CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
COOKERY UNDER QUEER CIRCUMSTANCES.
"Ah-e! Ah-e! Ah-e!"
A loud peculiar call, followed by a repetition from a distance, too longafter to be a reverberation, though strange echoes had been heard fromfar up the mountain when a shot was fired well down in one or other ofthe ravines which scored the slopes of the volcano.
There was a pause of a few minutes, another cry came again, and wasanswered or echoed.
The first time it had no effect whatever upon Jack, who lay upon hisback fast asleep, in the deep slumber which comes to the hungry afterthat hunger has been appeased.
But there was the strange instinct of self-preservation awake in thelad, and that had started into watchfulness, though the body remainedinert, and when the cry was repeated the body was warned, and Jackaroused into wakefulness, feeling, he knew not why, that something waswrong.
It was close upon sunset, and the cap of the mountain glowed once moreas if it had burst into eruption, but all was perfectly still save thewhistling and shrieking of birds at a distance.
He did not move, but turned his eyes toward where Ned lay snoringsoftly; then he cast his eyes toward the fire, which was apparentlyquite out, but the next moment the soft sea-breeze came with a gentlepuff, and the embers glowed faintly, showing that with a little tendingthere was enough left to revive the blaze again.
The silence in face of that wondrous glow overhead was oppressive, andthe feeling of danger at hand seemed to grow, and then began to die out,for there was nothing visible, till all at once a peculiarity close upby the glowing wood ashes took the lad's attention, and then heshuddered slightly, for there, evidently attracted by the warmth, towardwhich they had crawled, were several snakes, with the possibility ofthere being more which he could not see. For the most part they weresmall, but a part of the coil of one showed that its owner must be asthick as his arm, and beyond lay in a kind of double S one that was farlarger.
Then all at once there came the peculiar cry which had awakened him, andit had hardly died out when it was answered from the edge of the forestbeyond the opening, at one side of which they lay.
"All right, Mr Jack, sir," said Ned in a muttering, ill-used tone."We'll toddle on now. Needn't be so hard on a fellow. Only just closedmy eyes."
Jack turned his head to the speaker, but Ned had not stirred, and aftera momentary glance in the direction from which the call had come--evidently the ravine leading down to the sea--he rolled over threetimes, and brought himself close enough to touch his companion. But inthe act of turning he felt something move, there was a sharp struggling,and a snake glided from beneath him hissing angrily, and he turned coldat the thought that another of the dangerous creatures had been sleepingcoiled up closely to him for warmth.
Worse still, the hissing and rustling had startled those by the fire.Two malignant heads suddenly started up a few inches, and there was thatpeculiar gliding of coils in which the same serpent seems to be going inseveral directions at once.
For a few minutes Jack lay perfectly still, feeling as if he wereyielding to that peculiar fear which paralyses in the presence of aserpent. But he closed his eyes, set his teeth hard, and remainedmotionless, mentally combating the sensation of horror and mastered it.While upon unclosing his eyes and looking in the direction of the fire,he saw that the coiling and uncoiling had ceased, and the raised headshad been lowered as if to resume the interrupted sleep.
Jack felt that action was the best safeguard against the horrible,paralysing sensation, and softly passing his hand along till he couldtouch Ned's face, he tapped his cheek sharply.
"Don't!"
He tapped again.
"I'm awake, I tell you. Guv'nors' call?"
"Ned!--Ned!"
"Eh? yes!--all right. That you, Mr Jack?"
"Yes. Hush!" whispered the lad. "Don't move; don't raise a hand.Listen. Are you quite awake?"
"Yes, sir. What's the matter?"
"We're in danger, Ned."
"Yes, sir, I knew that before I shut my eyes; but it was no use toholloa about it. What is it now?"
The call was repeated and answered before Jack spoke.
"Oh, that's it, is it, sir?" said Ned quietly. "Pretty creatures.After us again, eh? Well, if we lie still they won't see us, and--yes--shadow's rising on the mountain, it will be dark directly. All we'vegot to do is to make out which way they go, and then go the other, sothe sooner they show the better for us--I mean before it gets dark.Such a stupid place too; there ain't no evening, it's dark directly."
"There's more danger, Ned," whispered Jack.
"Eh? what, ain't that enough, sir? Well, what is it?"
"Turn your head very gently, so that you can look at the fire."
