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Bunyip Land: A Story of Adventure in New Guinea, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 13. How Jack Penny Put His Foot In A Trap |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTEEN. HOW JACK PENNY PUT HIS FOOT IN A TRAP We had made our plans, but they were very elastic, for it was impossible for us to keep to any hard-and-fast line. "No, Joe," the doctor said, "we cannot say that we will do this or that; we must be governed by circumstances. We have one object in view--to find your father, and so far we have determined to follow the course of the first big river; when we shall be diverted from it time must prove." We slept that night under the shade of another tree, and as the mist rolled off the next morning we started once again. It was so glorious a morning that, in spite of the serious nature of our position, it was impossible not to feel in the highest of spirits. The way lay through dense forest, but we had fallen into a track which I at first thought was a regular pathway, and so it proved to be, but not of the kind I imagined as I eagerly called the doctor's attention to it, and the ease with which we were now getting along. "No, Joe," he said; "this is not a path used by human beings. Look down at the footprints." I looked down to see the hoof-marks of innumerable wild creatures, and said so. "Yes," replied the doctor, "it is a track down to the river, followed by the animals that go to drink, and we shall not be long before we get to the water side." Our way did not seem wearisome, for there was so much to see, the birds in particular taking my attention greatly. One moment a flock of black cockatoos would fly screaming by, then a cloud of brilliantly-coloured parroquets, and in one opening we came upon what looked at first like a gigantic beech-tree completely alive with tiny blue-and-green parrots about the size of sparrows, climbing, fluttering, chattering, and chirping, now with their heads up, now heads down, and forming one of the prettiest sights I had ever seen. I could have shot twenty or thirty together as they sat in rows upon the bare branches, so little did they heed our presence; but it was unnecessary to destroy their little lives, and we passed on. I was less merciful an hour later, for food was a necessity, and I was fortunate enough to bring down at the first shot a beautiful little deer that started up in our very path. My shot seemed to alarm the whole forest and set it in an uproar: birds shrieked, monkeys chattered, and to right and left there was a rushing crackling noise, as of big creatures seeking flight. There was a deep-mouthed howl, too, away on our right that made me look anxiously at the doctor. "I don't know, Joe," he replied, as if in answer to a spoken question. "There may be tigers here, and leopards, and old men of the woods, big as ourselves. It is new land, my lad, so don't look to me for information." "Dat big bunyip," said Jimmy in a scared whisper. "Take black fellow-- kill um, eatum." Just then we heard the same beating noise that had fallen upon our ears the previous day. "Dat big bunyip beat um gin," whispered Jimmy, with a curious awe-stricken look in his countenance. "'Taint," said Jack Penny slowly. "I don't believe in bunyips. If it was a bunyip beating his gin, she'd holloa out like hooray, and squeak the leaves off the trees." "'Fraid squeak," said Jimmy eagerly, as he caught Jack's meaning. "Well, perhaps Jimmy's right," said the doctor slowly; "and as I've never seen a bunyip the present is a favourable opportunity, and we can interfere to stop him from too severely castigating his wife. Come, Jimmy, lead on." Jimmy's jaw dropped, but his hand stole to his waistband, from which he drew his waddy, talking slowly the while, till, seeing the doctor make a movement towards him, he turned round and darted into the bush. "He won't stop till he gets back to the village," drawled Jack. "He won't go farther than the first big tree," I said, laughing. "He's watching us now, I'll be bound." "Then you and I will have to meet the bunyip, Joe," said the doctor. "Are you coming, Penny?" "Yes, I'll come," said Jack quietly. "I should like to see a bunyip. Come along." Jack went on--not first, for Gyp started before him and, guided by the noise, we pushed on amongst the dense growth, finding the earth grow moister beneath our feet; and then all at once it seemed as if the big trees had come to an end and we were in a lighter place. "There's the water," I cried, as I caught sight of a flash. "You'll be in it here directly, same as I was," drawled Jack. "I say, doctor, ain't this the sort of place big snakes like?" "Hush!" whispered the doctor; and pressing back the thick growth we advanced cautiously, and following his example I, too, stepped from tuft to tuft, listening to the beating noise and to the other sounds that arose. First there was the loud rustle of wings as some water birds flew up, long-legged creatures with far-stretching necks. Then on my left there was an ominous noise, as of something crawling amongst the reeds, and I shuddered as I saw that Jack Penny was holding his gun ready, and that Gyp's hair was bristling all about his neck, while his teeth were bared. The doctor was some distance before us now, and I could see him peering between some bushes and waving his hand to me to come forward; so, forgetting the danger, if danger there was, I went cautiously to my companion's side, to gaze with astonishment at the scene before me. There was no bunyip or native Australian demon there, but a great shallow, muddy pond or lake, which seemed as