The Wonder Island Boys: The Mysteries of the Caverns

The boys looked at the Professor in amazement. They were too much excited and concerned at the new situation to be able to interpret what the sudden disappearance of their team meant.

The Professor turned to the boys: "Are you sure the yaks were tied before we left them?"

"I was particularly careful," answered Harry, "to tie both of them."

"I am pretty sure that both were securely fastened, and they were in that condition when I came back the last time," was George's reply.

To understand the peculiar situation above referred to, it will be necessary to go back and briefly relate some of the remarkable events which had taken place in the lives of the three people concerned in this history.

George Mayfield and Harry Crandall, together with a Professor, were mates on a ship training school, which sailed from New York one year before. A terrific explosion at sea cast them adrift in mid-Pacific Ocean, and after five days of suffering they were cast ashore on an apparently uncharted island, without any food, and entirely devoid of any tools, implements or weapons.

Exercising the knowledge of the Professor, and the ingenuity of the boys, they gradually dug from mother earth and from the rocks and trees the articles necessary to sustain life, and eventually they found different ores from which various implements and weapons were made. They constructed numerous machines, crude, at first, and gradually developed them. They succeeded in capturing yaks, a bovine species of animals, some of which were trained like oxen; wagons were built; a shop constructed; a water wheel installed; a primitive sawmill put up; a primary battery made; articles of clothing woven; felt made; and numerous things of this character originated from material which nature had furnished in its crude state.

While doing all this the desire to explore the island was a predominating one. Four trips into the interior had been made in order to ascertain whether or not it contained any human beings. During those trips numerous evidences were found to show that savages were there, and some indications that civilized people had visited the island.

The peculiar happenings which excited their interest were the mysterious things that occurred at various times, among which the following may be briefly enumerated: The disappearance of a boat, which they built, and which was left at the place where the team was lost; the subsequent finding of the boat among debris on the seashore, having oars and rope in it which were strange to them; the removal of the flagpole and flag which had been erected up on a high point near the ocean, called Observation Hill, and the fire in the forest.

To the foregoing may be added the discovery of a prospecting hole, which had been dug, evidently, by some one in the hope of finding mineral; a yak with a brand on it; wreckage of a boat, which, undoubtedly, belonged to their ill-fated ship; a gruesome skeleton on the seashore; and finally one of the lifeboats of the schoolship and a companion to their own, found on the shore of the stream where they now were.

All these things were sufficient not only to cause alarm, but the greatest consternation on the part of the boys. It must be said, however, that the trials of the boys, under the calm, calculating deportment of the Professor, had done much to make them self-reliant. George, the elder, was of an exceedingly inquisitive turn of mind; he was a theorist, and tried to find out the reason for everything. On the other hand, Harry was practical in all his efforts; he could take the knowledge obtained and profit by it, as the previous volumes show. It was fortunate, therefore, as the Professor put it, that theory and practice were personified in the two boys, who, although companionable, were the exact opposites as types.

The Professor never showed a preference, in any manner, for either. Like the true philosopher he saw the value of the two distinct qualities, the one useless without the other.

When they had fully recovered from their astonishment, George was the first to speak. "They may have broken the fastenings."

The Professor, who had been intently examining the tree to which they were hitched, said: "I can find no evidence of any undue wrench which might show that they had gotten away by their own exertions. Let us see whether we can follow the trail."

The ground was covered with leaves, so that no earth was visible, and the only sort of trail left in a forest, under those conditions, is the slightly depressed tracks which the wheels make. They examined this, noting also the overturned leaves, which are usually left in the wake of cattle.

The latter means seemed to be the only available way in which any trace could be made out, and this they followed. It led directly to the west, and toward the section they were desirous of exploring at the time the present trip was inaugurated.

"How fast do you suppose the team is traveling?"

"Certainly not faster than we are now going. They cannot be hurried very well, as you know, and we should be able to overtake them within an hour or two."

"But what shall we do if we find them in charge of somebody?"

That suggestion brought up at once a very serious question. They had made six pistols, very crude, it is true, but which served admirably as weapons of defense; but the hazardous part of the present situation was that only the Professor had one of the pistols, the others having been left with the team. The only thing which added some comfort was the knowledge that as the pistols required a special hook to enable them to cock the firing plug, and as the Professor had this hook, those who took the team might not be able to use the weapons against them.

At this place it might be well to refer to Red Angel. Nearly nine months before, on one of their trips, a baby orang-outan had been captured, and the boys educated him, as best they could, and he really developed many reasonable instincts. It was Red Angel who left the wagon and followed them down the river, and who by his peculiar actions attracted attention to their missing team.

"We owe something to Angel for his cuteness in coming for us," said Harry.

The orang progressed rapidly, swinging, as he did, from tree to tree on the route, and when no trees were in sight, would shamble along in a peculiar way, as it is difficult for them to walk erect. Their feet are not adapted to promote a graceful gait.

"The track seems to be lost," said the Professor. "I cannot make it out, either from the leaves or the depression. However, it appears best to follow this course."

Without stopping they proceeded in the same general direction. Red Angel, who up to this time had followed the route taken by the party, now turned to the right, and when George called, refused to return. As George walked toward him, he kept advancing to the right, and could not be induced to come back.

"Probably we should follow him," was the Professor's conclusion.

It was evident from Angel's antics that the change in the course delighted him.

George, who was ahead, soon stopped, and shouted back, gleefully. "Here are the tracks! Good fellow, come here!"

Angel understood this. He had actually sensed the direction taken by the missing team, for here were the tracks. The only thing that grieved George was the absence of the honey pot. Angel's weakness was honey, and that was now with the team.

