CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
AN ADVENTURE.
Jack did not see the canoe, for his attention was taken up by the littleserpent which had suddenly flung itself upon his hand, as he disturbedthe cluster of flowers, and struck at his arm sharply--twice.
Sharply does not express the way in which the reptile attacked him, forthe whole business from its springing, coiling, and striking seemedinstantaneous. The effect upon the lad was peculiar. He had man'snatural horror of all creatures of the serpent kind, and as he broke offthe sweetly-scented bunch of flowers a pang shot through him--asensation of pain which made him turn cold and wet, while his sensesfelt exalted, so that sight, smell, hearing, and feeling were magnifiedor exaggerated in the strangest way, but his muscular power seemed tohave failed. His man's cries for help sounded deafening; the fragrantodour of the orchids made him feel faint; the little serpent appearedenormous, and its eyes dazzling, while the cold touch of its scaly bodyagainst his bare hand was of some great weight, and when it rapidlycompressed his fingers with its folds, to give itself power to strike,and struck twice, the concussion of the lithe neck and jaws felt liketwo tremendous blows which paralysed him, so that he stood there as ifturned to stone, with his arm outstretched staring down at the--as itseemed to him--gigantic head, which glided about over his enormouslyswollen arm, the sparkling malicious eyes seeming to search into his,and then about his arm for a fresh place at which to venom.
It was in its way beautiful, in its golden-brown and greenish tints,while the back appeared to be shot with violet and steel, as the lightwhich flashed from the glittering sea was thrown up beneath the trees.Jack was so utterly fascinated for the time being that his eyes took inevery detail, and he noted how the reptile's tightly-closed mouthresembled a smile of triumph, and thought that the tiny forked tonguewhich kept on flickering in and out of the orifice in the front part ofthe jaws mocked at him as the creature laughed silently at hishelplessness.
"It has killed me," was the predominant thought in the boy's mind, as hestood there for what seemed to be a long space of time, with Edwardshouting for help and calling upon him to act, the words thundering inhis ears.
"Throw it off, Mr Jack, sir. Chuck it away. D'ye hear me? Oh, I say,do something, or you'll be stung."
But the lad did not stir, merely remained in the same attitude with hisarm outstretched. He was, however, fully conscious of what was goingon, and he watched with a feeble kind of interest the action of the man,wondering what he would do.
For Ned, as he grasped his young master's peril, did the most naturalthing in the world to begin with, he called loudly for help; but fullygrasping the fact that as he was nearest the first help ought to comefrom him, he dashed to Jack's side.
"Ugh!" he cried angrily, "I can't abear snakes and toads. If I touchhim he'll sting me too. Tied himself up in a knot too. Don't try tochuck it off, Mr Jack, the beggar will only be more savage and beginstinging again. If I could only grab him by the neck I could finishhim, but he'd be too quick for me. Here, I know. That's right! Standstill, sir."
This last was perfectly unnecessary, for the lad could not have stoodmore motionless and rigid if he had been carved in marble.
"What a fool I am!" muttered Ned. "Thinking about cutting sticks whenthere's something ready here to be cut. I don't want a stick."
He whipped his long hunting-knife out of the sheath fitted to his belt,and the light flashed upon the keen-edged new blade which had never yetbeen used.
"Now then," he said softly, "if I can only get one cut at you, mygentleman, you shan't know where you are to-morrow."
The plan was good, but not easy of performance, for he could not cutstraight down at the reptile's neck without injuring Jack's arm, and fora few moments he stood watching and waiting for an opportunity, but noneseemed likely to occur, and the serpent still held on by the boy'swrist, and the front of its long, lithe, undulating body kept on glidingabout over the brightly-ironed white duck sleeve, the head playing aboutthe hollow of the elbow-joint, turning under the arm, and returning tothe top again and again.
"I can't get a cut at him--I can't get a cut at him," muttered Ned; andthen a happy thought came: he stretched out the point of the glisteningblade toward the serpent's head, till it was a few inches from it.
