Martin Rattler
Page 9
CHAPTER VII
MARTIN AND BARNEY GET LOST IN A GREAT FOREST, WHERE THEY SEE STRANGE ANDTERRIBLE THINGS
On gaining the beach, the first thing that Barney did, after shakinghimself like a huge Newfoundland dog, was to ascertain that his pistoland cutlass were safe; for, although the former could be of no use in itspresent condition, still, as he sagaciously remarked, "it was a goodthing to have, for they might chance to git powder wan day or other, andthe flint would make fire, anyhow." Fortunately the weather was extremelywarm; so they were enabled to take off and wring their clothes withoutmuch inconvenience, except that in a short time a few adventurousmosquitoes--probably sea-faring ones--came down out of the woods andattacked their bare bodies so vigorously that they were fain to hurry ontheir clothes again before they were quite dry.
The clouds began to clear away soon after they landed, and the brilliantlight of the southern constellations revealed to them dimly theappearance of the coast. It was a low sandy beach skirting the sea andextending back for about a quarter of a mile in the form of a grassyplain, dotted here and there with scrubby underwood. Beyond this was adark line of forest. The light was not sufficient to enable them toascertain the appearance of the interior. Barney and Martin now castabout in their minds how they were to spend the night.
"Ye see," said the Irishman, "it's of no use goin' to look for houses,because there's maybe none at all on this coast; an' there's no sayin'but we may fall in with savages--for them parts swarms with them; so we'dbetter go into the woods an'--"
Barney was interrupted here by a low howl, which proceeded from the woodsreferred to, and was most unlike any cry they had ever heard before.
"Och, but I'll think better of it. P'raps it'll be as well _not_ to gointo the woods, but to camp where we are."
"I think so too," said Martin, searching about for small twigs anddrift-wood with which to make a fire. "There is no saying what sort ofwild beasts may be in the forest, so we had better wait till daylight."
A fire was quickly lighted by means of the pistol-flint and a little drygrass, which, when well bruised and put into the pan, caught a sparkafter one or two attempts, and was soon blown into a flame. But no woodlarge enough to keep the fire burning for any length of time could befound; so Barney said he would go up to the forest and fetch some. "I'lllave my shoes and socks, Martin, to dry at the fire. See ye don't letthem burn."
Traversing the meadow with hasty strides, the bold sailor quickly reachedthe edge of the forest, where he began to lop off several dead branchesfrom the trees with his cutlass. While thus engaged the howl which hadformerly startled him was repeated. "Av I only knowed what ye was,"muttered Barney in a serious tone, "it would be some sort o' comfort."
A loud cry of a different kind here interrupted his soliloquy, and soonafter the first cry was repeated louder than before.
Clenching his teeth and knitting his brows the perplexed Irishman resumedhis work with a desperate resolve not to be again interrupted. But he hadmiscalculated the strength of his nerves. Albeit as brave a man as everstepped, when his enemy was before him, Barney was, nevertheless,strongly imbued with superstitious feelings; and the conflict between hisphysical courage and his mental cowardice produced a species of wildexasperation, which, he often asserted, was very hard to bear. Scarcelyhad he resumed his work when a bat of enormous size brushed past his noseso noiselessly that it seemed more like a phantom than a reality. Barneyhad never seen anything of the sort before, and a cold perspiration brokeout upon him, when he fancied it might be a ghost. Again the bat sweptpast close to his eyes.
"Musha, but I'll kill ye, ghost or no ghost," he ejaculated, gazing allround into the gloomy depths of the woods with his cutlass uplifted.Instead of flying again in front of him, as he had expected, the bat flewwith a whirring noise past his ear. Down came the cutlass with a suddenthwack, cutting deep into the trunk of a small tree, which trembled underthe shock and sent a shower of ripe nuts of a large size down upon thesailor's head. Startled as he was, he sprang backward with a wild cry;then, half ashamed of his groundless fears, he collected the wood he hadcut, threw it hastily on his shoulder and went with a quick step out ofthe woods. In doing so he put his foot upon the head of a small snake,which wriggled up round his ankle and leg. If there was anything on earththat Barney abhorred and dreaded it was a snake. No sooner did he feelits cold form writhing under his foot, than he uttered a tremendous yellof terror, dropped his bundle of sticks, and fled precipitately to thebeach, where he did not hall till he found himself knee-deep in the sea.
