Chapter 19. The First Run Ashore

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_ CHAPTER NINETEEN. THE FIRST RUN ASHORE

Jack dropped down into the boat with a feeling of pity for the men who had to stay on board with the mate. Sir John, the doctor, and Captain Bradleigh were of the party, all well-armed, and, to Jack's excitement and satisfaction, he found that the crew of the boat all wore cutlasses, with the peculiar hilt which enables the wearers to fix them bayonet-fashion to the muzzles of their rifles.

"Just as well to be prepared, Mr Jack," said the captain, smiling, as he saw the interest the boy took in the men's appearance. "I don't think we shall find a soul in the island. If there had been, they must have caught sight of us, and would have shown themselves, even if they had gone off into the woods when they saw us coming ashore. Well, what do you say to this for a treat? Think it's as good as Doctor Instow described?"

"Better, ever so much," said Jack excitedly; "but please don't talk to me now. There is so much to see, I want to look about me. It is all so fresh and beautiful. But are there cocoa-nut trees?"

"Yes, of all sizes, from little ones a year old, to old ones in full bearing. There they are."

"But I thought cocoanuts grew on a sort of palm-tree which went up from the ground as straight as an arrow."

"No: never. The cocoa-nut sapling springs up with a beautiful curve like you see yonder, all alike, and no matter how the wind blows they keep to it, bending down and springing up again as if they were made of whalebone. They get it badly though when there is a hurricane; scarcely anything can stand that. But look down."

"Look down?"

"Yes, into the sea. You must not pass that over."

The boy glanced over the side of the boat, as the men rowed gently across the lagoon, to find that they had gradually come into a shallow part, whose waters, save for the disturbance made by the boat's passing, were perfectly calm and of crystal clearness. As they neared the sandy shore, the bottom, by the refraction, seemed to come nearer and nearer to the surface, through which he sat gazing into one of Nature's loveliest aquaria, strewn with the most wondrous corals and madrepores, not dry, harsh, and stony, but glowing in colours imparted by the many creatures which covered them. The seaweeds were exquisite, and the flowers of this submarine garden were sea anemones of wondrous tints, some closed like buds, others open wide, aster-like, and as bright in tint, but with a slow, creeping movement of their petal-like arms, as some unfortunate water creature touched them and was drawn into the central mouth.

Shell-fish too of wondrous forms lay or crept about in the grottoes of coral rock. Some were anchored oyster-like, and of gigantic size, lying as traps with shells apart, like the mouth of some terrible monster lying hidden among the weeds; others with strange, striped shells crawled snail-like over the bottom, amidst many so small that they were mere specks. And all the while, as the boat glided on over the surface, there were flashes of gold, silver, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and amethyst, for shoals of fish, startled by their coming, darted through the sunlit water, to hide in the waving groves of sea-weed, or nestle down among the coral stones.

"Stop rowing, please," said Sir John suddenly; and Jack turned to see that his father and the doctor had been gazing down into the water from the other side of the boat. "Only for a few minutes, captain: we must not pass over this too quickly."

"You have only to give your orders, sir," said the captain, smiling with satisfaction; and as the men sat with their oars balanced, the boat glided slowly on, hardly disturbing the surface; but her shadow was sufficient as it darkened the water to still startle the fish from their homes.

"Here's work, Meadows--here's collecting. Jack, boy, what do you think of it?"

"Oh!" ejaculated the lad, without raising his eyes from the wondrous scene he was watching once more.

There does not seem much in that simple little interjection; but the meaning put into it by the tone and the face of the lad who uttered it spoke volumes.

"Ah, it is oh!" cried the doctor. "Here, Jack, it's all nonsense, I can't be thirty-six; I feel only sixteen, and I want to begin wading in here."

"I'd advise you to wear very thick boats then," said the captain. "Some of these things are knife-edged, some sharp as thorns. You'll have to take care."

"Oh, we will; eh, Jack?"

"Yes; but we must get a lot of these as specimens. Here, look--look!"

"Ah, one of those snakes," said Sir John. "One? Look--look! there are dozens of them gliding about."

