“All right,” Daybright said. “Get close together here. Form a line. Whatever that thing is, he's trouble.”
It was a dog, Josh saw, a shaggy creature at least six feet high at the shoulder, rushing at them. The very size of him was awesome.
“Careful now. Maybe we can scare him off.”
The dog drew up, baring his fangs and making a rumbling in his throat. He was brownish, short-haired, with huge feet and enormous teeth. But he seemed puzzled by what was in front of him.
“Easy,” Daybright said. “I don't think he's seen anything like us before.”
The dog hesitated, then leaped forward, jaws open, uttering a roar.
Daybright swung his stick as if he were a baseball player. It whistled through the air and struck the dog on the nose with a satisfying thump. At the same time, Josh's stick struck the animal over the eye, and the other boys fell to clubbing him fiercely, yelling with all their might.
The dog uttered a sharp, piercing yelp and backed up, shaking his head.
“Come on, get him!” Reb yelled.
They charged the beast, and the dog, for all his size, turned tail and ran, uttering shrill yelps.
“We done 'er!” Reb yelled. “By george, by jingo, we showed him who's boss!”
There was much exultation as Daybright and the boys went back to where the three girls were still in the tree.
They climbed down slowly, and Dawn came to stand beside the captain. “That was very brave of you,” she said. “He could have killed you.”
Daybright flushed but shrugged his shoulders. “I hope he doesn't come back with some bigger friends,” he said. “If that's a sample of what's on this island, we're going to have to be more careful.”
The wind was still blowing, and before long the skies would be darkening.
“What'll we do, Captain? Camp for the night?” Josh asked, coming up.
“I guess so. You think you can quick make another fire, Wash, while there's still sun?”
“Sure can. I've got the hang of it now.” He began at once to scrounge for dry wood with some of the boys helping him.
“Come on, girls, we'll see if we can find some more berries or maybe some nuts. We're going to be mighty hungry,” Daybright said.
They searched the woods and did manage to find more berries. They were not as tasty as the first, having a rather bitter tang, but they took all they could carry back to where Wash had gotten a tiny fire started.
Daybright said, “We'd better pull up enough wood to last us through the night. Maybe we can dry out the rest of our clothes—have everything dry by morning.”
Everybody was scurrying around, looking for branches to make racks to dry their clothes, when all of a sudden Wash said in alarm, “What's that?”
Daybright turned from where he was picking up a chunk of firewood and followed the direction of the boy's gesture. He squinted through the falling darkness and at first could not believe what he was seeing. He blinked, and then Dawn uttered a short cry of fear. He saw that the Sleepers were all staring. He turned his own gaze back and stared with them.
What he saw was what appeared to be a tall shadow moving.
But it's too big to be anything alive, Daybright thought It must be a dust cloud.
But then a final ray of fading sun broke through the clouds, and he saw what he had never dreamed—nor could any of the others.
An enormous man was striding along what seemed to be an invisible road. He was at least two hundred yards away and apparently had not seen them. But even at that distance, Daybright saw it was indeed a living being.
“A—a giant!”
The words escaped Josh's lips. He licked them and said, “Look at him—he must be fifty feet tall.”
Sarah gripped Josh's hand. Her voice was thin as she strained to see the disappearing form through the thickening darkness. “Did we dream it?” she said.
“That wasn't a dream—that was a nightmare,” Jake whispered. He cleared his throat. “Well, Captain, I guess now we know what the natives are like here.”
Daybright nodded slowly “A land of giants,” he said quietly “We've heard stories from time to time. Sailors would come back and say there was a place like this—but the men were always nearly crazy with fear, so we never believed them.”
Dave was looking to where the figure had vanished. “Well, I think you'll have to believe them now, Captain.”
7
A Serious Mistake
Daybright decided that they would gamble on keeping the fire going. The night breeze was cold. The aftereffects of the hurricane were still whipping in sharp winds.
“The fire's down in a gully,” he said. “Nobody can see it—I hope.”
They huddled around the blaze. Josh had found a spring of fresh water close by, so they ate all the berries from the first bush and some from the second, and then everyone slaked his thirst.
Then Josh spoke up. “We've seen some strange things in Nuworld: Snakepeople and Gemini Twins—”
“We've even seen a giant,” Dave said.
They had indeed met one they called a giant, but he had been no more than eight or nine feet tall.
Dave shook his head. “This is a different kettle of fish altogether.”
“At least,” Daybright said, trying to put a good face on the thing, “this isn't a deserted island. That would have been the worst of all.”
“Why haven't any of the giants from this island ever gone to sea?” Jake wondered. “You say you never heard of any of them?”
Daybright picked up a stick and poked the fire. A log shifted, sending sparks swirling into the darkness that seemed to mingle with the faint stars overhead and then died. The captain shook his head. “No, nothing like this has ever been heard of. Maybe they're not smart enough to build ships—or just don't want to.”
“But what about those stories? Did you ever talk to anybody that claimed to have seen them?”
“Just once.” Daybright answered Reb's question. “He was old when I met him and was kind of a village joke. He talked about seeing men as tall as trees, but he talked about other wild things too. We all just thought he was crazy.”
