The Castaways

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

  ACROSS COUNTRY.

  In undertaking the journey across Borneo, Captain Redwood knew therewould be many difficulties to encounter, as well as dangers. There wasfirst the great distance, which could not be much less than two hundredand fifty miles, even if they should succeed in making it in a straightline--as the crow flies. But, no doubt, obstructions would presentthemselves along the route to cause many a detour. Still this was anobstacle which time would overcome. At the rate of ten miles a day, itwould be conquered in a month; and if two months should have to bespent, it would not be a very formidable hardship, considering that itwas a journey overtaken to carry them through a savage wilderness, andrestore them to civilisation--nay, almost to life.

  That it was to be made on foot did not dismay them, they had quiterecovered from the effects of their sea-suffering, as also from thepoisonous breath of the upas, and felt strong enough to undertake anygreat feat of pedestrianism. And, as they were under no limits as totime, they could adopt such a rate of speed as the nature of the pathswould permit. On this score there was neither apprehension noruneasiness; there might have been about provisions, as the cured hams ofthe wild boar could not possibly last longer than a week; and what werethey to eat after these were consumed?

  Saloo set their minds at rest on this matter, by telling them that theinterior forests of Borneo--which he did not know--if they at allresembled those of Sumatra--which he did know--would be found full offruit-bearing trees; and, besides, numerous chances would arise forkilling or capturing birds and other small game, even if a deer or asecond wild boar did not present himself. In order to be prepared forany such that might come in his way, as well as to save theirammunition, of which they had but a limited supply, Saloo had spent thelast few days of their sojourn upon the coast in the manufacture of aweapon well suited for such a purpose, even better than musket or rifle.It was the "Sumpitan," or blow-gun. This the Malay had made, alongwith a complete set of "sumpits," or arrows, and a quiver to containthem. The sumpitan itself--eight feet in length--he fashioned from astraight sapling of the beautiful _casuarina_ tree, which growsthroughout the islands of the Malayan Archipelago; while the littlearrows, only eight inches long, he obtained from the medium of theleaflets of the _nibong_ palms, many of which were found near the spotwhere they had encamped. The pith of the same palm served him for theswell of the arrow, which, being compressible like cork, fills up thetube of the sumpitan, and renders the shaft subject to propulsion fromthe quick puff of breath which the blow-gun marksman, from longpractice, knows how to give it.

  Saloo had been one of the best sumpitan shooters in all Sumatra, andcould send an arrow with true aim a distance of a hundred and fiftyyards. But to make its effect deadly at this distance, something morethan the mere pricking of the tiny "sumpit" was needed. This somethingwas a strong vegetable poison which he also knew how to prepare; and theupas-tree, that had so nearly proved fatal to all of them, was nowcalled into requisition to effect a friendly service. Drawing upon itssap, and mixing it with that of another poisonous plant--the _bina_--Saloo gave the points of his sumpits a coating of the combined juices,so that they would carry death into the veins of any animal having theill-fortune to be pierced by them.

  Thus armed and equipped, he had little fear on the score of a scarcityof provisions during the journey. On the contrary, he declared himselfconfident of being able to keep the commissariat up to a point of supplysufficient for the whole party.

  It may be thought strange that they did not speculate on the chances ofarriving at some town or settlement of the natives. Indeed they did so,but only with the thought of avoiding them; for the minds of all--theMalay not excepted--were filled with apprehensions respecting the Dyakand other savage tribes, which report places in the interior of Borneo,and to whom long accredited, though perhaps only imaginative, storieshave given a character alike terrible and mysterious. They could thinkof them only as savages--wild men of the woods--some of them coveredwith hair, and whose chief delight and glory are the cutting off men'sheads, and not unfrequently feasting on men's flesh! No wonder that,with these facts, or fancies, acting upon their imagination, ourtravellers set forth upon their journey determined to give a wide berthto everything that bore the shape of a human being. It was a strangecommentary on man's superiority to the lower animals, and not verycreditable to the former, that he himself was the thing they most fearedto meet with in the wooded wilderness. And yet, humiliating as thereflection may appear, it depressed the minds of the castaways, as,looking their last upon the bright blue sea, they turned their facestoward the interior of the forest-covered land of Borneo.

  For the first day they pursued a course leading along the bank of thestream at whose mouth they had been sojourning ever since their arrivalon the island. They had more than one reason for keeping to the stream.It seemed to flow in a due easterly direction, and therefore to ascendit would lead them due west--the way they wanted to go. Besides, therewas a path along its banks, not made by man, but evidently by largeanimals; whose tracks, seen here and there in soft places, showed themto be tapirs, wild-boars, and the larger but more rare rhinoceros.

