh! yes,” I cried, placing mine in his, and he gave it a long, firm grip.
“I ought,” he said, after a pause, “to have said more about the troubles, like this one, which I might have known would arise, when we arranged to start; but somehow I had a sort of hope that we might make a peaceful journey, and not be called upon to shed blood. Joe, my lad, we shall have to fight for our lives.”
“And shoot down these people?” I said huskily.
“If we do not, they will shoot us. Poor wretches, they probably do not know the power of our guns. We must give them the small shot first, and we may scare them off. Don’t you fire, my lad; leave it to me.”
I nodded my head, and then our attention was taken up by the arrows that kept flying in, with such good aim that if we had exposed ourselves in the least the chances are that we should have been hit.
The doctor was on one side of me, Jack Penny on the other, and my tall young friend I noticed had been laying some cartridges very methodically close to his hand, ready for action it seemed to me; but he had not spoken much, only looked very solemn as he lay upon his chest, kicking his legs up and sawing them slowly to and fro.
“Are we going to have to fight, Joe Carstairs?” he whispered.
“I’m afraid so,” I replied.
“Oh!”
That was all for a few minutes, during which time the arrows kept coming in and striking the roof as before, to fall there with a tinkling sound, and be collected carefully by Ti-hi and his companions, all of whom watched us with glowing eyes, waiting apparently for the order to be given when they might reply to the shots of the enemy.
“I say, Joe Carstairs,” said Jack, giving me a touch with his long arm.
“Yes; what is it?” I said peevishly, for his questions seemed to be a nuisance.
“I don’t look horribly frightened, do I?”
“No,” I said; “you look cool enough. Why?”
“Because I feel in a horrid stew, just as I did when a lot of the black fellows carried me off. I was a little one then.”
“Were you ever a little one, Jack!” I said wonderingly.
“Why, of course I was—a very little one. You don’t suppose I was born with long legs like a colt, do you? The blacks came one day when father was away, and mother had gone to see after the cow, and after taking all the meal and bacon they went off, one of them tucking me under his arm, and I never made a sound, I was so frightened, for I was sure they were going to eat me. I feel something like I did then; but I say, Joe Carstairs, you’re sure I don’t show it?”
“Sure! Yes,” I said quickly. “If we have to shoot at these savages shall you take aim at them?”
“All depends,” said Jack coolly. “First of all, I shall fire in front of their bows like the man-o’-war’s men do. If that don’t stop ’em I shall fire at their legs, and if that don’t do any good then I shall let ’em have it right full, for it’ll be their own fault. That’s my principle, Joe Carstairs; if a fellow lets me alone I never interfere with him, but if he begins at me I’m nasty. Here, you leave those arrows alone, and—well, what’s the matter with you?”
This was to Gyp, who was whining uneasily as if he scented danger, and wanted to run out.
“Down, Gyp, down!” said his master; and the dog crouched lower, growling, though, now as a fresh arrow flashed in from another part.
The doctor started and raised his gun to take aim at the spot from whence this shot had come, for one of the savages had climbed up and reached a ledge above where we were. In fact this man’s attack made our position ten times more perilous than it was before.
But the doctor did not fire, for Ti-hi, without waiting for orders, drew an arrow to its head, the bow-string gave a loud twang, and the next instant we saw a savage bound from the ledge where he had hidden and run across the intervening space, club in one hand, bow in the other, yelling furiously the while.
The doctor was about to fire, and in the excitement of the moment I had my piece to my shoulder, but before he had come half-way the savage turned and staggered back, Ti-hi pointing triumphantly to an arrow sticking deep in the muscles of the man’s shoulder.
There was a loud yelling as the wounded savage rejoined his companions, and our own men set up a triumphant shout.
“That’s one to us,” said Jack Penny drily. “I think I shall keep the score.”
The doctor looked at me just at this time and I looked back at him; and somehow I seemed to read in his eyes that he thought it would be the best plan to let the blacks fight out the battle with their bows and arrows, and I felt quite happy in my mind for the moment, since it seemed to me that we should get out of the difficulty of having to shed blood.
But directly after I coloured with shame, for it seemed cowardly to want to do such work by deputy and to make these ignorant people fight our battle; while after all I was wrong, for the doctor was not thinking anything of the kind. In fact he knew that we would all have to fight in defence of our lives, and when a flight of about twenty arrows came whizzing and pattering over our heads and hurtled down upon the stony floor, I knew it too, and began to grow cool with the courage of desperation and prepared for the worst.
