Four Young Explorers Part 15

The game was plentiful, and the hunters shot several deer, a pig, and a Malay bear; but they were not enthusiastic hunters, considering that they had come to Borneo for that purpose. After a four hours' tramp they all thought they had had enough of it. Felix declared that he preferred to hunt cobras and tigers, for all the game seemed to be very tame to him. Seating themselves on the ground, they rested for an hour, and then started on their return to the boat. All the game was given to the Dyak guides, who were very glad to get it. They swung it on a pole, and trotted along with their load as though it had been no burden at all.

"They do that all day," said Achang. "Never get tired."

"They have load enough to feed the village for a week," added the captain. "I should not care for the fun of feeding them another week, for I find hunting here very tame business."

"My sintimints also," added Felix.

After a walk of another hour they reached the Dyak house, and the whole population of the place followed them to the sh.o.r.e. They were filled with wonder and admiration at the sight of the Blanchita, and went off to her in their sampans. They were permitted to go on board; but when Felipe fed the fire in the furnace, and the steam began to hiss, some of them were frightened, and fled to their boats.

Dinner was all ready when the party went on board; and Achang was instructed to send off the guests, for the boat was to get under way at once. They got into their sampans; but they remained near the Blanchita, evidently desirous to see her sail. They had not to wait long, for the anchor was weighed, and the captain rang the gong. She went off at her usual speed, and the Dyaks expressed their astonishment in various ways.

"Dinner all ready, gentlemen," said Pitts as soon as the steamer was well under way.

"What have you for dinner, Pitts?" asked the captain.

"Baked fish, Captain, in two pieces; for he was too long to go into my oven," replied the cook.

"All right. Take the wheel, Clingman, and make the course due south."

"Due south, sir," repeated the wheelman.

The party hastened to the after cabin; for they were hungry after their long tramp, though they had taken a light lunch with them. The fish, "in two pieces," was placed before the captain; while Pitts stood by his side, ready to pa.s.s the plates, and hear any comments the captain might make on the princ.i.p.al viand.

The odor from the steaming fish was emphatically agreeable to the hungry hunters, and so was the soft divan to their tired legs. Scott helped the members of the party to liberal portions of the dainty dish, and without pausing for manners they began to partake. When the captain had tasted the fish, he stopped short, and looked at Pitts. Then he reached out his right hand to him.

"Your hand, Pitts!" and the cook took it, his face wreathed in smiles.

"You have cooked a dish here, Pitts, which is fit for any king on the continent of Europe, to say nothing of Asia."

The rest of the party applauded vigorously, and every one of them, following the example of the captain, took the cook by the hand, and bestowed additional praise upon him; and Louis declared that he could not have done better if he had served his time as a _cuisinier_ in the Grand Hotel in Paris. But the most telling tribute to the skill of the cook was in the amount consumed; and the captain expressed a fear that the engineer and five seamen would have to "kiss the cook."

"It is only a woman cook that gets served in that way, and then not unless she is good looking," replied Pitts, laughing. "But you need have no fear, Captain, and the second table will have no occasion to kiss the cook, even it were one of the pretty girls we saw at the long-house below; for I have another fish in the oven, and it will be done by the time they are ready for it."

"That's right, Pitts; look out for the men as well as you do for the rest of us," added the captain. "Now, fellows, I am going to the wheel; and I want to see all of you in the fore cabin, for I have something to say, and we may have occasion to vote."

"Vote on what, Captain?" inquired Felix.

"There is no motion before the house, Flix; and when morning comes the sun will rise, not before," replied Captain Scott.

As soon as a plum-pudding had been disposed of, the party hastened to the fore cabin; for their curiosity had been excited by what had been said. The captain took the wheel; and Louis went to the engine, though he could hear what was said while near enough to the levers to act in case of need. Scott had brought from his berth in the after cabin a blue-colored roll, which all understood was a chart, though of what sea they did not know.

"Now, fellows, I have come to the conclusion that we are all tired of paddling about the muddy rivers of Borneo," the captain began, after he had scrutinized the compa.s.s in the binnacle. "I have said so before; though I have not enlarged on the subject, or spoken half as strongly as I might. The rest of you may not take my view of the situation; but I do not ask you to do so, and I hope you will all speak out just what you think, as I have done, and shall do stronger than before. We want something that is not quite so tame as shooting pigs and crocodiles at thirty-six cents a foot."

"I am quite of your opinion, Captain," added Morris. "I don't think there is any more fun in shooting orangs, for we are not naturalists nor scientists of any sort. If we had brought a naturalist with us, we should have done better."

"I have had enough of it for the present; but we have two weeks yet before the ship will come to Kuching for us, and what are we to do during that time?" said Louis, walking a little nearer to the wheel.

