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diff --git a/21813.txt b/21813.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fdddb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/21813.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6119 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Madman and the Pirate, by R.M. Ballantyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Madman and the Pirate + +Author: R.M. Ballantyne + +Illustrator: Arthur Twidle + +Release Date: June 12, 2007 [EBook #21813] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MADMAN AND THE PIRATE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +THE MADMAN AND THE PIRATE, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +A beautiful island lying like a gem on the breast of the great Pacific-- +a coral reef surrounding, and a calm lagoon within, on the glass-like +surface of which rests a most piratical-looking schooner. + +Such is the scene to which we invite our reader's attention for a little +while. + +At the time of which we write it was an eminently peaceful scene. So +still was the atmosphere, so unruffled the water, that the island and +the piratical-looking schooner seemed to float in the centre of a duplex +world, where every cloudlet in the blue above had its exact counterpart +in the blue below. No sounds were heard save the dull roar of the +breaker that fell, at long regular intervals, on the seaward side of the +reef, and no motion was visible except the back-fin of a shark as it cut +a line occasionally on the sea, or the stately sweep of an albatross, as +it passed above the schooner's masts and cast a look of solemn inquiry +upon her deck. + +But that schooner was not a pirate. She was an honest trader--at least +so it was said--though what she traded in we have no more notion than +the albatross which gazed at her with such inquisitive sagacity. Her +decks were not particularly clean, her sails by no means snow-white. +She had, indeed, four goodly-sized carronades, but these were not an +extraordinary part of a peaceful trader's armament in those regions, +where man was, and still is, unusually savage. The familiar Union Jack +hung at her peak, and some of her men were sedate-looking Englishmen, +though others were Lascars and Malays, of the cut-throat type, of whom +any wickedness might be expected when occasion served. + +The crew seemed to have been overcome by the same somnolent influence +that had subdued Nature, for they all lay about the deck sleeping or +dozing in various sprawling attitudes, with the exception of the captain +and the mate. + +The former was a huge, rugged man of forbidding aspect, and obviously +savage temper. The latter--well, it is not easy to say what were his +chief characteristics, so firmly did he control the features of a fine +countenance in which the tiger-like blue eyes alone seemed untamable. +He was not much above the middle height; but his compact frame was wiry +and full of youthful force. + +"Lower away the dinghy," said the captain, gruffly, to the mate, "and +let one of these lazy lubbers get into her with a box of figs. Get into +her yourself? I may want you." + +The mate replied with a stern "Ay, ay, sir," and rose from the +gun-carriage on which he had been seated, while the captain went below. + +In a few minutes the latter reappeared, and soon the little boat with +its three occupants was skimming over the lagoon towards the land. + +On that land a strange and interesting work was going on at the time. +It was no less than the erection of a church by men who had never before +placed one stone upon another--at least with a view to house-building. + +The tribe to which these builders belonged had at first received their +missionary with yells of execration, had torn the garments from his +back, had kicked him into the sea and would infallibly have drowned him +if the boat from which he landed had not returned in haste and rescued +him. Fortunately, that missionary was well accustomed to a state of +nudity, being himself a South Sea islander. He was also used to a +pretty rough life, besides being young and strong. He therefore soon +recovered from the treatment he had received, and, not many weeks +afterwards, determined to make another attempt to land on the island of +Ratinga--as our coral-gem on the ocean's breast was named. + +For Waroonga's heart had been opened by the Holy Spirit to receive Jesus +Christ, and the consequent flame of love to the souls of his countrymen +burned too brightly to be quenched by a first failure. The desire to +possess the little box of clothes and trifles with which he had landed +on Ratinga had been the cause, he thought, of the savages attacking him; +so he resolved to divest himself totally of this world's goods and go to +his brethren with nothing but the Word of God in his hand. He did so. +The mission-boat once again conveyed him from headquarters to the scene +of his former discomfiture, and, when close to the beach, where the +natives awaited the landing of the party with warlike demonstrations, he +slipped out of his clothes into the water and swam ashore--the Bible, in +the native tongue, being tied carefully on the top of his head to keep +it dry. + +Surprise at this mode of proceeding caused the natives to receive him +with less violence than before. Their curiosity led them to listen to +what he had to say. Then a chief named Tomeo took him by the shoulders, +placed his nose against that of Waroonga and rubbed it. This being +equivalent to a friendly shake of the hand, the missionary signalled to +his friends in the boat to go away, which they accordingly did, and left +their courageous brother to his fate. + +It is not our purpose to recount the whole history of this good man's +enterprise. Let it suffice to say that the natives of Ratinga turned +round, childlike--and they were little more than grown up children-- +swallowed all he had to say and did all he bid them do--or nearly all, +for of course there were a few self-willed characters among them who +objected at first to the wholesale changes that Waroonga introduced in +their manners and customs. In the course of a few months they formally +embraced Christianity, burned their idols, and solemnly promised that if +any more unfortunate ships or boats chanced to be wrecked on their +shores they would refrain from eating the mariners. Thus much +accomplished, Waroonga, in the joy of his heart, launched a canoe, and +with some of his converts went off to headquarters to fetch his wife. +He fetched her, and she fetched a fat little brown female baby along +with her. Missionaries to the Southern seas, as is well known, +endeavour to impress on converts the propriety, not to say decency, of a +moderate amount of clothing. Mrs Waroonga--who had been named Betsy-- +was therefore presented to the astonished natives of Ratinga in a short +calico gown of sunflower pattern with a flounce at the bottom, a bright +yellow neckerchief, and a coal-scuttle bonnet, which quivered somewhat +in consequence of being too large and of slender build. Decency and +propriety not being recognised, apparently, among infants, the brown +baby--who had been named Zariffa at baptism--landed in what may be +styled Adamite costume. + +Then Waroonga built himself a bamboo house, and set up a school. Soon +after that he induced a half Italian, half Spanish sailor, named Antonio +Zeppa, who had been bred in England, to settle with his wife and son on +the island, and take charge of the school. + +For this post Zeppa and his wife were well qualified, both having +received an education beyond that usually given to persons in their rank +of life. Besides this, Antonio Zeppa had a gigantic frame, a genial +disposition, and a spirit of humility, or rather childlike simplicity, +which went far to ingratiate him with the savages. + +After several years' residence in this field of labour, Waroonga +conceived the grand idea of building a house of God. It was to be built +of coral-rock, cemented together with coral-lime! + +Now, it was while the good people of Ratinga were in the first fervour +of this new enterprise, that the dinghy with its three occupants +approached their shore. + +At that particular point of time the walls of the new church had begun +to rise above the foundations, for the chief, Tomeo, had entered into +the matter with intense enthusiasm, and as Tomeo was supreme chief, +every one else felt bound to follow his example and work hard; but, to +do them justice, they required no stimulant; the whole community entered +into it with inexpressible glee. + +Zeppa taught them everything, because no one else knew anything, except +of course Waroonga, who, however, was not much in advance of his native +congregation save in spiritual matters. Zeppa showed them how to burn +lime out of the coral-rock, and they gazed with open-eyed--and +open-mouthed wonder at the process. Then the great chief Tomeo gave the +word to burn lime, and Buttchee, the chief second in command, backed him +up by kicking the native nearest to his foot and echoing the order, "Go, +burn lime!" The entire population began to burn lime forthwith, and +would have gone on burning lime enough to have built a South Sea pyramid +equal to Cheops, if they had not been checked and their blazing energies +turned into stone-hewing and dressing, and other channels. + +Thus the work went on merrily, and so engrossed were they with it that +they did not at first observe the arrival of the visitors. Of course +they were aware of the schooner's presence, and had been off to her the +previous day, before she had furled her sails, to offer fruits and +vegetables; but it was some time before they discovered that three +strangers had landed and were gazing at them while they toiled. + +Zeppa had a black servant, a negro, whom he had induced to follow him. +This man took a prominent oversight of the works. He was by nature a +cook, but church-building occupied his leisure moments, and he prided +himself upon being not only cleverer, but considerably blacker, than the +islanders. + +"Now you keep out ob de road, leetil Za." This was addressed to +Zariffa, who, by that time, could not only toddle but trowel, besides +being able to swim like a duck. "Take care, missy Za, dat clumsy feller +wid the big stone--let him fall, and--oh!" + +The negro gave vent to a yell, for the accident he feared actually +occurred. The clumsy native let a huge piece of coral-rock fall from +his shoulder, which just missed crushing the brown little girl. It +dropped on a mass of soft lime, which flew up in all directions, making +Zariffa piebald at once, and, what was more serious, sending a lump +straight into Tomeo's face. This was too much for the great man. He +seized the culprit by the neck, and thrust his brown visage down upon +the lime, from which he arose white, leaving a beautiful cast of his +features behind him. + +Tomeo was pacified at once. He burst into a loud laugh, while the +guilty man slunk humbly away, not, however, without receiving a salute +from Buttchee's active foot in passing. + +At this moment Zeppa came up, holding his son Orlando, a well-grown lad +of fourteen, by the hand. He at once observed the captain of the +schooner, and, going forward, shook hands with him and the mate. He had +made their acquaintance the day before, when the vessel anchored in the +lagoon. + +"I have come to say good-bye, Mr Zeppa. We have finished taking in +fresh water sooner than I had expected, and will be ready to sail with +the evening breeze." + +"Indeed? I regret this for various reasons" replied Zeppa, in a soft +musical voice, that one scarcely expected to issue from such a capacious +chest. There was about the man an air of gentle urbanity and tenderness +which might have induced a stranger to suppose him effeminate, had not +his manly looks and commanding stature rendered the idea absurd. "In +the first place," he continued, "my wife and I had hoped to show you +some hospitality. You know we seldom have visitors to this +out-of-the-way island. Then we wanted your advice with regard to the +building of our church, which, you see, is progressing rapidly; and +last, but not least, I wished to ask a favour, which it will be +impossible to grant if you sail to-night." + +"Perhaps not impossible," said Captain Daniel, whose gruff nature was +irresistibly mellowed by the sweet spirit of the giant who addressed +him. "What d'ye want me to do?" + +"I meant to ask a passage in your vessel for my son and myself to the +island of Otava. It is not far off, and you said yesterday that you +intend to pass close to it. You see, I am something of a trader, as +well as a missionary-schoolmaster; but if you sail to-night I have not +time to get ready." + +"If that's all your difficulty," returned the captain, "I'll delay till +to-morrow night. A day won't make much difference--will it, Mr Rosco?" +he said, turning to the mate. + +"You know best" replied the mate somewhat sharply, "I don't command the +schooner." + +The captain looked at the officer with an angry frown, and then, turning +quickly to Zeppa, said-- + +"Well, if that time will do, it is settled. You and your son may go +with me. And, see here, I've brought a box of figs for your wife, since +you won't take anything for the help you gave me this morning." + +"You shall present it yourself," said Zeppa, with a pleased smile. + +"Hi! Ebony," hailing the negro, "tell Marie to come here. She is in +the palm-grove." + +Ebony found his mistress and delivered his message. + +Madame Zeppa was a pretty little fair woman, of French extraction. She +had been a lady's-maid, and, having been born and brought up chiefly in +England, spoke English fluently, though with a slightly foreign accent +derived from her mother. + +"Missis," said the negro, in a low voice, and with a mysterious look, as +he followed her out of the palm-grove, "massa him wants to go wid +schooner. Don' let him go." + +"Why not, Ebony?" + +"Kase I no likes him." + +"You don't like the schooner?" + +"No, de cappin ob de skooner. Hims bad man for certin. Please don' let +massa go." + +"You know I never give master his orders," returned madame, with a light +laugh. + +"Better if you did, now an' den," muttered the negro, in a tone, +however, which rendered the advice not very distinct. + +The fair little woman received the box of figs graciously; the captain +and mate were invited to the abode of Zeppa, where they met the native +missionary, and soon after returned to their vessel to make preparations +for departure. + +"Marie," said Zeppa that night as they, with their boy, sat down to rest +after the labours of the day, "I expect to be away about three weeks. +With anything of a wind the schooner will land us on Otava in two or +three days. Business won't detain me long, and a large canoe, well +manned, will bring Orlando and me back to you in a week or so. It is +the first time I shall have left you for so long since our wedding. You +won't be anxious, little woman?" + +"I would not be anxious if I were sure you went with good people," +returned Marie, with a slightly troubled look; "but are you sure of the +captain?" + +"I am sure of nobody except you, Marie," returned her husband, with a +smile that contained a dash of amusement in it. + +"And me, father," said Orlando, assuming an injured look. + +"Well, Orley, I can't say that I am quite sure of you, you rascal," +returned his father playfully. "That spice of mischief in your +composition shakes me at times. However, we will leave that question to +another time. Meanwhile, what makes you doubt the captain, Marie?" + +"Ebony seems to doubt him; and I have great faith in Ebony's judgment." + +"So have I; but he is not infallible. We should never get on in life if +we gave way to groundless fears, dear wife. Besides, have we not the +promise, `Lo, I am with you alway?'" + +On the following afternoon a fresh breeze sprang up and the +piratical-looking schooner, bowing gracefully before it, sailed across +the now ruffled lagoon and stood out to sea, while Marie with the +missionary and his wife, and a crowd of natives, stood at the end of the +coral wharf, waving farewell to Zeppa and his son as long as their +figures could be distinguished. After that, they continued to gaze at +the diminishing vessel until it melted like a little speck at the +meeting-place of sea and sky. + +That night an event which had been long pending was precipitated. + +Captain Daniel had given way to his fierce temper so often during the +voyage, and had behaved with such cruel tyranny to his crew, that they +had resolved to stand it no longer. His harsh conduct to the mate, in +particular, who was a favourite with the men, had fostered the spirit of +indignation, and the mate himself, being a man of no fixed principles, +although good-natured enough when not roused, had at last determined to +side with the men. He was a man of fierce passions, and had been roused +by his superior's tyranny and insolence to almost uncontrollable fury; +but he had not at that time been guilty of absolute insubordination. + +When the vessel's course had been laid that night--which chanced to be a +Friday, as some of the crew afterwards remembered--and the cabin lamp +had been lighted, the captain sent for the mate, who saw by his looks +that a storm was brewing. + +"What did you mean, sir," began the captain at once, "by that insolent +reply you made to me on shore yesterday?" + +The young man might have answered temperately if they had been alone, +but Zeppa was lying on a locker reading, and his son was also present, +and Rosco knew that the captain meant to put him to shame before them. +His spirit fired. + +"Scoundrel!" he cried, "the measure of your iniquity is filled. You +shall no longer command this schooner--" + +Thus far he got when the captain, livid with rage, sprang up to rush at +him. Zeppa also leaped up to aid in putting down what he clearly +perceived was premeditated mutiny, but the mate sprang out of the cabin, +and, shutting the door with a bang, locked it. At the same instant the +man at the wheel--knowing what had occurred--closed and fastened the +cabin sky-light. The captain threw himself several times with all his +weight against the door, but it opened inwards and could not be forced. + +There were two square windows in the stern of the schooner, one of which +was open. Orlando perceived this, sprang up, clambered through it, +gained the deck unperceived, and, running down the companion stair, past +all the men, rushed against the cabin door, and burst it open. + +Zeppa was endeavouring at the moment to wrench off the lock and was +nearly thrown back. Recovering, he struck fiercely out at those who +thronged the dark passage. + +"Oh! father," groaned Orlando, as he fell before the blow. + +With a terrible cry of consternation Zeppa stooped to pick up his child. +He was felled with a handspike as he did so; the crew then rushed into +the cabin and the captain was overpowered and bound. + +"Overboard wi' them all!" shouted one of the men. + +There were some among these villains who, having once given the reins to +their rage, were capable of anything. These, ready to act on the +diabolical suggestion, attempted to drag Zeppa and the captain up the +companion ladder, but their great size and weight rendered the effort +difficult. Besides, Zeppa's consciousness was returning, and he +struggled powerfully. It was otherwise with poor Orlando. One of the +ruffians easily raised the lad's light frame and bore him to the deck. +Next moment a sharp cry and splash were heard. Zeppa understood it, for +he had seen his son carried away. With a wild shout he burst from those +who held him, and would certainly have gained the deck and leaped +overboard had not a mutineer from behind felled him a second time. + +When Rosco heard what had been done he ran furiously on deck, but one +glance at the dark sea, as the schooner rushed swiftly over it sufficed +to show him that the poor boy's case was hopeless. + +But Orley's case was not as hopeless as it seemed. The plunge revived +him. Accustomed to swim for hours at a time in these warm waters, he +found no difficulty in supporting himself. Of course his progress was +aimless, for he could not see any distance around him, but a friend had +been raised up for him in that desperate hour. At the moment he had +been tossed overboard, a sailor, with a touch of pity left in his breast +had seized a life-buoy and thrown it after him. Orlando, after swimming +about for a few minutes, struck against this buoy by chance--if we may +venture to use that word in the circumstances. + +Seizing the life-preserver with an earnest "thank God" in his heart if +not on his lips, he clung to it and looked anxiously around. + +The sight was sufficiently appalling. Thick darkness still brooded on +the deep, and nothing was visible save, now and then, the crest of a +breaking wave as it passed close to him, or, rolling under him, deluged +his face with spray. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +When Antonio Zeppa recovered consciousness, he found himself lying on a +mattress in the schooner's hold, bound, bleeding, and with a dull and +dreadful sense of pain at his breast, which at first he could not +account for. Ere long the sudden plash of a wave on the vessel's side +recalled his mind to his bereavement; and a cry--loud, long, and +terrible--arose from the vessel's hold, which caused even the stoutest +and most reckless heart on board to quail. + +Richard Rosco--now a pirate captain--heard it as he sat alone in his +cabin, his elbows resting on the table, and his white face buried in his +hands. He did not repent--he could not repent; at least so he said to +himself while the fires kindled by a first great crime consumed him. + +Men do not reach the profoundest depths of wickedness at one bound. The +descent is always graduated--for there are successive rounds to the +ladder of sin--but it is sometimes awfully sudden. When young Rosco +left England he had committed only deeds which men are apt lightly to +name the "follies" of youth. These follies, however, had proved to be +terrible leaks through which streams of corruption had flowed in upon +his soul. Still, he had no thought of becoming a reckless or heartless +man, and would have laughed to scorn any one who should have hinted that +he would ever become an outlaw and a pirate. But oppression bore +heavily on his hasty, ill-disciplined temper, and now the lowest round +of the ladder had been reached. + +Even in this extremity he did not utterly give way. He would not become +an out-and-out pirate. He would merely go forth as a plunderer to +revenge himself on the world which had used him so ill. He would rob-- +but he would not kill; except of course in self-defence, or when men +refused to give up what he demanded. He would temper retributive +justice with mercy, and would not suffer injury to women or children. +In short, he would become a semi-honourable, high-minded sort of pirate, +pursuing wealth without bloodshed! True, in the sad case of poor +Orlando, he had not managed to steer clear of murder; but then that deed +was done without his orders or knowledge. If his comrades in crime had +agreed, he would have preferred some sort of smuggling career; but they +would not listen to that, so he had at last consented to hoist the black +flag. + +While the wretched youth was endeavouring to delude himself and gather +crumbs of comfort from such thoughts as these, the awful cry from the +ship's hold again rang out, and as his thoughts reverted to the bereaved +father, and the fair, light-hearted little mother on Ratinga Island, the +deadly pallor that overspread his countenance was intensified. + +Rising hastily--with what intent he himself hardly knew--he proceeded to +the hold. It was broad day at the time, and sufficient light penetrated +the place to reveal the figure of Antonio Zeppa crouching on his +mattress, with his chin upon his knees, his handsome face disfigured +with the blood that had dried upon it, and a wild, fierce light gleaming +in his eyes. + +He did not speak or move when Rosco entered and sat down on the head of +a cask near him. + +"Zeppa," he said, with intense earnestness, "as God shall be my judge, I +did not mean to--to--throw--to do this to your boy. It was done without +my knowledge." + +"Hah!" burst from the stricken father; but nothing more, while he +continued to gaze in the pirate captain's face. + +"Indeed it is true," continued Rosco hurriedly. "I had no intention of +letting murder be done. I would not even slay the captain who has used +me so ill. I would give my life if I could alter it now--but I cannot." + +"Hah!" gasped Zeppa again, still keeping his eyes fixed on Rosco's face. + +"Don't look at me that way," pleaded the pirate, "as if I had done the +deed. You know I didn't. I swear I didn't! If I had been there, I +would have saved Orlando at the cost of--" + +He was interrupted at this point by the repetition of the cry which had +before reached him in the cabin; but how much more awful did that +despairing cry sound near at hand, as it issued full, deep-toned, and +strong, from the chest of the Herculean man! There was a difference in +it also this time--it terminated in a wild, fiendish fit of laughter, +which caused Rosco to shrink back appalled; for now he knew that he +confronted a maniac! + +For some minutes the madman and the pirate sat gazing at each other in +silent horror. Then the latter rose hastily and turned to leave the +hold. As he did so, the madman sprang towards him, but he was checked +by the chains which bound him, and fell heavily on the deck. + +Returning to the cabin, Rosco went to a locker and took out a case +bottle, from which he poured half a tumbler of brandy and drank it. +Then he summoned the man who had been appointed his second in command. + +"Redford," he said, assuming, by a mighty effort of self-restraint a +calm tone and manner, "you told me once of a solitary island lying a +long way to the south of the Fiji group. D'you think you could lay our +course for it?" + +"I'm sure I could, sir; but it is very much out of the way of commerce, +and--" + +"There is much sandal-wood on it, is there not?" asked Rosco, +interrupting him. + +"Ay, sir, plenty of that, an' plenty of fierce natives too, who will +give us a warm reception. I would--" + +"So much the better," returned the captain, with a cynical smile, again +interrupting; "we may be able to obtain a load of valuable wood for +nothing, and get rid of our cowards at the same time. Go, lay our +course for--what's the island's name?" + +"I don't know its right name, sir; but we call it Sugar-loaf Island from +the shape of one end of it." + +"That will do. And hark ye, friend, when I give orders or ask questions +in future, don't venture to offer advice or raise objections. Let the +crew understand that we must be able to pass for lawful traders, and +that a load of sandal-wood will answer our purpose well enough. It will +be your wisdom, also, to bear in mind that discipline is as useful on +board a Free Rover as on board a man-of-war, and that there is only one +way to maintain it." + +The pirate captain pointed to a brace of pistols that lay on the table +beside him, and said, "Go." + +Redford went, without uttering another word. His was one of those +coarse natures which are ever ready to presume and take advantage when +there is laxity in discipline, but which are not difficult to subdue by +a superior will. He forthwith spread the report that the new captain +was a "stiff un," a fact which nearly all the men were rather glad than +otherwise to hear. + +For some days after leaving Ratinga a stiff breeze enabled the +schooner--which had been re-named by its crew the "Free Rover"--to +proceed southward rapidly. Then a profound calm succeeded, and for a +couple of days the vessel lay almost motionless on the sea. + +During all this time the poor maniac in her hold lay upon his +blood-stained couch, for no one dared--at least no one cared--to +approach him. At meal times the cook pushed a plate of food within his +reach. He usually took no notice of this until, hunger constrained him +to devour a little, almost savagely. No word would he speak, but moaned +continually without intermission, save when, in a burst of +uncontrollable anguish, he gave vent to the terrible cry which so +weighed on the spirits of the men, that they suggested to each other the +propriety of throwing the father overboard after the son. Redford's +report of his interview with the captain, however, prevented the +suggestion being acted on. + +It is possible that the two tremendous blows which Zeppa had received +during the mutiny may have had something to do with his madness; but +there can be no doubt that the intense mutual affection which had +subsisted between him and his only child, and the sudden and awful +manner of that child's end, were of themselves sufficient to account for +it. + +For Orlando had been all that a father could wish; loving, gentle, +tender, yet lion-like and courageous in action, with a powerful frame +like that of his father, and a modest, cheerful spirit like that of his +mother. No wonder that both parents doted on him as their noblest +terrestrial gift from God. + +"And now," thought the crushed man, as he crouched on his mattress in +the hold, "he is gone,--snatched away before my eyes, suddenly and _for +ever_!" + +It was when this thought recurred, again and again, that the cry of +agony burst from him, but it was invariably succeeded by the thought, +"No, not _for ever_. Orlando is with the Lord. We shall see him again, +Marie and I, when we reach the better land." + +And then Zeppa would laugh lightly, but the laugh would merge again into +the bitter cry, as the thought would recur persistently--"gone--gone-- +for ever!" + +Oh! it was pitiful to see the strong man thus reduced, and reason +dethroned; and terrible were the pangs endured by the pirate chief as he +heard and saw; but he had now schooled himself to accept what he called +his "fate," and was able to maintain a calm, indifferent demeanour +before his men. Of course he never for a moment, during all that time, +thought of crying to God for mercy, for as long as a man continues to +ascribe his sins and their consequences to "fate," he is a rampant and +wilful, besides being an unphilosophical, rebel against his Maker. + +At last, one afternoon, the peak of Sugar-loaf Island was descried on +the horizon, close to where the sun was descending amid a world of +golden clouds. + +"Which side is the best for landing on!" asked the captain of his mate. + +"The southern end, sir, which is steep and uninhabited," said Redford. + +In half an hour they were under the shelter of the cliffs close to a +creek, at the inner end of which there was a morsel of flat beach. +Beyond this lay a richly wooded piece of land, which seemed to be +connected with a gorge among the hills. + +"Lower the boat" said Rosco. "Have three men ready, and, when I call, +send them to the hold." + +He descended as he spoke, and approached Zeppa, who looked at him with +unmistakable ferocity. + +"You are going on shore," he said to the poor madman, who seemed neither +to comprehend nor to care for what he said. + +"Once again," continued Rosco, after a pause, "I tell you that I had no +hand in the death of your son. My men, if they had their way, would +soon treat you as they treated him. They want to get rid of you, so, to +save your life, I must send you on shore. It is an island--inhabited. +I hope the natives will prove friendly to you. I hope you will get +well--in time. Do you understand what I say?" + +Zeppa neither spoke nor moved, but continued to glare at the man whom he +evidently regarded as his deadliest foe. + +A touch of pity seemed to influence the pirate captain, for he added in +a softer tone, "I would have taken you with me, if it had been possible, +and landed you on Ratinga. Perhaps that may yet be done. At any rate I +will return to this island--we shall meet again." + +At last the madman spoke, in a harsh, grating tone,--"If we meet again, +you shall die!" + +"I will do my best to avoid that fate," returned Rosco, with a touch of +sarcasm. "Ho! lads! come down." + +Three powerful seamen, who had stood at the hatchway awaiting the +summons, descended, and at once laid hold of Zeppa. To their surprise, +he made no resistance. To every one but the captain he behaved liked a +lamb. Having been placed in the bottom of the boat alongside, with his +hands still bound, they shoved off, and Rosco, taking the tiller, +steered for the little creek. + +The instant the keel touched the land two of the men jumped out and +hauled the boat ashore. The others assisted Zeppa to land. They led +him to a grassy bank, and bade him sit down. He obeyed meekly, and sat +there gazing at the ground as if unable to comprehend what was being +done. Rosco remained in the boat while a small box of biscuit was +conveyed to the spot and left at the side of Zeppa. + +Then, removing his bonds, the men re-embarked and returned to the +schooner, which soon left that part of the island far astern. While it +receded, the pirate captain kept his glass fixed on the wretched man +whom he had thus forsaken. He saw that Zeppa never once turned his head +seaward, but, after gazing in a state of abstraction at the ground for +some time, rose and sauntered slowly inland. He did not appear to +observe the small supply of provision left for his use. With his chin +sunk upon his breast and his hands clasped behind him, he appeared to +wander aimlessly forward until his tall figure was lost to view among +the palm-groves that fringed the bottom of the mountain. + +Leaving him there, we shall turn now to poor Orlando, who had been +tossed so unceremoniously into the sea. Probably the reader is aware +that the water of the southern seas is, in many parts, so much warmer +than that of our northern climes, that people may remain in it for hours +without being chilled. Hence natives of the coral islands are almost +amphibious, and our young hero, having spent much of his life among +these islands, could swim for the greater part of a day without becoming +exhausted. + +When, therefore, he caught hold of the life-preserver, as stated in the +last chapter, he clung to it with some degree of confidence; but by +degrees the depressing influence of continued darkness began to tell +upon him, and he became less and less hopeful of deliverance. He +bethought him of the great distance they had sailed from Ratinga before +the mutiny broke out, and the utter impossibility of his being able to +swim back. Then he thought of sharks, and a nervous tendency to draw up +his legs and yell out affected him. But the thought of his father, and +of the probable fate that awaited him, at length overbore all other +considerations, and threw the poor boy into such a state of despair, +that he clung to the life-preserver for a long time in a state of +semi-stupor. + +At last the day dawned faintly in the east and the glorious sun arose, +and Orley's heart was cheered. From earliest infancy he had been taught +to pray, so you may be sure he did not fail at this crisis in his young +life. But no answer was returned to his prayer until a great part of +the weary day had passed, and he had begun to look forward with dread to +the approaching night. + +As evening advanced, exhaustion began to creep over him, and more than +once he felt himself slipping from his support under the influence of +sleep. The struggle to retain consciousness now became terrible. He +fought the battle in many ways. Sometimes he tried to shake himself up +by shouting. Then he again had recourse to prayer, in a loud voice. +Once he even attempted to sing, but his heart failed him, and at last he +could do nothing but grasp the life-buoy and cling with all the tenacity +of despair. And, oh! what thoughts of his mother came over him then! +It seemed as if every loving act and look of hers was recalled to his +mind. How he longed to clasp her once more in his arms and kiss her +before he died! + +While these thoughts were gradually taking the form of a hazy dream, he +was rudely aroused by something grasping his hair. + +Sharks, of course, leaped to his mind, and he struggled round with a +wild gurgling shriek, for the grasp partially sank him. Then he felt +himself violently dragged upwards, and his eyes encountered the dark +face and glittering eye-balls of a savage. + +Then was Orley's cry of fear turned into a shout of joy, for in that +dark countenance he recognised the face of a friend. A canoe full of +Ratinga natives had nearly run him down. They had been absent on an +expedition, and were alike ignorant of the visit of the Free Rover and +the departure of Antonio Zeppa. + +Their astonishment at finding Orlando in such a plight was only equalled +by their curiosity to know how he had come there; but they were +compelled to exercise patience, for the poor boy, overcome by mingled +joy and exhaustion, fell back in a swoon almost as soon as he was hauled +out of the water. + +Need we describe the state into which poor Madame Zeppa was thrown when +Orlando returned to her?