Chapter 12 | A Warm Land Welcome | Yussuf the Guide

The distance was only some forty yards, and Yussuf was quite half-way there when he was met by the professor, who came staggering down to his aid, and between them they carried Lawrence the rest of the way, to lay him beside Mr Burne in the full sunlight and upon the soft warm sand.

The three Greeks were already ashore selecting a spot a good hundred yards away, and they could be seen to be stripping the clothes from their wounded captain, and then one of them appeared to be binding a cloth round his leg, showing where Yussuf’s bullet had taken effect.

By way of precaution Yussuf’s first act was to take out his pistol, and swing it about to get rid of all the water possible before uncharging it, and laying it with its cartridges in the sun to dry, in the hope that some of them might prove to be uninjured, the water not having been able to penetrate to the powder, though it was extremely doubtful.

His next act was to take out his pipe from a pocket in his loose robe, and place that with his bag of tobacco and little tinder-box and matches also in the sun, which was rapidly gaining power, all of which being done he proceeded coolly enough to slip off his garments, to wring them and spread them upon the glowing sand.

Meanwhile the professor was dividing himself between Lawrence and the lawyer, then lying in the warm sunshine, whose influence rapidly made itself felt, and seemed to carry strength as well as a pleasant glow.

“Well, Lawrence,” said the professor anxiously, “how do you feel?”

“Not quite so cold,” was the reply, “but very stiff and hungry.”

“Hah!” ejaculated the professor, “then you are not very bad. Can you follow Yussuf’s example?”

Lawrence hesitated.

“Take my advice, my lad. Take off and wring your clothes as well as you can, and then, in spite of being soaked with the sea-water, go down and have a quick plunge, and then walk or run about till you are dry.”

The advice seemed so droll, that now the danger was past the lad laughed, but he saw that Yussuf was doing precisely what the professor advised, and, weakly and shivering a good deal, he did the same.

Freed by the evident lack of anything to apprehend about the lad for the present, the professor turned to Mr Burne, whom he had been helping for some hours to cling to the boat, and had sustained with a few whispered words of encouragement in his feeblest moments.

The old man was lying in the sunshine just as he had sunk down upon his back, apparently too much exhausted to move, but as the professor went down on one knee by his side he opened his eyes.

“Not dead yet, Preston,” he said smiling. “I say, don’t laugh at me.”

“Laugh at you, my dear sir?”

“For being such an old goose as to come upon such a journey. Oh, my back!”

“Come, come, it was an accident.”

“Accident, eh? I say, we’ll prosecute those murdering thieves of Greeks for this.”

“One of them has met his punishment already,” said the professor, “and Yussuf has severely wounded another.”

“Yes. I was pretty well done then, but I saw him shoot that scoundrel. I believe the heathen dog was going to shove us off.”

“There is no doubt about that,” said the professor.

“But Yussuf? don’t you think he was in league with the murderous rascals?”

“Yussuf? My dear sir!”

“Humph! No! He couldn’t have been, could he, or he wouldn’t have fought for us as he did at first, and then shot that scoundrel yonder? I hope his bandage will come off, and he’ll bleed to death.”

“No, you do not,” said the professor.

“Oh, yes, I do—a dog!”

“No, you do not; and as to Yussuf—well, I need not defend him.”

“Well, I suppose not. Boy seems to be all right, don’t he?”

“Yes, I think so. This warm sunshine is a blessing.”

“Hah, yes, but I’m so stiff and sore I cannot move. Preston, my dear boy, would you mind putting your hand into my pocket and taking out my snuff-box. I suppose it’s all paste, but a bit of that would be, like your sunshine, a blessing. It’s all very well, but I’d rather have a fire, a towel, a warm bath, and some dry clothes. Hah, yes! Thank you. Now for some paste.”

He thrust the little box in and out among the dry sand till the moisture was all gone, and doing this dried and warmed his hands as well before he proceeded to open the lid, when he uttered a cry of satisfaction.

“Bravo, Preston! Dry as dust. Have a pinch, my dear sir?”

“Thanks. No. I am drying a cigar here for my refreshment, in the hot sand. I daresay my matches are all right in their metal box.”

“Just as you like. Smoking is all very well, but nothing like a pinch.”

“I am most anxious about the boy,” said the professor.

“Must teach him to take snuff. Well, where are we? Is this a desolate island, and are we going to be so many Robinson Crusoes for the rest of our days?”

“Desolate enough just here,” replied the professor; “but it must be inhabited. It strikes me that we have reached Cyprus.”

