The Project Gutenberg EBook of Palm Tree Island, by Herbert Strang
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Title: Palm Tree Island
Author: Herbert Strang
Illustrator: Archibald Webb
Alan Wright
Release Date: September 19, 2011 [EBook #37418]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PALM TREE ISLAND ***
Produced by Al Haines
[Illustration: Cover art]
[Frontispiece: "WHEN I LET FLY THE ARROW IT SPED VERY TRUE." (See page
335.)]
PALM TREE ISLAND
_BEING THE NARRATIVE OF_ HARRY BRENT _SHOWING HOW HE IN COMPANY WITH_
WILLIAM BOBBIN _OF_ LIMEHOUSE _WAS LEFT ON AN ISLAND IN THE SOUTHERN
HEMISPHERE, AND THE ACCIDENTS AND ADVENTURES THAT SPRANG THEREFROM, THE
WHOLE FAITHFULLY SET FORTH_
_BY_
HERBERT STRANG
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY_
_ARCHIBALD WEBB AND ALAN WRIGHT_
LONDON
HENRY FROWDE
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
1910
Copyright 1909, by the G. H. Doran Company, in the United States of
America.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER THE FIRST
OF MY UNCLE AND HIS HOBBY, AND WHAT CAME OF HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH TWO
MARINERS
CHAPTER THE SECOND
OF THE VOYAGE OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_ AND OF MY CONCERN THEREIN, ALSO THE
DISTRESSFUL CASE OF WILLIAM BOBBIN
CHAPTER THE THIRD
OF THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE SEAS; OF MUTTERINGS AND DISCONTENTS, OF
DESERTION, OF MUTINY AND OF SHIPWRECK
CHAPTER THE FOURTH
OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE CHEATED NEPTUNE AND CAME WITHIN THE GRIP OF
VULCAN; AND OF THE INHUMANITY OF THE MARINERS
CHAPTER THE FIFTH
OF CLAMS AND COCOA-NUTS AND SUNDRY OUR DISCOVERIES; AND OF OUR
REFLECTIONS ON OUR FORLORN STATE
CHAPTER THE SIXTH
OF OUR SEARCH FOR SUSTENANCE AND SHELTER; WITH VARIOUS MATTERS OF MORE
CONSEQUENCE TO THE CASTAWAY THAN EXCITEMENT TO THE READER
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
OF THE BUILDING OF OUR HUT, TO WHICH WE BRING MORE ENTHUSIASM THAN SKILL
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
OF MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SEA MONSTER; AND OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE
PROVIDED OURSELVES WITH ARMS
CHAPTER THE NINTH
OF PIGS AND POULTRY, AND OF THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE WILD DOGS, UPON
WHOM WE MAKE WAR
CHAPTER THE TENTH
OF THE NAMING OF OUR ISLAND--OF A FLEET OF CANOES, AND OF THE MEANS
WHEREBY WE PREPARE TO STAND A SIEGE
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH
OF OUR SUBTERRANEOUS ADVENTURE, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WILD DOGS
PROFITED BY OUR ABSENCE
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
OF A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN BILLY AND THE NARRATOR--OF AN
ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK, AND THE BUILDING OF A CANOE
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH
OF OUR ENTRENCHMENTS; OF THE LAUNCHING OF OUR CANOE, AND THE DEADLY
PERIL THAT ATTENDED OUR FIRST VOYAGE
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH
OF OUR VOYAGE TO A NEIGHBOURING ISLAND, AND OF OUR INHOSPITABLE
RECEPTION BY THE SAVAGES
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH
OF THE SEVERAL SURPRISES THAT AWAITED BILLY AND THE NARRATOR AND THE
CREW OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_; AND OF OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
OF THE ASSAULT ON THE HUT, IN WHICH BOWS AND ARROWS PROVE SUPERIOR TO
MUSKETS
CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH
OF THE END OF THE SEA MONSTERS; AND OF THE EVENTS THAT LED US TO
RECEIVE THE CREW AS OUR GUESTS
CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH
OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE SAVAGES, AND THE UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR OF OUR
GUESTS
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH
OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR
PROPERTY
CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH
OF ATTACKS BY LAND AND SEA; AND OF THE USES OF HUNGER IN THE MENDING OF
MANNERS
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST
OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CREW ARE PERSUADED TO AN INDUSTRIOUS AND
ORDERLY MODE OF LIFE
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
OF OUR DEPARTURE FROM PALM TREE ISLAND; OF THOSE WHO WON THROUGH, AND
OF THOSE WHO FELL BY THE WAY
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY ARCHIBALD WEBB
"WHEN I LET FLY THE ARROW IT SPED VERY TRUE . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
(see p. 335)
"ONE LIFTED THE PLANK AND AIMED A FURIOUS BLOW AT MY HEAD"
"THE BEAST WHEELED ABOUT, AND RUSHED UPON BILLY"
"I CRIED OUT TO HIM THAT A MONSTER WAS ATTACKING ME"
"ONE DAY I FOUND HIM TRYING TO SHAVE WITH A FLINT"
"THE BEAST HEAVED ITSELF CLEAN OUT OF THE WATER"
"BILLY REACHED OVER, AND BROUGHT HIS AXE DOWN ON THE MAN'S HEAD"
"I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE DOORWAY"
PEN-AND-INK SKETCHES
BY ALAN WRIGHT
BILLY'S AXE
OUR FLINT SCRAPER FOR SHARPENING AXES
BILLY'S PLATE AND MUG
SOME OF MY POTTERY
SPEARHEAD
BILLY'S BOW AND ARROW
BILLY'S SCRAPER FOR ROUNDING ARROW SHAFTS
CLAY SAUCEPANS, AND TONGS OF WOOD
OUR PIG-STY
KNIVES AND FORK
CLAY PAIL, THE HANDLE OF A TOUGH ROOT, BOUND ON WITH SHRUNK HIDE
BILLY'S PALM-LEAF HAT
OUR SMALL HUT TURNED INTO A FOWL-HOUSE
JUG WITH BENT-WOOD HANDLE, AND CUP
THE BRUSH BILLY MADE, SHOWING ALSO THE MANNER OF IT
COMB OF SPINES
SPADE CUT OUT OF A LOG
RAKE HEAD AND SCALLOP-SHELL HOE
OUR WHEELBARROW
OUR TABLE
MY CHAIR AND BILLY'S STOOL
OUR FISH-HOOKS
OUR GAFF AND LANDING-NET
OUR HARPOONS
OUR CANOE
OUR TRIPOD
BILLY'S TOASTING-FORK
OUR BASKETS
OUR LAMP
MAP OF PALM TREE ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _facing p._ 96
CHAPTER THE FIRST
OF MY UNCLE AND HIS OF HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH TWO MARINERS
I was rising four years old when my parents died, both within one week,
of the small-pox; and the day of their funeral is the furthermost of my
recollections. My nurse, having tied up the sleeves of my pinafore
with black, held me with her in the great room down-stairs as the
mourners assembled. Their solemn faces and whispered words, and the
dreadful black garments, drove me into a state of terror, and I was not
far from screaming among them when there entered a big man with a jolly
red face, at whom the company rose and bowed very respectfully. The
moment he was within the room his eye lit on me, and seeing at a glance
how matters stood, he thrust one hand into his great pocket, and drew
it forth full of sugar-plums, which he laid in my pinafore, and then
bade the nurse take me away.
'Twas my uncle Stephen, said Nurse, and a kind good man. Certainly I
liked him well enough, and when, two or three days thereafter, he set
me before him on his saddle, and rode away humming the rhyme of
"Banbury Cross," I laughed very joyously, never believing but that
after I had seen the lady with the tinkling toes, Uncle Stephen would
bring me home again, and that by that time my mother would have
returned from heaven, whither they told me she had gone.
I did not see my childhood's home again for near thirty years.
My uncle took me to live with him, in his own house not a great way
from Stafford. He was an elder brother of my father's, and till then
had been a bachelor; but having now a small nephew to nourish and breed
up, he did not delay to seek a wife, and wed a fine young woman of
Burslem. She was very kind to me, and even when there were two boys of
her own to engage her affections, her kindness did not alter. So I
grew up in great happiness, having had few troubles, the greatest of
them being, perhaps, those that beset my first steps to learning in
Dame Johnson's little school. As for my subsequent search after
knowledge on the benches of the Grammar School at Stafford, the less
said the better: the master once declared, in Latin, that I was "only
not a fool."
The light esteem in which the pedagogue held my intellects did not give
my uncle any concern. He was bad at the books himself, saving in one
kind I am to mention hereafter. He was a master potter, in a
substantial way of business, and held in some repute among men of his
trade. Indeed, it was the belief of many in our parts that he might
have become as famous in the world as Mr. Wedgwood himself, had he not
been afflicted with a hobby.
I will not follow the example of the ingenious Mr. Sterne, and write
here a chapter upon hobby-horses; though I do believe I could say
something on that subject, if not with his incomparable humour, yet
with a certain truth of observation. Why is a man's hobby often at
such variance with other parts of his character? Why did the late Mr.
Selwyn, to wit, take the greatest pleasure in life in seeing men
hanged, drawn, and quartered? Who that knew John Steer (I knew him
well) only as he stood with knife and cleaver in his butcher's shop,
would believe that 'twas his delight, after slaughtering his sheep and
oxen, to solace his evenings with warbling on the German flute? My
uncle's hobby was no less extraordinary. He was inland bred, and I do
believe, until the year of his great adventure, had never gone above
twenty miles from his native town; yet he had a wondrous passion for
the sea and all that pertained to it. I am sure that he never saw the
sea until he and I together looked upon it at Tilbury, and there, to be
sure, the salt water is much qualified with fresh; yet, after business
hours, he was for ever talking of it and reading about it and the
doings of sailor men. He would pore for long hours upon the pages of
the _Sailor's Waggoner_, and con by heart the rules and instructions of
the _Sailor's Vade Mecum_. He was deeply learned in the _Principal
Navigations_ of Mr. Hakluyt; he could tell you all that befell George
Cavendish in the _Desire_ and Sir Richard Hawkins in the _Dainty_, and
would hold me spell-bound as he recited with infinite gusto the stark
doings of the Buccaneers. And when Mr. Cadell, the bookseller in the
Strand in London, sent him the great volumes containing the discoveries
of Commodore Byron, and those gallant captains Carteret, Wallis, and
Cook in the southern hemisphere, the days were a weariness to him until
he could light his candle and put on his spectacles and feast on those
enthralling narratives. Many's the time, as I lay awake in my bed,
have I heard my aunt Susan call down the stairs through the open door
of her room, "Steve, Steve, when be a-coming to bed, man?" and his
jolly voice rolling up, "Yes, my dear, I am near the end of the
chapter"; and there he would sit, and finish the chapter, and begin
another, and read on and on, until I might be stirred from a doze by
the sound of him shuffling past in his stockings, and grumbling because
there was but an inch of guttering candle left.
My uncle was a sturdy patriot, and took a great delight in knowing that
the most of the navigators of those far-off seas were Englishmen. I
remember how he fumed and fretted when his bookseller in London sent
him the volume of Monsieur de Bougainville's voyage round the world.
What had these French apes, he cried, to do with voyages of discovery?
And when he read later, in Dr. Hawkesworth's book, of the trick which
Monsieur de Bougainville played on Captain Wallis--how, meeting the
captain on his homeward way, he sought with feigning to worm out of him
the secrets of his expedition--my uncle smote the table with his great
fist, and used such fiery language that my aunt turned pale and my
little cousins began to blubber.
At this time I was in my seventeenth year, and had been for some months
in my uncle's factory, learning the rudiments of his trade. 'Twas
taken for granted that I should become a partner with him when I was of
age, for the business was good enough to support both me and my elder
cousin Thomas; while as for the younger, James, my aunt had set her
heart on making a parson of him. But it was ordained that, in my case,
things should fall out quite contrary to the intention, as you shall
hear.
One fine Sunday we were walking home from church, my uncle and I,
across the fields, as our practice was, when we saw that the last stile
before we reached our road was occupied. A big fellow, clad in a dress
that was strange to our part of the country, sat athwart the rail of
the fence, with his feet on the upper step. Another man sprawled on
the grass beside the fence, lying stretched on his back with his hands
under his head, and a hat of black glazed straw tilted over his eyes.
As we drew nearer, I saw that the man on the stile had a big fat face,
his red cheeks so puffed out that his eyes were scarce visible, his
mouth loose and watery, with an underhung chin, a thick fringe of black
hair encircling it from ear to ear.
Seeing us approach, he began with uncouth and clumsy movements to
descend from his perch; but he gave my uncle a hard look as we came up
with him, and then, spitting upon the ground, he said,
"Bless my eyes--surely 'tis--ain't your name Stephen Brent, sir?"
My uncle looked at the man in the way of one who is puzzled, and for
some while stood thus, the man smiling at him. Then of a sudden his
face partly cleared, and he said--
"You are never Nick Wabberley?"
"The same, sir, Nick and Wabberley, as you knowed five and twenty year
ago."
"Why, man, I am glad to see you," says my uncle heartily, offering his
hand, which the man took, not however before he had rubbed his own hand
upon the back of his breeches.
"Same to you, sir, and very glad I am to see you so hearty. After five
and twenty year at sea----"
"You have been to sea!" cries my uncle, his jolly face beaming. "Then
you must come up to my house to supper and tell me all about it."
"Why, d'ye see, sir, there's my messmate," said the man, with a glance
at the prone figure, which had not moved; indeed, there came from
beneath the hat a succession of snores, as untuneful as ever I heard.
"We're in tow, d'ye see," added the big man.
"Bring him too," says my uncle. "We have plenty of bread and bacon,
thank God."
Whereupon the man went to his sleeping comrade, and neatly kicked his
hat into the air, bidding him wake, with a strange oath that startled
me. The sleeper did not at once open his eyes, but his mouth being
already open, he let forth a volley of curses, and demanded his hat,
avouching that if he suffered a sunstroke he would "this" and "that"
the other: his actual words I cannot write. My uncle's face showing
his reprobation of such language, especially on the Sabbath, the big
man excused his comrade, saying that 'twas only Joshua Chick's way, and
he was really a good soul, and very obliging. At this the prostrate
man opened his eyes, and, seeing my uncle, got upon his feet, and when
he was told of the invitation to supper, he touched his forelock and
said he was always ready to oblige. If the looks of Nick Wabberley did
not take my fancy, still less did those of Joshua Chick, who was a
small man, very lean and swarthy, and his eyes squinted so dreadfully
that he seemed to be looking at my uncle and myself at one and the same
time.
After a few more words we parted, the men promising to be at our house
prompt at eight o'clock. And as we continued our walk home, my uncle
satisfied my curiosity, telling me that the big man, Nick Wabberley,
who was, as I had already guessed, the brother of Tom Wabberley, that
owned Lowcote Farm some two miles from our door, had been a
school-fellow of his, and the idlest boy in the whole countryside. He
never got through a day without a flogging. The master birched him;
his father leathered him; but neither did him any good: he remained an
incorrigible dunce and truant, and no one was very sorry when one
morning it was found that he had slipped out of his bedroom window
during the night and run away. He had never since been heard of, but
now that after twenty-five years he had returned to his native place,
my uncle's heart warmed towards him because he had been to sea.
Sailors were not often seen in our inland parts, and the prospect of
discourse with a man who had actually beheld what he had only read
about filled my uncle with delight.
Prompt on the stroke of eight Nick Wabberley arrived, accompanied by
his messmate Joshua Chick. They proved to be excellent trenchermen:
indeed, they prolonged the meal longer than either my uncle or my aunt
liked, the former being impatient to hear stories of the sea, the
latter watching with concern the disappearance of her viands. But
supper was over at last, and then my uncle bade the visitors draw their
chairs to the fire, gave them each a long pipe and a sneaker of punch,
and settled himself in his arm-chair to drink in the tale of their
adventures. Being near seventeen I was allowed to make one of the
company, to the envy of my young cousins, who hung about the room for
some time, but being at last detected were bundled off to bed.
It needs not to tell how late we sat up, nor how many tumblers of
brandy-punch the two sailors tossed off between them before they
departed, steady enough on their legs, but a trifle thick in their
speech. My uncle was abstemious himself, and held a toper to be
something less than a man; at an ordinary time he would have avoided to
ply his visitors with liquor, but the truth is that on this occasion
his whole soul was rapt away into a kind of wonderland by Nick
Wabberley's tales, so that the men were able to replenish their glasses
at intervals, unperceived. I have heard many a mariner's yarn since,
and know them to be works of fancy and imagination as often as not; at
that time I was as credulous as a babe, and my uncle scarcely less, and
I doubt not we gulped down all the marvels we heard as greedily as the
trout gapes at a fly. Certainly Nick Wabberley was a masterly
story-teller, spinning yarns, as they say, as easily as a spider spins
her web, and never at a loss for a word. Joshua Chick took but a
modest part in the conversation, being very well occupied in
replenishing the glasses; but every now and again he would slip in a
word to correct some statement of his comrade, Nick accepting it with
great composure. I noticed that these occasional contributions of
Joshua's tended most often towards embellishment, and the level tones
in which he related the most astonishing marvels, at the same time
fixing one eye on my uncle and the other on me (keeping his hand on the
brandy-bottle), made a wonderful impression on us.
It appeared that the two sailors had been members of the company which
sailed with Captain Cook (he was then lieutenant) on his first voyage
into the southern hemisphere. My uncle knew by heart the story of this
voyage as it is given in Dr. Hawkesworth's book, and expressed great
surprise that so many of the incidents and particulars related by Nick
Wabberley were not mentioned in that worthy doctor's pages. He even
ventured at one point to controvert a statement of Nick's, adducing the
doctor as his authority, at which Nick waxed mightily indignant. "Why,
d'ye see, warn't I there?" he said. "Warn't I there, Josh?"
"You was," says Chick firmly.
"And warn't you there?" says Wabberley, his moist lips quivering with
indignation.
"I were," replies Chick, with vehemence.
"Then what the blazes has any landlubber of a doctor got to do with it,
what don't know one end of a ship from t'other!"
There was nothing to be said in answer to this, and my uncle afterwards
confided to me his opinion that Captain Cook's own journals contained a
good many things which Dr. Hawkesworth had not seen fit to print.
My uncle was so well pleased with the conversation of the seamen that
he invited them to come and see him again, and before long it became
their regular custom to drop in about supper-time, much to the
annoyance of Aunt Susan. She called Nick Wabberley a lazy lubber, and
as for Joshua Chick, she said his eyes made her feel creepy, and he ate
enough for four decent men. But my uncle was fairly mounted on his
hobby, and he asked her rather warmly whether she grudged a bite and a
sup to worthy mariners who had braved the perils of the deep (not to
speak of the appetites of cannibals) in the service of their country.
'Twas in vain she said that she knew Farmer Wabberley wished his
brother at Jericho--the great fat lubber lolloping about doing nothing
but eat and drink, when there were fields to hoe, and Joshua Chick
looking two ways at once, one eye on bacon and the other on beer; 'twas
a mercy he hadn't got two mouths as well, she said. My uncle would
hear nothing against them; always kindly and indulgent, he reminded her
that a gammon rasher and home-baked bread must be the most delectable
of dainties to men who for months at a time ate nothing but salt junk
and ship's biscuit.
He never tired--nor, I must own, did I--of listening to Nick Wabberley.
His face fairly glowed as he heard of those favoured islands of the
south where food grew without labour and wealth was to be had almost
without lifting a finger. Wabberley described the ease with which
pearls might be obtained in the Pacific: how he had seen the natives
dive into the water and bring up oysters, every tenth of them
containing a gem, so little valued by the finders that the present of a
four-penny nail or a glass bead would purchase a handful of them.
Wabberley heaved a great sigh as he deplored his desperate bad luck in
not being permitted to trade. "The Captain, d'ye see, warn't a
trader," he said; "he was always thinking of taking soundings and
marking charts and discovering that there southern continent, which I
don't believe there ain't no such thing, though they do say as how the
world 'ud topple over if there warn't summat over yonder to keep it
steady. And as often as not, when we come to a island, we was so
desperate pushed for provisions, and vegetables to cure us of the
scurvy, that he hadn't no thought except for stocking the ship. Oh!
'twas cruel, when we might all ha' been as rich as lords, and all
vittles found in the bargain."
In those days I remarked a certain restlessness in my uncle. He would
go to the door of an evening and look down the road for the two seamen,
and if they did not appear, which was seldom, he would walk up and
down, in and out of the house, with hands in pockets, melancholy
whistlings issuing from his lips. He read even more closely than usual
the pages of the _Vade Mecum_, and pored for hours on the maps that
embellish Dr. Hawkesworth's volumes. For the most part he was silent
and abstracted, but ever and anon he would startle me with some sudden
exclamation, some remark or question addressed, it seemed, to himself.
"Tugwell is a good man: I can trust him.... What will Susan say? ... A
matter of a year or two: what's that? ... I haven't a grey hair in my
head." I was somewhat concerned when I listened to these mutterings,
and wondered whether much brooding on oversea adventures had turned my
uncle's brain. And I was not at all prepared for the revelation that
came one night, when, looking up from his book, which lay open on his
knees, he waved his long pipe in the air and cried, "I'll do it, as
sure as my name is Stephen Brent."
And then he poured out upon my astonished ears the full tale of his
imaginings. He was bent on making a voyage round the world. The South
Seas had cast a spell upon him. He longed to see the lands of which
the sailor-men had spoken; he was athirst for discovery. Perhaps he
might light upon this Southern Continent which had eluded the search of
others, and if he could forestall the French, what a feather it would
be in his cap, and how glorious for old England! And in these dreams
he was not less a man of business. There was vast wealth to be had by
bold adventurers; why should not he obtain a share of it, and amass a
second fortune for his boys?
The greatness of this scheme as he unrolled it before me took my breath
away. When I asked how his business would fare in his absence he swept
the air with his pipe and declared that Tugwell, his manager, was sober
and trustworthy, and he had no fears on that score. I spoke of the
perils of shipwreck and pirates, of the Sallee rovers, of the
numberless accidents that might befall; but he brushed them all away as
things of no account. And then I myself took fire from his own
enthusiasm and begged that I might go with him. "No, no, Harry, my
boy," he said, kindly enough. "You must stay at home to look after
your aunt and the boys. Tugwell is a good man, but growing old; and if
anything happens to me you will be at hand to look to things; you are
seventeen, and pretty near a man."
That night at supper, with much hemming and hawing, he broached his
project to my aunt. You should have heard her laugh! 'twas plain she
did not believe him to be serious; she said it was all gammon, and she
wondered what next indeed. But when he assured her that he meant every
word of it, she was first alarmed and then angry. She talked about a
maggot in his head, and asked what she was to do, a widow and not a
widow, with two growing boys that would run wild without their father;
and she wondered how a respectable man nigh fifty years old should
think of such a thing, and there wasn't a woman in the country who
would put up with such a pack of nonsense. To which he replied that
Captain Cook was a respectable man with a wife and family, and if the
captain's lady could part with her husband for a year or two, for the
honour and profit of England, surely 'twas not becoming in Mrs. Stephen
Brent to make an outcry over such a trifling matter. This made my aunt
only the more angry, and, for the first time in all my knowledge of
them, the good people looked unkindly upon each other.
That my uncle's mind was firmly made up was plain to us next day.
Bidding me say nought of his intentions, which he wished to be kept
secret, lest they came to the ears of the French, he set off for
London, and was absent for a matter of ten days, much to the
displeasure of Nick Wabberley and Joshua Chick, who came to the house
evening after evening and went very disconsolate away, my aunt
detesting them both, and refusing to feed the men to whom she
attributed this mad whimsy of her husband. Her anger somewhat
moderated while he was away, and after a week or so she could smile at
his rubbish, declaring to me that she was sure he would think better of
it: he would be like a fish out of water in London Town, and the
sensible folks there would laugh him out of his foolishness, that they
would. She smiled and tossed her head even when he came back and told
us with great heartiness that he had bought a vessel--a north-country
collier of near four hundred tons, stout in her timbers and broad in
the beam, built for strength rather than speed--just such a vessel as
Captain Cook had sailed in. "Go along with you, Steve," she said.
"Don't tell me! You'll never go rampaging over the seas--a man of your
age: and 'tis a mercy, I'm sure, that you're a warm man and won't ruin
yourself, for you won't get half what you gave for it when you sell
your precious vessel again." She told me privately that she was sure,
when the time came, the foolish man would never venture himself on a
ship; what would _he_ do on a ship, she'd like to know, when he
couldn't ride a dozen miles in a coach, as he had told us, without
becoming squeamish and feeling as if his inside didn't belong to him!
The news that he had engaged a captain--a seasoned skipper, by name
Ezekiel Corke--only made her lift her hands and cry out, "Well, did you
ever see!" I am sure that her air of disbelief, and amusement mingled
with it, was a sore trial to my uncle.
As for him, good man, he was in earnest, if ever a man was. One day
after he returned he rode over with me to Lowcote Farm, where we found
those two mariners, Chick and Wabberley, gloomily sucking straws on a
five-barred gate, and idly looking on at a busy scene of
sheep-shearing. Their dull faces brightened at the sight of him, and
when he told them what he had been doing, and asked if they would join
his crew, they smote each other on the back and swore lustily for very
joy. They asked him many questions about the ship and the captain,
talked very knowingly of spars and armaments and the various articles
it behoved to carry for trading with the natives, and offered to go at
once to London--my uncle paying their coach fares--and seek out old
messmates who should form the finest crew that ever foregathered in a
foc'sle. My uncle showed great pleasure at their willingness, and
arranged that they should accompany him when he next went to London to
make his preparations for the voyage.
The news of my uncle's enterprise soon spread through our town, and it
became a nine days' wonder among our neighbours and the townsfolk. His
friends accosted him in the streets; some poked fun at him for entering
on a new branch of business at his time of life; others, with the best
intentions in the world, addressed to him the most solemn warnings,
taking him by the buttonhole and expatiating on the risks he was about
to run, doubting whether any money was to be made at sea, and advising
him very earnestly to stick to the clay. He bore their pleasantries
and their counsels with great good nature, declaring that he knew what
he was about, and they would see if they lived long enough. But I
could not help feeling sometimes that he was not quite so confident as
he liked to appear, and that the drawbacks and dangers he had shut his
eyes to in the first flush of his enthusiasm were now looming larger in
the prospect. Yet, whatever his qualms may have been, he pushed on his
preparations with vigour. He spent another fortnight in London,
collecting a crew with the aid of Wabberley and Chick, purchasing
stores, and laying in a cargo, and then he returned to take leave of
his family and friends.
All this time I was beset with a great longing. The making of pottery
in a quiet town seemed to me a very tame and spiritless occupation: I
felt an immense stirring towards a life of activity and adventure, and
wished with all my heart that my uncle would change his mind and take
me with him. Against this, however, he was resolute, and the utmost he
would concede was that I should accompany him when he departed finally
from Stafford, and see the vessel in which he was to sail forth.
Accordingly, one fine August day ('twas the year 1775), I took passage
with him in the London coach. All Stafford had gathered to speed him.
He parted from my aunt and his boys at the inn door: up to the very
last she had held to the belief that he would draw back; and even when
he left her side and mounted into the coach she whispered to me, "I
don't believe it. I won't believe it! He'll never go. He never
will!" But the coach rumbled off, the crowd cheered, some one flung an
old shoe after us for luck, and I had never a doubt that before the
month was out my uncle would be afloat on the wide ocean, fairly
committed to his wonderful adventure in the southern seas.
CHAPTER THE SECOND
OF THE VOYAGE OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_ AND OF MY CONCERN THEREIN; ALSO THE
DISTRESSFUL CASE OF WILLIAM BOBBIN
The _Lovey Susan_--for so my uncle had named his vessel--lay at
Deptford, and as we walked from our inn, the _Cod and Lobster_ in Great
Tower Street, to see how her fitting out was proceeding, I was amazed
(this being the first time I had come to London) at the smells and the
noises of the narrow streets, and at the number of rough seamen whom we
met. How much greater was my amazement when we came to the docks, and
I saw the multitude of shipping--the forests of masts, the great black
hulls, the crowds of lighters that moved in and out among them. I
remember the fond air of pride with which my uncle pointed to his
vessel, and the smile upon his face when the captain spied him and
touched his hat. Captain Corke did not in the least resemble the idea
I had formed of a sea-captain. He was a little man, with lean cheeks,
and a brown wig a world too small for his head, so that I could see the
grey stubble of his own hair showing beneath it. My uncle presented me
to him and to the first mate, Mr. Lummis, whose hand, when I shook it,
left a strange pattern of tar on mine. Mr. Lummis was a rough-looking
man, with a square face and a tight mouth, who broke off his talk with
us very frequently to roar at one or other of the crew as they went to
and fro about their duties. The captain took us over the vessel, which
was all very strange to a landsman, and showed me his own quarters in
the round house, and when we came to my uncle's cabin, which was
certainly not so big as Aunt Susan's larder, nor half so sweet, I
thought of what she had said, and for the first time I felt some pity
for my uncle, and wondered how he would endure the being cooped up in
so narrow a compass. I was presented also to Mr. Bodger, the second
mate, who seemed a very shy and timid fellow, always looking away when
he spoke. I did not see either Wabberley or Chick, but learnt by and
by that they were on shore beating up for a few men to make up the
ship's full complement.
Things were in a very forward state, and the captain said that the
_Lovey Susan_ would be ready to set sail in a week's time. We spent
that week in going to and fro between the ship and our inn. I own I
should have liked to see the sights of London, but my uncle was so much
in love with his vessel that he could not bear to be away from her, and
he would not let me go sight-seeing alone, saying that London was a
terrible wicked place for a boy. The utmost he would consent to was to
ride out to Tilbury and ride in again, which was a very paltry
expedition. When the end of the week came, there were still some
berths vacant, a number of the men having been seized for the king's
ships, the press being then very active. This put my uncle in a
desperate state of annoyance. He declared it was monstrous that his
men should be stolen when he was embarking on an adventure which might
bring great honour to the country. Since it was plain that his
departure must be delayed, he said it was sinful for me to waste any
more time in London when I might be useful at the works, and so took
passage for me in the coach and dispatched me home. Knowing that the
business would not suffer a jot by my absence, I wondered whether my
uncle dreaded a scene of parting; and for my part I was so sore at not
being allowed to accompany him that I thought it would save me an extra
pang if I did not take my farewell of him at the ship's side.
I found my aunt wonderfully cheerful. She smiled when I told her of
the hindrances my uncle had met with, and declared that we should even
yet see him give up his whimsy and return to his proper business. This
opinion, however, I scouted, and when, after about a week, we received
a letter from him, I felt sure as I broke the seal that it was a last
message penned on the eve of sailing. It proved otherwise, being a
brief note to say that the crew was complete, through the good offices
of the obliging Chick, but that the departure was once more delayed, my
uncle being confined to his room at the _Cod and Lobster_ by a slight
attack of the gout. My aunt was for starting at once to attend upon
her husband, but this I dissuaded her from, saying that by the time she
arrived in London the attack might have passed and the ship sailed, and
she would have made the long journey for nothing, besides wasting
money. However, within three days comes another letter, in which my
uncle wrote that he was much worse, and desired me to come to him post
haste. This letter gave my aunt much concern, but on the whole pleased
her mightily, for she was sure I had been sent for to bring my uncle
home, and she went about with that triumphant look which a good lady
wears when she sees events answer to her predictions.
I set off by the coach next morning. When I opened the door of my
uncle's room he fairly screamed at me: "Take care! for mercy's sake
take care!" I stepped back and looked about me in alarm, seeking for
some great peril against which I must be on my guard. But I saw
nothing but my uncle sitting in a big chair, with one leg propped on a
stool, and his foot swathed in huge wrappings of flannel. "Take care!"
he cried again with a groan as I approached. "Mind my toe! Keep a
yard away; not an inch nearer, or I shall yell the house down." At
that time I was astonished beyond measure at my uncle's vehemence; but
having since then suffered from the gout myself--'tis in our family: my
grandfather was a martyr to it, I have been told--I know the terror
which a movement, even a gust of air, inspires in the sufferer.
My uncle told me, amid groans, that his heart was broken. The _Lovey
Susan_ was ready; he had as good a captain and crew as any man could
wish to have, but he himself would never make the voyage. Three
physicians, the best in London, were attending him, and their opinion
was that not only might he be some considerable time in recovering of
it, but that, being of a gouty habit of body, a new attack might seize
him at any moment and without warning. "Suppose it took me on the
voyage, Harry!" he said, groaning deeply. "Suppose I was like this on
board! You saw my cabin; no room to swing a kitten. What if a storm
blew up! What if I was tossed about!" Here he groaned again. "No
doctors! No comforts! I must go home to Susan, my boy--if I can ever
stand the journey---- Oh!" he shouted, as a twinge took him. "A
thousand plagues! Give me my draught, Harry; take care! Mind my toe!"
I was distressed at my uncle's pitiful plight. 'Twas plain that his
agony of mind was as great as that of his body, because of his
disappointment in the check to his cherished design. For some while he
did nothing but groan; presently, when he was a little easier, he
announced the resolution he had come to, which was a great surprise to
me, but a still greater joy. 'Twas nothing less than that I should
take his place. He could not abide that his plans should be brought to
nought. He had weighed the matter carefully as he lay awake o' nights;
I was seventeen and nearly a man, and though no doubt I had gout in my
blood, I need not fear that enemy for some years to come. Being
sober-minded (he was pleased to say), and well acquainted with his
purposes, I could very well represent him, and though this
responsibility was great for one of my years, yet it would teach me
self-reliance and strengthen my character. He spoke to me long and
earnestly of the manner in which I should bear myself, with respect to
the captain and kindliness to the seamen; and I must never lose sight
of the object of the expedition, which was to discover the southern
continent, if it were the will of Providence, and so forestall the
French.
I fear I paid less heed than I ought to my uncle's solemn admonitions,
so overjoyed was I at the wonderful prospect opening before me. Having
taken his resolution, my uncle was not the man to delay in executing
it. He sent for Captain Corke, and acquainted him with his design,
adjuring him to regard me in all things as his deputy, and to take me
fully into his counsels. He summoned before him Mr. Lummis and Mr.
Bodger, and Chick, who was made boatswain of the vessel, and addressed
them in my presence very solemnly, enlarging on the service they would
do their country if they assisted Captain Corke and me to bring the
expedition to a successful issue. And then, having dismissed them, he
bade me fall on my knees (at a yard's distance from his toe), and
besought the blessing of the Almighty on the voyage. A lump came into
my throat as I listened to his prayer, and when at its conclusion I
muttered my "Amen!" it expressed my earnest desire to do all that in me
lay to fulfil my uncle's behests, and, in God's good time, to give him
an account of my stewardship which should bring him comfort and
happiness.
Next day, it being Friday the 22nd of August and a fair day, we loosed
our moorings at four o'clock in the morning and fell down with the
tide. We were lucky in encountering a favouring breeze when we came
out into the broad estuary of the river, and rounding the Foreland, we
set our course down channel. The movements of the sailors in working
the ship gave me much entertainment, and the gentle motion of the
vessel, the sea being calm, caused not the least discomfort, though it
was the first time I had sailed upon the deep.
About eight o'clock in the evening, the time which mariners call
eight-bells, I was standing beside the captain on the main deck, and he
was pointing out a cluster of houses on the shore which he told me was
the fishing village of Margate, when we were aware of a commotion in
the fore-part of the vessel. I distinguished the rough voice of Mr.
Lummis, shouting abuse with many oaths that were new and shocking to my
ears. Presently the first mate comes up, hauling by the neck a boy of
some fifteen years, a short and sturdy fellow in dirty and ragged
garments, and with the grimiest face I ever did see. Up comes Mr.
Lummis, I say, lugging this boy along, cuffing him about the head, and
still rating him with the utmost vehemence. He hauls him in front of
the captain, and, shaking him as a terrier shakes a rat, says, "Here's
a young devil, sir, a ---- stowaway. Found him on the strakes in the
bilge, sir, the ---- little swipe."
The captain looked at the boy, who stood with his shoulders hunched to
defend his head from the mate's blows, and then bidding Mr. Lummis
loose him, he asked him in a mild voice what he did aboard the vessel.
The boy rubbed his hand across his eyes, thereby spreading a black
smudge, and then answered in a tearful mumble that he didn't know.
"What's your name?" says the captain.
"Bobbin, sir," says the boy.
"Bobbin what?" says the captain.
"William, sir," says the boy.
"Bobbin William?" says the captain.
"William Bobbin," says the boy.
The captain looked sternly on William Bobbin for the space of a minute
or two, but I do not remember that he said anything more to him at that
time. Mr. Lummis lugged him away and set him to some task, the captain
telling me that he would either put him ashore at some port in the
Channel or keep him if he gave promise of making himself useful. I may
as well say here that Billy Bobbin, as we called him, was not sent
ashore when contrary winds made us put in at Plymouth. It had come out
that his father was a blacksmith, of Limehouse, and the boy had run
away from the cruelties of his stepmother, and being strong of his
arms, and with some skill in smith's work, he proved a handy fellow. I
often wondered whether his stepmother used him any worse than he was
used aboard our vessel. The crew, as I was not long in finding out,
were a rough set of men, and seemed to look on Billy, being a stowaway,
as fair game. He was a good deal knocked about among them, and the
officers, so far as I could see, did nothing to defend him from their
ill-usage. When I spoke of it to the captain, he only said that was
the way at sea; and, indeed, Mr. Lummis himself was very free in
cuffing any of the seamen who displeased him, and once I saw him fell a
man to the deck with a marlin-spike, so that it was not to be wondered
at, when the men were thus treated, that they should deal in like
manner with the boy. I did speak of it once to Wabberley, thinking he
might perhaps put in a word for Billy, and he promised to speak to
Chick, who would do anything to oblige; but I never observed that
anything came of it.
We had fair weather for a week or more, with light breezes, and I was
not the least incommoded by the motion of the vessel, whereby I began
to think that I should escape the sea-sickness of which I had heard
some speak. But when we had passed the Lizard the wind freshened, and
the ship rolled so heavily that I turned very sick, and lay for several
days in my bunk a prey to the most horrible sufferings I ever endured,
so that I wished I was dead, and did nothing but groan. During this
time I was left much to myself, the captain coming now and then to see
me, and ordering Clums the cook to give me a little biscuit soaked in
rum. However, the sickness passed, and when I went on deck again the
captain told me that I had now found my sea-legs and should suffer no
more, a prediction which to my great thankfulness came true.
We proceeded without any remarkable incident until the 14th of
September, when we came to an anchor in Madeira road. The captain sent
a party of men on shore to replenish our water-casks, Mr. Lummis going
with them carrying three pistols stuck in his belt. I supposed that he
went thus armed for fear of some opposition from the natives of that
island, but the captain told me 'twas only to prevent the men from
deserting, it being not uncommon for such incidents to happen. We
sailed again on the 17th, and for two months never saw land, until the
6th of November, when we anchored off Cape Virgin Mary in the country
named Patagonia. There we perceived a great number of people on the
shore, who ran up and down both on foot and on horseback, hallooing to
us as if inviting us to land. This the captain was resolved not to do,
somewhat to my disappointment, for I should have liked to see the
Indians more nearly, especially as I had heard many things about them
from Wabberley when he related his voyages to my uncle. I had to
content myself with gazing at them through the captain's perspective
glass, and observed that all were tall and swarthy, and had a circle of
white painted round one eye, and a black ring about the other, the rest
of the face being streaked with divers colours, and their bodies almost
naked. One man, who seemed to be a chief, was of a gigantic stature,
and painted so as to make the most hideous appearance I ever beheld,
with the skin of some wild beast thrown over his shoulders.
The captain questioned whether we should proceed through the Straits of
Magellan or attempt to double Cape Horn. He decided for the latter
course, and having heard somewhat of the violent storms that were to be
encountered in that latitude, I was not a little apprehensive of our
safety. However, having taken in water at a retired part of the coast,
we doubled the Cape after a voyage of rather more than two months,
having sustained no damage, and the _Lovey Susan_ sailed into the South
Sea. Here the calm weather which had favoured us broke up, and for
several weeks we had strong gales and heavy seas, so that we were
frequently brought under our courses, and there was not a dry place in
the ship for weeks together. Our upper works being open, and our
clothes and beds continually wet, as well from the heavy mists and
rains as from the washing of the seas, many of the crew sickened with
fever, and the captain kept his bed for several days. On the first
fair day our clothes were spread on the rigging to dry, and the sick
were taken on deck and dosed with salop, which, with portable soup
boiled in their pease and oatmeal, and as much vinegar and mustard as
they could use, brought them in a fair way to recovery.
We proceeded on our voyage, the weather being variable, and I observed
that many strange birds came about the ship on squally days, which the
captain took for a sign that land was not far off. He was anxious now
to make land, for the men began to fall with the scurvy, and even those
who were not seized by that plague looked pale and sickly. We were
greatly rejoiced one day when the man at the masthead called out that
he saw land in the N.N.W., and within a little we sighted an island,
which approaching, we brought to, and the captain sent Mr. Lummis with
a boat fully manned and armed to the shore. After some hours the boat
returned, bearing a number of cocoa-nuts and a great quantity of
scurvy-grass, which proved an inestimable comfort to our sick. Mr.
Lummis reported that he had seen none of the inhabitants, who had all
fled away, it was plain, at the sight of our vessel. It being evening,
we stood off all night, and in the morning the captain sent two boats
to find a place where the ship might come to an anchor. But this was
found to be impossible, by reason of the reef surrounding the island.
The captain marked it down on his chart, and called it Brent Island
after my uncle; but I learnt many years afterward that it had already
been named Whitsun Island by Captain Wallis, having discovered it on
Whitsun Eve. We sailed away, hoping for better fortune. There was
none of us but longed to stretch our legs on the solid earth again, and
I think maybe it had been better for us if the captain had permitted
the men to stay for a while at Cape Virgin Mary or some other spot on
the coast of Patagonia, for the being cooped up for so many months
within the compass of a vessel of no great size must needs be trying to
the spirits even of men accustomed to it.
However, within a few days of our leaving Brent Island we made another,
that afforded a safe anchorage. Here we went ashore by turns, and the
native people being very friendly, we stayed for upwards of a fortnight
among them. It was an inestimable blessing, after living so long on
ship's fare--salt junk and pease and hard sea-biscuit (much of it
rotten and defiled by weevils)--to please our appetites with fresh meat
and fruits, and these the natives very willingly provided in exchange
for knives and beads and looking-glasses and other such trifles. It
was now I tasted for the first time many vegetable things of which I
had known nothing save from the reports of Wabberley and Chick and the
books I had heard my uncle read--yams (a great fibrous tuber that
savoured of potatoes sweetened), bananas (a fruit shaped like a sausage
and tasting like a pear, though not so sweet), and bread-fruit, a
marvellous fruit that grows on a tree about the size of a middling oak,
and is the nearest in flavour to good wheaten bread that ever I ate.
As for flesh meat and poultry, we had that in plenty, the island being
perfectly overrun with pigs (rather boars than our English swine) and
fowls no different from our own, except that they were more active on
the wing. In this place, I say, we stayed for a fortnight or more, and
were marvellously invigorated by the change of food, so that our men
recovered the ruddy look of health, and the scurvy wholly left us.
During this time the captain and I lodged in a hut obligingly lent us
by the chief of the island. We talked frequently of the main purpose
of our adventure, the discovery of a southern continent, the captain
intending, when we left the island, to sail southwards by west, into
latitudes to which his charts gave him very little guide. After we had
spent some time in diligent search, whether we made the discovery or
not, he proposed sailing north again, and visiting Otaheite and other
islands whereon Captain Cook had landed, for another part of my uncle's
purpose, though lesser, was to find what opportunities for trading
there were in these seas. It was the first part that engaged my fancy
the most, pleasing myself with the thought of my uncle's pride if we
should succeed where so many navigators before us had failed.
When we left the island and sailed away, I remarked that the crew were
very loath to quit this land of ease and plenty. Indeed, when we
mustered the crew before embarking, we found that Wabberley and Hoggett
the sailmaker were amissing, and the captain in a great rage sent Mr.
Lummis with a party to find them. Chick offered to lead another party,
so as to scour the whole island (which was only a few miles across)
more expeditiously; but this the captain would not permit, for what
reason I knew not then, though I afterwards had cause to suspect it.
Half-a-day was wasted before the truants were brought back, and though
they pretended that they had lost their way in the woods that covered
the centre of the island, they looked so glum when they came that I
conceived a notion that Wabberley, a lazy fellow at all times, would
not have been much put about if we had sailed without him. It came
into my head that in the play of _The Tempest_, when the sailors are
cast upon an island, one of them proposes to make himself its king and
the other his minister, and I was amused to think how Wabberley and
Hoggett would have disputed about the allotment of those dignities,
even as Stephano and Trinculo.
We took on board a good store of the fruits of the island, and sailed
for many days without dropping our anchor, though we passed several
islands both large and small. Then on a sudden the wind failed us, our
sails hung idle, and for many days we lay becalmed, the vessel being so
close wrapt about by mist that we could not see beyond a fathom line.
This had a bad effect on the temper of the men, who, being perforce
idle, had the more time for quarrelling, which is ever apt to break
out, even among good folk, when there is little to do. Some lay in a
kind of sullen stupor about the deck; others cast the dice and wrangled
with oaths and much foul talk; and when they tired even of this, they
took a cruel delight in tormenting poor Billy Bobbin in many ingenious
ways. So long did the calm endure that our store of fresh provision
gave out, and the men were put on short allowance, at which, although
the need of it was plain, they murmured as much as they dared. Having
always in mind my uncle's counsel to deal kindly with them, I had been
treated hitherto with respect; but I now observed that some of them
looked askance at me as I went about the ship, and once or twice after
I had passed I heard a muttering behind me, and then a burst of coarse
laughter. To make matters worse, the captain again fell sick of a kind
of calenture, and took to his bed. For all he was a quiet man, he
exercised a considerable authority over the crew, much greater than Mr.
Lummis, though the first mate was rougher, and sparing neither of oaths
nor of blows. With the captain always in his cabin the men became the
more unruly, and I longed very fervently for a breeze to spring up, so
that the need for work might effect a betterment in their tempers.
One day when I was in the fore part of the ship, I heard a great hubbub
in the forecastle, and looking down through the scuttle, I saw a big
ruffian of a fellow--it was that same Hoggett whom I have mentioned
before--I saw him, I say, very brutally thrashing Billy Bobbin, dealing
him such savage blows on the bare back with a rope-end that his flesh
stood up in great livid weals, the rest of the men laughing and
jeering. The boy was so willing and good-tempered that I knew there
could be no just cause for such heavy punishment, and he was withal of
a brave spirit, bearing the stripes with little outcry until one stroke
of especial fierceness caused him to shriek with the pain. I had a
liking for Billy, and when I saw him thus ill-used I could no longer
contain myself, but springing down through the scuttle, I seized
Hoggett's arm and so prevented the rope from falling. Hoggett held the
boy with his left hand, but when I caught him and commanded him to
cease, he loosed Billy and turned upon me, dealing me a blow with the
rope before I was aware of it, and demanding with a string of oaths
what I meant by interfering, and crying that I had no business in the
forecastle. At this I got into a fury, and without thinking of the
odds against me I smote him in the face with my fist, an exceedingly
foolish thing to do with a man of his size. In a moment I lay
stretched on the deck, with the fellow above me, belabouring me with
his great fist so that I was like to be battered to a jelly, and I
doubt not would have been but that Mr. Lummis chanced to come by.
Seeing what was afoot he sprang down after me and immediately felled
Hoggett with a hand-spike. I was very much bruised, and felt sore for
a week after, and withal greatly distressed in mind, for none of the
men, not even Wabberley, who was among them, had offered to help me,
and I could not but look on this as a very clear proof that a dangerous
spirit was growing up among the crew. True, I was not an officer of
the ship, and was not in my rights in giving orders, as Hoggett said
when Mr. Lummis sentenced him to the loss of half his rum for the week.
But being nephew of the owner of the vessel, I considered, and justly,
that my position was as good as an officer's; and as for my striking
the man, Mr. Lummis did as much every day.
It was on the day after this that Billy Bobbin came to me with a tale
that disturbed me mightily. He had been for some time uneasy in his
mind, he said, but owned that he would still have kept silence but for
my intervention in his behalf. He sought me after sunset (in those
latitudes it falls dark about seven o'clock), when the men were at
their supper, and he might talk to me unobserved. He said that the men
had been grumbling ever since we left the island where we had stayed.
They had a hearty dislike to the purpose of our expedition, and a great
scorn as well, deeming the search for a southern continent to be merely
a fool's quest. I own it caused me vast surprise to learn that
Wabberley was the most scornful of them all, saying that, having been
with Captain Cook on his first voyage, he knew there was no such
continent, or the captain would have found it, and telling the others
dreadful particulars of the tribulations they suffered: how some of
them spent a night of terror and freezing cold (though 'twas midsummer)
on a hillside of Tierra del Fuego, and how, out of a company of eighty,
the half died of fever or scurvy. And in contrast to these ills he
told us of the lovely island of Savu, and of Otaheite, where there was
everything that man could wish for--a genial climate, the earth
yielding its fruits without labour, or at least with the little labour
that a man might demand of his wives (for he could have as many wives
as he listed); in a word, a paradise where men might live at their ease
and never do a hand's turn more. Furthermore, Billy told me (and this
was the most serious part) that he had overheard the men talking, a
night or two before, of deserting in a body when we next went ashore
(provided the island was one of the fruitful sort, for there were some
barren), and leave the officers to navigate the vessel as best they
might. Great as my surprise had been to hear that Wabberley was one of
the moving spirits of this conspiracy, still greater was it when Billy
told me that this purpose of deserting was mooted by Joshua Chick the
boatswain. I had never been drawn to that obliging person; nay, his
very obligingness had annoyed me, just as sometimes I am nowadays
annoyed by a person over-officious in handing cups of tea; and when I
came to put two and two together, I could not doubt that this scheme
had been in the man's mind from the first. In short, he and Wabberley
had taken advantage of my uncle's hobby to beguile him upon setting
this expedition on foot, for no other reason than to find a means of
returning to these southern islands, where they might live in sloth and
luxurious ease.
Bidding Billy to be silent on what he had told me, I went to the
captain, who, as I have said, was ill in his bunk, and acquainted him
with this pretty plot that was a-hatching. He was in a mighty taking,
I warrant you, and swore that he would hang the mutineers at the
yard-arm, at the same time handing me a sixpence to give to Billy
Bobbin for his fidelity. He called Mr. Lummis and Mr. Bodger into
council, and could hardly prevail on the former not to fling the
ringleaders into irons at once. Mr. Bodger, whom I had always regarded
as a man of mild disposition, suggested that they should be put ashore
among cannibals, and so be disposed of in the cook-pot (the natives,
for the most part, boiling their meat), which led Mr. Lummis to
declare, with a volley of oaths, that if the calm lasted much longer
they would want food aboard the vessel, and Wabberley would cut up
well. I own such talk as this seemed to me very ill-suited to the
occasion, though when it came to the point the officers were not barren
of practicable schemes for dealing with the mutineers, as will be seen
hereafter.
CHAPTER THE THIRD
OF THE NAVIGATION OF STRANGE SEAS; OF MUTTERINGS AND DISCONTENTS, OF
DESERTION, OF MUTINY AND OF SHIPWRECK.
We lay becalmed for several days longer, during which time there was no
further outbreak among the men, for the captain bestirred himself and
came on deck, though in truth he was not fit for it. His mere presence
seemed to make for peace and quietness. He had counselled the officers
to alter nothing in their conduct, yet to be watchful; and I think he
never feared a mutiny on board the ship, expecting no danger until we
should set foot to land again.
At length the mist cleared, the sails once more filled, and we set our
courses again towards the south-west. The men went about their duties
at first cheerfully, for the mere pleasure of action after so long
idleness; but when, after about a week, they perceived that the captain
held steadily on his course, without offering to touch at any of the
islands we sighted, their looks fell gloomy again, and there was some
grumbling, though subdued. Though our fresh food was now all gone, we
still had great stores of the common victuals--biscuit and pease and
oatmeal, besides salt junk, a sufficiency of rum, and water for two
months. This was sparingly used, every man of us washing in salt
water, which made my skin smart very much until I was used to it.
Day by day, as we approached the high latitudes, the air became
sensibly colder, and in the morning we sometimes saw icicles on the
rigging. The sky was for the most part gloomy; showers of sleet and
hail beat upon us, and I own I felt a pity for the sailors at these
times, having to spend so many long hours below decks in darkness and
stench. For days at a stretch we crept through thick fogs, and by and
by came among icefloes, and then among icebergs, against which we ran
some risk of being shipwrecked, so that we had to keep a very careful
look-out. When I marked the growing discontent of the men, I feared
lest they should rise in mutiny and take the navigation of the vessel
into their own hands, and I verily believe we were only saved from this
by the captain's change of mind. He made it a point of honour to
fulfil the desires of my uncle so far as he might, and would have
continued the search for the southern continent against all risks; but
when the ice grew constantly thicker, and our fresh water began to lie
perilously low, he concluded that it was folly to try any more for that
season, and so steered north.
Our men were greatly rejoiced at this resolution, and their
cheerfulness was such that I began to lose my fear of untoward
happenings. When I said as much to the captain, however, he observed
that our particular danger would arise when we came to a land of
plenty. It was his ill hap again to be seized with sickness at this
time, and he seldom left his bunk in the roundhouse.
[Sidenote: The South Seas]
One fair day--I think it was about a year after our sailing from
Deptford--we sighted an island which did not appear on our chart, but
which, on our nearer approach, gave promise of furnishing that
refreshment of which we were in need. It was very well wooded, and we
knew while still a great way off that it was inhabited, seeing through
our perspective glass a good number of canoes about its shore. When we
came within a little distance of it some of the canoes put off towards
us, and a crowd of people stood on the beach, inviting us as well by
their gestures as their loud cries to land. The captain, who had come
out of the roundhouse and sat on a stool by the door, considering that
the fertility of the place and the friendliness of the natives favoured
us, ordered the vessel to be hove to, and a boat to be made ready, with
casks for bringing back a supply of water. He then appointed a dozen
of the crew to man the boat, calling them before him, and commanding
them very strictly that they should not stray far from the
neighbourhood of the beach, but fill their casks at the nearest spring
or freshet, and purchase what vegetables and fruit they could in
exchange for such trifles as I have before mentioned. I observed that
the captain had not chosen Wabberley and Hoggett, or any other of the
men whom we certainly knew to be disaffected: indeed, both Hoggett and
Chick, with several more, were then sick of the scurvy. The captain
set Mr. Bodger over the boat's crew, and he went with a cutlass and two
pistols in his belt, but the men were without arms.
As soon as they set off, being accompanied by two canoes which had by
this time reached our vessel, Mr. Lummis, at a word from the captain,
commanded the men that remained on board to collect all the arms that
were in the ship and bring them into the roundhouse. It was plain from
their looks that they were amazed and confounded at this order, which
they obeyed very sullenly, Mr. Lummis having in sight of them all stuck
a pistol in his belt. As they went to and fro they eyed the captain
suspiciously, and cast many a glance towards the shore, where their
fellows were beginning their task amid a great uproar of the natives.
It had been arranged between the captain and Mr. Lummis that this
precaution regarding the arms should be taken when the crew was thus
divided, so that we should have the means of coping with any mutinous
outbreak. The captain also insisted that I should take a pistol, which
I was loath to do, having never fired one in my life.
The arms had all been bestowed in the roundhouse before the boat
returned with its first cargo. When the men came aboard they began to
tell their messmates of the exceeding richness of the island, as far as
they had seen it, but they had gone but a little way in their tale
before the other men broke in with an account of what had been done in
their absence, which made them dumb with astonishment. Being conscious
of their guilty designs, they perceived that we knew them too, though
they were not able in their first surprise to divine the means by which
we had obtained our knowledge. However, it was not a time to take
counsel together, with the officers about them, and as they had
performed but a small part of their task on shore, they went back into
the boat with as meek a look as ever I saw.
[Sidenote: Mutterings]
When they came again to the island, they set about their work as
before, though more sluggishly; but having filled a cask or two, and
brought them to the boat, I observed them, all but one, go up the
strand again without another cask to be replenished. I supposed that
they were now going to procure vegetables, but Mr. Lummis, who was
standing at my side, suddenly let forth a great oath, bidding me
observe that the men went empty-handed. And then we saw Mr. Bodger,
who had been left at the boat, hastily following them, and though we
were too far off to hear any words distinctly (besides, the native
people still made a great clamour), we could tell by his motions that
the mate was calling after them, and we saw two or three of them turn
round and laugh at him, and then go on up the island amid a concourse
of the natives. Mr. Lummis cried out to him to use his pistol on the
mutinous dogs, but he could not hear, and indeed he was a timid man,
besides being apprehensive, perhaps, that the natives, many of whom had
long spears, would turn upon him if he offered any violence. This
notion of ours had some colour when we saw him return hastily to the
boat, and endeavour, with the only man of them all that was left, to
launch her. This, however, they were unable to do, the boat being
beached high on the sand, and heavy with the full casks already laid in
her.
Mr. Lummis went into the roundhouse, whither the captain had retired,
to acquaint him with these proceedings. They thought, and so did I,
that the men were putting in act the plot of which Billy Bobbin had
told us, though it seemed to me strange that they should have gone
without the ringleaders, who were still on board the vessel. We were
considering of this when Mr. Lummis, with another great oath, cried out
that he saw through the rascals' plan, which was, he said, to tempt us
to send another boat's crew after them, and then, having both the mates
ashore, to overpower them, as they would easily do with the aid of the
natives, in spite of the pistols. But he swore that he would prove one
too many for them, and having trained on the beach one of the six
swivel guns we carried, he commanded two of the men to lower the
dinghy, and then to come to the roundhouse for the captain's orders.
This being done, and the men coming in, the captain looked very
severely upon them, and said that he was about to send them with Mr.
Lummis to bring off the boat with Mr. Bodger in it, and that if they
should attempt to join the rascals on shore, who had flatly disobeyed
orders, Mr. Lummis would shoot them instantly. This he said in a very
loud tone of voice, so as to be heard by the rest of the crew, who had
sneaked up out of curiosity to learn what was toward. The two men with
Mr. Lummis then descended into the dinghy, Mr. Lummis taking with him a
large piece of bright-coloured cloth, two small looking-glasses, and a
new sailor's knife.
When they came to the shore, Mr. Lummis stepped out and waved the cloth
above his head, at which a number of the people came running to him,
making strange and uncouth cries. I had afterwards, as will be seen,
to learn how hard it is to communicate with men who have no common
speech with us; but even as the beasts are able to hold converse with
their kind, so the great Creator of all things has given to man the
power to make his thoughts plain to folk sundered in speech by the
iniquity of Babel. Mr. Lummis contrived to make these poor savages
understand his wishes, and when, with the aid of them and of the
seamen, the large boat was launched, and was rowed back to the ship,
taking the dinghy in tow, one of their canoes came also, with some of
their chief men in it.
At the invitation of Mr. Lummis, the savages came aboard our vessel,
and then, with much pains, he acquainted them further with his desires.
He pointed to the seamen who were gathered on deck, and then to the
island, with gestures signifying that the men of their kind who had
first landed must be brought back. He made them understand that a
price would be paid for each man that was recovered, either a piece of
cloth, or a knife, or a looking-glass like those he showed to them.
And then, bethinking him that it were profitable to impress them with a
sense of his power, he ordered the gun to be fired with a blank charge,
at whose roar the savages fell flat upon their faces, and lay for some
while quaking in a great fear. After this they made haste to get into
their canoe and paddle to the shore, which was now deserted, all the
people having fled away at the sound of our gun; and they ran very
fleetly up into the wooded country and disappeared from our view.
We saw nothing more of them or of our seamen that day; but early the
next morning, almost as soon as it was light, we heard a great
commotion on the shore, and soon perceived a vast throng flocking to
the beach, with our men among them. There they were cast with some
roughness into three of the canoes, and I perceived by the manner of
their falling, like as sheep when they are cast into a cart, that their
limbs were tied, which, without doubt, sorely ruffled their tempers,
being Englishmen. When the canoes came alongside our vessel, the
natives shouting and yelling like mad things, Mr. Lummis let down a
sling over the side, in which our men were hoisted one by one to the
deck. It was as much as I could do to keep from laughing, so sorry was
their look, their faces being scratched and bruised, and their garments
very much tattered, and indeed on one or two hanging mere shreds. Mr.
Lummis heartily cursed each one as he came up, with many quaint
derisive observations which mightily vexed them. We had taken seven or
eight aboard when Mr. Lummis, looking over those that were left in the
canoes, perceived that there were only ten in all, when there should
have been eleven, the party having numbered twelve at the first, of
whom one had returned with Mr. Bodger. Mr. Lummis flew into a rage at
this, supposing that the natives had kept back one man, with a design
to chaffer for a higher price; but when he demanded of the rest where
Wilkins was (that being the name of him who was missing), they answered
sullenly that he was dead, for he had offered a stout resistance when
the savages attempted to tie his hands, and had the temerity to fell
the chief himself with his fist. This spirited act, which was in truth
worthy of a true-born Englishman, cost him his life, for he was
instantly thrust through with spears. I doubt not his death was the
means of saving the lives of the rest, for seeing what had befallen
their comrade, and being unarmed, they submitted (though surely with an
ill grace) to be bound, and were so brought back to their vessel, as I
have said. The savages having received the presents promised them
returned to the island, where they immediately fell a-quarrelling about
the apportionment of their wages, and we saw that the strip of coloured
cloth was very soon torn into a hundred little pieces.
[Sidenote: Mutiny]
As for the seamen, they were by the captain's orders immediately put
into irons and laid in the hold. Though we had not taken aboard near
as much water or provision as we intended, yet the captain would not
risk the sending of another crew to the island, albeit he might safely
have done so, I think, the men being for the time sufficiently tamed.
We had to wait the best part of the day for a breeze; then we weighed
anchor and stood away to the north. While the island was still in
sight, the wind suddenly shifted its quarter, and blew first a gale and
then a hurricane, so that we had to shorten canvas. While this was
a-doing the sea was lashed to a fury, prodigious waves sweeping over
the deck and buffeting the vessel so heavily that her timbers shook,
and we feared the masts would go by the board. With ten men in irons
and about as many weakened by the scurvy, the crew were pretty hard
pressed, and though they worked with a will, since their very lives
depended on it, they railed without measure against the captain and Mr.
Lummis, heedless of what punishment might be dealt to them when the
storm abated. Presently a cry arose that the vessel had sprung a leak,
and since none of those above could be spared to man the pumps, Mr.
Lummis ordered the men in irons to be brought up, and made them work at
the pumps in turn. The storm rather increased than diminished in fury,
and the seamen were seized with a fear that the vessel would founder,
and I heard them mingle prayers and curses in a breath, reviling the
captain for taking them from the hospitable island, and crying out
"Lord, have mercy on us!" again and again. Darkness fell upon us while
we were still battling with the storm, which added to our terrors, for
the vessel would not obey the helm, and we knew not but we might be
cast upon some coral reef, such as abound in those regions, and there
be clean broken up. In this extremity of peril I own I was dreadfully
afraid, and prayed very fervently that we might be saved, thinking too
of my uncle and aunt, and the happiness I had enjoyed with them,
casting my mind back over many things in my past life, almost as a
drowning man does, at least I have heard so.
I was inexpressibly relieved when at last the violence of the tempest
abated, in the wind first, for it was long before the turbulence of the
sea was sensibly diminished. About the middle of the night, however,
we were able to stand once more upright on the deck without clinging to
the shrouds or other things for support, and then, being utterly worn
out, we sought repose, but not before the leak had been discovered and
stopped, which took a long time, and the unruly seamen who were in
irons once more confined in the hold. I gave hearty thanks to God who
had so mercifully delivered us, and went to my bunk in as peaceful a
frame of mind as if it were my bed at home.
I was awakened, how long afterwards I know not, by Mr. Bodger breaking
into my cabin, which was on the maindeck, and calling on me to come
instantly to the quarterdeck, and bring my pistol, for the crew had
risen in mutiny, and having made a rush to the hold had liberated the
men in irons. I sprang up and cast my coat, which was still dripping
wet, about me, and seizing my pistol, followed the man up to where Mr.
Lummis and the captain stood in front of the roundhouse. But a moment
after I joined them we were aware that the crew were advancing to
attack us, judging by the sounds of their shouting, for the night was
so black that we could see but little, the men having put out the sole
lantern. We were in a very desperate case, being but four against the
whole crew, saving some few who were sick, not one of the men having
come to our side; the captain, moreover, being very feeble from his
illness. But we had all the firearms at our command, and Mr. Lummis
trusted by means of these to do such execution among the mutineers that
they would lose heart, and while the worst of them would be cowed, the
better-disposed would yield to authority. Thus we four stood side by
side, and as the men drew near Mr. Lummis called to them in a loud
voice, warning them that we had weapons which we would use upon them if
they did not instantly return to their duty. There was silence for a
space; the shuffling of bare feet on the deck ceased; then a voice
called out (I think it was Hoggett's) that the captain should return to
the island we had lately left, and let 'em rest and recruit themselves,
they being dead sick of sailing without end. He finished by saying
that if the captain did not consent to this course, they would slit his
weazand and cast him to the sharks, and serve all of us the same, and
we had best make our choice without delay. Mr. Lummis, to whom the
captain left all this matter, roared out a string of oaths and
commanded the men to seize that rascal who had the insolency to order
the captain's goings. There was a great laugh, very horrid to hear,
being rather the sound that wild beasts would make than men; then there
was again silence, or rather we heard the low murmurs of the men
talking among themselves. Mr. Lummis cursed again, but this time under
his breath, and muttering "They mean mischief," he bade Mr. Bodger in a
whisper put out the lantern that swung from the roof of the roundhouse
behind us, and so made a light against which our forms, as we stood on
the threshold, could be distinctly seen by the men. This was no sooner
done than there came a single shrill blast on the sea-pipe, and the men
rushed up towards us with fierce shouts that made my flesh creep.
"Fire!" cried Mr. Lummis loud enough to be heard above all the din. As
I have said before, I had never in my life fired a pistol, and what
with excitement and flurry, my finger fumbled a little at the trigger,
so that I was a thought behind the others; but even in that little
moment I heard terrible screams as the bullets from the officers'
pistols flew among the crew; and though I fired mine immediately after,
I could not tell whether 'twas pointed up or down, or in what direction
soever, and I was seized with a fit of shuddering when the thought came
to me in a flash that peradventure I had slain a fellow-creature. You
may think I was a coward, and perhaps I was; but yet I think I was not,
but only new at such kind of work, because I do not recollect that ever
I felt the same way again when I had to defend myself, as will appear
in order.
This first discharge of our weapons caused the mutineers to draw back,
and we instantly seized other pistols which Mr. Lummis had laid in
readiness within reach. He called out, "Have ye had enough, you dogs?"
and from the silence I really thought they had, especially as Mr.
Bodger whispered that he heard no groans, and so believed that the men
who were hit must be dead. But all of a sudden, without any kind of
warning, except a slight whistling in the air, and then it was too
late, there was a crash a little to the left of me, where the captain
stood, and looking round I saw him lying in a heap against the wall of
the roundhouse, and heard him groan. "Fire!" shouted Mr. Lummis again,
but I was on my knees beside the captain, who told me very faintly that
he had been struck on the head by something; and, indeed, when I felt
along the deck with my hand I found the marlin-spike which had done the
mischief. He bid me stand and help the officers, whose shots I had
again heard; but scarce had I risen to my feet when Mr. Lummis staggers
against me and cries that his arm is broken. At the same moment there
was a great crash of breaking glass, which made us know that another
missile had smashed the skylight of the roundhouse; and then, when
there came a perfect clatter of heavy things, belaying pins and the
like, striking the timbers of the roundhouse, Mr. Lummis said that we
must withdraw into that place, or we should be battered to pieces.
Accordingly Mr. Bodger and I, we dragged the captain within the sliding
door and shut it fast, and taking the table and bench we drove them
against the door as a barricado, which we had scarcely done before the
men, guessing by the cessation of our fire what had happened, came
outside and hammered on the wood, shouting with triumph and derision.
"Send a bullet through the door, sir," cries Mr. Lummis, which I did,
and there was a howl of pain, and the men scuttled away, for being
without firearms they were still at a disadvantage against us.
Mr. Bodger having relit the lantern, we saw that the captain had
fainted clean away, and there was a great cut in his head from which
the blood was flowing. While I dashed some water upon his face and
poured a little rum between his lips, Mr. Bodger looked to the hurts of
the chief mate, who was roaring as much with fury as with pain. It
proved that his arm was indeed broken, as he had said, and I never
heard anybody howl as he did when Mr. Bodger made shift to set it and
bind it up. Meanwhile the captain had come to, but his face was
ghastly pale, and I feared the worst from the enfeebled state in which
he was.
I was already aware, from the altered motion of the vessel, that her
course had been changed, and could not doubt that the mutineers were
purposing to sail back to the island we had quitted. In this matter we
were wholly at their mercy, but I thought it a very hazardous
proceeding in the blackness of the night, especially as they had no
chart and could not have the least notion of how to set the course
truly. It would have been at least the act of reasonable men to heave
to and wait for morning light; but I had already observed that seamen
have little forethought, being like children in that respect, and they
were so eager to attain the haven of their desires as to be ready to
brave the perils of striking a reef or running aground on a shoal. We
talked together of what we should do if the vessel arrived at an
island, Mr. Bodger saying he feared they would murder us or maybe hand
us over to the savages, for though we were secure against them while we
remained in the roundhouse, 'twas clear that we must needs issue forth
some time, or starve for want of food.
[Sidenote: Shipwreck]
Some time had passed, I know not how long, when we became aware of a
marvellous perplexing change in the atmosphere. I felt a strange
tingling in my fingers; Mr. Bodger declared he was all pins and
needles, and Mr. Lummis cried out with an oath, without which indeed he
seldom spoke, that some one was walking over his grave. Almost as the
words left his lips a tremendous shock, as of an immense wave striking
the vessel, sent us all spinning to the deck, and immediately
afterwards there was a mighty crash, and Mr. Lummis cried that the
mainmast had gone by the board. The vessel had so listed that we
expected she would instantly founder; but she righted herself, and then
we heard a great hubbub outside, the men calling one to another in
accents of affright and dismay. It being plain that the vessel was in
a desperate case, I thought the seamen would be too intent on saving
their own lives to have any notion of taking ours; so with Mr. Bodger's
help I pulled away our barricado and opened the door. By the light of
the lantern I saw the seamen most frantically cutting away the
wreckage, in the midst of which there came a great shout that the leak
had opened again, only much bigger than before, and that water was
pouring into the hold. Instantly there was a cry to lower the boats;
none thought of manning the pumps, which indeed would have been vain,
as we saw pretty soon. We had three boats aboard, but one of these had
been smashed by the fall of the mast, and the men were cutting the
lashings of the other two, some also casting into them whatever things
they could lay hands on, never stopping to consider whether they were
useful or no. They lowered the boats over the side, not without great
danger, for the vessel was rolling heavily, and then began to jump into
them. I could not believe that they would be so heartless as to leave
their officers to go down with the ship, though they had proceeded
hitherto without so much as a look towards us; and rushing among them,
I cried out that the captain and Mr. Lummis were severely hurt, begging
them to wait just so long as to rescue them. But they thrust me away,
and Chick with a brutal laugh shouted that the officers might drown for
all he cared, and when I still urged him he dealt me such a buffet that
I fell sprawling among the wreckage.
