The First Mate: The Story of a Strange Cruise

by Harry Collingwood

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  THE RESCUE.

  Never in my life, I think, had I run so fast as I did that afternoon,while covering the mile and a half of ground that lay between the baseof the Peak and the nearest point at which I could overlook the harbour.It was imperative that I should reach this point before returning tothe cavern, since it might very easily happen that Julius had launchedthe boat and was in mid-harbour, fishing, as he had been wont to do oflate; and if so, he must be saved at all costs.

  I had a rifle with me, and a pocketful of cartridges, it having become ahabit with me to carry them whenever I went abroad; and I believed thatat a pinch I might be able, by good shooting, to hold the savages offlong enough to enable the boy to land and make good his escape.Luckily, when I arrived at the point for which I was aiming, the firstobject to catch my eye was our boat, empty and moored in her usualplace; and the beach was entirely bare from end to end. Scarcely had Isatisfied myself of this when the sharp nose of the leading canoe shotinto view past the point where the narrow entrance widened out and theharbour proper began; and before I had time to withdraw from the edge ofthe cliff a yell of delight conveyed to me the unpleasant news that Ihad again been seen.

  I had, however, by this time got my wind again after my long run, so,keeping far enough back from the edge of the cliff to ensure myinvisibility from below, I started at a long, swinging trot for thecavern, and was fortunate enough to run into Julius, loaded with a bigbunch of bananas, just at the point where the narrow ledge leading tothe cavern began. He was on his way back from a stroll, and, happeningto sight a particularly attractive bunch of the fruit, had determined totake it home with him. We were practically safe now, since anywherealong this narrow ledge, all the way to the cavern, a single personarmed with a rifle could defend and hold the road so long as his supplyof ammunition lasted. I therefore slowed my pace to a walk, and, takingthe bananas from the boy and handing the rifle and cartridges to him inreturn, I rapidly explained the situation to him, and bade him play thepart of rearguard while I carried the fruit, the weight of which wasalmost too great for him. I felt tolerably certain that we could reachthe cavern before being overtaken, as we did.

  "Is everybody at home?" I shouted, as, having climbed into the caveafter Julius, and drawn up the ladder behind me to prevent itsunauthorised use, I made my way toward the inner apartment which we usedas a living-room.

  "Yes," came the reply in Mrs Vansittart's voice; "everybody, that is tosay, but Julius--"

  "He is here with me," I cut in, as I entered the room and saw all fourof the women diligently engaged upon the tedious task of weaving theircloth. "I met him at the beginning of the path, and brought him homewith me, also this fine bunch of bananas which some good fairy promptedhim to cut. We must use them carefully, for they, with what else we mayhave in the cavern, may have to last us for several days."

  "Why? What do you mean, Walter?" demanded Mrs Vansittart in a tone ofalarm, while the others paused in their work to listen.

  "He means that four big war canoes loaded with savages have just enteredthe harbour; and the chances are that we may have to stand a siege," cutin Julius, who had followed me in.

  "Hillo!" I exclaimed in surprise. "You here? That will never do.Just trot back to the mouth of the cavern, keeping enough in thedarkness to avoid being seen from outside, and keep a look-out while Iexplain things to your mother. Then I will come and relieve you. Ifyou see anything of the savages give a low whistle, and I will join you.Cut, now; and keep your eyes skinned. How are we off for water, MrsVansittart?"

  "Oh, I don't know! I think we have the breaker about half-full,"replied the lady.

  "That will do; it will be ample for us all until to-night," I said."Then I must slip out in the darkness and endeavour to fill it."

  I then proceeded to relate at length all that I had seen, but kept myfears to myself, merely impressing upon my little audience the necessityfor staying well within the cavern, out of sight. I did not attempt toconceal that I quite expected the savages would subject the entireisland to a thorough search, which might possibly extend over three orfour days; but I expressed the opinion that if we could but remaincompletely hidden during that time they would depart, rather than wastefurther time in hunting for one man--for of course they had seen onlyme, and could not possibly know that I had any companions.

  "Oh, but this is awful!" exclaimed Mrs Vansittart, when I had finished."Just think of what might have happened if you had not come when youdid! Anthea and I were beginning to feel tired and a bit headachy withsitting so long over this horrid weaving, and so were Lizette and Susie;and we were all talking about going out for a good long walk just as youcame in. Why, we might all have been captured and carried off--"

  The mere contemplation of such a fate, with all that it implied, was toomuch for the poor lady, and reduced her to speechlessness.

