The Penang Pirate Part 9

But, I had to do it somehow or other, so I nerved myself up for the task.

"Strange to say, however, the moment I rolled myself into the water again, for I cannot say I walked in, I found I could use my arms and legs again as freely as ever when swimming, albeit so cramped and powerless when I tried to move them ash.o.r.e; and so, striking out again for the last time with all my remaining strength, I crossed the little channel that separated me from the Madagascar coast in much less time than I had calculated on, the haze having made it appear wider than it really was.

"It was dark, however, when I grounded on the other side, where the land fortunately shelved down into the water gradually--for if there had been any steep bank or cliff to climb I could never have succeeded in surmounting it, the last exertion of swimming the channel having exhausted all my energies. Now, completely prostrated with all I had gone through, as soon as I had crawled up far enough to be out of reach of the tide, I laid down under the trunks of the two trees that had been my beacon guides to safety, and which grew close together out of a clump of sand on the sh.o.r.e, falling asleep at once. I was so utterly worn out that I was not only powerless to proceed any further, but I had no dread of the savage country I was in, or any fear of being attacked by wild beasts!"

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER FIVE.

HUNGER AND THIRST.

"When day broke next morning," Ben went on to say, "there I found myself under the shade of the two cocoa-nut palms, as I discovered my beacon trees to be, lying on the warm sandy bed covered over with leaves which I had accidentally selected for my night's couch--being the first comfortable spot I came to on crawling up from the beach. I felt thoroughly rested and restored to my old self, although still somewhat stiff and sore all over, as if somebody had given me a good thrashing-- which of course was owing to my long exposure to the waves and the beating about they gave me; but, I was able to stand on my feet now and work my limbs more freely than I could on first landing, which was decidedly a point to the good, as I had thought I was paralysed.

"Looking about me, I noticed that I had managed to fetch a low curving bay or arm of the sea considerably to the south of Cape Tangan, which I could recognise stretching away to the northward. The sh.o.r.e was of fine white sand; and in the background was a dense bush of jungle and forest trees, princ.i.p.ally palms and such like tall upright trunks, that had no branches, all their foliage being on the top in a cl.u.s.ter like a lady's parasol.

"My two cocoa-nut trees were evidently the outlying sentinels, or advance-guards of these; for they stood alone on the beach a hundred yards or more in front of the jungle and brushwood, which extended back from the sh.o.r.e in a ma.s.s of green that stood well out, in pleasant relief to the gleaming sand, as far away as the eye could reach, clothing the slopes of the high mountains which rose up in the centre of the island running like a backbone or rocky spine all along its length from its extreme nor'-easterly point down far away to the south.

"This forest belt of green encircles the whole coast of Madagascar, I've been told, beginning close almost to the water's edge in some places and extending back inland until the higher levels are reached; and it is of a uniform width of some fifteen miles across, except where, of course, it has been cleared away at the different settlements and colonies at the heads of the various bays with which the coast is indented. I know, at all events, that this jungle seemed endless and impenetrable; for I had quite enough to do with it in the following ten days that I was thus brought face to face with it, as I can tell you!

"As soon as I woke up, the first thought that crossed my mind was, where could I find water? I was so parched with thirst that my tongue seemed glued to the roof of my palate, and I believe it was feeling this that roused me; so, naturally, I turned about, hunting for some brook or streamlet where I could get a drink, as rivers mostly run to the sh.o.r.es of the majority of islands I ever heard of. However, there were none close in sight that I could see from the beach, and all the water there was salt; and, as I argued to myself that all the green jungle must have been produced and kept alive by moisture of some sort, I abandoned the sea-sh.o.r.e as hopeless and directed my steps towards the bush, with the expectation of finding there the object of my quest. I didn't go with any lagging steps either, for by this time my thirst was almost unbearable, becoming the more intense the longer I waited for water.

