The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn Part 14

Thereupon the two men rose to their feet and proceeded to slouch along the sh.o.r.e in the direction of the spot where they had left the punt.

"On second thoughts," said I, "go, you two men, and bring the punt round here to the cove; and Billy and I will come out in the sailing boat to meet you."

Svorenssen waved his hand to indicate that he understood, and the two men continued on their way; the Finn, I observed, talking very earnestly to his companion.

As soon as they were out of sight, Billy and I walked down to the boat, boarded her, got under way, and worked her round to the south beach, off which we fell in with and took the punt in tow. The breeze was blowing moderately fresh, which enabled us to make the trip to Apes' Island in a trifle over two hours, at the end of which we found the unfortunate native, squatted on his haunches, anxiously awaiting deliverance from the former haunt of his enemies, where I perceived the young vegetation was already flourishing vigorously. We at once took the man aboard, where, during our pa.s.sage across to Cliff Island, I explained to him as best I could the episode of the stolen punt--to the amazement of the two seaman, who seemed to regard as wonderful the fact that in the course of a year I had acquired a fairly fluent command of the natives' language.

I observed with satisfaction that, when Bowata and a considerable company of the natives came down to the beach to greet us upon seeing our boat heading for the landing-place, the two seamen looked more than a trifle uneasy, fearing perhaps that I would seize the opportunity to fulfil my threat to hand them over to the charge of the blacks; and I was not sorry to let them see thus early what a powerful force of auxiliaries I had behind me should they be meditating anything in the nature of an undue a.s.sertion of independence. I designedly directed the particular attention of Bowata and his followers to my new companions, explaining who and what they were; but of course the sh.e.l.lbacks understood nothing of what I was saying, and they made little or no attempt to conceal their relief when I at length bade farewell to the blacks and we made sail again upon our return to Eden.

On the following morning I resumed work upon the cutter; and I thought that Van Ryn and Svorenssen looked somewhat disconcerted when, in accordance with my arrangement with Bowata, a party of ten st.u.r.dy natives arrived at the shipyard about 8 a.m. in the Chinese boat I had given them, to lend us a hand as and when required. But the two seamen turned to without demur, and I soon had reason to congratulate myself upon my acquisition of them; for while Svorenssen revealed an almost professional skill in the use of carpenters' tools, the Dutchman explained that if I would cut out the cutter's sails he would undertake to make them to my entire satisfaction. Both men did much more and far better work than I in the least antic.i.p.ated; and when at length we knocked off work for the day, and I surveyed the result of that one day's work, I felt that I might now at last begin to calculate, with some approach to accuracy, the date at which our labours might be expected to come to a successful conclusion. Two days later Van Ryn-- who was working at the new sails under the shade of a tree at some distance from the shipyard--requested that, if possible, I would spare Billy to a.s.sist him; and as the request seemed reasonable I acceded to it without demur.

Thereafter matters went so smoothly for a fortnight or more that, in my satisfaction at the progress we were making, I almost forgot the suspicions which the att.i.tude and utterances of the two seamen had aroused when they so unexpectedly reappeared upon the scene. With their a.s.sistance, work upon the cutter had progressed so speedily that the planking of her was completed, the laying of her deck about half done, her mast and bowsprit finished, and her mainsail and gaff-topsail sewn and in process of roping; I therefore estimated that another month would see my ambitious project complete and possibly ourselves at sea.

But my complacency was somewhat disturbed when, on a certain evening, I was instructing Billy in the problem of the reduction of the sun's alt.i.tude to the meridian. I had concluded my explanation of the problem, when the boy, glancing up at me with a smile, remarked:

"That chap, Van Ryn, is awfully inquisitive, Mr Blackburn. He was chaffing me to-day upon the difference in my manner of speaking now from what it was when he first knew me, and I said: Yes, I had to thank you for it, for you had insisted I should study and improve my education every evening since we had been cast away. Then he wanted to know all about what you had taught me, and how much I knew; and I told him that you had been teaching me arithmetic, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, geography, and navigation; and that last word surprised him, I can tell you. It was amusing to see how interested he at once became; he wanted to know just how much I knew about navigation; and he would hardly believe me when I told him that I knew enough to enable me to determine a ship's position, day or night, provided that the sky was clear and I could get a sight of certain heavenly bodies. But when I insisted that I could do all I had said, he seemed no end pleased. 'Ah,' he said, 'I must tell Svorenssen what you say; he will be glad to hear it. It was only a few nights ago that we were talking about the time when we should leave these islands, and saying what a fix we should all be in if Mr Blackburn should meet with another accident, or fall ill while we were at sea. And so you really believe, Billy, that if such a thing should happen, you could navigate the cutter?' I said I was quite sure I could; and then the conversation dropped; but he kept harking back to it, time after time, showing that he was still thinking about it."

