CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
BUILDING OF THE "HOPE."
What had thus suddenly made the Malays take to flight remained amystery. Forgetting my own wound, my first impulse was to run down andsee after Oliver. I met Emily, who threw herself into my arms.
"He is better, he is better!" she exclaimed. "The good Frau has, Ibelieve, saved his life."
"We are all saved, my dear sister," I said. "The enemy have taken toflight, and we hope will not come back again."
"And he will be saved--he will not die," she again said, leading me towhere Oliver was lying on a bed of leaves.
The Frau had torn off his jacket and shirt, and I found that, like QueenEleanor, who saved her husband's life, she had been sucking the poison,if there was any, from the wound, and was now carefully bathing it.
"I do not think I am much hurt," said Oliver, looking up as I entered."The good Frau has tended me so kindly and carefully, that I am sure Ishall soon get better."
When the Frau had finished with Oliver, I begged her to look at my head,and, greatly to my relief, I found that the point of the arrow had notentered the flesh; the pain was caused by the shaft, which had passedover my head, only carrying away some of the hair. While the Frau wasmaking the examination, Emily and Grace stood trembling, watching theresult. Emily now threw herself on my neck and burst into tears, whilelittle Grace took my hand, and exclaimed,--"I am so thankful! I am sothankful that neither you nor Oliver are likely to suffer."
"And now, my kind Frau," said Mr Sedgwick, coming down, "perhaps youwill look at my little hurt. You are the best doctor of the party, andit strikes me that I have a bullet somewhere in my shoulder."
"Well, then, you lie down there," she said, placing him on the ground,and kneeling down by his side after he had taken off his coat and shirt."Let me see. Yes, here is the hole the bullet came through."
I looked, when, to my surprise, I saw a little blue mark, scarcelylarger than a pea, and could not believe that a bullet had passed intoit.
"Yes, it come in there," she continued; "I see. Hillo! here it is,though;" and she touched a large lump which appeared just behind theshoulder. "Oh, I got knife. Now you no squeak out, sir;" and taking asharp knife from her pocket, she made a cut across the flesh, when outpopped the bullet almost into the mouth of the faithful Tanda, who hadfollowed his master, and was eagerly watching the operation. Anabundant supply of cool water was then applied, and plasters put on."There, you stay quiet a little, sir, and you soon get well," she said;"but stay, I want to pull out the bit of shirt that go in--not much,though." Indeed, the hole in the shirt was not much larger than that inthe flesh; but still it was evident that some portion had been tornaway. My uncle could hardly refrain from crying out as the Frau probedthe wound. She, however, succeeded in finding the piece of cotton.Fortunately the jacket had flown open at the moment, so that nothingelse had gone in. "There, you healthy man; you be well in a few days--no fear," she said.
Seldom has a desperate battle been fought with so few casualties on oneside, though, to be sure, a third of our party might have been put downas wounded. We had reason to be thankful; but still I could not helpdreading that the Malays might return. Mr Sedgwick was about todespatch Tanda, when Mr Thudicumb proposed that we should hoist ourpost, and endeavour to ascertain what was the cause of their flight. Bymeans of the coir-rope we had prepared, it was soon hoisted up, andstepped in its place more securely now than at first, because there wasno necessity for again lowering it. Roger Trew was very speedily at thetop.
"Hurrah!" he shouted; "hurrah! The prows are shoving off to sea,pulling away like mad! Yes, there's the reason too--a largesquare-rigged, white-sailed vessel coming round the point. By her look,too, she is English; and they know pretty well that if they were to becaught by her, their day of pirating would be over. Hurrah! hurrah!"
As may be supposed, we were all eager to mount to the top of the post,and have a look at the stranger. Mr Thudicumb with his spy-glassfollowed Roger.
"Yes, there is no doubt about it. She is a British man-of-war; and Idaresay she has been cruising in search of these very fellows. They areall off, though; yes--five, six, eight prows, making their way to theeastward. She will see our flagstaff on the rock, I hope, and send inhere. But I forgot; the pirates carried that away."
