The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Coral Island, by R. M. Ballantyne

Published：2026-07-30 22:23:24 Source: rainy days gift ideas with backyard playsets Author: Science Toys

The best toddler walkers for 18 monthsCoral Island:
A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

by

ROBERT MICHAEL BALLANTYNE,
author of “hudson’s bay; or, every-day life inthe wilds of north america;
”snow-flakes and sun-beams;or, the youngfur-traders;”
“ungava: atale of the esquimaux,” etc., etc.

withillustrations by dalziel.

London:
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW.
edinburgh; and newyork.
1884.

Preface

I was a boy when I went through the wonderful adventuresherein set down. With the memory of my boyish feelingsstrong upon me, I present my book specially to boys, in theearnest hope that they may derive valuable information, muchpleasure, great profit, and unbounded amusement from itspages.

One word more. If there is any boy or man who loves tobe melancholy and morose, and who cannot enter with kindlysympathy into the regions of fun, let me seriously advise him toshut my book and put it away. It is not meant for him.

RALPH ROVER

CHAPTER I.

The beginning—My early life and character—I thirstfor adventure in foreign lands and go to sea.

Roving has always been, and still is, my ruling passion, thejoy of my heart, the very sunshine of my existence. Inchildhood, in boyhood, and in man’s estate, I have been arover; not a mere rambler among the woody glens and upon thehill-tops of my own native land, but an enthusiastic roverthroughout the length and breadth of the wide wide world.

It was a wild, black night of howling storm, the night inwhich I was born on the foaming bosom of the broad AtlanticOcean. My father was a sea-captain; my grandfather was asea-captain; my great-grandfather had been a marine. Nobodycould tell positively what occupation hisfather hadfollowed; but my dear mother used to assert that he had been amidshipman, whose grandfather, on the mother’s side, hadbeen an admiral in the royal navy. At anyrate we knew that,as far back as our family could be traced, it had been intimatelyconnected with the great watery waste. Indeed this was thecase on both sides of the house; for my mother always went to seawith my father on his long voyages, and so spent the greater partof her life upon the water.

Thus it was, I suppose, that I came to inherit a rovingdisposition. Soon after I was born, my father, being old,retired from a seafaring life, purchased a small cottage in afishing village on the west coast of England, and settled down tospend the evening of his life on the shores of that sea which hadfor so many years been his home. It was not long after thisthat I began to show the roving spirit that dwelt withinme. For some time past my infant legs had been gainingstrength, so that I came to be dissatisfied with rubbing the skinoff my chubby knees by walking on them, and made many attempts tostand up and walk like a man; all of which attempts, however,resulted in my sitting down violently and in suddensurprise. One day I took advantage of my dearmother’s absence to make another effort; and, to my joy, Iactually succeeded in reaching the doorstep, over which I tumbledinto a pool of muddy water that lay before my father’scottage door. Ah, how vividly I remember the horror of mypoor mother when she found me sweltering in the mud amongst agroup of cackling ducks, and the tenderness with which shestripped off my dripping clothes and washed my dirty littlebody! From this time forth my rambles became more frequent,and, as I grew older, more distant, until at last I had wanderedfar and near on the shore and in the woods around our humbledwelling, and did not rest content until my father bound meapprentice to a coasting vessel, and let me go to sea.

For some years I was happy in visiting the sea-ports, and incoasting along the shores of my native land. My Christianname was Ralph, and my comrades added to this the name of Rover,in consequence of the passion which I always evinced fortravelling. Rover was not my real name, but as I neverreceived any other I came at last to answer to it as naturally asto my proper name; and, as it is not a bad one, I see no goodreason why I should not introduce myself to the reader as RalphRover. My shipmates were kind, good-natured fellows, andthey and I got on very well together. They did, indeed,very frequently make game of and banter me, but not unkindly; andI overheard them sometimes saying that Ralph Rover was a“queer, old-fashioned fellow.” This, I mustconfess, surprised me much, and I pondered the saying long, butcould come at no satisfactory conclusion as to that wherein myold-fashionedness lay. It is true I was a quiet lad, andseldom spoke except when spoken to. Moreover, I never couldunderstand the jokes of my companions even when they wereexplained to me: which dulness in apprehension occasioned me muchgrief; however, I tried to make up for it by smiling and lookingpleased when I observed that they were laughing at some witticismwhich I had failed to detect. I was also very fond ofinquiring into the nature of things and their causes, and oftenfell into fits of abstraction while thus engaged in mymind. But in all this I saw nothing that did not seem to beexceedingly natural, and could by no means understand why mycomrades should call me “an old-fashionedfellow.”

Now, while engaged in the coasting trade, I fell in with manyseamen who had travelled to almost every quarter of the globe;and I freely confess that my heart glowed ardently within me asthey recounted their wild adventures in foreign lands,—thedreadful storms they had weathered, the appalling dangers theyhad escaped, the wonderful creatures they had seen both on theland and in the sea, and the interesting lands and strange peoplethey had visited. But of all the places of which they toldme, none captivated and charmed my imagination so much as theCoral Islands of the Southern Seas. They told me ofthousands of beautiful fertile islands that had been formed by asmall creature called the coral insect, where summer reignednearly all the year round,—where the trees were laden witha constant harvest of luxuriant fruit,—where the climatewas almost perpetually delightful,—yet where, strange tosay, men were wild, bloodthirsty savages, excepting in thosefavoured isles to which the gospel of our Saviour had beenconveyed. These exciting accounts had so great an effectupon my mind, that, when I reached the age of fifteen, I resolvedto make a voyage to the South Seas.

I had no little difficulty at first in prevailing on my dearparents to let me go; but when I urged on my father that he wouldnever have become a great captain had he remained in the coastingtrade, he saw the truth of what I said, and gave hisconsent. My dear mother, seeing that my father had made uphis mind, no longer offered opposition to my wishes.“But oh, Ralph,” she said, on the day I bade heradieu, “come back soon to us, my dear boy, for we aregetting old now, Ralph, and may not have many years tolive.”

I will not take up my reader’s time with a minuteaccount of all that occurred before I took my final leave of mydear parents. Suffice it to say, that my father placed meunder the charge of an old mess-mate of his own, a merchantcaptain, who was on the point of sailing to the South Seas in hisown ship, the Arrow. My mother gave me her blessing and asmall Bible; and her last request was, that I would never forgetto read a chapter every day, and say my prayers; which Ipromised, with tears in my eyes, that I would certainly do.

Soon afterwards I went on board the Arrow, which was a finelarge ship, and set sail for the islands of the PacificOcean.

CHAPTER II.

The departure—The sea—My companions—Someaccount of the wonderful sights we saw on the great deep—Adreadful storm and a frightful wreck.

It was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread hercanvass to the breeze, and sailed for the regions of thesouth. Oh, how my heart bounded with delight as I listenedto the merry chorus of the sailors, while they hauled at theropes and got in the anchor! The captain shouted—themen ran to obey—the noble ship bent over to the breeze, andthe shore gradually faded from my view, while I stood looking onwith a kind of feeling that the whole was a delightful dream.

The first thing that struck me as being different fromanything I had yet seen during my short career on the sea, wasthe hoisting of the anchor on deck, and lashing it firmly downwith ropes, as if we had now bid adieu to the land for ever, andwould require its services no more.

“There, lass,” cried a broad-shouldered jack-tar,giving the fluke of the anchor a hearty slap with his hand afterthe housing was completed—“there, lass, take a goodnap now, for we shan’t ask you to kiss the mud again formany a long day to come!”

And so it was. That anchor did not “kiss themud” for many long days afterwards; and when at last itdid, it was for the last time!

There were a number of boys in the ship, but two of them weremy special favourites. Jack Martin was a tall, strapping,broad-shouldered youth of eighteen, with a handsome,good-humoured, firm face. He had had a good education, wasclever and hearty and lion-like in his actions, but mild andquiet in disposition. Jack was a general favourite, and hada peculiar fondness for me. My other companion was PeterkinGay. He was little, quick, funny, decidedly mischievous,and about fourteen years old. But Peterkin’s mischiefwas almost always harmless, else he could not have been so muchbeloved as he was.

“Hallo! youngster,” cried Jack Martin, giving me aslap on the shoulder, the day I joined the ship, “comebelow and I’ll show you your berth. You and I are tobe mess-mates, and I think we shall be good friends, for I likethe look o’ you.”

Jack was right. He and I and Peterkin afterwards becamethe best and stanchest friends that ever tossed together on thestormy waves.

I shall say little about the first part of our voyage.We had the usual amount of rough weather and calm; also we sawmany strange fish rolling in the sea, and I was greatly delightedone day by seeing a shoal of flying fish dart out of the waterand skim through the air about a foot above the surface.They were pursued by dolphins, which feed on them, and oneflying-fish in its terror flew over the ship, struck on therigging, and fell upon the deck. Its wings were just finselongated, and we found that they could never fly far at a time,and never mounted into the air like birds, but skimmed along thesurface of the sea. Jack and I had it for dinner, and foundit remarkably good.

When we approached Cape Horn, at the southern extremity ofAmerica, the weather became very cold and stormy, and the sailorsbegan to tell stories about the furious gales and the dangers ofthat terrible cape.

“Cape Horn,” said one, “is the most horribleheadland I ever doubled. I’ve sailed round it twicealready, and both times the ship was a’most blow’dout o’ the water.”

“An’ I’ve been round it once,” saidanother, “an’ that time the sails were split, and theropes frozen in the blocks, so that they wouldn’t work, andwe wos all but lost.”

“An’ I’ve been round it five times,”cried a third, “an’ every time wos wuss than another,the gales wos so tree-mendous!”

“And I’ve been round it no times at all,”cried Peterkin, with an impudent wink of his eye,“an’ thattime I wos blow’d insideout!”

Nevertheless, we passed the dreaded cape without much roughweather, and, in the course of a few weeks afterwards, weresailing gently, before a warm tropical breeze, over the PacificOcean. Thus we proceeded on our voyage, sometimes boundingmerrily before a fair breeze, at other times floating calmly onthe glassy wave and fishing for the curious inhabitants of thedeep,—all of which, although the sailors thought little ofthem, were strange, and interesting, and very wonderful tome.

At last we came among the Coral Islands of the Pacific, and Ishall never forget the delight with which I gazed,—when wechanced to pass one,—at the pure, white, dazzling shores,and the verdant palm-trees, which looked bright and beautiful inthe sunshine. And often did we three long to be landed onone, imagining that we should certainly find perfect happinessthere! Our wish was granted sooner than we expected.

One night, soon after we entered the tropics, an awful stormburst upon our ship. The first squall of wind carried awaytwo of our masts; and left only the foremast standing. Eventhis, however, was more than enough, for we did not dare to hoista rag of sail on it. For five days the tempest raged in allits fury. Everything was swept off the decks except onesmall boat. The steersman was lashed to the wheel, lest heshould be washed away, and we all gave ourselves up forlost. The captain said that he had no idea where we were,as we had been blown far out of our course; and we feared muchthat we might get among the dangerous coral reefs which are sonumerous in the Pacific. At day-break on the sixth morningof the gale we saw land ahead. It was an island encircledby a reef of coral on which the waves broke in fury. Therewas calm water within this reef, but we could only see one narrowopening into it. For this opening we steered, but, ere wereached it, a tremendous wave broke on our stern, tore the ruddercompletely off, and left us at the mercy of the winds andwaves.

“It’s all over with us now, lads,” said thecaptain to the men; “get the boat ready to launch; we shallbe on the rocks in less than half an hour.”

The men obeyed in gloomy silence, for they felt that there waslittle hope of so small a boat living in such a sea.

“Come boys,” said Jack Martin, in a grave tone, tome and Peterkin, as we stood on the quarterdeck awaiting ourfate;—“Come boys, we three shall sticktogether. You see it is impossible that the little boat canreach the shore, crowded with men. It will be sure toupset, so I mean rather to trust myself to a large oar. I seethrough the telescope that the ship will strike at the tail ofthe reef, where the waves break into the quiet water inside; so,if we manage to cling to the oar till it is driven over thebreakers, we may perhaps gain the shore. What say you; willyou join me?”

We gladly agreed to follow Jack, for he inspired us withconfidence, although I could perceive, by the sad tone of hisvoice, that he had little hope; and, indeed, when I looked at thewhite waves that lashed the reef and boiled against the rocks asif in fury, I felt that there was but a step between us anddeath. My heart sank within me; but at that moment mythoughts turned to my beloved mother, and I remembered thosewords, which were among the last that she said tome—“Ralph, my dearest child, always remember in thehour of danger to look to your Lord and Saviour JesusChrist. He alone is both able and willing to save your bodyand your soul.” So I felt much comforted when Ithought thereon.

The ship was now very near the rocks. The men were readywith the boat, and the captain beside them giving orders, when atremendous wave came towards us. We three ran towards thebow to lay hold of our oar, and had barely reached it when thewave fell on the deck with a crash like thunder. At thesame moment the ship struck, the foremast broke off close to thedeck and went over the side, carrying the boat and men along withit. Our oar got entangled with the wreck, and Jack seizedan axe to cut it free, but, owing to the motion of the ship, hemissed the cordage and struck the axe deep into the oar.Another wave, however, washed it clear of the wreck. We allseized hold of it, and the next instant we were struggling in thewild sea. The last thing I saw was the boat whirling in thesurf, and all the sailors tossed into the foaming waves.Then I became insensible.

On recovering from my swoon, I found myself lying on a bank ofsoft grass, under the shelter of an overhanging rock, withPeterkin on his knees by my side, tenderly bathing my templeswith water, and endeavouring to stop the blood that flowed from awound in my forehead.

CHAPTER III.

The Coral Island—Our first cogitations after landing,and the result of them—We conclude that the island isuninhabited.

There is a strange and peculiar sensation experienced inrecovering from a state of insensibility, which is almostindescribable; a sort of dreamy, confused consciousness; ahalf-waking half-sleeping condition, accompanied with a feelingof weariness, which, however, is by no means disagreeable.As I slowly recovered and heard the voice of Peterkin inquiringwhether I felt better, I thought that I must have oversleptmyself, and should be sent to the mast-head for being lazy; butbefore I could leap up in haste, the thought seemed to vanishsuddenly away, and I fancied that I must have been ill.Then a balmy breeze fanned my cheek, and I thought of home, andthe garden at the back of my father’s cottage, with itsluxuriant flowers, and the sweet-scented honey-suckle that mydear mother trained so carefully upon the trellised porch.But the roaring of the surf put these delightful thoughts toflight, and I was back again at sea, watching the dolphins andthe flying-fish, and reefing topsails off the wild and stormyCape Horn. Gradually the roar of the surf became louder andmore distinct. I thought of being wrecked far far away frommy native land, and slowly opened my eyes to meet those of mycompanion Jack, who, with a look of intense anxiety, was gazinginto my face.

“Speak to us, my dear Ralph,” whispered Jack,tenderly, “are you better now?”

I smiled and looked up, saying, “Better; why, what doyou mean, Jack? I’m quite well.”

“Then what are you shamming for, and frightening us inthis way?” said Peterkin, smiling through his tears; forthe poor boy had been really under the impression that I wasdying.

I now raised myself on my elbow, and putting my hand to myforehead, found that it had been cut pretty severely, and that Ihad lost a good deal of blood.

“Come, come, Ralph,” said Jack, pressing me gentlybackward, “lie down, my boy; you’re not rightyet. Wet your lips with this water, it’s cool andclear as crystal. I got it from a spring close athand. There now, don’t say a word, hold yourtongue,” said he, seeing me about to speak.“I’ll tell you all about it, but you must not utter asyllable till you have rested well.”

“Oh! don’t stop him from speaking, Jack,”said Peterkin, who, now that his fears for my safety wereremoved, busied himself in erecting a shelter of broken branchesin order to protect me from the wind; which, however, was almostunnecessary, for the rock beside which I had been laid completelybroke the force of the gale. “Let him speak, Jack;it’s a comfort to hear that he’s alive, after lyingthere stiff and white and sulky for a whole hour, just like anEgyptian mummy. Never saw such a fellow as you are, Ralph;always up to mischief. You’ve almost knocked out allmy teeth and more than half choked me, and now you go shammingdead! It’s very wicked of you, indeed itis.”

While Peterkin ran on in this style, my faculties became quiteclear again, and I began to understand my position.“What do you mean by saying I half choked you,Peterkin?” said I.

“What do I mean? Is English not your mothertongue, or do you want me to repeat it in French, by way ofmaking it clearer? Don’t youremember—”

“I remember nothing,” said I, interrupting him,“after we were thrown into the sea.”

“Hush, Peterkin,” said Jack, “you’reexciting Ralph with your nonsense. I’ll explain it toyou. You recollect that after the ship struck, we threesprang over the bow into the sea; well, I noticed that the oarstruck your head and gave you that cut on the brow, which nearlystunned you, so that you grasped Peterkin round the neck withoutknowing apparently what you were about. In doing so youpushed the telescope,—which you clung to as if it had beenyour life,—against Peterkin’s mouth—”

“Pushed it against his mouth!” interruptedPeterkin, “say crammed it down his throat. Why,there’s a distinct mark of the brass rim on the back of mygullet at this moment!”

“Well, well, be that as it may,” continued Jack,“you clung to him, Ralph, till I feared you really wouldchoke him; but I saw that he had a good hold of the oar, so Iexerted myself to the utmost to push you towards the shore, whichwe luckily reached without much trouble, for the water inside thereef is quite calm.”

“But the captain and crew, what of them?” Iinquired anxiously.

Jack shook his head.

“Are they lost?”

“No, they are not lost, I hope, but I fear there is notmuch chance of their being saved. The ship struck at thevery tail of the island on which we are cast. When the boatwas tossed into the sea it fortunately did not upset, although itshipped a good deal of water, and all the men managed to scrambleinto it; but before they could get the oars out the gale carriedthem past the point and away to leeward of the island.After we landed I saw them endeavouring to pull towards us, butas they had only one pair of oars out of the eight that belong tothe boat, and as the wind was blowing right in their teeth, theygradually lost ground. Then I saw them put about and hoistsome sort of sail,—a blanket, I fancy, for it was too smallfor the boat,—and in half an hour they were out ofsight.”

“Poor fellows,” I murmured sorrowfully.

“But the more I think about it, I’ve better hopeof them,” continued Jack, in a more cheerful tone.“You see, Ralph, I’ve read a great deal about theseSouth Sea Islands, and I know that in many places they arescattered about in thousands over the sea, so they’realmost sure to fall in with one of them before long.”

“I’m sure I hope so,” said Peterkin,earnestly. “But what has become of the wreck,Jack? I saw you clambering up the rocks there while I waswatching Ralph. Did you say she had gone topieces?”

“No, she has not gone to pieces, but she has gone to thebottom,” replied Jack. “As I said before, shestruck on the tail of the island and stove in her bow, but thenext breaker swung her clear, and she floated away toleeward. The poor fellows in the boat made a hard struggleto reach her, but long before they came near her she filled andwent down. It was after she foundered that I saw themtrying to pull to the island.”

There was a long silence after Jack ceased speaking, and Ihave no doubt that each was revolving in his mind ourextraordinary position. For my part I cannot say that myreflections were very agreeable. I knew that we were on anisland, for Jack had said so, but whether it was inhabited or notI did not know. If it should be inhabited, I felt certain,from all I had heard of South Sea Islanders, that we should beroasted alive and eaten. If it should turn out to beuninhabited, I fancied that we should be starved to death.“Oh!” thought I, “if the ship had only stuck onthe rocks we might have done pretty well, for we could haveobtained provisions from her, and tools to enable us to build ashelter, but now—alas! alas! we are lost!”These last words I uttered aloud in my distress.

“Lost! Ralph?” exclaimed Jack, while a smileoverspread his hearty countenance. “Saved, you should havesaid. Your cogitations seem to have taken a wrong road, andled you to a wrong conclusion.”

“Do you know what conclusion Ihave cometo?” said Peterkin. “I have made up my mindthat it’s capital,—first rate,—the best thingthat ever happened to us, and the most splendid prospect thatever lay before three jolly young tars. We’ve got anisland all to ourselves. We’ll take possession in thename of the king; we’ll go and enter the service of itsblack inhabitants. Of course we’ll rise, naturally,to the top of affairs. White men always do in savagecountries. You shall be king, Jack; Ralph, prime minister,and I shall be—”

“The court jester,” interrupted Jack.

“No,” retorted Peterkin, “I’ll have notitle at all. I shall merely accept a highly responsiblesituation under government, for you see, Jack, I’m fond ofhaving an enormous salary and nothing to do.”

“But suppose there are no natives?”

“Then we’ll build a charming villa, and plant alovely garden round it, stuck all full of the most splendiferoustropical flowers, and we’ll farm the land, plant, sow,reap, eat, sleep, and be merry.”

“But to be serious,” said Jack, assuming a graveexpression of countenance, which I observed always had the effectof checking Peterkin’s disposition to make fun ofeverything, “we are really in rather an uncomfortableposition. If this is a desert island, we shall have to livevery much like the wild beasts, for we have not a tool of anykind, not even a knife.”

“Yes, we have that,” said Peterkin,fumbling in his trousers pocket, from which he drew forth a smallpenknife with only one blade, and that was broken.

“Well, that’s better than nothing; butcome,” said Jack, rising, “we are wasting our time intalkinginstead of doing. You seem wellenough to walk now, Ralph, let us see what we have got in ourpockets, and then let us climb some hill and ascertain what sortof island we have been cast upon, for, whether good or bad, itseems likely to be our home for some time to come.”

CHAPTER IV.

We examine into our personal property, and make a happydiscovery—Our island described—Jack proves himself tobe learned and sagacious above his fellows—Curiousdiscoveries—Natural lemonade!

We now seated ourselves upon a rock and began to examine intoour personal property. When we reached the shore, afterbeing wrecked, my companions had taken off part of their clothesand spread them out in the sun to dry, for, although the gale wasraging fiercely, there was not a single cloud in the brightsky. They had also stripped off most part of my wet clothesand spread them also on the rocks. Having resumed ourgarments, we now searched all our pockets with the utmost care,and laid their contents out on a flat stone before us; and, nowthat our minds were fully alive to our condition, it was with nolittle anxiety that we turned our several pockets inside out, inorder that nothing might escape us. When all was collectedtogether we found that our worldly goods consisted of thefollowing articles:—

First, A small penknife with a single blade broken off aboutthe middle and very rusty, besides having two or three notches onits edge. (Peterkin said of this, with his usualpleasantry, that it would do for a saw as well as a knife, whichwas a great advantage.) Second, An old German-silverpencil-case without any lead in it. Third, A piece ofwhip-cord about six yards long. Fourth, A sailmaker’sneedle of a small size. Fifth, A ship’s telescope,which I happened to have in my hand at the time the ship struck,and which I had clung to firmly all the time I was in thewater. Indeed it was with difficulty that Jack got it outof my grasp when I was lying insensible on the shore. Icannot understand why I kept such a firm hold of thistelescope. They say that a drowning man will clutch at astraw. Perhaps it may have been some such feeling in me,for I did not know that it was in my hand at the time we werewrecked. However, we felt some pleasure in having it withus now, although we did not see that it could be of much use tous, as the glass at the small end was broken to pieces. Oursixth article was a brass ring which Jack always wore on hislittle finger. I never understood why he wore it, for Jackwas not vain of his appearance, and did not seem to care forornaments of any kind. Peterkin said “it was inmemory of the girl he left behind him!” But as henever spoke of this girl to either of us, I am inclined to thinkthat Peterkin was either jesting or mistaken. In additionto these articles we had a little bit of tinder, and the clotheson our backs. These last were as follows:—

Each of us had on a pair of stout canvass trousers, and a pairof sailors’ thick shoes. Jack wore a red flannelshirt, a blue jacket, and a red Kilmarnock bonnet or night-cap,besides a pair of worsted socks, and a cottonpocket-handkerchief, with sixteen portraits of Lord Nelsonprinted on it, and a union Jack in the middle. Peterkin hadon a striped flannel shirt,—which he wore outside histrousers, and belted round his waist, after the manner of atunic,—and a round black straw hat. He had no jacket,having thrown it off just before we were cast into the sea; butthis was not of much consequence, as the climate of the islandproved to be extremely mild; so much so, indeed, that Jack and Ioften preferred to go about without our jackets. Peterkinhad also a pair of white cotton socks, and a blue handkerchiefwith white spots all over it. My own costume consisted of ablue flannel shirt, a blue jacket, a black cap, and a pair ofworsted socks, besides the shoes and canvass trousers alreadymentioned. This was all we had, and besides these things wehad nothing else; but, when we thought of the danger from whichwe had escaped, and how much worse off we might have been had theship struck on the reef during the night, we felt very thankfulthat we were possessed of so much, although, I must confess, wesometimes wished that we had had a little more.

While we were examining these things, and talking about them,Jack suddenly started and exclaimed—

“The oar! we have forgotten the oar.”

“What good will that do us?” said Peterkin;“there’s wood enough on the island to make a thousandoars.”

“Ay, lad,” replied Jack, “but there’sa bit of hoop iron at the end of it, and that may be of much useto us.”

“Very true,” said I, “let us go fetchit;” and with that we all three rose and hastened down tothe beach. I still felt a little weak from loss of blood,so that my companions soon began to leave me behind; but Jackperceived this, and, with his usual considerate good nature,turned back to help me. This was now the first time that Ihad looked well about me since landing, as the spot where I hadbeen laid was covered with thick bushes which almost hid thecountry from our view. As we now emerged from among theseand walked down the sandy beach together, I cast my eyes about,and, truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose at thebeautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The galehad suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till itdashed our ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do afteraccomplishing that. The island on which we stood was hilly,and covered almost everywhere with the most beautiful and richlycoloured trees, bushes, and shrubs, none of which I knew thenames of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-nut palms, whichI recognised at once from the many pictures that I had seen ofthem before I left home. A sandy beach of dazzlingwhiteness lined this bright green shore, and upon it there fell agentle ripple of the sea. This last astonished me much, forI recollected that at home the sea used to fall in huge billowson the shore long after a storm had subsided. But oncasting my glance out to sea the cause became apparent.About a mile distant from the shore I saw the great billows ofthe ocean rolling like a green wall, and falling with a long,loud roar, upon a low coral reef, where they were dashed intowhite foam and flung up in clouds of spray. This spraysometimes flew exceedingly high, and, every here and there, abeautiful rainbow was formed for a moment among the fallingdrops. We afterwards found that this coral reef extendedquite round the island, and formed a natural breakwater toit. Beyond this the sea rose and tossed violently from theeffects of the storm; but between the reef and the shore it wasas calm and as smooth as a pond.

My heart was filled with more delight than I can express atsight of so many glorious objects, and my thoughts turnedsuddenly to the contemplation of the Creator of them all. Imention this the more gladly, because at that time, I am ashamedto say, I very seldom thought of my Creator, although I wasconstantly surrounded by the most beautiful and wonderful of Hisworks. I observed from the expression of mycompanion’s countenance that he too derived much joy fromthe splendid scenery, which was all the more agreeable to usafter our long voyage on the salt sea. There, the breezewas fresh and cold, but here it was delightfully mild; and, whena puff blew off the land, it came laden with the most exquisiteperfume that can be imagined. While we thus gazed, we werestartled by a loud “Huzza!” from Peterkin, and, onlooking towards the edge of the sea, we saw him capering andjumping about like a monkey, and ever and anon tugging with allhis might at something that lay upon the shore.

“What an odd fellow he is, to be sure,” said Jack,taking me by the arm and hurrying forward; “come, let ushasten to see what it is.”

“Here it is, boys, hurrah! come along. Just whatwe want,” cried Peterkin, as we drew near, still tuggingwith all his power. “First rate; just the veryticket!”

I need scarcely say to my readers that my companion Peterkinwas in the habit of using very remarkable and peculiarphrases. And I am free to confess that I did not wellunderstand the meaning of some of them,—such, for instance,as “the very ticket;” but I think it my duty torecount everything relating to my adventures with a strict regardto truthfulness in as far as my memory serves me; so I write, asnearly as possible, the exact words that my companionsspoke. I often asked Peterkin to explain what he meant by“ticket,” but he always answered me by going intofits of laughter. However, by observing the occasions onwhich he used it, I came to understand that it meant to show thatsomething was remarkably good, or fortunate.

On coming up we found that Peterkin was vainly endeavouring topull the axe out of the oar, into which, it will be remembered,Jack struck it while endeavouring to cut away the cordage amongwhich it had become entangled at the bow of the ship.Fortunately for us the axe had remained fast in the oar, and evennow, all Peterkin’s strength could not draw it out of thecut.

“Ah! that is capital indeed,” cried Jack, at thesame time giving the axe a wrench that plucked it out of thetough wood. “How fortunate this is! It will beof more value to us than a hundred knives, and the edge is quitenew and sharp.”

“I’ll answer for the toughness of the handle atany rate,” cried Peterkin; “my arms are nearly pulledout of the sockets. But see here, our luck is great.There is iron on the blade.” He pointed to a piece ofhoop iron, as he spoke, which had been nailed round the blade ofthe oar to prevent it from splitting.

This also was a fortunate discovery. Jack went down onhis knees, and with the edge of the axe began carefully to forceout the nails. But as they were firmly fixed in, and theoperation blunted our axe, we carried the oar up with us to theplace where we had left the rest of our things, intending to burnthe wood away from the iron at a more convenient time.

“Now, lads,” said Jack, after we had laid it onthe stone which contained our little all, “I propose thatwe should go to the tail of the island, where the ship struck,which is only a quarter of a mile off, and see if anything elsehas been thrown ashore. I don’t expect anything, butit is well to see. When we get back here it will be time tohave our supper and prepare our beds.”

“Agreed!” cried Peterkin and I together, as,indeed, we would have agreed to any proposal that Jack made; for,besides his being older and much stronger and taller than eitherof us, he was a very clever fellow, and I think would haveinduced people much older than himself to choose him for theirleader, especially if they required to be led on a boldenterprise.

Now, as we hastened along the white beach, which shone sobrightly in the rays of the setting sun that our eyes were quitedazzled by its glare, it suddenly came into Peterkin’s headthat we had nothing to eat except the wild berries which grew inprofusion at our feet.

“What shall we do, Jack?” said he, with a ruefullook; “perhaps they may be poisonous!”

“No fear,” replied Jack, confidently; “Ihave observed that a few of them are not unlike some of theberries that grow wild on our own native hills. Besides, Isaw one or two strange birds eating them just a few minutes ago,and what won’t kill the birds won’t kill us.But look up there, Peterkin,” continued Jack, pointing tothe branched head of a cocoa-nut palm. “There arenuts for us in all stages.”

“So there are!” cried Peterkin, who being of avery unobservant nature had been too much taken up with otherthings to notice anything so high above his head as the fruit ofa palm tree. But, whatever faults my young comrade had, hecould not be blamed for want of activity or animal spirits.Indeed, the nuts had scarcely been pointed out to him when hebounded up the tall stem of the tree like a squirrel, and, in afew minutes, returned with three nuts, each as large as aman’s fist.

“You had better keep them till we return,” saidJack. “Let us finish our work beforeeating.”

“So be it, captain, go ahead,” cried Peterkin,thrusting the nuts into his trousers pocket. “In factI don’t want to eat just now, but I would give a good dealfor a drink. Oh that I could find a spring! but Idon’t see the smallest sign of one hereabouts. I say,Jack, how does it happen that you seem to be up toeverything? You have told us the names of half-a-dozentrees already, and yet you say that you were never in the SouthSeas before.”

“I’m not up to everything, Peterkin, asyou’ll find out ere long,” replied Jack, with asmile; “but I have been a great reader of books of traveland adventure all my life, and that has put me up to a good manythings that you are, perhaps, not acquainted with.”

“Oh, Jack, that’s all humbug. If you beginto lay everything to the credit of books, I’ll quite losemy opinion of you,” cried Peterkin, with a look ofcontempt. “I’ve seen a lot o’ fellowsthat were alwaysporing over books, and when they came totry to doanything, they were no better thanbaboons!”

“You are quite right,” retorted Jack; “and Ihave seen a lot of fellows who never looked into books at all,who knew nothing about anything except the things they hadactually seen, and very little they knew even about these.Indeed, some were so ignorant that they did not know thatcocoa-nuts grew on cocoa-nut trees!”

I could not refrain from laughing at this rebuke, for therewas much truth in it, as to Peterkin’s ignorance.

“Humph! maybe you’re right,” answeredPeterkin; “but I would not give tuppencefor a manof books, if he had nothing else in him.”

“Neither would I,” said Jack; “butthat’s no reason why you should run books down, or thinkless of me for having read them. Suppose, now, Peterkin,that you wanted to build a ship, and I were to give you a longand particular account of the way to do it, would not that bevery useful?”

“No doubt of it,” said Peterkin, laughing.

“And suppose I were to write the account in a letterinstead of telling you in words, would that be lessuseful?”

“Well—no, perhaps not.”

“Well, suppose I were to print it, and send it to you inthe form of a book, would it not be as good and useful asever?”

“Oh, bother! Jack, you’re a philosopher, andthat’s worse than anything!” cried Peterkin, with alook of pretended horror.

“Very well, Peterkin, we shall see,” returnedJack, halting under the shade of a cocoa-nut tree.“You said you were thirsty just a minute ago; now, jump upthat tree and bring down a nut,—not a ripe one, bring agreen, unripe one.”

Peterkin looked surprised, but, seeing that Jack was inearnest, he obeyed.

“Now, cut a hole in it with your penknife, and clap itto your mouth, old fellow,” said Jack.

Peterkin did as he was directed, and we both burst intouncontrollable laughter at the changes that instantly passed overhis expressive countenance. No sooner had he put the nut tohis mouth, and thrown back his head in order to catch what cameout of it, than his eyes opened to twice their ordinary size withastonishment, while his throat moved vigorously in the act ofswallowing. Then a smile and look of intense delightoverspread his face, except, indeed, the mouth, which, beingfirmly fixed to the hole in the nut, could not take part in theexpression; but he endeavoured to make up for this by winking atus excessively with his right eye. At length he stopped,and, drawing a long breath, exclaimed—

“Nectar! perfect nectar! I say, Jack, you’rea Briton—the best fellow I ever met in my life. Onlytaste that!” said he, turning to me and holding the nut tomy mouth. I immediately drank, and certainly I was muchsurprised at the delightful liquid that flowed copiously down mythroat. It was extremely cool, and had a sweet taste,mingled with acid; in fact, it was the likest thing to lemonade Iever tasted, and was most grateful and refreshing. I handedthe nut to Jack, who, after tasting it, said, “Now,Peterkin, you unbeliever, I never saw or tasted a cocoa nut in mylife before, except those sold in shops at home; but I once readthat the green nuts contain that stuff, and you see it istrue!”

“And pray,” asked Peterkin, “what sort of‘stuff’ does the ripe nut contain?”

“A hollow kernel,” answered Jack, “with aliquid like milk in it; but it does not satisfy thirst so well ashunger. It is very wholesome food I believe.”

“Meat and drink on the same tree!” cried Peterkin;“washing in the sea, lodging on the ground,—and allfor nothing! My dear boys, we’re set up for life; itmust be the ancient Paradise,—hurrah!” and Peterkintossed his straw hat in the air, and ran along the beachhallooing like a madman with delight.

We afterwards found, however, that these lovely islands werevery unlike Paradise in many things. But more of this inits proper place.

We had now come to the point of rocks on which the ship hadstruck, but did not find a single article, although we searchedcarefully among the coral rocks, which at this place jutted outso far as nearly to join the reef that encircled theisland. Just as we were about to return, however, we sawsomething black floating in a little cove that had escaped ourobservation. Running forward, we drew it from the water,and found it to be a long thick leather boot, such as fishermenat home wear; and a few paces farther on we picked up itsfellow. We at once recognised these as having belonged toour captain, for he had worn them during the whole of the storm,in order to guard his legs from the waves and spray thatconstantly washed over our decks. My first thought onseeing them was that our dear captain had been drowned; but Jacksoon put my mind more at rest on that point, by saying that ifthe captain had been drowned with the boots on, he wouldcertainly have been washed ashore along with them, and that hehad no doubt whatever he had kicked them off while in the sea,that he might swim more easily.

Peterkin immediately put them on, but they were so large that,as Jack said, they would have done for boots, trousers, and vesttoo. I also tried them, but, although I was long enough inthe legs for them, they were much too large in the feet for me;so we handed them to Jack, who was anxious to make me keep them,but as they fitted his large limbs and feet as if they had beenmade for him, I would not hear of it, so he consented at last touse them. I may remark, however, that Jack did not use themoften, as they were extremely heavy.

It was beginning to grow dark when we returned to ourencampment; so we put off our visit to the top of a hill tillnext day, and employed the light that yet remained to us incutting down a quantity of boughs and the broad leaves of a tree,of which none of us knew the name. With these we erected asort of rustic bower, in which we meant to pass the night.There was no absolute necessity for this, because the air of ourisland was so genial and balmy that we could have slept quitewell without any shelter; but we were so little used to sleepingin the open air, that we did not quite relish the idea of lyingdown without any covering over us: besides, our bower wouldshelter us from the night dews or rain, if any should happen tofall. Having strewed the floor with leaves and dry grass,we bethought ourselves of supper.

But it now occurred to us, for the first time, that we had nomeans of making a fire.

“Now, there’s a fix!—what shall wedo?” said Peterkin, while we both turned our eyes to Jack,to whom we always looked in our difficulties. Jack seemednot a little perplexed.

“There are flints enough, no doubt, on the beach,”said he, “but they are of no use at all without asteel. However, we must try.” So saying, hewent to the beach, and soon returned with two flints. Onone of these he placed the tinder, and endeavoured to ignite it;but it was with great difficulty that a very small spark wasstruck out of the flints, and the tinder, being a bad, hardpiece, would not catch. He then tried the bit of hoop iron,which would not strike fire at all; and after that the back ofthe axe, with no better success. During all these trialsPeterkin sat with his hands in his pockets, gazing with a mostmelancholy visage at our comrade, his face growing longer andmore miserable at each successive failure.

“Oh dear!” he sighed, “I would not care abutton for the cooking of our victuals,—perhaps theydon’t need it,—but it’s so dismal to eatone’s supper in the dark, and we have had such a capitalday, that it’s a pity to finish off in this glumstyle. Oh, I have it!” he cried, starting up;“the spy-glass,—the big glass at the end is aburning-glass!”

“You forget that we have no sun,” said I.

Peterkin was silent. In his sudden recollection of thetelescope he had quite overlooked the absence of the sun.

“Ah, boys, I’ve got it now!” exclaimed Jack,rising and cutting a branch from a neighbouring bush, which bestripped of its leaves. “I recollect seeing this doneonce at home. Hand me the bit of whip-cord.”With the cord and branch Jack soon formed a bow. Then hecut a piece, about three inches long, off the end of a deadbranch, which he pointed at the two ends. Round this hepassed the cord of the bow, and placed one end against his chest,which was protected from its point by a chip of wood; the otherpoint he placed against the bit of tinder, and then began to sawvigorously with the bow, just as a blacksmith does with his drillwhile boring a hole in a piece of iron. In a few secondsthe tinder began to smoke; in less than a minute it caught fire;and in less than a quarter of an hour we were drinking ourlemonade and eating cocoa nuts round a fire that would haveroasted an entire sheep, while the smoke, flames, and sparks,flew up among the broad leaves of the overhanging palm trees, andcast a warm glow upon our leafy bower.

That night the starry sky looked down through the gentlyrustling trees upon our slumbers, and the distant roaring of thesurf upon the coral reef was our lullaby.

CHAPTER V.

Morning, and cogitations connected therewith—Weluxuriate in the sea, try our diving powers, and make enchantingexcursions among the coral groves at the bottom of theocean—The wonders of the deep enlarged upon.

What a joyful thing it is to awaken, on a fresh gloriousmorning, and find the rising sun staring into your face withdazzling brilliancy!—to see the birds twittering in thebushes, and to hear the murmuring of a rill, or the soft hissingripples as they fall upon the sea-shore! At any time and inany place such sights and sounds are most charming, but moreespecially are they so when one awakens to them, for the firsttime, in a novel and romantic situation, with the soft sweet airof a tropical climate mingling with the fresh smell of the sea,and stirring the strange leaves that flutter overhead and aroundone, or ruffling the plumage of the stranger birds that flyinquiringly around, as if to demand what business we have tointrude uninvited on their domains. When I awoke on themorning after the shipwreck, I found myself in this mostdelightful condition; and, as I lay on my back upon my bed ofleaves, gazing up through the branches of the cocoa-nut treesinto the clear blue sky, and watched the few fleecy clouds thatpassed slowly across it, my heart expanded more and more with anexulting gladness, the like of which I had never feltbefore. While I meditated, my thoughts again turned to thegreat and kind Creator of this beautiful world, as they had doneon the previous day, when I first beheld the sea and the coralreef, with the mighty waves dashing over it into the calm watersof the lagoon.

While thus meditating, I naturally bethought me of my Bible,for I had faithfully kept the promise, which I gave at parting tomy beloved mother, that I would read it every morning; and it waswith a feeling of dismay that I remembered I had left it in theship. I was much troubled about this. However, Iconsoled myself with reflecting that I could keep the second partof my promise to her, namely, that I should never omit to say myprayers. So I rose quietly, lest I should disturb mycompanions, who were still asleep, and stepped aside into thebushes for this purpose.

On my return I found them still slumbering, so I again laydown to think over our situation. Just at that moment I wasattracted by the sight of a very small parrot, which Jackafterwards told me was called a paroquet. It was seated ona twig that overhung Peterkin’s head, and I was speedilylost in admiration of its bright green plumage, which was mingledwith other gay colours. While I looked I observed that thebird turned its head slowly from side to side and lookeddownwards, first with the one eye, and then with the other.On glancing downwards I observed that Peterkin’s mouth waswide open, and that this remarkable bird was looking intoit. Peterkin used to say that I had not an atom of fun inmy composition, and that I never could understand a joke.In regard to the latter, perhaps he was right; yet I think that,when they were explained to me, I understood jokes as well asmost people: but in regard to the former he must certainly havebeen wrong, for this bird seemed to me to be extremely funny; andI could not help thinking that, if it should happen to faint, orslip its foot, and fall off the twig into Peterkin’s mouth,he would perhaps think it funny too! Suddenly the paroquetbent down its head and uttered a loud scream in his face.This awoke him, and, with a cry of surprise, he started up, whilethe foolish bird flew precipitately away.

“Oh you monster!” cried Peterkin, shaking his fistat the bird. Then he yawned and rubbed his eyes, and askedwhat o’clock it was.

I smiled at this question, and answered that, as our watcheswere at the bottom of the sea, I could not tell, but it was alittle past sunrise.

Peterkin now began to remember where we were. As helooked up into the bright sky, and snuffed the scented air, hiseyes glistened with delight, and he uttered a faint“hurrah!” and yawned again. Then he gazedslowly round, till, observing the calm sea through an opening inthe bushes, he started suddenly up as if he had received anelectric shock, uttered a vehement shout, flung off his garments,and, rushing over the white sands, plunged into the water.The cry awoke Jack, who rose on his elbow with a look of gravesurprise; but this was followed by a quiet smile of intelligenceon seeing Peterkin in the water. With an energy that heonly gave way to in moments of excitement, Jack bounded to hisfeet, threw off his clothes, shook back his hair, and with alion-like spring, dashed over the sands and plunged into the seawith such force as quite to envelop Peterkin in a shower ofspray. Jack was a remarkably good swimmer and diver, sothat after his plunge we saw no sign of him for nearly a minute;after which he suddenly emerged, with a cry of joy, a good manyyards out from the shore. My spirits were so much raised byseeing all this that I, too, hastily threw off my garments andendeavoured to imitate Jack’s vigorous bound; but I was soawkward that my foot caught on a stump, and I fell to the ground;then I slipped on a stone while running over the mud, and nearlyfell again, much to the amusement of Peterkin, who laughedheartily, and called me a “slow coach,” while Jackcried out, “Come along, Ralph, and I’ll helpyou.” However, when I got into the water I managedvery well, for I was really a good swimmer, and diver too.I could not, indeed, equal Jack, who was superior to anyEnglishman I ever saw, but I infinitely surpassed Peterkin, whocould only swim a little, and could not dive at all.

While Peterkin enjoyed himself in the shallow water and inrunning along the beach, Jack and I swam out into the deep water,and occasionally dived for stones. I shall never forget mysurprise and delight on first beholding the bottom of thesea. As I have before stated, the water within the reef wasas calm as a pond; and, as there was no wind, it was quite clear,from the surface to the bottom, so that we could see down easilyeven at a depth of twenty or thirty yards. When Jack and Idived in shallower water, we expected to have found sand andstones, instead of which we found ourselves in what appearedreally to be an enchanted garden. The whole of the bottomof the lagoon, as we called the calm water within the reef, wascovered with coral of every shape, size, and hue. Someportions were formed like large mushrooms; others appeared likethe brain of a man, having stalks or necks attached to them; butthe most common kind was a species of branching coral, and someportions were of a lovely pale pink colour, others purewhite. Among this there grew large quantities of sea-weedof the richest hues imaginable, and of the most graceful forms;while innumerable fishes—blue, red, yellow, green, andstriped—sported in and out amongst the flower-beds of thissubmarine garden, and did not appear to be at all afraid of ourapproaching them.

On darting to the surface for breath, after our first dive,Jack and I rose close to each other.

“Did you ever in your life, Ralph, see anything solovely?” said Jack, as he flung the spray from hishair.

“Never,” I replied. “It appears to melike fairy realms. I can scarcely believe that we are notdreaming.”

“Dreaming!” cried Jack, “do you know, Ralph,I’m half tempted to think that we really aredreaming. But if so, I am resolved to make the most of it,and dream another dive; so here goes,—down again, myboy!”

We took the second dive together, and kept beside each otherwhile under water; and I was greatly surprised to find that wecould keep down much longer than I ever recollect having done inour own seas at home. I believe that this was owing to theheat of the water, which was so warm that we afterwards found wecould remain in it for two and three hours at a time withoutfeeling any unpleasant effects such as we used to experience inthe sea at home. When Jack reached the bottom, he graspedthe coral stems, and crept along on his hands and knees, peepingunder the sea-weed and among the rocks. I observed him alsopick up one or two large oysters, and retain them in his grasp,as if he meant to take them up with him, so I also gathered afew. Suddenly he made a grasp at a fish with blue andyellow stripes on its back, and actually touched its tail, butdid not catch it. At this he turned towards me andattempted to smile; but no sooner had he done so than he spranglike an arrow to the surface, where, on following him, I foundhim gasping and coughing, and spitting water from hismouth. In a few minutes he recovered, and we both turned toswim ashore.

“I declare, Ralph,” said he, “that Iactually tried to laugh under water.”

“So I saw,” I replied; “and I observed thatyou very nearly caught that fish by the tail. It would havedone capitally for breakfast if you had.”

“Breakfast enough here,” said he, holding up theoysters, as we landed and ran up the beach.“Hallo! Peterkin, here you are, boy. Split openthese fellows while Ralph and I put on our clothes.They’ll agree with the cocoa nuts excellently, I have nodoubt.”

Peterkin, who was already dressed, took the oysters, andopened them with the edge of our axe, exclaiming, “Now,that iscapital. There’s nothing I’m sofond of.”

“Ah! that’s lucky,” remarked Jack.“I’ll be able to keep you in good order now, MasterPeterkin. You know you can’t dive any better than acat. So, sir, whenever you behave ill, you shall have nooysters for breakfast.”

“I’m very glad that our prospect of breakfast isso good,” said I, “for I’m veryhungry.”

“Here, then, stop your mouth with that, Ralph,”said Peterkin, holding a large oyster to my lips. I openedmy mouth and swallowed it in silence, and really it wasremarkably good.

We now set ourselves earnestly about our preparations forspending the day. We had no difficulty with the fire thismorning, as our burning-glass was an admirable one; and while weroasted a few oysters and ate our cocoa nuts, we held a long,animated conversation about our plans for the future. Whatthose plans were, and how we carried them into effect, the readershall see hereafter.

CHAPTER VI.

An excursion into the interior, in which we make many valuableand interesting discoveries—We get a dreadfulfright—The bread-fruit tree—Wonderful peculiarity ofsome of the fruit trees—Signs of former inhabitants.

Our first care, after breakfast, was to place the few articleswe possessed in the crevice of a rock at the farther end of asmall cave which we discovered near our encampment. Thiscave, we hoped, might be useful to us afterwards as astore-house. Then we cut two large clubs off a species ofvery hard tree which grew near at hand. One of these wasgiven to Peterkin, the other to me, and Jack armed himself withthe axe. We took these precautions because we purposed tomake an excursion to the top of the mountains of the interior, inorder to obtain a better view of our island. Of course weknew not what dangers might befall us by the way, so thought itbest to be prepared.

Having completed our arrangements and carefully extinguishedour fire, we sallied forth and walked a short distance along thesea-beach, till we came to the entrance of a valley, throughwhich flowed the rivulet before mentioned. Here we turnedour backs on the sea and struck into the interior.

The prospect that burst upon our view on entering the valleywas truly splendid. On either side of us there was a gentlerise in the land, which thus formed two ridges about a mile aparton each side of the valley. These ridges,—which, aswell as the low grounds between them, were covered with trees andshrubs of the most luxuriant kind—continued to recedeinland for about two miles, when they joined the foot of a smallmountain. This hill rose rather abruptly from the head ofthe valley, and was likewise entirely covered even to the topwith trees, except on one particular spot near the left shoulder,where was a bare and rocky place of a broken and savagecharacter. Beyond this hill we could not see, and wetherefore directed our course up the banks of the rivulet towardsthe foot of it, intending to climb to the top, should that bepossible, as, indeed, we had no doubt it was.

Jack, being the wisest and boldest among us, took the lead,carrying the axe on his shoulder. Peterkin, with hisenormous club, came second, as he said he should like to be in aposition to defend me if any danger should threaten. Ibrought up the rear, but, having been more taken up with thewonderful and curious things I saw at starting than with thoughtsof possible danger, I had very foolishly left my club behindme. Although, as I have said the trees and bushes were veryluxuriant, they were not so thickly crowded together as to hinderour progress among them. We were able to wind in and out,and to follow the banks of the stream quite easily, although, itis true, the height and thickness of the foliage prevented usfrom seeing far ahead. But sometimes a jutting-out rock onthe hill sides afforded us a position whence we could enjoy theromantic view and mark our progress towards the foot of thehill. I was particularly struck, during the walk, with therichness of the undergrowth in most places, and recognised manyberries and plants that resembled those of my native land,especially a tall, elegantly-formed fern, which emitted anagreeable perfume. There were several kinds of flowers,too, but I did not see so many of these as I should have expectedin such a climate. We also saw a great variety of smallbirds of bright plumage, and many paroquets similar to the onethat awoke Peterkin so rudely in the morning.

Thus we advanced to the foot of the hill without encounteringanything to alarm us, except, indeed, once, when we were passingclose under a part of the hill which was hidden from our view bythe broad leaves of the banana trees, which grew in greatluxuriance in that part. Jack was just preparing to forcehis way through this thicket, when we were startled and arrestedby a strange pattering or rumbling sound, which appeared to usquite different from any of the sounds we had heard during theprevious part of our walk.

“Hallo!” cried Peterkin, stopping short andgrasping his club with both hands, “what’sthat?”

Neither of us replied; but Jack seized his axe in his righthand, while with the other he pushed aside the broad leaves andendeavoured to peer amongst them.

“I can see nothing,” he said, after a shortpause.

“I think it—”

Again the rumbling sound came, louder than before, and we allsprang back and stood on the defensive. For myself, havingforgotten my club, and not having taken the precaution to cutanother, I buttoned my jacket, doubled my fists, and threw myselfinto a boxing attitude. I must say, however, that I feltsomewhat uneasy; and my companions afterwards confessed thattheir thoughts at this moment had been instantly filled with allthey had ever heard or read of wild beasts and savages,torturings at the stake, roastings alive, and such like horriblethings. Suddenly the pattering noise increased with tenfoldviolence. It was followed by a fearful crash among thebushes, which was rapidly repeated, as if some gigantic animalwere bounding towards us. In another moment an enormousrock came crashing through the shrubbery, followed by a cloud ofdust and small stones, flew close past the spot where we stood,carrying bushes and young trees along with it.

“Pooh! is that all?” exclaimed Peterkin, wipingthe perspiration off his forehead. “Why, I thought itwas all the wild men and beasts in the South Sea Islandsgalloping on in one grand charge to sweep us off the face of theearth, instead of a mere stone tumbling down the mountainside.”

“Nevertheless,” remarked Jack, “if that samestone had hit any of us, it would have rendered the charge youspeak of quite unnecessary, Peterkin.”

This was true, and I felt very thankful for our escape.On examining the spot more narrowly, we found that it lay closeto the foot of a very rugged precipice, from which stones ofvarious sizes were always tumbling at intervals. Indeed,the numerous fragments lying scattered all around might havesuggested the cause of the sound, had we not been too suddenlyalarmed to think of anything.

We now resumed our journey, resolving that, in our futureexcursions into the interior, we would be careful to avoid thisdangerous precipice.

Soon afterwards we arrived at the foot of the hill andprepared to ascend it. Here Jack made a discovery whichcaused us all very great joy. This was a tree of aremarkably beautiful appearance, which Jack confidently declaredto be the celebrated bread-fruit tree.

“Is it celebrated?” inquired Peterkin, with a lookof great simplicity.

“It is,” replied Jack

“That’s odd, now,” rejoined Peterkin;“never heard of it before.”

“Then it’s not so celebrated as I thought itwas,” returned Jack, quietly squeezing Peterkin’s hatover his eyes; “but listen, you ignorant boobie! and hearof it now.”

Peterkin re-adjusted his hat, and was soon listening with asmuch interest as myself, while Jack told us that this tree is oneof the most valuable in the islands of the south; that it bearstwo, sometimes three, crops of fruit in the year; that the fruitis very like wheaten bread in appearance, and that it constitutesthe principal food of many of the islanders.

“So,” said Peterkin, “we seem to haveeverything ready prepared to our hands in this wonderfulisland,—lemonade ready bottled in nuts, and loaf-breadgrowing on the trees!”

Peterkin, as usual, was jesting; nevertheless, it is a curiousfact that he spoke almost the literal truth.“Moreover,” continued Jack, “the bread-fruittree affords a capital gum, which serves the natives for pitchingtheir canoes; the bark of the young branches is made by them intocloth; and of the wood, which is durable and of a good colour,they build their houses. So you see, lads, that we have nolack of material here to make us comfortable, if we are onlyclever enough to use it.”

“But are you sure that that’s it?” askedPeterkin.

“Quite sure,” replied Jack; “for I wasparticularly interested in the account I once read of it, and Iremember the description well. I am sorry, however, that Ihave forgotten the descriptions of many other trees which I amsure we have seen to-day, if we could but recognise them.So you see, Peterkin, I’m not up to everythingyet.”

“Never mind, Jack,” said Peterkin, with a grave,patronizing expression of countenance, patting his tall companionon the shoulder,—“never mind, Jack; you know a gooddeal for your age. You’re a clever boy, sir,—apromising young man; and if you only go on as you have begun,sir, you will—”

The end of this speech was suddenly cut short by Jack trippingup Peterkin’s heels and tumbling him into a mass of thickshrubs, where, finding himself comfortable, he lay still baskingin the sunshine, while Jack and I examined the bread-tree.

