by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
AN IMPROVISED PALANQUIN.
"She lives! thank God, she lives!"
These were the words that fell upon the ears of Henry and Murtagh, whenSaloo, swimming back to the shore, related to them what had transpired.And more too. She had recovered from her swoon, a long-protractedsyncope, which had fortunately kept her in a state of unconsciousnessalmost from the moment of her capture to that of her rescue.
With the exception of some scratches upon her delicate skin, and aslight pain caused by the compression to which she had been subjected inthat hideous hug, no harm had befallen her--at least no injury thatpromised to be of a permanent nature.
Such was the report and prognosis of Saloo, who had swam back to theshore to procure the ship-carpenter's axe, and his aid in theconstruction of a raft.
This was to carry Helen from the islet--from a spot which had so nearlyproved fatal to her.
A bamboo grove grew close at hand, and with Saloo's knowledge and theship-carpenter's skill, a large life-preserver was soon set afloat onthe water of the lagoon. It was at once paddled to the islet, andshortly after came back again bearing with it a precious freight--abeautiful young girl rescued by an affectionate father, and restored toan equally affectionate brother.
Long before the raft had grounded against the shore, Henry, plunginginto the shallow water, had gone to meet it, and mounting upon thebuoyant bamboos, had flung his arms around the form of his littlesister.
How tender that embrace, how fond and affectionate, how different fromthe harsh hostile hug of the monster, whose long hairy arms had late socruelly encircled her delicate form!
As the child was still weak--her strength prostrated more by her firstalarm when seized, than by aught that had happened afterwards--CaptainRedwood would have deemed it prudent to make some stay upon the shore ofthe lagoon.
But the place seemed so dismal, while the air was evidently damp andunhealthy, to say naught of the unpleasant thoughts the scene suggested,he felt desirous to escape from it as soon as possible.
In this matter the Malay again came to his assistance, by saying theycould soon provide a litter on which the child might be transported withas much ease to herself as if she were travelling in the softestsedan-chair that ever carried noble lady of Java or Japan.
"Construct it then," was the reply of Captain Redwood, who wasaltogether occupied in caressing his restored child.
Saloo needed no further directions: he only requested the assistance ofMurtagh, along with what remained to him of his tools; and these beingas freely as joyfully furnished, a score of fresh bamboos soon layprostrate on the ground, out of which the palanquin was to be built up.
Lopped into proper lengths, and pruned of their great leaf-blades, theywere soon welded into the shape of a stretcher, with a pair of longhandles projecting from each end.
The palanquin was not yet complete, and by rights should have had a roofover it to shelter its occupant from rain or sun; but as there was noappearance of rain, and certainly no danger of being scorched by the sunin a forest where its glowing orb was never seen nor its rays permittedto penetrate, a roof was not thought necessary, and Saloo's task wassimplified by leaving it a mere stretcher.
He took pains, however, that it should be both soft and elastic. Thelatter quality he obtained by a careful choice of the bamboos that wereto serve as shafts; the former requisite he secured by thickly beddingit with the lopped-off leaves, and adding an upper stratum of cotton,obtained from a species of bombyx growing close at hand, and soft as thedown of the eider-duck.
Reclining upon this easy couch, borne upon its long shafts of elasticbamboo, Saloo at one end and Murtagh at the other, Helen was transportedlike a queen through the forest she had lately traversed as a captive ina manner so strange and perilous.
Before the sun had set, they once more looked upon its cheering light,its last declining rays falling upon her pale face as she was set downupon the shore of the lake, beside that same tree from which she hadtaken her involuntary departure.