Chapter 51. An End To Difficulties

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_ CHAPTER FIFTY ONE. AN END TO DIFFICULTIES.

Daylight found the little party steadily advancing, but the blacks were in pursuit, and Oliver passed along the line to have a short conference with Panton, leaving Drew, Smith, and Wriggs to form the rear guard.

"Glad to see you, old fellow," said Panton. "I was afraid I had said good-bye when you were left with that powder keg."

"But I haven't a scratch, only a little burn. What are you going to do?"

"Get to the shore if I can, and try and find and take possession of their canoes."

"Impossible," said Oliver, decisively. "Look here, we are on the way to the old crater. Let's get to that natural fort. Once up there and inside the great volcano wall we can easily keep these wretches at bay, and they cannot burn us out there."

"No, but--"

"We must give them a severe lesson, and beat them off. It is our only chance."

"Anything for the best," said Panton. "Very well, then, I'll turn off, and we'll hold that piece you remember where it was so steep, and--"

"Yes, just where the leopard sprang out."

"Good," cried Panton, and he went on at the head of the men, while Oliver halted till Smith and Wriggs came up with Drew.

"Speak the truth, Tommy," Wriggs was saying. "Yer can't be hungry enough to eat a black, so don't tell no lies."

"Where are we for?" said Drew, anxiously.

"The old crater, to make that a fort."

"Hooroar," said Smith, in a low voice. "Splendid. Billy, old chap, that place was just runnin' in my head, as being a good spot for a fight."

"Then the sooner we are there, the better," said Drew, "for the wretches are close behind."

"And going to shoot," said Oliver, raising his piece, and firing back both barrels rapidly, the buck shot with which they were charged breaking through the leaves and twigs and eliciting a savage yell.

"He's got it, Billy," said Smith, "and sarve him right."

Some little trifle later, after being much harassed, the retreating party were offering themselves as prominent marks to the blacks, as they climbed up the outer slope of the old crater, but very soon after they began to reach shelter, and at last they lined the top of the mouldering wall, while the blacks hesitated to approach, for the deadly powers of the whites' guns had become more and more acknowledged. Hence the fugitives were glad to rest a little, and refresh with water from the lake and such scraps of food as they happened to have, though the refreshment was principally black-looking pig-tail tobacco, Smith and Wriggs having their pipes and beginning to smoke.

The hours glided on, and at first every now and then an arrow was shot with bad aim into the natural fortification, but by degrees these were less frequent, and at last the only sign made by the enemy was a little group of men armed with club and spear watching them from the bottom of the slope.

"What do they mean to do?" said Oliver. "Starve us out?"

"Seems like it," said Panton. "Well, it won't take long, unless we can live on water. Wonder whether there are any fish below here in the lake?"

"If there are, we have no means of catching them," said Oliver, sadly. "I'm thinking that our only chance is to assume the aggressive now, and drive them off the island."

"I'm afraid there would not be many of us left to do the driving, before we had finished," said Panton.

_Boom! Crash_!

"Ah, if you would erupt in real earnest, and frighten the black ruffians away, you would be doing some good," he continued, as the volcano made itself evident.

"Hi, look out!" cried one of the men. "They're coming on again." For a sudden movement was visible in the group below them, and they had hardly seized their weapons to bring them to bear, when Smith suddenly uttered another warning shout, as he came back from the edge of the lake to which he had descended for a drink.

"All right, we see them," cried Oliver.

"No, you don't, sir!" yelled the sailor. "Look! look yonder."

A chill of despair ran through all as they glanced in the direction pointed out by Smith, for there, coming rapidly round by the edge of the lake, were some fifty of the enemy, who had evidently kept their attention while a part of their force had managed to penetrate the dense forest, to where they could scale the crater wall nearly on the opposite side, and then descend to the lake, so as to come and take them in the rear.

"What shall we do, face both ways and fight?" said Panton.

"Madness!" cried Oliver. "There's hope for us yet. This way."

He began to descend rapidly, and then led the party along by the side of the lake, leaping from stone to stone, till he reached the spot where the waters flowed out slowly into the cave.

"In with you, quickly!" he cried; but some of the men hesitated. "Lead the way, Smith, and we'll cover you. Quick!"

Smith plunged in, and now his messmates followed, and so hardly were they pressed that the foremost blacks came bounding up just as Oliver and Panton backed slowly in, keeping their pieces towards the entrance, and firing twice as some of the enemy began to follow.