“Here, Jack Penny,” I whispered, “you’ll have to fight; the savages mean mischief.”
“All right!” he replied in a slow cool drawling way, “I’m ready for them; but I don’t know whether I can hit a man as he runs, unless I try to make myself believe he’s a kangaroo.”
The yelling was continued by our enemies, and as far as I could tell it seemed to me that there must be at least thirty savages hiding amongst the rocks and trees, and all apparently thirsting for our blood.
“It seems hard, doctor,” I said bitterly. “They might leave us alone.”
“I’m afraid they will think that they would have done better in leaving us,” said the doctor gloomily, “for I don’t mean them to win the day if I can help it.”
I could not help staring at the doctor: his face looked so stern and strange till, catching my eye, he smiled in his old way, and held out his hand.
“We shall beat them off, Joe,” he said gently. “I would have avoided it if I could, but it has become a work of necessity, and we must fight for our lives. Be careful,” he added sternly. “It is no time for trifling. Remember your father, and the mother who is waiting for you at home. Joe, my boy, it is a fight for life, and you must make every shot tell.”
For the moment I felt chilled with horror; and a sensation of dread seemed to paralyse me. Then came the reaction, with the thought that if I did not act like a man I should never see those I loved again. This, too, was supplemented, as it were, by that spirit of what the French callcamaraderie, that spirit which makes one forget self; and thinking that I had to defend my two companions from the enemy I raised the barrel of my piece upon the low breastwork, ready to fire on the first enemy who should approach.
“Look,” said Ti-hi just then, for he was picking up scraps of our tongue; and following his pointing finger I made out the black bodies of several savages creeping to posts of vantage from whence they would be able to shoot.
“Take care,” said the doctor sternly, as an arrow nearly grazed my ear. “If one of those arrows gives ever so slight a wound it may prove fatal, my lad; don’t expose yourself in the least. Ah! the game must begin in earnest,” he said partly under his breath.
As he spoke he took aim at a man who was climbing from rock to rock to gain the spot from which the other had been dislodged. Then there was a puff of white smoke, a roar that reverberated amongst the rocks, and the poor wretch seemed to drop out of sight.
The doctor’s face looked tight and drawn as he reloaded, and for a moment I felt horrified; but then, seeing a great brawny black fellow raise himself up to draw his bow and shoot at the part where Jack Penny was crouching, and each time seem to send his arrow more close to my companion, I felt suddenly as if an angry wave were sweeping over my spirit, and lay there scowling at the man.
He rose up again, and there was a whizz and a crack that startled me.
“I say,” drawled Jack Penny, “mind what you’re after. You’ll hit some one directly.”
He said this with a strange solemnity of voice, and picking up the arrow he handed it to one of the blacks.
“That thing went right through my hair, Joe Carstairs,” he continued. “It’s making me wild.”
I hesitated no longer, but as the great savage rose up once more I took a quick aim and fired just as he was drawing his bow.
The smoke obscured my sight for a few moments, during which there was a furious yelling, and then, just as the thin bluish vapour was clearing off, there was another puff, and an echoing volley dying off in the distance, for Jack Penny had also fired.
“I don’t know whether I hit him,” he answered; “but he was climbing up there like t’other chap was, and I can’t see him now.”
In the excitement of the fight the terrible dread of injuring a fellow creature now seemed to have entirely passed away, and I watched one savage stealing from bush to bush, and from great stone to stone with an eagerness I could not have believed in till I found an opportunity of firing at him, just as he too had reached a dangerous place and had sent his first arrow close to my side.
I fired and missed him, and the savage shouted defiance as my bullet struck the stones and raised a puff of dust. The next moment he had replied with a well-directed arrow that made me wince, it was so near my head.
By this time I had reloaded and was taking aim again with feverish eagerness, when all at once a great stone crashed down from above and swept the savage from the ledge where he knelt.
I looked on appalled as the man rolled headlong down in company with the mass of stone, and then lay motionless in the bottom of the little valley.
“Who is it throwing stones?” drawled Jack slowly. “That was a big one, and it hit.”
“That could not have been an accident,” said the doctor; “perhaps Aroo is up there.”
“I only hope he is,” I cried; “but look, look! what’s that?”
I caught at the doctor’s arm to draw his attention to what seemed to be a great thickly tufted bush which was coming up the little valley towards us.
