Chapter 28. Lost!

________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT. LOST!

Purple heath, golden gorse, and tufts of broom. Tall pines with branches like steps to tempt you to climb. Regular precipices after climbing above the sand-pit, from which you could jump into the soft sand, and then slide and roll down to the bottom. Once I jumped upon a little promontory high above the slope, and it gave way, and I slid down on about a ton of matted root and earth and sand.

Then we climbed to the sand-martins' nests, and slipped down or rolled down, and climbed again, and along ledges, and thrust in our arms, but nesting was over for the year, and the swift little birds made their nurseries beyond our reach, for we did not find the bottom of one single hole.

Shock was full of fun, and shouted and threw sand at Juno, who barked, and made believe to bite him, and rolled over and over with him down some slope, to be half buried in the sand at the bottom.

We soon forgot all about Ike, but we once smelt a whiff of tobacco, which seemed to be mingled with the sweet scent of the pines in the hot sunshine.

There were butterflies, too, red admirals, that came flitting into the sandy bottom, and settled on the face of the sandy cliff, but always sailed away before we got near. Then we went out on to the wild heathery waste to the south, and chased lizards in the dry short growth. Then Shock uttered an excited cry and drew back Juno, who was sniffing, and struck two or three rapid blows at something, ending by stooping and raising a little writhing serpent by the tail.

"Nedder," he said, and he crushed it beneath his heel.

There were grasshoppers, too, by the thousand, and furze, and stone-chats flitting from bush to bush, while sometimes a dove winged its way overheard, or uttered its deep coo from the pine-wood at the foot of the hill.

Delicious blue sky overhead; a view all about that seemed to fade into a delicious bluey pink; and the sweet warm odour of the earth rising to be breathed and drunk in and enjoyed; the place seemed to me a very paradise, and the dog appeared to enjoy it as much as I.

Shock rarely spoke to me, but he did not turn his back. The boy was as excited as the dog, going down on all-fours to push his way amongst the heath and broom, and scratch some hole bigger where it was evident that a rabbit had made his home. Then he was after a butterfly; then stalking a bird, as if he expected to catch it without the proverbial salt for its tail; and I'm afraid I was just as wild.

I don't know that I need say _afraid_, for our amusement was innocent enough, and you must remember that we were two boys, who resembled Juno, the dog, in this respect that we were let loose for a time, and enjoying the freedom of a scamper over the hills.

We had gone some distance through the pines, when, as we turned back and came to where they suddenly ended, and the earth down the slope seemed to be covered with pine needles, and was all heather and short fine furze, I sat down suddenly on the soft fir leaves, taking off my cap for the sweet fresh breeze to blow through my hair. Shock flung himself down on his chest, and the dog couched between us with her eyes sparkling, her mouth open, and her tongue out and curled up at the end, as she panted with fatigue and excitement.

"I say," cried Shock all at once, with his face flushed, and his eyes full of excitement, "don't let's go back--let's stop and live here. I'll find a cave in the sand."

"And what are we to live on?" I said.

"Rabbits, and birds, and snails, and fish--there's a big pond down there. Let's stop. There'll be nuts and blackberries, and whorts, and pig-nuts, and mushrooms. There's plenty to eat. Let's stop."

He looked up at me eagerly.

"I can make traps for birds, and ketch rabbits, and--look, there she goes."

He started to his feet, for there was a bound and a rustle just below us, as a rabbit suddenly found it was in danger, and darted away to find out a place of refuge lower down the hill.

"Hey, dog! on, dog!" cried Shock, clapping his hands; and Juno took up the scent directly, running quickly in and out amongst, the furze and heath, while Shock and I followed for about a quarter of a mile, when, panting and hot, we came upon Juno carrying a fine rabbit in her mouth, for this time she had overtaken it before one of the burrows was reached.

"Good dog!" cried Shock. "Dinner;" and, taking the rabbit by the hind legs, the dog wagged her tail as if asking whether she had not done that well, and followed us as we went back to where we had seen the holes in the sandy cliff.

We avoided the cut near which we knew that Ike would be having his nap, and, making our way to the bottom of the cliff, we selected one of the biggest of the holes, stooped and went in, and found that it widened out to some ten or a dozen feet, and then ran back, thirty or forty.

It seemed to be partly natural, partly to have been scooped out by hand, while it certainly seemed just the place for us.