  "You are right," I assented. "Lucky that I turned up in time to preventyou. As it is, I am afraid that we must regard our boat as lost to us.The beggars will be sure to see her--indeed, they cannot avoid doingso--and if they don't take her with them when they go, they will almostcertainly destroy her out of pure spite. But `sufficient unto the dayis the evil thereof'. We must keep our spirits up and our powder dry.And speaking of powder reminds me that it will only be a reasonableprecaution to open a few boxes of cartridges, and load all our rifles.By Jove! it was a happy inspiration that prompted me to put them intothe boat. Even then I had a suspicion that they might be useful someday."

  I got out all our weapons and loaded them, filled my pockets withcartridges, carried the loaded rifles to the outer cavern, where theywould be handy, and then joined Julius, whom I found lying prone, riflein hand, maintaining a careful watch on the ledge, which, so far as weknew, was the only possible approach to our cavern. The boy informed methat thus far he had seen nothing of the savages, at which piece ofinformation I scarcely knew whether to be glad or sorry. It was, ofcourse, just barely possible that the enemy, having first seen me on thesummit of the Peak, might come to the conclusion that my lair wassomewhere in that direction, and hunt round about there for me. On theother hand, I had been told that the Pacific islanders, taking them as awhole, were by no means unintelligent, and they would naturally think,upon finding the boat, that I would make my habitat as near her aspossible, and accordingly proceed to hunt for signs of me in herimmediate neighbourhood. Besides, they had last seen me on the clifftop, and if they were at all expert at tracking they should be able topick up my spoor without much difficulty. The thing I most greatlyfeared was that, suspecting me to be lurking in the neighbourhood, a fewof them had gone into ambush at no great distance, hoping that I shouldultimately show myself, while the rest were scouring the island.

  Julius and I maintained our watch until nightfall; then, as soon as itwas as dark as it was likely to be that night, I made arrangements forreplenishing our stock of fresh water. Julius was to mount guard in themouth of the cavern with his rifle, keeping a sharp look-out along theledge, which was just visible enough in the starlight to permit of theboy being able to detect the approach of an enemy; and if he saw anyonecoming he was to give me warning, and shoot if necessary to cover myretreat. For my part, I was to take our only bucket, fill it withwater, and pass it up to Susie, who was to receive it in the mouth ofthe cavern, carry it to the breaker, and empty it into the latter untilit was full.

  It was not a long job, for the breaker was only of small capacity. Weaccomplished it in less than ten minutes, without interruption of anykind, winding up by taking the full bucket into the cavern, as asupplementary supply, and then drawing up the ladder after us.

  The cavern was now provisioned and watered for at least four days. Wecould endure for that length of time without much difficulty orhardship, after which, I ventured to hope, our anxiety respecting thesavages would be at an end. I relieved Julius as guard, and sent him tothe inner cavern to get some food and a few hours' sleep prior torelieving m
e in turn.

  I fondly believed that the existence of our cavern was unknown, and thatwe had been fortunate enough to replenish our stock of water unobserved;but I afterward had reason to suspect the contrary. I maintained a keenwatch at the mouth of the cavern until about midnight, my estimate ofthe time being based upon the position and posture of the Southern Crossin the sky--that constellation being visible from the mouth of thecavern--when Mrs Vansittart came stealing out to me with the whisperedenquiry as to whether I was not tired enough to require a relief. As amatter of fact I was, and did not hesitate to say so, since the nightwas quiet, I had seen nothing of a suspicious character, and Julius hadhad a good long rest. The lady retired, and presently Julius camealong, gaping and yawning, and stretched himself out beside me. Iremained with him, conversing in low whispers, for about ten minutes,until I was satisfied that he was broad awake, and then, with a finalword of caution, I left him and retreated to my own couch, where I soonfell asleep.

  I had been asleep about an hour when I was startled into instantwakefulness by the sound of five rifle shots fired in quick succession;and, rushing to the mouth of the cavern, I found Julius in a high stateof excitement. Seizing my arm as I came beside him, he exclaimed:

  "See that, Walter?"

  Looking in the direction toward which the lad pointed, I was able todescry just dimly a motionless something lying in the pathway, about tenyards from the mouth of the cavern, while something else, still moredimly visible, but recognisable as a little crowd of men, appeared abouttwice as far away, evidently in somewhat hasty retreat.

  "I believe I hit him," continued Julius, his teeth chattering withexcitement as he fidgeted with his rifle.

  "Hit him!" I interrupted; "I should think there is very little doubtabout that. The man appears to be dead."

  As the words left my lips we were joined by the women folk, who,awakened by the rifle shots, came in a body to where we stood,clamouring to know what was the matter.

