Such indeed was the case. As far as our eyes could reach, we could discern, in the moonlight, only a succession of sand-hills, rising but a few feet above the rest of the country.
"I suspected that we should find that to be the case," observed Boxall.
"If we were to measure the rock on the top of which we saw the monster standing, we should find that the creature"s dimensions were not quite so gigantic as we supposed. However, here we are talking away, and neglecting to return thanks for our deliverance from the dangers we have gone through, and forgetting all about our unfortunate companions."
I felt rebuked by Boxall"s remark, and so, I dare say, did Halliday. We all knelt down, and I know that I tried to return hearty thanks for our preservation; but my mind was still in a confused state, thinking of Ben, and our long wade, and the monster which we had seen, and of what might be our future fate. My strength, indeed, was fast failing me; and though I was generally stronger than Halliday, I was the first to sink down on the sand. He imitated me, and Boxall soon afterwards sat down beside us. We none of us felt much inclined to speak; yet we were afraid to go to sleep, when we recollected the creature we had seen,-- which, though it might not be of extraordinary size, would, if it were a hyena, prove an ugly customer should it take us unawares. Otherwise, we had no reason to dread it. Such creatures, indeed, seldom attack human beings unless first a.s.sailed, as they five on carrion, and act a useful part as scavengers.
Wet through as we were, the night air chilled us to the bones; but we were too much exhausted to feel inclined to move about and try and warm ourselves. We sat for some time gazing on the wild, desolate scene around us, lighted up by the rays of the full moon, which seemed to increase its aspect of dreariness. On three sides appeared a succession of sand-hills, one beyond another; while before us was seen the lagoon across which we had waded, with the tumbling seas, on the crests of which the moonbeams played, breaking on the reef in the distance. Every instant the water in front of us became more and more agitated, as the rising tide flowed over the reef; and we could not but be thankful that we had crossed the lagoon when we did, as later the undertaking would have been far more difficult, if not impossible, and we should probably have been engulfed by the foaming waters, which now with greater and greater violence rolled up on the sh.o.r.e.
Our thoughts naturally turned to the future. How were we to support life in this dreary region? or, supposing it to be inhabited, what would be the character of, and disposition shown towards us by, the people we might encounter? I had read of the Arabs of the Desert, and of their generous hospitality to strangers, and I had hopes that such might be the people we should find. I mentioned this to my companions.
"Poets and romance--writers may have pictured them as you describe, but I am afraid that we shall find the reality differ greatly from their glowing accounts," observed Boxall. "My notion is that they are a set of utter barbarians, who will rob us of everything we possess, and only feed us for the sake of keeping us alive to work for them."
This was not encouraging, and I could not but hope that Boxall was wrong.
"We shall soon find out," said Halliday. "I only wish that in the meantime we had something to eat."
"Well, we are better off than poor Ben and Jose, who have lost their lives," I said.
"I don"t think we ought altogether to give them up," said Boxall. "Now that we have rested, I propose that we go along the sh.o.r.e and look for them. They may possibly have been carried in a different direction from that which we took. I felt the current, though not very strong, setting to the southward as we crossed; and if they stuck to the raft, or any portion of it, not being aware that they could wade, they would be carried in that direction. I have been thinking the matter over, and believe that they may possibly have escaped."
As Boxall founded his opinion on sound grounds, I began to hope that Ben might still be in the land of the living; and as Halliday said he felt strong enough to walk, we set off along the sh.o.r.e. We every now and then shouted out, "Ben Blewett, ahoy! ahoy!" joining our voices to send them to a greater distance. But no answer came.
"I am afraid poor Ben must be lost," I said.
"He is not within hearing,--or, at all events, we are not within hearing of him; but let us still persevere. Had it not been for him, we should have lost our lives; and we are bound on every account to do our utmost to find him," observed Boxall.
We accordingly dragged on our weary feet through the yielding sand.
