"We had no business to come so far away from the camp."
We stood with our muskets ready, watching the wood. In a short time our anxiety was relieved by the appearance of the doctor and Mr Griffiths.
"Why, lads, what made you shout out in that fashion?" asked the mate.
"We fancied you wanted help."
We told him of the man we had seen on the cliffs.
"It"s very extraordinary," said the doctor; "I don"t think he can be a native, or he would not have shown himself in that way. He must be some white man who has been left by himself on the island, and has lost his wits, as often happens under such circ.u.mstances. He"s been accustomed to see savages visit the island, and has kept out of their way to save himself from being killed or made a slave of. He had not the sense to distinguish between us and them."
"I believe you are right," said Mr Griffiths. "We must take means to get hold of him, both for his own sake and ours. He"ll soon come round, supposing he"s an Englishman, when he finds himself among countrymen, and he"ll be able to show us where to get provisions if the island produces any. He can"t have lived always on cocoanuts and sh.e.l.l-fish."
By this time the dawn began to appear, and after waiting a little longer we all returned to camp, and roused up the men to prepare for breakfast.
Miles Soper and Sam Coal again climbed the trees to get some cocoanuts.
Some of the men went down to the sh.o.r.e to collect sh.e.l.l-fish. Others made up the fire, while the mate and the doctor examined the boat to ascertain the damage she had received, and to see how she could best be repaired.
"We have a few nails, and we must try to find some substance which will answer the purpose of pitch," observed the mate. "Doctor, I dare say you"ll help us. We will strengthen her with additional planks, and get a strake put on above her gunwale. It will be a work of toil to cut the planks, but it must be done, and she will then be fit to go anywhere."
At breakfast the mate told the men of his intentions. They all agreed to do their best to carry them out.
We had first, however, to search for provisions. Not knowing whether there might be savages on the island, even supposing that the man we had seen was not one, the mate did not like to leave the boat unprotected.
He therefore ordered Brown and one of the men to remain by her while the rest of us proceeded together to explore the island.
The mate would not allow us to separate until we had ascertained whether or not there were inhabitants besides the man we had seen on the island.
One musket was left with Brown, the mate carried the other, and we set off, keeping up the stream I have before described towards the end of the valley. We looked out on either side for the stranger, but he didn"t appear. Some of the men declared that we had not really seen any one, and that we had mistaken a small tree or shrub for a man; but Jim and I were positive, and the doctor, at all events, believed us.
On reaching the top of the hill, we looked down into a large hollow, with water at the bottom, dark rocks forming its sides, grown over with creepers, huge ferns, and various other plants. The doctor said that it was the crater of a long extinct volcano, and that the whole island was volcanic. There were many other hills out of which smoke was rising.
The doctor said that this was an active volcano; indeed, the country in that direction presented a very different aspect from the part where we had landed. It was black and barren, with only here and there a few green spots. We therefore turned to the east, the direction which promised us a better chance of finding roots or fruits, or vegetable productions of some sort.
The strange thing was, that though the island appeared fertile, not a single habitation or hut could we discover. The doctor supposed that this was on account of the occasional outbreak of the volcano, and that the people from the neighbouring islands were afraid to take up their residence on it.
We now descended the hill, and went along another valley, of course looking out all the time for the stranger.
We were pa.s.sing a small grove near a hollow in the side of a hill, which was partly concealed by trees, when we heard a c.o.c.k crow just as an English c.o.c.k would do. At once that sound made my thoughts, as it did those of the others, probably, rush back to our far-distant homes.
"If there"s a c.o.c.k, there must be hens and a hen-roost hereabouts,"
observed Miles Soper, hurrying in the direction whence the sounds proceeded.
We followed; there, sure enough, sheltered by the hill, and under the shade of the trees, was not only a hen-house of good size, but a hut scarcely bigger than it was neatly built and thatched with palm-leaves.
"It must be the residence of the stranger. He himself can"t be far off," said the doctor.
The hut was just large enough to hold one man. It had a door formed of thin poles lashed together with sennit. At the farther end was a bedstead covered with rough matting, and in the centre a small table, with a three-legged stool.
No one had any longer any doubt that we had seen a man, or that this must be his abode, and that he must be a white man, but whether English or not was doubtful. Miles Soper examined the matting, and as he was looking about he found a knife on a shelf close to the bed. Taking it up, he examined it with a curious eye, opening and shutting it, and turning it round and round.
"Well, that"s queer, but I think I"ve seen this knife before," he said.
"If the owner is the man I guess he is I am glad."
"Who do you suppose he is?" I inquired, eagerly.
"Well, Peter, that"s what I don"t want to say just yet. I must make sure first," he answered.
