Part 11 (1/2)
”We must endeavour to light a fire and cook this food,” observed Boxall.
”If we attempt to live much longer on raw provisions, we shall be attacked by scurvy, and shall a.s.suredly be unable to continue our journey.”
”As there are no trees hereabouts, and as we have neither flint nor tinder, I don't see how we shall get a fire to cook our food,” Ben observed.
”But there are roots on some of the sand-hills; and here is a stone I picked up, which I think is a flint,” answered Boxall.
We could, however, find neither roots nor shrubs of any sort for fuel, and were obliged to content ourselves with chewing some of the mussels to stay our hunger as we walked along.
Having trudged on for some miles, some slight signs of verdure again greeted our eyes, although the bushes rose scarcely a foot above the ground. The branches, however, from their dry state, would, we imagined, ignite; though it would require a large number of them to make even a tolerable fire. We carried our fuel to a hole between two sand-hills, hoping that the smoke, by the time it had ascended above them, might become so attenuated as not to be observed by any pa.s.sing Arabs. The difficulty was how to light our fire. We required first the means of striking a spark, and then the tinder to catch it, and finally to produce a flame. Boxall tried with his knife and the stone he had picked up, but was much disappointed when no spark proceeded from them, the knife and stone producing only a light with a phosphoric appearance.
”We must not give it up, though,” he said. ”I have another idea--we must form a burning-gla.s.s.”
”How is that to be done?” I asked.
”Let me look at your watch, that I may compare it with mine,” he said.
The gla.s.ses exactly corresponding in size, he took them both out.
”Now,” he continued, ”by filling the interior with water we shall have a powerful burning-gla.s.s, which will in a few seconds set fire to any inflammable substance, or burn a hole in our clothes.”
I bethought me at that moment of the inside cotton-wool lining of my cap, on which the rays of the sun had been beating all the morning, and I felt sure that it would quickly catch fire; so teasing out a small piece, I followed Boxall down to the beach, where he was employed in filling the two watch-gla.s.ses with water. I held the wool, while he lifted the gla.s.ses over it; and in a few seconds a hole was burned, and I observed some sparks travelling round it. I rushed back to the heap of fuel, blowing as I went; while Halliday stood ready with a leaf of paper, which he had torn from his pocket-book, and with a heap of withered twigs and leaves, which with infinite perseverance he had gathered together. By all of us blowing together a flame was produced, to our infinite joy. A milky sap, however, came from the shrubs, and only a small portion of them would ignite, while the smoke which ascended was so pungent and smelt so disagreeably that we could scarcely bear it. It had the effect, however, of keeping the mosquitoes, which had hitherto annoyed us terribly, at a distance. By degrees also a few burning embers appeared, and we placed our sh.e.l.l-fish upon them. Seeing Ben poking in his wooden sword, I asked, ”Why are you burning that?”
”I am not burning it, sir, but hardening the point and edge; and I would advise you to do the same with yours.”
And following his example, we found it greatly improved our weapons.
In a short time the sh.e.l.l-fish were cooked, and we enjoyed our repast, though we should have been glad to have had some subst.i.tute for bread to eat with the molluscs. Having cleaned out some of the larger sh.e.l.ls, we cooked a further supply, which we packed within them, and then tied them up in our handkerchiefs, that we might be saved the necessity of lighting another fire. Indeed, we should, we knew, be unable to do so, except during the daytime, unless we could pick up a real flint--and that Boxall feared we were not likely to find.
Our hunger being satisfied, our thirst returned, and our next object, as we advanced, was to discover water. The tide being high, we were compelled to seek the harder ground on the summit of the sand-hills, as the mosquitoes and sand-flies rendered walking on the sand excessively disagreeable. We kept in a line, as we had before done in our search for water, at a short distance from each other,--Boxall having chosen a position on the left,--and had trudged on for a couple of miles or more, as we calculated, without discovering any signs which tempted us to dig; for we were unwilling to make the attempt without a prospect of success.
I was next to Boxall; and after we had gone some way he came nearer to me, and shouted that he would diverge to the left, towards a slight elevation, desiring us to go on slowly, and to halt should we lose sight of him. ”I will make a signal, should I find any sign of water,” he added. By this time my mouth and tongue had become fearfully parched, and I earnestly hoped that he would succeed. Continuing to look out for the usual signs--a little verdure, with a slight depression in the sand--I went on slowly till I got near enough to Halliday to tell him what Boxall had said; and he repeated the order to Ben. We had not gone much further when I felt great hopes, from the appearance of a spot before me, that water might be found; so calling to Halliday and Ben, they joined me. I looked round to make the sign agreed on to Boxall, when, to our dismay, we saw an Arab on a camel rapidly approaching him!
We had been partly concealed by a sand-hill, and so the Arab had not, apparently, observed us. It was evident, however, that Boxall had not a chance of escape. He must have thought so himself, as he stood calmly awaiting the arrival of the Arab, who pulled up his camel as he got close to him. We stood for a minute irresolute, not knowing what to do; but as the Arab did not raise his weapon, we believed he had no hostile intentions, and was not likely to injure our friend. Boxall had now thrown down his wooden sword, and was holding out his hand as if to greet the Arab in a friendly way. The latter also stretched out his hand, and we hoped that the interview would pa.s.s off peaceably, when, to our astonishment, we saw the Arab lean over from his saddle, and by a sudden jerk seize Boxall by the arm and place him by his side; then giving the animal a blow with his spear or goad, it set off at a gallop across the desert.
We now rushed forward, Halliday and I shouting to the Arab to stop, while Ben with loud cries advised Boxall to give the black rascal a thundering clout on the head, and that we would quickly come to his a.s.sistance; but I am inclined to think that neither the one nor the other heard us. Boxall did endeavour to release himself, but the Arab held him fast. Indeed, at the rate the camel was going, he could not otherwise have stuck on.
Fast as the wind, the fleet creature, regardless of the weight of the two men struggling on its back, moved across the desert, its broad feet scarcely making an impression on the sand. We ran and shouted in vain: the camel rapidly distanced us, and making towards the south-east, disappeared at length among the sand-hills; while we, almost exhausted, sank down on the ground.
All our previous misfortunes had not weighed so heavily on me as this.
As far as we could tell, our friend might be carried into helpless captivity far away in the interior of Africa. Poor fellow! my heart bled for him. He had fully expected to obtain his promotion on returning home, and to be married to a very charming girl, of whom he had often spoken to me; for he had an independent property, though, having no interest, he had long remained a mate.
We felt ourselves still at liberty, and did not consider that his fate might probably be ours before long; for how could we hope, without the help of his judgment and thoughtfulness, to make our way over some hundred miles of desert? Had we known, indeed, one tenth part of the difficulties to be encountered, we should have said that it was impossible.
”We are not going to let Mr Boxall be carried off by that black chap without trying to get him back, I hope,” exclaimed Ben at length.
”Certainly not,” I said.
”Of course not,” exclaimed Halliday. ”We must follow him till we get near the Arab camp, and then try and let him know that we are near at hand to help him to escape.”
It struck me that this proposition was very good in theory, but unlikely to succeed in practice. I did not say so, however, as I was unwilling to damp the ardour of my companions, or to show any want of interest in our friend.
”If we are to overtake him, we must set forth at once,” I observed. ”It will be difficult enough to trace him in the daytime, and impossible in the darkness; and that fleet camel may have pa.s.sed over many miles of ground before night sets in.”