Part 19 (2/2)

I thought there would be too great a risk in trying to purloin one of our pigs, the sty being not above a dozen yards from the fowl-house, but Billy would do it, and a.s.sured me he would get one of the young ones as easy as anything. Accordingly I let him go, and sure enough he came back in no long time carrying one of the piglets close in his arms, and I had not heard above one feeble squeal, the reason I heard no more being that Billy slipped into the little pig's mouth a bit of cocoa-nut he happened to have in his pocket. But Billy himself was in a furious temper, telling me, when we had gotten ourselves safe away, that he had seen his best axe, and his own wooden spade, on which he had carved the initial letter of his name, lying close by the pig-sty, and he was perfectly overcome with anger at the thought that his very own tools were being used by these sacrilegious hands. Nothing would satisfy him but that he must go back and bring them away, which he did, and we took them and the pig down to our canoe, and paddled back to the Red Rock, very well satisfied with our night's work.

The next night we paid another visit to the island, and this time we went to the plantation of yams, finding, as we half expected, that the men had already made some depredations on it. Having brought spades as well as baskets, we dug up a good many of the yams that remained, and carried them to the canoe in two or three trips. We continued these expeditions night after night, finding a certain fascination in them, and being tickled with the thought that while the men were lapped in slumber we were gradually depriving them of their means of subsistence.

”'Tis just like housebreakers, ain't it, master?” said Billy gleefully once; ”only there ain't no watchman to cop us. And what's more, it ain't wrong neither, for a man ain't doing no wrong if he takes what's his very own.” Night by night we drew nearer to the hut, and had worked so often without the least alarm that we flattered ourselves there would soon be no more fruit to gather, and then, as Billy said, Hoggett would begin to starve.

One night, the seventh or eighth, I should think, since we began, we had brought our canoe to the strip of sand beside the lava beach, and had gone up to a small clump of trees which we had not been able to strip completely the night before. Billy had gone aloft, being nimbler in climbing than me, and I was about to follow him, when all of a sudden he called out, quite loud, his surprise making him to be off his guard, that there wasn't a single cocoa-nut left. Immediately afterwards I heard him say, not so loud, ”Oh geminy, now I've been and done it!” and began to slide down very rapidly; but in a moment I heard a loud crackling of twigs close by, and then a shout, ”Here's the devils!” and I knew that the men were upon us; it was plain they had observed how the fruits were disappearing night by night, and had been on the watch for us. Billy came down the tree more quickly than any monkey could have done, with great damage to his hands and still more to his breeches, as we afterwards discovered, the bark-cloth with which we had patched them being clean torn away, so that ”the rent was made worse,” as the Bible says. His feet were no sooner on the ground than we set off a-running with all our might towards the canoe, and we had not got above fifty yards when some of the men broke from cover and ran after us, shouting the most terrible curses. We had to go about two hundred yards before we came to the edge of the cliff, but being much more nimble on our feet than the seamen we did not lose ground, but rather gained; and arriving at the edge, we immediately began to descend towards the sea, in such haste that I am sure no two men ever came so near to breaking their necks. The cliff, as I have said before, was exceeding steep and rough, and the descent was all the more perilous because it was night, though moonlit; and to this day I marvel that we came safe to the bottom. There was nothing that could be called a path; we could only scramble down as best we might, trusting to luck, or rather to Providence; and though we escaped with our lives, and our limbs sound, yet our feet and legs were pretty badly cut by the sharp edges of rock. The seamen, when they came to the brink, did not dare to follow us, but caught up stones and hurled them down upon us, and if they had been able to take good aim we must certainly have been killed. However, we came safe to the beach and to our canoe, into which we leapt and paddled away as quickly as we could, and the men spying us set up a great howl of rage, and I was vexed they had seen our vessel, but it could not be helped. They ran along the top of the cliff watching us, the moon being up, as I said; but we disappeared from their view so soon as we had come beneath the cliffs, and then, so that they should not know of our refuge on the Red Rock, we lay for a good while in the entrance to Dismal Cave, not proceeding further until we thought the men would have returned to their quarters.

