Jules Verne series: The castaways of the flag 2

CHAPTER X - THE FLAG ON THE PEAK



            ALL stood motionless, their hearts tense with excitement, their eyes turned towards the northern horizon, listening intently, scarcely breathing.



            In the distance a few more shots rang out, the sound borne to them on the faint breath of the breeze.



            "It's a ship passing off the coast!" said Captain Gould at length.



            "Yes; those reports can only come from a ship," John Block replied; "when night falls, perhaps we shall see her lights."



            "But couldn't those shots have been fired on land?" Jenny suggested.



            "On land, Jenny dear?" Fritz exclaimed. "You mean there may be some land near this island?"



            "I think it is more likely that there is some ship off there to the northward," Captain Gould said again.



            "Why should it have fired the gun?" James asked.



            "Yes, why?" Jenny echoed him.



            If the second surmise were the right one, it followed that the ship could not be very far from the shore. Perhaps when it was quite dark they would be able to distinguish the flashes from the guns, if they were fired again. They might also see her lights before long. But, since the sound of the guns had come from the north, it was quite possible that the ship would remain invisible, since the sea in that direction could not be seen.



            No longer did anyone think of going through the ravine, back to Turtle Bay. Whatever the weather might be, they would all remain where they were until day. Unfortunately, in the event of a ship coming down on the west or east, lack of wood would prevent them from lighting a fire to signal it.



            Those distant reports had stirred their hearts to the very depths. They seemed united by them once more to their kind, felt as though this island were now not so utterly isolated.



            They would have liked to go at once to the far end of the plateau, and to watch the sea to the northward, whence the cannon shots had come. But the evening was getting on, and night would fall quite soon—a night without moon or stars, darkened by the low clouds that the breeze was chasing to the south. They could not venture among the rocks in darkness. It would be difficult enough by day; it was impossible by night.



            So it became necessary to settle themselves for the night where they were, and everyone got busy. After a long search the boatswain discovered a kind of recess, a space between two rocks, where Jenny, Susan, Dolly, and the little boy could lie close to the ground, as there was no sand or sea-weed for them to lie on. They would at least have shelter from the wind if it should freshen, even shelter from the rain if the clouds broke.



            The provisions were taken from the bags and all ate. There was food for several days, in any case. And might not all fear of spending a winter in Turtle Bay soon be banished for ever?



            Night fell—an endless night it seemed, whose long drawn hours no one could ever forget, except little Bob, who slept in his mother's arms. Utter darkness reigned. From the sea-coast the lights of a ship would have been visible several miles out at sea.



            Captain Gould, and most of the others, insisted on remaining afoot until daybreak. Their eyes incessantly wandered over the east and west and south, in the hope of seeing a vessel passing off the island, and not without fears that she might leave it astern, never to return to it. Had they been in Turtle Bay at this moment, they would have lighted a fire upon the end of the promontory. Here, that was impossible.



            No light shone out before the return of dawn, no report broke the silence of the night, no ship came in sight of the island.



            The men began to wonder whether they had not been mistaken, if they had not taken for the sound of cannon what might only have been the roar of some distant storm.



            "No, no," Fritz insisted, "we were not mistaken! It really was a cannon firing out there in the north, a good long way away.''



            "I'm sure of it," the boatswain replied.



            "But why should they be firing guns?" James Wolston urged.



            "Either in salute or in self-defence," Fritz answered.



            "Perhaps some savages have landed on the island and made an attack," Frank suggested.



            "Anyhow," the boatswain answered, "it wasn't savages who fired those guns."



            "So the island would be inhabited by Americans or Europeans?" James enquired.



            "Well, to begin with, is it only an island?" Captain Gould replied. "How do we know what is beyond this cliff? Are we perhaps upon some very large island –"



            "A very large island in this part of the Pacific?" Fritz rejoined. "Which one? I don't see –"



            "In my opinion," John Block remarked, with much good sense, "it is useless to argue about all that. The truth is we don't know whether our island is in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. Let us have a little patience until dawn, which will break quite soon, and then we will go and see what there is up there to the northward."



            "Perhaps everything—perhaps nothing!" said James.



            "Well," the boatswain retorted, "it will be something to know which!''



            About five o'clock the first glimmer of dawn began to show. Low on the horizon the east grew pale. The weather was very calm, for the wind had dropped towards morning. The clouds which had been chased by the breeze were now replaced by a veil of mist, through which the sun eventually broke. The whole sky gradually cleared. The streak of light drawn sharply across the east grew wider— spread over the line of sky and sea. The glorious sun appeared, throwing long streamers of light over the surface of the waters.



            Eagerly all eyes travelled over so much of the ocean as was visible.



            But no vessel was to be seen!



            At this moment Captain Gould was joined by Jenny, Dolly, and by Susan Wolston, who was holding her child's hand.



            The albatross fluttered to and fro, hopped from rock to rock, and sometimes went quite far off to the northward, as if it were pointing out the way.



            "It looks as if he were showing us where to go," said Jenny.



            "We must follow him!" Dolly exclaimed.



            "Not until we have had breakfast," Captain Gould replied. "We may have several hours' marching in front of us, and we must keep up our strength."



            They shared the provisions hurriedly, so impatient were they to be off, and before seven o'clock they were moving towards the north.



            It was most difficult walking among the rocks. Captain Gould and the boatswain, in advance, pointed out the practicable paths. Then Fritz came helping Jenny, Frank helping Dolly, and James helping Susan and little Bob.



            Nowhere did the foot encounter grass or sand. It was all a chaotic accumulation of stones, what might have been a vast field of scattered rocks or moraines. Over it birds were flying, frigate-birds, sea-mews, and sea-swallows, in whose flight the albatross sometimes joined.



            They marched for an hour, at the cost of immense fatigue, and had accomplished little more than two miles, steadily up hill. There was no change in the appearance of the nature of the plateau.



            It was absolutely necessary to call a halt in order to get a little rest.



            Fritz then suggested that he should go on ahead with Captain Gould and John Block. That would spare the others fresh fatigue.



            The proposal was unanimously rejected. They would not separate. They all wanted to be there when—or if—the sea became visible in the northward.



            The march was resumed about nine o'clock. The mist tempered the heat of the sun. At this season it might have been insupportable on this stony waste, on which the rays fell almost vertically at noon.



            While still extending towards the north, the plateau was widening out to east and west, and the sea, which so far had been visible in both these directions, would soon be lost to sight. And still there was not a tree, not a trace of vegetation, nothing but the same sterility and solitude. A few low hills rose here and there ahead.



            At eleven o'clock a kind of cone showed its naked peak, towering some three hundred feet above this portion of the plateau.



            "We must get to the top of that," said Jenny.



            "Yes," Fritz replied; "from there we shall be able to see over a much wider horizon. But it may be a rough climb I''



            It probably would be, but so irresistible was the general desire to ascertain the actual situation that no one would have consented to remain behind, however great the fatigue might be. Yet who could tell whether these poor people were not marching to a last disappointment, to the shattering of their last hope?



            They resumed their journey towards the peak, which now was about half a mile away. Every step was difficult, and progress was painfully slow among the hundreds of rocks which must be scrambled over or gone round. It was more like a chamois track than a footpath. The boatswain insisted on carrying little Bob, and his mother gave the child to him. Fritz and Jenny, Frank and Dolly, and James and Susan kept near together, that the men might help the women over the dangerous bits.



            It was past two o'clock in the afternoon when the base of the cone was reached. They had taken three hours to cover less than a mile and three quarters since the last halt. But they were obliged to rest again.



            The stop was of short duration, and in twenty minutes the climbing began.



            It had occurred to Captain Gould to go round the peak, to avoid a tiring climb. But its base was seen to be impassable, and, after all, the height was not great.



            At the outset the foot found hold upon a soil where scanty plants were growing, clumps of stonecrops to which the fingers could cling.



            Half an hour sufficed to bring them half-way up the peak. Then Fritz, who was in front, let a cry of surprise escape him.



            All stopped, looking at him.



            "What is that, up there?" he said, pointing to the extreme top of the cone.



            A stick was standing upright there, a stick five or six feet long, fixed between the highest rocks.



            "Can it be a branch of a tree, with all the leaves stripped off?" said Frank.



            "No; that is not a branch," Captain Gould declared.



            "It is a stick—a walking-stick!" Fritz declared. '' A stick which has been set up there.''



            "And to which a flag has been fastened," the boatswain added; "and the flag is still there!"



            A flag at the summit of this peak!



            Yes; and the breeze was beginning to stir the flag, although from this distance the colours could not be identified.



            "Then there are inhabitants on this island!" Frank exclaimed.



            "Not a doubt of it!" Jenny declared.



            "Or if not," Fritz went on, "it is clear, at any rate, that someone has taken possession of it."



            "What island is this, then?" James Wolston demanded.



            "Or, rather, what flag is this?" Captain Gould added.



            "An English flag!" the boatswain cried. "Look: red bunting with the yacht in the corner!"



            The wind had just spread out the flag, and it certainly was a British flag. ,



            How they sprang from rock to rock! A hundred and fifty feet still separated them from the summit, but they were no longer conscious of fatigue, did not try to recover their wind, but hurried up without stopping, carried along by what seemed supernatural strength!



            At length, just before three o'clock, Captain Gould and his companions stood side by side on the top of the peak.



            Their disappointment was bitter when they turned their eyes towards the north. . A thick mist hid the horizon. It was impossible to discover whether the plateau ended on this side in a perpendicular cliff, as it did at Turtle Bay, or whether it spread much further beyond. Through this dense fog nothing could be seen. Above the layer of vapour the sky was still bright with the rays of the sun, now beginning to decline into the west.



            Well, they would camp there and wait until the breeze had driven the fog away! Not one of them would go back without having examined the northern portion of the island!



            For was there not a British flag there, floating in the breeze? Did it not say as plainly as words that this land was known, that it must figure in latitude and longitude on the English charts?



            And those guns they had heard the day before, who could say that they did not come from ships saluting the flag as they moved by? Who could say that there was not some harbour on this coast, that there were not ships at anchor there at this very moment?



            And, even if this land were merely a small islet, would there be anything wonderful in Great Britain having taken possession of it, when it lay on the confines of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans? Alternatively, why should it not belong to the Australian continent, so little of which was known in this direction, which was part of the British dominions?



            As they talked a bird's cry rang out, followed by a rapid beating of wings.



            It was Jenny's albatross, which had just taken flight, and was speeding away through the mists towards the north.



            Whither was the bird going? Towards some distant shore?



            Its departure produced a feeling of depression, even of anxiety. It seemed like a desertion.



            But time was passing. The) intermittent breeze was not strong enough to disperse the fog, whose heavy scrolls were rolling at the base of the cone. Would the night fall before the northern horizon had been laid bare to view?



            But no; all hope was not yet lost. As the mists began to decrease, Fritz was able to make out that the cone dominated, not a cliff, but long slopes, which probably extended as far as the level of the sea.



            Then the wind freshened, the folds of the flag stiffened, and, nearly level with the mists, everyone could see the declivity for a distance of a hundred yards.



            It was no longer a mere accumulation of rocks, it was the other side of a mountain, where showed growths on which they had not set eyes for many a long month!



            How they feasted their sight on these wide stretches of verdure, on the shrubs, aloes, mastic-trees, and myrtles which were growing everywhere! No; they would not wait for the fog to disperse, and besides, it was imperative that they should reach the base of the mountain before night enveloped them in its shadows!



