In the Eastern Seas Part 33

"Yes, it come in there," she continued; "I see. Hillo! here it is, though;" and she touched a large lump which appeared just behind the shoulder. "Oh, I got knife. Now you no squeak out, sir;" and taking a sharp knife from her pocket, she made a cut across the flesh, when out popped the bullet almost into the mouth of the faithful Tanda, who had followed his master, and was eagerly watching the operation. An abundant supply of cool water was then applied, and plasters put on.

"There, you stay quiet a little, sir, and you soon get well," she said; "but stay, I want to pull out the bit of s.h.i.+rt that go in--not much, though." Indeed, the hole in the s.h.i.+rt was not much larger than that in the flesh; but still it was evident that some portion had been torn away. My uncle could hardly refrain from crying out as the Frau probed the wound. She, however, succeeded in finding the piece of cotton.

Fortunately the jacket had flown open at the moment, so that nothing else had gone in. "There, you healthy man; you be well in a few days-- no fear," she said.

Seldom has a desperate battle been fought with so few casualties on one side, though, to be sure, a third of our party might have been put down as wounded. We had reason to be thankful; but still I could not help dreading that the Malays might return. Mr Sedgwick was about to despatch Tanda, when Mr Thudic.u.mb proposed that we should hoist our post, and endeavour to ascertain what was the cause of their flight. By means of the coir-rope we had prepared, it was soon hoisted up, and stepped in its place more securely now than at first, because there was no necessity for again lowering it. Roger Trew was very speedily at the top.

"Hurrah!" he shouted; "hurrah! The prows are shoving off to sea, pulling away like mad! Yes, there's the reason too--a large square-rigged, white-sailed vessel coming round the point. By her look, too, she is English; and they know pretty well that if they were to be caught by her, their day of pirating would be over. Hurrah! hurrah!"

As may be supposed, we were all eager to mount to the top of the post, and have a look at the stranger. Mr Thudic.u.mb with his spy-gla.s.s followed Roger.

"Yes, there is no doubt about it. She is a British man-of-war; and I daresay she has been cruising in search of these very fellows. They are all off, though; yes--five, six, eight prows, making their way to the eastward. She will see our flagstaff on the rock, I hope, and send in here. But I forgot; the pirates carried that away."

Thus he continued making his observations. We all stood eagerly round him, though the ocean was hid from us.

"She has caught sight of the prows," he exclaimed, "and is making more sail. They are, however, well to windward of her, and I am afraid she will have a hard job to catch them up. Perhaps she will make a tack in here; and if so, she will see us."

"Would it not be as well to hoist a signal on the Flagstaff Rock, to supply the place of the flag carried off?" observed Mr Hooker.

"Of course, of course," was the answer; "and the sooner we do so the better."

As we knew that the house had been burned down, and no accommodation was to be found on the sh.o.r.e, it was agreed that the ladies, with Oliver and Potto Jumbo, Mr Sedgwick and Tanda, should remain at the fort, in case any stray Malays might have failed to get off. It was important also to drag away the dead bodies as soon as possible. In a very few hours they would render the fort scarcely bearable; besides which they would be certain to attract beasts of prey. Tanda and Potto Jumbo undertook to perform this unpleasant work, and to bury them in some soft ground at the bottom of the hill. The rest of us then set off to the sea-sh.o.r.e, carrying a large sheet which had been saved from the wreck to act as a signal.

"And Hooker, my dear fellow--Hooker," exclaimed my uncle, as we were starting, "do let me know as soon as possible if our treasures have escaped; it would be heartbreaking to lose them. Send up Walter as soon as possible. The knowledge that they are safe would bring me round quicker than anything else, and recompense me for what we have gone through."

"Depend on me," answered his brother naturalist. "I hope it will be all right; though probably, had the pirates not found their way to the fort, they would have discovered our stores."

