by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
A GRAND TREE-CLIMBER.
The castaways having made a repast on chicks instead of eggs, as theyhad been expecting, were for the time satisfied, so far as concernedtheir appetites. But aware that these would ere long recommence theircraving, they could not be contented to remain inactive. It would benecessary to procure some other kind of provisions, and, if possible, apermanent stock on which they could rely until ready to set out on theirjourney, with a surplus to carry them some way along it.
Although in Borneo there are many kinds of strange birds, and some ofthem large ones, they are not to be found everywhere, and when seen, notso easily caught or shot. There are some large quadrupeds too, as theIndian rhinoceros, and the Sumatran tapir; and although the flesh ofthese great thick-skinned animals is neither tender nor delicate, yetmen who can get no other soon find themselves in a position to relishit, despite its toughness and its coarse texture. But neitherrhinoceros nor tapir was seen by our castaways; neither seemed tofrequent that part of the coast, as no tracks of them were observedduring their excursions. If they had fallen in with a rhinoceros, theywould have had some difficulty in killing it; seeing that this enormousbrute is as large as a small elephant, its body protected by a thickhide embossed with hard knob-like protuberances, like those uponshields, giving to the animal the appearance of being encased in a fullsuit of ancient armour.
The Sumatran tapir, too, is a creature that does not readily succumb toits assailant, being larger and stronger than its namesake of SouthAmerica.
There are two species of deer known in Borneo; one of them, the "rusa,"a fine large animal.
Captain Redwood was in hopes he might meet with an individual of eitherspecies; and with this object in view, he continued to make shortexcursions into the woods, taking his rifle along with him, occasionallyaccompanied by Murtagh, with the ship's musket.
But they always returned empty-handed, and a good deal down-hearted,having seen nothing that could be converted into venison.
Saloo had again tried for eggs and shell-fish, but was unsuccessful inhis search after both; evidently there were no more depositories ofmaleos' eggs, nor Singapore oysters, nor, indeed, any kind ofshell-fish, on that part of the shore. They did not again see any ofthe mound-making birds--not even those they had despoiled; for it is notthe habit of the megapodes to return to their eggs, but to leave them tobe hatched under the hot sand, and the chicks to scratch their wayupward to the surface, thus taking care of themselves from the verymoment of their birth, and, indeed, we may say, before it, since it canscarcely be said they are born before breaking through the shell; andthis they have to do for themselves, else they would never see daylight.Talk of precocious chicks! There are none anywhere to be compared withthe megapodean pullets of the Malayan Archipelago, no birds half so"early" as they.
For some days, after eating up the last chicken of the flock, ourcastaways could get nothing to live upon but durions; and although theseformed a diet sufficiently agreeable to the palate, they were not verystrengthening. Besides, they were not so easily gathered; the few theyhad found on some trees, which Saloo had conveniently climbed, beingquickly exhausted. The large durion-tree under which they had firstencamped was well furnished with fruit. But its tall stem, nearly ahundred feet, without a branch, and with a bark smooth as that of asycamore, looked as if no mortal man could ascend it. Captain Redwoodhad fired several rounds of his chain-shot up into it, and brought downmany of the grand spinous pericarps; but this cost an expenditure ofammunition; and, circumstanced as they were, they saw it would never doto waste it in such whimsical fashion. Still, for want of food, thefruit must be obtained some way or other, and the question was how to"pluck" it.
In their dilemma the Malay once more came to their aid. Fortunately forall, Saloo was a native of Sumatra, and had been brought up among itsforests, much resembling those of Borneo. He was skilled in thewood-craft common to both islands; and, perhaps, of all the crew of thecastaway ship, not one could have survived whose services would havebeen of more value to Captain Redwood and his party than those of thebrown-skinned pilot;--especially since it had been their fate to be castupon the shores of Borneo. His companions had already experienced thebenefit to be derived from his knowledge of the country's productions,and were beginning to consult him in almost every difficulty thatoccurred. He appeared capable of accomplishing almost anything.
For all this, they were no little surprised and somewhat incredulouswhen he declared his intention of climbing the great durion-tree.Murtagh was very much inclined to deny that he could do it.
"The nigger's makin' game of us, captin," he said. "It would be as muchas a squirrel could do to speel up that tall trunk. Why, it's as smoothas the side of a copper-bottomed ship, an' nothin' to lay howlt on.He's jokin'."
"No jokee, Mista Multa. Saloo that tlee climb soon. You help you see."
"Oh, be aisy now! I'll help you all I can, if that'll do any good. Howdo you mane to set about it?"
To this Saloo made no verbal rejoinder, but laying hold of a small axe,that had been brought away in the boat, he walked off toward a clump ofbamboos growing near the spot where they had made their camp.