  "Let me tell you just what happened," interposed the boy. "I was lyingdown here, watching the path, with my rifle beside me, as I had beendoing ever since Walter left me. Everything was quite quiet; I had notseen a thing, or heard a sound, and I was beginning to feel a bitsleepy. So I stood up and moved about a bit to keep myself awake, sinceWalter had told me it was of the utmost importance that a good look-outshould be kept. I just walked across and across the mouth of thecavern, three steps this way and three that, watching the path all thetime; and about ten minutes ago, or thereabout, I thought I saw a sortof shadow or darkness that I had not noticed before out there at the farend of the path.

  "I stood still and watched; and presently I was sure that there wassomething moving, and coming nearer; so I grabbed my rifle and lay down,waiting, with my Remington pointing straight at 'em. Nearer and nearerthey came, until at last I was certain that what I saw was two savagescarrying something on their shoulders, with other savages behind 'em. Iwaited until they were so close that I felt I couldn't miss, and then Ilet drive--five shots, one after the other, right into the thick of 'em.That savage lyin' there flung up his arms and keeled over, while theother chap seemed to stagger a bit, I thought, and I heard somethingfall that sounded as if they'd dropped a pole; then the whole crowdturned and scooted. But I'm pretty sure that I hit another chap as wellas the one lyin' out there."

  "Excellent!" I exclaimed. "You have done splendidly, Julius, and savedus all from a very ugly surprise. Now, ladies, the danger is over forthe present, therefore you may retire and finish your sleep in peace.As for you and I, Julius, we will get out our ladder, and, while youwatch with your rifle, I will slip out and roll that fellow over theedge into the torrent; we don't want him lying there."

  So said, so done. We lowered the ladder and I climbed down it to thepathway, with a loaded revolver in my hand as a precautionary measure,for during our cruise among the islands I had heard one or two rathergruesome stories of the craftiness and ferocity of certain savages whileout on the warpath. But in the present instance my precaution wasneedless. The prostrate savage was quite dead, and I pushed him overthe edge of the pathway into the torrent that roared over itsprecipitous rocky bed some thirty feet below, whence the body woulddoubtless be swept along until it reached the harbour. Then I found thething that he and another had been carrying, and put it safely insidethe cavern. It was the trunk of a young tree, trimmed in similarfashion to our own ladder; from which circumstance I inferred that,lurking somewhere unseen, possibly among the bushes on the other side ofthe ravine, some of the savages must not only have seen us replenishingour water supply, but also have noted the character of the contrivancewhich we used for gaining access to the interior of the cavern, andcopied it.

  Toward the afternoon of next day I proposed that I should set out upon areconnoitring expedition, leaving Julius on guard, my intention being togo along the ledge to a point from which I could obtain a view of thebeach, and so ascertain whether the canoes were still there. But theothers would not hear of this; they denounced the project as bothunnecessary and dangerous; and when they found that this argumentscarcely sufficed to dissuade me, Mrs Vansittart flatly refused herconsent, asserting that if any mishap should befall me, Julius alonewould be utterly unable to protect the rest of them, and they mustinevitably fall into the hands of the savages. To this I could find noeffective reply, for there was just enough truth in it to be almostconvincing; so I agreed to defer my expedition until at least thefollowing day. There was some discussion among us, I remember, as towhere the savages had come from, and why they had called at the island:as to the former, it was impossible to say; while my own opinion wasthat their visit to our island was for the purpose of replenishing theirsupply of food and water.

  All that night and the next, and through the intervening days, we keptrigorous watch and ward, while our supply of food and water dwindleduntil we were almost as badly off as during our last days in the boat.A further attempt to replenish our stock of water, which I made indesperation during the night of the fourth day of our investment, showedthat our enemies were not only still present, but as watchful andpertinacious as ever. And that night, or rather in the early hours ofthe following morning, came the climax, when the wily foe made a lastdesperate attempt to rush our defences and overpower us by force ofnumbers.

  I had taken the first night watch, from six until ten, and Julius themiddle watch from ten until two o'clock in the morning, when I relievedhim. He had informed me that he had neither seen nor heard anything ofa disquieting nature during his watch, and had left me about ten minutesor thereabout, when, as I lay prone near the entrance of the cavern,with my gaze intently fixed upon the path outside, a slight rustlingsound came to my ear. I could not at first locate it, so I crept closerand closer still to the opening, until my head was actually protrudingbeyond the portal. As I glanced cautiously about me, keenly alert todraw back at the first swish of a spear, I felt something, which Ipresently identified as fine dust, dropping lightly upon my neck andhead. I drew my head back instantly, suspecting a ruse, and waited.

