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To my boys, Stephen and Matthew, from a very proud Dad.
About the Author
Simon Monk has a bachelor’s degree in cybernetics and computer
science and a doctorate in software engineering. He has been an
active electronics hobbyist since his school days and is an occasional
author in hobby electronics magazines. Dr. Monk is also author of
some 20 books on Maker and electronics topics, especially Arduino
and Raspberry Pi. Simon also designs products for MonkMakes Ltd.
https://monkmakes.com
You can find out more about his books at http://simonmonk.org.
You can also follow him on Twitter, where he is @simonmonk2.
 CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1 Getting Started
Microcontrollers
Development Boards
A Tour of an Arduino Uno Board
Power Supply
Power Connections
Analog Inputs
Digital Connections
Microcontroller
Other Components
A Tour of a WiFi-Capable Arduino-Compatible
The Origins of Arduino
Powering Up
Installing the Software
Uploading Your First Sketch
The Arduino Application
Conclusion

2 C Language Basics
Programming
What Is a Programming Language?
 Blink—Again!
Variables
Experiments in C
Numeric Variables and Arithmetic
Commands
if
for
while
Constants
Conclusion

3 Functions
What Is a Function?
Parameters
Global, Local, and Static Variables
Return Values
Other Variable Types
Floats
Boolean
Other Data Types
Coding Style
Indentation
Opening Braces
Whitespace
Comments
Conclusion

4 Arrays and Strings

Arrays
 Morse Code SOS Using Arrays
String Arrays
String Literals
String Variables
A Morse Code Translator
Data
Globals and Setup
The loop Function
The flashSequence Function
The flashDotOrDash Function
Putting It All Together
The String Class
Conclusion

5 Input and Output

Digital Outputs
5 V or 3.3 V?
Digital Inputs
Pull-Up Resistors
Internal Pull-Up Resistors
Debouncing
Analog Outputs
Analog Input
Conclusion

6 Boards
Arduino Nano
Arduino Pro Mini
Breadboard
 The Boards Manager
ESP32 Boards
Raspberry Pi Pico
BBC micro:bit
Adafruit Feather System
Conclusion

7 Advanced Arduino
Random Numbers
Math Functions
Bit Manipulation
Advanced I/O
Generating Tones
Feeding Shift Registers
Interrupts
Compile-Time Constants
The Arduino Web Editor
Conclusion

8 Data Storage
Large Data Structures
Storing Data in Flash Memory
EEPROM
Storing an int in EEPROM
Writing Anything to EEPROM
Storing a float in EEPROM
Storing a String in EEPROM
Clearing the Contents of EEPROM
Compression
 Range Compression
Conclusion

9 Displays
Alphanumeric LCD Displays
A USB Message Board
Using the Display
Other LCD Library Functions
OLED Graphic Displays
Connecting an OLED Display
Software
Conclusion

10 Arduino Internet of Things Programming

Boards for IoT
Installing ESP32 into the Arduino IDE
Connecting to WiFi
Running a Web Server
Serving Sensor Readings
Serving Sensor Readings—Improved
Turning the Built-in LED On and Off from a Web Page
Connecting to a Web Service
Conclusion

Index
 PREFACE

The first edition of this book was published in November 2011 and
has been Amazon’s highest ranking book on Arduino.
The Arduino Uno is still considered to be the standard Arduino
board. However, many other boards, including both official Arduino
boards (like the Leonardo, Nano, and Pro Mini) and other Arduino-
compatible devices like the Raspberry Pi Pico, ESP32-based boards,
and numerous Feather boards from Adafruit have also appeared.
The Arduino software is available for so many families of
microcontroller, that it has become the environment of choice for
many embedded programmers.
This edition also addresses the use of Arduino in Internet of
Things (IoT) projects and the use of various types of display
including OLED and LCD.

Simon Monk
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Linda for giving me the time, space, and support to write
this book and for putting up with the various messes my projects
create around the house.
Finally, I would like to thank Lara Zoble and everyone involved in
the production of this book. It’s a pleasure to work with such a
great team.
 INTRODUCTION

Arduino interface boards provide a low-cost, easy-to-use

technology to create microcontroller-based projects. With a little
electronics, you can make your Arduino do all sorts of things, from
controlling lights in an art installation to managing the power on a
solar energy system.
There are many project-based books that show you how to
connect things to your Arduino, including 30 Arduino Projects for the
Evil Genius by this author. However, the focus of this book is on
programming the Arduino and Arduino-compatible boards using the
Arduino IDE.
This book will explain how to make programming the Arduino
simple and enjoyable, avoiding the difficulties of uncooperative code
that so often afflict a project. You will be taken through the process
of programming the Arduino step by step, starting with the basics of
the C programming language that Arduinos use.

So, What Is Arduino?

The word “Arduino” has come to mean both the hardware and a
software environment for programming microcontroller boards.
Because microcontroller boards come in all shapes and sizes, our
standard board will be the most popular official Arduino board, the
Arduino Uno.
The Arduino Uno is a small microcontroller board with a universal
serial bus (USB) plug to connect to your computer and a number of
connection sockets that can be wired to external electronics such as
motors, relays, light sensors, laser diodes, loudspeakers,
microphones, and more. They can be powered either through a USB
connection from the computer, a battery, or from a power supply.
They can be controlled from the computer or programmed by the
computer and then disconnected and allowed to work independently.
The board design of official Arduino boards and many Arduino-
compatible boards is open source. This means that anyone is
allowed to make Arduino-compatible boards. This competition has
led to low costs for the boards and all sorts of variations on the
“standard” boards.
The basic boards are supplemented by accessory shield boards
that can be plugged on top of the Arduino board.
The software for programming your Arduino is easy to use and
also freely available for Windows, Mac, and Linux computers. There
is also a browser-based version of the software.

What Will I Need?

This is a book intended for beginners, but it is also intended to be
useful to those who have used Arduino for a while and want to learn
more about programming the Arduino or gain a better understanding
of the fundamentals. As such, this book concentrates on the use of
the Arduino Uno board, apart from Chapter 10 that uses an ESP32
Arduino-compatible board; however, almost all of the code will work
unmodified on all the Arduino models and various Arduino-
compatible microcontroller boards.
You do not need to have any programming experience or a
technical background, and the book’s exercises do not require any
soldering. All you need is the desire to make something.
If you want to make the most of the book and try out some of the
experiments, then it is useful to have the following on hand:
A few lengths of solid core wire
A cheap digital multimeter
Both are readily available for a few dollars from a hobby electronics
store or online retailer such as Adafruit or Sparkfun. You will of
course also need an Arduino, ideally an Arduino Uno and for Chapter
10, a low-cost ESP32 Arduino-compatible such as the Lolin32 Lite.
If you want to go a step further and experiment with displays,
then you will need to buy those too. See Chapters 9 and 10 for
details.

Using This Book

This book is structured to get you started in a really simple way and
gradually build on what you have learned. You may, however, find
yourself skipping or skimming some of the early chapters as you find
the right level to enter the book.
The book is organized into the following chapters:
Chapter 1: Getting Started Here you conduct your first
experiments with your Arduino board: installing the software,
powering it up, and uploading your first sketch.
Chapter 2: C Language Basics This chapter covers the
basics of the C language; for complete programming
beginners, the chapter also serves as an introduction to
programming in general.
Chapter 3: Functions This chapter explains the key concept
of using and writing functions in Arduino sketches. These
sketches are demonstrated throughout with runnable code
examples.
Chapter 4: Arrays and Strings Here you learn how to make
and use data structures that are more advanced than simple
integer variables. A Morse code example project is slowly
developed to illustrate the concepts being explained.
Chapter 5: Input and Output You learn how to use the
digital and analog inputs and outputs on the Arduino in your
programs. A multimeter will be useful to show you what is
happening on the Arduino’s input/output connections.
 Chapter 6: Boards In this chapter we will look at the wide
range of Arduino and Arduino-compatible boards to help you
choose the right board for your project.
Chapter 7: Advanced Arduino This chapter explains how to
make use of the Arduino functions that come in the Arduino’s
standard library and some other more advanced features of
Arduino programming.
Chapter 8: Data Storage Here you learn how to write
sketches that can save data in electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) and make use of
the Arduino’s built-in flash memory.
Chapter 9: Displays In this chapter, you learn how to
interface an Arduino with displays and to make a simple USB
message board.
Chapter 10: Arduino Internet of Things Programming
You learn how to make the Arduino behave like a web server
and communicate with the Internet using services.

Resources
This book is supported by an accompanying web page.

www.arduinobook.com

There you will find all the source code used in this book as well as
other resources, such as errata.
 1
Getting Started

Arduino is a microcontroller platform that has captured the

imagination of electronics enthusiasts. Its ease of use and open
source nature make it a great choice for anyone wanting to build
electronic projects.
Ultimately, it allows you to connect electronics through its pins so
that it can control things—for instance, turn lights or motors on and
off or sense things such as light and temperature. This is why
Arduino is sometimes given the description physical computing.
Because Arduinos can be connected to your computer by a universal
serial bus (USB) lead, this also means that you can use the Arduino
as an interface board to control those same electronics from your
computer.
This chapter is an introduction to the Arduino system including
the history and background of the Arduino, as well as an overview of
the Arduino Uno and Lolin32 Lite, the two Arduino boards that we
will use in this book.

