My dreams were as miserable as my waking thoughts. I fancied that I saw the bush rangers carrying off Edith and Pierce, who in vain struggled to release themselves; then the wretches hurled the children over the cliff, and shouted as they saw them falling; then the sea rolled up and swept them away, as they held out their hands in vain for a.s.sistance.
I awoke before daylight, and as I had no wish to go to sleep again I dressed and went out. The first person I met was Paddy Doyle.
"I"m after thinking, Master G.o.dfrey, that friend Pullingo will be able to help us in finding the dear young childher," he said. "I can soon make him understand that they are lost; and though he hasn"t book-learning, he"s got notions in his head which would puzzle some of us. The thought came across me in the night, when not a rap more sleep could I get; and I"ve been waiting till daylight to visit the blacks"
camp."
"By all means," I said. "I"ll go with you, for I am sure my father will approve of your idea."
As a ruddy glow was already appearing in the eastern sky, precursor of the sun, Paddy and I at once set off. As we drew near he shouted, "Pullingo, Pullingo." Directly afterwards we saw the black crawl out of his hut. "Our friend doesn"t take much time to dress in the morning,"
observed Paddy, "seeing he hasn"t a large amount of clothing to put on, and isn"t over particular about the use of soap and water."
The black quickly understood that we had some matter of importance to communicate, but it took much longer to make him comprehend what we wanted him for. Paddy, however, succeeded at length; and he set off with us for the village.
On arriving, that there might be no mistake, I took Pullingo into the house and showed him the children"s empty beds, and then pointed along the sh.o.r.e in the direction they were supposed to have taken. He thought for some minutes, and then looking about, found a piece of rope: he soon made us understand that it was much too short for what he wanted, and seemed highly pleased when we took him into the store-house, where he at once selected a long coil. He then touched Mudge, Burton, Doyle, and me on the shoulder, and signified that he wished us to accompany him.
Before setting out, however, he made signs that he should like something to eat, and seemed highly pleased when we gave him some broiled fish,-- which he quickly swallowed, though he had had a quant.i.ty of kangaroo flesh on the previous evening.
My father would have accompanied us, but was unwilling to leave my mother. "I entrust the search to you, Mudge," he said; "and I am sure that you will spare no effort to recover the children, should their lives have been mercifully preserved."
Pullingo having inquired by signs whether we were ready, we set out.
Instead, however, of taking the way along the sh.o.r.e, he turned up the river towards his own camp, and then ascended the cliff.
"I wonder, after all, whether he really understands that we are in search of Edith and Pierce," I observed to Paddy Doyle.
"No doubt about it, sir," was the answer; "you"ll see when we get to the top that he"ll go along the cliff. Maybe he knows some way down that we haven"t discovered; or there is some place or other into which he thinks the children have tumbled and can"t get out again."
On reaching the top of the cliff, however, Pullingo, instead of keeping close to the edge, started off in a direction which would lead us, I saw, to a spot some way along the coast, beyond the point, I calculated, where the bushranger had fallen over. Had I not been so anxious about the fate of my brother and sister, I should have been amused at the air of importance with which the savage strutted on at the head of the party, evidently feeling himself infinitely superior to us. He held a lance in his left hand; a tall feather was stuck in his bushy hair; not an article of clothing had he on, with the exception of the very small kilt which he wore round his waist.
I joined Mudge, and went on ahead with him, close behind our guide, the other men following, and carrying the coil of rope between them.
"I can"t fancy that the children could have got so far round the coast as the point we shall reach if we continue on as we are going," I observed to him.
"As the tide was low and the sand smooth, they were probably tempted to go on without considering how far they had got," said Mudge. "I am surprised, however, that your sister Edith should have ventured, and not recollected that the tide would again rise, and that they would not be able to repa.s.s many of the places they had previously got over without difficulty. Still, I feel sure that they did go forward, and that the black knows where they are."
His remarks somewhat cheered me. We went on and on; and it seemed to me that we must be near the part of the cliff over which the bushranger had fallen. We discussed the probable cause of his death.
"At all events, horrible as was his death, it was better than dying of starvation, as is the fate, I fancy, of a large proportion of the convicts who take to the bush," observed Mudge; "though dreadful must be the fate of his companion, who is now doomed to wander alone through these wilds, without daring to hold any intercourse with white men for fear of being betrayed; and, probably, equally dreading the blacks, who, if he were to be found unprepared, would speedily put him to death."
We went on for nearly two miles, when we reached a fissure in the cliffs, the ground sloping on either side towards it. The black advanced cautiously; and following him, we found ourselves on the edge of the cliff, which appeared to hang over the water. We descended the slope I have mentioned, till we reached a broad ledge, about a quarter of the way down. Signing to the men to uncoil the rope, the end of which he allowed to fall over till it apparently reached the bottom, he now by gestures inquired which of us was ready to descend.
"We must first secure the upper end, my friend," observed Mudge; a matter the black did not appear to have considered.
Each of us had fortunately brought a stout staff to serve us as a walking-stick; by forcing these together into the ground, we formed a post of sufficient strength round which to secure the rope, one man in addition holding on to it.
"I wish to be the first to descend," said I.
"No, no, Mr G.o.dfrey; if there is danger, it is not you should run it, as it would be a sad thing if you were to be lost as well as your brother and sister," exclaimed Paddy Doyle. "If Mr Mudge will give me leave, I"ll be the first to go; and if I get safe down I"ll shout out, and you can follow."
