The Castaways of the Flag (26 page)

           
"How will it be possible to get to Shark's Island?" Jenny
asked.

           
"By swimming," Fritz declared. "Yes; I can swim there all
right. And since father must have fled there in the long boat, I will bring
back the long boat to take you all over."

           
"Fritz,—dear!" Jenny could not refrain from protesting.
"Swim across that arm of the sea?"

           
"Mere sport for me, dear wife, mere sport!" the intrepid
fellow answered.

           
"Perhaps the niggers' canoe is still upon the beach," John
Block suggested.

           
Evening drew on, and a little after seven o'clock it was dark, for night
follows day with hardly any interval of twilight in these latitudes.

           
About eight o'clock the time had come, and it was arranged that Fritz
and Frank and the boatswain should go down into the yard. They were to satisfy
themselves that the natives were not hanging about anywhere near, and then were
to venture down to the shore. In any case, Captain Gould, James Wolston, Jenny,
Dolly and Susan were to wait at the foot of the tree for a signal to join them.

           
So the three crept down the staircase. They had not dared to light a
lantern lest its light should betray them.

           
There was no one in the house below, nor in the out-houses. What had to
be found out now
was whether the men who had come during the day
had gone back to Rock Castle, or if they were on the beach for which the canoe
had made.

           
Caution was
still necessary. Fritz and John Block decided to go down to the shore by
themselves, while Frank remained on guard near the entrance to the yard, ready
to run in if any danger threatened Falconhurst.

           
The two men
went out of the palisade and crossed the clearing. Then they slid from tree to
tree for a couple of hundred yards, listening, and peering, until they reached
the narrow cutting between the last rocks, against which the waves broke.

           
The beach was
deserted, and so was the sea as far as the cape, the outlines of which could just
be seen in the eastward. There were no lights either in the direction of Rock
Castle, or on the surface of Deliverance Bay. A single mass of rock loomed up a
couple of miles out at sea.

           
It was
Shark's Island.

           
"Come
on," said Fritz.

           
"Ay,
ay," John Block replied.

           
They went
down to the sandy shore, whence the tide was receding.

           
They would
have shouted for joy if they had dared. A canoe was there, lying on its side.

           
It was the
pirogue which the battery had greeted with a couple of shots from its guns.

           
"A lucky
thing that they missed it!" John Block exclaimed. "If they hadn't, it
would be at the bottom now. If it was Mr. Jack or Mr. Ernest who was such a bad
shot, we will offer him our congratulations!''

           
This little
boat, of native construction and worked by paddles, could only hold five or six
people. Captain Gould and his party numbered eight, and a child, to be rowed to
Shark's Island. True, the distance was only a bare two miles.

           
"Well,
we will pack in somehow," John Block said; "we mustn't have to make
two trips."

           
"Besides,"
Fritz added, "in another hour the flood tide will make itself felt, and as
it sets towards Deliverance Bay, not very far from Shark's Island, it will not
be a very big job for us to get there."

           
"Everything
is for the best," the boatswain replied, "and that is beginning to
become evident."

           
There was no
question of pushing the boat down to the sea; it would take the water of its
own accord, directly the flood tide overtook it. John Block satisfied himself
that it was firmly moored and was in no danger of drifting out to sea.

           
Then both
went up the beach again into the avenue, and rejoined Frank, who was waiting
for them in the court-yard.

           
Informed of
what they had found, he was overjoyed. Fritz left him with the boatswain to
keep watch over the entrances to the yard.

           
The news he
brought made joy upstairs.

           
About half
past nine all went down to the foot of the mangrove tree.

           
Frank and
John Block had seen nothing suspicious. Silence reigned round Falconhurst. The
slightest sound could have been heard, for there was not a breath of air.

           
With Fritz
and Frank and Captain Gould in front, they crossed the court-yard and the
clearing, and filing under cover of the trees in the avenue they reached the
beach.

           
It was as
deserted as it had been two hours before.

           
The flood
tide had already lifted the boat, which was floating at the end of its rope.
Nothing now remained but to get into it, unmoor it, and push off into the
current.

           
Jenny, Dolly,
Susan, and the child immediately took their places in the stern. The others
crouched between the seats, and Fritz and Frank took the paddles.

