CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
ANOTHER ALARM.
"It's all over," thought Don, as the man came on, with discoveryinevitable if he continued at his present rate. They were about fiftyfeet from the entrance, and they felt that if they moved they would beheard; and, as if urged by the same impulse, they stood fast, save thatJem doubled his fist and drew back his arm ready to strike.
All at once the man stopped short.
"He sees us," said Don, mentally.
But he was wrong, for the sailor thrust his fingers into his mouth andgave a shrill whistle, which ran echoing through the place in acuriously hollow way.
"That's a rum un," he said, with a laugh. "Blow some o' the foul airout. Wonder how far he went in?"
He walked on slowly, and then stopped short as if he saw the hidingpair; but there was no gesture made, and of course his face wasinvisible to the fugitives, to whom he seemed to be nothing but a blackfigure.
"Plaguey dark!" ejaculated the man aloud.
_Hiss-s-s-s_!
A tremendously loud sibillation came out of the darkness--such a noiseas a mythical dragon might have made when a stranger had invaded hishome. The effect was instantaneous. The young sailor spun round anddarted back to the mouth of the cave, where he half lowered himself downover the shelf facing toward the entry, and supporting himself with onehand, shook his fist.
"You wait till I come back with a lanthorn!" he cried. "I'll just showyou. Don't you think I'm scared."
_Whos-s-s-s-s_ came that hissing again, in a loud deep tone this time,and the sailor's head disappeared, for he dropped down and hastilydescended after his messmates, flushed and excited, but trying hard tolook perfectly unconcerned, and thoroughly determined to keep his owncounsel as to what he had heard, from a perfect faith in the effect ofthe disclosure--to wit, that his companions would laugh at him.
Inside the cave Jem was leaning up against the wall, making strangenoises and lifting up first one foot and then the other. He seemed tobe suffering agonies, for he puffed and gasped.
"Jem, be quiet!" whispered Don, shaking him sharply.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" groaned Jem, lifting up his bare feetalternately, and setting them down again with a loud pat on the rock.
"Be quiet! They may hear you."
"Hit me then! Give it me. Ho, ho, ho!"
"Jem, we are safe now, and you'll undo it all if you're not quiet."
"Knock me then, Mas' Don. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Hi: me; a good un, dearlad. Ho, ho, ho, ho!"
"Oh, do be quiet! How can you be such an ass?"
"I dunno! Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Did you see him run, Mas' Don? I--ohdear, I can't help it. Do knock me down and sit on me, dear lad--Inever--oh dear me!"
Jem laughed till Don grew angry, and then the sturdy little fellowstopped short and stood wiping his eyes with the back of his hands.
"I couldn't help it, Mas' Don," he said. "I don't think I ever laughedso much before. There, I'm better now. Shan't have any more laugh inme for a twelvemonth. Hiss! Whoss-s-s!"
He made the two sounds again, and burst into another uncontrollable fitof laughter at the success of his ruse; but this time Don caught him bythe throat, and he stopped at once.
"Hah!" he ejaculated, and wiped his eyes again. "Thankye, Mas' Don;that's just what you ought to ha' done before. There, it's all overnow. What are you going to do?"
"Watch them," said Don, laconically; and he crept to the mouth of thecave, and peered cautiously over the edge of the shelf, but all wasquiet; and beyond a distant hail or two, heard after listening for someminutes, there was nothing to indicate that the search party had beenthere.
"We must be well on the look-out, Jem. Your stupid trick may bring themback."
"Stoopid? Well, I do like that, Mas' Don, after saving us both as Idid."
"I'd say let's go on at once, only we might meet some of them."
"And old `My pakeha' wouldn't know where to find us. I say, Mas' Don,what are we going to do? Stop here with these people, and old Tomati,or go on at once and shift for ourselves?"
"We cannot shift for ourselves in a country like this without some wayof getting food."
"Hush!" exclaimed Jem sharply.
"What's the matter?" cried Don, making for the inner part of theirhiding-place.
"No, no; don't do that. It's all right, Mas' Don, only don't sayanything more about food. I feel just now as if I could eat you. It'shorrid how hungry I am."
"You see then," said Don, "how helpless we are."
"Yes; if it was only a biscuit I wouldn't mind just now, for there don'tseem to be nothing to eat here, nor nothing to drink."
