King o' the Beach Part 38

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

As Carey landed he glanced at the now enormous stack of pearl sh.e.l.ls and at the tubs once more well filled with oysters, for the beachcomber had not let his men be idle. But the sight of the treasures of which they had been robbed only irritated the boy, and he turned away to forget it in encountering the grinning face of Black Jack close by.

"Come, fro boomerang," he said, handing the wooden scimitar-like blade, and pointing along the sands.

"Ah," cried the boy, eagerly, "give me hold."

As he caught the boomerang, the other blacks started off along the sands as if they were going to field for a ball, and Carey laughed as he prepared to throw.

"It will begin to sail up before it gets to them," he thought to himself, laughingly, and he rather enjoyed the idea of the big, lithe fellows running through the hot sand in vain.

Then, imitating, as he thought, the black's action exactly, Carey sent the weapon spinning along about a yard above the sand; but it did not begin to rise, and before it dropped one of the men caught it cleverly and sent it back with such accuracy that Jack.u.m caught it in turn and handed it to the boy.

Carey threw again half-a-dozen times, for the curved blade to be caught by one or the other, no matter how wildly diverse were the casts, and sent back to Jack.u.m, who never missed a catch, standing perfectly calm and at the proper moment darting out his right or left hand, when _flip_, he had it safely and handed it back, grinning with delight.

"White boy no fro boomerang," he said.

"No," cried Carey, who was hot and irritable with the failure attending his exertions. "You're cheating me; this one won't go."

"No make um go," cried Jack.u.m, slapping his thighs and dancing with glee.

"No; it's a bad one; it won't fly back."

"Yes, fly bird come back."

"But it doesn't when I throw it."

"No, won't come back."

"And it won't when those black fellows throw."

Black Jack.u.m understood him perfectly and threw himself down on the hot sand to roll himself over in the exuberance of his delight.

"Look here," cried Carey, growing more irritated; "you're a cheat. You knew that thing wouldn't go when you gave it to me. Get up, or I'll kick you."

He made a rush to put his threat in execution, but the black rolled over and sprang up laughing.

"White boy get wild lik.u.m big Dan. No fro boomerang. Look, see."

"It's too bad, you're a cheat. Bad one. Bah!" cried Carey, throwing the wooden blade down. "You've changed it."

"Look, see," cried the black, catching it up; and in the most effortless way he sent it skimming along the sand right away, full fifty yards beyond the farthest fielder, before it began to mount high in the air, executing a peculiar series of twirls and flutterings as it came back, till the momentum died out as it dropped not half-a-dozen yards from Carey's feet.

"Ah!" cried the boy, excitedly, "I see how you do it now. Here, let me try."

"Jack.u.m fro mak.u.m come back ebry war."

"Yes, but let me try."

_Bang, bang_, came softened by the distance, and, looking sharply in the direction of the stranded vessel, two faint puffs of white smoke were visible.

"What does that mean?" cried Carey, as he saw the fielders come running towards him.

"Big Dan shoot, shoot. Say go hunt, get bird to cookie, cookie. Come, run fas'."

He set the example and plunged at once into the great cocoanut grove, followed by Carey and his companions.

"Big Dan no see now," cried Jack.u.m, and he grinned and pointed up at the nuts overhead. "Good, good?"

"Yes," cried Carey; "let's have some."

The black said something to his companions, two of whom took off their plaited hair girdles, joined them together, and then the band was pa.s.sed round a likely tree, knotted round one of the wearers' loins, and the next minute he was apparently walking like a monkey up the tree, s.h.i.+fting the band dexterously and going on and on till he reached the crown of leaves and the fruit, which he began s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g off and pitching down into the sand, where they were caught up, the pointed end of a club-handle inserted, and the great husk wrenched off. Then a few chops with a stone axe made a hole in the not yet hardened sh.e.l.l, and a nut with its delicious contents of sweet, sub-acid milk and pulp was handed to the boy, the giver grinning with satisfaction as he saw how it was enjoyed.

The blacks were soon similarly occupied, each finis.h.i.+ng a nut, and then Jack.u.m led the way inland.

"Are you going to the river?" asked Carey.

"No, walk, kedge fis'," said Jack.u.m, shaking his head. "Bully-woolly dar."

"Bully-woolly?" said Carey, wonderingly.

Jack.u.m threw himself on the ground, with his legs stiffened out behind, and his hands close to his sides. Then with wonderful accuracy he went through the movements of a crocodile creeping over the sand, and then made a snap at the boy's leg with his teeth, making believe to have caught him, and to be dragging his imaginary prey down to the water, ending by wagging his legs from side to side like a tail.

"I see," cried Carey. "Crocodiles. Yes, I know."

"Big, big. Mumkull black fellow, white boy. Come 'long."

Jack.u.m started off, followed by Carey and the rest in single file, their leader with his head down and eyes reading the ground from right to left as if in search of something lost. He made straight for the forest, but selected the more open parts where the undergrowth was scarce, so as to get quickly over the ground, stopping suddenly by a great decayed tree, about which his companions set to work with the sharp ends of their club-handles, and in a very short time they had dug out of the decayed wood some three double handfuls of thick white grubs as big as a man's fingers, and these were triumphantly transferred to the gra.s.s bag one man had hanging to his girdle.

Starting once more, Jack.u.m suddenly caught sight of traces on the ground which made him begin to proceed cautiously, his companions closing up, club, spear, or boomerang in hand, and then all at once there was a rush and a spring, then another, and a couple of little animals bounded away, kangaroo fas.h.i.+on, in a series of leaps through the open, park-like forest, till as they were crossing a widish patch Carey saw the use of the boomerang, one of which weapons skimmed after the retreating animals, struck it, and knocked it over, to lie kicking, till one of the men ran swiftly up and put it out of its misery with one blow of his club.

The other was missed, the boomerang hurled just going over its back and returning to the thrower after the fas.h.i.+on of a disappointed dog, while the little animal took refuge in a tree, leaping from bough to bough till brought down by one of a little shower of melon-headed clubs.

Jack.u.m held up the two trophies with a grin of delight, tied their legs together, and hung them on a stump.

"Back, come fetchum," he said, nodding.

The hunt continued till a couple of brush turkeys sprang up and began to run and flutter among the bushes, but only to be brought down by the unerring boomerangs; and these were also hung against a tree ready for picking up as the hunting party returned.

The traces on a sandy patch, showing that a snake had crossed and left its zigzag groove, were next spied, and a little tracking showed the maker of the marks coiled up on an ant-heap basking in the sun.

The reptile was on the alert, though, and raised its spade-shaped head high above its coils, displaying a pair of tiny diamond-bright eyes for a few moments, before a blow from the end of a spear dashed it down, broken and quivering.

"Mumkull--bite a fellow," said Jack.u.m. "Mak.u.m swellum. Brrr!"

Carey grasped the fact that the snake was of a poisonous tendency, and it was left writhing on the ant-heap, with the little creatures swarming in an army out of their holes to commence the task of picking its bones into skeleton whiteness.