The Castaways
Page 35
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
THE FAMILY AT HOME.
Soon after the intended assailants stood among the rooted branches ofthe banyan. The gloom underneath its umbrageous branches was deepenedby what appeared to be an immense scaffolding constructed near the topof the tree, and extending far out along the horizontal limbs.
Saloo at once recognised the permanent nest or roosting-place of a _miasrombi_--such as he had often seen in the forests of Sumatra, where thesame, or a closely allied species, has its home.
The tree was not a tall one, but low and widespreading; while the broadplatform-like nest, formed by interwoven branches, upon which lay athick layer of grass and leaves, was not more than twenty feet above thesurface of the earth.
The obscurity which prevailed around favoured their stealthy approach;and like a pair of spectres gliding through the upright pillars, CaptainRedwood and his old pilot at length found a position favourable for asurvey of the platform erected by the gorilla.
The father's heart was filled with strange indescribable emotions, aswith eye keenly bent he stood upon a projecting branch, that brought hishead on a level with this curious structure.
There he saw a scene which stirred his soul to its deepest depths.
His daughter, appearing snow-white amid the gloom, was lying upon thescaffold, her golden hair dishevelled, her dress torn into ribbons--portions of it detached and scattered about.
To all appearance she was dead; for, scanning her with the earnestanxious glance of a keen solicitude, he could not detect any movementeither in body or limbs; and it was too dark for him to tell whether hereyes were open or closed.
But he had now very little hope. He was indeed too certain they wereclosed in the sleep of death.
Around her were assembled three human-like forms, monstrous withal, andall alike covered with a coating of red hair, thick, long, and shaggy.They were of different sizes, and in the largest one he recognised theabductor of his child.
The second in size, whose form proclaimed it to be a female, wasevidently the wife of the huge man-ape; while the little creature, abouteighteen inches in height--though a perfect miniature likeness of itsparents--was the infant whose squalling had contributed more thananything else to guide them through the shades of the lagoon.
The old male, perhaps suffering fatigue from its fight with thecrocodile, as well as from the chase he had sustained, crouched upon thescaffold, seemingly asleep.
The other two were still in motion, the mother at intervals seizing herhairy offspring, and grotesquely caressing it; then letting it go freeto dance fantastically around the recumbent form of the unconsciouscaptive child. This it did, amusing itself by now and then tearing offa strip of the girl's dress, either with its claws or teeth.
It was a spectacle wild, weird, altogether indescribable; and by CaptainRedwood not to be looked upon a moment longer than was necessary toembrace its details.
Having satisfied himself, he raised his rifle to fire upon the familyparty, intending first to aim at the father, whose death he mostdesired, and who living would no doubt prove by far the most dangerousantagonist.
In another instant his bullet would have sped towards the breast of thesleeping giant, but for Saloo, who, grasping his arm, restrained him.
"Tay, cappen," said the Malay in a whisper; "leave me kill em. Sumpitbettel dun bullet. De gun makee noise--wake old mias up, an' maybe nokillee em. De upas poison bettel. It go silent--quick. See how Salooslay dem all tlee!"
There was something in Saloo's suggestions which caused Captain Redwoodto ground his rifle and reflect. His reflections quickly ended in hisgiving place to his old pilot, and leaving the latter to work out theproblem in his own way.
Stepping up to the branch assigned to him, which commanded a view of thespectacle so torturing to his master, the Malay took a brief glance atthe scene--only a very brief one. It enabled him to select the firstvictim for his envenomed shaft, the same which Captain Redwood haddestined to receive the leaden missile from his gun.
Bringing to his mouth the sumpitan, in whose tube he had already placedone of his poisoned arrows, and compressing the trumpet-shapedembouchure against his lips, he gave a puff that sent the shaft on itsdeadly way with such velocity, that even in clear daylight its exitcould only have been detected like a spark from a flint.
In the obscurity that shrouded the gorilla's roost, nothing at all wasseen, and nothing heard; for the sumpit is as silent on its message asthe wing of an owl when beating through the twilight.
True, there was something heard, though it was not the sound of thearrow.
Only a growl from the great red gorilla, that had felt something stinghim, and on feeling it threw up his paw to scratch the place, no doubtfancying it to be but the bite of a mosquito or hornet. The piece ofstick broken off by his fingers may have seemed to him rather strange,but not enough so to arouse him from his dreamy indifference.
Not even when another and another sting of the same unusual kind causedhim to renew his scratching--for by this time he was beginning tosuccumb to the narcotic influence that would soon induce the sleep ofdeath.
It did thus end: for after a time, and almost without a struggle, thered-haired monster lay stretched upon the platform which had long beenhis resting-place, his huge limbs supple and tremulous with the lastthroes of life.
And beside him, in the same condition, was soon after seen his wife,who, of weaker conformation, had more quickly yielded to the soporificeffect of the upas poison, from which, when it has once pervaded theblood, there is no chance of recovery.
Saloo did not deem the infant mias worthy a single arrow, and after itsparents had been disposed of, he sprang upon the scaffold, followed byCaptain Redwood, who, the moment after, was kneeling by his child, andwith ear closely pressed to her bosom, listened to learn if her heartwas still beating.
_It was_!