“I think I'm crazy just looking at one of those creatures,” Sarah said, shivering. “They're so huge! Why, if they stepped on one of us, they'd kill us.”
“They may be friendly, though,” Abbey said quickly. “Just because they're big doesn't mean they're evil.”
“That's right,” Captain Daybright said, “and at least there's food here. Maybe we could get them to help us build a ship. It'd be easy for them. They could do all the heavy work in no time.”
Josh said that somehow he felt a strange dislike for the giants. It was irrational, he knew, and he couldn't explain it. “I don't know. There's something peculiar about all this.”
“It ain't natural,” Reb agreed. “I think we'd better stay as far away from those giants as we can.”
They talked until finally everyone grew sleepy.
“It's a hard situation,” Daybright said. “Maybe we can think a little clearer in the morning. Let's all go to sleep now. I guess we'll all have to huddle up together again to stay warm.”
He glanced over at Dawn, who had drawn off to one side. He recognized that she felt out of place, a stranger. The Sleepers, of course, were very close, but they didn't deliberately shut her out. She's probably still ashamed of her behavior, he thought.
Aloud he said, “Here you go, Mistress Catalina. Plunk down here with the young ladies. You can all stay warm together.”
“I guess ... you can call me 'Dawn.'”
The girl's face was pale. She had not gotten over the shock of the shipwreck and certainly not of seeing the giant. She looked much younger than her eighteen years, he thought as she looked up at him—more like fifteen or sixteen.
As she watched him, he said, “This is harder on you than it is on the rest of us, I'm afraid. Most of us have knocked around a little bit, but you never have, I take it.”
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“No, I never have.” Dawn's voice was small, and she looked out into the darkness as if she were expecting one of the giants to come raging in. “I didn't know it could be like this—to be so afraid.”
“We're all afraid at times.”
“Not like this.” Dawn huddled down, clasping her knees. Her voice was muffled as she said, “I didn't know anybody could be as ... as afraid as I am now.”
Daybright patted her shoulder in friendly fashion. “Things look pretty bleak right now. We're cold and in a strange place with dangers all around. It'll look better in the morning.”
Dawn looked up at him, her large green eyes warming. “You always try to say the best things.” She sat quietly a moment. “I think about how badly I treated you. I don't see how you can do it.”
Sarah had been listening to this. “Come on, Dawn. You can sleep in the middle,” she said. “That's what I always wanted to do when I was at a bunking party.”
“What's a bunking party?” Dawn asked.
“A sleep-over. It's when a bunch of girls get together and spend the night.”
“What did you do?”
“Oh, we drank hot chocolate and watched TV.”
“What's hot chocolate—and what's TV?”
“Come on, I'll tell you about it.”
The girls snuggled together before the fire, and Daybright roamed about, staring into the darkness. Josh and Wash joined him, one on either side.
“What do you think we should do, Captain?” Wash said.
“I don't think we have any choice. We'll have to hope these are friendly folks. We need help getting off this island.”
Josh stared into the darkness too. “If they're not friendly,” he said, “it's sure going to be one big mess!”
The next morning they ate what was left of the berries and had a conference. All appeared unusually sober, and finally Daybright said, “We're going to have to trust these people. No other choice.”
Josh stared at him but said nothing.
They started their journey inland and soon found a wide road, at least forty feet across. It was well worn with wagon tracks and huge footprints.
Sarah came up to walk beside Josh. “You don't think we should make contact with these people, do you, Josh?”
Josh, not wanting to worry her, shrugged. “Oh, it's just a crazy feeling I have. You know how it is. Sometimes feelings are right, sometimes they're wrong.”
Sarah was quiet for a while, then said, “If you're right, then we will be in trouble. But I suppose there's no help for it.”
Thirty minutes later, Captain Daybright called out, “Look! There comes one!”
Josh could not tell if it was the same giant they had seen last night. He was coming from the opposite direction, perhaps on his way home.
“Stand over to one side of the road,” Daybright said. “I'd hate for that fellow to step on me.”
As the giant came closer, Josh saw he was at least thirty feet tall. He was dressed in some sort of rough, brown clothing and had a thick, rather dull-looking face, a full beard, and dark eyes. He held a staff in his hand and carried a large box by a string.
“We'll have to move to catch his attention. He'd never hear us,” Josh said.
When the giant was some distance away, they began waving their arms. His gaze was fixed ahead of him, though. He didn't look down.
Jake quickly picked up a small stone. “Maybe I can get his attention.” He flung the stone as the giant approached, and, since Jake was a good shot, it caught the big man on the throat. He slapped at it and muttered something. Then his eye caught the movement of the little people beside the roadway.
The giant stood stock still, staring as if he could not believe his eyes. He actually rubbed his eyes and mumbled something in a rumbling voice.
Josh stopped waving. “Well, he's seen us,” he said in a rather fatalistic tone. “I sure hope he likes us.”
The giant laid his staff down and knelt before them.
Looking up at him, Josh could not help but feel a start of fear. The giant's huge face loomed over them, and Josh could see the huge, thick hairs of his beard. His eyes were like twin moons, they were so large. His teeth, when he opened his mouth, were discolored, and one had a huge decayed spot on it. He said something again, and his voice came like thunder.
