The Wonder Island Boys: Adventures on Strange Islands

  CHAPTER XII

  THE SKELETON BENEATH THE BOAT

  The present journey reminded the boys of the time when they began theirwanderings in the unknown wilds of their own island. Then they wereinexperienced, lacking the most ordinary knowledge of life in the open,afraid of slightest noise when in unknown places, and constantly fearingattack by wild men or beasts.

  What a difference now! They had been successful, and had abundanttreasures at their command. Something told them that they were to findstill greater treasures, and the zest was one beyond expression.

  The course was directed due north. The boys knew that they were toinvestigate the mountains, the hills and the streams. They were to learnwhat fruits and vegetation might be found in their native state on theisland; the kinds and varieties of animals, and the qualities of theminerals, if the geological formations offered them for inspection.

  From the first day that they landed, the boys had heard a peculiarguttural sound, impossible to describe. The sound was almost annoyingafter they had heard it for a time. Passing the limb of a tree duringthe first hour of the march they heard the same cry.

  "I see what it is," remarked George. "It is a bird. See it on thatlimb?"

  John looked, and then turned to George. "Why certainly, that is theKagu."

  "Why its bill and feet are red, while the rest of the body is gray. Whata funny feather it has running back from its head!"

  Harry laughed, as he remarked: "I wonder if our women took their hatfashions from the Kagu?"

  _Fig. 8. The Kagu._]

  "You have made a correct observation. Some species of the hornbill havefeathers which project up into the air like sentinels, and the samefeathers are used in exactly the same fashion by makers of millinery.Now, I am not an authority on the fashions, but I have often thoughtthat if the leaders in styles would build those wonderful headdecorations something like the patterns furnished by nature they wouldbe more beautiful and becoming."

  "I wonder if it has only one leg?"

  John laughed. "I imagine it has two. It is the custom of many birds ofthis species to stand for hours on one leg. It is of the same family asthe stork, the heron and the ibis."

  "Why don't we see more animals?"

  "The island is not, probably, large enough. These small islands haveonly the smallest kinds. Besides, the larger animals are found where thenature of the country permits them to conceal themselves."

  George stopped before a large bush which had rows of yellow flowersgrowing up all along the stems, and at each flower was a seed.

  "Ah! you have found a most valuable plant," said John, as he broke offone of the stems. "Feel the crushed leaves."

  "It is just like grease."

  "It is an oil. It is one of the products largely used in the UnitedStates, as a substitute for olive oil, and for soap making."

  "What is it called?"

  "The plant is known as Benne. The product is Sesame oil. The peculiarityof the plant is that nearly one-half of the leaf is a pure oil, and itcan remain exposed a long time before it turns rancid."

  "I wonder if that is what they use in their cooking!"

  "Yes; it is absolutely inodorous, and is better than lard for tableuses. Look at the seeds. They are classed with the most nutritious inthe world."

  "The Chief had them, and I tried some of them the first night I dinedwith him."

  The route led to an upper plateau, well wooded, many of the trees beingof the palm variety, with plenty of silver-leafed families so commoneverywhere.

  "Do look at the Coffee trees?" exclaimed Harry.

  The Chief's son was consulted. He had no knowledge of the use of theberry. "We must take a lot of the berries back with us. This will be atreat at the celebration." John stopped short, and the boys commenced tolaugh. He had almost given away the scheme for the wedding feast. Sutotodid not catch the force of the allusion.

  George and Harry were now on the quest for new things in everydirection, and the natives aided them in carrying out their every wish.After they had reached a small stream flowing to the north it becameevident that they had passed the highest point of the plateau, and werenow descending.

  _Fig. 9. Sesame Oil Plant. The Benne._]

  One of the natives pointed out a peculiarly-shaped tree, tall, withimmense leaves, and at each leaf cluster there was an immense whiteflower.

  "Here is a tree with yellow flowers. We must have some of these asspecimens," said Harry.

  The trees were exceedingly tall. "The men are asking if you want some ofthe flowers," said Sutoto.

  "By all means," answered George. Without a moment's hesitation a youngathlete made his way to the top, and gathered a dozen branches, which hedropped to the ground.

  The beauty of these flowers is difficult to describe. The tree body isperfectly straight, and the limbs grow out uniformly on three sides, theleaves being very rough.

  "This is a species which belongs to the Indicus family," remarked John,as he cut off one of the leaves. "It would be a good tree for carpentersto raise."

