“Where are the rest!” he repeated, with white and quivering lips, while his eyes rolled and his voice rose almost to a scream. “Why, some of ’em are dead—lucky beggars! and t’others are in the hands of the savages, away there in the woods, and are bein’ slowly tormented to death, one at a time, while t’others is forced to look on and wait their turn. At least that’s how I reads what I’ve seen.”
“And how come you five men to be here?” I demanded. “Have you managed to escape from the savages, or were you not with the rest when they were taken?”
“Why, sir,” answered the fellow, “it’s like this here—”
“Stop a moment,” I interrupted him. “Tell us your whole story, as briefly as possible, from the moment when you pushed off from the ship’s side yesterday. Then we shall get something like a clear and coherent account of what has happened.”
“Yes, yes, that’s right, Grenvile,” agreed the general as he stood beside me, very upright and stern-looking, his lips white, but the eager light of battle already kindling in his eyes. “It will be a saving of time in the long run.”
“I certainly think so,” said I. “Now, my man, heave ahead with your yarn.”
“Well, sir,” resumed the man, “we shoved off from the ship’s side—three-and-twenty of us, as you know—but, beg pardon, sir, I forgot—you wasn’t on deck—”
“Never mind about that, my lad,” interrupted I; “go ahead as quickly as possible. You shoved off from the ship and pulled away into the river. What happened then?”
“Nothin’ at all, sir,” was the reply. “We just pulled into the river, and as soon as we was fairly inside we started to look round for a spot where we could get ashore; but, try where we would, we couldn’t find nothin’ but soft mud that wouldn’t have bore the weight of a cat, much less of a man. But while we was huntin’ for a place we came across a narrer creek, just wide enough for us to pull into; and Tonkin up’s hellum and says as we’ll try in there. So we pulled along for a matter of nigh upon a mile, when all at once the creek comes to an end, and we find the boat’s nose jammed in among a lot of mangrove roots. Then pore Jim Nesbitt ups and volunteers to try and scramble along the mangroves and see if he can find a spot firm enough for us to land upon; and when he’d been gone about a quarter of a hour he comes back again and says he’ve found a place. So, actin’ upon Tonkin’s orders, each one of us grabs a fowl, or a bottle, or what not, and away we goes in pore Jim’s wake; and presently out we comes at a place where the mangroves stopped and the bush began, and where the mud was hard and firm enough to walk upon, and a little later we comes upon a sort of path through the bush, follerin’ which we presently comes into a little open space where there was nothin’ but grass, with big trees growin’ all round it, and there we brought ourselves to an anchor, and cried ‘Spell ho!’
“Then we had some grub and a drop or two of grog, and a smoke, and then some of us stretched out on the grass to have a snooze; but the ants and creepin’ things was that wishious and perseverin’ that we couldn’t lie still for two minutes on end; so we all gets up and starts huntin’ for fruit. But the only fruit we could find was cokernuts, and they was to be had, as many as we wanted, just for the trouble of shinnin’ up the trees. So we ate nuts and drank the milk—with just a dash of rum in it now and again—until we didn’t want any more; and then we laid ourselves down again, and in spite of the ants and things some of us had a good long sleep. I felt just as sleepy as the rest, but I couldn’t get no peace at all on the ground, so I looked round and presently made up my mind to go aloft in a big tree that was standin’ not far off. That tree to look at was as easy to climb as them there ratlins, but somehow it took me a long time to shin up it and find a comfortable place where I could get a snooze without fallin’ from aloft; but by and by I came athwart a branch with a big fork in it, reachin’ out well over the open space where the other chaps were lyin’ about, and, wedgin’ myself into the fork, I was very soon fast asleep.