CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
RUNNING THE REEF.
The whole of that journey down the rugged gash in the mountain side wasa prolonged agony to Jack, but he fought like a hero to keep his feet,and at last, satisfied that he could not escape, the man who hadsurprised him and treated him as his own prize caught him by theshoulder as he was tottering down the descent, with the stones everyhere and there giving way beneath his feet, and about to fall heavily.The next minute his numbed and swollen hands were set at liberty, sothat he could better preserve his balance, and the first use he made ofthem was to point to Ned's bonds, with the result that the man's captorentered into a short colloquy with Jack's; and the savage fitted anarrow to his bow and took aim, half drawing the arrow to the head, whilehe jabbered away and scowled menacingly, showing his white teeth thewhile.
"What does he mean by that, Mr Jack? going to shoot me--a coward?"
"No, no; he means he will untie your hands, but that if you attempt toescape an arrow will go faster than you can run, and he will bring youdown."
"And very kind of him too, sir. But I shan't run away without you, sir.Here, undo 'em then, blackie."
He bent forward so as to raise his tied hands, and the black began tounfasten the cane.
"I always knew you were a big scholar, Mr Jack, sir," continued Ned,"but I didn't think you were up to this jibber-jabber.--Thankye, oldchap. Nice state you've got my hands in though. Why, I don't believethe size gloves I should want are made. Look, Mr Jack, aboutfour-and-twenty they'd take, wouldn't they? How's yours?"
"They ache horribly, Ned."
"Oh, mine don't. I shouldn't know I'd got any if I couldn't see 'em.Plain enough though, ain't they?"
Ned had no time to say more, for his captor urged him on.
"Just like driving a donkey, sir, ain't it?--All right, blackie, I'llgo."
The party descended as rapidly as they could till just after the greatorange sun had descended over the rim of the sea, and then, as ifperfectly familiar with the place, they turned suddenly off to the left,down a second ravine much steeper than the larger one they had left, andafter going down about a quarter of a mile to where dwarf trees werebeginning to grow thickly again, they stopped short in a natural shelterclose by a rock pool, into which a clear thread of water trickled.
Jack's captor pointed to the pool, and the lad lay down and drankdeeply, Ned following his example without orders, and upon beingsatisfied they rose, to find the men busily preparing a fire.--Then oneof the party rubbed a couple of pieces of wood together till thefriction produced sparks, which began to glow in the wood dust fanned bythe fire-maker's breath, and soon after the fire was burning merrily.
Jack did not see it dug out, but a quantity of closely-packed greenleaves were lying about, and a rough hollow was close at hand where ithad evidently been buried--_it_ proving to be the hind-quarters of asmall pig, which as the fire burned up well was put to roast, and soonbegan to send out a pleasant odour.
The prisoners had taken the place pointed out to them, and found thatthey were well guarded, Ned drawing Jack's attention to this fact.
"And that means, sir," he said, "that it's of no use to try and rununless they go sound off to sleep again as soon as they've had a feast.We might perhaps steal off then, but not if we're watched. I don't wantany more arrows in me, and I'm sure you feel the same. I say, sir, Ihope they mean to ask us to dinner. Only fancy niggers dining atquality hours in black soots!"
"Don't talk about eating, Ned; the idea makes me feel sick."
"Fight it down then, sir. You must eat, or you can't try to get away,and if you can't try to get away, I can't."
"I'll try, Ned," said Jack abruptly.
"That's right, sir; only let's wait and see if they give us any first.Shame on 'em if they don't."
The pig extracted from the blacks' hiding-place began to smell temptingenough to excite any one's appetite, and as a good-sized piece washanded to each by their captors--
"Don't mean to kill us yet, Mr Jack," said Ned merrily. "Hope theydon't mean any of that nonsense later on."
But Jack was too weary and low-spirited to reply to his companion'sjokes, and he lay back after a time, watching the soft glow over thevolcano far above their heads, then the brilliant stars, which lookedlarger than at home, and glided suddenly into a deep sleep, from whichhe was awakened by a rough prod from the butt end of a spear.