Thus he continued making his observations. We all stood eagerly roundhim, though the ocean was hid from us.
"She has caught sight of the prows," he exclaimed, "and is making moresail. They are, however, well to windward of her, and I am afraid shewill have a hard job to catch them up. Perhaps she will make a tack inhere; and if so, she will see us."
"Would it not be as well to hoist a signal on the Flagstaff Rock, tosupply the place of the flag carried off?" observed Mr Hooker.
"Of course, of course," was the answer; "and the sooner we do so thebetter."
As we knew that the house had been burned down, and no accommodation wasto be found on the shore, it was agreed that the ladies, with Oliver andPotto Jumbo, Mr Sedgwick and Tanda, should remain at the fort, in caseany stray Malays might have failed to get off. It was important also todrag away the dead bodies as soon as possible. In a very few hours theywould render the fort scarcely bearable; besides which they would becertain to attract beasts of prey. Tanda and Potto Jumbo undertook toperform this unpleasant work, and to bury them in some soft ground atthe bottom of the hill. The rest of us then set off to the sea-shore,carrying a large sheet which had been saved from the wreck to act as asignal.
"And Hooker, my dear fellow--Hooker," exclaimed my uncle, as we werestarting, "do let me know as soon as possible if our treasures haveescaped; it would be heartbreaking to lose them. Send up Walter as soonas possible. The knowledge that they are safe would bring me roundquicker than anything else, and recompense me for what we have gonethrough."
"Depend on me," answered his brother naturalist. "I hope it will be allright; though probably, had the pirates not found their way to the fort,they would have discovered our stores."
We now hurried down the hill, and made the best of our way along ourriver road to the shore. As we passed the spot where the house hadstood, a heap of cinders alone remained, still smouldering. It wassurprising, indeed, that the trees had escaped. Had they caught fire, alarge portion of the forest, if not the whole of the woods on theisland, might have been burned. We were thankful we had escaped such afearful calamity. On our way we found the apparently dead body of apirate. I was going up to him, when Mr Thudicumb called me back.
"Stay, stay, Walter!" he cried. "If he is not dead, he may take hisrevenge on you, even though at the last gasp."
I drew back just in time, for I thought I saw the man's eye move. DickTarbox came on the next moment, when the seemingly dead Malay startedup, and made a rush at me, with his sharp kriss in his hand. But theexertion was too much for him: just as he reached me he fell back, hiswound bursting out afresh, and the next instant he gave a gasp, and wasdead. It showed the desperate character of the men with whom we had hadto contend, and increased our gratitude that we had escaped falling intotheir hands. Two more we found close to the beach, who had been leftbehind by their companions in their hurry to embark. One was alreadydead; the other, though badly wounded, still breathed. We approachedhim cautiously. Roger Trew was on the point of lifting up his musket togive him his quietus, when Mr Hooker called to him.
"He knows no better, poor wretch!" he said. "If he were our greatestenemy, we should do our best to save him; only let us take away from himthe power of doing mischief."
"You are right, sir; I forgot that," said Roger Trew.
The pirate's kriss was in his hand, but his arm was too weak to lift it.We removed his weapon, when Mr Hooker addressed some words to him,which made the pirate open his eyes wide with astonishment.
"I have told him we will not hurt him," said our friend, "and if we cando him any good, we will. I do not think he quite believes us; buthere, fortunat
ely, I have brought some water. He is suffering fromthirst; lift up his head, and I will pour a few drops down his throat."
This was done; and Mr Hooker--asking me to watch the man, after we hadplaced him higher up on the beach--giving me his flask, hurried off withthe rest of the party to the Flagstaff Rock.
I confess I was somewhat disappointed, as I thought I should be able toget a better view of the movements of the English ship from thence. Icontinued, however, to apply the flask to the man's mouth, he every nowand then making signs that he was suffering from thirst. I looked outseaward, where I could still see the ship, and she seemed to me to bestanding towards the shore. How eagerly my heart beat with the thoughtsof being once more on board, and on my way to a civilised land! Notthat I was weary of my stay on the island; but I knew how anxiousCaptain and Mrs Davenport must be about their daughter: and she, too,poor girl, was pining sadly for them.
