A Dark Place of the Earth

Front matter

A DARK PLACE OF THE EARTH BY ALFRED CLARK FOREST DEPAETMBNT, CEYLON. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, LIMITED, gt. ffluH_ttan'j( ®attfr, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 1891. [AU rights retervel.'} LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. TO MY DEAR WIFE. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. A Hot Day 1 II. The Finding of the Island . . .12 III. Among the Hollanders .... 33 IV. A Fog-Hidden Island .... 58 V. The Widow Klaafzoon . . . .85 VI. Flight 115 VII. With the Portuguese . . . .141 VIII. A Prisoner 158 IX. In Peril 180 X. The Fatal Lottery . . . .209 XI. The Bridge of Death .... 235 XII. Battle and Murder .... 249 XIII. In Hiding 270 XIV. Pursued 288 XV. The Escape A DARK PLACE OF THE EARTH.

Chapter I

A HOT DAY. It was noonday at Point Palmyra, a small sea port ancl civil station at the northern extremity of the island of Ceylon, and it was very hot. The thermometer that hung in the verandah of the magistrate's house stood at ninety-eight degrees. Not a breath of wind was stirring, but there was a feeling of oppression and heaAaness in the heat-laden air which boded bad weather before long. In a cool corner of the verandah of his house, facing the sea, lay Hugh Harrod, the magistrate of the station, reclining at ease in a lounge chair. His coat and collar hung over the back of the chair, his slippers lay on the floor, and B A DAEK PLACE OF THE EAETH. a wetted handkerchief was spread over his head and forehead. He was languidly fanning himself with a Japanese fan, and every now and then taking sips from a long tumbler that stood conveniently at hand.

He was a man of unusual stature, though his height was not apparent while he lay in lazy attitude on the cane-chair. His muscular arms, exposed by the turning up of his shirt sleeves, showed him to be possessed of great strength. He was nevertheless neither heavily nor clumsily built, but looked like one capable of sustaining long-continued exertion and fatigue. Hugh Harrod was a north country man, and, in addition to a powerful frame, had inherited from his Norse ancestors light brown hair, keen blue eyes, and a fresh complexion, that nine years' service in a hot climate had not robbed him of. His face was that of a man of kindly nature and pleasant disposition, but now as he sat muttering maledictions on the weather it wore a look of disgust and discontent very foreign to it. It was a Government holiday, being the anniversary of some heathen festival.

The magistrate was the only European officer, and indeed the only European, on the little station ; and the court being closed, he had an idle clay before him to be spent solely in his own com pany. He had no friend he could go and see, as the nearest was twenty miles off ; it was too hot yet to go out fishing, an amusement he was passionately fond of ; and he felt too listless to read. As for going to his private office and attending to any of his judicial work, it was not to be thought of in such weather. So he sat on the verandah smoking cigar after cigar, and watching with languid interest what was going on outside. Before him lay the sea, its dull grey surface heaving slowly in oily undulations without a fleck of foam or a ripple on it. Far away a small dhony, or native coasting vessel, lay like a log on the water, its sails hanging motion less from the yards.

Not a sea-bird was to be seen. They were all perched on the rocks in shore, for they well knew what this brooding stillness of air and sea foreboded. A road ran in front of the magistrate's house, between it and the sea, but it seemed B deserted. The only passers-by were a couple of old women returning from the bazaar with loads offish. Even they seemed to feel the heat, for they passed slowly and in silence in stead of with shrill and noisy talk, as was the wont of the fish-women. A cow, evidently suf fering from the heat, next wandered up the road, and seeing the inviting shade of the verandah, clambered up the steps into it. The magistrate was too hot and lazy to get up to drive the creature out, or even to call a servant to do so, so the cow lay down on the matting and proceeded to chew the cud of contentment.

