The Greatest Sea Adventure Novels: 30+ Maritime Novels, Pirate Tales & Seafaring Stories. R. M. Ballantyne

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СКАЧАТЬ and carry you out while in a state of insensibility.’

      “But Peterkin didn’t relish this idea. He seemed to fear that I would not be able to measure the exact force of the blow, and might, on the one hand, hit him so softly as to render a second or third blow necessary, which would be very uncomfortable; or, on the other hand, give him such a smash as would entirely spoil his figurehead, or mayhap knock the life out of him altogether! At last I got him persuaded to try to hold his breath, and commit himself to me; so he agreed, and down we went. But I had not got half-way through when he began to struggle and kick like a wild bull, burst from my grasp, and hit against the roof of the tunnel. I was therefore obliged to force him violently back into the cave again, where he, rose panting to the surface. In short, he had lost his presence of mind, and—”

      “Nothing of the sort!” cried Peterkin indignantly; “I only lost my wind, and if I had not had presence of mind enough to kick as I did, I should have bu’st in your arms!”

      “Well, well, so be it,” resumed Jack with a smile.—“But the upshot of it was that we had to hold another consultation on the point; and I really believe that had it not been for a happy thought of mine, we should have been consulting there yet.”

      “I wish we had!” again interrupted Peterkin with a sigh.—“I’m sure, Ralph, if I had thought that you were coming back again I would willingly have awaited your return for months rather than have endured the mental agony which I went through.—But proceed.”

      “The thought was this,” continued Jack—“that I should tie Peterkin’s hands and feet with cords, and then lash him firmly to a stout pole about five feet long, in order to render him quite powerless and keep him straight and stiff. You should have seen his face of horror, Ralph, when I suggested this! But he came to see that it was his only chance, and told me to set about it as fast as I could; ‘for,’ said he, ‘this is no jokin’, Jack, I can tell you, and the sooner it’s done the better.’ I soon procured the cordage and a suitable pole, with which I returned to the cave, and lashed him as stiff and straight as an Egyptian mummy; and, to say truth, he was no bad representation of what an English mummy would be, if there were such things, for he was as white as a dead man.

      “‘Now,’ said Peterkin in a tremulous voice, ‘swim with me as near to the edge of the hole as you can before you dive; then let me take a long breath; and as I sha’n’t be able to speak after I’ve taken it, you’ll watch my face, and the moment you see me wink—dive! And oh,’ he added earnestly, ‘pray don’t be long!’

      “I promised to pay the strictest attention to his wishes, and swam with him to the outlet of the cave. Here I paused. ‘Now, then,’ said I, ‘pull away at the wind, lad.’

      “Peterkin drew in a breath so long that I could not help thinking of the frog in the fable, that wanted to swell itself as big as the ox. Then I looked into his face earnestly. Slap went the lid of his right eye; down went my head, and up went my heels. We shot through the passage like an arrow, and rose to the surface of the open sea before you could count twenty.

      “Peterkin had taken in such an awful load of wind that, on reaching the free air, he let it out with a yell loud enough to have been heard a mile off; and then the change in his feelings was so sudden and great that he did not wait till we landed, but began, tied up as he was, to shout and sing for joy as I supported him with my left arm to the shore. However, in the middle of a laugh that a hyena might have envied, I let him accidentally slip, which extinguished him in a moment.

      “After this happy deliverance, we immediately began our search for your dead body, Ralph; and you have no idea how low our hearts sank as we set off; day after day, to examine the valleys and mountain-sides with the utmost care. In about three weeks we completed the survey of the whole island, and had at least the satisfaction of knowing that you had not been killed. But it occurred to us that you might have been thrown into the sea; so we examined the sands and the lagoon carefully, and afterwards went all round the outer reef. One day, while we were upon the reef, Peterkin espied a small, dark object lying among the rocks, which seemed to be quite different from the surrounding stones. We hastened towards the spot, and found it to be a small keg. On knocking out the head we discovered that it was gunpowder.”

      “It was I who sent you that, Jack,” said I with a smile.

      “Fork out!” cried Peterkin energetically, starting to his feet and extending his open hand to Jack. “Down with the money, sir, else I’ll have you shut up for life in a debtor’s prison the moment we return to England!”

      “I’ll give you an I.O.U. in the meantime,” returned Jack, laughing, “so sit down and be quiet.—The fact is, Ralph, when we discovered this keg of powder Peterkin immediately took me a bet of a thousand pounds that you had something to do with it, and I took him a bet of ten thousand that you had not.”

      “Peterkin was right, then,” said I, explaining how the thing had occurred.

      “Well, we found it very useful,” continued Jack, “although some of it had got a little damp; and we furbished up the old pistol, with which Peterkin is a crack shot now. But to continue. We did not find any other vestige of you on the reef, and finally gave up all hope of ever seeing you again. After this the island became a dreary place to us, and we began to long for a ship to heave in sight and take us off. But now that you’re back again, my dear fellow, it looks as bright and cheerful as it used to do, and I love it as much as ever.

      “And now,” continued Jack, “I have a great desire to visit some of the other islands of the South Seas. Here we have a first-rate schooner at our disposal, so I don’t see what should hinder us.”

      “Just the very thing I was going to propose!” cried Peterkin. “I vote for starting at once.”

      “Well, then,” said Jack, “it seems to me that we could not do better than shape our course for the island on which Avatea lives, and endeavour to persuade Tararo to let her marry the black fellow to whom she is engaged instead of making a ‘long pig’ of her. If he has a spark of gratitude in him, he’ll do it. Besides, having become champions for this girl once before, it behoves us, as true knights, not to rest until we set her free; at least, all the heroes in all the story-books I have ever read would count it foul disgrace to leave such a work unfinished.”

      “I’m sure I don’t know or care what your knights in story-books would do,” said Peterkin; “but I’m certain that it would be capital fun, so I’m your man whenever you want me.”

      This plan of Jack’s was quite in accordance with his romantic, impulsive nature; and having made up his mind to save this black girl, he could not rest until the thing was commenced.

      “But there may be great danger in this attempt,” he said at the end of a long consultation on the subject. “Will you, lads, go with me in spite of this?”

      “Go with you!” we repeated in the same breath.

      “Can you doubt it?” said I.

      “For a moment?” added Peterkin.

      I need scarcely say that having made up our minds to go on this enterprise, we lost no time in making preparations to quit the island; and as the schooner was well laden with stores of every kind for a long cruise, we had little to do except to add to our abundant supply a quantity of cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, taro, yams, plums, and potatoes, chiefly with the view of carrying the fragrance of our dear island along with us as long as we could.

      When all was ready, we paid a farewell visit to the different familiar spots where most of our time had been СКАЧАТЬ