Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TEN.

  THE PURSUIT--POOPY, LED ON BY LOVE AND HATE, RUSHES TO THE RESCUE.

  The shades of night had begun to descend upon the island when MasterCorrie reached the summit of the mountain ridge that divided the bay inwhich the _Foam_ was anchored from the settlement of Sandy Cove.

  Close on his heels followed the indomitable Jo Bumpus, who pantedvehemently and perspired profusely from his unwonted exertions.

  "Wot an object you are," exclaimed Corrie, gazing at the hot giant witha look of mingled surprise and glee--for the boy's spirit was of thatnature which cannot repress a dash of fun even in the midst of anxietyand sorrow. We would not have it understood that the boy everdeliberately mingled the two things--joy and sorrow--at one and the sametime, but he was so irresistibly alive to the ludicrous, that a touch ofit was sufficient at any time to cause him to forget, for a brief apace,his anxieties, whatever these might be.

  Jo Bumpus smiled benignantly, and said that he "was glad to hear it."For Jo had conceived for the boy that species of fondness which largedogs are frequently known to entertain for small ones--permitting themto take outrageous liberties with their persons which they would resentfuriously were they attempted by other dogs.

  Presently the warm visage of Bumpus elongated, and his eyes openeduncommonly wide as he stared at a particular spot in the ground;insomuch that Corrie burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

  "O Grampus, you'll kill me if you go on like that," said he; "I can'tstand it. Indeed I can't. Sich a face! D'ye know what it's like?"

  Jo expressed no desire to become enlightened on this point, butcontinued to gaze so earnestly that Corrie started up andexclaimed--"What is it, Jo?"

  "A fut!" replied Jo.

  "A footprint, I declare!" shouted the boy, springing forward andexamining the print, which was pretty clearly defined in a little patchof soft sand that lay on the bare rock. "Why, Jo, it's Poopy's. I'dknow it anywhere by the bigness of the little toe. How _can_ she havecome up here?"

  "I say, lad, hist!" said Bumpus, in a hoarse whisper, "here's anotherfut that don't belong to--what's her name--Puppy, did ye say?"

  "Why, it's Alice's," whispered the boy, his face becoming instantlygrave, while an unwonted expression of anxiety crossed it, "and here'sthat of a savage beside it. He must have changed his intention, or,perhaps, he came this way to throw the people who were chasing them offthe scent."

  Corrie was right. Finding that he was hotly pursued, Keona had takenadvantage of the first rocky ground he reached to diverge abruptly fromthe route he had hitherto followed in his flight; and, the farther toconfuse his pursuers, he had taken the almost exhausted child up in hisarms and carried her a considerable distance, so that if his enemiesshould fall again on his track the absence of the little footprintsmight induce them to fancy they were following up a wrong scent.

  In this he was so far successful, for the native settlers, as we haveseen, soon gave up the chase, and returned with one of the child'sshoes, which had fallen off unobserved by the savage.

  But there was one of the pursuers who was far ahead of the others, andwho was urged to continue the chase by the strongest of all motives--love. Poor Kekupoopi had no sooner heard of the abduction of her youngmistress, than she had set off at the top of her speed to a well-knownheight in the mountains, whence, from a great distance, she couldobserve all that went on below. On the wings of affection she hadflown, rather than walked, to this point of observation, and, to herdelight, saw not only the pursuers but the fugitives in the valleybelow. She kept her glowing eyes fixed on them, hastening from rock torock and ridge to ridge, as intervening obstacles hid them from view,until she saw the stratagem, just referred to, practised by Keona.Then, feeling that she had no power of voice to let the pursuers knowwhat had occurred, and seeing that they would certainly turn back onbeing baffled, she resolved to keep up the chase herself--trusting toaccident to afford her an opportunity of rendering aid to Alice; or,rather, trusting to God to help her in her great difficulty, for thepoor child had been well trained in the missionary's house, and love hadbeen the teacher.

  Taking a short cut down into the valley,--for she was well acquaintedwith all the wild and rugged paths of the mountains in the immediateneighbourhood of the settlement,--she was so fortunate as to reach anarrow pass, through which Keona and Alice must needs go. Arrivingthere a short time before they did, she was able to take a few minutesrest before resuming the chase.

  Little did the wily savage think that a pair of eyes as dark and bright,though not so fierce as his own, were gazing at him from behind thebushes as he sped up that narrow gorge.

  Poor Alice was running and stumbling by his side; for the monster heldher by the hand and dragged her along, although she was scarcely able tostand. The heart of the black girl well-nigh burst with anger when sheobserved that both her shoes and stockings had been torn off in thehasty flight, and that her tender feet were cut and bleeding.

  Just as they reached the spot near which Poopy was concealed, the child,sank with a low wail to the ground, unable to advance another step.Keona seized her in his arms, and, uttering a growl of anger as he threwher rudely over his shoulder, bore her swiftly away.

