a ghost—a terrible combat ending in a dreadful plunge.

“corrie,” said jo bumpus, solemnly, with a troubled expression on his grave face: “i’ve heer’d a-many a cry in this life, both ashore and afloat; but, since i was half as long as a marline-spike, i’ve never heer’d the likes o’ that there screech nowhere.”

at any other time the boy would have expressed a doubt as to the possibility of the grampus having, at any period of his existence, been so short as “half the length of a marline-spike;” but, being very imaginative by nature, and having been encouraged to believe in ghosts by education, he was too frightened to be funny. with a face that might very well have passed for that of a ghost, and a very pale ghost too, he said, in a tremulous voice—

“oh! dear bumpus, what shall we do?”

“dun know,” replied jo, very sternly; for the stout mariner also believed in ghosts, as a matter of course, (although he would not admit it), and, being a man of iron mould and powerful will, there was at that moment going on within his capacious breast, a terrific struggle between natural courage and supernatural cowardice.

“let’s go back,” whispered corrie. “i know another pass over the hills. it’s a longer one, to be sure; but we can run, you know, to make for—”

he was struck dumb and motionless at this point by the recurrence of the dreadful howling, louder than ever, as poor poopy’s despair deepened.

“don’t speak to me, boy,” said bumpus, still more sternly, while a cold sweat stood in large beads on his pale forehead. “here’s wot i calls somethin’ new, an’ it becomes a man, specially a british seaman, d’ye see, to inquire into new things in a reasonable sort of way.”

jo caught his breath, and clutched the rock beside him powerfully, as he continued—

“it ain’t a ghost, in course; it can’t be that. cause why? there’s no sich a thing as a ghost—”

“ain’t there?” whispered corrie, hopefully.

the hideous yell that poopy here set up, seemed to give the lie direct to the sceptical seaman; but he went on deliberately, though with a glazed eye, and a death-like pallor on his face—

“no; there ain’t no ghosts—never wos, an’ never will be. all ghosts is sciencrific dolusions, nothing more; and it’s only the hignorant an’ supercilious as b’lieves in ’em. i don’t; an’, wots more,” added jo, with tremendous decision, “i won’t!”

at this point, the “sciencrific dolusion” recurred to her former idea of alarming the settlement; and with this view began to retrace her steps, howling as she went.

of course, as jo and his small companion had been guided by her footsteps, it followed that poopy, in retracing them, gradually drew near to the terrified pair. the short twilight of those regions had already deepened into the shades of night; so that the poor girl’s form was not at first visible, as she advanced from among the dark shadows of the overhanging cliffs and the large masses of spattered rock that lay strewn about that wild mountain pass.

now, although john bumpus succeeded, by an almost supernatural effort, in calming the tumultuous agitation of his spirit, while the wild cries of the girl were at some distance, he found himself utterly bereft of speech when the dreadful sounds unmistakably approached him. corrie, too, became livid, and both were rooted to the spot in unutterable horror; but when the ghost at length actually came into view, and, (owing to poopy’s body being dark, and her garments white), presented the appearance of a dimly luminous creature, without head, arms, or legs, the last spark of endurance of man and boy went out. the one gave a roar, the other a shriek, of horror, and both turned and fled like the wind over a stretch of country, which, in happier circumstances, they would have crossed with caution.

poopy helped to accelerate their flight by giving vent to a cry of fear, and thereafter to a yell of delight, as, from her point of view, she recognised the well-known outline of corrie’s figure clearly defined against the sky. she ran after them in frantic haste; but she might as well have chased a couple of wild cats. either terror is gifted with better wings than hope, or males are better runners than females. perhaps both propositions are true; but certain it is that poopy soon began to perceive that the succour which had appeared so suddenly, was about to vanish almost as quickly.

in this new dilemma, the girl once more availed herself of her slight knowledge of the place, and made a détour, which enabled her to shoot ahead of the fugitives and intercept them in one of the narrowest parts of the mountain-gorge. here, instead of using her natural voice, she conceived that the likeliest way of making her terrified friends understand who she was, would be to shout with all the strength of her lungs. accordingly, she planted herself suddenly in the centre of their path, just as the two came tearing blindly round a corner of rock, and set up a series of yells, the nature of which utterly beggars description.

the result was, that with one short wild cry of renewed horror, bumpus and corrie turned sharp round and fled in the opposite direction.

there is no doubt whatever that they would have succeeded in ultimately escaping from this pertinacious ghost, and poor poopy would have had to make the best of her way to sandy cove alone, but for the fortunate circumstance that corrie fell; and, being only a couple of paces in advance of his companion, bumpus fell over him.

the ghost took advantage of this to run forward, crying out, “corrie! corrie! corrie!—it’s me! me! me!” with all her might.

