IN WHICH SOMETHING HAPPENS WHICH CANNOT FAIL TO SURPRISE THE READER.
To Godfrey the blow was serious. Would this unexpected chance which had just escaped him ever offer again? Could he hope so? No! The indifference¹ of the steamer as she passed in sight of the island, without even taking a look at it, was obviously shared in by all the vessels³ venturing in this deserted⁴ portion of the Pacific. Why should they put into port more than she had done? The island did not possess a single harbour.
 
Godfrey passed a sorrowful night. Every now and then jumping up as if he heard a cannon⁵ out at sea, he would ask himself if the steamer had not caught sight of the huge fire which still burnt on the coast, and if she were not endeavouring to answer the signal by a gun-shot?
 
Godfrey listened. It was only an illusion of his over-excited brain. When the day came, he had come to look upon the apparition⁶ of the ship as but a dream, which had[Pg 180] commenced about three o'clock on the previous afternoon.
 
But no! He was only too certain that a ship had been in sight of Phina Island, maybe within two miles of it, and certainly she had not put in.
 
Of this deception⁷ Godfrey said not a word to Tartlet⁸. What was the good of talking about it? Besides, his frivolous⁹ mind could not see more than twenty-four hours ahead. He was no longer thinking of the chances of escaping from the island which might offer. He no longer imagined that the future had great things in store for them. San Francisco was fading out of his recollection. He had no sweetheart waiting for him, no Uncle Will to return to. If at this end of the world he could only commence a course of lessons on dancing, his happiness would be complete—were it only with one pupil.
 
If the professor dreamt not of immediate¹⁰ danger, such as to compromise his safety in this island—bare, as it was, of wild beasts and savages¹¹—he was wrong. This very day his optimism was to be put to a rude test.
 
About four o'clock in the afternoon Tartlet had gone, according to his custom, to collect some oysters¹² and mussels, on that part of the shore behind Flag Point, when Godfrey saw him coming back as fast as his legs could carry him to Will Tree. His hair stood on end round his[Pg 181] temples. He looked like a man in flight, who dared not turn his head to the right or to the left.
 
"What is the matter?" shouted Godfrey, not without alarm, running to meet his companion.
 
"There! there!" answered Tartlet, pointing with his finger towards the narrow strip of sea visible to the north between the trees.
 
"But what is it?" asked Godfrey, whose first movement was to run to the edge of the sequoias.
 
"A canoe!"
 
"A canoe?"
 
"Yes! Savages! Quite a fleet of savages! Cannibals, perhaps!"
 
Godfrey looked in the direction pointed¹⁴ out.
 
It was not a fleet, as the distracted Tartlet had said; but he was only mistaken about the quantity.
 
In fact, there was a small vessel² gliding¹⁵ through the water, now very calm, about half-a-mile from the coast, so as to double Flag Point.
 
"And why should they be cannibals?" asked Godfrey, turning towards the professor.
 
"Because in Crusoe Islands," answered Tartlet, "there are always cannibals, who arrive sooner or later."
 
"Is it not a boat from some merchant-ship?"
 
"From a ship?"
 
[Pg 182]
 
"Yes. From a steamer which passed here yesterday afternoon, in sight of our island?"
 
"And you said nothing to me about it!" exclaimed Tartlet, lifting his hands to the sky.
 
"What good should I have done?" asked Godfrey. "Besides, I thought that the vessel had disappeared! But that boat might belong to her! Let us go and see!"
 
Godfrey ran rapidly back to Will Tree, and, seizing his glass, returned to the edge of the trees.
 
He then examined with extreme attention the little vessel, which would ere then have perceived the flag on Flag Point as it fluttered in the breeze.
 
The glass fell from his hands.
 
"Savages! Yes! They are really savages!" he exclaimed.
 
Tartlet felt his knees knock together, and a tremor¹⁶ of fright ran through his body.
 
It was a vessel manned by savages which Godfrey saw approaching the island. Built like a Polynesian canoe, she carried a large sail of woven bamboo; an outrigger on the weather side kept her from capsizing as she heeled down to the wind.
 
Godfrey easily distinguished¹⁷ the build of the vessel. She was a proa, and this would indicate that Phina Island was not far from Malaysia. But they were not Malays on[Pg 183] board; they were half-naked blacks, and there were about a dozen of them.
 
The danger of being found was thus great. Godfrey regretted that he had hoisted¹⁸ the flag, which had not been seen by the ship, but would be by these black fellows. To take it down now would be too late.
 
It was, in truth, very unfortunate. The savages had probably come to the island thinking it was uninhabited, as indeed it had been before the wreck¹⁹ of the Dream. But there was the flag, indicating the presence of human beings on the coast! How were they to escape them if they landed?
 
Godfrey knew not what to do. Anyhow his immediate care must be to watch if they set foot on the island. He could think of other things afterwards.
 
With his glass at his eye he followed the proa; he saw it turn the point of the promontory²⁰, then run along the shore and then approach the mouth of the small stream, which, two miles up, flowed past Will Tree.
 
If the savages intended to paddle up the river, they would soon reach the group of sequoias—and nothing could hinder them. Godfrey and Tartlet ran rapidly back to their dwelling²¹. They first of all set about guarding them selves against surprise, and giving themselves time to prepare their defence.
 
[Pg 184]
 
At least that is what Godfrey thought of. The ideas of the professor took quite a different turn.
 
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "It is destiny! This is as it was ............