"Then I shan't wade," said the doctor decisively. "I don't want any patients this trip, and there wouldn't be much fun in laying myself up with a bad leg, and having myself to attend. I shall do my wading in a boat."

"Yes; and we must fish for and catch some of these little fellows. Do, father, look at that one gliding along by that clump of branched stuff, plant or coral, or whatever it calls itself. Why it's like a gold-fish with a great, broad bar of glittering blue across it."

"Lovely!" cried the doctor.

A discordant burst of shrill, whistling screams came from the cocoa-nut grove ashore, and Jack looked up sharply.

"Paroquets," said the captain. "There they are, quite a flock of them."

Jack's hand stole behind him toward the guns and just then there was a fluttering of wings, and a little cloud of green, shot with orange yellow and blue, glided out of the grove and flew inland.

"Let's land," said Sir John. "There is so much to see, that we had better content ourselves with a preliminary look round."

"Yes," said the doctor, "and devote separate days after to some particular branch. Pull away, my lads."

"Yes; but very gently," cried Jack; and they glided on, the men guessing the wishes of those on board by swinging together with a slow, steady motion, and just lightly dipping their oars without a splash, so that, as they glided on toward a patch of sand some four hundred yards away, where the grove of palms was the highest, and the shade from the glowing sun the deepest, a glorious view of the submarine treasures was enjoyed. Jack sighed as the boat's prow touched the sands, the men sprang out on either side in the shallow water, and ran her right up on the shore, close to a great cocoa-nut tree, ready for the painter to be attached in case the tide should rise as high.

Two men were left as keepers, and the party, shouldering their arms, prepared to start inland.

"It will be best, gentlemen," said the captain, "to make our way along the open ground between the lagoon and the forest to-day, and to keep well together. I don't think there is a soul but ourselves on the island, but it is as well to take every step as if we were in face of enemies. For no doubt once upon a time the people who live among these tropical islands were fairly amiable when not provoked; but I'm sorry to say that they have been so ill-used by the sailors and traders of all nations, that whatever they may have been, they are often now ready to behave in a very treacherous manner to white people."

"Quite right," said Sir John; "and it is hard to make them understand that we are perfectly peaceable. I quite agree with Doctor Instow that our pleasant voyage ought not to be made arduous to him and painful to us all by any sad accident. We do not want any patients suffering from spear-thrust, or poisoned arrow sent from blow-pipe or bow, and I beg that every one will understand that I should look upon it as a calamity if, in defence of our lives, we were forced to fire upon a set of ignorant savages. Captain Bradleigh, we trust to your guidance on board, we will continue to do so, please, on shore."

"Thank you, Sir John," said the gentleman addressed; "you have uttered my sentiments exactly, and I am glad to say that I can trust my lads thoroughly. So now, then, we'll go west slowly and easily, so that you can take a look at anything which takes your fancy, and we will just skirt the woodland patches while we go as far as seems reasonable in this direction, our main object being to find out whether we have the island to ourselves."

"But we shall only be examining the narrow band by the water side. What about inland?" said the doctor.

"If we go partly to-day and partly to-morrow round the island, I fancy we shall learn all we want," replied the captain. "If there are any of the black fuzzy-headed Papuans here, or the browner South Sea Islands type of men, more like the Maoris, or lastly the Malay flat-nosed fellows, we are sure to find traces of them by the shore or up the little rivers. They don't care for the inland parts of an island like this, where there is a volcano still more or less active. They generally give these mountains a wide berth, unless there happens to be a tribe of the original people who have been driven inland by the more warlike folk, who go filibustering about searching for new lands in their great outrigger war canoes."

"Hang their war canoes!" said the doctor gruffly, "we don't want them here."

"You, my lads," said the captain to the two men by the boat, "will not leave your posts, and you will keep the cutter just afloat, so that you can leap aboard and keep her off at the first sign of danger. If there is anything you will fire two shots sharply, as a warning to Mr Bartlett, though probably he will see it first and send help to you. Then keep on firing a shot every minute till you get an answer from us, followed by one shot, and then two more, which mean that we have heard you and are coming back. Now I don't expect anything of the kind, but we must be on the look-out till we have examined the place. You understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"That's right. Don't leave your rifles, and don't go to sleep."