When I rose to my feet, having lain stunned for a space, there was not
a man to be seen. I was for a little while like one demented, running
to the side of the vessel--which had no bulwarks, but only a timber
railing--with the intent to fling myself into the boat, and so escape.
But then I thought of the officers, and could not bring myself to
desert them in their extremity, and so ran back to the roundhouse, to
see if by any means we could devise a raft of spars sufficient at least
to keep us afloat. I found Mr. Lummis stretched on the deck, having,
it seemed, stumbled over some of the wreckage and hurt his arm again,
so that he fainted. There was a figure standing by the door, which I
at first took to be Mr. Bodger, but on running up to ask him concerning
that matter of the raft, I perceived with amazement that it was not the
second mate at all, but Billy Bobbin. I looked around, but no Mr.
Bodger could I see; I called aloud for him, but there was no answer,
nor could I tell whether he had fallen overboard or been taken away
among the men. I rushed again to the side, hoping that even at the
last the seamen might have repented; but it was all one blackness; the
boats were clean gone.
I went back, and seeing both Mr. Lummis and the captain still lying
motionless on the deck, I was well-nigh overcome with the horror of our
situation, and sat me down on a coil of rope and buried my face in my
hands. But in a moment I sprang up; I could not consult with the
officers, but there was Billy Bobbin, whom I supposed the men had
refused to take with them--I learnt afterwards that he had not offered
to go, but had remained of set purpose to stand by me who had treated
him kindly. He told me, too, that Mr. Lummis had not fainted, but had
been thrown down by the men, who came rummaging in the roundhouse for
arms, of which they took several, and powder and shot. I cried to
Billy to help me build a raft, for, little of a seaman though I was, I
perceived that the vessel was already beginning to settle down. We had
but a single lamp to assist us, and to add to our trouble, a great
storm of wind and rain beat upon us, causing the ship to labour so
heavily that we could scarce keep our feet. I was fairly at my wits'
end. If it had been daylight, and calm, we might have heaved some
spars and planks overboard and lashed them together, but that was
impossible in the darkness. Moreover, if we made a raft strong enough
to hold us four, we could not by any means, Billy and me, lift it and
launch it from the deck. All that we could do was to lash together
what spars and planks we could find there on the deck, and trust that
when the vessel foundered we might contrive to cling to it, though how
we were to fasten the helpless officers to it I was not any way able to
see.
While these perplexities were tossing in my brain my hands were not
idle; indeed, I wrought so desperately, and Billy too, that the skin
was torn from our fingers, though we did not know it until the dawn
showed them to us all sore and bleeding. It was growing misty light,
and we had finished our raft, a poor makeshift thing, but the best we
could do, and were considering of how to fasten the officers to it,
when all of a sudden the ship gave a great lurch, and while we were
endeavouring to save ourselves from being cast into the sea, the deck
beneath us was riven asunder with a noise as of a great gun. Of what
happened then I know nothing; but when I had again possession of my
senses, I found myself struggling in the sea, in desperate straits for
breath. For some while I could see nothing, in such confusion was I;
but presently, breathing more easily, and keeping myself afloat, I
perceived that the ship had totally disappeared, and I was amid a
strange assemblage of all manner of small objects bobbing up and down
on the surface. In a little I spied our raft, and near by it the wreck
of the mainmast, which had been cut almost clear by the seamen before
they took to their boats; but never a sign was there of Mr. Lummis or
the captain or Billy. I struck out for the raft, wondering within
myself whether I had strength to reach it, for I was marvellously
exhausted, having, as I came to think afterwards, been drawn down to a
great depth by the sinking vessel. All at once I saw a head rise above
the further edge of the raft, and a moment after Billy scrambled on to
it, and flung himself down as utterly spent. I strove to strike out
more lustily, feeling a great joy that one at least of my comrades was
saved; but my strength was so far gone from me, and the sea so
disturbed, that I made scarce any progress, and in an extremity of
despair, gasping as I was, I raised my head above the water and shouted
Billy's name. He lifted himself and looked about him amazedly; then
spying me at a distance of six fathoms or more, as I guessed, he leaped
into the sea and came swimming towards me. I was at the point of
sinking when, with inexpressible joy, I felt his arm placed beneath me,
and thus sustained by him I plied my limbs again, though with great
effort, and came at length to the raft, which I seized eagerly, and
rested a while until I should recover strength enough to clamber upon
it as he had done. However, when I made the essay, the side of the
raft sank beneath my weight, and I know not what I should have done had
not Billy bid me still cling to it while he swam round to the other
side, and then, both heaving ourselves up at the same moment, we
contrived to get aboard of it, and sank utterly fordone at either end,
and Billy burst into tears.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH
OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE CHEATED NEPTUNE AND CAME WITHIN THE GRIP OF
VULCAN; AND OF THE INHUMANITY OF THE MARINERS
We sat, or rather crouched, on the raft, and 'twas a mercy the sea was
not now so tempestuous, for had it been, I am sure we should have had
no strength to battle with it. The rain had ceased, but a white mist
lay over the water, and, dripping wet as I was, I shivered and my teeth
chattered and I felt desperately sick. All around us floated sundry
bits of wreckage--planks and spars, a hencoop, some pots and pans and
empty barrels, and near at hand a something that caused me a sharp pang
at heart: it was Captain Corke's wig, and I thought of that good
seaman, and of Mr. Lummis too, both gone to their long account. For a
time, as I contemplated the flotsam by which we were surrounded, I gave
never a thought to the unhappy posture of Billy and me; but all at once
it came upon me with a great shock that we were castaways on the wide
ocean, far away from land, clean out of the track of any likely vessel,
and with no food, nor any means of procuring it, to be the sport of
wind and wave. I was even considering whether it were not better to
plunge overboard at once, before the pangs of hunger and thirst got
hold upon us, when Billy, who had raised himself upon his elbow,
suddenly gave a shout and stretched his hand towards me. "Land! land!"
he cried. I turned myself about, so quickly that I almost lost my
balance, and sure enough, through the mist I saw a long dark line,
which on this waste of water could betoken nothing else but land, as
Billy had said. And in that moment I blamed myself for my gloomy
thoughts and stark hopelessness, considering for the first time that
the good hand of God had preserved us hitherto from the dreadful fate
of the officers, and might have further mercies in store.
[Sidenote: The Island]
It was impossible to guess, because of the mist, how far the land was
from us, but with our hearts full of this reviving hope we took thought
by what means we might propel our raft thither. We did not consider
whether it was a barren or a fruitful land, or what perils we might
encounter of wild beasts or wild men; all our mind was bent upon
escaping from our present danger. The raft was composed of spars and
staves of the boat which had been shattered on the deck of the _Lovey
Susan_, lashed together with ropes. I felt in my pocket for a knife
wherewith to cut one of the spars loose, designing to use it as an oar,
but my pocket was empty save for one solitary button, which I
remembered having put there a day or two before when it started from my
breeches, intending to have it sewn on. I asked Billy if he had a
knife, and he, feeling in his pockets, confessed them likewise to be
empty, having left on the deck the knife we had used in making the
raft; but when I told him what I had in mind, he at once fell to
pulling at one of the knots with his fingers, which being hard, as a
seaman's always are, he contrived in a wonderfully short time to loose
the short spar, and began to thrust it into the water in the manner of
paddling. To our great joy the raft moved, as I could tell by its
passing some of the floating articles of wreckage, which it did so
close to some that I might have seized them by stretching forth my
hand, and I wished I had when I thought of it afterwards, for they
would have been of great use to us, and saved us a deal of labour, as
you shall see.
We moved, I say, towards the shore, Billy keeping our course pretty
straight by plying the spar now on the right side, now on the left.
And then I perceived a shine upon the water, and, looking back, saw the
blessed sun as a ruddy disk, but like the moon in size, glimmering
through the mist behind us. Billy hailed the sunrise with a cheerful
shout, which did my heart good to hear it, and cried to me that the
mist was lifting, and we should soon see the land clear. And so it
was, though when we did behold it, we did not much like the look of it.
From the edge of the sea it rose to a considerable height, and it was
of a grey colour, or rather slate, and yet not quite that either, but
approaching to black. To the right the slope was covered with
vegetation, and about half way-up there was what in the distance--for
we were, as I reckoned, near a mile from the shore--looked to be a
dense wood, as indeed it afterwards proved. Still further to the right
a promontory of a reddish colour jutted out into the sea, and I
perceived that the water ran right through it by an archway, which I
suppose the sea had cut for itself, for I could not conceive it had
been made in any other way. This promontory also was green at the top
with plants and trees, and beyond it we could see a rock of the same
red colour, which appeared to be of very great size, like to an immense
iceberg, but much broader than any I have seen. To the left of the
blackish slope that I have before mentioned there were other patches of
green, and I was much exercised in my mind to know why the centre
portion was thus barren when there was vegetation on either side.
We could not yet see the top of the slope, for the mist still lay upon
it; but as we drew nearer a pretty gentle gale sprang up, which with
the sunbeams drove the mist away, leaving only a small portion, which
hovered like a thick white cloud, or a nightcap, over the dark summit.
While I was gazing at it, wondering why it stayed so constantly just
there, I was amazed to see a part of this cloud shoot up to a
prodigious height, and while I was still in that amazement, we heard a
dull booming noise, like the discharge of a great gun far away. At
this Billy ceased paddling and looked at me as one affrighted, and
asked me very fearfully whether we had come to a country where the
French were fighting with the native people. But I perceived now that
the sea was in commotion around us, and it suddenly came into my mind
that this mountain we saw before us was a burning mountain, or volcano,
like to what I had read of in my lesson books, though I had thought
that they sent forth fire and smoke and burning streams of lava. And
then, remembering the great wave which had struck our vessel and caused
the panic among the seamen, I bethought me that it was maybe due to an
earthquake, which affects as well the sea as the land. I told Billy
what I thought, and he was much relieved that we had not happened upon
the French, but said very gloomily that we should not be much better
off on land below a burning mountain than on the sea, and for his part
he would sooner drown, that being, as 'twas said, an easy death, than
be burned alive. However, I said that we had as yet seen no fire, and
perhaps the furnace in the mountain was dying out, and we could at the
least put it to the test. In short, I persuaded him to take up his
paddle again, which he did, and so brought us a little nearer to the
land.
But we now perceived that the raft was taken in a current, which bore
us to the right hand towards the promontory I have mentioned above, but
obliquely, so that we were like to be carried past it without being
able to land. The wind was blowing against the current, and we hoped
it might stay our course long enough for us to come at some haven; but
though we loosed another spar, which I used very diligently though with
little dexterity, the current gained upon us, and I saw that we should
never do it. In that predicament it came into my mind that we might
use our coats as a sail, and we instantly stripped them off and joined
them together by the sleeves, and then we lashed them to the spar I had
been plying and held it upright, Billy drawing the loose end taut by
two short lengths of rope which he fastened very quickly to the
extremity of the raft. The sail made a very extraordinary appearance,
as you may believe, but Billy laughed merrily when he saw it fill with
the wind, and so, he working his paddle, and me holding the mast--with
no little difficulty, for the wind was blowing more strongly--we drew
nearer and nearer to the land.
And now, when we were, as I guessed, about two furlongs from the beach,
I spied all of a sudden two boats lying close together near a small
spit of land. I might have noticed them before but for being so busy
with the sail. Billy saw them too, and cried out that they were our
own boats, and was for steering instantly out to sea again, for he
would sooner have faced a tempest than Hoggett, or any other of the men
who had ill-used him. But even before I could answer him we were aware
of a strange trembling of the raft beneath our feet, in no wise like
the wonted heaving of the sea, and while we were in the article of
wondering what it might be, the raft seemed to sink under us, as if a
great gap had opened beneath it and it was falling through empty air.
I was in a terrible fright, and catched at my breath, but still keeping
my feet, and in a moment we heard a strange rushing behind us, and,
turning about, beheld a great wall of water bearing down upon us. With
one consent we flung ourselves on our faces, clutching at the ropes
that bound the raft together, and had barely got a grip of them when
the mountainous wave crashed upon us, and we were completely engulfed.
What happened to us then neither Billy nor I could ever perfectly tell,
though we talked about it often; but I must suppose that the raft was
rolled over and over, with us a-clinging to it. I had scarce got a
little breath into me again, after a greater space of time even than
when I had been sucked under at the sinking of our vessel, when the
return wave smote upon us, and we were hurled back, and while we were
still gasping after this, another green wall fell upon us from
seawards, though not so high as the first, and, its force being spent,
we found ourselves, sore bruised and breathless, on the landward side
of a small group of rocks of about seven or eight feet high, and not
above thirty yards from the beach. We had been carried clean over it,
and the raft, to which we had clung as by a miracle, was floating in
two or three feet of water. This we discovered afterwards, for we were
as near dead as any one could be, and, indeed, I wonder that we were
not killed outright, as we should have been beyond doubt but that the
raft prevented us from being dashed upon the ground. We had had
battering enough as it was, but coming to our senses, and very sick
from the water we had swallowed, we sprang off the raft and hauled it
ashore, Billy crying out that his feet, which were bare, were cut to
pieces on the beach, which was very hard and jagged, though I escaped
hurt, having my boots on.
We were immediately aware of a deep rumbling from the hill above, and
lifting our eyes, we beheld prodigious quantities of smoke or steam, we
could not tell which, belching from the top, and then a vast torrent of
water pouring down towards us, with steam rising from it in clouds. We
were near paralyzed with the sight, but recovered ourselves in time to
skip back to the rocks over which we had been cast, and clambered to
the top of them with what haste we might, Billy's feet being all red
with blood from the sharpness of the beach. The torrent spread out as
it flowed downwards, and, coming straight towards us, I was in a great
fear lest, even though we were perched up, we should not escape it, and
we were, indeed, on the point of casting ourselves into the sea. But I
was thankful we did not do it, for the stream did not rise higher than
within three feet of our perch, but dashed up a great shower of spray,
which was scalding hot. It also hurled our raft with great violence
against the rock beneath us, breaking off a good portion of it; but it
did not carry it out to sea, the rocks preventing it.
Then, as we looked up towards the summit of the hill, we saw a number
of figures, very small in the distance, hasting pell-mell downwards.
At first I thought they were savages, who had espied us, but within a
little I knew them for seamen of our crew. They ran at the edge of the
torrent, avoiding the clouds of steam, but this they could no longer do
when they came to where the water had spread over the beach, and we
heard them uttering very great yells of pain, as well from the scalding
water as from the jagged edges of the ground, their feet being unshod
save for one or two of them. They skipped from point to point,
endeavouring to find a safe way, and I recollected afterwards the
strange antics of Wabberley, who, being of a ponderous shape, was very
unfit for such feats of agility. The men gave no sign of having seen
us, but bore away towards their right and our left towards a small
tract of sand which, being protected by the slope of the hill, had not
been covered by the lava from the mountain top, for such I concluded to
be the constitution of the hard, blackish soil of which I have before
spoken.
The seamen who came first to the beach disappeared from our sight
behind a number of rocks like to those upon which we sat, and
immediately afterwards we heard loud cries of alarm proceeding from
that quarter. Those behind hasted on with even greater expedition than
before, and when they joined their comrades there arose a perfect
chorus of execration, which puzzled us a good deal, until, glancing
seaward beyond the rocks that hid the men from our sight, I descried
the nose of a boat, and shortly afterwards made out that it was empty.
Without doubt it was one of the two boats we had seen laid up on the
beach, and a wave had carried it out to sea, and it was this had
provoked the cries we had heard. But I did not see the second boat,
and wondered why the men did not put off in this to pursue the truant
instead of spending their breath in vain outcries. When some little
while had passed, and the boat was still drifting out, none pursuing
it, I was taken with a great curiosity to see what the reason might be,
and descended from my perch to creep towards them, taking care as I
went to haul our raft to a safe place on the beach. As for Billy, he
refused to budge, saying that he would not go a foot nearer to the men,
because he was sure they would do him a mischief, a thing which I could
by no means believe, their minds being taken up with other matters.
However, he would not come, so I left him there, and went on alone.
It being my purpose to see without being seen--at least, until I knew
what mind the men bore towards us--I went softly, and coming to the
rocks beyond which they were, I peeped round one of them with great
caution. And then I understood both why they did not pursue the boat
and why they had let out so lamentable an outcry. The second of the
two boats had a great hole stove in her bottom, without doubt by that
huge wave which had well-nigh struck the breath out of us. The men
were at their wits' end what to do, for the other boat was drifting
further and further from the shore, and was at this time, as I
reckoned, at least a hundred yards distant. One of them, as I looked,
cried out that he would swim out to it; otherwise they were undone, for
they were in peril of being boiled or burnt alive; and he plunged into
the water and made a stroke or two. But immediately afterwards another
of the men cried out that he saw the fin of a shark, at which the first
man--his name was Pumfrey, and he was the ship's carpenter--instantly
turned about and swam for the shore, splashing most vehemently with his
arms and legs and bellowing like a bull, as much to frighten away the
shark as from fear.
Seeing this their last hope of recovering the boat altogether dashed
away, the seamen did nothing but walk to and fro in great agitation of
mind, letting forth the most dreadful curses that ever I heard. As for
Mr. Bodger, whom I spied among them, he sat down on a rock, being a
timorous creature, as I have before said, and setting his face in his
hands, groaned and sighed in pitiful fashion, as did those that were
sick and wounded among them. It came into my mind--what I had not
thought of before--that Billy and me, being partners with them in their
unhappy situation, were no better able than they to leave this terrible
place, at least with any prospect of success, for I knew very well that
our raft would be a poor vessel for any voyage. And since it appeared
to be our doom to live or die with them, I saw no benefit that could
arise from any attempt to hide our presence. Accordingly I walked
round the rock into their midst. It was Wabberley that spied me first,
and when he saw me his jaw dropped and his face went green, as having
beyond doubt believed me to be now at the bottom of the sea. He
uttered a strange cry, which the others hearing, they looked towards
him, and at the same instant beheld me, and after a sudden brief
silence came running at me, demanding with the greatest eagerness how I
had come ashore. When I told them, on a raft, they shouted for joy,
and Hoggett catching me roughly by the arm, cried to me to say where
that same raft was, or he would dash my head against the rocks. I
answered that there was no need of threats or violence, for the raft
lay but a short distance away, and he might perhaps use it to overtake
the boat, and at the same time I pointed to the further rocks. Without
more ado he set off at a run, and spying Billy still sitting upon the
rock he asked whether we had the captain and Mr. Lummis also with us.
But he did not wait for an answer, running very swiftly until he came
to the place where our raft lay, the other men following him in a crowd.
When he saw what a poor shattered thing the raft was, he broke out
again into cursing, thinking that it would be useless for his purpose,
as indeed it might have been, he being a very ponderous man. But then
bethinking himself he catched hold of Billy, and, Joshua Chick coming
up, swore that Billy and he, being of no great weight, should go on the
raft and pursue the boat, which, as we now perceived, had come into the
current that had nearly carried us past the further extremity of the
shore. Billy cried out that he would not go, but Hoggett took him by
the middle, and when Chick had launched the raft, he threw the boy
fairly on to it, bidding Chick fling him into the sea if he made any
bones about it. And then, wrenching up two of the planks of the broken
boat to serve as paddles, he gave them to the boatswain and Billy, who
thereupon began to ply them with the utmost vigour.
We watched them as they went further and further from the shore, the
seamen shouting with excitement, and even laying wagers one against
another, though, being bereft of everything save their weapons and some
few articles that were in the boat, it seemed to me great folly. And
when after a long chase the boat was overhauled near the archway in the
red rock of which I have spoken, they fell into a perfect ecstasy of
joy, clapping each other on the back and shouting like frantic people.
We saw Chick baling out the boat, Billy helping him, and as they were a
long while doing this, it was plain that she held a great quantity of
water and would most likely have foundered in no long time. Whilst
they were at this work of baling, the raft floated away, and neglecting
it they began to pull back to the beach. But they had not taken many
strokes before we saw them turn again, and the men around me burst
forth into horrible execrations, supposing in the first moment (so base
of mind were they, as well as witless) that Chick was purposing to row
away and desert them. But I told them that Billy had only remembered
the raft, and so it proved, for they rowed after it, and having catched
it up, fastened it by a rope to the boat's stern and so headed again
towards the shore.
While they were yet some distance off, the ground beneath our feet
trembled and we heard a great rumbling, and the sea was mightily
troubled, whereupon the men fell into their panic again, fearing that
an earthquake would swallow them ere ever they got clear away. They
cried in great terror to Chick to haste, and while the boat was yet
some fathoms' length from the beach, Wabberley and two or three more
dashed into the sea, and wading out, scrambled into the boat, with such
violence that they were not very far short of overturning it. Which
seeing, all the rest of the seamen rushed to do likewise, Hoggett and
some others carrying all the articles that were in the broken boat, and
then I saw that the boat, being the smaller of the two, could not
possibly contain us all, and indeed the men saw that too, and there was
such a fight to win places that I thought the boat would fill with
water and sink. As for me, I stood watching in a kind of amazement,
now in the mind to rush towards the boat with the others and fight for
a place, now deeming it better to wait until I saw to what issue things
came.
[Sidenote: Abandoned]
All this time Mr. Bodger had remained by my side, no doubt expecting
that he as an officer would be given a place as of right. But now
there came a mighty roar from the mountain; more terrible than any we
had yet heard, and I saw belching out of it not merely steam and water,
but smoke of a lurid darkness, the sky above becoming perfectly black
with a shower of ashes shot forth from the top, intermixed with fire.
At this the fight about the boat waxed still more violent, and Mr.
Bodger, darting from my side, sprang out into the sea. Then I saw
Hoggett fling Billy out of the boat, and three or four of the weaker
men who had been beaten from it mounted on to the raft, upon which also
Mr. Bodger scrambled in his desperate haste. The men upon it, finding
it likely to sink with the weight of them all, thrust him back again
into the water, and I heard him scream with terror when, striving to
regain his place, and clinging desperately to the edge of the raft,
they beat upon him with their fists and sought to loosen his hold. He
was on the point of being cast off when Hoggett, in the boat, which now
stood some little way off, shouted "Take him aboard, you fools; we may
want him," and they did as he said, though grumbling, one of them
saying that Hoggett was safe himself, and had taken mighty great care
not to overload _his_ craft.
And then, as Billy came out of the water towards me, and I saw both the
boat and the raft moving away, and knew that we were to be left alone
on this dreadful shore, with the volcano vomiting forth fire--then, I
say, I was shaken out of the amazement which had held me, and being
perfectly frantic with terror, I rushed into the water, thinking
nothing of Billy or aught else than my own safety. With desperate
strokes I swam after the boat, shouting to the men to take me aboard.
She was moving but slowly, being greatly overladen, and having the raft
in tow, so that I was able to overtake the latter. But the men cried
that there was no room on it, and commanded me roughly to sheer off,
and when I still clung to it, one lifted the plank that had been used
as a paddle, and aimed a furious blow at my head. The violence of his
movement causing the raft to sink towards one side, he failed of his
brutal design, yet not wholly; for the plank as it descended grazed the
side of my head, inflicting such a cut that I was well-nigh stunned,
and was forced to loose my hold. I tried to set to swimming again, but
my strength was gone from me, and in my daze I might have gone to the
bottom if Billy had not swum after me. With his help I was able to
reach the shore, and when we stood up on the dry land and saw that the
seamen had beyond doubt abandoned us, we flung ourselves down on our
faces, in all the misery of wild despair.
[Illustration: "ONE LIFTED THE PLANK ... AND AIMED A FURIOUS BLOW AT
ME."]
CHAPTER THE FIFTH
OF CLAMS AND COCOA-NUTS AND SUNDRY OUR DISCOVERIES; AND OF OUR
REFLECTIONS ON OUR FORLORN STATE
I think I lay for a time in a kind of lethargy, for I was perfectly
unconscious of anything that might be happening about me, and it seemed
to me that my mind was a total blank. Whether it was the heat of the
sun, which had mounted well-nigh to the zenith, or the pangs of hunger
that roused me, I know not; but when I did arise I was aware of a
prodigious aching in my inwards, which was very natural, seeing that I
had not eaten for sixteen or twenty hours. And then I discovered that
Billy had risen first; indeed he told me that he had not lain long,
being not near so much overcome as I was, his harder life having
indurated as well his feelings as his skin. When I beheld him he was a
hundred yards or more away, sitting on a low flat rock, and eating with
a great appearance of relish. Seeing me get to my feet, he called to
me to come and eat likewise, and when I reached his rock I found a
great array of shells beside him, some broke apart and empty, others
still closed up.
[Sidenote: Clams and Cocoa-nuts]
"They ain't bad, master," he said, for so he commonly called me, "but
they do make a body uncommon dry."
I was amazed, and indeed almost angry, because he seemed so
comfortable, not reflecting that after the dog's life he had led aboard
the _Lovey Susan_ his present posture was, at least, one of ease and
security, the mountain having done no harm as yet. My gorge rose when
I saw him take out the slimy inhabitants of the shells and eat them
raw; I had never eaten shell-fish at all, much less uncooked, and for
all my famishment my stomach refused this sort of food. The horror of
our situation smote upon my mind: here were we, little more than boys,
left on a strange shore with no food but what we could pick up, no
clothes but what we stood in--and they were but shirt and breeches, for
the coats we had used as a sail had been washed from the raft when the
great wave struck us--and no implements or tools of any kind, not so
much as a jack-knife. As yet we knew nothing of the land whereupon we
had been cast, though I guessed it must be an island, but whether large
or small, peopled or desolate, fertile or barren, all remained to be
discovered. The sum of our knowledge was that we were at the foot of a
burning mountain, and that was a very terrible thing to contemplate.
The thought of it drew me to look aloft at the summit, where there
still hung a cloud of steam, though not so large as before, and the
fire and smoke had ceased, but a stream of hot water was still flowing
down the side, yet not in a great volume.
The sky was now very clear, and my head being uncovered, I found the
heat of the sun very discommoding, and withal my throat was parched,
and I had a great thirst, though Billy's must have been greater after
the salt things he had been eating. When he saw me turn from them with
loathing, he got up and said that we had better find a spring of fresh
water, so we walked along the hard beach, going to the right hand with
the design to ascend to the woods above, where I thought we might find
a spring, and certainly shelter from the sun. Billy groaned as the
sharp edges cut his bare feet; nevertheless he would not suffer me to
go alone, for which I was sorry, for when we had gone a little way we
came to some cliffs, which rose up so straight and forbidding that we
did not think fit to scale them, at least until we had sought an easier
way. Accordingly we went back again, crossing the stream of hot water,
which was now only trickling, and so continued until the lava ended at
the strip of sandy beach. I was now minded to strike up from the
shore, but was a little timid of approaching so near the course of the
hot flood, not knowing but that we might meet another torrent and
suffer a scalding. But, having come to the end of the sand, we arrived
at more cliffs, which, though not so high as the first, were no less
steep, so that we had to make a choice between scaling them and
ascending by the lava slope. Taking counsel with Billy, I determined
to venture on this latter, hoping that before we had gone far, we might
find a means of reaching the woods either on the right hand or the left.
When we had gone a good way up, very toilsomely, I saw with great
thankfulness a slope to our left hand, which seemed to lead away from
the barren lava to living soil. We struck up this and found ourselves
by and by on a mossy plateau, on which Billy danced, so joyful was he
at feeling so soft a carpet beneath his feet. The wood was just beyond
us, not above a hundred yards away. When we came to it we were pretty
well blown, and exceeding hot, having never rested nor even looked back
since we left the beach. But now we bethought us to turn and gaze over
the sea, having some hope--at least I had--that the seamen might even
at the last have repented and put back to take us off. We saw the boat
indeed, but it was a mere speck, and the raft we could not see at all,
being in doubt whether it had sunk, or whether it was only the distance
that made it invisible. But far beyond the boat, we saw a dark line
which a landsman might have supposed to be a cloud, but which we, our
eyes being accustomed to ranging over wide spaces, knew at once to be
land. It did not seem likely that the seamen could yet have discovered
it, since it had escaped us when we were at the sea level; I considered
it to be a happy chance for them that they had directed their course so
truly, though when I said so to Billy, he said he hoped they would find
the land full of cannibals, who would cook and eat them all, and
Hoggett first. This mention of cannibals set up an apprehensiveness in
my mind, and I was chary of entering the wood, lest we came upon
savages, but Billy said very sturdily, that savages or no savages, he
must drink, and so went on among the trees, with me close at his heels.
We looked about us eagerly, both for water and for fruits wherewith to
stay our hunger: but as for the former we saw none, and for the latter,
though we saw many plants bearing berries, and some trees with fruits
hanging upon them, we did not recognize at first any that we had seen
on the island where we recruited, and durst not, hungry as we were,
attempt anything strange lest they should be poisonous, and our first
meal prove our last. At one point we were startled by a small animal
leaping across our path, and Billy, crying it was a rabbit, without
thinking dashed after it, a very useless thing to do; but it had this
good result, that, tumbling headlong over something, he picked himself
up ruefully, and then shouted with delight, the obstacle being a large
cocoa-nut which had fallen from a tree. We were in a quandary at first
how to break it open, having no knife or other tool to pierce the husk;
but Billy bethought him of the buckles on our belts, and taking these
off, we cut and scraped at the husk until we came to the inner nut, and
then broke this open by hammering it very hard against the tree-trunk,
finding it the more easily breakable because it was over ripe; and
though we lost some of the liquid thereby, there remained enough to
furnish us with a very refreshing draught.
While I was digging my teeth ravenously into the kernel, Billy shinned
up the stem, which was straight like the mast of a ship, to obtain some
more of this precious fruit. Having cast down two or three at my feet,
he cried out that he was going to the masthead to take a look round.
He went almost to the very top, and when he came down, told me that the
hill we were on was not the highest in the island, the highest being
the mountain, whose peak was still covered by the cloud of steam; but
except what might be hidden by this mountain, he could see all the rest
of the island, which by his reckoning could not be above two miles
long. He told me of the high red rock which we had seen through the
archway as we approached the land, and which lay now on our right hand.
On the left he discovered a little bay, with a strip of yellow sand,
though he could not tell how wide this was because of the cliffs.
Beyond the bay the land went to a point, and beyond this again, some
distance out in the sea, were two red rocks, not very large, standing
up like the posts of a gate, or, as I thought when I myself saw them,
like sentinels. All the country to the left of the burning
mountain--that is, to the west--was covered with vegetation, either
woods or grasses, which I was very glad to hear, since there was
promise of food, at least of the vegetable kind. I concluded that the
streams of lava cast forth by the mountain had flowed only towards the
beach at which we had landed, or at any rate had flowed no other way
for a long time, since otherwise the land could not have been so
fruitful. I asked Billy anxiously whether he had seen any wild beasts,
or any sign of the habitation of men; but he said that he had seen
neither the one nor the other, but only some birds, at which I was
vastly relieved.
We sat for some while appeasing our appetites, scarcely speaking, for
Billy was not a talkative boy, and I was still too much under the
oppression of our lonely situation. All at once I set up a laugh, at
which Billy stopped munching at his cocoa-nut and looked at me in
astonishment.
"Oh, Billy," I said, "if you had catched that rabbit, what could we
have done with it?"
"Why, eat it, to be sure," says Billy. "I like rabbit meat."
(We knew afterwards that there were no rabbits on the island, and
thought the animal we had seen must be a rat, though it did not run
like one.)
"But how could we cook it?" I said.
At that he looked startled, and felt again in his pocket, which, as I
have said, was empty. He had quite forgot that we had neither flint,
steel, nor tinder, so that we had no means of making a fire. He looked
very sober for a space, and then reminded me that we had seen the
savages make fire at the island where we stayed, by the very rapid
twirling of a stick, and he was sure he could do the like. However,
there was no need of a fire at that time, for the very good reason that
we had nothing to cook, and so we fell to again on our cocoa-nuts, and
ate a great quantity before we were satisfied. We saw that we had come
into a grove of those useful trees, and with their fruit, and the
shell-fish on the shore, which if it came to a pinch I must eat raw, as
Billy had done, we should be in no immediate danger of famishing. We
saw about us, too, many birds which we might eat if we could only snare
them and make a fire, though they were quite strange to both of us,
excepting parrots. The most of them were something larger than a
sparrow, but with brighter plumage, and they came flying about us very
tamely, yet never near enough to catch.
Though we had no anxiety for the present in the matter of food, I was
still far from easy in mind about our situation, for there might be
wild beasts and men on the island, though we had not as yet seen any,
and I was troubled about our utter defencelessness. So after we had
eaten our fill and rested a while, I thought it behoved us to go
through the wood and see what there might be on the other side.
Accordingly we got up, feeling plaguy stiff from the many wettings we
had had, though the sun had dried our clothes, and went on until we
came to the edge of the wood, where we found another slope very much
steeper than the first, fairly open, but with saplings growing here and
there. Before we descended I bethought me it were well to have some
weapon in our hand in case we should meet any enemy, man or beast, so
Billy swarmed up a tree and broke off two branches, which, when
stripped of their twigs and leaves, made very fair clubs, though to be
sure of a rough appearance, and little likely to avail us much if we
encountered men in any wise armed. Still they were better than
nothing, and with these in our hands we descended the slope until we
came to another thick wood, which stretched on our right hand half way
or more to the summit of the smoking mountain. We went through this
wood, which differed very little from the first, and then all at once
we came upon a shining sheet of water, above two hundred yards long and
near as broad, with a few ducks swimming on it. The moment Billy saw
this he let forth a great shout, and bounded towards it, falling on his
knees and drinking very heartily. I was as glad as he was, for the
juice of cocoa-nuts is very agreeable, but not near so good as water
for quenching the thirst; but I was not so quick as Billy, nor did I
gulp it so eagerly, but took a mouthful and tasted it before drinking
more. The water was cool and seemed to me good to drink, though it had
a taste like the sulphur water my aunt Susan always gave to us in the
spring; she said it cleared our skin. I drank a few mouthfuls more,
and then we went on, skirting the base of the mountain on the further
side.
[Sidenote: Wood and Water]
We found the ground here very rough; indeed, nowhere on the island, as
we afterwards discovered when we came to explore it thoroughly, did we
find a stretch of level ground above twenty yards in length, even in
the parts where the vegetation was thickest. There were not many trees
growing on this side of the mountain, but we continued our journey in
as near a straight line as we could, observing more woods on our right
hand which I thought to examine another day. At length we came to a
high cliff overlooking the sea, and when we came to the top of it,
suddenly we saw towering over us the monstrous red rock of which we had
already had a glimpse when we first drew near to the shore. It rose
sheer out of the sea to the height of four or five hundred feet, as I
guessed, and was very broad too; at least, the side that fronted us
was, being full a quarter of a mile long. Between the rock and the
cliff on which we stood there was a narrow strait, through which the
sea rushed at a furious pace. I felt quite dizzy as I gazed down upon
it from our great height, though Billy, being used to climbing to the
masthead, went to the very edge of the cliff and stood there without
the least tremor. Indeed, he gave me a fright by saying that he would
leap across the strait to a ledge that jutted out from the rock towards
our island, approaching so near to it that he declared he could do it
easy; but I sprang to him and pulled him back, overcome with horror at
the thought of the terrible risk he would run and his dreadful death if
he missed his footing, and also of my solitude if I lost my only
companion.
I now saw that his face was very pale, and I thought that he was
frightened at his own daring; but he suddenly bent his body double, and
when I asked him what was the matter he said that he had a very bad
pain.
"That comes of eating those slimy things raw," I said. "I didn't eat
any."
He made no answer, but flung himself on the ground, groaning, and I
stood over him, condoling with him, and very much concerned lest he was
poisoned. I had stood thus for the space of a minute or two, when all
at once I felt a terrible pain myself, and soon was beside him,
groaning full as loud as he. Since I had eaten none of the shell-fish,
and cocoa-nuts had never done us any harm before, I concluded, when I
was able to think, that our sufferings were caused by the sulphurous
water of the lake, which indeed turned out to be the true explanation;
for after we had drunk of it next day we were both afflicted with the
same violent colic, so that we resolved never to taste it again. Billy
was worse than me, having drunk the greater quantity, and it was a good
while before we were able to stand, and then we trembled so much and
felt so weak that we wished for nothing but to lie down and sleep. And
that put us on thinking of what we should do in the night. We had come
so slowly across the island that the sun was already sinking, and we
must needs find some secure place for repose before darkness fell upon
us. We were both used to discomforts aboard the _Lovey Susan_, but
there we had at least a bunk or a hammock and security from all but the
storm, whereas here there was no shelter save the woods, and we did not
know what strange perils might beset us there. And I know not whether
'twas the oncoming of the dark that made me more fearful, but certain
it is that I found myself looking about me timorously, and at one point
I was so sure that I saw a man that I clutched Billy hard by the arm
and whispered him to look too. Which doing, he cried out in a
perfectly loud voice, "Why, master, 'tis but an old stump of a tree.
'Tain't nothing to be scared on." Billy, I will say now, was never
affrighted at imaginary perils so much as at real ones.
[Sidenote: Night]
We had to consider, I say, of how we should pass the night. I was not
the least disposed to trudge back over the island, and indeed there was
no need, for no part, so far as I knew, was better than any other; in
short, we were both pretty tired, so that we determined to take shelter
in a small wood on the edge of the cliff on the opposite side of the
burning mountain from that where the lava had flowed. Our entrance
caused a great disturbance among the birds, which flew out in great
flocks and making shrill cries. We saw some brown rats, too,
scuttering among the undergrowth, and these put Billy in mind of the
rats in the _Lovey Susan_, which sometimes ran across the face of the
seamen in the forecastle when they slept.
"I don't like them things, master," he said, "and we'd best climb up
into a tree and sleep on a bough."
But it seemed to me that a bough of a tree would be a most uneasy
resting-place; I should assuredly lose my balance and topple to the
ground, though Billy, being accustomed to dizzy perches in the rigging
of the _Lovey Susan_, might find it comfortable enough. Yet I had no
mind for a lodging on the ground, without any defence from rats, to say
nothing of wild animals, of which there might be some on the island,
though we had not seen any. We talked about it for some time, and the
end of it was that we set about collecting some broken branches that
lay on the ground, and snapped off others that were within our reach,
and so piled up a little shelter round about a thick trunk. By the
time we had finished this work it was perfectly dark within the wood.
We sat ourselves down on the mossy carpet, with our cudgels close to
our hands, and then, bethinking us of the custom of setting watches on
board ship, we determined that one of us should watch while the other
slept. Being the older, I took the first watch, and Billy was soon
fast asleep, and I sat very melancholy by him, thinking of our lonely
situation, and of my good uncle and aunt at home, whose thoughts were,
I doubt not, fondly busy about me.
There was no way whereby I might tell the time, and it might have been
two hours or three had passed when, feeling my head very heavy, I waked
Billy and told him to take his turn, which he did very willingly,
though he rubbed his eyes and yawned in the manner of one who has not
had his sleep out. In the midst of my slumber I was wakened by Billy
grasping my arm, and when I sat up, he whispered to me, as if greatly
affrighted, to listen. Since I heard nothing but the rustling of the
wind in the trees, it having got up while I slept, I thought that Billy
must have fallen into a doze and been visited by a nightmare. But all
at once there came a strange howling sound, that seemed to be near at
hand, and then it went into the distance, at one moment being quite low
and soft, the next very loud, though it never altered in pitch. We
clutched our cudgels and sat very close to each other, and Billy
whispered that he felt a cold shiver running down his back, as I myself
did, but I forbore to tell him so. The sound was very dreadful, as of
some creature in agony, though it was not the least like any sound I
had ever heard before, except once, when I heard a man tuning, as they
say, the organ in our parish church; and falling upon our ears in
pitchy darkness it made us very uneasy, as you may think. We were too
much affrighted to rise and seek for the cause of it, even if it had
been possible to find it in the dark; and so we listened to it, huddled
thus together, for a very long time, as it seemed, until, being quite
overcome with fatigue, we both fell asleep, and so remained until
morning light without keeping any guard.
[Sidenote: Wild Dogs]
I awoke first, and was instantly aware of a scratching at some part of
our barricade of branches. I sat up, grasping my cudgel, and in a
moment, it being broad daylight, I saw a little opening in the
barricado, and the nose of some animal pushing through it. I lifted up
my cudgel and, thrusting myself forward, aimed a blow at the intruder
so well that I hit him clean upon the point of the nose. There was a
sudden yelp and a snarl, and the nose withdrew itself, and when we
sprang to our feet--Billy having wakened at the sound--we spied a pack
of small dogs, above a score, at some little distance from our shelter.
They were of a strange kind, the like of which neither Billy nor I had
ever seen, being of a yellowish brown in colour, and with smooth coats,
not hairy like our dogs at home. Billy roared at them, asking whether
it was they that had made such uproar in the night; and when they did
not budge, but only looked at him without the least alarm, we both
sprang over our fence and ran towards them, brandishing our cudgels and
shouting very fiercely. Then they turned tail, and ran away yelping
and snarling; but as soon as we stopped, thinking that we had put them
to flight, instantly they stopped also, and sitting upon their
haunches, gazed at us very solemnly again.
They did not offer to attack us, and, being of a small size, we did not
fear them as if they were great hounds or mastiffs; but the very number
of them making us somewhat uneasy, we set forward again to drive them
away. It happened as at first: they ran while we ran, but the moment
we stopped, they came to a stand also and gazed upon us in the same
saucy manner as before. Billy shook his fist at them, and called them
by a foul name which he had learnt, I suppose, from the rough seamen of
the _Lovey Susan_; but I will say this, that on my telling him it was
not a pretty word, he immediately promised never to use it again, since
it offended me, and I never heard it from his lips but once after,
which I will speak of in course, if I remember.
But to return to our dogs: when we saw that it was useless to pursue
them, though we could scare them easily enough, we determined to go on
our way as if they were not there. And as you may believe, we set our
course first for the cocoa-nut grove, being amazing hungry, and as we
went thither we saw some trees of the bread-fruit, and Billy climbed
one of them, the trunk being no more than two feet thick, and threw one
fruit at me and another at the dogs, which had still followed us,
dogging us, as we say. They scampered after it as it rolled down the
hill, like as kittens chase a ball of worsted, which amused Billy very
much. As for me, I picked up the fruit he had cast at my feet--it was
near two pounds weight, I should think--and having broken the rind, not
without difficulty, for it was very tough, I tasted the milky juice and
afterwards the pulp, but found them both so unpleasing that I cast it
from me, very sorrowfully, for it seemed that we should never have any
other food but cocoa-nuts, unless we could devise some means of
cooking. We went on thence until we came to the palms, the dogs
following us again, except two that found the fruit I had thrown away,
and they stayed for a while sniffing at it, but finding it as
unpalatable as I had done, they by and by left it and joined the pack.
I observed that when Billy climbed up the cocoa-nut palm they drew in
closer, as if they guessed him to be more violent than me, and supposed
it no longer needful to keep at so great a distance. Indeed, when he
flung down a cocoa-nut, they dashed towards it, as if he did it merely
for their sport; but then I ran among them, striking at them smartly
with my cudgel, though I never hit them, for they immediately fled, but
came back when Billy and I sat down upon the ground to eat the fruit,
and watched us with such gravity that I could not contain myself, but
laughed very heartily.
When we had finished our breakfast, we went down the hill to drink at
the lake, and the dogs still following at our heels, we began to feel
it a persecution, and resolved to make another attempt to rid ourselves
of them. The ground, as I have said before, was rough, and at one side
of the lake, nearest the mountain, we saw many pieces of rock scattered
about, and having collected them in a heap we began to throw them very
briskly at the dogs, which kept so close together that we could not
fail of hitting several. These ran yelping away, and after a while
those that were not hit became aware of the discomfiture of their
fellows and withdrew to a greater distance; but I observed that they
went no farther than the range of our cast, from which I concluded that
they were possessed of a certain intelligence. However, since their
hovering was now at a more convenient distance, we paid them no further
attention, and had freedom to think of other things.
We had been so much taken up with these creatures that we had given
scarce a thought to our situation; but now, casting my eyes towards the
summit of the mountain, I saw with great delight that the cloud of
steam was altogether gone.
"See, Billy," I cried, "we are not like to be burnt alive. The
mountain is quiet; yesterday's work has tired him out."
"He's only pretending, belike," says Billy.
But then I told him of what I had read in my lesson-book--I liked
reading the Latin part, but did not much relish the putting the English
back into Latin--about the mountain Vesuvius, that had been quiet so
long as that people made great cities at its base, and lived there very
merrily, the story being told very well by Plinius.
"This is a different sort, then," says Billy, "because there ain't no
cities here, nor people neither."
[Sidenote: The Mountain]
I laughed at this, and then proposed that we should climb up the
mountain from the place where we stood, namely, the edge of the lake,
in which we had already drunk. For a great while Billy would not be
persuaded, but I prevailed with him at last, and we set off up the
mountain side, finding it a great toil, so steep was it, and rugged;
and being shod myself, I did not think enough of the pain to Billy's
bare feet, which he endured nevertheless without a murmur. There were
many pieces of jagged flint lying on the mountain-side, and Billy
seeing one that was flat and had a sharp edge, he picks it up and slips
it in his pocket, saying that we could break open our cocoa-nuts more
easily with it than by striking them against the tree-trunks or the
rocks. We had not gone above half way up the mountain when we were
seized with the same violent pains I have before mentioned, which made
us helpless for some while, and caused us, as I have said, to forswear
the water of the lake. But recovering by and by, we continued on our
way, and, taking heart from the perfect stillness, there being no
rumbling nor any shoot of boiling water as on the day before, we came
at last to the very top, and stood at the brink of the cup, or the
crater, as we say.
We were so much terrified at our own boldness that, having reached the
top, we immediately ran some way down the slope, as if some dreadful
monster were at our heels. But coming to our senses again, we
resolutely made our way once more to the summit, and, holding each
other by the hand, we crept to the edge and peeped over. I own I was
very much surprised at the seeming innocence of the crater. The walls
were very steep, and made of some massive sort of stone, and so jagged
that we could easily have climbed down, as on steps, for a depth of two
hundred feet at least. But then the sides of the crater drew in
towards the centre, and we could see that it had no floor, but a hole
that looked very black and terrible; and the thought that one slip
might hurl us down, we knew not how far, into the bowels of the
mountain amid fire and brimstone, made us shrink back. Our curiosity
was satisfied, and I do not remember that we ever looked into that
yawning pit again, though we had occasion to climb the mountain more
than once.
We then turned about and looked back over the island and across the sea
beyond. It was a magnificent fair day, the sky of a light blue colour
and very clear, and from our high perch we could see a prodigious great
distance on every side. Far away, like a cloud on the horizon, and
south-by-east, as we knew by the sun, was the island whereto the seamen
had set their course, and the remembrance of them set Billy in a rage,
and he cried out on them for taking away our raft. To the westward we
spied two or three islands close together, and nearer to us, though not
much, than the island to the south-east. I could not think that all
these islands were uninhabited, and became again not a little uneasy in
my mind, for supposing our own island had no people on it, of which I
was by no means assured, yet it might be visited sometimes by savages
from other islands, and it would be a fearsome thing for us if any
should land and discover us. Billy scoffed when I spoke out my thought.
"Why," he said, "d'ye think, master, they'd be such fools as to come
here to this old smoker? And water what gives you the gripes too! No,
we shan't see nobody, black or white, never no more, and we shall live
here for ever and ever, if we gets enough to eat and drink, and then
when we're very old we'll be dead, and no one to put us away decent,"
and at that he burst into tears, and begged me not to die first,
because he couldn't bear it. I was a good deal touched by the honest
boy's trouble, but I bid him cheer up, for we were both sound and well,
though I own I felt a great lump in my throat as I thought of our
present solitude and of my dear friends at home. To divert his
thoughts, and my own too, I pointed to the big red rock of which I have
spoken before, and which seemed more monstrous still, seen from this
side. There were birds sunning themselves on its bare top, and the
sight of them set me thinking that there were many birds on our island,
and there must also be eggs, which we could use for food, though I
remembered afterwards that having no fire we could not cook them, and I
could not eat them raw as I had seen some do.
We walked round about the crater, observing, but not at first with any
minuteness, the many rocks and boulders of strange shape that were
scattered about, having been cast up at some time, I suppose, from the
depths of the mountains. Billy laid his hand on one great boulder, and
immediately started back in a fright, crying that it was burning hot,
which somewhat alarmed me too, not supposing that the mountain sent
forth aught now but hot water. But in a moment I saw that we had no
cause for terror, for the sun was by this time high in the heavens, and
the stone was made hot thereby, and by nothing else. When I said this
to Billy he was in a rage with the stone for giving him a start, and
shoved it very hard, and it being poised insecurely, it set off
a-rolling down very fast until it struck another boulder of even
greater size, and split with a mighty crash. "Serves you right," says
Billy, and we both clambered down to see what had happened to it. We
were surprised to see some bright streaks in the rock where it had been
fractured, and Billy declared that there must be iron in it; indeed, it
was of the brightness of steel. This set me on to think of the great
wealth that might lie a-hiding in our island, and of the great delight
it would have given my uncle if his adventure had gone as he wished;
but the discovery brought no comfort to us in our helpless situation;
indeed, it only made me the more sad.
We had gone but a little farther when we saw a spring of hot water
bubbling out of the rock and running down in a cloud of steam. We
followed its course, picking our way very slowly, for the side of the
mountain was steep, until we came to a place where it dropped over a
sheer cliff, and fell a perfect cascade into the sea. Then we crept
round from this side of the mountain until we overlooked the long slope
of blackish rock that ran down to the beach on which we had landed, and
we descended slowly on the left side until we came to a strip of
woodland. Here we found more bread-fruit trees, at which we were not
so well pleased as if they had been cocoa-nut palms, because we had no
present means of making a fire for cooking. Billy offered to make fire
in the native way, but I said that he might do that afterwards, as I
wished to see what this end of the island was like. So we went through
the wood, and came out at the edge of a cliff, and saw below us the
promontory with the archway through it, of which I have spoken. Here,
too, we had another view of the monster rock, and observed that this
face also was steep and straight like the others, so that it must be
quite impossible to scale the rock unless its seaward face were more
practicable.
[Illustration: PALM TREE ISLAND]
[Sidenote: Reflections]
We had now traversed the whole of our island except the north-east
corner, and having seen no living things except birds and small
animals, we began to be pretty sure that we were the only human beings
upon it. This, while it put away from us the present fear of being
slain by savages, or despitefully used, yet brought home to us the full
meaning of our loneliness. We sat down on the cliff, and looking over
the sea, which stretched away without any sign of land, nor even the
sail of a ship, we gave ourselves up to gloomy meditation. I knew that
but few ships ever ventured into this southern ocean, and the chance
that any ship would sight this tiny island was very small indeed.
Still less was it likely that a vessel would draw in so close as to
observe any signal that we might make. I remembered how Alexander
Selkirk had lived four years on his desolate island before a friendly
ship hove in sight, and that island was near the mainland, whereas ours
was in the midst of a vast ocean, remote as well from populous lands as
from the track of merchant ships. It seemed to me that we were doomed
to a lifelong imprisonment, and though I had before bid Billy to be of
good cheer, I was now myself utterly cast down, as one without hope.
Being thus a prey to wretchedness I sat with my head in my hands, not
heeding the heat of the sun, which was now beating fiercely down upon
us, until I felt very sick and dizzy, and then I got up and looked for
Billy, who had disappeared. But he had only gone into the wood to find
food, it being nigh dinner-time. He came back and told me that there
was nothing but bread-fruit, and that we could not eat, so we had to
make our way to the cocoa-nut wood, which we did by descending to the
beach and climbing up the slope as before. In going along the beach
Billy picked up two or three shell-fish which he called clams, the
purple kind, not the larger sort, which were very heavy; indeed, one of
them would have made a meal for a family. We saw, too, several crabs
of a very large size, some above two feet long; and Billy, idly poking
his cudgel into a hole beside a rock, he could not draw it back, and
when he peeped in to see what held it, he cried out that it had been
seized by a great crab, and though he pulled very hard, he could not
draw it out. When we came to our wood we ate cocoanuts and quenched
our thirst with the juice, Billy striking them open with the sharp
flint he had in his pocket; but I could not forbear wondering how we
were to live without fresh water, of which we had seen none but what
was in the lake, and that was a medicine we were by no means inclined
to. Having appeased our hunger and thirst we were too listless to walk
any more, and too miserable to talk to each other, and so we laid
ourselves down and fell asleep.
[Sidenote: Weapons]
When I awoke I saw that Billy had been fashioning for himself a new
club in place of that which had been seized by the robber crab, only
this time he had made a better one. Having observed that the sharp
flint, of which I have before spoken, had two notches on its blunt
side, he had conceived the notion of binding it to his club, and so
using it as an axe-head. At first he was much exercised, as he told
me, how to fasten the two together, and sighed for some iron-wire, or
at least some stout cord; but glancing around he spied a creeping plant
with very long and slender tendrils, which he proved to be very tough,
and breaking off some lengths of this with his flint, he had nearly
finished binding the flint to his club.
"What d'ye think of that, master?" says he, very proud of his
achievement. I told him it was a villainous, murdering instrument, and
asked him what he purposed doing with it. "Why," says he, "fight, to
be sure. It would kill a savage, or even a lion." At this I laughed,
saying that we had seen no lions or other wild beasts, and as for
savages, if we encountered them they would certainly shoot him with
their arrows or pierce him with spears before ever he was near enough
to strike them with his club. But he answered stoutly that a club was
better than bare fists, and an axe than a club, and as for its
ugliness, he would like to see me make a prettier one, on which I said
no more.
[Illustration: Billy's Axe]
I had fallen into a doze again, when I was suddenly awakened by Billy,
who shook me by the shoulder and when I sat up, pointed through the
trees to a little open space at the edge of the wood. I looked and saw
a number of little pigs--strange little creatures, with heads very much
too large for their bodies--grubbing in the ground with their snouts,
and a monstrous big sow near by. Billy springs up, and whispers he
will catch one of the piglets, and then he starts off and begins to
steal quickly through the wood towards the family group. I got up on
my feet to follow him, and seizing the club that lay nearest, found
that I had taken Billy's instead of my own, he having taken mine in his
excitement. Billy had just arrived at the open space when, being very
simple in his nature, he gave a great shout, and instantly the pigs set
off scampering away, with him hot-foot after them. However, he had
gone but half-way across the clearing when I saw a great boar with
monstrous curved tusks charging from the left-hand side. Billy caught
sight of the beast just in time, and turning about, he brought my club
down upon the beast's head very sharply; but it was not heavy enough to
do any great mischief, and, indeed, though it caused the boar to turn a
little aside, it did but increase its fury. The beast wheeled about,
and rushed upon Billy, who, though he smote it again, was carried off
his feet and lay sprawling, the club being struck from his hand as he
fell.
[Illustration: "THE BEAST WHEELED ABOUT, AND RUSHED UPON BILLY."]
[Sidenote: Billy has a Fall]
When I saw the unhappy posture of my companion, I ran towards him as
fleetly as ever I could, being in a terrible fright lest the boar
should rend him with its tusks before I could come up with him. My
very speed incommoded me when, coming to the spot where Billy lay on
the ground, with the boar over him, I brought the flint-headed club
down upon the beast's skull, for the blow was not near as straight and
heavy as it might have been had my rush not been so headlong. However,
it served to make the boar turn round to spy at its new adversary; and
having now come to a standstill and collected myself, I dealt it such a
blow behind the ear, with a full swing of the club, that it fell over
sideways, and I did not observe that it made any movement after. I
picked Billy up, and saw with great trouble that the boar had rent a
great hole in his breeches and made a gash in his leg, which was
bleeding very freely. "That's nothing, master," says he, when I asked
him if he was much hurt; "but what d'ye say about my ugly murdering axe
now? Ain't it a good one?" he asked triumphantly. "Wouldn't it kill a
lion or a savage?" I owned that it had proved a very serviceable
instrument indeed, and said that I would certainly make one like it for
myself; but first I begged Billy to bathe his wounded leg in the lake,
which he did, and in a little the bleeding stopped, and we went back to
the wood, Billy declaring that he would certainly make fire in the
native fashion, and we should have pork for supper. But when we got
back to the dead boar, we found it already surrounded by a pack of
dogs, which were tearing its flesh very gluttonously. They snarled and
growled savagely when we essayed to drive them away, and knowing that
it is an ill matter to part a dog from his bone, I did not think it
prudent to provoke the rage of such a fierce regiment, though Billy
cried out valorously that he would fight them all sooner than allow
them to eat his pork. However, he gave in to my entreaty, vowing that
he would have pork to eat before many days were past, and as for the
dogs, he would teach them a lesson, that he would.
CHAPTER THE SIXTH
OF OUR SEARCH FOR SUSTENANCE AND SHELTER; WITH VARIOUS MATTERS OF MORE
CONSEQUENCE TO THE CASTAWAY THAN EXCITEMENT TO THE READER
This little adventure with the pigs was, I verily believe, the means of
saving us from the lethargy into which we had like to have been cast by
brooding on our solitude. The knowledge that there were on our island
animals that might be formidable, and were certainly good for food,
proved to us at once the necessity of being watchful, and of setting
our wits to work to devise a means of cooking. And a thing that
happened the same night showed to us that if we were to make the best
of our situation, and have any comfort in our solitary life, we must
take some measures for our shelter.
[Sidenote: A Storm]
This event was nothing less than a violent storm of wind and rain which
sprang up suddenly in the middle of the night. We had returned to our
first shelter, the make-shift hut, or rather lean-to, which we had
constructed of boughs and leaves around a great tree. The wind broke
this down utterly, scattering the materials of it far and wide, and the
rain drenched us to the skin, or I should say, soaked us to the bone,
we having no garments but our shirts and breeches. That night was the
most miserable of all my life, I assure you. We huddled together for
shelter under the thickest trees, listening to the howling of the wind,
and sometimes hearing great crashing noises that made us fear almost to
remain under shelter at all, lest the trees should fall upon our heads
and kill us. Never a wink of sleep had we that night, and when
daylight came, we staggered forth from the wood, two shivering
miserable mortals, who would have given the world for a roaring fire
and a hot posset to comfort us.
We needed not to climb trees for our breakfast, for the wind had
strewed the ground with cocoanuts, and had indeed uprooted many trees,
one of which had narrowly missed the very spot where we had lain. As
we ate our food, very wretched, we considered how we were to construct
some sort of hut, in case another storm should visit us. There was
timber in plenty, but neither Billy nor I had any knowledge of sawyers'
or carpenters' work; nor if we had should we have been much better off,
having no tool save the rough axe of Billy's fashioning. Necessity,
they say, is the mother of invention, and so it proved in our case, as
will be seen more fully hereafter.
After breakfast the first thing that Billy did was to try his axe on
one of the big fallen trees. He was able after very great labour--I
taking my turns when he was tired--to lop some of the branches off, but
the flint was so much blunted by it that we saw it would serve us
little longer. Accordingly we set off up the mountain-side to find
other flints of which to make axe-heads, and on this little expedition
we were followed by the pack of dogs, which watched our proceedings as
if they took a great interest in them, but always remained at a
reasonable distance. By midday we had collected a fair number of
sharp-edged flints, small and big, and Billy having made me an axe like
his own--he would not let me do it, saying that he was sure he could
make a better one than me--we felt a deal more comfortable both in body
and mind, being satisfied that we should not lack tools, though rough,
and our clothes being dried with the sun. Indeed, we found the sun
rather oppressive, especially upon our bare heads, and we wished very
heartily that our hats had been spared to us; coats we could do without
in the daytime, though they would have been a great solace o' nights.
[Sidenote: Plans]
Having thus furnished ourselves with axes, we had to determine the site
for the hut we purposed building, and we talked very seriously about
this when we had eaten our dinner.
"One thing is sure," says Billy; "we must build it a good way from the
old smoker" (so he called the mountain, above which we observed that a
cloud of steam had again gathered, though it had been clear yesterday).
If remoteness from the mountain had been the only point to be
considered, we might have been content with the wood in which we had
made our lean-to; but after our experience in the storm we did not
regard it as suitable for a permanent habitation when it might be
shattered any day or night. It was certain we could not build on those
parts of the island that were bare rock, for we could not by any means
dig foundations in it, and a hut without foundations, in an exposed
place, might be carried away in a hurricane, and hurled into the sea,
and we in it. And then it came into my mind that if we built too high
upon the island, our dwelling might be spied by the savages of the
neighbouring islands of which I have spoken, for we could not doubt
that they were inhabited, and the people would certainly put to sea
sometimes in their canoes. This set me on thinking that it would be
well to make our dwelling less a house than a fortress, in which we
could take refuge in case savages should at any time land upon our
island. It seemed to me, then, that we ought to seek for a remote
spot, very hard of access, and bethinking me of such a spot which I had
seen in our course towards the north-east, I had almost resolved to
choose that spot when I recollected all at once that there was no water
in that neighbourhood, which was a very serious matter. Indeed, this
lack of water gave us much concern, for as yet we had found none but
what smacked of brimstone, and Billy said that we didn't need
physicking every day, nor yet every week. We spent the rest of that
day, therefore, in roaming over the island once more in search of fresh
water, and made a more thorough exploration of the western end, in
which the vegetation was wilder than in the other woodland parts.
There was never a spring that we could see, and we should have had our
search for nothing but for a discovery that Billy made. He had climbed
a bare and very rough hillock, just beyond a patch of wood at the
south-west corner of the island, and I saw him suddenly stoop, and when
he rose to the erect posture he held something white in his hand, and
began to caper with every token of delight. Then he came running down
towards me, and shouted a word that sounded like "aig! aig!" which
puzzled me exceedingly, until when he came close to me and opened his
hand I saw what was certainly the likest to a hen's egg that I had ever
beheld, and concluded that "aig!" was the manner of calling it at
Limehouse. I could scarce believe it was indeed a hen's egg, for we
had seen no fowls save those I have mentioned before, nor had we heard,
amid the noises of the island, the clarion voice of any cock; yet it
was like nothing else, and Billy declared with great positiveness that
there must be roosters, as he called them, on the island, whose eggs
would form an agreeable addition to our fare.
[Sidenote: Eggs]
He was not by any means cast down when I said that we had no fire for
cooking, avouching that he had sucked 'em raw many a time, but added
that this being the first egg we had found, it belonged by right to me
as king of the island (so he called me in sport), and he would at once
set about making a fire, as he had often said he would do, and roast it
for me, we having no pan for boiling. When he spoke of boiling, I
remembered all of a sudden the spring of hot water we had seen on the
other side of the mountain, and thought it might very well serve to
cook the egg; so we made all haste to that spot, Billy saying that if
the water would cook an egg, it would also cook pig, and boiled pork
was very good, though not so good as roast. We came to the spring, and
laid the egg in the bottom of a cup-shaped hollow through which it
flowed, and having neither watch nor sand-glass, Billy set himself
patiently to count the seconds as well as he could, saying that the egg
must not be overdone nor underdone, but boiled just proper.
"We will give it four minutes, master," says he, "instead of three,
'cos we ain't sure the water is on the boil, not what you would call
real boiling."
Accordingly, the four minutes being expired (though I think he missed
count when just past a hundred and fifty), he took out the egg and,
breaking the shell at one end, gave it to me to taste, which I did, but
instantly spat it out of my mouth, and cast the egg down upon the
rocks, bespattering them with white and yellow. I told Billy with much
spluttering that the egg was addled, and indeed the taste of it was
very foul, and remained in my mouth a long time, till, having returned
to our wood, I cured it with a copious draught of cocoa-nut juice, the
acid of which was very grateful. Billy was much cast down at this
unfortunate beginning of his cookery, and wanted to go instantly and
kill a sucking-pig; but since it was already growing late, and would be
dark ere he could go and come and finish cooking, even if he found a
pig at once and caught it without trouble, I persuaded him to return
with me to the wood, where we had to rig up another shelter for the
night, in place of the one that had been shattered by the storm.
I will say here that we found more eggs afterwards, always in places
that were hard to get at--on ledges in the land side of the cliffs, and
in hollows of rocky eminences; and though we for some time saw no fowls
and were much puzzled in consequence, we discovered by and by that they
roosted high up in the trees, and concluded that they did this to take
refuge from the rats and dogs, and kept silence for the same reason.
There were very few of them on the island, their broods being no doubt
much preyed upon when young and unable to fly.
I had almost forgot to mention a strange discovery we made while we
were yet on the mountain. It chanced that Billy, prodding the ground
with his axe, dislodged a lump of rock which rolled down into the
spring, and had no sooner touched the water than it set up a great
hissing noise, and we saw a cloud of dirty yellow smoke rise up from it
into the air, with such a horrible stench that we choked and coughed,
and ran away to some distance until the fizzing and smoking ceased. I
had never seen or heard of the like before, and as for Billy, he said
that Old Smoker was worse than he thought him, carrying such poisonous
stuff in his inside. This made us careful how we trod, for we did not
know but there might be rocks of other kinds, which might "go off," as
Billy said, when we touched them. However, we did not find any such,
and we almost forgot about the fizzy rock, as Billy called it, until a
time came when we discovered a use for it.
[Sidenote: The First Hut]
To come back to the matter of our house. Having sought in vain for a
suitable site in the rougher parts of the island, we went down next day
to the lake-side, where we should at least be within reach of water,
though unpalatable. We found that the lake was very much swelled with
the recent heavy rains, and the water was not near so clear as
formerly, though it was much less nauseous to the taste, and we had a
good drink of it without suffering any ill effects. This quite
determined us in our choice, for we supposed that it would rain very
frequently, as in England, so that the lake would be constantly
replenished and the sulphurous character of its water be thus
qualified. We found in course of time that rain did not fall near so
often as in England, though usually much heavier; and that the effect
on the lake was not quite so great as we expected, at least in regard
to the taste, for the many rills and rivulets that carried water from
the high parts of the island ran over sulphurous soil, some of which
they washed down into the lake.
[Illustration: Our Flint Scraper for Sharpening Axes]
Being set on building a substantial house, or rather fortress, as I
said, we saw that with our rude tools it would take us a very long
time, and so we first took in hand to make a small hut which would
shelter us while the other was a-building. This we determined to place
at the edge of the wood above the lake, and we found much material in
the trees which had been uprooted in the storm, and in young straight
saplings which we could either pull up, the soil being thin, or cut
down with our stone axes. These axes of ours soon became blunt, but we
found a means to sharpen them by whetting on the hard rocks by the
shore, and it became our constant practice to begin each day with
bathing in the sea, and then sharpening our axes, which sharpened our
appetites also, I do assure you. Having got a sufficiency of these
slender poles for our walls, we stuck them in holes which we made with
our axes, and held them together with tendrils of the creeping plants
that grew very plentifully in the woods. We thus made walls about ten
feet high, about a space twelve feet square, and it was not until the
walls were up that we began to consider of how to put a roof to them,
having no ladders nor any means of mounting to such a height. This
made us see how needful it was to take thought beforehand, though we
never succeeded in foreseeing all the difficulties that we should meet
with, and I suppose no one ever did. All we could do about this roof
of ours was to carry up small rocks from the shore, and pile these one
on another until we made a stand high enough for us to lay saplings
from wall to wall. Since it was clear that this roof would protect us
but little, the rain being able to come through the interstices, we put
up stands of rocks inside the hut, and supported on these we made shift
to weave grasses and creepers among the poles, finding it very hard
work, and very long too, we having to take the stands down and build
them up again as we moved from place to place in the hut. As for the
walls, we filled up the interstices in them with earth from the
hill-side above us, which we found to be of a clayey sort, and soon
hardened in the sun, though after a little it began to crack and
crumble. We carried this earth in our hands, a very troublesome and
slow manner of doing it, but we had no vessels, nor did we at that time
think of making any.
This hut took us above a week in building, at least I think so, for
after the first day or two we neglected to take any account of the
passage of time. It was a poor sort of thing when finished, and could
not have stood against a hurricane; but the weather was very fair, and
besides, the place we had chosen was not near so much exposed as our
first habitation, on higher ground. We hoped it would serve us until
we should have made our proposed fortress, and the building of it was
exceeding useful to us, for it took up, with the getting and eating of
our food, every minute of the daytime, and by keeping our thoughts
busy, as well as our hands, hindered us from dwelling on our loneliness.
I had almost forgot to mention two or three things: first, that every
morning and evening one or other of us went up the mountain-side, to a
spot whence we had sight of the sea all around, to spy whether a sail
was visible. The second thing is, that Billy went out one day, and
brought back a little sucking-pig, which he had killed with his axe.
We cut off its hinder legs, and carried them to the hot spring, and
found that they cooked very well; and though the meat had a slight
savour of brimstone, it was vastly more agreeable than the salt junk we
were used to have aboard ship. Indeed, Billy said that it only wanted
pease-pudding to make a meal fit for a king, and he ran all the way to
the wood and back again to fetch a bread-fruit, to see if that, when
boiled, would supply the place of pease; but the fruit only boiled to a
pap, and when Billy tasted it, he declared that it spoiled the flavour
of the pork, so we ate the meat by itself.
[Sidenote: Failure]
This failure made Billy determine again to try his hand at making fire,
which we had no time for when building our little hut. He picked up a
straight twig, that seemed to promise well for his purpose, and
sharpening his flint axe, he peeled the twig and cut it so as to make a
stick about a foot long, one end of which he brought to a point. But,
finding the wood too soft for the use to which he designed it, he went
prowling about to discover a tree hard enough, testing them with his
axe, and after a long search, lighted upon a tree that was very hard,
and whose sap was of a blood-red colour.[1] Having cut a stick of
this, he sharpened one end to a point, and then took two chunks of
wood, one of a soft kind, the other of the new-discovered tree, which
we called redwood, and in each of these chunks he made a little hollow,
one in the soft wood for the sharp end of the stick, the other for the
blunt. Then, fitting the stick into these hollows, he gave me all
three pieces of wood to hold, and while I held them tightly clamped
together, he began to twirl the stick between his hands as fast as he
could, as he had seen the savages do, though often they used a
bowstring. He continued this for a good while, until his hands, hard
as they were, grew sore and his face was running with sweat; but
whether that the wood was damp, or that Billy was not dexterous enough,
I know not, only that there was never a sign of smouldering, though the
wood was hot when we felt it. Billy insisted that I should take a
turn, which I did, and twirled the stick even faster, I believe, than
he did, though not so long; but it was all no good, and at last we
threw the wood from us, concluding that if we were to obtain fire, it
must be in some other way. I do not mean that we never tried the
native way again: we were not so easily discouraged; we tried more than
once in the intervals of doing other things, and I think that with
perseverance we might have succeeded at last, only it was not
necessary, as will be seen hereafter.