“Birnam wood is coming to Dunsinane,” said the doctor loudly.
“Is it?” said Jack Penny excitedly. “What for? Where? What do you mean?”
“Look, look!” I cried, and I pointed to the moving bush.
“Well, that’s rum,” said Jack, rubbing his nose with his finger. “Trees are alive, of course, but they can’t walk, can they? I think there’s some one shoving that along.”
“Why, of course there is,” I said.
“Don’t fire unless you are obliged,” exclaimed the doctor; “and whatever you do, take care. See how the arrows are coming.”
For they were pattering about us thickly, and the blacks on our side kept sending them back, but with what result we could not tell, for the savages kept closely within the cover.
It was now drawing towards evening, and the sun seemed hotter than ever; the whole of the sultry ravine seemed to have become an oven, of which our cavern shelter was the furnace. In fact the heat was momentarily, from the sun’s position, and in spite of its being so long past the meridian, growing more and more intense.
Jack Penny had of late grown very silent, but now and then he turned his face towards me with his mouth open, panting with heat and thirst, as uneasily as his dog, whose tongue was hanging out looking white and dry.
“Is there any water there?” said the doctor suddenly, as he paused in the act of reloading.
“Not a drop,” I said, dismally.
“Oh! don’t say that,” groaned Jack Penny. “If I don’t have some I shall die.”
“It will be evening soon,” said the doctor in a husky voice, “and this terrible heat will be over. Keep on firing when you have a chance, my lads, but don’t waste a shot. We must read them such a lesson that they will draw off and leave us alone.”
But as he spoke, so far from the loss they had sustained having damped the ardour of the enemy, they kept on sending in the arrows more thickly, but without doing us—thanks to our position and the breastwork—the slightest harm.
The sun sank lower, but the rock where we were seemed to grow hotter, the air to be quivering all along the little valley, and as the terrible thirst increased so did our tortures seem to multiply from the fact that we could hear the heavy dull thunderous murmur away to our right, and we knew that it was cool, clear, delicious water, every drop of which would have given our dried-up mouths and parched throats relief.
At one time I turned giddy and the whole scene before me seemed to be spinning round, while my head throbbed with the pain I suffered, my tongue all the time feeling like a piece of dry leather which clung to the roof of my mouth.
And still the firing was going steadily on, each sending a bullet straight to its mark whenever opportunity occurred; but apparently without effect, for in the midst of all this firing and confusion of shouts from the enemy and defiant replies from our people, the arrows went to and fro as rapidly as ever.
If it had not been for the sound of the falling water I believe I could have borne the thirst far better; but no matter how the fighting went, there was always the soft deep roar of the plashing water tantalising us with thoughts of its refreshing draughts and delicious coolness when laving our fevered heads.
I grew so giddy at times that I felt that I should only waste my shot if I fired, and refrained, while, gaining experience and growing bolder by degrees, the savages aimed so that every shot became dangerous, for they sent them straight at a mass of rock before us some ten or a dozen yards, and this they struck and then glanced off, so that we were nearly hit three times running.
Stones were set up at once upon our right as a protection, but this only saved us for a time. The savages had found out the way to touch us, and before many minutes had elapsedricochetshots were coming amongst as again.
“I can hardly see them, Joe,” whispered the doctor suddenly; “my eyes are dizzy with this awful thirst. We must have water if we are to live.”
He ceased speaking to catch me by the arm, and point to the bush that had been so long stationary in one place that I had forgotten it.
“What’s that, my lad?” he whispered; “is that bush moving, or are my eyes playing me false. It must be on the move. It is some trick. Fire at once and stop it, or we shall be taken in the flank.”
I raised my gun as I saw the bush moving slowly on towards us, now coming a yard or two and then stopping; but I was so giddy and confused that I lowered it again, unable to take aim. This took place again and again, and at last I lay there scanning as in a nightmare the coming of that great green bush.
The doctor was watching with bloodshot eyes the enemy on his own side, Jack Penny was busy on the other, and the command of this treacherous advancing enemy was left to my gun, which seemed now to have become of enormous weight when I tried to raise it and take aim.
“It’s all a dream—it is fancy,” I said to myself, as I tried to shade my eyes and steady my gaze; but as I said this the bush once more began to glide on, and the black patch I saw beneath it must, I felt, be the leg of the savage concealed behind.