"We'll stop here," cried Shock. "You go and get a lot of wood from up a-top, where there's lots lying, while I skins the rabbud."

"What are you going to do?" I said.

"Make a fire and cook him for dinner."

I was in no wise unwilling, for it seemed very good fun, and going out I climbed up through a narrow gully and into the fir-wood, where I soon found a good armful of wood, carried it to the edge of the cliff, just over the mouth of the hole, and went back and got another and another.

When I climbed down again I found Shock busy finishing his task, and as I entered Juno was making a meal of the skin peppered with sand.

Shock came out after sticking his knife in the cliff wall for a peg on which to hang the rabbit, and we soon put the wood inside the hole, where, Shock being provided with matches, we soon had a fire burning, and from the way in which it drew into the cave it seemed as if there must be a hole somewhere, and this I found in the shape of a crack in the roof, through which the smoke rose.

The novelty of the idea kept me from minding the smoke, and I entered into the fun of keeping up the fire, feeding it with bits of wood, while Shock skewered the rabbit on a neatly cut stick, and placed it where the fire was clear of smoke, so that it soon began to hiss and assume a pleasanter colour than the bluish-red that a skinned rabbit generally wears.

The fire burned freely, and Shock lay down on his chest and kicked his heels about after the fashion practised when he was on the top of the market cart.

His face was a study, as he watched the progress of his cookery; while Juno took the other side of the fire, couched, and watched the hissing sputtering rabbit too, as if calculating how much she would get for her share.

I looked at them for a few minutes, and then, finding the smoke rather too much for me, not being such an enthusiast about cooking as Shock, I began to explore the sand-cave, to find it ended about a dozen paces in from the fire, and that there was nothing more to see, while the place was very smoky and very hot.

"Here, come and watch the rabbud while I go and get some more wood," shouted Shock to me.

"No, thank you," I said. "You may watch the cooking. I'll get some wood."

I hung my jacket on a stone that stuck out of the wall and went out for the wood, glad to be away from the heat and smoke, and after climbing up among the firs I collected and brought back a good faggot, with which the fire was fed till Shock declared the rabbit done.

"Are you ready?" he said.

"Ready!" I replied, as I looked at the half-raw, half-burned delicacy. "No: I don't want any, Shock. You may have it."

"You don't want none?" he said, staring at me with astonishment.

"No: I've got some sandwiches in my pocket, and I shall eat them by and by."

"Oh, all right!" he said; and, taking his pocket-knife, he cut off the rabbit's head and held it out to the dog.

"There's your bit," he said. "Be off."

Juno took the hot delicacy rather timorously; but she seemed to give the donor a grateful look, and then trotted out into the sunshine, and lay down to crunch the bones.

The fire was nearly out, the fir-wood burning fiercely and quickly away; but though it was a nuisance to me it seemed to find favour with Shock, who set to work, like the young savage he was, tearing off and devouring the rabbit, throwing the bones together, ready for the dog when she should come back. I felt half disgusted, and yet hungry, so, going to where I had hung my jacket, I thought I would get out the sandwiches Mrs Solomon had cut for me; but as I turned round and looked at Shock I felt that I should enjoy them better if I waited till he had done.

So I leaned against the rough side of the sand-cave, watching him tear away at the bones, holding a piece in one hand, the remains of the rabbit in the other.

I remember it all so well--him sitting there with just a faint blue curl of smoke rising from the embers, and beyond him, seen as it were in a rugged frame formed by the low entrance of the hole, was the lovely picture of hill and vale, stretching far as the eye could reach, and all bright in the sunshine, and with the bare sky beyond.

I was just thinking what a rough-looking object Shock seemed as he sat there just in the entrance to the hole, and wishing that, now he had a good situation and was decently clothed, he would become like other boys, when I saw Juno come slowly towards Shock, wagging her tail and showing her teeth as if asking for more bones, but she suddenly whisked round and darted away, as, with a noise like a dull clap of thunder, something seemed to shut out the scene from the mouth of the hole, I felt a puff of heat and smoke in my face, and all was darkness.

I stood there as if petrified for a minute, I should think, quite unable to make out what was the matter, and panting for breath.

Then the thought came like a flash, that a quantity of sand had fallen, and blocked up the mouth of the cave.

For a moment or two I felt as if I should fall. Then the instinct of self-preservation moved me to act, and with my hands stretched out before me I went quietly towards the entrance.

