Blown to Bits: The Lonely Man of Rakata, the Malay Archipelago

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

  TELLS OF VOLCANIC FIRES AND A STRANGE RETURN "HOME."

  This tremendous introduction to volcanic fires was but the prelude to aperiod of eruptive action which has not been paralleled in the world'shistory.

  For a short time after this, indeed, the genial nature of the weathertended to banish from the minds of our travellers all thoughts ofviolence either in terrestrial or human affairs, and as the professordevoted himself chiefly to the comparatively mild occupation of catchingand transfixing butterflies and beetles during the march southward,there seemed to be nothing in the wide universe above or below savepeace and tranquillity--except, perhaps, in the minds of beetles andbutterflies!

  Throughout all this period, nevertheless, there were ominous growlings,grumblings, and tremors--faint but frequent--which indicated a conditionof mother earth that could not have been called easy.

  "Some of the volcanoes of Java must be at work, I think," said Nigel onenight, as the party sat in a small isolated wood-cutter's hut discussinga supper of rice and fowls with his friends, which they were washingdown with home-grown coffee.

  "It may be so," said Van der Kemp in a dubious tone; "but the sounds,though faint, seem to me a good deal nearer. I can't help thinking thatthe craters which have so recently opened up in Krakatoa are stillactive, and that it may be necessary for me to shift my quarters, for mycave is little more, I suspect, than the throat of an ancient volcano."

  "Hah! say you so, mine frond? Zen I vould advise you to make no delay,"said the professor, critically examining a well-picked drumstick. "Yousee, it is not pleasant to be blown up eizer by the terrestrialeruptions of zee vorld or zee celestial explosions of your vife.--Aleetle more rice, Moses if you please. Zanks."

  "Now, mine fronds," he continued, after having disposed of a supperwhich it might have taxed a volcano's throat to swallow, "it is vizgreat sorrow zat I must part from you here."

  "Part! Why?" asked the hermit in surprise.

  "Vy, because I find zis contrie is heaven upon eart'. Zat is, ofcourse, only in a scientific point of view. Zee voods are svarming, zeeair is teeming, ant zee vaters are vallo'ing vit life. I cannot tearmyself avay. But ve shall meet again--at Telok Betong, or Krakatoa, orAnjer, or Batavia."

  It was found that the man of science was also a man of decision.Nothing would persuade him to go a step further. The wood-cutter's hutsuited him, so did the wood-cutter himself, and so, as he said, did theregion around him. With much regret, therefore, and an earnestinvitation from the hermit to visit his cave, and range the almostunexplored woods of his island, the travellers parted from him; and ourthree adventurers, dismissing all attendants and hiring three ponies,continued their journey to the southern shores of Sumatra.

  As they advanced it soon became evident that the scene of volcanicactivity was not so far distant as the island of Java, for the air wasfrequently darkened by the falling of volcanic dust which covered theland with a greyish powder. As, however, at least sixteen volcanoeshave been registered in the island of Sumatra, and there are probablymany others, it was impossible to decide where the scene of eruptionwas, that caused those signs.

  One afternoon the travellers witnessed a catastrophe which induced themto forego all idea of spending more time in examining the country. Theyhad arrived at a village where they found a traveller who appeared to begoing about without any special object in view. He spoke English, butwith a foreign accent. Nigel naturally felt a desire to become sociablewith him, but he was very taciturn and evidently wished to avoidintercourse with chance acquaintances. Hearing that there were curioushot-water and mud springs not far off, the stranger expressed a desireto visit them. Nigel also felt anxious to see them, and as one guidewas sufficient for the party the stranger joined the party and they wenttogether.

  The spot they were led to was evidently a mere crust of earth coveringfierce subterranean fires. In the centre of it a small pond of mud wasboiling and bubbling furiously, and round this, on the indurated clay,were smaller wells and craters full of boiling mud. The ground nearthem was obviously unsafe, for it bent under pressure like thin ice, andat some of the cracks and fissures the sulphurous vapour was so hot thatthe hand could not be held to it without being scalded.

  Nigel and the stranger walked close behind the native guide, both,apparently, being anxious to get as near as possible to the centralpond. But the guide stopped suddenly, and, looking back, said to Vander Kemp that it was not safe to approach nearer.

  Nigel at once stopped, and, looking at the stranger, was struck by thewild, incomprehensible expression of his face as he continued toadvance.

  "Stop! stop, sir!" cried the hermit on observing this, but the man paidno attention to the warning.

