The Battery and the Boiler: Adventures in Laying of Submarine Electric Cables

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  SHOWS THE DREADFUL DEPRAVITY OF MAN, AND THE AMAZING EFFECTS OFELECTRICAL TREATMENT ON MAN AND BEAST.

  Meanwhile Stumps went back to the hotel to brood over his misfortunes,and hatch out the plan which his rather unfertile brain had devised.

  Seated on a chair, with his elbows on his knees, his chin in his hands,and his nails between his teeth, he stared at a corner of the room,nibbled and meditated. There was nothing peculiar about the corner ofthe room at which he stared, save that there stood in it a portmanteauwhich Sam had bought the day before, and in which were locked his andRobin's bags of treasure.

  "If I could only manage to get away by rail to--to--anywhere, I'd doit," he muttered.

  Almost simultaneously he leaped from his chair, reddened, and went tolook-out at the window, for some one had tapped at the door.

  "Come in," he said with some hesitation.

  "Gen'l'man wants you, sir," said a waiter, ushering in the identicalcaptain who had stopped Stumps on the street that day.

  "Excuse me, young man," he said, taking a chair without invitation, "Isaw you enter this hotel, and followed you."

  "Well, and what business had you to follow me?" demanded Stumps, feelinguneasy.

  "Oh, none--none at all, on'y I find I must sail this afternoon, an' I'vetook a fancy to you, an' hope you've made up your mind to ship with me."

  Stumps hesitated a moment.

  "Well, yes, I have," he said, with sudden resolution. "When must I beon board?"

  "At four, sharp," said the captain, rising. "I like promptitude. Allright. Don't fail me."

  "I won't," said Stumps, with emphasis.

  When the captain was gone, Stumps went nervously to the door and peepedout. Nothing was visible, save the tail of a waiter's retiring coat.Cautiously shutting and bolting the door, he took up a strongwalking-cane, and, after some difficulty, forced the lock of theportmanteau therewith. Abstracting from it the two bags containing thetreasures of his mates Robin and Sam, he wrapped them in a handkerchief,and put them into a canvas bag, which he had purchased for the receptionof his own wardrobe. Taking this under his arm he went quietly out ofthe hotel into the street and disappeared.

  He was closely followed by a waiter who had taken the liberty of peepingthrough the key-hole when he committed the robbery, and who never lostsight of him till he had seen him embark in a vessel in the harbour,named the Fairy Queen, and heard him give his name as James Gibson.Then he returned to the hotel, giving vent to his sentiments in thefollowing soliloquy--"Of course it is no business of yours, John Ribbon,whether men choose to open their comrades' portmantys with keys orwalkin'-sticks, but it is well for you to note the facts that came underyour observation, and to reveal them to them as they concern--for aconsideration."

  But the waiter did not at that time obtain an opportunity to reveal hisfacts to those whom they concerned, for Sam, Robin, Slagg, and Letta didnot return to the hotel, but sent a pencil note to Stumps instead, tothe effect that they had received an invitation from a telegraphofficial to pay him a visit at his residence up country; that, as he wasto carry them off in his boat to the other side of the bay, they wouldnot have an opportunity of calling to bid him, Stumps, a temporaryfarewell; that he was to make himself as happy as he could in Bombayduring their absence, keep on the rooms at the hotel, and settle thebills, and that all expenses would be paid by them on their return.

  As the youth by whom this message was sent knew nothing about thesenders or whither they had gone, and as Stumps did not again make hisappearance, the landlord seized the few things that had been left by thesupposed runaways.

  The invitation that had thus suddenly been given and accepted, wasreceived from a gentleman named Redpath, an official in the Indiantelegraph service. They had been introduced to him on board of theGreat Eastern by Sam's friend, Frank Hedley, and he became so interestedin their adventurous career that he begged them to visit his bungalow ina rather out-of-the-way part of the country, even if only for a fewdays.

  "It won't take us long to get there," he said, "for the railway passeswithin thirty miles of it, and I'll drive you over as pretty a piece ofcountry as you could wish to see. I have a boat alongside, and must beoff at once. Do come."

  "But there are so many of us," objected Sam Shipton.

  "Pooh! I could take a dozen more of you," returned the hospitableelectrician; "and my wife rejoices--absolutely rejoices--when I bringhome unexpected company."

  "What a pattern she must be," said Slagg; "but excuse me, sir, since youare so good as to invite us all, may I make so bold as to ax if you'vegot a servants'-'all?"

  "Well, I've not got exactly that," replied Redpath, with an amused look;"but I've got something of the same sort for my servants. Why do youask?"