[Sidenote: Building Materials]
This failure, though it annoyed us at the time, was of use to us,
inasmuch as it set us on noticing
[1] This appears to have been what botanists call _Rhizophora
mucronata_.--H.S.
the differences between woods, which until that time we had thought
little about, but was now become a matter of importance, with our
fortress in view. We needed a hard, strong wood, yet not too hard to
be worked with our clumsy tools, and we spent a day or two in testing
the varieties of trees that grew on our island. The cocoa-nut palm was
by far the most plentiful, and the bread-fruit tree came next: but we
did not think of cutting down either of these to make posts of, because
they were food trees, and, being ignorant how often they bore fruit, we
did not venture at the first to diminish the source of our provision by
so much as one. Besides, we found, when we tried to cut a cocoa-nut
tree which had been cast down in the storm, that the wood was exceeding
hard, and so heavy that it sank in water. After this testing, I say,
we discovered a tree on the hill-side whose wood was neither too hard
nor too soft, and as it existed in great numbers, and bore no fruit,
none that was edible, at least, we determined on this as the material
for our house. I never knew the name of it, but it seemed to be a kind
of pine.
I had now, as I say, clean lost count of the days, and had no means of
keeping a journal, even if I had had the patience. You must therefore
think of us as getting up every day with the sun, and going to bed
every night when it became dark. I say, going to bed, though indeed we
had little that deserved the name, our couch consisting of nothing but
the bare ground and such leaves and grasses as we found serviceable.
It was a mercy that the climate was so even, and the nights were not at
all cold, or I do believe we should have perished, our clothing being
so light. Indeed it was not long before we began to look with concern
upon our garments, which were much rotted already by the drenchings
they had had, and were becoming rent and frayed from hard usage. We
had no means either of repairing them, or of making others, and we
could only think that in course of time we should have to go naked,
like the savages. However, this did not trouble us at the moment,
since we had so much to do and to think about, what with getting our
food, and preparing our house, and fending off the dogs, which were
very troublesome, keeping at a distance, indeed, by day, but prowling
around our hut at night, and scratching at the walls so that they often
disturbed our sleep. Between sunrise and sunset we worked very
diligently, and resting one day in seven--or it might be five, or six
sometimes, since we kept no strict count; but I did not think God would
be angry with us if we were not very exact in this, since we did as
well as we could.
We set to work getting material for our big house, as we called it,
immediately after our little house, or hut, was finished. At first we
were greatly disheartened, for though we chose small trees of which to
make our logs, both for easiness of felling and of moving when they
were felled, we found that our clumsy axes were very poor tools. Not
only did the flints need sharpening every few minutes, like a mower's
scythe, but being attached to the handles only with creepers, and not
very skilfully, they continually worked loose, and we had to desist in
order to bind them again, which mightily exasperated us. At the end of
the first day, seeing what little progress we had made, we were ready
to despair. "It will take us a hundred years, master," says Billy,
"and the corner posts will be rotted before we get the roof on. I
don't believe in none of your Robinson Crusoes; and we'd better have
been drownded; and I warrant you Hoggett and Chick and great fat
Wabberley are just enjoying themselves somewhere, and I'm sick of my
life."
[Sidenote: Billy Scoffs at Romance]
I have forgot to say that when we were eating our meals, or resting, I
had told Billy the surprising story of Robinson Crusoe, of whom he had
never heard, encouraging both him and myself with the tale of how that
good mariner, after tribulations like to our own, came at length
happily to his own land again. But I own I thought our case was much
worse than Crusoe's, for he had clothes, and corn food, and good
liquors, and firearms, and good tools, though few; and, indeed,
everything he needed save company, and that came to him at last;
whereas we had absolutely nothing except the fruits of the island and
what things we could make for ourselves. Yet in reckoning up our
situation and his, I felt very thankful that I had a companion, for the
worst of evils are tolerable if we have some one to share them, and I
wonder that Crusoe did not go stark mad, being alone for so many years
till his man Friday came. Billy often scoffed when I told him what I
remembered of Crusoe's story, and said he wasn't near so badly off as
we were, and if he--that is, Billy--only had what Crusoe had, he would
do as much as he, or more, especially if he had a forge and
blacksmith's tools. And in particular, when I told him of Crusoe's
horror when he saw a footprint in the sand, he burst into a laugh, and
asked why there was only one footprint, and made me go down to our
little bit of sandy beach there and then, and showed me the prints he
made with his own feet, and asked me triumphantly whether the man whose
mark Crusoe saw was a one-legged man, or what.
Another thing I must mention, before I forget it, was that the first
time we went down to the shore we saw that the second boat, which,
being broken, the mariners had left, had been washed away. We were
very much vexed at this, and wished we had had the forethought to drag
it higher up, where the waves could not reach it. I do not think we
could have mended it enough to make it seaworthy, but we might have
tried; and it would at least have provided us with planks which we
should have found useful. However, it was gone, and there was no use
repining.
But to come back to our house. We were, I say, in despair at the small
result of our first day's hard labour, especially as we saw no way of
improving our tools, and had no other means of felling the trees. It
came into my mind that if we only had fire, we might have burned them
down, and we tried again for a good while to make fire with the stick
and the chunks of wood. But we had no more success than before, and
Billy cried out that he wished he could get some of the fire that set
the mountain water a-boiling, but he supposed he would be burned alive
if he tried to get any. I smiled at his simplicity, and to ease his
thoughts a little, I asked him to accompany me up the mountain, it
being my turn to take our nightly look-out over the sea. It chanced
that as we strayed over the mountain-side we lighted upon one of the
splinters of the boulder which Billy had broken before, and the gleam
of metal in it catching my eye, I said to Billy that it was desperately
plaguy to be where metal abounded, and not be able to use it.
[Sidenote: Making Fire]
"Why, master," says he, "who knows as how we can't use it? We ain't
tried. Why didn't we think of it afore?" And straightway he picks up
the splinter, and I found a flint, and he struck them together, and
fairly danced with delight when he made a spark, though he stopped
dancing and howled next moment, having hurt his bare feet on the sharp
rock.
I felt as great a delight as Billy, it being plain that we now had the
first means of making fire, and if only we could discover anything to
serve as tinder we might soon have a fire as large as we pleased. We
went back to our hut by the wood very quickly, being eager to try
before it was dark; but though we collected plenty of dry grass and
struck spark after spark out of the flint, we could not kindle a flame,
and, to our great disappointment, ate cold supper again. The next day
also we were no more successful, though we neglected our work while we
tried again and again, and should have been very sorry for the loss of
time but that time mattered very little to us. However, in the
afternoon, when we went into the wood to get cocoa-nuts, I sat myself
down on the trunk of a great tree which had been thrown down by a
storm, I suppose--not our storm, but earlier, for the leaves were all
withered. I sat myself down, I say, but went lower than I intended,
the trunk, that appeared solid, giving way under me, so that I toppled
over backwards in a cloud of dust. When we looked at the tree, we saw
that the inside of it was completely rotted away, with the dry rot, as
we say, and we both cried out at the same moment that this might be our
tinder. We immediately broke off a strip of the bark, and collected
some of the dust upon it, and then striking a spark, we caught it on
the tinder, which was, however, so dry that it flared up and burnt out
in an instant, without kindling the bark. We remedied this very soon
by mingling some dry grass, rubbed small, with the wood dust, and this
burning more slowly, it caused the bark to smoulder, from which we blew
up a flame, and in a few minutes had a very pretty fire of sticks.
Billy leapt around it in an ecstasy, and I could not help but liken him
to a fire-worshipper, whose religion I understood better now than
before, after all the trouble we had had.
"Now we can bake some bread," said I.
"And roast some pork," says Billy.
"We had better make bread first," said I.
"My mouth is watering for the crackling," says Billy.
"Bread will be the sooner done," I said.
"But the taste of pork stays in the mouth longer," says Billy.
It nearly came to a quarrel between us, as to which should be cooked
first, meat or bread; but when we were in the heat of the argument we
perceived that our fire was going out, and that brought us to our
senses. We piled more sticks on it, and broken cocoa-nut shells, and
Billy, yielding to my desire for bread, went out into the wood and soon
returned with two or three fine large fruits, weighing, I should think,
about three pounds apiece. We had seen the native way of cooking this
fruit, paring off the rough rind and baking the inner part, between the
rind and the core, in an oven; but having no oven, though we promised
ourselves to build one soon, we laid the fruits as they were on a red
part of the fire, turning them about as you do chestnuts, and after a
while we took them up and, having broken away the rind, ate the bread
hot, and I do think I had never in my life before made such a hearty
meal as I now did, though, to be sure, the bread had a slight flavour
of burnt wood. However, we ate a good supper, and went to bed much
happier than at any time since we first came to the island.
[Sidenote: Bread]
We made our breakfast in the same way when we awoke, but finding that
it took some time to get a fire, we considered whether we could not
keep it constantly alive, yet without needing to replenish it too
frequently with fuel, which would have been a trouble, as well as a
hindrance to our work. After some thought, we devised a kind of
covered-in grate, which we built four-square of stones and pieces of
rock, filling up the spaces between them, where they did not fit, with
the clayey earth I have before mentioned, which we moistened with
water, fetched from the lake in half a cocoa-nut shell, and then worked
with our hands into a kind of mortar. We made a cover to this grate
with small boughs plaited with grass and smeared all over with earth,
and at the bottom of the grate we left two small holes by which air
might enter, not a great current, but enough to keep the fire
smouldering without burning much fuel. This device answered our
expectations very well. We found that by casting into the embers a
quantity of dry brushwood, and blowing upon them, we could obtain a
brisk fire in a very little time, and when we had no more need of it
for the present, we laid on a heap of grass and twigs, not too dry, and
shut down the lid, and so found that we could keep our fire alive for a
whole day with no more tending. We discovered, moreover, that by
making a second enclosure about our grate, and covering this in also,
we had a very convenient oven, in which we could lay in the morning the
bread-fruit we needed for our dinner, and at midday find it very well
cooked, neither too much nor too little. I must not forget to say that
our neighbours the dogs watched these proceedings very curiously, and
the first time we left the grate they went to it, to investigate with
their noses; but the stones being very hot, their noses were burnt, and
they ran yelping away, and came to it no more except the first time we
roasted some pig's flesh, and then, being in a perfect frenzy at the
savoury smell, they scratched down the walls of our oven and ran away
with our meat, hot as it was, so that we had none for dinner. At this
Billy flew into a fine rage, I assure you, and we had to consider of
some way of preserving our meat from these greedy maws, of which more
in its place.
[Sidenote: Wood-cutting]
Having now fire at our command, we set about putting it to the use for
which we had so greatly desired it, namely, the felling of trees for
our big house. We kindled fires against the trunks of four trees of a
fair size which we selected for our corner posts, at first setting the
fire all round, until we saw both that the wind, which was fairly
strong that morning, blew the flames all one way, and also that it
would be more convenient to burn the tree on the opposite side from the
direction in which we wished it to fall; then we put out the fires
except on the windward side. We found it no easy matter to keep the
flames at a just height, so that they did not burn more of the trunks
than we desired. Every now and again we chipped away the charred wood
with our axes, and so the fire ate deeper and deeper into the trees,
and we cut deeper and deeper also, until by the close of this day the
trees stood, as it were, but by a thread. We wished we had ropes,
wherewith we might pull the trees to the ground, but having none we
threw ourselves with great violence against the trunks, and so cast
them all down but one, which we left for a little more burning on the
morrow, and went to our hut very well satisfied with our day's work.
We were sitting at our supper when of a sudden Billy gave a jump and
cried out, "What if any savages have seen our smoke!" Our fires had
given a good deal of smoke, especially the damper woods with which we
fed them; but I said that even the nearest island was too far off for
our smoke to be easily seen from it, and as for any savages who might
be cruising in canoes, they would suppose it came from the mountain. I
could not doubt that our island was an object of terror to the peoples
of the neighbouring islands, and I said we ought to be thankful to God
that it was so, since it was better to be lonely than to be made
slaves, or eaten by cannibals. This comforted Billy, though he said
that we had better use the driest woods we could find for our fires, so
that the smoke would be less.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH
OF THE BUILDING OF OUR HUT, TO WHICH WE BRING MORE ENTHUSIASM THAN SKILL
I have not said anything about the plan of our big hut, but it must not
be supposed that we began to work without any design. We often talked
about it, and so made a general plan, though we forgot many things and
did not foresee others. What this plan was will be made clear as I go
on: if I set it down here all in one place it would be like writing the
same thing twice over, which would be tedious.
Having felled the four fairly large trees we designed for our
corner-posts, the next thing was to bring them down from the wood to
the level plateau where we intended to build. We lopped off some of
the branches and burnt off the rest, but then found that the trunks
were too heavy for us to drag, even though it was downhill. Thus we
were put to it to make rollers, which was not such a tedious matter as
felling the trees, for there were many young trees of a shape and size
fit for this use when we had taken off their branches. But when we
came to place the rollers under the first of our trunks we could not at
first by any means do it, the tree being so heavy that the two of us
together could not raise it an inch from the ground. How to get over
this difficulty puzzled us for some time; indeed, we might never have
thought of a way but for what I may call an accident. We had gone down
to the shore for our morning swim, and as we walked over the beach we
spied a crab scuttling away under a small rock. Billy had felt a
grudge against crabs ever since one had robbed him of his club: so he
cries out, "We'll have this old crab for dinner, master," and with that
he takes his axe and prises up the rock, and then gives the crab a
great knock, which did it not the least harm, it being large with a
thick shell. However, he was not to be baffled, so, setting down the
rock again, he bids me watch it, and runs off to the wood, returning
presently with a long bit of creeper, in which he had made a loop or
noose at one end. This noose he slips over one of the claws of the
crab, and drew it tight, and then set off at a run, dragging the crab
after him.
[Sidenote: A Crab]
We ate the crab for dinner, and liked it very well, but the more
important matter was that seeing Billy prise up the rock gave me a
notion of the right manner of moving our trees.
"We must carry two rocks up to the wood," I said, "and cut two stout
poles, and then I will show you how the trees can be moved."
"'Tis desperate hard work, master," says Billy with a prodigious sigh.
"We don't get on very fast. I wish we could find a cave where we could
live like that old Robinson Crusoe, without any building at all."
"But he built all the same," said I.
"But not without tools," says Billy.
However, he agreed to my proposal, and we carried a rock between us,
with a great deal of sweating, up to where the fallen trees lay, and
then Billy says, "Ain't we fools!" and showed me that we could save a
deal of labour by fastening strands of creeper to the second rock, and
dragging it up instead of carrying it in our arms. This being done we
cut two stout poles, which took us a long time, and then, putting the
rocks one on either side of the first trunk, we took a pole each, and,
resting them on the rocks, put the one end under the tree and pressed
heavily on the other, and so contrived to lift the weight which our
unaided strength was quite unequal to. I do not mean that we had never
seen levers before, but we might never have thought of them unless
Billy had prised up the rock after that crab. The use of levers was
indeed a mystery to him, I mean the explanation of them, he saying that
we were no stronger than before, and there was certainly no strength in
two dead poles, and when I reminded him of the pulleys and the windlass
on board ship, which also helped to raise things, he said that poles
were not pulleys, nor a windlass neither, and he didn't see what that
had to do with it. However, there was the trunk lifted, and while I
held it so with my pole, Billy slipped a roller under it, and working
thus from the end towards the middle, we brought the roller along by
degrees, and then found that we could slip the second roller under the
other end without the help of the poles.
Then, with much pushing and hauling, we set the trunk a-moving on the
rollers down the slope. It was still hard work enough, for where the
earth was soft, the rollers sank into it under the heavy weight of the
tree, and when we came to a part that was hard and pretty smooth, the
trunk set to a-rolling so fast that it almost ran away with us, and
Billy, who was in front, was very nearly sent headlong down, which
would have been very terrible if he had fallen plump into our grate.
We brought the other three trunks down to our plateau in the same way,
and thus had the four stout posts which we intended for the corners of
our house, though there was a great deal to be done to them before they
could be erected. They were about the same thickness, being sixteen or
eighteen inches across, but not the same length, and we had first to
make them equal, which took us a long time; I think we were ten days at
the work. When we had finished it, the trunks were about fourteen feet
long, that being the height we had determined on for our house,
allowing for some portion of the posts to be driven into the earth. We
did not peel the bark off the trees, but left it on, thinking it would
do no harm.
[Sidenote: Choosing a Site]
We marked out the lines of our house, on the level plateau near the
lake, which was almost the only even spot on the island, and allowed us
a space of about twenty feet square, which I thought was large enough,
thinking besides of the great labour we should be put to if we tried to
make too big a house. But when it came to erecting our corner-posts we
were in a great quandary. The ground was pretty soft, and deeper than
at other parts of the island, which I guessed was due to the heavy
rains washing earth down from the hill above. With spades or shovels
we might have dug holes to a considerable depth, and then slipped the
trunks in, and having thus disposed of a part of the dead weight of
them, we might have raised them to an erect position with levers, or by
pushing them up with our hands as men raise a long ladder. But with no
tools save our blunt axes we saw that such excavation would demand
unconscionable toil, and besides, after we should have accomplished it,
we should be hard put to it to make the earth around the timber
sufficiently firm and compact; so we had to consider another way, which
gave us a great deal of trouble. Indeed, it baffled us for several
days, in which, however, we were not idle, but occupied ourselves in
other concerns.
[Sidenote: A Flagstaff]
One of these was the erecting of a signal-post. Although, when we
talked matters over--as we often did, both in the daytime and
especially at night before we fell asleep--when we talked things over,
I say, we always concluded that there was little or no chance of being
rescued, and made our plans as if we were to remain on this island for
the rest of our lives; yet we thought it right to take our measures for
attracting any friendly ship that might heave in sight. We must not,
of course, attempt to raise any permanent signal, for such a thing
would beyond question be discovered by the savages of some neighbouring
island when going about in their canoes, and the last thing we could
wish was to bring savages into our peaceful domain. On the other hand,
unless we had some means of signalling, a ship might easily pass us by
before we could communicate with it, for the island was so small that
no vessel would heave to on the mere chance of finding water, since its
most important river, if it had one, could not be more than a mere
brook in size. Being thus decided that we ought to have some kind of
signal ready, in such a case, we determined that nothing could be
better than a flagstaff, even if we should never have a flag.
As for the spot where to erect it, we had no difficulty in choosing
that; no better could be found than the wooded hill above the lava bed,
whither we climbed every morning and evening to take our lookout. At
the top of this hill, and somewhat apart from the rest of the trees,
there stood a tree very straight and tall, overtopping the others, so
that it formed a very clear mark. Since our flagstaff was not to be
permanently in sight, it seemed best that we should have one that we
could take to pieces, and put together when it was necessary to hoist
it, and I had already seen, at the edge of the lake, what I thought
would serve our purpose to a marvel. This was a cluster of trees, or
rather shrubs, like what is called bamboo, the stalks being tough and
hollow, with joints or knuckles here and there. We cut down three or
four of these stalks, choosing them all of different diameters, and
having burnt out the pith inside them, for some distance from the top,
we contrived to make a kind of telescope tube by fitting them together,
it reaching a length of near thirty feet.
This being made, we cut, in the top of the trunk of the tall, straight
tree before mentioned, a groove large enough to form a socket for the
bottom end of our flagstaff, and when we had fitted it to our
satisfaction, we ventured just before sunset to raise the staff, and it
made a sort of topmast to the tree, standing some twelve feet above the
summit.
"This is prime," says Billy. "Now all we want is an ancient or a
pendant to fix to the top of it, and there you are."
"We have nothing but our shirts," said I, "and those we cannot spare."
"But we don't need to raise our flag until we see a ship over yonder,"
says Billy, "and if we do see one I can strip off my shirt in no time."
"But we can't fit the staff in no time," I replied, "and we must
practise ourselves in that until we are very speedy in it."
We did this accordingly, several evenings in succession, always at
dusk, so that our proceedings should not be seen by sharp-eyed savages;
and we found in a few days that we could fit the joints of the staff
together, and set it up in its socket, in the space of five minutes, as
near as I could guess. We kept the several joints in the tree, so that
we should not have the labour of hauling them from the ground every
time, fastening them to the boughs with strands of creepers.
While on this matter of the flagstaff, I must say that it came into my
mind one day that I had seen the native women making a kind of cloth
out of the bark of a tree, though I had not observed what tree it was.
I thought we might contrive to make a pendant in the same way, and
after some trials of the bark of different trees we discovered that the
bread-fruit tree was best fitted for our purpose, and by diligently
beating with stones upon a broad strip of the bark, moistened with
water, we flattened and stretched it until it became a sort of thin
fabric, which would serve for a flag, though a makeshift one. But
having made it, we could not at first devise a means of attaching it to
the staff, having no nails, or anything that could be used in their
stead. There did, indeed, come out of the bark as we bruised it, a
sticky substance which we hoped might serve as glue, but we found that
it was not sufficiently tenacious. However, after some thought I hit
upon the device of stringing the flag on a strand of creeper, and then
knotting the ends of this about the pole.
Our success in this particular gave us much contentment, and Billy
declared that now that we knew how to make cloth we must discover a
means of making needles and thread, so that we could patch our shirts
and breeches, which were already miserably rent and tattered. But this
was too great a puzzle for us at the moment, though we solved it
afterwards, as I shall tell in its place.
[Sidenote: Pottery]
Having started to tell some of the matters that occupied us while we
were pondering the means of setting up the posts of our house, I may
mention here another notion that came into my head. We had used some
of the clayey earth of the hill-side to fill the interstices of our
small house, and being often at a loss for vessels in which to cook our
food, and also to carry water--as yet we did not drink it much, for
very good reasons--I thought of trying to make some pots and pans. I
had, to be sure, no turning wheel, nor could I make one, nor had I the
prepared flints or the lead for glaze, such as were employed in my
uncle's factory. But I had seen the native people making pottery on
the island at which we touched, and that being, so to speak, my own
line of business, I had taken more particular note of it than of any
other of their devices.
Their manner was to put a piece of calabash, or some such thing, under
a lump of clay, to make it turn freely, and then to turn it slowly, but
very deftly, by hand, fashioning thereby a vessel of such regular shape
that I am sure my uncle, could he have seen it, would scarce have
believed it had not been thrown, as we say, on the wheel. Such vessels
they first dried in the sun, then, when a group of them had been
moulded, a fire was kindled round and over them, and so they were
baked. I had no calabash, but I tried my prentice hand with the half
of a cocoa-nut shell, and found it very serviceable. But what gave me
a deal of trouble was the clay. When I had mixed a great lump of it,
moistening it with water and pounding it with stones, and had moulded a
sort of porringer upon the shell at first, the vessel would not keep
its shape, even so long as it took me to set it upon the ground to dry.
After making several trials of it, and being always disappointed, I saw
that I must mix some other substance with the earth to give it
consistency. This was a thing that baffled me for days, since all our
scouring of the island did not bring to light any substance that would
be of use, and we had no means of grinding into powder the flints which
lay around in plenty. How strange is it that we may look afar for what
we have at our very doors! All of a sudden it came into my head that
the sand of the seashore, at the edge of the lava tract, which we trod
every day in going to bathe, might be the very substance I needed, and
I found, when I came to try it, that it not only gave the clay the
consistency I desired, but added a glaze to it when I baked the first
vessel I made with it. I soon had a row of basins finished, not very
comely in shape, but serviceable, and all of a size; and Billy, having
heard me deplore that I had nothing larger than a cocoa-nut to mould
them on, went a-prowling on the shore one day, and came staggering back
with a great dome-shaped stone, and when he set it down in front of me,
"Oh, ain't I a fool!" says he.
[Illustration: Billy's Plate and Mug]
"What's the matter, Billy?" I asked. "'Tis the very thing I have been
wanting this long time."
"I know it is, master," says he, "but what I don't know is why I was
such a silly ass as to sweat myself a-carrying of it, when I might have
rolled it on its edge."
"Well, you won't do it again," I said, smiling at his woebegone look.
"No, I take my davy I won't," says he.
"What is 'davy'?" I asked, never having heard that expression before.
"Why, don't you know that?" says he, opening his eyes very wide.
"No. What is it?" I said.
Then he scratched his head, and looked at the ground, and after a great
deal of consideration says: "Well, master, I can't say, not to be
certain, what a davy is; but suppose I said to you, 'I eat forty
cocoa-nuts at a go,' and you said to me, 'You're a liar,' and I said,
'I take my davy on it,' you'd have to believe me or else fetch me a
crack on the nob: at least, that's what they do Limehouse way."
This may seem a very trifling matter, and not worthy of setting down in
a serious history; but I quote the words to show that we did not pass
the days without discourse, from which indeed I for my part got much
entertainment.
With the round stone which Billy brought me, and others we afterwards
discovered, I made several pots of different sizes, which we found very
useful, more and more, indeed, as time went on. And as I became more
dexterous with practice, the shape and fashion of the pottery likewise
improved, so that I grew proud of my handicraft, and wished my uncle
could have seen it. As for Billy, he was very jealous of my work, and
lamented that he had not a forge and an anvil and the other implements
of a smith's calling, and he would show me what he could do; but as he
lacked these things, and so far as he could see was never like to have
them, he very sensibly employed himself in helping me, and in getting
and preparing our food, and the various materials needed for our house.
I must not forget to mention, too, that it was Billy who first thought
of using the red sap of the wood I have before spoke of, in giving a
dye to my pottery, which became thereby a bright red colour, very
pleasing to the eye.
[Illustration: Some of my Pottery]
All this while we had been thinking very deeply of the matter of our
big hut, and at last we hit upon a means of erecting the four
corner-posts. First we drove the handle of one of the axes--the wood
being hard and the earth soft, as I have said--for some distance into
the ground, and then having withdrawn it, we were able to drive into
the hole a somewhat thicker pole, the end of which we sharpened to a
point with our axes. Then we took the first of our corner-posts,
sharpened the end of it in like manner, this costing us much labour,
and charred the same end with fire, both to make the driving of it into
the earth easier, and to preserve it from rotting. The more serious
difficulty, of raising the heavy post and driving it in, was solved in
the following manner. We made three long ropes by twining strands of
creepers together, and these we tied very securely to the top of our
post. Having made a hole in the earth, as aforesaid, to the depth of
about four feet, we brought the pointed end directly over the hole, and
then raised the other end gradually with levers, propping it up
continually, as we tilted it higher, with a pile of small logs and
stones, which we increased moment by moment as required. I leave you
to judge what a slow and tedious business this was.
[Sidenote: Building under Difficulties]
When by this means the top end of the post was raised to a considerable
height, the pointed end slid into the hole, though not straight; but
the post was now tilted sufficiently for us to get under it and heave
it up with our hands until it was fairly upright, and then the point of
it sank some little way into the hole, but not far. Then, while I held
it upright, Billy went to a distance of a few yards, and drove a wedge
of wood like a tent-peg into the ground, using for hammer a long stone;
and this being done, he bound one of the three ropes (so I call them)
firmly about it. He did likewise with two more tent-pegs and the two
other ropes, so that when he had finished, the post was held erect and
stoutly supported by three ropes, the lower ends of which were so
placed as to be at the angles of what is called in the _Elements of
Euclid_ an equilateral triangle. This work took us a whole day,
reckoning in the time for our meals.
The next part of our design was to erect a scaffolding about the post.
For this we chose and cut down stalks of the bamboo-like plant of which
we had made our flagstaff. These we lashed firmly together with
creeper ropes--or rather Billy did it, he having a seaman's dexterity
in such things; and driving their lower ends into the ground, we
contrived to construct a scaffolding four-square about the post, each
face of it about nine feet long, and carried up a little higher than
the top of the post, so as to clear the ropes that held this in
position. The scaffolding being finished with a prodigious deal of
labour--for having no ladder we were obliged to make standing-places of
stones, which were very insecure; indeed, both Billy and I tumbled off
them more than once, and grew very angry at having to collect the
stones and build them up again: the scaffolding being finished, I say,
we made a light platform of straight branches upon the top of it, but
not quite covering it, so that the top of the post was not hidden.
"It won't bear us, that I'm sure," says Billy, when we had made the
platform.
"Try," said I. "You are lighter than me: you go first."
Billy clambered on to the platform very nimbly, and though the
scaffolding trembled and swayed so that I thought to see it instantly
collapse, it did no such thing, and I ventured to climb up on the other
side and join Billy. I was much more clumsy than he was, and pretty
nearly lost my balance, but managed to steady myself, and then we both
stood on the platform, and found that it bore the weight of us both
very well.
The next thing was to haul up the implement which, after much
consideration, we had devised for driving in the post. 'Twas a massy
stump of a tree, which, both together, we could heave about two feet
above the ground--such a thing as resembled in some sort the big wooden
pummet which road-menders use for hammering down the cobbles in the
streets, though our pummet had no handle either at the top or the side,
but must be heaved up by main force from the bottom. We tied it many
times round with our creeper ropes, and, having mounted again on to the
platform, we began to haul. But the weight of the pummet, and our
heaving, and the being both on one side of the platform, was too much
for our frail support; the scaffolding fell apart, down we toppled
headlong after the pummet, and the strain upon the sustaining ropes
being too great, one of them snapped, and down came the post, falling
very luckily in the opposite direction from us, or we might have been
killed, or at least had our heads broken.
Billy fairly howled with disappointment at this overthrow of our hopes,
and let forth many of the ugly words which he had learnt, either at
Limehouse or aboard the _Lovey Susan_. Indeed, it was a most vexatious
accident, for the labour of a good many days was undone in a moment,
and we had to begin over again, both to erect the corner-post and to
construct a scaffolding. Billy, who was like a child in some things,
declared and vowed he would work no more on the big hut. "I take my
davy I won't," says he. "What's the good? Here's another big hole
tore in my breeches. Why should you and me work like slaves when there
ain't no call for it, victuals growing free? And as for lodgings, the
small hut is good enough for me. We don't want a castle when there
ain't no one here but dogs and pigs; and I tell you what it is, master,
we don't eat enough pork, and I wish we had some onions;" and so he
talked on, and I said nothing, for I knew he would grumble until he was
tired, and then readily take up his work again. So in fact it proved,
for after a day's idleness, or rather change, we spending the day in
hunting for eggs, we set to work to weave more ropes and put together
another scaffolding, which when we tried it stood very steady, even
when we hauled up the pummet. With this pummet we drove the
corner-post into the earth inch by inch, lifting it with our hands (it
was as much as we could do) and then letting it fall plump on the head
of the post. 'Twas terribly slow work, and hard too, and we thought
our backs would break across the middle, they ached so much, only we
had to pause in the driving every now and then to let down our
platform, in proportion as the post went deeper into the ground, and
this of course took a great while. However, we drove the post at last
to the depth of four feet, and then Billy was just as elated as before
he had been cast down, for the post stood so massive and solid that it
seemed nothing short of an earthquake could move it; and that was
strong enough for us, for against an earthquake, if it came, of course
we could do nothing. Having succeeded with our first post, we did not
take quite so long about erecting the other three; but it was near six
weeks, I should think, before we got all four in position, I mean six
weeks after we had felled the trunks, they having then to be pointed
with our rude axes, and the scaffolding having to be built up afresh
with the same care for the fourth post as for the first.
When we had the four posts up we were very well satisfied with our
handiwork, but desperately weary, for we had stuck to it day after day
without respite except to get our food and perform the other articles
of our regular life--bathing, and going up to our watch-tower, as we
called it, and so forth. Accordingly I said to Billy that we would
take a week's holiday before we made the walls of our house, on which
Billy sighed very heavily.
"Why, don't you want a holiday?" I asked him.
"'Course I do, master," says he, "but how can you have a holiday
without any beer?"
He then told me that when his father took a holiday, he drove to some
country part near London--Islington, or maybe Hampstead--and spent the
day in playing skittles and drinking beer. This put a notion into my
head, and the first day of our holiday we played skittles with some
short posts set up in the sand on the beach, bowling at them with
cocoa-nuts. 'Twas as good a sport as we could devise at that time,
though we soon came to invent a better, as you shall hear.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH
OF MY ENCOUNTER WITH A SEA MONSTER; AND OF THE MEANS WHEREBY WE
PROVIDED OURSELVES WITH ARMS
I think it was on the second day of our week's holiday that we had a
terrible fright, which affected us the more because hitherto there had
been so little to alarm us. We had eaten our dinner, and were roaming
idly along the high ground in the west of the island, when, looking
over the brink, Billy spied some nests among the rocks in the face of
the cliff. We had never been able to obtain near so many eggs for our
food as we wished, the hens laying their eggs, as I have said, in
secret places which required much searching for, and for that we did
not on our working days care to spend time. But spying these nests,
Billy was set on clambering down to them to see if they contained eggs,
which would make us a very good supper.
There was a narrow ledge that ran down the face of the cliff, ending
not far above the sea, which at this spot washed the base, there being
no beach of sand. The descent was so steep, and the ledge so narrow,
that I was in some doubt whether the attempt were not too dangerous;
but Billy, as I say, was set on it, and when I saw him actually begin
to clamber down, I could do naught but accompany him, and soon
outstripped him, because he stopped more often than I did to pry in all
the crevices. The face of the cliff was much scarred, and certain
large boulders in it seemed to me to be very loosely embedded; indeed,
now and again a piece of rock would become detached when I catched hold
of it to steady myself, and rolled and rumbled away until it fell into
the sea. You see by this how carefully it behoved us to go, and if the
ledge had not been a little wider than it appeared from the top, I
think I should have given up the enterprise. However, we persevered,
and in the course of our descent rifled of their eggs such nests as
came within our reach, the rightful owners of the nests, which were
sea-birds, wheeling about our heads with a clamour of shrill and
plaintive cries. We put the eggs in our pockets, having no other means
of carrying them, and when Billy sighed for a basket I said that we
would try to make one the very same day, there being plenty of material
for weaving.
[Sidenote: A Sea Monster]
Here and there in the face of the cliff there grew trees, not of great
size; indeed, it was a marvel that any grew, the ground being so hard
and rugged. When we came near the sea, we saw a little cluster of a
kind of pine tree[1] (at least I judged it so by its exceeding pleasant
smell) which jutted out over the sea, one of the tallest of them,
covered with great bunches of flowers of a bright yellow colour, very
pretty, reaching up to the edge of the narrow path down which we were
climbing. It was a strange tree, for instead of having a trunk thicker
at the bottom, like other trees, it divided into a number of shoots,
which entered the ground in the shape of a pyramid. I was just
reaching forward
[1] Probably the screw-pine (_Pandanus odoratissimus_).--H.S.
to pluck one of the blossoms when I felt a strange tickling about my
ankle, and immediately afterward a sharp pain like that of a gad-fly's
bite, only worse. I thought a scorpion or some such thing had bitten
me, and turned myself a little, for the ledge on which I stood was too
narrow for great movements, and drew my leg back so that the reptile
should not sting me again. But I felt then as if my ankle had been
caught in a noose, which was being drawn constantly tighter, and I
could not free my leg from the grip, though I kicked as much as I
dared. Looking down to see what was holding me, I was annoyed, yet
relieved at the same time, to find that my leg was caught in nothing
worse, as it appeared, than a big brown, or rather brownish-purple,
leaf, into which I supposed I had unwittingly put my foot. Yet I
wondered that a mere leaf could grip me so firmly, and as I took out of
my belt the axe without which I never went abroad, intending to cut the
impediment away, my eye chanced to travel along the leaf towards its
furthest extremity, where it was partly hidden by a cluster of fruit.
And then I felt a shiver run down my spine like a trickle of cold
water, for there, beyond the cluster, I saw two horrid eyes, like a
parrot's, gleaming in the midst of a big shapeless body, which I knew
to be alive by its pulsations. I had never in my life seen or heard of
such a thing, and knew not what it was or whether it was dangerous or
no; but the mere sight of it filled me with a sickening dread, and when
I saw the loathly monster drawing nearer to me, working its way, as it
seemed, by the tentacles wherewith it had attached itself to the tree,
and its body throbbing, I was as near overcome with sheer terror as any
man could be, so that I could not think, nor even cry out to Billy, who
was some few yards above me. All that I could do, and that was only by
instinct, was to resist the creature's pull, which had all but
dislodged me from my narrow foothold.
It was Billy's voice that roused me from this palsy of the mind. "My
pockets won't hold no more, master," he said, being quite ignorant of
what was passing beneath him. Then I cried out to him that a monster
was attacking me, and at the same time I bent down and slashed
furiously with my axe upon the tentacle that gripped my leg, and turned
sick again when the axe-head encountered the slimy mass. But my
strokes, doubly redoubled, caused the monster somewhat to relax its
grip, and immediately afterward a big jagged piece of rock, hurled by
Billy, smote full upon it with a sickening thud, and rebounding fell
with a splash into the sea. The monster, as if stunned by the shock,
loosened its hold on the branches to which, as we now saw, it had
anchored itself, and in a little while fell into the sea and
disappeared from our sight.
[Illustration: "I CRIED OUT TO HIM THAT A MONSTER WAS ATTACKING ME."]
"I never did see such a wicked villain," says Billy. "Why, master,
you're as white as a sheet!" and, indeed, I was not far from swooning,
the horror of that great beast being still upon me. Billy was not near
so much affected, not having felt the monster's grip nor seen closely
its baleful eyes; and I think Billy was a trifle scornful of the terror
I could not conceal, though afterwards he said he didn't wonder at my
feeling pretty bad. It was some little time before I was sufficiently
recovered to attempt the upward climb; but, with Billy's help, I
presently clambered to the top, and threw myself very thankfully on the
grass, never heeding Billy's lamentable outcry when he found that two
of the eggs he carried had broken in his pocket.
This terrible encounter, and most happy escape, set me on thinking
first what a mercy it was I carried my axe, and then how perfectly
defenceless we were against any human enemy that might come against us
armed. I said to Billy that we must spend the rest of our holiday in
making weapons, though when I spoke I had not the least notion of what
we could make that would be of any avail. Billy was for making huge
clubs, and sticking pieces of flint into their knobby ends, which would
beyond doubt have proved very formidable weapons at close quarters;
but, as I had told him already, we should be shot down with spears or
arrows before we could come within reach of the enemy, and therefore we
could do nothing against them unless we made weapons like their own.
Whereupon Billy declared for spears, since we had no strings for bows,
and we spent a day cutting light poles for the shafts and in searching
for sharp flints that might serve as the heads. But we had such a
difficulty in fastening the heads on, and the spears were so exceeding
rude and clumsy when made, that I despaired of ever making serviceable
defensive weapons of them, and being by no means satisfied that it was
beyond our capacity to fashion bows and arrows, I seized occasion while
Billy was cooking our supper (which was baked bread-fruit and fried
eggs, the latter stronger in flavour and not near so pleasant as hens'
eggs, having a fishy taste)--I seized occasion, I say, to make a first
trial for a bow-string, which Billy had very shrewdly perceived would
be the greatest difficulty.
[Sidenote: Making Arms]
I tried first of all a very thin strand of a creeping plant, but though
that was tough enough, it was not at all elastic, so that I gave that
up at once. Next I bethought me of the fibres in the husks and leaves
of the cocoa-nut, and wondered whether these could be woven into a
cord; and if any are surprised that I should so much as mention this,
having seen cocoa-nuts, perhaps, only as they appear in our shops, I
will explain that the nut itself is enclosed in a tough fibrous husk of
about two inches in thickness, while the leaf is covered for two or
three feet of its length with a fibrous matting, very fine and strong,
which acts as a kind of brace to the stalk and keeps it steadily fixed
to the trunk. I had taken note of this fibrous substance, and, indeed,
thought I remembered that the native people made thread of it; but when
I came to the actual experiment, I found that the thread so made was as
tough as you please, and it served us excellent well afterward in many
ways, as will presently be seen, but it was quite lacking in that
spring without which a bow-string is impossible.
[Illustration: Spearhead]
I do not mean to say that I made all these discoveries while Billy was
cooking the supper, but only that I began to make my trials then. It
was, indeed, several days before we lighted on something that was
suited to our purpose, and that by a kind of accident. We had gone up
the mountain, as was our daily custom, to make our survey, and coming
down again we left our usual path, for no reason that I can remember,
and came upon a patch of plants of a kind that we had not observed
before. We had become by this time so knowing in the vegetation of our
island, though quite ignorant of the names of the plants, that we
stopped to examine this new kind, and plucked some of it, which we
peeled as we went our way. It seemed to me that the bark of it had a
certain stretch in its fibres, and when we got back to our hut we
pulled the fibres out and twisted some of them together in the manner
of a cord, and fastened the ends of the string thus made to the ends of
a short pliable twig, and to our great joy, when I pulled the string
and released it suddenly, it shot back with a twang as like that of a
true cord as can be imagined. In my delight I cried out that I would
be Robin Hood and Billy should be Little John, which he took at first
to be an affront on his shortness of stature, he being eight inches or
more less than I was at that time; he grew afterwards till there was no
more than four inches betwixt us. But on my telling him what stories I
could remember of Robin Hood and his bold men in Lincoln green--Friar
Tuck and Maid Marion and the rest of the company--Billy, who had never
heard of any of these before, was greatly delighted, though he doubted
whether they were quite so good marksmen as the stories said, and
professed that of them all he would have preferred to be Friar Tuck,
who had a nice taste in venison, just as Billy himself had in pork.
However, he agreed to be Little John, reminding me very pertinently
that we had not yet made our bows and arrows.
I had already made up my mind as to the wood we should use for making
the bows. It was that same red wood of which I have spoken once or
twice, and which, being flexible as well as hard, seemed to me the
fittest for our purpose of all the woods in the island. Accordingly we
chose two strong saplings of this tree growing to my own height, or a
little more, and having uprooted them, we cut off the branches and
twigs, peeled the bark off, and then pared them for three or four
inches in the centre, so as we might grip them easily. This done, we
shaved the ends as well as we could with our axes until they tapered,
and about two inches from each end we burned a notch in which we
purposed fitting the strings. Thus with an easy day's work we had two
fine bows, not very cunningly shaped, but strong and serviceable--at
least, we hoped so.
[Illustration: Billy's Bow and Arrow]
Billy took upon himself to make some arrows while I made the strings.
For this purpose he chose some straight light shoots, about as thick as
your finger, peeled off the bark as we did with the saplings, and
trimmed them with his axe and other sharp stones, rubbing them also
with sand, until they were wonderfully smooth. Billy was more patient
in this work than I had ever seen him, and as each shoot was prepared
he held it up to his eye and looked along it as if to see whether it
were a trifle out of the straight, and if he thought so, he would rub
and polish again until he was satisfied. He had near a dozen of these
shoots prepared by the time I had finished the strings for our two
bows, and he then began to point the heads; but it appeared that he was
quite ignorant of the use of feathers, so while he was pointing the
shafts I roamed about the woods in search of feathers, and found a good
number on the ground, and these we stuck on the tail end of the shafts
as I had seen them in pictures, for as for the actual things, I had
never had them in my hand. This made me wish, and so did many other
matters, that I had given more heed to the construction of things, for
barring pottery and rabbit-hutches I was a perfect simpleton in using
my hands. Of course, when the first arrow was finished, I tried it
with the bow, and found that it did not fly near so well as I hoped;
nor did the second and third that we made, which was a great trouble to
us. The flight of these arrows was neither far nor steady, and for a
long time we could not make out in the least why we had failed. It was
Billy that discovered the reason, though I believe it was more by guess
than by deduction.
[Illustration: Billy's Scraper for rounding Arrow Shafts]
"Why, master," he said, "I do believe 'tis all along o' those silly
feathers you've been and gone and stuck in, so that the tail's heavier
than the head."
I saw that there might be something in Billy's notion, so we first of
all tried the experiment of making one of the arrows taper towards the
tail; and when we found that it certainly flew from the bow much better
than the others, I thought of improving still further by fitting stone
heads to the shafts. We split up some pieces of flint, and using a
flat corner of the lava tract as a kind of anvil, Billy chipped away at
some of the smaller pieces with a heavy lump of the rock containing
iron until we had a little heap of flakes shaped something like a leaf.
Some of these we lashed to shallow grooves in our shafts by means of
pieces of the string I had made; others we drove into clefts in the top
of the shafts; and when we came to try these new-tipped arrows on the
bow, we found that they flew very much better than any that we had made
before.
By the time we had furnished ourselves with the bows and a dozen arrows
our week's holiday was past, and we ought by rights to have gone back
to our work on the house. But arrows were not made merely to be looked
at, nor to be shot off only for fun, as Billy said, and he was bent on
employing our new weapons in the useful work of providing food. We had
had nothing but bread-fruit, cocoanuts, and eggs, and pork twice, ever
since we had been on the island, which I reckoned to be now a matter of
three or four months or so, and I own I agreed with Billy that we
should be none the worse of a more frequent change of diet. Of late we
had seen very little of the wild pigs, being so much busied with our
building work and pottery, and other things; but the dogs were frequent
spectators of our proceedings, though not so constantly as at first,
finding no profit in them, I suppose. However, we now set off with our
bows and arrows, fiercely bent on slaughter.
We tramped for a good long time across the island before we discovered
a herd of pigs in a little open space beyond a wood. They were
grunting, as pigs do, and poking their snouts into the ground as if in
search of food, though I doubted whether they would find anything fit
to eat, even for them, which are not particular, as everybody knows.
We crept up very stealthily to the edge of the open space, so that they
did not perceive us, and then, selecting the two nearest animals, we
let fly our shafts both at the same moment. The arrows flew very
swiftly from the bows, but clean over the pigs, so that we did not hit
one of them, and the twang of the bow-strings being very audible, the
pigs instantly took fright, and scampered away, all but one old boar,
as he seemed, who stood with his snout lifted, grunting very loud, as
if angry with being disturbed.
"I'll have a shot for old father bacon," says Billy, fitting an arrow
to the string, and taking aim as well as he could, he shot it; but
having seen that his first shot went too high, he aimed the second too
low, and it stuck in the ground a yard or so in front of the solitary
boar. And then Billy flew into a mighty rage, I assure you, for the
boar marched up to the arrow, sticking out of the earth, and sniffed at
it with very loud grunts for a moment, and then snapped it up and broke
it in two. "There's half-a-day's work spoiled," cried Billy, who was
already angry enough at having missed his mark twice, and he rushed
out, calling the boar by many very unseemly names. The beast was taken
by surprise, and instantly turned tail and scampered after the rest of
the herd, with Billy at his heels, and me not far behind, for
remembering the scrape that Billy had fallen into once before, I did
not like to let him go out of my sight. And so we pursued those pigs
for above half-an-hour, I should think, and never came within fifty
yards of them, nor getting any chance to take a shot at them, because
they were never still. We gave it up when we were thoroughly weary,
and were going back to our hut, much disappointed of our expected meat,
when Billy remembered that we had left two arrows where we had first
encountered the pigs.
"We must go back for 'em," says he, shaking his fist in the direction
whither the pigs had fled. "They are easier shot than made, and easier
broke than shot, drat it; but I'll make 'em porkers pay for leading us
this dance, see if I don't."
I agreed that our arrows, made with such toil, were much too precious
to be wasted, and we went back to the place where we had shot them, not
finding it by any means easy to light on the spot again.
"We shall have to practise, Billy," I said on the way; "we can't expect
to be good marksmen all at once."
"I s'pose we can't," says Billy ruefully; "we do have to have three or
four goes at a thing afore we does it proper. But I did want some
pork."
Coming at length to the open space, we searched for a good time before
we found the two arrows; but as I was stooping I made a discovery that
quite banished my disappointment and more than made amends for our long
tramp. The pigs, as I said, had been grubbing the ground vainly, as I
had thought; but I now saw that it was not so, for there before me lay
a long round root as big as a man's head, and of a dark brown colour,
which I immediately recognized as a yam. I called Billy to come and
see it, and remembering that we had ate some that time we sojourned on
the island, and found them very like potatoes when boiled and mashed,
but sweeter, we were exceedingly pleased, and Billy at once said that
we must certainly make some pork sausages to go with our mashed
potatoes.
"Provided the pigs have left us any to mash," said I, for I now saw
that they had grubbed the ground pretty thoroughly, and though we
searched it for some time, we did not find above six yams, which we
carried back to our hut, and boiled one of them for dinner. Unless we
should find another plantation of them on the island, which I scarcely
hoped for, it seemed that our supply would be soon exhausted; but it
then came into my mind that we might plant some of those that we had,
and so grow them for ourselves. We knew nothing about the season for
planting, nor the right kind of soil for them, but supposed they would
be something like potatoes in their nature as well as in their taste,
and so determined to eat no more of them for the present, but to keep
them until such time as seemed fitting for planting.
This question made us think of times and seasons, which, living from
day to day as we did without concern for the morrow, we had not yet
troubled ourselves about. It was summer when we first came to the
island, and we were now, as I guessed, about the end of autumn, though
there was little in the weather to show it, nor very much, so far as we
could tell, in the varying length of day and night. But the near
approach of winter came upon my mind with a kind of shock. We knew not
what the winter was like in these latitudes, nor whether we should be
afflicted with severe cold; but we could tell from the ripeness of the
fruits of the island that they would not hang much longer upon the
trees; indeed, some had already fallen; and I began to wonder what we
should do for food in the winter. We had discovered that the
bread-fruit, when plucked, remained good for three or four days, if the
rind was not pierced; but we had never kept any for a longer time, and
I was not a little dismayed as I thought of the straits we should be
put to if we could not preserve the food in some way.
Billy reminded me that the native people with whom we had dwelt for a
fortnight had given us a bread-fruit pudding, which was delicious. I
asked him whether he had seen it made, and he said that he had not, but
it looked uncommon like batter pudding when it was baked, and indeed I
remembered it was just such a rich brown colour as well-cooked batter.
I had many a time seen my aunt Susan make batter, and though we had
neither milk nor flour, we had eggs, and it seemed to me at least worth
the trial to attempt a batter of bread-fruit. Accordingly we took two
large bread-fruits, very ripe, and having cut away the rind and
rejected the core, we put the white pulpy part into one of my earthen
vessels, and pounded and worked it with a thick stick until it looked
very like a thick batter. Billy meanwhile had beat up an egg, and when
we added this to the other, and mixed it, Billy cried out it reminded
him of pancake day, when his stepmother always made two thick pancakes
for herself and his father, and he had a thin one if there was any left
over. Since all the earthen vessels I had made were round-bottomed,
and we had nothing at all resembling a frying-pan, we were thinking of
boiling the mixture, and hoped it would not burn, being so thick, when
Billy asked why we shouldn't bake it. I pointed out that we had no
baking tins, and without something to hold it the batter would indeed
become as flat as a pancake; but Billy was equal to this difficulty.
"I've seen my mother--she ain't my real mother, 'course--put a piece of
greasy paper round a dough-cake before she popped it in the oven, and
it came out all right, only a bit burnt sometimes, and then, my eye,
didn't she make a row!" When I said that we had no paper, he at once
replied, "But we've got leaves, and I don't see why a leaf of a leaf,
as you may call it, shouldn't be as good as a leaf of paper, or better,
the name being such." This appeared to me to be quite a good notion,
so we got some leaves and wrapped some of our batter in them, making
little oblong parcels about four inches long and two broad, and these
we put into our oven, which I have before mentioned, and when we took
them out and removed the leaves, we found our cakes to be of a fine
brown colour, and they smelled exceeding good and tasted better: in
fact, we had made the bread-fruit pudding we had so much liked before,
only ours was richer by the addition of the egg.
We were very well pleased with this, but I own I was still better
pleased two or three days after, for I then came upon a portion of the
batter which we had left uncooked in the pot and forgotten, and found
that it was perfectly sweet and good, being not in the least offensive
either in taste or smell. It then came into my head all of a sudden
that if the bread-fruit pulp would keep good for days even when exposed
to the air, it might keep good for weeks and months if kept from the
air, and thus all our anxiety about our winter food would be removed.
When I suggested this to Billy he shook his head, saying, "We used to
keep potatoes in a cellar, but then they had their jackets on, and I've
never heard tell of fruits keeping. You can't keep an apple, 'cause
I've tried, only I ate it afore it was quite rotten." But I was
determined to make the experiment, though having no cellar or other
confined space I was at first at a loss how to form a large enough
receptacle for our store. After considering of it for some time I had
a notion of digging a hole in the ground and lining it with pottery
ware, but to this Billy said that we might use leaves and so save a lot
of time. So we dug a hole, not very deep, and lined it well with large
thick leaves, and into it we poured a great quantity of the bread-fruit
pulp that we had mashed--not mixing it with eggs, of course--and then
we covered it over with leaves, and put heavy stones on the top, and
waited for a week to see what came of it.
[Sidenote: Archery]
While we were waiting the result of our experiment at storage we
practised very diligently with our bows and arrows, and I observed that
Billy was pitting himself against me, though he did not say so, at
least not then, but he told me afterwards that he meant to try whether
Little John could not beat Robin Hood. At first we chose broad trees
for our targets, but we found after a time, when we began to be able to
hit them, that our arrows were very much blunted against the bark,
which made us think of devising a target, for the arrows took so long
to shape that it was important to us they should not be injured. This
making of a target gave us no trouble, for we had only to stretch
leaves across a light framework made of twigs; and to mark the centre
of it, for what I believe is called the bull's-eye, we smeared a circle
with the sticky substance which, as I have said, came out of the bark
of the bread-fruit tree when we beat it to make our flag, and then
sprinkled the sticky circle with sand, which stood out, light in
colour, against the dark green of the leaves.
We set up this target at varying distances, which we made greater as we
grew more proficient, and we found that our arrows took no hurt from
striking against it, passing through the leaves, indeed, so that we had
to make another target by and by; but not very soon, because it was
some time before either of us hit the target at all, and as for a
bull's-eye, we thought we should never do it. Indeed, when we had
practised for about a week, Billy declared that he was sure there never
was a Robin Hood (he had made the same declaration before about
Robinson Crusoe), and he thought the tales about these two heroes must
have been invented by the same liar, because the one was Robin and the
other Robinson. When I said that was impossible, because Robin Hood
lived five or six hundred years before Crusoe was heard of, Billy said
'twas no matter; the stories of both were all pure fudge, and he
wouldn't believe until he saw it that any one could ever hit the
bull's-eye at a greater distance than ten yards. It chanced that our
target was thirty yards away at that moment, and fitting an arrow to
the bow, I let it fly without any nice calculation, and Billy was
fairly dumfoundered, and so was I, when we saw the arrow sticking in
the circle of sand, a little to the right of the exact centre. For a
moment Billy looked foolish; then he flushed, and turning truculently
to me he said, "I lay you a dollar you don't do it again, not in ten
shots." This put me on my mettle, and it did not occur to either of us
that we had no dollars nor any such thing; but I fired my shots one
after another with the most careful aim I could, and missed the target
altogether six times, and the other times only grazed the outer rim.
Whereupon Billy began to caper, and said I owed him a dollar, and a
pretty fine Robin Hood I was, with more of that boyish sort of talk,
which made me angry, and I flung down my bow, intending, I own, to
punch Billy's head. When he saw this, he flung down his bow also, and
squared himself, and put up his fists in such a remarkable way, calling
to me to come on, that I could not keep from laughing, and then he
laughed too, and so we were friends again at once. This was the first
time things got so near to a fight with us, and though we had little
disagreements that are not worth mentioning, we never fought but once
all the time we were on the island, and of that I must tell in its
place, if I think of it.
CHAPTER THE NINTH
OF PIGS AND POULTRY, AND OF THE DEPREDATIONS OF THE WILD DOGS, UPON
WHOM WE MAKE WAR
It was after about a week of this practice in archery that we removed
the covering from the hole where we had stored the bread-fruit, and
looked to see how it was. To our great delight it was perfectly good,
though it had changed its colour, being now somewhat yellowish, and
also its smell, which was now something like that of yeast. This made
me think that the paste was fermenting, as indeed it was; but it seemed
to be none the worse, and we cooked a little and ate it with relish,
finding it rather acid, like cheese. Being satisfied on this point, we
immediately set to work to dig a larger hole, which we filled in like
manner with a great quantity of bread-fruits, mashing them to a paste
first in our earthen vessels. And having our anxiety thus relieved on
the score of provision for the winter, we ought to have gone back to
our work on the big hut, but we were so bent on improving our
marksmanship, Billy being determined to go pig-hunting, that we spent
nearly all our time in practising with our bows and arrows. By this
means we made ourselves pretty fair marksmen at the stationary target,
but when Billy talked about going out to shoot pigs, I said that he
would find it a very different matter to hit a moving thing. However,
he would not listen to me, but left me making some new arrows while he
went off by himself. He came back after a long time, empty-handed and
very crestfallen, having lost two arrows and broken a third, without
hitting a single pig.
"I tell you what, master," says he, "you carry the target while I take
a shot at it: that will be as good as a running pig, and learn me to
shoot 'em."
"And suppose you hit me?" I said.
"Well, I might, that's true," he said, "you being bigger than a pig.
Don't I wish I knew how that there Little John aimed when he was
shooting at a deer!"
[Illustration: Clay Saucepans, and Tongs of Wood]
This made me think whether we could not devise a moving target, and
though I could not hit upon any means for several days, I did at last,
and we tried it, and it answered my expectations very well, and
moreover furnished us with a kind of sport, which was very grateful to
us in our loneliness. What we did was this: we made a target somewhat
larger than our first, in the same manner, but shaped like a man, that
is, the top was smaller than the rest, but we did not attempt to make
limbs. We made it very light, for this reason: that we strung it to a
thin rope made of the fibres of the plant I have mentioned before, this
rope being tied to two trees, about twenty yards apart, and at the
height of a man from the ground. We hung the target (or the Guy
Fawkes, as Billy called it) to the rope by a large loop, and to this we
tied another rope, but thinner, so that the guy could be drawn easily
along the rope from tree to tree. Then we took turns, the one shooting
at the guy with his arrows while the other drew it along as quickly as
he could, and we tried which of us could plant the most arrows in the
figure while it moved over this space of twenty yards, the loser having
to prepare the food for next day's meals. We found it very good sport
and very good practice too, and there was not much to choose between
us, though I think I became a trifle more expert than Billy, he
excelling me in muscular strength, but I having, or acquiring, a
certain knack with which strength has nothing to do.
You may be sure that as soon as we had attained to any skill in hitting
our running man Billy was mad to go out once more and shoot pigs, and
we were talking about doing so, as we ate our breakfast one morning,
when we heard a great uproar in the wood just below the mountain,
running out towards the natural archway. It seemed as if all the dogs
in the island were barking and yelping at once. Wondering what the
cause might be, we snatched up our bows and arrows, having also our
axes as usual, and hasting across the lava bed towards the noise, we
came upon a great sow with a litter of tiny pigs, and twenty or more
dogs around them. This amazed us, for we had never seen the dogs
attack the pigs before, and I guessed that they would not have done so
now, only the sow was limping as if one of her legs was broken, and I
thought she might have fallen from a height, the ground hereabouts
being very rough and jagged. However, she was making a good fight of
it against the dogs, and we stopped to watch the struggle, forgetting
our own errand.
The dogs, as I have before shown, were possessed of a certain degree of
cunning, and while some of them held the sow at bay, others rushed in
among the litter and carried off at least one of the piglets; the
mother, threatened on all sides, being unable to defend all her family.
After we had watched the scene for a little, Billy whispered to me, "I
say, master, you ain't a-going to let the dogs have all the pork?" I
agreed that we had as good a right to it as they, so we ran forward
shouting, and the dogs, which had seized enough of the litter to make a
very good meal, ran away with their booty, being plainly afraid that we
should attempt to take it from them.
When the sow spied us she knew that we were as dangerous enemies to her
family as the dogs; at least she guessed it, for she made a very savage
rush at Billy, who was nearest to her, and would have overthrown him
but that she was lame and he was nimble. We took counsel together what
we should do, having a mind to capture her and lead her to our
settlement by the lake, for we knew that the little ones would follow
her, and Billy had a great notion of starting a piggery. But we saw
that, her leg being broken, we should have great difficulty in leading
her over the hill, even if our united strength could pull her: yet we
did not like to leave her to the mercy of the dogs, which would
certainly worry her slowly to death, helpless as she was. Accordingly
we thought it best to kill her outright, and while Billy did this with
his axe, I easily caught two of the little ones, which remained near
their mother, and held them by the legs until Billy came to my
assistance, and then we tied their legs together with creepers, so that
they could not escape. Then Billy caught another one, and reached
after the fourth, which, however, had become alarmed and scampered
away, only to be snapped up by the dogs.
Now the question was, how should we bring the dead sow and the live
piglets to our hut by the lake?--for we had determined to eat the sow
and to keep the little ones alive. The sow was too heavy for one, or
even both of us, to carry over the steep and rocky hillside; the little
pigs were too small to be driven and must be carried. If we took the
sow and left the pigs, they would be seized by the dogs; while if we
took them and left the sow, there would be very little remaining of her
by the time we came back. We settled that I should carry the pigs
home, and bring back ropes for dragging the carcase, over which Billy
would keep guard; so I took a little squealing one under each arm, and
Billy slung the third to my back with a creeper, and I was about to
start when Billy said: "What if old father bacon hears their squeals
and comes after you?" In that case I should certainly have to drop one
of the pigs to wield my axe: my bow and arrows, of course, I could not
carry; but I must take the risk, and so set off, very well laden.
I came safely to our hut, and shut up the pigs inside (which was a
trouble to us afterwards, but there was no help for it at the time, we
having no other place in which to secure them), and then, taking some
of our ropes, I hastened back to Billy. But I had no sooner got to the
top of the slope above the lake than I heard the same barking and
yelping and snarling as before, and in the same direction. This made
me hurry my steps, and 'twas well I did so, for when I came upon the
scene, there was Billy by the sow, and the pack of dogs leaping with
great uproar about him, he having his back to a rock, and very manfully
wielding his axe to keep off the furious animals. The moment I saw
this I gave a great shout, having before observed that nothing was more
likely to scare these wild creatures, and rushed upon them, and seeing
me they turned tail and scampered away into the wood.
I found Billy in a very sad case. He told me that I had not long
departed when the dogs came creeping up, and then, being worked into a
frenzy by the sight and the scent of the carcase, and emboldened by
seeing only one instead of two boys, they had made a rush upon him. He
shot at them when he perceived that they were closing in, and I found
that one arrow had killed a dog, another was sticking in the ground,
and a third had broken against a spar of rock. Then he could no longer
shoot, because they were upon him, but he killed two with his axe, not
before he had been severely bitten about the legs, as he tried to
prevent them from mangling the sow, and indeed he was in very great
danger when I appeared to his rescue. The carcase had been so torn by
the dogs that I did not care to have anything more to do with it;
besides, Billy was so severely hurt, though he did not complain, that I
saw he could give me little help in dragging the carcase home; for
which reasons we decided to leave it to the dogs, and I only regretted
that we had not done so before. I was so anxious about Billy,
wondering whether his blood would be poisoned by the bite of the dogs,
that I forgot to pick up our bows and arrows until he reminded me of
them, and indeed he insisted on my gathering up two of those he had
shot, the third being broken, saying that we could not spare any now
that we had to reckon the dogs as our mortal enemies. Leaving the
carcase, then, which the dogs were at instantly, we returned to our
place, and then I bathed Billy's wounds with water from the lake, and
tore a great strip off my shirt to make bandages, for which Billy
blamed me, but what else could I do?
[Sidenote: A Pig-sty]
Since we could not endure that the pigs should be with us in the hut
(they had been there too long already), we had to build a sty for them,
or rather I had to, for Billy tried very bravely to help me, but had to
give up after a short while. For some days he wore a very troubled
look, asking me whether I thought he would go mad; but he cheered up
wonderfully as the days passed and he did not take a dislike to water.
I made as good a sty as I could with logs and branches, tying up the
pigs inside so that they could not get away, but we were awakened in
the middle of the night by a loud squealing, and when I ran out I found
that the dogs had come and scratched away a part of the weak fence, and
I was only just in time to save the piglets from them. Since I could
do nothing to strengthen the sty in the darkness, I built a great fire
near it, and sat by it for the rest of the night, in no very agreeable
frame of mind, I assure you, and wishing that we had not brought the
pigs, for being wild they were scarce likely to thrive in captivity.
However, Billy was so set upon commencing swine-herd that I gave in to
him, and next day began to build another sty, somewhat farther from the
hut, and very much stronger, in which we put two of the pigs, killing
the third and roasting a part for our dinner, hanging the rest up in
the smoke of our fire to cure it. For roasting we made a tripod like
to those that gipsies have, and not having any metal we made it of
pottery ware, moulding the clay about three straight saplings.
[Illustration: Our Pig-sty]
We had had so little flesh-meat hitherto that we had not felt the lack
of utensils, such as knives and forks; for bread-fruit needed nothing
but our fingers, and eggs we always boiled hard. But now that we had
the means of procuring flesh, I began to think of knives and forks and
other things which we commonly use at home, though I have been told
that our forefathers employed nothing but their fingers up to not so
very long ago. Seeing that we should not be able for a few days to
take up our work on the new hut, while Billy was recovering of his
wounds, I thought it a fair opportunity to provide ourselves with
articles of this sort if we could. We had no lack of material for
handles, and it was not a very hard matter to shape a two-pronged fork
of wood with the axe; but it was different with the knives, since we
had nothing that would serve for blades except flints. However, by
searching about the hillside I found several thin and fairly flat
pieces of flint which we contrived to split still thinner and to
sharpen by continually grinding them against the rocks, and when we had
fixed them into handles which we made of the hollow shoots of a certain
tree, we had knives, clumsy indeed, and not very sharp, but good enough
to sever the limbs of the animals we killed for food, and also to part
the meat into pieces when it was cooked.
[Illustration: Knives and Fork]
[Sidenote: Salt and Water]
This same matter of meat put it into our heads to get salt for
ourselves, and fresh water; for neither could we relish the food
without the one nor quench our thirst without the other, cocoa-nut
juice after pork having very disagreeable effects. We got water from
the sea in some of the shallow pans that I had made, and found that by
leaving these exposed the water in course of time evaporated, leaving a
very rough and common kind of salt behind, and mixed with other
substances. As for fresh water, we found when we boiled water from the
lake, and allowed it to stand till it cooled and then poured it off,
that it almost wholly lost the sulphurous taste, and we could drink it
without hurt, which was a great comfort to us. We also put some of our
pans out when rain fell, which happened pretty often, so that I have
forgot to mention it; and with our fare thus enlarged, and being
provided with conveniences that we had not dreamt of at first, our lot
was much improved; and indeed we only wanted some means of replenishing
our wardrobe to be set up for life.
[Illustration: Clay Pail, the Handle of a Tough Root, bound on with
Shrunk Hide]
What with one thing and another, I think near a month must have passed
before we returned to our work on the big hut. There may be some who
will blame us for this dilatoriness, and say that we ought to have
continued on one task until it was finished; but I will say to them
that if we had done so we might not only have fallen ill for want of
change in our food, but we might have starved in the winter through not
laying up a store; and besides, these critics have never been, I dare
say, alone upon a desolate island. However, we did go back to our
work, and the four corner posts being set up, as I have said, we had
next to build the walls, which we did in the following manner.
[Sidenote: The Hut]
Between the corner posts, and about six inches apart, we planted strong
poles about three inches across, leaving a gap on the side farthest
from the lake, this being our doorway. On the outside of these upright
posts we lashed a number of thicker logs, twice as thick indeed as the
others, by means of creepers, laying the logs horizontally one upon
another. This was only done with prodigious labour, as you may guess,
all the poles and logs having to be felled and trimmed by us with our
rude instruments, and if I had hitherto been able to keep count of the
days, I should have clean lost it now, for we did not desist from our
work until the walls were finished, and every day was like the one that
went before and the one that came after. When the walls were finished,
and it was a question of the roof, we deliberated for a little whether
to make it flat, or to give it a pitch, like the roofs of cottages at
home in England. What determined us was the discovery that water was
beginning to ooze through the flat roof of our small hut; the rains
becoming heavier and more frequent as we drew near to the winter
season. Accordingly we gave a pitch of about four feet to our roof,
thus forming a fair slope on each side to carry off the rain water.
The framework of the roof was formed of bamboos lashed together, and
resting on grooves which we cut with much toil in the tops of the wall
posts. In order to keep out the rain we decided to thatch the roof
over, and for this purpose we collected a great quantity of grasses and
reeds from the borders of the lake. Billy told me that the thatched
roof of a cottage belonging to his uncle at Plumstead was full of
fleas, and as we did not desire to be visited by any such creatures we
soaked our materials very thoroughly in the sulphurous water of the hot
spring, thinking this would repel them, afterwards drying it in the
sun. We need not have troubled ourselves in this matter, for during
all the time we dwelt on the island we saw neither fleas nor any other
noxious insect; indeed, the grasshopper was the only kind worth
mentioning, and we grew to like their cheerful song in the evenings.
The thatching took a long time, neither of us having the least idea how
to set about it, and I doubt not a true thatcher would have laughed at
our botching and bungling; but we did as well as we could, and were
mightily pleased with ourselves when the work was done. There only
remained the door, and if it had not been for the wild pigs and dogs on
the island we should never have troubled about a door at all, the
climate being such, even in winter, which was now upon us, that we need
never have closed our house to keep out the cold. But seeing that we
should never be secure from molestation by these beasts without a door,
we made one of stout logs lashed together, a little wider than the
doorway, and since we could not hinge it, we contrived so that when we
wished to close the hut at night or when we left it, we slid the door
between the wall and two stout posts which we drove into the ground
inside. As for a window, we did not need one, since we were up at dawn
and abed with the dark, and had the doorway always open when we were in
the hut during the daytime.
I said we were abed with the dark, but we did not always sleep at once,
and oftentimes lay talking, so that we knew pretty nearly all about
each other before we had been many months on the island. Billy's life
had been so hard before he ran away to sea that I believe he was more
contented now than ever before, having got over his first fears of
savages and starvation, and the old smoker, as he called the burning
mountain. (This, I ought to say here, had not been violently active
since we first came to the island, though we sometimes heard faint
rumblings, and saw spurts of steam and water, but never so great as at
first.) I was not near so contented as Billy, for my life had been very
easy and comfortable at Stafford, and I remembered my kind friends
there, and sometimes felt in the lowest deeps of misery when I thought
I might never see them again. But when I reflected I saw that I ought
to be thankful that I was not cast on a barren island, or among
savages, and there was always a hope that some navigator might sail
towards our island and spy our flagstaff, though we often vexed
ourselves with the thought that a vessel might pass us in the night and
we know nothing about it. I think by this time we had altogether
forgotten the men of the _Lovey Susan_, and did not in the least
trouble ourselves to guess at what had become of them, though Billy did
say once that he was sure they were eaten up by savages.
[Sidenote: Clothes]
Our large hut being finished, I thought we deserved another holiday,
having never left working at it for many weeks, or perhaps months. But
the very first day we purposed being idle, a great storm of rain
overtook us as we roamed over the hills, and drove us back to our house
for shelter. We were drenched to the skin, and our garments were so
old and tattered that we thought they would fall to pieces when we
stripped them off to dry them; and moreover, though the air was not
cold, as we know cold in England, yet it was chilly sometimes,
especially at night, and I feared sometimes when we got wet, that we
should be seized with an ague. We began to consider whether we could
not by some means contrive to make ourselves clothes, and I reminded
Billy that we had made a kind of cloth for our flag out of the bark of
the bread-fruit tree.