Next a couple of crows, panting with the heat and with open bills, perched on top of the sun blind and looked down suspiciously on the occupant of the lounge-chair, with their heads on one side. He threw the stump of his cigar at them, whereupon they flew off to the jak tree growing in front of the house, ancl from thence anathematised him in crow language for his inhospitality. By this time the magistrate had reached the last stage of boredom. He had smoked as much as he cared to and felt he could sit there idle no longer ; so, getting up, he went into the house, mopping the perspiration from his face and neck as he went. The sitting-room was full of books, which covered the table and even lay in rows on the sofa. In a corner stood a large bookcase full of old books, most of them vellum-bound tomes of the seventeenth century.

They were in several languages, but chiefly in Dutch and Portuguese, and were all works on Ceylon, being old voyages, descriptions, and histories. For Hugh Harrod was a linguist, and no mean one. In addition to several other languages, he had acquired both Portuguese and Dutch, and was able not only to read and write, but to, speak both with considerable fluency. On his arrival in Ceylon, to take up his appointment on the Civil Service, he had discovered that there were in existence a large number of old books and manuscripts, in both languages, relating to the history and govern ment of Ceylon during the Dutch and Portu guese periods. He at once commenced making a collection of these books and manuscript records, and had since translated many of them. His library now contained several very valuable Portuguese books, giving an account of the conquest of Ceylon early in the sixteenth century and its subsequent history, until the Portuguese were supplanted by the Dutch in the middle of the seventeenth century.

The bulk of his books, however, were Dutch works. Some of these were histories of the long war waged between the Dutch and Portuguese, which ended in the latter being driven out of Ceylon ; but most of them were records of the Dutch government in Ceylon, which lasted nearly one hundred and fifty years, till the island was ceded to the British. It was to the bookcase containing all his books on Ceylon that he now went, ancl passed his hand irresolutely over the books, undecided which to take out. At length his hand rested on a small roughly bound book in a corner, ancl he drew it out. It was a recent purchase, and was an old English translation of a Dutch book, ancl was entitled " A Relation of the Wars of the Dutch and Portugueses in the Island of Ceilon, by Pieter van Marten. Printed at Amsterdam, 1665."

It was a rare little book, printed on coarse paper, and full of quaint woodcuts and strange-looking maps. Returning to his chair in the verandah, the magistrate sat down and began to read. It was not a very interesting book, being chiefly remarkable for the bitter hatred of the Portuguese shown by the Dutch writer in almost every line. It gave a very one-sided and evidently exaggerated account of the many battles that were fought by the two nations for the possession of Ceylon. The Portuguese were charged with numerous acts of shameless treachery or cold-blooded cruelty, while the Hollanders were represented as having been actuated by the loftiest motives, and as having performed many heroic and chivalrous deeds. The magistrate soon decided that it was a worthless, unreliable book, but he went on reading nevertheless carelessly and listlessly, and yawning every now and then.

At length he read something which seemed to strike him, for he read it over again and then muttered to himself, " That was queer ! " This was the passage he read : — " About this time happened a strange sea A DARK PLACE OF THE EAETH. engagement between the Dutch and the Portugueses. For Commodore Odrian van Haren being come to Trinquenemale from Batavia on the frigate the Red Lion, with her consort, the Marygold Flower, ancl learning from certain Moors lately arrived from Jafnapatan that a Portuguese carrack and two caravels, richly laden, lay in the roads at Punto das Pedras,* immediately sailed away north to attack them. On the morrow, it being the evening of the 1 1th clay of November, 1643, the Commodore made Punto das Pedras and forthwith opened fire on the Portuguese ships. Whereupon they, slipping their cables, made to the westward, trusting to escape by the narrow straits through Adams Bridge.

