A landing was successfully made in the surf, the men leaping from theboat and dragging her ashore, waist-deep in water. Dense foliage, amongwhich could be seen the huge fronds of the banana, and broad-leavedbreadfruit trees grew almost down to the dazzlingly white beach. Furtherback great palms, laden with cocoanuts, towered majestically above thetropic growth.
"There seems to be no sign of a village here," said the captain.
"Perhaps it is on the other side of the island," suggested Jack.
"Well, we'll tramp along the beach and see what we can find," decidedthe man in command of the "expedition."
Four men were told off to guard the boat, with orders to fire threeshots if anything out of the way occurred. The party in search of thevillage was to signal in the same way if anything untoward happened andthey needed help.
"Shall we carry the rifles?" asked Jack.
"Yes; but try to conceal them as much as possible," counseled thecaptain.
They set off along the beach, walking briskly, for the sand was firm andhard. Looking back at the anchored yacht, they could see the glitter ofthe machine-gun with a man stationed beside it. The gun was trained onthe shore ready for instant use against any possible attack. Aftertraversing a short distance they came in sight of what appeared to be apathway. The condition of it showed that it was much traveled andprobably it formed the high road to the village.
Captain Sparhawk decided to follow it. In single file the adventurersadvanced along the track which wound in and out, dodging trees and rocksin a manner peculiar to most savage trails whose makers would rather goround an obstacle than clear it out of the way. There was a gloomy skyoverhead and the wind boomed dolefully among the palms, making a noiselike sheets of rain falling as their big fan-like leaves rustled andscraped against each other.
A hundred rods or so from the coast they found themselves in a ravinewhich towered up steeply on each side of the track. This canyon appearedto penetrate the centre of the island, the interior of which was hilly.
"I guess the village, if there is one, must be clear round the otherside of the island," said Billy Raynor, between bites at a banana he hadpicked from a bush at the side of the trail. Others of the party weremunching on oranges and a fruit the captain called a "custard apple,"the latter a large, brown-colored "apple," filled with a yellow pastethat looked and tasted like custard.
"There's one thing certain, the high cost of living need never worrythese fellows," remarked Jack.
"Not if they're content to be vegetarians," said Billy.
"They don't need to be that," said the captain, "the seas hereaboutsteem with fish--and look there!"
There was a rush and a clatter of falling stones just ahead of them as aflock of goats, half-wild creatures, with wonderfully agile legs, leapedup the sides of the canyon and then, at a safe height, stood gazing downat the invaders of the island.
"These South Sea islanders prefer goat's meat to anything except pork,"said the captain; "in fact, the cannibals pay the doubtful compliment tohuman flesh of calling it 'long pig.'"
This mention of cannibalism made the boys feel rather uncomfortable.Although the captain reassured them and they knew that the horriblepractice of eating human flesh had all but died out in the South Seas,except in some remote islands, they did not know but the one they wereexploring might prove to be one of the latter. It was just as theirminds were busy with these disquieting thoughts that Jack gave a sharpexclamation and came to a halt.
The fronds of a banana tree had parted suddenly in front of the lad whowas in advance of the party.
Between the green leaves a hideous face, daubed with red and whitepaint, suddenly glared out at the boy and then, as swiftly, vanished.
CHAPTER X.--CHUMMING WITH SAVAGES.
So quickly had this happened that none of the others had seen it. ButJack quickly apprised them of his discovery.
"If the man's face was painted, would that mean he was on the war-path?"asked Billy rather nervously.
"Not necessarily," rejoined the captain, "but still, he might behostile. On feast days the natives paint themselves up and that may havebeen the reason for his decorations."
"Ugh! He was hideous enough to stop a clock or scare a locomotive offthe track," exclaimed Jack.
"The village must be near at hand," said the captain presently. "Let uspress on."
They had reached the end of the ravine now, having crossed almost theentire island. The path widened and others branched off from it. Butthey stuck to the main thoroughfare and in a few moments came in sightof a native village lying not far back from the shore and amidst a groveof magnificent palms.
