The Castaways of the Flag Page 14

  But, besides the twittering of little birds, the call of partridges and bustards, the chattering of parrots and sometimes the howling of jackals were all that could be heard, and to these sounds was never added the report of fire-arms or the whimper of a dog on the scent.

  After crossing the Falconhurst river they only had to go up the right bank as far as the edge of the wood, where grew the gigantic mangrove tree with the aerial dwelling-place.

  A profound silence reigned underneath these immense trees—a silence which awakened vague uneasiness. When Fritz looked at Jenny he read in her eyes an anxiety for which, however, there was no justification as yet. Frank, too, felt some nervousness, walking on in front and then retracing his steps. This uneasiness was shared by all. In ten minutes they would be at Falconhurst. Ten minutes! Was not that much the same as being there already?

  "It's a sure thing," said the boatswain, who wanted to cheer them up, "it's a sure thing that we shall have to go down this fine avenue of yours to Rock Castle! A delay of an hour, that's all. And what's an hour, after so long an absence?"

  They put on pace. A few moments later they came within sight of the edge of the wood, and then of the enormous mangrove tree in the middle of the court-yard, enclosed by palisades fringed with a quickset hedge.

  Fritz and Frank ran to the gate contrived in the hedge.

  The gate was open, and had been torn half off its hinges.

  The two brothers went into the court-yard and stopped beside the little central basin.

  The place was deserted.

  Not a sound came from the poultry run or the sheds built against the palisade, although these were generally full of cows and sheep and poultry during the summer season. In the out-houses were various things, boxes and hampers and agricultural implements, all in a disorder very foreign to the careful habits of Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston and her daughter.

  Frank ran to the cattle-sheds.

  There was nothing in them but a few armfuls of hay in the racks.

  Did it mean that the animals had broken out of the enclosure? Were they straying loose about the country? No; for not one had been seen anywhere near Falconhurst. It was just possible that, for some reason or other, they had been penned in the other farms, and yet that was hardly an explanation.

  As has been said, the farmstead of Falconhurst comprised two dwelling-places, one built among the branches of the mangrove tree, the other among the roots which were buttressed round its base. Above the latter was a terrace with a railing of bamboo canes, which supported the roof of tarred moss. This terrace covered several rooms, divided by partitions fixed among the roots, and large enough for both families to inhabit them together.

  This first dwelling was as silent as the outbuildings in the yard.

  "Let us go inside!" said Fritz, with trouble in his voice.

  All followed him, and a cry broke from them—an inarticulate cry, for not one of them could have uttered a word.

  The furniture was upset. The chairs and tables had been thrown down, the chests opened, the bedding thrown on the floor, the utensils into the corners. It was as if the rooms had been given over to pillage for the mere sake of pillage. Of the stores of provisions, generally kept fully supplied at Falconhurst, not a scrap remained. There was no hay in the loft; in the cellar the casks of wine and beer and spirits were empty. There were no weapons, except one loaded pistol which the boatswain picked up and thrust in his belt. Yet carbines and guns were always left at Falconhurst during the hunting season.

  Fritz, Frank, and Jenny stood overwhelmed before this most unexpected disaster. Were things in the same state at Rock Castle and Wood Grange, and Sugar-cane Grove and Prospect Hill? Of all the farms, had the hermitage of Eberfurt alone been spared by these pillagers? And who were the pillagers?

  "My friends," said Captain Gould, "some disaster has happened; but it may not be as serious as you fear."

  No one answered. What answer could Fritz or Frank or Jenny have given? Their hearts seemed broken. They had set foot within the Promised Land with so much joy, only to find ruin and desolation!

  But what had happened? Had New Switzerland been invaded by a band of those pirates who were so numerous at that period in the Indian Ocean, where the Andamans and Nicobars offered them a safe place of refuge? Had the Zermatts and Wolstons been able to leave Rock Castle in time, and retire elsewhere, or even flee from the island? Had they fallen into the hands of the pirates—or had they lost their lives in an attempt at self-defence?

  And, one last question, had all this happened a few months ago, or a few weeks ago, or a few days ago, and would it have been possible to prevent it if the Unicorn had arrived within the time arranged?

  Jenny made a brave effort to keep back her tears, while Susan and Dolly sobbed together. Frank wanted to rush to find his father and mother and brothers, and Fritz was obliged to hold him back. Captain Gould and the boatswain went out several times to examine the ground near the palisade, but came back without having found anything to throw light on the matter.

  Some decision, however, had to be arrived at. Was it better to remain at Falconhurst and await events there, or to go down to Rock Castle ignorant of how matters stood? Should they make a reconnaissance, leaving the women and Bob in James's protection, while Fritz, Frank, and Captain Gould, and John Block went to investigate either along the shore or across country?