  Another instant and the crust on which he stood gave way and he sankinto a horrible gulf from which issued a gust of sulphurous vapour andsteam. The horror which almost overwhelmed Nigel did not prevent himbounding forward to the rescue. Well was it for him at that time that acooler head than his own was near. The strong hand of the hermit seizedhis collar on the instant, and he was dragged backward out of danger,while an appalling shriek from the stranger as he disappeared told thatthe attempt to succour him would have been too late.

  A terrible event of this kind has usually the effect of totallychanging, at least for a time, the feelings of those who witness it, soas to almost incapacitate them from appreciating ordinary events orthings. For some days after witnessing the sudden and awful fate ofthis unknown man, Nigel travelled as if in a dream, taking little noticeof, or interest in, anything, and replying to questions in meremonosyllables. His companions seemed to be similarly affected, for theyspoke very little. Even the volatile spirit of Moses appeared to besubdued, and it was not till they had reached nearly the end of theirjourney that their usual flow of spirits returned.

  Arriving one night at a village not very far from the southern shores ofSumatra they learned that the hermit's presentiments were justified, andthat the volcano which was causing so much disturbance in the islands ofthe archipelago was, indeed, the long extinct one of Krakatoa.

  "I've heard a good deal about it from one of the chief men here," saidthe hermit as he returned to his friends that night about supper-time."He tells me that it has been more or less in moderate eruption eversince we left the island, but adds that nobody takes much notice of it,as they don't expect it to increase much in violence. I don't agreewith them in that," he added gravely.

  "Why not?" asked Nigel.

  "Partly because of the length of time that has elapsed since its lasteruption in 1680; partly from the fact that that eruption--judging fromappearances--must have been a very tremendous one, and partly because myknowledge of volcanic action leads me to expect it; but I could noteasily explain the reason for my conclusions on the latter point. Ihave just been to the brow of a ridge not far off whence I have seen theglow in the sky of the Krakatoa fires. They do not, however, appear tobe very fierce at the present moment."

  As he spoke there was felt by the travellers a blow, as if of anexplosion under the house in which they sat. It was a strong verticalbump which nearly tossed them all off their chairs. Van der Kemp andhis man, after an exclamation or two, continued supper like men who wereused to such interruptions, merely remarking that it was an earthquake.But Nigel, to whom it was not quite so familiar, stood up for a fewseconds with a look of anxious uncertainty, as if undecided as to thepath of duty and prudence in the circumstances. Moses relieved him.

  "Sot down, Massa Nadgel," said that sable worthy, as he stuffed hismouth full of rice; "it's easier to sot dan to stand w'en itseart'quakin'."

  Nigel sat down with a tendency to laugh, for at that moment he chancedto glance at the rafters above, where he saw a small anxious-facedmonkey gazing down at him.

  He was commenting on this creature when another prolonged shock ofearthquake came. It was not a bump like the previous one, but a severevibration which only served to shake the m
en in their chairs, but itshook the small monkey off the rafter, and the miserable little thingfell with a shriek and a flop into the rice-dish!

  "Git out o' dat--you scoundril!" exclaimed Moses, but the order wasneedless, for the monkey bounced out of it like india-rubber and soughtto hide its confusion in the thatch, while Moses helped himself to somemore of the rice, which, he said, was none the worse for beingmonkeyfied!

  At last our travellers found themselves in the town of Telok Betong,where, being within forty-five miles of Krakatoa, the hermit could bothsee and hear that his island-home was in violent agitation; tremendousexplosions occurring frequently, while dense masses of smoke wereascending from its craters.

  "I'm happy to find," said the hermit, soon after their arrival in thetown, "that the peak of Rakata, on the southern part of the island wheremy cave lies, is still quiet and has shown no sign of breaking out. Andnow I shall go and see after my canoe."

  "Do you think it safe to venture to visit your cave?" asked Nigel.

  "Well, not absolutely safe," returned the hermit with a peculiar smile,"but, of course, if you think it unwise to run the risk of--"

  "I asked a simple question, Van der Kemp, without any thought ofmyself," interrupted the youth, as he flushed deeply.

  "Forgive me, Nigel," returned the hermit quickly and gravely, "it is butmy duty to point out that we cannot go there without running _some_risk."

  "And it is _my_ duty to point out," retorted his hurt friend, "that whenany man, worthy of the name, agrees to follow another, he agrees toaccept all risks."

  To this the hermit vouchsafed no further reply than a slight smile andnod of intelligence. Thereafter he went off alone to inquire about hiscanoe, which, it will be remembered, his friend, the captain of thesteamer, had promised to leave for him at this place.