These shots and the darkness checked them, and they vented their disappointment by howling with rage, and sending arrow after arrow splintering against the roof or rocky sides, and making the hollows echo dismally.

With a little care, though, sufficient distance was soon placed between the fugitives and their pursuers, while a bend in the passage-like entrance protected them from the arrows, which were deflected as they struck the walls, and after a time these ceased, and all waited for the next development of the attack.

"They will not dare to come in here," Drew said; "these people are too superstitious to enter such a hole."

"Not when they have lights," said Oliver, sadly. "Smith, can you lead the men farther in? You know the way. Forward."

It was time, for all at once bright rays flashed from the surface of the little river, and shone upon the rocky walls, as with shout and yell the blacks once more came on, and though shot after shot was fired they still pressed forward, evidently determined to avenge the deaths of so many of their party.

But the burning wood they bore helped the retreating party, and rendered the bearers plain objects for the marksmen, while the deafening roar of echoes after every discharge had its effect, and checked the savages more than seeing one or two of their number drop.

But still they came on, forcing the little party back till the sharp bend was reached, and all passed round into absolute darkness and the fearful roar of the failing waters.

"They'll never come along here, surely," said Panton, with his lips to his companion's ear, as they slowly retreated, backing, hand in hand, and guiding themselves by one passing his foot along the edge of the river's bank.

It was a vain hope, for lights soon flashed round, and the great cavernous place was more and more lit up, the shadowy black figures darting here and there, and sending an arrow whenever they fancied they could see one of the sailors.

"Our last chance," shouted Panton, excitedly. "We must stand at bay yonder, on the point, and sell our lives dearly. We'll wait till they come close up, and then begin sending volleys, half firing while the others reload. What do you say!"

"That is what I thought," said Oliver, "but would it be possible to go on?"

"What, past the falls? Impossible."

"It's that or death," said Oliver, sternly.--"Yes? What is it?"

"I says, would you like me to show 'em the way now, sir?" yelled Wriggs in his ear, for he had edged up unseen.

"What, down there, man?" said Oliver, with a shudder, as he looked over into the darkness. "Impossible."

"Which it aren't, sir, for I've done it."

The burning pieces of wood increased in number now, lighting up the huge cavern weirdly, and the blacks were not a hundred yards away, and approaching cautiously.

"What do you say, Panton--fight or run that horrible risk and retreat?"

"I'd say fight," replied Panton, with a shudder, "but we should not beat them off. They'd never dare to follow here. Let's try it. Wriggs got through, why should not we?"

"Yes, go on," cried Oliver. "You cannot talk to the men, and it's as well they do not know the danger. Lead on, Wriggs, and Heaven help us all."

It was as he said, no one but Smith fully realised what the dangers were, and though they were staggered by the noise and horrors around them, the men knew that there was a way through, and, following their comrade's example, they lowered themselves down over the edge of the rock and dropped, the stream seeming less repellent than the ferocious enemy.

One by one they dropped down, disappearing directly as if suddenly snatched away, till only Smith was left with the three friends, and his action was suggestive, for he held out his hand to each in turn, shook that placed within it, and then, grasping his gun, lowered himself over the edge.

The blacks were very near as Drew followed the man's example, and then Panton shook hands with Oliver.

"Good-bye, or _au revoir_," he cried, and turning, he jumped boldly forward into the darkness.

A loud yell arose now, for the lights showed Oliver standing on the brink, and, lowering their spears, a dozen savages rushed at him, but he stepped off the rock edge, descended quickly for some distance, and then plunged into the rushing water, which seemed to rise at him, seize him, and bear him along at a rapidly increasing rate, but with his head above the surface, and the echoing roar of falling waters striking his ears with stunning violence. Then he felt himself suddenly shot out as it were into space, suffocated by the rushing torrent, which poured down upon him, and faint, bewildered, and exhausted, whirled round, and beaten down here and there. At last his face was above the surface, and he was being borne rapidly along a shallow stream, just as Wriggs had described, with its smooth, glassy bottom.

Hope sprang up within his breast once more, for he could breathe again at such times as he could get his head above the rapids; what was more, he could fight for his life against an enemy more merciful than the cascade over which he had been dashed.

But it was a terrible struggle for breath in the darkness of the vast tunnel through which he was being hurried, and though from time to time he touched smooth, water-worn rock, he could get no hold.

