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Fire Island, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 17. Friends In Need |
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_ CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. FRIENDS IN NEED He was quite right; it was solid reality, and he was looking at the broad back of a man standing a few yards away, with his hands to his mouth, and who now sent forth a tremendous shout, which was answered from a distance before the man turned, and stepped quickly to his side, displaying the rugged features of Billy Wriggs. "Ain't dead, are yer, sir?" he cried, sinking on one knee. "Here, have a drink." He placed his water bottle in the young man's hand and watched him. "No; dead man couldn't drink that how," he said softly. "Go it, sir; I'll fill it up again. Take a reg'lar good deep swig. Fine stuff, water, when you're thirsty, so long as it aren't hot water, and all bitter and salt. Go it again, sir," he cried, as his rugged face softened into a weak grin of satisfaction. "Ahoy-a! Ahoy! This way." This last was a tremendous roar through his hands, sent in the direction of the forest below, and as soon as it was answered, the man turned again to Lane. "Only to think on it being me as found yer, sir. I do call it luck. I come out o' the wood, and I says to myself, 'I shouldn't wonder, Billy, old man, if Muster Lane's over yonder, among them rocks, for it's just the sorter place to make a roost on,' and I come along, and see yer fast asleep, and here yer are, sir, not a bit dead, are yer?" "No, no, I'm all right, Wriggs, only so stiff, I can hardly move." "Course yer are, sir. But never you mind about that. You wait till Tommy Smith comes up, and us two'll give yer a real 'poo, sir--none of yer sham 'uns--and make yer jyntes as lissom as injy rubber. Why, sir, we begun to think you was a goner. How did yer get here?" "Tell me first how you got here." "That's me as will, sir," cried the man with alacrity, as he keenly watched Lane's efforts to rise, and lent him a hand. "Yer see, we couldn't get through that steam as runs all along across the low land." "Was any one the worse for getting through?" cried Lane, eagerly, and Billy Wriggs scratched his ear. "Well, sir, yer see, none on us weren't none the wuss for getting through, 'cause we didn't get through; but lots on us was all the wuss for not getting through. My heye! Talk about too much grog when yer ashore, it's nothing to it. It's the tipsyest stuff I ever swallowed. How did you manage, sir?" "I--I don't know; I struggled through it, somehow, and then fell down insensible." "Onsensible, course yer did, sir. It knocks all the gumption out on yer 'fore yer knows where yer are. Ahoy! mate! This way, Tommy. Here he is!" The trees below them had been parted, and, all scratched and bleeding, Smith appeared, and as soon as he caught sight of Lane, he slapped his legs heavily, turned round, and yelled aloud. Then he ran up at a trot, grinning hugely. "That's you, sir," he cried, "and I'm glad on it. They said as we should only find yer cold corpus, and 'No,' I says, 'if we finds his corpus at all, it won't be cold but hot roast. There's no getting cold here. But I knows better. Too much stuff in him,' I says. 'He'll sarcumwent all the trouble somehow. Master Oliver Lane aren't the lad to lie down and give up,' and I was right, warn't I, Billy?" "Ay, mate, you was right this time." "Course I was, Billy; but yer needn't ha' been in such a hurry to find Mr Lane all to yerself. But yer allus was a graspin' sort o' chap, Billy." "You're another," growled Wriggs; "but don't stand hargeying there. Here's Mr Lane that stiff he can't move hisself, and he wants us to give him a real 'poo." "Whatcher mean, mate?" "Well, a shampoo, then." "Hold on. Don't you try them games, mate, for you was never cut out for the work. He thinks that's a joke, Mr Lane, sir. But do you want your jyntes rubbed a bit?" "No, no, I shall be better directly," cried Oliver. "Oh, yes, I can walk. Only a bit stiff. Where are the others?" "Coming through that bit o' wood, sir, where it's all thorns and fish-hooks. Mr Rimmer's there and your two messmates." "But how did you get through the mist?" "We didn't, sir. We got a boat down to the shore, launched her