The Castaways

By Captain Mayne Reid________________________________________________________________________This is certainly not a very long book, being about a half to a third ofmost books of this genre. It starts off with a group of people in aship's boat, the ship itself having foundered in a typhoon in theCelebes sea. The ship's captain and his two children, the Irish ship'scarpenter, and the Malay pilot, are all that finally come to shore, though when the book starts there are a body that has to be thrownoverboard, and a seaman who has gone mad and who throws himself there. 

Thereafter we are introduced to one natural history topic per chapter, be it a plant, a tree or an animal. There are various perils that haveto be overcome--the upas tree, an ourang-outang, a tree that drops itsfruit like a heavy bomb, a python, and quite a few more. Luckily theydon't meet any unfriendly Dyaks during the journey they undertake to getfrom their landing-place to the town of Bruni, many hundreds of milesaway. 

On the whole they are saved by the courage, knowledge and skill of theco-hero, the Malay pilot, who is one of the best in that region with ablow-pipe. He makes himself one, and it is just as well he did, as youwill see. 

The book is well-written, and as it will only take you five hours orless, you could probably find the time to read it. NH________________________________________________________________________

THE CASTAWAYS

BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID

CHAPTER ONE. 

A CASTAWAY CREW. 

A boat upon the open sea--no land in sight!

It is an open boat, the size and form showing it to be the pinnace of amerchant-ship. 

It is a tropical sea, with a fiery sun overhead, slowly coursing througha sky of brilliant azure. 

The boat has neither sail nor mast. There are oars, but no one is usingthem. They lie athwart the tholes, their blades dipping in the water, with no hand upon the grasp. 

And yet the boat is not empty. Seven human forms are seen within it, --six of them living, and one dead. 

Of the living, four are full-grown men; three of them white, the fourthof an umber-brown, or _bistre_ colour. One of the white men is tall, dark and bearded, with features bespeaking him either a European or anAmerican, though their somewhat elongated shape and classic regularitywould lead to a belief that he is the latter, and in all probability anative of New York. And so he is. 

The features of the white man sitting nearest to him are in strangecontrast to his, as is also the colour of his hair and skin. The hairis of a carroty shade, while his complexion, originally reddish, throughlong exposure to a tropical sun exhibits a yellowish, freckledappearance. The countenance so marked is unmistakably of Milesian type. So it should be, as its owner is an Irishman. 

The third white man, of thin, lank frame, with face almost beardless, pale cadaverous cheeks, and eyes sunken in their sockets, and thererolling wildly, is one of those nondescripts who may be English, Irish, Scotch, or American. His dress betokens him to be a seaman, a commonsailor. 

He of the brown complexion, with flat spreading nose, high cheek-bones, oblique eyes, and straight, raven black hair, is evidently a native ofthe East, a Malay. 

The two other living figures in the boat are those of a boy and girl. They are white. They differ but little in size, and but a year or twoin age, the girl being fourteen and the boy about sixteen. There isalso a resemblance in their features. They are brother and sister. 

The fourth white, who lies dead in the bottom of the boat, is alsodressed in seaman's clothes, and has evidently in his lifetime been acommon sailor. 

It is but a short time since the breath departed from his body; andjudging by the appearance of the others, it may not be long before theywill all follow him into another world. How weak and emaciated theyappear, as if in the last stage of starvation! The boy and girl liealong the stern-sheets, with wasted arms, embracing each other. Thetall man sits on one of the benches, gazing mechanically upon the corpseat his feet; while the other three also have their eyes upon it, thoughwith very different expressions. That upon the face of the Irishman isof sadness, as if for the loss of an old shipmate; the Malay looks onwith the impassive tranquillity peculiar to his race; while in thesunken orbs of the nondescript can be detected a look that speaks of ahorrible craving--the craving of cannibalism. 

The scene described, and the circumstances which have led to it, callfor explanation. It is easily given. The tall dark-bearded man isCaptain Robert Redwood, the skipper of an American merchant-vessel, forsome time trading among the islands of the Indian Archipelago. TheIrishman is his ship-carpenter, the Malay his pilot, while the othersare two common sailors of his crew. The boy and girl are his children, who, having no mother or near relatives at home, have been brought alongwith him on his trading voyage to the Eastern Isles. The vessel passingfrom Manilla, in the Philippines, to the Dutch settlement of Macassar, in the island of Celebes, has been caught in a _typhoon_ and swampednear the middle of the Celebes Sea; her crew have escaped in a boat--thepinnace--but saved from death by drowning only to find, most of them, the same watery grave after long-procrastinated suffering from thirst, from hunger, from all the agonies of starvation. 

One after another have they succumbed, and been thrown overboard, untilthe survivors are only six in number. And these are but skeletons, eachlooking as if another day, or even another hour, might terminate hiswretched existence. 

It may seem strange that the youthful pair in the stern-sheets, stillbut tender children, and the girl more especially, should have withstoodthe terrible suffering beyond a period possible to many strong men, tough sailors every one of them. But it is not so strange after all, orrather after knowing that, in the struggle with starvation, youth alwaysproves itself superior to age, and tender childhood will live on wheremanhood gives way to the weakness of inanition. 

That Captain Redwood is himself one of the strongest of the survivorsmay be due partly to the fact of his having a higher organism than thatof his ship-comrades. But, no doubt, he is also sustained by thepresence of the two children, his affection for them and fear for theirfate warding off despair, and so strengthening within him the principleof vitality. 

If affection has aught to do with preserving life, it is strong enoughin the Irishman to account also for the preservation of his; foralthough but the carpenter in Captain Redwood's ship, he regards thecaptain with a feeling almost fraternal. He had been one of his oldestand steadiest hands, and long service has led to a fast friendshipbetween him and his old skipper. 

On the part of the Irishman, this feeling is extended to the youthfulcouple who recline, with clasped hands, along the sternmost seat of thepinnace. 

As for the Malay, thirst and hunger have also made their marks upon him;but not as with those of Occidental race. It may be that his bronzeskin does not show so plainly the pallor of suffering; but, at allevents, he still looks lithe and life-like, supple and sinewy, as if hecould yet take a spell at the oar, and keep alive as long as skin andbone held together. If all are destined to die in that open boat, hewill certainly be the last. He with the hollow eyes looks as if hewould be the first. 

Down upon this wretched group, a picture of misery itself, shines thehot sun of the tropics; around it, far as eye could reach, extends thecalm sea, glassed, and glancing back his lays, as though they werereflected from a sheet of liquid fire; beneath them gleams a secondfirmament through the pellucid water, a sky peopled with strange formsthat are not birds: more like are they to dragons; for among them can beseen the horrid form of the devil-fish, and the still more hideousfigure of the hammer-headed shark. And alone is that boat above them, seemingly suspended in the air, and only separated from these dreadfulmonsters by a few feet of clear water, through which they can dart withthe speed of electricity. Alone, with no land in sight, no ship orsail, no other boat--nothing that can give them a hope. 

All bright above, around, and beneath; but within their hearts onlydarkness and the dread of death!

CHAPTER TWO. 

THE HAMMER-HEAD. 

For some time the castaways had been seated in moody silence, now andthen glancing at the corpse in the bottom of the boat, some of them nodoubt thinking how long it might be before they themselves would occupythe same situation. 

But now and then, also, their looks were turned upon one another, nothopefully, but with a mechanical effort of despair. 

In one of these occasional glances, Captain Redwood noticed theunnatural glare in the eyes of the surviving sailor, as also did theIrishman. Simultaneously were both struck with it, and a significantlook was exchanged between them. 

For a period of over twenty hours this man had been behaving oddly; andthey had conceived something more than a suspicion of his insanity. Thedeath of the sailor lying at the bottom of the boat, now the ninth, hadrendered him for a time more tranquil, and he sat quiet on his seat, with elbows resting on his knees, his cheeks held between the palms ofhis hands. But the wild stare in his eyes seemed to have become onlymore intensified as he kept them fixed upon the corpse of his comrade. It was a look worse than wild; it had in it the expression of _craving_. 

On perceiving it, and after a moment spent in reflection, the captainmade a sign to the ship-carpenter, at the same time saying, --

"Murtagh, it's no use our keeping the body any longer in the boat. Letus give it such burial as the sea vouchsafes to a sailor, --and a trueone he was. "

He spoke these words quietly, and in a low tone, as if not intendingthem to be heard by the suspected maniac. 

"A thrue sailor!" rejoined the Irishman. "Truth ye're roight there, captin. Och, now! to think he's the ninth of them we've throwedoverboard, all the crew of the owld ship, exceptin' our three selves, widout countin' the Malay an' the childer. If it wasn't that yerhonour's still left, I'd say the best goes first; for the nigger therelooks as if he'd last out the whole lot of--"

The captain, to whom this imprudent speech was torture, with a gesturebrought it to an abrupt termination. He was in fear of its effect noton the Malay, but on the insane sailor. The latter, however, showed nosign of having heard or understood it; and in a whisper Murtagh receivedinstructions how to act. 

"You lay hold of him by the shoulders, " were the words spoken, "while Itake the feet. Let us slip him quietly over without making any stir. Saloo, remain you where you are; we won't need your help. "

This last speech was addressed to the Malay, and in his own language, which would not be understood by any other than himself. The reason forlaying the injunction upon him was, that he sat in the boat beyond theman deemed mad, and his coming across to the others might excite thelatter, and bring about some vaguely dreaded crisis. 

The silent Malay simply nodded an assent, showing no sign that hecomprehended why his assistance was not desired. For all that, heunderstood it, he too having observed the mental condition of thesailor. Rising silently from their seats, and advancing toward the deadbody, the captain and carpenter, as agreed upon, laid hold of and raisedit up in their arms. Even weak as both were, it was not much of a liftto them. It was not a corpse, only a skeleton, with the skin stilladhering, and drawn tightly over the bones. 

Resting it upon the gunwale of the boat, they made a moment's pause, their eyes turned heavenward, as if mentally repeating a prayer. 

The Irishman, a devout believer in the efficacy of outward observances, with one hand detached from the corpse, made the sign of the cross. 

Then was the body again raised between them, held at arm's lengthoutward, and tenderly lowered down upon the water. 

There was no plunge, only a tiny plashing, as if a chair, or some otherpiece of light wood-work, had been dropped gently upon the surface ofthe sea. But slight as was the sound, it produced an effect, startlingas instantaneous. The sailor, whose dead comrade was thus beingconsigned to the deep, as it were, surreptitiously, all at once sprangto his feet, sending forth a shriek that rang far over the tranquilwater. With one bound, causing the pinnace to heel fearfully over, heplaced himself by the side over which the corpse had been lowered, andstood with arms upraised, as if intending to plunge after it. 

The sight underneath should have awed him. The dead body was slowly, gradually sinking, its garb of dark blue Guernsey shirt becoming lighterblue as it went deeper down in the cerulean water; while fast advancingto meet it, as if coming up from the darkest depths of the ocean, was acreature of monstrous shape, the very type of a monster. It was thehideous hammer-headed shark, the dreaded _zygaena_ of the Celebes Sea. 

With a pair of enormous eyes glaring sullenly out from two immensecheek-like protuberances, giving to its head that singular sledge-hammerappearance whence it has its name, it advanced directly toward theslow-descending corpse, itself, however, moving so rapidly that thespectators above had scarce taken in the outlines of its horrid form, when this was no longer visible. It was hidden in what appeared ashower of bluish pearls suddenly projected underneath the water, andenveloping both the dead body of the sailor and the living form of theshark. Through the dimness could be distinguished gleams of a palephosphoric sheen like lightning flashes through a sky cloud; and soonafter froth and bubbles rose effervescing upon the surface of the sea. 

It was a terrible spectacle, though only of an instants duration. Whenthe subaqueous cloud cleared away, and they again looked with peeringeyes down into the pellucid depths, there was nothing there, neitherdead body of man, nor living form of monster. The _zygaena_ had securedits prey, and carried the skeleton corpse to some dark cavern of thedeep! [Note 1. ]

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Note 1. The hammer-headed shark, in common language, is rightlydesignated one of the most hideous of marine animals. We mean hideousin outward appearance, for, of course, there is much both wonderful andbeautiful in its internal organisation, and in the exquisite fitness ofits structure for its peculiar part in the economy of nature. In thegeneral outline of its body, which is something like that of a cylinder, it resembles the ordinary sharks; and its distinctive feature is itshead, which, on either side, expands like a double-headed hammer. Theeyes are very large, and placed at each extremity. It is found in theMediterranean Sea, as well as in the Indian Ocean, and is noted for itsfierceness and voracity. 

CHAPTER THREE. 

THE ALBATROSS. 

Captain Redwood and the Irishman were horrified at the sight that hadpassed under their eyes. So, too, were the children, who had bothstarted up from their reclining attitude, and looked over the side ofthe boat. Even the impassive Malay, all his life used to stirringscenes, in which blood was often shed, could not look down into thosedepths, disturbed by such a tragical occurrence, without having arousedwithin him a sensation of horror. 

All of them recoiled back into the boat, staggering down upon theirseats. One alone remained standing, and with an expression upon hisface as if he was desirous of again beholding the sight. It was not alook that betrayed pleasure, but one grim and ghastly, yet strong andsteady, as if it penetrated the profoundest depths of the ocean. It wasthe look of the insane sailor. 

If his companions had still held any lingering doubts about hisinsanity, it was sufficient to dispel them. It was the true stare ofthe maniac. 

It was not long continued. Scarce had they resumed their seats when theman, once more elevating his arms in the air, uttered another startlingshriek, if possible louder and wilder than before. He had stepped uponone of the boat seats, and stood with body bent, half leaning over thegunwale, in the attitude of a diver about to make his headlong plunge. 

There could be no mistaking his intention to leap overboard, for hiscomrades could see that his muscles were strained to the effort. 

All three--the captain, Murtagh, and the Malay--suddenly rose again, andleant forward to lay hold on him. They were too late. Before a fingercould touch him he had made the fatal spring; and the next moment he wasbeneath the surface of the sea!

None of them felt strong enough to leap after and try to save him. Inall probability, the effort would have been idle, and worse; for the madfancy that seemed urging him to self-destruction might still influencehis mind, and carry another victim into the same vortex with himself. Restrained by this thought, they stood up in the boat, and watched forhis coming up again. 

He did so at length, but a good distance off. A breeze had beengradually springing up, and during his dive the pinnace had made someway, by drifting before it. When his head was again seen above thecurling water, he was nearly a hundred yards to windward of the boat. He was not so far off as to prevent them from reading the expressionupon his face, now turned toward them. It had become changed, as if bymagic. The wild look of insanity was gone, and in its place was onealmost equally wild, though plainly was it an expression of fear, orindeed terror. The immersion into the cold, deep sea, had told upon hisfevered brain, producing a quick reaction of reason; and his cries forhelp, now in piteous tones sent back to the boat, showed that heunderstood the peril in which he had placed himself. 

They were not unheeded. Murtagh and the Malay rushed, or rathertottered, to the oars; while the captain threw himself into the stern, and took hold of the tiller-ropes. 

In an instant the pinnace was headed round, and moving through the waterin the direction of the swimmer; who, on his side, swam toward them, though evidently with feeble stroke. There seemed not much doubt oftheir being able to pick him up. The only danger thought of by any ofthem was the _zygaena_; but they hoped the shark might be still occupiedwith its late prey, and not seeking another victim. There might beanother shark, or many more; but for some time past one only had beenseen in the neighbourhood of the boat; the shark, as they supposed, which had but recently devoured the dead body of the sailor. Trustingto this conjecture, they plied the oars with all the little strengthleft in their arms. Still, notwithstanding their feeble efforts, andthe impediment of pulling against the wind, they were nearing theunfortunate man, surely, if slowly. 

They had got over half the distance; less than half a cable's length wasnow between the boat and the struggling swimmer. Not a shark was to beseen on the water, nor beneath it--no fish of any kind--nothing whateverin the sea. Only, in the sky above, a large bird, whose longscimitar-shaped wings and grand curving beak told them what it was--analbatross. It was the great albatross of the Indian seas, with anextent of wing beyond that of the largest eagle, and almost equallingthe spread of the South American condor. [Note 1. ]

They scarce looked at it, or even glanced above, they were looking belowfor the _zygaena_--scanning the surface of the water around them, orwith their eyes keenly bent, endeavouring to penetrate its indigo depthsin search of the monstrous form. 

No shark in sight. All seemed well; and despite the piteous appeals ofthe swimmer, now toiling with feebler stroke, and scarce having power tosustain himself they in the pinnace felt sure of being able to rescuehim. 

Less than a quarter cable's length lay between. The boat, urged on bythe oars, was still lessening the distance. Five minutes more, and theywould be close to their comrade, and lift him over the gunwale. 

Still no _zygaena_ in sight--no shark of any kind. 

"Poor fellow! he seems quite cured; we shall be able to save him. "

It was Captain Redwood who thus spoke. The Irishman was about making alittle hopeful rejoinder, when his speech was cut short by a cry fromSaloo, who had suspended his stroke, as if paralysed by some suddendespair. 

The Malay, who, as well as Murtagh, had been sitting with his backtoward the swimmer, had slewed himself round with a quick jerk, thattold of some surprise. The movement was caused by a shadow flittingover the boat; something was passing rapidly through the air above. Ithad caught the attention of the others, who, on hearing Saloo's cry, looked up along with him. 

They saw only the albatross moving athwart the sky, no longer slowsailing as before, but with the swift-cutting flight of a falconpouncing down upon its prey. It seemed descending not in a straightline, but in an acute parabolic curve, like a thunderbolt or someaerolite projected toward the surface of the sea. But the bird, with awhirr like the sound of running spindles, was going in a definitedirection, the point evidently aimed at being the head of the swimmer!

A strange commingled shout arose over the ocean, in which several voicesbore part. Surprise pealed forth from the lips of those in the boat, and terror from the throat of the struggling man, while a hoarse croakfrom the gullet of the albatross, followed by what appeared a mockingscream of triumph. Then quick succeeded a crashing sound, as the sharpheavy beak of the bird broke through the skull of the swimmer, strikinghim dead, as if by the shot of a six-pounder, and sending his lifelessbody down toward the bottom of the sea!

It came not up again--at all events, it was never more seen by hiscastaway companions; who, dropping the oars in sorrowful despair, allowed the boat to drift away from the fatal spot--in whateverdirection the soft-sighing breeze might capriciously carry it. 

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Note 1. The albatross Is the largest of the ocean-birds. Its wings, when extended, measuring fifteen feet, and its weight sometimesexceeding twenty to twenty-four pounds. The common albatross is the_Diomedea exulans_ of naturalists. It plumage, except a few of the wingfeathers, is white; its long, hard beak, which Is very powerful, is of apale yellow colour; and its short, webbed feet are flesh coloured. Itis frequently met with in the Southern Ocean. The species mentioned inthe text is the black-beaked albatross, which frequents the Indiawaters. The albatross Is a formidable enemy to the sailor, for if onefalls overboard, he will assuredly fall a victim to this powerful bird, unless rescued immediately by his comrades. Its cry has someresemblance to that of the pelican; but it will also, when excited, giverent to a noise not unlike the braying of an ass. The female makes arude nest of earth on the sea-shore, and deposits therein her solitaryegg, which is about four inches long, white, and spotted at the largerend. 

CHAPTER FOUR. 

THE CRY OF THE DUGONG. 

Until the day on which the ninth sailor had died of starvation, and thetenth had been struck dead by the sea-bird, the castaways had taken anoccasional spell at the oars. They now no longer touched, nor thoughtof them. Weakness prevented them, as well as despondency. For therewas no object in continuing the toil; no land in sight, and no knowledgeof any being near. Should a ship chance to come their way, they were aslikely to be in her track lying at rest, as if engaged in laboriouslyrowing. They permitted the oars, therefore, to remain motionlessbetween the thole pins, themselves sitting listlessly on the seats, mostof them with their heads bent despairingly downward. The Malay alonekept his shining black eyes on the alert, as if despair had not yetprostrated him. 

The long sultry day that saw the last of their two sailor comrades, atlength came to a close, without any change in their melancholysituation. The fierce hot sun went down into the bosom of the sea, andwas followed by the short tropic twilight. As the shades of nightclosed over them, the father, kneeling beside his children, sent up aprayer to Him who still held their lives in His hand; while Murtagh saidthe Amen; and the dark-skinned Malay, who was a Mohammedan, muttered asimilar petition to Allah. It had been their custom every night andmorning, since parting from the foundered ship, and during all theirlong-protracted perils in the pinnace. 

Perhaps that evening's vesper was more fervent than those preceding it;for they felt they could not last much longer, and that all of them wereslowly, surely dying. 

This night, a thing something unusual, the sky became obscured byclouds. It might be a good omen, or a bad one. If a storm, their frailboat would run a terrible risk of being swamped; but if rain shouldaccompany it, there might be a chance of collecting a little water upona tarpaulin that lay at the bottom. 

As it turned out, no rain fell, though there arose what might be calleda storm. The breeze, springing up at an early hour of the day, commenced increasing after sunset. 

It was the first of any consequence they had encountered since taking tothe boat; and it blew right in the direction whither they intendedsteering. 

With the freshening of the wind, as it came cool upon his brow, thecastaway captain seemed to become inspired with a slight hope. It wasthe same with Murtagh and the Malay. 

"If we only had a sail, " muttered the captain, with a sigh. 

"Sail, cappen--lookee talpolin!" said Saloo, speaking in "pigeonEnglish, " and pointing to the tarpaulin in the bottom of the boat. "Whyno him makee sail?"

"Yis, indade; why not?" questioned the Irishman. 

"Comee, Multa! you help me; we step one oal--it makee mass--we lig himup little time. "

"All roight, Sloo, " responded Murtagh, leaning over and seizing one ofthe oars, while the Malay lifted the tarpaulin from where it lay foldedup, and commenced shaking the creases out of it. 

With the dexterity of a practised sailor, Murtagh soon had the oarupright, and its end "stepped, " between two ribs of the boat, and firmlylashed to one of the strong planks that served as seats. Assisted bythe captain himself, the tarpaulin was bent on, and with a "sheet"attached to one corner rigged sail-fashion. In an instant it caught thestiff breeze, and bellied out; when the pinnace feeling the impulse, began to move rapidly through the water, leaving in her wake a stream ofsparkling phosphorescence that looked like liquid fire. 

They had no compass, and therefore could not tell the exact direction inwhich they were being carried. But a yellowish streak on the horizon, showing where the sun had set, was still lingering when the wind beganto freshen, and as it was one of those steady, regular winds, thatendure for hours without change, they could by this means guess at thedirection--which was toward that part of the horizon where the yellowishspot had but lately faded out; in short, toward the west. 

Westward from the place where the cyclone had struck the ship, lay thegreat island of Borneo. They knew it to be the nearest land, and forthis had they been directing the boat's course ever since theirdisaster. The tarpaulin now promised to bring them nearer to it in onenight, than their oars had done with days of hopeless exertion. 

It was a long twelve-hour night; for under the "Line"--and they wereless than three degrees from it--the days and nights are equal. Butthroughout all its hours, the wind continued to blow steadily from thesame quarter; and the spread tarpaulin, thick and strong, caught everypuff of it acting admirably. It was, in fact, as much canvas as thepinnace could well have carried on such a rough sea-breeze, and servedas a storm-try sail to run her before the wind. 

Captain Redwood himself held charge of the tiller; and all were cheeredwith the fine speed they were making--their spirits rising in proportionto the distance passed over. Before daylight came to add to theircheerfulness, they must have made nearly a hundred miles; but ere theday broke, a sound fell upon their ears that caused a commotion amongthem--to all giving joy. It came swelling over the dark surface of thedeep, louder than the rush of the water or the whistling of the wind. It resembled a human voice; and although like one speaking in agony, they heard it with joy. There was hope in the proximity of humanbeings, for though these might be in trouble like themselves, they couldnot be in so bad a state. They might be in danger from the storm; butthey would be strong and healthy--not thirsting skeletons like theoccupants of the pinnace. 

"What do you think it is, captin?" asked the Irishman. "Moight it besome ship in disthriss?"

Before the captain could reply, the sound came a second time over thewaters, with a prolonged wail, like the cry of a suffering sinner on hisdeath-bed. 

"The _dugong_!" exclaimed Saloo, this time recognising the melancholynote, so like to the voice of a human being. 

"It is, " rejoined Captain Redwood. "It's that, and nothing more. "

He said this in a despairing tone, for the dugong, which is the_manatee_, or sea-cow of the Eastern seas, could be of no service tothem; on the contrary, its loud wailings spoke of danger--these beingthe sure precursors of a storm. [Note 1. ]

To him and Murtagh, the presence of this strange cetaceous animal gaveno relief; and, after hearing its call, they sank back to their seats, relapsing into the state of half despondency, half hopefulness, fromwhich it had startled them. 

Not so with Saloo, who better understood its habits. He knew they wereamphibious, and that, where the dugong was found, land could not be along way off. He said this, once more arousing his companions by hiswords to renewed expectancy. 

The morning soon after broke, and they beheld boldly outlined againstthe fast-clearing sky the blue mountains of Borneo. 

"Land!" was the cry that came simultaneously from their lips. 

"Land--thank the Lord!" continued the American skipper, in a tone ofpious gratitude; and as his pinnace, still obedient to the breeze andspread tarpaulin, forged on toward it, he once more knelt down in thebottom of the boat, caused his children to do the same, and offered up aprayer--a fervent thanksgiving to the God alike of land and sea, who wasabout to deliver him and his from the "dangers of the deep. "

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Note 1. We are unwilling to interrupt the course of our narrative bydisquisitions on subjects of natural history, and, therefore, relegateto a note the following particulars about the dugong. This strangemammal belongs to a genus of the family _Manatidae_, or HerbivorousCetacea. The species of which a member was discovered by our castaways, is the _Halicore Indicus_, or dugong of the Indian Archipelago; and, aswe have said, is never found very far from land. Its dentitionresembles, in some respects, that of the elephant; and from thestructure of its digestible organs it can eat only vegetable food; thatis, the _algae_, or weeds, growing on submarine rocks in shallow water. When it comes to the surface to breathe, it utters a peculiar cry, likethe lowing of a cow. Its length, when full-grown, is said to be twentyfeet, but few individuals seem to exceed twelve feet. In its generalappearance it is very much like the _manatee_, or manatus, which hauntsthe mouths of the great South American rivers. 

CHAPTER FIVE. 

RUNNING THE BREAKERS. 

The Almighty Hand that had thus far helped the castaways on theircourse, with a favouring wind bringing them in sight of Borneo's isle, was not going to crush the sweet hopes thus raised by wrecking theirboat upon its shores. 

And yet for a time it seemed as if this were to be their fate. As theydrew near enough to the land to distinguish its configuration, they sawa white line like a snow-wreath running between it and them, for milesto right and left, far as the eye could reach. They knew it to be abarrier of coral breakers, such as usually encircle the islands of theIndian seas--strong ramparts raised by tiny insect creatures, to guardthese fair gardens of God against the assaults of an ocean that, although customarily calm, is at times aroused by the _typhoon_, untilit rages around them with dark scowling waves, like battalions ofdemons. 

On drawing near these reefs, Captain Redwood, with the eye of anexperienced seaman, saw that while the wind kept up there was no chancefor the pinnace to pass them; and to run head on to them would be simplyto dash upon destruction. Sail was at once taken in, by letting go thesheet, and dropping the tarpaulin back into the bottom of the boat. Theoar that had been set up as a mast was left standing, for there werefive others lying idle in the pinnace; and with four of these, Saloo andMurtagh each taking a pair, the boat was manned, the captain himselfkeeping charge of the tiller. His object was not to approach the land, but to prevent being carried among the breakers, which, surging upsnow-white, presented a perilous barrier to their advance. 