"Yes, but we ain't got no scissors," says he, "and there's a deal of
cutting out to be done in making clothes. My mother--not my real
mother, you know--used to make my breeches out of father's, and you
should have seen her snipping at 'em, gnashing her teeth together all
the time. We can't cut out with our axes, or them things you call
knives."
This was true, but I suggested we might beat out the strips of bark
till they became of the proper shape. Billy scoffed at this. "What
about patterns?" he said. "She used to have paper things, and lay 'em
on the cloth and cut round 'em, and you can't make sleeves without 'em,
that I'm sure of. Besides, where's our needle and thread?"
"We've made thread out of the fibres of the cocoa-nut," I said, "and as
for needles, couldn't we point some thin sticks, and try them?"
"We can try," says he, "but it won't be no good, and you've forgot all
about thimbles."
We did try, and I was not very much surprised when we failed, for
though we could point a stick with our flints, we had nothing with
which we could pierce the eye, and we found that tying the thread to
the end was by no means satisfactory. However, we did contrive to put
a few patches into our breeches by sticking on some of the bread-fruit
cloth, which was soft and brown, with the sticky stuff that came out of
the bark when we beat it. I should mention that we were not able to
use this stuff immediately, for it did not make the cloth adhere; but
we found that if we left it for a day, it became hard, and being then
heated in one of our pots over a fire, it turned into a very fair glue.
Besides patching our breeches thus, we made ourselves long coats, or
rather cloaks, for they had no sleeves, being simply a long piece of
cloth with a hole in the middle, and though we laughed at each other a
good deal when we put them on, they covered us from neck to heel, and
were very useful in keeping off the rain. And while we were about
this, we thought we might as well make hats too, if we could; and after
many failures we managed to fashion some bonnets out of cocoa-nut
leaves, which kept our heads dry, and when the summer came defended
them from the sun's heat, and our necks too, for we stuck on flaps at
the back.
[Illustration: Billy's Palm-leaf Hat]
We had started a piggery, as I have mentioned. At first it was a great
deal of trouble to us, for the dogs came yelping round the sty at
night, and the wild pigs also tried to reach the two piglets we had
captured, and we had to be constantly on the watch lest the walls of
the sty should be broken through. However, these wild inhabitants of
our island in course of time seemed to accept the piggery as part of
the order of things, and left us in peace. But our troubles were
started again when Billy all of a sudden conceived the notion of a
poultry run. In the course of our second holiday, after our new hut
was finished, we chanced to discover several nests of hens, which we
had formerly sought for in vain, they being cunningly concealed or else
very inaccessible. Domestic fowls do not seem in general to be very
plentifully endowed with wits, but the fowls on our island, having to
provide against the rapacity of rats and dogs and pigs, certainly had
more intelligence than ordinary; and the hens were not particular about
the comfort of their nests, so long as they could find a shelter--some
secluded nook among the rocks where they could lay their eggs. Billy
had said more than once that he would like to have a poultry run, but
though we now and then found eggs, and once or twice managed to bring
down a fowl with our arrows, which we roasted or boiled, we had never
yet been able to catch one alive. They frequented mostly the little
patch of woodland in the extreme west of the island, and there we
sometimes saw them roosting in the upper branches of tall trees. It
was near this spot that we found the nests I have mentioned, but the
birds were very wary, and flew away at the first sign of our approach.
[Sidenote: Fowling]
It was clear that if we were to catch them, we must snare them in some
way or other, and having not thought of making nets, which we might
have done with cocoa-nut fibres--indeed, we did afterwards--we wondered
whether the sticky substance that came from the bread-fruit bark might
serve us as birdlime. We tried it, but we found that it hardened too
quickly for our purpose; at least, that was how we explained our want
of success; and we thought that if we mixed it with some other
substance that would keep it moist the result might be different. We
tried bread-fruit, and then shredded cocoa-nut, but neither was
effectual; and then, almost as a last resource, we made the experiment
with a nut that I have not before mentioned, because we had not found
it of any use as food. It grew on a tall and very leafy tree, and the
ground was at this time strewed with the olive-green fruits which had
fallen, being over-ripe. We easily removed the outer covering, and
within was a hard shell, something like a walnut, only smooth, and
inside the shell was a whitish kernel, which we had found was not very
palatable; but it was very oily, and we thought this, when pounded,
might mix very well with our glue, as I may call it.[1] Accordingly we
did this, and taking a quantity of the mixture to the spot which the
fowls haunted, we smeared a fallen branch with it, and having spread
some small pieces of baked bread-fruit as bait, we went among the trees
to await the issue.
[Sidenote: A Fowl-house]
Billy was patient enough when work was a-doing, but he never could bide
patiently, for which reason many holidays were not good for him. He
ran so often to the edge of the wood to see if any birds were snared,
that I am sure he was the cause why we had to wait so long, the birds
taking alarm at his movements. At last I persuaded him to go with me
back to our house, and when we returned after a long interval we
suspected by the unaccustomed cackling we heard that our birdlime had
proved successful; and so it was, for when we came to the branch, there
was a fine hen fluttering her wings and cackling most lamentably, and
also a kind of wood pigeon, which did not make near so much noise.
Billy wrung the neck of the pigeon in an instant, saying it would make
a tasty morsel for dinner, and then we tied the legs of the hen, and
carried her home. But one hen does not make a poultry run, and it was
a considerable time before we caught any more fowl, the fate of the
first seeming to have warned the rest. However, we did succeed in
catching four or five more at intervals, and we turned our small hut
into a fowl-house, putting poles across for them to roost on. It is a
strange thing, but after a little while the fowls, which had before
scarce made a sound, began to cackle and crow just as the fowls do in
England, and Billy said that finding they were now safe from their
enemies, and fed regularly, they were much happier than before, and
showed it by their singing. How that may be I know not, but I am
inclined to think that they had better kept silence, for one morning
after a night of wind and rain, during which we heard that strange
sound we heard on our first night, we found the gate of our poultry run
open and all the fowls gone, leaving only a great quantity of feathers
scattered about, both inside and out. This told us pretty plainly what
had happened, and if we needed assurance, we had it in the footprints
in the sodden ground.
[Illustration: Our Small Hut turned into a Fowl-house]
"'Tis them rampageous dogs, master," cried Billy in a fury. "The
thieving villains! And one of the hens beginning to sit, too! I wish
we could poison 'em."
"We can't do that," I said, "but we shall have to make war on them, or
we shall never feel safe, either for our belongings or ourselves, for
they attacked you, and I am pretty sure that if one of us was hurt and
could not count on the help of the other he would soon be torn in
pieces. We must teach them a lesson."
"Yes, but how?" says Billy. "They're such cowards that they won't
stand still to be shot at."
"Nor would you, if you were a wild dog," I said. "I think we had
better set a trap for them."
[Sidenote: War on the Dogs]
"Yes, and catch 'em alive oh!" says Billy, and we straightway began to
consider of the kind of trap that would serve us best, Billy favouring
a running noose, which seemed to me not very sure, so I proposed a pit
covered over with branches and leaves. We tried this, and before we
went to bed we put a good-sized piece of roast pork (Billy having shot
a pig that day) on the covering of the pit, hoping that the dogs would
be drawn to it by the smell and then would tumble into the pit, where
we should find them in the morning. In the middle of the night we
heard a yapping and yelping; but we did not get up, for one thing
because it was dark and we could scarcely have seen to deal with our
captives. However, in the morning we found the pork gone and also the
dogs, and when we examined the pit we saw that some had fallen in but
scrambled out again up the sides, though how they did it we never could
tell, the hole being of a pretty good depth. This failure did not
slacken our determination, and we soon thought of a more subtle trick,
to which there was one drawback in the fact that we had no means of
making a good torch, which seemed essential to it. We could, of
course, have made a great blaze with our fire, which we had never let
go out since we had first kindled it, except when a great rain put it
out; but that would as like as not have defeated our own ends.
However, it chanced that one evening we made a discovery which was
useful to us in this particular, and much more afterward, as will
appear.
I have mentioned the nut we pounded and mixed with glue to make our
birdlime. Well, since we did not wish to use up too many cocoa-nuts or
too much of our bread-fruit paste for feeding our two pigs, which were
thriving wonderfully, we gave them these other nuts, which they
appeared to like very well. On this evening I speak of, in
replenishing the fire to cook our supper, we happened to throw into it
two or three nuts which had got among the fuel, and we observed that
they burned with a very bright flame, quite different from the flame of
wood or cocoa-nut shells. We did not think any more of it for the
moment, but when I lay in bed (I say bed, but it was only leaves and
dried grass), our house being pitch-dark, I thought all of a sudden
that perhaps we could make a candle of these nuts if we wished, though
we had no need of a light, having nothing to read. I called out to
Billy to know if he was awake, and telling him of my notion, he said,
"What's the good?" which I remember he always did say when I suggested
anything new. However, I resolved to see whether I was right, and next
day I put two or three kernels together, and kindled them, and they
burned with a light like a candle's, but with a rather offensive smell.
We at once set about making a torch, and finding that we had a
difficulty in getting the kernels entire out of the shells, which were
very hard, we thought of boiling them, and then found that the shells
cracked with the slightest tap, so that the kernels came out whole.
When we had some twenty of these kernels we skewered them together on a
thin, hard stick, and so had a torch, and there being now no obstacle
to the trick I purposed playing on the dogs, we took one of our pigs
into the house, and surrounded the other with a kind of stout stockade
inside the sty, and at nightfall we left the gate of the sty open, but
contrived that we could easily close it by means of a rope which we
carried into our house. We did not go to bed, but waited, holding our
torch ready, with flint and tinder, and also a couple of the spears I
have before mentioned, which, although rude weapons, were the fittest
for the work in hand.
It was not long before we heard the light patter of feet, and soon
after the squealing of our decoy. We waited a little, so as to give
our expected guests plenty of time to establish themselves, knowing too
that they would not be able to do any harm to the pig, and then we
pulled the rope, so closing the gate upon the intruders. Then I
kindled the torch, and holding it aloft in my left hand, I rushed out
with a spear in my right hand, and Billy armed in like manner. The sty
was a good way from the house, and before we got to it the dogs that
were outside, alarmed by the unwonted glare and by our shouts,
scampered away into the darkness, leaving their comrades howling and
yelping in the sty, and the pig squealing too in a terrible fright.
Having the prisoners now at our mercy, for they could not leap the
walls of the sty, we doomed them to instant execution, and when some of
them fled for refuge into the covered part of the sty, we took off a
portion of the roof, and so fell on them again, and did not desist
until we had killed every one. We left them there until the morning,
and then carried them forth, nine in all, and Billy insisted on
skinning them, saying that their coats would make fine mats for our
house-floor, which indeed they did when they had been well washed in
lake-water and dried in the open air. The vengeance we took had an
excellent deterrent effect on the rest of the pack, which no more
molested us, at least in that part of the island. We caught more fowls
to replace those that had been stolen, and captured the litter of
another sow, which we killed for food, and were happy in the thought
that by natural increase our fowls and pigs would in course of time
provide us with as much food as we needed, or even more. We kept the
hides of those we killed, though we had no immediate use for them.
Billy said he wished he could make a pair of boots, for the rough
ground was very troublesome to his bare feet, and my boots were very
much worn and, indeed, scarcely held together. But we knew nothing of
bootmaking, and for some time did not attempt to provide ourselves with
footwear, though afterwards we contrived to make some strange and
uncouth foot-gloves: I can call them by no other name.
[1] This was clearly the candle-nut, of which more is said
presently.--H.S.
CHAPTER THE TENTH
OF THE NAMING OF OUR ISLAND--OF A FLEET OF CANOES, AND OF THE MEANS
WHEREBY WE PREPARE TO STAND A SIEGE
We had now fairly established ourselves as the owners of the island,
having a comfortable house, domestic animals, and a sufficient store of
food, the only article in which we were lamentably deficient being
clothes. The necessity we were under of working hard with our hands
left us little time for commiseration, and I verily believe that we
were in the main as cheerful and happy as we could have been anywhere.
And now that the completion of our hardest tasks left us a little
leisure, it came into our heads that we ought to give our property a
name, or rather it was Billy that thought of it, he saying that since I
was clearly king of the country, it was ridiculous not to be able to
say what country it was.
"Call it Smoking Island," says he, "because of that old smoker up
there."
To this I objected that it was not a pretty name, and besides, the
mountain was not always smoking.
"Well then," he said, "call it Lonely Island, because it is lonely, and
so are we."
To this I replied that a more cheerful name would suit me better, and
suggested that we should call it Perseverance Island, since all our
present comforts sprang from our persevering in the face of
difficulties. But this Billy would by no means agree to, saying that
it looked like bragging, and besides he hated the word perseverance,
because he had to write it so many times on his slate at school, and it
made him think of raps on the knuckles. He told me that he had been
for a few months at a charity school, but he played truant so often
that the master refused to have him any longer, at which he was very
glad. After considering sundry other names, to which either Billy or I
had some objection, we finally settled on Palm Tree Island, both
because most of the trees of the island were palms, and because we got
our first comfort, when we were deserted, from the cocoa-nut palms on
the hill-side.
The general country being thus fitted with a name, we proceeded to name
the several parts of it. The mountain we called simply The Mountain,
though to Billy it was always Old Smoker; the slope leading up to the
crater we called Rocky Hill, and the wood beneath Bread-fruit Wood.
The big rock at the north-west corner was Red Rock, and the two smaller
ones at the south-west were The Sentinels. And so we named various
parts as we thought of it, not all at one time, and many of them not
until I made my map, of which I may say more hereafter. I must
mention, however, that Billy insisted on giving my name to the wood
where we slept on our first night, and in my turn I gave his name to a
sandy bay on the west of the island, and Billy was very proud when he
spelt out Bobbin's Bay on the aforesaid map.
[Sidenote: Plantations]
So the winter passed away, not like the winter in England, for we had
no frost or snow, nor did the leaves fall from the trees; the only true
sign that it was winter was the absence of flowers and fruit on the
trees; and even this was not the case with all of them, for the
cocoa-nut palm bore its fruit all the year round, so that on the same
tree there were nuts in all stages of ripeness, which I thought a very
wonderful thing. We had a considerable amount of rain, and this became
greater as we came into the spring season. We had kept for this season
the yams which we saved from the pigs, as I related a while ago, and we
now planted them, choosing two places, since we did not know on what
soil they would thrive best, whether where we had found them, or near
our house. We had kept the yams in one of our pans, and we guessed it
was time to plant them because we saw sprouts growing out of them, as
you sometimes see the eyes of a potato sprouting. We cut these
sprouting parts off, keeping the other parts for boiling, and set them
in the ground, some on the ground just below our house, the others in
the glade where we had discovered them. Knowing that we stood no
chance of getting a crop unless we defended the plants from the wild
pigs, we put fences of hurdles (made of twigs and reeds) round our
plantations, which were at first only a few yards square, and waited
with what patience we might for the result. I will say here that the
yams we planted near our house came to nothing, why I know not; but the
others throve exceedingly, and though we had some trouble with the
pigs, which broke down the fence more than once and did some damage, we
got a very fair crop in the summer, which supplied us with mashed
potatoes, as Billy said (for which we used dripping from the pigs we
cooked), and also with seed for another sowing.
[Illustration: Jug with Bent-wood Handle and Cup]
[Sidenote: Articles of Toilet]
Though our great work in the building of our hut was finished (at least
we thought it was) our days were by no means idle, for we had our
animals to feed and our fences to keep in repair, and moreover we made
more pots and pans, also arrows and spears, thread and rope. One thing
that gave me much amusement was the brush that Billy made. Of course
we had not been able to attend to our toilet since we came to Palm Tree
Island, beyond bathing and washing our heads: I mean we could not brush
our hair, which was now grown down to our shoulders for want of
scissors, nor trim our finger-nails, though our hard work kept these
pretty short. But on going down to the lake one sunny day to fetch
water I saw my image reflected, and afterwards bemoaning my exceeding
unkempt appearance, though in truth it mattered nothing, Billy took it
into his head to make me, secretly, a brush and comb, which he
presented to me with great glee. "There, old king," says he, for he
sometimes called me king instead of master since we named the island,
"there you are, and I hope you'll use 'em to keep your old majesty's
head tidy." His manner of addressing me was not, you perceive, very
reverential; but I will say this for Billy, that though he was very
sturdy and independent of spirit, he was never insolent, being a
gentleman in his nature, and so we were rather good comrades than
anything else, and the talk of kings and so forth was mere fun and
play-acting. I did use the brush and comb which he had made for me,
but not, I confess, very often, and I cannot help thinking what a great
number of things that we are accustomed to we could do without; indeed,
though we had made ourselves knives and forks, we did not use them very
much either and you might have seen us at dinner-time squat down on the
floor of our house, with two mats of leaves in front of us, on one of
which was our meat (pork, or a pigeon or fowl), on the other our yams
or bread-fruit, boiled or baked, with a little heap of salt in the
corner, and little clay mugs filled with cocoa-nut juice or water at
the side. Then we would take a yam in one hand and a shank of pork, or
a leg of fowl, in the other, dip them in the salt and take a bite, and
then a bite of the yam, and so go through our meal very comfortably
till only the bones were left. Afterwards we thought of making stools
and chairs and a table, as much to employ our time as for any
conveniency of them, and then we ate our meals again in the civilized
way, though I own I thought it not a whit better nor much cleaner than
the other, for we could always wash our hands.
[Illustration: The Brush Billy made, showing also the manner of it]
[Illustration: Comb of Spines]
I said that we could not cut our hair, but when it grew so long that it
covered our shoulders, and Billy said I should soon be an old woman, we
thought of shortening it by burning; so we each became barber in turn,
holding the hair away from the head with Billy's comb, and then burning
the ends away with a torch. Billy was much more hairy than I was, and
though he was three years younger than me his cheeks and chin already
showed signs of black whiskers and beard, and one day I found him
trying to shave with a flint, having made soap by boiling fat with the
ashes of wood; but he succeeded so ill, only making his chin raw, that
he gave it up, and said he supposed he would have to look a fright.
[Illustration: "ONE DAY I FOUND HIM TRYING TO SHAVE WITH A FLINT."]
[Sidenote: A Fleet of Canoes]
One day, about a year after our first coming to the island, as we
judged by the ripeness of the breadfruit, Billy went up Flagstaff Hill,
as we called it, to take the survey which we never omitted, each of us
doing it in turn, though we sometimes went together. I was moulding a
new pan, when all of a sudden I heard a great shout from the hill-side
above, and looking up I saw Billy leaping down towards me with a speed
that seemed very dangerous, waving his arms and shouting, though in the
distance I could not distinguish his words. My heart leapt into my
mouth, as the saying is, for from his excitement I surmised that he had
descried a sail at sea, and I thought he was calling to me to help him
raise our signal. I ran towards him, and as we drew nearer to each
other, I saw plainly on his face the marks of great agitation, and then
in a breathless way he called the one word "Savages!" and I was
instantly in a terrible fear lest they had landed on the island and
were coming to attack us.
However, when we met, Billy told me that from the hill-top he had seen
a fleet of canoes on the north side of the island, passing from west to
east. They were filled with savages, though whether armed or not he
could not tell, they being a good distance out at sea, nor was there
anything to show whether they purposed landing. It came into my mind
with a shock at that moment that we were very ill able to defend
ourselves in case they should land and attack us, for we had very
little provision in our hut, and if we took refuge there they might
keep us shut up until we died of hunger, or thirst, which would be
worse. I blamed myself very much for lack of prudence in not making
provision for such an emergency, but the truth is that after spending
so many months without seeing a human form we had become careless, and
went from day to day as though there had been no human beings in the
world except our two selves. However, it was too late to make up for
this neglect now, if the savages did indeed land, and I saw that in
that case we could only take to the woods and trust that our hut and
plantations, being inland, might pass undiscovered. Accordingly I
accompanied Billy back up the hill, and we went round the wood where
our signal-tree was, to a place nearer the crater, whence we had a more
extensive view.
"There they are!" cried Billy, pointing out to sea, and I saw eight or
nine long canoes filled with brown men, who must have numbered near two
hundred in all. But I saw with inexpressible relief that they had come
past the Red Rock, and were proceeding steadily eastward, and knowing
that there was no beach on the north side of the island where they
might land, we had great hope that we should not be troubled with them.
Keeping out of sight behind rocks, though indeed there was perhaps
little danger of our being seen, we watched the fleet until it became
no more than a speck on the eastern horizon, and then we went down to
our hut, relieved of present danger, but by no means easy in mind about
the future.
[Sidenote: Fortification]
We knew not whether the fleet was going or returning, but whichever it
was, I was surprised it had not put in at our island for rest and
refreshment, for the nearest land to the west was at least twenty miles
away, and on the east it could not be less, for we had seen but the
dimmest line in that direction. Billy said the savages were without
doubt afraid of the old smoker, and even though he was harmless at
present, the island had a bad name, and so they would not land on it
except under very great stress. This I devoutly hoped was the true
explanation, for if it was, we had a reasonable hope that we should
never have to deal with savage enemies. Yet the fright we had had
determined us to do something to provide more efficiently for our
safety, and the first thing we did was to make loopholes in the walls
of our hut, so that if we were at any time forced to take refuge there,
we might at least be able to make some resistance by shooting arrows at
the enemy. Then we carried a great number of cocoa-nuts into the
house, which would provide us both with meat and drink, and we
determined to dig a hole in the floor when the bread-fruit was fully
ripe, and store it with the pounded pulp as we had done outside. Then
it came into my head of a sudden that, our hut being built wholly of
logs and thatch, the enemy might easily set fire to it and burn us
alive, and to hinder this we carried down great quantities of the
clayey soil of which we made our pottery ware, and mixing it with sand
and small stones, we made a kind of rough-cast with which we covered
the whole of the outside of the hut, roof and all, so that we not only
concealed the joints of the walls, but also, as I hoped, protected the
hut from fire.
This work took us a long time, as you may guess, and before we had
finished it, we saw the fleet again. One or other of us went up the
hill several times a day to watch the eastern horizon, and on the third
day, I think it was, after we first saw the canoes, a little after
sunrise, I saw some tiny specks in the east, and recognizing them by
and by for canoes I watched them with great anxiety. I feared lest we
might have two enemies to deal with, the savages and the volcano, which
had been rumbling for a day or two at intervals, and sending up puffs
of steam or smoke, and we wondered whether there was going to be
another eruption like that at the time of our first coming. As soon as
I saw the canoes, I signalled for Billy to join me, and the moment we
caught sight of them he cried: "Why, there's only six; there was eight
or nine before," a fact which had escaped my notice. They were plainly
heading straight for the island, and not in a course that would bring
them past the north side with a good offing as before.
"I don't want to be eat," said Billy, going pale under his sun-tan;
"but we can't fight over a hundred savages, can we, master?"
Before I could reply there was a loud rumbling beneath us, and being
not a great way from the crater, we set off at a run, going down
towards the Red Rock, there being no lava on this side. We had run
barely twenty yards when a great puff of steam or smoke was shot up
into the air for near two hundred feet, I should guess, and a shower of
pumice stones fell around us. This frightened us so much that,
forgetting all about the canoes, we did not stop running until we came
to the edge of the cliff opposite the Red Rock, and then, there being
no more signs of activity in the volcano, we were thinking of climbing
up again to our watching-place when, to our great joy, we caught sight
of the canoes making round the north side, and indeed bearing away
northwards away from us.
"Three cheers for old smoker," cried Billy. "He's scared 'em away,
sure as nuts, and they won't eat us after all."
We stood watching the canoes as they made their way very toilsomely
against wind and current, and did not go down to our hut until they had
quite vanished from sight. It was long past our usual dinner-time, I
am sure, and as we had had no breakfast we were mighty hungry, and ate
with very good appetites, having lost our fear; and taking up our mugs
of cocoa-nut juice, and knocking them together in the way of folks
drinking a toast, I cried out, "Here's to old smoker!" and Billy
shouted, "God bless him!"
This happened, as I say, three days after our first alarm, and we did
not cease from our efforts to put ourselves in a good posture of
defence if we should ever again have reason to fear an attack. We had
already made our hut fairly fire-proof, and cut loop-holes in the
walls, these at varying heights, so that we might shoot down from a
height upon the enemy at a distance, or on a level with them if they
came to close quarters. Since a man behind walls is equal to at least
three outside, I should think, we considered that we two, though hardly
come to man's estate, could make a very good fight of it; our only
trouble was the matter of water, for while we had no fears in the
matter of food, we did not see how by any means we could store
sufficient water in the hut, even if we filled all our pots and pans.
[Sidenote: Sinking a Well]
I was lying with Billy one evening outside our hut overlooking the
lake, when the solution to this puzzle came all at once into my head.
The ground behind the hut sloped pretty steeply down to the lake, the
length of the slope being about twenty feet, and the vertical height
about six feet--that is, between the floor of our hut and the usual
surface of the water. For I must observe here, lest I forget it, that
the depth of water in the lake varied very much at different seasons,
being far greater after a period of rainy weather than in drought, the
variation being at least equal to the height of a man. And in regard
to this variation a circumstance caused us much wonderment, for though
when the rains were heavy the lake rose very rapidly to a certain
point, we observed that it never came higher than that point, no matter
how long the rains continued. When I pointed this out to Billy he saw
nothing to wonder at in it, saying that the lake must be just like the
sea; for though it had rained hundreds and thousands of times since the
beginning of the world, the sea had never drowned the world since the
Flood, and it surely would have done so unless there was some hole at
the bottom that opened when the sea was getting too full.
"That can't be," said I.
"Well, then, how is it?" says he. "You pour water into a cup, and
it'll slop over presently. The lake's a cup, though a big one; why
don't it slop over after all these rains if there ain't a hole in the
bottom, as I say?"
"But it can't be in the bottom, Billy, or the lake would sometimes be
drained quite dry," I said.
"Well, it is, pretty nearly," he replied, but I would not admit that,
for though the water subsided slowly after the rains had ceased, it had
never sunk so low as to let us see the bottom. At low water we hunted
all round the lake to see if we could find an outlet through which the
water ran away, but we saw none, and remained in our puzzlement for a
good while longer.
However, I was beginning to tell of the notion that came into my head
as we lay that evening above the lake. Being so little distant from
it, I thought, why should we not sink a well in the floor of the hut,
and connect it with the lake by a pipe?
"What's the good?" says Billy, when I put the question to him. "For
one thing, the water won't run up into the hut without a pump; at
least, I've never seen water run uphill yet; and then, as soon as any
savages come, you may be sure they'll spy it, and then where are you?"
I said that as for the latter point, we should, of course, take care to
show no sign outside of what we had done; and as for the former, I did
not despair of finding some way to raise the water to our level, even
if we could not make a pump. Billy talked till it was dark about the
difficulties of what I proposed--the difficulty of digging a hole, of
preventing the earth from falling in, and so forth--until you would
have thought he was the poorest-spirited creature that ever lived; but
that was only Billy's way, and I often observed that he was never so
active and eager, aye, and never so hopeful too, as after he had been
talking in this gloomy manner. At any rate, next day he set to work
with me to make a trial of my notion.
It happened that, the weather having been dry for a good while, the
water was now low, indeed, within a foot of the lowest point to which
we had ever known it to sink, which was favourable to our plan; for it
was necessary that our pipe should enter the lake below the water's
surface, even in the driest weather, and moreover if the latter had
been full, we should have found it very troublesome, and perhaps
impossible, to do as I shall now relate. This was nothing less than to
dam up the water of the lake for a little space, so that we might cut a
passage through the side of it towards our hut. To make this dam we
felled a number of logs and dragged them down to the bed of the lake,
where we arranged them in the shape of a great V, the point of the V
being out in the lake, the ends resting on the shore. We lashed the
logs together very firmly, and coated them with clay, and so made a dam
which we found to answer very well. Of course we had to bale out the
water which was first between the arms of the V, and Billy grumbled as
we did this, saying that he was sure there would be a heavy rainstorm,
and all our work would be for nothing; but in this he turned out a
false prophet, since we had no rain at all for many days.
[Illustration: Spade cut out of a log]
When the inside of the V was dry, its floor was about three feet below
the level of the water outside of it; and within that dry space we
could work very comfortably at making a cutting through the bank
towards the hut. To do this we had to make spades, which we fashioned
out of hard wood as well as we could with our axes, and they served our
purpose excellently well, though they would not have done so had not
the earth been soft; if it had been rocky, I know not what we should
have done. With these spades we began to cut away a portion of the
sloping bank of the lake, continuing till we had, as it were, taken a
slice or a wedge off it, up to within about three yards of our hut.
This took us two whole days, for the earth, though soft compared with
rock, was pretty compact, and our clumsy tools made us sigh often, and
sweat too.
Having come, as I say, to within ten feet or so of our hut, I thought
we might then give over digging and endeavour to pierce a way to a
point directly beneath the centre of the floor, or at least near enough
as that we might sink a shaft to meet it. We surveyed the position for
some little while, so as to take our bearings, as Billy said: and then,
having got a pretty good notion of the course our proposed passage
should take, we shoved into the earth, horizontally, a pole we had
sharpened to a point, and when we found we could push it in no further,
we drew it out and gave it another mighty shove, directing it in such a
way as we thought would bring it midway between the two corner posts,
though of course several feet below the floor. We found after a time
that, though we tried to drive the pole straight, nevertheless it
deflected somewhat towards the right; and when we pulled it out to give
it another shove, it met with some obstacle, which I was afraid might
be the bottom part of one of our posts, though I could not conceive how
we had gone so far out of our reckoning. But with a little more
pushing the pole, being in a certain degree flexible, went past the
obstacle, so that if this was one of the posts, it had not been met
squarely in the middle. The pole being now wholly in the earth except
just enough of it to hold by, we judged that we had driven it as far as
was needful, and mighty glad of it we were.
Leaving the pole in the earth, we set about boring in the floor of our
hut, not beginning midway between the door-posts, as we should have
done if we had encountered no obstacle, but a little to one side. We
proceeded here in the same manner as we had done in the bank of the
lake, using a sharp-pointed pole, only we drove it down in a vertical
direction; but we soon found that this would not effect our purpose, as
indeed we might have known before if we had thought about it, for it
was necessary that we should make a clean hole, which could not be done
by driving in a pole. After considering of it, we determined to get a
large piece of bamboo stalk, at least five inches across, and to drive
that into the earth with the pummet we had used in building the hut.
This we did, and placing the bamboo (a piece about three feet long) in
the hole we had already begun to drive, we dealt it several heavy blows
with the pummet, by this means driving it into the ground, and at the
same time forcing some earth up into its hollow interior. Then we took
the bamboo out, and carrying it outside the hut, poked all the earth
out of it, and when it was empty, put it once more into the hole, and
smote it again as before. This was a very tedious business, for as the
hole went deeper we had to use a longer piece of bamboo, and when we
had near finished the bamboo broke in the middle, and we had to dig to
a depth of three feet or more around the hole before we could reach the
lower portion to pull it out again, at which Billy was very wroth,
because the excavation had to be filled in again, so as to bring the
floor to its former level. However, we continued until the hole was
seven or eight feet deep, at which depth we thought we should come to
the pole we had driven through the bank; but it would have been
scarcely less than a miracle if we had bored the hole to the exact
spot, and we had indeed to enlarge its circumference until it measured
full thirty inches across, and not till then did we come to the pole.
When we did strike this we were both very joyful, for we had been
working at it for four full days, and had yet got but a very little way
in our design.
[Sidenote: A Surprising Discovery]
We went back now to the lake-side, and using bamboos as we had done in
the hut, but with longer and larger stems, we made little by little a
sort of tunnel about five inches wide running to the well we had sunk.
We then sank this latter a few inches below its former level, so as to
make a kind of cistern or reservoir for the water when it should flow
in from the lake; and in order that the water might not run away
through the soft earth, we let down a quantity of clay with which to
line the bottom, intending to bake it with fire after we had rammed it
until it became hard and tight. Billy took this work of ramming,
performing it with a long and stout pole, which he lifted high and then
brought down with great force, he always delighting to show the
strength of his muscles. However, he had just made a stroke of
particular power, when the beater pole slipped from his hands and he
fell flat on his face over the top of the well. He was on his feet
again in an amazing short time, and I laughed as he ran to the door,
holding his nose, I thinking he was running to the lake to bathe it.
But in a moment I was aware of a very evil smell which came without a
doubt from the well we had sunk, and it was so powerful, and also
noisome, that I very quickly beat a retreat too, and joined Billy
outside the hut.
"I'm poisoned," says Billy, spluttering and spitting on the ground.
"What did you do it for, master? I said as how 'twould be no use."
"You're a Job's comforter," said I, somewhat tartly, such a speech as
Billy's only sharpening the edge of adversity, to my thinking.
"You're another," says Billy, who did not in the least know what I
meant, his acquaintance with the Bible being at that time, I fear, very
slight. "There's the bottom knocked out of the well, and dead men's
bones below, that's what it is."
It did come into my head for a minute that we might have opened up some
grave, or at least a place where human folk had been overtaken and
buried by lava from the mountain; but I soon gave this up, for the
earth was soft, and not a whit like lava, and as for a grave, no one
would have dug it so deep down in the earth. I was just as much vexed
as Billy was at this untoward event, but I think I was even more
curious to learn what was beneath our unlucky well, and I went back
soon into the hut, intending to examine the place. However, the evil
smell was so overpowering that I was fain to seek the open air again,
and it was some time, an hour or two, maybe, before the air became
clear enough for us to enter the hut with any comfort. Bethinking
myself that the clearing of the air showed that there might be nothing
very terrible below, the foul smell being due to the sudden release of
air long imprisoned, I got a length of our rope, and let it down with a
stone on the end until it touched the bottom, which we found to be
twice as deep as before; and when I did this, I perceived another thing
which seemed to me mighty strange, which was nothing less than a
current of air passing up through the well. There was, it is true, a
passage now between the lake-side and the hut, but we had felt no
current when the connection was first established, and yet we could not
conceive of a current coming from the very bowels of the earth. Billy
declared, in something of a fright, that we had got down to the roots
of the mountain, whence came the steam and the hot water; but I
answered that this was plainly absurd, the current of air that we felt
being perfectly cool, though not very fresh.
I thought we might let down a torch into the well, whereby we should
perhaps be able to see something of what was below. Accordingly we
kindled a torch of kernels and let it down at the end of a rope, and
very evilly it smelled, I assure you. We observed that the flame
flickered a great deal until it descended to the first bottom of our
well, or perhaps two or three feet deeper; then the torch burnt more
steadily, but the flame did not rise straight up, but seemed to be
swayed a little to either side, and I could not help thinking, by the
look of it, that it was burning in a greater space than when it was in
our narrow well-shaft. Considering of some means of proving whether
this was so or not, I could at first see none, short of enlarging the
shaft until one of us could descend it, which indeed neither Billy nor
I was disposed to attempt. It was next day when an idea came into my
head, and that was occasioned by my seeing the spring-back of Billy's
bow when he shot at the running man, at which we exercised ourselves
now and again, seeing that we might have real men to shoot at some day.
The spring of the bow, I say, gave me a notion, and taking a flexible
strip of wood of the same tree, I tied one end of it to a long pole,
and then bent it double, not fastening it in that position, but
inserting it thus bent into the shaft, the sides of which prevented it
from springing back. Then I lowered the pole, and the bent piece of
wood scraped the sides of the well until it reached what had been the
bottom and a little beyond it; but then, as I still let down the pole,
the bent wood sprang loose, like as Billy's bow did, which showed very
plainly that the shaft was much wider below.
This discovery perplexed, nay, disquieted us. For one thing, it was a
mercy that we had not lighted on this hollow chamber, for such it must
be, when we were driving in the posts for our hut, for then we might
have broken our necks. As yet we were ignorant of the extent of this
open space, though we knew its depth, nor could we tell whether it in
any way endangered the firmness of the hut. Billy said that if he had
known there was such a cellar beneath us he would not have lifted a
hand to help me build, and I own that if we had discovered it when we
were beginning to build, I should have assuredly chosen another
situation. But after spending so many months of hard work in putting
up our hut, I was very loath to leave it now and begin all over again,
though it was a staggering thought that at any moment of the day or
night we might sink, and the hut too, and maybe be cast into another
hole, for we could not tell but that the second bottom might give way
like the first. Moreover, even supposing that our hut was no less safe
than before, all the labour that we had been put to in devising a means
of supplying ourselves with water from the lake had gone for nought. I
think this was the heaviest blow we had had since we took up our abode
on the island, and for a time we stood stock-still, contemplating the
dark hole that was the grave, so to speak, of our hopes.
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH
OF OUR SUBTERRANEOUS ADVENTURE, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THE WILD DOGS
PROFITED BY OUR ABSENCE
"Billy," said I, after we had stood silent a good while, "we must find
out what is below."
"What's the good?" says Billy; "and how can you do it? Neither of us
can scrooge ourselves down through this hole, and I ain't a-going to
try, that's certain."
"But you can help to make the hole wider," I replied.
"And suppose I fall in," says he, "who'll pull me out?"
"I should certainly do my best," said I.
"And suppose you fall in too?" says he, being very persistent.
"Then we shall help each other out," said I.
"And suppose we find ourselves in the old smoker's kitchen, or get
buried alive or something?" says Billy.
"We won't suppose any more, but just set to work," said I. "I will dig
out the earth, and you can carry it away, and then there'll be no
chance of your tumbling in."
The matter being put thus, Billy would by no means agree to it, but
insisted that he would take his turn with me at digging. He asked me,
however, how the earth was to be carried away, for if we did it with
our hands it would take a month of Sundays. I answered that we must
certainly make some baskets, which was a pretty easy matter after a
little practice, there being plenty of rushes and such-like things
growing at the borders of the lake. Having made two very fair baskets,
that would hold about a bushel apiece, we began with our spades to cut
away the earth around the hole, Billy carrying it outside the hut when
I dug, and I doing the same when he dug. This work was exceeding
laborious, since when digging we had to be very careful not to let the
earth fall down the shaft and choke it up, and also the basketfuls of
earth had to be hauled up every few minutes. We were several days at
the work before we came to the bamboo pipe we had driven in from the
lake side--not, of course, that we did nothing else, having our other
duties to attend to, and besides we now went up to our watch-tower
three times, and sometimes four, every day, so that the savages should
not come in their canoes and take us by surprise.
[Sidenote: The Cavern]
Having got down to the pipe, which, as I have said, was but a few
inches above the cavity into which we had broken, we saw that we must
be even more careful, for if the earth should give way all of a sudden,
as it did before, we might for all we knew be hurled into a bottomless
abyss. All the time we had been digging we had felt the current of
cool air striking upward against us, from which it was plain that the
chamber below was not a perfectly closed vault, and the only comfort we
had of this was that we were certainly not coming to the old smoker's
kitchen, as Billy called it, for then the air would have been hot. To
avoid this headlong fall, I considered we should now cease to stand on
the ledge of earth at the side of the hole, and rig up a rope ladder
which we might attach securely to the doorposts above. Billy was
digging when this idea came into my head, he being lighter than I, and
after I told him of it he scrambled up very quickly by means of steps
we had cut in the side, confessing he was glad to get out in safety.
It took us some time to make a rope ladder, but when it was done, and
fastened to the doorposts, I descended and hacked away with my spade at
the sides of the hole below me until I had made it big enough for my
body to go through. Then I got Billy to hand down to me a lighted
torch, and bending as low as I could, I clung to the ladder with one
hand, and with the other held the torch in the space below, being
nearly suffocated by its stinking fumes. However, by moving the torch
backwards and forwards I made out that the space was a small chamber,
oblong in shape, but not regular, and with a floor, but, so far as I
could see, no outlet, though I knew there must be one, because of the
current of air. Feeling by no means sure of the depth of the floor
below me, I clambered up again and pulled the ladder after me, and we
lengthened it by some three feet before I descended again. By the
light of my torch I then saw that I could drop to the floor without any
danger, and I let go the ladder, and fell upon my feet on hard rock.
"What cheer, master?" calls out Billy, with his face close to the top
of the shaft above. I told him that I was safe and what manner of
place I was in, and said I would explore further, and when I did so I
found that we had no need to trouble ourselves about the safety of our
hut, because the walls of this underground chamber were of hard rock,
like the rocks on the sides of the mountain, and the roof the same,
except at the place where we had dug our shaft. How this came to be I
did not trouble to think,[1] nor did it concern us, the great matter
for us being that our hut had a solid foundation, which was a great
comfort. When I told this to Billy, by shouting up through the shaft,
the sound of my voice echoing very strangely, he cried back that he was
glad to hear it and that he was coming down to see. "No, no," I cried
at this; "you keep guard above while I seek further; and besides, the
ladder does not reach the ground, and perhaps you couldn't get up
again."
"Then how will you get up, master?" says Billy.
"Why, you can draw the ladder up while I go exploring, and by the time
I come back you can lengthen it," was my answer.
This he agreed to do, only he begged me not to be long.
[Sidenote: A Tunnel]
When I came to examine the chamber, I found it to be neither so large
nor so lofty as I had first supposed. The general height of it was not
above five feet, though in parts it rose to ten feet or more. I had
soon made a tour about the chamber, the compass of which was perhaps
sixty or seventy feet, and in one corner of it I at last discovered an
opening, through which, I did not doubt, came the current of air I have
before mentioned. It was, as I found when I held my torch to it, a
very low and narrow passage, not above four feet high, and the draught
of air was so strong that it made my torch flare, and, indeed, was like
to blow it out. This made me consider whether I had not better rest
content and go no further; but curiosity was strong within me, and so I
went into the passage, or tunnel, having to bend my body very low, and
crept along with great caution, holding the torch in front of me lest I
came unawares upon a chasm and broke my neck. The passage seemed to me
to incline slightly downward, though I could not be sure of this, since
there were not only several crooks and turns in it, so that not many
yards of it were straight, but also it was in some parts pretty near
choked with rocks and stones, which I supposed had fallen from the roof
and sides. However, I picked my way among these obstacles when they
occurred, and found as I went on that the passage became both wider and
loftier, so that I was able to stand upright.
After I had gone some distance through this tunnel, wondering whether
it was natural or had been made by men's hands, and inclining to the
former belief, I perceived that it was joined by another passage which
ran into it from my right hand, and the two passages thus joined in one
became a tunnel which increased both in width and height the further I
went. Whereas at starting from the cavern I had had to bend low, with
little space on either side of me, I now found myself in a passage
which in some parts was as much as twenty feet high, as near as I could
guess in the deceitful light of my torch, and so wide that five or six
men could easily have walked abreast in it. And as I still kept my
eyes cast down, being heedful of my footing, I perceived by and by on
the floor of the passage sundry small whitish objects which, when I
stooped to examine them, I found to be shells, and they became more
numerous the further I went. I began now to question with myself
whether this tunnel did not communicate with the sea, and whether the
sea ever came up through it so far into the interior of the island, for
the cavern whence I had started on this journey was directly below our
hut, and that was situate at least half a mile from the sea-shore.
I went on, being eager to satisfy myself on this point, and holding my
torch about the level of my head, when all at once I felt the skin of
my hand scorched, and, looking up, saw that the flame was burning very
low, which had escaped me, so much were my thoughts taken up. I had no
mind to pursue this journey in darkness, for though I had come very
well to this point, I knew not whereto the tunnel would bring me, nor
what perils might be lurking in the way. Accordingly I turned myself
about, purposing to acquaint Billy with what I had discovered, and to
come again, either with him or alone, with sufficient light to hold out
to the end. But I soon saw, to my exceeding discomfort, that I had
already presumed too much upon the endurance of my torch, which was
flickering lower and lower, and within a little, though I made what
haste I could, went out altogether. At this I was mightily vexed,
though not alarmed, for the floor of the tunnel was perfectly sound,
albeit rough, and I did not look for the least difficulty in making my
way back to the cavern. Though not alarmed, I say, I was vexed, for I
could not go nearly so fast in the dark, and I began to think that
Billy might be a little uneasy at my long absence. As to myself, there
was only one thing to trouble about, and that was to keep to the right
hand, so that I should not fail of re-entering the passage by which I
had come when I arrived at the place where the other passage joined
with it. To make sure on this point I felt with my hand along the wall
at my right, and found this a help to me for some distance; but by and
by I had to leave it, so as to get past some rocks that stood in my
way, and in a little while after I returned to it I stumbled clean over
another obstacle, hurting my hands and knees, though luckily my head
did not strike the ground.
[Sidenote: Lost]
When I rose up, I could not find the wall at once, the passage here
being exceedingly rough with loose rocks and stones. I stumbled on,
and now for the first time the thought came into my head, how awful it
would be if a man were lost in such an underground passage as this, not
at first thinking of this plight as likely to be mine, though soon I
did begin to be very uneasy, and indeed I was almost overcome with
horror when all of a sudden I thought, "What if there be a perfect
network of these passages in the island, and I can never light on the
cavern again?" I wished now very heartily that I had let Billy come
down to me when he offered it, but there was no use in wishing, so I
groped my way onward, having now got my hand upon the wall again.
I had noticed for some time that the floor of the tunnel was ascending,
and it seemed to me steeper than I had thought it to be when I came the
other way; but I paid little heed to this, because a hill always seems
steeper when you ascend than when you descend. But all of a sudden I
felt that the inclination was downward, and I was trying to recollect
if I had gone up and then down as I came from the cavern, when I felt
something cold about my feet, and, taking a step forward, splashed in
water. Instantly I turned about and rushed back, stumbling and
falling, and in a great dismay, for I knew now that I had lost my
bearings. There had been no water in the passage when I came; either
water had rushed into it suddenly, though how that could be I knew not,
or else I had come into another passage. Whichever it might be, my
situation was exceeding serious, for I might be drowned, or I might
wander for hours and never come to the cavern. I picked myself up when
I fell in my haste, and as I leant against the wall to recover myself,
something scurried past my feet, which made me shiver until I thought
that it could not be more than a rat or some other small beast. But
being now so confused that I knew not whether I had come from right or
left, I lifted up my voice and shouted the seaman's call "Ahoy!" for if
I was anywhere near the cavern, Billy might hear me, and that familiar
word would bring him, I did not doubt, to my help. I was startled by
what ensued upon my shout, for the whole space about me was filled with
noise, which at first I did not know to be the reverberation of my own
voice. The noise, the like of which I suppose had never been heard in
that place before, terrified all the denizens of it, and I felt several
small animals brush against my legs as they scurried past. When the
sounds had rolled away, I listened very intently for some answering
cry, but there was none, even though I shouted again, and I could not
but conclude that the din, great as it was, had failed to reach Billy's
ears. And since it now seemed plain that I must depend on myself
alone, and to stay still where I was would not help me a jot, I began
in sheer desperation to grope my way along the passage, not knowing in
the least whether I was going right or wrong. But supposing that I had
overshot the entrance to the passage leading back to the cavern, and
that I was now retracing my steps, I crept along by the wall on my left
hand, every now and again stopping to shout and listen, but always in
vain. And it came into my mind presently that while the sound of my
voice might carry a good way along the portion of the tunnel in which I
then was, yet it would not penetrate far along the passage that ran
back at a very sharp angle from it, so that I would do better to save
my breath until I arrived at the fork, and I went on again, holding my
peace.
The tunnel seemed to me now to be full of strange whispers and little
silent noises which I had not perceived when I travelled along with my
torch. I have not a doubt it was my imagination playing tricks upon
me, helped very much by the darkness; but I did not think of this at
the time, and my skin crept, and broke out into a cold sweat, at the
rustlings and echoes that I heard, or thought I heard. I stopped two
or three times to listen more intently, and then heard nothing but the
beating of my heart, and so on again, until I thought I must surely
have come to the fork of the two passages. Halting, I groped with my
hands to discover if the passage was wider, and then I felt sure I
heard a rustling, and another sound, as of an animal breathing heavily,
and at that moment something cold and clammy touched my outstretched
hand. Instantly I drew back, and scarce knowing what I did let forth a
great shout, which rang, I doubt not, with the very accent of fear, and
immediately it was answered by a shout, which I took at first to be the
echo of it, for the hollow tunnel prolonged the sounds so that nothing
was clear. But in a moment I heard, quite near to me, that ill word
which had wont to be on Billy's lips, but which, since I reproved him
for it, he had never used. I cried his name in a burst of joy, and he
called back, "Is that you, master?" and the next moment we were
together, and I confess I threw my arms about Billy, and would not let
him go until he asked me in a quavering voice what I was afraid of.
[Sidenote: Found]
He told me that, being uneasy at my long absence, when he had expressly
charged me not to be long, he had let himself down by the rope ladder
into the cavern, and came with a torch in search of me, and it was his
hand that had so scared me. "But there you are!" says he. "First I
knocked my head against the roof, and then my funny-bone against the
wall, and then I tumbled head-first over a rock that some one had put
in the very middle of the way; over I went, and my torch was knocked
out of my hand, and the flame was put out. I hadn't got flint and
steel on me, course not; and so I couldn't light the torch again
without going back all the way, and I couldn't find the torch at first,
and when I did find it, things had got so mixed up that I didn't know
no more than Moses which was for'ard and which was aft. But I set a
course straight ahead, and here we are."
"But where are we?" I said.
Billy of course could not tell me this, having lost his bearings just
as completely as I had done. All that we knew was that the cavern was
not reached by the passage along which I had been going, for neither
Billy nor I had encountered water in our outward journey. It seemed to
me that we had both wandered into the passage which I had observed to
run into the other from the right hand, and if this was so, we had but
to go in the same direction as I had been going when Billy met me, and
to cling to the wall on the left side, and we should by and by find
ourselves at the fork of the two passages. And, indeed, we had not
gone above a dozen paces when Billy, who was in front, cried that the
wall turned a corner, and when we reached it we wheeled round in the
same direction, and in due time came to the cavern, which, though it
had seemed dark to me before, was now light by comparison with the
blackness of the tunnel we had left. I asked Billy whether he had
lengthened the ladder, and when he confessed that he had not, I
wondered how we were to ascend to our hut again, for the bottom of the
ladder was out of my reach. But Billy solved this difficulty by
getting on to my shoulders and then grasping the ladder, by which he
very nimbly climbed to the surface. There being no room in the shaft
for him to bend down and assist me, I had to wait until he had
lengthened the ladder, which he did very quickly, blaming himself for
not having done it before. Thus we came safely to our hut again, and
both having had enough of underground passages for that day, we
determined to go on another expedition later, indeed, very soon, for
Billy was eager to explore the tunnel to its end, when I had told him
of the largeness of it, and of the shells on its floor.
I did not tell him my tale at once, for the moment we came up into our
hut we were aware that it had been visited in our absence. Having made
our discovery of the cavern by accident, and gone down into it without
premeditation, we had not thought to shut the door of the hut, which,
being open, those rascally dogs of which I have spoken more than once
had made an irruption. By great good luck there was nothing that they
could destroy, but they had thrown down a pile of cocoa-nuts we had in
one corner, and these lay scattered all about as if they had played
ball with them. I doubt not they would have made an attempt, as they
did afterwards, to plunder our poultry-run, but it would appear that
they had not discovered our absence for some time, and had been
startled away by the sound of us returning. We determined, when we
should descend again into the cavern, to close our door very firmly.
The discovery of the cavern made us alter our plan of bringing water to
the hut. We had intended to make a reservoir just below the pipe, into
which we might let water from the lake whenever we needed it; but we
contented ourselves now with putting a plug into the end of the pipe,
with a small hole in the middle of it, which we could stop or un-stop
at will, so that by removing the stopping we should have a small
trickle of water which we could collect in one of our vessels, and draw
up into the hut. Having fixed these plugs, we went to the lake and
filled in with our spades the excavation we had made in the side,
heaping rocks about the ground that had been disturbed, so that there
should be nothing to betray our device to any one who might chance to
come. We then removed our V-shaped dam, and hastened back to the hut
to see whether the plan answered our expectations. We found when we
took out the stopping that there was a continual drip of water, which
pleased us very much, for we now knew that, however long we might be
shut up in the hut, we should never lack for water, and so we might be
quite easy in mind.
[Sidenote: Exploring]
When we had finished our work in this matter of the water supply, which
was a day or two after our adventure in the tunnel, we set off again,
both together, to make a further exploration, only this time you may be
sure we took several torches of a large size, so that the same trouble
of darkness and bewilderment should not overtake us. This time also we
took the precaution to close and fasten the door, for though there was
little or nothing in the hut to which the dogs could do serious hurt,
we preferred their room to their company, as the saying is.
We went through the tunnel together, and came to the spot where my
torch had gone out, and had not gone very far from thence when we found
our way blocked by water, which came right into the tunnel, and which
we knew by its salt taste to be the sea. It was quite plain from this
that there was an outlet to the shore, but we could not tell how far it
was from us, the place being exceeding dark, so that the flames of two
torches held together scarce seemed to penetrate the blackness. Billy
was greatly disappointed at finding our further progress thus checked,
and asked me whether he should swim through the water until he came to
the opening on the shore; but this I would by no means consent to, for
I could have given him no light, and we could not tell what perils of
sunken rocks or other things we might encounter in the darkness. And
it was a mercy that Billy paid heed to my words, and was not obstinate,
for if he had done what he proposed, and entered the water, I doubt not
I should never have seen him again.
[Sidenote: The Dogs Again]
When we came back to our hut we heard a mighty cackling from the
fowl-house, which, as I have said before, was the smaller hut we had
used while the larger was a-building, and stood some little distance
from the latter on the edge of the level space. Our fowls being in the
main quiet birds, we suspected that something was amiss; indeed, Billy
declared at once that he was sure 'twas the dogs at their old tricks,
and was for opening the door and sallying out upon them at once. But I
bethought myself of a better way, and moreover one that would help us
to prove in some measure the efficacy of our defences; so I took out
the plug from one of the loopholes we had made in the wall facing the
fowl-house, and peeping through I saw nigh a dozen dogs assembled about
it, and some scratching diligently at the earth below the palisade.
They had never molested our creatures since the time when they were so
sore discomfited at the piggery, and I was not a little amazed at their
coming now, for none of them had seen us descending into the cavern.
But I suppose it was as Billy said, that they were cunning beasts with
the second sight; indeed, he said he had heard of witches, and
sometimes fair princesses, being turned into the shape of dogs, but he
knew these villainous rogues were not princesses. However, they did
certainly seem to have discovered that we were no longer on the surface
of the island, and were, as I say, striving to gain an entrance to our
poultry-run.
I whispered to Billy, so as not to disturb them, to take the plug out
of another loophole, and then to shoot an arrow through when I gave the
word. This he did, and our arrows flying forth almost at the same
moment, by great good fortune (and perhaps some little skill) struck
two of the dogs, which fell writhing. I expected to see the rest of
the pack take warning and flee instantly, but this they did not do,
which shows that there is a limit to their reason; for seeing no enemy
they did not connect the fate of the two with any external cause, but
immediately set upon them, tearing them in pieces with horrible
yellings and snarlings. While they were at this cannibal business
Billy and I sent more arrows among them, and six dogs in all had fallen
to our weapons before the rest came to any understanding and sought
safety.
"We could hit savages better," said Billy, as we sallied out, "because
they are bigger than dogs."
"I hope we shall never have the need," I said, taking a long shot at
the rearmost of the dogs as they disappeared in the bushes.
When we came to the poultry-run, we found that the dogs had already
scratched a good-sized hole beneath the palings, and within a little
they would have been able to scramble through and work havoc among our
fowls. We set about recovering our arrows, and soon had them all but
the one I had shot last, which, when I came to the place where I
expected it to be, was not there, nor could we find it, though we
searched for some time.
"You must have hit the villain, master," says Billy.
I could hardly believe this, for the range was long, and the dog was
moving; but on looking closely upon the ground I saw a trace of blood,
and suspected that I had in fact hit the dog, which had, however, run
on with the arrow in him. Being curious on this matter, I determined
to follow up the track, and sent Billy back to the hut for a spear or
an axe, as well to defend myself if the animal should turn upon me as
to put it out of torment if its wound should be grave. The track was
sometimes faint, but mostly clear, and ran in almost a straight line,
so that I followed it with ease, where it led me through the wood
eastward of the hut, bearing to the right round the base of the hill.
But I did not see the dog for some time, until all of a sudden I caught
a glimpse of it limping into the undergrowth some way ahead of me. I
made speed to overtake it, and the animal turned, snarling very
fiercely upon me, and standing as if to dispute my advance; but I
perceived that the creature was already far spent, for it tottered, and
recovered itself with great difficulty, so that I was very glad when
Billy came up, and with one thrust of the spear ended the poor beast's
life.
"There you are, you villain!" cried Billy with a kind of savage joy as
he dealt the stroke; but I own I felt in a manner sorry for the
creature, and thought it a pity that we should have to wage war against
them, though I saw it was a necessity, they being, in their wild state,
as fierce and dangerous to us as wolves. Maybe my softness was partly
due to my recollection of a terrier we had at home, and I was
contemplating the beast Billy had slain, striving to make out some
likeness between her (for 'twas a bitch) and my uncle's terrier, when
Billy cried, "What's that?" and I was aware of a faint yelping near by.
Penetrating a little further into the undergrowth, I saw three little
puppies, their eyes just open, but they were not yet able to crawl.
"They are very pretty when they're young, Billy," I said.
"Pretty!" says he. "I'll show 'em. They shan't never grow up to
plague us;" and he was on the point of piercing one of them with his
spear when I stayed his hand.
"But why and what for?" says he, looking at me in amazement. "They'll
only starve, or be eaten by the other rascals when they find 'em.
Better kill 'em now and have done with it."
[Sidenote: Our Pets]
But I had been thinking that we were two lone creatures on this island,
and we might perchance find some solace and amusement in keeping pets,
which we could not do with pigs or poultry, the former being too
swinish and the latter too silly. And I confess the little things
looked so pretty that I had not the heart to kill them, and so I
proposed that we should carry them back to the hut and do our best to
bring them up.
"What's the good?" says Billy. "They won't live. I had some rabbits
once, and they died; and some guinea-pigs, and my mother drownded
them--she wasn't my real mother; and they may be pretty now, though I
can't see it, but when they grow up, bless you, they'll be as fierce as
those other villains, and we may as well kill 'em first as last."
"Billy," I said, "my aunt Susan used to say, 'Never climb up to the
chimney-pots to meet the rain'----"
"No one would but a fool," says Billy, interrupting, and when I tried
to explain what my aunt meant he said that was all very well, but where
did the chimney-pots come in? However, to shorten the story, he gave
in to my wish, and we carried the puppies to our hut, and made them up
a bed of grass and leaves in one of our large pans. We were hard put
to it to know how to feed them, and indeed, the food we gave
them--bread-fruit made into pap, and scraps of chicken, and the like,
as well as broth sometimes--did not agree with them very well, because
they were so young, so that I doubted whether we should succeed in
rearing them. One died in three days, but the others survived, and I
ought to say that Billy was fully as diligent as myself in tending
them, and showed a marvellous ingenuity in the preparation of their
meals. As they grew up, we used to watch them anxiously, expecting
that one fine day they would leave us and join themselves to their own
kindred in the wilds, and Billy said he hoped his dog would not leave
us the first, for he would never forgive it. But we saw with great
satisfaction that they showed no inclination towards the society of
their kind; indeed, it was the contrary; they shunned them, and showed
every mark of enmity if they approached, so that we saw they would
prove to be very good watchdogs when fully grown. Billy called his dog
Robin, which he said was a good name for a dog but not for a man, and I
called mine Little John to match; and they soon learnt to answer to
their names.
[1] Probably the fissure had at one time extended to the surface, but
had been gradually filled up with soil brought to the spot by drainage
from the high ground.--H.S.
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH
OF A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION BETWEEN BILLY AND THE NARRATOR--OF AN
ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK, AND THE BUILDING OF A CANOE
We now began to consider ourselves as the possessors of considerable
wealth, compared with our condition when we first came to the island.
We had a fair estate, with none to dispute our title, at least, none
had yet done so; a substantial and commodious house, by no means a
mansion, and very plainly furnished, but having the necessary things,
to which we could add the others, and did. We had food, both of the
animal and vegetable kind, of our own breeding and growing, so that we
were always sure of its freshness. We looked abroad on our little
domain with a great deal of honest satisfaction, seeing our own
handiwork in it, and being ever urged on to other achievements by what
we had already done. This summer, for an instance, finding that our
yam plantation throve exceedingly, and needed hoeing because of the
very fertility of the soil, we made ourselves rakes and hoes, the
former of wood and bits of bone (these took us a long time), the latter
of scallop shells bound with cords about crutched sticks. Then, when
the yams were ripe, and we had to bring them to our house from the
plantation, which was at some distance, we thought of making a
wheelbarrow, which also employed us for a good time, and was indeed one
of the most difficult jobs we took in hand, the want of nails being a
great hindrance. The body of it was made of wicker-work closely
plaited, and the wheel a disc of pottery, which answered very well
until it broke in going over rocky ground, and then we had to carve out
a wooden one, which was a very tiresome job. We made also a sort of
bench-table out of the stump of a tree, which we split down the middle
by driving in flint wedges, and when we had split it we took one half
and planed the inside of it with scrapers, also of flint, and then
scoured it with sand, not being content until it was as smooth as a
sawyer's plank. It was on this that I drew the map I have mentioned
before, using a mixture of charcoal and oil pressed from candle-nuts,
and Billy was very proud when he saw BOBBIN'S BAY marked on it in
pretty neat, big characters. We made also some rough stools and
chairs, using always strong cords of cocoa-nut fibre in the place of
nails. Billy and I had a little difference about the stools, he
preferring them to be of three legs, and I of four, my reason being
that the four-legged sort were the more stable, while his reason was
nothing but a contrariness of temper that sometimes seized him; in
which frame of mind if I said I should like pork for dinner he would
immediately declare for chicken.
[Illustration: Rake Head and Scallop-shell Hoe]
[Illustration: Our Wheelbarrow]
[Illustration: Our Table]
[Sidenote: A Difference of Opinion]
It was this that brought about the fight between us, which I think I
mentioned before. We had just finished making our first stools, his
being three-legged, and he sang a trifle loud because he was finished
first, he being always more handy with his fingers than I was, except
in delicate work and the making of pottery. He taunted me about my
slowness, asking what was the good of bothering about four legs when
three would do quite as well, and saying that he supposed I must have
one more than he, because he was only the son of a poor blacksmith of
Limehouse; and more to the same effect. Now this, I thought, was very
unjust, for I had never stood upon any difference in rank there might
be between us; nor indeed did Billy as a rule allude to it, much less
express any discontentment, but called me "master" very simply and
naturally. What came over him this day I know not, but he sat on his
three-legged stool with a very gloomy face, grumbling and growling
until I could endure it no longer.
[Illustration: My Chair; Billy's Stool]
"For goodness' sake, Billy," I said, "leave me to my work. Go and get
the dinner ready, or something."
"I won't," says he. "Why should I get your dinner? I ain't your
servant, though I ain't got a mad uncle what's got more money than
wits. Money! what's the good of money when you ain't got no sense for
the spending of it? Why, if it hadn't been for your uncle I'd 'a been
rich by this time, working for decent wages in London, instead of
sweating for nothing."
"You're an ass," said I, as pleasantly as you please.
"I may be an ass," says Billy, "but I'm blowed if I'm a silly ass, and
that's what _you_ are."
[Sidenote: A Fight]
And then I own I clean lost my temper, and, leaving my work, I went to
him and dealt him a blow that sent him and his stool to the ground.
Whereupon he sprang to his feet, and came at me tooth and nail, as you
may say, butting me with his head, and grappling me, seeking to throw
me by main force. He was very muscular, as I have said, and he came
very near to effecting his purpose with me; but I shook him off, and
being longer in the arms than he, and possessor of a little more
science, I contrived to ward off his blows until he was pretty tired,
and then dealt him a stroke which fairly knocked the wind out of him.
He sat on the ground for some time looking about him in a dazed and
stupid way, and presently, when he was somewhat collected, he said,
"You give me a rare good 'un that time, master," and went on
cheerfully: "You do look comical with your nose a-swelling."
I was already aware that something was amiss with that very prominent
feature, and I might have felt aggrieved at this allusion to it but for
the good-tempered manner in which Billy spoke. It was plain that he
had quite lost his ill-humour, and bore me no malice for the beating I
had given him; indeed, he appeared to think of me all the more highly
because of it. But I was exceeding vexed with myself for losing my
temper over such a trifle, and when we were sitting together by and by,
bathing our wounds, I spoke very solemnly about it, saying that it was
nothing less than sinful, after the mercies that had been vouchsafed to
us, our preservation from manifold dangers by land and sea, to give way
to our angry passions and fight each other with hate in our hearts.
Billy heard me patiently for a while, and subdued his naturally jocund
countenance to a decent solemnity; but presently he burst forth with a
laugh, and said, "Lor, master, how you do talk! What's a round of
fisticuffs and a black eye or two? I got a walloping and deserved it,
and you and me will be all the better friends," which I believe we were.
[Illustration: Our Fish-hooks]
[Illustration: Our Gaff and Landing-net]
[Sidenote: Fishing]
Now that our heavy labours in building our hut and securing our supply
of food were over, we had leisure to indulge ourselves in lighter and
more sportive avocations. We practised diligently with our arrows at
the running man, and greatly improved ourselves in shooting: and we
also began to consider whether we could not catch some of the fish
which came about the coast sometimes in great numbers, particularly
where the water was deep and big rocks lay near the surface. We
usually had intimation of the arrival of a shoal of fish by the
unwonted number of sea-birds we saw flying low and diving into the sea,
and indeed gorging themselves. Billy said he had often fished for
tiddlebacks in the ditches near his home, though he seldom caught any,
and I myself had some angling in our country streams; and our only
difficulty being hooks, for we had lines in plenty, made of that fibre
of which I have spoken, we set our wits to work to invent hooks, Billy
saying what a pity it was we hadn't even a bent pin. We did devise
after a time hooks of various sizes, made out of the bones of small
birds, and then nothing would satisfy us but we must have a gaff, which
we made of tough wood hardened in fire and greased with pork fat, and
also a landing-net, which we made of fibres stretched basket-wise on a
frame of bent wood. Armed with these implements, and with lines and
rods, and bits of shellfish for bait, we went down to the sea and
fished from rocks that stood out of the water at low tide, and were
little more than covered at high. We did not have very much success,
the hooks being easily broken, and I remember one of the first fish we
caught made us very ill, so that for some time after we thought no more
of this addition to our food. But after a while we determined to try
again, and it came into our minds that we had seen the natives of the
island we stayed on catching fish with spears, which manner we had not
thought of at first, the hook and line being the English way.
Accordingly we made some light wooden spears, or rather harpoons, and
with these in our hands we stood on the rocks until we saw fish that
took our fancy, and then flung our spears at them, as we had seen the
natives do. We missed a great many times, for it was not often that we
had the chance to throw our spears perpendicularly straight, and except
when we could, we were not able for a great while to take good aim,
because we did not allow for that strange effect water has of making
things appear to be in a different place from where they are.[1] We
should have been in great danger of losing our spears had we not
foreseen this want of success, and attached a thin line to each of
them, which we held when we made our cast. After many disappointments,
and diligent practice, we contrived to make the needful allowance for
the apparent bending of the harpoons, or rather their turning aside
from the straight path as soon as they entered the water, and indeed we
became fairly dexterous, and could depend on getting a good basket of
fish whenever we chose. Our first experience having made us wary, we
were careful not to eat freely of any fish until we had proved whether
it was good for food, and the course of this proving was somewhat
painful to us, for we found that certain fish, even in the smallest
portions, caused sickness and giddiness. But after a time we learnt to
know the wholesome from the unwholesome, and then we often had fish at
our meals, broiled, baked, or boiled, and we cured a quantity, both
with salt and with smoke, against the time when they should not be so
easily got.
[Illustration: Our Harpoons]
One of the best fishing grounds about our coast was a spot just beyond
the little sandy beach at the south of the island, where it joined the
lava tract, a number of jagged rocks there jutting out of the cliff.
We were able to leap from one to another of these rocks until we came
to a somewhat larger one about fifty or sixty yards out to sea, to
which fish, both large and small, seemed to be marvellously attracted.
This rock appeared to us to be shaped like a mushroom, having a broad
top rising a little in the middle, beneath which the fish lay, for
forty winks, as Billy said. There was little rise and fall of the
tide, but at flood the top of the rock was just awash, and it was
covered with marine plants and limpets, which caused us to be very
careful of our footing. Here we sometimes caught so great a quantity
of fish that we had some trouble in carrying them ashore, so that we
made it a practice after a time, whenever we went to this rock, to take
with us a stout bag, made of a coarse broad grass that grew abundantly
on the shore of the lake; and we placed our catch in this, and then,
instead of springing from rock to rock, which had some peril, we being
so laden, we attached a line to the bag, and hauled it ashore as soon
as we reached the base of the cliff.
We became, I say, fairly dexterous in course of time with our harpoons,
which we lost now and again, in spite of all our care, when the fish we
had speared were big ones, and too strong for us to hold. Once,
indeed, I was dragged right into the water, a great fellow suddenly
sounding when I had driven my harpoon home; and that time I not only
got a thorough drenching and several bruises through falling on the
rock, but lost fish, harpoon and line together. To prevent the like
mishap from happening again, we accustomed ourselves to wind the end of
the line about a spar of rock, so that if any fish proved too strong
for us, either the line snapped or the harpoon became disengaged. In
either of these cases, to be sure, we lost the fish, and if the line
snapped we lost the harpoon as well; but we did have a security against
being drawn into the sea ourselves, which in itself would have been a
trifle, seeing that we could both swim and thought nothing of a
wetting; but at certain seasons we had observed that sharks were
numerous off the coast, and we had a great dread of being snapped up by
one of these monsters, so that at such times we were careful not to go
above our middle when we bathed.
[Sidenote: A Shark]
I remember very well one day, when we were on this mushroom rock, and
the fish being very plentiful, we remained on it longer than our wont,
until, indeed, it was pretty nearly a foot deep in water. I had just
harpooned a fine fellow near three feet long--a sort of cod from which
Billy promised to cut some fine steaks for broiling--and Billy with the
gaff was helping me to land him, when all of a sudden I spied the fin
of a shark making straight towards us, and only a few yards away. In
another moment the beast turned over and heaved itself clean out of the
water and half on to the rock, and snapped up the prize under our very
noses. I think we were first more angry than affrighted, Billy fuming
against the impudent rogue that had snatched away what would have been
a welcome addition to our larder. We had two or three spare harpoons
floating in the shallow water behind us, and attached by their lines to
the spar of rock. These we seized, and just as the shark was jerking
himself back into deep water we hurled our weapons at him, and were
lucky to hit him before he sounded. In a moment the sea about us was
like a boiling caldron; we were swept off our feet by the lines, which
the wounded shark was dragging crosswise over the rock, and before we
could recover our footing one of the lines, which was somewhat shorter
than the other, snapped. But the other held, and we saw that the
shark, instead of plunging in a straight course away from the rock, was
heading up the coast, and moving in a circle of which the line was the
radius. We expected that this line also would snap in a moment, and
then we should have lost both our harpoons; but we were astonished by
and by to see that there was less and less strain and movement in the
line, until it ceased altogether.
