Git along, massa, he said in a gaspy whisper, when able to articulate, wes got to go troo wid it now.
Acting on this advice the young man continued to advance cautiously, feeling his way step by step and fully expecting every moment to reach the inner wall of the cavern.
Presently the explorers were again brought to a stand by the sudden appearance of a light in the far distance. As, however, it did not move, they continued to advance, and soon were convinced that it was daylight shining through an opening in that direction. Every step convinced them more and more that they were right, and their spirits rose with the hope of escaping, though the light made no appreciable difference as yet in the darkness that surrounded them.
Suddenly a sharp, loud, short cry filled the cavern for an instant, and almost froze their blood! The loudness and abrupt stoppage of the cry left the impression that the creature which uttered it had been suddenly and effectively killed, for it ended in a sharp gasp or gurgle, and then all was still,but only for a moment, for the shock to Marks nerves was such that his finger inadvertently pressed the trigger of his gun, which exploded with a deafening crash, and awoke shrieks and cries that were not to be accounted for by mere echoes.
This was too much for ordinary human beings. Fabled knights of old in armour of proof might have stood it, but the two white men and the black, being ordinary heroes, regardless of pride and honour, went in for a regular stampede, and it is but simple justice to say that Ebony won, for he reached the outlet of the cavern first, and sprang through it into daylight like a black thunderbolt. It is also due to his comrades to add that they were not far behind him.
Their courage, however, was soon restored. Daylight has a celebrated power of restoring courage. On clearing the bushes which concealed the entrance to the cave they simultaneously stopped, turned round, and resolutely faced their foe!
But no foe was to be seen! Once again all was still as death. After glaring for a few seconds at the spot whence the expected enemy should have issued, the three fugitives relaxed their frowning brows and turned inquiring eyes on each other.
Dis beats cockfightin amost, said Ebony, with a sigh of intense relief.
Ay, an every other sort o fightin as I ever heard on, responded Hockins.
Come, friends, said their young leader, whatever it may have been, it behoves us to get as far away from this spot as possible, and that as fast as we can.
Chapter Two.
Harks back a little
The spot where our adventurers found themselves on issuing from the mysterious cave was a peculiarly rugged one. It formed a sort of hollow or depression in the forest-land in which we introduced the three men as fugitives. From this hollow there descended a narrow track or pathway to the extensive valley which had been seen from the summit of the precipice that barred their flight, and had so nearly proved fatal.
So confused was the nature of the ground here, and so intricate were the tracksoriginally formed no doubt by wild animals, though made use of by wandering menthat it became impossible for Mark Breezy to know in what direction he was leading his comrades as he wound in and out among large rocks and fallen trees. In fact it was more by chance than guidance that they ultimately hit upon the path which finally led them to the lower region or plateau of forest-land; and it is certain that they would have found it impossible to find their way back to the cave, even had they desired to do so.
Their chief object, however, was to put as much space as possible between themselves and their late pursuers, and to this end they pushed forward at their best speed, until they reached a small river which appeared to be a tributary to, or a branch of, that which they had seen from the heights earlier in the day.
Come to a ribbercouldnt git across,
Gib a couple o dollars for an old blind hoss,
murmured Ebony, quoting an ancient ditty.
We shall have to swim it, I fear, remarked Breezy, for there is no horse here, blind or otherwise. Perhaps that fallen tree may prove strong enough to serve as a bridge.
He pointed to a slender tree which had evidently been placed there, with several others, for the purpose of forming a rough and ready bridge; but its companions had been removed by floods, for they lay tossed on the bank further down among other wreckage.
Itll be somethin like tight-rope dancin, said the sailor. Well have to repair the bridge.
Nuffin ob de sort! Look here.
Ebony ran to the tree referred to, and skipped over with admirable agility, though it bent under him not unlike a tight-rope.
But I cant do that, said Hockins, not bein a black monkey, dee see?
With a sudden expression of intense pity the negro exclaimed
Oh! I beg pardin. Didnt I forgot; yous ony a white man. But stop; I come ober agin an took you on my back.
He pretended to be on the point of recrossing, but the sailor had already got upon the bridge, and, with much balancing and waving of his long arms, passed over in safety. Mark was about to follow, when Hockins called out, Better pitch over the powder-flask in case you fall in.