"Right, sir."

"Then now, gentlemen, we'll advance in a line. No straggling, mind. When one halts, all will stand fast. Forward!"

Jack shouldered his perfectly new double gun and stepped out, not feeling the weight of either that or the satchel and cartridge pouch slung by cross-belts, while from that at his waist hung a leather holster containing a revolver and a strong, handy sheath knife, suitable for a weapon, for skinning a specimen, or for hacking a way through tangled scrub. A feeling of subdued excitement set his heart beating steadily, and a thrill of returning health made his muscles feel tense, while his eyes flashed with eagerness, and there was an elasticity in his step that sent a feeling of satisfaction home to his father.

He was between Sir John and the doctor as they stepped off in a line over the soft sand, and the latter turned for a moment, looking serious.

"One word to you two," he said,--"medical adviser's word. This is a new country, and you are new to it. Just mind this: with quiet steady going you can do a great deal; but there must be no over-exertion so as to get too much heated. Chills are easily taken in these tropic lands, and they mean fever and weakness, so let there be no false delicacy or shame, and fighting to keep up with men better fit for the work than we are. If either of you feels tired, stop at once and rest."

"That's all meant for me," said Jack, smiling.

"No, it isn't," cried the doctor sharply. "It's meant as much for your father, who has a deal more weight to carry than you have, and if I am not much mistaken, Jack Meadows, Esquire, he is a good deal older. Now you understand. No over-exertion, no drinking cold water while you're hot. As I told you before, I don't want patients till I get back home. I've come out to enjoy my trip, so have a little mercy, if you please."

They tramped on under the blazing sunshine, and where they could under the shade of trees, starting crabs running in all directions, fish which had been basking on the wet sand by the water's edge wriggling and flopping back into the lagoon, and birds of brilliant colours from the trees they passed; all of which excited a desire in Jack to begin trying his skill with his double gun; but it was an understood thing that shooting was not to commence that day, but every hour be devoted to exploring.

Everything looked superlatively beautiful. Metallic-armoured lizards darted over the dry sand to hide amongst the scattered blocks of sun-baked coral, lovely butterflies and other insects flitted amongst low growth, in company with tiny sun-birds which seemed clothed in brilliant burnished mail, and at every few steps larger birds, perfectly new to the visitors, took flight or hurried thrush-like to take refuge beneath the bushes.

On their left the wondrously blue lagoon glittered through the tall stems of the cocoa-nut trees which fringed the shore; on their right they had the open park-like stretches of land, dotted with bush and stately tree; and every here and there, through an opening, they had glimpses of the forest, which rose upward covering the flanks of the mountain.

At the end of an hour, long after--through the curving of the shore--the yacht had disappeared from view, they made their first halt. They stopped at a valley-like opening which ran in a sinuous manner up and up till they had a glimpse of the central mountain nearly to its highest part.

The captain, in his caution, set a man on the highest part to act as sentry and guard against a surprise, and he himself took another and walked a quarter of a mile farther in search of traces on the sands of canoes.

Jack threw himself down beneath a group of cocoa-nut trees, with the soft sand for his couch, and was delighted and puzzled at the pleasant, restful sensations he enjoyed. Sir John and the doctor sat down a little apart, and the sailors chose another group of cocoa-nut trees to indulge in a quiet chat.

Jack had just half-closed his eyes, to lie gazing through the lashes at dazzling light and rainbow-like effects seen in the mist caused by the breakers on the reef, when a rustling sound behind him made him start and find that it was their man.

"Only me, Mr Jack, sir. Hope I haven't woke you out of a nap."

"Oh no. I was not asleep, Ned."

"Tired, sir?"

"No, not a bit."

"Feet hurt you?"

"No. Why should they?"

"With the walking, sir. You see, you're not used to it."

"No, I'm not used to it, Ned; but I soon shall be."