Microcontrollers
The heart of your Arduino is a microcontroller. Pretty much
everything else on the board is concerned with providing the board
with power and allowing it to communicate with your desktop
computer.
 A microcontroller really is a little computer on a chip. It has
everything and more than the first home computers had. It has a
processor, a small amount of random access memory (RAM) for
holding data, some erasable programmable read-only memory
(EPROM) or flash memory for holding your programs and it has input
and output pins. These input/output (I/O) pins link the
microcontroller to the rest of your electronics.
Inputs can read both digital (is the switch on or off?) and analog
(what is the voltage at a pin?). This opens up the opportunity of
connecting many different types of sensor for light, temperature,
sound, and more.
Outputs can also be analog or digital. So, you can set a pin to be
on or off (0 volts or 5 volts) and this can turn light-emitting diodes
(LEDs) on and off directly, or you can use the output to control
higher power devices such as motors. They can also provide an
analog output. That is, you can control the power output of a pin,
allowing you to control the speed of a motor or the brightness of a
light, rather than simply turning it on or off.
The microcontroller on an Arduino Uno board is the 28-pin chip
fitted into a socket at the center of the board. This single chip
contains the memory, processor, and all the electronics for the
input/output pins. It is manufactured by the company Microchip,
which is one of the major microcontroller manufacturers. Each of the
microcontroller manufacturers produces dozens of different
microcontrollers grouped into different families. The microcontrollers
are not all created for the benefit of electronics hobbyists like us. We
are a small part of this vast market. These devices are really
intended for embedding into consumer products, including cars,
washing machines, TVs, cars, children’s toys, and even air
fresheners.
The Arduino system provides a standardized way of programming
all manner of microcontrollers and is not limited to official Arduino
boards. This means that whatever microcontroller you want to use,
you can (with a few exceptions) program it as an Arduino without
having to learn some manufacturer’s proprietary software tool.
Development Boards
We have established that the microcontroller is really just a chip. A
microcontroller will not just work on its own without some
supporting electronics to provide it with a regulated and accurate
supply of electricity (microcontrollers are fussy about this) as well as
a means of communicating with the computer that is going to
program the microcontroller.
This is where development boards come in. An Arduino Uno board
is really a microcontroller development board that happens to be an
independent open source hardware design. This means that the
design files for the printed circuit board (PCB) and the schematic
diagrams are all publicly available, and everyone is free to use the
designs to make and sell his or her own Arduino boards.
All the microcontroller manufacturers—including Microchip, which
makes the ATmega328 microcontroller used in an Arduino board—
also provide their own development boards and programming
software. Although they are usually fairly inexpensive, these tend to
be aimed at professional electronics engineers rather than hobbyists.
This means that such boards and software are arguably harder to
use and require a greater learning investment before you can get
anything useful out of them.

A Tour of an Arduino Uno Board

Figure 1-1 shows an Arduino Uno board. Let’s take a quick tour of
the various components on the board.
Figure 1-1 An Arduino Uno board.

Power Supply
Referring to Figure 1-1, directly below the USB connector is the 5-
volt (5V) voltage regulator. This regulates whatever voltage
(between 7V and 12V) is supplied from the DC power socket into a
constant 5V.
The 5V voltage regulator chip is actually quite big for a surface
mount component. This is so that it can dissipate the heat required
to regulate the voltage at a reasonably high current. This is useful
when driving external electronics.
Although powering the Arduino through the DC power socket is
useful when running the Arduino from batteries or a DC power jack,
the Arduino Uno can also be powered through the USB port, which is
also used to program the Arduino.

Power Connections
Next let us look at the connectors at the bottom of Figure 1-1. You
can read the connection names next to the connectors. The
connector of interest is Reset. This does the same thing as the Reset
button on the Arduino. Rather like rebooting a PC, using the Reset
connector resets the microcontroller so that it begins its program
from the start. To reset the microcontroller with the Reset connector,
you momentarily set this pin low (connecting it to 0V).
The rest of the pins in this section just provide different voltages
(3.3V, 5V, GND, and Vin), as they are labeled. GND, or ground, just
means zero volts. It is the reference voltage to which all other
voltages on the board are relative.

Analog Inputs
The six pins labeled as Analog In A0 to A5 can be used to measure
the voltage connected to them so that the value can be used in a
sketch (Arduino Program). Note that they measure a voltage and not
a current. Only a tiny current will ever flow into them and down to
ground because they have a very large internal resistance. That is,
the pin having a large internal resistance only allows a tiny current
to flow into the pin.
Although these inputs are labeled as analog, and are analog
inputs by default, these connections can also be used as digital
inputs or outputs.

Digital Connections
We now switch to the top connector and start on the right-hand side
in Figure 1-1. Here we find pins labeled Digital 0 to 13. These can be
used as either inputs or outputs. When used as outputs, they
behave rather like the power supply voltages discussed earlier in this
section, except that these are all 5V and can be turned on or off
from your sketch. So, if you turn them on from your sketch they will
be at 5V, and if you turn them off they will be at 0V. As with the
power supply connectors, you must be careful not to exceed their
maximum current capabilities. The first two of these connections (0
and 1) are also labeled RX and TX, for receive and transmit. These
connections are reserved for use in communication and are indirectly
the receive and transmit connections for your USB link to your
computer.
These digital connections can supply 40 mA (milliamps) at 5V.
That is more than enough to light a standard LED, but not enough to
drive an electric motor directly.

Microcontroller
Continuing our tour of the Arduino Uno board, the microcontroller
chip itself is the black rectangular device with 28 pins. This is fitted
into a dual in-line (DIL) socket so that it can be easily replaced. The
28-pin microcontroller chip used on the Arduino Uno board is the
ATmega328.
The heart—or, perhaps more appropriately, the brain—of the
device is the central processing unit (CPU). It controls everything
that goes on within the device. It fetches program instructions
stored in the flash memory and executes them. This might involve
fetching data from working memory (RAM), changing it, and then
putting it back. Or, it may mean changing one of the digital outputs
from 0V to 5V.
The electrically erasable programmable read only memory
(EEPROM) is a little like the flash memory in that it is non-volatile.
That is, you can turn the device off and on and it will not have
forgotten what is in the EEPROM. Whereas the flash memory is
intended for storing program instructions (from sketches), the
EEPROM is used to store data that you do not want to lose in the
event of a reset or the power being turned off.

Other Components
Above the microcontroller is a small, silver, rectangular component.
This is a quartz crystal oscillator. It ticks 16 million times a second,
and on each of those ticks, the microcontroller can perform one
operation—addition, subtraction, or another mathematical operation.
In the top-left corner is the Reset switch. Clicking on this switch
sends a logic pulse to the Reset pin of the microcontroller, causing
the microcontroller to start its program afresh and clear its memory.
Note that any program stored on the device will be retained,
because this is kept in non-volatile flash memory—that is, memory
that remembers even when the device is not powered.
On the right-hand edge of the board is the Serial Programming
Connector. It offers another means of programming the Arduino
without using the USB port. Because we do have a USB connection
and software that makes it convenient to use, we will not avail
ourselves of this feature.
In the top-left corner of the board next to the USB socket is the
USB interface chip. This chip converts the signal levels used by the
USB standard to levels that can be used directly by the Arduino
board.

A Tour of a WiFi-Capable Arduino-Compatible

In contrast to the Arduino Uno, the board shown in Figure 1-2 is a
low-cost Arduino-compatible board manufactured in China. This
board has built-in WiFi, which is why we have chosen it for Chapter
10, the Internet of Things. In Chapter 6, we will meet this type of
board again, along with some other types of Arduino-compatible
boards.
Figure 1-2 An Arduino-compatible Board (Lolin32 Lite).

The board has most of the same things as an Arduino Uno. It has
a USB connector, all though in this case it is a micro USB connector
rather than the full-size connector of the Arduino Uno. It also has
GPIO pins on its two long sides, and you generally have to solder
your own headers onto these. You can either solder female header
pins like the Uno, or more often, people solder on male header pins
(which are usually supplied with the board). This board also has a
battery connector for rechargeable LiPo battery in place of the DC
barrel jack of the Uno. The board’s microcontroller is labeled as a
SoC (System on a Chip) to reflect the fact that it has built-in WiFi
hardware rather than just being a simple microcontroller like the Uno
uses.

The Origins of Arduino

Arduino was originally developed as an aid for teaching students. It
was subsequently (in 2005) developed commercially by Massimo
Banzi and David Cuartielles. It has since gone on to become
enormously successful with makers, students, and artists for its ease
of use and durability.
Another key factor in its success is that all the designs for Arduino
are freely available under a Creative Commons license. This has
allowed many lower-cost alternatives to the boards to appear. Only
the name Arduino is protected, so such clones often have “*duino”
names, such as Boarduino, Seeeduino, and Freeduino. Many big
retailers sell only the official boards, which are nicely packaged and
of high quality.
Yet another reason for the success of Arduino is that it is not
limited to microcontroller boards. There are a huge number of
Arduino-compatible shield boards that plug directly into the top of an
Arduino board. Because shields are available for almost every
conceivable application, you often can avoid using a soldering iron
and instead plug together shields that can be stacked one upon
another. The following are just a few of the most popular shields:
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TFT displays
Motor, which drives electric motors
USB Host, which allows control of USB devices
Relays, which switches relays from your Arduino
Figure 1-3 shows a motor shield (left) and relay shield (right).
Figure 1-3 Motor and relay shields.