  They saw none of these animals during their day's journey, though manyof the traces were fresh. Generally nocturnal in their habits, the hugepachydermatous creatures that had made them were, during daylight,probably lying asleep in their lairs, amid the thick underwood of theadjacent jungles.

  The travellers might have brought the pinnace up the river--so far itwas deep enough to be navigated by a row-boat; and they had at firstthought of doing so. But for several reasons they had changed theirminds, and abandoned their boat. It was too heavy to be easilypropelled by oars, especially against the current of a stream which inmany places was very rapid. Besides, if there should be a settlement ofsavages on the bank, to approach in a boat would just be the way toexpose themselves to being seen, without first seeing.

  But to Captain Redwood the chief objection was, that a mountain-rangerose only a short distance off, and the stream appeared to issue fromits steep sloping side; in which case it would soon assume the characterof a headlong torrent utterly unfit for navigation. Even had watertravel been easier, it could not have been long continued--perhaps notbeyond a single day; and it was not deemed worth while to bring thepinnace with them. So thought the captain, and the others agreeing, theboat was left where they had long since concealed her--under thebanyan-tree.

  The captain's conjectures proved correct. The evening of the firstday's march brought them to the base of the mountain-ridge, down whoserocky flank the stream poured with the strength and velocity of atorrent. No boat could have further ascended it.

  As the path leading along its edge, and hitherto comparatively level andsmooth, now changed to a difficult ascent up a rough rock-strewn ravine,they encamped at the mountain-foot for the first night of their journey.

  Next day was spent in ascending the mountain; following the ravine up toits head, where were found the sources of the stream. Staying only fora short noon-tide rest, they kept upward, and reached the highest pointof the ridge just as the sun was again sinking into the depths of theforest before them.

  At their camping-place on the second night no water was near; and theymight have suffered from the want of it, had they not taken theprecaution to provide against such a deficiency. Their experience ascastaways, especially the memory of their sufferings from thirst, hadrendered them wary of being again subjected to so terrible a torture.Each of the three men carried a "canteen" strung to his waist--the jointof a large bamboo that held at least half a gallon; while the boy andgirl also had their cane canteens, proportioned to their size andstrength. All had been filled with cool clear water before leaving thelast source of the stream, a supply sufficient to serve during theirtransit of the dry mountain-ridge.

  The remainder of that night was spent upon its summit; but as thisproved of considerable breadth, and was covered with a thick growth ofju
ngle-trees, it was near sunset the next day before they arrived at theedge of its eastern declivity, and obtained a view of the countrybeyond.

  The sun was descending behind the crest of another mountain-ridge,apparently parallel with that upon which they were, and not less thantwenty miles distant from it. Between the two extended a valley, orrather a level plain, thickly covered with forest, except where a sheetof water gleamed in the setting sun like a disc of liquid gold.

  Nor was the plain all level. Here and there, above the wooded surface,rose isolated hills, of rounded mound-like shape, also clothed withtimber, but with trees whose foliage, of lighter sheen, showed them tobe of species different from those on the plain below.

  Through a break among the branches of those now shadowing them on themountain brow, the travellers for some time contemplated the countrybefore them, and across which, upon the morrow, they would have to maketheir way.

  At this moment Saloo muttered some words, which, coupled with theexpression upon his countenance as he gave utterance to them, alarmedhis companions. The words were,--

  "It lookee like countly of _mias lombi_. Cappen Ledwad, if dat wilddebbel lib in dem wood below, bettel we go all lound. We tly closs it,may be we get eat up. Singapo tiga not so dang'lous as _mias_--he notcommon kind, but gleat _mias lombi_--what Poltugee people callee `_ledgolilla_.'"

  "The _red gorilla_!" ejaculated Captain Redwood. "Is it the_ourang-outang_ you mean?"

  "Same ting, Sahib cappen. Some call him _oolang-ootang_, some say _ledgolilla_. One kind belly big--belly bad--he call _mias lombi_. Hecally away women, childen; take 'em up into top ob de highest talleetlee. Nobody know what he do then. Eat 'em up may be. What fol elsehe want 'em? Ah! Cappen Ledwad, we dlead de oolang-Dyak. He no halfdang'lous like oolang-ootang led golilla."

  Notwithstanding the _patois_ of his speech, what Saloo said was wellenough understood by his companions, for in the _led golilla_ or_oolang-ootang_ of his peculiar pronunciation, they recognised the longknown and world-renowned ape of Borneo, which, although safe enough whenseen inside the cage of the showman, is a creature to be dreaded--atleast the species spoken of--when encountered in its native haunts, theforests of Sumatra and Borneo.