            But now, eight or nine hundred feet below, through the rifts in the mist, appeared the top of the foliage of a forest which extended for several miles; then a vast and fertile plain, strown with clumps of trees and groves, with broad meadows and vast grass-lands traversed by water-courses, the largest of which ran eastwards towards a bay in the coast-line.



            On the east and west, the sea extended to the furthest limit of the horizon. Only on the north was it wanting to make of this land, not an islet, but a large island.



            Finally, very far away, could be seen the faint outlines of a rocky rampart running from west to east. "Was that the edge of a coast?



            "Let us go! Let us go!'' cried Fritz.



            "Yes; let us go!" Frank echoed him. "We shall be down before night."



            "And we will pass the night in the shelter of the trees," Captain Gould added.



            The last mists cleared away. Then the ocean was revealed over a distance which might be as much as eighteen or twenty miles.



            This was an island—it was certainly an island!



            They then saw that the northern coast was indented by three bays of unequal size, the largest of which lay to the north-west, another to the north, while the smallest opened to the north-east, and was more deeply cut into the coast-line than the other two. The arm of the sea which gave access to it was bounded by two distant capes, one of which had at its end a lofty promontory.



            No other land showed out to sea. Not a sail appeared on the horizon.



            Looking back towards the south the eye was held by the top of the crest of the cliff which enclosed Turtle Bay, five miles or so away.



            What a contrast between the desert region which Captain Gould and his companions had just crossed and the land which now lay before their eyes! Here was a fertile and variegated champaign, forests, plains, everywhere the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics I But nowhere was there a hamlet, or a village, or a single habitation.



            And then a cry—a cry of sudden revelation which he could not have restrained!—broke from the breast of Fritz, while both his arms were stretched out towards the north.



            "New Switzerland!''



            "Yes; New Switzerland!" Frank cried in his turn.



            "New Switzerland!" echoed Jenny and Dolly, in tones broken by emotion.



            And so, in front of them, beyond that forest, and beyond those prairies, the rocky barrier that they could see was the rampart through which the defile of Cluse opened on to the Green Valley! Beyond lay the Promised Land, with its woods and farms and Jackal River! There was Falconhurst in the heart of its mangrove wood, and beyond Rock Castle and the trees in its orchards! That bay on the left was Pearl Bay, and farther away, like a small black speck, was the Burning Rock, crowned with the smoke from its crater; there was Nautilus Bay, with False Hope Point projecting from it; and Deliverance Bay, protected by Shark's Island! And why should it not have been the guns from that battery whose report they had heard the day before, for there was no ship to be seen either in the bay or out in the open sea?



            Joyful exceedingly, with throbbing hearts and eyes wet with tears of gratitude, all of them joined with Frank in the prayer which went up to God.



CHAPTER XI - BY WELL-KNOWN WAYS



            THE cave in which Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack had spent the night four months before, on the day before the English flag was planted at the summit of Jean Zermatt peak, was that evening full of happiness. If no one enjoyed a tranquil sleep, sleeplessness was not due to bad dreams but to the excitement of the recent happenings.



            After their prayer of thanksgiving, they had all declined to delay a minute longer at the summit of the peak. Not for two hours would day yield to night, and that time would be long enough for them to reach the foot of the range.



            "It would be very strange," Fritz remarked, "if we could not find some cave large enough to shelter us all."



            "Besides," Frank answered, "we shall be lying under the trees—under the trees of New Switzerland!—New Switzerland!"



            He could not refrain from saying the dear name over and over again, the name that was blessed by all.



            "Speak it again, Dolly dear!" he exclaimed. "Say it again, that I may hear it once more."



            "New Switzerland!" laughed the girl, her eyes shining with happiness.



            "New Switzerland!" Jenny repeated, holding Fritz's hand in her own.



            And there was not one of them, not even Bob, who did not echo it.



            "Well, good people," said Captain Harry Gould, "if we have made up our minds to go down to the foot of the mountain we have no time to lose."



            "What about eating?" John Block enquired. "And how are we to get food on the way?"



            "In forty-eight hours we shall be at Rock Castle,'' Frank declared.



            "Besides," Fritz said, "isn't there any quantity of game on the plains of New Switzerland?"



            "And how are you going to hunt it without guns?" Captain Gould enquired. "Clever as Fritz and Frank are, I hardly imagine that merely by pointing a stick –"



            ''Pooh!'' Fritz answered. '' Haven't we got legs? You'll see, captain! Before mid-day to-morrow we shall have real meat instead of that turtle stuff."



            "We must not abuse the turtles, Fritz," said Jenny, "if only out of gratitude."



            "You are quite right, wife, but let us be off! Bob doesn't want to stay here any longer; do you, Bob?"



            "No, no," the child replied; "not if papa and mama are coming too.''



            "And to think," said the boatswain slyly, "to think that down there, in the south, we have got a beautiful beach where turtles and mussels swarm—and a beautiful cave where there are provisions for several weeks—and in that cave a beautiful bed of sea-weed—and we are going to leave all that for –"



            "We will come back for our treasures by and by!" Fritz promised.



            "But still –" John Block persisted.



            "Oh, shut up, you wretched fellow!" Captain Gould ordered, laughing.



            "I'll shut up, captain; there are only two words more I should like to say."



            "What are they?"



            "Cut away!"



            As usual, Fritz took the lead. They descended the cone without any difficulty, and reached the foot of the range. Some happy instinct, a genuine sense of direction, had led them to take the same path as Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack had taken, and it was barely eight o'clock when they reached the edge of the vast pine-forest.



            And by a no less happy chance—there seemed nothing surprising in it, for they had entered upon the season of happy chances—the boatswain found the cave in which Mr. Wolston and the two brothers had taken shelter. It was rather small, but large enough for Jenny and Dolly and Susan and little Bob. The men could sleep in the open air. They could tell, from the white ashes of a fire, that the cave had been occupied before.



            Perhaps all the members of the two families had crossed this forest and climbed the peak on which the British flag was waving!



            After supper, when Bob had fallen asleep in a corner of the cave, they talked long, notwithstanding all the fatigue of the day, and the talk turned upon the Flag.



            During the week that they had been held prisoners, the ship must have sailed northwards. The only explanation of that could be the persistence of contrary winds, for it was manifestly to the interest of Robert Borupt and the crew to reach the far waters of the Pacific. If they had not done so it was because the weather had prevented them.



            Everything now went to show that the Flag had been driven towards the Indian Ocean, into the proximity of New Switzerland. Reckoning the time that had passed, and the course that had been followed, since the boat had been cast adrift, the incontestable conclusion followed that on that day Harry Gould and his companions could not have been much more than a couple of hundred miles from the desired island, though they had imagined themselves separated from it by a thousand or more.



            The boat had touched land on the southern coast, which Fritz and Frank did not know at all, the other side of the mountain range which they had seen for the first time when they came out into the Green Valley. Who could have dreamed that there could be such an amazing difference in the nature of the soil and its products between the rich country to the north of the range and the arid plateau which extended from the peak to the sea?



            Now they could understand the arrival of the albatross on the other side of the cliff. After Jenny Montrose's departure the bird had probably returned to Burning Rock, whence it flew sometimes to the shore of New Switzerland, though it had never gone either to Falconhurst or Rock Castle.



            What a big part the faithful bird had played in their salvation! It was to him that they owed the discovery of that second cavern into which little Bob had followed him, and, as a consequence, the finding of the passage which came out on the top of the cliff.



            The conversation lasted far into the night. But at last fatigue overcame them, and they slept. But at early dawn they took some food and set out again in high spirits.



            Besides the traces of a fire in the cave, the little band encountered other signs in the forest and the open country. The trampled grass and broken branches were caused by the constant movement of animals, ruminants or beasts of prey, but it was impossible to be under any misapprehension when they came upon the traces of encampments.



            "Besides," Fritz pointed out, "who but our own people could have planted the flag on the summit of that peak?"



            "Unless it went and planted itself there!" the boatswain replied with a laugh.



            "Which would not be a surprising thing for an English flag to do!" Fritz replied cheerfully. "There are quite a lot of places where it would seem to have grown by itself!"



            Led by Fritz, the party descended the first slopes of the range, which were partly covered by the forest.



            Great obstacles to overcome or serious risks to be incurred seemed unlikely on the way from the range to the Promised Land.



            The distance between the two points might be estimated at twenty miles. If they did ten miles a day, with a halt for two hours at midday, and slept one night on the way, they could reach the defile of Cluse in the evening of the following day.



            From the defile to Rock Castle or to Falconhurst would be a matter of a few hours only.



            "Ah," said Frank, "if we only had our two good buffaloes, Storm and Grumbler, or Fritz's onager, or Whirlwind, Jack's ostrich, it would only take us one day to get to Bock Castle!"



            "I am sure that Frank forgot to post the letter we wrote, asking them to send the animals to us," Jenny answered merrily.



            "What, Frank, did you forget?" asked Fritz. "A thoughtful, attentive fellow like you?"



            "No," said Frank, "it was Jenny who forgot to tie a note to her albatross's leg before he flew off."



            "How thoughtless of me!'' the young woman exclaimed.



            "But it is not certain that the postman would have taken the letter to the right address," Dolly said.



            "Who knows?" Frank replied. "Everything that is happening now is so extraordinary."



            "Well," said Captain Gould, "since we can't count upon Storm or Grumbler or Whirlwind or the onager, the best thing we can do is to trust to our own legs."



            "And to step lively," John Block added.



            They started with the firm intention only to halt at mid-day. From time to time James and Frank and the boatswain carried Bob, although the child wanted to walk. So they lost no time crossing the forest.



            James and Susan Wolston, who knew nothing of the marvels of New Switzerland, were filled with constant admiration of the luxuriant vegetation, which is far finer than that of Cape Colony.



            And yet they were only in the part of the island which was left to itself, and had never been touched by the hand of man! What would it be like when they came to the cultivated portion of the district, to the farms at Eberfurt, Sugar-cane Grove, Wood Grange, and Prospect Hill, the rich territory of the Promised Land?



            Game abounded everywhere—agoutis, peccaries, cavies, antelopes, and rabbits, besides bustards, partridges, grouse, hazel-hens, guinea fowls, and ducks. Fritz and Frank had good reason to regret not having their sporting guns with them. The cavies and peccaries and agoutis would not let anyone come near them, and it seemed likely that they would be reduced to finishing what was left of their provisions for their next meal.



            But then the question of food was resolved by a stroke of luck.



            About eleven o'clock, Fritz, walking in front, made a sign for everyone to stop at the edge of a little clearing crossed by a narrow stream, on the bank of which an animal was quenching its thirst.



            It was an antelope, and it meant wholesome and refreshing meat if only they could contrive to capture it somehow!



            The simplest plan seemed to be to make a ring around the clearing, without allowing themselves to be seen, and directly the antelope attempted to break out, to stop its way, regardless of danger from its horns, overpower, and kill it.



            The difficulty was to carry through this operation without alarming an animal whose sight is so keen, hearing so sharp, and scent so delicate.



            "While Jenny and Susan and Dolly and Bob halted behind a bush, Fritz, Frank, James, Captain Gould, and the boatswain, armed only with their pocket knives, began to work round the clearing, keeping well under cover in the thickets.



            The antelope went on drinking at the stream, showing no signs of uneasiness, until Fritz got up sharply and uttered a loud shout.



            At once the animal sprang up, stretched out its neck, and jumped towards the brake, which it could have cleared in a single leap.



            It made for the side where Frank and John Block were standing, each with knife in hand.



