The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

  MISCHIEF BREWING--MY BLOOD IS MADE TO RUN COLD--EVIL CONSULTATIONS ANDWICKED RESOLVES--BLOODY BILL ATTEMPTS TO DO GOOD, AND FAILS--THEATTACK--WHOLESALE MURDER--THE FLIGHT--THE ESCAPE.

  Next morning I awoke with a feverish brow and a feeling of deepdepression at my heart; and the more I thought on my unhappy fate, themore wretched and miserable did I feel.

  I was surrounded on all sides by human beings of the most dreadfulcharacter, to whom the shedding of blood was mere pastime. On shorewere the natives, whose practices were so horrible that I could notthink of them without shuddering. On board were none but pirates of theblackest dye, who, although not cannibals, were foul murderers, and moreblameworthy even than the savages, inasmuch as they knew better. EvenBill, with whom I had, under the strange circumstances of my lot, formeda kind of intimacy, was so fierce in his nature as to have acquired thetitle of "Bloody" from his vile companions. I felt very much cast downthe more I considered the subject and the impossibility of delivery, asit seemed to me--at least, for a long time to come. At last, in myfeeling of utter helplessness, I prayed fervently to the Almighty thatHe would deliver me out of my miserable condition; and when I had doneso I felt some degree of comfort.

  When the captain came on deck, before the hour at which the men usuallystarted for the woods, I begged of him to permit me to remain aboardthat day, as I did not feel well; but he looked at me angrily, andordered me, in a surly tone, to get ready to go on shore as usual. Thefact was that the captain had been out of humour for some time past.Romata and he had had some differences, and high words had passedbetween them, during which the chief had threatened to send a fleet ofhis war-canoes, with a thousand men, to break up and burn the schooner;whereupon the captain smiled sarcastically, and going up to the chief,gazed sternly in his face while he said, "I have only to raise my littlefinger just now, and my big gun will blow your whole village to atoms infive minutes!" Although the chief was a bold man, he quailed before thepirate's glance and threat, and made no reply; but a bad feeling hadbeen raised, and old sores had been opened.

  I had, therefore, to go with the woodcutters that day. Before starting,however, the captain called me into the cabin and said:

  "Here, Ralph; I've got a mission for you, lad. That blackguard Romatais in the dumps, and nothing will mollify him but a gift; so do you goup to his house and give him these whale's teeth, with my compliments.Take with you one of the men who can speak the language."

  I looked at the gift in some surprise, for it consisted of six whitewhale's teeth, and two of the same dyed bright red, which seemed to mevery paltry things. However, I did not dare to hesitate, or to ask anyquestions; so gathering them up, I left the cabin, and was soon on myway to the chief's house, accompanied by Bill. On expressing mysurprise at the gift, he said:

  "They're paltry enough to you or me, Ralph, but they're considered ofgreat value by them chaps. They're a sort o' cash among them. The redones are the most prized, one of them bein' equal to twenty o' the whiteones. I suppose the only reason for their bein' valuable is that thereain't many of them, and they're hard to be got."

  On arriving at the house we found Romata sitting on a mat, in the midstof a number of large bales of native cloth and other articles, which hadbeen brought to him as presents from time to time by inferior chiefs.He received us rather haughtily; but on Bill explaining the nature ofour errand, he became very condescending, and his eyes glistened withsatisfaction when he received the whale's teeth, although he laid themaside with an assumption of kingly indifference.

  "Go," said he with a wave of the hand--"go tell your captain that he maycut wood to-day, but not to-morrow. He must come ashore; I want to havea palaver with him."

  As we left the house to return to the woods, Bill shook his head.

  "There's mischief brewin' in that black rascal's head. I know him ofold. But what comes here?"