  The next thing of which I became aware was a slight crackling sound,followed by a faint flicker of light that rapidly grew stronger as Iwatched. It came from somewhere immediately above the cavern entrance,and a few seconds later down came an immense bundle of blazingbrushwood, which hung suspended immediately in front of the upper partof the opening, brilliantly illuminating the place where I lay. Thenext instant some thirty or more spears and darts came flying across theravine into the entrance, impinging sharply upon the rocky side of thecavern to my right and then falling to the ground with a rattle thatquickly brought Julius to my side.

  He gasped with astonishment as he saw the blazing bundle, and the spearsand darts lying upon the floor of the cavern. But this was no time forexplanations, for I heard the pad of many running feet at no greatdistance, drawing rapidly nearer, and recognised that a determinedattack was about to be made upon us. The blazing brushwood served thedouble purpose
of brilliantly illuminating the mouth of the cavern anddazzling our eyes, pretty effectually preventing our seeing what washappening outside; so I drew Julius into the shelter of a projectionbehind which I had already ensconsed myself, and whispered:

  "Your rifle, quick! Then get back to the inner cave, warn the women notto come out on any account, and bring out our whole stock of cartridges.This promises to be serious."

  The projecting ledge of rock behind which I had sheltered chanced to bemost conveniently placed and shaped for the defence of the cavernentrance. It was broad enough to afford me and two or three morecomplete shelter, while there was a nick in its outer edge of just theright height and size to serve as a rest for a rifle barrel. Standingcomfortably behind this, I placed the barrel of my repeater in the nick,levelled it at the spot where I expected the first of our foes toappear, and calmly waited.

  I had not long to wait. Julius had just rejoined me with his pocketsstuffed full of cartridges, and had murmured, "Momma and the others areall right; they promised not to come out. You shoot, and I'll reload,"when the fast-increasing sound of the padding feet suddenly ceased justoutside the cavern entrance. I heard a few guttural words spoken thatsounded like muttered orders, and then came the light thud of aladder-like pole placed in position. I saw its upper extremitydistinctly in the light of the fire overhead, and sighted my rifledirectly upon it, ready to deflect the muzzle to right or left on theinstant, as might be necessary. As the pole dropped lightly intoposition a shrill whistle sounded, and on the instant a perfect storm ofspears, darts, and stones came whirring into the cavern, some of themsplintering on the sides, but the major portion falling far in beyondus, causing me to pray fervently that the women would have the sense tokeep well under cover. The next instant the hideously decorated head ofa savage rose into view as he ascended the ladder; but before he hadrisen another foot my rifle cracked and he whirled backward into theblackness without a cry.

  I had but bare time to eject the spent shell and jerk another cartridgeinto place when a second head appeared, only to be disposed of in thesame fashion, and this was followed by a third, which I neatly pluggedbetween the eyes. While this was happening, the shower of spears,darts, and stones--the two latter in particular--continued unabated.

  With the extinction of the third man there came a pause, of which I tookadvantage to exchange my partially-emptied Remington for another, whileJulius attended to the reloading. But the pause was not a long one.Presently I saw the top of the pole moving again, and in another momenta fourth head appeared. This savage, however, was a clever one; he wasnot going to be shot through the head if he could help it, for when hiscranium rose into view it was being rapidly jerked from side to side, soI waited until his body appeared, and then plugged him through thelungs. So the attack continued, the enemy displaying the most doggedand indomitable determination, as well as the most extraordinary anddisconcerting cunning, and maintaining an incessant fire of darts andstones--they seemed to be saving the remainder of their spears--while asfast as the blazing faggots burned out they were replaced by others.Evidently this attack had been carefully thought out and the mostelaborate preparations made for it.

  Then, at the moment when I was beginning to ask myself seriously howmuch longer this thing was going to last, and which party would be ableto hold out longest, a most dramatic interruption came,--nothing lessthan the boom of a heavy gun from close in under the cliffs, not farfrom the harbour's mouth. A moment later I perceived, through theflickering light of the blazing faggot, the white glare of a searchlightfocusing itself upon the path outside. There was a yell of dismay fromthe attacking force, loud shouts, and then the quick thud of swiftlyretreating feet as the savages broke and fled. But before they couldpossibly have reached the end of the path another gun spoke, the reportbeing immediately followed by an explosion, accompanied by a terribleoutburst of yells and shrieks. Amid these I believed I heard the sharppatter of shrapnel on the face of the cliff, while other yells arosefrom the party who had been attending to the business of keeping up thesupply of burning faggots above the opening of the cavern.