"I proceeded after getting into the bush to where the ground sloped down into a sort of valley, fancying that such would be the likeliest place for a river; but I had not got very far through the rough thicket, which scratched my exposed skin pretty sorely by the way, when, as I emerged again into the open, I saw before me a group of men in front amongst some detached trees. Two or three were moving about, while the rest were lying on the ground; so, taking them to be natives, and knowing that the Sakalavas who inhabited this part of the coast were, unlike the Hovas, friendly to foreigners, many Hindoo families and Portuguese being settled amongst them, besides a few stray Frenchmen and Americans, I at once made towards the group. Judge of my surprise, however, on coming up to the men, to find that they were none other than Magellan and four others of the pinnace's crew, whom I had supposed to be lost, but who had managed to get ash.o.r.e safely long before myself!

"Well, what a hand-shaking there was that went round them--why, it was like meeting chaps that had been dead and buried over again! We none of us could say anything for some time, the emotion of seeing each other again being too much, for I was a pretty good favourite with all the hands, and Magellan had told the rest about his having pa.s.sed me swimming ash.o.r.e early in the day they all got to land; and then, through my not turning up, of course they all believed I had gone down to Davy Jones! One thing was now certain, however; and that was, that we were the whole number that were saved; for, if you will recollect, five out of the thirteen comprising the crew of the boat had gone down with her when she filled and sank, leaving eight only struggling in the water.

Of these remaining eight, six of us were now together on the Madagascar coast, and the other two, Bellamy and Russell, I had myself seen drown when they tumbled off the raft on which I had left them in that last deadly embrace of theirs.

"I was so knocked of a heap at meeting my old shipmates so unexpectedly that I declare to you I forgot all about my raging thirst for the moment; but as soon as the excitement had calmed down and all sorts of questions and answers had been asked and replied to, with much palavering and congratulating of one another, the intense feeling returned to me worse than ever--my tongue being so swollen up that it seemed to fill my mouth!

"'Have you got any water?' says I to Magellan; 'I'm dying with thirst!'

"'Bless you, my hearty!' replied he, 'why didn't you say that afore?

But mind now, you must go gingerly. This is all we've got till we find some more, and we've agreed to allowance ourselves. Half a pint is all you can have, shipmate, now, and if you drinks it all you'll get no more to-day. I advise you to rinse your mouth out with it, for that'll make it go further, bo!'

"So saying, Magellan hands me a pannikin into which he had drawn off the quant.i.ty of water he had said was the allowance out of the barrico, which I told you contained some when the pinnace was wrecked. It had floated ash.o.r.e all right, fortunately for us all; and Magellan, picking it up, had had the good sense to economise it for the advantage of the lot. I can't tell you how it felt as I drank it down! Nothing that I ever tasted before or since all the world over ever came up to that drink of water. It was like the nectar as I've read of that the old Greek G.o.ds used to drink on Mount Olympus, for it was sweeter than any wine or liquor that ever crossed my lips before I learnt to wear the blue ribbon!

"I took Magellan's advice and drank it sparingly, washing my mouth out to make it go further before I swallowed it and spinning it out as long as I could, giving a great gasp of satisfaction as I drained down the last drop. I never thought such a chap as Magellan would have had the sense to lay hands on the barrico as he did and serve it out on allowance--considering the little amount of water there was, and how all must have been pretty nigh as thirsty as myself; but, I suppose the peril he had been in and the fact of his not seeing any river near taught him caution!

"Now, on seeing me drink, the others wanted the pannikin pa.s.sed round; but Jem Magellan said 'No,' putting the barrico back under some leaves alongside of where he had been sitting when I came up, which was the reason I hadn't noticed it as I was certain to have done; and I, taking command of the party again, as I was ent.i.tled to do as senior petty officer, endorsed his authority, saying that it was for the good of all that some restriction should be placed on the water so as to make it last out till we got more. I daresay, sir, as how you must have thought it strange that Captain Wilson should have put me in charge of the pinnace, instead of a warrant officer or middy?"

"Yes, I must say I have been wondering at that," I replied to Ben's question.

