OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE SAVAGES, AND THE UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR OF OUR GUESTS
There we were then, I say, sixteen seamen and our two selves, with Little John, cooped up in a house built for two, with no air nor light but what came through the small loopholes in the walls. It was desperately unpleasant; at least, I found it so; as for the seamen, maybe they felt it less, being accustomed to the closeness of 'tween decks, though to be sure they had lived an open life for so long that they had almost had time to forget the forecastle of theLovey Susan. There was a great babblement among them, congratulating one another on their lucky escape and on their having found quarters, cursing the savages very heartily, and hoping they would now sheer off. I do not remember that I heard a word of thanks to us for helping them, except from poor Mr. Bodger, who came to me and, in a manner more meek and quiet even than when he was aboard theLovey Susan, said it was like heaven to find me again, after the terrible life he had led among the seamen. It was from him I learnt what I have already related about the men's doings on the island where they landed, and of what had happened subsequently to their last visit to us, which was as follows. They had gone to one of the islands to the westward which they had seen from the slopes of our island, and made friends with the savages there, which they were able to do because, having firearms, the savages thought to make use of them in warfare against their enemies. For a time the seamen lived right royally among them, having food and quarters on condition of this military service; but becoming insolent and puffed up with their own importance, they presently offended the savages, and crowned their misdeeds with refusing to fight any more for them, which they did because their ammunition was running short. Learning from a savage girl that had a partiality for Pumfrey that the tribe were minded to enslave them, they determined to slip away by night in their boat, and come back to our island, to see whether their notions about it were well founded, I mean as to the scarcity of food on it; and they did this, but their departure was discovered before they had gone very far, and with the morning light they saw that they were pursued by their infuriate employers.
Besieged
Mr. Bodger did not tell me all this, and what I have related before, at one time, because we were too busy watching the proceedings of the savages, and debating about them, to hold long discourse undisturbed. The issue of their deliberations appeared to be that they would make no attempt to carry our defences by main force, which indeed would have been a hopeless undertaking, but to invest us strictly, being no doubt confident in their numbers to overwhelm us when we should issue forth, as we must some time do, when the pressure of hunger compelled us. The whole body of them split up into five little camps of about forty men each, who posted themselves in a half-circle about the front side of the hut, and out of range of the seamen's muskets. One of these camps, however, was placed, very likely out of bravado, a good deal nearer to our hut than the rest, and Hoggett declared with an oath that he would have a shot at them, only he did not care to waste the powder, his stock being all but gone. "Where's Brent?" cries he. "Mister Brent," says Billy at once. "Is that there young scum of a Bobbin a-talking?" cries Hoggett. I caught Billy's arm to keep him from answering, fearing lest Hoggett should deal brutally with him; and Hoggett said with a laugh, "Where'sMisterBrent, then?" "What is it?" said I. "Send one of your arrows amongst those reptiles, will you?" says he, in a tone that I did not at all relish, so that I was on the point of taking him up pretty sharply, only I thought better of it, for what was the use of making a bother when there were so many of them? Indeed, I was already not a little disturbed in my mind, foreseeing that if the fellow would put on this insolency of bearing so soon, we should go through rough water presently. However, to come back to my story. I was not at all disposed to shoot an arrow at Hoggett's bidding; yet I thought it were a good thing to show the savages that we had our eyes on them; so I said, "Billy, maybe you will kindly show Hoggett what you can do." "Do you bid me, master?" says the boy: I call him "boy," though he was at this time, I suppose, eighteen or nineteen years old. "I ask you, Billy," said I: whereupon he took his bow and an arrow, and went to one of the loopholes, and there was pretty nearly a fight among the men for places at the others, for there were not enough for all of them. As for myself I could see nothing, but I heard the twang of the bow-string, and immediately afterwards a great shout of laughter from the men, which Billy told me was occasioned by the sudden leaping up of the savages among whom the arrow fell, and their scuttering like rabbits to a safer distance. I do not doubt their amazement, for their own bows were small compared with ours, and had not near so long a range.
"Well shot, Billy!" cries Clums, the cook of theLovey Susan, and a good-tempered man on the whole, but a perfect child in the hands of Hoggett, who was angered by his praise of Billy, and sharply bade him "hold his jaw." "Why didn't you make a window in this cursed hole?" he cried; "I can't see nothing." "We'll open the door," said I, "for they're out of range now, and we can shut it again before they get near." Accordingly we opened it, and I was very thankful for the fresh air, and the men, spying in one corner the little pile of cocoa-nuts that we usually kept there, seized upon them, and in their haste to drink the juice broke them carelessly, so that a good deal was spilled. "Give me water instead of that muck," cried Hoggett; "maybe Mr. Brent will kindly show us what he can do that way," and having thus mocked me he shouted a great guffaw, which some of the men imitated, though one or two looked ill-pleased. I had much ado, I assure you, to command my temper, but I did command it, and afterwards remembered a saying of my uncle, that to lose your temper is to give a weapon to your enemy. I showed Hoggett our water-pot, and bade him be sparing, for that was all we had, and he answered with an oath that he would drink as much as he pleased; but Chick then spoke up, bidding him not to be a greedy swine, and Hoggett growled out some answer; but I observed that he did not drink much, and so I learnt, what I afterwards confirmed, that Chick had some sway over Hoggett, I suppose from his speaking little, but always to the point.
We thought it prudent to shut the door when night fell, in spite of the closeness of the atmosphere; and I never in all my life spent so horrible a night. Some of the men, I know not who, took our pillows, so that Billy and I were no better off than the most of them, and we lay side by side on the floor, except when we took our turn at watching, for the whole company was divided into watches as on board ship. We knew that the savages kept watch also, for we saw the glow of their camp fires, and Billy said he wished he could have seen how they made the fire, he having never ceased to feel disappointment because he had failed in that particular. There was nothing to disturb us during the night, but I rose in the morning so sick and miserable that I thought I should die if I had to endure the like again. We opened the door as soon as it was light, and quaffed the air as if it was nectar; and the seamen having roused up, clamoured for breakfast, and soon finished all the cocoa-nuts we had in the house; and they took off the lid of our great breadpan, as we called it, and seeing the bread-fruit paste there, cried out to know what it was, and when I told them, nothing would satisfy them but that Billy should take some of it out to our oven, which was near the hut, and the fire still smouldering. There was little danger in Billy's doing this, because the savages were still at too great a distance for their arrows to reach us, and if they came nearer he would have time to run indoors; but I did not like his acting as servant to these men, and said so, whereupon Hoggett asked fiercely whether the boy was not a stowaway, and who was he to put on airs, and he would show him, and so forth; and I thought it was better for the sake of peace and quietness that Billy should cook a little bread for them.
