CHAPTER XXXII.
THE LAST.
Descending to the boat they rowed round to the face of the great cliffwhich had been so suddenly laid bare when the Peak of Rakata was cleftfrom its summit to its foundations in the sea. It was a wonderfulsight--a magnificent section, affording a marvellous view of theinternal mechanism of a volcano.
But there was no time to spend in contemplation of this extraordinarysight, for evening approached and the hermit's purpose had to beaccomplished.
High up near the top of the mighty cliff could be seen a small hole inthe rock, which was all that remained of the observatory.
"It will be impossible, I fear, to reach that spot," said Nigel; "theredoes not appear to be foothold for a goat."
"I will reach it," said the hermit in a low voice, as he scanned theprecipice carefully.
"So will I," said the negro.
"No, Moses, I go alone. You will remain in the boat and watch. If Ifall, you can pick me up."
"Pick you up!" echoed Moses. "If you tumbles a t'ousand feet into dewater how much t'ink you will be lef to pick up?"
It was useless to attempt to dissuade Van der Kemp. Being well aware ofthis, they all held their peace while he landed on a spur of the rivencliff.
The first part of the ascent was easy enough, the ground having beenirregularly broken, so that the climber disappeared behind masses ofrock at times, while he kept as much as possible to the western edge ofthe mountain where the cleavage had occurred; but as he ascended he wasforced to come out upon narrow ledges that had been left here and thereon the face of the cliff, where he seemed, to those who were watchingfar below, like a mere black spot on the face of a gigantic wall. Stillupward he went, slowly but steadily, till he reached a spot nearly levelwith the observatory. Here he had to go out on the sheer precipice,where his footholds were invisible from below.
Winnie sat in the boat with blanched face and tightly clasped hands,panting with anxiety as she gazed upwards.
"It looks much more dangerous from here than it is in reality," saidNigel to her in a reassuring tone.
"Das true, Massa Nadgel, das bery true," interposed Moses, endeavouringto comfort himself as well as the others by the intense earnestness ofhis manner. "De only danger, Miss Winnie, lies in your fadder losin' hishead at sitch a t'riffic height, an' dar's no fear at all ob dat, forMassa neber loses his head--pooh! you might as well talk ob him losin'his heart. Look! look! he git close to de hole now--he put hisfoot--yes--next step--dar! he've done it!"
With the perspiration of anxiety streaming down his face the negrorelieved his feelings by a wild prolonged cheer. Nigel obtained the samerelief by means of a deep long-drawn sigh, but Winnie did not move; sheseemed to realise her father's danger better than her companions, andremembered that the descent would be much more difficult than theascent. They were not kept long in suspense. In a few minutes the hermitreappeared and began to retrace his steps--slowly but steadily--and thewatchers breathed more freely.
Moses was right; there was in reality little danger in the climb, forthe ledges which appeared to them like mere threads, and the footholdsthat were almost invisible, were in reality from a foot to three feetwide. The only danger lay in the hermit's head being unable to stand thetrial, but, as Moses had remarked, there was no fear of that.
The watchers were therefore beginning to feel somewhat relieved fromthe tension of their anxiety, when a huge mass of rock was seen to slipfrom the face of the cliff and descend with the thunderous roar of anavalanche. The incident gave those in the boat a shock, for the landslipoccurred not far from the spot which Van der Kemp had reached, but as hestill stood there in apparent safety there seemed no cause for alarmtill it was observed that the climber remained quite still for a longtime and, seemed to have no intention of moving.
"God help him!" cried Nigel in sudden alarm, "the ledge has been carriedaway and he cannot advance! Stay by the boat, Moses, I will run to helphim!"
"No, Massa Nadgel," returned the negro, "I go to die wid 'im. Boat kinlook arter itself."
He sprang on shore as he spoke, and dashed up the mountain-side like ahunted hare.
Our hero looked at Winnie for an instant in hesitation.
"Go!" said the poor girl. "You know I can manage a boat--quick!"
Another moment and Nigel was following in the track of the negro. Theygained the broken ledge together, and then found that the space betweenthe point which they had reached and the spot on which the hermit stoodwas a smooth face of perpendicular rock--an absolutely impassable gulf!
Van der Kemp was standing with his back flat against the precipice andhis feet resting on a little piece of projecting rock not more thanthree inches wide. This was all that lay between him and the hideousdepth below, for Nigel found on carefully drawing nearer that theavalanche had been more extensive than was apparent from below, and thatthe ledge beyond the hermit had been also carried away--thus cuttingoff his retreat as well as his advance.
"I can make no effort to help myself," said Van der Kemp in a low butcalm voice, when our hero's foot rested on the last projecting pointthat he could gain, and found that with the utmost reach of his arm hecould not get within six inches of his friend's outstretched hand.Besides, Nigel himself stood on so narrow a ledge, and against so steepa cliff, that he could not have acted with his wonted power even if thehand could have been grasped. Moses stood immediately behind Nigel,where the ledge was broader and where a shallow recess in the rockenabled him to stand with comparative ease. The poor fellow seemed torealise the situation more fully than his companion, for despair waswritten on every feature of his expressive face.