"Yes," said I, "I can quite believe it; and I can understand, too, his amazement at your a.s.surance that you--a mere boy--could, if put to it, navigate the cutter, or any other craft for that matter. There is probably not one boy in ten thousand of your age, Billy, who could truthfully claim such ability. But two circ.u.mstances have been in your favour; in the first place you are naturally a sharp, intelligent lad, with a strong predilection for study; and in the next place there was little else for you to do on this group but learn, until we started to build the cutter. Now, Billy, what you have told me relative to Van Ryn's inquisitiveness and his cross-questioning of you has greatly interested me, for a reason which I will explain later on; therefore, while I am not as a rule inquisitive, I will ask you to make a point of reporting to me the substance of any further conversations which the man may hold with you, and to take very particular notice of any questions he may ask you. And now, let us return to the consideration of our nautical problem."

At the moment it seemed strange that Billy's story should so powerfully have affected me, but the fact remains that it did. After we had turned in that night I lay restlessly tossing upon my bed, wondering--wondering whether Van Ryn's questioning of Billy was the natural result of pure, unadulterated inquisitiveness, or whether it had a deeper significance.

The conversation appeared to have arisen naturally enough. I could not detect in the relation of it any indication of a deliberate attempt on the part of the man to lead up to the subject of Billy's educational acquirements; what reason, indeed, could he have for doing so, apart from the lad's more refined mode of speech? The matter that most powerfully exercised me was the Dutchman's eager curiosity to discover the full extent of Billy's qualifications as a navigator. Yet, even as to this, there seemed little enough reason for uneasiness; the man had given a quite plausible reason for such curiosity, a reason that I could perfectly understand and appreciate; but I wondered whether it was the true, the actual reason; or was there another and more sinister one at the back of his evil mind.

In any case, what, I wondered, could have put the thought in the Dutchman's head that something might possibly happen to me while we were at sea. Certainly the experience had already befallen him once since the commencement of the voyage; but with men of such limited intelligence as that of Van Ryn and Svorenssen even such an experience as that usually makes so very transitory an impression that it soon fades. Moreover, the difficulty had been surmounted, and they would naturally believe that, should it again arise, it could again be surmounted in the same way. The only reason that I could think of why such an idea should have taken so strong a hold upon the Dutchman's mind was that, _under certain circ.u.mstances_, the eventuality of which he had spoken might be very much more than possible: _it might be inevitable_.

Reasoning thus, I next asked myself the question: Should anything happen to me--should I, for instance, _die_, either aboard the cutter or before leaving the islands--how would my death affect the fortunes of those two men, Svorenssen and Van Ryn, to say nothing of that of Billy? And why should it be desired to get rid of me?

Those were not difficult questions to answer. In either of the above hypothetical cases the boy would be absolutely in the power and at the mercy of the two men; and I shuddered to think of what would happen to him, with me out of the way. Svorenssen and Van Ryn were both big powerful men, and, should they resort to violence, what could a boy do by way of resisting them? Then the cutter was now so far advanced that, at a pinch, the two seamen could complete her, launch her, and make her ready for sea without my a.s.sistance. Their escape from the group was therefore in any case a.s.sured; while, so far as the navigation of the craft was concerned, they had already wormed out of Billy the information that he was competent to undertake that.