  "Because, sir, I never did sail under false colours, and I ain't agoin'to begin now. I don't set up for a gentleman, and thoughcircumstances has throwed me along wi' two of 'em, so that we've binhail-feller-well-met for a time, I ain't agoin' to condescend to consortwi' them always. If you've got a servants'-'all, I'll come and thank'ee; if not, I'll go an' keep company wi' Stumps till Mr Shipton comesback."

  "Very well, my good fellow, then you shall come, and we'll find you aberth in the servants'-hall," said Redpath, laughing.

  "But what about Stumps?" said Robin; "he will wonder what has come overus. Could we not return to the hotel first?"

  "Impossible," said the electrician; "I have not time to wait. My leavehas expired. Besides, you can write him a note."

  So the note was written, as we have shown, and the party set out ontheir inland journey.

  Before starting, however, Frank Hedley, the engineer, took Sam and Robinaside.

  "Now, think over what I have mentioned," he said, "and make up yourminds. You see, I have some influence at head-quarters, and am quitesure I can get you both a berth on board to replace the men who haveleft us. I think I can even manage to find a corner for Slagg, if he isnot particular."

  "We shall only be too happy to go if you can manage it," replied Robin;"but Stumps, what about him? We can't leave Stumps behind, you know."

  "Well. I'll try to get Stumps smuggled aboard as a stoker or something,if possible, but to say truth, I don't feel quite so sure about thatmatter," replied Frank.

  "But shall we have time for this trip if you should prove successful?"asked Sam.

  "Plenty of time," returned his friend; "coaling is a slow as well as adirty process, and to ship thousands of tons is not a trifle. I daresaywe shall be more than a week here before the shore-end is fixed and allready to start."

  "Well then, Frank," said Sam; "adieu, till we meet as shipmates."

  The railway soon conveyed our adventurers a considerable distance intothe interior of the country.

  At the station where Redpath and his guests got out, a vehicle wasprocured sufficiently large to hold them all, and the road over whichthey rapidly passed bore out the character which the electrician hadgiven to it. Every species of beautiful scenery presented itself--fromthe low scrubby plain, with clumps of tropical plants here and there, toundulating uplands and hills.

  "You must have some difficulties in your telegraph operations here,"said Robin to Redpath, "with which we have not to contend in Europe."

  "A few," replied his friend, "especially in the wilder parts of theEast. Would you believe it," he added, addressing himself to Letta,"that wild animals frequently give us great trouble? Whenever a wildpig, a tiger, or a buffalo, takes it into his head to scratch himself,he uses one of our telegraph-posts if he finds it handy. Elephantssometimes butt them down with their thick heads, by way of pastime, Isuppose, for they are not usually fond of posts and wire as food. Thenbandicoots and porcupines burrow under them and bring them to theground, while kites and crows sit on the wires and weigh them down.Monkeys, as usual, are most mischievous, for they lay hold of the wireswith tails and paws, swinging from one to another, and thus form livingconductors, whi
ch tend to mix and confuse the messages."

  "But does not the electricity hurt the monkeys?" asked Letta.

  "O no! It does them no injury; and birds sitting on the wires are neverkilled by it, as many people suppose. The electricity passes themunharmed, and keeps faithfully to the wire. If a monkey, indeed, had atail long enough to reach from the wire to the ground, and were to wetitself thoroughly, it might perhaps draw off some of the current, butfortunately the tails of monkeys are limited. We often find rows ofbirds lying dead below our telegraph lines, but these have been killedby flying against them, the wires being scarcely visible among trees."

  "And what about savages, sir?" asked Jim Slagg, who had become deeplyinterested in the telegraphist's discourse; "don't they bother yousometimes?"

  "Of course they do," replied Redpath, with a laugh, "and do us damage attimes, though we bother them too, occasionally."

  "How do you manage that, sir?" asked Jim.

  "Well, you must know we have been much hindered in our work by thecorruptness and stupidity of Eastern officials in many places, and bythe destructive propensities and rapacity of Kurds and wandering Arabsand semi-savages, who have found our posts in the desert good forfirewood and our wires for arrow-heads or some such implements. Some ofour pioneers in wild regions have been killed by robbers when laying thelines, while others have escaped only by fighting for their lives.Superstition, too, has interfered with us sadly, though sometimes it hascome to our aid."