At length, after how long he could not tell, he became conscious that the now swift, smooth stream was growing shallower, and recalling the sailor's words, after many efforts he managed to gain and retain his feet, wading onward, and sufficiently recovered to listen for the sound of pursuit, of which there was none.

The noise, too, was dying out. There was a deep, murmuring roar, and the low, whispering rush, but that was all.

And now the confusion in Oliver's brain seemed to clear off. His efforts to preserve life so far had been instinctive; from this moment there was more method. He began as he groped along to make use of the gun to which he still clung, as a staff, but he had not taken many steps onward in the way the water pressed and which he knew must be toward daylight when self was forgotten, and the thought of his comrades made him feel ready to sink helplessly once more and let the stream carry him where it would.

Panton--Drew--the two rough sailors who had been such faithful companions--the rest of the crew? Was he the only survivor?

"Ahoy-y-y-y-y!"

A long-drawn, hollow, echoing hail came from a distance out of the darkness, and it was repeated again and again, before he could command himself and reply. For his throat seemed to be contracted--relief-- joy--gratitude to Heaven, combined to make him, in his weak exhausted state, hysterical, and his answering shout was feeble in the extreme.

But it was heard, and another hail came, which he answered with more vigour, and the knowledge that help was not far away nerved him to fresh efforts. These were encouraged by hail after hail, hoarse, hollow, and terrible, as they were repeated, till all at once a voice sent a thrill of delight through him, for he recognised it, and its words,--

"Where are you, sir? This way."

"Here! Who is it?" cried Oliver, hoarsely. "Smith?"

"Ay, ay, sir! Both on us. Me and Billy Wriggs. Hah! I got yer. Three cheers, Billy, and give it throat. Why, we began to think you was nabbed by the niggers or else drown dead."

"Success to yer, sir," came in a hoarse voice. "Wait till we gets him out, Tommy, and then we'll cheer, ho!"

"Mr Panton--Mr Drew--the others?" cried Oliver, as he clung to the man who had grasped him by the arms.

"Oh, they're all right, sir."

"Nay, nay, speak the truth, Tommy," growled Wriggs, whose hoarse voice sounded awful in the black echoing darkness.

"Don't you be so nation tickler, Billy," cried the other angrily. "Well, they aren't quite all right, being as you may say regular washed out, but they've all alive 'o!"

"Far as we knows, sir," interposed Wriggs. "But you step forrard, sir, and lets get out o' this here waterworks' pipe."

"Is--is it far to the light?" asked Oliver.

"Not it, sir. Clost here."

"Speak the truth, Tommy, speak the truth," growled Wriggs.

"You won't be happy, Billy, till I gives you one on the nose. Well, sir, it aren't so werry far, an' fore long you'll be able to see the light a shinin' in, where Billy here stood up to his knees a ketchin' on us all as we come down stream, and settin' on us all in a row, on a bit of a shelf to dry a bit, 'fore we went any furder."

"You helped, Tommy."

"Well, yes, soon as I'd let about two barrels o' water run out o' me."

"Speak the truth, Tommy."

"Oh, well, one barrel, then," cried Smith, angrily. "I'll say half a pannikin, if you like. Yes, sir, I helped a bit, and counted us as we was ketched, and then as you didn't come, Billy and me come arter yer and here yer are."

"Which is the truth, Tommy, lad, so stick to that."

They journeyed on till there was a faint dawn of light on ahead, which grew lighter and lighter as they waded forward, till the water, lava and pumice of the arched-over roof became visible. Then there was a hail which was answered, and at last in the twilight the figures of their comrades could be seen seated on the lava edge of the subterranean river, one standing in the middle, evidently gazing anxiously toward the inner portions of the cavern.

In all thankfulness hands were grasped, and then the party waded on, wash, wash with the rapid stream, now not knee deep. The light grew stronger and stronger, till at last there was a bright flash along the smooth water, a sharp bend was turned, and some hundred yards before them there was a low arch laced with ferns, opening out upon blue water and sunshine.

This was approached in silence and with great caution, fresh cartridges were placed in the well-drained guns, though doubts were felt as to their being of any use, if the savages knew of the exit of the waters, and were lying in wait.

But all was still, and as they crept on with Panton and Drew now taking the lead, and all feeling as if light were the great reviver of all, the opening was approached, and they stepped out into the daylight where the little river ran on along its narrow path in the jungle--a path they followed for a time, the growth being too dense on either side for the dry land to be sought.