We were much struck with the deep, rich green colour of itsbroad leaves, which were twelve or eighteen inches long, deeplyindented, and of a glossy smoothness, like the laurel. Thefruit, with which it was loaded, was nearly round, and appearedto be about six inches in diameter, with a rough rind, markedwith lozenge-shaped divisions. It was of various colours,from light pea-green to brown and rich yellow. Jack saidthat the yellow was the ripe fruit. We afterwards foundthat most of the fruit-trees on the island were evergreens, andthat we might, when we wished, pluck the blossom and the ripefruit from the same tree. Such a wonderful difference fromthe trees of our own country surprised us not a little. Thebark of the tree was rough and light-coloured; the trunk wasabout two feet in diameter, and it appeared to be twenty feethigh, being quite destitute of branches up to that height, whereit branched off into a beautiful and umbrageous head. Wenoticed that the fruit hung in clusters of twos and threes on thebranches; but as we were anxious to get to the top of the hill,we refrained from attempting to pluck any at that time.

Our hearts were now very much cheered by our good fortune, andit was with light and active steps that we clambered up the steepsides of the hill. On reaching the summit, a new, and ifpossible a grander, prospect met our gaze. We found thatthis was not the highest part of the island, but that anotherhill lay beyond, with a wide valley between it and the one onwhich we stood. This valley, like the first, was also fullof rich trees, some dark and some light green, some heavy andthick in foliage, and others light, feathery, and graceful, whilethe beautiful blossoms on many of them threw a sort of rainbowtint over all, and gave to the valley the appearance of a gardenof flowers. Among these we recognised many of thebread-fruit trees, laden with yellow fruit, and also a great manycocoa-nut palms. After gazing our fill we pushed down thehill side, crossed the valley, and soon began to ascend thesecond mountain. It was clothed with trees nearly to thetop, but the summit was bare, and in some places broken.

While on our way up we came to an object which filled us withmuch interest. This was the stump of a tree that hadevidently been cut down with an axe! So, then, we were notthe first who had viewed this beautiful isle. The hand ofman had been at work there before us. It now began to recurto us again that perhaps the island was inhabited, although wehad not seen any traces of man until now; but a second glance atthe stump convinced us that we had not more reason to think sonow than formerly; for the surface of the wood was quite decayed,and partly covered with fungus and green matter, so that it musthave been cut many years ago.

“Perhaps,” said Peterkin, “some ship orother has touched here long ago for wood, and only taken onetree.”

We did not think this likely, however, because, in suchcircumstances, the crew of a ship would cut wood of small size,and near the shore, whereas this was a large tree and stood nearthe top of the mountain. In fact it was the highest largetree on the mountain, all above it being wood of very recentgrowth.

“I can’t understand it,” said Jack,scratching the surface of the stump with his axe. “Ican only suppose that the savages have been here and cut it forsome purpose known only to themselves. But, hallo! whathave we here?”

As he spoke, Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss andfungus from the stump, and soon laid bare three distinct tracesof marks, as if some inscription or initials had been cutthereon. But although the traces were distinct, beyond alldoubt, the exact form of the letters could not be made out.Jack thought they looked like J. S. but we could not becertain. They had apparently been carelessly cut, and longexposure to the weather had so broken them up that we could notmake out what they were. We were exceedingly perplexed atthis discovery, and stayed a long time at the place conjecturingwhat these marks could have been, but without avail; so, as theday was advancing, we left it and quickly reached the top of themountain.

We found this to be the highest point of the island, and fromit we saw our kingdom lying, as it were, like a map aroundus. As I have always thought it impossible to get a thingproperly into one’s understanding without comprehending it,I shall beg the reader’s patience for a little while Idescribe our island, thus, shortly:—

It consisted of two mountains; the one we guessed at 500 feet;the other, on which we stood, at 1000. Between these lay arich, beautiful valley, as already said. This valleycrossed the island from one end to the other, being high in themiddle and sloping on each side towards the sea. The largemountain sloped, on the side farthest from where we had beenwrecked, gradually towards the sea; but although, when viewed ata glance, it had thus a regular sloping appearance, a morecareful observation showed that it was broken up into a multitudeof very small vales, or rather dells and glens, intermingled withlittle rugged spots and small but abrupt precipices here andthere, with rivulets tumbling over their edges and wandering downthe slopes in little white streams, sometimes glistening amongthe broad leaves of the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, or hidaltogether beneath the rich underwood. At the base of thismountain lay a narrow bright green plain or meadow, whichterminated abruptly at the shore. On the other side of theisland, whence we had come, stood the smaller hill, at the footof which diverged three valleys; one being that which we hadascended, with a smaller vale on each side of it, and separatedfrom it by the two ridges before mentioned. In thesesmaller valleys there were no streams, but they were clothed withthe same luxuriant vegetation.

The diameter of the island seemed to be about ten miles, and,as it was almost circular in form, its circumference must havebeen thirty miles;—perhaps a little more, if allowance bemade for the numerous bays and indentations of the shore.The entire island was belted by a beach of pure white sand, onwhich laved the gentle ripples of the lagoon. We now alsoobserved that the coral reef completely encircled the island; butit varied its distance from it here and there, in some placesbeing a mile from the beach, in others, a few hundred yards, butthe average distance was half a mile. The reef lay verylow, and the spray of the surf broke quite over it in manyplaces. This surf never ceased its roar, for, however calmthe weather might be, there is always a gentle swaying motion inthe great Pacific, which, although scarce noticeable out at sea,reaches the shore at last in a huge billow. The waterwithin the lagoon, as before said, was perfectly still.There were three narrow openings in the reef; one opposite eachend of the valley which I have described as crossing the island;the other opposite our own valley, which we afterwards named theValley of the Wreck. At each of these openings the reefrose into two small green islets, covered with bushes and havingone or two cocoa-nut palms on each. These islets were verysingular, and appeared as if planted expressly for the purpose ofmarking the channel into the lagoon. Our captain was makingfor one of these openings the day we were wrecked, and would havereached it too, I doubt not, had not the rudder been tornaway. Within the lagoon were several pretty, low coralislands, just opposite our encampment; and, immediately beyondthese, out at sea, lay about a dozen other islands, at variousdistances, from half a mile to ten miles; all of them, as far aswe could discern, smaller than ours and apparentlyuninhabited. They seemed to be low coral islands, raisedbut little above the sea, yet covered with cocoa-nut trees.

All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on thetop of the mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves weprepared to return; but here again we discovered traces of thepresence of man. These were a pole or staff and one or twopieces of wood which had been squared with an axe. All ofthese were, however, very much decayed, and they had evidentlynot been touched for many years.

Full of these discoveries we returned to our encampment.On the way we fell in with the traces of some four-footed animal,but whether old or of recent date none of us were able toguess. This also tended to raise our hopes of obtainingsome animal food on the island, so we reached home in goodspirits, quite prepared for supper, and highly satisfied with ourexcursion.

After much discussion, in which Peterkin took the lead, wecame to the conclusion that the island was uninhabited, and wentto bed.

CHAPTER VII.

Jack’s ingenuity—We get into difficulties aboutfishing, and get out of them by a method which gives us a coldbath—Horrible encounter with a shark.

For several days after the excursion related in the lastchapter we did not wander far from our encampment, but gaveourselves up to forming plans for the future and making ourpresent abode comfortable.

There were various causes that induced this state ofcomparative inaction. In the first place, althougheverything around us was so delightful, and we could withoutdifficulty obtain all that we required for our bodily comfort, wedid not quite like the idea of settling down here for the rest ofour lives, far away from our friends and our native land.To set energetically about preparations for a permanent residenceseemed so like making up our minds to saying adieu to home andfriends for ever, that we tacitly shrank from it and put off ourpreparations, for one reason and another, as long as wecould. Then there was a little uncertainty still as tothere being natives on the island, and we entertained a kind offaint hope that a ship might come and take us off. But asday after day passed, and neither savages nor ships appeared, wegave up all hope of an early deliverance and set diligently towork at our homestead.

During this time, however, we had not been altogetheridle. We made several experiments in cooking the cocoa-nut,most of which did not improve it. Then we removed ourgoods, and took up our abode in the cave, but found the change sobad that we returned gladly to the bower. Besides this webathed very frequently, and talked a great deal; at least Jackand Peterkin did,—I listened. Among other usefulthings, Jack, who was ever the most active and diligent,converted about three inches of the hoop-iron into an excellentknife. First he beat it quite flat with the axe. Thenhe made a rude handle, and tied the hoop-iron to it with ourpiece of whip-cord, and ground it to an edge on a piece ofsand-stone. When it was finished he used it to shape abetter handle, to which he fixed it with a strip of his cottonhandkerchief;—in which operation he had, as Peterkinpointed out, torn off one of Lord Nelson’s noses.However, the whip-cord, thus set free, was used by Peterkin as afishing line. He merely tied a piece of oyster to the endof it. This the fish were allowed to swallow, and then theywere pulled quickly ashore. But as the line was very shortand we had no boat, the fish we caught were exceedinglysmall.

One day Peterkin came up from the beach, where he had beenangling, and said in a very cross tone, “I’ll tellyou what, Jack, I’m not going to be humbugged with catchingsuch contemptible things any longer. I want you to swim outwith me on your back, and let me fish in deep water!”

“Dear me, Peterkin,” replied Jack, “I had noidea you were taking the thing so much to heart, else I wouldhave got you out of that difficulty long ago. Let mesee,”—and Jack looked down at a piece of timber onwhich he had been labouring, with a peculiar gaze of abstraction,which he always assumed when trying to invent or discoveranything.

“What say you to building a boat?” he inquired,looking up hastily.

“Take far too long,” was the reply;“can’t be bothered waiting. I want to begin atonce!”

Again Jack considered. “I have it!” hecried. “We’ll fell a large tree and launch thetrunk of it in the water, so that when you want to fishyou’ve nothing to do but to swim out to it.”

“Would not a small raft do better?” said I.

“Much better; but we have no ropes to bind it togetherwith. Perhaps we may find something hereafter that will doas well, but, in the meantime, let us try the tree.”

This was agreed on, so we started off to a spot not fardistant, where we knew of a tree that would suit us, which grewnear the water’s edge. As soon as we reached it Jackthrew off his coat, and, wielding the axe with his sturdy arms,hacked and hewed at it for a quarter of an hour withoutstopping. Then he paused, and, while he sat down to rest, Icontinued the work. Then Peterkin made a vigorous attack onit, so that when Jack renewed his powerful blows, a few minutescutting brought it down with a terrible crash.

“Hurrah! now for it,” cried Jack; “let usoff with its head.”

So saying he began to cut through the stem again, at about sixyards from the thick end. This done, he cut three strong,short poles or levers from the stout branches, with which to rollthe log down the beach into the sea; for, as it was nearly twofeet thick at the large end, we could not move it without suchhelps. With the levers, however, we rolled it slowly intothe sea.

Having been thus successful in launching our vessel, we nextshaped the levers into rude oars or paddles, and then attemptedto embark. This was easy enough to do; but, after seatingourselves astride the log, it was with the utmost difficulty wekept it from rolling round and plunging us into the water.Not that we minded that much; but we preferred, if possible, tofish in dry clothes. To be sure, our trousers werenecessarily wet, as our legs were dangling in the water on eachside of the log; but, as they could be easily dried, we did notcare. After half an hour’s practice, we became expertenough to keep our balance pretty steadily. Then Peterkinlaid down his paddle, and having baited his line with a wholeoyster, dropt it into deep water.

“Now, then, Jack,” said he, “be cautious;steer clear o’ that sea-weed. There; that’s it;gently, now, gently. I see a fellow at least a foot longdown there, coming to—ha! that’s it! Oh!bother, he’s off.”

“Did he bite?” said Jack, urging the log onwards alittle with his paddle.

“Bite? ay! He took it into his mouth, but themoment I began to haul he opened his jaws and let it outagain.”

“Let him swallow it next time,” said Jack,laughing at the melancholy expression of Peterkin’svisage.

“There he’s again,” cried Peterkin, his eyesflashing with excitement. “Look out! Nowthen! No! Yes! No! Why, the brutewon’tswallow it!”

“Try to haul him up by the mouth, then,” criedJack. “Do it gently.”

A heavy sigh and a look of blank despair showed that poorPeterkin had tried and failed again.

“Never mind, lad,” said Jack, in a voice ofsympathy; “we’ll move on, and offer it to some otherfish.” So saying, Jack plied his paddle; but scarcelyhad he moved from the spot, when a fish with an enormous head anda little body darted from under a rock and swallowed the bait atonce.

“Got him this time,—that’s a fact!”cried Peterkin, hauling in the line. “He’sswallowed the bait right down to his tail, I declare. Ohwhat a thumper!”

As the fish came struggling to the surface, we leaned forwardto see it, and overbalanced the log. Peterkin threw hisarms round the fish’s neck; and, in another instant, wewere all floundering in the water!

A shout of laughter burst from us as we rose to the surfacelike three drowned rats, and seized hold of the log. Wesoon recovered our position, and sat more warily, while Peterkinsecured the fish, which had well-nigh escaped in the midst of ourstruggles. It was little worth having, however; but, asPeterkin remarked, it was better than the smouts he had beencatching for the last two or three days; so we laid it on the logbefore us, and having re-baited the line, dropt it in again foranother.

Now, while we were thus intent upon our sport, our attentionwas suddenly attracted by a ripple on the sea, just a few yardsaway from us. Peterkin shouted to us to paddle in thatdirection, as he thought it was a big fish, and we might have achance of catching it. But Jack, instead of complying,said, in a deep, earnest tone of voice, which I never beforeheard him use,—

“Haul up your line, Peterkin; seize your paddle;quick,—it’s a shark!”

The horror with which we heard this may well be imagined, forit must be remembered that our legs were hanging down in thewater, and we could not venture to pull them up without upsettingthe log. Peterkin instantly hauled up the line; and,grasping his paddle, exerted himself to the utmost, while we alsodid our best to make for shore. But we were a good way off,and the log being, as I have before said, very heavy, moved butslowly through the water. We now saw the shark quitedistinctly swimming round and round us, its sharp fin every nowand then protruding above the water. From its active andunsteady motions, Jack knew it was making up its mind to attackus, so he urged us vehemently to paddle for our lives, while hehimself set us the example. Suddenly he shouted “Lookout!—there he comes!” and in a second we saw themonstrous fish dive close under us, and turn half over on hisside. But we all made a great commotion with our paddles,which no doubt frightened it away for that time, as we saw itimmediately after circling round us as before.

“Throw the fish to him,” cried Jack, in a quick,suppressed voice; “we’ll make the shore in time yetif we can keep him off for a few minutes.”

Peterkin stopped one instant to obey the command, and thenplied his paddle again with all his might. No sooner hadthe fish fallen on the water than we observed the shark tosink. In another second we saw its white breast rising; forsharks always turn over on their sides when about to seize theirprey, their mouths being not at the point of their heads likethose of other fish, but, as it were, under their chins. Inanother moment his snout rose above the water,—his widejaws, armed with a terrific double row of teeth, appeared.The dead fish was engulfed, and the shark sank out ofsight. But Jack was mistaken in supposing that it would besatisfied. In a very few minutes it returned to us, and itsquick motions led us to fear that it would attack us at once.

“Stop paddling,” cried Jack suddenly.“I see it coming up behind us. Now, obey my ordersquickly. Our lives may depend on it Ralph. Peterkin,do your best to balance the log. Don’t lookout for the shark. Don’t glance behind you. Donothing but balance the log.”

Peterkin and I instantly did as we were ordered, being onlytoo glad to do anything that afforded us a chance or a hope ofescape, for we had implicit confidence in Jack’s courageand wisdom. For a few seconds, that seemed long minutes tomy mind, we sat thus silently; but I could not resist glancingbackward, despite the orders to the contrary. On doing so,I saw Jack sitting rigid like a statue, with his paddle raised,his lips compressed, and his eye-brows bent over his eyes, whichglared savagely from beneath them down into the water. Ialso saw the shark, to my horror, quite close under the log, inthe act of darting towards Jack’s foot. I couldscarce suppress a cry on beholding this. In another momentthe shark rose. Jack drew his leg suddenly from the water,and threw it over the log. The monster’s snout rubbedagainst the log as it passed, and revealed its hideous jaws, intowhich Jack instantly plunged the paddle, and thrust it down itsthroat. So violent was the act that Jack rose to his feetin performing it; the log was thereby rolled completely over, andwe were once more plunged into the water. We all rose,spluttering and gasping, in a moment.

“Now then, strike out for shore,” criedJack. “Here, Peterkin, catch hold of my collar, andkick out with a will.”

Peterkin did as he was desired, and Jack struck out with suchforce that he cut through the water like a boat; while I, beingfree from all encumbrance, succeeded in keeping up withhim. As we had by this time drawn pretty near to the shore,a few minutes more sufficed to carry us into shallow water; and,finally, we landed in safety, though very much exhausted, and nota little frightened by our terrible adventure.

CHAPTER VIII.

The beauties of the bottom of the sea tempt Peterkin todive—How he did it—More difficultiesovercome—The water garden—Curious creatures of thesea—The tank—Candles missed very much, and thecandle-nut tree discovered—Wonderful account ofPeterkin’s first voyage—Cloth found growing on atree—A plan projected, and arms prepared for offence anddefence—A dreadful cry.

Our encounter with the shark was the first great danger thathad befallen us since landing on this island, and we felt veryseriously affected by it, especially when we considered that wehad so often unwittingly incurred the same danger before whilebathing. We were now forced to take to fishing again in theshallow water, until we should succeed in constructing araft. What troubled us most, however, was, that we werecompelled to forego our morning swimming excursions. Wedid, indeed, continue to enjoy our bathe in the shallow water,but Jack and I found that one great source of our enjoyment wasgone, when we could no longer dive down among the beautiful coralgroves at the bottom of the lagoon. We had come to be sofond of this exercise, and to take such an interest in watchingthe formations of coral and the gambols of the many beautifulfish amongst the forests of red and green sea-weeds, that we hadbecome quite familiar with the appearance of the fish and thelocalities that they chiefly haunted. We had also becomeexpert divers. But we made it a rule never to stay longunder water at a time. Jack told me that to do so often wasbad for the lungs, and, instead of affording us enjoyment, wouldere long do us a serious injury. So we never stayed at thebottom as long as we might have done, but came up frequently tothe top for fresh air, and dived down again immediately.Sometimes, when Jack happened to be in a humorous frame, he wouldseat himself at the bottom of the sea on one of the brain corals,as if he were seated on a large paddock-stool, and then makefaces at me, in order, if possible, to make me laugh underwater. At first, when he took me unawares, he nearlysucceeded, and I had to shoot to the surface in order to laugh;but afterwards I became aware of his intentions, and, beingnaturally of a grave disposition, I had no difficulty inrestraining myself. I used often to wonder how poorPeterkin would have liked to be with us; and he sometimesexpressed much regret at being unable to join us. I used todo my best to gratify him, poor fellow, by relating all thewonders that we saw; but this, instead of satisfying, seemed onlyto whet his curiosity the more, so one day we prevailed on him totry to go down with us. But, although a brave boy in everyother way, Peterkin was very nervous in the water, and it waswith difficulty we got him to consent to be taken down, for hecould never have managed to push himself down to the bottomwithout assistance. But no sooner had we pulled him down ayard or so into the deep clear water, than he began to struggleand kick violently, so we were forced to let him go, when he roseout of the water like a cork, gave a loud gasp and a frightfulroar, and struck out for the land with the utmost possiblehaste.

Now, all this pleasure we were to forego, and when we thoughtthereon, Jack and I felt very much depressed in ourspirits. I could see, also, that Peterkin grieved andsympathized with us, for, when talking about this matter, herefrained from jesting and bantering us upon it.

As, however, a man’s difficulties usually set him upondevising methods to overcome them, whereby he often discoversbetter things than those he may have lost, so this our difficultyinduced us to think of searching for a large pool among therocks, where the water should be deep enough for diving yet sosurrounded by rocks as to prevent sharks from getting atus. And such a pool we afterwards found, which proved to bevery much better than our most sanguine hopes anticipated.It was situated not more than ten minutes’ walk from ourcamp, and was in the form of a small deep bay or basin, theentrance to which, besides being narrow, was so shallow that nofish so large as a shark could get in, at least not unless heshould be a remarkably thin one.

Inside of this basin, which we called our Water Garden, thecoral formations were much more wonderful, and the sea-weedplants far more lovely and vividly coloured, than in the lagoonitself. And the water was so clear and still, that,although very deep, you could see the minutest object at thebottom. Besides this, there was a ledge of rock whichoverhung the basin at its deepest part, from which we could divepleasantly and whereon Peterkin could sit and see not only allthe wonders I had described to him, but also see Jack and mecreeping amongst the marine shrubbery at the bottom, like,as—he expressed it,—“two great whitesea-monsters.” During these excursions of ours to thebottom of the sea, we began to get an insight into the mannersand customs of its inhabitants, and to make discoveries ofwonderful things, the like of which we never beforeconceived. Among other things, we were deeply interestedwith the operations of the little coral insect which, I wasinformed by Jack, is supposed to have entirely constructed manyof the numerous islands in Pacific Ocean. And, certainly,when we considered the great reef which these insects had formedround the island on which we were cast, and observed theirceaseless activity in building their myriad cells, it did atfirst seem as if this might be true; but then, again, when Ilooked at the mountains of the island, and reflected that therewere thousands of such, many of them much higher, in the SouthSeas, I doubted that there must be some mistake here. Butmore of this hereafter.

I also became much taken up with the manners and appearance ofthe anemones, and star-fish, and crabs, and sea-urchins, andsuch-like creatures; and was not content with watching those Isaw during my dives in the Water Garden, but I must needs scoopout a hole in the coral rock close to it, which I filled withsalt water, and stocked with sundry specimens of anemones andshell-fish, in order to watch more closely how they were in thehabit of passing their time. Our burning-glass also nowbecame a great treasure to me, as it enabled me to magnify, andso to perceive more clearly the forms and actions of thesecurious creatures of the deep.

Having now got ourselves into a very comfortable condition, webegan to talk of a project which we had long had incontemplation,—namely, to travel entirely round the island;in order, first, to ascertain whether it contained any otherproductions which might be useful to us; and, second, to seewhether there might be any place more convenient and suitable forour permanent residence than that on which we were nowencamped. Not that we were in any degree dissatisfied withit; on the contrary, we entertained quite a home-feeling to ourbower and its neighbourhood; but if a better place did exist,there was no reason why we should not make use of it. Atany rate, it would be well to know of its existence.

We had much earnest talk over this matter. But Jackproposed that, before undertaking such an excursion, we shouldsupply ourselves with good defensive arms, for, as we intendednot only to go round all the shore, but to ascend most of thevalleys, before returning home, we should be likely to meet inwith, he would not say dangers, but, at least, with everythingthat existed on the island, whatever that might be.

“Besides,” said Jack, “it won’t do forus to live on cocoa-nuts and oysters always. No doubt theyare very excellent in their way, but I think a little animalfood, now and then, would be agreeable as well as good for us;and as there are many small birds among the trees, some of whichare probably very good to eat, I think it would be a capital planto make bows and arrows, with which we could easily knock themover.”

“First rate!” cried Peterkin. “Youwill make the bows, Jack, and I’ll try my hand at thearrows. The fact is, I’m quite tired of throwingstones at the birds. I began the very day we landed, Ithink, and have persevered up to the present time, but I’venever hit anything yet.”

“You forget,” said I, “you hit me one day onthe shin.”

“Ah, true,” replied Peterkin, “and aprecious shindy you kicked up in consequence. But you wereat least four yards away from the impudent paroquet I aimed at;so you see what a horribly bad shot I am.”

“But,” said I, “Jack, you cannot make threebows and arrows before to-morrow, and would it not be a pity towaste time, now that we have made up our minds to go on thisexpedition? Suppose that you make one bow and arrow foryourself, and we can take our clubs?”

“That’s true, Ralph. The day is pretty faradvanced, and I doubt if I can make even one bow beforedark. To be sure I might work by fire-light, after the sungoes down.”

We had, up to this time, been in the habit of going to bedwith the sun, as we had no pressing call to work o’ nights;and, indeed, our work during the day was usually hardenough,—what between fishing, and improving our bower, anddiving in the Water Garden, and rambling in the woods; so that,when night came, we were usually very glad to retire to ourbeds. But now that we had a desire to work at night, wefelt a wish for candles.

“Won’t a good blazing fire give you lightenough?” inquired Peterkin.

“Yes,” replied Jack, “quite enough; but thenit will give us a great deal more than enough of heat in thiswarm climate of ours.”

“True,” said Peterkin; “I forgot that.It would roast us.”

“Well, as you’re always doing that at anyrate,” remarked Jack, “we could scarcely call it achange. But the fact is, I’ve been thinking over thissubject before. There is a certain nut growing in theseislands which is called the candle-nut, because the natives useit instead of candles, and I know all about it, and how toprepare it for burning—”

“Then why don’t you do it?” interruptedPeterkin. “Why have you kept us in the dark so long,you vile philosopher?”

“Because,” said Jack, “I have not seen thetree yet, and I’m not sure that I should know either thetree or the nuts if I did see them. You see, I forget thedescription.”

“Ah! that’s just the way with me,” saidPeterkin with a deep sigh. “I never could keep in mymind for half an hour the few descriptions I ever attempted toremember. The very first voyage I ever made was caused bymy mistaking a description, or forgetting it, which is the samething. And a horrible voyage it was. I had to fightwith the captain the whole way out, and made the homeward voyageby swimming!”

“Come, Peterkin,” said I, “you can’tget even meto believe that.”

“Perhaps not, but it’s true,notwithstanding,” returned Peterkin, pretending to be hurtat my doubting his word.

“Let us hear how it happened,” said Jack, while agood-natured smile overspread his face.

“Well, you must know,” began Peterkin, “thatthe very day before I went to sea, I was greatly taken up with agame at hockey, which I was playing with my old school-fellowsfor the last time before leaving them. You see I was youngthen, Ralph.” Peterkin gazed, in an abstracted andmelancholy manner, out to sea! “Well, in the midst ofthe game, my uncle, who had taken all the bother and trouble ofgetting me bound ’prentice and rigged out, came and took measide, and told me that he was called suddenly away from home,and would not be able to see me aboard, as he had intended.‘However,’ said he, ‘the captain knows you arecoming, so that’s not of much consequence; but asyou’ll have to find the ship yourself, you must rememberher name and description. D’ye hear,boy?’ I certainly did hear, but I’m afraid Idid not understand, for my mind was so taken up with the game,which I saw my side was losing, that I began to grow impatient,and the moment my uncle finished his description of the ship, andbade me good-bye, I bolted back to my game, with only a confusedidea of three masts, and a green painted tafferel, and a giltfigure-head of Hercules with his club at the bow. Next dayI was so much cast down with everybody saying good-bye, and a loto’ my female friends cryin’ horribly over me, that Idid not start for the harbour, where the ship was lying among athousand others, till it was almost too late. So I had torun the whole way. When I reached the pier, there were somany masts, and so much confusion, that I felt quitehumblebumbled in my faculties. ‘Now,’ said I tomyself, ‘Peterkin, you’re in a fix.’ ThenI fancied I saw a gilt figure-head and three masts, belonging toa ship just about to start; so I darted on board, but speedilyjumped on shore again, when I found that two of the mastsbelonged to another vessel, and the figurehead to a third!At last I caught sight of what I made sure was it,—a finelarge vessel just casting off her moorings. The tafferelwas green. Three masts,—yes, that must beit,—and the gilt figure-head of Hercules. To be sureit had a three-pronged pitchfork in its hand instead of a club;but that might be my uncle’s mistake; or perhaps Herculessometimes varied his weapons. ‘Cast off!’roared a voice from the quarter-deck. ‘Holdon!’ cried I, rushing frantically through the crowd.‘Hold on! hold on!’ repeated some of the bystanders,while the men at the ropes delayed for a minute. This threwthe captain into a frightful rage; for some of his friends hadcome down to see him off, and having his orders contradicted soflatly was too much for him. However, the delay wassufficient. I took a race and a good leap; the ropes werecast off; the steam-tug gave a puff, and we started.Suddenly the captain was up to me: ‘Where did you comefrom, you scamp, and what do you want here?’

“‘Please, sir,’ said I, touching my cap,‘I’m you’re new ’prentice comeaboard.’

“‘New ’Prentice,’ said he, stamping,‘I’ve got no new ’prentice. My boys areall aboard already. This is a trick, you youngblackguard. You’ve run away, you have;’ and thecaptain stamped about the deck and swore dreadfully; for, yousee, the thought of having to stop the ship and lower a boat andlose half an hour, all for the slake of sending a small boyashore, seemed to make him very angry. Besides, it wasblowin’ fresh outside the harbour, so that, to have let thesteamer alongside to put me into it was no easy job. Justas we were passing the pier-head, where several boats were rowinginto harbour, the captain came up to me,—

“‘You’ve run away, you blackguard,’ hesaid, giving me a box on the ear.

“‘No I haven’t,’ said I, angrily; forthe box was by no means a light one.

“Hark’ee, boy, can you swim?’

“‘Yes,’ said I.

“‘Then do it,’ and, seizing me by mytrousers and the nape of my neck, he tossed me over the side intothe sea. The fellows in the boats at the end of the pier,backed their oars on seeing this; but observing that I couldswim, they allowed me to make the best of my way to thepier-head. So, you see, Ralph, that I really did swim myfirst homeward voyage.”

Jack laughed and patted Peterkin on the shoulder.“But tell us about the candle-nut tree,” said I;“you were talking about it.”

“Very true,” said Jack, “but I fear I canremember little about it. I believe the nut is about thesize of a walnut; and I think that the leaves are white, but I amnot sure.”

“Eh! ha! hum!” exclaimed Peterkin, “I saw atree answering to that description this very day.”

“Did you?” cried Jack. “Is it far fromthis?”

“No, not half a mile.”

“Then lead me to it,” said Jack, seizing hisaxe.

In a few minutes we were all three pushing through theunderwood of the forest, headed by Peterkin.

We soon came to the tree in question, which, after Jack hadclosely examined it, we concluded must be the candle-nuttree. Its leaves were of a beautiful silvery white, andformed a fine contrast to the dark-green foliage of thesurrounding trees. We immediately filled our pockets withthe nuts, after which Jack said,—

“Now, Peterkin, climb that cocoa-nut tree and cut me oneof the long branches.”

This was soon done, but it cost some trouble, for the stem wasvery high, and as Peterkin usually pulled nuts from the youngertrees, he was not much accustomed to climbing the highones. The leaf or branch was a very large one, and we weresurprised at its size and strength. Viewed from a littledistance, the cocoa-nut tree seems to be a tall, straight stem,without a single branch except at the top, where there is a tuftof feathery-looking leaves, that seem to wave like soft plumes inthe wind. But when we saw one of these leaves or branchesat our feet, we found it to be a strong stalk, about fifteen feetlong, with a number of narrow, pointed leaflets rangedalternately on each side. But what seemed to us the mostwonderful thing about it was a curious substance resemblingcloth, which was wrapped round the thick end of the stalk, whereit had been cut from the tree. Peterkin told us that he hadthe greatest difficulty in separating the branch from the stem,on account of this substance, as it was wrapped quite round thetree, and, he observed, round all the other branches, thusforming a strong support to the large leaves while exposed tohigh winds. When I call this substance cloth I do notexaggerate. Indeed, with regard to all the things I sawduring my eventful career in the South Seas, I have beenexceedingly careful not to exaggerate, or in any way to misleador deceive my readers. This cloth, I say, was remarkablylike to coarse brown cotton cloth. It had a seam or fibredown the centre of it, from which diverged other fibres, aboutthe size of a bristle. There were two layers of thesefibres, very long and tough, the one layer crossing the otherobliquely, and the whole was cemented together with a still finerfibrous and adhesive substance. When we regarded itattentively, we could with difficulty believe that it had notbeen woven by human hands. This remarkable piece of clothwe stripped carefully off, and found it to be above two feetlong, by a foot broad, and we carried it home with us as a greatprize.

Jack now took one of the leaflets, and, cutting out thecentral spine or stalk, hurried back with it to our camp.Having made a small fire, he baked the nuts slightly, and thenpealed off the husks. After this he wished to bore a holein them, which, not having anything better at hand at the time,he did with the point of our useless pencil-case. Then hestrung them on the cocoa-nut spine, and on putting a light to thetopmost nut, we found to our joy that it burned with a clear,beautiful flame; upon seeing which, Peterkin sprang up and dancedround the fire for at least five minutes in the excess of hissatisfaction.

“Now lads,” said Jack, extinguishing our candle,the sun will set in an hour, so we have no time to lose.“I shall go and cut a young tree to make my bow out of, andyou had better each of you go and select good strong sticks forclubs, and we’ll set to work at them after dark.”

So saying he shouldered his axe and went off, followed byPeterkin, while I took up the piece of newly discovered cloth,and fell to examining its structure. So engrossed was I inthis that I was still sitting in the same attitude and occupationwhen my companions returned.

“I told you so!” cried Peterkin, with a loudlaugh. “Oh, Ralph, you’re incorrigible.See, there’s a club for you. I was sure, when we leftyou looking at that bit of stuff, that we would find you poringover it when we came back, so I just cut a club for you as wellas for myself.”

“Thank you, Peterkin,” said I. “It waskind of you to do that, instead of scolding me for a lazy fellow,as I confess I deserve.”

“Oh! as to that,” returned Peterkin,“I’ll blow you up yet, if you wish it—only itwould be of no use if I did, for you’re a perfectmule!”

As it was now getting dark we lighted our candle, and placingit in a holder made of two crossing branches, inside of ourbower, we seated ourselves on our leafy beds and began towork.

“I intend to appropriate the bow for my own use,”said Jack, chipping the piece of wood he had brought with hisaxe. “I used to be a pretty fair shot once. Butwhat’s that you’re doing?” he added, looking atPeterkin, who had drawn the end of a long pole into the tent, andwas endeavouring to fit a small piece of the hoop-iron to the endof it.

“I’m going to enlist into the Lancers,”answered Peterkin. “You see, Jack, I find the clubrather an unwieldy instrument for my delicately-formed muscles,and I flatter myself I shall do more execution with aspear.”

“Well, if length constitutes power,” said Jack,“you’ll certainly be invincible.”

The pole which Peterkin had cut was full twelve feet long,being a very strong but light and tough young tree, which merelyrequired thinning at the butt to be a serviceable weapon.

“That’s a very good idea,” said I.

“Which—this?” inquired Peterkin, pointing tothe spear.

“Yes;” I replied.

“Humph!” said he; “you’d find it apretty tough and matter-of-fact idea, if you had it stuck throughyour gizzard, old boy!”

“I mean the idea of making it is a good one,” saidI, laughing. “And, now I think of it, I’llchange my plan, too. I don’t think much of a club, soI’ll make me a sling out of this piece of cloth. Iused to be very fond of slinging, ever since I read of Davidslaying Goliath the Philistine, and I was once thought to beexpert at it.”

So I set to work to manufacture a sling. For a long timewe all worked very busily without speaking. At lengthPeterkin looked up: “I say, Jack, I’m sorry to say Imust apply to you for another strip of your handkerchief, to tieon this rascally head with. It’s pretty well torn atany rate, so you won’t miss it.”

Jack proceeded to comply with this request when Peterkinsuddenly laid his hand on his arm and arrested him.

“Hist, man,” said he, “be tender; you shouldnever be needlessly cruel if you can help it. Do try toshave past Lord Nelson’s mouth without tearing it, ifpossible! Thanks. There are plenty more handkerchiefson the cocoa-nut trees.”

Poor Peterkin! with what pleasant feelings I recall and recordhis jests and humorous sayings now!

While we were thus engaged, we were startled by a distant butmost strange and horrible cry. It seemed to come from thesea, but was so far away that we could not clearly distinguishits precise direction. Rushing out of our bower, wehastened down to the beach and stayed to listen. Again itcame quite loud and distinct on the night air,—a prolonged,hideous cry, something like the braying of an ass. The moonhad risen, and we could see the islands in and beyond the lagoonquite plainly, but there was no object visible to account forsuch a cry. A strong gust of wind was blowing from thepoint whence the sound came, but this died away while we weregazing out to sea.

“What can it be?” said Peterkin, in a low whisper,while we all involuntarily crept closer to each other.

“Do you know,” said Jack, “I have heard thatmysterious sound twice before, but never so loud asto-night. Indeed it was so faint that I thought I must havemerely fancied it, so, as I did not wish to alarm you, I saidnothing about it.”

We listened for a long time for the sound again, but as it didnot come, we returned to the bower and resumed our work.

“Very strange,” said Peterkin, quitegravely. “Do you believe in ghosts, Ralph?”

“No,” I answered, “I do not.Nevertheless I must confess that strange, unaccountable sounds,such as we have just heard, make me feel a littleuneasy.”

“What say you to it, Jack?”

“I neither believe in ghosts nor feel uneasy,” hereplied. “I never saw a ghost myself, and I never metwith any one who had; and I have generally found that strange andunaccountable things have almost always been accounted for, andfound to be quite simple, on close examination. I certainlycan’t imagine what thatsound is; but I’mquite sure I shall find out before long,—and if it’sa ghost I’ll—”

“Eat it,” cried Peterkin.

“Yes, I’ll eat it! Now, then, my bow and twoarrows are finished; so if you’re ready we had better turnin.”

By this time Peterkin had thinned down his spear and tied aniron point very cleverly to the end of it; I had formed a sling,the lines of which were composed of thin strips of the cocoa-nutcloth, plaited; and Jack had made a stout bow, nearly five feetlong, with two arrows, feathered with two or three large plumeswhich some bird had dropt. They had no barbs, but Jack saidthat if arrows were well feathered, they did not require ironpoints, but would fly quite well if merely sharpened at thepoint; which I did not know before.

“A feathered arrow without a barb,” said he,“is a good weapon, but a barbed arrow without feathers isutterly useless.”

The string of the bow was formed of our piece of whip-cord,part of which, as he did not like to cut it, was rolled round thebow.

Although thus prepared for a start on the morrow, we thoughtit wise to exercise ourselves a little in the use of our weaponsbefore starting, so we spent the whole of the next day inpractising. And it was well we did so, for we found thatour arms were very imperfect, and that we were far from perfectin the use of them. First, Jack found that the bow was muchtoo strong, and he had to thin it. Also the spear was muchtoo heavy, and so had to be reduced in thickness, althoughnothing would induce Peterkin to have it shortened. Mysling answered very well, but I had fallen so much out ofpractice that my first stone knocked off Peterkin’s hat,and narrowly missed making a second Goliath of him.However, after having spent the whole day in diligent practice,we began to find some of our former expertness returning—atleast Jack and I did. As for Peterkin, being naturally aneat-handed boy, he soon handled his spear well, and could runfull tilt at a cocoa nut, and hit it with great precision onceout of every five times.

But I feel satisfied that we owed much of our rapid success tothe unflagging energy of Jack, who insisted that, since we hadmade him Captain, we should obey him; and he kept us at work frommorning till night, perseveringly, at the same thing.Peterkin wished very much to run about and stick his spear intoeverything he passed; but Jack put up a cocoa nut, and would notlet him leave off running at that for a moment, except when hewanted to rest. We laughed at Jack for this, but we wereboth convinced that it did us much good.

That night we examined and repaired our arms ere we lay downto rest, although we were much fatigued, in order that we mightbe in readiness to set out on our expedition at daylight on thefollowing morning.

CHAPTER IX.

Prepare for a journey round the island—Sagaciousreflections—Mysterious appearances and startlingoccurrences.

Scarcely had the sun shot its first ray across the bosom ofthe broad Pacific, when Jack sprang to his feet, and, hallooingin Peterkin’s ear to awaken him, ran down the beach to takehis customary dip in the sea. We did not, as was our wont,bathe that morning in our Water Garden, but, in order to savetime, refreshed ourselves in the shallow water just opposite thebower. Our breakfast was also despatched without loss oftime, and in less than an hour afterwards all our preparationsfor the journey were completed.

In addition to his ordinary dress, Jack tied a belt ofcocoa-nut cloth round his waist, into which he thrust theaxe. I was also advised to put on a belt and carry a shortcudgel or bludgeon in it; for, as Jack truly remarked, the slingwould be of little use if we should chance to come to closequarters with any wild animal. As for Peterkin,notwithstanding that he carried such a long, and I must add,frightful-looking spear over his shoulder, we could not prevailon him to leave his club behind; “for,” said he,“a spear at close quarters is not worth abutton.” I must say that it seemed to me that theclub was, to use his own style of language, not worth abutton-hole; for it was all knotted over at the head, somethinglike the club which I remember to have observed in picture-booksof Jack the Giant Killer, besides being so heavy that he requiredto grasp it with both hands in order to wield it at all.However, he took it with him, and, in this manner we set out uponour travels.

We did not consider it necessary to carry any food with us, aswe knew that wherever we went we should be certain to fall inwith cocoa-nut trees; having which, we were amply supplied, asPeterkin said, with meat and drink andpocket-handkerchiefs! I took the precaution, however, toput the burning-glass into my pocket, lest we should wantfire.

The morning was exceeding lovely. It was one of thatvery still and peaceful sort which made the few noises that weheard seem to be quietnoises. I know no other wayof expressing this idea. Noises which so far frominterrupting the universal tranquillity of earth, sea, andsky—rather tended to reveal to us how quiet the worldaround us really was. Such sounds as I refer to were, thepeculiarly melancholy—yet, it seemed to me,cheerful—plaint of sea-birds floating on the glassy water,or sailing in the sky, also the subdued twittering of littlebirds among the bushes, the faint ripples on the beach, and thesolemn boom of the surf upon the distant coral reef. Wefelt very glad in our hearts as we walked along the sands side byside. For my part, I felt so deeply overjoyed, that I wassurprised at my own sensations, and fell into a reverie upon thecauses of happiness. I came to the conclusion that a stateof profound peace and repose, both in regard to outward objectsand within the soul, is the happiest condition in which man canbe placed; for, although I had many a time been most joyful andhappy when engaged in bustling, energetic, active pursuits oramusements, I never found that such joy or satisfaction was sodeep or so pleasant to reflect upon as that which I nowexperienced. And I was the more confirmed in this opinionwhen I observed, and, indeed, was told by himself, thatPeterkin’s happiness was also very great; yet he did notexpress this by dancing, as was his wont, nor did he give so muchas a single shout, but walked quietly between us with his eyesparkling, and a joyful smile upon his countenance. Myreader must not suppose that I thought all this in the clear andmethodical manner in which I have set it down here. Thesethoughts did, indeed, pass through my mind, but they did so in avery confused and indefinite manner, for I was young at thattime, and not much given to deep reflections. Neither did Iconsider that the peace whereof I write is not to be found inthis world—at least in its perfection, although I havesince learned that by religion a man may attain to a very greatdegree of it.

I have said that Peterkin walked along the sands betweenus. We had two ways of walking together about ourisland. When we travelled through the woods, we always didso in single file, as by this method we advanced with greaterfacility, the one treading in the other’s footsteps.In such cases Jack always took the lead, Peterkin followed, and Ibrought up the rear. But when we travelled along the sands,which extended almost in an unbroken line of glistening whiteround the island, we marched abreast, as we found this methodmore sociable, and every way more pleasant. Jack, being thetallest, walked next the sea, and Peterkin marched between us, asby this arrangement either of us could talk to him or he to us,while if Jack and I happened to wish to converse together, wecould conveniently do so over Peterkin’s head.Peterkin used to say, in reference to this arrangement, that hadhe been as tall as either of us, our order of march might havebeen the same, for, as Jack often used to scold him for lettingeverything we said to him pass in at one ear and out at theother, his head could of course form no interruption to ourdiscourse.

We were now fairly started. Half a mile’s walkconveyed us round a bend in the land which shut out our bowerfrom view, and for some time we advanced at a brisk pace withoutspeaking, though our eyes were not idle, but noted everything, inthe woods, on the shore, or in the sea, that wasinteresting. After passing the ridge of land that formedone side of our valley—the Valley of the Wreck—webeheld another small vale lying before us in all the luxuriantloveliness of tropical vegetation. We had, indeed, seen itbefore from the mountain-top, but we had no idea that it wouldturn out to be so much more lovely when we were close toit. We were about to commence the exploration of thisvalley, when Peterkin stopped us, and directed our attention to avery remarkable appearance in advance along the shore.

“What’s yon, think you?” said he, levellinghis spear, as if he expected an immediate attack from the objectin question, though it was full half a mile distant.

As he spoke, there appeared a white column above the rocks, asif of steam or spray. It rose upwards to a height ofseveral feet, and then disappeared. Had this been near thesea, we would not have been so greatly surprised, as it might inthat case have been the surf, for at this part of the coast thecoral reef approached so near to the island that in some parts italmost joined it. There was therefore no lagoon between,and the heavy surf of the ocean beat almost up to therocks. But this white column appeared about fifty yardsinland. The rocks at the place were rugged, and theystretched across the sandy beach into the sea. Scarce hadwe ceased expressing our surprise at this sight, when anothercolumn flew upwards for a few seconds, not far from the spotwhere the first had been seen, and disappeared; and so, at longirregular intervals, these strange sights recurred. We werenow quite sure that the columns were watery or composed of spray,but what caused them we could not guess, so we determined to goand see.

In a few minutes we gained the spot, which was very rugged andprecipitous, and, moreover, quite damp with the falling of thespray. We had much ado to pass over dry-shod. Theground also was full of holes here and there. Now, while westood anxiously waiting for the re-appearance of thesewater-spouts, we heard a low, rumbling sound near us, whichquickly increased to a gargling and hissing noise, and a momentafterwards a thick spout of water burst upwards from a hole inthe rock, and spouted into the air with much violence, and soclose to where Jack and I were standing that it nearly touchedus. We sprang to one side, but not before a cloud of spraydescended, and drenched us both to the skin.

Peterkin, who was standing farther off, escaped with a fewdrops, and burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter onbeholding our miserable plight.

“Mind your eye!” he shouted eagerly, “theregoes another!” The words were scarcely out of hismouth when there came up a spout from another hole, which servedus exactly in the same manner as before.

Peterkin now shrieked with laughter; but his merriment wasabruptly put a stop to by the gurgling noise occurring close towhere he stood.

“Where’ll it spout this time, I wonder?” hesaid, looking about with some anxiety, and preparing torun. Suddenly there came a loud hiss or snort; a fiercespout of water burst up between Peterkin’s legs, blew himoff his feet, enveloped him in its spray, and hurled him to theground. He fell with so much violence that we feared hemust have broken some of his bones, and ran anxiously to hisassistance; but fortunately he had fallen on a clump of tangledherbage, in which he lay sprawling in a most deplorablecondition.

It was now our turn to laugh; but as we were not yet quitesure that he was unhurt, and as we knew not when or where thenext spout might arise, we assisted him hastily to jump up andhurry from the spot.

I may here add, that although I am quite certain that thespout of water was very strong, and that it blew Peterkincompletely off his legs, I am not quite certain of the exactheight to which it lifted him, being somewhat startled by theevent, and blinded partially by the spray, so that my power ofobservation was somewhat impaired for the moment.

“What’s to be done now?” inquired Peterkinruefully.

“Make a fire, lad, and dry ourselves,” repliedJack.

“And here is material ready to our hand,” said I,picking up a dried branch of a tree, as we hurried up to thewoods.

In about an hour after this mishap our clothes were againdried. While they were hanging up before the fire, wewalked down to the beach, and soon observed that these curiousspouts took place immediately after the fall of a huge wave,never before it; and, moreover, that the spouts did not takeplace excepting when the billow was an extremely large one.From this we concluded that there must be a subterraneous channelin the rock into which the water was driven by the larger waves,and finding no way of escape except through these small holes,was thus forced up violently through them. At any rate, wecould not conceive any other reason for these strangewater-spouts, and as this seemed a very simple and probable one,we forthwith adopted it.

“I say, Ralph, what’s that in the water? is it ashark?” said Jack, just as we were about to quit theplace.

I immediately ran to the overhanging ledge of rock, from whichhe was looking down into the sea, and bent over it. There Isaw a very faint pale object of a greenish colour, which seemedto move slightly while I looked at it.

“It’s like a fish of some sort,” said I.

“Hallo, Peterkin!” cried Jack, “fetch yourspear; here’s work for it.”

But when we tried to reach the object, the spear proved to betoo short.

“There, now,” said Peterkin with a sneer,“you were always telling me it was too long.”

Jack now drove the spear forcibly towards the object, and letgo his hold; but, although it seemed to be well aimed, he musthave missed, for the handle soon rose again; and when the spearwas drawn up, there was the pale green object in exactly the samespot, slowly moving its tail.

“Very odd,” said Jack.

But although it was undoubtedly very odd, and, although Jackand all of us plunged the spear at it repeatedly, we couldneither hit it nor drive it away, so we were compelled tocontinue our journey without discovering what it was. I wasvery much perplexed at this strange appearance in the water, andcould not get it out of my mind for a long time afterwards.However, I quieted myself by resolving that I would pay a visitto it again at some more convenient season.

CHAPTER X.

Make discovery of many excellent roots and fruits—Theresources of the Coral Island gradually unfolded—Thebanian-tree—Another tree which is supported by naturalplanks—Water-fowl found—A very remarkable discovery,and a very peculiar murder—We luxuriate on the fat of theland.

Our examination of the little valley proved to be altogethermost satisfactory. We found in it not only similar trees tothose we had already seen in our own valley, but also one or twoothers of a different species. We had also the satisfactionof discovering a peculiar vegetable, which Jack concluded mustcertainly be that of which he had read as being very common amongthe South Sea islanders, and which was named taro.Also we found a large supply of yams, and another root like apotato in appearance. As these were all quite new to us, weregarded our lot as a most fortunate one, in being thus cast onan island which was so prolific and so well stored with all thenecessaries of life. Long afterwards we found out that thisisland of ours was no better in these respects than thousands ofother islands in those seas. Indeed, many of them were muchricher and more productive; but that did not render us the lessgrateful for our present good fortune. We each put one ofthese roots in our pocket, intending to use them for our supper;of which more hereafter. We also saw many beautiful birdshere, and traces of some four-footed animal again.Meanwhile the sun began to descend, so we returned to the shore,and pushed on round the spouting rocks into the nextvalley. This was that valley of which I have spoken asrunning across the entire island. It was by far the largestand most beautiful that we had yet looked upon. Here weretrees of every shape and size and hue which it is possible toconceive of, many of which we had not seen in the other valleys;for, the stream in this valley being larger, and the mould muchricher than in the Valley of the Wreck, it was clothed with amore luxuriant growth of trees and plants. Some trees weredark glossy green, others of a rich and warm hue, contrastingwell with those of a pale light green, which were everywhereabundant. Among these we recognised the broad dark heads ofthe bread-fruit, with its golden fruit; the pure, silvery foliageof the candle-nut, and several species which bore a strongresemblance to the pine; while here and there, in groups and insingle trees, rose the tall forms of the cocoa-nut palms,spreading abroad, and waving their graceful plumes high above allthe rest, as if they were a superior race of stately giantskeeping guard over these luxuriant forests. Oh! it was amost enchanting scene, and I thanked God for having created suchdelightful spots for the use of man.

Now, while we were gazing around us in silent admiration, Jackuttered an exclamation of surprise, and, pointing to an object alittle to one side of us, said,—

“That’s a banian-tree.”

“And what’s a banian-tree?” inquiredPeterkin, as we walked towards it.

“A very curious one, as you shall see presently,”replied Jack. “It is called the aoahere, if Irecollect rightly, and has a wonderful peculiarity aboutit. What an enormous one it is, to be sure.”

“It!” repeated Peterkin; “why, thereare dozens of banians here! What do you mean by talking badgrammar? Is your philosophy deserting you, Jack?”

“There is but one tree here of this kind,”returned Jack, “as you will perceive if you will examineit.” And, sure enough, we did find that what we hadsupposed was a forest of trees was in reality only one. Itsbark was of a light colour, and had a shining appearance, theleaves being lance-shaped, small, and of a beautifulpea-green. But the wonderful thing about it was, that thebranches, which grew out from the stem horizontally, sent downlong shoots or fibres to the ground, which, taking root, hadthemselves become trees, and were covered with bark like the treeitself. Many of these fibres had descended from thebranches at various distances, and thus supported them on naturalpillars, some of which were so large and strong, that it was noteasy at first to distinguish the offspring from the parentstem. The fibres were of all sizes and in all states ofadvancement, from the pillars we have just mentioned to smallcords which hung down and were about to take root, and thin brownthreads still far from the ground, which swayed about with everymotion of wind. In short, it seemed to us that, if therewere only space afforded to it, this single tree would at lengthcover the whole island.

Shortly after this we came upon another remarkable tree,which, as its peculiar formation afterwards proved extremelyuseful to us, merits description. It was a splendidchestnut, but its proper name Jack did not know. However,there were quantities of fine nuts upon it, some of which we putin our pockets. But its stem was the wonderful part ofit. It rose to about twelve feet without a branch, and wasnot of great thickness; on the contrary, it was remarkablyslender for the size of the tree; but, to make up for this, therewere four or five wonderful projections in this stem, which Icannot better describe than by asking the reader to suppose thatfive planks of two inches thick and three feet broad had beenplaced round the trunk of the tree, with their edgesclosely fixed to it, from the ground up to the branches, and thatthese planks had been covered over with the bark of the tree andincorporated with it. In short, they were just naturalbuttresses, without which the stem could not have supported itsheavy and umbrageous top. We found these chestnuts to bevery numerous. They grew chiefly on the banks of thestream, and were of all sizes.

While we were examining a small tree of this kind, Jackchipped a piece off a buttress with his axe, and found the woodto be firm and easily cut. He then struck the axe into itwith all his force, and very soon split it off close to the tree,first, however, having cut it across transversely above andbelow. By this means he satisfied himself that we could nowobtain short planks, as it were all ready sawn, of any size andthickness that we desired; which was a very great discoveryindeed, perhaps the most important we had yet made.

We now wended our way back to the coast, intending to encampnear the beach, as we found that the mosquitoes were troublesomein the forest. On our way we could not help admiring thebirds which flew and chirped around us. Among them weobserved a pretty kind of paroquet, with a green body, a bluehead, and a red breast; also a few beautiful turtledoves, andseveral flocks of wood-pigeons. The hues of many of thesebirds were extremely vivid,—bright green, blue, andscarlet, being the prevailing tints. We made severalattempts throughout the day to bring down one of these, both withthe bow and the sling,—not for mere sport, but to ascertainwhether they were good for food. But we invariably missed,although once or twice we were very near hitting. Asevening drew on, however, a flock of pigeons flew past. Islung a stone into the midst of them at a venture, and had thegood fortune to kill one. We were startled, soon after, bya loud whistling noise above our heads; and on looking up, saw aflock of wild ducks making for the coast. We watched these,and, observing where they alighted, followed them up until wecame upon a most lovely blue lake, not more than two hundredyards long, imbosomed in verdant trees. Its placid surface,which reflected every leaf and stem, as if in a mirror, wascovered with various species of wild ducks, feeding among thesedges and broad-leaved water-plants which floated on it, whilenumerous birds like water-hens ran to and fro most busily on itsmargin. These all with one accord flew tumultuously awaythe instant we made our appearance. While walking along themargin we observed fish in the water, but of what sort we couldnot tell.

