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King o' the Beach: A Tropic Tale, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 10 |
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_ CHAPTER TEN. The old sailor was right--fine weather it was: and after a heavy meal and providing themselves with another in a basket, they stepped down on to the raft, where Bostock had rigged up a mast, and pushed off from their home, which lay looking enormous from where they stood. The doctor had passed judgment that if Carey did not exert himself he might do a little in the way of going about. He was bandaged still and debarred from using one arm at all; but as he half-lay on the raft looking round he was ready to declare that he would have liked to come even with both arms bandaged to his sides, for it was glorious on that sunny morning, with the air clear and soft, the sky of an intense blue, and the water, over which they glided very slowly, looking like crystal. The square sail had been hoisted; it filled out slowly and, obeying the long rough oar which Bostock used as a scull, the raft behaved splendidly, leaving the long dark hull of the steamer behind, and steadily nearing the yellow stretch of sand backed by an enormous cocoanut grove. There were birds circling overhead and flock after flock flying about the shore, which grew more beautiful each minute; but before they had glided far over the lagoon, Carey's attention was taken up by the shallowness of the water, and he reached out over the side to gaze in wonder through the perfectly limpid medium at what seemed to be a garden of flowers of the most beautiful and varied tints. There were groves, too, of shrubs, whose branches were of delicate shades of lavender, yellow, orange, and purple, and through the waving sea growths fishes, gorgeous in gold, orange, scarlet, and blue, flashed in the softened sunshine, as they were startled by the coming of the raft. Bostock was very busy piloting their craft, but he was referred to from time to time as a mine of knowledge to be worked, for the old sailor had long been acquainted with the Eastern Seas, and had been fairly observant for an uneducated man. Hence he was able to point out the fact that there were thousands of the great pearl-oysters clustering about the coral reefs which looked so shrub-like below. "Look here, doctor," cried the boy, excitedly; "it's just like a lovely garden." "Exactly," said the doctor; "a garden that lives and grows without a soul to admire its beauties." "No, we're admiring them, sir," said Carey, promptly. "But most likely we are the first white people who ever saw them." "Don't let the raft go so quickly, Bob," cried Carey; "we want to have a long, long look at the things now we have found them. Look, doctor; oh, do look! there was a fish glided by all of a watch-spring blue, with a great bar across it like a gold-fish's." "You are missing those flowers," said the doctor. "No, I see them," cried the boy, with his face close to the water. "Sea anemones; clusters of them like those I've seen in Cornwall, only ten times as handsome. Look there, too, lying on the patch of sand there, seven or eight, oh! and there's one--a five-pointed one, scarlet, crimson, and orange-brown; but they don't seem to have any feelers." "No; those must be star-fish--sea stars." "Beautiful," cried the boy, who was half-wild with excitement. "Oh, what a pity we are going so fast! Look at all this lilac coral; why, there must be miles of it." "Hunderds o' miles, sir," growled Bostock. "Yes, it's very pretty to look at, and if you touch it, it feels soft as jelly outside; but it has a bad way o' ripping holes in the bottoms of ships. Copper and iron's nothing to it. Goes right through 'em. Ah! that coral's sent hunderds o' fine vessels to the bottom o' the sea, the sea. 'And she sank to the bottom o' the sea.'" The old sailor broke into song at the end of his remarks, with a portion of a stave of "The Mermaid"; but singing was not his strong point, and he made a noise partaking a good deal of a melodious croak. "This is a famous region for coral reefs, I suppose, Bostock," said the doctor. "Orfle, sir. Why, as soon as you gets round the corner yonder, going to Brisbane, they call it the Coral Sea, and there you get the Great Barrier Reef, all made of this here stuff." "More of those great oysters," said Carey. "I say, Bob, are they good to eat?" "Not half bad, sir, as you shall say. They make first-rate soup, and that aren't a thing to be sneezed at." "Then we shan't starve," said Carey, laughing. "Starve, sir? No. I can see plenty of good fish to be had out o' this lagoon." "But are these the oysters they gather for the mother-o'-pearl?" asked the doctor. "Them's those, sir, and it seems to me here's a fortune to be made gathering of 'em. Why, they fetches sixty and seventy pound a ton, and the big uns'll weigh perhaps ten or twelve pound a pair." "Then we must collect some, Carey, ready to take away with us when we go." "And that aren't all, sir," continued the old sailor; "when you come to open 'em you finds pearls inside 'em, some of 'em worth ever so much." "Oh, doctor, what a place we've come to," said Carey, excitedly. "Isn't it lucky we were wrecked?" "That's a matter of opinion, my boy," said the doctor, drily. "'Scuse me, Master Carey, sir," said the old sailor, with a peculiar smile. "Excuse you--what for?" "What I'm going to say, sir," said the old fellow, as he leaned against the handle of the big oar as he steered. "You've got a very nice-looking nose, sir. It's a bit big for your size, but it's a nice tempting-looking nose all the same." "Is it?" said Carey, shortly, and his disengaged hand went up to the organ in question. "I daresay it is. I don't know; but why do you want to meddle with it?" "I don't, sir; I only want to keep anything else from having a go at it." "What is likely to have a 'go' at it, as you say?" "Young shark might be tempted, sir." "Pooh! Nonsense! But are there sharks in