Billy was exceeding vexed to think that his careless outcry had had so untoward an issue. ”I could knock my head off, master,” he cried pa.s.sionately, and when I asked him what good that would be he said, ”Well, I couldn't stick it on again, could I? Only I have got a silly tongue.” I told him that he need not reproach himself, for I was sure the men had been on the watch for us, having no doubt observed the nightly disappearance of the fruits. ”Yes,” says Billy, ”but if they hadn't spied us they might ha' thought they was taken by goblins or such,” to which I replied that I did not think goblins fed on such substantial fare, and so by degrees I brought him to a more tranquil frame of mind. I thought it very likely that the men would now guess what our purpose was, and gather in all the foodstuffs that were left, so that there would be none for us to venture for; wherefore we must leave the further working out of our plan to time. Accordingly, we went no more from the Red Rock to the island, except once, and that was to get another pig as mate to the one we had already captured. We delayed to do this for several days, until we thought the men would not be so carefully on guard as they would be immediately after their discovery of us; but when we did venture to land and creep near to the pig-sty, we feared our errand was impossible, because the men had lit an open fire near the hut and we saw two of them on watch. However, Billy said he was not going to be beat, and he asked me to go into the woods and make a terrible noise, which he thought would draw the men away, and so give him an opportunity of seizing the pig. I would not consent to this at first, for it seemed like leaving the dangerous part of the work to Billy; but he insisted that he could get the pig more easily than I could, which was true, and so I agreed at last, but thought of another way instead of making a noise, and that was to go into a clump of trees on the other side of the hut from the pig-sty, and there strike a light, which I doubted not would be seen by the men.

Knowing the country as I did, it would be easy to escape down to the canoe, which we had left this time in the little cove on the east of the island, guessing that the men would make for the sandy beach if they suspected our presence. There was a risk, of course, that not all the men would be drawn towards the light, but we had to chance that, and so I departed, bidding Billy have a very great care.

The plan answered perfectly to his expectation, only it took somewhat longer than he thought, for I was not so used to striking fire as Billy, and I failed so many times that I feared I should never do it.

But at last I got a light, and set some dry gra.s.s on fire, and there was a mighty blaze, and Billy told me afterwards that the moment they saw it the men who were on watch jumped to their feet and ran towards the hut, not being able to reach it because the drawbridge was taken away. I myself heard their shout, and having thrown some more gra.s.s on the fire, I sped away towards the east, and waited for Billy at the edge of the wood on the cliffs, wondering how he would come, whether across the lava tract or the very much longer way round the mountain.

I heard the shouting continue for some time, but it seemed to be going away from me, at which I was very glad; and after what seemed a very long time, I heard a little noise close at hand, and holding myself on my guard I saw Billy staggering along under his burden, and when he came near, he said he was sweating horrible, the pig being uncommon obstinate. To deaden the sound of its squealing he had stripped off his s.h.i.+rt and smothered the pig's head in it, and he had come right across the lava tract, having seen that the men had all gone in the other direction, towards the sandy beach. We carried the pig between us down to the canoe, and lay there all night, not daring to paddle away until just before dawn, for we could not return to the Red Rock by the west side of the island while the men were astir, for they would have seen us, nor could we go the other way because of the current.

But we guessed that not having spied the canoe where it had been before, the men would imagine we had some lurking place on the island, and after a time would not keep watch on the sh.o.r.e. Besides, the moon would go down before morning; and so, when it was still very dark, we left our hiding-place and paddled quietly round the island, and came to the Red Rock without having been observed.

CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH

OF ATTACKS BY LAND AND SEA; AND OF THE USES OF HUNGER IN THE MENDING OF MANNERS

We calculated, Billy and I, that there was enough food left on the island to last the men for about a month, or perhaps longer with careful husbanding; but from what Mr. Bodger had told me of their ways on their island, and from what I knew of them myself, I did not suppose they would practise any stint until they felt the pinch of want. I own I hoped they would not, and if that seems a hard saying, you must remember that I had a deep purpose, namely to recover possession of our own, which was itself laudable, and also to teach the men a lesson whereby they and all of us would profit. It was necessary to the success of my plan that they should come to the verge of famishment before the bread-fruit season, for if they endured until the fruit was ripe, they would have plenty of food for three or four months thereafter, and I could not view with patience the prospect of remaining sequestered on the Red Rock for so long. Having done all we could, it would have been simple foolhardiness to risk complete failure by making useless visits to the island, and we endured what was a kind of imprisonment on the Red Rock as patiently as we could, leaving it only once to bring more stores from the cavern.

We were, I a.s.sure you, mighty weary of our life before the day came when our whereabouts was discovered. I know not how long it was, but I guess five or six weeks. Having nothing better to do, we often went to the edge of the Red Rock, where we could overlook a part of the island from behind the vantage of a boulder, and we sometimes saw the men moving from place to place, taking care ourselves to keep out of their sight, at least I took care, Billy being less prudent, so that more than once I had to drag him down when he began to climb the boulder to have a better view. Of course we could have been seen any day if the men had climbed the mountain, but they never did this. I learnt afterwards that they had scoured every accessible part of the island for us, and after a time suspected that we were on the Red Rock, and kept a watch on it, but saw never a sign of us until the day of which I am now to tell.

