Gascoyne, the Sandal-Wood Trader Part 10

"You can do nothing, Corrie," said Henry, trying to soothe him.

"Coward!" gasped the boy in a paroxysm of rage, as he clenched his fist and struck his captor on the chest with all his force.

"Hold him," said Henry, turning to John b.u.mpus, who at that moment came up.

b.u.mpus nodded intelligently, and seized the boy, who uttered a groan of anguish as he ceased a struggle which he felt was hopeless in such an iron gripe.

"Now, friends--all of you," shouted Henry, the moment he was relieved of his charge, "little Alice is in that house--we must pull it down! who will lend a hand?"

He did not pause for an answer, but seizing an axe, rushed through the smoke and began to cut down the door-posts. The whole party there a.s.sembled, numbering about fifty, rushed forward, as one man, to aid in the effort. The attempt was a wild one. Had Henry considered for a moment, he would have seen that, in the event of their succeeding in pulling down the blazing pile, they should in all probability smother the child in the ruins.

"The sh.e.l.l is in the out-house," said Corrie, eagerly, to the giant who held him.

"Wot sh.e.l.l?" inquired b.u.mpus.

"The sh.e.l.l that they blow like a horn to call the people to work with."

"Ah! you're sane again," said the sailor, releasing him; "go, find it, lad, and blow till yer cheeks crack."

Corrie was gone long before Jo had concluded even that short remark. In another second the harsh but loud sound of the sh.e.l.l rang over the hill-side. The settlers, black and white, immediately ceased their pursuit of the savages, and from every side they came trooping in by dozens. Without waiting to inquire the cause of what was being done, each man, as he arrived, fell to work on the blazing edifice, and, urged on by Henry's voice and example, toiled and moiled in the midst of fire and smoke, until the pastor's house was literally pulled to pieces.

Fortunately for little Alice, she had been carried out of that house long before by Keona, who, being subtle as well as revengeful, knew well how to strike at the tenderest part of the white man's heart.

While her friends were thus frantically endeavouring to deliver her from the burning house in which they supposed her to be, Alice was being hurried through the woods by a steep mountain path in the direction of the native village. Happily for the feelings of her father, the fact was made known, soon after the house had been pulled down, by the arrival of a small party of native settlers bearing one of the child's shoes. They had found it, they said, sticking in the mud, about a mile off, and had tracked the little footsteps a long way into the mountains by the side of the prints made by the naked feet of a savage. At length they had lost the tracks amid the hard lava rocks and had given up the chase.

"We must follow them up instantly," said Mr Mason, who had by this time recovered; "no time is to be lost."

"Ay, time is precious, who will go?" cried Henry, who, begrimed with fire and smoke, and panting vehemently from recent exertion, had just at that moment come towards the group.

"Take me! Oh! take me, Henry!" cried Corrie, in a beseeching tone, as he sprang promptly to his friend's side.

At any other time, Henry would have smiled at the enthusiastic offer of such a small arm to fight the savages; but fierce anger was in his breast at that moment;--he turned from the poor boy and looked round with a frown, as he observed that, although the natives crowded round him at once, neither Gascoyne, nor Thorwald, nor Captain Montague shewed any symptom of an intention to accompany him.

"Nay, be not angry, lad," said Gascoyne, observing the frown; "your blood is young and hot, as it should be; but it behoves us to have a council of war before we set out on this expedition, which, believe me, will be no trifling one, if I know anything of savage ways and doings."

"Mr Gascoyne is right," said Montague, turning to the missionary, who stood regarding the party with anxious looks, quite unable to offer advice on such an occasion, and clasping the little shoe firmly in both hands; "it seems to me that those who know the customs of savage warfare should give their advice first. You may depend on all the aid that it is in my power to give."

"Ole Thorwald is our leader when we are compelled to fight in self-defence," said Mr Mason; "would G.o.d that it were less frequently we were obliged to demand his services. He knows what is best to be done."

"I know what is best to do," said Thorwald, "when I have to lead men into action, or to shew them how to fight. But, to say truth, I don't plume myself on possessing more than an average share of the qualities of the terrier dog. When n.i.g.g.e.rs are to be hunted out of holes in the mountains like rabbits, I will do what in me lies to aid in the work; but I would rather be led than lead if you can find a better man."

Thorwald said this with a rueful countenance, for he had hoped to have settled this war in a pitched battle; and there were few things the worthy man seemed to enjoy more than a stand-up fight on level ground.

A fair field and no favour was his delight, but climbing the hills was his mortal aversion. He was somewhat too corpulent and short of wind for that.

"Come, Gascoyne," said Henry, "you know more about the savages than anybody here, and if I remember rightly, you have told me that you are acquainted with most of the mountain pa.s.ses."

"With all of them, lad," interposed Gascoyne; "I know every pa.s.s and cavern on the island."