"That is precisely the conundrum I intend to guess on the present occasion, and for which I have called this meeting without consulting Mr. Belgrave," replied Captain Scott, giving the wheel to Morris, with the course, and unfolding the blue roll. "The Guardian-Mother will go to Saigon before she comes back to Sarawak. That is about a two days' run for her. From Sarawak, or the mouth of the river, the distance is five hundred sea miles. Now, to flash it on you all at once, I propose to sail in the Blanchita to Point Cambodia, where the ship will pick us up as she comes down the Gulf of Siam. Now I am ready to hear you all groan."

"It looks like a risky voyage in such a craft as this steam-launch,"

said Louis, when there was a prolonged silence.

"I wish you all to look over the chart of the China Sea; this meeting is adjourned to the after cabin at four o'clock, and you may do your groaning there."

The men soon came out of the after cabin, and Pitts was busy removing the dishes and putting everything in order. At the time stated, the party were seated around the table in the after cabin, ready to consider the captain's astounding proposition.

CHAPTER XIV

DOWN THE SIMUJAN AND UP THE SARAWAK

The proposition of Captain Scott was certainly an astounding one, not unlike the daring of those men who have crossed the Atlantic in a dory or in small sailboats; and so it struck the other members of the cabin party. Scott was not a reckless navigator; and his companions had voyaged with him on stormy seas several times in the Maud, though she was a better sea-going craft than the Blanchita. She was decked over her entire length, so that she could be closed as tight as the inside of a barrel, while the steam-launch was an open boat.

Scott did not regard the venture as an extremely perilous one, though he would not have thought of such a thing as crossing the Atlantic in a craft like the Blanchita, princ.i.p.ally because she could not carry coal enough to render the trip a prudent risk. The distance from land to land was about five hundred miles, and the little steamer could easily make this distance inside of three days. But the captain must speak for himself.

"Now, fellows, you can study the chart for yourselves," said he, as he put the point of his pencil on the mouth of the Sarawak River. "If the Blanchita were a sailing-craft instead of a steamer, I should not have a moment's hesitation; for though she is not heavy and clumsy, she is very strongly built. I have looked her over several times, with this trip in my head."

"But she can be rigged as a sailing-craft, and has a short mast and a sail," interposed Morris. "I talked with the rajah about her, and he told me that he had been out to sea in her. He said he had never had occasion to use the sail, but he carried it in case anything should happen to the engine."

"That betters the situation very materially," replied the captain. "If we have anything to depend upon if the engine should break down or the coal should give out we should be all right."

"There must be heavy seas out in the China Sea," added Louis, as he looked over the chart.

"We haven't seen any very heavy seas in any of these waters. The south-west monsoons prevail at this season of the year in these waters.

I don't find any decided ocean current laid down on the charts of the southern and western portions of the China Sea. They strike in at the eastward of Java, and flow to the eastward of Borneo, through the Maca.s.sar Strait," said Scott, pointing out the direction on the chart.

"That looks favorable; and if there is any current to speak of, it runs in the direction of the monsoons, and therefore will not be likely to cause heavy winds."

"If I thought the trip was a very dangerous one, I certainly should not propose to make it," added the captain.

"Fish!" shouted Clingman at the wheel.

In spite of their interest in the discussion, all the party rushed forward at this cry. The captain ordered the wheelman to stop her, though her headway kept her moving for some minutes after the screw ceased to revolve. The men baited the hooks as soon as fish were indicated. The boat had reached the locality where the catch of the day before had been obtained, and all hands were on the lookout. The lines were thrown over, and the fish bit quickly as soon as the steamer was at rest. In half an hour they had taken seven.

"Keep her moving, Clingman," said Captain Scott, as the party hurried back to the cabin to continue the discussion.

Pitts dressed the fish, and put them in the ice-chest. Achang had completed the skinning of the orang, and the skin was now drying in the sun. The voyage to Siam or Cambodia looked very much like an adventure, and the young men were deeply interested in it.

"I don't think we are likely to encounter any very heavy weather in the western part of the China Sea," said Captain Scott, as he put his pencil on the chart again. "We may be overhauled by a typhoon."

"And what is a typhoon?" asked Felix. "I know it is some sort of a storm, and that is all I do know."

"There are different names for a storm in different parts of the earth,"

replied Scott. "What is a hurricane in the West Indies is a cyclone in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, and a typhoon in the China Sea.

They are all alike in substance, being revolving storms, in which the wind whirls around in a circle, and at the same time has a forward movement as a whole towards some point of the compa.s.s. But there are various signs which indicate the approach of a typhoon or a hurricane; and in these seas the barometer has to be watched constantly."

"I suppose we should be out of sight of land about all the time on the pa.s.sage," suggested Morris.