George Manville Fenn

“ Stirred to fury at seeing the poor fellows drop, both Don and Jem had made unskilful use of their weapons, for they were unwillingly mingled with the crowd of defenders, and driven with them into the corner of the great enclosure.
One minute they were surrounded by panting, desperate men, using their spears valorously, as the Greeks might have used theirs in days of old; then there came a rush, a horrible crowding together, a sensation to Don as if some mountain had suddenly fallen on his head to crush out the hideous din of yelling and despairing shrieks, and then all was darkness. ”

“ He was a lovely-looking bird as far as the tints of the plumage went; but his short hooked beak, with a tuft of feathers each side, and forward curved crest, gave him a droll aspect which delighted Jem, as the bird came and sat upon a twig, shrieking and chattering at them in a state of the greatest excitement.
“Look at his starshers, Mas’ Don,” said Jem, as the bird’s side tufts half covered the beak and then left it bare. “Look at his hair, too. Hasn’t he brushed it up in a point? There, he heared what I said, and has laid it down again. Look at him! Look at him! ”

“ Look here, Mas’ Don, shall I stop on for an hour and tell you what I’ve seen in South America?”
“No, no, Mike; my uncle doesn’t like you to be with me.”
“Ah, and well I knows it. ’Cause I tells you the truth and he feels guilty, Mas’ Don.”
“And—and it only unsettles me,” cried the boy with a despairing look in his eyes. “Get on with your work, and I must get on with mine.”
“Ah, to be sure,” said the scoundrel with a sneer. “Work, work, work. You and me, Mas’ Don, is treated worse than the black niggers as cuts the sugar-canes down, and hoes the ’bacco in the plantations. I’m sorry for you.” ”

“ Perhaps they have left it unlocked.”
“Not likely,” said Jem. “Wish I’d got a candle. It’s like being a rat in a box trap. It is dark.”
“This way, Jem. Your hand.”
“All right, sir. Frontards: my hands don’t grow out o’ my back.”
“That’s it. Now together. Let’s get to the wall.”
There was a rustling noise and then a rattle.
“Phew! Shins!” cried Jem. “Oh, dear me. That’s barrel staves, I know the feel on ’em. Such sharp edges, Mas’ Don. Mind you don’t tread on the edge of a hoop, or it’ll fly up and hit you right in the middle.” ”

“ There was a sense of freedom in being away from the ship, and, in spite of the darkness, a feeling of joyous power in being able to breast the long heaving swell, and pass on through the water.
“Better not talk, Mas’ Don,” whispered Jem, as they swam; “sound goes so easily over the water.”
“No, I’m not going to talk,” said Don; “I want all my breath for swimming.”
“Don’t feel tired, do you?”
“Not a bit.”
“That’s right, lad. Stick to it steady like. Their lanthorns aren’t much good. Don’t you be skeart; we can see them plain enough, but they can’t see us.” ”

“ The chief smiled, as if he quite comprehended; and grasped Don’s hand with a friendly grip, offering the other to Jem.
“It’s all right, old boy,” said the latter. “We can’t understand each other’s lingo, but we know each other’s hearts. We’ve got to wait a bit and see.”
A week passed rapidly away, during which, in his rougher moods, Mike treated his prisoners as if they were slaves, calling upon Ngati to perform the most menial offices for the little camp, all of which were patiently performed after an appealing look at Don, who for the sake of gaining time gave up in every way. ”

“ News was brought in soon after of the boats being busy taking soundings, and that night Don and Jem sat screened by the ferns high up on the mountain side, and saw the sloop of war with her sails set, and looking golden in the setting sun, gliding slowly away toward the north-east, careening slightly over before a brisk breeze, which grew stronger as they reached out farther beyond the shelter of the land; and in spite of hints from Tomati, and calls from Ngati, neither could be coaxed down till, just as it was growing dusk, Don rose and turned to his companion. ”

