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diff --git a/38263.txt b/38263.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c0a0eda --- /dev/null +++ b/38263.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Wild Life in the Land of the Giants, by Gordon Stables + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wild Life in the Land of the Giants + A Tale of Two Brothers + +Author: Gordon Stables + +Release Date: December 10, 2011 [EBook #38263] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Wild Life in the Land of the Giants +A Tale of two Brothers +By Gordon Stables +Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 27 Paternoster Row, London. +This edition dated 1888. + +Wild Life in the Land of the Giants, by Gordon Stables. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +WILD LIFE IN THE LAND OF THE GIANTS, BY GORDON STABLES. + +CHAPTER ONE. + +BOOK I--OUR HOME BY THE SEA. + +THE OLD HOME BY THE SEA--AUNT SERAPHEEMA. + +Reginald Augustus John Fitzmaurice Jones! + +That is my name in full. + +There is not the slightest occasion to remember it. + +The name is far and away too long, and too tall for ordinary use. Twice +only have I taken it to church with me, namely, on the day of my +baptism, and on my wedding morn. On both these occasions it was written +on a bit of paper, and folded up for future use. + +On the first occasion it was carefully carried in my father's waistcoat +pocket, and _I_ brought it home. + +On the second occasion it was carefully carried in my own waistcoat +pocket, and brought home by one far dearer to me than even a father. + +But as regards a name or names rather, my brother did not fare a bit +better than I did. + +Rupert Domville Ffoljambe-Foley Jillard Jones! + +That is my brother's name in full. And, indeed, I think it will be +readily admitted that his was a harder case than even mine, and seeing +that I was the elder, this seemed scarcely fair. + +Reginald Augustus John Fitzmaurice Jones! Only fancy a spirited young +man having to make his way in life, and drag through existence with such +a name as that tagged on to him. For _one_ young man even it would be +bad enough, but there were two of us, and we always drove in couple. + +What a deal maiden aunts have to account for, as often as not! Yes, it +was all owing to Aunt Serapheema, and even to this day I cannot help +thinking she owes us a very ample apology. + +Here is how it occurred: + +Father--he was Captain Jones then--was sitting all alone one evening in +the room which was designated by courtesy the study, though, as far as +literature is concerned, it contained little else save a few magazines, +the newspapers, and--father's pipe rack. Well, father was enjoying a +mild cigar by the open window--for it was spring, and the birds were +singing in every bush--when there entered to him--Aunt Serapheema, who +began to cough. + +Father put his cigar hastily down on the outside sill of the window, +with a little sigh, for it was one of the Colonel's--Colonel McReady's-- +best, and only newly lit. + +He hastened to place the high-backed armchair for the lady. It was like +herself, this chair--straight, tall, dark, and prim. + +"The smoke, I suppose, _would_ have annoyed you?" + +"It would have, Harold." + +"And the open window?" + +"That we can do with." + +"Ahem!" continued my aunt, smoothing the long black silken mits she +always wore on her hands and arms. "Ahem!" + +"Yes, sister," said my father. + +"Yes, _aunt_, if you please. Remember that in future, Harold; and it +will be as well if, instead of calling Dora, your wife, by the +ridiculous name of Dot, you _now_ address her as `mamma' or `ma.'" + +The "now" in aunt's last sentence referred to the birth of my brother +and me. + +"If you do not so address her, before very long the boys themselves will +be calling their mother Dot." + +"Certainly," said father, "as you wish, sist--I--I mean aunt." + +"Well, and it is about the boys I have come to speak, if you will favour +me with a moment's attention." + +"Assuredly, sis--a--auntie dear." And my father pulled himself +together, as if he had been on parade. "Nothing wrong with the twins, I +trust?" + +"No, nothing wrong--as yet. But you know they must be baptised at an +early date. Have you considered what names to give them?" + +"Well, really--no--I--" + +"Of course not. Men are--merely men. Luckily your wife and I have been +considering for you. But have you any suggestion to make?" + +"Ahem, well, a--my name has a John in it, and my brother's is Jim. +Short and sweet. Simple and all the rest of it. Eh? What?" + +I have been told that Aunt Serapheema did not answer him for fully half +a minute, but subjected him to what might be called a process of ocular +transfixion. Compared to such a punishment, to be face to face with +Russian bayonets would have been child's play to poor father. + +"John! and Jim!" she said at last, slowly rising. "You may resume your +horrid cigar, Harold. I did not expect to get much sense out of you, +and I am therefore not disappointed. On this sheet of paper you will +find the names _we_ have decided upon. You will note that--at the +earnest request of your wife--the paternal name does find a place, but +_Jim_!" She transfixed him again, then went gliding to the door, which +father opened and bowed her away. + +Then he almost ran to the window, and like the naughty old boy he must +have been, I fear he relit that horrid cigar, singing lightly to himself +as he hunted for the matches. + +Now one's birth and baptism may seem very trivial matters to linger +over, especially when one has a life-story like my brother's and mine to +tell. But events and adventures too will crowd each other fast enough +ere long. For the brief present I am like some strong swimmer, who is +about to commit himself to battle with the waves of a storm-tossed +ocean, and who, before he takes the plunge, gazes once around and casts +a longing, lingering look behind. + +Besides, one's boyhood's days or childhood's hours are the happiest, +without doubt, that ever fall to our lot here below, and we do not know +this till they are for ever fled. Yes, I grant you that this stage of +our existence is not exempt from grief and sorrow, and very real these +look while they last, though they are easily chased away or kissed away +as the case may be. Then there is stern education to come up day after +day like a terrible task-master. + +As far as my brother and I were concerned, education assumed the +corporeal form of Aunt Serapheema. My father's study--properly dusted +and disinfected in order to thoroughly exorcise the ghost of Colonel +McReady's cigars--became our schoolroom, the high-backed armchair our +prim preceptor's throne. Mind you, we always did think auntie somewhat +prim, though it would be neither polite nor politic to tell her so. +Auntie was not only fearfully and wonderfully made as regards +angularity, but she was wonderfully clever as well. I tremble even yet +when I think of how she used to come down upon us with dates-- +figuratively speaking, and how appallingly she used to hurl "ographies" +and "ologies" at our poor little frightened faces. I always did think +that dates--with the exception of the sticky eating sort--and "ologies" +and "ographies" were sent into the world like thorns and thistles, just +to prick and punish unfortunate boys. + +Auntie used to wear glasses--two pairs at once; and it was not when she +looked at you right straight through these glasses that she appeared +dreadful, but when she glanced sternly over them. + +She carried, or swayed as a sceptre, a long oaken pointer. It was not +very thick, but very hard and far-reaching, and when it came down on +your knuckles--oh, it always left a red mark, and sounded as if the +clock were striking one. It struck one very often every forenoon. + +Even out of school auntie had a way of addressing any person that +commanded attention, but alone with her in the schoolroom her voice was +positively thrilling. + +It was only natural that both my brother's attention and mine should +waver or wander at times. Well, my father's first manly word in the +barrack square used to make every soldier stiffen, as it were; but it +was nothing to auntie's caution. Nowhere near it in regal pomposity. + +"Reginald, look towards me!" or--"Rupert Domville, _I_ am talking." + +Oh, didn't poor Jill used to jump! + +Yes, by Jill I mean my brother. We had got tired of calling each other +Regie and Bertie, and one night held a consultation in our attic +bedroom. + +"Your name," said my brother, "shall be boiled down to plain Jack." + +"Well, Master Rupert Domville Ffoljambe-Foley Jillard Jones," I replied, +"if I'm to be boiled down to Jack, you shall be boiled down to Jill." + +"Oh, I don't mind a bit. It's short. But--a--isn't Jill an old lady's +name?" + +"Well, I rather think it is, because Jack and Jill went up the hill, you +know, and I've seen pictures of them, and one was an old lady. But that +doesn't matter, does it?" + +"No, Jack." + +"Silly thing, though, to go up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Was the +well on top of the hill, I wonder?" + +"I couldn't say. But, Jack?" + +"Yes, Jill." + +"Suppose we play at Jack and Jill to-morrow, just to inoculate our +names, you know." + +"Inaugurate, you mean, you silly old Jill." + +"Well, it's much the same. Won't it be fun?" + +"Yes, and I'll do it. Let's fall asleep, and maybe dream about it." + +"Let's make some metre first." This was a favourite pastime of ours-- +and we always did have some fun of some kind before we fell asleep. Our +"poetry," as we called it, certainly was not of much account; but the +play was this: whatever two or three words one of us said, the other had +to match in metre. To-night it ran as follows--I put our names before +our lines:-- + + _Jack_. "Our Auntie Prim," + _Jill_. "She's got so slim," + _Jack_. "And her eyes are so dim," + _Jill_. "That I'll wager a limb" + _Jack_. "She can't see over her spectacle rim." + +"Bravo! Jack," cried Jill, "that's famous." + +Then we had a chorus of laughing. But it was checked as completely and +suddenly as if that traditional pail of water had come souse on both our +heads, for auntie's voice rang up the stair-- + +"Reginald and Rupert, _I_ am listening." + +We covered our heads with the bedclothes, and were as mute as mice, till +the sunshine streamed in at the window next morning, and Sally knocked +with our drop of hot water. + +But immediately after school hours we went off with a rush and a run to +the stable, where we found Robert washing Aunt Serapheema's pony's white +feet. + +"Robert, we want a pail of water." + +"Whatever be ye goin' to do wi' th' pail o' water, lads?" + +"Oh, we'll soon tell you," cried I: "I'm Jack, and he's Jill now, and +we're going to play at it real. We're going to roll down the green +mount same's we often do, you know, only we must have a pail of water." + +"Well, well, well," said Robert, "I never! But sha'n't Oi carry it up +for thee?" + +"No, no, that wouldn't leave us half the fun." + +The green mount, as it was called, was a grassy hill near the sea, on +which we used to have no end of fun in summer. It was pretty steep, and +right in view of the dining-room window. + +At this window our darling mother, as we always called her, and Aunt +Serapheema were sitting talking quietly, while Sally laid the cloth, and +they were not a little astonished to see us boys lugging painfully up +the hill with a pail of water. Of course the real Jack and Jill had +gone to _fetch_ water, but we could only carry our programme out in the +way we were doing. + +Both mamma and auntie watched us with no little curiosity; while Sally, +near by, stood looking too. + +"Are you ready now?" said Jill, when we were near the top, "because +you've got to tumble first, you know." + +"I'm ready," I cried. + +Down I toppled. + +Over went the bucket, and over went Jill. + +"Sakes-a-mussy!" shrieked Sally. "Sakes-a-mussy! missus, they're all +tumbling down together." + +Mother cried, "Oh! the dear boys." + +Aunt lifted her eyes and mittened palms cloudwards. + +But for all that, down we rolled in fine form,-- + + Jill over Jack, + The bucket over Jill, + Right to the bottom + Of the big green hill. + +That is how we metred it, that evening after the row was all over, and +we were sent to bed. + +But it would have defied all the art of metre to describe the plight we +were in when Robert and Sally picked us up, and led us at arm's length +into the kitchen. For I was soused from head to foot, and Jill had got +it second hand, and as for mud and rents--the least said the soonest +mended. + +We didn't play any more at Jack and Jill with real water. + +CHAPTER TWO. + +WHILE WALKING ON THE SEA-BEACH. + +Everybody loved auntie, for with all her strictness, and--to our young +eyes her strange old-world ways, she was so good and so genuine. +Goodness was no penance with auntie; it was not put on and off like a +dress-coat, a silk hat, or a sealskin jacket; it was part and parcel of +her very nature. I believe that if auntie ever cloaked her real soul's +self at all, it was when she was apparently exceedingly wroth with us, +after some of our little escapades; which we could no more help than a +bird can help flying. But sitting there in that weird black chair, +lecturing Jill and me with uplifted forefinger, and steadfast glances +_over_, not through, the two pairs of glasses, she certainly did look +thrillingly stern. And she had a way, too, of making us feel thoroughly +ashamed of ourselves, without saying much or without scolding. + +So our love was mingled with a good deal of reverence. Really I laugh +now when I think of it, but whether you can understand the feeling or +not, we--that is Jill and I--almost revered the chair in which auntie +sat, even when she wasn't sitting in it. You see we were allowed to +play and dance and jump in the schoolroom on wet days, or when the wind +blew high from the south and west, and dashed the sea's spray over beach +and gardens. And do what we might, we never could disabuse our minds of +the notion that the chair was a living thing, and took notes of all we +said and did, and would whisper things to auntie when she sat down +again. + +At ordinary times, when we might be merely squatting together on a +goatskin rug, reading "Robinson Crusoe," or turning over the leaves of a +huge "Arabian Nights" to look at the pictures, it did not matter much. +But always when I proposed a game at anything very ridiculous--and it +was always I who did make the proposition--before we began, I would +say-- + +"Wait half a minute, Jill, let's play at the chair being naughty first." + +This was only an excuse, of course, to have the chair turned round with +its back to us. + +Then I would walk up to it, and with my forefinger raised chidingly-- + +"You are a naughty old chair," I would say; "you cannot be at rest five +minutes at a time, and I am afraid you are showing your brother a bad +example. Go into the corner, sir, until I tell you to come out." + +"Now then," I would continue, mimicking the fishermen we listened to +hoisting their yawls from the beach and surf. "Now then, Jill, lend a +hand here, and look lively, lad. Tackle on to her. Merrily matches it. +Together. Heave with a will. Up with her. Round she goes, and up she +is, and we go rolling home. Hurrah!" + +When we got the chair fairly round with its back to us we felt at peace +to do as we liked. We could stand on our heads till our faces got blue +and our eyes felt ready to burst; I could make a go-cart of Jill, and +haul him all round the room with the skipping-rope; he could make a +ship's mast of me, and squirm up and stand on my shoulders to give three +cheers for the Queen and the Royal Navy; we could build a tower with the +chairs, and in fact do anything or everything except spill the ink. +When we did that it cast a damp gloom over our spirits just as it spread +an inky pall over a portion of the table-cloth. + +My father was our friend and playmate whenever he came home. This was +not oftener than twice or thrice a week, for he was doing duty with his +regiment at the somewhat distant naval and military port of P--. He +would fain have come oftener, but dared not offend so kindly a superior +officer as Colonel McReady. + +Now auntie did not actually complain to father, but she used to mention +some of the maddest of our escapades, and with Jill climbing over the +back of his chair, and I, perhaps, standing bolt upright on his knees, +balanced by his hands, father would say-- + +"You young rascals, what did you do it for? Eh?" + +And this made us laugh like mad things, for we knew father was not +angry. + +"Ah, well, auntie dear," he would say, "boys will be boys." + +"True," she would reply; "but boys needn't be monkeys, need they, +Harold?" + +"And really, Harold," she would add, "the boys would be so different if +you were to show just a little more parental authority." + +This always made dear daddie laugh. I don't know why. The "parental +authority" somehow tickled him, for, as mother used to say, he looked +more a boy himself than a wise old parent. + +But father loved auntie as much as any of us did, and looked up to her +too. As she was his sister-in-law he needn't have done that, only she +was ever so much older, and, as father would add, "wiser as well." + +Here is one proof that she had a deal of power over him: + +Father did not hate his uniform; no real soldier does, although I have +heard some say they did; but he did not see the fun, as he called it, of +wearing it when off duty. He was off duty going to church on Sundays, +but he went in uniform, nevertheless. Why? Because auntie like to see +him dressed so. + +Mother did not always go to church, because she was delicate; but father +and auntie and we boys invariably did. + +Let me think a moment. How old would we have been then? Oh, about +nine. Dressed exactly alike--black jackets alike, broad white collars +alike, tall silk hats alike--the hats were auntie's notion of the +severely genteel--and little rattan canes alike. + +Faces and eyes and hair all alike. So much alike were we, indeed, on a +Sunday morning, that if any one, except mamma and auntie, who I daresay +had their own private marks, called us by our correct names, it was just +guesswork or merely chance. + +Father made no attempt at distinguishing us on Sundays and holidays. +If, for example, he had given Jill a penny with a view to lollipops, and +I came round soon after, he would say: + +"Let me see, now--I gave you a penny before, didn't I?" + +Or he would quiz me, and say, "Are you Jack, or are you Jill?" + +It will be observed that father had taken to call us Jack and Jill, +though auntie rather objected. + +But hardly any one else knew us apart even on week-days; even Sally was +puzzled, and Robert never made any attempt at nomenclature. + +In fact we were a kind of Corsican brothers in similitude, for, if I +remember rightly, they were twins like Jill and me. + +On the Sunday afternoons my brother and I were sent, if the weather was +fine, to take a stroll along by the windings and bendings of the beach, +between the green rising hills and banks and the sea. We went all +alone, and were recommended by auntie to think about all good things as +we walked, to study the strange objects strewn on the sand or left by +the receding waves, to gaze upon the sea, the sky, the rocks, and the +beautiful birds, and to remember our Father in heaven made them all. We +were not to think our week-day thoughts, but rigidly to banish and +exclude therefrom, tops, whips, balls, and boats; we were not to fling +pebbles, nor jump on seaweed; we must walk erect not too close to the +water, for fear of our boots, and if a shower came on we were to wrap +our pocket-handkerchiefs round our hats and make straight for home. + +All these injunctions we did our best to obey, except one which I have +forgotten to name: we were not to laugh. Now we would have obeyed +auntie even in this, but sometimes we were carried away by curious +things occurring. Anyhow, it did not take much to make us laugh, I +fear, even on Sunday. Take one walk as an example. + +It was a lovely summer's afternoon, hardly any wind, the sea almost +glassy or glossy--use which word you please; far out were vessels with +all kinds of queer rigs half-becalmed, and close in the foreground the +breakers rolling in so lazily that it seemed a stress for them to break +at all. There was a dreamy stillness in the air, and even the sea-birds +seemed to feel its influence, and floated half asleep on the sleeping +billows. + +Jill and I were walking a little apart when we met a big red dog. He +half started when he saw the pair of us, glanced quickly from one to the +other, gave a short bark which appeared forced out of him, and trotted +off with his tail between his hocks. He must have seen, or thought he +saw, something odd about us. + +We laughed, but thought of auntie. + +Then we went on and on and came to a cottage where there was a very wise +game-cock with a flock of very wise-looking hens. We always stopped to +look at them, they had such a contented and happy, stay-at-home look +about them. And, strange to say, this cock used to march his hens down +the garden path, and then they all stopped to study Jill and me. And +the cock used to eye us with one side of his red head and cry, +"Kr-rr-rr-rr--!" in so droll a way that we laughed again, and this time +forgot all about auntie. + +A little farther on we met a whole bevy of schoolgirls, and they all +looked at us, and while the youngest giggled outright, the oldest put +their fingers to their lips to hide their smiles, and we heard one of +them say "hats." Jill did not like this I know, for he pursed up his +mouth and presently said, "Jack, if it only came on to rain, I'd soon +roll my hat up, wouldn't you?" I laughed alone this time. + +People, older common-people I mean, stopped and stared after us, and +some said queer things, and some called us queer names. A fisherwoman, +for instance, sang out-- + +"Hullo! my chickabiddies. Got out, then? W'y you looks as much alike +as pigeons' eggs." + +A swarthy old sailor hailed us with-- + +"Whither away, my pirates bold?" Jill laughed at this. We loved +pirates. Then we came to a place where two fishermen, rough and +weather-beaten, in dandy, dark, Sunday sou'-westers, and dark blue +Sunday jerseys and polished top-boots, were leaning against a boat, and +one of them must shake hands politely and say-- + +"Hullo! my young hearties! W'y it does one's heart good to look at ye! +Ain't they alike, Bill? Keep 'em together, Bill, till I run up for +Nancy." + +Nancy came, a good-looking, portly fisherman's wife, and for a time she +did nothing but stick her hands in her sides and laugh. Oh, she _did_ +laugh, to be sure! + +Then her husband and Bill, his mate, laughed too, and the seagulls +chimed in, and somehow made us think of Punch and Judy. So then we +laughed also, and a pretty chorus it was. + +"Bless the darlings, though," said Nancy; "it's a shame to laugh; we +don't mean anything unmannerly but--ha, ha, ha, he, he, he," and the +chorus was all done over again. + +"I say, lads," said the first speaker, "come for a sail with us +to-morrow, or next day, will ye?" + +"We would," we replied, both in a breath, and both in the same words +precisely, "if auntie would let us." + +"Ah! bless her, bring auntie too. We'll cushion the boat, Bill, won't +us?" + +"That we will, Joe." + +"Well, we said we'd tell auntie," and away we went. We only met one man +who spoke to us going back, and he said--"Good evening, young double and +quits." Of course we did not say a word to auntie that evening about +the invitation, but after a turn on the beach next day, during which we +met our fisher friends, who renewed the request, we broached the +subject. + +Auntie tossed her head a little at first, but when we mentioned about +the cushions she smiled and said--"Good people, I dare say. Well, it is +evident they know we are gentlefolks. You can tell them we'll go +to-morrow afternoon." + +After school hours Jill and I ran to tell our new-found friends that we +were to be allowed to come, and that auntie was coming as well. + +They were so pleased that they kept us a whole hour in their queer, +old-fashioned cottage, in which everything was as strange and wonderful +to us as some of the places we read of in our old story-books. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Poor Jill! It was really strange the dependence he had upon me, his +twin brother--his elder brother--his second self. I but mention the +following in proof of this. It happened about the time we first made +the acquaintance of the boatmen. Jill had gone to look for nests all by +himself for a wonder. Unfortunately he fell over a cliff. Not all the +way down, else there would have been no more Jill--and no more Jack, +perhaps, for I hardly think I could have lived without my brother. He +had been in his perilous position for hours before found. Listening at +last near the top of the cliff, I could hear his plaintive, pleading +voice calling me, though he knew not I was there. + +"Come to me, Jack, come to me," he prayed, "for I cannot come to you." + +I had reason to remember these strange words in after life, as will be +seen. + +CHAPTER THREE. + +THE STORY OF A SHIPWRECK--A MYSTERY--THE FATE OF POOR JOE. + +We all went on that boat cruise--that is, auntie went, and Jill and I. +Auntie appeared to take us with her but we were really taking her. That +was fun. + +There was nothing remarkable about the cruise, except that it was the +first of many far more delightful, for Jill and me. + +Auntie behaved like an angel all through, if one could conceive of an +angel wearing two pairs of spectacles one on top of the other and long +black mits. But auntie's heart contained the angel, and to-day she +never once looked over her glasses--always through them. + +The fishermen, Bill and Joe, "ma'am"-ed her and "miss"-ed her, and she +smiled a deal, and did not get even squeamish, for she was a sailor's +daughter, and knew all about boats and ships. + +We sailed straight away out, and tacked round an island, and there was a +lumpy bit of a sea on. But auntie steered part of the way, much to her +own delight and the admiration of Bill and Joe. Sometimes the boat gave +a jump or fell down with a jerk into the trough of a sea, and the sail +would tighten and the sheet would strain, and perhaps a feather of a +wave would skim across the boat and hit us all; but nothing disturbed +the equanimity of our bold Aunt Serapheema. + +She shook hands so prettily, too, with the men and with Nancy, who +curtseyed so low, that she looked like a brig under full sail settling +down by the stern. + +The men lifted their hats, and I'm sure each had something in his hand +that auntie had left there; then away we came, and Jill and I jumped on +lumps of seaweed to crack the little bladders all the way home, and +auntie didn't mind a bit. + +"It would do _you_ good, mamma," she said to mother at dinner that day, +"to go out for a sail now and then; I must say it has made me feel quite +young again." + +The pointer did not strike one o'clock on Jill's knuckles or mine all +next forenoon, so of course we wished that auntie would always go out +a-sailing. + +But it was when telling my brother and me stories of a winter's evening +by the fire, or upstairs on the balcony in the sweet summer-time that +auntie was at her very very best. Then the angel came out in earnest, +and neither Jill nor I were ever a bit afraid of her. We would sit +close up by her knee, and even lean across her lap, or toy with her +mitted hands as we listened entranced to every word she said. + +They were mostly stories of the ocean wave, and of far-away lands and +climes beyond the setting sun. Indeed what else could a sailor's +daughter, whose father had gone down with his ship in the stormy Bay, +speak to us about, secularly? + +But she had the gift of telling Bible stories well also. The wonderful +adventures of Joseph and his brethren quite enthralled us, and often +after we went to bed I used to try to tell it in the same way and same +words to Jill, but never so entrancingly, though he liked it so much +that he often went to sleep before I had finished. + +I said my mother was delicate, and this is the reason why auntie took +such charge of us; but mother invariably came to our room after Sally +had done with us, and would sit by our bedside sewing for an hour +together sometimes. It was to her we said our prayers. No, we did not +_say_ them, for mother taught us to think and _pray_ the prayer--to +_wish_ what we said, as it were; and we got into that habit, Jill and I, +so that at any time when praying, with our hearts wandering, as it were, +we believed the good angels never could hear that prayer, and never bear +it away to the good Father on the great white throne of grace. + +I dare say few boys love their mother so much as we loved our beautiful +mother, but then one always does think just in that way about one's own +love. None other can be like it. + +Well, at all events, our childhood, what with one thing or another, was +a very happy one, and slipped all too soon away. + +Why was it, I wonder, that as far back as I can remember, I always felt +myself my brother's keeper, so to speak? Mind you, though I was the +cider, it was _only by five minutes_. But this five minutes appeared to +make me immeasurably wiser than Jill. I was not stronger, nor bigger, +nor anything, only just five minutes older, and five years wiser. So +_I_ thought, and so Jill thought, and he never failed to consult me in +all matters, however trivial. + +He would just say, with that simple, innocent smile of his: + +"Jack, what would you do now?" + +And I would tell him, and he would do it straight away. + +Of course Jill was very dear to me. I loved him more than I did myself. +Does that seem a strange confession? Well, it is true, though. I +think one reason for this great affection was his likeness to papa. _I_ +saw that, if others did not. And he even had papa's way of talking and +using little odd words, such as "certainly," "assuredly," and so forth. + +For example one day in the schoolroom we were among the "ologies"-- +bother them all. + +"Reginald Augustus," said auntie, and I pulled myself to "attention" and +braced sharp up, as Bill would say. "Reginald Augustus, define to us +the meanings of the words `entomology' and `etymology.'" + +Now I would have been all right if I hadn't started off by putting the +cart before the horse. + +"Entomology," I replied, "is the science that treats of word +derivations, and etymology describes insects." + +One o'clock struck on my knuckles, loud enough to be heard over all the +room. + +"Rupert Domville," said auntie, "is your brother right in saying that +etymology describes insects?" + +"Certainly, auntie." + +"But suppose _I_ say that _entomology_, not _ety_mology, is the science +descriptive of insect life, would you _then_ say your brother was +right?" + +"_Assuredly_, aunt," said Jill, boldly. + +One o'clock rang out sharp and clear on old Jill's knuckles, and we were +both sent to our seats to think. + +The cottage we lived in might have just as well been denominated a +villa, only Aunt Serapheema, to whom it belonged, rather despised +high-flown names. It was a beautiful old house in the suburbs of a +romantic wee fisher village, that nestled under high banks and green +braes, not far from the great naval seaport of P--. + +My father's duties at the barracks were not very heavy in our childhood, +for there was no war, and though the ride home was a long one, every +night almost we listened for the clatter of his horse's hoofs, whether +he came or not, and Jill and I bounded to meet him. His coming was +_the_ one great event of the day or week to us all, and he never failed +to bring light and sunshine to Trafalgar Cottage. + +Our mother was very, very beautiful--Jill and I always thought so--and +our father was the beau ideal to our young minds of what a hero ought to +be. I think I see him now as he used to look standing by his beautiful +black horse, before mounting in the morning, one arm thrown carelessly +over the mane, with his fair hair and his blue eyes smiling as he blew +kisses to the drawing-room window, and had kisses blown back in return. + +Of course you will excuse a son speaking thus of his parents. They +might not have been much to any one else, but they were all the world to +my brother and me. + +My father was to be a rich man some day, auntie told us, when he came +into his estates in Cornwall. Meanwhile he was simply Captain Jones, +and proud and happy to be so. + +Ours was not a very large village, though dignified at times by the name +of town by the people themselves, only it was quaint and pretty enough +in the sweet summer-time, when the sky was blue, and the sea reflected +its colour; when the waves sang on the beach, and birds in the hedges +and bushes, on the cliffs, and in the glen; when fisher boats were drawn +up on the sand, or went lazily out towards the horizon in the evening. +Yes, then it was even picturesque, and more than one artist that I +remember of lived quite a long time at the Fisherman's Joy. They would +be sketching boats and sails and spars, and the natives themselves, all +day, to the great astonishment of the natives. + +"He do be uncommon clever-like," I heard one man say; "but surely he +ought to let the loikes of we have our Sunday clothes on afore he paints +us." + +The artists thought differently. + +Quite a friendship sprang up between our family and the Grays. + +But shortly after we made their acquaintance, Bill--who was not a Gray, +his name was Moore--went away, having got, at his own request--he being +a deserving old coast-guardsman--a post as ship keeper on an old hulk, +of which you will hear more soon. Here he lived alone with his old +woman, as he called his buxom wife. + +Then something else really strange happened. Quite an adventure in a +little way. Jill had gone to P--with mamma that day, and I was +strolling on the beach, feeling very lonely indeed. The tide was far +back, and near the water's edge I could see a girl gathering shells. +Strolling down towards her was a fisher lad, about my own age, and some +instinct impelled me to follow. I was just in time to notice him rudely +snatch at her basket, and empty all the shells, and presently she passed +me crying. + +My blood boiled, so I went right on and told the boy he was no +gentleman. + +He said he didn't pretend to be, but he could lick me if I wanted him +to, gentleman or not gentleman. + +I said, "Yes, I wanted him to." + +I never knew I was so strong before. That lad was soon on his back +crying for mercy, and next minute I left him. + +The girl was about seven, but so beautiful and lady-like. + +She thanked me very prettily, and we walked on together, I feeling shy. +But I summoned up courage after a time to ask her name. + +"Mattie Gray," she replied; "and yonder comes mother." + +To my surprise, "mother" was Nancy, the fisherman's wife. + +I was invited in, and made a hero of for hours, but somehow I could not +keep from wondering about Mattie. + +I told auntie the story that evening. Now, if there be anything a woman +loves in this world it is a mystery, and auntie was no exception. So +she and Jill and I all walked over to the cottage next afternoon. + +"What a lovely child you have, Mrs Gray! We have not seen her before." + +"No, ma'am, she'd been to school." + +"Have you only one?" + +"My dear lady," said Nancy, "Mattie isn't ours. You see, we have only +been here for six months, and people don't know our story. We come from +far south in Cornwall, and when a baby, bless her, Mattie, as we call +her, came to us in a strange, strange way." + +"Tell us," said auntie, seating herself in a chair which Nancy had +dusted for her. + +"Oh, it is soon told, ma'am, all that's of it. We lived on a wild bit +o' coast, ma'am, and many is the ship that foundered there. Well, one +wild afternoon we noticed a barque trying to round the point, and would +have rounded it, but missed stays like, struck, and began to break up. +We saw her go to pieces before our eyes, for no boat could be lowered. + +"At long last, though, my man and his mate determined to venture. It +was a terrible risk. But I am a fisherman's wife, and I never said, +`Don't go, Joe.'" + +She paused a moment, woman-like, to wipe away a tear. + +"And they saved the crew?" asked auntie. + +"They came back wi' four in the boat, ma'am. One was a gentle lady, one +was Mattie, and there were two sailors besides. They were all Spanish, +Miss. The poor lady never spoke a word we could understand. She wore +away next afternoon, but that great box yonder was washed on shore, and +when she saw it she pointed to poor baby, then to the chest, and +smiled--and died." + +"And the men, could they tell you nothing?" + +"They told the parson something in Spanish, but it wasn't much. +Mattie's mother was a grand dame, and the father had not been on board. +They promised to write and tell us more, but ah! Miss, we'll never hear +nor know aught else till the sea gives up its dead." + +"We read of such things in books," said auntie, "but I never heard so +strange a tale from living lips before. Come hither, child." + +Mattie obeyed, and, marvellous to say, was not a bit afraid of auntie. +She clambered on to her knee and put an arm round her neck, and auntie +looked softened, so much so that for a moment or two I thought I saw a +tear in her eye. She sat a long time talking, and orphan Mattie went +sound asleep. + +After this Mattie came very often to Trafalgar Cottage, and became our +playmate all the winter, out of doors when the weather was fine, and in +the house when it blew wild across the sea. + +Jill and I grew very fond of Mattie, but we used to wonder at her +strange beauty. She was so different from other children, with her +creamy face, her weird black eyes, and long, long hair. And we used to +wonder also at her cleverness. I suppose Spanish people have the gift +of tongues, but though Mattie was younger by three years than we, she +could talk far better, and to hear her read was like listening to the +music of birds. + +She used to read to us by the hour, Jill and I lying on the floor on +goats' skins, as was our custom, and feeling all the while in some other +world--dreamland, I think they call it. + +There were three of us now, for auntie asked permission to teach Mattie +with us. But one o'clock was never struck on Mattie's little knuckles; +indeed, she was clever even at "ologies," and had all the "ographies" by +heart, and so did not deserve one o'clock. + +There were three of us to play on the beach now, and climb the broomy +hills, and gather wild flowers, and look for birds' nests in the spring, +and three of us to go out with Father Gray in his brown-sailed yawl. + +There were three of us, never separate all the livelong summer days. + +But summer passed away at last, the days shortened in, the sea looked +rougher and colder now, and the vessels out on the grey distance went +staggering past under shortened sails, or flew like ghosts when the wind +blew high. + +And then came my first sorrow, the first time that I really knew there +was grief and death in the world. + +I will not take long to tell it. I am but little likely to linger over +so sad and dismal a memory of the past. Yet every incident in that +day's drama is painted on the tablets of memory in colours that will +never be effaced while life does last. + +Little did big brown-bearded Joe Gray think, when he kissed his wife and +Mattie on that bright afternoon, and with his mate put off to sea, that +they would never see him alive again. + +The moon rose early, and shone red and clear over the water in a +triangular path of silver, that went broadening away towards the +horizon. And when hours passed by, and the wind came up with cloud +banks out of the west, Nancy--fisherman's wife though she was--grew +uneasy, and went very often to the door. + +The wind grew wilder and wilder, and the air was filled with rain, and +with spray from the waves that broke quick and angrily on the beach. + +The big petroleum lamp was lighted and put in the window. That lamp had +often guided Joe Gray through darkness and storm to his own cottage +door. + +They tell me that fisher folks, and toilers by and on the sea have an +instinct that is not vouchsafed to dwellers inland. Be that as it may, +poor Nancy could rest to-night neither indoors nor out. But hours and +hours went by, and still the husband came not. How she strained her +ears to catch some sound above the roaring wind and lashing seas, to +give her joy, only those who have so waited and so watched can tell. + +Her only hope at last was that he might have made some other port or +taken shelter under the lee of the island. + +The night passed away. Wee Mattie slept, and towards morning even the +distracted wife's sorrows were bathed for an hour in slumber. But she +sprang up at last--she thought she heard his voice. + +The fire had burned out on the hearth, the lamp was out too, but grey +daylight was shimmering through the uncurtained panes. + +"Yes, yes!" she cried. "Coming, Joe! Coming, lad!" + +And she staggered up and rushed forth. + +What was that dark thing on the beach? It was a great boat--it was his +yawl, bottom up. + +She knew little more for a time after that. She saw people hurrying +towards her and towards the wreck; then all was a mist for hours. + +But they found poor Joe beneath the yawl, and they bore him in and laid +him in the little "best" room. He was dead and stiff, with cold, hard +hands half clenched, and in one a morsel of rope. It was the end of the +main sheet he had grasped in his hour of agony, and they cut it off and +left it there. + +Her grief, they say, when she awoke at last, was past describing. With +a wail of widowed anguish, that thrilled through the hearts of the +sea-hardened listeners she flung herself on the body. + +"My Joe, my Joe--my own poor boy!" she moaned. "Oh, why has Heaven +deprived me of my man!" + +They simply turned away and left her to her grief. They thought it +best, but there was not a man among them whose face was not wet with +tears. + +That was my first sorrow; but, alas! there were more to come. + +And it is strange the effect that sorrow has on the young. Before this, +all my life had seemed one long happy dream. But all at once I became +awake, and I date my real existence from the day they laid poor Joe Gray +in the little churchyard, high above the sea, that will sing his requiem +for ever and for ay. + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +THE SOUND OF WAR--FIRST SORROWS--A CHANGE IN OUR LIVES. + +Like many other poor folks, to the houses of whom Death comes when least +expected, Nancy Gray was left without a penny in the world, and wee +Mattie was doubly an orphan since Daddie Gray was drowned. + +When then, after a visit or two to the fisherman's cottage, auntie one +morning announced that she had taken Mattie over to be as one of her own +kith and kin, and that Nancy herself would have employment at Trafalgar +Cottage, none of us was a bit surprised. It was only the angel in +auntie's heart showing a little more. + +So Mattie was henceforth styled "sister" by Jill and me. + +Then came sorrow the second. War broke out at the Cape, the Caffres +were up and killing--butchering, in fact--our poor people at all hands. +Father's regiment was ordered out, and though he himself might have +stayed at home, he elected to go. + +What a grief this was for us! Jill and I looked upon our dear father as +one already dead. + +"I'm sure they'll kill _you_, father," Jill sobbed. + +"Why _me_, my boy?" + +"Because they kill all the prettiest men," said the innocent boy. + +Then came a few busy days and tearful days, and--then my father was +gone. The scene of the departure of the soldiers for the war is +something I will never forget. What made it all the worse was, that in +returning home our carriage was blocked by a mob, and we had to witness +the passing by of a soldier's funeral. It was inexpressibly sad, and I +remember my dear mother wept on auntie's breast, till I verily believed +her heart would break. + +From that very date our bed was made up in mother's own room. We were +all she had now. Besides, something must have told her that she would +not even have us long. + +Children's sorrows do not last very long, their souls are very +resilient, and this is wisely ordered. So by the time we got father's +first letter we had learned to live on in happy hope of soon seeing him +back. + +Letter after letter came; some that told of the fighting were sad +enough, but there was no word of our soldier father returning from the +wars. + +One day we were all seated at breakfast and talking quite cheerfully, +when the postman's thrilling rat-tat was heard at the door. That knock +always did make us start, now that father was away at the wars. And +this very morning, too, we had watched the postman till he went past and +disappeared round the corner, so he must have forgotten our letter and +come with it on his return. Sally came in with it at last, but seemed +to take such a long time. + +"It's from the Cape, ma'am," she said, "and it _isn't in black_." + +Girls _are_ so thoughtless. + +I cannot tell you how it was, but neither Jill nor I could take our eyes +off poor ma's face when she took the letter, tore it open, and began to +read. A glance at the envelope told her it was his dear handwriting, so +a gleam of joy came into her eyes, and a fond smile half-played round +her lips. Alas! both the gleam and the smile were quickly banished, and +were succeeded by a look of utter despair. Oh, my beautiful mother, how +dazed and strange she appeared! One glance round the table, then the +letter dropped from her fingers, and we rushed to support her. + +But the flood of tears came now fast enough, and as she threw herself on +the sofa in a paroxysm of grief, we really thought her heart would +break. + +Speak she could not for a time. + +"Oh, mother dear, what is it?" + +"Tell us, mother, tell us all." + +"Is father killed?" + +The sight of our anguish probably helped to stem for a time the current +of her own. + +"N-no," she sobbed. "Father is not killed--but he is wounded--slightly, +he says,--and, I must go away to him." + +Here she hugged us to her breast. + +"It will not be for long, children--only just a little, little time--and +you must both be so good." + +Our turn had come now--our very hearts seemed swamped as the great grief +came swelling over them, like the waves of the ocean. She let us weep +for a time, she made no attempt either to repress our tears or to stop +our senseless, incoherent talk. + +"You cannot go. You must not leave us." + +This, and this alone, was the burden of our song. Alas! the fiat had +gone forth, and in our very souls we knew and felt it. Once more she +kissed us, then auntie led us out, saying we must leave mamma a little +while for her good. We would do anything for ma's good, even to going +away into the schoolroom--which never before had looked so grim and +cheerless--and squatting on our goatskin to cry. Every now and then +poor Jill would say-- + +"Don't _you_ cry so, Jack." + +And every now and then I would make the same request to him. + +They say there is no love equal to that a mother bears for a child; but +tell me this, ye who have known it, what love exceeds that which a fond +and sensitive child bears for a mother? and oh, what else on earth can +fill the aching void that is left when she is gone? + +For a time weeping gave us relief, then even that consolation was taken +away. I just felt that my life's lamp had clean gone out, that there +was no more hope--_could_ be no more hope for me. + +It was difficult to realise or grasp all the terrible truth at once. +Mother going away! Our own dear darling mother, and we, perhaps never, +never to see her more! Never listen to her voice again at eventide, +singing low to us by the firelight, or telling us tales by our bedside! +Never kneel again by her knees to pray! Never feel again her soft +good-night kisses, nor the touch of her loving hands! Never--but here +the tears returned, and once more Jill and I wept in each other's arms. + +In times of grief like this I think the mind is more highly sensitised, +as a photographic artist would say, and takes and retains impressions +more quickly. For the _minutiae_ even of that sad eventful morning are +still retained in my memory in a remarkable way. I remember the +slightest sounds and most trivial sights heard or seen by Jill and me as +we sat in our listless grief by the window. I remember the yelp of a +little cur we used to pity, because it was always tied up; the laugh of +a street carter as he talked to a neighbour; the dreary, intermittent +tapping of the twig of a rose-bush against the glass; the low boom of +the breaking waves. I remember it was raining; that the wind blew high +across the sea; that the sea itself was grey and chafing, and apparently +all in motion in one direction, like some mighty river of the new world; +I remember the dripping bushes in the front garden, and the extra-green +look of the rain-varnished paling around it; and even the little pools +of water on the street, and the buffeted appearance of the few +passengers striving to hold umbrellas up against the toilsome wind. + +Mother came quietly in, and--she was smiling now. + +How much that smile cost her, mothers alone may tell, but even we knew +it was a smile _without_, to hide the grief _within_. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Mother went away. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +For many a long month now there was a blank, a void in our hearts and in +our home that nothing could fill. + +Except Hope. + +"Hope springs eternal in the human breast." Truer words were never +spoken. When Hope dies, Life itself is soon extinct. + +Auntie Serapheema did all she could now to cheer us. She was far less +prim and stern with Jill and me. One o'clock struck no more on his +knuckles nor on mine. She even shortened our school hours, and was +easier with us in the matter of "ologies" and "ographies." Letters came +frequently and with great regularity, and they were always cheerful. +Father was better, and mother would be happy if they could both get +home, and they hoped to. Yes, they hoped to, but no letter said when, +or how soon that hope might be realised. + +But one of the most cheerful letters was from father himself, in which +he said he trusted to be able to send us both into the Royal Navy as +cadets. To be naval officers had always been our dream of dreams, +Jill's and mine. To wear the grand old uniform of blue and gold, to +tread the snowy quarter-deck with swords by our side, and the white flag +fluttering in the sunshine overhead-- + + "The flag that braved a thousand years, + The battle and the breeze--" + +to sail the seas, to hear great guns firing, to attack ships and forts, +and do all kinds of gallant deeds for our own glory and our country's +good--this constituted our notions of life as it ought to be led. + +We would have to pass, though. The examination, however, was not a +stiff one. Jill and I were but little over ten, but thanks to auntie we +knew most of the subjects already well, if not thoroughly. + +Would we pass the doctor with flying colours? Well, we were hardy and +healthy, though at that time of no extra physique. We must get stronger +somehow. Auntie consulted the family doctor, she herself suggesting +"dumb-bells." The doctor's reply was--"Fiddlesticks, madam, +fiddlesticks,"--for doctors do not like other people, especially +female-people, to put words in their mouths. But auntie was a little +discomposed at the brusque mention of "fiddlesticks." + +"What then would _you_ suggest, sir?" she said, pompously. + +The doctor simply pointed with his forefinger first at the green hills +and cliffs, then at the sea, took up his hat and marched out of the +room, curtly bowing her "good morning" as he turned in the doorway. + +Now, whom should we find in earnest confab with auntie next forenoon but +Bill Moore, the ship keeper. + +Jill and I at once beat a discreet retreat. + +I must tell you a little more about Bill. He had not always been simply +Bill Moore, but _Mr_ Moore. He had, first and foremost as a young man, +taken honours in classics and mathematics at a northern university, then +gone straight "to the dogs"--so they said. When he in some measure +recovered himself--war being then going on--he had joined the service +(Royal Navy) as a man ready and willing to turn his hand to anything. +Well, they were not so particular in those days; they would not refuse +bone and muscle in whatever shape it came, and Bill had been a handsome +fellow in his day. He got on in the service, and though he soon became +an A.B., and really preferred to be before the mast, he was rated +schoolmaster for many years, but finally received an appointment as +coast-guardsman, and latterly, as we know, keeper of the hulk, with a +fairly good pension. + +He took a great fancy for us, and as somehow or other auntie had an +acute and undying aversion to public schools, when Mr Bill Moore +proposed we should come to the hulk and be drilled by him physically and +mentally, she felt greatly inclined to accede. Hence the present +interview. + +"Perhaps they might do better at a public school, Miss, than with me, +but--" + +"I won't hear of a public school," auntie cut in with, curtly. + +"Well, Miss, we have a mast and ratlins on my old tub; I would take care +they were well drilled and had plenty of exercise, my wife will look +after their internal comforts, and I can insure their passing their +examinations in a year or two." + +"And they would be out of harm's way," mused my aunt. + +"We'll have strict discipline, Miss. They must not leave the ship +without my permission." + +"There would be no objection to your having the boys, I suppose?" + +"I know the old admiral well, Miss; sailed with him for five long years, +and blew the Russians about a bit. No, I went straight to him before I +wrote to you." + +"And what did he say?" + +"`Do what you please with the old _Thunderbolt_,' he said, `only don't +set her on fire.' These are his words, Miss." + +"Well, then, Mr Moore, I think you may consider the matter as settled. +The boys will not be far away, they will be under control and +discipline, they will know something beforehand about ships, and they +can come home, I suppose, now and then to go to church on a Sunday?" + +"Oh yes, Miss, and I'm sure my wife and I will be delighted if you and +dear Mattie will come and see us all regularly. We'll always call these +our red-letter days." + +Auntie smiled and promised. There is no doubt about it. Mr Bill Moore +knew what ladies' hearts are made of. + +So it was all arranged that very day, and in a fortnight after we +started and took up our quarters on board the saucy _Thunderbolt_. + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE GALLANT "THUNDERBOLT"--TOM MORLEY, BO'S'N'S MATE--A STRANGE DREAM. + +It would be hard to say, perhaps, why the gallant old _Thunderbolt_ was +laid up as a hulk. She looked a fine old wooden frigate, and had seen a +lot of service in her time. But the engines had been taken out of her, +and away up the water she lay like a good many more, moored by the head +to swing with the tide, or with any extra strong wind that blew. She +was evidently considered too good to break up, and she might, the +Admiralty thought, come in handy some day, and even require to be fitted +out for sea again. + +Meanwhile she would do as a store, or rather lumber ship. But at this +time neither stores nor lumber either worth speaking about was on board +of her. + +She hardly made any water, though occasionally some hands came off from +the dockyard and pumped her dry, with a deal of din and noise and no end +of talking and chaffing. In fact the _Thunderbolt_ seemed to have been +forgotten by the big human guns at Somerset House, and for that matter +there was no real use in the bit stump of a lower mast that stuck out of +her forward, nor the morsel of ratlin that led to it, unless to dry +clothes upon. Her crew, all told, were an old bo's'n's mate and Mr +Moore. We must call him _Mr_ Moore now, and forget the Bill. + +Tom Morley was the bo's'n's name, a rugged old son of a gun as ever any +one clapped eyes upon, with a face as rough and red as a boiled lobster, +and a voice that would have brought down birds out of the air had he +used it to its full extent. It was a harsh voice, however, and gave you +the idea his air-tubes had been originally lined with emery paper, which +had never worn quite smooth. + +Such was Tom, a good-hearted old soul nevertheless, though with a sad +predilection for tossing off cans. It will be seen, therefore, that he +was a seaman of the old school--one that Dibdin would have delighted to +portray. Yes, and he often made the decks of the saucy old +_Thunderbolt_ ring with Dibdin's heroic ditties. + +Although it might have been difficult to define which was the superior +officer of this hulk, owing to the peculiar rating of Mr Moore, when he +had served afloat, neither was jealous of the other: when Moore was out +of the ship Morley was captain, and _vice versa_; when both were on +board, why then both were captains. But, between ourselves, I do think +_Mrs_ Moore herself was what the Yankees call "boss of the whole +concarn." Anyhow, she did just as she pleased, and cooked and washed +for the crew all-told, and hung up the clothes wherever she liked. + +Attached to the hulk was a morsel of a dinghy boat not much bigger than +Mrs Moore's washing tub, only differently shaped, in some slight degree +at least. + +We youngsters received a hearty welcome when we came off. Tom had put +on his best coat for the occasion, and much to our delight met us in the +gangway, saluting us in true naval fashion with as much dignity as if we +had been admirals. + +"Very glad to see you, young gentlemen," said Tom. "You are truly +welcome on board the saucy _Thunderbolt_. And I assure you the sight of +your youthful faces makes me think the old times has all come back +again. I'd like to be taking up anchor now with a Yee-ho and Heave-O!" + +Jill and I laughed and thought Tom very jolly. + +"But I say, Captain Moore," he continued, turning to his shipmate, "how +ever are we to tell these youngsters apart? Why, bother my old wig, if +they ain't as like as two whalers, same rig, too, from top to bottom, +same cut from jib to binnacle. I say, messmate, if I'd never seen 'em +before and met 'em as I was coming out of the `Jolly Tapsters' I'd +think--I was only seein' one, though there appeared to be two." + +"I'll make that all right, Tom," said Mrs Moore, coming up from below +and taking charge of us right away. + +And she did too, for when we appeared on deck an hour after, I wore a +red ribbon round my straw hat, and Jill wore a blue, and Tom doffed his +cap, and giving a shout that must have been heard on shore, hailed us at +once as "Admiral Jack of the Red," and "Admiral Jill of the Blue." + +We were simply delighted with our accommodation on board, and with +everything on the old hulk fore and aft. + +Of course we all lived aft, and dined in state together in the great +cabin, where once a post captain had sat at meals or in council of war, +and in which, probably, before now court-martials had been assembled and +men tried for life itself. + +Jill and I had a large cabin to ourselves on the starboard side of the +"saloon," as it would be called in the merchant service, the Moorcs had +theirs on the port side, and the bo's'n's mate occupied quarters in the +ward-room on the deck beneath. Our cabin was furnished charmingly, but +we each had a swinging cot, though they were in close juxtaposition. +There were curtains to the windows and doorways, and a carpet and +pictures and all complete. + +All day long we had different views of our surroundings from the ports +below in our cabin, or from the ward-room. For according to the tide +the old ship swung; now we would be looking down the harbour among +ships, noble men-of-war and others, and away out seaward, again it would +be the town or dockyard, and at other times the green country. Oh, it +was very charming and so romantic, I can tell you. + +In a day or two we commenced our studies in downright earnest, and a +very pleasant and thorough teacher Mr Moore proved. But it was all +forenoon work, and not all book work either. For twice a week or +oftener we were told off to go round the ship with Tom, and he gave us +the name of every part of her hull, and examined us on his lectures +afterwards. + +One day a shore boat brought alongside a full rigged ship nearly as long +as a sofa, and this was hoisted carefully on deck and lowered below. It +was, of course, a model man-o'-war, and old Tom set about next day +putting it "ship-shape and Bristol fashion," as he called it. He +thoroughly overhauled it, altering here, and adding there, cutting and +criticising all the time. While he was doing this we were with him, +listening to every word, and gained quite a deal of information about +rigging, etc, in this way. It took Tom three weeks to refit his model +ship and make her ready for sea, as he called it. Then--still having us +alongside of him--he manned and provisioned her, taking in stores from +little boats that he brought alongside on the deck. And though this was +to a large degree dummy work, he would have the thing rightly done. No +lugger or officer's boat either must come alongside in any save an +orthodox fashion, and if in hauling up stores any hitch happened to the +gearing, he would have it all put carefully to rights before another +cask, or box, or shot, or shell was taken on board. + +I think we worked with Tom in this way for three or four months, by +which time we really began to consider ourselves proficient seamen and +officers. + +Nor was our exercise forgotten. This was also Tom's department, and he +would have Jill and I squirming up and down the ratlins and over the top +for an hour at a time. Or standing face to face with sword-sticks, +going through, at the word of command, each cut and guard and quirk of +the sword exercise. This we considered grand fun, but it was serious +earnest with honest Tom. + +"There ain't no nonsense about this sort of thing, young gentlemen," he +would say. "I saw you laughing, Admiral Jack, and whatever _you_ does +Admiral Jill does too. Now if it occurs again on duty I'll mast-head +ye, so look out for squalls. 'Ttention! On guard! Point o' your sword +a leetle higher, Admiral Jill. Shoulders more square, Admiral Jack. +That's better. Right toe a trifle more fore-and-aft. So. Steady as +you go." + +But as soon as duty, as Tom called it, was done, we were all as merry as +Eton boys off on a summer holiday. We had all kinds of games on board, +and plenty of rowing about on the water in that morsel of a dinghy, and +were allowed to go on shore at any reasonable hour and for any +reasonable time. + +Tom had always gone in for growing mustard and cress on board, and a bit +o' sea-kale in a flower-pot, but the idea struck Jill and me that we +might carry garden operations out to even greater perfection, and having +asked and obtained permission of Mr Moore, we set to work and soon +arranged in different parts of the deck a series of little flower +gardens made from orange boxes. And very charming and beautiful they +looked. + +So that when auntie came with Mattie one summer's morning, they were +both astonished at our horticultural skill and contrivances. + +Tom and Mr Moore always dressed in their best when the ladies were +coming, and a bit of bunting was even hoisted on the top of the mast, +and no clothes permitted to be hung up to air or dry for that day. + +Auntie used to make a pic-nic of these visits. Mrs Moore had the +table-cloth laid with spotless linen and adorned with gay flowers, and +Mummy Gray, as Mattie called her foster-mother, invariably brought a +basket of such good things, that the very thoughts of them beforehand +used to make my mouth water, and of course Jill's as well. + +"I'm really delighted, Mr Moore," said Aunt Serapheema, on the +quarter-deck one day, "to see the boys looking so well and happy. It +was really an excellent thought of yours to have them here, and I have +not the slightest doubt they will prove a credit to your tuition, and +pass their examination with flying colours." + +"Bravo! Miss," cried Tom Morley. "In my time, Miss, I've heard many's +the little speech on a quarter-deck, but I declare to you, on the honour +of an old sailor, I never heard a neater than that." + +"To my mate Tom, here," replied Mr Moore, "belongs the credit more than +to me and my wife, of making the young gentlemen what you see them." + +Old Tom Morley scraped and bowed in the most orthodox fashion, and Mr +Moore continued: + +"He does keep them at it, Miss. Why, it's drill, drill, drill, all day +long, and the boys like it, too. Then he reads to them and tells them +stories in the evening." + +"Good books, I hope?" + +"Not bad 'uns, Miss, I can assure you. We've Dickens and Scott, and +that lot, but what we're doin' principally at present is a thorough +overhaul o' Marryat. He is the chap, Miss, to give a man, or boy +either, a right taste o' the crust o' the service." + +Dear Mattie was listening to all this while she stood close by me, with +one wee arm round my wrist, all eyes and smiles. + +"What a perfect picture those two little ones look!" said Mrs Moore. +"You are very fond of your little sailor brothers, aren't you, dear? +Which do you like best?" + +Mattie's eye wandered from Jill to me, then she dropped her head smiling +on my shoulder. + +"I love them both," she said, "but Jack saved my life." + +That was only Mattie's romantic way of alluding to our introduction, +when I punched the rude fisher-boy's head on her account. + +But there was never a bit of jealousy about Jill. + +There was one other thing that Tom taught us, and it is a branch of such +pleasant education that I advise all boys to go in for it, viz, joiner's +and carpenter's work. We had a regular bench on board and all sorts of +tools, so that we could make almost any sort of article. + +We spent the greater part of every evening on board ship, and as Tom was +generally on board also, and had a wealth of wonderful tales to tell, +the time passed very quickly indeed. + +We did not forget to read and pray as dear mother told us to, and this +we did every night whether sleepy or not. Mind, I am not telling this +part of our story for the sake of showing we were good boys. We were no +better, perhaps no worse, than other lads of our age, but we had then, +as I have had all my life, unbounded faith in prayer, and in the +goodness of the Father who made us. Besides, there was so much to thank +Him for and to ask Him for, and while on our knees we somehow seemed +always close to our absent mother. That alone made prayer _so_ sweet. + +Like most boys, we rather liked ghost stories, and though I do not +believe it now, we had an idea then, that the old _Thunderbolt_ was +haunted. You see so many men had been killed on her battle-decks, and +there were so many ugly dark stains about the parts where the guns had +been, that it is no wonder lads so full of romance as we were, +manufactured a ghost or two. + +The decks did seem very gloomy and empty just after nightfall, so much +so that, I do not mind confessing, when Jill and I had to go forward, we +walked very closely together indeed, and gave many a fearful quick +glance round, lest we should see a strange light or something even more +startling. + +But we never saw anything fearsome, though more than once, after we had +been talking about mysterious things just before getting into our cots, +we did have ugly dreams, and were glad when we saw daylight shimmering +on the water alongside. + +Now, all along my influence over Jill had been something quite +marvellous. It really was as if his soul and mine were linked together +in bonds that nothing could sever. Our very thoughts and imaginings +were often precisely similar at the same time or times. + +Well, knowing this, I should have been most careful in all I did and in +all I said, and I will never, _never_ forgive myself for not being so. +For as you will presently see, my giving way to romantic imaginings and +thoughts, that however pleasant they might be for the present, were +really silly, had terrible results. + +Tom Morley used to tell us tales of the pirates of the olden times, a +race of marauders that I need hardly say have been long since swept from +the face of the great deep. + +Well, we liked ghosts best, perhaps, but next to them came pirates. + +Being older than Jill--by five minutes--I really ought to have known +better, yet one day I proposed playing at pirates. And soon this became +a regular game of ours. Tom did not seem to mind it much, though he +himself did not play, but he lent us a couple of old-fashioned horse +pistols, and taught us to load and fire them--one lesson was enough. Of +course we did not use anything more deadly than a little blotting-paper +to keep the powder in. + +Jill was always the pirate. He used to hail and board the ship from the +bows in fine form, while I represented the crew. The battle would rage +with pistols and sword-sticks, the former being dispensed with after the +first discharge, and the fight then continued all over the deck, breast +to breast, the excitement increasing every minute. + +Sometimes the ship was captured, and I had to represent the crew to the +bitter end, and walk the plank a dozen times. + +What we did miss more than anything else was a black flag with skull and +cross-bones. + +Happy thought, we would make one! + +We worked unknown to Tom at this, however. I bought the stuff, white +and black, and it cost us a whole week or more to finish the job, but it +was certainly a very creditable piece of work when finished. Quite a +big thing too, and all complete, and ready to be run up to the halyards +on which Tom hoisted a bit of bunting on high-days and holidays. + +We never really thought of running it up, of course, but it was nice to +have it. We felt then we w'ere pirates, in imagination at all events. + +Now here is a singular thing which I must relate. One morning after +being called by Tom--this was a regular part of Tom's duty--I looked +round to Jill's cot, and there he was sitting bolt upright in it, with +that sunny smile on his innocent sleepy face. + +"What's up, Jill?" I asked. + +"You're not," said Jill, "though I heard Tom sing out, `Five bells, +young gentlemen, please,' more than half an hour ago." + +Then the next words spoken were said by both at precisely the same time, +_syllabic by syllable as if we had been wound up to it_. + +"I've had such a funny dream." + +We looked at each other, then I said: + +"What was yours, Jill?" + +"Nay," said Jill, "you tell me yours first, because you know you are the +eldest." + +"Well, I dreamt we had captured the _Thunderbolt_, hoisted the black +flag and run off to sea with her." + +"That was exactly my dream," said Jill. + +"Did _you_ make Mr Moore and the rest walk the plank?" + +"Oh no, Jack, I wouldn't dream of anything so very dreadful. I didn't +see them anywhere about." + +"Neither did I in mine. But my dream was altogether jolly fun." + +"So was mine and--" + +"Gone six bells, young gentlemen. Really if this sort o' thing goes on, +I'll take the number o' your hammocks, and report ye on the quarter-deck +next time your aunt comes on board." + +"All right, Captain Tom, we'll be out in five minutes." + +And up we jumped, and were speedily dressed, and on deck for our morning +walk. + +But we thought no more of the dream. + +It went as completely out of our minds as if we had never dreamed it at +all. + +But it was brought to our minds about a month afterwards in a way I am +never likely to forget. + +Meanwhile we still kept up our game of playing at being pirates. + +It was summer now, and dear sister Mattie came often to see us, more +often with her Mummy Gray than with Aunt Serapheema. + +Of course we initiated her into the mystery of the pirate-game, and she +took a most active part in it too. She acted the rich old dowager who +had bags of gold and treasures untold, diamonds and all the rest of it, +and who was eventually captured, and made to walk the plank with the +rest of the unhappy crew. + +I never saw any game take such complete possession of a child, as that +pirate-play did of Mattie. She came oftener on board now than she might +otherwise have done; she entered into the thing heart and soul, +suggesting many improvements we never should have thought about, and +acting her part as if to the manner born. + +Of course she was told of the black flag, and must see it, and her eyes +actually sparkled as they fell on the weird white skull and bleached +cross-bones. + +Things went on thus for some weeks longer, the pirate-play never losing +interest, and each of us being thorough masters of his or her part. + +But one day Mr Moore with his wife were invited to Trafalgar Cottage +and Tom Morley was left in charge of the ship, while at her own special +request Mattie was also left on board. + +We could play now to our hearts' content. + +But we little knew what was before us. + +CHAPTER SIX. + +AN APPALLING ADVENTURE--"WE MUST PREPARE FOR INSTANT FLIGHT." + +Just after tea, and while Tom was telling some of his most fascinating +stories, and we three children were listening with dilated eyes and +bated breath, we were hailed by a boatman. + +"_Thunderbolt_ ahoy!" + +"Ay, ay," cried Tom, jumping up and rushing to the gangway--we had been +having tea on the upper deck. + +Then up sprang an old shipmate of Tom's, and we heard them talking +earnestly together and looking towards us. At last Tom advanced almost +shyly. "I dunno really," he said, "if one o' you young gentlemen would +like to be left in charge of the old _Thunderbolt_ for an hour or so. +Yonder's an old shipmate o' mine, and I'd dearly like to run on shore +for maybe an hour." + +"Oh, we'd like it immensely." We spoke these words both at the same +time, as strangely enough we always did speak brief sentences, when +excited. + +"Well then," said Tom, laughing and addressing me, "You're Captain Jack, +this is Commander Jill, and this is Mattie the mate." + +"Hurrah!" we shouted. "Off you trundle, Tom, and see you enjoy yourself +properly; and if you don't report yourself in due form when you come on +board, we'll put you in irons. D'ye hear?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," said Tom, saluting. Then over the side went he and his +friend, and we saw them--_no more_. + +Tom had promised not to be gone longer than eight o'clock, but eight and +nine went by, and still he came not. The shades of night began to +darken over the water and over the town, and worse than all it came on +to blow. + +We did not expect Mrs Moore to come back. Indeed it had been arranged, +that if she did not return by seven, Tom was to see to putting us all to +bed; and Tom--wicked, thoughtless Tom--had faithfully promised he would. + +Alas! I fear that at that very moment Tom was tossing a can, and +singing one of Dibdin's songs. + +"It's very romantic, isn't it?" said Mattie. + +We both smiled like automata and said "yes"; but I don't think either of +us thought it was a desirable situation to be left in. + +Jill and I were thinking about the ghost. But it would not do to say a +word concerning this to Mattie. Each knew, too, what the other was +thinking about. I am sure enough of this, because when, just as we were +retiring into the great cabin, Jill gave a little glance behind him, and +I said in his ear, "There are no such things, old Jill," he nodded and +smiled. + +The wind shortly increased to nearly the force of a gale. It went +roaring through the rigging of our one mast in a way that was dismal to +listen to, though Mattie assured us it was perfectly delightful. The +water alongside was all in a seethe, and the great ship wriggled if she +did not roll, and kept pulling at her moorings as if she wanted to go +flying away on the wings of that strong north wind. We busied +ourselves, now, Jill and I, in getting supper, after which we put Mattie +to bed on the couch. The three of us determined to turn in +all-standing, as sailors phrase it when they mean that they do not +undress. + +But Jill and I took rugs and lay down in the cabin, as we did not want +to be far from Mattie should she call during the night. + +We had thought of keeping watch and watch in true navy fashion. But for +several reasons we abandoned the idea. First and foremost there really +was nothing to watch except Mattie, and we could watch her better if +beside her; secondly it would be dreadfully dreary; and thirdly there +was the very remotest chance, that the ghost of some of the brave +fellows whose life-blood stained the fighting deck might take it into +its head to visit the _Thunderbolt_ during the storm that was raging. + +The three of us said our prayers together, Jill and I kneeling down by +Mattie's couch. Then we kissed "good night," and she went off like a +top. + +After we were quite sure she was sound, Jill looked at me and I looked +at Jill, and up we both got as if we had arranged it all beforehand, and +carefully locked the door and loaded our pistols and lay down again. We +had no shot, but I said that did not matter, as if the noise of the +pistol did not alarm the ghost and show him he was not wanted, shot +would only go right through him and the holes would fill up again +immediately. + +However, we knew ghosts did not like light, so we left the swing lamp +burning and lay down. + +Not to sleep, for a time at all events. We could hear the roar of the +wind now more distinctly, and many strange noises that we could not +understand. It might have been rats, but there were footsteps so +audible overhead every now and then, that we fully expected to see the +door open and honest Tom appear to report himself. + +I'm certain we heard scuffling and stamping outside the door, but at +last all sounds merged into dreams, and if we did start awake now and +then we could not be sure whether the noises that roused us were reality +or imaginary. + +We did sleep sound at last, for long hours too; then all at once, as if +by instinct, or, as I said before, as if wound up to it like clockwork +automata, Jill and I both rose up and became fully sensible that we were +standing hand in hand in the centre of the room. + +It was grey daylight on a lovely morning--very early, perhaps not quite +three o'clock, and Jill and I both stared in astonishment as we gazed +out of the port. + +Why, the town was going round us. Houses and buildings and vessels were +passing by the window. + +Could we be dreaming? No, yonder was the green of a hill now, and the +clouds moving also. + +About the same moment that these wonderful phenomena were being +presented to our eyes, the midshipman on watch on one of the ships--who, +by the way, was half asleep--ran down below and reported to his +commander that a steamer was going up harbour, and would run into the +dockyard. + +The commander said, "Get out of here, youngster. You're mad or +dreaming." + +The middy went on deck, but came diving below again immediately, taking +two steps at a time. + +"The _Thunderbolt_ has slipped her moorings, and is driving out to sea." + +"Ay, lad," said the commander, "that is more like it. The steamer you +thought moving has been stationary." + +And now on board the hulk the real situation began to dawn upon our +minds. + +We were being run away with. + +Then a great gun reverberated high over the howling wind, and gun after +gun followed. + +The good people of the town made quite sure that one of two things had +happened: either a foreign enemy had landed, or the end of the world had +come. + +At the first gun Mattie, wideawake, jumped off the couch, and we at once +explained to her the situation. + +"Hullo!" she cried, "how nice! Hullo! hullo! Let's play at being +pirates." + +Her mirth and excitement were infectious. + +In a minute or two we were armed and had rushed on deck, and the play +was commenced. + +The old _Thunderbolt_ now was making good way down the harbour, and how +she missed fouling and sinking some of the craft is to me a mystery to +this day. But some of them had a marvellously close shave. + +The whole harbour was now alarmed, and the officers and crews swarmed on +the decks of the vessels. But the stately hulk held on her way, +heading--sometimes sterning--for more open water. + +Meanwhile, Pirate Jill was cheering in the ratlines, and finally leaped +down, and the battle began with swords, we, the combatants, shouting as +wildly as we thought was desirable. + +We were now bearing close down upon the flag-ship, and could distinguish +the officers on the poop. + +"Hurrah!" cried Jill, "let's now play at being pirates proper." + +"Hullo!" cried Mattie, "we're all pirates." + +I ran speedily off for Tom's old battered speaking trumpet, and we were +very close to the flag-ship when I hailed her, in true pirate fashion. + +"Lie to there, till we send a boat on board, or we'll blow you out of +the water." + +A chorus of laughter came from quarter-deck and waist. + +"Fire!" I cried. + +Bang, bang, went both pistols at once. + +"Hullo!" cried Mattie; "Hullo!" + +And at the same moment, seeing she had the halyards in her hand, I +looked aloft just in time to see a little black bundle expand into a +huge flag, and lo! fluttering out in the morning air was the dark dread +ensign of the pirate, with its hideous skull and cross-bones. + +"Hullo!" cried Mattie once more. + +But Jill and I stood aghast! + +Then our dream rushed back to our minds. + +We did not foul the flag-ship, and were soon rolling away out seawards. +But what had we done? It was dreadful to think of--hoisted the pirate +flag and fired upon one of her Majesty's flags, right into the teeth of +her officers and crew. + +So paralysed were we that we entirely forgot to haul down the flag, and +it was still flying when--an hour afterwards a couple of tugs managed to +get us in tow, and we were once more heading back for the harbour. + +The first words the officer of the tug said to me, when he had time to +speak, were-- + +"Why, you're a pretty lot! Cutting out a man o' war under the very guns +of the flag-ship, and running off with it. Ha! ha! ha!" + +Whatever the laugh might have meant, it sounded to me like the yell of a +hyena. + +"If you please, sir," I advanced, "we didn't run away with the ship; the +ship ran away with us." + +"Was it bullum _versus_ boatum," he said, "or boatum _versus_ bullum?" + +"I don't talk Turkish," I said. + +"Well," he said, "Turkish here or Turkish there, you young pirate, I +suppose you know what you'll catch?" + +"Hang us, won't they?" + +"Hang you? Yes. Drum-head court-martial, and hanging, and serve you +right too. You don't look very frightened," he added. "There get away +inside, the lot of you, and thank your stars it is no worse." + +We did as we were told, at the same time I could not help wondering what +worse could befall us, than a drum-head court-martial with hanging to +follow. + +I stopped behind Jill long enough to ask the officer this question: + +"They won't hang our little sister Mattie?" + +"No, not likely, we'll make much of her." + +He caught Mattie up as he spoke, and soon had her laughing and crowing +like a mad thing as he galloped round the deck with her on his shoulder. + +"They won't hang Mattie," I said to Jill. + +"No," said Jill, "that is one good thing." + +"Well, do _you_ want to be hanged, Jill?" + +"I don't think I should like it _much_." + +"Well, nothing can save us, you know." + +"But flight, Jack." + +"Yes, flight, Jill, that's it. I suppose they won't drum-head us +to-day?" + +"I don't know. I'm not so sure. A drum-head court-martial _is_ a +drum-head court-martial, you see. And the beauty of it is--if there be +any beauty about it--that it's got up and got done with at once." + +"Well, then, I move we prepare for instant flight." + +"Quite right. I'm all ready as it is. Let us eat this pie, though." + +We did eat the pie. In fact, we breakfasted very heartily. But we grew +very sad again when we thought of Mattie we must leave so soon, if +indeed we should be successful in getting away at all. However, we +could only try. + +I got Mattie by the port, and said sadly enough-- + +"You won't ever, ever forget me, will you, dear Mattie?" I put the +question with a kiss. + +"No, you silly boy; I promise I won't. But what a silly question. +We'll play at pirates again to-morrow." + +I felt very much inclined to cry, but--I did not. + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +ALONE ON THE MOOR--ADVENTURE IN THE CAVE. + +On looking back through a long vista of years, and considering all the +_pros_ and _cons_ of the case, and remembering that Jill and I were only +boys, I do not think it any wonder we ran away from the dear old +_Thunderbolt_ hulk. I have always accused myself to myself, for the +folly of having given way to a sudden romantic impulse--for which I, +being the elder of the three on board, am alone accountable--playing at +pirates, firing at a flag-ship, and all the rest of it. + +But when our little game was over, and the full enormity of the offence +stared us in the face, and after what the officer of the tug-boat had +told us, I repeat, it is no wonder we ran away. We were not to know the +officer was, figuratively speaking, laughing in his sleeve at us. We +believed him. We were convinced it would end in a drum-head +court-martial, with, next day, poor Jack swung up at one end of the +fore-yard, and poor dear Jill at the other. A pretty sight that would +have been on a summer's morning. Romantic? Oh, yes, I own there would +have been a good deal of romance about it. Rather much indeed. Our +position would have been far too exalted to suit even my ambition. + +Some one has said that hanging is the worst use you can put a man to, so +it cannot be good for a boy. + +That officer of the tug-boat, too, made so awfully light of the matter. + +When I had asked him if hanging was very, very, dreadful,-- + +"Oh, dear me, no, my lad," he replied, laughing, "not half so bad as +having a tooth pulled." + +Our darling mother told us never to hate anybody, but I do not think I +loved that officer very much just then. + +Well, how did we get away? The fact is our escape was effected far more +safely and easily than I had anticipated. I had expected that there +would be a considerable deal of romance about that I felt sure they +would fire shot and shell and shrapnel at the boat that was bearing us +off, and if after throwing ourselves into the water we reached shore +safely, they would send a regiment or two of soldiers at the very least +to pursue us. + +The old _Thunderbolt_, when she ran away, "showed a pair of clean +heels," so I heard that tug-boat fellow say, because wind and tide was +hurrying her on. But it was no such easy matter to get her back; so the +whole morning had fled before she was once more alongside her moorings. +Then the bustle and din and the loud talking were shocking, for nearly +an hour. + +Mattie--I was so glad of this--got very sleepy, so we took her into Mrs +Moore's room and placed her on the bed. She bade us both good-night +prettily, but sleepily, and I was glad of this too, for the +"good-nights" did for the "good-byes." Ah! little did Mattie think we +were going to leave her, but she did not feel the tear that fell on her +beautiful hair as I bent over her. It was best. After this I suppose +it was activity that made us feel brave. We had to look sharp, I assure +you. We hurried into our cabin--ours, alas! no more--and exchanged our +hats for caps, and put on our monkey jackets--our winter ones. This +would not look odd, because there was quite a raw air over the water. +We went and packed our one portmanteau, taking nothing lumbersome, and +no books, except our little Bibles that mamma had given us. + +Then I sat down and wrote a letter, a very brief one, to Mattie. It +only said, in a boy's scrawling hand-- + + "Dearest Mattie,--Please always pray for Jack and poor Jill.--Your + loving and affectionate Jack." + +I folded this up, and glided away into the child's room and laid it on +her pillow. She was sound asleep, but I kissed her brow. If I had +stopped to look at her, I believe my heart would have broken in two. + +Jill was waiting with the bag, and the difficulty was now to get a boat. +We had thought of getting into the dinghy and paying a man to return +it. It was better we didn't. + +I opened the port. The fresh morning air blew in and calmed me, and +just at that moment, as if a good fairy had sent him, a shore boatman +rounded the stern of the hulk, and was close beneath us. + +"Boatman," I said, "can you take us on shore?" + +He looked about him a bit and nodded. Then I dropped my bag, and he +caught it _so_ neatly. + +"We'll get in from a lower port," I said. + +The man nodded again. Off Jill and I went down below to poor Tom +Morley's quarters. Nobody saw us, for everybody was on the upper deck +forward, and making a terrible din. In three minutes more we were well +away from the ship, but I made Jill lie down for fear of the shot and +shell and shrapnel which I expected to be flying about our ears soon, +and I myself pulled up the neck of my monkey jacket. + +The man rowed right away up the harbour, and, to my intense joy, we had +soon put a wall between us and the ships of war. + +My heart had been thumping violently, and I dare say so was poor Jill's. + +When we landed, and I was diving for my purse to pay the mail, he held +up his hand deprecatingly. + +"Look here, youngsters," he said, "I was a boy myself once. You've got +into a little scrape, and you're going to stop away from school till the +little storm blows over. I won't take a penny for this job, and I'll +take you both on board free and for nothing. My name's Joe Saunders; +you can ask for me." + +Then we thanked him and shook hands with him, with the tears in our +eyes--in fact I think some rolled over. Next moment we were off and +away. + +We walked very fast and took the quietest streets. We met some marines, +and our hearts began to beat again; but they hardly looked at us. + +When we had gone some distance we were on high ground, and paused to +look back. We could see the forest of masts rising over the walls and +yards, and the smoke curling up from the chimneys. And as we gazed two +bells rang out almost simultaneously from all the ships, while +immediately afterwards, sweet and clear in the still morning air, rose +the music of the band on the flag-ship's quarter-deck. + +It was very beautiful, but to us inexpressibly saddening. + +We hurried on now, and were soon thankful to find ourselves out in the +green country, with music of another kind falling on our ears--the happy +songs of the birds. + +We did not stay to listen then, however; we were in far too great a +hurry to put as many miles as the day would admit of between us and the +scenes of our wild piratical escapades. For we had not a doubt that, as +soon as the _Thunderbolt_ was once safely moored, the hue and cry would +go out for the capture of the daring pirates who had threatened to blow +one of Her Majesty's flag-ships, with a tame admiral on board of it, out +of the water. + +So we went on, and on, and on, bearing away to the north, the country +becoming wilder and more desolate at every turn of the road. When it +was long past midday we began to feel very hungry, and, spying smoke +rising from a little roadside inn not far off, we determined to halt and +refresh ourselves. + +A very quiet-looking, motherly sort of woman showed us into a neat +little parlour, and making her acquainted with our desires, she went out +and soon returned with a dinner fit for a king. Indeed I am sure that +King Charles, when he was in hiding, did not fare half so well. Here +were new potatoes, and boiled bacon and beans, and a jug of table beer, +to say nothing of the white cloth and the wild flowers. What more could +a king desire? + +We felt exceedingly comfortable after dinner, and much bolder. Indeed +we felt so far braced up that I determined forthwith to write to Auntie +Serapheema and our darling mother. We had brought with us our little +writing-cases, so, with Jill looking over my shoulder, I began writing. + +Auntie's letter did not take long. We expressed our sorrow, thanked her +for all her kindness, and told her we were determined to be sailors if +not captured; and that we hoped one day to return to England laden with +jewels and gold, and come back and live happy ever after in Trafalgar +Cottage. We sent our love to Sally and Robert, and our very dearest +love to little Mattie; and we signed the letter with our names in full. + +That last was a stroke of policy, we thought. + +Next we commenced writing to papa and mamma. I wrote letter after +letter and tore them all up, carefully stowing away the pieces in our +bag, lest if left about they might lead to our capture. + +I hardly remember what sort of a tear-blotched, loving, and penitent +epistle the last was, but perhaps it would have answered as well as a +longer one. Just then a postman hove in sight. He stopped to refresh +himself, and I ran out and gave him the letters. I had not even +forgotten to put the correct number of stamps on poor mamma's. + +So we had crossed the Rubicon. + +But having sent the letter to mamma, a load appeared to have fallen off +my mind, all in a heap as it were. + +When we asked the landlady how much was to pay, she looked at us and +said, "Sixpence each." + +"Which way are you going?" she added. + +"North," I answered. + +"You'll be on a walking tour, young sirs?" + +I nodded. + +"Well, you better not walk farther the night. There isn't another house +now for seven miles. You're on the moor. I can give you a clean, nice +bed, and breakfast any time you like in the morning." + +I consulted with Jill and we concluded to stay. + +When alone again we counted our money. Financial ruin did not stare us +in the face, for our united fund from the savings of many a lucky +penny--dear aunt was so good to us--came to a few shillings over seven +pounds. We thought ourselves rich, but determined to be very cautious +nevertheless. + +We slept well and did not dream once. Our bedroom was a little attic, +the window of which looked over the front causeway. The sound of many +voices awoke us next morning. I sprang out of bed, and peeped +cautiously out from under a corner of the blind. + +To my horror and dismay the roadway was crowded with soldiers, and I +could distinctly see the glitter of fixed bayonets. Pale and trembling +were both of us now, but we dressed and waited. After about an hour's +terrible suspense the party broke up, one half--who, by the way, had a +prisoner--going south, and the rest going on in the direction of the +moor. + +The men were only hunting for deserters, after all, so our appetite +returned, and we did ample justice to the good things set before us by +the kind landlady. Then we bade her good-bye, and started. + +We had to move with great caution now, for we knew the soldiers were on +ahead, and we did not know what might happen. However, nothing did +happen all that forenoon. We must have missed our way somehow, for +instead of coming to the one house the woman spoke of, we came to quite +a little hamlet, with a shop or two, and here, not knowing what might be +before us, we bought provisions enough in the shape of bacon, butter, +bread, and red herrings--we were not dainty--to last us for a week at +least. + +Then cautiously inquiring our way north, and after making a hearty lunch +at a small inn, we set out once more, and, feeling very buoyant and +fresh, walked on as straight as the road would take us till nearly +sundown. + +We never came to an eminence, however, without getting up and gazing +round us, and when we came to a wooded turn in the road we deserted it +altogether and took to the bush. + +Just about sundown we heard voices on ahead, and Jill and I leapt like +deer behind a hedge, and lay as still as snakes do. We soon saw the +gleam of scarlet. It was the soldiers returning, and with them, between +men with fixed bayonets, a poor dejected-looking lad with his fatigue +jacket open and soiled, and his head bare. He was handcuffed. + +When right opposite us they all stopped. + +"Give us a light, Bill," said one. + +They had only stopped to light their pipes, though Jill and I trembled +like aspen leaves. I noticed that one of the men, after he had taken a +draw or two himself, wiped the pipe-stem and thrust it friendly-like +into the the prisoner's mouth. He must have been a good man. + +But we gathered enough from their conversation, brief as it was, to +quite frighten us. + +"He's on the moor," said one, "and they're bound to have him." + +"A desperate character, isn't he?" + +"Rather. Kill you as soon as wink." + +Then they went on. + +Who was this desperate character, abroad on the moor? + +"Surely they can't refer to me, Jill?" I said. + +"Oh no," said Jill; "certainly not. They would have mentioned me, you +know." + +"I don't think so, Jill. You are not such a desperate character as I +am." + +"Oh yes; I'm ten times worse," said Jill, awfully. + +We soon after came into a country high, bleak, and desolate, with only +here and there a clump of trees. Hills there were in plenty, but houses +none. + +And night was falling fast, and both of us were getting very tired. We +would have to sleep out, that was evident, and so determined to take the +first available shelter. So on coming to a bushy gully, with a tiny +streamlet going singing down the centre of it, we left the road and +followed the water upwards, and were soon at the foot of a rock. To my +surprise, on pulling some bushes aside I found a cave. + +Some shepherd's, evidently, we thought, for here was a bed of withered +ferns, soft and dry; and not far from the mouth of the cave a place +where a fire had been. + +So we camped at once and lit a fire, for I had forgotten nothing. We +made the fire between some stones, and placed thereon our tin billy with +water to boil for tea. + +We soon had made an excellent supper, and Jill's dear eyes sparkled as +he sipped his tea. + +"What a splendid bushman you are, Jack!" he said. "This is a first-rate +sort of a life, and, don't you know, I wouldn't mind living this way for +a month." + +"Well," I said, "it seems pretty safe; and I propose we do stop here for +a few days. By that time they will think we are far away, and never +look here for us." + +"Agreed," said Jill. + +Then we went and gathered a quantity of fern, so that we had quite a +delightful bed in the cave; and as night was now over all the wastes +around us, we determined to retire. The stars were out and glimmering +down, and bats wheeling about, and every now and then the _tu-whit-- +tu-whoo_! of the brown owl made us start. It sounded so close to us, +and oh, it was so mournful! + +Other than that there was not a sound to be heard. We crept in, and I +lit a candle as coolly as if I had been an old campaigner. I stuck it +between two stones. Then I read a bit from mother's Bible, and down we +lay after that, leaving the candle burning for company's sake. We did +not like to be quite in the dark in so eeriesome a place. + +But tired as we were, we lay and talked and planned for hours, and when +I looked at my watch--yes, we each had a watch--I was surprised to find +it was nearly twelve o'clock. + +"We needn't hurry up in the morning though, Jill." + +"Assuredly not," said Jill. + +Five minutes after we were sound asleep. + +It might have been an hour afterwards, or it might have been two. I +know not. But I do know we both awoke with a start at the same moment, +and sat up shaking and trembling with fear. + +A terrible-looking man stood in the cave gazing down at us. + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +GOOD ADVICE FROM A STRANGE QUARTER--MIDNIGHT AND ANXIETY. + +The state of my mind at this moment must have been akin to that of a +snake-charmed bird. I felt utterly, abjectly helpless. Had the +apparition taken a knife out and proceeded to kill us, I do not think I +should have lifted a hand or uttered a cry, except a frightened moan +like a person in a nightmare. + +He stood and looked down at us long and earnestly. A strangely haggard, +but not an evil face, black beard of a week's growth perhaps, and short +dark hair hardly seen for the napkin that bound his head instead of a +hat or cap. + +We found voice at last, both at the same time. "Oh, sir," we said, +beseechingly, "do not kill us!" He started as we spoke the last two +words, started as if stung, and gazed behind him with quick dramatic +action, his black eyes all ablaze for the moment. So have I often since +seen a hunted wolf look when at bay. + +The first words he spoke betrayed him to be a foreigner. + +"Kill!" he said, "what for I kill you? You alone? All alone?" + +"Yes," we replied, "yes, sir, quite alone." + +"'Tis goot. Do not fear me. Where go you to-morrow day? What you do +here?" + +I glanced at him for a moment before I spoke, and the truth flashed +across my mind. This was the terrible convict we heard the soldiers say +was abroad on the moor. He was not in convict dress, and though his +coat was in rags, his boots were good. We learned from him, afterwards, +that he had exchanged clothes, strange though it appeared, with a +scarecrow. There was some humour here, though sadly blended with +deepest pathos. + +No, this man might rob, but he would not kill us. He was in trouble +like ourselves. So we told him we were running away from school. + +He looked at us again, and I saw he believed us. "Angleese, I not speak +much. I am Espanol. I am a convict. Do not fear. I have never kill +one. No--no--no." + +He sat down beside the candle and took out a knife and a turnip. + +Something told me the poor fellow was famishing. I jumped up and went +to my bag, and placed bread and bacon in his hand. He ate ravenously +and thanked me. Perhaps it was only fancy, but I thought I saw tears in +his eyes. + +While he ate, much to our astonishment, a little black mouse ran down +his sleeve, and sat on the back of his left hand, which he took care to +keep still. The creature ate hungrily of the crumbs he gave it, and +when finished, he held out his little finger, around which the mouse +entwined both its little arms, while it licked it as lovingly as a dog +would have done. Then, at a sign from the convict, it once more +retreated. + +I am sure, even now, that it was his love for the gentle wee mouse that +made Jill and I take to this man, and believe what he told us. Briefly, +his story was this: + +"Many years ago, one, two, ten perhaps, I am cast away on this shore. +My mate and me alone live. We trabel much. We seek for friend. No +find. Then we come to big town, Cardeef, you call it. Here we find +goot friend. We go seek for ship then to take us to Cadeeth. It is +night. All my money in my belt. Bad men come out, kill my mate. I +hear voices, footsteps. I run up to my mate. I pull out the ugly +knife. I am caught there. I am taken to preeson, tried before +justice--justice, ha! ha! I not kill my poor mate. All same. No one +speak my language well. I not can speak Angleese den. I get angry, +wild, mad. They put me away to preeson. Twenty year they say. But now +I am free. They never get me more. I die first." + +"And the mouse?" said Jill. + +"That is my preeson mate. I think 'tis the speerit of Roderigo, my +friend, in dat little mouse. The warder want to kill him. Den I say, I +escape or die. You may believe me. 