The Mysterious Island Page 22

  "Oh, yes, Ernest's letter told us—you gave it my name," said M. Zermatt.

  "It was Mr. Wolston's suggestion that we should do that, papa," Ernest replied.

  "Is it not natural, my friend," Mr. Wolston added, "that the highest point in New Switzerland should receive the name of the head of the house?"

  "Jean Zermatt Peak, then, let it be," M. Zermatt replied, shaking Mr. Wolston by the hand; "but let Jack go on with his story and tell us about the savages."

  "They are not very far off," said Jack.

  "Not far off?" Mrs. Wolston exclaimed.

  "In my story—in my story, I mean, Mamma dear, for in actual fact they must still be a good twenty-five miles away from Rock Castle."

  This answer was somewhat reassuring, and Jack resumed his tale:

  "I was in front of a pretty wide clearing in the pine forest then, and I was about to halt, quite determined not to go any farther, when the elephants stopped too. So I held in Fawn, who wanted to fly at them.

  "Did it mean that that was the part of the forest where these creatures usually took shelter? There was a stream running between the high grass just at that spot. My elephants—I felt they were mine! —began to drink, sucking the water up through their trunks.

  "You will not be surprised to hear that when I saw them standing still, suspecting nothing, my sporting instincts got the upper hand of me again. An irresistible desire seized me to get the little one apart by itself, after I had brought down the other two, even if I had to spend my last cartridge. Besides, two bullets might be enough, if they found the right spot, and is there a hunter who does not believe in lucky shots? As to how I was to capture the baby elephant after I had killed its parents, and how I could lead it to Rock Castle, I did not even give these questions a thought. I cocked my gun, which was loaded with ball cartridges. A double report rang out; but if the elephants were hit they were not much hurt, it would seem, for they merely shook their ears and poured a final draught of water down their throats.

  "They did not even turn around to see where the shot came from, and did not bother themselves in the least about Fawn's barking. Before I could fire again, they started off once more, so fast this time, almost as fast as a horse gallops, that I had to give up all idea of following them.

  "Just for a minute I saw their huge bulk among the trees, above the brushwood, and their trunks upraised breaking the low branches, and then they vanished.

  "It now became a question of deciding what direction I had better take. The sun was sinking rapidly, and the pine forest would soon be wrapped in darkness. I knew that I ought to march towards the west, but there was nothing to show me whether that was to the left or the right. I had no pocket compass, and I have not that kind of sense of direction with which Ernest is gifted.

  "Still, I thought I might be able to pick up some tracks of my journey, or rather of the elephants'. But the coming of night made it very difficult to do any tracking. Besides, there were any number of heavy footprints, all crossing one another. And what was more, I could hear some trumpeting in the distance, which made it seem pretty certain that it was along the banks of this stream that the herd of elephants assembled every evening.

  "I knew that I should not succeed in finding my way back before sunrise, and even Fawn, in spite of his instinct, had no better idea where he was.

  "For an hour I wandered about at random, not knowing whether I was getting nearer to the shore or farther away from it. I blamed myself for my recklessness, and the thought of Mr. Wolston and Ernest unable to make up their minds to abandon me and looking in vain for me was very worrying! It would be I who would have delayed their return to Rock Castle, and what would you be thinking about their delay? I thought of all the anxiety you would feel when we did not return within the time mentioned in Ernest's letter. And then there would be fresh toil and hardship for Mr. Wolston and Ernest, and for all that I was to blame."

  "Yes, you were to blame, my boy," said M. Zermatt; "even if you did not think of yourself when you left them, you ought to have thought of them —and of us."

  "That, of course," Mme. Zermatt answered, kissing her son; "he has been most reckless and imprudent; it might have cost him his life. But since he is here, we will forgive him."

  "I come now," Jack went on, "to the part of my adventures where the situation became much worse.

  "Up to that time, certainly, I had not run any very great danger. As I had my gun I was safe to be able to get food, even if it took me a week to find the way back to Rock Castle. Merely by following the coast I should have got there sooner or later. As for the wild beasts, which must be plentiful in that part of the island, I hoped if any attacked me to rout them.

  "No; what troubled me was the thought of Mr. Wolston and Ernest losing heart as they looked in vain for my tracks. I thought they must have taken their way through this eastern part of the forest, which was not so dense as the rest. In the case, it was possible that they were not far from the spot where I had just stopped. The worst of it was that night was close at hand. So I thought it would be best to camp where I was, and light a fire. Mr. Wolston and Ernest might see it, and its lights would help to keep off the animals that were howling in the neighbourhood.

