CHAPTER FORTY THREE.
OUR REFUGE.
"Oh deah me!" said Ching in his most squeaky tones, "I velly hungly.You like nicee bleakfast, Mis' Hellick?"
"Don't speak to me as if I were a baby, Ching," I cried angrily.
"No; speak like to offlicer, Mr Hellick. You likee bleakfast--something good eat?"
"I hadn't thought of it before, Ching," I said, feeling rather ashamedof my angry tone; "but I am faint, and I suppose that is through beinghungry."
"Yes; Ching go down among locks and sand, see if he find something eat."
"No, no," I cried excitedly; "it would be madness."
"Eh? you tinkee Ching mad?" he said, with a smile.
"Oh no; but you would meet some of the pirates."
"No; allee gone 'long shore. Not come back long time."
"But it is too risky. Perhaps some of the wretches are waiting."
"No; allee velly wicked--velly bad men. Feel 'flaid stop all alone.'Flaid see men again headee chop off. Pilate allee keep together. Nocome long time; Ching go find something good eat."
"But if they come on the cliffs and look back, they might see you."
"Yes; might see Ching flom velly long way topside lock chop. Thenthink--"
"Think, yes, of course."
"Not allee same you think. See Ching? Yes; see John Chinaman in blueflock allee torn, long tow-chang; that's all."
I did not grasp his meaning for a moment.
"Oh, I see," I cried at last; "you mean that if they did see you, theywould think it was one of their own crew?"
"Yes; think one of own clew. But Ching not pilate."
"Of course. Then there would be no risk. You shall go, but we mustfind some place where we can hide."
"Mis' Hellick help soon makee velly nicee place."
"Wait a minute," I said. "Couldn't we climb up on the cliff like youdid?"
"Yes, Mr Hellick climb, but no cally jolly sailor boy, Tom Jeck, alleeway."
"No; we must make a place here if we cannot find one."
He walked up to the face of the cliff, but there was no spot at alllikely to answer the purpose till he had gone about fifty yards, when heturned and signalled to me.
I crept close up to the cliff, and then stooped down, after a timid lookin the direction taken by the pirates, and found Ching standing by apiece of the rock which had split away from above, fallen clear, andthen its top had leaned back against the rock face, leaving a narrowrift between its base and the cliff, through which we could see thelight dimly, some twelve or fourteen yards away, but it was only a faintgleam showing that the far end was nearly closed.
"Velly nice beautiful place; ought to come here last night."
"Yes, capital. We can hide here; and once inside, if we had arms, wecould keep the wretches at a distance."
"Don'tee want fight now," said Ching, quietly. "No swold, no shoot gun,no jolly sailor boy. Wantee eat and dlink."
"Yes; let's get poor Jecks here at once."
"You go fetch him; tly to walkee now: Ching go fetch eat, dlink."
He hurried off toward the ridge, while I went back to my wounded man,who seemed to be lying asleep, but he opened his eyes as I approached.
"We've found a place," I said. "Do you think you can limp a littleway?"
He tried to rise, and fell back with a moan, but upon my placing my armunder his, he made a fresh effort, and stood upright, taking step forstep with mine, till I had him right up to the narrow opening of ourshelter, into which he slowly crawled, and then spoke for the firsttime, but in a hoarse voice I did not know--
"Water."
"I'll try," I said; "don't stir from there till I come back."
Creeping along close under the cliff, I soon reached the ridge, and wasabout to mount, but dropped down and hid, for I saw something move inthe direction taken by the pirates.
A minute's investigation, however, showed it to be some bird on thestrand, and I began to climb, reached the top, took a carefulobservation in both directions, and then up at the cliff, and,--lastly,looked out for Ching.
I soon espied him running out after a retiring billow, then running inagain, and continuing this several times as if he were a boy at play.Finally, however, I saw him go splashing in after a wave, and then comehurrying back dragging something, which he drew right ashore.
There he stopped, panting, and looking back, caught sight of me, andsignalled to me to come.
I hurried down, reached him amongst the piles of broken timber andrubbish, and found that he had secured a wooden box, one end of whichhad been battered upon the rocks, laying bare the bright glistening tinwith which it was lined; and I realised directly that he had found whatfor us was a treasure, if we could tear open the tin, for the case borethe brand of a well-known firm of English biscuit-makers, and doubtlessit was part of the loot taken from some unfortunate British merchantman.
"You helpee me cally?" he said.
For answer I took hold of one end of the case, and we bore it right up,through the thick sand, close under the cliff, where we placed it behinda big stone.
"You gottee big stlong knife?" cried Ching.
I took out a big-bladed knife, opened it, and found no difficulty inthrusting it through the soft tin and cutting a long gash. Then I cutanother, parallel, and joined two of the ends, making a lid, which, uponbeing raised, showed that the biscuits were perfectly unharmed by thesalt water.
"Fillee allee pockets," cried Ching; and I proceeded to do so, whiletwice as many as I could stow away disappeared under his garments.
"Now," I said, "we must find water and get back."
"Waitee minute; p'laps pilate come back; no have bliskit."
He dropped down upon his knees, and began tearing away the sand frombehind the stone, after which he dragged the case into the hole, andtossed the sand over it at a tremendous rate, ending by completelycovering it and looking up at me with a smile of satisfaction.
"Now for water," I said eagerly.
"Yes, Ching find water;" and we tramped back, the loose dry sand fallingin and obliterating our footprints.
Ching led the way to a pile of tangled wreck-wood, and took out a jarcovered with bamboo basket-work, and having a cross handle--a vesselthat would probably hold about half a pailful.