We now hurried down the hill, and made the best of our way along our river road to the sh.o.r.e. As we pa.s.sed the spot where the house had stood, a heap of cinders alone remained, still smouldering. It was surprising, indeed, that the trees had escaped. Had they caught fire, a large portion of the forest, if not the whole of the woods on the island, might have been burned. We were thankful we had escaped such a fearful calamity. On our way we found the apparently dead body of a pirate. I was going up to him, when Mr Thudic.u.mb called me back.

"Stay, stay, Walter!" he cried. "If he is not dead, he may take his revenge on you, even though at the last gasp."

I drew back just in time, for I thought I saw the man's eye move. d.i.c.k Tarbox came on the next moment, when the seemingly dead Malay started up, and made a rush at me, with his sharp kriss in his hand. But the exertion was too much for him: just as he reached me he fell back, his wound bursting out afresh, and the next instant he gave a gasp, and was dead. It showed the desperate character of the men with whom we had had to contend, and increased our grat.i.tude that we had escaped falling into their hands. Two more we found close to the beach, who had been left behind by their companions in their hurry to embark. One was already dead; the other, though badly wounded, still breathed. We approached him cautiously. Roger Trew was on the point of lifting up his musket to give him his quietus, when Mr Hooker called to him.

"He knows no better, poor wretch!" he said. "If he were our greatest enemy, we should do our best to save him; only let us take away from him the power of doing mischief."

"You are right, sir; I forgot that," said Roger Trew.

The pirate's kriss was in his hand, but his arm was too weak to lift it.

We removed his weapon, when Mr Hooker addressed some words to him, which made the pirate open his eyes wide with astonishment.

"I have told him we will not hurt him," said our friend, "and if we can do him any good, we will. I do not think he quite believes us; but here, fortunately, I have brought some water. He is suffering from thirst; lift up his head, and I will pour a few drops down his throat."

This was done; and Mr Hooker--asking me to watch the man, after we had placed him higher up on the beach--giving me his flask, hurried off with the rest of the party to the Flagstaff Rock.

I confess I was somewhat disappointed, as I thought I should be able to get a better view of the movements of the English s.h.i.+p from thence. I continued, however, to apply the flask to the man's mouth, he every now and then making signs that he was suffering from thirst. I looked out seaward, where I could still see the s.h.i.+p, and she seemed to me to be standing towards the sh.o.r.e. How eagerly my heart beat with the thoughts of being once more on board, and on my way to a civilised land! Not that I was weary of my stay on the island; but I knew how anxious Captain and Mrs Davenport must be about their daughter: and she, too, poor girl, was pining sadly for them.

I lost sight of the party for some time, till at length I saw them clambering up on a point of the rock where our flagstaff stood. It was still there, though the flag had been carried away. Presently I saw Roger Trew mounting to the top to re-reeve the halliards; and then up went the huge white cloth, which flew out in the breeze against the dark-green foliage of the forest. That surely must be seen, I thought.

The party stood round it, keeping their telescopes fixed on the distant s.h.i.+p. Presently I saw that some movement was taking place on board.

Alas! the s.h.i.+p was tacking, and away she stood from the island. Perhaps she will tack again, and once more stand in for the sh.o.r.e, I thought.

With difficulty could I take my eyes off her, to attend to the wounded Malay. His low voice asking for water again drew my attention to him.

Although his brow was low and his eyes somewhat close together and turned inwards, the expression of his countenance was not so bad as that of many of his people; and I thought even that he gave a smile of grat.i.tude as I occasionally let a few drops of water trickle down his throat.

The s.h.i.+p stood on and on. Once more she tacked, and my hopes revived.

She was, however, by this time a considerable distance along the coast, and I could scarcely hope that our signal had been seen. I had been keeping my eyes on her for some time, without turning my head, when I heard voices, and looking round, I saw Mr Hooker and his party coming towards me.

"No chance of getting off this time, I am afraid," said Mr Thudic.u.mb.

"We shall have to build our vessel, and the sooner we set about it the better."

"We must, however, put a house over our heads in the meantime," said Mr Hooker. "This poor fellow, too, if we are to be instrumental in preserving his life, must be cared for."