“eh! i do believe it knows my name,” cried the boy, scrambling to his feet, and preparing to renew his flight; but bumpus laid his heavy hand on his collar, and held him fast.

“wot did it speak?”

“yes; listen! oh dear! come, fly!”

instead of flying, the seaman heaved a deep sigh; and, sitting down on a rock, took out a reddish brown cotton handkerchief wherewith he wiped his forehead.

“my boy,” said he, still panting; “it ain’t a ghost. no ghost wos ever known to speak. they looks, an’ they runs, an’ they yells, an’ they vanishes, but they never speaks; d’ye see? i told ye it was a sciencrific dolusion; though, i’m bound for to confess, i never heer’d o’ von o’ them critters speakin’, no more than the ghosts. howsomedever, that’s wot it is.”

corrie, who still hesitated, and held himself in readiness to bolt at a moment’s notice, suddenly cried—

“why, i do believe it’s—no: it can’t be—yes—i say, it’s poopy!”

“wot’s poopy?” inquired the seaman, in some anxiety.

“what, don’t you know poopy, alice’s black maid, who keeps her company, and looks after her; besides ‘doin’ her, and ‘undoin’ her, (as she calls it), night and morning, and putting her to bed? hooray! poopy, my lovely black darling; where have you come from? you’ve frightened bumpus here nearly out of his wits. i do believe he’d have bin dead by this time, but for me!”

so saying, corrie, in the revulsion of his suddenly relieved feelings, actually threw his arms round poopy, and hugged her.

“o corrie,” exclaimed the girl, submitting to the embrace with as much indifference as if she had been a lamp-post, “w’at troble you hab give me! why you run so? sure, you know me voice.”

“know it, my sweet lump of charcoal; i’d know it among a thousand, if ye’d only use it in its own pretty natural tones; but, if you will go and screech like a bottle-imp, you know,” said corrie, remonstratively, “how can you expect a stupid feller like me to recognise it?”

“there ain’t no sich things as bottle-imps, no more nor ghosts,” observed bumpus; “but hold your noise, you chatter-box, and let’s hear wot the gal’s got to say. mayhap she knows summat about alice?”

at this, poopy manufactured an expression on her sable countenance, which was meant to be intensely knowing and suggestive.

“don’t i? yes, me do,” said she.

“out with it then at once, you pot of shoe-blacking,” cried the impatient corrie.

the girl immediately related all that she knew regarding the fugitives, stammering very much from sheer anxiety to get it all out as fast as she could, and delaying her communication very much in consequence,—besides rendering her meaning rather obscure—sometimes unintelligible. indeed, the worthy seaman could scarcely understand a word she said. he sat staring at the whites of her eyes, which, with her teeth, were the only visible parts of her countenance at that moment, and swayed his body to and fro, as if endeavouring by a mechanical effort to arrive at a philosophical conception of something exceedingly abstruse. but at the end of each period he turned to corrie for a translation.

at length, both man and boy became aware of the state of things, and corrie started up, crying—

“let’s go into the cave at once.”

“hold on, boy,” cried bumpus, “not quite so fast, (as the monkey said to the barrel-organ w’en it took to playin’ scotch reels), we must have a council of war, d’ye see? that black monster keona may have gone right through the cave and comed out at t’ other end of it, in w’ich case it’s all up with our chance o’ findin’ ’em to-night. but if they’ve gone in to spend the night there, why we’ve nothin’ to do but watch at the mouth of it till mornin’ an’ nab ’em as they comes out.”

“yes; but how are we to know whether they’re in the cave or not?” said corrie, impatiently.

