"How can we go?"
"How? Easy enough. Get on deck, slide down a rope over the side when it"s dark."
"In irons?"
"They don"t weigh much. We could get hold of an oar or two, or lower down a grating, and hold on by that till we"d swam ash.o.r.e."
"And the sharks, Jem?"
"Oh, those sharks!" cried Jem, pettishly. "I always forget them. I wish there wasn"t such a thing as a shark on the face of the earth.
Well, we must try some other way."
"That"s easy enough to say, Jem; but what way is there?"
"Oh, I don"t know yet, Mas" Don; but they say, "where there"s a will there"s a way." P"r"aps I can think it out. "Member that big case as was too wide to come into the lower warehouse?"
"Yes."
"Well, your uncle said he"d be obliged to have the doorposts cut, but I thought that out after I"d measured it, and I found that it would just go in at the top warehouse doors if we hauled it up with the crane."
"You used to call it winding anything up, Jem."
"Ay, but I hadn"t been to sea then, Mas" Don. Well, didn"t I have that there case up to the top floor, and then lower it down through all the traps, and get it into the ground floor without the door being cut; and when your uncle come in, he stared, and asked me how I"d managed it?"
"Yes, I remember it all," said Don sadly.
"Look here, you two. I don"t want to be hard," said the marine; "but you"ll get me into a row. Now, are you going to clap on the hatchways, or am I to report you?"
"All right, Jolly; we won"t talk any more," said Jem; and he kept his word that night.
There was no release next day, and very drearily it pa.s.sed till towards evening, when Jem waited till the sentry"s back was turned, and put his lips to Don"s ear.
"I"ve got it, Mas" Don," he said.
"What, can you see your way to escape?"
"I"ve hit it out, my lad. Look here. Do you know them"s men"s irons you"ve got on?"
"Yes. They don"t make irons for boys."
"Then look here, my lad; it may mean a bit of skin off; but all you"ve got to do is to squeeze your feet through those rings, and then I"ll be bound to say a thin slip of a fellow like you can creep out of the iron round your waist."
"I don"t think so, Jem. I"m stouter than you fancy."
"Oh no, you"re not, and I dessay it"ll be a tight fit; but you do it."
"And suppose I do get out of them, what about you?"
"About me, Mas" Don? Ah, I don"t know about me; but you could get right away, slide down the rope, get the gig up alongside--"
"When it"s swinging from the davits, Jem?"
"There you go again," grumbled Jem. "I never did see such a fellow for chucking stumbling-blocks all over the place for a man to hit his shins against."
"Then propose something possible. And besides, you don"t suppose I"m going away without you."
"But I can"t get my irons off, and you can get yours."
"I don"t know that," said Don, trying; and, to his great surprise, finding that he could drag the ring over his ankle without much difficulty.
"There, I told you so. Slip it on again "fore the sentry sees."
The marine was not likely to see, for the place was very dark where they sat, and for a long time they discussed the matter in a whisper, but only to be obliged to come to the conclusion that it was impossible to escape, unless Don would go alone.
"Well, if you won"t go alone, you won"t, Mas" Don," said Jem, in an ill-used tone; "but I do say as it"s shabby of you, after I"ve thought about it so much."
The second night of their imprisonment pa.s.sed slowly, and they were cudgelling their brains next day, when they were summoned on deck, received a severe reprimand, and, after their irons had been taken off, were told to go to their duty.
Then a week pa.s.sed of land surveying and chart making, during which time the intercourse with the natives had been kept on a very friendly footing; and then a rumour ran round the ship that they were to sail after a certain channel had been sounded and the chart made.
"It"s all over, Mas" Don," said Jem gloomily. "We shall go sailing away all over the world, and be took by the French, and never see home again!"
Don made no reply, but went about his duty gloomily enough till toward afternoon, when a canoe came off from the sh.o.r.e, manned by about fifty of the New Zealanders, and with Tomati and Ngati in the stern.
These two were soon on board, and were entertained by the captain, who made them several useful presents.
How he managed it Don hardly knew himself, but he contrived to get close behind the tattooed Englishman, and said softly, just as the officers were laughing and watching Ngati, who was going through his war-dance for their delectation, and distorting his features to the greatest extent,--
"Could you come after dark to-night in your canoe, and take us ash.o.r.e?"
"Hist! Mind what you"re saying," replied the man, clapping his legs loudly, as if to encourage his companion to fresh exertions and distortions of his countenance.
"I want to come," said Don softly, in the midst of the applause.
"I daren"t do it, my lad. They"d come down after me if I did; but I"ll send Ngati. He"ll come in his little canoe."
Don"s heart beat wildly at these words, and he had no chance to say more, for Tomati went toward the officers, talked with them for a while; and then, as Don watched, he saw him go to the big chief, clap him on the shoulder, and say something which made the great fellow smile.
The New Zealanders seemed to show more interest in the appointments of the ship than they had displayed before, and the officers were civil enough to them, exchanging presents, and getting from the dusky warriors greenstone ornaments and weapons in exchange for powder and tobacco.
Don"s heart had ceased to beat, and he was thinking despondently that he might as well give up all idea of evasion, when a hand was laid upon his shoulder, and looking up, it was to encounter the hideous face of the big chief, who said, with a peculiar laugh,--
"My pakeha. Bring gunpowder plenty. Wait by big ship. Dark."
It was not a very clear promise, but Don realised that it meant a chance of escape, and his eyes flashed with excitement, as the chief went on.
"Plenty gunpowder. Bring, bring. My pakeha."
He went off directly to where some of his fellows were standing about the deck, and hardly realising whether the chief was to be depended on, Don was about to go in search of Jem, when he felt a chill of despair, for, as he turned, he encountered the sinister countenance of Ramsden, his eye fixed upon him in a watchful way, and a satisfied smile playing about his lips.