CHAPTER THIRTY.
ANOTHER MISHAP.
In another minute Eric arrived where his brother was lying; when,throwing himself on his knees, he bent over him anxiously. "Oh, Fritz,are you badly hurt?" he cried: and, still receiving no answer, he burstinto a passion of sobs. "He's dead, he's dead!" he wailed in a brokenvoice--"dead, never to speak to me more!"
"No, laddie, not quite dead yet," whispered Fritz faintly. The suddenblow in the back from the goat's horns, striking him as it did at thebase of the spine, had rendered him for the moment unconscious; theunexpected attack had injured him terribly--more so, indeed, than thebullet wound through his leg. Besides, he was lying face downwards, andso was unable to turn over, which fact prevented him from speaking moreplainly when he recovered his senses.
"Not dead? Oh, I am so glad!" shouted out Eric joyously, in suddenrevulsion of feeling. "I was afraid that you were killed!"
"I feel pretty near it," said Fritz, although he spoke now in a strongertone, Eric having partly raised him up, by putting his arm under hisneck. "Gently, laddie, gently," he called out, however, as his brotherlifted him, "my poor back hurts fearfully!"
"I thought it was your leg, Fritz, for it is bleeding awfully. Yourtrousers are wet with blood!"
"That's nothing, laddie--nothing to speak of," said Fritz.
"Oh, isn't it?" cried the other, who had been busily cutting away thetrouser leg and stocking with his sheath knife. "Why, the bullet hasgone through the fleshy part of your calf."
"I wish it had gone through the horny part of that horrid old goat,"said Fritz grimly, smiling at his own joke, which made Eric laugh.
"The old brute! But, you would go after him, you know."
"Yes; still, I am suffering now, and perhaps justly, for not leaving thepoor animal alone. He never harmed me before I tried to harm him, so itonly serves me right! It's a bad job, Eric; I'm afraid I shan't be ableto get down to the hut again. You will have to rig me up some sort ofshelter here."
"Oh, no, that won't be necessary," said Eric, glad that his brotherseemed to be getting more like his old calm self and able to lookmatters in the face.
"Why, how can I move? Do you think I shall be able to climb down thatabominable tussock-grass ladder in this condition, especially when I washardly able to manage it while sound in wind and limb--which I can't sayis the case at present?"
"I didn't think of your getting down that way, old fellow," said thelad, after a moment's reflection. "I've got another plan in my noddle--a better one than yours I think."
"And what is that?" asked Fritz.
"Why, you know where you are now, don't you?"
"Yes, I should think I did; I haven't quite lost my consciousness yet!"
"You are close to the western side of the coast, just near where theplateau slopes down to the sea by our sealing ground."
"Well, what of that?"
"Why, don't you see through my plan yet, brother? Can I not pull thewhale-boat round from our bay, and then manage to lift you down theincline here into it--thus getting you back home easily in that way?"
"Himmel, Eric, you're a grand fellow," exclaimed Fritz, in honestadmiration of the proposal. "I declare I never thought of such a simplething as that. Of course it can be done. What a stupid I was, not tothink of it! That old goat must have knocked all my seven senses out ofmy head; for, I declare I never recollected that there was any other wayof getting down from here save by the waterfall gully!"
"Ah, well, there is another way," said Eric, laughing joyously. "But,really we must now see about using it, for I don't want you to remain uphere all night when you may be so much more comfortable in the hut. Iwill scramble down and fetch round the boat at once, if there is nothingmore I can do for you before I go--is there anything you wish?"
"No, nothing, now that you've raised my head and propped it up so nicelywith your coat. I should be glad, though, if you will bring a can ofwater with you when you come back with the boat."
"Stay, I'll get some for you now!" cried the lad; and, flying across theplateau, he was soon half-way down a niche in the gully whence he couldreach the cascade. In a few minutes more, he was up again on thetableland and by the side of Fritz, with his cap full of the welcomewater, which tasted to the sufferer, already feverish from the bulletwound--which Eric had bandaged up to stop the bleeding--more deliciousthan nectar, more strengthening than wine. It at once brought thecolour back to his cheek and the fire to his eye.
"Ha!" Fritz exclaimed, "that draught has made a new man of me, laddie.You may be off as soon as you please, now, to fetch the boat; while Iwill wait patiently here until you can bring it round the headland.How's the wind?"
"South-east and by south," cried the young sailor promptly.
"That will be all in your favour, then. Go now, laddie, and don't belonger than you can help."
"You may depend on that," cried Eric, pressing his brother's handsoftly; and, in another moment, he was racing again across the plateauto the point where the two had ascended from the gully by the waterfall.