I lost sight of the party for some time, till at length I saw themclambering up on a point of the rock where our flagstaff stood. It wasstill there, though the flag had been carried away. Presently I sawRoger Trew mounting to the top to re-reeve the halliards; and then upwent the huge white cloth, which flew out in the breeze against thedark-green foliage of the forest. That surely must be seen, I thought.The party stood round it, keeping their telescopes fixed on the distantship. Presently I saw that some movement was taking place on board.Alas! the ship was tacking, and away she stood from the island. Perhapsshe will tack again, and once more stand in for the shore, I thought.With difficulty could I take my eyes off her, to attend to the woundedMalay. His low voice asking for water again drew my attention to him.Although his brow was low and his eyes somewhat close together andturned inwards, the expression of his countenance was not so bad as thatof many of his people; and I thought even that he gave a smile ofgratitude as I occasionally let a few drops of water trickle down histhroat.
The ship stood on and on. Once more she tacked, and my hopes revived.She was, however, by this time a considerable distance along the coast,and I could scarcely hope that our signal had been seen. I had beenkeeping my eyes on her for some time, without turning my head, when Iheard voices, and looking round, I saw Mr Hooker and his party comingtowards me.
"No chance of getting off this time, I am afraid," said Mr Thudicumb."We shall have to build our vessel, and the sooner we set about it thebetter."
"We must, however, put a house over our heads in the meantime," said MrHooker. "This poor fellow, too, if we are to be instrumental inpreserving his life, must be cared for."
"Of course, sir," said Roger Trew. "We will have a hut up for him in notime; and then, as it will be better to be near the shore instead ofremaining on the hill, we must get one set up for the young ladies andthe old Frau."
"Very right, my lad," said Mr Hooker. "But now, while you attend tothe wounded man, Walter and I will go and look for our treasures, andascertain whether they have escaped discovery by the pirates."
How eagerly Mr Hooker, whom I followed, looked round him on every sideas we proceeded to the hiding-place, lest he should discover any signsof its having been visited!
"Alack! alack! I am afraid some of them have been here," he said. "Oh,what mischief they may have done!"
We reached a hollow under the bank of a dry stream. Alas! the boughshad been pulled away, and it was very evident that it had been entered.The first thing we came upon was the jar which had contained thenautilus: it was open and empty. The arrack had been carried off, andthe mollusc lay, entirely destroyed, on one side.
"This is sad--very sad! Oh, what a loss!" exclaimed Mr Hooker. "Ihope we may discover that no worse mischief has been done."
We went in, almost falling over a case which had been opened. MrHooker examined it anxiously. It had not been disturbed, but afterbeing opened, the top had been allowed to fall down again. The othercases were in the place where we left them. We now examined them. MrHooker uttered a shout of joy as he found that all had escaped. It wasevident that the Malays had intended carrying off the cases, but hadbeen frightened away before they could accomplish their object.
"Now, Walter, run up to your uncle with the good news," exclaimed MrHooker. "He said it would restore him, and I am sure it will. But donot go without your fowling-piece, though. We have had examples of thesavage creatures to be met with in the woods."
I hurried along as fast as my legs would let me. I knew the delight theannouncement would give my uncle. I took the path we had so oftenfollowed; keeping, as may be supposed, a bright look-out on either side,lest I might encounter a wild beast or serpent. Emily saw me coming,for she was on the watch, and ran down the hill to meet me. She gave agood account of Oliver.
"I am so thankful," she said; "he does not seem to have suffered fromthat fearful arrow. I little knew at the time what a risk you were allrunning; but I now see how mercifully we have been preserved."
Our uncle had been sleeping, but he started up when he heard me speakingin the fort.
