12 Cannibal Adventure

by Willard Price

  Now they flashed like lightning in and out among the crocodiles which, although they moved more slowly, now and then caught a shark between enormous jaws; that spelled the end of one of the tigers.

  The sharks went after the soft underparts of the crocodiles, tearing great holes in their hides with their sawlike teeth so sharp that they could cut through the shells of turtles. The teeth were curved inwards so that what they took hold of had very little chance of escaping. Man has thirty-two teeth. The tiger shark has 280.

  In the seas around Java tiger sharks had succeeded in driving away the crocodiles and were apparently trying to do the same in the waters of New Guinea. But here they were to be disappointed, for these reptiles were bigger than anywhere else, stronger and more vicious. If this had been 300,000,000 years ago the sharks might have succeeded.

  At that time sharks were a hundred feet long with teeth the size of a man’s hand. They loved dinosaur meat and were partly responsible for the disappearance of this monster.

  The tiger shark had a terrific appetite. It would eat almost anything, from seals, eels, turtles and birds to men, women, children, rays and even tin cans and lumps of coal. The stomach of a fourteen-foot tiger caught at Durban contained the head and forequarters of a crocodile, the hind legs of a sheep, three seagulls, two cans of peas, and a cigarette tin. Fishermen who killed a nine-foot tiger and opened it up found a six-foot crocodile inside. Tiger .sharks were the greatest threat to bathers in Australia because they were the most numerous of all sharks and among the most ravenous.

  Some bathing beaches were surrounded by wire fences to keep them off, but the tigers ate the fences.

  It was dangerous for holiday-makers to go out in a small boat. Tiger sharks would strike boats so hard that the occupants would be knocked overboard, and then devoured.

  So fierce were they that they would eat their own babies. As soon as it was born a baby must fend for itself because if it got in its mother’s way it would disappear down her throat.

  The two armies were so busy with each other that they paid no attention to the boys. But one little tiger shark trying to escape being chewed up swam close to Roger and he grabbed it. It went into his sack. His father had wanted them to bring back a tiger shark. This was small, but that was an advantage. It would grow and live long in some aquarium.

  In spite of all they could do the tiger sharks were being defeated by the great reptiles. Finally they turned tail and vanished. Then the crocodiles began to take an interest in the two boys.

  Hal and Roger swam for the ship, the crocodiles close behind. The latter were not quick enough. The boys reached the rope ladder and swarmed up it, the crocodiles snapping at their heels.

  ‘Zowie, that was close,’ Roger gasped. ‘I’ve had enough for tonight.’

  Hal agreed.

  Chapter 29

  Ship afire

  The wild animals were asking for their supper. Hal and Roger went about the ship, feeding them.

  Hal unfastened the padlock on the brig and passed in a plate of food to Kaggs. He closed the door and turned the key in the padlock.

  ‘Don’t I get a fork?’ Kaggs said. ‘Or am I supposed to eat this the way the wild animals eat theirs?’

  ‘I’ll get you a fork,’ Hal said. ‘But as for wild animals, you’re the wildest we have on board.’ He brought a fork and passed it in between the bars.

  ‘I resent your calling me a wild animal,’ Kaggs said.

  ‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ Hal replied. ‘You ought not to be compared to the wild animals. They are a lot better than you are. They are honest, you are not. They don’t pretend to be something they aren’t. You’re a murderer and you pretend to be a missionary. They don’t kill except to eat. You kill just because you like killing. They aren’t locked up. You have to be.’

  ‘Don’t think I couldn’t get out of this thing if I wanted to.’

  ‘I don’t think you could. But if you did, what good would it do you? It’s ten miles to shore. We’re in almost exactly the same spot where Michael Rockefeller left his drifting boat and tried to swim ashore. He never made it. No one knows why. The chances are that the crocodiles pulled him down. I doubt that you’re as good a swimmer as he was, so if he couldn’t make it what chance would there be for you?’

  ‘Your Michael was a dumbbell,’ Kaggs said. ‘Me, I’m smart. I was the only one who got out of prison. All the others got caught. Brains - that’s what makes the difference. I have brains. If I could walk out of jail past a couple of dozen guards with guns, you’re a fool to think I couldn’t get out of this. When I do I’ll finish off you two and the captain. It will be as easy as killing three rats.’

  ‘I’ll believe all this when I see it,’ Hal said. He went to his bunk. Roger was already asleep and the captain was snoring softly.

  At dawn the three were awakened by the smell of fire, the crackle of flames, and the screams of frightened animals.

  They flung on some clothes and rushed out on deck. Smoke was billowing up from the hold. The forepeak was on fire. The mainsail had been left up because there was no wind at night and now flying sparks kindled it and the whole sail burst into a sheet of flame.

  The door of the brig was open. Kaggs was gone. On the deck lay a prong of the fork Hal had given him the night before. Kaggs had prised it loose from the rest of the fork and had managed to put out his arm through the bars and pick open the padlock.

  They could do nothing to save the sail. They got buckets and began dousing the flames below decks. The more they toiled the more the fire spread.

  ‘We’ve got to hurry,’ Hal said. ‘He must be swimming ashore. He’ll never make it. I’ve got to get out and pick him up, otherwise he’ll be food for the crocs.’

  ‘Why worry about him?’ demanded the captain. ‘Let the crocs have him.’

  ‘Can’t do that,’ Hal said. ‘After all, he’s human -1 think. You two work on the fire. I’ll take the dinghy.’

  He ran aft. The dinghy was gone. ‘He’s made off with the boat. Here we are, three rats in a trap. He promised to kill us. Seems he’s going to keep his promise.’

  The three gave all their attention to the fire. At last they got it under control and there was nothing left but the rank smell of burned timbers. Hal ran down to get his binoculars. He looked towards the land. Halfway to shore was the dinghy with Kaggs in it.

