CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
HOW I HEARD ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE.
I suppose I must have dropped asleep some time, but it seemed to me thatI was lying awake watching for the daylight, which seemed as if it wouldnever come. Then I dropped soundly asleep and slept some hours, forwhen I opened my eyes with a start there was one of the blacks leaningover me with some cords in his hands, with which he seemed to be aboutto bind me; but a shout outside took his attention, and he went out,leaving me trembling with anxiety and crushing the note in my hand.
It was broad daylight with brilliant sunshine without, but my prison waswindowless, and where I lay was in the shadow, save where here and therea pencil of light shone through the palm-leaf thatch and made a glowingspot upon the floor.
Every moment I expected to see my guard back again, or I might beinterrupted, I knew, by the coming of some one with food. I dared notthen attempt to read for some time, since it seemed like too great arisk of losing words that were inexpressibly precious.
At last all seemed so still but the buzz and hum of distant voices thatI determined to venture, and undoing my hot hand I unfolded the littlescrap of paper, upon which, written closely but clearly, were thefollowing words--
"_As we are so near a village of the blacks, and you have not returned,I have concluded that you have been made a prisoner. Gyp found yourscent and went off, returning after many hours' absence; so I writethese lines to bid you be of good heart, for we shall try by stratagemto get you away_."
Then there was this, evidently written the next day:
"_Gyp has been again and brought back the above lines which I tied tohis collar. If you get them tie something to the dog's collar to showyou are alive and well. Poor Jimmy went in search of you, but has notreturned_."
"Tie something to the dog's collar to show you are alive and well!" Isaid to myself over and over again, as I carefully secreted the scrap ofpaper--a needless task, as, if it had been seen, no one would have paidany heed to it. "And I have tied something to the dog's collar and theywill come, the doctor and Jack Penny, with the blacks, to-night to tryand save me, and I shall escape."
I stopped here, for the words seemed to be wild and foolish. How couldthey rescue me, and, besides, ought I not to feel glad that I was hereamong the natives of the island? What better position could I be in forgaining information about my father?
I lay thinking like this for long, and every hour it seemed that myinjured head and my cut wrists and ankles were healing. The confusedfeeling had passed away, leaving nothing but stiffness and soreness,while the message I had received gave me what I wanted worst--hope.
I did not see Jimmy that day, for he was not brought out, neither was Itaken to the tree, but I saw that the savage who brought me food had adouble quantity, and to prove that some of it was meant for myfellow-prisoner I soon afterwards heard him shout:
"Mass Joe come have 'nana--come have plantain 'nana."
This he repeated till I uttered a low long whistle, one which he hadheard me use scores of times, and to which he replied.
An hour after he whistled again, but I could not reply, for three orfour of the blacks were in the hut with me, evidently for no otherpurpose than to watch.
That night I lay awake trembling and anxious. I wanted to havesomething ready to send back by the dog when it came at night, but tryhow I would I could contrive nothing. I had no paper or pencil; nopoint of any kind to scratch a few words on a piece of bark--no piece ofbark if I had had a point.
As it happened, though I lay awake the dog did not come, and when themorning came, although I was restless and feverish I was more at rest inmy mind, for I thought I saw my way to communicate a word or two withthe doctor.
I was unbound now, and therefore had no difficulty in moving about thehut, from whose low roof, after a good deal of trying, I at lastobtained a piece of palm-leaf that seemed likely to suit my purpose.This done, my need was a point of some kind--a pin, a nail, the tongueof a buckle, a hard sharp piece of wood, and I had neither.
But I had hope.
Several different blacks had taken their places at the door of my hut,and I was waiting patiently for the one to return who sat there carvinghis waddy handle. When he came I hoped by some stratagem to get hold ofthe sharp bit of flint to scratch my palm-leaf.
Fortunately towards mid-day this man came, and after a good look at mewhere I lay he stuck his spear in the earth, squatted down, took out hisflint and waddy, and began once more to laboriously cut the zigzag linesthat formed the ornamentation.
