CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
WHY EBONY WOULD NOT SAY GOOD-BYE.
It was with feelings full of regret that we said good-bye to our blackfriend at the end of a month; for by that time the want of freshspecimens made my uncle say that it was time to be on the move. Wecould have gone on shooting scarlet lories, nutmeg pigeons, and pittasas long as we liked, but that would have been wanton work, and unclediscovered that the neighbouring islands would, wherever we went, giveus fresh supplies and present to us birds and insects such as we hadnever seen before, so at last we prepared to start, and with some littledifficulty made Mr Ebony understand that we wanted a good supply ofsago, fruit, and fish for our voyage.
At first he could not understand that we were going right away, but assoon as he did comprehend our signs the poor fellow looked miserable,for he had regularly attached himself to us all the time of our stay,and he was inconsolable at the idea of our going.
He helped us, however, to load our boat, and would have given us fishenough for twenty people would we have taken it; and at last, just afteran early breakfast, we bade farewell to the beautiful island, and wavingan adieu to the people, of whom we had seen very little, we turned toshake hands with our black friend, both my uncle and I having ready apresent for him; mine being a handy little hatchet, my uncle's a largetwo-bladed knife.
To our surprise, though, as we stood down on the sands he refused toshake hands with us, looking very serious and glum, and when we gave himour presents, thinking that they would bring a smile to his face, hetook them quickly and threw them into the bottom of the boat.
"It is a pity," said my uncle, "for I do not like the idea of partingbad friends, Nat, my boy. I'd give something if I could speak to thepoor fellow in his own language and tell him that we are not ungratefulfor all his kindness."
"I often wish we could speak in their own tongue, uncle," I said.
"Yes, Nat, but it is next to impossible, for there are fifty or sixtydifferent dialects spoken. There, offer to shake hands with him again.You two were always such good friends."
I offered my hand to the black chief, but he put his own behind him andpointed to the boat, as much, it seemed to me, as to say, "There, you'vegot all you want now; go away."
My uncle tried with no better success, and as the natives were gatheringabout us we reluctantly got in where the beautiful canoe lay heaving onthe sands as the great rollers came in.
Everything was in readiness, our boxes snugly stowed, our provisionsready, our guns in their waterproof cases, the sail lay ready forhoisting, and all that was wanted now was to wait until a good wave camein and then shove off and ride out on it as it retired.
The canoe was so large that I wondered whether we should be able tomanage it ourselves; but I had full confidence in my uncle's skill, andit seemed to me that my help now ought to be of some use. So I seizedthe pole that lay ready, and prepared to use it; but Mr Ebony, as wehad somehow got into the habit of calling him now, said something to thelittle crowd on the sands, when, as he took the lead, eight or nine raninto the water, seized the boat by the sides, and ran her right outforty or fifty yards to where the water was up to their breasts, when,giving us a final thrust, away we went upon the top of a roller, myuncle hoisting the sail at the right moment, and we glided on.
I had seized a great paddle used for steering and taken care to keep theboat's head right, laughing to myself the while, and wondering what myuncle would say when he turned round, for he was hauling up the sail andtoo busy to notice anything but his work.
When at last he did turn round, just as we had glided lightly a goodfive hundred yards from the shore, he cried out: "Hallo!"
For there, just in front of me, squatting down upon his heels and withall his white teeth displayed, was Mr Ebony, apparently quite at home,and without the slightest intention of going back.
"Why, what does this mean?" said my uncle, and he pointed to the shore.
But Mr Ebony had no intention of going, and if we had not learned muchof his language, he had picked up something of ours, for he began toshout, "No, no, no, no, no," till he was out of breath, and layinghimself down he took tight hold of one of the thwarts of the canoe, asif to say that he meant to cling to that if we tried to throw him over.
"This is why he wouldn't shake hands, Nat," said my uncle. "He couldn'tswim ashore now, for the sharks, so I suppose he means to come with us.Let's see."
My uncle pointed to the shore, but Mr Ebony shook his head, so UncleDick pointed right ahead eastward, in the direction we were going, andour black friend nodded, and jumping up danced about, grinning andmuttering excitedly the while.
"Well, Nat," said my uncle, "what's to be done? He wants to go withus."
"Can't we take him, uncle?" I replied.
"Oh yes, Nat, we can take him," he replied; "and he would be veryuseful. Only it comes upon me like a surprise. It is, of course, agood thing to have a black with us, for it will teach the people we comeacross that we are friendly, even if we cannot make them understand,though, I dare say, Ebony here will be able sometimes to act asinterpreter."