"Och, Martin, boy," gasped the affrighted sailor, "it's my belafe thatall the evil spirits on arth live in yonder wood; indeed I do."
"Nonsense, Barney," said Martin, laughing; "there are no such things asghosts; at any rate I'm resolved to face them, for if we don't get somesticks the fire will go out and leave us very comfortless. Come, I'll goup with you."
"Put on yer shoes then, avic, for the sarpints are no ghosts, anyhow, andI'm tould they're pisonous sometimes."
They soon found the bundle of dry sticks that Barney had thrown down, andreturning with it to the beach, they speedily kindled a roaring fire,which made them feel quite cheerful. True, they had nothing to eat; buthaving had a good dinner on board the barque late that afternoon, theywere not much in want of food. While they sat thus on the sand of thesea-shore, spreading their hands before the blaze and talking over theirstrange position, a low rumbling of distant thunder was heard. Barney'scountenance instantly fell.
"What's the matter, Barney?" inquired Martin, as he observed hiscompanion gaze anxiously up at the sky.
"Och, it's comin', sure enough."
"And what though it does come?" returned Martin; "we can creep under oneof these thick bushes till the shower is past."
"Did ye iver see a thunder-storm in the tropics?" inquired Barney.
"No, never," replied Martin.
"Then if ye don't want to feel and see it both at wance, come with me asquick as iver ye can."
Barney started up as he spoke, stuck his cutlass and pistol into hisbelt, and set off towards the woods at a sharp run, followed closely byhis wondering companion.
Their haste was by no means unnecessary. Great black clouds rushed uptowards the zenith from all points of the compass, and, just as theyreached the woods, darkness so thick that it might almost be feltoverspread the scene. Then there was a flash of lightning so vivid thatit seemed as if a bright day had been created and extinguished in amoment, leaving the darkness ten times more oppressive. It was followedinstantaneously by a crash and a prolonged rattle, that sounded as if auniverse of solid worlds were rushing into contact overhead and burstinginto atoms. The flash was so far useful to the fugitives, that it enabledthem to observe a many-stemmed tree with dense and heavy foliage, underwhich they darted. They were just in time, and had scarcely seatedthemselves among its branches when the rain came down in a way not onlythat Martin had never seen, but that he had never conceived of before. Itfell, as it were, in broad heavy sheets, and its sound was a loud,continuous roar.
The wind soon after burst upon the forest and added to the hideous shriekof elements. The trees bent before it; the rain was whirled and dashedabout in water-spouts; and huge limbs were rent from some of the largertrees with a crash like thunder, and swept far away into the forest. Thevery earth trembled and seemed terrified at the dreadful conflict goingon above. It seemed to the two friends as if the end of the world werecome; and they could do nothing but cower among the branches of the treeand watch the storm in silence; while they felt, in a way they had neverbefore experienced, how utterly helpless they were and unable to foreseeor avert the many dangers by which they were surrounded, and howabsolutely dependent they were on God for protection.
For several hours the storm continued. Then it ceased as suddenly as ithad begun, and the bright stars again shone down upon a peaceful scene.
When it was over, Martin and his comrade descended the tree andendeavoured to find their way
back to the beach. But this was no easymatter. The haste with which they had run into the woods, and theconfusion of the storm, had made them uncertain in which direction itlay; and the more they tried to get out, the deeper they penetrated intothe forest. At length, wearied with fruitless wandering and stumblingabout in the dark, they resolved to spend the night where they were.Coming to a place which was more open than usual, and where they couldsee a portion of the starry sky overhead, they sat down on a dry spotunder the shelter of a spreading tree, and, leaning their backs againstthe trunk, very soon fell sound asleep.