            The beast sprang, but took off badly, fell back, bowled the boatswain over, and struggled to rise.



            Then up came Fritz, and throwing himself upon the animal, succeeded in driving his knife into its flank. But this one blow would not have been sufficient if Captain Gould had not succeeded in cutting its throat.



            The animal lay motionless among the branches, and the boatswain got up nimbly.



            "Confounded brute!" exclaimed John Block, who had escaped with a few bruises. "I've shipped more than one heavy sea in my time, but never been bowled over like that!"



            "I hope you are not much hurt, Block?" Captain Gould asked.



            "No: only scratched, and that don't matter, captain. What annoys me is to have been turned upside down like that."



            "Well, to make up for it we will keep the best bit for you," Jenny answered.



            "No, Mrs. Fritz, no! no! I would rather have the bit that pitched me on to the ground. That was its head. I want that animal's head I''



            They set to work to cut up the antelope and take out the edible parts. Since they were now assured of food to last them until the evening of the following day, there would be no need for them to trouble further about it before they got to the defile of Cluse.



            Fritz and Frank were no novices where the preparation of game was concerned. Had they not studied it in theory and in practice in twelve years' hunting among the grass-lands and woods of the Promised Land? Nor was the boatswain clumsy over the job. He seemed to derive real revengeful pleasure in skinning the animal. Within a quarter of an hour the haunches, cutlets, and other savoury portions were ready to be grilled over the embers.



            As it was nearly noon, it seemed best to camp in the clearing, where the stream would furnish clear, fresh water. Captain Gould and James lighted a wood fire at the foot of a mangrove. Then Fritz placed the best bits of the antelope over the glowing embers and left Susan and Dolly to superintend the cooking.



            By a lucky chance Jenny had just found a quantity of roots such as can be roasted in the ashes. They were of a kind to satisfy hungry stomachs, and would agreeably complete the bill of fare for luncheon.



            No flesh is more delicate than that of the antelope, which is both fragrant and tender, and everybody agreed that this was a real treat.



            "How good it is," John Block exclaimed, "to eat real meat which has walked in its lifetime, and not crawled clumsily over the ground!"



            "We won't cry down turtles," Captain Gould replied; "not even to sing the praises of antelope."



            "The captain is right,'' said Jenny. "Without those excellent creatures, which have fed us ever since we got to the island, what would have become of us? "



            "Then here's luck to turtles!" cried the boatswain. "But give me another chop."



            When this refreshing meal was finished, they set out once more. They had no time to lose if the afternoon stage was to complete the ten miles planned for the day.



            If Fritz and Frank had been alone, they would have paid no heed to fatigue. They would have marched all night and made but a single stage of the whole journey to the defile. They may have had the idea now, and it was certainly very tempting, for they could have got to Rock Castle in the afternoon of the following day. But they did not venture to suggest going on ahead.



            Besides, think of the happiness of all arriving together at their much-desired goal, to throw themselves into the arms of the relations and friends who had been waiting so long for them, who might have lost all hope of ever seeing them again!



            The second stage was done under the same conditions as the first, in order to husband the strength of Jenny and Dolly and Susan Wolston.



            No incident occurred, and about four o'clock in the afternoon the edge of the forest was reached.



            A fertile champaign extended beyond. Its vegetation was entirely due to the productivity of the soil, verdant grass-lands and woods or clumps of trees studding the country right up to the entrance to the Green Valley.



            A few herds of stags and deer passed in the distance, but there was no question of hunting them. Numerous flocks of ostriches were also seen, reminding Fritz and Frank of their expedition to the country near the Arabian Watch-tower.



            Several elephants appeared as well. They moved quietly through the thick woods, and one could imagine the longing eyes with which Jack would have regarded them if he had been there!



            "While we have been away," Fritz said, "Jack may have succeeded in capturing an elephant, and taming and training it, as we did Storm and Grumbler and Lightfoot!"



            "It's quite possible, dear," Jenny answered. "After fourteen months' absence we must expect to find something new in New Switzerland."



            "Our second fatherland!" Frank said.



            "I am already picturing other houses there," Dolly exclaimed, "and other farms— perhaps a village even!"



            "Well," said the boatswain, "I could be quite content with what we see about us; and I can't imagine anything better in your island than we have here."



            "It is nothing compared with the Promised Land, Mr. Block," Dolly declared.



            "Nothing," Jenny agreed. "M. Zermatt gave it that Bible name because it deserved it, and we, more blest than the children of Israel, are about to set foot in the land of Canaan."



            And John Block admitted they were right.



            At six o 'clock they stopped for the night.



            There was little likelihood of change in the weather at this season, and the cold was not formidable. Indeed, they had suffered rather from heat during the day, in spite of the fact that they were in the shelter of the trees during the hottest hours. After that, a few isolated woods and copses had enabled them to walk in the shade without wandering too far from the direct route.



            Supper was prepared, as the earlier meal had been, before a crackling fire of dry wood. This night would not be spent within a cave, but, with fatigue to rock them, not one of them lay awake.



            As a matter of precaution, however, Fritz and Frank and the boatswain decided to keep alternate watch. When darkness fell, roaring could be heard in the far distance. There were wild beasts in this part of the island.



            Next morning a start was made at daybreak. They hoped to get through the defile of Cluse in the second stage of the journey, if they met with no obstacles on the way.



            There were no more hardships about the march to-day than there had been the day before. They went from wood to wood, so to speak, avoiding as much as possible the rays of the sun.



            After the mid-day meal, taken by the side of a fast-running river twenty to thirty yards in width, flowing towards the north, they merely had to go along the left bank.



            Neither Fritz nor Frank knew this river, since their expeditions had never brought them into the heart of the island. They had no idea that it had already received a name, that it was called the Montrose, as they had no knowledge of the new name of Jean Zermatt peak, on whose summit the British flag was floating. What a pleasure it would be to Jenny to learn that this river bore the name of her family!



            After marching for an hour they left the Montrose, which bore off sharply to the east. Two hours later Fritz and Frank, who had taken the lead, set foot at length on country known to them.



            "The Green Valley!" they shouted, and saluted it with a cheer.



            It was the Green Valley, and now they only had to get to the rampart enclosing the Promised Land to be at the defile of Cluse.



            This time, no consideration, no hunger or fatigue, could have availed to hold back any of them. Following Fritz and Frank, they all hurried forward, although the path was steep. They seemed to be impelled forcibly towards the goal which they had despaired of ever attaining!



            Oh, if only by some extraordinary good luck M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston might be at the hermitage at Eberfurt, and their families with them, as the custom was during the summer season!



            But that would have been too good to be true, as people say. Not even John Block dared to hope for it.



            The beams across the entrance were all in place, fixed firmly between interstices among the rocks so as to resist the efforts of even the most powerful animals.



            "That is our door!" Fritz cried.



            "Yes,'' said Jenny, "the door into the Promised Land where all our dear ones live!"



            They only had to remove one of the beams, a task which took but a few minutes.



            And then at last they were through the defile, and all had the feeling that they were entering their own home—home, which, only three days ago, they had supposed to be hundreds and hundreds of miles away!



            Fritz and Frank and John Block replaced the beam in its proper grooves so as to bar the way against wild beasts and pachyderms.



            About half-past seven night was falling with the suddenness peculiar to the tropics when Fritz and his companions reached the hermitage at Eberfurt.



            Nobody was at the farm, and, although they regretted this, there was no occasion for them to be surprised.



            The little villa was in perfect order. They opened all the doors and windows, and proceeded to make themselves comfortable for the ten hours or so they would stay.



            In accordance with M. Zermatt's practice, the house was quite ready for the reception of the two families, who visited it several times in the course of the year. The bedsteads were given to Jenny and Dolly, Susan and little Bob, and to Captain Gould. Dry grass spread on the floor of the out-house would be good enough for the others this last night before their return home.



            Moreover, Eberfurt was always provided with stores to last a week.



            So Jenny only had the trouble of opening large wicker hampers, to find preserves of various kinds, sago, cassava, or tapioca flour, and salted meat and fish. As for fruit—figs, mangoes, bananas, pears and apples—they only had to take a step to pick them from the trees, and only another to gather vegetables in the kitchen garden.



            Of course the kitchen and larder were properly equipped with all necessary utensils. Directly a good wood fire was crackling in the stove, the pot was set upon its tripod. Water was drawn from an off-shoot from the Eastern River, which supplied the reservoir belonging to the farm. And it was with special pleasure that Fritz and Frank were able to offer their guests glasses of palm wine drawn from the barrels in the cellar.



            "Ah-ha!" cried the boatswain. "We've been teetotallers a very long time."



            "Well, we will pledge you now, good old Block!" Fritz exclaimed.



            "As much as you like," the boatswain answered. "Nothing could be more pleasant than drinking one another's health in this excellent wine."



            "Let us drink then," said Frank, "to the happiness of seeing our parents and our friends again at Falconhurst or Rock Castle!"



            And, clinking glasses, they gave three cheers for the Zermatts and the Wolstons.



            "Seriously," John Block remarked, "there are plenty of inns in England and elsewhere which aren't nearly so good as this hermitage of Eberfurt."



            "Moreover, Block," Fritz answered, "here the entertainment is free!"



            When supper was finished all sought the repose of which they had such need after their long day's march.



            Every one of them slept until the sun rose next morning.



CHAPTER XII - ENEMIES IN THE PROMISED LAND



            AT seven o'clock next morning, after breakfasting off the remains of supper and drinking a stirrup-cup of palm wine, Fritz and his companions left the hermitage at Eberfurt.



            They were all in haste, and intended to cover the seven and a half miles that lay between the farm and Falconhurst in less than three hours.



            "It is possible that our people may be settled now in their dwelling in the air," Fritz remarked.



            "If so, dear," said Jenny, "we shall have the joy of meeting them quite an hour sooner."



            "Provided they have not gone into summer quarters on Prospect Hill," Frank observed. "In that case we should be obliged to go back to False Hope Point."



            "Isn't that the cape from which M. Zermatt must watch for the Unicorn?" Captain Gould enquired.



            "That is the one, captain," Fritz replied; "and as the corvette must have completed her repairs, it will not be long before she reaches the island."



            "However that may be," the boatswain remarked, "the best thing we can do, in my opinion, is to start. If there is nobody at Falconhurst we will go to Rock Castle, and if there is nobody at Rock Castle we will go to Prospect Hill, or anywhere else. But let us get on the march!"



            Although there was no lack of kitchen utensils and gardening tools at the hermitage, Fritz had looked in vain for any sporting guns and ammunition. When his father and brothers came to the farm they brought their guns, but never left them there. However, there was nothing to be afraid of in crossing the Promised Land, since no wild beasts could get through the defile of Cluse.



            A cart road—and how often already had it been rolled by the waggon which the buffaloes and the onager drew!—ran between the cultivated fields, now in their full vegetation, and the woods in their full verdure. The sight of all this prosperity gladdened the eye. Captain Gould and the boatswain, and James and Susan Wolston, who saw this district for the first time, were amazed. Most certainly might colonists come here; it could support hundreds, the island as a whole could thousands!



            After marching for an hour and a half, Fritz stopped for a few moments, nearly midway between the hermitage of Eberfurt and Falconhurst, before a stream which he did not know existed in this part of the district.



            "That is something new," he said.



            "It certainly is," Jenny answered. "I do not remember any stream in this place."



            "It is more like a canal," Captain Gould remarked.