"That's right, sir. If they had been hurting you and your boots felt tight, I was going to say, come down to the water's edge and paddle your feet a bit."

"But they're all right."

"Glad of it, sir. Mine ain't. At least they're better now. That's what I went and did, and it's lovely. Thirsty, sir?"

"Well, yes, I am thirsty."

"Then I'll get you a drink, sir, same as the men's had. Two of 'em's been up one of those trees--these trees like we're under, sir. They calls 'em cocoa-nut, but that's all nonsense. They're not nuts."

"Oh yes, these are real cocoa-nut trees, Ned."

"Well, sir, I don't like to contradick you; it wouldn't be my place. But if these are real cocoanuts, them we buys--I mean I buys--at home are sham ones."

"Oh, they're all the same, Ned."

"Well, sir, 'tain't for me to contradick. I dessay you're quite right and they are all the same, but they're quite different. Them at home's hard shells with rough shaggy hairs on 'em, and inside they're white solid nut."

"So are these, Ned."

"Beg pardon, sir, have you tasted one? You must have seen 'em hanging here in the trees."

"Of course I've seen them."

"Yes, sir, and they're twice as large as ours, with a cover to 'em like a piece of solid door-mat."

"That's the outer husk, Ned."

"Oh, is it, sir? I thought it was something. But you ain't tasted one?"

"No."

"Well, sir, it's hard work to cut them at home with a knife, they're that hard; as for these here they're too soft to cut with a spoon. Have one, sir?"

"Oh no, I'm not disposed to eat nuts," said Jack, laughing.

"But you don't eat 'em here, sir; it's more drinking of 'em. Let me get you one, sir."

"Very well: I do feel as if I could drink something."

"Then these are the very thing, sir," said the man, and he hurried off, Jack lying back watching him till he reached the knot of sailors enjoying the shade.

Then as Jack watched quite out of hearing, a kind of pantomime began, in which the sailors seemed to be laughing, and Ned gesticulating, and holding his hand first to one and then another, slapping his knee afterward, and seeming to go on in the most absurd manner; but the next minute Jack began to grasp dimly what it all meant, and that the sailors were daring their man to do something, and telling him it could not be done.

There it all was: directly after Ned slipped off his straps and belt, pulled off his jacket, and then rapidly got rid of his boots.

Jack did not hear him say, "Now, my lads, I'll show you," but he seemed to say it, after shading his eyes and staring upward for a few moments before spitting in his hands, taking a run and a jump, and beginning to hug and climb one of the cocoa-nut trees, while the sailors all sprang up to stand clapping their hands, and evidently bantering him or urging him on.

This brought Jack into a sitting position, and the next minute he had out his glass, and was watching with the actor apparently close at hand, drawing himself up a few inches at a time, as one would mount a scaffold-pole, and his wrinkled forehead, compressed lips, and determined eyes so plain that Jack could have fancied that he heard him breathe.

"I wonder whether he'll do it," said the lad softly. "He is just one of those obstinate fellows who, if they make up their minds to do a thing, manage it somehow."

And feeling as deeply interested as the man himself, Jack felt ready to run across to the cocoa-nut grove and shout encouragement.

"Look so precious undignified if I did. But how strange it seems! There was he only the other day in his quiet livery and white tie valeting us, and waiting at table, and now he's climbing that tree like a boy."

"Or a monkey, Jack," said the doctor, who had come up behind, and Sir John with him. "I didn't hear you," said Jack, starting. "Not likely when you were talking aloud with your ears glued to that lorgnette. Well, eyes then. But it's the air, my lad; I feel ready to do any stupid thing of that kind. I'd challenge you to climb the two next trees if we were alone."

"_I_ hope the foolish fellow will not meet with an accident," said Sir John.

"Pooh! not he," said the doctor. "The lads have been challenging him, I suppose."

"I think that's it, but he has gone to get a cocoa-nut for me."

"You did not send him to do it, Jack?"

"No, father: he came and proposed it."

"Tree's getting gradually thinner," said the doctor. "Easier to climb."

"I hope he will be successful," said Sir John. "The men will banter him so if he fails."