“ An Untiring Enemy.
Jem kept careful watch and ward as he stood leaning on his spear. He was very weary, and could not help feeling envious of those who were sleeping so well. But he heard no sound of pursuit, and after a time the wondrous beauty of the glen in which they had halted, with its rushing waters and green lacing ferns, had so composing an effect upon his spirits, that he began to take an interest in the flowers that hung here and there, while the song of a finch sounded pleasant and homelike. ”

“ Don took a step into the cave, but went no farther, for Jem gripped his arm.
“Take care, my lad. ’Tarn’t safe. Hear that noise?”
“Yes; it is like some animal breathing hard.”
“And we’ve got no pistols nor cutlashes. It’s a lion, I know.”
“There are no lions here, Jem.”
“Arn’t there? Then it’s a tiger. I know un. I’ve seen ’em. Hark!”
“But there are no tigers, nor any other fierce beasts here, Jem.”
“Now, how can you be so obstinate, Mas’ Don, when you can hear ’em whistling, and sighing and breathing hard right in yonder. No, no, not a step farther do you go.”
“Don’t be so foolish, Jem.” ”

“ Those wretches there are as much like Mike Bannock was when he bored a hole in the rum puncheon as can be. Eating too much makes people as stupid as drinking; and knowing what I do, I wishes I was in Africa and not here.”
“Knowing what you do, Jem?”
“Yes, Mas’ Don, knowing what I do. It’s what you know too. I can see you do.”
Don shuddered.
“Don’t, Jem, don’t; it’s too horrid even to think about.”
“Yes, dear lad, but we must think about it. These here people’s used to it, and done it theirselves, I daresay; and they don’t seem to mind; but we do. ”

“ Then, crossing to where the man stood by the lanthorn-bearer, Don laid his hand upon his arm.
“You are not going to keep us, sir?” he said quietly. “My mother and my uncle will be very uneasy at my absence, and Jem—our man, has a young wife.”
“No, no; can’t listen to you, my lad,” said the bluff man; “it’s very hard, I know, but the king’s ships must be manned—and boyed,” he added with a laugh.
“But my mother?”
“Yes, I’m sorry for your mother, but you’re too old to fret about her. We shall make a man of you, and that chap’s young wife will have to wait till he comes back.” ”

“ I’ve often felt as if I should like to do as you say and run right off, but I don’t do it.”
“You have felt like that, Jem?” cried Don, eagerly.
“Yes, often, my lad.”
“Then let’s go, Jem. Nobody cares for us here. Let’s go right away to one of the beautiful foreign countries Mike told me about, and begin a new life.”
“Shall us, Mas’ Don?”
“Yes; why not? Get a passage in some ship, and stop where we like. He has told me of dozens of places that must be glorious.”
“Then we won’t go,” said Jem, decidedly. “If Mike Bannock says they’re fine spots, don’t you believe him; they’re bad ’uns.” ”

“ Can you fight, Mas’ Don?”
“I don’t know, Jem. I never tried.”
“I can. You don’t know what a crack I could give a man. It’s my arms is so strong with moving sugar-hogsheads, I suppose. I shouldn’t wish to be the man I hit if I did my best.”
“You mean your worst, Jem.”
“Course I do, Mas’ Don. Well, as I was going to say, I should just like to settle that there matter with Mr Mike without the magistrates. You give him to me on a clear field for about ten minutes, and I’d make Master Mike down hisself on his knees, and say just whatever I pleased.” ”

“ Mr Bosun Jones was in command of this boat, and he gave orders to his men, the oars splashed, and away they went into the darkness, their lights growing fainter and fainter, till they seemed to be mere specks in the distance; but they did not die out, and as those left on deck watched the progress, they saw the lanthorns of the last boat become stationary, and knew that the men had reached the shore, while the lanthorns of the second cutter were faintly visible, moving slowly far away to the south. ”

“ So I s’pose my wound’s first rate, for it smarts like a furze bush in a fit.”
“I wish I could bathe it for you, Jem.”
“Thank ye, Mas’ Don. I wish my Sally could do it. More in her way.”
“We must try and bear it all, I suppose, Jem. How hot the sun is; and, ill as I am, I should be so glad of something to eat and drink.”
“I’m that hungry, Mas’ Don,” growled Jem, “that I could eat one o’ these here savages. Not all at once, of course.” ”

