CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
HOW JIMMY AND I WERE HUNTED LIKE BEASTS.
"Jimmy!" I panted, as soon as I had recovered myself to find that theblack was feeling me all over in the darkness.
"Not got no knock um chops, no waddy bang, no popgun ball in umnowhere," he whispered.
"No Jimmy, I'm not wounded," I said. "I thought you were one of theblack fellows."
"No, no black fellow--no common black fellow sabbage," he saidimportantly. "Come long fas, fas."
"But the doctor and the prisoner and Ti-hi?" I said.
"All run way much fas," said Jimmy. "Gyp, Gyp, see black fellow comelong much, for Jimmy do and nibblum legs make um hard hard. Gib one twotopper topper, den Jimmy say time um way, take Mass Joe. Come long."
"But we must go and help the doctor," I said.
"Can't find um. All go long back to big hole. Hidum. Say Mass Joecome back long o' Jimmy-Jimmy."
It seemed probable that they would make for our hiding-place, but I wasvery reluctant to go and leave my friends in the lurch, so I detainedJimmy and we sat listening, the black making me sit down.
"Rest um leggums," he said. "Run much fas den."
We stayed there listening for what must have been the space of half anhour, and during that time we could hear the shouting and rapping oftrees of the blacks as they were evidently searching the bush, but therewas no sound of excitement or fighting, neither did it seem to me thatthere were any exulting shouts such as might arise over the capture ofprisoners.
This gave me hope, and in the belief that I might find my companions atthe hiding-place I was about to propose to Jimmy that we would go on,when he jumped up.
"No stop no longer. Black fellow come along fas. Get away."
The noises made by the blacks were plainly coming nearer, and I sprangto my feet, trying to pierce the darkness, but everywhere there were thedimly-seen shapes of trees so close that they almost seemed to lower andtheir branches to bear down upon our heads; there was the fresh moistscent of the dewy earth and leaves, and now and then a faint cry of somebird, but nothing to indicate the way we ought to go.
I turned to Jimmy.
"Can you tell where the cave is?" I said.
"No: Jimmy all dark," he answered.
"Can't you tell which way to go?"
"Oh yes um," he whispered. "Jimmy know which way go."
"Well, which?" I said, as the shouts came nearer.
"Dat away where no black fellow."
"But it may be away from the cave," I said.
"Jimmy don't know, can't help along. Find cave morrow nex day."
There was wisdom in his proposal, which, awkwardly as it was shaped,meant that we were to avoid the danger now and find our friends anothertime.
"Mass Joe keep long close," he whispered. "Soon come near time seealong way Mass doctor and Mass Jack Penny-Penny."
We paused for a moment, the black going down on his knees to lay hishead close to the ground so as to make sure of the direction where thesavages were, and he rose up with anything but comfortable news.
"All round bout nearer, come 'long other way."
Just then I gave a jump, for something touched my leg through a greatrent in my trousers. It felt cold, and for the moment I thought it mustbe the head of a serpent; but a low familiar whine undeceived me, and Istooped down to pat the neck of Jack Penny's shaggy friend.
"Home, Gyp!" I said. "Home!"
He understood me and started off at once, fortunately in the directiontaken by Jimmy, and after a long toilsome struggle through the bush, themore arduous from the difficulty we experienced in keeping up with thedog, we at last reached a gully at the bottom of which we could hear thetrickling of water.
"All right ums," said Jimmy quickly, and plunging down through thebushes he was soon at the bottom, and went upon his knees to find outwhich way the stream ran.
He jumped up directly, having found that by the direction the water ranwe must be below the cave, always supposing that this was the rightstream.
Down in the gully the sounds of pursuit grew very faint, and at lastdied out, while we waded at times, and at others found room upon theshelving bank to get along, perhaps for a hundred yards unchecked; thenwould come a long stretch where the gully was full of thick bushes, andhere our only chance was to creep under them, wading the while in thelittle stream, often with our bodies bent so that our faces were closeto the water.
Gyp trotted cheerfully on as I plashed through the water, stopping fromtime to time to utter a low whine to guide us when he got some distanceahead, and I often envied the sagacious animal his strength andactivity, for beside him at a time like this I seemed to be a _very_helpless creature indeed.
Two or three times over I grasped the black's arm and we stopped tolisten, for it seemed to me that I could hear footsteps and the rustlingof the bushes at the top of the gully far above our heads; but wheneverwe stopped the noise ceased, and feeling at last that it was fancy Iplodded on, till, half dead with fatigue, I sank down on my knees anddrank eagerly of the cool fresh water, both Jimmy and the dog followingmy example.
At last, though I should not have recognised the place in the gloom,Jimmy stopped short, and from the darkness above my head, as I stoodwith the stream bubbling past my legs, I heard the unmistakable click ofa gun cock.
"Jack!" I whispered. "Jack Penny!"
"That'll do," he whispered back. "Come along. All right! Have you gothim?"
"Whom?" I said, stumbling painfully up into the cave, where I threwmyself down.
"Your father."
"No," I said dismally, "and we've lost the doctor and Ti-hi. Poorfellows, I'm afraid they are taken. But, Jack Penny, we are right. Myfather is a prisoner in the village."
"Then we'll go and fetch him out, and the doctor too. Ti-hi can takecare of himself. I'd as soon expect to keep a snake in a wicker cage asthat fellow in these woods; but come, tell us all about it."
I partook, with a sensation as if choking all the while, of the food hehad waiting, and then, as we sat there waiting for the day in the hopethat the doctor might come, I told Jack Penny the adventures of thenight, Jimmy playing an accompaniment the while upon his nose.
Bunyip Land: A Story of Adventure in New Guinea Page 34