Powering Up
When you buy an Arduino Uno board, it is usually preinstalled with a
sample Blink program that will make the little built-in LED flash.
The LED marked L is wired up to one of the digital input output
sockets on the board. It is connected to digital pin 13. This does not
mean that pin 13 can only be used to light the LED; you can also
use it as a normal digital input or output.
All you need to do to get your Arduino Uno up and running is
supply it with some power. The easiest way to do this is to plug it
into the USB port on your computer. You will need a type-A-to-type-B
USB lead. This is the same type of lead that is normally used to
connect a computer to a printer.
If everything is working OK, the LED should blink. New Arduino
boards come with this Blink sketch already installed so that you can
verify that the board works.

Installing the Software

To be able to install new sketches onto your Arduino board, you
need to do more than supply power to it over the USB. You need to
install the Arduino software (Figure 1-4).
Figure 1-4 The Arduino IDE application.

Full and comprehensive instructions for installing this software on

Windows, Linux, and Mac computers can be found at the Arduino
website (www.arduino.cc).
Note that as well as the downloadable IDE that you run on your
computer, there is also a web version. I recommend that you start
with the downloadable IDE.
Once you have successfully installed the Arduino software and,
depending on your platform, USB drivers, you should now be able to
upload a program to the Arduino board.

Uploading Your First Sketch

The blinking LED is the Arduino equivalent to the “Hello World”
program used in other languages as the traditional first program to
run when learning a new language. Let’s test out the environment
by installing this program on your Arduino board and then modifying
it.
When you start the Arduino application on your computer, it
opens with an empty sketch. Fortunately, the application ships with a
wide range of useful examples. So from the File menu, open the
Blink example as shown in Figure 1-5.
Figure 1-5 The Blink sketch.

You now need to transfer or upload that sketch to your Arduino

board. So plug your Arduino board into your computer using the USB
lead. You should see the green “On” LED on the Arduino light up.
The Arduino board will probably already be flashing, as the boards
are generally shipped with the Blink sketch already installed. But let’s
install it again and then modify it.
Before you can upload a sketch, you must tell the Arduino
application what type of board you are using and which serial port
you are connected to. Figures 1-6 and 1-7 show how you do this
from the Tools menu.
Figure 1-6 Selecting the board type.
Figure 1-7 Selecting the serial port (in Windows).

On a Windows machine, the serial port is always COM followed by

a number. On Macs and Linux machines, you will see a much longer
list of serial devices (see Figure 1-8). The device will normally be the
bottom selection in the list, with a name similar to
/dev/cu.usbmodem621.

Figure 1-8 Selecting the serial port (on a Mac).

Now click on the Upload icon in the toolbar. This is shown circled
in Figure 1-9.
Figure 1-9 Uploading the sketch.

After you click the button, there is a short pause while the sketch
is compiled and then the transfer begins. If it is working, then there
will be some furious blinking of LEDs as the sketch is transferred,
after which you should see the message “Done Uploading” at the
bottom of the Arduino application window and a further message
similar to “Sketch uses 1,030 bytes (3%) of program storage space.”
Once uploaded, the board automatically starts running the sketch
and you will see the yellow built-in “L” LED start to blink.
If this did not work, then check your serial and board type
settings.
Now let’s modify the sketch to make the LED blink faster. To do
this, let’s alter the two places in the sketch where there is a delay for
1,000 milliseconds so that the delay is 500 milliseconds. Figure 1-10
shows the modified sketch with the changes circled.

Figure 1-10 Modifying the Blink sketch.

Click on the Upload button again. Then, once the sketch has
uploaded, you should see your LED start to blink twice as fast as it
did before.
Congratulations, you are now ready to start programming your
Arduino. First, though, let’s take a mini-tour of the Arduino
application.

The Arduino Application

Sketches in Arduino are like documents in a word processor. You can
open them and copy parts from one to another. So you see options
to Open, Save, and Save As in the File menu. You will not normally
use Open because the Arduino application has the concept of a
Sketchbook where all your sketches are kept carefully organized into
folders. You gain access to the Sketchbook from the File menu.
As you have just installed the Arduino application for the first time,
your Sketchbook will be empty until you create some sketches.
As you have seen, the Arduino application comes with a selection
of example sketches that can be very useful. Having modified the
Blink example sketch, if you try and save it, you get a message that
says, “Some files are marked read-only so you will need to save this
sketch in a different location.”
Try this now. Accept the default location, but change the filename
to MyBlink, as shown in Figure 1-11.
Figure 1-11 Saving a copy of Blink.

Now if you go to the File menu and then click on Sketches, you
will see MyBlink as one of the sketches listed. If you look at your
computer’s file system, you will find that, on a PC, the sketch has
been written into My Documents\Arduino, and on Mac or Linux, it is
in Documents/Arduino.
All of the sketches used in this book can be downloaded as a zip
file from www.arduinobook.com. I suggest that now is the time to
download this file and unzip it into the Arduino folder that contains
the sketches. Figure 1-12 shows the files being extracted into the
Arduino directory in Windows. In other words, when you have
unzipped the folder, there should be two folders in your Arduino
folder: one for the newly saved MyBlink and one called
prog_arduino_3-main. The Programming Arduino folder will contain
all the sketches, numbered according to chapter, so that sketch
02_01_blink, for example, is sketch 1 of Chapter 2.
Figure 1-12 Installing the sketches from the book.

These sketches will not appear in your Sketchbook menu until you
quit the Arduino application and restart it. Do so now. Then your
Sketchbook menu should look similar to that shown in Figure 1-13.
Figure 1-13 Sketchbook with the book’s sketches installed.

Conclusion
Your environment is all set up and ready to go.
In the next chapter, we will look at some of the basic principles of
the C language that the Arduino uses and start writing some code.
 2
C Language Basics

The programming language used to program Arduinos is a

language called C. In this chapter, you get to understand the basics
of the C language. You will use what you learn here in every sketch
you develop as an Arduino programmer. To get the most out of
Arduino, you need to understand these fundamentals.

Programming
It is not uncommon for people to speak more than one language. In
fact, the more you learn, the easier it seems to learn spoken
languages as you start to find common patterns of grammar and
vocabulary. The same is true of programming languages. So, if you
have used any other programming language, you will quickly pick up
C.
The good news is that the vocabulary of a programming language
is far smaller than that of a spoken language, and because you write
it rather than say it, the dictionary can always be at hand whenever
you need to look things up. Also, the grammar and syntax of a
programming language are extremely regular, and once you come to
grips with a few simple concepts, learning more quickly becomes
second nature.
It is best to think of a program—or a sketch, as programs are
called in Arduino—as a list of instructions to be carried out in the
order that they are written down. For example, suppose you were to
write the following:

These three lines would each do something. The first line would set
the output of pin 13 to HIGH. This is the pin with a light-emitting
diode (LED) built in to the Arduino Uno board, so at this point the
LED would light. The second line would simply wait for
500 milliseconds (half a second) and then the third line would turn
the LED back off again. So these three lines would achieve the goal
of making the LED blink once for half a second.
You have already seen a bewildering array of punctuation used in
strange ways and words that don’t have spaces between them. A
frustration of many new programmers is, “I know what I want to do,
I just don’t know what I need to write!” Fear not, all will be
explained.
First of all, let’s deal with the punctuation and the way the words
are formed. These are both part of what is termed the syntax of the
language. Most languages require you to be extremely precise about
syntax, and one of the main rules is that names for things have to
be a single word. That is, they cannot include spaces. So,
digitalWrite is the name for something. It’s the name of a built-in
function (you’ll learn more about functions later) that will do the job
of setting an output pin on the Arduino board. Not only do you have
to avoid spaces in names, but also names are case sensitive. So you
must write digitalWrite, not DigitalWrite or Digitalwrite.
The function digitalWrite needs to know which pin to set and
whether to set that pin HIGH or LOW. These two pieces of
information are called arguments, which are said to be passed to a
function when it is called. The arguments for a function must be
enclosed in parentheses and separated by commas.
The convention is to place the opening parenthesis immediately
after the last letter of the function’s name and to put a space after
the comma before the next argument. However, you can sprinkle
space characters within the parentheses if you want.
If the function only has one argument, then there is no need for a
comma.
Notice how each line ends with a semicolon. It would be more
logical if they were periods, because the semicolon marks the end of
one command, a bit like the end of a sentence.
In the next section, you will find out a bit more about what
happens when you press the Upload button on the Arduino
integrated development environment (IDE). Then you will be able to
start trying out a few examples.

What Is a Programming Language?

It is perhaps a little surprising that we can get to Chapter 2 in a
book about programming without defining exactly what a
programming language is. We can recognize an Arduino sketch and
probably have a rough idea of what it is trying to do, but we need to
look a bit deeper into how some programming language code goes
from being words on a page to something that does something real,
like turn an LED on and off.
Figure 2-1 summarizes the process involved from typing code into
the Arduino IDE to running the sketch on the board.
Figure 2-1 From code to board.

When you press the Upload button on your Arduino IDE, it

launches a chain of events that results in your sketch being installed
on the Arduino and being run. This is not as straightforward as
simply taking the text that you typed into the editor and moving it to
the Arduino board.
The first step is to do something called compilation. This takes the
code you have written and translates it into machine code—the
binary language that the Arduino understands. If you click the Verify
button (leftmost check mark icon) on the Arduino IDE, this actually
attempts to compile the C that you have written without trying to
send the code to the Arduino IDE. A side-effect of compiling the
code is that it is checked to make sure that it conforms to the rules
of the C language.
If you type Ciao Bella! into your Arduino IDE and click on the
Verify button, the results will be as shown in Figure 2-2.
Figure 2-2 Arduinos don’t speak Italian.