"How the tree begins to bend!" said Jack anxiously. "Why don't you shake it?" he cried, without considering that his words could not be heard. But, oddly enough, just at that moment the idea seemed to have occurred to Ned, who held on with his legs and shook the tree violently.

"You will not do it like that, my fine fellow," said the captain, coming up; "and lucky for you that you can't. A crack from one of those nuts would be no joke."

"Yes, they must be pretty heavy," said Sir John.

"Heavy enough to kill any one if they fell upon his bare head."

"Oh, look how the tree's bending over!" cried Jack.

"Yes, he had no business to choose such a slight one," said the captain, as the tree swayed beneath the man's weight.

"Had I better stop him?" said Sir John.

"I think perhaps you had better not startle him and make him nervous, father. We don't want any accidents."

"Indeed we don't," said the doctor; "better let him be. Why, if he goes on like this the tree will bend over like a fishing-rod, and he can drop from the top to the ground."

Then silence fell upon the group, and the sailors ceased to cheer, as, with the elastic rod-like tree bending more and more over, and swaying up and down, Ned climbed on, till the last part of his progress was after the fashion of a sloth, hanging back downward, and at every movement coming nearer, till the great crown of leaves and nuts, which had stood forty feet in the air, was not more than twenty.

"Another two or three feet will do it," said the doctor; "but I'm afraid he will not be able to get the nuts off."

"Oh yes; he can screw them off," said the captain.

"What I'm afraid of is--"

_Crack_!

A sharp loud snap, and the top of the tree came down, the big leafage hiding Ned; but he was standing up close to the broken-off tree, which was now like a thick pole, and rubbing himself hard, with the sailors about him, when the lookers-on reached the spot.

"Oh, Ned!" cried Jack, who was first up.

"Yes, sir, it is 'Oh, Ned!'" replied the man angrily.

"Hurt?" cried the others in a breath.

"Don't know yet, Sir John," said the man, "I think my right leg's broke, though."

"Here, let me see," cried the doctor eagerly.

"No, it ain't, sir," said Ned, giving a kick. "It's the left one."

"Bah!" roared the doctor; "how could you stand upon it and kick out like that if it were broken?"

"Right you are, sir; of course I couldn't. But something's broke, for I heard it go. Maybe it's my arms."

"Maybe it's your head," said the doctor sarcastically, "for you are talking in a very crack-brained fashion. Let me buckle your belt round it tightly to hold it together."

The man stared wonderingly at the doctor, feeling his head all over the while, and his eyes having a puzzled look in them, as if he couldn't quite make out whether the doctor was speaking seriously. But the next moment he took it as a piece of chaff and grinned.

"It's all right, sir, but it did come an awful whack against one of these nuts."

"Better see if you've damaged the nut," said the doctor sarcastically. "No, never mind. Head's too soft."

Ned grinned again, and gave himself a rub as he looked down at the crown of the tree and then at the broken stump, snapped off a good five-and-twenty feet from the ground.

"Here," he said, turning to the group of sailors, "you were precious full of your brag about climbing, and saying I couldn't. But I did, and now let's see one of you do that."

There was a roar of laughter, and Sir John turned away, but the captain spoke rather seriously.

"I wouldn't advise you to do this sort of thing again, young fellow. Now then, how do you feel? Can you go on with us, or will you wait here till we come back?"

"Me wait here, sir?" cried Ned. "What, all alone? No, thank you, I'm all right, sir. Walk as well as any of them."

"Then whoever wants a cocoa-nut had better have it, for we go on in five minutes."

"Will you give me your knife, sir?" said Ned, turning to his young master. "Thankye, sir; I know how it's done;" and chopping off the husk and the top of the soft shell of one of the great nuts, he handed it to Jack, the sailors quickly getting the rest of the others and serving them the same, to hand to Sir John, the doctor, and captain, who all partook of the deliriously cool, sub-acid pulp. Then the word was given and the march commenced once more.