  "There was one eccentric Irishman--one of the best servants I ever had,"continued Redpath, "who once made a sort of torpedo arrangement whichachieved wonderful success. The fellow is with me still, and it is atreat to hear Flinn, that's his name, tell the story, but the fun of itmostly lies in the expressive animation of his own face, and therichness of his brogue as he tells it.

  "`I was away in the dissert somewheres,' he is wont to say, `I don'trightly remimber where, for my brain's no better than a sive atgeagraphy, but it was a wild place, anyhow--bad luck to it! Well, wehad sot up a line o' telegraph in it, an' wan the posts was stuck in theground not far from a pool o' wather where the wild bastes was used todhrink of a night, an' they tuk a mighty likin' to this post, which theyscrubbed an' scraped at till they broke it agin an' agin. Och! it's meheart was broke intirely wi' them. At last I putt me brains in steepan' got up an invintion. It wouldn't be aisy to explain it, speciallyto onscientific people. No matter, it was an electrical arrangement,which I fixed to the post, an' bein' curious to know how it would work,I wint down to the pool an' hid mesilf in a hole of a rock, wid a bigstone over me an ferns all round about. I tuk me rifle, av coorse, justfor company, you know, but not to shoot, for I'm not bloodthirsty, by nomeans. Well, I hadn't bin long down whin a rustle in the laves towld methat somethin' was comin', an' sure enough down trotted a little deer--as purty a thing as you could wish to see. It took a dhrink, tremblin'all the time, an' there was good cause, for another rustlin' was heard.Off wint the deer, just as a panther o' some sort jumped out o' thejungle an' followed it. Bad luck go wid ye says I; but I'd scarce saidit whin a loud crashing in the jungle towld me a buffalo or an elephantwas comin'. It was an elephant. He wint an' took a long pull at thepool. After that he goes straight to the post. Ha! says I, it's anowld friend o' yours, I see. When he putt his great side agin' it, forthe purpose of scratchin', he got a shock from my electrical contrivancethat caused his tail to stand upon end, and the hairs at its point toquiver. Wid a grunt he stood back an' gave the post a look o' surprise,as much as to say, Did ye do that a-purpose, ye spalpeen? Then he triedit again, an' got another shock that sot up his dander, for he twistedhis long nose round the post, goin' to pull it down, no doubt, but hegot another shock on the nose that made him squeal an' draw back. Thenhe lowered his great head for a charge. It's all over wid ye now, mepost, says I; but the baste changed its mind, and wint off wid its tailan' trunk in the air, trumpetin' as if it had got the toothache. Well,after that nothin' came for some time, and I think I must have gone offto slape, for I was awoke by a most tremendious roar. Lookin' up I sawa tiger sprawlin' on his back beside the post! Av coorse the shockwasn't enough to have knocked the baste over. I suppose it had trippedin the surprise. Anyhow it jumped up and seized the post with claws an'teeth, whin av coorse it got another shock that caused it to jump backabout six yards, with its tail curled, its hair all on end, all itsclaws out, an' its eyes blazin'. You seem to feel it, says I--intomeself, for fear he'd hear me. He didn't try it again, but wint awayinto the bush like a war-rocket. After that, five or six little wildpigs came down, an' the smallest wan wint straight up to the post an'putt his nose to it. He drew back wid a jerk, an' gave a scream thatseemed to rend all his vitals. You don't like it, thinks I; but, faix,it looked as if I was wrong, for he tried it again. Another shock hegot, burst himself a'most wid a most fearful yell, an' bolted. Hisbrothers didn't seem to understand it quite. They looked after him insurprise. Then the biggest wan gave a wriggle of his curly tail, an'wint to the post as if to inquire what was the matter. When _he_ got iton the nose the effect was surprisin'. The curl of his tail camestraight out, an' it quivered for a minute all over, wid its mouth wideopen. The screech had stuck in his throat, but it came out at last sofierce that the other pigs had to join in self-defence. I stuck myfingers in my ears and shut me eyes. When I opened them again the pigswere gone. It's my opinion they were all dissolved, like the zincplates in a used-up battery; but I can't prove that. Well, while I wascogitatin' on the result of my little invintion, what should walk out o'the woods but a man! At first I tuk him for a big monkey, for the lightwasn't very good, but he had a gun on his shoulder, an' some bits o'clothes on, so I knew him for a human. Like the rest o' them, he wintup to the post an' looked at it, but didn't touch it. Then he came tothe pool an' tuk a dhrink, an' spread out his blanket, an' began toarrange matters for spendin' the rest o' the night there. Av coorse hepulled out his axe, for he couldn't do widout fire to kape the wildbastes off. An' what does he do but go straight up to my post an' lifthis axe for a good cut. Hallo! says I, pretty loud, for I was a'mosttoo late. Whew! What a jump he gave--six futt if it was an inch. Whinhe came down he staggered with his back agin the post. That was enough.The jump he tuk before was nothin' to what he did after. I all butlost sight of him among the branches. When he returned to the ground itwas flat on his face he fell, an', rowlin' over his head, came up on hisknees with a roar that putt the tigers and pigs to shame. Sarves youright, says I, steppin' out of my hole. Av coorse he thought I was adivil of some sort, for he turned as white in the face as a brown mancould, an' bolted without so much as sayin' farewell. The way thatnigger laid his legs along the ground was a caution. Ostriches are ajoke to it. I picked up his blanket an' fetched it home as a keepsake,an' from that day to this the telegraph-posts have been held sacred byman an' baste all over that part of the country.'"