"Yes, sir.--Well, it's out."
"Don't you see anything there?"
"Whoo!" ejaculated the man in a tone full of horror, "snakes, hundredsof 'em! Oh, we mustn't stand that, sir; they're waiting till it's coolenough, so as to get our 'taters."
"Nonsense: after the warmth. Now you see, Ned. What's to be done?"
The man was silent for a few moments. Then softly--
"This is nice, Mr Jack; we can't get up and run away because of theniggers, and we can't stop here because of the snakes. Yes; what's tobe done?"
Jack was silent in turn for a few moments.
"Let's crawl a little way off, Ned."
Jack set the example, and it was very willingly followed, till they werea dozen yards farther from the fire; but before half the distance wascovered, the shouting of the blacks was heard again.
"I say, Mr Jack," whispered Ned, as they subsided, "you're a veryclever fellow over your books."
"Am I, Ned?" said Jack sadly.
"Oh, yes, I've often heard the guv'nor and Doctor Instow say so. Wellthen, there's me. I'm sharp enough over my work--sort of handy chap."
"Yes; but what's the good of talking about that now?"
"I was only thinking, sir. Here's you and me making no end of a fuss,and starving, and all the rest of it, and getting into a state o'melancholy, because we've lost our way, while these poor ignorantsavages go about without any clothes, and regularly enjoy themselves inthe same place."
"Yes, Ned, they are a deal cleverer than we are after all."
"That they ain't, sir. We've only got to use our brains more, and wecan beat 'em hollow. I ain't going to dump it any more. It's likesaying a nigger's a better man than a white; and he ain't. Now then, asthe boy in the book I once read used to say, take it coolly, and let'ssee if we haven't got more brains than they have."
"Very well, Ned; but now, if we don't mind, they'll kill us."
"Then we will mind, sir. I should like to catch 'em at it. First thingis we must now be cool. Well, we've got enough for to-morrow, onlythose snakes are watching it. Well, while we're waiting for thoseniggers to go by, let's give the snakes notice to quit."
"How? Pelt 'em?"
"There; look at him!" said Ned. "Only wants a bit of thinking. Comeon, sir, we can do it as we lie here; they'll soon scatter."
"But suppose they come this way?"
"Throw at 'em again, sir. Ready?"
There were plenty of loose fragments of lava lying about in the sandysoil, stones which had doubtless been ejected by the volcano, to fallupon its slopes, and which had in course of time been washed lower andlower, and armed with these, they began to pelt the sides of the fire,the effect being wonderfully speedy. As the first stones fell there wasa strange rustling and hissing, heads were raised menacingly up, and asa second couple fell the reptiles began to move off rapidly.
"Two biggest coming this way, Ned," said Jack excitedly, and gathering ahalf-dozen or so smaller stones in his right hand, he hurled themcatapult fashion right at the advancing heads, with the result that thetwo reptiles turned sharply, and went off at full speed in beneath theabundant growth of plants, while at the end of a few minutes themissiles thrown in their track produced no eff
ect.
"That's done, sir," said Ned coolly, "and our to-morrow's dinner's safe,and it'll be very hard if I don't dodge something better to go with it.Hist! hear that!"
The call had been uttered evidently much nearer, and Jack grasped hisspear.
"That's right, sir," whispered Ned, "but this is a big place, and itain't likely that they'll come right over us. Let's lie still andlisten. We can't see them, and they can't see us."
At that moment Jack pinched the speaker's arm, and pointed over him.
"Something to see that way? All right, sir."
He softly wrenched himself round, and gazed in the indicated direction,to see a black figure standing in bold relief against the orange slopeof the mountain. He was nearby a hundred feet higher than where theylay, having mounted upon a ridge which was probably one of the hardenedlava-streams which had flowed down, and as they watched him, one by oneseven more joined him.
He stood looking round for a few moments, and then uttered the cry theyhad heard before, and turned to descend, making straight for the bend ofthe ravine which seemed to lead to the shore.
The call was responded to, and a few minutes after another party cameinto sight away to the left, making apparently for the same place, andif they kept on, it was evident that they would pass about a hundredyards from Jack and his companion, so that their policy was to lie quitestill.
"Be too dark to see us in ten minutes, sir," whispered Ned.
"Yes; and then we can't do better than make our way up that ridge tillwe come upon another valley running down to the shore."