"And our treasures, have they escaped, Walter? Are my collections allsafe?" he asked eagerly.
I told him that all his things had been uninjured, and that one caseonly of Mr Hooker's had suffered, besides the nautilus.
"Nautilus, did you say? Has that been destroyed? Oh, those atrociousvillains! That prize on which I set such value! Well, Walter, you musttry and catch me another; you cannot render me a greater service. Alas!alas! that I should have lost that one, and all for the sake of thearrack in which it was preserved!"
I assured him that I would do my best to try and catch another, as I wascertain would also our companions.
"If poor Macco had been with us, I should have had more hope," I said."I never met a more expert fisherman, and I am sure he would havedevised some means, though we might fail."
He seemed to take much less to heart the information that the Englishship had passed by; indeed, I suspect he was very unwilling to leave theisland till he had re-collected more of the specimens which had beenleft in the house and destroyed. As yet we could not tell whether thepirates had discovered our store of timber for building the vessel, aswe had not had time to visit the bay; nor, indeed, whether the boat hadescaped their sharp eyes. That had been hidden among the rocks at somedistance from the place where we usually landed, and might possibly, wehoped, not have been seen.
Late in the evening the rest of the party returned. They had given upall hopes of again seeing the vessel, and they came to ask Mr Sedgwickwhether he would like to be carried down to the sea-shore.
"Certainly, certainly," he answered; "though I think I can walk. Thelad here--Oliver--must be carried; and if I fail, I will get you to helpme. But the sooner we commence building a house the better. I supposesome time must pass before the vessel can be got afloat, and we can becomfortable in the meantime Tanda here, who helped me to put up theother house, will be of great assistance; and with so many hands, we cansoon get it ready."
I forgot to mention the creatures which had accompanied us into thefort: we had to pull down some of our stockade to let them out. Andnow, much in the order in which we had arrived, we returned to the siteof the house; near which we found our friends had put up verycomfortable huts for the reception of Mr Sedgwick and Oliver, and theladies.
It was night by the time we arrived. Our two-footed and four-footedfriends seemed delighted to get back to their old location, and beganfeeding away eagerly, there being an abundance of provender suited totheir tastes scattered about.
"Up, lads, up!" I heard my uncle shouting out next morning. The soundmade me open my eyes. "Up, lads, up! We have work to do: a house toput up, and a vessel to build; provisions to collect, and stores toprepare."
All hands of our little community were soon on foot.
"Yah! yah! yah!" I heard the Frau cry out. "I will prepare breakfast.You men go and work. Yah!"
With axes, knives, and saws, most of us started for the nearest bamboogrove, and were soon cutting a
nd hacking away, bringing down the hugestalks and clearing them of their leaves. Oliver and I, however, wentin search of the boat, promising to join them. We eagerly hastened tothe spot where we had left it, scarcely, however, expecting to find, itsafe. It had escaped discovery, and we returned with the satisfactoryinformation.
As the stalks of the bamboos were cut down, they were formed intobundles of a size which we could manage to drag over the ground to thesite of the house. Two of the party, under the direction of my uncle,dug the holes where the uprights were to be inserted. Mr Hooker and Iundertook to drag the bundles. When we arrived with the first, we foundthe Frau, aided by the girls, busily employed in roasting and boilingbefore a huge fire which she had kindled. Oliver was still unable to doany work. He therefore remained at the camp--as I may call it--in thecareful hands of the kind Frau; she or one of the girls being constantlyat his side, either with some cooling beverage, or with some delicacywhich they thought might tempt his appetite. At a little distance, inthe shade of some boughs, lay the wounded Malay. I saw his eyes fixedon the girls with an expression of wonder. He probably had never seenany beings so fair and graceful before. I could not help fancying thathe must have supposed them angels from another world; but whether or notI was right, I have my doubts. When, however, one of them took him acup of tea which the Frau had just brewed, he received it with anexpression of countenance which I thought betokened gratitude.
