Charley Laurel: A Story of Adventure by Sea and Land Read online

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

  DICK AND CHARLEY REUNITED.

  The natives in the villages were so busy celebrating their victory, ormourning for their slain warriors, that Dick and I escaped observationand reached the spot where I had left my stilts.

  "Now, Dick," said I, mounting on them, "come along; you shall hide nearthe village, and I will go boldly into it, as if I had been taking onlya longer walk than usual. Then, as Motakee will be glad to see me back,I will tell him that the other old chief, Toobo Cava, is dead, and youought to be set at liberty, and ask him to protect you. If he says hecannot, you must make your escape, and I'll follow; but if he says yes,we will live together happily till we can get away from this savagecountry."

  Dick agreed to my plan. As we got near the village, I left him, hidaway in the wood, and stalked forward on my stilts.

  I saw Motakee haranguing the people, and recounting his exploits, so Iat once advanced and saluted him, as if I had no reason to be ashamed ofanything I had done. He did not look angry, but told me he was happy tosee me. The boys shouted, and asked where I had been.

  "I told you I should beat you," I answered; "and I took a somewhatlonger run than any of you, I've a notion. When shall you be ready foranother race?"

  "We will beat you next time, though," they cried out, not putting anyfurther inconvenient questions to me.

  My appearance had somewhat disturbed the usual formality of the meeting,and the chief, having commanded silence, went on with his speech.

  As soon as it was over, I descended from my stilts, and begged him togrant the petition I had to make. I praised Dick as he had deserved,and told the chief all he had done for me; and, to my great joy, hereplied that he would protect him, as, his owner being dead, no one elsecould claim his services.

  On this I hurried off and brought in Dick, who was well received by thepeople. I afterwards told the chief the trick I had played, at which hewas very much amused.

  Dick at once set to work to make himself useful, and soon gainedMotakee's confidence, so that he allowed us both to roam about as wechose.

  The victory gained by our friends over the Typees, the tribe they hadattacked, had put them in excellent humour. They had burned down theirvillages, destroyed their fruit trees, and carried off their canoes.The slaughter had been, we were sorry to hear, considerable on bothsides; for the Typees possessed several strong forts, formed of largestones and huge pieces of timber. These had been taken by assault, whenall within had been put to the sword. Dick said he was surprised thatsavages could construct such strong works, for it would have proved atough job, even to English sailors, to take some of those he had seen.

  Months and months passed by, and yet no vessel had come near the island,in which we might make our escape. The people had got, we suspected, abad name; for the _Dolphin_ was not the only vessel, we found, they hadcut off, while they had attempted unsuccessfully to capture severalothers. Our only hope was that a man-of-war would come in, which mightcarry us off by force, should the natives refuse to give us up.

  The chief, who had adopted me as his son, seemed determined not to letme go, and I found that I was narrowly watched wherever I wandered.

  Dick managed, at length, to communicate with some of the other men;though one or two were content to remain among the natives, havingmarried and adopted their customs: the rest expressed an earnest wish toescape.

  A tremendous storm having occurred, when it seemed as if the wholeisland would be carried away by the fury of the waves, the wreck of the_Dolphin_ was cast up on the beach.

  Dick told me that Mat Davis had long been thinking of building a vessel,and that the carpenter's tools having been among the first thingslanded, he hoped, if he could get hold of them, to be able to build acraft which would convey us to the coast of South America. He hadpersuaded the chiefs, that if they could have such a vessel as hedescribed, they might not only overpower all the neighbouring tribes,but sail in quest of foreign lands, which they might conquer. Thechiefs listened eagerly to this proposal, and promised to assist him incarrying out his undertaking.

  Mat Davis, who was a clever fellow, was the chief architect. Assistedby the armourer, a forge was put up for the ironwork, and he set thenatives to cut down trees and hew out timbers and planks. Others wereemployed in rope-making and in manufacturing fine matting for the sails,as all the _Dolphin's_ canvas had been burnt. Dick and I were allowedto lend a hand, but as, with the exception of Davis and Clode, all wereunskilled, the work proceeded but slowly. The hopes of escapingencouraged the Englishmen, and the thoughts of the victories they wereto win induced the natives to labour on.

  Dick had followed his own plan of notching the days on sticks, severalof which he had tied up in a bundle. By his calculation we had been twoyears among the savages, and I could now speak their language perfectlywell. Our clothes were worn out, and I had to dress like the natives.The chief told me, when I grew older, that I must be tattooed, anoperation for which I had no fancy, and I hoped to make my escape beforehe should insist on my undergoing it.

  The vessel was at last built, and ready to be launched. She was aschooner of about forty tons, and capable of carrying sixty or eightymen. The natives declared that none of their island canoes would beable to contend with her. It took some time to rig her, and to obtainsuitable provisions and casks for holding water.

  I don't know whether Motakee suspected the design of the Englishmen; butwhen I spoke of taking a cruise in her, he replied that he would notexpose me to the dangers she might encounter, and I found that I wasmore narrowly watched than ever.

