The Boats of the Glen Carrig (10 page)

We had gotten halfway across the top of the valley, and the gloom was
deepening steadily, when there stole to me upon the calmness of the
evening air, a faint smell; something quite different from that of the
surrounding fungi. A moment later I got a great whiff of it, and was near
sickened with the abomination of it; but the memory of that foul thing
which had come to the side of the boat in the dawn-gloom, before we
discovered the island, roused me to a terror beyond that of the sickness
of my stomach; for, suddenly, I knew what manner of thing it was that had
beslimed my face and throat upon the previous night, and left its hideous
stench lingering in my nostrils. And with the knowledge, I cried out to
the bo'sun to make haste, for there were demons with us in the valley.
And at that, some of the men made to run; but he bade them, in a very
grim voice, stay where they were, and keep well together, else would they
be attacked and overcome, straggled all among the fungi in the dark. And
this, being, I doubt not, as much in fear of the rounding dark as of the
bo'sun, they did, and so we came safely out of the valley; though there
seemed to follow us a little lower down the slope an uncanny slithering.

Now so soon as we reached the camp, the bo'sun ordered four fires to be
lit—one on each side of the tent, and this we did, lighting them at the
embers of our old fire, which we had most foolishly allowed to die down.
When the fires had been got going, we put on the boiler, and treated the
great crab as I have already mentioned, and so fell-to upon a very hearty
supper; but, as we ate, each man had his weapon stuck in the sand beside
him; for we had knowledge that the valley held some devilish thing, or
maybe many; though the knowing did not spoil our appetites.

And so, presently, we came to an end of eating, whereat each man pulled
out his pipe, intending to smoke; but the bo'sun told one of the men to
get him upon his feet and keep watch, else might we be in danger of
surprise, with every man lolling upon the sand; and this seemed to me
very good sense; for it was easy to see that the men, too readily, deemed
themselves secure, by reason of the brightness of the fires about them.

Now, whilst the men were taking their ease within the circle of the
fires, the bo'sun lit one of the dips which we had out of the ship in the
creek, and went in to see how Job was, after the day's rest. At that, I
rose up, reproaching myself for having forgotten the poor lad, and
followed the bo'sun into the tent. Yet, I had but reached the opening,
when he gave out a loud cry, and held the candle low down to the sand. At
that, I saw the reason for his agitation, for, in the place where we had
left Job, there was nothing. I stepped into the tent, and, in the same
instant, there came to my nostrils the faint odor of the horrible stench
which had come to me in the valley, and before then from the thing that
came to the side of the boat. And, suddenly, I knew that Job had fallen
prey of those foul things, and, knowing this, I called out to the bo'sun
that
they
had taken the boy, and then my eyes caught the smear of slime
upon the sand, and I had proof that I was not mistaken.

Now, so soon as the bo'sun knew all that was in my mind; though indeed it
did but corroborate that which had come to his own, he came swiftly out
from the tent, bidding the men to stand back; for they had come all about
the entrance, being very much discomposed at that which the bo'sun had
discovered. Then the bo'sun took from a bundle of the reeds, which they
had cut at the time when he had bidden them gather fuel, several of the
thickest, and to one of these he bound a great mass of the dry weed;
whereupon the men, divining his intention, did likewise with the others,
and so we had each of us the wherewithal for a mighty torch.

So soon as we had completed our preparations, we took each man his weapon
and, plunging our torches into the fires, set off along the track which
had been made by the devil-things and the body of poor Job; for now that
we had suspicion that harm had come to him, the marks in the sand, and
the slime, were very plain to be seen, so that it was a wonder that we
had not discovered them earlier.

Now the bo'sun led the way, and, finding the marks led direct to the
valley, he broke into a run, holding his torch well above his head. At
that, each of us did likewise; for we had a great desire to be together,
and further than this, I think with truth I may say, we were all fierce
to avenge Job, so that we had less of fear in our hearts than otherwise
had been the case.