When a number of people are working together with a will properlydirected, it is extraordinary how rapidly work can be got through. Wehad a considerable number of the uprights in their places before we satdown to breakfast. We were not long about our meal, as we weredetermined to finish what was necessary to be done as soon as possible.Having cut down a sufficient supply of bamboos, we next proceeded tofell several sago-palms, for the purpose of obtaining the leaf-stems forthe walls and partitions, while from the trunks we intended to make asupply of sago for our voyage. By the evening we had made wonderfulprogress with the house, and retired to our temporary huts, satisfiedthat we had done a good day's work.
Fitting the leaf-stems into frames occupied a longer time; but asneatness was not our object, it was done rapidly. Thus in about fourdays we had a very respectable house over our heads, capable of holdingall the party. My uncle sighed as he looked about it, though, andthought of the treasures his former abode had contained. We now broughtback his and Mr Hooker's collections, and stored them in a divisionwhich we called the museum.
"The next thing we have to do is to grow some corn for our consumption,"said our uncle.
"Grow corn?" I asked. "Why, I did not suppose that we were to remainhere a year till it came up."
He laughed. "A couple of months, or little more, after it is put intothe ground, will be sufficient to produce the ripe corn," he answered.
I expressed some incredulity, for I fancied that he was laughing at me.
"Set to work and scrape up the ground, for it is scarcely necessary todig it very deep. We will put in the corn, and you will see that myprediction will be fulfilled. Fortunately, I saved a quantity of seed,which I placed with my collections in concealment," he said.
From house-building all hands set to work to cultivate the ground, andwe quickly had a large space cleared for the reception of the seed,which, although not a native of that clime, flourishes, as it doesthroughout the greater portion of the American continent, whatever maybe the latitude.
By this time my uncle had almost recovered from his wound, and Oliverand the Malay were much better and able to move about. Both my uncleand Mr Hooker could converse with the Malay. They found him a veryintelligent fellow. He told them that his name was Ali, that he hadfollowed various occupations, but that, having gambled away all hisproperty, he had as a last resource taken to piracy. Among otherthings, he had been a bee-hunter, and seemed to possess a greatknowledge of those wonderful insects. He boasted also of his skill as afisherman. Constantly listening to us as we talked, he soon began topick up a great many words of English. He was thus able to understandthings said to him, though he could not make any very clear reply.
Mr Thudicumb now once more urged the importance of commencing ourproposed vessel. I rather think that the two naturalists were in nohurry to get away from the island, as they were both of them anxious toreplace the objects of natural history which had been destroyed by thepirates. However, they could not refuse to comply with Mr Thudicumb'srequest, and we therefore set forth with tools to the bay where we hadcollected the materials, which, it will be remembered, we called HopeHarbour. Fortunately, the pirates had not discovered it, or they wouldprobably have burned our wood. The timber and planks which had beenbrought on shore did not appear very promising; at first, indeed, Ithought it would be impossible to make a vessel out of them.
"Perseverance will overcome difficulties," observed Mr Thudicumb."Never fear, Walter. With our axes and saws we shall be able in time tosmooth away these planks and fit the ribs to the new craft. However,the first thing to be done is to get the keel laid, and for that purposewe must have one of the longest and straightest trees we can find."
There was a clear road from the bay up into the interior, and while oneparty prepared the spot where the vessel was to be built, levelling theground, and fixing logs on which the keel was to be placed, under MrThudicumb's directions another started to select the timber. We werenot long before we came to a tall tree, fully eighty feet in height, andas straight as an arrow.
"That will do admirably for us," said Mr Thudicumb; "for though ourvessel must not be so long, we shall require the thicker part for thepurpose."
Tarbox, Roger Trew, and Potto Jumbo set to work to fell the tree, theforest loudly resounding with the blows of their axes. I must notoccupy too much time in describing how the tree was felled, the branchescut off, and squared into shape. We then, fastening some ratans roundit, dragged it on rollers to the bed which had been prepared, and thusin due form laid the keel of the _Hope_. Mr Thudicumb, with pencil andpaper, had drawn a plan of the proposed vessel.