There we were, cooped up all that day, and before night all our food and water were gone, and the men grew very testy, and in a most unreasonable manner turned their vexation on Billy and me, demanding why we had brought them into the hut to starve. To this I found myself quite unable to frame a suitable answer, being perfectly overcome with the sheer ingratitude of the men; but when it was dark I said that Billy and I would go out and get some water and also a few cocoa-nuts. I did not purpose to go out by the door at the front of the hut, but to cut a hole in the slope of the roof facing the lake, that side not being watched at all by the savages. It was no very long business to make a hole of the right size, the seamen's cutlasses aiding our own tools, which they scoffed at a good deal. But when we were on the point of going forth, Clums asked me where I should get the water, and when I said from the lake he begged and prayed me not to do so, because he said it griped them so horribly. However, I told him that boiling it was a means of making it harmless, and then he said go, and "God bless you!" which was an exceeding strange saying on his lips, which were commonly cursing and swearing. Billy and I went out through the hole, and the men handed out pails, and with these we went down to the lake, and filled them, and returned, the savages being no whit the wiser. And the pails being let down, the men kindled a small fire on the earthen floor, so as to boil the water, while we went into the woods to gather some cocoa-nuts. We talked on the way about the strange change which had come over the posture of our affairs, wondering very much what the issue might be. The savages would no doubt contrive to subsist on plants which we had never used for food, and if they went a-prowling they would discover our plantation of yams; but we had already dug up the most of these and stored them in our cellar with the bread fruit, and I could not think there was enough fruit left on the trees to support so large a throng of savages for any considerable period. Still, there was enough to last them until we were all starved, unless we disclosed our secret store below the hut, which I was exceeding loath even to think of.
This second night was not quite such a torture as the first, the hole in the roof giving us the much-needed ventilation; but next day the men were more quarrelsome than ever, and I was in a constant fear lest they should set to work to break each others' heads, which might have rid us of some arrant rascals, it is true, but it might also have put an end to Billy and me. They vented some of their ill-temper on Little John, who had not taken kindly to them, and showed himself so exceeding fierce when they kicked him, that they would have killed him only I prevented them. The savages had made no other attack on us, but neither had they given any sign of removing themselves; rather the contrary, indeed, for they never let their fires out, and they had started to build themselves little shelters at the edge of the cliffs. Hoggett began to talk of sallying forth and seeing if we could not work such mischief among them as would send them packing, and though Wabberley and Mr. Bodger were the loudest against this, Wabberley waxing most movingly eloquent in describing the dangers of the plan proposed, the others were so desperately weary of the situation that they consented to accompany Hoggett, the time chosen for the attempt being just after it became dark. But while we were waiting as patiently as we might for the day to end, it came into my head that we might find the fizzy rock as efficacious in scaring the savages as it had been with the seamen; and since Billy and I had gone out and come in safely the night before, we might issue forth on this coming night, and get enough of the rock to make a very good smoke in the morning. While Billy and I were consulting about this in whispers, one of the men—I think it was Pumfrey—proposed that we should all steal out at dead of night, and creep down to the boat and the canoes, and make off in the darkness, leaving the savages marooned on the island. This notion at first met with acceptance from some, but Chick, who said little ordinarily, spoke up very strongly against it, arguing that there was little chance of all of us getting to the shore unperceived, and asking how we knew the canoes were not guarded. He said also, very pertinently, that if we did get away, we could not take all the canoes, and the savages, when they discovered our departure, would set off in chase, and being more expert with the paddles they would soon overtake us, we having now next to no powder and shot for the guns; and to clinch it all, he said that if we were caught in the open it was kingdom come for all of us, on which Wabberley declared that Chick was very obliging in putting the case so plainly, and he for one would live and die with Chick. Whereupon I said there was no need for any one to die, at least not yet, and offered to go out with Billy in the middle of the night and put in action the plan I had formed for driving the savages away. Hoggett and some of the rest looked at me with great suspicion, and Hoggett said, "How are you going to do it?" and I hesitated at first whether to tell him; but reflecting that he was bound to know I told him that we had the means of making a great smoke and smother, and so might delude the savages with the belief that the mountain was active. There was a very grim look on Hoggett's face when, silencing some of the men who were beginning to speak, he asked again how we could make that smoke and smother, and I saw no use in attempting to conceal it, and so told him about the extraordinary rock we had discovered. His eyes glittered as I was speaking, and when I had ended he would not suffer the other men to speak a word, but bade me do as I had said. "Do it proper," says he, "and we'll see."
The Savages are Scared
Accordingly, in the deep time of night Billy and I clambered out through the hole in the roof and set off with our spades up the mountain side, to dig out enough rock to make a big smoke as soon as it was light. Billy said it was a pity I had told the men about the rock, and he was sure harm would come of it; but I showed him that our case could scarcely be worse than it was, shut up in a narrow compass with such unpleasant companions, and that if we drove the savages from the island we should at least have liberty of movement, and as for what was to happen after, we must leave it to Providence, at the same time saying that the seamen would surely not remain long on the island when they found it was not very plentiful in food, so far as they could tell. "That's all very well, master," says Billy sorrowfully; "but there's enough to keep 'em until the fruits begin to ripen again, and there's all our pigs and fowls, which they'll eat up as sure as a gun, and we shan't be able to breed no more. Still, I don't see what we can do, unless we poison the whole lot of 'em, same as we did the monsters, and I suppose you won't agree to that." I said that I would not, and then reminded Billy that we had triumphed over many difficulties and dangers in our four years' residence on the island, and I did not in any way despair of coming safely through this present predicament; and so we went on up the mountain side, not hurrying or taking any particular care, for we knew the savages would not be in this part of the island, having a very wholesome dread of the volcano.
