With the first streak¹ of dawn, as was their wont², all the islanders were astir, and their first thoughts were for the rescued ones. The news soon spread throughout the community that the two men had awakened³, mightily⁴ refreshed, and that one of them could speak a few words of English. All ordinary tasks were neglected, and practically the whole village flocked to the house where they, the rescued ones, had been sheltered for the night. And there they saw their guests gaunt, wild-eyed and scared-looking, holding quite a levee, and one endeavouring to explain how they came to be there.

 

It was a difficult task, for his English was of the feeblest and his pronunciation of the words he did know so extraordinary that it required many repetitions of even the simplest phrases and great patience on the part of the listeners to gather the sense of what he said. At last, however, they learned that these two were the sole survivors⁵ of ten men, who, after killing⁶ two of their guardians⁷, had escaped from New Caledonia, the French convict island. Four weeks had elapsed since they had seen the last of that awful place of their imprisonment⁸, four weeks of such horror that the scanty⁹ words of English possessed¹⁰ by the spokesman could only give the barest outline of them. But quite enough was told to satisfy them that such an experience[Pg 61] savoured of that place of torment¹² of which they never

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