  But, quick though his step was, it could not outrun that of the poorlittle dark maiden who followed him like his shadow, carefully keepingout of view, however, while her mind was was busy with plans for thedeliverance of her young mistress. The more she thought, the more shefelt how utterly hopeless would be any attempt that she could make,either by force or stratagem, to pluck her from the grasp of one sostrong and subtle as Keona. At length she resolved to give up thinkingof plans altogether and take to prayer instead.

  On reaching the highest ridge of the mountains, Keona suddenly stopped,placed Alice on a flat rock and went to the top of a peak not more thanfifty yards off. Here he lay down and gazed long and earnestly over thecountry through which they had just passed, evidently for the purpose ofdiscovering, if possible, the position and motions of his enemies.

  Poopy, whose wits were sharpened by love, at once took advantage of heropportunity. She crept on all fours towards the rock on which Alicelay, in such a manner that it came between her person and the savage.

  "Missy Alice! Oh! missy Alice! quick, look up, it's me--Poopy," saidthe girl, raising her head cautiously above the edge of the rock.

  Alice started up on one elbow, and was about to utter a scream ofdelight and surprise, when her sable friend laid her black paw suddenlyon the child's pretty mouth and effectually shut it up.

  "Hush! Alice; no cry. Savage hear and come back--kill Poopy bery muchquick. Listen. Me all alone. You bery clibber. Dry up eyes, no cryany more. Look happy. God will save you. Poopy nebber leave you aslong as got her body in her soul."

  Just at this point, Keona rose from his recumbent position, and thegirl, who had not suffered her eyes to move from him for a singleinstant, at once sunk behind the rock and crept so silently away thatAlice could scarcely persuade herself that she had not been dreaming.

  The savage returned, took the child's hand, led her over the brow of themountain, and began to descend by a steep rugged path to the valleyslying on the other side of the island. But before going a hundred yardsdown the dark gorge--which was rendered all the darker by the approachof night--he turned abruptly aside; entered the mouth of a cavern anddisappeared.

  Poopy was horrified at this unexpected and sudden change in the state ofthings. For a long time she lay closely hid among the rocks withintwenty yards of the cave's mouth, expecting every moment to see thefugitives issue from its dark recesses. But they did not reappear. Allat once it occurred to the girl that there might possibly be an exitfrom the cavern at the other end of it, and that, while she was idlywaiting there, her little mistress and her savage captor might behastening down the mountain far beyond her reach.

  Rendered desperate by this idea, she quitted her place of concealment,and ran recklessly into the cavern. But t
he place was dark as Erebus,and the ground was so rugged that she tripped and fell before she hadadvanced into it more than fifty yards.

  Bruised by the fall, and overawed by the gloom of her situation, thepoor girl lay still for some time where she had fallen, with batedbreath, and listening intently; but no sound struck her ear save thebeating of her own heart, which appeared to her unnaturally loud. Underan impulse of terror, she rose and ran back into the open air.

  Here it occurred to her that she might perhaps find the other outlet tothe cave--supposing that one really existed--by going round the hill andcarefully examining the ground on the other side. This, however, was amatter requiring considerable time, and it was not until a full hour hadexpired that she returned to the mouth of the cave, and sat down to restand consider what should be done next.

  To enter the dark recesses of the place without a light she knew wouldbe impossible as well as useless, and she had no means of procuring alight. Besides, even if she had, what good could come of herexploration? The next impulse was to hasten back to the settlement atfull speed and guide a party to the place; but, was it likely that thesavage would remain long in the cave? This question suggested herformer idea of the possible existence of another outlet; and as shethought upon Alice being now utterly beyond her reach, she covered herface with her hands and burst into tears. After a short time she beganto pray. Then, as the minutes flew past, and her hopes sank lower andlower, she commenced--like many a child of Adam who thinks himselfconsiderably wiser than a black girl--to murmur at her hard lot. Thisshe did in an audible voice, having become forgetful of, as well asindifferent to, the chance of discovery.

  "Oh! w'at for was me born?" she inquired, somewhat viciously, and, notbeing able apparently to answer this question, she proceeded to commentin a wildly sarcastic tone on the impropriety of her having been broughtinto existence at all.

  "Me should be dead. W'at's de use o' life w'en ums nothin' to live for?Alice gone! Darling Alice! Oh! dear. Me wish I wasn't never had beenborn; yes me do. Don't care for meself! Wouldn't give nuffin formeself! Only fit to tend missy Alice! Not fit for nuffin else, and nowAlice gone--whar' to, nobody nose an' nobody care, 'xcept Poopy, who'snot worth a brass button!"

  Having given utterance to this last expression, which she had acquiredfrom her friend Corrie, the poor girl began to howl in order to relieveher insupportable feelings.

  It was at this point in our story that Master Corrie, and his companionthe Grampus, having traced the before-mentioned footprints for aconsiderable distance, became cognisant of sundry unearthly sounds, onhearing which, never having heard anything like them before, thesewanderers stood still in attitudes of breathless attention and gazed ateach other with looks of indescribable amazement, not altogether unmixedwith a dash of consternation.