Amongst the penguins, too, were to be seen numbers of little sheathbills--just like small bantams, similar to the specimen Frank Harness had shot, and which he was so sorry about. The little birds went about in pairs and appeared to act as the scavengers of the larger ones, for they haunted their breeding-places, scraping about the nests and dung, clearing out the rotten eggs, and making free with the insects that properly appertained to the penguins. Indeed, they were impudent enough sometimes to seize upon the freshly-laid egg that some lady macaroni had laid, right under the eyes of its owner, feloniously appropriating it to their own use; while they thought nothing of giving an occasional peck to one of the king penguins if he got in their way, regardless of his exalted position!
Flocks of shags, or cormorants, also visited the bay at the same time.
These were found good eating, although not so fleshy as the penguins; and, before the end of the month, there came a large family of seals, which would probably have taken up their abode in the creek had not some of the sailors frightened them away so effectually by their indiscriminate slaughter that they never returned, nor did any others come subsequently to the place.
The coats of these seals were of a fine iron-grey hue, something like that of an otter, only with much more delicate hair. Mr Meldrum was very anxious to secure as many of them as was possible, so he was much chagrined when they disappeared and left him fur-less.
Another visitor was the pretty little Cape pigeon, which Kate recognised as an old friend and was delighted to see. It reminded her, she told Frank, of "old times," when they grew acquainted with each other on board the _Nancy Bell_ and watched the stars at night--and all the rest of it!
But the penguins were the great attraction.
They were "food for the mind and food for the body as well!" the American would say, as he watched Snowball picking the feathers off some scores of the birds when preparing the dinner. The darkey would persist in putting himself to this trouble every day, in spite of Mr Meldrum telling him that the easiest plan was to skin them, when the feathers would come off in a lump in a quarter of the time; but Snowball would not be persuaded to adopt this course, although the majority of the sailors did so when preparing the penguins for storing up, and there was consequently a large accumulation of skins, which came in very handy presently for tailoring purposes.
Through constant wear, the trousers of the majority of the menfolk were into such a dilapidated condition that it became absolutely necessary to try and restore them--none of the entire party having a single change of clothing with them, excepting the ladies; while the only material available for their rehabilitation was sailcloth, which, besides not being enough for all, was rather too stiff a material for either comfort or warmth.
In this dilemma, the happy thought struck Mr McCarthy of fashioning a pair of "unmentionables" out of penguin skins; and he had no sooner "hatched the idea" than he carried it into practical effect by instructing Ben Boltrope, who was by a long way the smartest and most ready-witted of the men, to make him the trousers.
The deed was accomplished; and, really, the garments did not look at all bad when finished, for, on the removal of the outside feathers, the skin of the bird was found to be coated with a fine down like that of the eider-duck, which lent an originality of appearance to the trousers that could hardly be described.
"They're just like Barnum's woolly horse," said Mr Lathrope, criticising them calmly. "If I were you, Mac, I wouldn't go nigh the rookery with them on, or them birds will take you for a fledgeling, mister, I guess!"
"Begorrah, I don't care, for they're worrum and comfortable," said Mr McCarthy, "and it's raal white ducks they are, anyhow!"
They certainly looked it; but, as the first-mate would not be put out of any conceit with the garments, in spite of their appearance, and as others began to be similarly in need, they had perforce to follow his example, when penguin trousers may be said to have "become the rage" on the island--even Mr Lathrope, who had laughed at Mr McCarthy for wearing them, having to follow the fashion and don the "ducks."
Owing to this new demand on the feathered colony it would seem like exaggeration to state how many thousands came to an untimely end, in addition to the numbers that were killed to supply the daily necessities of the table and the large quantity which Mr Meldrum had caused to be prepared and dried, like the rabbits, "for a rainy day;" while, as to the eggs that were eaten--well, the least said about these the better!
From all of this it may be gathered that the penguins made a bad move when they came back to their old breeding-place; but the stupid birds never seemed to be aware that they could at any time save themselves by flight if they liked, although they must have been somehow or other acquainted with the deplorable fact--in a bird-like way--that their rookery was becoming rapidly depopulated! No, notwithstanding that they saw their friends and relatives repeatedly slaughtered before their very eyes--their penguin parents, children, godfathers, godmothers, and first cousins thus perishing at the hands of miscreants in human form, and subsequently converted into food and clothing and to other "base uses"
by those who took their innocent lives--they never appeared to make an effort in self-defence, either by executing a "strategical movement" or otherwise!
The spirit of penguinism, so to speak, was dead, the bird colony contenting themselves by grumbling, an infallible resource for all similarly constituted creatures--in which respect, as Mr Lathrope was pleased to put it, they resembled a class of modern politicians who need not be alluded to here.
Amongst those included in the list of penguin slayers was one who pursued them to the death--although rather through a desire for malicious sport and self-gratification than from any actual necessity-- and this vindictive enemy was Master Maurice Negus.
The young gentlemen had developed many pleasing traits of character during the comparatively short period during which he was brought into public notice as one of the passengers of the ill-fated _Nancy Bell_; but in none of these had he so well exemplified his natural and ingenious bias of mind as in the little predilection, if it may be so termed, for bird slaughter _in ovum_, which first saw the light in Kerguelen Land.
Soon after the penguins came to breed there, Master Maurice noted them carefully, and it pleased him much thereafter to go "bird-nesting," as he called it. He would go by himself and remain away for hours, no one knowing what "the imp," as all spoke of him, was up to; but one day it was discovered that the fancy for "collecting eggs," according to his own explanation, consisted in swallowing as many raw ones as he could get hold of unseen--he being observed on the occasion in question to get rid of a round dozen of the eggs deposited by the penguins, just as he would have done so many oysters, saying afterwards when taxed with the gluttony that he felt delicate, and had heard that eggs were recommended by doctors for consumptive patients!