--the strange mingling of grief and terrible +anxiety about her husband's fate, with grateful joy at the restoration +of her son? We think not! + +Ebony, the faithful and sable servitor of the family, got hold of +Orlando as soon as his poor mother would let him go, and hurried him off +to a certain nook in the neighbouring palm-grove where he was wont to +retire at times for meditation. + +"You's quite sure yous fadder was not shooted?" he began, in gasping +anxiety, when he had forced the boy down on a grassy bank. + +"I think not," replied Orley, with a faint smile at the negro's +eagerness. "But you must remember that I was almost unconscious from +the blow I received, and scarce knew what was done." + +"But you no hear no shootin'?" persisted Ebony. + +"No; and if any shots had been fired, I feel certain I should have heard +and remembered them." + +"Good! den der's a chance yous fadder's alive, for if de no hab shooted +him at first, de no hab de heart to shoot him arterwards. No, he'd +smile away der wikitness; de _couldn'_ do it." + +Orlando was unable to derive much comfort from this sanguine view of the +influence of his father's smile--bright and sweet though he knew it to +be--yet with the energy of youth he grasped at any straw of hope held +out to him. All the more that Ebony's views were emphatically backed up +by the chiefs Tomeo and Buttchee, both of whom asserted that Zeppa had +never failed in anything he had ever undertaken, and that it was +impossible he should fail now. Thus encouraged, Orlando returned home +to comfort his mother. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +But Orley's mother refused to be comforted. What she had heard or read +of pirates induced her to believe that mercy must necessarily be +entirely banished from their hearts; and her husband, she knew full +well, would sooner die than join them. Therefore, she argued in her +despair, Antonio must have perished. + +"But mother," said Orley, in a soothing tone, "you must remember that +Rosco and his men are not regular pirates. I only heard them shout +`Hoist the black flag!' when they seized me; but that does not prove +that they did hoist it, or that Rosco agreed to do so. They were only +mutineers, you see, and not hardened villains." + +"Hardened enough when they threw you overboard, my son," returned poor +little Madame Zeppa, with a sob. + +"True; but that was in the hurry of the rising, and without orders from +Rosco, as far as I know. Besides, mother, have you not often told me +that God will never forsake His own children? Surely, then, He will not +forsake father." + +"No, oh, no! the good Lord will never forsake him. He will certainly +deliver his soul from sin and death; but God sometimes sees fit to allow +the bodies of His children to suffer and die. It may be so now." + +"Yes, mother, but also it may _not_ be so now. Let us take a hopeful +view, and do what we can to find out--to find--to--" + +Poor Orlando broke down here, laid his head on his little mother's +shoulder, and wept for his mind had suddenly run itself blank. What was +there to find out? what could they do? Nothing, absolutely nothing, +except pray; and they did that fervently. + +Then Orley went out to consult again with his friends. Alas! there was +no other outlet for their grief, save prayer and consultation, for +action was, in the circumstances, impossible. + +"Bin t'ink, t'inkin' horroble hard all last night. Couldn' sleep a +wink," said Ebony one day, some weeks after the return of Orlando, when, +according to custom, he and the native missionary and his wife, with the +chiefs Tomeo and Buttchee, assembled for a consultation in the +palm-grove. + +"What have you been thinking about?" asked Orley. + +"Yous fadder, ob course." + +"Of course," repeated the boy, "but what have you been thinking about +him--anything new?" + +"Not zackly noo," returned the negro, with a very earnest look, "but ole +t'oughts turned in a noo d'rection. Sit down, Tomeo, an' I will tell +you--an' try to forgit yous hat if poss'ble. It's 'xtroarnar good +lookin', a'most as much good lookin' as yousself, so you got no occashin +to be always t'inkin' about it." + +We may remark here that both Tomeo and Buttchee understood a little of +Ebony's English, though they could not speak a word. The reader will +understand, therefore, that when we put words in their mouths we only +give a free translation of their language. In like manner Ebony +understood a little of the Ratinga tongue, but could not speak much of +it, and Waroonga, who himself spoke uncommonly bad, though fluent, +English, interpreted when necessary. + +"Well, you mus' know," said Ebony, "dat jus before I goes to bed las' +night I heat a little too much supper--" + +"You doos that every night" interrupted Buttchee, with a grin. + +Ebony ignored the interruption, and continued-- + +"So, you see, I dream berry bad--mos' drefful dreams! Yes. Well, what +I dream was dis. I see Massa Zeppa forced by de pierits to walk de +plank--" + +"What's that?" asked Tomeo. + +Waroonga looked at Ebony for an explanation, and then translated-- + +"When pirates want to kill people they sometimes tie up their eyes, and +bind their hands, and make them walk along a plank stickin' over the +ship's side, till they fall off the end of it into the sea, where they +are left to drown." + +Tomeo looked at Buttchee with a grin and nodded, as though he thought +the mode of execution rather a good one; then, recollecting suddenly +that any mode of slaying innocent men was inconsistent with his +character as a convert to Christianity, he cast a glance of awful +solemnity at Waroonga, and tried to look penitent. + +"Well, hims walk de plank like a man," continued Ebony, "hims dood +eberyting like a man. An' w'en hims topple into de sea hims give sitch +a most awful wriggle dat his bonds bu'sted. But hims berry sly, was +Massa Zeppa--amazin' sly. I t'ought him lie on's back zif him be dead. +Jest move a leetle to look like drownin', an' w'en he long way astern, +he slew round, off wid de hanky fro hims eyes an' larf to hisseff like +one o'clock. Den he swum'd to a island an' git ashore, and climb up de +rocks, an' sit down--an'--an'--dat's all." + +"What! be that all?" asked Waroonga. + +"Dat's all," repeated the negro. "I no dream no more arter dat, 'cause +I was woked by a fly what hab hoed up my nose, an' kep' bumblin' in it +like steam inside ob a kittle." + +"Well, Ebony," asked Orlando, "what conclusions do you draw from that +dream?" + +"I di'nt draw no kungklooshins from it 'cos I dunno what de are. Nebber +hab notin' to do wid what I don' understan'. But what I was t'ink was +dis: in de days ob old, some time after Adam an' Eve was born, a sartin +king, called Fair-ho, or some sitch name (Waroonga there knows all about +him) had a dream, that siven swine came up--" + +"Kine, Ebony--not swine," interrupted the missionary, with a +good-humoured smile, "which is all the same as cows." + +"Well, den, siven fat cows come up out ob a ribber, an' hoed slap at +siven thin cows--mis'rable skinny critters that--" + +"All wrong, Ebony," again interrupted Waroonga. "It's just the other +way. The skinny ones went at the fat ones." + +"Well, ob course you must be right," returned the negro, humbly, "though +I'd have 'spected it was t'other way. But I s'pose the skinny ones was +so hungry that the fat ones hadn't a chance wid 'em. However, it don't +matter. What I was goin' to say was that a good man, called Joseph, +went to Fair-ho an' 'splained all his dream to him. Now, if Joseph +could do dat, why shouldn't Waroonga 'splain my dream to me?" + +"Because I's not Joseph, Ebony, an you're not Pharoah," returned +Waroonga promptly. + +Tomeo and Buttchee turned looks of inquiry on Ebony as if to say, "What +d'ye say to that, you nigger?" But the nigger said nothing for some +moments. He seemed not to have viewed the matter in that light. + +"Well, I don'no," he said at last with a deep sigh, "I t'ought I'd get +hold ob suthin' when I kitch hold ob dat dream. But, I do b'lieve +myself, dat part of it means dat Zeppa hims git on an island, anyhow." + +"If my dear father got upon _anything_, it must have been an island," +said Orlando sadly. + +"That's troo," remarked Mrs Waroonga. "Keep your mouth shut, my +da'lin'." + +She referred to her brown baby, which she placed with some violence on +her knee. It is well to remark here that little Zariffa had been +supplied with a coal-scuttle bonnet proportioned to her size, made by +her mother out of native straw, and that she did not wear anything else +in the way of costume. + +After Ebony's dream had been thoroughly discussed in all its bearings, +and viewed in every possible point of relation to their great sorrow, +the council adjourned, as usual, to various duties about the flourishing +little village, and Orlando went to lay the result before his mother, +who, although she could not believe these deliberations would end in +anything practical, found it impossible, nevertheless, to resist the +influence of so much faith and strong hopefulness, so that she was +somewhat comforted, as it were, in spite of herself. Time flew by, and +upwards of three years elapsed without anything happening at Ratinga +Island to throw a single ray of light on the fate of the lost man. + +During that period, however, much that was interesting and encouraging +occurred to comfort the heart of the native missionary and the sorrowing +Marie Zeppa. In the first place they received several visits from the +mission-vessel, with small supplies of such luxuries as sugar, tea, and +coffee for the body, and, for the spirit, a few bundles of tracts and +books printed in the native tongue, among which, you may be sure, were +many copies of the Book of books, the blessed Bible. Carpenters' and +smiths' tools were also brought to them, so that they not only carried +on their house-building and other operations with greater ease than +heretofore, but even essayed the building of small boats with +considerable success. + +On the occasion of these visits, supplies of clothing were also left for +the use of those converts who could be persuaded to put them on. But in +these matters of taste Waroonga was not so successful as he had been in +spiritual things. After his first disastrous landing, he had found no +difficulty in persuading the natives to burn their false gods, and put +away their too numerous wives--reserving only one to each man;--but when +it was suggested that the usual bit of cloth round the loins was not +quite sufficient for Christians, and that additional clothing was +desirable, they betrayed decided symptoms of a tendency to rebel. + +Savages in all parts of the world are usually much influenced for good +or evil by the example of their chiefs. Those of Ratinga were no +exception to the general rule, and the chiefs Tomeo and Buttchee did not +encourage the putting on of clothes. In the matter of head-dress they +had indeed given in; but when one day, Waroonga presented Tomeo with a +pair of what are called slop-made trousers, and advised him to put them +on, slapping his own at the same time, and asserting (we trust +truthfully) that they were comfortable, Tomeo looked at them with an air +of contempt and Buttchee, who was irreverent, laughed. + +After much persuasion, however, and being good-natured, he consented to +try. He got one leg in easily enough, but when he attempted to put in +the other, not being accustomed to the feat, he staggered and had to let +the leg down. Raising it a second time, he made a successful plunge, +got the foot in, lost his balance, made a frantic effort to disengage +his foot, and fell to the ground. + +"Sit down, my friend, and try it again," said Waroonga, encouragingly. + +Our missionary was of a gentle, loving disposition. His successes were +in every case the result of suasion. He never sought to coerce men. +Tomeo with childlike simplicity rebuked his own awkwardness, and humbly +seated his huge body on a bank for another effort. In this position he +got his legs easily into the trousers and drew them on, but when he +stood up to complete the operation, it was found that they were very +much too small for him, besides which he had put them on with the back +to the front! + +"Ah! my friend, they do not fit," said Waroonga, thinking it unnecessary +to refer to the error. "I will find a larger pair for you in the store. +But try this coat. It is the kind worn by the white man when he goes +to see his friends. It will be much easier to put on, I think." So +saying, Waroonga produced a blue surtout with bright brass buttons. + +"No," said Tomeo, drawing himself up with dignity, and putting the +garment aside, "I do not require it. Has not a coat of skin been given +to me? I want no other." + +And truly, the dark brown skin which fitted so perfectly to his muscular +frame--tattooed as it was with many elegant devices--seemed to warrant +his rejection of the ill-made surtout. But in Ratinga, as elsewhere, +tastes differ. Buttchee's fancy was caught by the brass buttons, and he +volunteered to put on the coat, although he had looked with scorn on the +trousers. + +Like his brother chief, however, he experienced considerable difficulty, +especially in distinguishing the difference between the left arm-hole +and the breast pocket, despite the able assistance of Waroonga. At last +he got the coat partially on, and with a mighty heave, forced it upon +his broad shoulders. Then he stood with arms awkwardly curved and +extended, uncertain what to do next. He was by no means properly into +the garment, and his look of solemn inquiry said as much to the +missionary. + +"Try another heave, my friend," said Waroonga, in a tone of +encouragement. + +Buttchee tried, with the result of a mysterious and incomprehensible +noise at his back. + +"What is that?" he said quickly, with looks of alarm, as he endeavoured +to glance over his shoulder. + +"I fear," replied Waroonga with some hesitation, "that the coat has +burst!" + +There could be no doubt whatever about that, for a long strip of the +chief's back was visible, as if a gusset of brown leather had been +introduced into the blue coat, from the waist to the collar. + +For a considerable time after this, both chiefs declined further +experiments in the clothing way, but ultimately Tomeo was induced to +wear a striped flannel jersey, and Buttchee, of his own accord, adopted +a scarlet flannel petticoat that had been given to his wife. Thus was +the ice of conservatism broken in the island of Ratinga, and liberal +views prevailed thenceforward in the matter of costume--whether to the +advancement of taste and decency remains to this day an open question, +as all liberal and conservative questions will probably remain till the +crack of doom. + +One day, to the inexpressible surprise and joy of the islanders, a large +vessel was seen to pass through the narrow opening in the coral reef, +and cast anchor in the lagoon. The excitement on Ratinga was great, for +vessels rarely had occasion to visit the island, although some of them, +probably South Sea whalers, were seen to pass it on the horizon two or +three times a year. + +Immediately four canoes full of natives put off to visit the stranger; +but on reaching her they were sternly told to keep off, and the order +was silently enforced by the protruding muzzle of a carronade, and the +forbidding aspect of several armed men who looked over the side. "We +are men of peace," said Waroonga, who was in the foremost canoe, "and +come as Christian friends." + +"We are men of war," growled one of the men, "an' don't want no friends, +Christian or otherwise." + +"We came to offer you hospitality," returned the missionary in a +remonstrative tone. + +"An' we came to take all the hospitality we want of you without waitin' +for the offer," retorted the sailor, "so you'd better go back to where +you came from, an' keep yourselves quiet, if ye don't want to be blowed +out o' the water." + +This was sufficient. With disappointed looks the natives turned their +canoes shoreward and slowly paddled home. + +"Depend upon it, this is another pirate," said Orlando, when Waroonga +reported to him the result of his visit. + +"What would you advise us to do?" asked Waroonga. + +Lest the reader should be surprised at this question, we must remind him +that Orlando had, in the course of these three years, grown up almost to +manhood. The southern blood in his veins, and the nature of the climate +in which he had been born and brought up, may have had something to do +with his early development; but, whatever the cause, he had, at the +early age of eighteen, become as tall and nearly as powerful as his +father had been, and so like to him in aspect and manner, that the +natives began to regard him with much of that respect and love which +they had formerly entertained towards Antonio. Of course Orlando had +not the sprinkling of grey in his short black curly hair which had +characterised the elder Zeppa; but he possessed enough of the black +beard and moustache, in a soft rudimental form, to render the +resemblance to what his sire had been very remarkable. His poor little +mother left the management of all her out-of-door affairs with perfect +confidence to her son. Tomeo and Buttchee also had begun to regard him +as his father's successor. + +"I would advise you to do nothing," said Orley, in reply to Waroonga's +question, "beyond having all the fighting men of the village prepared +for action, and being ready at a moment's notice to receive the +strangers as friends if they choose to come as such." + +"Well, then, Orley, I will be ready for them, as you tell to me, if they +comes in peace; if not, you must go and carry out your own advice, for +you is manager of all secular affairs here." + +In the afternoon a large boat, full of men armed to the teeth, put off +from the side of the strange vessel, which was barque-rigged, and rowed +to the beach near the mouth of a small stream. Evidently the object of +the visit was to procure fresh water. Having posted his men in ambush, +with orders to act in strict accordance with his signals, Orlando +sauntered down alone and unarmed to the place where the sailors were +filling their water-casks. + +"Is your captain here?" he asked quietly. + +The men, who were seemingly a band of thorough ruffians, looked at him +in surprise, but went on filling their casks. + +"I am the captain," said one, stepping up to the youth with an insolent +air. + +"Indeed!" said Orlando, with a look of surprise. + +"Yes, indeed, and let me tell you that we have no time to trouble +ourselves wi' you or yours; but since you've put yourself in our power, +we make you stay here till we've done watering." + +"I have no intention of leaving you," replied Orley, seating himself on +a rock, with a pleasant smile. + +"What d'ee say to kidnap the young buck?" suggested one of the men; "he +might be useful." + +"Perhaps he might be troublesome," remarked Orlando; "but I would advise +you to finish your work here in peace, for I have a band of three +hundred men up in the bush there--not ordinary savages, let me tell you, +but men with the fear of God in their hearts, and the courage of lions +in their breasts--who would think it an easy matter to sweep you all off +the face of the earth. They are ready to act at my signal--or at my +fall--so it will be your wisdom to behave yourselves." + +The quiet, almost gentle manner in which this was said, had a powerful +effect on the men. Without more words they completed the filling of the +casks, and then, re-embarking, pushed off. It was obvious that they +acted in haste. When they had gone about a couple of boat-lengths from +the beach, one of the men rose up with a musket, and Orlando distinctly +heard him say-- + +"Shall I send a bullet into him?" + +"If you do, the captain will skin you alive," was the reply from one of +the other men. + +The alternative did not seem agreeable to the first speaker, for he laid +down his musket, and resumed his oar. + +Soon after the boat reached her, the sails of the stranger were spread, +and she glided slowly out of the lagoon. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +Let us waft ourselves away, now, over the sea, in pursuit of the strange +barque which had treated the good people of Ratinga so cavalierly. + +Richard Rosco sits in the cabin of the vessel, for it is he who commands +her. He had taken her as a prize, and, finding her a good vessel in all +respects, had adopted her in preference to the old piratical-looking +schooner. A seaman stands before him. + +"It is impossible, I tell you," says Rosco, while a troubled expression +crosses his features, which have not improved since we saw him upwards +of three years ago. "The distance between the two islands is so great +that it is not probable he traversed it in a canoe, especially when we +consider that he did not know the island's name or position, and was +raving mad when I put him ashore." + +"That may be so, captain," says the sailor: "nevertheless I seed him +with my own eyes, an no mistake. Didn't you say he was a man that +nobody could mistake, tall, broad, powerful, handsome, black curly hair, +short beard and moustache, with sharp eyes and a pleasant smile?" + +"The same, in every particular--and just bordering on middle age," +answers the perplexed pirate. + +"Well, as to age, I can't say much about that," returns the seaman; "he +seemed to me more like a young man than a middle-aged one, but he had +coolness and cheek enough for a hundred and fifty, or any age you like." + +"Strange," muttered Rosco to himself, paying no regard to the last +observation; "I wish that I or Mr Redford had gone with you, or some +one who had seen him the last time we were here; but I didn't want to be +recognised;" then checking himself--"Well, you may go, and send Mr +Redford to me." + +"I cannot account for Zeppa turning up in this way," he said, when the +mate entered. + +"No more can I, sir." + +"Do all the men agree in saying that he seems to be quite sane." + +"All. Indeed most of them seemed surprised when I asked the question. +You see, what with death by sword, shot, and sickness, there's not a man +in the ship who ever saw him, except yourself and me. The last of the +old hands, you know, went with Captain Daniel when you sent him and the +unwilling men away in the old schooner. I have no doubt, myself, from +what they say, that Zeppa has got well again, and managed to return home +as sound and sane as you or I." + +"If you and I were sane, we should not be here," thought the pirate +captain; but he did not give expression to the thought, save by a +contemptuous curl of his lip. + +"Well, Redford," he said, after a few seconds' pause, "my chief reason +for going to Sugar-loaf Island is removed, nevertheless we shall still +go there for a fresh load of sandal-wood and other things that will +fetch a good price." + +"I fear, sir," returned the mate after some hesitation, "that the crew +will be apt to mutiny, if you insist on going there. They are tired of +this mixture of _trade_ with free-roving, and are anxious to sail in +seas where we shall be more likely to fall in with something worth +picking up." + +"Stop, Redford, I want to hear no more. The crew shall go where I +please as long as I command them; and you may add that I will guarantee +their being pleased with my present plan. There, don't refer to this +subject again. Where did you say the British cruiser was last seen?" + +"Bearing nor'-east, sir, hull down--on our starboard quarter. I called +you at once, but she had changed her course to nor'-west and we lost +sight of her." + +"That will just suit us," said Rosco, going into his private cabin and +shutting the door. + +Well might the pirate captain be perplexed at that time, for he was +surrounded by difficulties, not the least of which was that his men were +thoroughly dissatisfied with him, and he with them. He did not find his +crew sufficiently ready to go in for lucrative kidnapping of natives +when the chance offered, and they did not find their captain +sufficiently ferocious and bloodthirsty when prizes came in their way. +Nevertheless, through the influence of utter recklessness, contemptuous +disregard of death, and an indomitable will, backed by wonderful +capacity and aptitude in the use of fist, sword, and pistol, he had up +to this time held them in complete subjection. + +In his heart Rosco had resolved to quit his comrades at the first +favourable opportunity, and, with this intent had been making for one of +the most out-of-the-way islands in the Pacific--there to go and live +among the natives, and never more to see the faces of civilised men-- +against whom he had sinned so grievously. His intentions were hastened +by the fact that a British man-of-war on the Vancouver station, hearing +of his exploits, had resolved to search for him. And this cruiser did +in fact come across his track and gave chase; but being a poor sailer, +was left behind just before the pirate had reached Ratinga, where, as we +have seen, she put in for water. + +The discovery there made, as he supposed, that Antonio Zeppa had +recovered his reason and returned home, not only amazed and puzzled +Rosco, but disconcerted part of his plan, which was to find Zeppa, whose +image had never ceased to trouble his conscience, and, if possible, +convey him to the neighbourhood of some port whence he could easily +return to Ratinga. It now struck him that, since Zeppa was no longer on +Sugar-loaf Island, that spot would be as favourable a one as could be +found for his purpose, being far removed from the usual tracks of +commerce. He would go there, take to the mountains as Zeppa had done +before him, leave his dissatisfied comrades to follow their own devices, +and, crossing over to the other side of the island, ingratiate himself +as well as he could with the natives, grow beard and moustache, which he +had hitherto shaved, and pass himself off as a shipwrecked sailor, +should any vessel or cruiser touch there. + +"And shipwrecked I am, body, soul, and spirit," he muttered, bitterly, +as he sat in his cabin, brooding over the past and future. + +Leaving him there, and thus, we will return to Ratinga, the peaceful +inhabitants of which were destined at this time to be tickled with +several little shocks of more or less agreeable surprise. + +One of these shocks was the sudden disappearance of Zariffa, the native +missionary's brown baby. It was an insignificant event in itself, and +is only mentioned because of its having led indirectly to events of +greater importance. + +Zariffa had, by that time, passed out of the condition of +brown-babyhood. She had, to her own intense delight, been promoted to +the condition of a decently-clad little savage. In addition to the +scuttle bonnet which was not quite so tremulous as that of her mother, +she now sported a blue flannel petticoat. This was deemed sufficient +for her, the climate being warm. + +Zariffa was still, however, too young to take care of herself. Great, +therefore, was Betsy Waroonga's alarm when she missed her one day from +her little bed where she should have been sleeping. + +"Ebony!" cried Betsy, turning sharply round and glaring, "Zariffa's +gone." + +"_Quite_ dead," exclaimed the negro, aghast. + +"Not at all dead," said Betsy; "but gone--gone hout of hers bed." + +"Dat no great misfortin', missis," returned Ebony, with a sigh of +relief. + +"It's little you knows, stoopid feller," returned the native +missionary's wife, while her coal-scuttle shook with imparted emotion; +"Zariffa never dis'beyed me in hers life. She's lost. We must seek-- +seek quick!" + +The sympathetic negro became again anxious, and looked hastily under the +chairs and tables for the lost one, while her mother opened and searched +a corner cupboard that could not have held a child half her size. Then +the pair became more and more distracted as each excited the other, and +ran to the various outhouses shouting, "Zariffa!" anxiously, +entreatingly, despairing. + +They gathered natives as they ran, hither and thither, searching every +nook and corner, and burst at last in an excited crowd into the presence +of Waroonga himself, who was in the act of detailing the history of +Joseph to a select class of scholars, varying from seven to seventeen +years of age. + +"Oh! massa, Zariffa's lost!" cried Ebony. + +Waroonga glanced quickly at his wife. The excessive agitation of her +bonnet told its own tale. The missionary threw Joseph overboard +directly, proclaimed a holiday, and rushed out of the school-house. + +"No use to go home, massa," cried Ebony; "we's sarch eberywhere dar; no +find her." + +"Has you been to the piggery?" demanded the anxious father, who was well +aware of his child's fondness for "little squeakers." + +"Oh, yes; bin dar. I rousted out de ole sow for make sure Zariffa no +hides behind her." + +At this juncture Orlando came up with a sack of cocoa-nuts on his back. +Hearing what had occurred he took the matter in hand with his wonted +energy. + +"We must organise a regular search," he said, throwing down the sack, +"and go to work at once, for the day is far advanced, and we can do +little or nothing after dark." + +So saying he collected all the able men of the village, divided them +into bands, gave them minute, though hurried, directions where they were +to go, and what signals they were to give in the event of the child +being found; and then, heading one of the bands, he joined eagerly in +the search. But, before going, he advised Betsy Waroonga to keep his +mother company, as women could not be of much use in such work. + +"No," said Mrs Waroonga, with decision; "we will go home an' pray." + +"Right, that will be better," said Orlando. "You go back with her, +Ebony, and fetch my gun. I left it in Waroonga's house when I went in +for a sack to hold the cocoa-nuts. It is behind the door. You'll find +me searching in the palm-grove. Now, boys, away; we've no time to +lose." + +Returning to her house with her sable attendant, poor Betsy rushed into +her private apartment threw herself on her knees and half across her +lowly bed in an agony of alarm. + +She was startled and horrified by a sharp, though smothered cry, while +some living creature heaved under the bed-clothes. Instantly she swept +them off, and lo! there lay Zariffa safe and well, though somewhat +confused by her rude awaking and her mother's weight. + +"You's keep up heart, missis," said the sympathetic Ebony, looking +hastily into the room in passing; "we's sartin sure to find--" + +He stopped. Blazing amazement sat on his countenance for about six +moments--a pause similar to that of an injured infant just preparing for +a yell--then he exploded into a fit of laughter so uncontrollable that +it seemed as if a hurricane had been suddenly let loose in the room, +insomuch that Betsy's remonstrances were quite unheard. + +"Oh! missis," he exclaimed at last, wiping his eyes, "I's a-goin' to +bust." + +"Yes, an' I'll help you to do it," she replied impatiently, seizing an +old shoe, and laying it on the negro's bare back with a crack like a +pistol-shot. + +Ebony strove to calm himself. + +"Go 'long, you noisy feller, an' tell Waroonga to stop the search." + +It was plain that Ebony had not sufficiently relieved his feelings, for +his broad chest heaved, and ominous sounds came out of his nose. + +"On'y tink," said he, "dat you hoed down to say yous prayers on de berry +top ob de babby!" + +The thought was too much for him. He exploded again, and, rushing from +the house, ascended the hills, and filled the groves as he went with +hilarious melody. + +But he did not find Orlando, who had completed his search of the +palm-grove and passed over the ridge that formed the summit of the +island in that part. It was by no means the highest part, but from it +could be seen a large bay which lay on the side of the island opposite +to the mission village. And here he beheld the cause of another of the +little surprises with which we have said the people of Ratinga were +visited at that time. It was a stately man-of-war, with the Union Jack +flying from her peak, and her sails backed so as to check her way. + +A boat was being lowered from her side, and Orlando with his party +hastened to the beach to meet it. + +The officer in command was evidently not aware that he had come to an +island where the peaceful influences of the gospel of Jesus prevailed, +for, on landing, he drew up his men, who were all armed to receive +either as friends or foes the party of natives who advanced towards him. +The officer was not a little surprised to observe that the natives were +led by a white man, who halted them when within about three hundred +yards off, and advanced alone and unarmed to the beach. + +"I am happy to welcome you and offer hospitality," said Orlando, taking +off his cap. + +"Thanks, good sir, I accept your offer most gladly," returned the +officer, holding out his hand; "all the more heartily that I had +expected to meet with none but savages here." + +"We are