The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY.

  INTERCOURSE WITH THE SAVAGES--CANNIBALISM PREVENTED--THE SLAIN AREBURIED AND THE SURVIVORS DEPART, LEAVING US AGAIN ALONE ON OUR CORALISLAND.

  After the battle was over, the savages crowded round us and gazed at usin surprise, while they continued to pour upon us a flood of questions,which, being wholly unintelligible, of course we could not answer.However, by way of putting an end to it, Jack took the chief (who hadrecovered from the effects of his wound) by the hand and shook itwarmly. No sooner did the blacks see that this was meant to expressgood-will than they shook hands with us all round. After this ceremonywas gone through Jack went up to the girl, who had never once moved fromthe rock where she had been left, but had continued an eager spectatorof all that had passed. He made signs to her to follow him, and then,taking the chief by the hand, was about to conduct him to the bower whenhis eye fell on the poor infant which had been thrown into the sea andwas still lying on the shore. Dropping the chief's hand he hastenedtowards it, and, to his great joy, found it to be still alive. We alsofound that the mother was beginning to recover slowly.

  "Here, get out o' the way," said Jack, pushing us aside as we stoopedover the poor woman and endeavoured to restore her; "I'll soon bring herround." So saying, he placed the infant on her bosom and laid its warmcheek on hers. The effect was wonderful. The woman opened her eyes,felt the child, looked at it, and with a cry of joy, clasped it in herarms, at the same time endeavouring to rise--for the purpose,apparently, of rushing into the woods.

  "There, that's all right," said Jack, once more taking the chief by thehand.--"Now, Ralph and Peterkin, make the women and these fellows followme to the bower. We'll entertain them as hospitably as we can."

  In a few minutes the savages were all seated on the ground in front ofthe bower, making a hearty meal off a cold roast pig, several ducks, anda variety of cold fish, together with an unlimited supply of cocoa-nuts,bread-fruits, yams, taro, and plums--with all of which they seemed to bequite familiar and perfectly satisfied.

  Meanwhile we three, being thoroughly knocked up with our day's work,took a good draught of cocoa-nut lemonade, and throwing ourselves on ourbeds, fell fast asleep. The savages, it seems, followed our example,and in half-an-hour the whole camp was buried in repose.

  How long we slept I cannot tell; but this I know--that when we lay downthe sun was setting, and when we awoke it was high in the heavens. Iawoke Jack, who started up in surprise, being unable at first tocomprehend our situation. "Now, then," said he, springing up, "let'ssee after breakfast.--Hallo, Peterkin, lazy fellow! how long do you meanto lie there?"

  Peterkin yawned heavily. "Well," said he, opening his eyes and lookingup after some trouble, "if it isn't to-morrow morning, and me thinkingit was to-day all this time--Hallo, Venus! where did you come from? Youseem tolerably at home, anyhow. Bah! might as well speak to the cat asto you--better, in fact, for it understands me, and you don't."

  This remark was called forth by the sight of one of the elderly females,who had seated herself on the rock in front of the bower, and havingplaced her child at her feet, was busily engaged in devouring theremains of a roast pig.

  By this time the natives outside were all astir, and breakfast in anadvanced state of preparation. During the course of it we made sundryattempts to converse with the natives by signs, but without effect. Atlast we hit upon a plan of discovering their names. Jack pointed to hisbreast and said "Jack" very distinctly; then he pointed to Peterkin andto me, repeating our names at the same time. Then he pointed to himselfagain and said "Jack," and laying his finger on the breast of the chief,looked inquiringly into his face. The chief instantly understood him,and said "Tararo" twice distinctly. Jack repeated it after him, and thechief, nodding his head approvingly, said "Chuck," on hearing whichPeterkin exploded with laughter. But Jack turned, and with a frownrebuked him, saying, "I must look even more indignantly at you than Ifeel, Peterkin, you rascal, for these fellows don't like to be laughedat." Then turning towards the youngest of the women, who was seated atthe door of the bower, he pointed to her; whereupon the chief said"Avatea," and pointing towards the sun, raised his finger slowly towardsthe zenith, where it remained steadily for a minute or two.

  "What can that mean, I wonder?" said Jack, looking puzzled.

  "Perhaps," said Peterkin, "the chief means she is an angel come down tostay here for a while. If so, she's an uncommonly black one!"

  We did not feel quite satisfied with this explanation, so Jack went upto her and said "Avatea." The woman smiled sadly and nodded her head,at the same time pointing to her breast and then to the sun in the samemanner as the chief had done. We were much puzzled to know what thiscould signify; but as there was no way of solving our difficulty, wewere obliged to rest content.