To keep the boat from driving on the dangerous reef, was just as much asthe oarsmen could accomplish. Weakened as they were, by long sufferingand starvation, they had a tough struggle to hold the pinnace as it werein _statu quo_--all the tougher from the disproportion between such aheavy craft and the light oar-stroke of which her reduced and exhaustedcrew were capable. 

But as if taking pity upon them, and in sympathy with their efforts, thesun, as he rose above the horizon, seemed to smile upon them and hushthe storm into silence. The wind, that throughout the night had beenwhistling in their ears, all at once fell to a calm, as if commanded bythe majestic orb of day; and along with the wind went down the waves, the latter subsiding more gradually. It was easier now to hold thepinnace in place, as also to row her in a direction parallel to the lineof the breakers; and, after coasting for about a mile, an opening was atlength observed where the dangerous reef might perhaps be penetratedwith safety. 

Setting the boat's head toward it, the oars were once more worked withthe utmost strength that remained in the arms of the rowers, while hercourse was directed with all the skill of which an American skipper iscapable. 

Yet the attempt was one of exceeding peril. Though the wind hadsubsided, the swell was tremendous; billow after billow being carriedagainst the coral reefs with a violence known only to the earthquake andthe angry ocean. Vast volumes of water surged high on either side, projecting still higher their sparkling shafts of spray, like thepillars of a waterspout. 

Between them spread a narrow space of calm sea--yet only comparativelycalm, for even there an ordinary boat, well managed, would be in dangerof getting swamped. What then was the chance for a huge pinnace, poorlymanned, and therefore sure of being badly trimmed? It looked as ifafter all the advantages that had arisen--that had sprung up as thoughprovidentially in their favour--Captain Redwood and the small survivingremnant of his crew were to perish among the breakers of Borneo, and bedevoured by the ravenous sharks which amidst the storm-vexed reefs findtheir congenial home. 

But it was not so to be. The prayer offered up, as those snow-white buttreacherous perils first hove in sight, had been heard on high; and Hewho had guided the castaways to the danger, stayed by their side, andgave strength to their arms to carry them through it. 

With a skill drawn from the combination of clear intelligence and longexperience, Captain Redwood set the head of his pinnace straight for thenarrow and dangerous passage; and with a strength inspired by the peril, Murtagh and the Malay pulled upon their oars, each handling hisrespective pair as if his life depended on the effort. 

With the united will of oarsmen and steerer the effort was successful;and ten seconds later the pinnace was safe inside the breakers, movingalong under the impulse of two pairs of oars, that rose and fell asgently as if they were pulling her over the surface of some placid lake. 

In less than ten minutes her keel touched bottom on the sands of Borneo, and her crew, staggering ashore, dropped upon their knees, and in wordsearnest as those uttered by Columbus at Cat Island, or the Pilgrims onPlymouth Rock, breathed a devout thanksgiving for their deliverance. 

CHAPTER SIX. 

A GIGANTIC OYSTER. 

"Water! water!"

The pain of hunger is among the hardest to endure, though there is stilla harder--that of thirst. In the first hours of either, it is doubtfulwhich of the two kinds of suffering is the more severe; but, prolongedbeyond a certain point, hunger loses its keenness of edge, through thesheer weakness of the sufferer, while the agony of thirst knows no suchrelief. 

Suffering, as our castaways were, from want of food for nearly a week, their thirst was yet more agonising; and after the thanksgiving prayerhad passed from their lips, their first thought was of water--their cry, "Water! water!"

As they arose to their feet they instinctively looked around to see ifany brook or spring were near. 

An ocean was flowing beside them; but this was not the kind of waterwanted. They had already had enough of the briny element, and did noteven turn their eyes upon it. It was landward they looked; scanning theedge of the forest, that came down within a hundred yards of the shore--the strip of sand on which they had beached their boat trending alongbetween the woods and the tide-water as far as the eye could trace it. A short distance off, however, a break was discernible in the line ofthe sand-strip--which they supposed must be either a little inlet of thesea itself, or the outflow of a stream. If the latter, then were theyfortunate indeed. 

Saloo, the most active of the party, hastened toward it; the othersfollowing him only with their eyes. 

They watched him with eager gaze, trembling between hope and fear--Captain Redwood more apprehensive than the rest. He knew that in thispart of the Bornean coast months often pass without a single shower ofrain; and if no stream or spring should be found they would still be indanger of perishing by thirst. 

They saw Saloo bend by the edge of the inlet, scoop up some water in hispalms, and apply it to his lips, as if tasting it. Only for an instant, when back to them came the joyful cry, --

"_Ayer! ayer manis! sungi_!" (Water! sweet water! A river!)

Scarce more pleasantly, that morning at day-break, had fallen on theirears the cry of "Land!" than now fell the announcement of the Malaysailor, making known the proximity of water. Captain Redwood, who wasacquainted with the Malay language, translated the welcome words. Sweetwater, Saloo had described it. Emphatically might it be so termed. 

All hastened, or rather rushed, toward the stream, fell prostrate ontheir faces by its edge, and drank to a surfeit. It gave them new life;and, indeed, it had given them their lives already, though they knew itnot. It was the outflow of its current into the ocean that caused thebreak in the coral reef through which their boat had been enabled topass. Otherwise they might have found no opening, and perished inattempting to traverse the surging surf. The madrepores will not buildtheir subaqueous coral walls where rivers run into the ocean; hence theopen spaces here and there happily left, that form deep transversechannels admitting the largest ships. 

No longer suffering from thirst, its kindred appetite now returned withundivided agony, and the next thought was for something to eat. 

They again turned their eyes toward the forest, and up the bank of thestream that came flowing from it. But Saloo had seen something in thesea, near the spot where the pinnace had been left; and, calling uponMurtagh to get ready some dry wood and kindle a fire, he ran back towardthe boat. 

Murtagh, the rest accompanying him, walked to the edge of the woodswhere the stream issued from the leafy wilderness. 

Just beyond the strip of sand the forest abruptly ended, the treesstanding thick together, and rising like a vast vegetable wall to aheight of over a hundred feet. Only a few straggled beyond this line. The very first of them, that nearest the sea, was a large elm-like tree, with tall trunk, and spreading leafy limbs that formed a screen from thesun, now well up in the sky, and every moment growing more sultry. Itoffered a convenient camping-place; and under its cool shadow they couldrecline until with restored strength they might either seek or buildthemselves a better habitation. 

An ample store of dry faggots was lying near; and Murtagh havingcollected them into a pile, took out his flint and steel, and commencedstriking a light. 

Meanwhile their eyes were almost constantly turned toward Saloo, all ofthem wondering what had taken him back to the boat. Their wonder wasnot diminished when they saw him pass the place where the pinnace hadbeen pulled up on the sand, and wade straight out into the water--as ifhe were going back to the breakers!

Presently, after he had got about knee-deep, they saw him stoop down, until his body was nearly buried under the sea, and commence whatappeared to be a struggle with some creature still concealed from theirobservation. Nor was their wonder any the less, when at length he roseerect again, holding in his hands what for all the world looked like ahuge rock, to which a number of small shells and some sea-weed adhered. 

"What does the Malay crather want wid a big stone?" was theinterrogatory of the astonished Irishman. "And, look, captin, it's thatsame he's about bringin' us. I thought it moight be some kind ofshill-fish. Hungry as we are, we can't ate stones?"

"Not so fast, Murtagh, " said the captain, who had more carefullyscrutinised the article Saloo had taken up. "It's not a stone, but whatyou first supposed it--a shell-fish. "

"That big thing a shill-fish! Arrah now, captin, aren't you jokin'?"

"No, indeed. What Saloo has got in his arms, if I'm not mistaken, is anoyster. "

"An oysther? Two fut in length and over one in breadth. Why, it's asmuch as the Malay can carry. Don't yez see that he's staggerin' underit?"

"Very true; but it's an oyster for all that. I'm now sure of it, as Ican see its shape, and the great ribs running over it. Make haste, andget your fire kindled; for it's a sort of oyster rather toostrong-flavoured to be eaten raw. Saloo evidently intends it to beroasted. "

Murtagh did as requested, and by the time the Malay, bearing his heavyburden, reached the tree, smoke was oozing through a stack of faggotsthat were soon after ablaze. 

"Tha, Cappen Ledwad, " said the Malay, flinging his load at the captain'sfeet. "Tha plenty shell-fiss--makee all we big blakfass. Inside findgood meat. We no need open him. Hot coalee do that. "

They all gathered around the huge shell, surveying it with curiosity, more especially the young people. 

It was that strange testaceous fish found in the Indian seas, and knownto sailors as the "Singapore oyster"--of which specimens are not raremeasuring a yard in length, and over eighteen inches in breadth at thewidest diameter. 

Their curiosity, however, was soon satisfied; for with stomachs cravingas theirs, they were in no very fit condition for the pursuit ofconchological studies; and Saloo once more lifting the large oyster--just as much as he could do--dropped it among the faggots, now fairlykindled into a fire. 

More were heaped around and over it, until it was buried in the heart ofa huge pile, the sea-weeds that still clung to it crackling, and thesalt water spurting and spitting, as the smoke, mingled with the brightblaze, ascended toward the overshadowing branches of the tree. 

In due time Saloo, who had cooked Singapore oysters before, pronouncedit sufficiently roasted; when the faggots were kicked aside, and with aboat-hook, which Murtagh had brought from the pinnace, the oyster [Note1. ] was dragged out of the ashes. 

Almost instantly it fell open, its huge valves displaying in theirconcave cups enough "oyster-meat" to have afforded a supper for a partyof fifteen individuals instead of five--that is, fifteen not so famishedas they were. 

With some knives and other utensils, which the Irishman had also broughtaway from the boat, they seated themselves around the grand bivalve; nordid they arise from their seats until the shells were scraped clean, andhunger, that had so long tortured them, was quite banished from theirthoughts. 

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Note 1. Strictly speaking, the Singapore oyster is a gigantic speciesof Clam, (_Tridacna_). 

CHAPTER SEVEN. 

A DANGEROUS LOCALITY. 

After their ample meal of oyster "roasted in the shell, " which was abreakfast instead of a supper, they rested for the remainder of the day, and all through the following night. They required this lengthenedperiod of repose, not because they stood in need of sleep, but from theexhaustion of weakness, consequent upon their long spell of hunger andthirst. 

They slept well, considering that they had no couch, nor any covering, but the tattered clothes they wore upon their bodies. But they hadbecome accustomed to this kind of bed; as to one even less comfortable, and certainly not safer--on the hard planks of the pinnace. Nor did thecold discomfort them; for although the nights are colder on land than atsea, and in the tropics sometimes even chilly, that night was warmthroughout; and nothing interfered with their slumbers except somehorrid dreams, the sure sequence of suffering and perils such as theyhad been passing through. 

The morning rose bright and beautiful, as nearly all Bornean morningsdo. And the castaways rose from their recumbent position, feelingwonderfully restored both in strength and spirits. Henry and Helen--these were the names of the young people--were even cheerful, inclinedto wander about and wonder at the strange objects around: the beautifulbeach of silvery sand; the deep blue sea; the white breakers beyond, rising over it like along snow-wreath; the clear fresh-water streamalongside, in which they could see curious fish disporting themselves;the grand forest-trees, among them stately palms and tall lance-likebamboos;--in short, a thousand things that make tropical scenery socharming. 

Notwithstanding the scenic beauty, there was something needed before itcould be thoroughly enjoyed, and this was breakfast. The contents ofthe great oyster had given full satisfaction for the time; but that wasnearly twenty-four hours ago, and the appetites of all were once morekeenly whetted. What was to take the edge off them? This was thequestion that occupied their thoughts, and the answer was not so easy. 

Saloo went in search of another Singapore oyster; Murtagh started alongthe bank of the stream, in the hope of beguiling some of the red andgold fish he saw playing "backgammon" in it, as he had seen the troutand salmon in his native Killarney; while the captain, having procured arifle, that had been brought away in the boat, and which he well knewhow to handle, wandered off into the woods. 

Henry and Helen remained under the tree, as their father did not thinkthere could be any danger in leaving them alone. He was well enoughacquainted with the natural history of Borneo to know that there wereneither lions nor tigers in the island. Had it been on the neighbouringisland of Sumatra, or some desert coast of the mainland--in Malacca, Cochin-China, or Hindustan--he might have dreaded exposing them to theattack of tigers. But as there was no danger of encountering thesefierce creatures on the shores of Borneo, he told the children to stayunder the tree until he and the others should return. 

The young people were by this time rather tired of remaining in arecumbent position. It was that to which they had been too longconstrained while in the boat, and it felt irksome; moreover, theoyster, wonderfully restoring their strength, had brought back theirwonted juvenile vigour, so that they felt inclined for moving about abit. For a time they indulged this inclination by walking to and froaround the trunk of the tree. 

Soon, however, weariness once more came upon them, and they desired tohave a seat. Squatting upon the ground is an attitude only easy tosavages, and always irksome to those accustomed to habits of civilisedlife, and to sitting upon chairs. They looked about for something uponwhich they might sit but nothing appeared suitable. There were neitherlogs nor large stones; for the beach, as well as the adjacent shore, wascomposed of fine drift sand, and no trees seemed to have fallen near thespot. 

"I have it!" exclaimed Henry, after puzzling his brains a bit, his eyeguiding him to a settlement of the difficulty. "The shells--the bigoyster shells--the very things for us to sit upon, sister Nell. "

As he spoke, he stooped down and commenced turning over one of theshells of the immense bivalve--both of which had been hitherto lyingwith their concave side uppermost. It was nigh as much as the boy, still weak, could do to roll it over, though Helen, seeing thedifficulty, laid hold with her little hands and assisted him. 

Both the huge "cockles" were speedily capsized; and their convexsurfaces rising nearly a foot above the level of the ground, gave theyoung people an excellent opportunity of getting seated. 

Both sat down--each upon a shell--laughing at the odd kind of stoolsthus conveniently provided for them. 

They had not been long in their sedentary attitude, when a circumstanceoccurred which told them how unsafe a position they had chosen. Theywere conversing without fear, when Henry all at once felt somethingstrike him on the arm, and then, with a loud crash, drop down upon theshell close under his elbow, chipping a large piece out of it. 

His first impression was that some one had thrown a stone at him. Ithad hit him on the arm, just creasing it; but on looking at the placewhere he had been hit, he saw that the sleeve of his jacket was split, or rather torn, from shoulder to elbow, as if a sharp-tooth curry-combhad been drawn violently along it. He felt pain, moreover, and sawblood upon his shirt underneath!

He looked quickly around to ascertain who had thus rudely assailed him--anxiously, too, for he was in some dread of seeing a savage spring fromthe bushes close by. On turning, he at once beheld the missile that hadrent his jacket-sleeve lying on the sand beside him. It was no stone, but a round or slightly oval-shaped ball, as big as a ten-pound shot, ofa deep-green colour, and covered all over with spurs like the skin of ahedgehog!

He at once saw that it had not been thrown at him by any person; for, with the sharp, prickly protuberances thickly set all over it, no onecould have laid hand upon it. Clearly it had fallen from the treeoverhead. Helen had perceived this sooner than he; for sitting a littleway off, she had seen the huge ball drop in a perpendicular direction--though it had descended with the velocity of lightning. 

Beyond doubt, it was some fruit or nut, from the tree under which theywere seated. From the way in which the jacket-sleeve had suffered, aswell as the skin underneath--to say nothing of the piece chipped out ofthe shell--it was evident, that had the ponderous pericarp fallen uponHenry's skull, it would have crushed it as a bullet would the shell ofan egg. 

Young as the two were, they were not so simple as to stay in that spotan instant longer. On the tree that could send down such a dangerousmissile there might be many more--equally ready to rain upon them--andwith this apprehension both sprang simultaneously to their feet, andrushed out into the open ground, not stopping till they believedthemselves quite clear of the overshadowing branches that so illprotected them. They looked back at the seats they had so abruptlyvacated, and the green globe lying beside them, and then up to the tree;where they could see other similar large globes, only at such a vastheight looking no bigger than peaches or apricots. 

They did not dare to venture back to their seats, nor, although temptedby a strong curiosity to examine it, to approach the fallen fruit. Infact, the arm of Henry was badly lacerated; and his little sister, onseeing the blood upon his shirt sleeve, uttered an alarm that broughtfirst Saloo, and then the others, affrighted to the spot. 

"What is it?" were the interrogations of the two white men, as they camehurrying up, while the impressive Malay put none--at once comprehendingthe cause of the alarm. He saw the scratched arm, and the huge greenglobe lying upon the ground. 

"_Dulion_!" he said, glancing up to the tree. 

"Durion!" echoed the captain, pronouncing the word properly, astranslated from Saloo's pigeon English. 

"Yes, cappen; foolee me no think of him befole. Belly big danger. Itfallee on skull, skull go clashee clashee. "

This was evident without Saloo's explanation. The lacerated arm andbroken shell were evidences enough of the terrible effects that wouldhave been produced had the grand pericarp in its downward descent fallenupon the heads of either of the children, and they all saw what a narrowescape Henry had of getting his "cocoa-nut" crushed or split open. 

CHAPTER EIGHT. 

SHOOTING AT FRUIT. 

As soon as the three men had got well up to the ground and ascertainedthe cause of Helen's alarm, and the damage done to Henry's jacket andskin, Murtagh was the first to make a demonstration. He did so byrunning in under the tree, and stooping to lay hold of the fruit thathad caused the misfortune. Saloo saw him do this without giving a wordof warning. He was, perhaps, a little piqued that the Irishman shouldmake himself so conspicuous about things he could not possibly besupposed to understand, and which to the Malay himself were matters ofan almost special knowledge. There was a twinkle of mischief in his eyeas he contemplated the meddling of Murtagh, and waited for the_denouement_. 

The latter, rashly grasping the spiny fruit, did not get it six inchesabove the ground, before he let go again, as if it had been the hottestof hot "purtatees. "

"Och, and what have I done now!" he cried, "I'm jagged all over. Thereisn't a smooth spot upon it--not so much as a shank to take howlt of!"

"You takee care, Multa, " cautioned Saloo. "You lookee aloff. May beyou get jagee in de skull!"

Murtagh took the hint, and, giving one glance upward, ran back with aroar from under the shadow of the tree. 

The Malay, seemingly satisfied with his triumph, now glided underneaththe durion, and keeping his eye turned upward, as if intently watchingsomething, he struck the fruit with the piece of pointed stick which hehad been using in the search after Singapore oysters, and sent itspinning out upon the open sand beach. Then following, he took out hisknife, and inserting the blade among its thickly set spines, cleft itopen, displaying the pulp inside. 

There was enough to give each person a taste of this most luscious offruits, and make them desirous of more; even had they not been hungry. But the appetites of all were now keen, and neither the chase nor thefishery had produced a single thing to satisfy them. All three hadreturned empty-handed. There were many more nuts on the durion-tree. They could see scores of the prickly pericarps hanging overhead, but sohigh as to make the obtaining of them apparently impossible. They wereas far away as the grapes from the fox of the fable. 

The stem of the tree rose over seventy feet before throwing out a singlebranch. It was smooth, moreover, offering neither knot nor excrescencefor a foothold. For all this Saloo could have climbed it, had he beenin proper strength and condition. But he was not so. He was still weakfrom the effects of his suffering at sea. 

Something more must be had to eat--whether game, fish or shell-fish. 

The one great oyster appeared to be a stray. Saloo had begun to despairof being able to find another. The fruit of the durion proved not onlypleasant eating, but exceedingly nutritious. It would sustain them, could they only get enough of it. How was this to be obtained?

For a time they stood considering; when Captain Redwood became impressedwith an original idea. 

In addition to his own rifle, a large ship's musket had been put intothe pinnace. He thought of chain-shot, and its effects; and it occurredto him that by this means the durions might be brought down from theirlofty elevation. 

No sooner conceived than carried into execution. The musket was loadedwith a brace of balls united by a piece of stout tarred string. A shotwas fired into the tree, aimed at a place where the fruit appearedthickest. There was havoc made among the adjacent leaves; and five orsix of the great pericarps came crashing to the earth. A repetition ofthe firing brought down nearly a dozen, enough to furnish the wholeparty with food for at least another twenty-four hours. 

Having collected the fallen pericarps, they carried them to another treethat stood near, amid whose leafy branches appeared to be no fruitseither so sweet to the lips or dangerous to the skull. 

Thither also they transferred their quarters, along with theparaphernalia brought up from the boat, intending to make a morepermanent encampment under the newly chosen tree. 

For the time they kindled no fire, as the weather was warm enough, andthe durions did not require cooking; and while making their mid-day mealof the raw fruit, Saloo interested them by relating some particulars ofthe tree from which it had been obtained. 

We shall not follow the Malay's exact words, for, as spoken in "pigeonEnglish, " they would scarce be understood; but shall lay before ourreaders some account of this strange and valuable fruit-tree, culledpartly from Saloo's description and partly from other sources. 

The durion is a forest tree of the loftiest order, bearing resemblanceto the elm, only with a smooth bark, which is also scaly. It is foundgrowing throughout most of the islands of the Indian Archipelago; and, like the mangosteen, does not thrive well in any other part of theworld. This is perhaps the reason its fruit is so little knownelsewhere, as when ripe it will not bear transportation to a greatdistance. The fruit is nearly globe-shaped, though a little oval, andin size equals the largest cocoa-nut. 

As the reader already knows, it is of a green colour, and covered withshort stout spines, very sharp-pointed, whose bases touch each other, and are consequently somewhat hexagonal in shape. With this_chevaux-de-frise_ it is so completely armed, that when the stalk isbroken close off it is impossible to take up the fruit without havingone's fingers badly pricked. The outer rind is so tough and strong, that no matter from what height the fruit fall it is never crushed orbroken. From the base of the fruit to its apex, five faint lines may betraced running among the spines. These form the divisions of thecarpels where the fruit can be cut open with a sharp knife, thoughrequiring a considerable exertion of strength. The five cells foundwithin are of a silken white colour, each filled with an oval-shapedmass of cream-coloured pulp containing several seeds of the size ofchestnuts. The pulp forms the edible portion of the fruit, and itsconsistence and flavour are both difficult to be described. MrWallace, the celebrated hunter naturalist, thus quaintly describes it:--

"A rich, butter-like custard, highly flavoured with almonds, gives thebest general idea of it; but intermingled with it come wafts of flavourthat call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, brown-sherry, and otherincongruities. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp, which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It isneither acid, nor sweet, nor juicy; yet one feels the want of none ofthese qualities, for it is perfect as it is. It produces no nausea, orother bad effects; and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclinedto stop. In fact, to eat durions is a new sensation, worth a voyage tothe East to experience. When the fruit is ripe it falls of itself; andthe only way to eat durions to perfection is to get them as they fall, and the smell is then less overpowering. When unripe, it makes a verygood vegetable if cooked, and it is also eaten by the Dyaks raw. In agood fruit season large quantities are preserved salted, in jars andbamboos, and kept the year round, when it acquires a most disgustingodour to Europeans, but the Dyaks appreciate it highly as a relish withtheir rice. There are in the forest two varieties of wild durions withmuch smaller fruits, one of them orange-coloured inside. It would notperhaps be correct to say that the durion is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of a sub-acid juicy kind; such as theorange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and coolingqualities are so wholesome and grateful; but as producing a food of themost exquisite flavour, it is unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two onlyas representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainlychoose the durion and the orange as the king and queen of fruits. 

"The durion is however sometimes dangerous. When the fruit begins toripen it falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequentlyhappen to persons walking or working under the trees. When the durionstrikes a man in its fall it produces a dreadful wound, the strongspines tearing open the flesh, whilst the blow itself is very heavy; butfrom this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion ofblood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. ADyak chief informed me that he had been struck by a durion falling onhis head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet herecovered in a very short time. "

Both the natives of the Malayan Archipelago and strangers residing thereregard the durion as superior to all other kinds of fruit--in short, thefinest in the world. The old traveller, Luischott, writing of it asearly as 1599, says that in flavour it surpasses all other fruits. While another old traveller, Doctor Paludanus, thus speaks of it: "Thisfruit is of a hot and humid nature. To those not used to it, it seemsat first to smell like rotten onions, but immediately they have tastedit they prefer it to all other food. The natives give it honourabletitles, exalt it, and make verses on it. " [Note 1. ]

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Note 1. To these particulars we may add that the durion (_Duriozibethinus_) belongs to the natural family of _Sterculiaceae_, of thesame sub-order (_Bombaceae_) as the silk-cotton tree. It grows to agreat stature; its leaves are like those of the cherry, and its paleyellow flowers hang in large bunches. Each tree yields about twohundred fruit in a year. The fruit contains ten to twelve seeds, aslarge as pigeons' eggs, and these, when roasted, are as good as, andtaste very much like, roasted chestnuts. 

CHAPTER NINE. 

GAGGING A GAVIAL. 

After finishing their dinner of durions, the three men again salliedforth, to see whether something more substantial could be found for alater repast--either flesh, fowl, or fish. As before, they went indifferent directions--Captain Redwood into the forest, Murtagh up thestream, and Saloo along the sea-beach, where he waded out into thewater, still in the hope of picking up another large oyster. He tookwith him a stalk of bamboo, pointed at one end, to be used as a probe inthe soft bottom in case any oysters might be lying _perdu_ beneath thesand. 

Henry and Helen were again left to themselves, but this time they werenot to remain seated under any tree--at least, not all the time. Thefather, before leaving, had enjoined upon both of them to take a bath;ablution having become very necessary on account of their having been solong cribbed up in the somewhat dirty pinnace. It would be also ofservice in promoting their restoration to health and strength. Theywent into the water, not together, but at some distance apart--Henrychoosing to go down to the sea, while Helen entered the stream close by, as it had clear water with a smooth, sandy bed; besides, she thought itwas safer, being free from surf or currents. 

It was only safer in appearance, as the sequel proved; for the huntersand fisherman had scarce scattered off out of hearing, when a cry brokeupon the still air of noon that startled the bright-winged birds of theBornean forest, and stopped their songs as quickly as would have done ashot from Captain Redwood's rifle. It was heard by the captain himself, strolling among the tree trunks, and looking aloft for game; by Murtaghon the river bank, endeavouring to beguile the sly fish to his baitedhook; by Saloo, wading knee-deep in search of Singapore oysters; and byHenry swimming about upon the buoyant incoming tide. More distinctlythan all the rest, the little Helen heard it--since it was she who gaveit utterance. 

It was a cry of distress, and brought all the others together, andrunning toward the point whence it came. There was no difficulty abouttheir knowing the direction, for one and all recognised Helen's voice, and knew where she had been left. 

In less than sixty seconds' time they stood together upon the bank ofthe stream, on the same spot from which they had parted; and therebeheld a spectacle that thrilled them with fear, and filled them withhorror. 

The girl, finding it not deep enough by the edge of the stream--at thispoint nearly a hundred yards in width--had waded midway across, where itcame quite up to her neck; and there she stood, her head alone showingabove the surface. Beyond her, and coming from the opposite side, showed another head, so hideous it was no wonder that, on firstperceiving it, she had given way to affright, and voice to her terror. 

It was the head of an enormous reptile, of lizard shape, that hadcrawled out from a reedy covert on the opposite side of the river, andhaving silently let itself down into the water, was now swimming towardthe terrified bather. There could be no mistaking the monster's intent, for it was coming straight toward its victim. 

"_A gavial_!" cried Saloo, as his eyes rested on the body of the hugesaurian, full twenty feet in length, with its head over a yard long, andjaws nearly the same, the upper one surmounted by a long knob-likeprotuberance, that distinguishes it from all other reptiles. 

"A gavial!" echoed the others, though not inquiringly; for they knew toowell both the shape and character of the creature that was crossing theriver. 

As all four first reached the bank--arriving nearly at the same instantof time--there were about twenty yards between the hideous saurian andher who seemed destined to destruction. On first perceiving her danger, the girl had made a few plunges to get back to the bank; but, hinderedby the depth to which she had unwarily waded, and overcome by terror, she had desisted from the attempt; and now stood neck-deep, givingutterance to cries of despair. 