'Tis all true. What for I tell +little chaps like you lie. I have good friend at home. I will tell all +dere. The Espanol Government will make de Angleese restitute. But dey +cannot bring back Roderigo." + +"Did you love Roderigo very much?" + +"He was best of friend. All same as brother. Yes, I love him. And +you? What you do?" + +Then, boy-like, we told this man all our terrible tale. We expected him +to be visibly affected; perhaps, convict though he was, to shrink from +us. + +He certainly was visibly affected, but in a way we little expected. He +laughed outright. + +"For ten long year," he said, "I never laugh before." + +The little mouse came down his sleeve again and sat on his wrist to wash +his face and blink at the candle. The convict pointed to it with a +forefinger and laughed again. + +"Even Roderigo," he cried, "is much amoose. Ha, ha, ha! Ah, boys," he +added, almost immediately getting serious; "you have a home. Go back to +dat home. Go back, I say, go back. I speak as an all unworthy friend." + +"But they will hang us for piracy." + +"Do not make me laugh more. It does not become rags and grief to laugh. +See, I am widout money, and naked, still I laugh. Poor boys, go back!" + +I considered for a moment, then abruptly changed the subject. + +"How do you expect to get away? We saw soldiers to-day on the moor. +They were talking about you, and said you could not escape." + +His face grew darker and sadder. + +Then, with all a boy's generous abandon, I pulled out my purse and +showed him my money. Even little Roderigo--Jill afterwards declared-- +paused in the act of washing his ears and gazed at the glittering coins. + +"This is all we have," I said. + +"You unwise boy! I might take all. I will not refuse de offer of +kindness. See, I take two. No more. This has save my life." + +He dipped a finger and thumb into the coins in my palm and took two +sovereigns, and I put away the rest. He sat a long time silent after +this. Then he got up, and going out, soon returned with an armful of +ferns, which he placed in a corner. + +"I sleep now," he said. "To-morrow day we talk." + +Strange that now we felt no fear of this strange being. We slept +soundly and well, and daylight was streaming into the cave when we were +aroused. The convict had lightly touched me on the shoulder. + +He was smiling, and looked now neither so haggard nor so terrible as on +the evening before. + +"No warm breakfus," he said, smiling. "Soldiers have pass 'long de +highway. Think you they seek for de convict to put in preeson, or de +pirate boys to hang? Eh?" + +We both trembled. But the keen air of the hill gave us an appetite and +we did not miss the tea. + +"Now we talk," said the convict. "I have been think." + +"And," I said, firmly, "I have also been thinking. It may not be so bad +as we thought. They may not want to hang us. But they would disgrace +and laugh at us, and I am a soldier's son. I will not go back. Would +you, Jill?" + +"Assuredly not." + +"Den what else you do?" + +"Go to sea before the mast." The convict laughed again before he +replied--"Boys, I speak as your friend. Do not be fools. Go to sea? +What? Who take you? Though I have been long in preeson, I know all de +law. At sea what can you do? No dings. No capitan will have runaways. +Suppose you do hide, what you calls stowaway. Den they make you for to +work--" + +"We don't mind that." + +"Stop till I speak. Dey bring you back to de same port. Ha, ha!" + +It had never struck us before in this light. Not that we intended to +stow away, but little goslings that we were, we fancied we had only to +make our way to a seaport and choose a ship, and that any captain would +be delighted to have us without asking any questions. + +This convict was speaking sense, but he had already cast down our idols +and banished every morsel of sentiment from our situation. + +I could have cried with vexation. + +I almost hated the poor fellow now. Why could he not have left us to go +on a little longer in the flowery lane of our romance? Presently he +spoke again. + +"You have to me been a friend. Now to you I will be a friend. I will +go to your aunt." + +"No, no, no." + +"Stop, my friend. I will tell her what you do wish me to speak. No +dings more. Shall I go?" + +"Tell her," I said, "that we are well and happy. No, tell her we are +wretched. No, no. Jill, what shall we tell her?" + +"Well," said Jill, with his old smile, "you can't say we're jolly. Just +say we won't come back. That we want to get a ship to go to mother." + +"_No_, Jill, not like that, a ship to go to sea. They will not take us +without aunt's leave--then, we must get it." + +"Ah!" cried the convict, "dat is sensibeel now. You speak like one +young man. I go to-night. You stay in de cave. Do not be seen. I +will quickly return." + +"But you will not bring Aunt Serapheema!" + +I felt angry at the time for speaking thus, but I could not help it. To +have been dragged back now would have broken both our hearts, of this I +am convinced. + +"No," said the convict. "As I am a good Catholic--no." + +This was enough for me. I took out once more my little writing-case, +and feeling more happy and hopeful now, I wrote a long letter to auntie. +It might have been but a repetition of the last, but it breathed even +more emphatically than before our firm determination not to return till +we had been to sea, adding that if this dream--that is the very word I +used--were denied to us, we would work for our daily bread with the +sweat of our brow. + +It may have been a foolish boyish letter, and I dare say was, but it +spoke our feelings, and no letter can do more than that. + +This I entrusted to our friend the Spaniard, and he put it in his +breast. + +We kept close to the cave all that day, and several times heard voices +in the distance, but no one came near us. + +At night, as soon as the stars shone out, the convict left us, and we +now felt very lonely indeed, but made the best of it, eating a hearty +supper and talking till long past midnight. + +As I write, poor Auntie Serapheema's diary lies before me, and as the +following entry refers to Jill and me, I take the liberty of +transcribing it in full. + + "_July_ 25, 18--. Last night, being the fourth since the + disappearance of the dear foolish boys, and just as Sarah was bringing + the Book, there came a knock to the hall door. Poor Mattie and I both + started. Every knock makes us start now. It was only Robert, but he + came to say a strange man wanted to see me on business. I made Sarah + re-light the lamp in the drawing-room and retire. He stood near the + mantelpiece as I entered, and bowed with almost stage politeness. I + could see at once he was a foreigner. Englishmen are not urbane. He + was clean shaved with the exception of the moustache, which was long + and tinged with grey like his hair--also long. His eyes were very + dark and piercing, and he looked altogether interesting and like a man + who had come through some grievous sorrow. He handed me the bill of + the reward of 50 pounds for the dear lads. `Yes, it was I who offered + it,' I said. Speaking in broken English, he told me I must take the + bills in to-morrow, and issue others saying the lads were found. _He_ + knew where they were, and could arrange for me to meet them. + `Where?'--`At Bristol.'--`No, nearer?'--`Not a mile,' he said. Did he + want the reward then? I said this to try him. He did not speak. He + appeared about to faint. I made him sit down, and caused Sarah to + bring wine and a little food. While he ate he handed me a letter from + my most foolish of lads. I watched him while he refreshed himself. + Strange to say, a little mouse he called Roderigo came from his sleeve + and sat in his hand, and he fed it. It then retired. I knew then I + had a strange being to deal with, but I also felt I could trust him. + But he would give me none of his own history; yet if he had asked me + then for the whole of the money I would have handed it over. He only + asked for twenty pounds to carry out his plans on the morrow. Yes, in + answer to his question, he could sleep under my roof and welcome. + Would I forgive him if he retired soon. Yes, again; he looked tired + and was so polite. He said, was I the boys' eldest sister. I am + often taken to be very young. While we talked Mattie came in. I was + surprised to see the child turn red and white by turns as he looked at + her. Then she advanced and held out her hand. She said, `I am glad + you have come.' I said, `What do you say, child?' Her reply was a + strange one as she gazed from my face to the man's. `Is that not--oh, + I cannot call you to name. But I saw you--and oh, it must have been + in a dream.' She looked half in a dream now, and I was about to call + Sarah, fearing she might be ill, when she smiled, and was soon after + talking with the mysterious stranger as if they had long known each + other. She marvelled much at the little mouse. He called it his + friend, his mate, his brother, and though she laughed, she seemed to + understand him. + + "This morning he went away, and soon returned improved in habiliment. + Poor fellow, he does not look well off. Now he has gone, and + to-morrow I start for Bristol. But though Mattie would fain come, I + must go all alone. That is the agreement." + +Here the extract ends. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +On the day after the Spaniard left us, nothing occurred till near +evening, when we were much frightened by the sudden appearance at the +cave mouth of a huge dog. We thought it was a bloodhound, and that we +were to be tracked thus, or our friend the Spaniard. The dog gave one +startled look and retired, and presently, on venturing to look through +the bushes, we found, much to our relief, he was running behind a man on +horseback. + +Nothing happened all that night, and next day we felt very uneasy as +hour after hour went by and our new friend never returned. What could +have occurred? False I felt he would not prove. But was he re-taken or +dead? Oh, that would indeed have been dreadful. + +The time went wearily, wearily on. We never ventured out of the cave, +lest we might be seen, for once again we saw soldiers pass and repass. + +When the evening star appeared shining bright and clear over the valley +far beneath us, we felt more safe. Then the bats went wheeling past and +past, and the mournful cry of the brown owl sounded drearily over the +moor again. + +We thought we should pray for our friend. We did this, lit our candle, +and read from the Book, as dear auntie always called it. While we were +yet reading we heard the distant sound of wheels, and speedily put the +light out lest it might betray us. + +We were badly frightened again when the carriage stopped down on the +bridge. We ran inside the cave, for we had come out to look, but just +then we heard the owl's cry three times repeated, and this was the +signal. + +We got our bag and ran down the brook-side, and there stood the +Spaniard--for he spoke--but so changed we did not know him. + +We were so happy then. And we had more questions to ask than the +faithful man could easily answer. + +CHAPTER NINE. + +A MIDNIGHT DRIVE--ARRIVAL AT BRISTOL--THE GOOD SHIP "SALAMANDER"--HOW +TOM MORLEY DIED. + +My brother and I jumped up into the dog-cart, I making Jill sit in front +for safety's sake, he being the younger, and the roads being hilly in +parts. Then up jumped our Jehu as I may now call our friend the +Spaniard, all the more truly in that he was arrayed from chin to knee in +a double breasted buff-coloured coachman's coat with buttons of brass. +The coat, when daylight came, looked a little the worse for wear, but, +to use a paradox, this was all the better for the part he was playing. + +I had only time to press Adriano's hand and ask for auntie and Mattie +before we started. They were well and it was all right, and aunt would +meet me at Bristol. + +I should have liked to have asked many more questions, but the noise and +jolting of the cart prevented me. Besides, Adriano seemed but little +inclined to talk, and I noticed that he gave frequent glances from side +to side, scanning as well as he could that portion of the moor which +could be seen in the starlight. + +Jill put his hand over the back of the seat and I placed it in my bosom, +and thus felt I had my brother's company and he mine. There was no need +to speak to him then. Jill and I understood each other's thoughts by +touch as well as by talk. But indeed I was myself but in small humour +for conversing. I felt safe--that was enough for the present; but why +Adriano had brought a cart, or where he was driving us to, I had no +desire to be informed. + +In about half an hour, far away on the horizon to the right, I thought I +could perceive the reflection of a great fire behind the hills. The +flames looked increasing every minute. Surely, I thought, some forest +must be on fire away over yonder. But soon the moon rose red and round, +and apparently laughing at the trick it had played me. I watched it +mount higher and higher, getting paler and more silvery, fighting its +way through the clouds, and changing their blackness into beauty and +brightness, just as our souls may change sorrows and afflictions, if we +but have true faith in the Father. + +Ere long, the moon ruled queen of the heavens' blue arch, and the very +stars seemed to pale before its glory. + +I could not help thinking as we jogged along, how very differently +things had all turned out from the morning--very far away it seemed-- +when poor Jill and I had left the ship with, figuratively speaking, rope +around our necks. So true is it that we cannot even guess from hour to +hour what is before us. You may try the experiment, if you please, of +imagining what some place you are going to will be like, or some person +you are going to meet for the first time. Your imagination will be very +far out indeed. Still, I am certain of one thing, that if we do our +duty simply and well, and leave the rest in the hands of the Providence +we entrust with our life-guidance, all will turn out for the best. Who +could have dreamt of our meeting the "terrible" convict, or of his +giving us such honest, fatherly advice. With our heads full of silly +romance, and our purses brimming over with three pounds ten each, where +would Jill and I have landed. We would soon have been poor little +ragged, bare-footed boys, with never a penny to buy bread or a +postage-stamp, and oh, I tremble now to think what we might not have +come to. + +As I was musing thus, the road began rapidly to descend till we found +ourselves in a deep, wooded ravine and on a bridge. + +Adriano had quick eyes. He saw two men spring from the bank a little +ahead before I did, and slackened speed. One stood at each side of the +road as we drove very slowly past. + +Adriano simply raised his whip hand as Jehus do by way of salute, but +spoke no word. A moment afterwards, however, he raised his cap as if to +scratch his head and the moon glinted on his grey hair--which _I_ knew +was a wig. + +The men were very upright and soldierly in their bearing, but dressed in +dark clothes tightly fitting. + +One caught the back-board of the dog-cart, and walked some little way, +helping himself along up the hill by the hold he had taken, which was +only natural. But my heart began to jump and flicker, and my mouth grew +suddenly dry with dread. Luckily I did not lose the power of speaking, +nor did I falter much. + +"You're late out, my lad?" + +"Y-es." + +"Going far?" + +"Y-es, very far. Going to see my poor aunt." + +I had taken my handkerchief out, for what reason I do not know. But a +sudden inspiration made me raise it momentarily to my face. + +The man noticed it. + +"Ah! poor boy," he said; "I hope you'll find her better than you +expect." + +"I hope so," I said, and in my heart of hearts I did. + +"Death comes sooner or later to us all, lad," he added. "Good-night." + +"Good-night, sir." + +Not a word was spoken by any of us in the trap, till we were a good mile +past the place. Then Adriano turned round. + +"Who you think those men are?" he asked. + +"I can guess." + +"They belong to the preeson. I know them. Ha, ha, they not know me." + +There were no further adventures that night, but just as day was +breaking slowly in the east, we all alighted near a brook, and Adriano +put a nose-bag on the horse after letting him drink. Then our friend +took out a basket from the cart. It contained one of auntie's pies-- +auntie was famous for pies--and many other good things. I could not +help thinking now how truly good at heart she was, and how ungrateful I +had been. Hope returned to my heart, however, while eating, and I +prayed inwardly I might live to reward her for all her kindness. + +We were now in a very lonely and also a very quiet place, so that when +Adriano suggested a few hours' sleep, nothing seemed more natural. He +gave us a rug and we lay down together, Jill and I under a bush, and +very soon indeed all our tiredness and all our troubles were alike +forgotten. + +My watch had run down and so had Jill's, so I have no actual notion how +long we slept, only it must have been for many hours, because the sun +was over in a different part of the sky and we were hungry. This last, +I have often proved in deserts and wilds, is an excellent way of knowing +the time when you do not happen to possess a watch. + +We slept that night at a little country inn, and were up and away before +the sun was well over the woods. We took our time on the road to-day, +lazed and dawdled in fact, while Jill and I committed all kinds of +frolics. We culled huge bunches of wild flowers, and even bedecked the +horse's head, so that when we arrived in the evening at a little village +the people at once put us down as boys on a holiday. + +Next night we drove into Bristol, and now Jill and I forgot all about +the wild flowers, as we thought of our interview with auntie. + +I pictured to myself all sorts of dreadful and impossible situations. +How would she receive us? How would we advance? How apologise for all +the trouble and inconvenience we had been to her? How this, that; and +fifty other things, that were all scattered to the winds when we drove +into the inn yard and found auntie all smiles and ribbons, actually +waiting to help us down out of the trap? + +"Poor dear lads, you must be so tired and hungry. But dinner is waiting +when you've had a wash. I declare to you, boys, I'm not a bit sorry to +come to Bristol. It is quite a holiday to me. And old associations do +so crowd round my heart. Your grandpa, my dear father, used to sail +regularly from Bristol. Oh, Reginald, you do look unkempt. Sleeping in +your clothes, I dare say. Come along. We will say good-night, Senor +Adriano. Be here at ten to-morrow." + +And it was not till just before we went down to one of the nicest +dinners ever a boy sat down to, that auntie said, "Now, boys, say not a +word again about the _Thunderbolt_. All is past and forgiven. It was +not to be, boys. You were not destined for the navy." + +We clung to her hands, and thanked her. + +"And after all," mind you, "I believe with my dear father, that we have +far better sailors in the merchant service than in the navy." + +On the whole, then, our reunion was more like coming home after being +away on a holiday than anything else. So different from anything we +could have expected. + +We were too tired to talk much that night, and next morning Adriano bade +us good-bye after doing some business with auntie. + +I felt some sorrow at parting; so did Jill. + +"Shall we ever, ever see each other again, Adriano?" I said. + +"Quien sabe? de world is not wide to de sailor. We meet--perhaps.--I go +home now, I hope. I will see my government--I will return here or to +Cardeef--a free man. _A dios. A dios_." + +This was a busy day with auntie, and a busy day for us too. We saw the +inside of many a shipping office before evening, and I was proud to +learn that my Aunt Serapheema was so well known and so highly respected +by every one, but I was not aware then that she was owner of a great +many shipping shares. + +I remember what one white-haired old gentleman said to her. + +"The boys are big enough for their years, and look strong and well, but +are they not just a little too young?" + +"Their grandfather," said auntie, proudly, "went to sea when barely +ten." + +"I know your father was an exceptional youngster, and no man could have +died more highly respected. No man." + +"Let me see now," said auntie, speaking more to herself than to Mr +Claremont, "the _Salamander_ belongs to only a few shareholders." + +"Belongs mostly to you, Miss Domville." + +"And the captain is a gentleman." + +"Captain Coates is an excellent fellow." + +"Takes his wife with him most trips?" + +"He does so in September." + +"I love a man who does that. He is a true sailor." + +"Perhaps too soft-hearted, though," said Mr Claremont. "Don't you +think so, Miss Domville?" + +"No, I don't." + +"So brusque and cheerful. Just like your father, Miss. Just like dear +old Captain Domville." + +"And I couldn't be like a better man, could I, Mr Claremont?" + +"True, true, true." + +"Well, my boys shall go out in September with Captain and Mrs Coates." + +"_So_ like her father. _So_ like her father. Why, Miss Domville, do +you know that your words sound very like a command?" + +"And so they are meant to sound, Mr Claremont," said auntie, laughing. +"But mind you, it is _I_, not you, who are giving it. It is with me all +responsibility rests, remember. I, not you, have to account to Major +Jones, their dear father, and to my sister." + +"Yes, Miss, yes, yes, yes. I am just your adviser." + +"That's all. So that settles it." + +"_So_ like her father. So _very_ like her father," said the old +gentleman, as he bowed us to the door. + +I looked at Jill after we got into the street, and Jill looked at me, +and the wish uppermost in our minds at that moment was to take off our +caps and shout, as we used to do when playing pirates; and the greatest +sorrow in our hearts at the same moment was that we could not do +anything of the sort, because it would have looked so silly. + +When at luncheon that afternoon, auntie told us she would remain with us +until our ship sailed in September, we of course felt very glad. + +"But," I said, "will they not miss you at home?" + +"I was thinking of Mattie." + +"Oh, no," said auntie, "who is to miss me? Poor dear Mattie has her +Mummy Gray, the canaries have Sarah, and Trots has Robert to wash his +feet and exercise him. You see, Reginald, I am free. I love to be +free. That is the sole reason why I do not get married." + +Poor auntie, it struck me even then she did not look much like a +marrying lady; but I did not say anything. + +Captain Coates called in the evening. He was not your beau ideal of a +sailor quite, being rather tall, thin, and dressed like a landsman. The +peculiar feature of his face was his nose. It was a big nose, but sharp +and thin. If his nose had been a circus horse, a clown would hardly +have cared to ride bare-back on it. I may as well state here, at once, +that Captain Coates never drank anything stronger than tea; still his +nose was somewhat flushed at all times, and more so during an east wind. +Mrs Coates was with him, a round-faced, cosy, bonnie wee woman that +Jill and I took to at once. + +She was very proud of her husband, and he was fond of her. + +"Jack," she told us that evening, "is every inch a sailor. Oh, it is +fine to hear him carrying on when we're shortening sail in front of a +puff. And all the men obey him, too." + +Captain Coates laughed aloud--rather a pleasant, hearty laugh it was. + +"Obey me, do they! Quite an exceptional thing on board a ship. +Thunder! Miss Domville, the man who didn't obey me would soon be +scratching an ailing head." + +"That's just his way," Mrs Coates whispered to me. "Jack is such a +fellow.--Oh, by the way, you're called Jack. We'll have two?" + +"Oh, it won't matter much," I said, "I've a whole barrowful of names +besides to pick and choose from." + +"I'm sure you'll like the sea and Captain Coates, and that we shall all +pull together famously. By the way, Miss Domville, I'm taking a maid +again." + +"You had one last time." + +"Yes, and a nice handful she was. Ill for weeks, and I had to attend +upon her. This is a black girl, so humorous, kindly, and good, and been +to sea quite a long time." + +We were very happy that evening, especially when aunt told us that we +were going to India, and that we should call at the Cape and probably +see mamma. + +"Oh," I shouted, "I'm so glad that we played pirates." + +"So am I," cried Jill, and began to dance. + +"Auntie," I said, "promise me one thing. Oh, you must promise." + +"Well, well, if I must promise, what is it?" + +"You'll write and tell mamma we've gone to sea. But don't say _where_. +We want to pop in on her unawares. Don't we, Jill?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well," said auntie, "I'll humour you for once." + +There is always something in this life happening to mar one's joy, just +when it is at its height. That is my experience. But things are wisely +ordered. Heaven does not desire us to get too fond of this world. If +it were all sunshine we would be sure to, and forget there is a happier +land beyond the grave. + +But before we went to bed, auntie told us about the sad fate of poor Tom +Morley. + +She seemed unwilling at first to tell us anything to damp our spirits, +but as we had mentioned Tom, and saw there was something behind her +first simple statement that Tom was dead, we pressed her and she +withheld nothing. + +The brief narrative of his latter end was related to her by Tom's own +quondam shipmate, the man who had come on board for him on that +unfortunate evening before our final foolish adventure on the +_Thunderbolt_; and when we heard it from auntie's lips it made an +impression on us I am never likely to forget. + +Boys do take fancies for persons, whether men or women, whom they get in +tow with--to use a sea phrase--when young, and I think they are more +likely to be lasting ones if these persons have any memorable oddity +about them. Tom had several, his hoarse but not unpleasant voice, his +flower-pot coloured face, and his exceeding good nature when off duty. +To put it in few words, he then used to let us do as we liked. I think +I see Jill yet jumping round him and singing-- + + "Dear old Tom Morley, + Come tell us a storley." + +Then we would catch him and "lug him below" (the phrase is Tom's) and +seat him in his armchair, and even light his pipe for him, and then sit +down to listen. + +Tom's stories nearly always had much about the same plan of +commencement, which was somewhat as follows:-- + +"When I was in the old _Semiramis_, young gentlemen, ah! ships were +ships in them days, and officers and men _were_ officers and men, I can +tell you, and knowed their duty, and did it too, no matter what stood in +their way. Well, one day we were a-cruisin' off a bit o' land,"--and so +on and so forth. + +Yes, we did like Tom. But sad was the pity he had that predilection for +"tossing cans" with friends, else he might have gone aloft in a +different fashion and his body filled an honoured grave. + +But Tom met his old messmate that day, and went off with him, and they +must have a can together for old times, and many more than one perhaps. +The evening probably passed away quickly enough, what with talking of +the dear old days "when ships were ships and you I were young, lad." + +But, according to his friend, Tom pulled himself up with a round turn at +last, and as he pulled out his big, old-fashioned silver watch. + +"Oh dear," he cried, "I'd no idea how the time was flyin'; and those +dear children on board, too, all by their dear little selves. Now, old +chummy, I'm off. Duty's duty, and we may meet again another day." + +"I don't think you can get off to-night to the _Thunderbolt_," replied +his friend. + +"What d'ye mean?" said Tom. + +"Why I mean that it's blowin' big guns." + +"No matter if it blows fifty-sixes or Armstrongs, Tom's goin' off if +birds can fly." + +"There won't be a boat'll take you off to-night, Tom," said the +landlord. + +"Then I'll swim," said Tom Morley, doggedly. "I've done that afore, +when duty was duty." + +"I know you has, Tom; but take my advice, don't try any such foolish +game on a night like this, or you'll get left." + +"Good-night, landlord.--Come on," cried Tom to his friend. + +Away they went together. + +It was past ten by the time they reached the usual steps. No boatman +was there. + +"Tom, come on back. Sleep on shore to-night, old man." + +"What," cried Tom, "and those three darlings on board! Don't ye try to +persuade me, Bill. You knows Tom o' the old. Duty is duty, and Tom'll +face it." + +The moon was shining quite brightly, and though the water was rough, the +wind was favourable. + +"D'ye see the dear old _Thunderbolt_ yonder, Bill? Well, Tom'll sleep +there to-night or--in a sailor's grave. I think I see the anxious wee +faces at the port yonder watching for me. Coming, darlings Tom's +a-coming." + +Tom had kicked off his boots as he spoke; then he relieved himself of +what he called his top hamper. But even now his old shipmate could not +believe him in earnest. He did, though, when Tom darted from his side +and took a header into the tide. + +He swam up close in shore first for a good distance, then struck out +across, but still heading up. For a time his messmate could even hear +him singing a stave of that charming old song-- + +"Good-night--all's well." + +"The last long notes," said his mate, "rang down the wind like a +death-knell." + +And death-knell it was to poor Tom. If ever he reached the ship's +longitude, he must have been carried past her with fearful speed, and-- +the curtain drops. + +CHAPTER TEN. + +BOOK II--PATAGONIA AND THE LAND OF FIRE. + +A STRANGE INTRODUCTION--SAINT HELENA AND FUN ON SHORE--CAPE TOWN. + +The amount of good advice vouchsafed to us before sailing, by dear aunt, +was only equalled by the sum total of our own good resolves. There was +nothing in the world we were not going to do and be that was worth doing +or being. And every night of our lives for weeks before sailing, we +made some new good intention, and duly entered it in the log of our +memories. + +Alas! I fear that going to sea for the first time is very like entering +upon a new year: there is the same firm determination to do good and to +be good, and one invariably sticks to his intentions boldly--for a week +or a fortnight. + +Our life now, I remember, was to be all _couleur de rose_. There would +not be a single hitch in it; it would spin over the wheels of time as +softly as a well-coiled rope glides through a greased block. We were +going to work like New Hollanders, and get up to the working of the ship +in a month at the farthest, be able to reef, steer, and box the compass +in another month; we would always be on deck three minutes before the +watch was called; we would show the men a good example--we certainly had +a good opinion of our little selves; we would be always cheerful and +merry and willing; and last, but not least, we would keep such a log as +would be worth handing over to the British Museum when done with. + +However, there is no harm in trying to be perfect; on the contrary, it +shows a boy is ambitious, and an ambitious boy is certain to do well and +advance. He may not obtain to the height of his ambition, but if he +aims high he'll hit high, nevertheless, although he may neither send his +arrow through the moon nor set the Thames on fire. + +The _Salamander_ was a sailing ship, but a crack little craft at that, +well-handled, and well-manned. A barque she was as to rig, but almost +clipper built, without extra narrowness of beam. She was a strong, +sturdy-timbered, safe ship, and could do a bit of handsome sailing on a +wind. + +But being a sailing ship, she had to be towed by such a puffing little +dirty noisy tug, all the way down the river. This is a sort of a +beginning to a voyage that I never could endure. When I go to sea, I +like best to get into blue water right away, just as I dearly love to +take a header from the rocks into deep water when bathing--right splash +down among the jelly fishes. + +But we hoisted sail at last with a deal of "yee-hoing" and sing-songing, +then the tug and we parted company with a ringing cheer, which Jill and +I took an eminent part in. Indeed, when the order was given to hoist +the jib, both of us attempted to take an eminent part in that also, and +were thunderstruck at being advised to go aft if we didn't want our toes +tramped. Why, the scramble in setting sail, the hurrying here and +scurrying there, the noise and shouting, would have left a Rugby +football match far in the rear. + +When sail was got up at last, and the water had entirely lost its +pea-soup colour, the _Salamander_ went bobbing and curtseying over the +wee wavelets, swaying about like a pretty Spanish girl dancing a +fandango, and with a motion altogether so pleasant, that I said to Jill +I did not think there was any life in the world so pleasant as a life on +the ocean wave. + +Just as I was saying this I received a dig from a thumb in the ribs, +accompanied by that clicking sound a Jehu makes with his mouth when he +wants his horse to "gee up." I think it is spelt thus: "tsck!" If not, +I do not know how to spell it. + +"Tsck! youngsters, how d'y'e like it? Eh! Tsck! Sorry to leave the +shorie-worry. Eh? Tsck." + +He was a youth of about fifteen, in blue pilot jacket with brass +buttons, and a cap on the after-part of his head. He had a short neck +and handsome face, but square chin, which he stuck very much up in the +air when he spoke. I did not like him, then. + +I drew myself up to my full height--four feet six, I think--and asked +him if he was aware he was taking an unwarrantable amount of familiarity +with my ribs. + +I was using my very best English on him--auntie's English. + +"What's your name, chummy?" + +"Captain Coates may be able to inform you." + +"Ha! ha! going to ride the high horse. Eh?" + +"What's your name, little un? Tsck!" This to Jill. + +Jill bridled up now. + +"When I'm as big as you, I'll thrash you," said my brother. + +"But you'll never be, 'cause I'll keep growing. See?" + +I looked at him disdainfully up and down. + +"You don't give promise at present," I said, "of ever attaining heroic +dimensions." + +"Eh?" he said, putting a finger behind his left ear, as deaf people do. +"I didn't catch on. What ship did you say?" + +"Because," I added, "you're squat, and you're not wholesome, nor +handsome." + +This was hardly handsome of me. + +He shook his head now as if in great grief. + +"Oh! you ungrateful little griffin," he gasped out. "Here is poor +innocent me come to chummy with you, and there is you a-rebuffing of me +like everything. I declare it's enough to make the binnacle pipe its +eye." + +Then he brightened up all at once. + +"I say," he said, "was that old duchess your aunt? Uncommon fine old +girl. Give you any yellow boys, eh?" + +I turned on my heel and walked away, arm-in-arm with Jill. + +At the same moment Mrs Coates and her black maid came up, and I was +surprised to observe the immediate change in this young officer's +demeanour. He lifted his hat to the lady, and advanced almost shyly, +certainly deferentially. + +"Now, boys," said Mrs Coates, smiling, "let me make you acquainted with +your brother officer, Mr Jeffries. Mr Jeffries--Master Reginald-- +and-all-the-rest-of-it Jones; Master Rupert, etc, Jones--twin brothers, +as you may see." + +Mr Jeffries cordially shook hands with us. + +"I really was trying to scrape acquaintance with them when you came on +deck, Mrs Coates." + +"How did you proceed?" asked the lady. + +"Well, I--I fear I dug them in the ribs rather, Mrs Coates, but I now +most humbly apologise." + +"And I have to apologise," I returned, "for calling you squat and ugly." +I lifted my hat. + +"And I," said Jill, lifting his hat, "have to apologise for saying I +would thrash you--I won't." + +"No," said Mr Jeffries, "I dare say you won't yet awhile. Well, let's +all be pleasant. We're all in the same boat. But boys, I'm plain +Peter. Don't Mr me." + +"And I'm Jack." + +"And I'm Jill." + +"Oh," laughed Mrs Coates, "then I must call my Jack--John." + +I could not help thinking this was a very strange introduction, but the +ice was broken, and that was everything. + +We had music after dinner, in our pretty little saloon, Mrs Coates and +Peter playing duets together, he with the clarionet--on which charming +instrument every boy should take lessons before going to sea--and she at +the piano. + +We youngsters went on deck before turning in. The stars were all out, +and all sail was crowded; but though well into the Channel, we made but +little way, the sea all round being as calm as an English lake. + +We sat down together near the companion. + +"You don't think me a very nasty fellow now, do you?" said Peter. + +"No, I begin to like you rather." + +"Am I very ugly?" + +"No, not ugly, but you looked conceited." + +"Well, so I perhaps am. Now, I'm lots older than you, and we've known +each other all the evening, so forgive me for trying plainly to put you +up to ropes. You're green, and you must get rid of your lime-juice. +Now, _never_ lose your temper." + +"Oh! Jill," I cried, laughing, "Peter is right, and we've broken our +good resolve." + +"Always take chaff in the spirit it is meant." + +"So we had intended," I sighed, "hadn't we, Jill?" + +"Assuredly." + +"Well, that's all to-night. We're friends?" + +"We are." + +"Then, good-night. I have got to keep the first morning watch." + +"Good-night, Peter." + +"Jill," I said, "we've made fools of ourselves already. Let us go down +below, and turn in." + +So we did, and cosy little cribs we had, and a little cabin all to +ourselves--this is most exceptional, mind, but we were very young. + +Just after we got up from our knees,-- + +"Give us the log-books," I said, "Jill." + +"I say, Jack," said Jill, sleepily, "maybe it would be as well to write +every day's doings complete every morning." + +"I dare say that would be best," I said, "and I must say I'm feeling +very tired." + +Next day it was blowing a bit, and we had something else to occupy our +minds than writing logs. Indeed I never felt so thoroughly bad and +unambitious in my life. I did try to eat some breakfast, but the fish +got it after. Jill was the same, _so_ ill, and the ship would keep +capering about in a way that made me wish I'd been a soldier instead of +a sailor. + +"How're you getting on?" Peter often asked kindly. "Oh, you are not +nearly so bad as I was at first, and on the day the mate rope-ended me +off to my watch." + +"Isn't it blowing hard?" I ventured to ask. + +"Blowing? dear life no, it's a glorious breeze." + +The glorious breeze--how I hated such glory--kept at it for many days. +The sea got rougher and the waves higher, and we got worse. I do not +think anything would have induced me to go near a ship again, if a good +angel had only put me down then at the door of Trafalgar Cottage. + +But every one was kind to us. + +Then one day the mate--he was rather a tartar--put us both in separate +watches, and after this I think our sufferings began in earnest. + +Not a word had yet been written in the log, so that was our third good +intention thrown to the winds. + +It really seemed to me that the mate was cruel; he did not kick us +about, but he sent us flying, on very short notice too. And we dared +not say a word. Then we had all kinds of little menial offices to +perform, even for the captain's cat and for two beautiful dogs that +belonged to the mate. To be sure, there was a boy or two forward, but +the mate told us--Jill and me--that he wanted to make men of us. He +explained that no officer could ever know when a thing was well done +unless he knew how to do it himself. + +Going aloft was at first fearful work. I'll never forget, though, lying +out on a yard making a sham of reefing, and holding on like a fly on a +roof, praying, and expecting every moment to be hurled into the sea. It +came easier at last, and before we reached Saint Helena, where we lay +in, I could do a deal both below and aloft, and had hands and feet as +good as the captain's cat. + +Now if ever the lines of any two boys were cast in pleasant places on +going first to sea, they were Jill's and mine, and yet we were not +happy. What would it have been had we been subjected to the thousand +and one little tyrannies of ship life most apprentices have to endure? +I'm not going to describe them, because I am telling a story, not giving +a lecture; nor do I wish to say a word to prevent bold, hardy lads from +adopting the sea as a profession; but let no one go to be a sailor lured +by the romance and glamour thrown over it in too many sea novels. + +Peter and we got on shore together at Saint Helena. This was a treat, +because we were now quite friendly, and I had not forgotten the good +advice he gave us the first evening we met. + +Leila, Mrs Coates' maid, also had a passage on shore in the same boat, +and Peter, much to the amusement of the men--with whom, by the way, he +was a great favourite--pretended to make love to her all the way. He +told her, to begin with, that her name was sweetly poetic, and pretty. +So far he was right. Then he said her teeth were like pearls. Leila +grinned, simpered, and showed her teeth. And really Peter was not far +wrong. Having adhered to the truth so far, I believe Leila was in a +position to believe anything. So Peter praised her eyes next. He said +they reminded him of koh-i-noors floating in a bucket of tar, and he +referred to the coxswain to say whether he was not right. The coxswain +confessed that diamonds were never so numerous where he had been, as to +float them on tar, but that Leila was pretty enough to make a fellow +pitch a ball of spun-yard at the captain's head if she asked him to. + +For this pretty compliment the coxswain received a dig in the ribs from +Leila that well-nigh sent him overboard among the sharks and turtles, +and certainly took his breath away. + +"Oh!" cried the coxswain. "If that's your way of showing your +affection, my beauty, a little of it goes a long way." + +"What for you tease a poor girl, then?" + +"Your hair, my Leila--" began Peter again. + +"Cut it short, Mr Jeffries," cried the coxswain, laughing; "why, sir, +you can't praise that!" + +"Cut it short!" said Peter; "why it couldn't be shorter. But look at +those crisp wee ringlets, how they curl round one's affections, how they +entwine themselves with every poetic feeling--" + +"Way enough--oars," shouted the coxswain. + +There was indeed way enough. The good fellow had not been keeping his +weather eye lifting, and now the boat took the beach with such force +that nearly all hands caught crabs, the bewitching Leila among the rest. + +Peter made haste to help her up, and assisted her on shore. He even +carried his politeness so far as to offer her his arm along the beach. + +"You go 'long now," she replied. "You nothing but one piccaninny. I +not can gib dis heart ob mine to a child so small as you." + +Jill and I laughed, and Peter laughed good-naturedly, and fell back. + +"Bother it all, boys, she's got the best of me after all." + +Here, in James's Town, as in other places, my brother and I attracted +universal attention, among blacks and whites, by our wonderful +resemblance to each other. And they did not hesitate to show it. For +instance, I was some distance behind Jill and Peter, when I met a bluff +old sailor. + +"Hullo! matie," he shouted, "blessed if I ain't three sheets in the +wind. I could have sworn I met you a minute ago, and there you are +again. I'll go back and have a sleep. Can't go on board like this." + +But when he saw the two of us together, he concluded to go on board, +after treating himself to another glass of beer, and drinking our +healths. So we had to "shout" as Peter called it. + +Before we entered the little inn, which was kept by a highly respectable +man of colour, Peter pushed me unceremoniously into a little stable +place, and told me to wait till come for. + +I obeyed, feeling sure Peter was up to some lark. About five minutes +after, the door was opened, not by Peter, but by a black man in a white +jacket. + +He sprang back in amazement when he saw me. + +"You must be de debbil, sah," he said. + +"Thank you," I replied, "but _you're_ more of his colour." + +The explanation is this: after calling for beer and sherbet, Peter, who +knew the landlord, having been here before, said-- + +"Now, Mr Brown, you see this young gentleman," alluding to Jill. + +"Yes, sah," said Mr Brown, "pertiklerly handsom boy, sah." + +"True," said Peter, "but his chief peculiarity is his ubiquitousness." + +"Yes, sah, sure 'nuff, sah; come to look again, he is rather +obliquitous." + +"He can go through a key-hole." + +The man drew back. + +"Now, come and I'll show you." And upstairs the three went; and after +making sure the window was properly fastened, Jill was duly locked into +the room, and the landlord put the key in his pocket. In a minute after +they returned. The room was empty to all appearance--Jill, in fact, was +behind a chair in a corner. The landlord peeped under the bed, then +stared in blank amazement. + +"Now come on," cried Peter, "we'll find him out of doors. Go and look +in your little stable." + +And there, of course, Mr Brown found me. Meanwhile Jill had got +downstairs, and had hidden himself in the parlour, so that Peter had an +opportunity of ringing the changes on this trick in several ways. + +Finally we both appeared at once. + +"I'm going to pay for the sherbet," said I and Jill both in a breath, +and both extending our hands at once. + +"No, sah," said Mr Brown, "I not touch it. P'r'aps sah, the money is +obliquitous too--ha! ha!" + +We had a deal of fun that day one way or another, and very much enjoyed +our visit to Napoleon's tomb. I believe I should have waxed quite +romantic about that, or about some of the splendid views we saw on every +side of us, but who could be romantic with Peter alongside making us +laugh every moment? + +After returning, we went to climb ladder hill. Every one does so, +therefore we must. The ladder leads up the face of a cliff about four +hundred feet high. + +"I think," said Peter, "I see my way to a final joke before going off. +Jill, old man, you hide down here till I shout from the cliff top, then +come slowly up the ladder, rubbing yourself as if you had tumbled." + +Then up we went. We were in luck. An old gentleman at the top was +watching our ascent from under his white umbrella. We said "good +afternoon," and passed along some little way, and at a sign from Peter I +got into hiding. + +Peter ran back. "Oh!" he cried, "I fear my young friend has fallen over +the cliff." + +"Dear me, dear me," said the old gentleman, looking bewilderedly round, +"_so_ he must have. How very, very terrible." + +"But it won't hurt him, will it?" + +"Hurt him? why he'll be cat's meat by this time." + +"Oh, you don't know my friend," said Peter. "He's a perfect little +gutta-percha ball, he is." + +Then he shouted, "Jill--Jill, are you hurt?" + +And when Jill presently came puffing and blowing up the ladder, and +making pretence to dust his jacket, that old gentleman's face was such a +picture of mingled amazement and terror that I felt sorry for him; so I +suddenly appeared on the scene, and, according to Peter, thus spoiled +the sport. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Jill and I had built all sorts of castles in the air anent our arrival +at Cape Town, and the meeting with our darling mother and brave papa. +We were not in the least little bit afraid of a scolding from either. + +The _Salamander_ was to lie here for a whole week, so we would be +certain to enjoy ourselves if--ah! there always is an _if_. I do not +believe there ever was a castle in the air yet that had not a big ugly +ogre living in some corner of it. Supposing father were killed, or +something happened to mamma. + +But here was the _Cape_ at last, and the bay, and the town, and the +grand old hills above. It was early in the morning when we dropped +anchor, but there was plenty of bustle and stir on the water +nevertheless. The houses looked very white in the sun's glare, which +was so bright on the water that we could scarcely look on it. The hills +were purple, grey, and green with patches of bright crimson here and +there, for it was early summer in this latitude. Indeed, everywhere +around us was ablaze with sunlight and beauty. But all this fell flat +on Jill and me, and we did not feel any near approach to happiness till +the boat was speeding swiftly towards the landing with us. For +somewhere in shore yonder lived, we hoped, all we held truly dear. + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +LIFE AT SEA--POOR FATHER'S DEATH--MATTIE AND I. + +Where did Major Jones of the --th live? + +Was the regiment in town? + +These were only two out of a dozen questions we asked about two dozen +people on the street. And greatly to our astonishment, no one could +give us a definite answer. We thought all the world knew our papa. + +At last we met a smart sergeant of marines, who told us afterwards he +was just up from Symon's Town on a few days' outing. Our father's +regiment had gone to the front, away up country, but he would go with us +to the barracks. He did so, and got an address--that of the house where +the major used to live; and he walked with us that distance, then bade +us good day. + +The door was opened by a little yellow lady wearing a crimson silk +bandana by way of cap. We had hardly spoken ere she guessed we were the +"young massa boys that Ma'am Jones speak so much about." + +"And mother, is she with father?" + +"She was wid Capitan Jones, but she come home to-day, sick." + +"She is here, then?" + +"No, to-day she _come_ home." + +"Is she very ill?" + +"No, bless de lubly lad, no, no ill at all, only sick." + +Here was confusion and grief all mingled up together. + +However, we waited. It was a beautiful room we were in, all jalousied +and curtained, all thoroughly tropical in appearance, while every +nick-nack around us was mother's--her work-box, writing-desk, books, +everything. + +A light carriage stopped ere long, and at a glance we could see it was +mother's. We could not wait any longer, but ran right away down the +garden to meet her. + +Then the scene--which must be imagined. + +Mamma was looking as well and beautiful as ever. She was on sick-leave; +that was what the little yellow Malay lady wanted to convey. + +What a happy, happy week that was. And every hour of it we spent with +mother. The only drawback to our pleasure was that we could not see +poor father. But when we came back--ah! then. + +We had such good news at the end of the week, too--that is good news for +Jill and me, not for the owners' profit, however, including Auntie +Serapheema. It was simply that, owing to delay in lading and unlading, +the _Salamander_ would not be ready for sea for another week. This was +a respite we did not fail to take advantage of, and so we spent it in +going everywhere and seeing everything, in company with mother, of +course, and very often Peter. + +I felt that I liked Peter now better than ever, because he was so +deferential and polite to mamma. No Frenchman had more urbanity about +him than Peter, when he concluded to show it. + +How Jill and I wished that week had been a year. The Cape has always +seemed to me a very delightful dreamy sort of a place. The scenery is +so grand, there is health in every breeze, and the people do not hurry +along in life as they do in the States of America, where one is +surrounded by such a stream of fast-flowing life that he thinks he is +behind the age if he does not sail with it. But at the Cape one can +take time to vegetate and enjoy his existence. + +Up anchor and away again. A few tears at parting, and hopes of a speedy +reunion. It had felt funny, as Jill expressed it, to find mamma amidst +such tropical surroundings, but there was a good time coming, and we +might soon see her back in dear old Trafalgar Cottage. + +Of course Peter and we had fun at the Cape, and Peter played a good many +more of his monkey tricks; but one particular monkey trick was played on +me by a smart-looking Portuguese fellow, whom I will not forget, but am +never likely to meet, so I make a virtue of necessity by forgiving him. + +It was on the forenoon of our sailing. Jill was already on board, and I +myself was about to put off in the very last boat, when the man came up +and politely touched his cap. + +"I sent them all off, sir," he said, "and this is the little bill." + +I glanced at it. One pound 5 shillings 6 pence for various little +nick-nacks, chiefly preserved fruits and other eatables. + +"Ha!" I said to myself, "this is strange." Then aloud: "I never +ordered these things, my man." + +"You forget, sir. Only last night, sir, and you gave me sixpence to be +sure to take them off in time. Will you come with me to the store?" + +"No, no," I said; "it was my brother, doubtless. Here you are, one +pound six shillings. Keep the sixpence because I suspected you." + +I did not see my brother to speak to till dinnertime. + +"Fork over, old man," I said, throwing him the bill. "I paid that for +you, and don't you forget your liabilities when next you leave a foreign +port." + +Jill glanced at the bit of paper, and his look of blank astonishment +told me at once I had been very neatly victimised. So much for being a +twin. + +Peter exploded in a hearty fit of laughter, which went rippling round +the table; and though I looked a little blank--Jill said "blue"--for a +time, I presently joined in the mirth. + +"You see, my boy," said Captain Coates, "that it is quite an expensive +thing to keep a double." + +"Long may he keep his double," said Mrs Coates. + +I grew serious all at once. I glanced just once at poor Jill's innocent +face, while a strange feeling of gloom rushed over my heart. + +Keep my double! Why surely, I thought, it could never be otherwise. I +must always have Jill--always, always. I could no more live without +that brother of mine than I could exist without the air I breathe. + +Perhaps dear Mrs Coates noticed the air of concern her words had +inadvertently called up, for she made haste to change the subject. I do +not know whether she did so very artistically or not, but very +effectually. + +"Have ever you seen oysters growing on trees, Mr Jeffries?" she asked. + +How closely the sublime is ever associated with the ridiculous in this +world! Mirth itself or folly is never really very far away from grief. +The one merely turns its back to the other. + +Oysters growing on a tree indeed! Yet I could not repress a smile, and +I dare say Mrs Coates noticed she was victorious. + +"Oysters growing on trees? Yes, years and years ago." I often noticed +that peculiarity about Peter: he used to speak as if he were indeed a +very old man. And, mind you, one's peculiarities should always be +respected, even if they convey to your mind the idea that the owner is +affected with pride. Because every one has peculiarities, and they are +often faults; but all have faults. + +I think in the present instance Peter would have been pleased if Jill or +I had contradicted him, but we did not. Jill merely said: + +"Wouldn't I like to have trees like these growing in my garden." + +Then Captain Coates explained that Peter referred to the mangrove trees, +with huge bare root-tops, that grew by the seashore in Africa, and +graciously permitted the succulent bivalves to cling to them. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I have heard it said, reader, that there was not much romance about the +merchant service; that, like the glory of war, it all clung to the Royal +Navy. This is not quite true, and were I but to describe one half the +adventures--none _very_ wild, perhaps--and half the fun we had for the +next four years of our life at sea, giving an account at the same time +of the storms and dangers we encountered, and a pen-and-ink picture +graphically told of the lovely lands and seas we made the acquaintance +of, it would be one of the most readable books ever printed. But I have +that to tell of poor Jill and myself which I believe will be far more +absorbing than the every-day events in the life of a sailor. + +Our voyage, then, to Bombay was all that could be desired. Now that +Jill and I really felt ourselves to be seafarers in the strict sense of +the word, we settled down to our life, and began to enjoy it. + +This is a feeling that comes sooner or later to all who make going to +sea their profession, and it is born of the fact that your ship becomes +your home; so that on shore you always feel out for the day or the week, +as the case may be, but as soon as your foot is on deck you feel back +and settled down. It is this feeling I doubt not which makes every true +sailor love his ship. + +From Bombay we went to China, and thence to Sydney, and it was there the +great grief found us, a grief which made Jill and I feel we had left our +boyhood behind us and grown suddenly old. + +We had lost our father! + +He had died, as heroes die, fighting at the head of his regiment, sword +and revolver in hand, against fearful odds. + +I shall not dwell on this sorrow; it had better be imagined. It was +Mrs Coates who broke the news to us, after taking us below to our +cabin. She let us weep as young orphan brothers would, in each other's +arms, unrestrained for a long time, before she broke gently in with the +remark: + +"Dear boys, God is good to you; you still have your mother." + +Oh yes, we still had our mother, and when the first wild transports of +our grief were past, our thoughts sorrowfully reverted to her, and her +lonely life in auntie's cottage by the sea. + +I think the first comfort we really had was in our manly resolves to do +everything that was right, and to be everything that was brave and good, +for the sake of this widowed mother of ours, and out of respect to the +memory of our hero father. + +But as I have said, the grief made us old, and mind you, age goes not +with years; the poor miserable children that beg in the streets of +London, half naked and in rags, whose parents are more unnatural than +the wildest beasts, they, I say, are as old in spirit and heart, and +often in wisdom, as happy young men and women of over twenty-one. + +It was strange, too, that, children though we were, we could not help +feeling that henceforward we would be our mother's protectors. + +Ah, I have to confess, though, that, so hard was the blow to bear, so +intense was the grief we experienced for father's death, we saw no +silver lining to the cloud for many a day, and, at night, neither Jill +nor I could get our hearts quite round those beautiful words in God's +own prayer, "Thy will be done." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +And so months and years flew by, and Jill and I grew big and strong, and +at the age of sixteen we brothers took the position of second and third +mates on the _Salamander_. There really was no such rating as third +mate, but the captain and everyone else who had anything to do with the +ship, knew well we would not be parted if possible. + +In all these years we had only been twice home, for our ship had what +might be called a roving commission. Captain Coates was part owner of +her and the rest of the owners knew well he would do all for the best, +so that when abroad he invariably took whatever turned uppermost in the +shape of trade. When unlading at one port, he seldom knew where he +would be sailing to next. Sometimes we would take several trips back +and fore between the same two ports. In a word, Captain Coates despised +no trade or trip either by which he saw his way to make an honest penny. + +On our last return home, we found that mamma was much more cheerful and +resigned, that Auntie Serapheema had not yet got married. It was not +even rumoured that she had refused many offers. She seemed wholly bound +up in mamma. + +Mummy Gray, Sarah, and Robert, were just as we had left them, Robert and +Trots the pony being both stiffening a trifle with age. + +Mattie was grown almost out of "kenning," as the Scotch say. She had +slipped up, but she was none the less wonderfully beautiful. + +Peter told her in his off-hand way, in Auntie's presence too, that when +she was a few years older he might possibly make love to her, and +probably marry her, but not to build upon this as a promise. + +Mattie told him he was an old man, and he had better marry Sarah. She +said Robert wouldn't mind, because Robert had Trots, the pony. + +Mattie, and Jill, and I, visited the _Thunderbolt_. Mr Moore was still +in charge, and we talked much of old times and poor Tom Morley, but we +did not play at pirates, though Mrs Moore pulled out the black flag and +displayed it. She was always going to keep it, she said, as a memento +of days gone by. + +On board the hulk, Mattie took me aside to show me something, which she +did with sparkling eyes and a heightened colour. It was only the little +letter that I had put on her pillow. + +"But," said Mattie, "of course we always pray for you when far away at +sea, only there is one word in this letter that I don't like, quite I +mean." + +"And what is that, Mattie?" + +"Why do you say, `Poor Jill'?" I do not know how it was, but at that +very moment a kind of shadow passed over my heart: I cannot otherwise +define it--a kind of cold feeling. + +"I don't know, Mattie," I replied, looking, I'm sure more serious than I +intended, for my looks were mirrored in Mattie's face. "I don't know, +Mattie; but I often think something will happen to `poor Jill'--" + +"There it is again--`poor Jill.'" + +"Only," I added, "Heaven, forbid it should be in my lifetime, Mattie." + +"Amen," said the child. + +It was while I was at home this time--this last time for many years-- +that a very curious thing happened. A sailor died at Cardiff, and on +his death-bed called a priest and confessed to him that he alone had +been the murderer of Roderigo, the Spanish sailor and companion of +Adriano, who had suffered so long in prison. + +I felt extremely happy about this, and so did auntie. She, of course, +had not known the story of the man at the time when he was instrumental +in saving Jill and me from probably an ugly fate. I had told her +afterwards, however, when I knew Adriano had gone out of the country. +And, with some show of reason perhaps, both auntie and Mummy Gray +connected him and the murdered Roderigo with the mystery that enshrouded +Mattie's life. + +"He will come again some day," auntie said, "and we will know all." + +"Yes," said Mummy Gray, solemnly, "I hope so." + +The Queen granted Adriano a free pardon. Auntie was disloyal enough to +laugh when she read that piece of intelligence in the newspaper. + +"Pardon for what?" she said, "after having kept the poor dear sailor in +prison and bondage for so many terrible years. It sounds like adding +hideous insult to awful injury." + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +"COME TO ME, JACK, I CANNOT COME TO YOU." + +Peter Jeffries, now chief mate of the dear old _Salamander_, could no +more help chaffing Jill and me, than a monkey can help pulling its +mother's tail. And we used to tell him so. + +For instance, brother and I nearly always kept watch together, merely +for company's sake. You see we were both put in the same watch because +the _Salamander_ required no third mate. So Peter did not hesitate to +remind us often enough that we were only one man between the two of us. +But the fact was we were kept together on the _Salamander_, at auntie's +wish, in order to become perfect sailors under bold Captain Coates, and +not, as Peter would have it, that we might have our socks seen to by +Mrs Coates, and our pocket-handkerchiefs aired by the black but comely +Leila. + +However, by way of paying him out for it, Jill would sometimes keep +Peter's watch for him, and let him have four hours extra in, thus +returning wheat for chaff. + +During the next year of our life, Jill and I grew to to be quite men-- +seventeen, you know, or nearly--and Jill reminded Peter that he could +thrash him now, for we really were taller. + +The resemblance between us was not a whit marred, and to tell you the +truth we took a pride in it, and, just for the fun of the thing, always +dressed exactly alike, even to our scarves. + +About this time we were bound from the Cape to Rio, which we made in +fine form, though we kept a good look-out for Russian cruisers, it being +war time. We often met ships that made us fidget for the time being, +but the danger was never extreme at the best. + +From Rio we started for San Francisco, meaning at first to go round the +Horn, but Captain Coates changed his mind, and determined to penetrate +through the Straits of Magellan. + +We received the first intimation of the captain's intention from Peter, +when he came on deck one lovely morning to join my brother and me in our +walk. + +There was about a six-knot breeze blowing aslant our course from the +south-west by west, so though every stitch of canvas was set, there was +not a deal doing. + +"The old man says you're to keep a few points closer to the wind," said +Peter. + +"All right," I replied, giving the necessary orders. + +Peter was in one of his funny moods to-day, I knew, because he asked +Jill if, having nothing else to do, he would mind whistling for some +more wind. + +"For a capful, if you like," said Jill, merrily; "may I have your cap to +hold it in?" + +"Now, youngster, I own you're smart, but never cheek your superior +officer. Besides, I'm older than either of you, and if you're both good +boys I'm going to marry your sister." + +We laughed outright. + +"Thank you," said Jill, "that is very good. I remember you told Mattie +herself that last time we were home, and I thought at the time cheek +couldn't well go further." + +"If anybody marries Mattie," continued Jill, "it must be Jack." + +"Jack! What! Marry his sister?" + +I grew suddenly serious. + +"My dear Peter," I said, "it is strange that through all these years it +never occurred to me to tell you that Mattie is not our sister, though +we call her so, and love her just the same, but--" + +"Just the same as a sister?" said Peter, interrupting me. He had a +smile on his face, but it was a made one--one of those smiles that curl +round the lips, but never reach as far as the eyes; at the same time in +those eyes was a look of such earnestness as I but seldom saw there. + +Jill and I were standing side by side looking at Peter, and as the +latter spoke, our hands touched. I knew then, as I do now--though +neither my brother nor I ever spoke of it--that the same thought +thrilled through both of us: "Could Peter be in love with our little +Mattie? To be sure she was barely fifteen, but then--" + +"I _ought_ to have told you," I continued, "that there is a sad mystery +about Mattie's birth and parentage." + +"Ha!" said Peter, "a story, eh? Well, we will have it to-night in the +first watch." + +"Very well." + +Peter brightened up again immeasurably. + +"Do you know why we altered course?" he asked. + +"Usual thing, I suppose." + +"No, not the usual thing. + +"We're going to try to push through the straits. Fine weather, clear +skies, a spanking bit of a breeze, and good luck will do it, though it +is risky enough in all weathers for sailing ships, 'cause of course +you're in and out, off and on, tacking and running, and all kinds of +capers, and never off a lee-shore, morn, noon, and night, till you're +out into the Pacific Ocean. + +"Ever hear of Magellan, Greenie?" he continued, looking at poor Jill. +He often called Jill "Greenie," which he said was a pet name. + +Now Jill and I knew all the history of the great navigator of ancient +times. Our Aunt Serapheema took good care of that. + +"Magellan? let me see," said Jill. "Oh yes, there used to be a Magellan +who kept a draper's shop in Upper High Street." + +"Well," said Peter, "that is true enough, but I hardly think that is the +man. However, I've been through the straits before." + +"Do they charge anything for letting you through," said Jill, quietly. + +Peter laughed till he had to wriggle about in all directions. "I tell +you what it is, Greenie, you'll be the death of me some day. Well, we +shall touch at the Land of the Giants." + +"Are there really giants?" + +"I'm not going to spin any yarn from personal experience, child, because +I can't to any extent. But our bo's'n told me it _was_ a land of +giants. There are giant plains--they call them pampas--giant lakes and +rivers, giant hills and forests--awful in their gloom--giant men and +women, giant cocks and hens--" + +"Yes, the ostriches." + +"And the whole is defended round the coast by giant cliffs, alive with +giant birds; but we'll see for ourselves in a day or two, Greenie, if +you'll only whistle for the wind." + +"If it comes." + +"Yes, _if_ it comes." + +That same night in the first watch, which happened to be Peter's, we +told, or rather _I_ told, him all I knew of Mattie's history. + +He was silent for some time afterwards, leaning quietly over the weather +bulwarks, watching the phosphorescence in the sea. That was a glorious +sight indeed, but Peter was not thinking about that at all. "Did it +ever occur to you, Jack," he said at length, "that this Adriano whom you +so befriended--" + +"Who so befriended us." + +"--Might be one of the sailors saved from the wreck? might be even +Mattie's father?" + +"No, no, no," I cried, "not that, Peter. It certainly was unaccountable +that when she first saw Adriano she seemed to recognise him, but +remember that she could have been little over a year old when the +shipwreck occurred. Besides, I wouldn't like to think of Adriano, +friend and all as he must always rest in my memory, being Mattie's +father." + +"Liking has nothing to do with it one way or another." + +"No, certainly not." + +"Assuredly not," from Jill. + +"But," I insisted, "the two shipwrecked sailors assured Nancy Gray that +the lady's husband had not been on board." + +"Jack," said Peter, "you're a capital sailor, but you would have made +but a poor lawyer. Depend upon it there are wheels within wheels in the +mystery that surrounds poor Mattie." + +"It will be all the better if it is never cleared up," I said firmly, +"and I hope it won't be--there!" + +"Well, I think otherwise. But one of the two men told the clergyman +something. Do you know what that was?" + +"No, and it didn't seem to signify." + +"Didn't it? There again I differ, and if you won't think me officious, +I'm going to probe this matter as deeply as I can." + +"Do as you please, Peter; I only hope you won't find out--" + +"What?" + +"Anything disagreeable." + +"No fear of that, Jack. I pride myself in being able to read character, +and there is that in Mattie's face and eyes that tells me she is a lady +born." + +"That has not been denied, Peter." + +"No, but not only of gentle but unsullied birth." + +As he spoke there came again, I thought, that same strange dreamy look +in Peter's eyes; but I could not be sure, though the light from the +companion fell full in his face. + +He extended his hand, and I grasped it. It was as if we were signing a +compact of some kind, I hardly knew what. + +Then Jill and I went below. + +Mrs Coates sat near the stove, which was burning brightly, in her +little rocking chair, reading; her black maid sitting not far off +sewing; in front of the fire a big pleasant-faced cat was singing a duet +with the brightly burnished copper kettle, and the great lamp swung in +its gymbals from a beam over head. + +I could not help pausing in the doorway for a moment to admire the +homelike cosiness of the scene. By and by down came Captain Coates. + +"Jill, my lad," he said, as he seated himself by the little piano, "trot +on deck and relieve Peter a bit." + +When Peter came down he went at once for his clarionet, and we had very +sweet music indeed. + +This, or something like it, is the way we usually spent our evenings in +fine weather. + +In two days time we were, or thought we were, not far off the entrance +to the First Narrows, but the horizon was hazy. + +The same afternoon a great red-funnelled steamer hove in sight, and came +ploughing and churning on in our direction. She was English, and +homeward bound. How glad we were! We did not take ten minutes to +finish our letters. They carried all kinds of tender messages and +wishes and hopes, and told how well and happy we were and expected to +remain. + +I went in charge of the boat with the letters, and was very kindly +received. As I stood on the deck of the fine steamer, I really could +not help wishing I was going home. It was but for a moment; then I +remembered I had duties that called me elsewhere. + +The ships parted with cheers, and the flock of seagulls, Cape pigeons, +and albatrosses that had been following the steamer divided, one half +going on after her, the others electing to share our fortunes, and pick +up our cook's tit-bits from off the water. + +We were now in Possession Bay, which surrounds the entrance to the First +Narrows of Magellan Straits; but though the wind was fair, there was a +strange haze lying low all round the horizon, so our good captain +determined to keep "dodging" or tacking about till the weather should +clear. + +Captain Coates had told us at dinner that for his part he would sooner +go round the Horn any day, than through the Straits, but he had +important business at Sandy Point--a Chilian town of small dimensions on +the Patagonia shore--and--"duty is duty." + +The sun went down blood-red in the haze, and with as little sail as +possible on her we went tacking to and fro. Two great albatrosses were +sailing round and round, sometimes coming so close that we could hear +the rustle of their feathers and note the glitter of their green eyes +and the shape of their powerful beaks. I could not help thinking of the +words of Coleridge in that weird poem, "The Ancient Mariner." + + At length did come an albatross, + Thorough the fog it came, + As if it had been a Christian soul + We hailed it in God's name. + + And a good south wind sprang up behind, + The albatross did follow, + And every day for food or play + Came to the mariner's "hollo!" + +It may have been these lines that I conned over to myself, or the +mournful sough to that was in the wind to-night; but, at all events, +some sort of heaviness seemed to lie about my heart that I could not +account for. + +About three hours after sunset, the moon had asserted itself. Very high +in air it shone, right overhead almost, and although but half a moon, +was exceedingly bright and silver-like. But half-moons give the stars a +chance, and to-night, though the haze lay houses high all along the +horizon, the sky above was darkly blue, and so clear that you could mark +the changing radiance of colour of many of the stars that sparkled as +dew-drops do in the sun's rays. + +I noted all this with satisfaction, I cannot say with pleasure. There +was that unbanishable feeling of heaviness at my heart, which I have +mentioned. It was getting late, however, so I went below to our cosy +saloon, and was soon chatting cheerfully with our little mother, Mrs +Coates. As I was turning to come down the companion, I had heard Peter +sing out to Jill, "Oh, look at that great grampus!" And both had gone +to see it. + +We expected the captain down every minute to play, as was his wont, and +rather wondered he did not come. + +Suddenly on deck was heard the sound of footsteps hurrying aft, and at +the same moment that awful shout--who that has ever heard it is likely +to forget it till his dying day--? + +"Man overboard!" + +Mrs Coates started to her feet, clutching at the arm of the chair to +prevent herself from falling. + +With a sudden and terrible fear at my heart I went rushing up the +ladder. + +Peter was there--alone. + +"Where is Jill?" I gasped. + +"It is he," was all he could answer. + +I knew where he had fallen, from the direction in which all eyes were +turned. A life-buoy had already been thrown, and the usual hurried +orders were being issued. + +From out of the dark depths of the sea I thought I could hear my +brother's voice, as I had heard it once before, in innocent pleading +tones, when he was a child-- + +"Come to me, Jack, come to me; I cannot come to you." + +Next moment _I_ was in the water, and the ship was some distance off. +She seemed to move _so_ fast away. + +Here was the life-buoy. In my anguish I dashed it aside. _I_ could +support my brother. Many a time I had done so in the waves before our +cottage door at home. + +I felt glad the ship had gone, with her noise and bustling decks. I +could listen. + +"Jill," I shouted, "coo-ee! Jill, I'm here." + +Then, to my joy, a faint answering shout came down the wind. + +On--on--on I swam. Taking desperate strokes. Shouting one moment, +listening the next. + +At last, at last. + +He was sinking, but I was not weary. + +I remember hearing the clunk-clank of the oars of a coming boat. + +Then that was lost to me; there came a terrible roaring in my ears, +sparks flashed across my eyes, and-- + +When next I became conscious, I was lying in my bunk. + +One anxious glance upwards. Oh, joy! it was Jill's hand I held in mine. + +So I slept. + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN--FIRELANDERS--THE STORM--THE SHIP STRIKES. + +To rub shoulders with death always leaves a chilly feeling in my heart +for a day or two. It is as though the King of Terrors had just +encircled me for one brief moment in his icy mantle, and let me free +again. + +I felt thus next morning, anyhow, but very thankful to Heaven, when I +saw Jill quietly dressing. I did not chide him. + +"Are you better, brother?" he said, with his father's smile. + +I knew he was penitent, and grateful, and all the rest of it, because he +said "brother." At ordinary times I was simply "Jack." + +I was softened. + +"I'm all right," I answered. "But, Jill, you _must_ be more careful." + +"I'll try, brother." + +Then I turned out, and began to dress, singing as usual. + +Mrs Coates did come to breakfast, but looked worn and nervous. Peter +was full of banter and nonsense. Captain Coates was keeping watch to +let Peter "feed," as Peter called it. But presently our worthy skipper +would come below, and make a terrible onslaught on the cold ham. +Nothing ever interfered with his appetite much. He was a philosopher, +although a lean one, and always looked upon the bright side of life, and +the bread-and-butter side. + +"I sha'n't get over the fright for a month," said poor Mrs Coates. +"Peter tells me he was standing on the bulwark, hardly holding on to +anything." + +"I've scolded him well," I said, "and if we meet the mail boat I've a +good mind to send him back to mother and Mattie." + +"Wouldn't you feel lop-sided, Jack, without the child?" said Peter. +"And the _Salamander_ would only have half a second mate. No; we'll +stick to Jill, only next time he wants a cold bath, we'll find means to +oblige him without having to call all hands." + +"Mrs Coates, I'll have another egg, please," said Jill. + +"Well," said Peter, "by all the coolness--" + +"Hands make sail!" + +This last was a shout on deck, and in five minutes more we were all +"upstairs," as Mrs Coates phrased it. + +We were entering the First Narrows, the low, moundy shores of Patagonia +on our right, the gloomy grandeur of the frowning mountains of Tierra +del Fuego on our left, the sea all dark between. + +I have said "gloomy grandeur," but gloom can hardly be associated with +glaciers, ice, and snow; and surely, too, the myriads of wheeling birds +were doing all they could to dispel the gloom; still, it lay on the sea, +it hung on the dark cliffs, and hovered on the mists that had not yet +risen from the mountain summits. + +Indeed, everything in and around this strange ocean highway has an air +of gloom. You cannot help feeling you are at the end of the world. +There is something weird in the very appearance of the water, weird and +treacherous too; and albeit the forests that clothe the lower sides of +the mountains, some hundred miles farther on, are wildly picturesque, +surmounted as they are by rugged hills, snow-white cliffs, and +glittering glaciers, they look black, inhospitable, threatening. + +The weather continued fine, the wind was fair. We kept quietly on all +day, through the Second Narrows, and into Broad Reach, the captain +having timed things well. The wind was now more abeam, but less in +force, so that we should make a pleasant night of it. + +Never have I seen a more glorious sunset than we now had. To gaze on +that splendid medley of light and colour, that hung over the western +hills, seemed to give one a foretaste of the beauty of heaven itself. +But with all its dazzling, thrilling loveliness, it did not make us feel +happy. At all events it kept us silent. + +Next day, early, we reached Sandy Point. A strange wee town of long, +low wooden huts with shingle roofs, a little church, a great prison, and +a ricketty pier, very foreign-looking, and not at all elevating to the +mind. But the gentleman--a Chilian he was--who came off to transact +business with Captain Coates was the quintessence of politeness, doubly +distilled. + +We had to stop two hours here, so Jill and I, with Mrs Coates, went on +shore to see the giants, and buy guanaco skins for our friends at home. + +The giants were not in. At least I saw none of them. But there were +shops, and I fear that both Jill and I spent more money on ostrich +feathers than we had any right to do. + +Early in the afternoon we once more weighed anchor, and stood away down +the Reach, the breeze keeping steadily up all day, but, unfortunately +for us, going down with the sun. It was my watch from twelve till four; +the moon did not shine out brightly to-night, being obscured with +clouds, a by no means unusual occurrence in this dreary region. + +Jill did not keep me company either; he was tired, he said, and had +turned early in. Perhaps it was this fact that was the occasion of my +strange depression of spirits, a depression which I could neither walk +off nor talk off, nor gambol off, albeit I tried hard to do so with our +dogs, the beautiful deerhound and collie. They indeed appeared as +little inclined for play to-night as I had ever seen them. + +"They seems to have something on their minds," said Ritchie, a sturdy +old sailor who had sailed the seas off and on for twenty years. + +"You're not superstitious, Ritchie?" I asked. + +Ritchie took three or four pulls at his pipe before he replied. + +"I dunno, young sir, what you'd call superstitious, but I've seen some +queer things in my time, and something was sure to 'appen arterwards. +Once, sir--" + +"Stay, Ritchie," I cried. "Don't let's have any of your ghost stories +to-night I couldn't stand them. The truth is, I'm a bit down-hearted." + +"Go and have a tot o' rum; I'll j'ine you." + +"No, Ritchie, that wouldn't do either you or me good in the long run. +But I dare say I'm feeling a trifle lonely; my brother isn't the thing, +I fear." + +"Nonsense, sir, nonsense. Never saw him looking better, nor you either, +sir. I knows what's the matter." + +"Well?" + +"It's the _musgo_ that's coming." + +"The musgo?" + +"_Ay_, you're new to the Straits, I must remember. The musgo is a fog, +`a fiend fog' I've heard it called. You always feel low-like afore it +rolls down. To-morrow, sir, you'll hardly see your finger afore you." + +"So dark!" + +"It's dark and it's white--just as if it rolled off the snow, and so +cold. You'll see." + +"You said this moment, Ritchie, I wouldn't see." + +This was a most miserable attempt at a joke on my part, and I felt so at +the time. + +Ritchie laughed as if it was his duty to laugh. + +"Look, look!" I cried. "Look at the fire away in shore yonder, near +the cliff foot." + +"I sees him." + +"And look, another on the lee bow--if we have a lee bow to-night-- +another on the quarter, and is that one far away yonder like a star?" + +"That's one. Them's the canoe Indians a signalling to each other." + +"The natives of Tierra del Fuego?" + +"Yes, drat 'em, and a bad, treacherous lot they be. They're saying +now--`Look out, there is a barque becalmed.'" + +"Would they attack a ship?" + +Ritchie laughed. + +"Give them a chance only," he said, "and there isn't a more murderous, +bloodthirsty lot ever launched a boat. + +"I was broken down here once, or a bit farther up. It was in the little +steamer _Cordova_, a Monte Videan. Smashed our seven, we did. Very +little wind, and hardly a bit o' sail to hoist. They weren't long in +spotting the difficulty. Durin' the day, a miserable-looking woman and +boy came in a canoe to sell skins and to beg. They must 'ave spotted +that we had only a few hands. For at the darkest hour of midnight the +ship was attacked." + +"Anything occur?" + +"Well, it was like this: There wasn't a longer-headed chap ever sailed +than our skipper. A Scot he was, and clever for that. He knew these +Fuegian fiends well, and was prepared. + +"We had lights ready to get up at a moment's notice. If we'd had arms +we'd have used those, but with the exception of two or three revolvers +we were defenceless. But we had coals, lumps as big as the binnacle. +And we had boiling water and the hose ready. Mercy on us though, young +sir, I think I hear the blood-curdling yell of those savages now, as +they boarded at our bows. Up went the lights. Up came the hose, and-- +they caught a Tartar. It was cruel? Maybe, but it was self-defence." + +"And the coals?" + +"We sank their canoes with these. A kick would knock a Fuegian canoe in +bits any day, so our task was easy. They sent an arrow to the very +heart of poor Bill Wheeler, and he fell backwards dead, and they +harpooned another of our men; but few of them went back with a whole +skin, I'll warrant." + +Before my watch was over there was no more wind than would have sufficed +to move a child's paper boat, but the night was not quite so dark, the +moon escaping now and then to cast a few silvery rays on the water or +light up the rugged tops of the distant sierras, then being speedily +engulfed once more in great inky-dark clouds. + +The situation was by no means a desirable one, for currents run here +like mill streams, and we were a measurable distance from the wild, +desolate shore. + +Ritchie was right; and when I went on deck next morning before +breakfast, I found that the musgo was thick and white around us, and +though it was easy enough to see one's finger at arm's length, it is no +exaggeration to say it was impossible to see the jib-boom end from the +foremast. + +We must have been somewhere off Point Gallant, in an ugly place, so it +is no wonder the captain concluded to anchor if he could get near enough +to find soundings. + +The wind was rising now, and though but in puffs which just gave the +_Salamander_ a send now and then, we were forging ahead at perhaps two +knots an hour. + +It continued like this all day long, but the wind had increased by +evening, and almost threatened a gale. We could not now be far off the +English Reach, which, as a glance at a map will show you, is narrow, and +therefore dangerous in the extreme. So long, therefore, as we had a +surety of width of water, we determined to lay to with as little sail as +possible on her. + +Night seemed to come on a full hour sooner. It was a night I shall +never forget. Anxiety was depicted on every face that there was a +chance of getting a glimpse at. And though the captain tried to speak +cheerfully in his wife's presence, it was evident his thoughts were not +with his words. Every extra puff of the still rising wind must have +felt going through his heart like a knife. I know it did through mine. +Even Peter was serious for once. + +On going forward I saw Ritchie standing by the winch. + +"What do you think of it now, Ritchie?" I asked. + +"Think of it, lad?" he replied. "I think it's likely to be a case with +the old _Salamander_ before four bells in the morning watch." + +"You're a pessimist," I said. This was a favourite expression of poor +aunt's. + +"It's the _mist_ that'll do it," he said. "Look, see sir, if the wind +gets no higher the musgo will continue. Then we may drift quietly on +shore and strike. If it does blow a real gale, away goes the musgo and +out comes the moon; that would be a poor enough outlook, but we'd see +what we were doing." + +Hour after hour went by, and though the storm increased, there was never +a sign of the musgo rolling off. No one thought of turning in to-night. +The captain never even suggested when he came below, as he now and then +did, that even Mrs Coates should go to her cabin. + +There was something very awful in this waiting, waiting, waiting. And +for what? Had any one dared ask himself this question, he would hardly +have been brave enough to have answered it. + +It must have been about four in the morning. I could not say for +certain, for bells I do not think had even been struck, when suddenly, +without a moment's warning, the wind increased to a shrieking, roaring +squall of more than gale-force, and next minute we had struck and were +engulfed in breakers. + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +WE LEAVE THE DOOMED SHIP--PURSUED BY SAVAGES. + +I was in the saloon at the time, and everything seemed to fall together, +as it were. It felt as if the ship's bottom were dashed _in_ and +upwards, and when I struck a light--for the lamp had been extinguished, +though it did not leave the gymbals--all was chaos in our once cosy wee +saloon. Piano, chairs, books, ornaments, all mixed up together. I +hastened to help Mrs Coates to her feet, and called to the steward to +gather up the burning coals off the deck, else with the spilt oil we +should be on fire. + +No need, for a green sea came tumbling down the companion, and surged +foaming in at the doorway, till we stood ankle deep in water. Another +and another followed. The wind roared with redoubled violence. Then +louder than the wind and the voice of the sea, came the crash of a +falling mast. The squall appeared to have done its worst now, and +though the seas continued to break against and over us, it was more in +sheets of spray than in green water. We had gone on shore stem +foremost, and were firmly wedged between two low bush-clad cliffs. + +Now slowly, almost imperceptibly, the wind went down, and the musgo +rolled away, and when morning broke cold and drearily over the sea and +hills, the sky was comparatively clear, our position could be clearly +defined and our danger could be faced. + +Three poor fellows had fallen under the wreck, and were either killed at +once or quickly drowned. A few others were wounded or bruised, and all +were shaken. + +The boats to the number of three--whalers they were--remained intact. + +We were in a kind of wooded cove, with hills rising high at each side +save on the sea-board, and far away above us was a region of ice and +snow, with a cataract tumbling its waters apparently out of the very sky +itself. + +When the sun rose at last, dismal as was our plight, I could not help +admiring, nay, even marvelling at, the beauty of the scenery around us. +It was grand beyond compare. + +We were in no immediate danger. We appeared to have been lifted in on +the top of an immense wave, and deposited between the cliffs and on a +hard flat bottom, from which we could not slide. There were timbers +from her lower sides floating about us even now that told their own sad +tale. + +The ship was doomed, but we who were spared had much, very much, to be +thankful for. + +The captain consulted with Ritchie, who was carpenter on board, besides +holding some other rating. He was not only the oldest on board, but by +far the most experienced. It was resolved at once to put ourselves in a +state of preparation, for the savages would assuredly find us out before +long. + +Then we went to prayers. + +I need hardly say they were solemn and heart-felt. + +There was no time to be lost now, however. We must get ready at once to +leave the wreck, and in boats make the best of our way eastward towards +Sandy Point. Whether we could do so in peace and safety remained to be +seen. + +We were in the hands of an all-seeing Providence; we could but say "Thy +will be done," and leave the rest to Him. + +"We had better bury the dead on shore, Ritchie?" said the captain. + +He really was asking a question for information. He seemed to quite +defer to Ritchie. + +"I wouldn't do that, sir. These canoe Indians are cannibals, and +they'll have 'em up and eat them as sure as one belayin' pin's like +another. No, sir, it'll be just as quick to tack 'em up and give 'em a +sailor's grave." + +"You see to that then, Ritchie. Will you take charge of the boat, Mr +Jack? Thank you." + +The broken and buried corpses of the poor fellows were speedily sewn in +hammocks, which were heavily weighted with iron, and taken out to sea as +far as we dared to go; and then, while the solemn burial service was +read by Ritchie, one by one they were dropped overboard, and sank into +the murky water with sullen booming plash. As he closed the book, +Ritchie looked round him on all sides, but there was no sign of savages +to be seen, neither smoke on shore nor canoe at sea. Nor was there any +sound to break the stillness except the plaintive cry of a sea-bird; and +yet who could tell what eyes of Indians the forest might not hide? + +On our return we found our comrades all very busy indeed. + +Poor Mrs Coates, looking very pale and resigned, sat on the companion. +Woman-like, even in this dire strait she had not forgotten to bring a +basket with her, and Leila clutched another. Both were warmly clad, and +both wore guanaco mantles, the very garments we had purchased at Sandy +Point. + +Captain Coates put another question to Ritchie: + +"Should we or should we not fire the ship, Mr Ritchie, think you?" + +"For the matter o' that," replied Ritchie, "I'd as soon feed snakes in +the woods as put any good thing in the way o' these cannibal fiends, but +I think, sir, leaving the ship for them will be our salvation. You ask +my opinion, sir, and I give it. The wind is changing round already. +It's a way the winds have here, where the Pacific and the Atlantic seem +to me to fight for mastery like. We needn't be in a hurry then to leave +the ship till they come." + +"You feel sure they'll come?" + +"Ah! never doubt 'em, sir. When they see we're leaving the ship, they +won't chase us till they've cleared the wreck. My advice is, have up +the 'baccy for 'em all ready, and the rum too. Let them look for +everything else." + +"You seem obliging to them." + +"There's a method in my obligingness, sir. Let's leave the rum in +different jars about, and cut the 'baccy all in bits and scatter it over +the decks. Wolves, sir, fighting over a dead horse'll be nothing to the +scramble they'll have for the 'baccy and rum." + +The boats were now lowered and laden with the ship's valuables. Each +boat was well provisioned, and supplied with water and rum, and also +armed. + +The men were twenty and two, all told, giving about five to each of two +whalers, and seven to the largest whaler or cutter, as she was sometimes +called. The captain himself took charge of this, his wife and Leila as +passengers; Peter took command of the second boat, and I of the third, +in my boat Ritchie being rifleman. Jill, it is needless to say, came +with me, his elder brother. Ah! that five minutes of difference in our +ages made me the man, you see, and Jill the child, and I would not have +had it otherwise for all the world. + +The day wore on. Noon passed, yet never a sign of Indian was seen. So +we did what all right-thinking Englishmen would have done under the +circumstances. We dined. + +We made both ladies swallow a ration of rum. Poor Mrs Coates' eyes +watered, and Leila became a little hysterical and finally cried. + +The wind went round and round, till at last it was fair. + +Everything looked _so_ propitious. But why did not the savages appear? + +"I have it, sir," said Ritchie. "They're waiting to attack us at night, +and I now propose we start. They're hidden somewhere, depend upon it." + +Ritchie was right, and no sooner had we got fairly into the offing, than +out their canoes swarmed after us. + +"Keep well together in a line," cried the captain, "and stand by to give +them a volley." + +Ritchie stood up in his boat, and shouted at the foremost boat in broken +Spanish. He tried to tell them that the tobacco was in the ship. + +But on they came. Mrs Coates and Leila were made to lie down in the +boat, and only just in time, for a shower of arrows flew over us next +minute. + +"Fire!" + +Half a dozen rifles rang out in the still air, dusky forms sprang up in +the canoes and fell to rise no more. Again and again our guns spread +death in their ranks, and the nearer they came the hotter they had it. + +We had spears in the boats, boarding pikes and axes. Would we have to +use them? For a moment it seemed likely. All sail was set, and almost +every hand was free for a tulzie that, if it came, would indeed be a +terrible one. + +One more telling volley. Would they now draw off? Yes, for over the +water from the wreck came a mingled shout and yell. The canoes at once +were stopped. Greed did what our guns had failed to accomplish. Murder +and revenge are sweet to a savage, but tobacco and rum are sweeter +still. + +In ten minutes time we and our dusky foes were far apart indeed, the +savages having a grand canoe race back to the wreck, we dancing away +over the waves and heading straight for the east. + +"Thank Heaven," said Ritchie, fervidly, "they're gone." + +"Do you think we could have beaten them off, Ritchie?" I asked. + +"One can never tell how things will go in a hand-to-hand fight. Not as +ever I've been in many, but, bless your innocent soul, lad, I've come +through so much. I came to close quarters once on the African shore +with a crowd o' canoes just like that. I could have sworn we'd have +beaten them off easy. And so we might have done, if our boats had +continued on an even keel. But that wasn't their game. No, they threw +themselves like wild cats on one gunwale, and over we went. They had us +in the water; and by the time a boat shoved off from the _Wasp_ and came +to our assistance, there was hardly a man among us left to tell tales." + +"That was fearful!" + +"Ye see--haul aft the main sheet a bit--you see, sir, mostly all savages +has their own ways o' fightin', their own tactics as you might say. +Drat 'em all, I say." + +"You don't believe in the noble savage?" said Jill. + +"Not same's they make 'em nowadays, sir. 'Cause why, we white men have +spiled them. And now we want to kill 'em all off the face o' the earth. +It's just like an ignorant old party having a dog for a pet. He's +everything at first, and the very cat takes liberties with him, till one +day he snaps. It's only natural, but what does the ignorant old party +do?--why puts him in a bag and drowns him. It's the same wi' the +savage: the white man has spoiled him, and now he thinks he'd better get +rid of him entirely. Well, young gentlemen, by your leave I'll have a +smoke. You've got the compass all right, Mr Jill? Thank ye. 'Cause +if the weather changes for the worst, then--" + +"Hush, hush. Why you _are_ a pessimist!" + +"I don't know that ship. But never mind. You don't smoke?" + +"N-no," said Jill, "not yet." + +"Let me catch him at it," I said. + +"What have ye got under the sail, sir?" + +"Why, the dogs," said Jill, laughing. "You didn't think I was going to +leave them, did you? Look here." He lifted the corner of the sail as +he spoke, and there, sure enough, were Ossian the noble Scottish +deerhound, and Bruce the collie. + +"Mind," continued Jill, "both o' these would have done a little fighting +if the worst had come to the worst." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The wind held steadily from the west and by north, and blew stiff after +a time, but the boats sailed dry--neither were far distant from the +other--and everything was as comfortable as could be expected under the +sad circumstances. + +"If there doesn't come any more north in it than this," said Ritchie, +with a glance skyward, "it'll do. But, you see, we ought to be heading +up Famine Reach now." + +"What a name!" said Jill. + +"Ay, and there is a sad and terrible story to it too, that some day I +may perhaps tell you." + +The afternoon wore slowly away, neither Jill nor I saying much; Ritchie, +with his old-world yarns, doing nearly all the talking, and indeed it +was a treat to listen to him. There was nothing of the nature of what +are called sailor's yarns about Ritchie's talk, but an air of +truthfulness in every sentence. Many a time by the galley fire in the +dear lost _Salamander_, when asked by some of the men to "spin 'em a +yarn," Ritchie would reply-- + +"If I thinks on anything as has really happened, I'll tell that. Mind +ye, men," he would add, "I'm going on for fifty. That ain't a spring +chicken, and I've knocked about so much and seen such a deal, that if I +tells all the truth an' nobbut the truth, why I'll be seventy afore I'm +finished. By that time I reckon it'll be time to clear up decks to +enter the eternal port." + +Now, being senior officer, I really was in charge of the boat, still I +determined to take advice in everything from Ritchie, as in duty bound, +he being my superior by far and away both in age and experience, and I +may add in wisdom. + +So, when near sundown, I asked him if the men should eat, he shook his +head and said--"Not yet awhile." + +I did not feel easy in my mind at the answer, nor at his presently +relapsing into silence, pulling harder at his pipe than usual without +seeming to enjoy it, and casting so many half-uneasy glances skywards. + +I feared that we were not yet out of danger. Jill had gone to sleep in +the bottom of the boat, and somehow this also made me nervous and +uneasy. I drew the sail over him with the exception of his face, and +there he lay snug enough to all appearance, his head pillowed on the +collie's shoulder. I could not help wondering to myself where he was in +his dreams. At home, I could have wagered two to one--two turnips to a +leg of mutton, for instance. + +Presently his features became pained, set and rigid, and his hands were +clutched in the sail, while he moaned or half screamed like one in a +nightmare. + +Ritchie noticed it too. + +"Call his name. Call his name, sir. That's allers the way to bring 'em +out of it." + +Well, desperate diseases need desperate remedies, so I did call his +name--in full too. + +"_Rupert Domville Ffoljambe-Foley Jillard Jones_" I shouted, so loud +that the other boats must have thought I was hailing them. + +Jill sat bolt upright, looking bewildered. + +Ossian and Bruce jumped up and barked. + +The men all laughed, and no wonder. + +"Well," said Ritchie, "blow me teetotally tight if ever in all my born +days I 'eard sich a name as that 'afore. Why 'twould wake old Rip +himself. After that I think the men better have 'alf a biscuit and a +bite o' bacon. It'll do 'em good--after that." + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +LOST IN THE SNOWSTORM--WHAT WE SAW IN THE FOREST. + +We all felt "heartier," as Ritchie phrased it, after our dainty morsel +of supper. The pork, of course, was new, and, sailor fashion, we dipped +our biscuits in the sea, to give them a relish, before we ate them. + +The dogs shared just as if they had been part of the crew. So they were +for that matter. + +The wind fell off as the sun sank behind the snowy mountains, fell off +and off, till we were becalmed. Then I gave the orders-- + +"In sail," and "out oars." + +After spanking along under sail for so long a time as we had done, to be +reduced to rowing seems dreary work. However, there is nothing like the +sea for teaching one patience, so we did not murmur. + +The sunset was gorgeous enough, in all conscience, and played all sorts +of fantastic tricks of colouring among the snowy cliffs, peaks, and +glaciers, making a picture such as few artists could, if they would, +produce on canvas, or would dare to if they could. + +As we had nothing else to do, Jill and I sat silently staring at the +ever changing sky, with as much inward pleasure as ever child gazed upon +the flowers in a kaleidoscope. + +Even after the sun had set entirely, the sky was wondrous in its beauty. +It seemed to me as if the artist Nature, whom we all try to copy, were +mixing her colours to commence some great new work, and that the sky was +her palette. + +But that palette itself was a picture, oh how grand and solemn! First +we had the sea, darkling now under the shadows of the giant hill, yet +borrowing tints from the clouds. Then the wild wooded cliffs, and +pointed rocks looking almost black against the background of snow and +ice rising up, and up, and up its sharpest lines, softened till it ended +in the rugged serrated horizon. + +High up in the heavens, where in the rifts the sky could be seen, it was +of a light cerulean blue, pure, ethereal, the grey clouds in bars and +piles, still the same shaped bars of cloud lower down; but here the +rifts of sky were of an ineffably lovely tint of pale sea green, and the +clouds were purple, while all along the horizon the naked sky was of the +deepest orange, almost approaching to crimson, all aglow with light. + +Even as we gazed, a change came over the spirit of the scene; for the +green rifts changed to a milky white, with a hazy blush of crimson +floating over it, borrowed from the splendour beneath and beyond. + +Still another change: the rifts away to the north and the south had all +turned to sea green, and right in the east, when we look round, we find +that the higher clouds that erst were grey and dull, are now a burning +bronze and crimson. + +Then the clouds kept borrowing each other's colours at second hand. But +at last crimson and yellow changed to lurid bronze and purple, then to +grey and to darker grey, and soon, out from the only green rift left, +shone a pale star. + +It is night. + +The air is chill and cold. Birds--strange, wild, low-flying creatures +whose names we know not--hurry past us, or over us, to their eeries in +some distant rock, and the silence is unbroken save by the clunk-clank-- +clunk-clank--of the oars in the rowlocks. + +Jill is leaning against me, and I feel him shiver slightly. + +"Jill," I say, "you're not well, old man." + +"Oh yes, brother, I'm well enough." + +"But you're not downright, jolly well." + +"I feel a trifle shivery, that's all, brother. I had an ugly dream; and +besides, I don't think I've quite recovered my sea-bath yet." + +"Look 'ee here, sir," said Ritchie. "That young man isn't quite the +thing. Now I'm going to prescribe. He's going to bed down among the +dogs, and what's more, he's going to sleep. He'll have a tot o' rum as +medicine. There are times, gentlemen, when such a thing may do good. +Now's one o' them. And if he doesn't wake up early in the morning his +old self, then my name isn't Ted Ritchie." + +I left my brother in Ritchie's hands, and soon he had him snug in bed. + +There was more moonlight to-night, but still the moon had a struggle for +it. + +I happened to be looking behind me towards the bay where we had left the +good old _Salamander_, and Ritchie was looking too--both thinking the +same thoughts perhaps--when suddenly a huge pear-shaped column of +fire-rays shot up into the sky, then gradually died away. We spoke not, +but listened, till over the water came a dull crashing rumble, the like +of which I had never heard before. The sound died away among the hills +like thunder. + +"She's gone," said one of the men, and for a few moments all lay on +their oars. + +"_Ay_, right enough," said Ritchie, "and there's more'n a score o' them +sea-fiends gone with her, I'll warrant. + +"It's the gunpowder we were taking to Honolulu that's done it," he +continued. + +"A pity," I said, "we did not throw that overboard." + +"I dunno so much about that. Those Indian savages would have had to die +sometime. It's just as well now, as before they do more mischief." + +I laughed. + +"That is queer philosophy," I said; "we should never do evil, nor wish +for