The Mate of the Lily Part 6

Looking up for an instant I saw that a fresh outbreak of the mountain was taking place. Stones, cinders, and ashes came bursting through the air, and cras.h.i.+ng down not many hundred yards it seemed from where we lay. The ocean, too, was fearfully agitated, and wave upon wave with loud roars rolled towards the beach. The people on sh.o.r.e stretched out their arms imploring us to take them in, but we could not save them.

Had we attempted it our destruction would have been inevitable. The boat's head had been got round, and we pulled as we had never pulled before. The fearful shower rapidly increased. A boiling sea washed over the point, and the hapless beings who stood there disappeared. Not a cry was heard, their death had been instantaneous. Even those who had endeavoured to escape by swimming must have been in a moment overwhelmed. Fast as we pulled, the shower of ashes from the mountain seemed to be following us still faster, and we could see that the shower stretched away even towards the s.h.i.+p.

Happily the calm continued, and we succeeded in getting on board. The poor people we had rescued, while profuse in expressing their thanks to us, gave vent to their grief at the loss of their relations and friends.

We understood also from them that there were other villages in the interior, which, with all their inhabitants, must have been utterly destroyed.

We afterwards heard that two thousand persons perished. The people on board were of the Malay race, and, except through our interpreters, Ned and Charley, we could not understand a word they said; indeed, the two seamen could only partly make out their language. We ourselves were not altogether satisfied with our position. A strong wind might spring up and drive us on sh.o.r.e, and we were still so near the volcano that it might cover us, not only with ashes, but with huge ma.s.ses of rock and stones, which might come cras.h.i.+ng down upon us and send us to the bottom. All hands were on deck ready to trim sails the moment the wind should come. We had not long to wait. A loud rus.h.i.+ng sound was heard.

The canvas gave several loud flaps. The captain had feared that the heat from the burning island might draw the wind towards us. So it did, but, happily for us, it came from the north-west, though we could not tell to what quarter it might suddenly s.h.i.+ft.

The yards were braced up on the starboard tack, and we stood away from the island, with the blazing forests on our port-quarter.

The captain's great object now was to get a good offing from Sanguir.

He did not intend to bear up for Menado until daylight. It was important that we should reach it without delay to land our pa.s.sengers, as they would soon exhaust our water and provisions. We did our best to attend to the poor people, but they would not be comforted. They thought of their homes and relatives destroyed, and knew not what hards.h.i.+ps they might have to endure. As we got to a distance from the island we could see far away to the southward another bright blaze which rose from the volcano of Sias, also in a state of eruption. On looking at the chart we saw that there was a line of many others, some in the northern end of Celebes, others in Gillolo, extending northward and all the way round to the west through Java. We could only hope that those in the direction to which we were steering might not also burst forth.

The wind continued favourable and moderate. When the people heard from Ned where we were going they were in a great fright, declaring that the inhabitants were "head hunters," and that they should all be killed.

When Ned told me this I inquired of the captain if they had any foundation for their fears. He replied that formerly the inhabitants of that part of Celebes were as savage as those of other portions, but that the Dutch have used every possible means to civilise them by giving them employment, introducing commerce, establis.h.i.+ng schools, and sending missionaries among them, and that thus a wilderness, inhabited by naked savages, who were wont to garnish their rude houses with human heads, had been converted into a smiling region, with a civilised community.

The next day we made the northern end of Celebes, for which we were steering, and before dark anch.o.r.ed off the pretty little town of Menado.

As we looked at it from our anchorage we could see rows of rustic houses, with broad paths between them forming streets, mostly at right angles with each other.

In several directions roads branched off towards the interior, also lined by a succession of cottages surrounded by gardens and plantations.

The captain and Blyth immediately went on sh.o.r.e to visit the President or Governor, who, on hearing what had happened, allowed us to land our pa.s.sengers, promising to look after them, and give them plenty of employment if they were inclined to labour. We were thankful to get them out of the brig, and their fears being dissipated when they saw the civilised state of the country, they thanked us for the kindness shown them, and we parted good friends.

We afterwards called on an English merchant long settled here, who a.s.sured us that the people would be well cared for and sent back should they wish it to Sanguir, when information could be received that the volcano was once more at rest. The chief production of the district is coffee, of which we s.h.i.+pped a considerable quant.i.ty as freight. We found the account given by the captain in no way exaggerated, and we could easily believe, as a.s.serted, that the inhabitants are the most industrious, peaceable, and civilised, that they are better educated, better clothed, better housed, and better fed of any of the natives of the vast archipelago. Commerce, a paternal, though somewhat despotic Government, and education, combined with Christian missionary effort, has worked the wonderful change in less than forty years. Our friend, who had a house in the country, took Mr Blyth and me up to see his plantations, as also a menagerie which he had formed. In pa.s.sing a piece of open ground we caught sight of a number of animals, which I supposed to be dogs. They were making their way towards an orchard.

"The rascals!" exclaimed our friend, "they are on a predatory expedition, intending to steal the fruit from yonder trees."