Christians, thank God," said Orlando. + +"Then this must be the island of Ratinga, of which we have heard so much +of late." + +"Even so." + +"But where, then, is your village, your church?" asked the officer, +looking round. + +"It is on the other side of the island. If you will take your ship +round there you will find good anchorage and fresh water, of which last, +if I may judge from the casks in your boat you are in search." + +The officer at once acted on this advice, and Orlando accompanied him on +board to pilot the vessel round. + +On the way the captain--Fitzgerald--asked if any suspicious craft had +been seen lately, and, on hearing that a barque, flying British colours, +had put in there only a day or two before, said that he had been sent +out in chase of that barque, as she was commanded by a celebrated and +rather eccentric pirate, named Rosco. + +"I know him well," said Orlando quickly, "he was mate of a schooner +which called here between three and four years ago. It was commanded by +a poor fellow named Daniel, who, I fear, was murdered by his crew. +Alas! I have only too good reason to remember it." + +He then related the visit of the piratical-looking schooner to Ratinga; +its departure with his father and himself on board; the mutiny, and all +the other circumstances connected with that memorable event. + +"And have you never heard of your father since then?" asked Captain +Fitzgerald. + +"Never. I am almost forced to the conclusion that he must have been +murdered by the mutineers, for if he had escaped them, he would surely, +long ere now, have managed to find his way home. And yet I cannot help +feeling that perhaps God may have spared his life, and may yet restore +him to us." + +"It is, perhaps, cruel to encourage hopes which may be doomed to bitter +disappointment," returned the captain, regarding Orlando's sad face with +a look of sympathy; "but it is by no means impossible that your father +may be alive. Listen. I, too, know something of this affair, and will +tell you all I know. Captain Daniel, of the schooner whose crew +mutinied, was not murdered. This Rosco seems to have had, all through +his career, a strong tendency to mercy. So much so that his men have +threatened his own life more than once. At the same time, he possesses +great power over them, and has held them for many years under command. +We have heard of him more than once from persons whom he has set free, +after taking their vessels; among others from Captain Daniel, who turned +up in Vancouver's Island. It seems that after you were thrown overboard +and supposed to be drowned, your poor father went--went--that is to say, +his mind was unhinged, owing, no doubt, to the combined effect of your +supposed murder and the two terrible blows by which he was felled during +the mutiny." + +"My father--mad!" exclaimed Orlando, in a low, horrified tone, clasping +his hands, and gazing into Captain Fitzgerald's face. + +"Nay, I did not say mad. It was a great shock, you know, and quite +sufficient to account for temporary derangement. Then Rosco sailed away +to a distant island, where he put your father ashore, and left him." + +"What island--did you hear its name?" asked Orlando, quickly. + +"It is an almost unknown island, not marked or named in any chart; but +it had been seen by one of the mutineers on one of his early voyages, +and named Sugar-loaf Island, from its shape. Well, after leaving the +island Rosco attacked, and easily captured, a large merchantman. +Finding it both good and new, he transhipped all that was worth +retaining, including arms and guns, into this barque, and took command; +then he assembled his men, asked who were willing to follow him, put +those who were unwilling into the old schooner with Captain Daniel at +their head, and left them to sail where they pleased. They landed, as I +have said, at Vancouver's Island. The pirate Rosco, and his barque, the +`Flame,' have become notorious since then, both for daring and +eccentricity, and I have been ordered to get hold of them, if possible. +Now, I mean to go to Sugar-loaf Island, because, from various things I +have heard of this scoundrel, I think it not unlikely that he will go +there." + +"And you will let me go with you?" suddenly exclaimed Orlando, in a +voice of earnest entreaty. + +"I will, my poor fellow," returned the captain; "but don't be too +sanguine; and let me advise you to say nothing of all this to your +mother." + +"You are right. She must not know--at least not now. It will be the +first time in my life I have had a secret from my mother; but she must +not know till--till we return." + +That night there was great rejoicing in Ratinga, because of the +recovery, if we may so call it, of Zariffa, and the visit of the British +man-of-war. + +In the midst of the rejoicings a huge, lustrous pair of black eyes gazed +earnestly into Orlando's face, and an enormously thick pair of red lips +said, "I go too, massa--eh?" + +"Well, you may, Ebony, if the captain will let you. He has already +agreed to take the missionary and the chiefs Tomeo and Buttchee; but, +mind, not a whisper of our secret hope to any one." + +Thus, with the approval of Madame Zeppa and Betsy Waroonga, these five +representatives of Ratinga embarked on board the British man-of-war, and +left the island. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +We left the poor madman, Antonio Zeppa, wandering aimlessly up into the +mountains of Sugar-loaf Island. Whether it was the loss of his beloved +Orley alone that had turned his brain, or that loss coupled with the +injury to his head, we cannot tell, but certain it is that the outward +and visible violence of his great sorrow seemed to depart from him after +he had entered the rugged defiles of the mountain range. His mental +malady appeared to take the form of simple indifference and inactivity. +Sometimes he muttered to himself as he went slowly and wearily along, +but generally he was silent with his chin sunk upon his breast as he +gazed upon the ground with lack-lustre eyes. + +At other times he started and looked around him with a sharp, inquiring, +almost timid, glance; but the gleam of memory--if such it was--soon +passed away, and his handsome face resumed the gentle, almost childish, +look which had settled down on it. But never again did he give vent to +the heart-broken cries and wails which had marked the first stage of his +derangement. + +The mutterings to which we have referred were seldom coherent; but the +disjointed utterances sufficed to indicate the natural character of the +man. As the ruling passion is said to become dominant in death, so, in +this death of reason which appeared to have passed upon Zeppa, love of +his wife and child and the natives of Ratinga, as well as profound +reverence and love to his God, became conspicuous in the broken +sentences that occasionally dropped from his lips. + +At first he had been like some grand instrument thrown wildly out of +tune and swept by a reckless hand. Now he resembled the same instrument +with the framework shattered, the strings hanging loose, and the music +of discord as well as harmony gone for ever. + +Oh it was sad, inexpressibly sad, to see the grand and good man--the +image of himself, yet not himself, with bowed head and bent form, the +very personification of humility--wandering forth on that lonely island +of the southern seas! + +After quitting the shore he continued slowly to ascend the mountain +until he gained the summit. Here, seating himself on a rock, he lifted +his eyes and looked slowly around him. + +It was a glorious sight that met his unintelligent gaze. On the side +which he had ascended, the mountain sloped abruptly into the sea, yet +its precipices were not forbidding or gloomy, for they were clothed with +the luxuriant and lovely vegetation of those favoured regions. + +The rocks were fringed with grasses and wild flowers; the cliffs were +softened by palmated leaves and gorgeous shrubs. Wild fruits in +abundance grew on every side; in short, the land presented the +appearance of a terrestrial paradise. + +On the other side of the range similar, but softer, scenery rolled away +for several miles in easy slopes, until it terminated in a plain, the +farther end of which was bounded by the white sands of the shore. + +Around all lay the great sea, like a transparent blue shield, on which +the sun glinted in myriad ripples of burnished gold. Everywhere God's +work was glorious, but God's image in man was not there, for poor Zeppa +looked upon it all with total indifference. + +The schooner was still visible from that lofty outlook, like a snowflake +on the sea; but Zeppa saw it, or regarded it, not. On the shore of the +island furthest from the mountain, the clustering huts of a native +village could be seen; but Zeppa looked at it without a gleam of +interest, and passed it over as if it were a group of ant-hills. + +Hunger, however, soon claimed attention. After remaining motionless for +more than an hour, he arose and plucked some fruit from a neighbouring +tree. + +"God is good--has always been good to me and mine," he murmured, as he +placed the fruit on the grass and sat down beside it. + +Then, clasping his hands and closing his eyes, he asked a blessing on +his food in the same words and tone which he had been wont to use when +at home. + +After his hunger was appeased, he again wandered about apparently +without aim; but as night began to descend, he sought and found a +slightly hollowed part of a cliff with an overhanging ledge. + +It was scarcely deep enough to be styled a cave, but appeared to be a +sufficient shelter in the maniac's eyes, for he busied himself in +gathering ferns and dried grass, until he had made himself a comfortable +couch at the inner end of it. + +Before lying down he knelt, clasped his hands, and poured out his soul +in fervent prayer. + +His words were now no longer incoherent and the burthen of his petition +was--a blessing on the dear ones at home, and forgiveness of all his +sins through Jesus Christ. It seemed evident judging by his words, that +he had forgotten the recent past, and imagined that Orlando was still +alive. + +Then he lay down and fell asleep. + +Thus days and weeks and months rolled on, and still the madman wandered +aimlessly among the mountain peaks. + +The savages at the other end of the island never molested him, for, +having no occasion to clamber up these rocky heights, they did not +become aware of his existence until a considerable time had elapsed. + +His discovery at last was the result of a crime. + +One of the savages committed a theft in the native village, and fled for +refuge to the mountains. Wapoota, being a funny fellow, was a favourite +with his chief Ongoloo, and occupied a position somewhat analogous to +the court jester of old. Moreover, he was often consulted in serious +matters by his chief--in short, was a sort of humorous prime minister. + +But he could not resist the tendency to steal, and one day pilfered +something or other from Ongoloo, who finally lost patience with him, for +he was an old offender. + +Ongoloo, though neither a warlike nor ferocious fellow, vowed to cut out +the heart and liver of Wapoota, and expose them to public gaze. + +Disliking publicity after this fashion, the thief fled, purposing to +abide in the mountains until his chief's wrath should have evaporated. + +Rambling one day in his mountain refuge, the dishonest savage turned a +jutting point of rock, and suddenly stood face to face with Zeppa. His +jaw dropped, his eyes glared, his knees smote together, and lemon-yellow +took the place of brown-ochre on his cheeks. It was an awkward place of +meeting, for the path, if we may so style it, was a mere ledge, with a +perpendicular cliff on one side, a precipice on the other. + +And well might the savage by overcome with fear, on such a spot with +such a man before him, for, in addition to his commanding stature, Zeppa +had now the wild appearance resulting from long untrimmed locks and a +shaggy beard. + +Both locks and beard had also changed from black to iron-grey during +these months of lonely wandering. His dress, too, had become much +disordered and ragged, so that altogether his appearance and fierce +aspect were eminently fitted to strike terror to the heart of a more +courageous man than Wapoota, who happened to be rather mild in +disposition. + +After the first stare of astonishment he sank on his knees and held up +his hands as if supplicating mercy. But he had nothing to fear from the +maniac. + +"My poor fellow," said Zeppa, in English, laying his hand on the +native's head and patting it, "do not fear. I will not harm you." + +Of course Wapoota did not understand the words but he fully appreciated +the action, and the lemon-yellow began to fade while the brown-ochre +returned. + +Without uttering another word, Zeppa took Wapoota by the hand and led +him to his cave, where he set before him such fruits as remained over +from his last meal, and then, sitting down, gazed abstractedly on the +ground. Wapoota ate from fear of offending his host, rather than +hunger. + +When he had finished, Zeppa rose, pointed to his couch at the inner part +of the cave, nodded to him with a kindly smile, and left him. + +At first the savage seemed disposed to make off when Zeppa's back was +turned, but when he saw him slowly ascend the hill with his head bowed +down he changed his mind, made some significant grimaces--which we will +not attempt to explain--and lay down to sleep. + +On his return, Wapoota tried to enter into conversation with his host +but Zeppa only smiled, patted him gently on the head and shoulder, and +paid no further attention to him. The savage was somewhat overawed by +such treatment. + +Observing his host more closely, it soon began to dawn upon him that he +was in the power of a madman, and some tinges of the lemon-yellow +reappeared; but when he perceived that Zeppa was not merely a harmless +but an exceedingly gentle madman, his confidence and the brown-ochre +reasserted themselves. + +Thus, for several days, the madman and the savage dwelt amicably +together, and slept side by side during the night; but Zeppa made it +very apparent that he did not wish for his visitor's society during the +day-time, and the visitor had the sense to let him wander forth alone. + +Wapoota was mistaken when he calculated on the cooling of Ongoloo's +wrath. That angry chief, bent on the fulfilment of his anatomical vow, +set forth with a small party of picked men to explore the Sugar-loaf in +quest of the runaway. He found him one day gathering fruits for Zeppa's +supper--for Wapoota had already become a sort of attached Friday to this +unfortunate Crusoe. + +On beholding his countrymen, the thief's visage underwent a series of +remarkable changes, for he knew that escape was impossible, and the +expression of his chief's face forbade him to hope for mercy. + +"I have found you, mine enemy," growled Ongoloo--of course in the native +tongue. + +"Mercy!" exclaimed Wapoota, in a piteous tone. "Mercy no longer dwells +in my breast," returned the chief. + +In proof of the truth of this assertion he ordered his men to seize and +bind Wapoota, and proceed at once with the execution of his cruel +purpose. + +The unfortunate wretch, unable to face the appalling prospect gave vent +to a series of terrible shrieks, and struggled fiercely while they bound +him. But in vain would he have struggled if his cries for mercy had not +reached other ears than those of his countrymen. + +Not far from the spot where the thief had been captured, Zeppa chanced +to be sitting, idly toying with the branch of a tree which he had +fashioned into a rude staff wherewith to climb the mountain more easily. + +When the first shriek ran among the cliffs, it seemed to startle the +maniac out of the depressing lethargy under which he had laboured so +long. He sprang up and listened, with dilated eyes and partly open +mouth. + +Again and again the shrieks rang out, and were echoed from cliff to +cliff. + +As a tigress bounds to the rescue of her young, so sprang Zeppa down the +hillside in the direction of the cries. He came suddenly to the edge of +a cliff which overlooked the scene, and beheld a savage just about to +plunge a knife into Wapoota's breast. + +Zeppa gave vent to a tremendous roar, which terminated in a wild laugh. +Then he wrenched a mass of rock from the cliffs and hurled it down. + +The height was greater than any sane man would have ventured to leap +even to save his life; but the maniac gave no time to thought. + +He followed the mass of rock with another wild laugh, and next moment +stood in the midst of the savage group. + +These men were no cowards. They were Ongoloo's picked warriors, and +would have scorned to fly before a single foe, however large or fierce. + +But when they saw plainly that Zeppa was a white man and a maniac, they +turned, with one consent, and fled as if a visitant from the nether +realms had assailed them. + +Zeppa did not follow. All his sudden wrath vanished with the enemy. He +turned calmly to the prostrate man, cut his bonds, and set him free. +Then, without saying a word, he patted him on the shoulder, and wandered +listlessly away with his head dropped as of old. + +You may be sure that Wapoota did not hesitate to make good use of his +freedom. He fled on the wings--or legs--of fear to the most +inaccessible recesses of the mountains, from which he did not emerge +till night had enshrouded land and sea. Then he crept stealthily back +to Zeppa's cave, and laid himself quietly down beside his friend. + +The inherent tendency of Zeppa's nature was towards peace and goodwill. +Even in his madness and misery his spirit trickled, if it did not run, +in the customary direction. His dethroned reason began, occasionally, +to make fitful efforts after some plan which it sought to evolve. But +before the plan could be arranged, much less carried out, the dull sense +of a leaden grief overwhelmed it again, and he relapsed into the old +condition of quiet apathy. + +Chance, however, brought about that which the enfeebled intellect could +not compass. + +One day--whether inadvertently or not we cannot tell--Zeppa wandered +down in the direction of the native settlement. That same day Ongoloo +wandered towards the mountain, and the two men suddenly met so close to +each other that there was no possibility of escape to either. + +But, sooth to say, there was no thought of escape in the breast of +either. Ongoloo, being a brave savage, was ashamed of having given way +to panic at his first meeting with the madman. Besides, he carried his +huge war-club, while his opponent was absolutely unarmed--having +forgotten to take his usual staff with him that day. + +As for Zeppa, he had never at any time feared the face of man, and, in +his then condition, would have faced man or fiend with equal +indifference. But the sight of the savage chief seemed to recall +something to his mind. He stood with his arms crossed, and an +expression of perplexity on his countenance, while Ongoloo assumed an +attitude of defence. + +Suddenly a beaming smile overspread Zeppa's face. We have already said +that his smile had fascination in it. The effect on the savage was to +paralyse him for the moment. Zeppa advanced, took Ongoloo's face +between both hands, and, placing his nose against that of the chief, +gently rubbed it. + +For the benefit of the ignorant, we may explain that this is the usual +salutation of friendship among some of the South Sea Islanders. + +Ongoloo returned the rub, and dropped his club. He was obviously glad +of this peaceful termination to the rencontre. + +Then, for the first time, it occurred to Zeppa to use the language of +Ratinga. The chief evidently understood it. + +"God is love," said Zeppa solemnly, pointing upward with his finger. +"God forgives. You will forgive, and so be like God." + +The chief was completely overawed by Zeppa's grandeur and gentleness. +He had never before seen the two qualities combined. + +Zeppa took him by the hand, as he had previously taken Wapoota, and led +him up into the mountains. The chief submitted meekly, as if he thought +a being from the better world were guiding him. On reaching the cave +they found Wapoota arranging the supper-table--if we may so express it-- +for he had been in the habit of doing this for some time past, about +sunset, at which time his protector had invariably returned home--alas! +it was a poor home! + +To say that Wapoota was transfixed, or petrified, on beholding Ongoloo, +would not convey the full idea of his condition. It is useless to say +that he glared; that his knees smote, or that lemon-yellow supplanted +brown-ochre on his visage. Words can do much, but they cannot describe +the state of that savage on that occasion. The reader's imagination is +much more likely to do justice to the situation. To that we leave it. + +But who, or what language, shall describe the state of mind into which +both Ongoloo and Wapoota were thrown when Zeppa, having brought them +close to each other, grasped them firmly by their necks and rubbed their +noses forcibly together. There was no resisting the smile with which +this was dune. The chief and the thief first glanced at each other, +then at their captor, and then they laughed--absolutely roared--after +which they rubbed noses of their own accord, and "made it up." + +We may remark, in passing, that Ongoloo was not sorry for the +reconciliation, because Wapoota had become necessary to him both in +council and during relaxation, and of late he had come to feel +low-spirited for want of his humourist. + +But both of them were much concerned to observe that after this +reconciliation, the reconciler relapsed into his pensive mood and +refused to be interested in anything. + +They tried in vain to rouse him from his strange apathy--which neither +of them could at all understand. Next day Ongoloo took occasion to give +him the slip, and returned to his village. + +Zeppa cared nothing for that. He did not even ask Wapoota what had +become of him. + +At this time a new idea occurred to Wapoota, who had been ordered by his +chief to induce Zeppa to visit the native village. It struck him that +as he had been led, so he might lead. Therefore one morning he waited +until Zeppa had finished breakfast, and when he rose, as was his wont, +to go off for the day, Wapoota took him gently by the hand and led him +forth. To his surprise--and comfort, for he had had strong misgivings-- +Zeppa submitted. He did not seem to think that the act was peculiar. + +Wapoota led him quietly and slowly down the mountain side, and so, by +degrees, right into the native village, where Ongoloo was, of course, +prepared to meet and welcome him. + +He was received by the head men of the tribe with deep respect and +conducted to a tent which had been prepared for him, where Wapoota, who +had constituted himself his servant--or lieutenant--made him comfortable +for the night. + +Zeppa at first expressed some surprise at all the fuss that was made +regarding him, but soon ceased to trouble himself about the matter, and +gradually relapsed into his old condition. He was content to remain +with the natives, though he did not cease his lonely wanderings among +the hills, absenting himself for days at a time, but always returning, +sooner or later, to the tent that had been provided for him in the +village. + +Now, in Sugar-loaf Island, there was a tribe that had, for years past, +been at war with the tribe into whose hands Zeppa had thus fallen, and, +not long after the events just narrated, it chanced that the Ratura +tribe, as it was named, resolved to have another brush with their old +enemies, the subjects of Ongoloo. What they did, and how they did it, +shall be seen in another chapter. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +After Zeppa had remained a short time in his new quarters, he began to +take an interest in the children of his savage friends. At first the +mothers of the village were alarmed when they saw their little ones in +his strong arms, playing with his beard, which had by that time grown +long and shaggy, as well as grey like his curly locks; but soon +perceiving that the children had nothing to fear from the strange white +man, they gave themselves no further concern on the subject. + +If Zeppa had been in his right mind when the savages first found him, it +is probable that they would have hunted him down and slain him without +remorse--for it is well known that many of the South Sea Islanders +regard shipwrecked persons as victims who have no claim on their +hospitality, but are a sort of windfall to be killed and devoured. +Their treatment of Zeppa, therefore, must have been owing to some +feeling of respect or awe, inspired by his obvious insanity, coupled, no +doubt, with his commanding size and presence as well as his singular +conduct on the occasion of their first meeting. + +Whatever the reason, it is certain that the natives amongst whom the +poor madman's lot had thus been cast, treated him in an exceptional +manner, and with an amount of respect that almost amounted to reverence. +At first Ongoloo made a slight attempt to ascertain where his guest had +come from, and what was his previous history, but as Zeppa always met +such inquiries with one of his sweetest smiles, and with no verbal reply +whatever, the chief felt unusually perplexed, dropped the subject, and +began to regard the madman as a species of demigod. Of course no one +else dared to question him, so that ever afterwards he remained in the +eyes of his entertainers as a "Great Mystery." + +By degrees Zeppa became intimately acquainted with the little boys and +girls of the village, and took much pleasure in watching them at play. +They soon found out that he was fond of them, and might have become +rather troublesome in their attentions to him, if he had been a busy +man, but as he had nothing whatever to do except follow his own +inclinations, and as his inclinations led him to sympathise with +childhood, he was never ruffled by their familiarities or by their wild +doings around his tent. He even suffered a few of the very smallest of +the brown troop to take liberties with him, and pull his beard. + +One brown mite in particular--a female baby of the smallest conceivable +dimensions, and the wildest possible spirit--became an immense favourite +with him. Her name was Lippy, or some sound which that combination of +letters produces. + +Lippy's mother, a large-eyed, good-looking young woman, with +insufficient clothing--at least in the estimate of a Ratingaite--was +transfixed the first time she saw her little one practise her +familiarities on their demigod. + +Zeppa was lying on his back at the time, in front of his hut, when Lippy +prowled cautiously towards him, like a very small and sly kitten about +to pounce on a very huge dog. She sprang, just as her mother caught +sight of her, and was on his broad chest in a moment. The mother was, +as we have said, transfixed with alarm. The human kitten seized Zeppa +by the beard and laughed immoderately. Zeppa replied with a gentle +smile--he never laughed out now--and remained quite still. + +Having finished her laugh, Lippy drew herself forward until she was +close to her human dog's chin. At this point her mother would have +rushed to the rescue, but she was still paralysed! Having reached the +chin Lippy became more audacious, stretched forth one of her little +hands, and seized Zeppa's nose. Still he did not move, but when the +little brown kitten proceeded to thrust a thumb into one of his eyes, he +roused himself, seized the child in his powerful hands, and raised her +high above his head; then, lowering her until her little mouth was +within reach, he kissed her. + +This sufficed to relieve the mother's fears, so she retired quietly from +the scene. + +She was not so easily quieted, however, some weeks later, when she +beheld Zeppa, after amusing himself one day with Lippy for half an hour, +start up, place her on his shoulder, and stalk off towards the +mountains. He absented himself for three days on that occasion. +Lippy's mother at first became anxious, then terrified, then desperate. +She roused Ongoloo to such a pitch that he at last called a council of +war. Some of the head men were for immediate pursuit of the madman; +others were of opinion that the little brat was not worth so much +trouble; a few wretches even expressed the opinion that they were well +rid of her--there being already too many female babies in the community! + +While the conflict of opinions was at its fiercest, Zeppa stalked into +the midst of them with Lippy on his shoulder, looked round with a +benignant expression of countenance, delivered the child to her mother, +and went off to his hut without uttering a word. The council +immediately dissolved itself and retired humiliated. + +It was during one of Zeppa's occasional absences that the Ratura tribe +of natives, as before mentioned, decided to have another brush with the +Mountain-men, as they styled their foes. + +We are not sure that the word used in the Ratura language was the exact +counterpart of the words "brush" and "scrimmage" in ours, but it meant +the same thing, namely, the cutting of a number of throats, or the +battering in of a number of human skulls unnecessarily. + +Of course there was a _casus belli_. There always is among savage as +well as civilised nations, and it is a curious coincidence that the +reasons given for the necessity for war are about as comprehensible +among the civilised as the savage. Of course among civilised nations +these reasons for war are said to be always good. Christians, you know, +could not kill each other without _good_ reasons; but is it not strange +that among educated people, the reasons given for going to war are often +very much the reverse of clear? + +The origin of the war which was about to be revived, besides being +involved in the mists of antiquity, was somewhat shrouded in the clouds +of confusion. Cleared of these clouds, and delivered from those mists, +it would have been obviously a just--nay, even a holy war--so both +parties said, for they both wanted to fight. Unfortunately no living +man could clear away the clouds or mists; nevertheless, as they all saw +plainly the exceeding righteousness of the war, they could not in +honour, in justice, or in common sense, do otherwise than go at it. + +At some remote period of antiquity--probably soon after the dispersion +at Babel--it was said that the Mountain-men had said to the Raturans, +that it had been reported to them that a rumour had gone abroad that +they, the men of Ratura, were casting covetous eyes on the summit of +their mountain. The Raturans replied that it had never entered into +their heads either to covet or to look at the summit of their mountain, +but that, if they had any doubts on the subject, they might send over a +deputation to meet a Ratura deputation, and hold a palaver to clear the +matter up. + +The deputations were sent. They met. They palavered for about +half-an-hour with an air of sententious sincerity, then the leading +chief of the mountaineer deputation cracked the crown of the leading +chief of the Raturan deputation, and the two deputations spent the +remainder of that day in fighting. Reinforcements came up on both +sides. The skirmish became a pitched battle. Blood was shed lavishly, +heads were broken beyond repair, and women, coming to the help of the +men with the baskets of stones, were slain in considerable numbers, as +well as little children who had an inconvenient but not uncommon habit +of getting in the way of the combatants. At last the Raturans were +driven into the impregnable swamps that bordered part of their country; +their villages and crops were burned, and those of their women and +children who had not escaped to the swamps were carried into slavery, +while the aged of both sexes were slaughtered in cold blood. + +It was a complete victory. We are inclined to think that the +Mountain-men called it a "glorious" victory. Judging from the world's +history they probably did, and the mountain women ever afterwards were +wont to tell their little ones of the prowess of their forefathers--of +the skulls battered in and other deeds of heroism done--in that just and +reasonable war! + +As centuries rolled on, the old story came to be repeated again, and +over again, with slight variations to suit the varying ages. In +particular it came to be well understood, and asserted, that that +unconquerable desire of the Raturans to take possession of the +mountain-top was growing apace and had to be jealously watched and +curbed. + +In one of the centuries--we are not sure which--the Raturan savages made +some advances into their swampy grounds and began to improve them. This +region lay very remote from the Mountain-men's villages, but, as it +approached the mountain base in a round-about manner, and as the +mountain-tops could be distinctly seen from the region, although +well-nigh impassable swamps still lay between the reclaimed lands and +the mountain base, these advances were regarded as another _casus +belli_, and another war was waged, with practically the same results-- +damage to everybody concerned, and good to no one. + +Thus was the game kept up until the chief Ongoloo began to strut his +little hour upon the stage of time. + +There are always men, savage as well as civilised, in every region and +age, who march in advance of their fellows, either because of +intellectual capacity or moral rectitude or both. Ongoloo was one of +these. He did not believe in "war at any price." He thought it +probable that God lived in a state of peace, and argued that what was +best for the Creator must naturally be best for the creature. + +He therefore tried to introduce a peace-policy into Sugar-loaf Island. +His efforts were not successful. The war-party was too strong for him. +At last he felt constrained to give in to the force of public opinion +and agreed to hold an unarmed palaver with the men of Ratura. The +war-at-any-price party would have preferred an armed palaver, but they +were overruled. + +The Raturans chanced at this time to be in somewhat depressed +circumstances, owing to a sickness which had carried off many of their +best warriors and left their lands partly waste, so that their finances, +if we may so express it were in a bad condition. + +"Now is our chance--now or never," thought the war-party, and pushed +matters to extremity. + +On the day appointed for the palaver, one of the most pugnacious of the +Mountain-men got leave to open the deliberations. + +"You're a low-minded, sneaking son of an ignorant father," he said to +the spokesman of the Raturans. + +"You're another," retorted his foe. + +Having disposed of these preliminary compliments, the speakers paused, +glared, and breathed hard. + +Of course we give the nearest equivalent in English that we can find for +the vernacular used. + +"You and your greedy forefathers," resumed the Mountain-man, "have +always kept your false eyes on our mountain-top, and you are looking at +it still." + +"That's a