The marvellous land of Snergs
them alone in the forest, he merely stated that all this talk was
unnecessary for they were coming along too. I will pass briefly over
their indignation at this new tyranny; of how Joe in the first flush
of his wrath called the knight “Blighter!” or how Sylvia stroked his
mail-clad hand and implored him not to be a beast. Suffice it to say
that all was of no avail and that they were lifted up and placed each
in front of a stalwart man-at-arms, while Baldry was ordered to mount a
spare horse they had with them.
Strange to say, now that Baldry was captured and there was no way out
of it, he took the matter with more philosophy than might be expected.
He climbed up on the horse as he was told, loudly calling all to
witness that he was doing so under protest, and seated himself facing
the tail; and when the squire, Baldwin, sternly reproved him for his
folly he apologized in such ironical terms that the men-at-arms were
forced to turn away their heads to hide a smile. Encouraged by this he
broke loudly into song, but here the knight took a hand in the matter
and ordered them to tie his mouth up with a kerchief. Then he placed
himself at the head of his men, gave an order, and the troop turned
round and went back over the green ride.
Truly a bitter result of the children’s folly and disobedience to find
themselves borne far from their faithful friend Gorbo, to become the
captives of a king of ruthless fame.
And as the troop rode on, two and two, old Mother Meldrum was standing,
out of breath, at the edge of the dark wood, glaring at them from under
her hand and muttering deep curses.
_Part III_
THE DOINGS AT HOME
It will be well at this point of the narrative to return to the land
of the Snergs and consider the doings of King Merse II and his friend
Vanderdecken.
During their conference they had come to the decision that the children
and Gorbo must have got by some strange chance to the other side of the
river and were wandering about in the unknown country beyond, where not
even a Snerg had penetrated, or, for the matter of that, ever wished
to penetrate. There was nothing for it, therefore, but to devise some
means of following them there in force and rescuing them; though from
what dangers they were to be rescued no man could say.
Vanderdecken had considered carefully and asked whether, as the river
must reach the sea at some point, they could go along the coast and
cross it at its mouth. But King Merse told him that not only was it
very far to where the river came to the sea, but the country between
was all chasms and inaccessible cliffs, or else wild, matted jungle
coming down to the shore (which was full of quicksands) and that it
would take a week’s hard travel to get half-way there--that is to say,
to the part where it began to be really difficult--which put the lid on
that suggestion.
Then Vanderdecken asked if there was any narrow part of the river, and
he was told there was one point, some league or so from the town, where
the cliffs were not so very wide apart. But to make up for that they
were very high, and more than steep because they leaned over the river,
which rushed fiercely below almost in darkness, so far down was it.
Short of flying over, said the King, there was no way to pass there.
But Vanderdecken asked him to step out on the ground what he thought
would be about the distance across, and when this was done he nodded in
a satisfied way. Then he asked if there were trees on the farther side,
and being told there were many trees on both sides, growing close to
the edge of the cliffs he said, “This will be like drinking Schnapps,”
and (his own words reminding him) took the King in to have some. After
a little more conference, he arranged to meet him at the town on the
following morning as I have already related.
THE INGENUITY OF VANDERDECKEN
In addition to their weapons and personal belongings the Dutchmen had
taken some ship’s gear with them. It consisted of the following:
1 long stout rope (spare topsail halyard).
1 coil of thin rope.
1 small anchor (belonging to the longboat).
1 stout iron bar (spare handle of deck pump).
1 strong net of rope (used for hoisting out of the hold).
2 saws.
3 axes.
4 adzes.
1 two-inch auger.
1 big hammer.
1 bag of nails and other small matters.
On arriving at the narrow part of the river, Vanderdecken walked to
and fro with his mate, looking at all points. At length he stopped and
said, “This is where we get busy.”
The opposite cliff was not very far away (possibly about two hundred
feet) and there were many trees about, growing close to the edge, as
the King had said. Far below could be seen flashes of white where the
torrent broke into foam as it roared on in the gloom.
A tall young tree, of a springy character, was cut down and the
branches were lopped off. Two sides were then cut away until it looked
something like a very long thick plank; the Snergs working at it with
great fury, so that the air was full of chips. Then they....
No, on second thoughts I consider it inadvisable to give a detailed
description of the device which Vanderdecken made. It would be to turn
from a narrative of adventure (with a moral) to a cheap treatise on
mechanics. Let it suffice to say that with great labour of all hands he
made a fairly good imitation of a Roman _balista_, which was so useful
in inducing besieged peoples to be reasonable by heaving tons of rock
at them. This shows the advantage of a classical education.
Instead of rock he was going to heave the anchor, with the rope
attached to it and neatly coiled up, to the other side of the river.
The other end of the rope was tied to a tree, and all that had to be
done was to cut another rope that acted as the trigger of this deadly
arrangement.
