Chapter VI: Part 6

The midget fleet remained at a respectable distance, keeping up a plunging fire. Abdularram meant to keep his own ships afloat though he cared nothing about the mighty leviathan that had been flagship to the feeble-kneed young Sultan of Zanzibar. Indeed, she was advanced later on in the day very close indeed to the city.

She was prettily manoeuvred too, and poured broadside after broadside into the principal part of the town, which now lay completely at its mercy.

The British Consul had remained and also the American, and about four in the afternoon they succeeded in getting audience of the Sultan himself. They had been unable to see him sooner. He had a headache, and was lying down, his prime minister told them.

The Sultan received him in what we may call his reception room, for want of a better name.

He remained seated and looked ghastly pale and old. Indeed, though little more than twenty, he seemed quite an aged man, with the exception of his black and flowing locks.

The British Consul stopped to bow at the audience chamber door.

So quickly had he stopped that the tall raw-boned American Consul, who appeared always to be in a hurry, and who was coming up behind, ran foul of him with such force that both were precipitated on the carpet.

The carpet was exceedingly rich and soft, yet, to say the least of it, this was rather an undignified way of entering into the presence of so great a Sultan.

"Come, I say," cried Munro the American, as he gathered himself up, fold after fold, from off the floor, "why the old Harry did you stop and protrude your stern like that? I believe I've split my blessed breeches."

Before Mr. Johnson could gather himself up, for he was somewhat John Bull-ish fore and aft, Munro had stepped over him, and advanced to the regal chair.

"Shake," he said, holding out a long, bony, twelve-inch hand.

The Sultan moved not, nor answered. Was he not a king?

"Shake!" shouted the Consul, in a voice that made the jewelled ornaments round the room ring and tinkle. "How long have you been deaf?"

The Sultan now condescended to shake hands with both Consuls.

Munro wheeled quickly round to a liveried or uniformed attendant.

"I say," he cried, "fetch us two brandies and a split, I see this is going to be dry work."

The gentleman whom he addressed was really one of the Sultan's ministers and advisers.

He smiled as he looked comically at Munro. "Would ye no hae a drap o' the auld kirk," he said. "It's prime stuff and a' the wey fae Glendronach."

"Ho, ho, ho," laughed Munro. "You're Scotch are you?"

"Ay, man, and a Banffshire laddie for bye. But, dod, man, I have ma ain adees (troubles) wi' that fushionless sinner, yonder."

A shell at this moment burst in the air outside, and the concussion shivered the glass in the window.

"Losh!" said the Scot, "that's gey near and vera emphatic."

The Sultan leapt up and would have bolted had not Sandie caught him by the skirts and thrust him back into his chair of state again.

"Off you go, my friend, and order the drinks; I'm going to talk big to this little Arab."

There was no respect for "nigger Sultans" in Munro's mind.

"I say, young fellow," he cried, "this is a pretty kettle of fish, ain't it? You're in a jolly tight corner you know."

"Oh! Can you save me?" whimpered the Sultan. "That pirate king will slay us all."

"Not he. He will pay some degree of respect for the Stars and Stripes and the Yewnion Jack, you may bet your bottom dollar on that. No, young fellow, it is you they are after, and they're going to catch you alive too. Your fleet is all down below among the jelly-fish except your flag-ship. They are knocking everything about but sparing your palace."

"Where shall I hide? whither shall I fly? I must hie me to my harem.

"Nary a hie my dear boy; if that pirate king, as you call him, comes on shore, one of the first places he will visit will be your harem. He will soon have you out of there."

"But where--where--can I go?"

"Well, to tell you the truth the coal cellar would be the best place for a potentate like you. Ah, here come the drinks. I suppose your Highness won't join us? No?"

"Now then," he continued, "let us finish this talkee-talkee. I'm not giving John Bull here a show, but he can put in his oar when he pleases."

"I'll leave the talking to you, sir," said Johnson.

"And, young fellow, have you called out your troops?"

"They are assembling. They are now in the bush," said the Sultan.

"Well, I'd keep them there for a time. How many maxims?"

"Only a few."

"Get them under weigh. Then I think we may be able to repel these fellows if they attempt to land. Write us a note now, introducing us to your general, and John Bull and I will take it."

"Meanwhile where shall I hide my august person?"

"There is a rare lot of the august about your high-and-mightiness I must say, but 'pon honour, old chap, you'll feel safer and more at home in the coal cellar. I'm not joking, really."

Then both consuls bowed, and made for the door.

Mr. Johnson lingered a moment to smile and say, "Keep up your heart, Sultan; it is sure to come right in the end."

"Allah be praised for those words of comfort!" whimpered the Sultan, "I shall do what is best in His sight."

At this moment the bombardment seemed to be at its fiercest and the inhabitants of the doomed city were terror-stricken. Never before had anyone here, Arab, Parsee, Hindu, or negro slave, heard the sound of a gun fired in anger, nor the sound of a bursting shell. For the most part they lay low in their houses, fearing to go into the open or trust themselves in the bush, so that the usually crowded streets were now almost deserted.