"Ebo-Nee, Ebo-Nee, Ebo-Nee," cried our passenger loudly; and he began tobeat his chest to show that he comprehended whom we meant.
Then touching me on the chest he cried with great eagerness, "Nat, myboy--Nat, my boy," looking delighted when we laughed; and to givefurther example of his powers as a linguist, he next touched my uncle ashe had touched me.
"Ung-go-Dit, Ung-go-Dit," he cried, finishing off by slapping his nakedflesh, and shouting, "Ebo-Nee, Ebo-Nee."
"Very good, Master Ebo-Nee," said Uncle Dick; "since you are so apt atlearning, you may as well go on and pick up our words, for I quitedespair of learning yours."
The black was shrewd enough to see that we accepted his presence, andupon this he shook hands with us both twice over and then took the greatpaddle from my hand, steering and showing himself thoroughly skilful inthe management of our canoe.
My uncle pointed east as the course he wanted to go; but our crew, as wecalled him, rose in mutiny directly, pointing south, and handing thepaddle back to me he grew very excited, saying, "Bird, bird," flappinghis arms like wings and uttering screeches, whistles, and cries, beforelifting an imaginary gun to his shoulder and uttering the word "Bang!"
"That is plain enough to understand, Nat," said my uncle.
"Yes," I replied; "he means that there are plenty of parrots and otherbirds on some island where he will take us."
"Bird, bird," cried Ebo-Nee, as we called him henceforth, and he pointedsouth-west.
"It does not much matter where we go, Nat," said my uncle, "so long aswe visit islands where naturalists have never been before, so I shalltrust to our friend here. We can get to New Guinea at any time now, forit lies all along the north. All right, go on then," said my uncle toEbo-Nee, and he nodded and smiled, pointing to what looked like a mistupon the water far away.
"Nat, ung, shoot," cried Ebo eagerly; "shoot, shoot, shoot."
"Why, we shall have quite an English scholar on board soon, Nat," saidmy uncle laughing; and then in turns we held the sheet as the swiftcanoe glided over the sunlit waves till the island we had left began togrow dim in the distance and its mountains to sink, as it were, beneaththe wave, while the place to which we were going grew less misty andindistinct.
It was evidently very high land, and as we drew nearer we could see thatright and left of it there were other islands apparently of goodly size.
Mid-day came and we made a hearty meal, the canoe, urged by the softbrisk breeze, still gliding onwards till towards evening, when we weresufficiently near the land we approached to make out that it was verybleak and bare and sterile. There was a ridge of mountains in thecentral portion, but as we examined the place with the glass it lookedas blank and uninviting as could be.
"Not a sign of an inhabitant," said my uncle. "I'm afraid we have madea mistake, Nat; but perhaps one of the other islands may prove moreinviting."
He
continued his inspection and went on talking. "There are plenty oftraces of sea-birds," he continued, "for the cliffs are covered withguano; but it is not their breeding season, and I cannot see a singlebird. But he is not making straight for the sands. Why don't you tryto land there?"
Ebo shook his head, and then laughed and said, "No," steering the canoeto the left of the island. And so we sailed on till it was so nearsunset that it would be dark in half an hour, when our crew, who hadevidently been here before, suddenly steered the canoe into a cove wellsheltered from the rollers, and lowering the sail we ran her up on thesoft sands quite clear of the sea, Ebo at once setting to workcollecting dry drift-wood to make a fire.
He pointed out a sheltered spot among some heaped-up rocks where thesand had been blown up by tempests into a soft bed, and here, after avery hearty meal well cooked over the fire Ebo had made, we lay down tosleep; my uncle having climbed to the top of the rocks and swept theisland with his glass, returning to say that there was not a trace of ahuman being.
We slept soundly and well out there in that little storm-swept island,but no storms disturbed us, and the first thing I heard after lying downwas the crackling of wood as Ebo piled it up to make a good fire.
As soon as he saw me awake he beckoned me to go to the boat, and there,taking the fish we had brought out of the basket, he smelt it, made medo the same, and then threw all but one small silvery fellow into thesea.
"Hullo!" cried my uncle, "isn't that waste, Nat?" for he had advancedover the sands unheard.
"I think so, uncle, but he means to catch some fresh."