lie," returned the man of Ratura with savage simplicity. + +Had they been armed, it is probable that the palaver would have closed +abruptly at this point. + +Seeing that the relations between the parties were "strained" almost to +the breaking-point, one of the less warlike among the Ratura chiefs +caught his own spokesman by the nape of the neck, and hurled him back +among his comrades. + +"We have _not_, O valiant men of the Mountain," he said, in a gentle +tone, "looked upon your hill-tops with desire. We only wish to improve +our swamps, increase our sweet-potato grounds, and live at peace." + +"That is not true," retorted the fiery Mountain-man, "and we must have a +promise from you that you will let the swamps alone, and not advance one +step nearer to the top of our mountain." + +"But the swamps are not yours," objected the other. + +"No matter--they are not yours. They are neutral ground, and must not +be touched." + +"Well, we will not touch them," said the peaceful Raturan. + +This reply disconcerted the fiery mountaineer, for he was anxious to +fight. + +"But that is not enough," he resumed, as a bright idea struck him, "you +must promise not even to _look_ at our mountain." + +The man of Ratura reflecting how ill able his tribe was to go to war +just then, agreed not even to _look_ at the mountain! + +"More than that" resumed the mountaineer, "you must not even wink at +it." + +"We will not even wink at it," replied his foe. "Still further," +continued the warlike mountaineer in sheer desperation, "you must not +even _think_ of it." + +"We will not _think_ of it" answered the accommodating man of Ratura. + +"Bah! you may go--you peace-loving cowards," said the disappointed +mountaineer, turning on his heel in bitter disappointment. + +"Yes, you may go--in peace!" said Ongoloo with sententious gravity, +waving his band grandly to the retiring men of Ratura, and walking off +with an air of profound solemnity, though he could not help laughing--in +his arm, somewhere, as he had not a sleeve to do it in. + +But the Raturans did not go in peace. They went away with bitter +animosity in their hearts, and some of them resolved to have a brush +with their old foes, come what might. + +Savages do not, as a rule, go through the formality of declaring war by +withdrawing ambassadors. They are much more prone to begin war with +that deceptive act styled "a surprise." + +Smarting under the taunts of their foes, the Raturans resolved to make +an attack on the enemy's village that very night, but Ongoloo was more +than a match for them. Suspecting their intentions, he stalked them +when the shades of evening fell, heard all their plans while concealed +among the long grass, and then, hastening home, collected his warriors. + +It chanced that Zeppa had returned from one of his rambles at the time +and was lying in his hut. + +"Will you come out with us and fight?" demanded Ongoloo, entering +abruptly. + +The mention of fighting seemed to stir some chord which jarred in +Zeppa's mind, for he shook his head and frowned. It is possible that, +if the savage had explained how matters stood, the poor madman might +have consented, but the chief had not the time, perhaps not the will, +for that. Turning quickly round, therefore, he went off as abruptly as +he had entered. + +Zeppa cared nothing for that. Indeed he soon forgot the circumstance, +and, feeling tired, lay down to sleep. + +Meanwhile Ongoloo marched away with a body of picked men to station +himself in a narrow pass through which he knew that the invading foe +would have to enter. He was hugely disgusted to be thus compelled to +fight, after he had congratulated himself on having brought the recent +palaver to so peaceful an issue. He resolved, however, only to give his +enemies a serious fright, for he knew full well that if blood should +flow, the old war-spirit would return, and the ancient suspicion and +hatred be revived and intensified. Arranging his plans therefore, with +this end in view, he resolved to take that peaceful, though thieving, +humorist Wapoota, into his secret councils. + +Summoning him, after the ambush had been properly arranged and the men +placed, he said,--"Come here, you villain." + +Wapoota knew that Ongoloo was not displeased with him by the nature of +his address. He therefore followed, without anxiety, to a retired spot +among the bush-covered rocks. + +"You can screech, Wapoota?" + +"Yes, chief," answered the ex-thief in some surprise, "I can screech +like a parrot the size of a whale." + +"That will do. And you love peace, like me, Wapoota, and hate +bloodshed, though you love thieving." + +"True, chief," returned the other, modestly. + +"Well then, listen--and if you tell any one what I say to you, I will +squeeze the eyes out of your head, punch the teeth from your jaws, and +extract the oil from your backbone." + +Wapoota thought that this was pretty strong for a man who had just +declared his hatred of bloodshed, but he said nothing. + +"You know the rock, something in shape like your own nose, at the foot +of this pass?" said Ongoloo. + +"I know it, chief." + +"Well, go there; hide yourself, and get ready for a screech. When you +see the Ratura dogs come in sight, give it out--once--only once,--and if +you don't screech well, I'll teach you how to do it better afterwards. +Wait then till you hear and see me and my men come rushing down the +track, and _then_ screech a second time. Only once, mind! but let it be +long and strong. You understand? Now--away!" + +Like a bolt from a crossbow Wapoota sped. He had not been in hiding two +minutes when the Ratura party came stealthily towards the rock before +mentioned. Wapoota gathered himself up for a supreme effort. The head +of the enemy's column appeared in view--then there burst, as if from the +bosom of silent night, a yell such as no earthly parrot ever uttered or +whale conceived. The very blood in the veins of all stood still. Their +limbs refused to move. Away over the rolling plain went the horrid +sound till it gained the mountain where, after being buffeted from cliff +to crag, it finally died out far up among the rocky heights. + +"A device of the Ratura dogs to frighten us," growled Ongoloo to those +nearest him. "Come, follow me, and remember, not a sound till I shout." + +The whole party sprang up and followed their chief at full gallop down +the pass. The still petrified Raturans heard the sound of rushing feet. +When Wapoota saw the dark forms of his comrades appear, he filled his +chest and opened his mouth, and the awful skirl arose once again, as if +to pollute the night-air. Then Ongoloo roared. With mingled surprise +and ferocity his men took up the strain, as they rushed towards the now +dimly visible foe. + +Savage nerves could stand no more. The Raturans turned and fled as one +man. They descended the pass as they had never before descended it; +they coursed over the plains like grey-hounds; they passed through their +own villages like a whirlwind; drew most of the inhabitants after them +like the living tail of a mad comet, and only stopped when they fell +exhausted on the damp ground in the remotest depths of their own dismal +swamps. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +Strange to say, the anger of the Raturans was not assuaged by the rebuff +which they received at that time. They took counsel again, and resolved +to wait till the suspicions of the Mountain-men had been allayed, and +then attack them when off their guard. + +Meanwhile Zeppa, who did not at all concern himself with these matters, +took it into his head one day that he would teach his little favourite, +Lippy, to sing. Being a religious man he naturally selected hymns as +the foundation of his teaching. At first he found it rather up-hill +work, for Lippy happened to be gifted with a strong sense of the +ludicrous, so that when he took her on his knee--the day on which the +idea occurred to him--opened his mouth, and gave forth the first notes +of a hymn in a fine sonorous bass voice, the child gazed at him for a +few moments in open-eyed wonder, and then burst into an uncontrollable +fit of open-mouthed laughter. + +Poor Zeppa! till that day, since his mental break-down, the idea of +singing had never once occurred to him, and this reception of his first +attempt to teach disconcerted him. He stopped abruptly and gazed at the +child with a perplexed expression. This gaze was evidently regarded by +Lippy as an additional touch of humour, for she went off into renewed +explosions of delight and the lesson had to be given up for that time. +Zeppa was gifted, however, with patient perseverance in a remarkable +degree. He renewed his efforts, but changed his plan. From that time +forward he took to humming hymns in a low, sweet voice, as if for his +own amusement. In a short time he had the satisfaction of hearing Lippy +attempt, of her own accord, to sing one of the hymns that had taken her +fancy. She went wrong in one or two notes, however, which gave Zeppa +the opportunity of putting her right. He took her on his knee, and told +her, in her own tongue, to try it again. + +"Listen, this is the way," he said, opening his mouth to give an +example; but the first note had scarcely begun to sound when Lippy +thrust her brown fist into his mouth, and told him to stop. She would +sing it herself! + +Accordingly, she began in a sweet, tiny little voice, and her teacher +gazed at her with intense pleasure depicted on his handsome face until +she reached the note where she had formerly gone wrong. + +"No--not so; sing thus," he said, giving the right notes. + +The pupil took it up at once, and thus the singing lessons were fairly +begun. + +But the matter did not rest here, for Lippy, proud of her new +acquirement soon began to exhibit her powers to her little companions, +and ere long a few of the smallest of these ventured to creep into +Zeppa's hut while the daily lesson was going on. Gradually they grew +bolder, and joined in the exercise. Zeppa took pleasure in helping +them, and at last permitted as many as could crowd into his hut to do +so. Those who could not get inside sat on the ground outside, and, as +the hut was open in front, the gathering soon increased. Thus, +insensibly, without a well-defined intention or effort on the part of +any one, the praise of God and the sweet name of Jesus ascended to +heaven from that heathen village. + +The assembling of these children for their lesson brought powerfully to +Zeppa's mind, one day, the meetings of the Ratinga people for worship, +and the appropriateness of beginning with prayer occurred to him. +Accordingly, that morning, just as he was about to commence the hymns, +he clasped his hands, raised his eyes, and briefly asked God's blessing +on the work. + +Profound astonishment kept the little ones quiet, and before they had +time to recover the prayer was over. + +Zeppa's mode of terminating the assembly was characteristic. He did not +like to order the children away, much less to put them out of his hut, +and the little creatures, being fond of the teacher, were prone to +remain too long. When, therefore, he thought it time to close, he +simply rose up and took himself off, leaving his congregation to +disperse when and how it pleased! Sometimes on these occasions he would +remain away for, perhaps, two or three days, having totally forgotten +the singing class, to the great disappointment of the children. + +One night, while he was thus absent, the men of Ratura delivered the +attack which they had long meditated. + +It was an unusually dark and still night; such a night as tends almost +irresistibly to quiet and subdue wayward spirits, and induces man to +think of his Creator. Such a night as is apt to fill the guilty +conscience with unresting fears, as though it felt the near approach of +that avenging sword which sooner or later it must meet. + +Nevertheless, unmoved by its influences--except in so far as it suited +their dark designs--the Raturans chose it for the fell purpose of +invading their neighbours' lands, and exterminating their ancient foes; +for, driven to desperation by the taunts and scorn of the Mountain-men, +they felt that nothing short of extermination would suffice. And they +were right. Extermination of the sinners, or the sins, was indeed their +only chance of peace! Not knowing the Gospel method of blotting out the +latter, their one resource lay in obliterating the former. + +In the dead of night--that darkest hour when deeds of villainy and +violence are usually done--the Raturan chief once more assembled his men +from all quarters of the rolling plains and the dismal swamps, until the +entire force of the tribe was under his command. + +Leaving the aged men and boys to protect the women and children, those +dark-skinned warriors marched away to battle--not with the flaunting +banners and martial music of civilised man, but with the profound +silence and the stealthy tread of the savage. Though the work in hand +was the same, the means to the end were different; we will therefore +describe them. + +Had it been a daylight battle to which they went forth, their women and +boys would have followed with reserve ammunition in the shape of baskets +full of stones, and spare javelins; but, being a night attack, the +fighting men went alone--each armed with a heavy club, a light spear, +and a stone knife or hatchet. + +Arrived at the pass where they had met with such a singular repulse on a +former occasion, the main body was halted, and scouts were sent out in +advance to see that all was clear. Then the plan of attack was formed. +One detachment was to approach the enemy's village on the right; another +was to go round to the left; while the main body was to advance in +front. + +There is a proverb relating to the plans of men as well as mice, which +receives verification in every land and time. Its truth received +corroboration at this time on Sugar-loaf Island. On that same night it +chanced that the chief Ongoloo was unable to sleep. He sent for his +prime-ministerial-jester and one of his chiefs, to whom he proposed a +ramble. The chief and jester professed themselves charmed with the +proposal, although each had been roused from a pleasant slumber. + +In the course of the ramble they came unexpectedly on one of the Raturan +scouts, whom they temporarily extinguished with a club. Ongoloo became +at once alive to the situation, and took instant action. + +"Wapoota!" he said in an excited whisper, "run to the rear of the foe. +Go swiftly, like the sea bird. When you get there, yell, shriek--like-- +like--you know how! As you did last time! Change your ground at each +yell--so they will think you a host. Fear not to be captured. Your +death is nothing. Away!" + +A kick facilitated Wapoota's flight, and the two chiefs returned at +speed to rouse the sleeping camp. + +Wapoota performed his part nobly--and without being captured, for he did +not agree with Ongoloo as to the unimportance of his own death! At the +unexpected outcry in the rear the Raturans halted, and held a hasty +council of war. + +"Let us go back and fight them," said one. + +"No use, they are evil spirits--not men," said another. + +Some agreed with the former--some with the latter. + +"While we waste time here," said the leading chief, "the mountain dogs +will get ready for us. Come! Forward!" + +The chief was right. Ongoloo's ruse caused delay, so that when the +Raturans reached the village they found armed men ready to receive them. +These they attacked with great courage, and waged a somewhat scrambling +fight until daylight enabled each party to concentrate its forces. + +Meanwhile, at the first alarm, the women and children of the village had +been sent off to the mountains for safety. Among the fugitives were +Lippy and her mother. These happened to meet with the enemy's +detachment which had been sent to assault the village on the left. The +women scattered and fled. The savage warriors pursued, and several were +taken, among them Lippy and her mother, who were promptly despatched to +the rear. Those of the broken band that escaped continued their flight +to the hills. + +They had not gone far when they met Zeppa returning from one of his +rambles. His surprise on hearing that the village had been attacked was +great and his anxiety considerable. Although he had refused to go out +to war with his entertainers, he felt no disposition to stand idly by +when they were attacked. Disordered though his mind was, he could make +a clear distinction between aggressive war and self-defence. + +"And where is Lippy?" he asked, glancing round on the terrified faces. + +"She is caught and carried away--with her mother." + +"What!" exclaimed Zeppa, with a flash of his bright eyes that told of +natural rage mingling with the fires of insanity. + +The women did not wait for more. They ran away from him in terror. + +But Zeppa had heard enough. Turning his face towards the village he +sped over the ground at a pace that soon brought him in sight of the +combatants, who seemed to be swaying to and fro--now here, now there--as +the tide of battle flowed and victory leaned sometimes to one side +sometimes to the other. + +Zeppa was unarmed. As he drew near he was observed by both parties to +stop abruptly in his career, and wrench out of the ground a stake that +had been meant for the corner-post of a newly-begun hut. It resembled +the great club of Hercules rather than a weapon of modern man. + +Whirling it like a feather round his head, the maniac rushed on. He was +thoroughly roused. A feeling of desperate anxiety coupled with a sense +of horrible injustice had set his spirit in a blaze. His great size, +which became more apparent as he advanced, his flashing eyes, compressed +lips, and the wild flowing of his uncut hair and beard, gave him +altogether an aspect so terrible that his foes trembled, while his +friends rejoiced, and when at last he uttered a roar like a mad bull, +and launched himself into the thickest of the fight the Raturans could +not stand it, but turned and fled in a body under the impression that he +was more than human. He was too fleet for them, however. Overtaking a +flying knot, he brought the the corner-post down on the mass, and three +warriors were levelled with the ground. Then, hurling the mighty club +away as if it were a mere hindrance to him, he ran straight at the +leader of the Raturans, who, being head and shoulders above his fellows, +seemed a suitable foe to single out. + +Before reaching him, however, his attention was arrested by a cry from +some one in the midst of the enemy in front. It was the voice of +Wapoota, who was trying to break his way through the flying foe to his +own people. + +Fortunately Zeppa recognised the voice, and darted towards his friend, +who was hard pressed at the time by a crowd of opponents. + +One roar from the maniac sent these flying like chaff before the wind. +It must be added, however, for the credit of the men of Ratura, that +Ongoloo and his warriors had backed up their new leader gallantly. + +When Wapoota saw his deliverer, he ran to him, panting, and said-- + +"Come with me--this way--Lippy is here!" + +That was sufficient. Zeppa became submissive like a child, while the +jester, taking him by the hand, ran with him at racing speed in the +direction of the Raturan villages, towards which the child and her +mother were being led by the party which had captured them. + +This was briefly explained to Zeppa by Wapoota, who had chanced to +encounter the party when returning from his yelling mission, if we may +so express it. + +The race was a long one, but neither the madman nor his friend flagged +until they overtook the party. It consisted of about thirty warriors, +but if it had been thirty hundred it would have made no difference in +the effect of Zeppa's roar and aspect as he rushed upon them with +obviously awful intentions, though without arms. In fact the latter +circumstance tended rather to increase the fears of the superstitious +natives. They fled as one man at the first sight of the maniac and +Lippy was recovered! + +Instantly Zeppa's ferocity vanished, and the tenderest of smiles rippled +over his face as he took the child in his arms and kissed her. + +But Wapoota did not feel quite so easy, for in their mad race they had +outstripped the flying enemy, bands of whom were constantly passing them +in their flight before the Mountain-men. His anxieties, however, were +groundless, for no sooner did any of the Raturans set eyes on Zeppa, +than, with howls of consternation, they diverged at a tangent like +hunted hares, and coursed away homeward on the wings of terror. + +As on former occasions of conquest, the Mountain-men pursued the flying +host into their swamps, but they did not, as in former times, return to +slay the aged and carry the women and children into captivity. + +To the surprise of all his followers, and the anger of not a few, +Ongoloo commanded his men to return to their village and leave the +Raturans alone. One of his chiefs, who showed a disposition to resist +his authority, he promptly knocked down, whereupon the rest became +obedient and went quietly home. + +On reaching the village, Zeppa went straight to his hut with Lippy on +his shoulder. Apparently he had forgotten all about the recent fight +for, without even waiting to take food or rest he sat down, and began to +give his little friend a singing lesson! + +With the air of a little princess, who felt that she was only receiving +her due, the child accepted the attention. Her young companions, +attracted by the sweet sounds, soon flocked to the old place of +rendezvous, and when the last of the straggling warriors returned from +the field of battle they found the singing class going full swing as if +nothing had happened. + +But when the wounded and the dead were brought in, other sounds began to +arise--sounds of wailing and woe, which soon drowned the hymns of +praise. As soon as Zeppa became fully alive to this fact he ceased +singing and went about trying to comfort those who wept but, from his +perplexed air, and the frequency with which he paused in his wanderings +to and fro and passed his hand across his brow, as if to clear away some +misty clouds that rested there, it was evident that his shattered +intellect had taken in a very imperfect impression of what had occurred. + +As if to get rid of this beclouded state, he started off that evening at +a quick walk towards his favourite haunts among the hills. No one ever +followed him on these occasions. The natives regarded his person as in +some measure sacred, and would have deemed it not only dangerous but +insolent to go up among the rocky heights when the madman was known to +be there. + +Once, indeed, Wapoota, with that presumptuous temerity which is a +characteristic of fools in general, ventured, on the strength of old +acquaintance, to follow him, and even went towards the well known cave +where he had found refuge and protection in the day of his distress; but +Zeppa had either forgotten his former intercourse with the jester or +intended to repudiate the connection, for he did not receive him kindly. + +On the way up, Wapoota, who felt somewhat timorous about the visit, had +made up his mind as to the best mode of address with which to approach +his friend. He had decided that, although he was not particularly +youthful, the language and manner of a respectful son to a revered +father would best befit the occasion. Accordingly when he reached the +cave and saw Zeppa busy beside his fire with a cocoa-nut, he assumed a +stooping attitude of profound respect, and drew near. + +Zeppa looked up with a frown, as if annoyed at the intrusion. + +"Your unworthy son," began Wapoota, "comes to--" + +But he got no further. He could not well have hit upon a more +unfortunate phrase. + +"My unworthy _son_!" shouted Zeppa, leaping up, while unearthly fires +seemed to shoot from his distended eyes. "My son! _son_! Ha! +ha-a-a-a!" + +The horrified intruder heard the terminal yell, and saw the maniac bound +over the fire towards him, but he saw and heard no more, for his limbs +became suddenly endued with something like electric vitality. He turned +and shot over a small precipice, as if flung from an ancient catapult. +What he alighted on he did not know, still less did he care. It was +sufficiently soft to prevent death. + +Another awful cry echoed and re-echoed from the heights above, and +intensified the electric battery within him. He went down the slopes +regardless of gradient at a pace that might have left even Zeppa behind +if he had followed; but Zeppa did not follow. + +When Wapoota went over the precipice and disappeared, Zeppa halted and +stood erect, gazing with a questioning aspect at the sky, and drawing +his hand slowly across his brows with that wearied and puzzled aspect +which had become characteristic. + +Returning after a few minutes to his cave, he reseated himself quietly +beside his fire, and, with his usual placid expression, devoted himself +earnestly to his cocoa-nut. + +That was the first and last occasion on which the poor madman +experienced intrusion from the natives in his mountain retreat. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +Let us return, now, to our miserable and half-hearted pirate, far out +upon the raging sea. + +It must not be supposed that the Pacific Ocean is always peaceful. No-- +there are days and nights when its winds howl, and its billows roar, and +heave, and fume, with all the violence and fury of any other terrestrial +sea. + +On one such night, the pirate's barque was tossed like a cork on the +Pacific's heaving bosom, while the shrieking winds played, as it were, +fiendishly with the fluttering shreds of sails which they had previously +blown to ribbons. + +Richard Rosco stood beside the weather-bulwarks holding on to one of the +mizzen back-stays. His mate Redford assisted the man at the wheel. + +Upwards of three years of Rosco's rule had subdued Redford to the +condition of a hypocritical and sly, but by no means a submissive, +savage. One or two spurts at the commencement of their career had +satisfied the mate, as well as the men, that the only way to overcome +Rosco was to take his life; and as Redford had not sufficient courage, +and the men no desire, to do that, they pursued their evil courses in +comparative harmony. Nevertheless, the pirate captain knew well that +the savage Redford was more acceptable to the pirates than himself so he +determined to carry out intentions which had been simmering in his brain +for some time, and rid the pirate crew of his presence. + +"We will sight the island to-morrow afternoon, sir, if this holds," said +the mate. + +"I know it," answered Rosco. + +"There is no good anchorage around it," continued the mate. + +"So you have told me before," returned the captain, "but it matters not; +we shall not anchor." + +"Not anchor!" repeated Redford in surprise. "I understood that we were +to land there to ship sandal-wood. The crew thought so too, and I'm +quite sure--" + +"Well--go on--what are you sure of?" + +"Oh! nothing--only sure that Captain Rosco understands his own +intentions best." + +Rosco made no reply, and nothing further passed between the inharmonious +pair at that time. Next day the gale abated, and, as Redford had +predicted, Sugar-loaf Island was sighted in the afternoon. + +Running close in under the shelter of the mountain, the barque was +hove-to and a boat lowered. + +"The crew will take arms with them, I suppose, sir?" asked the mate. + +"Of course, though there will not be occasion for them, as there are no +natives at this part of the island. I merely wish to ascend the hill to +reconnoitre. You will go with me. Put your pistols in your belt, and +fetch my rifle. We may get some fresh meat among the hills." + +Breech-loading rifles had just come into fashion at that time, and the +pirate captain had possessed himself of a double-barrelled one, with +which he became wonderfully expert. This weapon was put into the boat +with a large pouch full of cartridges. No comments were made in regard +to this, the pirates having been accustomed to see their commander land +in various places for a day's shooting, the result of which was usually +an acceptable addition of fresh food to their larder. + +"Remain by the boat, lads, till we return," said Rosco, leaping out when +the keel grated on the shore. "Come with me, Redford." + +The mate obeyed, following his commander towards the same ravine where, +about four years before, they had seen poor Zeppa disappear among the +recesses of the mountain. Redford felt a little surprise, and more than +a little discomfort, at the peculiar conduct of his captain; but he +comforted himself with the thought that if he should attempt any +violence, there was a brace of pistols in his belt, and a cutlass at his +side. He even for a moment meditated using the pistols when he looked +at Rosco's broad back; but he knew that some of the men in the boat had +a sort of sneaking fondness for their captain, and refrained--at least +till he should get out of sight of the boat and into the shelter of the +woods where his actions could not be seen, and any account of the affair +might be coloured to suit his convenience. + +Richard Rosco divined pretty well what was passing in his mate's mind. +He also knew that as long as they were in sight of the boat, his enemy +would not dare to injure him; he therefore threw his rifle carelessly +over his shoulder, and walked with the most easy air of nonchalance over +the strip of level land that lay between the sea and the forest that +fringed the mountain base. + +On the instant of entering the mouth of the ravine, however, he wheeled +suddenly round and said-- + +"Now, Redford, you will lead the way, and I will direct you." + +The mate was startled, and his right hand moved, as if by involuntary +impulse, toward the handle of a pistol. + +Instantly the muzzle of the captain's rifle was pointed at his breast. + +"Drop your hand!" he said sternly. "Another such threat, and I will +shoot you with as much indifference as I would a sneaking dog. Now go +on and do as I bid you." + +Redford gave in at once. He was at Rosco's mercy. Without a word he +passed on in advance, and ascended the ravine with a quick, steady step. +To say the truth, he knew well that while his commander, on the one +hand, would not threaten what he did not mean to perform, on the other +hand he would never shed human blood needlessly. He therefore felt less +troubled than might have been expected. + +They soon reached a small eminence or rocky plateau, from which was +obtained a splendid view of the sea, with the barque floating like a +large albatross on its surface. From that point the boat could also be +clearly seen, and every step of the path by which they had reached the +eminence. + +"Now, Redford," said Rosco, throwing his rifle into the hollow of his +left arm, so as to bring the muzzle full on the mate's chest, while, +with the forefinger of his right hand, he lightly touched the triggers, +"draw your pistols from your belt, and be very careful how you do it-- +very careful--for if, even by chance, you touch hammer or trigger, you +are a dead man." + +There was something of banter in Rosco's manner, yet this was associated +with an air and tone of such calm decision that the mate felt curiously +uncomfortable. He obeyed orders, however, promptly, and stood with a +pistol in each hand. It must have been a tantalising position, for, had +they been cocked, he could have blown out Rosco's brains in a moment. +Indeed, he was sorely tempted to break the half-cock catch on the chance +of one or both going off, but his commander's eye and muzzle forbade it. + +"Drop them," said Rosco, suddenly. + +If they had been red-hot irons, the mate could scarcely have let them go +more quickly. It almost seemed as if his guilty desire had passed into +the weapons and intensified the laws of gravitation--they came to the +rock with such a clatter. + +"That will do. Now, two paces step--back, march! Splendid. Why, +Redford, I had no idea you were so well up in your drill," said Rosco, +stepping to the spot beside the pistols, which the mate had just +vacated. "You are fit to act fugleman to the British army. Now, clasp +your hands behind your back, and don't unclasp them till I give you +leave. It's a new piece of drill but not difficult to learn." + +The cowed pirate was too much alarmed to be amused by this last sally. +He stood, sulkily it is true, but anxiously, awaiting further orders. + +"Look here, Redford," continued the pirate captain. "I want to prove to +you that the distance from this spot to the boat is about five hundred +yards. You see that gull on the water? It is about the same distance +off as the boat--well--" + +He sighted his rifle for five hundred yards, took a rapid aim, fired, +and the gull, leaping its own height out of the water, fell back dead. + +"Oh! don't start my fine fellow, you forget the _other_ barrel!" + +The reminder was in time to check an unwise impulse on the mate's part. + +"Now," continued Rosco, assuming a more serious tone, "I have brought +you here for a last conversation. You have long desired to command that +vessel, and I have long desired to resign the command. We shall both +have our desires gratified this day. I intend to take up my abode here; +you are free to go where you please--but not to come here again. Lay my +words to heart, now, and let me advise you to impress them on your crew. +If you ever venture to come to this island again, I promise you to +shoot every man that puts his foot upon the shore, and to shoot all that +follow, as long as my ammunition lasts. And, you see, I have brought a +pretty large bag of it on shore, which I do not mean to waste on gulls, +or anything else. I mean to keep it entirely for your benefit, my +worthy friend--so, after this warning, you will please yourself, and +take your own course. Now, go down to the boat; row straight back to +your ship, tell your crew whatever you choose as to our interview, and +go where you please. But bear in mind that my rifle will cover you +during every step that you take from this spot down to the beach, ay, +and after you have left the beach too, until you are safe on board. +Remember, also, that the rifle is sighted for one thousand yards, and +that the barque is not much farther off than that. Go!" + +The last word was uttered in such a tone, that Redford instantly turned, +and, without even a word of reply, retraced his steps to the shore. +Then he promptly embarked, and the men promptly shoved off while Rosco +sat on the rocky eminence, quietly watching them. + +No words did Redford speak to his wondering men, except such as were +needed to direct the boat. On gaining the vessel, he sprang up the +side, ordered all sail to be set and the guns to be loaded. When the +vessel had increased her distance a few hundred yards from the shore, he +brought her broadside to bear on the land, and then, having carefully +laid the guns, gave the word to fire. + +The hull of the pirate vessel was instantly enveloped in a snowy curtain +of