Walking was now excessively fatiguing, as the sea had come up and covered that part of the sh.o.r.e which had been hardened by the constant washing of the water over it. Again we stopped and shouted, "Ben Blewett, ahoy! ahoy!" We waited, hoping against hope that a reply would come.
"I am so tired, I must sit down and rest for a few minutes," said Halliday. Boxall and I acknowledged that we felt much in the same condition, so we threw ourselves down on the sand. Scarcely had we lain down when the sound of a voice reached our ears. It seemed to come from a long way off, yet we all felt sure that it was a voice. We accordingly started up, forgetting our fatigue, and trudged on,--the sand seeming to our weary feet softer than ever.
We went on for some time, but still we saw no one. We began to fear that we had been mistaken; still we pushed on, and in another minute I saw a dark object in the water, which I took to be a rock, close to the white beach. Directly afterwards I made out a human figure, which appeared to be coming towards us. I had got a little ahead of my companions. I called to them, and we tried to hurry on through the soft sand, which seemed to mock our efforts to advance.
"Is that you, Ben?" I shouted.
"Ay, ay, sir," was the answer, in a tone which showed that the speaker had but little strength left. We soon reached him. It was indeed Ben himself.
"I am thankful to see you, gentlemen," he said. "It"s what I little expected, when you disappeared from the raft. But how did you get on sh.o.r.e?"
We told him, and then asked how he had escaped.
"It"s more than I can tell you," he answered. "All I know is, that I found myself floating alone on what remained of the raft, away from the reef, with the mast and sail gone and the oars lost. After some time I was carried again into the breakers, and, clinging on for dear life, though I couldn"t tell where I was going, was sent right through them into smooth water. I looked about me, but could see nothing, nor hear any sounds. On I drifted, wondering what would next happen, when at last I was cast on sh.o.r.e,--the raft, which was turned over, being sent by a sea almost on the top of me. One of my feet, as it was, got caught; and if it had not been for the sand under it, my leg would have been broken: indeed, I had to dig it out before I could set myself free.
Thinking that the tide might still be rising, and that I should be caught by it, I dragged myself on to the side of a hillock, where I lay down, and must at once have fallen fast asleep. I was at last awoke, I suppose, by your hails; though I first heard them several times in my dreams. I tried to hail in return, but felt my tongue clinging to the roof of my mouth; and it was not till after some time that I could open my eyes, and recollect where I was and what had happened. As soon as I did this, I got up as fast as I was able. And again I say, I am thankful to have found you, gentlemen; that I am."
"And we are very glad to have found you, Ben," I answered. "Do you think that poor Jose has escaped?"
"I am afraid not, sir," answered Ben. "He could not swim, and he must have been washed off the raft on the outside of the reef."
"Have you managed to save any of the provisions?" inquired Halliday.
"I am sorry to say, sir, that I am afraid they are all lost. The raft, however, was knocking about so much that I couldn"t get hold of it by myself, to see if anything is still fast to it; but now you have come, we will try what we can do."
Weary as we were, hunger prompted us to exert ourselves; and approaching the raft, which was heaving up and down in the surf, we got hold of it, after some difficulty, and at the risk of being crushed, and succeeded in dragging it partly up the beach. On examining it, to our infinite satisfaction we found a pork-cask,--which Ben had fastened so securely that it had escaped being carried away. It was, however, almost crushed in two. We examined it eagerly, and found that, though part of the contents had been washed out, several pieces of pork still remained.
The water-casks, which we should have been still more thankful to find, had, alas! been completely destroyed.
It required all the exertion we were capable of to secure the pork-cask, which we managed to drag out of reach of the water; and though very thirsty, our hunger induced us to eat a portion of the pork raw--which, however, we could with difficulty get down.
"Never fear! Chaw, sir, chaw!" cried Ben, as he saw me hesitating about putting a piece between my parched lips. "It will seem dry at first; but go on, and it will slip down easy enough at last, and do you good."
I followed his advice, and found that I could get down far more of the raw meat than I could have supposed possible.