if it must be swarming with fish and crocodiles, for every here and there, as the great rugged backs of the horrible lizards were seen pushing towards the shore, shoals of silvery fish leaped out, flashing in the sunshine before they splashed back into the water. Here, then, was the secret of the mysterious noise which was being produced before my eyes. For the crocodiles were driving the shoals of fish into the little bays and creeks, and then stunning them by beating the water heavily with their tails, the result being that the paralysed fish were easily devoured. I felt as if I could never tire of gazing at the monsters so busy before us. There must have been at least five-and-twenty, and all of large size; and it was not a pleasant thought to consider what would have been the consequences if we had attempted to wade across the lagoon. Before leaving, however, the doctor took out his glass and swept the shore of the great pond, to nod with satisfaction. "This is only a sort of bay belonging to the river we are seeking, Joe," he said. "Look there to the left, and you can see the entrance choked up with reeds." We crept back cautiously, to find Jimmy awaiting our return; and then making a detour towards the lake, we soon reached the river, along whose bank was a well-trodden path, in whose softer parts, besides those of deer, it was plain to see the ugly toes of crocodiles, and the long trail they made as they dragged themselves along. We did not halt until we had left the crocodile pond a long way behind; but a fine dry, open spot, close to the flashing water of the swift river, was so tempting that we did not go so far as we had intended. Here a fire was soon lit, and Jimmy sat watching the roasting of the buck with an indescribable look of satisfaction in his countenance; while, eager to try whether it would be possible to add to our provision store at any time from the river, I went on down to the water's edge. For if there were fish in such abundance in the lagoon, I felt sure that if they would bite there must be plenty in the stream. My first idea had been to have a bathe in the cool-looking water, but, seeing my intention, the black who had been my companion in the watch, took my hand, led me cautiously along for a short distance, and then pointed to where there was lying, dimly outlined in the thickened water, one of the hideous creatures such as I had seen in the lagoon. The black then put his wrists together, spread wide his hands, and closed them sharply upon my arm like a pair of jaws, and snatched me sidewise with a good tug. I was quite satisfied, and nodding and shuddering I joined the doctor, who was ready enough to help me fish. We soon had our lines ready, and baiting the hooks with pieces of raw meat, we threw out and waited, after the manner of fishermen at home, for a bite. After a time I examined my bait and threw in again. Then the doctor examined his and threw in again, but neither of us had the slightest touch, and growing weary we went back to the fire to find the buck sufficiently roasted and Jimmy's eyes standing out of his head with hunger; so we made a hasty meal, left the blacks to finish it, and Jack Penny to rest his long body, while we had another try at the fishing. But Jack Penny did not care to rest when anything was going on, and after we had been fishing without result for about half an hour he joined us. "Caught anything?" he said; and on our replying in the negative, "Here, let me try," he said. I handed him my line, and he twisted it well round his hand. "Fish run big, sometimes," he said, nodding his head sagaciously. "Don't leave your line like that, doctor," he added; "make it fast to that bough." The doctor obeyed, and leaving Jack looking very drowsy and dreamy we two took our guns and started along the river bank, thinking that perhaps we might find something useful for the larder, the heat of the climate rendering it necessary for a supply to be obtained from day to day. It was a glorious walk past quiet bends of the river that were as still as ponds, and full of red and white lotus plants which shot up their lovely blossoms from amidst their floating liliaceous leaves. Trees in places overhung the water, and great wreaths of blossom or leaves of dazzling green were reflected on the surface. Insect life was abundant: burnished beetles and lovely coloured butterflies flitting from flower to flower. Birds, too, especially waders and great creatures that I took to be pelicans, were busy in the shallows, where now and then a great crocodile wallowed through the mud, evidently roused by our approach, for though we saw several of these creatures, not one gave the slightest sign of a disposition to attack. "There, we are not likely to see deer before evening when they come down to drink," said the doctor. "Let's get back, Joe, my lad, the sun is not so powerful as it was, and we may as well make a fresh start." We were about three parts of the way back, finding some fresh object of interest at every turn, when I suddenly caught hold of my companion's arm, for a peculiar cry fell upon my ear. "Something wrong!" exclaimed the doctor, and we set off at a sharp run where the undergrowth would allow. A curious sensation of dread came over me, and a cold damp feeling was on my brow and in the palms of my hands as the cry rose once more--a singularly doleful cry, as of some one in great peril. "Are you loaded?" said the doctor, as we ran on, and his voice sounded hoarse with emotion. I nodded, for I could not speak, and, full of the idea that our little camp had been attacked by savages and that some of our followers were being killed, I