CHAPTER XVI
"The tide by this time was quite still, and the breeze sank almost atonce, as we were shut in from the sea, when we were surprised to see thestriped Portuguese flag, rise off a tall bamboo stick, among the busheson the open shore, nearly abreast of us, where a low muddy-like wall wasto be made out, with something of a thatched roof or two, and a sort ofrude wooden jetty running before it into the water. Shortly after, DonJose came paddling out again, and got on board, this time with an oldcocked hat on, excusing himself for not having fired a gun--which was tosave us expense, he remarked, being particular friends--seeing that he'dgot to demand twelve dollars of harbour dues and duties, whereas, if hesaluted, he must have charged fourteen. The cool impudence of thisbrought the chief officer from the capstan; but the steady face of thefellow, and the glance he took round the deck when the cadet told himhe'd better be off at once, made me think he had something or other toback him. Mr Finch, as usual, fumed up into a passion, and told the mento fling him over into his canoe, which they accordingly did, withoutthe least nicety about it; the Portuguese next minute picking himselfup, and standing straight, with the look of a perfect devil, as he shookhis fist at the whole ship, while the canoe slid off to the shore.
"Budge even so much as a single fathom, at present, we could not; andmost of us were too much in the spirit of fun and venture to care a figfor having made an enemy of Don Jose So-on, as the cadet called him;indeed, it seemed rather to set a finer point on people's admiration ofthe green jungly-looking shore next to us, with its big aloes and agavesgrowing before the bush, and all sorts of cocoas, palms, monkey-bread,and tall white-flaked cotton trees, rising in every way out from overthe rest. For my part, I thought more of the Portuguese _interest_,after all, than his hatred--which proved correct, by his soon sendingout a sulky message by the mulatto, offering to sell us fowls and abullock, at no ordinary price. However, all hands from the cabin weremad already to get ashore somewhere, and the cadets, bristling withfowling-pieces and rifles, each singing out that he was ready to supplythe whole ship with fresh meat; so the mulatto had to sheer off, with aboat nearly lowered over his head.
"From where we lay at the time, what with the large creek off one bow,and the broad river ahead of us, spreading brimful along to the light,the water had the look of a huge lake, fringed in by a confused hazybluish outline steeping in the heat, where the distance clipped behindthe lumps of keen verdure, showering over a dark mangrove-covered point.Before the two large quarter-boats could be got ready for the ladies andthe rest of us, in fact, we heard the gigful of writers and cadetsbeginning to pop away at everything they saw alive, out of sight of theship, till at last we were afloat, too, pulling slowly into the middleof the stream, and the men eyeing us lazily as they turned-to about therigging, to send up new spars in place of those lost. The old Indiaman'sbig bows stood looming up broad astern of us on the sluggish eddiesround her cable, with her tall, steady forespars and furled yards risingwhite against the low line of marshy shore in the distance, and waveringin her shadow below, till the thick green branches of the next pointshut her out, and the glare off the face of the creek shot level overall of us in the two cutters, wild with every kind of feeling that Indiapassengers could have after two months' voyage.
"For my own part, I should have had rather a suspicion how absurd it wasto go a-pleasuring in an African river we knew nothing about, especiallywhen I saw that a day or two so long after the rains might suck it up,during ebb, into a pretty narrow mid-channel; all I thought of was,however, that I was steering the boat with Violet Hyde in it, thekitmagar holding his gaudy punkah over her before me, while the judge,with his gun in his hands, was looking out as eagerly, for the time, asthe four griffins were pulling furiously, in spite of the heat that madethe sweat run into their eyes.
"The other party were soon off ahead of us up the main river, under careof the Scotch surgeon, laughing, talking, and halloing in chase of thecadets who had first left. However, Sir Charles thought there was morelikelihood of game along the creek, and the ladies fancied it somethingnew, so I steered right into it; the fat midshipman, Simm, watching mecritically as I handled the yoke-lines, which he had given up to me in apatronising way, and the sailor in the bow regarding the exertions ofthe griffins with a knowingly serious expression, while he dabbled hisflipper at ease in the water.