"Ching find--float flom junk," he said; and then, with a knowing smile,he led the way to where the ridge joined the cliff; and, unable tocontain myself when, he stopped and pointed down triumphantly, I fellupon my knees, and placed my lips to a tiny pool of clear cool water,which came down from a rift about forty feet above my head in thelimestone rock, and, as I drank the most delicious draught I ever had inmy life, the water from above splashed down coolly and pleasantly uponthe back of my head.
"Ching hear can go _tlickle, tlickle_," he said, stooping in turn to geta deep draught before filling the vessel, and then leading the way backover the ridge, and out of the hot sunshine into the place where ourpoor companion lay upon his back, muttering hurriedly words of which wecould not catch the import.
This was a fresh difficulty, for he could not be roused into sitting upto drink; and at last, in despair, I scooped up some water in my hand,and let it trickle upon his half-parted lips.
The effect was instantaneous; they moved eagerly, and, ceasing hismuttering, he swallowed more and more of the water, till he must havedrunk nearly a pint, and now sank into a more easy position fast asleep,and breathing easily.
"Ha!" I exclaimed. But I said no more, Ching's hand was placed over mylips, and he held me back, staring hard all the time towards the tallnarrow outlet of our shelter.
For the moment I thought that this was some cowardly attack--one is soprone to think evil of people rather than good; but he stooped down,placed his lips to my ear, and whispered the one word--
"Pilate."
Then a loud burst of talking came upon us, sounding as it doubled bystriking and echoing from the rocks. My blood ran cold once more, for Ithought that my exclamati
on had been heard, and that the enemy wastalking about and watching the opening of our shelter.
Then the noise grew louder, and some dispute seemed to be on the way,while, what was worse, the sounds did not pass on, showing that the crewof the junk, for I felt that it must be they, had returned and stoppedjust in front of where we crouched.
Where we were was dark enough to keep any one from seeing us if helooked in from the bright sunshine; but I knew that, sooner or later, ifthe men stayed where they were, some one was sure to come prying about,and would see the place. How long, then, would it be ere we werediscovered, and had to meet our terrible fate after all?
"You thinkee get out other way?" said Ching at last, with his lips to myear.
"I think not," I whispered back.
"Mustn't look out this way," he whispered again. "You go light to endand look see if pilate going stop."
I was so eager to get an observation of the enemy, that I hurriedlycrept along the narrow passage. I say hurriedly, but my progress wasvery slow, for I had to worm my way over fallen stones, some of whichwere loose, and I was in constant dread of making a sound which mightbetray us.
But I got to the end in safety, and had to mount up over a large narrowwedge-like piece which filled up the end; the opening, dim and partlystopped with some kind of growth outside, being quite ten feet from thesandy bottom.
And all this while the murmur of voices from outside came indistinctly,till I was at the top of the wedge, when the talking grew suddenlylouder.
I hesitated for a few moments, and then, feeling sure that I was safe, Iplaced my face to the opening, parted the tough plant a little, and thena little more, so as not to attract attention; and at last, with abright yellow daisy-like growth all about my face, I peered out, to seethat the enemy had quietly settled down there to smoke, not thirty yardsfrom our hiding-place, while some were settling themselves to sleep, andagain others to eat biscuits similar to those we had found.
They evidently meant to stay, and if our wounded companion began hisdelirious mutterings again, I knew that, although a fellow-countrymanmight be spared, my career was at an end.
I crept down cautiously, and told Ching all I had seen; whereupon henodded his head sagely, and placed his lips to my ear.
"Plenty big stone," he whispered. "Plenty sand; velly quiet; 'top uphole."
I shrank from making any movement, but, softly and silently, Ching creptnearly to the opening by which we had entered, and began moving thefragments embedded in sand, which formed the flooring of our narrowrefuge, turning over peat shaley pieces, and laying them naturallybetween us and the light, and, after planting each heavy piece, scoopingup the dry sand with both hands, and pouring it over the stone. Thenanother piece and another followed, awkward bits so heavy that he couldhardly lift them; and, gaining courage, I let to as well, pulling blocksfrom out of the sand where I knelt, and passing them to him.
He nodded his satisfaction, and we both worked on slowly and silently,building up till the erection became a breast-work, rapidly growingnarrower as it rose higher; the sand poured in, filling up theinterstices and trickling down on the other side, thus giving our ruggedwall the appearance of being a natural heap, over which the dried sandhad been swept in by the storm.
I was in agony as we worked on, expecting moment by moment to hear astone fall, or a loud clap of one against another; but Ching worked inperfect silence, while the busy chattering of the men without kept on,and then by slow degrees grew more smothered as our wall arose; while asit progressed our shelter grew more gloomy.
There was plenty of material to have made a wall ten times the size,whereas, roughly speaking, ours was only about four feet in length fromthe fallen rock to the base of the cliff, and sloped inward till, atbreast height, it was not more than two feet, and from there rapidlydiminished till Ching ceased, and breathing hard, and wet withperspiration, he whispered to me--
"No leach no higher; can'tee find now."
It was so dark that we could only just see each other's faces, but in ashort time we became so accustomed to the gloom, that we could watch thechanges in Tom Jecks' countenance as he lay sleeping, by the faint rayswhich stole in over the top of our cavern, and through the tuft ofherbage which grew high up at the other end. But the heat was terriblein so confined a space, and, exhausted as I was with lifting stones andscooping up sand, there were moments when everything appeared dreamy andstrange, and I suppose I must have been a little delirious.
I was sitting panting with the heat, resting my head against the rock,listening to the breathing of Tom Jecks, and wondering why it was thatsomething hot and black and intangible should be always coming down andpressing on my brain, when I started into wakefulness, or rather out ofmy stupor, for Ching touched me, and I found that he had crept past TomJecks to where I had made my seat, and had his lips close to my ear.
"Hoolay!" he whispered. "Flee cheahs! Pilate all go away! Go up see."