Part 9 (1/2)

The nes and arrows being at length ready, Billy and I started for Cliff Island on a certainthe weapons to their prospective owners Upon our arrival ere received by the natives with their accustoift to Bowata, the chief, as profuse in his expressions of gratitude I had by this tie to enablewhen they spoke to me, and also to athered froularly opportune, inasmuch as that the apes had of late, for some inexplicable reason, been unusually pertinacious in their raids upon the island; but that, thanks to ift, their attacks had been successfully withstood without loss of life on the part of the natives, the invading apes having all been slain before it was possible for the The little felloas iht well be, considering that before the bow-and-arrow era every raid by the apes had resulted in the death of one or two natives and theof others; and so proud was he of the skill which he and his people had developed that he ht witness a display of that skill It now became apparent that Boas by no means devoid of shrewdness, for not only had he personally practised assiduously at the target, but he had insisted that the petty chiefs who had been entrusted with bows should do the same; and, not content with that, he had chosen some two dozen other men, all of whom he had personally trained; so that when I turned up with ift he had already about thirty men, every one of them a quite fairly expert bowence, imparted with the h the ift

And now occurred a rather remarkable coincidence; for while the display of native skill was in full swing the tru raid The apes, it appeared, were heading for a point about half a mile to the ard of the spot where ere assembled, and toward that spot the archers, twenty in nu those who had been entrusted with the nes, set off at top speed, followed by their unarh to collect such blocks of coral and rock of suitable size as happened to be in their way As for me, I announced my intention to attack the brutes from the boat, if I should be in ti enough to beg me to allow him and his ained by his people increased their confidence in themselves But, he added, if any of the apes should escape and atteood service by destroying them on the way The sound conised

Keeping well off-shore, that we e of stray arrows, Billy and I arrived, in the boat, off the scene of the iood three hundred yards frolad to see that the blacks were keeping cool and withholding their fire, instead of wasting their arrows by discharging the so well together that it was only with difficulty I was able to count thereed that they totalled sixteen, which, if I had understood Bowata aright, was far and away the most formidable number that had ever been encountered; and I looked to our rifles and edged the boat in a little nearer the shore, to be ready for possible eventualities; then, as the first arroas discharged, I brought the boat to the wind and hove her to

That first shot was aape shake his head angrily, and go through thean arrow from his neck; he swa up his arlad to see that the natives had assimilated the advice I had endeavoured, soly at a selected

They were adopting those tactics now, and the soundness of them was demonstrated by the fact that no less than five of the apes were put _hors de combat_ before the feet of any of them touched bottom and they started to wade ashore Then, indeed, as soe creatures upreared the the whole of their bodies above the hips, the blacks betrayed signs of panic, a whole flight of arrows greeting the brutes But if that indiscrie was indeed the result of panic it was nevertheless thoroughly effective, for every one of the monsters went down, either dead or too desperately wounded to be capable of further effort The fate of their comrades, however, seemed in no wise to dismay or act as a deterrent to the survivors, who, five in nu bottom, rose in quick succession to their feet and proceeded to scra between the bodies of their dead and dying cohly aside in their eagerness to get to grips with their enemies But the latter were quite ready for them The success of Bowata and his fellow archers, thus far, had inspired them with such confidence in themselves and their weapons that I believe not a le arrow re apes advanced they were ht of arrows that not one of thee from the water; and then, with yells of triurace_ to such of the apes as betrayed any signs of lingering life

”Let draw the fore-sheet, Billy,” said I ”We ratulate our friends upon their victory”

As the boat grounded on the beach I saw that several of the natives were still in the water, busily engaged in retrieving arrows from the bodies of their victims; but I had a shrewd suspicion that many of the arrows shot had been hopelessly lost; and the suspicion suggested an idea upon which I acted later on But for the moment my attention was fully occupied by Bowata and his people, who crowded round us, all talking at once, so particular incidents of the adventure, while others were striving to express their gratitude tointo their hands the ainst the most formidable raid that had ever been atteave some consideration to the idea referred to above It was this Long as we had been on the group without sighting so limpse of a sail, the hope was ever present that the day would eventually dae should be rescued froreeable as it was in some respects; and when that day should arrive, ould happen to Bowata and his people? Who would continue to supply theainst their ferocious enemies? It was obvious that, froroup, they would be left entirely to their own resources; and to me it seemed that it would be only humane, if not ht be possible for them to replenish for themselves their supply of bows and arrows