"As the tide steadied, this said creek proved to be a smaller river,apparently from the hilly country I had noticed beyond the woods, by theclearness of its current, that showed the pale yellow reflection of theclose bamboo-brake on one side, deep down into the light--the huge,sharp, green notched aloe-leaves and fern showing here and there out ofit--the close, rank, stifling smell of rotten weeds and fungi givingplace to the strange wild scent of the flowers, trailing and twisting inthick snaky coils up the stems on our opposite hand, and across frombranch to branch, with showers of crimson and pink blossoms and whitestars; still, eager as the ladies were to put foot on land, 'twas no uselooking as yet for a spot of room, let alone going farther in.
"The cadets were not long in being blown, either; when the midshipman,the bowman, and I, had to relieve them. However, _then_ I could lookstraight toward Violet Hyde's face, the shade of the scarlet punkahhanging over it, and her soft little straight nose and forehead catchinga flickering burst from the leaves as we sheered at times under cover ofthe bank; while her eyelids, drooping from the glare, gave her brighteyes a half-sleepy sort of violet look, and it was only her lips thatlet you see how excited she felt. The griffin who had the tillersteering with the judgment of a tailor's 'prentice on a picnic toTwickenham, we came two or three times crash into the twigs of somehalf-sunk tree; then a blue bird like a heron would rise direct ahead ofus, with its tall wet spindle legs and spurs glistening like steelbehind it into the light, and a young snake in its sharp bill; or a greycrane rustled out of the cane from overhead, its long wings creaking inthe air out of sight. Suddenly, you heard a long chirruping croak from atree-frog, and the ground ones gave full chorus from farther in, whiningand cackling and peep-peep-peeping in one complete rush that died assuddenly away again, like thousands of young turkeys. Then out in themidst of the quiet would come a loud clear wheetle-wheetling note fromsome curious fowl in an opening, with another of the same to match,dimmer amongst the thick of the bush. However, everything of the kindseemed to sink down with the heat at noon, the very buzz of flies roundevery dark feather of the cocoas, and the mosquito-hum along the bank,getting fainter; till one _heard_ the heat, as it were, creeping andthrilling down through the woods, with the green light that steeped intoboth edges of the long creek; every reed, cane, leaf, and twig,seemingly, at last giving it back again with a whispering, hushingcrackle, and the broad fans of the palms tingling in it with rays fromthem, as they trembled before you in the glare, back into the highbundles of knotted and jointed bamboo, with their spiky-tufted crowns.
"'Can you not almost _feel_ the forest grow!' exclaimed Miss Hyde; whilethe boat floated quietly to one side, and her charming young faceshining out from the punkah, before Master Gopaul's deucedly ugly one,coolly staring past his snub nose, made one think of a white Englishrose and a black puff-ball growing together under a toadstool; plenty ofwhich, as red as soldiers' coats, and as big as targets, looked here andthere out of the bank. It put new spirit into me to see her, but stillwe could do little more than shove across from one side to theother--till something all at once roused us up in the shape of a longscaly-like log, seemingly lying along in the sun, which tumbled off theedge with a loud splash, and two of the young fellows let drive fromtheir fowling-pieces, just after the alligator had sunk to the bottom.Rather uncomfortable it was to come sheering right over him next moment,and catch a glimpse of his round red eyes and his yellow throat, as themud and weeds rose over him.
"The other ladies shrieked, but Violet Hyde only caught hold of herfather's arm and started back; though her blue eye and the clear cut ofher pretty nostril opened out, too, for the moment her lips closed.
Fiveminutes after, when a couple of large guinea-fowl sprang up, Sir Charlesproved himself a better shot than the cadets, by dropping one of themover the water ahead of us, which was laid hold of by the reefer of theIndiaman, and stowed away fluttering into the stern-locker--Simmobserving coolly that it was a scavengering carrion sort of bird, butperhaps one of his messmates might like to take it home stuffed to hissister. The judge merely smiled and patted the mid on the shoulder,remarking in great good-humour that he, Simm, would make a goodattorney; and on we held, soaking to our shirts and panting, until thebowman hooked down the stem of a young plantain, with a huge bunch offull ripe yellow bananas under the long flapping leaves at its head,right into the midst of us, out of a whole clump of them, where thesmooth face of the cove showed you their scarlet clusters of flowers andgreen round pods hanging over it, hidden as they were from above. Everyman of us made a clutch, and the stem almost lifted Simm out of the boatwith it, as it sprang back into the brake, rousing out a shower ofgaudy-coloured butterflies, and a cloud of mosquitoes, and making theparroquets scream inside; while the cadets' mouths were so full theycouldn't speak, the reefer making a gulp with the juice seeming to comeout at his eyes, the sailor spitting out his quid and stuffing in abanana, and the ladies hoping they were safe to eat, as I peeled thesoft yellow rind off, and handed one to Violet Hyde, which she tasted atonce. But if ever one enters into the heart of things in the tropics,I'd say 'tis when that same delicious taste melts through and throughand all over you, after chewing salt-junk for a space. I remember oneforemast man, who was always so drunk ashore he used to remember nothingin India but '_scoffing_[23] one juicy benanny,' as he called it; 'buthows'ever, Jack,' he'd say, ''twas blessed good, ye know, and I'm on thelook-out for a berth again, jist for to go and have another.' One of uslooked to the other, and Miss Hyde laughed and coloured a bit when Ioffered her a second, while her father said, full five minutes after,''Gad, Violet, it almost made me think I saw Garden Reach in theHooghly, and the Baboo's Ghaut!'