  Telok Betong, which was one of the severest sufferers by the eruption of1883, is a small town at the head of Lampong Bay, opposite to the islandof Krakatoa, from which it is between forty and fifty miles distant. Itis built on a narrow strip of land at the base of a steep mountain, butlittle above the sea, and is the chief town of the Lampong Residency,which forms the most southerly province of Sumatra. At the time wewrite of, the only European residents of the place were connected withGovernment. The rest of the population was composed of a heterogeneousmass of natives mingled with a number of Chinese, a few Arabs, and alarge fluctuating population of traders from Borneo, Celebes, NewGuinea, Siam, and the other innumerable isles of the archipelago. Thesewere more or less connected with prahus laden with the rich and variedmerchandise of the eastern seas. As each man in the town had beenpermitted to build his house according to his own fancy, picturesqueirregularity was the agreeable result. It may be added that, as eachman spoke his own language in his own tones, Babel and noise were theconsequence.

  In a small hut by the waterside the hermit found the friend--a Malay--towhom his canoe had been consigned, and, in a long low shed close by, hefound the canoe itself, with the faithful Spinkie in charge.

  "Don't go near the canoe till you've made friends with the monkey," saidthe Malay in his own tongue, as he was about to put the key in the door.

  "Why not?" asked the hermit.

  "Because it is the savagest brute I ever came across," said the man."It won't let a soul come near the canoe. I would have killed it longago if the captain of the steamer had not told me you wished it to betaken great care of. There, look out! The vixen is not tied up."

  He flung open the shed-door and revealed Spinkie seated in his oldplace, much deteriorated in appearance and scowling malevolently.

  The instant the poor creature heard its master's voice and saw hisform--for his features must have been invisible against the stronglight--the scowl vanished from its little visage. With a shriek of joyit sprang like an acrobat from a spring-board and plunged into thehermit's bosom--to the alarm of the Malay, who thought this was afurious attack.

  We need not say that Van der Kemp received his faithful little servantkindly, and it was quite touching to observe the monkey's intenseaffection for him. It could not indeed wag its tail like a dog, but itput its arms round its master's neck with a wondrously human air, andrubbed its little head in his beard and whiskers, drawing itself backnow and then, putting its black paws on his cheeks, turning his faceround to the light and opening its round eyes wide--as well as its roundlittle mouth--as if to make sure of his identity--then plunging into thewhiskers again, and sometimes, when unable to contain its joy, finding asafety-valve in a little shriek.

  When the meeting and greeting were over, Van der Kemp explained that hewould require his canoe by daybreak the following morning, ordered a fewprovisions to be got ready, and turned to leave.

  "You must get down, Spinkie, and watch the canoe for one night more,"said the hermit, quietly.

  But Spinkie did not seem to perceive the necessity, for he clung closerto his master with a remonstrative, croak.

  "Get down, Spinkie," said the hermit firmly, "and watch the canoe."

  The poor beast had apparently learned that Medo-persic law was not moreunchangeable than Van der Kemp's commands! At all events it crept downhis arm and leg, waddled slowly over the floor of the shed with bentback and wrinkled brow, like a man of ninety, and took up its oldposition on the deck, the very personification of superannuated woe.

  The hermit patted its head gently, however, thus relieving its feelings,and probably introducing hope into its little heart before leaving.Then he returned to his friends and bade them prepare for immediatedeparture.

  It was the night of the 24th of August, and as the eruptions of thevolcano appeared to be getting more and more violent, Van der Kemp'sanxiety to reach his cave became visibly greater.

  "I have been told," said the hermit to Nigel, as they went down withMoses to the place where the canoe had been left, "the history ofKrakatoa since we left. A friend informs me that a short time after ourdeparture the eruptions subsided a little, and the people here hadceased to pay much attention to them, but about the middle of June thevolcanic activity became more violent, and on the 19th, in particular,it was observed that the vapour-column and the force of the explosionswere decidedly on the increase."

  "At Katimbang, from which place the island can be seen, it was noticedthat a second column of vapour was ascending from the centre of theisland, and that the appearance of Perboewatan had entirely changed, itsconspicuous summit having apparently been blown away. In July therewere some explosions of exceptional violence, and I have now no doubtthat it was these we heard in the interior of this island when we weretravelling hither, quite lately. On the 11th of this month, I believe,the island was visited in a boat by a government officer, but he did notland, owing to the heavy masses of vapour and dust driven about by thewind, which also prevented him from making a careful examination, but hecould see that the forests of nearly the whole island have beendestroyed--only a few trunks of blighted trees being left standing abovethe thick covering of pumice and dust. He reported that the dust nearthe shore was found to be twenty inches thick."