"Well, it seems rather queer," said Ben; "but you must know that when the _Dolphin_ captured the dhow that time, the only officers on board fit for duty that weren't down in the sick bay with fever were the first and second lieutenants, one middy and the boatswain, besides Chips the carpenter, who couldn't be spared from the ship; and in boarding the _Fatima_, the first swab, as I told you, got an ugly sc.r.a.pe in the leg that prevented him from moving; so when the second lieutenant was put in charge of the dhow to take her up to Zanzibar, I was the only responsible man the captain could think of to send cruising with the pinnace, as the middy was a harum-scarum youngster, who hadn't got thought enough, and neither the boatswain nor Chips could be taken away from their duties without perhaps the ship suffering. Besides, I had a very good character, standing on the books for promotion, with three good-conduct badges; and being at the time well acquainted with the coast and the ways of the slave-dhows I was just the man to be put in charge of the boat as 'jaunty,' as we say in the service."

"All right, I've no doubt the captain selected you as a fit person for so responsible a post," said I. "Fire away with the yarn."

"Very good, sir," said Ben, continuing his narrative now that he had given this explanation. "I was in command of the party anyway, though I must say I wasn't very much like an officer in appearance, for I hadn't a rag of clothing on. Indeed, most of us were in the same condition; for, only Magellan and one other chap had trousers, the remaining three being, like myself, as naked as when they were born! However, that did not trouble us much then, as we were under the shade of the trees, and in those parts of the world the less you have on the more comfortable you are; although, when exposed directly to the sun it soon raises blisters on a bare skin.

"Before doing anything else, as soon as I resumed my proper post as headman of the crew, I thought the best thing was to organise a proper search for water, that being our princ.i.p.al necessity for the moment; and, accordingly, directing the lot to separate, each going a different way so as to properly overhaul the ground, but not keeping too far apart to be out of hail of one another lest we might get lost, we dispersed through the bush--I taking the beach line for my course, and telling the rest to keep the two cocoa-nut trees in sight for a general rendezvous and report progress in an hour's time or thereabouts if they had not found water before. If they found it, of course they were to sing out at once.

"Our courage was pretty well up then, for we had yet only seen the beginning, so to speak, of our trials, and the men went off laughing and skylarking; one calling out as how he'd soon be piping us down to a real good feed, with lashings of grog; and another saying he'd look in and ask the Queen of Madagascar to send down a carriage and fetch us to the palace. Bless you! you know what light-hearted chaps sailors are, even in the midst of danger. As for myself, I was more serious like; for, besides having the responsibility of the whole party on my shoulders and wishing to do the best for all, I couldn't help thinking we were in a very sorry mess altogether. I knew what the coast was, you see; for it was a wide extent of savage country all the way from Cape Tangan to Majunga, with only some little native settlement here and there between, all of which were separated by this endless belt of jungle I've mentioned, and wide lagoons and rivers, in addition to high mountains in many places--that would have been tough climbing at the best of times, without the heavy brushwood and tangled thickets that ran up from their bases to their summits, and the deep crevices and gorges in which they abruptly ended, making one come to a dead stop on the edge of some awful abyss, over which one step further would precipitate you. I knew all this, sir, from my own past acquaintance with the coast, as well as from what I had learned from others who had seen more of it than I had; so, I did not see quite such a satisfactory end to our difficulties as all the rest did, with the exception of Magellan, who had been shipwrecked before, on the coast of China, and knew it wasn't child's play. But, as for the other poor fellows, they had to learn the reality in bitter earnestness. Now that they had succeeded in getting ash.o.r.e such distance from where the pinnace had sunk under us, they believed they had pa.s.sed through the worst peril they could possibly have to contend against and that thenceforth all was plain sailing for them. Ah! before that first day of their experiences in Madagascar was over they would have a very different tale to tell, as you'll see.

"So thinking, and, as luck would have it, antic.i.p.ating exactly what happened, though perhaps this was more owing to the melancholy frame of mind I was in than any pretence of being able to foretell the future, as some folks set up for doing, I went from the little clearing in the bush, where we had been a.s.sembled, down to the sea, the glimmer and shimmering of which, from the sun shining on it, could be seen through the openings in the foliage of the trees--first directing my footsteps, being now able to walk easily and well, to the bank at the foot of the twin cocoa-nut trees where I had rested for the night, and from thence to the place where I had crawled ash.o.r.e; for, I could trace my way without any difficulty by the tracks and marks I had made in the clear white sand, which being above high-water mark had not been washed out by the tide, as would otherwise have been the case.

