Bunyip Land Part 17

"Oh, I caught him," said Jack; "but I lost him when I trod on that great beast."

"What great beast?" I said.

"Crocodile fifty foot long," drawled Jack.

"Say sixty," said the doctor.

"Well, I hadn't time to measure him," drawled Jack. "I trod upon one, and he heaved up, and that made me jump into a soft place, and--ugh!

what's that?"

I was very doubtful about Jack's crocodile, but there was no mistake about the object that had made him utter this last cry of disgust.

"They're p.r.i.c.king me horrid," he shouted; and we found that he had at least twenty large leeches busily at work banquetting upon his blood.

The blacks set to work picking them off, and sc.r.a.ping him clear of the thick vegetable mud that adhered to him; and with the promise that he was to have a good bathe in the first clear water we encountered, we once more started, Jack looking anything but cheerful, but stubbornly protesting that it was wonderful how comfortable his wet clothes made him feel.

Master Jack had to listen to a lecture from the doctor, in which the latter pointed out that if success was to attend our expedition, it would not do for the various members to be darting off at their good pleasure in search of b.u.t.terflies, and at first Jack looked very grim, and frowned as if about to resent it all. To my surprise, however, he replied:

"I see, doctor; we must be like soldiers and mind the captain. Well, all right. I won't do so any more."

"I'm sure you will not," said the doctor, holding out his hand. "You see we must have discipline in our little corps, so as to be able fully to confide in each other in cases of emergency. We must be men."

Jack scratched his head and looked ruefully from one to the other.

"That's just what I want to be, doctor," he drawled; "but I'm always doing something that makes me seem like a small boy. I'm grown up a deal, but somehow I don't feel a bit older than I used to be years ago."

"Ah, well, wait a bit, Penny," replied the doctor; "and we will not say any more about the b.u.t.terfly hunt."

Jack's brow seemed to grow as wrinkled as that of an old man, and he was very solemn for the rest of the day, during which we tramped on through the forest, its beauties seeming less attractive than in the freshness of the early morning, and the only striking thing we saw was a pack of small monkeys, which seemed to have taken a special dislike to Jimmy, following him from tree to tree, chattering and shrieking the while, and at last putting the black in a pa.s.sion, and making him throw his boomerang savagely up in return for the nuts that were showered down.

"Bad black fellow," he said to me indignantly. "Come down, Jimmy fight twenty forty all a once."

He flourished his club and showed me how he would clear the ground, but the monkeys did not accept the challenge, and that night we halted under a great tree covered with a scarlet plum-like fruit, and proceeded to set up our tent as a shelter to keep off the heavy dew.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

HOW WATCH WAS KEPT BY NIGHT.

The sheet which I have called our tent was stretched over a low bough, and secured to pegs at the four corners, being all open at the sides, so that as I lay I could gaze right away in any direction.

On one side there was gloom, with the tall pillar-like tree trunks standing up grey and indistinct; on the other side there was the bright fire, which was as dangerous, I thought, as it was useful, for though it served to keep off wild beasts it was likely to attract savage men, just as moths fly to a flame.

As I lay there I could see the doctor keeping watch, and beside him one of the natives, whose black face looked curious and ghastly with the bandage he wore round his head, for this was one of the men who had been seized by the captain of the other schooner, and who had eagerly volunteered to be of our party.

This man was gazing intently at the doctor, as if eager to catch the slightest indication of a wish, and so still and misty did he look in the weird light that but for the flaming of the fire from his eyes it would have been hard to tell that he was a living being.

Though it was not cold our black followers all slept close about the fire, Jimmy the nearest--so close, in fact, that he seemed as if he were being prepared for a feast on the morrow; and this idea of roasting came the more strongly from the fact that we were in a land whose inhabitants were said to have certain weaknesses towards a taste for human joints.

Jack Penny was sleeping heavily close to me, and at regular intervals seeming to announce that he was dreaming of eating, for his lips gave vent over and over again to the word _pork_!

Sometimes this regular snoring sound annoyed me, but I forgot it again directly as I lay sleepless there, now watching the gloom of the forest, now the flickering and dancing light of the fire as the wood crackled and burned and the sparks and smoke went straight up, till they were lost on high amid the densely thick branches overhead.