Johnson and Munro got horses from the Sultan's stables and went tearing out to the sylvan suburbs.

They found here about 5,000 Arab soldiers. Only the ghost of an army, for of late years it had been much neglected, and many of the men were now unarmed while others had merely the long, old-fashioned Arab guns. But they had all spears and swords.

Darkness fell before the two consuls were able to evoke something like order and arrangement in this force. Only their presence had been a comfort to the officers, while the men were in good spirits and evidently burning for a fight.

Would the enemy land, and if so where and when? A complete row of sentinels were spread within hail of each other as far round the beach as they could be extended, and the Sultan's troops were held in readiness to march, upon any given spot.

But the night passed quietly away. Abdularram saw the futility now of wasting his ammunition in the darkness.

The name of the gunner who fired the shot in a moment of forgetfulness at the palace itself, was taken, and for the present he went unpunished, as the Admiral could not spare him, but he was to fight now under the not very comforting assurance that the moment the city capitulated or was carried by assault he would be hanged or thrown into the sea, which after the fearful tragedy of the day before was now alive with monstrous sharks. The hundreds of poor fellows who had become their prey had only whetted their appetites as a few oysters before dinner would that of a gourmand.

Many of the houses far beyond the beach had been knocked down by shells, and set fire to over the heads of the buried inmates, alive or dead. The glare from these lit up the sky, but as yet there was no general conflagration.

Another night wore on, and at sunrise the bombardment was recommenced and kept up intermittently all day long. The shooting of the Zanzibar gunners was very bad indeed. But the forts themselves, which had only been built to replace older walls about a year ago, were of great strength, and faced with metal, so that it was evident they would take a much longer time to silence than Abdularram had calculated on. As some of these commanded the entrance of the palace, silenced they would have to be before Lamoo's great admiral could capture the Sultan.

Day after day the desultory fire was kept up, but on the sixth it became fierce and fearful, and it was evident to everyone that Abdularram was about to attempt a _coup de main_.

That night shells rained and burst over the old town itself, and soon it was on fire from end to end, and the flame-stricken inhabitants, hundreds of whom had been slain, were fleeing to the bush for their lives.

From the sea the conflagration was an impressive and awful spectacle.

It must be seen from the mainland even from B---- itself and Abdularram had two of his best vessels to intercept any vessel who might send assistance. These did patrol duty and warned off all ships of all sorts.

Meanwhile in the darkness, and in a distant part of the island, Abdularram had landed 2,000 of his fighting braves. This from the flag-ship and with very great caution, his object being to make a forced, but silent march on the city, taking it in flank or rear.

The sentinels, there were six of these to one mile of beach, were keeping their lonely vigil, honestly enough, but they neither saw nor heard a black and armed boat glide in and land about a dozen warriors. The oars had been muffled, and the men were half naked and black from head to foot. Armed with daggers only.

They crept silently through the bush in pairs, and approached as stealthily as tigers till within a yard or two of their victims, and these were knifed before they could utter a cry or give an alarm.

The beach thus cleared offered an easy landing to the troops, and long before daylight they had reached the camp of the Sultan's army, and attacked it with such fearful determination that in a few minutes what remained of it were scattered panic-stricken into the woodlands, or hurled back towards the flaming city.

Few who witnessed even a tithe of the horrors of that dread night will be likely to forget it till their dying day.

Those victorious tigers of the sea cared neither for drink nor food, it was blood, blood, blood, they thirsted for, money that they sought, but vice and lust also held their souls enthralled, and it is well to draw a veil--it needs a big one--over the scenes that took place in almost every street that the fire had spared.

But in the darkness they must attack and carry the palace.

Little did they know what was prepared for them. For here by the gates maxim guns had been stationed manned by men, both British and American, men who knew what maxims were too, for some had been volunteers in well-beloved Britain, and others had served in American regiments.

Abdularram's little army was foiled. It was driven back decimated by the hell-fire of these guns without having been able to cross a bridge or force a gate.

They retreated in some sort of order, however, and made their way to the beach, and here they speedily threw up trenches some distance away from the frowning forts.

They were making signals, too, for assistance. And just before daylight assistance did come. But it was not for them.

The brave _Breezy_ had come in by stealth, attracted by the lights of the flagship some time after she had landed the fighting forces.

They understood now at once what the position of affairs was and, before Abdularram realised what was up, torpedoed the ship, which, although she but lifted her bows a little way out of the water, it was evident had received her death blow, for she began now to fill rapidly and to settle. Abdularram himself was seen on her deck, coolly giving orders for guns to be fired at the _Breezy_.

Before the broadside could be delivered, however, the doom of the mighty battleship was sealed. Even after she had sunk, men were seen struggling in the seething waters, and boats from the _Breezy_ were at once sent to save them.

Many, glad of their lives, were quiet enough, but others drew their knives as soon as they got over the gunwale and attacked the sailors. They wounded several before they had their quietus.

Swimming powerfully in the glare of the searchlight and heading for the shore was a tall and powerful Arab officer. His turban had fallen off and his long black hair was floating on the water like sea-weed.