this lagoon?" "Thousands, I'll be bound, sir. So don't you never try to bathe. What do you say to running up between those two bits of bare reef, sir--sort o' canal-like place? We could run right up to the sand there." "Try it," said the doctor, and the raft was steered between the long ridges of coral, whose points stood just out of the water. Carey had the satisfaction of seeing that there was a shoal of fish being driven along the watery passage to the shallow at the end, over which they splashed and floundered till they reached deep water again and swam away. "Some o' they would have done for the frying-pan, sir, if we'd had a net handy," said Bostock. "We must come prepared another time." The raft grounded the next minute in what seemed to be a magnificent marine aquarium, into the midst of whose wonders the old sailor stepped to mid-thigh, crunching shells and beautiful pieces of coral in a way which made Carey shiver. "All right, sir, there's millions more," he said, coolly. "Now, doctor, there's no need for you to step down," he continued; "it's wonderful slimy, and there's shells and things sharp enough to cut through your boots. You give me the guns and basket, and I'll take 'em up on the sands and come back for you. I'm more used to the water than you are." The doctor nodded and handed the two double guns they had brought, along with the basket of provisions, with which Bostock waded ashore, returning directly to take the doctor on his back, after which he came again for Carey. "Hadn't I better wade ashore?" said the boy; "one ought to get used to this sort of thing." "After a bit, my lad," said Bostock, shaking his head. "You get used to growing quite well first. Now then, you stand up close here, and I'll nip you ashore in no time." "Well, turn round then; I can't get on your back like that." "You're not going to get on my back, my lad. I'm going to take you in my arms and carry you." "Like a little child," cried Carey, pettishly. "No, like a hinwalid who won't take a bit of care of his tender bones. Lor'-a-mussy, how orbsnit youngsters can be! Don't yer want to get well?" "All right," said Carey, gruffly. "Don't drop me in the water: I'm precious heavy." "Now, is it likely, my lad?" growled the old fellow, taking the lad up gently and starting for the shore. "I'm not going to let you down, so don't you--here, steady there--steady!" Carey burst out into an uncontrollable roar of merriment, for Bostock's right foot suddenly slipped on the slimy shell of one of the great pearl-oysters, and he was as near going headlong as possible; but by making a tremendous effort he saved himself and his burden and hurried panting to the shore. "Have I hurt you, my lad?" he cried, excitedly, perspiration starting out in great drops on his face. "No, not a bit," said Carey, merrily. "Phew! I thought I'd done it, sir. Now, you see, that comes of being too cocksure. Thought I knowed better, but I didn't. Now, are you sure you aren't hurt?" "Quite, Bob," said Carey, wiping his eyes. "Well, you needn't laugh so much, sir." "I can't help it," cried Carey, indulging in another hearty burst. "There, I'm better now." The doctor, who had at once walked off towards the great grove of cocoanuts with a gun on his shoulder, now returned. "Plenty of birds, Carey, my lad," he said; "cocoanuts by the thousand, and through yonder, where you can hear it roaring, there is an ample supply of fresh water. You can see from here where it runs through the sand. Now, the first thing I want to know is whether we are on an island, and the second, have we any savage neighbours." "Let's go up the hills and take a good look round then," suggested Carey. "That is the way to find out, of course; but it would be like so much madness for you to attempt such a climb." "Would it, sir?" "Yes, for some time to come. You are getting on so well that I don't want you to be driven back by over-exertion." "But I could try and give up if I got tired." "Yes, but I don't want you to grow tired, so you must content yourself here. There is plenty to see along the shore here." "And suppose a lot of blacks come while you are away." "Pick up the gun I shall leave with you; they will not face that. But I have no fear of that happening. I feel sure that there are no inhabitants. Still, I only feel so, and I want to be perfectly certain." "You'll be ever so long," said Carey, gloomily, "and it will not be very pleasant to be quite alone. All right, though, sir, I don't mind." "You are not going to be alone," said the doctor, quietly. "Bostock will stay with you." "Oh, but that will not be right," cried the boy, eagerly. "Who knows what dangers you may run into?" "I have my gun, and I daresay I can take care of myself." "But you ought to take Bostock with you, doctor." "I think not: and besides, as we have to divide our force it ought to be done as equally as possible. There, I shall take six hours for my expedition--that is to say, if it is necessary--and I shall go straight away for three hours, and then turn back." "And suppose you lose yourself?" "I have no fear of that," said the doctor. "But don't you go far in either direction. Consider that you have to guard the raft till I come back." Carey felt ready to make fresh objections, but the doctor gave him no time. He stepped to the provision basket, took out one of the bread cakes that Bostock made every other morning, thrust it into his pocket, and gave his patient a final word or two of advice. "Don't be tempted to over-heat yourself in the sun," he said. "Get into the shade of the grove here if you begin to grow tired," and, shouldering his gun, he stepped off through the sand, disappearing directly after among the trees, but only to step back and shout: "I shall try and follow the stream as near as I can to its source in the lake that must be up yonder. _Au revoir_." He disappeared once more, and Carey and Bostock stood looking at one another on the sandy shore. _ |
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