"From this spot, I followed along the beach the whole curve of the bay, a good two mile or more, to where it ended in a precipitous cliff, without finding the mouth of any stream or river emptying itself into the sea; but I found one thing of some service, for, attached to an oar, which must have formed part of the raft I had made and abandoned to Russell and Bellamy, was the comforter that I had taken off my neck and bound the spars together with. It came in now even handier than ever; as, wrapping it round my loins I converted the old comforter into a sort of petticoat that did duty for my missing 'unmentionables,' as delicate people call them, and I confess I felt more comfortable with this apology on, even though I was in those savage wilds with but my own messmates to see me.

"Only the oar had been cast up by the waves; neither the pork breaker, which had contained one or two junks of meat that might have been useful to us, nor the stern-sheet grating, which I had lashed together with it, being observable anywhere on the strand, so they must have been carried by the current round the cape.

"I retraced my way sadly to our meeting-place; for, as I argued, if I couldn't see the mouth of any river there they wouldn't find one in the bush, as the ground shelved down gradually towards the sea in the neighbourhood, so if there was any water stream, it was bound to find its way there, not being able to run uphill!

"During all this time I could hear our chaps hollering and calling out to each other, sometimes the voices being far away and then again close at hand; but when I had got up to the cocoa-nut trees there they all were once more, with the same story of an unsuccessful search. Diving beneath the brushwood and jungle they had peeped and peered into every likely spot they came across, without finding a trace of water, nor even the empty bed of what had been a stream in the rainy season. It was evident that the valley we were in was too northerly for the rivers that I had heard entered the sea mostly on the west side of the island; and that to come to such we would have to make our way over one of the intervening chains of hilly land lying between.

"The men, however, were too tired to attempt this now, for instead of an hour, we had been nigher three searching through the forest and coast; and, it being close on noontide, from the elevation of the sun, which being in the zenith was right over our heads, I called a halt--all of us lying down under the trees till it should get a bit cooler towards evening. All, too, were so thirsty, and clamouring out so much for water, that I and Magellan had to give in to their entreaties and serve out another half-pint apiece, which we told them would have to last them until noon next day; but still, this second allowance all round made a serious drain on our store, for there being six of us now, and each, including myself, having had half a pint in the pannikin before, that made six pints out of the two and a half gallons the water barrico originally held--nearly a third of the whole quant.i.ty. If we went on at that rate, why it would only last for three days, or two more at the outside, when, as I calculated, it would take us a week at least to reach Majunga, that is if we could manage to surmount the mountain ranges that I was aware lay between where we were and that port. I said a word or two to that effect to the men, but they didn't pay much attention to my caution, all being tired out and the majority falling asleep as soon as they drank their allowance, without waiting to see the next served out even, they were so drowsy.

"I tried to keep watch for a bit, but the exertion of walking about had been too much for me too, and I soon followed suit in dropping off with the others, not waking up until it was close on sunset, when the slanting rays of the fiery orb shining right into my eyes roused me and made me turn out, although I took care not to wake the rest.

"I felt thirsty now no longer but hungry as a hunter, and started up to see if I could find anything to eat. I thought there might be cocoa- nuts about, for these when they are old, as you generally only see them in England, contain, instead of juice, or 'milk' as they term it in the tropics, which the nut is filled with when young, a valuable amount of solid matter, which is not only tasty to eat but nourishing as well, being mostly a kind of vegetable fat or oil. However, on looking up at the trees over our sheltering place I could see no cocoa-nuts; while a hunt amongst the bushes disclosed nothing there in the fruit line either. I saw some tamarind trees certainly, but the beans on these were only just sprouting out from the blossom; and although I gathered some of these and chewed them, thinking they might have an acid taste which would alleviate thirst if it did not allay hunger, they were so nasty that I had to spit them out again and wash my mouth out with sea- water to take away their flavour, going down to the sh.o.r.e for this purpose, as well as to see if there was anything eatable there to pick up.