[23] _Anglice_, eating.
"This whole time we couldn't have got more than three-quarters of a milefrom where the ship lay, when, all at once, the close growth on our lefthand began to break into low bush, and at length a spot offered where wemight get ashore tolerably, with two or three big red ant-hills heapedup out of the close prickly-pear plant, and the black ants streamingover the bank, as well as up the trunk of a large tree. The monkeyswere keeping up a chattering stir everywhere about; and two or threebright green little lizards, changing into purple and back again, asthey lay gleaming in the sun on the sides of the ant-heaps, darted theirlong tongues out like silver bodkins at the ants coming past. In weshoved with a cheer, and had scarce moored to the tree ere the ladieswere being handed out and tripping over the ground-leaves to the ankles,starting on again at every rustle and prick, for fear of snakes; tillthe bowman in charge was left in the boat by himself, and, there beingseven of us with guns over our arms, the next notion of the griffins wasto get a sight of some 'natives.'
"In fact, there was a sort of a half-track leading off near the bank,through among the long coarse grass and the ferny sprouts of youngcocoas, and a wide stretch of open country seen beyond it, dotted allover with low clumps of trees and bush rounded off in the gush of light,that gave it all a straw-coloured tint up to where a barereddish-looking ridge of hill looked over a long swell of wild forest,off a hot, pale, cloudless sky. Here and there you saw the shadow of onebluff lying purple on the side of another, and a faint blue peakbetween, letting north'ard into some pass through the hills, but nosigns of life save a few dun big-headed buffaloes feeding about a swampyspot not very far off, and rather too shaggy, by all appearance, to makepleasant company. Accordingly, we held for a few yards under the shade,where the fat mid, thinking to show off his knowingness by gettingcocoa-nuts for the ladies, began to shy balls of mud from thecreek-sides at the monkeys in the trees.
"However, he brought us rather more than he bargained for, till thewhole blessed jungle seemed to be gathering between us and the boat topelt us to death with nuts as big as eighteen-pound shot, husks and all;so off we had to hurry into the glare again, Sir Charles half-carryinghis daughter through guinea-grass up to the waist--when somebody feltthe smell of smoke, and next minute we broke out near it, wreathing upwhite from inside a high bamboo fence, propped up and tied all alongwith cocoa-nut husk. 'What the devil!' shouted the foremost cadet, assoon as he found the opening, 'they're cannibals!--roasting a blackchild, by heaven!' and in he dashed, being no chicken of a fellow_ashore_ at any rate, the others after him, while the judge, Simm, and Ikept outside with the ladies, who were all of a shudder of course, whatwith the thought, and what with the queer scent of roast meat that cameto us. 'Ha, ha!' laughed the cadet next moment, 'it's only a monkey,after all!--come in, though, Sir Charles, if you please, sir--nobodyhere, ladies.'
"There, accordingly, was the little skinned object twirling slowlybetween two bamboo sticks, over a fire beneath two or three immensegreen leaves on a frame, with its knees up not to let its legs burn;about a dozen half-open sheds and huts, like little corn-stacks,thatched close with reeds, and hung with wattled mats of split bamboo,giving the place more the look of a farmyard than a village; as therewas a big tree spreading in the middle, a few plantains, yams, and longmaize-stalks flowering out of the coarse guinea-grass which the niggershadn't taken the trouble to tread down all round inside of the fence.