What was to be done? In less than a minute more the jaws of the saurianwould close upon her crashing her fair, tender form between its teeth asthough she were only some ordinary prey--a fish, or the stem of somesucculent water-plant!

Her father stood on the bank a very picture of distress. Of what usethe rifle held half-raised in his hands? Its bullet, not bigger than apea, would strike upon the skull of such a huge creature harmlessly, asa drop of hail or rain. Even could he strike it in the eye--surgingthrough the water as it was, a thing so uncertain--that would not hinderit from the intent so near to accomplishment. The Irishman, with onlyfish-hooks in his hand, felt equally impotent; and what could the boyHenry do, not only unarmed but undressed--in short, just as he had beenbathing--_in puris naturalibus_!

All three were willing to rush into the water, and getting between thereptile and its victim, confront the fierce creature, even to their owncertain sacrifice. 

And this, one, or other, or all of them, would have done, had they notbeen prevented by Saloo. With a loud shout the Malay, hithertoapparently impassive, called upon them to hold back. They obeyed, seeing that he intended to act, and had already taken his measures forrescuing the girl. They could not tell what these were, and onlyguessed at them by what they saw in his hands. It was nothing thatcould be called a weapon--only a piece of bamboo, pointed at one end, which he had taken from among the embers of last night's fire andsharpened with his knife, when he went off in search of the Singaporeoysters. It was the same stick he had been using to probe for themunder the sand. On seeing the gavial as it started toward the girl, hehad quickly drawn out his knife, and sharpened the other end of thestake while coming across the beach. 

With this sorry apology for a weapon, and while they were stillwondering, he dashed into the stream; and almost before any of theothers had recovered from their first surprise, they saw him plunge pastthe spot where stood the affrighted girl. In another instant his blackhead, with the long dark hair trailing behind it, appeared in closejuxtaposition to the opened jaws of the reptile. Then the head was seensuddenly to duck beneath the surface, while at the same time abrown-skinned arm and hand rose above it with a pointed stake in itsgrasp--like the emblematic representation seen upon some ancient crest. Then was seen an adroit turning of the stick, so quick as to be scarceperceptible--immediately followed by a backward spring upon the part ofthe lizard, with a series of writhings and contortions, in which bothits body and tail took part, till the water around it was lashed intofoam. 

In the midst of this commotion, the head of the Malay once more appearedabove the surface, close to that of the girl; who, under the guidance ofher strangely-skilled and truly courageous rescuer, was conducted to thebank, and delivered safe into her father's arms; stretched open toembrace her. 

It was some time, however, before the stream recovered its wontedtranquillity. For nearly half an hour the struggles of the greatsaurian continued, its tail lashing the water into foam, as through itsgagged jaws a stream rushed constantly down its throat, causingsuffocation. But, in spite of its amphibious nature, drowning wasinevitable; and soon after became an accomplished fact--the hugereptilian carcass drifting down stream, towards the all-absorbing ocean, to become food for sharks, or some other marine monster more hideous andravenous than itself. 

If, indeed, a more hideous and ravenous monster is to be found! It issometimes called the Gangetic crocodile, but it is even uglier thaneither crocodile or alligator, and differs from both in severalimportant particulars. 

As, for instance, in its mouth--its jaws being curiously straight, long, and narrow; and in the shape of its head, which has straightperpendicular sides, and a quadrilateral upper surface. It has double, or nearly double, the number [Note 1. ] of the teeth of the crocodile ofthe Nile, though the latter is well enough supplied with these potentimplements of destruction!

It is an amphibious animal, and fond of the water, in which its webbedhind feet enable it to move with considerable celerity. 

The huge reptile which threatened Helen's safety was twenty feet inlength, but the gavial sometimes attains the extraordinary dimensions ofeight to nine yards. 

Sincere was the gratitude of Captain Redwood for the address and couragedisplayed by the Malay in rescuing his daughter, and his regret wasgreat that he had no means of rewarding his faithful follower. 

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Note 1. As many as one hundred and twenty. 

CHAPTER TEN. 

BURROWING BIRDS. 

The fruit diet, however delicious, was not strengthening. Saloo saidso, and Murtagh agreed with him. The Irishman declared he would ratherhave a meal of plain "purtatees and buttermilk, " though a bit of bacon, or even ship's "junk, " would be more desirable. 

All agreed that a morsel of meat--whether salted or fresh--would behighly beneficial; indeed, almost necessary to the complete restorationof their strength. 

How was animal food to be procured? The forest, so far as CaptainRedwood had explored it, seemed altogether untenanted by livingcreature. He had now been tramping for upwards of an hour among thetrees without seeing either bird or quadruped. And although there werefish in the stream, and should have been shell-fish along the sea-beach, neither Murtagh nor Saloo had succeeded in procuring any. A keencraving for animal food had grown upon them, and they were not withoutsome regretful thoughts at having permitted the dead gavial to drift outto sea. Even from the carcass of the saurian they might have obtainedsteaks that, if not very dainty or delicate, would at least have beeneatable. 

Discouraged by their want of success, and still feeling feeble, they didnot go out again that day, but remained resting under the tree. 

While they were munching their evening meal--of durions, as the dinnerhad been--the Malay commenced discoursing upon eggs, which set them allthinking about them. If they only had a few, it would be just the verything to nourish and give them strength. But where were the eggs to beobtained? This was the question asked him by the Irishman, who could atthat moment have eaten a dozen, boiled, fried, poached, in omelette, oreven, as he said himself, have "sucked" them. 

"Iggs indade!" he exclaimed, as Saloo made mention of the article; "I'dloike to see one, an could ate a basketful of them, if they were as bigas swans'. What puts iggs in your head, nigger?"

"Eggs no long way off, " rejoined the Malay. "Plenty egg if we knoweewhale find 'em. "

"How do you know that? Ye're ravin', Saloo. "

"No lavin, Multa. You heal lass night the malee? All night longee hecly wail. "

"Hear the malee. What's that?"

"Biggee fowl like tulkey. Saloo heal him. Make moan likee man go die. "

"Och, thair was that, thrue enough. I heerd something scramin' all thenight. I thought it might be a banshee, if thair is that crayther inthis counthry. A bird, you say? What of that? Its squalling won'tgive us any iggs, nor lade to its nest nayther. "

"Ness not belly fal way. Malee make ness in sand close to sea-shole. Mollow mornin' I go lookee, maybe findee. "

All throughout the previous night they had heard a voice resoundingalong the shore in loud, plaintive wailings, and Captain Redwood hadremarked its being a strange note to him, never having heard the likebefore. He believed the cries to come from some species of sea-fowlthat frequented the coast, but did not think of the probability of theirnests being close at hand. As day broke he had looked out for them inhopes of getting a shot. Even had they been gulls, he would have beenglad of one or two for breakfast. But there were no birds in sight, noteven gulls. 

Saloo now told them that the screams heard during the night did not comefrom sea-fowl, but from birds of a very different kind, that had theirhome in the forest, and only came to the sea-coast during their seasonof breeding; that their presence was for this purpose, and thereforedenoted the proximity of their nests. 

While they were yet speaking on the subject, their eyes were suddenlyattracted to a number of the very birds about which they were inconverse. There was quite a flock of them--nearly fifty in all. Theywere not roosted upon the trees, nor flying through the air, butstepping along the sandy beach with a sedate yet stately tread, justlike barn-door fowl on their march toward a field of freshly-sown grain, here and there stooping to pick up some stray seed. They were about thesize of Cochin-Chinas, and from their flecked plumage of glossy blackand rose-tinted white colour, as well as from having a combed orhelmeted head, and carrying their tails upright, they bore a verystriking resemblance to a flock of common hens. 

They, in fact, belonged to an order of birds closely allied to thegallinaceous tribe, and representing it on the continent of Australia asalso in several of the Austro-Malayan islands, where the truegallinaceae do not exist. There are several distinct species of them;some, as the _tallegalla_ or "brush turkey" of Australia, approaching inform and general appearance to the turkey, while others resemble thecommon fowl, and still others might be regarded as a species ofpheasant. They have the singular habit of depositing their eggs inmounds of rubbish, which they scrape together for this purpose, and thenleave them to what might appear a sort of spontaneous incubation. Hencethey are usually called "mound-builders, " though they do not all adhereto the habit; some of them choosing a very different though somewhatanalogous mode of getting their eggs hatched. Naturalists have giventhem the name of _megapoda_, on account of their very large feet, which, provided with long curved claws, enable them to scratch the grounddeeply and rake together the rubbish into heaps for the safe deposit oftheir eggs. 

Sometimes these megapodes, as the Australians call them, for they are ascommon in Australia as Borneo, raise heaps of fifteen feet in height, and not less than sixty feet in circumference at the base. 

They are large and heavy birds, unwieldy in their motions, slow andlumbering in their flight. Their legs are thick, and their toes arealso thick and long. 

There is some difference between their nest-building ways and those ofthe tallegalla; yet, on the whole, the similarity is very striking, asmay be seen from the following account. 

Tracing a circle of considerable radius, says Mr Wood, the birds beginto travel round it, continually grasping with their large feet theleaves, and grasses, and dead twigs which are lying about, and flingingthem inwards towards the centre. Each time they finish their roundsthey narrow their circle, so that they soon clear away a large circularbelt, having in its centre a low, irregular heap. By repeating theoperation they decrease the _diameter_ of the mound while increasing its_height_, until at length a large and rudely conical mound is formed. 

Next they scrape out a cavity of about four feet in the middle of theheap, and here deposit the eggs, which are afterwards covered up, to behatched by the combined effects of fermentation and the sun. But thebird does not thus escape any of the cares of maternity, for the malewatches the eggs carefully, being endowed with a wonderful instinctwhich tells him the temperature suitable for them. Sometimes he coversthem thickly with leaves, and sometimes lays them nearly bare, repeatingthese operations frequently in the course of a single day. 

The eggs at last are hatched, but when the young bird escapes from theshell it does not leave the mound, remaining therein for at least twelvehours. Even after a stroll in the open air it withdraws to its moundtoward evening, and is covered up, like the egg, only not to so great adepth. It is a singular fact that in all cases a nearly cylindricalhole, or shaft, is preserved in the centre of the heap, obviouslyintended to admit the cooling air from without, and to allow of theescape of the gases fermenting within. 

In each nest as much as a bushel of eggs is frequently deposited. Asthese are of excellent flavour, they are quite as much esteemed by thewhite man as by the aborigine. The tallegalla has a habit of scratchinglarge holes in the ground while dusting itself, says Mr Wood, after themanner of gallinaceous birds; and these holes often serve to guide theegg-hunter towards the nest itself. 

After this digression let us return to the megapodes of Borneo, whoseappearance had strongly excited the curiosity of Captain Redwood and hisparty. 

The birds that had now displayed themselves to the eyes of our party ofcastaways were of the species known as "maleos, " by Saloo called malee. They had not just then alighted, but came suddenly into view around thespur of a "dune, " or sand-hill, which up to that moment had hinderedthem from being observed. 

As the spectators were quietly reclining under the obscure shadow of thetree, the birds did not notice them, but stalked along the shore abouttheir own business. 

What this business was soon became apparent; for although one or anotherof the birds made occasional stop to pick up some worm, weed, or seed, it was evident they were not making their evening promenade in search offood. Now and again one would dart quickly away from the flock, runningwith the swiftness of a pheasant, then suddenly stop, survey the groundin every direction, as if submitting it to examination, and finally, with a cackling note, summon the others to its side. After this ageneral cackle would spring up, as if they were engaged in someconsultation that equally regarded the welfare of all. 

It was noticed that those taking the initiative in these prospectingrushes and summonings, differed a little from the others. The casque orbonnet-shaped protuberance at the back of their heads was larger, aswere also the tubercles at their nostrils; the red upon their nakedcheeks was of brighter and deeper hue; while their plumage was gayer andmore glossy, the rufous-white portion of it being of a more pronouncedrose or salmon colour. These were the male birds or "cocks" of theflock, though the difference between them and the hens was much lessthan that between chanticleer and the ladies of his barn-yard harem, andonly noticeable when they drew very near to the spectators. 

They were still two hundred yards from the spot where the latter laywatching them, and by the direction in which they were going it was notlikely they would come any nearer. Captain Redwood had taken hold ofthe musket, intending to load it with some slugs he chanced to have, andtry a long shot into the middle of the flock; but Saloo restrained himwith a word or two spoken in a whisper. They were, --

"Don't try shot, cappen. Too long way off. You miss all. Maybe theygo lookee place for billy eggs. Much betta we waitee while. "

Thus cautioned, the captain laid aside the gun, while they all remainedsilently watching the maleos, which continued their course, with itsvarious divergences, still unconscious of being observed. 

When they were nearly in front of the camping-place, at a spot where thesand lay loose and dry, above the reach of the ordinary tidal influx, all made a stop at the summons of one who, from the superior style ofhis plumage and the greater grandeur of his strut, appeared a veryimportant individual of the tribe--in all likelihood the "cock of thewalk. "

Here a much longer period was spent in the cackling consultation, whichat length came to an end, not as before in their passing on to anotherplace, but by the whole flock setting to, and with their great clawedfeet scratching up the sand, which they scattered in clouds and showersall around them. 

For a time they were scarce visible, the sand dust flying in everydirection, and concealing the greater portion of them beneath its duncloud; and this sort of play was continued for nearly half an hour. Itwas not intended for play, however, for when it at length came to atermination the spectators under the tree could perceive that a largecavity had been hollowed out in the sand, of such extent, as to diameterand depth, that more than half the flock, when within its circumference, were invisible from their point of observation. 

From that moment it could be noted that several birds were always downin the pit thus excavated, some going in, others coming out, as iftaking their turn in the performance of a common duty; and it wasfurther noticed that the ones so occupied were those of less conspicuousplumage--in fact the hens; while the cocks strutted around, with theirtails elevated high in the air, and with all the pride and importanceusually assumed by masters of a grand ceremonial. 

For another hour this singular scene was kept up, Saloo hindering hiscompanions from making any movement to interrupt it, by promising them agreat reward for non-interference. 

The scene at length terminated in another grand scraping match, by whichthe sand was flung back into the pit with the accompanying storm ofdust, and then emerging from the cloud there commenced a generalstampede of the megapodes, the birds separating into parties of two andthree, and going in different directions. They rushed away at lightningspeed, some along the smooth sand beach, while others rose right up intothe air, and on loud whirring wings flew off into the forest. 

"Now!" said Saloo, with joy gleaming in his dark, Oriental eyes. "Nowwe getee pay for patient waitee--we hab egg--better than dulion--bellybess solt of egg malee. "

As there was no need for further concealment or caution, all started totheir feet and hastened out to the spot where the departed fowls hadbeen at work. There was no longer any signs of a hollow, but a levelsurface corresponding with that around, and but for the fresh look ofthe recently disturbed sand, and the scoring that told of claws havingdisturbed it, no one could have thought that a flock of birds resemblingbarn-door fowl had just made such a large cavity in the ground, and thenfilled it up again. 

Saloo and Murtagh ran down to the pinnace, and each brought back an oar. With these used as shovels, the loose sand was once more removed, andnearly three dozen large eggs of a reddish or brick colour were exposedto view, lying in a sort of irregular stratification. They were of theusual ovoid form, smaller at one end than the other, though but slightlyelongated. What was most notable was their immense size, consideringthe bulk of the birds that voided them; for while the latter were notlarger than common hens, the eggs were as big as those of a goose. Thecontents of one which Murtagh, in his careless Hibernian way, accidentally broke--and which were caught in a tin pannikin that held asmuch as a good-sized breakfast cup--filled the pannikin to its brim. 

It was quite a seasonable supply. These fine eggs proved not inferiorto those of the common hen; indeed they were thought superior, and inflavour more like the eggs of a guinea-fowl or turkey. 

About a dozen of them were cooked for breakfast, and in more ways thanone. Some were boiled, one of the half shells of the same Singaporeoyster serving for a saucepan; while in the other, used as a frying-pan, an immense omelette was frittered to perfection. It was quite a changefrom the fruit diet of the durion, reversing our present as well as theold Roman fashion of eating, though not contrary to the custom of somemodern nations--the Spaniards, for example. Instead of being _ab ovo admalum_, it was _ab malo ad ovum_. [Note 2. ]

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Note 1. The Banshee, or Benshie, sometimes called the Shrieking Woman, is an imaginary being, supposed by the Irish to predict, by her shrieksand wails, the death of some member in the family over which sheexercises a kind of supervision. To this fable Moore alludes in one ofhis songs--

 "How oft has the Benshee cried. "

Note 2. The Romans began their noonday meal with eggs, and ended with adessert; _ab ovo ad malum_. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

THE LANOONS. 

Certainly the most nutritious of all things eatable or drinkable is thesubstance, or fluid, called milk. It becomes blood almost immediately, and then flesh, or muscle, as was designed by the Creator. Hence it isthe first food given to all animated creatures--not alone to the_mammalia_, but to the oviparous animals--even to the infantile forms ofthe vegetable itself. To the first it is presented in the form ofsimple milk, or "lacteal fluid;" to the second in the "white" of theegg; while the young tree or plant, springing from its embryo, finds itin the farina, or succulent matter, with which it is surrounded, and inwhich it has hitherto lain embedded and apparently lifeless, till thenursing sun calls it into a growing existence. It is albumen, gluten, and other substances combined, all existing in the udder, in theegg-shell, in the seed, root, or fruit; from which springs the progeny, whether it be man or beast, flying bird or swimming fish, creepingreptile or fast-rooted forest tree. 

The meal of oyster-meat had restored to healthy action the long-fastingstomachs of the castaways; the durion fruit, coming like a _dessert_, had no doubt acted with an exceedingly beneficial effect; but not tillthey had partaken of the true "staff of life"--represented in one of itselementary forms, the egg--did they feel their blood running in itsright channels, alike restoring their vigour and strength. 

Murtagh was one of the first to feel revivified, and declare himselfready for anything. But they were all much invigorated, and began tothink and talk of plans for the future. The question, of course, was, how they should quit the shore on which shipwreck, and afterwards achance wind, had cast them? So far the coast appeared to beuninhabited, and although not so very inhospitable, as their experiencehad proved, still it would never do for them to remain there. 

The American merchant-skipper had no ambition to match the ScotchmanSelkirk, and make a second Crusoe of himself. Neither would Murtagh orthe Malay have cared to act as his man Friday for any very prolongedperiod of hermitage, so long as there was a mode of escaping from it. 

During the remainder of that evening, therefore, they talked of a changeof quarters, and discussed various plans for bringing this about. Itwas a question whether they should take to their boat and again put outto sea, or endeavour, by an overland expedition, to reach some part ofthe coast where they might find a European, and therefore a civilised, settlement. Captain Redwood knew there were more than one of these onthe great island of Borneo. There were the Dutch residencies of Sambasand Sarabang; the English government depot on the islet of Labuan; andthe strange heterogeneous settlement--half colony, half kingdom--thenacknowledging the authority of the bold British adventurer, Sir JamesBrooke, styled "Rajah of Sarawak. " If any of these places could beattained, either coastwise or across country, our castaways mightconsider their sufferings at an end; and it was only a question whichwould be the easiest to reach, and what the best way of reaching it. 

After due consideration, Labuan was the point decided upon. From thatpart of the coast Captain Redwood supposed himself to be, it was by farthe nearest civilised settlement--in fact, the only one that offered achance of being reached by travellers circumstanced as they. Of coursethey had no intention to start immediately. Their strength was notsufficiently restored, and they were only discussing the question of ajourney to be undertaken before long, and the probabilities of theirbeing able to accomplish it. 

Although they were now safe on land, and need no longer dread the"dangers of the deep, " they did not yet believe themselves deliveredfrom all peril. The part of the coast on which they had landed appeareduninhabited; but it was not this that made them uneasy. On thecontrary, human beings were the very things they did not desire justthen to see. From the place where his ship had been struck by thetyphoon, and the distance and direction in which they had since drifted, Captain Redwood conjectured--was indeed almost sure of it--that theywere on some part of the north-eastern coast of Borneo, where it frontsthe Celebes Sea; and he had traded long enough among the islands of theMalayan Archipelago to know that this was a most dangerous locality, notfrom beasts of prey, but fierce, predatory men; from pirates, in short. 

These sea-robbers, issuing from their hiding-places and strongholdsamong the lagoons of many of the Malayan islands--more especiallyMindanao--are to be met with all through the Indian Archipelago; buttheir most favourite cruising-grounds are in the seas lying around theSooloo isles, and stretching between Borneo and New Guinea. 

They are usually known as "Lanoons, " from Illanon, the southernpeninsula of Mindanao, their principal place of refuge and residence. But they have also other haunts and ports where they make rendezvous--many on the shores of the Celebes Sea, in the island of Celebes itself, and also along the eastern and northern coast of Borneo. In this lastthey are usually known as "Dyak pirates, " a name not very correct; sincemost of these freebooters are of pure Malayan race, while the BorneanDyaks take but little part in their plundering, and are themselves oftenits victims. 

The craft in which they carry on their nefarious calling are largejunk-like vessels termed "praus, " with short, stumpy masts and hugesquare sails of woven matting stuff. But they place more dependenceupon their broad paddle-bladed oars and skilled oarsmen, each prauhaving from thirty to forty rowers, and some very large ones a muchgreater number. These, seated in double rows along each side of thevessel, take no part in the fighting, which is done by the chiefs andwarriors stationed above on a sort of platform or upper deck thatextends nearly the whole length of the prau. The advantage derived fromthe oars is, that in the tropical seas very light winds and calms are ofcommon occurrence, during either of which the prau can easily overtakean ordinary sailing-ship. And when a brisk wind arises, and it isdesirable to avoid any vessel that may be endeavouring to come up withthem, they can, by means of their strong rowing force, get to windwardof the chasing craft, and so out of harm's way. 

Ships are not always the objects of their piratical cruisings, or theymight at times find it but an unprofitable business. Combined with seapiracy, they make frequent land expeditions along the coasts of thedifferent islands, going up the inlets and rivers, and plundering thetowns or other settlements situated on their banks. And their bootydoes not always consist of goods, chattels, and money, but of men, women, and children; for they are men-robbers as well as murderers andpirates. Their captives are carried off to their places of rendezvous, and there kept until they can be sold into slavery--a market for thiskind of commodity being easily found in almost every island of theMalayan Archipelago--whether it be Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, or underthe dominion of its own native rulers, the sultans and rajahs. 

Well aware of all these circumstances, Captain Redwood knew the dangerhe and his party would incur should they fall into the hands of theLanoons. So long as they were out upon the open sea, and in fear ofperishing by starvation, they had never had a thought about pirates. Then the sight of a prau--even with the certainty of its being apiratical craft--would have been welcome; since death by the Malay kris, or slavery to the most cruel taskmaster, would have been a relief fromthe sufferings they were enduring, from hunger as from thirst. Now, however, that these were things of the past, and they were not only safedelivered from the perils of the deep, but seemed in no farther dangerof starvation, the pirates had become the subject of their gravestfears, and their eyes were habitually on the alert--now scanning thesea-shore on both sides, and now directed toward the forest, wheneverany noise from that quarter occurred to excite suspicion. 

While in this frame of mind, the boat which had brought them safelyashore caused them a good deal of apprehension. They might themselveshave easily found concealment among the trees that stood thickly on theland-side; but the large pinnace lying upon the open beach was aconspicuous object, and could be seen miles off by any one strayingalong the shore, or coming abruptly out of the forest. If there wereany pirates' nest near, the boat would surely betray them, and thequestion arose as to what should be done with it. 

To have dragged it up the sand, and hidden it among the underwood, isprobably what they would have done had they been possessed of sufficientstrength. But they knew that they were not, and therefore the thing wasnot thought of. It was as much as they could yet do to drag their ownbodies about, much less a heavy ship's boat. 

Murtagh suggested breaking it up, and letting the fragments float offupon the waves. But Captain Redwood did not approve of this mode. Thecraft that had so long carried them through an unknown sea, and atlength set them safely ashore, deserved different treatment. Besides, they might again stand in need of it; for it was not yet certain whetherthey were on the coast of the Bornean mainland, or one of the numerousoutlying islets to be found along its eastern side. If an island, theboat would still be required to carry them across to the main. 

While they were engaged in discussing this subject on the day they hadmade discovery of the maleos' eggs, Saloo's sharp eye, wandering about, caught sight of something that promised a solution of the difficulty. It was the little stream not far off, or rather, the estuary formed byits current, which, flowing out through the sands, had cut a channeldeep enough for the keel of a much larger craft than a ship's pinnace. 

"Why we no blingee boat up libba?" he asked. 

"Saloo is right; it may be done, " assented the captain. 

"Troth an' that may it. It's clivver of the nigger to be the first ofus to think of that same. Then we'd betther set about it at once--hadn't we, captin?"

"By all means, " was the reply; and the three men, rising to their feet, walked off toward the boat, leaving the young people under the tree. 

CHAPTER TWELVE. 

KRISSING A CONSTRICTOR. 

It took them nearly an hour to get the pinnace round into the stream, and opposite the place they had fixed upon for their temporaryencampment. The current acting against their feeble efforts at rowing, was the cause of delay. They succeeded, however, and the boat was madesafe from being observed by the eye of any one going along the beach. But, to make it still more secure, they poled it in under the branchesof an over-hanging tree not far off--a large Indian fig, or _banyan_, whose umbrageous top overshadowed the water nearly half-way across thestream. 

To one of its numerous root-stems the craft was made fast by means ofthe tiller-ropes; and they were stepping out of it to return to theircamping-place, when a shout from Saloo warned them of some danger ahead. 

It was not ahead, but _overhead_; for, as his companions looked up--following the example of the Malay--they saw what at first appeared tobe one of the stems of the banyan in motion, as if endowed with life!

They were soon convinced of their mistake; for instead of the movingthing being part of the fig-tree, its supple, cylindrical body andglittering scales showed it to be a serpent. 

It was a python, and one of enormous dimensions, as they could tell bywhat they saw of it, knowing that this was only a portion of the whole;at least ten feet of it were depending from the tree, while, judging bythe taper of its body, and applying the ordinary rule as to serpentshape, there could not be less than ten or twelve other feet concealedamong the branches above. 

As Saloo first caught sight of it, it was descending from the tree, nodoubt having been disturbed by the noise made in mooring the boat, andtempted to forsake its perch for some purpose unknown. It was comingdown head foremost--not along any of the stems, but in an open spacebetween them--its tail coiled round a branch above, affording it asupport for this descent, monkey or 'possum-fashion. 

Its snout had already touched the ground, and perhaps its whole bodywould soon have been elongated upon the earth but for the shout ofSaloo. At this it suddenly jerked up its head, but without taking inany of its coils above; and with jaws agape and tongue protruding, itcommenced oscillating around as if trying its range, and ready to pounceupon any creature that came within the radius of that wide circle ofwhich its forked tongue was describing the circumference. 

The warning of the Malay was given soon enough to save Captain Redwood, but not the ship-carpenter. Murtagh was either too long in hearing, ortoo slow in giving heed to it. He was a step or two in advance of theothers, carrying in his arms some implements from the boat. In lookingaround and above he saw the snake sweeping about in its grand circularvibrations, and at the same time perceived that he was within theirrange. 

It was but the simple obedience of instinct to leap to one side, whichhe did; but as ill luck would have it, hampered by the _impedimenta_carried in his arms, he came in violent collision with one of the stemsof the banyan, which not only sent him back with a rebound, but threwhim down upon the earth, flat on his face. He would have done better bylying still, for in that position the snake could not have coiled aroundand constricted him. And the python rarely takes to its teeth till ithas tried its powers of squeezing. 