The lad flushed angrily, but tried to curb his resentment, and turnedaway as he rose, to find Ned standing watching him in the early morninglight.
"Never mind, Mr Jack," he said softly. "It's hard to bear; but thisisn't the time to show fight. That black brute kicked me to wake me,and it made me as savage as a bear. If he'd had boots on I should havehit him, I know I should, I couldn't have helped it even if he'd killedme for it; but then you see he hadn't boots on, though the sole of hisfoot's almost like hoof."
"They're going on directly, Ned."
"Are they, sir? Well, I must have a drink of water first."
He took a step toward the pool; but a spear was presented at his breast,and it was not until Jack had made a sign of drinking that they wereallowed to bend down over it.
Directly after they started back up the side gorge to where it joinedthe greater, and then began to descend again by what proved to be a veryprecipitous but direct way down toward the sea, water soon after makingits appearance in a mere thread, which suddenly leaped down from a crackin the side and found its way to the bottom: while as they were hurriedon by their more nimble captors, the stream kept on increasing in volumeby the help of the many tiny tributaries which joined it.
Under different auspices the walk would have been glorious. Sir Johnand the doctor would have found it one grand preserve for birds andinsects; but the prisoners had hard work to keep up with theirsure-footed captors, and any hesitation on arriving at a difficult bitof the descent was looked upon as an attempt to escape.
The blacks were evidently quite at home in this one of the many ravineswhich carried the water condensed upon the mountain down to the sea, andconsequently made pretty good speed; but this came hard upon theirprisoners, who occupied so much time in descending the worst parts thatthey became at last menacing, and Jack trembled for the consequences ofNed retaliating with a blow.
"It would do no good, Ned," he said earnestly. "But it makes us seem socowardly to let them poke at us with their spears, sir, and never doanything."
"Never mind how it seems, Ned. You are not cowardly."
"Well, I'd punch any fellow's head who said I was, sir, or who said thesame about you."
"They can't say it so that we can understand, and let them think whatthey like. We'd fight if there was anything to be got by it; but thereisn't, Ned. Let's pretend to be beaten now, and then they will not beso watchful. To-night they will sleep somewhere down near the shore,and we may get a chance to escape."
"Then I'm not to hit out, no matter what they do to me?"
"Certainly not."
"But suppose I see 'em hitting or prodding you, sir? Must do somethingthen."
"Nothing whatever, Ned; I'll bear it patiently in the hope of getting achance to escape later on."
"All right, sir; but I'm getting very hungry for a bit of revenge."
"Wait, Ned, and perhaps it will come."
The difficulties of the descent detained them so that it was fastnearing sunset when the ravine began to widen out and pass beneath thebranches of the huge forest monarchs which clothed the lower slopes ofthe mountain, and wearied out with the day's exertion, Jack began tolook out eagerly for the green, park-like expanse which followed thedense jungle, to be succeeded in turn by the sands that ran down intothe lagoon.
The more open part appeared sooner than he expected, and with it theriver widened into a good-sized pool of open water, where, to theprisoners' surprise, they suddenly found themselves face to face withanother party of blacks, who welcomed the new-comers with an eagerjabbering as they closed ro
und and examined their captives curiously.
"Our chance of escape cut shorter, Mr Jack," said Ned.
"Yes, I'm afraid so, Ned. They must have been camping here; and Isuppose we shall have to stop in this place for the night?"
"Dunno. P'r'aps," said Ned. "See that, Mr Jack?"
He glanced down beneath the trees, where the water lay dark and deep;but for a few moments Jack saw nothing unusual. The next moment thoughhe uttered a little cry of surprise.
"Yes," he said, "I see it now, the boat--drawn right up beneath theboughs."
It was impossible to comprehend the words of the reunited parties of theblacks, but easy to grasp the meaning of their gestures, and as Jack'sattention was caught by the eager conversation going on, he pretty wellsaw that those who had been waiting had seen danger, for they kept onpointing and making other signs, the end being that the prisoners werehurried down to the edge of the water, and pushed toward the greatcanoe.