"However, we weren't long of perceiving an old grey-headed black sittingon his hams against the post of a hut, watching us all the time; and avillainously ugly old thief he looked, with a string of Aggry beadsabout his head, and a greegree charm-bag hung round his shrivelled neck,which was stuck through a hole in some striped piece of stuff that fellover to his knees, as he sat mumbling and croaking to himself, andleering out of the yellows of his eyes, though too helpless to stir.Something out of the way attracted my notice, glittering in front of thehut over his head; but, on stepping up to it, I wasn't a littlesurprised to find it the stern-board of some small vessel or other, withthe tarnished gilt ornament all round, and the name in large whiteletters--'_Martha Cobb_'--the port, Boston, still to be made out,smaller, below. This I didn't think so much of in itself, as the craftmight have been lost; till, on noticing that the old fellow's robe wasneither more nor less than a torn American ensign, in spite of hisgrowls and croaks I walked past him into the hut, where there was awhole lot of marling-spikes, keys, and such like odds and ends,carefully stored up in a bag, marked with the same name, besides astewpan with some ostrich feathers stuck where the handle had been, asif this rascally black sinner wore it on his head on state occasions,being probably the head man and a justice of the peace.
"What struck me most, though, was a pocket-book with a letter inside it,in a woman's hand, addressed to the master of the brig _Martha Cobb_;dated a dozen years before, yellow and fusty, and with tarryfinger-marks on it, as if the poor skipper, God knows, had read it overand over in his cabin many a fresh breeze betwixt there and Boston. Iput it in my pocket, with a curse to the old black devil, as he croakedout and fell on his face trying to bite me with his filed teeth when Ipassed out, to follow the rest out of the bamboo-pen; wondering, ofcourse, where all the other negroes could be, unless they were dodgingabout the river shore to watch the Indiaman--little chance as there wasof their trying the same joke with the _Seringapatam_ as with the_Martha Cobb_.
"As for the women, however, I had scarce joined our party going out,when we met a half-naked black hag with a bunch of cocoa-nuts and husk.The moment she saw us she gave a squeal like an old hen, and fell flat,while several younger ones, jogging along with their naked blackpiccaninnies on their backs, turned tail and were off with a scream.Next minute we were almost as startled as they could be when three plumpyoung jetty damsels dropped down right into the bushes alongside of us,off as many tall cocoas which they'd been climbing by a band round them,for the nuts. 'Mercy on us!' said the eldest of our lady passengers; andit _was_ rather q
ueer, since they had nothing earthly upon them savevery very short pet----I beg your pardon, ma'am, but I didn't know anyother word. However, off they scampered for the woods, Simm and one ofthe cadets hard after them, and we turning away to smother our laughter,especially as the griffin had forgot his mother being with us. The middybeing first started, he was a good way ahead, when all at once thesternmost of the black girls tripped in the band she had over hershoulder, Simm giving a cheer as he made prize of his chase; but scarcebefore the whole three of the dark beauties had him smothered up amongstthem, laughing yelling, and squalling as they hauled him about; till Isaw the dirk Simm sported glitter in one of their hands, and I madetowards the spot in the notion of their finishing him in right earnest.
"The black damsels ran off together as the unlucky reefer picked himselfup, coming to us with his hair rubbed up like a brush, his cap out ofshape in his hand, and the gold band off it, his red face shining, andall the gilt anchor-buttons off his jacket, besides being minus hisdirk. 'Simm, Simm, my fine fellow!' said his friend the cadet, like todie with laughing, 'what--what did they do to you?--why, your head lookslike a chimney-sweep's mop!' Simm knocked his cap against a tree to setit right, without a word, and we followed the others to the boat, wherehe swore, however, that he'd kissed 'em all three, at which Mrs Atkinsfairly took him a slap on the side of the head, saying he was a nasty,improper boy, and she was glad _his_ poor mother couldn't see him runafter creatures of that kind in African woods. 'Natives, indeed!' saidshe, 'I have heard so often of native modesty, too, in books; but, afterall, there's nothing like experience, I think, Sir Charles?' 'Certainlynot, ma'am,' replied the judge, humouring her, as she hadn't often hadthe chance of speaking to him before; ''tis almost as bad in India,though, you know.' 'Oh, _there_, Sir Charles,' said the lady, 'I neverhappened to go out, of course, except in the carriage!' 'Ah,' said thejudge, coolly, 'you should try an elephant, sometimes, ma'am.'
