ON LAND
"Why don't he shoot his gun at 'em?" demanded Andy, capering about on the sand. "He could soon scare 'em off!"
"I'm afraid Washington is too frightened to do anything like that," answered Professor Henderson. "He is lucky to have escaped alive."
"Wait until he gets here with that gun, an' I'll do some huntin' that will make them savages skip!" exclaimed Andy.
In a little while Washington came up to where the others from the Porpoise stood on the beach. The colored man was panting from his run.
"De most monstrous disproportionately extradition ob circumstantial occurrances dat ever transpositioned on my optical vasionariness!" he exclaimed as he laid his gun and the black box carefully down on the sand. "Ten thousand naked imps of darkness swarmin' ober de ship an' not a pusson to say what dey ought to do an' where dey ought t' go! It am suttinly terrible!"
"Why didn't you shoot some of 'em?" demanded Andy.
"Me?" exclaimed Washington. "What for I want t' shoot 'em? S'pose I want 'em t' git mad at me?"
"Well, you're a great one," went on Andy, picking up the gun. "I guess I'll have to take a few shots myself."
"Yes, sah."
From Washington the adventurers learned how the savages had silently come up in their canoes and surrounded the ship, gaining possession of it before he could make any effort at defense, even had he so desired.
"What are we to do now?" asked Mrs. Johnson, when they had retreated out of sight of the savages. "The natives have possession of the boat, and how are we to regain her when there are so many of them?"
"It certainly is a hard nut to crack," admitted the professor. "We will have to camp out on the beach for a while and see what happens. Perhaps they may leave the vessel when they find it will do them no good. They can't run her."
"But they can tear her all apart and damage the machinery," said Jack. "Then we would be in a pickle."
"Well, we won't hope for any such bad luck as that," interrupted the professor. "We will look for the best."
"When are we going to have breakfast?" asked the little girl, after a long wait. "I'm hungry, mother."
"We will have it pretty soon," replied Mrs. Johnson in order to quiet her daughter's mind.
"But I want it now," continued Nellie. "I'm very hungry."
"Hush!" said Mrs. Johnson.
"An' I had de finest brekfust what was ever invented," said Washington, rolling his big eyes. "Mud turkle eggs, ham, preserves, coffee—"
"That will do, Washington," said the professor. "It only makes our mouths water to think about such things."
At the mention of the turtle eggs Jack nudged Mark, and signalled him to walk to one side. When they were out of earshot of the others Jack said:
"What's the matter with cooking some of the eggs that are left on the sand? There are plenty of them, and there is no sense in our going hungry."
"How you going to cook 'em?" asked Mark.
"I'll show you," replied Jack.
He scooped a hollow place out in the sand until he had quite a hole. This he banked up with stones until he had a small oven. By arching the stones over toward the top there was left a sort of circular opening. Over this Jack fitted a monster clam shell, with the concave side uppermost.
This made an improvised stew pan. Underneath was piled small bits of dry drift-wood, which a match soon set on fire. In a little while the water in the big shell was boiling.
"Now get some other shells for dishes," said Jack to Mark.
Soon Mark had piled up a lot of smaller shells.
"Help me gather some eggs now," said Jack, "and we'll put them in to boil. Then we'll invite the rest of the folks to breakfast."
The two boys soon uncovered from the sand a pile of the eggs, and in a little while they were steaming in the hot water. Then Jack arranged the shell-dishes on the sand. He went over to where the others were gloomily considering their plight.
"Breakfast is ready," he announced.
"This isn't any time for joking," spoke Professor Henderson, rather sternly.
"But I mean it," went on Jack. "Just come over and see. I'm not fooling you."
Wondering what he had done they all followed him.
"Welcome to Hotel Terra del Fuego!" cried Mark. "We haven't much of a variety, but what there is we can recommend."
He began to dip the eggs out of the water with a bit of shell and placed them on the improvised dishes.
"Everyone sit down," commanded Jack. "The bill of fare is ready."
They all joined in the short laugh that followed, and soon were seated in a circle about the beach-oven. The eggs proved to be very good, even though there was no pepper. The salt of the sea water they were boiled in was more than sufficient.