  "I'd like to meet wi' the feller that told that yarn," said Jim Slagg.

  "So should I," said Letta, laughing.

  "You shall both have your wish, for there he stands," said Redpath, asthey dashed round the corner of a bit of jungle, on the other side ofwhich lay as pretty a bungalow as one could wish to see. A man-servantwho had heard the wheels, was ready at the gate to receive the reins,while under the verandah stood a pretty little woman to receive thevisitors. Beside her was a black nurse with a white baby.

  "Here we are, Flinn," said Redpath, leaping to the ground. "All well,eh?"

  "Sure we're niver anything else here, sor," replied Flinn, with a modestsmile.

  "I've just been relating your electrical experiences to my friends,"said the master.

  "Ah! now, it's drawin' the long bow you've been," returned the man; "Isee it in their face."

  "I have rather diluted the dose than otherwise," returned Redpath. "Letme introduce Mr Slagg. He wishes to see Indian life in the`servants'-hall.' Let him see it, and treat him well."

  "Yours to command
," said Flinn, with a nod as he led the horses away."This way, Mr Slug."

  "Slagg, if you please, Mr Flinn," said Jim. "The difference between aa an' a u ain't much, but the results is powerful sometimes."

  While Slagg was led away to the region of the bungalow appropriated tothe domestics, his friends were introduced to pretty little MrsRedpath, and immediately found themselves thoroughly at home under thepowerful influence of Indian hospitality.

  Although, being in the immediate neighbourhood of a veritable Indianjungle, it was natural that both Sam and Robin should wish to see alittle sport among large game, their professional enthusiasm rosesuperior to their sporting tendencies, and they decided next day toaccompany their host on a short trip of inspection to a neighbouringtelegraph station. Letta being made over to the care of the hostess,was forthwith installed as assistant nurse to the white baby, whom shealready regarded as a delicious doll--so readily does female natureadapt itself to its appropriate channels.

  Not less readily did Jim Slagg adapt himself to one of the peculiarchannels of man's nature. Sport was one of Slagg's weaknesses, thoughhe had enjoyed very little of it, poor fellow, in the course of hislife. To shoot a lion, a tiger, or an elephant, was, in Slagg'sestimation, the highest possible summit of earthly felicity. He wasyoung, you see, at that time, and moderately foolish! But although hehad often dreamed of such bliss, he had never before expected to bewithin reach of it. His knowledge of sport, moreover, was entirelytheoretic. He knew indeed how to load a rifle and pull the trigger, butnothing more.

  "You haven't got many tigers in these parts, I suppose?" he said toFlinn as they sauntered towards the house after seeing the electricalparty off. He asked the question with hesitation, being impressed witha strange disbelief in tigers, except in a menagerie, and feeling nearlyas much ashamed as if he had asked whether they kept elephants in thesugar-basin. To his relief Flinn did not laugh, but replied quitegravely--"Och! yes, we've got a few, but they don't often come nigh thehouse. We have to thravel a bit into the jungle, and camp out, whin wewants wan. I heard master say he'd have a try at 'em to-morrow, soyou'll see the fun, for we've all got to turn out whin we go aftertigers. If you're fond o' sport in a small way, howiver, I can give yea turn among the birds an' small game to-day."

  "There's nothing I'd like better," said Slagg, jumping at the offer likea hungry trout at a fly.

  "Come along, then," returned the groom heartily; "we'll take shot-guns,an' a spalpeen of a black boy to carry a spare rifle an' the bag."

  In a few minutes the two men, with fowling-pieces on their shoulders,and a remarkably attenuated black boy at their heels carrying a largebore rifle, entered the jungle behind the electrician's bungalow.