"After this, as Sir Charles was bent on getting a shot at somethingbetter, with a glass or two of Madeira to refresh us, we pulled fartherstill up the small river, passing the mouth of a deep marshy inlet,where I noticed a few long canoes belonging to the Congo village we hadseen; the close, heavy heat of the woods getting, if possible, worse;and the rank green growth topping up round us as flat as before; whenthe sound of a loud rush of water up-stream broke upon us through thebush to northward, the surface rippling, and a slight cool breathseeming to flutter across it now and then, the very noise putting freshsoul into you. Suddenly we opened out on a broad bend, where it was hardwork to force her round, and next moment a low fall was gleaming beforeus, where a hill-stream came washing and plashing over one wide rockystep above another in the turn, then sweeping out of a deep pool to bothhands, and running away ahead, in between the spread of trees, seeminglyto a sort of a lagoon, where you saw the light in the middle glancingbright down upon its face. A broad blue burst of air and light struckdown along the hollow the stream rushed out of, off the roots of aregular mountain, leaning back to the sky, with its big tufted knollsand its shady rifts thrown out blue beyond one or two thickscaly-stemmed date-trees, waving their long, feathery, fringe-likeleaves to the least bit of a breeze, on as many rough points near athand; the _whole_ shape of the mountain you couldn't see for the hugemahogany-trees, teak, and African oak, rising up over one shoulder intoa lump of green forest. In five minutes more we were through into thelagoon, which very possibly took round into the main river again, onlythe opposite end, to our surprise, was all afloat with logs of bigtimber choking it up, so that there we must stick or go back upon ourwake.
"However, the lagoon itself being broad enough and round enough in allconscience, with a deep hollow opening up out of it on the high ground,the judge and the cadets thought a better place couldn't have beenchosen for landing after a little sport, while we left the fair ladiesto rest in the cool, and look at the lotus-lilies spread all over onecove of it, floating white on their large leaves. The green edge of scumran about the black shadow on the rest of it, gathering round where abig branch or two had fallen in, with the hot white sky looking bluerout through the broad leaves coming together aloft, and the showers oflittle sharp ones in the tamarind twigs, mangoes, ironwood, sumach, andall sorts, while here and there a knot of crimson blossoms looked outfrom under the boughs in the dark, humming with small flies. Beautifulspot as it was every way, especially after the heat, yet I didn't muchlike the idea of letting the ladies stay by themselves, except thesailor and the kitmagar. Nothing particular had turned up to trouble us,certainly, but I daresay 'twas because there was _one_ of them I neverlooked at without her soft fairy-like air making me think of somethingthat might happen to her, life-like though she seemed. When I saw a bigbranch over her head, I kept fancying what it would do if it fell--andnow, the thumping slabs and stones we scrambled over up into the gullytoward the mountain, seemed to have come tumbling down off it to thevery water's edge, covered with nets of thick creeping plants and trailsof flat, fingery-leaved flowers, such as you see in hot-houses at home.A few yards higher, too, where the ground broke away into a slantinghollow out of the bush, 'twas all trampled and crushed, half-witheringtogether in the heat of the sun, the young trees twisted and broken, andtwo or three good-sized ones lying out from the roots, which I set tothe score of the timbers rolling down their logs, for some craft thatevidently got their cargoes hereaway.
"After all, the thought of a slap at some wild game was tempting enough,the judge appearing to consider anyone but a sportsman nobody at all; soup we went behind him out of the gully till we were all blowing like somany porpoises on the head of it, Sir Charles raising his finger as wepeeped across a grassy slope right under us, where a whole drove ofsmall slender-legged antelopes were feeding. We had just time to rest,getting a breath of air off the heights, when one of the foremost liftedits head, listening the opposite way from us; next moment the entirescatter of them came sweeping direct over to leeward in a string--wecould almost catch their bright black eyes through the grass, when thecrack of our seven barrels turned them bolt off at a corner, and theywere gone like wind on water. All of us had missed save Sir CharlesHyde, but his rifle-bullet had sent one of the antelopes springing up inthe air ten feet or so, rolling over and over into the grass again,where we found it lying with its tongue out, and its large eye glazingamidst the blades and dust--a pair of huge turkey buzzards falling, asit were, out of two specks in the sun above us, already, and rising withan ugly flap while we got round the dead creature.