Being come to the place where the deposit of fizzy rock was, we worked a great quantity of it loose with our spades, and carried it to the neighbourhood of the springs, where by the dawn we had two great heaps. As soon as it began to be light we threw the rock bit by bit into the water, Billy at one spring and I at the other, being careful to keep out of sight from below, for we knew that every eye in the camps of the savages would be turned to the mountain as soon as they saw the smoke. It happened that the cloud of steam over the summit was somewhat denser than it had been the day before, which was all in favour of our design. We were favoured, too, by the stillness of the air, for, there being no wind, the fumes that rose from the rock hung about the mountain and did not float away, though that was also a disadvantage to us, inasmuch as we could not avoid the poisonous stench. We had to hold our breath and rush into the smoke in order to keep the springs constantly fed with the rock, and I began to feel very ill, and, going to see how Billy was faring, I observed that his skin was a greenish colour, and so I bade him to desist and to come with me and peer over to see whether our trick had wrought upon the savages as we hoped it would. We saw that they were standing in a great throng watching the smoke; but they did not as yet appear to be infected with panic, which, when I thought of it, I considered to be due to the absence of the rumbling noises that commonly accompanied the action of the volcano. Since we could not in any way make such a noise as would counterfeit the natural rumbling, I racked my brains to think of any other means by which we might work upon them the beginnings of fright, for I was sure that if we could only start them it would not be long before panic fear got hold of them, and then it would sweep them away. Running back to my spring, to cast more rock into it, I observed that there were some big boulders a little higher up, below the edge of the crater, that appeared to be insecurely poised. They were at the top of a gentle slope, which fell away afterwards into a sheer precipice several hundreds of feet in depth. I wondered whether the boulders I have mentioned could be seen from the savages' camp, and creeping up the slope to see, I found that the savages were quite out of sight; whereupon I hastened down to Billy, and after throwing into the springs enough rock to last a good while, we went together to the top of the slope, and shoving with all our strength against one of the boulders, we set it rolling down. The moment we had started it we went to another, and so on, until there was a sort of cascade of rocks sliding down the slope and then plunging over the edge and crashing down at the foot of the precipice, the sound coming very faintly to our ears.
Though we chose only the smaller of the boulders, the larger being utterly beyond our strength to move, the haste with which we worked made us very hot and weary, and when we paused to rest for a moment we thought we heard shouts of alarm from below, and then all of a sudden there was silence. Heaving over one more boulder we hastened down to the place from which we could see the savages while ourselves unseen, and when we got there they had all vanished. "We've done it, master," said Billy, panting, "and much good 'twill be to us." But I was by no means sure that the savages had actually gone, thinking that maybe they had merely shifted their quarters; accordingly I did not think it proper to go down at once towards our hut, but remained for some while longer feeding the springs with the rock. However, when we were again feeling very sick because of the fumes, and went to some distance for purer air, we caught sight of the fleet of canoes making for the westward, the savages paddling with great energy; and being very joyful at the success of our stratagem, though somewhat apprehensive of what was to ensue, we descended the mountain-side and came again to our hut. The seamen had already issued from it, and were standing on the cliffs watching the departing canoes; but as we approached them we observed signs of discontent and anger among them, instead of the gladness we expected. And when we came to them several of them cried out that the savages had taken their boat, and now they were marooned; and Hoggett came up to us with a very truculent mien, and said that he now knew how we had tricked him when he first came to the island—I mean on his first visit to us—and he wanted to know what we meant by it, and but for us he might have stayed on the island with his mates and lived hearty, instead of near starving as he had done, and we had better not try no more tricks on him, or he'd show us, and a great deal more to the like effect, with plentiful oaths and very foul language. I affected to laugh it off, saying that at any rate our trick had cleared the island of savages, whereupon he broke out again: "Yes," says he, "and they've robbed us of our boat; and now we've got to stop here, and goodness knows how we'll live, for you two fools ain't had the sense to grow enough for all of us. I want my breakfast, I do, and there ain't nothing in that there cabin, and you'd better look alive and get me something, or I may come to eating you." This speech made me very indignant, when but for us Hoggett and the rest would without doubt have been butchered by the savages; but since it was plain that we were to live with him and them I saw that no good would come of quarrelling, so I laughed again, and said if he was patient he might have a breakfast of pork and potatoes (by which I meant yams) and maybe an egg or two, unless the savages had scared our hens from laying; and he looked very well pleased at this, and called to the other men, telling them what the breakfast was to be, and then he stuck his hands in his pockets and swaggered off among them, saying to us as he went not to be long about it, because he was hungry.
Billy fairly gnashed his teeth as we went to our hut. He was much more put about than I was, resenting on my behalf the domineering airs that Hoggett put on. "There you are," says he, "what did I say? This ain't our island no more. You ain't the king, and I ain't the prince, or whatever you call it, but it belongs to Hoggett."
"Oh no, it doesn't," said I; "Hoggett doesn't become the owner just because you and I, to humour him, give him his breakfast."
"Breakfast!" says Billy scornfully; "yes, breakfast, and dinner, and supper, and bites in between; and as for humouring him, you might as well humour one of they monsters we poisoned, he'll only squeeze you the harder."
Dreams
I laughed at Billy, for I believed that by showing ourselves friendly we should gain the friendliness of the men, so that, if we were destined to live on the island together, we might form a peaceable if not a happy community. I dreamt of a little republic, in which all should have tasks corresponding to their talents, so that what little labour was required should fall very lightly on individuals. I dreamt also of making a boat large enough to carry us all, and sailing away some day to England, or at least to some place where we should fall in with an English ship. And I dare say in these my day-dreams I saw myself as the head of this little republic; not an autocrat, but a kindly and benevolent protector, to whom the others would look up, knowing that his whole heart was set on their good. It was in this frame of mind that I willingly helped Billy to prepare a sumptuous repast for the men, slaying a pig and several fowls, and boiling yams and eggs. They ate with mighty good appetite, and I am sure thoroughly enjoyed the meal, though Wabberley did grumble in the middle of it, because we had no beer. Some of them mocked and jeered at our clumsy crockery and other utensils; but Clums spoke up for us on this point, saying that a pot was good enough if it didn't run out, and he only wished he had had such things in the island where they had been.