I lay there hungrily watching him hour after hour, vainly trying tothink out some plan, and when I was quite in despair the black boy, whomI had not seen for many hours, came sauntering up in an indifferent wayto stand talking to my guard for some minutes, and then entered the hutto stand looking down at me.
I was puzzled about that boy, for at times I thought him friendly, atothers disposed to treat me as an enemy; but my puzzled state was at anend, for as soon as I began to make signs he watched me eagerly andtried to comprehend.
I had hard work to make him understand by pointing to the savageoutside, and then pretending to hack at my finger as if carving it.Jimmy would have understood in a moment, but it was some time before theboy saw what I meant. Then his face lit up, and he slowly saunteredaway, as if in the most careless of moods, poising his spear andthrowing it at trees, stooping, leaping, and playing at being a warriorof his tribe, so it seemed to me, till he disappeared among the trees.
The sun was sinking low, but he did not return. I saw him pass by withthe tall painted warrior, and then go out of sight. My food had beengiven me, but I had not seen Jimmy, though we had corresponded togetherby making a few shrill parrot-like whistles. Night would soon be uponme once again, and when Gyp came, if he did come, I should not be ready.
I was just thinking like this when there was a slight tap close by me,and turning quickly I saw a sharp-pointed piece of stone upon the beatenearth floor, and as I reached out my hand to pick it up a piece of whitewood struck me on the hand, making a sharp metallic sound.
I felt that there was danger, and half threw myself over my treasures,looking dreamily out at the entrance and remaining motionless, as myguard entered to stare round suspiciously, eyeing me all over, and thengoing slowly back.
I breathed more freely, and was thinking as I saw him settle down that Imight at any time begin to try and carve a word or two, and in this mindI was about to take the piece of wood from beneath me when the savageswung himself round and sprang into the hut in a couple of bounds.
He had meant to surprise me if I had been engaged upon any plan ofescape, but finding me perfectly motionless he merely laughed and wentback.
Directly after, another savage came up and took his place, and I eagerlybegan my task.
Very easy it sounds to carve a few letters on a piece of wood, but howhard I found it before I managed to roughly cut the words "All Well,"having selected these because they were composed of straight lines,which mine were not. Still I hoped that the doctor would make them out,and I hid my piece of flint and my wooden note and waited, meaning tokeep awake till the dog came.
But I had been awake all the previous night, and I fell fast asleep,till Gyp came and roused me by scratching at my chest, when in a dreamyconfused way I found and took something from the dog's collar and tiedmy note in its place, falling asleep directly after from sheerexhaustion.
It was broad daylight when I awoke, and my first thought was of mymessage, when, thrusting my hand into my breast, a curious sensation ofmisery came over me as my hand came in contact with a piece of wood, andit seemed that I had been dreaming and the dog had not come.
I drew out the flat piece of white wood, but it was not mine. Thedoctor, probably having no paper, had hit upon the same plan as I.
His words were few.
"Be on the alert. We shall come some night."
I thrust the wooden label beneath the dust of the floor, scraped s
omemore earth over it, and already saw myself at liberty, and in the joy ofmy heart I uttered a long parrot-like whistle, but it was not answered.
I whistled again, but there was no reply; and though I kept on makingsignals for quite an hour no response came, and the joyousness began tofade out of my breast.
Twice over that morning I saw the tall savage who was so diabolicallypainted and tattooed go by, and once I thought he looked very hard at myhut; but he soon passed out of my sight, leaving me wondering whether hewas the chief, from his being so much alone, and the curious way inwhich all the people seemed to get out of his path.
Once or twice he came near enough for me to see him better, and Inoticed that he walked with his eyes fixed upon the ground in a dreamyway, full of dignity, and I felt certain now that he must be the king ofthese people.
The next day came and I saw him again in the midst of quite a crowd, whohad borne one of their number into the middle of the inclosure of huts,and this time I saw the tall strange-looking savage go slowly down uponhis knees, and soon after rise and motion with his hands, when everyonebut the boy fell back. He alone knelt down on one side of what wasevidently an injured man.