            "You are right, captain,'' said Fritz. "Mr. Wolston must have conceived the idea of drawing water from Jackal River to supply Swan Lake and keep it full during the hot weather, which would enable them to irrigate the land round Wood Grange."



            "Yes," Frank went on, "it must have been your father, Dolly, who had that notion and carried it out."



            "Oh!" said Dolly. "But I expect your brother Ernest had a finger in the pie!"



            "No doubt—our learned Ernest!" Fritz agreed.



            "And why not the intrepid Jack—and M. Zermatt too?" Captain Gould enquired.



            "Everybody, then," said Jenny, laughing.



            "Yes, every one of both the families, which now are really one," Fritz answered.



            The boatswain broke in, as was his way, with a very just remark:



            ''If those who cut this canal did well, those who threw a bridge across it deserve quite as much praise. So let us go over and march on!"



            They crossed the bridge and entered into the more thickly wooded district, where rose the little stream that ran out near Falconhurst, just below Whale Island.



            Fritz and Frank listened intently, trying to catch some distant sound of barking or of guns. What was Jack, the enthusiastic sportsman, about, that he was not hunting this fine morning? Game was rising in every direction, scampering away through the brakes and scattering from tree to tree. If the two brothers had had guns, they could have let fly with both barrels over and over again. It seemed to them that fur and feather had never been more plentiful in the district, so plentiful that their companions were genuinely astonished by it.



            But, besides the twittering of little birds, the call of partridges and bustards, the chattering of parrots and sometimes the howling of jackals were all that could be heard, and to these sounds was never added the report of fire-arms or the whimper of a dog on the scent.



            After crossing the Falconhurst river they only had to go up the right bank as far as the edge of the wood, where grew the gigantic mangrove tree with the aerial dwelling-place.



            A profound silence reigned underneath these immense trees—a silence which awakened vague uneasiness. When Fritz looked at Jenny he read in her eyes an anxiety for which, however, there was no justification as yet. Frank, too, felt some nervousness, walking on in front and then retracing his steps. This uneasiness was shared by all. In ten minutes they would be at Falconhurst. Ten minutes! Was not that much the same as being there already?



            "It's a sure thing," said the boatswain, who wanted to cheer them up, "it's a sure thing that we shall have to go down this fine avenue of yours to Rock Castle! A delay of an hour, that's all. And what's an hour, after so long an absence?"



            They put on pace. A few moments later they came within sight of the edge of the wood, and then of the enormous mangrove tree in the middle of the court-yard, enclosed by palisades fringed with a quickset hedge.



            Fritz and Frank ran to the gate contrived in the hedge.



            The gate was open, and had been torn half off its hinges.



            The two brothers went into the court-yard and stopped beside the little central basin.



            The place was deserted.



            Not a sound came from the poultry run or the sheds built against the palisade, although these were generally full of cows and sheep and poultry during the summer season. In the out-houses were various things, boxes and hampers and agricultural implements, all in a disorder very foreign to the careful habits of Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston and her daughter.



            Frank ran to the cattle-sheds.



            There was nothing in them but a few armfuls of hay in the racks.



            Did it mean that the animals had broken out of the enclosure? Were they straying loose about the country? No; for not one had been seen anywhere near Falconhurst. It was just possible that, for some reason or other, they had been penned in the other farms, and yet that was hardly an explanation.



            As has been said, the farmstead of Falconhurst comprised two dwelling-places, one built among the branches of the mangrove tree, the other among the roots which were buttressed round its base. Above the latter was a terrace with a railing of bamboo canes, which supported the roof of tarred moss. This terrace covered several rooms, divided by partitions fixed among the roots, and large enough for both families to inhabit them together.



            This first dwelling was as silent as the outbuildings in the yard.



            "Let us go inside!" said Fritz, with trouble in his voice.



            All followed him, and a cry broke from them—an inarticulate cry, for not one of them could have uttered a word.



            The furniture was upset. The chairs and tables had been thrown down, the chests opened, the bedding thrown on the floor, the utensils into the corners. It was as if the rooms had been given over to pillage for the mere sake of pillage. Of the stores of provisions, generally kept fully supplied at Falconhurst, not a scrap remained. There was no hay in the loft; in the cellar the casks of wine and beer and spirits were empty. There were no weapons, except one loaded pistol which the boatswain picked up and thrust in his belt. Yet carbines and guns were always left at Falconhurst during the hunting season.



            Fritz, Frank, and Jenny stood overwhelmed before this most unexpected disaster. Were things in the same state at Rock Castle and Wood Grange, and Sugar-cane Grove and Prospect Hill? Of all the farms, had the hermitage of Eberfurt alone been spared by these pillagers? And who were the pillagers?



            "My friends," said Captain Gould, "some disaster has happened; but it may not be as serious as you fear."



            No one answered. What answer could Fritz or Frank or Jenny have given? Their hearts seemed broken. They had set foot within the Promised Land with so much joy, only to find ruin and desolation!



            But what had happened? Had New Switzerland been invaded by a band of those pirates who were so numerous at that period in the Indian Ocean, where the Andamans and Nicobars offered them a safe place of refuge? Had the Zermatts and Wolstons been able to leave Rock Castle in time, and retire elsewhere, or even flee from the island? Had they fallen into the hands of the pirates—or had they lost their lives in an attempt at self-defence?



            And, one last question, had all this happened a few months ago, or a few weeks ago, or a few days ago, and would it have been possible to prevent it if the Unicorn had arrived within the time arranged?



            Jenny made a brave effort to keep back her tears, while Susan and Dolly sobbed together. Frank wanted to rush to find his father and mother and brothers, and Fritz was obliged to hold him back. Captain Gould and the boatswain went out several times to examine the ground near the palisade, but came back without having found anything to throw light on the matter.



            Some decision, however, had to be arrived at. Was it better to remain at Falconhurst and await events there, or to go down to Rock Castle ignorant of how matters stood? Should they make a reconnaissance, leaving the women and Bob in James's protection, while Fritz, Frank, and Captain Gould, and John Block went to investigate either along the shore or across country?



            In any case they had to dispel this uncertainty, even though the truth should leave them without hope!



            Fritz was voicing the general wish when he said:



            "Let us try to get to Rock Castle."



            "And let us go at once!" Frank exclaimed.



            "I will come with you," said Captain Gould.



            "And so will I," said John Block.



            "Good!" Fritz replied. "But James must stay with Jenny, Dolly, and Susan, who will be out of harm's way at the top of Falconhurst."



            "Let us all go up first," John Block suggested, "and from there, perhaps, we shall see –"



            It was only reasonable to do that before going to reconnoitre outside. From the aerial dwelling-place, and especially from the top of the mangrove tree, the view extended over much of the Promised Land and the sea to the east, and also over nearly eight miles of coast between Deliverance Bay and False Hope Point.



            "Up! Up!" Fritz answered, to the boatswain's suggestion.



            The habitation among the branches of the tree had escaped the general devastation, thanks to the dense foliage of the mangrove, which almost concealed it from view. The door giving access to the winding staircase inside the trunk bore no marks of violence. Frank found it shut, and wrenched at it so that the lock-bolt came away.



            In a few moments they had all climbed up the staircase, lighted by narrow loopholes in the tree, and set foot on the circular balcony, which was almost completely screened behind a curtain of leaves.



            The instant Fritz and Frank reached the platform they hurried into the first room.



            Neither this room nor the rooms next it presented the least sign of disturbance. The bedding was all in good condition, the furniture all in place. So it was obvious that the original Falcon's nest had been respected. The marauders could not have found the door below. The foliage had become so very much thicker in the course of these twelve years that it would have been as impossible to see the dwelling from the yard below as it was from the edge of the neighbouring wood.



            It really looked as if Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston had set everything in order only the day before. There were preserved meat, flour, rice, preserves, and liquor, enough of everything to last for a week, in accordance with the usual custom observed at Falconhurst as at the other farms.



            Nobody now, of course, gave a thought to the question of food. What occupied their minds to the exclusion of all else, filling them with despair, was the deserted condition of Falconhurst in the height of the summer, and the pillage of the lower dwelling.



            Directly they returned to the balcony Fritz and the boatswain clambered up to the top of the mangrove tree, to get as wide a view as possible.



            To north ran the line of coast bounded by False Hope Point at the little hill where the villa of Prospect Hill stood. Nothing suspicious could be detected in this part of the district.



            To west, beyond the canal connecting Jackal River with Swan Lake, spread the country watered by the little Falconhurst river, through which Fritz and his companions had walked after they had crossed the bridge. This was as deserted as the country which ran still further to the west as far as the defile of Cluse.



            To east, the vast arm of the sea spread out between False Hope Point and Cape East, behind which lay Unicorn Bay. There was not a sail to be seen at sea, not a boat along the shore. Nothing was visible but the vast plain of water, from which, to north-east, projected, the reef upon which the Landlord had struck long ago.



            Turning towards the south, the eye could only see, about two miles and a half away, the entrance into Deliverance Bay, near the wall of rock which sheltered the dwelling of Rock Castle.



            Of that house, and its annexes, nothing was visible except the green tops of the trees in the kitchen garden, and, a little more to southwest, a line of light which indicated the course of Jackal River.



            Fritz and John Block came down to the balcony again, after spending some ten minutes in the first examination. Making use of the telescope which M. Zermatt always kept at Falconhurst, they had looked carefully in the direction of Rock Castle and the shore.



            No one was to be seen there. It seemed that the two families could not be on the island now.



            But it was possible that M. Zermatt and his people had been led by the marauders to some farmstead in the Promised Land, or even to some other part of New Switzerland.



            To this suggestion, however, Captain Gould raised an objection which it was difficult to meet.



            "These marauders, whoever they may be," he said, "must have come by sea: must even have landed in Deliverance Bay. Now we have observed none of their boats. The conclusion would seem to be that they have gone away again—perhaps taking –"



            He stopped. No one ventured to make answer.



            Certainly Rock Castle did not seem to be inhabited now. From the top of the tree no smoke could be seen rising above the fruit trees in the kitchen garden.



            Captain Gould then suggested that the two families might have left New Switzerland voluntarily, since the Unicorn had not arrived at the appointed time.



            "How could they have gone?" Fritz asked, who would have been glad to have this hope to cling to.



            "Aboard some ship that came to these waters," Captain Gould replied; "one of the ships which must have been sent from England or perhaps another vessel which arrived off the island in the ordinary chances of navigation."



            This theory was possible. And yet there were many grave reasons to suppose that the desertion of New Switzerland was not due to any such circumstance.



            Fritz spoke again.



            "We must not hesitate any longer. Let us go and look!"



            "Yes, let us go!" said Frank.



            Fritz was just preparing to go down again when Jenny stopped him.



            "Smoke!" she said. "I think I can see smoke rising above Rock Castle."



            Fritz seized the telescope and turned it towards the south; for more than a minute his eye stayed glued to the instrument.



            Jenny was right. Smoke was passing across the curtain of green, above the rocks which enclosed Rock Castle to the rear.



            "They are there! They are there!" cried Frank. "And we ought to have been with them already!"



            This assertion nobody denied. They all had such dire need to recover hope that everything was forgotten, the solitude that lay round Falconhurst, the pillage of the yard, the absence of the domestic animals, the empty sheds, the ruin of the rooms at the foot of the mangrove tree.



            But cold reason came back, to Captain Gould and John Block at least. Manifestly Rock Castle was occupied at this moment—the smoke proved that. But might it not be occupied by the marauders? At any rate, it would be necessary to approach it with the utmost caution. Perhaps it would be best not to go along the avenue which led to Jackal River. If they went across fields, and, as much as possible, from wood to wood, they might have a chance of getting to the drawbridge without being sighted.



