you things."
So she did, but Loo said they never got any of them; she twisted up hermouth very peculiarly to intimate that they were intercepted by theale-barrel. Bevis became much agitated, he said he would tell thegovernor, he would tell dear mamma, Samson should not cry any more. Looshould take home one of the tins of preserved tongue, and the potatoes,and all the game there was--all except the hare.
Now Bevis had always been in contact almost with these folk, but yet hehad never seen; you and I live in the midst of things, but never lookbeneath the surface. His face became quite white; he was thoroughlyupset. It was his first glance at the hard roadside of life. He saidhe would do all sorts of things; Loo listened pleased but dimlydoubtful, she could not have explained herself, but she, nevertheless,knew that it was beyond Bevis's power to alter these circumstances. Notthat she hinted at a doubt; it was happiness enough to kneel there andlisten.
Then they made her tell them how many times she had been to the island,and all about it, and as she proceeded recognised one by one, littletrifles that had previously had no meaning till now they were connectedand formed a continuous strand. In her rude language it occupied a longtime, and was got at by cross-questioning from one and the other. Putinto order it was like this.
Volume Three, Chapter XIV.
NEW FORMOSA--THE CAPTIVE.
They arrived on Wednesday; Wednesday night Pan stayed in the hut withthem, and nothing happened. Thursday night, Pan swam off to themainland, and while he was away Loo made her first visit to the island,coming right to the hut door or curtain. Till she reached the permanentplank table under the awning and saw the remnants of the suppercarelessly left on it, she had had no thought of taking anything.
The desire to share, if ever so secretly, in what they were doing aloneled her there. So intense was that desire that it overcame her fear ofoffending them; she must at least see what they were doing. From thesedges she had watched them go to the island in the Pinta so many timesthat she was certain that was the place where they were. In wading offto the island by moonlight she caught a glimpse of the sinking fireinside the stockade, the glow thrown up on the cliff, and so easilyfound her way to the hut. Had Pan been there he would have barked, buthe was away; so that she came under the awning and saw all their works--the stockade, the hut, and everything, increasing her eagerness.
After she had examined the place and wondered how they could build it,she saw the remnants of the supper on the table, and remembering Samson,took them for him. The rabbit's skin was hung on the fence, and shetook it also, knowing that it would fetch a trifle; in winter it wouldhave been worth more. She thought that these things were nothing tothem, that they did not care about them, and threw them aside likerefuse.
The second time she came was on Saturday morning, while they wereexploring Serendib. When they were on Serendib she could cross to NewFormosa in broad daylight unseen, because New Formosa lay between, andthe woods on it concealed any one approaching from the western side.Her mother and elder sisters were reaping in the cornfields beyond theWaste, and she was supposed to be minding the younger children, insteadof which she was in the sedges watching New Formosa, and directly shesaw Bevis and Mark pole the raft across to Serendib she waded over.
She visited the hut, took a few potatoes from the store in the cave, andspent some time wondering at everything they had there. As she wasleaving they landed from the raft, and Pan sniffing her in the wood ranbarking after her. He knew her very well and made no attempt to bite,still he barked as if it was his duty to tell them some one was on theisland. Thinking they would run to see what it was, she climbed up intothe ivy-grown oak, and they actually came underneath and looked up anddid not see her.
They soon went away fancying it must be a squirrel, but Pan stopped tillshe descended, and then made friends and followed her to the reed-grass,whence so soon as she thought it safe she waded across to the mainland.Busy at the hut they had no idea that anything of the kind was going on,for they could not see the water from the stockade. On Sunday morningshe came again, for the third time, crossing over while they were atBamboo Island, and after satiating her curiosity and indulging in thepleasure of handling their weapons and the things in the hut, she tookthe cold half-cooked bacon from the shelf, and the two slices that hadbeen thrown to Pan and which he had left uneaten.