"Hallo!' said the mid suddenly, looking back over toward the hollow we'dcome out of, 'what's that?'
"From where we stood we could just see through the wild cane to themouth of the gully, half-a-mile down or more, leading upon the trees bythe lagoon. I thought I could hear a dull heavy sound now and then goingthump thump down the hollow and along it, the stones rumbling from onespot to another at the root of the hill; but noticing a light smokerising farther into the course of the creek, with a faint echo of axesat work somewhere in the woods below, I wasn't sorry to find thetimberers were still in the river, showing we weren't the only civilisedfolks that thought it fit to visit. Perhaps it might have been aquarter of an hour or more, however, and we were all looking out sharpfor birds of any kind to pop at, happening to turn my head, I saw thelong reeds were moving about the banks below and the trees twistingabout furiously, and no sooner had I made a few paces than goodheavens!--right in the break of the trees at the landing-place--_there_was a huge brute of some sort coming slowly up out of the water; thenanother, and another, glistening wet in the bright light as the shadowof the branches slipped behind them. A blindness came over my eyes, andI had scarce time to make out the big block-like heads and moving trunksof five or six black African elephants, ere the whole case flashed uponme, and away I dashed full-speed down the slope. The big beasts wereturning quietly off into the hollow, and two or three of their calvestrotted after them out of the bushes, munching the young cane-stalks asthey lifted their pillars of legs a
nd their tufty little tails, when Ipassed a fire of sticks blazing under a slab of rock, with the judge'sguinea-fowl plucked and roasting before it from a string, the bowman'starpaulin and his pipe lying near by--a sight that doubled the horror inme, to know he had left the boat at all; and no doubt, as I thought,taken fright and run off, man-o'war's-man though he was. I made threesprings over the stones down to the water, terrified to look in, hearingit, as I did, splash and wash about the sides, up among the leaves ofthe trees, while a couple of monstrous brutes were to be seen by thelight in the midst of it, still wallowing about, and seeming to enjoysending the whole pool in wide rings and waves as far as it would go,with the noise besides; the one-half swimming and the biggest standingaground as he poured the water out of his long trunk all over his back,then broke off a branch and waved it to and fro like a fan round hisflapping leathery ears.
"Such a moment I hope never to know again--not the least sign of theboat could I see in the green black blink of the place, after the glareabove, and I stood like a madman at the thought of what the herd ofmonsters had _done_ when they came suddenly down upon it; then I gave awild cry, and levelled my ship's musket at the big elephant's head as hebrought his small cunning eye slowly to bear upon me, dropped thebranch, and began to swing his forehead, all the time looking at me,and wading out to the shallow--by Jove! my flesh creeps at it _justnow_--though I couldn't have stirred for worlds till he was close enoughfor me to fire into that devilish eye of his. 'Twas no more than thematter of half-a-minute--till you may fancy what I felt to catch sight,all at once, of the cutter splashing up and down in the gloom below thebranches, the ladies and the Hindoo crouching down terrified together,except Violet Hyde, who stood straight, holding the boat firm in by abough, her white face fixed through the shadow, and her hair floatingout of her straw bonnet each time her head went up among the leaves,with her glittering eyes on the two elephants.
"Suddenly some heavy black figure dropped almost right over her into theboat, and she let go with a low cry, and sank down with her hands overher eyes; when they went sheering out towards the creek, the foretopmanhandling his boat-hook in her bow, without his tarpaulin. As for thewild elephants, I had just time to come to myself before the foremosthad his feet on the stones below me, getting cautiously out of the pool;these awkward antics of theirs being possibly signs of too muchsatisfaction in a bathe for them to show aught like fury, if you didn'trouse them; so I was slipping quietly round the nearest tree when Iheard the cadets halloing up the hill. The old bull elephant seemed adangerous customer to meet, and I was hurrying over the dead grass andbranches to give warning, just as Sir Charles Hyde could be seen comingdown before the rest, his rifle over his shoulder.
