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Bunyip Land: A Story of Adventure in New Guinea, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 18. How I Nearly Had An Arrow To Drink |
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_ CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. HOW I NEARLY HAD AN ARROW TO DRINK We were soon on the way towards the interior again, and the doctor and I had set to work trying to obtain some information from Ti-hi, and also from Aroo, another intelligent looking follower who had been one of the prisoners made by the captain of the burnt schooner. It was hard work, but we were daily getting to understand more and more of the commoner words of conversation, and by degrees we managed to make out that the reason why we had not come upon any native village was that the nearest was still many days' journey distant, but that if we changed our course and went down to the sea-shore we should soon find signs of occupation. But I felt that this would be of no use, for if my father had been anywhere on the coast he must have come in contact sooner or later with one or other of the trading vessels, whose captains, even if they could not bring him away on account of his being a prisoner, would certainly have reported somewhere that they had seen a white captive, and the news must have spread. "He must be right in the interior somewhere," I said; "and I'm sure we can't do better than keep on." "I think you are right, Joe," said the doctor thoughtfully. "I feel sure I am," I said. "I don't expect to find him directly; but I mean to go on trying till I do." "That's the way to find anybody," said Jack Penny. "You're sure to find 'em if you keep on like that. Come along." Jack went off; taking great strides as if he expected to be successful at once; but he did not keep up the pace long, but hung back for me to overtake him, saying: "I say, Joe Carstairs; does your back ever ache much?" "No," I said; "very little. Only when I'm very tired." "Ah! you ain't got so much back as I have," he said, shaking his head. "When you've got as much as I have you'll have the back-ache awfully, like I do. I say, I wonder where old Jimmy has got to." "He's close at hand somewhere," I said. "Depend upon it he has not gone far. If the truth were known," I continued, "he's walking along abreast of us, just hidden in the bushes." "Think so?" said Jack dubiously. "I'm about sure of it," I replied. "I ain't," said Jack. "I'm afraid he's gone right away back; and we've offended him so that we sha'n't see him any more." "You keep your opinion, Jack, and I'll keep to mine. I say, I wonder what that noise is!" "Noise! Birds," said Jack. "No, no! That dull murmur. There, listen!" "Wind in the trees." "No, I'm sure it is not!" I exclaimed. "There! it is gone now. It is like far-off thunder." "Water," said the doctor, who had closed up with us unperceived. "I've been listening to it, and it sounds to me like a waterfall. Depend upon it we shall find that the river comes down over some pile of rocks, and if we were clear of the forest and could take a good look round we should find that the country is growing mountainous on ahead." It seemed during the next day's journey that the doctor was right, for we were certainly ascending, the land growing more rugged and toilsome, but at the same time far more beautiful and full of variety. In place of always journeying on through thick forest or park-like stretches, we now found our way was among stony ridges and long heavy slopes, with here and there a lovely valley, so full of beauty that I used to think to myself that perhaps we should find my father had built himself a hut in some such place as this, and was patiently going on with his collecting. We had seen nothing of Jimmy for three days, and though I suspected him of being close at hand, and coming to our camp at night stealthily in search of food, it really began to appear as if he had left us for good, when an adventure towards evening showed us who was correct in his surmise. "I don't think much of the doctor's waterfall," Jack said to me, in his dry drawling way. "Why, we haven't seen it!" I replied. "No, nor we ain't going to, seemingly. It's wind amongst the trees." "Don't be so obstinate," I said, listening intently to hear the heavy thunderous murmur still, now I listened for it, though I had not seemed to notice it before. "There ain't no waterfall," he replied, "or we should have seen it before now." "Perhaps the shape of the land keeps us from getting near it, or perhaps the wind drives the sound away." "Or perhaps the sound drives the wind away, or perhaps the--Look out, Joe, look out!" Jack Penny leaped aside nimbly, and I followed his example, hardly escaping, while the man in front of me, less quick in his motion consequent upon his