CHAPTER XX
AN ATTACK IN THE DARK
Dave's cry brought Captain Broadbeam to the shore in a hurry.
"Where is the ship?" he demanded.
"There!" and the young diver pointed with his hand.
"You are right, lad. But she is not headed for this island."
"Can she be the Swallow?"
"I should say not."
"Maybe she is the Raven."
"It is possible, Dave. But she is not coming here, that is certain."
"Shall we set up a shout?"
"It will do no good. They could not hear us."
"We might fly a signal of distress."
"It is too dark for that now."
Both watched the ship with interest. The captain was right, the vessel was not headed for the island, and in a few minutes it passed from view.
"If that was a friendly vessel, it's a chance gone," was Dave's sober comment.
"True, but it cannot be helped."
As usual in the tropics, night came on quickly. There was no moon, but countless stars shone from on high. The birds ceased their songs, and presently all was quiet.
"I suppose we may as well proceed to make ourselves comfortable," said Dr. Barrell.
"Somebody has got to remain on guard," came from Dave, who was not inclined to forget that the gorilla was still at large.
"We'll divide up the night into three watches of three hours each," said the captain. "I can take one watch, Dave another, and the doctor the third."
So it was arranged, and it fell to Dave to go on guard first.
"That suits me," said the young diver. "I hate to break in on my night's rest after I have once retired."
A comfortable spot had been selected for all hands. It was located about two hundred feet from the shore, where there was a series of rocks and some trees. The doctor had fashioned some brushwood into a shack, and gathered additional brushwood for bedding.
To keep himself awake Dave began to walk around the camp, and also made several trips down to the ocean front. He carried his bow and his arrows with him, to help guard against any surprise.
On his second trip down to the shore he noticed a strange fire a long distance off.
"That must be a camp-fire of some sort," he mused. "Perhaps it is that of the savages on that other island."
He watched the fire for a quarter of an hour and gradually it died away, leaving the ocean as dark as before.
It must be confessed that his day's tramping had made Dave sleepy, and it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.
"I'll be glad when it comes my turn to go to bed," he thought.
The young diver had less than half an hour to remain on guard when his attention was attracted to a peculiar sound among the trees close at hand.
He looked in the direction, and was horrified to see two shining eyes glaring down at him.
"A wild beast, sure," he reasoned. "Wonder if the thing wants to attack me?"
As quickly as he could, he got his bow into position and adjusted one of the arrows to the string.
The eyes were still turned upon him and the sight was enough to make his blood run cold.
"Here goes!" he muttered, and taking careful aim, he let the arrow fly with all force.
His aim was true, and no sooner had the arrow struck than there was an unearthly shriek, and out of the tree dropped a large dark object. It flipped and flopped over the ground, uttering snarl after snarl.
"What's the row?" cried Captain Broadbeam, leaping to his feet and seizing a club.
"I've struck something!" answered Dave. "Take care!"
"It's that gorilla!"
"So I see—now," said the young diver.
The creature was seriously but not mortally wounded and continued to flop around, uttering the most unearthly of shrieks and cries, which awoke all of the others in the camp.
"In mercy's name what does this mean?" demanded Doctor Barrell, nervously.
"Here is your gorilla, doctor!" sang out Dave. "Come and get him if you want him."
"Ugh! what a horrid creature. Is—is he dangerous still?"
"He will be if you get too close to him."
"Kill him! kill him!" cried Bob. "Don't let him come this way!"
Watching his opportunity, Captain Broadbeam let fly with his club, hitting the gorilla in the neck. Then Dave put another arrow into the creature's body, and at last it gave a shudder and a gasp and rolled over dead.
"Kilt, is it?" came weakly from Pat Stoodles. "Sure an' it's a good job done, so it is!"
The camp-fire was stirred up and the captain picked up a torch and walked over to the gorilla.
"Dead as a stone," he announced, and then Dave and the doctor approached.
"We can save the skin and the skull," said Doctor Barrell. "They, at least, can do us no harm."
"I am glad he is dead," came from the captain. "Dave, you gave him a good one in the eye."
"I'm glad I had the bow and arrow to do it with," answered the young diver modestly.
After this Captain Broadbeam went on guard, and, utterly exhausted, Dave lay down and slept soundly until long after the sun came up on the following morning.
"Now I feel like a new man," said the young diver on arising. "I can tell you a sound sleep is a wonderful thing."
"The question is, what are we to do next?" came from the doctor. "We cannot remain on this island forever."
"Well, we shall have to remain until some ship takes us off," said Captain Broadbeam.
"And in the meantime we have got to provide for ourselves," put in Dave. "And that is not going to be so easy unless we live on clams, oysters, fish, and berries."
"Don't forget the birds," said the captain.
Dave wanted to go fishing, and after a good deal of trouble succeeded in making a hook of a big pin Bob had been using in place of a button on his jacket. For bait he used a big bug he found under a dead tree limb.
"I don't know how this is going to work," he said.
"Well, there is nothing like trying," answered the captain. "I'll see what I can do to bring down some more birds and find some fruit."
Dave started to fish in the cove, and it was not long before he got a bite and pulled in a fish weighing a couple of pounds. This encouraged him, and inside of an hour he had a mess of nine to his credit.
"We'll be able to get all the fish we want, that is sure," he reasoned. "Living on the island wouldn't be half bad, if it wasn't that those fellows on the Raven may sail away and get at that treasure before we have a chance to reach the spot."
Dave could not help thinking, too, of those on the Swallow, and he wondered how his father was faring.
Having caught all the fish he wished he was presently joined by Captain Broadbeam, who had brought down two more birds.
"I think I'll take a swim," said Dave. "I feel as if I needed the wash."
"Very well, I'll sit on the shore and watch you," replied the captain.
The young diver was soon in the water, which felt cool and refreshing. He loved to sport around, and dove and swam about to his heart's content.
"Better come in," he said to the master of the Swallow.
"Not to-day, lad," came back the answer. "How is the bottom where you are swimming?"
"Sandy, with a few shells," answered Dave. "Do you know what I am thinking?" he went on. "There may be pearls here."
"Perhaps."
"I'm going to do some diving and take a look around."
Dave was as good as his word and dove not once but a dozen times. He brought up a peck of oysters, but none containing pearls.
"Must have been mistaken," he said. "I'll try it once again."
He made a beautiful dive and reached the bottom with ease.
But scarcely had he put out his hand for an oyster when he saw something that filled him with alarm.
A long, dark object was moving along the ocean bottom towards him.
At first he could not make out what it was, but presently discovered that it was a slimy water snake. The reptile was all of ten feet in length and five or six inches in thickness.
Dave had no wish to encounter such a horrible-looking creature, and turning, he started to swim to the surface.
The water snake came after him rapidly, and just as he got his head above water Dave felt something slippery curl itself around one of his legs and start to draw him under.