CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
FRIENDLY ATTENTIONS.
A peculiar pale light played and flashed from the surface of the blackwater which was being churned up by the desperate struggles of thedrowning pair. It was as if myriads of tiny stars started into beingwhere all was dark before, and went hurrying here and there, some to thesurface, others deep down into the transparent purity of the sea.
A minute before Jem Wimble had kept command of himself, and swam as acarefully tutored man keeps himself afloat; that minute passed, allteaching was forgotten in a weak, frantic struggle with the stranglingwater which closed over their heads.
A few moments, during which the phosphorescent tiny creatures playedhere and there, and then once more the two helpless and nearly exhaustedfugitives were beating the surface, which flashed and sent forth lambentrays of light.
But it was not there alone that the phosphorescence of the sea wasvisible.
About a hundred yards away there was what seemed to be a double line ofpale gold liquid fire changing into bluish green, and between the linesof light something whose blackness was greater than the darkness of thesea or night. There was a dull low splashing, and at every splash theliquid fire seemed to fly.
The double line of fire lengthened and sparkled, till it was as so muchgreenish golden foam reaching more and more toward where the drowningpair were struggling.
Then came a low, growling, grinding sound, as if the long lines of lightwere made by the beating fins of the dark object, which was somehabitant of the deep roused from slumbers by the light of the goldenfoam formed by those who drowned.
And it rushed on and on to seize its prey, invisible before, but nowplainly seen by the struggles and the resulting phosphorescent light.
Long, low, and with its head raised high out of the water, horrent,grotesque and strange, the great sea monster glided along over thesmooth sea. Full five-and-twenty fins aside made the water flash as itcame on, and there was, as it were, a thin new-moon-like curve of lightat its breast, while from its tail the sparkling phosphorescence spreadwidely as it was left behind.
The low grumbling sound came again, but it was not heard by thosedrowning, nor was the light seen as it glided on nearer and nearer, tillit reached the spot.
One dart from the long raised neck, one snap of the fierce jaws--anotherdart and another snap, and the sea monster had its prey, and glidedrapidly on, probably in search of more in its nightly hunt.
Nothing of the kind! The long creature endued with life darted on, butthe long neck and horned head were not darted down, but guided pastthose who where drowning. Everything was stiff and rigid but theplaying fins. But there was another dull, low grunt, the fins seemed tocease by magic; and, instead of being snapped up by the monster's mouth,the two sufferers were drawn in over its side.
Then the water flashed golden again, the monster made a curve and rushedthrough the water, and sped away for miles till, in obedience to anothergrunting sound, it turned and dashed straight for a sandy beach,resolving itself into a long New Zealand war canoe, into which Don andJem had been drawn, to lie half insensible till the beach was nearedwhen Jem slowly and wonderingly sat up.
"Where's Mas' Don?" he said in a sharp ill-used tone.
"Here he is," said a gruff voice, and Jem looked wonderingly in asavage's indistinctly seen face, and then down in the bottom of the longcanoe, into which they had been dragged.
"Mas' Don--don't say you're drowned, Mas' Don," he said pitifully, witha Somersetshire man's bold attempt at the making of an Irish bull.
"My pakeha! My pakeha!" said a deep voice; and Jem became aware of thefact that the big chief he had so often seen on board the ship, and whohad come to them with the present of fruit when they were guarding theboat, was kneeling down and gently rubbing Don.
"Is he dead?" said Jem in a whisper.
"No, not this time," said the gruff voice out of the darkness. "Prettynigh touch, though, for both of you. Why didn't you hail sooner?"
"Hail sooner?" said Jem.
"Yes. We came in the canoe to fetch you, but you didn't hail, and itwas too dark to see."
"We couldn't hail," said Jem, sulkily. "It would have brought the boatsdown upon us."
"Ah, so it would," said the owner of the gruff voice. "There's threeboats out after you."
"And shall you give us up?"
"Give you up? Not I. I've nothing to do with it; you must talk tohim."
"My pakeha!" cried the big chief excitedly.
"That isn't his name, is it?" said Jem.
"No. Nonsense! Pakeha means white man. I was a pakeha once."