  Jack now made signs to the natives to follow him, and taking up his axe,he led them to the place where the battle had been fought. Here wefound the prisoners, who had passed the night on the beach, having beentotally forgotten by us, as our minds had been full of our guests, andwere ultimately overcome by sleep. They did not seem the worse fortheir exposure, however, as we judged by the hearty appetite with whichthey devoured the breakfast that was soon after given to them. Jackthen began to dig a hole in the sand, and after working a few seconds,he pointed to it and to the dead bodies that lay exposed on the beach.The natives immediately perceived what he wanted, and running for theirpaddles, dug a hole in the course of half-an-hour that was quite largeenough to contain all the bodies of the slain. When it was finished,they tossed their dead enemies into it with so much indifference that wefelt assured they would not have put themselves to this trouble had wenot asked them to do so. The body of the yellow-haired chief was thelast thrown in. This wretched man would have recovered from the blowwith which Jack felled him, and indeed he did endeavour to rise duringthe _melee_ that followed his fall; but one of his enemies, happening tonotice the action, dealt him a blow with his club that killed him on thespot.

  While they were about to throw the sand over this chief, one of thesavages stooped over him, and with a knife, made apparently of stone,cut a large slice of flesh from his thigh. We knew at once that heintended to make use of this for food, and could not repress a cry ofhorror and disgust.

  "Come, come, you blackguard!" cried Jack, starting up and seizing theman by the arm, "pitch that into the hole. Do you hear?"

  The savage, of course, did not understand the command; but he perfectlyunderstood the look of disgust with which Jack regarded the flesh, andhis fierce gaze as he pointed towards the hole. Nevertheless, he didnot obey. Jack instantly turned to Tararo and made signs to him toenforce obedience. The chief seemed to understand the appeal; for hestepped forward, raised his club, and was on the point of dashing outthe brains of his offending subject when Jack sprang forward and caughthis uplifted arm.

  "Stop, you blockhead!" he shouted. "I don't want you to kill the man!"He then pointed again to the flesh and to the hole. The chief uttered afew words, which had the desired effect; for the man threw the fleshinto the hole, which was immediately filled up. This man was of amorose, sulky disposition, and during all the time he remained on theisland, regarded us--especially Jack--with a scowling visage. His name,we found, was Mahine.

  The next three or four days were spent by the savages in mending theircanoe, which had been damaged by the violent shock it had sustained onstriking the shore. This canoe was a very curious structure. It wasabout thirty feet long, and had a high, towering stern. The timbers ofwhich it was partly composed were fastened much in the same way as thoseof our little boat were put together; but the part that seemed mostcurious to us was a sort of outrigger, or long plank, which was attachedto the body of the canoe by means of two stout cross-beams. These beamskept the plank parallel with the canoe, but not in contact with it, forit floated in the water with an open space between--thus forming a sortof double canoe. This, we found, was intended to prevent the upsettingof the canoe, whi
ch was so narrow that it could not have maintained anupright position without the outrigger. We could not help wonderingboth at the ingenuity and the clumsiness of this contrivance.

  When the canoe was ready, we assisted the natives to carry the prisonersinto it, and helped them to load it with provisions and fruit. Peterkinalso went to the plum-tree for the purpose of making a special onslaughtupon the hogs, and killed no less than six of them. These we baked andpresented to our friends, on the day of their departure. On that dayTararo made a great many energetic signs to us, which, after muchconsideration, we came to understand were proposals that we should goaway with him to his island; but having no desire to do so, we shook ourheads very decidedly. However, we consoled him by presenting him withour rusty axe, which we thought we could spare, having the excellent onewhich had been so providentially washed ashore to us the day we werewrecked. We also gave him a piece of wood with our names carved on it,and a piece of string to hang it round his neck as an ornament.

  In a few minutes more we were all assembled on the beach. Being unableto speak to the savages, we went through the ceremony of shaking hands,and expected they would depart; but before doing so, Tararo went up toJack and rubbed noses with him, after which he did the same withPeterkin and me! Seeing that this was their mode of salutation, wedetermined to conform to their custom; so we rubbed noses heartily withthe whole party, women and all! The only disagreeable part of theprocess was when we came to rub noses with Mahine; and Peterkinafterwards said that when he saw his wolfish eyes glaring so close tohis face, he felt much more inclined to _bang_ than to _rub_ his nose.Avatea was the last to take leave of us, and we experienced a feeling ofreal sorrow when she approached to bid us farewell. Besides her modestair and gentle manners, she was the only one of the party who exhibitedthe smallest sign of regret at parting from us. Going up to Jack, sheput out her flat little nose to be rubbed, and thereafter paid the samecompliment to Peterkin and me.

  An hour later the canoe was out of sight; and we, with an indefinablefeeling of sadness creeping round our hearts, were seated in silencebeneath the shadow of our bower, meditating on the wonderful events ofthe last few days.