having a load upon his head, was sent flying by a great slate-coloured buffalo which had suddenly charged us from behind a clump of trees where it had been lying. It all happened so quickly that I had not time to think of my gun, while the doctor was fifty yards behind, and could not have fired had he been able to see, for fear of hurting us. The great beast had stopped for a moment after sending our bearer flying, and then, seeing him down, snorted a little, lowered his head, and would doubtless have tossed and trampled him to death had there not suddenly come a whirring whizzing noise from some bushes in a hollow on our right, when something struck the buffalo a heavy blow upon the muzzle, making it turn up its head, utter a furious roar, and charge at the bushes. This was my opportunity, and taking a quick aim I fired, and heard the bullet strike with a heavy thud, when the buffalo seemed to drop upon its knees on the steep slope, and literally turned a somersault, crashing with a tremendous noise into some trees; and then, to my astonishment, rising again and going off at a lumbering gallop. It did not go far, for just then there was the sharp crack of the doctor's piece, and once more the buffalo fell heavily, to lie struggling, while, to my astonishment I saw a familiar black figure bound out of the bushes, catch up the boomerang he had thrown, and then race after the buffalo, which he reached just as the doctor also came up and put it out of its misery by a merciful shot in the head. "Jimmy killum! Jimmy boomerang killum!" shouted the black, dancing on the prostrate beast, while Jack and I were busy helping the poor bearer to his feet, and making sure that though stunned he was not seriously hurt. "No," said the doctor. "No bones broken. It's wonderful what some of these savage races will bear." He ceased his examination and gave the poor fellow a friendly clap on the shoulder, while, after lying down for a time in the new camping-ground, close up to the welcome supply of meat, the injured man was sufficiently recovered to sit up, and eat his share of roast buffalo flesh. Some delicious steaks which we cooked proved very welcome to us by way of a change, but we did not commence without a few words with Master Jimmy, who was all smiles and friendliness now with everybody, till the doctor said, pointing to the abundant supply of meat: "No more bad illness, Jimmy. You are not to eat much." "Jimmy won't eat not bit!" he cried viciously. "Go in a bush and starve a deff." "There, sit down and eat your supper!" said the doctor sternly; "and no more nonsense, please." The black looked at him in a sidelong fashion, and his fingers played with the handle of his waddy, which was behind him in his waistband, and then he quailed beneath the doctor's steady gaze, and sat down humbly by the camp fire to cook and eat what was really a moderate quantity for an Australian black. Next morning we were off at daybreak, our way lying up a narrow ravine for a short distance, and then between a couple of masses of rock, which seemed to have been split apart by some earthquake; and directly we were through here the dull humming buzz that we had heard more or less for days suddenly fell upon our ears with a deep majestic boom that rose at times, as the wind set our way, into a deafening roar. I looked triumphantly at Jack Penny, but he only held his head higher in the air and gave a sniff, lowering his crest directly after to attend to his feet, for we were now in a complete wilderness of rocks and stones, thrown in all directions, and at times we had regularly to climb. "It is useless to bring the men this way," the doctor said, after a couple of hours' labour; but as he spoke Ti-hi called a halt and pointed in a different direction, at right angles to that which we had so far followed, as being the one we should now take. The sun had suddenly become unbearable, for we were hemmed in by piled-up stones, and its heat was reflected from the brightly glistening masses, some of which were too hot even to be touched without pain, while the glare was almost blinding wherever the rocks were crystalline and white. "I say, is that a cloud?" said Jack Penny, drawing our attention to a fleecy mass that could be seen rising between a couple of masses of rock. "Yes!" cried the doctor eagerly, as he shaded his eyes from the sun's glare; "a cloud of spray. The falls are there!" "Or is it the wind you can see in the trees?" I said, with a look at Jack Penny. "Get out!" retorted that gentleman. "I didn't say I was sure, and doctor isn't sure now." "No, not sure, Penny," he said; "but I think I can take you to where water is coming down." We felt no temptation to go on then, and willingly followed our guides, who pointed out a huge mass of overhanging rock right in the side of the ravine, and