The wind had in the meantime been increasing, and the surf broke with a loud, sullen roar on the beach. Having eaten as much as we could swallow, we now turned the undamaged side of the cask uppermost, so as to cover its contents; and then, at Boxall"s suggestion, we made our way to a spot a short distance off, between some sand-hills, where, pretty well worn out, we threw ourselves down to rest.
Though thankful to get back honest Ben, we felt very melancholy at the dreary prospect before us. Strong as he was, he also appeared utterly worn out with his exertions; and, stretched at full length on the sand, he was soon fast asleep. I had rashly undertaken to keep the first watch.
"Awake me soon, and I will relieve you," said Boxall. "I am afraid you will not be able to keep your eyes open long."
"No fear," I answered. "I will do my best, depend on it; for I have no wish to be earned off by a hyena, or any other wild beast which may chance to visit us."
Boxall and Halliday sat with their heads between their knees, and very quickly dropped off. As long as I was able to remain on my legs and walk about, I proved a faithful sentinel; but feeling very weary, I at last sat down, and the natural consequences followed--I fell fast asleep. The howling of the wind among the sand-hills and the ceaseless roar of the surf rather tended to lull my senses than to arouse me from my slumber. I dreamed of the events which had occurred, and fancied that I knew exactly where I was and what was happening. Now I was looking towards the foaming sea, when I observed in the offing a vessel under all sail approaching the coast. Gradually she faded from my view.
And now, turning my head, I saw to my dismay a pack of hyenas stealing silently along towards us. I started up, and was thankful to find that the hyenas had disappeared; but, near the spot where I had seen them, my waking sight fell on a strange-looking animal with a long neck, a pointed head, and huge hump on its back, which I at once recognised as a camel. It advanced at a slow pace, not regarding us, and making its way directly to the beach. Though unwilling to wake my companions, I could not help crying out, when Boxall and Halliday started up, though poor Ben remained as fast asleep as ever.
"What can that strange monster be?" exclaimed Halliday.
At which Boxall, though certainly not in a merry mood, could not help laughing loudly.
"Why, a camel, to be sure; coming down to the beach to get a lick of salt, of which most beasts are very fond," he answered.
"I wonder if it"s a wild one, then," said Halliday; "if it is, we may hamstring it, or kill it in some other way, and it will give us an ample supply of food."
"There are no wild camels, that I ever heard of," answered Boxall; "and if we were to kill it, depend on it its owners would make us repent having done so. I suspect they are not far off."
The appearance of the camel, as may be supposed, completely aroused us, and we watched it as it stalked down to the sands.
"I propose that we catch it, and make it carry us somewhere or other,"
said Halliday. "Its back is long enough to let us all ride on it: you, Boxall, on the top of the hump, as the post of honour; Ben, astern; and Charlie and I in front."
I could not help laughing at Halliday"s proposal; Boxall did likewise.
"We must catch the beast first, then get it to lie down while we are mounting. And then, should we ever get on its back, seeing that it has no halter, it would certainly carry us--not where we wished to go, but to the tents of its masters; who would probably knock us on the head, or, if mercifully disposed, make slaves of us," observed Boxall.
"Then I vote we don"t interfere with Mr Camel," said Halliday. "But perhaps, if we were to follow its footsteps, it might lead us to where we could get some fresh water; or, should it go back to its owners, we might have time to reconnoitre them at a distance, and judge whether it would be prudent to trust ourselves in their power."
"A very good idea," said Boxall. "If, however, we are to trace its steps, we must wait till daylight; for as it probably walks much faster than we can, we should very likely lose sight of it, and get bewildered among the sand-hills."
We were watching the camel as it came towards us, when, either seeing us or scenting us, it stopped short, poking out its head, as if wondering what curious creatures we could be. Then turning round, it stalked leisurely away, and was lost in the gloom.
"I hope it won"t go and tell its masters--unless they happen to be well-disposed individuals," said Halliday. "I trust that they may prove friendly; and the camel, perhaps, has come to guide us to them."