Part 26 (2/2)
”The canoe, the canoe, where is she?”
We all of us jumped up and hurried to the beach, when what was our dismay to find that the tree to which the canoe had been made fast had, riven by the storm, fallen and crushed it to pieces. On examining it we saw at once that to repair it would be hopeless, and we had now only to make up our minds once more to continue our journey overland.
Fortunately we had still enough ammunition remaining to kill game for our support, but it was necessary carefully to husband it, Charley at once called a council of war.
”One thing is certain. We must not delay,” he observed, ”for even when we do reach the coast, we don't know how long we may be detained, and unless we fall in with friendly savages we may find it difficult to procure food; or, perhaps, indeed have to fight our way. We are bound also to protect the blacks who are trusting to us, for depend upon it, every attempt will be made by the slave-trading rascals on the coast to detain them.”
Every one agreed with Charley, and without loss of time we commenced our march. I have already described travelling in Africa, so that I need not enter into the details of the journey we performed. We pa.s.sed through the neighbourhood of several villages, from the inhabitants of which, with the remainder of the beads and the trinkets we possessed, we purchased food so that we were able to husband our powder and shot. Two attempts were made to carry off our black friends, but by showing a bold front and by pus.h.i.+ng on, we prevented them from being made prisoners.
The health of all the party was wonderfully preserved, indeed the climate, though so close under the line--from the nature of the soil--is superior to that further north. At length to our great joy we caught sight from a rising ground of the blue ocean sparkling in the distance.
We had been two weeks performing the journey. We found that we had hit the sh.o.r.e some way to the south of the river, at a spot where a fine sheltered bay afforded a tempting harbour to any s.h.i.+ps cruising off the coast, and the clear sparkling stream, which flowed down from the hill side at which vessels could obtain water, made it still more a likely spot to be touched at.
We accordingly determined to pitch our camp there, near a wood from which we could obtain materials for building huts, and an ample supply of fuel for our fires as well as game for our food. It seemed surprising that no blacks should have taken up their abode in what appeared to us so fine a situation. We lost no time in erecting our huts, and making ourselves, as Tom called it, ”at home.”
Of course we could not tell how long we might be detained there. Day after day pa.s.sed by, no s.h.i.+p appeared in sight. At length Charley proposed proceeding to the northward, but Harry and I urged him to wait patiently a little longer.
That same evening my brother and I had strolled out from our camp to enjoy the freshness of the breeze along the sea sh.o.r.e. A light wind played over the water, the stars shone forth with wonderful brilliancy.
We were tempted to sit down on the rocks, where we remained talking over our prospects for some time, when Charley exclaimed--
”Look there, d.i.c.k, look there! a vessel, as I'm alive, she's standing into the bay. She's no stranger to it, or she would not come here during the dark. We must make a signal and try to attract her attention, though it is pretty certain that she will send a boat on sh.o.r.e early in the morning, yet it will be trying to have to wait until then to know what she is.”
There was abundance of drift wood on the beach which we quickly collected, and Charley having fortunately a tinder-box in his pocket, we had no difficulty in kindling a blaze. As soon as we got a brand burning I took it up, and swinging it round my head threw it high into the air. A second and a third time I did the same, when as I threw up a fourth brand, the signal was answered by a rocket which rose from the vessel.
Before many minutes were over we heard the splash of oars, and could distinguish a boat. We both shouted, our hail was answered by an English voice. In another five minutes the stem of the boat touched the beach, and a person sprang on sh.o.r.e.
”Who are you? where do you come from?” exclaimed a voice which I well knew. It was that of Captain Magor. The next instant we were all warmly shaking hands.
Harry and Tom hearing our shouts had hurried down to the beach. Our surprise and satisfaction were mutual. We very quickly told him our adventures, and he then informed us that he had played the same trick on the pirates which they had played on Lieutenant Hallton, and that having recaptured the ”Arrow” he had carried her safely back to England, and that he had now just arrived on the coast, the only misfortune which had happened to him being the death of a young man who had come out as supercargo.
”You may therefore still be of the greatest a.s.sistance to me,” he said, ”and having now learned something of the language, and being acclimatised, you will be able to transact business with the natives far better than you could otherwise have done.”
We then told him of our black followers, who would, we believed, be of still greater a.s.sistance in procuring the articles we required, and disposing of the goods we had brought.
Iguma and Kendo were somewhat alarmed at first at the thought of going on board a s.h.i.+p, but we soon overcame their fears, and the next morning we all went on board, bidding farewell to our encampment, and once more trod the deck of the ”Arrow.”
Harry and I resumed our berths on board, as did Tom Tubbs, for the boatswain who had come out had already fallen sick and was unable to do duty.
Caspar entered as one of the s.h.i.+p's company, as did Aboh, Captain Magor arranged to carry Kendo and Iguma with their followers to England, if they preferred going there to being landed at one of the English settlements on the coast.
I must now bring my tale rapidly to a conclusion. Kendo and his wife-- wisely, I think--determined not to go to England.
A week afterwards we fell in with the ”Rover,” when Charley rejoined his s.h.i.+p, taking the blacks with him, the captain kindly promising to land them at Cape Coast Castle, where they would be properly treated and looked after. With the information we had gained, we were so well able to conduct our transactions, that our voyage was the most successful ever made by the ”Arrow,” and we had the satisfaction of meeting with the approval of our employers, and receiving substantial acknowledgments.
Of course our disappearance had caused very great anxiety to our friends, though they had been buoyed up by the hope that we would surely return.
Harry and I having married the young ladies to whom we had so long been attached, entered the firm, and on the death of that kind and excellent man Mr Swab, we found that he had divided his fortune between us.
THE END.
<script>