"Tinky ting tang, tinky ting tang,
Oh, poor Robinson Crusoe!"
This, I thought, so incensed the Doubter that he turned away in disgust, and walked off shaking his neck as if it had the head still on; and when he was some distance from Abraham he sat down on the ground and slowly raised his right hand, placing the thumb where his nose would have been had the head still remained in its place, and then his left hand in the same way, fixing the thumb upon the little finger of the other, and thus he waved them to and fro, as if he had no confidence even in his own skull or in any of the circumstances connected with it. While this was going on, the savages continued their infernal dance on the beach. I now raised my gun and began shooting at them, killing them by scores. I could see their dark bodies roll over into the surf, and hear their yells of terror at the report of the gun; and when I rushed down to save my shipmates, all I could see was Abraham sitting upon a rock, pounding the skull into small fragments with a big stone which he held in both hands, and the fleshless body of the Doubter sitting opposite to him, slowly waving the little finger of his left hand at him in the same incredulous and taunting manner as before. And thus ended the dream.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE UNPLEASANT AFFAIR OF HONOR.
When I awoke it was daylight. My mind was still harassed with the bad dream concerning the Doubter. I had the most gloomy forebodings of some impending misfortune either to him or my friend Abraham. Every effort to shake off this unpleasant feeling proved entirely vain; it still clung to me heavily; and, although I was now wide awake, yet it seemed to me there was something prophetic in the dream. Unable to get rid of the impression, I got up, and looked around upon my comrades, who were all sleeping soundly after their rambles of the previous day. Instinctively, as it were, for I was unconscious of any fixed motive, I counted them. There were only nine! A sudden pang shot through me, as if my worst fears were now realized. But how? I thought. Where was the tenth man? What had become of him? Was it Abraham? Was it the Doubter? Who was it? for the light was not strong enough to enable me to distinguish all the faces, partly hidden, as they were, in the goatskins. I looked toward the door; it was unbolted, and slightly ajar. I opened it wide and looked out; there was nothing to be seen in the gray light of the morning but the bushes near the hut, and the dark mountains in the distance. It was time, at all events, to be on the look-out for the ship, so I roused up my comrades, and eagerly noticed each one as he waked. The Doubter was missing! Could it be possible that Abraham's threats had driven him to run away during the night, when all were asleep, and hide himself in the mountains? There seemed to be no other way of accounting for his absence. "Where is he? what's become of him? maybe he's drowned himself!" were the general remarks upon discovering his absence. "Come on! we must look for him! it won't do to leave him ashore!" We hurried down to the boat-landing as fast as we could, thinking he might be there; and on our way saw that the ship was still in the offing. The boat was just as we had left it, but not a soul any where near. We then roused up every body in the Chilian quarter, shouting the name of the missing man in all directions. He was not there! All this time Abraham was in the greatest distress, running about every where, without saying a word, looking under the bushes, peeping into every crevice in the rocks, darting in and out of the Chilian huts, greatly to the astonishment of the occupants, and quite breathless and dispirited when he discovered no trace of our comrade. At last, when we were forced to give up the search and turn toward Pearce's hut, where we had left our host in the act of lighting the fire to cook breakfast, he took me aside, and said, "Look here, Luff, I'm very sorry I had any difficulty with that poor fellow. The fact is, he provoked me to it. However, I have nothing against him now; and I just wanted to tell you that I sha'n't go aboard the ship till I find him. If you like, you can help me to hunt him up, while the others are seeing about breakfast."
"To be sure, Abraham," said I, "we must find him, dead or alive. I'll go with you, of course. But tell me, as we walk along, what it was Pearce said to you last night. How did you get him back when he went out?"
"Oh, never mind that now," replied Abraham, looking, as I thought, rather confused.
"You gave him a dollar, didn't you?" said I; "what was that for?"