“ah! that’s the puzzler,” replied bumpus, in a meditative way; “but, of course, we must look out for puzzlers ahead sometimes w’en we gets into a land storm, d’ye see; just as we looks out ahead for breakers in a storm at sea. suppose now that i creeps into the cave and listens for ’em. they’d never hear me, ’cause i’d make no noise.”

“you might as well try to sail into it in a big ship without making noise, you grampus.”

to this the grampus observed, that if the cave had only three fathoms of water in the bottom of it he would have no objection whatever to try.

“but,” added he, “suppose you go in.”

corrie shook his head, and looked anxiously miserable.

“well then,” said bumpus, “suppose we light two torches. i’ll take one in one hand, and this here cutlash in the other; and you’ll take t’other torch in one hand and your pistol in the other, and clap that bit of a broken sword ’tween yer teeth, and we’ll give a horrid screech, and rush in pell-mell—all of a heap like. you could fire yer pistol straight before you on chance, (it’s wonderful wot a chance shot will do sometimes), an’ if it don’t do nothin’, fling it right into the blackguard’s face—a brass-mounted tool like that ketchin’ him right on the end of his beak would lay him flat over, like a ship in a white squall.”

“and suppose,” said corrie, in a tone of withering sarcasm, “suppose all this happened to alice, instead of the dirty nigger?”

“ah! to be sure. that’s a puzzler—puzzler number two.”

here poopy, who had listened with great impatience to the foregoing conversation, broke in energetically.

“an’ s’pose,” said she, “dat keona and missy alice comes out ob cave w’en you two be talkerin’ sich a lot of stuff?”

it may as well be remarked, in passing, that poopy had acquired a considerable amount of her knowledge of english from master corrie. her remark, although not politely made, was sufficiently striking to cause bumpus to start up, and exclaim—

“that’s true, gal; come shew us the way to this here cave.”

there was a fourth individual present at this council of war who apparently felt a deep interest in its results, although he took no part in its proceedings. this was no other than keona himself, who lay extended at full length among the rocks, not two yards from the spot where bumpus sat, listening intently and grinning from ear to ear with fiendish malice.

the series of shrieks, howls, and yells, to which reference has been made, had naturally attracted the attention of that wily savage when he was in the cave. following the sounds with quick noiseless step, he soon found himself within a few paces of the deliberating trio. the savage did not make much of the conversation, but he gathered sufficient to assure himself that his hiding-place had been discovered, and that plans were being laid for his capture.

it would have been an easy matter for him to have leaped suddenly on the unsuspecting bumpus, and driven a knife to his heart, after which, poor corrie and the girl could have been easily dealt with; but fortunately, (at least for his enemies, if not for himself), indecision in the moment of action was one of keona’s besetting sins. he suspected that other enemies might be near at hand, and that the noise of the scuffle might draw them to the spot. he observed, moreover, that the boy had a pistol, which, besides being a weapon that acts quickly and surely, even in weak hands, would give a loud report and a bright flash that might be heard and seen at a great distance.

taking these things into consideration, he thrust back the knife which he had half unsheathed, and, retreating with the slow gliding motion of a serpent, got beyond the chance of being detected, just as bumpus rose to follow poopy to the cave.

the savage entered its yawning mouth in a few seconds and glided noiselessly into its dark recesses like an evil spirit. soon after, the trio reached the same spot and stood for some time silently gazing upon the thick darkness within.

a feeling of awe crept over them as they stood thus, and a shudder passed through corrie’s frame as he thought of the innumerable ghosts that might—probably did—inhabit that dismal place. but the thought of alice served partly to drive away his fears and to steel his heart. he felt that the presence of such a sweet and innocent child must, somehow or other, subdue and baffle the power of evil spirits, and it was with some show of firmness that he said—

“come, bumpus, let’s go in; we are better without a torch, it would only show that we were coming; and as they don’t expect us, the savage may perhaps kindle a light which will guide us.”

bumpus, who was not sustained by any thoughts of the supposed power or influence of the little girl, and whose superstitious fears were again doing furious battle with his natural courage, heaved a deep sigh, ground his teeth together, and clenched his fists.

even in that dreadful hour the seaman’s faith in his physical invincibility, and in the terrible power of his fists, did not altogether fail. although he wore a cutlass, and had used it that day with tremendous effect, he did not now draw it. he preferred to engage supernatural enemies with the weapons that nature had given him, and entered the cave on tiptoe with slow cautious steps; his fists tightly clenched and ready for instant action, yet thrust into the pockets of his coatee in a deceptively peaceful way, as if he meant to take the ghosts by surprise.