"What is to be done?" said Nigel, looking back.
"De boat-rope," suggested the negro.
"Useless," said Van der Kemp, in a voice as calm and steady as if hewere in perfect safety, though the unusual pallor of his gravecountenance showed that he was fully alive to the terrible situation. "Iam resting on little more than my heels, and the strain is almost toomuch for me even now. I could not hold on till you went to the boat andreturned. No, it seems to be God's will--and," added he humbly, "Hiswill be done."
"O God, send us help!" cried Nigel in an agony of feeling that he couldnot master.
"If I had better foothold I might spring towards you and catch hold ofyou," said the hermit, "but I cannot spring off my heels. Besides, Idoubt if you could bear my weight."
"Try, try!" cried Nigel, eagerly extending his hand. "Don't fear for mystrength--I've got plenty of it, thank God! and see, I have my right armwedged into a crevice so firmly that nothing could haul it out."
But Van der Kemp shook his head. "I cannot even make the attempt," hesaid. "The slightest move would plunge me down. Dear boy! I know thatyou and your father and Moses will care for my Winnie, and--"
"Massa!" gasped Moses, who while the hermit was speaking had beenworking his body with mysterious and violent energy; "massa! couldn'tyou _fall_ dis way, an' Nadgel could kitch your hand, an' I's got myleg shoved into a hole as nuffin' 'll haul it out ob. Dere's a hollerplace here. If Nadgel swings you into dat, an' I only once grab you byde hair--you're safe!"
"It might be done--tried at least," said the hermit, looking anxiouslyat his young friend.
"Try it!" cried Nigel, "I won't fail you."
It is not possible for any except those who have gone through a somewhatsimilar ordeal to understand fully the test of cool courage which Vander Kemp had to undergo on that occasion.
Shutting his eyes for a moment in silent prayer, he deliberately workedwith his shoulders upon the cliff against which he leaned until he felthimself to be on the point of falling towards his friend, and the twooutstretched hands almost touched.
"Now, are you ready?" he asked.
"Ready," replied Nigel, while Moses wound both his powerful arms roundhis comrade's waist and held on.
Another moment and the hands clasped, Nigel uttered an irrepressibleshout as the hermit swung off, and, coming round with great violen
ce tothe spot where the negro had fixed himself, just succeeded in catchingthe edge of the cliff with his free hand.
"Let go, Nigel," he shouted;--"safe!"
The poor youth was only too glad to obey, for the tremendous pull hadwrenched his arm out of the crevice in which he had fixed it, and for amoment he swayed helplessly over the awful abyss.
"Don't let me go, Moses!" he yelled, as he made a frantic but futileeffort to regain his hold,--for he felt that the negro had loosened oneof his arms though the other was still round him like a hoop of iron.
"No fear, Nadgel," said Moses, "I's got you tight--only don' wriggle.Now, massa, up you come."
Moses had grasped his master's hair with a grip: that well-nigh scalpedhim, and he held on until the hermit had got a secure hold of the ledgewith both hands. Then he let the hair go, for he knew that to an athletelike his master the raising himself by his arms on to the ledge would bethe Work of a few seconds. Van der Kemp was thus able to assist inrescuing Nigel from his position of danger.
But the expressions of heartfelt thankfulness for this deliverance whichnaturally broke from them were abruptly checked when it was found thatMoses could by no means extract his leg out of the hole into which hehad thrust it, and that he was suffering great pain.
After some time, and a good deal of violent wrenching, during which oursable hero mingled a few groans in strange fashion with hiscongratulations, he was got free, and then it was found that the strainhad been too much for even his powerful bones and sinews, for the legwas broken.
"My poor fellow!" murmured Van der Kemp, as he went down on his knees toexamine the limb.
"Don' care a buttin for dat, massa. You're safe, an' Nadgel's safe--an'it only cost a broken leg! Pooh! das nuffin'!" said Moses, unable torepress a few tears in the excess of his joy and pain!
With considerable difficulty they carried the poor negro down to theboat, where they found Winnie, as might be supposed, in a half-faintingcondition from the strain of prolonged anxiety and terror to which shehad been subjected; but the necessity of attending to the case of theinjured Moses was an antidote which speedily restored her.
Do you think, good reader, that Nigel and Winnie had much difficulty incoming to an understanding after that, or that the hermit was disposedto throw any obstacles in the way of true love? If you do, let us assureyou that you are mistaken. Surely this is information enough for anyintelligent reader.
Still, it may be interesting to add, difficulties did not all at oncedisappear. The perplexities that had already assailed Nigel more thanonce assailed him again--perplexities about a negro man-servant, and ahousehold monkey, and a hermit father-in-law, and a small income--tosay nothing of a disconsolate mother-poetess in England and a fatherroving on the high seas! How to overcome these difficulties gave himmuch thought and trouble; but they were overcome at last. That whichseemed impossible to man proved to be child's-play in the hands ofwoman. Winnie solved the difficulty by suggesting that they should allreturn to the Cocos-Keeling Islands and dwell together there forevermore!