It was a curious sensation to be there in that awful solitude, thinking of my past adventures, and wondering what the next day might bring forth. I wanted to sleep and rest, so as to rise refreshed when the doctor called me two hours after midnight, when I was to relieve guard; but sleep would not come, and I lay fidgeting about, wondering how it was possible that such a small twig could set up so much irritation beneath my back.

Then, just as I thought I was going off there would be the sensation as of some creeping insect crawling about over my face and in amongst the roots of my hair. Then after impatiently knocking it away, something seemed to be making its way up my sleeve, to be succeeded by something else in the leg of my trousers, while I had hardly got rid of this sensation when a peculiarly clammy cold touch taught me that either a lizard or a snake was crawling over my feet.

This last I felt constrained to bear, for a movement might result in the bite of some poisonous creature, while by lying still I might escape.

At last I really was dropping off into a sound sleep, when all at once I started into wakefulness, fascinated as it were by the sight of something s.h.i.+ning in the black darkness to the left of our fire.

With a shudder running through me I rose to my elbow, at the same moment seizing my gun, when a single intent glance convinced me that I was right, for certainly some creature was watching the doctor, and probably crouching before making a deadly bound.

I c.o.c.ked the piece softly, holding the trigger the while, so that there should be no sharp click, and in another moment I should have fired, after careful aim, between the two bright glaring eyes, when the doctor made a movement, and the animal darted aside and went bounding off, just giving me a glimpse of its form, which was that of a small deer.

I saw the doctor shade his eyes and stand watching the flying creature.

Then stooping down he picked up a few branches that had been gathered ready, and made the fire blaze more brightly.

As the glow increased I saw something which there was no mistaking for a harmless deer, for not ten yards away there was a large cat-like creature crouching close to the ground, while, to make a.s.surance doubly sure, there came from between its bared and glistening white teeth a low angry snarl.

I took aim, and tried to get a good sight at its head, but hesitated to draw trigger, for the glow from the fire made appearances deceptive, the body of the cat-like beast seeming to waver up and down; and directly after the creature moved, and its head was covered by a low bush.

But the doctor and his companion had both seen the animal, which uttered a menacing roar as the former stepped forward, s.n.a.t.c.hed a piece of burning wood from the fire, and hurled it towards the beast, his example being followed by the New Guinea man.

The result was a furious roar, and the great cat bounded away towards the forest.

This brought Gyp to his feet with a fierce volley of barking, and he would have been off in pursuit but for his master, who woke up and ran out exclaiming:

"Dingoes after the sheep! dingoes after the sheep! Here, Gyp, boy!

here, Gyp--here--eh! I say, is anything the matter?"

"No, no; all right!" cried the doctor.

"I--I thought I was at home," said Jack, rubbing his eyes; "and--oh! how sleepy I am."

"Lie down again, then," said the doctor; and Jack obeyed, Gyp following and curling up close by his master, who very soon resumed his heavy breathing, in so objectionable a manner that I felt over and over again as if I should like to kick him and wake him up.

For there is nothing on earth so annoying as to be unable to sleep when some one close by is snoring away in happy oblivion.

As I lay there with my face turned from the fire, so that it should not keep me awake, I felt more and more the sensation of awe produced by being there in the midst of that wild place. While I was perfectly still my eyes were directed upwards in amongst the branches of the great tree, now illumined by the bright flame of our fire, and by degrees I made out that these boughs were peopled by birds and what seemed to be squirrels, and all more or less excited by the unaccustomed light.

I lay gazing up at them, seeing the different objects very indistinctly in the dancing light, and then all at once it seemed to me that one particular branch was rising and falling slowly with a peculiar movement. It was a strange wavy motion, which was the more remarkable from the fact that there was no wind; but after a moment or two's thought I fancied I had found the cause in the heated air produced by the fire.

But that did not explain what next took place in the smoky obscurity above the fire, for the branch seemed to wave about more and more, and to lengthen; and then I made sure that it was the shadow I saw; but directly after, a thrill ran through me as I recalled that these creatures were fond of nestling high up in branches, where they captured birds and monkeys, and I said in a low hoa.r.s.e whisper:

"Why, it's a snake!"

There was no doubt about the matter, for as it swung lower, holding on by its tail, I could see that it was indeed a snake, evidently of considerable length, and about as thick as my arm. It had been aroused from probably a torpid state by the fumes of the fire, and was now descending from bough to bough to reach the earth, and I paused for a time, asking myself what I had better do.