corrie followed him, also on tiptoe, with the broken sabre in his right hand, and the cocked pistol in his left, his forefinger being on the trigger, and the muzzle pointing straight at the small of the seaman’s back—if one may be permitted to talk of such an enormous back having any “small” about it!

poopy entered last, also on tiptoe, trembling violently, holding on with both hands to the waistband of corrie’s trousers, and only restrained from instant flight by her anxieties and her strong love for little alice.

thus, step by step, with bated breath and loudly beating hearts, pausing often to listen, and gasping in a subdued way at times, the three friends advanced from the gloom without into the thick darkness within, until their gliding forms were swallowed up.

now it so happened that the shouts and yells, to which we have more than once made reference in this chapter, attracted a band of savages who had been put to flight by henry stuart’s party. these rascals, not knowing what was the cause of so much noise up on the heights, and, being much too well acquainted with the human voice in all its modifications to fancy that ghosts had anything to do with it, cautiously ascended towards the cavern, just a few minutes after the disappearance of john bumpus and his companions.

here they sat down to hold a palaver. while this was going on, keona carried alice in his unwounded arm to the other end of the cave, and, making his exit through a small opening at its inner extremity, bore his trembling captive to a rocky eminence, shaped somewhat like a sugar-loaf, on the summit of which he placed her. so steep were the sides of this cone of lava, that it seemed to alice that she was surrounded by precipices over which she must certainly tumble if she dared to move.

here keona left her, having first, however, said, in a low stern voice—

“if you moves, you dies!”

the poor child was too much terrified to move, even had she dared, for she, too, had heard the unaccountable cries of poopy, although, owing to distance and the wild nature of these cries, she had failed to recognise the voice. when, therefore, her jailer left her with this threat, she coiled herself up in the smallest possible space, and began to sob quietly.

meanwhile, keona re-entered the cavern with a diabolical grin on his sable countenance, which, although it savoured more of evil than of any other quality, had in it, nevertheless, a strong dash of ferocious jovialty, as if he were aware that he had got his enemies into a trap, and could amuse himself by playing with them as a cat does with a mouse.

soon the savage began to step cautiously, partly because of the rugged nature of the ground, and the thick darkness that surrounded him, and partly in order to avoid alarming the three adventurers who were advancing towards him from the other extremity of the cavern. in a few minutes he halted, for the footsteps and the whispering voices of his pursuers became distinctly audible to him, although all three did their best to make as little noise as possible.

“wot a ’orrid place it is!” exclaimed bumpus, in a hoarse angry whisper, as he struck his shins violently, for at least the tenth time, against a ledge of rock—

“i do b’lieve, boy, that there’s nobody here, and that we’d as well ’bout ship and steer back the way we’ve comed; tho’ it is a ’orrible coast for rocks and shoals.”

to this, corrie, not being in a talkative humour, made no reply.

“d’ye hear me, boy?” said jo, aloud, for he was somewhat shaken again by the dead silence that followed the close of his remark.

“all right, i’m here,” said corrie, meekly.

“then why don’t ye speak,” said jo, tartly.

“i’d advise you not to speak so loud,” retorted the boy.

“is the dark ’un there?” inquired bumpus.

“what d’ye say?”

“the dark ’un; the lump o’ charcoal, you know.”

“oh! she’s all safe,” replied corrie, “i only hope she won’t haul the clothes right off my body; she grips at my waistband like a—”

here he was cut short by keona, who gave utterance to a low dismal wail that caused the blood and marrow of all three to freeze up, and their hearts for a moment to leap into their throats and all but choke them.