In less than the half of a minute we had reached the end of the valley;
but here, the ground being of a nature not happy in the revealing of
tracks, we were at fault to know in which direction to continue. At that,
the bo'sun set up a loud shout to Job, perchance he might be yet alive;
but there came no answer to us, save a low and uncomfortable echo. Then
the bo'sun, desiring to waste no more time, ran straight down towards the
center of the valley, and we followed, and kept our eyes very open about
us. We had gotten perhaps halfway, when one of the men shouted that he
saw something ahead; but the bo'sun had seen it earlier; for he was
running straight down upon it, holding his torch high and swinging his
great cutlass. Then, instead of smiting, he fell upon his knees beside
it, and the following instant we were up with him, and in that same
moment it seemed to me that I saw a number of white shapes melt swiftly
into the shadows further ahead: but I had no thought for these when I
perceived that by which the bo'sun knelt; for it was the stark body of
Job, and no inch of it but was covered with the little ringed marks that
I had discovered upon my throat, and from every place there ran a trickle
of blood, so that he was a most horrid and fearsome sight.

At the sight of Job so mangled and be-bled, there came over us the sudden
quiet of a mortal terror, and in that space of silence, the bo'sun placed
his hand over the poor lad's heart; but there was no movement, though the
body was still warm. Immediately upon that, he rose to his feet, a look
of vast wrath upon his great face. He plucked his torch from the ground,
into which he had plunged the haft, and stared round into the silence of
the valley; but there was no living thing in sight, nothing save the
giant fungi and the strange shadows cast by our great torches, and the
loneliness.

At this moment, one of the men's torches, having burnt near out, fell all
to pieces, so that he held nothing but the charred support, and
immediately two more came to a like end. Upon this, we became afraid that
they would not last us back to the camp, and we looked to the bo'sun to
know his wish; but the man was very silent, and peering everywhere into
the shadows. Then a fourth torch fell to the ground in a shower of
embers, and I turned to look. In the same instant there came a great
flare of light behind me, accompanied by the dull thud of a dry matter
set suddenly alight. I glanced swiftly back to the bo'sun, and he was
staring up at one of the giant toadstools which was in flames all along
its nearer edge, and burning with an incredible fury, sending out spirits
of flame, and anon giving out sharp reports, and at each report, a fine
powder was belched in thin streams; which, getting into our throats and
nostrils, set us sneezing and coughing most lamentably; so that I am
convinced, had any enemy come upon us at that moment, we had been undone
by reason of our uncouth helplessness.

Now whether it had come to the bo'sun to set alight this first of the
fungi, I know not; for it may be that his torch coming by chance against
it, set it afire. However it chanced, the bo'sun took it as a veritable
hint from Providence, and was already setting his torch to one a little
further off, whilst the rest of us were near to choking with our
coughings and sneezings. Yet, that we were so suddenly overcome by the
potency of the powder, I doubt if a full minute passed before we were
each one busied after the manner of the bo'sun; and those whose torches
had burned out, knocked flaming pieces from the burning fungus, and with
these impaled upon their torch-sticks, did so much execution as any.

And thus it happened that within five minutes of this discovery of Job's
body, the whole of that hideous valley sent up to heaven the reek of its
burning; whilst we, filled with murderous desires, ran hither and thither
with our weapons, seeking to destroy the vile creatures that had brought
the poor lad to so unholy a death. Yet nowhere could we discover any
brute or creature upon which to ease our vengeance, and so, presently,
the valley becoming impassable by reason of the heat, the flying sparks
and the abundance of the acrid dust, we made back to the body of the boy,
and bore him thence to the shore.

And during all that night no man of us slept, and the burning of the
fungi sent up a mighty pillar of flame out of the valley, as out of the
mouth of a monstrous pit and when the morning came it still burned. Then
when it was daylight, some of us slept, being greatly awearied; but some
kept watch.

And when we waked there was a great wind and rain upon the island.