Whether Ned suffered or not he kept to himself, for he resumed his jacket, boots, and belts, clapped on his pith hat, and stalked off with the rest, the way seeming to grow more and more beautiful, and the natural history specimens more attractive at every hundred yards they left behind.

But there was no shooting, the object of the exploration being rigorously kept in mind, and they were just rounding what seemed to be the end of a great artificial dike that ran down from the slope on their right, when one of the men cried--"Look out! They must be close here." Every one stopped short, and guns and rifles were brought to the ready.

"What is it?" said the captain in a low voice. "What did you see?"

"Didn't see nothing, sir," replied the man. "I smelt 'em."

"What do you mean?"

"Must be some huts or cottages close here, where the people keeps pigs."

"Yes, look, sir," cried another man, pointing; "they've been down here to the sea."

He pointed to where, about a dozen yards away, there were abundant traces of a drove of pigs, and as the captain advanced, the odour which the sailor had noticed now became plain to all.

Sir John looked inquiringly at the captain. "A good find," said the latter, smiling. "We shall be able to shoot some fresh young porkers. Wild pig is not bad."

"Wild?" cried the doctor.

"Yes, there is evidently a herd of wild pigs in the island, if not several. They have been down here lately."

"But surely there would not be wild boars and sows in an island like this?" said Sir John.

"No," said the captain, "but pigs that have run wild. You see, the old voyagers left two or three pairs in a good many places, and they have increased largely. This must have been one of the favoured islands."

Further proof was given a short distance farther on, for they had a glimpse of a herd which seemed to be fifty or sixty strong, whose leaders stood grunting and staring at the new-comers for a moment or two before whisking round and dashing off among the trees, to be hidden directly by the low growth, a head or a tail being seen at intervals; and then every sign was gone.

"Well," said the doctor to Jack, "that's another discovery to the good: fresh pork and poultry."

"You can't eat parrots," said Jack, laughing.

"Why?" said the doctor.

"Oh, those highly-coloured birds can't be good."

"Wait a bit, my young philosopher. I never knew that gaily-coloured barn-door cockerels were 'bad', and I know that a young peacock is as good as a pheasant; so where is your theory now?"

"Yes, Jack, you are beaten," said Sir John merrily.

"Oh, but I meant parrots and cockatoos and birds of paradise," said the lad hurriedly.

"Parrots and cockatoos live on fruit," said the doctor; "fruit is good, ergo parrots and cockatoos are good, and I'll have a curry made of the first I skin."

"You are right about the birds of paradise though, my boy," said Sir John. "I should not like to try one of those, because they are so nearly related to the crow."

"A bird of paradise related to a crow--a black crow?"

"Oh yes, you'll find some of the most gaily painted birds out here in the tropics very nearly related to some of our more common friends at home."

"Yes; look, there goes one, Jack. I could bring him down easily."

The lad had already caught sight of a lovely bird upon the ground, which stood looking at them for a few moments before hopping away beneath the bushes and undergrowth, appearing again farther on, and then spreading its wings for a short flight, and displaying the lovely colours with which it was dyed, the most prominent being shades of blue relieved by delicate fawn and pale warm drab.

"What's that?" cried Jack eagerly.

"That's a thrush," said the doctor.

"A thrush!"

"Yes; not one of our olive-green, speckled-breasted fellows, but a thrush all the same, and saving its colouring, wonderfully like one of ours."

There was plenty to say about bird and insect as they went on, keeping just where the sand gave place to firm ground, for the birds were excessively tame, and gave evident proof that they were not much disturbed; while every now and then amid the lovely insects which thronged wherever there were flowers, appeared some magnificent butterfly, several inches across its wings, tempting Sir John to cease exploring for the sake of making captures.

But everything was given up to the main object, and mile after mile was tramped, every step seeming to reveal some new beauty--peeps through the groves at the broad blue sea, or wonderful landscapes up ravines, with the mountain towering up behind.

The natural history objects they encountered were plentiful enough. In fact very few steps were taken without something attracting attention. Lizards which seemed as they basked on pieces of the heated rock to have been cut out of glittering metal, till, at the jar of a footstep, or the shadow of any one cast across them, they darted away. In one place the doctor pointed out sinuous markings on the sandy ground which looked as if freshly made.

