Harry Milvaine; Or, The Wanderings of a Wayward Boy

by Gordon Stables

all of which were duly hoed with hardwood instruments, and duly watered by hand in season.

  They were so close to the water, and there were so many field hands,that any complicated system of irrigation was not required.

  Harry taught this simple, innocent and frugal people many useful hints.

  His youthful education, and the lessons honest Andrew had taught himwhen quite a boy, now came in very handy indeed, which only shows thatno lad, whatever his position in life, should hesitate to learn a trade.

  Harry, assisted by Raggy and Jack, made chairs for the king's tent, andan extra couch. He also made rude but useful candlesticks, and with thefat of goats and pigs rude and useful candles to place in them; so thatwhen the rainy season returned, it was quite a treat to sit in thepalace tent with lights burning, and read, tell stories, and sing songstill it was time to go to bed.

  The king was so easily pleased, so good-tempered, and so generallyjolly, that Harry really could not help liking him.

  He also proved a very apt pupil, and before his guest had been fullyfour months in his island, could speak fairly good English.

  So all went well, but the trouble was on ahead. Harry often thought ofthat, and it gave him many and many an anxious moment.

  One day a scout returned from the mainland with news of so startling anature that--that I cannot do better than defer it for another chapter.

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  Note 1. The Scottish Highlanders of old used almost invariably tocharge in this fashion; as the triangular phalanx neared the foe,pistols were fired, then dashed among them, claymores were then drawn,and while wild slogans rent the air, the charge was delivered, with avigour and aim that made success all but certain.

  Book 4--CHAPTER FOUR.

  KING KARA-KARA'S ARMADA--THE BATTLE ON THE LAKE--TERRIBLE FIGHTING.

  Briefly stated, the news which the scout had brought from the mainlandwas to the effect that King Kara-Kara, who held the white men at hiscourt as slaves, having heard of the prosperity and wealth of the kingof the hundred isles, and that he also owned a white slave, haddetermined to invade the island territory.

  From the hill-top, at a safe distance, this scout had beheld Kara-Kara'scamp with his own eyes, and he assured King Googagoo that the army was awell-armed and a vast one, and that they were already busily engaged incutting down trees and making dug-outs. [Note 1.]

  "So," said Harry, "the tables are turned. Instead of our making war onKara-Kara, Kara-Kara is going to make war upon us."

  "Let them come," replied Googagoo, "I care not; you have taught me toput my trust in Heaven. I do so, and feel sure that the Great Eye whichlooks upon us from beyond the clouds, will keep us safe and give us thevictory."

  Although there were now thunderstorms and rain almost every day, Harrymade himself busier with his little army than ever.

  He picked out the best, quickest, and boldest men for officers--and Ineed hardly say that both Walda and Somali Jack had high appointments--and he kept drilling the men and amazons from morning till night.

  Nor did he forget the commissariat This was to be very simple--littleelse, in fact, save dates and rice and water.

  Often now of a night great fires could be seen gleaming among the woodedhills on the distant horizon, showing plainly enough that KingKara-Kara's men were far from idle.

  So the time wore on, and the wet season passed; the lake was no longerlashed into foam by driving squalls, but slept as peacefully under theblue sky as if waves had never yet been invented.

  Harry was now wholly ready for action, and he had almost made up hismind to carry the war into the enemy's country before he had time toattack the islands.

  The king and he had a long palaver over the particulars of this plan.His majesty had very great faith in his navy.

  "My boys," he said, "can fight as well on the water as they and my braveamazons can do on shore. Let them come. We will cripple them, sinkthem, then the work of utterly destroying them on their own shore willbe easy indeed."

  Harry, on second thoughts, would have preferred surprising Kara-Kara bynight, but he acquiesced in the king's wishes.

  They would be ready, therefore, and wait. How or when would the enemycome? By night or by day? and in what formation?

  Tall signal-posts were built on every island, to give warning of theapproach of the foe, and round every isle sentinels were stationed dayand night, with great fires built and ready to light.