"That's the way, sir," said Ned. "Only wants a little thinking about.A set o' naked niggers beat you at scheming? Why, it ain't likely."
But they had a scare a quarter of an hour later, the second party ofblacks coming into sight suddenly, not twenty yards away, tramping inIndian file, with their spears over their shoulders, and for the momentJack's heart seemed to stand still, and he grasped his weapon, ready tomake one blow for his life.
For it seemed impossible that the men could pass by--men of such a keen,observant nature--without seeing the pair lying there amongst thetrailing growth of the potatoes.
Worse still, they came nearer, so as to avoid a block of stone in theirway, and one of the number leaped upon it, and after a look round,uttered the call of his tribe, just as one of a flock of running birdsdoes to keep the rest together.
"Now for it," thought Jack, as the black looked straight in hisdirection, and he prepared to spring up as the man leaped down, andseemed about to run at him, spear in hand.
But just when an encounter for life or death seemed inevitable, thesavage trotted on, and the others followed, seeming to grow shorter,till one by one they disappeared, shoulders, heads, tops of the spears,dissolving into the coming gloom of evening.
"Oh, scissors!" whispered Ned. "I say, Mr Jack, sir, if I'd held mybreath much longer, I'm sure all the works would have stopped."
"I thought it was all over, Ned."
"Yes, sir, so did I; but I meant to have a dig at one or two of 'emfirst. Talk about as near as a toucher, that was nearer. How do youfeel now?"
"Heart beats horribly."
"So does mine, sir. It's going like a steam-pump with too much to do.But who's afraid?"
"I am, Ned."
"That you are not, sir. I'm just the same as you, but it's onlyexcitement, and what any one would feel. Now then they've gone down andblocked our road, so we must go up another way. Just give 'em anotherfive minutes, and then we'll go and get our 'taters."
The ashes were soon being raked aside, and the invaluable potatoes aboutto be uncovered, when Ned sniffed.
"I say, Mr Jack, sir, they smell good."
"Why, what's that, Ned?" cried Jack, pointing through the gloom atsomething long and stiff curled up into a knot.
"That, sir? Well, I am stunned. Why, it's one of they snakes, sir, gotcloser in to get warm, and he overdid it. He's cooked; and just yousmell, sir."
"Ugh! throw it away."
"But it smells 'licious, sir. It does really."
"It makes me feel sick, Ned--the idea's horrible. Why it will havespoiled all the potatoes."
"Don't make me feel sick, sir; makes me feel hungry. You've no idea howgood it smells."
"What! a horrible reptile?"
"So's a turtle, sir; and you won't say turtle-soup isn't good."
"But a snake, and perhaps poisonous, Ned?"
"We shouldn't eat his head, sir. Don't see why you might not just aswell eat a snake as an eel, sir."
"Throw it away!" cried Jack sharply.
"All right, sir, you're master.--Good-bye, good victuals!" Ned added inan undertone.--"Won't have hurt the taters, sir, there was all thisthick layer of ashes between."
"Are they burnt up?"
"No, sir, just right, and floury as can be. Look at that."
It was getting too dark to see much; but Jack made out that the littleround vegetable was all floury where it was broken.
The whole cooking was raked out, the ashes scattered away, and Nedproceeded to take out his knife and hand it to his young master, withinstructions to cut out his shirt-sleeves just at the shoulder.
"I shall be warm enough without them, sir," he said. "There: now we'lljust tie up the ends, and here we have a good bag apiece to carry thetaters in. Nothing like having a bit of string in your pocket, sir. Iwonder whether Robinson Crusoe had a bit o' string when he was wrecked;I 'spose he would have, because he could have twisted up a bit out ofthe old ropes. It's always useful, sir. There you are, now. I'll tiethe bags together, and swing 'em over my shoulder, one on each side."
"I'll carry one."
"You shall have 'em both, sir, when I'm tired and want a bit of a rest.Now then, ready, sir?"
"Yes."
"Then shoulder arms: march!" They made for the ridge of lava, climbedupon it without much difficulty, and began to ascend the gradual slopeit formed, till they were shut in by the trees rising on either side,when the darkness became so intense that their progress was very slow,and they had to depend a good deal upon their spears used asalpenstocks. But one great need urged them on, and it chased away thethoughts of pursuit, and of the risks they were running. This needacted as a spur, which kept them crawling up the solidified river forfully a couple of hours, which were diversified by slips and falls moreor less serious.