"I don't like doing it," he muttered fretfully; "it's running risks, andsetting a dose myself, but I must--I must;" and he made the bladeglitter and flash by agitating his hand.
It had the desired effect, for the head was raised sharply from thelad's arm till it was six or seven inches above it, and the reptileseemed to be attracted for a moment by the bright light flashing fromthe steel.
Then the head was drawn back sharply, and darted forward as Nedexpected, and with a slight jerk from the wrist he flicked the bladefrom left to right.
"Hah!" he cried joyfully, as the head dropped at his feet, and the longthin body writhed free from the lad's hand and wrist; "a razor couldn'thave took it off cleaner. Hurray, Mr Jack! He half killed himself.But don't--don't stand like that. You're not hurt bad, are you?"
"Here, let me look," cried the doctor, who had now climbed up to wherethey stood, closely followed by Sir John. "Snake, was it?"
"Yes, sir; there's his body tying itself up in knots, and here's hishead."
As he spoke, the man stooped down quickly, made a dig with the point ofhis knife, and transfixed the cut-off portion through the neck just atthe back of the skull, and the jaws gaped widely as he held it up intriumph.
"Here, let me see," cried Sir John excitedly. "Yes, look, Instow, theswollen glands at the back of the jaw, and here they are like bits ofglass--the poison fangs. Jack, lad, where did it strike you?"
"Strike me?" said the lad feebly, and shuddering slightly, as he stoodwith his eyes half-closed, and dropped the cluster of orchids.
"Yes; speak out, quick!" cried the doctor, grasping the lad by the arm."Where are you hurt?"
"Twined round my hand, and bit at my arm twice--just there."
He stood pointing dreamily at the thickest part of his forearm, justwhere the jacket-sleeve went into wrinkles through the bending of thejoint.
"Yes, I see," cried the doctor. "Here, Ned, man, jump down there andget my flask. You'll find it in my coat. A plated one full ofammonia."
Ned leaped in a break-neck way down the lava wall, and the doctor forcedhis patient into a sitting position and stripped off his jacket. Thenhe snapped off the wrist button and turned up the shirt-sleeve, to beginexamining the white skin for the tiny punctures made by the two bites,while Sir John knelt by him, supporting his son, who looked very whiteand strange, and as if he were trying to master the sense of horror fromwhich he now suffered.
"See the places?" said Sir John hoarsely.
"No," replied the doctor, shifting his position and raising the arm alittle. "The fangs are like needle-points, and make so small a wound.Can't see anything. Whereabouts was it, Jack?"
"Just there," said the lad, speaking more decisively; and he laid hisleft finger on his arm. "Two sharp blows."
"And a keen pricking sensation each time?" said the doctor, lookingcuriously at his patient.
"No; I did not feel anything but the blows."
"Here's the silver bottle, sir," panted Ned.
"Hold it," said the doctor. Then to Jack, "Did the snake strike at youanywhere else?"
"No."
"Pray, pray give him something," cried Sir John impatiently; "the poisonruns through the veins so quickly."
"Yes," said the doctor quietly, as he wrinkled up his forehead, and,dropping the boy's arm, he caught the jacket from where it lay.
"Nothing here," he muttered. "Pish! Wrong sleeve."
He hastily took the other, and turned the sleeve up to the light.
"Hah!" he cried; "here we are. Look, Meadows!"
"Never mind the jacket, man," cried Sir John passionately.
"Why not?" said the doctor coolly. "Nothing the matter with the lad.T
ouch of nerves. Horribly startling for him. See this?"
He held up the sleeve, and there upon the puckered part were two almostimperceptible yellowish stains, in each case upon the raised folds.
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"I couldn't help it," said Jack.
"Of course you couldn't," said the doctor.
"But father thinks that I was a dreadful coward."