and rowed doo north for a bit, and then landed and come along hunting for yer. Why, that there mist goes right down the shore and out to sea, where you can smell it as it comes bubbling up through the water." "But how did you get a boat down?" cried Oliver. "It must be a good two miles." "Nay, sir, seemed to us like a bad four mile," grumbled Wriggs. "Yah! not it, Billy. Oh, we did it, sir. Took the littlest, and the carpenter made a couple o' runners for it out of a spare yard, and so long as we picked our way she come along beautiful. Yer see we meant to do it, and o' course we did it, and here we are." "Ahoy!" yelled Wriggs again, and an answer was heard from close at hand, as Panton suddenly came into sight. "Found him?" he shouted, but he caught sight of his companion at the same moment, and rushed, out of breath and streaming with perspiration, to catch Lane's hands; his lips moved as he tried to speak, but not a word would come. "Ahoy!" yelled Wriggs again, and Smith followed his example after turning his back to the two young men. A minute later Drew came into sight, and then Mr Rimmer, and somehow, he, too, seemed to be affected like Drew and Panton, for he could only shake hands and try to speak, but not a word came. "Lost all my wind," he cried, at last, but in a husky, choky voice. "All right now, and jolly glad to see you again, sir. Hang it, what's the matter with my throat? I know: it's those nuts I picked as we came along. Phew! how hot it is." "Lane, old chap," whispered Panton, "we thought you'd left us in the lurch." "That we did," said Drew, blinking his eyes, and then blowing his nose very loudly. "But, I say, are you all right!" "Yes, only stiff and very hungry." "Hungry?" cried the mate. "Hi! who's got the prog bag?" "Them two's got it, sir," said Wriggs. "Here they come." As he spoke a couple more men came into sight, and deferring all farther questioning till Lane's hunger had been appeased, they descended to where the nearest water trickled amongst the rocks, and were soon all seated enjoying an _al fresco_ meal, the rugged lava forming table and chairs, and the abundant growth of ferns giving a charm to the verdant nook, and sheltering them from the sun. "Well, all I can say is," cried the mate, "that you've had a very narrow escape, sir, and, thank heaven, we're all here to tell you so, for there were moments when I thought that it was all over with us. But, phew! how hot it is." "Yes," said Panton, "a steamy heat. We ought to be getting back to the boat. It will be cooler towards the sea. What's the matter, Drew?" "I was examining these ferns. How curious it is." "What, their withering up so?" said Lane. "Yes, I was noticing it. Are they sensitive plants?" "Oh, no!" cried Drew, "those are the mimosa family. But look here, you can see them fade and droop as you watch them; I suppose it is in some way due to our presence here." "Watcher fidgeting about, Billy?" said Smith, just then. "It's hot enough without you playing the fool. Shuffling about like a cat on hot bricks." "That's just what is the matter with me, matey," grumbled Wriggs. "Just you put yer hand down here. This here rock's as hot as a baker's oven." "So's this here," said one of the men who had carried the provisions. "Hadn't we better go 'fore there's roast man for brexfass?" "Really, gentlemen, it's uncomfortably hot here," said Mr Rimmer, and just then there was a peculiar tremor beneath them, and a shock as if they were upon a thin crust which had received a sharp blow from beneath. They all started to their feet, and the first disposition was to run. "Don't leave your guns!" roared Panton, and each man snatched up his piece. The next moment they fell prostrate and clung to the nearest rocks, for the earth began to sink beneath them, and the huge stones upon which they had been seated a short time before glided away. "Quick!" cried Lane, as the surface, which had been nearly level, now hung down in a precipitous slope. "This way!" He set the example of climbing upward, and they reached a level spot again just as there was a sharp crack, a deafening roar, and from out of the vast chasm, which had opened, there was a rush of fire, and smoke rose suddenly towards where they clustered. _ |
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