            At last, as all were getting ready to leave the aerial dwelling, Jenny lowered the telescope, with which she had been scanning the coast of the bay.



            "And the proof that both families are still here," she said, "is that the flag is flying over Shark's Island."



            The white and red flag, the colours of New Switzerland, was indeed waving over the battery.



            But did that make it absolutely certain that M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston, and their wives and children, had not left the island? Did not the flag always float at that spot?



            They would not argue the point. Everything would be explained at Rock Castle, and before an hour had passed.



            "Let us go! Let us go!" said Frank again, and he turned towards the staircase.



            11 Stop! Stop!'' the boatswain suddenly said, lowering his voice.



            They watched him crawl along the balcony, to the side overlooking Deliverance Bay. Then he moved the leaves aside, put his head through them and drew it back precipitately.



            "What is the matter?" Fritz asked.



            "Savages!" John Block replied.


CHAPTER XIII - SHARK'S ISLAND



            IT was now half-past two in the afternoon. The foliage of the mangrove was so dense that the rays of the sun, though almost vertical, could not penetrate it. Thus Fritz and his companions ran no risk of being detected in the aerial dwelling of Falconhurst, of the existence of which the savages who had landed on the island had no idea.



            Five men, half naked, with the black skins of natives of Western Australia, armed with bows and arrows, were coming along the path. They had no notion that they had been seen, or even that there were other inhabitants of the Promised Land besides those of Rock Castle.



            But what had become of M. Zermatt and the others? Had they been able to make their escape? Had they fallen in unequal combat?



            Of course, as John Block remarked, it could not be supposed that the number of aborigines who had landed on the island was limited to these few men. Had they been so inferior numerically, they could not have got the better of M. Zermatt and his two sons and Mr. Wolston, even if they had made a surprise attack. It must have been a large band that had invaded New Switzerland, whither they must have come in a fleet of canoes. The fleet was doubtless lying at the present moment in the creek, with the boat and the pinnace. It could not be seen from the top of Falconhurst because the view in that direction was cut off by the point of Deliverance Bay.



            And where were the Zermatts and the Wolstons? What inference must be drawn from the fact that they had not been encountered at Falconhurst or thereabouts?



            That they were prisoners at Rock Castle, that they had had neither time nor opportunity to seek refuge in the other farms—or that they had been massacred?



            Everything else was explained now—the havoc wrought at Falconhurst, and the deserted condition in which the Promised Land was found between the Swan Lake canal and the shore.



            How could they cherish any but the faintest hope? So, while Captain Gould and the boatswain kept the natives in view, the others sorrowed together.



            There was one last chance. Could the two families have taken refuge in the westward, in some part of the island beyond Pearl Bay? If they had caught sight of the canoes in the distance, across Deliverance Bay, might they not have had time to make their escape in the waggon, taking provisions and arms?



            Captain Gould and John Block continued to watch the approaching savages.



            Was it their intention to come into the yard? The house had been visited and pillaged by them already. Now they might discover the door at the foot of the staircase. In that event, however, they could easily be disposed of. For when they stepped out on to the platform they could be surprised, one by one, and hurled over the balustrade, a drop of forty or fifty feet.



            "And," as the boatswain remarked, "if after a tumble like that they had legs enough left to get to Rock Castle, the beasts would be more like cats than the monkeys they resemble!"



            But when they reached the end of the avenue, the five men stopped. The watchers did not miss a single movement they made. What was their business at Falconhurst? If the aerial dwelling had escaped their observation so far, were they not now on the point of discovering it, and the people inside it? And then, they would come back in larger numbers, and how was the attack of a hundred natives to be withstood?



            They came to the palisade and walked all round it. Three of them entered the yard, and went into one of the out-houses on the left, coming out again presently with fishing tackle.



            "The rascals are a bit too familiar!" the boatswain murmured. "They don't only not ask your leave –"



            "Can they have a canoe on the beach, and are they going to fish along the shore?" said Captain Gould.



            "We'll soon find out, Skipper," John Block replied.



            The three men returned to their companions. Then they went down a little path bordered with a stout thorn hedge, which ran along the right of the Falconhurst river and passed on to the sea.



            They were in sight until they reached the cutting through which the river flowed to its outlet into Flamingo Bay.



            But as soon as they turned to the left, they became invisible, and would only be seen again if they put out to sea. It was probable there was a boat upon the beach—probable, too, that they generally used it for fishing near Falconhurst.



            While Captain Gould and John Block remained on the watch, Jenny controlled her grief and asked Fritz:



            "What ought we to do, dear?"



            Fritz looked at his wife, not knowing what to answer.



            "We are going to decide what we ought to do," Captain Gould declared. "But to begin with, it is idle to remain on this balcony, where we are in danger of being discovered."



            When they were all together in the room, while Bob, who was tired by his long march, slept in a little closet next to it, Fritz answered his wife's question:



            "No, Jenny dear—all hope is not lost of finding our people. It is possible that they were not taken by surprise. Father and Mr. Wolston are sure to have seen the canoes in the distance. They may have had time to take refuge in one of the farms, or even in the heart of the woods at Pearl Bay, where these savages would not have ventured. We saw no trace of them when we left the hermitage at Eberfurt, after we crossed the canal. My opinion is that they have not moved away from the coast."



            "That is my opinion, too," said Captain Gould, "and I believe that M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston have got away with their families."



            "Yes, I am sure of it!" said Jenny positively. "Dolly, dear—Susan—don't lose heart! Don't cry any more! We shall see them all again!"



            The young woman spoke so stoutly that she brought back hope to them. Fritz shook her hand.



            "It is God who speaks through your lips, Jenny dear!" he said.



            On consideration, indeed, as Captain Gould insisted, it was hardly to be supposed that Rock Castle could have been surprised by attacking natives, for they could not have brought their canoes by night to land which they did not know. It must have been by daylight that they arrived, and some of the islanders must surely have seen them far enough off to have had time to take refuge in some other part of the island.



            "And then again," Fritz .added, "if these natives landed only recently, our people may not have been at Rock Castle at all. This is the season when we usually visit all the farms. Although we did not meet them at the hermitage at Eberfurt last night, they may be at Wood Grange, or Prospect Hill, or at Sugarcane Grove, in the midst of those thick woods."



            "Let us go to Sugar-cane Grove first," Frank suggested.



            "We can do that," John Block assented; "but not before night.''



            "Yes, now, at once, at once!" Frank insisted, declining to listen to argument. "I can go alone. About twelve miles there, and twelve miles back; I shall be back in four hours, and we shall know what we are about."



            "No, Frank, no!" said Fritz. "I do beg you not to leave us. It would be most foolish. If need be, I order you not to, and I am your elder brother."



            "Would you stop me, Fritz?"



            "I would deter you from doing anything so rash."



            "Frank, Frank!" said Dolly entreatingly.



            "Do please listen to your brother! Frank! I beseech you!''



            But Frank was set on his plan.



            "Very well!" said the boatswain, who thought it his duty to interfere. "Since a search is to be made, let us make it without waiting until night. But why should we not all go together to Sugar-cane Grove?"



            "Then come along!" said Frank.



            "But," the boatswain went on, addressing Fritz, "is it really Sugar-cane Grove that we ought to make for?"



            "Where else?" Fritz asked.



            "Rock Castle!" John Block answered.



            The name, thus unexpectedly dropped into the discussion, altered the whole course of it.



            Rock Castle? After all, if M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston and their wives and children had fallen into the hands of the natives, and if their lives had been spared, it was there that they would be, for the smoke proved that Rock Castle was occupied.



            "Go to Rock Castle, eh?" Captain Gould replied. "All right; but go there all together.''



            "All together? No,'' said Fritz?" only two or three of us, and after dark."



            "After dark?" Frank began again, more set than ever upon his idea. "I am going to Rock Castle now."



            "And how do you expect in broad daylight to escape the savages who are prowling round about it?" Fritz replied. "And if you do escape them, how will you get into Rock Castle, if they are there at the time?"



            "I don't know, Fritz. But I shall find out if our people are there, and when I have found out I will, come back!"



            "My dear Frank," Captain Gould said, "I quite understand your impatience, and I sympathise with it. But do give way to us in this matter; it is only common prudence that makes us think as we do. If the savages get you, the hunt will be up; they will come to look for us, and there won't be any more safety for us, either at Wood Grange or anywhere else."



            At last they succeeded in making Frank listen to reason. He had to bow to the authority of one who already perhaps was the head of the family.



            So it was decided that they should wait, and that as soon as darkness permitted Frank and the boatswain should leave Falconhurst. It was better that two should make this reconnaissance, fraught with many dangers. They would glide along the quickset hedge that bordered the avenue, and both would try to get to Jackal River. If the drawbridge were withdrawn to the other bank, they would swim across the river and attempt to sret into the court-yard of Rock Castle through the orchard. It would be easy to see through one of the windows if the families were shut up inside. If they were not, Prank and John Block would come back at once to Falconhurst, and they would all try to get to Sugar-cane Grove before daylight.



            Never did the hours drag by more slowly! Never had Captain Gould and his companions been more profoundly dejected—not even when the boat was cast adrift upon an unknown sea, not even when it was smashed upon the rocks in Turtle Bay, not even when the shipwrecked company, with three women and a child amongst them, saw themselves threatened by winter on a desert coast, shut in a prison whence they could not escape!



            In the midst of all those trials they had, at least, been free from anxiety on account of those in New Switzerland! Whereas, now, they had found the island in the power of a horde of natives, and did not know what had become of their relatives and friends; but had good ground for fearing that they might all have perished in a massacre!



            Slowly the day wore on. Every now and then one or other of them, generally Fritz and the boatswain, climbed up among the branches of the mangrove in order to search the country and the sea. What they were most anxious to ascertain was whether the savages were still in the neighbourhood of Falconhurst, or had gone back to Rock Castle. But they could see nothing, except, towards the south, near the mouth of Jackal River, the little column of smoke rising above the rocks.



            Up to four o'clock in the afternoon nothing happened to change the situation. A meal was prepared from the stores in the house.



            When Frank and John Block came back they might all have to set out for Sugar-cane Grove, and that would be a long march.



            Suddenly a report was heard.



            "What is that?" Jenny exclaimed, and Fritz drew her back as she was hastening to one of the windows.



            "Could it have been a gun?" Frank asked.



            "It was a gun!" the boatswain exclaimed.



            "But who fired it?" Fritz said.



            "A ship off the island, do you think?" James suggested.



            "The Unicorn, perhaps!" Jenny cried.



            "Then she must be very near the island," John Block remarked, "for that report was close at hand."



            '' Come to the balcony, come to the balcony!'' Frank cried excitedly.



            "Let us be careful not to be seen, for the savages must be on the alert," Captain Gould cautioned them.



            All eyes were turned towards the sea.



            No ship was to be seen, although, judging from the nearness of the report, it must have been off Whale Island. All that the boatswain could see was a single canoe, manned by two men, which was trying to get in from the open sea to the beach at Falconhurst.



            "Can they be Ernest and Jack?" Jenny whispered.



            "No," Fritz answered, "those two men are natives, and the canoe is a pirogue."



            "But why are they running away like that?" Frank asked. "Can there be someone after them?"



            Fritz uttered a cry—a cry of joy and surprise combined.