"Then he ought to know better," said the doctor quickly. "Nothing to beashamed of, my lad. Imagination's a queer thing. I once faintedbecause I thought I had cut myself, while I was skinning a dog which hadbeen poisoned. I was a student then, and knew the dangers of woundsfrom a poisoned knife; and, by the way, we must take care of the woundsfrom poisoned arrows. Well, when I washed my hand there wasn't ascratch. You couldn't help it, Jack. Any man might be seized like thatafter seeing Death make two darts at him and feeling him strike."
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"Is any one hurt?" said a voice then; and Mr Bartlett's head appearedabove the edge of the lava wall.
"No; all right. Only an alarm, and a narrow escape. How about thesavages?"
"They're gone in the direction of the yacht, gentlemen, and we must getback as quickly as we can."
"Ah, look! look!" cried Ned excitedly, as he pointed out to sea;"there's a canoe--two canoes--three."
They followed the direction of his pointing finger, and saw plainlyenough three long, low vessels full of men gliding by, with theirmatting sails glistening in the sun, and not two miles out from wherethey stood.
"Worse and worse," said the mate. "We must get back to the yacht,gentlemen."
"Of course," said Sir John, drawing a deep breath. "Why, there must bea hundred men in those canoes."
"Quite that, sir, I'm afraid," replied the mate. "Quick, please. Itwill be terrible if they attack the captain while he is soshort-handed."
"But he has the big guns, and the men are well-trained," said thedoctor, as they hurried down to the boats.
"What is the use of them, sir, when a crowd of reckless savages areswarming over the sides? He is lying at anchor too, and the yacht ismade helpless."
The men were soon in their places, pulling a long, steady stroke, andthinking nothing of the hot sunshine.
"It is of no use to try and hide ourselves," said the mate, "for it is arace between us who shall get there first."
"But they can't know the yacht is there," said Sir John.
"Perhaps not, sir; but they will soon sight us, and then run for theopening in the reef, if they were not already going there."
"Well, there's one advantage on our side," said the doctor; "they can'tattack us till they get through the reef, so we're safe till then."
"Yes, sir," said the mate bitterly; "but I was thinking of the captain,and his anxiety, alone there."
"Yes, of course," said Sir John; and he looked at the mate when he coulddo so unobserved; and it seemed to Jack that he thought more highly ofMr Bartlett than ever.
They had been rowing abreast, with the waters of the lagoon perfectlysmooth; but as they began to round one of the huge buttresses of lavawhich had run down into the lake, they saw that the water all beyond wasdisturbed by a breeze.
The mate started up and began to give his orders directly. The mast inthe bigger boat was stepped, the sail hoisted, and he shouted to one ofthe men to throw a line from the bows of Jack's boat, to make fast totheir stern.
"We can take you in tow, doctor," he said, with the men still rowing andthe sail flapping; then a little spar was set up from the stern, and atriangular sail hoisted from the bows to the mast in front.
"Four men in here," cried the mate; "unless you two gentlemen would liketo come."
"No; we'll stay here," said the doctor. "Eh, Jack?"
"Yes; we'll stay."
"You'll manage better with men who can work, we shall be in the way."
"I want them for ballast to steady us with all this sail up," said themate, smiling; and without any pause the second boat was drawn close upastern, four men crept into the leader, and the rope was allowed to runout again.
"Think we're going to have a fight, Mr Jack?" whispered Ned, as thedoctor sat forward trying to make out the canoes through the sparklingcloud of spray here about a mile away; "It seems like it, Ned; but Ihope not."
"You hope not, sir?"
"Of course."
"Oh, well then, I needn't mind saying I hope not too. I never wasanything in that line, sir, even when I was a boy."
"What difference does that make?"
"Difference, sir? Oh, all the difference. Men can fight, of course;but if I was a king, and wanted to have a good army, I'd make it ofboys."
Jack stared at him, and in spite of the peril of their position, feltdisposed to smile.
"Why?" he said at last.