The Arduino has tried to compile the words “Ciao Bella,” and
despite its Italian heritage, it has no idea what you are talking
about. This text is not C. So, the result is that at the bottom of the
screen we have that cryptic message “Ciao does not name a type.”
What this actually means is that there is a lot wrong with what you
have written.
Let’s try another example. This time we will try compiling a sketch
with no code at all in it (see Figure 2-3).
Figure 2-3 No setup or loop.

This time, the compiler is telling you that your sketch does not
have setup or loop functions. As you know from the Blink example
that you ran in Chapter 1, you have to have some “boilerplate” code,
as it is called, before you can add your own code into a sketch. In
Arduino programming the “boilerplate” code takes the form of the
“setup” and “loop” functions that must always be present in a
sketch.
You will learn much more about functions later in the book, but
for now, let’s accept that you need this boilerplate code and just
adapt your sketch so it will compile (see Figure 2-4).
Other documents randomly have
different content
 “Me, sir?”
“Yes.”
This silence was longer than the other; Christopher must have
listened far.
“The world, sir.”
Beelo shook with a silent chuckle, and squeezed my hand; but I
knew that Christopher’s words had a meaning.
“The world?” I quietly repeated.
“Yes, sir. I hear it.”
Beelo and I straightened up and set our ears on a strain.
“I hear nothing,” I said.
“I hear it, very faint,” Beelo breathlessly returned.
It made no difference with the steadiness of Christopher’s work.
The odor gradually grew more pronounced, and then I recalled an
iron smelter that I had seen in boyhood. Presently I too heard a
distant roar as of a furnace that ground while it burned. Beelo crept
close under my arm again. I could feel his quick heart-beats and
shortened breathing against my side.
Creeping through these increasing sensations came the deep note
of falling water. Why ask Beelo whether he had ever heard that our
stream took a subterranean plunge? Christopher kept coolly at his
task. The sharp striking and scraping of his tireless pole had long
ago informed me that rock made our channel and shores, which
were uneven and dangerous. Now and then the raft would make a
sudden swing to avoid underwater rocks that Christopher’s
soundings had discovered. At other times it would come to a
lurching halt until the man carrying our lives in his hand had made
sure of the way.
“What do you think of that water falling, Christopher?” I asked.
He waited a long time, and his slow answer chilled me:
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You’ll go slow when we come nearer?”
 “Yes, sir.”
Beelo gave me a hand-pressure intended to silence my foolish
tongue.
With a growing intensity in the odor, in the furnace roar, and in the
rumbling of the waterfall, came stealing something new and
surpassingly uncanny. It was a very dim glow, with no visible source,
and without the power to make anything seen but itself. Apparently
it was but the darkness in a more oppressive phase. In vain did I
strain my eyes to see Christopher, Beelo, the raft, the water,—
anything that light could make visible; but the glow was as
impenetrable as the darkness.
Beelo was going to pieces under the weight of this encompassing
awe. I knew that his weakness was born of his yielding to an
extraneous reliance—Christopher and me. He put his lips to my ear
and whispered:
“I’m afraid.”
“Steady, lad. You are our guide; you are responsible for us.”
“Yes, I know.” He made a pathetic effort to regain himself. “This
light—don’t you feel it, Choseph?”
“I do, dear lad, but my name isn’t Choseph.”
“Yoseph!” he triumphantly said.
“Joseph,” I insisted.
“Mr. Tudor!” In a whirlwind he threw both arms round my neck,
and softly laughed. The old Beelo was on guard again, except that
with his recovered courage he was uncommonly gentle and
affectionate. I wondered if I should ever reach the end of the boy’s
phases.
From some indeterminate direction came the muffled sound of an
explosion.
“Hold tight!” cried Christopher, violently lurching the raft round
and jamming it sharply against high jutting rocks on the bank.
“Down!” he added.
 A mighty rush as of many winds came tearing up the passage far
ahead. I threw Beelo face down, and flattened my body. Then came
the blow, and hurled Christopher backward upon us. In a moment
he had recovered himself. The impact must have strained Beelo’s
ribs, but he lay still.
It was a combination of atmospheric concussion and hot gases,
principally steam, that had struck us. I raised my head, gasping for
breath. Beelo was inert. I lifted him. One arm feebly groped for my
neck, and clung there.
“We are safe!” I cheerily said. “Where is my brave little brother?”
He only held me the closer. Indeed, speech was difficult, since the
air was packed with smothering vapors. The desire to breathe was
checked by an instinctive fear to inhale.
Christopher cautiously pushed out, and again we drifted free, The
pole dipped and clicked and scraped.
But a change had come. The furnace roar had ceased; the
waterfall grew louder. Most striking of all was the unearthly
luminosity of the steam filling the tunnel. That vapor, rapidly chilling
in the cold of the passage, increased in opaqueness, but glowed the
more. Before long the light became radiant and faintly illuminating,
and the air sweetened. I had known by Beelo’s breath on my cheek
that his face was upturned to mine, and near. Thus it was that after
long peering I found the light in his eyes. My arms were enclosing
him.
“I see my lad!” I said in gladness.
A queer little movement of withdrawal began. I tried to hold him,
but found no yielding. Gradually he slipped out of my clasp, and sat
alone.
Christopher slowly took body in the haze, a ghostly Charon on the
Styx. The color of the glow grew from white to rose, with an
occasional effulgence of bluish purple. The surface of the earth knew
no such tints in fire; these were royally plutonic. The black rocks
overhead and on either hand assumed a vague, grim definition, and
to my keyed fancy displayed grotesque suggestions. Blank spaces a
shade darker than the grimacing, minatory rocks fell away; these I
supposed to be cavernous reaches out of the passage, for from
them came echoed multiples of the pole-sounds.
The temperature began to rise as the waterfall grew louder, the
light more revealing, the haze weaker. We swung round a wide
curve, and all at once a terrifying vision sprang forth in a blood-red
light. Our stream opened into a small lake, which was violently
churned by a cataract of crimson water brilliantly illuminated and
plunging out of the overhead darkness into it. The roar was
deafening.
Beelo, scrambling in terror to his feet, his eyes blazing with the
red madness that packed the cavern, required a strong hand to
subdue him. He struggled in my grasp, pointed frantically backward
with implorings that we return, and fought my restraint with sheer
animal desperation. Christopher’s conduct, though showing
extraordinary exhilaration, betrayed no fear, but only a grimmer hold
on our situation. With a rearward glance and the discovery that I
was holding Beelo securely, he stood up, a gigantic red figure, and
with all his might shot the raft forward into the maelstrom. The frail
thing plunged in the surge, but Christopher’s eye and arm were
sure. The suck of the water, curving downward where the cataract
struck the pool, was cunningly avoided as he circled the rim of the
lakelet, having as able work to do in avoiding the dripping rocks
there as in keeping out of the breakers.
I thanked God there was light, formidable though it was; it helped
me in my control of Beelo, whose struggles were becoming weaker,
and enabled me to find a good grip on the raft, for there was danger
of slipping off. Through all the wild lurching Christopher kept a
sailor’s feet; and, although his back was toward me, I saw by his
quick movements that all his shrewd forces were in the fight.
Whence came the light? It appeared to be in the cataract itself, a
living flame in the heart of its greatest enemy. The water was
joyously, terribly alive.
 The raft described an arc of the pool, slipped out of the boiling
churn, and, before Christopher was aware, caught an eddy and went
swinging and lurching in behind the cataract. The man so strong in
both soul and body threw up his hands in the surrender of terror, for
a thing more awful than the red light and the waterfall confronted
us. He dropped the pole. Its middle struck the edge of the raft, and
our one weapon of defense rebounded into the water. Beelo saw the
catastrophe. He clutched me frantically about the neck, nearly
strangling me before I broke his hold.
 Christopher looked about for the pole, and saw it bobbing on end
as it struggled against submergence in the down-thrust behind the
fall. It was twenty fatal feet away. The ferocity of elemental self-
preservation seized on the man and transformed him. This was not
the attitude of patient, gentle Christopher, the humble, serving
Christopher, but that of a bayed animal. My hands were tied by the
necessity of Beelo’s care.
The spectacle that had unmanned Christopher was in a profound
recess reaching indeterminately out of the cavern and behind the
waterfall. It had not been visible until we rounded the fall and went
scurrying behind it in the eddy. Apparently far back,—I cannot guess
how far,—ran a broad, high, fantastically irregular tunnel ending in a
pit of boiling lava, at an unknown depth below the level of the
tunnel, which itself was slightly above the surface of the pool. Deep
rumblings issued from it, as from a heavy ebullition, punctured with
smothered detonations. Rising from it were thin, cloud-like masses
of vapor, like the pale mauve haze of distant mountains. In its rolling
