Bunyip Land Part 18

The result was that I overcame the unwillingness I felt to move, and crept so softly towards the doctor that I was able to lay my hand upon his shoulder before he heard me approach.

"Why, Joe!" he exclaimed, starting, "I thought it was an enemy."

"Yes; there he is!" I said with a shudder, and I pointed up among the branches.

The black who was the doctor's fellow-watcher had seen me approach, and following with his eyes the direction pointed to by my hand, he too looked up into the tree, where, glistening in the fire-light, there was the reptile swinging slowly to and fro with a pendulum-like motion.

In spite of the horror inspired by such a creature, free and within a few yards of where I was standing, I could not help noticing the beauty of the scales, which shone in the fire-light as if of burnished bronze.

But I had little time for examination; one moment I was noting the head and curved neck of the reptile, the next there was a sharp tw.a.n.ging noise, and I saw the serpent's head jerk upwards, and then what seemed to be a ma.s.s of thick rope fell near the fire; there was a tremendous lashing and tossing about, and when the doctor and I approached the spot cautiously with our guns, it was to find that the reptile had glided off into the forest depths.

"A good shot for a bow and arrow," said the doctor, turning to our black companion, who smiled complacently, our manner plainly showing him that we were admiring his skill.

"You are getting a poor night's rest, Joe," said the doctor smiling.

"Now go and lie down again."

"It is of no use," I said fretfully. "I can't sleep, and I only lie thinking about home and him. I shall stay and watch."

The doctor protested, but finding at last that I was unwilling to lie down again, he said:

"Well, I am quite different, for I am so tired that I cannot keep awake.

I will go and lie down then, if you promise to come and wake me as soon as you are drowsy. Mind and keep up a good blaze."

I replied that he might be sure of that.

"Don't fire unnecessarily," he continued. "If any wild animal comes near, a piece of burning wood will scare it away at once."

"As it did that great cat!" I said.

"Did you see, then?" he said.

"I have not been asleep for a single minute," I replied. "What was it-- a tiger?"

"Tiger! No, my lad," he said, laughing; "I don't think we shall see any tigers here. There, I shall yawn my head off if I stop here talking.

Good night!"

He walked to the shelter, and I went and sat down next our black companion, who smiled a welcome; and thinking this a favourable opportunity, I set to work to try and increase my knowledge of the language, by lifting up different objects and making the black give them their native name, which I tried to imitate as well as I could.

He was very intelligent, grasping my meaning at once, and repeating the words again and again, till I was nearly perfect, when he laughed with childlike pleasure.

The time pa.s.sed so quickly in this occupation that I was quite startled by hearing a wild resonant cry that seemed to echo through the forest arcades. Then there was a succession of piercing screams, followed by loud whistling and muttering. A monkey started a chattering noise, which was answered from a distance with a hundredfold power; and looking about me I found that the day was breaking and the night-watch at an end.

The change from night to morning is very rapid near the equator, and soon the sun was making bright and attractive places that had looked awful and full of hidden dangers in the night; while, in place of the depression produced by the darkness, I felt eager sensations and desires springing up within my heart, and a strong inclination to get forward once more upon our journey.

We made a very hearty meal before the sun was much above the horizon; our simple packing was soon done, and we were not long before we were well on the road of discovery.

I expected to be very tired and sleepy, but to my surprise I did not feel in the least the worse for my restless night, and we trudged along pretty swiftly when the land was open, slowly and toilsomely when tangled growth obstructed our way.

I was too much occupied with thoughts of my father to pay much heed to the fruits and flowers that we came upon in many spots; besides, I was on before with Jack Penny, and Gyp in front of us very intelligently leading the way. There was, I knew, always the chance of meeting some danger, and on this account we kept a very sharp look-out ahead, till suddenly we were stopped by a strange noise as of water being struck a succession of heavy blows; and as Gyp set up his ears, threw up his nose, and uttered a low whimper, there was the click, click of gun-locks, and every one prepared for some coming danger, the blacks remaining quiet, and looking wonderingly at our strange proceedings.

The sound ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and though we listened intently we heard it no more for that time, so we continued our journey with every one thoroughly on the alert.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

HOW JACK PENNY PUT HIS FOOT IN A TRAP.

We had made our plans, but they were very elastic, for it was impossible for us to keep to any hard-and-fast line.

"No, Joe," the doctor said, "we cannot say that we will do this or that; we must be governed by circ.u.mstances. We have one object in view--to find your father, and so far we have determined to follow the course of the first big river; when we shall be diverted from it time must prove."

We slept that night under the shade of another tree, and as the mist rolled off the next morning we started once again.

It was so glorious a morning that, in spite of the serious nature of our position, it was impossible not to feel in the highest of spirits. The way lay through dense forest, but we had fallen into a track which I at first thought was a regular pathway, and so it proved to be, but not of the kind I imagined as I eagerly called the doctor's attention to it, and the ease with which we were now getting along.

"No, Joe," he said; "this is not a path used by human beings. Look down at the footprints."

I looked down to see the hoof-marks of innumerable wild creatures, and said so.

"Yes," replied the doctor, "it is a track down to the river, followed by the animals that go to drink, and we shall not be long before we get to the water side."

Our way did not seem wearisome, for there was so much to see, the birds in particular taking my attention greatly. One moment a flock of black c.o.c.katoos would fly screaming by, then a cloud of brilliantly-coloured parroquets, and in one opening we came upon what looked at first like a gigantic beech-tree completely alive with tiny blue-and-green parrots about the size of sparrows, climbing, fluttering, chattering, and chirping, now with their heads up, now heads down, and forming one of the prettiest sights I had ever seen.

I could have shot twenty or thirty together as they sat in rows upon the bare branches, so little did they heed our presence; but it was unnecessary to destroy their little lives, and we pa.s.sed on.

I was less merciful an hour later, for food was a necessity, and I was fortunate enough to bring down at the first shot a beautiful little deer that started up in our very path.

My shot seemed to alarm the whole forest and set it in an uproar: birds shrieked, monkeys chattered, and to right and left there was a rushing crackling noise, as of big creatures seeking flight. There was a deep-mouthed howl, too, away on our right that made me look anxiously at the doctor.

"I don't know, Joe," he replied, as if in answer to a spoken question.

"There may be tigers here, and leopards, and old men of the woods, big as ourselves. It is new land, my lad, so don't look to me for information."

"Dat big bunyip," said Jimmy in a scared whisper. "Take black fellow-- kill um, eatum."

Just then we heard the same beating noise that had fallen upon our ears the previous day.

"Dat big bunyip beat um gin," whispered Jimmy, with a curious awe-stricken look in his countenance.

"'Taint," said Jack Penny slowly. "I don't believe in bunyips. If it was a bunyip beating his gin, she'd holloa out like hooray, and squeak the leaves off the trees."

"'Fraid squeak," said Jimmy eagerly, as he caught Jack's meaning.

"Well, perhaps Jimmy's right," said the doctor slowly; "and as I've never seen a bunyip the present is a favourable opportunity, and we can interfere to stop him from too severely castigating his wife. Come, Jimmy, lead on."

Jimmy's jaw dropped, but his hand stole to his waistband, from which he drew his waddy, talking slowly the while, till, seeing the doctor make a movement towards him, he turned round and darted into the bush.

"He won't stop till he gets back to the village," drawled Jack.