He was caught by the boat commanded by Guilford himself, and in which Kep had entered to help the rescue.

He drew his dagger, and the blow he aimed at Kep had it descended would have closed this story as far as that poor boy was concerned.

But Abdularram, for it was no other, was struck down by a blow from the fist of the stroke-oar. And that man was Jack Stormalong.

The Arab Admiral fell on his face at Kep's feet, and to all appearance dead, for he had been put to sleep and had an ugly gash on the forehead caused by coming in contact with the side of the boat.

"Thank you, Jack, a thousand times and o'er," said Kep with a smile; "my old friend here, who now so lowly lies, certainly didn't mean to be sparing in his attentions to poor little me."

"You're kindly welcome, sir," said Jack; "you would do as much for me any day, that I know."

"Ay, that I would."

It was the boats of the _Breezy_ that were coming in and that the piratical soldiers mistook for their friends. They were at once undeceived, as soon as the quick-firers opened upon them.

They were driven into desperate confusion.

But now the Sultan's troops, whom the American Consul had succeeded in getting together, approached and quickly attacked the pirates at the point of the bayonet. And the battle was soon over.

There was still the fleet to deal with, and for hours it looked an ugly business for the _Breezy_. She had to make a running fight of it all day long, but after getting two of the midget fleet well away from the others, she attacked now with her heaviest guns, and was not long in sinking both.

Meanwhile others of the fleet had made a _detour_, and cutting her off from the south and seaward began to close in upon her from all round.

"By George!" cried the Captain, "this is being between the devil and the deep sea with a vengeance."

But suddenly the enemy ceased firing, and went off at full speed towards the south. And while everyone on the _Breezy_ was wondering what this extraordinary move meant, there came a hail from one of the fighting tops.

"Two powerful battle-ships just in sight on the horizon. No, sir, I can only raise their tops."

A middy was sent up at once and presently he hailed:

"I can see the flags, sir."

"Well, what can you make of them?"

The middy had another long look.

"Why sir, they are Stars and Stripes."

"That must be the _Niagara_ and the _Delaware_."

On board the _Breezy_ there was shaking of hands all round, and laughing and talking and general jollity fore and aft.

Then up marched the doctor.

"Pardon me, sir, but I think that the crew now will be none the worse of some medical comforts.

"Certainly, by all means," replied Captain Breezy. "Pipe to dinner, officer of the watch, and we'll splice the main-brace, Surgeon McTavish."

* * * * *

The end had not yet come however. The midget fleet must not escape.

So now, although she was somewhat damaged, the _Breezy_ put on all speed in order to meet the Americans as quickly as possible, and hold a conference, and in about an hour's time the two nations, Britain and America, were exchanging salutes.

When Captain Breezy of H.M.S. _Breezy_ went on board the _Niagara_, he found the Captain of the _Delaware_ there already, and Captain Breezy, wasting as few words as possible, told the whole sad story, and it was unanimously agreed that something must be done at once.

"There is no doubt," said Breezy, "that the Lamoo fleet will get back to their own Sultan as soon as possible, and there is only one way for them to get there, they must cross the bar one by one, and," he continued, "it is better, in my opinion, that we should sail for the mouth of that river and wait their appearance. Their sailing south was only to avoid meeting you. They will make a wide _detour_ after they are out of sight, and come straight for the equatorial coast again."

This was agreed to. A steam launch was sent back to Zanzibar to advise the consuls as to their movements.

They were going on a punitive expedition now--that was the message--they were to be found near to the mouth of the river, and should a torpedo boat or destroyer come in as well as the large man o' war which had been signalled, the former were to come to the river's mouth, the latter to lie at Zanzibar to defend it.

*CHAPTER XIX*

*KEP COMMANDS A DHOW. A DEPOSED SULTAN*

The weather was now splendid, and the sea smooth and blue like the sky itself. Just a snow-flake of a cloud here and there, and that was all.

So quickly did these three grand ships dash through the water that they reached their destination in little over a day's time.

They kept well out to sea however. Had they gone close enough to the shore to be seen by a sentinel from Lamoo, no doubt the Sultan would have been apprised of their arrival, and suspecting that something had gone wrong would have adopted some means or other of warning his ships.

With steam up they lay at a little distance north of the river, for if some tell-tale dhow had met them to the south, it was within the bounds of possibility that the master thereof might have reported their presence.

But only one dhow appeared, and she was requisitioned, much to her disgust. She was two-masted and very fleet. Her men were taken on board the battleship to be well tended and cared for. Then the dhow was manned with enough Kroomen to sail her, and to his great delight Kep himself, once more got up as an Arab, was put in charge.

This clever lad had spent nearly all his spare time since he joined the Service in learning the duties of a midshipman, and so hard a student had he been, that already he could have done all that was required of such an officer.

He was now to cruise in his dhow near to the mouth of the river, and on the appearance of the midget fleet coming east again make all sail far enough to signal to the warships.

It was a glorious thing, Kep thought, to tread the decks of his own ship. For the time being he felt a real captain and monarch of all he surveyed. It would be only for a short time, but Kep would have liked to be skipper of this dhow for a year he thought. The owner of the craft, had a most superbly furnished poop saloon. The dhow was one of the largest of its class, and its owner evidently a man of wealth.

