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Blown to Bits by Robert Michael Ballantyne

R >> Robert Michael Ballantyne >> Blown to Bits




"Not de smallest," replied the negro, with as much emphasis as was
possible in a whisper. "Massa hab ride wid de Vaquieros ob Ameriky an'
hunt wid de Injuns on de Rockies. No more fear ob deir ketchin' him dan
ob ketchin' a streak o' lightnin'. He come back bery soon wid all de
news."

Moses was a true prophet. Within half-an-hour Van der Kemp returned as
noiselessly as he had gone. He did not keep them long in uncertainty.

"I have heard enough," he whispered, "to assure me that a plot, of which
I had already heard a rumour, has nearly been laid. We fell in with the
chief plotters on the islet the other night; the band here is in
connection with them and awaits their arrival before carrying out their
dark designs. There is nothing very mysterious about it. One tribe
plotting to attack another--that is all; but as a friend of mine dwells
just now with the tribe to be secretly attacked, it behoves me to do
what I can to save him. I am perplexed, however. It would seem sometimes
as if we were left in perplexity for wise purposes which are beyond our
knowledge."

"Perhaps to test our willingness to _do right_," suggested Nigel.

"I know not," returned the hermit, as if musing, but never raising his
voice above the softest whisper. "My difficulty lies here; I _must_ go
forward to save the life of my friend. I must _not_ leave you at the
mouth of a mangrove river to die or be captured by pirates, and yet I
have no right to ask you to risk your life on my account!"

"You may dismiss your perplexities then," said Nigel, promptly, "for I
decline to be left to die here or to be caught by pirates, and I am
particularly anxious to assist you in rescuing your friend. Besides, am
I not your hired servant?"

"The risk we run is only at the beginning," said Van der Kemp. "If we
succeed in passing the Dyaks unseen all will be well. If they see us,
they will give chase, and our lives, under God, will depend on the
strength of our arms, for I am known to them and have thwarted their
plans before now. If they catch us, death will be our certain doom. Are
you prepared?"

"Ready!" whispered Nigel.

Without another word the hermit took his place in the bow of the canoe.
Moses stepped into the stern, and our hero sat down in the middle.

Before pushing off, the hermit drew a revolver and a cutlass from his
store-room in the bow and handed them to Nigel, who thrust the first
into his belt and fastened the other to the deck by means of a strap
fixed there on purpose to prevent its being rolled or swept off. This
contrivance, as well as all the other appliances in the canoe, had
previously been pointed out and explained to him. The hermit and negro
having armed themselves in similar way, let go the bushes which held
them close to the bank and floated out into the stream. They let the
canoe drift down a short way so as to be well concealed by the bend in
the river and a mass of bushes. Then they slowly paddled over to the
opposite side and commenced to creep up as close to the bank as
possible, under the deep shadow of overhanging trees, and so noiselessly
that they appeared in the darkness like a passing phantom.

But the sharp eyes of the pirates were too much accustomed to phantoms
of every kind to be easily deceived. Just as the canoe was about to pass
beyond the line of their vision a stir was heard in their camp. Then a
stern challenge rolled across the river and awoke the slumbering echoes
of the forest--perchance to the surprise and scaring away of some
prowling beast of prey.

"No need for concealment now," said Van der Kemp, quietly; "we must
paddle for life. If you have occasion to use your weapons, Nigel, take
no life needlessly. Moses knows my mind on this point and needs no
warning. Any fool can take away life. Only God can give it."

"I will be careful," replied Nigel, as he dipped his paddle with all the
muscular power at his command. His comrades did the same, and the canoe
shot up the river like an arrow.

A yell from the Dyaks, and the noise of jumping into and pushing off
their boats told that there was no time to lose.

"They are strong men, and plenty of them to relieve each other," said
the hermit, who now spoke in his ordinary tones, "so they have some
chance of overhauling us in the smooth water; but a few miles further up
there is a rapid which will stop them and will only check us. If we can
reach it we shall be safe."

While he was speaking every muscle in his broad back and arms was
strained to the uttermost; so also were the muscles of his companions,
and the canoe seemed to advance by a series of rapid leaps and bounds.
Yet the sound of the pursuers' oars seemed to increase, and soon the
proverb "it is the pace that kills" received illustration, for the speed
of the canoe began to decrease a little--very little at first--while the
pursuers, with fresh hands at the oars, gradually overhauled the
fugitives.

"Put on a spurt!" said the hermit, setting the example.

The pirates heard the words and understood either them or the action
that followed, for they also "put on a spurt," and encouraged each other
with a cheer.