[Sidenote: Discovery]

Our dog, Little John, seldom barked unless there was something to trouble him, and we had taken care since we had been on the rock to keep him as quiet as possible, so that the men might not discover us through him. But it chanced one day that one of the pigs broke loose from the place where we had tethered him, and began to run in a very stupid fas.h.i.+on, not heeding in the least the danger of falling over a crag and das.h.i.+ng himself to pieces. Little John no sooner saw the mad antics of the creature than he set off in pursuit, barking furiously, and Billy set off too with a shout, taking great enjoyment in the chase after our period of idleness. He came up with the pig just as it had arrived at the very edge of the plateau, and caught it, and at that very moment I heard another shout, and looking over I saw two of the men just at the edge of the wood near the rocky ledge of which I have spoken before. It was plain that they had seen Billy, though he dropped out of sight immediately he heard the shout, and they came forward until they stood at the edge of the cliff, being separated from the rock only by the narrow gap. ”That's where the young devils are hiding,” I heard one of them say. ”Didn't I say so, Bill?” Their words came very clearly to me, for sailor men have not very dulcet voices. ”Hail them, Jack,” says the other, and the first man put his hands to his mouth and let forth a stentorian ”Ahoy!” which might have been heard a mile away. At first I paid no heed, but when he shouted again I saw no good that could come of further concealment, so I climbed up on to the boulder, being followed by Billy as soon as he had put the pig back into safety.

”What do you want?” I cried down to them. You would have laughed to see their faces. Our sudden appearance seemed to have nonplussed them, for they stood staring blankly up at us, as not knowing what to say.

Then says one to the other, ”Go and fetch Hoggett,” and the fellow immediately set off and disappeared into the wood, running towards the hut. The other man stood on the same spot, gazing dumbly at us, and never once offered to address us, and we sat down on the boulder, Billy smiling and dangling his legs in the most careless way. Presently we saw Hoggett and pretty near all the men coming through the wood, and Hoggett had his musket, and I thought that they must have started before the messenger came to them, or they could not have got to us so soon; no doubt they had heard the shouting. Well, Hoggett comes along, with Chick and Wabberley close behind him, and when he got to the edge of the cliff below us (it was two or three hundred feet) he lifts up his voice and cries out, ”Hi, you Brent, you come ash.o.r.e sharp now, d'ye hear?” I thanked him very courteously for his invitation, but said I was very comfortable where I was, upon which he cursed me heartily, and cried out again, ”You come sharp now, and no nonsense, or I'll come and fetch you,” winding up with that opprobrious word which I had cured Billy of using. The threat was such an idle one that I smiled at him, and Billy laughed heartily, and putting his thumb to his nose, spread out his fingers in that gesture of derision which I have observed small boys to use, and which I thought he should not have used at his age, being at this time, as I reckoned, not far short of twenty years old. What with my silence and Billy's mockery, Hoggett flew into a terrible rage, and clapping his musket to his shoulder, he let fly at me; but I was too far above him for him to take a good aim, he being never used to fire except on the flat, and the slug struck the rock a good many feet below us. Still, we did not know but he might have better luck next time, so we got down off the boulder and disappeared from sight, and sat there listening to the furious outcry the men made, Hoggett in particular declaring he would flay us alive when he caught us. The men talked together for some while, and then, when the sounds ceased, we peeped over and saw them returning in a group whence they had come.

We saw no more of them that day, or the next, but on the second day, in the afternoon, when Billy got on the boulder to take a look round, he called to me that he spied a raft coming towards us from the direction of the cave, with Hoggett and half-a-dozen more aboard. I could see that Billy was a little alarmed at this, for he always had a great dread of Hoggett; but I told him not to be disturbed, for I was sure from our vantage ground, and with our bows and arrows, we could easily beat them off if they landed and tried to clamber up. ”Things are going well,” I said to him. ”They have actually begun to work at last, and pretty diligently, too, to make that raft in less than two days.”

”But what's the odds to us, master,” says Billy, ”if they have begun to work? I think it's a very bad sign, I do.” ”We shall see,” I said; and Billy looked very much puzzled, for I had not told him my design in its fulness, because I wished to get a certain a.s.surance of its success first.

