Bunyip Land: A Story of Adventure in New Guinea by George Manville Fenn
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
HOW HIGH THE WATER CAME.
The coming of the storm checked the furious onslaught of our blackenemies, but it was only for the moment. Setting thunder, lightning,and the deluging rain at defiance, they came rushing on, shouting andyelling furiously, and we were about to draw trigger, reluctantlyenough, but in sheer desperation, when a volley of arrows checked themfor a time, while, resuming what seemed to be a favourite means ofwarring upon his enemies, Jimmy commenced hurling masses of stone at thecoming foes.
Checked as they were, though, it was only for a while; and we werecompelled to fire again and again, with fresh assailants taking theplaces of those who fell. The thunder pealed so that the reports of ourpieces seemed feeble, more like the crack of a cart-whip, and theirflashes were as sparks compared with the blinding lightning, whichdarted and quivered in the gorge, at times seeming to lick the walls, atothers plunging into the rushing, seething stream, into which the rainpoured in very cataracts down the rocky sides.
We should have ceased in very awe of the terrible battle of theelements, but in self-defence we were driven to fight hard and repel thecontinued attacks of the enemy, who, growing more enraged at ourresistance, came on once more in a determined fashion, as if meaningthis time to sweep us before them into the rushing stream.
But for the bravery of our black companions our efforts would have beenuseless, and we should certainly have been driven back by the fiercesavages, who advanced up the path, sprang upon the stone breastwork, andwould have dashed down upon us regardless of our firearms, but Ti-hi andAroo cast aside their bows at this final onslaught, and used theirwar-clubs in the most gallant manner. Jimmy, too, seemed to betransformed into as brave a black warrior as ever fought; and it was thegallant resistance offered that checked the enemy and made them recoil.
The falling back of the foremost men, who were beaten and stunned by theblows they had received, drove their companions to make a temporaryretreat, and enabled us to reload; but ere we could seem to get breath,one who appeared to be a chief rallied them, and two abreast, all thatthe path would allow, they came charging up towards us once again.
Then there was a dead pause as the thunder crashed overhead once more,and then seemed to be continued in a strange rushing sound, whichapparently paralysed the attacking party, who hesitated, stopped shortabout a third of the way up the narrow slope that led to our littlefort, and then with a shriek of dismay turned and began to retreat.
I stared after them, wondering that they should give way just at a timewhen a bold attack would probably have ended in our destruction; but Icould make out nothing, only that the noise of the thunder still seemedto continue and grow into a sound like a fierce rush. But this wasnothing new: the thunder had been going on before, and that and theblinding lightning the enemy had braved. Our defence had had no effectupon them, save to make them attack more fiercely. And yet they werenow in full retreat, falling over each other in their haste, and we sawtwo thrust into the swift river.
"Yah, ah!--big bunyip water, water!" roared Jimmy just then, clapping meon the shoulder; and, turning sharply, I saw the meaning of theprolongation of the thunder, for a great wave, at least ten feet high,ruddy, foaming, and full of tossing branches, came rushing down thegorge, as if in chase of our enemies, and before I had more than time torealise the danger, the water had leaped by us, swelling almost to ourplace of refuge, and where, a minute before, there had been a rockyshelf--the path along which we had come--there was now the furioustorrent tearing along at racing speed.
I turned aghast to the doctor, and then made as if to run, expectingthat the next moment we should be swept away; but he caught me by thearm with a grip like iron.
"Stand still," he roared, with his lips to my ear. "The storm--high upthe mountains--flood--the gorge."
Just then there was another crashing peal of thunder, close upon a flashof lightning, and the hissing rain ceased as if by magic, while the skybegan to grow lighter. The dull boom of the tremendous wave had passedtoo, but the river hissed and roared as it tore along beneath our feet,and it was plain to see that it was rising higher still.
The noise was not so great though, now, that we could not talk, andafter recovering from the appalling shock of the new danger we had timeto look around.
Our first thought was of our enemies, and we gazed excitedly down thegorge and then at each other, Jack Penny shuddering and turning away hishead, while I felt a cold chill of horror as I fully realised the factthat they had been completely swept away.
There could not be a moment's doubt of that, for the ware spread fromrocky wall to rocky wall, and dashed along at frightful speed.
We had only escaped a similar fate through being on the summit, so tospeak, of the rocky path; but though for the moment safe, we could nottell for how long; while on taking a hasty glance at our position it wasthis: overhead the shelving rock quite impassable; to left, to right,and in front, the swollen, rushing torrent.
The doctor stood looking down at the water for a few moments, and thenturned to me.
"How high above the surface of the water were we, do you think, when wecame here?"
"I should say about twenty-five feet?"
"Why, we ain't four foot above it now; and--look there! it's a risingfast. I say, Joe Carstairs, if I'd known we were going to be drowned Iwouldn't have come."
"Are you sure it is rising?" said the doctor, bending down to examinethe level--an example I followed--to see crack and crevice graduallyfill and point after point covered by the seething water, which crept upslowly and insidiously higher and higher even as we watched.
"Yes," said the doctor, rising to his feet and gazing calmly round, asif to see whether there was any loophole left for escape; "yes, thewater is rising fast; there can be no doubt of that."
Just then Gyp, who had been fierce and angry, snapping and barkingfuriously at the savages each time they charged, suddenly threw up hishead and uttered a dismal howl.
"Here, you hold your noise," cried Jack Penny. "You don't hear usholler, do you? Lie down!"
The dog howled softly and crouched at his master's feet, while Jackbegan to take off his clothes in a very slow and leisurely way. Firsthe pulled off his boots, then his stockings, which he tuckedmethodically, along with his garters, inside his boots. This done hetook off his jacket, folded it carefully, and his shirt followed, to besmoothed and folded and laid upon the jacket.
And now, for the first time I thoroughly realised how excessively thinpoor Jack Penny was, and the reason why he so often had a pain in hisback.
It seemed a strange time: after passing through such a series ofdangers, after escaping by so little from being swept away, and while interrible danger from the swiftly-rising waters, but I could not helpit--Jack's aspect as he sat there coolly, very coolly, clothed in histrousers alone, was so ludicrous that I burst out laughing, when Jimmyjoined in, and began to dance with delight.
"What are you larfin at?" said Jack, half vexed at my mirth.
"At you," I said. "Why, what are you going to do?"
"Do!" he said. "Why, swim for it. You don't suppose I'm going to tryin my clothes?"
My mirth died out as swiftly as it came, for the doctor laid his handupon my arm and pressed it silently, to call my attention to our blackfollowers, who were laying their bows and arrows regularly in companywith their waddies, each man looking very stern and grave.
They showed no fear, they raised no wild cry; they only seemed to bepreparing for what was inevitable; and as I saw Ti-hi bend over andtouch the water easily with his hand, and then rise up and look round athis companions, saying a few words in their tongue, the chill of horrorcame back once more, for I knew that the group of savages felt thattheir time had come, and that they were sitting there patiently waitingfor the end.