Now, as we neared the shore, Jack and I said we would go alittle out of our way to see if we could procure one of thoseducks; so, directing Peterkin to go straight to the shore andkindle a fire, we separated, promising to rejoin himspeedily. But we did not find the ducks, although we made adiligent search for half an hour. We were about to retraceour steps, when we were arrested by one of the strangest sightsthat we had yet beheld.

Just in front of us, at the distance of about ten yards, grewa superb tree, which certainly was the largest we had yet seen onthe island. Its trunk was at least five feet in diameter,with a smooth gray bark; above this the spreading branches wereclothed with light green leaves, amid which were clusters ofbright yellow fruit, so numerous as to weigh down the boughs withtheir great weight. This fruit seemed to be of the plumspecies, of an oblong form, and a good deal larger than themagnum bonum plum. The ground at the foot of this tree wasthickly strewn with the fallen fruit, in the midst of which laysleeping, in every possible attitude, at least twenty hogs of allages and sizes, apparently quite surfeited with a recentbanquet.

Jack and I could scarce restrain our laughter as we gazed atthese coarse, fat, ill-looking animals, while they lay groaningand snoring heavily amid the remains of their supper.

“Now, Ralph,” said Jack, in a low whisper,“put a stone in your sling,—a good big one,—andlet fly at that fat fellow with his back toward you.I’ll try to put an arrow into yon little pig.”

“Don’t you think we had better put them upfirst?” I whispered; “it seems cruel to kill themwhile asleep.”

“If I wanted sport, Ralph, I would certainly setthem up; but as we only want pork, we’ll let themlie. Besides, we’re not sure of killing them; so,fire away.”

Thus admonished, I slung my stone with so good aim that itwent bang against the hog’s flank as if against the head ofa drum; but it had no other effect than that of causing theanimal to start to its feet, with a frightful yell of surprise,and scamper away. At the same instant Jack’s bowtwanged, and the arrow pinned the little pig to the ground by theear.

“I’ve missed, after all,” cried Jack,darting forward with uplifted axe, while the little pig uttered aloud squeal, tore the arrow from the ground, and ran away withit, along with the whole drove, into the bushes and disappeared,though we heard them screaming long afterwards in thedistance.

“That’s very provoking, now,” said Jack,rubbing the point of his nose.

“Very,” I replied, stroking my chin.

“Well, we must make haste and rejoin Peterkin,”said Jack. “It’s getting late.”And, without further remark, we threaded our way quickly throughthe woods towards the shore.

When we reached it, we found wood laid out, the fire lightedand beginning to kindle up, with other signs of preparation forour encampment, but Peterkin was nowhere to be found. Wewondered very much at this; but Jack suggested that he might havegone to fetch water; so he gave a shout to let him know that wehad arrived, and sat down upon a rock, while I threw off myjacket and seized the axe, intending to split up one or twobillets of wood. But I had scarce moved from the spot when,in the distance, we heard a most appalling shriek, which wasfollowed up by a chorus of yells from the hogs, and a loud“hurrah!”

“I do believe,” said I, “that Peterkin hasmet with the hogs.”

“When Greek meets Greek,” said Jack,soliloquizing, “then comes the tug of—”

“Hurrah!” shouted Peterkin in the distance.

We turned hastily towards the direction whence the sound came,and soon descried Peterkin walking along the beach towards uswith a little pig transfixed on the end of his long spear!

“Well done, my boy!” exclaimed Jack, slapping himon the shoulder when he came up, “you’re the bestshot amongst us.”

“Look here Jack!” cried Peterkin, as he disengagedthe animal from his spear. “Do you recognise thathole?” said he, pointing to the pig’s ear; “andare you familiar with this arrow, eh?”

“Well, I declare!” said Jack.

“Of course you do,” interrupted Peterkin;“but, pray, restrain your declarations at this time, andlet’s have supper, for I’m uncommonly hungry, I cantell you; and it’s no joke to charge a whole herd of swinewith their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine atthe head of them!”

We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good displayof viands we made, when all was laid out on a flat rock in thelight of the blazing fire. There was, first of all, thelittle pig; then there was the taro-root, and the yam, and thepotato, and six plums; and, lastly, the wood-pigeon. Tothese Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had cut from alittle patch of that plant which he had found not long afterseparating from us; “and,” said he, “the patchwas somewhat in a square form, which convinces me it must havebeen planted by man.”

“Very likely,” replied Jack. “From allwe have seen, I’m inclined to think that some of thesavages must have dwelt here long ago.”

We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how wewere to cook the pig. None of us had ever cut up onebefore, and we did not know exactly how to begin; besides, we hadnothing but the axe to do it with, our knife having beenforgotten. At last Jack started up and said,—

“Don’t let us waste more time talking about it,boys. Hold it up, Peterkin. There, lay the hind legon this block of wood, so;” and he cut it off, with a largeportion of the haunch, at a single blow of the axe.“Now the other,—that’s it.” Andhaving thus cut off the two hind legs, he made several deepgashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick through each, andstuck them up before the blaze to roast. The wood-pigeonwas then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water, andtreated in a similar manner. While these were cooking, wescraped a hole in the sand and ashes under the fire, into whichwe put our vegetables, and covered them up.

The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long andfour or five thick. It was of a mottled-gray colour, andhad a thick rind. We found it somewhat like an Irishpotato, and exceedingly good. The yam was roundish, and hada rough brown skin. It was very sweet andwell-flavoured. The potato, we were surprised to find, wasquite sweet and exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums;and, indeed, the pork and pigeon too, when we came to tastethem. Altogether this was decidedly the most luxurioussupper we had enjoyed for many a day; and Jack said it wasout-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship; and Peterkinsaid he feared that if we should remain long on the island hewould infallibly become a glutton or an epicure: whereat Jackremarked that he need not fear that, for he was bothalready! And so, having eaten our fill, not forgetting tofinish off with a plum, we laid ourselves comfortably down tosleep upon a couch of branches under the overhanging ledge of acoral rock.

CHAPTER XI.

Effects of over-eating, and reflections thereon—Humbleadvice regarding cold water—The “horrible cry”accounted for—The curious birds calledpenguins—Peculiarity of the cocoa nut palm—Questionson the formation of coral islands—Mysteriousfootsteps—Strange discoveries and sad sights.

When we awoke on the following morning, we found that the sunwas already a good way above the horizon, so I came to theconclusion that a heavy supper is not conducive to earlyrising. Nevertheless, we felt remarkably strong and well,and much disposed to have our breakfast. First, however, wehad our customary morning bathe, which refreshed us greatly.

I have often wondered very much in after years that theinhabitants of my own dear land did not make more frequent use ofthis most charming element, water. I mean in the way ofcold bathing. Of course, I have perceived that it is notconvenient for them to go into the sea or the rivers in winter,as we used to do on the Coral Island; but then, I knew fromexperience that a large washing-tub and a sponge do form a mostpleasant substitute. The feelings of freshness, ofcleanliness, of vigour, and extreme hilarity, that alwaysfollowed my bathes in the sea, and even, when in England, myablutions in the wash-tub, were so delightful, that I wouldsooner have gone without my breakfast than without my bathe incold water. My readers will forgive me for asking whetherthey are in the habit of bathing thus every morning; and if theyanswer “No,” they will pardon me for recommendingthem to begin at once. Of late years, since retiring fromthe stirring life of adventure which I have led so long inforeign climes, I have heard of a system called thecold-water-cure. Now, I do not know much about that system,so I do not mean to uphold it, neither do I intend to run itdown. Perhaps, in reference to it, I may just hint thatthere may be too much of a good thing. I know not; but ofthis I am quite certain, that there may also be too little of agood thing; and the great delight I have had in cold bathingduring the course of my adventurous career inclines me to thinkthat it is better to risk taking too much than to contentone’s self with too little. Such is my opinion,derived from much experience; but I put it before my readers withthe utmost diffidence and with profound modesty, knowing that itmay possibly jar with their feelings of confidence in their ownability to know and judge as to what is best and fittest inreference to their own affairs. But, to return from thisdigression, for which I humbly crave forgiveness.

We had not advanced on our journey much above a mile or so,and were just beginning to feel the pleasant glow that usuallyaccompanies vigorous exercise, when, on turning a point thatrevealed to us a new and beautiful cluster of islands, we weresuddenly arrested by the appalling cry which had so alarmed us afew nights before. But this time we were by no means somuch alarmed as on the previous occasion, because, whereas atthat time it was night, now it was day; and I have always found,though I am unable to account for it, that daylight banishes manyof the fears that are apt to assail us in the dark.

On hearing the sound, Peterkin instantly threw forward hisspear.

“Now, what can it be?” said he, looking round atJack. “I tell you what it is, if we are to go onbeing pulled up in a constant state of horror and astonishment,as we have been for the last week, the sooner we’re outo’ this island the better, notwithstanding the yams andlemonade, and pork and plums!”

Peterkin’s remark was followed by a repetition of thecry, louder than before.

“It comes from one of these islands,” saidJack.

“It must be the ghost of a jackass, then,” saidPeterkin, “for I never heard anything so like.”

We all turned our eyes towards the cluster of islands, where,on the largest, we observed curious objects moving on theshore.

“Soldiers they are,—that’s flat!”cried Peterkin, gazing at them in the utmost amazement.

And, in truth, Peterkin’s remark seemed to me to becorrect; for, at the distance from which we saw them, theyappeared to be an army of soldiers. There they stood, rankand file, in lines and in squares, marching and countermarching,with blue coats and white trousers. While we were lookingat them, the dreadful cry came again over the water, and Peterkinsuggested that it must be a regiment sent out to massacre thenatives in cold blood. At this remark Jack laughed andsaid,—

“Why, Peterkin, they are penguins!”

“Penguins?” repeated Peterkin.

“Ay, penguins, Peterkin, penguins,—nothing more orless than big sea-birds, as you shall see one of these days, whenwe pay them a visit in our boat, which I mean to set aboutbuilding the moment we return to our bower.”

“So, then, our dreadful yelling ghosts and our murderingarmy of soldiers,” remarked Peterkin, “have dwindleddown to penguins,—big sea-birds! Very good.Then I propose that we continue our journey as fast as possible,lest our island should be converted into a dream before we getcompletely round it.”

Now, as we continued on our way, I pondered much over this newdiscovery, and the singular appearance of these birds, of whichJack could only give us a very slight and vague account; and Ibegan to long to commence to our boat, in order that we might goand inspect them more narrowly. But by degrees thesethoughts left me, and I began to be much taken up again with theinteresting peculiarities of the country which we were passingthrough.

The second night we passed in a manner somewhat similar to thefirst, at about two-thirds of the way round the island, as wecalculated, and we hoped to sleep on the night following at ourbower. I will not here note so particularly all that wesaid and saw during the course of this second day, as we did notmake any further discoveries of great importance. The shorealong which we travelled, and the various parts of the woodsthrough which we passed, were similar to those which have beenalready treated of. There were one or two observations thatwe made, however, and these were as follows:—

We saw that, while many of the large fruit-bearing trees grewonly in the valleys, and some of them only near the banks of thestreams, where the soil was peculiarly rich, the cocoa-nut palmgrew in every place whatsoever,—not only on the hill sides,but also on the sea shore, and even, as has been already stated,on the coral reef itself, where the soil, if we may use the name,was nothing better than loose sand mingled with broken shells andcoral rock. So near to the sea, too, did this useful treegrow, that in many places its roots were washed by the spray fromthe breakers. Yet we found the trees growing thus on thesands to be quite as luxuriant as those growing in the valleys,and the fruit as good and refreshing also. Besides this, Inoticed that, on the summit of the high mountain, which we oncemore ascended at a different point from our first ascent, werefound abundance of shells and broken coral formations, which Jackand I agreed proved either that this island must have once beenunder the sea, or that the sea must once have been above theisland. In other words, that as shells and coral could notpossibly climb to the mountain top, they must have been washedupon it while the mountain top was on a level with the sea.We pondered this very much; and we put to ourselves the question,“What raised the island to its present height above thesea?” But to this we could by no means give toourselves a satisfactory reply. Jack thought it might havebeen blown up by a volcano; and Peterkin said he thought it musthave jumped up of its own accord! We also noticed, what hadescaped us before, that the solid rocks of which the island wasformed were quite different from the live coral rocks on theshore, where the wonderful little insects were continuallyworking. They seemed, indeed, to be of the samematerial,—a substance like limestone; but, while the coralrocks were quite full of minute cells in which the insects lived,the other rocks inland were hard and solid, without theappearance of cells at all. Our thoughts and conversationson this subject were sometimes so profound that Peterkin said weshould certainly get drowned in them at last, even although wewere such good divers! Nevertheless we did not allow hispleasantry on this and similar points to deter us from making ournotes and observations as we went along.

We found several more droves of hogs in the woods, butabstained from killing any of them, having more than sufficientfor our present necessities. We saw also many of theirfoot-prints in this neighbourhood. Among these we alsoobserved the footprints of a smaller animal, which we examinedwith much care, but could form no certain opinion as tothem. Peterkin thought they were those of a little dog, butJack and I thought differently. We became very curious onthis matter, the more so that we observed these foot-prints tolie scattered about in one locality, as if the animal which hadmade them was wandering round about in a very irregular manner,and without any object in view. Early in the forenoon ofour third day we observed these footprints to be much morenumerous than ever, and in one particular spot they diverged offinto the woods in a regular beaten track, which was, however, soclosely beset with bushes, that we pushed through it withdifficulty. We had now become so anxious to find out whatanimal this was, and where it went to, that we determined tofollow the track, and, if possible, clear up the mystery.Peterkin said, in a bantering tone, that he was sure it would becleared up as usual in some frightfully simple way, and prove tobe no mystery at all!

The beaten track seemed much too large to have been formed bythe animal itself, and we concluded that some larger animal hadmade it, and that the smaller one made use of it. Buteverywhere the creeping plants and tangled bushes crossed ourpath, so that we forced our way along with some difficulty.Suddenly, as we came upon an open space, we heard a faint cry,and observed a black animal standing in the track before us.

“A wild-cat!” cried Jack, fitting an arrow to hisbow, and discharging it so hastily that he missed the animal, andhit the earth about half a foot to one side of it. To oursurprise the wild-cat did not fly, but walked slowly towards thearrow, and snuffed at it.

“That’s the most comical wild-cat I eversaw!” cried Jack.

“It’s a tame wild-cat, I think,” saidPeterkin, levelling his spear to make a charge.

“Stop!” cried I, laying my hand on his shoulder;“I do believe the poor beast is blind. See, itstrikes against the branches as it walks along. It must bea very old one;” and I hastened towards it.

“Only think,” said Peterkin, with a suppressedlaugh, “of a superannuated wild-cat!”

We now found that the poor cat was not only blind, or nearlyso, but extremely deaf, as it did not hear our footsteps until wewere quite close behind it. Then it sprang round, and,putting up its back and tail, while the black hair stood all onend, uttered a hoarse mew and a fuff.

“Poor thing,” said Peterkin, gently extending hishand, and endeavouring to pat the cat’s head.“Poor pussy; chee, chee, chee; puss, puss, puss; cheetiepussy!”

No sooner did the cat hear these sounds than all signs ofanger fled, and, advancing eagerly to Peterkin, it allowed itselfto be stroked, and rubbed itself against his legs, purring loudlyall the time, and showing every symptom of the most extremedelight.

“It’s no more a wild cat than I am!” criedPeterkin, taking it in his arms. “It’s quitetame. Poor pussy, cheetie pussy!”

We now crowded around Peterkin, and were not a littlesurprised, and, to say truth, a good deal affected, by the sightof the poor animal’s excessive joy. It rubbed itshead against Peterkin’s cheek, licked his chin, and thrustits head almost violently into his neck, while it purred moreloudly than I ever heard a cat purr before, and appeared to be somuch overpowered by its feelings, that it occasionally mewed andpurred almost in the same breath. Such demonstrations ofjoy and affection led us at once to conclude that this poor catmust have known man before, and we conjectured that it had beenleft either accidentally or by design on the island many yearsago, and was now evincing its extreme joy at meeting once morewith human beings. While we were fondling the cat andtalking about it, Jack glanced round the open space in the midstof which we stood.

“Hallo!” exclaimed he; “this looks somethinglike a clearing. The axe has been at work here. Justlook at these tree-stumps.”

We now turned to examine these, and, without doubt, we foundtrees that had been cut down here and there, also stumps andbroken branches; all of which, however, were completely coveredover with moss, and bore evidence of having been in thiscondition for some years. No human foot-prints were to beseen, either on the track or among the bushes; but those of thecat were found everywhere. We now determined to follow upthe track as far as it went, and Peterkin put the cat down; butit seemed to be so weak, and mewed so very pitifully, that hetook it up again and carried it in his arms, where, in a fewminutes, it fell sound asleep.

About ten yards farther on, the felled trees became morenumerous, and the track, diverging to the right, followed for ashort space the banks of a stream. Suddenly we came to aspot where once must have been a rude bridge, the stones of whichwere scattered in the stream, and those on each bank entirelycovered over with moss. In silent surprise and expectancywe continued to advance, and, a few yards farther on, beheld,under the shelter of some bread-fruit trees, a small hut orcottage. I cannot hope to convey to my readers a verycorrect idea of the feelings that affected us on witnessing thisunexpected sight. We stood for a long time in silentwonder, for there was a deep and most melancholy stillness aboutthe place that quite overpowered us; and when we did at lengthspeak, it was in subdued whispers, as if we were surrounded bysome awful or supernatural influence. Even Peterkin’svoice, usually so quick and lively on all occasions, was hushednow; for there was a dreariness about this silent, lonely,uninhabited cottage,—so strange in its appearance, so faraway from the usual dwellings of man, so old, decayed, anddeserted in its aspect,—that fell upon our spirits like athick cloud, and blotted out as with a pall the cheerful sunshinethat had filled us since the commencement of our tour round theisland.

The hut or cottage was rude and simple in itsconstruction. It was not more than twelve feet long by tenfeet broad, and about seven or eight feet high. It had onewindow, or rather a small frame in which a window might, perhaps,once have been, but which was now empty. The door wasexceedingly low, and formed of rough boards, and the roof wascovered with broad cocoa-nut and plantain leaves. But everypart of it was in a state of the utmost decay. Moss andgreen matter grew in spots all over it. The woodwork wasquite perforated with holes; the roof had nearly fallen in, andappeared to be prevented from doing so altogether by the thickmatting of creeping-plants and the interlaced branches whichyears of neglect had allowed to cover it almost entirely; whilethe thick, luxuriant branches of the bread-fruit and other treesspread above it, and flung a deep, sombre shadow over the spot,as if to guard it from the heat and the light of day. Weconversed long and in whispers about this strange habitation erewe ventured to approach it; and when at length we did so it was,at least on my part, with feelings of awe.

At first Jack endeavoured to peep in at the window, but fromthe deep shadow of the trees already mentioned, and the gloomwithin, he could not clearly discern objects; so we lifted thelatch and pushed open the door. We observed that the latchwas made of iron, and almost eaten away with rust. In thelike condition were also the hinges, which creaked as the doorswung back. On entering, we stood still and gazed aroundus, while we were much impressed with the dreary stillness of theroom. But what we saw there surprised and shocked us not alittle. There was no furniture in the apartment save alittle wooden stool and an iron pot, the latter almost eatenthrough with rust. In the corner farthest from the door wasa low bedstead, on which lay two skeletons, imbedded in a littleheap of dry dust. With beating hearts we went forward toexamine them. One was the skeleton of a man, the other thatof a dog, which was extended close beside that of the man, withits head resting on his bosom

Now we were very much concerned about this discovery, andcould scarce refrain from tears on beholding these sadremains. After some time, we began to talk about what wehad seen, and to examine in and around the hut, in order todiscover some clue to the name or history of this poor man, whohad thus died in solitude, with none to mourn his loss save hiscat and his faithful dog. But we foundnothing,—neither a book nor a scrap of paper. Wefound, however, the decayed remnants of what appeared to havebeen clothing, and an old axe. But none of these thingsbore marks of any kind; and, indeed, they were so much decayed asto convince us that they had lain in the condition in which wefound them for many years.

This discovery now accounted to us for the tree stump at thetop of the mountain with the initials cut on it; also for thepatch of sugar-cane and other traces of man which we had met within the course of our rambles over the island. And we weremuch saddened by the reflection that the lot of this poorwanderer might possibly be our own, after many years’residence on the island, unless we should be rescued by the visitof some vessel or the arrival of natives. Having no cluewhatever to account for the presence of this poor human being insuch a lonely spot, we fell to conjecturing what could havebrought him there. I was inclined to think that he musthave been a shipwrecked sailor, whose vessel had been lost here,and all the crew been drowned except himself and his dog andcat. But Jack thought it more likely that he had run awayfrom his vessel, and had taken the dog and cat to keep himcompany. We were also much occupied in our minds with thewonderful difference between the cat and the dog. For herewe saw that while the one perished, like a loving friend, by itsmaster’s side, with its head resting on his bosom, theother had sought to sustain itself by prowling abroad in theforest, and had lived in solitude to a good old age.However, we did not conclude from this that the cat was destituteof affection, for we could not forget its emotions on firstmeeting with us; but we saw from this, that the dog had a greatdeal more of generous love in its nature than the cat, because itnot only found it impossible to live after the death of itsmaster, but it must needs, when it came to die, crawl to his sideand rest its head upon his lifeless breast.

While we were thinking on these things, and examining intoeverything about the room, we were attracted by an exclamationfrom Peterkin.

“I say, Jack,” said he, “here is somethingthat will be of use to us.”

“What is it?” said Jack, hastening across theroom.

“An old pistol,” replied Peterkin, holding up theweapon, which he had just pulled from under a heap of broken woodand rubbish that lay in a corner.

“That, indeed, might have been useful,” said Jack,examining it, “if we had any powder; but I suspect the bowand the sling will prove more serviceable.”

“True, I forgot that,” said Peterkin; “butwe may as well take it with us, for the flint will serve tostrike fire with when the sun does not shine.”

After having spent more than an hour at this place withoutdiscovering anything of further interest, Peterkin took up theold cat, which had lain very contentedly asleep on the stoolwhereon he had placed it, and we prepared to take ourdeparture. In leaving the hut, Jack stumbled heavilyagainst the door-post, which was so much decayed as to breakacross, and the whole fabric of the hut seemed ready to tumbleabout our ears. This put into our heads that we might aswell pull it down, and so form a mound over the skeleton.Jack, therefore, with his axe, cut down the other door-post,which, when it was done, brought the whole hut in ruins to theground, and thus formed a grave to the bones of the poor recluseand his dog. Then we left the spot, having brought away theiron pot, the pistol, and the old axe, as they might be of muchuse to us hereafter.

During the rest of this day we pursued our journey, andexamined the other end of the large valley, which we found to beso much alike to the parts already described, that I shall notrecount the particulars of what we saw in this place. Imay, however, remark, that we did not quite recover our formercheerful spirits until we arrived at our bower, which we did latein the evening, and found everything just in the same conditionas we had left it three days before.

CHAPTER XII.

Something wrong with the tank—Jack’s wisdom andPeterkin’s impertinence—Wonderful behaviour of acrab—Good wishes for those who dwell far from thesea—Jack commences to build a little boat.

Rest is sweet as well for the body as for the mind.During my long experience, amid the vicissitudes of a chequeredlife, I have found that periods of profound rest at certainintervals, in addition to the ordinary hours of repose, arenecessary to the wellbeing of man. And the nature as wellas the period of this rest varies, according to the differenttemperaments of individuals, and the peculiar circumstances inwhich they may chance to be placed. To those who work withtheir minds, bodily labour is rest. To those who labourwith the body, deep sleep is rest. To the downcast, theweary, and the sorrowful, joy and peace are rest. Nay,further, I think that to the gay, the frivolous, the reckless,when sated with pleasures that cannot last, even sorrow proves tobe rest of a kind, although, perchance, it were better that Ishould call it relief than rest. There is, indeed, but oneclass of men to whom rest is denied. There is no rest tothe wicked. At this I do but hint, however, as I treat notof that rest which is spiritual, but, more particularly, of thatwhich applies to the mind and to the body.

Of this rest we stood much in need on our return home, and wefound it exceedingly sweet, when we indulged in it, aftercompleting the journey just related. It had not, indeed,been a very long journey, nevertheless we had pursued it sodiligently that our frames were not a little prostrated.Our minds were also very much exhausted in consequence of themany surprises, frequent alarms, and much profound thought, towhich they had been subjected; so that when we lay down on thenight of our return under the shelter of the bower, we fellimmediately into very deep repose. I can state this withmuch certainty, for Jack afterwards admitted the fact, andPeterkin, although he stoutly denied it, I heard snoring loudlyat least two minutes after lying down. In this condition weremained all night and the whole of the following day withoutawaking once, or so much as moving our positions. When wedid awake it was near sunset, and we were all in such a state oflassitude that we merely rose to swallow a mouthful offood. As Peterkin remarked, in the midst of a yawn, we tookbreakfast at tea-time, and then went to bed again, where we laytill the following forenoon.

After this we arose very greatly refreshed, but much alarmedlest we had lost count of a day. I say we were much alarmedon this head, for we had carefully kept count of the days sincewe were cast upon our island, in order that we might remember theSabbath-day, which day we had hitherto with one accord kept as aday of rest, and refrained from all work whatsoever.However, on considering the subject, we all three entertained thesame opinion as to how long we had slept, and so our minds wereput at ease.

We now hastened to our Water Garden to enjoy a bathe, and tosee how did the animals which I had placed in the tank. Wefound the garden more charming, pelucid, and inviting than ever,and Jack and I plunged into its depth, and gambolled among itsradiant coral groves; while Peterkin wallowed at the surface, andtried occasionally to kick us as we passed below. Havingdressed, I then hastened to the tank; but what was my surpriseand grief to find nearly all the animals dead, and the water in aputrid condition! I was greatly distressed at this, andwondered what could be the cause of it.

“Why, you precious humbug,” said Peterkin, comingup to me, “how could you expect it to be otherwise?When fishes are accustomed to live in the Pacific Ocean, how canyou expect them to exist in a hole like that?”

“Indeed, Peterkin,” I replied, “there seemsto be truth in what you say. Nevertheless, now I think ofit, there must be some error in your reasoning; for, if I put inbut a few very small animals, they will bear the same proportionto this pond that the millions of fish bear to theocean.”

“I say, Jack,” cried Peterkin, waving his hand,“come here, like a good fellow. Ralph is actuallytalking philosophy. Do come to our assistance, forhe’s out o’ sight beyond me already!”

“What’s the matter?” inquired Jack, comingup, while he endeavoured to scrub his long hair dry with a towelof cocoa-nut cloth.

I repeated my thoughts to Jack, who, I was happy to find,quite agreed with me. “Your best plan,” hesaid, “will be to put very few animals at first into yourtank, and add more as you find it will bear them. And lookhere,” he added, pointing to the sides of the tank, which,for the space of two inches above the water-level, were incrustedwith salt, “you must carry your philosophy a littlefarther, Ralph. That water has evaporated so much that itis too salt for anything to live in. You will require toadd freshwater now and then, in order to keep it at thesame degree of saltness as the sea.”

“Very true, Jack, that never struck me before,”said I.

“And, now I think of it,” continued Jack,“it seems to me that the surest way of arranging your tankso as to get it to keep pure and in good condition, will be toimitate the ocean in it. In fact make it a miniaturePacific. I don’t see how you can hope to succeedunless you do that.”

“Most true,” said I, pondering what my companionsaid. “But I fear that that will be verydifficult.”

“Not at all,” cried Jack, rolling his towel upinto a ball, and throwing it into the face of Peterkin, who hadbeen grinning and winking at him during the last fiveminutes. “Not at all. Look here. There iswater of a certain saltness in the sea; well, fill your tank withsea water, and keep it at that saltness by marking the height atwhich the water stands on the sides. When it evaporates alittle, pour in freshwater from the brook till it comesup to the mark, and then it will be right, for the salt does notevaporate with the water. Then, there’s lots ofsea-weed in the sea;—well, go and get one or two bits ofsea-weed, and put them into your tank. Of course the weedmust be alive, and growing to little stones; or you can chip abit off the rocks with the weed sticking to it. Then, ifyou like, you can throw a little sand and gravel into your tank,and the thing’s complete.”

“Nay, not quite,” said Peterkin, who had beengravely attentive to this off-hand advice, “not quite; youmust first make three little men to dive in it before it can besaid to be perfect, and that would be rather difficult, I fear,for two of them would require to be philosophers. Buthallo! what’s this? I say, Ralph, look here.There’s one o’ your crabs up to somethinguncommon. It’s performing the most remarkableoperation for a crab I ever saw,—taking off its coat, I dobelieve, before going to bed!”

We hastily stooped over the tank, and certainly were not alittle amused at the conduct of one of the crabs which stillsurvived it companions. It was one of the common smallcrabs, like to those that are found running about everywhere onthe coasts of England. While we gazed at it, we observedits back to split away from the lower part of its body, and outof the gap thus formed came a soft lump which moved and writhedunceasingly. This lump continued to increase in size untilit appeared like a bunch of crab’s legs: and, indeed, suchit proved in a very few minutes to be; for the points of the toeswere at length extricated from this hole in its back, the legsspread out, the body followed, and the crab walked away quiteentire, even to the points of its nipper-claws, leaving aperfectly entire shell behind it, so that, when we looked, itseemed as though there were two complete crabs instead ofone!

“Well!” exclaimed Peterkin, drawing a long breath,“I’ve heardof a man jumping out of his skinand sitting down in his skeleton in order to cool himself, but Inever expected to seea crab do it!”

We were, in truth, much amazed at this spectacle, and the moreso when we observed that the new crab was larger than the crabthat it came out of. It was also quite soft, but by nextmorning its skin had hardened into a good shell. We camethus to know that crabs grow in this way, and not by the growingof their shells, as we had always thought before we saw thiswonderful operation.

Now I considered well the advice which Jack had given me aboutpreparing my tank, and the more I thought of it, the more I cameto regard it as very sound and worthy of being acted on. SoI forthwith put his plan in execution, and found it to answerexcellently well, indeed much beyond my expectation; for I foundthat after a little experience had taught me the properproportion of sea-weed and animals to put into a certain amountof water, the tank needed no farther attendance; and, moreover, Idid not require ever afterwards to renew or change the sea-water,but only to add a very little fresh water from the brook, now andthen, as the other evaporated. I therefore concluded thatif I had been suddenly conveyed, along with my tank, into someregion where there was no salt sea at all, my little sea and mysea-fish would have continued to thrive and to prospernotwithstanding. This made me greatly to desire that thosepeople in the world who live far inland might know of mywonderful tank, and, by having materials like to those of whichit was made conveyed to them, thus be enabled to watch the habitsof those most mysterious animals that reside in the sea, andexamine with their own eyes the wonders of the great deep.

For many days after this, while Peterkin and Jack were busilyemployed in building a little boat out of the curious naturalplanks of the chestnut tree, I spent much of my time in examiningwith the burning-glass the marvellous operations that wereconstantly going on in my tank. Here I saw those anemoneswhich cling, like little red, yellow, and green blobs of jelly,to the rocks, put forth, as it were, a multitude of arms and waittill little fish or other small animalcules unwarily touchedthem, when they would instantly seize them, fold arm after armaround their victims, and so engulf them in their stomachs.Here I saw the ceaseless working of those little coral insectswhose efforts have encrusted the islands of the Pacific with vastrocks, and surrounded them with enormous reefs. And Iobserved that many of these insects, though extremely minute,were very beautiful, coming out of their holes in a circle offine threads, and having the form of a shuttle-cock. Here Isaw curious little barnacles opening a hole in their backs andconstantly putting out a thin feathery hand, with which, I doubtnot, they dragged their food into their mouths. Here, also,I saw those crabs which have shells only on the front of theirbodies, but no shell whatever on their remarkably tender tails,so that, in order to find a protection to them, they thrust theminto the empty shells of wilks, or some such fish, and when theygrow too big for one, change into another. But, mostcurious of all, I saw an animal which had the wonderful power,when it became ill, of casting its stomach and its teeth awayfrom it, and getting an entirely new set in the course of a fewmonths! All this I saw, and a great deal more, by means ofmy tank and my burning-glass, but I refrain from setting downmore particulars here, as I have still much to tell of theadventures that befell us while we remained on this island.

CHAPTER XIII.

Notable discovery at the spouting cliffs—The mysteriousgreen monster explained—We are thrown into unutterableterror by the idea that Jack is drowned—The DiamondCave.

“Come, Jack,” cried Peterkin, one morning aboutthree weeks after our return from our long excursion,“let’s be jolly to-day, and do somethingvigorous. I’m quite tired of hammering and hammering,hewing and screwing, cutting and butting, at that little boat ofours, that seems as hard to build as Noah’s ark; let us goon an excursion to the mountain top, or have a hunt after thewild ducks, or make a dash at the pigs. I’m quiteflat—flat as bad ginger-beer—flat as a pancake; infact, I want something to rouse me, to toss me up, as itwere. Eh! what do you say to it?”

“Well,” answered Jack, throwing down the axe withwhich he was just about to proceed towards the boat, “ifthat’s what you want, I would recommend you to make anexcursion to the water-spouts; the last one we had to do withtossed you up a considerable height, perhaps the next will sendyou higher, who knows, if you’re at all reasonable ormoderate in your expectations!”

“Jack, my dear boy,” said Peterkin, gravely,“you are really becoming too fond of jesting.It’s a thing I don’t at all approve of, and if youdon’t give it up, I fear that, for our mutual good, weshall have to part.”

“Well, then, Peterkin,” replied Jack, with asmile, “what would you have?”

“Have?” said Peterkin, “I would havenothing. I didn’t say I wanted to have; I saidthat I wanted to do.”

“By the by,” said I, interrupting theirconversation, “I am reminded by this that we have not yetdiscovered the nature of yon curious appearance that we saw nearthe water-spouts, on our journey round the island. Perhapsit would be well to go for that purpose.”

“Humph!” ejaculated Peterkin, “I know thenature of it well enough.”

“What was it?” said I.

“It was of a mysteriousnature to be sure!”said he, with a wave of his hand, while he rose from the log onwhich he had been sitting, and buckled on his belt, into which hethrust his enormous club.

“Well then, let us away to the water-spouts,”cried Jack, going up to the bower for his bow and arrows;“and bring your spear, Peterkin. It may beuseful.”

We now, having made up our minds to examine into this matter,sallied forth eagerly in the direction of the water-spout rocks,which, as I have before mentioned, were not far from our presentplace of abode. On arriving there we hastened down to theedge of the rocks, and gazed over into the sea, where we observedthe pale-green object still distinctly visible, moving its tailslowly to and fro in the water.

“Most remarkable!” said Jack.

“Exceedingly curious,” said I.

“Beats everything!” said Peterkin.

“Now, Jack,” he added, “you made such a poorfigure in your last attempt to stick that object, that I wouldadvise you to let me try it. If it has got a heart at all,I’ll engage to send my spear right through the core of it;if it hasn’t got a heart, I’ll send it through thespot where its heart ought to be.”

“Fire away, then, my boy,” replied Jack with alaugh.

Peterkin immediately took the spear, poised it for a second ortwo above his head, then darted it like an arrow into thesea. Down it went straight into the centre of the greenobject, passed quite through it, and came up immediatelyafterwards, pure and unsullied, while the mysterious tail movedquietly as before!

“Now,” said Peterkin, gravely, “that bruteis a heartless monster; I’ll have nothing more to do withit.”

“I’m pretty sure now,” said Jack,“that it is merely a phosphoric light; but I must sayI’m puzzled at its staying always in that exactspot.”

I also was much puzzled, and inclined to think with Jack thatit must be phosphoric light; of which luminous appearance we hadseen much while on our voyage to these seas.“But,” said I, “there is nothing to hinder usfrom diving down to it, now that we are sure it is not ashark.”

“True,” returned Jack, stripping off his clothes;“I’ll go down, Ralph, as I’m better at divingthan you are. Now then, Peterkin, out o’ theroad!” Jack stepped forward, joined his hands abovehis head, bent over the rocks, and plunged into the sea.For a second or two the spray caused by his dive hid him fromview, then the water became still, and we saw him swimming fardown in the midst of the green object. Suddenly he sankbelow it, and vanished altogether from our sight! We gazedanxiously down at the spot where he had disappeared, for nearly aminute, expecting every moment to see him rise again for breath;but fully a minute passed, and still he did not reappear.Two minutes passed! and then a flood of alarm rushed in upon mysoul, when I considered that during all my acquaintance with him,Jack had never stayed underwater more than a minute at a time;indeed seldom so long.

“Oh, Peterkin!” I said, in a voice that trembledwith increasing anxiety, “something has happened. Itis more than three minutes now!” But Peterkin did notanswer and I observed that he was gazing down into the water witha look of intense fear mingled with anxiety, while his face wasoverspread with a deadly paleness. Suddenly he sprang tohis feet and rushed about in a frantic state, wringing his hands,and exclaiming, “Oh, Jack, Jack! he is gone! It musthave been a shark, and he is gone for ever!”

For the next five minutes I know not what I did. Theintensity of my feelings almost bereft me of my senses. ButI was recalled to myself by Peterkin seizing me by the shoulderand staring wildly into my face, while he exclaimed,“Ralph! Ralph! perhaps he has only fainted. Dive forhim, Ralph!”

It seemed strange that this did not occur to me sooner.In a moment I rushed to the edge of the rocks, and, withoutwaiting to throw off my garments, was on the point to spring intothe waves, when I observed something black rising up through thegreen object. In another moment Jack’s head rose tothe surface, and he gave a wild shout, flinging back the sprayfrom his locks, as was his wont after a dive. Now we werealmost as much amazed at seeing him reappear, well and strong, aswe had been at first at his non-appearance; for, to the best ofour judgment, he had been nearly ten minutes under water, perhapslonger, and it required no exertion of our reason to convince usthat this was utterly impossible for mortal man to do and retainhis strength and faculties. It was therefore with a feelingakin to superstitious awe that I held down my hand and assistedhim to clamber up the steep rocks. But no such feelingaffected Peterkin. No sooner did Jack gain the rocks andseat himself on one, panting for breath, than he threw his armsround his neck, and burst into a flood of tears. “Oh,Jack, Jack!” said he, “where were you? Whatkept you so long?”

After a few moments Peterkin became composed enough to sitstill and listen to Jack’s explanation, although he couldnot restrain himself from attempting to wink every two minutes atme, in order to express his joy at Jack’s safety. Isay he attempted to wink, but I am bound to add that he did notsucceed, for his eyes were so much swollen with weeping, that hisfrequent attempts only resulted in a series of violent andaltogether idiotical contortions of the face, that were very farfrom expressing what he intended. However, I knew what thepoor fellow meant by it, so I smiled to him in return, andendeavoured to make believe that he was winking.

“Now, lads,” said Jack, when we were composedenough to listen to him, “yon green object is not a shark;it is a stream of light issuing from a cave in the rocks.Just after I made my dive, I observed that this light came fromthe side of the rock above which we are now sitting; so I struckout for it, and saw an opening into some place or other thatappeared to be luminous within. For one instant I paused tothink whether I ought to venture. Then I made up my mind,and dashed into it. For you see, Peterkin, although I takesome time to tell this, it happened in the space of a fewseconds, so that I knew I had wind enough in me to serve to bringme out o’ the hole and up to the surface again. Well,I was just on the point of turning,—for I began to feel alittle uncomfortable in such a place,—when it seemed to meas if there was a faint light right above me. I dartedupwards, and found my head out of water. This relieved megreatly, for I now felt that I could take in air enough to enableme to return the way I came. Then it all at once occurredto me that I might not be able to find the way out again; but, onglancing downwards, my mind was put quite at rest by seeing thegreen light below me streaming into the cave, just like the lightthat we had seen streaming out of it, only what I now saw wasmuch brighter.

“At first I could scarcely see anything as I gazedaround me, it was so dark; but gradually my eyes becameaccustomed to it, and I found that I was in a huge cave, part ofthe walls of which I observed on each side of me. Theceiling just above me was also visible, and I fancied that Icould perceive beautiful glittering objects there, but thefarther end of the cave was shrouded in darkness. While Iwas looking around me in great wonder, it came into my head thatyou two would think I was drowned; so I plunged down through thepassage again in a great hurry, rose to the surface,and—here I am!”

When Jack concluded his recital of what he had seen in thisremarkable cave, I could not rest satisfied till I had dived downto see it; which I did, but found it so dark, as Jack had said,that I could scarcely see anything. When I returned, we hada long conversation about it, during which I observed thatPeterkin had a most lugubrious expression on his countenance.

“What’s the matter, Peterkin?” said I.

“The matter?” he replied. “It’sall very well for you two to be talking away like mermaids aboutthe wonders of this cave, but you know I must be content to hearabout it, while you are enjoying yourselves down there like maddolphins. It’s really too bad.”

“I’m very sorry for you, Peterkin, indeed Iam,” said Jack, “but we cannot help you. If youwould only learn to dive—”

“Learn to fly, you might as well say!” retortedPeterkin, in a very sulky tone.

“If you would only consent to keep still,” said I,“we would take you down with us in ten seconds.”

“Hum!” returned Peterkin; “suppose asalamander was to propose to you ‘only to keepstill,’ and he would carry you through a blazing fire in afew seconds, what would you say?”

We both laughed and shook our heads, for it was evident thatnothing was to be made of Peterkin in the water. But wecould not rest satisfied till we had seen more of this cave; so,after further consultation, Jack and I determined to try if wecould take down a torch with us, and set fire to it in thecavern. This we found to be an undertaking of no smalldifficulty; but we accomplished it at last by the followingmeans:—First, we made a torch of a very inflammable natureout of the bark of a certain tree, which we cut into strips, and,after twisting, cemented together with a kind of resin or gum,which we also obtained from another tree; neither of which trees,however, was known by name to Jack. This, when prepared, wewrapped up in a great number of plies of cocoa-nut cloth, so thatwe were confident it could not get wet during the short time itshould be under water. Then we took a small piece of thetinder, which we had carefully treasured up lest we shouldrequire it, as before said, when the sun should fail us; also, werolled up some dry grass and a few chips, which, with a littlebow and drill, like those described before, we made into anotherbundle, and wrapped it up in cocoa-nut cloth. When all wasready we laid aside our garments, with the exception of ourtrousers, which, as we did not know what rough scraping againstthe rocks we might be subjected to, we kept on.

Then we advanced to the edge of the rocks, Jack carrying onebundle, with the torch; I the other, with the things forproducing fire.

“Now don’t weary for us, Peterkin, should we begone some time,” said Jack; “we’ll be sure toreturn in half-an-hour at the very latest, however interestingthe cave should be, that we may relieve your mind.”

“Farewell!” said Peterkin, coming up to us with alook of deep but pretended solemnity, while he shook hands andkissed each of us on the cheek. “Farewell! and whileyou are gone I shall repose my weary limbs under the shelter ofthis bush, and meditate on the changefulness of all thingsearthly, with special reference to the forsaken condition of apoor ship-wrecked sailor boy!” So saying, Peterkinwaved his hand, turned from us, and cast himself upon the groundwith a look of melancholy resignation, which was so well feigned,that I would have thought it genuine had he not accompanied itwith a gentle wink. We both laughed, and, springing fromthe rocks together, plunged head first into the sea.

We gained the interior of the submarine cave withoutdifficulty, and, on emerging from the waves, supported ourselvesfor some time by treading-water, while we held the two bundlesabove our heads. This we did in order to let our eyesbecome accustomed to the obscurity. Then, when we could seesufficiently, we swam to a shelving rock, and landed insafety. Having wrung the water from our trousers, and driedourselves as well as we could under the circumstances, weproceeded to ignite the torch. This we accomplished withoutdifficulty in a few minutes; and no sooner did it flare up thanwe were struck dumb with the wonderful objects that were revealedto our gaze. The roof of the cavern just above us seemed tobe about ten feet high, but grew higher as it receded into thedistance, until it was lost in darkness. It seemed to bemade of coral, and was supported by massive columns of the samematerial. Immense icicles (as they appeared to us) hungfrom it in various places. These, however, were formed, notof ice, but of a species of limestone, which seemed to flow in aliquid form towards the point of each, where it becamesolid. A good many drops fell, however, to the rock below,and these formed little cones, which rose to meet the pointsabove. Some of them had already met, and thus we saw howthe pillars were formed, which at first seemed to us as if theyhad been placed there by some human architect to support theroof. As we advanced farther in, we saw that the floor wascomposed of the same material as the pillars; and it presentedthe curious appearance of ripples, such as are formed on waterwhen gently ruffled by the wind. There were severalopenings on either hand in the walls, that seemed to lead intoother caverns; but these we did not explore at this time.We also observed that the ceiling was curiously marked in manyplaces, as if it were the fret-work of a noble cathedral; and thewalls, as well as the roof, sparkled in the light of our torch,and threw back gleams and flashes, as if they were covered withprecious stones. Although we proceeded far into thiscavern, we did not come to the end of it; and we were obliged toreturn more speedily than we would otherwise have done, as ourtorch was nearly expended. We did not observe any openingsin the roof, or any indications of places whereby light mightenter; but near the entrance to the cavern stood an immense massof pure white coral rock, which caught and threw back the littlelight that found an entrance through the cave’s mouth, andthus produced, we conjectured, the pale-green object which hadfirst attracted our attention. We concluded, also, that thereflecting power of this rock was that which gave forth the dimlight that faintly illumined the first part of the cave.

Before diving through the passage again we extinguished thesmall piece of our torch that remained, and left it in a dryspot; conceiving that we might possibly stand in need of it, ifat any future time we should chance to wet our torch while divinginto the cavern. As we stood for a few minutes after it wasout, waiting till our eyes became accustomed to the gloom, wecould not help remarking the deep, intense stillness and theunutterable gloom of all around us; and, as I thought of thestupendous dome above, and the countless gems that had sparkledin the torch-light a few minutes before, it came into my mind toconsider how strange it is that God should make such wonderfuland exquisitely beautiful works never to be seen at all, except,indeed, by chance visitors such as ourselves.

I afterwards found that there were many such caverns among theislands of the South Seas, some of them larger and more beautifulthan the one I have just described.

“Now, Ralph, are you ready?” said Jack, in a lowvoice, that seemed to echo up into the dome above.

“Quite ready.”

“Come along, then,” said he; and, plunging off theledge of the rock into the water, we dived through the narrowentrance. In a few seconds we were panting on the rocksabove, and receiving the congratulations of our friendPeterkin.

CHAPTER XIV.

Strange peculiarity of the tides—Also of thetwilight—Peterkin’s remarkable conduct in embracing alittle pig and killing a big sow—Sage remarks onjesting—Also on love.

It was quite a relief to us to breathe the pure air and toenjoy the glad sunshine after our long ramble in the DiamondCave, as we named it; for, although we did not stay more thanhalf an hour away, it seemed to us much longer. While wewere dressing, and during our walk home, we did our best tosatisfy the curiosity of poor Peterkin, who seemed to regret,with lively sincerity, his inability to dive.

There was no help for it, however, so we condoled with him aswe best could. Had there been any great rise or fall in thetide of these seas, we might perhaps have found it possible totake him down with us at low water; but as the tide never rose orfell more than eighteen inches or two feet, this wasimpossible.

This peculiarity of the tide—its slight rise andfall—had not attracted our observation till some time afterour residence on the island. Neither had we observedanother curious circumstance until we had been some timethere. This was the fact, that the tide rose and fell withconstant regularity, instead of being affected by the changes ofthe moon as in our own country, and as it is in most other partsof the world,—at least in all those parts with which I amacquainted. Every day and every night, at twelveo’clock precisely, the tide is at the full; and at sixo’clock every morning and evening it is ebb. I canspeak with much confidence on this singular circumstance, as wetook particular note of it, and never found it to alter. Ofcourse, I must admit, we had to guess the hour of twelvemidnight, and I think we could do this pretty correctly; but inregard to twelve noon we are quite positive, because we easilyfound the highest point that the sun reached in the sky byplacing ourselves at a certain spot whence we observed the sharpsummit of a cliff resting against the sky, just where the sunpassed.

Jack and I were surprised that we had not noticed this thefirst few days of our residence here, and could only account forit by our being so much taken up with the more obvious wonders ofour novel situation. I have since learned, however, thatthis want of observation is a sad and very common infirmity ofhuman nature, there being hundreds of persons before whose eyesthe most wonderful things are passing every day, who neverthelessare totally ignorant of them. I therefore have to record mysympathy with such persons, and to recommend to them a course ofconduct which I have now for a long time myselfadopted,—namely, the habit of forcing my attention uponallthings that go on around me, and of taking some degreeof interest in them, whether I feel it naturally or not. Isuggest this the more earnestly, though humbly, because I havevery frequently come to know that my indifference to a thing hasgenerally been caused by my ignorance in regard to it.

We had much serious conversation on this subject of the tides;and Jack told us, in his own quiet, philosophical way, that thesetides did great good to the world in many ways, particularly inthe way of cleansing the shores of the land, and carrying off thefilth that was constantly poured into the sea there-from; which,Peterkin suggested, was remarkably tidyof it to do.Poor Peterkin could never let slip an opportunity to joke,however inopportune it might be: which at first we found rather adisagreeable propensity, as it often interrupted the flow of veryagreeable conversation; and, indeed, I cannot too strongly recordmy disapprobation of this tendency in general: but we became soused to it at last that we found it no interruption whatever;indeed, strange to say, we came to feel that it was a necessarypart of our enjoyment (such is the force of habit), and found thesudden outbursts of mirth, resulting from his humorousdisposition, quite natural and refreshing to us in the midst ofour more serious conversations. But I must not misrepresentPeterkin. We often found, to our surprise, that he knewmany things which we did not; and I also observed that thosethings which he learned from experience were neverforgotten. From all these things I came at length tounderstand that things very opposite and dissimilar inthemselves, when united, do make an agreeable whole; as, forexample, we three on this our island, although most unlike inmany things, when united, made a trio so harmonious that Iquestion if there ever met before such an agreeabletriumvirate. There was, indeed, no note of discord whateverin the symphony we played together on that sweet Coral Island;and I am now persuaded that this was owing to our having been alltuned to the same key, namely, that of love! Yes, weloved one another with much fervency while we lived on thatisland; and, for the matter of that, we love each otherstill.

And while I am on this subject, or rather the subject thatjust preceded it—namely, the tides—I may here remarkon another curious natural phenomenon. We found that therewas little or no twilight in this island. We had a distinctremembrance of the charming long twilight at home, which somepeople think the most delightful part of the day, though for mypart I have always preferred sunrise; and when we first landed,we used to sit down on some rocky point or eminence, at the closeof our day’s work, to enjoy the evening breeze; but nosooner had the sun sunk below the horizon than all becamesuddenly dark. This rendered it necessary that we shouldwatch the sun when we happened to be out hunting, for to besuddenly left in the dark while in the woods was very perplexing,as, although the stars shone with great beauty and brilliancy,they could not pierce through the thick umbrageous boughs thatinterlaced above our heads.

But, to return: After having told all we could to Peterkinabout the Diamond Cave under Spouting Cliff, as we named thelocality, we were wending our way rapidly homewards, when a gruntand a squeal were borne down by the land breeze to our ears.

“That’s the ticket!” was Peterkin’sremarkable exclamation, as he started convulsively, and levelledhis spear.

“Hist!” cried Jack; “these are your friends,Peterkin. They must have come over expressly to pay you afriendly visit, for it is the first time we have seen them onthis side the island.”

“Come along!” cried Peterkin, hurrying towards thewood, while Jack and I followed, smiling at his impatience.

Another grunt and half a dozen squeals, much louder thanbefore, came down the valley. At this time we were justopposite the small vale which lay between the Valley of the Wreckand Spouting Cliff.

“I say, Peterkin,” cried Jack, in a hoarsewhisper.

“Well, what is’t?”

“Stay a bit, man. These grunters are just up thereon the hill side. If you go and stand with Ralph in the leeof yon cliff, I’ll cut round behind and drive them throughthe gorge, so that you’ll have a better chance of pickingout a good one. Now, mind you pitch into a fat young pig,Peterkin,” added Jack, as he sprang into the bushes.

“Won’t I, just!” said Peterkin, licking hislips, as we took our station beside the cliff. “Ifeel quite a tender affection for young pigs in my heart.Perhaps it would be more correct to say in mys—.”

“There they come!” cried I, as a terrific yellfrom Jack sent the whole herd screaming down the hill. Now,Peterkin, being unable to hold back, crept a short way up a verysteep grassy mound, in order to get a better view of the hogsbefore they came up; and just as he raised his head above itssummit, two little pigs, which had outrun their companions,rushed over the top with the utmost precipitation. One ofthese brushed close past Peterkin’s ear; the other, unableto arrest its headlong flight, went, as Peterkin himselfafterwards expressed it, “bash” into his arms with asudden squeal, which was caused more by the force of the blowthan the will of the animal, and both of them rolled violentlydown to the foot of the mound. No sooner was this reachedthan the little pig recovered its feet, tossed up its tail, andfled shrieking from the spot. But I slang a large stoneafter it, which, being fortunately well aimed, hit it behind theear, and felled it to the earth.

“Capital, Ralph! that’s your sort!” criedPeterkin, who, to my surprise and great relief, had risen to hisfeet. Apparently unhurt, though much dishevelled, he rushedfranticly towards the gorge, which the yells of the hogs told usthey were now approaching. I had made up my mind that Iwould abstain from killing another, as, if Peterkin should besuccessful, two were more than sufficient for our wants at thepresent time. Suddenly they all burst forth,—two orthree little round ones in advance, and an enormous old sow witha drove of hogs at her heels.

“Now, Peterkin,” said I, “there’s anice little fat one; just spear it.”

But Peterkin did not move; he allowed it to passunharmed. I looked at him in surprise, and saw that hislips were compressed and his eyebrows knitted, as if he wereabout to fight with some awful enemy.

“What is it?” I inquired, with sometrepidation.

Suddenly he levelled his spear, darted forward, and, with ayell that nearly froze the blood in my veins, stabbed the old sowto the heart. Nay, so vigorously was it done that the spearwent in at one side and came out at the other!

“Oh, Peterkin!” said I, going up to him,“what have you done?”

“Done? I’ve killed theirgreat-great-grandmother, that’s all,” said he,looking with a somewhat awe-struck expression at the transfixedanimal.

“Hallo! what’s this?” said Jack, as he cameup. “Why, Peterkin, you must be fond of a toughchop. If you mean to eat this old hog, she’ll tryyour jaws, I warrant. What possessed you to stickher, Peterkin?”

“Why, the fact is I want a pair of shoes.”

“What have your shoes to do with the old hog?’said I, smiling.

“My present shoes have certainly nothing to do withher,” replied Peterkin; “nevertheless she will have agood deal to do with my future shoes. The fact is, when Isaw you floor that pig so neatly, Ralph, it struck me that therewas little use in killing another. Then I remembered all atonce that I had long wanted some leather or tough substance tomake shoes of, and this old grandmother seemed so tough that Ijust made up my mind to stick her, and you see I’ve doneit!”

“That you certainly have, Peterkin,” said Jack, ashe was examining the transfixed animal.

We now considered how we were to carry our game home, for,although the distance was short, the hog was very heavy. Atlength we hit on the plan of tying its four feet together, andpassing the spear handle between them. Jack took one end onhis shoulder, I took the other on mine, and Peterkin carried thesmall pig.