At last, as the lava flood took a bend round toward the north, theybecame aware of a bright glow high above their heads, where the summitof the volcano must be, and after a remark from Ned that it looked as ifa bit of the sunset was still there, Jack grasped its meaning.
"It's the reflection of the fire that must be burning up at the top ofthe mountain."
"Think so, sir? Well, I suppose it's too far off to hurt us. That'smiles away."
"Yes; but we are walking on one of the rivers which ran down, and thesestones we keep kicking against were once thrown out."
"Ah, you've read a lot about such things, sir; I haven't. Then you sayit's all fire up there?"
"Yes, Ned; look, it's getting brighter."
"Then what's the good of our expecting to find water?"
"Because so many springs rise in mountains, and so much water condensesthere. Hark! what's that?"
Ned listened.
"Can't hear anything, sir."
"Not that?" cried Jack, whose senses seemed to be sharpened by hisneeds.
"No, sir, nothing at all."
Jack made no remark, but pressed on with more spirit than he had beforedisplayed. Then he stopped short in the darkest part they hadencountered, a place where the trees encroached so much from the foreston either side that they seemed to be completely shut in.
"Now can you hear it, Ned?" cried the boy triumphantly.
"Yes, sir, I can hear it now--water, and a lot of it falling down therocks. It must be there just below."
Ten minutes after they had lowered themselves down amongst the trees, towhere in the
darkness they could lie flat at the edge of a rocky basin,scooping cool, sweet water with one hand, and drinking with a sense ofsatisfaction and delight such as they had never experienced before.
"There, Mr Jack," said Ned joyously, "I don't know what you think, butI say that it's worth going through all the trouble we've had for adrink like that. Here goes again."
He bent down over the stone basin, scooping up the water with his hand.
"Have another, Mr Jack, sir," he cried. "That first one was nothing.It's coming down over the fall sweeter and fresher than ever."
Jack, nothing loth, went on drinking again, but in a more leisurelymanner.
"That's it, sir; have a good one. We shall be wanting it to-morrow,when perhaps we can't get any. Fellow ought to be a camel in a placelike this, and able to drink enough to last him a week. Go on, sir; Ifeel as if it's trickling into all kinds of little holes and cornersthat had got dried-up. Think it goes into your veins, because I'mgetting cosy now, right to the tips of my toes, where I was all hard anddry."
"I've had enough now, Ned," said Jack with a sigh, as if he were sorryto make the announcement.
"Don't say that, sir. We've got no bottles, so we must take what wewant inside. Have another drink, sir, so as to get yourself wellsoaked, then you'll be able to stand a lot. I didn't like to howl aboutit, so as to put you out of heart when you were as bad as me; but mymouth was all furred inside like a tea-kettle, and as for my throat, itwas just as if it was growing up, and all hard and dry."
"That was just as I felt, Ned."
"I thought so, sir. Hah!" with a loud smack of the lips. "I've tastedalmost every kind of wine, sir, from ginger up to champagne, and I'vedrunk tea and coffee, and beer, and curds and whey, thin gruel, andcider, and perry, but the whole lot ain't worth a snap compared to adrink of water like this; only," he added with a laugh, "you want to bethirsty as we were first. Done, sir?"
"Yes, quite, Ned."
"Then I tell you what, Mr Jack, sir; we'll try and hunt out a snugplace somewhere close handy and have a good sleep."
"I don't feel sleepy, Ned. I want to get back and end my father'sterrible suspense."
"So do I, sir; but I put it to you--can we do anything in the darkto-night?"
"No. There is only the satisfaction of trying."
"Yes, sir; but you have to pay a lot for it. Say we try for home now--that's all we can do,--shan't we be less fit to-morrow?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Very well then, sir; it's a lovely night, let's have a good sleep.Then as soon as it's light we'll set to work and eat one of thesesleeves of potatoes, come down here again, and take in water enough tolast us for the day, or till we find some more, and try all we can toget down to the shore somehow or another. By this time to-morrow night,if I don't find some way of showing that a white man can manage to livewhere a black can, my name's not what it is."