But the Marygold Flower (a fast sailer) over taking them, they rounded their yards and bore clown ■ on her. Those on shore watching the battle heard the guns of the belligerents all night, but were not a little surprised in the morning to see not the least sign of any of the ships. Nevertheless the distant firing of cannon was heard at times for several days * Point Palmyra. successively. The Portugueses sent out boats to bring tidings of the fate of their ships ; but these, returning after two clays, reported that they had seen no ships, but had heard the sound of guns coming they knew not from where. Neither the Red Lion and her consort nor the Portuguese ships were ever beheld again, they having all doubtless sunk at sea during the engagement. It was affirmed by the superstitious among the Portugueses and Indians that the cannon-firing heard was the work of the devils infesting those seas."

Leaning back in his chair, the magistrate pondered long and deeply over the strange incident of which he had just read. Fixing his eyes on the sea before him, he pictured to himself the great high-sterned Portuguese ships lying at anchor, it might be in the very place he was gazing at, ancl the coming of the swift-sailing Dutch frigates as they rounded the point and opened fire with their bow chasers. Then, shutting his eyes, he thought of the night battle, the quick red flashes of the discharges and the sharp crack of the guns coming over the water, followed by the smash of the round shot, the sound of falling masts and yards, and the shouts of the combatants. But what had become of the ships ? That all five could have sunk in calm weather only a few miles from land, and not a single boat's crew succeeded in getting to land, seemed to him very improbable, and then he let his fancy run free thinking of it.

Perhaps, fighting stubbornly, they had all drifted on to the Indian coast at a hostile spot, and been carried into lifelong slavery. Or perhaps they had fought to the last extremity, and only two ships being left, one commander, rather than yield, had fired the powder magazine and so blown both ships into space. Or perhaps, again, they had all become phantom ships, and were still fighting in those devil-haunted seas shadowy battles with ghostly guns ! He was aroused from the reverie into which he had fallen by the voice of his appu, or head servant. " Catamaran ready, sar ! " said the man. " All right, boy ! " he replied, springing to his feet and stretching himself and yawning. " I'll go down to the beach presently." The appu salaamed and disappeared, and the magistrate, after putting away the book he had been reading, got out his fishing lines and other tackle and walked down to the beach, intending to have an afternoon's deep sea fishing.

Chapter II. The Finding Of The Island

It was early in the afternoon and still intensely hot. As he left the house Harrod felt the scorching heat through the thin coat and shirt he wore. He carried no umbrella, but had on a thick sun helmet, which he always maintained was a sufficient protection from the sun. Glancing up at the sky, he noticed that a slight change had taken place in the weather. The brilliant deep blue of the morning sky had changed to a dull red coppery hue. The burning rays of the sun were, however, but little modified by the red haze through which they passed, but beat fiercely down, singeing everything with a faint red tint. Even the sea seemed to have a stain of blood colour. The white plumage of the gulls and terns sitting on the rocks or wheeling about overhead had also assumed a delicate pink. A faint but hot land breeze had sprung up and was rippling the surface of the sea.

" Phew ! it is piping hot ! " muttered Harrod to himself. " Wonder what the doctor would say if he caught me going out on the water at this time of day ! He'd growl out probably that nobody but a fool or a salamander would do it. Phew ! — but I daresay it will be cooler on the water." The catamaran in which he was going fishing was lying on the sand ready to be launched. It consisted simply of five logs of light wood so lashed together that the outer logs were higher than the middle ones, while the centre log was sunk a few inches below the others, so as to form a kind of keel. A roughly shaped piece of wood was lashed in front as a prow to assist the catamaran in rising over the waves and prevent it plunging through them. The catamaran was provided with a short mast, stepped in the middle log and with a sail and paddles.

When Harrod came up the man who was to accompany him was putting on board a basket of cuttle-fish to be used as bait. He was a wizen-faced, misshapen little man of the fisher caste. His deformity and weakness made him unfit to work in the big fishing boats, and Harrod, having taken compassion on him, had appointed him his fisherman. Many score of fish had the two caught to gether, for the little man was an excellent hand with a deep sea line. " Is everything ready, Soosai ? " asked Harrod. "Yes, yes — all is ready," replied the man, grinning, " but it is hot, very hot. Look, turai ! " and with a grimace he touched his naked chest, which, with his back, was stream ing with perspiration. " It will be cooler when we get away from the land a bit and feel the breeze," replied his master. " But will the turai look at the sky \ " persisted the man.