Moses heard the cheer, and at the same time heard the sound of the rapid
to which they were by that time drawing near. He glanced over his
shoulder and could make out the dim form of the leading boat, with a
tall figure standing up in the bow, not thirty yards behind.

"Shall we manage it, Moses?" asked Van der Kemp, in that calm steady
voice which seemed to be unchangeable either by anxiety or peril.

"No, massa. Unpossable--widout _dis_!"

The negro drew the revolver from his belt, slewed round, took rapid aim
and fired.

The tall figure in the bow of the boat fell back with a crash and a
hideous yell. Great shouting and confusion followed, and the boat
dropped behind. A few minutes later and the canoe was leaping over the
surges of a shallow rapid. They dashed from eddy to eddy, taking
advantage of every stone that formed a tail of backwater below it, and
gradually worked the light craft upward in a way that the hermit and his
man had learned in the nor'-western rivers of America.

"We are not safe yet," said the former, resting and wiping his brow as
they floated for a few seconds in a calm basin at the head of the
rapid.

"Surely they cannot take a boat up such a place as that!"

"Nay, but they can follow up the banks on foot. However, we will soon
baffle them, for the river winds like a serpent just above this, and by
carrying our canoe across one, two, or three spits of land we will gain
a distance in an hour or so that would cost them nearly a day to ascend
in boats. They know that, and will certainly give up the chase. I think
they have given it up already, but it is well to make sure."

"I wonder why they did not fire at us," remarked Nigel.

"Probably because they felt sure of catching us," returned the hermit,
"and when they recovered from the confusion that Moses threw them into
we were lost to them in darkness, besides being pretty well beyond
range. I hope, Moses, that you aimed low."

"Yes, massa--but it's sca'cely fair when life an' def am in de balance
to expect me to hit 'im on de legs on a dark night. Legs is a bad
targit. Bullet's apt to pass between 'em. Howseber, dat feller won't hop
much for some time to come!"

A couple of hours later, having carried the canoe and baggage across the
spits of land above referred to, and thus put at least half-a-day's
journey between themselves and their foes, they came to a halt for the
night.

"It won't be easy to find a suitable place to camp on," remarked Nigel,
glancing at the bank, where the bushes grew so thick that they overhung
the water, brushing the faces of our travellers and rendering the
darkness so intense that they had literally to feel their way as they
glided along.

"We will encamp where we are," returned the hermit. "I'll make fast to a
bush and you may get out the victuals, Moses."

"Das de bery best word you've said dis day, massa," remarked the negro
with a profound sigh. "I's pritty well tired now, an' de bery t'ought ob
grub comforts me!"

"Do you mean that we shall sleep in the canoe?" asked Nigel.

"Ay, why not?" returned the hermit, who could be heard, though not seen,
busying himself with the contents of the fore locker. "You'll find the
canoe a pretty fair bed. You have only to slip down and pull your head
and shoulders through the manhole and go to sleep. You won't want
blankets in this weather, and, see--there is a pillow for you and
another for Moses."

"I cannot _see_, but I can feel," said Nigel, with a soft laugh, as he
passed the pillow aft.

"T'ank ee, Nadgel," said Moses; "here--feel behind you an' you'll find
grub for yourself an' some to pass forid to massa. Mind when you slip
down for go to sleep dat you don't dig your heels into massa's skull.
Dere's no bulkhead to purtect it."

"I'll be careful," said Nigel, beginning his invisible supper with keen
appetite. "But how about _my_ skull, Moses? Is there a bulkhead between
it and _your_ heels?"

"No, but you don't need to mind, for I allers sleeps doubled up, wid my
knees agin my chin. It makes de arms an' legs feel more sociable like."

With this remark Moses ceased to encourage conversation--his mouth being
otherwise engaged.

Thereafter they slipped down into their respective places, laid their
heads on their pillows and fell instantly into sound repose, while the
dark waters flowed sluggishly past, and the only sound that disturbed
the universal stillness was the occasional cry of some creature of the
night or the flap of an alligator's tail.




CHAPTER XIV.

A NEW FRIEND FOUND--NEW DANGERS ENCOUNTERED AND HEW HOPES DELAYED.


When grey dawn began to dispel the gloom of night, Nigel Roy awoke with
an uncomfortable sensation of having been buried alive. Stretching
himself as was his wont he inadvertently touched the head of Van der
Kemp, an exclamation from whom aroused Moses, who, uncoiling himself,
awoke Spinkie. It was usually the privilege of that affectionate
creature to nestle in the negro's bosom.