smoke, and, next moment, the echoes of the hills were rudely startled +by a thunderous crash, while a dozen or more iron balls burst like +bomb-shells on the cliffs immediately above the spot where Rosco sat, +sending showers of rock in all direction; and driving the sea-mews in +shrieking terror from their nests. + +"A mere waste of ammunition," murmured Rosco, with a contemptuous curl +of his lip, as he rose. "But the next may be better aimed, so I'll bid +you good-bye, Redford!" + +Descending into the ravine, he was soon safe from the iron messengers of +death, of which the enraged Redford sent another group ashore before +finally bidding the island farewell. + +Now, it so happened that Zeppa was ascending the Sugar-loaf mountain on +its other side, when all this cannonading was going on. He was +naturally surprised at such unwonted sounds, and, remembering that +cannon implied ships, and that ships were necessary to deliverance from +his enforced exile, he naturally hastened his steps, and experienced an +unusual degree of excitement. + +When he reached his favourite outlook--a ledge of flat land on the +southern face of the hill, partially covered with bushes--he saw the +pirate vessel sailing away from the island, and the smoke of her two +broadsides rising like two snowy cloudlets into the blue sky. At first +an expression of disappointment flitted across Zeppa's countenance, but +it quickly passed, leaving the usual air of childlike submission behind. +He sat down on a ledge of rock, and gazed long and wistfully at the +retreating vessel. Then, casting his eyes upwards to the blue vault, he +gave way to an impulse which had been growing upon him for some time--he +began to pray aloud. + +It was while he was engaged in this act of devotion that Richard Rosco +came upon the scene. + +At the first sound of the madman's deep voice, the pirate stopped and +listened with a feeling of superstitious dread which seemed to check the +very action of his heart--for, at the moment, a few bushes concealed his +old enemy from his sight. Stepping cautiously forward, he could see +through the interlacing boughs without himself being seen; and then the +blood forsook his visage, and his limbs trembled as if he had been a +paralysed old man. + +Could the man before him, in tattered garments, with the dishevelled +mass of flowing, curly, iron-grey hair, with the long, heavy beard and +moustache, the hollow cheeks, and the wonderfully solemn eyes--could +_that_ be Zeppa? It seemed impossible, yet there was no mistaking the +well known and still handsome features, or the massive, sinewy frame-- +still less was it possible to doubt the deep, sonorous voice. But +then--Zeppa had been seen on Ratinga Island, and the description given +of him by those who had seen him had been so exact that Rosco had never +doubted his return home and recovery of reason. + +Whatever he thought or felt, however, the pirate's whole being was soon +absorbed in the madman's prayer. It was simple, like himself. He asked +for permission to return home, and made a humble confession of sin. +From the tenor of it, there could be no doubt that poor Zeppa had come +to regard his exile as a direct punishment from God. Then the prayer +changed to a petition for blessings on his wife and son and the deep +voice became deeper and full of tenderness. + +The pirate experienced a shock of surprise--was the son, then, still +alive? And, if so, how came Zeppa to know? He could not know it! The +man before him must either be the creature of his own disordered fancy, +or a real visitant from the world of spirits! + +As these thoughts coursed like lightning through the pirate's brain, he +was suddenly startled by the sound of his own name. + +"And Rosco," said the madman, still looking steadily up into the sky, +while a dark frown slowly gathered on his brow--"Oh! God, curse--no-- +no, no. Forgive me, Lord, and forgive _him_, and save him from his +sins." He stopped abruptly here, and looked confused. + +The mention of the pirate and his sins seemed to remind the poor father +that his son had been murdered, and yet, somehow, he had fancied him +alive, and had been praying for him! He could not understand it at all. +The old look of mingled perplexity and patient submission was beginning +again to steal over his face, and his hand was in the familiar act of +passing over the troubled brow, when Zeppa's eyes alighted on Rosco's +countenance. + +It would be difficult to say which, at that moment, most resembled a +maniac. The sight of his enemy did more, perhaps, to restore Zeppa to a +spurious kind of sanity than anything that had occurred since the fatal +day of his bereavement, and called up an expression of fierce +indignation to his countenance. All memory of his previous prayer +vanished, and he glared for a moment at the pirate with intense fury. + +At the same time Rosco stood with blanched cheeks, intense horror in his +eyes, his lower jaw dropped, and his whole frame, as it were, +transfixed. + +The inaction of both was, however, but momentary. The madman sprang up, +clutched the heavy staff he was wont to use in climbing the hills, and +rushed impetuously but without word or cry at his foe. The pirate, +brave though he undoubtedly was, lost all self-control, and fled in +abject terror. Fortunately, the first part of the descent from the spot +was unobstructed; for, in the then condition of their feelings, both men +would probably have flung themselves over any precipice that had lain in +their way. A few moments, however, sufficed to restore enough of +self-possession to the pirate to enable him to direct his course with +some intelligence. He naturally followed the path by which he had +ascended, and soon gained the beach, closely followed by Zeppa. + +In speed the two men were at the time well matched, for any advantage +that Zeppa had in point of size and strength was counterbalanced by the +youth and superstitious terror of Rosco. At first, indeed, the madman +gained on his foe, but as the impetuosity of his first dash abated, the +pirate's courage returned, and, warming to the race, he held his ground. + +Like hare and greyhound they coursed along the level patch of ground +that lay on that side of the island, until they came in sight of the +swampy land, covered with low but dense wood which bounded the lands of +the Raturans. Dismay overwhelmed the pirate at first sight of it. Then +hope rebounded into his soul, and he put on a spurt which carried him +considerably ahead of his pursuer. He reached the edge of the +swamp-land, and dashed into its dark recesses. He had barely entered it +a few yards when he plunged into water up to the neck. The heavy root +of a tree chanced to hang over him. Drawing himself close beneath it, +he remained quite still. It was his best--indeed his only--chance. + +Next moment Zeppa plunged headlong into another part of the same +half-hidden pool. Arising, like some shaggy monster of the swamp, with +weeds and slimy plants trailing from his locks, he paused a moment, as +if to make sure of his direction before resuming the chase. At that +moment he was completely in the power of the pirate, for his broad back +was not more than a few feet from the screen of roots and tendrils by +which Rosco was partially hidden. The temptation was strong. The +pirate drew the keen knife that always hung at his girdle, but a feeling +of pity induced him to hesitate. The delay sufficed to save Zeppa's +life. Next moment he seized an overhanging branch, drew himself out of +the swamp, and sped on his way; but, having lost sight of his enemy, he +soon paused and looked round with indecision. + +"It must have been a dream," he muttered, and began to retrace his steps +with an air of humiliation, as if half ashamed of having given way to +such excitement. From his hiding-place the pirate saw him pass, and +watched him out of sight. Then, clambering quickly out of the stagnant +pool, he pushed deeper and deeper into the recesses of the morass, +regardless of every danger, except that of falling into the madman's +hands. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +Who shall tell, or who shall understand, the thoughts of Richard Rosco, +the ex-pirate, as he wandered, lost yet regardless, in that dismal +swamp? + +The human spirit is essentially galvanic. It jumps like a grasshopper, +bounds like a kangaroo. The greatest of men can only restrain it in a +slight degree. The small men either have exasperating trouble with it, +or make no attempt to curb it at all. It is a rebellious spirit. The +best of books tells us that, "Greater is he that ruleth it, than he that +taketh a city." + +Think of that, youngster, whoever you are, who readeth this. Think of +the conquerors of the world. Think of the "Great" Alexander, whose +might was so tremendous that he subjugated kingdoms and spent his life +in doing little else. Think of Napoleon "the Great," whose armies +ravaged Europe from the Atlantic to Asia: who even began--though he +failed to finish--the conquest of Africa; who made kings as you might +make pasteboard men, and filled the civilised world with fear, as well +as with blood and graves--all for his own glorification! Think of these +and other "great" men, and reflect that it is written, "He who rules his +own spirit" is _greater_ than they. + +Yes, the human spirit is difficult to deal with, and uncomfortably +explosive. At least so Richard Rosco found it when, towards the close +of the day on which his enemy chased him into the dismal swamp, he sat +down on a gnarled root and began to reflect. + +His spirit jumped almost out of him with contempt, when he thought that +for the first time in his life, he had fled in abject terror from the +face of man! He could not conceal that from himself, despite the excuse +suggested by pride--that he had half believed Zeppa to be an apparition. +What even if that were true? Had he not boastfully said more than once +that he would defy the foul fiend himself if he should attempt to thwart +him? Then his spirit bounded into a region of disappointed rage when he +thought of the lost opportunity of stabbing his enemy to the heart. +After that, unbidden, and in spite of him, it dropped into an abyss of +something like fierce despair when he recalled the past surveyed the +present, and forecast the future. Truly, if hell ever does begin to men +on earth, it began that day to the pirate, as he sat in the twilight on +the gnarled root, with one of his feet dangling in the slimy water, his +hands clasped so tight that the knuckles stood out white, and his eyes +gazing upwards with an expression that seemed the very embodiment of +woe. + +Then his spirit lost its spring, and he began to crawl, in memory, on +the shores of "other days." He thought of the days when, comparatively +innocent he rambled on the sunny hills of old England; played and did +mischief with comrades; formed friendships and fought battles, and knew +what it was to experience good impulses; understood the joy of giving +way to these, as well as the depression consequent on resisting them; +and recalled the time when he regarded his mother as the supreme judge +in every case of difficulty--the only comforter in every time of sorrow. + +At this point his spirit grovelled like a crushed worm in the stagnant +pool of his despair, for he had no hope. He had sinned every +opportunity away. He had defied God and man, and nothing was left to +him, apparently, save "a fearful looking-for of judgment." + +As he bent over the pool he saw his own distorted visage dimly reflected +therein, and the thought occurred,--"Why not end it all at once? Five +minutes at the utmost and all will be over!" The pirate was a +physically brave man beyond his fellows. He had courage to carry the +idea into effect but--"after death the judgment!" Where had he heard +these words? They were strange to him, but they were not new. Those +who are trained in the knowledge of God's Word are not as a general +rule, moved in an extraordinary degree by quotations from it. It is +often otherwise with those who have had little of it instilled into them +in youth and none in later years. That which may seem to a Christian +but a familiar part of the "old, old story," sometimes becomes to +hundreds and thousands of human beings a startling revelation. It was +so to the pirate on this occasion. The idea of judgment took such a +hold of him that he shrank from death with far more fear than he ever +had, with courage, faced it in days gone by. Trembling, terrified, +abject he sat there, incapable of consecutive thought or intelligent +action. + +At last the gloom which had been slowly deepening over the swamp sank +into absolute blackness, and the chills of night, which were +particularly sharp in such places, began to tell upon him. But he did +not dare to move, lest he should fall into the swamp. Slowly he +extended himself on the root; wound his arms and fingers convulsively +among leaves and branches, and held on like a drowning man. An ague-fit +seemed to have seized him, for he trembled violently in every limb; and +as his exhausted spirit was about to lose itself in sleep, or, as it +seemed to him, in death, he gave vent to a subdued cry, "God be merciful +to me a sinner!" + +Rest, such as it was, refreshed the pirate, and when the grey dawn, +struggling through the dense foliage, awoke him, he rose up with a +feeling of submissiveness which seemed, somehow, to restore his energy. + +He was without purpose, however, for he knew nothing of his +surroundings, and, of course, could form no idea of what was best to be +done. In these circumstances he rose with a strange sensation of +helplessness, and wandered straight before him. + +And oh! how beautiful were the scenes presented to his vision! +Everything in this world is relative. That which is hideous at one time +is lovely at another. In the night the evening, or at the grey dawn, +the swamp was indeed dismal in the extreme; but when the morning +advanced towards noon all that was changed, as if magically, by the +action of the sun. Black, repulsive waters reflected patches of the +bright blue sky, and every leaf, and spray, and parasite, and tendril, +that grew in the world above was faithfully mirrored in the world below. +Vistas of gnarled roots and graceful stems and drooping boughs were +seen on right and left, before and behind, extending as if into infinite +space, while innumerable insects, engaged in the business of their brief +existence, were filling the region with miniature melodies. + +But Richard Rosco saw it not. At least it made no sensible impression +on him. His mental retina was capable of receiving only two pictures: +the concentrated accumulation of past sin--the terrible anticipation of +future retribution. Between these two, present danger and suffering +were well-nigh forgotten. + +Towards noon, however, the sense of hunger began to oppress him. He +allayed it with a few wild berries. Then fatigue began to tell, for +walking from root to root sometimes on short stretches of solid land, +sometimes over soft mud, often knee-deep in water, was very exhausting. +At last he came to what appeared to be the end of the swamp, and here he +discovered a small patch of cultivated ground. + +The discovery awoke him to the necessity of caution, but he was awakened +too late, for already had one of the Raturan natives observed him +advancing out of the swamp. Instantly he gave the alarm that a "white +face" was approaching. Of course the appearance of one suggested a +scout, and the speedy approach of a host. Horrified to see a supposed +enemy come from a region which they had hitherto deemed their sure +refuge, the few natives who dwelt there flew to arms, and ran to meet +the advancing foe. + +The pirate was not just then in a mood to resist. He had no weapon, and +no spirit left. He therefore suffered himself to be taken prisoner +without a struggle, satisfied apparently to know that the madman was not +one of those into whose hands he had fallen. + +Great was the rejoicing among the Raturans when the prisoner was brought +in, for they were still smarting under the humiliation of their defeat, +and knew well that their discomfiture had been largely owing to the +influence of "white faces." True, they did not fall into the mistake of +supposing that Rosco was the awful giant who had chased and belaboured +them so unmercifully with a long stake, but they at once concluded that +he was a comrade of Zeppa--perhaps one of a band who had joined their +foes. Besides, whether he were a comrade or not was a matter of small +moment. Sufficient for them that his face was white, that he belonged +to a race which, in the person of Zeppa, had wrought them evil, and that +he was now in their power. + +Of course, the Raturans had not during all these years, remained in +ignorance of the existence of Zeppa. They had heard of his dwelling in +the mountain soon after he had visited the village of their enemies, and +had also become aware of the fact that the white man was a madman and a +giant, but more than this they did not know, because of their feud +preventing interchange of visits or of news between the tribes. Their +imaginations, therefore, having full swing, had clothed Zeppa in some of +the supposed attributes of a demigod. These attributes, however, the +same imaginations quickly exchanged for those of a demi-devil, when at +last they saw Zeppa in the flesh, and were put to flight by him. His +size, indeed, had rather fallen short of their expectation, for sixty +feet had been the average estimate, but his fury and aspect had come +quite up to the mark, and the fact that not a man of the tribe had dared +to stand before him, was sufficient to convince a set of superstitious +savages that he was a real devil in human guise. To have secured one of +his minor comrades, therefore, was a splendid and unlooked-for piece of +good fortune, which they resolved to make the most of by burning the +pirate alive. + +Little did the wretched man think, when they conducted him to a hut in +the middle of their village and supplied him with meat and drink, that +this was a preliminary ceremony to the terrible end they purposed to +make of him. It is true he did not feel easy in his mind, for, despite +this touch of hospitality, his captors regarded him with looks of +undisguised hatred. + +There was something of the feline spirit in these Raturan savages. As +the cat plays with the mouse before killing it, so did they amuse +themselves with the pirate before putting him to the final torture which +was to terminate his life. + +And well was it for Rosco that they did so, for the delay thus caused +was the means of saving his life--though he did not come out of the +dread ordeal scathless. + +They began with a dance--a war-dance it is to be presumed--at all events +it involved the flourishing of clubs and spears, the formation of +hideous faces, and the perpetration of frightful grimaces, with bounds +and yells enough to warrant the conclusion that the dance was not one of +peace. Richard Rosco formed the centre of that dance--the sun, as it +were, of the system round which the dusky host revolved. But he did not +join in the celebration, for he was bound firmly to a stake set up in +the ground, and could not move hand or foot. + +At first the warriors of the tribe moved round the pirate in a circle, +stamping time slowly with their feet while the women and children stood +in a larger circle, marking time with hands and voices. Presently the +dance grew more furious, and ultimately attained to a pitch of wild +violence which is quite indescribable. At the height of the paroxysm, a +warrior would ever and anon dart out from the circle with whirling club, +and bring it down as if on the prisoner's skull, but would turn it aside +so deftly that it just grazed his ear and fell with a dull thud on the +ground. Other warriors made at him with their spears, which they thrust +with lightning speed at his naked breast, but checked them just as they +touched the skin. + +Two or three of these last were so inexpert that they pricked the skin +slightly, and blood began to trickle down, but these clumsy warriors +were instantly kicked from the circle of dancers, and compelled to take +their place among the women and children. + +When they had exhausted themselves with the dance, the warriors sat down +to feast upon viands, which had, in the meanwhile, been preparing for +them, and while they feasted they taunted their prisoner with cowardice, +and told him in graphic language of the horrors that yet awaited him. + +Fortunately for the miserable man--who was left bound to the stake +during the feast--he did not understand a word of what was said. He had +been stripped of all clothing save a pair of short breeches, reaching a +little below the knee, and his naked feet rested on a curious piece of +basketwork. This last would have been too slight to bear his weight if +he had not been almost suspended by the cords that bound him to the +stake. + +Rosco was very pale. He felt that his doom was fixed; but his native +courage did not forsake him. He braced himself to meet his fate like a +man, and resolved to shut his eyes, when next they began to dance round +him, so that he should not shrink from the blow or thrust which, he felt +sure, would ere long end his ill-spent life. But the time seemed to him +terribly long, and while he hung there his mind began to recall the +gloomy past. Perhaps it was a refinement of cruelty on the part of the +savages that they gave him time to think, so that his courage might be +reduced or overcome. + +If so, they were mistaken in their plan. The pirate showed no unusual +sign of fear. Once he attempted to pray, but he found that almost +impossible. + +Wearied at length with waiting, the savages arose, and began to put +fagots and other combustibles under the wicker-basket on which the +pirate stood. Then, indeed, was Rosco's courage tried nearly to the +uttermost and when he saw the fire actually applied, he uttered a cry of +"Help! help!" so loud and terrible that his enemies fell back for a +moment as if appalled. + +And help came from a quarter that Rosco little expected. + +But to explain this we must return to Zeppa. We have said that he gave +up the chase of the pirate under the impression that the whole affair +was a dream; but, on returning to his cave, he found that he could not +rest. Old associations and memories had been too violently aroused, +and, after spending a sleepless night he rose up, determined to resume +the chase which he had abandoned. He returned to the spot where he had +lost sight of his enemy in the swamp, and, after a brief examination of +the place, advanced in as straight a line as he could through the +tangled and interlacing boughs. + +Naturally he followed the trail of the pirate, for the difficulties or +peculiar formations of the ground which had influenced the latter in his +course also affected Zeppa much in the same way. Thus it came to pass +that when the Raturans were about to burn their prisoner alive, the +madman was close to their village. But Zeppa did not think of the +Raturans. He had never seen or heard of them, except on the occasion of +their attack on the Mountain-men. His sole desire was to be revenged on +the slayer of his boy. And even in this matter the poor maniac was +still greatly perplexed, for his Christian principles and his naturally +gentle spirit forbade revenge on the one hand, while, on the other, a +sense of justice told him that murder should not go unpunished, or the +murderer remain at large; so that it required the absolute sight of +Rosco before his eyes to rouse him to the pitch of fury necessary to +hold him to the execution of his purpose. + +It was while he was advancing slowly, and puzzling his brain over these +considerations, that Rosco's cry for help rang out. + +Zeppa recognised the voice, and a dark frown settled on his countenance +as he stopped to listen. Then an appalling yell filled his ears. It +was repeated again and again, as the kindling flames licked round the +pirate's naked feet, causing him to writhe in mortal agony. + +Instantly Zeppa was stirred to action. He replied with a tremendous +shout. + +Well did the Raturans know that shout. With caught breath and blanched +faces they turned towards the direction whence it came, and they saw the +madman bounding towards them with streaming locks and glaring eyes. A +single look sufficed. The entire population of the village turned and +fled! + +Next moment Zeppa rushed up to the stake, and kicked the fire-brands +from beneath the poor victim, who was by that time almost insensible +from agony and smoke. Drawing his knife, Zeppa cut the cords, and, +lifting the pirate in his arms, laid him on the ground. + +The madman was terribly excited. He had been drenched from frequent +immersions in the swamp, besides being much exhausted by his long and +difficult walk, or rather, scramble, after a sleepless night; and this +sudden meeting with his worst enemy in such awful circumstances seemed +to have produced an access of insanity, so that the pirate felt +uncertain whether he had not been delivered from a horrible fate to fall +into one perhaps not less terrible. + +As he lay there on his back, scorched, tormented with thirst and +helpless, he watched with fearful anxiety each motion of the madman. +For some moments Zeppa seemed undecided. He stood with heaving chest +expanding nostrils, and flashing eyes, gazing after the flying crew of +natives. Then he turned sharply on the unhappy man who lay at his feet. + +"Get up!" he said fiercely, "and follow me." + +"I cannot get up, Zeppa," replied the pirate in a faint voice. "Don't +you see my feet are burnt? God help me!" + +He ended with a deep groan, and the ferocity at once left Zeppa's +countenance, but the wild light did not leave his eyes, nor did he +become less excited in his actions. + +"Come, I will carry you," he said. + +Stooping down quickly, he raised the pirate in his arms as if he had +been a child, and bore him away. + +Avoiding the swamp, he proceeded in the direction of the mountain by +another route--a route which ran so near to Ongoloo's village, that the +Raturans never ventured to use it. + +He passed the village without having been observed, and began to toil +slowly up the steep ascent panting as he went, for his mighty strength +had been overtaxed, and his helpless burden was heavy. + +"Lay me down and rest yourself," said Rosco, with a groan that he could +not suppress, for his scorched lower limbs caused him unutterable +anguish, and beads of perspiration stood upon his brow, while a deadly +pallor overspread his face. + +Zeppa spoke no word in reply. He did, indeed, look at the speaker once, +uneasily, but took no notice of his request. Thus, clasping his enemy +to his breast he ascended the steep hill, struggling and stumbling +upwards, as if with some fixed and stern purpose in view, until at last +he gained the shelter of his mountain cave. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +We change the scene once more, and transport our readers over the ocean +waves to a noble ship which is breasting those waves right gallantly. +It is H.M.S. "Furious." + +In a retired part of the ship's cabin there are two savage nobles who do +not take things quite as gallantly as the ship herself. These are our +friends Tomeo and Buttchee of Ratinga. Each is seated on the cabin +floor with his back against the bulkhead, an expression of woe-begone +desolation on his visage, his black legs apart, and a ship's bucket +between them. It were bad taste to be too particular as to details +here! + +On quitting Ratinga, Tomeo and his brother chief had said that nothing +would rejoice their hearts so much as to go to sea. Their wish was +gratified, and, not long afterwards, they said that nothing could +rejoice their hearts so much as to get back to land! Such is the +contradictoriness of human nature. + +There was a stiffish breeze blowing, as one of the man-of-war's-men +expressed it and "a nasty sea on"--he did not say on what. There must +have been something nasty, also, on Tomeo's stomach, from the violent +way in which he sought to get rid of it at times--without success. + +"Oh! Buttchee, my brother," said Tomeo (of course in his native +tongue), "many years have passed over my head, a few white streaks begin +to--to--" He paused abruptly, and eyed the bucket as if with an +intention. + +"To appear," he continued with a short sigh; "also, I have seen many +wars and suffered much from many wounds as you--you--ha!--you know, +Buttchee, my brother, but of all the--" + +He became silent again--suddenly. + +"Why does my brother p-pause?" asked Buttchee, in a meek voice--as of +one who had suffered severely in life's pilgrimage. + +There was no occasion for Tomeo to offer a verbal reply. + +After a time Buttchee raised his head and wiped his eyes, in which were +many tears--but not of sorrow. + +"Tomeo," said he, "was it worth our while to forsake wives and children, +and church, and hymns, and taro fields, and home for th-this?" + +"We did not leave for this," replied Tomeo, with some acerbity, for he +experienced a temporary sensation of feeling better at the moment; "we +left all for the sake of assisting our friends in--there! it comes-- +it--" + +He said no more, and both chiefs relapsed into silence--gazing the while +at the buckets with undue interest. + +They were interrupted by the sudden entrance of Ebony. + +"Come, you yaller-cheeked chiefs; you's die if you no make a heffort. +Come on deck, breeve de fresh air. Git up a happetite. Go in for salt +pork, plum duff, and lop-scouse, an' you'll git well 'fore you kin say +Jack Rubinson." + +Tomeo and Buttchee looked up at the jovial negro and smiled--imbecile +smiles they were. + +"We cannot move," said Tomeo and Buttchee together, "because we--w--" +Together they ceased giving the reason--it was not necessary! + +"Oh dear!" said Ebony, opening his great eyes to their widest. "You no +kin lib long at dat rate. Better die on deck if you _mus'_ die; more +heasy for you to breeve up dar, an' more comf'rable to fro you overboard +w'en you's got it over." + +With this cheering remark the worthy negro, seizing the chiefs each by a +hand, half constrained, half assisted them to rise, and helped them to +stagger to the quarter-deck, where they were greeted by Orlando, Captain +Fitzgerald, Waroonga, and the missionary. + +"Come, that's right," cried the captain, shaking the two melancholy +chiefs by the hand, "glad to see you plucking up courage. Tell them, +Mr Zeppa, that we shall probably be at Sugar-loaf Island to-morrow, or +next day." + +The two unfortunates were visibly cheered by the assurance. To do them +justice, they had not quite given way to sea-sickness until then, for +the weather had been moderately calm, but the nasty sea and stiff breeze +had proved too much for them. + +"Are you sure we shall find the island so soon?" asked Orlando of the +captain in a low, earnest tone, for the poor youth's excitement and +anxiety deepened as they drew near to the place where his father might +possibly be found--at the same time a strange, shrinking dread of what +they might find made him almost wish for delay. + +"I am not sure, of course," returned the captain, "but if my information +is correct, there is every probability that we shall find it to-morrow." + +"I hopes we shall," remarked Waroonga. "It would be a grand blessing if +the Lord will gif us the island and your father in same day." + +"Mos' too good to be true," observed Ebony, who was a privileged +individual on board, owing very much to his good-humoured eccentricity. +"But surely you not spec's de niggers to tumbil down at yous feet all at +wance, Massa Waroonga?" + +"Oh no, not at once. The day of miracle have pass," returned the +missionary. "We mus' use the means, and then, has we not the promise +that our work shall not be in vain?" + +Next day about noon the Sugar-loaf mountain rose out of the sea like a +great pillar of hope to Orlando, as well as to the missionary. Captain +Fitzgerald sailed close in, sweeping the mountain side with his +telescope as he advanced until close under the cliffs, when he lay-to +and held a consultation with his passengers. + +"I see no habitations of any kind," he said, "nor any sign of the +presence of man, but I have heard that the native villages lie at the +lower side of the island. Now, the question is, whether would it suit +your purposes best to land an armed party here, and cross over to the +villages, or to sail round the island, drop anchor in the most +convenient bay, and land a party there?" + +Orlando, to whom this was more directly addressed, turned to the +missionary. + +"What think you, Waroonga? You know native thought and feeling best." + +"I would not land armed party at all," answered Waroonga. "But Cappin +Fitzgald know his own business most. What he thinks?" + +"My business and yours are so mingled," returned the captain, "that I +look to you for advice. My chief duty is to obtain information as to +the whereabouts of the pirate vessel, and I expect that such information +will be got more readily through you, Waroonga, than any one else, for, +besides being able to speak the native language, you can probably +approach the savages more easily than I can." + +"They are not savages," returned Waroonga quietly, "they are God's +ignorant children. I have seen worse men than South sea islanders with +white faces an' soft clothin' who had not the excuse of ignorance." + +"Nay, my good sir," said the captain, "we will not quarrel about terms. +Whatever else these `ignorant children' may be, I know that they are +brave and warlike, and I shall gladly listen to your advice as to +landing." + +"If you wish to go to them in peace, do not go to them with arms," said +Waroonga. + +"Surely you would not advise me to send an unarmed party among armed +sav--children?" returned the captain, with a look of surprise, while +Orlando regarded his friend with mingled amusement and curiosity. + +"No. You best send no party at all. Jis' go round the island, put down +angker, an' leave the rest to me." + +"But what do you propose to do?" asked the captain. + +"Swum to shore with Bibil." + +Orlando laughed, for he now understood the missionary's plan, and in a +few words described the method by which Waroonga had subdued the natives +of Ratinga. + +"You see, by this plan," he continued, "nothing is presented to the +natives which they will be tempted to steal, and if they are very +warlike or fierce, Waroonga's refusal to fight reduces them to a state +of quiet readiness to hear, which is all that we want. Waroonga's +tongue does the rest." + +"With God's Holy Spirit and the Word," interposed the missionary. + +"True, that is understood," said Orlando. + +"That is not _always_ understood," returned Waroonga. + +"The plan does not seem to me a very good one," said Captain Fitzgerald +thoughtfully. "I can have no doubt that it has succeeded in time past, +and may probably succeed again, but you cannot expect that the natives, +even if disposed to be