Gyp was brought on shore, and went suspiciously about the place with his head close up to his master’s long thin legs, for though he had tolerated and was very good friends with Jimmy, he would not have any dealings with the New Guinea folk. It did not seem to be the black skins or their general habits; but Jack Penny declared that it was their gummed-out moppy heads, these seeming to irritate the dog, so that, being a particularly well-taught animal, he seemed to find it necessary to control his feelings and keep away from the savages, lest he should find himself constrained to bite. The consequence was that, as I have said, he used to go about with his head close to his master’s legs, often turning his back on the people about him; while I have known him sometimes take refuge with me, and thrust his nose right into my hand, as if he wished to make it a muzzle to keep him from dashing at some chief.
“I hope he won’t grab hold of any of ’em,” Jack Penny said to me one day in his deliberate fashion; “because if he does take hold it’s such a hard job to make him let go again. And I say, Joe Carstairs, if ever he’s by you and these niggers begin to jump about, you lay hold of him and get him away.”
“Why?” I said.
“Well, you see,” drawled Jack, “Gyp ain’t a human being.”
“I know that,” I replied.
“Yes, I s’pose so,” said Jack. “Gyp’s wonderfully clever, and he thinks a deal; but just now, I know as well as can be, he’s in a sort of doubt. He thinks these blacks are a kind of kangaroos, but he isn’t sure. If they begin to jump about, that will settle it, and he’ll go at ’em and get speared; and if any one sticks a spear into Gyp, there’s going to be about the biggest row there ever was. That one the other day won’t be anything to it.”
“Then I shall do all I can to keep Gyp quiet,” I said, smiling at Jack’s serious way of speaking what he must have known was nonsense. After that I went out of the hut, where Jack Penny was doing what the captain called straightening his back—that is to say, lying down gazing up at the palm-thatched rafters, a very favourite position of his—and joined some of the blacks, employing my time in trying to pick up bits and scraps of their language, so as to be able to make my way about among the people when we were left alone.
I found the doctor was also trying hard to master the tongue; and at the same time we attempted to make the chiefs understand the object of our visit, but it was labour in vain. The blacks were thoroughly puzzled, and I think our way of pointing at ourselves and then away into the bush only made them think that we wanted fruit or birds.
The time sped on, while the captain was carrying on his trade, the blacks daily returning from the ship with common knives, and hatchets, and brass wire, the latter being a favourite thing for which they eagerly gave valuable skins. My wound rapidly healed, and I was eager to proceed up the country, our intention being to go from village to village searching until we discovered the lost man.
“And I don’t know what to say to it,” said the captain just before parting. “I’m afraid you’ll get to some village and then stop, for the blacks won’t let you go on; but I tell you what: I shall be always trading backwards and forwards for the next two years, and I shall coast about looking up fresh places so as to be handy if you want a bit of help; and I can’t say fairer than that, can I, doctor?”