Suddenly Angel, who was now in one of the large trees which grew all along the course, began an excitable chatter, and vigorously jumped from one limb to the next, and George, who knew his antics pretty well by this time, stopped and prepared himself for some new and unexpected development in this remarkable journey. Angel, on the other hand, started off through the trees with wonderful agility, and it was all the boys could do to follow.

There, ahead of them, was the wagon perched against a tree, one of the front wheels and an axle broken, and the tongue wrenched off; but the yaks had disappeared. It is singular that the team had gone thus far without meeting an obstruction. As it was, one wheel had locked with a tree, and the yaks, by their tremendous power, had broken the parts mentioned and gone on.

Before the wagon was reached, however, numbers of articles were found scattered along the trail, which were gathered up.

The finding of the wagon was an intense relief. Their minds had been perturbed with this occurrence, as never before, and they had met numerous thrilling episodes before.

"Something must have frightened the yaks, and they were going at a much greater speed than at a walk when they collided with the tree," observed the Professor.

"Why do you think so?" asked Harry.

"In the first place, the fact that our articles were scattered along the path before they reached the tree; and, secondly, the wagon pole and the wheel were strong enough to hold the yaks against the tree if they had been moving along at their usual gait."

"Well, I am thankful that we have the wagon, even though the yaks are gone," said George, as he crawled into it. He peered out and continued in a surprised tone: "Where do you suppose the pistols are? Did you leave yours in the box, Harry?"

"Yes; on the right side. Yours were there at the time. I saw all of them."

"They are not here now, and it is likely they have been lost with some of the other things." Harry was up in an instant.

"Where is the ammunition?"

"It was all in the bottom of the box."

It did not seem at all likely that the pistols or the ammunition could fall out of the box. It is true other things had fallen along the way, but this seemed to be such an unlikely occurrence that they could scarcely credit it.

The provisions were safe, and you may be sure that Angel was not only petted, but he received a good share of the delicious sweet.

It was now nearing night, and they were fully ten miles from home. Ten miles is not a long tramp, but to travelers like ours, already weary with their trudging and with the excitements of the day, it was concluded to camp in the wagon for the night, and then proceed home early in the morning. To take the wagon would be an impossibility.

They really learned to love the patient yaks. For fully five months they had been daily companions, and were now so well trained that some discouragement was felt at being compelled again to break in others. They had an ample supply of good material in the herd to pick from, but it took time and patience to develop such a team as had been lost.

During the entire night one of the trio kept watch, not so much from a feeling of fear as in the hope the yaks would return during the night; but they were doomed to disappointment. Morning came, but the yaks did not, and after gathering together the most useful belongings, and putting them into convenient bundles for carrying purposes, set out for home.

The first question taken up by the boys after their return was the selection of a pair of young steers for the new team; and the work of making a new pair of yokes was carried forward with energy. They were in the midst of the planting season which had been interrupted when the last journey was undertaken.

Hitherto it had been the custom to devote at least one day each week to hunting, on which occasions they also made trips to such points in the island as had not been previously visited; and it was also a part of their duty to examine the woods and the fields to find new specimens of plants, fruits and flowers; and among the hills and ravines were many kinds of ore, some of which they had been fortunate enough to find on their entry to the island.

The metals thus found were utilized, because they had set up a workshop alongside the sawmill, and in it had a crude lathe adapted to work in wood or iron. It will thus be seen that each tour was for prospecting purposes, to supply their needs, as well as to learn what the island contained.

Each evening it was the habit to have a general discussion concerning the events of the day, or with reference to matters of moment about the work to be done on the morrow.

George was much interested in the planting program. "What kinds of vegetable would it be most advisable to plant in the space we have prepared?"

"One of the important points to consider in the planting of all crops is whether the soil is adapted for it. When the United States were first settled it was a surprising thing that many of the original settlers would go miles inland, exposed to every sort of danger, to find land, when there was plenty nearer the seashore or close to civilization. There was a reason for that which we are only now beginning fully to understand. Plants have a habit of growing in soil adapted for their needs, and it would be an interesting study in going over our island to consider the habits of plants in this respect."

"Is that the reason why different countries have such different kinds of plants?"

"Yes; plants select their soil, and owing to these habits, every variety of soil, in every climate, supports its own vegetable tribes. Of the five thousand flowering plants of central Europe, only three hundred grow on peaty soils, and those are mainly rushes and sedges. In the native forests of northern Europe and America, the unlettered explorer hails with joy the broad-leaved trees glittering in the sun among the pines, as a symptom of good land, which he knows how to cultivate. The rudest peasant in Europe knows that wheat and beans seek clay soils; the northern German knows that rye alone and the potato are best adapted for the blowing sands of that country; the Chinese peasant, that the warm sloping banks of light land are fitted for the tea plant, and stiff, wet, impervious flooded clays for his rice. Even the slaves in the Southern States were aware that open alluvial lands were best suited to cotton; and the degraded slaves of Pernambuco know that the cocoa grows only on the sandy soils of the coast, just the same as in west Africa the oil palms flourish on the moist sea sand that skirts the shore, and the mangroves where muddy shallows are daily deserted by the retiring tide."

"Some time ago you stated in one of our talks that soil was the necessary thing to select in order to propagate, or make good fruit and grain out of the poor or wild kind. Were all our vegetables and grains originally wild?"

"Originally nothing in the way of fruit, flower, grain or garden vegetables was anything but wild and unproductive, or bitter, tasteless or unprofitable. Chemical changes are made in the plant by the soil in which it grows, because it is from the soil that it gets its food. The large and juicy carrot found at home is nothing but the woody spindle of the wild carrot, and I have found several species of it here. Cabbages, cauliflowers, Brussels sprouts and a host of other like vegetables were, in their natural state, poor, woody, bitter stems, and had useless roots. As I have already stated, the wild potato, which we are now cultivating, has, in its original state, a bitter root, as you have discovered."

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