"Because they can fight so. They're not so big and strong; but thenthey're not so easily frightened. They're always ready for a set-to,and 'cepting where there's snakes in the way, they never think ofdanger, or being hurt. And when they are hurt, the more they feel it,the more they go, just like horses or donkeys."
"Excepting in the case of snakes," said Jack bitterly.
"Oh, don't you mind about that, sir. I was as scared as you were, I cantell you. I remember when I was a boy I wasn't good at fighting, and Iused to get what we used to call the coward's blow, and that was the rumpart of it."
Jack stared.
"Ah, you don't understand that, sir. But it was rum. You see it waslike this; t'other chap as was crowing over me because I wouldn't fight,would give me an out-and-out good whack for the coward's blow, and thenhe wished he hadn't."
"Why?" asked Jack, after a glance at the doctor, who was still in thebows.
"Because it hurt me, and made me wild. And then I used to go at him andgive him a good licking. That's what I was when a boy, sir, and I amjust the same now; I don't feel at all like fighting, and, coward or nocoward, I won't fight if I can help it; but if any one hurts me, orbegins to shoot at us, I think I shall get trying what I can do. Butyou see it won't be fist-fists."
"No," said Jack thoughtfully; "it will not be fists."
"Hi! look out!" shouted Ned. "You'll be over."
For a sudden puff of wind had caught the boat in front, and she heeledover so much with the large spread of sail that the water began to creepin over the leeward side. But at a word from the mate half-a-dozen menshifted their positions to windward, and there were two or three inchesclear once more, as the boat with her three sails well-filled began torush through the water.
"And now they're goin' to take us under," said Ned, nervously seizingthe side with one hand. "My word, we are beginning to go."
"Yes; this is different to rowing," cried the doctor, as their boatdanced about and ran swiftly through the disturbed water left by theircompanion. "But, unfortunately, the wind will help the canoes as muchas it helps us."
"But if it does not help them more, we shall be up to the yacht first."
"There's another side to that, Jack," said the doctor; "suppose theysail faster than we do. What then?"
This was unanswerable, and they sat back in the boat, running throughthe water with a little wave ever-widening on either side.
"I hope the painter won't give way," said the doctor at last, "and thatthey will not leave us behind."
"They'd miss us directly," said Jack. "Their boat would go so muchfaster."
"Couldn't go faster than she is. Why, Jack, it must be a clever canoethat can beat us."
"Goes too fast to please me," whispered the man at the firstopportunity. "Strikes me, Mr Jack, that one of these times when theyswing over to the left so they'll drag us under, so that our boat willfill and go down; and if we do, what about that there pig?"
"What pig?" said Jack wonderingly.
"Why, you know, sir, close in there as we came along. If there's thingsin this water that can pull down pigs, won't they be likely to pu
ll downus?"
"There's plenty of real trouble to think about," said Jack quietly,"without our trying to make out imaginary ones. The boat will notfill."
"Eh? what's that?" said the doctor; "this boat fill? Oh no; she ridesover the water like a cork. Can't see anything of the enemy, Jack; thespray along the reef makes a regular curtain, and shuts off everything.I hope it hides us well from our black friends, for I don't want to getinto a row of that kind. Well, Ned, if it comes to the worst, do youthink you can manage a gun?"
"Cleaned Sir John's guns often enough, sir."
"Yes, but can you shoot?"
"That means holding the gun straight, sir, and pulling the trigger. Ohyes, sir; I can do that."
"That isn't shooting: you have to hit."
"So I suppose, sir; but some of the governor's friends, who come down inSeptember and October, go shooting in his preserves and over the farms,but they don't always hit anything."
"But you will try if we want you, eh?"
"Yes, sir, if the governor orders me. And what about a cutlass? Canyou handle that, do you think?"
"Don't see why not, sir. I'm pretty handy with a carving-knife, bothwith meat and on the knifeboard."
"Well," said the doctor gravely, "I hope we shall not have to come toanything of that kind, for all our sakes."