With the alacrity peculiar to his race, Spinkie sprang through the
manhole and sat down in his particular place to superintend, perhaps to
admire, the work of his human friends, whose dishevelled heads emerged
simultaneously from their respective burrows.

Dawn is a period of the day when the spirit of man is calmly reflective.
Speech seemed distasteful that morning, and as each knew what had to be
done, it was needless. The silently conducted operations of the men
appeared to arouse fellow-feeling in the monkey, for its careworn
countenance became more and more expressive as it gazed earnestly and
alternately into the faces of its comrades. To all appearance it seemed
about to speak--but it didn't.

Pushing out from the shore they paddled swiftly up stream, and soon put
such a distance between them and their late pursuers that all risk of
being overtaken was at an end.

All day they advanced inland without rest, save at the breakfast hour,
and again at mid-day to dine. Towards evening they observed that the
country through which they were passing had changed much in character
and aspect. The low and swampy region had given place to hillocks and
undulating ground, all covered with the beautiful virgin forest with its
palms and creepers and noble fruit-trees and rich vegetation,
conspicuous among which magnificent ferns of many kinds covered the
steep banks of the stream.

On rounding a point of the river the travellers came suddenly upon an
interesting group, in the midst of a most beautiful woodland scene.
Under the trees on a flat spot by the river-bank were seated round a
fire a man and a boy and a monkey. The monkey was a tame orang-utan,
youthful but large. The boy was a Dyak in light cotton drawers, with the
upper part of his body naked, brass rings on his arms, heavy ornaments
in his ears, and a bright kerchief worn as a turban on his head. The man
was a sort of nondescript in a semi-European shooting garb, with a
wide-brimmed sombrero on his head, black hair, a deeply tanned face, a
snub nose, huge beard and moustache, and immense blue spectacles.

Something not unlike a cheer burst from the usually undemonstrative Van
der Kemp on coming in sight of the party, and he waved his hand as if in
recognition. The nondescript replied by starting to his feet, throwing
up both arms and giving vent to an absolute roar of joy.

"He seems to know you," remarked Nigel, as they made for a
landing-place.

"Yes. He is the friend I have come to rescue," replied the hermit in a
tone of quiet satisfaction. "He is a naturalist and lives with the Rajah
against whom the pirates are plotting."

"He don't look z'if he needs much rescuin'," remarked Moses with a
chuckle, as they drew to land.

The man looked in truth as if he were well able to take care of himself
in most circumstances, being of colossal bulk although somewhat short of
limb.

"Ah! mein frond! mine brodder!" he exclaimed, in fairly idiomatic
English, but with a broken pronunciation that was a mixture of Dutch,
American, and Malay. His language therefore, like himself, was
nondescript. In fact he was an American-born Dutchman, who had been
transported early in life to the Straits Settlements, had received most
of his education in Hongkong, was an old school-fellow of Van der Kemp,
became an enthusiastic naturalist, and, being possessed of independent
means, spent most of his time in wandering about the various islands of
the archipelago, making extensive collections of animal and vegetable
specimens, which he distributed with liberal hand to whatever museums at
home or abroad seemed most to need or desire them. Owing to his tastes
and habits he had been dubbed Professor by his friends.

"Ach! Van der Kemp," he exclaimed, while his coal-black eyes glittered
as they shook hands, "_vat_ a booterfly I saw to-day! It beat all
creation! The vay it flew--oh! But, excuse me--v'ere did you come from,
and vy do you come? An' who is your frond?"

He turned to Nigel as he spoke, and doffed his sombrero with a gracious
bow.

"An Englishman--Nigel Roy--who has joined me for a few months," said the
hermit. "Let me introduce you, Nigel, to my good friend, Professor
Verkimier."

Nigel held out his hand and gave the naturalist's a shake so hearty,
that a true friendship was begun on the spot--a friendship which was
rapidly strengthened when the professor discovered that the English
youth had a strong leaning towards his own favourite studies.

"Ve vill hont an' shot togezzer, mine frond," he said, on making this
discovery, "ant I vill show you v'ere de best booterflies are to be
fount--Oh! sooch a von as I saw to---- but, excuse me, Van der Kemp. Vy
you come here joost now?"

"To save _you_" said the hermit, with a scintillation of his
half-pitiful smile.

"To safe _me_!" exclaimed Verkimier, with a look of surprise which was
greatly intensified by the rotundity of the blue spectacles. "Vell, I
don't feel to vant safing joost at present."