"What, then, would you advise?" asked Montague.

"If a British officer can put himself under a simple trading skipper,"

said Gascoyne, "I may perhaps shew what ought to be done in this emergency."

"I can co-operate with any one who proves himself worthy of confidence,"

retorted Montague, sharply.

"Well, then," continued the other, "it is in vain to think of doing any good by a disorderly chase into mountains like these. I would advise that our forces be divided into three. One band under Mr Thorwald should go round by the Goat's Pa.s.s, to which I will guide him, and cut off the retreat of the savages there. Another party under my friend Henry Stuart should give chase in the direction in which little Alice seems to have been taken, and a third party, consisting of his Majesty's vessel the _Talisman_, and crew, should proceed round to the north side of the island and bombard the native village."

"The Goat's Pa.s.s," growled Thorwald, "sounds unpleasantly rugged and steep in the ears of a man of my weight and years, Mister Gascoyne. But if there's no easier style of work to be done, I fancy I must be content with what falls to my lot?"

"And, truly," added Montague, "methinks you might have a.s.signed me a more useful, as well as more congenial occupation than the bombardment of a mud village full of women and children--for I doubt not that every able-bodied man has left it, to go on this expedition."

"You will not find the Goat's Pa.s.s so bad as you think, good Thorwald,"

returned Gascoyne, "for I propose that the _Talisman_ or her boats should convey you and your men to the foot of it, after which your course will be indeed rugged, but it will be short;--merely to scale the face of a precipice that would frighten a goat to think of and then a plain descent into the valley where, I doubt not, these villains will be found in force; and where, certainly, they will not look for the appearance of a stout generalissimo of half savage troops. As for the bombarding of a mud village, Mr Montague, I should have expected a well-trained British officer ready to do his duty whether that duty were agreeable or otherwise."

"My _duty_, certainly," interrupted the young captain, hotly, "but I have yet to learn that _your_ orders const.i.tute _my_ duty."

The bland smile with which Gascoyne listened to this tended rather to irritate than to soothe Montague's feelings; but he curbed the pa.s.sion which stirred his breast, while the other went on--

"No doubt the bombarding of a defenceless village is not pleasant work, but the result will be important, for it will cause the whole army of savages to rush to the protection of their women and children; thereby disconcerting their plans--supposing them to have any--and enabling us to attack them while a.s.sembled in force. It is the nature of savages to scatter, and so to puzzle trained forces,--and no doubt those of his Majesty are well trained. But `one touch of nature makes the whole world kin,' says a great authority; and it is wonderful how useful a knowledge of the various touches of nature is in the art of war. It may not have occurred to Mr Montague that savages have a tendency to love and protect their wives and children as well as civilised men, and that--"

"Pray, cease your irrelevant remarks; they are ill-timed," said Montague, impatiently. "Let us hear the remainder of your suggestions.

I shall judge of their value and act accordingly. You have not yet told us what part you yourself intend to play in this game."

"I mean to accompany Captain Montague, if he will permit me."

"How! go with me in the _Talisman_," said Montague, surprised at the man's coolness, and puzzled by his impudence.

"Even so," said Gascoyne.

"Well, I have no objection, of course; but it seems to me that you would be more useful at the head of a party of your own men."

"Perhaps I might," replied Gascoyne; "but the coral reefs are dangerous on the north side of the island, and it is important that one well acquainted with them should guide your vessel. Besides, I have a trusty mate, and if you will permit me to send my old shipmate, John b.u.mpus, across the hills, he will convey all needful instructions to the _Foam_."

This was said in so quiet and straightforward a tone that Montague's wrath vanished. He felt ashamed of having shewn so much petulance at a time when affairs of so great importance ought to have been calmly discussed, so he at once agreed to allow b.u.mpus to go. Meanwhile Henry Stuart, who had been fretting with impatience at this conversation, suddenly exclaimed--

"It seems to me, sirs, that you are wasting precious time just now. I, at least, am quite satisfied with the duty a.s.signed to me, so I'm off-- ho! who will join me?"

"I'm your man," cried Corrie, starting up and flourishing the broken sabre above his head. At the same moment about a hundred natives ranged themselves round the youth, thus indicating that they, too, were his men.

"Well, lad, away you go," said Gascoyne, smiling, "but Master Corrie must remain with me."

"I'll do nothing of the sort," said Corrie, stoutly.

"Oh! yes, you will, my boy. I want you to guide my man b.u.mpus over the mountains. You know the pa.s.ses, and he don't. It's all for the good of the cause, you know,--the saving of little Alice."

Corrie wavered. The idea of being appointed, as it were, to a separate command, and of going with his new friend, was a strong temptation, and the a.s.surance that he would in some way or other be advancing the business in hand settled the matter. He consented to become obedient.