“poopy’s gone,” gasped corrie, after a few seconds had elapsed.

there was no doubt of the fact, for, besides the relief experienced by the boy, from the relaxing of her grip on his waistband the moment the wail was heard, the sound of the girl’s footsteps as she flew back towards the entrance of the cave was distinctly heard.

keona waited a minute or two to ascertain the exact position of his enemies, then he repeated the wail and swelled it gradually out into a fiendish yell that awoke all the echoes of the place. at the same time, guessing his aim as well as he could, he threw a spear and discharged a shower of stones at the spot where he supposed they stood.

there is no understanding the strange workings of the human mind! the very thing that most people would have expected to strike terror to the heart of bumpus, was that which infused courage into his soul. the frightful tones of the savage’s voice in such a place did indeed almost prostrate the superstitious spirit of the seaman, but when he heard the spear whiz past within an inch of his ear, and received a large stone full on his chest, and several small ones on other parts of his person, that instant his strength returned to him, like that of samson, when the philistines attempted to fall upon him. his curiously philosophical mind at once leaped to the conclusion that, although ghosts could yell, and look, and vanish, they could not throw spears or fling stones, and that, therefore, the man they were in search of was actually close beside them.

acting on this belief, with immense subtlety bumpus uttered a cry of feigned terror, and fled, followed by the panting corrie, who uttered a scream of real terror at what he supposed must be the veritable ghost of the place.

but before he had run fifty yards, john bumpus suddenly came to a dead halt; seized corrie by the collar, dragged him down behind a rock, and laid his large hand upon his mouth, as being the shortest and easiest way of securing silence, without the trouble of explanation.

as he had anticipated, the soft tread of the savage was heard almost immediately after, as he passed on in fall pursuit. he brushed close past the spot where bumpus crouched, and received from that able-bodied seaman such a blow on the shoulder of his wounded arm, as, had it been delivered in daylight, would have certainly smashed his shoulder blade. as it was, it caused him to stagger and sent him howling with pain to the mouth of the cavern, whither he was followed by the triumphant jo, who now made sure of catching him.

but “there is many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.” when keona issued from the cave, he was received with a shout by the band of savages, who instantly recognised him as their friend by his voice. poor poopy was already in their hands, having been seized and gagged when she emerged before she had time to utter a cry. and now they stood in a semicircle ready to receive all who might come forth into their arms, or on their spear-points, as the case might be.

bumpus came out like an insane thunderbolt, and corrie like a streak of lightning. instantaneously the flash of the pistol, accompanied by its report and a deep growl from bumpus, increased the resemblance to these meteorological phenomena, and three savages lay stunned upon the ground.

“this way, corrie!” cried the excited seaman, leaping to a perpendicular rock, against which he placed his back, and raised his fists in a pugilistic attitude. “keep one or two in play with your broken toothpick, an’ i’ll floor ’em one after another as they comes up. now, then, ye black baboons, come on—all at once if ye like—an’ jo bumpus’ll shew ye wot he’s made of!”

not perceiving very clearly, in the dim light caused by a few stars that flickered among the black and gathering clouds, the immense size and power of the man with whom they had to deal, the savages were not slow to accept this free and generous invitation to “come on.” they rushed forward in a body, intending, no doubt, to take the man and boy prisoners; for if they had wished to slay them, nothing would have been easier than to have thrown one or two of their spears at their defenceless breasts.

bumpus experienced a vague feeling that he had now a fair opportunity of testing and proving his invincibility; yet the desperate nature of the case did not induce him to draw his sword. he preferred his fists, as being superior and much more handy weapons. he received the first two savages who came within reach on the knuckles of his right and left hands, rendering them utterly insensible, and driving them against the two men immediately behind, with such tremendous violence, that they also were put hors de combat.

this was just what bumpus had intended and hoped for. the sudden fall of so many gave him time to launch out his great fists a second time. they fell with the weight of sledge-hammers on the faces of two more of his opponents, flattening their noses, and otherwise disfiguring their features, besides stretching them on the ground. at the same time, corrie flung his empty pistol in the face of a man who attempted to assault his companion on the right flank unawares, and laid him prone on the earth. another savage, who made the same effort on the left, received a gash on the thigh from the broken sabre that sent him howling from the scene of conflict.

thus were eight savages disposed of in about as many seconds.

but there is a limit to the powers and the prowess of man. the savages, on seeing the fall of so many of their companions, rushed in on bumpus before he could recover himself for another blow. that is to say, the savages behind pushed forward those in front whether they would or no, and falling en masse on the unfortunate pair, well-nigh buried them alive in black human flesh.

bumpus’s last cry before being smothered was, “down with the black varmints!” and corrie’s last shout was, “hooray!”