" We won't go far," returned Harrod, " and will come back at once on the least sio-n of bad weather. Push off ! " Without any further protest the man pushed off the catamaran ; and both getting in, they started. The wind being fair, they set the sail, a huge lateen of brown cloth, and slowly sailed seaward through the smooth water. Soosai sat in the stern, steering with a paddle. They had not been sailing more than half an hour when Harrod began to find the heat and the blinding glare from the water very trying. He went and sat under the shadow of the sail, which gave him some temporary relief, but before long his head began to ache. While he was deliberating whether it would not be wiser to turn back, they arrived at the fishing ground, about a mile from shore. The prospect of getting some fishing made him abandon at once all idea of going back.

Soosai lowered the sail and dropped the anchor, which was merely a heavy stone ; and Harrod, having got out his lines, began to fish. For more than an hour did the two men fish, changing ground frequently by allowing the catamaran to drift, but not a bite did either of them get. Harrod was determined not to return till they had got a score of fish at least. " Soosai," he said at length, " there are no fish here. Let us go out to the Dead Shark Shoals." f ■ Without replying, the man took in his lines ; and having weighed anchor, they sailed away further out to sea. As they sailed along Harrod's headache, which he had not felt while fishing, increased ; but having resolved not to go back without fish, he merely retired into the shade afforded by the sail and bathed his head and face with salt water.

Presently he felt giddy and lay dowrn at full length on the logs, with his head resting on the empty fishing-basket. Suddenly a loud yell that sounded close to his ears caused him to open his eyes and sit up quickly. An extraordinary sight met his view. Standing at the end of the catamaran was Soosai the fisherman, dancing wildly and flourishing his paddle over his head with the gestures of a madman. The ends of his head cloth had become loose ; and his long hair, escaping from under it, streamed over his face. His contorted features and absurd antics made his master at once conclude that he was drunk. THE FINDING OP THE ISLAND. 17 " Confound the fellow ! " he thought. " He must have brought some arrack with him and been swigging at it while I was asleep. Sit down, you drunken rascal ! " he shouted.

The man only responded with a yell or rather screech, and continued capering about, in imminent clanger of falling overboard every moment. Harrod glanced round. They had arrived at the Dead Shark Shoals, and were now some five miles from shore, which in the hazy light appeared to the south like a streak along the horizon. " If I attempt to sober the fellow with a thrashing he may jump or fall overboard and be devoured," he thought. " I'll take no notice of him, and perhaps he will dance and screech himself sober. I didn't think the little beast would play me this trick, confound him ! However, there is time enough for half an hour's fishing, and then I will just lash Master Soosai to the ropes and sail away home." So thinking, he lowered the sail, threw out the stone anchor, and began to fish.

He had scarcely dropped his line overboard when he felt a violent tug. Using both hands, he c presently pulled up to the surface the queerest fish he had ever seen — an eel-like creature of a bright blue colour and covered with spines. While he was staring at it in surprise, and wondering what was the best way to land such a prickly, vicious-looking creature, it slipped off the hook and disappeared. " By Jove ! " he ejaculated, " what a nuisance ! I never saw a fish like that before. I'd have given anything to have got him." Hastily rebaiting his line, he dropped it overboard again, and instantly got another bite. On pulling up the fish it proved to be as strange a creature as the last, but of a different kind, for it was ring-shaped and of a deep purple colour. It also slipped off the hook and sank just as he was going to gaff it.