  Even as he looked, Hal saw a crocodile rear its heavy form out of the water and let down its ton weight upon the gunwale of the small boat. The dinghy capsized and Kaggs disappeared.

  Kaggs must have thought he was pretty smart to take the boat rather than try to swim. But the crocs were smarter.

  ‘He’s capsized,’ Hal shouted. ‘Perhaps we can get to him yet. Sail the schooner over.’

  ‘Mainsail is gone,’ the captain said.

  ‘There’s still the engine,’ Hal said, and ran down to start it. But Kaggs had tinkered with it so it wouldn’t start. Hal spent fifteen precious minutes repairing the damage and getting it going. That delay of fifteen minutes was serious. Kaggs, by putting the engine out of order, had endangered his own life. That was not at all smart.

  Without the mainsail to help, the ship sailed sluggishly. The engine was an auxiliary and was only meant to get the ship out of tight spots. So it seemed like an eternity before the schooner came alongside the drifting boat.

  Hal had hoped to find Kaggs clinging to the dinghy. But he was nowhere to be seen. Hal jerked off his shoes and dived in. Crocodiles attracted by the splash gathered around him. He swam down as far as he could without a weight belt. No sign of the living Kaggs nor his dead body. The crocodiles regarded Hal with great interest. But they were slow compared to tiger sharks, and before they could decide to act, Hal had returned to the surface and climbed into the boat.

  The oars were still fastened in the rowlocks. He rowed the dinghy around to the stern of the ship, secured it, and climbed aboard the schooner.

  The captain secretly admired him for att
empting to rescue the crook who had tried to murder him. But he had a curious way of congratulating him for his courage. ‘Hal Hunt,’ he said, ‘you’re a goldurned idiot.’

  Hal knew the old salt meant it as a compliment ‘Thanks,’ he said.

  Chapter 30

  Tiger adventure

  They had a full load of animals. Only the poisonous snakes were kept in cages. All the rest roamed freely over the ship. They could have escaped at any time. They stayed because they were well treated and well fed.

  Roger especially had made himself the friend of every beast and bird. The tiny crocodile which had adopted him as its mother followed him everywhere. The affectionate little koala, looking exactly like a teddy bear, rode on his shoulder. The baby kangaroo spent half its time in his pocket because it was so much like its mother’s pouch. The orang-utan walked beside him holding his hand. The flying fox, flying phalanger and the two beautiful birds of paradise, making unbeautiful squeals and squawks, circled about his head.

  Mission accomplished. It was time to go back to Brisbane and transfer the animals on to a cargo boat, which would take them to the animal farm of John Hunt and Sons on Long Island.

  The fire-blackened rags of the mainsail were stripped down. A fresh sail was brought from the lockers and rigged to the mainmast. The ship spread her wings to the west wind and sailed east through the tossing waves of the Arafura Sea. Crocodiles with only their eyes above the surface unwillingly swam out of the way. The snow-covered mountain peaks and the deep valleys where the Stone Age still lingered fell away behind.

  The vessel passed the border between the wild country they had visited and the slightly more civilized Australian portion of the great island. Here they felt almost at home -altho ugh they knew that even in this region where Australian police patrolled the villages, some cannibalism still existed.

  They passed Thursday Island where Kaggs had intended

  to take up his old pursuit of pearl stealing plus assorted murders, and turned south between the Australian mainland and the Great Barrier Reef.

  And so they returned to Brisbane where they went at once to the chief of police to report the death of Kaggs.

  ‘We’ve been looking all over for him,’ said the chief. ‘If you had brought him back we would have had to execute him. So it’s just as well that the crocodiles did the job for us. He was out to murder you - you were lucky to escape with your lives.’

  Hal sent a cablegram to his father:

  TRANSSHIPPING TO YOU ON THE CARGO BOAT OCEAN QUEEN A KOMODO DRAGON, KOALA BEAR, TREE KANGAROO, ORANG-UTAN, FLYING FOX, FLYING PHALANGERS, BANDICOOT, CUSCUS, WOMBAT, TIGER SHARK, CROCODILES, KING COBRAS, TAIPAN, SEA COWS, TRITONS, BIRDS OF PARADISE, CASSOWARY, MONSTER FOSSIL, CANNIBAL SKULLS. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT?

  The answer gave them the foretaste of another great adventure:

  TIGERS. GREATEST OF THE WORLD’S CATS. CAREFUL. DON’T GET MAULED. BEST PLACE TO FIND THEM - INDIA, THE HIMALAYAS. ALSO WE COULD USE SNOW LEOPARD, HIMALAYAN BEAR, INDIAN ELEPHANT, UNICORN, RHINO, WILD BOAR, PANDA, SLOTH BEAR, GIR LION, WOLF, HYENA, SAMBAR, GAUR, WILD BUFFALO, HOODED COBRA. INVESTIGATE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN. YOU’VE DONE FAMOUSLY. LOVE FROM YOUR MOTHER AND ME. JOHN HUNT.

  ‘India!’ exclaimed Roger. ‘I’ve always been crazy to see it. And we’ll see the best part of it-the Himalayas. Tigers! But I thought lions were the greatest cats.’

  ‘Then you have a surprise coming,’ Hal said. ‘The lion is a pussycat compared with the Bengal tiger - it’s bigger, stronger, more savage. A lion will leave you alone if you let it alone. A tiger will eat you first and ask questions later.’

  ‘Come off it,’ Roger protested. ‘You’re trying to scare me. When do we start?’

  They started as soon as the Ocean Queen had sailed for America with their collection of animals from the cannibal isle. Their Indian dangers and delights are related in Tiger Adventure.