But the ship-carpenter, ignorant of this herpetological fact, and as anIrishman not highly gifted either with patience or prudence, afterscrambling a while upon his hands and knees, stood once more upon hisfeet. 

He had scarcely got into an erect attitude when his body was embraced bya series of spiral annulations that extended from head to foot--hugethick rings, slimy and clammy to the touch, which he knew to be thefoldings of the python. 

Had there been any Lanoons, or Dyak pirates, within a mile's distance, they might have heard the cry that escaped him. The forest birds heardit afar off, and ceased their chatterings and warblings, so that therewas no sound for some time save the continuous shrieks and ejaculationsthat came from Murtagh's lips. 

Captain Redwood, altogether unarmed, leaped back into the pinnace toseize the boat-hook, thinking it the best weapon for the occasion. Itmight have been of service if obtainable in time. But long before hecould have returned with it the ship-carpenter's ribs would have beencompressed into a mass of broken bones, and the breath crushed out ofhis body. 

This would certainly have been the lamentable result but for a weaponwith which a Malay is always armed, carrying it on his body nearer thanhis shirt, and almost as near as his skin. It was the _kris_. As amatter of course, Saloo had one, and luckily for his old shipmate, "Multa, " he knew how to handle it with skill, so that, in driving itstwisted blade through the python's throat, he did not also impale uponits point the jugular vein of the Irishman. He did the one dexterouslywithout doing the other, and the consequence was that the huge snake, suffering keenly from having its throat pierced through, quicklyuncoiled itself from the body of its intended victim, glad to let thelatter escape, and only thinking of getting free itself by scuttling offinto the thickest of the underwood, where it disappeared evidentlywrithing in pain. 

Too anxious about the condition of their comrade, neither CaptainRedwood nor Saloo thought of pursuing it, but stooped down over thereleased body of the Irishman, who had fallen prostrate to the earth. 

On due examination it proved that there was not much harm done beyond aterrible fright; and after some congratulations, he was induced to getonce more upon his feet and accompany them to the camp. But for Salooand his kris, beyond doubt he would never have returned to it alive. 

For the python in the Old World is quite as formidable as the boa in theNew. Perhaps it is even more to be dreaded; for, notwithstanding itsgreat length--twenty-five to thirty feet--it is exceedingly nimble andits muscular strength is immense. There are numerous authentic storieson record of its having crushed the buffalo and the tiger in its hugeconstricting folds. The _python reticulatus_ is probably the largestspecies. 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN. 

CHICKS QUICK TO TAKE WING. 

Two more days passed without any occurrence of an unusual nature, thoughthe castaways made several short excursions and explorations into theforest, and also up and down the shore, keeping, however, close to theedge of the timber. These ended without any important discovery beingmade, but confirmed them in their conjecture that the coast on whichthey had been cast was uninhabited, at least for a considerable distanceon each side of the place where they had landed. 

The most disappointing thing about these exploratory trips was theirfruitlessness in obtaining food, the chief object for which they hadbeen made. Excepting some stray roots and berries of an esculentnature, they had nothing to eat after the maleos' eggs were consumed;and these had lasted them only into the second day. It is true thedurion stood near, and its fruit would for a time keep them fromstarving. Still it would do little for the restoration of theirstrength; and upon such diet it would be a long time before they couldundertake the arduous journey contemplated with any fair prospect ofbeing able to finish it. No more Singapore oysters could be found, nofish caught; and such birds and beasts of the forest as Captain Redwoodhad accidentally got a glimpse of, had either flown or fled away withoutgiving him as much as the chance of a snap shot. 

At night they again heard the stridulous clamour of the maleos, andevery morning looked out for them; but these fine fowls did not put inanother appearance, much less deposit three dozen eggs right under theireyes, and in a convenient spot for being gathered. 

Saloo, however, who knew all about their habits, believed he might yetfind another ovarium; and with this view, on the morning of the thirdday, after giving up all further attempts at getting shell-fish, hestarted upon a "prospecting" expedition after eggs, the others goingwith him. 

Their route led along the shore, and among the dry sand-wreaths, swirledup near the selvedge of the woods. If another egg depository existed, it was there it should be found. He told his companions that not onlydid different gangs of the maleos bury their eggs in different places, but the same tribe or flock had the habit of returning to the beach atdifferent times, each time laying their collected eggs in a new andseparate pit. That, moreover, these curious birds, guided by instinctor cunning, are accustomed to conceal the place of deposit, which mightbe easily recognised by their tracks and scratchings. This they do byscoring the ground in other places, and giving to the surface the sameappearance as it bears over the spot where their eggs have been left tothe hatching of the sun. 

In this searching excursion Saloo had brought with him a boat-hook; andit was not long before he had an opportunity of proving the truth of hiswords. A place where the sand was very much tracked by the huge feet ofthe megapodes soon presented itself, exactly resembling the spot wherethey had procured the first supply of eggs. But on probing it with theboat-hook, Saloo at once pronounced it one of the sham nests. 

After all, the creatures did not show too much cunning; for the presenceof this pretended place of deposit told the Malay that a real one wouldnot be far off; and, sure enough, another was soon after discovered, which, on being sounded by the iron point of the boat-hook, gave back afirm feel and a sharp metallic click, that told him there were eggsunderneath. 

The sand as before, was carefully removed--Murtagh having brought withhim an oar for the purpose--when, for the second time, nearly threedozen beautiful salmon-coloured eggs were disclosed to their view. 

These were carefully taken up, and carried back to the place ofencampment, where they were left lying upon the ground, the partyresuming their quest, in hope of being able to lay in a larger and morepermanent supply. 

As it chanced, another considerable receptacle was struck, giving backsweet music to the probing of the boat-hook; and its contents were alsoadded to the larder. 

As the last lot had been found under sand that appeared but recentlystirred, it followed that they were fresher than those of the secondfinding, and therefore was it determined upon that they should be firsteaten. 

The egg-gatherers having been now several hours engaged, and againbecome almost as hungry as when first cast upon the shore, once morekindled a fire, set the huge shells upon it, and using the one as aboiling-pot, and the other as a frying-pan, prepared themselves a mealof two courses--_oeuf bouille_ and _omelette_. 

Next day they again went in search of other eggs, intending to lay in astore against the eventuality of any possible period of famine. 

But although they discovered several scratched places, and carefully"sounded" them, no more maleos' eggs could be found; and they came tothe conclusion that they had despoiled all the "incubator" beds existingon that section of the Bornean coast. 

By reason of their rapidly-increasing strength, their appetites were bythis time almost insatiable. They were, therefore, not long in using upall the "setting" last gathered, and were about to begin upon the otherlot that did not seem so "newly laid. " These had been kept separate, and permitted to lie where they had first placed them--out on the opensurface of the sand, some fifteen or twenty yards beyond the shadow ofthe tree. Negligently, and somewhat unwisely, had this been done; forduring the day the hot sun shining down upon them would naturally have atendency to spoil and addle them. Still the time had not been verylong; and as no one thought of their being damaged, they were preparingto turn them into eggs poached, fried, boiled, or otherwise. 

Saloo had rekindled the fire, and got ready his pots and pans; whileMurtagh, who had stepped out to the "larder", was about to take up oneof the eggs, and carry it to the "kitchen. " But at that moment a sightmet the eyes of the Irishman, that not only astonished, but caused himto sing out so excitedly as at once to attract the attention of theothers to the same singular spectacle. 

It was that of an egg rolling, as it were, spontaneously over theground? And not only one egg; for, as they continued to gaze a while, the whole lot, as if taking their cue from it, commenced imitating themovement, some with a gentle, others a more violent motion! Murtaghsprang back affrighted, and stood with his red hair on end, gazing atthe odd and inexplicable phenomenon. The others were as much puzzled ashe--all except the Malay, who at a glance understood the philosophy ofthe movement. 

"Young malee inside, " he cried in explanation. "We no eat egg, we getchickee. Wait little minnit. You him see come out full featha. "

Truly enough the "chicks" did come out, not as down-covered helplesscreatures, but pults in full plumage, as Saloo had predicted: at allevents, full enough to enable them to fly; for as the shells one afteranother commenced crackling--burst outward by the young birds'strength--each showed a perfect fledgling; that, springing forth fromthe shivered encasement, like Jack out of his box, at once flapped itslittle wings, and essayed short flights over the surface of the sand. 

So much were the spectators taken by surprise, that one and all of thenew-born but completely equipped birds, would have winged their way intothe forest and been lost, had it not been for Saloo, who, accustomed tosuch transformations, was in no way discomposed, but preserved hiscoolness and equanimity. 

Fortified by these, and armed with the boat-hook, which he had suddenlyseized, he struck down the precocious chicks one after another, and putan end to their aspiring flights by laying them lifeless upon the sand. 

In the end it was neither eggs nor omelettes, but tender, delicate"squabs" the castaways had for their prandial repast. 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN. 

A GRAND TREE-CLIMBER. 

The castaways having made a repast on chicks instead of eggs, as theyhad been expecting, were for the time satisfied, so far as concernedtheir appetites. But aware that these would ere long recommence theircraving, they could not be contented to remain inactive. It would benecessary to procure some other kind of provisions, and, if possible, apermanent stock on which they could rely until ready to set out on theirjourney, with a surplus to carry them some way along it. 

Although in Borneo there are many kinds of strange birds, and some ofthem large ones, they are not to be found everywhere, and when seen, notso easily caught or shot. There are some large quadrupeds too, as theIndian rhinoceros, and the Sumatran tapir; and although the flesh ofthese great thick-skinned animals is neither tender nor delicate, yetmen who can get no other soon find themselves in a position to relishit, despite its toughness and its coarse texture. But neitherrhinoceros nor tapir was seen by our castaways; neither seemed tofrequent that part of the coast, as no tracks of them were observedduring their excursions. If they had fallen in with a rhinoceros, theywould have had some difficulty in killing it; seeing that this enormousbrute is as large as a small elephant, its body protected by a thickhide embossed with hard knob-like protuberances, like those uponshields, giving to the animal the appearance of being encased in a fullsuit of ancient armour. 

The Sumatran tapir, too, is a creature that does not readily succumb toits assailant, being larger and stronger than its namesake of SouthAmerica. 

There are two species of deer known in Borneo; one of them, the "rusa, "a fine large animal. 

Captain Redwood was in hopes he might meet with an individual of eitherspecies; and with this object in view, he continued to make shortexcursions into the woods, taking his rifle along with him, occasionallyaccompanied by Murtagh, with the ship's musket. 

But they always returned empty-handed, and a good deal down-hearted, having seen nothing that could be converted into venison. 

Saloo had again tried for eggs and shell-fish, but was unsuccessful inhis search after both; evidently there were no more depositories ofmaleos' eggs, nor Singapore oysters, nor, indeed, any kind ofshell-fish, on that part of the shore. They did not again see any ofthe mound-making birds--not even those they had despoiled; for it is notthe habit of the megapodes to return to their eggs, but to leave them tobe hatched under the hot sand, and the chicks to scratch their wayupward to the surface, thus taking care of themselves from the verymoment of their birth, and, indeed, we may say, before it, since it canscarcely be said they are born before breaking through the shell; andthis they have to do for themselves, else they would never see daylight. Talk of precocious chicks! There are none anywhere to be compared withthe megapodean pullets of the Malayan Archipelago, no birds half so"early" as they. 

For some days, after eating up the last chicken of the flock, ourcastaways could get nothing to live upon but durions; and although theseformed a diet sufficiently agreeable to the palate, they were not verystrengthening. Besides, they were not so easily gathered; the few theyhad found on some trees, which Saloo had conveniently climbed, beingquickly exhausted. The large durion-tree under which they had firstencamped was well furnished with fruit. But its tall stem, nearly ahundred feet, without a branch, and with a bark smooth as that of asycamore, looked as if no mortal man could ascend it. Captain Redwoodhad fired several rounds of his chain-shot up into it, and brought downmany of the grand spinous pericarps; but this cost an expenditure ofammunition; and, circumstanced as they were, they saw it would never doto waste it in such whimsical fashion. Still, for want of food, thefruit must be obtained some way or other, and the question was how to"pluck" it. 

In their dilemma the Malay once more came to their aid. Fortunately forall, Saloo was a native of Sumatra, and had been brought up among itsforests, much resembling those of Borneo. He was skilled in thewood-craft common to both islands; and, perhaps, of all the crew of thecastaway ship, not one could have survived whose services would havebeen of more value to Captain Redwood and his party than those of thebrown-skinned pilot;--especially since it had been their fate to be castupon the shores of Borneo. His companions had already experienced thebenefit to be derived from his knowledge of the country's productions, and were beginning to consult him in almost every difficulty thatoccurred. He appeared capable of accomplishing almost anything. 

For all this, they were no little surprised and somewhat incredulouswhen he declared his intention of climbing the great durion-tree. Murtagh was very much inclined to deny that he could do it. 

"The nigger's makin' game of us, captin, " he said. "It would be as muchas a squirrel could do to speel up that tall trunk. Why, it's as smoothas the side of a copper-bottomed ship, an' nothin' to lay howlt on. He's jokin'. "

"No jokee, Mista Multa. Saloo that tlee climb soon. You help you see. "

"Oh, be aisy now! I'll help you all I can, if that'll do any good. Howdo you mane to set about it?"

To this Saloo made no verbal rejoinder, but laying hold of a small axe, that had been brought away in the boat, he walked off toward a clump ofbamboos growing near the spot where they had made their camp. 

The first thing he did was to cut down five or six of the largest ofthese canes, some of them being several inches in diameter, directingMurtagh to drag them off, and deposit them close to the durion-tree. 

As soon as he had felled what he deemed a sufficient number, he returnedto the spot where the Irishman had deposited them, and commencedchopping them into pieces of about eighteen inches in length. In thisthe ship-carpenter, by reason of his calling, was able to give himefficient aid; and the ground was soon strewed with disjointed bamboos. Each of the pieces was then split into two, and sharply pointed at oneend, so as to resemble a peg designed for being driven into the ground. But it was not into the ground Saloo intended driving them, as will bepresently seen. 

While Murtagh was engaged in splitting and sharpening the sections ofbamboo, the Malay went off once more into the woods, and soon came backagain, bearing in his arms what looked like a quantity of roughpacking-cord. The freshly-cut ends of it, however, with their greenishcolour and running sap, told it to be some species of creeping-plant--one of the parasites, or epiphytes, that abound everywhere in theforests of Borneo, as in those of all tropical countries, and render thetrade of the ropemaker altogether superfluous. 

Throwing down his bundle of creepers, Saloo now took up one of thepointed pegs, and, standing by the trunk of the durion, drove it intothe soft sapwood, a little above the height of his own head. The axe, which was a light one, and had a flat hammer-shaped head, served him fora mallet. 

As soon as the first peg had been driven to the depth of several inches, he threw aside the axe, and laid hold of the stake with both hands. Then drawing his feet from the ground, so that all his weight came uponthe peg, he tried whether it would sustain him without yielding. Itdid, and he was satisfied. 

His next movement was another excursion into the forest, where he foundsome bamboo stems of a slenderer kind than those already cut, but quiteas tall. Having selected three or four of these, he chopped them down, and dragged them up to the durion. Then taking one, he set it uprighton its butt-end, parallel to the trunk of the tree, and at such adistance from it as to strike near the outer extremity of the pegalready driven home, close to the end of which he had already cut acouple of notches. 

Some of the vegetable twine was next prepared by him, and taking a pieceof the proper length, he made the upright bamboo fast to the horizontalpeg by a knowing knot, such as only a savage or sailor can tie. 

Captain Redwood and his ship-carpenter having now obtained an inkling ofhis design, stood by to render every assistance, while the young peopleas spectators were very much interested in the proceeding. 

As soon as the upright cane was securely lashed to the cross piece, andalso made safe against shifting by having its lower end "stepped" orembedded in the ground, Saloo prepared to ascend, taking with himseveral of the pegs that had been sharpened. Murtagh "gave him a leg, "and he stood upon the first "round" of the ladder. 

Then reaching up, he drove in a second peg--not quite so far above thefirst as this was from the ground. With another piece of creeper hemade it also fast to the perpendicular pole, and the second round wasformed, upon which he had to climb without any helping hand, and withthe agility of an ape. 

A third step was similarly established; then a fourth and fifth, and soon, till the pegs and cordage carried up with him gave out, when he cameback to the ground to provide himself with a second supply. Obtainingthis, he once more ascended, and continued to carry aloft his singular"shrouds. "

The next thing to be exhausted was the upright piece, which, being onlyabout thirty feet in length, and requiring a surplus to be left, ofcourse came far short of reaching to the lowest limbs of the durion. Another similar stem of bamboo had to be added on by splicing; but forthis he did not need to descend, as Murtagh, stretching to his arm'slength, handed it up to him, so that he was enabled to lay hold of anddraw it up of himself. 

Giving the two pieces a good length of double for the splice, he boundthem securely together, and then went on with the driving of his pegs, to complete the remaining rounds of the ladder. 

In a space of time that did not in all exceed twenty minutes, he had gotup to within ten or twelve feet of the lower branches of the durion--tosuch a height as caused those looking at him from below to feel giddy asthey gazed. It was, indeed, a strange and somewhat fearful spectacle--that slight human form, sixty or seventy feet above their heads, at sucha vast elevation so diminished in size as to appear like a child or apigmy, and the more fearful to them who could not convince themselves ofthe security of the slender stair upon which he was standing. They werehalf expecting that, at any moment, one of the pegs would give way, andprecipitate the poor fellow to the earth, a crushed and shapeless mass!

It was just as when some courageous workman in a manufacturing town--bricklayer or carpenter--ascends to the top of one of its tall factorychimneys, to repair some damage done by fire-crack or lightning, and thewhole populace of the place rushes out of doors, to look up at thestrange spectacle, and admire the daring individual, while trembling infear for his fate. 

So stood the little party under the tall durion-tree, regarding theascent of Saloo. 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN. 

SOMETHING SHARP. 

The Malay had ascended, as already said, to within ten or twelve feetfrom the lower limbs of the tree, and was still engaged driving in hispegs and binding on the upright bamboo to continue his ascent, when allat once he was seen to start and abruptly suspend operations. At thesame time an exclamation escaped his lips, in a low tone, but seeminglyin accents of alarm. 

They all looked up apprehensively, and also started away from the tree;for they expected to see him come tumbling down in their midst. But no;he was still standing firm upon the last made round of the ladder, andin an erect attitude, as if he had no fear of falling. With one hand heheld the axe, the other gently grasping the upright bamboo that servedhim for a support. Instead of looking down to them, to call out orclaim their assistance, they saw that his eyes were turned upward andfixed, as if on some object directly over his head. It did not appearto be among the branches of the durion, but as if in the trunk of thetree; and in the interval of silence that succeeded his first quickexclamation, they could hear a hissing sound, such as might proceed fromthe throat of a goose when some stranger intrudes upon the domain of thefarmyard. As it was carried down the smooth stem of the durion, whichacted as a conductor, the spectators underneath guessed it was not agoose, but some creature of a less innocent kind. 

"A snake, be japers!" was the conjecture that dropped from theship-carpenter's lips, while the same thought occurred simultaneously tothe others; for they could think of no living thing, other than aserpent, capable of sending forth such a sibilant sound as that justheard. 

"What is it, Saloo?" hailed Captain Redwood; "are you in any danger?"

"No dangee, cappen; only little bit good luck, that all, " was thecheering response that restored their confidence. 

"How good luck?" asked the captain, puzzled to think of what fortunecould have turned up in their favour so high above their heads. 

"You see soon, " rejoined the Malay, taking a fresh peg from his girdle, and once more resuming his task at stair-making. 

While he was engaged in hammering, and between the resounding strokes, they at the bottom of the tree repeatedly heard the same hissing soundthey had taken for the sibilations of a snake, and which they mightstill have believed to be this, but for a hoarse croaking voice, mingling with the sibilation, which reached their ears at intervals, evidently proceeding from the same throat. 

Moreover, as they continued to gaze upward, watching Saloo at his work, they caught sight of something in motion on the trunk, and about a footabove his face. It was something of a whitish colour and slender shape, pointed like one of the bamboo pegs he was busily driving at. Now theysaw it, and now they did not see it; for whatever it was, it was sunkinside the trunk of the durion-tree, alternately protruding and drawingback. It was also clear to them, that from this sharp-pointed thing, whether beast, bird, or reptile, came the hissing and hoarse croakingthat puzzled them. 

"What is it?" again asked the captain, now no longer anxious or alarmed, but only curious to know what the strange creature could be. 

"Buld, cappen--biggee buld. "

"Oh, a bird, that's all; what sort of bird?"

"Honbill; ole hen hornbill. She on ha ness inside, hatchee egg; shebuilt up in dat; ole cock he shuttee up with mud. "

"Oh, a hornbill!" said the captain, repeating the name of the bird forthe information of those around him; and now that they more narrowlyscrutinised the spot where the white-pointed beak was still bobbing outand in, they could perceive that there was a patch or space of irregularroundish shape, slightly elevated above the bark, having a plasteredappearance, and of the colour of dry mud. They had barely time to makethis last observation, when Saloo, having got another peg planted so asto enable him to ascend high enough, turned the edge of his axe againstthe trunk of the durion, and commenced chipping off the mud, that nowfell in flakes to the bottom of the tree. 

It took him only a very short time to effect a breach into thebarricaded nest--one big enough to admit his hand with the fingers atfall spread. 

His arm was at once thrust in up to the elbow; and as his digits closedfearlessly around the throat of the old hen hornbill, she was drawnforth from her place of imprisonment. 

For a time she was seen in Saloo's hands, convulsively writhing andflopping her great wings, like a turkey gobbler with his head suddenlycut off. There was some screaming, hissing, and croaking, but to allthese sounds Saloo quickly put an end, by taking a fresh grasp of thethroat of the great bird, choking the breath out of it until the wingsceased fluttering; and then he flung its body down at the feet of thespectators. 

Saloo did not descend immediately, but once more thrust his hand intothe nest, hoping, no doubt, to find an egg or eggs in it. Instead ofthese, the contents proved to be a bird--and only one--a chick recentlyhatched, about the size of a squab-pigeon, and fat as a fed ortolan. Unlike the progeny of the megapodes, hatched in the hot sand, the infanthornbill was without the semblance of a feather upon its skin, which wasall over of a green, yellowish hue. There was not even so much as ashow of down upon it. 

For a moment Saloo held it in his hand, hissing as it was in his owntiny way. Then chucking it down after its murdered mother, where itfell not only killed, but "squashed, " he prepared to descend in a lesshasty manner. He now saw no particular need for their dining ondurions, at least on that particular day; and therefore discontinued histask upon the bamboo ladder, which could be completed on the morrow, orwhenever the occasion called for it. 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN. 

AN ENEMY IN THE AIR. 

Though the old hen hornbill, after her long and seemingly forced periodof incubation, might not prove such a tender morsel, they werenevertheless rejoiced at this accession to their now exhausted larder, and the pilot at once set about plucking her, while Murtagh kindled afresh fire. 

While they were thus engaged, Henry, who had greatly admired theingenuity displayed by Saloo in the construction of his singular ladder, bethought him of ascending it. He was led to this exploit partly out ofcuriosity to try what such a climb would be like; but more from a desireto examine the odd nest so discovered--for to him, as to most boys ofhis age, a bird's nest was a peculiarly attractive object. He thoughtthat Saloo had not sufficiently examined the one first plundered, andthat there might be another bird or an egg behind. He was notnaturalist enough to know--what the ex-pilot's old Sumatran experiencehad long ago taught him--that the hornbill only lays one egg, and bringsforth but a single chick. Whether or no, he was determined to ascendand satisfy himself. 

He had no fear of being able to climb the tree-ladder. It did not seemany more difficult than swarming up the shrouds of a ship, and not halfso hard as going round the main-top without crawling through the"lubber's hole"--a feat he had often performed on his father's vessel. Therefore, without asking leave, or saying a word to any one, he laidhold of the bamboo pegs and started up the tree. 

None of the others had taken any notice of him. Captain Redwood wasengaged in wiping out his gun, with little Helen attending upon him, while Saloo was playing poulterer, and Murtagh, a little way off in thewoods, gathering faggots for the fire. Henry kept on, hand over hand, and foot after foot, till he at length stood upon the topmost round ofthe unfinished ladder. Being almost as tall as Saloo himself, he easilygot his arm into the cavity that contained the nest, and commencedgroping all over it. He could find no other bird, nor yet an egg. Onlythe dried-up ordure of the denizens that had lately occupied the prisoncell, along with some bits of the shell out of which the young hornbillhad been but recently hatched. 

After a moment or two spent in examining the curious cavity, andreflecting on the odd habit of a bird being thus plastered up and keptfor weeks in close confinement--all, too, done by its own mate, whosurely could not so act from any intention of cruelty--after in vainpuzzling himself as to what could be the object of such a singularimprisonment, he determined upon returning to the ground, and seekingthe explanation from Saloo. 

He had returned upon the topmost step, and was about letting himselfdown to that next below, when not only were his ears assailed by sharpcries, but he suddenly saw his eyes in danger of being dug out of theirsockets by the sharp beak of a bird, whose huge shadowy wings wereflapping before his face!

Although somewhat surprised by the onslaught, so sudden and unexpected--and at the same time no little alarmed--there was no mystery about thematter. For he could see at a glance that the bird so assailing him wasa hornbill; and a moment's reflection told him it was the cock. 

Afar off in the forest--no doubt in search of food--catering for hishousekeeper and their new chick, of whose birth he was most probablyaware, he could not have heard her cries of distress; else would he haverushed to the rescue, and appeared much sooner upon the scene. But atlength he had arrived; and with one glance gathered in the ruin that hadoccurred during his absence. There was his carefully plastered wallpulled down, the interior of his domicile laid open, his darlings gone, no doubt dragged out, throttled and slaughtered, by the young robberstill standing but a step from the door. 

The enraged parent did not pause to look downward, else he might haveseen a still more heart-rending spectacle at the bottom of the tree. Hedid not stay for this; on the instant he went swoop at the head of thedestroyer, with a scream that rang far over the forest, and echoed in athousand reverberations through the branches of the trees. 

Fortunately for Henry, he had on his head a thick cloth cap, with itscrown cotton-padded. But for this, which served as a helmet, the beakof the bird would have been into his skull, for at the first dab itstruck right at his crown. 

At the second onslaught, which followed quick after, Henry, beingwarned, was enabled to ward off the blow, parrying with one hand, whilewith the other supporting himself on his perch. For all this the dangerwas not at an end; as the bird, instead of being scared away, or showingany signs of an intention to retreat, only seemed to become moreinfuriated by the resistance, and continued its swooping and screamingmore vigorously and determinedly than ever. The boy was well aware ofthe peril that impended; and so, too, were those below; who, of course, at the first screech of the hornbill, had looked up and seen what waspassing above them. 

They would have called upon him to come down, and he would have done sowithout being summoned, if there had been a chance. But there was none:for he could not descend a single step without using both hands on theladder; and to do this would leave his face and head without protection. Either left unguarded for a single instant, and the beak of the bird, playing about like a pickaxe, would be struck into his skull, or burieddeep in the sockets of his eyes. He knew this, and so also they wholooked from below. He could do nothing but keep his place, and continueto fight off the furious assailant with his free arm--the hand gettingtorn at each contact, till the blood could be seen trickling from thetips of his fingers. 

It is difficult to say how long this curious contest might havecontinued, or how it would have terminated, had the combatants been leftto themselves. In all probability it would have ended by the boy'shaving his skull cleft open or his eyes torn out; or, growing feeble, hewould have lost his hold upon the ladder and fallen to the foot of thetree--of itself certain death. 

It in reality looked as if this would be the lamentable result, and veryquickly. Saloo had sprung to the tree, and was already ascending to therescue. But for all that he might be too late; or even if successful inreaching the elevated point where Henry struggled against danger, hemight still be unable to effect his deliverance. The alarmed fatherseemed to fear this, as he stood gazing, with agony depicted on hisface--agony at the thought of seeing his dear boy exposed to such afearful peril, and feeling himself so helpless to rescue him. 