"It is not that danger threatens _you_ so much as your friend the
Rajah," returned the hermit. "But if he falls, all under his protection
fall along with him. I happen to have heard of a conspiracy against him,
on so large a scale that certain destruction would follow if he were
taken by surprise, so I have come on in advance of the conspirators to
warn him in time. You know I have received much kindness from the Rajah,
so I could do no less than warn him of impending danger, and then the
fact that you were with him made me doubly anxious to reach you in
time."

While the hermit was saying this, the naturalist removed his blue
glasses, and slowly wiped them with a corner of his coat-tails.
Replacing them, he gazed intently into the grave countenance of his
friend till he had finished speaking.

"Are zee raskils near?" he asked, sternly.

"No. We have come on many days ahead of them. But we found a party at
the river's mouth awaiting their arrival."

"Ant zey cannot arrife, you say, for several veeks?"

"Probably not--even though they had fair and steady winds."

A sigh of satisfaction broke through the naturalist's moustache on
hearing this.

"Zen I vill--_ve_ vill, you and I, Mister Roy,--go after ze booterflies
to-morrow!"

"But we must push on," remonstrated Van der Kemp, "for preparations to
resist an attack cannot be commenced too soon."

"_You_ may push on, mine frond; go ahead if you vill, but I vill not
leave zee booterflies. You know veil zat I vill die--if need be--for zee
Rajah. Ve must all die vonce, at least, and I should like to die--if I
must die--in a goot cause. What cause better zan frondship? But you say
joost now zere is no dancher. Vell, I vill go ant see zee booterflies
to-morrow. After zat, I will go ant die--if it must be--vith zee Rajah."

"I heartily applaud your sentiment," said Nigel, with a laugh, as he
helped himself to some of the food which the Dyak youth and Moses had
prepared, "and if Van der Kemp will give me leave of absence I will
gladly keep you company."

"Zank you. Pass round zee victuals. My appetite is strong. It alvays vas
more or less strong. Vat say you, Van der Kemp?"

"I have no objection. Moses and I can easily take the canoe up the
river. There are no rapids, and it is not far to the Rajah's village; so
you are welcome to go, Nigel."

"Das de most 'straord'nary craze I eber know'd men inflicted wid!" said
Moses that night, as he sat smoking his pipe beside the Dyak boy. "It
passes my compr'ension what fun dey find runnin' like child'n arter
butterflies, an' beetles, an' sitch like varmint. My massa am de wisest
man on eart', yet _he_ go a little wild dat way too--sometimes!"

Moses looked at the Dyak boy with a puzzled expression, but as the Dyak
boy did not understand English, he looked intently at the fire, and said
nothing.

Next morning Nigel entered the forest under the guidance of Verkimier
and the Dyak youth, and the orang-utan, which followed like a dog, and
sometimes even took hold of its master's arm and walked with him as if
it had been a very small human being. It was a new experience to Nigel
to walk in the sombre shade beneath the tangled arches of the
wilderness. In some respects it differed entirely from his expectations,
and in others it surpassed them. The gloom was deeper than he had
pictured it, but the shade was not displeasing in a land so close to the
equator. Then the trees were much taller than he had been led to
suppose, and the creeping plants more numerous, while, to his surprise,
the wild-flowers were comparatively few and small. But the scarcity of
these was somewhat compensated by the rich and brilliant colouring of
the foliage.

The abundance and variety of the ferns also struck the youth
particularly.

"Ah! zey are magnificent!" exclaimed Verkimier with enthusiasm. "Look at
zat tree-fern. You have not'ing like zat in England--eh! I have found
nearly von hoondred specimens of ferns. Zen, look at zee fruit-trees. Ve
have here, you see, zee Lansat, Mangosteen, Rambutan, Jack, Jambon,
Blimbing ant many ozers--but zee queen of fruits is zee Durian. Have you
tasted zee Durian?"

"No, not yet."

"Ha! a new sensation is before you! Stay, you vill eat von by ant by.
Look, zat is a Durian tree before you."

He pointed as he spoke to a large and lofty tree, which Mr. A.R.
Wallace, the celebrated naturalist and traveller, describes as
resembling an elm in general character but with a more smooth and scaly
bark. The fruit is round, or slightly oval, about the size of a man's
head, of a green colour, and covered all over with short spines which
are very strong and so sharp that it is difficult to lift the fruit from
the ground. Only the experienced and expert can cut the tough outer
rind. There are five faint lines extending from the base to the apex of
the fruit, through which it may be divided with a heavy knife and a
strong hand, so as to get to the delicious creamy pulp inside.

