第 17 页

On this particular day we were rather longer than usual. The girls had by this time taken upon themselves the entire duty of preparing our meals, therefore after handing over to them our booty, Oldroyd and I made our way to the sick man’s cell to see how he was progressing. Upon entering the cell we learned from Dartnell, who was now on duty, that the patient had only awakened from a somewhat lengthy sleep a few minutes previously, and seemed to be asking for something, though the seaman could not understand what it was. Oldroyd diagnosed the want as that of water, we therefore sent Dartnell away to fetch some, and also a bunch or two of grapes, that we had brought with us fresh from the woods that morning, and upon receiving these the wounded man partook of them eagerly, at the same time making signs which we easily understood were those of gratitude. When he had finished eating, the poor fellow seemed inclined to sleep again, so we left him.

It was natural, I suppose, that after we had left the wounded man, our conversation should turn upon the difficulty of exchanging ideas between people, each ignorant of the other’s language. I had already recognised that, having now actually come into contact with the savages, it was highly important that we should be able to converse with them and make ourselves understood, but I could not see how it was to be done, and said as much to my companion. Oldroyd, however, assured me that the difficulties were not nearly so great as I seemed to imagine, and he went on to explain his own simple method. It consisted in selecting some object known to both parties, naming it in English, and then, by signs, inviting the other to name it in his own language. We agreed to try the plan with our patient, as soon as he was well enough; and, I may say that we found it answered so excellently that by the time that the savage was completely recovered, he, Oldroyd and I were able to make ourselves fairly well understood in a general way.

A week elapsed, during which our particular ruin remained as beleaguered as ever by the savages, although no further attempt was made to storm the place. The time began to hang rather heavily on the hands of some of us, and particularly was this the case with the girls. The Doctor was still busy with his researches, while as for Oldroyd and myself, we soon found a new interest in our endeavours to establish a mutual understanding between our prisoner and ourselves. We had already ascertained from him that his name was Kilau Minga, and had taught him to name us both. But the only occupation of the girls was to prepare the food of the party. At length, by way of a joke and in order to vary the monotony a little, ’Thea took it into her head to descend to the vault of the temple and, with Lucy as her accomplice, remove from the coffer therein the nine sets of robes which we believed were intended as changes of raiment for the wooden goddess. These she conveyed to her own cell and, on a certain night, when we believed both girls had retired to bed, she startled and amazed us all by bursting in upon us, arrayed in the most gorgeous of the robes, with her beautiful hair streaming loose in golden waves over her shoulders and far below her waist.

For a moment or two we were all stricken dumb by the exquisite picture and—so far at least as I was concerned—by the marvellous resemblance which she now presented to the goddess of the niche.

The apparition of her, thus apparelled, inspired me with a sudden idea. For days I had been wondering if it might be possible to induce the savages to raise the siege and leave us once more free to roam the island at our pleasure, and now I believed I saw how it might be done.

“By Jove! Anthea,” I exclaimed, “you are the very image of the goddess in the temple down below. And see here, I have an idea—”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. This persistent siege of the ruins, and the necessity for us all to be keenly watchful is daily growing more monotonous and irksome. Now, I have been trying to hit upon some scheme whereby the savages may be scared, or induced to raise the siege, and the appearance of Miss Shirley-Winthrop in that splendid robe has given me the idea for which I have been groping.

“The savages who now inhabit this island, and their progenitors, have probably been here for hundreds of years. Whether or not they are the descendants of the people who built the tower and excavated the wonderful temple beneath it, I cannot say—”

“But I can,” interrupted the Doctor. “I assert unhesitatingly that they are not. The people who constructed the temple, and carved the beautiful image of the goddess which stands in the niche, were a highly intellectual people, a people of refined and cultivated taste—as is evidenced by the paintings which still adorn the walls of the subterranean temple; and they must have possessed something more than the mere rudiments of civilisation. The people who now hold the island are savages, pure and simple. They cannot have descended from them. The descendants of a people capable of producing such beautiful things as we have seen in the temple could never have degenerated into mere savages.”

“Um!” I remarked; “that rather knocks my scheme on the head. You think, then, Doctor, that the savages outside have no knowledge of the goddess of the Temple—not even by tradition?”