  "But before lighting it I shouted several times, turning in every direction. "There was no answer.

  "There was the last resource of firing a few shots, and I did so twice.

  "I heard no answering report.

  "But I thought I could hear, on the right hand, a sort of sliding noise among the grass. I listened and was on the point of calling out when it suddenly occurred to me that it could not be Mr. Wolston or my brother coming from that side. They would have called to me, and we should have been in each other's arms before that.

  "So it must mean that there were animals coming up, or perhaps a serpent.

  "I had no time to assume the defensive. Four bodies rose up in the darkness—four human beings, not monkeys, as I thought at first! They sprang upon me, jabbering in a language which I could not understand. It was only too evident that I was dealing with savages!

  "Savages on our island! In a moment I was thrown down, and I felt two knees pressing on my chest. Then they bound my hands and made me get up, took me by the shoulders and pushed me in front of them, and I had to walk at a rapid pace.

  "One of the men had taken possession of my gun, another of my game-bag. It did not seem as if they had any design upon my life—not just then, at any rate.

  "We went all night like that—in what direction I could not discover. But I noticed that the forest was gradually getting clearer and clearer. The light of the moon reached right down to the ground, and I felt sure we were approaching the coast.

  "I was not thinking much about myself, my dear people! I was thinking of you, and of the danger which the presence of these natives on our island involved! They would only have to go along the coast-line as far as the Montrose River and cross that to reach Cape East, and then come down again to Rock Castle! If they got there before the Unicorn got back, you would not be in force enough to beat them off!"

  "But did you not say just now, Jack," M. Zermatt asked, "that these savages must be a long way away from the Promised Land?"

  "Yes, Papa, twelve or fifteen miles south of the Montrose, and so about twenty-five miles from here."

  "Well, in less than a fortnight, and perhaps in less than a week, the Unicorn will be lying in Deliverance Bay," M. Zermatt remarked, "and after that we shall have nothing to fear. But go on with your story."

  So Jack proceeded:

  "It was not until the morning, after a long march, without a single stop to rest, that we reached the cliffs commanding the shore.

  "At the foot was an encampment of about a hundred of these ebony rascals—all of them men, half naked, squatting in the caves hollowed out at the bottom of the cliff. They were fishers—at least, so I imagined—who must have been carried towards our island by the winds from the east, and their canoes were drawn up on the
sand. They ran up to me, and looked at me with astonishment and curiosity, as if it were the first time they had seen a white man. But there is nothing surprising in that, since European ships hardly touch this part of the Indian Ocean.

  "After they had examined me at very close quarters they resumed their habitual indifference. I was not ill-treated. They gave me a few broiled fish, which I ate hungrily, and I quenched my thirst with water from a stream which came down from the cliff.

  "I had a great sense of satisfaction when I saw that my gun, which these savages did not know how to use, and my game-bag had been laid down at the foot of a rock. So I made up my mind to treat these blackamoors to a few shots, if an opportunity presented itself. But the situation was speedily altered by an unexpected event.

  "About nine o'clock in the evening, in the outskirts of the forest which ran along the cliffs, there arose suddenly a tremendous uproar which immediately spread dismay among the natives. And you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that the uproar was caused by the arrival of a herd of elephants— thirty of them, at the very least—who were coming slowly along the bank of the stream towards the beach.

  "Dismay? It was absolute panic! Evidently this was the first time the natives had found themselves in the presence of these huge animals—beasts with enormously long noses with a kind of hand at the tip!

  "And when the elephants lifted their trunks and waved them about and twisted them all together, and all started trumpeting, there was a general stampede. Some scampered off across the rocks, and some tried to shove their canoes into the water, and the elephants looked on at the rout with fatuous amiability.

  "I, for my part, merely saw my opportunity, and did not wait for anything more. I did not try to learn what would be the upshot of this meeting between the elephants and the natives, but ran to the cliff, went up the ravine and hurried into cover among the timber, where I found my good old Fawn waiting for me. I need not say that I had secured my gun and game-bag which would be priceless to me.

  "I marched all that night and the next day, hunting for food, and only stopping to cook and eat my game, and after twenty-four hours I reached the right bank of the Montrose River, not far from the barrage.

  "Then I knew where I was; and I went down to the stream up which papa and I had walked. I had the plains and woods to cross as I went towards the Green Valley, and I got there to-day, in the afternoon. I came through the defile of Cluse, and I cannot tell you, my dear parents, my dear friends, how dreadfully disappointed I should have been if you had started already to look for me along the coast—if I had not found you here at Rock Castle!"

