The Coral Island by Robert Michael Ballantyne (interesting books to read in english TXT) đź“–
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During the remainder of that day I felt as if I were in a horrible
dream. I scarce knew what was said to me, and was more than once
blamed by the men for idling my time. At last the hour to return
aboard came. We marched down to the beach, and I felt relief for
the first time when my feet rested on the schooner’s deck.
In the course of the evening I overheard part of a conversation
between the captain and the first mate, which startled me not a
little. They were down in the cabin, and conversed in an under-tone, but the sky-light being off, I overheard every word that was
said.
“I don’t half like it,” said the mate. “It seems to me that we’ll
only have hard fightin’ and no pay.”
“No pay!” repeated the captain, in a voice of suppressed anger.
“Do you call a good cargo all for nothing no pay?”
“Very true,” returned the mate; “but we’ve got the cargo aboard.
Why not cut your cable and take French leave o’ them? What’s the
use o’ tryin’ to lick the blackguards when it’ll do us no manner o’
good?”
“Mate,” said the captain, in a low voice, “you talk like a fresh-water sailor. I can only attribute this shyness to some strange
delusion; for surely” (his voice assumed a slightly sneering tone
as he said this) “surely I am not to suppose that YOU have become
soft-hearted! Besides, you are wrong in regard to the cargo being
aboard; there’s a good quarter of it lying in the woods, and that
blackguard chief knows it and won’t let me take it off. He defied
us to do our worst, yesterday.”
“Defied us! did he?’ cried the mate, with a bitter laugh. “Poor
contemptible thing!”
“And yet he seems not so contemptible but that you are afraid to
attack him.”
“Who said I was afraid?” growled the mate, sulkily. “I’m as ready
as any man in the ship. But, captain, what is it that you intend
to do?”
“I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner up to the head
of the creek there, from which point we can command the pile of
sandal-wood with our gun. Then I shall land with all the men
except two, who shall take care of the schooner and be ready with
the boat to take us off. We can creep through the woods to the
head of the village, where these cannibals are always dancing round
their suppers of human flesh, and if the carbines of the men are
loaded with a heavy charge of buck-shot, we can drop forty or fifty
at the first volley. After that the thing will be easy enough.
The savages will take to the mountains in a body, and we shall take
what we require, up anchor, and away.”
To this plan the mate at length agreed. As he left the cabin I
heard the captain say, -
“Give the men an extra glass of grog, and don’t forget the buck-shot.”
The reader may conceive the horror with which I heard this
murderous conversation. I immediately repeated it to Bill, who
seemed much perplexed about it. At length he said, -
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Ralph: I’ll swim ashore after dark
and fix a musket to a tree not far from the place where we’ll have
to land, and I’ll tie a long string to the trigger, so that when
our fellows cross it they’ll let it off, and so alarm the village
in time to prevent an attack, but not in time to prevent us gettin’
back to the boat; so, master captain,” added Bill with a smile that
for the first time seemed to me to be mingled with good-natured
cheerfulness, “you’ll be baulked at least for once in your life by
Bloody Bill.”
After it grew dark, Bill put this resolve in practice. He slipped
over the side with a musket in his left hand, while with his right
he swam ashore and entered the woods. He soon returned, having
accomplished his purpose, and got on board without being seen, - I
being the only one on deck.
When the hour of midnight approached the men were mustered on deck,
the cable was cut and the muffled sweeps got out. These sweeps
were immensely large oars, each requiring a couple of men to work
it. In a few minutes we entered the mouth of the creek, which was
indeed the mouth of a small river, and took about half an hour to
ascend it, although the spot where we intended to land was not more
than six hundred yards from the mouth, because there was a slight
current against us, and the mangroves which narrowed the creek,
impeded the rowers in some places. Having reached the spot, which
was so darkened by overhanging trees that we could see with
difficulty, a small kedge anchor attached to a thin line was let
softly down over the stern.
“Now, lads,” whispered the captain, as he walked along the line of
men, who were all armed to the teeth, “don’t be in a hurry, aim
low, and don’t waste your first shots.”
He then pointed to the boat, into which the men crowded in silence.
There was no room to row, but oars were not needed, as a slight
push against the side of the schooner sent the boat gliding to the
shore.
“There’s no need of leaving two in the boat,” whispered the mate,
as the men stepped out; “we shall want all our hands. Let Ralph
stay.”