“No, I won’t go so far as to say that,” answered the Doctor. “They may possess more or less hazy legends of such a being.”

“Well,” said I, “at all events let me explain my idea to you all; you will then see what you think of it.”

There was a murmur of assent, and I proceeded.

“Seeing Miss Shirley-Winthrop in that robe suggested to me the idea that it might be a good plan for her to show herself, just as she is, at the top of the tower, some night—to-night, if you like; it is full moon and it would be an excellent night for such an apparition. From the summit of the tower she will be in full view of the savages investing us; and if there is any legend or tradition among them relating to the goddess down below, they may perhaps be led to believe that her reappearance at this juncture indicates her displeasure at their conduct in beleaguering us, and they may thus be induced to abandon the siege and retire to their own end of the island. What do you think, Doctor?”

“Candidly, I have not very much faith in it,” answered the Doctor. “To begin with, these people may never have heard of the goddess. And if they have, it is safe to say that not one of them has ever seen the figure, therefore Anthea’s resemblance will count for nothing; the effect—if any—would be just as good if Miss Stroud were to personate the goddess. Finally, neither Anthea nor Miss Stroud knows a word of the savages’ language, so how would they express their displeasure?”

“By action, of course,” answered Anthea. “Now, you just watch me.”

So saying the girl drew herself erect and stood for a short time with her hands clasped easily before her while she gazed contemplatively skyward. Then she glanced downward and a frown of displeasure wrinkled her smooth brow; she shook her head slowly; then, stamping her right foot angrily, she threw out her arm and waved it imperiously, as though ordering her audience to disperse, repeating the action several times. Finally she turned to us all with a smile, and addressing her father, asked—

“How was that, poppa? Do you think that would fetch them?”

“Upon my word I believe it would, my dear,” answered the Doctor. “It was excellently done, and I think the savages would understand it. At all events, there can be no harm in trying. What say you, gentlemen?”

“I agree with you, Doctor,” answered Oldroyd. “It certainly was admirably and expressively done. I don’t see how the savages could fail to understand the meaning, and if they have ever heard of the goddess I believe the performance would result in complete success.”

Mason and I similarly expressed ourselves. “There is only one point remaining to be settled,” I added, “and that is—are you willing to do it, ’Thea?”

“Yes, certainly I am,” answered ’Thea. “I would do much more than that in order to gain freedom to leave the ruins whenever I pleased, unmolested. But you must go with me, Jack. I dare not go up there alone at night.”

“I think we need not discuss the matter further,” I said. “’Thea understands exactly the effect which it is desired to produce, and I believe she is capable of producing it. The only thing that remains is to put the experiment to the test, and the moment is as favourable as could be desired; the moon rides high, the sky is cloudless, and it is almost as light as day outside. Shall we go at once, ’Thea?”

“Yes,” she answered, “I am ready.”

We reached the summit of the tower without adventure and, crouching low, made our way to the point at which I wished Anthea to take her stand. The parapet had here crumbled away so completely that the platform constituting the roof of the tower was left entirely unprotected, and by standing there the entire figure of the “goddess” would be revealed, which I deemed highly desirable; moreover, it directly faced the moon, the rays of which would fall full upon Anthea’s figure.

Approaching within about six inches of the edge of the platform, Anthea assumed the pose which she thought appropriate for the opening scene of our little comedy, and stood thus, motionless, for nearly ten minutes—without apparent result. I was beginning to think that the savages were maintaining a less strict watch than we had believed, and that our experiment was about to end in failure, when a startled exclamation down below revealed the fact that Anthea’s gorgeously glittering figure had at last attracted attention. The exclamations of astonishment were repeated in various tones, culminating finally in a shout which carried with it a note of terror. Then Anthea permitted her gaze slowly to decline from the cloudless heavens to the earth beneath, and the pantomimic performance began. She made it more elaborate than she had done in the first instance, but it was splendidly done, and, what was more to the point, it was completely effective, for she did not desist until the enemy—who had punctuated her impassioned gestures with groans, howls and shrieks of dismay—hurriedly snatched up their weapons and scant belongings and started at a run in the direction of the Basin.