"However, he brought up the moment I sang out to stop: both theelephants were stalking off lower down into the hollow, and I droppedbehind the slab where Tom Wilkes had been roasting his bird, when somefool of a cadet let drive at the bull elephant from above, hitting himfair on the front. You heard the rifle-bullet hit slap against it as ifon an anvil: the she elephant made off at a fast trot, but the big brutehimself turned round on the moment, lifting up his trunk straight aloftwith a sharp trumpeting scream through it, and looked round till hissmall red eye lighted on the judge, who seemed quite out of breath fromhis sport.
'The fire! that fire, for God's sake, Mr Westwood, else I am lost!'called out Sir Charles, in a calm distinct key from where he stood withhis eye fixed on the elephant, and could see me, too--a moment or twobefore the huge round-backed lump of a brute came running round into thetrack, stumbling heavily up the dead branches of the fallen trees andthe dry guinea-grass, with a savage roar between his two whitetusks--and I saw what the judge meant just in time to throw over thewhole heap of flaming cocoa-tree husk among the withered grass and stuffa few yards before the monster, as dry as tinder, while the light aircoming down the gully of the mountain, drove it spreading across hiscourse up through the twigs, and sweeping in one sudden gust of fire upto the very end of his trunk. I saw it lift over the smoke like a blackserpent, then another scream from the brute, and away he was charginginto the hollow again, the flame licking up among the grass astern ofhim, and darting from one bough to another towards the cane-brake below.I had scarce drawn a long breath and remembered the devil's own thoughtthat had come into my head, when the judge called to me, ere he slappedme on the shoulder.
"'You did nobly there, my dear boy,' said Sir Charles; 'managed it well!'Gad, it was a crisis, though, Mr Westwood!' 'I'm afraid, however, sir,'said I, eyeing the crackling bushes, smoking and whitening to a deadsmoulder in the sunlight, then flashing farther down as the hill-breezerustled off, 'I'm afraid we shall have the woods burning about ourears!'
"Down we hurried accordingly, and hailed the cutter, where, scarce hadwe leisure to pass a few quick words and tumble in, before I heard ashout beyond the other turn of the creek, through the end of the lagoon;then something like the cheep of ropes through blocks, with the bustleof men's feet on a deck, and next minute a perfect hubbub of cries,whether Dutch, Portuguese, English, or all together, I couldn'tsay--only it wasn't likely the _last_ would kick up such a bother fornothing. Four or five Kroomen came leaping round and along the float oflogs at the far end, their large straw hats shining in the light overtheir jet faces, as they peered across into the lagoon. The minute afterthey vanished we saw the white upper spars of a schooner slide above thefarthest of the wood, and her bowsprit shoved past the turn just enoughto show her sharp lead-coloured bow, with the mouth of a gun out of aport, and a fellow blowing the red end of his match behind it. All atonce the chorus of shouts and cries ceased, and a single voice sang outalong the water, clear, stern, and startling, in bad Portuguese,'_Queren siete?_ who are you?' Still we gave no answer, quietly shovingoff as fast as we could, the flicker of the fire in the brake behind thetrees beginning to show itself through the black shade of the lagoon.'_Queren siete?_' sang out the voice, louder than before, in athreatening way, and the logs were knocking and plashing before theschooner as the Kroomen hauled at them to make an opening. 'Amigos!Amigos!' hailed we in turn; 'Ingleses, gentlemen!' shouted the cadet whoknew Portuguese, calling to them not to fire, for heaven's sake, elsethey would do us some harm. With this, the hubbub was worse than before;they plainly had some design on us, from the confusion that got up; butby that time we were pulling hard into the narrow of the river, and tookthe fair current of it as soon as the boat was past the falling streamwe had seen before, till we were round into the next reach.
"In fact, the rate we all bent our backs at this time was prettydifferent from coming up: the cadets seemed hardly to feel the heat,fierce and close though it was, at thought of those that might be in ourwake, and nobody spoke a word at ease till at last, after an hour's hardwork, taking it in turns, we came full in sight of the Indiaman at heranchor on the broad current. The ladies blessed the very ropes hangingfrom her bowsprit, and we got safe aboard, where we found the two otherboats had come back long before; and every one of us turned in directlyafter sundown, as tired as dogs.
