Bunyip Land Part 10

Just then the captain came forward with his gla.s.s under his arm, and his hands deep down in his pockets. He walked with his legs very wide apart, and stopped short before us, his straw hat tilted right over his nose, and see-sawing himself backwards and forwards on his toes and heels.

"You're a nice young man, arn't you now?" he said to Jack.

"No, I'm only a boy yet," said Jack quietly.

"Well, you're tall enough to be a man, anyhow. What's your height?"

"Five foot 'leven," said Jack.

"And how old are you?"

"Seventeen next 'vember," said Jack.

"Humph!" said the captain.

"Here, how much is it?" said Jack, thrusting his hand in his pocket.

"I'll pay now and ha' done with it."

"Pay what?"

"My pa.s.sage-money."

"Oh!" said the captain quietly, "I see. Well, I think we'd better settle that by-and-by when you bring in claim for salvage."

The captain p.r.o.nounced it "sarvidge," and Jack stared.

"What savage?" he said. "Do you mean Joe Carstairs' black fellow?"

"Do I mean Joe Carstairs' grandmother, boy? I didn't say savage; I said salvage--saving of the ship from pirates."

"Oh, I see what you mean," replied Jack. "I sha'n't bring in any claim.

I knew that Malay chap wasn't doing right, and stopped him, that's all."

"Well, we won't say any more about stowing away, then," said the captain. "Had plenty to eat this morning?"

"Oh yes, I'm better now," drawled Jack. "I was real bad yesterday, and never felt so hollow before."

The captain nodded and went back, while Jack turned to me, and nodding his head said slowly:

"I like the captain. Now let's go and see how your black fellow's head is."

Jimmy was lying under a bit of awning rigged up with a sc.r.a.p of the storm-torn sail; and as soon as he saw us his white teeth flashed out in the light.

"Well, Jimmy, how are you?" I said, as Jack Penny stood bending down over him, and swaying gently to and fro as if he had hinges in his back.

"Jimmy better--much better. Got big fly in um head--big bunyip fly.

All buzz--buzz--round and round--buzz in um head. Fedge doctor take um out."

"Here, doctor," I shouted; and he came up. "Jimmy has got a fly in his head."

"A bee in his bonnet, you mean," he said, bending down and laying his hand on the black's temples.

"Take um out," said Jimmy excitedly. "Buzz--buzz--bunyip fly."

"Yes, I'll take it out, Jimmy," said the doctor quietly; "but not to-day."

"When take um out?" cried the black eagerly; "buzz--buzz. Keep buzz."

"To-morrow or next day. Here, lie still, and I'll get your head ready for the operation."

The preparation consisted in applying a thick cloth soaked in spirits and water to the feverish head, the evaporation in the hot climate producing a delicious sense of coolness, which made Jimmy say softly:

"Fly gone--sleep now," and he closed his eyes, seeming to be asleep till the doctor had gone back to his seat on the deck, where he was studying a chart of the great island we were running for. But as soon as he was out of hearing Jimmy opened first one eye and then another. Then in a whisper, as he gently took up his waddy:

"No tell doctor; no tell captain fellow. Jimmy go knock brown fellow head flap to-night."

"What?" I cried.

"He no good brown fellow. Knock head off. Overboard: fis eat up."

"What does he say; he's going to knock that Malay chap's head off?"

drawled Jack.

"Yes, Jimmy knock um head flap."

"You dare to touch him, Jimmy," I said, "and I'll send you back home."

"Jimmy not knock um head flap?" he said staring.

"No. You're not to touch him."

"Ma.s.s Joe gone mad. Brown fellow kill all a man. Jimmy kill um."

"You are not to touch him," I said. "And now go to sleep or I shall go and tell the captain."

Jimmy lifted up his head and looked at me. Then he banged it down upon his pillow, which was one of those gooseberry-shaped rope nets, stuffed full of oak.u.m, and called a fender, while we went forward once more to talk to the doctor about his chart, for Jack Penny was comporting himself exactly as if he had become one of the party, though I had made up my mind that he was to go back with the captain when we were set ash.o.r.e.

All the same, at Jack Penny's urgent request I joined him in the act of keeping the presence of the other pa.s.senger a secret--I mean Gyp the dog, to whom I was stealthily introduced by Jack, down in a very evil-smelling part of the hold, and for whom I saved sc.r.a.ps of meat and bits of fish from my dinner every day.

The introduction was as follows on the part of Jack:

"Gyp, old man, this is Joe Carstairs. Give him your paw."

It was very dark, but I was just able to make out a pair of fiery eyes, and an exceedingly s.h.a.ggy curly head--I found afterwards that Gyp's papa had been an Irish water spaniel, and his mamma some large kind of hound; and Jack informed me that Gyp was a much bigger dog than his mamma--then a rough scratchy paw was dabbed on my hand, and directly after my fingers were wiped by a hot moist tongue. At the same time there was a whimpering noise, and though I did not know it then, I had made one of the ugliest but most faithful friends I ever had.

The days glided by, and we progressed very slowly, for the weather fell calm after the typhoon, and often for twenty-four hours together we did nothing but drift about with the current, the weather being so hot that we were glad to sit under the shade of a sail.

The doctor quite took to Jack Penny, saying that he was an oddity, but not a bad fellow. I began to like him better myself, though he did nothing to try and win my liking, being very quiet and distant with us both, and watching us suspiciously, as if he thought we were always making plots to get rid of him, and thwart his plans.