Thus we returned in triumph to our bower, laden, as Peterkinremarked, with the glorious spoils of a noble hunt. As heafterwards spoke in similarly glowing terms in reference to thesupper that followed, there is every reason to believe that weretired that night to our leafy beds in a high state ofsatisfaction.

CHAPTER XV.

Boat-building extraordinary—Peterkin tries his hand atcookery and fails most signally—The boatfinished—Curious conversation with the cat, and othermatters.

For many days after this Jack applied himself with unremittingassiduity to the construction of our boat, which at length beganto look somewhat like one. But those only who have had thething to do can entertain a right idea of the difficulty involvedin such an undertaking, with no other implements than an axe, abit of hoop-iron, a sail-needle, and a broken pen-knife.But Jack did it. He was of, that disposition whichwillnot be conquered. When he believed himself tobe acting rightly, he overcame all obstacles. I have seenJack, when doubtful whether what he was about to do were right orwrong, as timid and vacillating as a little girl,—and Ihonour him for it!

As this boat was a curiosity in its way, a few words hererelative to the manner of its construction may not be amiss.

I have already mentioned the chestnut tree with its wonderfulbuttresses or planks. This tree, then, furnished us withthe chief part of our material. First of all Jack soughtout a limb of a tree of such a form and size as, while it shouldform the keel a bend at either end should form the stem and sternposts. Such a piece, however, was not easy to obtain, butat last he procured it, by rooting up a small tree which had abranch growing at the proper angle about ten feet up its stem,with two strong roots growing in such a form as enabled him tomake a flat-sterned boat. This placed, he procured threebranching roots of suitable size, which he fitted to the keel atequal distances, thus forming three strong ribs. Now, thesquaring and shaping of these, and the cutting of the grooves inthe keel, was an easy enough matter, as it was all work for theaxe, in the use of which Jack was become wonderfully expert; butit was quite a different affair when he came to nailing the ribsto the keel, for we had no instrument capable of boring a largehole, and no nails to fasten them with. We were, indeed,much perplexed here; but Jack at length devised an instrumentthat served very well. He took the remainder of ourhoop-iron and beat it into the form of a pipe or cylinder, aboutas thick as a man’s finger. This he did by means ofour axe and the old rusty axe we had found at the house of thepoor man at the other side of the island. This, when madered hot, bored slowly though the timbers; and, the better toretain the heat, Jack shut up one end of it and filled it withsand. True, the work was very slowly done, but it matterednot—we had little else to do. Two holes were bored ineach timber, about an inch and a half apart, and also down intothe keel, but not quite through. Into these were placedstout pegs made of a tree called iron-wood; and, when they werehammered well home, the timbers were as firmly fixed as if theyhad been nailed with iron. The gunwales, which were verystout, were fixed in a similar manner. But, besides thewooden nails, they were firmly lashed to the stem and stern postsand ribs by means of a species of cordage which we had contrivedto make out of the fibrous husk of the cocoa nut. This huskwas very tough, and when a number of the threads were joinedtogether they formed excellent cordage. At first we tiedthe different lengths together, but this was such a clumsy andawkward complication of knots, that we contrived, by carefulinterlacing of the ends together before twisting, to make goodcordage of any size or length we chose. Of course it costus much time and infinite labour, but Jack kept up our spiritswhen we grew weary, and so all that we required was at lastconstructed.

Planks were now cut off the chestnut trees of about an inchthick. These were dressed with the axe,—but clumsily,for an axe is ill adapted for such work. Five of theseplanks on each side were sufficient, and we formed the boat in avery rounded, barrel-like shape, in order to have as littletwisting of the planks as possible; for, although we could easilybend them, we could not easily twist them. Having no nailsto rivet the planks with, we threw aside the ordinary fashion ofboat building and adopted one of our own. The planks weretherefore placed on each other’s edges, and sewed togetherwith the tough cordage already mentioned. They were alsothus sewed to the stem, the stern, and the keel. Eachstitch or tie was six inches apart, and was formed thus: Threeholes were bored in the upper plank and three in thelower,—the holes being above each other, that is, in avertical line. Through these holes the cord was passed,and, when tied, formed a powerful stitch of three ply.Besides this, we placed between the edges of the planks, layersof cocoa-nut fibre, which, as it swelled when wetted, would, wehoped, make our little vessel water-tight. But in orderfurther to secure this end, we collected a large quantity ofpitch from the bread-fruit tree, with which, when boiled in ourold iron pot, we payed the whole of the inside of the boat, and,while it was yet hot, placed large pieces of cocoa-nut cloth onit, and then gave it another coat above that. Thus theinterior was covered with a tough water-tight material; while theexterior, being uncovered, and so exposed to the swelling actionof the water, was we hoped, likely to keep the boat quitedry. I may add that our hopes were not disappointed.

While Jack was thus engaged, Peterkin and I sometimes assistedhim, but, as our assistance was not much required, we morefrequently went a-hunting on the extensive mud-flats at theentrance of the long valley which lay nearest to our bower.Here we found large flocks of ducks of various kinds, some ofthem bearing so much resemblance to the wild ducks of our owncountry that I think they must have been the same. On theseoccasions we took the bow and the sling, with both of which wewere often successful, though I must confess I was the leastso. Our suppers were thus pleasantly varied, and sometimeswe had such a profusion spread out before us that we frequentlyknew not with which of the dainties to begin.

I must also add, that the poor old cat which we had broughthome had always a liberal share of our good things, and so wellwas it looked after, especially by Peterkin, that it recoveredmuch of its former strength, and seemed to improve in sight aswell as hearing.

The large flat stone, or rock of coral, which stood just infront of the entrance to our bower, was our table. On thisrock we had spread out the few articles we possessed the day wewere shipwrecked; and on the same rock, during many a dayafterwards, we spread out the bountiful supply with which we hadbeen blessed on our Coral Island. Sometimes we sat down atthis table to a feast consisting of hot rolls,—as Peterkincalled the newly baked bread fruit,—a roast pig, roastduck, boiled and roasted yams, cocoa nuts, taro, and sweetpotatoes; which we followed up with a dessert of plums, apples,and plantains,—the last being a large-sized and delightfulfruit, which grew on a large shrub or tree not more than twelvefeet high, with light-green leaves of enormous length andbreadth. These luxurious feasts were usually washed downwith cocoa-nut lemonade.

Occasionally Peterkin tried to devise some newdish,—“a conglomerate,” as he used to say; butthese generally turned out such atrocious compounds that he wasultimately induced to give up his attempts in extremedisgust. Not forgetting, however, to point out to Jack thathis failure was a direct contradiction to the proverb which he,Jack, was constantly thrusting down his throat, namely, that“where there’s a will there’s away.” For he had a great will to become a cook, butcould by no means find a way to accomplish that end.

One day, while Peterkin and I were seated beside our table onwhich dinner was spread, Jack came up from the beach, and,flinging down his axe, exclaimed,—

“There, lads, the boat’s finished at last! sowe’ve nothing to do now but shape two pair of oars, andthen we may put to sea as soon as we like.”

This piece of news threw us into a state of great joy; foralthough we were aware that the boat had been gradually gettingnear its completion, it had taken so long that we did not expectit to be quite ready for at least two or three weeks. ButJack had wrought hard and said nothing, in order to surpriseus.

“My dear fellow,” cried Peterkin,“you’re a perfect trump. But why did you nottell us it was so nearly ready? won’t we have a jolly sailto-morrow? eh?”

“Don’t talk so much, Peterkin,” said Jack;“and, pray, hand me a bit of that pig.”

“Certainly, my dear,” cried Peterkin, seizing theaxe; “what part will you have? a leg, or a wing, or a pieceof the breast; which?”

“A hind leg, if you please,” answered Jack;“and, pray, be so good as to include the tail.”

“With all my heart,” said Peterkin, exchanging theaxe for his hoop-iron knife, with which he cut off the desiredportion. “I’m only too glad, my dear boy, tosee that your appetite is so wholesale; and there’s nochance whatever of its dwindling down into re-tail again, atleast in so far as this pig is concerned. Ralph, lad, whydon’t you laugh?—eh?” he added turning suddenlyto me with a severe look of inquiry.

“Laugh?” said I; “what at, Peterkin? whyshould I laugh?”

Both Jack and Peterkin answered this inquiry by themselveslaughing so immoderately that I was induced to believe I hadmissed noticing some good joke, so I begged that it might beexplained to me; but as this only produced repeated roars oflaughter, I smiled and helped myself to another slice ofplantain.

“Well, but,” continued Peterkin, “I wastalking of a sail to-morrow. Can’t we have one,Jack?”

“No,” replied Jack, “we can’t have asail, but I hope we shall have a row, as I intend to work hard atthe oars this afternoon, and, if we can’t get them finishedby sunset we’ll light our candle-nuts, and turn them out ofhands before we turn into bed.”

“Very good,” said Peterkin, tossing a lump of porkto the cat, who received it with a mew of satisfaction.“I’ll help you, if I can.”

“Afterwards,” continued Jack, “we will makea sail out of the cocoa-nut cloth, and rig up a mast, and then weshall be able to sail to some of the other islands, and visit ourold friends the penguins.”

The prospect of being so soon in a position to extend ourobservations to the other islands, and enjoy a sail over thebeautiful sea, afforded us much delight, and, after dinner, weset about making the oars in good earnest. Jack went intothe woods and blocked them roughly out with the axe, and Ismoothed them down with the knife, while Peterkin remained in thebower, spinning, or, rather, twisting some strong thick cordagewith which to fasten them to the boat.

We worked hard and rapidly, so that, when the sun went down,Jack and I returned to the bower with four stout oars, whichrequired little to be done to them save a slight degree ofpolishing with the knife. As we drew near we were suddenlyarrested by the sound of a voice! We were not a littlesurprised at this—indeed I may almost sayalarmed—for, although Peterkin was undoubtedly fond oftalking, we had never, up to this time, found him talking tohimself. We listened intently, and still heard the sound ofa voice as if in conversation. Jack motioned me to besilent, and, advancing to the bower on tip-toe, we peeped in.

The sight that met our gaze was certainly not a littleamusing. On the top of a log which we sometimes used as atable, sat the black cat, with a very demure expression on itscountenance; and in front of it, sitting on the ground, with hislegs extended on either side of the log, was Peterkin. Atthe moment we saw him he was gazing intently into the cat’sface, with his nose about four inches from it,—his handsbeing thrust into his breeches pockets.

“Cat,” said Peterkin, turning his head a little onone side, “I love you!”

There was a pause, as if Peterkin awaited a reply to thisaffectionate declaration but the cat said nothing.

“Do you hear me?” cried Peterkin, sharply.“I love you—I do. Don’t you loveme?”

To this touching appeal the cat said “Mew,”faintly.

“Ah! that’s right. You’re a jolly oldrascal. Why did you not speak at once? eh?” andPeterkin put forward his mouth and kissed the cat on thenose!

“Yes,” continued Peterkin, after a pause, “Ilove you. D’you think I’d say so if Ididn’t, you black villain? I love you becauseI’ve got to take care of you, and to look after you, and tothink about you, and to see that you don’tdie—”

“Mew, me-a-w!” said the cat.

“Very good,” continued Peterkin, “quitetrue, I have no doubt; but you’ve no right to interrupt me,sir. Hold your tongue till I have done speaking.Moreover, cat, I love you because you came to me the first timeyou ever saw me, and didn’t seem to be afraid, and appearedto be fond of me, though you didn’t know that Iwasn’t going to kill you. Now, that was brave, thatwas bold, and very jolly, old boy, and I love you for it—Ido!”

Again there was a pause of a few minutes, during which the catlooked placid, and Peterkin dropped his eyes upon its toes as ifin contemplation. Suddenly he looked up.

“Well, cat, what are you thinking about now? won’tspeak? eh? Now, tell me; don’t you think it’s amonstrous shame that these two scoundrels, Jack and Ralph, shouldkeep us waiting for our supper so long?”

Here the cat arose, put up its back and stretched itself;yawned slightly, and licked the point of Peterkin’snose!

“Just so, old boy, you’re a clever fellow,—Ireally do believe the brute understands me!” said Peterkin,while a broad grin overspread his face, as he drew back andsurveyed the cat.

At this point Jack burst into a loud fit of laughter.The cat uttered an angry fuff and fled, while Peterkin sprang upand exclaimed,—

“Bad luck to you, Jack! you’ve nearly made theheart jump out of my body, you have.”

“Perhaps I have,” replied Jack, laughing, as weentered the bower, “but, as I don’t intend to keepyou or the cat any longer from your supper, I hope thatyou’ll both forgive me.”

Peterkin endeavoured to turn this affair off with a laugh, butI observed that he blushed very deeply at the time we discoveredourselves, and he did not seem to relish any allusion to thesubject afterwards; so we refrained from remarking on it everafter,—though it tickled us not a little at the time.

After supper we retired to rest and to dream of wonderfuladventures in our little boat, and distant voyages upon thesea.

CHAPTER XVI.

The boat launched—We visit the coral reef—Thegreat breaker that never goes down—Coral insects—Theway in which coral islands are made—The boat’ssail—We tax our ingenuity to form fish-hooks—Some ofthe fish we saw—And a monstrous whale—Wonderfulshower of little fish—Water-spouts.

It was a bright, clear, beautiful morning, when we firstlaunched our little boat and rowed out upon the placid waters ofthe lagoon. Not a breath of wind ruffled the surface of thedeep. Not a cloud spotted the deep blue sky. Not asound that was discordant broke the stillness of the morning,although there were many sounds, sweet, tiny, and melodious, thatmingled in the universal harmony of nature. The sun wasjust rising from the Pacific’s ample bosom and tipping themountain tops with a red glow. The sea was shining like asheet of glass, yet heaving with the long deep swell that, allthe world round, indicates the life of ocean; and the brightsea-weeds and the brilliant corals shone in the depths of thatpellucid water, as we rowed over it, like rare and preciousgems. Oh! it was a sight fitted to stir the soul of man toits profoundest depths, and, if he owned a heart at all, to liftthat heart in adoration and gratitude to the great Creator ofthis magnificent and glorious universe.

At first, in the strength of our delight, we rowed hither andthither without aim or object. But after the effervescenceof our spirits was abated, we began to look about us and toconsider what we should do.

“I vote that we row to the reef,” criedPeterkin.

“And I vote that we visit the islands within thelagoon,” said I.

“And I vote we do both,” cried Jack, “sopull away, boys.”

As I have already said, we had made four oars, but our boatwas so small that only two were necessary. The extra pairwere reserved in case any accident should happen to theothers. It was therefore only needful that two of us shouldrow, while the third steered, by means of an oar, and relievedthe rowers occasionally.

First we landed on one of the small islands and ran all overit, but saw nothing worthy of particular notice. Then welanded on a larger island, on which were growing a few cocoa-nuttrees. Not having eaten anything that morning, we gathereda few of the nuts and breakfasted. After this we pulledstraight out to sea and landed on the coral reef.

This was indeed a novel and interesting sight to us. Wehad now been so long on shore that we had almost forgotten theappearance of breakers, for there were none within the lagoon;but now, as we stood beside the foam-crested billow of the opensea, all the enthusiasm of the sailor was awakened in ourbreasts; and, as we gazed on the wide-spread ruin of that singlemagnificent breaker that burst in thunder at our feet, we forgotthe Coral Island behind us; we forgot our bower and the calmrepose of the scented woods; we forgot all that had passed duringthe last few months, and remembered nothing but the storms, thecalms, the fresh breezes and the surging billows of the opensea.

This huge, ceaseless breaker, to which I have so oftenalluded, was a much larger and more sublime object than we had atall imagined it to be. It rose many yards above the levelof the sea, and could be seen approaching at some distance fromthe reef. Slowly and majestically it came on, acquiringgreater volume and velocity as it advanced, until it assumed theform of a clear watery arch, which sparkled in the brightsun. On it came with resistless and solemnmajesty,—the upper edge lipped gently over, and it fellwith a roar that seemed as though the heart of Ocean were brokenin the crash of tumultuous water, while the foam-clad coral reefappeared to tremble beneath the mighty shock!

We gazed long and wonderingly at this great sight, and it waswith difficulty we could tear ourselves away from it. As Ihave once before mentioned, this wave broke in many places overthe reef and scattered some of its spray into the lagoon, but inmost places the reef was sufficiently broad and elevated toreceive and check its entire force. In many places thecoral rocks were covered with vegetation,—the beginning, asit appeared to us, of future islands. Thus, on this reef,we came to perceive how most of the small islands of those seasare formed. On one part we saw the spray of the breakerwashing over the rocks, and millions of little, active, busycreatures continuing the work of building up this livingrampart. At another place, which was just a little too highfor the waves to wash over it, the coral insects were all dead;for we found that they never did their work above water.They had faithfully completed the mighty work which their Creatorhad given them to do, and they were now all dead. Again, inother spots the ceaseless lashing of the sea had broken the deadcoral in pieces, and cast it up in the form of sand. Heresea-birds had alighted, little pieces of sea-weed and stray bitsof wood had been washed up, seeds of plants had been carried bythe wind and a few lovely blades of bright green had alreadysprung up, which, when they died, would increase the size andfertility of these emeralds of Ocean. At other places theseislets had grown apace, and were shaded by one or two cocoa-nuttrees, which grew, literally, in the sand, and were constantlywashed by the ocean spray; yet, as I have before remarked, theirfruit was most refreshing and sweet to our taste.

Again at this time Jack and I pondered the formation of thelarge coral islands. We could now understand how the lowones were formed, but the larger islands cost us muchconsideration, yet we could arrive at no certain conclusion onthe subject.

Having satisfied our curiosity and enjoyed ourselves duringthe whole day, in our little boat, we returned, somewhat wearied,and, withal, rather hungry, to our bower.

“Now,” said Jack, “as our boat answers sowell, we will get a mast and sail made immediately.”

“So we will,” cried Peterkin, as we all assistedto drag the boat above high-water mark; “we’ll lightour candle and set about it this very night. Hurrah, myboys, pull away!”

As we dragged our boat, we observed that she grated heavily onher keel; and, as the sands were in this place mingled withbroken coral rocks, we saw portions of the wood being scrapedoff.

“Hallo!” cried Jack, on seeing this.“That won’t do. Our keel will be worn off in notime at this rate.”

“So it will,” said I, pondering deeply as to howthis might be prevented. But I am not of a mechanical turn,naturally, so I could conceive no remedy save that of putting aplate of iron on the keel, but as we had no iron I knew not whatwas to be done. “It seems to me, Jack,” Iadded, “that it is impossible to prevent the keel beingworn off thus.”

“Impossible!” cried Peterkin, “my dearRalph, you are mistaken, there is nothing soeasy—”

“How?” I inquired, in some surprise.

“Why, by not using the boat at all!” repliedPeterkin.

“Hold your impudent tongue, Peterkin,” said Jack,as he shouldered the oars, “come along with me andI’ll give you work to do. In the first place, youwill go and collect cocoa-nut fibre, and set to work to makesewing twine with it—”

“Please, captain,” interrupted Peterkin,“I’ve got lots of it made already,—more thanenough, as a little friend of mine used to be in the habit ofsaying every day after dinner.”

“Very well,” continued Jack; “thenyou’ll help Ralph to collect cocoa-nut cloth, and cut itinto shape, after which we’ll make a sail of it.I’ll see to getting the mast and the gearing; solet’s to work.”

And to work we went right busily, so that in three days fromthat time we had set up a mast and sail, with the necessaryrigging, in our little boat. The sail was not, indeed, veryhandsome to look at, as it was formed of a number of oblongpatches of cloth; but we had sewed it well by means of oursail-needle, so that it was strong, which was the chiefpoint. Jack had also overcome the difficulty about thekeel, by pinning to it a falsekeel. This was apiece of tough wood, of the same length and width as the realkeel, and about five inches deep. He made it of this depthbecause the boat would be thereby rendered not only much moresafe, but more able to beat against the wind; which, in a seawhere the trade-winds blow so long and so steadily in onedirection, was a matter of great importance. This piece ofwood was pegged very firmly to the keel; and we now launched ourboat with the satisfaction of knowing that when the false keelshould be scraped off we could easily put on another; whereas,should the real keel have been scraped away, we could not haverenewed it without taking our boat to pieces, which Peterkin saidmade his “marrow quake to think upon.”

The mast and sail answered excellently; and we now sailedabout in the lagoon with great delight, and examined with muchinterest the appearance of our island from a distance.Also, we gazed into the depths of the water, and watched forhours the gambols of the curious and bright-coloured fish amongthe corals and sea-weed. Peterkin also made a fishing line,and Jack constructed a number of hooks, some of which were verygood, others remarkably bad. Some of these hooks were madeof iron-wood, which did pretty well, the wood being extremelyhard, and Jack made them very thick and large. Fish thereare not particular. Some of the crooked bones in fish-headsalso answered for this purpose pretty well. But that whichformed our best and most serviceable hook was the brassfinger-ring belonging to Jack. It gave him not a littletrouble to manufacture it. First he cut it with the axe;then twisted it into the form of a hook. The barb took himseveral hours to cut. He did it by means of constant sawingwith the broken pen-knife. As for the point, anhour’s rubbing on a piece of sandstone made an excellentone.

It would be a matter of much time and labour to describe theappearance of the multitudes of fish that were day after daydrawn into our boat by means of the brass hook. Peterkinalways caught them,—for we observed that he derived muchpleasure from fishing,—while Jack and I found ampleamusement in looking on, also in gazing down at the coral groves,and in baiting the hook. Among the fish that we saw, butdid not catch, were porpoises and sword-fish, whales andsharks. The porpoises came frequently into our lagoon inshoals, and amused us not a little by their bold leaps into theair, and their playful gambols in the sea. The sword-fishwere wonderful creatures; some of them apparently ten feet inlength, with an ivory spear, six or eight feet long, projectingfrom their noses. We often saw them darting after otherfish, and no doubt they sometimes killed them with their ivoryswords. Jack remembered having heard once of a sword-fishattacking a ship,—which seemed strange indeed; but, as theyare often in the habit of attacking whales, perhaps it mistookthe ship for one. This sword-fish ran against the vesselwith such force, that it drove its sword quite through the thickplanks; and when the ship arrived in harbour, long afterwards,the sword was found still sticking in it!

Sharks did not often appear; but we took care never again tobathe in deep water without leaving one of our number in the boatto give us warning, if he should see a shark approaching.As for the whales, they never came into our lagoon, but wefrequently saw them spouting in the deep water beyond thereef. I shall never forget my surprise the first day I sawone of these huge monsters close to me. We had beenrambling about on the reef during the morning, and were about tore-embark in our little boat, to return home, when a loud blowingsound caused us to wheel rapidly round. We were just intime to see a shower of spray falling, and the flukes or tail ofsome monstrous fish disappear in the sea a few hundred yardsoff. We waited some time to see if he would riseagain. As we stood, the sea seemed to open up at our veryfeet; an immense spout of water was sent with a snort high intothe air, and the huge blunt head of a sperm whale arose beforeus. It was so large that it could easily have taken ourlittle boat, along with ourselves, into its mouth! Itplunged slowly back into the sea, like a large ship foundering,and struck the water with its tail so forcibly as to cause asound like a cannon shot. We also saw a great number offlying fish, although we caught none; and we noticed that theynever flew out of the water except when followed by their bitterfoe, the dolphin, from whom they thus endeavoured toescape. But of all the fish that we saw, none surprised usso much as those that we used to find in shallow pools after ashower of rain; and this not on account of their appearance, forthey were ordinary-looking and very small, but on account oftheir having descended in a shower of rain! We couldaccount for them in no other way, because the pools in which wefound these fish were quite dry before the shower, and at somedistance above high-water mark. Jack, however, suggested acause which seemed to me very probable. We used often tosee water-spouts in the sea. A water-spout is a whirlingbody of water, which rises from the sea like a sharp-pointedpillar. After rising a good way, it is met by a longtongue, which comes down from the clouds; and when the two havejoined, they look something like an hour-glass. Thewater-spout is then carried by the wind, sometimes gently,sometimes with violence, over the sea, sometimes up into theclouds, and then, bursting asunder, it descends in adeluge. This often happens over the land as well as overthe sea; and it sometimes does much damage, but frequently itpasses gently away. Now, Jack thought that the little fishmight perhaps have been carried up in a water-spout, and so sentdown again in a shower of rain. But we could not be certainas to this point; yet we thought it likely.

During these delightful fishing and boating excursions wecaught a good many eels, which we found to be very good toeat. We also found turtles among the coral rocks, and madeexcellent soup in our iron kettle. Moreover, we discoveredmany shrimps and prawns, so that we had no lack of variety in ourfood; and, indeed, we never passed a week without making some newand interesting discovery of some sort or other, either on theland or in the sea.

CHAPTER XVII.

A monster wave and its consequences—The boat lost andfound—Peterkin’s terrible accident—Supplies offood for a voyage in the boat—We visit Penguin Island, andare amazed beyond measure—Account of the penguins.

One day, not long after our little boat was finished, we weresitting on the rocks at Spouting Cliff, and talking of anexcursion which we intended to make to Penguin Island the nextday.

“You see,” said Peterkin, “it might be allvery well for a stupid fellow like me to remain here and leavethe penguins alone, but it would be quite inconsistent with yourcharacters as philosophers to remain any longer in ignorance ofthe habits and customs of these birds; so the sooner we go thebetter.”

“Very true,” said I; “there is nothing Idesire so much as to have a closer inspection of them.”

“And I think,” said Jack, “that you hadbetter remain at home, Peterkin, to take care of the cat; forI’m sure the hogs will be at it in your absence, out ofrevenge for your killing their great-grandmother sorecklessly.”

“Stay at home?” cried Peterkin; “my dearfellow, you would certainly lose your way, or get upset, if Iwere not there to take care of you.”

“Ah, true,” said Jack, gravely, “that didnot occur to me; no doubt you must go. Our boat doesrequire a good deal of ballast; and all that you say, Peterkin,carries so much weight with it, that we won’t need stonesif you go.”

Now, while my companions were talking, a notable eventoccurred, which, as it is not generally known, I shall beparticular in recording here.

While we were talking, as I have said, we noticed a dark line,like a low cloud or fog-bank, on the seaward horizon. Theday was a fine one, though cloudy, and a gentle breeze wasblowing, but the sea was not rougher, or the breaker on the reefhigher, than usual. At first we thought that this lookedlike a thunder-cloud; and, as we had had a good deal of brokenweather of late, accompanied by occasional peals of thunder, wesupposed that a storm must be approaching. Gradually,however, this line seemed to draw nearer, without spreading upover the sky, as would certainly have been the case if it hadbeen a storm-cloud. Still nearer it came, and soon we sawthat it was moving swiftly towards the island; but there was nosound till it reached the islands out at sea. As it passedthese islands, we observed, with no little anxiety, that a cloudof white foam encircled them, and burst in spray into the air: itwas accompanied by a loud roar. This led us to conjecturethat the approaching object was an enormous wave of the sea; butwe had no idea how large it was till it came near toourselves. When it approached the outer reef, however, wewere awe-struck with its unusual magnitude; and we sprang to ourfeet, and clambered hastily up to the highest point of theprecipice, under an indefinable feeling of fear.

I have said before that the reef opposite Spouting Cliff wasvery near to the shore, while, just in front of the bower, it wasat a considerable distance out to sea. Owing to thisformation, the wave reached the reef at the latter point beforeit struck at the foot of Spouting Cliff. The instant ittouched the reef we became aware, for the first time, of itsawful magnitude. It burst completely over the reef at allpoints, with a roar that seemed louder to me than thunder; andthis roar continued for some seconds, while the wave rolledgradually along towards the cliff on which we stood. As itscrest reared before us, we felt that we were in great danger, andturned to flee; but we were too late. With a crash thatseemed to shake the solid rocks the gigantic billow fell, andinstantly the spouting-holes sent up a gush of water-spouts withsuch force that they shrieked on issuing from their narrowvents. It seemed to us as if the earth had been blown upwith water. We were stunned and confused by the shock, andso drenched and blinded with spray, that we knew not for a fewmoments whither to flee for shelter. At length we all threegained an eminence beyond the reach of the water; but what ascene of devastation met our gaze as we looked along theshore! This enormous wave not only burst over the reef, butcontinued its way across the lagoon, and fell on the sandy beachof the island with such force that passed completely over it anddashed into the woods, levelling the smaller trees and bushes inits headlong course!

On seeing this, Jack said he feared our bower must have beenswept away, and that the boat, which was on the beach, must havebeen utterly destroyed. Our hearts sank within us as wethought of this, and we hastened round through the woods towardsour home. On reaching it we found, to our great relief ofmind, that the force of the wave had been expended just beforereaching the bower; but the entrance to it was almost blocked upby the torn-up bushes and tangled heaps of sea-weed. Havingsatisfied ourselves as to the bower, we hurried to the spot wherethe boat had been left; but no boat was there! The spot onwhich it had stood was vacant, and no sign of it could we see onlooking around us.

“It may have been washed up into the woods,” saidJack, hurrying up the beach as he spoke. Still, no boat wasto be seen, and we were about to give ourselves over to despair,when Peterkin called to Jack and said,—

“Jack, my friend, you were once so exceedingly sagaciousand wise as to make me acquainted with the fact that cocoa nutsgrow upon trees; will you now be so good as to inform me whatsort of fruit that is growing on the top of yonder bush? for Iconfess to being ignorant, or, at least, doubtful on thepoint.”

We looked towards the bush indicated, and there, to oursurprise, beheld our little boat snugly nestled among theleaves! We were very much overjoyed at this, for we wouldhave suffered any loss rather than the loss of our boat. Wefound that the wave had actually borne the boat on its crest fromthe beach into the woods, and there launched it into the heart ofthis bush; which was extremely fortunate, for had it been tossedagainst a rock or a tree, it would have been dashed to pieces,whereas it had not received the smallest injury. It was noeasy matter, however, to get it out of the bush and down to thesea again. This cost us two days of hard labour toaccomplish.

We had also much ado to clear away the rubbish from before thebower, and spent nearly a week in constant labour ere we got theneighbourhood to look as clean and orderly as before; for theuprooted bushes and sea-weed that lay on the beach formed a moredreadfully confused-looking mass than one who had not seen theplace after the inundation could conceive.

Before leaving the subject I may mention, for the sake ofthose who interest themselves in the curious natural phenomena ofour world, that this gigantic wave occurs regularly on some ofthe islands of the Pacific, once, and sometimes twice in theyear. I heard this stated by the missionaries during mycareer in those seas. They could not tell me whether itvisited all of the islands, but I was certainly assured that itoccurred periodically in some of them.

After we had got our home put to rights and cleared of thedebrisof the inundation, we again turned our thoughts topaying the penguins a visit. The boat was thereforeoverhauled and a few repairs done. Then we prepared asupply of provisions, for we intended to be absent at least anight or two, perhaps longer. This took us some time to do,for while Jack was busy with the boat, Peterkin was sent into thewoods to spear a hog or two, and had to search long, sometimes,ere he found them. Peterkin was usually sent on thiserrand, when we wanted a pork chop (which was not seldom),because he was so active, and could run so wonderfully fast thathe found no difficulty in overtaking the hogs; but, beingdreadfully reckless, he almost invariably tumbled over stumps andstones in the course of his wild chase, and seldom returned homewithout having knocked the skin off his shins. Once,indeed, a more serious accident happened to him. He hadbeen out all morning alone and did not return at the usual timeto dinner. We wondered at this, for Peterkin was alwaysvery punctual at the dinner hour. As supper-time drew nearwe began to be anxious about him, and at length sallied forth tosearch the woods. For a long time we sought in vain, but alittle before dark we came upon the tracks of the hogs, which wefollowed up until we came to the brow of a rather steep bank orprecipice. Looking over this we beheld Peterkin lying in astate of insensibility at the foot, with his cheek resting on thesnout of a little pig, which was pinned to the earth by thespear! We were dreadfully alarmed, but hastened to bathehis forehead with water, and had soon the satisfaction of seeinghim revive. After we had carried him home he related to ashow the thing had happened.

“You must know,” said he, “I walked aboutall the forenoon, till I was as tired as an old donkey, withoutseeing a single grunter, not so much as a track of one; but, as Iwas determined not to return empty-handed, I resolved to gowithout my dinner and—”

“What!” exclaimed Jack, “did youreallyresolve to do that?”

“Now, Jack, hold your tongue,” returned Peterkin;“I say that I resolved to forego my dinner and to push tothe head of the small valley, where I felt pretty sure ofdiscovering the hogs. I soon found that I was on the rightscent, for I had scarcely walked half a mile in the direction ofthe small plum tree we found there the other day, when a squeakfell on my ear. ‘Ho, ho,’ said I, ‘thereyou go, my boys;’ and I hurried up the glen. I soonstarted them, and singling out a fat pig, ran tilt at him.In a few seconds I was up with him, and stuck my spear rightthrough his dumpy body. Just as I did so, I saw that wewere on the edge of a precipice, whether high or low I knew not,but I had been running at such a pace that I could not stop, sothe pig and I gave a howl in concert and went plunging overtogether. I remembered nothing more after that, till I cameto my senses and found you bathing my temples, and Ralph wringinghis hands over me.”

But although Peterkin was often unfortunate, in the way ofgetting tumbles, he was successful on the present occasion inhunting, and returned before evening with three very nice littlehogs. I, also, was successful in my visit to the mud-flats,where I killed several ducks. So that, when we launched andloaded our boat at sunrise the following morning, we found ourstore of provisions to be more than sufficient. Part hadbeen cooked the night before, and, on taking note of thedifferent items, we found the account to stand thus:—

10 Bread-fruits, (two baked, eight unbaked.)
20 Yams, (six roasted, the rest raw.)
6 Taro roots.
50 Fine large plums.
6 Cocoa nuts, ripe.
6 Ditto green, (for drinking.)
4 Large ducks and two small ones, raw.
3 Cold roast pigs, with stuffing.

I may here remark that the stuffing had been devised byPeterkin specially for the occasion. He kept the manner ofits compounding a profound secret, so I cannot tell what it was;but I can say, with much confidence, that we found it to beatrociously bad, and, after the first tasting, scraped itcarefully out and threw it overboard. We calculated thatthis supply would last us for several days, but we afterwardsfound that it was much more than we required, especially inregard to the cocoa nuts, of which we found large supplieswherever we went. However, as Peterkin remarked, it wasbetter to have too much than too little, as we knew not to whatstraits we might be put during our voyage.

It was a very calm sunny morning when we launched forth androwed over the lagoon towards the outlet in the reef, and passedbetween the two green islets that guard the entrance. Weexperienced some difficulty and no little danger in passing thesurf of the breaker, and shipped a good deal of water in theattempt; but, once past the billow, we found ourselves floatingplacidly on the long oily swell that rose and fell slowly as itrolled over the wide ocean.

Penguin Island lay on the other side of our own island, atabout a mile beyond the outer reef, and we calculated that itmust be at least twenty miles distant by the way we should haveto go. We might, indeed, have shortened the way by coastinground our island inside of the lagoon, and going out at thepassage in the reef nearly opposite to Penguin Island, but wepreferred to go by the open sea; first, because it was moreadventurous; and, secondly, because we should have the pleasureof again feeling the motion of the deep, which we all loved verymuch, not being liable to sea sickness.

“I wish we had a breeze,” said Jack.

“So do I,” cried Peterkin, resting on his oar andwiping his heated brow; “pulling is hard work. Ohdear, if we could only catch a hundred or two of these gulls, tiethem to the boat with long strings, and make them fly as we wantthem, how capital it would be!”

“Or bore a hole through a shark’s tail, and reevea rope through it, eh?” remarked Jack. “But, Isay, it seems that my wish is going to be granted, for here comesa breeze. Ship your oar, Peterkin. Up with the mast,Ralph; I’ll see to the sail. Mind your helm; look outfor squalls!”

This last speech was caused by the sudden appearance of a darkblue line on the horizon, which, in an incredibly short space oftime, swept down on us, lashing up the sea in white foam as itwent. We presented the stern of the boat to its firstviolence, and, in a few seconds, it moderated into a steadybreeze, to which we spread our sail and flew merrily over thewaves. Although the breeze died away soon afterwards, ithad been so stiff while it lasted, that we were carried over thegreater part of our way before it fell calm again; so that, whenthe flapping of the sail against the mast told us that it wastime to resume the oars, we were not much more than a mile fromPenguin Island.

“There go the soldiers!” cried Peterkin as we camein sight of it; “how spruce their white trousers look, thismorning! I wonder if they will receive us kindly.D’you think they are hospitable, Jack?”

“Don’t talk, Peterkin, but pull away, and youshall see shortly.”

As we drew near to the island we were much amused by themanoeuvres and appearance of these strange birds. Theyseemed to be of different species, for some had crests on theirheads while others had none, and while some were about the sizeof a goose others appeared nearly as large as a swan. Wealso saw a huge albatross soaring above the heads of thepenguins. It was followed and surrounded by numerous flocksof sea-gulls. Having approached to within a few yards ofthe island, which was a low rock, with no other vegetation on itthan a few bushes, we lay on our oars and gazed at the birds withsurprise and pleasure, they returning our gaze withinterest. We now saw that their soldier-like appearance wasowing to the stiff, erect manner in which they sat on their shortlegs,—“Bolt-up-right,” as Peterkin expressedit. They had black heads, long sharp beaks, white breasts,and bluish backs. Their wings were so short that theylooked more like the fins of a fish, and, indeed, we soon sawthat they used them for the purpose of swimming underwater. There were no quills on these wings, but a sort ofscaly feathers; which also thickly covered their bodies.Their legs were short, and placed so far back that the birds,while on land, were obliged to stand quite upright in order tokeep their balance; but in the water they floated like otherwater-fowl. At first we were so stunned with the clamourwhich they and other sea-birds kept up around us, that we knewnot which way to look,—for they covered the rocks inthousands; but, as we continued to gaze, we observed severalquadrupeds (as we thought) walking in the midst of thepenguins.

“Pull in a bit,” cried Peterkin, “andlet’s see what these are. They must be fond of noisycompany, to consort with such creatures.”

To our surprise we found that these were no other thanpenguins which had gone down on all fours, and were crawlingamong the bushes on their feet and wings, just likequadrupeds. Suddenly one big old bird, that had beensitting on a point very near to us, gazing in mute astonishment,became alarmed, and, scuttling down the rocks, plumped or fell,rather than ran, into the sea. It dived in a moment, and, afew seconds afterwards, came out of the water far a-head, withsuch a spring, and such a dive back into the sea again, that wecould scarcely believe it was not a fish that had leaped insport.

“That beats everything,” said Peterkin, rubbinghis nose, and screwing up his face with an expression ofexasperated amazement. “I’ve heard of a thingbeing neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, but I never did expect tolive to see a brute that was all three together,—atonce—in one! But look there!” he continued,pointing with a look of resignation to the shore, “lookthere! there’s no end to it. What hasthatbrute got under its tail?”

We turned to look in the direction pointed out, and there sawa penguin walking slowly and very sedately along the shore withan egg under its tail. There were several others, weobserved, burdened in the same way; and we found afterwards thatthese were a species of penguins that always carried their eggsso. Indeed, they had a most convenient cavity for thepurpose, just between the tail and the legs. We were verymuch impressed with the regularity and order of thiscolony. The island seemed to be apportioned out intosquares, of which each penguin possessed one, and sat in stiffsolemnity in the middle of it, or took a slow march up and downthe spaces between. Some were hatching their eggs, butothers were feeding their young ones in a manner that caused usto laugh not a little. The mother stood on a mound orraised rock, while the young one stood patiently below her on theground. Suddenly the mother raised her head and uttered aseries of the most discordant cackling sounds.

“She’s going to choke,” cried Peterkin.

But this was not the case, although, I confess, she lookedlike it. In a few seconds she put down her head and openedher mouth, into which the young one thrust its beak and seemed tosuck something from her throat. Then the cackling wasrenewed, the sucking continued, and so the operation of feedingwas carried on till the young one was satisfied; but what she fedher little one with, we could not tell.

“Now, just look yonder!” said Peterkin, in anexcited tone; “if that isn’t the most abominablepiece of maternal deception I ever saw. That rascally oldlady penguin has just pitched her young one into the sea, andthere’s another about to follow her example.”

This indeed seemed to be the cue, for, on the top of a steeprock close to the edge of the sea, we observed an old penguinendeavouring to entice her young one into the water; but theyoung one seemed very unwilling to go, and, notwithstanding theenticements of its mother, moved very slowly towards her.At last she went gently behind the young bird and pushed it alittle towards the water, but with great tenderness, as much asto say, ‘Don’t be afraid, darling! Iwon’t hurt you, my pet!’ but no sooner did she get itto the edge of the rock, where it stood looking pensively down atthe sea, than she gave it a sudden and violent push, sending itheadlong down the slope into the water, where its mother left itto scramble ashore as it best could. We observed many ofthem employed in doing this, and we came to the conclusion thatthis is the way in which old penguins teach their children toswim.

Scarcely had we finished making our remarks on this, when wewere startled by about a dozen of the old birds hopping in themost clumsy and ludicrous manner towards the sea. Thebeach, here, was a sloping rock, and when they came to it, someof them succeeded in hopping down in safety, but others losttheir balance and rolled and scrambled down the slope in the mosthelpless manner. The instant they reached the water,however, they seemed to be in their proper element. Theydived and bounded out of it and into it again with the utmostagility; and so, diving and bounding and spluttering, for theycould not fly, they went rapidly out to sea.

On seeing this, Peterkin turned with a grave face to us andsaid, “It’s my opinion that these birds are allstark, staring mad, and that this is an enchanted island. Itherefore propose that we should either put about ship and fly interror from the spot, or land valorously on the island, and sellour lives as dearly as we can.”

“I vote for landing, so pull in, lads,” said Jack,giving a stroke with his oar that made the boat spin. In afew seconds we ran the boat into a little creek where we made herfast to a projecting piece of coral, and, running up the beach,entered the ranks of the penguins armed with our cudgels and ourspear. We were greatly surprised to find that, instead ofattacking us or showing signs of fear at our approach, thesecurious birds did not move from their places until we laid handson them, and merely turned their eyes on us in solemn, stupidwonder as we passed. There was one old penguin, however,that began to walk slowly toward the sea, and Peterkin took itinto his head that he would try to interrupt its progress, so heran between it and the sea and brandished his cudgel in itsface. But this proved to be a resolute old bird. Itwould not retreat; nay, more, it would not cease to advance, butbattled with Peterkin bravely and drove him before it until itreached the sea. Had Peterkin used his club he could easilyhave felled it, no doubt; but, as he had no wish to do so cruelan act merely out of sport, he let the bird escape.

We spent fully three hours on this island in watching thehabits of these curious birds, and, when we finally left them, weall three concluded, after much consultation, that they were themost wonderful creatures we had ever seen; and further, wethought it probable that they were the most wonderful creaturesin the world!

CHAPTER XVIII.

An awful storm and its consequences—Narrowescape—A rock proves a sure foundation—A fearfulnight and a bright morning—Deliverance from danger.

It was evening before we left the island of thepenguins. As we had made up our minds to encamp for thenight on a small island, whereon grew a few cocoa-nut trees,which was about two miles off, we lay to our oars with someenergy. But a danger was in store for us which we had notanticipated. The wind, which had carried us so quickly toPenguin Island, freshened as evening drew on, to a stiff breeze,and, before we had made half the distance to the small island, itbecame a regular gale. Although it was not so directlyagainst us as to prevent our rowing in the course we wished togo, yet it checked us very much; and although the force of thesea was somewhat broken by the island, the waves soon began torise, and to roll their broken crests against our small craft, sothat she began to take in water, and we had much ado to keepourselves afloat. At last the wind and sea together becameso violent that we found it impossible to make the island, soJack suddenly put the head of the boat round and ordered Peterkinand me to hoist a corner of the sail, intending to run back toPenguin Island.

“We shall at least have the shelter of thebushes,” he said, as the boat flew before the wind,“and the penguins will keep us company.”

As Jack spoke, the wind suddenly shifted, and blew so muchagainst us that we were forced to hoist more of the sail in orderto beat up for the island, being by this change thrown much toleeward of it. What made matters worse was, that the galecame in squalls, so that we were more than once nearly upset.

“Stand by, both of you,” cried Jack, in a quick,earnest tone; “be ready to dowse the sail. I verymuch fear we won’t make the island after all.”

Peterkin and I were so much in the habit of trustingeverything to Jack that we had fallen into the way of notconsidering things, especially such things as were underJack’s care. We had, therefore, never doubted for amoment that all was going well, so that it was with no littleanxiety that we heard him make the above remark. However,we had no time for question or surmise, for, at the moment hespoke, a heavy squall was bearing down upon us, and, as we werethen flying with our lee gunwale dipping occasionally under thewaves, it was evident that we should have to lower our sailaltogether. In a few seconds the squall struck the boat,but Peterkin and I had the sail down in a moment, so that it didnot upset us; but, when it was past, we were more than half fullof water. This I soon baled out, while Peterkin againhoisted a corner of the sail; but the evil which Jack had fearedcame upon us. We found it quite impossible to make PenguinIsland. The gale carried us quickly past it towards theopen sea, and the terrible truth flashed upon us that we shouldbe swept out and left to perish miserably in a small boat in themidst of the wide ocean.

This idea was forced very strongly upon us because we sawnothing in the direction whither the wind was blowing us save theraging billows of the sea; and, indeed, we trembled as we gazedaround us, for we were now beyond the shelter of the islands, andit seemed as though any of the huge billows, which curled over inmasses of foam, might swallow us up in a moment. The water,also, began to wash in over our sides, and I had to keepconstantly baling, for Jack could not quit the helm nor Peterkinthe sail for an instant, without endangering our lives. Inthe midst of this distress Jack uttered an exclamation of hope,and pointed towards a low island or rock which lay directlyahead. It had been hitherto unobserved, owing to the darkclouds that obscured the sky and the blinding spray that seemedto fill the whole atmosphere.

As we neared this rock we observed that it was quite destituteof trees and verdure, and so low that the sea broke completelyover it. In fact it was nothing more than the summit of oneof the coral formations, which rose only a few feet above thelevel of the water, and was, in stormy weather, all butinvisible. Over this island the waves were breaking in theutmost fury, and our hearts sank within us as we saw that therewas not a spot where we could thrust our little boat without itsbeing dashed to pieces.

“Show a little bit more sail,” cried Jack, as weswept past the weather side of the rock with fearful speed.

“Ay, ay,” answered Peterkin, hoisting about a footmore of our sail.

Little though the addition was it caused the boat to lie overand creak so loudly, as we cleft the foaming waves, that Iexpected to be upset every instant; and I blamed Jack in my heartfor his rashness. But I did him injustice, for, althoughduring two seconds the water rushed in-board in a torrent, hesucceeded in steering us sharply round to the leeward side of therock, where the water was comparatively calm, and the force ofthe breeze broken.

“Out your oars now, lads; that’s well done.Give way!” We obeyed instantly. The oarssplashed into the waves together. One good hearty pull, andwe were floating in a comparatively calm creek that was so narrowas to be barely able to admit our boat. Here we were inperfect safety, and, as we leaped on shore and fastened our cableto the rocks, I thanked God in my heart for our deliverance fromso great danger. But, although I have said we were now insafety, I suspect that few of my readers would have envied ourposition. It is true we had no lack of food, but we weredrenched to the skin; the sea was foaming round us and the sprayflying over our heads, so that we were completely enveloped, asit were, in water; the spot on which we had landed was not morethan twelve yards in diameter, and from this spot we could notmove without the risk of being swept away by the storm. Atthe upper end of the creek was a small hollow or cave in therock, which sheltered us from the fury of the winds and waves;and as the rock extended in a sort of ledge over our heads, itprevented the spray from falling upon us.

“Why,” said Peterkin, beginning to feel cheeryagain, “it seems to me that we have got into amermaid’s cave, for there is nothing but water all roundus; and as for earth or sky, they are things of thepast.”

Peterkin’s idea was not inappropriate, for, what withthe sea roaring in white foam up to our very feet, and the sprayflying in white sheets continually over our heads, and the waterdripping heavily from the ledge above like a curtain in front ofour cave, it did seem to us very much more like being below thanabove water.

“Now, boys,” cried Jack, “bestir yourselves,and let’s make ourselves comfortable. Toss out ourprovisions, Peterkin; and here, Ralph, lend a hand to haul up theboat. Look sharp.”

“Ay, ay, captain,” we cried, as we hastened toobey, much cheered by the hearty manner of our comrade.

Fortunately the cave, although not very deep, was quite dry,so that we succeeded in making ourselves much more comfortablethan could have been expected. We landed our provisions,wrung the water out of our garments, spread our sail below us fora carpet, and, after having eaten a hearty meal, began to feelquite cheerful. But as night drew on, our spirits sankagain, for with the daylight all evidence of our securityvanished away. We could no longer see the firm rock onwhich we lay, while we were stunned with the violence of thetempest that raged around us. The night grew pitchy dark,as it advanced, so that we could not see our hands when we heldthem up before our eyes, and were obliged to feel each otheroccasionally to make sure that we were safe, for the storm atlast became so terrible that it was difficult to make our voicesaudible. A slight variation of the wind, as we supposed,caused a few drops of spray ever and anon to blow into our faces;and the eddy of the sea, in its mad boiling, washed up into ourlittle creek until it reached our feet and threatened to tearaway our boat. In order to prevent this latter calamity, wehauled the boat farther up and held the cable in our hands.Occasional flashes of lightning shone with a ghastly glarethrough the watery curtains around us, and lent additional horrorto the scene. Yet we longed for those dismal flashes, forthey were less appalling than the thick blackness that succeededthem. Crashing peals of thunder seemed to tear the skies intwain, and fell upon our ears through the wild yelling of thehurricane as if it had been but a gentle summer breeze; while thebillows burst upon the weather side of the island until wefancied that the solid rock was giving way, and, in our agony, weclung to the bare ground, expecting every moment to be whirledaway and whelmed in the black howling sea! Oh! it was anight of terrible anxiety, and no one can conceive the feelingsof intense gratitude and relief with which we at last saw thedawn of day break through the vapory mists around us.

For three days and three nights we remained on this rock,while the storm continued to rage with unabated fury. Onthe morning of the fourth day it suddenly ceased, and the windfell altogether; but the waves still ran so high that we did notdare to put off in our boat. During the greater part ofthis period we scarcely slept above a few minutes at a time, buton the third night we slept soundly and awoke early on the fourthmorning to find the sea very much down, and the sun shiningbrightly again in the clear blue sky.

It was with light hearts that we launched forth once more inour little boat and steered away for our island home, which, wewere overjoyed to find, was quite visible on the horizon, for wehad feared that we had been blown out of sight of italtogether. As it was a dead calm we had to row during thegreater part of the day; but towards the afternoon a fair breezesprang up, which enabled us to hoist our sail. We soonpassed Penguin Island, and the other island which we had failedto reach on the day the storm commenced; but as we had stillenough of provisions, and were anxious to get home, we did notland, to the great disappointment of Peterkin, who seemed toentertain quite an affection for the penguins.

Although the breeze was pretty fresh for several hours, we didnot reach the outer reef of our island till night-fall, andbefore we had sailed more than a hundred yards into the lagoon,the wind died away altogether, so that we had to take to our oarsagain. It was late and the moon and stars were shiningbrightly when we arrived opposite the bower and leaped upon thestrand. So glad were we to be safe back again on ourbeloved island, that we scarcely took time to drag the boat ashort way up the beach, and then ran up to see that all was rightat the bower. I must confess, however, that my joy wasmingled with a vague sort of fear lest our home had been visitedand destroyed during our absence; but on reaching it we foundeverything just as it had been left, and the poor black catcurled up, sound asleep, on the coral table in front of ourhumble dwelling.

CHAPTER XIX.

Shoemaking—The even tenor of our way suddenlyinterrupted—An unexpected visit and an appallingbattle—We all become warriors, and Jack proves himself be ahero.

For many months after this we continued to live on our islandin uninterrupted harmony and happiness. Sometimes we wentout a-fishing in the lagoon, and sometimes went a-hunting in thewoods, or ascended to the mountain top, by way of variety,although Peterkin always asserted that we went for the purpose ofhailing any ship that might chance to heave in sight. But Iam certain that none of us wished to be delivered from ourcaptivity, for we were extremely happy, and Peterkin used to saythat as we were very young we should not feel the loss of a yearor two. Peterkin, as I have said before, was thirteen yearsof age, Jack eighteen, and I fifteen. But Jack was verytall, strong, and manly for his age, and might easily have beenmistaken for twenty.

The climate was so beautiful that it seemed to be a perpetualsummer, and as many of the fruit-trees continued to bear fruitand blossom all the year round, we never wanted for a plentifulsupply of food. The hogs, too, seemed rather to increasethan diminish, although Peterkin was very frequent in his attackson them with his spear. If at any time we failed in findinga drove, we had only to pay a visit to the plum-tree beforementioned, where we always found a large family of them asleepunder its branches.

We employed ourselves very busily during this time in makingvarious garments of cocoa-nut cloth, as those with which we hadlanded were beginning to be very ragged. Peterkin alsosucceeded in making excellent shoes out of the skin of the oldhog, in the following manner:—He first cut a piece of thehide, of an oblong form, a few inches longer than his foot.This he soaked in water, and, while it was wet, he sewed up oneend of it, so as to form a rough imitation of that part of theheel of a shoe where the seam is. This done, he bored a rowof holes all round the edge of the piece of skin, through which atough line was passed. Into the sewed-up part of this shoehe thrust his heel, then, drawing the string tight, the edgesrose up and overlapped his foot all round. It is true therewere a great many ill-looking puckers in these shoes, but wefound them very serviceable notwithstanding, and Jack came atlast to prefer them to his long boots. We ago made variousother useful articles, which added to our comfort, and once ortwice spoke of building us a house, but we had so great anaffection for the bower, and, withal, found it so serviceable,that we determined not to leave it, nor to attempt the buildingof a house, which, in such a climate, might turn out to be ratherdisagreeable than useful.

We often examined the pistol that we had found in the house onthe other side of the island, and Peterkin wished much that wehad powder and shot, as it would render pig-killing much easier;but, after all, we had become so expert in the use of our slingand bow and spear, that we were independent of more deadlyweapons.

Diving in the Water Garden also continued to afford us as muchpleasure as ever; and Peterkin began to be a little more expertin the water from constant practice. As for Jack and I, webegan to feel as if water were our native element, and revelledin it with so much confidence and comfort that Peterkin said hefeared we would turn into fish some day, and swim off and leavehim; adding, that he had been for a long time observing that Jackwas becoming more and more like a shark every day.Whereupon Jack remarked, that if he, Peterkin, were changed intoa fish, he would certainly turn into nothing better or biggerthan a shrimp. Poor Peterkin did not envy us our delightfulexcursions under water, except, indeed, when Jack would dive downto the bottom of the Water Garden, sit down on a rock and look upand make faces at him. Peterkin did feel envious then, andoften said he would give anything to be able to do that. Iwas much amused when Peterkin said this; for if he could onlyhave seen his own face when he happened to take a short dive, hewould have seen that Jack’s was far surpassed by it.The great difference being, however, that Jack made faces onpurpose—Peterkin couldn’t help it!

Now, while we were engaged with these occupations andamusements, an event occurred one day which was as unexpected asit was exceedingly alarming and very horrible.