"Shock! Shock!" I cried, but there was no reply, and it sounded as if my voice was squeezed up in a narrowed space; then I seemed to hear a rustling noise as I stepped forward, I was kicked violently in the shins and fell forward with my hands plunging into a mass of soft sand, and to my horror I found that I was lying upon my companion, who was half buried.

The perspiration stood out all over me as I leaped to my feet; and then went down again to find that Shock was kicking frantically, and a moment's investigation told me that he could not extricate himself.

Seizing one of his legs, which as I grasped by the ankle and clasped it to my side, kept giving spasmodic jerks, I dragged with all my might, and found I could not move him; but as I dragged again he seemed to give a tremendous throb, and I went backwards, followed, it seemed to me in the darkness, by a quantity of soft sand; but Shock was free, for I could feel him by me lying on his face, and as I turned him over he uttered a groan.

And now a horrible sensation of fear came over me as I thoroughly realised that I was buried alive in that sand-cave. I felt that my climbing about on the top of the cliff had loosened or cracked the compressed sand. Shock and I had jumped about over it when we threw down the wood we had gathered, and that seemed to be the explanation of the mishap.

But I had no time to think of this now, for the thought that perhaps Shock was killed, suffocated, came over me with terrible force, and I bent over him, feeling his face, his heart, and hands.

His heart was beating fast, and his hands were warm, but though I spoke to him over and over again, in the darkness, there was no answer, and with a cry of despair I threw myself on my knees, when all at once he shouted:

"Hullo!"

"Shock," I cried, "I'm here."

"What yer do that for?" he cried fiercely.

"I didn't do anything."

"Yes, yer did," he cried. "Yer threw a lump o' sand on my head. I'm half blind, and my ears is full. Just wait till I gets hold on yer, I'll pay yer for it."

Then he began panting, and spitting, and muttering about his eyes, and at last--"Here, where are yer?"

"I'm here, close by you," I said. "Don't you understand? The sand has fallen and shut us in."

There was silence for a few minutes--a terrible painful silence to me, as I felt that I was face to face with death. Then Shock seemed to have grasped the situation, for he said coolly enough:

"Like the rabbuds. Well, we shall have to get out."

"Yes, but how?" I cried.

"Same's they do. Scratch yer way, and make a hole. I don't mind, do you?"

"Mind!" I said, "it's horrible."

"Is it?" he replied quietly. "Why?"

"Don't you see--"

"No," he said sharply, "not werry well. I can a little."

"But I mean, don't you understand?" I cried in an awe-stricken choking voice, "that if we don't get out soon, we shall die."

"What, like when you kills a rabbud or a bird?"

"Yes."

"Get out!" he cried in contemptuous tones. "I hadn't finished my rabbud, and my eyes is half full of sand still."

"Never mind the rabbit," I said angrily, "let's try and dig our way out."

"Let Ikey do it," he said, "he's got the shovels."

"But will he find out where we are," I cried, for I must own to being terribly unnerved, and ready to marvel at Shock's coolness.

"Why, of course he will," said Shock. "I say, don't you be frightened. You don't mind the dark, do you?"

"I don't mind the dark," I replied, "but it's horrible to be shut in here."

"Why, it's only sand," he said, "only sand, mate."

"But it nearly smothered you," I cried. "It would have smothered you if I hadn't pulled you out."

"Yes, but that was because it fell atop of my head and held me down, else it wouldn't. I thought it was your games."

I had never heard Shock talk like this before. Our mutual distress seemed to have made us friends, and I felt ready to shake hands with him and hold on by his arm.

"I say," he cried, his voice sounding, like mine, more and more subdued--at least so it seemed to me--"I say, I weren't looking; it didn't go down on the dog too--did it?"

"No, Shock, I saw her run away."

There was a few moments' silence and then he said:

"Well, I am glad of that. I likes dorgs, and we was reg'lar good friends."

"Hark!" I said; "is that Ike digging?"

"No," he said; "it was some more sand tumbled down, I think."

I knew he was right, for there was a dull thud, and then another; but whether inside or outside I could not tell. It made me tremble though; for I wondered whether I should be able to struggle out if part of the roof came down upon my head.

All at once Shock began to whistle--not a tune, but something of an imitation of a blackbird; and as I was envying him his coolness in danger I heard a scratching noise and saw a line of light. Then there was another scratch and a series of little sparkles. Another scratch, and a blue flame as the brimstone on the end caught fire; and then, as the splint of wood burned up, I could see in the midst of a ring of light the face of Shock, looking very intent as he bent over the burning match, and held to it the wick of a little end of a common tallow candle.