evil, that good may come. I wonder how they managed it." + +"Why, sir, they're as inquisitive as monkeys--they be. They would find +out a barrel and take it for rum. Off would come the lid, one fellow +holding the light. A dozen hands would be plunged in, and they would +taste the black stuff. Well, they wouldn't like it, and one savage +would pitch a handful at the other. That would _begin_ the fun. We've +just heard how it _ended_. Well, gentlemen, I feel a sort of satisfied +now, for blame me if I half liked the idea of leaving our old bones +there for these savages to pick at." + +A red gleam now illumined the sky where we had noticed the flash; it was +evident the old _Salamander_ was on fire, and burning fast and +furiously. + +"Now, then," I said presently, "I'll take the first watch, Ritchie. You +turn in there. You go to the dogs with Jill." + +"Ay, sir; and I'll sleep sound now I've seen the last of my dear old +ship." + +As the night wore on I was concerned to notice the moon become obscured. +Although on the water there was not a puff of wind, still, high over +head, the clouds were hurrying over the sky from east to west. +Something was coming, but I did not care to wake Ritchie yet. He needed +all the rest he could get, having been awake so long and working so +hard. + +It grew very dark now, and I could not see the other boats, though they +must have been close at hand. We had kept well together on purpose, for +we cared not to show signal lights. + +Presently there came a puff of wind. Then almost before words could +describe it, a snow-squall. It was the spring of the year, but indeed +even during summer, in this dreary region, snow-storms are not uncommon. + +How soundly Ritchie slept! There was hail rattling on the canvas over +him, and there had been one or two sharp peals of thunder also, but +still he slumbered on. The men could make no headway against the storm; +in fact we must have been losing way considerably, for the poor fellows +were tired, and, even before the squall, had been nodding at their oars. +Still they would not give in, nor give up. By and by came the lull, +but the wind still blew with a good deal of force, and the snow was +blinding. + +"In oars," I said, "and get the sail up now; we'll tack a bit." + +We did so, reaching well over on both sides, as far as we thought was +safe; the snow continuing thick and fast. Presently another squall +came. And so on and off for many long hours. I would not think of +waking Ritchie, for I felt very fresh and fit for duty, and what could +he do even if up. I allowed the men to sleep, two at a time, for an +hour or so. Thus I managed to keep them fresh also. + +The snow left off at last, and the sky cleared a little, but the wind +kept up and blew from the same quarter. Just at grey daylight in the +morning Ritchie threw off his tarpaulin and sat up, looking dazed for a +moment or two. + +"My dear young sir, I'm ashamed of myself," he said, looking at his +watch; "but where in the world are we?" + +"No where that I know of; it has been blowing and snowing all night +long, and now we're close under some wooded cliffs, and the other boats +are not in sight." + +"This is bad," said Ritchie. + +I had taken off my jacket, and was wringing the sleeves when Jill +appeared. + +"I'm as fresh as a daisy," he said; "but what a time I must have slept! +Are we nearly at Sandy Point?" + +We laughed. + +"Sandy Point, my dear sir; you won't see Sandy Point for a week if it +keeps on like this." + +"Well, we'll have breakfast, I suppose. I could eat a hunter." + +"Good sign. We'll all join you." + +By and by Ritchie stood up and had a good look round. + +"I know where we are. I've been here before in happier times. We'll +run in shore and rest. No good trying to beat up against this breeze. +The other boats sail more closely to the wind, and I hope by this time +they are well on to Froward Reach, and round the corner." + +The boat was now put about, and in a few minutes we found ourselves in a +bay, and sheltered cove off the bay. + +At another time and under happier auspices we could have afforded to +admire the scenery around us. At first glance, had you been there, you +might have fancied yourself in some lovely glen in the wilds of Scotland +or Wales. That is so long as your glance did not go too high, away up +to the hills of everlasting snow. But all about us, except a few yards +of shore, was wood and forest, among the trees being several such as the +beech--just breaking into bud--with which the English eye is familiar. +Here, too, were ferns and mosses such as we had seen growing in the +woods and sylvan dells at home. + +We had landed, as I have said, in a cove off the bay, and this was +really the mouth of a little river, very silent here and very deep, but +a little more inland hurrying along over its stony bed with a noise like +thunder. It was doubtless fed by the melting snows of the Cordilleras. + +Jill and I left the men to draw up the boat while we took a little +ramble into the interior, promising Ritchie not to go beyond hail. We +wanted to stretch our legs and get fully awakened. + +Jill was his old self again, so I was happy accordingly. + +"How's all this going to end, Jill?" I said. + +"I don't know," replied Jill; "but I suppose we might as well be here as +anywhere else." + +"Certainly; if those interesting savages do not give us more trouble." + +"Oh, bother take them; never mind. We gave them such a dose yesterday +they'll hardly want another." + +"Jill," I said, "look!" + +We had come to a bit of clearing on the banks of the river, and close by +a huge tree were the remains of a fire. The ground round it, too, was +well beaten down, as if people had lately been round it. + +"Strange!" said Jill, "and no one seems about." + +I took up two half-burned branches. The ends were covered with ashes +and looked cold. I struck them together, _sparks flew out_! + +"Jill," I said, "we'll go back now. The Indians are near us now." + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +A STATE OF SIEGE. + +We hastened back to give Ritchie the news. + +If we had expected he would exhibit any surprise we were mistaken. + +"It's no more'n I expected," he said quietly. + +"Perhaps," I hazarded, "these are friendly Fuegians?" + +"I never met 'em," he replied. "Must be some new tribe. All that ever +I saw could be friendly enough when driving a good bargain, and scraping +the butter all to their own side of the dish. Their motto is, `Take all +we can get, and take it anyhow.' My dear lad," he continued, "could +anything be handier for these savages than to collar a white man. He is +dressed, and has nick-nacks in his pocket; well, they want the dress and +the nick-nacks, for you see they don't have any clothes of their own +worth mentioning; then the body of the white man comes in handy for a +side-dish. They think no more of killing a white man than they do of +sending an arrow through the heart of a guanaco. No, never trust a +Fuegian farther than you can fling him, and that'd be over the cliff if +I had all my will." + +Hark! There was a crashing sound among the bushes not far off. I ran +to my gun. So did Jill. But Ritchie never moved step nor muscle, at +which I was at first a little surprised. Not, however, when a guanaco +appeared in the clearing not far off, and had a long-necked look at us. + +"Don't fire!" he cried. "We're not ready for the niggers yet." + +"Didn't you fancy," I asked, "that the savages were on us when you heard +the bushes crackling?" + +"That I didn't. They don't come like that. You don't see them, and you +never hear them. No, they're all from home. That fire was lit last +night, and left burning. But they'll come back. So now to get ready. +You see, young gentlemen, the gentry very likely look upon the glen and +woods round here as a kind of happy hunting-ground. There is fish in +the river, too, and fish in the bay. So, though it may be days before +they come, we may as well cook their dinner in time." + +"But surely we won't be here for days?" + +"Maybe not. But it's just as likely to be days as not. It all +depends." + +As he spoke, Ritchie advanced some little distance to the right, +beckoning us to follow. + +He drew the bushes aside from the foot of the rock, and lo! the entrance +to a large cave. + +"It's still there, you see," said Ritchie. "Not a bit altered since I +was here before. No; caves are like keyholes, they never fly away." + +He entered, and we followed, the men holding the branches aside to admit +the light. The place was large and roomy, and evidently constantly +inhabited. Here were the remains of a fire, here a heap of bones, and +here again a bed of dry leaves. + +The most of the forenoon was spent in preparing our fortifications. The +bushes were cut down from the front, admitting light and air, and a +bulwark of small tree trunks was built in front, the boat being hauled +inside. There was plenty of fallen wood about, so that our work was by +no means difficult. + +After all had been done that could be done, we had nothing to do but +watch and wait. + +Watch and wait for the wind to change and give us a chance, or for the +foe to come. + +I do not know anything more irksome than such a position. When there is +danger ahead, it is human nature to wish to face it at once and be done +with it. But in this case we did not know whence the danger would come, +nor what would be its precise character when it did come. + +All that day--and a dreary one it was--the wind blew steadily from the +east, whitening the waves, and moaning mournfully through the trees in +the forest around us. We kept a good outlook on the Reach for any +steamer or ship that might be passing, but none appeared. + +The sun set in a gloomy sky to-night, and the moon failed to show. This +was no disadvantage. Our sentry was set, and beside him the two dogs +kept watch and ward. We lay down armed all in the dark, Jill and I side +by side, on our couches of leaves. I think Ritchie began to tell a +story, and I set myself to listen, but exhausted Nature would assert +herself, and I was soon hard and fast asleep. Nor did I waken till +broad daylight was streaming in at the mouth of the cave. + +Another day went slowly past, without any alteration in the wind, and +without our friend the foe appearing. + +About sundown Jill bantered Ritchie about the Pacific and Atlantic +fighting for mastery, and the frequent changes in the wind; but Ritchie +took it very good-naturedly. + +"It is evident," Jill said, "the Atlantic has it all its own way this +time, Ritchie." + +Night fell again, as dark and wild as ever. About ten o'clock, just as +we were thinking of settling, one of the dogs uttered a low and ominous +growl, but was at once muzzled by the sentry's hand. + +A canoe had suddenly glided into the little creek or river's mouth, but +it passed on. Another and another followed, till we had counted seven +in all; but from the constant jabbering they kept up it was evident they +had not observed us. + +"That makes the fleet," whispered Ritchie. "Seven is a magic number +with many savages." + +About an hour after, Ritchie stole quietly out of the little fort. He +soon returned and asked me to come. I obeyed. Jill wanted to accompany +me, but I forbade him. + +We stole quietly up the river, keeping well in under the shade of the +trees, and ere long saw the light of a fire glimmering through the bush +ahead. We crept on still more silently now, careful not even to snap a +twig. + +We reached high ground just a little way above the clearing, and +gradually drew near the glimmering light. Then Ritchie cautiously +lifted a branch of evergreen. + +A more fantastic and horrible sight I never saw. The fire was fiercely +hot, and evidently made of hard dry old wood. Around it, but at a +goodly distance, sat, crouched, or lay fully a score of semi-naked +savages, all men, all armed--at least their weapons lay near them--and +all silent. Many had hats and garments of our men on; woollen shirts or +linen ones, some bloodstained. But their legs and arms were all bare. +Every eye was turned towards the fire, where, spitted against the tree +up which the red flames were now roaring, were huge masses of flesh that +a glance told me was human. There was a hideous grotesqueness about the +whole scene that made me draw back and shudder. But some movement on +the part of the cannibals made me look again. The feast was about to +begin. + +Ritchie and I drew back and cautiously took our departure. + +We never spoke till near the creek side, and then only in whispers. + +"Those are the fellows from the _Salamander_," said Ritchie. "The very +flesh they are now gorging on is part of their companions that were +blown in pieces." + +The Fuegians evidently set no sentries, so their canoes, which we soon +came upon drawn up in a row, were entirely at our mercy. + +Our mercy was excessively meagre in this instance. + +These canoes are merely planks of wood fashioned with knives and fire, +and lashed together by means of pieces of skin. + +It took us no great length of time to dismember them, nor to launch the +pieces into the stream afterwards. + +"And now," said Ritchie, "the forest itself is our principal danger. +These chaps'll be all about us to-morrow morning early, like bluebottles +round a dead mouse: more'll come to help them, and the bush 'll be their +cover. We'll fire it. The wind is favourable." + +"It really is a pity," I remarked, half seriously, "to spoil this +scenery." + +"Come," was all my companion added. + +So well and willingly did we both work, that in less that half an hour +we had fired the forest in five different places. The amount of +underwood and of fallen decayed trees was very great, so that the very +earth itself would undoubtedly smoulder and burn for days, thus +affording us protection from the savages. + +I have seen many a conflagration in my time, but none, I think, so awful +as that. + +So closely did the fire rage around us at one time and so great was the +heat, that we were considering whether we should not launch our boat and +put out to sea. From the high cliff above us burning branches ever came +toppling down, but these were easily removed. + +Then the fire receded, and attacked the glen above and around the bay, +the crackling and roaring of the flames became indescribable; tongues of +fire seeming also to be carried away with the clouds of rolling smoke, +as if even that itself were ablaze. Ritchie and I both stood appalled +to behold the vastness of the ruin our work had effected. + +Long after the flames had left them, and gone over the hill and high up +the valley towards the snow-line, the sturdy arms of the beech-trees +stretched out red against a background of black, and every now and then +a limb would fall with a loud report, sending up volumes of ashes, +smoke, and sparks. + +Whether or not on the first outbreak of the fire, the savages had left +their fearful orgies and made a rush to the spot where they had left +their canoes can never be known. It was evident enough by next morning, +nevertheless, that they had found out we were in the bay, and had +managed even that night to communicate by signal fires to their +companions on other shores and on islands, that white men were about; +for as early as dawn canoes were seen off the coast--more and more came, +till there was quite a swarm. + +We were besieged. The wind might change if it liked, or remain where it +was, it could make no difference to us now. To have ventured to run out +against such odds would have been to throw our lives recklessly away. +But our position was good. + +As we expected, the decayed mould of which, the bottom of the glen and +hills was composed--centuries old, perhaps--kept on smouldering, and +would do so for weeks. Then the bay was in our front and to our right +the open sea. + +No, we were safe for a time. But how long would our provisions last? + +We made a careful survey, and found that with great economy we had +enough for a week or even longer. + +When we first appeared in the open, the yelling and menacing of the +savages in their canoes was dreadful to hear and behold. For a time +Ritchie thought they would cast prudence to the winds and attempt to +force a landing. + +Two boats did come near enough to fire arrows at us, but they dearly +paid for their rashness, and three at least of the Indians would never +fire an arrow more. + +Long before sundown the enemy had drawn off, and there was not a canoe +to be seen anywhere. + +"Now would be a chance," said Jill, "if the wind would only change." + +Ritchie looked at him and smiled. + +"My dear lad," he said, "we wouldn't be two hundred yards beyond the bar +before they would be on us. We wouldn't be able to get back, and we'd +never get far on in this world. No, that's only a trick, and a very +transparent one; just the same as pussy plays with a mouse. But I'm too +old for 'em. Drat 'em! Oh, I do love 'em, don't I just?" + +He did not look as if he did. + +Day after day--two, three, five, went hopelessly by. The weather kept +fine, and the wind was now favourable for a sortie if we were at length +compelled to run the gauntlet. + +We had hoisted a signal on the cliff top in the hopes that passing ships +might see it and perhaps send to our assistance. But the ships we saw +were a long way off, and noticed not our signal, for we were some +distance out of the usual track of vessels. + +On the fifth day Jill and I went up stream some little distance through +the burnt forest, and Ossian, the dog, found near the bank a guanaco +half-roasted. This was indeed a blessing, and we dined more heartily +that evening than we had done for a week. We tried fishing, hoping +thereby to add to our larder, but were only indifferently successful. +Having neither lines nor bait, we were reduced to the plan called +"guddling" by Scottish schoolboys, where you wade and catch the trout +with your hands. + +Affairs grew desperate on the seventh day, not so much for want of food +as from the fact that the ground had ceased to burn, and cooled +sufficiently to permit one to walk over the ashes. + +A combined attack by land and sea was therefore hourly expected by us, +all the more so in that the canoes seemed more active than usual, +flitting about hither and thither, but apparently paying no heed to us. + +"They're too silent to please me," said Ritchie; "they'll be on us +to-night as sure as shot." + +On the same afternoon far away out in the Reach we noticed a noble +steamer. + +Jill and I stood looking at her until she had gone down out of sight on +the horizon. We could easily fancy ourselves on board of her. We could +see in imagination the orderly, clean white decks, the burnished brass +and wood, the sailors and officers in their smart uniforms, the chairs +on deck where lounged the passengers reading, talking, and quietly +napping, the officer on the bridge and the sturdy seaman at the wheel. +It was so sad; and we waiting--to sell our lives as dearly as possible. +That is the last consolation of the brave. And Jill and I had promised +ourselves so much, at least. + +Jill put such a strange question to Ritchie this afternoon, but I knew +what the poor lad was thinking about. + +"Ritchie," he said, "do these horrid Indians torture their prisoners if +they take any alive?" + +"I've never heard they did," was the quiet reply. "And indeed I don't +think they have the sense--drat 'em." + +The time, we thought, wore all too quickly to a close, and almost as +soon as the sun went down in the west, up rose the full moon in the +east, and then everything--if not as bright as day--was light enough at +all events for the work so soon to commence. + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +FIGHTING IN TERRIBLE EARNEST--OUR LAST SORTIE--BACK TO BACK IN CORNISH +FASHION. + +Long before the sun had set, we had strengthened our bulwarks, and put +our little citadel into as good a state of defence as possible, with the +materials at our command. + +Knowing that sooner or later an attack would come, unless we could +communicate with some passing ship, Ritchie had been busy for days, and +our fortifications now consisted of an outer and an inner rampart of +trees. But neither were of great extent, there being but eight of us +altogether to defend them; unless, indeed, we counted the dogs, and they +were hardly dogs of war. Ossian, however, was an immensely powerful +animal, with the strength almost of a young mastiff, and all the agility +of the English greyhound. Bruce, on the other hand, made up in sagacity +and courage what he lacked in brute force. + +Jill had become inordinately fond of the animals; I would not therefore +have had a hair of their honest heads touched in anger for all the +world. It was evident to me, nevertheless, that as soon as the _melee_ +commenced they would join in, unless prevented, and get speared beyond a +doubt. I therefore had one of the men to make them secure to the boat +early in the evening. + +Behind that boat our last stand was to be made, if the worst should come +to the worst. It was therefore drawn up opposite to and guarding the +entrance to the cave. + +We had plenty of ammunition, rifles, revolvers, and boarding pikes, part +of a cargo which, as I hinted before, we were taking out to Honolulu. + +Short though the time we had been thus closely thrown together, I think +we--the men and Jill and I--loved each other like a band of brothers. +There is nothing like danger for cementing the ties of social equality. +Then, we all looked up to Ritchie as to a father almost. As to our +captain, at all events, for that he was in reality if not by actual +rating. + +He was a little, active, and very athletic man, and with a trusty weapon +in his hand, I never doubted that he would prove a terrible enemy among +even a score of these not over-wholesome Fuegians, or Firelanders, as +they are often called. Not but what these savages are hardy enough. +Passing ships can scarcely judge of the whole race from the miserable +and often puny creatures that are sent out to beg and sell curiosities. +No, if it be any credit to him, I will admit that the Fuegian Indian is +as fierce and warlike in his own way as any savage ever I met with. He +can be either a lamb or a wild beast, as it suits his purpose. He has +but one aim or object in the world, and but one motto: "Kill and eat." +Nor is he a whit particular what he does kill and eat. Is there nothing +good to be said for these Indians? Yes, they are fond of their +offspring and careful of their comforts, until the children can run. +After that they must look out for themselves, and pick up a dead mouse +or a dead bird, wherever they can find it, till they learn to use their +bows and arrows. And a Fuegian boy is quite a little warrior by the +time he has reached his sixth or seventh year. + +The Fireland warrior full grown is not a giant, but sometimes very +powerful, and far more hardy than could be believed possible, going +almost stark naked even in winter--when at work, at all events; that is, +when hunting, fishing, rowing, or running. + +This is a digression, but it is necessary to show the kind of enemy we +had so soon to meet in battle. I must digress further to the extent of +a few words, and tell you that Jill was an excellent swordsman. We had +a good tutor in our father, and my brother and I were always at sword +exercise when at home and not doing either work or mischief. Many a +hard knock we had given each other, but I rejoice to add we never lost +our tempers. + +"You feel sure we'll have a go at these niggers to-night, Mr Ritchie, +if I may make so bold?" + +This was a question put to our captain shortly after the moon had risen. + +"As sure as that I'm looking at the moon," said Ritchie. + +"And what think you will be the upshot?" + +"It'll be a _down_-shot to begin with," replied Ritchie, by way of +making a grim joke. + +"But, Lawlor lad, I'm half afraid the Fuegians will have the upper hand, +drat 'em!" + +"And we'll all be scuppered?" + +"We're all in the hands of Providence," said Ritchie. + +"'Cause I've a sweetheart," said Lawlor. + +"And I've a mother," said another man. + +"And I," said another, "have a wife and the prettiest baby ever opened +blue eyes." + +"I have neither kith nor kin," said Wrexham, a tall young giant of a +fellow. "I'm going to lay about me a bit by and by; and look here, +lads, I wouldn't mind dying for the lot of you." + +"Don't talk thus," said Ritchie. "Let each of us now say a bit of a +prayer to himself." + +There was silence for the space of five minutes; then we all stood up, +and there and then, as if by one common impulse, we shook hands all +round. We felt better now. We even wished the foe would come, but we +knew also that when they did commence the attack, it would be in silence +and with suddenness. + +A whole hour went by. No one spoke much. We just hung about the cave +mouth, occasionally giving a look to see our arms were in perfect order +and array. Now and then Jill went into the cave and talked with the +dogs as if they were human beings. I think he did so simply to pass the +time. + +I was wondering in what particular way the battle would commence, and +what would be the peculiar incidents connected with it, when Ritchie +suddenly clutched my arm and gazed seawards. A bright light was visible +far out in the offing. A bright white light. Could it be that +assistance was at hand? + +Presently all was dark on the sea again, except for the quivering lines +of moonlight on the waters. But next minute a bright crimson glare was +thrown over the water. They were burning a red light. It was a signal +undoubtedly. + +"Can we make them hear, I wonder?" said Ritchie. "I think we can. The +night is still, and the wind is off the shore." + +We waited till the red light had quite burned out, then fired a volley, +that went reverberating away up among the hills and rocks like thunder, +and must have been heard far and near. + +The savages must have seen that signal too, for now came a shower of +arrows, which we fain would have replied to had we seen an object to +fire at. We took shelter within the inner rampart, well knowing they +would soon appear in the outer. + +We were not disappointed. Heads and spears were seen above our first +line of defence. + +"Steady, men!" + +The volley we gave them must have been effective. There was silence +among the foe no longer, but the wildest and most unearthly yells. +Again and again did they try to storm our outer defence. Again and +again were they hurled down and back. + +Our little fort seemed impregnable. Hope was in our hearts now. We had +only to hold our position, and assistance would soon be with us. + +The attack was renewed again and again, but with the same results. I +began almost to feel sorry for the carnage our guns and revolvers must +undoubtedly have been creating. But it was no fault of ours. We were +but acting on the defensive. + +Then there came a lull in the storm, and we found time to bind up a +wound in Lawlor's left wrist. It had been caused by an arrow, and was +bleeding profusely. The rest of us were as yet unscathed. + +"I don't like this silence," said Ritchie. "They're up to some +devilment, or my name isn't Ted. Let us get over and see." + +We, Ritchie and I, scaled our first defence and mounted the second, only +to see "Birnam wood" advancing, so to speak. + +"All hands here, quick?" cried Ritchie. + +In a few minutes, nay moments, we were firing at the advancing wood. It +was too late. The pile was made and speedily lighted, and the smoke and +sparks went rolling over us. + +This was their plan, then. We were to be burned out or smoked out, like +rats from a hole. + +In this battle betwixt civilisation and savagery, the former had +hitherto got the advantage. Was all this to be changed? It would seem +so. + +The natives retreated now. They had but to wait till our position +became untenable, and slay us as we sought safety in flight. Flight? +Yes, but whither? + +The fire began to burn fiercely. In a few moments more the ramparts had +caught, and now it was time for action. + +We determined to hold our fort as long as possible, then make our last-- +our final sortie. We tore down the lee side of the inner bulwark, and +crouched on the ground close to the rock; and it is well we did, for +just then a whole shower of arrows flew over our heads. + +"That is good, men," cried Ritchie. "The arrows come from the direction +of the creek. Stand by to rush out when I give the order." + +I missed Jill from my side. The kindly boy, even in the midst of the +fire and fighting, had not forgotten the dogs, and had gone to let them +loose. + +Now in a fight or battle of any kind it is very little any single +individual can tell of it. We only knew in the present instance that +the order was given to "Charge," and out we rushed from our fiery den. + +Ritchie and Wrexham led, keeping the smoke as a cover as long as they +could. Jill and I, shoulder to shoulder, followed. I know little else; +I only thought of Jill. + +Hitherto, I must own, I had considered that in many ways I was my +brother's superior, and more than once, I fear, I treated him as a +child. After his bravery this night, and his coolness in this terrible +_melee_, I always looked upon him as a man, and my equal--except, of +course, in age. + +The savages would have done well had they scattered and poured upon us +their clouds of arrows. For some reason or another they did not, but +waited our charge by the creek side, all in a mass, and with spears and +yells. Savages as a rule put no end of value on their yelling and +whooping qualities, and at times, it must be admitted, these war cries +are very confusing and startling. We fired one rifle volley into their +midst; one or two volleys from the revolver. Then we met and mixed. I +cannot tell now, nor could I ever tell, their numbers. They seemed like +a huge dark cloud. + +"Back to back, Jill!" I cried. + +"Hurrah!" shouted my brother. "Back to back, Jack, in good old Cornish +fashion! Hurrah!" + +And back to back we fought in the midst of those fiends, who went down +wherever we charged. Back to back, and wielding with terrible effect +two long supple Arab swords we had bought at the Cape. + +Back to back, as brothers should in an engagement like this. But for +how long I know not. A mist came over my eyes, a strange white +smoke-like mist. Then I remembered no more. + +But I was lying there by the creek side when I came to, with Jill +bending over me. Lying in the moonlight, and not far off, talking to +Ritchie, was Peter himself, who came towards us as soon as he heard Jill +saying, "Are you better now, brother?" + +So we were saved. I had merely been stunned with a blow from a stone. +I had fallen about the very time Peter with his boat's crew had leapt on +shore, and the savages began to fly, and Jill had caught me up in his +arms and staggered with me to meet them. + +That is all I know of this fight with the Firelanders. + +Ritchie was unscathed. Poor Wrexham was stark and stiff, with, an arrow +sticking in his heart, and two of the others were wounded, but not +severely. It is unnecessary to add that the natives had suffered +severely. + +"Peter," I said, as soon as I could gasp out a word or two, "I'm so glad +to see you." + +"I thought you wouldn't mind my paying you a visit," said Peter, +smiling. + +"I dare say I'm talking a bit strange," I said. "I feel rather dazed. +I fainted, didn't I? So foolish to faint!" + +"True, it's very foolish to faint, old man, but when a fellow gets hit +behind the ear with a pebble as big as an ostrich's egg, then fainting +and folly are not quite synonymous terms." + +"Well, thank you," I muttered. "I'm obliged, really. How's--" + +"How's things?" said Peter, helping me out. + +"Yes, how--are you all at home?" + +"Poor Jack!" said Peter. "Why they've knocked you a kind of silly. +You'll be better when you've had a sleep." + +They carried me to the boat. I remember the motion of it, and I +remember the bright moonlight on the water, but nothing else for another +day. + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +THE STORY OF OUR RESCUE--A DINNER AND A BALL--PETER AND DULZURA. + +On our arrival at Sandy Point (_Puenta Arenas_) we, that is Jill and I, +had been billeted at a pretty little bungalow belonging to a Chilian, +and next morning early Peter came to see us, and tell us the story of +our rescue. + +"First and foremost," he began, "let me tell you that I'm precious glad +to see you again, Jack, and you too, Greenie; though, bother me if I'm +not beginning to think you're not half so green as you look, for the way +he was fighting, Jack, when I landed to help you, was a caution to +codgers, I can tell you. Ha, ha! why, I laugh to think how he was +making the spear heads fly whenever a few of those Foogies made a thrust +at him. How many Greenie killed I couldn't wager; but I'm pretty +certain he has found the cannibals in food for a fortnight. + +"And you too, Jack. I got a blink of you before you fell. You were +back to back, you two; and what with you being so precious like Jill, +and Jill being so precious like you, I'm sure the Foogies were +frightened and took the two of you for one. And of course they're not +far wrong, though you're not fastened together like the Siamese twins by +a bit of skin." + +"How did you find us?" + +"Ay," said Jill, "that's more to the point." + +"Well, I'm going to tell you, Greenie, if you'll only give me time. I'd +have told you all about it yesterday, but you wouldn't spare a minute +away from Jack. + +"You see, then, when we got separated in that snow-squall, we did not +take much thought about you at first. We remembered you had a boat +compass, and that Ritchie was a good man, and naturally supposed you +would find your way here. + +"The squally weather continued, but in the very thick of it we found +ourselves alongside a steamer--the same saucy little Chilian man-o'-war +that so kindly went in search of you. And it isn't fun, I can tell you, +to search all up and down among these coves and creeks and islands and +forests and glens. + +"Well, they took us on board, and made very much of us all the way to +Sandy Point, and Captain Coates and our little mother Coates, with +Leila, are now living with the governor. + +"We waited two days to see if you would show your noses. Then matters +looked serious, and as the captain of the gunboat had had several men +killed by the Foogies two summers ago, he all the more readily consented +to go to look for the missing boat. + +"Well, we just looked till we found you. That is the long and the short +of it. We searched the wrong shore first. But really I had hoped you +had gone down in the squall; that your boat had foundered, and you had +been all drowned-dead, as Ritchie would say." + +"But why, in the name of mystery, Peter, did you wish us drowned?" + +"Why, because I imagined it would be death somehow; and, to tell you the +truth, I couldn't bear the thoughts of your being killed and eaten. + +"Just fancy," continued Peter, looking mischievously at Jill, "just +fancy Greenie here served up with parsley and butter sauce, or however +they do serve them up." + +"Never mind, Peter," I said, laughing; "all's well that ends well." + +"Yes, my boy, unless it ends better than well, and that's how it's going +to." + +"How do you mean?" asked Jill. "Why, in a ball. And that's what is +going to be given. There are two ships here, and I'm so glad, because +there is a pretty Chilian girl that I'm half mad on, the daughter of +somebody or another, and--and she'll be there. Do you see, Greenie?" + +At little outlandish towns like Sandy Point it does not take a very long +time, when ships are alongside, to get up an entertainment of any kind, +so in less than a week the ball came off. + +It was preceded by a dinner on board the man-o'-war, at which I was +pleased to note that Jill was the hero of the hour. I really felt proud +of him, but Jill took it all as a matter of course. + +The dinner was excellent of its kind, though I think even Captain Coates +missed the big solid English joints. Here all was made dishes, dishes +of surprise you might say. Peter and I sat pretty close together, Jill +being stowed away among the ladies somewhere, so I knew what Peter did. +On the whole I should say he did well, and I should think he must have +changed his plate about twenty times before dessert. + +"My object was," he told me next morning, "to taste everything. I +wanted to improve the mind as well as the body. D'ye see?" + +"Oh yes, we saw right enough." Peter never failed to be explicit when +he talked. For the first time in my life, we tasted guanaco and ostrich +meat, and horseflesh; and the commander of the ship positively +apologised because he had not been able to procure a fry of agouti and a +curry of armadillo. I for one readily excused the gallant commander, +and I suppose so did Peter; though I know this much, if steak of grampus +and roast albatross had been placed before him, he would have felt it +his duty to eat of these dishes. + +When talking grew fast and furious, which it did about the middle of the +seventeenth course--"the seventeenth round" Peter afterwards styled it-- +I had time to look around me and note the peculiarities of my companions +at table. + +The principal peculiarities of the foreign officers, I soon discovered, +were excessive politeness and a gesticulatory method of talking, not by +any means approaching to rudeness, but strange to an Englishman's eye. +The commander was a short, stout, good-natured little fellow, very +round-faced, and cheerful in eye. I do not wonder at this, if he +"fed"--the expression is Peter's--as well every day as we had now done. +His officers were second editions of himself, only boiled down, as it +were. There were several gentlemen from the two merchant ships, and two +ladies. One of the latter was a captain's wife, who, like our little +mother Coates, preferred to plough the stormy ocean with her husband to +staying at home on the dull shore. + +The other lady was she on whom Peter had gone mad, as he told us. I +think I am right in asserting that poor Peter had eyes for nobody and +nothing at table except her. She really was a charming girl. I did not +wonder at Peter's all too sensitive heart being smitten with her. +Besides, you know, Peter was a sailor. He did not know her Christian +name. He had simply given her one. He called her Dulzura, which +certainly sounds very nice, and means "sweet," "suave," "pleasant," +"pretty," and a whole regiment of other nice adjectives. + +Near the head of the table sat Dulzura's father. I knew him for her +father at a glance. He was an exceedingly handsome man, but +bold-looking as well as handsome, though most deferential and +gentlemanly. His age might have been about fifty. I put him down at +once as a soldier, but found out afterwards that, though he had been in +the Chilian army, he was now, if anything, a sportsman and rover. + +Well, after the dinner came the ball on the quarter-deck. There was not +a great deal of room, certainly, but then our party was not large. + +Senor Castizo, as Dulzura's father was called, opened the ball, leading +off in a waltz with our little mother Coates. Poor little mother +Coates! she felt much flattered, but soon got tired. _Darning_ was more +in her way than _dancing_. But Castizo was not tired, and no sooner had +Mrs Coates retired than, full of glee and delight, there rushed up to +him his daughter. He might have been her elder brother, so gracefully +did he waltz. The two were the admiration of all beholders, especially +Peter. He was waiting to receive her, and I'll never forget the kindly +yet princely air with which her father handed the young lady over. + +Peter led her away in triumph to breathe among the evergreens in the +improvised conservatory. I saw Peter soon after, and I never noticed +him look so happy before. + +I saw him later on. He was out near the mainmast. I should have told +you that the ball was on the upper deck, under an awning beautifully +decorated with flags and greenery. Yes, I saw Peter there, and with him +was Dulzura's father. A glance told me he was doing the agreeable. +Both were smoking such huge cigars that really Peter looked small behind +his. + +I next saw Peter among the musicians, playing on his clarionet. His +soul seemed in it. His soul seemed more in it when asked by Dulzura to +play a solo. I shall never forget that I did not know before he could +play so sweetly. Surely, I thought, Peter is inspired. + +Well, as far as appearances went that night it was my brother Jill who +was the greater favourite with Dulzura. He could dance better than +Peter. + +But next day, when Peter came to breakfast with us, he could speak about +nothing else but the dinner and ball of the previous evening. + +I was amused, too, at the way he spoke to Jill. + +"I'm awfully obliged to you, Greenie," he said, "for dancing so much +with my Dulzura. It was kind and considerate. I knew _you_ wouldn't +make love and talk nonsense to her as some of the officers tried to do." + +"Oh no," said Jill, with his quiet smile, "we talked nothing but +politics, I assure you, and discussed the future prospects of the South +Sea Islanders." + +"Do you like her, Greenie?" + +"Assuredly." + +"Love, of course, is out of the question?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, you'll be glad to know that she and I get on famously together. +The worst of it is that she can't talk much English, and I don't know +much Spanish. But she is going to teach me. About a fortnight will +make me perfect." + +"About a fortnight, Peter," I said in some surprise. "Why the boat for +Monte Video comes round the day after to-morrow." + +"Ah! yes, but I'm not going in her. Neither are you nor Greenie here. +That's what I came to speak about." + +"Well, heave round. I'll be glad to hear what you have to say." + +"It's very simple. Senor Castizo has taken an inordinate fancy for me. +Dear Dulzura goes home with her maid to Valparaiso in about three weeks +time, but her father stops. He is going into the wilds of Patagonia, +where he has been before, and knows the lay of the land well. And he +asked me to stay too, and accompany him." + +"Yes, and what did you say?" + +"I said I'd do so like a shot, if I got you and Greenie to come with +us." + +Jill's eyes sparkled with delight. + +"It would be simply glorious," he said. "And I'm sure mother wouldn't +mind, nor aunt either." + +"But we haven't much money to rig up," I said. + +"Oh, we've enough, I assure you. It's a cheap country to live in. +Castizo says about all a man wants is a guanaco robe and a gun, with a +horse or two, and there you are." + +I confess I was quite as struck with the notion of having a few wild +adventures in the Land of the Giants as Jill was; but, being the elder, +I was of course bound to prudence and discretion. + +"We'd have to write a very long letter home," I said. + +"Well, you're capable of doing that, I believe." + +"And state that there is little danger, and that it will recruit Jill's +health." + +"Capital phrase!" cried Peter. "Jack, you're quite a diplomatist." + +"But," I added, "is there much danger?" + +"Not very much, from the way Castizo speaks. I would bear very lightly +on those if I were you." + +"And you know, Jack," said Jill, "adventures would not be much worth +without just a _soupcon_ of danger." + +"True. Well, I must confess I'm willing. What about Ritchie?" + +"He and another man are coming with us." + +"And Captain Coates and our dear little mother?" + +"Going home. They must, you know. We needn't. And it isn't French +leave either. You and I and Jill are shipwrecked mariners--that, by the +way, is why we are objects of interest and romance to Dulzura. We're +shipwrecked mariners, and it isn't as if we were apprentices." + +"We are all passed mates." + +"And the _Salamander_ was aunt's ship," added Jill. "She can get us +another." + +"True, Jill; you're a brick." + +"Well," he added, "is it a bargain?" + +"Yes," I said, speaking for Jill and myself too. Then we all shook +hands, and the conversation took another turn; that is--it went back to +Dulzura. + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +BOOK III--THE LAND OF GIANTS. + +ALL ALONE ON THE PAMPAS--THE CAMP IN THE CANON. + +Alone on the Pampas. Alone in the moonlight. Alone amidst scenery so +black, so bare, so desolate, that looking back now through a long vista +of years, as I sit by my cosy English fireside, I shudder to think of +it. + +There was nought of life to be seen anywhere, save that single horseman +on his trusty steed who stopped for a moment on an upland ridge to gaze +around him. Not a tree; hardly a bush; the very grass itself in stunted +patches, with rough boulders lying here and there as if they had been +rained from the heavens. No signs of house nor habitation, only the +sharply undulating plain, wherever the eye might turn, and far away on +the western horizon, hills or mountains snow-clad, glimmering white in +the uncertain light of moon and stars. + +The moon? Yes, and I have oftentimes thought, while on the Pampas, that +if one could reach that orb, it would be just such a landscape as this +he would see on every side; and if wind blows there at all, it would be +just such a wind, as is now moaning and sighing over this dreary plain +from the distant Cordilleras. + +It was neither a wild nor a stormy night, however. Behind a huge bank +of yellow clouds, that lay high over the mountains, the lightning was +flickering and playing every moment; the breeze was not high nor was it +extra cold, being early summer in this region. It is the desolation and +the exceeding lonesomeness of the situation that strikes to the heart +and feelings of one when he thinks of it. + +And the deep silence! + +Were there no sounds at all? Very few; only that moaning, sighing, +whispering wind, rising at times into almost a shriek, then dying away +again till it could scarce be heard. A wind in which, had you been at +all nervous, you might have almost declared you heard voices, human or +ghostly. Only the wind, and now and then the cry of some night-hawk or +its victim; or the plaintive, peevish yap of the prairie fox. + +Very marked indeed is the silence by night on the Patagonian Pampas. +Not more so anywhere except on the broad, glittering snow-fields of the +Arctic "pack," or the highest plateaus of the Himalayan hills. + +So tall and square is the figure of the horseman, whose rifle is slung +across his shoulders, and so active, yet sturdy and strong, does his +horse look, that standing there on the ridge, he has all the +picturesqueness of a mounted Arab. + +He shudders slightly now and draws his guanaco mantle closer about him, +gazes once more around as if taking his bearings, then rides slowly on. + +Presently he comes near a bush, a stunted barberia and draws rein +speedily, for from under it fierce green eyes glare at him, and a sound, +which is half yawn half yell of anger, makes him place a hand on his +revolver. + +He does not fire, however; he waits. Then a huge puma gathers itself up +and edges off, drawing its graceful length along the ground, but making +off still with head turned towards him, and breathing hoarse defiance, +till, with bounds and leaps, he is soon out sight. When the puma has +quite disappeared, he rides on again, but with a little more caution, +avoiding the bushes. Where there is one puma there may be, and +generally is, another. + +He does not draw rein again for a good hour. Uphill and downhill, but +mostly on the gravelly level, till all at once he finds himself on the +bank of a canon or ravine. + +He bends down now and pats the neck of his horse. The animal neighs, +and is answered from the bottom of the glen; then the horseman slowly +descends, carefully, and with judicious hand restraining the impatience +of his steed. So steep is the bank that the hind legs of the horse +sometimes slip right under him, and loosened stones roll down to the +green sward below. + +Low down in the strath here there is a stream of water, a river in fact, +rushing along, its waters sparkling in the moonlight, and everywhere on +its banks the sward is green and beautiful. Here a whole herd of horses +are quietly grazing. They look up as the horseman approaches, and toss +their heads as if happy to have a new companion, while from some little +distance the barking of dogs is heard, and presently a huge animal-- +looking huger still in the uncertain light--comes bounding straight +through the herd of horses, and challenges the rider. The dog's hair is +erect from head to stern, and he growls low but ominously. + +"Good dog," says Senor Castizo; "don't you know me? Poor Ossian, poor +boy!" + +The dog knows him very well indeed, but gives him to understand that +he--Ossian--is on guard to-night, and must be careful. + +"It is easy to know you," Ossian seems to say. "My nose has not failed +me yet. I'd know you with my eyes shut. But what are you doing out +alone at night? It looks bad. No, you needn't call me poor boy. I'm +not I'm Ossian, and with the exception of honest Bruce, the other dogs +are not worth a bark. You can follow me now, but be careful." + +Ossian ran on in front, growling low to himself, and the horseman +followed. As soon as they had rounded the corner of a rock bluff, they +came in sight of the camp, and now Ossian stopped short and gave vent to +such an alarm-peal that every one speedily rushed outside their tents. +It might be hostile Indians, they thought. When living in the desert +one must be at all times cautious. + +But here was no hostile Indian, only honest, bold Castizo. + +Peter and I were the first to rush towards him, and bid him welcome. I +caught the horse by the head. The brute was longing to join the herd. +Peter, always impulsive, grasped his friend's hand even before he had +dismounted. + +"We were really getting anxious about you." + +"And supper's all ready," I added. + +"Ah, that's the way. I confess I'm hungry. I gave you two days' start +from Santa Cruz station, and so you see I've overtaken you, and I only +slept one night on the Pampas." + +"Weren't you afraid, sir, the pumas would eat you?" + +"No, they don't like _live_ meat; but now, young fellows, I'm not going +to be `sir'-ed. We can't live together free and easy if we stand on +ceremony. We are all equal on the Pampas." + +"But there is a cacique or chief among the Ishmaelites?" + +"Yes; but a cacique holds a kind of sinecure office. He is partly chief +and partly magistrate, gives himself a great many airs; and the women +often laugh at him behind his back. I'll be cacique if you like, but +not `Sir.'" + +"Well," said Peter, "I'll be bound we won't laugh at you behind your +back." + +As he spoke, Peter divested the horse of saddle and bridle, as nimbly as +if he had been brought up in a stable all his life. It quite took me by +surprise. + +The saddle is a mere bundle of wood and skins, covered with rugs and +gear. It is not uncomfortable to ride on once you are acquainted with +it; but although we had been a few days on the Pampas, and had ridden as +neatly as we could, we were still tired and exceedingly sore. The +bridle is also of guanaco skin, and the bit of wood and thong. +Nevertheless these hardy horses of the plains are well used to such +primitive harness. + +There is one fault with the saddle, which we soon found out: unless it +be particularly well girt it has a disagreeable habit of wheeling to one +side just when you are at a pleasant canter, or gallop perhaps, and so +emptying you out. + +"Here," cried Peter, stuffing the gear into my arms, "take hold of that, +Greenie, and look lively; the cacique is hungry." + +"I'm not Greenie," I said; "if I was, Peter, old man, I'd pull your +ears." + +"Oh, you're not Greenie! Well, Jack, then, you shouldn't be so like him +in the moonlight. I'm going to put a black spot on one of your noses, +so that I can tell t'other from which. Then I suppose I'd forget which +I put the black spot on." + +"Better not try it on me," I said. + +The horse was loose now and free, and with a happy nicker he went +trotting off to quench his thirst in the stream, previously to having +his supper. + +"Come on, boys, I'm starving. Good Ossian. Ah! you can be friendly +enough now. Where is your _kau_ [tent], Peter?" + +"My cow, _mon ami_?" + +"Yes, your kau." + +"We haven't got a cow. We have some condensed milk." + +Castizo laughed. + +"Why," he explained, "a kau is a toldo, or tent." + +"Well, Cacique, I've heard of people, when overtaken by a blizzard on +the North American prairies, killing a horse, disembowelling it, then +getting inside and hauling the hole in after them; but it's the first +time I ever heard of a cow being used as a tent. We live to learn. +Here's the cow, _mon ami_. Will you walk inside, Senor Cacique?" + +"Ah!" cried Castizo, rubbing his hands gleefully. + +"Here's a blaze of light and glory! Here's comfort; here's luxury!" + +Then, even before he shook hands with Jill and Ritchie, Castizo must +elevate his palms like a