[Illustration: "THE BEAST HEAVED ITSELF CLEAN OUT OF THE WATER."]
"I do believe we've killed him, master," says Billy. "Heave ho! we'll
soon see."
Accordingly we hauled upon the line, and drew it in little by little,
until we saw the body of the shark at its end quite motionless.
"We've got him and both the harpoons," cries Billy, "and the fish too,
for he ain't had time to swallow him proper."
We passed a couple of lines round the monster's tail and dragged him to
the shore, and there Billy immediately set to work to open him, and
disgorged the fish of which we had been robbed. However, having no
mind to eat what the shark had partly swallowed, I persuaded Billy to
throw the fish into the sea, and Billy laughed at me finely afterwards,
I assure you, when I was eating with great relish a shark-steak he had
broiled for our supper.
"If you can eat the shark, master, why couldn't you eat the fish?" says
he.
I own I could give him no answer except that my gorge rose at the
thought of it, and this led me to consider of the strange
inconsistencies of men in matters of food, as in other things. My aunt
Susan would have been aghast at the idea of eating a snail, but she
would eat a chicken which she had herself fed on snails; and when I
mentioned this, Billy said that he didn't see any difference between
eating a chicken full of snails and the snails themselves.
"Billy," said I presently, "I never thought I should see you eating
worms."
"Why, whenever did you see me do that, master?" says he; "I never done
it. I'd be sick."
"But we had a chicken for dinner, and you may be sure it had eaten
worms," I said.
He began to see what I was driving at, and looked very grave for some
minutes, as if endeavouring to probe the comparison. Then a broad grin
spread over his face, and he said, "I reckon the chicken eats worms for
the same reason as we eat chickens, 'cause they're nice," and I am sure
he believed he had solved a very knotty problem.
[Sidenote: A Canoe]
It was partly this adventure with the shark, and partly our natural
wish to circumnavigate the island, that set us on trying to make a
boat. We had many times been sorry that we did not think of securing
the boat of the _Lovey Susan_ which had been staved in on the beach,
and therefore abandoned by the seamen, but which we might perhaps have
patched up if we had hauled it away from the sea. Unhappily, neither
Billy nor I had the least knowledge how to build a boat, nor if we had
would our rude tools have availed us much, so that though the idea had
come into our heads more than once, we had never done anything towards
putting it in action, partly from this ignorance of ours, and partly
because we had been so much occupied with other matters. Now that the
notion had come back to us with more force, however, we determined to
see what we could do in digging out the trunk of a tree to make a
canoe, something like those we had seen from our look-out hill, though
not near so large. Since we required it only to hold two, there was no
reason to make it large, whereas there were many for making it small,
for a large one would have needed a terrible amount of work, and if we
could have made one, we might have had great difficulty in bringing it
down to the beach and then in launching it. Yet we resolved that,
though it should not be large compared with those that held twenty or
thirty men, it should be of such a size as to ride the sea with fair
stability, for we did not want a cockle-shell or any cranky thing.
For this purpose we chose a tree, of what name I know not, though I
think it was a kind of pine, which grew on the slope above the sandy
beach I have mentioned more than once. We chose it as much for its
position as for the nature of its wood, for being on the slope we
thought that we could more readily bring it down to the sea than if we
felled a tree further from the shore. We felled it as we did the trees
for our hut, with the aid of fire, and a notion came into my head by
which we made a great improvement on our former rough method. Our
difficulty had been to make a fire sufficiently large to burn away the
trunk rapidly, and yet not so large as to burn or scorch the tree
higher than was necessary. The idea that came into my head was to put
a bandage about the trunk, and so keep the fire within bounds, and when
we considered of the best material to use for this purpose, we decided
that clay would be the most serviceable, because it would not only not
burn itself, but it could be easily kept sodden. Having chosen our
tree, therefore, we clapped a thick bandage of wet clay round the trunk
about three feet from the ground, and lit a fire all round the tree,
and let it burn very fiercely for a time, and then we raked it away and
chipped off the charred wood with our axes; and having again wetted the
clay, we kindled the fire again, so that it would burn away the fresh
surface of wood that we had exposed. We continued thus until we had
thus burnt and chipped away a deep incision all round the tree, and
meanwhile we had debated whether we should make our canoe on the top of
the slope (in which case we should let the tree fall on to a little
patch of fairly level ground on the west side of it), or whether we
should cause the tree to fall down the slope over the cliff on the
western side, and so to the beach. Billy declared for the former
course, saying that if we let the tree go over the cliff it would
assuredly be smashed, and the trunk once split would be useless for our
purpose. In answer to this I said that, however vexatious it would be
to have to fell another tree, how much more vexatious would it be if
any mischance happened to our canoe when we had finished it and were
bringing it down to the beach! In the one case we should have lost
merely the time and labour of felling the tree; in the other, there
would be the additional loss of the longer time and greater labour
expended on the canoe. Billy agreed with this reasoning, so towards
the finish we built all the fire on the land side of the tree, until
with a little hauling and shoving it snapped off and toppled with a
mighty crash over the cliff. We ran down to see what had happened to
it, and though some of the larger branches had been broken off, the
main trunk, so far as we could tell, was not hurt in the least.
We burnt off the top and the remaining branches, both Billy and I
tending our separate fires, of which we had many, so that the work was
made much lighter than it would have been if every single branch had
needs be lopped with a clumsy axe.
Having thus got a log of wood clear of branches, and, as I reckoned,
about fifteen feet long, we peeled off the bark, and set to work to
hollow out the vessel. It was plain that this would be a work of long
time, for the trunk was about three feet thick, and I do not know how
many months we might have been about it if we had not brought fire
again to the aid of our axes. We found that we could save time by
allowing fires to smoulder for long periods in the top of the log,
which we wished to hollow out; and by starting these fires at
intervals, we found that when we had chipped away the charred wood
beneath the first, the wood beneath the second was ready to be chipped
away also, and so on all down the log. Billy and I were thus employed
the whole livelong day, and many days in succession, in building and
removing fires, and chipping away the charred wood, by which means we
gradually dug deeper and deeper into the heart of the log, rejoicing as
we saw it, by almost insensible degrees, receiving the semblance of a
canoe.
The tree had fallen, as I said, over the cliff on to the sandy beach,
and we were in some trouble of mind lest a high sea, or peradventure a
violent storm, should carry our canoe away before it was finished. It
lay a little above high-water mark, it is true; but for our greater
security we moored it, when we left work upon it, by means of ropes to
some heavy rocks, which we trusted would preserve it from any such
untoward event. And it was indeed lucky we did so, for when we had
been for some weeks (as I guessed) at the work--not continuously, for
we had many other things to attend to--one night a violent storm got
up, with great fury of wind and rain, and also some rumbling in the
mountain, which made us feel very uneasy; and when we went down in the
morning, the storm having ceased, to see what had happened to our
canoe, we found that it had been lifted and tossed about by the sea,
being indeed half full of water; but mercifully the waves had not
dashed it against the rocks at the base of the cliff, or it would
assuredly have been shattered, or at least very much damaged.
This was the first really great storm we had had since our big hut was
built, and the result of it, especially as it was followed by a period
of rainy weather, was to make us leave work on our canoe before it was
finished, and turn our hands to another task. Our hut, as I have said
before, was built on a little level tract, above and below which the
ground sloped, on the one side towards the cliffs, on the other to
Brimstone Lake, as we called it, from its medicinal water. The slope
above the hut was gradual, indeed, but it was a real slope all the
same, and during this period of heavy rain the water swept down in a
wide torrent from the heights, flowing past and through the hut, which
was flooded, and very uncomfortable. We suffered in this way, Billy
and I, more than our fowls, for they had poles to roost on. As for the
pigs, we did not trouble about them, and I do think that the more
sodden the ground the happier they were. We did our best, in dry
intervals, to make our walls watertight, but could not wholly succeed
in this, for the doorway faced the upper slope, and we could not by any
means make the door fit so closely as to keep out the water. Since the
floor of our hut was thus sodden, we could not sleep on it, but had to
make our bed on the bench table, and very hard it was.
[Sidenote: Cutting a Trench]
It was a day or two before we thought of any means of curing this very
disagreeable state of things, but then, all of a sudden, a notion came
to us--whether first to Billy or to me I do not remember--of digging a
trench round the hut, with outlets opening into the lake. We set about
this at once, finding the earth easy to work, even with our rude
spades, because it was so sodden, and after two or three days' work we
had made a shallow trench about the upper end of the hut, shaped like a
half-circle, so that when the rain-water fell down the slope it would
be intercepted by the trench, and so carried into the lake. We
observed again, at this time, that though the amount of water that
flowed into the lake was very much greater than we had ever known
before, yet the surface never rose above the certain level of which I
have already spoken, and we were still very much puzzled to know, at
least I was, how the surplus water was carried off; Billy saying that
it didn't matter to us, and we shouldn't be any better off if we did
know. My way of looking at things was different, and I own I felt a
great curiosity always to learn the reasons and causes of matters which
were not easy to understand. Yet it was, after all, little more than
an accident which brought about the discovery of this matter, and of
that I doubt not I shall tell in its place.
[1] A rather long-winded allusion to refraction.--H.S.
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH
OF OUR ENTRENCHMENTS; OF THE LAUNCHING OF OUR CANOE, AND THE DEADLY
PERIL THAT ATTENDED OUR FIRST VOYAGE
While we were busy making the trench to keep the rain from our hut,
another notion came all of a sudden into my mind, which, in a kind of
merry sport, I at once made known to Billy.
"We will make a moat about our castle, Billy," said I.
"What's a moat, and where's our castle?" says he, leaning on his spade,
and looking all around.
"Why, every Englishman's house is his castle, as they say," I answered,
"and as to a moat, you must know, Billy, that in the olden times----"
"The times of Robin Hood or Robinson Crusoe?" says he; "for if it is I
don't believe a word of it."
"This is quite true, I assure you," I said. "In the olden times, I
say, when every great lord lived in his castle, there was a great ditch
or trench all round it, to keep enemies away, for in those times lord
often used to fight lord."
"Like rats," says Billy. "Go on, master."
"Well, that ditch was called a moat, and it could only be crossed by a
drawbridge," I said, "that is, a bridge that was let down over it from
the castle gateway; and so, when the bridge was up, and the moat filled
with water, no enemy could get into the castle, and the people inside
were safe."
"And suppose they were," says Billy, "what's the good unless they'd got
enough victuals inside to last 'em ever so long? If I was the lord
outside I'd stop there till they either starved or came out and had a
good fight."
[Sidenote: Beginning a Moat]
I answered that no doubt that was what they did, and went on to say
that if we continued our trench and made it wider and deeper, bringing
it close against the walls of our castle, we might add very greatly to
the strength of our position if ever the savages came to the island and
we had to defend ourselves against them. As to the matter of food, I
said that we had in the cavern below the castle as good a storehouse as
we could wish for, and I resolved that we would start at once, or at
least as soon as we had finished our canoe, to convey a great store of
bread-fruit and yams, and salted pork and fish, into the cavern, for
which purpose we should have to increase the number of our pots and
pans. But since this storehouse would be of little use to us if we
were driven out of the castle, Billy consented to help me to dig a
moat, though he said it would take us ten years to finish it, if we
made it deep enough and wide enough to be of any avail. And, indeed,
we were not long in finding out, when we began the work, that it would
take us a very great time, if not ten years; for to be of any defensive
use the moat must be at least six feet deep and about twice as wide,
and we were aghast when, at the end of a day's work with our spades, we
saw the exceeding smallness of what we had achieved. I was minded to
give up the attempt, though it always vexed me to leave a thing half
done, and the partial excavation we had made gave an untidy appearance
to the place which displeased me mightily. Moreover, the rains
ceasing, and a season of dry weather ensuing, the ground became so much
harder that we found our progress even slower than before, so that we
did give it up, and went back very cheerfully to our canoe, which we
had neglected all this time.
We had hollowed out the log sufficiently for our purpose, though when I
looked at the clumsy product of our toil I had a great doubt whether we
should be able to sail in it. It had none of the nice curves and
shapeliness of a boat, and was the same at the one end as at the other,
so that to talk of its prow cutting the water, or cleaving the waves,
as fine writers say, would always have been ridiculous. However, we
had first to bring it to the water, and that we found a prodigious
task. The log, even hollowed out as it was, was much heavier than
those we had used in building our hut, and all our pushing and pulling
did not avail to move it an inch. We tried the plan of the rollers,
whereby we had brought the trees down the hill-side, and by levering up
the end of the canoe we managed to slip one of our round poles beneath
it, and then others, and when we had several in place, we shoved it and
moved it a few feet towards the sea. But the weight of it was so great
that the poles were driven into the sand, and so far from being
rollers, there they stuck, and we had no means of removing them except
by digging them out. This was a pretty check at the outset, and I do
not think anything could have been more vexatious. Billy and I stood
beside our ungainly vessel, cudgelling our brains for some means of
moving it, and Billy said he wished the worst storm that ever was would
spring up, so that the waves would come dashing up the beach to the
cliffs, and so carry back the canoe into its rightful element.
"What makes water so strong, master?" he said, when he had uttered this
prayer for a storm. "The sea could lift this here ugly thing as easy
as if it was a cork; but water ain't got no muscles, and it's muscles
what does it."
I could only answer that such was the nature of things, and that made
me think how feeble even the strongest man is, and how a puff of wind
or a wave of the sea can undo in a moment the labour of weeks and
months. I might have said something of this to Billy, though he was
always impatient of such talk, only he broke in upon my musing: "Well,"
says he, "I suppose we'll have to go and cut some more poles, and make
a regular road of 'em down to the sea, and that'll take us a week or
more."
"Time doesn't matter to us," I said.
"Oh, but it does," cried Billy. "Suppose Old Smoker took it into his
head to go a-blazing? Suppose there was an earthquake? If we had the
canoe afloat, we could lie off a bit until Old Smoker's temper was
over."
"But why suppose such things?" I said. "Here have we been two years or
more upon this island, and nothing has happened to harm us----"
"Except that ugly monster with the long legs," says Billy, interrupting.
"True; and----" I began. But he interrupted again.
"And the shark," says he, "and the pig what tumbled me over, and the
dogs what bit me. It's all very well for you to talk, master. Things
ain't fair, that's all I've got to say. You don't get hurt, but I do.
Why, even fleas, now. We had a lot of fleas at home, but d'you think
they hurt my mother-in-law? Not a bit of it. They plagued me awful,
till I could screech; but my mother-in-law never felt 'em at all, and
that wasn't fair, 'cause she was big and I was little--at least, not so
big as her."
I said it was true that Billy had suffered more mishaps than I, but
perhaps my turn would come some day; meanwhile we had as yet discovered
no way of moving the canoe, unless we tried Billy's plan of laying a
kind of roadway of poles from the cliff to the sea, and we supposed we
should have to do that, arduous as the work would be. We left it for
that day, and for the next, too, being loath to begin a task we did not
like; and then we saw another way of achieving our purpose, which I
wonder we had not thought of before. We had rigged up over the hole in
the floor leading to the cavern a sort of windlass, by means of which
we lowered provisions into our store-room, and it was when we were
letting down a basketful of yams that the idea came into my head.
Could we by any means devise a windlass which would give us a
sufficient purchase to haul the canoe to the sea?
"'Course not," said Billy, when I put it to him. I never knew Billy's
like for the seeing of difficulties. "Nothing but oaks would be strong
enough."
[Sidenote: Launching the Canoe]
But I was by no means satisfied that the plan was impossible, and I
went down to the shore at low tide to look about me. I ought to say
that the windlass in the house was a very simple machine. We had stuck
two young stout saplings into the ground, one on each side of the hole,
having shortened their stems so that the fork where the lowest branches
were stood about three feet above the earth. Across these forks we
laid a short round pole for the drum of the winch, at one end of this
we lashed two slighter poles for the handle, and about the drum we
wound and unwound the rope by which we lowered things. Now it was
quite certain that we could not move our heavy canoe unless we had a
contrivance very much stronger than this, and the difficulty was that a
windlass for this purpose must be erected on the sand, and below
low-water mark, or it would not bring the canoe to the water. There
were certainly no trees of any kind growing in the sand, so that it
seemed that any contrivance of the kind must be made there by our own
hands.
But as I was walking along the beach, endeavouring to see my way
through this difficulty, I observed a rock, not above three feet high,
which had a deep jagged groove across the top of it, resembling in some
degree the fork of a tree. I looked about for a companion rock near at
hand, but all that I saw were flatter and much smaller, not one having
any groove to match the other. But why should we not rig up, I
thought, something that should serve as well? After a great deal of
consideration I hit upon a plan, which Billy and I proceeded at next
low tide to carry out. We got two stout poles, and drove them into the
sand with the pummet, one across the other, so that the tops of them
made a big letter V, the point of which was at the same height as the
groove in the rock. We next laid a stout pole across from the V to the
groove, smearing it at the resting-places very plentifully with fat, so
that it would turn easily: this made a drum. Then we plaited a thick
and long rope, and wound one end about the drum and knotted the other
end to the nose of the canoe through a hole we made with our axes.
Last of all, we fastened a handle to the drum in the same way as we had
done with the small windlass in the hut.
When this rough piece of machinery was ready we began to turn the
handle, both of us heaving at it, because the canoe was so heavy that
it needed all our strength. At first, indeed, we could scarcely move
it, and feared that all was again for nought; but when we had greased
the drum again with pork fat where it fitted into the supports, we
managed to turn it a very little way, and that giving encouragement, we
persevered, and had the joy of seeing the canoe coming inch by inch,
with much creaking and groaning of our machine, nearer to the water.
If the canoe had had a keel, I doubt whether we could have moved it,
for it would almost certainly have ploughed into the sand and stuck;
but being rounded and not pointed, it slid down, though slowly and with
many checks. And so, having drawn it down to a spot where the depth of
water when the tide came in would be sufficient to float it, we let
forth a shout of delight and went home to dinner with cheerful minds
and keen appetites, I do assure you.
We had left our mooring-rope attaching the canoe to the rock, so that
it should not float away while we were at dinner; and when we had
finished the meal we went down to the shore again, very impatient to
try the vessel's buoyancy. The tide was not yet come near high enough
to float it, and we waited for a good while, watching the ripples
crawling up over the sand, every moment a little higher. At last the
water was washing around the canoe; then it floated, and no sooner did
it float than Billy pushed it out with a great shove into deeper water
and leaped aboard, and I laughed heartily at what ensued, for he turned
a somerset and went souse into the sea, and the canoe filled and sank.
Billy came up spluttering, and the first words he said were, "What's
the good of the silly thing!" And, indeed, I saw that maybe the matter
was not one for amusement, for if the vessel toppled over, or turned
turtle, as they say at sea, whenever we tried to board her, we should
have had all our labour in vain. However, we could but wait until the
tide fell again, when she would be left high and dry, and meanwhile we
went back to the house, as well to dry Billy's clothes (what there was
now left of them) as to consider how we might improve the stability of
the vessel on which we set such store.
[Sidenote: The Outrigger]
I remembered that when we were on the island where we sojourned for a
time (how long ago it seemed!) we had seen some strangely-shaped canoes
which very much moved my curiosity. There were cross-pieces of wood
let into the side of the canoe, and bent over, being fastened at the
lower extremity to a pole or plank which floated on the water. This
odd contrivance I had heard the seamen call an outrigger, and the
purpose of it was to keep the vessel on an even keel, as one may say,
though having no keel it would be better to say plainly, to keep it
steady. I was now much more alive to the benefit of this contrivance
than when I had merely seen it as a spectator; things do take on very
different aspects according as we are personally interested or not; and
we immediately set to work to fashion an outrigger for our vessel,
which took us two or three full working days to make, and another day
to adjust. When it was done, we floated the canoe once more, and got
into her, and felt exceeding pleased with ourselves for the space of
perhaps a minute, and then our complacency received a wound, for by
some shifting of our position the balance of the vessel was altered,
the outrigger rose up and made best part of a circle in the air, and
Billy and I were cast into the water. It was plain that the outrigger
was too light, and we made another one, using this time the heavy wood
of the cocoa-nut palm, which being very hard, too, gave us a deal of
trouble to fashion to the right shape; but we managed it at last, and
when we fixed this new outrigger to the canoe, we found that we could
sway from side to side without any danger of capsizing. Billy was
greatly uplifted at this, and wanted to set off there and then on a
voyage; he even said that perhaps we might rig up a sail and voyage to
England; but I told him that we had not yet proved the vessel, and did
not even know whether she would ride through a sea of any roughness;
and as for England, it was impossible to think that we could ever cross
the immense ocean in so clumsy a craft, though the mention of it set me
a-longing, and I felt more miserable than I had done for many a day.
We had not yet made any paddles for propelling our canoe; Billy very
sensibly saying that 'twas no good wasting time on them until we had
proved whether our vessel would float. However, now that we were
assured of this, we made some paddles, finding it a pretty hard job,
for we had no means of splitting planks from the trees, and we had to
content ourselves with short poles, with blades made in the following
manner. To one end of the pole we lashed a thin flexible rod, bent to
the shape of a circle, and we made a kind of basket-work on this by
crossing and re-crossing with threads of cocoa-nut fibre, which we drew
as tight as we could. When we had coloured it red with the sap of the
redwood tree of which I have spoken before, we had a very serviceable
paddle, and not ill-looking either. We paddled about in shallow water
near the sandy beach, not venturing to go further out as yet, from fear
of capsizing where we might be snapped up by a shark. Our vessel
behaved very well, though with no grace of movement, to be sure, and we
found after a little practice that we could sit on the crosspieces of
the outrigger, which joined the sides of the canoe, and work our
paddles very well.
I asked Billy what we should call our vessel.
"Blackamoor, that's what I say," said he.
"But she's only black inside," said I; "her outside is fair enough; and
now I come to think of it, we can paint her and make her look better
still."
[Sidenote: Naming the Vessel]
Accordingly we did this, expressing oil from the candle-nuts of which I
have spoken, and mixing this with sap from the red-wood tree. We made
a paintbrush of thin spines, and with this we painted the sides of the
vessel, which took us above a fortnight, I should think, for it was
wonderful what a prodigious quantity of paint we used, and what a
prodigious number of nuts we pressed before we got enough oil for our
purpose. When the painting was finished, Billy said that we ought to
call the vessel _Painted Sally_, or some such name; but I thought she
deserved a more respectful appellation, and suggested _Esperanza_, a
name which I had come upon somewhere in my reading, and which I thought
had a pleasant sound. However, Billy would not hear of it.
"It's French, that I warrant you," he said, "and I can't abide 'em.
Besides, what's it mean? I suppose it means some rubbish or other."
"Well, I think it means 'hope'," I said, "and I think it a much
prettier word."
"I don't," says Billy bluntly; "it's too soft like."
"And therefore it suits our vessel," I said, "for you know, Billy,
ships are always given ladies' names."
"Yes, and the _Lovey Susan_," says he, "she went to the bottom, and
_her_ name was soft enough, and I don't believe any boat with the name
_Esperanza_ would ever have the strength to ride through a storm. I
likes a plain straightforward name, I do, like my own; you won't find
any man," says he, "with a better name than Billy Bobbin."
"Well, shall we call her Billy?" I asked.
Billy looked very serious at this, and after considering for a minute
he said he wasn't going to be called a "her" or a "she" for anybody,
not even on a boat, and then added, "Call her plain _Hope_ and settle
it, master, and never mind about your _Esperanzas_."
"Fair Hope would suit a lady better than Plain Hope," I said very
gravely, and Billy, who was quite unconscious of the verbal point
('twas a very small one, I own), agreed that _Fair Hope_ wasn't bad;
and so we got some powdered charcoal and mixed it with oil, and printed
the name in black letters on the larboard bow, as Billy called it, and
having done this, we thought we might now venture to make a short
expedition up the coast.
[Sidenote: We go Sailing]
It was a fair bright morning when we set out on this our first voyage,
and we were very much excited, as you may imagine. We had been by my
reckoning, which was pure guess-work, above two years on the island,
and though we had become pretty reconciled to it, regarding it indeed
as our home for the rest of our lives, there were times when our lot
seemed to be that of prisoners, and the prospect of getting beyond our
bounds, though ever so short a distance and for ever so short a time,
seemed like the loosening of fetters and the removing of prison bars.
This made me think what a blessed thing is liberty, and when I
remembered unfortunate people whom I had read about as falling into
captivity I compared our lot with theirs, and saw how much we had to be
thankful for.
However, to return to our voyage. We had been taught a certain caution
by sundry incidents that had already happened in our life on the
island, so we put some food and two or three pots of fresh water in the
bottom of the vessel, and our spears, axes, and bows and arrows as
well. While Billy carried these things down to the vessel, I went up
to our watch-tower, to see whether any canoes were in sight, for we
should have been very sorry if we had run among a fleet of savage
vessels. However, there was not a speck to be seen, only the low dusky
line on the western horizon that we believed to be the coast of some
island. Accordingly we set off in perfect ease of mind, and paddled
slowly along, keeping close to the shore, and following its
indentations as well as the rocks and shoals would permit us.
The seaward aspect of the familiar parts of the island was very
interesting to us, and we amused ourselves with guessing what places in
the interior were opposite to us when the cliffs hid them from sight.
For some distance we passed beneath low cliffs; then the shore took a
great curve inward, making the bay we had called by Billy's name; the
head of this bay we judged to be the point of the shore nearest to our
hut, which was not itself visible from any part of the sea, lying as it
did in a hollow. We paddled out to the nearest of the big rocks that
stood like sentinels guarding this side of the island, and found a
great quantity of clams upon it, some of which Billy insisted on taking
into the boat, to see if they tasted any different from those we found
on our own shore, and in reaching over he pretty nearly upset the
vessel. From thence we went on to the second rock, some little
distance out to sea, and Billy wanted to get out and climb the rock,
which stood almost perpendicular, but with jagged sides, so that
climbing was possible; but the base of it was so thickly covered with
slimy seaweed that it would have been difficult to maintain a footing,
so I persuaded Billy to forego the enterprise. Leaving this rock, we
continued on our course, and came by and by to the rocky spar that was
what may be called the land's end of this part of the island. Here the
cliffs were very steep, indeed, almost perpendicular, as we had
discovered before when we had tried to walk round the coast, and found
our way blocked. When we had turned the corner, we found another
little bay, but no beach, except a very small strip of sand at the foot
of the cliffs. We saw a great quantity of driftwood on this beach, and
when we paddled up to it, a huge eel darted away from beneath a
water-sodden log, on which Billy made a great lamentation because we
had not brought our fishing lines and hooks. Among the driftwood we
saw two or three very old planks, worm-eaten and covered with moss, and
we wondered whether they were planks of the boat of the _Lovey Susan_,
which we might have had now if we had been more thoughtful. We took
them on board, not that they would be of any use to us, but that we
might keep them as mementoes.
[Sidenote: The Cave]
Paddling out of this bay, we were coasting along by more high cliffs
when we came all of a sudden to an immense opening, which appeared to
run a great way into the shore, though we could not tell how far, for
its depths were very black.
"A cave, master!" cried Billy, full of excitement, and I was excited
too, there being I know not what of mystery and fascination about a
cave. "Let us go in," says he.
You may think it strange, but I felt a great reluctance to paddle into
that gloomy place; my imagination, more active than Billy's, saw it
peopled by sea-urchins and hobgoblins, and I could fancy I already
heard strange noises, the fruit, I suppose, of my reading that
wonderful play of Shakespeare, _The Tempest_. However, I could not
show the white feather before Billy, so we paddled into the entrance,
finding a considerable depth of water there, and so for twenty or
thirty yards, there being more light in the cave than we had thought
when outside, because it was lofty, and the water threw up reflections.
But when we had come some twenty yards into it, it made a sudden bend
to the right, and at the same place became very much darker, so that
though we peered in we could see but a few yards in front of us. We
stayed for a little, looking about us, and seeing nothing but what
appeared to be considerable patches of seaweed floating on the water;
nor did we hear any noises, but all was as still as death, so that even
Billy was oppressed by the silence, and even more by the hollow echo
when he spoke.
"I don't much like the look of this place, master," he said.
I did not tell him that my feeling was the same, but affected to laugh
at him, though at the same time I dipped my paddle to bring the vessel
round with her head pointing to the opening. As I did so, I observed a
sort of heaving and undulating movement in one of the patches of
seaweed, and marvelled at it, for there was no current on the surface,
and the vessel was perfectly steady. But supposing there must be an
under-current of some kind, I paid no more heed to it, but continued to
paddle, and we soon brought the vessel out of the cave and among a
little labyrinth of rocks, partly above the surface and partly
submerged. We had but just got there, however, when we found our
vessel begin to lose way and our paddles to stick in the seaweed, as we
supposed, which was now very thick on the surface, and which was the
greater impediment to us because of the outrigger. We strove as hard
as we could to force the vessel through, but it was like tugging at a
rebellious slip-knot; the harder you tug the more you tie yourself up.
We were thinking of backing the vessel, so as to go round about the
obstacle, when all of a sudden, as I took notice of how the tendrils of
the seaweed were clinging about the outrigger and curling up towards
the side of the canoe, I was seized with the horrid suspicion that we
had not to deal with seaweed at all, but with a monster, or maybe
several, like to that terrible creature which had almost dragged me
down when we were searching for eggs, as I have related. This thought
made me shudder with a sickening apprehension, especially when the
notion struck me, as it did at that moment, that this cavern could not
be very far from the steep and rugged cliff by which we had descended.
Even before I could whisper my dread thought to Billy, some of the
tentacles, as I had now no doubt they were, were creeping over the
side, and one of them touched my leg and immediately held fast. For an
instant I was perfectly overcome with horror, as I was on the cliff,
and, as it were, paralyzed in my will; but then, making a great effort,
I jerked myself free, at the same time calling aloud to Billy and
chopping with my axe, which I had seized, at the tentacles that held
the canoe in their grip and had altogether stopped its motion.
[Sidenote: A Shoal of Monsters]
"The monster, is it?" cries Billy, who hated the thing with the same
aversion as I did, but seemed to be quite exempt from its fascination.
"I'll monster him," says he, and he dropped his paddle and took up his
axe and began hacking away with all his might at the horrid feelers
that were crawling over the vessel. There were the two of us, then,
slashing and chopping with desperate energy, running, or rather
creeping as quickly as we could, from end to end of the canoe whenever
a tentacle showed itself above the gunwale, with the result that the
grip of the creature (or creatures, for we knew not whether we had to
do with one or many)--the grip of it, I say, relaxed, and we thought we
could leave our axes and take to the paddles again. But we had not
gone above two yards when the vessel was brought up again, and this
time the paddles themselves were seized, and though I struggled with
all my strength, my paddle was drawn out of my hands and I saw it no
more. Billy was more lucky, and kept his, but he had to drop it into
the bottom and take to his axe again, as I did to mine, and so we fell
to it again, slashing and chopping at these hideous tentacles that came
up over the side, parts of them falling into the bottom of the vessel
as we severed them and writhing there. Once more we beat off the enemy
thus, and then I seized Billy's paddle in feverish haste, and plied it
with all my might, Billy doing what he could also with two spears held
together. And this time we got clear of the rocky labyrinth, to my
unutterable relief, though with some scraping of the outrigger, for you
may be sure we were in so great a hurry to get away that we could not
stop for nice steering; and we kept on paddling hard for some minutes
after we were a fair distance along the shore, and, indeed, did not
cease until we found ourselves in the channel between the island and
the red rock, and then we had another alarm, but of a different kind,
for our vessel was caught in the mighty current which rushed through
the narrow passage, and was swept on as if it had been a cork, we
gripping the thwarts and fearing every moment that we should either be
dashed against the rocks on one side or the other, or be totally
submerged in the boiling torrent. However, we came out at the further
end safe, though very wet and terrified, and were carried on, though
not so violently, past the place where the cascade fell from the
mountain, and so on towards the long spit of land that had the natural
archway at its end.
[Sidenote: The End of the Voyage]
We still had cause for alarm, for as yet we had no mastery of the
vessel, and feared we should be carried by the current right out to
sea. But by dint of great efforts, Billy with the paddle, which he had
taken from me, being the more muscular, and I with the spears, we
managed to take the vessel across the current and towards the land on
our right hand, and by and by got into pretty calm water near the
archway. Here, in the steep wall of the cliff, we saw a small cove,
where we might have beached the canoe; but after what we had come
through we had little disposition to linger, and so we paddled through
the archway and turned the corner, and went along by the lava beach
until we came at length to the sandy beach whence we had started. We
were fairly worn out, I assure you, as well with our frights and
terrors as with our exertions, and besides, we had eaten nothing since
the morning, though we had provisions with us, having had too much to
think about otherwise. Never did mariners land with more thankfulness
than we did. When we had tied up our vessel we went to our house and
built a roaring fire, to cheer our spirits as well as to dry our
clothes; and when we had eaten a comforting meal and fell a-talking, we
spoke of our satisfaction in the seaworthiness of the Fair Hope, and
also in having circumnavigated the island.
"I'd like to kill that monster," says Billy, as we talked about that
part of our adventure; "and I will, too, if he'll come out of that cave
where we can see him proper."
"I think we had better leave him in possession undisturbed," I said,
with the horror of the creature still upon me. "Perhaps there is a
shoal of the monsters there; the rocks we saw would make a very good
home for them. And I don't think we'll go that way again, Billy; I
seem to see those dreadful tentacles crawling all about me, and the
leathery feel of them when I chopped makes me shudder still."
"Cheer up, master," says Billy. "After all, we did 'em more damage
than they did us, and taught 'em a lesson, I warrant you."
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH
OF OUR VOYAGE TO A NEIGHBOURING ISLAND, AND OF OUR INHOSPITABLE
RECEPTION BY THE SAVAGES
We did not take another voyage for some days, for my dreams were
haunted by visions of the monster, and I felt a shuddering reluctance
even to look at the canoe, upon which I seemed to see tentacles
writhing. And when we did again embark, it was only to paddle out to
the fishing-ground I have mentioned, though by and by, when the
recollection of the monster had become somewhat dimmed, we cruised
about the coast sometimes for the mere pleasure and exercise of it, and
to make ourselves more expert in the management of our vessel. After a
time the notion came to us of rigging up a mast and sail, and trying
what we could do in real navigation. We had some difficulty in
stepping the mast, which was a straight pine sapling; but the way we at
length hit upon was as follows: we fastened two straight logs athwart
the canoe, setting them parallel, and just so far apart as gave room
for the mast. Having set up the mast between them, we lashed two more
logs, but shorter, crosswise upon the first two, close up against the
mast, which was then, as you perceive, gripped pretty firmly by the
four logs. The sail gave us little trouble, for we had become expert
by this time in weaving, and we wove a sort of huge mat with long
grasses, which we found to serve excellently well. Spars and cordage
were also easily made, though they took a prodigious time, and we one
day hoisted our sail to see how our contrivances would act.
[Illustration: Our Canoe]
[Sidenote: Rigging]
We were much disappointed when we found that as soon as the sail caught
the wind our vessel heeled over, so that we had to lower the sail
immediately, or we should have been capsized. After some thought we
hit upon a remedy, which was to make some alterations in the weight of
the outrigger, and also in the length of the outrigger beam; and when
we had spent a deal of time in making experiments, and running some
risks of losing the vessel, we managed so that she ran perfectly steady
with an ordinary breeze. And then we discovered that, our stability
being assured, we could sail marvellously close to the wind and at a
very fair speed, much faster, indeed, than we could paddle, and it then
became our delight to make little trips round the coast and some
distance out to sea, always very carefully looking out first from our
watch-tower to be sure that no savages were in sight.
[Sidenote: The Red Rock]
On one of these expeditions we sailed round to the north side of the
island, and it came into our heads to see whether it was possible to
make an ascent of the big red rock, the sides of which, so far as we
had been able to examine them from the cliffs and the hills, appeared
to be unscalable. We took care not to let our vessel drift into the
current that ran between the rock and the island, and running round to
the north side of it, we found that it was not near so precipitous here
as on the other sides--indeed, there was a very convenient
landing-place at the foot, and a little cove where the vessel might
safely lie, tied by the painter to a crag, while we satisfied our
curiosity by making the ascent. You may be sure that we tied the
vessel up very securely before leaving her, for if she had drifted
loose I do not know what we should have done, for we could scarcely
have swum to the island, the current being so strong, and I suppose we
should simply have stayed on the rock until we were dead.
There was no pathway up the rock, on which we were perhaps the first
human beings that had ever set foot, and we found the ascent a great
deal more difficult than it had appeared from below. We had to clamber
up from point to point with the aid sometimes of stunted bushes--very
sturdy they were, too--that grew out of fissures; and choosing the
easiest way, we made a very zigzag course, sometimes losing sight of
the sea altogether. Here and there we disturbed sea-birds which had
made their nests in the face of the cliff, but there were not near so
many of these as we might have expected. After climbing thus for about
three hundred feet, as I calculated, we came to a sort of broad terrace
that ran in a fairly easy slope round the northern and eastern faces of
the rock, and pretty well covered with shrubs and moss. From this we
made our way, rather laboriously, to the southern side, and came by and
by to the ledge, or platform, which jutted out from the rock to the
island, and which I mentioned a while ago. Billy, you remember, had
spoke of leaping the gap, which would have been an impossible feat, for
not only was the distance too great, it being, I should think, at least
twenty feet, but, moreover, the ledge on the rock was somewhat higher
than the promontory of the island. Looking down upon this latter as we
now did, the gap seemed even less than it had appeared from the other
side, and I had really to be very stern with Billy when he declared
again that he knew he could jump it.
From this ledge or platform we found the ascent to the summit of the
rock pretty easy, and when we got there, we saw that it was flat in
general, but a great deal cut up by fissures and jagged bosses, so that
it was not near so smooth as it appeared when we overlooked it from the
side of the mountain. Some of the fissures were of considerable depth,
and when I flung a small fragment of rock into one of them, to test it,
there came a faint splash from below, by which we knew that it
contained water; and yet the splash was not so faint as to come from
the sea, so that we concluded the water at the bottom of the fissure
was fresh, and had collected there from the drainage of the sort of
tableland on which we stood. There were thin shrubs and lichen growing
on the rock, but we saw nothing to interest us, and so, having got but
a poor reward for our labour in climbing, we descended again, and found
the descent little less laborious than the ascent; indeed, I thought it
more difficult, for the looking down made me a little dizzy. We were
both pretty tired by the time we reached the canoe, which was just as
we left it; and I should not have thought it worth while to say
anything about this fruitless expedition but for some surprising events
that happened later.
[Sidenote: Preparing for a Voyage]
It was some little while after this, I think, that I suffered a spell
of home-sickness, and was more miserable and down-hearted than I had
ever been since we came to the island. I have no doubt it was because
we had more time on our hands than heretofore, for with the making of
our canoe it seemed that there was little else left for us in the way
of handiwork, and the tending of our animals and plantations was by no
means enough to fill all our days. The servant of the ingenious
gentleman in the tale--Sancho Panza is his name, I think--in his
simplicity invoked blessings on him that invented sleep; and I would
match him by a similar invocation on the inventor of work, for I am
very sure that while we work we have no leisure to be discontented, and
when our work is done there is blessed sleep to refresh us. I did not
forget the saying that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,"
and Billy and I, as I have said, did some little in the way of play,
with skittles, and shooting at the running man, and in sailing our
canoe, which was a very fine sport, I assure you; and we spent some
time in trying to teach our dogs, which were growing apace, to perform
tricks, with but little success. However, I mention my home-sickness
because it was when I was in that black fit that Billy spoke again of
sailing to England.
"Why not make a bigger canoe, master, and put a great store of food and
water aboard, and sail away?" he said. "When our water was done, we
could touch at some of them islands we passed and get more, and maybe
after a bit we might fall in with a proper ship and get a passage home."
I pointed out in answer to this that we should not find it an easy
matter to launch a vessel large enough to carry provisions for a
lengthy voyage. "If we had a chart and compass," I said, "and other
things useful in navigation, about which neither you nor I know much,
we might perhaps set off and go from island to island on our stock of
food, until we came maybe to one of the possessions which the Dutch
have, I believe, in the Indian Archipelago, or maybe to some place in
Spanish America where we might find a friendly ship. But suppose our
food gave out and we could not make land," I said, "what could we do
without a chart or any means of taking observations? If luck went
against us, we might sail for weeks, and indeed months, without ever
seeing land at all. And besides," I went on, "suppose nothing of this
sort happened to us, but we chanced upon an island where the native
people were hostile----"
"We would fight 'em," says Billy, interrupting me; "that's what we made
them bows and arrows for, and we can shoot straight now, and we could
make a few thousand arrows so that it wouldn't matter if we lost some."
I could not help smiling at Billy's simplicity, admiring at the same
time his stoutness of heart; but I showed him that with all our
expertness we could not hope, being two, to contend with great hosts of
savages, who would very soon overwhelm us. However, Billy was not at
all convinced that his idea of a voyage to England was impracticable,
and he talked so much about it that I was in course of time prevailed
on to consider it, at least so far as to consent to make a little
experiment. In short, we resolved upon making a voyage of several days
from the island. We had to consider of the well-being of our live
stock during our intended absence, and that gave us some trouble, for
though we might take our two dogs with us, we could certainly not
transport our pigs or our poultry, nor did we wish to do so. On the
other hand, if we left them in their usual habitations, and we were
away longer than we expected, they would certainly starve, while if we
let them loose the fowls would as certainly be devoured by the wild
dogs, and the pigs the same, or else return to their wildness, but most
likely the former, for animals that have become domestic are no match
in fighting for wild animals of their kind. We might have left a large
quantity of food, that's true; but knowing the nature of beasts we knew
that they would devour it gluttonously without any forethought, and
maybe kill themselves with over-eating, and at any rate there would be
none of it left after the first day. It was a good while before we hit
upon any way out of this difficulty, and then it was Billy who thought
of a way, and very ingenious it was, in my estimation. As he very
truly said, we needed some contrivance that would enable the pigs to
get their food, but not too fast, and his device for this was to make a
long trough with holes in the bottom of it, and to raise this above the
ground just so high that the pigs by lifting up their snouts could
nibble through the holes at what the trough contained. I say I thought
it an ingenious notion, and we considered how such a trough could be
made, for we could not make one of planks, and it would be a tedious
business to burn out the inside of a tree as we had done with our
vessel. But it came into my head that we could make one by moulding
clay on such a tree, which we did, and having broken a number of holes
in the clay when it was moist, we burnt it hard, and thus the trough
was finished, in much less time than the hollowing of a tree would have
taken. We put some yams into it, and made a trial of this new
contrivance, and we found it answered our expectations almost too well,
for owing to the height of the trough when we had propped it up, the
smallness of the holes, and the unwonted postures to which the pigs
were enforced, they could only eat very slowly, which must have been a
great trouble to animals accustomed to rapid gobbling of their meals.
We saw that we should have to make a special trough for the smaller
pigs, or else give them one end of the trough to themselves, for
otherwise the larger animals would never have let them eat at all; and
in the end we put up a fence between the smaller and the larger pigs,
and tilted the trough a little, so that it was lower at one extremity;
and this end also we filled with pounded bread-fruit as well as yams,
as being more fit for the younger stomachs, besides being not so hard
to get at through the holes. From the trial we made we saw that the
trough, when full, would hold enough food for three or four days, and
if we were absent longer than that, the pigs must needs sing for their
supper, as Billy said.
As for the fowls, we could not for a long time think of any manner of
supplying them with food. We were accustomed to fling their food to
them over the fence of their enclosure, and Billy said that what we
needed was some contrivance for dropping supplies down among them at
intervals. I remembered having read somewhere of a device for
releasing a catch by a candle burning a thread passed through it at a
certain distance from the top, but we could not make with our
candle-nuts a candle that would last near long enough, and besides, if
we could there was the danger that it would cause a conflagration. But
this set us on thinking towards the plan which we resolved on, and that
was to support a basket of food by a catch, and tie to the catch a
strip of raw hide, which, when it contracted with the sun's heat, would
release the catch. The manner of our doing this was as follows. We
suspended the basket from the roof of the fowl-house by slings, one on
each side, and to one of the slings we fastened a long strip of raw
hide, the other end of this being attached by a wooden peg to the wall,
and the hide being stretched pretty tight in a horizontal direction.
The contraction of the hide would thus pull the sling from under the
basket, and so cause it to fall. We found when we tried this at first
that the basket fell too soon, which was due to the too rapid
contraction of the hide; but we devised a remedy for this by wrapping
the hide round with wet grass, which prevented it from contracting so
soon. We put enough food in the basket to last about two days, being
unable to put more because it would then be too heavy for the catch.
"If we are away longer than two days, and they eat it all too soon,"
says Billy, "they must make the best of it, and maybe it'll learn 'em
not to be greedy."
The supply of water for our animals gave us no trouble, for with our
numerous pots and pans filled there was enough for over a week.
[Sidenote: A Certain Lecture]
All these arrangements having been made--and we grudged the time for
them, so eager were we now to go a-sailing--we determined to set forth
the very next day. As we lay in our hut that night, before we went to
sleep we talked over what was before us, and I own I was in a very
serious mood, for we were certainly braving the unknown. We might be
caught in a storm, and knew not in the least how our vessel would then
behave. We might encounter savages, who would be hostile to us, and
maybe kill us, or make us captives. We were leaving a comfortable and
secure home, and embarking on what might prove to be a very sea of
troubles; and when, in talking to Billy, the manifold dangers to which
we might be exposed became more deeply pictured in my mind, I was
almost ready to give up the design. But when I threw out sundry hints
to this effect, Billy spoke so slightingly of these imaginary perils,
and so glowingly of the delights of roving and going a voyage of
discovery, that I resolutely stilled my qualms, and, indeed, felt some
little ashamed of my timorousness. For an example, when I said that we
might never come home again, Billy said, "Why, master, you _are_ a
croaker. We might have gone to the bottom with poor Captain Corke and
poor Mr. Lummis, and we didn't. We might have been took into that boat
with Hoggett and Wabberley and that lot, and we warn't, and mighty glad
I am of it, for I wouldn't be within call of Hoggett for a thousand
pound. And if so be they're alive anywhere now, and Mr. Bodger is with
'em, he wishes to goodness he warn't, that I warrant you."
"But suppose we come back and find our house ruined with an earthquake
or smothered under ashes from the mountain?" I said.
"Why, we shall think ourselves uncommon lucky," says he, "as we was not
here to be ruined and smothered too. I call that nothing but croaking,
master."
I took some pains to defend myself from this charge, and to show Billy
that there is all the difference in the world between a settled habit
of looking on the dark side of things and a prudential survey when some
great enterprise is in question; but I might as well have talked to the
pigs, or to our two dogs, for all the impression I made. And it is as
well 'twas so, for his confidence and resoluteness to see only the
bright side were wonderfully cheering to me; and I have often since
thought that it is a great affliction to be able to see too much. To
use a homely instance, the donkey in the tale starved because he could
not make up his mind between the two bundles of hay; if he had seen
only one at a time he would have had a very good meal.
When we rose in the morning I was quite as ready as Billy to embark on
our voyage. At the last moment something put it into our heads to
convey all our spare provisions and some of our tools to the cavern
below, which already held a great store, and to conceal the opening,
which hitherto we had only covered with loose logs. We now laid these
logs very close together across the top of the shaft a little below the
floor level, and over these we laid grass, and over this again a
quantity of earth like that of which the floor consisted; and then we
rammed it down, and laid on it flags and rushes with which we were used
to strew the floor, so that no one would think, to look at it, that
there was a cellar beneath. Then, having already strengthened the
fences of our poultry-run and pigsty, to keep out the wild dogs, we
carried down to the vessel a good store of provisions and water, also
our spears and bows and arrows, the arrows in neat quivers we had made
out of palm leaves. We then waited for the full tide to launch our
canoe and set sail.
[Sidenote: We go a Voyage]
This happened in the afternoon. We had talked over the direction of
our course, and had resolved to sail to the westward, for no other
reason, I think, than that we had seen the seamen of the _Lovey Susan_
make for the east, and we had no wish to meet them again if perchance
we had to land for any purpose. If any one says it was a foolhardy
thing to attempt a voyage without a compass, and asks how we could be
sure of finding our way back again, I will remind him that it was very
rarely indeed Old Smoker had not a crown of steam or smoke upon his
head, and he stood so high that he could have been seen for a distance
of thirty or forty miles, I am sure, and we did not purpose to go near
so far as that. Our design was, indeed, to make direct for the island
which we had seen as a dim line on the western horizon, and we set
forth in the afternoon because we thought it best to approach this
island under cover of night, for if our coming was observed by the
people of the island while we were still a great way off, they would be
able, if hostilely inclined, to prepare an ambuscade for us, which
might be our ruin; whereas if we surprised them by an unexpected
arrival on their coast, they would not have had time to get ready for
us, and so we should not be in near so much danger.
[Sidenote: A Coral Island]
The breeze blew gently from the north-west, and the _Fair Hope_,
beating up against it, proceeded but slowly, though she sailed with a
steadiness which, now that we were farther from land than we had ever
been before, gave us much contentment. Our progress was so slow,
indeed, that darkness was upon us before we had got half-way to the
island, and we had to steer by the stars, which shone out with
exceeding brightness in a sky perfectly clear. There is something
inexpressibly moving in sailing thus upon a calm sea, in the deep
silence of the night, and neither Billy nor I had much to say to each
other. We tried to sleep a little now and then, taking it in turns to
steer, for the vessel needed no other management, so tranquil were the
elements; but neither of us could sleep soundly, and at length we gave
over the attempt, and were content to float idly on. Some while before
daybreak we heard the sound of breakers on our leeward side, and we
instantly brought the vessel to, having no mind to run upon a strange
shore in the darkness. When the dark lifted, we saw that we were
within a mile or so of a low island which, from our former experience
when sailing in the _Lovey Susan_, we knew to be a coral island.
Between it and us there was a reef over which the sea was breaking, and
we could see no opening in it, but we knew that there always is an
opening in such a reef, giving admittance to a broad lagoon.
Accordingly, we hoisted our sail again, and, still beating up to
windward, we came after some time to a gap in the reef at least a
hundred yards broad, so that we ran through it with ease, to find
ourselves, as we expected, in the shelter of the lagoon. We saw
immediately that our coming had not been unobserved, for on the farther
side of the lagoon there was a crowd of naked brown people in a little
clearing among the trees, who we knew had seen us, at first by their
gestures, and then by the proceedings of some few of them. For while
we looked, we saw a half-dozen or so running along the shore away from
us, and Billy cried that they were affrighted, and they must be a lot
of cowards. But I very soon perceived that he was quite mistaken in
this, for the goal of the runners was plainly a little cove about a
mile up the coast, where there were certain long dark objects drawn up
on the beach which I judged to be canoes, though I could not see them
clearly at so great a distance, especially as we were on the sea-level.
We were about two hundred and fifty yards from the place where the
natives were congregated on the shore of the lagoon, so that we could
see them plainly, and we observed that the men were armed with clubs
and spears, but we saw no bows and arrows. They made no signs of
welcome such as were made by the people of the islands at which the
_Lovey Susan_ had touched, nor did they make signs of hostility, so
that I thought they were waiting for some indication from us as to our
friendliness or the reverse. Accordingly I stood up in the canoe, and,
raising my hands above my head, waved them in the air, upon which many
of the natives did the same, only their hands held their weapons. But
they shouted also, and there did not appear to be anything unfriendly
in the tone, so we continued our course towards the shore, to which
Billy had indeed been slowly paddling all the time. As we drew nearer
the shouts of the people grew more vociferous, and I observed that the
women and children among them had now got behind the men, which I
thought might be out of nothing but shyness, but on the other hand it
might be for security; and when we were, I suppose, about sixty yards
from the shore, I directed Billy to cease from paddling, so that we
might hold a parley with the people, if we could, before venturing to
land among them. But though he shipped his paddle, I observed that we
still drifted shoreward, the tide coming into the lagoon through the
gap in the reef; and being by no means ready to come within the power
of these people until we were sure of them, I caught up my paddle, and
began to use it so that we might keep a constant distance from the
shore. It was very fortunate I did this, as it proved afterwards, for
it precipitated the attack which would have otherwise been made upon us
later, when we might not have been able to get away. The people, no
doubt, supposed from my action that we were going to paddle out of the
lagoon, which did not suit their bloodthirsty minds, for at the first
stroke I made they burst into a great roar, the ferocity of which was
not doubtful, and a perfect cloud of spears hurtled through the air,
one of which, narrowly missing me, struck Billy in the arm, and another
completely transfixed his dog Robin, which fell dying in the bottom of
the canoe, and was immediately licked with every demonstration of grief
by its companion. Other spears hit the canoe, and some stuck in its
sides, but the most fell into the water.
[Sidenote: An Attack]
Billy was in such a rage at the loss of his dog that he seized his bow
and arrows, and in spite of his own hurt was going to shoot among the
savages; but I saw that we were in very great danger and sharply bade
him drop his weapon and help me run our vessel out of harm's way. We
set to with our paddles, therefore, making all haste to get out of the
lagoon, and not at present hoisting the sail, for the lagoon being
sheltered by a thick belt of trees, we felt scarcely at all the
north-westerly wind, and went much faster with paddles than we could
have done with the sail. The savages cast more spears at us, but none
hit us again, and we were soon out of range and thought we should
easily escape through the gap, when I observed that three of the canoes
which had been lying on the beach were now launched, and were coming
towards us very fast. It was plain that the native village was in that
direction, for though not above half-a-dozen men had hastened thither
along the shore, there were at least forty men in the three canoes,
which now, I perceived, were making slantwise across the lagoon, with
the plain intent of cutting us off from the entrance. This sight made
me feel very anxious, for though we might very likely outdistance the
canoes if we could hoist our sail in a fair breeze, we were no match
for them in the sheltered lagoon, our vessel being, I think, heavier
than theirs, and having only two paddles to their dozen at least. We
had less distance to go than they, that's true, but they moved I doubt
not three feet to our one, so that I could not help thinking we had a
poor chance of escaping, especially as Billy could use only one arm.
We worked as hard as ever we did in our lives, I assure you, Billy
doing the steering, and all the time he muttered terrible threats of
vengeance against the savages for killing his dog.
We had been so intent upon the canoes that were speeding to cut us off
that we had had no eyes for a nearer danger. When the savages on shore
had discharged their spears, a good number of them leapt into the water
and set off swimming after us, of which we were not aware until on a
sudden we saw their black heads on the surface not many yards away.
They were very fine swimmers, that is certain, for some of them had
overhauled us, and were indeed almost within reach of our outrigger
before we saw them. I own I got a fright then, for if they once
managed to grip the outrigger, they could haul it beneath the surface
and so upset our craft, and all would be over. In this extremity I
called to Billy to keep them off with his spear or axe, though this
meant a slackening of speed which we could ill afford in face of the
canoes drawing nearer so rapidly to the gap; and besides, it gave
opportunity to others of the swimmers to come up with those that had at
first outstripped them. You see, then, how desperate was our
situation, I having both to paddle and to steer, and Billy having to
rush from end to end of the canoe to beat off the men, which would soon
become an impossible business, for while he jabbed at the men aiming at
the stern cross-piece, another made a dash for the bow-end, and there
were others ready to clutch at the beam.
I was pretty nearly mad with despair when, as we came out of the
shelter of the trees lining the land side of the lagoon, I felt the
breeze blow stronger against my cheek and a flush of hope within me.
Crying to Billy to keep up for a minute longer, to which he answered,
"Trust me, master," in a breathless kind of way, I dropped my paddle,
caught at the halyard, and ran the sail up the mast. Instantly it
filled and took the wind, but in the moment when the vessel came to a
stop at my ceasing to paddle, two of the swimmers laid hands on the
beam of the outrigger, and I felt the vessel give a dreadful lurch. My
heart was in my mouth, as we say; but Billy, with a desperate stroke of
his spear, drove one of the men away, and the next moment the sudden
filling of the sail caused the vessel to plunge forward, so that the
man who still clung to the outrigger was drawn along and prevented from
exerting his strength to upset us. And while he still hung on Billy
reached over, and brought his axe down with great force on the man's
head, almost losing his balance; and the man gave a yell and let go his
hold, falling back among his companions, who had now abandoned the
pursuit.
[Illustration: "BILLY REACHED OVER, AND BROUGHT HIS AXE DOWN ON THE
MAN'S HEAD."]
Just as, before, our attention had been kept from the swimmers by the
canoes, so our tussle with the swimmers had prevented us from observing
the oncoming of the canoes. Being now free from the former danger, we
saw that our vessel and the canoes were about equal distances from the
gap, and I perceived with a terrible sinking of the heart that though
the _Fair Hope_ was making much greater speed than when we drove her by
paddles alone, yet the canoes were going still faster, the men in them
plying their paddles with amazing force and dexterity. Within a few
moments it became clear to me that the foremost canoe and our vessel
must reach the gap almost at the same instant, and Billy, who seemed to
have forgotten the perils in the excitement of the race, cried out,
"Don't let it be a tie, master. I'd rather be beat than come in a
tie." But I saw that to be even with them would be as good as a
beating, for if we came so much as within spear-throw of them, we could
not by any means escape as we had escaped from the men on shore. And
though I now took to my paddle again, having fixed the sail, and strove
with all my might, I perceived that within a minute the savages' first
canoe must reach the gap before us, and I was on the point of giving up
for lost, grasping my bow with the resolution to make the best fight I
could before being overwhelmed. Billy had already taken his, though I
knew by the set of his face that he was suffering much pain from his
wounded arm, and catching my eye, he said, "This is what we made 'em
for," and looked with great determination at the savages in the canoes.
[Sidenote: Escape]
But in that critical moment I saw something that set me on taking
another resolution, and carrying it out too, all in an instant, as it
were. We had been making, as I have said, for the gap in the reef,
through which the sea flowed inwards very smoothly. Upon the reef
itself the water was very much broken, more at some points than at
others, and in that flash of time I had observed that the part nearest
to us, on our right hand, appeared to lie some little distance below
the surface, for the water above it was not near so restless and
foam-crested as at some other parts. There were swells and eddies,
indeed, but it seemed to me that the water was deep enough to take our
vessel, and, as a drowning man will catch at a straw, I seized on this
as a bare chance of escape. In the twinkling of an eye--for I saw and
thought and acted all in a breath, so to speak--I thrust my paddle into
the water at such an angle as would divert the canoe towards this part
of the reef, telling Billy what I was about, and bidding him be ready
for anything that might happen. The vessel's head swung round to the
reef, we scudded across it with a scratching and scraping that made me
shudder, and it was well I did not know then what I learnt from a
mariner afterwards, how if we had struck upon any small pinnacle of
hard coral we must have been overturned to a certainty; that knowledge
might then have made a coward of me. But I did not know it, and we
scraped and bumped across the reef, which was very narrow, and so came
into the open sea, where, feeling the full force of the wind, we sped
away right merrily.
"You did that prime, master," says Billy, "and now I'll have a shot."
But by the time the foremost of the three canoes had come through the
gap, and Billy had adjusted his aim, we were clean out of range, which
rejoiced me as much as it disappointed him. "Can't we lay by and have
a shot or two?" he said; "the wretches killed my little dog." But I
thought it was more pertinent that we should make good our escape,
especially as it yet remained to be proved that the canoes could not
overtake us. It was a mercy they had no sails, for the paddlers drove
their craft along at a prodigious pace, so that for a time we did not
draw very much away from them, and when we did, immediately afterwards
there was a lull in the wind which made them gain upon us, so
alarmingly that I took to my paddle again to assist the wind. The
savages shouted with joy when they saw the gap between us lessening,
and even when the wind freshened again they did not give up the
pursuit, taking encouragement, no doubt, from what had lately happened,
and hoping that the wind would drop again, and for a longer time, until
they came within spear-throw. In this posture of affairs I saw that
Billy might be right, and that it would be really a wise thing to
discourage them more effectually, especially as we had done nothing to
provoke them, but on the contrary had intended to deal with them in the
most friendly way. Accordingly, I luffed a little, as seamen say, and
so allowed the first canoe to make upon us, and then I fitted an arrow
to my bow, and taking as good an aim as I could, let the shaft fly.
Our vessel was not above sixty yards distant from theirs, and if I had
been shooting on shore I should have hit the mark as like as not; but
being not at all accustomed to take aim while moving up and down I
missed the man at whom I aimed, and indeed did not hit any man, the
arrow sticking in the side of the canoe.
"Try again, master," says Billy; but I was afraid I should not get the
chance of another shot, for the savages had stopped paddling, not being
sure, I suppose, whether I had done any damage or not; and our vessel
being under sail, was carried on a good way. But when they saw that no
one had been hit, they let forth a shout of derision, and set to
paddling again as if determined to dog us. I dare say I was nettled a
little by the mocking note I heard in their shout, which as it were put
me on my mettle; whether it was by greater care and steadiness or sheer
good fortune I know not, but certainly my next shot took effect, though
the range was longer. The man in the bow of the canoe gave a great
yell, and at the same moment dropped his paddle, and we saw him tear my
arrow out of his left shoulder and clap his hand to the wound,
whereupon Billy gave a shout of delight, and cried, "There you are, old
dirty-face, and I wish it was you that shot my little dog." The next
man in the canoe hurled his spear at us, but it fell some little
distance astern, and the other canoes having by this time caught up
with the first, we guessed by the loud chatter of the men that they
were taking counsel together, even while they still worked their
paddles. The result of their deliberation was that they gave up the
chase, a very reasonable course, for I am sure they could not have
caught us. They turned their canoes' heads towards their island, which
was now, I suppose, about two miles distant, and as soon as we saw that
they were really leaving us we hove to, and I bathed Billy's wound with
fresh water from one of our pots, observing as I did so that the
lurchings and jerkings our vessel had suffered in crossing the reef had
caused our pots to spill over, so that we had not left above a third of
the water we started with. Billy's wound, though he made light of it,
was an ugly gash, and I was a little anxious lest the weapon that dealt
it was poisoned. However, this was not so, and when I afterwards put a
bandage of leaves upon the wound (for Billy would not hear of my
tearing a strip from my tattered shirt), his arm was stiff for a few
days, but then quickly healed.
I bathed his wound, I say, and then we ate a very good meal, and Billy
gave my dog a double share of food, to comfort him, he said, for the
loss of his companion. I asked him if double meals would comfort him,
supposing I was killed, merely to tease him; but his face became so
piteous when he said, "Don't say such things, Master, for I can't
a-bear it," I wished I had never spoken the words. I had never told
Billy how the thought that he might die came to me sometimes, and what
intolerable anguish it caused me, and I did not know that he ever had
the like thought; but he confided to me a long while after that
sometimes as he lay awake at night the question would repeat itself in
his mind: "What if Master should die?" and it gave him such a dreadful
feeling of loneliness that he would put out his hand to touch me lying
near him, to make sure that my flesh was still warm with the blood of
life. When he told me this I remembered having once felt his hand upon
mine, and how it tingled, and when I spoke he tightened his grasp and
said, "Good night, old king," and I knew by his tone that he had a
great affection for me; but I never supposed he was troubled in mind,
or I might have shown him, perhaps, more plainly how great was my
affection for him.
However, to return to our vessel. We ate a meal, and considered what
we should do: whether continue our voyage in another direction, or
return at once to Palm Tree Island. Billy thought we had better go
a-cruising, "For," said he, "we don't know but what these savages will
spy on us, and see where we go to if we go home at once, and then they
may come after us some day, and we shall have a deal of trouble."
"But they may spy on us even if we don't go home at once," I said, "and
never leave us until they find out where we came from."
"Not they," says he; "they won't have the patience."
[Sidenote: We return Home]
I thought Billy's reasoning far from conclusive, for if they meant to
spy on us they would do so, and could not tell whether we were going
home or not. However, it did not appear that they had any such
intention, for by this time they were out of sight, and very thankful
we were that they had drawn away from us, for towards midday the wind
dropped, and the vessel lay almost idle for a long time, her sail
hanging very limp and sad. If the canoes had been near us now, we
could not have got away from them, and thinking of this made me haul
down our sail and unship the mast, lest they should be seen from some
elevated place in the island we had just left--a tree-top, maybe, for
the surface of coral islands is mainly flat. We could see our own
island very clearly, the mountain standing up against the sky; but I
began to be afraid that we should not reach it that day, because of the
calm, and we could not go fast enough with paddles alone. I did paddle
for a while, in order to increase our distance from the coral island,
which became dimmer on the horizon until we could scarce see it; but I
had begun to think that we should have to spend the night out at sea
when, as the sun sank, a breeze sprang up, which, if it held, would
bring us to our island, I guessed, very soon after dark. We hoisted
the sail, and sped along very merrily, being perfectly enchanted with
the qualities of the _Fair Hope_; but distance at sea is very
deceptive; we were farther away from our island than we thought, and it
was long after dark before we arrived at the little sandy beach, though
not so dark but we could see the giant form of the mountain upreared
against the stars, and so we did not lose our way. We were very tired,
and when we had moored our vessel to the rock we employed for this
purpose, we left everything in her, food and weapons and all, being
desirous of nothing but to get back to our house, eat our supper, and
go to bed.
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH
OF THE SEVERAL SURPRISES THAT AWAITED BILLY AND THE NARRATOR AND THE
CREW OF THE _LOVEY SUSAN_; AND OF OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CAVE
"I say, master," said Billy, as we toiled up towards our house, "you
and me'll think twice afore we go a-cruising again. I ain't never been
so tired in my life, and I shan't be awake to eat no supper."
"Very well," said I, "we won't trouble to make up our fire, but----"
[Sidenote: Unexpected Visitors]
The words died on my lips, and we both stood stock still at the same
moment, for there had come to our ears on a sudden, from the direction
of the house, the sound of loud and boisterous laughter. Little John
yelped, Billy clutched my hand, and you will scarce believe it, but we
were both trembling like leaves in the wind; for imagine if you can
what a shock it was to us, after our loneliness on the island, to hear
the laughter of men.
"They've got here first," says Billy in a whisper presently.
"Who?" said I.
"Why, the savages," he said. "They've spied on us. We'd better go
back for our spears and things."
I agreed that this was a prudential measure, and we trudged hastily
down again to the canoe, and took our spears and bows and arrows, and
then retraced our steps, the dog accompanying us. We crept up with
exceeding caution until we reached a spot whence we could overlook the
hollow in which our house was situated; but or ever we got there we
were aware of a red glow, as from a huge fire, and when we came to the
summit of the crest and looked down the long slope towards the hut,
near half-a-mile away, we saw that in front of it a very large fire was
kindled, which lit up all the country around, and on the fringe, so to
speak, of the illuminated space certain dark figures moved.
"They've made the fire ready to cook us," says Billy, his voice
trembling very much.
"Nay, they're cooking already," I said, and showed him that they had
set our great tripod over the fire, and something dangled from it
roasting.
[Illustration: Our Tripod]
"They've stole one of our pigs," said Billy in great anger; indeed, his
first fear was now swallowed up in this new emotion. He spoke pretty
loud, and the dog, knowing from his manner that something was amiss,
began to yelp. I bade Billy hold his peace, for we must creep silently
towards the house and discover who these visitors were: and since the
dog might betray us if he yelped as we approached, we thought it best
to tie him to a tree; he would doubtless yelp there, but the visitors
would suppose he was a wild dog. We had just left him tied up when I
remembered that if his yelping brought the wild dogs about him he would
very soon be torn in pieces, so we had to go back and loose him, and
then Billy took him in his arms and said he would keep him quiet, which
he did.
We crept along, being careful to take cover from the trees and shrubs,
and so not following a straight path, but working round somewhat until
we came to the back of our fowl-house, whence we could see and overhear
what was going on. But before we got there we had another amazing
shock, and a very disconcerting one too, for as we were walking Billy
all of a sudden clutched me by the arm and whispered, "That's Hoggett,"
and then he uttered that profane word which I had never heard upon his
lips since the first day we came to the island. And sure enough, when
we came to the fowl-house, and could both hear and see them, grouped
about the fire beyond it sat or lay or stood a dozen of Billy's once
shipmates on the _Lovey Susan_, the mutinous crew of my uncle's
ill-fated vessel. Some of them, being on the farther side of the fire,
we could not see clearly: but on this side there was Hoggett, Billy's
especial enemy, and Wabberley; and Clums the cook, attending to the
fine pig, one of our best, that was roasting; and Chick, and Pumfrey
the ship's carpenter, and others whose names I need not write. Billy
was for fitting an arrow to his bow and shooting Hoggett that instant,
but I forbade him, in a whisper but peremptorily, for the two of us
could not hope to get the better of a dozen, when they had firearms
too, for I had spied a musket standing against the wall of the hut,
near to where Hoggett was lying. Besides, I own I felt a certain
tenderness towards these men, rough and brutal, aye, and treacherous,
as they were; for they were men of our race and speech, and to hear my
own language from the lips of Wabberley brought back to me those
evenings when he feasted my uncle with his stories, so that he gave me
thoughts of home. However, I felt a natural indignation at seeing
these uninvited guests making free with our property, and after hearing
somewhat of their talk I ceased to feel any kindness towards them.
They were talking, I soon discovered, about the house and its owners,
and Hoggett declared that he was certain sure it belonged to savages,
an opinion which Wabberley instantly controverted.
"Have I, or have I not, been in these here South Seas afore, Tom
Hoggett?" I heard him say, and Hoggett growled that he _said_ he had;
whereupon Wabberley continued, "Well then, I ask you again, didn't we
leave they two striplings on this very island?"
"You're right, there," says Hoggett, "and one of 'em the sauciest,
snarliest son of a" (here a dreadful word) "that ever escaped his
proper lickings."
("That's me," whispered Billy, in a great rage.)
"True, but handy all the same," said Clums. "He could do a thing or
two with his tools, and I warrant you he made this;" and so saying, he
took up Billy's toasting-fork, and held a yam to the blaze.
[Illustration: Billy's Toasting Fork]
"'Twas Billy made it, sure enough," said Pumfrey, "for the other chap
couldn't ha' done it."
"No, not him," said Wabberley. "He was a overgrown weed, he was, all
stalk and no head to it, and I reckon if the truth was known he made
this; any fool could do it," and he took up, as it chanced, one of the
two-pronged forks that I had made, and of which I was a little proud at
the time.
"That's true, Nick," says Joshua Chick, "and what's more, shipmates, no
savage ever made a fork in his life, and lor' bless you, didn't we find
a hairbrush and a comb, and what savage ever wanted such, d'ye think?
And that there pig-sty, now, ain't that like the one where you was
brought up, Pumfrey, only a bit rougher, maybe?"
This question was very much resented by Pumfrey the carpenter, who
declared hotly that he had built pig-sties, not lived in 'em, and
whoever made this pig-sty was a very poor hand at it. To this
Wabberley assented, and went on to say that the dirtiest savage as ever
breathed would have been ashamed of the miserable things we had made in
the way of pots and baskets and other things. It was plain that they
had pretty thoroughly ransacked our hut, and I was on thorns lest they
should have discovered our secret store-house below, which it appeared,
from what followed, that they had not done, and thankful I was. One of
the men asked what we lived on, for we couldn't eat, he supposed,
nothing but pork and chickens, and they had found nothing else, except
the yams in the pig's trough, we having put all the rest of our fruits
and vegetables in the store-house.
