CHAPTER FIVE
Barty's bed of leaves was so comfortable that he slept all night likea dormouse and never rolled over once. There is no knowing when hewould have opened his eyes if he had been left to himself, but whenthe sun had risen and begun to make the blue sea look as if it weresparkling with diamonds, he suddenly awakened and sat up to listen tosomething he had heard in his sleep.
What he had heard was Blue Crest. There she sat on the edge of thecave window, whistling the calling song she had learned from him theday before.
"Hello," said Barty, "I'm glad you've come back. I wondered where youwere in the tropical storm." Blue Crest spread her wings and flew intothe cave to perch on his wrist. She sang a little song of her own. Shewas saying "good morning" and letting him know she was glad he hadcome to the Desert Island. Barty whistled back to her and stroked herfeathers with his fingers and lifted her up to put his cheek againsther soft wing. Anyone would like to be wakened by a bird who was tameenough to sit on one's wrist and sing.
"But where is the Good Wolf? And I don't see Man Saturday," he saidsuddenly, looking round the cave.
Blue Crest spread her wings and flew to the cave window again. Bartyscrambled down from his leaf bed and followed her. It was a very nicewindow to look through. You could see so much sea and sky, and thewhite beach seemed so far below; and when he looked down Barty sawwhere the Good Wolf and Man Saturday had gone. They were standing inthe sands together and looked as if they were very much interested insomething lying near them. Barty was just wondering what they weredoing when he was so startled by something that he jumped. There was asudden sound of the flapping of wings and a large white bird rushedpast him quite close to his face. It flew out of a round hole in thefront of the cliff, and the sight of it made Barty think ofsomething.
"If she were a hen I should know there were eggs there," he said, "andthat would be convenient."
The truth was that getting up had made him think of breakfast, andbreakfast made him think of eggs. Blue Crest put her head on one sideand gave three cheerful chirps. Then she flew to the round hole anddisappeared inside. In about a minute she appeared again standing atthe entrance, and she whistled Barty's call.
The little boy scrambled out onto the ledge outside the cave window.He knew that she was calling him to come and look at something. Bystanding on tiptoe he could look into the hole, and when he looked hesaw it was full of very white eggs, which was so exciting that hecould not help calling out to the Good Wolf and Saturday.
"Hel-lo! Hel-lo!" he shouted. "I'm coming and I've got some eggs forbreakfast."
He was putting some into his blouse, which seemed a good place tocarry them, when he saw the Good Wolf look up at him and then saw himturn towards the cliff and begin to run. He ran up the green slope sofast that he began to gallop, and he galloped until his tail and hishair streamed straight out behind him as they had done when he wasrunning away from the tropical storm. He was excited.
Barty ran to meet him. He wanted to hear what had happened, so didBlue Crest; she flew after him. When they met the Good Wolf, he wasquite out of breath and so was Barty. Blue Crest was not, but shefluttered down for a rest on Barty's shoulder.
"Have you a piece of glass in your pocket?" the Good Wolf panted out.
"Yes," answered Barty, beginning to fumble in his pockets. "At least Ihad yesterday a piece of grandma's old spectacles. Where is it?"fumbling deeper and deeper. "Oh! I must have lost it! It's gone!"
"I thought so," said the Good Wolf. "It fell out of your pocket ontothe beach and something has happened. Come and see what it is." Youmay be sure Barty did not lose any time. He had to hold his blousetight so that the eggs would not break when he was running.
When he got to the beach he found Man Saturday standing as he had seenhim from the cliff ledge. He was looking very hard at the small pileof something Barty had noticed that they were watching when he firstsaw them.
"What is it?" he cried out, feeling very much interested himself.
"Don't you see anything curious?" asked the Good Wolf.
Barty drew nearer and the next minute he gave a shout.
"Smoke is beginning to come out of it," he said. "It looks like realsmoke. What set it on fire? What is that shining thing? Why, it's mypiece of glass," and he made a jump towards it.
"Don't touch it," said the Good Wolf. "The sun has been shiningthrough it onto the leaves and has made it into a burning-glass, andit has lighted a fire. That is what has happened. Now you can cookyour eggs."
"Let us roast them," said Barty. "Roasted eggs make you feel just likea picnic."
Barty drew nearer and next moment gave a shout]
Man Saturday gave him a cunning little look and then began to be verybusy indeed. He ran and brought more sticks and leaves and Barty kneltdown and blew the tiny flame until it grew into a bigger one, and thenhe fanned with his hat until the chips and twigs were snapping.
In a few minutes there was fire enough to cook anything and then beganthe breakfast making. It _was_ like a picnic. They put the eggs in thehot sand to roast and found some crystals of salt dried in thecrannies of the rocks. Man Saturday brought some young cocoanuts andsome of the roots that were like a potato, and they were roasted too.Man Saturday ran about chattering and imitated everything Barty did.He seemed quite delighted with the idea of roasting things in hotashes, and when Barty and the Good Wolf went together to theirswimming pool to have a bath while the breakfast was cooking, he satbeside the fire and watched it, with his arms hugging his knees andhis eyes twinkling. "He always looks as if he were thinking very hardindeed," Barty said. "Perhaps he is thinking now how queer it is thata piece of glass can set things on fire. I dare say he never saw firebefore."
Barty splashed about splendidly in the clear green water of theswimming pool and before his bath was ended he could swim ever so muchbetter than he had swam the day before. He came out of the sparklingwater all rosy and laughing with delight. But when he was putting onhis clothes he stopped with a stocking half way on and began to think.
"It is very queer," he said in a puzzled voice, "but I keep thinkingof something and I don't know what it is I'm thinking about."