When the last of the savages had disappeared Anthea turned to me with sparkling eyes and laughing lips.

“Oh! Jack,” she exclaimed, “I wish you could have seen it—but you couldn’t, of course, could you? It was really too funny for words, and I could hardly help laughing, and so spoiling the whole show. The wretches were frightened stiff at the first sight of me—I am sure they must have heard of me before, for I noticed that each man, as he pointed me out to the others, exclaimed ‘Taana! Taana!’ which I believe is the name of the figure downstairs. I think the terror at my appearance must have been succeeded by a feeling of delight, at least that was how I interpreted their cries and their gestures. But when I frowned and shook my head at them they flung themselves down on the ground, groaned most dreadfully and beat the earth with their fists. Then they rose up on their knees and lifted their hands appealingly to me, upon which I made signs to them to go away immediately, which they did—at least I suppose they did. Do you think they really have all gone, Jack?”

“I really don’t know,” I said. “But I’ll soon find out.”

“How?” enquired my companion, briefly.

“By paying a visit to their camp.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” exclaimed ’Thea, eagerly. “Let’s.”

“Let’s?” I reiterated. “Does that mean that you propose to accompany me?”

“It is just as safe for me as for you.”

“No, it is not,” I returned; “and for this reason. If any of the savages still remain in their camp, the worst that they are likely to do will be to make a prisoner of me. That will not matter very much, for I believe that, if captured, I could contrive somehow to get away from them. But if you, in that robe, were seen with me, the whole effect of what you have just accomplished would be destroyed. You would be recognised as just a woman, and not the goddess that they now believe you to be, and they would make a prisoner of you also. How would you like that?”

“Well, of course I shouldn’t like it.”

“Very well, that settles it. We will not go,” I announced with decision. “And now let us get back to the others. They will be wondering what has become of us.”

Great satisfaction was expressed when, upon our return to what we called the “dining-room,” we announced our belief that the experiment had been crowned with complete success. ’Thea was complimented and thanked by the entire party for the skill with which she had played her part, and the young lady retired to her room in high feather. We men sat for nearly an hour longer, discussing the probable future conduct of the savages toward us, and then, sanguine but by no means certain, drifted to our respective cells.

I was tired, but the excitement of the night’s adventure had keyed me up to such a pitch that I could not sleep. I lay, twisting and tossing upon my bed—such as it was—until the dawn came stealing in through the open window, revealing the roughness of the masonry which formed the walls of my cell; then I rose and, stealing past the doors of the other sleepers, made my way into the open air, by which time the first rays of the rising sun were gilding the summit of the crater.

I made my way boldly and at once to the late camping ground of the savages, for I felt confident, from what ’Thea had told me, that the savages had indeed retired; and such I found to be the case, for, apart from the trampled and beaten-down grass and the ashes of their watch-fires, there was nothing to show that they had ever been there. Once satisfied of this, I returned to our ruin and gave the good news to the inmates, who were by this time astir.

* * *

* * *

Chapter Twelve: The Goddess Taana and Kilau Minga.

We were just about finishing breakfast when Dartnell, who was keeping a look-out on the roof, came down and reported—

“There’s a dozen of them natives outside, sir. They’re not armed, but they’ve got baskets of fruit and fish on their heads, and they’re signallin’ to know if they may come alongside.”

“Right!” I said. “I’ll go up and see them.”

“Fruit and fish, eh? Sounds like a peace offering, doesn’t it?” remarked Oldroyd. “I’ll go with you, Massey.”

“And I—and I,” added some of the others, the girls included.

“No,” said I; “certainly not. The natives must not see either of you girls, so please keep out of sight. As for the others, there is no reason why you should not show yourselves, if you care to come.”

With that, the entire party of us, the girls excepted, went up on the flat roof of our domicile and from thence beheld the party of natives reported by Dartnell. There were a dozen of them, all men, and fine, stalwart fellows they were, well-made, and not at all ill-looking. They had placed their baskets before them at their feet; and now, upon our appearance, one of them stepped forward, pointed first to the baskets, then to us, and finally to the base of the wall and uttered a sort of interrogative “Eu?”