But if the two seamen were actually conspiring against me, as I now began to think was at least probable, their primary object would doubtless be to secure the whole of the treasure for themselves. They doubtless recognised that so long as I--a man as powerful as either of them, with a mind already tinctured with suspicion of them--lived, to attempt to secure more than their fair share of the treasure might be both difficult and dangerous, and possibly even result in failure. But with me effectually disposed of the enterprise would wear a totally different aspect. They would complete the cutter, sail away in her, with the treasure on board and Billy as navigator, willing or unwilling, and upon arriving within sight of their destination they would murder the poor boy; and the rest would be easy--or so they would probably believe. Yes; knowing the men so well as I did, I felt that there was ground for suspicion of them, and I resolved that, without appearing to do so, I would henceforth keep a wary eye upon them both, and be constantly, day and night, on my guard against any act of treachery on their part.

Now it was not often that Billy did anything foolish; but boys will always be boys, to the end of time, I expect; and about a week after the lad's conversation with me on the subject of Van Ryn's inquisitiveness the spirit of mischief suddenly seized him and, "just for a lark", as he subsequently admitted to me, he must needs leave the Dutchman, upon some pretence, run up to the house, and then pay us a visit at the shipyard, bringing Kit with him on a leash, that he might enjoy the consternation of the natives at the sight of the leopard. It was fortunate that I spotted the pair when I did, for the beast was already beyond Billy's control and dragging the lad helplessly after him with the evident determination to interview the strangers more closely. The animal, although not yet fully grown, had developed into a magnificent specimen of his kind, as big as a mastiff and about twice as powerful. To hold him when I hurriedly relieved Billy of his charge taxed my strength to such an extent that I was obliged to shout to the workers to quit work and get into hiding at a safe distance; but, even so, the scent of the men excited Kit to such an extent that it was only with the utmost difficulty I was able to drag him back to the bungalow and safely lash him up.

I was therefore not very greatly surprised when, after work was over that evening, Svorenssen approached me and said:

"See here, Mister, did ye happen to salve the arms chest from the wreck before she washed off the reef and foundered?"

"Yes," I said. "What about it?"

"Why, just this," he bl.u.s.tered. "Me and Dirk wants a brace of revolvers, cartridges, and a cutlash apiece out of that chest. That's what about it."

"Really!" said I. "A very modest request, very modestly put. Is it permissible to ask why you want those things, and in what way you purpose to use them?"

"Oh yes, cert'nly," was the reply. "There's no objections to you astin'

as many questions as you bloomin' well likes. We wants 'em to purtect ourselves again' that snarlin', savage leopard o' yours. It ain't safe to be on the same hisland with the brute."

"He will not interfere with you, or molest you in any way if you give him a wide berth," I retorted. "As to giving you the weapons you demand, I won't do it, so that's flat."

"You won't, eh?" returned the Finn, glowering at me savagely. "Then all I can say, Mister, is that me and Dirk 'll have to see what can be done about purtectin' ourselves. I, for one, ain't goin' to take the risk of bein' tore to pieces; no, not for another day, and so I gives you warnin'."

"Now, see here, Svorenssen," said I. "I can make allowance--and do--for your very natural fear of the leopard; but, as I have already told you, the animal will not hurt either of you men if you keep clear of him.

And don't let me hear any more of such talk as you have been indulging in during the last few minutes. You forget yourself, my man; and you seem to forget also that you came to this island of your own free will.

I did not invite you. I did not even _want_ you; I was doing quite well without your a.s.sistance, as I can again, if necessary. So let me have no more threats of any sort, or I shall be compelled, for peace and quietness' sake, to request my friend Bowata and his people to take charge of you. This is not the first time that you have obliged me to say this. I shall not again repeat it. Let there be no more bickering between us. The cutter is very nearly completed and, please G.o.d, we shall soon be at sea in her and on our way back to civilisation and home."

The man stared at me for several seconds with, I thought, murder in his eyes, then he turned away, remarking:

"All right, Mister, you're top dog now, and what you says goes, but--"

I affected not to catch that final word, but proceeded to indicate to the natives the several jobs upon which I wished them to employ themselves on the morrow. But what, I wondered, was the explanation of this fresh outburst of turbulence on Svorenssen's part--for fresh it was. Only once before had he displayed such insolence of manner to me; and I wondered whether, perchance, it had any connection with the suspicions that had been bred in my mind by Billy's report of the Dutchman's recent conversation with him. But, I argued, those suspicions might be wholly unfounded, and be the result of a certain unsuspected mental disorder brought about by the long series of unusual experiences through which I had pa.s.sed, beginning with the destruction of the _Saturn_. In any case, whether my suspicions were well founded or otherwise, there could be no disputing the fact that the two seamen were turbulent, unruly, violent characters, liable at any moment to become dangerous; and therefore they must be carefully watched. As for voluntarily furnishing them with weapons, and so rendering them ten times more dangerous than they already were, if Svorenssen really imagined I would do such a thing he must surely have set me down for a fool.