  As he spoke, we heard the sound of laughter and shouting in the wood,and presently there issued from it a band of savages, in the midst ofwhom were a number of men bearing burdens on their shoulders. At firstI thought that these burdens were poles with something rolled roundthem, the end of each pole resting on a man's shoulder; but on a nearerapproach I saw that they were human beings, tied hand and foot, and solashed to the poles that they could not move. I counted twenty of themas they passed.

  "More murder!" said Bill in a voice that sounded between a hoarse laughand a groan.

  "Surely they are not going to murder them?" said I, looking anxiouslyinto Bill's face.

  "I don't know, Ralph," replied Bill, "what they're goin' to do withthem; but I fear they mean no good when they tie fellows up in thatway."

  As we continued our way towards the woodcutters, I observed that Billlooked anxiously over his shoulder in the direction where the processionhad disappeared. At last he stopped, and turning abruptly on his heel,said:

  "I tell ye what it is, Ralph: I must be at the bottom o' that affair.Let us follow these black scoundrels and see what they're goin' to do."

  I must say I had no wish to pry further into their bloody practices; butBill seemed bent on it, so I turned and went. We passed rapidly throughthe bush, being guided in the right direction by the shouts of thesavages. Suddenly there was a dead silence, which continued for sometime, while Bill and I involuntarily quickened our pace until we wererunning at the top of our speed across the narrow neck of landpreviously mentioned. As we reached the verge of the wood we discoveredthe savages surrounding the large war-canoe, which they were apparentlyon the point of launching. Suddenly the multitude put their unitedstrength to the canoe; but scarcely had the huge machine begun to movewhen a yell, the most appalling that ever fell upon my ear, rose highabove the shouting of the savages. It had not died away when anotherand another smote upon my throbbing ear, and then I saw that theseinhuman monsters were actually launching their canoe over the livingbodies of their victims. But there was no pity in the breasts of thesemen. Forward they went in ruthless indifference, shouting as they went,while high above their voices rang the dying shrieks of those wretchedcreatures as, one after another, the ponderous canoe passed over them,burst the eyeballs from their sockets, and sent the life-blood gushingfrom their mouths. Oh reader, this is no fiction! I would not, for thesake of thrilling you with horror, invent so terrible a scene. It waswitnessed. It is true--true as that accursed sin which has rendered thehuman heart capable of such diabolical enormities!

  When it was over I turned round and fell upon the grass with a deepgroan; but Bill seized me by the arm, and lifting me up as if I had beena child, cried:

  "Come along, lad; let's away!" And so, staggering and stumbling overthe tangled underwood, we fled from the fatal spot.

  During the remainder of that day I felt as if I were in a horribledream. I scarce knew what was said to me, and was more than once blamedby the men for idling my time. At last the hour to return aboard came.We marched down to the beach, and I felt relief for the first time whenmy feet rested on the schooner's deck.

  In the course of the evening I overheard part of a conversation betweenthe captain and the first mate, which startled me not a little. Theywere down in the cabin, and conversed in an undertone; but the skylightbeing off; I overhead every word that was said.

  "I don't half-like it," said the mate. "It seems to me that we'll onlyhave hard fightin' and no pay."

  "No pay!" repeated the captain in a voice of suppressed anger. "Do youcall a good cargo all for nothing no pay?"

  "Very true," returned the mate; "but we've got the cargo aboard. Whynot cut your cable and take French leave o' them? What's the use o'tryin' to kill the blackguards when it'll do us no manner o' good?"

  "Mate," said the captain in a low voice, "you talk like a fresh-watersailor. I can only attribute this shyness to some strange delusion, forsurely,"--his voice assumed a slightly sneering tone as he saidthis--"surely I am not to suppose that you have become soft-hearted!B
esides, you are wrong in regard to the cargo being aboard; there's agood quarter of it lying in the woods, and that blackguard chief knowsit, and won't let me take it off. He defied us to do our worstyesterday."

  "Defied us! did he?" cried the mate with a bitter laugh. "Poor,contemptible thing!"

  "And yet he seems not so contemptible but that you are afraid to attackhim."

