Nat the Naturalist Part 19

The French pa.s.sengers would have petted and spoiled me had not my uncle interfered; and when we were once more alone he began to talk of my success.

"You quite exceeded anything I expected, Nat," he said smiling. "How you managed it, my boy, I cannot tell. The first time I set it down to pure accident; but when you repeated it again and again, all I can say, my boy, is that your eyes must be wonderfully good, and your aim and judgment even better. I doubt with all my practice whether I could have been more successful."

"I think it must have been chance, uncle," I said, "for I seemed to have no time to aim, and the vessel heaved up so just then."

"No, my boy," he replied, "it was not chance, but the result in a great measure of your practice with your gun; but you will not always shoot so well as that. When you come to be out with me in the wilds of one of the islands we visit, and have perhaps been tramping miles through rough forest, you will find it hard work to hit the object at which you aim."

"But it will be easier to shoot from the ground than from on shipboard, uncle, will it not?"

"For some things yes, my boy, for others no. But wait a bit, Nat, and we shall see."

The practice was kept up all through our voyage, and I became quite an adept at breaking floating bottles and other objects that were sent over the side, for the bladders soon came to an end; but our voyage was very uneventful. It was always enjoyable, for there was so much that was fresh to see. I never complained about the heat, which was very great, although people were lying about under awnings, while I used to get into the chains, or the rigging below the bowsprit, so as to gaze down into the wonderfully clear water and watch the dolphins and bonita as they darted through the sunlit depths with such ease and grace.

Sometimes I have wished that I could be a fish, able with a sweep or two of my powerful tail to dart myself through the water just as I pleased, or float at any depth, keeping up with the huge steamer as it was driven on.

Then a change would come over me, and I would think to myself: Well, I'm very glad I'm not a fish; for just as I would be watching some lovely mackerel-like fellow with a flashing back of mottled blue and purple, some monster ten times his size would make a dart at him and engulf him in his capacious throat. And as I watched the larger fish seize their food, it seemed to me that once they could get within easy range they seemed to suck their prey into their jaws, drawing it in with the great rush of water they sent through their gills.

It was not tempting at such times and above all when one used to see a thin grey fellow, six or eight feet long, seeming to sneak by the side of the ship, or just astern, where there was an eddy. Every now and then it would turn half over and show the pale under parts as it made a s.n.a.t.c.h at something that looked good to eat; and after a good many tries the sailors managed to catch one by means of a hook baited with a piece of ham that had been condemned as high.

It was only about six feet long, and when it lay on the wet deck thrashing about with its tail I thought that after all a shark was not such a dangerous-looking creature as I expected, and I said so to my uncle.

"Think not, Nat?" he said.

"Why, no, uncle, I don't think I should be afraid of a shark; I think I could catch such a fellow as that with a rod and line."

"Ah! Nat, some of them run up to fifteen or twenty feet in length," he said; "and they are awfully savage brutes. Such a one as this would be enough to kill a man."

"He don't look like it, uncle," I said. "Why, look here!"

I ran to where the shark lay, and stooping down, seized it with both hands by the thin part just before where the tail forked, meaning to give it a shake and drag the brute along the deck; but just as I got tight hold the creature seemed to send a wave down its spine, and with one flip I was sent staggering across the deck to fall heavily at full length, the crew and pa.s.sengers around roaring with laughter at my discomfiture.

I was so angry and mortified that I jumped up, opened my great jack-knife, and was rushing at the shark, when my uncle laid his hand upon my arm.

"Don't be foolish, Nat, but take your lesson like a man. You will not despise the strength of a shark for the future."

"Why, it was like touching a great steel spring, uncle," I said.

"If anything I should say that the backbone of a shark has more power in it when set in motion than a steel spring, Nat," he said. "There, now, our friend is helpless, and we can examine him in peace."

For, after thrashing the deck with a series of tremendous blows with his tail, the shark had his quietus given to him with a few blows of a hatchet, and as he lay upon the deck my uncle pointed out to me the peculiarity of the monster's structure, and after we had examined his nasty sharp triangular teeth in the apparently awkwardly placed mouth, I was shown how it was that a shark had such wonderful power of propelling itself through the water, for in place of having an ordinary fin-like tail, made up of so many bones with a membrane between, the shark's spine is continued right along to the extremity of the upper curve of its propeller, the other curve being comparatively small.

