Mother Carey's Chicken Part 47

"Keep a sharp look-out," whispered the captain. "That noise must be made by some uncouth creature, so be on your guard."

"That's why I'm going to have the dog," replied the major; and, leaving the rest all busy over some preparation for the future comfort of the party, the ladies preparing to go fruit-seeking after attending to the wounded men's wants, while Mary collected some large pearl-sh.e.l.l oysters and the halves of the cocoa-nuts for cups and plates, the major and his young henchman set off.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

HOW MARK AND THE MAJOR SAW SIGNS.

Bruff limped up eagerly, and sometimes put down his injured paw, which he had been dressing after nature's fashion by licking it well, and trotted by their side; but it was evident directly that another was to be of the party, for before they had gone fifty yards Jack bounded up and placed himself beside the dog.

The major hesitated for a moment.

"He won't do any harm," he said at last. "Let him come. I say, Mark, my lad, all that was very comic about the little fellow climbing the tree; but do you know, if you took pains I'm sure you might teach him to go up into the leafy crowns and screw the nuts round till they dropped."

"I was wondering whether it would be possible," said Mark eagerly.

"Quite. He is an intelligent little fellow. Try. Now, then, let's take our bearings," continued the major, and he pulled out a pocket-compa.s.s. "Don't let's be wearied out in finding our way back when we are tired."

"Which way are we going, sir?"

"That depends, my lad. It is not as we please, but as the jungle allows. You talk as if you were in a country full of roads."

"I forgot," said Mark, changing the position in which he carried his father's double gun.

"First lesson in using a gun," said the major: "either point the muzzle at the ground or up at the sky. It's considered bad manners, Mark, to shoot your companions."

"I--I beg your pardon, sir," faltered Mark. "It was very clumsy of me."

"Not a bit more clumsy than every young fellow is, when he first handles a gun. That's the way. I'm sure you don't want to have to carry me home without a head. Now, then, our easiest route would be to go along the sands at the edge of the cocoa-nut groves; but I propose we strike in beside the first stream or through the first valley we find. Come along."

They followed the beautiful sh.o.r.e line for about five hundred yards, and at a turn came suddenly upon a lovely little stream which offered far better facilities for obtaining drinking water than that from which it had been obtained, and as soon as he saw the spot, the major exclaimed that this was the place for their temporary home.

A cocoa-nut grove, a sandy cove, plenty of nipah-palms ready for making into thatch or wails for their hut, and an abundance of slight young palm-trees like scaffold poles exactly suitable for making their hut or shed.

"We must go back, Mark," said the major. "This is a find that will save them endless trouble."

It seemed a pity to return, as the sun was growing very hot; but they tramped back, and the captain followed when they again started, to decide with Gregory whether it would be a better site.

"Now," said the major, leaving them to their discussion, "you shall try and bring down the first eatable bird we see, and I'll look out for pig or deer."

"Are you going straight inland?" asked Mark.

"No, but just as the open ground beside this stream will let us. I want to get to the high ground and reach the slope of the volcano if we can."

It was not an easy task; for though the jungle was open here in comparison to what it was on either hand, every step of the way was impeded by creepers, awkward roots, patches of moss into which their feet sank, and by the rattan-canes that draped the trees and ran in and out and enlaced them together, as if nature were making rough attempts to turn the edge of the forest into a verdant piece of basket-work.

The heat was great and it was rather exhausting toil, but at every turn the beauties of the place were quite startling to Mark in their novelty.

Over the clear sun-spangled stream drooped the loveliest of ferns, whose fronds were like the most delicate lace; while by way of contrast other ferns clung to the boles of trees, that were dark-green and forked like the horns of some huge stag; great ma.s.ses and cl.u.s.ters, six or seven feet long, hung here and there pendent from the old stumps.

Flowers too were in abundance, but for the most part quaintly-shaped orchids of cream, and yellow, and brown, some among the moss, others clinging to the mossy bark of the trees. But the greatest curiosities of all were the pitcher-plants hanging here and there, some fully suspended, others so large that they partly rested on the moss, forming jungle cups capable of containing fully a pint of water, some of them even more.