  In any case they had to dispel this uncertainty, even though the truth should leave them without hope!

  Fritz was voicing the general wish when he said:

  "Let us try to get to Rock Castle."

  "And let us go at once!" Frank exclaimed.

  "I will come with you," said Captain Gould.

  "And so will I," said John Block.

  "Good!" Fritz replied. "But James must stay with Jenny, Dolly, and Susan, who will be out of harm's way at the top of Falconhurst."

  "Let us all go up first," John Block suggested, "and from there, perhaps, we shall see –"

  It was only reasonable to do that before going to reconnoitre outside. From the aerial dwelling-place, and especially from the top of the mangrove tree, the view extended over much of the Promised Land and the sea to the east, and also over nearly eight miles of coast between Deliverance Bay and False Hope Point.

  "Up! Up!" Fritz answered, to the boatswain's suggestion.

  The habitation among the branches of the tree had escaped the general devastation, thanks to the dense foliage of the mangrove, which almost concealed it from view. The door giving access to the winding staircase inside the trunk bore no marks of violence. Frank found it shut, and wrenched at it so that the lock-bolt came away.

  In a few moments they had all climbed up the staircase, lighted by narrow loopholes in the tree, and set foot on the circular balcony, which was almost completely screened behind a curtain of leaves.

  The instant Fritz and Frank reached the platform they hurried into the first room.

  Neither this room nor the rooms next it presented the least sign of disturbance. The bedding was all in good condition, the furniture all in place. So it was obvious that the original Falcon's nest had been respected. The marauders could not have found the door below. The foliage had become so very much thicker in the course of these twelve years that it would have been as impossible to see the dwelling from the yard below as it was from the edge of the neighbouring wood.

  It really looked as if Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston had set everything in order only the day before. There were preserved meat, flour, rice, preserves, and liquor, enough of everything to last for a week, in accordance with the usual custom observed at Falconhurst as at the other farms.

  Nobody now, of course, gave a thought to the question of food. What occupied their minds to the exclusion of all else, filling them with despair, was the deserted condition of Falconhurst in the height of the summer, and the pillage of the lower dwelling.

  Directly they returned to the balcony Fritz and the boatswain clambered up to
the top of the mangrove tree, to get as wide a view as possible.

  To north ran the line of coast bounded by False Hope Point at the little hill where the villa of Prospect Hill stood. Nothing suspicious could be detected in this part of the district.

  To west, beyond the canal connecting Jackal River with Swan Lake, spread the country watered by the little Falconhurst river, through which Fritz and his companions had walked after they had crossed the bridge. This was as deserted as the country which ran still further to the west as far as the defile of Cluse.

  To east, the vast arm of the sea spread out between False Hope Point and Cape East, behind which lay Unicorn Bay. There was not a sail to be seen at sea, not a boat along the shore. Nothing was visible but the vast plain of water, from which, to north-east, projected, the reef upon which the Landlord had struck long ago.

  Turning towards the south, the eye could only see, about two miles and a half away, the entrance into Deliverance Bay, near the wall of rock which sheltered the dwelling of Rock Castle.

  Of that house, and its annexes, nothing was visible except the green tops of the trees in the kitchen garden, and, a little more to southwest, a line of light which indicated the course of Jackal River.

  Fritz and John Block came down to the balcony again, after spending some ten minutes in the first examination. Making use of the telescope which M. Zermatt always kept at Falconhurst, they had looked carefully in the direction of Rock Castle and the shore.

  No one was to be seen there. It seemed that the two families could not be on the island now.

  But it was possible that M. Zermatt and his people had been led by the marauders to some farmstead in the Promised Land, or even to some other part of New Switzerland.

  To this suggestion, however, Captain Gould raised an objection which it was difficult to meet.

  "These marauders, whoever they may be," he said, "must have come by sea: must even have landed in Deliverance Bay. Now we have observed none of their boats. The conclusion would seem to be that they have gone away again—perhaps taking –"

  He stopped. No one ventured to make answer.

  Certainly Rock Castle did not seem to be inhabited now. From the top of the tree no smoke could be seen rising above the fruit trees in the kitchen garden.

  Captain Gould then suggested that the two families might have left New Switzerland voluntarily, since the Unicorn had not arrived at the appointed time.

  "How could they have gone?" Fritz asked, who would have been glad to have this hope to cling to.

  "Aboard some ship that came to these waters," Captain Gould replied; "one of the ships which must have been sent from England or perhaps another vessel which arrived off the island in the ordinary chances of navigation."

  This theory was possible. And yet there were many grave reasons to suppose that the desertion of New Switzerland was not due to any such circumstance.

  Fritz spoke again.

  "We must not hesitate any longer. Let us go and look!"

  "Yes, let us go!" said Frank.

  Fritz was just preparing to go down again when Jenny stopped him.

