teeth and a pair of great tusks protruding from his lower jaw, with blood-stained foam dripping from his champing jaws, and blood from numerous wounds streaking his great hairy hide, he presented a most formidable spectacle as he approached me with his body bent and crouching ready to spring, and his long, sinewy arms outstretched, the great hands opening and closing, as though eager to clutch my throat. We were now within half a dozen yards of each other, and as though by mutual consent we each halted at the same instant, glaring into each other’s eyes. I saw the beast crouch still lower and noted the ripple of the muscles of the great loins as he gathered himself together for the spring that was to settle the dispute off-hand, and quickly levelling the revolver which I had drawn from my belt as I sprang ashore, I pointed the weapon straight for his head and pulled the trigger. There was a sharp click as the hammer fell, but no explosion—the cartridge had missed fire—and at that precise moment the brute made his leap. As he came hurtling at me through the air I—by instinct, I suppose, for there was no time for reasoning—again pointed the revolver, this time straight at his wide-open mouth, and again pressed the trigger. On this occasion the explosion came off all right; then, while the report still rang in my ears the huge body of the ape, with a curious writhing motion, crashed down upon me and dashed me violently to the ground. We fell side by side, I upon my back, and the ape face downward. A convulsive shudder shook the body for a moment, and then it lay still. As for me, I remained where I had fallen, breathless, dazed, and half stunned, until I was aroused by Billy, who, springing ashore, rushed up to ask anxiously whether I was very much hurt. Fortunately, I was not; I was scarcely even bruised by my fall, and I scrambled to my feet not a penny the worse for my rather grim encounter.
I lingered on the beach for nearly half an hour, in the expectation that some of the natives might possibly return and thus afford me an opportunity to establish something in the nature of amicable relations with them; but none of them did; eventually, therefore, I got the boat afloat again and made sail on our way back to the wreck, abandoning for the moment all idea of further exploration.
Chapter Nine.
We settle down on Eden.
We found the wreck, as of course we had quite expected, in precisely the same condition as we had left her. As I stowed the boat’s sails and made her securely fast to the wreck it was my fixed intention to continue our exploration on the following day, but as I sat on deck that night, smoking a final pipe before turning in, my plans underwent a certain amount of modification. I had quite come to the conclusion that the tiny islet that formed the easternmost extremity of the group was the spot on which we ought to take up our abode in view of our hope of eventual rescue; and while considering the matter it also occurred to me that since it was impossible to forecast the duration of our detention upon the group—it might run to months, for aught that I could tell—a reasonably comfortable dwelling of some sort—something less susceptible to the vicissitudes of weather than a mere tent, for instance—was an absolute necessity. I therefore spent the ensuing four days in planning such a house as Billy and I might, between us, be able to construct; and by the end of that time I had got it satisfactorily planned out on paper. I determined to build it entirely of wood, first, because the wreck afforded us abundance of material, and next, because I could do all the cutting-out, the sawing, planing, mortising, and fitting aboard the ship, where such tools and conveniences as we possessed were at immediate command, and where I could work from early morn to dewy eve without fear of interruption of any kind. Then, when all my timbers were cut, shaped, and fitted, it would be a comparatively simple matter to transfer them to the islet by means of the boat, and there erect them and fit them together.
From such observations as I had already been able to make I had come to the conclusion that the barrier reef upon which the Yorkshire Lass lay stranded would probably be found to encircle the group completely—with, perhaps, a breach or two in it somewhere; and, as the determination of this point seemed to me a matter of some importance, I decided that our next exploration should be conducted with that object. Accordingly, upon the morning of the fifth day after our first expedition we again left the wreck, the boat being well stocked with everything we could think of as likely to be required during a week’s cruise.
As before, we started by steering a northerly course, and in due time arrived off the entrance of the channel which we had explored on our first trip, and which had proved to lead to the centre of the group. But on this occasion, instead of entering the channel as before, I continued to push northward, the barrier reef still holding intact on our port hand while to starboard lay what proved to be the most northerly island of the group. As we coasted along its north-westerly shore we were able to see that, while the southern portion of it was low and flat, a range of hills occupied its eastern side, while another less lofty and less extensive range marked its north-western extremity. But the land looked savage, unattractive, uninviting. We therefore made no attempt to land, contenting ourselves with the maintenance of a strict and continuous scrutiny of the country through the telescope.
Uninviting, however, as was the aspect of the island, it became markedly more so when we were presently favoured with a glimpse of some of its inhabitants, of which, thus far, we had seen nothing. We had just rounded the headland that was the most northerly point of the group visible from the deck of the Yorkshire Lass, and had hauled up close to the wind to fetch another point, some four miles distant to the north-eastward, when, scrutinising the shore through the telescope, I saw two creatures suddenly burst through the dense scrub that seemed to be the only form of vegetation growing thereabout, and begin—or, possibly, it might have been, continue—what had all the appearance of a desperate fight, on the open beach.