  _Fig. 10. Flower of Indica Tree._]

  "Why so?" asked George.

  "You see it is just like sand-paper."

  "Well, that is something to know. But will it really smooth down wood?"

  "It is frequently used for that purpose, and you might take some alongand try it."

  At intervals John was observed taking up bits of soil, which hecarefully wrapped up and deposited in one of the receptacles.

  "I am curious to know what you are taking dirt for?" said Harry.

  "I should have told you that a knowledge of the nature of the soil isone of the things that is very important to the agriculturist. Many menhave made failures because they planted things which the earth was notadapted to grow."

  "It has always been a wonder to me why things really do grow up out ofthe dirt," said Harry.

  "That is not difficult to understand, if you will consider that theground contains food, and that a plant can grow only where it can getthe right kind. Then, there may be plenty of food but not the kind itcan digest."

  "Well, that is news to me. Do plants digest food?"

  "Yes, just the same as what we call living animals. The tree is somewhatdifferent from animals, in the particular that it digests its food firstand then consumes it afterwards. In this particular certain larvae actthe same as trees, that is digest it before they consume it."

  "What do you mean by larva?"

  "The early form of certain living organisms, before they are fullydeveloped. Thus, the tadpole is the larva of the frog. A great manyinsects are bred from what are called grubs, or caterpillars. All theseare called larva."

  "What kind of food is found in the earth?"

  "Many, many kinds. Carbon, nitrogen, the various salts, such as lime,magnesia, strontia, and the like, and when the little feelers shoot outfrom the roots, they are in search of something to eat."

  At this point they were interrupted by shouting and laughter from onesection of the searching party, and the boys ran out across the open tolearn its cause. Two of the natives were carrying a dark brown object,about half the size of an ordinary hog.

  It was kicking vigorously, but did not appear to be at all vicious.

  "Why, it looks just like a little bear," said George as he danced about."Let us keep it for a pet."

  "It is a bear," said John. "It is the Bruang, or the sun-bear of theMalayan peninsula."

  "But doesn't it grow any bigger?"

  "No; that is a full size specimen; in fact, it is a pretty largespecimen, I should judge."

  "What beautiful fur, and so soft! Will it bite?"

  "I am of the opinion they can bite, but they are easily tamed and makegreat pets. Hasn't it a fine white spot on its breast?"

  The men stood about and allowed it to move about within the circle. Itcast its eyes around, as much as to say: "Well, what are you going to doabout it?"

  George cried out: "Hold it for a minute," and he pounced on one of th
eprovision bags, and brought out a pot of honey. He forced his way inamong the watchers, and with a stick dipped into the honey held it upbefore the animal.

  It smelled the honey, and began to lick the stick, and then it dartedfor the pot. "What a tongue," exclaimed Harry.

  "That is what they are noted for. The tongue is made for the verypurpose of going into deep holes, and the greatest use is to rob thehives of the wild honey bee."

  _Fig. 11. Bruang. The Malayan Bear._]

  The antics of George and the bear were most amusing to the watchers, andoccasioned roars of laughter. When the pot was emptied he wanted more,and nosed around George until the latter could hardly keep his feet.

  "He is getting to be a mighty close friend," said John, when he couldfind time to stop laughing for a moment.

  "Well, don't let him get away," cried George, as he saw the cordonaround the animal broken up, leaving plenty of opening for it to getaway.

  But, of course, the natives didn't understand him, and soon Mr. Bear hadall the opportunity in the world to go home. But he didn't. He walkedalongside of George, and the latter liked to stroke his soft fur, towhich no objection was offered.

  The bear followed and was by his side every minute of the time for thenext hour, and while they sat down to lunch little Sunny, as Georgenamed him, was at the feast. He had samples of everything in sight, andthe menu tasted good, from honey at the beginning of the repast, tohoney at the end of it.

  * * * * *

  The progress was necessarily slow, because there were so many things toexamine and to make notes of. They went out of the way from the directroute, so as to cover as wide an area as possible. Before camping forthe night they had ascended a slight elevation, and there, to the rightand to the left they saw the wide stretches of the great ocean.

  Directly ahead was a narrow tongue of land, leading to a broadeningarea, and off in the dim distance was a high point. The Chief's sonpointed there and said:

  "On the other side of that high place is where the bad people live."

  "That must be a long way off," said John. When this was interpreted heanswered: "Another day's march."

  The gentle breeze from the eastern shore was a great relief.