By day and by night watches were kept and a constant look out. But it was the morning of the fourth day before Kep caught sight of the midget fleet creeping up in line and as near to the wooded shore as it could get with safety, but slowly, because two were crippled.

"Ready about!" shouted Kep, and at the touch of the helm the great sails came round and the dhow was soon dashing eastwards.

As soon as the tops of the warships were visible he signalled, and in a very short time he had the pleasure of seeing them bearing down towards him.

He waited until he could point out the right direction, and as he was not ordered to come on board he thought he might as well follow on in his dhow and see the fun.

It was terrible fun, for the warships certainly gave the enemy little time to say his prayers. The result was that half the fleet was sunk, and four captured, others escaped to be captured another day.

It was lucky they had captured those four midgets for the _Breezy_ could never have crossed that fearful bar. There was but one opening in and that not wide, and breakers roar and dash to starboard and port as you enter.

The day was spent in manning and re-arming those midgets, and there could be no getting up the river in the darkness.

But when another glorious day awakened those silent forests to life and love, the bluejackets and marines, to the number of seventeen hundred Americans and British, and with a few sturdy Kroomen, were put on board and started with three ringing cheers; there was little else but standing room, for Jack Stormalong knew every inch of this river, and he was made pilot. Captain Breezy himself took command, Guilford was there as well as the tall athletic surgeon, and Kep, still in his Arab dress, was taken as interpreter.

In dealing with savages or semi-savages, and the inhabitants of Lamoo were little better, there is nothing beats audacious coolness coupled with firmness.

This scoundrel Sultan was taken unawares, the flower of his little army had gone with the expedition. Those he had left he could not trust, so, as Jack Stormalong phrased it, he was up aloft and the rigging cut.

Captain Breezy in full uniform landed with Kep in his own, with only a few marines as a body guard, and landed on the beach with the greatest _sang froid_. This sailor had never known what fear was, and the British navy owned no braver man. He asked for a guide to the Sultan's palace and half a dozen sooty scoundrels begged for the honour of conducting him.

They were dressed only in cummerbunds or little canvas kilts, and each carried a spear. Corner boys were they of this wild city, the only thing stately about which were the forts and the lofty palace.

When the Sultan heard an hour before this that his fleet was returning triumphant, he rejoiced and was exceedingly glad. His greatest enemy would soon be in his clutches and he would have the rarest fun on earth.

He was resting in his audience chamber when Captain Breezy with Kep--leaving the marines outside--were shown in. If a half-black Arab could turn pale that Sultan would have done so now. The Captain and Kep bowed low and the Sultan advanced and held out his hand. Captain Breezy did not see it.

"Tell the fellow all I told you," he said to Kep.

Kep appeared to grow suddenly three inches taller. He held his head erect and cleared his throat.

"Ahem! you see before you, Mr. Sultan," he said in his best Arabic, "the might, and pomp, and power of the British nation."

That seemed a good beginning, and the Sultan, who really was a splendid specimen of the dark Arabs, looked at Kep from toe to top somewhat curiously.

"You see before you," continued Kep, "the offended dignity of that nation. Your accursed fleet has laid most of the city of Zanzibar in ashes, has destroyed and burned the British and American Consulate, and we come in our might and strength to demand redress."

An amused and somewhat haughty smile was visible for a moment on the Sultan's face. Then an angry frown.

"What is to hinder me," he cried, "from throwing the might and power of Britain, in the persons of you two badly armed men, into my handsomely furnished dungeon. One word and----"

"You dare not. If we are not safely back in one brief half hour, our fleet shall silence your forts, set your palace on fire, and your city as well, and you shall see the inside of a British ship as our prisoner, on your way to Ceylon or St. Helena.

"And now we leave you to your reflections. If we have no answer in one hour's time we shall proceed to action."

Next moment they marched out with marvellous coolness and soon reached the boat.

Breezy took out his watch.

"A quarter to twelve," he said. "By a quarter to one the men will have finished dinner, and then for business, for I expect no answer from that fellow."

The forts, although the guns were good, were badly positioned, and the little fleet lay just round the bend of the river in a most commanding situation.

Now this Sultan--Said Hassam to name--was the most unpopular man on the coast at this time, and his own people were only waiting for an excuse to depose him.

It was half-past twelve when a magnificently adorned gondola-looking barge swept round the corner, and three richly dressed Arabs requested audience of Captain Breezy.

The interview took place aft on the upper deck, and was just as brief as it was important. One a very old man, who looked like a prophet, Kep thought, told the Captain, through Kep, that they had been opposed to the sending of an expedition against Zanzibar, but were over-ruled by the Sultan himself, and that the city had been about to rise and depose him even had the ships not arrived.

"This is very satisfactory if true."

"You have our word of honour."

"We shall have to be paid a large indemnity, which my Government," said Breezy, "must fix."

"We will pay it willingly if not too large and if time be allowed us."

"And the present Sultan must be deposed immediately. We shall take him prisoner with us to the Cape."