ran on. It was hard work and like running in a nightmare to get back to our starting-place, for there was always some thorn or tangle that we had not noticed in our careful advance seeming to stop us on our way; but at last we came within sight of the spot where we had left Jack Penny, but he was not there. "There's something wrong at the camp," I panted. "Be cool," replied the doctor, "we may have to fire. Try and keep your nerve. Ah!" This ejaculation was consequent upon our simultaneously catching sight of Jack Penny, up to the armpits in the river, holding on by the branch of a tree. As he saw us he shouted lustily for help. It was no drawl now, but a sharp quick shout. I ran down the bank and the doctor following, we joined hands, when, catching at Jack's wrist, I held on tightly. "Now, then," I said, as I gazed wonderingly in his ghastly face and staring eyes, "let go, and we'll draw you ashore." "No, no," he cried hoarsely. "Got hold of me--drag me in." "Got hold? Of course," I said, "we'll drag you in." "One of those brutes has got him, Joe," cried the doctor excitedly, and his words sent such a thrill through me that I nearly loosed my hold. "Here, pull both together," he said, as he got down by my side and seized Jack Penny by the other arm. We gave a fierce drag, to find that it was answered from below, Jack being nearly drawn out of our hands, his head going down nearly to the eyes, and for the moment it seemed as if we were to be drawn in as well. But fortunately Jack still had tight hold of the branch, to which he clung in the agony of desperation, and he uttered such a piercing cry that it served to arouse the sleeping blacks, the result being that, as we were holding on, and just maintaining our ground, Jimmy and Ti-hi, the black who had attached himself to me, came running down. They saw what was wrong, and Jimmy seized me, the black doing the same by Jimmy, with the effect of dragging poor Jack Penny farther and farther from the water in spite of the struggles of the reptile that was trying to haul him back. First we had him out to the chest, then to the hips, then nearly to the knees, and I never till then thoroughly realised what a lot there was of him, for it seemed as if he would never end. "Hold on!" cried the doctor suddenly. "I'm going to loose him." "No, no!" panted Jack, with a horrified look; but the doctor did loose his hold and caught up his gun. "Now, then," he cried. "All together. Haul with all your might." We obeyed, and though we were for the moment mastered we gave a good swing again, and it seemed as if Jack Penny must be dragged in two. It was like playing a game of French and English, and we were in danger of getting the worst of it. We saw what the doctor wanted, and that was to get the reptile so near the surface that he could fire; but as soon as we got poor Jack nearly ashore the creature gave a tremendous tug, making the water swirl and the mud and sand from the bottom rise in clouds. This went on for five minutes, during which we were striving with all our might, when I nearly loosed my hold, for Jack said in a low despairing tone of voice: "Joe Carstairs, don't let him have me till you've shot me first." I held fast though, and the fight went on, till, just as we were beginning to despair, the reptile came nearer to the surface, the ugly protuberances over its eyes were level with the water, and, bending down, the doctor reached out with his gun in one hand, held the muzzle close to the creature's eye, and fired. There was a tremendous sputter and we were nearly forced to leave go, but the next moment there was no resistance but weight, and we drew Jack and his aggressor, a crocodile about ten feet long, right up to the bank, the monster's jaws, which had closed over one of Jack's stoutly booted feet, remaining fast, though the upper part of its head was all blown away. "Dat a big bunyip," cried Jimmy, forcing the end of his spear through the reptile's jaws and trying to push them open, which he did with his companion's help, and Jack Penny was free to limp feebly for a few yards, and sink down amongst the reeds. Jimmy did not seem in the least afraid of the bunyip now, for hacking off a long lithe cane he put it over the reptile's jaw, and, twisting it tightly rope-fashion, he and Ti-hi dragged it right away from the water, and, avoiding the frantic lashings of its tail, they turned it over with their spears, used like levers, and kept on stabbing it in its tender underparts until it ceased to struggle, when Jimmy turned it over again and began to perform a triumphant war-dance on its back. Meanwhile poor Jack Penny, who had been nearly speechless, began to revive. "That's better," said the doctor. "Now let me look at your foot." "Has he bit it right off?" said Jack faintly. "I can't feel it. Just when I needed it so badly, too!" "Bit it off! No!" I cried. "Is it much hurt, doctor?" "I can't tell till I have unlaced his boot," he replied. "Tell me if I hurt you much, my lad." "It don't hurt," said Jack faintly. "I can't feel at all." It was rather hard work to get the boot off; but at last it was free, and the doctor inspected a double row of red spots, two of which bled a little, but not much. "I'm beginning to feel now," said Jack dolefully. "Why, he ain't bit it off!" he said, raising himself so that he could look down at the injured member. "I thought it was gone." "No; your foot has only had an ugly pinch; the stout boot saved it. Let it bleed a little, my lad; it will save you pain." "What! had he only got hold of my boot?" said Jack excitedly. "And the foot in it," said the doctor. "See, here are the marks of the