"Of course, sir," said Roger Trew. "We will have a hut up for him in no time; and then, as it will be better to be near the sh.o.r.e instead of remaining on the hill, we must get one set up for the young ladies and the old Frau."

"Very right, my lad," said Mr Hooker. "But now, while you attend to the wounded man, Walter and I will go and look for our treasures, and ascertain whether they have escaped discovery by the pirates."

How eagerly Mr Hooker, whom I followed, looked round him on every side as we proceeded to the hiding-place, lest he should discover any signs of its having been visited!

"Alack! alack! I am afraid some of them have been here," he said. "Oh, what mischief they may have done!"

We reached a hollow under the bank of a dry stream. Alas! the boughs had been pulled away, and it was very evident that it had been entered.

The first thing we came upon was the jar which had contained the nautilus: it was open and empty. The arrack had been carried off, and the mollusc lay, entirely destroyed, on one side.

"This is sad--very sad! Oh, what a loss!" exclaimed Mr Hooker. "I hope we may discover that no worse mischief has been done."

We went in, almost falling over a case which had been opened. Mr Hooker examined it anxiously. It had not been disturbed, but after being opened, the top had been allowed to fall down again. The other cases were in the place where we left them. We now examined them. Mr Hooker uttered a shout of joy as he found that all had escaped. It was evident that the Malays had intended carrying off the cases, but had been frightened away before they could accomplish their object.

"Now, Walter, run up to your uncle with the good news," exclaimed Mr Hooker. "He said it would restore him, and I am sure it will. But do not go without your fowling-piece, though. We have had examples of the savage creatures to be met with in the woods."

I hurried along as fast as my legs would let me. I knew the delight the announcement would give my uncle. I took the path we had so often followed; keeping, as may be supposed, a bright look-out on either side, lest I might encounter a wild beast or serpent. Emily saw me coming, for she was on the watch, and ran down the hill to meet me. She gave a good account of Oliver.

"I am so thankful," she said; "he does not seem to have suffered from that fearful arrow. I little knew at the time what a risk you were all running; but I now see how mercifully we have been preserved."

Our uncle had been sleeping, but he started up when he heard me speaking in the fort.

"And our treasures, have they escaped, Walter? Are my collections all safe?" he asked eagerly.

I told him that all his things had been uninjured, and that one case only of Mr Hooker's had suffered, besides the nautilus.

"Nautilus, did you say? Has that been destroyed? Oh, those atrocious villains! That prize on which I set such value! Well, Walter, you must try and catch me another; you cannot render me a greater service. Alas!

alas! that I should have lost that one, and all for the sake of the arrack in which it was preserved!"

I a.s.sured him that I would do my best to try and catch another, as I was certain would also our companions.

"If poor Macco had been with us, I should have had more hope," I said.

"I never met a more expert fisherman, and I am sure he would have devised some means, though we might fail."

He seemed to take much less to heart the information that the English s.h.i.+p had pa.s.sed by; indeed, I suspect he was very unwilling to leave the island till he had re-collected more of the specimens which had been left in the house and destroyed. As yet we could not tell whether the pirates had discovered our store of timber for building the vessel, as we had not had time to visit the bay; nor, indeed, whether the boat had escaped their sharp eyes. That had been hidden among the rocks at some distance from the place where we usually landed, and might possibly, we hoped, not have been seen.

Late in the evening the rest of the party returned. They had given up all hopes of again seeing the vessel, and they came to ask Mr Sedgwick whether he would like to be carried down to the sea-sh.o.r.e.

"Certainly, certainly," he answered; "though I think I can walk. The lad here--Oliver--must be carried; and if I fail, I will get you to help me. But the sooner we commence building a house the better. I suppose some time must pa.s.s before the vessel can be got afloat, and we can be comfortable in the meantime Tanda here, who helped me to put up the other house, will be of great a.s.sistance; and with so many hands, we can soon get it ready."