here we gladly halted, in the comparatively cool shade, to sit and partake of some of the buffalo strips, my eyes wandering dreamily to right and left along the narrow valley so filled with stones. I was roused from my thoughts about the strangeness of the place we were in and the absence of trees and thick bush by the doctor proposing a bit of a look round. "We are getting up among the mountains, Joe," he said; "and this means more difficult travelling, but at the same time a healthier region and less heat." "Oh, doctor!" I said, wiping my forehead. "Why, it couldn't be any hotter than it is out there!" said Jack. "Come with us, then, and let's see if we can find a fresh way out. Perhaps we may hit upon a pass to the open country beyond. At all events let's go and see the falls." We took our guns, leaving all heavy things with the blacks, who were settling themselves for a sleep. The sun's heat almost made me giddy for the first hundred yards, and either my eyes deceived me or Jack Penny's long body wavered and shook. But we trudged laboriously on over and among masses of rock, that seemed to be nearly alive with lizards basking in the sun, their curious coats of green and grey and umber-brown glistening in the bright sunshine, and looking in some cases as if they were covered with frosted metal as they lay motionless upon the pieces of weatherworn stone. Some raised their heads to look at us, and remained motionless if we stopped to watch them, others scuffled rapidly away at the faintest sound, giving us just a glimpse of a quivering tail as its owner disappeared down a crevice almost by magic. "Don't! don't fire!" cried the doctor, as Jack suddenly levelled his piece. "Why not?" he said in an ill-used tone. "I daresay they're poison and they ain't no good." The object that had been his aim was an ash-grey snake, rather short and thick of form, which lay coiled into the figure of a letter S, and held its head a few inches from the rock on which it lay. "If you wish to kill the little vipers do it with a stick, my lad. Every charge of powder may prove very valuable, and be wanted in an emergency." "I say," said Jack Penny, dropping the butt of his piece on the rock, leaning his arms upon it, and staring at the speaker. "You don't think we are likely to have a fight soon, do you?" "I hope not," said the doctor; "but we shall have to be always on the alert, for in a land like this we never know how soon danger may come." "I say, Jack," I whispered, "do you want to go back?" "No: I don't want to go back," he said with a snort. "I don't say I ain't afraid. P'r'aps I am. I always thought our place lonely, but it was nothing to these parts, where there don't seem to be no living people at all." "Well, let's get on," said the doctor, smiling; and we threaded our way as well as we could amongst the chaotic masses of stones till we were stopped short by a complete crack in the stony earth, just as if the land had been dragged asunder. As we stood on the brink of the chasm, and gazed down at the bottom some hundred feet below, we could see that it was a wild stony place, more sterile than that we had traversed. In places there were traces of moisture, as if water sometimes trickled down, and where this was the case I could see that ferns were growing pretty freely, but on the whole the place was barrennesss itself. It seemed to have a fascination though for Jack Penny, who sat down on the edge and dangled his long legs over the rock, amusing himself by throwing down pieces of stone on to larger pieces below, so as to see them shatter and fall in fragments. "Snakes!" he said suddenly. "Look at 'em. See me hit that one." He pitched down a large piece of stone as he spoke, and I saw something glide into a crevice, while another reptile raised itself up against a piece of rock and fell back hissing angrily. We were so high up that I could not tell how big these creatures were, but several that we noticed must have been six or seven feet long, and like many vipers of the poisonous kinds, very thick in proportion. I daresay we should have stopped there amusing ourselves for the next hour, pitching down stones and making the vipers vicious; but our childish pursuit was ended by the doctor, who clapped Jack on the shoulder. "Come, Jack," he said, "if we leave you there you'll fall asleep and topple to the bottom." Jack drew up his legs and climbed once more to his feet, looking very hot and languid, but he shouldered his piece and stepped out as we slowly climbed along the edge of the chasm for about a quarter of a mile, when it seemed to close up after getting narrower and narrower, so that we continued our journey on what would have been its farther side had it not closed. Higher and higher we seemed to climb, with the path getting more difficult, save when here and