  They had marched during the day mostly through forests, and everywherethe atmosphere was close and still, so that the open space wasappreciated.

  All slept soundly that night, and morning came only too soon for thewearied boys, but they enjoyed the trip too much to delay moving at theearliest opportunity. While breakfast was being prepared the boyssauntered over to the sloping shore to the west, which was not more thana half mile away.

  They enjoyed walking along the pure white sand, and after disrobing hada jolly time in the mildly moving surf. It was not often that they hadopportunities to take a sea bath.

  The bathing place was a deeply-indented bay, with a long slopingbeach,--an ideal spot, with the camp plainly visible to the east. "Whynot take a stroll to the southern end of the bay?" remarked Harry, afterthey were ready to return. "We might be able to see the headland to thesouth where we first sighted land."

  "Well, then, here goes it," and George started on a strong sprint to thesouth.

  Harry was by far the fleeter, and reached the tufted grass ahead ofGeorge, and then turned to the right, to gain the elevation. It waswhile thus moving through the brush and debris, which was far above thenormal level of the sea, that they were attracted by an unusual depositof brush, and other accumulations.

  "Stop, Harry; here is something we ought to investigate."

  Harry turned and came back. In the early days of their investigationsuch a mass would have meant diligent search. It was more from arecurrence of the old habit that dictated the idea to George.

  It was well they did so, for not far from the top, and covered over withseaweed and leaves, was a boxlike structure, evidently some part of awreckage. They worked feverishly at the surrounding mass, and uncoveredit.

  Harry started back. "Do you know what this is?" he asked. George stoopedover, and stared.

  "It is part of the boat which was taken from South River."

  When that boat disappeared, only to be found miles away from itsoriginal location, the two boxlike compartments which they had made init, and the oars used by them, had been taken away, and instead theyfound entirely different oars, and a rope, of which they knew nothing.

  Here was one of the boxes. "Let's open it," said George in the mostintense tone. That was easily done, and there they found, to theirsurprise, one of their original shell hatchets, part of a coarsely-wovencloth, which they recognized as one of their early productions on thefirst loom, and a dozen or more gourds, in which food had been placed,and all exactly as it had been stored away by them. The food haddisappeared, of course, but it had been lost by the action of the sea,and decomposition, as it was evident that the contents had not beendisturbed by any one.

  "Let us call John," said Harry, and he bounded up the beach, and ranover the crest, waving his arms as he did so. He had not gone half thedistance before those at the camp saw Harry running, and John, and mostof those in sight started on a run, George meanwhile industriouslydragging away the debris.

  "We have found it," cried Harry, as John came within hailing distance,and without waiting for them to come up he bolted back.

  "Now what have you discovered?" asked John as he came up breathless.

  "Part of our old boat."

  "We thought George had met with some accident."

  "We got this by accident," answered George. "See, here are some morethings. This is the oar we had. How can you explain that?"

  It was certainly a poser. Why the exchange of oars? John shook his head.For once he had no theory even to offer. "Come, boys, let us take awayall this stuff."

  All gave a hand, Sutoto wondering why there should be so much ado abouta bit of wreckage. George explained the affair, as well as he could.

  "What is that board?" exclaimed John. "No, not a board; that is part ofa boat," he added as more of the accumulation was torn away.

  "It's a boat; it's a boat!" almost shrieked George.

  "Come to this end and take away this lot of seaweed," called out Harry.

  They soon uncovered a boat with one end embedded in the sand so it wasdifficult to turn it over, owing to the rotten condition of the wood.Only here and there was any paint visible. The action of the elementshad done its work.

  "What kind of a boat was this?" asked Harry.

  John did not answer, but peered down on the sand where the prow hadrested. "Take away the sand carefully here," he said, and when hepointed the boys saw something white protruding an inch or two.

  As the sand was scraped away they first saw the thigh bone of askeleton, and soon the whole frame was laid bare, the interstices filledwith sand. A peculiar rope was around the frame, and John grasped it.

  The boys eagerly looked at it as John intently examined it. "It is thesame," he said.

  "The same as what?" asked Harry.

  "The same as the rope found on the boat when you discovered it on thebeach."

  That was the first time that the boys knew that John had any idea aboutthe loss of the boat, or of the strange rope. It was possible, however,that the Professor had told John about it, as they were accustomed totalk over these strange things.

  "But the boat?" asked George. "What do you think of the boat?"

  "It is the exact counterpart of the _Investigator's_ Life boat No. 3."