"All right!" cried Ned angrily. "I ain't a sack of oats: I can get in.Don't chuck a fellow into the tub."
Expostulation was useless, and the two were thrust down in the bottom;the blacks hurried in and took their places, each man seizing hispaddle, and in perfect silence they began to dip their blades into thesmooth water, the huge canoe began to move very slowly, and then bydegrees faster, the men paddling almost without a splash.
"The _Star_ must be pretty close at hand, Mr Jack," said Ned, as theyglided at last out of the little dark river into the bright, goldenwaters of the lagoon, "and they know it; that's how I take all theirplay-acting jigging about to mean."
"Yes, Ned, that's it. Oh, if we could only see her, or one of theboats! Which way are they going?"
"Well, Mr Jack," said Ned grimly, "I don't like to tell you; but itseems to me that we're off on a voyage to nigger-land, and yet thenewspapers say that slavery's nearly done away with now."
"Slavery?" said Jack, and his heart sank within him. "Oh, Ned, thatwould be awful."
"Better than being made beef and mutton of, Mr Jack. But don't you bedown-hearted; p'r'aps we may be together after all, and if we are, thereain't nothing I won't do to make it easier for you, sir, and we'll cutand run, as the sailors say, some day. Ups and downs in life we see;right-tooral-looral-looral-lee. There's only heads and tails to apenny, and if you spin it up in the air, it sometimes comes down oneside, and sometimes the other. Well, it's come down wrong way for usthis time, next time p'r'aps it may come down right. If it don't, well,you've got too much pluck in you to howl about it: so have I. Here, Idon't care; let's look at the bright side of things."
"Oh, Ned, how can we at a time like this?" groaned Jack.
"Easy, sir. It's all adventures, and it might be a jolly deal worse."
"How?"
"Why, this might be a poor old leaky canoe as wasn't safe, and all thetime it's a fizzer. See how it goes. Then we might have had a shabby,common-looking crew; but I will say it for them, spite of all the love Idon't bear for 'em, they're the blackest and shiniest set of fellows Iever did see. Look at their backs in the warm light; why, you might seeto shave in 'em--well, I might; you're lucky enough not to have anybeard yet."
"It don't seem as if I shall live to have one, Ned."
"Tchah! nonsense. You'll live to a hundred now. This voyage has made aman of you, my lad. All you've got to do is to keep up your pluck. Isay, look at 'em, Mr Jack; they paddle splendid. Talk about ourboat-races; why look here, I'd back these chaps. What's that old song?You know; voices keep toon and our oars keep time--only it's paddles.Row, brothers, row. Keep it up, niggers. Slaves indeed! why they'rethe slaves, not us; we're sitting here as jolly as two lords in a'lectric launch, going down to Richmond to eat whitebait and drinkchampagne. Let's see though, I don't mean Richmond, I mean Blackwall.Let's think we've got a crew of blacks taking us to Blackwall."
"Why, Ned!" cried Jack excitedly, "they're paddling straight across thelagoon for the reef."
"That's right, Mr Jack; so they are," said Ned recklessly. "Hooray!who cares! Go it, you black beggars. I say, Mr Jack, sir, look; didyou ever see such lovely heads of hair? They'd make splendidgrenadiers, and be an advantage to Government to 'list a lot of 'em.They'd come so cheap. They wouldn't want any clothes, and there theyare with their busbies a-growing already on their heads. Might call 'emthe Blackguards, and that's what they are."
"But, Ned, this long low canoe can never weather the waves on the reef."
"It can, sir, or they wouldn't go for it. Tend upon it they know aplace where they can get over, and that's how they came. What do itmatter to them if she fills with water? they only pop out over bothsides, and hold on and slop it out again, and then jump in. Water runsoff them like it does off ducks' backs. I believe they oil themselvesall over instead of using a bit of honest soap. Don't matter though;the dirt can't show. My word, we are going it. Straight for the reef."
