Of course this would be a total disregard of the captain’s express commands; but the boatswain flattered himself that his disobedience would not be known save to those in whose eyes he wished to appear as a hero, and away he started, armed only with a stout cudgel, which he declared was enough to frighten all the apes on the island into convulsions.
Three hours later, the piece of ordnance not having arrived, Captain Seaworth sent half a dozen colonists to the ship, and in due time they returned with the information that the boatswain had not arrived at the coast. The foolhardy man had been absent from the settlement sufficiently long to have made four or five trips to the tiny harbor, and, believing his desire to show contempt for the apes had resulted in a catastrophe, those who heard his boasts laid the matter before the captain and Philip.
It was then too late to make any search for the unfortunate man, since night, which comes on so suddenly in the tropics, was already close at hand, and it would be worse than reckless to venture into the thicket where the animals could so readily conceal themselves.
That Goliah and his forces had taken the boatswain prisoner, even if they had not murdered him, Philip felt certain; but nothing could be done until morning, and immediately after sunrise fifty well-armed men set out, following as nearly as possible the supposed direction in which he had gone.
The search was not of long duration. When the party arrived within a hundred yards of the terminus of the road leading to the south they saw that which caused the stoutest-hearted to draw back with a shudder.
Hanging to the lower limb of a mangrove-tree, exactly as Philip had seen the skeleton of the mandrill suspended, was the unfortunate boatswain. The rope for the execution of the deed had been formed from strips of his clothing, and a party of Western lynchers could not have done the deed more thoroughly.
From such slight evidence as could be seen among the underbrush or foliage, it was not probable the sailor had had an opportunity to defend himself more than a few seconds. Most likely Goliah’s forces leaped upon him so quickly, and in such numbers, that before he could strike many blows he was over-powered; but that he was alive when suspended from the tree could be readily seen.
After the unfortunate man was given a Christian burial there was not one among the colonists who questioned any detail of Philip’s story, however improbable it may have seemed. Now that there could be no question as to the dangers which menaced, Captain Seaworth resolved to rid the island of the brutes, if possible; and to this end, acting under Philip’s advice, he went to work systematically.
The buildings were left in charge of forty well-armed men, and the strictest orders issued against the women venturing out of doors under any pretense. Then all save a force necessary to guard the ship were set at work cutting paths through the thicket at different angles from the settlement, in order that there should be no opportunity of concealment for the apes within reach of the house.