“ Oh, brother, don’t say that!”
“I must tell you the truth,” said Uncle Josiah sternly. “It is the same as breaking faith, and he has given strength to that scoundrel’s charge.”
“But what shall I do?” sobbed little Sally Wimble. “My Jem hadn’t done anything. Oh, please, sir, fetch him back.”
“Your husband has taken his own road, my good woman,” said Uncle Josiah coldly, “and he must suffer for it.”
“But what’s to become of me, sir? What shall I do without a husband?”
“Go back home and wait.”
“But I have no home, sir, now,” sobbed Sally. “You’ll want the cottage for some other man.” ”

“ I say, don’t think about home, Mas’ Don, because if you do, I shall too; it do make me so unked.”
“I can’t help it, Jem. It doesn’t seem natural to settle down here, and go on week after week. I get asking myself, what we are doing it for.”
“To catch fish, and find fruit and keep ourselves alive. Say, Mas’ Don, it’s under them trees they digs up the big lumps of gum that they burn. Ah, there’s a bit.” Jem stooped and picked out from among the rotten pine needles a piece of pale yellowish-looking gum of the size of his fist. ”

“ Hurt you much, my lad?”
“Not very much, Jem. Now then; feel your way with me. Let’s go all round the place, perhaps there’s another way out.”
“All right, sir. Well, it might be, but I say as it couldn’t be darker than this if you was brown sugar, and shut up in a barrel in the middle o’ the night.”
“Now I am touching the wall, Jem,” said Don. “I’m going to feel all round. Can you hear anything?”
“Only you speaking, my lad.”
“Come along then.”
“All right, Mas’ Don. My head aches as if it was a tub with the cooper at work hammering of it.” ”

“ Every one appeared too desolate and despondent to say much; in fact, as Don sat upon the deck and looked at those who surrounded him, they all looked like so many wounded men in hospital, or prisoners of war, in place of being Englishmen—whose duty henceforth was to be the defence of their country.
“Seems rum, don’t it?” said Jem in a whisper. “Makes a man feel wild to be laid hold on like this.” ”

“ I couldn’t think o’ them words, but they’re just what he is.—Say, Mas’ Don.”
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, Jem.”
“Don’t what, Mas’ Don?”
“Don’t do that. Master Don. It sounds so foolish, and it’s ridiculous, seeing what we are.”
“All right, my lad, I’ll be careful; but what I wanted to say was, would there be any harm in taking Master Ramsden by his waistband, and dropping him some night over into the sea?”
“Do you want to commit murder, Jem?”
“Do I want to commit murder? Nay, Mas’ Don, gently, gently; don’t talk to a man like that. ”

“ I believe the people here will behave kindly to us.”
“Till we got fat,” said Jem, chuckling; “and then they’d have a tuck out. No, thank ye, Mas’ Don; my Sally wouldn’t like it. You see, I’m nice and plump and round now, and they’d soon use me. You’re a great long growing boy, thin as a lath, and it’d take years to make you fit to kill, so as it don’t matter for you.”
“There is a chance open to us now for escape,” said Don bitterly; “to get right away, and journey to some port, where we could get a passage to England as sailors, and you treat it with ridicule.”
“Not I, Mas’ Don, lad.” ”

“ But what did he say—the skipper would forget it by to-morrow?”
“Yes, Jem.”
“I hope he will.”
“But I can’t forget that he hit me,” said Don sternly.
“Now, now, Mas’ Don, you mustn’t speak like that.”
“And you must not speak like that, Jem,—Master Don. You’ll have some of the men hear you.”
“Well, I’ll mind; but you mustn’t think any more about that, my lad. He’s captain, and can do as he likes. You were going to hit him, weren’t you?”
“Yes, Jem, I’m afraid I was. I always feel like that if I’m hurt.”
“But you mustn’t now you’re a sailor. Say, my lad, things looks rather ugly, somehow. ”