Noas this to be done? I could see nothing for it but to provide theate the channels, then to shohere the wood for the bows and the shafts for the arrows could be obtained, and finally teach him and his people how to make bows and arrows for thees with a boat er; for savages--even such apparently harhbours--were apt to develop treacherous tendencies, and, once provided with a boat, it would be difficult to prevent the our own particular island of Eden, when, if any of our possessions should chance to excite their cupidity, who could say what erthe di more than two men at a time; and this I determined to do As to material, there was plenty of such as I required to be obtained from the wreck, for I , in fact, nothing more than a miniature flat-bottomed Tha settled this matter to my satisfaction, I explained ether under the veranda discussing the events of the day by the light of a glorious fullas usual at my feet My intention was to start next day with Billy for a trip to the wreck, where I proposed to remain until I had constructed the punt, which, I believed, could be done in so i with us the carpenter's tool-chest, an ample supply of fruit and food, and of course Kit--who could not possibly be pere and be deprived of our coe was accomplished without incident, and we arrived at the wreck early in the afternoon We found the old craft in every respect just as we had left her, excepting that her cabins, having been securely closed during our absence, were distinctly stuffy This was soon re back the coht and all the scuttles, after which we filled in the re up the beds in the state-rooenerally for our week's sojourn When all was done an hour or two of daylight still re a sketch ofon her botto her nine feet long over all, with a beam of four feet, and sufficient freeboard to enable her to carry twoflat-bottomed, flat-sided, and square- ended, she was an easy model to build; there were no planks to be bent, and as the wreck afforded abundant material, and as we did not aim at such refinement of finish as was included in a coat of paint, we co the afternoon of the fifth day, even to putting her over the side into the water to ”take up”

Leaving the wreck i, with the punt in toe arrived at our anchorage in Eden Cove about half an hour before sunset, al a beat to ard, while the towage of the punt further retarded our progress We, however, found everything just as we had left it; and, although I think we enjoyed the little change involved in living on the wreck, ere glad to find ourselves once more ”at home”, particularly Kit, whose rambles had been restricted to the deck of the shi+p, and who displayed his delight at returning to the wider spaces of Eden by starting off at full gallop the ht and appearing no ar squatted on the top steps of the veranda awaiting our arrival

On the following ot the boat under way and, with the punt in tow, sailed for Cliff Island Running the boat in on the beach, ere quickly joined by Bowata, who informed us that four days earlier the apes, to the number of nine, had attempted another raid which, he proudly added, had been successfully repulsed, but at the expense of many lost arrows; and he hinted pretty broadly that a further gift of those very useful hly appreciated Whereupon I informed him that I intended to do even better than continue to furnish hi to present theht procure the materials ith to make for themselves as many of those weapons as they pleased; and therewith I led him down to the beach and directed his attention to the punt

Bowata looked at the craft and grunted his approval of her; but it was evident that he had not the re hi off her painter, Billy and I stepped into her and, paddling along close to the beach, showed the savage in a very practicalBowata into the punt withhis attention to the manner in which I manipulated my own, invited him to try his hand He proved an apt pupil, and within the hour was able tothe punt and securing her to a stake firmly driven into the beach, I invited Bowata and his son to enter the sailing boat, inforate the channels, I now proposed to show them where to obtain the ithal from which to make as many bows and arrows as they desired

The pair entered the boat with a distinct suggestion of trepidation; they could understand the punt, apparently, but they had evidently not yet grasped the fact that it was the wind that endowed the boat with ard her with distrust, as a ht as likely as not fly aith them, never to return

They were under the impression, it presently appeared, that we intended to turn them adrift to shi+ft for themselves as best they could, but when I explained that Billy and I intended to go with them their fears vanished, and they seated theh in the bottom of the boat in the places which I indicated It was perfectly clear that not only they but also their fellow-savages regarded the expedition upon which ere e as a quite notable adventure, for they assembled in force to witness our departure, ad the dominant expressions upon the countenances of those we left behind us as the boat glided suests, first of all, to West Island, upon which grew the trees from which I had obtained the wood found to be suitable for thedirected Bowata's attention to the characteristic peculiarities of the trees, as distinguishi+ng the with me a small hatchet that had come from the wreck, and proceeded to lop off about a dozen suitable branches which, with an ample supply of thorns to for off again, we proceeded by way of the North-west Channel round to Shark Bay, in North Island, where, running the boat into the swaoodly stock of reeds from which tothe ti, occupied the entire day, so that it was already dusk when, having landed Bowata and his son, and our cargo of branches and reeds, we arrived back at our own island of Eden

The next day Billy and I again sailed for Cliff Island, where, with an old sheath knife as a tool, I showed Bowata how tohim with the hatchet, the knife, and a quantity of cord fros We spent three days with the natives, supervising their work ofbows and arrows; and by the time that they had used up all the material hich I had supplied theree of proficiency that I felt would justifythem henceforth to their own devices

CHAPTER TWELVE

ISLANDS OF FIRE!