            He had just seen a bright flash in the middle of a white smoke, and almost simultaneously there was a second report which made the echoes ring round the coast.



            At the same time a ball, skimming the surface of the bay, threw up a great jet of water a couple of fathoms away from the canoe, which continued to fly at full speed towards Falconhurst.



            "There! There!" shouted Fritz. "Father and Mr. Wolston and all of them are there— on Shark's Island!"



            It was, indeed, from that island that the first report had come, as well as the second with the ball aimed at the pirogue. No doubt the islanders had found refuge under the protection of the battery which the savages did not venture to approach. Above it was the red and white flag of New Switzerland, while on the topmost peak in all the island floated the British flag!



            Impossible to depict the joy, the delirium to which those so lately in despair now abandoned themselves! And their emotions were shared by those true comrades, Captain Gould and the boatswain.



            There was no further idea of going to Rock Castle; they would leave Falconhurst only to go—how, they did not know—to Shark's Island. If only it had been possible to communicate with it by signals from the top of the mangrove, to wave a flag to which the flag on the battery might reply! But that might have been unwise, unwise too, to fire a few shots with the pistol, for, though these might be heard by M. Zermatt, they might also be heard by the savages, if they were still prowling about Falconhurst.



            It was most important that they should not know of the presence of Captain Gould and his party, for these could not have withstood a combined attack by all the savages now in possession of Rock Castle.



            "Our position is a good one now," Fritz remarked; "don't let us do anything to compromise it."



            "Quite so,'' Captain Gould replied. "Since we have not been discovered, don't let us run any risk of it. Let us wait until night before we do anything."



            "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.


CHAPTER XIV - A PERILOUS PLIGHT



            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.



            But there was matter of new anxiety in the fact that the Unicorn, due to arrive in September or October, made no appearance off New Switzerland. In vain did Jack go many times to the top of Prospect Hill to look out for the return of the corvette. On each occasion he had to come back to Rock Castle without having seen her.



            It should be mentioned here that the ship observed by Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack from the summit of Jean Zermatt peak was no other than the Flag, as could be proved by comparison of dates. Yes, it was the three-master which had fallen into the hands of Robert Borupt. After approaching the island, she had sailed to the Pacific Ocean, through the Sunda Seas, never to be heard of again.



            The last weeks of the year brought them to despair. After the lapse of fifteen months, all abandoned hope of ever seeing the Unicorn again. Mme. Zermatt, Mrs. Wolston, and Hannah mourned their lost ones. None had courage left for anything. Nothing seemed of any use.



            It was only after this long delay, that they took it for granted that the Unicorn had been wrecked, lost with all hands, and that nothing more would ever be heard of her, either in England or in the Promised Land!



            For if the corvette had accomplished her outward voyage without mishap, after a call at the Cape of Good Hope lasting a few days, she would have reached Portsmouth, her destination, within three months. From there, a few months later, she would have sailed for New Switzerland, and several emigrant ships would have been despatched soon after her to the English colony. The fact that no ship had visited this portion of the Indian Ocean meant that the Unicorn had foundered in the dangerous seas that lie between Australia and Africa before she had reached her first port of call, Cape Town; it meant, too, that the existence of the island was still unknown, and would remain unknown, unless the chances of navigation brought some other ship into these remote seas which, at this period, lay within none of the maritime routes.



            During the first half of the dry season neither M. Zermatt nor Mr. Wolston thought of leaving Rock Castle. As a rule they spent the finest part of the year at Falconhurst, reserving a week each for the farms at Wood Grange, Sugar-cane Grove, Prospect Hill, and the hermitage at Eberfurt. On this occasion they limited themselves to the brief visits necessitated by their duty to the animals. They made no attempt to explore the other portions of the island outside the district of the Promised Land. Jack contented himself with hunting in the immediate neighbourhood of Rock Castle, leaving Whirlwind and Storm and Grumbler idle. Various works which Mr. Wolston had planned to do, to which his engineering instinct had moved him, were left unattempted.



            What was the use? In those four little words was summed up a volume of despondency.



            So when they came to celebrate the festival of Christmas—kept with joy so many years— tears were in the eyes of all, and prayers rose for those who were not with them!



            Thus the year 1817 opened. In that splendid summer season Nature was more lavish with her gifts than she had ever been before. But her generosity far exceeded the requirements of seven persons. The great house seemed empty, now that those they had expected could be looked for no longer!



            And yet there came at times faint hopes that everything was not lost irreparably. Could the delay of the Unicorn be explained in no other way than by shipwreck with loss of all hands! Perhaps she had prolonged her stay in Europe. Perhaps quite soon they would see her topsails on the horizon, and the long pennon streaming from her mainmast.



            It was in the second week of January of this most gloomy year that M. Zermatt saw a flotilla of pirogues round Cape East, and making for Deliverance Bay. Their appearance caused no great surprise, for after Jack had fallen into their hands, the savages could no longer be unaware that the island was inhabited.



            In less than two hours the tide would bring the pirogues to the mouth of Jackal River. Manned by something like a hundred men, for, of course, the whole party that had landed on the island must have joined in this expedition, how would it be possible to offer them serious resistance?



            Would it be well to take refuge at Falconhurst, Wood Grange, Prospect Hill, Sugarcane Grove, or even at the hermitage at Eberfurt? Would they be any safer there? As soon as they had set foot on this rich domain of the Promised Land, the invaders would be sure to go all over it! Ought they to seek a more secret shelter in the unknown regions of the island, and would there be any certainty that they would not be discovered even there?



            Then Mr. Wolston suggested that they should abandon Rock Castle in favour of Shark's Island. If they put off in the long boat behind the point of Deliverance Bay, and went along the Falconhurst shore, they might perhaps be able to get to the island before the pirogues arrived. There, at any rate, under the protection of the two cannon in the battery, they might defend themselves, if the natives attempted to set foot on the island.



            Besides, if there were not time to take over the stores and provisions needed for a long stay, the store-house had beds and could accommodate the two families. The boat could be laden with articles of prime necessity. And further, as has been related before, Shark's Island had been planted with mangroves, palms, and other trees and was used as a park for a herd of antelopes, while a limpid stream assured an abundant supply of water, even during the very hottest season.



            There would thus be nothing to fear on the score of food for several months. Whether or not the two four-pounder carronades would be sufficient to repulse the flotilla if it made an attack in full force upon Shark's Island, nobody could say. The natives, of course, could have no knowledge of the power of these arms, whose reports would spread panic among them, not to mention the bullets and balls which the two guns and the carbines would rain upon them. But if even half of them succeeded in landing on the island there would, be little hope.



            There was not a moment to lose. Jack and Ernest brought round the boat to the mouth of Jackal River. Boxes of preserves, cassava, rice and flour, and also arms and ammunition were taken down to it. Then M. and Mme. Zermatt, Mr. and Mrs. Wolston, Ernest and Hannah got into it, while Jack took his seat in his canoe which would enable him, if need arose, to establish communication between the island and the shore. The animals, except the two dogs, had to be left at Rock Castle. The jackal, ostrich, and the onager were set at liberty. They would be able to find their own food.



            The boat left the mouth of the river just as the pirogues came into sight off Whale Island. But it ran no risk of being seen in this portion of the sea lying between Rock Castle and Shark's Island.



            Mr. Wolston and Ernest rowed, while M. Zermatt steered in such a way as to profit by certain backwaters which enabled them to make headway against the rising tide without excessive exertion. Nevertheless, for a mile they had to struggle hard not to be carried back towards Deliverance Bay, and it was three quarters of an hour before the boat slipped in among the rocks and anchored at the foot of the battery knoll.



            They at once unloaded the chests, arms, and various articles brought from Rock Castle, which they deposited in the store-house. Mr. Wolston and Jack went to the battery, and took up their posts there to keep watch over the approaches to the island.



            The flag flying from the signal mast was immediately pulled down. Nevertheless, it was to be feared that the savages had seen it, since their canoes were not more than a mile away.



            Thus they had to remain on the defensive in anticipation of an immediate attack.



            The attack did not take place. When the pirogues were off the island, they turned southwards and the current took them in towards the mouth of Jackal River. After the savages had landed, the canoes were taken into shelter in the little creek where the pinnace lay at her moorings.



            This was the position of affairs. For a fortnight the savages had been in possession of Rock Castle, and it did not appear that they had sacked the house. It was different at Falconhurst, and from the top of the knoll M. Zermatt had seen them chasing the animals, after they had wrought havoc in the rooms and store-houses.



            But there was soon no doubt that the band had discovered that Shark's Island was serving as a refuge for the inhabitants of the island. On several occasions half-a-dozen of the canoes came across Deliverance Bay and made towards the island. Several shots sent among them by Ernest and Jack sank one or two and put the others to flight. But from that moment it was necessary to watch day and night. A night attack would be very difficult to repulse.



            M. Zermatt hoisted the flag at the top of the hill again, for the improbable might happen, and a ship might come within sight of New Switzerland!



CHAPTER XV - FIGHTING FOR LIFE



            THE last hours of this night of the 24th of January were spent in conversation. The two families had so much to say, so many memories to recall, so many fears for the future to discuss! No one thought of going to sleep, except little Bob. But until daybreak M. Zermatt and his companions did not relax their keen vigilance, relieving one another on duty near the two carronades, one loaded with ball, the other with grape-shot.



            Shark's Island was larger than Whale Island, which lay two and a half miles away to the north, to the entrance to Flamingo Bay. It was an oval, about half a mile long and a quarter of a mile across at its widest part, thus having a circumference of something under two miles. By day it had been comparatively easy to keep watch over it, and as it was of the utmost importance that equally effective watch should be maintained from sunset to sunrise, it was decided, on Captain Gould's suggestion, that the whole of the shore should be patrolled.



            Dawn came, and no alarm had been raised. Although the savages knew that the island was held by a little garrison, they had no idea that it had been reinforced and was in a position to offer them sterner resistance. But it would not be long before they discovered that one of their canoes had disappeared—that which had taken Captain Gould and his party from Falconhurst beach to Shark's Island.



            "They may think," Fritz suggested, "that the canoe has been carried away by the outgoing tide."



            "Anyhow," M. Zermatt replied, "let us keep a careful lookout. As long as the island is not invaded we have nothing to fear. Although there are fifteen of us, we have plenty of food for a long time, with the reserves in the storehouse, not to mention the herd of antelopes. The spring is inexhaustible, and of ammunition we have enough, provided we are not attacked very often."



            "What the deuce!" John Block exclaimed. "These tailless apes surely won't stay for ever on the island!"



            "Who can tell?" Mme. Zermatt answered. "If they have settled down in Rock Castle, they will never leave it. Oh! our poor dear house, prepared to receive all of you, my children, and now in their power!"



            "Mother," said Jenny, "I do not think they have destroyed anything at Rock Castle, for they have no interest in doing so. We shall find our home in good condition, and we shall resume our life together there, and with the
help of God    "



            "Yes, of God," Frank added, "Who will not forsake us after having brought us all together again as by a miracle."



            "Ah! If only I could work a miracle!'' Jack exclaimed.



            "What would you do, Mr. Jack?" the boatswain enquired.



            "To begin with," the young man replied, "I would jolly well make these rascals decamp before they tried to land on this island, many of them as there are."



            "And then?" Harry Gould asked.



            "Then, captain, if they continued to infest our island with their presence, I would make either the Unicorn or another ship show its colours at the entrance to Deliverance Bay."



            "But that would not be a miracle, Jack dear," Jenny said; "that is an event which will surely come to pass. One of these days we shall hear the guns saluting the new English colony."