Josh said quickly to the others, “Hold up your hands like this.” Then he put his hands out palms upward in the symbol of peace and called out, “We're friends!”
The giant blinked rapidly and looked from one to the other. His mouth dropped open with astonishment. Carefully he put out one finger until it was no more than a foot away from Josh, who was slightly in front.
He advanced it farther, and Josh reached out and tapped it. “Friends!” he yelled. “Friends!”
The giant drew his finger back and sucked on his lower lip. Then he spoke.
When he was through, Josh said, “That's like Middle English—like Chaucer's language. I remember from studying it in school.”
“Doesn't sound much like English to me.”
“The words are pronounced differently, but I could make out a little of it.” He shouted at the giant, using some Middle English words that he remembered.
The big man leaned forward and listened. He nodded vigorously and spoke again.
“It's a lot like Middle English. I liked that when I was in school.” Josh shouted back at the giant, who stared at him, then grinned.
“We need help,” Josh explained. “Our ship was wrecked.” He pointed toward the sea. “We're hungry and tired.”
The giant cocked his head to one side. There was a strange light in his eye, but he seemed friendly enough. He pointed down the road and said something.
Even Sarah seemed to understand that he was talking about his house. She said, “He wants us to go home with him, doesn't he?”
“I think so.” Josh cupped his hands and shouted, “Take us with you, please.”
The giant nodded. Then he said in his big voice, “Too far away. I will carry you.” He opened the box that he had been toting by a string. Carefully he reached down and picked up Josh.
As the huge fingers closed around him, the boy nearly panicked. It was a terrifying feeling.
The giant held him even with his eyes, stared at him, then nodded again. “Home!” he said, then lowered him into the box. One by one the giant picked up the Sleepers. Last, he picked up Daybright and Dawn and deposited them in the box. Then he fastened the top on.
Inside the box it was foul smelling and dirty.
Daybright was holding Dawn's hand. “We're all right,” he kept saying. “He's friendly. There's no other way to get us where we're going, although this is pretty foul.”
“What was in this box?” she asked. “It smells terrible.”
“I think it's tobacco,” Josh said. He felt around, touched something, pulled off some of it, smelled it. “That's what it is—some kind of tobacco.”
“Well, we're on our way,” Reb said cheerfully. “We're not going to starve to death, and if any of us want to take up smoking, there's enough tobacco here to do the job.”
It was dark inside the box. It also swung about in an alarming manner as the giant walked.
Finally Reb cried out, “This is worse than being on a ship!”
Daybright agreed, and Dawn clung to him pitifully. “It'll be all right,” he called out to everyone. “We'll be out of this soon. You'll see.”
It was hard to judge the time, but finally they heard the giant speak to someone, and a voice answered. They heard the sound of his footsteps on what seemed to be steps. Then the box was slammed down, throwing them all to their knees.
“I guess we're here,” Daybright said and looked up as the top of the box disappeared.
The light came flooding in, blinding Josh for a moment. Then he saw a woman's huge face peering over the side.
The woman screamed slightly. “What are they, Gant?”
Josh understood this senten
ce and got to his feet. He waved at the woman. “That must be his wife,” he said, “and his name must be Gant. Hello, Mrs. Gant,” he called out.
When the woman heard her name in Josh's tiny voice, she clamped a hand over her mouth and stepped back.
At once another face appeared. This time it was the face of a girl—a giant girl. She stared at them.
No more than ten or twelve, Josh thought.
“Hello,” Daybright called, waving. “How are you, little girl?”
The girl giggled and poked her finger down toward him.
Daybright reached out and touched the finger but could not get his hand around the end of it. He pulled off his cap and bowed gracefully, saying, “My name is Daybright. What's yours?”
She did not appear to understand him, but her father did. “Tell the Little People your name.”
The girl stared back, then smiled. She had bright teeth that looked very large. “Olina,” she said.
Suddenly the girl reached into the box and snatched up Sarah.
Sarah gave a cry of alarm. She kicked and gave a little scream, which seemed to delight the girl.
Olina said, “Nama?”
“She wants to know your name,” Josh yelled. “Tell her.”
“My name is Sarah!” Sarah shouted.
The girl squealed. “Sarah!” she said. With her free hand she touched Sarah's clothes in wonder. “Sarah!” she repeated.
“Put her down,” Gant said. “You might hurt her.”
Gant reached into the box, carefully lifting out the rest of the party one by one. Soon all were standing on a tabletop, and Josh had a chance to look around.
It was a typical farmhouse scene. In a huge fireplace at one end was a black pot containing some kind of bubbling stew. There was rough wooden furniture, all handmade. There was only one window to let in light.
Gant spoke rapidly to his wife, telling her how he had found the “Little People.”
Josh discovered he was quickly remembering his Middle English. When Gant turned back, he motioned until the giant leaned toward him. “Could we have something to eat?” he shouted. “We're hungry.”
Gant turned to his wife and said, “Feed them.”
Voyage of the Dolphin Page 6