There is something paradoxical in the descriptions of this fruit by
various writers, but all agree that it is inexpressibly good! Says
one--writing of the sixteenth century--"It is of such an excellent taste
that it surpasses in flavour all the other fruits of the world." Another
writes: "This fruit is of a hot and humid nature. To those not used to
it, it seems at first to smell like rotten onions! but immediately they
have tasted it they prefer it to all other food." Wallace himself says
of it: "When brought into the house, the smell is so offensive that some
persons can never bear to taste it. This was my own case in Malacca, but
in Borneo I found a ripe fruit on the ground, and, eating it out of
doors, I at once became a confirmed Durian-eater!"

This was exactly the experience of Nigel Roy that day, and the way in
which the fruit came to him was also an experience, but of a very
different sort. It happened just as they were looking about for a
suitable spot on which to rest and eat their mid-day meal. Verkimier was
in front with the orang-utan reaching up to his arm and hobbling
affectionately by his side--for there was a strong mutual affection
between them. The Dyak youth brought up the rear, with a sort of
game-bag on his shoulders.

Suddenly Nigel felt something graze his arm, and heard a heavy thud at
his side. It was a ripe Durian which had fallen from an immense height
and missed him by a hairbreadth.

"Zank Got, you have escaped!" exclaimed the professor, looking back with
a solemn countenance.

"I have indeed escaped what might have been a severe blow," said Nigel,
stooping to examine the fruit, apparently forgetful that more might
follow.

"Come--come avay. My boy vill bring it. Men are sometimes killed by zis
fruit. Here now ve vill dine."

They sat down on a bank which was canopied by ferns. While the boy was
arranging their meal, Verkimier drew a heavy hunting-knife from his belt
and applying it with an unusually strong hand to the Durian laid it
open. Nigel did not at all relish the smell, but he was not fastidious
or apt to be prejudiced. He tasted--and, like Mr. Wallace, "became a
confirmed Durian eater" from that day.

"Ve draw near to zee region vere ve shall find zee booterflies," said
the naturalist, during a pause in their luncheon.

"I hope we shall be successful," said Nigel, helping himself to some
more of what may be styled Durian cream. "To judge from the weight and
hardness of this fruit, I should think a blow on one's head from it
would be fatal."

"Sometimes, not alvays. I suppose zat Dyak skulls are strong. But zee
wound is terrible, for zee spikes tear zee flesh dreadfully. Zee Dyak
chief, Rajah, vith whom I dwell joost now, was floored once by one, and
he expected to die--but he did not. He is alife ant vell, as you shall
see."

As he spoke a large butterfly fluttered across the scene of their
festivities. With all the energy of his enthusiastic spirit and strong
muscular frame the naturalist leaped up, overturned his dinner, rushed
after the coveted _specimen_, tripped over a root, and measured his
length on the ground.

"Zat comes of too much horry!" he remarked, as he picked up his glasses,
and returned, humbly, to continue his dinner. "Mine frond, learn a
lesson from a foolish man!"

"I shall learn two lessons," said Nigel, laughing--"first, to avoid
your too eager haste, and, second, to copy if I can your admirable
enthusiasm."

"You are very goot. Some more cheekin' if you please. Zanks. Ve most
make haste viz our meal ant go to vork."

The grandeur and novelty of the scenery through which they passed when
they did go to work was a source of constant delight and surprise to our
hero, whose inherent tendency to take note of and admire the wonderful
works of God was increased by the unflagging enthusiasm and interesting
running commentary of his companion, whose flow of language and eager
sympathy formed a striking contrast to the profound silence and gravity
of the Dyak youth, as well as to the pathetic and affectionate
selfishness of the man-monkey.

It must not, however, be supposed that the young orang-utan was unworthy
of his victuals, for, besides being an amusing and harmless companion,
he had been trained to use his natural capacity for climbing trees in
the service of his master. Thus he ascended the tall Durian trees, when
ordered, and sent down some of the fruit in a few minutes--an operation
which his human companions could not have accomplished without tedious
delay and the construction of an ingenious ladder having slender bamboos
for one of its sides, and the tree to be ascended for its other side,
with splinters of bamboo driven into it by way of rounds.

"Zat is zee pitcher-plant," said Verkimier, as Nigel stopped suddenly
before a plant which he had often read of but never seen. He was told by
his friend that pitcher-plants were very numerous in that region; that
every mountain-top abounded with them; that they would be found trailing
along the ground and climbing over shrubs and stunted trees, with their
elegant pitchers hanging in every direction. Some of these, he said,
were long and slender, others broad and short. The plant at which they
were looking was a broad green one, variously tinted and mottled with
red, and was large enough to hold two quarts of water.

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