The captain assented, and ordered me to stand in readiness with the
boat-hook, to shove ashore at a moment’s notice if they should
return, or to shove off if any of the savages should happen to
approach. He then threw his carbine into the hollow of his arm and
glided through the bushes followed by his men. With a throbbing
head I awaited the result of our plan. I knew the exact locality
where the musket was placed, for Bill had described it to me, and I
kept my straining eyes fixed upon the spot. But no sound came, and
I began to fear that either they had gone in another direction or
that Bill had not fixed the string properly. Suddenly I heard a
faint click, and observed one or two bright sparks among the
bushes. My heart immediately sank within me, for I knew at once
that the trigger had indeed been pulled but that the priming had
not caught. The plan, therefore, had utterly failed. A feeling of
dread now began to creep over me as I stood in the boat, in that
dark, silent spot, awaiting the issue of this murderous expedition.
I shuddered as I glanced at the water that glided past like a dark
reptile. I looked back at the schooner, but her hull was just
barely visible, while her tapering masts were lost among the trees
which overshadowed her. Her lower sails were set, but so thick was
the gloom that they were quite invisible.
Suddenly I heard a shot. In a moment a thousand voices raised a
yell in the village; again the cry rose on the night air, and was
followed by broken shouts as of scattered parties of men bounding
into the woods. Then I heard another shout loud and close at hand.
It was the voice of the captain cursing the man who had fired the
premature shot. Then came the order, “Forward,” followed by the
wild hurrah of our men, as they charged the savages. Shots now
rang in quick succession, and at last a loud volley startled the
echoes of the woods. It was followed by a multitude of wild
shrieks, which were immediately drowned in another “hurrah” from
the men; the distance of the sound proving that they were driving
their enemies before them towards the sea.
While I was listening intently to these sounds, which were now
mingled in confusion, I was startled by the rustling of the leaves
not far from me. At first I thought it was a party of savages who
had observed the schooner, but I was speedily undeceived by
observing a body of natives - apparently several hundreds, as far
as I could guess in the uncertain light - bounding through the
woods towards the scene of battle. I saw at once that this was a
party who had out-flanked our men, and would speedily attack them
in the rear. And so it turned out, for, in a short time, the
shouts increased tenfold, and among them I thought I heard a
death-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.
At length the tumult of battle ceased, and, from the cries of
exultation that now arose from the savages, I felt assured that our
men had been conquered. I was immediately thrown into dreadful
consternation. What was I now to do? To be taken by the savages
was too horrible to be thought of; to flee to the mountains was
hopeless, as I should soon be discovered; and to take the schooner
out of the creek without assistance was impossible. I resolved,
however, to make the attempt, as being my only hope, and was on the
point of pushing off when my hand was stayed and my blood chilled
by an appalling shriek in which I recognised the voice of one of
the crew. It was succeeded by a shout from the savages. Then came
another, and another shriek of agony, making my ears to tingle, as
I felt convinced they were murdering the pirate crew in cold blood.
With a bursting heart and my brain whirling as if on fire, I seized
the boat-hook to push from shore when a man sprang from the bushes.
“Stop! Ralph, stop! - there now, push off,” he cried, and bounded
into the boat so violently as nearly to upset her. It was Bill’s
voice! In another moment we were on board, - the boat made fast,
the line of the anchor cut, and the sweeps run out. At the first
stroke of Bill’s giant arm the schooner was nearly pulled ashore,
for in his haste he forgot that I could scarcely move the unwieldy
oar. Springing to the stern he lashed the rudder in such a
position as that, while it aided me, it acted against him, and so
rendered the force of our strokes nearly equal. The schooner now
began to glide quickly down the creek, but before we reached its
mouth, a yell from a thousand voices on the bank told that we were
discovered. Instantly a number of the savages plunged into the
water and swam towards us; but we were making so much way that they
could not overtake us. One, however, an immensely powerful man,
succeeded in laying hold of the cut rope that hung from the stern,
and clambered quickly upon deck. Bill caught sight of him the
instant his head appeared above the taffrail. But he did not cease
to row, and did not appear even to notice the savage until he was
within a yard of him; then, dropping the sweep, he struck him a
blow on the forehead with his clenched fist that felled him to the
deck. Lifting him up he hurled him overboard and resumed the oar.
But now a greater danger awaited us, for the savages had outrun us
on the bank and were about to plunge into the water ahead of the
schooner. If they succeeded in doing so our fate was sealed. For
one moment Bill stood irresolute. Then, drawing a pistol from his
belt, he sprang to the brass gun, held the pan
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