Spanish girl dancing, cock his head a little on +one side, and smilingly sing a verse of a song which caused his eyes to +sparkle with merriment, and made those laugh who listened to him. + +"We're glad to see you," said Jill. + +"_Right_ glad to see you," said Ritchie. + +"I know you all are, boys. Thought I would lose myself, I suppose. Ah, +no! I have been too long on the plains, and in forests, mountains, and +wildernesses, to do that. My good Pedro here knows me." + +"Master likes to be alone--much," said Pedro, a dark-haired, black-eyed, +black-bearded, sturdy little Chilian. + +This man's face was preternaturally white. No sunshine ever scorched +him brown, or even red; but perhaps the darkness of his hair brought out +the pallor more. He had a pleasant smile, and two rows of teeth as +white as a young puppy's. + +Lawlor was not far away; and with him also Castizo shook hands. So +equality was established. + +Our tent was not of guanaco skins, like that of the Indians who +accompanied us on this expedition. We had a canvas marquee of small +dimensions, but most comfortable, and so neatly made that it could pack +together into a load for one horse, poles and all. + +Castizo had been a Patagonian traveller for years. At first, he told +us, he "herded" with the Indians under their tents of skin, and lived +quite as they did, with the exception of the drinking of rum; but he +soon found it better to import a little civilisation into his mode of +life. So he did; and I advise any one who meditates going to the +Patagonian Pampas to do the same. + +Here we were in our handsome tent, with every comfort before and around +us which it is capable of transporting into the wilderness. + +The table was a piece of canvas spread on the ground in the middle of +the tent. Candles--real candles--burned in the centre, stuck in a +rudely formed sconce of wood, which in its turn was stuck through the +canvas into the ground. Our seats were our huge, gown-like guanaco +mantles, which by and by would serve us for blankets, when we lay down +to sleep on our couches of withered grass. + +Our dishes and plates were all of tin, easily packed and easily carried, +and we had knives and forks. Had our table been a raised wooden one, it +would have groaned, not so much with the variety of good things, but +with their solidness and substantiality. Here were steak of guanaco, +and stew of horseflesh--one of our pack animals had broken a leg the day +before, and we were wise to make use of him--and here were roast ducks. +Cakes we had, too, made of flour which had been half-roasted before it +left Valparaiso. These cakes were made by Pedro, who was our very +excellent cook. I think there must have been something else in them as +well as flour. However they were very nice, and tasted and looked +somewhat like a happy combination of Scotch haggis, Australian damper, +and Irish scone. + +We had no beer to drink; we had no wine; but we had _yerba mate_, which +combines the invigorating qualities of both, with all the soothing, +calming influence of a cup of good coffee or tea. + +It is a kind of tea made of the dried leaves of the Paraguayan ilex, and +is infused and drunk just as tea is; though the Patagonian Indians and +hunters usually drink it through tubes pierced with little holes, so +that they can have the infusion without the powder or leaves. + +"Well, boys," said Castizo, whose English, by the way, was +irreproachable, "we've made a fairly good start. And your captain, with +his adorable little wife--what an amiable creature she is--will be +nearly half-way home by this time. Are you sorry you haven't gone with +them to see the mother?" + +"Ah!" I said, "I know mother well: she will be pleased to hear we are +enjoying ourselves, and learning something at the same time. Won't she, +Jill?" + +"Assuredly; and so will aunt." + +"Well," said Castizo, with a laugh, "as to learning something, there is +no doubt about that. You will learn to be men. The Pampas is the best +school in the world." + +"Whose sentry-go is it to-night?" said Peter. + +"Mine, I believe," said Jill, looking at his watch; "I go on in half an +hour. Then Lawlor." + +"That's right," said Lawlor. + +In less than an hour, we were all curled up in our toldo or kau, wrapped +in our good guanaco robes, and fast asleep. + +Out in the moonlight, however, Jill, with his rifle at the shoulder, +paced steadily to and fro on sentry, and not very far off, leaning +against one of the posts of the great skin tent, stood a Patagonian, +also on duty. He looked a noble savage, erect and stately, and tall +enough in his robe of skin to have passed for a veritable giant. Lying +carelessly across his left arm, its point upwards, and gaily decorated +with ostrich feathers, was his spear. A formidable weapon is this +Patagonian spear, of immense length and strength, and tipped with a +knife of stoutest steel. A swordsman has little chance against so +terrible an instrument of warfare, for your giant antagonist can strike +home long before you can get near enough to do execution. If very +active and you can succeed in parrying one blow, you _may_ seize the +instrument, and rush in and slay your man; but, as the Scotch put it, +"What would he be doing all this time?" He will not wait till you get +quietly up to him, depend upon it. So I say that the best fencer that +ever switched a foil is not a match for a Patagonian spearsman. + +The Patagonians who formed part of our present camp were good fellows +all. They were hired by Castizo, some at Puento Arenas, and some from a +tribe stationed at or near Santa Cruz. Those from the former place, our +cacique--as we may as well now call Castizo--had taken north with him in +his yacht to Santa Cruz, and altogether our Indians numbered twenty-four +souls. No women, no children, save those of the chief and his second in +command. Our cacique knew better than to encumber himself with many of +these on the march. + +That these Patagonians would remain faithful to us, we had little doubt. +For, first and foremost, they are, on the whole, good-natured and +friendly to white men; secondly, they had only been paid in part, and +would not get the remainder of their stores till we returned to Santa +Cruz. + +A glance at the map will show where this last place lies. But do not +think it is a town. At the time of which I speak, it consisted indeed +of but one _estancia_, on an island. It has an excellent harbour, +however, and ships in distress often come here. Others, again, come +regularly to meet the Indian tribes, and purchase from them skins, +ostrich feathers, and curios. + +There is a regular Indian encampment here. They all live in tents, and +for the matter of that compare favourably with the gipsies we meet on +our own Scottish borders at home. + +How sound one sleeps on the Pampas! I scarcely knew my head was on the +pillow till it was morning again, dogs barking and yelping, Indians +shouting, horses neighing, and the bold, strong voice of the Patagonian +chief as he harangued his men, heard high above all. + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +A WILD RIDE--COOKING AN OSTRICH WHOLE--QUIET EVENINGS ROUND THE CAMP +FIRE. + +He was indeed a noble savage, this Patagonian chief. His name was +Jeeka; at least it sounded like that. Peter said "Jeeka" was near +enough, and to give it a better ring we added "Prince"--Prince Jeeka. + +Peter admired him very much, as all young men admire nobility of figure. + +"I'll tell you what it is, Jack," he said to me to-day; "if I had a +figure like that fellow, it isn't going to sea I'd be." + +"What would you do?" + +"Take to the stage. What an Othello the fellow would make! Look at him +now. What an air of quiet command, and such a voice! That is his +favourite wife in the corner, with baby in her arms. She looks at him +with fondness, not unmingled with awe. Even the dogs are listening, as +if they understood every word he said." + +"It's more than I do, Peter." + +In good weather--and this particular morning was beautiful--no one feels +inclined to laze on the Pampas. Your sleep has been sweet and sound; +your breakfast, principally of meat, as fat as you please, has been a +hearty one, yet you do not feel heavy after it. On the contrary you +have but one wish--to be up and away. + +Our route to-day would lead us somewhat aside from this Rio Santa Cruz +(the river of the Holy Cross), in a direction about west and by north, +straight away, in fact, for the distant Cordillera range of mountains, +which was to be our ultimate destination. + +Ever since our start, and even before we started, we--Ritchie, Peter, +Jill, and myself--had been practising morn, noon, and night with bolas +and lasso. The latter needs no description, and a good horseman soon +gets up to throwing it well, although there is a danger of being dragged +headlong out of the saddle, when it becomes tightened between the +lassoed animal and the thrower. The bolas are balls, two or three, of +either stone or lead covered with skin, attached to the ends of some +yards of thong. They are whirled rapidly round the head for a moment or +two, then deftly allowed to fly off at a tangent, so that when they fall +upon an animal, be it ostrich, guanaco, or even the South American lion +called puma, they so hamper his movements that further flight is out of +the question. The horseman speedily advances and puts a speedy end to +the creature's sufferings. + +To-day the journey was a peculiarly arduous one. The sun was blazing +down from an unclouded sky, making it positively hot for the climate; +but after being heated, when we stopped a short time the cold east wind +went searching through bones and marrow. We felt, as Peter expressed +it, "suddenly placed inside an American patent freezer." + +The route was very rough: the same barren wilderness that we had been +traversing for days; the same sort of sand-clay or gravel, under foot; +the same stunted bushes, grass and thistle tufts; the same stony ground, +the same up hill and down dell, over banks, up steep terraces, across +plateaus, down into cartons and past _salinas_, near which was a greater +abundance of vegetation, though nothing approaching to luxuriance. +These salinas are salt lagoons or lakes. I feel sure, from their +appearance, many of them are the craters of extinct volcanos. And +indeed the whole country where we were to-day seemed as if at one time +it had been overflown by lava, and subsequently rent and torn by +earthquakes. + +Castizo told Jill and me that all the land here at various periods of +time had been raised from the level of the sea by the giant forces of +nature operating beneath, and that this accounted for the terrace-like +formation we now and then came to. But Jill and I were too young at +that time to study geology. Besides, we had no more love for "ologies" +at this period of our lives, than we had when poor Aunt Serapheema used +to strike one o'clock on our knuckles at home. As we wanted to put as +much land between us and the Atlantic as possible, we did not stay +to-day for big hunting. Besides, we were not in the very best of +hunting countries yet, though we saw several herds of guanaco, and a +good many ostriches. + +We had one little hunt, however. It was disobeying the orders of our +cacique to break away from the line of march, but in this particular +case we could not well help it. Besides, if any one was to blame, it +was Ossian. + +A fox, a huge beast like a wolf, ran across our path. + +"Hurrah!" Ossian seemed to cry, "Yowff, yowff. Come on, Bruce. Here's +a chance!" + +Away went the two dogs like two birds. Away went Jill after his pets +like a third bird, while I brought up the rear. + +We heard Castizo order a halt, so we thought it would be all right, and +rode heedlessly on after the dogs. We must have ridden fully two miles +when we came up with Ossian. Poor Bruce was nowhere in it; near him lay +the fox, dead. I speedily dismounted, and secured the tail, which I +fastened to Jill's saddle. Then Bruce came up panting, and complained +to us that his legs were not long enough. Guanacos, he said, were more +his form; and this proved to be true enough, for he afterwards proved +invaluable at this form of hunting. + +As we were returning, we noticed an ostrich at some distance to the +right. Our bolas were handy, and so off we went at a tangent, in +pursuit. Another and another sprang up, and to my intense delight and +Jill's glory he succeeded in entangling one I shot the bird with my +revolver, but I think even now I see the wild and frightened look the +poor creature had in its quaint, queer face. We did not stop to possess +ourselves of any of the meat, but secured the feathers, tied them in a +bundle, and prepared to return in triumph. + +Well, to retrace our trail was easy enough. We reached the spot where +we had left our companions. + +They were gone. + +But where, whither? We could see the plains all round us when we rode +up to the top of a ridge for very many miles, but never a vestige of the +cavalcade. + +"Jill," I said, "we're left and lost." + +"But they cannot surely have gone out of sight in so short a time!" + +"Where are they then?" + +"It seems to me as if the earth has opened and swallowed them up." + +And that was really and truly what had happened, with this difference: +the earth had opened thousands of years before, and our companions were +swallowed to-day. They were quietly preparing lunch down in the bottom +of a green-carpeted canon. + +We were very glad to find them, and Peter told us after, he had been +looking out for us all the time from behind a boulder at the top of the +bank. + +When Prince Jeeka found out we had killed an ostrich, and had not +brought in the flesh, he was astonished. + +"You young," he said, smiling, "young, young--" Then he ordered an +Indian to go and find it; which he did, and not long after brought it to +camp. + +Meanwhile the Indians had made a splendid fire in the lee of a rock, +with roots and bushes pulled from the adjoining bank. I had once seen +an ox roasted whole, but never before an ostrich. + +The huge bird was speedily disembowelled. The entrails fell to the +share of the mongrel greyhounds, or coarse-built whippets, and a deal of +quarrelling they had over them. The blood was drunk by the chief and +his wives. It certainly did not improve their copper-coloured +complexions. Meanwhile stones were heated and placed inside the bird, +the whole being finally lifted on to the bright fire, and partly +covered. In about an hour it was cooked. + +We were all hungry, and glad to share with the Indians. I cannot say I +relished it very much; but hunger is sweet sauce, and it is never half +so sweet as when squatting gipsy-fashion round a meal spread in the open +air. + +After a few hours' rest we went on again, and so on and on day after +day. + +We seemed to be making forced marches, and seldom stayed to do much +hunting, except simply for sake of fresh meat. + +Unless one keeps a diary on the road--and that is what neither Jill nor +I did--it is impossible to remember a tithe of the many little events +that happen, or the character of the scenery. During the first six or +eight days of this journey, however, there was but one character in the +scenery, and that I have already noted; and great events were few and +far between, so that only a few impressions remain recorded on the +tablets of my memory. + +I will never forget our quiet camp life of an evening, when the tents +were raised, and we settled down for enjoyment. Sometimes even yet, +when sleepless in bed of a night I allow my mind to revert to them, and +they never fail to woo me to sweet and dreamless slumber. + +The dinner was, of course, _the_ great event of the evening, and it was +wonderful how well Pedro cooked that meal, considering the few things at +his command. Lawlor and he were our servants in a manner of speaking, +but immediately after dinner they joined the group around the camp fire, +and there we sat chatting and telling stories till ten o'clock or past. + +Every one had something to tell, and Castizo, though full of adventurous +stories and reminiscences himself, never failed to draw "yarns," as +sailors call them, from others. + +Even Jill and I found our tongues, and told Castizo about the little +escapades of our schoolboy days. He listened to these, I think, far +more eagerly than he did to the wilder exploits of Ritchie, Lawlor, and +Pedro. + +He laughed heartily over our piratical experiences, running with, or +being run away with by the hulk, and firing our pistols at the +flag-ship. + +"Your sister Mattie," I remember him saying one evening, "must be a +darling child, and as full of spirit and fun as a young puma." + +"She is all that," "She is all that," said Jill and I together. + +It used to amuse Castizo to hear my brother and me, when mutually +excited, speak thus together in one breath and in the same words. He +would laugh, and then say-- + +"You boys seem to be animated with but one spirit between you." + +"One spirit is quite enough for Jill and me," "One spirit is quite +enough for Jack and me."--this would be our answers. + +It was not very often that Castizo was in the humour to tell us a story; +but when we did get him to consent, we had descriptions of the most +thrilling adventures, both by sea and land, that it is possible to +imagine. + +"Do," I ventured to say once, "do the senora, your wife, and the +senorita--" + +"Dulzura," said Peter. + +"Miss you greatly, when from home?" + +A strange change came over his countenance. From happiness and mirth it +suddenly changed to melancholy the most acute. I felt sorry immediately +I had spoken, and hastened to say-- + +"My dear friend, I have hurt your feelings; pray pardon my +thoughtlessness." + +"Nay, nay," he made haste to reply; "it is nothing. But my wife is +gone. If ever angel lived and breathed on earth, it was Magdalena. Her +death was to me an abiding sorrow. But I seem to see her and feel her +presence even yet, and she is often with me when I am alone." + +This gave me the clue to what we had considered a mystery, namely, +Castizo's great fondness for spending a portion of almost every night +all alone out in the Pampas. Whether it rained or blew, in fact +whatsoever the weather was like, Castizo always went out. This habit he +commenced, as I have already shown, when we first started, when he rode +two lonesome days and nights after us; and the habit he kept up till the +last. + +But Castizo was always willing to oblige us with a song. He had a +splendid voice, and sang as well in English as in Spanish or Chilian. + +Pedro's stories were also well worth listening to. His experiences had +been many and varied; but, alas! many of them were, to say the least, +very hazy, and there was a deal in the history of his life far too dark +to tell. Yet he was a faithful fellow, and would any day go through +fire and water to oblige us. + +Peter never had a story to tell. When asked to "spin us a yarn" he +would tap his clarionet, and say, with a smile-- + +"I tell all my stories, like the Arcadian shepherds, through my pipe." + +"Well, then, play," Castizo would remark. + +"Yes, play," Jill would add emphatically; "our cacique commands you." + +"All right, Greenie dear," Peter would reply, and play forthwith. + +I do not think I ever heard sweeter melody anywhere than that which +Peter discoursed on his pipe, as he called it, around the camp fire on +the lonely Pampas. + +Some of the Indians would be sure to come from their toldos, and draw +near our door, whenever Peter began to play, especially Prince Jeeka and +his favourite wife, Nadi. + +They were invariably asked in, and just as invariably did poor Nadi +bring with her some sewing to do, generally in the shape of a few pieces +of guanaco skin, which she was sewing together to make a roba or mantle +for her husband or herself. + +Very gentle, quiet, and amiable was Nadi, and bound up in her child and +noble husband. I say "noble" advisedly; for all the time we knew him he +was always the "prince," generous, kind to his wife and child, brave and +unselfish in the extreme. And yet they told me that he had in his time +done some terrible deeds, and had even with his own hand slain the +cousin of his wife Nadi. When I looked at Jeeka, I could not find it in +my heart to believe this. + +Nadi used to sing. It was more a wail than anything else; though while +doing so she used to nod her head, and smiles would steal over her dark +but pretty face, while her eyes sparkled with excitement and fun. Her +husband would join in the chorus, as if he, too, enjoyed it. Perhaps +Castizo and Pedro knew what it was all about; I am sure none of the rest +of us ever did. + +Sometimes Jill, or Peter, and I used to go over to the toldos of the +Indians. We always took with us a bit of tobacco, and sometimes a +little bag of flour. We generally found them lazing in groups, smoking +and playing cards or dice. But as soon as ever their own cacique, +Jeeka, gave the word, all playing was almost instantly stopped, and soon +after they had rolled their mantles more tightly round them, and gone +off to sleep. + +In the morning before the start, Jeeka invariably helped his wife into +the saddle; then she, with her child and the other two women, rode +leisurely on. + +To be alone in the desert, is to be alone with God; and every one of us +soon came to follow the habit of Castizo, and retire nightly a little +way from the camp, there to commune with our Father above. Like as in +the old, old times, Jill and I invariably went together, knelt together, +and returned together. + +Jeeka was a strange being. He was clever, for he could not only speak +Spanish but tolerably good English, and he could think. + +"What you go out for," he said to me one morning, "last night?" + +"To speak with the Great Good Spirit," I replied. "He who made all +things, and who keeps us in life and free from danger. Do you not speak +with the Great Good Spirit?" + +"Hum-m-m. Sometime. I think there is one, two, Great Spirit." + +"Yes, a Spirit of Evil, and a Great Good Spirit." + +"Hum-m-m. I sometime speak the one for good. Sometime I speak the +other." + +"That is not right, Jeeka. We are told only to pray to the Great Good +Spirit." + +"You told? Who tell you?" + +I was getting out of my depth now, so I put him off for the present. + +"Some day soon," I said, "Jill, my brother, and I, will tell you all the +strange story of the world." + +"You tell Nadi, my wife, too?" + +"Yes, we will tell you both, and you shall tell your tribe." + +"Hum-m-m. Good!" + +Next minute Jeeka had shaken off all concern and religious feeling, and +was addressing his men in loud stentorian tones as to the duties of the +day before us. For a great hunt was on the tapis. + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE "MURDER TREE"--WILD AND EXCITING SPORT--JILL AND THE PUMA--HOSTILE +INDIANS. + +This was to be a memorable day in the history of our adventures, for +troubles began that we did not see the end of for many a long month +afterwards. + +We were now in a splendid hunting district; herds of guanacos had been +seen, with innumerable ostriches, besides animals of various kinds. + +We had even noticed some wild horses in the distance, but they had +evidently sniffed danger from afar, for they speedily drew off, and +disappeared to the nor'ard in a cloud of dust. + +Very early in the morning we crossed a river. I am unable at this date +to give the name of it, but think it must have been some tributary of +the now distant Rio Santa Cruz or of the Chico. + +We Englishmen were all tolerably good horsemen now, thanks to Jeeka, who +had given us lessons, and thanks to our good steeds themselves. They +were wonderfully well trained. Peter and Lawlor were the worst riders, +and got many a tumble and shaking; but instead of bolting when their +riders fell off, the horses simply stood and looked at them, as much as +to say: "What fun you can find in tumbling off our backs in that +higgledy-piggledy way, we utterly fail to discover." + +An accident of this kind caused the greatest merriment among the +Indians. They waved their spears in the air, and shouted with laughter. +Even gentle Nadi clapped her hands, and cried "Engleese! Engleese!" +She meant, of course, that there was nothing too eccentric for an +Englishman to do, for the notion that they had fallen off accidentally +never for a moment crossed her thoughts. + +We got over the river easily enough, only Peter did not gird up his +mantle in the true Patagonian fashion, and so when he reached bank he +looked more like a half-drowned pole-cat ferret than anything else on +earth. Again Nadi must clap her hands and laugh, and cry "Engleese! +Engleese!" + +On now over a vast undulating plain, with more bush than we had yet +seen, and, wonder of wonders! one single tree, growing at the east side +of a rock. I noticed that all the Indians gave the tree a wide birth. +I asked one Indian to come with me towards it; he only answered "Malo, +malo," and rode away in another direction. So Jill and I went to see +it. A more weird-looking tree I never had come near. It was almost +dead; just a few green leaves, the rest of its branches bare and +blackened, as if by fire. Near it, and half buried in the gravel, were +several skulls and bones. + +It was a murder tree! + +Castizo told us this in the evening. Some Chilians, who were suspected +of having proved false to a certain tribe, were taken to this dreary +spot at midnight, and quietly "knifed." + +The story made us shudder, and both Jill and I dreamt about it +afterwards. + +Preparations were now set about to form a grand battue. + +This is a form of hunting which I admit I do not admire, but it is +common in nearly every country, Scotland and England not excepted. In +this case it was to some extent a necessity. We wanted fresh meat, and +the Indians wanted skins and feathers. + +To say that we "youngsters" were not excited from the very commencement, +would be to throw doubts upon our very nationality. + +We were excited. + +So much so, that the preliminaries seemed to us interminably long and +dull. First of all a halt was called, and Jeeka held a short palaver +with our cacique. As they spoke in Patagonian we could not tell what +was said, but from the gestures they made it was evident that Castizo +was placing the principal command of the hunt in the hands of Prince +Jeeka. + +Now guns and revolvers, lassoes and bolas, were seen to. After this, +Jeeka disrobed himself, tying his mantle on his saddle, and almost at +the same time four Indians followed his example. Off they presently +rode in different directions, two bearing away to the right, and three, +including Jeeka, to the left. They seemed to make or describe the arc +of a circle. After they had been gone some time, a fire was seen in one +place on the right, and another to the left. Four more Indians at once +divested themselves of the roba, and rode after the others. So +gradually they all dispersed. We followed in due time, "dislocating" +ourselves just as the Indians had done, leaving the women with the spare +horses, and one boy to follow slowly along the tract. + +We soon sighted the Indians, who were careering to and fro, and +gradually closing in. But the portion of country--a wide, rough, +rolling, bushy plain--was very extensive, so that the afternoon was well +begun before the real sport was. + +We soon, however, noticed herds of guanaco here and there, and scared +looking, strangely bewildered ostriches. The guanacos stampeded, the +birds fled hither and thither, but were turned with yells and shouts +wherever they went. + +Presently a herd began to break between Jill and myself and some +Indians. + +Now was the time to display our skill. Our horses seemed to know more +about this strange species of hunting than we did, for they carried us +quickly near the flying herd. I swung and flung my bolas, and missed, +and had to dismount. Jill was more fortunate, and soon killed his first +guanaco. The Indians were very busy indeed; so was Castizo. I had +never seen finer horsemanship than his was out of the circus itself. He +and his steed seemed imbued with the same spirit. Indeed, it did not +appear to be a man on horseback we saw before us, but some Centaur of +old. As Ritchie said afterwards, man and horse were all of a-piece. + +I made up soon after for my awkwardness, and an ostrich succumbed to my +bolas. + +Gradually as the circle narrowed, wilder and more exciting grew the +sport. Wilder and wilder yet. It came to be almost a _melee_ at last. +It came to a slaughter and murder of the innocents. And we white men, +tired of bolas work, laid birds and beasts dead around us by the dozen +with our guns. + +It has been said that the puma will not attack a man on horseback. But +in cases like the present there is many an exception. + +Jill had an adventure which I will never forget. Nor shall I ever +forget the splendid display of his huge strength and skill as a rider, +which Prince Jeeka made on this occasion. + +From behind a green calpeta bush an immense puma charged down on my +brother. I noticed that, but I was powerless to help him, though my +rifle lay on my arm. But I noticed something else at the same moment-- +Jeeka coming thundering down to the charge. He was rapidly shortening +his bolas till he swung but one ball. + +The puma paused to spring--so terrible a countenance, such fierce, +vindictive eyes, such awful teeth! Hurrah! Jeeka is on him or over +him. There is a dull thud as the ball crashes against the brute's +skull. Next moment the beast is on his back, spitting blood and +spasmodically kicking his last; while Jeeka is riding on as +unconsciously as if he had not saved my dear Jill's life. + +I frequently saw Peter driving the battue. I sometimes saw him in the +saddle; at other times I saw him on his back on the gravel, and once I +noticed him crawling out of a bush into which his horse had shied him. +At least he told us his horse had shied him there; but Jill only laughed +at him, and said the facts were, he had no seat. + +"No mistake about the seat," said Peter. "It's all there, and a +precious hard one it is." + +Prince Jeeka told us that he had never conducted a more successful hunt +in his life, and that there would be plenty of work now for his +followers in curing skins, so that playing cards must for a time be +abandoned. + +As we rode on to a camping ground that night we saw the smoke of fires +in the distance, and after about half an hour drew rein near a camp of +strange Indians. They were men from the north, Castizo informed us, +hardly so well mounted as we were, but even better armed than our own +Indians. + +As they at once sprang to their saddles on our approach, and as Jeeka +marshalled his men in battle array, the danger of a fight appeared +imminent. + +Castizo, however, was equal to the occasion for once. He galloped in +front of our Prince Jeeka and waved him back, the proud Patagonian chief +obeying reluctantly. Then he stationed us white men on each flank of +our little army, the women having already been beckoned off to a safe +distance in the rear. + +Castizo's next move was a brave one. With revolver in his right hand he +rode straight up to the northern cacique, and at once covered him. This +chief's spear had been pointed at Castizo's breast, but after a few +words from the latter it was raised. The spears of all his band were +immediately after elevated also. Then the palaver began. There was +much excited talking between Castizo and the strange cacique, and +several times I expected to see Castizo put a bullet through his heart, +for he still had him covered. + +After a time matters grew more quiet, but I could frequently hear the +name of Nadi mentioned. At last Castizo shouted, and with downcast head +Nadi appeared--still on horseback--before them. Prince Jeeka was about +to plunge forward and join his wife, but a word from Castizo restrained +him. Had he done so, the consequences would have been terrible. + +There was more wild talk, much of it addressed by the northern cacique +to Nadi, who answered never a word, but sat as still as a statue, the +tears raining down over her face and falling on her baby's shoulders. + +I was very sorry for Nadi, though I could not tell what it all meant. + +At last the long stormy interview ended. Nadi made a gesture as if +about to ask forgiveness from the strange cacique, but he turned from +her. + +Then the Indians of our party filed slowly past the others, Jeeka, with +his wife riding beside him, exchanging glances of deadly hatred with the +other cacique as he left him on his right hand. + +When all had gone on, but not one moment before, Castizo slowly lowered +his revolver, made a salaam, which was--not without some considerable +degree of courtesy returned,--and came on after us. + +I noticed soon after this that Nadi, with a fond smile, handed her baby +to Jeeka, and that he kissed it and returned it. This was a very pretty +little Patagonian love-passage that spoke volumes. + +Peter asked Castizo for an explanation of the feud soon after, but was +laughingly referred to Jeeka himself. + +"That man, that cacique, is my Nadi's blood-brother,"--he meant her real +brother, for the term "brother" is often used among the Patagonians in +the sense of sincere friendship. "I visit far north. I see Nadi; Nadi +see me. I not can live without Nadi. I offer fifty horse for her. The +brother refuse. Then I call my men; I ride to the brother's camp. We +fight, and kill much men. Then I carry Nadi away. I not give _one_ +horse. Ha, ha!" + +"Then it was, after all, a case of elopement. It was young Lochnivar +all over again, only ten times more so." + +"We see, then, Peter," I said, "that the self-same feelings agitate the +breasts of these savages as dwell in our own." + +"Yes," said Peter, "human nature is the same all the world over." + +That evening, after supper, Jill asked Peter what his feelings were +particularly. + +"I don't know," was the reply, "which end of me is uppermost. I feel +all bruised and sore, and just as though I had gone in at one end of a +thrashing machine and come out at the other." + +"Won't you sing us a song to-night, then?" said Castizo, laughing, "or +play on your pipe?" + +"Play, _mon ami_? Pipe, my friend? It'll be when I'm asleep, then." + +"I tell you what it is, you know," said Ritchie. "You wouldn't find it +'alf so 'ard on ye if you were to stick more in the saddle." + +"Ah! well," said Peter, "I'll perhaps learn to. Anyhow, I mean to try. +Good-night, boys; I'm off to the land of dreams." + +Extra precaution was used to-night to prevent a surprise. Although he +had been riding all day, Castizo intimated his intention of keeping the +middle watch. He knew the Patagonians well, and knew that, while he +lived, Jeeka would not be forgiven by the chief whom he had made his +brother-in-law in so heroic a manner. Sooner or later vengeance would +come, and it would be sooner rather than later if the northern Indians +should have their will. + +But the night wore away peacefully, and next day a scout, who had been +sent out early to see what was doing at the hostile camp, returned with +a morsel of half-burnt wood in his hand. He silently handed it to +Jeeka. It was cold to the heart. + +The enemy had gone early. + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +A BLINDING SUMMER-SNOWSTORM--PETER AS A HORSEMAN--PETER IN A FIX. + +Such is the exhilarating and toning power of the air on the Pampas, that +though we had all lain down tired enough, we felt as fresh next morning +as mountain trouts. + +The only feeling that remained from our exertions of yesterday was a +kind of gentle and not unpleasant languor. We were therefore in no +great hurry to depart. But as towards ten o'clock the clouds began to +bank up and obscure the sun in the north and east, and our present camp +was not one of the best-positioned, Castizo gave the order for +departure. + +We had not gone far till up started an ostrich right from under Jill's +horse's nose, and lo! and behold, our first find of a nest--if nest it +could be called. + +As there were but fifteen eggs in it, we were sure they would be fresh, +so we quickly appropriated them, the poor bird himself and his mate, who +was not far away, both falling victims to the bolas of the Indians. + +Perhaps it was just as well; it took them away from sorrow. + +A most exemplary parent and husband is the ostrich. The hen bird lays +over a score of eggs, and the cock considers it his duty to do the +greater part of the hatching. At all events, he sits on the nest for +about eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, and before he leaves the +nest carefully turns every egg over. Then he goes away to stretch his +legs and scratch a bit for his breakfast, which it must be allowed he +has fairly earned. While he is gone it is the hen's turn to brood, so +that between them, in about a month's time, they usually succeed in +raising a very large family of the most idiotic-looking chickens it has +ever been my good fortune to cast eyes upon. + +There is no close time for the ostrich on the Pampas of Patagonia, and +it will probably be a very long time indeed before there is one. +Meanwhile, despite hunters, white and brown, wild cats, pumas, and +foxes, the birds thrive and abound in such quantities, that the wonder +is that more sportsmen from this country do not go to Patagonia to try +their luck. + +As we advanced on our journey to-day the weather seemed to grow colder +and colder. The wind went down at last. It had not been high all the +morning. Then little morsels of snow began to fall. They were no +bigger than millet-seeds, but Jeeka shook his head when he saw them, +pointed upwards, then around him, and said something to our cacique in +Patagonian. + +The millet-seed snow gradually merged into flakes; bigger and bigger did +these grow, till at last we were in the midst of a blinding summer's +snowstorm. + +It was impossible to see even a few yards ahead, so we formed into line, +one going in front of the other, Jeeka and Castizo being ahead. Castizo +had a compass. Jeeka seemed to carry a compass in the brain. He +appeared to know every rock, every bush, and every tussock of grass, +disguised though they now were in a mantle of snow. + +By and by Castizo came to the rear, where, with heads down and with our +arms often across our faces, leaving it entirely to the horses to follow +the trail, Peter, Jill, and I were struggling on. + +"How do you like it?" he said cheerfully to Jill, who was the centre +figure. + +"I've been more agreeably situated many a time," replied Jill. + +"And I've been more agreeably _seat_-uated too," cried Peter, with a +glance behind him, which almost cost him the seat he was punning about. +For when on horseback, poor Peter was always like the rocking-stone on +the Cornish hills--touch and go. Only the rocking-stone never does go. +Peter did frequently, and although the sly dog at first pretended that +he could ride, he had the reckless courage to confess now that he had +been mistaken. He would not venture to look up in the air, he said, for +anything; and whenever he was rash enough to glance behind him, as he +did now, he had to clutch at the saddle with both hands. + +"Peter!" I shouted, "you'll fall, little boy." + +"He deserves to," said Jill, "after making so despicable a pun." + +"Well," said Castizo, laughing, "seat or no seat, Peter, you will have +to remain in that saddle for many hours to come. You'll have to dine +there, too." + +"Will I, indeed? Well, _mon ami_, before night comes I'll be as soft as +a jellyfish or a lightly boiled egg. But never mind, if I'm to be a +martyr, here goes. I'm willing." + +Just at that very moment, as if fate were all against Peter, his horse +stumbled and the rider tumbled. Then the steed stood stock still, and +Peter got up, rubbing himself amid a chorus of laughing. We really +could not help it, he looked so comical and ridiculous. Castizo had to +hold his sides, and Nadi, who was next in front, and of course jumped to +the conclusion that Peter had done it on purpose, and that he was the +most humorous youth under the sun, made the Pampa ring with her merry +laughter. + +"He, he, hee-ee!" she laughed. "O Engleese! Engleese!" + +But Peter himself looked as solemn as a judge with the black cap on. He +simply rubbed himself. + +"That's the way it's done, you see," he said at last. "You thought I +would remain in the saddle for many hours, did you, my friend? Ah! you +don't know Peter Jeffries yet." + +"Well, Peter," I said, "I should think that falling off would get +somewhat monotonous at last." + +"I _don't_ fall off. The beast pitches me off Come, Jack, don't you sit +and grin there like a cub fox at a dead turkey. Get down and give a +fellow a leg-up." + +I did as told, and Peter was soon seated once more. Nadi departed still +laughing, for she never could imagine that any one, unless a squaw, +would ask a "leg-up." She imagined it was all part of the performance. +Peter was evidently a favourite of hers. + +This was still more evident when, about an hour afterwards, wishing to +adjust her robe, she rode coolly alongside his horse and, before Peter +could tell what she was about, deposited the baby in his arms. + +Peter looked aghast, though he kept firm hold of the child. + +"_Honi soit qui mal y pense_!" he said, solemnly. "Honey, suet, +marling-spikes, and pens! I'm in a fix now. Jack, dear boy, are you +behind me? I daren't look round for the world!" + +"I'm here," I answered, choking with laughter. + +"Pray for me, Jack. I'll do as much for you again. Goodness gracious, +Jack! if I've got to leave the saddle now, I'll be death of this darling +child. If the horse should stumble or baby should kick, it's all up +with us; and I haven't made my will either." + +Here the baby sneezed, and Peter swayed unsteadily in the saddle. + +"Hoop!" he cried. "I did think it was all up with me then. Jack, will +you have baby?" + +"Not I, thank you." + +"Jill, you're a dear, good fellow. You'll take the baby, won't you? +The mother has gone away forward somewhere. Do, old man. I'll never +call you Greenie again." + +"I won't have little copper-face." + +"Well, then," said Peter, doggedly, "if it should sneeze again there'll +be manslaughter. That's all." + +But, greatly to our shipmate's relief, back came Nadi, and once more +secured her darling. Peter smiled now, but he gave a big sigh of relief +that might have been heard all over the Pampas. + +"You chaps," he said, "boast about your feats of horsemanship; but just +let any of you try riding over the wide wild prairie with a baby in your +arms. Well, I've done that, and don't you forget it." + +The storm grew worse instead of better; the snow fell thicker and faster +every moment. And now something very strange occurred, for suddenly it +became very dark. One would have thought night was falling. While we +were all wondering what was about to happen, a blinding flash of +lightning spread itself athwart the gloom, followed almost immediately +after by a rattling peal of thunder. Flash succeeded flash, peal after +peal of thunder, harsh, sharp, and deafening, reverberated from rock to +rock. It was unlike any thunder I had ever heard before--not the deep +bass roar that one listens to in a storm off the Cape, nor the crashing +big-gun sound of thunder in the mountains. The noise was of a tearing, +rending character, and resembled platoon or volley firing as near as +anything I know of. But the effect of the lightning among the falling +snow was most beautiful and wonderful. And whenever a more brilliant +and dazzling flash than usual occurred, for a few seconds thereafter the +flakes looked purple, blue, and crimson, and sometimes nearly black. + +Our horses stood the storm well, for they are marvellously trained +animals. + +It got lighter now, and gradually the snow ceased to fall, and we could +see the sky. Blue it was towards the eastern horizon, with one dark, +unbroken canopy of clouds moving fast away overhead towards the +Cordilleras. + +Back rolled the great cloud-curtain, and presently out shone the +glorious sun, and the scene around us was now beautiful but dazzling in +the extreme. + +We rode on through the Pampas all that day. Whenever we came to a +lagoon--and we passed many--we noticed that the water looked as black as +ink. It is the same with the sea in the Arctic regions, the contrast in +colour accounting for the optical illusion. + +We saw many ducks on these lakes, as well as a species of wild geese; +but Castizo did not think it advisable to delay our advance for the sake +of sport, especially as our larder was full to repletion. + +The sun was setting when we reached our camping ground, which was under +the lee of a terrace of rocks and close to a pretty little lake. Tired +though we all were, more particularly Peter, we could not help pausing +to marvel at the extraordinary beauty of the snow-clad hills of the +west. Their strange and fantastic summits, and even far down towards +the base of the mountains, were lit up with a glory of colour which in +no country of the world have I ever seen rivalled or equalled. The +shadows or shades were sharply defined and of a bluish purple hue. The +high lights were either of pure white or the most delicate shades of +crimson. What a beautiful world this is, after all, if we could be but +content with it! and every sort of weather, every sort of scenery, and +every season, whether spring, summer, autumn or winter, has its own +peculiar charm to one who is at home with Nature or Nature's God. + +Our men and the Indians now bustled about, and in less than half an hour +the toldos were erected and the dinner nearly ready. Our dish to-night +was to be a Patagonian stew, the meat consisting of the tit-bits of the +guanaco and ostrich, with a kind of tuberous root dug up by the Indians, +and which is indeed a palatable adjunct to diet on the Pampas. Another +dish was to be a mash of ostriches' eggs, which, well salted and +peppered and mixed with a morsel of guanaco suet, is food fit for a +hungry king. + +But while dinner was cooking, and in order to pass the time, Ritchie, +Jill, and I went down by the side of the lagoon to look for game, while +Peter lay down in the toldo to rub himself. + +We had half an hour's splendid sport. Owing to the weather, perhaps, +the birds did not care to fly, so we had to shoot them afloat Ossian +would not take the water to retrieve, so Bruce had all the work to do, +and very nimbly and energetically he did it too. There were with us +several of the ordinary Pampas whippets, but they merely sat with their +tails in the snow and looked on. It really seemed to us that Bruce was +showing off a bit on his own account, for although he might have waded +into the water, this did not suit him. It was not effective enough. He +must give one warning bark first to attract the attention of the +mongrels--the bark sounding almost like the word "look?"--then down he +came with a feathering rush, sprang far into the water, swam up to his +bird, caught it nimbly and brought it out. + +We retired early, and slept very sound indeed, particularly Peter. + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +"OUR HORSES STAMPEDED"--"POOR BENIGHTED HEATHENS!"