Now the wind was very violent from the sea, and threatened to blow down
our tent, the which, indeed, it achieved at last as we made an end of a
cheerless breakfast. Yet, the bo'sun bade us not trouble to put it up
again; but spread it out with the edges raised upon props made from the
reeds, so that we might catch some of the rainwater; for it was become
imperative that we should renew our supply before putting out again to
sea. And whilst some of us were busied about this, he took the others and
set up a small tent made of the spare canvas, and under this he sheltered
all of our matters like to be harmed by the rain.

In a little, the rain continuing very violent, we had near a breaker-full
of water collected in the canvas, and were about to run it off into one
of the breakers, when the bo'sun cried out to us to hold, and first taste
the water before we mixed it with that which we had already. At that, we
put down our hands and scooped up some of the water to taste, and thus we
discovered it to be brackish and quite undrinkable, at which I was
amazed, until the bo'sun reminded us that the canvas had been saturated
for many days with salt water, so that it would take a great quantity of
fresh before all the salt was washed out. Then he told us to lay it flat
upon the beach, and scour it well on both sides with the sand, which we
did, and afterwards let the rain rinse it well, whereupon the next water
that we caught we found to be near fresh; though not sufficiently so for
our purpose. Yet when we had rinsed it once more, it became clear of the
salt, so that we were able to keep all that we caught further.

And then, something before noon, the rain ceased to fall, though coming
again at odd times in short squalls; yet the wind died not, but blew
steadily, and continued so from that quarter during the remainder of the
time that we were upon the island.

Upon the ceasing of the rain, the bo'sun called us all together, that we
might make a decent burial of the unfortunate lad, whose remains had lain
during the night upon one of the bottom-boards of the boat. After a
little discussion, it was decided to bury him in the beach; for the only
part where there was soft earth was in the valley, and none of us had a
stomach for that place. Moreover, the sand was soft and easy to dig, and
as we had no proper tools, this was a great consideration. Presently,
using the bottom-boards and the oars and the hatchet, we had a place
large and deep enough to hold the boy, and into this we placed him. We
made no prayer over him; but stood about the grave for a little space, in
silence. Then, the bo'sun signed to us to fill in the sand; and,
therewith, we covered up the poor lad, and left him to his sleep.

And, presently, we made our dinner, after which the bo'sun served out to
each one of us a very sound tot of the rum; for he was minded to bring us
back again to a cheerful state of mind.

After we had sat awhile, smoking, the bo'sun divided us into two
parties to make a search through the island among the rocks, perchance
we should find water, collected from the rain, among the hollows and
crevasses; for though we had gotten some, through our device with the
sail, yet we had by no means caught sufficient for our needs. He was
especially anxious for haste, in that the sun had come out again; for he
was feared that such small pools as we should find would be speedily
dried up by its heat.

Now the bo'sun headed one party, and set the big seaman over the other,
bidding all to keep their weapons very handy. Then he set out to the
rocks about the base of the nearer hill, sending the others to the
farther and greater one, and in each party we carried an empty breaker
slung from a couple of the stout reeds, so that we might put all such
driblets as we should find, straight away into it, before they had time
to vanish into the hot air; and for the purpose of bailing up the water,
we had brought with us our tin pannikins, and one of the boat's bailers.

In a while, and after much scrambling amid the rocks, we came upon a
little pool of water that was remarkably sweet and fresh, and from this
we removed near three gallons before it became dry; and after that we
came across, maybe, five or six others; but not one of them near so big
as the first; yet we were not displeased; for we had near three parts
filled the breaker, and so we made back to the camp, having some wonder
as to the luck of the other party.

When we came near the camp, we found the others returned before us, and
seeming in a very high content with themselves; so that we had no need to
call to them as to whether they had filled their breaker. When they saw
us, they set out to us at a run to tell us that they had come upon a
great basin of fresh water in a deep hollow a third of the distance up
the side of the far hill, and at this the bo'sun bade us put down our
breaker and make all of us to the hill, so that he might examine for
himself whether their news was so good as it seemed.