CHAPTER XV.A DISCOVERY.
While Mr. Jenkins slept, the fantastical worship in the inner cave was brought to a close; the party separated, each man going in a different direction across the island, as if to ascertain the general condition of affairs, and before they were reunited, the sun had risen.
The wind continued from the same quarter with unabated fury, and one needed only to see the trees bending before the blast to understand that theDay Dreamcould not come to an anchorage near that portion of the coast for some time to come.
The prisoners were not disturbed until nearly two hours after daybreak, and then the mate was brought to his feet very suddenly by a vicious kick from a burly negro, who had evidently been selected to act the part of guard.
Just for an instant Jenkins was disposed to show fight; but before he could do anything so rash, the thought of the consequences prevented him from raising his hands.
The situation was sufficiently grave without his making it worse by a useless show of resistance.
“Get up, lads!” he cried, wishing to arouse his companions before the brutal guard could deal them a blow, and the boys sprang to their feet instantly, not understanding where they were for several seconds, and then,as the unpleasant truth came slowly back to them, Gil asked:
“What’s going on now?”
“I don’t know, my boy; but this dark-complexioned gentleman has been trying his toes on my ribs in such an energetic fashion that I fancy we are to make some kind of a move. Whatever happens, keep close to me, and don’t provoke the crowd by turning rusty when we’re where we can’t help ourselves.”
“How is the weather?” Nelse asked.
“About the same as when we arrived here. There’s no chance of seeing the yacht to-day.”
This brief conversation was interrupted by the remainder of the black party, who now came from the outside, and the prisoners were made to understand by signs that they were to leave the cave.
With the boys on either side of him, Jenkins marched out, the huge black walking close behind the three, and the others clustered around in a manner which precluded any possibility of an escape.
The captors were evidently making their way back to the sea once more, and to both Gil and Nelse this fact was in some slight degree pleasing, since it seemed to bring them nearer theDay Dream.
“How is your head?” Gil asked, when they had walked a short distance in silence.
“It doesn’t feel particularly comfortable; but I reckon it’ll be all right after a while.”
“If we could bathe it, you would look better. Thatbloody handkerchief and the matted hair gives you the appearance of a veritable pirate.”
“I don’t feel like one, at all events,” Mr. Jenkins replied, with a laugh. “Just now I’m more of a cannibal than anything else, for it seems as if I could eat a donkey and then look over my shoulder for the rider.”
“Do you suppose they intend to starve us?”
“That’s a hard question to answer. It isn’t likely they’ll take any too good care of us, and we stand a chance of going hungry for some time to come.”
“Such a thing wouldn’t trouble me, providing I could see a way out of this scrape,” Nelse said, with a long-drawn sigh. “If the yacht can’t come to an anchor while the wind is so strong, we needn’t expect help to-day.”
“There’ll be a change in the weather when the sun sets,” the mate replied, encouragingly; but at the same time he did not believe his own statement.
The very old negro was evidently the chief of the party, and he led them through a narrow path, cut amid the dense tangle of foliage, until they arrived at the very spot where the prisoners had witnessed the dance around the pot while hidden among the trees.
Here they were met by the two aged and highly-decorated blacks, who had acted as masters of the ceremony on the previous evening.
All the repulsive-looking crowd evidently understood that they were in no immediate danger of being hunted out by those interested in the prisoners, for they moved with the utmost deliberation.
“The scoundrels know our shipmates can’t get here to-day,and are going to make the most out of the performance, whatever it may be,” Jenkins said, angrily, as two of the men began to lash him securely to a tree in such a manner that he could do no more than turn his head from side to side.
The boys were fastened in the same fashion, and so near together that it was possible for them to hear each other when speaking in a low tone of voice.
After the prisoners were thus disposed of, the blacks began to prepare breakfast by roasting over a bed of coals fifteen or twenty small animals, which resembled rabbits, the three leaders retiring to the depths of the thicket as if for consultation while this work was being done.
The cooks had not even taken the trouble to dress the game; but the odor of the roasting flesh was so appetizing, and the prisoners were so hungry, that all three waited with the liveliest impatience for the meal to be made ready.
“I’m certain I can eat a whole rabbit; but I don’t suppose we’ll be allowed to have as much as we want,” Nelse said, watching the operations eagerly.