  For there was no saying from what direction the attack might be made.In all probability they would steal round the lake under the shadow ofthe land, and under the cover of the darkness, and attack Googagoo atthe place where he was most vulnerable.

  More than once, in the starlight, small canoes had been detected glidingabout at night, but were speedily chased and put to flight. They werespies without a doubt.

  The island fleet had been by no means a first-class one, consisting forthe most part of large dug-outs with outriggers, like great gates ateach side This last certainly gave them extra stability and preventedtheir turning over, but it greatly lessened their speed.

  Even the flagship, which the king's barge might well be called, wasrather an unwieldy craft. She was the only one that had sailing power,and that was merely a clumsy square sail, on one centre mast.

  But Harry had gone in for naval reform--as far as practicable, and withall the enthusiasm of a British sailor.

  He had the men--for every one of these islanders was amphibious in amanner of speaking--what he wanted was the ships.

  Some new boats were accordingly made of a light wood that had been cutdown years ago. He made these broader in the beam, so that he managedto dispense with the abominable way-stopping outriggers. Seven in allof these were constructed, the bottoms being made shapely and smooth,the sides light and thin, and the whole arrangement capable of doublethe speed.

  These new boats were to contain a crew of picked archers, the very bestshots in his little army, which consisted of eight thousand men alltold. There were also one thousand amazons.

  Harry, in the forthcoming expedition to the mainland, wanted to leavethese women folks--"leave the ladies"--that is how he politely wordedit--at home. But the king, who was to command in person, would not hearof such a thing. They were his body-guard, and so go they must.

  Attention was now turned to the royal barge, and she lay bottom upwardsfor a week to be strengthened by skin and pieces of thin iron, so thatwhen she was again launched, she looked a sturdy, useful craft indeed.

  Extra oars or paddles were placed in every war-boat, and spears anddaggers innumerable.

  Between a few of the islands, and quite out of view of the enemy, agreat naval review was held, and everything passed off in a mostsatisfactory way.

  Still, by taking away the outriggers Harry had considerably increasedthe risk of capsizing in his boats. So he took the matter into stillmore serious consideration, the result of which was that he constructeda small fleet of special war-boats, each one consisting of two of theordinary dug-outs lashed together side by side, and he found to hisgreat joy that even these had as much speed in them as the clumsyoutrigger canoes.

  The islanders were now ready for battle either by land or water.

  Scouts were sent to the hills to spy out the doings of the enemy.

  They returned with tidings to the effect that they had over two hundredlarge dug-outs afloat, and that each of these had outriggers. Thattheir army consisted of nearly 20,000 warriors, armed with spears, andclubs, and broad knives.

  It was only a question now of time, so Harry waited. He himself was tocommand in the naval engagement, the king would be otherwise engaged aswe shall presently see.

  Whether it was that King Kara-Kara did not possess much ingenuity, orwas a staunch Conservative of the old school, or trusted entirely to hisgreat numbers and power, I know not; certain it is, however, that hechose to make the attack upon the islanders in the simplest fashionp
ossible.

  He put to sea one morning early with all his fleet of over one hundredand fifty large boats, each containing about twenty oarsmen andwarriors, and in three extended lines began slowly pulling towardsGoogagoo's private island.

  Harry saw through his tactics at once, for after all war is very muchlike a game of draughts, and skill goes a long way, while the more youcan guess your opponent's thoughts the surer you are of victory: soHarry rightly guessed that Kara-Kara's plan of action was first tocapture the island king's palace and stronghold, king and all, then takethe other islands one by one.

  "It is a very pretty arrangement," said Harry to his host, "if it can besuccessfully carried out."

  "Let them try," cried the king, who was dressed in his war clothes, withspear, and sword, and short stout battle-axe, and really lookedimposing.

  "Let them come on; I am now burning for the fight."

  "So am I," cried Harry, laughing and spitting in his hand--the hand thatheld a drawn ship's cutlass.