"He is already deposed," answered the old minister smiling grimly, "and his son reigns in his place. It was all done very quietly."

"He must be brought here," said the Captain, and Kep translated.

"But he is here. I will give orders to have him up at once."

He stepped to the side, and next minute a powerful and burly black staggered up the ladder with a heavy sack, and, much to the astonishment of all, threw the body of the late Sultan at the Captain's feet.

There was no mistake about it. He had been deposed with a vengeance.

But this is only an example of the neat and effective way they have of settling political difference in those regions.

There was no danger now in landing, and not only the officers but even boatloads of the crews were allowed to go on shore and stretch their legs.

All agreements having been arranged to the satisfaction of Captain Breezy, and visits interchanged with the great men of the town, the fleet dropped down the river next morning, and their friends very much astonished as well as pleased at their early return.

On the other hand Captain Breezy was not surprised that during his absence Abdularram had succeeded in committing suicide. He preferred death to imprisonment.

On board the mighty American ship the British officers dined that evening, and to his great delight Kep was among the invited.

The Admiral himself took a great pleasure in talking to him.

Kep dined in his handsome Arab suit, and after dinner delighted the Americans with his marvellous fluting and piano-playing.

He was permitted to go forward while the elder men sat at their wine.

As in the British Service, the men had all extra grog to-night, and a merry hour was spent in dancing when Kep came amongst them.

Among the toasts of the evening was one which I hope will never be forgot. It came from the lips of Admiral Gray himself. "This is the first time," he said, "that the British have fought shoulder to shoulder with the Americans. Together may we stand in many a stout fight yet to come."

*CHAPTER XX*

*"THAT BAR OF GOLD WAS STOLEN FROM ME," SAID KEP*

In six weeks' time they were once more leaving Zanzibar and heading southward for the Cape.

The men of the midget fleet, whom they had taken prisoners, were left at Zanzibar, and in due time would be tried for piracy and murder on the high seas, and no doubt many of them would meet the doom they so richly deserved.

Kep had searched for his Arab friend high and low, but he was not to be found, and neither he nor dear Zeena would he ever see again. He would have given a good deal to know they were safe, or even to know something of their fate, whate'er it may have been.

Kep's little romance was ended.

There were no letters from either Madge or his father, for whom he cared so much, but he felt sure that both must have written and that their letters had been destroyed in the bombardment.

The _Breezy_ entered Symon's Bay in triumph. No wonder, for under her wing were the four captured gun-boats of the midget fleet. And all the English-speaking world had been singing the praises of the broadsword-men of the _Breezy_.

Dispatches, of course, and private letters from men in the Admiralty.

Very simple had been the narrative which the bold sailor _Breezy_ had sent to the Lords Commissioners. But they could read between the lines, and he was promised his promotion at once if he chose to leave the ship and go home to take it up.

He decided to hold on to the end of the commission. The officers, too, would certainly be promoted, and even Kep, it was hinted, was to receive an appointment when he arrived in England that doubtless would be very much to his taste--this was mentioned in private letters only. The Admiralty never forgets its dignity. But what pleased the Captain most of all was an autograph letter from the King himself, thanking him and his officers for so bravely upholding the glory of the Royal navy. The King commanded him also to visit him on his return, if God in His goodness should spare both their lives.

A mail came in from England before the _Breezy_ once more sailed for the still-farther east.

There were letters from home for nearly all hands, and one from Kep's father inside Madge's. Sore and sad was Kep's heart when he read it.

Both were well and likewise Bounder, but Martello Castle and lands were let, and they were living in a small cottage near the sea. "Very happy, though," Madge's letter said, and poverty made her love her father all the more, and he is now proud of you, Kep, so he told her, and we all long so much to see our dear boy again. There was a postscript, as there is in most young ladies' letters. It ran as follows: "P.S.--Old Elspet sends her love, and I haven't married the wealthy Israelite yet."

The last word was strongly underlined. Kep kissed the letter, and there were tears in his eyes as he refolded it.

He would put it under his pillow to-night just to see what he should dream about. Well, I for one cannot laugh at Kep, for often enough when far away at sea I've kept letters from home under my pillow for weeks. It was hours and hours before Kep fell asleep that night, notwithstanding. Madge's letter brought the past back again so vividly. Ah! he had been happier than he knew of.

The splendid old castle, the cliffs and rocks and moorlands wild and wide, and his own little turret chamber high above the rookery in the rustling elms. Was he never to see them more?

Never as a boy, and, ah! boyhood is life's brightest happiest season.

The _Breezy_ had been in commission nearly two and a half years, and there was at least a year to go by yet, and then Kep was to have an appointment.

It could not be as a middy, or anything of that sort, of course, because the laws of the Admiralty are inflexible. The executive officers have all to enter the service between the ages of twelve and thirteen.

Never mind, Kep determined to continue his study of languages, and of everything else, and who could tell what he might not rise to in course of time.

Kep, the reader does not need to be told, was very clever, and moreover he had a first-class idea of himself, and I never blame any boy for that.