The rhythmical throbbing of tom-toms reached their ears and they couldsee natives dancing in their peculiar swaying manner to the sound of theskin drums. Suddenly the dancing ceased. The natives in a swarm, amongthem the man with the painted face, descended on the travelers. Manywore flowers in their hair and others added to these decorations bybrass rings in their noses and ear-rings composed of old china doorknobs. The men were remarkably handsome and the women pretty.
After the first uncertainty as to their reception, there was no doubt oftheir friendliness as they pressed about. Several of them could talkEnglish and the captain soon learned that they were indeed on one of thePamatou group, as he had surmised. The village, which was celebrating afeast day, was one of two on the island occupied by pearl fishers. Thenatives were civilized; schooners and ships frequently touching there.To the south of them they said were "bad men," meaning cannibals, andthe boys were glad they had not landed on one of them.
Nothing would do but that the white men must sit down and partake of thefeast which was just ready. The boys stuffed themselves with roast pork,goat-meat, sweet potatoes, yams, roasted bread-fruit, fish and fruit.They washed this down with cocoanut milk. During the meal, a youngPamatouan attached himself to each of the boys. Each of these lads wasabout sixteen and wore, like most of the rest, a single white garment,although some of the natives sported trousers, and a few even hadshoes--which they carried in their hands!
The two lads, who had thrust their services on Jack and Billy, informedthem that they were their friends and would be so all the time the _SeaGypsy_ lay at the island. They waited on the amused boys hand and foot,not letting them do anything. Jack's acquisition was called Bolabola;Billy's savage servitor was called, so he said, Anai. Each could speak alittle English and they informed the boys that they were "their friendsfor always." From the captain the lads learned that this is a commoncustom among the islanders who value the friendship of a white manhighly, and think it an honor and a credit to wait on him. He suggestedgiving them some little presents. Jack presented Bolabola with apocket-knife and Billy gave Anai a fountain pen, having nothing elsewith him. Anai promptly stuck the pen through a big hole bored in thelobe of his ear and capered about delighted with his new ornament.
When it came time to go back to the ship, the friendly natives could nothear of the adventurers trudging back on foot. A great war canoe waslaunched and paddled by fifty strapping natives, singing musically, andso they were paddled round the island in state. On their arrival at theship, the boat which had been left under guard was signalled to return,and presents of calico, straw hats, cheap cutlery and glass beads andfish-hooks and lines,--the latter highly prized,--were dealt out fromthe yacht's stores. The natives swarmed all over the ship and it washard to induce them to leave at all. As for Bolabola and Anai, theyrefused to go till they had extracted promises from their "friends,"Jack and Billy, to visit them ashore and visit a pearl cave they knew ofalong the coast.
This exactly suited the boys, and their delight, when Mr. Jukes decidedto stay at the island for some days, was unbounded. The reason for thedecision to remain there was arrived at after the millionaire had held aconsultation with Captain Sparhawk. Tahiti was not far off, and thatnight Jack was ordered to raise the wireless station on the Frenchisland and find out if a small vessel could not be despatched at oncewith
coal to replenish the _Sea Gypsy's_ exhausted bunkers.
The next morning Jack had the satisfaction of informing Mr. Jukes thatthe details had been arranged and that a small tramp steamer might beexpected to come to their relief in a few days. The expense wasconsiderable, but this did not appear to bother Mr. Jukes, who chafed atthe delay in his search for the survivors, if any there were, of the_Centurion_.
CHAPTER XI.--THE CAVE OF THE PEARLS.
Two days later, following the arrival at the island of the coal ship--asmall, rusty tramp steamer--the boys set out for the village to meettheir friends, who had swum out to the ship almost daily, despite thesharks, to see the white youths. As they left the yacht they sawThurman, who had been put to work in the crew, laboring with the otherblackened "hands" at getting the fuel on board.
"He doesn't look as if he liked his job much," said Jack.