  We were saved! By some extraordinary combination of circumstances aship--and a ship of war at that--had come upon the scene at the verycrisis of our fortunes, and, attracted possibly by the light of theblazing faggots, had approached near enough to hear the sound of ourrifle fire, doubtless greatly intensified by the reverberations of thecavern, and probably guessing pretty shrewdly at what it all meant, hadintervened in the very nick of time!

  "Hurrah!" I shouted, "hurrah! A ship! A ship! And the savages havefled. Go and tell your mother and the others, Julius. I will keep alook-out here."

  But there was no need for Julius to play the part of messenger; for thereport of the guns, followed by my jubilant exclamations, brought theothers forth with a rush from the innermost recesses of the cavern,eager to know just exactly what had happened.

  The rest of my story can soon be told.

  To Mr Julius Vansittart, absorbed in the conduct and management of hismammoth engineering business, the thought one morning occurred that aconsiderable time had elapsed since he had last received news of hiswife and family, and that another letter from them must be about due.On referring to the last letter received, and noting the date of itsarrival, he instantly perceived that another letter was not only due,but considerably overdue; and knowing how regular and methodical hiswife was in the matter of correspondence, it did not take him very longto arrive at the conclusion that something must have gone wrong with theyacht. This conclusion once arrived at, he "got a move on" and "humpedhimself" (as he himself expressed it). The consequence was that--Vansittart being a man of powerful influence--it was not long before theadmiral in command of the U.S. squadron stationed in the Pacificreceived a communication from Washington, acquainting him with the mostrecent and contemplated future movements of the _Stella Maris_, asfurnished by Mr Vansittart, coupled with the information that she wasoverdue, and an instruction to dispatch a vessel in search of themissing yacht. The result of this was the dramatic arrival of the U.S.gunboat _Jefferson_ off our island at the psychological moment.

  It appeared that she had already been engaged for nearly a month in asystematic search for the yacht, during which she had picked up no lessthan three of the bottles which we had dispatched from the reef,containing our appeals for help, and had accordingly visited the sceneof the disaster, only to discover the sunken wreck of the yacht in thelagoon. Surmising, or rather hoping that we might somehow havecontrived to effect our escape, the commander of the _Jefferson_, aftera careful study of the prevailing winds and currents in those waters,had mapped out a definite plan, in pursuance of which, afterunsuccessful calls at a number of other islands, he had headed for theone upon which we had found shelter. It had been sighted just beforedark, and the _Jefferson_ had headed for it at half speed, intending tolay to in the offing upon arrival, and send a boat ashore in themorning.

  But when still some ten miles off the land a light--the light of thesavages' blazing faggots--had been seen; and, regarding this as apossible signal, the command for full speed ahead had been rung down tothe engine room. When the _Jefferson_ arrived close under the cliffsand the searchlight had been turned on, the fact that a fight of somesort was in progress had become evident, and, making a shrewd guess atthe actual state of affairs, the _Jefferson_ had taken a hand, with theresult already recorded. By the aid of her searchlight and the soundinglead, the gunboat then cautiously groped her way into the harbour andcame to an anchor about half a mile from the beach upon which lay thefour big war canoes and our apology for a boat. The sight of these notonly suggested to the astute commander that at last he had got upon ourtrack, but also confirmed his surmise as to the state of affairs ashore;and no sooner was the anchor down than he dispatched a heavily-armedboat, the officer of which was instructed to make his way instantly tothe cave and investigate. The meeting was, for both parties, a joyousone; and as no savages had been seen by th
e landing party--they hadevidently fled into the woods--we lost no time in making our way to thebeach, taking our rifles and ammunition with us, and from the beach tothe _Jefferson_, where we were cordially welcomed and highlycomplimented upon the vigorous defence of the cavern which we had putup. To our infinite satisfaction we found that, acting uponinstructions, the commander of the gunboat had brought with him awell-selected wardrobe for each of us, on the off-chance of his searchproving successful and the articles being needed. Consequently when, afew hours later, we all sat down to breakfast in the commander's privatecabin, we scarcely recognised each other, clad as we now were once morein the garb of civilisation in place of our discarded rags.

  The war canoes and our boat were burnt where they lay on the beach, thusleaving the savages prisoners on the island; and, this done, we gotunder way for Manila, where we arrived nine days later.

  From Manila a cable message was dispatched to Mr Vansittart,immediately upon our arrival, informing him of our safety. And on thefollowing day a reply came from him expressing his delight at the news,together with a cabled credit on the bank for funds amply sufficient toconvey the entire party to New York--where, via Yokohama and SanFrancisco, we eventually arrived safely, by a freak of coincidence, twoyears to a day from the date of our departure from London.