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Updated: June 28, 2025
Then a gleam of sunshine forced its way through the driving clouds, and painted a spot of emerald green on the heaving sea. Soon after that Van der Kemp opened the lid, or hatch, of the fore-hold, and Spinkie, jumping out with alacrity, took possession of his usual seat beside the mast, to which he clung with affectionate tenacity. Gradually the wind went down.
"You need not give yourself any concern about Spinkie," said the hermit, as they glided over the still water of the little cove in which the canoe and boat were harboured. "He is quite able to take care of himself."
"Goin' to be bery dark, massa," remarked Moses as they glided past the shipping. "Shall I light de lamp?" "Do, Moses, but we shan't need it, for as we get nearer home the volcanic fires will light us on our way." "De volcanic dust is a-goin' to powder us on our way too, massa. Keep your hands out o' the way, Spinkie," said the negro as he fixed a small oil-lamp to the mast, and resumed his paddle.
"All right, massa," said the negro, in the same cheerful free-and-easy tone in which he was wont to express his willingness to obey orders whether trifling or important. "Don' forgit Spinkie, massa." "You may be sure I won't do that," replied the hermit. "Come along, monkey!"
In a small hut by the waterside the hermit found the friend a Malay to whom his canoe had been consigned, and, in a long low shed close by, he found the canoe itself with the faithful Spinkie in charge. "Don't go near the canoe till you've made friends with the monkey," said the Malay in his own tongue, as he was about to put the key in the door. "Why not?" asked the hermit.
But now, although the travellers were some miles distant from Krakatoa, the gloom was so impervious that Nigel, from his place in the centre of the canoe, could not see the form of poor Spinkie which sat clinging to the mast only two feet in front of him save when a blaze from Perboewatan or one of the other craters lighted up island and ocean with a vivid glare.
Five minutes sufficed to put all on board, and that space of time was also sufficient to enable Spinkie to observe from his retreat in the bushes that a departure was about to take place; he therefore made for the shore with all speed and bounded to his accustomed place beside the mast. Taking their places they pushed off so softly that they might well have been taken for phantoms.
Awakened from refreshing sleep at the sound of his name, Spinkie emerged suddenly from the stern-manhole, right under the negro's nose, and with a sleepy "Oo, oo!" gazed up into his face. "Ho! Dare you is, you mis'rible hyperkrite!" exclaimed Moses, kissing the animal in the depth of his satisfaction. "He's here, massa, all right. Now, you go to bed agin, you small bundle ob hair."
"We are safe from pursuit now," said Van der Kemp in a tone of satisfaction, as they paused for a breathing spell. "O massa!" exclaimed Moses at that moment, in a voice of consternation; "we's forgotten Spinkie!" "So we have!" returned the hermit in a voice of regret so profound that Nigel could scarce restrain a laugh in spite of his sympathy. But Spinkie had not forgotten himself.
The tiny sails caught the puff, causing the canoe to lean slightly over, and glide with a rippling sound through the water, while Moses steered by means of his paddle. "You have put Spinkie down below, I think," said Nigel, who had been struck more than once with the hermit's extreme tenderness and care of the little creature. "Yes, to prevent it from being washed overboard.
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