All at once a thought flashed into his mind, that at least gave him somerelief through the necessity of action. His rifle, which fortunatelyafter cleaning he had reloaded, stood resting against the trunk of thetree. He sprang toward and seized hold of it. In another second it wasraised to his shoulder; its muzzle pointed almost vertically upward, andcircling around to get bearing upon the body of the bird. 

It was a dangerous shot to take, like that of Tell with the arrow andthe apple. But it seemed yet more dangerous not to venture it; and withthis reflection passing through his mind he watched the hornbill throughseveral of its swoopings, and when at length in one of these it recededto some distance from Henry's face, he took quick sight upon it, andpulled trigger. 

A splendid shot--a broken wing--a huge bird seen fluttering through theair to the earth--then flopping and screaming over the ground, till itscries were stilled and its strugglings terminated by a few blows from aboat-hook held in the hands of the ship-carpenter;--all this was thespectacle of only a few seconds!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 

SITTING BY THE SPIT. 

Saloo had by this time climbed to the topmost rounds of the ladder; andwas able to assist Henry in descending, which he did without furtherdifficulty or danger. 

No great harm had happened to him; he had received only a few scratchesand skin-wounds, that would soon yield to careful treatment and thesurgical skill which his father possessed, along with certain herbalremedies known to Saloo. 

They were soon restored to their former state of equanimity, and thoughtnothing more of the little incident that had just flurried them, exceptto congratulate themselves on having so unexpectedly added to theirstock of provisions the bodies of two great birds, each of respectablesize; to say nothing of the fat featherless chick, which appeared as ifit would make a very _bonne bouche_ for a gourmand. 

As we have said, Saloo did not think any more of ascending thedurion-tree, nor they of asking him to do so. Its fruits might haveserved them for dessert, to come after the game upon which they were nowgoing to dine. 

But they were not in condition to care for following the usual fashionof dining, and least of all did they desire a dinner of differentcourses, so long as they had one sufficiently substantial to satisfy thesimple demands of hunger. The two hornbills promised, each of them, afair _piece-de-resistance_, while the fat pult was plainly a titbit, tobe taken either _hors d'oeuvres_, or as an _entree_. 

They were not slow in deciding what should be done with the stock sounexpectedly added to their larder. In a trice the cock bird wasdespoiled of his plumage; the hen having been well-nigh dismantled ofhers already. The former was trussed and made ready for the spit, thelatter being intended for the pot, on the supposition that boiling mightbe better for her toughness. Murtagh had taken to finishing theplucking of the hen, while Saloo set about divesting the old cock of hisfeathers. 

The chick needed no plucking, nor even to be singed. Its skin was asfree of covering as the shell of the egg lately containing it. It wastender enough to be cooked in any way. It could be boiled over theembers, and would make a nice meal for the two young people, anddoubtless greatly benefit their strength. 

When the bodies of the old birds were unmasked of their featheryenvelopment, it was seen that they were much smaller than supposed; and, moreover, that the hen was by many degrees larger in size and fatterthan the cock. It was but natural, and was due to her sex, as well asto her long confinement in a dark cell of but limited dimensions, whereshe had nothing to do but to rest. 

But as the cock bird, after all, was quite as large as a Cochin-Chinafowl, and, moreover, in good condition, there would be enough of him tosupply a full repast, without touching either the hen or chick. So itwas determined that both should be reserved till the following morning, when no doubt all hands would be again hungry enough for the toughest offowls. 

This point settled, the old cock was staked upon a bamboo spit, and setover the fire, where he soon began to sputter, sending out a savouryodour that was charmingly appetising. 

The hen was at the same time chopped into small pieces, which werethrown into one of the great shells, along with some seasoning herbsSaloo had discovered in the neighbouring woods; and as they could nowgive the stew plenty of time to simmer, it was expected that before nextday the toughness would be taken out of the meat, and after all it mightprove a palatable dish to people distressed as they had been, and notcaring much for mere dainties. 

As they had nothing else to do but watch the spit, now and then turn it, and wait till the roast should be done, they fell into conversation, which naturally turned upon hornbills and their habits, Saloo furnishingmost of the information concerning these curious birds. 

Captain Redwood had not only seen them before, in the course of hisvoyages among the Malayan Archipelago, but he had read about theirhabits, and knew that they were found in various parts of the Africancontinent. 

They are there called _Korwe (Tockus erythrorhynchus_), and DrLivingstone gives an interesting account of them. 

He says, --"We passed the nest of a korwe, just ready for the female toenter; the orifice was plastered on both sides, but a space left of aheart shape, and exactly the size of the bird's body. The hole in thetree was in every case found to be prolonged some distance above theopening, and thither the korwe always fled to escape being caught. "

The first time that Dr Livingstone himself saw the bird, it was caughtby a native, who informed him that when the female hornbill enters hernest, she submits to a positive confinement. The male plasters up theentrance, leaving only a narrow slit by which to feed his mate, andwhich exactly suits the form of his beak. The female makes a nest ofher own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with theyoung till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which isstated to be two or three months, the male continues to feed her and heryoung family. 

Strange to say, the prisoner generally becomes fat, and is esteemed avery dainty morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husbandgets so lean that, on the sudden lowering of the temperature, whichsometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls down, anddies. 

It is somewhat unusual, as Captain Redwood remarked, for the prisoner tofatten, while the keeper pines!

The toucan of South America also forms her nest in the cavity of a tree, and, like the hornbill, plasters up the aperture with mud. 

The hornbill's beak, added Captain Redwood, is slightly curved, sharp-pointed, and about two inches long. 

While the body of the rooster was sputtering away in the bright blaze, Saloo entertained the party by telling them what _he_ knew about thehabits of the hornbills; and this was a good deal, for he had oftencaught them in the forests of Sumatra. It may be remarked here, thatmany of the natives of the Malayan Archipelago possess a considerableknowledge of natural history, at least of its practical part. Thereason is, that the Dutch, who own numerous settlements throughout theseislands, have always been great taxidermists and skin-preservers, and toprocure specimens for them and obtain the reward, has naturallyoriginated a race of collectors among the native people. Saloo himselfhad been one of these bird-hunters, in early life, before taking to thesea, which last, as a general thing, is the favourite element andprofession of a Malay. 

He told them that he knew of two kinds of hornbill in his native islandof Sumatra, but that he had seen the skins of several other species inthe hands of the taxidermists, brought from various islands, as well asfrom the mainland of India, Malacca, and Cochin-China. They were alllarge birds, though some were smaller than the others; mostly black, with white markings about the throat and breast. He said that theirnests are always built in the hollow of a tree, in the same way as theone he had robbed, and the entrance to them invariably plastered up withmud in a similar fashion, leaving a hole just big enough to allow thebeak of the hen to be passed out, and opened a little for the receptionof the food brought to her by her mate. It is the cock that does the"bricking up, " Saloo said, bringing the "mortar" from the banks of someneighbouring pool or stream and laying it on with his beak. He beginsthe task as soon as the hen takes her seat upon her solitary egg. Thehen is kept in her prison not only during the full period of incubation, but long after; in fact, until the young chick becomes a full fledgling, and can fly out of itself. During all this time the imprisoned bird isentirely dependent on her mate for every morsel of food required, eitherby herself or for the sustenance of the nursling, and, of course, has totrust to his fidelity, in which he never fails. The hornbills, however, like the eagles, and many other rapacious birds, though not otherwise ofa very amiable disposition, are true to the sacred ties of matrimony. So said Saloo, though not in this exact phraseology. 

"But what if the ould cock shud get killed?" suggested Murtagh. "Supposin' any accident was to prevint him from returnin' to the nest?Wud the hen have to stay there an' starve?"

Saloo could not answer this question. It was a theory he had neverthought of, or a problem that had not come under his experience. Possibly it might be so; but it was more likely that her imprisonmentwithin the tree cave, being an act agreed to on her part, was moreapparent than real, and that she could break through the mud barricade, and set herself free whenever she had a mind to do so. 

This was the more probable view of the case, and terminated thediscussion on natural history; or rather, it was brought to a close bytheir perceiving that the bird upon the bamboo stake was done to a turn, and they were by this time too hungry to think of anything else thaneating it. 

So off it came from the spit, and at it they went with a will, Salooacting as carver, and distributing the roast joints all around, takingcare to give the tenderest bits of breast to the children, and to Helenthe liver wing. 

They were all very cheerful in commencing their supper, but their strainwas changed to sadness even before they had finished it. 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. 

SICK AFTER SUPPER. 

It was near upon sundown when the roast fowl was taken from the spit, carved, and distributed among them. The fire over which they had cookedit was close to the trunk of the tree under whose shade they intended topass the night. It was not the one they had chosen after being drivenfrom the durion, but another, with far-spreading branches and greenglossy leaves growing thickly upon them, which promised a betterprotection from the dews of the night. They needed this, as they hadnot yet thought of erecting any other roof. The only thing in the shapeof shelter they had set up was the tarpaulin, spread awning fashion overfour uprights, which held it at the four corners; but this was barelysufficient to furnish the two young people with a sleeping-place. 

After removing the roast fowl from the spit, they had not permittedtheir fire to die out. On the contrary, Murtagh, in whose charge itwas, threw on some fresh faggots. They intended keeping it up throughthe night, not to scare away wild beasts, for, as already said, they hadno fear of these; but because the atmosphere toward midnight usuallybecame damp and chilly, and they would need the fire to keep them warm. 

It was quite sunset by the time they had finished eating the roasthornbill, and as there is but little twilight under or near the equator, the darkness came down almost instantaneously. By the light of theblazing faggots they picked the bones of the bird, and picked themclean. But they had scarce dropped the drumsticks and other bones outof their fingers, when one and all fell violently sick. 

A sensation of vertigo had been growing upon them, which, as soon as themeal was over, became nausea, and shortly after ended in vomiting. Itwas natural they should feel alarmed. Had only one been ill, they mighthave ascribed the illness to some other cause; but now, when all fivewere affected at the same time, and with symptoms exactly similar, theycould have no other belief than that it was owing to what they hadeaten, and that the flesh of the hornbill had caused their sickness--perhaps poisoned them. 

Could this be? Was it possible for the flesh of a bird to be poisonous?Was that of a hornbill so? These questions were quickly asked of oneanother, but more especially addressed to Saloo. The Malay did notbelieve it was. He had eaten hornbills before, and more than once; hadseen others eat them; but had never known or heard of the dish beingfollowed by symptoms similar to those now affecting and afflicting them. 

The bird itself might have eaten something of a poisonous nature, which, although it had not troubled its own stomach, acted as an emetic upontheirs. There was some probability in this conjecture; at all eventsthe sufferers thought so for a time, since there seemed no other way ofaccounting for the illness which had so suddenly seized upon them. 

At first they were not so very greatly alarmed, for they could notrealise the idea that they had been absolutely poisoned. A littlesuffering and it would be all over, when they would take good care notto eat roast hornbill again. No, nor even stewed or broiled; so thatnow the old hen and her young one were no longer looked upon as so muchprovision ahead. Both would be thrown away, to form food for the firstpredatory creature that might chance to light upon them. 

As time passed, however, and the sufferers, instead of feeling relieved, only seemed to be growing worse--the vertigo and nausea continuing, while the vomiting was renewed in frequent and violent attacks--they atlength became seriously alarmed, believing themselves poisoned to death. 

They knew not what to do. They had no medicine to act as an antidote;and if they had been in possession of all the drugs in thepharmacopoeia, they would not have known which to make use of. Had itbeen the bite of a venomous snake or other reptile, the Malay, acquainted with the usual native remedies, might have found someherbaceous balsam in the forest; though in the darkness there would havebeen a difficulty about this, since it was now midnight, and there wasno moon in the sky--no light to look for anything. They could scarcelysee one another, and each knew where his neighbours lay only by hearingtheir moans and other exclamations of distress. 

As the hours dragged on wearily, they became still more and morealarmed. They seriously believed that death was approaching. Aterrible contemplation it was, after all they had passed through; theperils of shipwreck, famine, thirst; the danger of being drowned; one ofthem escaping from a hideous reptile; another from the coils of aserpent; a third from having his skull cracked in by a fallen fruit, andafterwards split open by the beak of an angry bird. Now, after allthese hairbreadth perils and escapes, to be poisoned by eating the fleshof this very bird--to die in such simple and apparently causelessfashion; though it may seem almost ridiculous, it was to them not a whitthe less appalling. And appalled they were, as time passed, and theyfelt themselves growing worse instead of better. They were surelypoisoned--surely going to die. 

CHAPTER NINETEEN. 

AN UNEASY NIGHT. 

Long with the agonising pain--for the sensations they experienced wereexceedingly painful--there was confusion in their thoughts, andwandering in their speech. The feeling was somewhat to that ofsea-sickness in its worst form; and they felt that reckless indifferenceto death so characteristic of the sufferer from this very common, butnot the less painful, complaint. Had the sea, seething and surgingagainst the beach so near them, broken beyond its boundaries, and sweptover the spot where they lay, not one of them, in all probability, wouldhave stirred hand or foot to remove themselves out of its reach. Drowning--death in any form--would at that moment have seemed preferableto the tortures they were enduring. 

They did not lie still. At times one or another would get up and strayfrom under the tree. But the nausea continued, accompanied by thehorrid retching; their heads swam, their steps tottered, and staggeringback, they would fling themselves down despairingly, hoping, almostpraying, for death to put an end to their agonies. It was likely soonto do so. 

During all, Captain Redwood showed that he was thinking less of himselfthan his children. Willingly would he have lain down and died, couldthat have secured their surviving him. But it was a fate thatthreatened all alike. On this account, he was wishing that either he orone of his comrades, Murtagh or Saloo, might outlive the young peoplelong enough to give them the rites of sepulture. He could not bear thethought that the bodies of his two beautiful children were to be leftabove ground, on the desolate shore, their flesh to be torn from them bythe teeth of ravenous beasts or the beaks of predatory birds--theirbones to whiten and moulder under the sun and storms of the tropics. 

Despite the pain he was himself enduring, he secretly communicated hiswishes to Murtagh and the Malay, imploring them to obey what might bealmost deemed a dying request. 

Parting speeches were from time to time exchanged in the muttered tonesof despair. Prayers were said aloud, unitedly, and by all of themsilently in their own hearts. 

After this, Captain Redwood lay resignedly, his children, one on eachside of him, nestling within his arms, their heads pillowed upon hisbreast close together. They also held one another by the hand, joinedin affectionate embrace across the breast of their father. Not manywords were spoken between them; only, now and then, some low murmurs, which betokened the terrible pain they felt, and the fortitude bothshowed in enduring it. 

Now and then, too, their father spoke to them. At first he had essayedto cheer them with words of encouragement; but as time passed, theseseemed to sound hollow in their ears as well as his own, and he changedthem to speeches enjoining resignation, and words that told of the"Better Land". He reminded them that their mother was there, and theyshould all soon join her. They would go to her together; and how happythis would be after their toils and sufferings; after so many perils andfatigues, it would be but pleasure to find rest in heaven. 

In this way he tried to win their thoughts from dwelling on the terrorsof death, every moment growing darker and seeming nearer. 

The fire burned down, smouldered, and went out. No one had thought ofreplenishing it with fuel. Though there were faggots enough collectednot far off, the toil of bringing them forward seemed too much for theirwasted strength and deadened energies. Fire could be of no service tothem now. It had done them no good while ablaze; and since it had goneout, they cared not to renew it. If they were to die, their lastmoments could scarcely be more bitter in darkness than in light. 

Still Captain Redwood wished for light. He wished for it, so that hemight once more look upon the faces of his two sweet suffering pets, before the pallor of death should overspread them. He would perhapshave made an effort to rekindle the fire, or requested one of the othersto do it; but just then, on turning his eyes to the east, he saw agreyish streak glimmering above the line of the sea-horizon. He knew itwas the herald of coming day; and he knew, moreover, that, in thelatitude they were in, the day itself would not linger long behind. 

"Thank God!" was the exclamation that came from his lips, low muttered, but in fervent emphasis. "Thank God, I shall see them once more!Better their lives should not go out in the darkness. "

As he spoke the words, and as if to gratify him, the streak on theeastern sky seemed rapidly to grow broader and brighter, its colour ofpale grey changing to golden yellow; and soon after, the upper limb ofthe glorious tropical sun showed itself over the smooth surface of theCelebes Sea. 

As his cheering rays touched the trees of the forest, then eyes werefirst turned upon one another, and then in different directions. Thoseof Captain Redwood rested upon the faces of his children, now trulyoverspread with the wan pallor of what seemed to be rapidly approachingdeath. 

Murtagh gazed wistfully out upon the ocean, as if wishing himself oncemore upon it, and no doubt thinking of that green isle far away beyondit; while Saloo's glance was turned upward--not toward the heavens, butas if he was contemplating some object among the leaves of the treeoverhead. 

All at once the expression upon his countenance took a change--remarkable as it was sudden. From the look of sullen despair, which butthe moment before might have been seen gleaming out of the sunken orbitsof his eyes, his glance seemed to change to one of joy, almost with thequickness of the lightning's flash. 

Simultaneous with the change, he sprang up from his reclining position, uttering as he did so an exclamation in the Malayan tongue, which hiscompanions guessed to be some formula of address to the Deity, from itsending with the word "Allah. "

"De gleat God be thank!" he continued, returning to his "pigeonEnglish, " so that the others might understand. "We all be save. Buldno poison. We no die yet. Come away, cappen, " he continued, bendingdown, and seizing the children by the hands. Then raising both on theirfeet, he quickly added, "Come all away. Unda de tlee death. Out yondawe findee life. Come away--way. "

Without waiting for the consent either of them or their father, he led--indeed, almost dragged--Helen and Henry from under the shadow of thetree and out toward the open sea-beach. 

Though Captain Redwood did not clearly comprehend the object of Saloo'ssudden action, nor Murtagh comprehend it at all, both rose to theirfeet, and followed with tottering steps. 

Not until they had got out upon the open ground, and sat down upon thesand, with the fresh sea-breeze fanning their fevered brows, did Saloogive an explanation of his apparently eccentric behaviour. 

He did so by pointing to the tree under which they had passed the night, and pronouncing only the one word--"Upas. "

CHAPTER TWENTY. 

THE DEADLY UPAS. 

"Upas!"

A word sufficient to explain all that had passed. Both Captain Redwoodand his ship-carpenter understood its signification; for what man isthere who has ever sailed through the islands of the India Archipelagowithout having heard of the upas? Indeed, who in any part of the worldhas not either heard or read of this poisonous tree, supposed to carrydeath to every living thing for a wide distance around it, not evensparing shrubs or plants--things of its own kind--but inflicting blightand destruction wherever its envenomed breath may be wafted on thebreeze?

Captain Redwood was a man of too much intelligence, and toowell-informed, to have belief in this fabulous tale of the olden time. Still he knew there was enough truth in it to account for all that hadoccurred--for the vertigo and vomiting, the horrible nausea and utterprostration of strength that had come upon them unconsciously. They hadmade their camp under one of these baneful trees--the true upas(_antiaris toxicaria_); they had kindled a fire beneath it, building itclose to the trunk--in fact, against it; the smoke had ascended amongits leaves; the heat had caused a sudden exudation of the sap; and theenvenomed vapour floating about upon the air had freely found its wayboth into their mouths and nostrils. For hours had this empoisonedatmosphere been their only breath, nearly depriving them of that uponwhich their lives depended. 

If still suffering severely from the effects of having inhaled thenoxious vapour, they were now no longer wretched. Their spirits wereeven restored to a degree of cheerfulness, as is always the case withthose who have just escaped from some calamity or danger. They now knewthat in due time they would recover their health and strength. Theglorious tropical sun that had arisen was shining benignantly in theirfaces, and brightening everything around, while the breeze, blowingfresh upon them from a serene sapphire-coloured sea, cooled theirfevered blood. They felt already reviving. The sensations theyexperienced were those of one who, late suffering from sea-sickness, pent up in the state-room of a storm-tossed ship, with all its vileodours around him, has been suddenly transferred to _terra firma_, andlaid upon some solid bank, grassy or moss-grown, with tall trees wavingabove, and the perfume of flowers floating upon the balmy air. 

For a long while they sat upon the sands in this pleasant dreamy state, gazing upon the white surf that curled over the coral reefs, gazing uponthe blue water beyond, following the flight of large white-winged birdsthat now and then went plunging down into the sea, to rise up with afish glistening in their beaks, half unconscious of the scene undertheir eyes and the strife continuing before them, but conscious, contented, and even joyous at knowing they still lived, and that thetime had not yet come for them to die. 

They no longer blamed the hornbill for what had happened. The cause wasin their own carelessness or imprudence; for Captain Redwood knew theupas-tree, and was well aware of its dangerous properties to thoseventuring into too close proximity. He had seen it in other islands;for it grows not only in Java, with which its name is more familiarlyidentified, but in Bali, Celebes, and Borneo. He had seen it elsewhere, and heard it called by different names, according to the differentlocalities, as _tayim, hippo, upo, antijar_, and _upas_; all signifyingthe same thing--the "tree of poison. "

Had he been more careful about the selection of their camping-place, andlooked upon its smooth reddish or tan-coloured bark and closely-setleaves of glossy green, he would have recognised and shunned it. He didnot do so; for who at such a time could have been thinking of such acatastrophe? Under a tree whose shade seemed so inviting, who wouldhave suspected that danger was lurking, much less that death dwelt amongits leaves and branches?

The first had actually arisen, and the last had been very near. But itwas now far away, or at least no longer to be dreaded from the poison ofthe upas. The sickness caused by it would continue for a while, and itmight be some time before their strength or energies would be fullyrestored. But of dying there was no danger, as the poison of the upasdoes not kill, when only inhaled as a vapour; unless the inhalation be along time continued. Its sap taken internally, by the chewing of itsleaves, bark, or root, is certain death, and speedy death. It is one ofthe ingredients used by the Bornean Dyaks for tipping their poisonedspears, and the arrows of their _sumpitans_ or blow-guns. They use itin combination with the _bina_, another deadly poison, extracted fromthe juice of a parasitical plant found everywhere through the forests ofBorneo. 

It is singular that the upas-tree should belong to the same naturalorder, the Artocarpaceae, as the bread-fruit; the tree of death thusbeing connected with the tree of life. In some of the Indian islands itis called _Popon-upas_; in Java it is known as the _Antijar_. 

Its leaves are shaped like spear-heads; the fruit is a kind of drupe, clothed in fleshy scales. 

The juice, when prepared as a poison, is sometimes mixed with blackpepper, and the juice of galanga-root, and of ginger. It is as thick asmolasses, and will keep for a long time if sheltered from the action ofthe air. 

The upas does not grow as a gregarious tree, and is nowhere found innumbers. Like the precious treasures of nature--gold, diamonds, andpearls--her poisons, too, happily for man, are sparsely distributed. Even in the climate and soil congenial to it, the _antiaris toxicaria_is rare; but wherever discovered is sure to be frequently visited, if ina district where there are hunters or warriors wishing to empoison andmake more deadly their shafts. A upas-tree in a well-knownneighbourhood is usually disfigured by seams and scars, where incisionshave been made to extract its envenomed juice. 

That there were no such marks upon the one where they had made theircamp, was evidence that the neighbourhood was uninhabited. So saidSaloo, and the others were but too glad to accept his interpretation ofthe sign. 

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. 

STARTING FOR THE INTERIOR. 

Reclining on the soft silvery sand, inhaling the fresh morning breezeblowing in from the Celebes Sea, every breath of it seeming to infusefresh blood into their veins and renewed vigour into their limbs, thecastaways felt their health and strength fast returning. Saloo'sprognosis was rapidly proving itself correct. He had said they wouldsoon recover, and they now acknowledged the truth of his prediction. 

Their cheerfulness came back along with their returning strength, andwith this also their appetites. Their dinner-supper of roast hornbillhad done them little good; but although for a time scared by such diet, and determined to eschew it when better could be had, they were now onlytoo glad to resort to it, and it was agreed upon that the old hen, stewed as intended, should supply the material of their breakfast. 

A fresh fire was kindled far away from the dangerous upas; the hugeshell, with its contents, was hastily snatched from the deadly shade, and, supported by four large pebbles to serve as feet for the queerstew-pan, it was placed over the burning embers, and soon commenced tosteam and squeak, spreading around an odorous incense, far pleasanter tothe olfactories of the hungry party than either the fresh saline breeze, or the perfume of tropical flowers now and then wafted to them from therecesses of the forest. 

While waiting for the flesh of the old hen to get properly and tenderlystewed, they could not resist the temptation of making an assault uponthe chick; and it, too, was hurriedly rescued from the tainted larderbeneath the upas-tree, spitted upon a bamboo sapling, and broiled like asquab-pigeon over the incandescent brands. 

It gave them only a small morsel each, serving as a sort of prelude tothe more substantial breakfast soon to follow, and for which they couldnow wait with greater composure. 

In due time Saloo, who was wonderfully skilled in the tactics of theforest _cuisine_, pronounced the stew sufficiently done; when thestew-pan was lifted from the fire, and set in the soft sand for itscontents to cool. 

Soon gathering around it, each was helped to a share: one to a wing withliver or gizzard, another to a thigh-joint with a bit of the breast, athird to the stripped breast-bone, or the back one, with its thincovering of flesh, a fourth to a variety of stray giblets. 

There was still a savoury sauce remaining in the pan, due to the herbcondiments which Saloo had collected. This was served out in some tinpannikins, which the castaway crew had found time to fling into the boatbefore parting from the sinking ship. It gave them a soup, which, ifthey could only have had biscuits or bread with it, would have beenquite as good as coffee for their breakfast. 

As soon as this was eaten, they took steps to change their place ofencampment. Twice unfortunate in the selection of a site, they were nowmore particular, and carefully scrutinised the next tree under whoseshadow they intended to take up their abode. A spreading fig not faroff invited them to repose beneath its umbrageous foliage; and removing;their camp paraphernalia from the poison-breathing; upas, they once moreerected the tarpaulin, and recommenced housekeeping under the protectingshelter of a tree celebrated in the Hindu mythology as the "sacredbanyan. "

 "It was a goodly sight to see That venerable tree For o'er the lawn, irregularly spread. Fifty straight columns propt its lofty head; And many a long depending shoot, Seeking to strike its root, Straight like a plummet grew towards the ground. Some on the lower boughs which crost their way, Fixing their bearded fibres, round and round, With many a ring and wild contortion wound; Some to the passing wind at times, with sway Of gentle motion swung; Others of younger growth, unmoved, were hung Like stone-drops from a cavern's fretted height. "

The banyan often measures thirty feet in girth; the one selected byCaptain Redwood was probably not less than twenty-five feet. Itspeculiarity is that it throws out roots from all its branches, so thatas fast as each branch, in growing downwards, touches the ground, ittakes root, and in due time serves as a substantial prop to thehorizontal bough, which, without some such support, would give waybeneath its own weight. 

They intended it for only a temporary dwelling-place, until theirstrength should be sufficiently established to enable them to start ontheir contemplated overland journey, with a prospect of being able tocontinue it to its end. 

It seemed, at length, as if fortune, hitherto so adverse, had turned asmiling face toward them; and they were not much longer to be detainedupon that wild and dangerous shore. For the same day on which theyremoved from the upas to the fig-tree, the latter furnished them with anarticle of food in sufficient quantity to stock their larder for nearlya week, and of a quality superior in strengthening powers to eitherroast or stewed hornbill, and quite equal to the eggs of themound-making birds. 

