第58章

"Some of our men, however, managed to struggle to their feet again, in a heroic but vain endeavour to reach our side; but these poor fellows were at once butchered in the most shocking manner by the natives, who wielded their big waddies or clubs with the most sickening effect.Indeed, so heart-rending and horrible was the tragedy enacted before our eyes, that for a long time afterwards we scarcely knew what was happening to us, so dazed with horror were we.For myself, I have a faint recollection of being dragged across the island by the natives, headed by the hideous and gigantic chief who afterwards claimed us as his 'wives.' We were next put on board a large catamaran, our hands and feet having been previously tied with hair cords; and we were then rowed over to the mainland, which was only a few miles away.We kept on asking by signs that our clothing might be returned to us, but the blacks tore the various garments into long strips before our eyes, and wrapped the rags about their heads by way of ornament.We reached the encampment of the black-fellows late that same evening, and were at once handed over to the charge of the women, who kept us close prisoners and--so far as we could judge--abused us in the most violent manner.Of course, I don't know exactly what their language meant, but I do know that they treated us shamefully, and struck us from time to time.I gathered that they were jealous of the attention shown to us by the big chief.

"We afterwards learnt that the island on which the terrible tragedy took place was not really inhabited, but the blacks on the coast had, it appeared, seen our boat far out at sea, and watched it until we landed for water.They waited a little while in order to lull the crew into a sense of fancied security, and then, without another moment's delay, crossed over to the island and descended upon us.

"We passed a most wretched night.Never--never can I hope to describe our awful feelings.We suffered intensely from the cold, being perfectly naked.We were not, however, molested by any of our captors.But horror was to be piled on horror's head, for the next day a party of the blacks returned to the island and brought back the dead bodies of all the murdered sailors.At first we wondered why they went to this trouble; and when, at length, it dawned upon us that a great cannibal feast was in preparation, Ithink we fainted away.

"We did not actually see the cooking operations, but the odour of burning flesh was positively intolerable; and we saw women pass our little grass shelters carrying some human arms and legs, which were doubtless their own families' portions.I thought we should both have gone mad, but notwithstanding this, we did keep our reason.

Our position, however, was so revolting and so ghastly, that we tried to put an end to our lives by strangling ourselves with a rope made of plaited grass.But we were prevented from carrying out our purpose by the women-folk, who thereafter kept a strict watch over us.It seemed to me, so embarrassing were the attentions of the women, that these pitiable but cruel creatures were warned by the chief that, if anything befell us, they themselves would get into dire trouble.All this time, I could not seem to think or concentrate my mind on the events that had happened.I acted mechanically, and I am absolutely certain that neither Gladys nor myself realised our appalling position.

"In the meantime, it seems, a most sanguinary fight had taken place among four of the principal blacks who had assisted in the attack upon our sailors, the object of the fight being to decide who should take possession of us.

"One night we managed to slip out of the camp without attracting the notice of the women, and at once rushed down to the beach, intending to throw ourselves into the water, and so end a life which was far worse than death.We were, unfortunately, missed, and just as we were getting beyond our depth a party of furious blacks rushed down to the shore, waded out into the water and brought as out.

"After this incident our liberty was curtailed altogether, and we were moved away.The women were plainly told--so we gathered--that if anything happened to us, death, and nothing less, would be their portion.Now that we could no longer leave the little break-wind that sheltered us, we spent the whole of our time in prayer--mainly for death to release us from our agonies.I was surprised to see that the women themselves, though nude, were not much affected by the intense cold that prevailed at times, but we afterwards learnt that they anointed their naked bodies with a kind of greasy clay, which formed a complete coating all over their bodies.During the ensuing three months the tribe constantly moved their camp, and we were always taken about by our owner and treated with the most shocking brutality.The native food, which consisted of roots, kangaroo flesh, snakes, caterpillars, and the like, was utterly loathsome to us, and for several days we absolutely refused to touch it, in the hope that we might die of starvation.