"We will give her a good floor," he said, "though she may be rather longfor her beam; but a long vessel is better suited to the seas we may haveto go through. We will rig her as a cutter or yawl perhaps."
Day after day we repaired to the bay; but to my eye our progress was butslow indeed, as every timber had to be reformed, and the old bolts takenout of them, as well as out of the planks. It was a long business.With the exception of Mr Thudicumb and Tarbox, we were allinexperienced carpenters. At last, indeed, Mr Thudicumb proposed thathe and Tarbox and Roger Trew, with Potto Jumbo, should devote themselvesto building the vessel, while the rest of us either went fishing, orassisted Mr Sedgwick and Mr Hooker in collecting objects of naturalhistory, or in manufacturing sago, or in making other articles whichwould be required for the voyage or present use.
We set to work to make our sago, much in the way I have beforedescribed. We had got through the pith of a couple of trees, when oneday Ali made us understand that he had seen some bees at a distance, andthat he was sure we might procure some honey, if we would assist him inobtaining it. The Frau pricked up her ears at the sound.
"Oh yes, yes!" she exclaimed; "it will be great thing with sago-bread.You go, Ali; go!"
It was arranged that Mr Hooker, with Oliver and I, should accompany Aliin his search. We started, therefore, accompanied by Merlin. Alisupplied himself with a couple of large cloths. He also, as he wentalong, cut some creepers, one a stout one, and another, of considerablelength, very fine. These he begged us to carry. With our guns asusual, we took our way through the forest. I had often remarked that heseemed very uncomfortable, as if there was something he wanted verymuch. As we were proceeding, we came to several tall, slender, andextremely graceful palms. The trunks were from six to eight inches onlyin diameter, though the sheath of green leaves that sprang from theirsummits was nearly forty feet from the ground. They were indeed eleganttrees. Mr Hooker, when he saw them,
said they were the pinang, orbetel-nut palm--_Areca catechu_. We found the nuts growing from a stalkhanging down in the centre, forming a loose conical cluster. Ali nosooner set eyes on them, than he climbed one of the trees, and broughtdown a bunch of the nuts. He put several of them into the bag hecarried by his side, and we proceeded some distance, till we came to astony place, when he instantly, selecting two large stones, pounded somenuts. They were ripe, each about the size of a small chicken's egg, theskin of a brightish yellow. Within was a husk, similar to the husk of acocoa-nut. Within this again was a small spherical nut, not unlike anutmeg, and somewhat hard and tough. Having picked some leaves, he tookone of them, and produced from his pocket a small piece of lime aboutthe size of a pea. This he mixed with some of the nut, and enclosed inthe leaf. He then took the roll between his thumb and forefinger, andrubbed it violently against the front of his gums, his teeth beingclosed and his lips open. After this, he began to chew it for sometime, and then held it between his lips and teeth, a portion protrudingfrom his mouth. Nothing could be more disagreeable than the result, forimmediately a profusion of a red brick-coloured saliva poured out fromeach corner, dropping to the ground as if his mouth was bleeding. Heseemed, however, highly satisfied, and continued on at a brisk pace.Soon, however, he spoke a few words to Mr Hooker, who forthwithproduced from his pocket a tobacco-bag. The eyes of the Malay glistenedwith delight as he saw it; and as soon as Mr Hooker gave him a smallportion of the tobacco, cut very fine, he put it in with the betel,leaving long threads, like pieces of oakum, hanging out on either sideof his mouth, not improving his appearance; and on again he went,chewing the mass with evident delight.
Mr Hooker was not at all surprised. He told me that not only the menbut the women indulge in the same unpleasant habit. When a number ofthem meet to chat, the various articles are produced from a box at hand,and a high urn-shaped receptacle of brass is placed in the middle of thecircle, into which each dame or damsel may discharge the surplus salivafrom her mouth. When a guest comes in, the _siri_ box is immediatelypresented, that the mouth may be filled before commencing conversation.