--JILL'S LITTLE JOKE-- +TELLING JEEKA THE STORY OF THE WORLD--ADVENTURE IN THE HAUNTED WOOD. + +When we looked out next morning we found, to our surprise, that the snow +had all gone from the Pampas. + +"Isn't it strange?" I said to Castizo. + +"No," he answered--"at least I should say `yes, it is strange,' but then +one must never marvel at anything that happens on the Pampas. If I'm +any judge of the weather, however, well have summer now." + +Travelling to-day was exceedingly difficult, the ground being so wet and +sloppy. Peter only tumbled once. We came to a river, and had some +trouble getting over it. There should be no river here, though on very +rare occasions the rain from the mountains, and more particularly the +melting snow, has been known to come down in an immense force and fill +the canon from bank to bank. + +As the weather soon grew fine once more, with the exception of now and +then a drizzling rain or thick fog, which, however, did little more than +damp the surface and lay the dust, Castizo, our worthy cacique, +determined to take things easy. + +We therefore set about enjoying ourselves as much as we could. Our +report was at all times excellent. I could not help saying to Peter +that a sportsman in this country who was not afraid of roughing it a +little, might actually accumulate wealth. + +"And bumps," said Peter, solemnly. "My dear Jack," he added, "it's the +roughing it that is the great drawback. Now I can walk as well as +anybody. Or if I ride and the nag goes at a nice swinging gallop, then +I'm as jolly as if on the quarter-deck of an A1-er. But these beastly +nags go hippity-skippity, skippity-nippity, till it's perfectly +sickening." + +"Well, but Peter, old man, you ought to be getting quite hard by this +time." + +"No, Jack, it's all the other way. Instead of the saddle hardening me, +I'm hardening the saddle. There is where the grief comes in, and I'm +afraid it is breaking down an otherwise splendid constitution." + +"Have an extra rug under you, then." + +"A feather pillow would suit him best," said Jill, laughing. + +"I'll tell Mother Coates about you, Mr Greenie, soon's we get home. +That is if there be anything left of me to get home." + +"Well, Peter," continued Jill, "it is partly my fault, after all--your +being so sore, I mean." + +"How, Greenie?" + +"Because I neglected to ask Mother Coates for the cold cream before the +steamer left Sandy Point." + +At this moment a herd of guanacos was sighted. There was a shout from +the Indians, who at once spread out to surround them. + +"Hurrah!" cried Peter. "Here's for off. Hoop!" + +And away went our erratic messmate, helter-skelter over the plains, +quite forgetting the hardness of the saddle in that wild gallop. + +Peter had become quite an adept at throwing either lasso or bolas. The +only drawback here again being that after "heaving," as he called it, he +was apt to follow them, and this resulted in more bumps. It is really +surprising to me that Peter never smashed his neck, or at the very least +his collar-bones. When we congratulated him on his good luck in this +respect, he replied-- + +"Why, how can I break bones? There isn't a bone in my body, I tell you. +I'm all pulp." + +Peter certainly had plenty of pluck. + +I never saw Peter happier than one morning when awaking, we found that +all our horses had stampeded. Perhaps stampeded is too strong a word. +It would be more correct to say they had silently disappeared. So we +had to walk in search of them. + +The trail was evident enough, and led us still farther to the west. +There was no mistake about it. Peter could walk if he could not ride. +He was constantly turning round to us and calling-- + +"Come on, you fellows. Haven't you got any legs under you? Such old +dawdlers I never did see!" + +The Indians said that the Gualichu had lured the horses away--meaning +the evil spirit whom they sometimes worship. + +The Gualichu might have been an evil spirit, but if so he was a most +handsome one, and shaped like a small-headed, fiery-eyed, arch-necked +stallion, with marvellous mane and tail. + +I was surprised to see Jeeka level his gun at the beautiful brute and +fire. The stallion rolled down dead, and after that we had but little +difficulty in bringing back our steeds. + +We encamped that night by a very small stream, which meandered through a +chaos of round stones and boulders. And here, for the first time since +we set out, we succeeded in catching fish--a kind of grey mountain +trout; they were of excellent flavour, but small in size. + +We saw some commotion among the Indians this evening after dinner, and +found they were muttering prayers or incantations, and making salaams to +the new moon. + +"Poor benighted heathens!" said Peter, glancing up at the lunar +scimitar, which had just escaped from beneath a little cloud. "Poor +heathens! I quite feel for them." + +"But what are you doing," said Jill, "with your hands in your pockets?" + +"Why, I'm turning my money of course. Don't you always do that when you +see the new moon?" + +"Poor benighted heathen!" cried Jill. + +Peter now saw what was meant, and laughed as heartily as any one. + +Presently we entered the toldo, and Peter sat down as usual to smooth +his bumps. I noticed Jill looking towards him with a half-subdued smile +of mischief on his face. Soon he glanced towards me, and we went out +together. + +"I've thought of a little trick to play Peter," said Jill. + +"Well?" I said. + +"Get Nadi to give him the baby again." + +"But how will you manage?" + +"Come and see." + +Nadi's innocent face always lighted up with smiles when Jill and I went +near her. My brother addressed her in broken Patagonian. It was very +much broken, but it suited the purpose. Nevertheless, Nadi understood +English well, though too shy to talk it. + +"Peter," he said, pointing to little copper-face. "Peter ywotisk, Peter +kekoosh, moyout win coquet talenque." (Peter is weary and cold, and +would like to have the baby for a little while.) + +Up jumped Nadi, her eyes sparkling with delight, and went off to the +tent. We followed. In she went, and without a word popped the baby +down on Peter's knee, then retired most gracefully. + +Everybody laughed at Peter, but, like a sensible young man, he made the +best of it; and when we entered, looking as innocent as sucking +guanacos, there he was talking away to the child, and making it laugh +and crow more than ever its mother did. + +"You see what it is to be a good-natured fellow," Peter said to me. +"Now you'll live a long time before _you_ get baby to hold." + +Peter often got baby after this, and I really think he came to like it, +only he told Jeeka to inform his wife, that the danger of handing him +the child when on horseback was extreme. So this never occurred again. + +I think, on the whole, then, that Peter had the best of Jill and his +little joke. + +The country now became changed in aspect, far more rugged and hilly and +wild, but at times its beauty was almost awesome. + +One day we came upon a patch of woodland, the first real trees we had +seen. Then we knew we were within a measurable distance of Castizo's +romantic home in the Cordilleran forests. + +We encamped this night close to the wood. + +The Indians did not, according to Jeeka, quite relish the propinquity. +The wood was haunted by evil spirits. There was a fox with two heads +that had been frequently seen within its dark shades, and there was +something in white which Jeeka could not well define. It might have two +heads or it might have twenty, he could not say; but it was very +terrible, and death soon visited the person whose track this +something-in-white crossed. + +There was no good could accrue from laughing at Jeeka. I could not help +thinking, however, what a pity it was so noble a fellow--savage, if you +choose to call him so--should remain in such mental darkness. Could we +not do a little to help him, Jill and I? + +We might try. One never does know what one can do till a trial is made. + +"Jeeka," I said that evening, "will you go for a walk with Jill and me, +and bring Nadi?" + +"So, so," was the reply, meaning "yes." + +We would have led him towards the wood, but he shook his head, and spoke +but one word in a very firm and decided tone-- + +"Gualichu!" + +He led us down into a rocky ravine where grew many strange bushes we had +never seen before, and in the more open places an abundance of wild +flowers, many like our own pinks and primroses that grow among the dear +Cornish hills. In this ravine was a streamlet which, however, had so +worn away its rocky bed that we could hardly see it. We could hear it, +however, and when we peeped over the cliffs that formed its banks, there +it was foaming and tearing along, and leaping from shelf to shelf of its +stony bed. Sometimes it formed great pools of dark brown water, in +which fish were leaping after the swarming flies. + +Not far from this wild stream, and within hearing of its ceaseless song, +we all threw ourselves on the grass in a ring. Nadi, woman-like, had +brought some sewing with her, some beautiful skunk skins from which--we +afterwards discovered--she was making a little roba or poncho for her +favourite Peter. + +"You're not afraid of the Gualichu?" I said. + +Jeeka looked hastily round as if to make sure there was nothing very +dreadful in sight, before he replied-- + +"I shoot he quick, suppose I can." + +"But you shot him before in the shape of a horse?" I said. + +"So, so." + +"And he has come to life again?" + +"He, everywhere." + +"You speak the truth, Jeeka: the spirit of evil, if not the evil spirit +in person, is everywhere. Now who, think you, made these grand old +hills, the mountains beyond? Who made trees and those sweet flowers? +Who made the horses at first, the guanaco and the ostrich? Who made +man? Not the Gualichu, surely?" + +"N-no. He not make them good," said Jeeka, thoughtfully. + +It was an innocent, childlike answer, but yet it brought to my mind at +once the words in the first chapter of Genesis, "And God saw that it was +good." + +It brought me at once to my subject too. I had felt very shy in +speaking at first, but I felt it my duty to speak, and I really think I +waxed eloquent as I proceeded. Words seemed to come at all events, +simple words and simple language, but they suited the occasion. + +I told Nadi and Jeeka the story of the world, the story of its fall, and +of its redemption through the mercy and loving-kindness of the Good +Spirit who made it. + +A story so simple that babes and sucklings can understand it, appealed +to the very hearts of these poor handsome heathens. + +Nadi dropped her skunk skins in her lap, and listened open-mouthed. +Jeeka was cutting the root of a bush which he had plucked into chips +with his dagger. He never once looked up, but I knew he was listening +too. + +There was silence for a time after I had finished. Then Jeeka rose, and +grasped my hand. + +"Brother," he said, "you tell me this story again? So, so?" + +"So, so," repeated poor Nadi. + +During all my story she looked as though she understood every word, and +I have no doubt she did; but her husband frequently interrupted me by +saying to her-- + +"Ma Onques?" (Do you understand?) on which Nadi would merely nod +assent, without taking her eyes a moment from my face. + +I have often thought since then what a blessing it is that all a poor +human being needs for his soul's salvation is so easily understood, that +even the intellect of a savage can compass and comprehend it. What a +hard road it would be to the New Jerusalem were the finger-posts that +point the way written in a language few could understand, or the +directions couched in technicalities only a limited few could fathom. +But no, there it is in a nutshell. "Repent, love, believe and be +forgiven." + +The truth had got firm hold of Jeeka, or Jeeka had got firm hold of the +truth. I was soon sure of that. It was not so much that he tried to be +a better man, as that he seemed ever afterwards to live as if he were +only "down here"--the woods are his own for a brief time,--and that his +real home was in the far beyond. + +He used often now to make Jill or me repeat the story of the world to +him, and especially the story of the Cross. He always brought Nadi with +him when he desired to speak to me on such subjects. But he sometimes +asked us strange questions. Such as about the grass: was it a good crop +in heaven? Horses: were they well trained? etc, etc. Once Jill read to +him from the Revelation a passage where white horses are mentioned in a +vision. + +Jeeka was delighted, and made him read it over and over again. He was +also greatly pleased with descriptions of Bible battles. + +One day Jill read to him the description of the great fight between the +Israelites and the Canaanites, in which it is said that the Lord caused +great stones to be rained from heaven upon the enemy. + +Jeeka here grew quite excited. + +"Hum-m-m. So. So. So!" he cried. "The same thing I have seen." + +"You, Jeeka?" + +"So, so. Big stone. Terrible fire, much smoke and t'under. Big stone +fall eberywhere. So, so." + +As he spoke Jeeka waved his arm away towards the west, and I at once +understood him to refer to an eruption of some great volcano of the +Cordilleras, for there are several such. + +What pleased Nadi more than anything else was the singing of hymns. She +used to join with us, but it was more of a child's voice than anything +else. + +However, Nadi was very young, not more than sixteen perhaps, wife and +mother though she was. + +Our route lay even more to the north than the west now, and it was soon +evident that we were on the great border-line betwixt the wild bleak +Pampas and the forest-clad mountains, which are but a continuation of +the great Andes chain. + +The way was now a winding one, for we often had to make long detours to +get round a lake or the spur of a mountain, although the lower hills we +still continued to face and cross. + +Sport, and plenty of it, still fell to our lot, though the gun and +revolver and spear came in now more handy than the bolas and lasso. + +Even here, however, in the midst of the wildest mountain and sylvan +scenery, there were vast stretches of level valleys and plateaus between +the hills. Most of these were the feeding-grounds for vast herds of +guanacos and of wild horses. + +Our camping grounds of a night were now generally in some grass-covered +glade, and it was indeed a pleasure to fall asleep in our toldo with the +sound of the wind whispering through the trees like the murmur of waves +on a sandy beach. + +There were many night sounds now, however, besides the whispering of the +trees, and some of these, to say the least, were not over-pleasant to +listen to. If, for instance, we were anywhere near to rocky ground, +there was the mournful and weird yelling of wild cats. These were +mingled at times with the "Yap-yap-yeow--ow" of the Patagonian fox. +There were also many strange cries and sounds which we could not account +for, so we were fain to put them all down to the birds. + +It was not safe to enter the forests by night; sometimes even in daytime +there was danger enough. I remember I went to bathe one day by myself +in a bright clear pool formed by a mountain torrent. The water was +delightfully cool, so I stopped for a full hour enjoying myself. + +After lounging a little by the river's bank, dressing leisurely and +falling into a kind of day-dream, I prepared to return. No one knew +where I was, and if I were missed, both Jill and Peter would be anxious. +I commenced to retrace my steps up a little pathway through an +entanglement of bush and thorn, but had only advanced a short way when +from the scrub in front I heard a low growl, emitted evidently by a +puma, and he could not be many yards away. To fly was to court pursuit, +and that meant death, for I had no arms of any kind. I shaded my eyes +with my hand, and looked cautiously under the bush. Yes, yonder was a +pair of huge green fiend-like eyes glaring at me, watching me as a cat +watches a mouse. + +I drew cautiously back, glad to get away with my life, and re-crossed +the stream. But here I was on another horn of the dilemma, for the only +other way back to the camp would take me fully three miles about, with +the probability, too, that I might lose myself and wander about all +night long. No, this would not do; I must scare that puma. The little +pathway, it just then occurred to me, must have been made by wild +beasts--perhaps pumas. + +"Whatever man dares, he can do," I said to myself, as I gathered an +armful of big round stones. Then I advanced once more towards the +puma's bush, and shouting, threw a stone I was answered by a snap and a +growling roar. Another stone: result the same, only the snap more +vicious and the growl more angry. I was in for it now, so I threw the +third stone with all the force I could command, giving vent at the same +time a yell that would have startled a Chak-Chak Indian. + +This had an effect that I had hardly bargained for. I had counted upon +the denizen of that incense bush going off in any direction rather than +mine. Not so. With a spitting coughing roar, that went through my +nerves like a shock from a powerful battery, the brute sprang out +towards me. But a merciful Providence was surely protecting me, for at +the very moment the huge extended talons were nearly in my neck, another +and larger puma bounded from the bush, striking the first and sending it +rolling down the little pathway. Then over and over they rolled like +two huge overgrown kittens, until they finally disappeared. Indeed it +is evident enough the two beasts had been all the time romping together, +and that even my presence did not suffice to interfere with their sense +of fun. + +Peter laughed heartily when I told him of the occurrence; but Jill did +not. He even scolded me. What right had I to go away into the bush +without him? he inquired, and hoped it would be a warning to me. + +Poor innocent Jill! + +The Indians, and even Jeeka, were rather afraid of the wood in which +this adventure had taken place. It was haunted. + +Strange, I thought, that so many woods were haunted. + +Yet one cannot wonder at these poor people being superstitious, +wandering so much as they do in this wild lone land, seeing so many +sights and hearing so many strange sounds for which they cannot account. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +A JOURNEY TO THE COUNTRY OF THE GUALICHU--THE EARTHQUAKE--A WONDROUS +SIGHT--"I WILL PRAY TO THE GREAT GOOD SPIRIT." + +"I feel unusually fresh this morning," said Peter one day as we all +squatted down to breakfast. + +"Considering," he added, "the roughish time we had yesterday, I'm a +little astonished at my recuperative powers." + +"What ship did you say?" said Ritchie. + +"Recuperative powers, Edward. That's the ship. And I didn't know I had +any. Why, when I turned in last night I said to Jack there, `Jack,' +says I, `I'm feeling ninety years of age.' But this morning I can hold +my age like a young hawk." + +"And the bumps, Peter?" I said. + +"Gone down beautifully, Jack. Hardly a bump visible to-day. Just a +blueness on some of the bone ends. Greenie, I'll trouble you for +another slice of that ostrich gizzard." + +"Well," said Castizo, "I'm glad to see you all looking so bright and +jolly. `Jolly' is English, is it not?" + +"Oh, thorough English!" + +"Because, my boys all, I want to make a _detour_ to-day, and pay a visit +to an old friend of mine, Kaiso to name--King Kaiso in full. Kaiso +means big, and big he is." + +"A giant." + +"A giant among giants, for he has surrounded himself with the biggest +fellows he could find anywhere. He's a funny fellow himself. He has +been far travelled too: been to Chili and Monte Video, where he went as +a show on the boards of a small theatre or concert place. As soon as he +made money, however, he bought all the pretty and useful things he could +find, and so retired to the fastnesses of his mountains. His troops are +a strange band, of northern and southern Indians. The wonder to me is +how he manages to keep peace among them. He keeps a private witch, +however, a tame puma, and a medicine man." + +"I don't mind the witch much," said Peter, "they are usually pretty +tame; but the puma, _mon ami_, is it tame? Has he a dog licence? Does +he keep it chained up?" + +"Oh, no, but it is very affectionate. Don't let it lick your hand, that +is all, for its tongue is exceedingly rough, and if it tastes blood, it +is like King Kaiso with rum, it wants more. Jill, my plate is empty." + +"And does this King Kaiso," said Ritchie, "live far from here." + +"Yes, several days' hard ride." + +Peter groaned. + +"But we'll have a good rest when we get there. Then a few days more +will take us home." + +Peter smiled now, and passed his plate to Jill again. + +"Last time, and the only time in fact," continued our cacique, "that I +visited Kaiso, he condemned me to death. But this was at night, and +Kaiso had some rum. He told me he would himself do me the honour to cut +my head off with one of his very best swords. I thanked him, of course, +and appeared quite pleased about it. But lo! in the morning he had +forgotten all about it. We were half-way through breakfast when he +said, `Oh, by de way, I was goin' to lop your head off dis mornin'. But +I too tire. I much too tire. Some oder day p'r'aps.' I assured him +not to trouble about the matter; that I could afford to wait, and would +wait to oblige him." + +"And there was no more about it?" + +"Never a word. He had finished all the rum, you see. But Kaiso lives +in a strange land. His home is in the country of the Gualichu." + +"Gualichu! That's the evil spirit, isn't it?" + +"Yes, Jill. But the only evil spirit I ever saw there had been imported +from Jamaica." + +"Rum?" + +"Rum, yes, that's the real Gualichu. Well, Jack, you have good +influence with Jeeka; go and tell him where we mean going. He will +demur; I had the greatest difficulty in getting him to go last time, and +he said he never would return." + +So as soon as breakfast was finished I paid a visit to Jeeka's toldo. +He was waiting while his people, harnessed up and were ready for the +road. + +"Jeeka," I said, coming to the point at once, "we are going to visit +King Kaiso!" + +Jeeka's face assumed an aspect of almost terror. + +"What!" he said. "Go to Kaiso. Kaiso bad man. Kaiso all same's +Gualichu. He live in Gualichu land. Hum-m-m. I will not go. Kaiso +kill us all. Hum-m. He have snake to hiss and bite. He have puma to +roar and tear. He keep Gualichu man and Gualichu karken. He have fire +all round de forest. But the forest itself not burn!" + +I sat with Jeeka and Nadi a whole hour, and it needed all my powers of +persuasion to make them consent to lead the way to the Gualichu land. + +They did so at last, however, and long before the sun was high in the +north we were well on our road. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It would take the greater part of a goodly volume, to give anything like +a correct description and history of our journey to the land of the +Gualichu. We had hills to climb, mountain torrents to wade, long dreary +plains to cross that seemed never-ending, and deep jungle-like forests +to penetrate through. Sometimes these last were as dark as gloaming +even under the midday sun. In their gloomy thickets we could hear the +voices of angry pumas, and we saw and shot some of these of immense +size. + +We saw one immense snake of the boa description, and we also saw some +_deer_. + +Castizo marvelled much at this. + +"I did not know," he said, "there were deer so far south." + +"Strayed out of some gentleman's park," said Peter, quizzingly. + +"And as for boas, if that _was_ a boa, how on earth did it come there!" +continued Castizo. + +"Oh, I know," said Peter. + +"Do you?" said Ritchie; "tell us." + +"Why it has escaped from Wombell's Menagerie, of course." + +The idea of gentleman's parks or Wombell's Menagerie being in this +wilderness was ridiculous enough; but Peter was in one of his funny +moods. + +We did not stop anywhere for sport, only when any wild creature crossed +our hawse, as Ritchie phrased it, we brought it down for sake of its +flesh or skin. + +Hawks and vultures we found very numerous in these regions, and many +strange animals we had never seen before, some of the ant-eating +fraternity, others like ermines, but brilliantly coloured, and others +again that seemed partly rat and partly nondescript. There were otters +in the mountain streams, and fish in such marvellous abundance that, in +one hour, Jill and I caught nearly one hundred and fifty. + +(This would, indeed, be a land of pleasure for the sportsman. And yet +only a month ago, I heard a member of a West-End club assure a friend +that sport was played out. He had been everywhere, he said, and shot +everything, and there really wasn't anything left worth pointing a gun +at.) + +One dark night, while encamped near the borders of a deep, dark wood, we +were all awakened by a strange feeling of qualmishness. + +"I dreamt," said Jill, "I was at sea for the first time again." + +"Something we've all eaten," said Peter, "that hasn't agreed with us, +though I had nothing for supper except about a pound of that puma steak, +and a few handfuls of ba-ba roots." + +"Hark! Listen." + +"Hark! Listen," from Jill and me. + +There was a noise in the distance as of heavy waggons rolling over a +metal road, then the earth trembled and shook with a strange heaving +motion as if water were rushing beneath the surface. The same feeling +of qualmishness shot over us, and we all pressed our hands to our heads. + +It was an earthquake. + +The vibration had no sooner ceased than we heard Castizo's voice calling +to us. + +"_Come_ out, boys, and you'll see something." + +We hurried on our clothes. I felt more nervous and frightened than ever +I had done in my life before. So were Jill and Peter. + +"I hope," said the latter, "the earth won't open and swallow us up. +Fancy being buried alive!" + +"It would soon be all over, Peter," said Jill. + +Castizo, Lawlor and Ritchie were already out in the open and gazing +westward. A fitful, changeful light was on their faces, such as I had +never seen before. Sometimes it was a rosy glimmer, then it would +change to pale yellow or blue. + +The light came from the western horizon, and the appearance there was +simply appalling. A great cone-shaped hill was vomiting forth columns +of smoke alternating with fierce and terrible flames. In the midst of +the fire we saw innumerable dark bodies which were undoubtedly rocks. + +The night was very dark, so that the eruption was more fearful than it +would otherwise have been. + +All the Indians were out; most of them lying on their faces, and, I +thought, praying. + +I went to Jeeka, who sat beside his wife on the grass. Nadi was weeping +and moaning. + +"Jeeka," I said, "do not pray to the Gualichu. Pray to Him who made +everything, and who loves us--the Great Good Spirit." + +"Did He make that fiery hill?" + +"He made and governs everything." + +"Does He govern the Gualichu?" + +"He governs every one on earth, and all things on and under the earth." + +"I will pray to the Great Good Spirit." + +Towards morning the eruption died away as quickly as it had begun. Then +we retired, and slept well and soundly for several hours. + +But next day there was something very like mutiny in our camp. The +Indians now refused point blank to go farther with us into the land of +the Gualichu. + +Jeeka would have braved everything to oblige us, but cacique though he +was, he could not go entirely against the wishes of his people. + +So it was determined to leave them here in camp till we returned. It +was but one day's journey now to King Kaiso's country, and Jeeka gave us +a solemn pledge that he would not let his people desert. He would shoot +them first, he said. + +Then we white men saddled our horses, the Indians loaded our pack mares, +and off we started all alone to see the terrible king, who kept pet +pumas and snakes, tame witches and medicine men. + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +KING KAISO'S LAND--A REGIMENT OF GIANTS--KAISO'S WITCH--CONDEMNED TO +DEATH. + +Our first intimation we received that we were close on King Kaiso's +country, we had this same evening from a lot of dogs that were ranging +through the wood we were in. A wood, singular to say, with hardly any +undergrowth, but bedded feet deep with the fallen leaves and nut husks +that had fallen in previous years. + +The dogs yelped and ran. Presently we came upon a bevy of children whom +our sudden appearance seemed to scare out of their senses. I shall +never forget their looks of terror, nor the speed with which they fled +screaming and howling out of the woods. + +Soon we heard drums beating and a trumpet braying. "Braying" is exactly +the right word in the right place, but, a donkey with a bad attack of +whooping cough would have brayed far more musically. + +Nevertheless, that trumpet was a call to arms. And we were no sooner +clear of the trees than we saw a troop of fully fifty spear-armed +warriors riding boldly towards us, from a gipsy-like encampment in the +centre of a plain. + +This was the flower of King Kaiso's army. And yonder was the king +himself at the head of them. + +We halted, and as they came rushing on towards us, I thought I had never +seen finer men in my life. Not one of them could have been less than +six feet high in his potro boots, while the muscles of their arms and +naked chests were wondrous to behold. They were naked to the waist, and +their black hair, adorned with ostrich feathers, floated over their +brawny shoulders. + +The king was a giant, pure and simple. A very Saul among his soldiers, +towering a good head and shoulders over the biggest among them. + +We had halted, and when within about fifty yards of us, at a word of +command from Kaiso, the troop suddenly drew rein, and stood like +statues, looking most delightfully picturesque. + +Castizo waved a white handkerchief. That was all. But the effect was +wonderful. + +Without saying a word, Kaiso pointed back towards the encampment. Round +went each horse and away went the troop thundering over the plain, and +in a few minutes had entirely disappeared. + +Then, and not till then, did Kaiso advance. His greeting was most +cordial. No, there was no sham. It really was sincere. There were +actually tears in the giant's eyes. + +After asking Castizo fifty questions at least, he turned to us and shook +us cordially by the hand, calling us "brothers," and bidding us welcome +to the country of the Kaisos. + +Chatting and laughing pleasantly now he led us towards the toldos, +telling us all that he meant to do to entertain us, and what we should +have to eat. The _menu_, I remember, included horse, puma, guanaco, +skunk, armadillo, eggs, fish of every sort, and _yerba mate_. It was +evident he did not mean to starve us. + +Kaiso was a fine bold-looking man. Although a giant, there was nothing +repulsive about him. His frame was everywhere well knit, and when he +bent his naked arm, his biceps stuck out like Donald Dinnie's--and this +is paying the king a very high compliment indeed. + +Jill and I dismounted. + +Peter was more cautious. + +"I say, your majesty," said Peter, "how's your puma? I hope it is +lively. I'm extremely fond of pumas." + +Kaiso did not reply verbally; he put two fingers of his right hand into +his mouth and the puma came in a series of bounds from the wood not far +off, and, arching his back, rubbed himself against his master's leg. + +Then the beast marched up to Castizo and went through the same +performance. He evidently knew our cacique. He smelt Jill's legs and +mine, but made no sign of friendliness. + +"Delightful creature!" said Peter from his saddle. "Tame, I suppose? +Looks like a huge cat. Pussy, pussy, pussy." + +"Tame," said the king. "So, see what I do now." + +What he did do was rather startling, and at the same time proved the +strength of this Herculean king. + +"Gollie! Gollie! Gollie!" he cried, and Gollie followed him for some +distance. Then, after stroking him, he seized the huge animal by the +tail, and, turning on a pivot himself, he whirled the puma off the +ground and round and round in a circle for fully a minute. When he let +go the beast lay in a heap, dead to all appearance. + +"Dead!" said Peter, dismounting. "Well, Kaiso, old chap, you needn't +have killed him. I'm so sorry I sha'n't be able to have any fun with +him. Poor Gollie!" + +"Gollie not dead," cried the king, laughing. "Gollie drunk. Dat is +all. Byme-by he come sober, and den you hab fun plenty." + +Peter's face fell. + +"I'm sorry I spoke," he said. + +"Peter," I said, "you're a humbug." + +Meanwhile Kaiso's wives had made us _mate_, and we all squatted down to +drink it. It was extremely refreshing, and as the puma presently got up +and slunk away to the woods, even Peter grew happy once more. + +King Kaiso was as good as his word. He was hospitality personified. He +seemed not to know how kind to be to us, and during the five days we +sojourned with him the village was _en gala_, given up to games and +festivities. + +It was a strange country this, in which King Kaiso lived, close to the +borders of a region of volcanoes, the fires of which we could see every +night. But there was trace of volcanic action in the immediate +vicinity. If ever there was a true oasis in the desert, this was one, +and I could not help believing, with Castizo, that there were fires +right beneath us, and that it was the heat from these which caused the +luxuriant growth of tree and shrub and waving grass. The woods were, in +some places, quite a sight to see, for not only did lovely ferns and the +most charming of wild flowers grow everywhere, but even flowering +creepers and climbers. Some of the latter were of the wistaria +description, but in clusters of the deepest crimson, with a sweetness of +odour that permeated the air in every direction. + +Kaiso lived here in tents all summer, but his warriors and people went +on frequent far-off hunting expeditions, and even visited Santa Cruz, +bringing back many of the luxuries of civilisation. + +Kaiso was never attacked. The Patagonian Indians are far too +superstitious to venture anywhere near the Gualichu land. So Kaiso and +his people, who numbered in all about three hundred souls, lived in +peace. The king told us there was no Gualichu; his medicine man had +driven him away, with the assistance of his witch. + +We were introduced to this medicine man. He had a string of strange +charms hanging round his neck, the fangs of wild beasts, curious +coloured stones, and other trifles; and he carried attached to his spear +a bunch of herbs. Otherwise there was nothing remarkable about him. + +The witch we also saw. Instead of the old hag we imagined she would be, +we were agreeably surprised to find a young girl of very prepossessing +appearance, who smiled pleasantly on us, shook hands and made signs. +She was deaf and dumb. + +The bad spirit, the medicine man told us, had stolen her ears and +tongue, but had given her much wisdom instead. + +During the winter months Kaiso and his wives lived in caves. + +We visited these caves, and found to our astonishment that they were +completely lined with skins; all the walls, all the roofs, and all the +floors were skin. The value of these skins must have been very great. +Thousands of pounds would not purchase them in Europe. + +Some of Kaiso's customs were ridiculous enough. One was this: he +insisted upon his wives having a Banian day, as we call it at sea, once +a week. He not only insisted, but made sure of it; for the night before +he clapped them all together in one of these hairy caves, and placed +armed sentries before the door, and neither food nor drink was allowed +to cross the threshold till they had fasted four and twenty hours. + +"They get too fat," Kaiso explained. "Suppose I not do that. Fat wife +too slow. No good. No." + +Every day of our sojourn in the country of the Gualichu brought some new +pleasure. As far as I can remember, the programme was somewhat as +follows:-- + +_First day_. A grand hunt and battue in the forest, in which all hands +engaged, even to the women and children. We killed many pumas, foxes as +big as wolves, and other beasts and birds innumerable. + +_Second day_. A great fishing expedition, with a feast of fish in the +evening. We were more than astonished to-day to see little boys and +girls leap from cliffs over a hundred feet high into deep pools in the +river beneath. They also allowed themselves to be carried over a +waterfall, and when we white folks thought we should never again behold +them, lo! they bobbed up like seals close to our feet, smiling, and +thinking it the best fun in the world. + +_Third day_. A kind of circus. Marvellous display of horsemanship by +Kaiso's people. We tried to persuade Peter to display his prowess, but +he begged to be excused owing to the bumps. Dance in the evening. + +_Fourth day_. The marriage of a subordinate chief. This marriage was +made on purpose to gratify us, for the chief had no particular desire to +enter the holy bonds. Kaiso's word was law, however. There was a grand +procession to bring the bride home, and a wild ride all round the plain, +with much clapping of hands, singing, and shouting. + +_Fifth day_. This was our last, and I shall never forget it. It was to +be devoted to harmless dancing and other frolics. But unfortunately +some of Kaiso's men who had been away at Santa Cruz arrived in the +forenoon, bringing with them a large keg of rum. + +"Now," said Castizo to us, "the Gualichu has come in earnest." + +I am sorry to say that the rejoicing among the male portion of King +Kaiso's little community was universal, as soon as that keg of +fire-water was broached. Even old quiet men, of whom there were several +in camp, smacked their lips and grew garrulous in their glee. + +To do him justice, Kaiso shared the poison liberally among his braves. +After which, dancing and the wildest revelry became the order of the +day. Everything, however, passed off pleasantly enough till near +sunset, when some disagreement between two of the warriors was to be +fought out with knives upon the spot. In this they were disappointed, +however, for the women had taken the precaution to hide all warlike +weapons. The warriors, however, were not to be entirely baulked in +their designs. They commenced therefore to fight literally with teeth +and nails, like wild beasts. The desire to tear each other spread +through the camp like wild-fire. Donnybrook Fair was never anything to +the scene we now witnessed. + +We white folks stood aloof and simply looked on. It is dreadful to have +to say that several men were killed with stones in this inhuman battle. + +In the midst of it all up strode the giant Kaiso, with the keg of rum in +his arms, and peace was immediately restored, and more rum distributed. +The men who fought now commenced to sing and to hug each other, and vow +eternal friendship; but in the midst of their ill-timed merriment it was +heartrending to hear the wail of the women and children over dead +husbands and fathers. + +Kaiso had gradually changed during the afternoon from a fool to a raving +maniac, rushing around with a bludgeon, felling his men and smashing the +tents. He relapsed into idiocy again, but it was of a mischievous and +fiendish kind. + +Castizo tried to get him to eat. He would not; but he would drink +_mate_ mixed with rum. So our good cacique humoured him, hoping he +would soon fall asleep. + +Not so soon, however. He called his chiefs together, and waving an arm +wildly in our direction, said briefly and fiercely,-- + +"Wirriow walloo! Eemook noosh. Lasso!" + +His chiefs grinned and retired. But Castizo began to sing; but we could +see it was but a ruse. Kaiso joined in with his deep bass voice, which +was more like a lion's roar than anything human. It was a song with a +chorus, and a rattling one too, and this we all sang. We certainly were +not very like men who were condemned to be strangled with the lasso +early in the morning, but such had, indeed, been Kaiso's command. + +"More rum!" Kaiso would have it. But it told even on the brain of this +giant before long, and he toppled back where he sat, and fell into a +deep sleep. + +What a sigh of relief Peter gave! + +I was expecting that pet puma in every minute. + +"D'ye think he'll waken?" + +"Oh no, he won't wake to-night," said Castizo. + +"We're going to be all hanged in the morning, aren't we?" said Ritchie. + +"Yes, that's the order." + +"Well, if I had my way, I'd--" + +"What?" + +"Scupper the lot. Begin with Kaiso." + +"No, no, my friend; Kaiso is not a bad fellow when sober. I know a +better plan than that Come with me. Lawlor, you're a big fellow, carry +the keg." + +Off we marched to the large toldo, where all who were awake of Kaiso's +warriors were still talking and shouting. + +Seeing what we carried, they welcomed us with a shout and a yell. + +Castizo was most liberal in his allowances. Nor did we leave the toldo +till every warrior had succumbed. + +"I pity their heads in the morning," I said. + +"So do I," said Castizo, "for this is not rum, but the vilest arrack, +brought to the country specially for these poor wretches." + +It is needless to say that there was no sleep for us that night. + +Luckily it was fine, so about one o'clock in the morning we silently +caught and saddled our horses, and rode away into the forest in the same +way as we had come. + +We had great difficulty in finding our way, and had to steer by our +pocket-compasses. But we got through at last, and before the sun shone +over the hills we were far beyond pursuit. + +We arrived early in the afternoon, safe and sound, at our Indian camp, +and were received with every sign of joy, no one having expected we +would ever return from the land of Gualichu. + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +CASTIZO'S IDYLLIC HOME IN THE CORDILLERAS--PREPARING FOR WINTER-- +CATCHING AND BREAKING WILD HORSES. + +So long had we lazed on the Pampas and on the borders of the +Cordilleras, that summer had almost fled before we reached Castizo's +mountain home. It is probably doing ourselves injustice, however, to +talk of lazing on the Pampas. The time was well spent, for if there be +any happiness of a solid nature on earth, I think it had been ours +during those all-too-short summer months. If you were to ask me for an +analysis of this happiness, I think I should reply that it resulted from +that perfect freedom from all care which only a true nomad ever enjoys, +from the constant chain of adventures and incidents that surrounded us, +from the strange scenery weird and wild, from the beauty of the sky +night and morning, and, above all, from the perfect, the bounding health +we enjoyed, health that made us laugh at danger and consider troubles, +in whatever shape they came, trifles light as air. + +Castizo had told us often about his _estancia_ in the hills. For many +years he had gone back and fore to it from Santa Cruz. It was simply a +craze of his, he said; a mere whim or fad. He dearly loved loneliness, +and in his own little Highlands he enjoyed it to the fullest extent. He +was never afraid of the Indians. Not that he considered them immaculate +as to virtue, and the soul of honour; but because his person, intact and +safe and sound, represented to them so much property. He never paid +them wholly until they had returned with him to the little station on +the eastern coast, and then great indeed was their reward. + +But all independently of this, I am convinced that these poor Indians +dearly loved their white cacique, and that apart from any financial +consideration, any one of them would have fought for him until he fell +and died on the Pampa. + +Yes, Castizo had spoken much to us of his life and adventures in the +mountains, but he had not described his little village. Therefore we +were not prepared for what we saw. + +First, then, we had to cross a wide, extended, open plain or pampa, so +great in extent indeed that we began to think the wilderness had +commenced again. + +In the very centre of this plain was a broad lagoon, but how fed or +dried we could not tell, for no stream ran into nor out of it. There it +was, nevertheless, and all round its borders bushes grew, and a rank, +rushy kind of vegetation with tall flowers, crimson, blue, and bright +yellow. We noticed with pleasure, too, that there were both ducks and +geese on it. On the plain, moreover, we shot several birds of the +grouse species, though quite different from any I had ever seen before. + +After we had ridden about an hour longer, a purple mist that had +hitherto hidden the hills was lifted up like a veil by some slight +change of wind, and there revealed in all its beauty was one of the +loveliest little glens ever met with in a long summer's ramble. And +near the top, closely shut in and sheltered from the cold west winds by +wooded hills, was our mountain home. Primitive enough, in all +conscience, was this _estancia_, consisting of a mere collection of log +huts, well thatched and cosy enough in appearance, but only one having +any pretension to display. This last was plastered as to its walls, had +a little garden in front, and flowers growing up over it. + +Before we reached this tiny village we came upon the Indian camp, and +here children and women and old men ran out to meet us, with joyful +shouts that were re-echoed from the hills and rocks on every side. + +Even before the wives embraced their husbands or the children their +fathers, they all gathered round Castizo, the welcome they gave him +bringing tears to his eyes. + +"Yank! Yank! Yank!" they shouted a hundred times o'er. (Father! +father! father!) Had he possessed a score of hands they would have +shaken them all, while the pretty children who could not reach high +enough must catch and kiss the border of his guanaco robe. + +They took away his horse. He must walk the rest of the way. He must be +in their midst and tell them all his adventures. Their Yank must speak +to his children, and tell them too what he had brought them. + +The girls had culled wild flowers, and these they hung round the necks +of all our horses, so that the welcome was a general one. + +No, we had not expected this. Neither had we expected that the inside +of the principal cottage would be so well furnished. Everything was +rough and homely, to be sure, but everything was comfortable and cosy. +Viewed externally, it was difficult at first to see whence the smoke +could issue, but as soon as we entered we noticed a very ample fireplace +indeed, the smoke being conveyed away by a copper chimney issuing from +the back of the house, and thus protected from the baffling winds of +winter and spring. + +We admired all we saw, and Peter at once ensconced himself in one of the +easy chairs, and confessed that he felt happier and hungrier than he had +done for many a long day. + +Pedro had the toldo erected at some distance from the house, and +proceeded forthwith to cook dinner. + +After this meal Castizo went down to the Indian camp, accompanied by +Lawlor, carrying a huge bundle containing the presents and pretty things +brought to the old men and women and children all the way from +Valparaiso. There were pipes and cards (Spanish) and dice-boxes of +curious shapes for the former, trinkets and dolls and toys and sweets +for the children, and for the ladies strings of beads, necklaces, +bracelets, and lockets that made them almost scream with delight and +admiration. As gewgaw after gewgaw was taken out the constant shout by +these impulsive young ladies was-- + +"_Heen careechi? Heen careechi_?" (Who gets that?) followed by a +grateful-- + +"_O nareemo nachee_!" (Many thanks!) from the lucky recipient. + +Only one old man asked for rum. But Castizo shook his head and replied +in Spanish, which this Indian understood-- + +"Never more, Goonok, never again. When last I brought rum to the camp, +thinking you would but taste and put it away, _he aqui_! you and your +people drank all. All at once! You quarrelled and fought. There was +much bloodshed, Goonok. You know the green grave at the corner of the +wood yonder. There your brave son sleeps. He was killed that night, +Goonok, by his own cousin's hand. Never more, Goonok, never again." + +"_Mate yerba_?" + +"Yes, plenty of that. As much _mate_ as will last the camp all the +livelong winter." + +"_He_!" cried the old man. "Is, then, our white cacique to stay with us +through the winter?" + +"Yes." + +"And his young men and all his followers?" + +"All, Goonok, every one of us." + +"Then is Goonok indeed happy, and to-night, old as he is, Goonok will +dance." + +It was only natural that a ball should follow the home-coming of the +white father, as Castizo was sometimes called. + +A special toldo was erected for the purpose by the Indians by making +three kaus into one, and to the music of horrid drums and still more +horrid pipes, very pretty dances were gone through indeed. It seemed to +me a pity, however, that the men daubed their faces with paint or clay, +as it gave them a grotesque appearance which bordered on the hideous. + +At a sign from Castizo, and during a lull in the proceedings, Peter +brought out his clarionet. He had hardly played a note ere a silence +deep as death fell upon the assembled Indians. At first some of them +ran away, as if frightened, but all soon returned and stood or sat +listening entranced. How very deeply the music had affected them was +proved by the sighs they gave vent to immediately after Peter had +finished. There must be something genuinely good in the heart of those +wild Tehuelches, or they could not love music so much. + +We all slept well and soundly that night, there being nothing to disturb +us save the occasional shrill scream of the Indian on sentry. This +startled Jill and I at first, but as the sound died away in mournful +cadence, instinct told us what it meant, and we slept all the better +after it. + +Though it was yet early in autumn, we took the advice of our own cacique +and set about at once preparing for the long winter that was before us. +For storms in these regions come on suddenly, sometimes, long before +autumn is over. + +Our people were divided into two parties, one to hunt, another to work +at home and in the woods. + +The former brought in the flesh of the guanaco, the ostrich, the +armadillo, and even the skunk. Skunk meat certainly sounds offensive, +but it is very delicious eating, nevertheless. This meat was carefully +salted and stored in huge earthenware jars. + +One way of storing meat was very strange to me, but, as I afterwards +discovered, most effectual. It was first salted with pampas salt from +the Salinas, it was then buried in a grave lined with salt-sprinkled +leaves, and well packed down. Meat was also sun-dried and partially +smoked. + +Fish were caught in abundance, especially a sort of perch, and these +were smoked with a peculiar kind of wood and stored away for winter use. + +Firewood was also to be had in abundance, simply for the gathering. +Much of this was dug up out of the boggy land, and was found to be "as +fat as fir," to use an expression of Ritchie's. + +There were many kinds of fruit in the forests, principally of the +hardier species, and bushels of these were dried in the sun or by fire, +and during the winter they made a valuable adjunct to our diet. Nuts +too were plentiful. + +But, after all, the most important item of food, not only for ourselves +but for our horses, was a kind of tuberous root, which grew in any +quantity in the glens and even on the banks out in the open plain. For +two whole weeks we had fully a score of Indians, to say nothing of their +children, digging and storing these roots. The mice were in millions +all round our _estancia_, so the only safe way of preserving our roots +and thereby preventing a famine was to dig graves and bury them. Even +these had to be watched, so numerous were the mice. + +Hay we stored in large quantities in stacks; also the tender herbage of +several trees of which, when green, the horses ate with great relish. + +We soon discovered that the armadillos were on the scent of our buried +flesh food. So stakes were driven in the ground, and to these dogs were +fastened every night in the immediate vicinity of our buried treasure. +We did not intend, however, that these poor animals should be on sentry +all night long exposed to the wind and rain, the sleet or the snow. We +therefore built them shelters, so that they were cosy and happy. + +We had our reward, for even on the second night of his watch one dog +made an immensely large armadillo prisoner. I happened to be first +about that morning, and seeing how eagerly the faithful canine sentry +looked towards me, I went up to pat him, when he pointed to a huge +ball-looking thing. + +"That's the robber," the dog seemed to say; "I can't get him to unroll +himself, or I should soon let the stuffing out of him. Will you oblige +me?" + +I did not oblige the dog, as I object to take life in a cold-blooded +manner. But an Indian did, and we had the 'dillo for dinner. Though +somewhat peculiar in flavour, the flesh was as tender as that of a +stewed rabbit. + +So much fodder had we collected, that we determined to add to our stock +of horses, feeling sure that some accident would befall a few of them +before the winter was over. + +Jill and Ritchie joined the expedition to go over the plain in search of +wild horses. Peter preferred to stay at home. He had no desire, he +said, to raise his bumps again. I stayed with Peter to keep him +company. + +Jill and Ritchie were gone for three days, and I was getting uneasy when +the whole cavalcade reappeared. + +"Terribly wild work," said Ritchie as he entered the log-house. "Ain't +I tired just?" + +"Oh, I'm not a bit," said Jill, coming in behind him. + +Jill looked flushed and excited, and confessed to being delightfully +hungry. He proved his words, too, when we all sat down to dinner. + +The Indians had brought in with them five poor, dejected-looking animals +that had been thrown with the lasso, and altogether used far more +cruelly than I care to describe. + +But these horses soon took to their food; then the breaking-in process +was commenced. After being tormented until perfectly wild, and their +strength almost quite expended with kicking and plunging, they were +forcibly bitted and bridled. An Indian then waiting his chance would +spring boldly on the bare-back of a steed, and the battle 'twixt man and +beast commenced in downright earnest. The way the Indian breaker stuck +to his horse, despite his rearing, plunging, and buck-jumping, was truly +marvellous. If he was thrown, which he sometimes was, he sprang to his +feet again, those around jeering and laughing at him, and though bruised +and bleeding, vaulted once more on the horse's back. + +The battle had but one ending: total exhaustion of the horse, and +victory of the Indian. + +Only one poor animal escaped thorough subjection. This steed reared too +far, fell backwards, and his skull coming against a piece of rock with a +sickening thud, he never moved a leg again. + +We had that horse for dinner. + +Jeeka, seeing the accident, touched me on the shoulder. + +"Poor horse!" he said, "good horse! He go there now. So, so?" + +He pointed solemnly upwards with his whole arm as he spoke. + +What could I answer? This was my convert to Christianity, the religion +of love. I had read to him of horses in both the Bible and New +Testament. Could I now say to him, "No, Jeeka, a horse has no +hereafter?" Had I done so, I would not have been speaking my mind, as I +do most sincerely believe that no creature God ever made is born to +perish. So I nodded and smiled and said-- + +"So, so, Jeeka; so, so." + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +THE SNOW-WIND--WINTER LIFE AND AMUSEMENT--DEATH OF "DE LITTLE COQUEET." + +"Listen," said Castizo, one evening about a month after this, as we all +sat round the fire in the log hut. "Listen, boys, listen all. That is +the snow-wind. Winter is coming now in earnest. Pedro," he added, "put +more logs on the fire, and brew us a cup of _yerba mate_. Thank Heaven +no one of us is out on the Pampa to-night, or belated in that dismal +forest." + +The snow-wind! + +Have you ever heard it, reader mine? + +If you have listened to it only half as often as I have done, you will +be able to tell it by the sound, as it goes moaning round your dwelling, +although at the midnight hour. Should you even have gone to bed ere it +comes on, and are awakened by it, you will shiver a little and say to +yourself, "That is the snow-wind." A nervous shiver it would be, a +shiver born of thought and thankfulness, for there is something in the +voice of this heartless wind which seldom fails to cast a momentary +sadness over the spirits of the listener--not necessarily an unpleasant +sadness, for you have to thank Heaven you are not out on the moor or out +on the plain, and exposed to it. And if sitting by your own hearth when +you hear it, the fire seems to burn more cheerily, and the room around +you looks more pleasant and homelike. + +The snow-wind does not shriek and whistle, and scream, as does an +ordinary gale; it is heard but in one low, long-drawn dreary monotone. +It never threatens to tear off roofs or uproot trees; it does not get +very high at one moment to sink into semi-silence the next; it hardly +ever alters its key-note, but keeps on--on--on in its one sad wail. + +If you hear a wind like this on a winter's night, be sure that, if +flakes are not already falling, the snow is on its wings, and soon it +will be shaken off. + +The snow-wind! I have been out on the icy plains of Greenland when it +has begun to blow, and made all haste to reach my ship. I have heard it +in moorland wilds when far from home, and made speedy tracks backward to +my hut, my very dogs seeming to know what was coming, and trotting on +with heads down and tails almost trailing on the ground. If it comes at +night the stars always hide themselves, and the very moon--should there +be one--appears to shelter behind the unbroken surface of dark grey +clouds. + +Every wild creature knows the sough of the snow-wind. Bears creep +farther into their dens when they hear it; wolves hide under the pine +trees; the fox dreams not of leaving his burrow; rabbits cower closer +beneath the tree roots, and birds seek shelter under the thickest +boughs. + +"The snow-wind," continued Castizo. "Are we all safe and secure, +Ritchie?" + +"We be, I'm thinking, sir. I noticed the Indians covering the front of +their huts. I think everything is done, and, before I came in, sir, I +slewed the funnel round against the breeze; that's the way the fire +burns so cheerily." + +"Thanks, Ritchie; I'm sure I don't know what we would do without so +genuine a sailor to keep us straight. Ah! here comes Pedro with +steaming bowls of _mate_. Now, boys all, I call this the acme of +comfort." + +"So do we all," cried Peter, jovially. "Oh, here's to the Queen, God +bless her!" + +"God bless her," said Ritchie. "I wonders now if ever she drank a basin +o' _mate_ in all her born days. Strikes me, as a sailor like, sir, it's +better nor tea and beer, and better nor all the rum in the universe." + +Our talk was now of home. This soon gave place to yarns of our various +adventures, Ritchie being in excellent form to-night, and, between the +whiffs he took of his Indian pipe, he related to us some marvellous +experiences. Though his English was not of the best, he managed to make +it graphic, and every picture he drew, we seemed to see before us. I +suppose Castizo saw those pictures in the fire. He kept gazing steadily +into it, at all events, and was more silent than usual. + +Perhaps his thoughts were not in Ritchie's stories at all. I felt now, +as I sat near him, that Castizo had a story to tell of his own life, if +he only would, and I felt, too, the story was a sad one. + +Presently he seemed to awaken from a reverie; he pulled himself +together, as it were, lit a fresh cigar, and smiled round on us. + +"I've been dreaming, boys," he said. + +"Dreaming with them black eyes o' yours open, sir?" said Ritchie. + +"Ay, Ritchie, ay; I often dream with my eyes open. But, Peter, where is +your pipe?" + +Peter got his pipe out, and very delightful music he discoursed. + +But in every lull of the conversation we could hear the wail of the +snow-wind. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Many a time and oft, while wintering under the Norland lights, in the +long drear Arctic night, have I thought of the months we spent in that +wild woodland glen close by the forests of the Cordilleras. + +I have thought of them, and of my pleasant companions, when my ship was +snowed up for weeks, during which never a star was visible, nor even the +Aurora itself, when the darkness was filled with ice dust, borne along +all over the snow-fields by whirlwinds that ever and anon collided, +creating a chaos in which no creature ever born could live for half a +minute. I have thought of them when wandering over the Alaskan plains, +or sharing his hut with the humble but friendly native of Kamschatka. I +have thought of them, and never without a certain degree of +retrospective pleasure not unmingled with sadness. For many of my +companions in that lonesome glen have since gone to the Land o' the +Leal. Ah! that Land o' the Leal, what a happy place it must be, if only +from the fact that we shall meet there the dear ones we lost on earth, +and--there will be no more sad "good-byes!" + +When we awoke the next morning after we had listened to the moaning of +the snow-wind through the forest, through the harsh-leaved forest, there +was an unusual silence. There was no wind now, and the cold was +intense. It was dark, too, but soon the drift was dragged from our +window, and a cheerful face peeped in at us. It was Ritchie's. + +"Are ye all alive and kicking, lads?" + +"All alive, Ritchie, thank you. The kicking has all to come." + +"Well, bear a hand, and rig up; the breakfast is ready to serve." + +And such a breakfast when we did leave our room! The fish and the eggs +were enough in themselves to make a hungry man's mouth water; but then, +besides, there was a grill, the very odour of which I wonder did not +bring all the wild beasts in the forest around us. + +Castizo's bed was in this room, but it had been made up long ago. And +there was Castizo waiting for us. He had been out, too, for his potro +boots lay near the door, and his feet were encased in cosy slippers. + +"This is perfectly jolly," said Peter. + +"It is delightful!" + +"It is delightful!" from Jill and me. + +"I've been sitting here reading a little book," said our cacique, "and +now and then comparing our present life with that of the poor people who +have to winter in London or New York. The cold, damp wind out of doors, +the slush and the snow, the rattle and roar of wheels, the vulgar +shouting in the streets, the questionable viands, and, worse than all, +the people one meets at breakfast and dinner. Here we have chosen our +companions--we have chosen each other; we like each other, and will help +one another." + +"That we will," said Ritchie. + +"A good cook, a capital sailor-man, the broad, brave shoulders of a +Lawlor, the best of Indians, and three young men of the world. Should +we not be happy and thankful? Peter, help me to a little more of +Pedro's mush. And, Pedro, bring the teapot. Thank you. Place it near +the fire again." + +"Yes," I said, "independence is a truly delightful thing." + +"The world is uncharitable--I mean the civilised world: in towns and +cities you hardly know how to look and live to please people. If you +seem independent, they hate you; if you are obsequious, they despise +you. Jill, here is a tit-bit--ostrich gizzard, my boy! Pedro, have you +seen to the dogs?" + +"But," I said, "even in cities you find wheat among the chaff." + +Castizo laughed lightly. + +"Yes," he said, "an ounce of wheat to a hundredweight of chaff. My dear +boy, I know life; and I advance that if you put the souls of city folks +through a sieve, you might find a good big honest one in a thousand. No +more, I assure you." + +Snow was the order of the winter in our present home. But this did not +keep us within doors. On the contrary, I think it added to our +pleasures. We had splendid riding. Even Peter enjoyed it, and although +he had many a tumble, much to the delight of Nadi, falling among soft +snow, he said, was not half so disagreeable as tumbling among the rocks. +The snow gave the bumps a chance. + +Two things we might have done, but could not. Skating on the frozen +lake would have been delightful, only we had no skates. Sleighing would +have been pleasant, too, but we had not the tools to make a sledge. + +We had a rude species of tobogganing, however, and in fine weather this +was a constant pleasure to us. The Indians had never seen anything of +the kind before, and entered into the fun heart and soul. Even Nadi +liked it. + +Sometimes Peter condescended to descend the toboggan slide with her as +her knight. But as she always would insist on taking "that blessed +baby"--as Peter called it--with her, it was at times a little awkward, +particularly when they disappeared all three in a snow-drift, or when +they flew off the board half-way down the hill, and rolled the rest of +the way. "Baby's a brick, though," Peter said; "the little rascal never +cries, just squeezes the snow out of its eyes with its knuckles, winks +to me, and laughs." + +Yes, tobogganing is great fun. It was the beavers, by the way, who +first taught the Indians of the Rocky Mountains the game. Then the +Indians taught the whites; and I think it is far from fair not to erect +a monument to the beaver in some public thoroughfare in Montreal or New +York. + +Peter and I, with the assistance of others, established a kind of +circus. This was also great fun. The feats of horsemanship performed +in our circle before the log-hut doors, I have never seen surpassed at +any hippodrome at home or in Paris. + +We had old men riders, bare-back, standing and sitting. + +We had young boy riders. + +We had girl riders. We had _infant_ riders. + +We had lasso performances and bolas play. Before the winter drew to a +close, I verily believe that our company was good enough to make our +fortune in any large city of Europe. + +Peter once undertook to ride a Pampas pony, or rather a dwarf horse. + +"It seems simple," said Peter, "and I won't have far to fall." + +Well, if Peter had studied for a month how best to amuse these Indians, +he could not have fallen upon a better plan. "Fallen" did I say? Yes; +and it seemed all falling, for Peter was no sooner on than he was off +again; and the variety of different methods that pony adopted in +spilling him proved it to be a little horse of the rarest versatility. +No wonder Nadi clapped her hands as she shouted with laughter, crying-- + +"O, O, Angleese! Angleese!" Had this been an intentional display of +Peter's powers, it really would have been exceedingly clever; but +tumbling off a horse came natural to Peter, so that instead of trying to +fall off in a great many different ways, as the Indians all thought he +was, he was all the while doing his very best to keep on top, as he +called it. + +Peter's performance brought _down_ the house, but it brought _up_ his +bumps again. + +If tobogganing, hunting in the plains and forest, and fishing in the +rivers, with circus riding, were our outdoor games, at night innocent +games of cards, story-telling, singing, and dancing, helped to pass away +the time till ten o'clock, after which all was silence in and around the +camp and huts, except the doleful chant of the sentries. + +The Indians by day, however, were certainly not always playing. They +were often enough busy manufacturing various articles from silver, iron, +copper, and wood, to say nothing of pipes. All these would barter well +when spring came round and they met once more the white men of Santa +Cruz, or even of Sandy Point itself. All this was men's work; meanwhile +the women were busy sewing skins. + +Peter had already been presented with his little skunk-skin poncho or +capa, and very proud he was thereof. + +"Aren't you fellows jealous!" he said, as he went marching up and down +to show it off. "Just wait till _you_ get a little poncho; there will +be no holding you for pride." + +So one way or another the winter wore away far more quickly than would +be imagined. Of course, Jill and I often thought of home and mother and +Mattie. Sometimes our hearts would give an uneasy thud, as we +remembered how long a time it was since we had seen them, or even heard +from them. + +What if our darling mother were dead! This would indeed be the greatest +grief that could befall us. We could only hope for the best, and pray. + +Every Sunday all through the winter we had reading and prayers in the +log hut. Jeeka and his wife were constant in their attendance, and if +Nadi did not understand all that was said, let us hope she learned +enough for her soul's salvation. + +Grief had not yet visited our little settlement, but, alas! it was to +come. + +August was nearly at a close, and we were beginning to look forward to +the coming of spring, when a more bitter snowstorm came on than any we +had yet known. The snow was not so very deep, but the wind was very +high and keen. + +Early on the second morning of the second day of the storm, Nadi came +running to our log-house, and, wringing her hands as if in terrible +grief, asked for Peter. + +"Nadi, what is it?" cried Peter, in great concern to see her tears. +"What has happened?" + +Nadi spoke English now. That showed how great and real was her anguish. + +"Oh, come, come!" she cried; "come you, quick, plenty quick. De leetle +coqueet, he die. Oh, come!" + +Peter never stayed even to put his cap on, but hurried away through the +snow with Nadi towards the Indian toldos. + +It was too true. The poor baby was _in extremis_. Peter bent over it +as he sat down. It knew him, and smiled in his face. + +Peter gave it his forefinger, as he was wont to do, and this the poor +little thing clutched with its soft hand, and held until it died. Child +though it was, holding Peter's finger seemed to give it confidence. It +was as if some one was leading it safely through the dark valley. + +I had never seen tears in Peter's eyes till that morning. + +Let us hope poor baby soon saw the Light. + +CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. + +THE DREADED RIVER-LION--ADVENTURE ON THE PLAINS--LOST IN A +SNOWSTORM--"TO SLEEP WERE DEATH." + +The grief of Jeeka and his wife Nadi for the death of their infant was +positively painful to witness. Every one in the camp seemed also to +partake in it. There was a kind of wake held the night before the +funeral, and the wailing was greater than anything I have heard in +Ireland on a like occasion. + +At the grave, the horse on which Nadi and baby had travelled all across +the Pampa was thrown and strangled, and all the child's trinkets and +playthings and even clothes were burned. The body was rolled in a +guanaco robe and laid to rest, the clods were heaped in, and snow put +over these. Then we all came silently back. + +Next day everything was _in statu quo_ except that baby was not there. +We could trace signs of deep grief and a sleepless night in Jeeka's and +Nadi's faces but they made no reference of any kind to their dead and +gone darling. + +One calm cold day, Ritchie and Jill returned from the river to say that +they had seen a most wondrous sight. A huge animal with terrible teeth +and eyes, shaped somewhat like a tiger, had rushed up out of one of the +deepest, darkest pots or pools and attacked a native dog which was +standing near. + +The fight had been sharp and fierce, but before assistance could be +rendered, the beast, whatever it was, had conquered the dog and dragged +him down under water. + +"_Gol de Rio. Gol de Rio_," said Jeeka, who had heard the account. +"Not go near. He all same as one Gualichu. Bad man! So, so." + +"Bad man here, or bad man there," said Ritchie, "I mean to have a shot +at him." + +We backed Ritchie in his wish, but as there was evidently no chance of +getting Jeeka to come with us, we determined to set out ourselves next +day. + +We did, and waited four hours in ambush. But all in vain. The Gol de +Rio, or water-lion, never showed face. + +"He is gorging on the poor dog," said Ritchie. "Let us give him a rest +for a day or two." + +"I've a plan," said Jill. "Let us tether the guanaco lamb to the bank, +and stand by with our guns." + +The lamb was a poor forsaken little beast we had found half-dead beneath +a tree, and taken home and tried to rear. + +The plan was feasible. We went very early next morning and tied the wee +thing up to a bush near the bank. It seemed to know there was danger as +if by instinct, for it struggled and cried most plaintively and +pitifully. + +Meanwhile we hid behind a rock, with our guns in position. + +We had not long to wait. First there was a ripple on the pool, then a +monster brownish-yellow head was protruded, with paws near it paddling +lightly as if for support. The face was whiskered, and the eyes looked +extremely fierce. The beast looked cautiously round first, then it eyed +the shivering lamb, and at once made for the bank. + +When near its intended victim, it stopped as if about to spring, moving +its long moustache rapidly fore and aft, as a cat does. + +Three rifles rang out sharp and clear in the wintry air. Next moment +the huge beast had turned on its back, and its death struggle was a +brief one. + +This was Jeeka's Gol de Rio. He certainly merited the title; a more +repulsive specimen of river otter I have never seen, before nor since. + +We dragged him home with a lasso, and the Indian women and children ran +screaming to their toldos when they saw him. + +I was told afterwards that this river-lion had more than once seized +children who were playing on the banks of the stream, and I can easily +believe it. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Do horses, I have often wondered, possess any instinct to warn them of +coming danger? The following adventure would seem to prove that they +do. + +One bright clear morning, Jill and I made up our minds to ride over to +the lake in the plains and bring home, if possible, some birds. We took +with us Ossian and Bruce. There was not a cloud in the sky when we set +out, and all the surface of the ground was covered with hard dry snow. +Unlike Patagonian Indians, white men cannot go very long without food; +so Jill and I took a good solid luncheon in our bags, quite enough for +ourselves and the dogs also. We had a snack behind our saddles also, so +that I might say no huntsmen ever started in quest of sport under +happier auspices. + +"Good-bye, Peter, if you won't come," "Good-bye, Peter, if you won't +come," we cried. + +"My bumps!" shouted Peter. + +So we waved him a laughing "Adieu!" and went cantering off. + +"As the frost is so hard and the day so fine," I said to Jill, "I think +we're sure to find some feathers on the lake, for it seldom if ever +freezes." + +"We're sure to, Jack. And won't we look fine, clattering into camp +to-night with the ducks and the geese all dangling to our saddles." + +"Peter will be jealous." + +"Poor Peter! it's a pity he can't ride better." + +So on we trotted, talking and laughing right merrily. Presently Jill +said-- + +"Sing, Jack; I can give you a bit of a bass." + +I did sing, a rattling old saddle-song that I had learned at the Cape. +Jill joined in, the horses' feet kept excellent time, and the very dogs +barked with glee as they went galloping on in front. + +"Could anything be more jolly?" said Jill. + +"Nothing in the world, Jill. I feel as happy as a village maid on her +marriage morning." + +"Yes, and happiness and hunger go together. I think I could pick a bit +already." + +"Jill, Jill! you're just the same now as when a boy. Put anything in +your pocket, and there never was any keeping your hands from it." + +At long last the black water of the lake appeared, and our happiness +came to a crisis when we noticed numerous flocks of birds on it, grey, +black, and white. + +We would have a good bag. + +We trotted round the water's edge and finally dismounted. + +All the forenoon we walked about, and had many a good shot. Bruce duly +retrieved everything, and Ossian sat on the bank and looked on. + +Then we went back to our horses, fed them and had our own luncheon; +resting a good hour afterwards on the snow. The sun was shining so +brightly that we did not feel the cold. + +It was by this time pretty far on in the afternoon, but we had not yet +made up the splendid bag we had promised ourselves; so we determined to +continue the sport, although we already felt somewhat tired, the ground +being rather rough. + +This time we took the precaution to tie our horses to the calipate or +barberry bushes, with lassoes. + +The day drew so quickly to a close--apparently, I mean, for time does +slip fast away when one is enjoying himself. + +When the sun sank at last, we found ourselves two good miles at least +from our homes. We could not do the distance on such ground, and +carrying so much game, under an hour. + +"Never mind, Jill," I said; "there will be a moon, you know." + +"Half a moon, but that'll be enough. I believe I shall quite enjoy the +canter home under the stars." + +"What is that yonder, Jill?" As I spoke, I pointed to a long white +ridge that was slowly rising over the wooded hills and sierras. + +"That is cloud!" + +"I hope we are not going to have a change of weather." + +"Never mind, we'll soon get home. An hour and a half will do it. Hurry +up." + +We had been looking for a few minutes more at the ground beneath our +feet than at anything else. When I glanced along the lake edge again, I +could not believe my eyes, for a moment or two. + +Jill gazed in the same direction. + +"Our horses were gone!" + +Far away on the plain we could descry two black moving spots. These +were our steeds, but miles beyond our power of recall. + +Night had quite fallen before we left the lake side, for we had to go +right back to the places from which our horses had stampeded for our +guanaco mantles. + +The stars were shining brightly, and high in the heavens was Jill's +half-moon; so that for a time we had light enough. We gave many an +anxious glance towards the west, however. We naturally wondered whether +our horses had gone straight home. If so, assistance would speedily +come. It was unlikely, however, for, excited with having obtained their +freedom, the animals would be more apt to make for the forest, there to +play truant for a time and crop the twiglets--already breaking into bud +and burgeon--from their favourite bushes and trees. + +By the time we had walked about three miles we felt very tired indeed, +and agreed to abandon our game. We put them, therefore, in a heap on +the plain, and continued our journey. But for that ominous cloud bank +which was rising higher and higher, we should have taken the journey +more easy, and perhaps have rested a while. + +On we walked, almost dragging our weary limbs now. The night still +continued fine, the moon seemed to change into molten silver, the stars +literally sparkled and shone like diamonds in their background of dark +ethereal blue. + +There was something almost appalling, however, in the gradual approach +of that great sheet of cloud, rising grim and dark on the western +horizon. It came on and up more swiftly every minute, and soon covered +one whole third of the heavens. + +On and up, on and upwards, swallowing star after star, constellation +after constellation, and now it has reached the moon itself, and for a +moment only its outer edge is a rim of golden light; then the moon too +disappears, is buried in the black advancing mass. Almost at the same +time the wind comes moaning over the plain, accompanied with driving +snow. It increases every minute, and soon it is nearly impossible to +walk against it. + +It is almost a hurricane now; it moans no longer, it roars, shrieks, +howls around us, and the snow freezes into cakes upon our garments, into +ice on our faces, into icicles on our hair. + +Sometimes we turn round and walk with our backs to the terrible blast. +Often we fall, but we help each other up, for we are hand in hand as +brothers ever should be. + +Jill whispers--it seems but a whisper though he is shouting--in my ear +at last. + +"I can do no more, brother. I am sinking." + +I feel glad--glad of the excuse to sink down among the snow and rest a +little. Only a little. We creep close together, with our backs to the +storm, pulling up our mantles round our heads and drawing in our legs +for warmth. Oh, those good guanaco mantles, what a blessing they are +now! + +I keep talking to Jill and he to me, though we each have to shout into +the other's ear. + +I remember calling-- + +"Jill, we must not sleep. Are you drowsy?" + +"No, not very." + +"To sleep were death." + +After a few moments, in an agony of desperation, thinking and fearing +more for my brother than myself, I spring up, and again we try to +wrestle on. The dogs keep close to our heels, though we hardly can see +them, so covered are they with snow and ice. + +In vain, in vain. We can go no farther, and once more take shelter +beneath our robes of skin. Ossian and Bruce creep partly between us. + +We talk no more now, but determinedly try to keep awake. + +A whole hour must have passed in this way. I am not on the plain now, +it seems to me. I am wandering with my brother over the moorland at +home, where when boys we met the convict. But the moor is strangely +changed; it is all a-glimmer with radiant light. Every bush, branch, +twig, and twiglet seem formed of coloured light or flame; the scene is +gorgeous, enchanting. + +Suddenly, all is dark. My brother is wrenched away from my grasp, and-- +I awake shrieking. I awake to find myself lying on the log-house floor +on a couch of guanaco skins. + +My brother is safe, and even the dogs. + +In an hour's time we are both well enough to get up and refresh +ourselves with a cup of Pedro's _yerba mate_. + +But our escape had been little short of miraculous. We had wandered a +long distance out of the track, for the wind had gone round, and were +entirely buried when found, only faithful Ossian and Bruce's voices had +been heard high above the roaring storm. + +We owed our lives to them. + +CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. + +THE FIGHT 'TWIXT WINTER AND SPRING--A NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN EVENING-- +ATTACKED BY NORTHERN INDIANS--THE FIRE. + +Would Springtime never come again? + +We had expected it weeks ago. The birds and beasts in the forest had +expected it too. The former had commenced to sing, the latter had grown +unusually active; guanacos had been in search of tender herbage, pumas +had been in search of the guanacos. Hungry, lank, dismal-eyed foxes had +come down to stare at the toldos when the dogs were eating; and even the +armadillos had unrolled themselves from cosy caves and corners, and +crawled at night towards the encampment. + +Then the new snowstorm had come on all so suddenly too. + +The denizens of the woods had taken shelter under the trees; in some of +these the branches, snow-laden, had dropped groundward, forming quite a +series of tents in the forest. In these the Indians had found whole +colonies of great gawky-looking ostriches, and had made a harvest in +feathers. + +Lawlor, wading through the snow one day, and peeping in under the trees, +came face to face with a puma. It would have gone hard with him had not +Ritchie, rifle in hand, been close alongside and shot the huge beast +while it was in the very act of springing. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +But the dreary season came to an end at last, and the snow began to melt +and to fly away. Then winter and spring seemed to fight together for +the mastery. Winter riding on the wings of a fierce west wind that +roared harshly through the woods and bent the trees before it. Winter +driving before him battalions of threatening clouds, white, grey, and +black, and trying to blot out the sun. Frost, with his crystal cohorts, +struggling for every inch of ground, fighting for the lake of the +plains, which had succumbed to the last terrible storm and was hardened +over; fighting for the streams, the rapids, the cataracts. + +The sun, in all his beauty and splendour, shooting out every now and +then into the rifts of blue, and sending his darts groundwards at every +unprotected spot, each ray a ray of hope for the long-enslaved earth. +Sunshine glittering on the leaves of evergreen shrubs, shining on the +needles of pines, and adorning every budding twig with radiant +dew-drops, that erst were crystals of ice. + +Spring victorious on the higher grounds, and sending down torrents and +floods to assist its triumph in the lowlands and plains. + +Winter at last vanquished and gone, and forced to fly even from under +the trees and every shady nook. + +Now comes a warm soft breeze from the north and the east, and all the +land responds to it. Torrents still pour from the hills, but the woods +grow green in little over a week, and wild flowers carpet every knoll +and bank. + +We are all active now in the _estancia_ and in the camp. We are +preparing for the long march back over the Pampa to Santa Cruz, where +Castizo says he doubts not his little yacht is already lying safely at +anchor, and his daughter anxiously waiting his appearance. + +Horses are now better fed and tended, and regularly exercised day after +day. Saddles are repaired, and stirrups and bridles seen to. The women +are busier than ever with their needles. Boys and girls are twining +sinews for the strings of bolas and for lassoes. The dogs seem wild +with delight. They all appear to know we will soon be on the march once +more, and they dearly love their life on the plains. + +Our stores are nearly exhausted--I mean our coffee, tea, _mate_ and +sugar. Flesh is still abundant, and always is. So no one will be sorry +to leave this lovely forest nook, albeit we have spent many a happy day +in it. + +"In three days more," said Castizo one evening, as we all sat round the +blazing logs, "we will be ready to start." + +"I feel a little sorry in leaving this place," said Jill. + +"There is nothing but leave-takings in this world," said Castizo; "and +the happier one is the quicker the time flies, and the sooner seems to +come this leave-taking." + +"Never mind," said Peter; "if our good cacique would only say he would +take me, I should be right glad to return with him another day." + +"You will come back, I dare say, sir?" said Ritchie. + +"If spared, yes. I may not spend another winter here though, for the +simple reason that I will not have such pleasant company. I am fond of +loneliness, still I shall ever look back to this winter as to some of +the happiest months ever I spent in all my chequered career." + +"So shall we all," I made bold to say. + +"Hear, hear," said Peter and Jill. + +"You've been happy, Pedro?" + +"Ah! senor, multo, multo." + +"Peter, your pipe." + +"Is that a command," said Peter. + +"Certainly. Am I not still your cacique?" + +Peter got his pipe and commenced to play, and presently, after a gentle +knock at the door, in came the giant Jeeka and his wife Nadi. They +stood at some little distance till invited to draw nearer the fire. +Then they squatted on a guanaco skin, Jeeka holding his wife's hand in +his lap, and both looking so pleased and happy. + +I shall never forget their faces. I have but to place my hand over my +eyes at this moment, and I see them once again. + +Alas! little did they know what was before them. And little did any one +there expect what happened before the sun of another day crimsoned the +peaks of the lofty mountains. + +Peter, Jill, and I sat long that night in our little room before turning +in, talking of home. But Peter had something else to speak about. Need +it be said that Dulzura--as he still delighted to call her--formed his +chief subject for discourse to-night. + +"Oh," he said, "I only wonder you fellows did not hear my heart going +pit-a-pat, when Castizo told us his daughter was coming round in the +yacht." + +"My dear Peter," Jill said, "I do believe you are actually in love." + +"Is it the first time you've discovered it, my honest Greenie? Haven't +I cause to be? Was there ever such a lovely or fascinating creature in +the world as Dulzura! And I'm a man now, remember. Twenty-one, boys, +or I will be in a month." + +He stroked an incipient moustache as he spoke, and appeared savage +because Jill and I laughed at him. + +"Suppose Dulzura is already engaged?" said Jill, somewhat provokingly. + +"Jill, you're a Job's comforter," replied Peter. "Of course, if she is +engaged, there's an end to the matter. I'd enter a convent and turn a +father." + +"A pretty father you'd make," cried Jill, laughing again. + +"All right," said Peter, "Wait till you're in love, Greenie, and won't I +serve you out just!" + +"Well, boys," I put in, "a happy thought has just occurred to me." + +"Let's have it." + +"Suppose we cease talking and all go to bed." + +"Right," cried Peter, jumping up and beginning to undress. + +In a few minutes more "good-nights" were said, and we were composing +ourselves to sleep. Sleep in this region is deep and heavy, and I may +surely add healthy, for one awakens in the morning feeling as fresh as +the daisies or the proverbial lark. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I did not seem to have been asleep a quarter of an hour when Peter shook +me by the shoulder. + +"Jack, Jack," he was saying, "there is something up." + +Peter was already dressed, and accustomed as I had been to scenes of +danger I was soon following his example, though hardly knowing where I +was or what I was doing. + +"Don't you hear?" said Peter. + +I listened now. In a moment I was as wide awake as ever I have been in +my life. + +I remember everything that happened that morning as though 'twere but +yesterday. It _was_ morning too. Our windows faced the east, and there +was a faint glimmering of the dawn already in the sky. + +From the direction of the Indian camp, came first a subdued hum of angry +voices. These were soon mingled with shouts of men and screams of women +and children, and presently there were added the clash of weapons and +the ring of revolver shots. + +"They are fighting down at the toldos," said Peter. "Hurry up with your +dressing." + +"Whom are they fighting with?" + +"I cannot say. It may be mutiny. Either that, or the Northern Indians +are on us." + +"Heaven forbid." + +"Here, Greenie!" cried Peter. + +"Jill, Jill!" I shouted, "Get up, brother. They are fighting." + +Jill sat up and listened for a moment, then threw himself doggedly back +again on his pillow. + +"Jill!" I roared, shaking him viciously, "get up, you silly sleepy boy. +The Indians are on us." + +Jill appeared fairly roused now. He sprang up and began to hurry on his +dress. + +We, that is Peter and I, got our revolvers and stuck them in our belts-- +they were always kept loaded; then we took our swords and sallied out. + +"Follow quick, Jill," were my last words to my brother. "Look out for +me and get to my side. We may have to do a bit more back to back work." + +We saw at a glance that it was Northern Indians with whom we had to +deal, and quite a large party. + +The fight was raging fiercely. Peter and I overtook Ritchie and Lawlor +hurrying into the fray, and joined them. Castizo was already there. We +could hear his stern words of command, and we noticed too that his +revolver emptied many a saddle. Our people were fighting on foot, but +fighting well and bravely. The women and children had already fled to +the forest. + +We came up at the right time, evidently, and the volleys we poured in +created the greatest confusion in the ranks of the enemy. They seemed +staggered for a little while, and made as if to retreat, but were +rallied and came on once more to the charge. + +How long we fought I could not say; it might have been ten minutes, or +it might have been half an hour. + +Suddenly there was a momentary lull, and I looked about me for Jill. He +was nowhere to be seen. I shouted to Peter. He had not seen him. I +extricated myself from the _melee_ as best I could, and hurried back to +the log-house. The poor foolish fellow must have gone to sleep again. +As it happened, this is precisely what he had done. But, to my horror, +I found the log-house surrounded by smoke. _It was on fire_. + +And my brother was there, in its midst. + +How I reached the door I never knew. At first I seemed dazed, nor am I +certain that at any period of that dreadful night I regained the +equilibrium of my senses. + +I rushed in through smoke and flames. I could just distinguish my +brother's form lying half-dressed on his couch, but was speedily obliged +to retreat. + +Then I remember feeling angry with the fire, mad almost. Why should the +flames take my brother from me, the being I loved as my own soul? No, +no! Save him I must, save him I should! I looked upon the fire as a +living thing, as a cruel, remorseless, merciless wild beast. I fought +the fire. I defied it. I was calm, though; that is, I was calm as +regards the rational sequence of my actions, but in reality I was a +maniac for the time being. Do men, I wonder, who do marvellous deeds of +daring in the field or lead forlorn hopes, feel and fight as I then did? + +With a strength that did not appear to be my own, I tore down the +blazing door-posts and door that barred my entrance. Then once more I +was in the room. Groping around now, stumbling too, for I could see +nothing in the smoke. Ah! here at last I have him; I have him at last +now! + +Out now I struggle and stagger, and fall choking in the morning air. + +CHAPTER THIRTY. + +"IT IS BETTER THUS." + +Yes, Jill was saved. He soon revived, and was able to follow me down to +the toldos. + +My hands were badly burned, but I did not feel pain then. Such a gush +of happiness had come over my heart when Jill spoke to me again, that I +forgot everything else. + +Daylight had by this time spread itself right athwart the sky; and I +remember the morning was beautiful with one crimson feathery cloud over +the eastern horizon, where the sun was soon to show. + +By the time we reached the Indian camp, the battle was over and won. +The survivors of the Northern Indians had been beaten back to the woods +from which they had sallied, and there was but little fear that they +would come again. Too many of their saddles had been emptied to +encourage a renewal of the warfare. + +It was a sad scene. The tents torn and flapping in the morning breeze, +some of them down; broken spears and guns and daggers lying here and +there; dead and dying horses; dead and dying men, the anguish of the +women, the wailing of the children. + +I took all this in at a glance. Then my eyes were riveted on a group at +some little distance, and I hastened thither, to find Castizo kneeling +beside the tall noble form of the prostrate Prince Jeeka. + +He holds out his right hand as I approach; Castizo gives place to me, +and I kneel where he had knelt. At his other side crouches Nadi. She +is bewildered and silent, grief and anguish depicted in every line of +her poor drawn, pinched face. + +"Jeeka, Jeeka, are you much hurt? Who has done this?" + +"Hurt? Yes. Ya shank, ya shank." (I am tired and sleepy). "So, so." + +He closed his eyes for a moment. I thought he was gone, but he slowly +opened them again, and looked at me. + +"Poor Nadi!" he said. "It--was--her brother. So, so." + +This, then, was the key to the awful night's work. Revenge. Verily +these Patagonian Indians are men of like passions with ourselves. + +"The Great Good Spirit is come. Jeeka goes--home. Tell me--the story +of the--world. So, so." + +These were the last words poor Prince Jeeka ever spoke on earth. He had +gone to learn the story of the world, in a better world than ours. + +We all came away and left Nadi with her dear husband. Her face had +fallen forward on his big broad chest, and she appeared convulsed with +grief. + +"Leave her a little," Castizo said. "It is ever better thus." + +In about half an hour, or it might have been less, Peter and I returned. + +Nadi had never moved from her position. + +"Nadi, my poor woman," said Peter. "Nadi, Nadi." + +She was still. + +Peter touched her shoulder, then turned quickly round to me. + +"She does not need our consolation, Jack," he said, solemnly. + +"What," I cried, "is Nadi dead?" + +"Nadi is dead!" + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +If I have any consolation at all in looking back to the events of that +morning, it is to think that Jill and I had told to these poor heathens +the sad, sweet story of this world. + +Jeeka and his wife are buried side by side on the banks of the river +that rolls through the forest, close to the spot where our old log-house +stood. + + "Amidst the forests of the West, + By a dark stream they're laid; + The Indian knows their place of rest + Far in the cedar shade." + +CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. + +ON THE GOOD YACHT "MAGDALENA"--"THE VERY SEAS USED TO SING TO US"--THE +HOME-COMING--THE END. + +At sea once more. + +At sea in one of the smartest yachts that ever walked the waters like a +thing of life. + +At sea, and homeward bound. Ah! that was what sent the joyful flush to +our cheeks and the glad glitter to our eyes, whenever we chose to think +of the fact, and try to realise it. + +The _Magdalena_ in which we were sailing was no racer, but a splendid +sea craft, and one that, as Ritchie said, could have shown a pair of +clean heels to the best tea-ship in the merchant service. And that was +saying a deal. She was broad in the beam for a yacht, but consequently +safe and comfortable. Her masts were tall, but they were also strong, +and she carried such a cloud of canvas that, seen from a distance, she +must have looked a perfect albatross. + +To say that her decks were as white as snow would be to talk +figuratively, but literally they were as white as cocoanut husk and +holystone could make them. The sails were really like snow in the +sunshine, and there was not a bit of polished wood about her decks, +whether in binnacle or capstan, that did not look as if varnished; nor a +morsel of brass or copper that did not shine. + +There was an awning over the quarter-deck by day, for we were in the +tropics, and the sun blazed down with a heat sufficient to soften the +pitch, if it did not absolutely make it boil. + +Yonder, under the awning, sits Castizo, in a light coat and straw hat, +quietly reading a book. Jill and I are walking rapidly up and down the +deck, and Dulzura is standing beside Peter. Both are gazing down at the +bubbling green water, that goes eddying along the good ship's sides. +Yet I do not think that either Dulzura or he is thinking very much about +it. + +But why, it may be reasonably asked, are we homeward bound, instead of +bearing up for Castizo's place at Valparaiso? Ah! thereby hangs a tale. +And I will endeavour to tell it as it was told to us, on the very last +night we spent on the Pampa. + +We were barely one day's journey from the port of Santa Cruz, and were +bivouacked in a green canon under the lee of the west barranca. Not far +off were the toldos of our faithful Indians. Alas! we sadly missed +Jeeka and poor Nadi, though. Not far off, the horses quietly grazed by +the water's edge. + +We sat beside the fire of roots on our guanaco skins for the night was +not warm. + +There had been silence for a brief space. We were waiting for our +_mate_. Presently it came in steaming bowls. + +"Ah! thank you, Pedro. What should we do without you?" said Castizo. + +"What, indeed?" "What, indeed?" said Jill and I. + +"How anxious your daughter will be," said Peter. "She has had quite a +long time to wait for us." + +Castizo smiled. + +"My daughter," he replied, "will not be idle. She will have gone +cruising. She is like me and like her poor mother--she hates +inactivity." + +"You have only once before mentioned Miss Castizo's mother in our +hearing," said Peter. + +"True, Peter. But now that we are so soon to part--for you will meet a +steamer at Puentas Arenas to take you back to your own country, and we +may never meet again--I may as well give you a very brief outline of my +life." + +We are all silent, and presently Castizo continued: + +"It must be brief indeed; I am but a poor storyteller. Besides, I have +but little to tell, and there is a tinge of sorrow over it all. + +"I was born of a noble Spanish family, and found myself fatherless and +wealthy at a very early age. I was always fond of wild sport and of a +nomadic life, and before I had reached the age of twenty-five had +visited most parts of the world in my own yacht, and been a soldier to +boot. At a ball one night in Madrid I fell deeply in love with a +beautiful young lady. She was quite of my own way of thinking as +regards a wandering life. I will not dwell upon the happiness of my +married life. Suffice it to say that Magdalena became the one bright +star in my mental firmament. I do not think any one could have loved +each other more than we did. Zenona, whom you, Peter, call Dulzura, was +the first pledge of that love. About two years after her birth I +accepted a post of great honour in Monte Video, and thither we went to +settle down. We even sold our yacht, so content were we with the +climate. Then Silvana was born. + +"It was about a year after this that I noticed a marked change in my +poor wife. She began to look ill. I wish now I had thrown up my post +of honour. What did I need with honour, when I had riches and the whole +love of such a wife as Magdalena? + +"She must have a change. She must go home. I would follow in the +course of a year. Ah! my dear friends, it is here the sorrow comes in. +She entreated me, she begged of me in tears and anguish, not to ask her +to leave me. + +"No, no, no. I was obdurate. Oh, I must have been hard-hearted--mad, +even. + +"She went away. She sailed in a ship bound for France, a Spanish +barque." + +Castizo paused, and I could see the tears in his eyes by the light of +the fire. + +"And the ship was wrecked?" said Peter. + +I had never seen Peter look so strange before; he appeared almost wild. + +"The ship," said Castizo, slowly, almost solemnly, "must have foundered +at sea, for I never saw nor heard of her more, nor of my poor dear wife +and baby. That is my story: that is the key to the seeming mystery of +my restlessness, and of my love for being alone at times. That is all." + +"No," cried Peter, half rising from the recumbent position he had +resumed when Castizo began to speak. "No, my friend Castizo; that is +not all. That is not all, Jack. Is it?" + +"I think not," I said, and I was almost as excited now as Peter, while +Jill, too, sat up with his eyes fixed on Castizo's face, on which was a +look of mingled curiosity and amazement. + +"_I_ will finish the story," continued Peter, speaking as slowly as he +could. "I knew your daughter Zenona the moment I first saw her at +Puentas Arenas. I knew her eyes, her strangely beautiful face; I knew +her hair, her wondrous hair. We have her counterpart at home, in the +old house by the sea, where dwell Jack's mother and aunt. You have +heard them,"--he pointed to Jill and me--"you have heard them speak of +their sister Mattie. Mattie is that counterpart." + +"I do not understand," said Castizo. + +"Nay, but listen, and you shall. The ship in which your poor wife and +child were sent home, did not founder at sea. She was wrecked on the +coast of Cornwall, and went in pieces next day. Not a timber of her was +saved, her very name would have been unknown but that two sailors out of +all the crew were saved, and your wife and child." + +"My wife and child! Say those words again!" + +"Do not let me raise hopes, my friend, that must end in disappointment. +The lady died." + +Castizo fell back with a moan, but sat up once more as Peter went on +talking. + +"But the child lived; is living now--at least so we must hope, for we +left her well. _She is their adopted sister Mattie_." + +"This is indeed a strange ending to my story. What name did the ship so +cast away sail by." + +Peter was silent. + +"Neither Jill nor I remember," I replied. "We are not quite sure we +ever heard it. One of the shipwrecked sailors was killed. The other, +whose name is Adriano, I have lost sight of for many a long year." + +Castizo's face fell. + +"There was no such man on board the _Zenobia_. I knew every man in the +barque. Ha, Peter, my dear boy, I fear it was someone else's ship, +someone else's wife and child. Can you give me the date?" + +"Alas!" I said, "I cannot even do that for certain. It was a +fisherman's boat that saved those who were saved. It was the +fisherman's wife who kept the child, till by accident she became our +sister. There is no other clue." + +"Was there not a large chest," said Peter. + +"Yes," I said. Then I described the box most minutely to Castizo. It +was such a strange box, taller than it was broad, the length and width +the same, and painted blue. + +It was Castizo's turn now to show anxiety and excitement. He made me +describe the box over and over again. I even took a pencil and sketched +it from memory on a fly-leaf of the Bible dear mother had given me when +a boy. + +Then Castizo said, "That was my poor Magdalena's box. Thank God, our +child lives." + +He put but one more question to me. + +"Was there nothing of value in the chest? Were there no papers, money, +or rings or watches?" + +"Nothing save clothes. I've often and often heard Mummy Gray, as Mattie +calls her, wonder at that." + +"Then I'm more than ever convinced the chest was hers. It had a false +bottom. The box was specially prepared for the voyage. Oh, boys, +Heaven, in sending you to Puentas Arenas, condescended to answer my +prayers. Now, instead of returning to Valparaiso, my yacht shall take +you back to England." + +That, then, was what occurred on our last night on the Pampa; and the +story begun by Castizo, and so opportunely finished by Peter with a +little assistance from Jill and me, was the cause of our being here +altogether, homeward bound in the good sea yacht _Magdalena_. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +That was indeed an idyllic voyage. Even to Jill and me it was idyllic, +ten times more so must it have been to Peter and Dulzura. + +With the exception of a week in the doldrums while crossing the line, we +had glorious weather all the way, with just the breezes a sailor loves, +enough to fill the sails and carry us merrily onwards. + +The very seas used to sing to us as they went seething past and away +astern; and on sighting the dear chalky cliffs of England, the gulls +that came out in flocks to meet us seemed to shriek us a welcome, and +tell us all was well. + +Perhaps we ought to have come farther up the Channel than we did, and +sailed right into the great naval seaport, where dear father used to be +stationed. + +But no. We would do nothing of the sort, but--the weather being fine +and only a gentle breeze now blowing--go right into the little bay, and +anchor before our own door. + +And so we did. + +Yonder it was, dear old-fashioned Trafalgar Cottage. We all looked at +it through the glass. Nothing altered, nothing. Balcony, garden, +railings, and climbers all the same. + +But there were no signs of life about, though smoke came from the +chimney. + +Oh dear, how a sailor's heart does beat with anxiety when he reaches +once more his native land; and how he does keep worrying and wondering +whether his relations and friends are alive and well! + +We are in the bay now, and the anchor is let go. What a delicious sound +is that of the chain running out! No music in the world is half so +sweet. + +"Jack, Jack!" cries Jill, who was forward in the bows, the wind blowing +off the land. "Run, Jack, run!" + +I rushed forward. + +"What is it, Jill? What is it?" + +"Robert bringing round Trots. Hurrah!" + +So it was. The same old Robert. The same old Trots. + +"Look again. Look, look! Yonder is Aunt Serapheema getting in. And +darling mother in the doorway." + +We were near enough to shout. + +And shout we did. Peter joined in with a will, and Ritchie and Lawlor +joined to help us. + +Jill and I even crept out along bowsprit and jib-boom, and waved our +handkerchiefs and shouted again. + +Was there ever such an home-coming in the world I wonder! + +Auntie knows our voices. Mother waves back to us. + +"Call away the boat!" + +In a few minutes more, rowed by the sturdy arms of Lawlor and Ritchie, +the little boat is bounding over the water. + +Then it is beached, and mother, half hysterical and wholly in tears, +does not know which of us to hug first. + +And the fact is she does not know till we tell her which is Jack and +which is Jill. + +"I'm Jack, mother;" "I'm Jill, mother," we say. + +Then we go all up home together. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Mattie was well, but away at school. She returned next day, however, +and Jill and I were half afraid of her, so tall and beautiful had she +become. But dear Mattie was self-possessed enough, though we +semi-civilised sailors were shy. + +This was a never-to-be-forgotten day. We had brought Mattie--we would +always call her Mattie--a father and a sister. For this box was _the_ +box, and that is saying enough. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +For many voyages after this, Jill and I sailed together in the same +ships. And very often Ritchie and Lawlor were our shipmates. + +We never saw nor heard anything more of Adriano. That was a little +morsel of mystery never cleared up. + +Castizo settled down in England, having bought property not far from the +little churchyard where his dear wife is sleeping. He is there now, +though he is getting old. With him live Peter and his wife Dulzura, as +he still calls her, and it is ever a pleasure to meet them, and +oftentimes, I scarcely need say, we talk of the dear old days on the +Pampas and our life in the Land of the Giants. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Alas, poor Jill, though! It is sad to record how we were parted at +last. We who thought the same thoughts, dreamt the same dreams, and +were seldom separate by night or by day. We who had come through so +many wild and stormy adventures hand in hand, I might say, to be parted +so strangely. + +We had come off a long voyage to the Arctic ice, and were together in +London. We left each other but for an hour, it was agreed. I was back +in time at the appointed place, but poor Jill never appeared. I never +saw my brother again. No one could find out, though all search was +made, whither he had gone, or been taken! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Long years have passed away since then. I have fallen heir to our long +lost estates. Mother and aunt live with me in our noble home. + +Mattie is my wife. + +They say I look a sadder man. + +This may be so. Yet I live in hope that poor Jill and I are sure to +meet again _some day--somewhere_. And when lying awake at night, +thinking about the past, I sometimes seem to hear a voice which I know +to be my brother's, saying-- + +"Come to me, Jack; come to me, for I cannot come to you." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The End. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Life in the Land of the Giants, by +Gordon Stables + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 38263.txt or 38263.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/2/6/38263/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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