Jumping off his horse, and taking his gun, which his servant carried, he ran towards them. They did not appear to notice him until he was within shot of them. He fired, when one fell and the rest took to flight, quickly scrambling up the trees of the forest, which extended towards us to within a short distance where they were lost to sight. On examining the creature he had killed I found it to be about the size of a spaniel, of a jet black colour, with the projecting dog-like muzzle and overhanging brows of a baboon. It had large callosities, and a scarcely visible tail, not an inch in length.

Our friend told us that these creatures were monkeys, though more like baboons, that descending from the trees where they live, they often invade orchards and gardens, and commit great havoc. Our friend's house was something like an Indian bungalow, though of rougher materials, and was surrounded by a fine garden and orchard, with extensive plantations in the rear. I cannot describe more than two of the animals in his menagerie. One was the Tapiutan, which from its appearance I could not say whether it should be called a cow, a buffalo, or an antelope. It was of the size of a very small Highland cow, and had long straight horns, which were ringed at the base, and sloped backwards over the neck.

The strangest animal he showed us was called the Babirusa, which resembled in general appearance a pig, but it had long and slender legs, and tusks curved upwards so as to look like horns. Those of the lower jaw were long and sharp, but the upper ones grew upwards out of bony sockets through the skin on each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the eyes, and were ten inches long. Our friend told us that it is found over the whole island. He supposed the object of the curling tusks was to preserve the eyes of the animal when searching for the fallen fruits on which it lives among the tangled thickets of spring plants. Though the female does not possess them, perhaps the male gallantly clears the way for her so as to render them unnecessary.

However, I must not stop to give a longer description of this interesting place, or many others we saw; I indeed made only two trips ash.o.r.e, as I had to be on board attending to my duty.

CHAPTER FIVE.

Once more the anchor was weighed, and we were about to stand out of the picturesque bay of Menado the moment a boat, in which Mr Blyth had gone on sh.o.r.e to bring off a supply of fresh provisions, returned.

Ned, who had been one of the crew, as soon as the sails were set, came up to me. "I've just heard something, sir, which may or may not be of importance," he said. "I was talking to one of the men we brought off from Sanguir, when he confessed to me that he had been on board the prahu which took me off the sh.o.r.e where we were wrecked. I think he spoke the truth when he told me how I kicked when the pirates made me take an oar and pull with the black fellows they had, I suppose, made slaves of. I asked him if he could tell me where the place was. He answered that it was on the sh.o.r.es of a large island--a very large one, I should think, and away somewhere to the eastward, for he pointed in that direction, though I could not make out exactly how far off it was."

I was deeply interested, and told him that he ought to have brought the man on board that we might have examined him more particularly with the aid of Bell and Kalong.

"He would have been afraid to trust himself, sir," answered Ned; "as he owned that he had been a pirate, he was afraid that the captain or the Dutch might punish him."

I immediately communicated what I had heard to the first mate, who told the captain. They sent for Ned, who, as he said that he had got all the information he could out of the Malay, they did not propose putting back, as I fancied they would have done. I do not think that the captain was sanguine about finding any of the "Amphion's" crew, though Uncle Jack kept up his hopes and mine.

"It may be like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay; still, if we search long enough, the needle will be found," he remarked. "As long as the captain will agree we will continue the search."

Rounding the northern end of Celebes, we crossed the Molucca pa.s.sage for Ternate, where we were to call. It is a small island off the coast of the large but little known one of Gillolo. As we approached we saw rising out of the sea in a line several conical-shaped mountains, four thousand feet in height, one of which the captain said was Ternate, for which we were bound. Pa.s.sing between that island and Tidore, of even greater height, we anch.o.r.ed before the town which stretches along the sh.o.r.e, while the mountain overhanging it was clothed to a considerable height with trees and spice plantations. The scenery was truly magnificent, but as we thought of the eruption of Sanguir, we saw in what a moment the whole town and neighbourhood might be reduced to desolation should an eruption burst forth from the mountains which rose so grandly above our heads. We remained here four days, during which an earthquake--an event of frequent occurrence--took place.

I grudged every moment's delay, and was thankful when we once more were steering southward. We were sailing on with a light breeze through a perfectly smooth sea, when a dull roaring sound was heard, like a heavy surf astern. The roar rapidly increased, and we saw a white line of foam rolling on. Thinking that it might be the precursor of a hurricane, we clewed up the topsails, but as the wave pa.s.sed we rode easily over it with the same sort of movement which is felt when entering a river across a bar. It was followed with a short interval by another of similar character, succeeded with greater rapidity by ten or twelve more, when the sea became as smooth as before. The captain had no doubt that these waves were caused by an earthquake occurring at some distance to the northward. While at Ternate we heard that a suspicious fleet of large prahus had been seen steering to the southward. It was intended, should a Dutch man-of-war arrive, to send her to watch their proceedings. We were advised to keep a sharp look-out for the pirates, and avoid them if we could. "If they think you are Dutch, they'll be cautious how they molest you; but if they suppose that you belong to any other nation, they are very likely to try and plunder you, as they are aware that no men-of-war except those of the Dutch are accustomed to cruise in these seas," said our friend, an English merchant residing in the place.