peaceful, will accept your message at once. It +may take weeks, perhaps months, before you get them to believe the +gospel, so as to permit of my men going ashore unarmed, and in the +meantime, while you are engaged in this effort, what am I to be doing?" + +"Wait God's time," answered Waroonga simply. "But time presses. The +pirate vessel, where-ever it may be, is escaping me," said the captain, +unable to repress a smile. "However, I will at all events let you make +the trial and await the result; reminding you, however, that you will +run considerable risk, and that you must be prepared to accept the +consequences of your rather reckless proceedings." + +"I hope, Waroonga," said Orlando, when the captain left them to give +orders as to the course of the ship, "that you will let me share this +risk with you?" + +"It will be wiser not. You are a strong man, an' sometimes fierce to +behold. They will want to fight you; then up go your blood, an' you +will want to fight them." + +"No, indeed, I won't," said Orlando earnestly. + +"I will promise to go in the spirit of a missionary. You know how +anxious I am to get news of my dear father. How could you expect me to +remain idle on board this vessel, when my soul is so troubled? You may +depend on me, Waroonga. I will do exactly as you bid me, and will place +myself peaceably in the power of natives--leaving the result, as you +advise, to God." + +The young man's tone was so earnest, and withal so humble, that Waroonga +could not help acceding to his request. + +"Well, well," said Captain Fitzgerald, when he heard of it; "you seem +both to be bent on making martyrs of yourselves, but I will offer no +opposition. All I can say is that I shall have my guns in readiness, +and if I see anything like foul play, I'll bombard the place, and land +an armed force to do what I can for you." + +Soon the frigate came in sight of Ongoloo's village, ran close in, +brought up in a sheltered bay, and lowered a boat while the natives +crowded the beach in vast numbers, uttering fierce cries, brandishing +clubs and spears, and making other warlike demonstrations--for these +poor people had been more than once visited by so-called merchant +ships--the crews of which had carried off some of them by force. + +"We will not let a living man touch our shore," said Ongoloo to Wapoota, +who chanced to be near his leader, when he marshalled his men. + +"Oh! yes, we will, chief," replied the brown humorist. "We will let +some of them touch it, and then we will take them up carefully, and have +them baked. A long-pig supper will do us good. The rest of them we +will drive back to their big canoe." + +By the term "long-pig" Wapoota referred to the resemblance that a naked +white man when prepared for roasting bears to an ordinary pig. + +A grim smile lit up Ongoloo's swarthy visage as he replied-- + +"Yes, we will permit a few fat ones to land. The rest shall die, for +white men are thieves. They deceived us last time. They shall never +deceive us again." + +As this remark might have been meant for a covert reference to his own +thievish tendencies, Wapoota restrained his somewhat ghastly humour, +while the chief continued his arrangements for repelling the invaders. + +Meanwhile, these invaders were getting into the boat. + +"What! you's not goin' widout me?" exclaimed Ebony, as one of the +sailors thrust him aside from the gangway. + +"I fear we are," said Orlando, as he was about to descend the vessel's +side. "It was as much as I could do to get Waroonga to agree to let me +go with him." + +"But dis yar nigger kin die in a good cause as well as you, massa," said +Ebony, in a tone of entreaty so earnest that the men standing near could +not help laughing. + +"Now then, make haste," sang out the officer in charge of the boat. + +Orlando descended, and the negro, turning away with a deeply injured +expression, walked majestically to the stern to watch the boat. + +Waroonga had prepared himself for the enterprise by stripping off every +article of clothing save a linen cloth round his loins, and he carried +nothing whatever with him except a small copy of God's Word printed in +the language of the islanders. This, as the boat drew near to shore, he +fastened on his head, among the bushy curls of his crisp black hair, as +in a nest. + +Orlando had clothed himself in a pair of patched old canvas trousers, +and a much worn unattractive cotton shirt. + +"Stop now," said the missionary, when the boat was about five or six +hundred yards from the beach. "Are you ready?" + +"Ready," said Orlando. + +"Then come." + +He dropped quietly over the side and swam towards the shore. Orlando, +following his example, was alongside of him in a few seconds. + +Both men were expert and rapid swimmers. The natives watched them in +absolute silence and open-mouthed surprise. + +A few minutes sufficed to carry the swimmers to the beach. + +"Have your rifles handy, lads," said the officer in charge of the boat +to his men. + +"Stand by," said the captain of the "Furious" to the men at the guns. + +But these precautions were unnecessary, for when the swimmers landed and +walked up the beach they were seen by the man-of-war's-men to shake +hands with the chief of the savages, and, after what appeared to be a +brief palaver, to rub noses with him. Then the entire host turned and +led the visitors towards the village. + +With a heart almost bursting from the combined effects of +disappointment, humiliation, and grief, poor Ebony stood at the stern of +the man-of-war, his arms crossed upon his brawny chest, and his great +eyes swimming in irrepressible tears, a monstrous bead of which would +every now and then overflow its banks and roll down his sable cheek. + +Suddenly the heart-stricken negro clasped his hands together, bowed his +head, and dropped into the sea! + +The captain, who had seen him take the plunge, leaped to the stern, and +saw him rise from the water, blow like a grampus, and strike out for +land with the steady vigour of a gigantic frog. + +"Pick him up!" shouted the captain to the boat, which was by that time +returning to the ship. + +"Ay, ay, sir," was the prompt reply. + +The boat was making straight for the negro and he for it. Neither +diverged from the straight course. + +"Two of you in the bow, there, get ready to haul him in," said the +officer. + +Two sturdy sailors drew in their oars, got up, and leaned over the bow +with outstretched arms. Ebony looked at them, bestowed on them a +tremendous grin, and went down with the oily ease of a northern seal! + +When next seen he was full a hundred yards astern of the boat, still +heading steadily for the shore. + +"Let him go!" shouted the captain. + +"Ay, ay, sir," replied the obedient officer. + +And Ebony went! + +Meanwhile our missionary, having told the wondering savages that he +brought them _good news_, was conducted with his companion to Ongoloo's +hut. But it was plain that the good news referred to, and even Waroonga +himself, had not nearly so great an effect on them as the sight of +Orlando, at whom they gazed with an expression half of fear and half of +awe which surprised him exceedingly. + +"Your story is not new to us," said Ongoloo, addressing the missionary, +but gazing at Orlando, "it comes to us like an old song." + +"How so?" exclaimed Waroonga, "has any one been here before with the +grand and sweet story of Jesus and His love." + +The reply of the savage chief was strangely anticipated and checked at +that moment by a burst of childish voices singing one of the beautiful +hymns with which the inhabitants of Ratinga had long been familiar. As +the voices swelled in a chorus, which distance softened into fairy-like +strains, the missionary and his companion sat entranced and bewildered, +while the natives looked pleased, and appeared to enjoy their +perplexity. + +"Our little ones," said Ongoloo, after a few minutes' pause, "are +amusing themselves with singing. They often do that." + +As he spoke the party were startled and surprised by the sudden +appearance of Ebony, who quietly stalked into the circle and seated +himself beside the missionary with the guilty yet defiant air of a man +who knows that he has done wrong, but is resolved at all hazards to have +his way. Considering the turn that affairs had taken, neither Orlando +nor Waroonga were sorry to see him. + +"This is a friend," said the latter in explanation, laying his hand on +the negro's shoulder. "But tell me, chief, we are impatient for to +know, where learned you that song?" + +"From one who is mad," replied the chief still gazing earnestly at +Orlando. + +"Mad!" repeated the youth, starting up and trembling with +excitement--"how know you that? Who--where is he? Ask him, Waroonga." + +The explanation that followed left no doubt on Orlando's mind that his +father was bereft of reason, and wandering in the neighbouring mountain. + +If there had been any doubt, it would have been swept away by the chief, +who quietly said, "the madman is _your father_!" + +"How does he know that Waroonga?" + +"I know, because there is no difference between you, except years-- +and--" + +He did not finish the sentence, but touched his forehead solemnly with +his finger. + +"Does he dwell alone in the mountains?" asked Orlando. + +"Yes, alone. He lets no one approach him," answered Ongoloo. + +"Now, Waroonga," said Orlando, "our prayers have been heard, and--at +least partly--answered. But we must proceed with caution. You must +return on board and tell Captain Fitzgerald that I go to search for my +father _alone_." + +"Wid the help ob dis yar nigger," interposed Ebony. + +"Tell him on no account to send men in search of me," continued Orlando, +paying no attention to the interruption; "and in the meantime, you know +how to explain my purpose to the natives. Adieu." + +Rising quickly, he left the assembly and, followed modestly but closely +by the unconquerable negro, set off with rapid strides towards the +mountains. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +When Zeppa, as related in a previous chapter, staggered up the mountain +side with Richard Rosco in his arms, his great strength was all but +exhausted, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he succeeded at +last, before night-fall, in laying his burden on the couch in his cave. + +Then, for the first time, he seemed to have difficulty in deciding what +to do. Now, at last, the pirate was in his power--he could do to him +what he pleased! As he thought thus he turned a look of fierce +indignation upon him. But, even as he gazed, the look faded, and was +replaced by one of pity, for he could not help seeing that the wretched +man was suffering intolerable anguish, though no murmur escaped from his +tightly-compressed lips. + +"Slay me, in God's name, kill me at once, Zeppa," he gasped, "and put me +out of torment." + +"Poor man! poor Rosco!" returned the madman in a gentle voice, "I +thought to have punished thee, but God wills it otherwise." + +He said no more, but rose hastily and went into the bush. Returning in +a few moments with a bundle of herbs, he gathered some sticks and +kindled a fire. A large earthenware pot stood close to the side of the +cave's entrance--a clumsy thing, made by himself of some sort of clay. +This he filled with water, put the herbs in, and set it on the fire. +Soon he had a poultice spread on a broad leaf which, when it was cold, +he applied to one of the pirate's dreadfully burnt feet. Then he spread +another poultice, with which he treated the other foot. + +What the remedy was that Zeppa made use of on this occasion is best +known to himself; we can throw no light on the subject. Neither can we +say whether the application was or was not in accordance with the +practice of the faculty, but certain it is that Rosco's sufferings were +immediately assuaged, and he soon fell into a tranquil sleep. + +Not so the madman, who sat watching by his couch. Poor Zeppa's physical +sufferings and exertion had proved too much for him; the strain on his +shattered nerves had been too severe, and a burning fever was now raging +within him, so that the delirium consequent on disease began to mingle, +so to speak, with his insanity. + +He felt that something unusual was going on within him. He tried to +restrain himself, and chain down his wandering, surging thoughts, but +the more he sought to hold himself down, the more did a demon--who +seemed to have been especially appointed for the purpose--cast his +mental fastenings adrift. + +At last he took it into his head that the slumbering pirate had +bewitched him. As this idea gained ground and the internal fires +increased, the old ideas of revenge returned, and he drew the knife +which hung at his belt, gazing furtively at the sleeper as he did so. + +But the better nature within the man maintained a fierce conflict with +the worse. + +"He murdered my son--my darling Orley!" murmured the madman, as he felt +the keen edge and point of his knife, and crept towards the sleeper, +while a fitful flicker of the dying fire betrayed the awful light that +seemed to blaze in his eyes. "He carried me from my home! He left +Marie to die in hopeless grief! Ha! ha! ha! Oh God! keep me back--back +from _this_." + +The noise awoke Rosco, who sat up and gazed at Zeppa in horror, for he +saw at a glance that a fit of his madness must have seized him. + +"Zeppa!" he exclaimed, raising himself with difficulty on both hands, +and gazing sternly in the madman's face. + +"Ha!" exclaimed the latter, suddenly throwing his knife on the ground +within Rosco's reach, "see, I scorn to take advantage of your unarmed +condition. Take that and defend yourself. I will content myself with +this." + +He caught up the heavy staff which he was in the habit of carrying with +him in his mountain rambles. At the same instant Rosco seized the knife +and flung it far into the bush. + +"See! I am still unarmed," he said. + +"True, but you are not the less guilty, Rosco, and you must die. It is +my duty to kill you." + +He advanced with the staff up-raised. + +"Stay! Let us consider before you strike. Are you not a self-appointed +executioner?" + +The question was well put. The madman lowered the staff to consider. +Instantly the pirate made a plunge at and caught it. Zeppa strove to +wrench it from his grasp, but the pirate felt that his life might depend +on his retaining hold, and, in his extremity, was endued with almost +supernatural strength. In the fierce struggles that ensued, the embers +of the fire were scattered, and the spot reduced to almost total +darkness. During the unequal conflict, the pirate, who could only get +upon his knees, was swept and hurled from side to side, but still he +grasped the staff with vice-like power to his breast. Even in that +fearful moment the idea, which had already occurred to him, of humouring +his antagonist gained force. He suddenly loosed his hold. Zeppa +staggered backward, recovered himself, sprang forward, and aimed a +fearful blow at his adversary, who suddenly fell flat down. The staff +passed harmlessly over him and was shattered to pieces on the side of +the cave. + +"Ha! ha!" laughed the pirate lightly, as he sat up again, "you see, +Zeppa, that Providence is against you. How else could I, a helpless +cripple, have held my own against you? And see, the very weapon you +meant to use is broken to pieces. Come now, delay this execution for a +little, and let us talk together about this death which you think is +due. There is much to be said about death, you know, and I should like +to get to understand it better before I experience it." + +"There is reason in that, Rosco," said Zeppa, sitting down on the ground +by the side of the pirate, and leaning his back against the rock. "You +have much need to consider death, for after death comes the judgment, +and none of us can escape _that_." + +"True, Zeppa, and I should not like to face that just now, for I am not +fit to die, although, as you truly say, I deserve death. I have no +hesitation in admitting that," returned the pirate, with some +bitterness; "I deserve to die, body and soul, and, after all, I don't +see why I should seek so earnestly to delay the righteous doom." + +"Right, Rosco, right; you talk sense now, the doom is well deserved. +Why, then, try to prevent me any longer from inflicting it when you know +it is my duty to do so?" + +"Because," continued the pirate, who felt that to maintain the conflict +even with words was too much for his exhausted strength, "because I have +heard that God is merciful." + +"Merciful!" echoed Zeppa. "Of course He is. Have you not heard that +His mercy is so great that He has provided a way of escape for sinners-- +through faith in His own dear Son?" + +"It does not, however, seem to be a way of escape for _me_," said the +pirate, letting himself sink back on his couch with a weary sigh. + +"Yes, it is! yes, it is!" exclaimed Zeppa eagerly, as he got upon the +familiar theme; "the offer is to the chief of sinners, `Whosoever will,' +`Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?'" + +"Tell me about it" said Rosco faintly, as the other paused. + +Zeppa had delayed a moment in order to think for his disordered mind had +been turned into a much-loved channel, that of preaching the Gospel to +inquiring sinners. For many years he had been training himself in the +knowledge of the Scriptures, and, being possessed of a good memory, he +had got large portions of it by heart. Gathering together the embers of +the scattered fire, he sat down again, and, gazing thoughtfully at the +flickering flames, began to point out the way of salvation to the +pirate. + +Sleep--irresistible sleep--gradually overcame the latter; still the +former went on repeating long passages of God's word. At last he put a +question, and, not receiving an answer, looked earnestly into the face +of his enemy. + +"Ah! poor man. He sleeps. God cannot wish me to slay him until I have +made him understand the gospel. I will delay--till to-morrow." + +Before the morrow came Zeppa had wandered forth among the cliffs and +gorges of his wild home, with the ever-increasing fires of fever raging +in his veins. + +Sometimes his madness took the form of wildest fury, and, grasping some +bush or sapling that might chance to be near, he would struggle with it +as with a fiend until utter exhaustion caused him to fall prostrate on +the ground, where he would lie until partial rest and internal fire gave +him strength again to rise. At other times he would run up and down the +bills like a greyhound, bounding from rock to rock, and across chasms +where one false step would have sent him headlong to destruction. + +Frequently he ran down to the beach and plunged into the sea, where he +would swim about aimlessly until exhaustion sent him to the shore, where +he would fall down, as at other times, and rest--if such repose could be +so styled. + +Thus he continued fighting for his life for several days. + +During that time Richard Rosco lay in the cave almost starving. + +At first he had found several cocoa-nuts, the hard shells of which had +been broken by Zeppa, and appeased his hunger with these, but when they +were consumed, he sought about the cave for food in vain. Fortunately +he found a large earthenware pot--evidently a home-made one--nearly full +of water, so that he was spared the agony of thirst as well as hunger. + +When he had scraped the shells of the cocoa-nuts perfectly clean, the +pirate tried to crawl forth on hands and knees, to search for food, his +feet being in such a state that it was not possible for him to stand, +much less to walk. But Zeppa had long ago cleared away all the wild +fruits that grew in the neighbourhood of his cave, so that he found +nothing save a few wild berries. Still, in his condition, even these +were of the utmost value: they helped to keep him alive. Another night +passed, and the day came. He crept forth once more, but was so weakened +by suffering and want that he could not extend his explorations so far +as before, and was compelled to return without having tasted a mouthful. +Taking a long draught of water, he lay down, as he firmly believed, to +die. + +And as he lay there his life rose up before him as an avenging angel, +and the image of his dead mother returned with a reproachful yet an +appealing look in her eyes. He tried to banish the one and to turn his +thoughts from the other, but failed, and at last in an agony of remorse, +shouted the single word "Guilty!" + +It seemed as if the cry had called Zeppa from the world of spirits--to +which Rosco believed he had fled--for a few minutes afterwards the +madman approached his mountain-home, with the blood still boiling in his +veins. Apparently he had forgotten all about the pirate, for he was +startled on beholding him. + +"What! still there? I thought I had killed you." + +"I wish you had, Zeppa. It would have been more merciful than leaving +me to die of hunger here." + +"Are you prepared to die now?" + +"Yes, but for God's sake give me something to eat first. After that I +care not what you do to me." + +"Miserable man, death is sufficient for you. I have neither command nor +desire to torture. You shall have food immediately." + +So saying, Zeppa re-entered the bush. In less than half-an-hour he +returned with several cocoa-nuts and other fruits, of which Rosco +partook with an avidity that told its own tale. + +"Now," said Zeppa, rising, when Rosco had finished, "have you had +enough?" + +"No," said the pirate, quickly, "not half enough. Go, like a good +fellow, and fetch me more." + +Zeppa rose at once and went away. While he was gone the fear of being +murdered again took possession of Rosco. He felt that his last hour was +approaching, and, in order to avoid his doom if possible, crawled away +among the bushes and tried to hide himself. He was terribly weak, +however, and had not got fifty yards away when he fell down utterly +exhausted. + +He heard Zeppa return to the cave, and listened with beating heart. + +"Hallo! where are you?" cried the madman. + +Then, receiving no answer, he burst into a long, loud fit of laughter, +which seemed to freeze the very marrow in the pirate's bones. + +"Ha! ha!" he shouted, again and again, "I knew you were a dream, I felt +sure of it--ha! ha! and now this proves it. And I'm glad you were a +dream, for I did not want to kill you, Rosco, though I thought it my +duty to do so. It was a dream--thank God, it was all a dream!" + +Zeppa did not end again with wild laughter, but betook himself to +earnest importunate prayer, during which Rosco crept, by slow degrees, +farther and farther away, until he could no longer hear the sound of his +enemy's voice. + +Now, it was while this latter scene had been enacting, that Orlando and +the faithful negro set out on their search into the mountain. + +At first they did not speak, and Ebony, not feeling sure how his young +master relished his company, kept discreetly a pace or two in rear. +After they had crossed the plain, however, and begun to scale the steep +sides of the hills, his tendency towards conversation could not be +restrained. + +"Does you t'ink, Massa Orley, that hims be you fadder?" + +"I think so, Ebony, indeed I feel almost sure of it." + +Thus encouraged, the negro ranged up alongside. + +"An' does you t'ink hims mad?" + +"I hope not. I pray not; but I fear that he--" + +"Hims got leettle out ob sorts," said the sympathetic Ebony, suggesting +a milder state of things. + +As Orlando did not appear to derive much consolation from the +suggestion, Ebony held his tongue for a few minutes. + +Presently his attention was attracted to a sound in the underwood near +them. + +"Hist! Massa Orley. I hear somet'ing." + +"So do I, Ebony," said the youth, pausing for a moment to listen; "it +must be some sort of bird, for there can be no wild animals left by the +natives in so small an island." + +As he spoke something like a low moan was heard. The negro's mouth +opened, and the whites of his great eyes seemed to dilate. + +"If it _am_ a bird, massa, hims got a mos' awful voice. Mus' have +cotched a drefful cold!" + +The groan was repeated as he spoke, and immediately after they observed +a large, sluggish-looking animal, advancing through the underwood. + +"What a pity we's not got a gun!" whispered Ebony. "If we's only had a +spear or a pitchfork, it's besser than nuffin." + +"Lucky that you have nothing of the sort, else you'd commit murder," +said Orlando, advancing. "Don't you see--it is a man!" + +The supposed animal started as the youth spoke, and rose on his knees +with a terribly haggard and anxious look. + +"Richard Rosco!" exclaimed Orley, who recognised the pirate at the first +glance. + +But Rosco did not reply. He, too, had recognised Orley, despite the +change in his size and appearance, and believed him to be a visitant +from the other world, an idea which was fostered by the further +supposition that Ebony was the devil keeping him company. + +Orlando soon relieved him, however. The aspect of the pirate, so +haggard and worn out, as he crawled on his hands and knees, was so +dreadful that a flood of pity rushed into his bosom. + +"My poor fellow," he said, going forward and laying his hand gently on +his shoulder, "this is indeed a most unexpected, most amazing sight. +How came you here?" + +"Then you were not drowned?" gasped the pirate, instead of answering the +question. + +"No, thank God. I was not drowned," said Orley, with a sad smile. "But +again I ask, How came you here?" + +"Never mind me," said Rosco hurriedly, "but go to your father." + +"My father! Do you know, then, where he is?" cried Orlando, with sudden +excitement. + +"Yes. He is up there--not far off. I have just escaped from him. He +is bent on taking my life. He saved me from the savages. He is mad-- +with fever--and stands terribly in need of help." + +Bewildered beyond expression by these contradictory statements, Orlando +made no attempt to understand, but exclaimed-- + +"Can you guide us to him?" + +"You see," returned the pirate sadly, "I cannot even rise to my feet. +The savages were burning me alive when your father came to my rescue. +The flesh is dropping from the bones. I cannot help you." + +"Kin you git on my back?" asked Ebony. "You's a good lift, but I's +awful strong." + +"I will try," returned Rosco, "but you will have to protect me from +Zeppa if he sees me, for he is bent on taking my life. He thinks that +you were drowned--as, indeed, so did I--the time that you were thrown +overboard without my knowledge--mind that, _without my knowledge_--and +your father in his madness thinks he is commissioned by God to avenge +your death. Perhaps, when he sees you alive, he may change his mind, +but there is no depending on one who is delirious with fever. He will +probably still be in the cave when we reach it." + +"We will protect you. Get up quickly, and show us the way to the cave." + +In a moment the stout negro had the pirate on his broad shoulders, and, +under his guidance, mounted the slightly-marked path that led to Zeppa's +retreat. + +No words were spoken by the way. Orlando was too full of anxious +anticipation to speak. The negro was too heavily weighted to care about +conversation just then, and Rosco suffered so severely from the rough +motions of his black steed that he was fain to purse his lips tightly to +prevent a cry of pain. + +On reaching the neighbourhood of the cave the pirate whispered to Ebony +to set him down. + +"You will come in sight of the place the moment you turn round yonder +cliff. It is better that I should remain here till the meeting is over. +I hear no sound, but doubtless Zeppa is lying down by this time." + +The negro set his burden on the ground, and Rosco crept slowly into the +bush to hide, while the others hurried forward in the direction pointed +out to them. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +No sooner had Orlando and the negro passed round the cliff to which +Rosco had directed them, than they beheld a sight which was well +calculated to fill them with anxiety and alarm, for there stood Zeppa, +panting and wrestling with one of the fiends that were in the habit of +assailing him. + +The fiend, on this occasion, was familiar enough to him--the stout +branch of a tree which overhung his cave, but which his delirious brain +had transformed into a living foe. No shout or cry issued from the poor +man's compressed lips. He engaged in the deadly struggle with that +silent resolve of purpose which was natural to him. The disease under +which he laboured had probably reached its climax, for he swayed to and +fro, in his futile efforts to wrench off the limb, with a degree of +energy that seemed more than human. His partially naked limbs showed +the knotted muscles standing out rigidly; his teeth were clenched and +exposed; his blood-shot eyes glared; the long, curling and matted hair +of his head and beard was flying about in wild disorder; and his +labouring chest heaved as he fiercely, silently, and hopelessly +struggled. + +Oh! it was a terrible picture to be presented thus suddenly to the gaze +of a loving son. + +"Stay where you are, Ebony. I must meet him alone," whispered Orlando. + +Then, hastening forward with outstretched arms, he exclaimed-- + +"Father!" + +Instantly Zeppa let go his supposed enemy and turned round. The change +in his aspect was as wonderful as it was sudden. The old, loving, +gentle expression overspread his features, and the wild fire seemed to +die out of his eyes as he held out both hands. + +"Ah! once more, my son!" he said, in the tenderest of tones. "Come to +me. This is kind of you, Orley, to return so soon again; I had not +expected you for a long time. Sit down beside me, and lay your head +upon my knee--so--I like to have you that way, for I see you better." + +"Oh, father--dear father!" said Orlando, but the words were choked in +his throat, and tears welled from his eyes. + +"Yes, Orley?" said Zeppa, with a startled look of joyful surprise, while +he turned his head a little to one side, as if listening in expectancy; +"speak again, dear boy; speak again. I have often seen you since you +went to the spirit-land, but have never heard you speak till to-day. +Speak once more, dear boy!" + +But Orley could not speak. He could only hide his face in his father's +bosom and sob aloud. + +"Nay, don't cry, lad; you never did that before! What do you mean? +That is unmanly. Not like what my courageous boy was wont to be. And +you have grown so much since last I saw you. Why, you've even got a +beard! Who ever heard of a bearded man sobbing like a child? And now I +look at you closely I see that you have grown wonderfully tall. It is +very strange--but all things seem strange since I came here. Only, in +all the many visits you have paid me, I have never seen you changed till +to-day. You have always come to me in the old boyish form. Very, +_very_ strange! But, Orley, my boy" (and here Zeppa's voice became +intensely earnest and pleading), "you won't leave me again, will you? +Surely they can well spare you from the spirit-world for a time--just a +little while. It would fill my heart with such joy and gratitude. And +I'm your father, Orley, surely I have a right to you--more right than +the angels have--haven't I? and then it would give such joy, if you came +back, to your dear mother, whom I have not seen for so long--so very +long!" + +"I will _never_ leave you, father, _never_!" cried Orlando, throwing his +arms round Zeppa's neck and embracing him passionately. + +"Nay, then, you _are_ going to leave me," cried Zeppa, with sudden +alarm, as he clasped Orlando to him with an iron grip. "You always +embrace me when you are about to vanish out of my sight. But you shall +not escape me _this_ time. I have got you tighter than I ever had you +before, and no fiend shall separate us now. No fiend!" he repeated in a +shout, glaring at a spot in the bushes where Ebony, unable to restrain +his feelings, had unwittingly come into sight. + +Suddenly changing his purpose, Zeppa let go his son and sprang like a +tiger on the supposed fiend. Ebony went down before him like a bulrush +before the hurricane, but, unlike it, he did not rise again. The madman +had pinned him to the earth and was compressing his throat with both +hands. It required all the united strength of his son and the negro to +loosen his grasp, and even that would not have sufficed had not the +terrible flame which had burned so long died out. It seemed to have +been suddenly extinguished by this last burst of fury, for Zeppa fell +back as helpless as an infant in their hands. Indeed he lay so still +with his eyes closed that Orlando trembled with fear lest he should be +dying. + +"Now, Ebony," said he, taking the negro apart, when they had made the +exhausted man as comfortable as possible on his rude couch in the cave; +"you run down to the ship and fetch the doctor here without delay. I +will be able to manage him easily when alone. Run as you never ran +before. Don't let any soul come here except the doctor and yourself. +Tell the captain I have found him--through God's mercy--but that he is +very ill and must be carefully kept from excitement and that in the +meantime nobody is to disturb us. The doctor will of course fetch +physic; and tell him to bring his surgical instruments also, for, if I +mistake not, poor Rosco needs his attention. Do you bring up as much in +the way of provisions as you can carry, and one or two blankets. And, +harkee, make no mention of the pirate to any one. Away!" + +During the delivery of this message, the negro listened eagerly, and +stood quite motionless, like a black statue, with the exception of his +glittering eyes. + +"Yes, massa," he said at its conclusion, and almost literally vanished +from the scene. + +Orlando then turned to his father. The worn out man still lay perfectly +quiet, with closed eyes, and countenance so pale that the dread of +approaching death again seized on the son. The breathing was, however, +slow and regular, and what appeared to be a slight degree of moisture +lay on the brow. The fact that the sick man slept soon became apparent, +and when Orlando had assured himself of this he arose, left the cave +with careful tread, and glided, rather than walked, back to the place +where the pirate had been left. There he still lay, apparently much +exhausted. + +"We have found him, thank God," said Orlando, seating himself on a bank; +"and I would fain hope that the worst is over, for he sleeps. But, poor +fellow, you seem to be in a bad case. Can I do aught to relieve you?" + +"Nothing," replied Rosco, with a weary sigh. + +"I have sent for a surgeon--" + +"A surgeon!" repeated the pirate, with a startled look; "then there must +be a man-of-war off the coast for South sea traders are not used to +carry surgeons." + +"Ah! I forgot. You naturally don't wish to see any one connected with +a man-of-war. Yes, there is one here. I came in her. But you can see +this surgeon without his knowing who or what you are. It will be +sufficient for him to know that you are an unfortunate sailor who had +fallen into the hands of the savages." + +"Yes," exclaimed Rosco, grasping