it thickened concealingly here and opened revealingly there, with
constantly shifting effects.
The dominant color was a deep, transparent crimson of a tint such
as may be seen in the cooling iron of a foundry or in the great crater
of Kilauea; but following the detonations came leaping flames of
bluish purple. It was the red shining through the water that had
made the cataract a fall of liquid crimson when seen from the front.
This, then, was the funnel of a volcano, with a lateral vent. Was it
one of Pluto’s cooling forges? Was its present activity transient? Was
this the beginning of a seismic convulsion that might blow the valley
rampart into the sea?
I cannot say when those questions arose. The urgency of an
immediate threat demanded all attention. Beelo was in an ecstasy of
terror, and Christopher was desperately casting about with all his
reassembled wits. In the tumult of noises our voices were useless.
We had been flung out of the larger eddy into a smaller one swirling
between the back of the fall and the tunnel-mouth. It had a swifter
and more dizzying whirl. Soon it seemed that we were still, except
for the ceaseless rolling of our craft, and that the roaring fall and the
grumbling, blazing tunnel were swinging round us. With the rest
passed the bobbing pole, a live, insane thing, nodding this way and
that, approaching the downpour gingerly, diving under a sharp
water-blow, and leaping up with malicious sprightliness a few feet
back. At any moment it might be caught sidewise and crushed.
There was another danger. The centrifugal force of our swing in
the eddy was carrying us out to the periphery of the swirl. On one
side were the rocks at the mouth of the tunnel; opposite was the
waterfall, the slightest blow from which (since it fell from a height of
at least a hundred feet) would mean the end. Our swinging was
taking us nearer to both those dangers.
Something roused within, overcoming my pity for Beelo. I shook
him and slapped his cheek. Astonishment and anger blazed in his
eyes, and then with a mighty indignation he crawled away and sat
glaring at me. At another time the comical picture would have
amused me, for the boy behaved just as a proud kitten under similar
treatment. Having secured the desired result with Beelo, I worked to
the edge of the raft, and prepared to make a leap for the pole. I was
waiting till the raft should swing round and bring me nearer. Before
that happened, two soft arms were flung round me from behind, a
cheek pressed mine, and I was borne down backward. Two small,
firm hands held my wrists down. For the moment I was helpless.
Of course, Christopher knew that our nearer approach to danger
brought us closer to hope, which lay in the pole. He was biding the
moment, and it came. He crouched on the raft, and a long arm shot
out. Beelo’s nerves were quivering till Christopher rose; then they
stilled, and he released me.
Christopher had learned from experience, and it was a surer hand
now that gripped the pole and sent the raft spinning out of the eddy.
To keep it somewhat trimmed against Christopher’s movements had
been a small part of my task hitherto, so thoughtful of everything
had he been; but now that he saw Beelo and me better used to the
situation, he quietly gave us something of that to do, thus securing
more freedom of movement.
 He found the egress of the stream from the pool, and pushed out.
Slowly we crept through the gloomy, misty light, which paled as we
went. Christopher must have felt a dread that oppressed me—the
danger of recurrent explosions—for he worked with less extreme
caution than before, and our progress was better. After a time the
light was too dim for me to see Beelo sitting in his sullen pout; and
when darkness again fell, he crept up beside me and stole out a
hand for mine. The noises had nearly ceased, and Beelo no longer
feared the weird echoes.
“I’m glad it’s past,” he sighed, nestling against me. “Aren’t you,
Choseph?”
“Joseph.”
He hugged my arm and softly laughed.
“Yes, I’m glad,” I answered.
It seemed many hours since we had entered the passage, and I
hoped we should emerge in the morning of the day following that of
our start.
New conditions began to arise. Above the cataract the stream had
been slow, with few approaches to rapids. Those had been the worst
danger-points. Now we discovered that the current was swifter and
the rapids more numerous and turbulent. The celerity of
Christopher’s movements increased. He no longer tried to spare us
the water dripping from his pole as he repeatedly shifted it and
groped for bearings. This made me more apprehensive. I wondered
whether, even with better facilities, we could return to the valley
through this passage, and how the two hundred and fifty colonists
could manage to come safely through.
Presently I felt in the water a turgidity where the current was
slow, and heard a hoarse, growling rumble quite different from the
sounds that we had left behind. Beelo tightened his clutch and
breathlessly said:
“It has come!”
“What has, lad?”
 “Hush!”
Except for an unusual slapping of the water against the rocks, the
commotion had passed. I wondered if the storm had broken in the
valley and the torrent was coming; but this did not look like it.
“It has gone, Beelo. What was it?”
“No, it hasn’t. Hold tight. Sit hard, Christopher!”
“Beelo,” I impatiently demanded, “you must tell me what——”
The speech was stopped by a groaning crunch that tossed the
stream, splashed the water high on the rocks, and filled the passage
with a sound like that of crushing glass. Beelo was again in terror.
“Be quiet, lad. There’s nothing——-”
“Don’t talk!” he desperately commanded. “The third one will come.
That’s the worst. Wait!”
The seconds dragged through an awful silence. Beelo’s breath
struggled spasmodically through the repression under which he tried
to hold it.
The third shock came, and then, though I had never felt one
before, I knew what it was. The whole world seemed to heave and
writhe and jolt and grind, all with a fearful noise. The earthquake,
grim brother of the boiling cauldron we had left, had us in its jaws,
and its power was manifest in the ease with which it crushed and
ground the rocks about us. Fragments of these began to splash in
the water and rattle on the raft. Just in front, a huge block plunged
into the stream and dashed us with water.
Beelo flung himself upon me; I again bent over him to shield him.
Another heavy stone struck the raft in the narrow space between
Christopher and us, and tore through it into the water, sending up a
geyser through the hole.
A stiffening wave of terror overswept Beelo. He sprang to his
knees and tightly embraced my neck in both arms.
“We are going to die!” he feebly cried, and pressed his lips to
mine, sinking inert into my arms. My fingers anxiously sought his
pulse. It was fluttering.
 “Christopher!” I called in alarm,—not realizing that the earthquake
had passed and that a dim light made visible the rocks in a turn
ahead,—“Christopher! Something has happened to Beelo!”
“Yes, sir,” came with the steady old calm.
“Stop! We must do something for him.”
“We are going out, sir.”
We swung the curve, and the blessed daylight smiled ahead. The
raft slid out of the passage in placid water, which here, as at the
other end, was deeply embowered. The glorious day, though
overcast, was brilliant to our eyes as it sifted through and rested
sweetly on the water. As Beelo was unconscious, Christopher
observed extraordinary care in proceeding, and as soon as possible
secured the raft in the sheltered reach.
I was looking down into Beelo’s face. His head had fallen back,
and although his eyes were closed, his lips were open. It came over
me with a pang that a richness and a maturity which I had not
before noticed in his face, rested there now.
“How long has it taken us to come through?” I asked Christopher.
“‘Mos’ four hours, sir.”
I was surprised. It had seemed much longer.
He came to lift Beelo out, but I myself bore him ashore and laid
him on the ground, and knelt over him. Christopher was standing
near, studying him, but showing no anxiety.
“It is only fainting, isn’t it, Christopher?” I asked.
“That’s all, sir.”
To give him air, I began to open his blouse.
“I wouldn’t, sir,” interposed Christopher.
“Why?” I asked, looking up in surprise.
He only regarded me in silence. At first I thought that
Christopher’s singular penetration had discovered that Beelo was
lighter of color than a full-blooded native and was delicately warning
me not to invade the carefully guarded secret. I recalled the story
that I had told Beelo, and my suspicions as to the purity of his native
blood. And what harm could come if I did learn?
Then the truth came upon me with the overwhelming force of long
cumulation. His conduct in the tunnel, his sweetness and gentleness,
the strange conclusion of the scene with Annabel when they had
met,—a thousand memories of things that had passed unheeded in
the stress of dangers,—came as a blinding light. I do not know when
Christopher learned the truth, but in his chivalry he would have seen
me go blind to the grave without a word from him in betrayal of
Beelo’s secret.
The shock stunned me, and my head was bowed in reverence.
When I again looked into the patient face, now having for me so
sweet and touching a pathos, the deep-blue eyes were looking up
into mine; then they turned to Christopher, and all about. The old
mischievous, bantering smile parted the perfect lips. The eyes again
sought mine.
“Choseph! It’s fine to be dead!” But the voice held a different
music from that of the lad whom I had loved and who was now gone
forever.
CHAPTER XIII.—Preparation for the
Crisis.
In the Enemy’s Land. The Weird Light on the Valley Wall. Mr.
Vancouver. A Visit with Lentala. She Tells a Secret Which I Already
Know.