HOW THEY PASSED OVER THE RIVER
Vanderdecken carefully inspected the completed arrangements and, after
warning some enthusiastic Snergs to stand a little further off, drew
his cutlass. One dexterous slash and the rope parted, there was a
terrific jarr that shook some of the lighter Snergs off their feet,
and the anchor flew across the river like an ungainly bird, the rope
uncoiling in the air behind it, and crashed into the trees on the
opposite side. The Snergs raised a joyful cheer, but the Dutchmen,
being phlegmatic, did not. Instead, they grabbed the rope and hauled it
in. A dozen pairs of extra hands had it in a moment, and hauled with a
will to the tune of “Fifteen men.” The rope grew taut--then slipped.
They hauled away, and it caught again--slipped once more, and caught
again. And this time it had caught firmly, for all hands were pulling
and the rope was as taut as a rod. It was belayed smartly round a tree
and lashed securely, and a moment later a Snerg was hanging on to it
and going across with swift jerks.
He disappeared in the foliage (the first Snerg to arrive on the other
side; he got a decoration for it). A minute later he came running to
the edge of the cliff and shouted that all was well; the anchor had
caught firmly, with each fluke round a small but sufficient tree trunk.
The job was done. Here was a road to the unknown land quite good enough
for seamen, and more than good enough for Snergs, who can climb like
startled cats.
Vanderdecken expressed his satisfaction at the successful result, for
if the anchor trick had proved a failure it would have been necessary
to pad a Snerg up with lots of straw and shoot him across with a line
attached so that he could haul the rope over after arrival. There was a
great deal of resource and determination about this sea captain.
It was waxing late, for the construction of the device had taken the
greater part of the day, and there was no time to be lost if they
were all to get over before night. The rope was only as thick as a
fair-sized broom handle so it was decided that they would have to pass
over at long distances apart in order not to put too great a strain on
it, but they were told to move in lively fashion. Vanderdecken and the
King went first, and then the others--thirty-three Dutch seamen and two
hundred and one Snergs (the odd one was the trumpeter)--each carrying
his weapons and kit securely lashed to him because the position of
travel was of course upside-down, and it was quite dark before the
last one got over. Camp fires were soon burning brightly and each
man prepared his bed, of chopped-up ferns. Sentries were posted in an
orderly way, steel casques and breastplates being compulsory. Then,
after a hasty supper, they turned in for the night.
BOOT AND SADDLE
This heading is not quite correct because, though they had boots they
had no saddles, but it means that they were off. The trumpet blew a
full hour before daybreak, and by the time the dawn came they had
had some breakfast and were all ready. King Merse, who had something
of Napoleon’s ability, left full directions with a crowd of fifty
Snergs who had remained for the night on the Snerg side of the river.
They were to divide into two lots, one for each side, and the lot on
the enemy side was to dig a deep semicircular trench and make a high
semicircular wall to defend the point where the rope was anchored. The
lots were to change places every third day. And until they saw the
Expeditionary Force returning they were to send a daily messenger to
the town to say that all was well--meaning that nothing had happened
so far--and this message was to be forwarded on to Miss Watkyns by
a special runner. It is indeed terrible to think that all this fuss
should be caused by the folly and disobedience of two shrimps like
Sylvia and Joe.
The force started off in the direction of some rising ground, from
which they would be able to reconnoitre the country. Four agile
Snergs went some quarter of a mile ahead, and behind came the main
body, in fours, led by Vanderdecken and the King. The former wore
wide boots with tops like buckets and a sea-cap of fur, and carried
a long deadly-looking musket. The latter wore an inlaid cuirass and
steel casque and a sword of proof. In his hand he swung a double-edged
battle-axe and altogether he looked very serviceable for his size. The
Snergs that remained behind watched them marching away into the unknown
land, until the trees hid them from view and they could be seen no
more, and even the clumping of the Dutchmen’s sea-boots died away.
THE FIRST DAY’S MARCH
It was late in the afternoon when the Expeditionary Force halted on a
hill and surveyed with interest a little distant cluster of towers.
It was the first sign of habitation they had met with in a long, hard
march.
Their preliminary inspection of the country in the morning had shown
them only gently rolling plains, with patches of dense woods here
and there, which seemed to be quite uninhabited, so it was a toss-up
which way they should take. Vanderdecken had said that since they did
not know the proper course to steer it was best to make one and stick
to it; even if it led them away from the lost ones the same might be
said of any course, and they had to go somewhere. So they selected
sou’west-by-west and tramped it steadily for many hours, marvelling at
the strange absence of natives or roads or houses. Nor were there signs
of dragons or unicorns or other fierce fauna rumoured to be in the land
beyond the river. The fiercest thing they saw was a huge rabbit, with
claws; and all that it did was to make a nasty face at them and run
away.
The course was changed after a midday rest and they went
sou’east-by-south, Vanderdecken having given his opinion that since
they had met with nothing to guide them in the search it would be
best to go about on the other tack, which means to go zigzag. And so