  "If so," said Nigel, "I fear that the island will be no longer fit toinhabit."

  "I know not," returned the hermit sadly, in a musing tone. "The officerreported that there is no sign of eruption at Rakata, so that my houseis yet safe, for no showers of pumice, however deep, can injure thecave."

  Nigel was on the point of asking his friend why he was so anxious torevisit the island at such a time, but, recollecting his recent tiff onthat subject, refrained. Afterwards, however, when Van der Kemp wassettling accounts with the Malay, he put the question to Moses.

  "I can't help wondering," he said, "that Van der Kemp should be soanxious to get back to his cave just now. If he were going in a bigboat to save some of his goods and chattels I could understand it, butthe canoe, you know, could carry little more than her ordinary lading."

  "Well, Massa Nadgel," said Moses, "it's my opinion dat he wants to goback 'cause he's got an uncommo
n affekshnit heart."

  "How? Surely you don't mean that his love of the mere place is sostrong that--"

  "No, no, Massa Nadgel--'snot dat. But he was awrful fond ob his wifean' darter, an' I know he's got a photogruff ob 'em bof togidder, an' It'ink he'd sooner lose his head dan lose dat, for I've seed him look at'em for hours, an' kiss 'em sometimes w'en he t'ought I was asleep."

  The return of the hermit here abruptly stopped the conversation. Thecanoe was carried down and put into the water, watched with profoundinterest by hundreds of natives and traders, who were all more or lessacquainted with the hermit of Rakata.

  It was still daylight when they paddled out into Lampong Bay, but thevolumes of dust which rose from Krakatoa--although nearly fifty milesoff--did much to produce an unusually early twilight.

  "Goin' to be bery dark, massa," remarked Moses as they glided past theshipping. "Shall I light de lamp?"

  "Do, Moses, but we shan't need it, for as we get nearer home thevolcanic fires will light us on our way."

  "De volcanic dust is a-goin' to powder us on our way too, massa. Keepyour hands out o' the way, Spinkie," said the negro as he fixed a smalloil-lamp to the mast, and resumed his paddle.

  "After we get out a bit the wind will help us," said the hermit.

  "Yes, massa, if he don't blow too strong," returned Moses, as a squallcame rushing down the mountains and swept over the bay, ruffling its nowdark waters into foaming wavelets.

  Altogether, what with the increasing darkness and the hissing squall,and the night-voyage before them, and the fires of Krakatoa which werenow clearly visible on the horizon, Nigel Roy felt a more eeriesensation in his breast than he ever remembered to have experienced inall his previous life, but he scorned to admit the fact--even tohimself, and said, mentally, that it was rather romantic than otherwise!

  Just then there burst upon their ears the yell of a steam-whistle, and afew moments later a steamer bore straight down on them, astern.

  "Steamer ahoy!" shouted Van der Kemp. "Will ye throw us a rope?"

  "Ay! ay!--ease 'er!--stop 'er! where are 'ee bound for?" demanded anunmistakably English voice.

  "Krakatoa!" replied the hermit. "Where are you?"

  "Anjer, on the Java coast. Do 'ee want to be smothered, roasted, andblown up?" asked the captain, looking down on the canoe as it rangedalongside the dark hull.

  "No, we want to get home."

  "Home! Well, you're queer fellows in a queer eggshell for such waters.Every man to his taste. Look out for the rope!"

  "All right, cappen," cried Moses as he caught the coil.

  Next moment the steamer went ahead, and the canoe ploughed over theSunda Straits at the rate of thirteen miles an hour, with her sharp prowhigh out of the water, and the stern correspondingly low. The voyage,which would have otherwise cost our three travellers a long laboriousnight and part of next day, was by this means so greatly shortened thatwhen daybreak arrived they were not more than thirteen miles to the eastof Krakatoa. Nearer than this the steamboat could not take them withoutgoing out of her course, but as Van der Kemp and Nigel gratefullyacknowledged, it was quite near enough.

  "Well, I should just think it was rather too near!" said the captainwith a grin.

  And, truly, he was justified in making the remark, for the explosionsfrom the volcano had by that time become not only very frequent, buttremendously loud, while the dense cloud which hung above it and spreadfar and wide over the sky covered the sea with a kind of twilight thatstruggled successfully against the full advent of day. Lightning toowas playing among the rolling black masses of smoke, and the roaringexplosions every now and then seemed to shake the very heavens.

  Casting off the tow-rope, they turned the bow of their canoe to theisland. As a stiffish breeze was blowing, they set the sails,close-reefed, and steered for the southern shore at that part which layunder the shadow of Rakata.