It was not the fruit of the fig that had done this; but an animal theyhad discovered crawling along one of its branches. It was a reptile ofthat most hideous and horrid shape, the _saurian_; and only thehungriest man could ever have looked upon, with thoughts of eating it. But Saloo felt no repugnance of this kind; he knew that the huge lizardcreeping along the limb of the banyan-tree, over five feet long, andnearly as thick as the body of a man, would afford flesh not onlyeatable, but such as would have been craved for by Apicius, had theRoman epicure ever journeyed through the islands of the MalayanArchipelago, and found an opportunity of making trial of it. 

What they saw slowly traversing the branch above them was one of thosehuge lizards of the genus _Hydrosaurus_, of which there are severalspecies in Indian climes--like the _iguanas_ of America--harmlesscreatures, despite their horrid appearance, and often furnishing to thehunter or forester a meal of chops and steaks both tender and delicious. 

With this knowledge of what it would afford them, Saloo had nodifficulty in persuading Captain Redwood to send a bullet through theskull of the _hydrosaurus_, and it soon lay lifeless upon the ground. 

The lizard was nigh six feet from snout to tail; and Saloo, assisted byMurtagh, soon slipped a piece of his vegetable rope around its jaws, andslung it up to a horizontal branch for the purpose of skinning it. Thussuspended, with limbs and arms sticking out, it bore a very disagreeableresemblance to a human being just hanged. Saloo did not care anythingabout this, but at once commenced peeling off its skin; and then he cutthe body into quarters, and subdivided them into "collops, " which weresoon sputtering in the blaze of a bright fire. As the Malay hadpromised, these proved tender, tasting like young pork steaks, with aslight flavour of chicken, and just a _soupcon_ of frog. Delicate asthey were, however, after three days' dieting upon them all feltstronger--almost strong enough, indeed, to commence their grand journey. 

Just then another, and still more strengthening, kind of food was addedto their larder. It was obtained by a mere accident, in the form of ahuge wild boar of the Bornean species, which, scouring the forest insearch of fruits or roots, had strayed close to their camp under thefig-tree. He came too close for his own safety; a bullet from CaptainRedwood's rifle having put an abrupt stop to his "rootings. "

Butchered in proper scientific fashion, he not only afforded them foodfor the time in the shape of pork chops, roast ribs, and the like; butgave them a couple of hams, which, half-cooked and cured by smoking, could be carried as a sure supply upon the journey. 

And so provisioned, they at length determined on commencing it, takingwith them such articles of the wreck-salvage as could be convenientlytransferred, and might prove beneficial. Bidding adieu to the pinnace, the dear old craft which had so safely carried them through the dangersof the deep, they embarked on a voyage of a very different kind, in thecourses of which they were far less skilled, and of whose tracks andperils they were even more apprehensive. But they had no otheralternative. To remain on the eastern coast of Borneo would be to staythere for ever. They could not entertain the slightest hope of any shipappearing off shore to rescue them. A vessel so showing itself wouldbe, in all probability, a prau filled with bloodthirsty pirates, whowould either kill or make captives of them, and afterwards sell theminto slavery: and a slavery from which no civilised power could redeemthem, as no civilised man might ever see them in their chains. 

It was from knowing this terrible truth that Captain Redwood hadresolved upon crossing the great island overland at that part where hesupposed it to be narrowest, --the neck lying between its eastern coastand the old Malayan town of Bruni on the west, adjacent to the islet ofLabuan, where he knew an English settlement was situated. 

In pursuance of this determination, he struck camp, and moved forwardinto a forest of unknown paths and mysterious perils. 

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. 

ACROSS COUNTRY. 

In undertaking the journey across Borneo, Captain Redwood knew therewould be many difficulties to encounter, as well as dangers. There wasfirst the great distance, which could not be much less than two hundredand fifty miles, even if they should succeed in making it in a straightline--as the crow flies. But, no doubt, obstructions would presentthemselves along the route to cause many a detour. Still this was anobstacle which time would overcome. At the rate of ten miles a day, itwould be conquered in a month; and if two months should have to bespent, it would not be a very formidable hardship, considering that itwas a journey overtaken to carry them through a savage wilderness, andrestore them to civilisation--nay, almost to life. 

That it was to be made on foot did not dismay them, they had quiterecovered from the effects of their sea-suffering, as also from thepoisonous breath of the upas, and felt strong enough to undertake anygreat feat of pedestrianism. And, as they were under no limits as totime, they could adopt such a rate of speed as the nature of the pathswould permit. On this score there was neither apprehension noruneasiness; there might have been about provisions, as the cured hams ofthe wild boar could not possibly last longer than a week; and what werethey to eat after these were consumed?

Saloo set their minds at rest on this matter, by telling them that theinterior forests of Borneo--which he did not know--if they at allresembled those of Sumatra--which he did know--would be found full offruit-bearing trees; and, besides, numerous chances would arise forkilling or capturing birds and other small game, even if a deer or asecond wild boar did not present himself. In order to be prepared forany such that might come in his way, as well as to save theirammunition, of which they had but a limited supply, Saloo had spent thelast few days of their sojourn upon the coast in the manufacture of aweapon well suited for such a purpose, even better than musket or rifle. It was the "Sumpitan, " or blow-gun. This the Malay had made, alongwith a complete set of "sumpits, " or arrows, and a quiver to containthem. The sumpitan itself--eight feet in length--he fashioned from astraight sapling of the beautiful _casuarina_ tree, which growsthroughout the islands of the Malayan Archipelago; while the littlearrows, only eight inches long, he obtained from the medium of theleaflets of the _nibong_ palms, many of which were found near the spotwhere they had encamped. The pith of the same palm served him for theswell of the arrow, which, being compressible like cork, fills up thetube of the sumpitan, and renders the shaft subject to propulsion fromthe quick puff of breath which the blow-gun marksman, from longpractice, knows how to give it. 

Saloo had been one of the best sumpitan shooters in all Sumatra, andcould send an arrow with true aim a distance of a hundred and fiftyyards. But to make its effect deadly at this distance, something morethan the mere pricking of the tiny "sumpit" was needed. This somethingwas a strong vegetable poison which he also knew how to prepare; and theupas-tree, that had so nearly proved fatal to all of them, was nowcalled into requisition to effect a friendly service. Drawing upon itssap, and mixing it with that of another poisonous plant--the _bina_--Saloo gave the points of his sumpits a coating of the combined juices, so that they would carry death into the veins of any animal having theill-fortune to be pierced by them. 

Thus armed and equipped, he had little fear on the score of a scarcityof provisions during the journey. On the contrary, he declared himselfconfident of being able to keep the commissariat up to a point of supplysufficient for the whole party. 

It may be thought strange that they did not speculate on the chances ofarriving at some town or settlement of the natives. Indeed they did so, but only with the thought of avoiding them; for the minds of all--theMalay not excepted--were filled with apprehensions respecting the Dyakand other savage tribes, which report places in the interior of Borneo, and to whom long accredited, though perhaps only imaginative, storieshave given a character alike terrible and mysterious. They could thinkof them only as savages--wild men of the woods--some of them coveredwith hair, and whose chief delight and glory are the cutting off men'sheads, and not unfrequently feasting on men's flesh! No wonder that, with these facts, or fancies, acting upon their imagination, ourtravellers set forth upon their journey determined to give a wide berthto everything that bore the shape of a human being. It was a strangecommentary on man's superiority to the lower animals, and not verycreditable to the former, that he himself was the thing they most fearedto meet with in the wooded wilderness. And yet, humiliating as thereflection may appear, it depressed the minds of the castaways, as, looking their last upon the bright blue sea, they turned their facestoward the interior of the forest-covered land of Borneo. 

For the first day they pursued a course leading along the bank of thestream at whose mouth they had been sojourning ever since their arrivalon the island. They had more than one reason for keeping to the stream. It seemed to flow in a due easterly direction, and therefore to ascendit would lead them due west--the way they wanted to go. Besides, therewas a path along its banks, not made by man, but evidently by largeanimals; whose tracks, seen here and there in soft places, showed themto be tapirs, wild-boars, and the larger but more rare rhinoceros. 

They saw none of these animals during their day's journey, though manyof the traces were fresh. Generally nocturnal in their habits, the hugepachydermatous creatures that had made them were, during daylight, probably lying asleep in their lairs, amid the thick underwood of theadjacent jungles. 

The travellers might have brought the pinnace up the river--so far itwas deep enough to be navigated by a row-boat; and they had at firstthought of doing so. But for several reasons they had changed theirminds, and abandoned their boat. It was too heavy to be easilypropelled by oars, especially against the current of a stream which inmany places was very rapid. Besides, if there should be a settlement ofsavages on the bank, to approach in a boat would just be the way toexpose themselves to being seen, without first seeing. 

But to Captain Redwood the chief objection was, that a mountain-rangerose only a short distance off, and the stream appeared to issue fromits steep sloping side; in which case it would soon assume the characterof a headlong torrent utterly unfit for navigation. Even had watertravel been easier, it could not have been long continued--perhaps notbeyond a single day; and it was not deemed worth while to bring thepinnace with them. So thought the captain, and the others agreeing, theboat was left where they had long since concealed her--under thebanyan-tree. 

The captain's conjectures proved correct. The evening of the firstday's march brought them to the base of the mountain-ridge, down whoserocky flank the stream poured with the strength and velocity of atorrent. No boat could have further ascended it. 

As the path leading along its edge, and hitherto comparatively level andsmooth, now changed to a difficult ascent up a rough rock-strewn ravine, they encamped at the mountain-foot for the first night of their journey. 

Next day was spent in ascending the mountain; following the ravine up toits head, where were found the sources of the stream. Staying only fora short noon-tide rest, they kept upward, and reached the highest pointof the ridge just as the sun was again sinking into the depths of theforest before them. 

At their camping-place on the second night no water was near; and theymight have suffered from the want of it, had they not taken theprecaution to provide against such a deficiency. Their experience ascastaways, especially the memory of their sufferings from thirst, hadrendered them wary of being again subjected to so terrible a torture. Each of the three men carried a "canteen" strung to his waist--the jointof a large bamboo that held at least half a gallon; while the boy andgirl also had their cane canteens, proportioned to their size andstrength. All had been filled with cool clear water before leaving thelast source of the stream, a supply sufficient to serve during theirtransit of the dry mountain-ridge. 

The remainder of that night was spent upon its summit; but as thisproved of considerable breadth, and was covered with a thick growth ofjungle-trees, it was near sunset the next day before they arrived at theedge of its eastern declivity, and obtained a view of the countrybeyond. 

The sun was descending behind the crest of another mountain-ridge, apparently parallel with that upon which they were, and not less thantwenty miles distant from it. Between the two extended a valley, orrather a level plain, thickly covered with forest, except where a sheetof water gleamed in the setting sun like a disc of liquid gold. 

Nor was the plain all level. Here and there, above the wooded surface, rose isolated hills, of rounded mound-like shape, also clothed withtimber, but with trees whose foliage, of lighter sheen, showed them tobe of species different from those on the plain below. 

Through a break among the branches of those now shadowing them on themountain brow, the travellers for some time contemplated the countrybefore them, and across which, upon the morrow, they would have to maketheir way. 

At this moment Saloo muttered some words, which, coupled with theexpression upon his countenance as he gave utterance to them, alarmedhis companions. The words were, --

"It lookee like countly of _mias lombi_. Cappen Ledwad, if dat wilddebbel lib in dem wood below, bettel we go all lound. We tly closs it, may be we get eat up. Singapo tiga not so dang'lous as _mias_--he notcommon kind, but gleat _mias lombi_--what Poltugee people callee `_ledgolilla_. '"

"The _red gorilla_!" ejaculated Captain Redwood. "Is it the_ourang-outang_ you mean?"

"Same ting, Sahib cappen. Some call him _oolang-ootang_, some say _ledgolilla_. One kind belly big--belly bad--he call _mias lombi_. Hecally away women, childen; take 'em up into top ob de highest talleetlee. Nobody know what he do then. Eat 'em up may be. What fol elsehe want 'em? Ah! Cappen Ledwad, we dlead de oolang-Dyak. He no halfdang'lous like oolang-ootang led golilla. "

Notwithstanding the _patois_ of his speech, what Saloo said was wellenough understood by his companions, for in the _led golilla_ or_oolang-ootang_ of his peculiar pronunciation, they recognised the longknown and world-renowned ape of Borneo, which, although safe enough whenseen inside the cage of the showman, is a creature to be dreaded--atleast the species spoken of--when encountered in its native haunts, theforests of Sumatra and Borneo. 

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. 

TOUGH TRAVELLING. 

Next morning they did not start so early, because the great plain beforethem was shrouded under a fog, and they waited for it to pass off. 

It was not dispelled until the sun had risen in the heavens behind them, for their backs were still to the east, their route lying due westward. 

During the night, and again in the morning, they had discussed thequestion of striking straight across the plain, or making a circuitousmarch around it. When the fog at length lifted, this point wasdefinitely settled by what they saw before and on each side of them, that the great valley plain extended both to right and left beyond thelimits of their vision. To go round it might add scores of miles andmany days to their journey. They could not think of taking such acircuitous route, even with the fear of the wild men before them; adanger Captain Redwood believed to be greatly exaggerated by the Malay, who in such matters was of a somewhat imaginative turn. Throwing asideall thought of such an encounter, they struck down the mountain slope, determined on crossing the plain. 

It was sunset when they arrived at the mountain-foot, and another nightwas passed there. 

On the following morning they commenced the passage of the plain; whichintroduced them to a very different and much more difficult kind oftravelling than any they had experienced since leaving the sea-coast. Some parts of their journey, both in the ascent and descent, had beentoilsome enough; but the slopes, as well as the summits, werecomparatively clear of underwood. On the low level it was quite anotheraffair. The huge forest-trees were loaded with parasitical creepers, which, stretching from trunk to trunk in all directions, formed here andthere an impenetrable net or trellis-work. In such places the kris ofSaloo, and the ship's axe carried by Murtagh, were called intorequisition, and much time was expended in cutting a way through thetangled growth. 

Another kind of obstacle was also occasionally met with, in the brakesof bamboo, where these gigantic canes, four or five inches in diameter, and rising to a height of over fifty feet, grew so close together thateven a snake would have found difficulty in working its way throughthem. Fortunately, their stems being hollow, they are easily broughtdown, and a single stroke from the axe, or even Saloo's sharp kris, given slantingly, would send one of them crashing over, its leafy topbearing along with it the long ribbon-like leaves of many others. 

One of these cane brakes proved to be upwards of a mile in width, andits passage delayed them at least three hours. They might haveattempted to get round it, but they did not know how far it extended. Possibly ten or twenty miles--for the bamboo thickets often run inbelts, their growth being due to the presence of some narrow watertrack, or the course of a stream. In the Indian Archipelago are severalspecies of these tall canes, usually known by the general name of_bamboo_, though differing from each other in size and other respects. They furnish to the inhabitants of these islands the material for almostevery article required for their domestic economy--as the variousspecies of palms do to the natives of South America--more especially thedenizens of the great Amazon valley. Not only are their housesconstructed of bamboo, but the greater portion of their praus; whileutensils of many kinds, cups, bottles, and water-casks of the best make, are obtained from its huge joints, cheaply and conveniently. A barecatalogue of bamboo tools and utensils would certainly occupy severalpages. 

Notwithstanding its valuable properties, our travellers hated the sightof it; and more than once the Irishman, as he placed his axe upon thesilicious culms, was heard to speak disrespectfully about it, "weeshin'that there wasn't a stalk of the cane in all Burnayo. "

But another kind of obstruction vexed Murtagh even more than the brakesof bamboo. This was the webs of huge spiders--ugly tarantula-lookinganimals--whose nets in places, extending from tree to tree, traversedthe forest in every direction, resembling the seines of afishing-village hung out to dry, or miles of musquito-curtain dependingfrom the horizontal branches. Through this strange festoonery they hadto make their way, often for hundreds of yards; the soft silky substanceclutching disagreeably around their throats and clinging to theirclothes till each looked as though clad in an integument of raggedcotton, or the long loose wool of a merino sheep yet unwoven into cloth. And as they forced their way through it--at times requiring strength toextricate them from its tough retentive hold--they could see the hideousforms of the huge spiders who had spun and woven these strangelypatterned webs scuttling off, and from their dark retreats in thecrevices of the trees looking defiant and angry at the intruders upontheir domain--perhaps never before trodden by man. 

Yet another kind of obstruction our travellers had to encounter on theirway across the great plain. There were tracts of moist ground, sometimes covered with tall forest-trees, at others opening out into asedgy morass, with perhaps a small lake or water-patch in the centre. The first required them to make way through mud, or thick stagnant watercovered with scum, often reaching above their knees. These places wereespecially disagreeable to cross; for under the gloomy shadow of thetrees they would now and then catch a glimpse of huge newt-like lizardsof the genus _hydrosaurus_--almost as large as crocodiles--slowlyfloundering out of the way, as if reluctant to leave, andhalf-determined to dispute the passage. 

Moreover, while thus occupied, they lived in the obscurity of an eternaltwilight, and could travel only by guess-work. They had no guide savethe sun, which in these shadows is never visible. Through the thickfoliage overhead its disc could not be seen; nor aught that would enablethem to determine its position in the sky, and along with it theirdirection upon the earth. It was, therefore, not only a relief to theirfeelings, but a positive necessity for their continuance in the rightdirection, that now and then a stretch of open swamp obstructed theirtrack. True, it caused them to make a detour, and so wasted their time;but then it afforded them a glimpse of the sun's orb, and enabled themto pursue their journey in the right course. 

During the mid-day hours they were deprived of even this guidance: forthe meridian sun gives no clue to the points of the compass. They didnot much feel the disadvantage; as at noon-tide the hot tropicalatmosphere had become almost insupportable, and the heat, added to theirfatigue from incessant toiling through thicket and swamp, made itnecessary for them to take several hours of rest. 

They resumed their journey in the evening, as the sun, declining towardthe western horizon, pointed out to them the way they were to go. Theyaimed to reach the sheet of water seen by them from the brow of themountain. They wished to strike it at its southern end, as this wasright in the direction westward. It appeared to lie about midwaybetween the two mountain-ranges; and, in such a case, would be a properhalting-place on their journey across the plain. On starting from thehigher ground, they expected to reach it in a few hours, or at thelatest by sunset of that same day. But it was twilight of the thirdday, when, with exhausted strength and wearied limbs, their clothingtorn and mud-stained, they stood upon its nearest shore! They did notstand there long, but dropping down upon the earth, forgetful ofeverything--even the necessity of keeping watch--they surrenderedthemselves over to sleep. 

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. 

A RED SATYR. 

They slept until a late hour of the morning; when, rousing themselveswith difficulty, they kindled a fire and cooked a breakfast of theboar's ham cured by them before leaving the coast. It was the second, and of course the last, already becoming rapidly reduced to a "knuckle;"for their journey was now entering upon the second week. 

They bethought them of making a halt on the bank of the lake; partly torecruit their strength after the long-continued fatigue, and partly, ifpossible, to replenish their larder. 

Saloo got ready his blow-gun and poisoned arrows; Captain Redwood lookedto his rifle; while the ship-carpenter, whose speciality was fishing, and who for this purpose had brought his hooks and lines along with him, determined on trying what species of the finny tribe frequented theinland lake, in hopes they might prove less shy at biting than theirbrethren of the sea-coast stream. 

Again the three men started off, Murtagh traversing in solitude the edgeof the lake, while Captain Redwood, with his rifle--accompanied bySaloo, carrying his sumpitan and quiver of poisoned arrows--struckdirect into the woods. 

Henry and Helen remained where they had passed the night, under theshadow of a spreading tree; which, although of a species unknown to thetravellers, had been cautiously scrutinised by them, and seemed to beneither a durion nor a upas. They were cautioned not to stir a stepfrom the spot till the others should return. 

Though in other respects a good, obedient boy, Henry Redwood was notabundantly gifted with prudence. He was a native-born New Yorker, andas such, of course, precocious, courageous, daring, even to a fault--inshort, having the heart of a man beating within the breast of a boy. Soinspired, when a huge bird, standing even taller than himself on itsgreat stilt-like legs--it was the adjutant stork of India (_ciconiaargalia_)--dropped down upon the point of a little peninsula whichprojected into the lake, he could not resist the temptation of getting ashot at it. 

Grasping the great ship's musket--part of the paraphernalia they hadbrought along with them, and which was almost as much as he couldstagger under--he started to stalk the great crane, leaving little Helenunder the tree. 

Some reeds growing along the edge of the lake offered a chance by whichthe game might be approached, and under cover of them he had creptalmost within shot of it, when a cry fell upon his ear, thrilling himwith a sudden dread. 

It was the voice of his sister Helen, uttered in tones of alarm?

Turning suddenly, he wondered not that her cries were continued in thewildest terror, mingled with convulsive ejaculations. A man had drawnnear her, and oh! such a man! Never in all his experience, nor in hisdarkest and most distorted dreams, had he seen, or dreamt of, a humanbeing so hideous, as that he now saw, half-standing, half-crouching, only a short distance from his sister's resting-place. 

It was a man who, if he had only been in an erect attitude, would havestood at least eight feet in height, and this would have been in anunder-proportion to the size of his head, the massive breadth of hisbody across the breast and shoulders, and the length of his arms. Butit was not his gigantic size which made him so terrible, or whichelectrified the heart of the boy, at a safe distance, as it had donethat of the girl, nearer and in more danger. It was the _tout ensemble_of this strange creature in human shape--a man apparently covered allover with red hair, thick and shaggy, as upon the skin of a wolf orbear; bright red over the body and limbs, and blacker upon the face, where it was thinnest--a creature, in short, such as neither boy norgirl had ever before seen, and such as was long believed to exist onlyin the imagination of the ancients, under the appellation of "satyr. "

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. 

SILENCE RESTORED. 

At first sight of the brute, notwithstanding its strangely monstrousappearance, Henry had really mistaken it for a man; but a moment'sreflection convinced him that he was looking upon an ape instead of aman, and one of such gigantic size as to make him certain it must be theanimal spoken of by Saloo under the various appellations of _miasrombi_, _ourang-outang_, and _red gorilla_. Saloo's remarks concerningthis ape, and his emphatic warnings, were not at all pleasant to be nowrecalled. Though brave as a young lion, he looked upon the shaggymonster with fear and trembling. Far less for himself than for hissister; who, being nearer to it, was, of course, in greater peril of anattack. This, indeed, seemed imminent, and his first thought was torush to the spot and discharge his musket into the monster's face. Hewas restrained only by seeing that Helen, moved by an instinct ofself-preservation, had made an effort to save herself by gliding roundthe trunk of the tree, and seeking concealment on its opposite side. Atthe same time she had prudently ceased her cries; and as the animal didnot show any intention of following her, but rather seemed inclined tokeep toward the edge of the lake, the boy bethought him that his bestcourse would be not to discharge his musket until the ape should makesome hostile demonstration. 

Saloo had told them that the brute is not always disposed to commencethe attack upon man. If left alone, it will go its own way, exceptduring certain seasons, when the females are fearful for their youngoffspring. Then they will assail every intruder that comes near, whether man or animal. But when wounded or enraged they will not onlyact on the defensive, but attack their enemies in the most spiteful andimplacable manner. 

Remembering these things, and hoping the huge creature might take apeaceful departure from the place, Henry, who had already held hismusket at the level, lowered its muzzle, at the same time dropping uponhis knees among some tall grass, which, in this attitude, tolerably wellconcealed him. 

He soon saw that he had acted wisely. The hairy monster seemedaltogether to ignore the presence of his sister and himself; and as ifneither were within a thousand miles of the spot, kept on its coursetoward the margin of the water. Fortunately for Henry, it went quiteanother way, which, widening diagonally, did not bring the creature atall near him. It was evidently directing its course toward someliliaceous plants with large succulent stems, which formed a patch orbed, standing in the water, but close to the brink of the lake. 

In all probability there was not enough fruit in the neighbourhood tosatisfy the hirsute gentleman now passing before their eyes; or else hehad a fancy to vary his diet by making a meal upon simple vegetables. He soon reached the patch of tall water-plants; waded in nearlyknee-deep; and then with arms, each of which had the sweep of a mower'sscythe, drew in their heads toward him, and with a mouth wide as that ofa hippopotamus, cropped off the succulent shoots and flower-stems, andmunched them like an ox in the act of chewing its cud. 

Seeing the huge hairy creature thus peaceably disposed, and hoping itwould for some time continue in this harmless disposition, Henry rosefrom his kneeling attitude, and glided silently, but swiftly, toward thetree. Joining his sister Helen, he flung his arms around her as he roseerect, and kissed her to chase away the effects of the terrible frightshe had sustained. 

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. 

IN FEAR AND TREMBLING. 

The kiss which Henry gave his little sister was not one ofcongratulation. He was not yet sure of her safety, or of his own. Thehairy monster was still in sight--not more than a hundred yards off--andthough apparently busy with his banquet on the tender shoots of thewater-plants, might at any moment discontinue it, and spring upon them. 

What was the best thing to be done in order to escape him? Run off intothe forest, and try to find their father and Saloo? They might go thewrong way, and by so doing make things worse. The great ape itselfwould soon be returning among the trees, and might meet them in theteeth; there would then be no chance of avoiding an encounter. 

To go after Murtagh would be an equally doubtful proceeding; they wereignorant of the direction the ship-carpenter had taken. 

Young as they were, a moment's reflection admonished them not to stirfrom the spot. 

But what, then? Cry out, so that the absent ones might hear them? No;for this might also attract the attention of the ourang-outang, andbring it upon them. Besides, Helen had shrieked loudly on the firstalarm. If any of the hunters had been within hearing, they would haveneeded no further signal to tell them that some danger threatened her. If not within hearing, it would be worse than idle for either of them tocry out again. They determined, therefore, to remain silent, and keepto their position, in the hope that either their father, the Malay, orMurtagh, might come to their speedy relief. 

But they were prudent enough not to expose themselves to any wanderingglance of the red gorilla's. The moment Henry had joined his sister hehad hurried her behind the trunk of the tree, and they were now on theside facing toward the forest. There, by looking through the leaves ofsome orchideous creepers that wreathed the great stem, they could seethe dreaded creature without being seen by it. Hand in hand, stilltrembling, they stood silently and cautiously regarding the gorilla andits movements. 

Under other and safer circumstances it would have been a curious andinteresting spectacle: this gigantic, human-like ape, stretching forthits hairy arms, each full four feet in length--gathering in the heads ofthe tall water-plants, and munching them in great mouthfuls, thenletting the stalks go and sweeping round to collect a fresh sheaf, atintervals wading a pace or two to reach some that were more tempting toits taste. For several minutes they remained looking at this raresight, which would have absorbed the attention of the spectators couldit have been witnessed in a menagerie. 

But they regarded it with fear and awe. Their eyes and ears were at thesame time more occupied in looking and listening for some sign thatmight veil them of the return of their protectors. 

Time passed; none was seen, none heard. 

A long time passed, and no sound from the forest; no murmur of men'svoices, or cry of scared bird, to proclaim that any one was approachingthe spot. 

The brute was still browsing, but with less apparent voracity. He drewthe shoots toward him with a gentler sweep of his arms, selecting onlythe most succulent. His appetite was on the wane; it was evident hewould soon leave off eating and return to his roosting or resting-place. In the forest, of course, though they knew not where. It might be onthe tree over their heads, or on one close at hand; or it might be afaroff. In any case, they felt that a crisis was approaching. 

Both trembled, as they thought how soon they might be face to face withthe hideous creature--confronting it, or perhaps enfolded in its longhairy arms. And in such an embrace, how would it fare with them? Whatchance of escape from it? None! They would be crushed, helpless asflies in the grasp of a gigantic spider. If the creature should comethat way, and resolve upon assailing them, one or other, or both ofthem, would surely be destroyed. 

