The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-05 00:00:00

SATURDI JAN. 5, 1884

rALL:ziawrs vislanw.]

EVE AT THE WHEEL.

G. MANVILLE FENd.
luthot v. Ship Ahoy," "Dutch, the Diver," "The
Foundty Belle," 40., #c.

CHAPTER XLIV.
TROUBLXB IN CAN!.

bun cries from the camp lent wings to the feet
,of the little party, the girls keeping up with
their stronger companions wonderfully well; and,
to their great delight, they reached their defences to
find all on the alert, but that the attack had not yet
been made.

It was growing too dark for them to make out the
numbers of the savages, but at the side of a sandy
point one of their canoes was plainly visible, and
the figures of the saveges moving excitedly here and
there.

"What will be best?" said Helston, as soon as he
could get breath, and when he had disposed of his
little army to the best advantage, sheltering them
behind rocks and stones and piled-up touchwood
from the ship. "Shall we attack them boldly, and
try to drive them into the sea, or await their
attaek ?"

"Stay here, and give them a warm reception,"
said Laurent. "A shower of our arrows will check
their advance, and if they come on, we shall have
them at an advantage here."
There was so much wisdom in the proposal that
Helston agreed directly; and then, with the short
tropic twilight passing away, to give place to the
brilliant starlight night, the whole party breathlessly
awaited the coming onslaught.
There was the dull, murmuring wash of the sea,
as the great heaving billows rolled over upon the
sands, and the loud chattering of voices in eager
council, apparently the leaders of the savages order-
ing the arrangements of the attack; but though
eyes were strained to the utmost, the canoes were
now invisible as the savages, and the defenders of
the camp had to content themselves with the warn-
ings given from time to time to their ears.
Suddenly, hands grasped weapons eagerly, and
bows were bent; for from about a hundred yards in
front came a loud yell, and the figures of the savages
dancing about and brandishing their weapons were
indistinctly seen.
There was another yell, and Helston gave a loud
warning to those under his command.
"Let no arrow fly till they are close in, and then
ihoot low."

Another yell was uttered, this time much nearer.
" Dat's dat crook-nose savage black !" cried
'Thello ; "I knows him, and gib him one when he
come nigh; and— Oh, golly !" cried 'Thello, after
a momentary pause, and he roared with laughter—
"taint no fight at all, only dem black fellow come
back wid loads of fish."

"What P" exclaimed Hairston, straining his eyes,
which were not so able to penetrate the darkness as
those of the African. "Why, 'Thello, you're right.
Don't shoot—don't shoot!"

And, leaping over the stones which formed the
extemporised breastwork, he went cautiously for-
ward, dreading treachery.
Immediately on his appearance there was a burst
of chattering in front, and Heston shouted out that
there was no danger.
Laurent, 'Thello, and a dozen of the more curious
of the women ran out, to find the three savages re-
turned, departure having been far enough from their
thoughts; and in a few minutes it became evident
that the poor fellows had imagined that they were
lent off merely on a fishing expedition, from which
they had now returned.

Their delight was like that of children, as seizing
the three men of the party, and shouting in their
language to the women to come on, they dragged
the leaders down to where they had beached their
canoe, flourishing their paddles as they went, lnd
little thinking how nearly they had suffered immola-
tion on the altar of their captors' fears.
On reaching the spot where the canoe was beached,
Helston found that it was so loaded with fish that
the wonder was how the savages ,had
,managed to
land with it in safety.
They now made signs for "all to help them, and
the little canoe was drawn up on the sands, far
beyond the reach of the tide; while upon the fish
being thrown out upon the sands, they were found
to be of a larger and finer description than those
generally caught by the women close in shore.
The savages danced about with delight, like
children, on seeing how their gift was appreciated;
ending by giving up their paddles to Laurent, and
the fishing line, carefully dried and wound up, to
Holston, before going to help 'Thello, who set to
work at once, with half a dozen of the women,
cleaning the fish, and lighting fires for a big roast.
"Better eat urn to-night, sah," he said. " Wid dis
hot night cumin', I no tink dey good for much to-
morrow. Affer dis, I tink we best go to work make
plenty salt."
'Thello's proposal was met with alacrity by the
women, and the turtles' eggs, being keepable, were
put into store for another meal.
"Then we are to have a feast instead of a fight,
Holston?" said Laurent, laughing.
"So it seems," was the reply. "But in the name
of common sense, what do these creatures mean by
coming back? Don't they want their liberty ?"
"It seems they are quite content with their posi-
tion here, and look upon themselves as belonging to
us,' replied Laurent. "Depend upon it, they will
want to stop altogether. They would be very use-
ful."