           
It was just
ten o'clock, and, as there was no moon, they hoped they might get across
unseen.

           
In spite of
the great darkness, they would have no difficulty in making straight for the
island.

           
The moment the pirogue was caught by the current it was carried towards
it.

           
All kept silence. Not a word was exchanged, even under breath. Every
heart was gripped by excitement.

           
The flood tide could not be relied upon to take them straight to Shark's
Island. About a mile from the shore it bore away towards the mouth of Jackal
River, to run up Deliverance Bay.

           
So Fritz and Frank paddled vigorously towards the dark mass of rock,
where no sound or light could be detected.

           
But someone would certainly be on guard within the battery. "Was
there not a danger of the canoe being seen and shot at, under the
misapprehension that the savages were making an attempt to get possession of
the island under cover of the night?

           
Actually, the boat was not more than five or six cables' length away
when a light flashed out at the spot where the guns stood under their shed.

           
Was it the flash from a gun? Was the air about to be rent by an
explosion?

           
And then, caring no longer whether the savages heard him or not, the
boatswain stood up and shouted in stentorian tones:

           
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

           
"Friends—we are friends!" shouted Captain Gould.

           
And Fritz and
Frank together called again and yet again:

           
"It's
we! It's we! It's we!"

           
The instant
they touched the rocks they fell into the arms of their friends.

           
A FEW minutes
later the two families— complete this time—with Captain Harry Gould and the
boatswain, were together in the store-house in the middle of the island, five
hundred paces from the battery knoll over which the flag of New Switzerland
floated.

           
Fritz, Frank,
and Jenny were clasped to the hearts of M. and Mme. Zermatt and covered with
kisses; James, Dolly, Susan, and Bob were unable to extricate themselves from
the embraces of Mr. and Mrs. Wolston; and much hand-shaking was exchanged with
Captain Gould and the boatswain.

           
Then they had
to exchange stories of the fifteen months which had passed since the day when
the
Unicorn
disappeared behind the heights of False Hope Point, bearing
away Jenny Montrose, Fritz, Frank, and Dolly.

           
But before
recalling all these past events, it was necessary to talk of the present.

           
For although
they were reunited now, the two families were none the less in a serious and
perilous position. The savages must ultimately become masters of this island
when the ammunition and provisions were exhausted, unless help came. And whence
could M. Zermatt and his people expect help?

           
First of all
Fritz told briefly the story of the
Flag's
castaways.

           
"And
where are the savages?" Fritz asked, as he came to the end of telling how
they had seen the savages.

           
"At Rock
Castle," M. Zermatt replied.

           
"Many of
them?"

           
"A
hundred at least; they came in fifteen pirogues—probably from the Australian
coast"

           
"Thank
God you were able to escape from them!" Jenny exclaimed.

           
"Yes,
indeed, dear child," M. Zermatt replied. "As soon as we saw the
canoes making for Deliverance Bay, we took refuge on Shark's Island, thinking
that we might be able to defend ourselves here against an attack by them."

           
"Papa,"
said Frank, "the savages know now that you are on this island.''

           
"Yes,
they do," M. Zermatt answered, "but thank God, they have not
succeeded in landing here yet, and our old flag is still flying!"

           
The following
is a very brief summary of what had happened since the time at which the first
part of this narrative ended.

           
On the return
of the dry season, after the expeditions which resulted in the discovery of the
Montrose River, a reconnaissance was carried out as far as the range of
mountains, where Mr. Wolston, Ernest and Jack planted the British flag on the
summit of Jean Zermatt peak. That happened some ten or twelve days before the
boat arrived on the southern coast of the island, and if the expedition had
been carried beyond the range they might have met Captain Gould at Turtle Bay.
But Mr. Wolston and the two brothers had not ventured across the desert
plateau.

           
The newcomers
were told how Jack, carried away by his wild desire to capture a young
elephant, had fallen into the midst of savages, who made him prisoner. After
escaping from them, he had brought back the grave news of their presence on the
island.

           
Thoroughly
alarmed, the Zermatts and Wolstons made plans in anticipation of an attack upon
Rock Castle, and maintained a watch day and night.

           
For three
months, however, nothing happened. The savages did not appear. It seemed that
they had finally left the island.