Mr. Bodger
For the rest of that day the men roamed about the island, and one or two of them plucked up courage to climb the mountain, though they turned back before they came to the crater. They discovered our plantation of yams, and were pleased to express approval of the manner in which we had fenced it in, and Pumfrey said it must be enlarged now, for we could not grow enough there to feed them all. This brought home to me the fact that our solitude was henceforth to be peopled, and though I might please myself with dreams of ruling over a little republic, I own I felt a sort of regret that the happy life Billy and I had led together was encroached on and perturbed, a feeling which grew into positive abhorrence before the day was out. The men came punctually back to the hut for meals, and Clums, who was a good-natured fellow if he was let alone, lent a hand to their preparation, so that the work did not fall wholly on Billy and me. And it was during the latter part of the day that I heard from Mr. Bodger more particulars of the miseries of his life on their island. They had saved him at the first, it appeared, merely because they thought his seamanship might be some time useful to them, but when he never had an opportunity of doing anything in that way they used to taunt him, and ask him why he hadn't stuck to Captain Corke and Mr. Lummis, and dealt very evilly with him in many ways. It was plain to me that not only had he no authority over them, such as a ship's officer ought to have, but that he went in mortal terror of Hoggett, so that if it came to a tussle between Hoggett and me I could expect no help from Mr. Bodger.
I observed during the day that there were always some of the men in the hut, or reclining against the wall outside, and it came into my head that they were guarding it, so that Billy and I could not barricade ourselves in it as we had done before, and keep them out. I smiled at this, for having let them in of my own accord, and under no compulsion, I did not think of going back on this, even though the savages were departed. I thought we should not be so discommoded at night, because we had not only the hole in the roof, but could also keep the door open, there being no longer any fear of molestation by wild dogs. In my mind I was planning to build other huts, as soon as I could persuade the men to it, so that Billy and I might have our own to ourselves, which was very much to be desired, considering what stores we had beneath it, and the access to our canoe, now laid up in Dismal Cave. But just before dark, when we had had our supper out in the open, and were thinking of turning in, and I came with Billy to the doorway of the hut, there was Hoggett standing in it with his elbows stuck out and his legs a-straddle, and Wabberley and Chick just behind him. He did not offer to move aside for me, on which I smiled and said we had not foreseen that he would be our guest or we might have made the doorway wider; and then he took a step forward, Wabberley and Chick moving into the doorway, and thrusting his head out until his nose nearly touched mine, he said, very loud: "Look 'ee here, you Brent," says he, "this here place is now mine, d'ye see? and I'm a-going to let in my friends and no one else, and to-night I'm not a-going to have any one in but Mr. Chick and Mr. Wabberley and one or two more, and you two young fellows can just rig up a bunk outside, along with Bodger and the rest."
"That's rather a poor return for hospitality, isn't it, Mr. Hoggett?" I said as pleasantly as I could, though I was raging inside.
"I don't want none of your fine talk, Brent," says he, "and as for Billy Bobbin, if he makes those eyes at me I'll knock his head off."
"No, you won't," says Billy, nimbly stepping back out of reach. It appeared that he had not been able to keep out of his eyes the fury which burnt within him.
Hoggett glared at him, and called him foul names, and then turning to me he cried: "I've said my say, and I tell you if I catch you inside this cabin to-night or any time, I'll flay you alive. You hear that, Mr. Chick?"
"I do," says Chick.
"You hear that, Mr. Wabberley?" says Hoggett again.
"I do," says Wabberley.
"Well, then, Brent has had fair warning, more'n he gave me," says Hoggett, "when he sent an arrow through the fleshy part of my arm."
"That's a lie," cried Billy; "you had more warning than I'd give you."
Turned Out
Hoggett in a fury caught up a musket that stood against the wall, and was presenting it at Billy, but I knocked it up, and bade him, in a very different tone from what I had used as yet, have a care. He seemed surprised at my firmness, and put down the musket, and then, seeing that the other men had come up, and were standing at watch in a little knot, I turned to them, with the intent to appeal to their sense of justice, believing that if I could once get them to break away from Hoggett's dominance all might be well. But I had not spoken a dozen words when Hoggett, who, as his words had shown, was longing to pay off his score against me for wounding him that time, aimed a blow at me, which, however, I saw coming out of the corner of my eye, so that I was ready for it, and parrying it with my left arm, I dealt him such a blow upon his body that he fell doubled up at the doorway. In a moment Chick sprang across him, cutlass in hand, and made for me, and Wabberley came after him, and Hoggett called on the other men to seize me; and though Billy sprang instantly to my side, I saw that the odds were too great against us, and that we had better run for it. I stepped back just in time to escape Chick's cutlass, and at the same time Billy thrust his foot in front of Wabberley, so that the big man came down very heavily on his face; and then we sprinted across the drawbridge, and pulled it after us, so that the men that pursued us were brought up on the brink of the moat, and could do no more than shake their fists and curse us. Billy and I went on leisurely with Little John, who had come after us, and considering what we should do we determined to betake ourselves to the thicket on the slope of the mountain, and it was quite dark before we got there. We made ourselves as comfortable as we could for the night, being strangely reminded of our first coming to the island and the fears and terrors of that time; but we had no such disquietude of mind now, and I think in our hearts we were both glad to have broken with the seamen. When I reproached myself for not having the presence of mind to resume possession of our hut immediately after the savages had departed, Billy said it wouldn't have been much good, because the seamen could not choose but stay on the island, their boat being gone, and things would have come to pretty much the same pass; but he had no sooner said it than he let forth a sharp cry of dismay: "Our canoe, master!" And then I remembered that, having laid our canoe up in the cave, we had no means of getting to her, now that the entrance to the cavern was barred, for we could not climb down the face of the cliffs, nor had we any other boat or raft to carry us there by sea. This was a very staggering situation to be in, and Billy said it was a shame that after we had been so happy all these years we should have all our troubles over again. Sleep overtook us before we saw any way out of our difficulties, which stared us in the face when we opened our eyes to the new day.
"I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY.""I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY."
"I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY.""I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY."
OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR PROPERTY
We had one great advantage over the seamen in that we knew every yard of the island, and so could find our food without searching. Billy laughed when he thought of them having to get their own breakfast, and wishing they had not driven us away; but I said that they had not intended to drive us away, but that Hoggett expected to daunt and cow us, and so make us his bond servants. "Well, hemustbe a fool," says Billy, and chuckled again to think that his old enemy had over-reached himself. Presently we saw that I was right in my surmise, for we heard men shouting in different parts of the island, and guessed they were seeking us; but we kept close all that day, feeling pretty sure that the men would not come up the mountain until they had searched other parts.
We were not idle this day, for we at once set about making a raft to carry us round to the cave, using saplings and creepers for this purpose, fashioning them into a kind of hurdle which we hoped would support us well enough, or at least one of us, for the short voyage. We laughed again to think that when we should have got our canoe again, we might if we pleased sail clean away from the island and seek another home without let or hindrance from the seamen; but we never had any serious thought of this, Palm Tree Island being now our very home. As for what our course of action was to be, we very earnestly considered that while our fingers were busy with the raft. It was plain we could not fight the men, for they had muskets and powder and shot enough to kill us, being only two; and we were without any weapons save our axes, which we always carried in our belts, all the others being either in the hut or in the cellar below it. If we did not fight them, we must nevertheless be either friends or enemies; friends we could not be while Hoggett maintained his present insolency, and as enemies we could but keep out of their way. But I saw we should lead a terrible life if we remained on the island and were harried from place to place, and hunted down, and maybe captured and made slaves of in the end. We might, to be sure, go and live in the cave, where it was little likely that we should be discovered, and if we were we could no doubt make a very good defence; but we did not relish the prospect of skulking, so to speak, in the dim purlieus of the cave and tunnel while our enemies were ranging the island free, and enjoying the full use of what we had laboured so hard for. "I can't a-bear to think of Hoggett drinking out ofmymug," says Billy, with a rueful countenance, "and bluntingmyspears, and wastingmyarrows, and eating our pigs, too, master. What if they eat 'em all, as they did in their own island, and don't leave none for breeding? Oh, that Hoggett! Wouldn't I like to drop some fizzy rock in his water and poison him!"
Quandary
This was indeed a thing to be thought of, and we made up our minds at least to secure some of our pigs and devise some secret place where we might keep them. But the first matter to settle was our own habitation, and it was near the close of the day before the notion came into my head that we might choose the Red Rock, which being severed from the island would be quite inaccessible, except by a bridge, and when we had possession of our bows and arrows we could easily prevent them from throwing a bridge across. It would have been quite foreign to Billy's nature and habit if he had fallen in with this plan without demur, and he said at once that Red Rock was quite barren, save for a few stunted bushes which were of no good either for shelter or food. "But," I said to him, "we shall have our canoe, and we can carry stores in this from the cavern to the rock, and we can make shift to put up some sort of shelter against the weather, which isn't very bad."
"That's true," says he, "but when our stores are all used up, what then? We've got enough in our cellar for three or four months, perhaps, and I lay Hoggett would like to get hold of some of our salted pork, as good as bacon any day; but it won't last for ever, and what then?"
"I can't see so far ahead," said I. "We can live very comfortably for three or four months, and perhaps longer, and by that time something may have happened."
"Yes," says he, "Old Smoker may start work again, and if he does I hope he'll go strong, so that they'll be scared out of their wits and drove to make a raft or boat or something to get away."
Having determined on this, therefore, we made great speed with our raft and finished it before dark, but not soon enough to set off that same night, nor indeed did we much wish to do so, because we had not forgot the monsters that used to live in the cave, and though we had seen none since we poisoned them, we were still squeamish about approaching in the dark. Besides, we should need torches to light us up the tunnel to our storehouse, and for these we had to collect some of the candlenuts, and some dry grass for tinder; the flint and what we called the steel Billy always had in his pocket. We made these preparations before we lay down to rest, resolved to start as soon as ever we saw any sign of dawn in the sky. This resolution, as often happens in such cases, caused me to sleep fitfully, and it was in one of these wakeful spaces that a notion jogged in my head of a plan whereby we might get even with the seamen and come into our own again. I thought of it over and over again, and it excited me and tickled my fancy too; but I determined to say nothing about it to Billy until I had pondered it more carefully, so that I should be ready to meet all the objections which I knew he would raise.
It was still dark, but there was a sort of silent stirring in the sky, betokening dawn, when I waked Billy, who was snoring very happily upon his back, and told him we must convey our raft down to the shore, if we would come to the cave before the men were about. He got up at once, and we carried the raft between us across the island, being careful to keep a good distance from the hut, which made the way longer but surer. Being merely a kind of hurdle, the raft was not heavy and gave us no trouble by its weight, though it was troublesome to get it over the steep places we had to pass on our way down to the shore. However, we came there without mishap, at the sandy beach, and launched the raft; but when I stood upon it I saw that it would not support Billy as well, and I proposed to him that I should go to the cave alone and bring back the canoe for him. This he flatly and with great vehemence refused, saying that I might never get there, what with sharks and long-legged monsters, and that he wasn't going to be left behind, but would share everything with me. When I asked him how he would go, the raft not being strong enough for two, he said he would catch hold of it and swim along, and as for sharks, he would kick out very hard and so scare any that came, and we always had our axes. But now I took a firm stand, and said plainly that I would not allow any such thing, nor did I yield to Billy's pleading that I would permit him to make the journey alone; and so I set off, and not to make a long story about a short voyage, I arrived safely at the cave, and found the canoe just as we had left her behind the rocks. Then I went back for Billy, and when we came to the cave again we lit our torch (we had brought only one, having material for plenty more in the cavern), and proceeded up the tunnel until we reached our storehouse, where we first of all had a good breakfast, thinking all the time of the seamen above, perfectly ignorant of what was going on beneath them. We spoke in whispers and moved very quietly, so that the men should not hear us, and get an inkling of our whereabouts; not that there was much danger of this, perhaps, for if they did hear a sound it was like to make them more fearful than inquisitive, and Billy said they would be sure to think it was Old Smoker talking to himself, and they might then leave the hut as a dangerous place. But I thought it best to run no risks that we could avoid, and so we moved very softly, as I have said.