[Sidenote: Invasion Fails]

It was soon plain that we should not be put to the trouble of defence, and we had a hearty laugh at the coil in which the men soon found themselves; for coming pretty close to the sh.o.r.e, they were caught in the current which ran very swiftly through the narrow gap, and despite the desperate efforts which they made with their paddles, the raft, which is at all times a clumsy vessel, was swept along and twirled this way and that, and the men were in such extremity of danger that they ceased to gaze at us, and bent all their energies to prevent the raft from being dashed against the rocks on either side and s.h.i.+vered to atoms. They were carried right through the channel, and pretty nearly to the natural archway, before they got the least control over the raft, and even then they could only manage it enough to steer clear of the sides of the arch, and so win to the open sea. By that time the current had lost the most of its force, and we knew very well that if they paddled out to the left, and made a sufficiently large circuit, they might gain the north side of Red Rock, even with so clumsy a vessel as theirs, and discover our landing-place. However, they had been so greatly discomfited that I was not much surprised when, instead of steering to the left, they allowed the raft to drift past the promontory, and after a little while they disappeared from our sight, having clearly determined to return to the place where they had embarked.

But though this attempt had been so signal a failure, I saw very clearly that we must not be content merely to smile and do nothing, for if they were to take thought and go about the enterprise in a reasonable way, they might very well come to our landing-place some time, and then they might seize our canoe, a loss which we could not contemplate without dismay. Accordingly, Billy and I spent the rest of the afternoon in a very serious talk, the issue of which was that in the middle of the night we descended the rock and launched the canoe, in which we set off, and, rounding the archway, came opposite the lava beach. This we examined as well as we were able by the light of the stars, for there was no moon, but not perceiving what we sought, we paddled on very quietly until Billy told me in a whisper that he spied it on the sandy beach; and there, indeed, was the raft, drawn up above high-water mark, and no one attending it--at least, no one that we could see. We had talked over this point very anxiously, for if they had set a guard over the raft our scheme would be brought to nought; but we both agreed that it would be very unlike them to take this precaution, and, besides, there was not a man of them who would consent to undertake the office of night watchman so far from the hut while the others were enjoying their repose; and so it turned out.

We pa.s.sed on without landing, until we came to a sort of dell in the cliff, where we knew there grew a great quant.i.ty of long gra.s.s and rushes. We landed there, and having pulled up many armfuls of the gra.s.s, which we did very easily, the soil being thin, we loaded it into the canoe, and then returned to the place where the raft lay. For some little while we waited, listening for any sound that might give token of wakefulness among the men, but hearing nothing, we ran the canoe lightly in sh.o.r.e, and having landed, we carried our gra.s.ses and laid them beside the raft. Then we went on further until we came to a patch of thick scrub, where we broke off a quant.i.ty of small branches, and these we laid beside our other material, going and coming as quickly as we could.

[Sidenote: Making a Bonfire]

Our purpose, as you have guessed, was to burn the raft, so that we should not have that to fear again, nor did I suppose the men would make another, for it must have cost them many pangs to break through their indolence to make this one, and if it were destroyed nothing would persuade them to undergo the toil again. We knew, of course, that the raft would be wet, at least on the under side, where it had not been exposed to the sun after they beached it; but in order to a.s.sist the fire we purposed to kindle, we had brought some of our candle-nuts and some cocoa-nut sh.e.l.ls and husks, which are highly inflammable and would give a very fine blaze. But when we came to lift the raft so as to push our fuel under it, we found that we could not in any wise raise it, for it was bigger than we had supposed from seeing it in the water, and would have needed five or six men to move it, I am sure. However, we set to work to sc.r.a.pe a hollow in the sand beneath it, or rather several hollows, in which we laid the fuel, and we heaped on the top side also a good quant.i.ty of cocoa-nut husks. We had taken the precaution to bring a smouldering torch with us, so that we should not make a noise in striking a light; and after we had spied round very carefully to make sure that we were not observed, we crouched down on the seaward side of the raft and blew the torch into a flame, and then thrust it into the fuel, first at one place and then at another. We waited only long enough to see that the fires were fairly kindled, and then we hastened at once to the canoe, and paddled out to sea for some distance. The fire might blaze and burn itself out without being ever seen by any of the men; but it was possible that some of them were awake, and if they were they could not fail to observe the glow in the sky, and then they would a.s.suredly come over the hill to learn the cause of it. It was for this reason that we drew off from the sh.o.r.e so far that we should be outside the circle of light when the raft was fully ablaze.

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