"Doyle is right," said Mudge; "let him go first."
Without waiting a moment, Paddy threw himself over the cliff, holding on by the rope, and began to descend. It must have been somewhat trying even to his nerves, for the rope swung backwards and forwards, being at a considerable distance from the cliff. How the black came to conceive that we should venture down, it was difficult to say; as he himself certainly could never have climbed up or down such a rope, it must have been a perfectly original idea with him. He had seen the rope in our camp, and formed a just opinion of its strength; and he must have argued that as he could climb a thin and lofty tree without branches, so could we get up and down a stout rope.
On hearing Doyle"s voice I was going to follow, when, to my surprise, Pullingo approached the cliff, and seizing the rope, began to descend as fearlessly as Doyle had done. I waited till he had reached the bottom, and then, not without some feeling of anxiety, followed their example.
I found that we had reached a narrow beach, which extended some way up in the hollow formed between the two sides of the cliff. I looked about, half expecting to see Edith and Pierce.
Pullingo observed my disappointment, and beckoned Doyle and me to follow him. He turned back--that is to say, to the northward of the spot where we stood--and made his way along an exceedingly narrow ledge, a few feet only above the water, which beat with a hollow sound beneath our feet.
Sometimes I had the greatest difficulty in making my way; and when at length we came to a broader place, Doyle stopped and pulled off his shoes, which he put into his pocket. I followed his example, and was then able to get on somewhat better. The cliff was too smooth to afford any hold to our hands; and a slip would have plunged us headlong into the sea.
At length the black stopped at a somewhat broader place, which allowed us to join him; when, turning round, we looked down into a shallow cavern, in the centre of which we saw Edith and Pierce, kneeling down side by side, and gazing towards the sea. We had approached so noiselessly that they had not heard us. I easily leaped to the level on which they were kneeling, and uttered their names. They both sprang to their feet, and throwing their arms round me, burst into tears.
"We were praying to G.o.d for help, but thought it would come from the sea," exclaimed Edith, as soon as she could find words to speak. "How did you know we were here? And poor mamma, how frightened she must have been at not seeing us! That made us more unhappy than anything else all the night long. We had brought some food, so we were not hungry; and see! there is a spring of water issuing from the cliff, and that gave us what we wanted to drink. But we have been very frightened, and know that we have been exceedingly naughty in coming so far by ourselves. We got as far as this, and were sitting down, very happy, when we began to think it was time to go home; but we had not got far before we found the water close up to the cliff, and we could not pa.s.s. It rose higher and higher, so we ran back and got into this cave just before the sea reached the part of the beach by which alone we could gain it. At first we thought that it would perhaps come right up into the cave and drown us. On and on it came, and we got farther and farther back; and oh, how thankful we were when at length we saw it stop and come no higher!"
I did not scold Edith or Pierce; and I felt very thankful that the weather had been so calm, for had there been any wind the surf would have broken into the cave, and certainly have swept them away.
We had now to consider how we were to return. I proposed to Doyle that we should wait till the tide had gone down, and then get along the beach by the way they had come.
"But maybe the tide won"t go down as low as it did yesterday; and if it doesn"t, there are many places you will be unable to get across," said Doyle.
"Then the best thing we can do is to send round for the boat," I observed. "If you will climb up to the top of the cliff, I will stay with my brother and sister."
"To confess the truth, Mr G.o.dfrey, it"s just the thing I don"t think is as aisy as it looks," said Doyle. "I"ll try to do it, to please you; but I rather think our friend Pullingo, though not brought up to the sea, will do it more aisy."
"But how is he to make them understand that we have found the children and want the boat?" I asked.
"Haven"t you got a pencil and paper!" exclaimed Edith. "Just write a note to Mr Mudge, and get him to take it up."
"A bright idea," I observed; and taking out my pocket-book, I wrote a few words, explaining the plan we proposed.
Pullingo at once understood that he was to carry up the bit of paper, and did not appear to hesitate about ascending the rope. I remained with Edith and Pierce, while Paddy went back with the black. He soon returned to the cave, when he told me that Pullingo had, without hesitation or the slightest appearance of fear, grasped the rope and begun the ascent, showing as much activity as a monkey, or, as he observed, as if he had been born and bred at sea. He watched him till he had climbed safely over the top of the cliff; when a shout from above told him that my note had been received.
We now sat down, watching the tide, which was still flowing.
"What if it should rise higher than it did yesterday?" I observed; "we should be somewhat cramped for s.p.a.ce."
"I don"t think Pullingo would have left us here if he thought that was going to happen," said Doyle; "he knows all about it. He is a wonderful fellow; how he came to find out that the children were here, is more than I can tell."
"We saw his son as we came along yesterday, and perhaps he guessed where we had gone," said Pierce, thus accounting for the black knowing where to find the children.
Still, I did not feel altogether comfortable as I saw the tide rising higher and higher, and I began to consider that, after all, it might have been better to have tried to go up by the rope.
Edith sat quite calmly. "I am very sure that it will not come higher than that," she said, placing a stone on the ground.
"And why do you think so?" I asked.
"Because G.o.d rules the waves. He can stop them just where he wills,"
she answered with perfect calmness.
She was right; the water came only a little higher than the stone, and then began to recede.