The blacks kept their distance religiously till the painted savagesigned to them once more, when they ran forward and four of their numberlifted the prostrate figure carefully and carried it into a hut.
"I was right," I said to myself with a feeling of satisfaction. "I wasright the first time. It is the doctor, and he ought to have come to myhelp when I was so bad."
Two days, three days passed, during which I lay and watched the birdsthat flitted by, saw the people as they came and went, and from time totime uttered a signal whistle; but this had to be stopped, for on theafternoon of the third day a very tall savage entered hurriedly incompany with my guard and half a dozen more, and by signs informed methat if I made signals again my life would be taken.
It was very easy to understand, for spears were pointed at me andwar-clubs tapped me not very lightly upon the head.
As soon as I was left alone I sat thinking, and before long came to theconclusion that this was probably the reason why I had not heard anysignal from Jimmy, who had perhaps been obstinate, and consequently hadbeen treated with greater severity.
I longed for the night to come that I might have some fresh message fromthe doctor, but somehow I could not keep awake, anxious as I was, and Iwas sleeping soundly when a touch awoke me with a start.
I threw up my hands to catch Gyp by the collar, but to my consternationI touched a hand and arm in the darkness, and there was something sopeculiar in the touch, my hand seeming to rest on raised lines of paint,that I turned cold, for I knew that one of the savages was bending overme, and I felt that it must mean that my time had come.
I should have called out, but a hand was laid over my lips and an armpressed my chest, as a voice whispered in good English:
"Run, escape! You can't stay here!"
"Who is it?" I whispered back, trembling with excitement. "I know!" Iadded quickly; "you are the tall savage--the doctor!"
"Yes--yes!" he said in a low dreamy tone. "The tall savage! Yes--tallsavage!"
"But you are an Englishman!" I panted, as a terrible thought, halfpainful, half filled with hope, flashed through my brain.
"Englishman! yes--Englishman! Before I was here--before I was ill!Come, quick! escape for your life! Go!"
"And you?"
He was silent--so silent that I put out my hands and touched him, tomake sure that he had not gone, and I found that he was resting his headupon his hands.
"Will you go with me to my friends?" I said, trembling still, for thethought that had come to me was gaining strength.
"Friends!" he said softly; "friends! Yes, I had friends before I came--before I came!"
He said this in a curious dreamy tone, and I forced the idea back. Itwas impossible, but at the same time my heart leaped for joy. Here wasan Englishman dwelling among the savages--a prisoner, or one who hadtaken up this life willingly, and if he could dwell among them so couldmy father, who must be somewhere here.
"Tell me," I began; but he laid his hand upon my lips.
"Hist! not a sound," he said. "The people sleep lightly; come with me."
He took my hand in his and led me out boldly past a black who was lyinga short distance from my hut, and then right across the broad openingsurrounded by the natives' dwellings, and then through a grove of treesto a large hut standing by itself.
He pressed my hand hard and led me through the wide opening into whatseemed to be a blacker darkness, which did not, however, trouble him,for he stepped out boldly, and then I heard a muttering growl which Irecognised directly.
"Hush, Jimmy!" I whispered, throwing myself upon my knees. "Don'tspeak."
"Jimmy not a go to speak um," he said softly. "Mass Joe come a top."
"Go," said my companion. "Go quick. I want to help--I--the fever--myhead--help."
There was another pause, and on stretching out my hand I found that myguide was pressing his to his forehead once again.
"He has lived this savage life so long that he cannot think," I felt as,taking his hand, I led him to the opening, through which he passed insilence, and with Jimmy walking close behind he led us between a couplemore huts, and then for a good hour between tall trees so close togetherthat we threaded our way with difficulty.
My companion did not speak, and at last the silence grew so painful thatI asked him how long it would be before daybreak.
"Hush!" he said. "Listen! They have found out."
He finished in an excited way, repeating hastily some native wordsbefore stooping to listen, when, to my dismay, plainly enough in thesilence of the night came the angry murmur of voices, and this probablymeant pursuit--perhaps capture, and then death.
Bunyip Land: A Story of Adventure in New Guinea Page 29