Ere long, Eric had brought round the whale-boat to the haunt of theseals on the west beach; when, after a good deal of labour, in which hecould not help hurting Fritz somewhat, he succeeded in getting thesufferer down the sloping rocks. Thence, he lifted him bodily into thestern-sheets of the boat, where he had prepared a comfortable couch bypiling up on the bottom grating all the blankets and rugs from the hut.
Eric had a hard pull back against the wind and tide round the headland,there being none to help him with an oar; but, naturally indomitable, hebravely accomplished the task at last, arriving back at the bay beforesunset with his almost unconscious burden, who was now unable to move orassist him in the least.
Fortunately, the most arduous part of the transportation was nowaccomplished, the remainder being "all plain sailing," as Eric said.
The lad certainly had a most inventive mind; for, as soon as theyreached their own little bay, he once more astonished Fritz--who wasglad enough to get so far, but puzzled as to how he would ever arrive atthe hut, knowing that the lad would never be able to carry him there.
"Now, brother," cried Eric, "you just stop quietly where you are aminute or two while I get the carriage ready."
"The carriage?" cried Fritz, more puzzled than ever. "What do you mean,laddie?"
"The wheelbarrow, of course," answered Eric, laughing. "See, I have putthe door of our hut across it; and, with the bedding on top of this, Ishall be able to wheel you, without the slightest jolting, right up tothe cottage."
"Donnerwetter!" exclaimed Fritz--"you're a wonderful lad; you seem tothink of everything."
"Nonsense! Silence, now--you mustn't talk; it might bring on feverperhaps!" exclaimed Eric, to stop his brother's grateful expressions.Then, lifting him out carefully from the boat, he placed the invalid onthe novel ambulance wagon he had so ingeniously improvised; and, rollingthe wheelbarrow along the little pathway up the incline that led to thehut, he proceeded carefully to transport him home. Arrived here, Ericat once put Fritz to bed, so that he might be able to examine hisinjuries more closely and apply proper bandages to the wounded leg andback, in place of the temporary appliances he had made shift with whenfirst attending to the wounded hero, who was now able to direct him whatto do and how to do it.
Eric could not help thinking what an unlucky fellow that elder brotherof his was!
The cliff seemed fatal to him; for, the first time he ascended it, hesprained his ankle, which laid him up for three weeks; and now he hadhurt himself even worse. Really, the sailor lad wished there were nocrags at all; but, should that devout consummation not be feasible, thenhe wished there were no means of getting to the summit, for then Fritzwould never incur any danger through climbing there.
Little did Eric think, as these hasty reflections passed through hismind, that, in a very short while, his last wish would be gratified--andthat in a way, too, which would seriously affect them both!
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sp; The very next morning, indeed, he was glad enough to go up the cliff bythe tussock-grass ladder, in order to fetch the young goat he had shotthe day before, which, in the excitement of Fritz's accident, had beenleft behind on the plateau; and, as he was coming down the gully again,he saw the old goat "Kaiser Billy," and shook his fist at him.
"You old rascal!" he cried--"had it not been for you and your nastyhorns, poor Fritz would be now all right."
He then fired a shot at the animal in the distance; but, the knowingfellow, who must have noticed the lad's deadly aim the previousafternoon--when he had slain one of his family while she was gallopingalong beside him--now kept carefully out of the range of Eric's rifle,so that the bullet did not fall any way near him, so the lad had todescend the tussock-grass ladder in a somewhat disappointed frame ofmind.
He had not wished actually to hurt the old goat, but merely to give hima sort of mild lesson anent his impudent treatment of Fritz. However,the astute animal declined learning even from so gentle an instructor asEric, despite the possibility of the lad having his welfare at heart!
This was the last time the sailor lad ever had the chance to climb up ordown the face of the cliff by means of the much-abused ladder-way; for,within the next few days, a sudden mishap happened that cleared thetangled masses of grass away in a jiffy, leaving the precipitous passthrough the gorge bare--the grim rocks thenceforth disclosing themselvesin all their naked ruggedness, for, there were no friendly tendrilshanging down whereby to escalade the heights.
The accident occurred in this wise.
When clearing the land for the garden, a large amount of brushwood andweeds had to be removed from its surface. These, when cut down and dugup, made a large heap of rubbish, which, for the sake of neatness andbeing out of the way, was piled up at the bottom of the gorge adjoiningthe waterfall--the embrasure of the gully making a capital dust-hole, asEric had suggested.