  "Smoke!" she said. "I think I can see smoke rising above Rock Castle."

  Fritz seized the telescope and turned it towards the south; for more than a minute his eye stayed glued to the instrument.

  Jenny was right. Smoke was passing across the curtain of green, above the rocks which enclosed Rock Castle to the rear.

  "They are there! They are there!" cried Frank. "And we ought to have been with them already!"

  This assertion nobody denied. They all had such dire need to recover hope that everything was forgotten, the solitude that lay round Falconhurst, the pillage of the yard, the absence of the domestic animals, the empty sheds, the ruin of the rooms at the foot of the mangrove tree.

  But cold reason came back, to Captain Gould and John Block at least. Manifestly Rock Castle was occupied at this moment—the smoke proved that. But might it not be occupied by the marauders? At any rate, it would be necessary to approach it with the utmost caution. Perhaps it would be best not to go along the avenue which led to Jackal River. If they went across fields, and, as much as possible, from wood to wood, they might have a chance of getting to the drawbridge without being sighted.

  At last, as all were getting ready to leave the aerial dwelling, Jenny lowered the telescope, with which she had been scanning the coast of the bay.

  "And the proof that both families are still here," she said, "is that the flag is flying over Shark's Island."

  The white and red flag, the colours of New Switzerland, was indeed waving over the battery.

  But did that make it absolutely certain that M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston, and their wives and children, had not left the island? Did not the flag always float at that spot?

  They would not argue the point. Everything would be explained at Rock Castle, and before an hour had passed.

  "Let us go! Let us go!" said Frank again, and he turned towards the staircase.

  11 Stop! Stop!'' the boatswain suddenly said, lowering his voice.

  They watched him crawl along the balcony, to the side overlooking Deliverance Bay. Then he moved the leaves aside, put his head through them and drew it back precipitately.

  "What is the matter?" Fritz asked.

  "Savages!" John Block replied.

  CHAPTER XIII - SHARK'S ISLAND

  IT was now half-past two in the afternoon. The foliage of the mangrove was so dense that the rays of the sun, though almost vertical, could not penetrate it. Thus Fritz and his companions ran no risk of being detected in the aerial dwelling of Falconhurst, of the existence of which the savages who had landed on the island had no idea.

  Five men, half naked, with the black skins of natives of Western Australia, armed with bows and arrows, were coming along the path. They had no notion that they had been seen, or even that there were other inhabitants of the Promised Land besides those of Rock Castle.

  But what had become of M. Zermatt and the others? Had they been able to make their escape? Had they fallen in unequal combat?

  Of course, as John Block remarked, it could not be supposed that the number of aborigines who had landed on the island was limited to these few men. Had they been so inferior numerically, they could not have got the better of M. Zermatt and his two sons and Mr. Wolston, even if they had made a surprise attack. It must have been a large band that had invaded New Switzerland, whither they must have come in a fleet of canoes. The fleet was doubtless lying at the present moment in the creek, with the boat and the pinnace. It could not be seen from the top of Falconhurst because the view in that direction was cut off by the point of Deliverance Bay.

  And where were the Zermatts and the Wolstons? What inference must be drawn from the fact that they had not been encountered at Falconhurst or thereabouts?

  That they were prisoners at Rock Castle, that they had had neither time nor opportunity to seek refuge in the other farms—or that they had been massacred?

  Everything else was explained now—the havoc wrought at Falconhurst, and the deserted condition in which the Promised Land was found between the Swan Lake canal and the shore.

  How could they cherish any but the faintest hope? So, while Captain Gould and the boatswain kept the natives in view, the others sorrowed together.

  There was one last chance. Could the two families have taken refuge in the westward, in some part of the island beyond Pearl Bay? If they had caught sight of the canoes in the distance, across Deliverance Bay, might they not have had time to make their escape in the waggon, taking provisions and arms?

  Captain Gould and John Block continued to watch the approaching savages.

  Was it their intention to come into the yard? The house had been visited and pillaged by them already. Now they might discover the door at the foot of the staircase. In that event, however, they could easily be disposed of. For when they stepped out on to the platform they could be surprised, one by one, and hurled over the balustrad
e, a drop of forty or fifty feet.

  "And," as the boatswain remarked, "if after a tumble like that they had legs enough left to get to Rock Castle, the beasts would be more like cats than the monkeys they resemble!"

  But when they reached the end of the avenue, the five men stopped. The watchers did not miss a single movement they made. What was their business at Falconhurst? If the aerial dwelling had escaped their observation so far, were they not now on the point of discovering it, and the people inside it? And then, they would come back in larger numbers, and how was the attack of a hundred natives to be withstood?

  They came to the palisade and walked all round it. Three of them entered the yard, and went into one of the out-houses on the left, coming out again presently with fishing tackle.