  Dick came back one day, looking very much out of spirits.

  "The other men have formed a plan for escaping, but I cannot agree toit," he said. "They intend to let as many natives as choose to come onboard, and, as soon as they are out of sight of land, to rise upon themand heave them overboard, so that their provisions and water should notbe exhausted, should they have to make a long voyage. And another thingis, Charley, I won't go without you."

  Motakee had not entered into the views of his countrymen with regard tothe vessel the Englishmen were building: he either suspected theirdesign or believed that she would not prove as successful in attackingtheir foes as the rest supposed. When I asked his leave to go on board,he took me by the arm and whispered--

  "I know your tricks; you should not have told me how you managed to getaway and join your friend. No, no; I shall shut you up till the vesselhas sailed."

  He was as good as his word, and from that day I was not allowed to leavethe hut without the company of one of his most trusted followers. Heallowed Dick, however, to go about as he chose, apparently caring butlittle whether or not he made his escape.

  Dick had been absent for three days. I could not believe that he hadgone without me, and yet I felt very anxious about him. On the fourthday he returned.

  "They have gone, Charley," he exclaimed; "all our people and thirtynatives. I stopped to the last, trying to persuade them to give uptheir wicked plan; but they answered that the natives had murdered ourfriends and burned our ship, and that they had a right to treat them asthey chose. I said that I was sure we ought not to return evil forevil, and that they might have found some other way of making theirescape, and that no good could possibly come of what they were about.They abused me, and asked me if I was going to betray them, and that ifI would not come with them, I must take the consequences, as the nativeswere sure to murder us, as soon as they discovered what had become oftheir countrymen. Even now I think I was wrong in not warning Motakee,for I consented to evil, though I would not join in it."

  When Motakee found that the schooner had sailed, he allowed me to goabout as usual, and treated Dick with far more respect than before.Dick, indeed, soon became his right-hand man, or councillor, and thepeople looked up to him as the person next to the chief, in consequence.

  Some days after this it came on to blow very hard, and the sea beat withtremendous fury on the rocky c
oast. Dick and I wished to have a sightof the huge breakers outside the harbour. We went along the shore forsome distance, to a part exposed to the whole sweep of the ocean. As wewere looking along it, Dick exclaimed that he saw a vessel on the rocks.We made our way as near as we could get to the spot.

  "Charley, I am afraid that is the schooner," Dick exclaimed; "but thereis not a living being on board."

  We crept on still closer to the little vessel. We shouted loudly, lestany one might have been washed on shore, but no reply came to our cries.

  "I am afraid every one has been washed away," he observed. "If thenatives had been on board, they are such first-rate swimmers that someof them would have managed to reach the land."

  We looked about in every direction, but could discover no boats on thebeach nor any sign of a living man.

  "It's too likely that our people did as they intended, and having gotrid of the natives, were themselves caught in the hurricane and drivenback here; but we shall never know, I suspect, what has happened."

  After spending a considerable time in searching about, being unable toget nearer the wreck, we returned home. We told Motakee what we hadseen; but, of course, did not mention our suspicions.

  "I knew that the voyage would work us no good, to your people or mine,"he observed; "and I am very glad you did not sail in the vessel."

  We were, indeed, thankful that we had not.

  Next day, when the hurricane was over, we went back with some of thenatives to examine the wreck; but, on getting on board, we could findnothing to explain the mystery. Dick's opinion was that the crew hadbeen on deck, and were washed overboard before the vessel struck, sometime after they had disposed of the unfortunate natives in the way theyhad proposed.

  I have not spoken of the various events which had taken place since wecame to the island. Several times Motakee had gone out to fight hisenemies, and had invariably returned victorious.

  At length another expedition was talked of against a powerful tribe atsome distance. He told Dick he must prepare to accompany him. I beggedthat I might go, too.

  "No, Charley; you must stay at home," answered Dick. "I have no wish togo and fight other savages in a quarrel in which I have no concern, andI would not go if I could stay away without offending the chief. Idon't want to kill any of the fellows, and I don't wish to be killedeither."

  The warriors were preparing to take their departure, when, early in themorning, as I was looking out over the sea, I caught sight of a shipapproaching the island. I watched her eagerly, and when, at length, Ifelt sure she was standing towards the harbour, I ran back to tell Dick.The natives had been so busy in preparing their weapons, that they hadnot observed her. Fortunately, no one saw me.

  "Now is our chance, then," exclaimed Dick. "Come along, Charley: wewill jump into a canoe, and maybe we shall get away from the shorebefore the savages miss us."

  Without a moment's delay we hurried down to the beach, taking somepaddles out of a canoe-hut on our way. We launched a canoe, which wefound hauled up on the shore, and paddled with might and main out tosea. The water was smooth, and, though the wind was against us, we madegood progress. The ship came on. We were alongside. Ropes werehove-to us, and, making the canoe fast, we scrambled up on deck.