Jack and I were sitting, as we were often wont to do, on therocks at Spouting Cliff, and Peterkin was wringing the water fromhis garments, having recently fallen by accident into thesea,—a thing he was constantly doing,—when ourattention was suddenly arrested by two objects which appeared onthe horizon.

“What are yon, think you?” I said, addressingJack.

“I can’t imagine,” answered he;“I’ve noticed them for some time, and fancied theywere black sea-gulls, but the more I look at them the more I feelconvinced they are much larger than gulls.”

“They seem to be coming towards us,” said I.

“Hallo! what’s wrong?” inquired Peterkin,coming up.

“Look there,” said Jack.

“Whales!” cried Peterkin, shading his eyes withhis hand. “No! eh! can they be boats,Jack?”

Our hearts beat with excitement at the very thought of seeinghuman faces again.

“I think you are about right, Peterkin;—but theyseem to me to move strangely for boats,” said Jack, in alow tone, as if he were talking to himself.

I noticed that a shade of anxiety crossed Jack’scountenance as he gazed long and intently at the two objects,which were now nearing us fast. At last he sprang to hisfeet. “They are canoes, Ralph! whether war-canoes ornot I cannot tell, but this I know, that all the natives of theSouth Sea Islands are fierce cannibals, and they have littlerespect for strangers. We must hide if they land here,which I earnestly hope they will not do.”

I was greatly alarmed at Jack’s speech, but I confess Ithought less of what he said than of the earnest, anxious mannerin which he said it, and it was with very uncomfortable feelingsthat Peterkin and I followed him quickly into the woods.

“How unfortunate,” said I, as we gained theshelter of the bushes, “that we have forgotten ourarms.”

“It matters not,” said Jack; “here are clubsenough and to spare.” As he spoke, he laid his handon a bundle of stout poles of various sizes, whichPeterkin’s ever-busy hands had formed, during our frequentvisits to the cliff, for no other purpose, apparently, than thatof having something to do.

We each selected a stout club according to our several tastes,and lay down behind a rock, whence we could see the canoesapproach, without ourselves being seen. At first we made anoccasional remark on their appearance, but after they entered thelagoon, and drew near the beach, we ceased to speak, and gazedwith intense interest at the scene before us.

We now observed that the foremost canoe was being chased bythe other, and that it contained a few women and children, aswell as men,—perhaps forty souls altogether; while thecanoe which pursued it contained only men. They seemed tobe about the same in number, but were better armed, and had theappearance of being a war party. Both crews were paddlingwith all their might, and it seemed as if the pursuers exertedthemselves to overtake the natives ere they could land. Inthis, however, they failed. The foremost canoe made for thebeach close beneath the rocks behind which we wereconcealed. Their short paddles flashed like meteors in thewater, and sent up a constant shower of spray. The foamcurled from the prow, and the eyes of the rowers glistened intheir black faces as they strained every muscle of their nakedbodies; nor did they relax their efforts till the canoe struckthe beach with a violent shock; then, with a shout of defiance,the whole party sprang, as if by magic, from the canoe to theshore. Three women, two of whom carried infants in theirarms, rushed into the woods; and the men crowded to thewater’s edge, with stones in their hands, spears levelled,and clubs brandished, to resist the landing of their enemies.

The distance between the two canoes had been about half amile, and, at the great speed they were going, this was soonpassed. As the pursuers neared the shore, no sign of fearor hesitation was noticeable. On they came like a wildcharger,—received but recked not of a shower ofstones. The canoe struck, and, with a yell that seemed toissue from the throats of incarnate fiends, they leaped into thewater, and drove their enemies up the beach.

The battle that immediately ensued was frightful tobehold. Most of the men wielded clubs of enormous size andcurious shapes, with which they dashed out each other’sbrains. As they were almost entirely naked, and had tobound, stoop, leap, and run, in their terrible hand-to-handencounters, they looked more like demons than human beings.I felt my heart grow sick at the sight of this bloody battle, andwould fain have turned away, but a species of fascination seemedto hold me down and glue my eyes upon the combatants. Iobserved that the attacking party was led by a most extraordinarybeing, who, from his size and peculiarity, I concluded was achief. His hair was frizzed out to an enormous extent, sothat it resembled a large turban. It was of a light-yellowhue, which surprised me much, for the man’s body was asblack as coal, and I felt convinced that the hair must have beendyed. He was tattooed from head to foot; and his face,besides being tattooed, was besmeared with red paint, andstreaked with white. Altogether, with his yellowturban-like hair, his Herculean black frame, his glittering eyesand white teeth, he seemed the most terrible monster I everbeheld. He was very active in the fight, and had alreadykilled four men.

Suddenly the yellow-haired chief was attacked by a man quiteas strong and large as himself. He flourished a heavy clubsomething like an eagle’s beak at the point. For asecond or two these giants eyed each other warily, moving roundand round, as if to catch each other at a disadvantage, butseeing that nothing was to be gained by this caution, and thatthe loss of time might effectually turn the tide of battle eitherway, they apparently made up their minds to attack at the sameinstant, for, with a wild shout and simultaneous spring, theyswung their heavy clubs, which met with a loud report.Suddenly the yellow-haired savage tripped, his enemy sprangforward, the ponderous club was swung, but it did not descend,for at that moment the savage was felled to the ground by a stonefrom the hand of one who had witnessed his chief’sdanger. This was the turning-point in the battle. Thesavages who landed first turned and fled towards the bush, onseeing the fall of their chief. But not one escaped.They were all overtaken and felled to the earth. I saw,however, that they were not all killed. Indeed, theirenemies, now that they were conquered, seemed anxious to takethem alive; and they succeeded in securing fifteen, whom theybound hand and foot with cords, and, carrying them up into thewoods, laid them down among the bushes. Here they leftthem, for what purpose I knew not, and returned to the scene ofthe late battle, where the remnant of the party were bathingtheir wounds.

Out of the forty blacks that composed the attacking party,only twenty-eight remained alive, two of whom were sent into thebush to hunt for the women and children. Of the otherparty, as I have said, only ten survived, and these were lyingbound and helpless on the grass.

Jack and Peterkin and I now looked at each other, andwhispered our fears that the savages might clamber up the rocksto search for fresh water, and so discover our place ofconcealment; but we were so much interested in watching theirmovements that we agreed to remain where we were; and, indeed, wecould not easily have risen without exposing ourselves todetection. One of the savages now went up to the wood andsoon returned with a bundle of fire-wood, and we were not alittle surprised to see him set fire to it by the very same meansused by Jack the time we made our first fire,—namely, withthe bow and drill. When the fire was kindled, two of theparty went again to the woods and returned with one of the boundmen. A dreadful feeling of horror crept over my heart, asthe thought flashed upon me that they were going to burn theirenemies. As they bore him to the fire my feelings almostoverpowered me. I gasped for breath, and seizing my club,endeavoured to spring to my feet; but Jack’s powerful armpinned me to the earth. Next moment one of the savagesraised his club, and fractured the wretched creature’sskull. He must have died instantly, and, strange though itmay seem, I confess to a feeling of relief when the deed wasdone, because I now knew that the poor savage could not be burnedalive. Scarcely had his limbs ceased to quiver when themonsters cut slices of flesh from his body, and, after roastingthem slightly over the fire, devoured them.

Suddenly there arose a cry from the woods, and, in a fewseconds, the two savages hastened towards the fire dragging thethree women and their two infants along with them. One ofthose women was much younger than her companions, and we werestruck with the modesty of her demeanour and the gentleexpression of her face, which, although she had the flattish noseand thick lips of the others, was of a light-brown colour, and weconjectured that she must be of a different race. She andher companions wore short petticoats and a kind of tippet ontheir shoulders. Their hair was jet black, but instead ofbeing long, was short and curly,—though notwoolly—somewhat like the hair of a young boy. Whilewe gazed with interest and some anxiety at these poor creatures,the big chief advanced to one of the elder females and laid hishand upon the child. But the mother shrank from him, andclasping the little one to her bosom, uttered a wail offear. With a savage laugh, the chief tore the child fromher arms and tossed it into the sea. A low groan burst fromJack’s lips as we witnessed this atrocious act and heardthe mother’s shriek, as she fell insensible on thesand. The rippling waves rolled the child on the beach, asif they refused to be a party in such a foul murder, and we couldobserve that the little one still lived.

The young girl was now brought forward, and the chiefaddressed her; but although we heard his voice, and even thewords distinctly, of course we could not understand what hesaid. The girl made no answer to his fierce questions, andwe saw by the way in which he pointed to the fire that hethreatened her life.

“Peterkin,” said Jack in a hoarse whisper,“have you got your knife?”

“Yes,” replied Peterkin, whose face was pale asdeath.

“That will do. Listen to me, and do my biddingquick. Here is the small knife, Ralph. Fly both ofyou through the bush, cut the cords that bind the prisoners andset them free. There! quick, ere it be toolate.” Jack sprang up, and seized a heavy but shortbludgeon, while his strong frame trembled with emotion, and largedrops rolled down his forehead.

At this moment the man who had butchered the savage a fewminutes before advanced towards the girl with his heavyclub. Jack uttered a yell that rang like a death-shriekamong the rocks. With one bound he leaped over a precipicefull fifteen feet high, and, before the savages had recoveredfrom their surprise, was in the midst of them; while Peterkin andI dashed through the bushes towards the prisoners. With oneblow of his staff Jack felled the man with the club, then,turning round with a look of fury, he rushed upon the big chiefwith the yellow hair. Had the blow which Jack aimed at hishead taken effect, the huge savage would have needed no secondstroke; but he was agile as a cat, and avoided it by springing toone side, while, at the same time, he swung his ponderous club atthe head of his foe. It was now Jack’s turn to leapaside, and well was it for him that the first outburst of hisblind fury was over, else he had become an easy prey to hisgigantic antagonist; but Jack was cool now. He darted hisblows rapidly and well, and the superiority of his light weaponwas strikingly proved in this combat, for while he could easilyevade the blows of the chief’s heavy club, the chief couldnot so easily evade those of his light one. Nevertheless,so quick was he, and so frightfully did he fling about the mightyweapon, that, although Jack struck him almost every blow, thestrokes had to be delivered so quickly that they wanted force tobe very effectual.

It was lucky for Jack that the other savages considered thesuccess of their chief in this encounter to be so certain thatthey refrained from interfering. Had they doubted it, theywould have probably ended the matter at once by fellinghim. But they contented themselves with awaiting theissue.

The force which the chief expended in wielding his club nowbegan to be apparent. His movements became slower, hisbreath hissed through his clenched teeth, and the surprisedsavages drew nearer in order to render assistance. Jackobserved this movement. He felt that his fate was sealed,and resolved to cast his life upon the next blow. Thechiefs club was again about to descend on his head. Hemight have evaded it easily, but instead of doing so, he suddenlyshortened his grasp of his own club, rushed in under the blow,struck his adversary right between the eyes with all his forceand fell to the earth, crushed beneath the senseless body of thechief. A dozen clubs flew high in air ready to descend onthe head of Jack, but they hesitated a moment, for the massivebody of the chief completely covered him. That moment savedhis life. Ere the savages could tear the chief’s bodyaway, seven of their number fell prostrate beneath the clubs ofthe prisoners whom Peterkin and I had set free, and two othersfell under our own hand. We could never have accomplishedthis had not our enemies been so engrossed with the fight betweenJack and their chief that they had failed to observe us until wewere upon them. They still out-numbered our party by three,but we were flushed with victory while they were taken bysurprise and dispirited by the fall of their chief.Moreover, they were awe-struck by the sweeping fury of Jack, whoseemed to have lost his senses altogether, and had no soonershaken himself free of the chief’s body than he rushed intothe midst of them, and in three blows equalized ournumbers. Peterkin and I flew to the rescue, the savagesfollowed us, and, in less than ten minutes, the whole of ouropponents were knocked down or made prisoners, bound hand andfoot, and extended side by side upon the sea shore.

CHAPTER XX.

Intercourse with the savages—Cannibalismprevented—The slain are buried and the survivors depart,leaving us again alone on our Coral Island.

After the battle was over, the savages crowded round us andgazed at us in surprise, while they continued to pour upon us aflood of questions, which, being wholly unintelligible, of coursewe could not answer. However, by way of putting an end toit, Jack took the chief (who had recovered from the effects ofhis wound) by the hand and shook it warmly. No sooner didthe blacks see that this was meant to express good-will than theyshook hands with us all round. After this ceremony was gonethrough Jack went up to the girl, who had never once moved fromthe rock where she had been left, but had continued an eagerspectator of all that had passed. He made signs to her tofollow him and then, taking the chief by the hand, was about toconduct him to the bower when his eye fell on the poor infantwhich had been thrown into the sea and was still lying on theshore. Dropping the chief’s hand he hastened towardsit, and, to his great joy, found it to be still alive. Wealso found that the mother was beginning to recover slowly.

“Here, get out o’ the way,” said Jack,pushing us aside, as we stooped over the poor woman andendeavoured to restore her, “I’ll soon bring herround.” So saying, he placed the infant on her bosomand laid its warm cheek on hers. The effect waswonderful. The woman opened her eyes, felt the child,looked at it, and with a cry of joy clasped it in her arms, atthe same time endeavouring to rise, for the purpose, apparently,of rushing into the woods.

“There, that’s all right,” said Jack, oncemore taking the chief by the hand. “Now Ralph andPeterkin, make the women and these fellows follow me to thebower. Well entertain them as hospitably as wecan.”

In a few minutes the savages were all seated on the ground infront of the bower making a hearty meal off a cold roast pig,several ducks, and a variety of cold fish, together with anunlimited supply of cocoa-nuts, bread-fruits, yams, taro, andplums; with all of which they seemed to be quite familiar andperfectly satisfied.

Meanwhile, we three being thoroughly knocked up with ourday’s work, took a good draught of cocoa-nut lemonade, andthrowing ourselves on our beds fell fast asleep. Thesavages it seems followed our example, and in half-an-hour thewhole camp was buried in repose.

How long we slept I cannot tell, but this I know, that when welay down the sun was setting and when we awoke it was high in theheavens. I awoke Jack, who started up in surprise, beingunable at first to comprehend our situation. “Now,then,” said he, springing up, “let’s see afterbreakfast. Hallo! Peterkin, lazy fellow, how long doyou mean to lie there?”

Peterkin yawned heavily. “Well!” said he,opening his eyes and looking up after some trouble, “if itisn’t to-morrow morning, and me thinking it was to-day allthis time. Hallo! Venus, where did you come from? youseem tolerably at home, any how. Bah! might as well speakto the cat as to you—better, in fact, for it understandsme, and you don’t.”

This remark was called forth by the sight of one of theelderly females, who had seated herself on the rock in front ofthe bower, and, having placed her child at her feet, was busilyengaged in devouring the remains of a roast pig.

By this time the natives outside were all astir, and breakfastin an advanced state of preparation. During the course ofit we made sundry attempts to converse with the natives by signs,but without effect. At last we hit upon a plan ofdiscovering their names. Jack pointed to his breast and said“Jack,” very distinctly; then he pointed to Peterkinand to me, repeating our names at the same time. Then hepointed to himself again, and said “Jack,” and layinghis finger on the breast of the chief, looked inquiringly intohis face. The chief instantly understood him and said“Tararo,” twice, distinctly. Jack repeated itafter him, and the chief, nodding his head approvingly, said“Chuck.” On hearing which, Peterkin explodedwith laughter; but Jack turned and with a frown rebuked him,saying, “I must look even more indignantly at you than Ifeel, Peterkin, you rascal, for these fellows don’t like tobe laughed at.” Then turning towards the youngest ofthe women, who was seated at the door of the bower, he pointed toher; whereupon the chief said, “Avatea;” and pointingtowards the sun, raised his finger slowly towards the zenith,where it remained steadily for a minute or two.

“What can that mean, I wonder,” said Jack, lookingpuzzled.

“Perhaps,” said Peterkin, “the chief meansshe is an angel come down to stay here for a while. If so,she’s an uncommonly black one!”

We did not feel quite satisfied with this explanation, so Jackwent up to her and said, “Avatea.” The womansmiled sadly, and nodded her head, at the same time pointing toher breast and then to the sun, in the same manner as the chiefhad done. We were much puzzled to know what this couldsignify, but as there was no way of solving our difficulty wewere obliged to rest content.

Jack now made signs to the natives to follow him, and, takingup his axe, he led them to the place where the battle had beenfought. Here we found the prisoners, who had passed thenight on the beach having been totally forgotten by us, as ourminds had been full of our guests, and were ultimately overcomeby sleep. They did not seem the worse for their exposure,however, as we judged by the hearty appetite with which theydevoured the breakfast that was soon after given to them.Jack then began to dig a hole in the sand, and, after working afew seconds, he pointed to it and to the dead bodies that layexposed on the beach. The natives immediately perceivedwhat he wanted, and, running for their paddles, dug a hole in thecourse of half an hour that was quite large enough to contain allthe bodies of the slain. When it was finished they tossedtheir dead enemies into it with so much indifference that we feltassured they would not have put themselves to this trouble had wenot asked them to do so. The body of the yellow-hairedchief was the last thrown in. This wretched man would haverecovered from the blow with which Jack felled him, and, indeed,he did endeavour to rise during the melee that followed his fall,but one of his enemies, happening to notice the action, dealt hima blow with his club that killed him on the spot.

While they were about to throw the sand over this chief, oneof the savages stooped over him, and with a knife, madeapparently of stone, cut a large slice of flesh from histhigh. We knew at once that he intended to make use of thisfor food, and could not repress a cry of horror and disgust.

“Come, come, you blackguard,” cried Jack, startingup and seizing the man by the arm, “pitch that into thehole. Do you hear?”

The savage of course did not understand the command, but heperfectly understood the look of disgust with which Jack regardedthe flesh, and his fierce gaze as he pointed towards thehole. Nevertheless he did not obey. Jack instantlyturned to Tararo and made signs to him to enforceobedience. The chief seemed to understand the appeal, forhe stepped forward, raised his club, and was on the point ofdashing out the brains of his offending subject, when Jack sprangforward and caught his uplifted arm.

“Stop!” he shouted, “you blockhead, Idon’t want you to kill the man.” He thenpointed again to the flesh and to the hole. The chiefuttered a few words, which had the desired effect; for the manthrew the flesh into the hole, which was immediately filledup. This man was of a morose, sulky disposition, and,during all the time he remained on the island, regarded us,especially Jack, with a scowling visage. His name, wefound, was Mahine.

The next three or four days were spent by the savages inmending their canoe, which had been damaged by the violent shockit had sustained on striking the shore. This canoe was avery curious structure. It was about thirty feet long, andhad a high towering stern. The timbers, of which it waspartly composed, were fastened much in the same way as those ofour little boat were put together; but the part that seemed mostcurious to us was a sort of out-rigger, or long plank, which wasattached to the body of the canoe by means of two stout crossbeams. These beams kept the plank parallel with the canoe,but not in contact with it, for it floated in the water with anopen space between; thus forming a sort of double canoe.This we found was intended to prevent the upsetting of the canoe,which was so narrow that it could not have maintained an uprightposition without the out-rigger. We could not helpwondering both at the ingenuity and the clumsiness of thiscontrivance.

When the canoe was ready, we assisted the natives to carry theprisoners into it, and helped them to load it with provisions andfruit. Peterkin also went to the plum-tree for the purposeof making a special onslaught upon the hogs, and killed no lessthan six of them. These we baked and presented to ourfriends on the day of their departure. On that day Tararomade a great many energetic signs to us, which, after muchconsideration, we came to understand were proposals that weshould go away with him to his island; but, having no desire todo so, we shook our heads very decidedly. However, weconsoled him by presenting him with our rusty axe, which wethought we could spare, having the excellent one which had beenso providentially washed ashore to us the day we werewrecked. We also gave him a piece of wood with our namescarved on it, and a piece of string to hang it round his neck asan ornament.

In a few minutes more we were all assembled on thebeach. Being unable to speak to the savages, we wentthrough the ceremony of shaking hands, and expected they woulddepart; but, before doing so, Tararo went up to Jack and rubbednoses with him, after which he did the same with Peterkin andme! Seeing that this was their mode of salutation, wedetermined to conform to their custom, so we rubbed nosesheartily with the whole party, women and all! The onlydisagreeable part of the process was, when we came to rub noseswith Mahine, and Peterkin afterwards said, that when he saw hiswolfish eyes glaring so close to his face, he felt much moreinclined to bangthan to rubhis nose. Avateawas the last to take leave of us, and we experienced a feeling ofreal sorrow when she approached to bid us farewell. Besidesher modest air and gentle manners she was the only one of theparty who exhibited the smallest sign of regret at parting fromus. Going up to Jack, she put out her flat little nose tobe rubbed, and thereafter paid the same compliment to Peterkinand me.

An hour later the canoe was out of sight, and we, with anindefinable feeling of sadness creeping round our hearts, wereseated in silence beneath the shadow of our bower, meditating onthe wonderful events of the last few days.

CHAPTER XXI.

Sagacious and moral remarks in regard to life—Asail!—An unexpected salute—The end of the blackcat—A terrible dive—An incautious proceeding and afrightful catastrophe.

Life is a strange compound. Peterkin used to say of it,that it beat a druggist’s shop all to sticks; for, whereasthe first is a compound of good and bad, the other is a horriblecompound of all that is utterly detestable. And indeed themore I consider it the more I am struck with the strange mixtureof good and evil that exists not only in the material earth butin our own natures. In our own Coral Island we hadexperienced every variety of good that a bountiful Creator couldheap on us. Yet on the night of the storm we had seen howalmost, in our case,—and altogether, no doubt, in the caseof others less fortunate—all this good might be swept awayfor ever. We had seen the rich fruit-trees waving in thesoft air, the tender herbs shooting upwards under the benigninfluence of the bright sun; and, the next day, we had seen thesegood and beautiful trees and plants uprooted by the hurricane,crushed and hurled to the ground in destructivedevastation. We had lived for many months in a clime forthe most part so beautiful, that we had often wondered whetherAdam and Eve had found Eden more sweet; and we had seen the quietsolitudes of our paradise suddenly broken in upon by ferocioussavages, and the white sands stained with blood and strewed withlifeless forms; yet, among these cannibals, we had seen manysymptoms of a kindly nature. I pondered these things much,and, while I considered them, there recurred to my memory thosewords which I had read in my Bible,—the works of God arewonderful, and his ways past finding out.

After these poor savages had left us, we used to hold long andfrequent conversations about them, and I noticed thatPeterkin’s manner was now much altered. He did not,indeed, jest less heartily than before, but he did so lessfrequently, and often there was a tone of deep seriousness in hismanner, if not in his words, which made him seem to Jack and meas if he had grown two years older within a few days. Butindeed I was not surprised at this, when I reflected on the awfulrealities which we had witnessed so lately. We could by nomeans shake off a tendency to gloom for several weeks afterwards;but, as time wore away, our usual good spirits returned somewhat,and we began to think of the visit of the savages with feelingsakin to those with which we recall a terrible dream.

One day we were all enjoying ourselves in the Water Garden,preparatory to going on a fishing excursion; for Peterkin hadkept us in such constant supply of hogs that we had become quitetired of pork, and desired a change. Peterkin was sunninghimself on the ledge of rock, while we were creeping among therocks below. Happening to look up, I observed Peterkincutting the most extraordinary capers and making violentgesticulations for us to come up; so I gave Jack a push, and roseimmediately.

“A sail! a sail! Ralph, look! Jack, away onthe horizon there, just over the entrance to the lagoon!”cried Peterkin, as we scrambled up the rocks.

“So it is, and a schooner, too!” said Jack, as heproceeded hastily to dress.

Our hearts were thrown into a terrible flutter by thisdiscovery, for if it should touch at our island we had no doubtthe captain would be happy to give us a passage to some of thecivilized islands, where we could find a ship sailing forEngland, or some other part of Europe. Home, with all itsassociations, rushed in upon my heart like a flood, and, muchthough I loved the Coral Island and the bower which had now beenour home so long, I felt that I could have quitted all at thatmoment without a sigh. With joyful anticipations wehastened to the highest point of rock near our dwelling, andawaited the arrival of the vessel, for we now perceived that shewas making straight for the island, under a steady breeze.

In less than an hour she was close to the reef, where sherounded to, and backed her topsails in order to survey thecoast. Seeing this, and fearing that they might notperceive us, we all three waved pieces of cocoa-nut cloth in theair, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing them beginning tolower a boat and bustle about the decks as if they meant toland. Suddenly a flag was run up to the peak, a littlecloud of white smoke rose from the schooner’s side, and,before we could guess their intentions, a cannon-shot camecrashing through the bushes, carried away several cocoa-nut treesin its passage, and burst in atoms against the cliff a few yardsbelow the spot on which we stood.

With feelings of terror we now observed that the flag at theschooner’s peak was black, with a Death’s head andcross bones upon it. As we gazed at each other in blankamazement, the word “pirate” escaped our lipssimultaneously.

“What is to be done?” cried Peterkin, as weobserved a boat shoot from the vessel’s side, and make forthe entrance of the reef. “If they take us off theisland, it will either be to throw us overboard for sport, or tomake pirates of us.”

I did not reply, but looked at Jack, as being our onlyresource in this emergency. He stood with folded arms, andhis eyes fixed with a grave, anxious expression on theground. “There is but one hope,” said he,turning with a sad expression of countenance to Peterkin;“perhaps, after all, we may not have to resort to it.If these villains are anxious to take us, they will soon overrunthe whole island. But come, follow me.”

Stopping abruptly in his speech, Jack bounded into the woods,and led us by a circuitous route to Spouting Cliff. Here hehalted, and, advancing cautiously to the rocks, glanced overtheir edge. We were soon by his side, and saw the boat,which was crowded with armed men, just touching the shore.In an instant the crew landed, formed line, and rushed up to ourbower.

In a few seconds we saw them hurrying back to the boat, one ofthem swinging the poor cat round his head by the tail. Onreaching the water’s edge, he tossed it far into the sea,and joined his companions, who appeared to be holding a hastycouncil.

“You see what we may expect,” said Jackbitterly. “The man who will wantonly kill a poorbrute for sport will think little of murdering afellow-creature. Now, boys, we have but one chanceleft,—the Diamond Cave.”

“The Diamond Cave!” cried Peterkin, “then mychance is a poor one, for I could not dive into it if all thepirates on the Pacific were at my heels.”

“Nay, but,” said I, “we will take you down,Peterkin, if you will only trust us.”

As I spoke, we observed the pirates scatter over the beach,and radiate, as if from a centre, towards the woods and alongshore.

“Now, Peterkin,” said Jack, in a solemn tone,“you must make up your mind to do it, or we must make upour minds to die in your company.”

“Oh, Jack, my dear friend,” cried Peterkin,turning pale, “leave me; I don’t believethey’ll think it worth while to kill me. Go, you andRalph, and dive into the cave.”

“That will not I,” answered Jack quietly, while hepicked up a stout cudgel from the ground. “So now,Ralph, we must prepare to meet these fellows. Their mottois, ‘No quarter.’ If we can manage to floorthose coming in this direction, we may escape into the woods fora while.”

“There are five of them,” said I; “we haveno chance.”

“Come, then,” cried Peterkin, starting up, andgrasping Jack convulsively by the arm, “let us dive; I willgo.”

Those who are not naturally expert in the water know well thefeelings of horror that overwhelm them, when in it, at the bareidea of being held down, even for a few seconds,—thatspasmodic, involuntary recoil from compulsory immersion which hasno connection whatever with cowardice; and they will understandthe amount of resolution that it required in Peterkin to allowhimself to be dragged down to a depth of ten feet, and then,through a narrow tunnel, into an almost pitch-dark cavern.But there was no alternative. The pirates had alreadycaught sight of us, and were now within a short distance of therocks.

Jack and I seized Peterkin by the arms.

“Now, keep quite still, no struggling,” said Jack,“or we are lost.”

Peterkin made no reply, but the stern gravity of his marblefeatures, and the tension of his muscles, satisfied us that hehad fully made up his mind to go through with it. Just asthe pirates gained the foot of the rocks, which hid us for amoment from their view, we bent over the sea, and plunged downtogether head foremost. Peterkin behaved like a hero.He floated passively between us like a log of wood, and we passedthe tunnel and rose into the cave in a shorter space of time thanI had ever done it before.

Peterkin drew a long, deep breath on reaching the surface; andin a few seconds we were all standing on the ledge of rock insafety. Jack now searched for the tinder and torch, whichalways lay in the cave. He soon found them, and, lightingthe torch, revealed to Peterkin’s wondering gaze themarvels of the place. But we were too wet to waste muchtime in looking about us. Our first care was to take offour clothes, and wring them as dry as we could. This done,we proceeded to examine into the state of our larder, for, asJack truly remarked, there was no knowing how long the piratesmight remain on the island.

“Perhaps,” said Peterkin, “they may take itinto their heads to stop here altogether, and so we shall beburied alive in this place.”

“Don’t you think, Peterkin, that it’s thenearest thing to being drowned alive that you ever felt?”said Jack with a smile. “But I’ve no fear ofthat. These villains never stay long on shore. Thesea is their home, so you may depend upon it that theywon’t stay more than a day or two at thefurthest.”

We now began to make arrangements for spending the night inthe cavern. At various periods Jack and I had conveyedcocoa nuts and other fruits, besides rolls of cocoa-nut cloth, tothis submarine cave, partly for amusement, and partly from afeeling that we might possibly be driven one day to take shelterhere from the savages. Little did we imagine that the firstsavages who would drive us into it would be white savages,perhaps our own countrymen. We found the cocoa-nuts in goodcondition, and the cooked yams, but the bread-fruits werespoiled. We also found the cloth where we had left it; and,on opening it out, there proved to be sufficient to make a bed;which was important, as the rock was damp. Having collectedit all together, we spread out our bed, placed our torch in themidst of us, and ate our supper. It was indeed a strangechamber to feast in; and we could not help remarking on the cold,ghastly appearance of the walls, and the black water at our side,with the thick darkness beyond, and the sullen sound of the dropsthat fell at long intervals from the roof of the cavern into thestill water; and the strong contrast between all this and our bedand supper, which, with our faces, were lit up with the deep redflame of the torch.

We sat long over our meal, talking together in subdued voices,for we did not like the dismal echoes that rang through the vaultabove when we happened to raise them. At last the faintlight that came through the opening died away, warning us that itwas night and time for rest. We therefore put out our torchand lay down to sleep.

On awaking, it was some time ere we could collect ourfaculties so as to remember where we were, and we were in muchuncertainty as to whether it was early or late. We saw bythe faint light that it was day, but could not guess at the hour;so Jack proposed that he should dive out and reconnoitre.

“No, Jack,” said I, “do you rest here.You’ve had enough to do during the last few days.Rest yourself now, and take care of Peterkin, while I go out tosee what the pirates are about. I’ll be very carefulnot to expose myself, and I’ll bring you word again in ashort time.”

“Very well, Ralph,” answered Jack, “pleaseyourself, but don’t be long; and if you’ll take myadvice you’ll go in your clothes, for I would like to havesome fresh cocoa nuts, and climbing trees without clothes isuncomfortable, to say the least of it.”

“The pirates will be sure to keep a sharplookout,” said Peterkin, “so, pray, becareful.”

“No fear,” said I; “good-bye.”

“Good-bye,” answered my comrades.

And while the words were yet sounding in my ears, I plungedinto the water, and in a few seconds found myself in the openair. On rising, I was careful to come up gently and tobreathe softly, while I kept close in beside the rocks; but, as Iobserved no one near me, I crept slowly out, and ascended thecliff a step at a time, till I obtained a full view of theshore. No pirates were to be seen,—even their boatwas gone; but as it was possible they might have hiddenthemselves, I did not venture too boldly forward. Then itoccurred to me to look out to sea, when, to my surprise, I sawthe pirate schooner sailing away almost hull-down on thehorizon! On seeing this I uttered a shout of joy.Then my first impulse was to dive back to tell my companions thegood news; but I checked myself, and ran to the top of the cliff,in order to make sure that the vessel I saw was indeed the pirateschooner. I looked long and anxiously at her, and, givingvent to a deep sigh of relief, said aloud, “Yes, there shegoes; the villains have been baulked of their prey this time atleast.”

“Not so sure of that!” said a deep voice at myside; while, at the same moment, a heavy hand grasped myshoulder, and held it as if in a vice.

CHAPTER XXII.

I fall into the hands of pirates—How they treated me,and what I said to them—The result of the whole ending in amelancholy separation and in a most unexpected gift.

My heart seemed to leap into my throat at the words; and,turning round, I beheld a man of immense stature, and fierceaspect regarding me with a smile of contempt. He was awhite man,—that is to say, he was a man of European blood,though his face, from long exposure to the weather, was deeplybronzed. His dress was that of a common seaman, except thathe had on a Greek skull-cap, and wore a broad shawl of therichest silk round his waist. In this shawl were placed twopair of pistols and a heavy cutlass. He wore a beard andmoustache, which, like the locks on his head, were short, curly,and sprinkled with gray hairs.

“So, youngster,” he said, with a sardonic smile,while I felt his grasp tighten on my shoulder, “thevillains have been baulked of their prey, have they? Weshall see, we shall see. Now, you whelp, lookyonder.” As he spoke, the pirate uttered a shrillwhistle. In a second or two it was answered, and thepirate-boat rowed round the point at the Water Garden, and camerapidly towards us. “Now, go, make a fire on thatpoint; and hark’ee, youngster, if you try to run away,I’ll send a quick and sure messenger after you,” andhe pointed significantly at his pistols.

I obeyed in silence, and as I happened to have theburning-glass in my pocket, a fire was speedily kindled, and athick smoke ascended into the air. It had scarcely appearedfor two minutes when the boom of a gun rolled over the sea, and,looking up, I saw that the schooner was making for the islandagain. It now flashed across me that this was a ruse on thepart of the pirates, and that they had sent their vessel away,knowing that it would lead us to suppose that they had leftaltogether. But there was no use of regret now. I wascompletely in their power, so I stood helplessly beside thepirate watching the crew of the boat as they landed on thebeach. For an instant I contemplated rushing over the cliffinto the sea, but this I saw I could not now accomplish, as someof the men were already between me and the water.

There was a good deal of jesting at the success of theirscheme, as the crew ascended the rocks and addressed the man whohad captured me by the title of captain. They were aferocious set of men, with shaggy beards and scowlingbrows. All of them were armed with cutlasses and pistols,and their costumes were, with trifling variations, similar tothat of the captain. As I looked from one to the other, andobserved the low, scowling brows, that never unbent, even whenthe men laughed, and the mean, rascally expression that sat oneach face, I felt that my life hung by a hair.

“But where are the other cubs?” cried one of themen, with an oath that made me shudder. “I’llswear to it there were three, at least, if not more.”

“You hear what he says, whelp; where are the otherdogs?” said the captain.

“If you mean my companions,” said I, in a lowvoice, “I won’t tell you.”

A loud laugh burst from the crew at this answer.

The pirate captain looked at me in surprise. Thendrawing a pistol from his belt, he cocked it and said,“Now, youngster, listen to me. I’ve no time towaste here. If you don’t tell me all you know,I’ll blow your brains out! Where are yourcomrades?”

For an instant I hesitated, not knowing what to do in thisextremity. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

“Villain,” said I, shaking my clenched fist in hisface, “to blow my brains out would make short work of me,and be soon over. Death by drowning is as sure, and theagony prolonged, yet, I tell you to your face, if you were totoss me over yonder cliff into the sea, I would not tell youwhere my companions are, and I dare you to try me!”

The pirate captain grew white with rage as I spoke.“Say you so?” cried he, uttering a fierce oath.“Here, lads, take him by the legs and heave himin,—quick!”

The men, who were utterly silenced with surprise at myaudacity, advanced, and seized me, and, as they carried metowards the cliff, I congratulated myself not a little on thesuccess of my scheme, for I knew that once in the water I shouldbe safe, and could rejoin Jack and Peterkin in the cave.But my hopes were suddenly blasted by the captain crying out,“Hold on, lads, hold on. We’ll give him a tasteof the thumb-screws before throwing him to the sharks. Awaywith him into the boat. Look alive! the breeze isfreshening.”

The men instantly raised me shoulder high, and, hurrying downthe rocks, tossed me into the bottom of the boat, where I lay forsome time stunned with the violence of my fall.

On recovering sufficiently to raise myself on my elbow, Iperceived that we were already outside the coral reef, and closealongside the schooner, which was of small size and clipperbuilt. I had only time to observe this much, when Ireceived a severe kick on the side from one of the men, whoordered me, in a rough voice, to jump aboard. Risinghastily I clambered up the side. In a few minutes the boatwas hoisted on deck, the vessel’s head put close to thewind, and the Coral Island dropped slowly astern as we beat upagainst a head sea.

Immediately after coming aboard, the crew were too busilyengaged in working the ship and getting in the boat to attend tome, so I remained leaning against the bulwarks close to thegangway, watching their operations. I was surprised to findthat there were no guns or carronades of any kind in the vessel,which had more of the appearance of a fast-sailing trader than apirate. But I was struck with the neatness ofeverything. The brass work of the binnacle and about thetiller, as well as the copper belaying-pins, were as brightlypolished as if they had just come from the foundry. Thedecks were pure white, and smooth. The masts wereclean-scraped and varnished, except at the cross-trees and truck,which were painted black. The standing and running riggingwas in the most perfect order, and the sails white as snow.In short, everything, from the single narrow red stripe on herlow black hull to the trucks on her tapering masts, evinced anamount of care and strict discipline that would have done creditto a ship of the Royal Navy. There was nothing lumbering orunseemly about the vessel, excepting, perhaps, a boat, which layon the deck with its keel up between the fore and mainmasts. It seemed disproportionately large for the schooner;but, when I saw that the crew amounted to between thirty andforty men, I concluded that this boat was held in reserve, incase of any accident compelling the crew to desert thevessel.

As I have before said, the costumes of the men were similar tothat of the captain. But in head gear they differed notonly from him but from each other, some wearing the ordinarystraw hat of the merchant service, while others wore cloth capsand red worsted night-caps. I observed that all their armswere sent below; the captain only retaining his cutlass and asingle pistol in the folds of his shawl. Although thecaptain was the tallest and most powerful man in the ship, he didnot strikingly excel many of his men in this respect, and theonly difference that an ordinary observer would have noticed was,a certain degree of open candour, straightforward daring, in thebold, ferocious expression of his face, which rendered him lessrepulsive than his low-browed associates, but did not by anymeans induce the belief that he was a hero. This look was,however, the indication of that spirit which gave him thepre-eminence among the crew of desperadoes who called himcaptain. He was a lion-like villain; totally devoid ofpersonal fear, and utterly reckless of consequences, and,therefore, a terror to his men, who individually hated him, butunitedly felt it to be their advantage to have him at theirhead.

But my thoughts soon reverted to the dear companions whom Ihad left on shore, and as I turned towards the Coral Island,which was now far away to leeward, I sighed deeply, and the tearsrolled slowly down my cheeks as I thought that I might never seethem more.

“So you’re blubbering, are you, you obstinatewhelp?” said the deep voice of the captain, as he came upand gave me a box on the ear that nearly felled me to thedeck. “I don’t allow any such weakness aboardo’ this ship. So clap a stopper on your eyes orI’ll give you something to cry for.”

I flushed with indignation at this rough and cruel treatment,but felt that giving way to anger would only make matters worse,so I made no reply, but took out my handkerchief and dried myeyes.

“I thought you were made of better stuff,”continued the captain, angrily; “I’d rather have amad bull-dog aboard than a water-eyed puppy. But I’llcure you, lad, or introduce you to the sharks before long.Now go below, and stay there till I call you.”

As I walked forward to obey, my eye fell on a small kegstanding by the side of the main-mast, on which the wordgunpowderwas written in pencil. It immediatelyflashed across me that, as we were beating up against the wind,anything floating in the sea would be driven on the reefencircling the Coral Island. I also recollected—forthought is more rapid than the lightning—that my oldcompanions had a pistol. Without a moment’shesitation, therefore, I lifted the keg from the deck and tossedit into the sea! An exclamation of surprise burst from thecaptain and some of the men who witnessed this act of mine.

Striding up to me, and uttering fearful imprecations, thecaptain raised his hand to strike me, while he shouted,“Boy! whelp! what mean you by that?”

“If you lower your hand,” said I, in a loud voice,while I felt the blood rush to my temples, “I’ll tellyou. Until you do so I’m dumb!”

The captain stepped back and regarded me with a look ofamazement.

“Now,” continued I, “I threw that keg intothe sea because the wind and waves will carry it to my friends onthe Coral Island, who happen to have a pistol, but nopowder. I hope that it will reach them soon, and my onlyregret is that the keg was not a bigger one. Moreover,pirate, you said just now that you thought I was made of betterstuff! I don’t know what stuff I am made of,—Inever thought much about that subject; but I’m quitecertain of this, that I am made of such stuff as the like of youshall never tame, though you should do your worst.”

To my surprise the captain, instead of flying into a rage,smiled, and, thrusting his hand into the voluminous shawl thatencircled his waist, turned on his heel and walked aft, while Iwent below.

Here, instead of being rudely handled, as I had expected, themen received me with a shout of laughter, and one of them,patting me on the back, said, “Well done, lad! you’rea brick, and I have no doubt will turn out a rare cove.Bloody Bill, there, was just such a fellow as you are, andhe’s now the biggest cut-throat of us all.”

“Take a can of beer, lad,” cried another,“and wet your whistle after that speech o’your’n to the captain. If any one o’ us hadmade it, youngster, he would have had no whistle to wet by thistime.”

“Stop your clapper, Jack,” vociferated a third;“give the boy a junck o’ meat. Don’t yousee he’s a’most goin’ to kick thebucket?”

“And no wonder,” said the first speaker, with anoath, “after the tumble you gave him into the boat. Iguess it would have broke yourneck if you had gotit.”

I did indeed feel somewhat faint; which was owing, doubtless,to the combined effects of ill-usage and hunger; for it will berecollected that I had dived out of the cave that morning beforebreakfast, and it was now near mid-day. I therefore gladlyaccepted a plate of boiled pork and a yam, which were handed tome by one of the men from the locker on which some of the crewwere seated eating their dinner. But I must add that thezest with which I ate my meal was much abated in consequence ofthe frightful oaths and the terrible language that flowed fromthe lips of these godless men, even in the midst of theirhilarity and good-humour. The man who had been alluded toas Bloody Bill was seated near me, and I could not help wonderingat the moody silence he maintained among his comrades. Hedid indeed reply to their questions in a careless, off-hand tone,but he never volunteered a remark. The only differencebetween him and the others was his taciturnity and his size, forhe was nearly, if not quite, as large a man as the captain.

During the remainder of the afternoon I was left to my ownreflections, which were anything but agreeable, for I could notbanish from my mind the threat about the thumb-screws, of thenature and use of which I had a vague but terribleconception. I was still meditating on my unhappy fate when,just after night-fall, one of the watch on deck called down thehatchway,—

“Hallo there! one o’ you, tumble up and light thecabin lamp, and send that boy aft to thecaptain—sharp!”

“Now then, do you hear, youngster? the captain wantsyou. Look alive,” said Bloody Bill, raising his hugeframe from the locker on which he had been asleep for the lasttwo hours. He sprang up the ladder and I instantly followedhim, and, going aft, was shown into the cabin by one of the men,who closed the door after me.

A small silver lamp which hung from a beam threw a dim softlight over the cabin, which was a small apartment, andcomfortably but plainly finished. Seated on a camp-stool atthe table, and busily engaged in examining a chart of thePacific, was the captain, who looked up as I entered, and, in aquiet voice, bade me be seated, while he threw down his pencil,and, rising from the table, stretched himself on a sofa at theupper end of the cabin.

“Boy,” said he, looking me full in the face,“what is your name?”

“Ralph Rover,” I replied.

“Where did you come from, and how came you to be on thatisland? How many companions had you on it? Answer me,now, and mind you tell no lies.”

“I never tell lies,” said I, firmly.

The captain received this reply with a cold sarcastic smile,and bade me answer his questions.

I then told him the history of myself and my companions fromthe time we sailed till the day of his visit to the island,taking care, however, to make no mention of the DiamondCave. After I had concluded, he was silent for a fewminutes; then, looking up, he said—“Boy, I believeyou.”

I was surprised at this remark, for I could not imagine why heshould not believe me. However, I made no reply.

“And what,” continued the captain, “makesyou think that this schooner is a pirate?”

“The black flag,” said I, “showed me whatyou are; and if any further proof were wanting I have had it inthe brutal treatment I have received at your hands.”

The captain frowned as I spoke, but subduing his anger hecontinued—“Boy, you are too bold. I admit thatwe treated you roughly, but that was because you made us losetime and gave us a good deal of trouble. As to the blackflag, that is merely a joke that my fellows play off upon peoplesometimes in order to frighten them. It is their humour,and does no harm. I am no pirate, boy, but a lawfultrader,—a rough one, I grant you, but one can’t helpthat in these seas, where there are so many pirates on the waterand such murderous blackguards on the land. I carry on atrade in sandal-wood with the Feejee Islands; and if you choose,Ralph, to behave yourself and be a good boy, I’ll take youalong with me and give you a good share of the profits. Yousee I’m in want of an honest boy like you, to look afterthe cabin and keep the log, and superintend the traffic on shoresometimes. What say you, Ralph, would you like to become asandal-wood trader?”

I was much surprised by this explanation, and a good dealrelieved to find that the vessel, after all, was not a pirate;but instead of replying I said, “If it be as you state,then why did you take me from my island, and why do you not nowtake me back?”

The captain smiled as he replied, “I took you off inanger, boy, and I’m sorry for it. I would even nowtake you back, but we are too far away from it. See, thereit is,” he added, laying his finger on the chart,“and we are now here,—fifty miles at least. Itwould not be fair to my men to put about now, for they have allan interest in the trade.”

I could make no reply to this; so, after a little moreconversation, I agreed to become one of the crew, at least untilwe could reach some civilized island where I might be putashore. The captain assented to this proposition, and afterthanking him for the promise, I left the cabin and went on deckwith feelings that ought to have been lighter, but which were, Icould not tell why, marvellously heavy and uncomfortablestill.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Bloody Bill—Dark surmises—A strange sail, and astrange crew, and a still stranger cargo—New reasons forfavouring missionaries—A murderous massacre, and thoughtsthereon.

Three weeks after the conversation narrated in the lastchapter, I was standing on the quarter-deck of the schoonerwatching the gambols of a shoal of porpoises that swam roundus. It was a dead calm. One of those still, hot,sweltering days, so common in the Pacific, when Nature seems tohave gone to sleep, and the only thing in water or in air thatproves her still alive, is her long, deep breathing, in the swellof the mighty sea. No cloud floated in the deep blue above;no ripple broke the reflected blue below. The sun shonefiercely in the sky, and a ball of fire blazed, with almost equalpower, from out the bosom of the water. So intensely stillwas it, and so perfectly transparent was the surface of the deep,that had it not been for the long swell already alluded to, wemight have believed the surrounding universe to be a huge blueliquid ball, and our little ship the one solitary material speckin all creation, floating in the midst of it.

No sound broke on our ears save the soft puff now and then ofa porpoise, the slow creak of the masts, as we swayed gently onthe swell, the patter of the reef-points, and the occasional flapof the hanging sails. An awning covered the fore and afterparts of the schooner, under which the men composing the watch ondeck lolled in sleepy indolence, overcome with excessiveheat. Bloody Bill, as the men invariably called him, wasstanding at the tiller, but his post for the present was asinecure, and he whiled away the time by alternately gazing indreamy abstraction at the compass in the binnacle, and by walkingto the taffrail in order to spit into the sea. In one ofthese turns he came near to where I was standing, and, leaningover the side, looked long and earnestly down into the bluewave.

This man, although he was always taciturn and often surly, wasthe only human being on board with whom I had the slightestdesire to become better acquainted. The other men, seeingthat I did not relish their company, and knowing that I was aprotege of the captain, treated me with total indifference.Bloody Bill, it is true, did the same; but as this was hisconduct towards every one else, it was not peculiar in referenceto me. Once or twice I tried to draw him into conversation,but he always turned away after a few cold monosyllables.As he now leaned over the taffrail close beside me, I said tohim,—

“Bill, why is it that you are so gloomy? Why doyou never speak to any one?”

Bill smiled slightly as he replied, “Why, I s’poseit’s because I haint got nothin’ to say!”

“That’s strange,” said I, musingly;“you look like a man that could think, and such men canusually speak.”

“So they can, youngster,” rejoined Bill, somewhatsternly; “and I could speak too if I had a mind to, butwhat’s the use o’ speakin’ here! The menonly open their mouths to curse and swear, an’ they seem tofind it entertaining; but I don’t, so I hold mytongue.”

“Well, Bill, that’s true, and I would rather nothear you speak at all than hear you speak like the other men; butIdon’t swear, Bill, so you might talk to mesometimes, I think. Besides, I’m weary of spendingday after day in this way, without a single soul to say apleasant word to. I’ve been used to friendlyconversation, Bill, and I really would take it kind if you wouldtalk with me a little now and then.”

Bill looked at me in surprise, and I thought I observed a sadexpression pass across his sun-burnt face.

“An’ where have you been used to friendlyconversation,” said Bill, looking down again into the sea;“not on that Coral Island, I take it?”

“Yes, indeed,” said I energetically; “I havespent many of the happiest months in my life on that CoralIsland;” and without waiting to be further questioned, Ilaunched out into a glowing account of the happy life that Jackand Peterkin and I had spent together, and related minutely everycircumstance that befell us while on the island.

“Boy, boy,” said Bill, in a voice so deep that itstartled me, “this is no place for you.”

“That’s true,” said I; “I’m oflittle use on board, and I don’t like my comrades; but Ican’t help it, and at anyrate I hope to be free againsoon.”

“Free?” said Bill, looking at me in surprise.

“Yes, free,” returned I; “the captain saidhe would put me ashore after this trip was over.”

“This trip! Hark’ee, boy,” saidBill, lowering his voice, “what said the captain to you theday you came aboard?”

“He said that he was a trader in sandal-wood and nopirate, and told me that if I would join him for this trip hewould give me a good share of the profits or put me on shore insome civilized island if I chose.”

Bill’s brows lowered savagely as he muttered, “Ay,he said truth when he told you he was a sandal-wood trader, buthe lied when—”

“Sail ho!” shouted the look-out at themasthead.

“Where, away?” cried Bill, springing to thetiller; while the men, startled by the sudden cry jumped up andgazed round the horizon.

“On the starboard quarter, hull down, sir,”answered the look-out.

At this moment the captain came on deck, and mounting into therigging, surveyed the sail through the glass. Then sweepinghis eye round the horizon he gazed steadily at a particularpoint.

“Take in top-sails,” shouted the captain, swinginghimself down on the deck by the main-back stay.

“Take in top-sails,” roared the first mate.

“Ay, ay, sir-r-r,” answered the men as they spranginto the rigging and went aloft like cats.

Instantly all was bustle on board the hitherto quietschooner. The top-sails were taken in and stowed, the menstood by the sheets and halyards, and the captain gazed anxiouslyat the breeze which was now rushing towards us like a sheet ofdark blue. In a few seconds it struck us. Theschooner trembled as if in surprise at the sudden onset, whileshe fell away, then bending gracefully to the wind, as though inacknowledgment of her subjection, she cut through the waves withher sharp prow like a dolphin, while Bill directed her coursetowards the strange sail.

In half an hour we neared her sufficiently to make out thatshe was a schooner, and, from the clumsy appearance of her mastsand sails we judged her to be a trader. She evidently didnot like our appearance, for, the instant the breeze reached her,she crowded all sail and showed us her stern. As the breezehad moderated a little our top-sails were again shaken out, andit soon became evident,—despite the proverb, “A sternchase is a long one,” that we doubled her speed and wouldoverhaul her speedily. When within a mile we hoistedBritish colours, but receiving no acknowledgment, the captainordered a shot to be fired across her bows. In a moment, tomy surprise, a large portion of the bottom of the boat amidshipswas removed, and in the hole thus exposed appeared an immensebrass gun. It worked on a swivel and was elevated by meansof machinery. It was quickly loaded and fired. Theheavy ball struck the water a few yards ahead of the chase, and,ricochetting into the air, plunged into the sea a mile beyondit.

This produced the desired effect. The strange vesselbacked her top-sails and hove-to, while we ranged up and lay-to,about a hundred yards off.

“Lower the boat,” cried the captain.

In a second the boat was lowered and manned by a part of thecrew, who were all armed with cutlasses and pistols. As thecaptain passed me to get into it, he said, “jump into thestern sheets, Ralph, I may want you.” I obeyed, andin ten minutes more we were standing on the stranger’sdeck. We were all much surprised at the sight that met oureyes. Instead of a crew of such sailors as we wereaccustomed to see, there were only fifteen blacks standing on thequarter-deck and regarding us with looks of undisguisedalarm. They were totally unarmed and most of themunclothed; one or two, however, wore portions of Europeanattire. One had on a pair of duck trousers which were muchtoo large for him and stuck out in a most ungainly manner.Another wore nothing but the common scanty native garment roundthe loins, and a black beaver hat. But the most ludicrouspersonage of all, and one who seemed to be chief, was a tallmiddle-aged man, of a mild, simple expression of countenance, whowore a white cotton shirt, a swallow-tailed coat, and a strawhat, while his black brawny legs were totally uncovered below theknees.

“Where’s the commander of this ship?”inquired our captain, stepping up to this individual.

“I is capin,” he answered, taking off his strawhat and making a low bow.

“You!” said our captain, in surprise.“Where do you come from, and where are you bound?What cargo have you aboard?”

“We is come,” answered the man with theswallow-tail, “from Aitutaki; we was go forRarotonga. We is native miss’nary ship; our name isde Olive Branch; an’ our cargo is two tonscocoa-nuts, seventy pigs, twenty cats, and deGosp’l.”

This announcement was received by the crew of our vessel witha shout of laughter, which, however, was peremptorily checked bythe captain, whose expression instantly changed from one ofseverity to that of frank urbanity as he advanced towards themissionary and shook him warmly by the hand.

“I am very glad to have fallen in with you,” saidhe, “and I wish you much success in your missionarylabours. Pray take me to your cabin, as I wish to conversewith you privately.”

The missionary immediately took him by the hand, and as he ledhim away I heard him saying, “Me most glad to find youtrader; we t’ought you be pirate. You very like one’bout the masts.”

What conversation the captain had with this man I never heard,but he came on deck again in a quarter of an hour, and, shakinghands cordially with the missionary, ordered us into our boat andreturned to the schooner, which was immediately put before thewind. In a few minutes the Olive Branchwas left farbehind us.

That afternoon, as I was down below at dinner, I heard the mentalking about this curious ship.

“I wonder,” said one, “why our captainlooked so sweet on yon swallow-tailed super-cargo o’ pigsand Gospels. If it had been an ordinary trader, now, hewould have taken as many o’ the pigs as he required andsent the ship with all on board to the bottom.”

“Why, Dick, you must be new to these seas if youdon’t know that,” cried another. “Thecaptain cares as much for the gospel as you do (an’that’s precious little), but he knows, and everybody knows,that the only place among the southern islands where a ship canput in and get what she wants in comfort, is where the gospel hasbeen sent to. There are hundreds o’ islands, at thisblessed moment, where you might as well jump straight into ashark’s maw as land without a band o’ thirty comradesarmed to the teeth to back you.”