If only one, Henry had fully made up his mind who it should be. Thebrave boy had determined to sacrifice his own life, if need be, to savehis sister. Firmly grasping the great musket, he said:--

"Sister Nell, if it come this way and offer to attack us, you keep outof the scrape. Leave everything to me. Go a good way off when you seeme preparing to fire. I shan't draw trigger till it is close up to themuzzle of the gun. Then there'll be no fear of missing it. To misswould only make it all the madder. Saloo said so. If the shotshouldn't kill it right off, don't mind me. The report may be heard, and bring father or some of the others to our assistance. Dear sis, nomatter what happens, keep out of the way, and wait till they come up. Promise me you will do so!"

"Henry! I will not leave you. Dear, dear brother, if you should bekilled I would not care to live longer. Henry! I will die with you!"

"Don't talk that way, sis. I'm not going to be killed; for I fancy thatwe can run faster than it can. It don't appear to make much speed--atleast along the ground; and I think we might both escape it if we onlyknew which way it was going to take. At any rate, you do as I say, andleave the rest to me. "

While they were thus discussing the course to be pursued--Henry urginghis sister to retreat in the event of his being attacked, and Helentearfully protesting against leaving him--a movement on the part of themias claimed all their attention. It was not a movement indicating anydesign to leave the spot where it had been browsing; but rather a start, as if something caused it a surprise. The start was quickly followed bya gesture, not of alarm, but one that plainly betokened anger. Indeed, it spoke audibly of this, being accompanied by a fierce growl, andsucceeded by a series of hoarse barkings, just like those of a bull-dogor angry mastiff, whose mouth, confined in a muzzle, hinders him fromgiving full vent to his anger. At the same time, instead of risingerect, as a human being under similar circumstances would have done, thefrightful ape, that had been already in the most upright positionpossible to it, dropped down upon all fours, which still, however, fromthe great length of its arms, enabled it to preserve a semi-erectattitude. 

With its huge cheek callosities puffed out beyond their naturaldimensions--(they far exceed a foot in breadth)--its crested hair thrownforward in a stiff coronal ruff; underneath a pair of eyes, gleaminglike two coals of fire, and, further down, its mouth wide agape, displaying two rows of great glistening teeth, it stood--or rathercrouched--as if awaiting for the onset of some well-known enemy; adangerous enemy, but yet not so dangerous that it need be avoided. Onthe contrary, the attitude now assumed by the red gorilla, as also itsvoice and gestures, told them that it was affected by no fear, butbreathed only fury and defiance. 

Why should it fear? Was there any living thing in the forests ofBorneo--biped, quadruped, or reptile possessed of sufficient powers tocope with the hairy colossus now before their eyes, which seemed topartake of the characters of all three, and twice the strength of any ofthem individually? Saloo had said there was none. 

But it was not from the forests of Borneo its enemy was to come. Out ofits waters was approaching the antagonist that had caused it to assumeits attitude of angry defiance; and the spectators now saw thisantagonist in the shape of an enormous lizard--a crocodile larger thanthey had ever seen before. 

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. 

A SPECTACLE RARELY SEEN. 

When the huge reptile first unfolded itself to their view, it wasalready close to the spot where the ourang-outang, knee-deep in thewater, stood awaiting it. They naturally expected to see the landanimal effect a retreat from an antagonist even more formidable-lookingthan itself. 

And in reality it did give ground at first; but only for a few longscrambling strides, made as much on its arms as legs--just far enough toplace itself high and dry upon the bank. There it came to a stop, andstood firmly facing the foe. 

They now perceived the truth of what Saloo had been telling them: thatthere is no animal in all Borneo, either in its forests or its rivers, of which the mias feels fear. Certainly there is none more to bedreaded than the gavial crocodile; yet the great ape, judging by itspresent attitude, was in no sense afraid of it. Had it been so, itwould have retreated into the woods, where, by climbing a tree, it mighteasily have shunned the encounter. Even if it had retired a little upon_terra firma_, the amphibious animal would not have thought of followingit, and it could at once have avoided the conflict, if desirous of doingso. On the contrary, it seemed rather to court it; for not only did ittake a firm stand on the approach of the saurian, but continued to emitits hoarse cough and bark, which, as we have said before, closelyresembled the growlings of an angry mastiff with his jaws held half-shutby the straps of a muzzle. At the same time it struck the groundrepeatedly with its fore-paws, tearing up grass and weeds, and flingingthem spitefully toward the crocodile, and into its very teeth, as ifprovoking the latter to the attack. 

Undismayed, the scaly reptile continued to advance. Neither the strangenoises nor the violent gesticulations of its four-handed enemy seemed tohave any effect upon it. To all appearance, nothing could terrify thegigantic saurian. Confident in its great size and strength--above all, in the thick impenetrable skin that covered its body like a coat ofshale armour--conscious of being so defended, the crocodile alsobelieved that there was no living thing in all the land of Borneo, or inits waters either, that could withstand its terrible onslaught. Ittherefore advanced to the attack with no idea of danger to itself, butonly the thought of seizing upon the half-crouching, half-upright formthat had intruded upon its domain, and which possibly appeared to itonly a weak human being--a poor Dyak, like some of its former victims. 

In this respect it was woefully deceiving itself; and the slight retreatmade by the mias toward the dry land no doubt further misled itsassailant. The reptile paused for a moment, lest the retreat should becontinued, at the same time sinking its body beneath the water as low asthe depth would allow. 

Remaining motionless for a few seconds, and seeing that its victim wasnot only not going any further, but maintained its defiant attitude, thegavial crawled silently and cautiously on till the reeds no longerconcealed it. Then suddenly rising on its strong fore-arms, it boundedforward--aiding the movement by a stroke of its immense tail--andlaunched the whole length of its body on the bank, its huge jaws flyingagape as they came in contact with the shaggy skin of its intended prey. For an instant of time its snout was actually buried in the long redhair of the gorilla, and the spectators expected to see the lattergrasped between its jaws and dragged into the lake. 

They were even congratulating themselves on the chance of thus gettingrid of it, when a movement on the part of the mias warned them they werenot to be so conveniently disembarrassed of its dangerous proximity. That movement was a leap partly to one side, and partly upward into theair. It sprang so high as completely to clear the head of itsassailant, and so far horizontally, that when it came to the groundagain, it was along the extended body of the crocodile, midway betweenits head and its tail. Before the unwieldy reptile could turn toconfront it, the ape made a second spring, this time alighting upon thegavial's back, just behind his shoulders. There straddling, and takinga firm hold with its thick short legs, it threw its long arms forwardover the crocodile's shoulder-blades, as with the intent to throttle it. And now commenced a struggle between the two monstrous creatures--aconflict strange and terrible--such as could only be seen in the depthsof a Bornean or Sumatran forest, in the midst of those wild solitudeswhere man rarely makes his way. And even in such scenes but rarelywitnessed; and only by the lone Dyak hunter straying along the banks ofsome solitary stream, or threading the mazes of the jungle-grown swampor lagoon. 

On the part of the crocodile the strife consisted simply in a series ofendeavours to dismount the hairy rider who clung like a saddle to itsback. To effect this purpose, it made every effort in its power;turning about upon its belly as upon a pivot; snapping its jaws tillthey cracked like pistol shots; lashing the ground with its longvertebrated tail, till the grass and weeds were swept off as if cut withthe blade of a scythe; twisting and wriggling in every possibledirection. 

All to no purpose. The ape held on as firmly as a Mexican to a restivemule, one of its fore-arms clutching the shoulder-blade of the reptile, while the other was constantly oscillating in the air, as if searchingfor something to seize upon. 

For what purpose it did this, the spectators could not at first tell, itwas not long, however, before they discovered its intention. All atonce the disengaged arm made a long clutch forward and grasped the upperjaw of the gavial. During the struggle this had been frequently wideagape, almost pointing vertically upward, as is customary with reptilesof the lizard kind, the singular conformation of the cervical vertebraeenabling them to open their jaws thus widely. One might have supposedthat, in thus taking hold, the gorilla had got its hand into a terribletrap, and that in another instant its fingers would be caught betweenthe quickly-closing teeth of the saurian, and snapped off likepipe-stems, or the tender shoots of a head of celery. The inexperiencedand youthful spectators expected some such result; but not so thecunning old man-monkey, who knew what he was about; for, once he hadgained a good hold upon the upper jaw, at its narrowest part, near thesnout, he made up his mind that those bony counterparts, now asunder, should never come together again. To make quite sure of this, he benthimself to the last supreme effort. Supporting his knees firmly againstthe shoulders of the saurian, and bending his thick muscular arms to theextent of their great strength, he was seen to give one grand wrench. There was a crashing sound, as of a tree torn from its roots, followedby a spasmodic struggle; then the hideous reptile lay extended along theearth, still writhing its body and flirting its tail. 

The red gorilla saw that it had accomplished its task; victory wasachieved, the danger over, and the hated enemy lay helpless, almostnerveless, in its hairy embrace. 

At length, detaching itself from the scaly creature, whose struggleseach moment grew feebler and feebler, it sprang to one side, squatteditself on its haunches, and with a hoarse laughter, that resembled thehorrid yell of a maniac, triumphantly contemplated the ruin of itsprostrate foe!

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. 

STILL TRUSTING IN GOD. 

The reader may suppose the strange conflict we have described to be athing of the author's imagination. Some will, no doubt, pronounce it astory of the sensational and fabulous kind--in short, a "sailor's yarn. "So may it seem to those who give but little attention to the study ofnature. To the naturalist, however, this chapter of animal life andhabits will cause no astonishment; for he will know it to be a true one;and that the spectacle described, although perhaps not one coming everyday under the eye of man, and especially civilised man, has neverthelessbeen witnessed by the inhabitants of the recesses of the Bornean forest. 

Ask any old Bornean bee-hunter, and he will tell you just such a tale asthe above; adding that the ourang-outang, or red gorilla, which he calls_mias_, is a match, and more than a match, for any animal it mayencounter in forest or jungle; and that the only two creatures whichdare attack it are the crocodile and the great _ular_ or _python_, thelatter a serpent of the boa-constructor kind, with one of which ourcastaways had already formed acquaintance. But the Bornean bee-hunter, usually a Dyak, will also tell you that in these conflicts the redgorilla is the victor, though each of the two great reptile antagoniststhat attack it is often thirty feet in length, with a girth almostequalling its own. Only fancy a snake ten yards long, and a lizard thesame; either of which would reach from end to end of the largest room inwhich you may be seated, or across the street in which you may bewalking! You will seldom find such specimens in our museums; for theyare not often encountered by our naturalists or secured by ourtravellers. But take my word for it, there are such serpents and suchlizards in existence, ay, and much larger ones. They may be found notonly in the tropical isles of the Orient, but in the Western world, inthe lagoons and forests of Equatorial America. Many of the "sailors'yarns" of past times, which we have been accustomed so flippantly todiscredit, on account of their appearing rather tough, have under thelight of recent scientific exploration been proved true. 

And although some of them may seem to be incorporated in this narrative, under the guise of mere romance, the reader need not on this accountthink himself misled, or treat them with sublime contempt. If it shouldever be his fate or fortune to make a tour through the East IndianArchipelago, he will cease to be incredulous. 

Henry Redwood and his sister Helen had no such tranquil reflections, asthey stood under the shadow of the great tree, concealing themselvesbehind its trunk, and watching the terrible conflict between the twohuge creatures, both in their eyes equally hideous. 

Giving way to an instinct of justice, they would have taken sides withthe party assailed and against the assailant. But, under thecircumstances, their leanings were the very reverse; for in thetriumphant conqueror they saw a continuance of their own danger;whereas, had the amphibious animal been victorious, this would have beenat an end. The strife now terminated, they stood trembling anduncertain as ever. 

The crocodile, although crushed, and no longer dangerous for anyoffensive manoeuvre, was not killed. Its body still writhed andwriggled upon the ground; though its movements were but the agonisedefforts of mortal pain, excited convulsively and each moment becomingfeebler. 

And the red gorilla stood near, squatted on its haunches; at intervalstossing its long hairy arms around its head, and giving utterance tothat strange coughing laughter, as if it would never leave off exultingover the victory it had achieved. How long was this spectacle to last?It was sufficiently horrid for the spectators to desire its speedytermination. 

And yet they did not; they were in hopes it might continue till a voicecoming from the forest, or the tread of a foot, would tell them thathelp was near. 

Tremblingly but attentively they listened. They heard neither one northe other--neither voice nor footstep. Now and then came the note of abird or the cry of some four-footed creature prowling through theglades; but not uttered in accents of alarm. The hunters must havewandered far in their search for game. They might not return in time. 

Again Henry bethought him of firing the musket to give them a signal. But even if heard, it might not have this effect. They knew that he wasable to hold and handle the great gun, and might think some bird oranimal had come near and tempted him to take a shot at it. 

On the other hand, the report would strike upon the ears of the mias, might distract it from the triumph in which it was indulging, and bringit to the spot where they were standing. Then, with an empty gun in hishand, what defence could the youth make, either for himself or for hissister?

To fire the gun would never do. Better leave the trigger unpulled, andtrust to Providence for protection. 

And then, as the brave boy reflected on the many dangers through whichthey had passed, and how they had always been delivered by somefortunate interposition, he knew it must be the hand of Providence, andwas content to rely upon it again. 

He said so to his little sister, whispering consolation, as with onehand he drew her close to him, the other resting upon the musket. AndHelen whispered back a pious response, as she nestled upon the breast ofher brother. 

A moment more, and the faith of both was submitted to a severe trial. 

The red gorilla, after gloating for a long time over the agonisedcontortions of its disabled enemy, seemed at length satisfied that itwas disabled to death, and facing toward the forest, showed signs of anintention to take its departure from the spot. 

Now came the crisis for Henry and Helen. Which way would the animaltake?

They had not time to exchange question and answer--scarce time even toshape them in their thoughts--when they saw the red satyr turn to thetree behind which they were standing, and come directly toward them. 

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. 

A CAPTIVE CARRIED ALOFT. 

"We are lost!" were the words that rushed from Henry Redwood's lips. They came involuntarily; for, as soon as said, he regretted them, seeinghow much they added to the alarm of his sister. It was a crisis inwhich she needed rather to be inspired to confidence by words ofencouragement. 

They were said, however, and he could not recall them. He had no timeto speak of anything, or to think of what course they should now pursue. Coming straight toward the tree with an awkward, shambling, but speedygait withal, the monster would soon reach the spot where they stood. Its movements showed it to be in a state of excitement--the naturalconsequence of its late conflict with the crocodile. If seen, theywould come in for a share of its anger, already roused. 

If seen! They were almost sure of being seen. They were endeavouringto avoid it by keeping on the other side of the tree, and screeningthemselves among the parasitical plants. But the concealment wasslight, and would not avail them if the animal should pass the trunk andlook around after passing. And now it was making straight for the tree, apparently with the design of ascending it. 

At this crisis Henry once more bethought him of running away and takingHelen with him. He now regretted not having done so sooner. Even to belost in the forest would have been a less danger than that which nowthreatened them. 

A glance told him it would be too late. There was an open space beyondand all around the trunk behind which they had taken shelter. Shouldthey attempt to escape, the ape would be certain of seeing them beforethey could get under cover of the woods, and, as they supposed, mighteasily overtake them in their flight. 

Another tree was near, connecting that under which they stood with theadjoining forest. But it was in a side direction, and they would beseen before reaching it. There was no alternative but to risk a chase, or stay where they were, and take the chances of not being seen by thehorrid creature that was approaching. They chose the latter. 

Silently they stood, hands clasped and close to the stem of the tree, onthe side opposite to that on which the gorilla was advancing. They nolonger saw it; for now they dared not look around the trunk, or evenpeep through the leaves of the orchids, lest their faces might betraythem. 

After all, the ape might pass into the forest without observing them. If it did, the danger would be at an end; if not, the brave boy hadsummoned up all his energies to meet and grapple with it. He held theloaded musket in his hand, ready at a moment's notice to raise it to thelevel and fire into the face of the red-haired satyr. 

They waited in breathless silence, though each could hear the beating ofthe other's heart. 

It was torture to stand thus uncertain; and, as if to continue it, theanimal was a long time in getting to the tree. Had it stopped, orturned off some other way?

Henry was tempted to peep round the trunk and satisfy himself. He wasabout to do this, when a scratching on the other side fell upon theirears. It was the claws of the mias rasping against the bark. The nextmoment the sound seemed higher up, and they were made aware that thecreature was ascending the tree. 

Henry was already congratulating himself on this event. The ape mightgo up without seeing them; and as the tree was a very tall one, with athick head of foliage and matted creepers, once among these, it might nolonger think of looking down. Then they could steal away unobserved, and, keeping at a safe distance, await the return of the hunters. 

At this moment, however, an incident arose that interfered with thisdesirable programme, in an instant changing the position of everythingthat promised so well into a sad and terrible catastrophe. 

It was Murtagh who caused, though innocently, the lamentable diversion. 

The ship-carpenter, returning from his excursion, had just stumbled uponthe crocodile where it lay upon the shore of the lake, which, thoughhelpless to return to its proper element, was not yet dead. With jawtorn and dislocated, it was still twisting its body about in the lastthroes of the death-struggle. 

Not able to account for the spectacle of ruin thus presented, it causedthe Irishman much surprise, not unmingled with alarm--the latterincreasing as he looked towards the tree where Henry and Helen had beenleft, and saw they were no longer there. 

Had he prudently held his peace, perhaps all might have been well; but, catching sight of the huge hairy monster ascending the trunk, thethought flashed across his mind that the young people had been alreadydestroyed, perhaps devoured, by it; and, giving way to this terriblefancy, he uttered a dread cry of despair. 

It was the worst thing he could have done; for, despite the discouragingtone of his voice, it seemed joyful to those crouching in concealment;and, yielding to an instinct that they were now saved by the presence ofa stanch protector, they rushed from their ambuscade, and in so doingdiscovered themselves to the ourang-outang. 

Its eyes were upon them--dark, demon-like orbs, that seemed toscintillate sparks of fire. The gorilla had only gone up the trunk to aheight of about twenty feet, when the cry of the alarmed ship-carpenterbrought its ascent to a sudden stop; then, bringing its body half round, and looking below, it saw the children. 

As if connecting them with the enemy it had just conquered, its angrypassions seemed to rekindle; and once more giving utterance to thatstrange barking cough, it glided down the tree, and made direct for theone who was nearest. 

As ill luck would have it, this chanced to be the little Helen, altogether defenceless and unarmed. Murtagh, still shouting, rushed tothe rescue; while Henry, with his musket raised to his shoulder, endeavoured to get between the ape and its intended victim, so that hecould fire right into the face of the assailant, without endangering thelife of his sister. 

He would have been in time had the gun proved true, which it did not. It was an old flint musket, and the priming had got damp during theirjourney through the moist tropical forest. As he pulled trigger, therewas not even a flash in the pan; and although he instinctively graspedthe gun by its barrel, and, using it as a club, commenced belabouringthe hairy giant over the head, his blows were of no more avail than ifdirected against the trunk of the tree itself. 

Once, twice, three times the butt of the gun descended upon the skull ofthe satyr, protected by its thick shock of coarse red hair; but before afourth blow could be given, the ape threw out one of its immense arms, and carrying it round in a rapid sweep, caught the form of the girl inits embrace, and then, close hugging her against its hairy breast, commenced reascending the tree. 

Shouts and shrieks were of no avail to detain the horrid abductor. Noryet the boy's strength, exerted to its utmost. His strength alone; forMurtagh was not yet up. Henry seized the gorilla's leg, and clung to itas long as ever he could. He was dragged several feet up the trunk; buta kick from the gorilla shook him off, and he fell, stunned and almostsenseless, to the earth. 

CHAPTER THIRTY. 

WHAT WILL BECOME OF HER?

It would be impossible to paint the despair that wrung her brother'sheart, as he stood with upturned face and eyes bent upon a scene inwhich he had no longer the power to take part. 

Not much less intense was the agonised emotion of Murtagh; for littleHelen was almost as dear to the Irishman as if she had been his owndaughter. 

Neither could have any other thought than that the child was lost beyondhope of recovery. She would either be torn to pieces by the claws ofthe monster, or by its great yellow teeth, already displayed to theirview, and flung in mangled fragments to the ground. They actually stoodfor some time in expectation of seeing this sad catastrophe; and itwould be vain to attempt any description of their emotions. 

It was no relief when the two hunters came up, as they did at thatinstant, on their return from the chase. Their approach for the lasttwo or three hundred yards had been hastened into a run by the shrieksof Helen and the shouts of Henry and Murtagh. Their arrival only addedtwo new figures to the tableau of distress, and two voices to itsexpression. 

The ape could still be seen through the foliage ascending to the top ofthe tree; but Captain Redwood felt that the rifle he held in his hands, though sure of aim and fatal in effect, was of no more use than if ithad been a piece of wood. 

Saloo had the same feeling in regard to his blow-gun. The rifle mightsend a deadly bullet through the skull of the gorilla, and the latterpierce its body with an arrow that would carry a quick-spreading poisonthrough its veins. 

But to what purpose, even though they could be certain of killing it?Its death would be also the death of the child. She was still living, and apparently unhurt; for they could see her moving, and hear hervoice, as she was carried onward and upward in that horrible embrace. 

Captain Redwood dared not send a bullet nor Saloo an arrow. Slight asthe chances were of saving the girl, either would have made themslighter. A successful shot of the rifle or puff of the blow-gun wouldbe as fatal to the abducted as the abductor; and the former, with orwithout the latter, would be certain to fall to the foot of the tree. It was a hundred feet sheer from the point which the ape had attained tothe ground. The child would not only be killed, but crushed to ashapeless mass. 

Ah me! what a terrible scene for her father! What a spectacle for himto contemplate!

And as he stood in unutterable agony, his companions gathered around, all helpless and irresolute as to how they should act, they saw the apesuddenly change his direction, and move outward from the trunk of thetree along one of its largest limbs. This trended off in a nearlyhorizontal direction, at its end interlocking with a limb of theneighbouring tree, which stretched out as if to shake hands with it. 

A distance of more than fifty feet lay between the two trunks, but theirbranches met in close embrace. 

The purpose of the ape was apparent. It designed passing from one tothe other, and thence into the depths of the forest. 

The design was quickly followed by its execution. As the spectatorsrushed to the side by which the gorilla was retreating, they saw it layhold of the interlocking twigs, draw the branch nearer, bridge the spacebetween with its long straggling arm, and then bound from one to theother with the agility of a squirrel. 

And this with the use of only one arm, for by the other the child wasstill carried in the same close hug. Its legs acted as arms, and fortravelling through the tree-tops three were sufficient. 

On into the heart of the deep foliage of the second tree, and without apause on into the next; along another pair of counterpart limbs, which, intertwining their leafy sprays and boughs, still further into theforest, all the time bearing its precious burden along with it. 

The agonised father ran below, rifle in hand. He might as well havebeen without one, for all the use he dared to make of it. 

And Henry, too, followed with the ship's musket. True, it had missedfire, and the damp priming was still in the pan. Damp or dry, it nowmattered not. Saloo's sumpitan was an equally ineffective weapon. Murtagh with his fishing-hooks might as well have thought of capturingthe monster with a bait. 

On it scrambled from tree to tree, and on ran the pursuers underneath, yet with no thought of being able to stay its course. They were carriedforward by the mere mechanical instinct to keep it in sight, withperhaps some slight hope that in the end something might occur--someinterruption might arise by which they would be enabled to effect arescue of the child from its horrible captor. 

It was at best but a faint consolation. Nor would they have cherishedit, but for their trust in a higher power than their own. Of themselvesthey knew they could not let or hinder the abductor in its flight. 

All felt their own helplessness. But it is just in that supreme moment, when man feels his utter weakness, that his vague trust in a superiorBeing becomes a devout and perfect faith. 

Captain Redwood was not what is usually called a religious man, meaningthereby a strict adherent to the Church, and a regular observer of itsordinances. For all this he was a firm believer in the existence of aprovidential and protecting power. 

His exclamations were many, and not very coherent; but their burden wasever a prayer to God for the preservation of his daughter. 

"Helen, my child! Helen! What will become of her? O Father! O God, protect her!"

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE. 

THE PURSUIT ARRESTED. 

From branch to branch, and tree to tree, the red gorilla continued itsswift advance; still bearing with it the little Helen. 

From trunk to trunk, the pursuers crawled through the underwood beneath, feeling as helpless as ever. 

What was to be the end of this strangely singular pursuit they could nottell, for they had never before--and perhaps no man at any time had--taken part in such a chase, or even heard of one so terrible. 

They could offer no conjecture as to what might be its termination; butmoved forward mechanically, keeping the gorilla in sight. 

Was Helen yet living, or was she dead? No cry came from her lips, noword, no sound! Had the life been crushed out of her body by thepressure of that strong muscular arm, twined round her like the limb ofan oak? Or was the silence due to temporary loss of feeling?

She might well have swooned away in such a situation; and her father, struggling with faint hopes, would have been glad to think this wasindeed the case. 

No signs could be gained from what they heard, and none from what theysaw. They were now passing through the very depth of the forest--atropical forest, with the trees meeting overhead, and not a speck of skyvisible through the interwoven branches, loaded with their thickfestoons of leaves and lianas. 

They were gliding through dense arcades, lit up with just sufficientsunshine to wear the sombre shadows of a dusky twilight. There wereeven places where the retreating form of the ape could not have beendistinguishable in the obscurity, but for the white drapery of thechild's dress, now torn into shreds, and flaunting like streamers behindit. These luckily served as a beacon to guide them on through thegloom. 

Now and then the chase led them into less shady depths, where thesunlight fell more freely through the leafy screen above. At suchpoints they could obtain a better view, both of the red abductor and itscaptive. 

But even then only a glimpse--the speed at which the gorilla was going, as well as the foliage that intervened, preventing any lengthenedobservation. 

Nor were the pursuers at any time able to get sight of the child's face. It appeared to be turned toward the animal's breast, her head buried inits coarse shaggy hair, with which her own tresses were mingled instrange contrast. 

Even her form could not be clearly distinguished. As far as they coulddecide by their occasional glimpses, they thought she was still alive. The brute did not seem to treat her with any malevolent violence. Onlyin a rude uncouth way; which, however, might suffice to cause the deathof one so young and frail. 

To depict the feelings of her father, under such circumstances, would bea task the most eloquent pen could not successfully attempt. Agony likehis can never be described. Language possesses not the power. Thereare thoughts which lie too deep for words; passions whose expressiondefies the genius of the artist or the poet. 

Perhaps he was hindered from realising the full measure of hisbereavement during the first moments of the pursuit. The excitement ofthe chase, and the incidents attending it--the hope still remaining thatsome chance would arise in their favour--the certainty, soonascertained, that they could keep up with the ape, which, despite itsagility in the trees, cannot outstrip a man pursuing it along theground, --all these circumstances had hitherto withheld him from givingway to utter despair. 

But the time had come when even these slight supports were to fail. 

It was when they arrived upon the brink of a lagoon, and a water-surfacegleamed before their eyes; reflected by a daylight that struggled dimlydown through the tops of the tall trees. 

The trees rose out of the water, their trunks wide apart, but theirbranches intermingling. 

The path of our pursuers was interrupted--they saw it at once--but thatof the pursued seemed continuous as before. 

They were arrested suddenly on the brink of the lagoon, apparently withno chance of proceeding farther. They saw the red gorilla stillclimbing among the trees, with the white drapery streaming behind it. 

Soon they saw it not--only heard the crackle of twigs, and the swishingrecoil of the branches, as its huge body swung from tree to tree. 

The monster was now out of sight, along with its victim--a victim, invery truth, whether living or dead!

But for the support of Murtagh and Saloo, Captain Redwood would havefallen to the earth. In their arms he sobbed and gasped, --

"Helen! my child, Helen! What will become of her? O Father! O God, protect her!"

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO. 

LISTENING IN DESPAIR. 

For some seconds Captain Redwood was powerless in a frenzy of despair. Henry was equally overcome by grief truly agonising. It was to bothfather and son a moment of the most unutterable anguish. 