teeth." "I thought he'd bit it right off, Joe Carstairs," said Jack dolefully. "An' I say, what a coward I am!" "Coward!" I exclaimed. "Why?" "To be so frightened as I was," replied Jack, with a dismal sigh. "Well, I don't know about being a coward, Master Jack Penny," said the doctor quietly; "but I do know that if I had had my foot in that reptile's mouth I should have been in a most horrible state of fear. There, my lad," he continued kindly, "don't think any more about it, only to be thankful for your escape." "But he ought to tell us first how he was caught like that," I said. "Oh, there ain't much to tell," said Jack, sitting up and raising his leg, and softly rubbing his injured foot. "I was fishing, and the fish wouldn't bite, and I got a little nearer to the river side and threw in again and fished; and the sun seemed to get hotter, and I suppose I fell asleep, for I remember dreaming that the dingoes had got among father's sheep again, and that he flicked his whip-lash round my wrist. Then I tried to start up, but a big fish had hold of the line, and it tugged away so hard that I was overbalanced, and took a header off the bank right into the river; and when I came up, pretty tidy astonished like, and began to swim for the bank, the fish on the line, which I had twisted round my wrist, began tugging me out into the stream. It took me out ever so far before I could get the line off my wrist; and then I swam easily back, feeling awful popped like at having lost the fish and the line; and I was just wondering what you would say, when all at once there was a regular rush in the water, and something shut on my foot, giving me such an awful nip that I yelled out as I caught hold of that branch, and held on, shivering all the while with fear, for I forgot about the crocodiles, and thought it must be a shark." "Well!" I said, excitedly; for he stopped. "Well, what?" said Jack. "What next? What did you do?" I said. "Hollered!" replied Jack laconically. "So would you if you had been me." "Yes," I said, "of course; but what took place next?" "Oh, nothing; only that I held tight and he held tight, and as often as he tugged at me it jumped the bough up and down like a see-saw, and it was very horrid." "Most horrible!" said the doctor. "Then I hollered again," said Jack. "Yes; go on!" I cried impatiently. "I did go on," he replied. "I went on hollering, but them chaps at the camp were asleep, and I began to feel that I should have to let go soon; only I wouldn't, because I wanted to find out first what had become of the professor. Then at last you came, and that's all; only I don't feel much like walking very far to-day, so I shall sit still and fish." "Fish! what, with things like that in the water?" I exclaimed. "Oh! they won't hurt me," said Jack; "because I shall be on the look-out now, and won't go in after the next fish that takes my line. I say, where's Gyp?" "I don't know," I said. "I have not seen him." "Crocodiles are very fond of dogs," said Jack quietly. "I hope one of 'em hasn't got Gyp." "Oh, no! he'd be too sharp for one of the reptiles," said the doctor reassuringly. "I don't know," said Jack in his quiet drawl. "I thought I was much too clever for crocodiles; but they're sharp--precious sharp about the teeth. Perhaps he's gone hunting something. He often used at home." "Oh, yes; he'll come back," I said. "Well, we shall see," said Jack. "I'm better now. Lend me another line, Joe Carstairs. I want to see if I can't catch a fish." I looked about first to see if I could trace my line, but it was hopelessly gone. To my surprise and pleasure, though, I found the doctor's where he had left it, tied to a root and drawn out tight, evidently with a fish at the end. I imagined that I could easily draw this out, and I did get it close up to the bank, but as soon as it was in the shallow water it sprang right out and darted away again, making the line rush through my hands so rapidly that it burned my skin. As it leaped out I had a good opportunity of seeing that a great silvery fellow, fully a yard long, had hooked itself, and meant to have some playing before it turned over upon its side in token of submission. I kept on playing the fish, which seemed to grow stronger instead of weaker as I went on at give and take with it, till I was almost tired. At least six times did I draw it in and try to bring it within reach of Ti-hi's fingers, but in vain, for it always darted off as if refreshed. At last, though, I drew it well in, and once more it was about to repeat its tactics; but this time it was too late, for the black pounced down upon it, thrust his hooked finger into its gills, and pulled it up on to the bank. Just then Jimmy came trotting up, hauling away at a line, and to my great delight I found that he had hunted out the one we had left with Jack Penny. "Fastum round big wood!" he cried; and then he tried to explain how the fish had entangled the line round what an American would call a snag; and the result was that we had two fine fish to carry back to the camp, Jimmy's being tired out and readily yielding as he hauled on the line. "I don't think I'll fish to-day," said Jack Penny then. "I say, I feel as if that buck warn't good enough to eat." Hardly had he spoken before he softly sank down sidewise, and lay looking very white, and with his eyes shut. "Is it the venison?" I said in a whisper to the doctor. "No. He is a little faint, now the reaction has set in," replied the doctor; and we had to carry poor wet Jack Penny as well as the fish into camp, and of course we got no farther on our journey that day. _ |
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