"Well, I didn't suppose I had slept an hour, dreaming terribly wild sortof dreams about Violet Hyde and elephants, then that I'd saved hermyself, and was stooping to kiss her rosy lips, when a sudden noise ondeck startled me. I shoved myself into my clothes, and rushed on thequarter-deck. She had gone aground at her stern in swinging in the waterthe Portuguese rascal gave her, canted a little over to starboard, awayfrom the shore; and till morning flood nothing could be done to haul heroff. The fog was rolling down with the land-breeze, and the jabber inthe woods again thickened the confusion, when all at once a dim flashoff the shore glimmered in the white fog, and a round-shot whistled justastern, pretty well aimed for her bilge, which would have cost us somework if it had hit. After that, however, there was no more of it, thefellow probably having spent either all his powder or his balls. As forhis fort, I heard the chief officer swearing he would knock it about hisears next day--a thing that couldn't have done him much harm, certainly,unless
mud were dear.
"No sooner had the men gone below, leaving the ordinary anchor-watch,than Mr Finch, to my great surprise, walked up to me, and gave me astrange suspicious look, hinting that he began to have a good guess ofwhat I really was, but if anything new of the kind turned up, said he,he should know better what to say to me. 'Mr Finch,' said I, starting,'this won't do, sir--you'll either speak your mind before cabin andcuddy, or to-morrow morning, by Jove! you'll go quietly ashore with me,sir--as I think, now you remind me of it, we settled to do, already!'The mate's face whitened, and he eyed me with a glare of malice, as Iturned on my heel and began to walk the quarter-deck till he went below.
"However, the thought of the thing stuck to me, and I kept walking inthe dark to get rid of it: the four or five men of the anchor-watchshuffling lazily about, and all thick save ahead up the river, where theland-breeze blew pretty strong, bringing now and then a faint gleam outof the mist. I was leaning against the fore-chains, listening to theebb-time, and thinking, when I saw one of the men creeping in from thebowsprit, which you just saw, where it ran up thick into the dusk, withscarce a glimpse of the jib-boom and flying-jib-boom beyond.
"The sailor came up, touching his hat to me, and said he thought he sawsomething queer off the boom-end. 'Well,' said I gruffly, 'go and tellyour mate, then.' I didn't know the fellow's voice, though it had aparticular twang in it, and he wasn't in Jacobs' watch, I knew. 'Why,your honour,' he persisted, 'I knows pretty well what you air--askingyour pardon, sir--but I think you'd make more out of it nor any of themates! It's some'at rather skeary, sir,' added he. Accordingly I tookhold of the man-ropes and swung myself up the bowsprit, and had my feeton the foot-rope below the jib-boom, when I heard his breath, followingbehind me. 'Never you trouble yourself, my man,' said I; 'one at atime!' and back he went in board again--for something curious in his waystruck me; but I wanted to see what he meant. I had just got near theflying-jib, half-stowed in as it was on the boom, and I fancied, with acreep of my blood in me, I made out a man's head over the sail; but nextmoment a hand like a vice caught me by the throat, and some one growledout, 'Now ye infernal man-o'-war hound, I have ye--and down you goes forit!'
"The instant I _felt_ it, my coolness came back; as for grappling, Icouldn't, and the ebb current ran below to her bows at a rate fit tocarry one out to sea in half-an-hour. I saw the whole plot in atwinkling, and never moved; instead of that I gave a sort of laugh, andfollowed the husky twang of the other man to a tee. 'He won't come,Harry, my lad!' said I, and my ugly friend let go before he had time tothink twice. 'He be blowed!' said Harry, scornfully; 'an' why won't he,mate?' He had scarce the words out of his mouth, though, ere I took hima twist that doubled him over the spar, and down he slipped, hanging bya clutch of the sail. 'I suppose, my fine fellow,' said I, 'you forgotFernando Po, and those nigger adventures of yours--eh?' and I went inwithout more ado.
"I hadn't been ten minutes on deck, however, when I heard both of themswearing something or other to the first mate. A little after Finch cameforward to me, with a ship's lantern, and three or four of the menbehind. 'Mr Collins, or whatever's your name, sir,' said he aloud, 'Ibelieve you've been seen just now at the bowsprit-end, making signals orsomething to the shore! You're in arrest at once, sir, and no more aboutit!' 'What the deuce!' said I, my blood up, and pulling out a pair ofpocket-pistols I had had in the boat, 'let me see the man to----' At themoment a blow of a handspike from near the mast laid me senseless on thedeck, and I knew nothing more.--But I see 'tis too far gone in the nightto carry out the yarn, ladies!"
The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant Page 19