I
Would respect Beelo’s wish that she appear as a boy, and must
keep hammering into my mind the words, Boy, Lad, Dear Little
Brother. I must not for a moment think of her otherwise. “Boy,
Lad, Dear Little Brother.”
“What are you dreaming, Choseph, and what are those words
your lips are saying?” It was Beelo’s cheery voice.
He was sitting up; I was beside him looking down at the gliding
water. I woke to the familiar raillery, and turned with a smile.
“Dear lad!” I joyfully responded.
“You had forgotten me,” he ruefully said. “And you, old
Christopher! Don’t you see I’m dying of thirst?”
Christopher plucked two large leaves, fashioned them into a cup,
and brought the water, which Beelo eagerly drank. He held out his
hand, and I helped him up. He tried his legs.
“That’s better,” he said.
The perfect grace of movement, the exquisite feminine figure so
artfully concealed,——
“Boy, Lad, Dear Little Brother.”
“Mooning again, and talking to yourself!” cried Beelo.
“It was a rough trip through the passage, boy. I’m a little shaken.”
“That’s past. Shake the other way.” He was pirouetting round a
tree.
“But how are we going back, lad?”
 “This way,” he carelessly answered, making wing-motions with his
arms.
“There was an earthquake, Beelo.”
He stopped short, and his eyes lighted deep.
“Yes!” he softly but impressively exclaimed.
The old caution settled in his face; he peered and listened warily,
and then came a look of assured repose.
“That is good,” he said,—“if—” a cloud drifted over his face—“if
they felt it on the surface.”
“They did,” interposed Christopher.
“How do you know?” Beelo sharply demanded.
Christopher pointed to a large rock near us, to the path that it had
freshly torn through the brush, and to a steep slope from which it
had been dislodged.
“Good for Christopher!” said Beelo. He studied the sky, and
dejectedly added, “But the storm is coming!” After a little reflection
he remarked, as if to himself, “I don’t know whether that should
change our plans or not.” He seated himself to think it out, and
began arranging twigs on the ground. “No Senatras will be within
miles of the passage,” he ruminated. “They fear it, for the
earthquake is born here, and they have run away. So, we can make
better time. Mr. Vancouver is safe today; we won’t go there.”
“Where, dear little brother?”
Pain crossed his face. “To the clearing opposite the Face. If only
another earthquake would come, or this had come sooner!”
“Is one usually followed by another?”
“Often. Sometimes not. Come! The sun will be setting before long,
and we have miles to go.”
We hid the battered raft and struck out. Our way led parallel to
the stream, which tore foaming down a gorge of steeply sloping
sides. It slipped into a pleasant valley, richly verdured. There we left
it and began the ascent of a mountain on the west. Dusk was
coming on. Beelo fearlessly pursued the trails in the darkening
hours.
Occasionally we paused to rest. The valley which we had crossed
lay a black-green sea below. Behind us the eastern sky was cut
straight across by the level summit of our valley wall. Beelo was
closely studying it.
“You see no sign of fire over there, do you?” he asked, pointing
toward the clearing opposite the Face.
There was none, and Beelo was gratified. Our attention was
diverted from that spot by a faint purplish flash, which slipped along
the crest above the river passage, and was quickly gone. Beelo
stood tense and still, and whispered:
“Did you see that?”
“Yes.”
We waited for its reappearance, but none came. Beelo said no
more. The light had come from the subterranean lava-pot.
Beyond the wall was the blackest part of the sky. Under the
horizon in that direction lightning was at play, as we judged from
faint illuminations in the distant heavens, and the rumble of far
thunder.
Night had nearly fallen when we reached the summit. The descent
was rapid on the other side, for Beelo went with the sureness of
familiarity. At last we stopped at an abandoned hut, hidden in the
deep forest. Beelo paused on the door-step.
“See,” he said, pointing to a glow a mile or less away, down the
valley. “That is the main settlement of the Senatras. The king’s
palace, where Lentala and I live, is there. We will visit it tonight,—if
Lentala agrees. You will rest here awhile and have something to eat.
After the visit to the palace you will sleep here.”
He showed us within, closed the door, blew a flame from
smothered embers on the hearth, and lighted a nut-oil lamp. He had
been very sober and quiet all the way, but now his eyes began to
dance.
 “This is your mansion!” he exclaimed.
The place had been made clean and sweet, good beds of leaves
were on the earth floor, and fresh water stood in calabashes. Beelo
dragged forward a copper vessel, and took from it a generous food
supply.
“Isn’t she pretty good—for a girl?” he casually asked.
“Who?”
“Lentala. She did these things.”
Ever since the scene at the end of the passage, sadness had sat
upon me, and I was in no mood to enjoy Beelo’s pleasantries,—this,
too, while I was deeply touched by the labor and gentle
thoughtfulness with which everything had been done for our
comfort. Still, something precious was gone from my life; my heart
hungered for the lad. But he was here! In a swirl of perversity I
seized Beelo’s hands, and held him before me.
“Dear lad,” I said, “I am walking in the dark. Believe me, little
brother, I am grateful—more grateful than any words could say—for
the skill and the kindness that we have seen from you. But my heart
is sore, and you are laughing at me.”
Something between suspicion and embarrassment had been
rapidly growing in Beelo’s face. Of a sudden he closed my mouth
with his hand and made a brave rally of Beelo’s old flippancies.
“Christopher,” he said, “did you ever see such a goose? Such an
old goose?”
I gently removed his hand.
“I am serious, boy.”
“Hush!” commanded Beelo in a whisper.
His hunt down into me was ruthless, but the hurt there helped me
to steady my gaze. “When I fainted——” he began, and stopped,
having found my face expressionless. He turned to Christopher, who,
giving no attention to us, was setting out the supper on a mat.
Beelo’s sharp eyes came back to me.
“Dear little brother,——”
 “No, no! Not a word!” he broke in. “I haven’t time, and you are
hungry. Come, Choseph!”
He turned me to the supper and forced me to sit on the ground
opposite Christopher. It was pleasant to be man-handled by Beelo.
His abuse of me was always smoothed by affection. I had no
appetite, but who could resist Beelo? He played that I was an invalid
and unable to help myself. He patted my cheek, put food into my
mouth, chattered nonsense as though I were a baby, and petted me
with outrageous condescension. There was nothing to do but melt
under his dear absurdities; and when he found me re-established, he
kissed me on the forehead and dashed out, calling that he would be
back before long.
When he returned he was brilliantly alive. There seemed no end to
his vitality.
“It’s glorious!” he cried, seizing Christopher and sending his bulk in
a twirl across the hut. “It’s splendid!” he went on, smashing my
dignity with boy’s play. “It’s just——” But his breath was gone, and
he tumbled in a panting heap on the ground.
“What news, Beelo?” I inquired.
He sat up, but as yet had meager breath for speech.
“Mr. Vancouver—is safe. Doesn’t look very—happy. Hasn’t seen—
the king. Oh, no! Lentala,—who is an Angel—and Sweet—and Kind—
and Beautiful,—is just dying—to see you. And——”
“Rest a minute,” I interrupted.
He flung a little pout at me, and then archly demanded, “Aren’t
you good-natured yet, Choseph?”
I shook my head.
“You will be when you see Lentala,” he said with mock melancholy.
“Don’t you like girls?” he suddenly fired at me.
“Y—es,” I stammered consciously.
“You like Annabel!” with a spitfire touch on his tongue.
“I once liked, very much, a dear lad named Beelo more than any
girl.”
 “Once liked Beelo!” His shining eyes were lances.
“I like him just as much yet—when he is Beelo.”
I knew by his start that the thin ice on which I walked was
cracking.
“And what is he when he isn’t Beelo?”
“A little devil.”
He laughed. “You aren’t quite dead,” he said, and a briskness
sprang into his manner. “We must go. Most of the Senatras have
already gone to sleep. Come.”
He rapidly led us into the valley, meanwhile instructing us how to
respond if greeted. The natives were not garrulous nor inquisitive,
and we passed unnoticed, until the outskirts of the settlement were
reached. There, in a dimly lighted hut, Mr. Vancouver was resting
under guard, Beelo informed us. A barely visible figure challenged
Beelo. The prompt response made the shape sink from view.
“We haven’t time to see Mr. Vancouver now,” said the lad to us.
A turn in a lane lined with huts brought us into a beautiful
highway, broad and white, and picketed with odorous trees which
arched overhead. The darkness would have been profound but for a
diffused light which glowed ahead upon something white. We went
rapidly toward it, and found it to be a high stone wall; the light was
from two lamps on posts where the highway swung to the left and
ran at the foot of the wall.
Instead of following the main road Beelo turned into a narrow way
to the right. The overhead growth was so dense that the light from
the lamps was soon lost, but Beelo knew the way. At last he
stopped, and slipped a key into a lock. The heavy wooden door,
plated and strapped with iron, suggested a postern in an archaic
fortress. He led us within and secured the door.
The nearer approach of the storm brought lightning, which
increased Beelo’s caution while revealing glimpses of our
environment. In the region behind the wall the verdure was less
dense and more orderly than in the park through which we had
come. The lightning made the open spaces embarrassing to our
guide, who hurried us across them to the shadows. Finely kept paths
wound and intersected, but Beelo knew shorter routes. A rising wind
assisted the stealth of our progress.
He brought us under the shadow of a low arcade, open on one
side, and closed on the other with a long stone house. The pillars
were massed in vines. Here the darkness was intense. The stone
floor gave no sound under our tread.
Beelo stopped us, advanced a few paces, and rapped on a door. It
was cautiously opened, but we could not see within as Beelo
entered. A very faint light barely made him visible.
“Lentala!” he whispered, “they are here.”
A voice fuller and mellower than Beelo’s yet much like his,
answered, “Yes? I had given you up, and was undressing for bed.”
“You’ll dress?” Beelo spoke nervously.
“Yes. Tell them to wait a little while. They are safe out there.
Beelo, the king is furious because you ran away tonight. He is
waiting for you. Go at once. It is something about the man from the
colony.” I resented her domineering manner toward Beelo.
“Very well. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he answered sweetly.
Coming back to us, he began to explain, but I told him we had
heard. A reassuring hand was given to each of us, and he was
hurrying across the garden fronting the arcade. He halted and came
back.
“Don’t stay with Lentala longer than ten minutes,” he earnestly
said. “The king may detain me. If I don’t come, can you find your
way back?”
I assured him that we could, and that even should he come, we
would not let him conduct: us to the hut.
He gave my hand a grateful little squeeze as he slipped the gate-
key into it, and darted away, saying:
“Wait at Lentala’s door till she opens it.”
 Presently she bade us enter. Instead of her barbarous but highly
becoming dress at the feast, with neat jacket and short skirt blazing
with gold embroidery, she now wore a plain, loose garment. It was
partly redeemed by a low cut in the neck, a splendid girdle
consisting of a heavy and elaborately linked chain of gold, and a
necklace of wonderful diamonds.
I could not have explained why this dazzling woman, who had
filled so wide a space in my fancy, now looked a negligible quantity,
an intrusion. There was little of the sparkle that I had expected. The
childlike coquetries, the careless abandon, the subtleties that had
flitted so unconsciously through the conduct of the Lentala I
remembered,—these and a thousand other graces were absent from
the sedater young woman smiling upon us and composedly seating
us.
She had greeted us with a warning finger on her lips.
“My servants,” she explained in a low, rich voice, “are all in bed
and asleep. But they are not far away, and we must be careful.”
There was a curious reminder of Annabel’s preciseness in this new
Lentala.
She must have felt my discomfort, for she let some of her
consciousness slip away, and a dash of her native wildness gradually
returned.
“Beelo has told me everything,” she said; “I’ll not trouble you with
questions. And we are not to discuss any plans tonight.”
The beauty and richness of the room came forth, faint in the light
of suspended lamps, which, clouded in thin fabrics, cast no shadows
and softened all contours. A rich massing of hammered gold and
silver, of exquisite bronzes and ivories, of hangings and rugs, was
softened to grace by their perfect arrangement, and over that in turn
was a fine breath of daintiness. My astonishment grew as the
significance of it came over me. Did this girl, all seeming innocence,
gentleness, and kindness, feel none of the crime and blood with
which these treasures were drenched? Yet only the sweetest of
spirits could have cast upon this charnel-house loot the cleansing
that held its grisly suggestion back.
She had been moving about and gently chatting, and I had made
empty responses. At last I discovered that she was growing nervous.
A heavy crash of thunder brought out the cause. She looked
anxious, and said: “The storm is near. You must go before it breaks.
Beela”—I noted her odd pronunciation of the final syllable—“said
that if he didn’t return in ten minutes you must go without him, but I
can’t think of that. He has been gone much longer.”
I tried to assure her that we could go alone, but still she was
uneasy. Christopher and I rose. She came and laid a hand on my
arm.
“Wait a little while.” She hesitated over the next words. “Do you
like Beela—Beelo?”
“Very much,” I answered dully.
A liquid softness entered her beautiful eyes, and with it a sparkle
of the old Lentala—and of Beelo too.
“I am going to tell you a secret,” she went on. “You will keep it?—
and you, Christopher? And you’ll not let Beelo know?”
We pledged ourselves. She removed her hand, looked down, and
while busying herself with a readjustment of her girdle, said, very
low:
“Beelo isn’t a boy.”
Her fingers stopped in her acute tension. I stood silent. With an
effort she raised her eyes to mine, and hers betrayed a keen
suspense.
“Beelo is a girl,” she added, as though I had not heard. “Her name
is Beela.” She found my look coolly meeting hers.
“You liked Beelo the boy,” she groped on; “don’t you like Beela the
girl?”
“I—I’m not acquainted with her,” I fumbled.
For a moment the Lentala of the feast returned in a look of
mischievous amusement, followed by one of pretended sorrow. I
was enjoying the fine play in her face..
“But don’t you see,” she asked, “that in knowing and liking the
boy, you knew and liked the girl?”
It would have been impossible for me to make her understand
that I was not nimble in violent readjustments; so I held my peace.
“She was Beela the girl all the time,” Lentala insisted. “It couldn’t
have been anything but the girl in her that you cared for.” She did
not know in the least that she was talking to the wind.
“Of course,” agreed I, very uncomfortable.
My tone made her turn impatiently away. With much spirit she
went on as with ease and softness she paced the floor:
“After all she has done, too! I don’t see———”
“Lentala!” I interrupted; “don’t misunderstand. I do like——”
“No, you don’t!” Her voice was growing unsteady. “My poor little
Beela! I know she’s a madcap, but she is good, she is kind. She had
to be a boy. I made her be one. She couldn’t have done what she
did——”
“Lentala, please——”
“——-unless she was a boy. And now she is shamed and
humiliated! Don’t let my sweet sister ever know that. It would break
her heart. Poor little Beela!”
“This is all wrong. I——”
“Even for my sake you might be generous. It is——”
Three strides brought me to her, and I was unconscious of the
power in my angry grip on her wrist, but her tongue went silent. She
raised her eyes under the compulsion of mine.
“That is enough,” I said.
There was a moment’s matching of our forces. A ripple of
mischievous and innocent surprise animated her, and she laughed
with the glee of a gentle child. She was very much like her sister
then.
A deepening thunder-crash came.
 “You must go—now! I’m going with you. I won’t let you——”
“You shall not go,” I firmly said.
“I must. I want to. I’ll get a——”
“No, Lentala. Good-night.”
As I was turning away, I saw the second time in her face the look
of one whose road has stopped at a wall. When I smiled and bowed
to her as Christopher and I were passing out, she was standing
where I left her, looking blankly at me.
CHAPTER XIV.—-A Glimpse Into the
Abyss.
The Fate Awaiting Mr. Vancouver. We Play a Trick on the Natives.
My Nerves Give Way. A Ghastly Hint from Christopher. A Perilous
Place.