"Now if there was only bread in that ammunition bag Washington brought with the gun," said Andy, "we wouldn't want a better meal."
"He'p yo'se'f!" exclaimed the colored man with a grin as he extended a canvas bag that was tied to the stock of the electric gun.
The old hunter opened it and found it filled with ship biscuits.
"Well I am stumped!" he exclaimed.
"I grabbed up de wrong thing in my haste," Washington explained. "I thought I had de electrical lightning bullets, but I didn't. Howsomever de gun's got some in de chamber."
"It's a lucky mistake," commented the professor as he munched a biscuit and an egg. "Bullets are good but these are better, when one is hungry."
They managed to make a fairly good meal, so that even hungry Nellie was satisfied. The boys found a spring of fresh water up on shore, and this furnished something to drink, for which they were grateful.
They sat about on the beach, after the breakfast and discussed what they had better do. It was evident that an attempt to regain possession of the ship, with their small force and only one weapon, was out of the question.
"We've got to use strategy," said Andy. "If we could play some trick on the savages we might scare them away. Otherwise I don't see what we are to do."
"It's a bad state of affairs," replied professor Henderson. "Even if we got the ship we might find it so badly damaged that it would be impossible to run it. It is a terrible thing," and he heaved a deep sigh.
The hours passed with no change in the situation. The savages remained in possession of the submarine, and did not seem inclined to quit the vessel. Most of them were inside, but quite a number paddled about the stranded craft in their canoes.
There was nothing for the adventurers to do but to await developments. With no chance of attacking the force of natives, they might consider themselves lucky if the savages did not come ashore to give battle.
The sun was high in the heavens when, in the shade of a big tree where they had all taken refuge from the heat, Nellie again announced that she was hungry.
"I guess the boys will have to provide another meal," said Mr. Henderson.
Jack and Mark said they guessed they could find some more turtle eggs, and Washington volunteered to accompany them. As they were looking for a nest in the sand they saw one of the tortoises scurrying down to the ocean.
"Git her, quick!" cried the colored man. "Turn her ober on her back!"
The boys did so, though they did not know what Washington's object was. The big animal lay bottom side up, vainly moving its flippers. In a few minutes Washington had killed the turtle and cut it out of the shell.
"Now we'll hab turtle soup!" he exclaimed.
Soon the fire was again blazing in the improvised stove, and a little later an appetizing smell filled the air. Washington had made the soup, and, in addition, had cooked a number of the turtle eggs.
Big clam shells again served for dishes and a better meal than the breakfast was served.
"Now if we only had some dessert," spoke Mr. Henderson in a joking tone, "we wouldn't want much more. But I suppose dessert is out of the question."
Jack and Mark looked at each other and, without a word went off toward the woods. In a little while they came back, their arms filled with cocoanuts.
"How will these do for dessert?" asked Jack.
"Fine!" cried Mr. Henderson.
The fruit was broken open with stones and the delicious milk and soft pulp eaten with much relish. Then the adventurers stretched out beneath the trees and rested. The thoughts of each one were busy with plans for recovering the submarine, though no one seemed to be able to suggest any thing.
It was getting dusk, when, somewhat discouraged over the result of the visit of the savages, they were all seated on the beach. They were beginning to think again of something to eat when Andy Sudds, discovered the long black box which Washington had brought with him in his flight from the Porpoise, and dropped in a hollow.
"I suppose you've got something very fine in there, Washington?"
"I declare to goodness I don't know what dat air contraption am conglomerated with," said the colored man. "I jest grabbed it up and run."
The old hunter had, in the meanwhile, taken the cover off.
"What in the world have we struck," he exclaimed.
"Sky rockets!" cried Jack, with a glance at the contents of the box.
"Yes," said Professor Henderson. "I took some aboard in case we might have to signal for help on the water."
"Hurrah!" yelled Andy.
"What's the matter?" asked Jack.
"We'll use the sky rockets as weapons against the natives!" shouted the old hunter, capering about on the sand.