CHAPTER XIX.
BESIEGED.
The behavior of the chimpanzee, as well as his own good common sense, which he had had time to recover since the adventure in the marsh, told Philip that it would be useless longer to fly from his enemies. He was in a building constructed with especial reference to safety from outside foes, and by barricading himself in the series of rooms which led from the kitchen to the parlor he might be able to stand a siege of many days.
It is true he had no reason to expect aid, since it seemed most likely Captain Seaworth’s party had been massacred; but yet time to wait for the coming of human companions was the one thing desired, and to such end he made every preparation.
On this, as well as on the other side of the building, each window had heavy wooden shutters which could be closed from the inside, and the doors were sufficiently stout to resist any attack which might be made by the apes. As a matter of course, a determined body of men with the proper tools could soon effect an entrance; but it was hardly probable the animals would be able to break in after the place was once properly fortified.
Philip understood that there was no time to be lost, for at any moment Goliah and his forces might return. Therefore his first act was to shut and barricade the three doors leading to the veranda. Then the heavy shutters of the windows were closed and bolted, half a dozen candles were lighted, and the fortification was as nearly complete as he could make it.
He now experienced a sense of security such as had not visited him since the moment when he was thrown upon these inhospitable shores. There was on hand sufficient food to last a long time, and he felt safe from any immediate danger.
The one thing needful at this moment was slumber, and with a mind free from apprehensions he made up such a bed in the dining-room as even a less weary youth would not have disdained, closing his eyes in peaceful sleep almost instantly after lying down.
He awakened in a calmer frame of mind than he had known since the time when the good bark Swallow first encountered the gale, and was fully alive to all the possibilities of his situation. He had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that so long as he was destined to remain on the island he would be exposed to a vengeance worse than death at the hands of those whom he had once treated as articles of merchandise. At present he believed himself to be perfectly secure; but as a matter of course, if he should dare to venture forth it would be to become the object of renewed attacks, which very likely would end only in his death.