During the next half-hour he hooked a score or more of sea-creatures such as he had never dreamt of — some that appeared to be half fish and half reptile, having spiny backs like lizards or bloated bodies like toads ; some had heads like those of horses with hairy manes ; others were flat fish, their backs covered with stalks like fingers, at the end of each of which was an eye. They were of all the colours of the rainbow, and ringed and streaked and dotted. They all pulled hard, and on coming to the surface snapped viciously. Some hissed threateningly, while others yapped like puppies or whistled shrilly. But not a single one of these queer creatures did he succeed in landing. Each one on being pulled to the surface gave a violent jerk or two, slipped off the hook, and instantly disappeared.

So engrossed was he in the extraordinary sport he was having, that he quite forgot all about his companion. Presently, however, his attention was attracted by a cry from the man, who had for some minutes ceased to screech and dance about. Looking up, he saw the little man standing at the end of the catamaran, pointing with his paddle to the east. " Varathu ! varathu ! It is coming ! It is coming ! " he screamed. A glance in the direction the man was pointing showed Harrod what was the matter. A storm was coming up. A great cloud, as black as night, ancl with c a lurid rim where the red rays of the after noon sun shone on it, was coming rapidly up from the east. A moaning sound came across the sea before it, the warning note of the hurrying storm-wind. The sea, which had been as smooth as glass, had already begun to heave restlessly, as if aware of the coming tempest.

Hastily taking in his fishing line, Harrod pulled up the anchor, and then, having hoisted the sail with a double reef in it, turned the head of the catamaran to the shore. Soosai the fisherman gave no assistance, but stood pointing to the east and screaming, "It is coming ! It is coming ! " His master gave him a cuff on the ear, and taking the paddle from him, ordered him sharply to sit down, which the man did, continuing, however, to mutter, " It is coming ! " Then, seating himself in the stern, Harrod steered the catamaran, making for land. They had scarcely got under weigh, however, when the ■storm burst on them. A terrific blast nearly capsized the cata maran, but the flimsy sail, being luckily unable to stand the strain, was ripped to ribbons and blown away to leeward. In an hour's time the sea had risen mountains high, and the catamaran was swung from summit to summit like a cork.

Every moment seas broke over it, but by clinging desperately to the strong ropes that held the logs together the two men saved themselves from being washed off. Meanwhile the lightning flashed incessantly, and the thunder seemed one long deafening roll, while the rain descended in torrents. For more than an hour the catamaran was driven along by wind and waves, but in what direction Harrod could not guess, though from the point from which the storm had come he conjectured that it was to the west ward into Palk's Straits. If such was the case he knew that there was little cause for alarm, for, going in that direction, they must soon reach land. Had they been blown out into the Indian Ocean, in the opposite direction, it would have been a much more serious matter, for having no water or pro visions with them, there was the danger of dying of want, exposure, or fatigue before they could paddle back to land or be picked up by some passing vessel.

The storm had raged a couple of hours when the sky cleared a little, the rain ceased, ancl the setting sun shone out for a few moments. The wind, however, did not abate its fury. As the catamaran rose on a wave Harrod saw something ahead that he could not clearly make out. It was a white column of great height and width, and looked like a cloud resting on the sea. He was con jecturing what it could be, and wondering whether it was a gigantic waterspout and what would be the effect of their being driven into it, when a cry from his companion attracted his attention. Soosai, too, had seen the white cloud-like column ahead ; and the sight of it seemed to appal him. Springing to his feet, he threw his arms into the air and screamed— " We are lost ! we are lost ! We have got into the Devil's Sea !

No one ever came here ■and returned alive ! Aiyo ! aiyo ! " Shouting to him to be silent and to sit down, Harrod gazed eagerly ahead, his curiosity excited to the highest pitch by the man's extraordinary cry. Driven by the wind and current, they rapidly approached the strange object, but all that could be seen were what appeared to be columns of cloud or vapour rising out of the sea. Meanwhile Soosai had thrown himself at full length on the logs and lay crying aloud in abject terror. Presently a sea broke over the catamaran ; and Harrod, to his intense surprise, felt the water to be quite hot. A few minutes later the catamaran entered a dense fog. It grew darker and darker till he could scarcely dis tinguish the black figure of Soosai lying on the logs a few feet from him. And then he heard distinctly the sound of breakers ahead, and at the same time became aware that the water on which the raft floated was every minute becoming hotter.