It was rough work searching for a resting-place, and the best they couldfind was upon some rough, shrubby growth, not unlike heather, in arecess among several mighty blocks of stone. But if it had been aspring bed, with the finest of linen, they could not have slept better,or awoke more refreshed, when the forest was being made melodious by thesongs of birds. The mountain top was beginning to glow, and just belowthere came the soft tinkling splash of the falling water.
"Morning, sir," cried Ned, springing up. "Your shower-bath's waiting,sir. Come along, sir. Do us no end of good to have a dip. We shalltake in a lot of water that way, and get rid of the dust that choked usyesterday."
Jack needed no farther invitation, and upon descending the sides of thestone river, there was the natural bath ready to send a thrill ofstrength through them, for the rivulet came down in a series of littlefalls each having its well-filled basin.
There was the drawback that there were no towels to use, and Jack saidso.
"What, sir?" cried his man. "You don't mean to say that you would haveused a towel if you had had one!"
"Why, of course. Why not?"
"Been waste of so much water. Let it soak in gradual, sir. You'll wantevery drop by and by. You wait till we get out in the sun. Just thinkof how we were yesterday."
Ten minutes after they were seated beneath a tree, discussing theirpotatoes, eating away with a glorious appetite till about half of onesleeve-full had been demolished, when Jack cried, "Hold!"
"Why, you ain't had enough yet, sir?"
"No, but we will keep these till by and by when we are hungry again."
"But I'm hungry now, sir," cried Ned; "and they'll be so much easier tocarry after we've eat 'em--we shall have got rid of the skins."
"Never mind, don't let's be improvident."
"But I'm pretty sure to spear or shoot a pig to-day for supper, sir."
"Then the potatoes will come in all the more useful as we have nobread," said Jack, smiling. "Let's go now, and climb to that littlebasin, to have a good draught of water."
"All right, sir; what you say's best, but it's hard work leaving thosebeautiful little 'taters. They make you feel as if you could go onbrowsing like all day long."
But the rest were carefully tied up in the sleeve, a good hearty draughtof the cool refreshing water taken, and they descended once more to thenatural road.
"The breakfast makes one feel different, Ned. I am not nearly solow-spirited this morning."
"Low-spirited, sir? Why, I could run and shout _Hooray_, I feel sowell. Look at that arm, sir! Who's going to feel mis'rable when he'sgot his strength back like that. Ready, sir?"
"Ready? Yes," cried Jack. "Now then, we must make up our minds to getback to the yacht to-day."
"That's it, sir; but if you see me run mad-like, and go off with myspear, you come and help me, for it means pig."
They started once more, following the course of the lava-stream, withits steady ascent, and at every turn Jack looked back longingly, feelingas he did that they were going away, but knowing that the longest mightprove in the end the shortest road. They kept on, waiting for the timewhen they found that the great flow of fiery molten stone hadencountered an inequality which had made it divide into two streams, thefurther of which might lead them down to the sands somewhere far fromthe yacht.
But mid-day with its burning sun had come, and the intense heatcompelled them to stop and rest beneath a clump of trees, which struckthem both as being more dwarfed in appearance, though their growth wasluxuriant and beautiful. The forest, too, had become more open, therewere glades here and there, and it was possible, if they had been sodisposed, to have left the stony road and threaded their way among thebushes.
"Why, if we are forced to keep on like this much longer, Ned, we shallreach the crater."
"Well, why not do it, sir? Once up there we can look all over theisland, and choose our way down straight to the yacht."
"I should like to do it now we are so high," said Jack; "but we mustonly think of getting back."
"And getting our suppers, sir," whispered Ned, as he pointed toward arocky ridge high up above the lava-stream to the left, where seenagainst the sky-line, as they browsed on the herbage among the rocks,there was a group of about half-a-dozen goats, two of which wereevidently kids, while one was a patriarch with enormous curved horns.
"Now, Mr Jack," whispered Ned; "we had some practice with our bows andarrows yesterday; this time we must do it at any cost."
"Yes, Ned," whispered back the lad excitedly. "It may mean the strengthto escape."
The next minute, bow and arrow in one hand, spear in the other, theywere carefully stalking the herd by creeping upward among the trees andblocks of tumbled-together volcanic stone, which gave them theopportunity of climbing up within easy shot unseen.
Jack at Sea: All Work and No Play Made Him a Dull Boy Page 34