At all events one never does get to the top of the tree unless he tries to, and Kep made a vow that night that he was going to try and keep on trying hard as ever he knew how to.

As to the letter under his pillow well--he never dreamt a single dream.

That was droll perhaps, but a fact.

* * * * *

Before stretching away out into the limitless ocean again, the _Breezy_ lay for a few days at Cape Town.

Do you know Cape Town, boys, and the charming scenery around? The wild mountains that frown over it, ablaze with greenery, and the crimson of heaths and wild flowers, such as we in this tame domestic England can only cultivate in our hot-houses.

The brown soil and the bare brown bluffs that peep through here and there, only adding an extra charm to their beauty. To see these grand old hills even at a distance and gaze up into their enchanted glens and valleys, is something worth journeying six thousand miles to behold. Beautiful under the midday sun, still more lovely when sunset sheds its rainbow hues over them and over the sea; something to dream about when the mystic moonlight tones and softens their lines. Have you seen them at a distance? Nay, but have you wandered among them, wandered and wondered at all you saw! Then have you in reality seen a bit of life.

A fig for some men and women, who have rushed such places, hurriedly and excitedly "doing" them. These know no more about their true grandeur, beauty and solemnity than does a child with a South African picture postcard in its chubby hands.

Well, Kep asked leave to go on shore one day here, and of course obtained it, and was permitted to take his friend Adolph with him.

They were going to have a little pic-nic all to themselves.

"Take your gun, Charlie," McTavish said, and bring me off the biggest black snake you can find. I want to skeletonise the beggar, in order to solve a little problem in Natural History that Mr. Wynn and I are not on the same platform about.

They landed in a shore-boat, he and Adolph, as they wanted to be all by themselves. Past the busy quays and docks and along through the busy well-thronged streets--Kep loved not these, loved not civilization of any kind. It was nature, and its wilds alone that had charms for this strange boy.

They did not speak a deal until they got out of the suburbs, and up, up, up to the top of a high mountain. Adolph was a little out of wind ere he reached the summit, and had to lie down for a breather. But Kep, as light as a lark and as hard as heather, felt fit to soar to any height.

"Oh, look around you, Adolph. Look at the sea. Doesn't its beauty thrill you? Ah! who could settle down as a landsman, who has ever felt the glamour of old ocean in his heart. But now, old comrade, let us eat and drink, and then talk. It is just like old times to have you all to myself. Do you mind the Island of Snakes, Adolphus?"

He spoke in French.

"Oui, oui," said Adolph, "and I remember the gold also. I knew when you brought me here that you meant to speak of that. But the gold is all yours, Kep. It was you who found it. You who dived and discovered the treasure, and----"

"Hold one minute, comrade. That gold is not yet found. Don't forget that; or there may be so little to find, that it may not pay the expense of searching for it."

"Ah, but, Kep, I know you mean to try."

"Mean to? Well, yes, and I long to do so so far more now than ever. I have had letters from home and they have stirred and subdued me. Nay, but they have aged me. I'm a boy no longer, but a thinking, busy-brained man."

Adolph was silent.

"My father has let and left his fine estate. He has come down in the world, Adolph, and I fear it may break the old man's heart. He is living by the sea which he loves so well, living in peace and quiet, that is if a seaman-bred can ever be restful. And I fear that Madge, my dear sister, may now think it her duty to marry a certain wealthy man whom she hates, in order to please father. He is older far than she, and on his death all the wealth would be hers."

"I should say she could not do better. That is my continental view of the matter, Kep."

"Ah! but comrade, poor Madge has had a little _affaire de coeur_, which I did not tell you. Only a child's romance."

"That might alter the case," said Adolph demurely enough now, because he saw that Kep was very much in earnest.

"See," said the boy, "I have worn myself almost thin, brain-working and studying, for a time to come, when I shall be great, though never perhaps wealthy."

"What, not even if we recover those sunken millions?"

"I don't even allow these to count for anything, Adolph. Money can do much, but it never can satisfy the longings of an ambitious boy. I have," he added, "a double incentive now to struggle to rise. I have always loved my father and he loves me, although we are both too Scotch ever to have shown it. But, Adolph, I never felt I loved him half so much as I find I now do.

"He, the quiet, the unobtrusive unselfish man, who never in all his life lived half so much for himself as for those around him, he, a true-born Nature's King, to be hurled from his high estate and forced to live in a cottage. He whom--Oh, but I cannot bear to speak of it, Adolph, and I groan in bed when I think that my conduct may have contributed extra sorrow to his blameless life. But listen, Adolphus----"

Here the boy sprang to his feet on the mountain top, extending his right arm heavenwards in the impressive attitude the Scottish people assume when taking an oath--

"Young in years though I be, I shall now live for the father I have wronged, live for him, work for him, until he is once more restored to his princely Martello Castle. Don't smile at me even in your heart, Adolphus. I am romantic, impulsive, foolish, but, oh comrade, I am sincere." Then Kep became the boy again.

"I'm happier now," he said laughing. "I've found a peg to hang my mental hat upon. I feel I have now something to live for. Come, I shall pipe to show you I am quite recovered."