At length it became so hot as almost to scorch his feet as it broke over the logs. That they were in the immediate neighbourhood of some active submarine volcano he felt certain, and he OP THE EAETH. shuddered to think of what might yet come. The unmistakable roar and thunder of breakers ahead showed that they were ap proaching rocks or a reef ; but, owing to the fog or vapour that surrounded them, he could see nothing. Nearer and nearer came the sound, till suddenly, with a rush, the cata maran entered the breakers. A mighty wave of hot wTater caught it up and bore it irre sistibly onward. It hung for a moment on the breakers' foaming crest ancl then struck with crushing force on the rocks. So stunning was the shock that Harrod was nearly shaken off the raft ; but gripping the log-ropes with all his strength, he waited for the next breaker.

On it came, a foaming wave-giant, caught the catamaran up as if it was a straw, ancl hurled it high and dry on a long shelving slab of rock. As the wave receded, Harrod sprang off the catamaran and scrambled up the slippery rock out of the reach of the sea. A few seconds later another great wave came up and swept the catamaran away. Harrod had seen nothing of his companion since they entered the fog, and whether Soosai had thrown himself off in his terror, or been washed off when the raft entered the breakers, he did not know. He, however, shouted long and loudly, calling him by name ; but his voice was drowned by the deafening roar of the boiling sea around him. No answer came back, and he at length decided that tbe man had been drowned. Wet to the skin and feeling very tired, he sat down on the rock to rest and to consider what was to be done.

He had not the faintest idea where he was, but supposed he had been cast on some newly formed island or reef thrust up from the bottom of the sea by recent volcanic action. But on glancing round he saw that the rock was covered with shell-fish, which showed that it had been above water for some time, and was not of very recent formation. The discovery that there was a submarine volcano in action close to Ceylon filled him with amazement, for he knew that, with the exception of slight shocks of earthquake, volcanic phenomena OF THE EAETH. were almost unknown in that part of the world. Having rested sufficiently, he then rose to his feet and looked round him. At first he could see nothing but masses of dense vapour eddying round him in the semi-darkness. Presently, however, a strong gust of wind opened the fog for a moment, and he saw, to his intense surprise, immense black, rugged cliffs towering above him.

A moment later they had disappeared from view, hidden by the dense vapour. Sufficient light penetrated the fog to enable him to dimly see his way, ancl he started off to look for help. He had not gone more than a few yards when he came upon the base of the cliff, which rose like a wall above him. Following the line of the cliff, he walked a short distance along the beach, finding his way among the rocks and boulders with some difficulty owing to the faint light. To his right he saw the yawning black mouth of a great cavern in the cliff. It was full of water, but had a sunken reef across the entrance, which broke the force of the waves beating into it. Across the reef and partly inside the cavern lay a large dark object, which he at first thought to be a great detached rock ; but looking again, he saw that it was part of a wrecked ship.

He went up to it and examined it more closely. To his intense surprise, it proved to be the stern end of an ancient ship of a type that had not been built for a hundred and fifty years at least. It was evidently all that remained of a galleon of some three hundred tons burden, that had been wrecked there many generations before. There was no mistaking the great square stern and clumsy rudder, the lofty poop, and the balustrade and gallery outside the stern cabins. It was in wonderful preservation considering how many years must have elapsed since the wreck. The wooden effigy of the saint whose name the galleon had probably borne, and quaintly carved armorial bearings over the stern, were plainly visible. Even the iron davit on which had hung the great stern lantern was still in its place, though nearly eaten through with rust.