"Let me help him up," said Jem eagerly.
"My pakeha! My pakeha!" said the chief, as if putting in a personalclaim, and ready to resist Jem's interference.
The difficulty was ended by Don giving himself a shake, and slowlyrising.
"Jem! Where's Jem?"
"Here! All right, Mas' Don. We're in the canoe."
"Hah!" ejaculated Don; and he shuddered as if chilled. "Where are theboats?"
"Miles away," said the tattooed Englishman. "But look here, I'm only onboard. This is Ngati's doing. I know nothing about you two."
"My pakeha! My pakeha!" cried the chief.
"Lookye here," cried Jem, speaking in the irritable fashion of thosejust rescued from drowning; "if that there chief keeps on saying, `_Mypakeha_' at me in that there aggravating way, I shall hit him in themouth."
"Ah! You're rusty," said the tattooed Englishman. "Man always is whenhe's been under water."
"I dunno what you mean by being rusty," said Jem snappishly. "What Isay is, leave a man alone."
"All right!" said the Englishman. "I'll let you alone. How's youryoung mate?"
"My head aches dreadfully," said Don; "and there's a horrible pain atthe back of my neck."
"Oh, that'll soon go off, my lad. And now what are you going to do?"
"Do?" interrupted Jem. "Why, you don't mean to give us up, do you?"
"I don't mean to do anything or know anything," said the man. "Yourskipper'll come to me to-morrow if he don't think you're drowned, or--Isay, did you feel anything of 'em?"
"Feel anything--of what?" said Don.
"Sharks, my lad. The shallow waters here swarm with them."
"Sharks!" cried Don and Jem in a breath.
"Yes. Didn't you know?"
"I'd forgotten all about the sharks, Jem," said Don.
"So had I, my lad, or I dursen't have swum for it as we did. Of courseI thought about 'em at first starting, but I forgot all about 'emafterwards."
"Jem," said Don, shuddering; "what an escape!"
"Well, don't get making a fuss about it now it's all over, Mas' Don.Here we are safe, but I must say you're the wussest swimmer I evermet.--Here, what are they going to do?"
"Run ashore," said the Englishman, as there was a buzz of excitementamong the New Zealanders, many of whom stepped over into the shallowwater, and seized the sides of the boat, which was rapidly run up thedark shore, where, amidst a low gobbling noise, the two wet passengerswere landed to stand shivering with cold.
"There you are," said the Englishman, "safe and sound."
"Well, who said we weren't?" grumbled Jem.
"Not you, squire," continued the Englishman. "There; I don't knowanything about you, and you'd better lie close till the ship's gone, forthey may come after you."
"Where shall we hide?" said Don eagerly.
"Oh, you leave it to Ngati; he'll find you a place where you can liesnug."
"Ngati," said the owner of the name quickly, for he had been listeningintently, and trying to grasp what was said. "Ngati! My pakeha."
"Oh, I say: do leave off," cried Jem testily. "Pakeha again. Say, Mas'Don, him and I's going to have a row before we've done."
The chief said something quickly to the Englishman, who nodded and thenturned to the fugitives.
"Ngati says he will take you where you can dry yourse
lves, and put onwarm things."
"He won't be up to any games, will he?" said Jem.
"No, no; you may trust him. You can't do better than go with him tillthe search is over."
The Englishman turned to a tall young savage, and said some words tohim, with the result that the young man placed himself behind Don, andbegan to carefully obliterate the footprints left by the fugitives uponthe sand.
Don noticed this and wondered, for in the darkness the footprints werehardly perceptible; but he appreciated the act, though he felt no onebut a native would distinguish between the footprints of the two people.
"My pakeha," said Ngati just then, making Jem wince and utter an angrygesticulation. "Gunpowder, gun, pow-gun, gun-pow."
"Eh?" said Jem harshly.
"My pakeha, powder-gun. Pow-gun, gun-pow. No?"
"He says his pakeha was to have brought plenty of guns and powder, andhe has not brought any."
"No," said Don, shivering as he spoke. "The guns are the king's. Icould not bring any."
