CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
SOMETHING SHARP.
The Malay had ascended, as already said, to within ten or twelve feetfrom the lower limbs of the tree, and was still engaged driving in hispegs and binding on the upright bamboo to continue his ascent, when allat once he was seen to start and abruptly suspend operations. At thesame time an exclamation escaped his lips, in a low tone, but seeminglyin accents of alarm.
They all looked up apprehensively, and also started away from the tree;for they expected to see him come tumbling down in their midst. But no;he was still standing firm upon the last made round of the ladder, andin an erect attitude, as if he had no fear of falling. With one hand heheld the axe, the other gently grasping the upright bamboo that servedhim for a support. Instead of looking down to them, to call out orclaim their assistance, they saw that his eyes were turned upward andfixed, as if on some object directly over his head. It did not appearto be among the branches of the durion, but as if in the trunk of thetree; and in the interval of silence that succeeded his first quickexclamation, they could hear a hissing sound, such as might proceed fromthe throat of a goose when some stranger intrudes upon the domain of thefarmyard. As it was carried down the smooth stem of the durion, whichacted as a conductor, the spectators underneath guessed it was not agoose, but some creature of a less innocent kind.
"A snake, be japers!" was the conjecture that dropped from theship-carpenter's lips, while the same thought occurred simultaneously tothe others; for they could think of no living thing, other than aserpent, capable of sending forth such a sibilant sound as that justheard.
"What is it, Saloo?" hailed Captain Redwood; "are you in any danger?"
"No dangee, cappen; only little bit good luck, that all," was thecheering response that restored their confidence.
"How good luck?" asked the captain, puzzled to think of what fortunecould have turned up in their favour so high above their heads.
"You see soon," rejoined the Malay, taking a fresh peg from his girdle,and once more resuming his task at stair-making.
While he was engaged in hammering, and between the resounding strokes,they at the bottom of the tree repeatedly heard the same hissing soundthey had taken for the sibilations of a snake, and which they mightstill have believed to be this, but for a hoarse croaking voice,mingling with the sibilation, which reached their ears at intervals,evidently proceeding from the same throat.
Moreover, as they continued to gaze upward, watching Saloo at his work,they caught sight of something in motion on the trunk, and about a footabove his face. It was something of a whitish colour and slender shape,pointed like one of the bamboo pegs he was busily driving at. Now theysaw it, and now they did not see it; for whatever it was, it was sunkinside the trunk of the durion-tree, alternately protruding and drawingback. It was also clear to them, that from this sharp-pointed thing,whether beast, bird, or reptile, came the hissing and hoarse croakingthat puzzled them.
"What is it?" again asked the captain, now no longer anxious or alarmed,but only curious to know what the strange creature could be.
"Buld, cappen--biggee buld."
"Oh, a bird, that's all; what sort of bird?"
"Honbill; ole hen hornbill. She on ha ness inside, hatchee egg; shebuilt up in dat; ole cock he shuttee up with mud."
"Oh, a hornbill!" said the captain, repeating the name of the bird forthe information of those around him; and now that they more narrowlyscrutinised the spot where the white-pointed beak was still bobbing outand in, they could perceive that there was a patch or space of irregularroundish shape, slightly elevated above the bark, having a plasteredappearance, and of the colour of dry mud. They had barely time to makethis last observation, when Saloo, having got another peg planted so asto enable him to ascend high enough, turned the edge of his axe againstthe trunk of the durion, and commenced chipping off the mud, that nowfell in flakes to the bottom of the tree.
It took him only a very short time to effect a breach into thebarricaded nest--one big enough to admit his hand with the fingers atfall spread.
His arm was at once thrust in up to the elbow; and as his digits closedfearlessly around the throat of the old hen hornbill, she was drawnforth from her place of imprisonment.
For a time she was seen in Saloo's hands, convulsively writhing andflopping her great wings, like a turkey gobbler with his head suddenlycut off. There was some screaming, hissing, and croaking, but to allthese sounds Saloo quickly put an end, by taking a fresh grasp of thethroat of the great bird, choking the breath out of it until the wingsceased fluttering; and then he flung its body down at the feet of thespectators.
Saloo did not descend immediately, but once more thrust his hand intothe nest, hoping, no doubt, to find an egg or eggs in it. Instead ofthese, the contents proved to be a bird--and only one--a chick recentlyhatched, about the size of a squab-pigeon, and fat as a fed ortolan.Unlike the progeny of the megapodes, hatched in the hot sand, the infanthornbill was without the semblance of a feather upon its skin, which wasall over of a green, yellowish hue. There was not even so much as ashow of down upon it.
For a moment Saloo held it in his hand, hissing as it was in his owntiny way. Then chucking it down after its murdered mother, where itfell not only killed, but "squashed," he prepared to descend in a lesshasty manner. He now saw no particular need for their dining ondurions, at least on that particular day; and therefore discontinued histask upon the bamboo ladder, which could be completed on the morrow, orwhenever the occasion called for it.