They stood leaning against the rocky wall, not caring to risk sittingdown on account of the foul air, and not daring to go to the mouth ofthe cave for fear of being seen, till Don suggested that they shouldsteal there cautiously, and lie down with their faces beyond the cavernfloor.
This they did, glad of the restful change; but hours passed and nosounds met their ears, save the hissing and gurgling from the interiorof the cave, and the harsh screech of some parrot or cockatoo.
Every time a louder hiss than usual came from the interior, Jem becameconvulsed, and threatened another explosion of laughter, in spite ofDon's severely reproachful looks; but in every case Jem's mirthful looksand his comic ways of trying to suppress his hilarity proved to be toomuch for Don, who was fain to join in, and they both laughed heartilyand well.
It is a curious fact, one perhaps which doctors can explain, and itseems paradoxical. For it might be supposed that when any one washungry he would feel low-spirited, but all the same there is a stage inhunger when everything around the sufferer seems to wear a comic aspect,and the least thing sets him off laughing.
This was the stage now with Jem and Don, for, the danger being past,they lay there at the mouth of the hole, now laughing at therecollection of the sailor's fright, now at the cries of some parrot orthe antics of a cockatoo which kept sailing round a large tree, whosehold on the steep rocky side of the ravine was precarious in theextreme.
The presence of white people seemed to cause the bird the greatest ofwonder, and to pique his curiosity, and after a flit here and a flitthere, he invariably came near and sat upon a bare branch, from which hecould study the aspect of the two intruders.
He was a lovely-looking bird as far as the tints of the plumage went;but his short hooked beak, with a tuft of feathers each side, andforward curved crest, gave him a droll aspect which delighted Jem, asthe bird came and sat upon a twig, shrieking and chattering at them in astate of the greatest excitement.
"Look at his starshers, Mas' Don," said Jem, as the bird's side tuftshalf covered the beak and then left it bare. "Look at his hair, too.Hasn't he brushed it up in a point? There, he heared what I said, andhas laid it down again. Look at him! Look at him! Did you ever seesuch a rum one in your life?"
For at that minute, after turning its head on one side for a good look,and then on the other, so as to inspect, them again, the bird seemed tohave an idea that it might gain a little more knowledge from a freshpoint of view, and to effect this turned itself completely upside down,hanging by its soft yoke toes, and playing what Jem called a game of_peep-to_!
This lasted for some minutes, and then the bird squatted upon the boughin a normal position, set up its feathers all over, and began tochatter.
"Hark at him, Mas' Don. He's calling names. There, hit me if hedidn't. Did you hear him?"
"I heard him chatter."
"Yes; but I mean calling us that `My pakeha--my pakeha!' that he did."
"Nonsense!"
"Ah, you may say nonsense, but parrots and cockatoos is werry strangebirds. Wonderful what they knows and what they says."
"I don't believe they know what they say, Jem."
"Ah! That's because you're so young, Mas' Don. You'll know better someday. Parrots is as cunning as cunning. Well, now, did you ever see thelikes of that? He's laughing and jeeri
ng at us."
For at that moment the bird began to bob its head up and down rapidly,gradually growing more excited, and chattering all the while, as itended by dancing first on one leg and then on the other, in the mosteccentric fashion.
"I should like to have that bird, Jem," said Don at last.
"Should you? Then you wouldn't have me along with you."
"I don't like him. I like a bird as can behave itself and whistle andsing and perch; but I don't like one as goes through all them monkeytricks. Wish I'd got a stone, I'd try and knock him off his perch."
_Chur-r-r-r_! Shrieked the bird, and it let itself fall over backwards,dropping down head over heels like a tumbler pigeon, or an unfortunatewhich had been shot, and disappearing among the leaves far below.
"There!" cried Jem, triumphantly; "now, what do you say to that? Heardwhat I said, he did, and thought I was going to throw."
"Nonsense, Jem!"
"Ah! You may call it nonsense, Mas' Don, because you don't know better,but you didn't see him fall."
"Yes, I saw him fall, and--hist! Creep back; there's some one coming!"
The secret of the bird's sudden disappearance was explained for therewas a rustling among the ferns far behind, as if some large body wasforcing its way along the ravine; and as Jem backed slowly into thecavern, Don cautiously peered from behind a mass of stone into thehollow, to see that some one or something was approaching rapidly, as ifwith the intention of scaling the rock, and climbing to where they lay.