“Ay,” said a man with a deep scar over his righteye, “Dick’s new to the work. But if thecaptain takes us for a cargo o’ sandal-wood to the Feejeeshe’ll get a taste o’ these black gentry in theirnative condition. For my part I don’t know, an’I don’t care, what the gospel does to them; but I know thatwhen any o’ the islands chance to get it, trade goes allsmooth an’ easy; but where they ha’nt got it,Beelzebub himself could hardly desire better company.”

“Well, you ought to be a good judge,” criedanother, laughing, “for you’ve never kept any companybut the worst all your life!”

“Ralph Rover!” shouted a voice down thehatchway. “Captain wants you, aft.”

Springing up the ladder I hastened to the cabin, pondering asI went the strange testimony borne by these men to the effect ofthe gospel on savage natures;—testimony which, as it wasperfectly disinterested, I had no doubt whatever was strictlytrue.

On coming again on deck I found Bloody Bill at the helm, andas we were alone together I tried to draw him intoconversation. After repeating to him the conversation inthe forecastle about the missionaries, I said,—

“Tell me, Bill, is this schooner really a trader insandal-wood?”

“Yes, Ralph, she is; but she’s just as really apirate. The black flag you saw flying at the peak was nodeception.”

“Then how can you say she’s a trader?” askedI.

“Why, as to that, she trades when she can’t takeby force, but she takes by force, when she can, inpreference. Ralph,” he added, lowering his voice,“if you had seen the bloody deeds that I have witnesseddone on these decks you would not need to ask if we werepirates. But you’ll find it out soon enough. Asfor the missionaries, the captain favours them because they areuseful to him. The South-Sea islanders are such incarnatefiends that they are the better of being tamed, and themissionaries are the only men who can do it.”

Our track after this lay through several clusters of smallislets, among which we were becalmed more than once. Duringthis part of our voyage the watch on deck and the look-out at themast-head were more than usually vigilant, as we were not only indanger of being attacked by the natives, who, I learned from thecaptain’s remarks, were a bloody and deceitful tribe atthis group, but we were also exposed to much risk from themultitudes of coral reefs that rose up in the channels betweenthe islands, some of them just above the surface, others a fewfeet below it. Our precautions against the savages I foundwere indeed necessary.

One day we were becalmed among a group of small islands, mostof which appeared to be uninhabited. As we were in want offresh water the captain sent the boat ashore to bring off a caskor two. But we were mistaken in thinking there were nonatives; for scarcely had we drawn near to the shore when a bandof naked blacks rushed out of the bush and assembled on thebeach, brandishing their clubs and spears in a threateningmanner. Our men were well armed, but refrained from showingany signs of hostility, and rowed nearer in order to conversewith the natives; and I now found that more than one of the crewcould imperfectly speak dialects of the language peculiar to theSouth Sea islanders. When within forty yards of the shore,we ceased rowing, and the first mate stood up to address themultitude; but, instead of answering us, they replied with ashower of stones, some of which cut the men severely.Instantly our muskets were levelled, and a volley was about to befired, when the captain hailed us in a loud voice from theschooner, which lay not more than five or six hundred yards offthe shore.

“Don’t fire,” he shouted, angrily.“Pull off to the point ahead of you.”

The men looked surprised at this order, and uttered deepcurses as they prepared to obey, for their wrath was roused andthey burned for revenge. Three or four of them hesitated,and seemed disposed to mutiny.

“Don’t distress yourselves, lads,” said themate, while a bitter smile curled his lip. “Obeyorders. The captain’s not the man to take an insulttamely. If Long Tom does not speak presently I’llgive myself to the sharks.”

The men smiled significantly as they pulled from the shore,which was now crowded with a dense mass of savages, amounting,probably, to five or six hundred. We had not rowed offabove a couple of hundred yards when a loud roar thundered overthe sea, and the big brass gun sent a withering shower of grapepoint blank into the midst of the living mass, through which awide lane was cut, while a yell, the like of which I could nothave imagined, burst from the miserable survivors as they fled tothe woods. Amongst the heaps of dead that lay on the sand,just where they had fallen, I could distinguish mutilated formswrithing in agony, while ever and anon one and another roseconvulsively from out the mass, endeavoured to stagger towardsthe wood, and ere they had taken a few steps, fell and wallowedon the bloody sand. My blood curdled within me as Iwitnessed this frightful and wanton slaughter; but I had littletime to think, for the captain’s deep voice came again overthe water towards us: “Pull ashore, lads, and fill yourwater casks.” The men obeyed in silence, and itseemed to me as if even their hard hearts were shocked by theruthless deed. On gaining the mouth of the rivulet at whichwe intended to take in water, we found it flowing with blood, forthe greater part of those who were slain had been standing on thebanks of the stream, a short way above its mouth. Many ofthe wretched creatures had fallen into it, and we found one body,which had been carried down, jammed between two rocks, with thestaring eyeballs turned towards us and his black hair waving inthe ripples of the blood-red stream. No one dared to opposeour landing now, so we carried our casks to a pool above themurdered group, and having filled them, returned on board.Fortunately a breeze sprang up soon afterwards and carried usaway from the dreadful spot; but it could not waft me away fromthe memory of what I had seen.

“And this,” thought I, gazing in horror at thecaptain, who, with a quiet look of indifference, leaned upon thetaffrail smoking a cigar and contemplating the fertile greenislets as they passed like a lovely picture before oureyes—“this is the man who favours the missionariesbecause they are useful to him and can tame the savages betterthan any one else can do it!” Then I wondered in mymind whether it were possible for any missionary to tamehim!

CHAPTER XXIV.

Bloody Bill is communicative and sagacious—Unpleasantprospects—Retrospective meditations interrupted by volcanicagency—The pirates negotiate with a Feejeechief—Various etceteras that are calculated to surprise andhorrify.

It was many days after the events just narrated ere Irecovered a little of my wonted spirits. I could not shakeoff the feeling for a long time that I was in a frightful dream,and the sight of our captain filled me with so much horror that Ikept out of his way as much as my duties about the cabin wouldpermit. Fortunately he took so little notice of me that hedid not observe my changed feelings towards him, otherwise itmight have been worse for me.

But I was now resolved that I would run away the very firstisland we should land at, and commit myself to the hospitality ofthe natives rather than remain an hour longer than I could helpin the pirate schooner. I pondered this subject a gooddeal, and at last made up my mind to communicate my intention toBloody Bill; for, during several talks I had had with him oflate, I felt assured that he too would willingly escape ifpossible. When I told him of my design he shook hishead. “No, no, Ralph,” said he, “you mustnot think of running away here. Among some of the groups ofislands you might do so with safety, but if you tried it here youwould find that you had jumped out of the fryin’ pan intothe fire.”

“How so, Bill?” said I, “would the nativesnot receive me?”

“That they would, lad; but they would eat youtoo.”

“Eat me!” said I in surprise, “I thought theSouth Sea islanders never ate anybody except theirenemies.”

“Humph!” ejaculated Bill. “Is’pose ’twas yer tender-hearted friends in Englandthat put that notion into your head. There’s a seto’ soft-hearted folk at home that I knows on, whodon’t like to have their feelin’s ruffled, and whenyou tell them anything they don’t like—that shocksthem, as they call it—no matter how true it be, they stoptheir ears and cry out, ‘Oh, that is toohorrible! We can’t believe that!’An’ they say truth. They can’t believe it’cause they won’t believe it. Now, I believethere’s thousands o’ the people in England who aresich born drivellin’ won’t-believersthat theythink the black fellows hereaway, at the worst, eat an enemy onlynow an’ then, out o’ spite; whereas, I know forcertain, and many captains of the British and American naviesknow as well as me, that the Feejee islanders eat not only theirenemies but one another; and they do it not for spite, but forpleasure. It’s a factthat they prefer humanflesh to any other. But they don’t like whitemen’s flesh so well as black. They say it makes themsick.”

“Why, Bill,” said I, “you told me just nowthat they would eat meif they caught me.”

“So I did; and so I think they would. I’veonly heard some o’ them say they don’t like white menso wellas black; but if they was hungry theywouldn’t be particular. Anyhow, I’m sure theywould kill you. You see, Ralph, I’ve been a goodwhile in them parts, and I’ve visited the different groupsof islands oftentimes as a trader. And thorough goin’blackguards some o’ them traders are. No better thanpirates, I can tell you. One captain that I sailed with wasnot a chip better than the one we’re with now. He wastradin’ with a friendly chief one day, aboard hisvessel. The chief had swam off to us with the things fortrade tied a-top of his head, for them chaps are like otters inthe water. Well, the chief was hard on the captain, andwould not part with some o’ his things. When theirbargainin’ was over they shook hands, and the chief jumpedover board to swim ashore; but before he got forty yards from theship the captain seized a musket and shot him dead. He thenhove up anchor and put to sea, and as we sailed along shore, hedropped six black-fellows with his rifle, remarkin’ that‘that would spoil the trade for the nextcomers.’ But, as I was sayin’, I’m up tothe ways o’ these fellows. One o’ the lawso’ the country is, that every shipwrecked person whohappens to be cast ashore, be he dead or alive, is doomed to beroasted and eaten. There was a small tradin’ schoonerwrecked off one of these islands when we were lyin’ therein harbour during a storm. The crew was lost, all but threemen, who swam ashore. The moment they landed they wereseized by the natives and carried up into the woods. Weknew pretty well what their fate would be, but we could not helpthem, for our crew was small, and if we had gone ashore theywould likely have killed us all. We never saw the three menagain; but we heard frightful yelling, and dancing, andmerry-making that night; and one of the natives, who came aboardto trade with us next day, told us that the long pigs, ashe called the men, had been roasted and eaten, and their boneswere to be converted into sail needles. He also said thatwhite men were bad to eat, and that most o’ the people onshore were sick.”

I was very much shocked and cast down in my mind at thisterrible account of the natives, and asked Bill what he wouldadvise me to do. Looking round the deck to make sure thatwe were not overheard, he lowered his voice and said,“There are two or three ways that we might escape, Ralph,but none o’ them’s easy. If the captain wouldonly sail for some o’ the islands near Tahiti, we might runaway there well enough, because the natives are all Christians;an’ we find that wherever the savages take up withChristianity they always give over their bloody ways, and aresafe to be trusted. I never cared for Christianitymyself,” he continued, in a soliloquising voice, “andI don’t well know what it means; but a man with half an eyecan see what it does for these black critters. However, thecaptain always keeps a sharp look out after us when we get tothese islands, for he half suspects that one or two o’ usare tired of his company. Then, we might manage to cut theboat adrift some fine night when it’s our watch on deck,and clear off before they discovered that we were gone. Butwe would run the risk o’ bein’ caught by theblacks. I wouldn’t like to try that plan. Butyou and I will think over it, Ralph, and see what’s to bedone. In the meantime it’s our watch below, soI’ll go and turn in.”

Bill then bade me good night, and went below, while a comradetook his place at the helm; but, feeling no desire to enter intoconversation with him, I walked aft, and, leaning over the stern,looked down into the phosphorescent waves that gargled around theladder, and streamed out like a flame of blue light in thevessel’s wake. My thoughts were very sad, and I couldscarce refrain from tears as I contrasted my present wretchedposition with the happy, peaceful time, I had spent on the CoralIsland with my dear companions. As I thought upon Jack andPeterkin anxious forebodings crossed my mind, and I pictured tomyself the grief and dismay with which they would search everynook and corner of the island, in a vain attempt to discover mydead body; for I felt assured that if they did not see any signof the pirate schooner or boat, when they came out of the cave tolook for me, they would never imagine that I had been carriedaway. I wondered, too, how Jack would succeed in gettingPeterkin out of the cave without my assistance; and I trembledwhen I thought that he might lose presence of mind, and begin tokick when he was in the tunnel! These thoughts weresuddenly interrupted and put to flight by a bright red blazewhich lighted up the horizon to the southward, and cut a crimsonglow far over the sea. This appearance was accompanied by alow growling sound, as of distant thunder, and, at the same time,the sky above us became black, while a hot stifling wind blewaround us in fitful gusts.

The crew assembled hastily on deck, and most of them wereunder the belief that a frightful hurricane was pending; but thecaptain coming on deck, soon explained the phenomena.

“It’s only a volcano,” said he.“I knew there was one hereabouts, but thought it wasextinct. Up there and furl top-gallant-sails; we’lllikely have a breeze, and it’s well to be ready.”

As he spoke, a shower began to fall, which we quickly observedwas not rain, but fine ashes. As we were many miles distantfrom the volcano, these must have been carried to us from it bythe wind. As the captain had predicted, a stiff breeze soonafterwards sprang up, under the influence of which we speedilyleft the volcano far behind us; but during the greater part ofthe night we could see its lurid glare and hear its distantthunder. The shower did not cease to fall for severalhours, and we must have sailed under it for nearly forty miles,perhaps farther. When we emerged from the cloud, our decksand every part of the rigging were completely covered with athick coat of ashes. I was much interested in this, andrecollected that Jack had often spoken of many of the islands ofthe Pacific as being volcanoes, either active or extinct, and hadsaid that the whole region was more or less volcanic, and thatsome scientific men were of opinion that the islands of thePacific were nothing more or less than the mountain tops of ahuge continent which had sunk under the influence of volcanicagency.

Three days after passing the volcano, we found ourselves a fewmiles to windward of an island of considerable size and luxuriantaspect. It consisted of two mountains, which seemed to benearly four thousand feet high. They were separated fromeach other by a broad valley, whose thick-growing trees ascendeda considerable distance up the mountain sides; and rich levelplains, or meadow-land, spread round the base of the mountains,except at the point immediately opposite the large valley, wherea river seemed to carry the trees, as it were, along with it downto the white sandy shore. The mountain tops, unlike thoseof our Coral Island, were sharp, needle-shaped, and bare, whiletheir sides were more rugged and grand in outline than anything Ihad yet seen in those seas. Bloody Bill was beside me whenthe island first hove in sight.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, “I know that islandwell. They call it Emo.”

“Have you been here before, then?” I inquired.

“Ay, that I have, often, and so has this schooner.’Tis a famous island for sandal-wood. We have takenmany cargoes off it already, and have paid for them too; for thesavages are so numerous that we dared not try to take it byforce. But our captain has tried to cheat them so often,that they’re beginnin’ not to like us overmuchnow. Besides, the men behaved ill the last time we werehere; and I wonder the captain is not afraid to venture.But he’s afraid o’ nothing earthly, Ibelieve.”

We soon ran inside the barrier coral-reef, and let go ouranchor in six fathoms water, just opposite the mouth of a smallcreek, whose shores were densely covered with mangroves and tallumbrageous trees. The principal village of the natives layabout half a mile from this point. Ordering the boat out,the captain jumped into it, and ordered me to follow him.The men, fifteen in number, were well armed; and the mate wasdirected to have Long Tom ready for emergencies.

“Give way, lads,” cried the captain.

The oars fell into the water at the word, the boat shot fromthe schooner’s side, and in a few minutes reached theshore. Here, contrary to our expectation, we were met withthe utmost cordiality by Romata, the principal chief of theisland, who conducted us to his house, and gave us mats to situpon. I observed in passing that the natives, of whom therewere two or three thousand, were totally unarmed.

After a short preliminary palaver, a feast of baked pigs andvarious roots was spread before us; of which we partooksparingly, and then proceeded to business. The captainstated his object in visiting the island, regretted that therehad been a slight misunderstanding during the last visit, andhoped that no ill-will was borne by either party, and that asatisfactory trade would be accomplished.

Romata answered that he had forgotten there had been anydifferences between them, protested that he was delighted to seehis friends again, and assured them they should have everyassistance in cutting and embarking the wood. The termswere afterwards agreed on, and we rose to depart. All thisconversation was afterwards explained to me by Bill, whounderstood the language pretty well.

Romata accompanied us on board, and explained that a greatchief from another island was then on a visit to him, and that hewas to be ceremoniously entertained on the following day.After begging to be allowed to introduce him to us, and receivingpermission, he sent his canoe ashore to bring him off. Atthe same time he gave orders to bring on board his twofavourites, a cock and a paroquet. While the canoe was goneon this errand, I had time to regard the savage chiefattentively. He was a man of immense size, with massive butbeautifully moulded limbs and figure, only parts of which, thebroad chest and muscular arms, were uncovered; for, although thelower orders generally wore no other clothing than a strip ofcloth called maroround their loins, the chief, onparticular occasions, wrapped his person in voluminous folds of aspecies of native cloth made from the bark of the Chinesepaper-mulberry. Romata wore a magnificent black beard andmoustache, and his hair was frizzed out to such an extent that itresembled a large turban, in which was stuck a long woodenpin! I afterwards found that this pin served for scratchingthe head, for which purpose the fingers were too short withoutdisarranging the hair. But Romata put himself to muchgreater inconvenience on account of his hair, for we found thathe slept with his head resting on a wooden pillow, in which wascut a hollow for the neck, so that the hair of the sleeper mightnot be disarranged.

In ten minutes the canoe returned, bringing the other chief,who certainly presented a most extraordinary appearance, havingpainted one half of his face red and the other half yellow,besides ornamenting it with various designs in black!Otherwise he was much the same in appearance as Romata, thoughnot so powerfully built. As this chief had never seen aship before, except, perchance, some of the petty traders that atlong intervals visit these remote islands, he was much taken upwith the neatness and beauty of all the fittings of theschooner. He was particularly struck with a musket whichwas shown to him, and asked where the white men got hatchets hardenough to cut the tree of which the barrel was made! Whilehe was thus engaged, his brother chief stood aloof, talking withthe captain, and fondling a superb cock and a little blue-headedparoquet, the favourites of which I have before spoken. Iobserved that all the other natives walked in a crouching posturewhile in the presence of Romata. Before our guests left us,the captain ordered the brass gun to be uncovered and fired fortheir gratification; and I have every reason to believe he did sofor the purpose of showing our superior power, in case thenatives should harbour any evil designs against us. Romatahad never seen this gun before, as it had not been uncovered onprevious visits, and the astonishment with which he viewed it wasvery amusing. Being desirous of knowing its power, hebegged that the captain would fire it. So a shot was putinto it. The chiefs were then directed to look at a rockabout two miles out at sea, and the gun was fired. In asecond the top of the rock was seen to burst asunder, and to fallin fragments into the sea.

Romata was so delighted with the success of this shot, that hepointed to a man who was walking on the shore, and begged thecaptain to fire at him, evidently supposing that his permissionwas quite sufficient to justify the captain in such an act.He was therefore surprised, and not a little annoyed, when thecaptain refused to fire at the native, and ordered the gun to behoused.

Of all the things, however, that afforded matter of amusementto these savages, that which pleased Romata’s visitor mostwas the ship’s pump. He never tired of examining it,and pumping up the water. Indeed, so much was he taken upwith this pump, that he could not be prevailed on to return onshore, but sent a canoe to fetch his favourite stool, on which heseated himself, and spent the remainder of the day in pumping thebilge-water out of the ship!

Next day the crew went ashore to cut sandal-wood, while thecaptain, with one or two men, remained on board, in order to beready, if need be, with the brass gun, which was unhoused andconspicuously elevated, with its capacious muzzle directed pointblank at the chief’s house. The men were fully armedas usual; and the captain ordered me to go with them, to assistin the work. I was much pleased with this order, for itfreed me from the captain’s company, which I could not nowendure, and it gave me an opportunity of seeing the natives.

As we wound along in single file through the rich fragrantgroves of banana, cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and other trees, Iobserved that there were many of the plum and banian trees, withwhich I had become familiar on the Coral Island. I noticedalso large quantities of taro-roots, yams, and sweet potatoes,growing in enclosures. On turning into an open glade of thewoods, we came abruptly upon a cluster of native houses.They were built chiefly of bamboos, and were thatched with thelarge thick leaves of the pandanus; but many of them had littlemore than a sloping roof and three sides with an open front,being the most simple shelter from the weather that could well beimagined. Within these, and around them, were groups ofnatives—men, women, and children—who all stood up togaze at us as we marched along, followed by the party of men whomthe chief had sent to escort us. About half a mile inlandwe arrived at the spot where the sandal-wood grew, and, while themen set to work, I clambered up an adjoining hill to observe thecountry.

About mid-day, the chief arrived with several followers, oneof whom carried a baked pig on a wooden platter, with yams andpotatoes on several plantain leaves, which he presented to themen, who sat down under the shade of a tree to dine. Thechief sat down to dine also; but, to my surprise, instead offeeding himself, one of his wives performed that office forhim! I was seated beside Bill, and asked him the reason ofthis.

“It is beneath his dignity, I believe, to feedhimself,” answered Bill; “but I daresay he’snot particular, except on great occasions. They’ve astrange custom among them, Ralph, which is called tabu,and they carry it to great lengths. If a man chooses aparticular tree for his god, the fruit o’ that tree istabued to him; and if he eats it, he is sure to be killed by hispeople, and eaten, of course, for killing means eatinghereaway. Then, you see that great mop o’ hair on thechief’s head? Well, he has a lot o’ barbers tokeep it in order; and it’s a law that whoever touches thehead of a living chief or the body of a dead one, his hands aretabued; so, in that way, the barbers’ hands are alwaystabued, and they daren’t use them for their lives, but haveto be fed like big babies, as they are, sure enough!”

“That’s odd, Bill. But look there,”said I, pointing to a man whose skin was of a much lighter colourthan the generality of the natives. “I’ve seena few of these light-skinned fellows among the Fejeeans.They seem to me to be of quite a different race.”

“So they are,” answered Bill. “Thesefellows come from the Tongan Islands, which lie a long way to theeastward. They come here to build their big war-canoes; andas these take two, and sometimes four years, to build,there’s always some o’ the brown-skins among theblack sarpents o’ these islands.”

“By the way, Bill,” said I, “your mentioningserpents, reminds me that I have not seen a reptile of any kindsince I came to this part of the world.”

“No more there are any,” said Bill, “if yeexcept the niggers themselves, there’s none on the islands,but a lizard or two and some sich harmless things. But Inever seed any myself. If there’s none on the land,however, there’s more than enough in the water, and thatminds me of a wonderful brute they have here. But, come,I’ll show it to you.” So saying, Bill arose,and, leaving the men still busy with the baked pig, led me intothe forest. After proceeding a short distance we came upona small pond of stagnant water. A native lad had followedus, to whom we called and beckoned him to come to us. OnBill saying a few words to him, which I did not understand, theboy advanced to the edge of the pond, and gave a low peculiarwhistle. Immediately the water became agitated and anenormous eel thrust its head above the surface and allowed theyouth to touch it. It was about twelve feet long, and asthick round the body as a man’s thigh.

“There,” said Bill, his lip curling with contempt,“what do you think of that for a god, Ralph? This isone o’ their gods, and it has been fed with dozens o’livin’ babies already. How many more it’ll getafore it dies is hard to say.”

“Babies?” said I, with an incredulous look

“Ay, babies,” returned Bill. “Yoursoft-hearted folk at home would say, ‘Oh, horrible!impossible!’ to that, and then go away as comfortable andunconcerned as if their sayin’ ‘horrible!impossible!’ had made it a lie. But I tell you,Ralph, it’s a fact. I’ve seed it with myown eyes the last time I was here, an’ mayhap if you stop awhile at this accursed place, and keep a sharp look out,you’ll see it too. They don’t feed it regularlywith livin’ babies, but they give it one now and then as atreat. Bah! you brute!’ cried Bill, in disgust,giving the reptile a kick on the snout with his heavy boot, thatsent it sweltering back in agony into its loathsome pool. Ithought it lucky for Bill, indeed for all of us, that the nativeyouth’s back happened to be turned at the time, for I amcertain that if the poor savages had come to know that we had sorudely handled their god, we should have had to fight our wayback to the ship. As we retraced our steps I questioned mycompanion further on this subject.

“How comes it, Bill, that the mothers allow such adreadful thing to be done?”

“Allow it? the mothers doit! It seems tome that there’s nothing too fiendish or diabolical forthese people to do. Why, in some of the islands they havean institution called the Areoi, and the persons connectedwith that body are ready for any wickedness that mortal man candevise. In fact they stick at nothing; and one o’their customs is to murder their infants the moment they areborn. The mothers agree to it, and the fathers do it.And the mildest ways they have of murdering them is by stickingthem through the body with sharp splinters of bamboo, stranglingthem with their thumbs, or burying them alive and stamping themto death while under the sod.”

I felt sick at heart while my companion recited thesehorrors.

“But it’s a curious fact,” he continued,after a pause, during which we walked in silence towards the spotwhere we had left our comrades,—“it’s a curiousfact, that wherever the missionaries get a footin’ allthese things come to an end at once, an’ the savages taketo doin’ each other good, and singin’ psalms, justlike Methodists.”

“God bless the missionaries!” said I, while afeeling of enthusiasm filled my heart, so that I could speak withdifficulty. “God bless and prosper the missionariestill they get a footing in every island of the sea!”

“I would say Amen to that prayer, Ralph, if Icould,” said Bill, in a deep, sad voice; “but itwould be a mere mockery for a man to ask a blessing for otherswho dare not ask one for himself. But, Ralph,” hecontinued, “I’ve not told you half o’ theabominations I have seen durin’ my life in theseseas. If we pull long together, lad, I’ll tell youmore; and if times have not changed very much since I was herelast, it’s like that you’ll have a chance o’seeing a little for yourself before long.”

CHAPTER XXV.

The Sandal-wood party—Native children’s games,somewhat surprising—Desperate amusements suddenly andfatally brought to a close—An old friendrecognised—News—Romata’s mad conduct.

Next day the wood-cutting party went ashore again, and Iaccompanied them as before. During the dinner hour Iwandered into the woods alone, being disinclined for food thatday. I had not rambled far when I found myself unexpectedlyon the sea-shore, having crossed a narrow neck of land whichseparated the native village from a large bay. Here I founda party of the islanders busy with one of their war-canoes, whichwas almost ready for launching. I stood for a long timewatching this party with great interest, and observed that theyfastened the timbers and planks to each other very much in thesame way in which I had seen Jack fasten those of our littleboat. But what surprised me most was its immense length,which I measured very carefully, and found to be a hundred feetlong; and it was so capacious that it could have held threehundred men. It had the unwieldy out-rigger and enormouslyhigh stern-posts which I had remarked on the canoe that came tous while I was on the Coral Island. Observing some boysplaying at games a short way along the beach, I resolved to goand watch them; but as I turned from the natives who were engagedso busily and cheerfully at their work, I little thought of theterrible event that hung on the completion of that war-canoe.

Advancing towards the children, who were so numerous that Ibegan to think this must be the general play-ground of thevillage, I sat down on a grassy bank under the shade of aplantain-tree, to watch them. And a happier or more noisycrew I have never seen. There were at least two hundred ofthem, both boys and girls, all of whom were clad in no othergarments than their own glossy little black skins, except themaro, or strip of cloth round the loins of the boys, and a veryshort petticoat or kilt on the girls. They did not all playat the same game, but amused themselves in different groups.

One band was busily engaged in a game exactly similar to ourblind-man’s-buff. Another set were walking on stilts,which raised the children three feet from the ground. Theywere very expert at this amusement and seldom tumbled. Inanother place I observed a group of girls standing together, andapparently enjoying themselves very much; so I went up to seewhat they were doing, and found that they were opening theireye-lids with their fingers till their eyes appeared of anenormous size, and then thrusting pieces of straw between theupper and lower lids, across the eye-ball, to keep them in thatposition! This seemed to me, I must confess, a very foolishas well as dangerous amusement. Nevertheless the childrenseemed to be greatly delighted with the hideous faces theymade. I pondered this subject a good deal, and thought thatif little children knew how silly they seem to grown-up peoplewhen they make faces, they would not be so fond of doingit. In another place were a number of boys engaged inflying kites, and I could not help wondering that some of thegames of those little savages should be so like to our own,although they had never seen us at play. But the kites weredifferent from ours in many respects, being of every variety ofshape. They were made of very thin cloth, and the boysraised them to a wonderful height in the air by means of twinemade from the cocoa-nut husk. Other games there were, someof which showed the natural depravity of the hearts of these poorsavages, and made me wish fervently that missionaries might besent out to them. But the amusement which the greatestnumber of the children of both sexes seemed to take chief delightin, was swimming and diving in the sea; and the expertness whichthey exhibited was truly amazing. They seemed to have twoprincipal games in the water, one of which was to dive off a sortof stage which had been erected near a deep part of the sea, andchase each other in the water. Some of them went down to anextraordinary depth; others skimmed along the surface, or rolledover and over like porpoises, or diving under each other, came upunexpectedly and pulled each other down by a leg or an arm.They never seemed to tire of this sport, and, from the great heatof the water in the South Seas, they could remain in it nearlyall day without feeling chilled. Many of these childrenwere almost infants, scarce able to walk; yet they staggered downthe beach, flung their round fat little black bodies fearlesslyinto deep water, and struck out to sea with as much confidence asducklings.

The other game to which I have referred was swimming in thesurf. But as this is an amusement in which all engage, fromchildren of ten to gray-headed men of sixty, and as I had anopportunity of witnessing it in perfection the day following, Ishall describe it more minutely.

I suppose it was in honour of their guest that this grandswimming-match was got up, for Romata came and told the captainthat they were going to engage in it, and begged him to“come and see.”

“What sort of amusement is this surf swimming?” Iinquired of Bill, as we walked together to a part of the shore onwhich several thousands of the natives were assembled.

“It’s a very favourite lark with these’xtr’or’nary critters,” replied Bill,giving a turn to the quid of tobacco that invariably bulged outhis left cheek. “Ye see, Ralph, them fellows take tothe water as soon a’most as they can walk, an’ longbefore they can do that anything respectably, so that they are asmuch at home in the sea as on the land. Well, ye see, I’spose they found swimmin’ for miles out to sea, anddivin’ fathoms deep, wasn’t exciting enough, so theyinvented this game o’ the surf. Each man and boy, asyou see, has got a short board or plank, with which he swims outfor a mile or more to sea, and then, gettin’ on the topo’ yon thundering breaker, they come to shore on the top ofit, yellin’ and screechin’ like fiends.It’s a marvel to me that they’re not dashed toshivers on the coral reef, for sure an’ sartin am I that ifany o’ us tried it, we wouldn’t be worth the fluke ofa broken anchor after the wave fell. But there theygo!”

As he spoke, several hundreds of the natives, amongst whom wewere now standing, uttered a loud yell, rushed down the beach,plunged into the surf, and were carried off by the seething foamof the retreating wave.

At the point where we stood, the encircling coral reef joinedthe shore, so that the magnificent breakers, which a recent stiffbreeze had rendered larger than usual, fell in thunder at thefeet of the multitudes who lined the beach. For some timethe swimmers continued to strike out to sea, breasting over theswell like hundreds of black seals. Then they all turned,and, watching an approaching billow, mounted its white crest,and, each laying his breast on the short flat board, came rollingtowards the shore, careering on the summit of the mighty wave,while they and the onlookers shouted and yelled withexcitement. Just as the monster wave curled in solemnmajesty to fling its bulky length upon the beach, most of theswimmers slid back into the trough behind; others, slipping offtheir boards, seized them in their hands, and, plunging throughthe watery waste, swam out to repeat the amusement; but a few,who seemed to me the most reckless, continued their career untilthey were launched upon the beach, and enveloped in the churningfoam and spray. One of these last came in on the crest ofthe wave most manfully, and landed with a violent bound almost onthe spot where Bill and I stood. I saw by his peculiarhead-dress that he was the chief whom the tribe entertained astheir guest. The sea-water had removed nearly all the paintwith which his face had been covered; and, as he rose panting tohis feet, I recognised, to my surprise, the features of Tararo,my old friend of the Coral Island!

Tararo at the same moment recognised me, and, advancingquickly, took me round the neck and rubbed noses; which had theeffect of transferring a good deal of the moist paint from hisnose to mine. Then, recollecting that this was not thewhite man’s mode of salutation, he grasped me by the handand shook it violently.

“Hallo, Ralph!” cried Bill, in surprise,“that chap seems to have taken a sudden fancy to you, or hemust be an old acquaintance.”

“Right, Bill,” I replied, “he is indeed anold acquaintance;” and I explained in a few words that hewas the chief whose party Jack and Peterkin and I had helped tosave.

Tararo having thrown away his surf-board, entered into ananimated conversation with Bill, pointing frequently during thecourse of it to me; whereby I concluded he must be telling himabout the memorable battle, and the part we had taken init. When he paused, I begged of Bill to ask him about thewoman Avatea, for I had some hope that she might have come withTararo on this visit. “And ask him,” said I,“who she is, for I am persuaded she is of a different racefrom the Feejeeans.” On the mention of her name thechief frowned darkly, and seemed to speak with much anger.

“You’re right, Ralph,” said Bill, when thechief had ceased to talk; “she’s not a Feejee girl,but a Samoan. How she ever came to this place the chiefdoes not very clearly explain, but he says she was taken in war,and that he got her three years ago, an’ kept her as hisdaughter ever since. Lucky for her, poor girl, elseshe’d have been roasted and eaten like the rest.”

“But why does Tararo frown and look so angry?”said I.

“Because the girl’s somewhat obstinate, like mosto’ the sex, an’ won’t marry the man he wantsher to. It seems that a chief of some other island came ona visit to Tararo and took a fancy to her, but she wouldn’thave him on no account, bein’ already in love, and engagedto a young chief whom Tararo hates, and she kicked up a desperateshindy; so, as he was going on a war expedition in his canoe, heleft her to think about it, sayin’ he’d be back insix months or so, when he hoped she wouldn’t be soobstropolous. This happened just a week ago; an’Tararo says that if she’s not ready to go, when the chiefreturns, as his bride, she’ll be sent to him as a longpig.”

“As a long pig!” I exclaimed in surprise;“why what does he mean by that?”

“He means somethin’ very unpleasant,”answered Bill with a frown. “You see theseblackguards eat men an’ women just as readily as they eatpigs; and, as baked pigs and baked men are very like each otherin appearance, they call men longpigs. If Avateagoes to this fellow as a long pig, it’s all up with her,poor thing.”

“Is she on the island now?” I asked eagerly.

“No, she’s at Tararo’s island.”

“And where does it lie?”

“About fifty or sixty miles to the south’ardo’ this,” returned Bill; “butI—”

At this moment we were startled by the cry of “Mao!mao!—a shark! a shark!” which was immediatelyfollowed by a shriek that rang clear and fearfully loud above thetumult of cries that arose from the savages in the water and onthe land. We turned hastily towards the direction whencethe cry came, and had just time to observe the glaring eye-ballsof one of the swimmers as he tossed his arms in the air.Next instant he was pulled under the waves. A canoe wasinstantly launched, and the hand of the drowning man was caught,but only half of his body was dragged from the maw of themonster, which followed the canoe until the water became soshallow that it could scarcely swim. The crest of the nextbillow was tinged with red as it rolled towards the shore.

In most countries of the world this would have made a deepimpression on the spectators, but the only effect it had uponthese islanders was to make them hurry with all speed out of thesea, lest a similar fate should befall some of the others; but,so utterly reckless were they of human life, that it did not fora moment suspend the progress of their amusements. It istrue the surf-swimming ended for that time somewhat abruptly, butthey immediately proceeded with other games. Bill told methat sharks do not often attack the surf-swimmers, beingfrightened away by the immense numbers of men and boys in thewater, and by the shouting and splashing that they make.“But,” said he, “such a thing as you have seenjust now don’t frighten them much. They’ll beat it again to-morrow or next day, just as if there wasn’ta single shark between Feejee and Nova Zembla.”

After this the natives had a series of wrestling and boxingmatches; and being men of immense size and muscle, they did agood deal of injury to each other, especially in boxing, in whichnot only the lower orders, but several of the chiefs and priestsengaged. Each bout was very quickly terminated, for theydid not pretend to a scientific knowledge of the art, and wastedno time in sparring, but hit straight out at each other’sheads, and their blows were delivered with great force.Frequently one of the combatants was knocked down with a singleblow; and one gigantic fellow hit his adversary so severely thathe drove the skin entirely off his forehead. This feat washailed with immense applause by the spectators.

During these exhibitions, which were very painful to me,though I confess I could not refrain from beholding them, I wasstruck with the beauty of many of the figures and designs thatwere tattooed on the persons of the chiefs and principalmen. One figure, that seemed to me very elegant, was thatof a palm-tree tattooed on the back of a man’s leg, theroots rising, as it were, from under his heel, the stem ascendingthe tendon of the ankle, and the graceful head branching out uponthe calf. I afterwards learned that this process oftattooing is very painful, and takes long to do, commencing atthe age of ten, and being continued at intervals up to the age ofthirty. It is done by means of an instrument made of bone,with a number of sharp teeth with which the skin ispunctured. Into these punctures a preparation made from thekernel of the candle-nut, mixed with cocoa-nut oil, is rubbed,and the mark thus made is indelible. The operation isperformed by a class of men whose profession it is, and theytattoo as much at a time, as the person on whom they areoperating can bear; which is not much, the pain and inflammationcaused by tattooing being very great, sometimes causingdeath. Some of the chiefs were tattooed with an ornamentalstripe down the legs, which gave them the appearance of beingclad in tights. Others had marks round the ankles andinsteps, which looked like tight-fitting and elegant boots.Their faces were also tattooed, and their breasts were veryprofusely marked with every imaginable species ofdevice,—muskets, dogs, birds, pigs, clubs, and canoes,intermingled with lozenges, squares, circles, and other arbitraryfigures.

The women were not tattooed so much as the men, having only afew marks on their feet and arms. But I must say, howeverobjectionable this strange practice may be, it nevertheless hadthis good effect, that it took away very much from theirappearance of nakedness.

Next day, while we were returning from the woods to ourschooner, we observed Romata rushing about in the neighbourhoodof his house, apparently mad with passion.

“Ah!” said Bill to me, “there he’s athis old tricks again. That’s his way when he getsdrink. The natives make a sort of drink o’ their own,and it makes him bad enough; but when he gets brandy he’slike a wild tiger. The captain, I suppose, has given him abottle, as usual, to keep him in good humour. Afterdrinkin’ he usually goes to sleep, and the people know itwell and keep out of his way, for fear they should wakenhim. Even the babies are taken out of ear-shot; for, whenhe’s waked up, he rushes out just as you see him now, andspears or clubs the first person he meets.”

It seemed at the present time, however, that no deadly weaponhad been in his way, for the infuriated chief was raging aboutwithout one. Suddenly he caught sight of an unfortunate manwho was trying to conceal himself behind a tree. Rushingtowards him, Romata struck him a terrible blow on the head, whichknocked out the poor man’s eye and also dislocated thechief’s finger. The wretched creature offered noresistance; he did not even attempt to parry the blow.Indeed, from what Bill said, I found that he might considerhimself lucky in having escaped with his life, which wouldcertainly have been forfeited had the chief been possessed of aclub at the time.

“Have these wretched creatures no law amongthemselves,” said I, “which can restrain suchwickedness?”

“None,” replied Bill. “Thechief’s word is law. He might kill and eat a dozen ofhis own subjects any day for nothing more than his own pleasure,and nobody would take the least notice of it.”

This ferocious deed took place within sight of our party as wewended our way to the beach, but I could not observe any otherexpression on the faces of the men than that of totalindifference or contempt. It seemed to me a very awfulthing that it should be possible for men to come to such hardnessof heart and callousness to the sight of bloodshed and violence;but, indeed, I began to find that such constant exposure toscenes of blood was having a slight effect upon myself, and Ishuddered when I came to think that I, too, was becomingcallous.

I thought upon this subject much that night while I walked upand down the deck during my hours of watch; and I came to theconclusion that if I, who hated, abhorred, and detested suchbloody deeds as I had witnessed within the last few weeks, couldso soon come to be less sensitive about them, how little wonderthat these poor ignorant savages, who were born and bred infamiliarity therewith, should think nothing of them at all, andshould hold human life in so very slight esteem.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Mischief brewing—My blood is made to run cold—Evilconsultations and wicked resolves—Bloody Bill attempts todo good and fails—The attack—Wholesalemurder—The flight—The escape.

Next morning I awoke with a feverish brow and a feeling ofdeep depression at my heart; and the more I thought on my unhappyfate, the more wretched and miserable did I feel.

I was surrounded on all sides by human beings of the mostdreadful character, to whom the shedding of blood was merepastime. On shore were the natives, whose practices were sohorrible that I could not think of them without shuddering.On board were none but pirates of the blackest dye, who, althoughnot cannibals, were foul murderers, and more blameworthy eventhan the savages, inasmuch as they knew better. Even Bill,with whom I had, under the strange circumstances of my lot,formed a kind of intimacy, was so fierce in his nature as to haveacquired the title of “Bloody” from his vilecompanions. I felt very much cast down the more Iconsidered the subject and the impossibility of delivery, as itseemed to me, at least for a long time to come. At last, inmy feeling of utter helplessness, I prayed fervently to theAlmighty that he would deliver me out of my miserable condition;and when I had done so I felt some degree of comfort.

When the captain came on deck, before the hour at which themen usually started for the woods, I begged of him to permit meto remain aboard that day, as I did not feel well; but he lookedat me angrily, and ordered me, in a surly tone, to get ready togo on shore as usual. The fact was that the captain hadbeen out of humour for some time past. Romata and he hadhad some differences, and high words had passed between them,during which the chief had threatened to send a fleet of hiswar-canoes, with a thousand men, to break up and burn theschooner; whereupon the captain smiled sarcastically, and goingup to the chief gazed sternly in his face, while he said,“I have only to raise my little finger just now, and my biggun will blow your whole village to atoms in fiveminutes!” Although the chief was a bold man, hequailed before the pirate’s glance and threat, and made noreply; but a bad feeling had been raised and old sores had beenopened.

I had, therefore, to go with the wood-cutters that day.Before starting, however, the captain called me into the cabin,and said,—

“Here, Ralph, I’ve got a mission for you,lad. That blackguard Romata is in the dumps, and nothingwill mollify him but a gift; so do you go up to his house andgive him these whales’ teeth, with my compliments.Take with you one of the men who can speak thelanguage.”

I looked at the gift in some surprise, for it consisted of sixwhite whales’ teeth, and two of the same dyed bright red,which seemed to me very paltry things. However, I did notdare to hesitate or ask any questions; so, gathering them up, Ileft the cabin and was soon on my way to the chief’s house,accompanied by Bill. On expressing my surprise at the gift,he said,—

“They’re paltry enough to you or me, Ralph, butthey’re considered of great value by them chaps.They’re a sort o’ cash among them. The red onesare the most prized, one of them bein’ equal to twentyo’ the white ones. I suppose the only reason fortheir bein’ valuable is that there ain’t many ofthem, and they’re hard to be got.”

On arriving at the house we found Romata sitting on a mat, inthe midst of a number of large bales of native cloth and otherarticles, which had been brought to him as presents from time totime by inferior chiefs. He received us rather haughtily,but on Bill explaining the nature of our errand he became verycondescending, and his eyes glistened with satisfaction when hereceived the whales’ teeth, although he laid them asidewith an assumption of kingly indifference.

“Go,” said he, with a wave of thehand,—“go, tell your captain that he may cut woodto-day, but not to-morrow. He must come ashore,—Iwant to have a palaver with him.”

As we left the house to return to the woods, Bill shook hishead:

“There’s mischief brewin’ in that blackrascal’s head. I know him of old. But whatcomes here?”

As he spoke, we heard the sound of laughter and shouting inthe wood, and presently there issued from it a band of savages,in the midst of whom were a number of men bearing burdens ontheir shoulders. At first I thought that these burdens werepoles with something rolled round them, the end of each poleresting on a man’s shoulder. But on a nearer approachI saw that they were human beings, tied hand and foot, and solashed to the poles that they could not move. I countedtwenty of them as they passed.

“More murder!” said Bill, in a voice that soundedbetween a hoarse laugh and a groan.

“Surely they are not going to murder them?” saidI, looking anxiously into Bill’s face.

“I don’t know, Ralph,” replied Bill,“what they’re goin’ to do with them; but I fearthey mean no good when they tie fellows up in thatway.”

As we continued our way towards the wood-cutters, I observedthat Bill looked anxiously over his shoulder, in the directionwhere the procession had disappeared. At last he stopped,and turning abruptly on his heel, said,—

“I tell ye what it is, Ralph, I must be at the bottomo’ that affair. Let us follow these black scoundrelsand see what they’re goin’ to do.”

I must say I had no wish to pry further into their bloodypractices; but Bill seemed bent on it, so I turned andwent. We passed rapidly through the bush, being guided inthe right direction by the shouts of the savages. Suddenlythere was a dead silence, which continued for some time, whileBill and I involuntarily quickened our pace until we were runningat the top of our speed across the narrow neck of land previouslymentioned. As we reached the verge of the wood, wediscovered the savages surrounding the large war-canoe, whichthey were apparently on the point of launching. Suddenlythe multitude put their united strength to the canoe; butscarcely had the huge machine begun to move, when a yell, themost appalling that ever fell upon my ear, rose high above theshouting of the savages. It had not died away when anotherand another smote upon my throbbing ear; and then I saw thatthese inhuman monsters were actually launching their canoe overthe living bodies of their victims. But there was no pityin the breasts of these men. Forward they went in ruthlessindifference, shouting as they went, while high above theirvoices rang the dying shrieks of those wretched creatures, as,one after another, the ponderous canoe passed over them, burstthe eyeballs from their sockets, and sent the life’s bloodgushing from their mouths. Oh, reader, this is nofiction. I would not, for the sake of thrilling you withhorror, invent so terrible a scene. It was witnessed.It is true; true as that accursed sin which has rendered thehuman heart capable of such diabolical enormities!

When it was over I turned round and fell upon the grass with adeep groan; but Bill seized me by the arm, and lifting me up asif I had been a child, cried,—

“Come along, lad; let’s away!”—and so,staggering and stumbling over the tangled underwood, we fled fromthe fatal spot.

During the remainder of that day I felt as if I were in ahorrible dream. I scarce knew what was said to me, and wasmore than once blamed by the men for idling my time. Atlast the hour to return aboard came. We marched down to thebeach, and I felt relief for the first time when my feet restedon the schooner’s deck.

In the course of the evening I overheard part of aconversation between the captain and the first mate, whichstartled me not a little. They were down in the cabin, andconversed in an under-tone, but the sky-light being off, Ioverheard every word that was said.

“I don’t half like it,” said the mate.“It seems to me that we’ll only have hardfightin’ and no pay.”

“No pay!” repeated the captain, in a voice ofsuppressed anger. “Do you call a good cargo all fornothing no pay?”

“Very true,” returned the mate; “butwe’ve got the cargo aboard. Why not cut your cableand take French leave o’ them? What’s the useo’ tryin’ to lick the blackguards when it’ll dous no manner o’ good?”

“Mate,” said the captain, in a low voice,“you talk like a fresh-water sailor. I can onlyattribute this shyness to some strange delusion; forsurely” (his voice assumed a slightly sneering tone as hesaid this) “surely I am not to suppose that youhavebecome soft-hearted! Besides, you are wrong in regard tothe cargo being aboard; there’s a good quarter of it lyingin the woods, and that blackguard chief knows it and won’tlet me take it off. He defied us to do our worst,yesterday.”

“Defied us! did he?” cried the mate, with a bitterlaugh. “Poor contemptible thing!”

“And yet he seems not so contemptible but that you areafraid to attack him.”

“Who said I was afraid?” growled the mate,sulkily. “I’m as ready as any man in theship. But, captain, what is it that you intend todo?”

“I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner upto the head of the creek there, from which point we can commandthe pile of sandal-wood with our gun. Then I shall landwith all the men except two, who shall take care of the schoonerand be ready with the boat to take us off. We can creepthrough the woods to the head of the village, where thesecannibals are always dancing round their suppers of human flesh,and if the carbines of the men are loaded with a heavy charge ofbuck-shot, we can drop forty or fifty at the first volley.After that the thing will be easy enough. The savages willtake to the mountains in a body, and we shall take what werequire, up anchor, and away.”

To this plan the mate at length agreed. As he left thecabin I heard the captain say,—

“Give the men an extra glass of grog, and don’tforget the buck-shot.”

The reader may conceive the horror with which I heard thismurderous conversation. I immediately repeated it to Bill,who seemed much perplexed about it. At length hesaid,—

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Ralph:I’ll swim ashore after dark and fix a musket to a tree notfar from the place where we’ll have to land, and I’lltie a long string to the trigger, so that when our fellows crossit they’ll let it off, and so alarm the village in time toprevent an attack, but not in time to prevent us gettin’back to the boat; so, master captain,” added Bill with asmile that for the first time seemed to me to be mingled withgood-natured cheerfulness, “you’ll be baulked atleast for once in your life by Bloody Bill.”

After it grew dark, Bill put this resolve in practice.He slipped over the side with a musket in his left hand, whilewith his right he swam ashore and entered the woods. Hesoon returned, having accomplished his purpose, and got on boardwithout being seen,—I being the only one on deck.

When the hour of midnight approached the men were mustered ondeck, the cable was cut and the muffled sweeps got out.These sweeps were immensely large oars, each requiring a coupleof men to work it. In a few minutes we entered the mouth ofthe creek, which was indeed the mouth of a small river, and tookabout half an hour to ascend it, although the spot where weintended to land was not more than six hundred yards from themouth, because there was a slight current against us, and themangroves which narrowed the creek, impeded the rowers in someplaces. Having reached the spot, which was so darkened byoverhanging trees that we could see with difficulty, a smallkedge anchor attached to a thin line was let softly down over thestern.

“Now, lads,” whispered the captain, as he walkedalong the line of men, who were all armed to the teeth,“don’t be in a hurry, aim low, and don’t wasteyour first shots.”

He then pointed to the boat, into which the men crowded insilence. There was no room to row, but oars were notneeded, as a slight push against the side of the schooner sentthe boat gliding to the shore.

“There’s no need of leaving two in theboat,” whispered the mate, as the men stepped out;“we shall want all our hands. Let Ralphstay.”

The captain assented, and ordered me to stand in readinesswith the boat-hook, to shove ashore at a moment’s notice ifthey should return, or to shove off if any of the savages shouldhappen to approach. He then threw his carbine into thehollow of his arm and glided through the bushes followed by hismen. With a throbbing head I awaited the result of ourplan. I knew the exact locality where the musket wasplaced, for Bill had described it to me, and I kept my strainingeyes fixed upon the spot. But no sound came, and I began tofear that either they had gone in another direction or that Billhad not fixed the string properly. Suddenly I heard a faintclick, and observed one or two bright sparks among thebushes. My heart immediately sank within me, for I knew atonce that the trigger had indeed been pulled but that the priminghad not caught. The plan, therefore, had utterlyfailed. A feeling of dread now began to creep over me as Istood in the boat, in that dark, silent spot, awaiting the issueof this murderous expedition. I shuddered as I glanced atthe water that glided past like a dark reptile. I lookedback at the schooner, but her hull was just barely visible, whileher tapering masts were lost among the trees which overshadowedher. Her lower sails were set, but so thick was the gloomthat they were quite invisible.

Suddenly I heard a shot. In a moment a thousand voicesraised a yell in the village; again the cry rose on the nightair, and was followed by broken shouts as of scattered parties ofmen bounding into the woods. Then I heard another shoutloud and close at hand. It was the voice of the captaincursing the man who had fired the premature shot. Then camethe order, “Forward,” followed by the wild hurrah ofour men, as they charged the savages. Shots now rang inquick succession, and at last a loud volley startled the echoesof the woods. It was followed by a multitude of wildshrieks, which were immediately drowned in another“hurrah” from the men; the distance of the soundproving that they were driving their enemies before them towardsthe sea.

While I was listening intently to these sounds, which were nowmingled in confusion, I was startled by the rustling of theleaves not far from me. At first I thought it was a partyof savages who had observed the schooner, but I was speedilyundeceived by observing a body of natives—apparentlyseveral hundreds, as far as I could guess in the uncertainlight—bounding through the woods towards the scene ofbattle. I saw at once that this was a party who hadout-flanked our men, and would speedily attack them in therear. And so it turned out, for, in a short time, theshouts increased ten-fold, and among them I thought I heard adeath-cry uttered by voices familiar to my ear.

At length the tumult of battle ceased, and, from the cries ofexultation that now arose from the savages, I felt assured thatour men had been conquered. I was immediately thrown intodreadful consternation. What was I now to do? To betaken by the savages was too horrible to be thought of; to fleeto the mountains was hopeless, as I should soon be discovered;and to take the schooner out of the creek without assistance wasimpossible. I resolved, however, to make the attempt, asbeing my only hope, and was on the point of pushing off when myhand was stayed and my blood chilled by an appalling shriek inwhich I recognised the voice of one of the crew. It wassucceeded by a shout from the savages. Then came another,and another shriek of agony, making my ears to tingle, as I feltconvinced they were murdering the pirate crew in coldblood. With a bursting heart and my brain whirling as if onfire, I seized the boat-hook to push from shore when a man sprangfrom the bushes.

“Stop! Ralph, stop!—there now, push off,” hecried, and bounded into the boat so violently as nearly to upsether. It was Bill’s voice! In another moment wewere on board,—the boat made fast, the line of the anchorcut, and the sweeps run out. At the first stroke ofBill’s giant arm the schooner was nearly pulled ashore, forin his haste he forgot that I could scarcely move the unwieldyoar. Springing to the stern he lashed the rudder in such aposition as that, while it aided me, it acted against him, and sorendered the force of our strokes nearly equal. Theschooner now began to glide quickly down the creek, but before wereached its mouth, a yell from a thousand voices on the bank toldthat we were discovered. Instantly a number of the savagesplunged into the water and swam towards us; but we were making somuch way that they could not overtake us. One, however, animmensely powerful man, succeeded in laying hold of the cut ropethat hung from the stern, and clambered quickly upon deck.Bill caught sight of him the instant his head appeared above thetaffrail. But he did not cease to row, and did not appeareven to notice the savage until he was within a yard of him;then, dropping the sweep, he struck him a blow on the foreheadwith his clenched fist that felled him to the deck. Liftinghim up he hurled him overboard and resumed the oar. But nowa greater danger awaited us, for the savages had outrun us on thebank and were about to plunge into the water ahead of theschooner. If they succeeded in doing so our fate wassealed. For one moment Bill stood irresolute. Then,drawing a pistol from his belt, he sprang to the brass gun, heldthe pan of his pistol over the touch-hole and fired. Theshot was succeeded by the hiss of the cannon’s priming,then the blaze and the crashing thunder of the monstrous gunburst upon the savages with such deafening roar that it seemed asif their very mountains had been rent asunder.

This was enough. The moment of surprise and hesitationcaused by the unwonted sound, gave us time to pass the point; agentle breeze, which the dense foliage had hitherto prevented usfrom feeling, bulged out our sails; the schooner bent before it,and the shouts of the disappointed savages grew fainter andfainter in the distance as we were slowly wafted out to sea.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Reflections—The wounded man—The squall—Trueconsolation—Death.

There is a power of endurance in human beings, both in theirbodies and in their minds, which, I have often thought, seems tobe wonderfully adapted and exactly proportioned to thecircumstances in which individuals may happen to beplaced,—a power which, in most cases, is sufficient tocarry a man through and over every obstacle that may happen to bethrown in his path through life, no matter how high or how steepthe mountain may be, but which often forsakes him the moment thesummit is gained, the point of difficulty passed; and leaves himprostrated, with energies gone, nerves unstrung, and a feeling ofincapacity pervading the entire frame that renders the mosttrifling effort almost impossible.