"Can he be my brother Jack?" I exclaimed, my breath coming and going fast in my anxiety.
"Well then, Peter, I"ll tell you. Jack knew how to make matting just like this, because he learnt the way on board the _Harriet_, and so did I. He had a knife which, if this isn"t it, is the fellow to it, so you see that I have some reason to think that the man who built this hut, and lives in it, is he. But then again, you know, I may be mistaken.
"Why, if he is Jack, he should run away from us puzzles me. If he couldn"t see our faces he must have known by our dress that we were English or American, and that there was no reason for him to hide himself. There are many men who know how to make this sort of matting, and there are many knives just like this, and that"s the reason why I can"t tell you whether he"s Jack or not. But if Mr Griffiths will let me I"ll go on alone and look for him, and when he sees who I am he"ll come fast enough to me, and you may depend on it, Peter, if it"s he I"ll bring him back with a lighter heart than I"ve had for many a day."
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
THE LOST ONE FOUND AT LAST.
I wanted to accompany Soper in his search for the stranger.
"No, no, Peter," he answered; "if he is Jack he"ll know me; but he won"t know you; and if he"s grown queer by living all alone on an island, as has happened to some poor fellows, he"ll get out of our way if he sees two together."
The doctor a.s.sented to the wisdom of this, and advised me to be contented and remain by while Soper set off himself. The rest of the party were meanwhile examining the hen-roost.
The fowls were mostly of the English breed, which made us suppose that they had been landed from some English vessel. We were confirmed in this belief by discovering an old hen-coop, in which they had probably been washed ash.o.r.e. There were other pieces of wreckage scattered about, but the hut itself was composed entirely of the products of the island.
At last the doctor proposed that we should proceed onwards, as the stranger, whoever he was, would not be likely to come back if he saw us near his hut. I, however, believed that it must be Jack, and, notwithstanding the doubts that Soper had expressed, begged that I might be allowed to remain behind that I might the sooner meet him. Mr Griffiths gave me leave to stay if I wished it. I thought that Soper was more likely to bring him back to the hut than to follow the rest of the party.
As soon as they had gone I closed the door and sat down on the three-legged stool. I should have been glad if I had had a book to read to employ my thoughts, but the hut contained only some cocoanuts cut in two for holding water, some long skewers, which had apparently been used for roasting birds, a small nut fixed in a stand to serve as an egg-cup, and a little wooden spoon. There were also sh.e.l.ls, some clams, and others of different shapes. Two or three of these would serve as cups and plates. I could judge from this what had been the food of the solitary inhabitant of the hut. This didn"t look as if he were out of his mind.
The time appeared to go by very slowly. I remembered my disappointment at South"s Island when I heard the mysterious knocks on the bottom of the boat, and I began to fear that after all the stranger might not prove to be Jack.
I was now sorry that I had not accompanied the rest of the party--at all events the time would not have appeared so long if I had been walking and looking out for Jack. At length I determined to get up and to go out and try and find my companions--perhaps Soper and the stranger were all this time with them, though I knew they would come back and look for me. I rose and went to the window, which had a view right down the valley, probably that the inmate might watch anybody coming in that direction.
I couldn"t see any object moving, and I turned towards the door, intending to go out, when the sound of voices reached my ears. I listened. One of the speakers was Miles Soper, the other spoke so indistinctly that I could not make out what he said.
I opened the door and saw two persons coming through the grove. One was, as I expected, Soper; the other a strange-looking being with long hair, his skin tanned of a deep brown, his dress composed of an old jacket and trousers, patched or rather covered over with leaves, while his feet and head were dest.i.tute of covering.
I stood gazing at him for a few seconds, unable to trace in his countenance any of the features of my brother Jack, which I fancied I recollected.
"What, don"t you know one another?" exclaimed Soper. "This is Jack Trawl and no other--the only Jack Trawl I ever knew. Come, Jack, rouse up, that"s your brother Peter Trawl. Give him your fist, man. He"s been talking about you, and looking for you everywhere we"ve been."
The stranger stopped and gazed eagerly in my face.
"What, are you my little brother Peter?" he exclaimed. "How are Mary, and father, and mother, and Nancy?"
I knew from this that he was Jack, and springing forward, took both his hands, and looked earnestly in his face.
"Yes, I am Peter, and I know you are Jack. Mary was well when I left home long ago, though you wouldn"t know her now, and Nancy is with her."
I didn"t like at first to tell Jack that father and mother were dead, but it had to come out at last, and it seemed for a time to do away with the happiness he and I felt at meeting; for he was happy, though he looked so strange and talked so curiously. He couldn"t get out his words at first, but we sat down, he on the bed, I on the stool, and Miles Soper on the table, Miles drawing him out better than I could, and he telling us how he had come upon the island.