In a short time a bee was seen flying before us; and immediately Alihurried on at a rapid rate, till we came under a tall, straight tree,with a very smooth bark, and without a branch for at least eighty feetfrom the ground. On one of the long outspreading branches I saw acouple of large combs hanging down, of a black colour. After watchingit for a minute, there was a slight movement on the outside, and Idiscovered that it was covered with bees. Ali now produced a smallbundle of resinous wood, which he had brought with him to serve as atorch, and giving it to me to hold, lighted the end. He then fastenedone of the cloths round his loins, and another over his head, neck, andbody, leaving, however, his face, arms, and legs without covering. Thethin coil of rope he had brought he secured to his girdle, while heformed round the tree a circle of tough creepers, inside of which heplaced his body. He now secured his torch to the end of another pieceof ratan, eight or ten yards long, with his chopping-knife fastened by ashort rope. Having done this, he began to ascend the tree, throwing hisratan band a short distance above him, leaning back at the same time andplacing his feet against the trunk. It appeared to us who looked onthat every instant he would perform a somersault, and come down headfirst, with a great risk of breaking his neck; but he seemed to have nofear of that sort. Up he went. After ascending a few feet, and gettinga firm hold with his bare feet, he again threw up the creeper; and thushe went on and on. If there was any unevenness in the trunk, he tookimmediate advantage of it by either placing his foot upon it or catchingthe creeper above it. At length he got within about ten feet of thebough on which the bees hung. He then lifted the torch, swinging ittowards the bees, so that the smoke ascended between him and them. Henext in a wonderful manner mounted on the bough; and we could not helpdreading that the bees would attack him and sting him to death. He,however, brought the torch nearer and nearer to them; and in a shorttime the cones, which before had been black with bees, were completelydeserted, and their natural white colour appeared. The insects, insteadof flying towards him, formed a dense mass above his head, where theyseemed to hover as if contemplating an attack. Some, braver than therest, occasionally flew towards him; but he, with perfect coolness,brushed them away, allowing the smoke to circle round above his head,thus keeping them at a distance from his face. At length he got closeto the cone, and, with one stroke of his knife, cut it from the bough,when, fastening the end of the rope round it, he lowered it down to us.Proceeding along the bough, he cut the other cone away in the samemanner, when the bees, angry at being deprived of their habitation,food, and their young, began to dart down towards us. He, of course,had enough to do to think of himself, and continued waving the torchabout his body, while he returned by the same way he had gone up, thoughat a somewhat more rapid rate.
Meantime the bees had begun to swarm about our heads. Poor Merlin wasfuriously attacked, and I saw him driving his nose among the leaves, inthe vain endeavour to get rid of them. Defeated by the pertinaciousinsects, he rushed howling away through the forest. We, having securedthe cones, followed at full speed, the bees pursuing us, and every nowand then giving a disagreeable sting at our ears, face, and hands. Weknocked them off as they approached as well as we could. Though we wereglad we had got the honey, we agreed that we had paid somewhat dearlyfor it. However, our blood was in good order, and the pain soon woreoff. We had not only got some delicious honey for our friends, but somewax, which was of considerable value. We agreed, however, that the nexttime we went bee-hunting we would each of us carry a torch for ourdefence.
"Ali says there are many more cones in the island, and it is a pity notto take them," said Mr Hooker. We were therefore ready to proceed,provided we could find torches. Ali made us a sign to follow him, andsoon afterwards, on the side of a hill which we were passing, he pointedout some tall trees. On approaching them we found that from the trunksmasses of a sort of gum had exuded.
"Those are dammar trees," observed Mr Hooker. "It burns readily, andthe natives of these regions use it for torches; indeed, in some placesit serves them instead of candles."