During the greater part of that day I had been subjected tosevere mental and much physical excitement, which had almostcrushed me down by the time I was relieved from duty in thecourse of the evening. But when the expedition, whosefailure has just been narrated, was planned, my anxieties andenergies had been so powerfully aroused that I went through theprotracted scenes of that terrible night without a feeling of theslightest fatigue. My mind and body were alike active andfull of energy. No sooner was the last thrilling fear ofdanger past, however, than my faculties were utterly relaxed;and, when I felt the cool breezes of the Pacific playing aroundmy fevered brow, and heard the free waves rippling at theschooner’s prow, as we left the hated island behind us, mysenses forsook me and I fell in a swoon upon the deck.

From this state I was quickly aroused by Bill, who shook me bythe arm, saying,—

“Hallo! Ralph, boy, rouse up, lad, we’re safenow. Poor thing, I believe he’s fainted.”And raising me in his arms he laid me on the folds of thegaff-top-sail, which lay upon the deck near the tiller.“Here, take a drop o’ this, it’ll do you good,my boy,” he added, in a voice of tenderness which I hadnever heard him use before, while he held a brandy-flask to mylips.

I raised my eyes gratefully, as I swallowed a mouthful; nextmoment my head sank heavily upon my arm and I fell fastasleep. I slept long, for when I awoke the sun was a goodway above the horizon. I did not move on first opening myeyes, as I felt a delightful sensation of rest pervading me, andmy eyes were riveted on and charmed with the gorgeous splendourof the mighty ocean, that burst upon my sight. It was adead calm; the sea seemed a sheet of undulating crystal, tippedand streaked with the saffron hues of sunrise, which had not yetmerged into the glowing heat of noon; and there was a deep calmin the blue dome above, that was not broken even by the usualflutter of the sea-fowl. How long I would have lain incontemplation of this peaceful scene I know not, but my mind wasrecalled suddenly and painfully to the past and the present bythe sight of Bill, who was seated on the deck at my feet with hishead reclining, as if in sleep, on his right arm, which rested onthe tiller. As he seemed to rest peacefully I did not meanto disturb him, but the slight noise I made in raising myself onmy elbow caused him to start and look round.

“Well, Ralph, awake at last, my boy; you have slept longand soundly,” he said, turning towards me.

On beholding his countenance I sprang up in anxiety. Hewas deadly pale, and his hair, which hung in dishevelled locksover his face, was clotted with blood. Blood also stainedhis hollow cheeks and covered the front of his shirt, which, withthe greater part of dress, was torn and soiled with mud.

“Oh, Bill!” said I, with deep anxiety, “whatis the matter with you? You are ill. You must havebeen wounded.”

“Even so, lad,” said Bill in a deep soft voice,while he extended his huge frame on the couch from which I hadjust risen. “I’ve got an ugly wound, I fear,and I’ve been waiting for you to waken, to ask you to getme a drop o’ brandy and a mouthful o’ bread from thecabin lockers. You seemed to sleep so sweetly, Ralph, thatI didn’t like to disturb you. But I don’t feelup to much just now.”

I did not wait till he had done talking, but ran belowimmediately, and returned in a few seconds with a bottle ofbrandy and some broken biscuit. He seemed much refreshedafter eating a few morsels and drinking a long draught of watermingled with a little of the spirits. Immediatelyafterwards he fell asleep, and I watched him anxiously until heawoke, being desirous of knowing the nature and extent of hiswound.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, on awaking suddenly, after aslumber of an hour, “I’m the better of that nap,Ralph; I feel twice the man I was;” and he attempted torise, but sank back again immediately with a deep groan.

“Nay, Bill you must not move, but lie still while I lookat your wound. I’ll make a comfortable bed for youhere on deck, and get you some breakfast. After that youshall tell me how you got it. Cheer up, Bill,” Iadded, seeing that he turned his head away; “you’llbe all right in a little, and I’ll be a capital nurse toyou though I’m no doctor.”

I then left him, and lighted a fire in the caboose.While it was kindling, I went to the steward’s pantry andprocured the materials for a good breakfast, with which, inlittle more than half an hour, I returned to my companion.He seemed much better, and smiled kindly on me as I set beforehim a cup of coffee and a tray with several eggs and some breadon it.

“Now then, Bill,” said I, cheerfully, sitting downbeside him on the deck, “let’s fall to.I’m very hungry myself, I can tell you; but—Iforgot—your wound,” I added, rising; “let melook at it.”

I found that the wound was caused by a pistol shot in thechest. It did not bleed much, and, as it was on the rightside, I was in hopes that it might not be very serious. ButBill shook his head. “However,” said he,“sit down, Ralph, and I’ll tell you all aboutit.”

“You see, after we left the boat an’ began to pushthrough the bushes, we went straight for the line of my musket,as I had expected; but by some unlucky chance it didn’texplode, for I saw the line torn away by the men’s legs,and heard the click o’ the lock; so I fancy the priming hadgot damp and didn’t catch. I was in a great quandarynow what to do, for I couldn’t concoct in my mind, in thehurry, any good reason for firin’ off my piece. Butthey say necessity’s the mother of invention; so, just as Iwas givin’ it up and clinchin’ my teeth to bide theworst o’t, and take what should come, a sudden thought cameinto my head. I stepped out before the rest, seemin’to be awful anxious to be at the savages, tripped my foot on afallen tree, plunged head foremost into a bush, an’, ovcoorse, my carbine exploded! Then came such ascreechin’ from the camp as I never heard in all mylife. I rose at once, and was rushin’ on with therest when the captain called a halt.

“‘You did that a-purpose, you villain!’ hesaid, with a tremendous oath, and, drawin’ a pistol fromhis belt, let fly right into my breast. I fell at once, andremembered no more till I was startled and brought round by themost awful yell I ever heard in my life, except, maybe, theshrieks o’ them poor critters that were crushed to deathunder yon big canoe. Jumpin’ up, I looked round, and,through the trees, saw a fire gleamin’ not far off, thelight o’ which showed me the captain and men tied hand andfoot, each to a post, and the savages dancin’ round themlike demons. I had scarce looked for a second, when I sawone o’ them go up to the captain flourishing a knife, and,before I could wink, he plunged it into his breast, while anotheryell, like the one that roused me, rang upon my ear. Ididn’t wait for more, but, bounding up, went crashingthrough the bushes into the woods. The black fellows caughtsight of me, however, but not in time to prevent me jumpin’into the boat, as you know.”

Bill seemed to be much exhausted after this recital, andshuddered frequently during the narrative, so I refrained fromcontinuing the subject at that time, and endeavoured to draw hismind to other things.

“But now, Bill,” said I, “it behoves us tothink about the future, and what course of action we shallpursue. Here we are, on the wide Pacific, in awell-appointed schooner, which is our own,—at least no onehas a better claim to it than we have,—and the world liesbefore us. Moreover, here comes a breeze, so we must makeup our minds which way to steer.”

“Ralph, boy,” said my companion, “it mattersnot to me which way we go. I fear that my time is shortnow. Go where you will. I’m content.”

“Well then, Bill, I think we had better steer to theCoral Island, and see what has become of my dear old comrades,Jack and Peterkin. I believe the island has no name, butthe captain once pointed it out to me on the chart, and I markedit afterwards; so, as we know pretty well our position just now,I think I can steer to it. Then, as to working the vessel,it is true I cannot hoist the sails single-handed, but luckily wehave enough of sail set already, and if it should come on to blowa squall, I could at least drop the peaks of the main and foresails, and clew them up partially without help, and throw herhead close into the wind, so as to keep her all shaking till theviolence of the squall is past. And if we have continuedlight breezes, I’ll rig up a complication of blocks and fixthem to the top-sail halyards, so that I shall be able to hoistthe sails without help. ’Tis true I’ll requirehalf a day to hoist them, but we don’t need to mindthat. Then I’ll make a sort of erection on deck toscreen you from the sun, Bill; and if you can only manage to sitbeside the tiller and steer for two hours every day, so as to letme get a nap, I’ll engage to let you off duty all the restof the twenty-four hours. And if you don’t feel ablefor steering, I’ll lash the helm and heave to, while I getyou your breakfasts and dinners; and so we’ll managefamously, and soon reach the Coral Island.”

Bill smiled faintly as I ran on in this strain.

“And what will you do,” said he, “if itcomes on to blow a storm?”

This question silenced me, while I considered what I should doin such a case. At length I laid my hand an his arm, andsaid, “Bill, when a man has done all that he cando,he ought to leave the rest to God.”

“Oh, Ralph,” said my companion, in a faint voice,looking anxiously into my face, “I wish that I had thefeelin’s about God that you seem to have, at thishour. I’m dyin’, Ralph; yet I, who have braveddeath a hundred times, am afraid to die. I’m afraidto enter the next world. Something within tells me therewill be a reckoning when I go there. But it’s allover with me, Ralph. I feel that there’s no chanceo’ my bein’ saved.”

“Don’t say that, Bill,” said I, in deepcompassion, “don’t say that. I’m quitesure there’s hope even for you, but I can’t rememberthe words of the Bible that make me think so. Is there nota Bible on board, Bill?”

“No; the last that was in the ship belonged to a poorboy that was taken aboard against his will. He died, poorlad, I think, through ill treatment and fear. After he wasgone the captain found his Bible and flung itoverboard.”

I now reflected, with great sadness and self-reproach, on theway in which I had neglected my Bible; and it flashed across methat I was actually in the sight of God a greater sinner thanthis blood-stained pirate; for, thought I, he tells me that henever read the Bible, and was never brought up to care for it;whereas I was carefully taught to read it by my own mother, andhad read it daily as long as I possessed one, yet to so littlepurpose that I could not now call to mind a single text thatwould meet this poor man’s case, and afford him theconsolation he so much required. I was much distressed, andtaxed my memory for a long time. At last a text did flashinto my mind, and I wondered much that I had not thought of itbefore.

“Bill,” said I, in a low voice,“‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt besaved.’”

“Ay, Ralph, I’ve heard the missionaries say thatbefore now, but what good can it do me? It’s not forme that. It’s not for the likes o’me.”

I knew not now what to say, for, although I felt sure thatthat word was for him as well as for me, I could not remember anyother word whereby I could prove it.

After a short pause, Bill raised his eyes to mine and said,“Ralph, I’ve led a terrible life. I’vebeen a sailor since I was a boy, and I’ve gone from bad toworse ever since I left my father’s roof. I’vebeen a pirate three years now. It is true I did not choosethe trade, but I was inveigled aboard this schooner and kept hereby force till I became reckless and at last joined them.Since that time my hand has been steeped in human blood again andagain. Your young heart would grow cold if I—; butwhy should I go on? ’Tis of no use, Ralph; my doom isfixed.”

“Bill,” said I, “‘Though your sins bered like crimson, they shall be white as snow.’‘Only believe.’”

“Only believe!” cried Bill, starting up on hiselbow; “I’ve heard men talk o’ believing as ifit was easy. Ha! ’tis easy enough for a man to pointto a rope and say, ‘I believe that would bear myweight;’ but ’tis another thing for a man to catchhold o’ that rope, and swing himself by it over the edge ofa precipice!”

The energy with which he said this, and the action with whichit was accompanied, were too much for Bill. He sank backwith a deep groan. As if the very elements sympathized withthis man’s sufferings, a low moan came sweeping over thesea.

“Hist! Ralph,” said Bill, opening his eves;“there’s a squall coming, lad. Look alive,boy. Clew up the fore-sail. Drop the main-sailpeak. Them squalls come quick sometimes.”

I had already started to my feet, and saw that a heavy squallwas indeed bearing down on us. It had hitherto escaped mynotice, owing to my being so much engrossed by ourconversation. I instantly did as Bill desired, for theschooner was still lying motionless on the glassy sea. Iobserved with some satisfaction that the squall was bearing downon the larboard bow, so that it would strike the vessel in theposition in which she would be best able to stand theshock. Having done my best to shorten sail, I returned aft,and took my stand at the helm.

“Now, boy,” said Bill, in a faint voice,“keep her close to the wind.”

A few seconds afterwards he said, “Ralph, let me hearthose two texts again.”

I repeated them.

“Are ye sure, lad, ye saw them in the Bible?”

“Quite sure,” I replied.

Almost before the words had left my lips the wind burst uponus, and the spray dashed over our decks. For a time theschooner stood it bravely, and sprang forward against the risingsea like a war-horse. Meanwhile clouds darkened the sky,and the sea began to rise in huge billows. There was stilltoo much sail on the schooner, and, as the gale increased, Ifeared that the masts would be torn out of her or carried away,while the wind whistled and shrieked through the strainedrigging. Suddenly the wind shifted a point, a heavy seastruck us on the bow, and the schooner was almost laid on herbeam-ends, so that I could scarcely keep my legs. At thesame moment Bill lost his hold of the belaying-pin which hadserved to steady him, and he slid with stunning violence againstthe sky-light. As he lay on the deck close beside me, Icould see that the shock had rendered him insensible, but I didnot dare to quit the tiller for an instant, as it required all myfaculties, bodily and mental, to manage the schooner. Foran hour the blast drove us along, while, owing to the sharpnessof the vessel’s bow and the press of canvass, she dashedthrough the waves instead of breasting over them, therebydrenching the decks with water fore and aft. At the end ofthat time the squall passed away, and left us rocking on thebosom of the agitated sea.

My first care, the instant I could quit the helm, was to raiseBill from the deck and place him on the couch. I then ranbelow for the brandy bottle and rubbed his face and hands withit, and endeavoured to pour a little down his throat. Butmy efforts, although I continued them long and assiduously, wereof no avail; as I let go the hand which I had been chafing itfell heavily on the deck. I laid my hand over his heart,and sat for some time quite motionless, but there was no flutterthere—the pirate was dead!

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Alone on the deep—Necessity the mother ofinvention—A valuable book discovered—Naturalphenomenon—A bright day in my history.

It was with feelings of awe, not unmingled with fear, that Inow seated myself on the cabin sky-light and gazed upon the rigidfeatures of my late comrade, while my mind wandered over his pasthistory and contemplated with anxiety my present position.Alone! in the midst of the wide Pacific, having a most imperfectknowledge of navigation, and in a schooner requiring at leasteight men as her proper crew. But I will not tax thereader’s patience with a minute detail of my feelings anddoings during the first few days that followed the death of mycompanion. I will merely mention that I tied a cannon ballto his feet and, with feelings of the deepest sorrow, consignedhim to the deep.

For fully a week after that a steady breeze blew from theeast, and, as my course lay west-and-by-north, I made rapidprogress towards my destination. I could not take anobservation, which I very much regretted, as the captain’squadrant was in the cabin; but, from the day of setting sail fromthe island of the savages, I had kept a dead reckoning, and as Iknew pretty well now how much lee-way the schooner made, I hopedto hit the Coral Island without much difficulty. In this Iwas the more confident that I knew its position on the chart(which I understood was a very good one), and so had its correctbearings by compass.

As the weather seemed now quite settled and fine, and as I hadgot into the trade-winds, I set about preparations for hoistingthe top-sails. This was a most arduous task, and my firstattempts were complete failures, owing, in a great degree, to myreprehensible ignorance of mechanical forces. The firsterror I made was in applying my apparatus of blocks and pulleysto a rope which was too weak, so that the very first heave I madebroke it in two, and sent me staggering against the after-hatch,over which I tripped, and, striking against the main-boom,tumbled down the companion ladder into the cabin. I wasmuch bruised and somewhat stunned by this untowardaccident. However, I considered it fortunate that I was notkilled. In my next attempt I made sure of not coming by asimilar accident, so I unreeved the tackling and fitted up largerblocks and ropes. But although the principle on which Iacted was quite correct, the machinery was now so massive andheavy that the mere friction and stiffness of the thick cordageprevented me from moving it at all. Afterwards, however, Icame to proportion things more correctly; but I could not avoidreflecting at the time how much better it would have been had Ilearned all this from observation and study, instead of waitingtill I was forced to acquire it through the painful and tediouslessons of experience.

After the tackling was prepared and in good working order, ittook me the greater part of a day to hoist the main-topsail. As I could not steer and work at this at the sametime, I lashed the helm in such a position that, with a littlewatching now and then, it kept the schooner in her propercourse. By this means I was enabled also to go about thedeck and down below for things that I wanted, as occasionrequired; also to cook and eat my victuals. But I did notdare to trust to this plan during the three hours of rest that Iallowed myself at night, as the wind might have shifted, in whichcase I should have been blown far out of my course ere Iawoke. I was, therefore, in the habit of heaving-to duringthose three hours; that is, fixing the rudder and the sails insuch a position as that by acting against each other, they wouldkeep the ship stationary. After my night’s rest,therefore, I had only to make allowance for the lee-way she hadmade, and so resume my course.

Of course I was to some extent anxious lest another squallshould come, but I made the best provision I could in thecircumstances, and concluded that by letting go theweather-braces of the top-sails and the top-sail halyards at thesame time, I should thereby render these sails almostpowerless. Besides this, I proposed to myself to keep asharp look-out on the barometer in the cabin, and if I observedat any time a sudden fall in it, I resolved that I wouldinstantly set about my multiform appliances for reducing sail, soas to avoid being taken at unawares. Thus I sailedprosperously for two weeks, with a fair wind, so that Icalculated I must be drawing near to the Coral Island; at thethought of which my heart bounded with joyful expectation.

The only book I found on board, after a careful search, was avolume of Captain Cook’s voyages. This, I suppose,the pirate captain had brought with him in order to guide him,and to furnish him with information regarding the islands ofthese seas. I found this a most delightful book indeed, andI not only obtained much interesting knowledge about the sea inwhich I was sailing, but I had many of my own opinions, derivedfrom experience, corroborated; and not a few of themcorrected. Besides the reading of this charming book, andthe daily routine of occupations, nothing of particular notehappened to me during this voyage, except once, when on risingone night, after my three hours’ nap, while it was yetdark, I was amazed and a little alarmed to find myself floatingin what appeared to be a sea of blue fire! I had oftennoticed the beautiful appearance of phosphorescent light, butthis far exceeded anything of the sort I ever saw before.The whole sea appeared somewhat like milk and was remarkablyluminous.

I rose in haste, and, letting down a bucket into the sea,brought some of the water on board and took it down to the cabinto examine it; but no sooner did I approach the light than thestrange appearance disappeared, and when I removed the cabin lampthe luminous light appeared again. I was much puzzled withthis, and took up a little of the water in the hollow of my handand then let it run off, when I found that the luminous substancewas left behind on my palm. I ran with it to the lamp; butwhen I got there it was gone. I found, however, that when Iwent into the dark my hand shone again; so I took the large glassof the ship’s telescope and examined my hand minutely, whenI found that there were on it one or two small patches of aclear, transparent substance like jelly, which were so thin as tobe almost invisible to the naked eye. Thus I came to knowthat the beautiful phosphoric light, which I had so often admiredbefore, was caused by animals, for I had no doubt that these wereof the same kind as the medusae or jelly-fish which are seen inall parts of the world.

On the evening of my fourteenth day, I was awakened out of anap into which I had fallen by a loud cry, and starting up, Igazed around me. I was surprised and delighted to see alarge albatross soaring majestically over the ship. Iimmediately took it into my head that this was the albatross Ihad seen at Penguin Island. I had, of course, no goodreason for supposing this, but the idea occurred to me, I knownot why, and I cherished it, and regarded the bird with as muchaffection as if he had been an old friend. He kept mecompany all that day and left me as night fell.

Next morning as I stood motionless and with heavy eyes at thehelm, for I had not slept well, I began to weary anxiously forday-light, and peered towards the horizon, where I thought Iobserved something like a black cloud against the dark sky.Being always on the alert for squalls, I ran to the bow.There could be no doubt it was a squall, and as I listened Ithought I heard the murmur of the coming gale. Instantly Ibegan to work might and main at my cumbrous tackle for shorteningsail, and in the course of an hour and a half had the most of itreduced,—the top-sail yards down on the caps, the top-sailsclewed up, the sheets hauled in, the main and fore peaks lowered,and the flying-jib down. While thus engaged the dawnadvanced, and I cast an occasional furtive glance ahead in themidst of my labour. But now that things were prepared forthe worst, I ran forward again and looked anxiously over thebow. I now heard the roar of the waves distinctly, and as asingle ray of the rising sun gleamed over the ocean Isaw—what! could it be that I was dreaming?—thatmagnificent breaker with its ceaseless roar!—that mountaintop!—yes, once more I beheld the Coral Island!

CHAPTER XXIX.

The effect of a cannon-shot—A happy reunion of asomewhat moist nature—Retrospects and explanations—Anawful dive—New plans—The last of the CoralIsland.

I almost fell upon the deck with the tumult of mingledemotions that filled my heart, as I gazed ardently towards mybeautiful island. It was still many miles away, butsufficiently near to enable me to trace distinctly thewell-remembered outlines of the two mountains. My firstimpulse was to utter an exclamation of gratitude for beingcarried to my former happy home in safety; my second, to jump up,clap my hands, shout, and run up and down the deck, with no otherobject in view than that of giving vent to my excitedfeelings. Then I went below for the telescope, and spentnearly ten minutes of the utmost impatience in vainly trying toget a focus, and in rubbing the skin nearly off my eyes, before Idiscovered that having taken off the large glass to examine thephosphoric water with I had omitted to put it on again.

After that I looked up impatiently at the sails, which I nowregretted having lowered so hastily, and for a moment thought ofhoisting the main-top sail again; but recollecting that it wouldtake me full half a day to accomplish, and that, at the presentrate of sailing, two hours would bring me to the island, Iimmediately dismissed the idea.

The remainder of the time I spent in making feverishpreparations for arriving and seeing my dear comrades. Iremembered that they were not in the habit of rising before six,and, as it was now only three, I hoped to arrive before they wereawake. Moreover, I set about making ready to let go theanchor, resolving in my own mind that, as I knew the depth ofwater in the passage of the reef and within the lagoon, I wouldrun the schooner in and bring up opposite the bower.Fortunately the anchor was hanging at the cat-head, otherwise Ishould never have been able to use it. Now, I had only tocut the tackling, and it would drop of its own weight.After searching among the flags, I found the terrible black one,which I ran up to the peak. While I was doing this, athought struck me. I went to the powder magazine, broughtup a blank cartridge and loaded the big brass gun, which, it willbe remembered, was unhoused when we set sail, and, as I had nomeans of housing it, there it had stood, bristling alike at fairweather and foul all the voyage. I took care to grease itsmouth well, and, before leaving the fore part of the ship, thrustthe poker into the fire.

All was now ready. A steady five-knot breeze wasblowing, so that I was now not more than quarter of a mile fromthe reef. I was soon at the entrance, and, as the schoonerglided quietly through, I glanced affectionately at the hugebreaker, as if it had been the same one I had seen there when Ibade adieu, as I feared for ever, to the island. On comingopposite the Water Garden, I put the helm hard down. Theschooner came round with a rapid, graceful bend, and lost wayjust opposite the bower. Running forward, I let go theanchor, caught up the red-hot poker, applied it to the brass gun,and the mountains with a bang, such as had only oncebefore broke their slumbering echoes!

Effective although it was, however, it was scarcely equal tothe bang with which, instantly after, Peterkin bounded from thebower, in scanty costume, his eye-balls starting from his headwith surprise and terror. One gaze he gave, one yell, andthen fled into the bushes like a wild cat. The next momentJack went through exactly the same performance, the onlydifference being, that his movements were less like those ofJack-in-the-box, though not less vigorous and rapid than those ofPeterkin.

“Hallo!” I shouted, almost mad with joy,“what, ho! Peterkin! Jack! hallo! it’sme!”

My shout was just in time to arrest them. They haltedand turned round, and, the instant I repeated the cry, I saw thatthey recognised my voice, by both of them running at full speedtowards the beach. I could no longer contain myself.Throwing off my jacket, I jumped overboard at the same momentthat Jack bounded into the sea. In another moment we met indeep water, clasped each other round the neck, and sank, as amatter of course, to the bottom! We were well-nigh choked,and instantly struggled to the surface, where Peterkin wasspluttering about like a wounded duck, laughing and crying byturns, and choking himself with salt water!

It would be impossible to convey to my reader, by description,an adequate conception of the scene that followed my landing onthe beach, as we stood embracing each other indiscriminately inour dripping garments, and giving utterance to incoherentrhapsodies, mingled with wild shouts. It can be more easilyimagined than described, so I will draw a curtain over this partof my history, and carry the reader forward over an interval ofthree days.

During the greater part of that period Peterkin did nothingbut roast pigs, taro, and bread-fruit, and ply me with plantains,plums, potatoes, and cocoa-nuts, while I related to him and Jackthe terrible and wonderful adventures I had gone through since welast met. After I had finished the account, they made me goall over it again; and, when I had concluded the second recital,I had to go over it again, while they commented upon itpiecemeal. They were much affected by what I told them ofthe probable fate of Avatea, and Peterkin could by no means brookthe idea of the poor girl being converted into a longpig! As for Jack, he clenched his teeth, and shook hisfist towards the sea, saying at the same time, that he was sorryhe had not broken Tararo’s head, and he only hoped that oneday he should be able to plant his knuckles on the bridge of thatchief’s nose! After they had “pumped medry,” as Peterkin said, I begged to be informed of what hadhappened to them during my long absence, and particularly as tohow they got out of the Diamond Cave.

“Well, you must know,” began Jack, “afteryou had dived out of the cave, on the day you were taken awayfrom us, we waited very patiently for half an hour, not expectingyou to return before the end of that time. Then we began toupbraid you for staying so long, when you knew we would beanxious; but when an hour passed, we became alarmed, and Iresolved at all hazards to dive out, and see what had become ofyou, although I felt for poor Peterkin, because, as he trulysaid, ‘If you never come back, I’m shut up here forlife.’ However, I promised not to run any risk, andhe let me go; which, to say truth, I thought very courageous ofhim!”

“I should just think it was!” interruptedPeterkin, looking at Jack over the edge of a monstrous potatowhich he happened to be devouring at the time.

“Well,” continued Jack, “you may guess myconsternation when you did not answer to my halloo. Atfirst I imagined that the pirates must have killed you, and leftyou in the bush, or thrown you into the sea; then it occurred tome that this would have served no end of theirs, so I came to theconclusion that they must have carried you away with them.As this thought struck me, I observed the pirate schoonerstanding away to the nor’ard, almost hull-down on thehorizon, and I sat down on the rocks to watch her as she slowlysank from my sight. And I tell you, Ralph, my boy, that Ished more tears that time, at losing you, than I have done, Iverify believe, all my life before—”

“Pardon me, Jack, for interrupting,” saidPeterkin; “surely you must be mistaken in that;you’ve often told me that, when you were a baby, you usedto howl and roar from morning to—”

“Hold your tongue, Peterkin,” cried Jack.“Well, after the schooner had disappeared, I dived backinto the cave, much to Peterkin’s relief, and told him whatI had seen. We sat down and had a long talk over thismatter, and then we agreed to make a regular, systematic searchthrough the woods, so as to make sure, at least, that you had notbeen killed. But now we thought of the difficulty ofgetting out of the cave without your help. Peterkin becamedreadfully nervous when he thought of this; and I must confessthat I felt some alarm, for, of course, I could not hope alone totake him out so quickly as we two together had brought him in;and he himself vowed that, if we had been a moment longer withhim that time, he would have had to take a breath of saltwater. However, there was no help for it, and I endeavouredto calm his fears as well as I could: ‘for,’ said I,‘you can’t live here, Peterkin;’ to which hereplied, ‘Of course not, Jack, I can only die here, and, asthat’s not at all desirable, you had better proposesomething.’ So I suggested that he should take a goodlong breath, and trust himself to me.

“‘Might we not make a large bag of cocoa-nutcloth, into which I could shove my head, and tie it tight roundmy neck?’ he asked, with a haggard smile. ‘Itmight let me get one breath under water!’

“‘No use,’ said I; ‘it would fill in amoment and suffocate you. I see nothing for it, Peterkin,if you really can’t keep your breath so long, but to let meknock you down, and carry you out while in a state ofinsensibility.’

“But Peterkin didn’t relish this idea. Heseemed to fear that I could not be able to measure the exactforce of the blow, and might, on the one hand, hit him so softlyas to render a second or third blow necessary, which would bevery uncomfortable; or, on the other hand, give him such a smashas would entirely spoil his figure-head, or, mayhap, knock thelife out of him altogether! At last I got him persuaded totry to hold his breath, and commit himself to me; so he agreed,and down we went. But I had not got him half way through,when he began to struggle and kick like a wild bull, burst frommy grasp, and hit against the roof of the tunnel. I wastherefore, obliged to force him violently back into the cavegain, where he rose panting to the surface. In short, hehad lost his presence of mind, and—”

“Nothing of the sort,” cried Peterkin,indignantly, “I had only lost my wind; and if I had not hadpresence of mind enough to kick as I did, I should havebu’st in your arms!”

“Well, well, so be it,” resumed Jack, with asmile, “but the upshot of it was, that we had to holdanother consultation on the point, and I really believe that, hadit not been for a happy thought of mine, we should have beenconsulting there yet.”

“I wish we had,” again interrupted Peterkin with asigh. “I’m sure, Ralph, if I had thought thatyou were coming back again, I would willingly have awaited yourreturn for months, rather than have endured the mental agonywhich I went through! But proceed.”

“The thought was this,” continued Jack,“that I should tie Peterkin’s hands and feet withcords, and then lash him firmly to a stout pole about five feetlong, in order to render him quite powerless, and keep himstraight and stiff. You should have seen his face ofhorror, Ralph, when I suggested this: but he came to see that itwas his only chance, and told me to set about it as fast as Icould; ‘for,’ said he, ‘this is nojokin’, Jack, Ican tell you, and the soonerit’s done the better.’ I soon procured thecordage and a suitable pole, with which I returned to the cave,and lashed him as stiff and straight as an Egyptian mummy; and,to say truth, he was no bad representation of what an Englishmummy would be, if there were such things, for he was as white asa dead man.”

“‘Now,’ said Peterkin, in a tremulous voice,‘swim with me as near to the edge of the hole as you canbefore you dive, then let me take a long breath, and, as Isha’nt be able to speak after I’ve taken it,you’ll watch my face, and the moment you see mewink—dive! And oh!’ he added, earnestly,‘pray don’t be long!’

“I promised to pay the strictest attention to hiswishes, and swam with him to the outlet of the cave. Here Ipaused. ‘Now then,’ said I, ‘pull away atthe wind, lad.’”

Peterkin drew in a breath so long that I could not helpthinking of the frog in the fable, that wanted to swell itself asbig as the ox. Then I looked into his face earnestly.Slap went the lid of his right eye; down went my head, and upwent my heels. We shot through the passage like an arrow,and rose to the surface of the open sea before you could counttwenty!

“Peterkin had taken in such an awful load of wind that,on reaching the free air, he let it out with a yell loud enoughto have been heard a mile off, and then, the change in hisfeelings was so sudden and great, that he did not wait till welanded, but began, tied up as he was, to shout and sing for joyas I supported him with my left arm to the shore. However,in the middle of a laugh that a hyaena might have envied, I lethim accidentally slip, which extinguished him in a moment.

“After this happy deliverance, we immediately began oursearch for your dead body, Ralph, and you have no idea how lowour hearts sank as we set off, day after day, to examine thevalleys and mountain sides with the utmost care. In aboutthree weeks we completed the survey of the whole island, and hadat least the satisfaction of knowing that you had not beenkilled. But it occurred to us that you might have beenthrown into the sea, so we examined the sands and the lagooncarefully, and afterwards went all round the outer reef.One day, while we were upon the reef, Peterkin espied a smalldark object lying among the rocks, which seemed to be quitedifferent from the surrounding stones. We hastened towardsthe spot, and found it to be a small keg. On knocking outthe head we discovered that it was gunpowder.”

“It was I who sent you that, Jack,” said I, with asmile.

“Fork out!” cried Peterkin, energetically,starting to his feet and extending his open hand to Jack.“Down with the money, sir, else I’ll have you shut upfor life in a debtor’s prison the moment we return toEngland!”

“I’ll give you an I.O.U. in the meantime,”returned Jack, laughing, “so sit down and be quiet.The fact is, Ralph, when we discovered this keg of powder,Peterkin immediately took me a bet of a thousand pounds that youhad something to do with it, and I took him a bet of ten thousandthat you had not.

“Peterkin was right then,” said I, explaining howthe thing had occurred.

“Well, we found it very useful,” continued Jack;“although some of it had got a little damp; and wefurbished up the old pistol, with which Peterkin is a crack shotnow. But, to continue. We did not find any othervestige of you on the reef, and, finally, gave up all hope ofever seeing you again. After this the island became adreary place to us, and we began to long for a ship to heave insight and take us off. But now that you’re backagain, my dear fellow, it looks as bright and cheerful as it usedto do, and I love it as much as ever.”

“And now,” continued Jack, “I have a greatdesire to visit some of the other islands of the SouthSeas. Here we have a first-rate schooner at our disposal,so I don’t see what should hinder us.”

“Just the very thing I was going to propose,”cried Peterkin; “I vote for starting at once.”

“Well, then,” said Jack, “it seems to methat we could not do better than shape our course for the islandon which Avatea lives, and endeavour to persuade Tararo to lether marry the black fellow to whom she is engaged, instead ofmaking a long pig of her. If he has a spark of gratitude inhim he’ll do it. Besides, having become champions forthis girl once before, it behoves us, as true knights, not torest until we set her free; at least, all the heroes in all thestory-books I have ever read would count it foul disgrace toleave such a work unfinished.”

“I’m sure I don’t know, or care, what yourknights in story-books would do,” said Peterkin, “butI’m certain that it would be capital fun, so I’m yourman whenever you want me.”

This plan of Jack’s was quite in accordance with hisromantic, impulsive nature; and, having made up his mind to savethis black girl, he could not rest until the thing wascommenced.

“But there may be great danger in this attempt,”he said, at the end of a long consultation on the subject;“will you, lads, go with me in spite of this?”

“Go with you?” we repeated in the same breath.

“Can you doubt it?” said I.

“For a moment,” added Peterkin.

I need scarcely say that, having made up our minds to go onthis enterprise, we lost no time in making preparations to quitthe island; and as the schooner was well laden with stores ofevery kind for a long cruise, we had little to do except to addto our abundant supply a quantity of cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit,taro, yams, plums, and potatoes, chiefly with the view ofcarrying the fragrance of our dear island along with us as longas we could.

When all was ready, we paid a farewell visit to the differentfamiliar spots where most of our time had been spent. Weascended the mountain top, and gazed for the last time at therich green foliage in the valleys, the white sandy beach, theplacid lagoon, and the barrier coral-reef with its crestedbreakers. Then we descended to Spouting Cliff, and lookeddown at the pale-green monster which we had made such fruitlessefforts to spear in days gone by. From this we hurried tothe Water Garden and took a last dive into its clear waters, anda last gambol amongst its coral groves. I hurried outbefore my companions, and dressed in haste, in order to have along examination of my tank, which Peterkin, in the fulness ofhis heart, had tended with the utmost care, as being a vividremembrancer of me, rather than out of love for naturalhistory. It was in superb condition;—the water asclear and pellucid as crystal; the red and green sea-weed of themost brilliant hues; the red, purple, yellow, green, and stripedanemones fully expanded, and stretching out their arms as if towelcome and embrace their former master; the starfish, zoophytes,sea-pens, and other innumerable marine insects, looking fresh andbeautiful; and the crabs, as Peterkin said, looking as wideawake, impertinent, rampant, and pugnacious as ever. It wasindeed so lovely and so interesting that I would scarcely allowmyself to be torn away from it.

Last of all, we returned to the bower and collected the fewarticles we possessed, such as the axe, the pencil-case, thebroken telescope, the pen-knife, the hook made from the brassring, and the sail-needle, with which we had landed on theisland;—also, the long boots and the pistol, besidesseveral curious articles of costume which we had manufacturedfrom time to time.

These we conveyed on board in our little boat, after havingcarved our names on a chip of iron-wood, thus:—

JACK MARTIN,
RALPH ROVER,
PETERKIN GAY,

which we fixed up inside of the bower. The boat was thenhoisted on board and the anchor weighed; which latter operationcost us great labour and much time, as the anchor was so heavythat we could not move it without the aid of my complex machineryof blocks and pulleys. A steady breeze was blowing offshore when we set sail, at a little before sunset. It sweptus quickly past the reef and out to sea. The shore grewrapidly more indistinct as the shades of evening fell, while ourclipper bark bounded lightly over the waves. Slowly themountain top sank on the horizon, until it became a merespeck. In another moment the sun and the Coral Island sanktogether into the broad bosom of the Pacific.

CHAPTER XXX.

The voyage—The island, and a consultation in whichdanger is scouted as a thing unworthy of consideration—Ratsand cats—The native teacher—Awfulrevelations—Wonderful effects of Christianity.

Our voyage during the next two weeks was most interesting andprosperous. The breeze continued generally fair, and at alltimes enabled us to lie our course; for being, as I have saidbefore, clipper-built, the pirate schooner could lie very closeto the wind, and made little lee-way. We had no difficultynow in managing our sails, for Jack was heavy and powerful, whilePeterkin was active as a kitten. Still, however, we were avery insufficient crew for such a vessel, and if any one hadproposed to us to make such a voyage in it before we had beenforced to go through so many hardships from necessity, we wouldhave turned away with pity from the individual making suchproposal as from a madman. I pondered this a good deal, andat last concluded that men do not know how much they are capableof doing till they try, and that we should never give way todespair in any undertaking, however difficult it mayseem:—always supposing, however, that our cause is a goodone, and that we can ask the divine blessing on it.

Although, therefore, we could now manage our sails easily, wenevertheless found that my pulleys were of much service to us insome things; though Jack did laugh heartily at the uncoutharrangement of ropes and blocks, which had, to a sailor’seye, a very lumbering and clumsy appearance. But I will notdrag my reader through the details of this voyage. Sufficeit to say, that, after an agreeable sail of about three weeks, wearrived off the island of Mango, which I recognised at once fromthe description that the pirate, Bill, had given me of it duringone of our conversations.

As soon as we came within sight of it we hove the ship to, andheld a council of war.

“Now, boys,” said Jack, as we seated ourselvesbeside him on the cabin sky-light, “before we go farther inthis business, we must go over the pros and cons of it; for,although you have so generously consented to stick by me throughthick and thin, it would be unfair did I not see that youthoroughly understand the danger of what we are about toattempt.”

“Oh! bother the danger,” cried Peterkin; “Iwonder to hear you, Jack, talk of danger. When afellow begins to talk about it, he’ll soon come to magnifyit to such a degree that he’ll not be fit to face it whenit comes, no more than a suckin’ baby!”

“Nay, Peterkin,” replied Jack, gravely, “Iwon’t be jested out of it. I grant you, that, whenwe’ve once resolved to act, and have made up our minds whatto do, we should think no more of danger. But, before wehave so resolved, it behoves us to look at it straight in theface, and examine into it, and walk round it; for if we flinch ata distant view, we’re sure to run away when the danger isnear. Now, I understand from you, Ralph, that the island isinhabited by thorough-going, out-and-out cannibals, whoseprincipal law is—‘Might is right, and the weakestgoes to the wall?’”

“Yes,” said I, “so Bill gave me tounderstand. He told me, however, that, at the southern sideof it, the missionaries had obtained a footing amongst aninsignificant tribe. A native teacher had been sent thereby the Wesleyans, who had succeeded in persuading the chief atthat part to embrace Christianity. But instead of thatbeing of any advantage to our enterprise, it seems the veryreverse; for the chief Tararo is a determined heathen, andpersecutes the Christians,—who are far too weak in numbersto offer any resistance,—and looks with dislike upon allwhite men, whom he regards as propagators of the newfaith.”

“’Tis a pity,” said Jack, “that theChristian tribe is so small, for we shall scarcely be safe undertheir protection, I fear. If Tararo takes it into his headto wish for our vessel, or to kill ourselves, he could take usfrom them by force. You say that the native missionarytalks English?”

“So I believe.”

“Then, what I propose is this,” said Jack:“We will run round to the south side of the island, and cutanchor off the Christian village. We are too far away justnow to have been descried by any of the savages, so we shall getthere unobserved, and have time to arrange our plans before theheathen tribes know of our presence. But, in doing this, werun the risk of being captured by the ill-disposed tribes, andbeing very ill used, if not—a—”

“Roasted alive and eaten,” cried Peterkin.“Come, out with it, Jack; according to your own showing,it’s well to look the danger straight in theface!”

“Well, that is the worst of it, certainly. Are youprepared, then, to take your chance of that?”

“I’ve been prepared and had my mind made up longago,” cried Peterkin, swaggering about the deck with hishands thrust into his breeches’ pockets. “Thefact is, Jack, I don’t believe that Tararo will be soungrateful as to eat us; and I’m quite sure thathe’ll be too happy to grant us whatever we ask: so thesooner we go in and win the better.”

Peterkin was wrong, however, in his estimate of savagegratitude, as the sequel will show.

The schooner was now put before the wind, and, after making along run to the south’ard, we put about and beat up for thesouth side of Mango, where we arrived before sunset, and hove-tooff the coral reef. Here we awaited the arrival of a canoe,which immediately put off on our rounding to. When itarrived, a mild-looking native, of apparently forty years of age,came on board, and, taking off his straw hat, made us a lowbow. He was clad in a respectable suit of European clothes;and the first words he uttered, as he stepped up to Jack andshook hands with him, were,—

“Good day, gentlemen; we are happy to see you atMango—you are heartily welcome.”

After returning his salutation, Jack exclaimed, “Youmust be the native missionary teacher of whom I haveheard—are you not?”

“I am. I have the joy to be a servant of the LordJesus at this station.”

“You’re the very man I want to see, then,”replied Jack; “that’s lucky. Come down to thecabin, friend, and have a glass of wine. I wishparticularly to speak with you. My men there”(pointing to Peterkin and me) “will look after yourpeople.”

“Thank you,” said the teacher, as he followed Jackto the cabin, “I do not drink wine or any strongdrink.”

“Oh! then, there’s lots of water, and you can havebiscuit.”

“Now, ’pon my word, that’s cool!” saidPeterkin; “his men, forsooth! Well, since weare to be men, we may as well come it as strong over these blackchaps as we can. Hallo, there!” he cried to the halfdozen of natives who stood upon the deck, gazing in wonder at allthey saw, “here’s for you;” and he handed thema tray of broken biscuit and a can of water. Then,thrusting his hands into his pockets, he walked up and down thedeck with an enormous swagger, whistling vociferously.

In about half an hour Jack and the teacher came on deck, andthe latter, bidding us a cheerful good evening, entered his canoeand paddled to the shore. When he was gone, Peterkinstepped up to Jack, and, touching his cap, said,—

“Well, captain, have you any communications to make toyour men?”

“Yes,” cried Jack; “ready about, mind thehelm and clew up your tongue, while I con the schooner throughthe passage in the reef. The teacher, who seems afirst-rate fellow, says it’s quite deep, and good anchoragewithin the lagoon close to the shore.”

While the vessel was slowly advancing to her anchorage, undera light breeze, Jack explained to us that Avatea was still on theisland, living amongst the heathens; that she had expressed astrong desire to join the Christians, but Tararo would not lether, and kept her constantly in close confinement.

“Moreover,” continued Jack, “I find that shebelongs to one of the Samoan Islands, where Christianity had beenintroduced long before her capture by the heathens of aneighbouring island; and the very day after she was taken, shewas to have joined the church which had been planted there bythat excellent body, the London Missionary Society. Theteacher tells me, too, that the poor girl has fallen in love witha Christian chief, who lives on an island some fifty miles or soto the south of this one, and that she is meditating a desperateattempt at escape. So, you see, we have come in the nick oftime. I fancy that this chief is the fellow whom you heardof, Ralph, at the Island of Emo. Besides all this, theheathen savages are at war among themselves, and there’s tobe a battle fought the day after to-morrow, in which theprincipal leader is Tararo; so that we’ll not be able tocommence our negotiations with the rascally chief till the dayafter.”

The village off which we anchored was beautifully situated atthe head of a small bay, from the margin of which trees of everydescription peculiar to the tropics rose in the richestluxuriance to the summit of a hilly ridge, which was the line ofdemarcation between the possessions of the Christians and thoseof the neighbouring heathen chief.

The site of the settlement was an extensive plot of flat land,stretching in a gentle slope from the sea to the mountain.The cottages stood several hundred yards from the beach, and wereprotected from the glare of the sea by the rich foliage of rowsof large Barringtonia and other trees, which girt theshore. The village was about a mile in length, andperfectly straight, with a wide road down the middle, on eitherside of which were rows of the tufted-topped ti tree, whosedelicate and beautiful blossoms, hanging beneath theirplume-crested tops, added richness to the scene. Thecottages of the natives were built beneath these trees, and werekept in the most excellent order, each having a little garden infront, tastefully laid out and planted, while the walks werecovered with black and white pebbles.

Every house had doors and Venetian windows, painted partlywith lamp black made from the candle-nut, and partly with redochre, which contrasted powerfully with the dazzling coral limethat covered the walls. On a prominent position stood ahandsome church, which was quite a curiosity in its way. Itwas a hundred feet long by fifty broad, and was seated throughoutto accommodate upwards of two thousand persons. It had sixlarge folding doors and twelve windows with Venetian blinds; and,although a large and substantial edifice, it had been built, wewere told by the teacher, in the space of two months! Therewas not a single iron nail in the fabric, and the natives hadconstructed it chiefly with their stone and bone axes and othertools, having only one or two axes or tools of Europeanmanufacture. Everything around this beautiful spot wore anaspect of peace and plenty, and, as we dropped our anchor withina stone’s cast of the substantial coral wharf, I could notavoid contrasting it with the wretched village of Emo, where Ihad witnessed so many frightful scenes. When the teacherafterwards told me that the people of this tribe had becomeconverts only a year previous to our arrival, and that they hadbeen living before that in the practice of the most bloody systemof idolatry, I could not refrain from exclaiming, “What aconvincing proof that Christianity is of God!”

On landing from our little boat, we were received with a warmwelcome by the teacher and his wife; the latter being also anative, clothed in a simple European gown and straw bonnet.The shore was lined with hundreds of natives, whose persons wereall more or less clothed with native cloth. Some of the menhad on a kind of poncho formed of this cloth, their legs beinguncovered. Others wore clumsily-fashioned trousers, and noupper garment except hats made of straw and cloth. Many ofthe dresses, both of women and men, were grotesque enough, beingvery bad imitations of the European garb; but all wore a dress ofsome sort or other. They seemed very glad to see us, andcrowded round us as the teacher led the way to his dwelling,where we were entertained, in the most sumptuous manner, on bakedpig and all the varieties of fruits and vegetables that theisland produced. We were much annoyed, however, by therats: they seemed to run about the house like domesticanimals. As we sat at table, one of them peeped up at usover the edge of the cloth, close to Peterkin’s elbow, whofloored it with a blow on the snout from his knife, exclaiming ashe did so—

“I say, Mister Teacher, why don’t you set trapsfor these brutes?—surely you are not fond ofthem!”

“No,” replied the teacher, with a smile; “wewould be glad to get rid of them if we could; but if we were totrap all the rats on the island, it would occupy our wholetime.”

“Are they, then, so numerous?” inquired Jack.

“They swarm everywhere. The poor heathens on thenorth side eat them, and think them very sweet. So did mypeople formerly; but they do not eat so many now, because themissionary who was last here expressed disgust at it. Thepoor people asked if it was wrong to eat rats; and he told themthat it was certainly not wrong, but that the people of Englandwould be much disgusted were they asked to eat rats.”

We had not been an hour in the house of this kind-hearted manwhen we were convinced of the truth of his statement as to theirnumbers, for the rats ran about the floors in dozens, and, duringour meal, two men were stationed at the table to keep themoff!

“What a pity you have no cats,” said Peterkin, ashe aimed a blow at another reckless intruder, and missed it.

“We would, indeed, be glad to have a few,”rejoined the teacher, “but they are difficult to begot. The hogs, we find, are very good rat-killers, but theydo not seem to be able to keep the numbers down. I haveheard that they are better than cats.”

As the teacher said this, his good-natured black face waswrinkled with a smile of merriment. Observing that I hadnoticed it, he said:—

“I smiled just now when I remembered the fate of thefirst cat that was taken to Raratonga. This is one of thestations of the London Missionary Society. It, like ourown, is infested with rats, and a cat was brought at last to theisland. It was a large black one. On being turnedloose, instead of being content to stay among men, the cat tookto the mountains, and lived in a wild state, sometimes payingvisits during the night to the houses of the natives; some ofwhom, living at a distance from the settlement, had not heard ofthe cat’s arrival, and were dreadfully frightened inconsequence, calling it a ‘monster of the deep,’ andflying in terror away from it. One night the cat, feeling adesire for company, I suppose, took its way to the house of achief, who had recently been converted to Christianity, and hadbegun to learn to read and pray. The chief’s wife,who was sitting awake at his side while he slept, beheld withhorror two fires glistening in the doorway, and heard withsurprise a mysterious voice. Almost petrified with fear,she awoke her husband, and began to upbraid him for forsaking hisold religion, and burning his god, who, she declared, was nowcome to be avenged of them. ‘Get up and pray! get upand pray!’ she cried. The chief arose, and, onopening his eyes, beheld the same glaring lights, and heard thesame ominous sound. Impelled by the extreme urgency of thecase, he commenced, with all possible vehemence, to vociferatethe alphabet, as a prayer to God to deliver them from thevengeance of Satan! On hearing this, the cat, as muchalarmed as themselves, fled precipitately away, leaving the chiefand his wife congratulating themselves on the efficacy of theirprayer.”

We were much diverted with this anecdote, which the teacherrelated in English so good, that we certainly could not havesupposed him a native but for the colour of his face and theforeign accent in his tone. Next day we walked out withthis interesting man, and were much entertained and instructed byhis conversation, as we rambled through the cool shady groves ofbananas, citrons, limes, and other trees, or sauntered among thecottages of the natives, and watched them while they laboureddiligently in the taro beds, or manufactured the tapa or nativecloth. To some of these Jack put questions through themedium of the missionary; and the replies were such as tosurprise us at the extent of their knowledge. Indeed,Peterkin very truly remarked that “they seemed to know aconsiderable deal more than Jack himself!”

Among other pieces of interesting information that we obtainedwas the following, in regard to coral formations:—

“The islands of the Pacific,” said our friend,“are of three different kinds or classes. Those ofthe first class are volcanic, mountainous, and wild; someshooting their jagged peaks into the clouds at an elevation often and fifteen thousand feet. Those of the second classare of crystalized limestone, and vary in height from one hundredto five hundred feet. The hills on these are not so wild orbroken as those of the first class, but are richly clothed withvegetation, and very beautiful. I have no doubt that theCoral Island on which you were wrecked was one of thisclass. They are supposed to have been upheaved from thebottom of the sea by volcanic agency, but they are not themselvesvolcanic in their nature, neither are they of coralformation. Those of the third class are the low corallineislands usually having lagoons of water in their midst; they arevery numerous.

“As to the manner in which coral islands and reefs areformed; there are various opinions on this point. I willgive you what seems to me the most probable theory,—atheory, I may add, which is held by some of the good andscientific missionaries. It is well known that there ismuch lime in salt water; it is also known that coral is composedof lime. It is supposed that the polypes, or coral insects,have the power of attracting this lime to their bodies; and withthis material they build their little cells or habitations.They choose the summit of a volcano, or the top of a submarinemountain, as a foundation on which to build; for it is found thatthey never work at any great depth below the surface. Onthis they work; the polypes on the mountain top, of course, reachthe surface first, then those at the outer edges reach the topsooner than the others between them and the centre, thus formingthe coral reef surrounding the lagoon of water and the centralisland; after that the insects within the lagoon ceaseworking. When the surface of the water is reached, thesemyriads of wonderful creatures die. Then birds visit thespot, and seeds are thus conveyed thither, which take root, andspring up, and flourish. Thus are commenced those corallineislets of which you have seen so many in these seas. Thereefs round the large islands are formed in a similarmanner. When we consider,” added the missionary,“the smallness of the architects used by our heavenlyFather in order to form those lovely and innumerable islands, weare filled with much of that feeling which induced the ancientking to exclaim, ‘How manifold, O God, are thy works! inwisdom thou hast made them all.’”

We all heartily agreed with the missionary in this sentiment,and felt not a little gratified to find that the opinions whichJack and I had been led to form from personal observation on ourCoral Island were thus to a great extent corroborated.

The missionary also gave us an account of the manner in whichChristianity had been introduced among them. He said:“When missionaries were first sent here, three years ago, asmall vessel brought them; and the chief, who is now dead,promised to treat well the two native teachers who were left withtheir wives on the island. But scarcely had the boat whichlanded them returned to the ship, than the natives began tomaltreat their guests, taking away all they possessed, andoffering them further violence, so that, when the boat was sentin haste to fetch them away, the clothes of both men and womenwere torn nearly off their backs.

“Two years after this the vessel visited them again, andI, being in her, volunteered to land alone, without any goodswhatever; begging that my wife might be brought to me thefollowing year,—that is, thisyear; and, as you see,she is with me. But the surf was so high that the boatcould not land me; so with nothing on but my trousers and shirt,and with a few catechisms and a Bible, besides some portions ofthe Scripture translated into the Mango tongue, I sprang into thesea, and swam ashore on the crest of a breaker. I wasinstantly dragged up the beach by the natives; who, on finding Ihad nothing worth having upon me, let me alone. I then madesigns to my friends in the ship to leave me; which theydid. At first the natives listened to me in silence, butlaughed at what I said while I preached the gospel of our blessedSaviour Jesus Christ to them. Afterwards they treated meill sometimes; but I persevered, and continued to dwell amongthem, and dispute, and exhort them to give up their sinful waysof life, burn their idols, and come to Jesus.

“About a month after I landed, I heard that the chiefwas dead. He was the father of the present chief, who isnow a most consistent member of the church. It is a customhere that, when a chief dies, his wives are strangled and buriedwith him. Knowing this, I hastened to his house toendeavour to prevent such cruelty if possible. When Iarrived, I found two of the wives had already been killed, whileanother was in the act of being strangled. I pleaded hardfor her, but it was too late; she was already dead. I thenentreated the son to spare the fourth wife; and, after muchhesitation, my prayer was granted: but, in half an hourafterwards, this poor woman repented of being unfaithful, as shetermed it, to her husband, and insisted on being strangled; whichwas accordingly done.

“All this time the chief’s son was walking up anddown before his father’s house with a brow black asthunder. When he entered, I went in with him, and found, tomy surprise, that his father was not dead! The old man wassitting on a mat in a corner, with an expression of placidresignation on his face.

“‘Why,’ said I, ‘have you strangledyour father’s wives before he is dead?’

“To this the son replied, ‘He is dead. Thatis no longer my father. He is as good as dead now. Heis to be buried alive.’

“I now remembered having heard that it is a custom amongthe Feejee islanders, that when the reigning chief grows old orinfirm, the heir to the chieftainship has a right to depose hisfather; in which case he is considered as dead, and is buriedalive. The young chief was now about to follow this custom,and, despite my earnest entreaties and pleadings, the old chiefwas buried that day before my eyes in the same grave with hisfour strangled wives! Oh! my heart groaned when I saw this,and I prayed to God to open the hearts of these poor creatures,as he had already opened mine, and pour into them the light andthe love of the gospel of Jesus. My prayer was answeredvery soon. A week afterwards, the son, who was now chief ofthe tribe, came to me, bearing his god on his shoulders, andgroaning beneath its weight. Flinging it down at my feet,he desired me to burn it!