The New Zealand chief seemed to comprehend a good deal of his meaning,and nodded his head several times. Then making a sign to a couple offollowers, each took one of Don's arms, and they hurried him off at asharp run, Jem being seized in the same way and borne forward, followedby the rest of the men who were in the boat.
"Here, I say. Look here," Jem kept protesting, "I arn't a cask o' sugaror a bar'l o' 'bacco. Let a man walk, can't yer? Hi! Mas' Don,they're carrying on strange games here. How are you getting on?"
Don heard the question, but he was too breathless to speak, and had hardwork to keep his feet, leaving everything to the guidance of hiscompanions, who kept on for above a quarter of a mile before stopping ina shadowy gully, where the spreading ferns made the place seem black asnight, and a peculiar steaming sulphurous odour arose.
But a short time before Don's teeth were chattering with the cold, butthe exercise circulated his blood; and now, as his eyes grew more usedto the obscurity, he managed to see that they were in a rough hut-likeplace open at the front. The sulphurous odour was quite strong, thesteam felt hot and oppressive, and yet pleasant after the long chillingeffect of the water, and he listened to a peculiar gurgling, bubblingnoise, which was accompanied now and then by a faint pop.
He had hardly realised this when he felt that his clothes were beingstripped from him, and for a moment he felt disposed to resist; but hewas breathless and wearied out, and rough as was the attention, itstruck him that it was only preparatory to giving him a dry blanket towear till his drenched garments were dry, and hence he sufferedpatiently.
But that was not all, for, as the last garment was stripped off, Ngatisaid some words to his people, and before he could realise what wasgoing to be done, Don felt himself seized by four men, each taking awrist or ankle, and holding him suspended before Ngati, who went behindhim and supported his head.
"Hah!" ejaculated Ngati, with a peculiar grunt. His men all acted withmilitary precision, and, to Don's astonishment, he found himself plungedinto a rocky basin of hot water.
His first idea was to struggle, but there was no need. He had beenlowered in rapidly but gently, and he felt Ngati place the back of hishead softly against a smooth pleasantly-warm hollowed-out stone, whilethe sensation, after all he had gone through, was so delicious that heuttered a sigh of satisfaction.
For now he realised the hospitality of the people who had brought himthere, and the fact that to recover him from the chill of being halfdrowned, they had brought him to one of their hot springs, used by themas baths.
Don uttered another sigh of satisfaction, and as he lay back covered tohis chin in the hot volcanic water, he began to laugh so heartily thatthe tears came into his eyes.
For the same process was going on in the darkness with Jem, who was aless tractable patient, especially as he had taken it into his thickhead that it was not for his benefit that he was to be plunged into ahot water pool, but to make soup for the New Zealanders around.
"Mas' Don!" he cried out of the darkness, "where are you? I want to getout of this. Here, be quiet, will yer? What yer doing of? I say.Don't. Here, what are you going to do?"
Don wanted to say a word to calm Jem's alarms, but after the agony hehad gone through, it seemed to him as if his nerves were relaxed beyondcontrol, and his companion's perplexity presented itself to him in socomical a light, that he could do nothing but lie back there in hisdelicious bath, and laugh hysterically; and all the while he could hearthe New Zealanders gobbling angrily in reply to Jem's objections, as afierce struggle went on.
"That's your game, is it? I wouldn't ha' thought it of a set who callstheirselves men. Shove me into that hot pot, and boil me, would you?Not if I knows it, you don't. Hi! Mas' Don! Look out! Run, my lad.They're trying to cook me alive, the brutes. Oh, if I only had acutlash, or an iron bar."
Don tried to speak again, but the words were suffocated by the gurgle oflaughter.
"Poor old Jem!" he thought.
"I tell you, you sha'n't. Six to one, eh? Leave off. Mas' Don,they're going to scald me like a pig in a tub. Hi! Help!"
There was the sound of a struggle, a loud splash, and then silence,followed by Jem's voice.
"Oh!" he ejaculated. "Then why didn't you say so? How was I to knowyou meant a hot bath? Well, it arn't bad.--Mas' Don!"
"Yes."
"What! Ha' you been there all the time?"
"Yes."
"What yer been doing of?"