Then all at once Panton halted, and held up his hand for silence.

There was no need, for they had heard voices from somewhere forward, and in despair they stood gazing out at the sunlit lagoon, feeling that a more desperate fight than ever was before them now when they were utterly exhausted, and their ammunition probably spoiled.

"Ah! Thank Heaven!" cried Oliver, springing forward through the water with all his weakness gone, and now the men cheered frantically. For there in front gliding into sight, and not a hundred yards away, was the lugger with two men visible, and these heard and returned the cheer.

As in Oliver's case every one forgot his weakness and exhaustion, in his efforts to wade out toward the lugger which was steered to meet them through the warm sunny water, and they climbed on board.

"Where's Mr Rimmer?" was Oliver's first question.

"Just close handy somewhere," was the reply. "He landed an hour ago, sir, to try and find some way through the forest, so that we could come across to-night and get to you at the brig."

"Ahoy! Look yonder!" cried Panton, and he waved his hand to a figure on a point about a mile along the lagoon, signalling with his hat at the end of a bamboo.

The helm was put down, and the lugger glided softly over the smooth water between the thickly wooded shore and the surf-beaten reef, to where Mr Rimmer waded out to meet them.

"You see, he had not forsaken us," said Oliver, in a whisper to his friends.

"Ah, at last," cried the mate, springing on board, and eagerly grasping the young men's hands. "I was getting in despair about you."

"And we about you," said Oliver. "I thought you had left us in the lurch."

"Just what I should do," said the mate, grimly. "How was I to come to your help with a pocket knife and a marlin-spike? Those were all the arms we had."

"What?" cried Oliver. "Where were the guns that Smith brought?"

"Never brote none, sir," cried Smith. "Didn't I tell yer the niggers cut me off, when you found me with my toes a-sticking out of the bamboos?"

No other explanation was needed, for the mate soon told them how he had sailed round the island, and been trying again and again to communicate. The next question was, what was to be done?

That was soon decided. The brig was by that time a heap of ashes, and it was madness to think of attacking and punishing the savages; so after a hearty meal, and some rest, the lugger was anchored for the night in the sheltered waters of the lagoon, prior to an early start next morning for one or other of the isles to the east.

But they were not destined to rest in peace. Soon after midnight, the water began to be disturbed, the mountain burst into a frightful state of eruption, and the sea rose and fell so that there was every prospect of their being cast on the island, high and dry once more.

There was plenty of light for the evolutions, so hoisting sails which looked orange in the glow, they ran for the first opening they could find in the reef, passed through in safety, and stood out to sea, where they lay to a few miles away, watching the awfully grand display of fire, rising fountain-like from the volcano, down whose sides golden and blood-red water seemed to be running in streams.

All that night the lugger rocked with the terrible concussions, succeeding each other without half a minute's interval, and when the sun rose the glasses showed a great smoke rising from a desolate-looking shore, at one end of which the mountain, about half its former height, was pouring forth clouds of ashes and covering the sea thickly as far as eye could reach.

The glorious groves and bright scenery were gone, destroyed in a few hours, and the strange convulsions which kept on occurring, rendered it necessary to run as rapidly as could be for safer waters and brighter skies.

As the day went on an island was reached, and an addition made to their provisions and water. A few days later they were at the British port in New Guinea, where they once more provisioned for their run south to get within the shelter of the Great Barrier Reef.

Brisbane was made, and then Sydney, from which port a passage was taken for home, where all arrived in safety with the grandest set of Natural History specimens ever collected in one voyage.

"I do wonder what became of those blacks," said Panton, one evening when they were dining with Captain Rimmer, to celebrate his appointment to a fine vessel in the China trade, in which he was to start the following week, and in which he had laughingly offered them a cabin for three.

"Nothing would please me better," he had said, "and you will find your old friends Smith and Wriggs with me as boatswain and his mate."

But appointments at scientific institutions kept the three friends at home, and it was in the course of conversation that Panton alluded to the blacks.

"Ah, and I wonder what became of all those wondrous butterflies and birds?"

"And the wealth of vegetation?" said Drew.

"Swept away, sir," said the captain, "swept away. Strange things take place where there are burning mountains."

"But out of the ruins fresh natural glories grow," said Panton.

"Yes," said Oliver, "and I suppose all things are for the best. But I should have liked to go with you, Captain Rimmer, to see Fire Island once again."

[THE END]
George Manville Fenn's Book: Fire Island

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