"Yes, a snake," said Sir John, "and a good-sized one too."

"How large?" said Jack with suppressed excitement.

"Seven or eight feet long, I should say," replied his father.

Jack looked with an expression of mingled dread and longing at the patch of dense growth into which the track led, and directly after Edward exchanged glances with him, the man's look seeming to say--

"I've marked down that spot, sir."

Glen after glen was passed, every one full of beauty and interest, and at last they were brought up short by what looked like some huge pier running right across their way, down over the sands, and ending suddenly about a hundred feet out in the beautiful blue lake. At the first sight it seemed like some great landing-place or wharf, but there was no sign of handiwork about it, and the lad gazed at it in awe, as the doctor explained that it was the end where it had cooled and solidified in the lake of a huge lava-stream which had flowed down from the mountain, high up on their right.

"But that means it must have run like so much liquid fire for miles."

"Yes, that's exactly what it does mean, Jack," said Sir John; "six or seven or eight. We shall know some day, when we have explored the place."

"And that will be like a high-road to the top," said the doctor, "only I'm afraid it would be a rather rough one."

"We'll try it some day," said Sir John.

"Rather hard for your boots, sir," said the captain. "Look at it: like glass, and as sharp in places."

"Why, it must be quite fresh," said Jack.

The captain smiled and shook his head.

"But some of these pieces look quite bright," said Jack.

"Yes; and these trees look quite green, and many of them may be a hundred or two hundred years old."

"What has that got to do with it?" said Jack. "Oh yes, I see now: they would have been burned up. Of course."

"Yes," said Sir John, as he stood looking at the huge solidified stream; "everything about here must have been burned to ashes, and it would, even with the rapid tropic rate, have taken fully a hundred years for these trees to grow."

"How wide is the stream?" said the doctor; and he led the way to climb up, startling something, which went off with a tremendous rush inland.

"What's that?" said Sir John.

"Couldn't catch a glimpse of it; but it wasn't a man. Four-legged creature of some kind. There, that's its cry."

A peculiarly weird howl rang out, and was answered from a distance off; but though the party waited in the hope of seeing what it was that had been started, they were disappointed.

"Never mind," said the doctor; "we have proof that there are animals about. Now then, how wide do you make the lava-stream to be?"

"About four hundred paces," said Sir John.

"Quite that," said the captain. "Well, gentlemen, what do you say to making a halt just beyond the lava there--under one of those trees, say, beside that stream?"

"Couldn't be a better place," cried Jack. "I am getting hungry."

"I think we all are," said the doctor, smiling, "for we have been tramping quite two hours since Edward had his adventure on the cocoa-nut tree."

"If I might suggest, Sir John, I'd make this the farthest limit of our tramp to-day. We shall be about four hours going back; and to-morrow we might go in the other direction--sail round the island, if you like."

"I think we would prefer to explore it on foot, captain," replied Sir John.

They crossed the remainder of the solidified stream of stone, ascended to the beautiful grove of trees on the other side, where a swift stream of the purest water ran gurgling along to the sea, and here enjoyed, in the cool shade, a delicious _al fresco_ meal, to which every one did ample justice. After which a start was made for the yacht; but the heat proved to be so intense, there not being a breath of air, save a succession of hot puffs which seemed to be wafted down from the mountain, that the men began to flag and show signs of being overcome. Consequently, first one and then another halt had to be called, and when they were still a good three miles from where they had left the boat, the sun went down, and the night came on with startling suddenness, so that at the end of a quarter of an hour it was dark as pitch beneath the trees, and the order was given to bear off to the right, so as to follow the sand.

"Can't go wrong," said the captain, "if we keep within touch of the sea."

"Hark! hark! What's that?" cried Jack.

There was no need for him to speak, for every one had stopped short, and was listening intently to the echoes which ran reverberating along a valley, after what seemed to have been the firing of a heavy gun. _

Read next: Chapter 20. Floating Blacks

Read previous: Chapter 18. Finding The Way In

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