Helen, the dear daughter and sister, carried out of their sight, apparently beyond reach of pursuit. And in the arms of a hideouscreature which was neither wholly man nor wholly beast, but combined theworst attributes of each. 

Perhaps she was already dead within the loathsome embrace--her tenderbody soon to be torn to pieces, or tossed from the top of some talltree; to be crushed and mangled on the earth, or thrown with a plungeinto the cold dark waters of that dismal lagoon, never more to be seenor heard of. 

These were horrid thoughts and hideous images which rushed rapidlythrough their minds as they stood in the sombre shadow, picturing tothemselves her too probable fate. It was no longer a question about herlife. 

They knew, or believed, her to be dead. They only thought of what wasto become of her body; what chance there might be of recovering andgiving it the sacred rights of sepulture. Even this slight consolationoccupied the mind of the distracted father. 

The Malay, well acquainted with the habits of the great man-ape, couldgive no answer. He only knew that the child's body would not be eatenup by it; since the red gorilla is never known to feed upon flesh--fruitand vegetables being its only diet. 

The whole thing was perplexing him, as an occurrence altogether unusual. He had known of people being killed and torn to pieces by the animal inits anger; but never of one being carried up into the trees. 

Usually these animals will not volunteer an attack upon man, and areonly violent when assailed. Then, indeed, are they terrible in theirstrength as in their ferocity. 

The one now encountered must have been infuriated by its fight with thecrocodile; and coming straight from the encounter, had in some wayconnected the children with its conquered enemy. Murtagh's shout mighthave freshly incensed it; or, what to Saloo seemed more probable thanall, the seizure of the child might be a wild freak suddenly strikingthe brain of the enraged satyr. 

He had heard of such eccentricities on the part of the ourang-outang, and there is a belief among the Dyak hunters that the mias sometimesgoes _mad_, just as men do. 

This reasoning did not take place on the edge of the lagoon, nor anydiscussion of such questions. They were thoughts that had beenexpressed during the pursuit, at no time hurried. The captain and hiscompanions had easily kept pace with the pursued, while passing throughthe dry forest; and time enough was allowed them to think and talk ofmany things. 

Now that they could no longer follow, scarce a word was exchangedbetween them. Their emotions were too sad for utterance, otherwise thanby exclamations which spoke only of despair. 

It was well they were silent, for it gave Saloo the opportunity oflistening. Ever since the ape had passed from their sight, his ear hadbeen keenly anxious to catch every sound, as he still entertained a hopeof being able to trace its passage through the trees. 

Thoroughly conversant with the animal's habits, he knew that it musthave an abiding-place--a nest. This might be near at hand. Theproximity of the lagoon almost convinced him that it was so. 

The mias makes a temporary roost for his repose anywhere it may bewandering--constructing it in a few moments, by breaking off thebranches and laying them crosswise on a forked limb; but Saloo was awarethat, for its permanent residence, it builds a much more elaborate nest, and this, too, always over water or marshy ground, where its human enemycannot conveniently follow it. 

Moreover, it chooses for the site of its dwelling a low tree or bushwith umbrageous boughs, and never retires among the taller trees of theforest. 

This it does to avoid exposure to the chill winds, and the inconvenienceof being shaken to and fro during storms or typhoons. 

With all this knowledge in his memory, the Malay had conceived a hopethat the monster's nest might not be far off, and they would still beable to follow and find it--not to rescue the living child, but recoverher dead body. 

Keenly and attentively he listened to every sound that came back throughthe water-forest--cautioning the others to be silent. A caution scarceneeded, for they too stood listening, still as death, with hushedvoices, and hearts only heard in their dull sad beatings. 

But for a short time were they thus occupied; altogether not more thanfive minutes. They still detected the crackling of branches whichindicated the passage of the ape through the tree-tops. 

All at once these sounds suddenly ceased, or rather were they drownedout by sounds louder and of a very different intonation. It was achorus of cries, in which barking, grunting, growling, coughing, cachinnation and the squalling of children seemed all to have a share. There were evidently more than one individual contributing to thisstrange _fracas_ of the forest; and the noises continued to comeapparently from the same place. 

"Allah be thank!" exclaimed Saloo, in a subdued tone. "He home at lass. Him family makee welcome. Maybe chile be live yet. Maybe mias nokillee after all. Trust we in Allah, what you Inglees people calleeGod. Who know he yet help us!"

These last words came like a renewal of life to the despairing father. He started on hearing them; fresh hope had sprung up in his breast, atthe thought that his beloved child might yet be alive, and that a chanceof rescuing her might still be possible. 

"In thy mercy, O God, grant it may be so!" were the words that fell fromhis lips: Murtagh, with equal fervour, saying "Amen!"

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE. 

STRIKING OUT. 

Inspired to renewed energy, Captain Redwood rushed to the edge of thelagoon, with the view of ascertaining its depth, and seeing whether itmight possibly be waded. 

He soon discovered that it could not. In less than ten paces from theedge he was up to the arm-pits, and from thence it seemed to deepenstill more abruptly. Another step forward, and the water rose over hisshoulders, the bottom still sloping downwards. The lagoon was evidentlyimpassable. 

He drew back despairingly, though not to return to the shore. He stoodfacing the centre of the lagoon, whence still came the strange noises:though scarce so loud or varied as before, they did not appear to be anymore distant. Whatever creatures were making them, it was evident theywere stationary, either in the trees or upon the ground. They did notsound as if they came from on high; but this might be a deception, caused by the influence of the water. One of the voices bore a singularresemblance to that of a child. It could not be Helen's; it moreresembled the squalling of an infant. Saloo knew what it was. In theplaintive tones he recognised the scream of a young ourang-outang. 

It was a proof his conjecture was true, and that the mias had reachedits home. 

All the more anxious was Captain Redwood to reach the spot whence thesounds proceeded. Something like a presentiment had entered his mindthat there was still a hope, and that his child lived and might berescued. 

Even if torn, injured, disfigured for life, she might survive. Any sortof life, so long as she could be recovered; and if she could not berestored, at least she might breathe her last breath in his arms. Eventhat would be easier to bear than the thought that she had gone to restin the grasp of the hirsute gorilla, with its hideous offspring grinningand gibbering around her. 

The lagoon could not be waded on foot; but a good swimmer might crossit. The captain was an experienced and accomplished swimmer. Thevoices came from no great distance--certainly not above half a mile. Onone occasion he had accomplished a league in a rough sea! There couldbe no difficulty in doing as much on the smooth, tranquil water of thattree-shaded lake. 

He had opened his arms and prepared to strike out, when a thought stayedhim. Saloo, who had waded to his side, also arrested him by laying ahand on his shoulder. 

"You try swimmee, cappen, no good without weapon; we both go togedder--muss take gun, sumpitan, kliss, else no chance killee mias. "

It was the thought that had occurred to Captain Redwood himself. 

"Yes, you are right, Saloo. I must take my rifle, but how am I to keepit dry?--there's not time to make a raft. "

"No raff need, cappen; givee me you gun--Saloo swim single-hand well astwo; he cally the gun. "

Captain Redwood knew it to be true that Saloo, as he said, could swimwith one hand as well as he himself with both. 

He was a Malay, to whom swimming in the water is almost as natural aswalking upon the land. His old pilot could scarcely have been drownedif he had been flung into the sea twenty miles from shore. 

He at once yielded to Saloo's counsel; and both hastily returned to theedge of the lagoon to make preparations. 

These did not occupy long. The captain threw off some of his clothes, stowed his powder-flask and some bullets in the crown of his hat, whichhe fastened firmly on his head. He retained a knife--intended in caseof necessity--to be carried between his teeth, giving his gun to Saloo. 

The Malay, having less undressing to do, had already completed thearrangements. On the top of his turban, safely secured by a knotting ofhis long black hair, he had fastened his bamboo quiver of poisonedarrows; while his kris--with which a Malay under no circumstances thinksof parting--lay along his thigh, kept in position by the waist-strapused in suspending his _sarong_. With his sumpitan and the captain'sgun in his left hand, he was ready to take to the water. Not anothermoment was lost; the voices of the ourangs seemed to be calling them;and plunging through the shallow, they were soon out in deep water, andstriking steadily but rapidly, silently but surely, towards the centreof the lagoon. 

Henry and Murtagh remained on the shore looking after them. Theship-carpenter was but an indifferent swimmer, and the youth was notstrong enough to have swam half a mile. It was doubtful if either couldhave reached the spot where the apes seemed to have made theirrendezvous. And if so, they would have been too exhausted to haverendered any service in case of a sudden conflict. 

The brave Irishman, devoted to his old skipper, and Henry, anxious toshare his father's fate, would have made the attempt; but CaptainRedwood restrained them, directing both to await his return. 

They stood close to the water's edge, following the swimmers with theireyes, and with prayers for their success, scarcely uttered in words, butfervently felt; Murtagh, according to the custom of his country andcreed, sealing the petition by making the sign of the cross. 

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR. 

SWIMMING IN SHADOW. 

Silently and swiftly the two swimmers continued their course through theshadowy aisles of the forest. Twilight, almost darkness, was above andaround them; for the trees meeting overhead caused an obscurity sombreas night itself. No ray of sunlight ever danced upon the surface ofthat dismal lagoon. 

They would have lost their way, had not the noises guided them. Shouldthese be discontinued, their exertions might be all in vain. 

They thought of this as they proceeded, and reflected also on the courseto be adopted when they reached the rendezvous of the gorillas. Supposing there could be no footing found, how were they to use eithergun or sumpitan?

The question passed between them in a whisper as they swam side by side. Neither knew how to answer it. 

Saloo only expressed a hope that they might get upon the limb of a treenear enough to send a bullet or arrow into the body of the mias, andterminate his career. 

There seemed no other chance, and they swam on, keeping it before theirminds. 

About the direction, they had no difficulty whatever. Although thesurface of the water was of inky blackness, from the shadowing treesabove, and the huge trunks standing out of it now and then forced theminto an occasional deviation, they advanced without any greatdifficulty. 

They swam around the tree trunks, and, guided by the voices of thegorillas, easily regained their course. The noises were no longer sharpscreams or hoarse coughs, but a kind of jabbering jargon, as if the apeswere engaged in a family confabulation. 

The swimmers at length arrived so near, that they no longer felt anyfear about finding the way to the place where the reunion of the_quadrumana_ was being held; and which could not be more than a hundredyards distant. 

Silently gliding through the water, the eyes of both peered intentlyforward, in an endeavour to pierce the obscurity, and, if possible, discover some low limb of a tree, or projecting buttress, on which theymight find a foothold. They had good hope of success, for they had seenmany such since starting from the shore. Had rest been necessary, theymight have obtained it more than once by grasping a branch above, orclinging to one of the great trunks, whose gnarled and knotted sideswould have afforded sufficient support. 

But they were both strong swimmers, and needed no rest. There was nonefor the bereaved father--could be none--till he should reach thetermination of their strange enterprise, and know what was to be itsresult. 

As they swam onward, now proceeding with increased caution, their eyesscanning the dark surface before them, both all of a sudden andsimultaneously came to a stop. It was just as if something underneaththe water had laid hold of them by the legs, checking them at the sameinstant of time. 

And something _had_ impeded their farther progress, but not from behind. In front was the obstruction, which proved to be a bank of earth, that, though under the water, rose within a few inches of its surface. Thebreast of each swimmer had struck against it, the shock raising theminto a half-erect attitude, from which they had no need to return to thehorizontal. On the contrary, they now rose upon their feet, which theyfelt to be resting on a firm hard bottom. 

Standing in pleased surprise, they could better survey the prospectbefore them; and after a minute spent in gazing through the gloom, theysaw that dry land was close to the spot where they had been so abruptlyarrested. 

It appeared only a low-lying islet, scarce rising above the level of thelagoon, and of limited extent--only a few rods in superficial area. Itwas thickly covered with trees; but, unlike those standing in the water, which were tall and with single stems, those upon the islet weresupported by many trunks, proclaiming them to be some species of theIndian fig or _banyan_. 

One near the centre, from its greater width and more numerous supportingpillars, seemed the patriarch of the tribe; and to this their eyes wereespecially directed. For out of its leafy shadows came the strangesounds which had hitherto guided them. 

Among its branches, without any doubt, the red gorilla had his home; andthere he would be found in the bosom of his family. 

Grasping his gun, and whispering to Saloo to follow him, Captain Redwoodstarted towards the tree so clearly indicated as the goal of theirexpedition. 

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE. 

THE FAMILY AT HOME. 

Soon after the intended assailants stood among the rooted branches ofthe banyan. The gloom underneath its umbrageous branches was deepenedby what appeared to be an immense scaffolding constructed near the topof the tree, and extending far out along the horizontal limbs. 

Saloo at once recognised the permanent nest or roosting-place of a _miasrombi_--such as he had often seen in the forests of Sumatra, where thesame, or a closely allied species, has its home. 

The tree was not a tall one, but low and widespreading; while the broadplatform-like nest, formed by interwoven branches, upon which lay athick layer of grass and leaves, was not more than twenty feet above thesurface of the earth. 

The obscurity which prevailed around favoured their stealthy approach;and like a pair of spectres gliding through the upright pillars, CaptainRedwood and his old pilot at length found a position favourable for asurvey of the platform erected by the gorilla. 

The father's heart was filled with strange indescribable emotions, aswith eye keenly bent he stood upon a projecting branch, that brought hishead on a level with this curious structure. 

There he saw a scene which stirred his soul to its deepest depths. 

His daughter, appearing snow-white amid the gloom, was lying upon thescaffold, her golden hair dishevelled, her dress torn into ribbons--portions of it detached and scattered about. 

To all appearance she was dead; for, scanning her with the earnestanxious glance of a keen solicitude, he could not detect any movementeither in body or limbs; and it was too dark for him to tell whether hereyes were open or closed. 

But he had now very little hope. He was indeed too certain they wereclosed in the sleep of death. 

Around her were assembled three human-like forms, monstrous withal, andall alike covered with a coating of red hair, thick, long, and shaggy. They were of different sizes, and in the largest one he recognised theabductor of his child. 

The second in size, whose form proclaimed it to be a female, wasevidently the wife of the huge man-ape; while the little creature, abouteighteen inches in height--though a perfect miniature likeness of itsparents--was the infant whose squalling had contributed more thananything else to guide them through the shades of the lagoon. 

The old male, perhaps suffering fatigue from its fight with thecrocodile, as well as from the chase he had sustained, crouched upon thescaffold, seemingly asleep. 

The other two were still in motion, the mother at intervals seizing herhairy offspring, and grotesquely caressing it; then letting it go freeto dance fantastically around the recumbent form of the unconsciouscaptive child. This it did, amusing itself by now and then tearing offa strip of the girl's dress, either with its claws or teeth. 

It was a spectacle wild, weird, altogether indescribable; and by CaptainRedwood not to be looked upon a moment longer than was necessary toembrace its details. 

Having satisfied himself, he raised his rifle to fire upon the familyparty, intending first to aim at the father, whose death he mostdesired, and who living would no doubt prove by far the most dangerousantagonist. 

In another instant his bullet would have sped towards the breast of thesleeping giant, but for Saloo, who, grasping his arm, restrained him. 

"Tay, cappen, " said the Malay in a whisper; "leave me kill em. Sumpitbettel dun bullet. De gun makee noise--wake old mias up, an' maybe nokillee em. De upas poison bettel. It go silent--quick. See how Salooslay dem all tlee!"

There was something in Saloo's suggestions which caused Captain Redwoodto ground his rifle and reflect. His reflections quickly ended in hisgiving place to his old pilot, and leaving the latter to work out theproblem in his own way. 

Stepping up to the branch assigned to him, which commanded a view of thespectacle so torturing to his master, the Malay took a brief glance atthe scene--only a very brief one. It enabled him to select the firstvictim for his envenomed shaft, the same which Captain Redwood haddestined to receive the leaden missile from his gun. 

Bringing to his mouth the sumpitan, in whose tube he had already placedone of his poisoned arrows, and compressing the trumpet-shapedembouchure against his lips, he gave a puff that sent the shaft on itsdeadly way with such velocity, that even in clear daylight its exitcould only have been detected like a spark from a flint. 

In the obscurity that shrouded the gorilla's roost, nothing at all wasseen, and nothing heard; for the sumpit is as silent on its message asthe wing of an owl when beating through the twilight. 

True, there was something heard, though it was not the sound of thearrow. 

Only a growl from the great red gorilla, that had felt something stinghim, and on feeling it threw up his paw to scratch the place, no doubtfancying it to be but the bite of a mosquito or hornet. The piece ofstick broken off by his fingers may have seemed to him rather strange, but not enough so to arouse him from his dreamy indifference. 

Not even when another and another sting of the same unusual kind causedhim to renew his scratching--for by this time he was beginning tosuccumb to the narcotic influence that would soon induce the sleep ofdeath. 

It did thus end: for after a time, and almost without a struggle, thered-haired monster lay stretched upon the platform which had long beenhis resting-place, his huge limbs supple and tremulous with the lastthroes of life. 

And beside him, in the same condition, was soon after seen his wife, who, of weaker conformation, had more quickly yielded to the soporificeffect of the upas poison, from which, when it has once pervaded theblood, there is no chance of recovery. 

Saloo did not deem the infant mias worthy a single arrow, and after itsparents had been disposed of, he sprang upon the scaffold, followed byCaptain Redwood, who, the moment after, was kneeling by his child, andwith ear closely pressed to her bosom, listened to learn if her heartwas still beating. 

_It was_!

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX. 

AN IMPROVISED PALANQUIN. 

"She lives! thank God, she lives!"

These were the words that fell upon the ears of Henry and Murtagh, whenSaloo, swimming back to the shore, related to them what had transpired. And more too. She had recovered from her swoon, a long-protractedsyncope, which had fortunately kept her in a state of unconsciousnessalmost from the moment of her capture to that of her rescue. 

With the exception of some scratches upon her delicate skin, and aslight pain caused by the compression to which she had been subjected inthat hideous hug, no harm had befallen her--at least no injury thatpromised to be of a permanent nature. 

Such was the report and prognosis of Saloo, who had swam back to theshore to procure the ship-carpenter's axe, and his aid in theconstruction of a raft. 

This was to carry Helen from the islet--from a spot which had so nearlyproved fatal to her. 

A bamboo grove grew close at hand, and with Saloo's knowledge and theship-carpenter's skill, a large life-preserver was soon set afloat onthe water of the lagoon. It was at once paddled to the islet, andshortly after came back again bearing with it a precious freight--abeautiful young girl rescued by an affectionate father, and restored toan equally affectionate brother. 

Long before the raft had grounded against the shore, Henry, plunginginto the shallow water, had gone to meet it, and mounting upon thebuoyant bamboos, had flung his arms around the form of his littlesister. 

How tender that embrace, how fond and affectionate, how different fromthe harsh hostile hug of the monster, whose long hairy arms had late socruelly encircled her delicate form!

As the child was still weak--her strength prostrated more by her firstalarm when seized, than by aught that had happened afterwards--CaptainRedwood would have deemed it prudent to make some stay upon the shore ofthe lagoon. 

But the place seemed so dismal, while the air was evidently damp andunhealthy, to say naught of the unpleasant thoughts the scene suggested, he felt desirous to escape from it as soon as possible. 

In this matter the Malay again came to his assistance, by saying theycould soon provide a litter on which the child might be transported withas much ease to herself as if she were travelling in the softestsedan-chair that ever carried noble lady of Java or Japan. 

"Construct it then, " was the reply of Captain Redwood, who wasaltogether occupied in caressing his restored child. 

Saloo needed no further directions: he only requested the assistance ofMurtagh, along with what remained to him of his tools; and these beingas freely as joyfully furnished, a score of fresh bamboos soon layprostrate on the ground, out of which the palanquin was to be built up. 

Lopped into proper lengths, and pruned of their great leaf-blades, theywere soon welded into the shape of a stretcher, with a pair of longhandles projecting from each end. 

The palanquin was not yet complete, and by rights should have had a roofover it to shelter its occupant from rain or sun; but as there was noappearance of rain, and certainly no danger of being scorched by the sunin a forest where its glowing orb was never seen nor its rays permittedto penetrate, a roof was not thought necessary, and Saloo's task wassimplified by leaving it a mere stretcher. 

He took pains, however, that it should be both soft and elastic. Thelatter quality he obtained by a careful choice of the bamboos that wereto serve as shafts; the former requisite he secured by thickly beddingit with the lopped-off leaves, and adding an upper stratum of cotton, obtained from a species of bombyx growing close at hand, and soft as thedown of the eider-duck. 

Reclining upon this easy couch, borne upon its long shafts of elasticbamboo, Saloo at one end and Murtagh at the other, Helen was transportedlike a queen through the forest she had lately traversed as a captive ina manner so strange and perilous. 

Before the sun had set, they once more looked upon its cheering light, its last declining rays falling upon her pale face as she was set downupon the shore of the lake, beside that same tree from which she hadtaken her involuntary departure. 

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. 

THE JOURNEY CONTINUED. 

The captain's daughter, with the natural vigour of youth, soon recoveredfrom the slight injuries she had sustained in her singular journeythrough the maze of boughs. The previous perils of shipwreck, and thevarious hairbreadth escapes through which she had more recently passed, made her last danger all the lighter to bear; for by these her child'sspirit had become steeled to endurance, and her courage was equal tothat of a full-grown woman. Otherwise the fearful situation in whichshe had been placed, if leaving life, might have deprived her of reason. 

As it happened, no serious misfortune had befallen, and with Helen'sstrength and spirits both fully restored, her companions were able onthe third day to resume their overland journey. 

And, still more, they started with a fresh supply of provisions--enoughto last them for many long days. Captain Redwood and Saloo in theirhunting excursion had been very successful. The captain had not beencalled upon to fire a single shot from his rifle, so that his slenderstore of ammunition was still good for future eventualities. Saloo'ssilent sumpits had done all the work of the chase, which resulted in thedeath of a deer, another wild pig, and several large birds, suitable forthe pot or spit. The hunters had been returning from their lastexpedition heavily loaded with game, when the cries of Helen, Henry, andMurtagh, had caused them to drop their booty and hasten to the rescue. 

Now that all was over, and they were once more reminded of it, Saloo andMurtagh went in search of the abandoned game, soon found it, gathered itagain, and transported it to their camping-place by the side of thelake. 

Here, during the time they stayed to await the recovery of Helen'shealth, the pork and venison were cut up and cured in such a manner asto ensure its keeping for a long time--long enough indeed to sufficethem throughout the whole duration of their contemplated journey; thatis, should no unexpected obstacle arise to obstruct or detain them. 

The fowls that had fallen to Saloo's arrows were sufficient to servethem for a few days, and with the fine supply of lard obtained from thecarcass of the pig, they could be cooked in the most sumptuous manner. 

In the best of spirits they again set forth; and it seemed now as iffate had at last grown weary of torturing them, and daily, almosthourly, involving one or other of them in danger of death. 

From the edge of the lake, where their journey had been so strangelyinterrupted, they found an easy path across the remaining portion of thegreat plain. 

Several times they came upon the traces of red gorillas, and once theycaught sight of a member of the horrid tribe speeding along the branchesabove their heads. 

But they were not so much afraid of them after all; for Saloo admittedthat he did not deem the _mias pappan_ so dangerous; and he hadascertained that it was this species of ourang-outang they hadencountered. 

He confessed himself puzzled at the behaviour of the one that had causedthem so much fear and trouble. It was another species, the _miasrombi_, of which he stood in dread; and he could only account for the_mias pappan_ having acted as it had done, by supposing the animal tohave taken some eccentric notion into its head--perhaps caused, as wehave already hinted, by its conflict with the crocodile. 

Dangerous these gigantic _quadrumana_ are, nevertheless;--theirsuperhuman strength enabling them to make terrible havoc wherever andwhenever their fury becomes aroused. But without provocation thisrarely occurs, and a man or woman who passes by them without making anoise, is not likely to be molested. 

Besides the large species, to which belonged the ape that had attackedthem, the travellers saw another kind while passing across the plain. This was the _mias kassio_, much smaller in size, and more gentle in itsnature. 

But they saw nothing of those, tallest of all, and the most dreaded bySaloo--the _mias rombis_--although the old bee-hunter still maintainedhis belief that they exist in the forests of Borneo as well as in thewilds of Sumatra. 

The plain over which they were making their way, here and thereintersected with lagoons and tracts of tree-covered swamp, was the verylocality in which these great apes delight to dwell; their habit beingto make their huge platforms, or sleeping-places, upon bushes that growout of boggy marsh or water--thus rendering them difficult of access toman, the only enemy they have need to dread. 

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT. 

THE FRIENDLY FLAG. 

The travellers had taken their departure from the lake-shore at an earlyhour of the morning; and before sunset they had traversed the remainingportion of the plain, and ascended a considerable distance up thesloping side of the mountains beyond. 

Another day's journey, during which they accomplished a very long andtiresome march, brought them to the summit of the ridge, the greatdividing chain which strikes longitudinally across the whole island ofBorneo, so far as the geographers yet know it. 

They could see far to the northward, dimly outlined against the sky, theimmense mountain of Kini-Balu--which rises to a height of nearly 12, 000feet; but they derived their principal gratification from the fact that, in the country stretching westward, appeared nothing likely to preventthem from reaching the destined goal of their journey, the old Malaycapital town of Bruni--or rather the isle of Labuan, which lies alongthe coast a little to the north of it, where Captain Redwood knew that aflag floated, which, if not that of his own country, would be equally ascertain to give him protection. 

From the position of Kini-Balu, whose square summit they coulddistinguish from all others, he could see the point to steer for aswell, or even better, than if he had brought his ship's compass withhim, and they would no longer be travelling in any uncertainty as totheir course. From where they were it could be distinguished to apointy without any variation; and after a good night's rest upon themountain-ridge, they commenced descending its western slope. 

For a time they lost sight of the sun's orb, that, rising behind theirbacks, was hidden by the mountain mass, and casting a purple shadow overthe forest-clad country before them. Soon, however, the bright orb, soaring into the sky, sent its beams before them, and they continuedtheir journey under the cheering light. 

Had it not been for fear of their fellow-beings, they would haveadvanced on without much further apprehension; for one and all were nowrejoicing in a plentitude of restored health, and their spirits wereconsequently fresh and cheerful. 

But they still had some dread of danger from man--from those terribleenemies, the Dyaks, of whom Bornean travellers have told such ghastlytales. 

It seemed, however, as if our adventurers were not destined to discoverwhether these tales were true or false, or in any way to realise them. The evil star that had hung over their heads while on the eastern sideof the island, must have stayed there; and now on the west nothing ofill appeared likely to befall them. 

For all this they did not trust to destiny, but took every precaution toshun an encounter with the savages, travelling only at such times asthey were certain the "coast was clear;" and lying in concealmentwhenever they saw a sign of danger. Saloo, who could glide through thetrees with the stealth and silence of a snake, always led the advance;and thus they progressed from hill to hill, and across the interveningvalleys, still taking care that their faces should be turned westward. 

At length, after many days of this cautious progress, they ascended asteep ridge, which, rising directly across their route, made itnecessary for them to climb it. 

It caused them several hours of toil; but they were well rewarded forthe effort. On reaching its summit, and casting their glances beyond, they saw below, and at a little to the left, the strange oldwooden-walled town of Bruni; while to the right, across a narrow arm ofthe sea, lay the island of Labuan, and on its conspicuous buildingswaved the glorious old banner of Britannia. 

Captain Redwood hailed it with almost as much joy as if it had been theflag of his native land. 

He was not then in the mood to dwell on any distinction between them;but, flinging himself on his knees, with Henry on one side, and Helenupon the other--Murtagh and the Malay a few paces in the rear--heoffered up a prayer of devout and earnest gratitude for their greatdeliverance to Him who is ever powerful to save, their Father and theirGod.