"I allus carries a bit o' candle out of the lanthorns," he said, showing his teeth; and then he held up the light, and I could see that the opening to the cave was completely closed up, just as if the roof had all come down, and the cave we were in was not half the size it was at first, a slope of sand encroaching on the floor. I felt chilled, for I felt that it would be impossible to tunnel through that sand.

"Now, then," said Shock coolly, "that there's the way--ain't it? Well, we don't want no light to see to do that; so you put it out 'case we wants it agen, and put it in yer pocket. I'll go down on my knees and have first scratch, and when I'm tired you shall try, and we'll soon get through it. We won't wait for Ike."

I longed to keep the candle burning, but what Shock said seemed to be right; so I put it out, and as I did so I saw the boy begin to scratch away as hard as he could at the sand in the direction of the entrance, and then in the dark I could hear him panting away like some wild animal.

"I say," he cried at last.

"Yes," I said.

"It don't seem no good. More you pulls it away, more it comes down. It's like dry water, and runs all through your hands."

"Let me have a try," I said.

"All right. You go where I did, and keep straight on."

Keep straight on! It was, as he said, like grasping at water; and the more I tore at it, in the hope of making a tunnel through, the more it came pouring down, till in utter despair I gave it up and told Shock it was no good.

"Never mind," he said. "It's dry and warm. I've been in worse places than this is, where you couldn't keep the rain out. Let's sit down and talk. I say I wish I'd got the rest o' my rabbud."

I didn't answer, for, hot, weary, and despairing at our position, I was lying down on the sand with my hands covering my face.

I don't know how long a time passed, for I felt confused and strange; but I was aroused by Shock, who exclaimed suddenly:

"Here, I want to get out of this. Let's have another try at scratching a hole."

I heard him move, and then he struck a light again so as to see where to begin.

"Must know, you see," he said. "If I get scratching at the wrong side, it would take so long to get out."

In spite of my trouble I could not help feeling amused, there seemed to be something so droll in the idea of Shock burrowing his way right into the hill and expecting to get out; but the next moment I was listening to him and watching the tiny spark at the end of the burned match die out.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, he went on, and every now and then there was a loud panting such as some wild animal would make. Then I uttered a cry of fear, for I felt a quantity of sand strike me and I bounded aside, for it seemed that the top was coming down.

"What's matter?" cried Shock, stopping short.

"Nothing," I said as I realised the cause of my fright. "Some of the sand hit me."

"What! some as I chucked behind me?"

"Yes."

The scratching and tearing went on again, and I felt the sand scattered over me several times, but the fear did not attack me again.

All at once there was a soft rushing noise, and Shock uttered a yell which seemed to make my heart leap.

"Shock!" I cried, "Shock!" but there was no answer, only a scuffling noise. "Shock! where are you?"

The scuffling noise continued, and their there was a loud panting, a cry of "Oh!" and my companion staggered by me.

"Shock!" I cried.

"Oh! I say," he groaned, "I've got it all in my eyes agen. A lot come down and buried me. I sha'n't do it no more."

He uttered a series of strange gasps and cries, shaking himself, spitting, and stamping on the ground.

"I swallowed lots o' sand, I think, and it come down on my back horrid. You try now."

I hesitated, but felt that I must not be cowardly if I wished for us to escape; and so I asked him to light a match again.

He did so, and by its feeble light I saw where to work, and also that, the place seemed to be filling up with the sand, and that we had not half so much room as we had at first.

Then out went the light, and with a desperate haste I went down on my hands and knees and began to tear at and throw the sand behind me, filling up our prison more and more, but doing nothing towards our extrication, for as fast as I drew the sand away from the tunnel more came; and at last, just as I began to think that I was making a little progress, I heard a rustling, dribbling sound, some hard bits of adhesive sand fell upon my head, and I instinctively started back, as there was a rush that came over my knees, and I knew that if I had remained where I was, tunnelling, I should have been buried.

"What, did you get it?" cried Shock, laughing.

I was so startled that I did not answer.

"Oh! he's buried!" cried Shock in a wild tone; and he threw himself by me, and began to tear at the sand. "Mars Grant, Mars Grant," he cried excitedly. "Don't leave me here alone."

"I'm not there, Shock," I said. "I jumped back."