eagerly at the idea; "and that's just +what I am. Moreover, I ran away from my ship! But--but--do _you_ not +feel it your duty to give me up?" + +"What I shall feel it my duty to do ultimately is not a matter for +present consideration. Just now you require surgical assistance. But +how did you come here? and what do you mean by saying that you ran away +from your ship?" + +Rosco in reply gave a brief but connected narrative of his career during +the past three years, in which he made no attempt to exculpate himself, +but, on the contrary, confessed his guilt and admitted his desert of +death. + +"Yet I shrink from death," he said in conclusion. "Is it not strange +that I, who have faced death so often with perfect indifference, should +draw back from it now with something like fear?" + +"A great writer," replied Orlando, "whom my father used to read to me at +home, says that `conscience makes cowards of us all.' And a still +greater authority says that `the wicked flee when no man pursueth.' You +are safe here, Rosco--at all events for the present. But you must not +go near the cave again. Rest where you are and I will search for some +place where you may remain concealed till you are well. I shall return +quickly." + +Leaving the pirate where he lay, Orlando returned to his father, and, +finding that he still slept, went off to search for a cave. + +He soon found a small one in the cliffs, suitable for his purpose. +Thither he carried the pirate, laid him tenderly on a couch of branches +and leaves, put food and water within his reach, and left him with a +feeling of comfort and of contentment at heart that he had not +experienced for many years. + +That night the surgeon of the "Furious" ascended to the mountain cave. +His approach was made known to Orlando, as he watched at the sick man's +side, by the appearance of Ebony's great eyes glittering at him over the +bushes that encircled the cave's mouth. No wonder that poor Zeppa had +mistaken him for a demon! Holding up a finger of caution, Orlando +glided towards him, seized his arm, and, after leading him to a safe +distance, asked in a low voice-- + +"Well, have you brought the doctor?" + +"Ho, yis, massa, an' I bring Tomeo and Buttchee too." + +"Didn't I tell you to let no one else come near us?" said Orlando in a +tone of vexation. + +"Dat's true, massa, but I no kin stop dem. So soon as dey hear dat +Antonio Zeppa am found, sick in de mountains, dey swore dey mus' go see +him. I say dat you say no! Dey say dey not care. I say me knock 'em +bofe down. Dey say dey turn me hinside hout if I don't ole my tongue. +What could dis yar nigger do? Dey's too much for me. So dey follered, +and here dey am wid de doctor, waiting about two hun'rd yards down dere +for leave to come. But, I say, massa, dey's good sort o' fellers after +all--do whatever you tells 'em. Good for go messages, p'raps, an save +dis yar nigger's poor legs." + +Ebony made the latter suggestion with a grin so broad that in the +darkness his face became almost luminous with teeth and gums. + +"Well, I suppose we must make the most of the circumstances," said +Orlando. "Come, lead me to them." + +It was found that though the strong affection of the two chiefs for +Zeppa had made them rebellious in the matter of visiting the spot, the +same affection, and their regard for Orlando, rendered them submissive +as lambs, and willing to do absolutely whatever they were told. + +Orlando, therefore, had no difficulty in prevailing on them to delay +their visit to his father till the following day. Meanwhile, he caused +them to encamp in a narrow pass close at hand, and, the better to +reconcile them to their lot, imposed upon them the duty of mounting +guard each alternate couple of hours during the night. + +"He will do well," said the doctor, after examining the patient. "This +sleep is life to him. I will give him something when he awakes, but the +awaking must be left to nature. Whether he recovers his reason after +what he has passed through remains to be seen. You say he has been +wandering for some time here in a state of insanity? How came that +about?" + +"It is a long and sad story, doctor," said Orlando, evading the +question, "and I have not time to tell it now, for I want you to visit +another patient." + +"Another patient?" repeated the surgeon, in surprise; "ah! one of the +natives, I suppose?" + +"No, a white man. He is a sailor who ran away from his ship, and was +caught by the natives and tortured." + +"Come, then, let us go and see the poor fellow at once. Does he live +far from here?" + +"Close at hand," answered Orlando, as he led the way; "and perhaps, +doctor, it would be well not to question the poor man at present as to +his being here and in such a plight. He seems very weak and ill." + +When the surgeon had examined Rosco's feet he led Orlando aside. + +"It is a bad case," he said; "both legs must be amputated below the knee +if the man's life is to be saved." + +"Must it be done now?" + +"Immediately. Can you assist me?" + +"I have assisted at amateur operations before now," said Orlando, "and +at all events you can count on the firmness of my nerves and on blind +obedience. But stay--I must speak to him first, alone." + +"Rosco," said the youth, as he knelt by the pirate's couch, "your sins +have been severely punished, and your endurance sorely tried--" + +"Not more than I deserve, Orlando." + +"But I grieve to tell you that your courage must be still further tried. +The doctor says that both feet must be amputated." + +A frown gathered on the pirate's face, and he compressed his lips for a +few moments. + +"And the alternative?" he asked. + +"Is death." + +Again there was a brief pause. Then he said slowly, almost bitterly-- + +"Oh, death! you have hovered over my head pretty steadily of late! It +is a question whether I had not better let you come on and end these +weary struggles, rather than become a hopeless cripple in the prime of +life! Why should I fear death now more than before?" + +"Have you any hope of eternal life, Rosco?" + +"How can _I_ tell? What do _I_ know about eternal life!" + +"Then you are not prepared to die; and let me earnestly assure you that +there _is_ something well worth living for, though at present you do +not--you _cannot_ know it." + +"Enough. Let it be as the doctor advises," said the pirate in a tone of +resignation. + +That night the operation was successfully performed, and the unfortunate +man was afterwards carefully tended by Ebony. + +Next day Tomeo and Buttchee were told that their old friend Zeppa could +not yet be seen, but that he required many little comforts from the +"Furious," which must be brought up with as little delay as possible. +That was sufficient. Forgetting themselves in their anxiety to aid +their friend, these affectionate warriors went off on their mission, and +were soon out of sight. + +When Zeppa awoke at last with a deep sigh, it was still dark. This was +fortunate, for he could not see whose hand administered the physic, and +was too listless and weak to inquire. It was bright day when he awoke +the second time and looked up inquiringly in his son's face. + +"What, are you still there, Orley?" he said faintly, while the habitual +sweet expression stole over his pale features, though it was quickly +followed by the perplexed look. "But how comes this change? You look +so much older than you are, dear boy. Would God that I could cease this +dreaming!" + +"You are not dreaming _now_, father. I am indeed Orley. You have been +ill and delirious, but, thanks be to God, are getting well again." + +"What?" exclaimed the invalid; "has it been all a dream, then? Were you +_not_ thrown into the sea by mutineers, and have I _not_ been wandering +for months or years on a desert island? But then, if these things be +all dreams," he added, opening his eyes wide and fixing them intently on +Orlando's face, "how comes it that I still dream the change in _you_? +You are Orley, yet not Orley! How is that?" + +"Yes, all that is true, dear, _dear_ father," said the youth, gently +clasping one of the helpless hands that lay crossed on Zeppa's broad +chest; "I _was_ thrown overboard by the mutineers years ago, but, thank +God, I was not drowned; and you have been wandering here in--in--very +ill, for years; but, thank God again, you are better, and I have been +mercifully sent to deliver you." + +"I can't believe it, Orley, for I have so often seen you, and you have +so often given me the slip--yet there does seem something very real +about you just now--very real, though so changed--yet it is the same +voice, and you never _spoke_ to me before in my dreams--except once. +Yes, I think it was once, that you spoke. I remember it well, for the +sound sent such a thrill to my heart. Oh! God forbid that it should +again fade away as it has done so often!" + +"It will not fade, father. The time you speak of was only yesterday, +when I found you. You have been sleeping since, and a doctor is +attending you." + +"A doctor! where did _he_ come from?" + +At that moment Ebony approached with some food in a tin pan. The +invalid observed him at once. + +"Ebony! can that be you? Why--when--oh! my poor brain feels so light-- +it seems as if a puff of wind would blow it away. I must have been very +ill." Zeppa spoke feebly, and closed his eyes, from which one or two +tears issued--blessed tears!--the first he had shed for many a day. + +"His reason is restored," whispered the doctor in Orlando's ear, "but he +must be left to rest." + +Orlando's heart was too full to find relief through the lips. + +"I cannot understand it at all," resumed Zeppa, reopening his eyes; +"least of all can I understand _you_, Orley, but my hope is in God. I +would sleep now, but you must not let go my hand." (Orlando held it +tighter.) "One word more. Your dear mother?" + +"Is well--and longs to see you." + +A profound, long-drawn sigh followed, as if an insupportable burden had +been removed from the wearied soul, and Zeppa sank into a sleep so +peaceful that it seemed as if the spirit had forsaken the worn out +frame. But a steady, gentle heaving of the chest told that life was +still there. During the hours that followed, Orlando sat quite +motionless, like a statue, firmly grasping his father's hand. + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +A few days after the discovery of Zeppa by his son, a trading vessel +chanced to touch at the island, the captain of which no sooner saw the +British man-of-war than he lowered his gig, went aboard in a state of +great excitement, and told how that, just two days before, he had been +chased by a pirate in latitude so-and-so and longitude something else! + +A messenger was immediately sent in hot haste to Sugar-loaf Mountain to +summon Orlando. + +"I'm sorry to be obliged to leave you in such a hurry," said Captain +Fitzgerald, as they were about to part, "but duty calls, and I must +obey. I promise you, however, either to return here or to send your +mission-vessel for you, if it be available. Rest assured that you shall +not be altogether forsaken." + +Having uttered these words of consolation, the captain spread his sails +and departed, leaving Orlando, and his father, Waroonga, Tomeo, +Buttchee, Ebony, and Rosco on Sugar-loaf Island. + +Several days after this, Waroonga entered the hut of Ongoloo and sat +down. The chief was amusing himself at the time by watching his prime +minister Wapoota playing with little Lippy, who had become a favourite +at the palace since Zeppa had begun to take notice of her. + +"I would palaver with the chief," said the missionary. + +"Let Lippy be gone," said the chief. + +Wapoota rolled the brown child unceremoniously out of the hut, and +composed his humorous features into an expression of solemnity. + +"My brother," continued the missionary, "has agreed to become a +Christian and burn his idols?" + +"Yes," replied Ongoloo with an emphatic nod, for he was a man of +decision. "I like to hear what you tell me. I feel that I am full of +naughtiness. I felt that before you came here. I have done things that +I knew to be wrong, because I have been miserable after doing them--yet, +when in passion, I have done them again. I have wondered why I was +miserable. Now I know; you tell me the Great Father was whispering to +my spirit. It must be true. I have resisted Him, and He made me +miserable. I deserve it. I deserve to die. When any of my men dare to +resist me I kill them. I have dared to resist the Great Father, yet He +has not killed me. Why not? you tell me He is full of love and mercy +even to His rebels! I believe it. You say, He sent His Son Jesus to +die for me, and to deliver me from my sins. It is well, I accept this +Saviour--and all my people shall accept Him." + +"My brother's voice makes me glad," returned Waroonga; "but while you +can accept this Saviour for yourself, it is not possible to force other +people to do so." + +"Not possible!" cried the despotic chief, with vehemence. "Do you not +know that I can force my people to do whatever I please?--at least I can +kill them if they refuse." + +"You cannot do that and, at the same time, be a Christian." + +"But," resumed Ongoloo, with a look of, so to speak, fierce perplexity, +"I can at all events make them burn their idols." + +"True, but that would only make them hate you in their hearts, and +perhaps worship their idols more earnestly in secret. No, my brother; +there is but one weapon given to Christians, but that is a sharp and +powerful weapon. It is called Love; we must _win_ others to Christ by +voice and example, we may not drive them. It is not permitted. It is +not possible." + +The chief cast his frowning eyes on the ground, and so remained for some +time, while the missionary silently prayed. It was a critical moment. +The man so long accustomed to despotic power could not easily bring his +mind to understand the process of _winning_ men. He did, indeed, know +how to win the love of his wives and children--for he was naturally of +an affectionate disposition, but as to _winning_ the obedience of +warriors or slaves--the thing was preposterous! Yet he had sagacity +enough to perceive that while he could compel the obedience of the +body--or kill it--he could not compel the obedience of the soul. + +"How can I," he said at last, with a touch of indignation still in his +tone, "I, a chief and a descendant of chiefs, stoop to ask, to beg, my +slaves to become Christians? It may not be, I can only command them." + +"Woh!" exclaimed Wapoota, unable to restrain his approval of the +sentiment. + +"You cannot even command yourself, Ongoloo, to be a Christian. How, +then, can you command others? It is the Great Father who has put it +into your heart to wish to be a Christian. If you will now take His +plan, you will succeed. If you refuse, and try your own plan, you shall +fail." + +"Stay," cried the chief, suddenly laying such a powerful grasp on +Waroonga's shoulder, that he winced; "did you not say that part of His +plan is the forgiveness of enemies?" + +"I did." + +"Must I, then, forgive the Raturans if I become a Christian?" + +"Even so." + +"Then it is impossible. What! forgive the men whose forefathers have +tried to rob my forefathers of their mountain since our nation first +sprang into being! Forgive the men who have for ages fought with our +fathers, and tried to make slaves of our women and children--though they +always failed because they are cowardly dogs! Forgive the Raturans? +_Never_! Impossible!" + +"With man this is impossible. With the Great Father all things are +possible. Leave your heart in His hands, Ongoloo; don't refuse His +offer to save you from an unforgiving spirit, as well as from other +sins, and that which to you seems impossible will soon become easy." + +"No--never!" reiterated the chief with decision, as he cut further +conversation short by rising and stalking out of the hut, closely +followed by the sympathetic Wapoota. + +Waroonga was not much depressed by this failure. He knew that truth +would prevail in time, and did not expect that the natural enmity of man +would be overcome at the very first sound of the Gospel. He was +therefore agreeably surprised when, on the afternoon of that same day, +Ongoloo entered the hut which had been set apart for him and the two +Ratinga chiefs, and said-- + +"Come, brother, I have called a council of my warriors. Come, you shall +see the working of the Great Father." + +The missionary rose at once and went after the chief with much +curiosity, accompanied by Tomeo and Buttchee: Zeppa and his son, with +Ebony and the pirate, being still in the mountains. + +Ongoloo led them to the top of a small hill on which a sacred hut or +temple stood. Here the prisoners of war used to be slaughtered, and +here the orgies of heathen worship were wont to be practised. An +immense crowd of natives--indeed the entire tribe except the sick and +infirm--crowned the hill. This, however, was no new sight to the +missionary, and conveyed no hint of what was pending. + +The crowd stood in two orderly circles--the inner one consisting of the +warriors, the outer of the women and children. Both fell back to let +the chief and his party pass. + +As the temple-hut was open at one side, its interior, with the horrible +instruments of execution and torture, as well as skulls, bones, and +other ghastly evidences of former murder, was exposed to view. On the +centre of the floor lay a little pile of rudely carved pieces of timber, +with some loose cocoa-nut fibre beneath them. A small fire burned on +something that resembled an altar in front of the hut. + +The chief, standing close to this fire, cleared his throat and began an +address with the words, "Men, warriors, women and children, listen!" +And they did listen with such rapt attention that it seemed as if not +only ears, but eyes, mouths, limbs, and muscles were engaged in the +listening act, for this mode of address--condescending as it did to +women and children--was quite new to them, and portended something +unusual. + +"Since these men came here," continued the chief, pointing to Waroonga +and his friends, "we have heard many wonderful things that have made us +think. Before they came we heard some of the same wonderful things from +the great white man, whose head is light but whose heart is wise and +good. I have made up my mind, now, to become a Christian. My warriors, +my women, my children need not be told what that is. They have all got +ears and have heard. I have assembled you here to see my gods burned +(he pointed to the pile in the temple), and I ask all who are willing, +to join me in making this fire a big one. I cannot compel your souls. +I _could_ compel your bodies, but I _will_ not!" + +He looked round very fiercely as he said this, as though he still had +half a mind to kill one or two men to prove his point, and those who +stood nearest to him moved uneasily, as though they more than half +expected him to do some mischief, but the fierce look quickly passed +away, and he went on in gentle, measured tones-- + +"Waroonga tells me that the Book of the Great Father says, those who +become Christians must love each other: therefore we must no more hate, +or quarrel, or fight, or kill--not even our enemies." + +There was evident surprise on every face, and a good deal of decided +shaking of heads, as if such demands were outrageous. + +"Moreover, it is expected of Christians that they shall not revenge +themselves, but suffer wrong patiently." + +The eyebrows rose higher at this. + +"Still more; it is demanded that we shall _forgive_ our enemies. If we +become Christians, we must open our arms wide, and take the Raturans to +our hearts!" + +This was a climax, as Ongoloo evidently intended, for he paused a long +time, while loud expressions of dissent and defiance were heard on all +sides, though it was not easy to see who uttered them. + +"Now, warriors, women and children, here I am--a Christian--who will +join me?" + +"I will!" exclaimed Wapoota, stepping forward with several idols in his +arms, which he tossed contemptuously into the temple. + +There was a general smile of incredulity among the warriors, for Wapoota +was well known to be a time-server: nevertheless they were mistaken, for +the jester was in earnest this time. + +Immediately after that, an old, white-headed warrior, bent nearly double +with infirmity and years, came forward and acted as Wapoota had done. +Then, turning to the people, he addressed them in a weak, trembling +voice. There was a great silence, for this was the patriarch of the +tribe; had been a lion-like man in his youth, and was greatly respected. + +"I join the Christians," he said, slowly. "Have I not lived and fought +for long--very long?" + +"Yes, yes," from many voices. + +"And what good has come of it?" demanded the patriarch. "Have not the +men of the Mountain fought with the men of the Swamp since the Mountain +and the Swamp came from the hand of the Great Father?" (A pause, and +again, "Yes, yes," from many voices.) "And what good has come of it? +Here is the Mountain; yonder is the Swamp, as they were from the +beginning; and what the better are we that the swamp has been flooded +and the mountain drenched with the blood of our fathers? Hatred has +been tried from the beginning of time, and has failed. Let us now, my +children, try Love, as the Great Father counsels us to do." + +A murmur of decided applause followed the old man's speech, and Ongoloo, +seizing him by both shoulders, gazed earnestly into his withered face. +Had they been Frenchmen, these two would no doubt have kissed each +other's cheeks; if Englishmen, they might have shaken hands warmly; +being Polynesian savages, they rubbed noses. + +Under the influence of this affectionate act, a number of the warriors +ran off, fetched their gods, and threw them on the temple floor. Then +Ongoloo, seizing a brand from the fire, thrust it into the loose +cocoa-nut fibre, and set the pile in a blaze. Quickly the flames leaped +into the temple thatch, and set the whole structure on fire. As the +fire roared and leaped, Waroonga, with Tomeo and Buttchee, started a +hymn. It chanced to be one which Zeppa had already taught the people, +who at once took it up, and sent forth such a shout of praise as had +never before echoed among the palm-groves of that island. It confirmed +the waverers, and thus, under the influence of sympathy, the whole tribe +came that day to be of one mind! + +The sweet strains, rolling over the plains and uplands, reached the +cliffs at last, and struck faintly on the ears of a small group +assembled in a mountain cave. The group consisted of Zeppa and his son, +Ebony and the pirate. + +"It sounds marvellously like a hymn," said Orlando, listening. + +"Ah! dear boy, it is one I taught the natives when I stayed with them," +said Zeppa; "but it never reached so far as this before." + +Poor Zeppa was in his right mind again, but oh! how weak and wan and +thin the raging fever had left him! + +Rosco, who was also reduced to a mere shadow of his former self, +listened to the faint sound with a troubled expression, for it carried +him back to the days of innocence, when he sang it at his mother's knee. + +"Dat's oncommon strange," said Ebony. "Nebber heard de sound come so +far before. Hope de scoundrils no got hold ob grog." + +"Shame on you, Ebony, to suspect such a thing!" said Orlando. "You +would be better employed getting things ready for to-morrow's journey +than casting imputations on our hospitable friends." + +"Dar's not'ing to git ready, massa," returned the negro. "Eberyting's +prepared to start arter breakfust." + +"That's well, and I am sure the change to the seashore will do you good, +father, as well as Rosco. You've both been too long here. The cave is +not as dry as one could wish--and, then, you'll be cheered by the sound +of children playing round you." + +"Yes, it will be pleasant to have Lippy running out and in again," said +Zeppa. + +They did not converse much, for the strength of both Zeppa and Rosco had +been so reduced that they could not even sit up long without exhaustion, +but Orlando kept up their spirits by prattling away on every subject +that came into his mind--and especially of the island of Ratinga. + +While they were thus engaged they heard the sound of rapidly approaching +footsteps, and next moment Tomeo and Buttchee bounded over the bushes, +glaring and panting from the rate at which they had raced up the hill to +tell the wonderful news! + +"Eberyting bu'nt?" exclaimed Ebony, whose eyes and teeth showed so much +white that his face seemed absolutely to sparkle. + +"Everything. Idols and temple!" repeated the two chiefs, in the Ratinga +tongue, and in the same breath. + +"An' nebber gwine to fight no more?" asked Ebony, with a grin, that +might be more correctly described as a split, from ear to ear. + +"Never more!" replied the chiefs. + +Next morning the two invalids were tenderly conveyed on litters down the +mountain side and over the plain, and before the afternoon had passed +away, they found a pleasant temporary resting-place in the now Christian +village. + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +The slopes and knolls and palm-fringed cliffs of Ratinga were tipped +with gold by the western sun one evening as he declined towards his bed +in the Pacific, when Marie Zeppa wandered with Betsy Waroonga and her +brown little daughter Zariffa towards the strip of bright sand in front +of the village. + +The two matrons, besides being filled with somewhat similar anxieties as +to absent ones, were naturally sympathetic, and frequently sought each +other's company. The lively Anglo-French woman, whose vivacity was not +altogether subdued even by the dark cloud that hung over her husband's +fate, took special pleasure in the sedate, earnest temperament of her +native missionary friend, whose difficulty in understanding a joke, +coupled with her inability to control her laughter when, after painful +explanation, she did manage to comprehend one, was a source of much +interest--an under-current, as it were, of quiet amusement. + +"Betsy," said Marie, as they walked slowly along, their naked feet just +laved by the rippling sea, "why do you persist in wearing that absurd +bonnet? If you would only let me cut four inches off the crown and six +off the front, it would be much more becoming. Do let me, there's a +dear. You know I was accustomed to cutting and shaping when in +England." + +"But what for the use?" asked Betsy, turning her large brown eyes +solemnly on her companion. "It no seems too big to me. Besides, when +brudder Gubbins give him to me he--" + +"Who is brudder Gubbins?" asked Marie, with a look of smiling surprise. + +"Oh! _you_ know. The min'ster--Gubbins--what come to the +mission-station just afore me an' Waroonga left for Ratinga." + +"Oh! I see; the Reverend Mr Gubbins--well, what did _he_ say about the +bonnet?" + +"W'at did he say? ah! he say much mor'n I kin remember, an' he look at +the bonnet with's head a one side--so sad an' pitiful like. `Ah! Betsy +Waroonga,' ses he, `this just the thing for you. Put it on an' take it +to Ratinga, it'll press the natives there.'" + +"Impress them, you mean, Betsy." + +"Well, p'raps it was that. Anyhow I put it on, an' he looked at me _so_ +earnest an' ses with a sigh, `Betsy,' ses he, `it minds me o' my +grandmother, an' she _was_ a good old soul--brought me up, Betsy, she +did. Wear it for her sake an' mine. I make a present of it to you.'" + +"Ah! Betsy," said Marie, "the Reverend Gubbins must be a wag, I +suspect." + +"W'at's a wag, Marie?" + +"Don't you know what a wag is?" + +"Oh, yis, _I_ know. When leetil bird sit on a stone an shake hims tail, +I've heerd you an Orley say it wag--but misser Gubbins he got no tail to +wag--so how can he wag it?" + +"I didn't say he wagged it, Betsy," returned Marie, repressing a laugh, +"but--you'll never get to understand what a wag means, so I won't try to +explain. Look! Zariffa is venturesome. You'd better call her back." + +Zariffa was indeed venturesome. Clad in a white flannel petticoat and a +miniature coal-scuttle, she was at that moment wading so deep into the +clear sea that she had to raise the little garment as high as her brown +bosom to keep it out of the water; and with all her efforts she was +unsuccessful, for, with that natural tendency of childhood to forget and +neglect what cannot be seen, she had allowed the rear-part of the +petticoat to drop into the sea. + +This, however, occasioned little or no anxiety to Betsy Waroonga, for +she was not an anxious mother; but when, raising her eyes a little +higher, she beheld the tip of the back-fin of a shark describing lively +circles in the water as if it had scented the tender morsel and were +searching for it, her easy indifference vanished. She gave vent to a +yell and made a bound that told eloquently of the savage beneath the +missionary, and, in another instant was up to the knees in the water +with the coal-scuttle quivering violently. Seizing Zariffa, she +squeezed her almost to the bursting point against her palpitating +breast, while the shark headed seaward in bitter disappointment. + +"Don't go so deep agin, Ziffa," said the mother, with a gasp, as she set +her little one down on the sand. + +"No, musser," said the obedient child; and she kept on the landward side +of her parent thereafter with demonstrative care. + +It may be remarked here that, owing to Waroonga's love for, and +admiration of, white men, Zariffa's native tongue was English--broken, +of course, to the pattern of her parents. + +"It was a narrow escape, Betsy," said Marie, solemnised by the incident. + +"Yes, thank the Lord," replied the other, continuing to gaze out to sea +long after the cause of her alarm had disappeared. + +"Oh! Marie," she added, with a sigh, "when will the dear men come +home?" + +The question drove all the playful humour out of poor Marie, and her +eyes filled with sudden tears. + +"When, indeed? Oh! Betsy, _my_ man will never come. For Orley and the +others I have little fear, but my Antonio--" + +Poor Marie could say no more. Her nature was as quickly, though not as +easily, provoked to deep sorrow as to gaiety. She covered her face with +her hands. + +As she did so the eyes of Betsy, which had for some time been fixed on +the horizon, opened to their widest, and her countenance assumed a look +so deeply solemn that it might have lent a touch of dignity even to the +coal-scuttle bonnet, if it had not bordered just a little too closely on +the ridiculous. + +"Ho! Marie," she exclaimed in a whisper so deep that her friend looked +up with a startled air; "see! look--a sip." + +"A ship--where?" said the other, turning her eager gaze on the horizon. +But she was not so quick-sighted as her companion, and when at length +she succeeded in fixing the object with her eyes, she pronounced it a +gull. + +"No 'snot a gull--a sip," retorted Betsy. + +"Ask Zariffa. Her eyes are better than ours," suggested Marie. + +"Kumeer, Ziffa!" shouted Betsy. + +Zariffa came, and, at the first glance, exclaimed. "A sip!" + +The news spread in a moment for other and sharper eyes in the village +had already observed the sail, and, ere long, the beach was crowded with +natives. + +By that time most of the Ratingans had adopted more or less, chiefly +less, of European costume, so that the aspect of the crowd was anything +but savage. It is true there were large proportions of brown humanity +presented to view--such as arms, legs, necks, and chests, but these were +picturesquely interspersed with striped cotton drawers, duck trousers, +gay guernseys, red and blue flannel petticoats, numerous caps and straw +hats as well as a few coal-scuttles--though none of the latter could +match that of Betsy Waroonga for size and tremulosity. + +But there were other signs of civilisation there besides costume, for, +in addition to the neat huts and gardens and whitewashed church, there +was a sound issuing from the pointed spire which was anything but +suggestive of the South sea savage. It was the church bell--a small +one, to be sure, but sweetly toned--which was being rung violently to +call in all the fighting men from the woods and fields around, for at +that time the Ratingans had to be prepared for the reception of foes as +well as friends. + +A trusty chief had been placed in charge of the village by Tomeo before +he left. This man now disposed his warriors in commanding positions as +they came trooping in, obedient to the call, and bade them keep out of +sight and watch his signals from the beach. + +But now let us see what vessel it was that caused such commotion in +Ratinga. + +She was a brig, with nothing particularly striking in her rig or +appointments--a mere trading vessel. But on her bulwarks at the bow and +on the heel of the bowsprit was gathered a group that well deserves +notice, for there, foremost of all, and towering above the others, stood +Antonio Zeppa, holding on to a forestay, and gazing with intensity and +fixedness at the speck of land which had just been sighted. Beside him, +and not less absorbed, stood his valiant and amiable son; while around, +in various attitudes, sat or stood the chiefs Tomeo and Buttchee, Rosco +and Ebony, Ongoloo and Wapoota, and little Lippy with her mother! + +But the native missionary was not there. He had positively refused to +quit the desert which had so unexpectedly and suddenly begun to blossom +as the rose, and had remained to water the ground until his friends +should send for him. + +The chief and prime minister of the Mountain-men were there because, +being large-minded, they wished to travel and see the world; and Lippy +was there because Zeppa liked her; while the mother was there because +she liked Lippy and refused to be parted from her. + +Great was the change which had come over Zeppa during his convalescence. +The wild locks and beard had been cut and trimmed; the ragged garments +had been replaced by a suit belonging to Orley, and the air of wild +despair, alternating with vacant simplicity, which characterised him in +his days of madness, had given place to the old, sedate, sweet look of +gentle gravity. It is true the grey hairs had increased in number, and +there was a look, or, rather, an effect, of suffering in the fine face +which nothing could remove; but much of the muscular vigour and the +erect gait had been regained during those months when he had been so +carefully and untiringly nursed by his son on Sugar-loaf Island. + +It was not so with the ex-pirate. Poor Rosco was a broken man. The +shock to his frame from the partial burning and the subsequent +amputation of his feet had been so great that a return to anything like +vigour seemed out of the question. But there was that in the expression +of his faded face, and in the light of his sunken eye, which carried +home the conviction that the ruin of his body had been the saving of his +soul. + +"I cannot tell you, Orley, how thankful I am," said Zeppa, "that this +trader happened to touch at the island. As I grew stronger my anxiety +to return home became more and more intense; and to say truth, I had +begun to fear that Captain Fitzgerald had forgotten us altogether." + +"No fear of that, father. The captain is sure to keep his promise. He +will either return, as he said, or send some vessel to look after us. +What are you gazing at, Ebony?" + +"De steepil, massa. Look!" cried the negro, his whole face quivering +with excitement, and the whites of his eyes unusually obtrusive as he +pointed to the ever-growing line of land on the horizon, "you see him?