Nat the Naturalist Part 31

"There, Nat," he said kindly, "drink that off."

"What is it, uncle?" I said, taking the gla.s.s with hot and trembling hand.

"A preserving thing, my boy. One of the greatest blessings ever discovered for a traveller. It is quinine, Nat, fever's deadliest enemy. Down with it at once."

The stuff was intensely bitter, but my mouth was so hot and parched, and the water with it so cool and pleasant, that I quite enjoyed it, and drew a deep breath.

"There, now, lie down again, my boy, and be off to sleep. Don't fill your head full of foolish imaginings, Nat. There is nothing to fear from wild beasts here."

"But am I going to be very ill, uncle?"

"No, certainly not. You will sleep after that till three or four hours past sunrise, and then you will waken, feeling a little weak, perhaps, but in other respects all right. Perhaps it will come back again, and if it does we will rout it out once more with some quinine. Why, Nat, I've had dozens of such attacks."

I lay back, feeling more at rest, and satisfied that uncle was right about the beasts, for there was no sound now to trouble me; only the lapping of the water, which seemed to be only the waves now beating softly upon the sand, while the heavy breathing was certainly Ebo's, that gentleman never having moved since I touched him.

Then I saw my uncle shut up his little tin case and replace it in the chest, put out the wax taper, and lie down upon his couch of dry gra.s.s, yawning slightly, and then lying gazing out of the open door, for I could see his eyes shine.

But by degrees the faintly lit-up hut, with its bamboos and roof, its chests, guns, and Ebo's spear, all seemed to grow indistinct, and then all was restful peace.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.

A STRANGE CRY IN THE WOODS.

When I opened my eyes again the sea was dancing and sparkling, and the leaves waving gently in the soft warm breeze. I could see from where I lay that the water was rippling gently upon the sand, and not far from the hut door my uncle was busy skinning some bright-plumaged bird, while Ebo was cooking a couple of pigeons, and watching a little kettle stuck amongst the glowing ashes.

I was very comfortable, and did not feel disposed to move, for all seemed so calm and pleasant; and when I thought a little about my previous night's fancies I was ready to smile at them as being perfectly absurd.

I did not speak, but lay quite still, gazing at the lovely picture framed by the open door, and thinking how beautiful it all was, and how foolish I had been to go on fancying such dangers as I had in the night.

Then it was very pleasant, too, to watch Uncle d.i.c.k, and how very much quicker and cleverer he was at making a skin than I was. Still, I hoped by practice to get to be as quick.

He went on till he had dressed the interior of the skin with the soap preparation, and after filling certain parts with cotton-wool, and tying the wing-bones together, he turned it back, smoothed the plumage, and I saw that it was another of the short blue-barred kingfishers similar to that we had obtained before.

I could not help noticing as I lay there so quietly what great care and attention he gave to his task, seeming as if he thoroughly enjoyed his work, and felt it to be a duty to do it well.

At last, though, it was put away to dry, and after carefully washing his hands he came to the hut door very gently to see if I was awake.

"Ah, Nat," he said smiling, "how are you after your long sleep?"

"Long sleep, uncle!" I cried. "Is it very late?"

"Nearly noon, my boy. Well, how are you?"

"I--I think I'm quite well, thank you, uncle," I said, springing up, and feeling ashamed to be lying there, but turning so giddy that I should have fallen had Uncle d.i.c.k not caught my arm.

"Sit down," he said quietly. "There, that is better."

"Yes; I feel better now," I said.

"To be sure you do. Well, Nat, I think we have beaten the fever. You will feel weak for a day or two, but you will soon be all right."

And so it proved. For after two or three days of weakness, and a strange weary feeling that was quite new to me, I rapidly got better and felt no more dread of being alone at night; in fact I slept soundly as could be, and got up ready and fresh for any new work.

Uncle d.i.c.k was very kind, for until I was stronger he contented himself with shooting just about the hut, finding plenty of beautiful birds; but as soon as I was strong enough we prepared some cold provisions and started off for a longer exploration.

Ebo was delighted, and capered about in the excess of his joy, chattering in his own tongue and introducing every English word he had picked up, and these began now to be a good many; but he had very little idea of putting them to a proper use, muddling them up terribly, but keeping in the most perfect humour no matter how we laughed at him.

"It is my belief, Nat," said Uncle d.i.c.k, "that we shall find something better worthy of our notice yet if we make a good long expedition into the more wooded parts of the island."

"I thought we could not be better off, uncle," I said, "for we are getting some lovely birds."

"So we are, Nat; but one is never satisfied, and always wants more. I expect we shall find some birds of paradise, for it strikes me that the cry I have heard several times at daybreak comes from one of them."

"Birds of paradise! Here, uncle?" I cried.

"Why not, my boy? It is as likely a place as it is possible to imagine: an island near the equator, deeply wooded, and hardly ever visited by man. I should say that we must find some here."

"Oh, uncle!" I cried as my eyes glistened, and I felt my cheeks flush at the antic.i.p.ation of seeing one of these n.o.ble birds before the muzzle of my gun.

"I shall be greatly disappointed if we do not find some, and I should have been in search of them before now, only I thought you would like to go, and there was plenty of work close home."

I did not say much, but I felt very grateful at his thoughtfulness, and the very next morning we were off before it was day, tramping through the thick herbage and mounting the rising ground towards the south.

"I purpose trying to get right across the island to-day, Nat," he said, "and if we are too tired to get back all the way we must contrive enough shelter and camp out for one night in the woods."

"I shall not mind, uncle," I said, and on we went.

This time we had provided ourselves with light small baskets, such as we could swing from a cord that pa.s.sed over our right shoulders, and long and deep enough to hold a good many specimens. We all three bore these, Ebo's being double the size of ours, as he had no gun to use, but trotted easily by our side with his spear over his shoulder.

Before we had gone two miles several lovely birds had fallen to our guns, princ.i.p.ally of the thrush family, for our way was amongst bushes on the rising ground.

It is impossible to describe properly the beauty of these lovely softly-feathered objects. Fancy a bird of the size of our thrush but with a shorter tail, and instead of being olive-green and speckled with brown, think of it as having a jetty head striped with blue and brown, and its body a blending of buff, pale greyish blue, crimson, and black.

We kept on, taking our prizes from the baskets, where they lay in cotton-wool, to examine and admire them again and again.

No sooner had we feasted our eyes upon these birds than something as bright of colour fell to our guns. Now it would be a golden oriole or some glittering sun-bird. Then a beautiful cuckoo with crimson breast and cinnamon-brown back. Then some beautifully painted paroquet with a delicate long taper tail; and we were in the act of examining one of these birds, when, as we paused on the edge of a forest of great trees by which we had been skirting, my uncle grasped my arm, for, sounding hollow, echoing, and strange, there rang out a loud harsh cry: "_Quauk-quauk-quauk! Qwok-qwok-qwok_!"

This was answered from a distance here and there, as if there were several of the birds, if they were birds, scattered about the forest.

"There, Nat," said my uncle; "do you hear that?"

"Yes," I said, laughing. "I could hear it plainly enough, uncle. What was it made by--some kind of crow?"

"Yes, Nat, some kind of crow."

"Are they worth trying to shoot, uncle?" I asked.