"Presently, Magellan woke up too, and then the others, all suffering like myself from hunger. One chap said he could eat his boots; but then we had all pulled those off when the pinnace was labouring in the sea before she foundered. I told them about my unsuccessful try for cocoa- nuts and fruit, so they were perfectly satisfied that if I failed it would be useless for them to worry themselves by searching; and after a time chatting together and planning out that, next day, we would try to cross the mountains to Majunga, we all settled down to sleep again after the sun had gone down in the west--when night came on suddenly, without any twilight the same as you have here, enveloping the forest and all our surroundings in a darkness so dense that it could almost be felt, no moon rising or any stars peeping out until long after we were snoring, that is, if any at all came out then.

"The next morning, we made a terrible discovery.

"Through some carelessness or other in putting back the bung-stopper of the barrico, or from one of the chaps getting up in the night and 'sucking the monkey' while we were all asleep, every drop of water had disappeared from the vessel, and although we all awoke thirsty, the same as we had done the previous morning, there was nothing left now to quench our drought with.

"The men were so angry over it that they nearly came to blows, Magellan and I having much difficulty in pacifying them; the more especially, as some of them complained that if they had been allowed to have had their fill before going to sleep, at all events the water would have done some good then instead of being wasted, and they would besides not have been so thirsty as they now were, while they also would have been able to hold out longer till they got more.

"Of course this was absurd on their part, although very aggravating; so to stop any more hard words and argufying in the matter, I suggested that as there was nothing to be gained by our remaining any longer in the vicinity of the bay where we had first come ash.o.r.e, we had better start off at once on our journey to Majunga while we were fresh in the early morning, before the sun got high in the heavens to enervate us with its scorching heat.

"This motion was carried, with one or two dissentients, and we accordingly at once started off due south, as nearly as I could calculate by the position of the sun and sea, making our way through the stiff jungle up the side of the mountain that spurted right across our course in that direction, the way getting steeper and steeper each step that we took forwards, and the jungle thicker and more dense.

"Gracious goodness! what a climb that was! Up and up we struggled and toiled, perspiring all the way and gasping with heat and thirst. We tore all the skin off our arms and legs in forcing ourselves through the p.r.i.c.kly patches of jungle, and almost splintered our feet against the rocks and gnarled roots of some of the trees, besides bruising our bodies all over with the repeated falls we had; and, all the while, we were suffering the most unmitigated pangs of hunger and thirst that mortal man could experience when in full strength.

"To add, too, to the misery of the toilsome journey, we could hardly see an inch before us, although the sun took right good care to blaze down right immediately over our heads through the tops of the trees. We could only tell we were ascending from the extra fatigue it entailed in lifting our weary feet in stepping upwards; and although we climbed up several trees that looked taller than the rest near, so that we might better observe our whereabouts, when perchance we might discover some welcome oasis in sight in the midst of this desert of green, not a single yard could we see beyond the tree tops immediately near, which closed in the view completely--the only break apparent being the intense glaring blue of the burning sky just overhead, with its molten coppery disc of a sun darting down fiery rays from the zenith.

"At last, when every man Jack of us felt that he could not proceed a single step beyond if we had any more climbing to do, the ground suddenly began to descend, telling us that we had reached the slope that led into the next valley.

"This put fresh life into us and made us press onwards with renewed vigour, everyone hoping that, as soon as we got to the bottom of the declivity, we would reach one of those rivers which, as I had told the men, emptied themselves from the west coast of Madagascar into the Mozambique Channel--buoying up their drooping energies whenever they appeared to falter on their toilsome way by holding out this dream to them, for I believed in it fully myself.

"It was but a futile hope, however; and one, too, that was doubly disappointing.

"On getting to the lower part of the hill, something was seen shining through the trees, like as the sea had been observed shimmering in the sun on the other side of the mountain, but this now evidently could not be any portion of the Indian Ocean or Mozambique Channel, from the direction we had been proceeding in since the morning?

"No, it could not be the sea.

"It could be nothing else, thought the men, than the much-longed-for river which I had led them shortly to expect to see in sight; so, with a glad cheer they rushed between the trunks and branches of the intervening trees in mad, hot haste to quench their thirst in the cooling stream.

"But oh! the terrible surprise!

"The water was salt and brackish, not fresh. It was a lagoon, or arm of the sea, running up between a gorge of the hills, and not a river after all."