"Ahoy, there--ahoy!"
A startling response came in a long, quivering wail out of the dark sea.
"By the lord," muttered the captain, "what"s that?"
"Jackal," said Mr. Hume.
"Impossible! We are miles from the sh.o.r.e."
"Jackal, sure enough. Maybe sent adrift by a flood, and taken to a tree."
The captain laughed. "I thought it was a hoodoo at least. Well, lad"--turning to Venning--"you don"t want me to pick up a creature like that?"
"I don"t think it is far away, sir. I think I see a tree or boat, and if you would lower me over the bows and ease the vessel----"
"Well?"
"Perhaps I could pick it up."
"You are not afraid of being bitten?"
"I think it would know I meant it good."
The skipper laughed good-humouredly. "Well, you"re a plucky lad, and, at any rate, I"d not be losing time." He touched the bell, and motioned to the steersman. The ship slowed down and came round. "Mr.
Bobbins, just sling this young gentleman over the port-bows, and have a light lowered. Do you still stick to your bargain?"
Venning answered by sliding off the bridge and climbing up into the bows, where a knot of sailors had gathered at the gangway. A rope was looped round his thigh, so as to give his arms play, and two men stood to pay him over and down.
"Here she is!" sang out the mate.
The bell rang out, "Stop her," and Venning went over, catching the rope above his head with his left hand, and taking a turn round with his right foot. There was a sc.r.a.ping sound against the side of the vessel.
"I"ve got hold," he shouted. "It"s a tree--no, a boat." Then, "By Jove!"
"What is it?" cried several together, excited by the startled exclamation.
"Lower the light!" The lantern sank over the side, but those above could not see well because of the bulge of the hull.
"Now lower me. I shall get in and make fast."
"Take care!" cried Mr. Hume.
"Look out for the sharks, sir," sang out a sailor. "There"s one coming up."
"Lower away, please--quick!"
The men lowered. "That"s right. I"m in the boat, or whatever it is.
Now let down the lantern."
Those leaning over the side saw Venning reach up for the lantern, and then they heard a snarling and snapping.
"Stand ready to haul in!" cried the captain. "That brute will attack the boy. One of you men go down."
The snarling continued, mingled with soothing cries from Venning; and then the weird howl burst forth anew, daunting the sailor who was carrying out the captain"s order.
The mate stepped forward. "Stand aside!" he cried, and swung himself over and down. He reached Venning"s side, and they saw him peering about him.
"By thunder!" he muttered.
"What is it?" demanded the captain, irritably. "D"ye expect me to spend the whole night here?"
"A minute, sir. Let over a running tackle, and we"ll have the whole thing aboard."
"Lively there! Lower the tackle, and don"t stand staring with your mouths open. Swing out those davits."
The davits swung out, the tackle ran through the pulleys into the water with a splash, and the mate shifted the unknown craft, with its mysterious freight, amidships. A few moments he occupied in getting the tackle into position.
"Haul in!" he shouted.
"Heave!" roared the captain, in a state of high excitement; and the sailors, wrought up to a pitch, heaved with a will.
The captain, Mr. Hume, and Compton, peering over the side, saw a long, narrow canoe rising up, with the forms of the mate and Venning standing amidships, and some huddled object aft.
The canoe swung clear of the rails, the tackle was made fast, the davits swung in, and then the canoe was slowly lowered to the main deck.
"Why, it"s a man," shouted Compton.
"And a dog," muttered the sailors, falling back. "With a mouthful of teeth."
The mate and Venning stepped out as the canoe reached the deck, and the mate turned the lantern full on the huddled group, showing a jackal, with raised mane and bared teeth, crouching over the prostrate form of a man, whose teeth also were bared, and whose eyes seemed to glare with the same fury that showed in the flaming green eyes of the animal.
"What a pair of demons!"
"The man is gagged and bound, captain," said Venning. "If the cook will bring a piece of meat for the jackal, I think I can get to the man without trouble."
"You"ve done very well, Venning," said Mr. Hume, quietly. "Leave this matter to me; it is more in my line."
With his eyes on the jackal, he placed his hand on the side of the canoe and moved forward gently while he spoke in Kaffir. "Peace, little friend," were his words, as he afterwards explained to the amazed captain. "We are hunters both, eh? We know each other, eh?
There is no harm in me towards you. You know it, little hunter; you know it well."
It was strange to hear the deep accents of an unknown tongue, strange to see a man using speech in complete gravity to a wild animal, but stranger than all to note the effect on the animal itself.
At first the red mouth opened wide and the green eyes flamed up, but as the strong hand crept nearer, the glare went out under the steady gaze of the man"s tawny eyes, and next, with a whimper, the jackal crept forward on its stomach, till the sharp black nose smelt the man"s hand.
"We are friends, little hunter, we three;" and the great fingers pa.s.sed over the yellow body up towards the face of the bound man.
"Friends--together--for we are hunters all--you, myself, and this poor one here with his speech cut off." "We will see to that, eh?"
The fingers were on the man"s face, and with a twist the gag was out, and the man drew in his breath with a great sob.