When they returned Pan knew she had been; he barked and first ran to theivy-grown oak, but finding she was not there he went on and discoveredher in the reed-grass. He was satisfied with having discovered her, andonly licked her hand. So soon as everything was quiet she slippedacross to the mainland, but in the afternoon, being so much interestedand eager to see what they were doing, she tried to come over again,when Mark saw her head in the sedges. Loo crouched and kept still solong they concluded there was no one there.
It was the same afternoon that they looked at the oak for marks ofclaws, but her naked feet had left no trace. She would very probablyhave attempted it again on Monday night, but that evening they came withthe letter and list of provisions, and having seen them and spoken tothem, and having something to do for them, her restless eagerness wastemporarily allayed. That night was the first Pan was tied up, butnothing disturbed him.
But Tuesday night, after they had been for the flag-basket, theinclination to follow them became too strong, and towards the middle ofthe night, when, as she supposed, Pan was on shore (for she had seen himswim off other nights), she approached the hut. To her surprise Pan,who was tied up, began to bark. Hastening away, in her hurry shecrossed the spot where Pan hid his treasures and picked up the duck'sdrumstick, but finding it was so polished as to be useless dropped itamong the reed-grass.
Wednesday night she ventured once more, but found the gate in thestockade locked; she tried to look over, when Pan set up his bark. Sheran back a few yards to the bramble bushes and crouched there, trustingin the thick mist to hide her, as in fact it did. In half a minute,Mark having cut the cord, Pan rushed out in fury, as if he would fly ather throat, but coming near and seeing who it was, he dropped his howlof rage, and during the silence they supposed he was engaged in a deadlystruggle.
Whether she really feared that he would spring at her, he came with sucha bounce, or whether she thought Bevis and Mark would follow him andfind her, she hit at Pan with the thick stick she carried. Now Pan wasbut just touched, for he swerved, but the big stick and the thump itmade on the ground frightened him, and he yelped as if with pain and ranback. As he ran she threw a stone after him, the stone hit the fenceand shook it, and knocked off the piece of bark from the willow whichthey afterwards supposed to have been torn by the claw of the tiger.
Hearing them talking and dreading every moment that they would come out,she remained crouched in the brambles for a long time, and at last creptaway, but stayed in the reed-grass till the sun shone, and then crossedto the mainland. Thursday she did not come, nor Thursday night,thinking it best to wait awhile and let a day and night elapse. But onFriday morning, having seen them sail to the south in the Calypso, whilethey were exploring the swamp, she waded over, and once more looked atthe wonderful hut and the curious cage they had constructed about theopen shed.
She was so lost in admiring these things and trying to imagine what itcould be for, that they had returned very near the island before shestarted to go. She got as far as the reed-grass and saw them come uppoling the raft.
On the raft while facing the island they could not have helped seeingher, so she waited, intending to cross when they had entered thestockade and were busy there. But Pan recognised that she had been tothe stockade; they ran at once to the reed-grass, as they now knew ofthe trail there, and discovered her. The reason Pan would not enter thereeds, even when hurled among them, was his fear of the thick stick.
"Stupes we were!" said Bevis.
"Most awful stupes!"
"Not half Indians!"
"Not a quarter!"
The whole thing was now so clear to them they could not
understand whythey had not rightly read the indications or "sign" that at lastappeared so self-evident. But they were not the first who have wonderedafterwards that they had not been wise _before_ the event. It is soeasy to read when the type is set up and the sentences printed in propersequence; so difficult to decipher defaced inscriptions in an unknownlanguage. When the path is made any one can walk along it and expressdisdainful surprise that there should ever have been any difficulty.
"But it's not proper," said Bevis. "I wish it had been a tiger."
"It would have been so capital. But _we've_ got a slave."
"Where's she to sleep to-night?"
"Anywhere in the wood."
"Slave, you're to cook the hare for supper."
"And mind you don't make a noise when we're out hunting and frighten thekangaroos."
Loo said she would be as quiet as a mouse.
"We shall
Bevis: The Story of a Boy Page 88