Thats true, for I maynt be as good as you or Ebony on the tight-rope. Look out!
He pulled the powder-flask out of his pocket and threw it towards his comrades. Unfortunately the branch of an overhanging bush had touched his hand. The touch was slight, but it sufficed to divert the flask from its proper course, and sent it into the middle of the stream.
Ebony followed it head first like an otter, but soon reappeared, gasping and unsuccessful. Again and again he dived, but failed to find the flask, without which, of course, their gun was useless, and at last they were obliged to continue their flight without it.
This was a very serious loss, for they had not an ounce of provisions with them, and were in a land the character and resources of which were utterly unknown at least to two of them, while the youth who had become their leader knew very little more than the fact that it was the island of Madagascar, that it lay about 300 miles off the eastern shores of Africa, and that the tribes by whom they were surrounded were little if at all better than savages.
That day they wandered far into the depths of a dark and tangled forest, intentionally seeking its gloomiest recesses in order to avoid the natives, and at night went supperless to rest among the branches of an umbrageous tree, not knowing what danger from man or beast might assail them if they should venture to sleep on the ground.
Although possessed of flint and steel, as well as tinder, they did not use them for fear of attracting attention. As they had nothing to cook, the deprivation was not great. Fortunately the weather at the time was pleasantly warm, so that beyond the discomfort of not being able to stretch out at full length, the occasional poking of awkward knots and branches into their ribs, and the constant necessity of holding on lest they should fall off, their circumstances were not insufferable, and might have been worse.
While they are enjoying their repose, we will tell in a few sentences who they were and how they got there.
When Mark Breezy, in the closing years of his medical-student career, got leave to go on a voyage to China in one of his fathers ships, the Eastern Star, for the benefit of his health and the enlargement of his understanding, he had no more idea that that voyage would culminate in a bed up a tree in the forests of Madagascar than you, reader, have that you will ultimately become an inhabitant of the moon! The same remark may with equal truth be made of John Hockins when he joined the Eastern Star as an able seaman, and of James Gingeralias Ebonywhen he shipped as cook. If the captain of the Eastern Star had introduced those three,who had never seen each other beforeand told them that they would spend many months together among savages in the midst of terrestrial beauty, surrounded by mingled human depravity and goodness, self-denial and cruelty, fun and tragedy such as few men are fated to experience, they would have smiled at each other with good-natured scepticism and regarded their captain as a facetious lunatic.
Yet so it turned out, though the captain prophesied it notand this was the way of it.
Becalmed off the coast of Madagascar, and having, through leakage in one of the tanks, run short of water, the captain ordered a boat with casks to be got ready to go ashore for water. The young doctor got leave to land and take his gun for the purpose of procuring specimensfor he was something of a naturalistand having a ramble.
Dont get out of hail, Doctor, said the captain, as the boat shoved off.
All right, sir, I wont.
An take a couple o the men into the bush with you in case of accidents.
Ay ay, sir, responded Mark, waving his hand in acknowledgment.
And that was the last that Mark Breezy and the captain of the Eastern Star saw of each other for many a day.
Who will go with me? asked Mark, when the boat touched the shore.
Me, massa, eagerly answered the negro cook, who had gone ashore in the hope of being able to get some fresh vegetables from the natives if any were to be found living there. Seems to me deres no black mans here, so mays well try de woods for wild wegibles.
No no, Ebony, said the first mate, who had charge of the boat, youll be sure to desert if we let you gounless we send Hockins to look after you. Hes the only man that can keep you in order.
Well, Ill take Hockins also, said Mark, you heard the captain say I was to have two men. Will you go, Hockins?
Ay, ay, sir, answered the seaman, sedately, but with a wrinkle or two on his visage which proved that the proposal was quite to his taste.
All the men of the boats crew were armed either with cutlass or carbinein some cases with both; for although the natives were understood to be friendly at that part of the coast it was deemed prudent to be prepared for the reverse. Thus John Hockins carried a cutlass in his belt, but no fire-arm, and the young doctor had his double-barrelled gun, with powder-flask and shot-belt, but Ebonybeing a free-and-easy, jovial sort of niggerwent unarmed, saying he didnt want to carry no harms, seein he would need all harms he had to carry back de fresh wegibles wid.
Thus those three went into the bush, promising to keep well within ear-shot, and to return instantly at the first summons.