"A touch of Wagner then," said Adolph merrily, "and we'll imagine we're back again on the island."

It was like the piping of Pan. It appeared not to come from any earthly instrument. In the silence it seemed to stir the mountains all around. Shrill yet poetical, as the song of the lark, or sweet and sad, like the love notes of Philomel in his native England.

Then suddenly it ceased, and Kep threw himself down to gaze for a moment at a white-winged ship on the blue of the far-off horizon.

"Ah! my old comrade," he said at last, "we must let our millions slumber for a time down in old ocean's slimy bed, and when we have time we may go in search of them. You got the latitude and longitude, didn't you, and have written it down?"

"There it is, Kep, that is your copy; I have mine, and I keep it under the lining of my sea-chest lid. It must neither be lost not shown to anyone."

"True."

"Yes, true, because I have more hopes than you."

"But even should there be gold there, it is safe. No one could dream of diving for sunken treasure in a place like that."

"I suppose," said Adolph, "you still have the bar of gold, though it was not large, which you brought up."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. That bit of stuff was stolen from me on board the ship that saved us!"

"Bad news, Kep. I don't half like it. Did you suspect anyone?"

"Only that first mate. He drank on the sly, and he was the only one who ever came in to yarn with me."

"Well, Kep, it _may_ be all right. But that evil-looking man, if ever his mind was a moment clear, would naturally wonder where you got that bar. It was a shelly-looking piece, and he would judge it came from the sea-bottom, and---- Well, there are a good many 'ands,' for it is always the improbable that happens on the ocean-wave, Kep."

"Nothing is going to trouble me," said Kep, "one way or the other. But now come, let us be going. I've got Dr. McTavish's snake to shoot yet."

*CHAPTER XXI*

*TRAGEDY ON AN ISLAND--A CANNIBAL WITCH*

The _Breezy_ would have reached the shores of that marvel island, New Guinea, far sooner, had she not to go south, to lonely Kerguelin, on her voyage, to take some soundings there, and also chart some rocky bottom on the coast of New Zealand, as well.

Kep was permitted to go down to the sea bottom sometimes by day. He wanted to get thoroughly up to the workings of the bell. The invention was altogether so perfect, and at the same time so simple, that he soon mastered it.

It sunk sometimes as low as 350 feet. Strong though the plate-glass windows were, had it sunk much lower the pressure of the water would have smashed them, then you may judge yourself, reader, what a horrible death those inside would have met.

It was at night, when off the New Guinea rocks, that Kep loved best to go down. What a terrible sight it was, the illimitable marine aquarium he saw around him. There was a silent solemnity about it that is indescribable. And not in Dante's _Inferno_ itself could more horrible monsters exist than those which occasionally flitted to and fro in the glare of that submarine flash-light. Here also was beauty mingled with the fearful, for the foliage and flowers of the deep-sea gardens waved and moved in a thousand tints and colour, on the white sands. Sea ferns grow here, ocean cactuses, trees and flowers and shrubs.

But there was a spice of danger down here, for great sharks, three fathoms long, with terrifying open mouths, made for the windows, and grabbed at Kep. They knew not what glass was, and thought that to swallow the boy was the easiest thing in the world. When they found that they had not succeeded, they would swish their tails about, and dash off angry and disappointed.

Fishes with large glaring eyes and heads clad in shields of bone at times dashed against the plate-glass. They looked like miniature iron-clads, as they sailed towards Kep, and the marvel was that they did not break the diving bell to pieces.

* * * * *

If you look at a good map of the world, gentle reader--by the way, _are_ you _gentle_, I wonder?--you will be able to discover at a single peep where New Guinea is. But the map is not made yet that can show you all the outs and ins, the gulfs and bays and locks of the island's entrancing fore-shores.

You will look up north from Australia for New Guinea, and be surprised at its strange, ungainly shape, its points and promontories, its immense size, and the multitude of small islands around it on every side. Nor'ard and west, if you wandered along its beautiful shores, north and west and far away, you would find yourself--if you had not previously been killed and eaten by cannibals--at McLuer inlet, or Triton Bay, or at Cape Spencer on the shores of Dampier Strait, looking out across a fiery blue ocean at clusters of green cocoa-nut crowned islands, on almost any one of which you could have but little difficulty indeed in becoming something of a real Crusoe. But after a time, I guess, it would not be one marked footprint on the wet sand you might find, but fifty.

You would naturally imagine then, that you were come for, and that you were soon to figure as a cold sirloin or side-dish at a feast and wild dance given by some Papuan chief. N.B.--The inhabitants of New Guinea are called Papuans.

Oh dear, what a region of beauty and romance is embodied in these simple words, "the South Sea Islands."

But if up there, you got a dhow, and went cruising west, and had the good luck not to be eaten, and thus enjoy yourself instead of being devoured for the enjoyment of some else, a blue shark for example, the trip would be delightful, though dangerous. You would have plenty of food, and the seas are studded with green islands, that appear from a distance to be floating, like great emeralds, twixt sea and sky, so that, when thirsty, you could go on shore, and get little black boys to climb the tasseled trees and pitch down cocoa-nuts for you. It would be a charming holiday, and you would not want much to wear. But in time you would reach Celebes itself, another great spreading insect of an island, on which many and many a terrible murder has been committed, and many a missionary massacred.