            "Why, it is surprising that no ship has come already!" Mr. Wolston agreed.



            "Patience!" John Block replied. "Everything comes in its own good time."



            "God grant it!" sighed Mme. Zermatt, whose confidence was shaken by her many trials.



            And so, after having organised their life in New Switzerland, here were the two families brought down to making another start on a tiny islet, a mere annex to their island! How long would they be prisoners on it, and might they not fall into hostile hands if help did not reach them from outside?



            They proceeded to settle down for a stay perhaps of weeks, possibly even of months. As the store-house was large enough to accommodate fifteen people, Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston, Jenny, Susan, and her child, Hannah and Holly were to sleep in the beds in the inner room while the men occupied the outer one.



            Now, at the height of summer, the nights were warm, following the hot days. A few armfuls of grass dried in the sun were all that the men required, especially as they had to keep guard in turns, from evening until morning, upon the approaches to the island.



            There was no occasion for anxiety with regard to the food supply. Of rice, tapioca, flour, smoked meat, and dried fish, such as salmon and herrings, the stores would suffice for the daily requirements of six months, without taking into account the fresh fish that could be caught at the foot of the rocks. The mangroves and palms on the island bore fruit in any quantity. There were two kegs of brandy to make an addition to the fresh and limpid water of the spring.



            The only thing which might run short—and that possibility was serious—was ammunition, although they had brought some more over in the boat. If, as a consequence of repeated attacks, powder, bullets and cannon balls ran out, defence would cease to be possible.



            While M. Zermatt and Ernest helped the women to make everything as comfortable as possible, Mr. Wolston and Captain Gould, the boatswain and Fritz and Jack and Frank surveyed Shark's Island on foot. Almost all round the coast it was easily accessible on little beaches lying between the projecting points of the coast-line. The best protected part was that commanded by the battery knoll, which rose at the south-west extremity, overlooking Deliverance Bay. At its foot there were enormous rocks, among which it would be very difficult to effect a landing. Everywhere else, light boats, such as these pirogues were, could find quite enough water to enable them to reach land. Consequently it was indispensable that they should keep all the approaches to the island under careful supervision.



            In the course of their inspection Fritz and Frank had opportunity to observe the fine condition of the plantations. The mangroves, palms, and pines were in full fruit. Thick grass carpeted the pastures where the herd of antelopes capered and played. Many birds, flitting from tree to tree, filled the air with their myriad cries. The magnificent firmament poured light and warmth upon the surrounding sea.



            The day after that on which the two families had taken refuge on the island, a bird arrived, to receive the warmest of welcomes. It was the albatross of Burning Rock, which Jenny had found again at Turtle Bay, and which had flown away from the top of Jean Zermatt peak in the direction of the Promised Land. When it arrived, the piece of thread that was still fastened round one of its legs attracted Jack's attention, and he caught the bird without any trouble. But, unfortunately, on this occasion, the albatross brought no tidings.



            The men went up to the battery. From the top of the knoll an uninterrupted view could be obtained north as far as False Hope Point, east as far as Cape East, and south as far as the end of Deliverance Bay. To west, about two miles away, ran the long line of trees which bordered the shore between Jackal River and the Falconhurst woods. But they could not see whether the natives were roaming about the Promised Land.



            Just at this moment, at the mouth of Deliverance Bay, a few canoes came paddling out to sea, keeping well beyond range of the guns in the battery. By this time the savages had learned the danger of coming too near Shark's Island, and if they should attempt to land upon it they would most certainly wait for a very dark night.



            Looking out to the open main in the northward, one saw nothing but deserted boundless space, and it was from that quarter that the Unicorn, or any other ship despatched from England, must appear.



            After having satisfied themselves that the battery was in order, the men were just preparing to come down, when Captain Gould asked:



            "Is there not a powder magazine at Rock Castle?"



            "Yes," Jack answered, "and I wish to goodness it were here instead of there! The three barrels that the Unicorn left us are in it."



            "Where are they?"



            "In a little cavity at the end of the orchard.'' The boatswain guessed the captain's thought.



            "Probably," he said, "those rascals may have discovered that magazine?"



            "It is to be feared they may," Mr. Wolston answered.



            "What is most to be feared," Captain Gould declared, "is that in their ignorance they may blow up the house."



            "And themselves with it!" Jack exclaimed. "Well, if Rock Castle had to go to blazes in the explosion, it would be one solution, for I imagine that those left of the filthy creatures would decamp, without any heart to come back!"



            Leaving the boatswain on sentry-go at the battery, the others went back to the storehouse. Breakfast was eaten together; how happy a meal it would have been if all the party had been gathered in the big hall at Rock Castle!



            The next four days brought no change in the situation. Beyond keeping proper watch over the island, they did not know how to fill the long hours. How different everything would have been if the Unicorn had not been compelled to put in to Cape Town for repairs. They would all have been settled down at Rock Castle more than two months ago! And now that Fritz and Jenny were married, who could say that another wedding would not be celebrated soon, the union of Ernest and Hannah, which the corvette's chaplain might have blessed in the chapel of Rock Castle? There might have been whispers of a third union— by and by—when Dolly should be eighteen.



            Everyone fought bravely against despondency. As for John Block, he had lost none of his native good humour. They took long walks among the plantations. They watched Deliverance Bay, although no attack by the pirogues was to be apprehended while the sun was in the sky. Then, with night, all their anxiety returned, anticipating an attack in force.



            So while the women retired within the second room of the store-house, the men made the rounds of the shore, ready to concentrate at the foot of the knoll if the enemy approached the island.



            On the 29th of January, during the morning, there was still nothing unusual to be noted. The sun rose in a horizon undimmed by the faintest haze. The day would be very hot, and the light sea-breeze could hardly last until the evening.



            After the mid-day meal Captain Gould and Jack left the store and went to relieve Ernest and Mr. Wolston, who were on sentry-go at the battery.



            Those two were just coming away when Captain Gould stopped them.



            "There are several canoes at the mouth of Jackal River," he said.



            "They are probably going fishing as usual," Jack replied. "They will take care to go by out of range of our guns."



            Jack was scanning the place through the telescope.



            "Ah!" he exclaimed. "There are a lot of canoes this time. Wait: five—six—nine; and two more coming out of the creek; eleven— twelve! Can the whole fleet be going fishing f''



            "Perhaps they are getting ready to attack us," Mr. Wolston said.



            "We will be on our guard," said Captain Gould; "let us go and warn the others."



            "Let us see first which way the canoes are going," Mr. Wolston replied.



            "Anyhow, all our guns are ready," Jack added.



            During the few hours that Jack had spent in the hands of the savages he had observed that their pirogues were in number fifteen, each able to carry seven or eight men. Twelve of these canoes could now be counted, rounding the point of the creek. With the help of the telescope they were able to calculate that the whole band of savages had gone aboard, and that there could not be a single aborigine remaining at Rock Castle.



            "Can they be clearing out at last?" Jack exclaimed.



            "It isn't very likely," Ernest answered. "More likely that they mean to pay a visit to Shark's Island."



            "When does the ebb begin?" Captain Gould enquired.



            "At half-past one," Mr. Wolston told him.



            "Then it will soon make itself felt, and as it will be in the favour of the canoes we shall then know what to expect."



            Ernest went to inform M. Zermatt, his brothers, and the boatswain, and all came and took up their posts under the hangar of the battery.



            It was a little after one o'clock and, with the ebb only just beginning to run, the pirogues moved but slowly along the east coast. They kept as far away from the island as possible, in order to escape the projectiles whose range and power they now knew very well.



            "Yet—suppose it were a final departure!" said Frank again.



            "Then good luck to them and good-bye!" said Jack.



            "And here's hoping we shall never see them back!" John Block added.



            As yet no one would venture to prophesy such a happy contingency. Were not the canoes only waiting for the ebb to run strongly in order to make for the island?



            Fritz and Jenny stood side by side, watching in silence, hardly daring to believe that the situation was drawing to so immediate an end.



            It soon became apparent that the canoes were feeling the action of the out-going tide. Their speed increased, although they did not cease to hug the coast, as if it were the natives' intention to go round Cape East.



            At half-past three the fleet was midway between Deliverance Bay and Cape East. At six o'clock there could be no further doubt on the matter. The last boat rounded the cape and disappeared behind the point.



            Neither M. Zermatt nor anyone else had left the knoll for a moment.



            What relief was theirs when not a single pirogue remained in sight! At last the island was freed from the savages' presence! The whole party would be able to settle down in Rock Castle again. Perhaps there would be only trifling damage to make good. They would do nothing but watch for the arrival of the Unicorn! Their last fears were forgotten, and, after all, they were all together again after surviving so many dreadful trials!



            "Shall we start for Rock Castle?" Jack exclaimed, eager to quit the island.



            "Yes, yes!" said Dolly no less eagerly. Frank had just joined her.



            "Would it not be better to wait until to-morrow?" Jenny suggested. "What do you think, Fritz dear?"



            "What Mr. Wolston and Captain Gould and papa think," Fritz replied; "and that certainly is to spend this next night here."



            "Yes," said M. Zermatt. "Before we return to Rock Castle we must be absolutely sure that the savages have no intention of going back there."



            "They have gone to the devil already," Jack exclaimed, "and the devil never lets go of anything he has once got in his claws! Isn't that so, good old Block?"



            "Yes—sometimes," the boatswain answered.



            Despite Jack's protests and arguments, it was decided to postpone the start until the morrow, and all assembled at the last meal which they expected to take on Shark's Island.



            It was a very merry one, and when the evening came to an end all were ready for bed.



            Everything suggested that this night of the 29th of January would be as tranquil as the many others spent in the quietude of Rock Castle and Falconhurst.



            Nevertheless, neither M. Zermatt nor his companions would depart from their custom? ary caution, although all danger seemed to have gone with the last of the canoes. It was therefore arranged that some should make the usual nightly rounds while the others remained on guard at the battery.



            As soon as the women and Bob had gone into the store, Jack, Ernest, Frank, and John Block, with their guns over their shoulders, set out to the north end of the island. Fritz and Captain Gould went up the knoll and took their place under the hangar, as it was their turn to go on guard until sunrise.



            Mr. Wolston, M. Zermatt, and James stayed in the store, where they were free to sleep until dawn.



            The night was a dark one, with no moon. The atmosphere was thick with the evaporations from the heated earth. The breeze had fallen at evening. Profound silence reigned. Nothing was audible save the surf of the incoming tide, which began to flow about eight o'clock.



            Harry Gould and Fritz sat side by side, recalling memories of all the events, good and ill, that had followed each other after the Flag had cast them adrift. From time to time one or other of them went out and looked carefully about, more especially in the direction of the dark arm of the sea lying between the two capes.



            Nothing disturbed their utter solitude until, at two o'clock in the morning, the captain and Fritz were startled out of their conversation by a report.



            "A gun!" said Harry Gould.



            "Yes: fired over there," Fritz answered, pointing to the north-west of the island.



            "What's up, then?" Captain Gould exclaimed.



            Both rushed out of the hangar and peered for any light in the midst of the profound darkness.



            Two other reports rang out, nearer this time than the first one.



            "The canoes have come back," said Fritz.



            And leaving Harry Gould at the battery he ran to the store at top speed.



            M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston had heard the reports, and were already on the threshold.



            "What is the matter?" M. Zermatt asked sharply.



            "I am afraid, papa, that the savages have tried to effect a landing," Fritz answered.



