The steamer was now about two miles from the cape, which she was rapidly nearing. At this moment the sun disappeared below the horizon. With the first shadows of night, all hope of being seen had to be given up.
G.o.dfrey again, with no more success, began to raise and lower his flag.
There was no reply.
He then fired his gun two or three times, but the distance was still great, and the wind did not set in that direction! No report would be heard on board!
The night gradually came on; soon the steamer"s hull grew invisible.
Doubtless in another hour she would have pa.s.sed Phina Island.
G.o.dfrey, not knowing what to do, thought of setting fire to a group of resinous trees which grew at the back of Flag Point. He lighted a heap of dry leaves with some gunpowder, and then set light to the group of pines, which flared up like an enormous torch.
But no fire on the ship answered to the one on the land, and G.o.dfrey returned sadly to Will Tree, feeling perhaps more desolate than he had ever felt till then.
CHAPTER XVI.
IN WHICH SOMETHING HAPPENS WHICH CANNOT FAIL TO SURPRISE THE READER.
To G.o.dfrey the blow was serious. Would this unexpected chance which had just escaped him ever offer again? Could he hope so? No! The indifference of the steamer as she pa.s.sed in sight of the island, without even taking a look at it, was obviously shared in by all the vessels venturing in this deserted portion of the Pacific. Why should they put into port more than she had done? The island did not possess a single harbour.
G.o.dfrey pa.s.sed a sorrowful night. Every now and then jumping up as if he heard a cannon out at sea, he would ask himself if the steamer had not caught sight of the huge fire which still burnt on the coast, and if she were not endeavouring to answer the signal by a gun-shot?
G.o.dfrey listened. It was only an illusion of his over-excited brain.
When the day came, he had come to look upon the apparition of the ship as but a dream, which had commenced about three o"clock on the previous afternoon.
But no! He was only too certain that a ship had been in sight of Phina Island, maybe within two miles of it, and certainly she had not put in.
Of this deception G.o.dfrey said not a word to Tartlet. What was the good of talking about it? Besides, his frivolous mind could not see more than twenty-four hours ahead. He was no longer thinking of the chances of escaping from the island which might offer. He no longer imagined that the future had great things in store for them. San Francisco was fading out of his recollection. He had no sweetheart waiting for him, no Uncle Will to return to. If at this end of the world he could only commence a course of lessons on dancing, his happiness would be complete--were it only with one pupil.
If the professor dreamt not of immediate danger, such as to compromise his safety in this island--bare, as it was, of wild beasts and savages--he was wrong. This very day his optimism was to be put to a rude test.
About four o"clock in the afternoon Tartlet had gone, according to his custom, to collect some oysters and mussels, on that part of the sh.o.r.e behind Flag Point, when G.o.dfrey saw him coming back as fast as his legs could carry him to Will Tree. His hair stood on end round his temples. He looked like a man in flight, who dared not turn his head to the right or to the left.
"What is the matter?" shouted G.o.dfrey, not without alarm, running to meet his companion.
"There! there!" answered Tartlet, pointing with his finger towards the narrow strip of sea visible to the north between the trees.
"But what is it?" asked G.o.dfrey, whose first movement was to run to the edge of the sequoias.
"A canoe!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "A Canoe!" _page 181_]
"A canoe?"
"Yes! Savages! Quite a fleet of savages! Cannibals, perhaps!"
G.o.dfrey looked in the direction pointed out.
It was not a fleet, as the distracted Tartlet had said; but he was only mistaken about the quant.i.ty.
In fact, there was a small vessel gliding through the water, now very calm, about half-a-mile from the coast, so as to double Flag Point.
"And why should they be cannibals?" asked G.o.dfrey, turning towards the professor.
"Because in Crusoe Islands," answered Tartlet, "there are always cannibals, who arrive sooner or later."
"Is it not a boat from some merchant-ship?"
"From a ship?"
"Yes. From a steamer which pa.s.sed here yesterday afternoon, in sight of our island?"
"And you said nothing to me about it!" exclaimed Tartlet, lifting his hands to the sky.
"What good should I have done?" asked G.o.dfrey. "Besides, I thought that the vessel had disappeared! But that boat might belong to her! Let us go and see!"
G.o.dfrey ran rapidly back to Will Tree, and, seizing his gla.s.s, returned to the edge of the trees.
He then examined with extreme attention the little vessel, which would ere then have perceived the flag on Flag Point as it fluttered in the breeze.
The gla.s.s fell from his hands.
"Savages! Yes! They are really savages!" he exclaimed.
Tartlet felt his knees knock together, and a tremor of fright ran through his body.
It was a vessel manned by savages which G.o.dfrey saw approaching the island. Built like a Polynesian canoe, she carried a large sail of woven bamboo; an outrigger on the weather side kept her from capsizing as she heeled down to the wind.
G.o.dfrey easily distinguished the build of the vessel. She was a proa, and this would indicate that Phina Island was not far from Malaysia. But they were not Malays on board; they were half-naked blacks, and there were about a dozen of them.
The danger of being found was thus great. G.o.dfrey regretted that he had hoisted the flag, which had not been seen by the ship, but would be by these black fellows. To take it down now would be too late.
It was, in truth, very unfortunate. The savages had probably come to the island thinking it was uninhabited, as indeed it had been before the wreck of the _Dream_. But there was the flag, indicating the presence of human beings on the coast! How were they to escape them if they landed?
G.o.dfrey knew not what to do. Anyhow his immediate care must be to watch if they set foot on the island. He could think of other things afterwards.
With his gla.s.s at his eye he followed the proa; he saw it turn the point of the promontory, then run along the sh.o.r.e and then approach the mouth of the small stream, which, two miles up, flowed past Will Tree.
If the savages intended to paddle up the river, they would soon reach the group of sequoias--and nothing could hinder them. G.o.dfrey and Tartlet ran rapidly back to their dwelling. They first of all set about guarding them selves against surprise, and giving themselves time to prepare their defence.
At least that is what G.o.dfrey thought of. The ideas of the professor took quite a different turn.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "It is destiny! This is as it was written? We could not escape it! You cannot be a Crusoe without a canoe coming to your island, without cannibals appearing one day or another! Here we have been for only three months, and there they are already! a.s.suredly, neither Defoe, nor De Wyss exaggerated matters! You can make yourself a Crusoe, if you like!"