We spent the whole of that day in conveying stores down to our canoe, finding it a very laborious and tedious business, because the narrowness of the first part of the tunnel, and the roughness of the way, did not allow us to bear such heavy loads as we might have done in the open. We felt an itching curiosity to know what the men were doing, and how they took our disappearance, and Billy said it would be great fun to sail round the island and show ourselves to them, for we could run back to the cave at any time, and they would never know where we had gone, the cave not being visible from above, and the cliff unscalable. But our posture was too serious for mere fun, especially as I did not wish the men even to know we were still alive, because of that notion which had come into my head; and it was for the same reason that I had resolved not to attempt to transport our stores to the Red Rock until the dusk of evening, when the men would have given over their roaming and returned to the hut. When we rested from our work, and ate our meals, we paddled the canoe out to the mouth of the cave, where we could be in the sunshine and fresh air, and away from the exceeding noisome stench made by our torches; and it was really a pleasant enough day, the seamen not being able to molest us.
Retreat to Red Rock
Accordingly, as soon as it was dusk, with a promise of a full, clear moon, we set off, and paddled our well-laden canoe to the north side of the Red Rock, where, as I have said, was the only landing-place. Having moored our vessel securely to a peak of rock, we set to work to carry our cargo up the steep path, and found this the hardest task we had ever undertaken, so that though we toiled pretty nearly all night we had not above half emptied the canoe by the morning. It was very stupid of us to work so hard, as we saw when we had tired ourselves out to dropping, for being on the side of the rock furthest from the island we could not be seen from thence, and might have taken three or four days over the work if we pleased. The manner of our carrying the stores up was to load baskets and strap them to our backs; but one part of the ascent was too steep for us to climb thus laden, and we then tied the baskets in turn to the end of a rope, and one climbed up first and hauled the baskets after him, with much bumping against the rugged side, which made me fear lest we should lose a good deal. However, nothing was lost save two or three cocoa-nuts and the lid of one of my pots, which was full of bread-fruit paste, so that I was glad it was only the lid and not the pot itself. The danger thus narrowly escaped taught us a lesson, and when it came to our largest pots, instead of trying to carry them up full, we emptied their contents into the baskets, and so made several light loads instead of one heavy one, thus avoiding a particular mishap.
When morning came, as I say, we had carried up but half our cargo, and having by that time perceived that there was no need for haste, we refreshed ourselves with one or two cocoa-nuts we had, not lighting a fire to cook anything else, in case its smoke should be seen by the seamen. This consideration somewhat damped our liking for our new abode, for we had been so long accustomed to good and well-cooked meals that the prospect of living on nothing but cocoa-nuts, as on our first coming to the island, was mighty displeasing; and, moreover, we had only a very few cocoa-nuts, not having stored many of these because we could get them from the trees all the year round. However, I told Billy that I thought we could light a fire at night, for it was scarce likely that the men would be abroad in the darkness at one of the high parts of the island, from which alone the top of the Red Rock could be seen, and he was comforted at this, saying that he didn't mind cold breakfast and dinner if he had hot supper. After our frugal breakfast we laid ourselves down to sleep, under the shadow of an overhung rock, and did not waken until the sun was very high. Being then exceeding thirsty I remembered the water we had found at the bottom of a cleft when we first came to the rock, and we let down a pitcher by a rope into one of the clefts, and when we drew it up we found it full of delicious cold water with scarcely any taste to it; and though, remembering the water of Brimstone Lake, we drank sparingly at first, we found that it did us no hurt, and indulged ourselves with more copious draughts than we had ever taken since we had lived on the island. We waited until the heat of the day was past before we resumed our unlading, and we did not finish it until next day, sleeping pretty near all through the night. When we had got everything up—bread-fruit, yams, salted flesh and fish, ropes, spears, bows and arrows, strips of hide and bark cloth, and sundry other things which we thought we might find useful—we packed them as snugly as we could under ledges and in hollows, and covered over the perishables with cloth to keep off dew and rain, and then we thought about ourselves, and how we could make the barren rock a habitable place. It would be easy enough to build a cabin or lean-to against the rocky wall if we only had the materials; but there was nothing serviceable to be found on the spot, and to get them we must venture back to the island. This we could only do in the hours of darkness, or immediately after dawn, but the idea of this rather pleased us with its venturesomeness, and being now equipped with our weapons we were bold enough. In the early hours of the morning, therefore, we paddled round through the archway until we reached the rock by the lava beach, where Billy had perched on our first day, and leaving Billy and Little John to guard the canoe, I went into the woods with my axe, carrying also my bow and arrows, to cut some saplings and rushes, and some creepers to bind things together. I promised Billy I would come back after a while and let him take his turn, but I had not been working above half-an-hour, I should think, when he joined me, saying he was sure the canoe would be safe, because it was hidden behind the rock, and there was nothing to bring the men to that part of the island, because he would take his davy they never bathed, of which indeed I myself had had good evidence; and besides, he said, he had left Little John to guard it. I was glad of Billy's help, for between us we cut a good deal of material in a very short time; but I did not like leaving the canoe to the sole charge of the dog, and resolved not to come again in the morning, but only in the evening, there being much less danger of meeting the men then. Accordingly I did not wait until we had got enough material for our purpose, but said we would finish the job another time; and we carried the stuff to the canoe, making two journeys to do it, and so got back to the Red Rock safely.
We spent the rest of that day in making, with the things we had brought, a kind of trellis-work to serve as the front and side walls of our lean-to, for the back wall was the rock itself. We had not near enough to finish the job, but enough to keep us employed all that day; and a little before dusk we set off again to paddle to the island to fetch more. And this time, as soon as we had got enough saplings and reeds and things, we went on to the smaller cocoa-nut grove, there being a very good moon, purposing to carry away a few ripe cocoa-nuts for our own consumption; but when we were gathering them from the trees it came into my head that we might as well begin upon that notion I have before mentioned, which was nothing less than to starve the seamen into repentance and humbleness of spirit. I had not as yet told it to Billy, but I had pondered it myself, and thought I saw my way to it, and so I now began suggesting to Billy that we should strip the trees of all the ripe fruit. "What's the good, master?" says he at once, as I knew he would: "it will take us a long time to carry 'em all to the canoe, and we don't want 'em, not really."