  "Who said I was afraid?" growled the mate sulkily. "I'm as ready as anyman in the ship. But, captain, what is it that you intend to do?"

  "I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner up to the head ofthe creek there, from which point we can command the pile of sandal-woodwith our gun. Then I shall land with all the men except two, who shalltake care of the schooner and be ready with the boat to take us off. Wecan creep through the woods to the head of the village, where thesecannibals are always dancing round their suppers of human flesh; and ifthe carbines of the men are loaded with a heavy charge of buck-shot, wecan drop forty or fifty at the first volley. After that the thing willbe easy enough. The savages will take to the mountains in a body, andwe shall take what we require, up anchor, and away."

  To this plan the mate at length agreed. As he left the cabin, I heardthe captain say:

  "Give the men an extra glass of grog, and don't forget the buck-shot."

  The reader may conceive the horror with which I heard this murderousconversation. I immediately repeated it to Bill, who seemed muchperplexed about it. At length he said:

  "I'll tell you what I'll do, Ralph. I'll swim ashore after dark and fixa musket to a tree not far from the place where we'll have to land, andI'll tie a long string to the trigger, so that when our fellows cross itthey'll let it off, and so alarm the village in time to prevent anattack, but not in time to prevent us gettin' back to the boat.--So,Master Captain," added Bill with a smile that, for the first time,seemed to me to be mingled with good-natured cheerfulness, "you'll bebalked at least for once in your life by Bloody Bill."

  After it grew dark, Bill put this resolve in practice. He slipped overthe side with a musket in his left hand, while with his right he swamashore and entered the woods. He soon returned, having accomplished hispurpose, and got on board without being seen, I being the only one ondeck.

  When the hour of midnight approached, the men were mustered on deck, thecable was cut, and the muffled sweeps got out. These sweeps wereimmensely large oars, each requiring a couple of men to work it. In afew minutes we entered the mouth of the creek, which was indeed themouth of a small river, and took about half-an-hour to ascend it,although the spot where we intended to land was not more than sixhundred yards from the mouth, because there was a slight current againstus, and the mangroves which narrowed the creek impeded the rowers insome places. Having reached the spot, which was so darkened byoverhanging trees that we could see with difficulty, a smallkedge-anchor attached to a thin line was let softly down over the stern.

  "Now, lads," whispered the captain as he walked along the line of men,who were all armed to the teeth, "don't be in a hurry, aim low, anddon't waste your first shots."

  He then pointed to the boat, into which the men crowded in silence.There was no room to row; but oars were not needed, as a slight pushagainst the side of the schooner sent the boat gliding to the shore.

  "There's no need of leaving two in the boat," whispered the mate as themen stepped out; "we shall want all our hands. Let Ralph stay."

  The captain assented, and ordered me to stand in readiness with theboat-hook, to shove ashore at a moment's notice if they should return,or to shove off if any of the savages should happen to approach. Hethen threw his carbine into the hollow of his arm, and glided throughthe bushes, followed by his men. With a throbbing heart I awaited theresult of our plan. I knew the exact locality where the musket wasplaced, for Bill had described it to me, and I kept my straining eyesfixed upon the spot. But no sound came, and I began to fear that eitherthey had gone in another direction or that Bill had not fixed the stringproperly. Suddenly I heard a faint click, and observed one or twobright sparks among the bushes. My heart immediately sank within me,for I knew at once that the trigger had indeed been pulled, but that thepriming had not caught. The plan, therefore, had utterly failed. Afeeling of dread now began to creep over me as I stood in the boat, inthat dark, silent spot, awaiting the issue of this murderous expedition.I shuddered as I glanced at the water that glided past like a darkreptile. I looked back at the schooner; but her hull was just barelyvisible, while her tapering masts were lost among the trees whichovershadowed her. Her lower sails were set, but so thick was the gloomthat they were quite invisible.