"Ain't there plenty of trees on the island, donkey?" said Clums. "You
may take your davy there's bread-fruit and bananas and cocoa-nuts and
such like, and they pick 'em when they want 'em."
"But where are the young devils?" said Hoggett. "Ain't that there pig
done yet, Clums? The smell makes me want to get my teeth into him."
"One more turn," says Clums, "and then we'll have a better supper than
we've had many a day."
"I say, where are the young devils?" says Hoggett again. "D'ye think
they see us a-coming and sheered off?"
"Like as not," said Wabberley, "but we'll find 'em to-morrow, and they
shall get our dinner for us, d'ye see. I believe in taking it easy and
letting the youngsters do the work, I do. Did you get all the yams out
of that pig's trough, Clums?"
"I did," says he, "and there must be some more growing somewhere, and
'tis to be hoped things ain't so short as they are in our island,
mates. Did you ever know food go so fast? There seemed enough for
thousands when we landed there, and you wouldn't ha' thought a score of
men would ha' made such a hole in it."
And then they fell a-talking of the eight or nine men they had left on
what they called their island, and I judged from their discourse that
provisions being short with them, these twelve had come away to
discover a more plentiful land, having promised, if they found one, to
return and fetch their shipmates. Pumfrey reminded them of their
promise, adding that the men would certainly starve if they were not
brought off, whereupon Hoggett declared with an oath that he for one
was not going to tug an oar for twenty miles in a leaky boat, to bring
off a lot of useless blockheads who would soon eat them out of house
and home. We pricked up our ears at this, Billy and me, hearing for
the first time that our visitors had made up their minds to abide with
us, and Billy ground his teeth, and whispered that we should have to
fight 'em. One of the men--I think it was Wabberley--asked what about
the mountain? and said he didn't like the notion of living where he
might be boiled or roasted any day. At this Hoggett made a mock of
him. "Ain't it years since we left they boys here?" he said. "Does it
look like boiling or roasting, 'cept for pigs? These here burning
mountains ain't always a-working, that's plain, and this one here may
be asleep for fifty years to come."
And then they ended their discourse for a time, devoting themselves to
the roast pork and the yams of which they had deprived our pigs,
sighing also very heavily for beer; and finding no cocoa-nuts handy for
quenching their thirst, and being too lazy to fetch any (besides, it
was dark), two of them went with pots in their hands to the lake, on
which there was a very pretty reflection of their fire, and brought
them back full of water. Billy chuckled so much at this that I was
afraid he would be heard; but I was amused too, for there having been
no rains lately, we knew what the effect of drinking the water would
be; and, indeed, the next night we heard the men condoling with one
another, and it was plain that when they were seized in the middle of
the night with griping pains, they believed one and all that they were
poisoned.
They had eat such a monstrous supper that they were fit afterward for
nought but swinish slumber, and the most of them lay where they were,
never intending to stir until the morning. Two or three, however, took
up their quarters in the hut. We did not observe that they set any
kind of watch, which was certainly a point of carelessness, and Billy
said it would be easy enough to steal upon them in the night and kill
them all, but this of course was not to be thought of. When we saw
that all was quiet we stole away back to the canoe, both to get our own
supper from the surplus of our provisions, and also to have a
sleeping-place. Since we did not know how long this rascally crew
would remain on the island, we thought we ought to convey what smoked
fish and salted pork we had in the canoe to the thicket on the side of
the mountain; as for the bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, there was no need
for us to trouble about these, the trees being exceeding well laden
with them. And considering that it would be foolish to let the men see
our canoe, when we had taken the food up the mountain, very toilsomely,
we being so tired, we worked the canoe round the island with extreme
care, until we came to the little cove in the cliff which we had seen
near the archway in our voyage of circumnavigation. There we slept by
turns till break of day, finding it a matter of the greatest difficulty
to keep awake when our turns came for watching; and when it began to be
light we unshipped the mast, and clambering along the base of the
cliffs we made our way gradually upward until we reached the thicket,
where we deemed it best to remain in hiding. We heard nothing of the
men all the morning, and guessed that they were not in very active trim
after their medicinal draught of the night before; but in the afternoon
we heard them talking to one another from various parts of the island,
from which it was plain that they were searching for us. Once, indeed,
they came so near us that we were fearful of being discovered, and kept
very close in the depth of the thicket; but they passed us by, and I
wondered that they had been brave enough to come so far up the
mountain, remembering their panic on the day they landed.
[Sidenote: Dispossessed]
Making our meals chiefly of salt fish, we grew very thirsty, and did
not dare venture down to the woods where the cocoa-nuts grew, lest we
should be seen. But we thought we might creep round the mountain,
until we came to the place where the hot spring fell towards the Red
Rock, and there we filled some large leaves with the water, and let it
stand until it cooled, and then drank it, without any harm. And as we
returned to our hiding-place I chanced to see some pieces of that rock
I have before mentioned, what Billy called the fizzy rock, that which
belched forth great clouds of poisonous fume when it was touched with
water. The sight of this set an idea jogging in my head, which I did
not tell at that moment to Billy because of his natural impatience; but
when it was dark, and we had got down safely to the place of the former
night's watching, and assured ourselves from the men's talk that they
had no present notion of leaving the island--at this time of night, I
say, I communicated my notion to Billy, and he applauded it with great
enthusiasm. As soon as ever the first glimmer of light came,
therefore, we might have been seen very busy gathering lumps of this
rock, which we piled in two heaps, one about the spring near the top of
the mountain, the other about the spring that flowed down the lava bed.
We worked very hard at this, and I observed with great satisfaction
that the cloud of steam above the mountain was a trifle thicker this
day than it had been for some time past. Then we waited until the men
were at their breakfast (we could see them easily from the edge of the
thicket, which commanded a view of the house and its surroundings), and
when they were in the midst of it, we hasted to these springs, Billy to
one and I to the other, and began to topple into them the fragments of
rock which we had gathered, being exceeding careful to keep to the
windward side. The wind was blowing, as it did nearly always, in the
direction of the house, so that when the dense and filthy smoke rose
from the rock we had cast into the water, it was carried away into the
interior of the island.
[Sidenote: A Stratagem]
Having set this storm a-brewing, as you may say, we made haste to
regain our place in the thicket, whence we could see what went on
below. We were delighted beyond measure, and Billy began to caper, as
he always did when pleased, when we saw the men spring to their feet
and, leaving their breakfast, set off in a mighty hurry toward the
beach. We had not seen the place where they had left their boat, but
guessed from the direction of their flight that they had drawn it up at
the east end of the sandy beach, near the lava tract, indeed, at pretty
nearly the same point as they had landed at three years before. We
perceived that one or two of the men halted as they ran, and turning
about, looked up at the mountain and then called to their fellows.
Though we could not hear their words, the distance being too great, we
guessed that they were shouting to their comrades to wait a little, in
case the apparent explosion turned out to be of no account after all.
But the other men did not halt, nor even slacken their pace, and Billy
and I laughed a good deal to see Wabberley, who was much the fattest of
them, yet easily outstrip the rest, so much did panic lend lightness to
his heels. Their manifest terror appeared to shake the resolution of
the few hardier spirits who were inclined to pause. Without any
further delay they sped on after the others, and when they had
disappeared for a little from our view behind the rocks, we saw a boat
put off very soon after, going towards the south, whence we presumed it
had come. But it had not gone far when it stopped, and we saw at the
same moment that the fumes were being dissipated in the air, which
perhaps made the men think that the danger was over. We could not
venture to go again to the spring above the lava tract, which was
plainly to be seen from the sea, but we went back to the other spring,
where we were perfectly screened, and hurled great quantities of the
rock into the water, so that we were nearly overcome by the acrid
fumes. But we persevered until we had raised an immense cloud of
smoke, much denser than before; and running to the thicket to see the
effect of our handiwork, we were almost beside ourselves with joy when
we saw the boat proceeding at a good pace towards the south-east. We
watched it until it had finally disappeared, and then we hastened down
to our hut, wondering whether it had suffered any damage at the hands
of our visitors, and also whether they had left any of their own
belongings which would be useful to us, being exceeding jubilant also
at the wonderful success of the trick we had played on them.
[Sidenote: We Regain our Own]
When we came to examine our little demesne, we were in a great rage,
for the men had not only killed our finest pig and two or three of our
chickens, but had also turned the hut upside down, as people say, and
ransacked everything. Of course they got little for their pains except
the food, and they had not discovered our cellar, nor even the pit
outside the hut where our bread-fruit pulp was stored, what there was
left of it, for since we had used the cavern for a store-house we had
been under no necessity to keep the pit replenished. They had left
behind them nothing but one musket, which had no doubt been overlooked
in their haste, and a cap which Billy declared was Hoggett's, though I
myself thought it was Wabberley's. The musket was useless to us,
having no powder or shot, though it would make a capital club; and as
for the cap, whether Wabberley's or Hoggett's, neither Billy nor I was
in the least inclined to wear it, being very much worn, and filthy to
boot, not fit to be compared to our own light and cleanly bonnets,
which we wore pretty constantly now, to preserve us from sun-stroke.
Though we had not suffered any great damage, I was very much disturbed
by this sudden visit of the seamen. We had heard enough of their talk
to guess that they had been driven to make their expedition by scarcity
of provisions, for had they been living in ease and plenty they would
hardly have risked so long a voyage in a leaky boat. Whether they had
visited other islands first we could not tell; but I could not help
fearing that if it was dearth that had impelled them, they would come
again, braving the dangers of the volcano. Cowards though they were,
they would certainly come to their senses before long, and when they
considered that we had a fair-built hut, and a plantation, and a
piggery and fowl-house, which had plainly received no hurt from the
mountain, they would be pretty sure to come back if they found no means
elsewhere of stocking their larder.
"Perhaps they think we have gone away from the island," said Billy,
when I talked over the matter with him. "They will think Old Smoker
frighted us too."
I saw there might be some truth in this, but I said that if it were so,
they would probably keep a careful watch on the mountain for the
future, and if they saw no signs of its breaking forth they would
return, confident of enjoying the fruits of our labours.
"But we won't let 'em," cried Billy, stoutly. "Didn't they leave us,
the brutes, when they believed we should certainly be boiled or
roasted? Didn't they steal our raft? Did you hear 'em say they'd make
us fetch and carry for 'em if they caught us? We've done all the hard
work and they'll come and enjoy it, will they? Not if I know it."
"We shall have to fight them then, Billy," I said.
"Well," says he, "and so we will; and we'll make some more spears and
arrows at once."
"But some of them have got muskets," I said, "and bows and arrows will
be poor weapons against them."
This made Billy look glum for a moment or two, but then his face
brightened again, and he said, "I don't believe they've got many
muskets. They were all put in the round-house, don't you remember,
master? The Captain's orders. They stole one or two when we were all
sixes and sevens in the storm, and I don't suppose they've got much
powder and shot either, maybe none, for they're sure to have used some,
and it's a long time ago."
This seemed to me very reasonable, and I thought that if we were within
our walls we might defend ourselves very well for a long time against
the men, even if they had a musket or two. But I wished we could in
some way strengthen our defences, and my mind went back to my notion of
cutting a moat around the hut, which would be of great assistance to
us; but the difficulty of cutting it was no less than before, and I was
afraid if we started it we should never get it done. Furthermore, the
only condition of our making a successful defence at all was that we
should not be taken by surprise as we had been this time, and I said to
Billy that we must never go a voyage again.
"Well, and I don't want to," says he, "unless we can sail to England.
I didn't like the look of them brown fellows with the painted faces,
and did you see the sharks' teeth stuck in a ring round their hair?
We're better off here, master; and here we'd better bide."
[Sidenote: We Strengthen our Defences]
We had been putting our place in order while we talked thus, and then
we had our breakfast, eating indeed some of the food which the men had
been preparing when we drove them away. And after we had done our
customary morning's work--fed the pigs and fowls, gathered ripe
cocoa-nuts, and so forth--we set to work at once to make some new
arrows and spears, and bows and strings also, in case the others broke;
and all the while we were doing this, Billy talked very bravely about
the great fight there would be if the rascals came back. I said
nothing to damp his ardour, but my thoughts were very busy with a part
of the subject which he seemed not to consider, namely, what we should
do if it came to anything like a regular siege. I did not doubt we
could do much execution among the enemy from behind our walls if they
stood to be shot at; but they could very well avoid this, and since
there would be many of them against us two, they could strictly
blockade us; and though so far as food went we could defy them for a
long time, having our concealed stores below, yet the need for constant
watchfulness, day and night, would in a short time wear us out. When I
asked Billy what we should do in that case, he said, "Why, run out, and
let 'em chase us; we could dodge them big chaps well enough, and I
reckon we can run a deal faster." It was easy enough to show him that
the hunted life we should lead would be most wretched and precarious;
but he having suggested that we might escape set me on thinking whether
we might not indeed elude the enemy, at least for such time as was
needful to find some defence or shelter.
We had, of course, the means of descending into our cavern; and this
was so well stocked with food that we might live there for a long time;
but our disappearance would immediately be discovered by our besiegers
(so I called them in advance), and they would know our whereabouts the
moment they entered the hut. The cavern, therefore, could not be a
permanent habitation. But it came into my mind again that we had never
thoroughly explored the tunnel leading from it, nor found whether it
had an outlet, though we suspected it had; and I thought that if there
was such an outlet, or if we could make one, our case would not be so
hopeless as at the present time it seemed. Accordingly, we determined
to descend into the cavern, and make another exploration, going
together, as we did the last time, both for the company's sake and for
better security in case of encountering any danger. So we heaved up
the covering of the shaft, and having made half-a-dozen torches, enough
to last us for several hours, we went down, leaving Little John on
guard, passed through the cavern, and came into the low and narrow
passage.
[Sidenote: Adventure in the Cave]
When we arrived at the place where the second passage entered this from
the right, we turned into it, and walked up an ascent, as I had done in
the darkness, until the floor suddenly took a dip downwards, and then
by the light of our torch we saw a considerable pool of water,
extending farther than the light would carry. We debated for a little
whether we should attempt to wade through this, and concluded that we
would not do so until we had failed to find a way out in the other
direction. Accordingly we retraced our steps, and went down the
tunnel, until we came to the wider part where on our last visit we had
seen water. The water was lower than it had been then, and we were
able to go farther, and when we came to the brink of it, we heard very
distinctly the sound of waves rolling in, so that we knew we could not
be far from an opening to the sea. And, indeed, peering across the
immense cave to which we had come, we saw far off a segment of blue
sky, and knew that the object of our search was gained.
We stood at the edge of the water, surveying the cave by the light of
our torches. We saw that there depended from its roof certain shining
things like icicles, of rugged form and differing in length, which I
have since learned are called stalactites; and, moreover, there were
large boulders and masses of broken stalactites standing up out of the
water. Billy gave a shout when he saw this, and cried that he would
skip from rock to rock until he came to the mouth of the cave, and
defied me to race him; but the torch I was carrying was now burning
low, and I stayed to kindle another before going farther; and,
moreover, I doubted the wisdom of such feats of agility, for it would
be easy to miss one's footing and fall into the water, and if we both
did it our torches would be wetted and we should not be able to light
ourselves home. I had, indeed, just called out to him to come back,
when a dreadful shriek ran through the cavern, and raising my torch
above my head, I saw Billy scrambling up a tall and rugged rock that
stood ten feet or more above the water, a good way from where I stood.
He had dropped his torch, and I saw him but dimly by the light of mine,
and could not discern any cause for his terror; but that there must be
a very great cause I knew well, for Billy was brave enough. He
continued to shriek and call, though his voice rang so in that hollow
vaulted space that I could not at first make out any words; but having
started to approach him when I heard his first cry, going from rock to
rock as quickly as I could, I was presently able to see a number of
long tentacles clinging to the rock on which he was perched, and others
waving horribly above the surface of the water, as if some blind
creature were groping for its prey. And even as there came to my mind
the recollection of that loathly monster from whom I myself had barely
escaped, and I stood as if fascinated by those hideous antic limbs, I
saw the vast bulk of the beast appear above the surface, and rise
gradually behind its tentacles up the rock.
Billy was by this time perched on the very summit of the rock, and when
he saw the monster ascending towards him he let forth another dreadful
cry which roused me from the sort of trance into which I had fallen.
Grasping the torch with my left hand and my axe with my right, I leapt
over the low rocks that stood between me and Billy, scarcely keeping my
footing, and began to hack with all my strength at the shapeless mass,
which made such a resistance to that poor clumsy axehead as a thing of
leather might make. It did not appear that my strokes were of any
avail, for the tentacles crept higher and higher; and looking up when I
heard another scream from Billy, I saw that one of them was beginning
to twine itself about his leg. And then all of a sudden, while I was
bringing my axe down once more on the monster, Billy made a leap
upwards, to catch at a stalactite that depended from the roof of the
vault, not far from his head. He must have been pretty near beside
himself to do what he did, for if he had caught hold of it he could not
have held on long; and what did in fact happen was that the stalactite
broke off with a sharp snap, and down came Billy and it into the water.
I thought this might be the best thing that could happen, for he could
swim like a fish, and the monster would take some time in letting
itself down from the rock; but when Billy rose to the surface, and I
called to him, I saw by his feeble movements that he must have been
hurt, so I sprang to a low rock near which he had come up, and held out
my axe for him to grasp, which he did, and so I got him on to the rock,
though not without some trouble, it being scarce broad enough for both
of us. And immediately afterwards I observed that the monster had left
the big rock and disappeared into the water, on which I cried to Billy
to be of good cheer, because I was sure my continual chopping had
wrought some damage on the monster and maybe killed it. But the words
were scarce out of my mouth when we saw, by the ruddy light of my
torch, a tentacle appear above the water not three feet away. This put
me in a shudder lest we were in a perfect den of the creatures, and I
called to Billy to jump across the rocks, if he could, back to the
entrance to the tunnel, so that he at any rate, being now the weaker,
might be out of harm's way. His terror lending him strength, he
gathered himself together and leapt from rock to rock as he had done
before, while I seized upon the axe which I had dropped beside me when
I landed on the rock, and chopped away in a kind of frenzy at the
tentacles which were brandishing themselves, you may say, at several
places around me. As soon as I saw that Billy was safe I gave up the
contest and sprang after him, and I was never so thankful in my life as
I was when I stood beside him at the end of the tunnel.
We were neither of us in any mind to linger there, lest the monster and
his brood came to attack us, for we were now so terrified that we would
have believed them capable of anything. This was the second time that
we had been baulked of finding an outlet to the sea, and our experience
had been such that we should scarce attempt it again. We hurried back
through the tunnel, and had not gone very far when we had another
alarm, for whereas it had been dry when we descended, there was now a
little stream of water running down, which increased as we advanced
until it became almost a rivulet. At first I thought that the plug had
come out of the pipe leading from the lake into the shaft, but when we
came to the junction of the two passages, we saw that the water, which
was now above our ankles, was pouring out of the right-hand passage,
and not from the one that led from the cavern. This eased our alarm,
but we did not stay to consider of any attempt to discover the ultimate
source of this little torrent, but hastened on until we were once more
in our hut; and then we knew by the mighty pattering on the roof and
all around that a very heavy rain was falling. Indeed, when we opened
the door we saw that it must have been raining ever since we departed,
for the ground was exceeding sodden, and the trench about the hut was
half full of water, being scarce deep enough to carry off the drainage.
Of course the rain had put out the fire which we kept constantly
smouldering in the grate a few feet from our door, and though a hot
meal would have been very comforting after our fright and the wetting
we had got, we could not make one ready, because we had no dry wood in
the hut, nor indeed did we care to light a fire in it, having no
chimney to let out the smoke.
[Sidenote: A Mystery Solved]
It continued raining for two or three days, greatly to our discomfort;
and we made up our minds to two things: first, to have a stock of
firewood ready dried; second, to build ourselves a better grate, which
we could cover in with pottery ware, and thus prevent the fire from
being ever extinguished. During these days we observed, as we had done
before, that the lake did not rise above the high-water mark, though
the rain was the heaviest since we had been on the island; and when I
sought once more to account for this, and remembered the torrent
pouring down the passage, it came all of a sudden into my mind that I
had the true reason of it. The passage, as I have said, rose
continually from the cave inwards. Well, I guessed that its upper end
opened into the side of the lake, but it then rose until its highest
point was pretty nearly on a level with what we called the high-water
mark, and after that descended again. If it was so, it acted as a
siphon, the water not flowing down the passage until the lake rose to
the same height as the highest part of the passage. When I tried to
explain this to Billy he said it was all gammon, because if there was
an opening from the lake into the passage the water would keep on
flowing through until it couldn't help but run over. He could not in
the least understand that water could never rise above its own level
until I showed him by means of two tanks made of pottery, one large and
the other small, and then he owned that I might be right, though he
said it seemed to him like saying that a ten-pound weight wouldn't send
up a five-pound weight if they were put in the opposite pans of a
balance.
However, my discovery (supposing my reasoning was correct, and we could
not prove it)--my discovery, I say, was of no practical advantage to
us, indeed, rather the reverse, for it seemed to show that the tunnel
from the cavern to the sea might be sometimes impassable, so that as a
way of retreat from our hut it was doubly useless. When I pointed this
out to Billy he said, "Never mind, master. We shall only have to fight
all the harder inside, that's all," which shows how hopeful he always
was. The only comfort I had was to think that our fears and anxieties
might never be justified, and that Hoggett and his crew would never
more visit us.
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH
OF THE ASSAULT ON THE HUT, IN WHICH BOWS AND ARROWS PROVE SUPERIOR TO
MUSKETS
The period of rainy weather which we suffered set me on to think again
of that project of digging a moat which we had formerly abandoned.
Several considerable rivulets flowed into the lake from the high ground
around, of which one, that came down the slope nearest the red rock,
had a pretty long course, and by the time it fell into the lake, forty
or fifty yards from the hut, was almost a river. Observing how it
washed the soil along with it, it came into my head that we might
perchance enlist it in our service, and make it do a great part of the
work of widening and deepening the trench. Of course Billy must ask
his customary question, "What's the good?" following this up with
another, more pertinent. "How _can_ we, master? The river--if you
call it a river: _I_ don't--don't run anywhere near the trench."
"That's true," I said, "but we can make it."
"How's that?" said he.
"Why, by building a dam across it, and so turning its course where we
please," I said.
"Oh, more building," says he. "What a one you are, master, for keeping
on a-doing things! What's the good? I lay you a cocoa-nut that before
you get your dam made, the rain stops, and then where'll you be?"
I think I have already shown that Billy was always a good deal better
than his word. He used to remind me of that young man in the
Scripture, who refused when his father bid him do something, but
"afterwards repented and went," and was more to be admired than the
plausible sneak, his brother, who said to his father, "I go, sir," and
then did nothing of the sort. I once told Billy about this, and he was
very much interested, never having heard it before, and said he'd like
to know that man, and asked me if I could tell him any more things like
that. Accordingly I told him at different times all that I could
remember of the Bible stories, and the one he liked best was the story
of David, who took his admiration greatly, and whom he always called
"the little fellow," thinking of Goliath.
However, to return to our dam. Billy helped me very diligently to pile
up a dam of rocks, which was pretty laborious, for we had to haul them
a good distance, and since it rained all the time we were constantly
drenched, and I wonder we did not take an ague. We were about three
days in doing it, and then, sure enough, as soon as it was done, the
rain ceased, and Billy turned a triumphant countenance upon me, and
asked what I thought of that. But I had the better of him next day,
for the rain came again, and we saw with great delight that the stream
was diverted by the dam into the narrow channel we had cut to bring it
to our trench, and before long it was flowing through this in
considerable volume, and fell into the lake. It nobly answered my
expectations, for the loosened earth was not only more easy for us to
dig with our rude spades, but it became mud as soon as it was dug up,
and was washed away. We began to deepen the trench into a moat at the
two ends opening on the lake, working backwards to the middle; but
before we had done very much the rain ceased again, and the rivulet
dried up. However, we were fairly come to the wettest part of the
year, and the rainy days were more than the fine ones, so that in the
course of a few months we had made good progress, and had indeed
widened and deepened the whole trench, though not near so much as I
should have liked. The part directly in front of our door was the
deepest, and we made a kind of drawbridge, of the nature of a hurdle,
to throw over it; not at this time, however, attempting any contrivance
for raising or lowering it.
[Sidenote: On the Watch]
Though we went about our daily work with great regularity, we were
never, I think, quite so cheerful as we had been before the visit of
our whilom shipmates. The thought that they might come back kept us
continually on the stretch, so to speak; we went up to our watch-tower,
one or other of us, not twice a day, as before, but three or four
times, and we never went to bed at night without an uneasy feeling that
when we awoke we might find our enemies upon us. For several nights,
indeed, Billy and I took turns to watch, though we soon gave it up,
partly because it was so fatiguing, and partly because, when we
considered of it calmly, we thought it very unlikely that the men would
arrive in the darkness, for, not knowing the coast, they might very
easily run upon a rock and lose their boat, a calamity which they would
not risk.
One day, I know not how many months after we had scared away Hoggett
and his friends, Billy had gone up Flagstaff Hill to take his turn at
looking out, and he came running to tell me that he had descried a
small object on the eastern horizon. I immediately accompanied him
back to the station, and when we got there, he told me that the object
was scarce any bigger than when he first saw it, so that if it was a
boat, which we could not yet determine, it was moving very slowly. The
day was very hot, so that no one would wish to put forth any great
exertion, least of all the crew of the _Lovey Susan_. We watched for a
long time until we made out that the object was indeed a boat, and
moving with oars alone, there being not a capful of wind. It was
heading straight for our island, and we saw that it was a ship's boat
of European make, and not a native canoe, so that we had no doubt it
contained Hoggett and his fellows.
"Let's try and scare 'em with the fizzy rock," said Billy; but though
we raised a dense cloud of smoke by this means the boat held on its
course, and we saw that this device at least had lost its terrors.
"I wish Old Smoker would wake up," says Billy. "Wouldn't I like to go
down and poke up his fire, that's all! Or to blow it up with bellows
would be better still."
I could not help thinking it a little unlucky that the mountain-top had
been for some time clear of smoke, which, indeed, was perhaps the
reason why the men had ventured once more to make the voyage. Finding
our stratagem of no avail, we ran down to the hut to put it, so far as
we might, in a posture of defence, judging by the slow progress of the
boat that we should have time. We took several of the fowls and one
pig into the house, unwelcome inmates though they were; the rest of the
pigs we let loose, taking our chance of recovering them later; we saw
that our bows had sound strings, and laid our arrows in readiness; and
then we returned to Flagstaff Hill, to watch the boat. Our own canoe,
I had almost forgot to say, lay in the little retired cove on the east
side of the island.
[Sidenote: Return of the Crew]
When the boat drew near to our coast, we lost sight of it, and could
not tell where the men would land; but we guessed that they would make
for the little bay on the south-west, where the landing was certainly
the easiest. Accordingly we hastened towards that spot, and having got
to the cliffs we saw the boat at some little distance from the shore,
so as to avoid shoals or rocks, as we guessed, and going in the very
direction we had surmised. When they were opposite the bay they pulled
the boat's head round, and came in very well, and running her ashore,
landed, all but two men whom they left in the boat to guard her. I saw
with great apprehension that the rest of the party were armed, some
with muskets, others with cutlasses and other weapons, which they had
taken into the boats when they left the _Lovey Susan_. And, moreover,
there were more men than had come before. They mounted the cliff more
briskly than I had expected to see them do it, and when we perceived,
ourselves being hidden all the time, that they were making a bee-line,
as people say, for our hut, we immediately made all speed back, lifted
the drawbridge when we had crossed the moat, and took it with us into
the hut, where we set up the door, and pulled out the plugs from a good
many loopholes in the walls, both that we might have a little light,
and also to be in readiness to defend ourselves.
Through the loopholes we spied the men presently, coming towards us
from the high ground between us and the cliffs. "They are coming
mighty fast," says Billy. "Won't they sweat! What's the hurry, I
wonder?" Their pace was indeed more rapid than I should have chosen on
so hot a day. They were coming straight towards the house; but all on
a sudden all but one of them turned aside into the wood on their right
hand, and while we were wondering why they had gone out of their
course, we saw some of them swarm up the cocoa-nut palms that were on
the fringe of the wood, and knock down the fruit to their comrades
below, who immediately broke them open and quaffed the liquor.
"Them's our cocoa-nuts, master," says Billy, with indignation.
"They're poaching."
But I paid no heed to him, being intent on watching the one man who had
not swerved from the course with the others, but came straight on. It
was Hoggett. I observed that he looked about him with great curiosity
as he came nearer, and having reached the edge of the trench he stood
and pulled at his beard, looking this way and that like a man that is
puzzled. It was plain he saw that the appearance of the place was
somewhat altered since he saw it before, and from the glances he cast
at the hut I thought he seemed to question whether there was any one in
it or not.
[Sidenote: Hoggett]
"Shall I shoot him, master?" says Billy eagerly in my ear. I own I was
tempted to say yes, for we could have killed him easily, he being but a
few yards away, and the loss of their leader would very likely have so
much daunted the others that they would have withdrawn themselves. But
I could not bring myself to take him thus unawares, nor indeed did I
wish to be the first to open hostilities, so I bade Billy hold his
hand; and immediately afterwards Hoggett hailed us in seaman's fashion.
"Ahoy there!" says he, and putting my mouth to the loophole I shouted
"Ahoy!" back, and we laughed to see the start he gave, though if he
hadn't expected an answer, why did he shout, as Billy said. But if he
was startled it was only for a moment, for he lifted up his voice,
which was a very boisterous one, and with many oaths bade me to come
out, calling me by name, and when I refused he cursed me again,
uttering terrible threats of what he would do to me if I did not
immediately obey him. The others, hearing the shouts, left the wood
and came straggling up, and when they called to Hoggett to know what he
was about, he shouted that the rat was trapped, at which Billy could
contain himself no longer, but called out, "Don't you be so sure of
that, you thieving villain!"
"So there's two of you, is there?" shouts the man, who had not known up
to this moment that more than one was in the hut, and then he unslung
his musket, and, taking good aim, fired through the loophole at which I
had been speaking, which he could very easily do, the range being so
short. But of course his taking aim had given me time to slip away,
and the slug passed clean through the hut, doing no damage, but merely
striking the wall on the other side, and setting Little John barking
furiously. I was somewhat amazed that after all these years the men
had any powder and shot left, and considered that they must have
husbanded their stock with remarkable care. However, I did not lose
any time in replying to Hoggett, but went to a loophole near the roof,
which was pretty well concealed on the outside by the thatch that
overhung the wall an inch or two; and standing on the little platform
beneath it I fitted an arrow to my bow and let fly, aiming to hit the
fellow's shoulder, for I was loath to take his life. It happened that
just as I shot he shifted his posture, so that the shaft, instead of
striking his shoulder as I intended, transfixed his forearm; whereupon
he dropped his musket with a howl as much of rage as of pain, I think,
and pulled out the arrow, while the rest of the men, who had plainly
not looked for anything of this sort, instantly took to their heels and
ran until they were out of range. Hoggett was a man of sterner mettle,
and held his ground, shaking his fist at the hut, and vowing with
horrible imprecations that he would have his revenge. Billy was
fingering his bow very restlessly, and asked me if he might shoot now,
but I would not let him, for at present we were in no danger; so
Hoggett, having picked up his musket, was suffered to go and rejoin his
comrades, which he did at length, stopping at every few yards to hurl
more curses at us. Then they stood in a group at the edge of the wood,
and seemed to take counsel together.
"Wabberley ain't so fat, master," says Billy all of a sudden.
I owned that he had fallen away somewhat.
"And Chick's pretty near a skellington," Billy goes on. "And
Pumfrey----" He broke off, then cried, "Why, master, I do believe
they're famished."
[Sidenote: The Interlopers]
Indeed, having leisure now to observe the mariners more carefully than
it had been possible to do before, I saw that they were all very
woebegone in appearance, and not at all equal to what they had been.
They talked together for some time, and there did not seem to be
perfect agreement among them, for they grew very heady, and their
gestures began to be so violent that we looked for them to come to
blows, and Billy was delighted at the prospect of seeing them fight.
The chief parts in their discourse were taken by Wabberley and Hoggett,
and I saw the former point more than once towards the mountain, which,
as I have said, was clear that day. We could not even guess at the
subject of their deliberation, but presently the group broke up, and
the men went severally in different directions, and quite disappeared
from our view. We durst not leave the hut to follow them, lest they
were practising a trick on us, to entice us forth; and so we remained
for the rest of that day in a miserable state of uncertainty, not
knowing whether they had sailed away, or what they were doing.
However, when it began to be dark, we saw through the trees towards the
cliffs the glow of a fire, and guessed that they were camping; and not
long afterwards Little John growled, and then we heard the squeal of a
pig, by which we guessed that some of the pigs we had turned a-loose
had come back to their sty, and one had fallen a victim, which we were
quite unable to prevent. But as soon as it was full dark I thought it
pretty safe to go forth and spy out what they were doing, so I straitly
charged Billy to keep a good watch, and went out, creeping along very
stealthily by the edge of the wood as long as I could, until I came to
a place where I could easily see the men. They were, as I expected,
sitting around the fire eating their supper, and there came to my
nostrils the savorous odour of roast pork. I wished I could draw near
enough to them to hear what they said, but this I durst not do, because
the top of the cliff here was pretty open, so after a little I went
back to the hut, and we had our own supper, and then settled on what we
should do for keeping guard during the night.
[Sidenote: The Mariners Depart]
Neither of us had much sleep, for when our turn of watching was done,
we were uneasy at the chance of being attacked in the darkness, and so
slept but fitfully. However, nothing happened to alarm us, and in the
morning when we looked forth we could see none of the men, and supposed
that they were either still asleep or had already gone a-hunting their
breakfast. But when the sun rose in the heavens and we had not yet
seen a man of them, we fell into that same uneasiness that we had felt
before, until I could endure it no longer, but resolved to sally out
and see what had become of our visitors. I told Billy to be ready to
pull the drawbridge from the moat if he should see any of the men
approaching, and when he asked how I should get over if the bridge was
gone I told him not to worry about me, because, knowing the island as I
did, I could find some remote spot, and hard of access, if I should be
pursued. Accordingly, I left the hut, but instead of going directly
towards the cliffs, I made my course at first towards the mountain,
intending to make a circuit and so come near the place where I had last
seen the men. But I had not gone above half the distance when, looking
over the sea, I was beyond measure amazed to see the boat departing
under sail and oars, only instead of returning to the eastward, whence
it had come, it was going westward. It was soon hidden from my sight
by the shape of the cliffs, but I made great haste to go up to our
watch-tower, whence there was a view all round the island, and
perceived with as much puzzlement as joy that our enemies were in very
truth sailing clean away, and not merely cruising about the coast, as I
thought might be their design. I watched until the boat was almost out
of sight, and then went back to the hut to acquaint Billy with our
surprising good fortune. He immediately asked me whether I had counted
the men, and when I said that I had not thought of doing so, and
besides the boat was already too far off when I saw it, he cried, "Then
I take my davy 'tis a trick, and they have left some behind to trap
us." This fairly startled me, for such a notion had not come into my
head; and though I thought it unlikely that the boat would have gone so
far if the men's intention had been to return, yet I saw it was needful
we should be still on our guard. However, when half the day was gone
and we had seen never a sign of the men, but on the contrary some of
our pigs came back and entered their sty like wanderers returning home,
we thought it was ridiculous to be scared at mere fancies, and resolved
to set forth and see if any man had indeed been left. We took our bows
and arrows, and our axes in our belts, and went abroad very valiantly,
yet with caution; but though we spent the rest of the day in searching
the island, we found no man, nor indeed any trace at all of the
seamen's visit save their camp fire and signs of cooking, and also a
jack-knife, which one of them had without question left by mistake.
When we were pretty well assured that we were still alone on the
island, we debated together what had brought the men back to our shore,
and why they had so soon gone again, especially after Hoggett had been
wounded and had uttered such terrible threats of vengeance.
"What could they do, master?" says Billy. "They couldn't conquer us so
long as we stayed in the hut, and they couldn't starve us out, because
they'd have starved first; and 'tis my belief that, what with the trees
having no fruits to speak of, and Old Smoker, and the griping water of
Brimstone Lake, they considered this island to be an uncomfortable sort
of place, and so sheered off."
[Sidenote: Story of the Mariners]
We afterwards discovered that Billy's guess was very near the truth,
and for the better understanding of my story, I deem it convenient to
relate here what we only learnt at a later time. The seamen of the
_Lovey Susan_, when they left us on the island the first time, went
away to the south-east, and by and by came to a small island,
uninhabited as ours was, but pretty well furnished with fruit trees,
and there they took up their abode, and for many months lived in
plenty, their fare, in addition to the fruits, being fish and
birds--when they could catch them--and pigs, of which there were a few.
They made simple grass huts for themselves, not taking the trouble to
build substantial houses, and when this was done, they being not at all
diligent, did nothing else but quarrel among themselves, and their
laziness and improvidence in due time found them out. They lived very
comfortably while their supplies of food lasted, but they hunted down
the pigs until one day they were astonished to find there were no more;
and as to fish, that was very plentiful at certain seasons and scarce
at others, and during the time of plenty they did not trouble about
curing any--at least, only two or three men did, one of whom was Mr.
Bodger, and these gave up doing it when they found that the others
expected to share with them. But their principal food at all times was
bread-fruit, because they got less tired of this than of cocoa-nuts and
other fruits; yet they were so reckless that they consumed the fruit
when it was ripe without any thought for the morrow, having no notion
of preserving it. The season of bread-fruit being over, they subsisted
on cocoa-nuts, but they being a score of ravenous men, and the island
small, they had well-nigh consumed all the cocoa-nuts before the next
bread-fruit ripened; thus they had at one time more than they could
eat, and at another very short commons, and at these times they became
very sour in temper, and there were constant bickerings and
recriminations amongst them.
One day a fleet of canoes filled with savage warriors came to their
island, and the savages having landed, there was a sharp fight betwixt
them and the mariners, in which the latter came off victors by virtue
of their firearms, though not without suffering considerable loss, two
of them being killed and nearly all wounded. When we heard of this
fight, Billy and me, we guessed that the savages were those we had seen
one day from our watch-tower, though, of course, we could never prove
it. Saving for this fight, the mariners were unmolested on their
island; but in course of time the scarcity of food drove them to make
voyages in search of islands that would afford better sustenance,
which, however, they failed to discover. Then it was that one of them
proposed that they should return to our island, which they knew from
what they had seen of it to be fertile--at least, in parts--but they
had so clear a recollection of the terrors of the volcano, especially
Wabberley, who had been scalded the worst by the boiling water, that
they were some time in making up their minds to the voyage, but did so
at last. This was the occasion of their first visit to our island,
when they discovered our hut, and were driven to panic and flight by
our invention of an eruption. The boat being leaky, they had not
ventured to lengthen their voyage, lest they should not be able to get
back to their own island, where there was at least present security,
and where they had left some of their number. Thither they returned,
and lived there as best they could until the pinch of want again
compelled them to set forth. Having seen from the slopes of our island
the dim line on the western horizon betokening other land, they
determined to sail thither; for though they suspected that their
enemies the savages might have come thence, the bolder spirits among
them thought it better to risk sudden death at the hands of savages
than slow starvation on their island prison, especially as there was a
chance that they might find friendly savages on some island or another.
Accordingly they did what they could to patch up their boat for the
voyage, and set forth, all of them this time, for four being dead--two
slain by the savages and two by disease--the boat would hold them all.
Their design was to touch at our island on the way for rest and
refreshment, and see, also, whether there were still signs that it was
inhabited, for on their former visit they believed that we had been
driven away by fear of the volcano, so that they did not think of
settling on the island themselves. But when they landed, and Hoggett
saw that, so far from being scared away, we had remained--or, at any
rate, returned--and improved our settlement, he was for capturing our
hut and entering into possession of the island, and was deterred from
attempting this design only by finding that we could defend ourselves
and by the overruling of his companions when they found, on roaming
over the island, that it was not near so fertile as they had supposed.
They did not discover our yam plantation, and feared that their case
here would very soon be no better than it had been on their own island.
Accordingly they sailed away, westward, as I have said, to accomplish
the purpose with which they had set forth.
All this, I say, we did not learn till a good while afterwards, and
having set it down for the better understanding of those that read, I
will now return to the place where I left our own story--like a child
standing in a drawn circle and forbid to move till he is told. We were
greatly rejoiced to find that our visitors had quite left us, and went
with cheerful hearts about our work, a part of it on this day being the
gathering together of our swine which we had released. Some came back
of themselves; others had struck up acquaintance with some of the wild
pigs that were still on the island, and appeared to be indisposed to
return to civilization, though one did indeed come in what I thought
was a shamefaced way above a week after all the rest, and him I called
the prodigal son.
"The what son?" says Billy.
"The prodigal son," said I; and then I told him the story, which he
heard with the same eagerness and pleasure as he heard all my stories,
whether out of the Bible or out of profane history. When I came to
that part where the wretched young man "would fain have filled his
belly with the husks that the swine did eat," Billy interrupted me,
saying it was clear they did not feed their pigs half so well in that
country as we did, and he warranted that Wabberley and the other seamen
would be pleased enough if they got as good food as our pigs, for he
persisted in believing (which turned out to be true) that the men were
famishing, and he went on to declare that he was sure they would come
back again.
"For why?" says he. "Why, they know we've been here these ever so many
years" (it was about four by my reckoning), "and living comfortable,
and wherever they go they'll either have to work, which they hate, or
to fight, which will be worse, for their powder and shot won't last for
ever, and I wonder they've any left at all. They must have been
uncommon careful of it."
I did not think that Billy's prediction would come true, for they had
certainly found no great stores of food on our island, and if it was
food they were seeking they would surely suppose that, though we were
alive, we had no more than supplied our own needs. However, there is
no folly in being prepared for anything that may befall, so Billy and I
set ourselves to think very seriously again of what we should do if our
hut were besieged closely for any considerable length of time. Our
situation would not be pleasant, between exasperated besiegers on the
one side and the terrible monsters on the other, and I set my wits to
work very earnestly to see if I might devise some means whereby we
might extirpate those hideous creatures and so clear a way to the sea.
To make an attack on them with our weapons held no great promise in it,
for, as Billy said, they seemed to be terribly tough, and while we were
disposing of one, others might cling around us and lug us to perdition.
Besides, the very sight of the monsters made our blood run cold, and
Billy said he would sooner face a thousand stepmothers than one of
them, though he thought he might prefer one monster to three Hoggetts.
[Sidenote: Experiments]
It was after the matter had been beating in my head for several days
that the notion came to me to try how the fizzy rock would affect the
creatures. We knew what dreadful choking fumes came from it when it
was thrown into water, and it seemed to me not impossible that these
fumes might dissolve in water and poison it, and 'twould then be only a
question of getting a sufficient quantity to destroy the whole nest or
lair of the monsters. Considering that it would be a very laborious
matter to bring down to the cliffs enough of the rock for our purpose,
we determined to make a trial of it first, and the creature we selected
for the _vile corpus_ (which is pretty nearly all the Latin I remember)
was one of those robber crabs which I think I have mentioned. We
caught one on the shore, and put him into one of my pots, which we
filled with water and then cast in one or two lumps of the rock. There
was a great fizzing and spluttering, with dense and suffocating fumes,
and when they had cleared off and it was safe for us to go to the pot,
we found the crab perfectly black and quite dead, and when Billy took
it out of the pot he declared that the water stung his hand. We were
very well satisfied with this trial, and immediately set about
collecting a great quantity of the poisonous stuff, bringing it down
from the mountain in baskets which we slung at our backs, and heaping
it up on the cliff just above the entrance to the cave. I proposed
that we should carry it down to the shore, and convey it to the
monsters' haunt in our canoe, but this Billy would not hear of for a
moment, avouching that he would sooner be eaten by savages than hugged
by the slimy arms of the beasts.
[Sidenote: Billy is Reflective]
We had been digging out the rock, and carrying it to the cliff, for a
matter of two days when a terrible storm of rain came on in the night,
and when we got up in the morning and went to the cliff, we saw that
all the rock we had so toiled in collecting had spent itself, and left
a black desolation all around the spot where it had lain. This gave us
a great deal of annoyance, as much at our thoughtlessness as at the
thing itself; but we did not give up our design, resolving rather to be
the more careful in our preparations. It took us a very long time to
assemble as much material as we had before, because we had to dig
deeper into the side of the mountain for it, and when we got it we
covered it over very scrupulously, so that the rain could not touch it.
Billy remarked that of course, after our taking all that trouble, there
would be no more rain for a month, and he was right; but I pointed out
to him that we should have been very foolish if we had not taken these
precautions, and he said it was a pity you could not tell things
beforehand, adding, as if it had never struck him before, that you
never could tell what might have been, because all we knew was what
was. And then he was silent for a time, and when he spoke again, he
said: "Ain't it terrible, master, to think you never can catch a minute
what's gone?" Billy so seldom said anything of a reflective nature
that I looked at him in some alarm, with a kind of superstitious fear
that he was sickening for something; but I was relieved in a moment
when, in the same breath, he said: "It do make you eat hearty, though."
When we had heaped up on the cliff a good many hundredweights of the
rock, we waited for the flow of the tide, and then, choosing a place
where the cliff ran down very steep and straight to the mouth of the
cave, we flung the stuff into the water between the mouth and the rocks
where we first encountered the shoal of monsters. We watched eagerly
to see what happened, and saw a vast number of bubbles come to the
surface, and a certain quantity of smoke that floated away on the
breeze, but not near such a smother as we had experience of, which made
us hope that there was all the more poison in the water. There was a
slight current at the foot of the cliffs, setting past the cluster of
rocks towards the channel between Red Rock and the island. We walked
along for a little space, in the same direction as this current, to see
if there was any sign on the surface of the water of our experiment
having had any effect. For some little while we saw nothing, and had
begun to believe that the monsters were proof against what we had
fondly hoped was poison, when we observed some tentacles appearing
above the water by the rocks, and also at the base of the cliffs, and
by and by the palpitating bodies of the monsters themselves, crawling
up as if the water did not very well agree with them. We pelted these
creatures very hard with stones and lumps of the strange rock, and
though we missed pretty often, yet we hit them pretty often too, and
had lively satisfaction when we saw them loose their hold and tumble
back into the water as soon as the rock began to fizz. But we could
not see that any of them were killed, and had to conclude that the
water about the rocks was too deep, and the current moved too fast, for
our poisonous substance to work its full effect, and so we went back
disappointed, with the problem of making a safe way through the tunnel
to the sea as far from solution as ever it was.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH
OF THE END OF THE SEA MONSTERS; AND OF THE EVENTS THAT LED US TO
RECEIVE THE CREW AS OUR GUESTS
We had failed to destroy the monsters from the cliff top, and I
concluded that we must still fail, unless we could, find some means of
attacking them in an enclosed space, where there was no current to
carry away the water as soon as it was rendered poisonous. It was
Billy who suggested the plan which we ultimately found successful.
Though he had refused point blank to approach the cave in our canoe, he
would not mind, he said, "having a go" at the monsters from the tunnel,
for there at least we had dry land to run back to, whereas if the canoe
were caught in the embrace of one of the large creatures there would be
little chance for us. And since we had already learnt that the
monsters came into the cave, as well as haunting the rocks outside, I
agreed, when Billy suggested it, that even if we could not kill them
outright we might make the water in the cave so exceeding noisome that
they would depart thence and seek more savorous quarters. We saw great
difficulties in the way, first, to the conveying a sufficiently great
quantity of the rock to the cave; then the possibility of heavy rains
falling before we had accomplished our task, with the consequent rise
of the water in the lake and the flooding of the tunnel, which would
not only render it a perilous place for us ourselves, but would use up,
or decompose, as they say, the material we had collected before we got
it to the proper place. As to the first difficulty, we were already so
well accustomed to hard work of various kinds that we thought nothing
of it; while for the matter of the rain we could only take our chance
and resolve to be as philosophical as possible if all our labour was
undone. With this in mind, we determined to collect the lumps of rock
first of all in our hut, and not to begin to convey them through the
tunnel until we had as much as we wanted: which accordingly we did,
going backwards and forwards for many days between the hut and the spot
on the mountain-side where we found an inexhaustible supply of the
rock. When we had got together a sufficient quantity, we carried above
two-thirds of it in baskets to the entrance of the cave, and very
laborious it was, because the way was so rough and in places so narrow,
and we barked our shins and elbows pretty often. But it was done at
last, and then we laid up a similar heap on the cliff, at the same spot
as we had put it before.
[Illustration: Our Baskets]
[Sidenote: End of the Monsters]
When all things were in readiness, we went along the tunnel one day,
carrying torches in our hands, until we came to the place where we had
put our heap of rock, at the brink of the pool. Now that the moment
for our great enterprise was come, we were in a fever, I assure you,
both from the importance of what we had taken in hand to do, and from
our shuddering horror of the monsters. We held our torches above our
heads, searching the cave for signs of them, expecting every moment to
see the hideous tentacles emerge from the black water at our feet, and
fancying we saw these dreadful enemies on all the rocks that strewed
the floor of the cave. "What are we waiting for?" says Billy in an
awful whisper, and seeing that certainly nothing was to be gained by
delay, we stuck our torches into crevices in the wall, and then with
two great heaves cast the pieces of rock into the water, and retreated
instantly into the tunnel to escape the choking fumes that arose. We
had to go a good way before we felt ourselves to be in safety from
them, and indeed it promised to be so long before we could venture to
go down to the cave again that we thought we might as well return to
our hut and run down to the cliff, to see if any of the creatures had
been driven forth. Accordingly we made great haste, and when we came
to the cliff and looked over, we saw first several of the smaller
creatures floating at the mouth of the cave, and quite dead as far as
we could tell; but immediately afterwards there came slowly swimming
out a huge monster that far exceeded in size and ugliness that which
had seized me on that day when we climbed down the cliff for eggs.
Whether it was the same that had nearly caught Billy I know not,
because we never saw that clearly; but we were perfectly amazed at the
hugeness of it, being as big round as my aunt's round table in the
parlour, and its tentacles stretching on all sides like the roots of an
immense oak. Though we were far above it, and in safety, we shuddered
when we beheld it, and our cheeks became pale; I saw that Billy's did,
and he told me afterwards that I was as white as a ghost. We both felt
beyond measure thankful that we had been so mercifully preserved from
falling a prey to this terrible giant, which could have crushed the
life out of us in a few minutes.
The monster swam slowly along until it came to the rocks I have before
mentioned, and there it heaved itself up until the greater part of it
was out of the water. "He's going to sit there till he's got the stink
out of his nose," said Billy, "and then he'll go back, and all our
work's thrown away." I feared that it would be as Billy said, and saw
that we should have no security unless the monster were driven clean
away or else killed outright. We took up some of the lumps of rock we
had collected on the cliff and hurled them at the creature, but it had
so lodged itself that we could hit nothing but its tentacles, and our
missiles seemed to do them no hurt. If the creature would only expose
its body, a great round bag of jelly as it seemed, we might shoot
arrows into it and perhaps find a mortal spot. I bade Billy run back
to the hut to fetch our bows and arrows while I still kept the monster
in sight, and when he returned with them, we hurled pieces of rock just
beyond where the creature lay, on the seaward side of it, hoping that
the fumes would drive it from its perch towards us, so that we might
take a fair aim. And that is what happened, for the monster after a
little shifted its posture, and moved slowly away from the poisonous
fumes that beset it, back towards its old haunt in the cave. "Now
we've got him," says Billy, in great excitement. "You shoot better
than me, master; you have a go at him while I keep on flinging the rock
t'other side of him, to keep him on the move." Accordingly I shot
arrow after arrow at the great central mass, as fast as I could fit
them to the bow, while Billy flung stone after stone just beyond it.
He cried out in amazement when the arrows clean disappeared in the
creature's body, and yet it moved, and he asked me in a whisper whether
I didn't think it was the devil himself, and so couldn't be killed,
except by God. But I bade him continue his throwing, and I shot at
least a dozen arrows, I think, before I thought the creature moved more
slowly, as if it had suffered some injury; and it being then close up
against the cliff, directly below us, I said to Billy that we would
topple down on it the whole of the lumps that were left, and see if
that would not deal the finishing stroke. This we did, casting over
above a hundred-weight of the stuff, some of which struck the creature,
and the rest fell with great hissing and smoking into the water around
it. The stench almost overpowered us even at the height we stood, and
we withdrew for a little, but returning and peering over we saw the
monster floating without any motion, and its tentacles curled up most
strangely around it. "I do believe he's dead, the villain!" cried
Billy joyously; and though we stood watching for some time longer,
there was no motion in the beast, at least no motion of its own, for we
saw that it gradually drifted on the current towards the Red Rock; and
then we hastened away across that part of the island until we came to
the point opposite the ledge, where we could look down into the narrow
race between; and we had not been there long when the monster,
perfectly inert, was swept around the corner and through the channel,
and so carried along past the north side of the island until we lost
sight of it, and knew that we should see it no more.
For several days after this some of this family of monsters were cast
up dead on the shore, together with a great quantity of fish of all
kinds, so that we were in no doubt of the efficacy of this remarkable
mineral. Indeed, Billy startled me by saying one night, just as I was
going to sleep, "I say, master, what a fine thing that stuff would be
for doing away with mother-in-laws and Hoggetts and such!" I told him
this was a horrible notion, and he owned that it was, and he supposed
it would be murder and he would be hanged for it. "But," says he,
"suppose Hoggett and that lot come back and fight us, and we kill one
or two of 'em--and we can't be sure our arrows won't go straight--would
that be murder, eh?" I replied that I thought it was justifiable to
kill a man if fighting in self-defence. "Well then," says he, "I don't
understand it, not a bit. You kill a man when he's shooting at you,
and might kill you if you ain't first, and that ain't murder; but if
you kill him with fizzy rock, so that he don't have a chance to kill
you, that _is_ murder. What do you make of that, now?" I own I could
make nothing of it (though perhaps I might nowadays), but said he had
better go to sleep; and he cast that up at me afterwards, saying that
whenever he wanted things explained I told him to go to sleep because I
couldn't think of what to say, which was not true in general, though it
was on that occasion.
But to return to my story. We found that we had killed or driven away
all the noxious creatures which had made their home in the cave, and
since we took care to fumigate the cave at intervals, we were never
troubled with them again. The having a direct and safe outlet from our
hut to the sea was a great source of satisfaction to us, for now if at
any time we should be hard pressed above, we could very easily make our
escape and so free ourselves from immediate danger. To this end we
brought our canoe round from the nook where we had kept it on the other
side of the island, and having taken it into the cave, we made what you
may call a dock for it by piling some rocks together above high-water
mark, behind which we could lay it up without much fear that it would
be discovered if any one should enter the cave from the sea.
[Sidenote: Daily Tasks]
After this we resumed our normal way of life, going about our daily
business with a regularity which no new alarm interfered with for a
very long time. We were accustomed to measure the time, so far as we
did it at all, by the bread-fruit season, calling it summer while this
fruit was ripening, and winter when we had plucked it all, for we were
always careful to lay up a good store of it, both for ourselves and our
animals. Our pigs and our poultry throve very well, so that we had to
enlarge their dwellings; and I will say here, in case I forget it, that
by devoting some part of our time to hunting, we came very near to
exterminating both the wild pigs and the dogs; and we found that as
they grew less, the wild fowls increased mightily, because of their
greater security. We did not put ourselves to any trouble to molest
them, both because they were still difficult to approach, and because
we had enough of our domestic poultry to supply our own wants. We had
discovered that these fowl were exceeding fond of a kind of small grain
that grew near our yam plantation, and to which we had given little
heed because it was no use for our own food. But seeing that our fowls
liked it, we began to cultivate it, and kept a good quantity of it
stored in the cellar beneath our hut. We kept there also a large
supply of our other foods--yams, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, smoked pork
and fish, and so forth; and also all our spare implements which we had
not in constant use, namely arrows, fish-hooks, pots and pans, in short
all the things we had made, keeping in the hut itself only those things
which we used constantly, and enough food for the day. I do not know
whether I have mentioned one use to which we put our fowls. We kept
the feathers of those we killed, and also those that fell in the
moulting time, and in fights, for they did fight sometimes; and having
cleaned these as well as we could we stuffed them into pillow-cases
made of leaves, and so had comfortable rests for our heads at night.
We used to take advantage of rainy days to patch our clothing, which
was by this time, as you may guess, the strangest motley that could be
seen; and besides the overcoats I have mentioned before, we made
ourselves leggings of raw hide, of which also we made covers for our
chairs.
So another season passed over us. We were as happy as any two men
could be in like circumstances, I believe; we enjoyed perfect health,
and had discovered for ourselves what great pleasure comes from simply
_doing things_. We had quite given up any thought of being rescued or
ever seeing our native land again, and though there were times when I
at least pined for the dear ones at home, I was always inestimably
thankful for Billy's companionship, but for which I do not think I
could have supported the loneliness.
[Sidenote: A Chase]
It was towards the middle of the winter season, that is, when we were
just beginning to think of planting our yams, when, going up one
morning to our watch-tower, a task we never once omitted, I spied a
number of dark objects on the sea to westward, which I very soon
discovered to be canoes filled with savages. They were approaching our
island, and I thought at first they might pass us by as the fleet had
done before; but as they drew nearer I observed that there was a ship's
boat among them, or rather ahead of them, and with white men aboard,
and when I had watched for a little while I could not doubt that the
canoes were chasing the boat and were very near overhauling it. Indeed
I saw them spread out as if to envelop it, but then there was a shot
fired and I saw the smoke hover over the boat, and the canoes paused in
their course, and the boat drew away from them, only, however, to be
pursued again as soon as it was out of shot range. I counted ten
canoes, and each held, as I reckoned, above twenty men; the white men,
whom I had already guessed to be the seamen of the _Lovey Susan_, being
no more than about fifteen or sixteen.
Billy was not with me on the watch-tower, it being his turn to cook the
dinner; but seeing that it would be an hour or maybe more before the
boat and the canoes could reach the island, I made great haste back to
our hut, and acquainted Billy with what I had seen. "I hope the
savages will catch 'em," says he at once, but agreed with me that we
must prepare ourselves to meet a greater danger than any that had yet
fallen to our lot, for we could not doubt that so great a horde of
savages would easily overcome our few countrymen if they landed, and
then, if they found our hut, they would most likely turn their attack
upon us. Indeed, it seemed to me that our only chance of safety lay in
the annihilation of the seamen before they could leave the shore, for
we did not suppose that the savages would come inland into the island
of the burning mountain, unless they had great provocation or
incitement to it. All that we could do was to let the pigs loose
again, and take up the drawbridge from our moat, which latter, however,
we did not do until we had been to the cliff to see whether the boat
was indeed making for our island. When we got there we found the crew
at that moment landing, in the desperate haste of men frantic with
fear, and after we had seen the first of them scrambling up the cliffs
where they were easiest to climb, we ran back to our hut very quickly,
pulled up the drawbridge, and set up and barricadoed the door. We had
seen that the first of the canoes was but a few yards from the shore,
and from the fierce outcries and war-whoops of the savages we knew that
they were resolved upon blood.
I considered with myself whether we ought to lend assistance to the men
of our colour; but when I thought of the way in which they had treated
us, and indeed reckoned up the heavy score we had against them, I could
not believe that their quarrel with the savages was any affair of ours,
and so resolved to let them fight it out between them. And when the
seamen began to appear on the top of the cliffs, and made straight for
our hut, I saw that the fight would after all perhaps not be so
one-sided as we had first imagined, for several of the men had muskets,
and muskets were greatly superior to any weapons the savages carried,
besides the fear they inspired in ignorant breasts. The seamen, I say,
made straight for our hut, and I counted sixteen of them; Chick was
ahead of all the rest, he being a little man and light of foot; but
Wabberley, big as he was, was not far behind, being as craven a soul as
ever I saw; and then came the rest in a group. When they reached the
edge of the moat, and found there was no means of getting across it
save by leaping down and scaling the opposite side, which would have
taken a long time, they were in a great stew, and some began to run
frantically up and down to see if there was not some spot where the
crossing was easier. But Hoggett came to the part opposite our
doorway, and cried out in a most affecting voice, "Master Brent, Master
Brent, sir, let us in, sir, for mercy's sake, or we shall all be
murdered, sir."
"Yes, 'tis 'Master Brent, sir,' 'Please, sir, would you be so kind,
sir!' now," says Billy with a sneer.
"If you please, sir," begins Hoggett again, almost echoing Billy's
mockery, "the savages are right on our heels, sir, and we're
Christians, and you wouldn't see us all slaughtered like pigs, sir."
"Why shouldn't I?" I cried through a loophole. "What reason can you
give why we should interfere?"
Here Wabberley cried out in terror that the savages were coming, and we
saw several dusky forms appear in the distance. Hoggett, who was not
without a certain courage, and coolness too, turned to the men and bade
them post themselves behind the pigsties and fowlhouse, and let the
savages have one shot to daunt them, but not more, from which I guessed
they were very short of powder and shot. Almost in the same breath he
continued his pleading with me, and I own he sickened me when he
declared he repented of the wrong he had done, and if I would only let
him in, like a "kind Christian gentleman," he would fetch and carry for
me all the rest of his days. I think I might have yielded if he had
not been so abject, which I did not need Billy's mockery to tell me was
mere feigning; but I resolutely refused, and then we saw Hoggett in his
true colours again, for the savages beginning to close round, he gave a
glance at them and then poured out upon me the most horrible
vituperation and foulest language I ever heard from the lips of any
man, and then ran to join his comrades who were ensconced behind our
outbuildings.
[Sidenote: A Fight with Savages]
The savages came on in a pretty compact body, brandishing spears and
clubs, many of them having bows and arrows, and all looking exceeding
fierce, their skins being tattooed in strange and hideous patterns,
their hair bushed up like a thatch supported on what seemed to be a row
of shark's teeth. There was much shouting and gesticulating among
them, and from the manner of their pointing I guessed that they were
mighty surprised at the sight of our hut and its surroundings, and
indeed they came to a halt at some little distance from the moat, and
seemed to be deliberating what course to follow; and all the time the
seamen, who had regained something of their courage now that they were
behind cover, closely watched them, but never offered to fire. The
clamour of the savages increased to a wondrous degree, and I believed
they must be working up their courage to charge, and presently the
group widened out until it was near a half-circle in shape, and then
the naked warriors, near two hundred in number, rushed forward with
most furious whoops, their leader being a man of great stature and
especial intricacy of tattooing. They had come within about eighty
yards of the seamen when I heard Hoggett give the word to fire, and
there were instantly several shots, but not so many shots as muskets,
by which I saw that there was shortness of ammunition, as I suspected.
The half-dozen shots, however, were enough to bring the savages to a
pause, not because of any damage done among them, for the muskets of
those days were not near so good as the rifles which I hear some of our
men carried of late in Spain; but because of the noise and smoke, which
are as terrifying to savage people as they are to animals. When the
seamen had fired they began instantly to put in fresh charges, and the
savage chief stirred his people up to attack again; but I observed that
some of them had already drawn back, in fear of the muskets. However,
others, though they did not advance further, stood their ground and
began to discharge arrows and spears, which at first did no hurt at
all, because the seamen were pretty well hidden; which seeing, the
savages spread out so as to encircle the outbuildings, and then began
to discharge their weapons again, the white men no longer being all
sheltered. What shrieks of joy there were when the savages observed
that one or two of their missiles had got home! Taking new courage
from the sight, they surged forward with blood-curdling yells, and had
come within about fifty yards of the pig-sty when Hoggett again gave
the word to fire, and this time they hit one or two of the savages, and
again brought them to a halt.
"I don't think much of them for fighters," said Billy, who had been
watching these proceedings very eagerly through his loophole. "Why
don't they rush in while the rascals are priming their guns? They're
just a lot of donkeys, that's what they are."
[Sidenote: Asylum]
But I saw that this second halt of the savages was only as a gathering
up of strength, for they were now frenzied, as well with delight at the
wounding of two of the white men as with anger at the damage done among
themselves. Even before the seamen had had time to charge their guns
again I saw the rush beginning, and I could not doubt that this time
the savages would overwhelm the little company of white men, or at
least do terrible execution among them. And in that moment my mind was
made up for me, as it were without my consent to it, though I believe I
must have felt in my inmost heart that it would be a crime to stand
neutral while men of my own colour were butchered before my eyes.
However that may be, certain it is that all of a sudden I ran very fast
to the door and pulled it open, and then bidding Billy come after me
and bring his bow and arrows, I caught up the drawbridge, threw it
across the moat, and leapt over, calling to Hoggett to bring his men
into our hut as quickly as might be. The sight of me suddenly sallying
forth seemed to strike the savages with amazement, for they paused in
the middle of their onset, and thus gave time to the seamen, not only
to finish their priming, but also to make steps in retreat towards the
hut; and as they came, Wabberley being first--as might be
expected--Hoggett and Pumfrey and two or three more of the braver sort
formed themselves into a rearguard, covering the retreat with their
levelled muskets. However, before the second of the wounded men had
come over the drawbridge the savages got the better of their
astonishment and rushed on with horrible yells, whereupon I ranged
myself alongside of Hoggett and the rest, calling to Billy to come too,
and wondering why he had not yet joined me. Then we shot all together,
the men with their muskets and I with bow and arrow, but I could not
see what the effect of our shots was, partly because of the smoke, and
partly because the savages were now such a wild mob that everything was
confused. But in a moment I saw the big chief leaping with great
strides before his men, who were close at his heels and no more than
thirty yards from the moat. The seamen were helpless, for they had
fired their pieces and could not recharge them in time; but I plucked
another arrow from my quiver, and fitting it to my bow took as good aim
as I could at the chief; and thankful I was that I had had a good deal
of practice at what Billy called our guy, for when I let fly the arrow
it sped very true, and struck the savage in the left side of his chest,
just below the shoulder joint, and he fell upon his face, though I knew
by his howling that he was not dead. The fall of their leader fairly
daunted the rest of the savages, and they halted, and we seized this
breathing space to get all the men across the moat, and then I caught
up the drawbridge and ran behind the men into the hut, and we had got
the door into its place by the time the savages came to the moat. When
they saw that they were baulked they let forth the most astonishing
cries I ever heard in my life, like the yelping of dogs rather than the
cries of men; and while some carried their chief away, others ran round
towards the lake side of the hut to see if there was any door there, or
any weak spot there or at the other sides where they might attack us.
And then, looking through a loophole, I saw seven or eight prostrate
forms on the ground, the victims of the seamen's muskets.
The hut was very dim inside, all the light being what came through the
loopholes, we never having made a window: but little as it was it was
enough for Hoggett, and one or two more, to see to charge their pieces,
and putting these through loopholes in different sides of the hut, they
fired and so scattered the savages, who ran swiftly out of gun-shot.
We saw them meet together a good distance off, towards the cliff, and
one of the seamen said they were holding a parliament, and he hoped
they had punishment enough and would make up their minds to go back to
their own island.
[Sidenote: What I Owe Billy]
Observing that the seamen were very intent on watching these
proceedings, I turned to find Billy, to ask him why he had not come out
with me when I bade him, for I thought his backwardness was due either
to cowardice or to flat disobedience, and I was as much astonished at
the one as at the other. I could not find him at first, for the hut
was pretty well packed, and indeed the air already began to be foul and
oppressive; but I did find him, and when I asked him in some heat what
he meant by it, he took me by the arm and whispered in my ear, "Why,
you forgot we hadn't covered over the hole into the cellar, and I
reckoned we didn't want 'em to know about that, at least not yet a
bit." And then I shook him by the hand and thanked him for his
thoughtfulness, and when he said in great surprise, "Why, master,
that's nothing," I did not dare to tell him the unkind thoughts that
had come into my mind, for I was sure he would have been very much hurt
by them. Certainly it would have been a terrible calamity if the men
had discovered our secret chamber, and I dare say 'tis due only to
Billy's presence of mind in that matter of hastily covering over the
shaft that I am alive to pen these lines to-day.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH
OF THE DISCOMFITURE OF THE SAVAGES, AND THE UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR OF OUR
GUESTS
There we were then, I say, sixteen seamen and our two selves, with
Little John, cooped up in a house built for two, with no air nor light
but what came through the small loopholes in the walls. It was
desperately unpleasant; at least, I found it so; as for the seamen,
maybe they felt it less, being accustomed to the closeness of 'tween
decks, though to be sure they had lived an open life for so long that
they had almost had time to forget the forecastle of the _Lovey Susan_.
There was a great babblement among them, congratulating one another on
their lucky escape and on their having found quarters, cursing the
savages very heartily, and hoping they would now sheer off. I do not
remember that I heard a word of thanks to us for helping them, except
from poor Mr. Bodger, who came to me and, in a manner more meek and
quiet even than when he was aboard the _Lovey Susan_, said it was like
heaven to find me again, after the terrible life he had led among the
seamen. It was from him I learnt what I have already related about the
men's doings on the island where they landed, and of what had happened
subsequently to their last visit to us, which was as follows. They had
gone to one of the islands to the westward which they had seen from the
slopes of our island, and made friends with the savages there, which
they were able to do because, having firearms, the savages thought to
make use of them in warfare against their enemies. For a time the
seamen lived right royally among them, having food and quarters on
condition of this military service; but becoming insolent and puffed up
with their own importance, they presently offended the savages, and
crowned their misdeeds with refusing to fight any more for them, which
they did because their ammunition was running short. Learning from a
savage girl that had a partiality for Pumfrey that the tribe were
minded to enslave them, they determined to slip away by night in their
boat, and come back to our island, to see whether their notions about
it were well founded, I mean as to the scarcity of food on it; and they
did this, but their departure was discovered before they had gone very
far, and with the morning light they saw that they were pursued by
their infuriate employers.
[Sidenote: Besieged]
Mr. Bodger did not tell me all this, and what I have related before, at
one time, because we were too busy watching the proceedings of the
savages, and debating about them, to hold long discourse undisturbed.
The issue of their deliberations appeared to be that they would make no
attempt to carry our defences by main force, which indeed would have
been a hopeless undertaking, but to invest us strictly, being no doubt
confident in their numbers to overwhelm us when we should issue forth,
as we must some time do, when the pressure of hunger compelled us. The
whole body of them split up into five little camps of about forty men
each, who posted themselves in a half-circle about the front side of
the hut, and out of range of the seamen's muskets. One of these camps,
however, was placed, very likely out of bravado, a good deal nearer to
our hut than the rest, and Hoggett declared with an oath that he would
have a shot at them, only he did not care to waste the powder, his
stock being all but gone. "Where's Brent?" cries he. "_Mister
Brent_," says Billy at once. "Is that there young scum of a Bobbin
a-talking?" cries Hoggett. I caught Billy's arm to keep him from
answering, fearing lest Hoggett should deal brutally with him; and
Hoggett said with a laugh, "Where's _Mister_ Brent, then?" "What is
it?" said I. "Send one of your arrows amongst those reptiles, will
you?" says he, in a tone that I did not at all relish, so that I was on
the point of taking him up pretty sharply, only I thought better of it,
for what was the use of making a bother when there were so many of
them? Indeed, I was already not a little disturbed in my mind,
foreseeing that if the fellow would put on this insolency of bearing so
soon, we should go through rough water presently. However, to come
back to my story. I was not at all disposed to shoot an arrow at
Hoggett's bidding; yet I thought it were a good thing to show the
savages that we had our eyes on them; so I said, "Billy, maybe you will
kindly show Hoggett what you can do." "Do you bid me, master?" says
the boy: I call him "boy," though he was at this time, I suppose,
eighteen or nineteen years old. "I ask you, Billy," said I: whereupon
he took his bow and an arrow, and went to one of the loopholes, and
there was pretty nearly a fight among the men for places at the others,
for there were not enough for all of them. As for myself I could see
nothing, but I heard the twang of the bow-string, and immediately
afterwards a great shout of laughter from the men, which Billy told me
was occasioned by the sudden leaping up of the savages among whom the
arrow fell, and their scuttering like rabbits to a safer distance. I
do not doubt their amazement, for their own bows were small compared
with ours, and had not near so long a range.
