Chapter XI: Finding More of the Investigator’s Boys

The fight was hotly contested. It was noticed that the combatants did not fight hand to hand. It was mostly a skirmish with bows and arrows, and considerable tactics were displayed in the effort to turn each other’s position, and to effect captures.

To say the least, the so-called battle was a tame affair. In numbers they were evenly matched. Sometimes, under cover, one party would approach close to the other and effect a rush, but this would be checked, and thus it raged back and forth with unvarying success. Those wounded would be captured in these rushes, and that seemed to be the main thing they were striving for.

It was this battle that brought the wounded and the captives into the village where the Professor was. When the fight terminated John had no idea which was the victor. Judging from their standpoint, the side securing the greatest number of captives won in the encounter.

While the battle was going on, the team came up and it was hurriedly concealed. Muro knew that neither tribe would come to the north, until driven in that direction by force of numbers, so the wagon was comparatively safe.

The boys were very low-spirited, when they learned of the battle in their front. To move farther during that day and night would be folly. The way in front must be cleared. The next day the two forces were still facing each other. In spite of all the wit and ingenuity of the Saboros and John not a glimpse could be obtained of the Professor. They had no fear for him if he was in the hands of the Osagas.

It was not until the fourth day that the Professor began to have some doubts and misgivings on the part of his own people.

He knew a battle had taken place somewhere, but he did not connect it with the conflict which John and Muro had witnessed. With a view of learning something of the tribe with which the warriors were engaged, he went to the miserable hut, almost in the center of the village where they had been taken on the first day.

There, cooped in a small place, were seven prisoners, two of them very small in comparison with the others, and both exceedingly filthy. The moment the Professor made his appearance one of them ran to him screaming, and crying out: “Professor--how did you come here?”

He was too much overpowered to answer for the moment. The other boy turned and burst into tears. “Oh, help us,” was all he said. The cries of the boys brought the inhabitants to the hut. The guards made no opposition to the Professor’s movements.

The chief appeared immediately, and as the Professor saw him approaching, put his arms about the boys, and led them out. Then walking up to the chief, with a terrible frown in his face, demanded why they had been treated in this manner. It was a strong, bold play, but it accomplished the purpose, for when the Professor pointed to the filthy rags that covered the poor fellows an order from the chief was quick to bring them clothing.

The boys cowered when they saw the peremptory manner in which he approached the chief, and the boys could not help the tears from coming, at the joy of deliverance.

“Oh, tell us, Professor, why you are here? Have you seen any of the other boys? There are some others on the island, but we do not know where they are.”

“I am a prisoner, as well as yourselves, and was taken only four days ago, but have no fear for your safety.”

“But if you are a prisoner, why did you talk to the chief in that way?”

“He is under some obligations to me; but come along with me, and fix yourselves up;” and to the amazement of the boys he led them into the chief’s house. The chief pointed to the boys and to the Professor as he spoke to the latter. The Professor nodded, and put his arms about the boys as before.

“How long have you been here?” he asked.

“Oh, a long time; more than six months. Some of the boys may still be free; but they are way east of here, a great many miles.”

“How do you know they are east of this many miles?”

“Because there is where we were captured.”

“Can you understand any of the language?”

“Yes; we can talk with them a little.”

“I am glad to know that. Now I will see that you get water for taking a bath. How long is it since you have had a bath?”

“Not since we were made prisoners.”

“Is there a river near here?”

“The river is at the foot of the hill to the east.”

“Which direction does it flow?”

“To the southwest.”

“Take this clothing with you, and let us go to the river.”

“Will they let us go?”

“Never mind; follow me, and take everything for granted.”

They passed out of the door, and through the crowd, and marched unmolested to the stream, which was not five hundred feet away. The savages followed, but the Professor waved them back in an imperious manner, and they halted without a protest.

“You act as though you were the chief. How did you happen to be the chief’s guest?”

“I cured his daughter, and this is his grateful way of repaying me. But I have a secret to impart to you, and you must obey my injunctions. During our stay on the island I equipped a laboratory, and among other things made a synthetic food, which is put up in small tablets.

“I have eaten nothing that they know of since my arrival but these tablets, and it was such a marvelous thing that it has made my influence far greater than the power of their medicine men. When we return the chief will, no doubt, have a meal ready for us. Do not be surprised if I do not eat. Act as though it was natural for me to live without eating.”