T
HE drenching, thunder-ridden storm was so favoring that I
determined to investigate Mr. Vancouver’s circumstances, and,
if possible, ascertain the plans focusing in him; for since the
discovery of Beela’s sex, her horror and timidity concerning those
intentions were explained. I must now take the lead, since the work
was not fitted to a woman.
No guards were outside Mr. Vancouver’s hut when we arrived, and
the wetting of the ground silenced our footfalls. My impulse was to
enter, and cautiously ascertain the truth; but I realized that the risk
was great. In creeping round the hut we overheard two native men
talking near the rear wall.
“Hush!” continued one of the voices. “He is groaning again, and
may wake.”
In a little while the other remarked, “He is asleep. What were you
telling me?”
“The king is very uneasy. The people all know that the white man
is here.”
“Is there dry wood?”
“Yes. It is stored in a thatch hut on the east side of the clearing.
The people are clamoring for the white man to be taken to the
stone.”
“That can’t be done while the storm rages.”
“No; but the first hurricane never lasts long. The king has
promised Gato that the white man shall be sent to the fire as soon
as this storm passes. That may be tomorrow.”
“Does the white man suspect?”
“Undoubtedly. He frets and groans.”
“What are these stories about the Black Face?”
“The scouts sent by Gato say that it looks more ferocious than
ever.”
“Does the king realize that the people will rise unless he consents
to the offering?”
“I don’t know. He is silent and deeply troubled. Danger stops any
direction that he can take. But Gato is ready.”
A horror that I felt rather than understood came over me, and,
fearing that I should betray our presence by some rash act, I was
creeping away, when I discovered that Christopher, moving similarly,
had started before me. Every tree-branch was a tempting club with
which to break a savage head and free the prisoner.
Instead of returning to our hut, we went to the summit of the wall
enclosing our valley. Clearly Christopher required no explanation to
understand my purpose. With slow, sure caution we took an
eastwardly course, parallel with the brink of the precipice and at a
safe distance from any men that might be patrolling it. From time to
time we would stop, creep nearer the edge, make a careful
inspection, return in silence, and go on. The violence of the storm
abated somewhat, thus making our progress swifter, but more risky.
With true instinct Christopher went straight to what we had been
seeking,—the opening in the forest on the top of the wall fronting
the Face. The clear space was smooth, level rock. One segment of
the nearly circular opening was cut off by the sheer drop of the
precipice. Near that edge was an exquisitely built circular stone
platform some four feet high and ten in diameter. As we worked
round for a nearer view, we discovered on its top old marks of fire
which the rains had not washed off. I recognized it as the object that
I had seen from the valley, opposite the Face. There was a moon,
but only a faint glow from it filtered through the clouds; occasional
flashes of lightning gave us clearer seeing. The air was stifling.
 We edged nearer to the cliff, and stood peering across the valley
as we waited for light. It came, and revealed the Face. The sodden,
sordid, worse than bestial mask, more repulsive than ever in the
gloom of the storm, held its gaze fixed upon us. We were upon the
scene of the unthinkable tragedy awaiting Mr. Vancouver.
We circled the eastern edge of the clearing. Soon we found a
squat structure of thatch, half hidden in the edge of the forest. It
was filled with neatly piled firewood. No surprise showed in
Christopher’s face.
After further exploration of the vicinity, and satisfied that the place
was unguarded, we loaded ourselves with wood from the hut, and
plunged into the thicket. A short distance away I had discovered a
deep cleft. We threw our loads into it; the fall was long before the
sound came from the bottom. Thus, after many trips, we disposed of
all the fuel, and hastened back to our hut for sleep. The night was
far gone.
The storm broke afresh, and I lay sleepless, and listened to the
elemental furies at play. Every nerve ached, and sleep was a sore
need. Contingencies riding the hurricane would likely offer still
heavier work for tomorrow. Whatever innocent pranks Beela might
indulge, her profound seriousness and her appreciation of the
dangerous risks in this undertaking were genuine.
With the swirl and dash of the rain came the roar of the tearing
wind and the mighty bellow of thunder. Flash, peal, and boom
rended the firmament. Our cabin braced itself and strained under
the tug, as though digging its claws into the ground to hold firm.
Large trees on the slope behind us fell crashing.
This was more than a hurricane: it was a tornado; perhaps worse
yet, a typhoon. Many ships ride out the worst of these; but mentally
I saw brown men being told off to man the promontories of the
bight, and to watch for staggering, heart-broken specks on the sea
as the wind following the hurricane urged them on slowly to a
pleasant beach, five hundred swordsmen, an oily savage king and a
feast, and a march over the mountain to a guarded paradise; thence
to be “sent away” to their homes—their eternal homes—one at a
time! one at a time! So far as civilization had reached, it had
strangled an unspeakable practice in these seas.
Not even the churn of the storm in my veins could check the cold
that ran in my blood. Was the father of Annabel to be only the first?
Were we waiting as fattening hogs, instead of being out and afield,
fighting a way to liberty, and dying, if we must, as men should?...
I found myself off the pallet and rolling on the floor.
“Christopher?” I called, staggering to my feet.
“Sir?”
I knew by the nearness of his voice that he was already beside
me, but invisible in the blackness.
“Light the lamp. We are going to dress.”
He obeyed without a word. I was feverishly rummaging for my
clothes.
“There, sir,” he said, pointing to my moccasins, but neglecting to
fetch them to me.
I had forgotten that my dress was Senatra and that moccasins
were the only part of it I had removed. I made a blundering affair of
putting them on, for the clutch of my hand was shaped better for a
bludgeon just then. Christopher was observing me with a mild,
exasperating patience.
“Put yours on,” I roughly commanded.
He made still denser the stupidity in his stare, and stood still.
“Hurry!” I cried.
“Sir?”
“Hurry, I say! You are going too.”
“Me?”
“Yes! We are going to take Mr. Vancouver away from those
beasts.”
Without a change of expression he made a pretense of
preparation. In doing so, he edged up to the barred door, placed his
wide back against it, and calmly faced me.
“What do you mean by that?” I demanded in a fury.
“Sir?”
“Stand aside, Christopher!”
“Me, sir?”
In exasperation I seized the copper vessel and advanced upon
him. Not a muscle of his body moved; his ape-like arms hung loose;
his hands were open. But it was not his defenselessness that stayed
me. Far more potent was the deep devotion in his eyes, which held a
profounder sadness than usual. It was a dash of cold water on my
heat, but not my determination. In all kindness I would reason with
him.
“Christopher,” I asked, “do you know what they are going to do
with Mr. Vancouver?”
He omitted his formula, and simply gazed at me.
Then I told him, in raw, sore words. It was the first time they had
been spoken by a member of the colony.
I was astonished at his placidity on hearing them.
“Do you understand?” I had to thunder the question above the
outer din.
But he was listening to sounds that the storm did not make. I
waited impatiently.
“They won’t him, sir, if they get you.”
“Why not?”
“You’re younger ‘n’ fatter.”
Like most other of Christopher’s remarks, this one dealt in a
conclusive terminal, omitting postulate and explication; but I
understood. He had told a long and dramatic story in those halting
words—our blind assault, our being beaten down and secured, and
then the awful end. I wondered at that, and longed for the power to
see into the working of his strangely luminous mind, its far light
behind its frontal darkness.
 “And there ain’t no dry wood, sir.”
The last of the ice in my blood broke and ran melting before him. I
was very tired, and found myself shifting on my feet like a drunken
man. Tongues of flame began to slip through the hut and dart hither
and thither with curious dips and turns. Some of them were purple,
but the most were crimson. A luminous vapor crept in. The boom of
a waterfall rumbled; and then came a crashing subterranean
detonation. Christopher was a gigantic ape floundering in a
drowning sea of steam.
“Christopher!” I cried, trying to catch the wall as it swung past.
A firm, gentle arm went round me—an arm of a strength so great
that my most desperate struggles could not break its hold, yet I was
a very strong man. Slowly I was borne down on my pallet, and a
thin, soothing voice came with a hand that tenderly closed my eyes
and held the lids down. My breathing came easier.