“We had better not count on regularly filling ourselves up,” Jenkins replied, grimly, as a very unpleasant suspicion began to creep into his mind.
When the feast was prepared, the old men were summoned, the remainder of the party standing at a respectful distance until they had satisfied their hunger, and then all hands set about devouring the food in a literally savage fashion.
Holding it in their hands and smearing themselves withfat and blood, until their black faces looked even more hideous than before, the men gorged themselves, crunching the smaller bones as dogs would have done, and only when the last morsel had disappeared did they cease.
Meanwhile, the prisoners could do no more than gaze at the revolting spectacle, which, fortunately, partially caused them to forget their hunger, and not a word was spoken until Jenkins, seeing that his companions were rapidly giving way to despair, tried to arouse them.
“It’s no very great hardship to go hungry for twenty-four, or even forty-eight hours,” he said, cheerily. “If we think of eating, it’ll only make matters worse, so let’s sheer off on some other tack.”
“That is not so easily done,” Nelse replied, gloomily.
“I don’t know about it. Look around and see what an odd sort of a forest this is, compared to such as we have at home.”
“We’ve had time to be pretty well acquainted with it since landing yesterday. There doesn’t seem to be anything strange here, except it is the big palm tree near where the old scoundrels are sitting. That——”
Gil would have started to his feet in surprise, had it not been for the bonds, as he cried:
“It is the very tree we were hunting for! There are none others as tall, and it’s surely old enough to have served as a landmark when our chart was made.”
“I believe you are right, my boy,” the mate said, after a short pause. “It would be strange if these villains have shown us just what we wanted to find.”
“I can’t see that it will do us any good, even if weknew a big pile of gold was absolutely buried in the immediate vicinity,” Nelse replied, grumblingly; but at the same time he continued to gaze at the palm, and it could be seen that, for the moment, the pangs of hunger were forgotten.
The possibility of their having finally arrived at the desired place, through no inclination or volition of their own, was sufficient to furnish them with a fruitful topic of conversation, and but little attention was paid to the blacks until the departure of several of the younger men caused Gil to ask:
“Where do you suppose they are going?”
“Most likely to watch out for the yacht. It isn’t certain your father won’t make an attempt to put in here in search of us, although I don’t think one of our boats could land, and they want to make sure of not being interrupted.”
During the next half-hour the negroes remained idle, lounging near the scene of the feast, and then the messengers returned.
Whatever report they made must have been satisfactory, for immediately the fire was rebuilt, the pot slung on two crotched sticks, and the old fellows took up their station nearby, as if to repeat the mummery of the previous evening.
Now the prisoners understood that they were to take some part in the ceremony, for three of the men stood directly in front of them, while the priests began once more the doleful chant.
“They are going to kill us,” Nelse cried, in alarm, butforced to remain motionless before the blacks, each of whom held a short-bladed knife in his hands.
Mr. Jenkins no longer attempted to cheer his companions. He believed, as Nelse did, and with good reason.
While the old men sang, those who had evidently been selected as executioners advanced slowly, brandishing their weapons, and making gestures, while the remainder of the party stood nearby, gazing intently, as if at some fascinating spectacle.
Neither of the prisoners spoke. Death seemed so close at hand that the numbness of despair was upon them, and each watched the gleaming circles of steel as the knives came slowly toward them.
When the three men were not more than five feet away from him, Gil fancied he heard a slight noise directly in the rear, as if some one was lighting a match; but since none of the blacks paid any attention to it, he fancied he was mistaken, and tried to prepare himself in some slight degree for the supreme moment.
Now the circle of spectators grew smaller; the old men forced their way through, that they also might witness what was possibly one of their fiendish rites, and the gleaming steel almost touched the victims.
The two boys closed their eyes that they should not see the deadly blow when it was delivered, and Jenkins believed he had not many seconds to live, when a singular, hissing noise was heard directly behind the helpless ones.
Instantly it seemed that a shaft of fire came from the foliage, with a scream as of some living creature.
Opening their eyes suddenly, the boys saw this thing of flame tear its way through the crowd, throwing sparks right and left, and striking two of the blacks with sufficient force to hurl them to the ground.
The negroes fled with loud yells of terror, as the “thing,” apparently caught by the foliage, continued to send forth showers of flame, and before the last man disappeared, both Gil and Nelse had fainted.
The strain upon them had been too great, and over-taxed nature gave way beneath it.