When they arrived at the lake, they found the margin crowded with the nests of aquatic birds, built among the reeds, and a dozen fine ducks were soon taken. Ruth filled a large basket with eggs, and finally a quantity of fish was procured. With this ample provision they turned homewards; but passing the plot they had sowed with potatoes on their first arrival at the cove, they were astonished to see how forward the plants were; and on digging they found young potatoes, of which they carried away a small bag; but as they still had a large supply of those found in the wreck, they left the greater part for the benefit of succeeding visitors.
When they came near the height above the beach, on which they had first seen the footsteps of the natives, Hugh and Gerald went to the cliff to look over once more on the well-remembered spot, but started back immediately, for, to their deep distress, they beheld a considerable number of naked savages, painted with white chalk in a most frightful manner, dancing, singing, and throwing up their arms as if they were frantic.
The boys made a signal of silence to the rest; but Ruth, who was always, as Jenny said, in the wrong place, had followed the boys to the cliff, and, curious to know what they had seen below, she leaned forward to look down through an opening in the bush. O'Brien, alarmed lest she should be seen darted forward to seize her arm and draw her back; but startled by the action, and terrified by the scene below, she lost her balance, and, encumbered with the heavy basket, tottered over the edge, rolled down the steep cliff through the crackling, thorny brushwood, and alighted amidst the strange wild crew on the beach.
Springing up and looking round, the distracted girl uttered a succession of shrill screams, and the natives, in equal terror and amazement, gazed on the strange creature that had so suddenly descended amongst them. Her hair, which was very long, and of a fiery red color, was flying loose over her scarlet cloak, her wild eyes were starting from her head, and her pallid face was streaming with blood from the scratches she had received in her descent. For a moment the savages appeared paralyzed; then, without looking round, they fled to their canoes; and the next minute were seen paddling with all speed from the shores haunted by such a frightful spectre.
By this time, Jack, in great alarm about his sister, had descended to the beach, and was immediately followed by the rest of the young men; and the distressed, woe-begone aspect of Ruth, who continued to sob and groan even after her fears were subdued, made Gerald laugh heartily, in spite of the tragic consequences that might have ensued from the accident.
"Come along, girl," said Jack, kindly. "Thank God you are not much worse; so what have you to cry about now?"
"It's the eggs, Jack," she sobbed out. "What must I do? They're all broken, and what will Jenny say to me?"
"Never mind that," answered he; "take up your basket, and come away with me to the lake, where you can wash your face and fill your basket again, and make the best of a bad job."
Jack's practical philosophy consoled the weeping girl, who collected more eggs, and soon recovered from the distress of her adventure. The boys found that the timid natives had left behind them in their fright spears, boomerangs, and some excellent cordage, twisted of the fibres of the stringy bark tree. Wilkins would gladly have carried off these, and unwillingly relinquished them at the command of Mr. Mayburn. "What matters," said he, "standing on ceremony with them there black fellows. Why, they would niver ax your leave to snatch t' bite out of yer mouth!" which observation drew down on Wilkins a rebuke from Mr. Mayburn, and an exposition of the law of honesty, as established by God and man.
All the property of the natives was therefore left untouched, and the family returned to their own quiet nook, now more anxious than ever to leave a place to which curiosity, or the desire to recover their weapons, might at any moment bring back the late undesirable visitors.