"Then what did yer go and pretend as you was buried in the sand for?" cried the boy savagely.

I did not reply, and I heard him go as far from me as he could, muttering and growling to himself, and in spite of my position I could not help thinking of what a curious and different side I was seeing of Shock's character. I had always found him so quiet and reserved, and yet it was evident that he could talk and think like the best of us, and somehow it seemed as if in spite of the way in which he turned away he had a sort of liking for me.

This idea influenced me so that I felt a kind of pity for my companion in misfortune. That was a good deal in the direction of liking him in return. I felt sorry that I had frightened him, and at last after a good deal of thinking I said to him:

"Shock!"

"Hullo!"

"I'm sorry I made you think I was buried."

"Are yer?"

"Yes. Will you shake hands?"

"What for?"

This staggered me, and I could make no reply, and so we remained silent for some time.

"Here, let's see," said Shock all at once. "Where's that there candle?"

"Here it is," I said, and as he struck a light I held the scrap of little more than an inch long to the flame, and it burned up so that we could examine our position, and we soon found that our prison was reduced to about half its size.

"It's of no use to try and dig our way out, Shock," I said despairingly, as I extinguished the candle. "We shall only bring down more sand and cover ourselves in."

"Like Old Brownsmith's toolips," said Shock, laughing. "I say, should we come up?"

"Don't talk like that," I said angrily. "Don't you understand that we are buried alive."

"Course I do," he said. "Well, what on it?"

"What of it?" I said in agony, as the perspiration stood upon my brow.

"Yes, what on it? They'll dig us out like we do the taters out of a clamp. What's the good o' being in a wax. I wish I'd some more rabbud."

I drew in a long breath, and sat down as far from the sealed-up opening as I could get, and listened to the rustling trickling noise made by the sand every now and then, as more and more seemed to be coming in, and I knew most thoroughly now that our only course was to wait till Ike missed us, and came and dug us out.

"And that can't be long," I thought, for we must have been in here two or three hours.

All at once I heard a peculiar soft beating noise, and my heart leaped, for it sounded like the quick strokes of a spade at regular intervals.

"Hear that, Shock?" I cried.

"Hear what?" he said, and the noise ceased.

"Somebody digging," I cried joyfully.

"No. It was me--my feet," he said, and the sound began again, as I realised that he must be lying in his old attitude, kicking his legs up and down.

If I had any doubt of it I was convinced the next moment, for he burst out:

"I've been to Paris, and I've been to Do-ho-ver,
I've been a travelling all the world o-ho-ver.
Over and over, and over, and o-ho-ver,
So drink up yer licker and turn the bowl o-ho-ver."

"Don't, don't, don't, Shock," I cried passionately. "I can't bear it;" and I again covered my face with my hands, and crouched lower and lower, listening to the trickling of the sand that seemed to be flowing in like water to take up all the space we had left.

Suddenly I started, for a hand touched me.

"Is that you, Shock?"

"Yes. Mind my coming and sitting along o' you? I ain't so werry dirty now."

"Mind? no," I said: "it will be company."

"Yes," he said. "It's werry dark and werry quiet like, ain't it?"

"Yes, very."

"Ain't Ike a long time?"

"Yes," I said despairingly, for I began to wonder whether we should be found.

"I'd ha' came shovelling arter him 'fore now. I say, ain't you tired?"

"Tired!" I said. "No, I never thought of feeling tired shut up in this horrible place. Let's try if we can't get out by the way the smoke went."

"I've been trying," said Shock; "but it's too high up. You can't reach it."

"Not if you stood on my shoulders?"

"No," he said. "I looked when you had hold of the candle, and if you did try you'd only pull the sand down atop of your head."

I knew it, and heaved a deep sigh.

Then there was a long silence, and I was roused out of thoughts about how we had enjoyed ourselves that morning, and how little we had imagined that we should have such a termination to our holiday, by a heavy breathing.

I listened, and there it was quite loud as if some animal were near.

"Do you hear that, Shock?" I whispered.

There was no answer.

"Shock!" I said, "do you hear that noise?"

No answer, and I understood now that in spite of our perilous position he had fallen fast asleep. _

Read next: Chapter 29. Finding A Treasure

Read previous: Chapter 27. At The Sand-Pit

Table of content of Brownsmith's Boy: A Romance in a Garden


GO TO TOP OF SCREEN

Post your review
Your review will be placed after the table of content of this book