"Yes," said Helston, "if we could feel safe ; but
suppose they rise against us ?"
"I don't think there is any fear of that," said
Laurent. "You see, they were completely beaten,
and they are so child- le in their nature that they
are quite willing to accept their 'position. I don't
think we need fear them. On the contrary, they
would, I fancy, prove very trustworthy, looking up
to us, as they do, as a race of superior beings."
"Well, we will try them in the morning," said
Belston.
Just then he was touched on the shedder by one
of the girls.
"Mary Dance thinks you had better cope, sir, and
see Deborah Burrows. She has been very strange
alliday."
Holston hurried off, to find Deborah lying, tossing
restlessly on her couch of dried sea-weed, in a.little
hut that had been hastily constructed of stones and
lava. A lamp, composed of a shallow shell, in which
a fibre wick was burning in the melted fat of sea
birds, shed a pale light through the place, making
Deborah's face more ghastly, even while it shone
upon the glossy hair of Grace Monroe, who was
seated by the poor creature's side.
Mary Dance met Helston at the threshold, and
told how restless and wild their patient had, been
for some hours past, and that some great change had
taken place—whether for good or bad she could not
tell.
As Helston approached, Grace, who seemed very
weak, rose to go; but the young doctor took her
hand in his, and gently forced her back into her
seat. _

"It is only the doctor, Grace Monroe," he said,
coldly • "there is no occasion for you to go."
As he spoke, Deborah, who had turned her head
sharply on hearing his voice, raised herself upon her
elbow and glared at him, her eyes seeming to glow
in the intensity of their gaze; and as he now
turned to her, she sprang at him, and caught him by
the throat with all a maniac's strength, and held him,
almost helpless, unleskhe exerted his strength to her
injury.
Come, come, Deborah," he said, soothingly, as
he caught her wrists in his, and tried to pacify her,
while, with a faint ery of fear, Mary Dance seized
her round the waist—' come, this is folly. Here,
let me lay you down."
The positions were reversed, for the poor creature
made so fierce an onslaught that, in spite of Mary
Dance's efforts, Helston was forced backwards,
Deborah holding him firmly, as she kept on talking
wildly.
"You do not know how I hate you," she mut-
tered. "You have caused all my misery; and not
content with torturing my spirit, you have tortured
my body. You coward—you cruel coward! Mary
Dance, Grace Monroe—you puling, smooth-faced
doll—come and help me, and we'll crush out his
cowardly life! Do you hear me l> He is only a
man. Here—quick—he cannot (help himself, and
we can crush out his coward life, andtbury him in
the sands." -
"Deborah, Deborah! loose your hands," panted
Mary, struggling vainly with the infuriated mikr
"Yes, when he's dead," she said, in a harsh voice.
"You don't klloiv him as I do. Re has been by my
side night and day, forcing great pieces of rock into
my hands, and telling me to crush the heads of the
different women he hated. Re is not fit to live, I
tell you. He wanted me to kill Grace Monroe, and
held my hands over her head while she was sleeping
—hands holding a great stone, and then forced me
to throw it, and I did."
"But stop," she cried, suddenly, loosening her
hold
"upon Holston; "how is it you came back to
life ?

She stood pointing at Grace, and held one hand
to her forehead.
"I know I killed you," she said, hoarsely, and
speaking in a dreamy, confused way; "and then
you followed me into the mountain, and haunted
me, until you nearly drove me mad. No, you are
not alive. But you are," she cried, turning furiously
upon the man she had so passionately loved; "and
you shall die, even if you haunt me as she does.
Yes, two of you—two ghosts. I don't care! Then
you may marry and be happy as spirits, and I can
laugh at you.'
She threw herself, with a bound like a tigress,
once more at Helston's throat; but this time he was
aware of her deign, and contrived to catch her
wrists in his hands, turning her so deftly that he
was able to throw her back upon her bed, and, with
the help of Mary Dance, held her there, at the ex-
pense of great exertion, as she heaved and struggled,
and at times almost mastered them, for Grace could
only look on, weeping, and unable, through weak-
ness, to lend any aid.
"Can you not do anything, air?" exclaimed Mary
Dance, piteously.
And she turned her troubled face, covered with
perspiration, tow
othing,” 411=18t44,*
• •
_ _

: -

resources of a surgery at my back; iiistead—of being
without the simplest appliance, I could not do much.
I have no medicine, sedative or
,narcotic. lam
compelled to rely on nature."
As he spoke, he slightly relaxed his hold, for De-
borah had closed her eyes, and, apparently ex-
hausted, lay without struggling.
"If sleep will onlycome," he continued," her brain
may be less disturbed afterwards; but this is a ter-
rible position, and I can do no more."
At that moment a terrible spasm seemed to affect
the prostrate woman, and, with a wild shriek, she
struggled up, and threw ha k those who held her;
and before they could regain their mastery over her,
she struck them back with lmost superhuman force,
and dashed wildly from hut.
Belston leaped up, with his mouth bleeding from
too blow inflicted upon him, and dashed in pursuit,
followed by Mary Dance; while Grace covered her
face with her hands, and wept bitterly, accusing
herself of being the cause of the poor creature's
misery, and telling her heart that if Deborah
Burrows died the death would be laid at her door.
Meanwhile Helston had rushed out into the dark
night, to see on his left the glow of two fires re-
flected on a crowd of faces, where 'Thello was busy
over his culinary operations.
It stood to reason that Deborah would not have
run in that direction, so he rushed in the other, and
stopped to listen; but there was not a sound to be
heard, the soft sand completely hushing the foot-
steps of any one running from where he stood.
There was a faint glow spread far beyond him,
showing the wild grass and growth of the sands, and
the bushes and stunted trees farther from the shore;
but there was no sign of his patient.
Going towards the sea, where the sands grew
firmer, there was the dull roar and moan of the
waves; but no Deborah.
Running back, he summoned Laurent and a score
of the women, the three savages coming uninvited;
but as soon as it was explained to them by signs
what was wanted, they entered readily into the
search, and were always flat
But in the darkness Helstou felt that it was all so
much labour in vain; and at last, weary and dispi-
rited, they all returned to the camp.