From this time forward, without appearing to do so, I maintained a close watch upon both men, noting and weighing their every word, and endeavouring to deduce from their general conduct, and especially from their demeanour toward myself, whether or not they were really hatching a plot against me; but for rather more than a week I was unable to detect anything to justify the least apprehension on my part. Of course it was impossible for me to observe the pair when they were alone together after the day's work was done, but although Svorenssen maintained his usual surly demeanour I attached little importance to that, for I believed it to be natural to him, while there was no doubt that both men were working steadily and well.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A TRAGIC END TO OUR TROUBLES.

On a certain evening, some eight or ten days after that outburst on the part of the Finn in connection with his demand for weapons, Billy remarked to me, apropos of nothing in particular, as we sat together studying as usual:

"That Dutchman is a queer chap and no mistake, Mr Blackburn. He will sit for hours, saying never a word but: 'Billy, pa.s.s me that,' or 'Billy, take hold of this,' and then all of a sudden he'll begin to chatter like a parrot."

"Really!" said I. "And what does he chatter about?"

"Oh, all sorts of things," answered Billy, "chiefly about what he and Svorenssen went through before they joined us here. And he likes to hear how _we_ managed, too, before we settled down on Eden. Do you know, I'm beginning to think he's not such a bad sort of chap after all.

He seems to admire you immensely."

"Does he, indeed?" I commented dryly. "In what particular way does he reveal his admiration?"

"Well," said Billy, "he thinks you are perfectly wonderful, every way.

Wonderfully clever as a navigator, you know; clever to have been able to build the sailing boat; still more clever to have designed and very nearly built such a beautiful craft as the cutter; and most clever of all to have built this bungalow. He said that he could understand that a clever sailor like you might be able to build a boat; but he could not understand how any sailor--even _you_--could build such a fine house.

He wanted to know how long it took us to build it, and how we set about it, whether you invented it as we went on, or whether you drew it out on paper beforehand; and when I said that you had drawn it all out before we began to build, he said that he'd dearly like to see the drawing, because it would give him some wrinkles if he should ever again be shipwrecked."

"And what did you say to that?" I asked.

"Well," said Billy, "you see, I thought it was perhaps his roundabout way of asking me to show him the plan, so I said I didn't know where it was; that I rather thought you had destroyed it; and when I said that, the poor chap looked so disappointed that I showed him what it was like, by sketching it out on the ground with the point of a sail needle."

"That is very interesting," I said. "Here is paper and a pencil. Just reproduce on it, as nearly as you can, the sketch you made on the ground."

The boy took the pencil and paper, and in a few minutes completed a rough but quite accurate plan of the bungalow, showing the relative positions of the several rooms in the front and rear portions of the house. I observed also that he indicated with scrupulous fidelity the position of every window and door, showing the possibility of pa.s.sing from any one room to any other, through the pa.s.sages and the living- room.

"This sketch does you credit," I said. "It gives an excellent idea of the general arrangement of the house; but I really do not see how the information it affords is in the least degree likely to be of use to Van Ryn, even should he be shipwrecked a dozen times over. To speak quite frankly, I would very much rather that you had not made that sketch on the ground for his information. Do you think he understood it?"

"No," confessed Billy, "I don't believe he did, for he asked all sorts of silly questions about it that he wouldn't have asked if he had understood the plan."

"Ah, indeed!" said I. "Do you happen to remember any of those questions?"

"N-o, I don't think I do," replied Billy. "They were so awfully stupid that I didn't pay much attention to them. I explained that those marks,"--pointing to the drawing--"represented doors; yet the silly a.s.s couldn't understand how the servants got from their room to the kitchen, nor how they brought our meals from the kitchen to the living-room without going outside and walking round the house. And he couldn't understand how you and I got from our rooms to the living-room without going outside."

"That's too bad," said I. "It seems to reflect upon your powers of description, doesn't it, Billy?"