"How long will it take us to get back?" said Jack, after a silence,during which the thoughts of the danger seemed to be chased away by thebeauty of the shore along which they glided.
"Hours yet," said the doctor. "This wind will not last. If it would,we might be there before the canoes."
Very few greetings passed between the two boats, for every one engagedin the race seemed in deadly earnest. There was the possibility of thepeople proving to be friendly, but as in all probability these greatsea-going canoes belonged to a fighting fleet upon some raidingexpedition, the hope in the direction of peace was not great.
About half of the way had been accomplished, when, as Jack sat watchingthe foaming waves break upon the reef, he caught sight of somethingmisty and weird-looking apparently just on the other side, but it wastoo undefined for its nature to be made out.
He pointed it out to the doctor, who gave his opinion directly.
"One of the canoes," he said. "That's good, Jack. It shows that theyhave not distanced us."
A hail from the mate told them that they too had sighted the canoe fromthe boat in front; but though they gazed long and watchfully, they sawno more.
Not long after the wind dropped suddenly, came again, and then fellaltogether, the appearances being so marked that the mate had the sailslowered, and stowed after the oars had been going for some time, and nowthey made out from the boat astern that Mr Bartlett had divided hiscrew into two watches, one rowing hard while the other rested.
It was all plain enough to those astern that everything was admirablyarranged, so that the well-drilled men shifted their places without anyconfusion or difference in the speed of the boat, the men changing oneat a time.
And so the afternoon wore on.
"We shall be no sooner," said Jack at last. "In an hour it will bedark."
"Yes," said the doctor with a sigh. "It would not matter if the blacksare not there first, but the worst of it is, as soon as it's dusk thecaptain will be lighting up that firework business for a beacon, andthat will show the canoes where to steer."
It proved just as he said. The darkness came on with awful rapidity assoon as the sun disappeared beneath the waves, all searching the edge ofthe reef most anxiously during the last rays which flooded the sea; butin vain; and then for a full hour they rowed steadily on, guided by thegleaming of the fireflies against the black darkness ashore, but all atonce a bright star shone out.
"There she is!" cried Jack excitedly. "Look how Mr Bartlett has turnedthe boat's head straight for the light."
"Yes; we shall follow the bright path straight away now," said thedoctor.
"How are you getting on there?" came from the boat in front. "Hungry,or will you wait till we get on board?"
"We'll wait, father," shouted Jack.
"Yes. Only half-an-hour now. Mr Bartlett thinks we've distanced thecanoes."
They were soon to learn for certain, as they followed the bright path oflight which minute by minute grew clearer, till they could see as itwere right up to the anchored yacht.
"Shall we hail the captain?" said Jack.
He had hardly spoken when he felt a jar run through the boat, and foundthat the towing-line had been hauled upon till the prow of the secondboat touched the stern of the first.
"Hist there!" said the mate. "Perfect silence, please. We must creepalongside so as to give warning. There must be no hailing. This is themost dangerous time."
"How far are we away?" said the doctor in a whisper.
"About five hundred yards."
"How is it the oars go so quietly now?" whispered Jack.
"Muffled, and the men are just dipping them, so as to keep a fair wayon."
The next two or three minutes were passed in silence, Jack's boat havingonce more dropped astern to the full length of the rope.
The lad had risen to stand up and watch the line of light extending fromthem right up to the source of the rays ahead, and from his position hecould look right over the foremost boat.
"How deceptive it is!" he thought. "One can hardly tell how near weare, and--ah!--"
"What is it, boy?" whispered the doctor.
For answer Jack pointed right ahead to where something dark could beseen crossing the line of sight.
"One of the canoes," said the doctor quickly. "We shall be right aboardher."
He crept forward, but Jack forestalled him, and was hauling in the linetill they wore close up.
"Mr Bartlett--father!"
"Yes; what is it?"
"You are rowing right into one of the canoes."