-- +glippering like fire!" + +"I do see something glittering," said Orlando, shading his eyes with his +hand; "yes, it must be the steeple of the church, father. Look, it was +not there when you left us. We'll soon see the houses now." + +"Thank God!" murmured Zeppa, in a deep, tremulous voice. + +"Can you see it, Rosco?" said Orley. + +The pirate turned his eyes languidly in the direction pointed out. + +"I see the land," he said faintly, "and I join your father in thanking +God for that--but--but it is not _home_ to me." + +"Come, friend," said Zeppa, laying his hand gently on the poor man's +shoulder, "say not so. It shall be home to you yet, please God. If He +has blotted out the past in the cleansing blood of the Lamb, what is man +that he should remember it? Cheer up, Rosco, you shall find a home and +a welcome in Ratinga." + +"Always returning good for evil, Zeppa," said Rosco, in a more cheerful +voice. "I think it is this tremendous weakness that crushes my spirits, +but come--I'll try to `cheer up,' as you advise." + +"Dat's right massa!" cried Ebony, in an encouraging tone; "an' jus' look +at the glipperin' steepil. He'll do yous heart good--somet'ing like de +fire in de wilderness to de Jipshins--" + +"To the Israelites you mean," said Orley. + +"Ah, yis--de Izlrights, to be sure. I mis-remembered. Ho! look; dar's +de house-tops now; an' the pine grove whar' we was use to hold palaver +'bout you, Massa, arter you was lost; an'--yis--dat's de house--yous own +house. You see de wife lookin' out o' winder bery soon. I knows it by +de pig-sty close 'longside whar' de big grumper sow libs, dat Ziffa's so +fond o' playin' wid. Ho! Lippy, come here, you little naked ting," (he +caught up the child an' sat her on his broad shoulder). "You see de +small leetil house. Dat's it. Dat's whar' Ziffa lubs to play, but +she'll hab you to play wid soon, an' den she'll forsake de ole sow. Ho! +but I forgit--you no understan' English." + +Hereupon Ebony began to translate his information as he best could into +the language of the little creature, in which effort he was not very +successful, being an indifferent linguist. + +Meanwhile the vessel gradually neared the island, stood into the lagoon, +and, finally, dropped anchor. A boat was at once lowered and made for +the shore. + +And oh! how intensely and intently did those in the boat and those on +the shore gaze at each other as the space between them diminished! + +"They not look like enemies," said Betsy in subdued tones. + +"And I don't think they are armed," returned Marie, with palpitating +heart, "but I cannot yet make out the faces--only, they seem to be +white, some of them." + +"Yis, an' some of 'em's brown." + +Thus--on the shore. In the boat:-- + +"Now den, massa, you sees her--an' ha! ha! dar's Betsy. I'd know her +'mong a t'ousind. You sees de bonnit--tumblin' about like a jollyboat +in a high sea; an' Ziffa too wid de leetil bonnit, all de same shape, +kin you no' see her?" + +Zeppa protested, rather anxiously, that he could _not_ see them, and no +wonder, for just then his eyes were blinded by tears which no amount of +wiping sufficed to clear away. + +At that moment a shriek was heard on shore, and Betsy was seen to +spring, we are afraid to say how many feet, into the air. + +"Dar', she's reco'nised us now!" exclaimed Ebony with delight; and it +was evident that he was right for Betsy continued to caper upon the +sands in a manner that could only be the result of joy or insanity, +while the coal-scuttle beat tempestuously about her head like an enraged +balloon. + +Another moment and a signal from the chief brought the ambushed +Christian warriors pouring down to the shore to see the long-lost and +loved ones reunited, while Ebony ran about in a state of frantic +excitement, weeping copiously, and embracing every one who came in his +way. + +But who shall describe the agony of disappointment endured by poor Betsy +when she found that Waroonga was _not_ among them? the droop of the +spirits, the collapse of the coal-scuttle! Language is impotent. We +leave it to imagination, merely remarking that she soon recovered on the +faith of the happiness which was yet in store for her. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +And now, once again, we find ourselves in the palm-grove of Ratinga +Island. It is a fine autumn afternoon. The air is still as regards +motion, but thrilling with the melody of merry human voices as the +natives labour in the fields, and alive with the twittering of birds as +they make love, quarrel, and make it up again in the bushes. Now and +then a hilarious laugh bursts from a group of children, or a hymn rises +from some grateful heart, for as yet there is no secular music in +Ratinga! + +In the lagoon lies a man-of-war, its sails neatly furled, and its trim +rigging, dark hull, and taper spars, perfectly reproduced in the clear +water. + +As the sun sank lower towards the west, our friend Ebony might have been +seen slowly climbing the side of one of the neighbouring hills with +Richard Rosco, the ex-pirate, on his back. + +"Set me down now, my friend," said Rosco, "you are far too good to me; +and let me know what it is you have to say to me. You have quite roused +my curiosity by your nods and mysterious manner. Out with it now, +whatever it is." + +The negro had placed Rosco in such a position on a ledge of rock that he +could see the lagoon and the ship at anchor. + +The ex-pirate had by that time recovered some of his former strength, +and, although there rested on his countenance an air of profound +sadness, there mingled with it a hue of returning health, which none who +saw him land had expected to see again. But the care of gentle hands +and the power of gladsome emotions had wrought miraculously on the man, +body and soul. + +"I's heerd massa an' Cappin Fizzroy talkin' about you," said the negro, +crossing his arms on his chest and regarding his questioner with a +somewhat quizzical expression. + +"Ha! I thought so. I am _wanted_, eh?" + +"Well, yis, you's wanted, but you's not getted yet--so far as I knows." + +"Ah! Ebony," returned Rosco, shaking his head, "I have long expected +it, and now I am prepared to meet my deserved fate like a man--I may +humbly say, a Christian man, thanks to God the Saviour and Zeppa the +instrument. But, tell me, what did the commander of the man-of-war +say?" + +"What did he say? Well, I's tell you. Fust he hoed into massa's house +an' shook hands with missis, also wid Missis Waroonga wot happined to be +wid her, an' hims so frindly dat he nigh shookt de bonnit off her head. +Den dey talk 'bout good many t'ings, an' after a while de cappin turn +full on massa, an say,-- + +"`I's told Missr Zeppa dat you's got dat willain Rosco de pirit here.' + +"Ho! you should hab see poor massa's face how it grow long, I most t'ink +it also grow a leetil pale, an' missis she give a squeak what she +couldn't help, an' Betsy she giv' a groan an' jump up, slap on hers +bonnit, back to de front, an' begin to clar out, but de cappin jump up +an' stop her. `Many apologies,' ses de hipperkrit `for stoppin' a lady, +but I don't want any alarm given. You know dat de pirit's life am +forfitid to his country, so ob course you'll gib him up.'" + +"And what said Zeppa to that?" asked Rosco eagerly. + +"I's just a-goin' to tell you, massa. You see I's in de back kishen at +de time an' hear ebery word. `Well,' ses massa, awful slow an' +unwillin' like, `I cannot deny that Rosco is in the island, but I do +assure you, sir, that he is quite unable to do any furder mischief to +any one, for--an massa stop all of a suddint.' + +"`Well,' ses de cappin, `why you not go on?' + +"`Has you a description of him?' he asked. + +"`Oh! yes,' ses de cappin, drawin' out a paper an' readin' it. De bery +ting, as like you it was as two pease, even to de small mole on side ob +you's nose, but it say not'ing 'bout you's feet. Clarly he nebber heerd +ob dat an' massa he notice dat, seems to me, for he ses, `Well, Cappin +Fizzerald, it may be your duty to seize dis pirit and deliber him up to +justice, but it's no duty ob mine to help you.' + +"`Oh! as to dat,' ses de cappin, `I'll easily find him widout your +assistance. I have a party of men with me, and no one knows or even +suspects de reason ob my visit. But all of you who now hear me mus' +promise not to say a word about this matter till my search is over. I +believe you to be an honourable Christian man, Zeppa, who cannot break +his word; may these ladies be relied on?' + +"`Dey may,' ses massa, in a voice ob woe dat a'most made me cry. So +w'en I hear dat I tink's to myself, `oh! you British hipperkrit, you's +not so clebber as you t'inks, for Ebony's got to wind'ard ob you,' an' +wid dat I slips out ob do back winder an' run to you's cottage, an' ask +if you'd like to have a ride on my back as usual, an' you say yis, an'-- +now you's here, an' I dessay de cappin's lookin' for you." + +"It is very kind of you, Ebony," said Rosco, with a deep sigh and a +shake of the head, "very kind, both of you and Zeppa, but your efforts +cannot now avail me. Just consider. If the description of me possessed +by Captain Fitzgerald is as faithful and minute as you say, the mere +absence of my feet could not deceive him. Besides, when I am found, if +the commander of the man-of-war asks me my name I will not deny it, I +will give myself up." + +"But if you do dey will hang you!" said Ebony in a somewhat exasperated +tone. + +"Even so. It is my fate--and deserved." + +"But it would be murder to hang a innercent man what's bin reformed, an' +don't mean for to do no more mischief--not on'y so, but _can't_!" + +"I fear you won't get the broken law to look at it in that light, +Ebony." + +"Broken law! what does I care for de broken law? But tell me, massa, +hab you make up you's mind to gib youself up?" + +"I have," returned Rosco sadly. + +"Quite sure an' sartin'?" + +"Quite," returned Rosco, with a faint smile at the poor negro's +persistency. + +"Well, den, you come an' hab a last ride on my back. Surely you no kin +refuse so small a favour to dis yar black hoss w'ats carried you so of +in, afore you die!" + +"Of course not, my poor fellow! but to what purpose--of what use will it +be to delay matters? It will only prolong the captain's search +needlessly." + +"Oh! nebber mind. Der's good lot o' huts in de place to keep de +hipperkrit goin'. Plenty ob time for a last leetil ride. Besides, I +want you to see a place I diskiver not long ago--most koorious place-- +you nebber see." + +"Come along, then," said Rosco, thinking it right to humour one who had +been more like a brother than a servant to him during his long illness, +"stoop down. Now, then, heave!" + +In a twinkling Rosco was on the back of his "black horse," which carried +him a considerable distance in among the hills. + +"Ah! Ebony," said the rider at last, "I feel sure you are deceiving +me--that you hope to conceal me here, but it is of no use, I tell you, +for I won't remain concealed." + +"No, massa, I not deceive you. I bring you here to show you de stronary +place I hab diskiver, an ax you what you t'ink ob him." + +"Well, show it me quickly, and then let us hasten home." + +Without replying, the negro clambered up a somewhat steep and rugged +path which brought them to the base of a low precipice which was +partially fringed with bushes. Pushing one of these aside, he entered a +small cavern not much larger than a sentry-box, which seemed to have no +outlet; but Ebony, placing his right foot on a projection of rock just +large enough to receive it, raised himself upwards so as to place his +left foot on another projection, which enabled him to get on what +appeared to be a shelf of rock. Rising up, he entered another cavern. + +"A strange place truly, but very dark," said Rosco; "does it extend +far?" + +"You'll see, jus' now," muttered the negro, obtaining a light by means +of flint and steel, with which he kindled a torch. "You see I's bin +'splorin' here before an' got t'ings ready." + +So saying, he carried Rosco through several winding passages until he +gained a cavern so large and high, that the torch was unable to reveal +either its extent or its roof. + +"Wonderful! why did you not tell us of this place before, Ebony?" + +"'Cause I on'y just diskiver him, 'bout a week past. I t'ink him +splendid place for hide our wimen an childers in, if we's iver 'tacked +by savages. See, I even make some few preparations--got straw in de +corner for lie on--soon git meat an' drink if him's required." + +"Very suitable indeed, but if you have brought me here to hide, as I +still suspect, my poor fellow, you have troubled yourself in vain, for +my mind is made up." + +"Dat's berry sad, massa, berry sad," returned Ebony, with a deep sigh, +"but you no object sit on de straw for a bit an' let me rest. Dere now. +You's growin' heavier every day, massa. I stick de torch here for +light. Look, here you see I hab a few t'ings. Dis is one bit ob rope +wid a loop on him." + +"And what may that be for?" asked Rosco, with some curiosity. + +"For tie up our enemies when we's catch dem. Dis way, you understan'." + +As he spoke, Ebony passed the loop over Rosco's shoulders and drew it +tight so as to render his arms powerless, and before the latter realised +what he was about his legs were also securely bound. + +"Surely you do not mean to keep me here by force!" cried Rosco angrily. + +"I's much afraid, massa, dat's zactly what I mean!" + +"Come, come, Ebony, you have carried this jest far enough. Unbind me!" + +"Berry sorry to disoblige you, massa, but dat's impossible just now." + +"I command you, sir, to undo this rope!" cried Rosco fiercely. + +"Dere's a good deal ob de ole ring about dat, sar, but you's not a pirit +cappen now, an' I ain't one ob de pirit crew." + +Rosco saw at once the absurdity of giving way to anger, and restrained +himself. + +"But you cannot restrain my voice, Ebony," he continued, "and I promise +you that I will shout till I am heard." + +"Shout away, massa, much as you please. Bu'st you's lungs if you like, +for you's in de bow'ls ob de hill here." + +Rosco felt that he was in the negro's powers and remained silent. + +"I's berry sorry to leave you tied up," said Ebony, rising to quit the +place, "but when men is foolish like leetil boys, dey must be treat de +same. De straw will keep you comf'rable. I daren't leave de torch, but +I'll soon send you food by a sure messenger, and come back myself soon +as iver I can." + +"Stay, Ebony, I'm at your mercy, and as no good can come of my remaining +bound, I must give in. Will you unbind me if I promise to remain +quiet?" + +"Wid pleasure," said the negro cheerfully, as his glistening teeth +showed themselves. "You promise to wait here till I come for you?" + +"I promise." + +"An' you promise not to shout?" + +"I do." + +In a moment the rope was cast off, and Rosco was free. Then Ebony, +bidding him keep up his heart, glided out of the cavern and left him in +profound darkness. + +Captain Fitzgerald searched the island high and low, far and wide, +without success, being guided during the search chiefly by Ebony. + +That wily negro, on returning to the village, found that the search had +already begun. The captain had taken care that no one, save those to +whom he had already spoken, should know what or who he was searching +for, so that the pirate might not be prematurely alarmed. Great, +therefore, was his surprise when he was accosted by the negro, and asked +in a mysterious manner to step aside with him out of ear-shot of the +sailors who assisted him. + +"What have you got to say to me, my man?" he asked, when they had gone a +few yards into the palm-grove. + +"You's lookin' for the pirit!" said Ebony in a hoarse whisper, and with +a superhumanly intelligent gaze. + +"Why, how came _you_ to know that?" asked the captain, somewhat +perplexed and thrown off his guard. + +"Ho! ho!" laughed Ebony in a subdued voice, "how I comes to know dat, +eh? I come to knows many t'ings by putting dis an' dat togider. You's +cappen ob man-ob-war. Well, you no comes here for notting. Well, Rosco +de pirit, de horroble scoundril, hims lib here. Ob course you come for +look for him. Hofficers ob de Brish navy got notting else to do but +kotch an' hang sitch varmints. Eh? I's right?" + +"Well, no," returned Captain Fitzgerald, laughing, "not altogether right +as to the duties of officers of the British navy. However, you're right +as to _my_ object, and I see that this pirate is no friend of yours." + +"No friend, oh! no--not at all. Him's far more nor dat. I lub him as a +brudder," said the negro with intense energy. + +Captain Fitzgerald laughed again, for he supposed that the negro spoke +ironically, and Ebony extended his thick lips from ear to ear because he +foresaw and intended that the captain would fall into that mistake. + +"Now you lose no time in sarch for him," said Ebony, "an' dis yar nigger +will show you de way." + +"Do, my fine fellow, and when we find him, I'll not forget your +services." + +"You's berry good, a'most too good," said Ebony, with an affectionate +look at his new employer. + +So, as we have said, the village and island were searched high and low +without success. At last, while the searching party was standing, +baffled, on the shore farthest from the village, Captain Fitzgerald +stopped abruptly, and looking Zeppa in the face, exclaimed, "Strange, is +it not? and the island so small, comparatively." + +"Quite unaccountable," answered Zeppa, who, with his son, had at last +joined in the search out of sheer anxiety as to Rosco's fate. + +"Most perplexing!" said Orlando. + +"Most amazin'!" murmured Ebony, with a look of disappointment that +baffles description. + +Suddenly the negro pointed to the beach, exclaiming, "Oh! I knows it +now! Look dare. You see two small canoes? Dere wor _tree_ canoes dare +yisterday. De t'ird wan am _dare_ now. Look!" + +They all looked eagerly at the horizon, where a tiny speck was seen. It +might have been a gull or an albatross. + +"Impossible," said Zeppa. "Where could he hope to escape to in that +direction--no island within a thousand miles?" + +"A desprit man doos anyt'ing, massa." + +"Well. I shall soon find out, for the wind blows in that direction," +said the captain, wheeling about and returning to his ship. + +Soon the sails were spread, the anchor weighed, the coral reef passed, +and the good ship was leaping merrily over the sea in pursuit of the +pirate, while Ebony was seated on the straw beside Rosco, expanding his +mouth to an extent that it had never reached before, and causing the +cavern to ring with uproarious laughter. + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +It need scarcely be said that the man-of-war did not overtake the +pirate's canoe! + +She cruised about for some days in the hope of falling in with it. Then +her course was altered, and she was steered once more for Ratinga. But +the elements seemed to league with Ebony in this matter, for, ere she +sighted the island, there burst upon her one of those tremendous +hurricanes with which the southern seas are at times disturbed. So +fierce was the tempest that the good ship was obliged to present her +stern to the howling blast, and scud before it under bare poles. + +When the wind abated, Captain Fitzgerald found himself so far from the +scene of his recent visit, and so pressed for time, as well as with the +claims of other duties--possibly, according to Ebony, the capturing and +hanging of other pirates--that he resolved to postpone his visit until a +more convenient season. The convenient season never came. Captain +Fitzgerald returned home to die, and with him died the memory of Rosco +the pirate--at least as far as public interest in his capture and +punishment was concerned--for some of the captain's papers were mislaid +and lost and among them the personal description of the pirate, and the +account of his various misdeeds. + +But Rosco himself did not die. He lived to prove the genuine nature of +his conversion, and to assist Waroonga in his good work. As it is just +possible that some reader may doubt the probability--perhaps even the +possibility--of such a change, we recommend him to meditate on the fact +that Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor, became Paul, the loving Apostle of +the Lord. + +One morning, not long after the events just narrated, Zeppa came to +Rosco's hut with a bundle under his arm. He was followed by Marie, +Betsy, Zariffa, and Lippy with her mother. By that time Lippy had been +provided with a bonnet similar to that of her friend Ziffa, and her +mother had been induced to mount a flannel petticoat, which she wore +tied round her neck or her waist, as her fancy or her forgetfulness +inclined her. The party had accompanied Zeppa to observe the effect of +this bundle on Rosco. + +That worthy was seated on a low couch constructed specially for him by +Ebony. He was busy reading. + +"Welcome, friends all," he said, with a look of surprise at the +deputation-like visit. + +"We have come to present you with a little gift, Rosco," said Zeppa, +unrolling the bundle and holding up to view a couple of curious +machines. + +"Wooden legs!" exclaimed Rosco with something between a gasp and a +laugh. + +"That's what they are, Rosco. We have been grieved to see you creeping +about in such a helpless fashion, and dependent on Ebony, or some other +strong-backed fellow, when you wanted to go any distance, so Orlando and +I have put our heads together, and produced a pair of legs." + +While he was speaking the on-lookers gazed in open-eyed-and-mouthed +expectancy, for they did not feel quite sure how their footless friend +would receive the gift. + +"It is kind, _very_ kind of you," he said, on recovering from his +surprise; "but how am I to fix them on? there's no hole to shove the +ends of my poor legs into." + +"Oh! you don't shove your legs into them at all," said Zeppa; "you've +only got to go on your knees into them--see, this part will fit your +knees pretty well--then you strap them on, make them fast, and away you +go. Let's try them." + +To the delight of the women and children, Rosco was quite as eager to +try on the legs as they were to see him do it. The bare idea of being +once more able to walk quite excited the poor man, and his hands +trembled as he tried to assist his friend in fixing them. + +"Keep your hands away altogether," said Zeppa; "you only delay me. +There now, they're as tight as two masts. Hold on to me while I raise +you up." + +At that moment Tomeo, Buttchee, Ebony, Ongoloo, Wapoota, and Orlando +came upon the scene. + +"What a shame, father," cried the latter, "to begin without letting us +know!" + +"Ah! Orley, I'm sorry you have found us at it. Marie and I had planned +giving you a surprise by making Rosco walk up to you." + +"Never mind," cried Rosco impatiently; "just set me on my pins, and I'll +soon walk into him. Now then, hoist away!" + +Orley and his father each seized an arm, and next moment Rosco stood up. + +"Now den, don' hurry him--hurrah!" cried Ebony, giving a cheer of +encouragement. + +"Have a care, friends; don't let me go," said Rosco anxiously, clutching +his supporters' necks with a convulsive grasp. "I'll never do it, +Zeppa. I feel that if you quit me for an instant, I shall go down like +a shot." + +"No fear. Here, cut him a staff, Ebony," said Zeppa; "that'll be equal +to three legs, you know, and even a stool can stand alone with three +legs." + +The staff was cut and handed to the learner, who, planting it firmly on +the ground before him, leaned on it, and exclaimed, "Let go!" in tones +which instantly suggested "the anchor" to his friends. + +The order was obeyed, and the ex-pirate stood swaying to and fro, and +smiling with almost childlike delight. Presently he became solemn, +lifted one leg, and set it down again with marvellous rapidity. Then he +lifted the other leg with the same result. Then he lifted the staff, +but had to replace it smartly to prevent falling forward. + +"I fear I can only do duty as a motionless tripod," he said rather +anxiously. + +"Nebber fear, massa--oh! Look out!" + +The latter exclamation was caused by Rosco falling backwards; to prevent +which catastrophe he made a wild flourish with his arms, and a sweep +with his staff, which just grazed the negro's cheek. Zeppa, however, +caught him in his arms, and set him up again. + +"Now then, try once more," he said encouragingly. + +Rosco tried, and in the course of half-an-hour managed, with many a +stagger and upheaval of the arms and staff to advance about eight or ten +yards. At this point, however, he chanced to place the end of the right +leg on a soft spot of ground. Down it went instantly to the knee, and +over went the learner on his side, snapping the leg short off in the +fall! + +It would be difficult to paint the general disappointment at this sudden +collapse of the experiment. A united groan burst from the party, +including the patient, for it at once became apparent that a man with a +wooden leg--to say nothing of two--could only walk on a hard beaten +path, and as there were few such in the island, Rosco's chance of a long +ramble seemed to vanish. But Zeppa and his son were not men to be +easily beaten. They set to work to construct feet for the legs, which +should be broad enough to support their friend on softish ground, and +these were so arranged with a sort of ball-and-socket joint, that the +feet could be moved up and down. In theory this worked admirably; in +practice it failed, for after a staggering step or two, the toes having +been once raised refused to go down, and thus was produced the curious +effect of a man stumping about on his heels! To overcome this +difficulty the heels of the feet were made to project almost as much +behind as the toes did in front somewhat after the pattern of Ebony's +pedal arrangements, as Rosco remarked when they were being fitted on for +another trial. At last, by dint of perseverance, the wooden legs were +perfected, and Rosco re-acquired the art of walking to such perfection, +that he was to be seen, almost at all times and in all weathers, +stumping about the village, his chief difficulty being that when he +chanced to fall, which he often did, he was obliged either to get some +one to help him up, or to crawl home; for, being unable to get his knees +to the ground when the legs were on, he was obliged to unstrap them if +no one was within hail. + +Now, during all this time, Betsy Waroonga remained quite inconsolable +about her husband. + +"But my dear, you know he is quite safe," her friend Marie Zeppa would +say to her, "for he is doing the Master's work among Christian men." + +"I knows that," Betsy would reply, "an' I'm comforted a leetle when I +think so; but what for not Zeppa git a canoe ready an' take me to him? +A missionary not worth nothing without hees wife." + +Marie sympathised heartily with this sentiment, but pointed out that it +was too long and dangerous a voyage to be undertaken in a canoe, and +that it was probable the mission ship would revisit Ratinga ere long, in +which case the voyage could be undertaken in comfort and safety. + +But Betsy did not believe in the danger of a canoe voyage, nor in the +speedy arrival of the mission ship. In fact she believed in nothing at +that time, save in her own grief and the hardness of her case. She +shook her head, and the effect on the coal-scuttle, which had now become +quite palsied with age and hard service, was something amazing, insomuch +that Marie's sympathy merged irresistibly into mirth. + +The good woman's want of faith, however, received a rebuke not many +weeks later. + +She was hastening, one afternoon, to an outlying field to gather +vegetables in company with Zariffa, who had by that time grown into a +goodly-sized girl. + +The pace induced silence, also considerable agitation in both bonnets. +When they had cleared the village, and reached Rosco's hut near the +entrance to the palm-grove, they went up to the open door and looked in, +but no one was there. + +"He's hoed out to walk," observed Zariffa with a light laugh; "awful +fond o' walkin' since he got the 'ooden legs!" + +"What was you want with him?" asked Betsy, as they resumed their walk. + +"Want to ask 'bout the Bibil lesson for to-morrow. Some things me no +can understan', an' Rosco great at the Bibil now." + +"Yes," murmured Betsy with a nod, "there's many things in the Bibil not +easy to understand. Takes a deal o' study, Ziffa, to make him out. +Your father always say that. But Rosco's fuss-rate at 'splainin' of +'em. Fuss-rate--so your father say. Him was born for a mis'nary." + +At that moment a cry was heard in the distance. They had been ascending +a winding path leading to the field to which they were bound. + +"Sounds like man in distress," said Betsy, breaking into a run with that +eager alacrity which usually characterises the sympathetic. + +Zariffa replied not, but followed her mother. The cry was repeated, and +at once recognised as being uttered by the man who was "born for a +mis'nary," but had mistaken his profession when he became a pirate! +When they reached the spot whence it had apparently issued, the +mis'nary, or ex-pirate, was nowhere to be seen. + +"Hooroo! whar' is you?" shouted Betsy, looking round. + +"Here!" cried a half-smothered voice from somewhere in the earth. + +"Oh! look!" exclaimed Zariffa in a sort of squeal as she ran towards a +spot where two strange plants seemed to have sprung up. + +"Rosco's legs!" said Betsy, aghast. + +And she was right. The venturesome man had, with his accustomed +hardihood, attempted that day to scale the mountain side, and had fallen +into a hole by the side of the track, from which he could by no means +extricate himself, because of its being a tightish fit, his head being +down and his legs were in the air. + +"Oh, Betsy, pull me out lass! I'm half-choked already," gasped the +unfortunate man. + +But Betsy could not move him, much less pull him out, although heartily +assisted by her daughter. + +"Run, Ziffa, run an' fetch men!" + +Ziffa ran like a hunted deer, so anxious was she for the deliverance of +her Bible instructor. On turning sharp round a bend in the track, she +plunged into the bosom of Ebony. + +"Ho! hi! busted I am; why, what's de matter, Ziffa? you travel like a +cannon-ball!" + +As he spoke, Zeppa and his son, who had been walking behind Ebony, came +up. The panting child only replied, "Rosco--queek!" and ran before them +to the fatal spot. Need we say that in a few moments the "born +mis'nary" was drawn like a cork out of a bottle, and set down right end +up? Then they carried him to a clear space, whence the sea was visible, +condoling with him as they went; but here all thought of the accident +and of everything else was banished, for the moment by the sight of a +ship on the horizon! + +It turned out to be the mission-vessel with supplies, and with a young +native missionary, or Bible-reader; and thus, in a few days, not only +Betsy Waroonga, but Ongoloo and Wapoota, with Lippy and her mother and +Orlando, were enabled to return to Sugar-loaf Island. + +The joy of the Sugarlovians at the return of their chiefs and friends is +not to be described, for, despite the assurances of Waroonga, they had +begun to grow uneasy. Neither is it possible to describe the condition +of the coal-scuttle bonnet after it had been crushed in the reckless +embrace of Betsy's spouse, nor the delight of the uncles, aunts, +brothers, cousins, nieces, and nephews of Lippy, when they got her safe +back again, though awfully disguised by the miniature coal-scuttle and +flaming petticoat. + +By that time the Mountain-men and the Raturans had rubbed noses, +intermingled, intermarried, broken bows and spears, buried the +war-hatchet and otherwise made up their minds, like sane creatures, to +dwell in peace; for savages come to this condition sometimes--civilised +nations never do! Great, therefore, was their satisfaction when their +mourning, at the prospect of losing Waroonga, was turned into joy by the +decision of the young native teacher, who volunteered to take his place +and remain with them as their permanent instructor in the way of +Righteousness. + +A dance was proposed by some of the chiefs as an appropriate way of +expressing their joy and getting rid of superfluous energy; but as their +only dance was a war-dance, it was thought better to celebrate the +occasion by a grand feast which, being preceded by games--wrestling, +jumping, and running, etcetera--served the purpose equally well--if not +better. + +Thus was an island won from heathenism in those far off southern seas! + +And now, what shall we say in conclusion? Time and space would fail us, +were we to continue the history of Ratinga island down to the present +time. We can only add that Waroonga and Betsy returned home, that a +stalwart son of Tomeo went in after years, to Sugar-loaf Island, and +carried off Lippy as his bride, along with her mother; that a handsome +son of Ongoloo took revenge by carrying Zariffa away from Ratinga, +without her mother; that regular and frequent intercourse was set up +between the two islands by means of a little schooner; that Ebony stuck +to his master and mistress through thick and thin to a good old age; +that Orlando went to England, studied medicine, and returned again to +Ratinga with a fair daughter of that favoured land; that Wapoota's +morals improved by degrees; that Buttchee became more reconciled to +European dress as he grew older; and that the inhabitants of the two +islands generally became wiser and happier--though of course not +perfect--through the benign influence of that Gospel which teaches man +to do to others as he would have others do to him. + +Time, as usual, continued to work his marvellous changes as the years +flew by, but of all the transformations he wrought none was so striking +as that produced in two men of Ratinga, who daily sat down, side by +side, in front of their cottage by the sea, to watch a host of children +of all ages, sizes, and complexions, which gambolled merrily on the +sands. These men were old and somewhat feeble, with hair like the +driven snow, but their gentle expressions and ready smiles told of +eternal youth within. As the one sat with his colossal frame still +erect though spare, talking softly to his comrade, and the other sat +slightly bent, with eyes gazing sometimes at the children, and sometimes +at his wooden toes, how difficult how almost impossible, to believe +that, in former days, the one had been the madman, and the other the +pirate! + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Madman and the Pirate, by R.M. 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