“ There was no release next day, and very drearily it passed till towards evening, when Jem waited till the sentry’s back was turned, and put his lips to Don’s ear.
“I’ve got it, Mas’ Don,” he said.
“What, can you see your way to escape?”
“I’ve hit it out, my lad. Look here. Do you know them’s men’s irons you’ve got on?”
“Yes. They don’t make irons for boys.”
“Then look here, my lad; it may mean a bit of skin off; but all you’ve got to do is to squeeze your feet through those rings, and then I’ll be bound to say a thin slip of a fellow like you can creep out of the iron round your waist.” ”

“ Talk about a woman’s temper turning the milk sour in a house. Why, just now there’s about three hundred hogsheads o’ sugar in our ware’us—two hundred and ninety-three, and four damages not quite full, which is as good as saying three hundred—see the books whether I arn’t right. Well, Mas’ Don, I tell you for the truth that I quite frights it—I do, indeed—as she’ll turn all that there sweetness into sour varjus ’fore she’s done. Going, sir?”
“Yes, Jem, I’m going—home,” said Don; and then to himself, “Ah, I wish I had a home.” ”

“ But the old man’s face only grew more hard.
“I am afraid it must be true,” he said. “Foolish boy! Woman, your husband has behaved like an idiot.”
“But you will send and fetch them back, Josiah.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Laura,” said the old man angrily. “How can I fetch them back? Foolish boy! At a time like this. Is he afraid to face the truth?”
“No, no, Josiah,” cried Mrs Lavington; “it is only that he was hurt.”
“Hurt? He has hurt himself. That man will be before the magistrates to-day, and I passed my word to the constable that Lindon should be present to answer the charge made against him.” ”

“ Never you mind him, Master Don, you strike for freedom. Make your uncle give you your father’s money, and then off you goes like a man to see life.”
“Now lookye here,” cried the sturdy, broad-faced young fellow who had first spoken, as he picked up a wooden lever used for turning over the great sugar-hogsheads lying in the yard, and hoisting them into a trolly, or beneath the crane which raised them into the warehouse. “Lookye here, Mike Bannock, I never did knock a man down with this here wooden bar, but if you gets stirring Mas’ Don again, has it you do, right across the back. ”

“ Look here; spread your arms out well and catch tight round the tree as you jump at it. You’ll slip down some distance and scratch yourself, but you can’t hurt much.”
“I hear, Mas’ Don,” said Jem, drawing a long breath full of relief. “I’m a-coming. It’s like taking physic,” he added to himself; “but the sooner you takes it, the sooner it’s down. Here goes! Say, Mas’ Don, do you ketch hold o’ the tree with your hands, or your arms and legs?” ”

“ Don stood gazing at his companion, full of perplexity.
“Think it is real danger, Mas’ Don?”
“I’m afraid so. You heard Tomati say that there were desperate fights sometimes.”
“Don’t call him Tomati; I ’ates it,” growled Jem. “Well, I s’pose it is danger, then.”
“And we must look the matter in the face, Jem. If we go back those people will be at the village before us. Perhaps we shall meet them, and be made prisoners; but if we go on here, we shall save an hour, perhaps two. Yes, I shall climb down.”
“No, no; let me go first, Mas’ Don.” ”

“ I wouldn’t ha’ thought it of a set who calls theirselves men. Shove me into that hot pot, and boil me, would you? Not if I knows it, you don’t. Hi! Mas’ Don! Look out! Run, my lad. They’re trying to cook me alive, the brutes. Oh, if I only had a cutlash, or an iron bar.”
Don tried to speak again, but the words were suffocated by the gurgle of laughter.
“Poor old Jem!” he thought.
“I tell you, you sha’n’t. Six to one, eh? Leave off. Mas’ Don, they’re going to scald me like a pig in a tub. Hi! Help!”
There was the sound of a struggle, a loud splash, and then silence, followed by Jem’s voice. ”