  Suddenly I heard a shot. In a moment a thousand voices raised a yell inthe village; again the cry rose on the night air, and was followed bybroken shouts as of scattered parties of men bounding into the woods.Then I heard another shout, loud and close at hand; it was the voice ofthe captain cursing the man who had fired the premature shot. Then camethe order, "Forward!" followed by a wild hurrah of our men as theycharged the savages. Shots now rang in quick succession, and at last aloud volley startled the echoes of the woods. It was followed by amultitude of wild shrieks, which were immediately drowned in anotherhurrah from the men, the distance of the sound proving that they weredriving their enemies before them towards the sea.

  While I was listening intently to these sounds, which were now mingledin confusion, I was startled by the rustling of the leaves not far fromme. At first I thought it was a party of savages who had observed theschooner, but I was speedily undeceived by observing a body of natives--apparently several hundreds, as far as I could guess in the uncertainlight--bounding through the woods towards the scene of battle. I saw atonce that this was a party who had outflanked our men, and wouldspeedily attack them in the rear. And so it turned out; for in a shorttime the shouts increased tenfold, and among them I thought I heard adeath-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.

  At length the tumult of battle ceased, and from the cries of exultationthat now arose from the savages, I felt assured that our men had beenconquered. I was immediately thrown into dreadful consternation. Whatwas I now to do? To be taken by the savages was too horrible to bethought of; to flee to the mountains was hopeless, as I should soon bediscovered; and to take the schooner out of the creek without assistancewas impossible. I resolved, however, to make the attempt, as being myonly hope, and was on the point of pushing off, when my hand was stayedand my blood chilled by an appalling shriek, in which I recognised thevoice of one of the crew. It was succeeded by a shout from the savages.Then came another and another shriek of agony, making my ears totingle, as I felt convinced they were murdering the pirate crew in coldblood. With a bursting heart and my brain whirling as if on fire, Iseized the boat-hook to push from shore when a man sprang from thebushes.

  "Stop! Ralph, stop! There, now, push off!" he cried, and bounded intothe boat so violently as nearly to upset her. It was Bill's voice! Inanother moment we were on board--the boat made fast, the line of theanchor cut, and the sweeps run out. At the first stroke of Bill's giantarm the schooner was nearly pulled ashore, for in his haste he forgotthat I could scarcely move the unwieldy oar. Springing to the stern, helashed the rudder in such a position as that, while it aided me, itacted against him, and so rendered the force of our strokes nearlyequal. The schooner now began to glide quickly down the creek; butbefore we reached its mouth, a yell from a thousand voices on the banktold that we were discovered. Instantly a number of the savages plungedinto the water and swam towards us; but we were making so much way thatthey could not overtake us. One, however, an immensely powerful man,succeeded in laying hold of the cut rope that hung from the stern, andclambered quickly upon deck. Bill caught sight of him the instant hishead appeared above the taffrail. But he did not cease to row, and didnot appear even to notice the savage until he was within a yard of him;then dropping the sweep, he struck him a blow on the forehead with hisclenched fist that felled him to the deck. Liftin
g him up, he hurledhim overboard, and resumed the oar. But now a greater danger awaitedus; for the savages had outrun us on the bank, and were about to plungeinto the water ahead of the schooner. If they succeeded in doing so,our fate was sealed. For one moment Bill stood irresolute. Thendrawing a pistol from his belt, he sprang to the brass gun, held the panof his pistol over the touch-hole, and fired. The shot was succeeded bythe hiss of the cannon's priming; then the blaze and the crashingthunder of the monstrous gun burst upon the savages with such deafeningroar that it seemed as if their very mountains had been rent asunder.

  This was enough. The moment of surprise and hesitation caused by theunwonted sound gave us time to pass the point; a gentle breeze, whichthe dense foliage had hitherto prevented us from feeling, bulged out oursails; the schooner bent before it, and the shouts of the disappointedsavages grew fainter and fainter in the distance as we were slowlywafted out to sea.