"Now who"s right, sir?" exclaimed Ellerton triumphantly, as the pale gleam of daylight was visible from a curve of the tunnel.
"Not this child," replied Mr. McKay, without the faintest trace of chagrin. In fact, he was glad to know he was in the wrong, for he did not relish the task of tackling the shaft and the treacherous, dust-covered slope at its edge.
A few spa.r.s.e bushes masked the mouth of the tunnel, and upon these being thrust aside, the adventurers found themselves at the foot of the lowermost range of cliffs and within a hundred yards of the abyss which had been the cause of their presence in the tunnel.
Standing close to where the crowbars were driven into the rock was Quexo, looking the picture of misery, for he was perfectly convinced in his own mind that all his companions had met with disaster.
"Quexo!" shouted Andy. "Quexo! Here we are!"
The mulatto"s joy was curious to behold. He danced, swung his sound arm over his head, and cut fantastic capers, the tears running down his cheeks the while as he blurted out unintelligible sentences in mingled English and Spanish.
"Well, we"re safe once more, thanks to Providence," exclaimed Mr. McKay.
All the explorers looked rather disreputable, but Mr. McKay in particular was little better than a walking scarecrow. His clothes were in rags, his face clotted with dried blood and dust, while, now the excitement was over, he once more began to feel stiff and bruised from head to foot.
"By Jove, we"ve forgotten what we went to look for!" exclaimed Andy.
"Yes," replied Mr. McKay. "We must bring the poor fellow"s body up after all."
"By the tunnel?"
"No, by the shaft."
"Then here goes," said Ellerton quietly, and drawing up one of the ropes he fastened it round his waist. Lantern in hand he slid down the sand, and getting astride the tree-trunk, edged his way along till he reached the swaying piece of timber. The next minute he was lowering himself into the abyss.
"He"s a plucky chap," commented Mr. McKay as they awaited Ellerton"s signal.
"And with an arm like that," added Terence admiringly. "He really seems to make light of it."
The watchers had not long to wait.
"Haul away!" shouted Ellerton, and heaving slowly on the rope they brought the body of the unfortunate Blight to the surface, where the young seaman soon rejoined the others.
Between them they bore the corpse across the rocky plain to the edge of the palm-forest, where they dug a shallow grave with their axes.
Here the body of the ex-pearler was laid to rest, Mr. McKay recited a few prayers, and the earth was heaped over the corpse, a pile of heavy stones being placed over the grave to mark the spot.
This depressing task completed, they hastened homewards to enjoy a welcome meal and a still more desired rest.
For the next two or three weeks all hands were too busy to think of making a further exploration of the buccaneers" cave.
The damage wrought by the savages required a considerable amount of patience and hard work to set to rights. A new storehouse had to be constructed, and the various stores that had not been totally destroyed were collected and placed once more under cover.
Terence had, with considerable ingenuity, contrived to erect an electric alarm, so that the moment a foot was placed upon the lowermost path leading up to the house, a bell would ring in the sleeping quarters.
He also succeeded in rigging up the searchlight salved from the wreck, and after many failures the apparatus worked to perfection.
Thereafter every night its great beam was directed skywards, the International Signal, "N.G." (want immediate a.s.sistance), being flashed in the hope of attracting the attention of any vessel within seventy miles of the island.
The little party was now completely isolated from the rest of the world.
Before the destruction of the yawl they had the means of making even a fairly long pa.s.sage, but now this was denied them, for it would be utter madness to attempt to go to sea in one of the captured canoes.
So, realising that the sooner they were in possession of a seaworthy craft the better it would be for them, the inhabitants of McKay"s Island debated whether it would be advisable to construct a new decked craft, convert one of the canoes into a cabin boat, or to salvage the wreck of the yawl and patch her up sufficiently to enable them to reach Tahiti.
Even with the appliances at their command, Mr. McKay reckoned that it would take a twelvemonth to make a boat large enough for their requirements. As regards reconstructing one of the canoes, he came to the conclusion that the work might be done, but the canoe being without a keel would be a bad craft in a sea-way; while her light construction would not allow a keel to be fixed without a grave risk of straining the vessel in the first breeze she encountered.
Finally, it was decided that the captured canoes should be utilised to attempt the salvage of the yawl, and on the first fine day the actual work was put in hand.
By means of rollers and a powerful jack, three of the canoes were launched and taken to the scene of the savages" wanton act.
The wrecked boat could be clearly discerned lying on the sandy bed of the lagoon in six fathoms of water, with a slight list to starboard.
Anchoring two of the native craft close to the sunken yawl, Ellerton and Andy contrived to pa.s.s the bight of a chain under her bows, the ends of the chain being made fast to two stout cables. A similar device was employed to engage the stern of the wreck, although the fact that her keel was imbedded in the sand added to the difficulty of the task.
Two ma.s.sive trunks of palm-trees were then placed across the gunwales of both canoes, converting them into a kind of pontoon.
These preparations being completed, all that was at present necessary was to wait till dead low water.
All hands knew that it would be a tedious job, for the rise of the tide was but five feet at springs and only two feet at neaps, so what work had to be done must be performed during the spring tides.
At dead low water all the slack of the four hawsers was taken in, and once more came a tedious wait for the rising tide.
Gradually the strain on the ropes increased, till the timbers groaned under the weight of the sunken boat and the canoes sank lower in the water.
"Hurrah! She"s lifting!" shouted Ellerton, and allowing sufficient time for the yawl to be lifted clear of the bottom, Mr. McKay and his a.s.sistants began to haul on an anchor cable which had been previously laid towards the sh.o.r.e.
Slowly the ungainly pontoon with its heavy burden began to move sh.o.r.ewards, when suddenly the bows of the canoes rose high in the air, throwing their occupants on their backs. One of the hawsers had slipped, and the work of six long hours was wasted.
"Hard lines!" exclaimed Terence dolefully.
"It is, I admit," replied Ellerton cheerfully. "Still, we must not expect to have everything our own way. Try, try, try again, as the old saw says."
"We can do no more to-day," said Mr. McKay. "We"ll leave the canoes moored to the yawl, however. That will save time to-morrow."
"I think, if you don"t mind, sir, we"ll try and slip the sling under her again," said Ellerton. "You see, if we do that there won"t be so much chance of the canoes drifting and consequently slipping the other sling."
"Quite so," replied Mr. McKay. "It may save us some hours of hard work."
So directly the water cleared, for the settling of the wrecked boat had churned up the sand till she was practically invisible, the chain sling was again placed in position.
This time this part of the business was done more satisfactorily, as the yawl was resting on a hummock of sh.e.l.l and sand amidships, so that above five feet of the after part of her keel was clear of the bed of the lagoon.
"I hope it doesn"t come on to blow to-night," remarked Ellerton, as the party rowed ash.o.r.e. "If it does, then good-bye to the yawl."
"The gla.s.s is steady," replied Mr. McKay. "If it should pipe up, we must slip the slings and let the canoes take their chance."
That afternoon Ellerton and Andy were busy preparing additional slings, for the former was resolved not to have a repet.i.tion of the morning"s failure if it could be avoided.