The flying-fish in the Red Sea have been described too often for it to be necessary for me to say anything about the beauty of these fishy swallows, but we saw hundreds of them dart out of the sea, skim along for a distance, and then drop in again. Then there were glimpses had in the deep clear blue--for that was the colour I found the Red Sea--of fishes with scales of orange, vermilion, and gold, bright as the gorgeous sunsets that dyed sea and sky of such wondrous hues evening after evening before darkness fell all at once, and the great stars, brighter, bigger, and clearer than I had ever seen them before, turned the heavens into a vast ocean of gems.

Day and night seemed to me to follow one another with wonderful rapidity, till one morning, as the steamer was panting and throbbing on its way, my uncle pointed to what looked like a low distant haze far away on our right.

"Do you see those mountains, Nat?" he said.

"Mountains, uncle! Are these mountains?"

"Yes, my boy, in a land that I could find it in my heart to visit, only that is not quite wild enough for our purpose."

"What place is it, then?" I said, gazing eagerly at the faint distant line.

"Sumatra, Nat;" and as he spoke the long-shaped island, so familiar on the maps at school, rose before my eyes, and with it came Java, Celebes, Borneo, and New Guinea, places that were before long to be the objects of our quest.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE MALAY KRIS IN STRANGE LANDS.

Three days later we were lying in Singapore harbour, and I had one or two runs ash.o.r.e to have a good look at the town, with its busy port full of all kinds of vessels, from the huge black-sided steamer and trim East Indiaman, to the clumsy high-sterned, mat-sailed, Chinese junk, and long narrow Malay prahu.

I could have stayed there a month staring about me at the varied scenes in the bright sunshine, where hundreds of Chinamen in their blue cotton loose clothes and thick-soled shoes were mingled with dark-looking Hindoostanees, Cingalese, and thick-lipped, flat-nosed, fierce-looking Malays, every man in a gay silk or cotton sarong or kilt, made in plaids of many colours and with the awkward-looking, dangerous kris stuck at the waist.

I say I could have stopped here for a month, enjoying the change, and wondering why the Malays should be so constantly chewing betel-nut and pepper leaves. I learned, too, that there was much to be seen in the island, and that there were tigers in the jungle near the plantations; but my uncle said there was no time to waste, and we must get on.

"We don't want civilisation, Nat, or the works of man; we want to go far away into the wilds."

"But don't you mean to go to Malacca, uncle?" I said. "That is where so many birds come from."

"I did think of going there, Nat; but I want to get to less-frequented spots, and I have found to-day a great prahu that is going right away to the Ke Islands, which will be well on our route to Aru and New Guinea.

The Malay captain says he will take us, and tow our boat behind."

"Our boat, uncle?"

"Yes, Nat; while you have been staring about at the heathen I have been busy looking out for a boat, and I have found one that I think will do.

Come and see."

I went with him to a creek outside the busiest part of the town, where the princ.i.p.al part of the people seemed to be fishermen, and here, after threading our way amongst dozens of clumsy-looking boats, my uncle showed me one that I should have thought would be the last to suit us.

"Why, you don't admire my choice, Nat!" he said smiling.

"It is such a common-looking thing, and it isn't painted," I replied.

"No, my boy, but it is well varnished with native resin. It is Malay built, very strong, and the mast and sails are well-made, though rough; better still, it will carry us, and a man or two for crew if we like, and give plenty of room for our treasures as well."

"But it is differently rigged to the boats on the Thames, uncle," I said disparagingly.

"Naturally, my boy," he said laughing; "but the sails will require the same management."

"And what an anchor, uncle!" I said. "Why, it is made of bamboo and a stone."

"We can easily buy a small grapnel and some cord, Nat," he said smiling; "and when you have found out how our boat will sail, you will think better of it, I am sure."

On the following day but one we were on board the prahu surrounded by fierce-looking Malays, every man being armed with his kris, and looking as bloodthirsty a lot as I thought I had ever seen. Our boat was towing behind as the men used long oars to get us out of the port, and then the great matting sails were hoisted, and we began to go swiftly through the surging sea.

"There, Nat," said my uncle gleefully, "good-bye to civilisation, for we are fairly off. How do you feel now?"