That was evidently Ebo's intentions, for he cut up the silvery fish intoscraps for bait, and then signing to us to help him, we launched thecanoe, paddled out half a mile, and then threw over a couple of lines,Ebo showing his teeth with delight as he drew in quickly a couple ofgood-sized mullet-looking fish, a couple more, and another soon comingto my line.
But Ebo was not satisfied till we had caught five or six times as manyas seemed necessary. Then and then only did we paddle ashore.
It was soon evident why Ebo had wanted so many fish, for after cleaningand setting enough for our breakfasts to roast, he prepared the rest andput them to cook while we made a hearty meal.
This being ended my uncle rose.
"Well, Nat," he said, "this seems a terribly sterile place, but we mayas well have a look round; one finds good specimens sometimes inunlikely spots. Let's get our guns."
Ebo was watching us intently all the time, evidently trying tocomprehend us and directly after he, to our utter astonishment, shoutedout: "no gun; no shoot; no gun; no bird. Boat, boat, boat, boat."
He pointed to the canoe, and then right to sea again, and seeing uslaugh he burst into a hearty fit himself, ending by dancing about andputting the freshly cooked fish on board, where we followed him and oncemore launched upon the tropic sea.
It was plain enough that this was only a resting-place upon our way, foras soon as the sail was hoisted Ebo took the paddle and steered ussouth-west, leaving larger islands to right and left though nothing wasvisible ahead.
"I suppose we must trust him, Nat," said my uncle; "but it does lookrather wild work cruising these seas in an open canoe, quite at themercy of a savage whose language we cannot speak."
"But I think he must have been here before, uncle," I replied.
"No doubt about it, my boy."
"Nat, my boy," cried Ebo laughing, for he had caught part of my uncle'sspeech.
"Yes, he has been here before, and probably has touched at some placewhere he has seen, or thinks he has seen, plenty of birds. At any rate,if the weather holds fair it will not be such a very difficult thing torun for some island for shelter."
I had been thinking the same thing, that it seemed a very riskyproceeding to sail right out to sea under the guidance of this savage;but there was so much romance and novelty in the idea of sailing awaylike Columbus in search of a new land, that I thoroughly enjoyed it, andthe farther we sailed the more excited I grew.
It was now plain enough why Ebo had insisted upon a good supply of fish,for we dined off it and then made our evening meal of the same, no landbeing in sight, and when at last the lower edge of the sun seemed totouch the crimson water, sending a path of light right to our canoe,whose sail it seemed to turn to ruddy gold, there was still no land insight.
My uncle stood up and used the glass, gazing straight before him in thedirection that seemed to be our goal; but Ebo shook his head, and thenclosed his eyes and made believe to sleep, pointing to us in turn.
"He wants us to lie down and sleep, Nat," said my uncle, "but it is outof the question;" and he shook his head.
Ebo tried again and again to get us to lie down, but finding that wewould not, he sat there laughing and looking as merry as could be,although there was no land in sight, and at last, when the sun wasdisappearing, he placed the paddle in my uncle's hand, pointingsouth-south-west as the course to be steered, after which he lay downand went off fast asleep.
I sat talking to my uncle and holding the sheet, though the breeze wasso steady it seemed to be quite unnecessary, while he steered the canoeonward through the darkness, taking the stars for his compass, till themotion of the boat and the darkness combined to send me off into a deepsleep. I had closed my eyes and started up several times before, butthis last time, when I opened my eyes again a was to see the blackfigure of Ebo seated there steering, with the sun just above thehorizon, and my uncle stretched in the bottom of the canoe fast asleep.
Ebo grinned as I stared at him, and then as I looked about I found thatfar away to the west there was land that we must have passed in thenight, but still we were sailing on as it were into space.
The water now was bright golden again, and the air felt delicious; but Ibegan to wish that we were at our journey's end, and pointing ahead Itried to learn from our steersman how much farther he was going to takeus.
His reply was to point straight ahead, and we were still speeding on,when, after five or six hours' sleep, my uncle jumped up intowakefulness, ready to partake of the waiting meal of cold fish,biscuits, and fruit; the coffee, which in a case like this I made bymeans of a spirit-lamp, being kept in abeyance for a time.
"Well, Nat," he said, "is our wild-goose chase nearly at an end? Island in sight?"
"No, uncle," I said, after gazing carefully ahead. Just then Ebopointed to the telescope, and made signs to my uncle to use it.
"Look through?" he said to the black. "All right, my friend, I will;"and placing it to his eye as he stood up in the boat he cried to me as Ieagerly watched him, "Land ahead, Nat, and apparently a wooded shore!"