CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
IN SPITE OF ALL.
They were too close to the goats to venture upon much whispering, andthe decision was soon arrived at that they were to divide, and each makethe best of his way up the ridge till there was an opportunity for aclose easy shot; then without waiting that shot was to be sent whizzingfrom the bow, the probability being that as there was no report, thegoats would not be much alarmed, and another chance might be afforded.
"Think we must have one this time, Mr Jack," whispered Ned, and theystarted from behind the great block which now sheltered them, eachtaking his own side.
From that moment Jack had no eyes for his companion, his attention wascentred upon the great father of the herd, to the left of which the twohalf-grown kids were browsing upon the tender young shoots of thebush-like growth.
It was nervous work, for every now and then the old goat raised his headon high to take a long careful look round, and when he did, Jackremained motionless where he had crawled. Directly he saw the tips ofthe horns lowered he began to creep again, taking advantage of everytree-trunk, stone, or bush, and always getting nearer, though still fartoo distant to risk a shot. His hands trembled and were wet withperspiration, and again and again he felt that he must be seen, andexpected to hear the beating of the animals' hoofs as they dashed off,but the great curved horns, sweeping back like those of an ibex, werestill visible, and he crawled slowly on, forgetting all about Ned andhis progress.
At last, after many minutes devoted to the struggle upward, he reached aspot sufficiently elevated to give him a view of the volcano whosecrater rose above the ridge, and forming; a background for the big goat,which stood out plainly about forty yards away even now, and offeringitself for a shot, easy enough with a rifle, but very doubtful with abow and arrow. The lad was in a capital position, but unfortunately theslope beyond offered no cover, and to have moved from it meant to beseen at once, while, more unfortunately still, the two kids, whichshould have shown themselves nearer, were now completely hidden by aclump of dense growth twenty yards from where he lay.
"If I could only have got there," thought Jack, "how easy it would be."But to have moved would have been to send the whole herd careering away,and all he could do was to wait and see if the kids would at last comefrom behind the shrubs.
"They may come nearer," he thought, and he softly fitted an arrow to thebowstring, and waited for his opportunity, for he could do no more.
There he rested, bow and arrow held ready, in a very awkward positionfor shooting, but he dared not move, for at the slightest movement evenof his companions, the goat raised his head, and several times gave anangry stamp with one of his fore-feet.
"I wonder where Ned is now," thought the boy, and he hoped that he washaving better fortune, and he glanced cautiously in the direction wherehe must be, but all was still; butterflies were flitting about, birdsdarted by, and the old goat, the only one of the herd now visible, stillbrowsed or watched.
Jack glanced away to his left to see if he could take and creep round toa better position, but there was less cover than where he was; and afterwaiting impatiently for what seemed to be over a quarter of an hour, thelad determined to risk all, and creep to the clump in front, if only afew inches at a time, bearing to his left in the hope of getting itbetween him and the old goat, and bearing still more off till he couldget his shot at the young.
All at once, in the midst of the soft hum of insects and the croppingsound made by the invisible goats, Jack heard a peculiar bleating noiseaway to his right.
Jack looked quickly round, expecting to see an easy shot, and the biggoat looked too, and took a step or two forward. Then the bleatingbegan again and ended suddenly in a peculiar smothered way, as if thecreature which uttered it had been suddenly strangled.
The big goat looked puzzled, raised his head higher, and stared in thedirection of the sound, stamped angrily, and uttered an angry, defiant_ba-a-a-a-a_!
At the cry Jack's heart leaped, for a kid that he had not previouslyseen sprang into sight, and stood within thirty yards of the watcher,side on, offering an easy shot, while the rest of the herd trottedhurriedly up to their leader.
_Twang_! Jack's arrow had sped after he had drawn it to the head, andas he was in the act of springing up to see if the shaft had takeneffect, something heavy pitched on to his shoulders, throwing him faceforward among the thick growth, and a pair of black hands clasped hisneck and throat.
It was all done so suddenly that he was half stunned. The stalker hadbeen stalked, and as he was twisted round by the man who had leaped uponhim, and who now sat upon his chest, half-a-dozen more black facesappeared, their owners grinning with triumph. Jack yelled with all hismight--
"Run for it, Ned. Savages. Run!"
The warning was all in vain, for the next minute four more blacksappeared, dragging the man after them bound hand and foot, and lookingpurple in the face, and scratched as if he had been engaged in a severestruggle.
"There you are, Mr Jack," he panted. "They've 'most killed me. Jumpedupon me just as I had a splendid chance. On my back. Five to one, thecowards. And then they come behind you, and can't hit fair. Are youhurt?"
"Not much. Oh, Ned, and I thought we had got away from them."
"Yes, but they must have been on the look-out, sir."
