Part 3 (1/2)
Flouris.h.i.+ng his hatchet, which he drew from his belt, he proceeded to cut away the vines and any branches which impeded their way.
Their progress was of course slow, but Rob a.s.serted that they would soon come out into a more open spot, when they would be able to walk as fast as they liked. The air beneath the shade of the tall trees was deliciously cool compared to the hot atmosphere of the open ground; and even Evelina acknowledged that it was very pleasant. She had not gone far, however, before she shrieked out to Mary--
”You said there were no savage creatures! Look at this monster; it will kill us all!”
”Why, that's only an iguana. It has no teeth, and wouldn't bite you if it had. I'll try and catch it, and you shall have it for dinner; it makes an excellent stew,” exclaimed Rob, who heard her cry out.
The iguana, a large species of lizard, was, however, far too quick for Rob, and was away out of sight before he got up to the tree on which he had seen it. Edgar manfully kept up with him, but having no weapon except a clasp knife, he could render but little service in clearing the road. Rob was shouting to the girls to ”come on,” when suddenly he himself stopped short.
”Edgar, did you see any one?” he asked, in a low voice.
”Yes, a hideous black face; it popped down immediately behind the bushes.”
”We had better not go on, then; for though many of the blacks are friendly hereabouts, yet others who come from a distance are very treacherous.”
Not stopping to hear more, Edgar scampered away to tell the ladies, who, as soon as they heard the alarming intelligence, began to beat a retreat. They were quickly overtaken by Rob, who had not only seen a black man, but a bundle of spears, and was fully satisfied of the danger of remaining longer in the scrub.
Mary was the first to recover herself. ”After all, the boys may have mistaken the stump of a tree for a native; or if they did see a black, he may have come with no bad intentions,” she observed; ”we need not give up our walk in consequence.”
However, her cousins looked so frightened that she led them directly out of the scrub towards the kitchen, garden, intending to go round under a trellis work, which had a thick hedge on the outside, and at that hour of the day afforded a pleasant shady walk. They were pa.s.sing along that part which was nearest the open ground when they heard the tramp of a horse's hoofs galloping at fall speed, and directly afterwards Paul shouting out to Harry--
”Where's our father?”
”He has gone off with Uncle Frank to Gibson's station,” answered Harry.
”But what's in the wind?”
”The blacks have shown their ugly faces again, not far off. I caught sight of a mob of them just before I pa.s.sed Jenkins's hut, and when stopping to leave a message I could nowhere find him. The blacks have evidently been there, and, I am afraid, have killed him. I did not stop to search longer, but came on to tell father, that he might send over to Ogilvie to set the police after them.”
”I'll ride Bolter, and get Reginald to come with me,” answered Harry.
”Reginald! He's no use; he will never keep up with you, and the chances are that he is pitched off before you have galloped a mile. Get Mr Hayward or Sandy to go with you,” said Paul.
”They are both away just now,” answered Harry; ”but why can't you get a fresh horse and go yourself?”
”Look here,” the girls heard Paul say; ”one of the black fellows dashed a spear, and gave me this ugly scratch on the side, and I should be foolish to attempt riding so far. I must go in and get mother to doctor it.”
The young ladies, on hearing this, were naturally much alarmed. Mary was about to call to her brothers, but they were already beyond hearing; so she, followed by the rest of the party, hastened to the house that she might break the intelligence to her mother.
CHAPTER FIVE.
PAUL COMES HOME WOUNDED--PREPARE FOR AN EXPECTED ATTACK--HECTOR MISSING--THE BOYS GO IN SEARCH OF HIM--BIDDY GIVES THE ALARM--ROB AND EDGAR AGREE TO KEEP WATCH--THE WAY THEY DO SO--ARRIVAL OF THE BLACK POLICE AND THEIR OFFICER.
As soon as Mary arrived at home she told her mother what she had heard; and lint, salve, and bandages were speedily got ready.
Paul's pale cheek when he arrived showed that he was suffering considerably, though he made light of the wound.
”Oh! it's nothing!” he said, trying to laugh. ”A black fellow's spear merely grazed my side, though had not Polly swerved at that moment it would have stuck into her neck.”
”It is a mercy, my boy, that it did not strike you in the back,” said Mrs Hugh Berrington, examining the wound, which she thought far more severe than Paul was inclined to suppose it.
”I had been looking after some cattle which had strayed from one of the herdsmen, a new hand,” he said, ”when I suddenly found myself close to a mob of strange blacks, the very same, I suspect, Harry and I met with when hunting up Old Bolter. Knowing the imprudence of trusting myself among them, I immediately turned my horse's head and galloped off, but not until several spears had been hurled at me. I felt one pop through my clothes, but I thought that it had given me only a slight scratch.