Ned was right; the long canoe with its fifty men paddling glided overthe calm lagoon straight for where the great billows came curving overon to the coral reef with a deep boom, and it was now not above aquarter of a mile away.
"Take tightly hold of the side, Ned," said Jack excitedly. "You areright, they will manage it, I suppose, or they would not attempt it."
"Trust 'em for that, sir. I'll stick to the canoe like one of thoselimpet things; mind you do too. I say, I'm beginning to like it, ain'tyou?"
"It is exciting, Ned, and I don't think I mind."
"That's your style, sir. That's the true British boy speaking. Ah,it's no wonder we carry all before us when we don't get licked. Therenow, you look every inch of you like Sir John, and he'd be proud of you.Hooray! who cares! Go it, you black rascals. We shall go over thatreef like a flash. One of our boats with a big crew dare not attemptit, and--Oh, I say, look, Mr Jack, look. You were wishing for it, andthere it is, half-a-mile away--one of our boats coming to save us,and--"
"She'll be too late, Ned," groaned Jack, and, unseen by their captors,every man of whom had his back to them, and was working away with hispaddle, the lad rose softly in his place and waved his hand above hishead.
"Sit down, sir," whispered Ned excitedly. "It means a topper if theycatch you at it. But look, look, there's some one waving his helmet."
"Yes, yes," whispered back Jack, "it's father."
"Hooray!" said Ned softly. "But what are they firing for?"
"Signal that they see us, Ned," whispered back Jack hoarsely, as therewere two faint puffs of smoke seen and the reports followed.
"Too far off to try and swim to 'em, sir?"
"Yes, Ned," said Jack sadly, "and there are the sharks."
"Ugh! yes, sir. That won't do. Never mind, let's sit still. They'veseen us, and they'll have us now."
"But our boat can't follow through the surf."
"Can't!" cried Ned; "it has to. Never know what you can do till youtry."
The rush through the water had been exciting before; it was tenfold moreso now, and the prisoners looked wildly over the lagoon at the cutter,which was being pulled after them evidently with all the rowers' might,the oars dipping and the water flashing in the last rays of the sun asit dipped swiftly down. But Jack's heart sank again as he saw that theywould be crossing the reef while the rescue party were still half-a-mileaway.
Ned felt with him, and said softly--
"Oh, why don't they go back to the yacht and signal to 'em to get underweigh and go out in chase of us--cut us off on the other side?"
"But where is the yacht, Ned?" cried Jack. "She may be the other way."
"Ah, that's what we don't know, sir. There, we can't do anything butsit fast. You get your arm over that side, I'll hold on this."
There was little talking now, the two prisoners' attention being turnedto the reef in front, which the paddlers were now straining every nerveto reach at full speed. Suddenly a couple of the blacks sprung up, cameaft past where Jack and Ned sat, and thrust a long paddle over the sternto help i
n the steering, which so far had been managed by the paddlersthemselves, one side easing when it was necessary.
The two men said something as they passed, but took no more notice ofthem, and after looking sharply ahead for a few moments, Jack turned togaze at the pursuing boat, coming on steadily now. But the next minuteit looked dim, then it died out of sight, for the canoe had entered intothe mist of fine spray raised by the billows on the reef, and directlyafter they were in a thick fog, as they rushed into the tremendous raceof waters leaping and surging about them. The long canoe quivered, themen behind them yelled, and were answered by a fierce shout as the crewfrantically plunged their paddles into the yielding foam water, whilethe spray blinded, the canoe bumped again and again, and then all atonce began to rise, till she seemed as if she were going to fallbackward prow over stern.
"It's all over with us," thought Jack; but the next moment she began tosink toward the horizontal, hung for a second or two level, and thenglided down after a tremendous pitch, rose again, and then began to racealong on the top of a huge billow which foamed and raved hungrily bytheir side.
This was repeated again and again, but the canoe shipped very littlewater, and before Jack could realise that they were in safety, the wildexcitement and confusion of the tumbling water was at an end, and theywere being paddled away out to the open sea in the fast-comingtransparent darkness of the brief evening, with a wall of white watersbehind.