"Well shot, Billy!" cries Clums, the cook of the _Lovey Susan_, and a
good-tempered man on the whole, but a perfect child in the hands of
Hoggett, who was angered by his praise of Billy, and sharply bade him
"hold his jaw." "Why didn't you make a window in this cursed hole?" he
cried; "I can't see nothing." "We'll open the door," said I, "for
they're out of range now, and we can shut it again before they get
near." Accordingly we opened it, and I was very thankful for the fresh
air, and the men, spying in one corner the little pile of cocoa-nuts
that we usually kept there, seized upon them, and in their haste to
drink the juice broke them carelessly, so that a good deal was spilled.
"Give me water instead of that muck," cried Hoggett; "maybe Mr. Brent
will kindly show us what he can do that way," and having thus mocked me
he shouted a great guffaw, which some of the men imitated, though one
or two looked ill-pleased. I had much ado, I assure you, to command my
temper, but I did command it, and afterwards remembered a saying of my
uncle, that to lose your temper is to give a weapon to your enemy. I
showed Hoggett our water-pot, and bade him be sparing, for that was all
we had, and he answered with an oath that he would drink as much as he
pleased; but Chick then spoke up, bidding him not to be a greedy swine,
and Hoggett growled out some answer; but I observed that he did not
drink much, and so I learnt, what I afterwards confirmed, that Chick
had some sway over Hoggett, I suppose from his speaking little, but
always to the point.
We thought it prudent to shut the door when night fell, in spite of the
closeness of the atmosphere; and I never in all my life spent so
horrible a night. Some of the men, I know not who, took our pillows,
so that Billy and I were no better off than the most of them, and we
lay side by side on the floor, except when we took our turn at
watching, for the whole company was divided into watches as on board
ship. We knew that the savages kept watch also, for we saw the glow of
their camp fires, and Billy said he wished he could have seen how they
made the fire, he having never ceased to feel disappointment because he
had failed in that particular. There was nothing to disturb us during
the night, but I rose in the morning so sick and miserable that I
thought I should die if I had to endure the like again. We opened the
door as soon as it was light, and quaffed the air as if it was nectar;
and the seamen having roused up, clamoured for breakfast, and soon
finished all the cocoa-nuts we had in the house; and they took off the
lid of our great breadpan, as we called it, and seeing the bread-fruit
paste there, cried out to know what it was, and when I told them,
nothing would satisfy them but that Billy should take some of it out to
our oven, which was near the hut, and the fire still smouldering.
There was little danger in Billy's doing this, because the savages were
still at too great a distance for their arrows to reach us, and if they
came nearer he would have time to run indoors; but I did not like his
acting as servant to these men, and said so, whereupon Hoggett asked
fiercely whether the boy was not a stowaway, and who was he to put on
airs, and he would show him, and so forth; and I thought it was better
for the sake of peace and quietness that Billy should cook a little
bread for them.
There we were, cooped up all that day, and before night all our food
and water were gone, and the men grew very testy, and in a most
unreasonable manner turned their vexation on Billy and me, demanding
why we had brought them into the hut to starve. To this I found myself
quite unable to frame a suitable answer, being perfectly overcome with
the sheer ingratitude of the men; but when it was dark I said that
Billy and I would go out and get some water and also a few cocoa-nuts.
I did not purpose to go out by the door at the front of the hut, but to
cut a hole in the slope of the roof facing the lake, that side not
being watched at all by the savages. It was no very long business to
make a hole of the right size, the seamen's cutlasses aiding our own
tools, which they scoffed at a good deal. But when we were on the
point of going forth, Clums asked me where I should get the water, and
when I said from the lake he begged and prayed me not to do so, because
he said it griped them so horribly. However, I told him that boiling
it was a means of making it harmless, and then he said go, and "God
bless you!" which was an exceeding strange saying on his lips, which
were commonly cursing and swearing. Billy and I went out through the
hole, and the men handed out pails, and with these we went down to the
lake, and filled them, and returned, the savages being no whit the
wiser. And the pails being let down, the men kindled a small fire on
the earthen floor, so as to boil the water, while we went into the
woods to gather some cocoa-nuts. We talked on the way about the
strange change which had come over the posture of our affairs,
wondering very much what the issue might be. The savages would no
doubt contrive to subsist on plants which we had never used for food,
and if they went a-prowling they would discover our plantation of yams;
but we had already dug up the most of these and stored them in our
cellar with the bread fruit, and I could not think there was enough
fruit left on the trees to support so large a throng of savages for any
considerable period. Still, there was enough to last them until we
were all starved, unless we disclosed our secret store below the hut,
which I was exceeding loath even to think of.
This second night was not quite such a torture as the first, the hole
in the roof giving us the much-needed ventilation; but next day the men
were more quarrelsome than ever, and I was in a constant fear lest they
should set to work to break each others' heads, which might have rid us
of some arrant rascals, it is true, but it might also have put an end
to Billy and me. They vented some of their ill-temper on Little John,
who had not taken kindly to them, and showed himself so exceeding
fierce when they kicked him, that they would have killed him only I
prevented them. The savages had made no other attack on us, but
neither had they given any sign of removing themselves; rather the
contrary, indeed, for they never let their fires out, and they had
started to build themselves little shelters at the edge of the cliffs.
Hoggett began to talk of sallying forth and seeing if we could not work
such mischief among them as would send them packing, and though
Wabberley and Mr. Bodger were the loudest against this, Wabberley
waxing most movingly eloquent in describing the dangers of the plan
proposed, the others were so desperately weary of the situation that
they consented to accompany Hoggett, the time chosen for the attempt
being just after it became dark. But while we were waiting as
patiently as we might for the day to end, it came into my head that we
might find the fizzy rock as efficacious in scaring the savages as it
had been with the seamen; and since Billy and I had gone out and come
in safely the night before, we might issue forth on this coming night,
and get enough of the rock to make a very good smoke in the morning.
While Billy and I were consulting about this in whispers, one of the
men--I think it was Pumfrey--proposed that we should all steal out at
dead of night, and creep down to the boat and the canoes, and make off
in the darkness, leaving the savages marooned on the island. This
notion at first met with acceptance from some, but Chick, who said
little ordinarily, spoke up very strongly against it, arguing that
there was little chance of all of us getting to the shore unperceived,
and asking how we knew the canoes were not guarded. He said also, very
pertinently, that if we did get away, we could not take all the canoes,
and the savages, when they discovered our departure, would set off in
chase, and being more expert with the paddles they would soon overtake
us, we having now next to no powder and shot for the guns; and to
clinch it all, he said that if we were caught in the open it was
kingdom come for all of us, on which Wabberley declared that Chick was
very obliging in putting the case so plainly, and he for one would live
and die with Chick. Whereupon I said there was no need for any one to
die, at least not yet, and offered to go out with Billy in the middle
of the night and put in action the plan I had formed for driving the
savages away. Hoggett and some of the rest looked at me with great
suspicion, and Hoggett said, "How are you going to do it?" and I
hesitated at first whether to tell him; but reflecting that he was
bound to know I told him that we had the means of making a great smoke
and smother, and so might delude the savages with the belief that the
mountain was active. There was a very grim look on Hoggett's face
when, silencing some of the men who were beginning to speak, he asked
again how we could make that smoke and smother, and I saw no use in
attempting to conceal it, and so told him about the extraordinary rock
we had discovered. His eyes glittered as I was speaking, and when I
had ended he would not suffer the other men to speak a word, but bade
me do as I had said. "Do it proper," says he, "and we'll see."
[Sidenote: The Savages are Scared]
Accordingly, in the deep time of night Billy and I clambered out
through the hole in the roof and set off with our spades up the
mountain side, to dig out enough rock to make a big smoke as soon as it
was light. Billy said it was a pity I had told the men about the rock,
and he was sure harm would come of it; but I showed him that our case
could scarcely be worse than it was, shut up in a narrow compass with
such unpleasant companions, and that if we drove the savages from the
island we should at least have liberty of movement, and as for what was
to happen after, we must leave it to Providence, at the same time
saying that the seamen would surely not remain long on the island when
they found it was not very plentiful in food, so far as they could
tell. "That's all very well, master," says Billy sorrowfully; "but
there's enough to keep 'em until the fruits begin to ripen again, and
there's all our pigs and fowls, which they'll eat up as sure as a gun,
and we shan't be able to breed no more. Still, I don't see what we can
do, unless we poison the whole lot of 'em, same as we did the monsters,
and I suppose you won't agree to that." I said that I would not, and
then reminded Billy that we had triumphed over many difficulties and
dangers in our four years' residence on the island, and I did not in
any way despair of coming safely through this present predicament; and
so we went on up the mountain side, not hurrying or taking any
particular care, for we knew the savages would not be in this part of
the island, having a very wholesome dread of the volcano.
Being come to the place where the deposit of fizzy rock was, we worked
a great quantity of it loose with our spades, and carried it to the
neighbourhood of the springs, where by the dawn we had two great heaps.
As soon as it began to be light we threw the rock bit by bit into the
water, Billy at one spring and I at the other, being careful to keep
out of sight from below, for we knew that every eye in the camps of the
savages would be turned to the mountain as soon as they saw the smoke.
It happened that the cloud of steam over the summit was somewhat denser
than it had been the day before, which was all in favour of our design.
We were favoured, too, by the stillness of the air, for, there being no
wind, the fumes that rose from the rock hung about the mountain and did
not float away, though that was also a disadvantage to us, inasmuch as
we could not avoid the poisonous stench. We had to hold our breath and
rush into the smoke in order to keep the springs constantly fed with
the rock, and I began to feel very ill, and, going to see how Billy was
faring, I observed that his skin was a greenish colour, and so I bade
him to desist and to come with me and peer over to see whether our
trick had wrought upon the savages as we hoped it would. We saw that
they were standing in a great throng watching the smoke; but they did
not as yet appear to be infected with panic, which, when I thought of
it, I considered to be due to the absence of the rumbling noises that
commonly accompanied the action of the volcano. Since we could not in
any way make such a noise as would counterfeit the natural rumbling, I
racked my brains to think of any other means by which we might work
upon them the beginnings of fright, for I was sure that if we could
only start them it would not be long before panic fear got hold of
them, and then it would sweep them away. Running back to my spring, to
cast more rock into it, I observed that there were some big boulders a
little higher up, below the edge of the crater, that appeared to be
insecurely poised. They were at the top of a gentle slope, which fell
away afterwards into a sheer precipice several hundreds of feet in
depth. I wondered whether the boulders I have mentioned could be seen
from the savages' camp, and creeping up the slope to see, I found that
the savages were quite out of sight; whereupon I hastened down to
Billy, and after throwing into the springs enough rock to last a good
while, we went together to the top of the slope, and shoving with all
our strength against one of the boulders, we set it rolling down. The
moment we had started it we went to another, and so on, until there was
a sort of cascade of rocks sliding down the slope and then plunging
over the edge and crashing down at the foot of the precipice, the sound
coming very faintly to our ears.
Though we chose only the smaller of the boulders, the larger being
utterly beyond our strength to move, the haste with which we worked
made us very hot and weary, and when we paused to rest for a moment we
thought we heard shouts of alarm from below, and then all of a sudden
there was silence. Heaving over one more boulder we hastened down to
the place from which we could see the savages while ourselves unseen,
and when we got there they had all vanished. "We've done it, master,"
said Billy, panting, "and much good 'twill be to us." But I was by no
means sure that the savages had actually gone, thinking that maybe they
had merely shifted their quarters; accordingly I did not think it
proper to go down at once towards our hut, but remained for some while
longer feeding the springs with the rock. However, when we were again
feeling very sick because of the fumes, and went to some distance for
purer air, we caught sight of the fleet of canoes making for the
westward, the savages paddling with great energy; and being very joyful
at the success of our stratagem, though somewhat apprehensive of what
was to ensue, we descended the mountain-side and came again to our hut.
The seamen had already issued from it, and were standing on the cliffs
watching the departing canoes; but as we approached them we observed
signs of discontent and anger among them, instead of the gladness we
expected. And when we came to them several of them cried out that the
savages had taken their boat, and now they were marooned; and Hoggett
came up to us with a very truculent mien, and said that he now knew how
we had tricked him when he first came to the island--I mean on his
first visit to us--and he wanted to know what we meant by it, and but
for us he might have stayed on the island with his mates and lived
hearty, instead of near starving as he had done, and we had better not
try no more tricks on him, or he'd show us, and a great deal more to
the like effect, with plentiful oaths and very foul language. I
affected to laugh it off, saying that at any rate our trick had cleared
the island of savages, whereupon he broke out again: "Yes," says he,
"and they've robbed us of our boat; and now we've got to stop here, and
goodness knows how we'll live, for you two fools ain't had the sense to
grow enough for all of us. I want my breakfast, I do, and there ain't
nothing in that there cabin, and you'd better look alive and get me
something, or I may come to eating you." This speech made me very
indignant, when but for us Hoggett and the rest would without doubt
have been butchered by the savages; but since it was plain that we were
to live with him and them I saw that no good would come of quarrelling,
so I laughed again, and said if he was patient he might have a
breakfast of pork and potatoes (by which I meant yams) and maybe an egg
or two, unless the savages had scared our hens from laying; and he
looked very well pleased at this, and called to the other men, telling
them what the breakfast was to be, and then he stuck his hands in his
pockets and swaggered off among them, saying to us as he went not to be
long about it, because he was hungry.
Billy fairly gnashed his teeth as we went to our hut. He was much more
put about than I was, resenting on my behalf the domineering airs that
Hoggett put on. "There you are," says he, "what did I say? This ain't
our island no more. You ain't the king, and I ain't the prince, or
whatever you call it, but it belongs to Hoggett."
"Oh no, it doesn't," said I; "Hoggett doesn't become the owner just
because you and I, to humour him, give him his breakfast."
"Breakfast!" says Billy scornfully; "yes, breakfast, and dinner, and
supper, and bites in between; and as for humouring him, you might as
well humour one of they monsters we poisoned, he'll only squeeze you
the harder."
[Sidenote: Dreams]
I laughed at Billy, for I believed that by showing ourselves friendly
we should gain the friendliness of the men, so that, if we were
destined to live on the island together, we might form a peaceable if
not a happy community. I dreamt of a little republic, in which all
should have tasks corresponding to their talents, so that what little
labour was required should fall very lightly on individuals. I dreamt
also of making a boat large enough to carry us all, and sailing away
some day to England, or at least to some place where we should fall in
with an English ship. And I dare say in these my day-dreams I saw
myself as the head of this little republic; not an autocrat, but a
kindly and benevolent protector, to whom the others would look up,
knowing that his whole heart was set on their good. It was in this
frame of mind that I willingly helped Billy to prepare a sumptuous
repast for the men, slaying a pig and several fowls, and boiling yams
and eggs. They ate with mighty good appetite, and I am sure thoroughly
enjoyed the meal, though Wabberley did grumble in the middle of it,
because we had no beer. Some of them mocked and jeered at our clumsy
crockery and other utensils; but Clums spoke up for us on this point,
saying that a pot was good enough if it didn't run out, and he only
wished he had had such things in the island where they had been.
[Sidenote: Mr. Bodger]
For the rest of that day the men roamed about the island, and one or
two of them plucked up courage to climb the mountain, though they
turned back before they came to the crater. They discovered our
plantation of yams, and were pleased to express approval of the manner
in which we had fenced it in, and Pumfrey said it must be enlarged now,
for we could not grow enough there to feed them all. This brought home
to me the fact that our solitude was henceforth to be peopled, and
though I might please myself with dreams of ruling over a little
republic, I own I felt a sort of regret that the happy life Billy and I
had led together was encroached on and perturbed, a feeling which grew
into positive abhorrence before the day was out. The men came
punctually back to the hut for meals, and Clums, who was a good-natured
fellow if he was let alone, lent a hand to their preparation, so that
the work did not fall wholly on Billy and me. And it was during the
latter part of the day that I heard from Mr. Bodger more particulars of
the miseries of his life on their island. They had saved him at the
first, it appeared, merely because they thought his seamanship might be
some time useful to them, but when he never had an opportunity of doing
anything in that way they used to taunt him, and ask him why he hadn't
stuck to Captain Corke and Mr. Lummis, and dealt very evilly with him
in many ways. It was plain to me that not only had he no authority
over them, such as a ship's officer ought to have, but that he went in
mortal terror of Hoggett, so that if it came to a tussle between
Hoggett and me I could expect no help from Mr. Bodger.
I observed during the day that there were always some of the men in the
hut, or reclining against the wall outside, and it came into my head
that they were guarding it, so that Billy and I could not barricade
ourselves in it as we had done before, and keep them out. I smiled at
this, for having let them in of my own accord, and under no compulsion,
I did not think of going back on this, even though the savages were
departed. I thought we should not be so discommoded at night, because
we had not only the hole in the roof, but could also keep the door
open, there being no longer any fear of molestation by wild dogs. In
my mind I was planning to build other huts, as soon as I could persuade
the men to it, so that Billy and I might have our own to ourselves,
which was very much to be desired, considering what stores we had
beneath it, and the access to our canoe, now laid up in Dismal Cave.
But just before dark, when we had had our supper out in the open, and
were thinking of turning in, and I came with Billy to the doorway of
the hut, there was Hoggett standing in it with his elbows stuck out and
his legs a-straddle, and Wabberley and Chick just behind him. He did
not offer to move aside for me, on which I smiled and said we had not
foreseen that he would be our guest or we might have made the doorway
wider; and then he took a step forward, Wabberley and Chick moving into
the doorway, and thrusting his head out until his nose nearly touched
mine, he said, very loud: "Look 'ee here, you Brent," says he, "this
here place is now mine, d'ye see? and I'm a-going to let in my friends
and no one else, and to-night I'm not a-going to have any one in but
Mr. Chick and Mr. Wabberley and one or two more, and you two young
fellows can just rig up a bunk outside, along with Bodger and the rest."
"That's rather a poor return for hospitality, isn't it, Mr. Hoggett?" I
said as pleasantly as I could, though I was raging inside.
"I don't want none of your fine talk, Brent," says he, "and as for
Billy Bobbin, if he makes those eyes at me I'll knock his head off."
"No, you won't," says Billy, nimbly stepping back out of reach. It
appeared that he had not been able to keep out of his eyes the fury
which burnt within him.
Hoggett glared at him, and called him foul names, and then turning to
me he cried: "I've said my say, and I tell you if I catch you inside
this cabin to-night or any time, I'll flay you alive. You hear that,
Mr. Chick?"
"I do," says Chick.
"You hear that, Mr. Wabberley?" says Hoggett again.
"I do," says Wabberley.
"Well, then, Brent has had fair warning, more'n he gave me," says
Hoggett, "when he sent an arrow through the fleshy part of my arm."
"That's a lie," cried Billy; "you had more warning than I'd give you."
[Sidenote: Turned Out]
Hoggett in a fury caught up a musket that stood against the wall, and
was presenting it at Billy, but I knocked it up, and bade him, in a
very different tone from what I had used as yet, have a care. He
seemed surprised at my firmness, and put down the musket, and then,
seeing that the other men had come up, and were standing at watch in a
little knot, I turned to them, with the intent to appeal to their sense
of justice, believing that if I could once get them to break away from
Hoggett's dominance all might be well. But I had not spoken a dozen
words when Hoggett, who, as his words had shown, was longing to pay off
his score against me for wounding him that time, aimed a blow at me,
which, however, I saw coming out of the corner of my eye, so that I was
ready for it, and parrying it with my left arm, I dealt him such a blow
upon his body that he fell doubled up at the doorway. In a moment
Chick sprang across him, cutlass in hand, and made for me, and
Wabberley came after him, and Hoggett called on the other men to seize
me; and though Billy sprang instantly to my side, I saw that the odds
were too great against us, and that we had better run for it. I
stepped back just in time to escape Chick's cutlass, and at the same
time Billy thrust his foot in front of Wabberley, so that the big man
came down very heavily on his face; and then we sprinted across the
drawbridge, and pulled it after us, so that the men that pursued us
were brought up on the brink of the moat, and could do no more than
shake their fists and curse us. Billy and I went on leisurely with
Little John, who had come after us, and considering what we should do
we determined to betake ourselves to the thicket on the slope of the
mountain, and it was quite dark before we got there. We made ourselves
as comfortable as we could for the night, being strangely reminded of
our first coming to the island and the fears and terrors of that time;
but we had no such disquietude of mind now, and I think in our hearts
we were both glad to have broken with the seamen. When I reproached
myself for not having the presence of mind to resume possession of our
hut immediately after the savages had departed, Billy said it wouldn't
have been much good, because the seamen could not choose but stay on
the island, their boat being gone, and things would have come to pretty
much the same pass; but he had no sooner said it than he let forth a
sharp cry of dismay: "Our canoe, master!" And then I remembered that,
having laid our canoe up in the cave, we had no means of getting to
her, now that the entrance to the cavern was barred, for we could not
climb down the face of the cliffs, nor had we any other boat or raft to
carry us there by sea. This was a very staggering situation to be in,
and Billy said it was a shame that after we had been so happy all these
years we should have all our troubles over again. Sleep overtook us
before we saw any way out of our difficulties, which stared us in the
face when we opened our eyes to the new day.
[Illustration: "I DEALT HIM SUCH A BLOW THAT HE FELL DOUBLED UP AT THE
DOORWAY."]
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH
OF OUR RETREAT TO THE RED ROCK, AND OF OUR VARIOUS RAIDS UPON OUR
PROPERTY
We had one great advantage over the seamen in that we knew every yard
of the island, and so could find our food without searching. Billy
laughed when he thought of them having to get their own breakfast, and
wishing they had not driven us away; but I said that they had not
intended to drive us away, but that Hoggett expected to daunt and cow
us, and so make us his bond servants. "Well, he _must_ be a fool,"
says Billy, and chuckled again to think that his old enemy had
over-reached himself. Presently we saw that I was right in my surmise,
for we heard men shouting in different parts of the island, and guessed
they were seeking us; but we kept close all that day, feeling pretty
sure that the men would not come up the mountain until they had
searched other parts.
We were not idle this day, for we at once set about making a raft to
carry us round to the cave, using saplings and creepers for this
purpose, fashioning them into a kind of hurdle which we hoped would
support us well enough, or at least one of us, for the short voyage.
We laughed again to think that when we should have got our canoe again,
we might if we pleased sail clean away from the island and seek another
home without let or hindrance from the seamen; but we never had any
serious thought of this, Palm Tree Island being now our very home. As
for what our course of action was to be, we very earnestly considered
that while our fingers were busy with the raft. It was plain we could
not fight the men, for they had muskets and powder and shot enough to
kill us, being only two; and we were without any weapons save our axes,
which we always carried in our belts, all the others being either in
the hut or in the cellar below it. If we did not fight them, we must
nevertheless be either friends or enemies; friends we could not be
while Hoggett maintained his present insolency, and as enemies we could
but keep out of their way. But I saw we should lead a terrible life if
we remained on the island and were harried from place to place, and
hunted down, and maybe captured and made slaves of in the end. We
might, to be sure, go and live in the cave, where it was little likely
that we should be discovered, and if we were we could no doubt make a
very good defence; but we did not relish the prospect of skulking, so
to speak, in the dim purlieus of the cave and tunnel while our enemies
were ranging the island free, and enjoying the full use of what we had
laboured so hard for. "I can't a-bear to think of Hoggett drinking out
of _my_ mug," says Billy, with a rueful countenance, "and blunting _my_
spears, and wasting _my_ arrows, and eating our pigs, too, master.
What if they eat 'em all, as they did in their own island, and don't
leave none for breeding? Oh, that Hoggett! Wouldn't I like to drop
some fizzy rock in his water and poison him!"
[Sidenote: Quandary]
This was indeed a thing to be thought of, and we made up our minds at
least to secure some of our pigs and devise some secret place where we
might keep them. But the first matter to settle was our own
habitation, and it was near the close of the day before the notion came
into my head that we might choose the Red Rock, which being severed
from the island would be quite inaccessible, except by a bridge, and
when we had possession of our bows and arrows we could easily prevent
them from throwing a bridge across. It would have been quite foreign
to Billy's nature and habit if he had fallen in with this plan without
demur, and he said at once that Red Rock was quite barren, save for a
few stunted bushes which were of no good either for shelter or food.
"But," I said to him, "we shall have our canoe, and we can carry stores
in this from the cavern to the rock, and we can make shift to put up
some sort of shelter against the weather, which isn't very bad."
"That's true," says he, "but when our stores are all used up, what
then? We've got enough in our cellar for three or four months,
perhaps, and I lay Hoggett would like to get hold of some of our salted
pork, as good as bacon any day; but it won't last for ever, and what
then?"
"I can't see so far ahead," said I. "We can live very comfortably for
three or four months, and perhaps longer, and by that time something
may have happened."
"Yes," says he, "Old Smoker may start work again, and if he does I hope
he'll go strong, so that they'll be scared out of their wits and drove
to make a raft or boat or something to get away."
Having determined on this, therefore, we made great speed with our raft
and finished it before dark, but not soon enough to set off that same
night, nor indeed did we much wish to do so, because we had not forgot
the monsters that used to live in the cave, and though we had seen none
since we poisoned them, we were still squeamish about approaching in
the dark. Besides, we should need torches to light us up the tunnel to
our storehouse, and for these we had to collect some of the candlenuts,
and some dry grass for tinder; the flint and what we called the steel
Billy always had in his pocket. We made these preparations before we
lay down to rest, resolved to start as soon as ever we saw any sign of
dawn in the sky. This resolution, as often happens in such cases,
caused me to sleep fitfully, and it was in one of these wakeful spaces
that a notion jogged in my head of a plan whereby we might get even
with the seamen and come into our own again. I thought of it over and
over again, and it excited me and tickled my fancy too; but I
determined to say nothing about it to Billy until I had pondered it
more carefully, so that I should be ready to meet all the objections
which I knew he would raise.
It was still dark, but there was a sort of silent stirring in the sky,
betokening dawn, when I waked Billy, who was snoring very happily upon
his back, and told him we must convey our raft down to the shore, if we
would come to the cave before the men were about. He got up at once,
and we carried the raft between us across the island, being careful to
keep a good distance from the hut, which made the way longer but surer.
Being merely a kind of hurdle, the raft was not heavy and gave us no
trouble by its weight, though it was troublesome to get it over the
steep places we had to pass on our way down to the shore. However, we
came there without mishap, at the sandy beach, and launched the raft;
but when I stood upon it I saw that it would not support Billy as well,
and I proposed to him that I should go to the cave alone and bring back
the canoe for him. This he flatly and with great vehemence refused,
saying that I might never get there, what with sharks and long-legged
monsters, and that he wasn't going to be left behind, but would share
everything with me. When I asked him how he would go, the raft not
being strong enough for two, he said he would catch hold of it and swim
along, and as for sharks, he would kick out very hard and so scare any
that came, and we always had our axes. But now I took a firm stand,
and said plainly that I would not allow any such thing, nor did I yield
to Billy's pleading that I would permit him to make the journey alone;
and so I set off, and not to make a long story about a short voyage, I
arrived safely at the cave, and found the canoe just as we had left her
behind the rocks. Then I went back for Billy, and when we came to the
cave again we lit our torch (we had brought only one, having material
for plenty more in the cavern), and proceeded up the tunnel until we
reached our storehouse, where we first of all had a good breakfast,
thinking all the time of the seamen above, perfectly ignorant of what
was going on beneath them. We spoke in whispers and moved very
quietly, so that the men should not hear us, and get an inkling of our
whereabouts; not that there was much danger of this, perhaps, for if
they did hear a sound it was like to make them more fearful than
inquisitive, and Billy said they would be sure to think it was Old
Smoker talking to himself, and they might then leave the hut as a
dangerous place. But I thought it best to run no risks that we could
avoid, and so we moved very softly, as I have said.
We spent the whole of that day in conveying stores down to our canoe,
finding it a very laborious and tedious business, because the
narrowness of the first part of the tunnel, and the roughness of the
way, did not allow us to bear such heavy loads as we might have done in
the open. We felt an itching curiosity to know what the men were
doing, and how they took our disappearance, and Billy said it would be
great fun to sail round the island and show ourselves to them, for we
could run back to the cave at any time, and they would never know where
we had gone, the cave not being visible from above, and the cliff
unscalable. But our posture was too serious for mere fun, especially
as I did not wish the men even to know we were still alive, because of
that notion which had come into my head; and it was for the same reason
that I had resolved not to attempt to transport our stores to the Red
Rock until the dusk of evening, when the men would have given over
their roaming and returned to the hut. When we rested from our work,
and ate our meals, we paddled the canoe out to the mouth of the cave,
where we could be in the sunshine and fresh air, and away from the
exceeding noisome stench made by our torches; and it was really a
pleasant enough day, the seamen not being able to molest us.
[Sidenote: Retreat to Red Rock]
Accordingly, as soon as it was dusk, with a promise of a full, clear
moon, we set off, and paddled our well-laden canoe to the north side of
the Red Rock, where, as I have said, was the only landing-place.
Having moored our vessel securely to a peak of rock, we set to work to
carry our cargo up the steep path, and found this the hardest task we
had ever undertaken, so that though we toiled pretty nearly all night
we had not above half emptied the canoe by the morning. It was very
stupid of us to work so hard, as we saw when we had tired ourselves out
to dropping, for being on the side of the rock furthest from the island
we could not be seen from thence, and might have taken three or four
days over the work if we pleased. The manner of our carrying the
stores up was to load baskets and strap them to our backs; but one part
of the ascent was too steep for us to climb thus laden, and we then
tied the baskets in turn to the end of a rope, and one climbed up first
and hauled the baskets after him, with much bumping against the rugged
side, which made me fear lest we should lose a good deal. However,
nothing was lost save two or three cocoa-nuts and the lid of one of my
pots, which was full of bread-fruit paste, so that I was glad it was
only the lid and not the pot itself. The danger thus narrowly escaped
taught us a lesson, and when it came to our largest pots, instead of
trying to carry them up full, we emptied their contents into the
baskets, and so made several light loads instead of one heavy one, thus
avoiding a particular mishap.
When morning came, as I say, we had carried up but half our cargo, and
having by that time perceived that there was no need for haste, we
refreshed ourselves with one or two cocoa-nuts we had, not lighting a
fire to cook anything else, in case its smoke should be seen by the
seamen. This consideration somewhat damped our liking for our new
abode, for we had been so long accustomed to good and well-cooked meals
that the prospect of living on nothing but cocoa-nuts, as on our first
coming to the island, was mighty displeasing; and, moreover, we had
only a very few cocoa-nuts, not having stored many of these because we
could get them from the trees all the year round. However, I told
Billy that I thought we could light a fire at night, for it was scarce
likely that the men would be abroad in the darkness at one of the high
parts of the island, from which alone the top of the Red Rock could be
seen, and he was comforted at this, saying that he didn't mind cold
breakfast and dinner if he had hot supper. After our frugal breakfast
we laid ourselves down to sleep, under the shadow of an overhung rock,
and did not waken until the sun was very high. Being then exceeding
thirsty I remembered the water we had found at the bottom of a cleft
when we first came to the rock, and we let down a pitcher by a rope
into one of the clefts, and when we drew it up we found it full of
delicious cold water with scarcely any taste to it; and though,
remembering the water of Brimstone Lake, we drank sparingly at first,
we found that it did us no hurt, and indulged ourselves with more
copious draughts than we had ever taken since we had lived on the
island. We waited until the heat of the day was past before we resumed
our unlading, and we did not finish it until next day, sleeping pretty
near all through the night. When we had got everything
up--bread-fruit, yams, salted flesh and fish, ropes, spears, bows and
arrows, strips of hide and bark cloth, and sundry other things which we
thought we might find useful--we packed them as snugly as we could
under ledges and in hollows, and covered over the perishables with
cloth to keep off dew and rain, and then we thought about ourselves,
and how we could make the barren rock a habitable place. It would be
easy enough to build a cabin or lean-to against the rocky wall if we
only had the materials; but there was nothing serviceable to be found
on the spot, and to get them we must venture back to the island. This
we could only do in the hours of darkness, or immediately after dawn,
but the idea of this rather pleased us with its venturesomeness, and
being now equipped with our weapons we were bold enough. In the early
hours of the morning, therefore, we paddled round through the archway
until we reached the rock by the lava beach, where Billy had perched on
our first day, and leaving Billy and Little John to guard the canoe, I
went into the woods with my axe, carrying also my bow and arrows, to
cut some saplings and rushes, and some creepers to bind things
together. I promised Billy I would come back after a while and let him
take his turn, but I had not been working above half-an-hour, I should
think, when he joined me, saying he was sure the canoe would be safe,
because it was hidden behind the rock, and there was nothing to bring
the men to that part of the island, because he would take his davy they
never bathed, of which indeed I myself had had good evidence; and
besides, he said, he had left Little John to guard it. I was glad of
Billy's help, for between us we cut a good deal of material in a very
short time; but I did not like leaving the canoe to the sole charge of
the dog, and resolved not to come again in the morning, but only in the
evening, there being much less danger of meeting the men then.
Accordingly I did not wait until we had got enough material for our
purpose, but said we would finish the job another time; and we carried
the stuff to the canoe, making two journeys to do it, and so got back
to the Red Rock safely.
We spent the rest of that day in making, with the things we had
brought, a kind of trellis-work to serve as the front and side walls of
our lean-to, for the back wall was the rock itself. We had not near
enough to finish the job, but enough to keep us employed all that day;
and a little before dusk we set off again to paddle to the island to
fetch more. And this time, as soon as we had got enough saplings and
reeds and things, we went on to the smaller cocoa-nut grove, there
being a very good moon, purposing to carry away a few ripe cocoa-nuts
for our own consumption; but when we were gathering them from the trees
it came into my head that we might as well begin upon that notion I
have before mentioned, which was nothing less than to starve the seamen
into repentance and humbleness of spirit. I had not as yet told it to
Billy, but I had pondered it myself, and thought I saw my way to it,
and so I now began suggesting to Billy that we should strip the trees
of all the ripe fruit. "What's the good, master?" says he at once, as
I knew he would: "it will take us a long time to carry 'em all to the
canoe, and we don't want 'em, not really."
"No," said I, "but Hoggett does want 'em," and then I told him my
drift. I was afraid he would spoil it all with shouting, for he opened
his mouth wide to let it forth, but remembered himself in time, and so
shut his mouth on a sort of hoarse croak, which might have seemed to
any one that heard it the croak of some strange animal or bird.
"My eye!" says he, "that's prime, master. However did you think of it?
But we'll have to come pretty often, because these here cocoa-nuts get
ripe so fast. 'Tis lucky the bread-fruit ain't in season yet, and the
yams is nearly all gone; but there's the pigs and fowls, drat it, and
if they use all them up too we'll never get no more."
[Sidenote: Stealing no Robbery]
"That's true," I said, "but we shall maybe be able to get some of them
by and by. At any rate, let us get the cocoa-nuts now, and we need not
trouble to take them all to the canoe. We will take just what we need,
and hide the rest in the undergrowth."
Accordingly we stripped the ripe fruit from all the trees at this spot;
there were only about half-a-dozen; and having concealed all the nuts
but two or three that we wanted for our own refreshment, we carried
these to the canoe, and paddled back to the Red Rock, where we broiled
some fish steaks for second supper, our work having made us hungry, and
so to sleep.
Next day we finished our lean-to, making walls and roof of the
trellis-work I have mentioned, and being very tired we went to sleep
without paying another visit to the island. I thought we were doing
very well, and the only thing that gave me any concern was our canoe,
for we had no very safe harbourage for it on the rock, and if a storm
came I was afraid the sea might wash it from the ledge on which it lay,
and then we should be in a lamentable fix. However, as we usually had
some warning of bad weather, in the low flying of seabirds and other
signs we had become used to observe, we determined at the first warning
to take the canoe into the cave and lie up there until the storm was
past. Of course we could not do this if the storm broke upon us
suddenly in the night, but in that matter we must simply trust to
Providence.
All necessary work on the Red Rock being done, we began to find time
hang somewhat heavy on our hands. Our asylum (as I may call it) was no
more than some two hundred feet square; at least, the habitable part of
it was no more: and having explored every get-at-able corner of it, and
finding nothing to reward us except a few seabirds' eggs, we had
nothing to do; and to lie about looking at each other was vastly
uninteresting. We clambered to the highest point, and there, under
cover of a craggy rock that overhung the island, we looked over the
domain from which we had been expelled, and I scarce think Adam himself
was more grieved at the loss of Eden than we were now. We could not
see our hut, but a great part of the island between it and the sea, to
the westward and southward, was open to our view, and of course the
mountain, and the long slope that ran downwards from the crater to the
archway. Once or twice we caught glimpses of the seamen as they roamed
the island, and then Billy's wrath and indignation knew no bounds, and
he pleaded with me to land and post ourselves behind trees, and shoot
the men with our arrows, but this of course I would not consent to,
having besides in my mind a better way of dealing with them. And I
bade Billy remember that they must be very uneasy at not lighting on
any traces of us, to which he replied scornfully, "Suppose they are,
what's the odds? They'll soon believe as how we are drownded, and then
they'll be jolly enough, using our things and all."
"Maybe they'll be afraid of seeing our ghosts," I said.
"That would frighten 'em, wouldn't it?" says he. "Fancy old Wabberley,
now, seeing a thing all white come creeping along, making gashly
sounds, and all that; wouldn't he holla and cry for mercy! I wish we
could turn into ghosts for once, only I suppose we can't till we're
dead, and I don't want to be dead, do you, master?"
The next night chanced to be stormy, with a high wind, and we heard
that strange howling I have before mentioned, and of which we had never
discovered the cause, for it was clear no dogs made it, there being
none now on the island. But on sailing our canoe to the cave, for
safety's sake, we learnt at last what made the noise, which was nothing
less than the wind blowing across the mouth of the cave. Billy said
the sound would frighten the men as well as any ghost could do it, and
I think he was himself pleased to know that the explanation was so
simple and natural.
The weather cleared next day, and we returned to the Red Rock. Being
determined to set off for the island that very night, and begin to put
into practice the scheme I had been forming in my mind, we had a good
sleep in the afternoon, and embarked in the canoe just after sunset.
The moon was up, but we did not suppose the seamen would wander from
the hut at night-time, and the moonlight would help us. When we
landed, we went up to the cocoa-nut grove, and began to strip the trees
of all the nuts, ripe and unripe, starting with those that were
furthest from the hut, and so were the least likely to be known as yet
by the men. We conveyed the nuts, in the baskets we had brought on our
backs, to the canoe; and then, Billy being still mighty concerned about
the pigs, lest they should all be killed and eaten, we determined to go
very stealthily towards the hut, to see if we might anyways get a pig
from the sty, and also to learn what the men had done about our
settlement. Spying down upon the place, we saw that the door of the
hut was open, and that the drawbridge was not laid across the moat, so
that we supposed all the men were sleeping within. But as we drew
nearer, and came close to the fowl-house, we were surprised by great
snores proceeding from it, by which we knew that some of the men had
made it their lodging, though we could not guess what they had done
with the fowls which they had turned out. They had let them loose, as
we afterwards discovered, never supposing that they would have any
difficulty in catching them when they wanted them for food; and we were
very much amused when we learnt of their anger and amazement at finding
that the fowls had betaken themselves to inaccessible places, so that
they never had but two or three all the time they were on the island.
I thought there would be too great a risk in trying to purloin one of
our pigs, the sty being not above a dozen yards from the fowl-house,
but Billy would do it, and assured me he would get one of the young
ones as easy as anything. Accordingly I let him go, and sure enough he
came back in no long time carrying one of the piglets close in his
arms, and I had not heard above one feeble squeal, the reason I heard
no more being that Billy slipped into the little pig's mouth a bit of
cocoa-nut he happened to have in his pocket. But Billy himself was in
a furious temper, telling me, when we had gotten ourselves safe away,
that he had seen his best axe, and his own wooden spade, on which he
had carved the initial letter of his name, lying close by the pig-sty,
and he was perfectly overcome with anger at the thought that his very
own tools were being used by these sacrilegious hands. Nothing would
satisfy him but that he must go back and bring them away, which he did,
and we took them and the pig down to our canoe, and paddled back to the
Red Rock, very well satisfied with our night's work.
The next night we paid another visit to the island, and this time we
went to the plantation of yams, finding, as we half expected, that the
men had already made some depredations on it. Having brought spades as
well as baskets, we dug up a good many of the yams that remained, and
carried them to the canoe in two or three trips. We continued these
expeditions night after night, finding a certain fascination in them,
and being tickled with the thought that while the men were lapped in
slumber we were gradually depriving them of their means of subsistence.
"'Tis just like housebreakers, ain't it, master?" said Billy gleefully
once; "only there ain't no watchman to cop us. And what's more, it
ain't wrong neither, for a man ain't doing no wrong if he takes what's
his very own." Night by night we drew nearer to the hut, and had
worked so often without the least alarm that we flattered ourselves
there would soon be no more fruit to gather, and then, as Billy said,
Hoggett would begin to starve.
One night, the seventh or eighth, I should think, since we began, we
had brought our canoe to the strip of sand beside the lava beach, and
had gone up to a small clump of trees which we had not been able to
strip completely the night before. Billy had gone aloft, being nimbler
in climbing than me, and I was about to follow him, when all of a
sudden he called out, quite loud, his surprise making him to be off his
guard, that there wasn't a single cocoa-nut left. Immediately
afterwards I heard him say, not so loud, "Oh geminy, now I've been and
done it!" and began to slide down very rapidly; but in a moment I heard
a loud crackling of twigs close by, and then a shout, "Here's the
devils!" and I knew that the men were upon us; it was plain they had
observed how the fruits were disappearing night by night, and had been
on the watch for us. Billy came down the tree more quickly than any
monkey could have done, with great damage to his hands and still more
to his breeches, as we afterwards discovered, the bark-cloth with which
we had patched them being clean torn away, so that "the rent was made
worse," as the Bible says. His feet were no sooner on the ground than
we set off a-running with all our might towards the canoe, and we had
not got above fifty yards when some of the men broke from cover and ran
after us, shouting the most terrible curses. We had to go about two
hundred yards before we came to the edge of the cliff, but being much
more nimble on our feet than the seamen we did not lose ground, but
rather gained; and arriving at the edge, we immediately began to
descend towards the sea, in such haste that I am sure no two men ever
came so near to breaking their necks. The cliff, as I have said
before, was exceeding steep and rough, and the descent was all the more
perilous because it was night, though moonlit; and to this day I marvel
that we came safe to the bottom. There was nothing that could be
called a path; we could only scramble down as best we might, trusting
to luck, or rather to Providence; and though we escaped with our lives,
and our limbs sound, yet our feet and legs were pretty badly cut by the
sharp edges of rock. The seamen, when they came to the brink, did not
dare to follow us, but caught up stones and hurled them down upon us,
and if they had been able to take good aim we must certainly have been
killed. However, we came safe to the beach and to our canoe, into
which we leapt and paddled away as quickly as we could, and the men
spying us set up a great howl of rage, and I was vexed they had seen
our vessel, but it could not be helped. They ran along the top of the
cliff watching us, the moon being up, as I said; but we disappeared
from their view so soon as we had come beneath the cliffs, and then, so
that they should not know of our refuge on the Red Rock, we lay for a
good while in the entrance to Dismal Cave, not proceeding further until
we thought the men would have returned to their quarters.
Billy was exceeding vexed to think that his careless outcry had had so
untoward an issue. "I could knock my head off, master," he cried
passionately, and when I asked him what good that would be he said,
"Well, I couldn't stick it on again, could I? Only I have got a silly
tongue." I told him that he need not reproach himself, for I was sure
the men had been on the watch for us, having no doubt observed the
nightly disappearance of the fruits. "Yes," says Billy, "but if they
hadn't spied us they might ha' thought they was taken by goblins or
such," to which I replied that I did not think goblins fed on such
substantial fare, and so by degrees I brought him to a more tranquil
frame of mind. I thought it very likely that the men would now guess
what our purpose was, and gather in all the foodstuffs that were left,
so that there would be none for us to venture for; wherefore we must
leave the further working out of our plan to time. Accordingly, we
went no more from the Red Rock to the island, except once, and that was
to get another pig as mate to the one we had already captured. We
delayed to do this for several days, until we thought the men would not
be so carefully on guard as they would be immediately after their
discovery of us; but when we did venture to land and creep near to the
pig-sty, we feared our errand was impossible, because the men had lit
an open fire near the hut and we saw two of them on watch. However,
Billy said he was not going to be beat, and he asked me to go into the
woods and make a terrible noise, which he thought would draw the men
away, and so give him an opportunity of seizing the pig. I would not
consent to this at first, for it seemed like leaving the dangerous part
of the work to Billy; but he insisted that he could get the pig more
easily than I could, which was true, and so I agreed at last, but
thought of another way instead of making a noise, and that was to go
into a clump of trees on the other side of the hut from the pig-sty,
and there strike a light, which I doubted not would be seen by the men.
Knowing the country as I did, it would be easy to escape down to the
canoe, which we had left this time in the little cove on the east of
the island, guessing that the men would make for the sandy beach if
they suspected our presence. There was a risk, of course, that not all
the men would be drawn towards the light, but we had to chance that,
and so I departed, bidding Billy have a very great care.
The plan answered perfectly to his expectation, only it took somewhat
longer than he thought, for I was not so used to striking fire as
Billy, and I failed so many times that I feared I should never do it.
But at last I got a light, and set some dry grass on fire, and there
was a mighty blaze, and Billy told me afterwards that the moment they
saw it the men who were on watch jumped to their feet and ran towards
the hut, not being able to reach it because the drawbridge was taken
away. I myself heard their shout, and having thrown some more grass on
the fire, I sped away towards the east, and waited for Billy at the
edge of the wood on the cliffs, wondering how he would come, whether
across the lava tract or the very much longer way round the mountain.
I heard the shouting continue for some time, but it seemed to be going
away from me, at which I was very glad; and after what seemed a very
long time, I heard a little noise close at hand, and holding myself on
my guard I saw Billy staggering along under his burden, and when he
came near, he said he was sweating horrible, the pig being uncommon
obstinate. To deaden the sound of its squealing he had stripped off
his shirt and smothered the pig's head in it, and he had come right
across the lava tract, having seen that the men had all gone in the
other direction, towards the sandy beach. We carried the pig between
us down to the canoe, and lay there all night, not daring to paddle
away until just before dawn, for we could not return to the Red Rock by
the west side of the island while the men were astir, for they would
have seen us, nor could we go the other way because of the current.
But we guessed that not having spied the canoe where it had been
before, the men would imagine we had some lurking place on the island,
and after a time would not keep watch on the shore. Besides, the moon
would go down before morning; and so, when it was still very dark, we
left our hiding-place and paddled quietly round the island, and came to
the Red Rock without having been observed.
CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH
OF ATTACKS BY LAND AND SEA; AND OF THE USES OF HUNGER IN THE MENDING OF
MANNERS
We calculated, Billy and I, that there was enough food left on the
island to last the men for about a month, or perhaps longer with
careful husbanding; but from what Mr. Bodger had told me of their ways
on their island, and from what I knew of them myself, I did not suppose
they would practise any stint until they felt the pinch of want. I own
I hoped they would not, and if that seems a hard saying, you must
remember that I had a deep purpose, namely to recover possession of our
own, which was itself laudable, and also to teach the men a lesson
whereby they and all of us would profit. It was necessary to the
success of my plan that they should come to the verge of famishment
before the bread-fruit season, for if they endured until the fruit was
ripe, they would have plenty of food for three or four months
thereafter, and I could not view with patience the prospect of
remaining sequestered on the Red Rock for so long. Having done all we
could, it would have been simple foolhardiness to risk complete failure
by making useless visits to the island, and we endured what was a kind
of imprisonment on the Red Rock as patiently as we could, leaving it
only once to bring more stores from the cavern.
We were, I assure you, mighty weary of our life before the day came
when our whereabouts was discovered. I know not how long it was, but I
guess five or six weeks. Having nothing better to do, we often went to
the edge of the Red Rock, where we could overlook a part of the island
from behind the vantage of a boulder, and we sometimes saw the men
moving from place to place, taking care ourselves to keep out of their
sight, at least I took care, Billy being less prudent, so that more
than once I had to drag him down when he began to climb the boulder to
have a better view. Of course we could have been seen any day if the
men had climbed the mountain, but they never did this. I learnt
afterwards that they had scoured every accessible part of the island
for us, and after a time suspected that we were on the Red Rock, and
kept a watch on it, but saw never a sign of us until the day of which I
am now to tell.
[Sidenote: Discovery]
Our dog, Little John, seldom barked unless there was something to
trouble him, and we had taken care since we had been on the rock to
keep him as quiet as possible, so that the men might not discover us
through him. But it chanced one day that one of the pigs broke loose
from the place where we had tethered him, and began to run in a very
stupid fashion, not heeding in the least the danger of falling over a
crag and dashing himself to pieces. Little John no sooner saw the mad
antics of the creature than he set off in pursuit, barking furiously,
and Billy set off too with a shout, taking great enjoyment in the chase
after our period of idleness. He came up with the pig just as it had
arrived at the very edge of the plateau, and caught it, and at that
very moment I heard another shout, and looking over I saw two of the
men just at the edge of the wood near the rocky ledge of which I have
spoken before. It was plain that they had seen Billy, though he
dropped out of sight immediately he heard the shout, and they came
forward until they stood at the edge of the cliff, being separated from
the rock only by the narrow gap. "That's where the young devils are
hiding," I heard one of them say. "Didn't I say so, Bill?" Their
words came very clearly to me, for sailor men have not very dulcet
voices. "Hail them, Jack," says the other, and the first man put his
hands to his mouth and let forth a stentorian "Ahoy!" which might have
been heard a mile away. At first I paid no heed, but when he shouted
again I saw no good that could come of further concealment, so I
climbed up on to the boulder, being followed by Billy as soon as he had
put the pig back into safety.
"What do you want?" I cried down to them. You would have laughed to
see their faces. Our sudden appearance seemed to have nonplussed them,
for they stood staring blankly up at us, as not knowing what to say.
Then says one to the other, "Go and fetch Hoggett," and the fellow
immediately set off and disappeared into the wood, running towards the
hut. The other man stood on the same spot, gazing dumbly at us, and
never once offered to address us, and we sat down on the boulder, Billy
smiling and dangling his legs in the most careless way. Presently we
saw Hoggett and pretty near all the men coming through the wood, and
Hoggett had his musket, and I thought that they must have started
before the messenger came to them, or they could not have got to us so
soon; no doubt they had heard the shouting. Well, Hoggett comes along,
with Chick and Wabberley close behind him, and when he got to the edge
of the cliff below us (it was two or three hundred feet) he lifts up
his voice and cries out, "Hi, you Brent, you come ashore sharp now,
d'ye hear?" I thanked him very courteously for his invitation, but
said I was very comfortable where I was, upon which he cursed me
heartily, and cried out again, "You come sharp now, and no nonsense, or
I'll come and fetch you," winding up with that opprobrious word which I
had cured Billy of using. The threat was such an idle one that I
smiled at him, and Billy laughed heartily, and putting his thumb to his
nose, spread out his fingers in that gesture of derision which I have
observed small boys to use, and which I thought he should not have used
at his age, being at this time, as I reckoned, not far short of twenty
years old. What with my silence and Billy's mockery, Hoggett flew into
a terrible rage, and clapping his musket to his shoulder, he let fly at
me; but I was too far above him for him to take a good aim, he being
never used to fire except on the flat, and the slug struck the rock a
good many feet below us. Still, we did not know but he might have
better luck next time, so we got down off the boulder and disappeared
from sight, and sat there listening to the furious outcry the men made,
Hoggett in particular declaring he would flay us alive when he caught
us. The men talked together for some while, and then, when the sounds
ceased, we peeped over and saw them returning in a group whence they
had come.
We saw no more of them that day, or the next, but on the second day, in
the afternoon, when Billy got on the boulder to take a look round, he
called to me that he spied a raft coming towards us from the direction
of the cave, with Hoggett and half-a-dozen more aboard. I could see
that Billy was a little alarmed at this, for he always had a great
dread of Hoggett; but I told him not to be disturbed, for I was sure
from our vantage ground, and with our bows and arrows, we could easily
beat them off if they landed and tried to clamber up. "Things are
going well," I said to him. "They have actually begun to work at last,
and pretty diligently, too, to make that raft in less than two days."
"But what's the odds to us, master," says Billy, "if they have begun to
work? I think it's a very bad sign, I do." "We shall see," I said;
and Billy looked very much puzzled, for I had not told him my design in
its fulness, because I wished to get a certain assurance of its success
first.
[Sidenote: Invasion Fails]
It was soon plain that we should not be put to the trouble of defence,
and we had a hearty laugh at the coil in which the men soon found
themselves; for coming pretty close to the shore, they were caught in
the current which ran very swiftly through the narrow gap, and despite
the desperate efforts which they made with their paddles, the raft,
which is at all times a clumsy vessel, was swept along and twirled this
way and that, and the men were in such extremity of danger that they
ceased to gaze at us, and bent all their energies to prevent the raft
from being dashed against the rocks on either side and shivered to
atoms. They were carried right through the channel, and pretty nearly
to the natural archway, before they got the least control over the
raft, and even then they could only manage it enough to steer clear of
the sides of the arch, and so win to the open sea. By that time the
current had lost the most of its force, and we knew very well that if
they paddled out to the left, and made a sufficiently large circuit,
they might gain the north side of Red Rock, even with so clumsy a
vessel as theirs, and discover our landing-place. However, they had
been so greatly discomfited that I was not much surprised when, instead
of steering to the left, they allowed the raft to drift past the
promontory, and after a little while they disappeared from our sight,
having clearly determined to return to the place where they had
embarked.
But though this attempt had been so signal a failure, I saw very
clearly that we must not be content merely to smile and do nothing, for
if they were to take thought and go about the enterprise in a
reasonable way, they might very well come to our landing-place some
time, and then they might seize our canoe, a loss which we could not
contemplate without dismay. Accordingly, Billy and I spent the rest of
the afternoon in a very serious talk, the issue of which was that in
the middle of the night we descended the rock and launched the canoe,
in which we set off, and, rounding the archway, came opposite the lava
beach. This we examined as well as we were able by the light of the
stars, for there was no moon, but not perceiving what we sought, we
paddled on very quietly until Billy told me in a whisper that he spied
it on the sandy beach; and there, indeed, was the raft, drawn up above
high-water mark, and no one attending it--at least, no one that we
could see. We had talked over this point very anxiously, for if they
had set a guard over the raft our scheme would be brought to nought;
but we both agreed that it would be very unlike them to take this
precaution, and, besides, there was not a man of them who would consent
to undertake the office of night watchman so far from the hut while the
others were enjoying their repose; and so it turned out.
We passed on without landing, until we came to a sort of dell in the
cliff, where we knew there grew a great quantity of long grass and
rushes. We landed there, and having pulled up many armfuls of the
grass, which we did very easily, the soil being thin, we loaded it into
the canoe, and then returned to the place where the raft lay. For some
little while we waited, listening for any sound that might give token
of wakefulness among the men, but hearing nothing, we ran the canoe
lightly in shore, and having landed, we carried our grasses and laid
them beside the raft. Then we went on further until we came to a patch
of thick scrub, where we broke off a quantity of small branches, and
these we laid beside our other material, going and coming as quickly as
we could.
[Sidenote: Making a Bonfire]
Our purpose, as you have guessed, was to burn the raft, so that we
should not have that to fear again, nor did I suppose the men would
make another, for it must have cost them many pangs to break through
their indolence to make this one, and if it were destroyed nothing
would persuade them to undergo the toil again. We knew, of course,
that the raft would be wet, at least on the under side, where it had
not been exposed to the sun after they beached it; but in order to
assist the fire we purposed to kindle, we had brought some of our
candle-nuts and some cocoa-nut shells and husks, which are highly
inflammable and would give a very fine blaze. But when we came to lift
the raft so as to push our fuel under it, we found that we could not in
any wise raise it, for it was bigger than we had supposed from seeing
it in the water, and would have needed five or six men to move it, I am
sure. However, we set to work to scrape a hollow in the sand beneath
it, or rather several hollows, in which we laid the fuel, and we heaped
on the top side also a good quantity of cocoa-nut husks. We had taken
the precaution to bring a smouldering torch with us, so that we should
not make a noise in striking a light; and after we had spied round very
carefully to make sure that we were not observed, we crouched down on
the seaward side of the raft and blew the torch into a flame, and then
thrust it into the fuel, first at one place and then at another. We
waited only long enough to see that the fires were fairly kindled, and
then we hastened at once to the canoe, and paddled out to sea for some
distance. The fire might blaze and burn itself out without being ever
seen by any of the men; but it was possible that some of them were
awake, and if they were they could not fail to observe the glow in the
sky, and then they would assuredly come over the hill to learn the
cause of it. It was for this reason that we drew off from the shore so
far that we should be outside the circle of light when the raft was
fully ablaze.
The night was calm and clear, and the sea so still that we were able to
keep the canoe at the same spot with but a touch of the paddles now and
then. It was some time before we saw any considerable flames; indeed,
we began to fear lest the wood of the raft were too damp to kindle
properly, and Billy whispered in my ear, "Don't I wish we had some
turps, or some of that pig fat we've got in our cellar. That would
make something like a blaze." However, I told him he must be patient,
and a little while after the flames burst from beneath the raft and
licked the sides, and we heard a mighty crackling, the wood being wet,
and at last a monstrous big flame and a thick column of smoke rose up
into the sky, and I could hardly restrain Billy from shouting in his
joy, he saying to me, in tones much above a whisper, that he had never
seen a bigger bonfire, even on Guy Fawkes day, and he thought it must
be something like the Fire of London. (I discovered afterwards, when I
had time to remember it, that Billy did not in the least know what the
Fire of London was, but knew only the phrase; and when I told him that
a great part of the city was burnt down in that historical calamity, he
asked me whether that was just another of my stories, like Robin Hood.)
It was indeed a very fine sight in the blackness of the night, the glow
lighting up the long slopes leading up from the beach, and being
reflected magnificently in the sea.
About half-an-hour, I should think, from the time when we first kindled
the bonfire, we saw some of the seamen hasting down the hill, and the
glow striking the barrels of the muskets which one or two carried, I
deemed it expedient to withdraw a little farther from the beach, though
in truth it was unlikely we could be seen. We lay to again, and
observed the men draw near to the fire, some standing about it
helplessly, one or two trying to scatter the fuel with the barrels of
their muskets; but they could no nothing, the great heat preventing
them from coming close enough, and besides, we saw Hoggett pull them
away, and heard him cry out to them that they were fools, because they
would only spoil the muskets and not put out the fire. And Ernulfus
himself could not, I am sure, have cursed us more comprehensively than
those seamen then did (you will find his curse in Mr. Sterne's
ingenious book), and not merely did they curse us, but they added
sundry strange extravagant threats of what they would do to us, some of
these things being so horrible that Billy wanted to answer them back,
only I prevented him, for besides being merely amused at these big
words from men who were perfectly impotent to harm us, I thought that
silence would work better for the further acting of my plans.
We stayed until the fire was nearly burnt out, and then got us back to
the Red Rock, exceeding pleased at having destroyed the only means, as
we thought, whereby the seamen might come at us. Another week ran its
course, we remaining quiet in our habitation, cruising a little off the
north side in the twilight and early mornings, but not going again to
the island. We kept a look-out on it from the vantage ground of the
boulders, and once or twice caught glimpses of the men in the copse or
on the cliffs, but they did not come near to the rock again, and I own
I began to feel a little downhearted, for if they could eke out their
food much longer the bread-fruit season would come, and then my plan
would be ruined. Once or twice, too, we heard sounds as of chopping
wood in the copse, and we thought that the men were after all going to
build a raft, which did not give us any concern, for even if we could
not burn it, we could prevent them from getting a footing on our
fortress. However, it was not a raft, as we learnt one day. We were
sitting at our dinner one afternoon, and, as we always did (I forget
whether I have mentioned it), we had tied up Little John, who, though a
very good dog in many things, could never be taught to know the
difference between "mine" and "thine" at meal times, so that Billy said
he was afraid the beast would always be a heathen. He had reason
enough to know, after a little experience, that his turn to feed would
come after us and before the pigs, so that he was accustomed to stand
in perfect quietness while we ate; wherefore when on this afternoon we
heard him growling very deeply, and saw him strain at his leash, we
wondered what was amiss with him.
[Sidenote: A Bridge]
"I guess it's Hoggett," said Billy all of a sudden, and up he jumps and
runs to the boulder and peeps over. "Goodness alive, master!" he
called to me, in a low tone; "they've been and made a bridge!" I was
up in an instant, and springing to Billy's side I saw that the men were
dragging up the slope from the wood a long sort of hurdle, very like
our drawbridge, only longer and stouter. They were hauling it to the
edge, where the cliff approached within twenty feet of the ledge on Red
Rock, and if they should throw it over the gap, they would have an easy
passage-way from the island to our fortress, nor did I see any means of
preventing them, for while we were shooting at some of them with our
bows and arrows, the rest could come across; and though we should still
have the advantage of them, being above them and with good defences, I
did not like to think that it was even possible for them to get a
footing on our ground. The narrowest part of the gap was almost
directly below us, so that if we had some heavy stones we might hope,
by casting them down on the bridge, either to smash it, or to render
the passage so perilous that no man would venture to make it. Though
there were a great number of large rocks about us, there were none
small enough to be dislodged or hurled; but I remembered having seen a
number of loose stones in a fissure about half-way across our plateau,
and seeing that it would be some minutes before the men came to the gap
with the bridge, I bade Billy fetch as many of these stones as he could
carry in a basket, while I held the men at bay.
When he was gone about this, I fitted an arrow to my bow, and taking as
good aim as I could, I let fly at the foremost of the men, there being
eight of them carrying the bridge, four on each side. But not being
used to shoot downwards at so sharp an angle, I did not hit any of the
men, though the arrow stuck in the wicker-work near the end of the
bridge, and the arrival of this silent messenger (and yet eloquent)
made the men drop their burden and stand irresolute. Hoggett and
Pumfrey at once raised their muskets to the shoulder, but they could
see nothing to aim at, and though they must know, of course, that the
arrow had come through one of the many gaps above, they could not tell
which, and their ammunition was much too precious now to be wasted on a
chance shot. However, they still held their muskets ready, no doubt
hoping that I would show myself, and so give them a target; but finding
after a while that this hope was vain, they lowered their weapons, and
I heard Hoggett call to the others to take up the bridge again and make
haste to bring it to the gap. Then, knowing that they could hardly
raise their muskets again, take aim, and fire, before I could drop
under cover, I leapt up in full view of them all and cried in a loud
voice that I would shoot the first man of them that offered to cross
the gap. It was almost an error to do this, for Hoggett was pretty
near being too quick for me. Just as I sank down again behind the
boulder his musket flashed, and I heard the slug strike with a thud
against the rock. I moved a little away to another place, and saw
Hoggett making all haste to prime his weapon, while he shouted to the
others to rush forward with the bridge and fling it across the gap. At
this Joshua Chick, who was the only man that ever stood up against
Hoggett, cried in a fierce manner, "You come and lend a hand yourself,"
with an oath at the end; whereupon Hoggett, who did not want for
courage, flings his musket down and, shoving Chick aside, takes his
place at the bridge, and, roaring "Now!" the men forgot their fears,
and raised a seamen's cheer, and with a mighty heave flung the bridge
across the gap, having tied ropes to each end of it to prevent it from
falling into the gulf if they missed their aim.
Now my mind was firmly made up that no man should cross the gap if I
could help it, and recognizing that Hoggett was the men's leader, and
that without him they would scarce attempt anything, I took steady aim
at him, not intending to kill him, for I had another fate in store for
him, but to hit the arm by which he held the bridge. I was by this
time a pretty good marksman at a target, whether stationary or the
running man, but the necessity of aiming down-hill clean put me out, so
that instead of hitting Hoggett's arm, my arrow pierced the calf of his
leg. He let forth a terrible curse, and, loosing his hold on the
bridge, clapped his hand to his leg and pulled out the shaft, then sat
down upon the ground and began to bind up the wound with a strip torn
from his shirt. The moment of my hitting him was the same moment when
the bridge was thrown across the gap, and I hoped that it would fall
from the men's hands into the channel, but it had been well aimed and
fell plumb on the ledge. However, when the men saw Hoggett wounded,
and pretty badly, to judge by his language, they drew back, none of
them caring to be the first to venture on the bridge and to encounter
an arrow from above. Hoggett roared to them to go on, but every man
looked at other to lead the way. He cried to Wabberley, but Wabberley
was much in the rear; and then to Chick, but Chick was not on this
occasion obliging; indeed, I observed him, being a small man, hiding
himself from Hoggett's gaze behind Wabberley's more massive frame, and
Wabberley trying in his turn to put Chick in front of him. This
backwardness on the part of the men inflamed Hoggett to an excess of
rage, and he swore that as soon as he had bound up his leg he would
cross that bridge and teach those young (here a very bad word) that he
was not going to be played with no more.
While he was still tying up his wound Billy staggered up with the
biggest basket slung over his back, filled with five or six jagged
lumps of rock weighing, as I guessed, about a dozen pounds apiece. He
was panting very much, but asked, "Where's Hoggett?" and when I told
him in a word that the bridge was thrown across and Hoggett intending
to invade us, he cried, "I'll show him!" and immediately slung the
basket off his back, and seizing one of the stones, hurled it over the
plateau to the bridge below, and when he did so I peeped through a
crevice to see what was the issue. The missile struck the ledge about
two yards from the end of the bridge, and then bounding off, fell into
the gap, but we did not hear the splash as it entered the water,
because the sea itself made a pretty loud noise as it raced through the
narrow channel. The men shrank back when they saw the stone, fearing
no doubt lest another should light on the head of some one, and they
were less inclined than ever to pay heed to the words of Hoggett, who
had roared himself perfectly hoarse. I told Billy what I had seen, and
bade him try again, and the second stone he cast, heavier than the
first, plunged into the gap without striking either the bridge or the
ledge. Of course both these shots had been made pretty much by
guesswork, Billy hurling them over without exposing himself, and only
able to judge the general direction. When I told him the result of the
second cast, he waited a moment or two, to recover breath and to wipe
the sweat from his brow; and then he took up another big stone, and
jumped to the very edge of the plateau, where there was no cover at
all, and setting his teeth, put all his strength into the throw. The
bridge was a pretty good target, being not less than three feet wide,
and Billy's aim was so true that the stone hit the bridge not far from
the further end, causing it to jump so much that it lay very awkwardly
askew across the gap, threatening indeed to slip into the sea. At this
Hoggett jumped up and rushed to the bridge to pull it back into its
former place; but meanwhile I had taken another stone and, doing as
Billy had done, flung it with all my might, and it fell about the
centre of the bridge, making it jump again just as Hoggett was stooping
to clutch it. Billy was at my side instantly with another stone, and
he aimed this time exactly at the further end of the bridge, purposing,
as he told me, to hit this and Hoggett too, and he succeeded so well
that the seaman, bold as he was, started back as the missile sprang up
and almost struck his head. Before he could recover himself I had
hurled another stone down, and I had the satisfaction of seeing this,
falling a little sideways on the bridge, which was already shifted from
its first position, shake the end of it clean off the cliff, and though
Hoggett, braving all things, leapt forward and caught at the rope, he
was too late; the bridge fell into the gap, and we heard quite plainly
the splashing sound it made as it came to the bottom.
[Sidenote: The Enemy Retreat]
All this time the men had been looking on in a dazed and silly way, not
one of them offering to help Hoggett to save the bridge they had been
at such pains to make; indeed, the moment it fell into the chasm I
observed Wabberley very gently slink away towards the wood. It was
always a great cause of wonderment to me that this big wind-bag of a
man was tolerated, let alone made a comrade of, by Hoggett, who was
neither a coward nor a wind-bag, except when he was mouthing futile
threats against me and Billy. But I have lived a good many years since
then, and have seen other instances of the same sort. However, to keep
to my story, the men stood for a little while, unable to say a word to
the ravings of Hoggett, who, between the pain of his wound and the
bitter disappointment at his rebuff, was as near frenzy as ever I saw a
man; and then, seeing, I suppose, that nothing was to be gained by
staying, they presently departed, Hoggett last of them all, walking
very slowly and with a limp. I saw one or two of the men turn back to
speak to him, but he waved his arms and roared at them, so that they
very soon faced about and left him to himself; in some circumstances
would-be sympathizers only aggravate a man's trouble. So Hoggett went,
baffled and solitary, never turning aside until he came to the edge of
the wood, and then the passion that he had been brooding on broke all
bounds, and he wheeled about suddenly, and shook his fist most
vehemently at us, shouting words which in the distance I could not
catch. I think we should have laughed at this exhibition of impotent
wrath if he had done it before; but there was something, I know not
what, strangely moving in the spectacle of this big rough man walking
alone, unable to endure the speech, or even the presence, of his
friends, and then at last overcome by the force of the feelings working
within him. Neither Billy nor I spoke for a full minute after he had
vanished into the wood, and then Billy struck a new note.
"Chick's skinnier than ever," says he.
"Wabberley isn't," I said.
"Not so far as you can see," says Billy; "but I warrant he is if you
could see him with his clothes off. Them big men take a lot of
thinning."
"You think they are hungry, then?" said I.
"I don't think; I'd take my davy on it," says he. "They've eat all our
provender long ago, you may be sure, and all the pigs except our two,
and it ain't the fish season, nor yet the bread-fruit; and if we wait
here a bit longer they'll just be skellingtons, and all we shall have
to do will be to bury 'em."
I smiled, for I did not think it would come to burying yet, and Billy
asked me what there was to laugh at, for he would not care to demean
himself by burying such rascals; and then I considered whether to tell
him the further part of my plan, and decided to wait yet a little. I
was in no more doubt than he was that the men were beginning to feel
the pinch of want, which had urged them to their late desperate
assault, they suspecting, I suppose, that we had full stores which we
were hoarding from them. A week or two more, I thought, and my scheme,
by the very flux of time, would be brought to maturity. Meanwhile I
deemed it well to make another visit to the cavern to replenish our own
stores, and I saw with concern how low our stock was falling; indeed,
if I had not seen by their haggard look that the men were already in
straits, I should have been anxious about the possibility of us two
holding out any longer than they.
