"What ails thee, friend?" I cried. To my no small astonishment he sprang up as one shot, and for a moment stood there staring at me in a lost, dazed manner; then, raising both hands to his egg-shaped head, he murmured:
"Save us! So I was not out there among the Indies?"
He pointed with a long, thin finger seaward.
"Nay, friend," I answered soothingly, for indeed I now made certain he was daft. "Thou wast sitting on a tussock in a Dorset lane, three miles from Lyme."
"Lyme!" he muttered. "King’s Lyme! Lyme Regis, say you?"
"Ah! then Heaven be thanked!" says he, shuddering as he hugged his slim, gaunt body. "For, look you, methought for certain I was out among the blacks again. Wast ever in the Indies, friend, among the man-eaters?" he added, glancing swiftly up at me with slit-like eyes.
"Nay," I answered, laughing. "I was never nearer them than Portland, yonder."
"Then have you much to give thanks for," said he, raising his fingers tip to tip, as priests do. "Yea, verily, ye cannot be too thankful that the heathen are unknown to you. I, who have witnessed their abominations, tell ye so. For, look you, friend, two long accursed years I lived among the savages, and was partaker, willy-nilly, in their wickedness. It fell out thus. I and eight others were wrecked upon a little island in the far South Seas. Perchance ’twas a judgment on us, for our captain was a buccaneer who spared not anyone. Howsoever that may be, ’tis certain we were wrecked, and out of six-and-twenty souls but nine of us reached land, nor was the captain one of these. That island, friend, was glorious to behold; a Paradise of beauty. Methinks I see it now" (he shut his eyes)--"its waving palms, its many-coloured birds and flowers. Aye, truly, it was, as I said before, a Paradise!"
He continued after a slight pause. "But we did not enjoy its beauties long, for as on the second night we lay asleep beneath the stars (not having seen a soul upon the island, and therefore feeling safe),--as we thus slept, I say, we were set upon by savages, and I, even I alone, was left alive to tell this tale. We had saved some muskets from the wreck, and thus, aroused by the shrieks of my hapless comrades who had been speared to death while yet asleep, I, who had lain some distance from them, leapt up and fired into the murderous wretches, killing one of them. At that the others stood stock-still for a moment, like dumb, frightened beasts--Heavens! how amazed they looked!--then, to my great astonishment (for I made certain my last hour was come), they all, as one man, dropped face downwards on the ground, and, rubbing their noses in the earth and patting their ugly heads, broke forth in dismal wails. But, verily, I understood the matter. They had never heard a musket-shot before; they took me for a god; they worshipped me. Nor was I slow to make the most of it. First I recharged my piece, then with a cry which made them turn their wicked faces up, I pointed to it. Then, may I die if one and all did not come crawling up to lick my feet like dogs.