"That's queer," said the Good Wolf.
"The Desert Island is beautiful, and the cave, and Man Saturday, andBlue Crest, and the swimming, but I feel as if I want to tell somebodyabout it and I don't know who it is. I can't remember."
"You'll remember in time," said the Good Wolf, "if you don't botherabout it. I think the eggs must be roasted enough by now."
They went to see and found them all beautifully done. It was a lovelybreakfast. They drank cocoanut milk out of cocoanut shells, instead ofcoffee, and the roasted eggs tasted _exactly_ like a picnic.
Man Saturday ate a cocoanut and seemed to enjoy it very much. After hehad finished he began to walk up and down the beach and to look out atthe sea as if he were keeping watch. Barty thought he looked anxiousabout something.
"What do you think he is looking for?" he asked the Good Wolf. Just atthat minute Man Saturday stopped walking up and down and stood quitestill shading his eyes with his small black paw. The Good Wolfwatched him for a few minutes.
"I think," he said, "that he must be looking out for ships."
"What does he want them for?" said Barty.
"He doesn't want them," answered the Good Wolf. "He is afraid ofthem."
"Why," said Barty, "what sort of ships?"
"Pirates," said the Good Wolf.
That made Barty feel just a little uncomfortable.
"Pirates are almost as bad as cannibals, aren't they?" he said.
"Sometimes worse," said the Good Wolf, "though of course it dependsupon the kind of pirates."
Man Saturday was not looking out from under his hand any more; he wasrunning quickly across the beach to the cliff. When he got there hebegan to climb up the face of it. Only a monkey could have done it. Hecaught hold of tiny bushes and twigs and clumps of green things andpulled himself up like lightni
ng. In a few minutes he was as high asthe cave and he stood on the ledge and looked out from there, shadinghis eyes again with his black paw.
"He can see round the point from there," said the Good Wolf.
"Do you feel at all nervous?" asked Barty.
"I had a good night's sleep and I have had an excellent breakfast,"the Good Wolf said, "and I am prepared for almost anything--butPirates and Cannibals are known to be very disagreeable."
"But they are adventures, if they don't catch you," said Barty,cheering himself up.
"They are adventures if they _do_ catch you," answered the Good Wolf.
"The Best Adventure is finding out how to get away," said Barty.
"Well, you see a person comes to a desert island for adventures," saidthe Good Wolf.
Barty sat and hugged his knees and looked rather serious.
"Robinson Crusoe had a good many," he said. "He had to be shipwreckedbefore he could get to his island."
"Look at Man Saturday!" he said the next minute. Man Saturday wasdancing up and down on the ledge and looking very much excited. Hekept pointing round the headland and they could see that he waschattering though they could not hear him.
"He sees something coming round the point," said the Good Wolf. "Thisis beginning to look serious."
"But in adventures people always do get away," said Barty, cheeringhimself up again. "You see they couldn't write the adventures if theydidn't."
"There, you have thought of the right thing at the right time again,"said the Good Wolf. "It's a most valuable habit. Do I see a ship withblack sails coming round the point?"
"Yes," answered Barty, "you do, because I see it myself. It is a veryfierce looking ship, with guns sticking out through holes, and thereare black flags as well as black sails, and white bones and skulls arepainted on them. It is a very fierce ship indeed."
"Man Saturday is beckoning to us to go to the cave," the Good Wolfsaid, "perhaps we would better go."
Barty thought so, too, so they had another run back up the greenslope and Blue Crest flew with them. They ran as fast as they had runin the storm, and when they got to the creeping in place they wereinside in two minutes.
Man Saturday had clambered in through the window and he was chatteringas fast as he could. He jumped onto Barty's shoulder and put his armround his neck as if he intended to protect him. Blue Crest perched onthe leaf bed and sang a little thrilling song which Barty knew wasmeant to be encouraging and was also full of good advice if he couldhave understood it.
Then all four went to the window and looked out.
The Pirate ship had come quite close to the shore by this time. Bartycould see that there was a crowd of men on the deck and that theylooked as fierce as the ship. They had big hats, and big beards, andbig moustaches, and big sharp-looking crooked swords at their sides.Some of them had taken their swords out of their scabbards and wereflourishing them about.
"That biggest one is feeling the edge of his to see if it is sharp,"said Barty. "I think he must be the captain. It would be so nice tostay in here and watch them if they wouldn't come and find us."
"Chattery-chattery--chat-chat chatterdy," said Man Friday, pointing tomake them look at something which was happening at the side of theship.
The Pirates began to row towards the shore]
He was pointing at some of the pirates who were letting down a boatinto the sea. As soon as it was in the water they let down a ropeladder and half a dozen of them swarmed down it. Then the captainwalked to the side and climbed down too. He took a seat and sat withhis bare crooked sword across his knees. He waved his arm fiercelyto the other pirates and they began to row towards the shore.
"Don't let us look out of the window any more," said Barty. "Theymight see us."
"I am afraid they saw us when we ran up the hill," said the Good Wolf.
Barty rather gasped. You would have gasped yourself, you know, if youhad been in a cave on a desert island and a boat full of pirates wasbeing rowed very fast to the shore, just at the foot of the cliffwhere your cave was.
"Well," said Barty, "this _is_ an adventure. I hope it will end right.But I do wish there weren't so many pirates and they did not look sofierce."
And he sat down quite flat on the cave floor, and so did the GoodWolf, and so did Man Saturday. Blue Crest sat on Barty's shoulder andreally hung her head and drooped her wings.
CHAPTER SIX
"Oh!" said the captain, "I'm really smiling."]
Barty Crusoe and His Man Saturday Page 5