"No," said I, "but Hoggett does want 'em," and then I told him my drift. I was afraid he would spoil it all with shouting, for he opened his mouth wide to let it forth, but remembered himself in time, and so shut his mouth on a sort of hoarse croak, which might have seemed to any one that heard it the croak of some strange animal or bird.
"My eye!" says he, "that's prime, master. However did you think of it? But we'll have to come pretty often, because these here cocoa-nuts get ripe so fast. 'Tis lucky the bread-fruit ain't in season yet, and the yams is nearly all gone; but there's the pigs and fowls, drat it, and if they use all them up too we'll never get no more."
Stealing no Robbery
"That's true," I said, "but we shall maybe be able to get some of them by and by. At any rate, let us get the cocoa-nuts now, and we need not trouble to take them all to the canoe. We will take just what we need, and hide the rest in the undergrowth."
Accordingly we stripped the ripe fruit from all the trees at this spot; there were only about half-a-dozen; and having concealed all the nuts but two or three that we wanted for our own refreshment, we carried these to the canoe, and paddled back to the Red Rock, where we broiled some fish steaks for second supper, our work having made us hungry, and so to sleep.
Next day we finished our lean-to, making walls and roof of the trellis-work I have mentioned, and being very tired we went to sleep without paying another visit to the island. I thought we were doing very well, and the only thing that gave me any concern was our canoe, for we had no very safe harbourage for it on the rock, and if a storm came I was afraid the sea might wash it from the ledge on which it lay, and then we should be in a lamentable fix. However, as we usually had some warning of bad weather, in the low flying of seabirds and other signs we had become used to observe, we determined at the first warning to take the canoe into the cave and lie up there until the storm was past. Of course we could not do this if the storm broke upon us suddenly in the night, but in that matter we must simply trust to Providence.
All necessary work on the Red Rock being done, we began to find time hang somewhat heavy on our hands. Our asylum (as I may call it) was no more than some two hundred feet square; at least, the habitable part of it was no more: and having explored every get-at-able corner of it, and finding nothing to reward us except a few seabirds' eggs, we had nothing to do; and to lie about looking at each other was vastly uninteresting. We clambered to the highest point, and there, under cover of a craggy rock that overhung the island, we looked over the domain from which we had been expelled, and I scarce think Adam himself was more grieved at the loss of Eden than we were now. We could not see our hut, but a great part of the island between it and the sea, to the westward and southward, was open to our view, and of course the mountain, and the long slope that ran downwards from the crater to the archway. Once or twice we caught glimpses of the seamen as they roamed the island, and then Billy's wrath and indignation knew no bounds, and he pleaded with me to land and post ourselves behind trees, and shoot the men with our arrows, but this of course I would not consent to, having besides in my mind a better way of dealing with them. And I bade Billy remember that they must be very uneasy at not lighting on any traces of us, to which he replied scornfully, "Suppose they are, what's the odds? They'll soon believe as how we are drownded, and then they'll be jolly enough, using our things and all."
"Maybe they'll be afraid of seeing our ghosts," I said.
"That would frighten 'em, wouldn't it?" says he. "Fancy old Wabberley, now, seeing a thing all white come creeping along, making gashly sounds, and all that; wouldn't he holla and cry for mercy! I wish we could turn into ghosts for once, only I suppose we can't till we're dead, and I don't want to be dead, do you, master?"
The next night chanced to be stormy, with a high wind, and we heard that strange howling I have before mentioned, and of which we had never discovered the cause, for it was clear no dogs made it, there being none now on the island. But on sailing our canoe to the cave, for safety's sake, we learnt at last what made the noise, which was nothing less than the wind blowing across the mouth of the cave. Billy said the sound would frighten the men as well as any ghost could do it, and I think he was himself pleased to know that the explanation was so simple and natural.
The weather cleared next day, and we returned to the Red Rock. Being determined to set off for the island that very night, and begin to put into practice the scheme I had been forming in my mind, we had a good sleep in the afternoon, and embarked in the canoe just after sunset. The moon was up, but we did not suppose the seamen would wander from the hut at night-time, and the moonlight would help us. When we landed, we went up to the cocoa-nut grove, and began to strip the trees of all the nuts, ripe and unripe, starting with those that were furthest from the hut, and so were the least likely to be known as yet by the men. We conveyed the nuts, in the baskets we had brought on our backs, to the canoe; and then, Billy being still mighty concerned about the pigs, lest they should all be killed and eaten, we determined to go very stealthily towards the hut, to see if we might anyways get a pig from the sty, and also to learn what the men had done about our settlement. Spying down upon the place, we saw that the door of the hut was open, and that the drawbridge was not laid across the moat, so that we supposed all the men were sleeping within. But as we drew nearer, and came close to the fowl-house, we were surprised by great snores proceeding from it, by which we knew that some of the men had made it their lodging, though we could not guess what they had done with the fowls which they had turned out. They had let them loose, as we afterwards discovered, never supposing that they would have any difficulty in catching them when they wanted them for food; and we were very much amused when we learnt of their anger and amazement at finding that the fowls had betaken themselves to inaccessible places, so that they never had but two or three all the time they were on the island.
I thought there would be too great a risk in trying to purloin one of our pigs, the sty being not above a dozen yards from the fowl-house, but Billy would do it, and assured me he would get one of the young ones as easy as anything. Accordingly I let him go, and sure enough he came back in no long time carrying one of the piglets close in his arms, and I had not heard above one feeble squeal, the reason I heard no more being that Billy slipped into the little pig's mouth a bit of cocoa-nut he happened to have in his pocket. But Billy himself was in a furious temper, telling me, when we had gotten ourselves safe away, that he had seen his best axe, and his own wooden spade, on which he had carved the initial letter of his name, lying close by the pig-sty, and he was perfectly overcome with anger at the thought that his very own tools were being used by these sacrilegious hands. Nothing would satisfy him but that he must go back and bring them away, which he did, and we took them and the pig down to our canoe, and paddled back to the Red Rock, very well satisfied with our night's work.