Captain Haiselden thanked his informant, and replied that we had already fallen in with such gentry, and knew how to deal with them.

"But these are larger and more formidable craft than those by which you were before attacked. If they once get alongside your brig, you will find it a difficult matter to beat them off," was the reply.

Wherever we touched we made inquiries about the "Amphion," but as yet we had only the information gained through Ned from the Sanguir Malay to guide us. She might have been lost at Gillolo itself, and yet the Dutch might not have heard of it, as but very irregular intercourse is kept up between the different parts of that little known island.

Proceeding south we pa.s.sed between the islands of Bouro and Ceram, calling at Amboina and Banda, spice islands belonging to the Dutch.

We were steering to the east when land was sighted from the mast-head on the starboard bow. I went aloft. It was a small island, one of many extending directly across our course. Intending to pa.s.s to the northward of it we luffed up a little, when, after standing on some way further, I was again sent to the mast-head, to see if I could discover any intervening coral reefs or any others running out from it. I could discover no variation of colour in the sea to indicate the existence of hidden reefs in our course, but my eye fell on a dark object, a mile, or it may have been less, from the sh.o.r.e. At the first glance I thought it was a rock rising out of the water, but on descending to the cross-trees and looking through my gla.s.s I saw that the object was a s.h.i.+p on a reef, heeling over to one side, with, as far as I could make out, her topmasts, if not her lower masts, gone; at all events she had no canvas set. On coming down to the deck, I told the first mate, who had charge of the watch, and he went aloft and had a look at her also.

"She's in a dangerous position, and I fear is wrecked," he observed.

"We must get up to her, and try to render her a.s.sistance. If she's not to be got off, we shall have to take her people on board."

"Has she been driven by a gale on the reef, do you think?" I asked.

"No; I should say that she was brought up by it, and that the tide has since fallen, leaving her in her present position, so that when it rises she may be got off."

While we were speaking the sails gave several flaps against the masts, a sign that the wind had suddenly fallen, and we lay becalmed. This was the more tantalising as we were anxious to go to the a.s.sistance of the s.h.i.+p.

I went below to inform the captain, who at once came on deck, and, after looking round the horizon, said that he thought a breeze would soon again spring up, and that we would then stand towards the s.h.i.+p and see what we could do, adding, "in the meantime, as the tide rises she may probably haul off without our a.s.sistance."

"I should like to take one of the boats and pull on board her," observed Uncle Jack.

"As it must be several hours before you could be back again, the weather might in the meantime change; so that I cannot consent to your going,"

answered the captain, in a tone which prevented the first mate from making a reply.

Still Uncle Jack, not satisfied, walked the deck uneasily. He wished at once to relieve the anxiety of those on board the s.h.i.+p by letting them know that a.s.sistance was near should they not have observed the brig.

Hour after hour pa.s.sed by, darkness came on, and still no breeze ruffled the surface of the ocean. All night long the calm continued.

As soon as daylight broke, I was again aloft looking out for the s.h.i.+p.

There she lay in the same position as before; it was evident that whatever exertions had been made to get her off, they had been unsuccessful. I was about to come on deck again, when, sweeping my gla.s.s round to the northward, I made out another island of large size apparently. Between it and where the s.h.i.+p lay I fancied that I could distinguish a number of small black dots, so faint, however, that had I not steadied my gla.s.s, which was a very good one, I should not have observed them. Recollecting what we had heard about the pirate fleet, a fear seized me at once that they might be prahus, and that they were on their way to pillage the wreck, which they must have discovered while lying off the northern island. Whether they had discovered us it was impossible to say, but they certainly would do so when the sun rose and shone on our canvas.

I at once came down and told the first mate, who took a hurried glance round the horizon in the hopes of discovering the signs of a coming breeze.

"I must get the captain to let me take a boat to warn the crew of the s.h.i.+p of their danger, and to a.s.sist them if they are attacked," he exclaimed. "We may get there before the prahus, which do not pull as fast as they can sail, and a few well-armed men may turn the scale against them; but I'll have a look at them first."

Taking the gla.s.s he sprang aloft. Directly afterwards the captain appeared and asked him what he was looking at. I told him.

"I hope we shall get a breeze, for if the pirates, as I suppose they are, see us boldly standing towards them, they will hesitate before they meddle with the wreck," he remarked, now apparently as anxious about the vessel on sh.o.r.e as we had been. "It may have a good effect if we hoist a pendant and the Dutch flag and fire a gun. They will take us for a man-of-war, and probably be off again as fast as they can pull; but it is the breeze we want, the breeze! Without that we are helpless."

The first mate soon came down from aloft and again proffered his request.

"I dare not give you leave," answered the captain. "What could one or even two boats do against those prahus, with twenty or thirty well-armed men in each? You might be cut off, even before you could reach the wreck; and if you were on board, you would be able to do but little to defend her, as in the position she lies she could not work her guns if she had any."