But, later on, the young gentleman "caught a tartar."
On his last bird-nesting excursion he happened, fortunately or unfortunately, to shove a half-hatched egg down his throat; and, the embryo bird nearly choking him, his poultry-fancying propensity was transformed into an inveterate dislike towards the entire penguin tribe--a slightly lucky mistake for the creatures in question, as thereby the list of their enemies became decreased by one.
Time thus slipped by with the inhabitants of the house on the creek.
Melting by degrees, the vast piles of snow began to vanish from the valleys and low-lying lands, although still clothing the distant hill- sides and mountain-peaks, from the loftier ones of which it probably never entirely cleared away even in the height of summer; but, the ground around was naturally so damp and marshy, and had become so soddened now with moisture, that it was almost as impracticable for Mr Meldrum or any other of the party to get away from the vicinity of the hut, as it had been during the heavy storms of August when the snow had drifted up the gullies and levelled the country.
In fact it was more so, for, the accumulated water, proceeding from the thaw and the rain, which came every now and then to aid it, had swelled the fresh-water tarn near them so greatly that it had overflowed its banks, which now extended on the right to the base of the furthest hills at the head of the valley that penetrated the creek; while, to the left, the water was pouring down, a foaming torrent, into the sea--the house being almost surrounded and separated by the newly-made river from the little building in which the jolly-boat had been housed on the beach.
They were thus threatened with a flood, for the water was rising every moment and slowly creeping up to their feet, narrowing the little peninsula on which their habitation stood.
That was not the worst either!
While they were pondering as to the best means for extricating themselves from the danger of being washed away, a new one arose.
Through the melting of the snow on the mountains above, a sparkling cascade commenced all at once to leap down the face of the cliff at the back of the house, right on to the roof over their heads.
This was serious; for, should this peril not be guarded against and some sort of pent-house put up as a shield, the slight timber work of the roof would soon be crushed in and swept away by the ever-increasing weight of the falling water.
In the midst of these imminent dangers, a phenomenon occurred which for the moment appalled everybody, not even excepting Mr Meldrum--it was so strange, so awe-inspiring!
It commenced snowing again; but there was nothing unusual in that. What was unusual was, that the flakes which fell, instead of being white, were as black as ink!
What could the awful portent foretell?
It was inexplicable.
CHAPTER THIRTY.
AN APPARITION!
"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed Mrs Major Negus in accents of genuine terror, "the world's coming to an end!" and she sank down in a heap on the ground, close to the door of the general room, where she had been standing uncertain whether to go out or in.
There was ample reason for the good lady's consternation, for danger seemed staring her in the face in either direction.
On the one hand, the flood in the valley appeared approaching as if to swallow up the hut and all its belongings; while, on the other, the deafening noise of the water pouring down from the cliff above on to the roof made everybody feel impelled to quit the house.
Mary Llewellyn, the stewardess, generally a quiet and retiring person, was driven into a fit of hysterics by the concatenation of horrors that all at once surrounded them.
As for the children, they shared the fright of their elders, Florry clinging convulsively to Kate, who had dropped on her knees and was praying in the corner--believing really that the last supreme moment was at hand.
The men, too--they had been hastily called together the moment the dangerous predicament of the roof was noticed, and had begun to knock together a sort of wooden shield to interpose between the cliff and the top of the house, so that the water might rim over it in the fashion of a spout--stopped in their task with one accord, staring as if bewildered at each other the moment the terrible black snow began to fall from the sombre pall-like clouds which hung over the creek. This was immediately after the cascade of water came down the cliff; and so frightened were they, that not one of them uttered a word, nor did Mr McCarthy, who had summoned them together, urge them on with their work. All remained spell-bound and tongue-tied.
"It air orfull," said Mr Lathrope, drawing a deep breath, and looking up at the sky as if to peer into its mysteries. "I guess I never seed such a fall before--no, nor nobody else in the land of the living!"
No one answered him, however; for, at that moment, there was a strange concussion in the air, the earth shaking beneath their feet, and they were all thrown to the ground. At the same time, the black flakes descended faster and faster as if to bury them, and some of the men, imitating the example of the women, cried out in positive alarm.
Mr Meldrum was the first to recover his self-command.
"Silence!" he shouted, making his powerful voice heard above the chorus of groans and shrieks that arose from the frightened men and screaming women. "It's only an earthquake; and God will protect us here against the perils of the land, the same as he did through the tempests of the deep! Let us meet what may be in store for us with the courage of brave men and faith of Christians!"
His words at once checked the tumult--even the stewardess and Mrs Negus hushing down their wailing outcry to an occasional moan or faint muffled sob, which they could not quite stifle; but the strange rocking motion of the ground, which seemed as if they were again on shipboard, prevented the yen from at once regaining their feet, only a few being able to scramble up into an erect position by holding on to the supports of the house, which fortunately stood the shock of the subterranean commotion without giving way.
"The worst is past now," said Mr Meldrum presently, as the throbs of the earthquake grew less and less potent and the quivering sensation, which appeared to jingle through every nerve in their bodies, died away into a faint rumbling in the distance, that finally disappeared a few seconds afterwards--the whole thing not lasting longer than a minute altogether, although it seemed more than an hour to the terror-stricken people. "I don't think we'll have another shock."
He stood up firmly as he spoke; and those of the men who were still lying on the ground rose too.
"But the snow, sir," said one. "What does that mean?"