The next night we paid another visit to the island, and this time we went to the plantation of yams, finding, as we half expected, that the men had already made some depredations on it. Having brought spades as well as baskets, we dug up a good many of the yams that remained, and carried them to the canoe in two or three trips. We continued these expeditions night after night, finding a certain fascination in them, and being tickled with the thought that while the men were lapped in slumber we were gradually depriving them of their means of subsistence. "'Tis just like housebreakers, ain't it, master?" said Billy gleefully once; "only there ain't no watchman to cop us. And what's more, it ain't wrong neither, for a man ain't doing no wrong if he takes what's his very own." Night by night we drew nearer to the hut, and had worked so often without the least alarm that we flattered ourselves there would soon be no more fruit to gather, and then, as Billy said, Hoggett would begin to starve.
One night, the seventh or eighth, I should think, since we began, we had brought our canoe to the strip of sand beside the lava beach, and had gone up to a small clump of trees which we had not been able to strip completely the night before. Billy had gone aloft, being nimbler in climbing than me, and I was about to follow him, when all of a sudden he called out, quite loud, his surprise making him to be off his guard, that there wasn't a single cocoa-nut left. Immediately afterwards I heard him say, not so loud, "Oh geminy, now I've been and done it!" and began to slide down very rapidly; but in a moment I heard a loud crackling of twigs close by, and then a shout, "Here's the devils!" and I knew that the men were upon us; it was plain they had observed how the fruits were disappearing night by night, and had been on the watch for us. Billy came down the tree more quickly than any monkey could have done, with great damage to his hands and still more to his breeches, as we afterwards discovered, the bark-cloth with which we had patched them being clean torn away, so that "the rent was made worse," as the Bible says. His feet were no sooner on the ground than we set off a-running with all our might towards the canoe, and we had not got above fifty yards when some of the men broke from cover and ran after us, shouting the most terrible curses. We had to go about two hundred yards before we came to the edge of the cliff, but being much more nimble on our feet than the seamen we did not lose ground, but rather gained; and arriving at the edge, we immediately began to descend towards the sea, in such haste that I am sure no two men ever came so near to breaking their necks. The cliff, as I have said before, was exceeding steep and rough, and the descent was all the more perilous because it was night, though moonlit; and to this day I marvel that we came safe to the bottom. There was nothing that could be called a path; we could only scramble down as best we might, trusting to luck, or rather to Providence; and though we escaped with our lives, and our limbs sound, yet our feet and legs were pretty badly cut by the sharp edges of rock. The seamen, when they came to the brink, did not dare to follow us, but caught up stones and hurled them down upon us, and if they had been able to take good aim we must certainly have been killed. However, we came safe to the beach and to our canoe, into which we leapt and paddled away as quickly as we could, and the men spying us set up a great howl of rage, and I was vexed they had seen our vessel, but it could not be helped. They ran along the top of the cliff watching us, the moon being up, as I said; but we disappeared from their view so soon as we had come beneath the cliffs, and then, so that they should not know of our refuge on the Red Rock, we lay for a good while in the entrance to Dismal Cave, not proceeding further until we thought the men would have returned to their quarters.
Billy was exceeding vexed to think that his careless outcry had had so untoward an issue. "I could knock my head off, master," he cried passionately, and when I asked him what good that would be he said, "Well, I couldn't stick it on again, could I? Only I have got a silly tongue." I told him that he need not reproach himself, for I was sure the men had been on the watch for us, having no doubt observed the nightly disappearance of the fruits. "Yes," says Billy, "but if they hadn't spied us they might ha' thought they was taken by goblins or such," to which I replied that I did not think goblins fed on such substantial fare, and so by degrees I brought him to a more tranquil frame of mind. I thought it very likely that the men would now guess what our purpose was, and gather in all the foodstuffs that were left, so that there would be none for us to venture for; wherefore we must leave the further working out of our plan to time. Accordingly, we went no more from the Red Rock to the island, except once, and that was to get another pig as mate to the one we had already captured. We delayed to do this for several days, until we thought the men would not be so carefully on guard as they would be immediately after their discovery of us; but when we did venture to land and creep near to the pig-sty, we feared our errand was impossible, because the men had lit an open fire near the hut and we saw two of them on watch. However, Billy said he was not going to be beat, and he asked me to go into the woods and make a terrible noise, which he thought would draw the men away, and so give him an opportunity of seizing the pig. I would not consent to this at first, for it seemed like leaving the dangerous part of the work to Billy; but he insisted that he could get the pig more easily than I could, which was true, and so I agreed at last, but thought of another way instead of making a noise, and that was to go into a clump of trees on the other side of the hut from the pig-sty, and there strike a light, which I doubted not would be seen by the men. Knowing the country as I did, it would be easy to escape down to the canoe, which we had left this time in the little cove on the east of the island, guessing that the men would make for the sandy beach if they suspected our presence. There was a risk, of course, that not all the men would be drawn towards the light, but we had to chance that, and so I departed, bidding Billy have a very great care.
The plan answered perfectly to his expectation, only it took somewhat longer than he thought, for I was not so used to striking fire as Billy, and I failed so many times that I feared I should never do it. But at last I got a light, and set some dry grass on fire, and there was a mighty blaze, and Billy told me afterwards that the moment they saw it the men who were on watch jumped to their feet and ran towards the hut, not being able to reach it because the drawbridge was taken away. I myself heard their shout, and having thrown some more grass on the fire, I sped away towards the east, and waited for Billy at the edge of the wood on the cliffs, wondering how he would come, whether across the lava tract or the very much longer way round the mountain. I heard the shouting continue for some time, but it seemed to be going away from me, at which I was very glad; and after what seemed a very long time, I heard a little noise close at hand, and holding myself on my guard I saw Billy staggering along under his burden, and when he came near, he said he was sweating horrible, the pig being uncommon obstinate. To deaden the sound of its squealing he had stripped off his shirt and smothered the pig's head in it, and he had come right across the lava tract, having seen that the men had all gone in the other direction, towards the sandy beach. We carried the pig between us down to the canoe, and lay there all night, not daring to paddle away until just before dawn, for we could not return to the Red Rock by the west side of the island while the men were astir, for they would have seen us, nor could we go the other way because of the current. But we guessed that not having spied the canoe where it had been before, the men would imagine we had some lurking place on the island, and after a time would not keep watch on the shore. Besides, the moon would go down before morning; and so, when it was still very dark, we left our hiding-place and paddled quietly round the island, and came to the Red Rock without having been observed.