"He ought to be glad he's alive," supplemented Billy Raynor. "I wonderif he has really mended his ways or if it was just the effect of hisscare that made him promise to reform."
"Impossible to say," replied Jack, "but time will show, I guess."
The boys found their friends on the beach with a long, cranky-lookingcanoe, paddled with wonderfully carved paddles. In the canoe werebananas, roast pork and other delicacies; also several empty cocoanutshells.
"What are those for?" asked Jack, looking at the latter.
"We put um pearl in them if so be we get any," grinned Anai.
"Do you really think we'll get any?" asked Billy.
"No can say. Think cave good place. You ready?"
"Whenever you are," said Jack, taking his place in the canoe, whileBilly followed his example. The two native lads shoved off and sprang onboard with wonderful agility, driving the canoe through the surf and uponto the summit of a huge wave, where it hung poised for an instant likea bird. The next moment they had shot with powerful strokes through therollers and were out beyond the danger line of the surf.
They passed through a noisy fleet of fishers, all of whom greeted them,and then the canoe was headed for a green headland some distance downthe coast. The sun glowed fiercely overhead, the surf boomed unceasinglyon the beach and the reef beyond, the water hissed along the sides ofthe canoe as the two athletic young natives urged forward amid shouts.
Looking over the side, Jack could see the coral bottom as clearly as ifan inch instead of many feet of water separated it from the frail canoe.It was almost as if they were floating in the air. Fish of brilliantcolors darted about and once a dark, sinister shade appeared beneath thecanoe. The Kanaka boys shouted and beat the water with their paddles.The dark shadow melted away.
"Him very bad shark," said Anai. "White men call him tiger shark. Worstkind of all shark."
"I'd hate to bathe around here," observed Jack.
"Oh, him all right, most generally scare him away, kick, splash, makeebig noise, he go 'way."
"Yes, but suppose he refused to be scared," objected Billy.
"Then maybe he takee off leg, arm, maybe swallow you all up."
The long, curved point soon hid the fishers in front of the village fromview. Rounding it, they found themselves skimming along a coast ofsurpassing beauty. Steep, majestic cliffs arose from the clear water andlong green creepers from the forest above trailed over them.
At last the prow of the canoe was turned and the boys saw that thefurious paddlers were heading at top speed for the cliffs.
"Hey, stop that, you'll smash the canoe!" cried Jack, as, without anydiminution of speed, the canoe was urged with wild shouts from thepaddlers right at the rocky escarpment.
"They've gone crazy," exclaimed Billy, "they----"
He did not conclude what he was going to say. Instead, he set up a cryof alarm as the prow of the canoe was hurled at the cliff at a spotwhere a regular curtain of lianas and other forest trailers dependedfrom above.
Swish, whoosh, went the canoe, as it shot through the parasites andcreepers. The boys instinctively ducked their heads. Instead of beingdashed to destruction against the cliff, the frail craft had been guidedinto this singular cave, one of many along the coast, through thegreenery portal. Both the Kanaka boys set up a shout of laughter at theexpense of Jack and Billy, who looked rather sheepish at their latealarm.
They were in a dark passage that led into an inner water cave filledwith an eternal sunless twilight that was very refreshing to them afterthe heat and glare outside. The canoe shot through the passage and intothe cave itself, the boys uttering a shout of admiration the while.
"Look," said Anai, pointing upward.
Overhead was a marvelously perfect, natural dome, with a large hole inthe centre through which shafts of sunlight fell into the cave and werereflected from the water with a greenish light.
"Look," ordered the Kanaka boy again.
The boys obeyed and gazed over the side of the canoe. Below them,through several feet of crystal-clear water, they could see bowers ofcoral, white and pink, with fish darting in and out of the chinks andcrossing prismatically, while others hung motionless as if suspended,fanning the water incessantly with their gauzy fins. It was the mostwonderful water picture the boys had ever seen.
CHAPTER XII.--A TRAP!
"We eat. Then we go get pearls," decided Anai.