  "I go away into my tent now to pray," continued the king. "Then I makemy army kneel and pray. Oh, I do not fear. See, the clouds are rollingup and hiding the sun. The sun fears to look on the battle: but theEye, the Eye that will guide us to victory, is far beyond the sun. YourBook tells me so."

  "It is," said Harry, solemnly. "Good-bye."

  Then he shook hands with the king and hurried away to action.

  He had had a skiff of great speed built expressly for this great day.His oarsmen were two, with a child to steer, and Somali Jack with therifles in the stern sheets.

  There were only fifty cartridges left!

  On came Kara's great fleet.

  They had three miles and over to row, and they were allowed to do morethan two-thirds of the distance before ever Harry ordered his boats toshove off to meet them.

  Greatly to his surprise and joy he noticed that the enemy's boats werefar too much crowded to permit anything like freedom of action among themen.

  "That scores one for us," he said to himself.

  The swift boats were now ordered off. These--as already stated--weremanned with archers, and were now told to meet and harass the foe withclouds of arrows, but on no condition to close with them.

  They were to hang on both flanks of the approaching fleet, and fire low,well, and steadily. These were in command of Walda.

  The king's barge was next ordered out. She was manned by thirty of thebravest and biggest of the islanders, and each had, in addition to aspear, a ponderous battle-axe.

  Her duty was to capsize the enemy's boats by seizing the outriggers, orat least to try to do so.

  Away sped the archery boats with just one wild hurrah! and to see theswiftness with which they bounded along to meet Kara-Kara's fleetconsiderably astonished its sailors. They were still more astonishedhowever, when, while still about two hundred yards distant, the archeryboats divided into two lines, one skimming along each flank and pouringin a murderous fire of arrows.

  It was evident the foe was taken aback. Men were being pierced throughbody and head, and falling dead in all quarters.

  A side movement was made by the enemy with the view of crushing thevenomous little archery boats. But Walda's voice was now heardshouting, "Boro! Boro!" (back! back!) high over the din of the battle.

  The enemy now saw the inutility of any flank movement, and once moreadvanced in lines, redoubling their efforts to reach the island.

  King Googagoo's barge got round and advanced in the rear, and then outcame Harry with his fleet.

  He took his time.

  There was no need for hurry, it was to be a hand-to-hand engagement, andthe longer that cloud of arrows fell on the foe the better. The morefatigued the enemy the more chance would Googagoo's fleet have of comingoff triumphant.

  At last the hostile canoes met with a terrible rush.

  By Harry's orders the outriggers were to be cut away from Kara-Kara'sboats as soon as possible, and every effort made to capsize them. Butabove all were they to beware of getting their own double boats boardedand carried by storm.

  The battle now raged with terrible fury. Boat after boat of the enemyhad her outriggers hacked away and got capsized.

  Harry was here, there, and everywhere, shouting orders, guiding andencouraging his fleet.

  He was a fleet in himself--the very genius of the battle.

  The commander of the hostile canoes was a huge savage, who stood in thebows of a large canoe and shouted his orders in a voice so sonorous thatit was heard everywhere. He seemed to bear a charmed life, for againand again Somali Jack fired at him, but no bullet found a billet in thatfierce giant's body.

  But canoe after canoe--by this captain's orders--was detached to attackHarry's boat, for well the fellow knew that could he but silence ourhero the battle would soon be won.

  Each and all of the boats sent on this detached duty came to grief. Invain spears were hurled towards the skiff, for Jack's rifle instantlycame into deadly play, and at close quarters he liberally drilled themby twos.

  On the other hand, the archers were not idle, and any boat that got outof line was their particular prey.

  The fiercest fighting of all raged around the king's bark with its giantseamen. Its captain was a man of herculean strength and all a savage'swild ferocity. Wielding aloft a mighty battle-axe he dealt death anddestruction around him wherever he went. Many a canoe the bargecapsized. Many were the attempts made to board her, not only from thewarlike canoes, but by the drowning wretches in the lake; the latterwere ruthlessly hacked down, the former hurled back bleeding into thewater or into their dug-outs.