            "And the rascals have succeeded!" exclaimed Jack, who now approached with Ernest and the boatswain.



            "They are on the island?" said Mr. Wolston.



            "Their canoes touched the north-east point just at the very moment we got there," said Ernest, "and our shots were not enough to frighten them off. And now nothing remains but –"



            "To defend ourselves!" Captain Gould finished for him.



            The ladies had just left their room. In anticipation of an immediate attack they had to carry all the arms, ammunition and stores they could, and get to the battery as quickly as possible.



            The departure of the pirogues had been merely a ruse. Taking advantage of the incoming tide, the savages had returned towards Shark's Island, which they hoped to take by surprise. The manoeuvre had been highly successful. Although their presence was known and they had been welcomed with guns, they were in occupation of the point, whence it would be easy for them to get to the central store.



            The situation was thus desperate, for the pirogues had succeeded in landing the entire band. M. Zermatt and his companions could not offer a serious resistance to so large a number of assailants. That they must succumb when their ammunition and supplies ran out was only too certain.



            They could do nothing but take refuge on the knoll, within the battery. That was the only place where there was any possibility of putting up a defence.



            The women and Bob crept under cover in the hangar which sheltered the two guns. They did not let a murmur escape them.



            For one moment M. Zermatt thought of carrying them over to the Falconhurst shore in the boat. But what would become of the unfortunate women if, after the islet had been invaded, their companions were unable to join them? Besides, they would never have consented to go.



            It was a little after four o'clock when a confused noise announced the presence of the savages, a couple of hundred yards away. Captain Gould, M. Zermatt, Mr. Wolston, Ernest, Frank, James, and the boatswain, armed with carbines, were ready to fire, while Fritz and Jack stood with matches lighted near the two little cannon, only waiting for the moment to rake the slopes of the knoll with grape-shot.



            When the black shadows showed against the early light of dawn, Captain Gould gave the order in a low tone to fire in that direction.



            Seven or eight reports rang out, followed by horrible cries which proved that more than one bullet had found its billet in the crowd.



            Three attacks had to be repelled before sunrise. In the last a score or so of natives succeeded in reaching the crest of the knoll. Although some of them had been mortally hit, the carbines could no longer keep them in check, and but for a double discharge of the ordnance the battery would probably have been carried in this assault.



            At daylight the band withdrew among the trees, near the store, as if they meant to wait until the next night to renew the attack.



            Unfortunately the defenders had almost exhausted their cartridges. When they were reduced to the two guns, which could only be directed towards the base of the knoll, how could they cover the summit?



            A council was held to consider the situation. If they could not carry on the resistance under these conditions, would it not be possible to leave Shark's Island, land on Falconhurst beach, and seek refuge within the Promised Land or in some other part of the island— all of them together, this time? Or would it be better to make a rush on the savages and, with the advantage of carbines over bows and arrows, compel them to take to the sea again? But M. Zermatt and his party were only nine against the scores who surrounded the knoll.



            Just at this moment, as if in answer to this last suggestion, the air was filled with the whistling of arrows, some of which stuck in the roof of the hangar, fortunately without wounding anyone.



            "The attack is beginning again!" said John Block.



            "Let's get ready for them!" Fritz replied.



            This assault was the fiercest of all, for the natives were furious, and seemed no longer afraid to face the bullets and grape-shot. Moreover, the ammunition was almost exhausted, and the fire slackened. Several of the savages crawled up the knoll and got to the hangar. The two carronades fired point blank at them, cleared the ground of a few, and Fritz, Jack, Frank, James, and John Block fought hand to hand with the others. Then they retired over the corpses which strewed the foot of the hill. They had used a weapon between axe and club, which, in their hands, was a formidable thing.



            Plainly the struggle approached its end. The last cartridges were spent. Numbers must tell. M. Zermatt and his party were trying to make a stand around the hangar, which must soon be entered. At grips with several natives, Fritz and Frank and Jack and Harry Gould were in imminent peril of being borne down to the foot of the hill. The fight would be over in a few minutes now, and defeat meant massacre, for they could expect no mercy from these savage foes.



            Just at this moment a report rang out off the island, borne by the wind from the north.



            The assailants heard it, for those in advance stopped.



            Fritz and Jack and the others at once ran back towards the hangar, one or two of them slightly wounded.



            "A gun!" Frank exclaimed.



            "And a gun from a ship—or I'm a Dutchman!" the boatswain declared.



            "There is a ship in sight," said M. Zermatt.



            "It is the Unicorn," Jenny replied.



            "And it's God who has sent her now!" Frank murmured.



            The echoes of Falconhurst rang with a second detonation, much closer, and the savages recoiled into cover under the trees.



            Jack sprang to the flag-staff, and, nimble as any top-man, scrambled to the top of it.



            "Ship! Ship ahoy!" he yelled.



            All eyes were turned towards the north.



            Above False Hope Point the top-sails of a ship appeared, swelling in the morning breeze.



            A three-master, on the port tack, was manoeuvring to get round the point, which thereafter was known as Cape Deliverance.



            From her mizzen-mast flew the flag of Great Britain!



            The women appeared stretching their hands to heaven in ardent gratitude.



            "What about those ruffians?" Fritz enquired.



            "They're running!" replied Jack, who had just slid down the flag-staff.



            "Yes, they're running!" John Block added. "And if they don't clear jolly quick, we'll help them along with our last four-pounders."



            And indeed, surprised by the detonations ringing from the north, scared by the sight of the ship coming round the point, the savages had fled to the point where their canoes were lying. They clambered into them, shoved off hard and paddled vigorously in the direction of Cape East.



            The boatswain and Jack went back into the hangar and trained the two guns upon them; and three canoes, cut in half, went to the bottom.







            Just as the ship, coming under full sail into the arm of the sea, was off Shark's Island, she joined her heavy guns to those of the battery. Most of the pirogues failed to escape the rain of shot and shell, and only two succeeded in vanishing behind the cape, never to return.



CHAPTER XVI - CONCLUSION



            IT actually was the Unicorn which had just dropped anchor at the mouth of Deliverance Bay. All the repairs effected, Captain Littlestone had left Cape Town after a stay of several months, and at last had reached New Switzerland, of which he was to take official possession in the name of England.



            Captain Littlestone now learned from Captain Gould's lips the events of which the Flag had been the stage.



            As for what had become of that vessel, whether Robert Borupt was playing pirate in the ill-famed waters of the Pacific, or whether he and his accomplices had perished in some furious tornado was destined never to be known, and was of little consequence to the islanders.



            It was an immense satisfaction to the two families when they found that the dwelling at Rock Castle had not been sacked. The natives had probably contemplated taking up their quarters there, intending to settle on the island. There was no damage done to the bedrooms or halls, no sign of pillage in the outhouses or stores, no havoc in the orchard or adjoining fields.



            They recovered all the domestic animals which had scattered in the neighbourhood, the buffaloes Storm and Grumbler, the ostrich Whirlwind, the monkey Nip, the onager Light-foot, the cow Paleface and her meadow companions, the bull Roarer and his stable companions, the asses Swift, Arrow, and Dart, the jackal, and Jenny's albatross, which had flown across the arm of the sea between Shark's Island and Rock Castle.



            As it could not be very long before several ships despatched from England would arrive with colonists and their stores, it became necessary to choose the site for new buildings. It was decided that these should be erected along the banks of Jackal River, up towards the fall. Rock Castle would thus be ithe first village of the colony, pending the time when it should have grown into a town. No doubt in the future it would rank as the capital of New Switzerland, for it would be the most important of the little towns which would grow up in the heart of the Promised Land, and beyond.



            The Unicorn was under orders to remain in Deliverance Bay until the emigrants arrived. So animation reigned along the coast from Falconhurst beach.



            Three weeks had not elapsed before a ceremony, which it was agreed to make as brilliant as possible, brought together Commander Littlestone and the officers and crew of his ship, Captain Harry Gould and the boatswain, and all the members of the Zermatt and Wolston families, now to be united to one another in still closer bonds.



            On that day the chaplain of the Unicorn celebrated in the chapel of Rock Castle the marriage of Ernest Zermatt and Hannah Wolston. It was the first wedding on the island of New Switzerland, but the future would no doubt see it followed by many others.



            And, in point of fact, two years later, Frank became the husband of Dolly Wolston. On this occasion it was not in the humble chapel that the pastor of the colony gave his blessing to the happy pair. The ceremony was held in a church erected midway between pock Castle and Falconhurst, in the avenue. The steeple, rising above the trees, was visible three miles out to sea.



            No need to dilate further upon the progress of New Switzerland! The fortunate isle saw the number of its inhabitants increasing every year. Deliverance Bay, well protected from the winds and waves, offered excellent anchorage for ships, and among these the pinnace Elizabeth cut no bad figure.



            Regular communication with England was established. This inaugurated a most profitable export trade. By that time there were four more villages, Wood Grange, Sugar-cane Grove, Eberfurt, and Prospect Hill. A harbour was made at the mouth of the Montrose River, and another at Unicorn Bay, the latter connected with Deliverance Bay by a good carriage road.



            Three years after New Switzerland had been taken possession of by England her population exceeded two thousand. The British government had left the colony her autonomy, and M. Zermatt was elected to the position of Governor of New Switzerland. Heaven grant that his successors may be as good as that excellent and worthy man!



            A detachment of troops from India garrisoned the island after fortifications had been constructed at Cape East and Cape Deliverance (formerly known as False Hope Point), so as to command the arm of the sea which gave access to Deliverance Bay.



            Of course, this had nothing to do with any fear of savages, neither those of the Andamans and Nicobars, nor those of the Australian coast. But New Switzerland's position in these waters, besides offering excellent anchorage for ships, was of real importance from a strategic point of view at the entrance to the Sunda Seas and the Indian Ocean. It was only proper, therefore, that it should be provided with means of defence.



            Such is the complete history of this island from the day when a storm cast a father, mother and four children upon it. For twelve years that brave and intelligent family worked without ceasing, and set in operation all the energy of a virgin soil, which was rendered fruitful by the magic climate of the tropic regions. And so their prosperity had never ceased to grow nor their welfare to be increased, until the day when the arrival of the Unicorn enabled them to establish relations with the rest of the world.



            As has been related, a second family voluntarily threw in its fortune with theirs, and materially and morally existence was never happier than in the fertile domain of the Promised Land.



            Then began a period of severe trial. Ill fortune fell upon these good people. They knew the fear of never seeing again those for whom they were waiting, and the peril of being attacked by a horde of savages!



            But even in the darkest hours of that unhappy time they never lost faith in Providence.



            Then at last bright days returned, and never again are dark ones to be feared for the second fatherland of the two families.



            And now New Switzerland is flourishing and will soon be too small to receive all those who are attracted to her. Her commerce is finding outlets in Europe as well as in Asia, thanks to the proximity of Australia, India, and the Netherlands possessions. Most fortunately the nuggets found in the gorge by the Montrose River proved to be very rare, and the colony was not invaded by gold-seekers, who usually leave nothing but disorder and misery in their train!



            The marriages which united the Zermatt and Wolston families have been blessed by Heaven. The grandparents will soon feel that they live again in their grandchildren. Only Jack is content with the nephews and nieces who clamber on his knees. He said he was a born uncle, and in that relation was certainly a great success.



            Though the island now forms part of the colonial dominions of Great Britain, it has been allowed to retain its name of New Switzerland in honour of the Zermatt family.







END OF "THE CASTAWAYS OF THE FLAG"