[Sidenote: Suppliants]
It was about ten days, I think, after that business of the bridge, when
one morning, an hour or two after daybreak, we heard a loud shout from
the cliff opposite our rock. A hurricane had been blowing during the
night, as bad as any we had had since we came to the island, and worse
than any since the mariners came; and the wind had been set in that
direction in which it gave that deep and melancholy organ-note from the
mouth of the cave. It sprang up so suddenly that we had no warning of
it, and could not sail to the cave; but very fortunately the north side
of the rock was not exposed to the tempest, so that our canoe suffered
no hurt. Billy and I had slept very little, being very much put about
to keep ourselves dry; but when the fury of the storm abated towards
morning, we fell asleep, and were awakened by the shout I have
mentioned. Seizing our bows and arrows, we ran to the edge of the
plateau, and peeping through a crevice in the rock we beheld Wabberley
standing some little way from the brink of the cliff, and holding up a
stick to which was tied a frayed and tattered shirt.
"A flag of truce, Billy," said I, and I am sure the tone of my voice
must have betrayed my inward elation.
"No, it's Pumfrey's shirt, master," says Billy. "I know it by the blue
spots. What's he stuck it on to the silly old stick for?"
"For a flag of truce," I repeated; "to show he's an envoy come to sue
for terms of peace, perhaps."
"I don't know what them there words mean," says Billy, "but you look
uncommon pleased about it, so I suppose it's all right. But I say,
master, look; there's the whole lot of them among the trees yonder.
What's in the wind now?"
I told him that we should soon see. We had not yet shown ourselves,
and Wabberley continued shouting, sometimes, "Ahoy!" sometimes my name,
always prefixing the respectful appellative "master," and not calling
me plain "Brent," as Hoggett had done. Since the main group of men
were pretty near a furlong from us, and we were far above them, I
thought we might safely show ourselves; whereupon we mounted the
boulder, and the moment he saw us Wabberley waved his flag and came a
pace or two nearer. Here I will set down, as near as I can remember
them, the exact words of the conversation (if such it can be called)
that ensued.
"What do you want?"
"Why, sir, d'ye see, we're terrible short of grub."
"Well?"
"Pretty near starved."
"Well?"
"Only scraps for the last three days."
"Yes?"
Here he paused, finding little encouragement in my monosyllables, and
though he was usually glib enough, it was not easy, I dare say, to be
eloquent when he had to shout so that his voice would reach to us so
far above him. But he now assumed a most solemn and lugubrious
expression of countenance, and cried--
"Dying fast!"
"What of that?"
"Can you do summat for us?"
"Do what?"
"Give us some grub."
"Why?"
"You wouldn't see your old shipmates starve!" (I wish I could convey
with my pen the accent of surprise, pain, reproach, which trembled in
his voice.) "You wouldn't see your old shipmates starve!" says he.
"Why not?"
At this his jaw dropped: he was struck dumb; he stared up at us for a
little, and then, lowering his flag, he turned and went slowly back to
the wood.
"My eye! This is prime!" cried Billy, hugging himself with glee.
"'Why not?' says you, and he ain't got no answer, 'cause there ain't
none, at least, not a good one. Speaking short's much better than
squirting a lot of words about, like my mother-in-law does--or did, for
she may be dead."
When Wabberley got back to his companions, I observed that there was
some discussion among them, and by and by another man left them,
carrying the flag, and I saw that this was Mr. Bodger. He came up as
Wabberley had done, and asked very humbly if he might speak a word with
me. I bade him say on, and he then told me, in more words than
Wabberley had used, but with no more essential matter, that they had
come to the end of their food, and without some assistance from us
would in no long time starve to death. Now you may think that, Mr.
Bodger being an officer, I ought to have yielded, at any rate so far as
to take him into company with Billy and me; but I would not do this,
because he was a weak man, who could only swim with the current, and I
knew very well that if the seamen got the upper hand of us again, Mr.
Bodger would not only do nothing to help us, but would consent to any
indignity and oppression that might be put upon us. Accordingly, I
gave him as short answers as I had given Wabberley, and when he began
to whine and plead for himself I dismissed him very abruptly, and he
turned away dejected. At this, the men who had been lurking among the
trees swarmed out in a body, and rushed towards the edge of the cliff,
and for a moment I thought they meditated another attack; but I saw
that they were without arms, so I did not change my posture, but waited
where I was until they came to the brink, and set up such a clamour,
all speaking at once, that I could not distinguish what any one said.
"Where's Hoggett?" says Billy, and I had already noticed that neither
he nor Wabberley was now among them: indeed, I had not seen Hoggett at
all since he went away with a wound in his leg. I observed that
privation was telling heavily upon them, and I own I felt a touch of
commiseration for Clums and one or two more of the better disposed
among them; but I hardened my heart, for if my plan was to succeed I
could not afford to show the least mark of weakness or complaisance.
There being a great clamour, I say, I raised my hand and made a gesture
for them to be silent, and then said that I would come down to the
ledge and speak to them at closer quarters. Billy begged me not to do
so, but I told him to hold bow and arrows ready in case he perceived
any sign of treachery, and then walked down the shelf of rock until I
came to the ledge and stood within about twenty feet of them. The
hungry look in their eyes, now that I saw them close, was very dreadful
to behold; but I stiffened my countenance to a great severity, and told
them that there was no reason that I could see why I should not leave
them to the fate they had brought on themselves. They had committed
crimes, I said, for which they would assuredly have been hanged in any
land where law and order reigned; and I reminded them of their base
ingratitude when their very existence at that moment was owing to Billy
and me. Then cutting my speech short, for it is ill work baiting folk
in desperate misfortune, I merely added that I could not endure to see
even such wretches as they were perishing with hunger, and that I was
willing to help them, provided they would accept my conditions. At
this their eyes lighted up with hope, and a babel of cries arose, all
shouting assent, and I think I heard one voice say, "God bless you!"
But commanding silence again I bade them not to be so ready with their
assent until they had heard my terms, and I explained to them that they
must needs change quarters with us, they abiding on the rock, whence
they would have no means of escape, we returning to our proper abode on
the island. I said further that I would provide them with a
sufficiency of food, but that they must work for their living, and I
ended: "These are my terms; you can take them or leave them."
They were silent when I had finished speaking, and looked at one
another with a mixture of doubt and wonder. Then Chick, whose eyes
were at greater variance than ever, I suppose because he was so pulled
down in his health by want--Chick steps forward and says, "But if we
come on to this here rock you may leave us to starve," and another man
joins in, "True, we shall be in a trap."
"You are right," I said. "You will be in a trap; you will have to
trust me, and being villains and traitors yourselves, you find that a
hard matter, I doubt not. Go away and talk it over. If you want to
speak to me you can hail the rock; but let no man, I warn you, come
armed from the wood, for he will certainly be shot."
And with that I left them, and went slowly up to rejoin Billy.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST
OF THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CREW ARE PERSUADED TO AN INDUSTRIOUS AND
ORDERLY MODE OF LIFE
I have never seen a face more woebegone than Billy's was when I came to
his side, and there was a world of reproach in his eye. I told him the
main drift of what had passed before. "I know," says he; "I heard it.
What's the good?" "Why, my doubting Thomas," said I, "the good is
this: that we shall have our island to ourselves again." "I take my
davy we won't," says he. "If you let 'em come across that there gap
they'll turn round on us as soon as there's enough of 'em, and then
where are you?"
I told him that coming across the gap was out of the question, because
we had destroyed their bridge, and I did not wish to wait while another
was a-making. My purpose was to convey the men from the island to the
rock in our canoe, not all together, but one by one, so that there
would be no risk of their overpowering us. Billy was pleased to say
that this was a pretty good notion, but he fell gloomy again in an
instant, and when I asked him what other objection he had to make, he
said, "You said as how the men would have to work for their keep, but
how can they work on this old rock? Don't we know there ain't nothing
to do? And if there was anything, they wouldn't do it, bless you, not
unless you stood over 'em with a whip." I told him that in that case
they would certainly get nothing to eat, and was proceeding to explain
what I designed concerning their work when we heard a hail, and saw the
men coming in a group from the wood. "Now don't you go for to be too
kind, master," says Billy, as I went down to meet them. "They'll only
think you're a silly ass." I smiled at him, and promised I would make
a very stern taskmaster, and bade him again to be ready with his bow
and arrows; and then I walked very leisurely down to the ledge, and
asked the men whether they had come at any resolution.
"We have, sir," says Chick, as respectful as you please. "We've had a
quorum" (Where did he get the word, I wonder?), "and what we says is
this: you're a kind gentleman, and your good uncle afore ye, and----"
Here I called to him not to make a speech, but to say what he had to
say in few words; and one or two of his mates roughly scolded him, and
bade him come to the point; whereupon without more ado he told me that,
relying on my promise to give them food, they were ready to accept my
conditions and take up their abode on the rock.
"And Hoggett and Wabberley--what about them?" I said, having seen from
the first that these two were not among them. They looked from one to
another as if reluctant to speak, and then Pumfrey said bluntly, "They
won't come, sir," and when I asked why not, he said he didn't know;
they only said they wouldn't, with a great deal of cursing and swearing.
"Very well," said I, "then you must make them come. Every one of you
must come to the rock, Hoggett included. If he and Wabberley won't
consent, you must overpower them and carry them to the rock like
parcels."
[Sidenote: Terms]
They looked very mumchanced at this, and I could see that they still
held Hoggett in some dread. They began to talk in undertones among
themselves, and thinking to quicken them I turned on my heel, telling
them pleasantly to think it over. On this they broke forth into cries,
beseeching me to let them come across at once, because they were so
hungry; and when I said that I could permit none to come until every
man of them was ready, Colam and one or two more of the boldest swore
that they would not starve for the sake of Hoggett, and Chick vowed
that he would make Wabberley see reason, or he would know the reason
why. Whereupon, to encourage them, I said that I would give them a
little provision as an earnest of my engagement; and calling up to
Billy, I bade him bring down a little smoked pork and fish, as well as
a quantity of bread-fruit. At this the men cheered with an unfeigned
heartiness that I found infinitely moving, and they cheered again when
Billy appeared, carrying very unwillingly, as I could see, the small
quantity of provision I had ordered. And then those men must needs go
about to ingratiate themselves with Billy, choosing the wrong way, as
ignorant and foolish folk often will. "That's never little Billy
Bobbin!" says one. "How he's growed, to be sure!" says another.
"Fancy little Billy turning into such a fine figure of a man!" says a
third; and all the time I think they hardly knew what they said, their
eyes being fixed on the things he carried. Billy's round face became
as red as a lobster when it is boiled, and his eyes flashed fire, and
for a moment I thought he was going to fling his burdens over the ledge
into the sea; but he put a curb upon himself and brought the things to
me, and then, as though no longer afraid of doing hurt to my property,
he stood at the very brink of the ledge and cried, "Yes, I'm Billy
Bobbin, and I've growed, and I won't have my master put upon; and if I
ain't as handsome as Pumfrey, I ain't got a squint like Chick--and this
is our grub what we smoked and such with our very own hands, and you
ought to go down on your bended knees and say grace for it, and for
what you are going to receive----"
I interrupted Billy at this point, being quite amazed at his outburst,
the like of which I had not seen since we fought about that matter of
the three-legged stool. "Nobody could make them thieving villains
truly thankful," he said under his breath, and when I bade him throw
the food across the gap among the men, he did it with a certain
viciousness at first, and chuckled when a piece of salt fish struck
Pumfrey in the face. But he became sober the moment he saw with what
eagerness the poor wretches picked up the food, and as they began to
hasten away with it to their fire, and some even to eat the dried meat
raw, he offered them much useful instruction in the best way of cooking
it, especially the bread-fruit. Before the men went, I told them to
convey their muskets and what ammunition was left down to the lava
beach, and lay them ten yards above high-water mark, promising to come
and fetch them. And I added, in the solemnest tones I was master of,
that if a man of them was to be seen on the beach when I came there, a
little after midday, I would withdraw my offer, and of that I gave them
fair warning. Billy was much more easy in mind now, and said he
thought there might be something in my plan; indeed, he was eager to
set off almost at once, without waiting for the time I had appointed.
However, I managed to persuade him to wait until we had eaten our
dinner, and then we launched the canoe, and in due time sailed round
the island to the lava beach. There was no one to be seen, except one
man whom we spied disappearing into the woods as we arrived; but on the
beach above high-water mark, as I had said, the muskets were laid
neatly in a row, the powder-horns with them. We paddled in until the
water was shallow, not designing to beach the canoe, and then Billy
leapt overboard and ran up the beach, I meanwhile handling my bow to
show that he was covered. He returned with four muskets, and told me
that there were four more to bring, so that one was missing, there
having been nine when the men came to the island. As soon as all the
muskets, together with the powder-horns and bullet-pouches, were stowed
in the canoe, I set up a loud halloo, at which the men started out of
the wood in which they had been, I doubt not, watching us, and came
towards us, and when they were near enough I cried to them that the
muskets were one short, and asked whose it was, to which the answer, as
I expected, was that it was Hoggett's. Then I asked where Hoggett was,
and they told me he had barricadoed himself in the hut, and refused to
give up the musket. I asked about Wabberley.
"Here I be, Mr. Brent, sir," says the man himself, coming from the rear
of the group; "and right down glad I am, d'ye see, sir, to know as how
you be a-going to feed us proper. Ah! how I do remember your good
uncle, and the dear lady your aunt----"
[Sidenote: Hoggett is Obstinate]
I could not endure this, both Chick and Wabberley in one day stirring
up memories of the home I should never see more, so I peremptorily
commanded him to cease, and said that as he was Hoggett's particular
friend he had better employ his eloquence in persuading Hoggett to give
up his musket with the rest. I told him that a bargain was a bargain,
and as the bargain was that all the muskets were to be delivered, the
men would receive only half rations until the full tale was made up.
This incensed them very much against Hoggett, and they were in the mind
to deal very hardly with him had he been in their power; but one of the
men said that he still had a very meagre supply of food in the hut,
which could not be eked out beyond a day or two; whereupon I determined
to wait, knowing that the men would be eager enough to bring Hoggett to
terms so long as they were kept on short commons. I told them to come
to the rock before night for another meal, and then we set off in the
canoe, and conveyed the muskets to the cave in the cliff, and left them
at the entrance of the tunnel, after that returning to the Red Rock.
We spent the next two days in carrying back to our storehouse a certain
part of our provisions, leaving on the rock no more than would suffice
the men for a single week. We took back also our pigs, which we left
at the entrance of the tunnel, thinking that a few hours of darkness
would not hurt them. These comings and goings were watched very
curiously by the men, who would have liked to know where we went after
we passed from their sight beneath the cliff; indeed, afterwards they
put questions to Billy, who, however, would never give them the least
particle of satisfaction on that matter. Each day we gave them two
meals, and the knowledge that it was Hoggett who prevented them from
enjoying plenty made them exceeding bitter against him. But they told
me that he was deaf to all their entreaties, and kept himself close
shut in the hut, only cursing when they spoke to him, and threatening
to blow out the brains of any man that offered to molest him. However,
on the third day, in the morning, one of the men came to the ledge all
breathless, having run all the way from the hut to be the first to tell
me that Hoggett had yielded, being, in fact, very weak and ill from his
privations. Soon after, the others came up with his musket, and then
one of them asked me, in name of them all, whether I would not come to
the island and rule over them there, promising to obey me faithfully in
all points. When this was being said, I saw Billy looking at me with
great anxiety, lest this offer of a kingdom (which was already my own)
should seduce me from my purpose; but there was no need for him to
fear, because I knew the fickle and unscrupulous nature of these
mariners, and that they could never be trusted until they should be
subdued by the wholesome discipline of work. Accordingly I refused
this petition, announcing that on the next morning, soon after
daybreak, I would begin the transport of them to the rock, bidding them
come one by one unarmed to the sandy beach, to be taken off in the
canoe. I think if they had known what a bare, inhospitable abode they
were coming to they might have made some demur; but they said nothing,
and agreed to do exactly as I commanded.
[Sidenote: The Rock Prison]
Next morning we began this work, Billy and I, taking the men one at a
time into the canoe, after we had searched them, and conveying them to
the rock as quickly as might be, Billy paddling, while I stood over our
passenger with a loaded musket. Having landed him I bade him make his
way to the top, and then we went back for another. When we had carried
eight of them in this way, I saw that we should not come to an end of
it before night unless we took more than one at a time, for the going
to and fro was near an hour's work, and very fatiguing; so I determined
to take two men, having proceeded so far without any sign of
resistance. By the time we came to the rock with the ninth and tenth
men, there was a little assemblage on the plateau, and when we were
paddling back I saw that Pumfrey and Chick had found their way to the
ledge, and they shouted after us, and though we could not hear their
words, Billy said he was sure they were crying to be taken off again.
Indeed, when we arrived with the next two men, we found that Chick and
Pumfrey, in defiance of my order that none of those we had landed
should return to the landing-place, had come down and were awaiting us,
and as we came near, Chick asked with a great deal of indignation
whether I supposed that true-born Englishmen, and able seamen besides,
were going to bide up in that God-forsaken place. I reminded him of
the bargain, and, holding off from the rock, asked him whether he
wished all his mates to starve, as they certainly would do unless he
mounted to the plateau and stayed there, for I would not land another
man, nor give them any more food, until he had gone. At this, one of
the men in the canoe told Chick not to be a fool, but to do as I bid
him, and Chick cried that it was all very well, but _he_ had not seen
the place. However, he went away, very unwillingly, with Pumfrey, and
we had no more trouble of that sort.
We brought Hoggett away last of all, and alone. He looked very ill,
and said never a word to us, but I could see that he was inwardly a
very furnace of wrath. Billy had said to me, as we went to fetch him,
"Mind you shoot him, master, if he tries any tricks," and I was very
carefully on my guard and did not feel at all easy in my mind until I
saw him safely landed. I lately saw a lion-tamer performing tricks
with lions in a cage, and as I watched, my thoughts went back many
years to this day of our life on Palm Tree Island, and I fancied that
the tamer must feel pretty much as I felt when we had Hoggett in the
canoe--as if the wild beast might at any moment break loose.
[Sidenote: Sheep and Goats]
Having thus conveyed all the men to the rock, we returned to the
island, and laid up the canoe just as it was falling dark, being pretty
tired, especially Billy, for though I had taken a turn at paddling he
would not let me do much, saying that he knew he would be a bad hand
with a musket, and might shoot me instead of the men if one of them
proved mutinous. We went up very eagerly to our hut, feeling like
wanderers returning home, Little John frisking and barking about us in
as great a delight as we ourselves. But our mirth was turned to
melancholy when we came to the hut, for it was in such a dreadful state
that we could not endure the thought of passing the night in it, and so
we dragged our weary limbs back to the canoe, and slept there,
supperless, for the men had not kept the fire in, and we had nothing
with us which we could eat raw. Our sleep lasted until pretty late the
next morning, and then, having kindled the fire and cooked our
breakfast, we sat talking of the remaining part of my scheme. Billy's
face beamed when I showed him how I meant to make the men work for
their living, and for once he did not ask, "What's the good?" but
declared he couldn't have thought of anything better himself.
I had a pretty good notion of the characters of the men individually,
having been for upwards of a year on board ship with them; and Billy
knew them even better than I did, because of his nearness to them in
the forecastle. A ship is a little world, and there, as in the great
world, there are good and bad, and some that are neither good nor bad,
for there are a good many colours, as you may say, betwixt white and
black. The crew of the _Lovey Susan_, to be sure, was made up rather
of evil-disposed than of well-disposed, for it was recruited by
Wabberley and Chick, as I said at the beginning of my story, and you
know what I thought of them. The better sort among them being few,
could not prevail against the many, and especially against a man like
Hoggett, who was so exceeding strong and masterful. Now it was a part
of my scheme to sunder the sheep from the goats, if I may say so; and
they being all on the rock I could do this, I hoped, without seeming to
make any distinction among them, at any rate at first. For when I
spoke of their working for their living, I did not have the rock in
mind as the scene of their labours, but the island. To feed so many,
we should need to enlarge our plantation, and this would mean work; and
I had already thought, with leaping heart, of another task we might put
in hand when I had brought the men to a proper humbleness and docility.
But since there would not be at first enough work for all of them, nor
indeed would it be safe to employ them all, I had resolved to begin
with the least wicked of them. As we sat at breakfast, therefore,
Billy and I conned over their names, passing judgment on them, as it
were.
"What about Clums?" I said.
"He's a fat fool," says Billy, "but there ain't no harm in him, away
from Hoggett. But he can't do anything but cook, and I can cook as
well as him now."
"Well, he must learn to do other things," I said. "And Jordan?"
"Not by no means," says Billy. "He speaks you pretty fair, but he's a
sly wretch, the sort of man to pick your grub when you warn't looking."
"What do you say to Hoskin, then?" I asked.
"Why, I don't think much of Hoskin," says he; "but I'll say this for
him, that he's about the only man of 'em that didn't kick and cuff me,
though he looked on when the others did. But what about Mr. Bodger?"
I said that I thought Mr. Bodger a weak and cowardly fellow, who would
probably deem himself very much ill-used if set to work, and I was
determined to have none idle on the island, while if he were put over
the others, they would flout him and might grow mutinous again. Well,
after considering the men one by one, we resolved to bring Clums and
Hoskin first to the island, and Billy said, anticipating me, that their
first job must be the cleansing of our hut, which in its present state
was not fit for a pig to live in. This put me in mind of our two pigs
in the cave, and as soon as we had finished our breakfast we paddled to
the cave and brought them away, though when we took them to the sty we
found that it was not a secure place at present, those lazy wretches
having actually broken up a great part of the fence, I suppose for
firewood. "That's the second job," says Billy, "to mend the fence."
We then made our way to the cliff opposite Red Rock, so that we could
speak to the men, for we could scarce make our voices heard at so great
a height if we sailed to the foot of the rock in our canoe; and having
hailed them, I said that Clums and Hoskin were to come to the
landing-place and we would fetch them to make a beginning in working
for their living. Pumfrey asked whether he couldn't come too, which I
took to be a very good sign; but I replied that his turn would come
another day.
The two men came with us very readily, and on the way Clums said he
would cook us the best dinner we had had for years, upon which Billy
winked at me, making such a comical grimace that I could not help
laughing. Clums was taken aback when he learnt what task had been
assigned to him, but he was a cheerful soul, and said that as Billy had
cleaned his pans for him a good many times on the _Lovey Susan_ he
supposed it was only fair that he should clean up the floor for Billy
and me, though he thought it ought by rights to be done by Hoggett and
Wabberley. It took them pretty nearly all day to make the hut
thoroughly tidy and shipshape, and when they were looking rather rueful
at the thought of being taken back to the rock for the night, I pleased
them mightily by giving them the small hut to sleep in. As for Billy
and me, we took up our quarters in our old place, having as a
precaution brought in the drawbridge and barricadoed the door; and we
had Little John with us to give warning of any attempt to break in,
which indeed I thought unlikely, for I did not see what they could gain
by it.
I thought we would wait one more day before we brought over any more
men, so we gave the two next morning the job of cleaning the
outbuildings and beginning the repair of the fences. They wrought
willingly enough, though clumsily, not being used to this kind of work:
accordingly on the third day we fetched Pumfrey and another man, whose
name I forget, and while the first two were still working on the
repairs, we set the others to dig the yam plantation, to make ready for
the new crop. We deemed it well thus to keep the four men in two
parties until we were sure of them.
On the fourth day, when we sailed to the rock to bring two more men, we
found the whole company assembled on the ledge, and they raised a great
clamour, from which we made out by and by that all their food was gone.
I had left what I thought would be enough for a full week, and so it
would have been if they had portioned it out with any prudence. When
we brought them another supply I said they would have to manage better,
and one of them said that so they would if we took them to the island
and gave them some work to do, for on the rock there was nothing else
to do but feed. There was so much reason in this that I forbore to
upbraid them any more; but I appointed the man who had spoken a kind of
commissary to dole out the provisions, and told the other men that if
there were any disputes the quarrelsome would be the last to be taken
to the island. It being now late, we took no more men that day, but
two the next, and these were all whom we had any reason to believe were
the sheep.
It would make too long a story to tell of all the little happenings of
the next weeks. From the first we gave the men to understand that they
would go back to the rock and take turn with others, at our pleasure,
whether they went or not depending on themselves. They proved to be
reasonable, performing the tasks set them without grumbling, and indeed
they confessed that they were very glad to have something to do and
good food to eat after their miserable life under Hoggett's rule. We
soon put Clums to his proper work of cooking, he having no skill in
anything else, and he was always amazed at the never-failing supply of
provisions which Billy and I brought in our canoe, not having revealed
to any one the secret of our storehouse. Our fowls, as I have said,
were all dispersed, except those that the men had eaten, but we got
some of them back in our old way of liming the trees, and so had the
beginning of a poultry-run again; and when the men had repaired the
pig-sty and made a new fowl-house, and dug up the ground for the yams,
there was very little left to employ them, so I set them to fell trees
for building another and more commodious house, which would hold them
all when my scheme had perfectly ripened. And when, after a week or
two, I found everything going on as well as I could wish, I determined
to bring over the goats, who had learnt by conversations across the gap
what we were doing, and were, many of them, exceeding desirous of
enjoying the same liberty as their comrades, even though they had to
work. Accordingly I got the men to make a bridge like that which we
had destroyed, and when this was flung across the gap, we brought two
of the men across, with Mr. Bodger, who, as I supposed, was mightily
indignant at being left among the worst of the crew. I told him very
frankly what my reasons were, and he immediately said that if I thought
so ill of him he would waive all privileges as an officer, and work as
a common seaman until I was satisfied with him. I was so much
surprised at this, never supposing him to have any spirit at all, that
I thought fit to put him to his trial as an officer, and giving him a
musket, made him overseer of the men who were felling and preparing
trees. I soon saw that the position of authority, and the means to
enforce it, wrought a change in him, and though he was never a strong
man, and would never have been able to exercise command if left quite
to himself, yet he became a satisfactory lieutenant, and I never had
cause to repent trusting him.
[Sidenote: The Uses of Adversity]
Hoggett and Wabberley and Chick were the last of the men to be brought
to the island. I overheard some of the men grumbling at this one day,
saying that these three were living a lazy life, doing nothing for
their keep, while the rest were working hard. But Clums silenced the
grumblers; calling them fools with a seaman's bluntness, asking them
whether they didn't owe all their miseries to those three, and bursting
into tears when he spoke of a little girl he had at home, and said that
but for the mutiny they might all be living happy at Wapping or
Deptford by now. I felt a lump come into my throat when the man talked
of home, and Billy, who was with me, said he wouldn't mind having a
look at his old dad, especially as he thought he would no longer be
afraid of his mother-in-law, as he always called his step-mother.
Clums, I say, said that the longer Hoggett and the other two were kept
on the rock the better, but I thought they should have their chance
with the rest; accordingly one day I went up myself, with Billy, to the
ledge and called for them. Hoggett and Wabberley refused point-blank
to come, but Chick said he was ready to oblige, and we took him over,
telling the other two that they would be put on half rations until they
came to a better mind. This very soon had its effect on Wabberley, to
whom his creature comforts were everything; and even Hoggett yielded in
a day or two, and came over with the rest in the morning. I had forgot
to say that we did not allow the men we called the goats to remain on
the island overnight, but marched them back to the rock when their
day's work was done, this partly because we did not trust them, and
partly because there was no room for them to live decently until the
new house was built. I may say here that we never did permit Hoggett
and the other two to reside on the island. Wabberley was incorrigibly
lazy, and did as little work as he could; Hoggett always sullen, and
once or twice he flung down his tools and refused to work any more, and
kept his word until he was brought to his senses by having his food cut
off. As for Chick, he was extremely obliging, and did all he could to
persuade me to let him remain on the island, and admit him to the
select company of the sheep; but I did not trust him, and with reason,
for Clums told Billy that when they were working Chick would often
revile us in the bitterest way, and say that he and Hoggett would get
even with us some time or other.
The new house was finished in about two months, and then we brought all
the men to live on the island except the three I have mentioned. The
bread-fruit season was now come, so that we had plenty of food, and the
men made great vats in the ground for the storage of the pulp, being
still ignorant of the storehouse beneath our hut. When other work
failed, I set them to make more pots and pans, and bows and arrows, and
we had many shooting contests at our running man, though there were
half-a-dozen of the men whom I would never permit to handle a weapon of
any kind until close observation assured me that they were to be
trusted. We also went on fishing expeditions, and smoked a great
quantity of the fish we caught, and purposed to do the same with our
pigs as soon as they should increase. In order that we might enlarge
still more our reserve of food, I caused some new plantations of
cocoa-nut palms to be made at different parts of the island. There was
no need for planting when Billy and I were alone, because the trees
bore enough fruit for our use; nor was there any need for planting the
bread-fruit tree, because this had a remarkable way of propagating
itself on all sides by shoots that sprang from the roots; but I had
seen that several of the cocoa-nut palms had lately died, from what
cause I never knew, for they seemed to be uninjured,[1] and I did not
know but that a similar blight might fall on the bread-fruit trees
also; and so I planted cocoa-nuts to provide against a possible failure
of the bread-fruit.
[Sidenote: A Little History]
Thus I found myself at the head of a very thriving community. Our
active and open-air life kept us in good health, and the little
diversions which we mingled with our work--shooting and fishing, quoits
and skittles and Aunt Sally, performed with rough things of our own
making--these helped to keep us cheerful, and we had no troubles beyond
the storms and cyclones, no savages appearing to molest us, and Old
Smoker never showing more than a light crown of vapour, and sometimes
not even that. Billy and I lived alone in our hut, with Little John,
and we were, I am sure, happier than we were before the men came, for
we had more to think about and a great deal more to do. Billy said
once that I was now a king indeed, and asked whether I wouldn't like a
crown, though it would be made of leaves, there being no metal to be
had. I told him that I was quite content as I was, and besides, if I
was to be a king I must have a title, and I thought Harry must be an
ill-starred name, for Harry the First was the king that never smiled
again, and Harry the last (that is, the Eighth) was not a very
estimable character; and then Billy must needs hear all I remembered
about those monarchs, and when I spoke of the six wives he looked very
serious, and remained very quiet and thoughtful for a long time. I
asked him what he was thinking about, and he said, "Why, a king ain't
much good without a queen, and it's no good being Harry the First
(which you would be, this being a new kingdom) if there ain't no chance
of Harry the Second, or perhaps Billy the First, to come after. But
there, you wouldn't like a wife same as my mother-in-law, so it's all
one."
[1] Probably from the depredations of the _phasma_, or spectre insect,
a deadly foe to cocoa-nuts.--H.S.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND
OF OUR DEPARTURE FROM PALM TREE ISLAND; OF THOSE WHO WON THROUGH, AND
OF THOSE WHO FELL BY THE WAY
For several days after this conversation I observed that Billy was not
near so cheerful as he was wont to be, and when I spoke to him about
it, and asked what ailed him, he returned me only evasive answers. One
night when we were abed, but not asleep, he sighed so often and so
heavily that I said I would and must know what was the matter, and then
he surprised me beyond measure by saying, in a sort of mumble, "I'm
only thinking of my little girl." I thought his wits were wandering,
but I asked him, "What little girl?" and he said, "Her name's Elizabeth
Jane." I asked him what on earth he meant, and then, unbosoming
himself, he told me that Clums' mention of _his_ little girl, and our
talk about Henry the Eighth's wives, had set him thinking of a little
girl he used to play with at home, when his own mother was alive--a
neighbour's child, who used to come into the smithy at all hours, and
whom his father used to call "Billy's little sweetheart."
"Of course she wasn't," says Billy, "not real, 'cause I was only eight
or nine and she less; but them things we was talking about made me
think of her, and I thought she was growed up now, same as me, and I
wondered if she was hanging on a fellow's arm like I used to see 'em in
Limehouse Walk, and it made me want to punch his head; and then I
thought I want to go home, and I can't, and I'm that wretched I can't
abear myself."
[Illustration: Our Lamp]
Here was a pretty posture to be in! I was vastly amused, never having
been so taken myself, at the thought of Billy in love with a child he
had not seen for perhaps a dozen years, for he told me that she never
came to the house after his mother died, and had gone to live
elsewhere; but I did not laugh, and Billy could not see me smiling, and
I said quietly, "Well, and why shouldn't we go home?" He gave a shout
that set Little John barking, and bounced out of bed, and struck a
light, kindling a little lamp we had made of half a cocoa-nut filled
with its own oil, and some twisted threads for a wick, which gave a
good light and had no offensive smell like our torches of candle-nuts.
And then he sat down on his stool by my bed, and looked me in the eyes,
and I saw his eyes shining like coals when he asked me what I meant. I
said to him that there was now a goodly company of us, and what two
boys could hardly do alone might be done by such a number, and that
was, to make a vessel big enough to hold us all, and sound enough to
venture ourselves upon the deep. Billy was enraptured with the notion,
and instead of raising difficulties, as he usually did when I broached
a new project, he refused to see those that I myself mentioned, such as
our want of instruments and charts, and the danger of storms, and the
danger of falling in with cannibals, and so forth. These
considerations did not trouble him in the least; but one thing did, and
that was the question whether the men would be willing to undertake the
long and arduous preparation that would be necessary. But I bade him
leave that to me, and he went back to bed much happier, and slept very
sound.
[Sidenote: Planning a Voyage]
Next day I put the matter to the men, and they were one and all
exceeding favourable to it. Their life was pretty easy now, for there
was not much work to do; but I saw that lack of work did not make for
happiness, and indeed Pumfrey said plainly that he would willingly
exchange his present life for what he had formerly called his dog's
life on board ship, for there was more variety in that, and spells
ashore, not to speak of rum and tobacco. So I found them all ready to
start work at once, the only thing that daunted them being their
ignorance, for there was not a shipwright among them, and Pumfrey, the
ship's carpenter, said he might mend a ship, but couldn't make one.
However, I told them that we would not try to build a vessel with
planks, but would make a larger canoe after the model of the _Fair
Hope_, which we had found to be perfectly seaworthy and suitable for
the navigation of those seas. Mr. Bodger shook his head and declared
that no vessel of that shape would ever reach the old country, but I
pointed out that there were many lands nearer than England, some of
them in the possession of our own people, and if we could strike any of
the trade routes we should certainly fall in with a vessel, and then
our troubles would be over. "S'pose she's a Frenchman?" says Clums. I
asked "What then?" for France and England were at peace when we sailed
from the Thames, and I had no patience with the folk who looked on
every foreigner as a dragon or a monster, and I said so. "That's all
true enough, sir, I dare say," says Clums, "but there's the frogs, d'ye
see?" and I found that he looked at it from the cook's point of view,
and did not relish the idea of preparing, much less eating, the
articles of French fare. But though these little objections were
raised, there was a common readiness to set to work, and we went out
immediately into the woods to find a tree suited to our needs.
[Sidenote: The New Vessel]
We soon found a giant, perfectly straight and sound, and we made
preparations to fell it forthwith. Billy explained to the men our
manner of using fire, which pleased them very much, and some of them
having good steel axes, it took not so long to fell this great tree as
it had taken to fell the one for our canoe. The tree being situated at
some distance from the edge of the cliff, I was for a time puzzled how
to transport it, as I had been before, for I thought it hazardous to
roll a tree of such great weight over the cliff to the beach below.
But when we had moved it to the edge over rollers, one of the men
proposed that we should lower it by means of ropes, which we did,
suspending the trunk to half-a-dozen trees that grew close together
there, and paying out the ropes until the great burden was let down to
a spot whence it might roll the rest of the way without hurt. Having
thus got the trunk safely to the foot of the cliffs, we hollowed it out
with fire and axes, as Billy and I had done before, and while some were
at this work the rest prepared a mast and spars, and also a large
outrigger; and all toiled with such a good will, having the prospect of
deliverance before them, that the vessel was fully equipped and ready
for sea in about four months, as I guessed, from the day we began work
on her. I did not think of painting her, remembering the prodigious
labour the _Fair Hope_ had cost us in that particular; but when some of
the men said that a good coat of paint would make her more seaworthy,
we resolved to do it, and for many days we did nothing but express oil
out of nuts and mix with it the sap of the redwood tree; and I laughed
to see what strange objects some of the men made of themselves, for
they would raise their hands to their brows to wipe off the sweat, the
weather being warm, and left great streaks of red behind; and it came
into my head that the savages' custom of painting themselves might have
begun in just such a way.
When the vessel was painted there was still the naming of her, and this
matter came up one evening when we were having our supper on the open
ground near our hut, for we usually had our supper with the men in a
pleasant family manner--Hoggett and Wabberley and Chick having been
taken back to the rock. When I asked what we were to call her, before
any one else could speak Billy blurted out "Elizabeth Jane," and you
never heard such a shout of laughter as then rang through the air, for
Billy was so ready, and his face turned such a fiery hue the moment he
had spoken, that the men "smoked" him, as the saying is, and they
twitted him (being on very friendly terms with him now) on the lass he
had left behind him, and when he explained, very sheepishly, that she
was no more than eight years old when he saw her last they shouted
again, and told him that she certainly wouldn't know him now, with his
whiskers coming thick, and did he think she would wait for him when
there were properer men about? Billy took it all with surprising good
temper, and I found out afterwards that he and Clums had become very
close friends, and Clums told him that if he could not find Elizabeth
Jane, or if she was already wed, he would present him to his own
daughter Georgiana, called after the king, and a winsome lass, said
Clums, and just husband high.
We named the vessel _Elizabeth Jane_, and launched her, not by that
device of the windlass we had used for the _Fair Hope_, but making a
slipway of rollers, over which the men tugged her with ropes. Then we
sailed her on a first trip round the island, by which we learnt what
little changes were necessary in the outrigger to keep her steady. She
behaved exceeding well, and the seamen were mighty pleased with her,
and began in wondrous good spirits the preparation for the great voyage
we purposed making. They were greatly disappointed when I told them
that we should have to wait a good time yet, until the season of storms
and unsettled weather passed; but we had plenty to occupy us in the
meantime, for there was pork and fish to salt and cure, and breadfruit
to be prepared, for we did not know how long our voyage might last, and
I was in some dread lest our vessel would not have stowage room for all
the food I thought it necessary to take. We had to make also
water-pots of a special shape, so that they would lie snugly in the
bottom of the vessel, and we made hurdles to cover them, so that they
should not be broken. This matter of water gave me much concern, and I
resolved to fit up the _Fair Hope_ as a victualler, to follow our
larger vessel, as such vessels do the warships: we found that she had
room enough for a good many water-pots and a great quantity of
cocoa-nuts beside, the juice of which was both agreeable and wholesome,
if we did not drink it at night. We fitted up on each vessel a light
hoarding made of thin poles let into the gunwale, and carrying a canopy
of bread-bark cloth, which would not only defend us from the sun's
rays, but help to save the fresh water from evaporating. During the
period of waiting, moreover, the men made a good number of new arrows
and spears, and diligently practised themselves in their use. We kept
the muskets in good order, but there being scarcely any powder and shot
left we could not place much reliance on them if we should have to
fight, which I hoped very sincerely would not be the case.
[Sidenote: Retribution]
One thing I had resolutely determined on, and that was that Hoggett and
Wabberley and Chick should not accompany us. The two last I owed a
special grudge against, because it was they who had led my poor uncle
on to undertake his expedition, when they were all the time meditating
the treachery which they put in act when the opportunity came. And as
for Hoggett, he had built, so to speak, very well on their foundations,
and had been the controlling force in the mutiny and all that happened
after. Moreover, these three were the only men who did their work on
the island sullenly and unwillingly, for Chick's obligingness was
merely put on as a cloak. Though I had said nothing to make them
suppose they would be left on the island, so that they had as great an
incentive to further our preparations as any man, they did not in the
least change their usual behaviour, but performed all the tasks set
them ungraciously and with a grudge.
They were marched to the Red Rock every night at sunset, and this had
become so much a part of the order of things that they did not show any
surprise when it was done on the very night before we were to set sail.
I had said no word of my resolution to anybody as yet, but that night I
told it to Billy, and he was greatly delighted, saying that the only
thing he feared in the voyage was the presence of Hoggett. I told him
that if we could have kept the men prisoners I might have relented
towards them, but since that was impossible, I feared that if they were
let loose among the crew their bad influence would ruin any chance of
success we might have.
Accordingly, when they were brought over next morning, expecting to be
given places in the _Elizabeth Jane_, I had a parade of all the men
before me, and told these three plainly that they were to be left
behind. Hoggett went white to the lips, but said never a word, whereas
Wabberley and Chick whined and whimpered and behaved like the sorry
curs they were. They pled with me with the most abject entreaties and
promises, uttering the most piteous plaints of the horrors of solitude,
and so forth; whereupon I pointed out to them that they were in
infinitely better case than they had left us on the first day we came
to the island, having a house to live in, and arms and tools, as well
as animals and well-grown plantations. I told them that after their
many wickednesses they might be thankful that their lives were spared.
Finally I showed them, to the great amazement of all, the shaft below
the hut, and explained our device for getting water from the lake, and
the uses to which we put the cavern beneath, and told them also of the
passage to the shore; and then I thought Hoggett would die of rage and
mortification, especially when he saw Clums and the rest looking at him
with a kind of mocking pity. He broke through his silence now, and
poured out upon me such a torrent of invective and curses as I have
never heard before or since, foaming at the mouth in a manner that was
horrible to see. Then all of a sudden he ceased, as though his words
were choking him, and throwing upon me one last look full of hate and
malevolence he went away by himself, and I never saw him again.
We then embarked on the _Elizabeth Jane_, taking Little John with us.
Wabberley and Chick stood on the beach, very dejected, when we launched
the vessel, no doubt hoping to the last that I would relent. They
remained there until they looked but tiny specks, and we were far away
on the ocean. My heart was very full as I watched the island
diminishing in the distance, and thought of the years we had spent
there, and of all our trials and blessings, the latter outnumbering the
former, by the grace of God. Billy was very silent, telling me
afterwards that it gave him a queer feeling inside, to leave the island
which had been a proper home. We set our course due west, as near as
we could judge, and avoiding the island at which we had been so
inhospitably received, we made for a small group somewhat to the north,
where Mr. Bodger told me the men had settled for a time as mercenaries
of the native people. We put in at one of the islands, the people
running away at our approach, and filled up our water-vessels, and also
laid in a small stock of fresh cocoa-nuts, as well as fowls and other
things, in the room of those we had consumed. During their stay on the
island some of the men had picked up a smattering of the language of
the people, and they now confirmed, when the natives took courage and
came back, what they had before understood, that there was another
group of islands two days' paddling to the west. With the aid of a
favouring breeze on our quarter we came to these islands in a day and a
half, and ran for the outermost of the group, so as to be nearest to
the open sea if any attack were made upon us. But here we were
received in friendly wise, and we were fortunate again in getting news
of another group still farther to the west. However, when we got to
this, after two or three days' sail, we found that the people spoke a
tongue which none of our men understood, so that though we tried in
every possible manner to learn from them how we should sail to come to
other islands, we failed utterly, and saw ourselves forced to put to
sea again, having taken in fresh food and water, without any guidance
whatever. There we were, then, afloat on the wide ocean, without chart
or compass, the sport of chance, as some might think; but when I looked
up to the sky in the stillness of night, and thought that the birds
have no chart or compass, and not one so much as falls to the ground
but God knows, I felt perfectly contented and easy in mind, believing
that we should some day arrive at the haven where we would be.
[Sidenote: The Voyage]
It being very necessary that we should make land before our food and
water were all spent, the men took turns at the paddles, even while the
wind held, so that we should proceed with all possible speed. We were
five days without sighting land, and our water was all consumed when at
last we came to an island; but we could not land, because a great
multitude of savages in war-paint came to the shore brandishing clubs
and spears, and we had to wait till night, and then some of the men
went with me in the _Fair Hope_ to another part of the coast, and
landing there unseen, we were able to fill our vessels. I will not
tell all the incidents of that voyage, even if I could remember them;
but I may tell of one time, when we were chased by a fleet of
war-canoes, and should most certainly have been caught, only when the
first of the pursuing craft was but a biscuit's throw away, I fired a
musket shot, which terrified them so much that they turned their prows
and fled away shrieking.
After several weeks, the weather having been fair all the time, we were
caught by a storm in mid-ocean, out of sight of any land, and then for
the first time my heart sank, and I feared we should go to the bottom.
We had little rigging to make us top-heavy, and we managed to get that
down before the blast took us; but the waves swept over us with such
force that we had much ado to prevent ourselves from being washed out,
and had no thought of anything except to cling to the thwarts, and,
when each wave had passed, to bale for our lives. The rope by which we
towed the _Fair Hope_ was snapped, and she was carried away, and no
doubt before long submerged. In the merciful providence of God the
storm was quickly over, but then our case was dreadful in the extreme,
for all our provisions were ruined or else swept overboard, and the
most of our paddles were gone. To make matters worse, the wind
dropped, and we had nothing but light airs that scarcely moved the
vessel a yard a minute. For two days and nights we lay thus, the wide
waste of water all about us, the hot sun above, and neither land nor
ship in sight. On the first day not a man of us ate, and at night we
sought to moisten our parched lips by sucking the dew from our shirts;
but on the second day some of the men gnawed the sodden fish and flesh
that remained, which did but increase their thirst, so that in the
night they began to rave, and in the morning Pumfrey and Hoskin were
dead. We committed their bodies to the deep with great awe and
trembling, none knowing but he might be the next. But not long after a
strong breeze sprang up in the east, and carried our vessel along at so
round a pace that hope revived in our sad hearts, and Billy mounted the
gunwale and, clinging to the supports of the canopy I have mentioned,
he looked out eagerly for land. When he saw none after a while he came
down again, feeling very weak and dizzy, and had not the heart or the
strength to try again, and so we sped on almost blindly, having just
care enough to keep the vessel's head to the west. And then, when we
were again on the point of despairing, some one cried that he saw land
ahead, and when I looked, I saw a long dark shape upon the water, above
which a huge bank of clouds seemed to rest. We fixed our longing eyes
thereon, and as we drew nearer the clouds broke slowly apart, and we
saw the sides of stupendous mountains, ten times as lofty as the
mountain on Palm Tree Island, even in the part we saw, for their tops
were wrapped in mist. It was many hours, I am sure, before we drew
near to the coast, which we saw was very precipitous, so that we
despaired of finding a safe landing; but we steered north, skirting it,
and came by and by to a part where the cliffs fell away, and there,
being perfectly reckless now, for we could but die, we drove our vessel
ashore, and it struck on a ridge of rock very like the lava beach of
Palm Tree Island. By great good fortune there was no depth of water on
it, and we were able to wade ashore, which we reached more dead than
alive.
When we had rested somewhat we looked about for food, the inland parts
being very well wooded, and we were inexpressibly thankful when we
found both bread-fruit and bananas, and cocoa-nuts too, of which we
made a meal, some eating so ravenously that they were very ill, and I
feared Billy would die. But he and the others recovered, to my great
joy, and we camped there, and slept so heavily that if any savages had
come upon us we should have been killed without being able to lift a
hand to defend ourselves. However, we saw no savages during the week
we stayed there, and at the end of that time, being marvellously
refreshed and invigorated, we towed our vessel off the ridge (she had
suffered no hurt, the sea being calm) with ropes, some we had with us,
and others we made with creepers, swimming out into the sea with them.
Then we plaited baskets, and carried in them as much food as we could
load into the vessel, and once more set sail.
We found that our passage westward was barred by this island, which
extended in a north-westerly direction for many miles, at least a
hundred, I should think.[1] When we arrived at the northern extremity
of it, we drew in, so as to get more food, but perceiving a strange
black smoke arising from the earth, we were afraid to approach nearer,
nor indeed did the land appear very fertile; so we sailed past, hoping
to discover another island before our provisions, of which we had a
great store, were exhausted. But day after day went by without our
seeing any, and though we were very sparing with our food, it was at
last all gone, and we again suffered the torturing pangs of hunger and
thirst. And when we woke one morning after a terrible night, we did
not think we should live through the day, and the wild look in the eyes
of some of the men made me fear they would go mad, or even propose to
eat one another. I had already observed them gazing ravenously at
Little John, but I held him constantly at my side, being determined to
keep him as a memento of our sojourn on Palm Tree Island. I do not
know but I might have been prevailed on at last to consent to his
death, but towards evening Billy, using his little remnant of strength
to climb on to the gunwale, cried out that he saw a sail, and called to
me in a very hoarse voice to make a signal. I took up my musket at
once, and fired a shot, and then another, and then saw with great agony
that I could fire no more, for there was no more powder in my horn, and
the little that was in the others had been spoiled by the sea water.
But by and by we heard a shot, and Billy cried that the vessel was
clapping on more sail, and was coming towards us. We were in terrible
dread lest she should not come up with us before night, for she might
pass us in the dark, and then we must have died. But she came up
apace, and heaving to, hailed us in a tongue I did not understand,
though the vessel was of European make. Clums, however, told me she
was Dutch, and he answered the hail in that tongue, though his mouth
was so parched that his voice was nothing but a croak. He said we were
famishing, whereupon the skipper lowered a boat, sending food and water
to us. When we were somewhat revived, I told the officer in the boat,
by the interpretation of Clums, something of my story, at which he
marvelled greatly, especially at our strange vessel, and would have
heard more, only the skipper shouted for him to come back. I asked
whether the skipper would not take us aboard, assuring him that my
uncle would pay our charges very willingly, and when he returned to his
vessel the skipper consented to this, saying, as I heard afterwards,
that none but Englishmen, who were all mad, would have ventured to sea
in such a crazy craft.
Accordingly we went on board the Dutch vessel, some of us having to be
hauled up the side in slings, we were so weak. We left the poor
_Elizabeth Jane_ derelict, and Billy shed bitter tears, being still
very much of a child at heart, and taking this as a sad omen,
portending the death of the Elizabeth Jane he had known. As for me,
having nothing of this kind to be superstitious about, I was so joyful
at falling in with a friendly vessel, and at the hope this engendered
in me, that I did not spare a sigh upon the _Elizabeth Jane_, being
indeed much more sorrowful at the loss of the _Fair Hope_, much as a
father might feel the loss of his firstborn.
I said a "friendly vessel," but it was not so friendly neither. She
was a Dutch Indiaman bound for Java, and the skipper, though humane
enough to pick us up (after a promise of pay), never looked on us very
kindly, because we were English, and the Dutch were exceeding jealous
at the presence of English mariners in those waters, seeming to think
that the ocean was their highway by right. (I have observed that the
French and the Spanish, as well as ourselves, hold the same opinion, or
did hold it until that late gallant gentleman Lord Nelson taught them
better.) However, the Dutch skipper brought us to the island of Java,
whither he was bound, and handed us over to the Governor, who put me
through a very strict interrogation, with the aid of one of his
officers that knew English, a clerk sitting by and writing all I said.
He did the same afterwards with Billy and Mr. Bodger, each by himself,
and Billy was mightily indignant when the Governor, having had read out
some parts of my story, asked him if they were true.
I do not know what would have happened to me but that the Governor's
wife, who had lived in England and spoke English, was greatly
interested when she heard of our strange adventures: and it chancing
that I fell ill of a low fever, she had me brought to her house, and
tended me with great kindness, as much as Billy would let her, for he
was very jealous, and would not leave me. When I was recovered, and
this kind benefactress asked me what I would do, I said I must go home,
and though I had no money, my uncle would right willingly pay my
charges. Accordingly, by her kind interest I was provided with money,
and clothes of a Dutch cut, and took passage in a Dutch Indiaman that
was returning to Holland with a freight of sugar, in which Java is very
prolific, and Billy was to go with me as my servant, and Little John
too. I learnt that Mr. Bodger and Colam were dead, being carried off
by a fever like mine; but the rest of the men, all but two, had found
berths on the same Indiaman, she being short-handed owing to an
epidemic fever that had broken out aboard on her way out. The two last
of our party remained at Batavia for some time, being ill and unfit to
work; but afterwards they worked their way to Calcutta, and thence on a
British vessel to London, as they did not fail to inform me when they
arrived. As for me and Billy and the dog, we went on the Dutchman,
which touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and thence sailed direct for
Amsterdam, and from there we got a passage to London, where we arrived
on April 2, 1783, eight years and seven months after we departed on the
ill-fated _Lovey Susan_.
[Sidenote: Billy's Stepmother]
I wrote a letter to my uncle that same day, telling him of my return,
for I thought if I went home too suddenly the shock might do him an
injury, especially if he had the gout. Billy went to see his old dad,
promising to come back next day, since I had resolved to take him home
with me, and show my uncle the good companion of my solitude. He was
true to his word, and when I asked him how his people fared, he said
his father was the same as ever, only not quite so spry, and his
mother-in-law (as he called her) was fatter, but no less ill-tempered.
Her first words when she saw him were, "Back again like a bad penny!"
and after he had told her and his father somewhat of his strange life
since he left them, all she said was, "Well, you've growed a lot, and
big enough to work the smithy, and me and your father can take that
little public we've had our eyes on." "Not if I knows it," says Billy
to me; "I know what it 'ud be. She'd always be in the bar, a-taking a
little drop here and a little drop there, and she's a tartar when she's
had two glasses. Dad's a deal better off as he is, and he knows it."
I asked him whether he had made any inquiry for Elizabeth Jane, and he
looked at me very seriously, and said, "I knowed it meant something
when that there boat of ours went down. They don't know what's become
of her, but her dad was hanged for house-breaking a year or two ago, so
I reckon I've had a lucky escape. I'll go and see Clums when I get
back."
[Sidenote: Home Again]
We went down to Stafford next day. The news of my return had already
got abroad, and folk were expecting me, for there was a great crowd at
the door of the _Bell_, and when I clambered off the coach, there was
such a shouting and cheering as you never heard. I didn't know I had
so many friends. Two great youths pushed their way through the throng
and, gripping me by the arms, began lugging me into the inn, and one of
them cried, "Well done, old Harry!" and then I knew it was my cousin
Tom, and the other, who was James home from Cambridge, says, "Come on,
Harry, Mother's in there," and when I asked where was Father, they told
me he was crippled with the gout and couldn't come. My aunt, good
woman, round and rosy as ever, was all of a tremble when she saw me,
and burst into tears as she flung her arms around my neck; and then up
comes honest John King, the landlord, with a tumbler of rum shrub,
which he made her drink, saying it was the finest thing in the world
for the staggers; and the pot-boy was close behind him with four
foaming tankards of ale, and John lifts his and cries, "Welcome home!"
his honest face shining like the sun. And then I remembered Billy, and
called him in, and he came, rather red and uneasy, and the landlord
sent for another pot when I explained who he was, and there was such a
laughing and chattering that my head fairly buzzed.
When we had emptied our tankards (Billy whispered to me, "Master, did
you ever taste such beer?") my aunt said Father would be dying of
impatience, so we went out again among the crowd and found them looking
with curiosity and amazement at Little John, who sat on the door-step,
keeping guard. "Never seed a beast like that," says one; "what is he?"
Billy laughed, and said it was a dog, at which they scoffed: and I may
say here that it was a long time before the other dogs in our part
would own Little John as one of their kind. We got into a carriage
waiting for us, and nothing would satisfy some of the young 'prentices
but they must unyoke the horses, and drag us the two miles to my
uncle's house, and there were the maidservants at the gate (more of
them than when I went away), and they waved handkerchiefs or
dish-clouts, I don't know which, and Billy's face was redder than ever.
I found my uncle sitting in his great chair, with his leg stretched
out, and I was not a bit surprised nor hurt when his first words were,
"Mind my toe!" and then he cries, "God bless you, Harry, my boy," and
flings his arms round me, and kisses me as if I were a child again
instead of a tall fellow of near twenty-six. And then he wiped his
eyes and said he was an old fool, and catching sight of Billy he wanted
to know who that was, and I tried to explain, but somehow the words
stuck in my throat, and I couldn't say more than "Billy." "Billy
what?" shouts my uncle. "Bobbin, sir," says Billy, and everybody
laughed, and laughed again when Billy, looking very much puzzled, said,
"Rightly, William, sir." And then James, the graver of my two cousins,
said we had better have something to eat, and so we did, my aunt having
prepared a feast of fat things fit for kings, as Billy said, and finer
by a great deal than I ever had when I was king of Palm Tree Island.
On which everybody demanded to know what he meant, and I had to begin
my story there and then, and it lasted all through supper and many
hours beyond, and even then I had not told the half of it. You may
guess how rapt an audience I had, and how they cried out against
Wabberley and Chick, and the indignation of my uncle and aunt at their
villanous doings; and my admiration of Aunt Susan was vastly increased
because she did not turn round upon her husband, as many good women
would have done, and beg him to note that she had told him so. When
they heard what a close comrade Billy had been to me during those years
of solitude and trouble they perfectly overwhelmed him with kind words
and praises, and he said to me afterwards that he knew now why my uncle
had called his ship the _Lovey Susan_, and he wished he had an Aunt
Susan himself, instead of a mother-in-law.
[Sidenote: Pleasant Places]
When I, in my turn, came to hear of what had happened during my long
absence, I found that after two years had passed my uncle began to be
very restless, and when the third was gone without bringing any news of
us, he was much perturbed, and made many visits to London to ask if we
had been spoken by any vessel, and to see the captains of outgoing
ships and beg them to make what search they could. At the end of the
fourth year he gave us up for lost, and was in such terrible distress
of mind that he fell ill, and was a long time of recovering. When he
did get about again he collected all his books about the sea, and the
voyages of navigators and discoverers, of which he had a great many,
and burnt them every one, and never in all his life looked into any
book of the sort again, but took to poetry instead. His business had
thriven amazingly, and he led me into his private room one day and
showed me a book in which he had entered, quarter by quarter, the sums
of money he had put away for me in case I should ever come back. I had
not been home a week when he drew out a deed of partnership, on such
generous terms that by the time I was thirty I was what the country
folk call a very warm man. He presented Billy immediately with fifty
pounds, and learning from him that he wished to remain with me, he said
the best thing he could do was to learn the pottery trade, which Billy
accordingly did, and he is now the manager of our factory.
We had not been at home above six months when Billy came to me one
evening, and said that he was a good deal bothered in his mind. I
asked him what was the matter, and he asked me back whether I thought
there was anything unlucky in names. When I told him that I did not
think so, and he still seemed troubled, I said he had better make a
clean breast of it, whereupon he said: "It's that little girl again,
sir." "Clums's girl?" I said. "No, sir, it's Elizabeth Jane." "You
have found her, then?" I said. "It's not _her_," says he; "it's them,"
looking very gloomy.
I told him to light his pipe (he had become a very great smoker) and to
tell me all about it. Accordingly, between puffs of his pipe, he
explained that he thought one of my aunt's maids, whose name was
Elizabeth, a very fine young woman; and he also thought the parson's
cook, whose name was Jane, a very fine young woman; but that after the
sad fate of our vessel, and the distressing discovery that the first
Elizabeth Jane's father had been hanged, he was afraid there was
something "unchancy," as he put it, about both names. Moreover, he
liked both Elizabeth and Jane so much that, even if there had been no
shadow on their names, he could not make up his mind between them: "And
I can't have 'em both," says he; "not even Harry the Eighth, by what
you said, had more'n one wife at once." I said it was a very hard
case, and after considering of it very deeply (as he thought) for a
good while, I told him that, being quite inexperienced in these
matters, I was afraid my advice would be of little worth, but he might
ask them whether they would go back with him to Palm Tree Island, and
choose the one that said yes. "I've done that, sir," says he heavily,
"and they both say they'd like it ever so, if it was me." This was a
facer, and I knew not what to say, until by a happy thought I suggested
that he should consult my aunt Susan, with whom he was a prime
favourite.
He came to me a day or two after and said it was all settled. "I spoke
to Mrs. Brent, sir," says he, "and she said 'Bless the man! What next,
I wonder!' and then she says that she had nothing to say against
Elizabeth, who does her work well, but has rather a fancy for ribbons
and laces, she says; and as for Jane, she is a very decent respectable
woman, and a good cook, and makes dough cakes the very way Mrs. Brent
told her, she says. 'She'd make any man a good wife,' she says."
"Well, you must bring Jane to see me," I said.
"Oh, but it ain't Jane; it's Elizabeth," says he, and when I had done
laughing, and asked him why he had ignored my aunt's recommendation, he
launched forth into a very rambling and confused statement of which I
could make nothing. He married Elizabeth soon after, and I do not
think my aunt ever thoroughly forgave him.
[Sidenote: One Mariner Returns]
One day, about ten years ago, I was sitting with my uncle in his
garden, chatting with him as I frequently did in the evening, because
he could not get about much, when we saw an old man, very crooked and
infirm, hobble up to the gate on two sticks, and lift the latch.
Thinking he was a beggar, my uncle bade him very sharply to be off.
For a moment he hesitated; then he opened the gate and came slowly
towards us, my uncle shaking his fist at him, and daring him to move
another step. There was something strangely familiar, and yet
unfamiliar, in his appearance; but as he still hobbled along, it came
upon me all of a sudden who he was, and I told my uncle I believed it
was Nick Wabberley. "The scoundrel! The villain!" cried my uncle.
"How dare he show his face here!" and then he added under his breath,
"I'm getting old, Harry," remembering, I suppose, that he and Wabberley
were much of an age.
Wabberley came towards us very slowly, and I saw that his hands were
shaking and his features twisted. He looked at my uncle, and then at
me, but it was plain that he did not recognize me; and then he began to
speak, and it was very pitiful to hear him, because with palsy upon him
he could not pronounce some of his words aright, and the story he told
was pitiful too. He related how he had been left with Hoggett and
Chick on the island by me and the stowaway, "who didn't ought to have
left us, men what they ought to respect," said he. Chick died; then
Hoggett fell into a melancholy and took to going off for days alone.
One day there was a dreadful eruption of the volcano, which terrified
them so much that they went down into the cavern below the hut to hide,
and when the danger was past, Hoggett refused to go up; he had lost his
wits and thought he was in his grave. Wabberley let down food to him
in a basket, but he did not touch it, and so remained until he starved
himself to death.
"I was all alone; d'ye know what that is, Stephen Brent?" says
Wabberley. How long he lived thus solitary he knew not, but he was
nearly out of his mind when one day a ship's boat came ashore for
water, and brought him home, the wreck we saw him. "You won't forget
your old schoolmate, Stephen Brent?" says he; and my uncle, who had
muttered "Dear, dear!" and "Poor fellow!" and suchlike things, while
Wabberley was speaking, now thrust his hand into his pocket, and saying
"God have mercy on us all!" gave him a handful of silver. Wabberley
touched his forelock in the old mechanical fashion, and without a
second look at me he hobbled away, and as he came to the gate, whom
should he meet but Billy, walking up to the house with his eldest son,
a boy of twelve. Billy stopped, and in his face I saw a great
amazement; but Wabberley passed him by, not knowing him again. And
then I was surprised, and touched too, to see Billy follow after the
poor old man, and take him by one arm, and make his boy take the other,
to help his tottering footsteps, and so they passed out of my sight.
[Sidenote: The End]
I have been long of telling my story; yet I might have told much more
but for the fear of wearying you. Billy sometimes says he wouldn't
have minded taking a trip to the South Seas and having a look at Old
Smoker; but if it had come to the point I think he could hardly have
torn himself away from Elizabeth and the little Bobbins. As for me,
though I have neither wife nor child, I am too busy a man, and maybe
too old, to think of entering upon what would, I fear, be a long and
troublesome search. There have been many voyages of discovery in those
parts since my time, and if Palm Tree Island is now marked on maps and
charts for the guidance of captains and navigators, I think I should
feel a trifle sorry did I see it under another name.
[1] This must have been Bougainville Island, one of the Solomon
Group.--H.S.
RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.
HERBERT STRANG'S
BOOKS FOR BOYS
"_Mr. Strang is the legitimate successor to the late Mr. Henty. There
were many chapters of Henty's, however, which boys were prone to
'skip'; they will not be tempted to skip anything of Mr.
Strang's._"--BIRMINGHAM POST.
Humphrey Bold: His Chances and Mischances by Land and Sea
Illustrated in Colour by W. H. MARGETSON. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant,
olivine edges, 6/-. Special Presentation Edition, 7/6 net.
In this story are recounted the many adventures that befell Mr.
Humphrey Bold of Shrewsbury, from the time when, a puny slip of a boy,
he was befriended by Joe Punchard, the cooper's apprentice (who nearly
shook the life out of his tormentor, Cyrus Vetch, by rolling him down
the Wyle Cop in a barrel), to the day when, grown into a sturdy young
giant, he sailed into Plymouth Sound as first lieutenant of the
_Bristol_ frigate. The intervening chapters teem with exciting
incidents, telling of sea fights; of Humphrey's escape from a French
prison; of his voyage to the West Indies and all the perils he
encountered there.
"A most thrilling and romantic story. We can easily understand any boy
becoming so interested and fascinated as to want to read it at a
sitting."--_Schoolmaster_.
Rob the Ranger: A Story of the Fight for Canada.
Illustrated in Coiour by W. H. MARGETSON, and three Maps. Crown 8vo,
cloth elegant, olivine edges, 6/-. Special Presentation Edition, 7/6
net.
Rob Somers, son of an English settler in New York State, sets out with
Lone Pete, a trapper, in pursuit of an Indian raiding party which has
destroyed his home and carried off his younger brother. He is captured
and taken to Quebec, where he finds his brother, and escapes with him
in the dead of the winter, in company with a little band of New
Englanders. They are pursued over snow and ice, and in a log hut
beside Lake Champlain maintain a desperate struggle against a larger
force of French, Indians, and half-breeds, ultimately reaching Fort
Edward in safety.
This book is recommended by General Baden Powell first among scouting
stories for boys.
One of Clive's Heroes: A Story of the Fight for India.
Illustrated in Colour, and Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine
edges, 6/-
Desmond Burke goes out to India to seek his fortune, and is sold by a
false friend of his, one Marmaduke Diggle, to the famous Pirate of
Gheria. But he escapes, runs away with one of the Pirate's own
vessels, and meets Colonel Clive, whom he assists to capture the
Pirate's stronghold. His subsequent adventures on the other side of
India--how he saves a valuable cargo of his friend, Mr. Merriman,
assists Clive in his fights against Sirajuddaula, and rescues Mr.
Merriman's wife and daughter from the clutches of Diggle--are told with
great spirit and humour.
"An absorbing story.... The narrative not only thrills, but also
weaves skilfully out of fact and fiction a clear impression of our
fierce struggle for India."--_Athenæum_.
Settlers and Scouts: A Story of the African Highlands.
Illustrated in Colours. Crown 8vo, cloth, olivine edges. 5/-.
An Englishman and his son emigrate to a remote part of British East
Africa, where they settle down as farmers and stock raisers. The story
tells of their difficulties through the depredations of wild beasts,
and the yet more formidable attacks of an Arab engaged in the ivory
trade. The story is a worthy successor to "Tom Burnaby," also an
African tale, by which Mr. Herbert Strang made his reputation as a
writer for boys.
Samba: A Story of the Congo.
Illustrated in Colour. Crown 8vo, cloth elegant, olivine edges, 5/-.
The first work of fiction in which the cause of the hapless Congo
native is championed.
"It was an excellent idea on the part of Mr. Herbert Strang to write a
story about the treatment of the natives in the Congo Free State....
Mr. Strang has a big following among English boys, and anything he
chooses to write is sure to receive their appreciative
attention."--_Standard_.
"Mr. Herbert Strang has written not a few admirable books for boys, but
none likely to make a more profound impression than his new story of
this year."--_Scotsman_.
Barclay of the Guides: A Story of the Indian Mutiny.
Illustrated in coiour by H. W. KOEKKOEK. With Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth
elegant, olivine edges, 5/-.
Of all our Native Indian regiments the Guides have probably the most
glorious traditions. They were among the few who remained true to
their salt during the trying days of the great Mutiny, vying in
gallantry and devotion with our best British regiments. The story
tells how James Barclay, after a strange career in Afghanistan, becomes
associated with this famous regiment, and though young in years, bears
a man's part in the great march to Delhi, the capture of the royal
city, and the suppression of the Mutiny.
"One of the best boys' books of the year, and one which will find
favour everywhere."--_Journal of Education_.
With Drake on the Spanish Main
Illustrated in Colour by ARCHIBALD WEBB. With Maps. Crown 8vo, cloth
elegant, olivine edges, 5/-
A rousing story of adventure by sea and land. The hero, Dennis
Hazelrig, is cast ashore on an island in the Spanish Main, the sole
survivor of a band of adventurers from Plymouth. He lives for some
time with no companion but a spider monkey, but by a series of
remarkable incidents he gathers about him a numerous band of escaped
slaves and prisoners, English, French and native; captures a Spanish
Fort; fights a Spanish galleon; meets Francis Drake, and accompanies
him in his famous adventures on the Isthmus of Panama; and finally
reaches England the possessor of much treasure.
Jack Hardy: or, A Hundred Years Ago.
Illustrated by W. RAINEY, R.I. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 2/6.
The old smuggling days! What visions are called up by the name--of
stratagems, and caves, and secret passages, and ding-dong fights
between sturdy seamen and dashing King's officers! It is in these
brave days of old that Mr. Herbert Strang has laid the scenes of his
story "Jack Hardy." Jack is a bold young middy who, in the course of
his duty to the King, falls into all manner of difficulties and
dangers: has unpleasant experiences in a French prison, escapes by
sheer daring and ingenuity, and turns the tables on his captors in a
way that will make every British boy's heart glow.
"Herbert Strang is second to none in graphic power and vivacity ...
Here is the best of characterization in bold outline."--_Athenæum_.
King of the Air: or, To Morocco on an Airship
Illustrated in Colour by W. E. WEBSTER. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 2/6
Lord of the Seas: A Story of a Submarine.
Illustrated in Colour by C. FLEMING WILLIAMS. Crown 8vo, cloth extra,
2/6.
The present day is witnessing a simultaneous attack by scientific
investigation on the problems of aerial and submarine locomotion. In
"King of the Air" Mr. Strang gives us a romance of modern aeronautics.
In "Lord of the Seas" we have a companion volume dealing with the
marvels of submarine navigation.
"Without doubt Mr. Strang is at the top of his profession. 'The King
of the Air' is one of the best boys' books in print, and Mr. Strang has
given us an excellent companion in 'Lord of the Seas.'"--_Dundee
Advertiser_.
Swift and Sure: The Story of a Hydroplane.
Crown 8vo, cloth extra 2/6.
What the aeroplane is to the air the hydroplane promises to be to the
sea. This story, a pendant to the two preceding books, is a forecast
of what may be expected from the progress of mechanical invention.
HERBERT STRANG'S
HISTORICAL SERIES
Crown 8vo. With 4 Illustrations in Colour, 1/6 each.
WITH THE BLACK PRINCE (EDWARD III.).
CLAUD THE ARCHER (HENRY V.).
A MARINER OF ENGLAND (ELIZABETH).
ONE OF RUPERT'S HORSE (CHARLES I.).
WITH MARLBOROUGH TO MALPLAQUET (ANNE).
HENRY FROWDE AND HODDER & STOUGHTON
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