  At last the barge found itself inside the enemy's line, and alongsidethe stalwart commander's big canoe.

  In a moment the outriggers at one side were broken into splinters, thenthe giants found themselves face to face, Kara-Kara's naval commanderhaving leaped, panther-fashion, on board the barge and closed with itscaptain.

  It was a fearful tussle while it lasted, but soon the giant rosebleeding but triumphant, and Kara-Kara's chief lay dead with his headhanging over the gunnel of the boat.

  Then the barge fought its way back into the open water, and the battlewas continued boat to boat and breast to breast.

  But it was soon evident to Harry that, deprived of their captain, theenemy were getting the worst of it and giving way.

  Presently oars were seized by the foe, their dead and even their woundedwere pitched into the lake, and the retreat began.

  Harry at once called off his men. He meant to cripple, if not destroy,the foe in a way that would save the lives of his own fellows. Thedouble boats fell back at once, and the enemy, or what remained ofthem--for at least five hundred must have fallen in this terrible_melee_--commenced pulling away with might and main towards their owncamp on the distant shore.

  "Follow and harass them halfway to their own shore."

  This was the order given to the archers.

  I draw a veil over the terrible scene that followed.

  The blood of the archers was up. All their savage nature was on flame.

  They saw red, so to speak, and red enough they made it for those unhappyboats.

  Not only halfway towards their own shore, but nearly all the way didthey chase them, until their arrows were completely expended.

  Then back came the archer-fleet, having hardly lost a single man.

  Back they came, bending merrily to their paddles and singing some wildchant that mingled strangely with the scream of the carrion birds thatnow nearly darkened the air, or, perching upon the floating bodies, hadalready begun their fearful feast.

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  Note 1. Dug-out--a kind of large canoe made from a single tree hollowedby hatchet and fire.

  Book 4--CHAPTER FIVE.

  THE BATTLE ON THE MAINLAND--DEATH OR VICTORY.

  From an elevated plateau on his private island, King Googagoo hadwitnessed all the battle. His whole a
rmy stood around him, ready, ifneed should be, to repel the enemy.

  But the enemy were beaten, routed, and almost annihilated.

  Harry had always been a hero with this kindly-hearted king, now he wasalmost a god.

  "You are a great man!" the king shouted, rushing to meet and shake himby the hand. "Oh, brother, what should I have done but for you! Ourwarriors would have been tortured, burned, slain, and our wives andlittle ones dragged away into a captivity worse than death."

  Harry pointed skywards.

  "Yes, yes, I know," cried the king. "It was the Eye; I knew He wouldgive us the victory."

  "Stay," said Harry, seriously, "I fear the worst fighting is stillbefore us. On shore I mean, for hardly will the enemy care to or dareto attack you by water again. We must land this very evening. The foeis now beaten and demoralised, let us follow up our success without amoment's delay."

  And so it was arranged.

  The wounded were seen to, and as soon as the sun went down, which he didin a flood of calm beauty that night, just as if no bloodshed, grief,and murder was on the earth, the expedition started.

  It started not in boats altogether, but along the strange sunken naturalroadway, where from the shore Harry had first seen the king's bargemoving apparently of its own accord. Had the enemy known of thisexpedition from the hundred islands, things might have turned outdifferently from what they had done.

  Enough men and amazons were left to defend the island in case of arepulse, the boats took the arms of all sorts and the provisions, themen themselves walked through the water or swam.

  By midnight the whole army to the number of nearly seven thousand, allincluded, stood on the shore, and the boats were hauled up and hiddenamong the trees.

  Raggy had been left at home in charge of the island, and a very proudRaggy he was in consequence.

  "I nebber was a king befoh," he said to himself, as he strutted aboutand gave orders to the Amazons, any one of which might have laid himcross-knees and