there we came upon a nice bare spot free from stones, and covered with a short kind of herb that had the appearance of thyme. But now the heat grew less intense. Then it was comparatively cool, and a soft moist air fanned our heated cheeks. The roar of the falls grew louder, and at any moment we felt that we might come upon the sight, but we had to travel on nearly half a mile along what seemed to be a steep slope. It was no longer arid and barren here, for every shelf and crevice was full of growth of the most vivid green. For a long time we had not seen a tree, but here tall forest trees had wedged their roots in the cracks and crevices, curved out, and then shot straight up into the air. The scene around was beautiful, and birds were once more plentiful, dashing from fruit to flower, and no doubt screaming and piping according to their wont, but all seemed to be strangely silent, even our own voices sounded smothered, everything being overcome by the awful deep loud roar that came from beyond a dense clump of trees. We eagerly pressed forward now, ready, however, to find that we had a long distance to go, and the doctor leading we wound our way in and out, with the delicious shade overhead, and the refreshing moist air seeming to cool our fevered faces and dry lips. "Why, we're walking along by the very edge," said Jack Penny suddenly. "This is the way;" and stepping aside he took about a dozen steps and then the undergrowth closed behind him for the moment, but as we parted it to follow him we caught sight of his tall form again and then lost it, for he uttered a shrill "Oh!" and disappeared. "Doctor! quick!" I cried, for I was next, and I sprang forward, to stop appalled, for Jack was before me clinging to a thin sapling which he had caught as he fell, and this had bent like a fishing-rod, letting him down some ten feet below the edge of an awful precipice, the more terrible from the fact that the river seemed to be rushing straight out into the air from a narrow ravine high upon our right, and to plunge down into a vast rocky basin quite a couple of hundred feet below. As I caught sight of Jack Penny's face with its imploring eyes I was for the moment paralysed. He had tight hold of the tree, which was only about half the thickness of his own thin wrists, and he was swaying up and down, the weight of his body still playing upon the elastic sapling. "I can't hold on long, Joe Carstairs," he said hoarsely. "I'm such a weight; but I say I ain't a bit afraid, only do be quick." The doctor had crept to my side now, and he reached out his hand to grasp Jack, but could not get hold of him by a couple of feet. "Can't you reach?" the poor fellow gasped. "No, not yet," the doctor said sharply; and his voice seemed quite changed as he took in the position; and I saw him shudder as he noted, as I had done, that if Jack fell it would be into the foaming basin where the water thundered down. "Be quick, please," panted Jack. "I can't do nothing at all; and I don't--think--I could swim--down there." "Don't look down," roared the doctor, though even then his voice sounded smothered and low. Jack raised his eyes to ours directly, and I seemed to feel that but for this he would have been so unnerved that he would have loosed his hold. "Now," cried the doctor, "the tree's too weak for you to cling to it with your legs. Swing them to and fro till we catch hold of you." Jack looked at me with a face like ashes; but he obeyed, and it was horrible to see the sapling bend and play like a cart-whip with the weight upon it. Each moment I expected it to snap in two or give way at the roots; but no: it held fast, and Jack swung to and fro, and danced up and down over the awful gulf till he was within our reach. "Now!" shouted the doctor to me. "Both together." I did as he did, clutched at Jack's legs as they swung up to us; held on; and then we threw ourselves back, dragging with all our might. "Let go! let go!" roared the doctor to Jack. "I daren't, not yet," he cried, with his head hidden from us, that and his body being over the gulf, while we had his legs over the edge of the rock. "But the tree is drawing you away from us," shouted the doctor. "Let go, I say." All this time it was as though Jack Penny were made of india-rubber, for as we pulled his legs it was against something elastic, which kept giving and drawing us back. For a few moments it seemed doubtful whether we should save him, for our hold was hastily taken and none of the best, and I felt the cold perspiration gathering in my hands and on my brow. Then just as I felt that I must give way, and the doctor's hard panting breathing sounded distant and strange through the singing in my ears, our desperate tugging prevailed over even the wild clutch of one who believed himself in deadly peril. Jack's hands relaxed, and