We had by this tih, with brief intervals spent in visits to the wreck, a sharp look-out for the appearance of a sail in the offing had beenpossibility now began to impress itself upon me that if I continued to trust only to such an occurrence for our deliverance wefor that event Most fortunately, we had both thus far been blessed with perfect health; but it seemed too much to expect that this immunity from sickness or accident should continue indefinitely; and if both of us should chance to fall sick at the sa very like panic seized ht of such a possibility; I felt that I had been culpably foolish in relying so i a time, upon extraneous help; and the conviction forced itself upon me that I must at once take steps to effect our own deliverance

Yet what could I do? The first idea that had suggested itself to antine was to build some sort of a craft in which we could effect our escape to civilisation; but after considering thewould be altogether beyond my powers, with only Billy to assist me No doubt I was helped to this conclusion by the conviction I then felt that soht within the next month or two to take us off But with the lapse of tily set to work to ht be Noever, I felt constrained to reconsider inal conclusion; and as a preli-instruments and scale, and proceeded to make tentative sketches of such a craft as I considered essential to enable us to e in safety and with a reasonable amount of comfort

To insure these requirements I decided that the boat, whatever her dimensions, h to face and successfully battle with a whole gale of wind; also shethese requirements as a basis, I set to work upon my sketches

The relative dioverned to a considerable extent by her rig A cutter-rigged craft is more powerful than any other, but it is open to the objection that the mainsail--the cutter's most iency, if the craft happens to be short-handed, as we should be I believed, however, that this difficultyof ti theBearing all the above requiren for a craft thirty feet long on the water-line by ten feet beaht of water aft To build a boat of these dimensions, with only Billy to help me, was a sufficiently a our existing boat; and, after all, I felt sure that if I should need ly lendthat henceforth Billy and I would be fully occupied in building the new boat, the thought occurred to h tiive our whole ti about such , and so on Such help could only be obtained through Bowata I therefore decided to seize an early opportunity to interview him upon the whole matter

Meanwhile, however, now that I had at last deter boat, I was all i; and as I, further, ca of the keel, stem, and sternpost was concerned--must be made aboard the wreck, where all theourselves, with all necessary goods and chattels, to what remained of the _Yorkshi+re Lass_ Here Iout, full-size, in chalk, upon the after-deck, an accurate outline of the keel, stereatly facilitated my work My chief difficulty, I discovered, was to find bolts at once of the required length and the necessary strength, since I could not possibly make them; and this difficulty absorbed so much time that we spent nearly a month on the wreck before the keel, steether in readiness to be set up on the beach at Eden, where I intended to do the re and heavy to be conveyed to Eden otherwise than by towing; and as the whole trip was more or less a beat to ard, the transport of it cost us two days, our arrival ”ho so late in the afternoon that there was no ti further that day But on the day following I sailed over to Bowata's island and explained to hi and everything he could to oblige gesting that I should employ a man whom he could especially recommend, and ith his tives, would be able to do everything required in that particular direction; while as for labour for the building of the cutter, he assureda ti could be more satisfactory than this, the only point I felt doubtful about being the doe to supervise the work until the man and his wives should be trained to efficiency; and the plan, when put into operation, worked excellently The keel of the new boat being now ready, the next thing was to set it up, accurately plu blocks; and to do this I obtained the loan of twenty natives for a day, for the keel, with stem and sternpost attached, was much too heavy a mass of timber for Billy and me to manipulate without assistance; and with their help the asthe uidance while I supervised and directed the adjustments that were frequently necessary I next set up five stout moulds, one at the midshi+p section of the boat, with two aft and two forward of it, giving the exact shape of the boat at those points, and to the ers, thus obtaining a kind of skeleton giving an accurate idea of the forot thus far with my work and inspected the result from various view-points, I was asso aratified at the appearance which it presented; for I saw before me the outline of a very shapely, yacht-like little shi+p that, if I knew anything of such matters, promised to be fast, weatherly, and a very fine sea-boat, quite capable of taking care of herself when hove-to, even in a heavy gale of wind It wasthree thicknesses of comparatively thin plank, for I had noof the necessary thickness and so render it pliable enough to bend to the correct shape; while I believed that by using thin plank I could bend it to shape unstea soress outlined above represented nearly three months' hard work, an appreciable proportion of which had to be done a second ti to my inexperience