* * * * *
Let us drop in on them, good reader, at a later period, have a look atthem, and bid them all good-bye.
On a green knoll by the margin of the lagoon stands a beautiful cottagewith a garden around it, and a pleasure-boat resting on the white coralsand in front. From the windows of that cottage there is a mostmagnificent view of the lagoon with its numerous islets and itspicturesque palm-trees. Within that cottage dwell Nigel and Winnie, anda brown-eyed, brown-haired, fair-skinned baby girl who is "the mostextraordinary angel that ever was born." It has a nurse of its own, butis chiefly waited on and attended to by an antique poetess, who dwellsin another cottage, a stone's-cast off, on the same green knoll. Thereshe inspires an ancient mariner with poetical sentiments--not yourup-in-the-clouds, reef-point-pattering nonsense, observe; but the realgenuine article, superior to "that other fellow's," you know--when notactively engaged with _the_ baby.
The first cottage is named Rakata, in honour of our hermit, who is oneof its inhabitants. The second is named Krakatoa by its eccentric owner,Captain Roy.
It must not be imagined, however, that our friends have settled downthere to spend their lives in idleness. By no means. This probably wouldnot be permitted by the "King of the Cocos Islands" even if they wishedto do so. But they do not wish that. There is no such condition asidleness in the lives of good men and women.
Nigel has taken to general superintendence of the flourishing communityin the midst of which he has cast his lot. He may be almost regarded asthe prime minister of the islands, in addition to which he has startedan extensive boat-building business and a considerable trade incocoa-nuts, etc., with the numerous islands of the Java Sea; also asaw-mill, and a forge, and a Sunday-school--in which last the pretty,humble-minded Winnie lends most efficient aid. Indeed it is said thatshe is the chief manager as well as the life and soul of that business,though Nigel gets all the credit.
Captain Roy sometimes sails his son's vessels, and sometimes looksafter the secular education of the Sunday-school children--the saideducation being conducted on the principle of unlimited story-tellingwith illimitable play of fancy. But his occupations areirregular--undertaken by fits and starts, and never to be counted on.His evenings he usually devotes to poetry and pipes--for the captain isobstinate, and sticks--like most of us--to his failings as well as hisfancies.
There is a certain eccentric individual with an enthusiastic temperamentand blue binoculars who pays frequent and prolonged visits to theKeeling Islands. It need scarcely be said that his name is Verkimier.There is no accounting for the tastes of human beings. Notwithstandingall his escapes and experiences, that indomitable man of science stillranges, like a mad philosopher, far and wide over the archipelago inpursuit of "booterflies ant ozer specimens of zee insect vorld." It isobserved, however, even by the most obtuse among his friends, thatwhereas in former times the professor's nights were centrifugal theyhave now become centripetal--the Keeling Islands being the great centretowards which he flies. Verkimier is, and probably will always be, asubject of wonder and of profound speculation to the youthfulinhabitants of the islands. They don't understand him and he does notunderstand them. If they were insects he would take deep andintelligent interest in them. As they are merely human beings, heregards them with that peculiar kind of interest with which men regardthe unknown and unknowable. He is by no means indifferent to them. He istoo kindly for that. He studies them deeply, though hopelessly, and whenhe enters the Sunday-school with his binoculars--which he often does, tolisten--a degree of awe settles down on the little ones which it isimpossible to evoke by the most solemn appeals to their spiritualnatures.
Nigel and Winnie have a gardener, and that gardener is black--as blackas the Ace of Spades or the King of Ashantee. He dwells in a corner ofthe Rakata Cottage, but is addicted to spending much of his spare timein the Krakatoa one. He is as strong and powerful as ever, but limpsslightly on his right leg--his "game" leg, as he styles it. He is, ofcourse, an _immense_ favourite with the young people--not less than withthe old. He has been known to say, with a solemnity that might ticklethe humorous and horrify the timid, that he wouldn't "hab dat game legmade straight agin! no, not for a hundred t'ousand pounds. 'Cause why?--it was an eber-present visible reminder dat once upon a time he had delibes ob massa and Nadgel in his arms ahangin' on to his game leg, an'dat, t'rough Gracious Goodness, he sabe dem bof!"
Ha! You may smile at Moses if you will, but he can return the smilewith kindly interest, for he is actuated by that grand principle whichwill sooner or later transform even the scoffers of earth, and which isembodied in the words--"Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Even the lower animals testify to this fact when the dog licks the handthat smites it and accords instant forgiveness on the slightestencouragement. Does not Spinkie prove it also, when, issuing at call,from its own pagoda in the sunniest corner of the Rakata garden, itforsakes cocoa-nuts, sug
ar-cane, fruits, and other delights, to lay itslittle head in joyful consecration on the black bosom of its benignantfriend?
And what of Moses' opinion of the new home? It may be shortly expressedin his own words-"It's heaben upon eart', an' de most happiest time aseber occurred to me was dat time when Sunda Straits went into cumbusti'nan' Krakatoa was Blown to Bits."
THE END
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty, _at theEdinburgh University Press_.
* * * * *
+ADVERTISEMENTS+