thus fell—despite the undignified manner of their fall—a couple of as great heroes as were ever heard of in the annals of war; not excepting even those of homer himself!

now, good reader, this may be all very well for us to describe, and for you to read, but it was a terrible thing for poopy to witness. being bound hand and foot she was compelled to look on; and, to say truth, she did look on with uncommon interest. when her friends fell, however, she expressed her regrets and fears in a subdued shriek, for which she received a sounding slap on the cheek from a young savage who had chosen for himself the comparatively dangerous post of watching her, while his less courageous friends were fighting.

strange to say, poopy did not shed more tears, (as one might have expected), on receiving such treatment. she had been used to that sort of thing, poor child. before coming to the service of her little mistress, she had been brought up—(it would be more strictly correct to say that she had been kicked, and cuffed, and pinched, and battered up)—by a stepmother, whose chief delight was to pull out handfuls of her woolly hair, beat her nose flat, (which was adding insult to injury, for it was too flat by nature), and otherwise to maltreat her. when, therefore, poopy received the slap referred to, she immediately dried her eyes and looked humble. but she did not by any means feel humble. no; a regard for truth compels us to state, that on this particular occasion, poopy acted the part of a hypocrite. if her hands had been loose, and she had possessed a knife just then—we are afraid to think of the dreadful use to which she would have put it!

the natives spent a considerable time in securely binding their three captives, after which they bore them into the cavern.

here they kindled a torch and held a long palaver as to what was to be done with the prisoners. some counselled instant death, others advised that they should be kept as hostages. the debate was so long and fierce, that the day had begun to break before it was concluded. it was at length arranged that they should be conveyed alive to their village, there to be disposed of according to the instructions of their chiefs.

feeling that they had already delayed too long, they placed the prisoners on their shoulders and bore them swiftly away.

poor corrie and his sable friend were easily carried, coiled up like sacks, each on the shoulders of a stalwart savage; but bumpus, who had required eight men to bind him, still remained unconvinced of his vincibility. he struggled so violently on the shoulders of the four men who bore him, that keona, in a fit of passion, tinged no doubt with revenge, hit him such a blow on the head with the handle of an axe as caused his brains to sing, and a host of stars to dance before his eyes.

these stars were, however, purely imaginary, for at that time the dawn had extinguished the lesser lights. ere long, the bright beams of the rising sun suffused the eastern sky with a golden glow. on passing the place where alice had been left, a couple of the party were sent by keona to fetch her. they took the unnecessary precaution of binding the poor child, and speedily rejoined their comrades with her in their arms.

the amazement of her friends on seeing alice was only equalled by her surprise on beholding them. but they were not permitted to communicate with each other. presently the whole party emerged from the wild mountain gorges, through which they had been passing for some time, and proceeded in single file along a narrow path that skirted the precipices of the coast. the cliffs here were nearly a hundred feet high. they descended sheer down into deep water; in some places even overhung the sea.

here john bumpus, having recovered from the stunning effects of the blow dealt him by keona, renewed his struggles, and rendered the passage of the place not only difficult, but dangerous to himself as well as to his enemies. just as they reached a somewhat open space on the top of the cliffs, jo succeeded, by almost superhuman exertion, in bursting his bonds. keona, foaming with rage, gave an angry order to his followers, who rushed upon bumpus in a body as he was endeavouring to clear himself of the cords. although john struck out manfully, the savages were too quick for him. they raised him suddenly aloft in their arms and hurled him headlong over the cliff!

the horror of his friends on witnessing this may easily be imagined, but every other feeling was swallowed up in terror when the savages, apparently rendered bloodthirsty by what they had done, ran towards alice, and, raising her from the ground, hastened to the edge of the cliff, evidently with the intention of throwing her over also.

before they accomplished their fiendish purpose, however, a sound like thunder burst upon their ears and arrested their steps. this was immediately followed by another crash, and then came a series of single reports in rapid succession which were multiplied by the echoes of the heights until the whole region seemed to tremble with the reverberation.

at first the natives seemed awe-stricken. then, on becoming aware that the sounds which originated all this tumult came from the direction of their own village, they dropped alice on the ground, fled precipitately down the rugged path that led from the heights to the valley and disappeared, leaving the three captives, bound and helpless, on the cliffs.