The boys, whose appetites had been sharpened by the trip, were notaverse to this, and they made a hearty meal. After it the two nativeboys produced leaves in which betel nuts had been carefully wrapped upand offered them to Jack and Billy, both of whom declined them. But Anaiand his friend began chewing the spicy nuts with great zest.
A canoe-length from where they floated a clear rill of water stolenoiselessly down from above, mingling its sweet waters with the sea.After demolishing their betel nuts, the chewing of which is a well-nighuniversal custom in the South Seas, the two native boys stood erect andthen bound their long black hair in knots on the top of their heads.
Then, with a shout, they balanced gracefully for a second on the edge ofthe canoe and plunged over. They floated for a minute or two and thendived, after inhaling immense breaths. To the boys, watching the diversthrough the clear water, it looked as if they were literally climbingdown, head first, through the pellucid depths.
Then they saw both the Kanaka lads wrenching oyster shells from theirhold on the coral with furious energy. It seemed impossible that theycould stay under water as long as they did, but at length, even theirwonderful endurance gave out and, laden with shells, they shot back tothe surface.
Reaching the canoe, the two divers hung almost exhausted on theoutrigger, regaining their breath after they had thrown several oystersinto the canoe, which the boys opened eagerly, but only two small pearlsrewarded them. The two Kanaka boys showed plainly the stress of the longtime they had stayed down. Their eyes were bloodshot and their facessuffused. Their veins stood out on their bodies like cords.
The boys begged them not to go down again, but they insisted.
"How often do you mean to dive?" asked Billy.
"One, maybe two, three time," said Anai.
"Nobody can dive more than three time," declared the other. "Him bad ifdive too many time. Makee much sick."
"I should think so," said Jack. "I wouldn't have thought it possible forany one to stay down so long. It's wonderful."
The next two dives yielded three more pearls from a dozen or moreoysters. None of them were of any great value but the two diversinsisted on presenting them to the boys.
"Me try get you very good pearl some udder day," promised Anai, and hiscompanion nodded to show that he meant to help in the enterprise.
"Hullo, what's that?" asked Jack suddenly, after they had chatted andrested for some time and began to think about returning. There was abooming sound in the air and the waters of the cave began to becomeagitated, rocking the canoe dangerously.
Overhead, through the dome, they could see that the sky had darkened.
"Me think storm come. Better get out of
here," said Anai, lookingtroubled. "Him bad time of year for storms."
"Goodness, I should say so," declared Jack. "We've been in two bad onesalready."
"That's how we got blown here," added Billy.
"We thinkee that good storm blow you here, white boys," said Anai.
The sky grew darker, and every now and then a big roller entirely filledthe mouth of the cavern, blinding them with spray. Having spent itsfury, these great waves retired with a concussion that was deafening,dragging the canoe with fearful velocity toward the mouth of the cave byits suction. At such times they only saved themselves from being sweptout to sea by grasping the hanging curtain of creepers and vines. Anaiand his companion baled the canoe with a big shell, but the boys feltthat their position was an awkward and even a dangerous one.
Another great wave burst, sealing up the cave as if it was an air-tightcompartment, and making the waters of the cavern boil and seethefuriously. The pressure of air caused by the sudden rush of wateraffected the boys' ears as if they had been suddenly placed in acaisson.
"This is terrible," cried Jack.
"Something will have to be done," said Billy. "We can't last in heremuch longer."
"Are we in danger, Anai?" asked Jack.
"We in very bad fix; but we getee out all right," the Kanaka assuredhim, stopping his bailing.
"They've got some plan in their head," decided Jack, and sat down in thebottom of the cranky, frail canoe to see what the next move was to be.It was a startling one. The two youths seized their paddles and then, asthe next wave receded, they shot out of the mouth of the cave like abomb from a mortar, before either Jack or Billy could guess theirintention or stop what seemed sheer madness on the Kanakas' part, andplaced all their lives in grave danger. Outside they found themselves inthe teeth of a howling gale. Spray blinded them, flying over them insheets.