we all fell together amongst the bushes, but safe. No one spoke, and the dull sound of panting was heard even amidst the roar of the falling waters. Then the doctor got up, looking fierce and angry, and seizing Jack by the collar he gave him a shake. "Look here," he said. "I'll have no more of it. Next time you get into danger, you may save yourself." "Thank ye, doctor," said Jack, sitting up and rocking himself softly. "I might just as well have gone as be treated like this. You might have taken hold of a fellow's clothes, both of you. You've about tore the flesh off my bones." The doctor turned away to look at the great waterfall, evidently amused by Jack's dry drawling speech; and I sat and looked at my companion, while he looked at me, and spoke out so as to make me hear above the roar of the torrent. "I say, Joe Carstairs, I didn't seem to be very much frightened, did I?" "No," I said. "You bore it very bravely." "Mean it?" "Of course," I said. "That's right; because I did feel awfully queer, you know. I don't mind that though so long as I didn't show it." "How did you manage to get into such a pickle?" I said. "Oh, I don't know," he drawled, still rubbing himself gently. "I was wandering forward to get a good look at the waterfall, and then my legs seemed to go down. I only had time to grip hold of that tree, and then I was swinging about. That's all. Let's have a look at the water, though, all the same." We followed the doctor, going cautiously along till we found him standing gun in hand gazing from a bare spot right out at the huge tumbling body of water, which made the very rocks on which we stood tremble and vibrate as it thundered down. In one spot, half-way down what looked to be a terribly gloomy chasm, a broad beam of sunlight shone right across the foam and fine spray that rose in a cloud, and from time to time this was spanned by a lovely iris, whose colours looked more beautiful than anything of the kind that I had before seen. I could have stood for hours gazing at the soft oily looking water as it glided over the piled-up rocks, and watched it breaking up into spray and then plunge headlong into the chaos of water below; but the doctor laid his hand upon my shoulder and pointed upwards, when, leading the way, he climbed on and on till we were beyond the rocks which formed the shelf over which the water glided, and here we found ourselves at the edge of a narrow ravine, along which the stream flowed swiftly from far beyond our sight to the spot where it made its plunge. We were in comparative quiet up here, the noise of the fall being cut off by the rocks, which seemed to hush it as soon as we had passed. "Let us get back, my lads," the doctor said then; "I don't think we shall advance our business by inspecting this grand river;" and so leaving the water-worn smooth rock of the ravine, we retraced our steps, and at last, hot and fainting almost with the heat, reached the little camp, where our black followers were eagerly looking out for our return. "Where's Jimmy?" I said as I glanced round; but no one knew, and supposing that he had gone to hunt something that he considered good to eat I took no further notice then, though the doctor frowned, evidently considering that he ought to have been in camp. Gyp was there though, ready to salute his master, who lay down at once, as he informed me in confidence, to rest his back. We were only too glad to get under the shelter of the great overhanging rock, which gave us comparative coolness, situated as it was beneath a hill that was almost a mountain, towering up in successive ledges to the summit. The walk, in spite of the excitement of the adventure, had given us an excellent appetite, and even Jack Penny ate away heartily, looking self-satisfied and as complacent as could be. "Why, what are you laughing at, Jack?" I said, as I happened to look up. "I was only smiling," he whispered, "about my accident." "Smiling--at that!" I exclaimed. "Why, I should have thought you would have been horrified at the very thought of it." "So I should if I had been a coward over it, Joe Carstairs; but I wasn't--now was I?" "Coward! No," I said, "of course not. Here, fill my cup with water." We were sitting pretty close to the edge of our shelter, which really might have been termed a very shallow cave, some twenty feet above the level; and as I spoke I held out the tin pannikin towards Jack, for the heat had made me terribly thirsty. The next moment, though, something struck the tin mug and dashed it noisily out of my hand, while before I could recover from my astonishment, the doctor had dragged me backwards with one hand, giving Jack Penny a backhander on the chest with the other. "Arrows!" he whispered. "Danger! There are savages there below." _ |
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