That summons camenot as a shout, as had been expected, but as a shotabout an hour after the landing. Our explorers ran to the top of a neighbouring mound in some surprise, not unmixed with anxiety. Before they reached the summit a volley from the direction of the sea, followed by fierce yells, told that some sort of evil was going on. Another moment, and they reached the eminence just in time to behold their boats crew pulling off shore while a band of at least a hundred savages attacked themsome rushing into the water chest-deep in order to seize the boat. Cutlass and carbine, however, proved more than a match for stone and spear.
The fight had scarce lasted a minute, and our trio were on the point of rushing down to the rescue, when a white cloud burst from the side of the Eastern Star, the woods and cliffs echoed with the roar of a big gun, and a shot, plunging into the crowd of natives, cut down many of them and went crashing into the bushes.
It was enough. The natives turned and fled while the boat pulled to the ship.
Uncertainty as to what should be done kept Mark Breezy and his companions rooted for a few seconds to the spot. Indecision was banished, however, when they suddenly perceived a band of thirty or forty natives moving stealthily towards them by a circuitous route, evidently with the intention of taking them in rear and preventing them from finding shelter in the woods.
It was the first time that the young students manhood had been put severely to the test. There was a rush of hot blood to his forehead, and his heart beat powerfully as he saw and realised the hopelessness of their case with such tremendous odds against them.
We can die but once, he said with forced calmness, as he cocked his gun and prepared to defend himself.
Is not a-goin to die at all, said the negro, hastily tightening his belt, Is a-goin to squatilate.
And you? said Mark, turning to the seaman.
Run, says I, of coorse, replied Hockins, with something between a grin and a scowl; ye know the old songhim wot fights an runs away, may live to fight another day!
Come along, then! cried Mark, who felt that whether they fought or ran he was bound to retain the leadership of his little party.
As we have seen, they ran to some purpose. No doubt if they had started on equal terms, the lithe, hardy, and almost naked savages would have soon overtaken them, but fortunately a deep gully lay between them and the party of natives who had first observed them. Before this was crossed the fugitives were over the second ridge of rolling land that lay between the thick woods and the sea, and when the savages at last got upon their track and began steadily to overhaul them, the white men had got fairly into the forest.
Still there would have been no chance of ultimate escape if they had not come upon the footpath down the precipice which we have described as having been partly carried away by falling rocks, thus enabling Hockins and his companions to make a scramble for life which no one but a sailor, a monkey, or a hero, would have dared, and the impossibility of even attempting which never occurred to the pursuers, who concluded, as we have seen, that the white men had been dashed to pieces on the rocks far below.
Whether they afterwards found out their mistake or not we cannot tell.
The reasonlong afterwards ascertainedof this unprovoked attack on the boats crew, was the old story. A party of godless white men had previously visited that part of the coast and treated the poor natives with great barbarity, thus stirring up feelings of hatred and revenge against all white menat least for the time being. In this way the innocent are too often made to suffer for the guilty.
We will now return to our friends in the tree.
Chapter Three.
Describes the Deed of an Amateur Matador and the Work of a Rough-and-Ready Shoemaker
When the day began to break Hockins awoke, and his first impulse was to shout hold on! Ebonys first action was to let go, thereby bringing himself to the ground with an awful thud, which would have told severely on any one less akin to india-rubber.
For a few minutes Mark Breezy, holding tight to his particular branch, looked down at his companions, yawned heavily, and smiled a little. Then a sudden impulse of memory caused him to look grave.
Come, he said, dropping lightly from his perch, these natives may have been searching for us all night, and are perhaps nearer than we suppose. I vote that we push on at once.
Agreed, said Hockins, stretching himself.
No fear, Massa, remarked the negro. If it wur moonlight dey might ave search, but whar de nights am dark dey knows better. De niggahs in dis yer island hab got skins an eyes an noses. If dey was to go troo such woods in de dark, dey hab no skins or eyes or noses in de morninleaswise nuffin wuth mentionin. Cause why? Deyd all git knocked into a sorter mush. Plenty ob time for breakfast fore we start.
Thats true, boy, said Hockins, but wheres the breakfast to come from?
What! you no bringed nuffin in your pockits? asked the negro with a look of visible anxiety on his expressive face.
Hockins turned his various pockets inside out by way of reply.