“But are we going back again? Why can’t we escape?”

“We don’t want to escape, without their aid.”

The boys were astounded at this statement.

“Not escape without their aid? Why do you want them to help us?”

“Some of your friends will be here before long, and when we escape we want to take the whole tribe with us,” said the Professor, smiling.

The boys did not smile at this statement. They were quiet for a time.

“But take your bath, boys, and don’t hurry it up. We have plenty of time.”

“Gee, I wish we had some soap.”

“Soap, why certainly; I think we can find plenty of it around here, and so saying the Professor began a search along the stream, and as his eyes lighted on a shrub with long dagger-shaped leaves, broke off a number of the branches which carried at the top of each stem a large cluster of reddish brown berries.

“We ate some of those on one occasion and were poisoned.”

“They are poisonous, but not dangerously so.”

“What do you do with them?”

“Simply mash them up; see how easily they saponify, and make suds.”

“And here we have been all this time without knowing anything about them.”

“Of course water is always necessary in using them,” and the Professor laughed, as did the boys also, at the recollection that they had no water for bathing purposes for six months.

“Why it grows all over the island wherever we have been.”

“Yes; it grows extensively in Florida, Cuba and Mexico, and it is found in many varieties throughout China and in India, in which latter country it is called The Pride of India. In China it is called the China Tree.”

When the boys had bathed and clothed themselves they were transformed into new beings.

“Oh, tell us about the boys, and how you happened to come down here, and who are they!”

The Professor told them the names of the boys, and continued: “I want the boys themselves to tell you all about what they have been doing, and where we live, and what a fine time we have had ever since we were shipwrecked.”

The Professor’s predictions were true. The chief had an elaborate meal prepared, and the boys and the Professor sat down with the chief. He remarked to the boys: “The meal looks most inviting, and it is a trial not to partake, but I can stand it a few days more.”

The Professor showed the greatest deference to the chief, and at every proffer of food which the chief made to the boys he acknowledged it in the most courtly manner.

The finest woven and matted leaves were provided by the chief in a spacious hut adjoining the chief’s home. Through the boys he began a conversation with the chief, and learned many interesting things, which will be detailed later. His first desire now was, in the quiet of their new home, to learn something of the rudiments of the language.

The boys knew most of the things commonly used by name, and some of the verbs, and these the Professor quickly acquired. He had a most wonderful memory, and could memorize pages without much effort, so that before morning he knew all that the boys had learned of the jargon, for it was but little else.

In the morning when he approached the chief, he greeted him in his own tongue, not with great fluency, it is true, but he used the little he did acquire to good advantage. The chief marveled at this, because heretofore he had not uttered a word to indicate that he understood the tongue, and the chief could not for a moment comprehend that it was possible for him to learn the language in a night.

After this first interview, the boys were no less amazed at the memory displayed.

“From the talk I had with the chief it does not seem that the language contains more than two or three hundred words.”

“But do we use any more in talking?”

“There are millions of our own people, fairly well educated, who have never used more than two hundred words in their whole lives. It is not the number of words, but the order of arrangement selected that is of value. Many noted authors have written whole books by the use of less than two thousand words. Under the circumstances, the hundred words you taught me were not much of a feat to memorize. As it was, I learned probably twenty words more that you did not have in your vocabulary.”

The Professor was out with the boys every moment of the time, gathering information, and investigating the nature of the country around the villages. While on one of these excursions Jim plucked a branch from a thick stem, and said:

“There are many of these nuts in this part of the island, and we have often wondered if they were good to eat.”

“By all means; you have eaten ice cream with these nuts in many times. Why, we had them on shipboard, if you remember.”

“I don’t recall it.”

“This is the Pistachio nut. Go back to the stalk where you broke off this stem and you will see the sap coming out. That is a resin or gum, and valuable in commerce. This nut is historical. It formed part of the present which Joseph’s brethren took with them from Canaan to Egypt, and in the latter country, even to this day, they are placed among the sweetmeats in all presents of courtesy.”

“But are they eaten raw?”

“No; they are usually boiled with a small amount of salt, and sweetened afterwards.”

“What is the salt put in for?”

“To destroy the acid in them; and that is done with most vegetables, and for the same reason.”