The beauties of the scene increased, in spite of each one in which they paused seeming as if it could not be surpa.s.sed; for as they penetrated more deeply they not only came upon flowering trees about which tiny sun-birds, whose plumage was a blaze of burnished metallic splendour, whirred, and buzzed, and darted, or probed the blossoms with their beaks, but they found that the island, if island it should prove, was inhabited by endless numbers of gorgeous b.u.t.terflies.

Great pearly-looking insects, whose wings gleamed with azure reflections, floated calmly down the glades, their wings fully eight inches across. Others were specked and splashed with scarlet, or barred with orange, or dashed with glistening green. Then, as if there was to be no end to the feast of beauty for their eyes, great quick-flying insects came darting among the sunny openings, b.u.t.terflies with elongated, narrow, and pointed wings similar to those of the sphinx moths of our own land.

Mark could have sat down and watched the various gorgeously-coloured beauties for hours, but theirs was a business task, and he plodded on behind the major, both the monkey and the dog untiringly investigating everything they saw.

But there was no trace of large animal, no sound that suggested the neighbourhood of anything likely to be inimical, while the best test was the fearlessness with which their two companions kept by their sides.

"Ah!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the major at last, as a low cooing noise fell upon their ears. "Now for something for dinner! You go first, Mark, and let them have both barrels sharply--one after the other."

"Let what have them?"

"The pigeons. Creep on yonder softly, and you will soon come upon them--a flock of pigeons feeding in one of the trees."

Mark went on as silently as he could, and the major kept back the two animals and waited a minute--five minutes, ten minutes--and then softly followed, to find the lad at the edge of a glade watching a flock of great lavender-hued and feather-crowned pigeons, as big as fowls, feeding in the most unconcerned manner.

The major did not hesitate for a moment, but fired at the spot where the birds were thickest, and again as they rose with whirring and flapping wings in a little flock.

Three went down at his first discharge, two at his second; and Mark started as if he too had been shot.

"You here, sir?" he said.

"Yes. Why didn't you shoot?"

"I forgot to," said Mark hesitatingly; "and I was admiring them."

"Yes, admirable, my young naturalist!" said the major. "But we are sent out here to find food for so many hungry people; and these are glorious eating."

"Yes; I forgot," said Mark, helping to collect the birds, which were tied by the legs and hung over the trunk of a tree, as the stream would act as their guide on their return.

Then going on, the little rapids and falls in the tiny river showed that they must be steadily rising, but at so slow a rate that it soon became evident that, unless the country opened out, they would not reach the mountain that day.

At the end of a couple of hours, though, when they paused to rest and began refreshing themselves with some fruit similar to a large nut, but whose interior contained a couple of kernels imbedded in custard, they found themselves quite upon a hill, with a valley dipping down below along which the streamlet came, and beyond these the mountain-slope rose, so that they had a good view of the cone, with the film of cloud still rising, but looking almost transparent in the bright sunrise.

"There ought to be pigs here," said the major; "but it does not seem as if we shall see any. But look yonder; there's another of those fruit-trees, with pigeons feeding beneath. Go and try now."

Mark hurried on, and threading his way among the trees took a long and careful aim before firing; and, as might be expected, missing. But as luck had it, the flock rose with a tremendous beating of wings and went right over the major's head, giving him an opportunity to get a couple of good shots, with the result that three more of the great pigeons came crashing down.

"I think I hit one," said Mark as he came panting back, to find that the major and Bruff between them had retrieved all three birds.

"Where is it, then?" said the major.

"The smoke got in my eyes, and I could not see whether one fell."

"Take the dog, then, and see if he can find it," said the major, smiling to himself. But after a good search the lad came back hot and disappointed.

"Better luck next time, my boy," said the major. "You are not the only one who did not hit his first bird. Shooting is not so easy as fishing in the sea."