“Then, my dear fellow, just look about, or shout, or do something to make the inhabitants bring me a bottle of Cyprus wine. Hah! a pinch of snuff is a blessing, and, bless me, how wet my handkerchief is!” he cried, as he struggled to his feet and took out and wrung the article in question before making the rocks echo with a tremendous blow.

“How do you feel?” said the professor.

“Bad, sir; but I’m not going to grumble till we get all right again. I must try and walk about to get some warmth into me. How beautiful and warm this sand is! Hah!”

He seemed to revel in the beautiful dry sand of the shore, which, with the sunshine, sent a glow into the perishing limbs of all, and to such an extent that in about an hour the sufferers were not so very much the worse for their adventure. The professor and Mr Burne had lit cigars; Yussuf was enjoying his pipe; and Lawrence alone was without anything to soothe his hunger.

The wounded Greek lay at a distance where his companions had left him. The professor had been to him with Lawrence, and seen to his injury, the others paying no heed, and the injured man himself only looking sulky, and as if he would like to use his knife, even though he was being tended by a man who knew something of what was necessary to be done.

He was left then, and the professor and Lawrence joined Mr Burne, who was very cheerful though evidently in pain.

“I say,” he said, “those fellows had planned that attack.”

“Decidedly,” said the professor. “I feared it, though I did not say anything more to you.”

“Then it was very ungentlemanly of you, sir,” cried the old lawyer testily. “Lucky for you I was awake, sir, or we should all have been killed in our sleep.”

“I thought you were fast asleep, as, I am ashamed to say, I was.”

“Oh, you own you were, professor.”

“Fast.”

“Then I’ll own I was too. It seems, then, that Yussuf was on the watch and met them.”

“Exactly so, and saved our lives.”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but he certainly kept the boy from drowning during the night, for I couldn’t stir to help him. I don’t dislike that fellow half so much as I did; but I wish to goodness he could do as those Turks and Persians did in the Arabian Nights.”

“What’s that?” said the professor.

“Conjure a breakfast up for that poor boy.”

“It strikes me,” said the professor, who was watching where Yussuf had posted himself on the edge of the sea, “that that is the very thing he is about to do.”

“Eh? what do you mean?”

“Oh, I say, Mr Preston, don’t talk about food if there is none,” cried Lawrence, “for I am so hungry.”

“I mean this,” said the professor, “that the two Greeks down there are evidently trying to get something out of the boat, and if they find anything to eat, Yussuf is there with his loaded pistol, and he will certainly have a share.”

In effect the two sailors had stripped, and were busy in the shallow water doing something, and in a short time they had contrived to thrust the boat out, and, by using the masts as levers, completely turned her round, so that her deck was parallel with the shore.

The men were evidently working hard, and in a short time they had got the vessel so closely in that they were able to lower the sails, or rather run them down to the foot of each mast, with the result that, by the help of hard work with a spar they partly raised the side of the boat that was submerged, its natural inclination to resume its normal position aiding them; and at last, after several attempts, they succeeded in getting at one of the baskets of provisions that had fortunately not been washed away.

As they dragged this out and waded ashore, they were for making off in the direction of the spot where their wounded skipper lay, but a few sharp orders from Yussuf stopped them.

They were not disposed to yield up their prize peaceably, for each man’s hand went to his knife, and the professor ran down to Yussufs help.

But there was no need. The Turk went close up to them, pistol in hand, and the men stooped and lifted the basket, carrying it between them sulkily to where Mr Burne and Lawrence were breathlessly watching the proceedings.

The water streamed and dripped from the basket as they bore it over the sands, and plumped it down, scowling fiercely, where they were told to stop. Then turning, they were going off, but the professor bade them stay.

They did not understand his words, but their tone was sufficient command; besides there was Yussufs pistol, which acted like a magician’s wand in ensuring obedience.

“Tell the scoundrels that we will behave better to them than they have to us, Yussuf,” said the professor; and he took out from the dripping basket a great sausage, a bottle of wine, and one of the tins of biscuit that were within.

“Am I to give them this food, effendi?” said Yussuf calmly. “You will get no gratitude, and the dogs will murder us if they get a chance.”

“Yes; give it to them,” replied the professor. “Coals of fire upon their head, O follower of Mahomet. There, bid them eat. We may want to make them work for us.”

Yussuf bowed, and handed the food and wine to the two Greeks, who took what was given them without a word, and went to join their companion.