  Such was Jack's story.

  Who were these natives? Where did they come from? Evidently from the western coast of Australia, the nearest coast, unless, indeed, there was a group of islands somewhere, as unknown as New Switzerland had been until the English corvette arrived. But if these savages were Australians, belonging to a race that is placed lowest in the human scale, it was difficult to explain how they had managed to accomplish a voyage of something like seven hundred and fifty miles in their canoes—unless, perhaps, they had been driven all that distance by bad weather.

  And now they had met Jack, and knew that the island was inhabited by men of a race different from their own. What would they do? Would they put to sea in their canoes again, follow up the coast, and end by discovering Deliverance Bay and the dwelling-place of Rock Castle?

  It could not be very long, it is true, before the Unicorn arrived. Her guns would be heard in another week; a fortnight at latest. And with her anchored within a few cable-lengths, there would be nothing to fear.

  So it seemed that it was not a matter of immediate necessity to take precautions to meet an attack by the savages. Moreover, it was quite possible that in the panic caused by the sight of the elephants they had put to sea again. It seemed sufficient that the islanders should keep a watch on the sea opposite Rock Castle.

  And so the next day work was begun again, and chiefly the work of completing the chapel.

  All took part in this. It was desirable that it should be finished before the Unicorn arrived. The four walls had grown already to the height of the roof, and the apse was lighted by a circular bay. Mr. Wolston put in all the timber work, and it was roofed with bamboos which were proof against the heaviest rains. As to the interior of the chapel, Mme. Zermatt, Mrs. Wolston, and Hannah were to decorate it as was proper, and their taste could safely be relied upon.

  All this employment continued until the 15th of October, the date fixed for the return of the Unicorn. The length of the voyage being taken into consideration, a variation of a week or a fortnight in the date would not be ground for any uneasiness.

  The 19th came, and no report of guns had announced the corvette. So Jack mounted his onager and rode to Prospect Hill, and thence to False Hope Point.

  He lost his labour. The sea was absolutely deserted as far as the farthest horizon.

  He made the same excursion again on the 27th; again without result.

  Then, as was not surprising, impatience began to give place to uneasiness.

  "Come, come!" said M. Zermatt frequently, wishing to reassure his little company. "A fortnight, even three weeks, is not an alarming delay."

  "Besides," Mr. Wolston added, "are we so sure that the Unicorn could have left England at the date agreed upon?"

  "But the Admiralty must have been anxious to take possession of the new colony," Mme. Zermatt remarked, rather ingenuously.

  And Mr. Wolston smiled at the idea that the British Admiralty could ever be in a hurry to do anything!

  But while they watched the sea in the direction of False Hope Point, they did not neglect to watch it, too, in the direction of Cape East. Several times a day the telescopes were levelled in the direction of Elephant Bay, as they called that part of the coast where the savages had camped.

  As yet, however, no canoe had been seen. If the natives had not sailed away again, it seemed that they had decided not to leave their encampment. If, unhappily, they appeared beyond Cape East and came towards Deliverance Bay, it might prove possible to stop them by means of the battery on Shark's Island and the guns placed on the heights of Rock Castle. In any event, it was better to have to meet an attack by sea than one by land, and the greatest danger would be if the savages came from the interior of the island, after forcing the defile of Cluse.

  As a matter of fact, an invasion by a hundred of these blacks and an assault by them on Rock Castle, in all probability could not be repulsed. It might perhaps be better on Shark's Island, where resistance could be maintained until the English corvette arrived.

  And still the Unicorn did not arrive, and the end of October was approaching. Every morning M. Zermatt and Ernest and Jack expected to be awakened by the firing of guns. The weather was magnificent. The translucent haze on the horizon melted as the sun rose. Far as sight could travel over the open sea, all eyes sought the Unicorn.

  On the 7th of November, all joined in an expedition to Prospect Hill. But no sail was passing out beyond the bay. In vain did all eyes scan the horizon to west, east, north! It was from the direction of False Hope Point that they looked for the realisation of their dearest hopes, from the direction of Cape East that disaster might come.

  And so all stood in silence upon the summit of the hill, half in hope, half in fear.

  END OF "THEIR ISLAND HOME"

  [In "The Castaways of the Flag," which forms a sequel to this story, you can read how it was the Unicorn was delayed, what had happened to her passengers, and how the presence of savages on New Switzerland affected the Zermatts and the Wolstons.]

 

 

 
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