We found not only small lumps, but some weighing upwards of fifteenpounds. Some were hanging on to the trunk; others had fallen, and werepartly buried in the ground near the roots. Ali took some of theselumps, and, putting them on a piece of rock, with the blunt end of hisaxe reduced them to powder. He then cut some palm-leaves, which heformed into tubes about a yard long, and these tubes he filled with theresin, binding them tightly round with small creepers. He presented oneto each of us, and then signified that if we followed him he would findmore bees' nests, and that we should thus have the means of defendingourselves.
"But poor Merlin, what can he do?" I could not help asking.
"We must defend him then," said Mr Hooker; "and Ali must make anothertube to be at his service."
Another was quickly manufactured, and we then proceeded on carefully todiscover the nests. In a short time we came to another tree with noless than four cones hanging to one of the branches. In spite of theinjuries he had received (for he had not escaped altogether free), Aliprepared to ascend the tree. He made his preparations as before; and itwas wonderful to see the composure with which he occasionally swung thetorches towards the creatures while ascending, or waved it slowly abovehis head when he got on the bough. Four more fine cones rewarded himfor his enterprise. The bees descended as before, but we received themwith the smoke from our dammar torches, which helped considerably tokeep them off. Now and then, however, one bold fellow would rush inbetween the wreaths of smoke and inflict a disagreeable sting; and wehad difficult work to defend Merlin's nose and tail at the same time.Mr Hooker, however, stood stock still, merely letting his torch burnquietly; and though some of the bees settled on him, they seemed toconsider that they could do him no harm, and again flew off in pursuitof Oliver, Merlin, and I, as we ran away from them.
; We now commenced our return homewards, laden with our honey cones and asupply of dammar. We were proceeding across a space rather more openthan usual, when we saw a creature run up the trunk of a tree and flyobliquely from it towards the ground, near the foot of another, up whichit immediately commenced its ascent. I should have supposed it to be ahuge bat, had I not seen it climbing as it did. Ali immediately madechase; and as the creature did not move very fast, he succeeded inovertaking it before it had got to any great distance up the stem. Hegave it a tremendous blow on the head, when it fell to the ground, andwe thought it had been killed; but as we reached it, it gradually beganto move off, running along like any ordinary quadruped. We caught itjust as it was about to ascend another tree, when again it receivedseveral heavy blows. Even then, however, it seemed not to be dead. Alicoming up, pinned it to the ground with a forked stick. We then sawthat it was a creature about the size of a cat, and that it had broadmembranes, extending completely round its body to the extremities of thetoes, as also to the end of its tail. This was of considerable length,and by the way it curled round a stick we placed near it we found thatit was prehensile. The creature we now saw had a young one clinging toits breast, a miserable little wrinkled, hairless monster, andapparently as yet unable to see. Its fur was beautifully soft, almostlike velvet. The little one had escaped injury; indeed, the mother wasevidently still alive.
Mr Hooker at once recognised it as a flying lemur, the learned name forwhich is _Galeo-pithecus_. Ali having covered up its head, undertook tocarry it home, as Mr Hooker hoped it would recover.
"Your uncle will be delighted to have it in his menagerie," said MrHooker; "and I believe that, unless we cut the creature's head off,nothing will deprive it of life. So I have no doubt that it will be ingood health again by to-morrow morning."
We had not got far after this adventure when I heard a curious noiseclose to us, which I thought must proceed from some bird. It soundedlike "Tokay, tokay;" almost, indeed, like a human voice. I drew MrHooker's attention to it. He also thought it must be some bird, tillAli coming up at once informed him that it was a lizard, and that he hadoften heard the creatures thus talk. What it said, he declared he couldnot tell, but he was very positive that it did talk some language.Perhaps some day a person who did understand it might come that way.
As may be supposed, we were cordially welcomed on our return, especiallyby the Frau, who was highly delighted with the honey and wax which webrought her.
"Oh! now you shall have honey for your breakfasts, and wax candles whenyou sit in the house to read or stuff the birds and beasts; though Icannot tell what use they are after you have taken the meat out of them,or wherefore you get so many skins, and pack them up in the boxes," sheremarked.
The Frau was no naturalist.
In the Eastern Seas Page 29