Resuming your journey, you would in time reach Borneo. Well, by its shores you would find that civilization and trade, and all that has made the marvellous progress of our world, was there to greet you. You would meet English-speaking friends there, but you would have to run up a pretty heavy tailors' bill before you could, with any show of modesty, visit their houses.

You've heard of the "Wild Man of Borneo"? Well, he is still up there, among the midland mountains, and though he might still lick his lips after eating some roast long-pig, he is now a much more respectable member of society than when I first knew him. At that time he was a real and terrible head-hunter. He wanted me to part with mine. I told him I could not see where the fun came in. Then he tried to convince me, by waving a terrible iron-spiked club. But not being used to carry on a conversation through such a medium, I shot him through the shoulder, and he bolted home to thrash one of his fifteen wives.

But when I last met him, he was wearing a long, somewhat shabby top-hat, and a frock-coat without any sleeves to it. Nothing else earthly, except his long black bare legs and his black bare arms.

He was quite chatty, too, and asked kindly after "de Breetish King ob Englan'."

"I quite civilise now, all same," he said, and had I any rum?

Well, so far so good, and a map is a handy contrivance, but, alas! a map tells you nothing of the magnificence of New Guinean forests, woods, and wilds, of the heights of its ranges of mountains that are everywhere, nor the solitary grandeur of its scenery, whether in inland glens or mirrored in the deep bosom of its lonely lochs and bays.

The home these latter are of the strangest-looking fishes in the sea, and millions of birds of the ocean, whose nesting places are on the rocks, above the rocks, or in the woods themselves. Some of these sea-gulfs, I feel sure, are haunted. I've taken a little boat and rowed me all alone for miles up darksome inlets, o'erhung with wild woods thickening green, but so drearily silent in the sunshine, that when I have lain on my oars, as sailors say, not a sound could I hear except the drip, drip, from the blades.

Yet sometimes a wild, unearthly scream would come out of the forest, so wailing, so agonizing, that I have felt sure some terrible tragedy had just been enacted within its darkest shades.

* * * * *

It was among such scenery as this that the gallant broadswords of the _Breezy_ lived and laboured, surveying, charting, and learning the tricks and manners of the vast varieties of natives we find in these islands, but all the while keeping a good look out for British interests.

The old days of kidnapping were then about over. If there was now any such thing, it was on a smaller scale, just as smuggling is still carried on around our little island at home here.

But Captain Breezy and his officers, did not forget that nearly every-man-Jack in the ship was supposed to be studying to become a pilot of these maritime regions.

Our men-o'-war's men are the best and most daring seamen in the world, and so carefully are they trained, no matter should they come in the first place from the lowest slums of Edinburgh or London, that they become wise and thinking men. And I believe that seven month's cruising and surveying among the South Sea Islands, and around New Guinea generally, would enable even an ordinary seamen to pilot a ship through the channels or along the shores.

Moreover, of so much consequence did the Admiralty consider good sea-charts, that copies of those made were sent to the lower decks, and the men were advised to study them, and copy them as often as they chose. Of course, a deal of chart-making was done in the ward-room.

Kep was marvellously clever at this kind of thing, though the navigating officer was better. On the other hand, the marine officer, or Sodjer, was a capital sketcher in water-colours, as well as an excellent photographer.

Many of the men made small collections of "curios," but McTavish himself studied the geology of the coast; its flora and fauna, and its peoples. Even their folk-lore was not neglected by him.

The language was different on almost every island; but Kep, with his wondrous gifts, was not long in finding out, that through all there ran a thread which, when found out, made a good clue for the study of all.

Independently of this, there were many men and women who had been recruited here--bought and sold in fact--and who, after spending years in Queensland, had been sent back, and getting clear for ever of the white man's clothes and the white man's religion, returned again to the life of a happy-go-lucky naked, or nearly naked, savage. And these understood English.

But the cruise of the _Breezy_ had a political side as well; for the eastern side of New Guinea belonged to Germany, the west to Britain, with, in some places, only in the far interior, a kind of no-man's-land, usually mountainous, between the two countries. In these inland recesses still existed, which no white traveller had ever entered, or if he had, was only too glad to get away again with a whole skin.

The Germans could do what they liked with their territory, they are bad colonizers at best, but we Britons have long necks; we look into futurity, and we see and know that, in years to come, this same island will be a gem in the crowns of our coming kings. Even at the date of this part of my story, 1909, the real riches of the great land was only being discovered, its splendid agricultural districts, and above all, its mineral wealth.

"Our surplus population," as Lieutenant Wynn well said one evening, "needs some great outlet. We cannot be content even with Africa, and in this far off New Guinea it yet will live and thrive."

You will note then that the _Breezy_ was not only a happy ship, but a very busy one.

There were few places now where they could receive letters from home. But letters were sent to England, and despatches also, by every opportunity, and such opportunities come to ships long at sea far oftener than landsmen would or could imagine.