Kneeling upon the hard rocky floor, he raised the limp form in his arms and lost not a moment in applying his flask of brandy to her lips; and presently he had the satisfaction of feeling her stir in his arms.
“Ah, that is good! You are feeling better, darling, are you not?” he exclaimed encouragingly. “Tell me, sweetheart, are you very much hurt?”
“No, I think not,” she answered, with a sigh of contentment as she realised that Dick was with her and that her troubles were now practically over. “I only feel very sore all over from my long struggle to free myself; and also rather cold. I have been here ever since sunset last night, Dick, fighting to escape from those dreadful entangling bushes; and I feel, oh, so utterly tired.”
“My poor little girl,” exclaimed Dick, tenderly, “you have had a very trying experience, and one that might have proved very serious, too, but for Sailor, here. Cold! of course you are. Here, let me wrap my jacket round you—so; that is better. Now, I am going to light a fire; the air of this place is chill as that of an ice-house. And while you are warming yourself and getting a little life into your body I will clear away the bush a trifle more, so that you can get out without difficulty.”
There was plenty of wood to be had, suitable for building a fire, by simply cutting away the dry roots and tendrils of the bush in front of the cave; and in a few minutes Dick had a good fire blazing, by the light of which he saw that they were in the mouth of a cavern about eight feet high that seemed to reach back into the heart of the rock for a considerable distance. And some way back, lying just within the radius of the area that caught the illumination of the fire, he presently noticed something lying on the ground that bore an uncanny likeness to a human skeleton! He said nothing about it, however—having no wish that Flora’s shaken nerves should be subjected to any further shock just then, especially as the imperfect view of the object that had been afforded him by the flickering light of the flames left him quite uncertain as to its identity—but at once went to work again with his tomahawk in a vigorous onslaught upon the bushes, managing, in another ten minutes or so, to make such a clearance of them as would enable his companion to pass out without difficulty.
By the time that he had accomplished this, Flora had so far recovered that she declared herself quite ready to essay the journey back to the camp; and they accordingly set out forthwith, Dick very carefully noting the surrounding landmarks, with the fixed determination to return at an early moment and thoroughly examine the interior of the cavern. As they went, Flora beguiled the way by relating to Dick, in full detail, all the particulars of her very unpleasant adventure; listening in return to Dick’s account of his return to camp, his consternation at the discovery of her absence, and his long, arduous, and almost despairing search for her.
They reached camp about two o’clock in the afternoon; and after snatching a hasty meal made up of the first odds and ends that they could lay their hands upon, retired at once to their respective couches to get an hour or two of that rest of which they both stood in such urgent need.
It was within an hour of sunset when Dick awoke and turned out. His first care was to light up the cooking-stove and get some sort of a dinner under way; and, this done, he strolled over to the natives’ hut to ascertain what these gentry were doing, as nothing was to be seen of them in the vicinity of the camp. They were not in the hut; and when he looked for their canoe he discovered that it had also disappeared. His first thought was that they might have gone off to the brig and attempted on their own account to continue the work of breaking up her decks; and he felt a trifle vexed at the idea, fearing that in their ignorance they might do a great deal more harm than good. But upon procuring his telescope and bringing it to bear upon the brig he soon satisfied himself that the canoe was not alongside her; nor, when he looked further, could he see anything of her anywhere along the inner edge of the reef, whither he thought they might have gone for the purpose of obtaining a few fish. It was then that, for the first time, the suspicion dawned upon him that they might have left the island altogether, with the intention of attempting to make their way back to their own people, and a further search at length convinced him of the accuracy of his surmise; for a second visit to the hut showed that not only were its usual occupants absent, but they had taken with them all their trivial belongings; while a further investigation led to the discovery that they had helped themselves to a few such trifles as a pair of tomahawks, a few yards of canvas, some light line, a small keg—presumably to hold a supply of water; a bag or two of assorted nails, a couple of fishing lines, and possibly a few other unimportant odds and ends. His first feeling at this discovery was one of vexation; for ignorant though these savages were, and difficult as he had found it to make them understand his wishes, they represented a certain amount of brute strength that he had already found most useful, and doubtless would have found even more useful later on, when he had succeeded in making them understand more clearly what he desired them to do. But a little further reflection enabled him to realise that in seizing the first favourable opportunity to get away from the island and attempt to return to their own kindred and people, they were only acting upon a perfectly natural and commendable impulse; they were, in fact, actuated by precisely the same feeling that had dominated himself ever since he had been on the island, and were doing precisely what he hoped eventually to do. And, having arrived at this conclusion, he dismissed the incident from his mind, and reverted to the same plan of life that had been his prior to the arrival of Cuffy and Sambo upon the scene.
The following day was devoted by Leslie to the task of procuring a suitable spar to serve as a new mast for the catamaran, and restoring that craft to her former serviceable condition. And it was while he was thus engaged that the thought first entered his mind that the accident by which the catamaran had become dismasted might possibly have been a blessing in disguise, since, but for that accident, the two savages might, by a not intricate process of reasoning, have arrived at the conclusion that such a craft would serve their purpose infinitely better than their own canoe, and forthwith appropriated her. That they did not do so was perhaps due to the fact that she was practically unmanageable except under sail, rather than to any innate sentiment of honesty on their part.
The catamaran having been once more rendered fit for service, Leslie decided to devote a few hours to the examination of “Flora’s Cave,” as he called it, while its situation and the landmarks in its vicinity were fresh in his memory; he accordingly set off immediately after breakfast on the following morning, telling Flora where he was going, but suggesting that she should remain in camp and take a thorough rest.