“You may conceive how overjoyed I was at this. Isprang up and embraced him, while I shed tears of joy. Thenwe made a fire, and burned the god to ashes, amid an immenseconcourse of the people, who seemed terrified at what was beingdone, and shrank back when we burned the god, expecting somesignal vengeance to be taken upon us; but seeing that nothinghappened, they changed their minds, and thought that our God mustbe the true one after all. From that time the missionprospered steadily, and now, while there is not a single man inthe tribe who has not burned his household gods, and become aconvert to Christianity, there are not a few, I hope, who aretrue followers of the Lamb, having been plucked as brands fromthe burning by Him who can save unto the uttermost. I willnot tell you more of our progress at this time, but yousee,” he said, waving his hand around him, “thevillage and the church did not exist a year ago!”

We were indeed much interested in this account, and I couldnot help again in my heart praying God to prosper thosemissionary societies that send such inestimable blessings tothese islands of dark and bloody idolatry. The teacher alsoadded that the other tribes were very indignant at this one forhaving burned its gods, and threatened to destroy it altogether,but they had done nothing yet; “and if they should,”said the teacher, “the Lord is on our side; of whom shallwe be afraid?”

“Have the missionaries many stations in theseseas?” inquired Jack.

“Oh, yes. The London Missionary Society have agreat many in the Tahiti group, and other islands in thatquarter. Then the Wesleyans have the Feejee Islands all tothemselves, and the Americans have many stations in othergroups. But still, my friend, there are hundreds of islandshere the natives of which have never heard of Jesus, or the goodword of God, or the Holy Spirit; and thousands are living anddying in the practice of those terrible sins and bloody murdersof which you have already heard. I trust, myfriends,” he added, looking earnestly into our faces,“I trust that if you ever return to England, you will tellyour Christian friends that the horrors which they hear of inregard to these islands are literally true, and that whenthey have heard the worst, the ‘half has not been toldthem;’ for there are perpetrated here foul deeds ofdarkness of which man may not speak. You may also tellthem,” he said, looking around with a smile, while a tearof gratitude trembled in his eye and rolled down his coal-blackcheek,—“tell them of the blessings that the gospelhas wrought here!”

We assured our friend that we would certainly not forget hisrequest. On returning towards the village, about noon, weremarked on the beautiful whiteness of the cottages.

“That is owing to the lime with which they areplastered,” said the teacher. “When the nativeswere converted, as I have described, I set them to work to buildcottages for themselves, and also this handsome church which yousee. When the framework and other parts of the houses wereup, I sent the people to fetch coral from the sea. Theybrought immense quantities. Then I made them cut wood, and,piling the coral above it, set it on fire.

“‘Look! look!’ cried the poor people, inamazement; ‘what wonderful people the Christians are!He is roasting stones. We shall not need taro orbread-fruit any more; we may eat stones!’

“But their surprise was still greater when the coral wasreduced to a fine soft white powder. They immediately setup a great shout, and, mingling the lime with water, rubbed theirfaces and their bodies all over with it, and ran through thevillage screaming with delight. They were also muchsurprised at another thing they saw me do. I wished to makesome household furniture, and constructed a turning-lathe toassist me. The first thing that I turned was the leg of asofa; which was no sooner finished than the chief seized it withwonder and delight, and ran through the village exhibiting it tothe people, who looked upon it with great admiration. Thechief then, tying a string to it, hung it round his neck as anornament! He afterwards told me that if he had seen itbefore he became a Christian he would have made it hisgod!”

As the teacher concluded this anecdote we reached hisdoor. Saying that he had business to attend to, he left usto amuse ourselves as we best could.

“Now, lads,” said Jack, turning abruptly towardsus, and buttoning up his jacket as he spoke, “I’m offto see the battle. I’ve no particular fondness forseein’ blood-shed, but I must find out the nature o’these fellows and see their customs with my own eyes, so that Imay be able to speak of it again, if need be,authoritatively. It’s only six miles off, and wedon’t run much more risk than that of getting a rap with astray stone or an over-shot arrow. Will you go?”

“To be sure we will,” said Peterkin.

“If they chance to see us we’ll cut and run forit,” added Jack.

“Dear me!” cried Peterkin,—“yourun! thought you would scorn to run from any one.”

“So I would, if it were my duty to fight,”returned Jack, coolly; “but as I don’t want to fight,and don’t intend to fight, if they offer to attack usI’ll run away like the veriest coward that ever went by thename of Peterkin. So come along.”

CHAPTER XXXI.

A strange and bloody battle—The lion bearded in hisden—Frightful scenes of cruelty, and fears for thefuture.

We had ascertained from the teacher the direction to the spoton which the battle was to be fought, and after a walk of twohours reached it. The summit of a bare hill was the placechosen; for, unlike most of the other islanders, who are addictedto bush-fighting, those of Mango are in the habit of meeting onopen ground. We arrived before the two parties hadcommenced the deadly struggle, and, creeping as close up as wedared among the rocks, we lay and watched them.

The combatants were drawn up face to face, each side ranged inrank four deep. Those in the first row were armed with longspears; the second, with clubs to defend the spearmen; the thirdrow was composed of young men with slings; and the fourthconsisted of women, who carried baskets of stones for theslingers, and clubs and spears with which to supply thewarriors. Soon after we arrived, the attack was made withgreat fury. There was no science displayed. The twobodies of savages rushed headlong upon each other and engaged ina general melee, and a more dreadful set of men I havenever seen. They wore grotesque war-caps made of varioussubstances and decorated with feathers. Their faces andbodies were painted so as to make them look as frightful aspossible; and as they brandished their massive clubs, leaped,shouted, yelled, and dashed each other to the ground, I thought Ihad never seen men look so like demons before.

We were much surprised at the conduct of the women, who seemedto be perfect furies, and hung about the heels of their husbandsin order to defend them. One stout young women we saw,whose husband was hard pressed and about to be overcome: shelifted a large stone, and throwing it at his opponent’shead, felled him to the earth. But the battle did not lastlong. The band most distant from us gave way and wererouted, leaving eighteen of their comrades dead upon thefield. These the victors brained as they lay; and puttingsome of their brains on leaves went off with them, we wereafterwards informed, to their temples, to present them to theirgods as an earnest of the human victims who were soon to bebrought there.

We hastened back to the Christian village with feelings of thedeepest sadness at the sanguinary conflict which we had justwitnessed.

Next day, after breakfasting with our friend the teacher, wemade preparations for carrying out our plan. At first theteacher endeavoured to dissuade us.

“You do not know,” said he, turning to Jack,“the danger you run in venturing amongst these ferocioussavages. I feel much pity for poor Avatea; but you are notlikely to succeed in saving her, and you may die in theattempt.”

“Well,” said Jack, quietly, “I am not afraidto die in a good cause.”

The teacher smiled approvingly at him as he said this, andafter a little further conversation agreed to accompany us asinterpreter; saying that, although Tararo was unfriendly to him,he had hitherto treated him with respect.

We now went on board the schooner, having resolved to sailround the island and drop anchor opposite the heathenvillage. We manned her with natives, and hoped to overawethe savages by displaying our brass gun to advantage. Theteacher soon after came on board, and setting our sails we put tosea. In two hours more we made the cliffs reverberate withthe crash of the big gun, which we fired by way of salute, whilewe ran the British ensign up to the peak and cast anchor.The commotion on shore showed us that we had struck terror intothe hearts of the natives; but seeing that we did not offer tomolest them, a canoe at length put off and paddled cautiouslytowards us. The teacher showed himself, and explaining thatwe were friends and wished to palaver with the chief, desired thenative to go and tell him to come on board.

We waited long and with much impatience for an answer.During this time the native teacher conversed with us again, andtold us many things concerning the success of the gospel amongthose islands; and perceiving that we were by no means so muchgratified as we ought to have been at the hearing of such goodnews, he pressed us more closely in regard to our personalinterest in religion, and exhorted us to consider that our soulswere certainly in as great danger as those of the wretchedheathen whom we pitied so much, if we had not already foundsalvation in Jesus Christ. “Nay, further,” headded, “if such be your unhappy case, you are, in the sightof God, much worse than these savages (forgive me, my youngfriends, for saying so); for they have no knowledge, no light,and do not profess to believe; while you, on the contrary, havebeen brought up in the light of the blessed gospel and callyourselves Christians. These poor savages are indeed theenemies of our Lord; but you, if ye be not true believers, aretraitors!”

I must confess that my heart condemned me while the teacherspoke in this earnest manner, and I knew not what to reply.Peterkin, too, did not seem to like it, and I thought wouldwillingly have escaped; but Jack seemed deeply impressed, andwore an anxious expression on his naturally grave countenance,while he assented to the teacher’s remarks and put to himmany earnest questions. Meanwhile the natives who composedour crew, having nothing particular to do, had squatted down onthe deck and taken out their little books containing thetranslated portions of the New Testament, along with hymns andspelling-books, and were now busily engaged, some vociferatingthe alphabet, others learning prayers off by heart, while a fewsang hymns,—all of them being utterly unmindful of ourpresence. The teacher soon joined them, and soon afterwardsthey all engaged in a prayer which was afterwards translated tous, and proved to be a petition for the success of ourundertaking and for the conversion of the heathen.

While we were thus engaged a canoe put off from shore andseveral savages leaped on deck, one of whom advanced to theteacher and informed him that Tararo could not come on board thatday, being busy with some religious ceremonies before the gods,which could on no account be postponed. He was also engagedwith a friendly chief who was about to take his departure fromthe island, and therefore begged that the teacher and his friendswould land and pay a visit to him. To this the teacherreturned answer that we would land immediately.

“Now, lads,” said Jack, as we were about to stepinto our little boat, “I’m not going to take anyweapons with me, and I recommend you to take none either.We are altogether in the power of these savages, and the utmostwe could do, if they were to attack us, would be to kill a few ofthem before we were ourselves overpowered. I think that ouronly chance of success lies in mild measures. Don’tyou think so?”

To this I assented gladly, and Peterkin replied by laying downa huge bell-mouthed blunderbuss, and divesting himself of a pairof enormous horse-pistols with which he had purposed to overawethe natives! We then jumped into our boat and rowedashore.

On reaching the beach we were received by a crowd of nakedsavages, who shouted a rude welcome, and conducted us to a houseor shed where a baked pig and a variety of vegetables wereprepared for us. Having partaken of these, the teacherbegged to be conducted to the chief; but there seemed somehesitation, and after some consultation among themselves, one ofthe men stood forward and spoke to the teacher.

“What says he?” inquired Jack when the savage hadconcluded.

“He says that the chief is just going to the temple ofhis god and cannot see us yet; so we must be patient, myfriend.”

“Well,” cried Jack, rising; “if hewon’t come to see me, I’ll e’en go and seehim. Besides, I have a great desire to witness theirproceedings at this temple of theirs. Will you go with me,friend?”

“I cannot,” said the teacher, shaking his head;“I must not go to the heathen temples and witness theirinhuman rites, except for the purpose of condemning theirwickedness and folly.”

“Very good,” returned Jack; “then I’llgo alone, for I cannot condemn their doings till I have seenthem.”

Jack arose, and we, having determined to go also, followed himthrough the banana groves to a rising ground immediately behindthe village, on the top of which stood the Buré, ortemple, under the dark shade of a group of iron-wood trees.As we went through the village, I was again led to contrast therude huts and sheds, and their almost naked savage-lookinginhabitants, with the natives of the Christian village, who, touse the teacher’s scriptural expression, were now“clothed and in their right mind.”

As we turned into a broad path leading towards the hill, wewere arrested by the shouts of an approaching multitude in therear. Drawing aside into the bushes we awaited their comingup, and as they drew near we observed that it was a procession ofthe natives, many of whom were dancing and gesticulating in themost frantic manner. They had an exceedingly hideousaspect, owing to the black, red, and yellow paints with whichtheir faces and naked bodies were bedaubed. In the midst ofthese came a band of men carrying three or four planks, on whichwere seated in rows upwards of a dozen men. I shudderedinvoluntarily as I recollected the sacrifice of human victims atthe island of Emo, and turned with a look of fear to Jack as Isaid,—

“Oh, Jack! I have a terrible dread that they aregoing to commit some of their cruel practices on these wretchedmen. We had better not go to the temple. We shallonly be horrified without being able to do any good, for I fearthey are going to kill them.”

Jack’s face wore an expression of deep compassion as hesaid, in a low voice, “No fear, Ralph; the sufferings ofthese poor fellows are over long ago.”

I turned with a start as he spoke, and, glancing at the men,who were now quite near to the spot where we stood, saw that theywere all dead. They were tied firmly with ropes in asitting posture on the planks, and seemed, as they bent theirsightless eye-balls and grinning mouths over the dancing crewbelow, as if they were laughing in ghastly mockery at the utterinability of their enemies to hurt them now. These, wediscovered afterwards, were the men who had been slain in thebattle of the previous day, and were now on their way to be firstpresented to the gods, and then eaten. Behind these cametwo men leading between them a third, whose hands were pinionedbehind his back. He walked with a firm step, and wore alook of utter indifference on his face, as they led him along; sothat we concluded he must be a criminal who was about to receivesome slight punishment for his faults. The rear of theprocession was brought up by a shouting crowd of women andchildren, with whom we mingled and followed to the temple.

Here we arrived in a few minutes. The temple was a tallcircular building, open at one side. Around it were strewnheaps of human bones and skulls. At a table inside sat thepriest, an elderly man, with a long gray beard. He wasseated on a stool, and before him lay several knives, made ofwood, bone, and splinters of bamboo, with which he performed hisoffice of dissecting dead bodies. Farther in lay a varietyof articles that had been dedicated to the god, and among themwere many spears and clubs. I observed among the lattersome with human teeth sticking in them, where the victims hadbeen clubbed in their mouths.

Before this temple the bodies, which were painted withvermilion and soot, were arranged in a sitting posture; and aman, called a “dan-vosa” (orator), advanced, and,laying his hands on their heads, began to chide them, apparently,in a low bantering tone. What he said we knew not, but, ashe went on, he waxed warm, and at last shouted to them at the topof his lungs, and finally finished by kicking the bodies over andrunning away, amid the shouts and laughter of the people, who nowrushed forward. Seizing the bodies by a leg, or an arm, orby the hair of the head, they dragged them over stumps and stonesand through sloughs, until they were exhausted. The bodieswere then brought back to the temple and dissected by the priest,after which they were taken out to be baked.

Close to the temple a large fire was kindled, in which stoneswere heated red hot. When ready these were spread out onthe ground, and a thick coating of leaves strewn over them toslack the heat. On this “lovo,” or oven, thebodies were then placed, covered over, and left to bake.

The crowd now ran, with terrible yells, towards a neighbouringhill or mound, on which we observed the frame-work of a houselying ready to be erected. Sick with horror, yet fascinatedby curiosity, we staggered after them mechanically, scarceknowing where we were going or what we did, and feeling a sort ofimpression that all we saw was a dreadful dream.

Arrived at the place, we saw the multitude crowding round acertain spot. We pressed forward and obtained a sight ofwhat they were doing. A large wooden beam or post lay onthe ground, beside the other parts of the frame-work of thehouse, and close to the end of it was a hole about seven feetdeep and upwards of two feet wide. While we looked, the manwhom we had before observed with his hands pinioned, was carriedinto the circle. His hands were now free, but his legs weretightly strapped together. The post of the house was thenplaced in the hole, and the man put in beside it. His headwas a good way below the surface of the hole, and his arms wereclasped round the post. Earth was now thrown in until allwas covered over and stamped down; and this, we were afterwardstold, was a ceremonyusually performed at the dedicationof a new temple, or the erection of a chief’s house!

“Come, come,” cried Jack, on beholding thishorrible tragedy, “we have seen enough, enough, far morethan enough! Let us go.”

Jack’s face looked ghastly pale and haggard as wehurried back to rejoin the teacher, and I have no doubt that hefelt terrible anxiety when he considered the number and ferocityof the savages, and the weakness of the few arms which were readyindeed to essay, but impotent to effect, Avatea’sdeliverance from these ruthless men.

CHAPTER XXXII.

An unexpected discovery, and a bold, reckless defiance, withits consequences—Plans of escape, and heroic resolves.

When we returned to the shore, and related to our friend whathad passed, he was greatly distressed, and groaned in spirit; butwe had not sat long in conversation, when we were interrupted bythe arrival of Tararo on the beach, accompanied by a number offollowers bearing baskets of vegetables and fruits on theirheads.

We advanced to meet him, and he expressed, through ourinterpreter, much pleasure in seeing us.

“And what is it that my friends wish to say tome?” he inquired.

The teacher explained that we came to beg that Avatea might bespared.

“Tell him,” said Jack, “that I consider thatI have a right to ask this of him, having not only saved thegirl’s life, but the lives of his own people also; and saythat I wish her to be allowed to follow her own wishes, and jointhe Christians.”

While this was being translated, the chiefs brow lowered, andwe could see plainly that our request met with no favourablereception. He replied with considerable energy, and at somelength.

“What says he?” inquired Jack.

“I regret to say that he will not listen to theproposal. He says he has pledged his word to his friendthat the girl shall be sent to him, and a deputy is even now onthis island awaiting the fulfilment of the pledge.”

Jack bit his lip in suppressed anger. “TellTararo,” he exclaimed with flashing eye, “that if hedoes not grant my demand, it will be worse for him. Say Ihave a big gun on board my schooner that will blow his villageinto the sea, if he does not give up the girl.”

“Nay, my friend,” said the teacher, gently,“I will not tell him that; we must overcome evil withgood.’”

“What does my friend say?” inquired the chief, whoseemed nettled by Jack’s looks of defiance.

“He is displeased,” replied the teacher.

Tararo turned away with a smile of contempt, and walkedtowards the men who carried the baskets of vegetables, and whohad now emptied the whole on the beach in an enormous pile.

“What are they doing there?” I inquired.

“I think that they are laying out a gift which theyintend to present to some one,” said the teacher.

At this moment a couple of men appeared leading a young girlbetween them; and, going towards the heap of fruits andvegetables, placed her on the top of it. We started withsurprise and fear, for in the young female before us werecognised the Samoan girl, Avatea!

We stood rooted to the earth with surprise and thick comingfears.

“Oh! my dear young friend,” whispered the teacher,in a voice of deep emotion, while he seized Jack by the arm,“she is to be made a sacrifice even now!”

“Is she?” cried Jack, with a vehement shout,spurning the teacher aside, and dashing over two natives whostood in his way, while he rushed towards the heap, sprang up itsside, and seized Avatea by the arm. In another moment hedragged her down, placed her back to a large tree, and, wrenchinga war-club from the hand of a native who seemed powerless andpetrified with surprise, whirled it above his head, and yelled,rather than shouted, while his face blazed with fury, “Comeon, the whole nation of you, an ye like it, and do yourworst!”

It seemed as though the challenge had been literally accepted;for every savage on the ground ran precipitately at Jack withclub and spear, and, doubtless, would speedily have poured outhis brave blood on the sod, had not the teacher rushed in betweenthem, and, raising his voice to its utmost, cried.—

“Stay your hands, warriors! It is not your part tojudge in this matter. It is for Tararo, the chief, to saywhether or not the young man shall live or die.”

The natives were arrested; and I know not whether it was thegratifying acknowledgment of his superiority thus made by theteacher, or some lingering feeling of gratitude for Jack’sformer aid in time of need, that influenced Tararo, but hestepped forward, and, waving his hand, said to hispeople,—“Desist. The young man’s life ismine.” Then, turning to Jack, he said, “Youhave forfeited your liberty and life to me. Submityourself, for we are more numerous than the sand upon theshore. You are but one; why should you die?”

“Villain!” exclaimed Jack, passionately, “Imay die, but, assuredly, I shall not perish alone. I willnot submit until you promise that this girl shall not beinjured.”

“You are very bold,” replied the chief, haughtily,“but very foolish. Yet I will say that Avatea shallnot be sent away, at least for three days.”

“You had better accept these terms,” whispered theteacher, entreatingly. “If you persist in this maddefiance, you will be slain, and Avatea will be lost. Threedays are worth having.”

Jack hesitated a moment, then lowered his club, and, throwingit moodily to the ground, crossed his arms on his breast, andhung down his head in silence.

Tararo seemed pleased by his submission, and told the teacherto say that he did not forget his former services, and,therefore, would leave him free as to his person, but that theschooner would be detained till he had further considered thematter.

While the teacher translated this, he approached as near towhere Avatea was standing as possible, without creatingsuspicion, and whispered to her a few words in the nativelanguage. Avatea, who, during the whole of the foregoingscene, had stood leaning against the tree perfectly passive, andseemingly quite uninterested in all that was going on, replied bya single rapid glance of her dark eye, which was instantly castdown again on the ground at her feet.

Tararo now advanced, and taking the girl by the hand, led herunresistingly away, while Jack, Peterkin, and I returned with theteacher on board the schooner.

On reaching the deck, we went down to the cabin, where Jackthrew himself, in a state of great dejection, on a couch; but theteacher seated himself by his side, and, laying his hand upon hisshoulder, said,—

“Do not give way to anger, my young friend. Godhas given us three days, and we must use the means that are inour power to free this poor girl from slavery. We must notsit in idle disappointment, we must act”—

“Act!” cried Jack, raising himself, and tossingback his hair wildly; “it is mockery to balk of acting whenone is bound hand and foot. How can I act? I cannotfight a whole nation of savages single-handed. Yes,”he said, with a bitter smile, “I can fight them, but Icannot conquer them, or save Avatea.”

“Patience, my friend; your spirit is not a good one justnow. You cannot expect that blessing which alone can insuresuccess, unless you are more submissive. I will tell you myplans if you will listen.”

“Listen!” cried Jack, eagerly, “of course Iwill, my good fellow; I did not know you had any plans. Outwith them. I only hope you will show me how I can get thegirl on board of this schooner, and I’d up anchor and awayin no time. But proceed with your plans.”

The teacher smiled sadly: “Ah! my friend, if one fathomof your anchor chain were to rattle, as you drew it in, athousand warriors would be standing on your deck. No, no,that could not be done. Even now, your ship would be takenfrom you were it not that Tararo has some feeling of gratitudetoward you. But I know Tararo well. He is a man offalsehood, as all the unconverted savages are. The chief towhom he has promised this girl is very powerful, and Tararomustfulfil his promise. He has told you that hewould do nothing to the girl for three days; but that is becausethe party who are to take her away will not be ready to start forthree days. Still, as he might have made you a prisonerduring those three days, I say that God has given them tous.”

“Well, but what do you propose to do?” said Jack,impatiently.

“My plan involves much danger, but I see no other, and Ithink you have courage to brave it. It is this: There is anisland about fifty miles to the south of this, the natives ofwhich are Christians, and have been so for two years or more, andthe principal chief is Avatea’s lover. Once there,Avatea would be safe. Now, I suggest that you shouldabandon your schooner. Do you think that you can make sogreat a sacrifice?”

“Friend,” replied Jack, “when I make up mymind to go through with a thing of importance, I can make anysacrifice.”

The teacher smiled. “Well, then, the savages couldnot conceive it possible that, for the sake of a girl, you wouldvoluntarily lose your fine vessel; therefore as long as she lieshere they think they have you all safe: so I suggest that we geta quantity of stores conveyed to a sequestered part of the shore,provide a small canoe, put Avatea on board, and you three wouldpaddle to the Christian island.”

“Bravo!” cried Peterkin, springing up and seizingthe teacher’s hand. “Missionary, you’re aregular brick. I didn’t think you had so much inyou.”

“As for me,” continued the teacher, “I willremain on board till they discover that you are gone. Thenthey will ask me where you are gone to, and I will refuse totell.”

“And what’ll be the result of that?”inquired Jack.

“I know not. Perhaps they will kill me;but,” he added, looking at Jack with a peculiar smile,“I too am not afraid to die in a good cause!”

“But how are we to get hold of Avatea?” inquiredJack.

“I have arranged with her to meet us at a particularspot, to which I will guide you to-night. We shall thenarrange about it. She will easily manage to elude herkeepers, who are not very strict in watching her, thinking itimpossible that she could escape from the island. Indeed, Iam sure that such an idea will never enter their heads.But, as I have said, you run great danger. Fifty miles in asmall canoe, on the open sea, is a great voyage to make.You may miss the island, too, in which case there is no other inthat direction for a hundred miles or more; and if you lose yourway and fall among other heathens, you know the law ofFeejee—a cast-away who gains the shore is doomed todie. You must count the cost, my young friend.”

“I have counted it,” replied Jack. “IfAvatea consents to run the risk, most certainly I will; and sowill my comrades also. Besides,” added Jack, lookingseriously into the teacher’s face, “yourBible,—ourBible, tells of ONE who delivers thosewho call on Him in the time of trouble; who holds the winds inhis fists and the waters in the hollow of his hand.”

We now set about active preparations for the intended voyage;collected together such things as we should require, and laid outon the deck provisions sufficient to maintain us for severalweeks, purposing to load the canoe with as much as she could holdconsistently with speed and safety. These we covered with atarpaulin, intending to convey them to the canoe only a few hoursbefore starting. When night spread her sable curtain overthe scene, we prepared to land; but, first, kneeling along withthe natives and the teacher, the latter implored a blessing onour enterprise. Then we rowed quietly to the shore andfollowed our sable guide, who led us by a long detour, in orderto avoid the village, to the place of rendezvous. We hadnot stood more than five minutes under the gloomy shade of thethick foliage when a dark figure glided noiselessly up to us.

“Ah! here you are,” said Jack, as Avateaapproached. “Now, then, tell her what we’vecome about, and don’t waste time.”

“I understan’ leetl English,” said Avatea,in a low voice.

“Why, where did you pick up English?” exclaimedJack, in amazement; “you were dumb as a stone when I sawyou last.”

“She has learned all she knows of it from me,”said the teacher, “since she came to the island.”

We now gave Avatea a full explanation of our plans, enteringinto all the details, and concealing none of the danger, so thatshe might be fully aware of the risk she ran. As we hadanticipated, she was too glad of the opportunity thus affordedher to escape from her persecutors to think of the danger orrisk.

“Then you’re willing to go with us, areyou?” said Jack.

“Yis, I am willing to go.”

“And you’re not afraid to trust yourself out onthe deep sea so far?”

“No, I not ’fraid to go. Safe withChristian.”

After some further consultation, the teacher suggested that itwas time to return, so we bade Avatea good night, and havingappointed to meet at the cliff where the canoe lay, on thefollowing night, just after dark, we hastened away—we torow on board the schooner with muffled oars—Avatea to glideback to her prison-hut among the Mango savages.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

The flight—The pursuit—Despair and itsresults—The lion bearded in his den again—Awfuldanger threatened and wonderfully averted—A terrificstorm.

As the time for our meditated flight drew near, we becamenaturally very fearful lest our purpose should be discovered, andwe spent the whole of the following day in a state of nervousanxiety. We resolved to go a-shore and ramble about thevillage, as if to observe the habits and dwellings of the people,as we thought that an air of affected indifference to the eventsof the previous day would be more likely than any other course ofconduct to avert suspicion as to our intentions. While wewere thus occupied, the teacher remained on board with theChristian natives, whose powerful voices reached us ever and anonas they engaged in singing hymns or in prayer.

At last the long and tedious day came to a close, the sankinto the sea, and the short-lived twilight of those regions, towhich I have already referred, ended abruptly in a darknight. Hastily throwing a few blankets into our littleboat, we stepped into it, and, whispering farewell to the nativesin the schooner, rowed gently over the lagoon, taking care tokeep as near to the beach as possible. We rowed in theutmost silence and with muffled oars, so that had any oneobserved us at the distance of a few yards, he might have almosttaken us for a phantom-boat or a shadow on the dark water.Not a breath of air was stirring; but fortunately the gentleripple of the sea upon the shore, mingled with the soft roar ofthe breaker on the distant reef, effectually drowned the slightplash that we unavoidably made in the water by the dipping of ouroars.

Quarter of an hour sufficed to bring us to the over-hangingcliff under whose black shadow our little canoe lay, with her bowin the water ready to be launched, and most of her cargo alreadystowed away. As the keel of our little boat grated on thesand, a hand was laid upon the bow, and a dim form was seen.

“Ha!” said Peterkin in a whisper, as he steppedupon the beach, “is that you, Avatea?”

“Yis, it am me,” was the reply.

“All right! Now, then, gently. Help me toshove off the canoe,” whispered Jack to the teacher;“and Peterkin, do you shove these blankets aboard, we maywant them before long. Avatea, step into themiddle;—that’s right.”

“Is all ready?” whispered the teacher.

“Not quite,” replied Peterkin. “Here,Ralph, lay hold o’ this pair of oars, and stow them away ifyou can. I don’t like paddles. Afterwe’re safe away I’ll try to rig up rollicks forthem.”

“Now, then, in with you and shove off.”

One more earnest squeeze of the kind teacher’s hand,and, with his whispered blessing yet sounding in our ears, weshot like an arrow from the shore, sped over the still waters ofthe lagoon, and paddled as swiftly as strong arms and willinghearts could urge us over the long swell of the open sea.

All that night and the whole of the following day we plied ourpaddles in almost total silence and without halt, save twice torecruit our failing energies with a mouthful of food and adraught of water. Jack had taken the bearing of the islandjust after starting, and laying a small pocket-compass beforehim, kept the head of the canoe due south, for our chance ofhitting the island depended very much on the faithfulness of oursteersman in keeping our tiny bark exactly and constantly on itsproper course. Peterkin and I paddled in the bow, andAvatea worked untiringly in the middle.

As the sun’s lower limb dipped on the gilded edge of thesea Jack ceased working, threw down his paddle, and called ahalt.

“There,” he cried, heaving a deep, long-drawnsigh, “we’ve put a considerable breadth of waterbetween us and these black rascals, so now we’ll have ahearty supper and a sound sleep.”

“Hear, hear,” cried Peterkin. “Noblyspoken, Jack. Hand me a drop water, Ralph. Why, girlwhat’s wrong with you? You look just like a black owlblinking in the sunshine.”

Avatea smiled. “I sleepy,” she said; and asif to prove the truth of this, she laid her head on the edge ofthe canoe and fell fast asleep.

“That’s uncommon sharp practice,” saidPeterkin, with a broad grin. “Don’t you thinkwe should awake her to make her eat something first? or,perhaps,” he added, with a grave, meditative look,“perhaps we might put some food in her mouth, which is soelegantly open at the present moment, and see if she’dswallow it while asleep. If so, Ralph, you might come roundto the front here and feed her quietly, while Jack and I aretucking into the victuals. It would be a monstrous economyof time.”

I could not help smiling at Peterkin’s idea, which,indeed, when I pondered it, seemed remarkably good in theory;nevertheless I declined to put it in practice, being fearful ofthe result should the victual chance to go down the wrongthroat. But, on suggesting this to Peterkin, heexclaimed—

“Down the wrong throat, man! why, a fellow with half aneye might see that if it went down Avatea’s throat it couldnot go down the wrong throat!—unless, indeed, you have allof a sudden become inordinately selfish, and think that all thethroats in the world are wrong ones except your own.However, don’t talk so much, and hand me the pork beforeJack finishes it. I feel myself entitled to at least oneminute morsel.”

“Peterkin, you’re a villain. A paltry littlevillain,” said Jack, quietly, as he tossed the hind legs(including the tail) of a cold roast pig to his comrade;“and I must again express my regret that unavoidablecircumstances have thrust your society upon me, and thatnecessity has compelled me to cultivate your acquaintance.Were it not that you are incapable of walking upon the water, Iwould order you, sir, out of the canoe.”

“There! you’ve wakened Avatea with your longtongue,” retorted Peterkin, with a frown, as the girl gavevent to a deep sigh. “No,” he continued,“it was only a snore. Perchance she dreameth of herblack Apollo. I say, Ralph, do leave just one little sliceof that yam. Between you and Jack I run a chance of beingput on short allowance, ifnot—yei—a—a—ow!”

Peterkin’s concluding remark was a yawn of so greatenergy that Jack recommended him to postpone the conclusion ofhis meal till next morning,—a piece of advice which hefollowed so quickly, that I was forcibly reminded of his remark,a few minutes before, in regard to the sharp practice ofAvatea.

My readers will have observed, probably, by this time, that Iam much given to meditation; they will not, therefore, besurprised to learn that I fell into a deep reverie on the subjectof sleep, which was continued without intermission into thenight, and prolonged without interruption into the followingmorning. But I cannot feel assured that I actually sleptduring that time, although I am tolerably certain that I was notawake.

Thus we lay like a shadow on the still bosom of the ocean,while the night closed in, and all around was calm, dark, andsilent.

A thrilling cry of alarm from Peterkin startled us in themorning, just as the gray dawn began to glimmer in the east.

“What’s wrong?” cried Jack, starting up.

Peterkin replied by pointing with a look of anxious dreadtowards the horizon; and a glance sufficed to show us that one ofthe largest sized war-canoes was approaching us!

With a groan of mingled despair and anger Jack seized hispaddle, glanced at the compass, and, in a suppressed voice,commanded us to “give way.”

But we did not require to be urged. Already our fourpaddles were glancing in the water, and the canoe bounded overthe glassy sea like a dolphin, while a shout from our pursuerstold that they had observed our motions.

“I see something like land ahead,” said Jack, in ahopeful tone. “It seems impossible that we could havemade the island yet; still, if it is so, we may reach it beforethese fellows can catch us, for our canoe is light and ourmuscles are fresh.”

No one replied; for, to say truth, we felt that, in a longchase, we had no chance whatever with a canoe which held nearly ahundred warriors. Nevertheless, we resolved to do ourutmost to escape, and paddled with a degree of vigour that keptus well in advance of our pursuers. The war-canoe was sofar behind us that it seemed but a little speck on the sea, andthe shouts, to which the crew occasionally gave vent, camefaintly towards us on the morning breeze. We thereforehoped that we should be able to keep in advance for an hour ortwo, when we might, perhaps, reach the land ahead. But thishope was suddenly crushed by the supposed land, not long after,rising up into the sky; thus proving itself to be a fog-bank!

A bitter feeling of disappointment filled each heart, and wasexpressed on each countenance, as we beheld this termination toour hopes. But we had little time to think of regret.Our danger was too great and imminent to permit of amoment’s relaxation from our exertions. No hope nowanimated our bosoms; but a feeling of despair, strange to say,lent us power to work, and nerved our arms with such energy, thatit was several hours ere the savages overtook us. When wesaw that there was indeed no chance of escape, and that paddlingany longer would only serve to exhaust our strength, withoutdoing any good, we turned the side of our canoe towards theapproaching enemy, and laid down our paddles.

Silently, and with a look of bitter determination on his face,Jack lifted one of the light boat-oars that we had brought withus, and, resting it on his shoulder, stood up in an attitude ofbold defiance. Peterkin took the other oar and also stoodup, but there was no anger visible on his countenance. Whennot sparkling with fun, it usually wore a mild, sad expression,which was deepened on the present occasion, as he glanced atAvatea, who sat with her face resting in her hands upon herknees. Without knowing very well what I intended to do, Ialso arose and grasped my paddle with both hands.

On came the large canoe like a war-horse of the deep, with thefoam curling from its sharp bow, and the spear-heads of thesavages glancing the beams of the rising sun. Perfectsilence was maintained on both sides, and we could hear thehissing water, and see the frowning eyes of the warriors, as theycame rushing on. When about twenty yards distant, five orsix of the savages in the bow rose, and, laying aside theirpaddles, took up their spears. Jack and Peterkin raisedtheir oars, while, with a feeling of madness whirling in mybrain, I grasped my paddle and prepared for the onset. But,before any of us could strike a blow, the sharp prow of thewar-canoe struck us like a thunderbolt on the side, and hurled usinto the sea!

What occurred after this I cannot tell, for I was nearlydrowned; but when I recovered from the state of insensibilityinto which I had been thrown, I found myself stretched on myback, bound hand and foot between Jack and Peterkin, in thebottom of the large canoe.

In this condition we lay the whole day, during which time thesavages only rested one hour. When night came, they restedagain for another hour, and appeared to sleep just as theysat. But we were neither unbound nor allowed to speak toeach other during the voyage, nor was a morsel of food or adraught of water given to us. For food, however, we caredlittle; but we would have given much for a drop of water to coolour parched lips, and we would have been glad, too, had theyloosened the cords that bound us, for they were tightly fastenedand occasioned us much pain. The air, also, was unusuallyhot, so much so that I felt convinced that a storm wasbrewing. This also added to our sufferings. However,these were at length relieved by our arrival at the island fromwhich we had fled.

While we were being led ashore, we caught a glimpse of Avatea,who was seated in the hinder part of the canoe. She was notfettered in any way. Our captors now drove us before themtowards the hut of Tararo, at which we speedily arrived, andfound the chief seated with an expression on his face that bodedus no good. Our friend the teacher stood beside him, with alook of anxiety on his mild features.

“How comes it,” said Tararo, turning to theteacher, “that these youths have abused ourhospitality?”

“Tell him,” replied Jack, “that we have notabused his hospitality, for his hospitality has not been extendedto us. I came to the island to deliver Avatea, and my onlyregret is that I have failed to do so. If I get anotherchance, I will try to save her yet.”

The teacher shook his head. “Nay, my young friend,I had better not tell him that. It will only incensehim.”

“Fear not,” replied Jack. “If youdon’t tell him that, you’ll tell him nothing, for Iwon’t say anything softer.”

On hearing Jack’s speech, Tararo frowned and his eyeflashed with anger.

“Go,” he said, “presumptuous boy. Mydebt to you is cancelled. You and your companions shalldie.”

As he spoke he rose and signed to several of his attendants,who seized Jack, and Peterkin, and me, violently by the collars,and, dragging us from the hut of the chief, led us through thewood to the outskirts of the village. Here they thrust usinto a species of natural cave in a cliff, and, having barricadedthe entrance, left us in total darkness.

After feeling about for some time—for our legs wereunshackled, although our wrists were still bound withthongs—we found a low ledge of rock running along one sideof the cavern. On this we seated ourselves, and for a longtime maintained unbroken silence.

At last I could restrain my feelings no longer.“Alas! dear Jack and Peterkin,” said I, “whatis to become of us? I fear that we are doomed todie.”

“I know not,” replied Jack, in a tremulous voice,“I know not; Ralph, I regret deeply the hastiness of myviolent temper, which, I must confess, has been the chief causeof our being brought to this sad condition. Perhaps theteacher may do something for us. But I have littlehope.”

“Ah! no,” said Peterkin, with a heavy sigh;“I am sure he can’t help us. Tararodoesn’t care more for him than for one of hisdogs.”

“Truly,” said I, “there seems no chance ofdeliverance, unless the Almighty puts forth his arm to saveus. Yet I must say that I have great hope, my comrades, forwe have come to this dark place by no fault of ours—unlessit be a fault to try to succour a woman in distress.”

I was interrupted in my remarks by a noise at the entrance tothe cavern, which was caused by the removal of thebarricade. Immediately after, three men entered, and,taking us by the collars of our coats, led us away through theforest. As we advanced, we heard much shouting and beatingof native drums in the village, and at first we thought that ourguards were conducting us to the hut of Tararo again. Butin this we were mistaken. The beating of drums graduallyincreased, and soon after we observed a procession of the nativescoming towards us. At the head of this procession we wereplaced, and then we all advanced together towards the templewhere human victims were wont to be sacrificed!

A thrill of horror ran through my heart as I recalled to mindthe awful scenes that I had before witnessed at that dreadfulspot. But deliverance came suddenly from a quarter whencewe little expected it. During the whole of that day therehad been an unusual degree of heat in the atmosphere, and the skyassumed that lurid aspect which portends a thunder-storm.Just as we were approaching the horrid temple, a growl of thunderburst overhead and heavy drops of rain began to fall.

Those who have not witnessed gales and storms in tropicalregions can form but a faint conception of the fearful hurricanethat burst upon the island of Mango at this time. Before wereached the temple, the storm burst upon us with a deafeningroar, and the natives, who knew too well the devastation that wasto follow, fled right and left through the woods in order to savetheir property, leaving us alone in the midst of the howlingstorm. The trees around us bent before the blast likewillows, and we were about to flee in order to seek shelter, whenthe teacher ran toward us with a knife in his hand.

“Thank the Lord,” he said, cutting our bonds,“I am in time! Now, seek the shelter of the nearestrock.”

This we did without a moment’s hesitation, for thewhistling wind burst, ever and anon, like thunder-claps among thetrees, and, tearing them from their roots, hurled them withviolence to the ground. Rain cut across the land in sheets,and lightning played like forked serpents in the air; while, highabove the roar of the hissing tempest, the thunder crashed, andburst, and rolled in awful majesty.

In the village the scene was absolutely appalling. Roofswere blown completely off the houses in many cases; and inothers, the houses themselves were levelled with theground. In the midst of this, the natives were darting toand fro, in some instances saving their goods, but in many othersseeking to save themselves from the storm of destruction thatwhirled around them. But, terrific although the tempest wason land, it was still more tremendous on the mighty ocean.Billows sprang, as it were, from the great deep, and while theircrests were absolutely scattered into white mist, they fell uponthe beach with a crash that seemed to shake the solid land.But they did not end there. Each successive wave swepthigher and higher on the beach, until the ocean lashed its angrywaters among the trees and bushes, and at length, in a sheet ofwhite curdled foam, swept into the village and upset and carriedoff, or dashed into wreck, whole rows of the nativedwellings! It was a sublime, an awful scene, calculated, insome degree at least, to impress the mind of beholders with themight and the majesty of God.

We found shelter in a cave that night and all the next day,during which time the storm raged in fury; but on the nightfollowing it abated somewhat, and in the morning we went to thevillage to seek for food, being so famished with hunger that welost all feeling of danger and all wish to escape in our desireto satisfy the cravings of nature. But no sooner had weobtained food than we began to wish that we had ratherendeavoured to make our escape into the mountains. This weattempted to do soon afterwards, but the natives were now able tolook after us, and on our showing a disposition to avoidobservation and make towards the mountains, we were seized bythree warriors, who once more bound our wrists and thrust us intoour former prison.

It is true Jack made a vigorous resistance, and knocked downthe first savage who seized him, with a well-directed blow of hisfist, but he was speedily overpowered by others. Thus wewere again prisoners, with the prospect of torture and a violentdeath before us.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Imprisonment—Sinking hopes—Unexpected freedom tomore than one, and in more senses than one.

For a long long month we remained in our dark and drearyprison, during which dismal time we did not see the face of ahuman being, except that of the silent savage who brought us ourdaily food.

There have been one or two seasons in my life during which Ihave felt as if the darkness of sorrow and desolation thatcrushed my inmost heart could never pass away, until death shouldmake me cease to feel the present was such a season.

During the first part of our confinement we felt a cold chillat our hearts every time we heard a foot-fall near thecave—dreading lest it should prove to be that of ourexecutioner. But as time dragged heavily on, we ceased tofeel this alarm, and began to experience such a deep,irrepressible longing for freedom, that we chafed and fretted inour confinement like tigers. Then a feeling of despair cameover us, and we actually longed for the time when the savageswould take us forth to die! But these changes took placevery gradually, and were mingled sometimes with brighterthoughts; for there were times when we sat in that dark cavern onour ledge of rock and conversed almost pleasantly about the past,until we well-nigh forgot the dreary present. But we seldomventured to touch upon the future.

A few decayed leaves and boughs formed our bed; and a scantysupply of yams and taro, brought to us once a-day, constitutedour food.

“Well, Ralph, how have you slept?” said Jack, in alistless tone, on rising one morning from his humble couch.“Were you much disturbed by the wind last night?”

“No,” said I; “I dreamed of home all night,and I thought that my mother smiled upon me, and beckoned me togo to her; but I could not, for I was chained.”

“And I dreamed, too,” said Peterkin; “but itwas of our happy home on the Coral Island. I thought wewere swimming in the Water Garden; then the savages gave a yell,and we were immediately in the cave at Spouting Cliff, which,somehow or other, changed into this gloomy cavern; and I awoke tofind it true.”

Peterkin’s tone was so much altered by the depressinginfluence of his long imprisonment, that, had I not known it washe who spoke, I should scarcely have recognised it, so sad wasit, and so unlike to the merry, cheerful voice we had beenaccustomed to hear. I pondered this much, and thought ofthe terrible decline of happiness that may come on human beingsin so short a time; how bright the sunshine in the sky at onetime, and, in a short space, how dark the overshadowingcloud! I had no doubt that the Bible would have given memuch light and comfort on this subject, if I had possessed one,and I once more had occasion to regret deeply having neglected tostore my memory with its consoling truths.

While I meditated thus, Peterkin again broke the silence ofthe cave, by saying, in a melancholy tone, “Oh, I wonder ifwe shall ever see our dear island more.”

His voice trembled, and, covering his face with both hands, hebent down his head and wept. It was an unusual sight for meto see our once joyous companion in tears, and I felt a burningdesire to comfort him; but, alas! what could I say? I couldhold out no hope; and although I essayed twice to speak, thewords refused to pass my lips. While I hesitated, Jack satdown beside him, and whispered a few words in his ear, whilePeterkin threw himself on his friend’s breast, and restedhis head on his shoulder.

Thus we sat for some time in deep silence. Soon after,we heard footsteps at the entrance of the cave, and immediatelyour jailer entered. We were so much accustomed to hisregular visits, however, that we paid little attention to him,expecting that he would set down our meagre fare, as usual, anddepart. But, to our surprise, instead of doing so, headvanced towards us with a knife in his hand, and, going up toJack, he cut the thongs that bound his wrists, then he did thesame to Peterkin and me! For fully five minutes we stood inspeechless amazement, with our freed hands hanging idly by oursides. The first thought that rushed into my mind was, thatthe time had come to put us to death; and although, as I havesaid before, we actually wished for death in the strength of ourdespair, now that we thought it drew really near I felt all thenatural love of life revive in my heart, mingled with a chill ofhorror at the suddenness of our call.

But I was mistaken. After cutting our bonds, the savagepointed to the cave’s mouth, and we marched, almostmechanically, into the open air. Here, to our surprise, wefound the teacher standing under a tree, with his hands claspedbefore him, and the tears trickling down his dark cheeks.On seeing Jack, who came out first, he sprang towards him, andclasping him in his arms, exclaimed,—

“Oh! my dear young friend, through the great goodness ofGod you are free!”

“Free!” cried Jack.

“Ay, free,” repeated the teacher, shaking uswarmly by the hands again and again; “free to go and comeas you will. The Lord has unloosed the bands of the captiveand set the prisoners free. A missionary has been sent tous, and Tararo has embraced the Christian religion! Thepeople are even now burning their gods of wood! Come, mydear friends, and see the glorious sight.”

We could scarcely credit our senses. So long had we beenaccustomed in our cavern to dream of deliverance, that weimagined for a moment this must surely be nothing more thananother vivid dream. Our eyes and minds were dazzled, too,by the brilliant sunshine, which almost blinded us after our longconfinement to the gloom of our prison, so that we felt giddywith the variety of conflicting emotions that filled ourthrobbing bosoms; but as we followed the footsteps of our sablefriend, and beheld the bright foliage of the trees, and heard thecries of the paroquets, and smelt the rich perfume of theflowering shrubs, the truth, that we were really delivered fromprison and from death, rushed with overwhelming power into oursouls, and, with one accord, while tears sprang to our eyes, weuttered a loud long cheer of joy.

It was replied to by a shout from a number of the natives whochanced to be near. Running towards us, they shook us bythe hand with every demonstration of kindly feeling. Theythen fell behind, and, forming a sort of procession, conducted usto the dwelling of Tararo.

The scene that met our eyes here was one that I shall neverforget. On a rude bench in front of his house sat thechief. A native stood on his left hand, who, from hisdress, seemed to be a teacher. On his right stood anEnglish gentleman, who, I at once and rightly concluded, was amissionary. He was tall, thin, and apparently past forty,with a bald forehead, and thin gray hair. The expression ofhis countenance was the most winning I ever saw, and his cleargray eye beamed with a look that was frank, fearless, loving, andtruthful. In front of the chief was an open space, in thecentre of which lay a pile of wooden idols, ready to be set onfire; and around these were assembled thousands of natives, whohad come to join in or to witness the unusual sight. Abright smile overspread the missionary’s face as headvanced quickly to meet us, and he shook us warmly by thehands.

“I am overjoyed to meet you, my dear youngfriends,” he said. “My friend, and your friend,the teacher, has told me your history; and I thank our Father inheaven, with all my heart, that he has guided me to this island,and made me the instrument of saving you.”

We thanked the missionary most heartily, and asked him in somesurprise how he had succeeded in turning the heart of Tararo inour favour.

“I will tell you that at a more convenient time,”he answered, “meanwhile we must not forget the respect dueto the chief. He waits to receive you.”

In the conversation that immediately followed between us andTararo, the latter said that the light of the gospel of JesusChrist had been sent to the island, and that to it we wereindebted for our freedom. Moreover, he told us that we wereat liberty to depart in our schooner whenever we pleased, andthat we should be supplied with as much provision as werequired. He concluded by shaking hands with us warmly, andperforming the ceremony of rubbing noses.

This was indeed good news to us, and we could hardly findwords to express our gratitude to the chief and to themissionary.

“And what of Avatea?” inquired Jack.

The missionary replied by pointing to a group of natives inthe midst of whom the girl stood. Beside her was a tall,strapping fellow, whose noble mien and air of superiority bespokehim a chief of no ordinary kind.

“That youth is her lover. He came this verymorning in his war-canoe to treat with Tararo for Avatea.He is to be married in a few days, and afterwards returns to hisisland home with his bride!”

“That’s capital,” said Jack, as he steppedup to the savage and gave him a hearty shake of the hand.“I wish you joy, my lad;—and you too,Avatea.”

As Jack spoke, Avatea’s lover took him by the hand andled him to the spot where Tararo and the missionary stood,surrounded by most of the chief men of the tribe. The girlherself followed, and stood on his left hand while her loverstood on his right, and, commanding silence, made the followingspeech, which was translated by the missionary:—

“Young friend, you have seen few years, but your head isold. Your heart also is large and very brave. I andAvatea are your debtors, and we wish, in the midst of thisassembly, to acknowledge our debt, and to say that it is onewhich we can never repay. You have risked your life for onewho was known to you only for a few days. But she was awoman in distress, and that was enough to secure to her the aidof a Christian man. We, who live in these islands of thesea, know that the true Christians always act thus. Theirreligion is one of love and kindness. We thank God that somany Christians have been sent here—we hope many more willcome. Remember that I and Avatea will think of you and prayfor you and your brave comrades when you are far away.”

To this kind speech Jack returned a short sailor-like reply,in which he insisted that he had only done for Avatea what hewould have done for any woman under the sun. ButJack’s forte did not lie in speech-making, so he terminatedrather abruptly by seizing the chief’s hand and shaking itviolently, after which he made a hasty retreat.

“Now, then, Ralph and Peterkin,” said Jack, as wemingled with the crowd, “it seems to me that the object wecame here for having been satisfactorily accomplished, we havenothing more to do but get ready for sea as fast as we can, andhurrah for dear old England!”

“That’s my idea precisely,” said Peterkin,endeavouring to wink, but he had wept so much of late, poorfellow, that he found it difficult; “however, I’m notgoing away till I see these fellows burn their gods.”

Peterkin had his wish, for, in a few minutes afterwards, firewas put to the pile, the roaring flames ascended, and, amid theacclamations of the assembled thousands, the false gods of Mangowere reduced to ashes!

CHAPTER XXXV.

Conclusion.

To part is the lot of all mankind. The world is a sceneof constant leave-taking, and the hands that grasp in cordialgreeting to-day, are doomed ere long to unite for the last time,when the quivering lips pronounce theword—“Farewell.” It is a sad thought, butshould we on that account exclude it from our minds? Maynot a lesson worth learning be gathered in the contemplation ofit? May it not, perchance, teach us to devote our thoughtsmore frequently and attentively to that land where we meet, butpart no more?

How many do we part from in this world with a light“Good-bye,” whom we never see again! Often do Ithink, in my meditations on this subject, that if we realizedmore fully the shortness of the fleeting intercourse that we havein this world with many of our fellow-men, we would try moreearnestly to do them good, to give them a friendly smile, as itwere, in passing (for the longest intercourse on earth is littlemore than a passing word and glance), and show that we havesympathy with them in the short quick struggle of life, by ourkindly words and looks and action.

The time soon drew near when we were to quit the islands ofthe South Seas; and, strange though it may appear, we felt deepregret at parting with the natives of the island of Mango; for,after they embraced the Christian faith, they sought, by showingus the utmost kindness, to compensate for the harsh treatment wehad experienced at their hands; and we felt a growing affectionfor the native teachers and the missionary, and especially forAvatea and her husband.

Before leaving, we had many long and interesting conversationswith the missionary, in one of which he told us that he had beenmaking for the island of Raratonga when his native-built sloopwas blown out of its course, during a violent gale, and driven tothis island. At first the natives refused to listen to whathe had to say; but, after a week’s residence among them,Tararo came to him and said that he wished to become a Christian,and would burn his idols. He proved himself to be sincere,for, as we have seen, he persuaded all his people to dolikewise. I use the word persuaded advisedly; for, like allthe other Feejee chiefs, Tararo was a despot and might havecommanded obedience to his wishes; but he entered so readily intothe spirit of the new faith that he perceived at once theimpropriety of using constraint in the propagation of it.He set the example, therefore; and that example was followed byalmost every man of the tribe.

During the short time that we remained at the island,repairing our vessel and getting her ready for sea, the nativeshad commenced building a large and commodious church, under thesuperintendence of the missionary, and several rows of newcottages were marked out; so that the place bid fair to become,in a few months, as prosperous and beautiful as the Christianvillage at the other end of the island.

After Avatea was married, she and her husband were sent away,loaded with presents, chiefly of an edible nature. One ofthe native teachers went with them, for the purpose of visitingstill more distant islands of the sea, and spreading, ifpossible, the light of the glorious gospel there.

As the missionary intended to remain for several weeks longer,in order to encourage and confirm his new converts, Jack andPeterkin and I held a consultation in the cabin of ourschooner,—which we found just as we had left her, foreverything that had been taken out of her was restored. Wenow resolved to delay our departure no longer. The desireto see our beloved native land was strong upon us, and we couldnot wait.

Three natives volunteered to go with us to Tahiti, where wethought it likely that we should be able to procure a sufficientcrew of sailors to man our vessel; so we accepted their offergladly.

It was a bright clear morning when we hoisted the snow-whitesails of the pirate schooner and left the shores of Mango.The missionary, and thousands of the natives, came down to bid usGod-speed, and to see us sail away. As the vessel bentbefore a light fair wind, we glided quickly over the lagoon undera cloud of canvass.

Just as we passed through the channel in the reef the nativesgave us a loud cheer; and as the missionary waved his hat, whilehe stood on a coral rock with his gray hairs floating in thewind, we heard the single word “Farewell” bornefaintly over the sea.

That night, as we sat on the taffrail, gazing out upon thewide sea and up into the starry firmament, a thrill of joy,strangely mixed with sadness, passed through ourhearts,—for we were at length “homeward bound,”and were gradually leaving far behind us the beautiful, bright,green, coral islands of the Pacific Ocean.

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