It was daylight, and Christopher was standing in the open door,

looking out. The rain had ceased, but the morning brightness was
smothered under the overhead lowering. The pleasant odor of coffee
perfumed the hut. Without appearing to notice my waking,
Christopher served my breakfast, but said nothing. A dull lassitude
made the straw bed more inviting than my feet.
Beela’s cheery good-morning an hour later was checked in alarm
when she entered and found me prone; but her electric vitality
palpitated through me and brought me smiling to a sitting posture.
Her inquiring look at Christopher read nothing in the bland face. A
shadow of uneasiness drifted through her eyes, but she drove it
away.
“Good!” she said. “I’m glad you are resting. Lie down again.” She
dropped to a seat beside me on the straw, and pushed my head
down.
“That’s better,—Choseph.” Her hand was on my forehead.
“Joseph,” I insisted.
“You don’t like the way I talk, Ch—Dzhoseph?” banteringly,
stealing sly hands to mine and pretending to stare mockingly at me
while peering into my eyes.
“Very well, Beelo. Did you square yourself with the king and have
a good rest last night?”
“Of course. Do you think any king———”
“Stop that.”
“What?”
“Trying to see if I’m sick. Even though I were dead, your coming
would bring me to life.”
“My! Did you hear that, Christopher?”
The sensible man did not answer, nor even look at her. She made
a mouth at his back, withdrew her hand, and edged away a few
inches. Had I made a slip after that confidence and caution from
Lentala? I roused myself.
“What’s the news, little brother? What game and what killing
today?”
Her face fell grave. “Something has happened with you since I
saw you last night, Choseph.”
I told her all, and she held her breath over the audacity of our
work.
“I—I shouldn’t have dared to suggest it,” she said with charming
helplessness as she gave Christopher and me a look of wondering
admiration. “It was splendid, Choseph!” Her dear leaning girlishness,
so natural and unconscious, started a tumult in me, and it was hard
for me to keep the deception of her sex at work. “Now,” she went
on, “Mr. Vancouver is safe so long as the weather is bad; and when
it clears, time will be needed to gather dry wood. We’ll do nothing
for the present.”
 “But we must be ready,” I firmly protested, sitting up. “This matter
is in my hands and Christopher’s now, not yours, my lad, for this is
work that only men can plan and do.”
The timidity in her look was new, but not less charming than her
surrender.
“What are you going to do, Choseph?” she inquired with a
mocking exaggeration of a helpless reliance that was quite genuine.
“We shall be ready to take Mr. Vancouver by stealth or force the
moment that actual danger comes near him. We will bring him to
this hut and hide him here. But a man from the colony will be
needed to guard him. I am going immediately to bring one out for
that purpose.”
Her eyes kindled with alarm. “No, no, Choseph! That would be
impossible. You couldn’t find the way nor pass the guard. I will go.”
Argument and persuasion were equally useless; she knew when to
be firm. “I will go,” was her answer to everything, and she came to
her feet. “You and Christopher come with me to the summit of the
wall, and there you’ll hide near the guard, and wait. I’ll bring the
man nearly to the place and send him ahead, and give you a signal.
You must trick the guard out of the way, and meet him; I will follow.
It would ruin everything for me to be seen.”
I agreed, and told her to bring Hobart.
“Beelo,” I said, “you understand that we have accomplished one of
the tasks for which you brought us out of the valley, and in doing so
have learned the fate awaiting our colony.”
Her face at once grew pinched. “Don’t speak of it, Choseph!” she
cried. “I don’t know whether you have or not, and I don’t know what
is in your mind. Simply think of saving Mr. Vancouver.”
“Of course, dear lad,” I agreed; “but we must be planning also for
means to leave the island, since only something awful awaits us
here. You must tell me all that I should know. I won’t dance any
longer to your mysteries and concealments.”
It was as though I had struck her. She stared, her eyes flooding,
her lips trembling.
 “Choseph,” she answered, “there are things that you must see and
hear for yourself, and they will come tonight and tomorrow. I’ll take
you——”
“I must know now,” I demanded, not realizing the harshness of
my tone.
“Choseph, I——”
“Did you speak to me, sir?” came from Christopher, standing
behind her.
“No, Christopher. We’ll wait, dear little brother.” The sunshine
came swimming into her eyes again, and she made a grimace of
triumph in which was an understanding that Christopher had
disciplined me.
“You’ll be good now, won’t you, Choseph?” It was said in her most
teasing manner, and I smiled.
We started under an angry sky through which heavy cloud-masses
tumbled. It was a cautious journey. The very air seemed filled with
expectancy. On the way we formulated a plan for tricking the guard.
In approaching the point of egress from the valley, Beela practiced
the slyness of a lynx and the silence of a serpent. Every step was
studied lest a twig snap; the leaves on the ground had been
softened by the rain. Presently we sighted the guard—a draggled lot,
unused to exposure and dispirited by the weather. There Beela left
us in hiding. I now understood the perils that she had breasted in
every trip to the valley. If they were so difficult under these
conditions, how much more they must have been when fair weather
made the guard alert and the ground noisy under foot!
Beela was to warn us of Hobart’s coming by giving a certain bird-
call thrice. Christopher’s answering signal would be notice to Beela
that Hobart was safe.
The savages, not twenty paces away—at least two dozen stalwart
men—were variously squatting, sitting, and lounging. They were in a
compact group, and were talking in low voices, but with an
animation unusual to the race. I motioned Christopher to follow, and
we crept nearer.
 Some important news had just been brought by the relief guard.
“And so the king isn’t going to wait for night,” said one, as though
the news was surprising.
“That is true,” came the answer. “He fears that the ground will
shake at any time. Besides, the storm will likely come again tonight,
and the great fire would be impossible then.”
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