From the effects of the hot sun, this rubbish was now as dry as straw;so, one afternoon, when Fritz had so far recovered from his injuries asto be able to crawl out of the hut and sit on a bench outside, which thetwo had constructed under a rude sort of porch, Eric determined tosignalise his brother's convalescence by having a bonfire in honour ofthe event.
To the impulsive lad it was all one to think of such a thing and tocarry out the idea. In a moment, rushing from Fritz's side, he haddrawn his inseparable box of matches from his pocket, struck a light,and ignited the pile of rubbish.
"Doesn't it flare up splendidly?" he cried with glee as he watched thetongue-like flames darting upwards, the whole body of dry material beingsoon in a red fiery glow, so hot and scorching that the lad had to moveaway from the vicinity; and, returning to the front of the hut he stoodfor a time by the side of Fritz, gazing with great admiration at theblaze, which, mounting higher and higher, quickly enveloped the gorgewith clouds of that light, pungent smoke which wood fires always giveout.
"Yes, it burns well enough," said the calm, methodical Fritz; "but,perhaps, laddie, it will spread farther than you intend. I fear it willburn up the little wood to the right of our garden, with all the poorthrushes and other birds in it. It is easy enough to start a fire, youknow: the difficulty is to limit its action and put it out when youwish!"
"Oh, there's no fear about that," replied Eric with great nonchalance."The wind is blowing from the north-east and will only carry the flamesagainst the cliff, where there is nothing to harm."
Was there not?
Higher and higher rose the smoke, ascending pyramidically up thechimney-like gorge; and, the quick-darting tongues of flame could beseen spreading through the hazy veil, while the crackle and roar of thefire sounded fiercer and fiercer. Presently, growing bolder in itsstrength, the fire advanced outwards from the cleft in the rock where itwas first kindled, spreading to the right and left of the gully. Next,it began to clamber up the face of the cliff, burning away gaily evenright under the waterfall, which seemed powerless to stay its rapidprogress.
"Look, Eric," cried Fritz, "it has caught the tussock grass now close toour ladder. I told you it would do mischief!"
"Bother it all, so it has!" exclaimed the lad, darting off with the vainintention of trying to stop the conflagration.
He might just as well have attempted to arrest the flow of the sea inthe little bay below by the aid of his much-detested spade!
Crackle, crackle--puff--whish; and, in another few moments, the wholecliff seemed on fire, the flames licking every particle of herbage offthe face of the rock.
The heat soon made the solid stone glow like molten iron; while thecolumns of white smoke, as they rose up, were swept by the wind over thetableland, frightening away several of the albatross, which hovered overthe scene of devastation on poised wing, wondering apparently what allthe fuss was about!
The fire gradually burnt itself out when there was nothing more toconsume, only an angry pile of smouldering embers remaining below thewaterfall, which still danced and tumbled itself over the blackenededges of the crags, no longer festooned with the tussock-grass andshrubs which had previously given the brothers handhold and footholdwhen climbing to the summit of the cliff.
The ladder up to Eric's look-out station being now irremediablydestroyed, henceforth the sphere of action of the brother crusoes wouldbe limited to the confined valley in which they had landed and builttheir home; for, there was now no means of reaching the tableland, saveby the pass on the western side near their sealing station, to reachwhich they would have to use the whale-boat and venture out to sea,round the eastern or western headland.
They were now really shut completely within their little valley, withouta chance of escaping in any sudden emergency, except by taking to thewater!
The destruction of the ladder-way was a sad calamity; but, that was notthe worst of the damage done by Eric's bonfire!
It was late in the afternoon when the lad first lit up the pile ofrubbish and night came ere the fire had died out, its blazing light,reflected back by the glistening surface of the cliff, shining out tosea from the bay, like a beacon welcoming the passing mariner tofriendly shores--instead of which, the cruel crags that encircled theisland only grinned through the surf, like the pointed teeth of a packof snarling wolves, waiting to rend and tear any hapless craft thatshould make for them!
In addition to this, there was yet another peril to any ship in thevicinity; for, the wind from the north-east had risen to a gale as theevening set in, bringing with it a heavy, rolling swell that thunderedin upon the beach with a harsh, grating roar, throwing up columns ofspray over the projecting peaks of the headlands on either hand.
"I hope no vessel will mistake your bonfire for a beacon," said Fritz,as the darkness increased. "If so, and they should chance to approachthe land, God help them, with this wind and sea on!"
"I trust not," replied Eric sadly, already regretting his handiwork; "itwould be a bad look-out for them!"
But, as he spoke the words, the sound of a cannon could be heard comingfrom seaward over the water; and the lad shuddered with apprehension.
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