The first thing he did was to cut down five or six of the largest ofthese canes, some of them being several inches in diameter, directingMurtagh to drag them off, and deposit them close to the durion-tree.
As soon as he had felled what he deemed a sufficient number, he returnedto the spot where the Irishman had deposited them, and commencedchopping them into pieces of about eighteen inches in length. In thisthe ship-carpenter, by reason of his calling, was able to give himefficient aid; and the ground was soon strewed with disjointed bamboos.Each of the pieces was then split into two, and sharply pointed at oneend, so as to resemble a peg designed for being driven into the ground.But it was not into the ground Saloo intended driving them, as will bepresently seen.
While Murtagh was engaged in splitting and sharpening the sections ofbamboo, the Malay went off once more into the woods, and soon came backagain, bearing in his arms what looked like a quantity of roughpacking-cord. The freshly-cut ends of it, however, with their greenishcolour and running sap, told it to be some species of creeping-plant--one of the parasites, or epiphytes, that abound everywhere in theforests of Borneo, as in those of all tropical countries, and render thetrade of the ropemaker altogether superfluous.
Throwing down his bundle of creepers, Saloo now took up one of thepointed pegs, and, standing by the trunk of the durion, drove it intothe soft sapwood, a little above the height of his own head. The axe,which was a light one, and had a flat hammer-shaped head, served him fora mallet.
As soon as the first peg had been driven to the depth of several inches,he threw aside the axe, and laid hold of the stake with both hands.Then drawing his feet from the ground, so that all his weight came uponthe peg, he tried whether it would sustain him without yielding. Itdid, and he was satisfied.
His next movement was another excursion into the forest, where he foundsome bamboo stems of a slenderer kind than those already cut, but quiteas tall. Having selected three or four of these, he chopped them down,and dragged them up to the durion. Then taking one, he set it uprighton its butt-end, parallel to the trunk of the tree, and at such adistance from it as to strike near the outer extremity of the pegalready driven home, close to the end of which he had already cut acouple of notches.
Some of the vegetable twine was next prepared by him, and taking a pieceof the proper length, he made the upright bamboo fast to the horizontalpeg by a knowing knot, such as only a savage or sailor can tie.
Captain Redwood and his ship-carpenter having now obtained an inkling ofhis design, stood by to render every assistance, while the young peopleas spectators were very much interested in the proceeding.
As soon as the upright cane was securely lashed to the cross piece, andalso made safe against shifting by having its lower end "stepped" orembedded in the ground,
Saloo prepared to ascend, taking with himseveral of the pegs that had been sharpened. Murtagh "gave him a leg,"and he stood upon the first "round" of the ladder.
Then reaching up, he drove in a second peg--not quite so far above thefirst as this was from the ground. With another piece of creeper hemade it also fast to the perpendicular pole, and the second round wasformed, upon which he had to climb without any helping hand, and withthe agility of an ape.
A third step was similarly established; then a fourth and fifth, and soon, till the pegs and cordage carried up with him gave out, when he cameback to the ground to provide himself with a second supply. Obtainingthis, he once more ascended, and continued to carry aloft his singular"shrouds."
The next thing to be exhausted was the upright piece, which, being onlyabout thirty feet in length, and requiring a surplus to be left, ofcourse came far short of reaching to the lowest limbs of the durion.Another similar stem of bamboo had to be added on by splicing; but forthis he did not need to descend, as Murtagh, stretching to his arm'slength, handed it up to him, so that he was enabled to lay hold of anddraw it up of himself.
Giving the two pieces a good length of double for the splice, he boundthem securely together, and then went on with the driving of his pegs,to complete the remaining rounds of the ladder.
In a space of time that did not in all exceed twenty minutes, he had gotup to within ten or twelve feet of the lower branches of the durion--tosuch a height as caused those looking at him from below to feel giddy asthey gazed. It was, indeed, a strange and somewhat fearful spectacle--that slight human form, sixty or seventy feet above their heads, at sucha vast elevation so diminished in size as to appear like a child or apigmy, and the more fearful to them who could not convince themselves ofthe security of the slender stair upon which he was standing. They werehalf expecting that, at any moment, one of the pegs would give way, andprecipitate the poor fellow to the earth, a crushed and shapeless mass!
It was just as when some courageous workman in a manufacturing town--bricklayer or carpenter--ascends to the top of one of its tall factorychimneys, to repair some damage done by fire-crack or lightning, and thewhole populace of the place rushes out of doors, to look up at thestrange spectacle, and admire the daring individual, while trembling infear for his fate.
So stood the little party under the tall durion-tree, regarding theascent of Saloo.