The Castaways

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  A DANGEROUS LOCALITY.

  After their ample meal of oyster "roasted in the shell," which was abreakfast instead of a supper, they rested for the remainder of the day,and all through the following night. They required this lengthenedperiod of repose, not because they stood in need of sleep, but from theexhaustion of weakness, consequent upon their long spell of hunger andthirst.

  They slept well, considering that they had no couch, nor any covering,but the tattered clothes they wore upon their bodies. But they hadbecome accustomed to this kind of bed; as to one even less comfortable,and certainly not safer--on the hard planks of the pinnace. Nor did thecold discomfort them; for although the nights are colder on land than atsea, and in the tropics sometimes even chilly, that night was warmthroughout; and nothing interfered with their slumbers except somehorrid dreams, the sure sequence of suffering and perils such as theyhad been passing through.

  The morning rose bright and beautiful, as nearly all Bornean morningsdo. And the castaways rose from their recumbent position, feelingwonderfully restored both in strength and spirits. Henry and Helen--these were the names of the young people--were even cheerful, inclinedto wander about and wonder at the strange objects around: the beautifulbeach of silvery sand; the deep blue sea; the white breakers beyond,rising over it like along snow-wreath; the clear fresh-water streamalongside, in which they could see curious fish disporting themselves;the grand forest-trees, among them stately palms and tall lance-likebamboos;--in short, a thousand things that make tropical scenery socharming.

  Notwithstanding the scenic beauty, there was something needed before itcould be thoroughly enjoyed, and this was breakfast. The contents ofthe great oyster had given full satisfaction for the time; but that wasnearly twenty-four hours ago, and the appetites of all were once morekeenly whetted. What was to take the edge off them? This was thequestion that occupied their thoughts, and the answer was not so easy.

  Saloo went in search of another Singapore oyster; Murtagh started alongthe bank of the stream, in the hope of beguiling some of the red andgold fish he saw playing "backgammon" in it, as he had seen the troutand salmon in his native Killarney; while the captain, having procured arifle, that had been brought away in the boat, and which he well knewhow to handle, wandered off into the woods.

  Henry and Helen remained under the tree, as their father did not thinkthere could be any danger in leaving them alone. He was well enoughacquainted with the natural history of Borneo to know that there wereneither lions nor tigers in the island. Had it been on the neighbouringisland of Sumatra, or some desert coast of the mainland--in Malacca,Cochin-China, or Hindustan--he might have dreaded exposing them to theattack of tigers. But as there was no danger of encountering thesefierce creatures on the shores of Borneo, he told the children to stayunder the tree until he and the others should return.

  The young people were by this time rather tired of remaining in arecumbent position. It was that to which they had been too longconstrained while in the boat, and it felt irksome; moreover, theoyster, wonderfully restoring their strength, had brought back theirwonted juvenile vigour, so that they felt inclined for moving about abit. For a time they indulged this inclination by walking to and froaround the trunk of the tree.

  Soon, however, weariness once more came upon them, and they desired tohave a seat. Squatting upon the ground is an attitude only easy tosavages, and always irksome to those accustomed to habits of civilisedlife, and to sitting upon chairs. They looked about for something uponwhich they might sit but nothing appeared suitable. There were neitherlogs nor large stones; for the beach, as well as the adjacent shore, wascomposed of fine drift sand, and no trees seemed to have fallen near thespot.

  "I have it!" exclaimed Henry, after puzzling his brains a bit, his eyeguiding him to a settlement of the difficulty. "The shells--the bigoyster shells--the very things for us to sit upon, sister Nell."

  As he spoke, he stooped down and commenced turning over one of theshells of the immense bivalve--both of which had been hitherto lyingwith their concave side uppermost. It was nigh as much as the boy,still weak, could do to roll it over, though Helen, seeing thedifficulty, laid hold with her little hands and assisted him.

  Both the huge "cockles" were speedily capsized; and their convexsurfaces rising nearly a foot above the level of the ground, gave theyoung people an excellent opportunity of getting seated.

  Both sat down--each upon a shell--laughing at the odd kind of stoolsthus conveniently provided for them.

  They had not been long in their sedentary attitude, when a circumstanceoccurred which told them how unsafe a position they had chosen. Theywere conversing without fear, when Henry all at once felt somethingstrike him on the arm, and then, with a loud crash, drop down upon theshell close under his elbow, chipping a large piece out of it.

  His first impression was that some one had thrown a stone at him. Ithad hit him on the arm, just creasing it; but on looking at the placewhere he had been hit, he saw that the sleeve of his jacket was split,or rather torn, from shoulder to elbow, as if a sharp-tooth curry-combhad been drawn violently along it. He felt pain, moreover, and sawblood upon his shirt underneath!

  He looked quickly around to ascertain who had thus rudely assailed him--anxiously, too, for he was in some dread of seeing a savage spring fromthe bushes close by. On turning, he at once beheld the missile that hadrent his jacket-sleeve lying on the sand beside him. It was no stone,but a round or slightly oval-shaped ball, as big as a ten-pound shot, ofa deep-green colour, and covered all over with spurs like the skin of ahedgehog!

  He at once saw that it had not been thrown at him by any person; for,with the sharp, prickly protuberances thickly set all over it, no onecould have laid hand upon it. Clearly it had fallen from the treeoverhead. Helen had perceived this sooner than he; for sitting a littleway off, she had seen the huge ball drop in a perpendicular direction--though it had descended with the velocity of lightning.

  Beyond doubt, it was some fruit or nut, from the tree under which theywere seated. From the way in which the jacket-sleeve had suffered, aswell as the skin underneath--to say nothing of the piece chipped out ofthe shell--it was evident, that had the ponderous pericarp fallen uponHenry's skull, it would have crushed it as a bullet would the shell ofan egg.

  Young as the two were, they were not so simple as to stay in that spotan instant longer. On the tree that could send down such a dangerousmissile there might be many more--equally ready to rain upon them--andwith this apprehension both sprang simultaneously to their feet, andrushed out into the open ground, not stopping till they believedthemselves quite clear of the overshadowing branches that so illprotected them. They looked back at the seats they had so abruptlyvacated, and the green globe lying beside them, and then up to the tree;where they could see other similar large globes, only at such a vastheight looking no bigger than peaches or apricots.

  They did not dare to venture back to their seats, nor, although temptedby a strong curiosity to examine it, to approach the fallen fruit. Infact, the arm of Henry was badly lacerated; and his little sister, onseeing the blood upon his shirt sleeve, uttered an alarm that broughtfirst Saloo, and then the others, affrighted to the spot.

  "What is it?" were the interrogations of the two white men, as they camehurrying up, while the impressive Malay put none--at once comprehendingthe cause of the alarm. He saw the scratched arm, and the huge greenglobe lying upon the ground.

  "_Dulion_!" he said, glancing up to the tree.

  "Durion!" echoed the captain, pronouncing the word properly, astranslated from Saloo's pigeon English.

  "Yes, cappen; foolee me no think of him befole. Belly big danger. Itfallee on skull, skull go clashee clashee."

  This was evident without Saloo's explanation. The lacerated arm andbroken shell were evidences enough of the terrible effects that wouldhave been produced had the grand pericarp in its downward descent fallenupon the heads of either of the child
ren, and they all saw what a narrowescape Henry had of getting his "cocoa-nut" crushed or split open.