The blacks were standing round them, spear in hand, ready to strike ifan attempt was made to escape, and Jack said so.
"Oh yes, sir, they'd let go at us if we tried to run, but it's of no useto do that, for they'd bring us down at once. There, we may as welllook it straight in the face and make the best of it."
"We can't, Ned," said Jack dismally; "there is no best to it. I onlywish I knew what they were going to do with us. Only fancy, after ustaking all that trouble to get away!"
The bewailings were brought to an end by a stalwart black clapping himon the shoulder and saying something as he pointed over the ridge.
"Ugh! you ugly, mop-headed Day and Martin dummy," cried Ned. "If Ihadn't a better language than that I'd hold my tongue. No use to kick,Mr Jack; suppose we must go on."
Jack was already stepping forward, urged by another powerfully-builtfellow, who showed his teeth and pricked him forward with the point ofthe spear he carried.
It was a blunt, clumsy weapon, the point being merely the wood of whichit was formed, hardened by thrusting in the fire, but the hand whichheld it was powerful, and the prod received severe, though the skin wasnot pierced. Jack uttered no cry, neither did he shrink, but turnedround so fiercely upon the black that the fellow started back.
"Well done, Mr Jack, sir," cried Ned excitedly; "that did me good. Ilike that, sir. Let 'em see that you're Briton to the backbone, andthough they've tied me up again with these bits of cane, Britons nevershall be slaves. Here, ugly: come and stand in front and I'll kickyou."
It was waste of words, but the blacks understood that it was meantdefiantly, and they lowered their spears and signed to their prisonersto go on.
"Oh yes," cried Ned proudly, "we'll go on. Can't help ourselves, canwe, Mr Jack? But don't be down-hearted, sir. They haven't killed us,and perhaps after all they may take us where we want to go down to theshore."
But as they tramped on, with one of their captors leading the way, andthe rest behind, keeping an eye upon the cane bonds which now held bothprisoners' wrists behind, their way proved to be diagonally up the slopeof the volcano, and the tramp was kept up for hours beneath the broilingheat of the sun, while it seemed to Jack that every now and then hotsulphurous puffs of wind escaped from the stony ground over which theypassed. The trees grew rapidly fewer and less in size, till there wereonly scattered bushes, and higher still these were dwarfed into wirygrasses and tufts of a heather-like growth, with lichens and dried-upmosses.
"Try and hold up, Mr Jack sir, they must halt soon to eat and drink.My word, if we weren't prisoners, I'd say what a view we get from uphere. See anything of the yacht?"
"No,
Ned; she's inside the reef, and we can't see that."
"No, sir, you're right. `Britons never shall be slaves,' but all thesame I feel just as if I was being driven to market. That's it, they'retaking us somewhere to sell us, I know; wonder how many cocoanuts weshall fetch, or p'r'aps it'll be shells. Thirsty, sir?"
"I don't know, Ned, I haven't thought about it. I suppose I am, andhungry and very tired; but I've been thinking about whether we shallever see the yacht again."
"Oh yes, sir. Never say die. Life's all ups and downs. Sir John ain'tforsaking us, you may be sure, and any moment we may see him and a lotof our jolly Jack Tars coming round the corner, and the doctor with 'em,ready to give these black brutes a dose of leaden pills. Ah! andthey'll have to take 'em too, whether they like 'em or no. Don't you bedown."
"I'm not, Ned. I keep trying to think that it's all adventure andexperience."
"That's it, sir. Do to talk about when we get back to old England."
Twice over, as the diagonal ascent grew steeper, the blacks halted forabout half-an-hour, and the prisoners were glad to lie down in theshelter of one of the lava blocks with which the slope was strewn, thecool air which came from the sea being fresh and invigorating; and thesecond time Ned suddenly exclaimed--
"Not going to take us up to the top, are they, and pitch us into thefire?"
"Not likely, Ned," replied Jack; "but we little expected to make theascent like this."
"With our hands tied behind us, sir."
"I believe they are going this way so as to avoid the forest, and assoon as we get a little farther round they will begin to descend on theother side."
Jack's idea proved to be correct, for upon reaching a spot where nothingbut a friable slope of fine ashes kept them from the summit, the leadersuddenly leaped down into a hollow which was scored into the mountainside, and began to descend, followed by the rest.
"Due west," said Jack thoughtfully. "Why, Ned, we shall reach the shorefar from where we left the yacht."
"If it goes straight down, sir; but is it west?"
"Yes, we are going straight for the sun now, and this gash in themountain grows deeper. Look."
"Yes, that's right, sir; but I do wish we could get to some water now.It's a dry journey from here to the shore, and you're beginning to bedone up."
"Yes, Ned," said Jack wearily; "I am beginning to be done up now."
Jack at Sea: All Work and No Play Made Him a Dull Boy Page 35