"Laughing."
"Larfin'? Are they giving you a hot bath?"
"Yes."
"Arn't it good?"
"Glorious!"
"I thought they was going to scald me like a pig, so as to eat meafterwards. Did you hear me holler?"
"Hear you? Yes.--How delicious and restful it feels."
"Ah, it do, my lad; but don't you let any on it get into your mouth. Idid, and arn't good. But I say; what's it mean? Seems so rum to mecoming to meet us in a canoe and bringing us ashore, and giving us hotbaths. I don't seem to understand it. Nobody does such things over athome."
As they lay in the roughly-made stone slab baths, into which thevolcanic water effervesced and gurgled, the followers of Ngati came andwent busily, and a curious transformation came over the scene--thedarkness seemed to undergo a change and become grey. Then as Donwatched, he saw that above his head quite a cloud of steam was floating,through which a pale, sad light began to penetrate; and as he watchedthis, so pleasant and restful was the sensation that he felt as if hecould sleep, till he took into consideration the fact that if he did,his body would become relaxed, and he would slip down with his headbeneath the surface.
As it grew lighter rapidly now, he could make out that the roughlythatched roof was merely stretched over a rough rocky nook in which thehot spring bubbled out of the mountain slope, and here a few rough slabshad been laid together, box-fashion, to retain the water and form thebath.
Before he had more than realised the fact that Jem was in a shelter verysimilar to his own, the huge New Zealander was back with about a dozenof his men, and himself bearing a great native flax cloth marked with abroad pattern.
Just as the sun had transformed everything without, and Don was gazingon a glorious prospect of lace-like tree-fern rising out of the steaminggully in which he stood, Jem Wimble came stalking out of the shelterwhere he had been dressing--a very simple operation, for it hadconsisted in draping himself in a great unbleached cloth--and lookingsquat and comical as a man in his circumstances could look.
Ngati was close at hand with his men all standing in a group, and atfirst sight it seemed as if they were laughing at the little,stoutly-built, pink-faced man, but, on the contrary, they were smiles ofadmiration.
"I couldn't ha' believed it, Mas' Don," said Jem; "I feel as fresh as adaisy, and--well, I never did! Mas' Don, what a guy you do look!"
Don, after a momentary thought that he looked something like one of theold Romans in a toga, just as
he had seen them in an engraving, had beenso taken up with the beauty of the ferny gully, with the sun gildinghere and there the steamy vapour which rose from the hot springs, thathe had thought no more of his personal appearance till Jem spoke.
"Guy?" he said, laughing, as he ran his eye over Jem. "I say, did youever hear the story of the pot and the kettle?"
"Yes, of course; but I say, my lad, I don't look so rum as you, do I?"
"I suppose you look just about the same, Jem."
"Then the sooner they gets our clothes dry and we're into 'em again, thesooner we shall look like human beings. Say, Mas' Don, it's werryawkward; you can't say anything to that big savage without him shouting`pakeha.' How shall we ask for our clothes?"
"Wait," said Don. "We've got to think about getting further away."
"Think they'll send to look for us, Mas' Don?"
"I should say they would."
"Well, somehow," said Jem, "I seem to fancy they'll think we're drowned,and never send at all. But, look here; what's all this yaller stuff?"
"Sulphur."
"What, brimstone? Why, so it is. Think o' their buying brimstone tolay down about their hot baths. I know!" cried Jem, slapping his thigh,"they uses it instead of coal, Mas' Don; burns it to make the waterhot."
"No, no, Jem; that's natural sulphur."
"So's all sulphur nat'ral."
"But I mean this is where it is found, or comes."
"G'long with you."
"It is, Jem; and that water is naturally hot."
"What, like it is at Bath?"
"To be sure."
"Well, that caps all. Some one said so the other day aboard ship, but Ididn't believe it. Fancy a set o' savages having hot water all readyfor them. I say, though, Mas' Don, it's very nice."
Just then Ngati came up smiling, but as Jem afterwards said, lookinglike a figure-head that was going to bite, and they were led off to a_whare_ and furnished with a good substantial meal.
Adventures of Don Lavington: Nolens Volens Page 28